The Greatest Hits of 2012!

This list identifies only a portion of the people, places, events, and media of 2012 that have made a marked difference in my continuing education and life. These honorable mentions are not the result of evaluative rankings or sweeping generalizations, but provide highlights of a year well-spent and well-lived.

Grocery Store of the Year: Stern’s Quality Produce, in White River Junction, Vermont. 

For decades, this family-owned depot for fresh fruits and vegetables has provided the Upper Valley an affordable source for leafy greens and ripe bananas, bulk tofu, nuts and grains.  

Moderately Fast Food of the Year: Moe’s in West Lebanon, New Hampshire.  

Since its opening in the spring of 2012, this franchise has occupied one of the strip malls ravaged by the floods following Tropical Storm Irene. While the price of the Homewrecker and other custom burritos has climbed slowly, the salsa bar and copious tortilla chips—as well as the complex self-serve touch-screen Coke machine—make every trip worth every MOEment. 

Record Store of the Year: Exile on Main Street in Barre, Vermont.  

With thousands of slices of vinyl, hundreds of compact discs, and dozens of cassettes—as well as a wealth of memorabilia, 45 rpm singles, and choice books on the music biz—Exile may be one of the best representations of the Independent Record Store this side of End of An Ear in Austin, Texas or LoveGarden Sounds in Lawrence, Kansas. Owner-operated, special orders arrive twice weekly, and trade-in values on CDs couldn’t be higher. Having weathered a full reconstruction of the downtown area of Barre, Exile is an audiophile’s dream; yes, there is still a “butcher cover” version of the Beatles’ Yesterday and Today album for sale in central Vermont. 

Soft Drink of the Year: Orange Dry, by Polar. 

One of the finest blends of carbonation, high fructose corn syrup, and 6% concentrated orange juice the world has ever known.  

Take-Out of the Year: Cape Tip Fish and Lobster Market in Truro, Massachusetts.  

With the North Truro public beach access less than a mile away (and free after sundown) this summertime market provides a full lobster dinner, including steamers, butter, plates and a bib, in a massive insulated paper bag. Jennie Harriman and I enjoyed this immensely during a luxurious week in mid-August.

Automobile of the Year: the Car that Wouldn’t Turn Off.  

Embarking on a road trip that ended up being titled The American Celebration on Parade, my 1999 Subaru Legacy happily came to a stop at a gas station in suburban Connecticut—but, upon turning off the ignition, the overzealous car kept running. Why had a previous owner attached a red wire to a fuse, and where did it lead? That journey—thousands of miles—did not hold any answers, but the troublesome red wire was removed by a mechanic in Kodak, Tennessee.  

Website of the Year: Facebook. 

While much may be said for this virtual platform’s new intrusion into our hourly business, the ways in which Facebook has allowed individuals, groups, and businesses to publicize and make known to the world at large their thoughts, offers, and opinions is unprecedented; the new currents that have and will flow beneath that blue bar and have established a more volitile yet more useful culture of collaboration and communication worldwide. In the hours following the school shooting in Connecticut, every one of my 400 friends had something to say,, if anything at all; at this rate, we may only hone and improve our skills of listening and responding—beyond delivering to friends and acquaintances a simple ‘thumbs-up.’ I look forward to further incarnations and more nuanced manifestations of the "Like" button.

Peripherial of the Year: Hauppauge’s Colossus. 

For those whose visual memories are stored on less-than-digital media, and who fear the disintegration of magnetic tape may dissolve all that is left of our VHS youth, this Windows-based peripheral board permits an easy and entertaining (full-screen) archiving solution, be it of elementary school concerts or commercially-available documentaries or films, now long out of print. For those interested in producing video game walk-throughs—on any system, from the Atari 2600 to the Nintendo Wii—this board allows for composite, S-Video, and HDMI connections in absolute real time.

Political Scientist of the Year: Jon Ross. 

Not only for accurately calling the 'anticlimatic' 2012 Presidential election, but for being one of the few people who didn’t lose interest in the results.

Historian Of the Year: Robert Putnam.  

