Top Stories for Tuesday March 6, 2007
The Double Bind By Dale Piper Vermont's own Chris Bohjalian has done it again, this time with his most recent novel, The Double Bind, released just last month. The book was inspired by the story of Robert “Soupy” Campbell, a client of Burlington's C.O.T.S. shelter who passed away, leaving a collection of outstanding photographs, many of which had appeared in magazines during the 50s and 60s. Shelter staff soon determined that he had had a successful photography career before arriving homeless in Burlington. The scope of the collection has grown with the recent discovery of five more boxes of photographs in a storage unit in New Hampshire, according to Bohjalian. Several of Campbell's photographs appear throughout the book. Bohjalian wants to make it clear that The Double Bind is not about Campbell, although the book's background character, Bobbie Crocker, who has already passed away as the book opens, was also homeless upon arriving in Burlington with a closely guarded parcel of photographs of the same caliber. There the similarity ends. [ more ] Rosie’s Restaurant Owner Kevin Cummings Celebrates 20 Years By Bridget Dorman Before owning Rosie’s, Kevin Cummings was a bus boy, a counter waiter, a bartender, a cook, and a manager at Howard Johnson’s Restaurant. While Kevin has just entered his twentieth year of ownership at Rosie’s. it is Kevin’s opinion that it is the nearly 5,000 customers a week that own Rosie’s. And after years of restaurant experience, he often boasts, “When I pass on, God will have one great dish washer!” Kevin’s road to ownership started there, washing dishes, and his journey to Rosie’s started when he decided to take to the road as a salesman. After having his first daughter, Jennifer, the long hours at Howard Johnson’s restaurant began to monopolize his time and he decided to take a year off and work as a salesman, working for a food purveyor called Hershberg. Kevin called on schools and restaurants throughout Stowe, the Sugarbush Valley and the Middlebury area, and during his years as a salesman he was able to meet much of the region’s restaurant community. [ more ]
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