More HUE-manity at All Species Day
To the Editor:
Wow. World of wonder. The All Species Day parade spilled down Main Street in full glory, led by the Stag King and his May Queen. It seemed there were more people dancing in the parade down Main street than watching from the sidewalks.
I am delighted with the leap beyond a “cis white male/female couple” for the partnered roles in this year’s spring pageant. I am queer, over 60, and Black. My queerness has more to do with my relationship style (polyamory) than with being bisexual. It felt wonderful to see an interracial, nonmarried pair dancing that May dance. A brown-skinned queen who is married to a white woman and has three daughters. A stag king who was assigned female at birth and is in the process of transitioning. With their dancing, I saw for a brief moment a magical connection that models the high side of the phrase “love the one you are with.” I saw HUE-man–to–HUE-man, face-to-face, and heart-to-heart moments.
I saw the “I honor the God in you/ you honor the Goddess in me” connection.
The event gave me hope that ongoing conversations about what dances are done (dances of the African Diaspora), who dances them (white women), and how we honor the land we all claim as home (stolen from Abenaki people) can proceed using all the tools for a co-creative process we have carefully cultivated, as visionaries, artists, healers, and anti-racists.
Opeyemi Parham, M.D., Montpelier
Historical Society Kicks Off New Start May 22
To the Editor:
A little over 25 years ago, my father, Paul H. Guare, along with Lola Aiken, Fred Betrand, Willis Bryan, and G. Landale Edson, incorporated the Montpelier Historical Society for the purpose of preserving key artifacts and leading efforts to celebrate and document our local history. For its founding board of directors, my father and Willis Bryan joined with Janice Abair, Alan Blakeman, Robert Jackman, and Norman James to take the organization forward. Many longtime inhabitants will remember their efforts, including a presence at the annual Vermont History Expo at the Tunbridge Fairgrounds, but their crowning achievement was spearheading the restoration of a beloved icon that every local who’s ever attended a Montpelier parade will recognize — the model Statehouse.
The torch passed over the ensuing years to new board members, including myself, but sadly the organization lost steam and became defunct several years ago. Now, under the leadership of Landale Edson’s son, George, an effort is underway to give new life to the Montpelier Historical Society.
We are kicking off this effort with a celebratory historical “show-and-tell” exhibition on Sunday, May 22, from 2 to 4 p.m. at the Montpelier Senior Activity Center.
Some of our city’s historical family businesses will be featured, including the Capitol Plaza and Capitol Theater, the Lobster Pot Restaurant, Capitol Stationers, Lane Shops, Harry Bertoli Granite Works, National Clothespin, J. Leo Johnson, Cody Chevrolet, and more. Family members will be on hand to share memorabilia and stories. We hope you will join us to catch up with old friends and meet new ones. Come for the memories, the storytelling, and, of course, the snacks!
Kathryn Guare, Montpelier
UNDERWRITING SUPPORT PROVIDED BY
