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Students
&
Neighbors Making Change
on Isham Street (Part 1)
by Jarrod Szydlowski
Some of you may know Isham Street as a “student
street.” Brian Cina, a longtime resident, has described it as a
“warzone.” Phil Hammerslough can recount for you some shocking stories
about riotous parties. Have you ever looked up at your ceiling around
1am, your jaw tensing with each thump of the steroidal bass pumping
across the street? Perhaps not. Then picture this: You’re friends are
over on a Friday night. You hear a knock on the door. You open it to
discover a police officer who hands you a fat fine. Why didn’t your
neighbor just call to tell you the music was too loud?
Issues such as student-neighbor
relations are probably familiar for many of  those
who live in Burlington. For the residents of Isham Street, it has
motivated them to organize and take action. But instead of just
escalating a standoff with off-campus students, residents have taken a
new approach to improving their neighborhood.
Together, they formed ISGOOD—Isham Street Gardening and Other
Optimistic Doings—an initiative that is reaching out to neighbors.
This past fall, the members of
ISGOOD organized a block party and community workday. Together,
students and residents planted bulbs and flowers up and down the
greenbelt. “They feel literally a part of the soil,” says Phil
Hammerslough, speaking of the opportunity for students to become more
involved in the neighborhood. Next on the agenda? ISGOOD aims to
redesign the street to reduce speeding. Join me as I explore in a
multi-part series how Isham Street is becoming a model of community
development.
For more information on how you can get involved
in ISGOOD or other neighborhood efforts email Alicia.Taylor@uvm.edu.
Free Stuff for Students 21+
The Center for Health and Wellbeing recently got a
grant through the federal government to reduce negative impacts of
alcohol at the University of Vermont. Negative impacts tend to
occur when people drink too much. We know from the NCHA-ACHA
survey, an anonymous randomly selected survey in  Fall 2009,
that most UVM students drink 0 to 4 drinks when socializing. In
order to get this message out, we have free water bottles every Monday
in the Davis Center from 11 am to 1pm at the Center for Health and
Wellbeing table. Stop by, learn about the health services
available to you on campus, and get free stuff. These items were
purchased with a federal grant and are for people who are 21 or over,
as it are illegal for people under 21 years old to drink alcohol.
For more information: Diana.Gonzalez@uvm.edu
Alcohol and Other Drug Education Director
Enter the Why I Love Composting
Video Contest!
Got a thing for
composting? Got some great ideas for making it happen at home, school,
or work? Are some of your best friends Lumbricus Terrestrises?* Then
grab a video camera, tell the world all about it, and enter it
in the
"Why I Love Composting" video contest -- you could win one of our cool
prizes!
Make a fun, serious, wacky, sublime, poetic, scientific, and/or artful
video that educates, inspires, informs, and gets people jazzed about
composting.
Categories are:
- A 30-second public service announcement
- A 3- to 5-minute flick
- Both categories include Youth & Adult winners (Youth=ages 17 and
under; Adult=ages 18+, as of 1/1/11)
How does composting happen? How do you set up a system at home, school,
or work? There's much to explore -- let your imagination take you
there. Video submissions are due by noon, February 14, 2011.
For more information click
here.
R.A.D.
(Rape
Aggression Defense) Training for ALL UVM Women
Two SEPARATE 12 hour courses are being offered for
the Spring 2011 semester. UVM Police Services is offering these courses
to all women affiliated with UVM. The RAD program is a 12 hour course
designed to empower women, teach valuable defense skills, physical
confrontation skills, and how to take control for yourself. You will
learn how to use your mind, your voice, your body, and your skills in
this course.
 The
Tuesday night classes will meet from
7:00-10:00pm starting February 1, 2011. We will meet in Mann Hall
room 211 located on Trinity campus.
The Wednesday night classes will meet from
6:00-9:00pm starting February 2, 2011. We will meet in Mann Hall
room 205A located on Trinity campus.
The first 3 hour class is lecture style to
disseminate information regarding crime awareness and prevention. The
next 2 - 3 hour classes are focused on physical self defense
techniques. The final class is a review of self defense techniques and
simulation (optional) which consist of scenarios allowing the students
to use their skills. For more information, please visit the UVM Police
Services website at www.uvm.edu/police (prevention services and safety
& prevention). The enrollment is a minimum of 10 and a maximum 20
participants. Enrollment is FREE but REQUIRED.
To enroll for the course or for more information,
please contact Officer Sue Roberts at sue.roberts@uvm.edu
Help a Senior Shovel Snow This Winter
The Champlain Valley Agency on Aging is always
looking for volunteers to help seniors in our community shovel snow. To
find out how you can get involved please
call Bev at 1-800-642-5119 or 802-865-0360, or send an email to info@cvaa.org.
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