Writer, Editor, Blogger

From her home in Burlington, Vermont, Lindsay writes arts, design and travel articles for publications including Dwell magazine, Forbes.com, the Washington Post, the Philadelphia Inquirer, Art New England, Seven Days and the U.K.-based Polo Times.

Lindsay also provides corporate-blogging content, is a proofreader for an advertising agency and provides copywriting services.

freelance journalist

copywriter

editor

Nemesis Brings a 1930s Adventure Story to Stage, and Sludge Monsters to Earth (Seven Days)

Posted Wed, 01/18/2012 - 22:00 by lindsay

Originally appeared in the print version of Seven Days on Jan. 18, 2012.

The Intergalactic NemesisTheater audiences can’t help but shift to the edge of their seats when they hear these four sounds: Thump … thump … thump … creeeeeeeeeeeeeak. The combination conjures up images of castles, Igor and ominous wooden doors with deadbolts, doesn’t it?

That’s exactly what Foley, or sound-effects, artist Buzz Moran will be counting on in an upcoming performance of The Intergalactic Nemesis at Burlington’s Flynn Center for the Performing Arts. Originally a live radio play in Austin, Tex., and now a touring stage show, Nemesis is billed as a live-action graphic novel. The sci-fi story, set in 1933, features a reporter and her assistant, a mysterious librarian, and sludge monsters from the planet Zygon that are, of course, threatening planet Earth. Hence the “intergalactic nemesis.”

The show is performed with three stationary actors, one keyboard player and one Foley artist. The stage backdrop features more than 1000 hand-drawn comic-book images projected in high def.

Mitts for When the Mercury Drops

Posted Tue, 01/10/2012 - 09:39 by lindsay

Originally posted at http://www.emsexploration.com/wordpress/mitts-for-when-the-mercury-drops/

When the skis, boots, poles and skins made an appearance in the living room for the third night in a row last week, I knew it was time to either get my husband a hamster wheel, or go visit the snowmakers on the mountain.

Vermont holds the record for most terrain covered by snowmakers in the East — after all, it’s home to “Hug a Snowmaker Day” (really), so we headed up to Jay Peak to pick up DJ’s season pass and to check out the powder — whether real, imagined, or man-made. (And as per last night’s snow-dump, everything is newly dusted in fresh snow.)

We arrived late enough in the day that all of the lifts were closed, which made skinning up the mountain both easy and legal, according to Jay’s AT/backcountry rules (off-limits when the lifts are running). Stir-craziness abated, DJ took a few turns while I put my new Black Diamond Mercury Mitts to the test.

Knitting Vermont Pride into Every Pair of Darn Tough Socks

Posted Wed, 01/04/2012 - 13:48 by lindsay

Originally posted at http://www.emsexploration.com/wordpress/knitting-vermont-pride-into-ever...

When it comes to manufacturing socks, Ric Cabot and his team at Darn Tough have proved their mettle. The only sock mill left in Vermont (or in New England), Darn Tough is a third-generation sock-manufacturing business that prides itself on producing and manufacturing its Merino wool socks exclusively in Northfield, Vermont — and standing behind them with an unconditional lifetime guarantee.

With his feet (clad in the over-the-calf ski socks he’s wearing today) firmly planted on Vermont soil, Ric Cabot talks about Merino wool, keeping jobs in Vermont and Darn Tough’s commitment to making socks that will stand up to a lifetime of abuse.

Westley: Socks have been in your family for three generations. You took over Cabot Hosiery Mills, Inc. from your father, and in 2004, launched the name Darn Tough. Why Darn Tough?

Digitizing a Treasury of Objects at the Fleming Museum (Seven Days)

Posted Thu, 12/15/2011 - 10:03 by lindsay

Originally appeared in the print version of Seven Days on Dec. 14, 2011.

Nicola Astles, Margaret Tamulonis, Aimee Marcereau DeGalan

Janie Cohen walks through the stacks on the top floor of the University of Vermont’s Fleming Museum of Art, running a finger along the shelves and pointing out favorites. Ancient Native American pottery shares a shelf with pre-Columbian artifacts, which perch next to small-scale European sculpture. Cohen, the museum’s executive director, stops to point out a tattered-looking collection of maps created by Napoleon and his troops, then continues down to the end where the paintings hang. A nearby table displays smoking apparatuses, under consideration for a winter exhibition; a row of hunting spears hangs above a drawer full of Native American beadwork.

This area of the museum — where the Fleming keeps its treasures — is generally off limits to visitors. It’s one of three on-site storage vaults, and it’s crammed with objects dating from 3500 BC to the present day. Cohen knows them all. Visitors, even regular ones, probably haven’t seen a quarter of the collection.

Even Greener at the Green Mountain Club

Posted Fri, 12/09/2011 - 09:32 by lindsay

Originally posted at http://www.emsexploration.com/wordpress/even-greener-at-the-green-mounta...