This Harvard prof has been the subject of both sermons and symposiums this year, and may hold the distinction of being the only speaker at the Aspen Ideas Festival who I heard booed by a portion of that erudite crowd. Advocating for a variety of investments in society by our wealthiest and most successful individuals and corporations, Putnam’s vision of “social capital”—described best in his work Bowling Alone—has only become more important, to all of us, regardless of income. Republicans’ allegations that Obama was inciting “class warfare” in calling for higher taxes for upper income brackets have, to some extent, been nullified by the banal and wintry debates regarding the fiscal cliff: were the government to increase revenue, instead of cutting spending from the federal budget, the unbridled gathering of wealth may be to some extent curbed. Putnam’s notion of “social capital” may provide philosophical and moral grounds for “the Buffett rule,” for Herman Caine’s flat tax, and for Stephen King’s outrage (“Tax Me, for F—k’sSake”).

Theologian of the Year: Interim Pastor Rev. Jonathan New, at Bethany UCC in Randolph, Vermont.  

Following a decades-long ministry by Kathy Eddy, Jonathan New has successfully filled some large and saintly shoes. With sermons rife with poetry and insightful guidance, New has provided the vibrant spiritual community a stimulating and invigorating climate of growth and renewal. "The school of hard knocks," he said recently from the pulpit, "is surely educational, but isn't a place I'd want to send my kids."

Disgraced Intellectual of the Year: Jonah Lehrer. 

Maintaining a cool and calm demeanor to a slim crowd at the Aspen Ideas Festival, this youthful Rhodes scholar had days before been accused of replicating material across a number of online forums, including his blog as well as the New York Times. The introductory chapter of his book Imagine: How Creativity Works (pulled from store shelves by its publisher) did serve my  students well, in a creative writing seminar—as did the explanatory and salacious article that emerged in an October issue of New York magazine.  

  

Public Policy of the Year: 'Lucky Strike Green'. 

Besides the interview that was being conducted during the Connecticut school shooting, between President Obama and Barbara Walters (summed by Matt Drudge in his headline, “Obama to Stoners: We’re Cool”), voters in Colorado and Washington state chose to establish new rules for the use and consumption of marijuana. A full research institute at Humboldt State University was established, to study the ways in which this drug might become more commonplace, as medicine and recreation. Interdisciplinarian and pro-pot scholar Regina Nelson continued her advocacy through a blog, radio interviews, and continued study at UnionInstitute and University.

Goodbye Adam Horovitz. 

One of the bold and resonant voices of my youth, and a postmodern poetic pioneer we'll be studying for decades to come. 

Nonfiction of the Year: “My CCC Days” by Frank Davis. 

I purchased this short work at the gift shop in Cade’s Cove, a scenic settlement within the Smoky Mountains National Park. Describing Mr. Davis’ enrollment and adventure as a mechanic and laborer in the Civilian Conservation Corps of the 1930s, this work was incredibly useful in providing freshman comp students a sustained, serialized narrative during the fall semester. Crossing academic and technical disciplines, students at Vermont Technical College were engrossed to hear of the monumental construction that took place through the Carolina wilderness during the fall semester. Challenging my students’ powers of research in a composition lab, I asked them to find any contact information for Mr. Davis; within twenty minutes, they produced a disconnected phone number and a Virginia address. At my request, students wrote zealous letters to the octogenarian; I have yet to receive these back as undeliverable, but have also heard no word that they were received.  

Instrument of the Year (Acoustic): the Deering Goodtime Banjo.

Purchased on New Years’ Day 2012 from the Music Outlet in Sevierville,Tennessee, this American-made five-string machine has already traveled thousands of miles in its custom case, has been party to a number of hotel room jams, and has been responsible for more than a few mornings of successful curriculum in Sunday School at Bethany Church in Randolph, Vermont. Steve Martin was right: given a banjo, one may find it impossible to be displeased with the world. 

Instrument of the Year (Electric): the Hammond Aurora organ. 

Purchased from the Listen Center in White River Junction, Vermont (thanks, Ben!), this bells-and-whistles behemoth was manufactured by the Hammond Company in the 1970s-- after Mr. Hammond’s passing, and thus includes features the inventor would have never condoned (an integrated Leslie speaker, rhythym machine, digital replications of tonewheel synthesis, and more). Regardless of its origin, the expressive one-man-band abilities of this instrument are unsurpassed by any electronic keyboard—it is immersive, far beyond any automated arpeggio or digital syncopation. 

Local Flavor of the Year: the Demolition Derby at theVermont State Fair in Rutland, Vermont. 

Myself, my partner, Jennie Harriman, and an old friend from Boy Scout Troop 292, Erik Drew, (re-acquainted through Facebook), were proud to be a part of the roar from the grandstand, as wrecked cars piled upon cars, and concrete barriers teetered as engines whined.

