With April Fools’ Day behind us, we can get back to taking our job here at The Gazette mostly seriously. We look forward to April first all year long, usually starting a list of ideas for the next year before April is over.
We’ve been enjoying hearing from readers today who’ve appreciated some or all of what appeared in the Wednesday [sic] April 1 Gazette edition yesterday, especially those we’ve poked fun at. All of them, (so far, anyway) have been complementary about their portrayal.
Most of what appeared was in good taste. That’s thanks to what we could have, but didn’t, write.
Our page-three story about an altercation between a visiting Massachusetts man and two local women raised some eyebrows for racist characterizations in the name of one of the women, the regional vernacular language portrayed and a reference to a fake nail.
Yes, it pushed up against stereotypes, which rarely come up in daily rural Vermont life. It also pushed up against the stereotype of a privileged person from Massachusetts. Being male further emphasized that. What about stereotyping women in general as perhaps less educated?
We wouldn’t have altered a real story in which those things happened. Why is it crossing a line to call those things out in humor that perhaps makes us more aware of our own perspectives?
Whatever the case, it’s given us good food for thought, and will give the Hazen Union High School Journalism class, two of the students who wrote articles are taking, something to chew on in the coming days.
Next time I will put a finer point on my suggestion to students and their teacher that writing April Fools’ Day stories is a chance to be concerned about the form of a news story without worrying about the content.
We ran out of time and space for some community news yesterday so you missed inverted bird watching by the Greensboro Wreck Committee, where Sparrow Bearflanks and Fizz Wheel planned an afternoon of watching the undersides of the local avian population, April 1, 3 to 5 p.m., in the town hall park to learn or relearn the valuable skill of dangling from trees to give painful arthritic knees a rest, or reason to ache.
The Center for Artistic Agriculture planned a carrot contortionism and potato perversion workshop where master gardening sisters Lunette Quartzy and Carrot Shrinky shared their lifetime of acquired artistic agricultural expertise, Tuesday, April 1, 10 a.m. to noon. In the Greensboro Bend Community Park one could learn how to cultivate artistic vegetable creations by placing obstacles in garden beds where carrot seeds and starter potatoes are planted. Lemony Funstar at ArtisticAg.org had answers to questions.
And finally, in Hardwick, Drop-a-dime Library Director Drypan Slowdown, Youth Librarian Glacial Dunk and Assistant and Technology Librarian Kelvin Still presented a program on rock washing by the Lamoille River below the Daniels Building, Tuesday, April 1, 1 to 5 p.m. There attendees observed the river flowing over and around naturally deposited glacial and sedimentary rocks while the workshop’s team of experts introduced ancient techniques of watching natural rock washing, teaching skills to last a long, long lifetime. Advanced practitioners joined special “I saw that rock move” teachings. The session was open to all ages, but children under 12 were to be accompanied by a sloth. Visit drop-a-dime.org for details.
Paul Fixx, editor
Paul Fixx is editor of The Hardwick Gazette and lives in Hardwick.