Even a day hike on the Long Trail can feel like an epic journey, thanks to the tree roots, boulders, mud, slippery rocks and scree that litter the trail. It’s one of the toughest thoroughfares in the East, but not from lack of trail maintenance. On the contrary, the Green Mountain Club is just staying true to founder James P. Taylor’s original 1910 mission to traverse the highest, the most rugged and most beautiful of Vermont’s green areas. Most beautiful? Yes. But you definitely have to earn your vistas.

First foray into advertorial writing: Universum Top100 in the New York Times

Posted Wed, 11/30/2011 - 09:36 by lindsay
Universum Top 100Last week I wrote a little bit about reinvention following my move from the Philadelphia Museum of Art to rural Vermont, where I've been freelancing full time while looking for work. That's required quite a bit of reinvention — I'm back into the print newspaper business with an article in Seven Days about winterizing the Shelburne Museum, I started blogging about my outdoor (mis)adventures for the Eastern Mountain Sports blog and on November 17, this issue of the Universum Top 100 came out in the New York Times. My interviews with executives and other businessmen and women start on page 10.

Crampons vs. Microspikes (and the bruises to prove it)

Posted Tue, 11/29/2011 - 13:01 by lindsay

Originally posted at http://www.emsexploration.com/wordpress/crampons-vs-microspikes-and-the-...

These are not crampons. They’re Kahtoola MICROspikes, and they’re awesome. And there’s a reason they’re listed under “Winter Traction,” not under Ice Climbing Gear/Crampons on EMS’ website.

For comparison’s sake, check out the aggression factor on these Black Diamond Sabretooth Pro crampons versus the Kahtoola MICROspikes. Much different.

 

The Shelburne Museum Shuts Down for Winter, But Not Everything Hibernates (Seven Days)

Posted Wed, 11/23/2011 - 10:28 by lindsay

Originally appeared in the print version of Seven Days on Nov. 23, 2011 and posted here: http://www.7dvt.com/2011shelburne-museum-shuts-down-winter-not-everythin...

taking down the lighthouse signIn Beach Lodge, the bears are hibernating. The temperature is a chilly 45 degrees, and the windows will soon be boarded up, leaving the taxidermy Ursus in darkness. It’s creepy in here.

Outside, groundskeepers, curators, gardeners, carpenters and conservators rove the grounds in golf carts, their activity recalling a scene from Richard Scarry’s Busytown. Twenty-three gardens have already been cut back and composted; the carousel has been disassembled and stored.

Welcome to the end of the season at the Shelburne Museum, where workers have indeed been busy battening down the hatches for winter. It’s an aspect of the museum the May-to-October crowd never sees. And, in a way, that’s too bad, because the process of buttoning up 39 historic buildings over 45 sprawling acres is itself an interesting “exhibition” with history lessons.

And You Said We Were Car Camping...

Posted Mon, 11/21/2011 - 15:07 by lindsay

View from the tent flap.I blame shopping for my mountaineering habit.

Usually a new hobby comes first and buying gear comes second, but for me, mountaineering was born two years ago in the fitting room of the Eastern Mountain Sports in North Conway, NH.

It started innocently enough: I told my boyfriend that I was going into the dressing room to try on a few sports bras in advance of what was to be “some snowshoeing and maybe some car camping if we feel up for it” (his words). Ten minutes later, I reappeared and was handed a pair of double-boots, crampons, an ice axe and a topo map…of Mount Madison in New Hampshire.

So much for car camping.

An experienced winter backpacker, DJ coached me through the basics, aided by George at the North Conway school. A lifelong skier, I’d never known that mountaineers used plastic boots too — never mind that crampons came in different sizes and varieties of intensity. I also invested in a thick pair of socks (likely a trip- and relationship-saver).

Moving to Vermont and reinvention

Posted Tue, 11/15/2011 - 00:00 by lindsay

Four months ago, I left a challenging and creative job at the Philadelphia Museum of Art and a semi-regular freelancing gig for the Philadelphia Inquirer for a new challenge: My husband and I moved to Vermont. Worn out by commuting and sick of the rat race, we went looking for greener pastures and found them in a little island just north of Burlington. While my husband is in the final stages of his reinvention from newspaper advertising guy to environmental-engineering-chemistry-communications-guy, I’m writing. And pitching. And writing. And…blogging.

After years of turning my nose up at anything other than print journalism (I even wrote a blog post about how bloggers were killing journalism shortly after The Bulletin folded), I suddenly find myself joining the ranks of those digital-media types. And you know what? It’s fun. Although the anticipation of running to the newsstand to pick up a paper with your byline isn’t replicated, it’s replaced by the thrill of hitting a button and…instant gratification.

So keep an eye on this space, and check out my first forays into adventure journalism at the Eastern Mountain Sports blog, where I’ll be blogging about all the excursions and adventures here in Vermont. Polar opposite from my city career? Yep.