Single of the Year: “New York Banker” by Todd Snider. 

While 2012 saw a bounty of releases from this East Nashville troubadour, including a stellar collection of Jerry Jeff Walker cover songs, this song—found on his “Agnostic Hymns and Stoner Fables” LP—recounts, however loosely and inspecifically so much of the dirty dealing that has taken place in American markets and financial districts. With a vibe not unlike Creedence Clearwater Revival, the chorus is a sadly accurate description of our interest rates and bailouts: “good things happen to bad people.” 

New Venue of the Year: First Light Studios in Randolph, Vermont. 

The longtime studio of Bob Eddy and Tim Calabro, composer Kathy Eddy’s ‘new’ Steinway model O brings this second-floor space in downtown Randolph to life,  in a completely different way: its bright and bold tone reverberates across the polished wood floor, and light pours in from across Merchants Row.  

Two-Night Run of the Year (Non-Profit): the Green Ridge All Stars at Hopeful, in Braintree, Vermont. 

Having started a semi-annual tradition of improvisation and cover songs across a winter weekend, Boston’s Riding Shotgun gathered in April, for a final sendoff to the tattered but loveable cabin I’d been renting for six years. Recordings were plagued by voracious and too-loud vocals, made possible by a Shure headset microphone and an unsuccessful attempt at emptying the long-ignored liquor cabinet.  

Two-Night Run of the Year (For-Profit): Phish in Worcester, Massachusetts. 

The initial two nights of the jam band’s summer tour kicked off in grand style. Props to all those who, instead of wandering Shakedown Street between shows, found their way to the unspeakably fun pool party and bluegrass jam taking place at a  hotel franchise nearby. Props also to Tom Stepsis, for calling “The Mighty Quinn,” during which perhaps the last equilibrium left from my youth melted away. 

Best Natural Wonder of the Year: Niagra Falls with Jennie Harriman. To stand beside the power of moving water in the mist with my partner, my friend, my love was one of the best moments of the year. 

Album of the Year: “Fear Fun” by Father John Misty. 

Departing from the Fleet Foxes, singer-songwriter Joshua Tillman's debut may be one of the greatest teleological statements since Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon. From the initial track’s lyrical denouement (“fun times in Babylon/that’s what I’m counting on”) and acoustic instrumental banter against subtle keys, to the endless reappearances of Misty’s ex-girlfriends, and a final declaration of modern myth (“Joseph Campbell and the Rolling Stones/couldn’t give me a myth/I had to write my own”), this work's vibe is plain and smooth-- perhaps the first great album of this century, for having escaped any of the melodrama of postmodern woe, but knowingly lurching ahead in optimism through grief and the unknown. If rock's first wave of psychedelia hadn't sought to achieve an escapism, but rather confronting the void of precedence in spiritual experience, the Byrds may have been able to make an album as profound as "Fear Fun." But-- like McCartney's first solo record-- the songs found here are of musical exhalation and frivolity; like Lou Reed at his best, Tillman talks about people, fallible and inescapably beautiful, from the world's first ladies man to the obscure and absurd novelist. Without descending into the trance-steps and day-glo synthetics of Sufjan Stevens, "Fear Fun" is a firsthand account of the music-- the words and thoughts, connections and questions-- weaving between another's lobes. Perhaps the Mayans were correct: in the coming year, maybe we all will discover the potential and determination to pursue and produce such a statement of our beliefs and melodies. 

Goodbye Peter Bergman. 

Founding member of the Firesign Theater, and one of the few individuals who have understood and embraced fully the fine art of rhetorical radio entertainment, “the theater of the mind." These were his last words, on what would be the final broadcast of his Radio Free Oz program (since 1966): 

Take heart, dear friends. We are passing through the darkening of the light. We're gonna make it and we're going to make it together. Don't get ground down by cynicism. Don't let depression darken the glass through which you look. This is a garden we live in. A garden seeded with unconditional love. And the tears of the oppressed, and the tears of the frustrated, and the tears of the good will spring those seeds. The flag has been waived. It says occupy. Occupy Wall Street. Occupy the banks. Occupy the nursing homes. Occupy Congress. Occupy the big law offices. Occupy the lobbyists. Occupy...yourself. Because that's were it all comes together. I pledge to you, from this moment on, whatever it means, I'm going to occupy myself. I love you. See ya tomorrow.