The Curmudgeon

Sad, sad news today for your Curmudgeon. Peter Freyne- a journalist landmark of Vermont- has passed. I cannot eulogize him any better than has been done at Seven Days, where he did a good deal of his reportage.

When I lived in Vermont, and specifically when I lived in Burlington, I made sure and double sure that I got the weekly alternative journal Seven Days each and every week. Yeah, I was (and am) a nut for alternative free weeklies- and Seven Days did not disappoint. Every issue- the first thing I did was to look for Freyne's stuff- it was how I learned the political landscape of Vermont.

Even when I moved here, I would still check online to catch Freyne and check up on the goings-on in Vermont.

I fondly recall meeting Peter, a decade ago. We had an evening of drinks and a great conversation- an actual pubhouse dialogue. He was just out for the evening, and I was there unwinding after another day of rocking the line at the restaurant, catching the Bruins game.

Our conversation went all over the map- conceptually, politically, and geographically. We toasted Royko and Slats Grobnik, we lamented the way the small farmers in the Midwest and in New England were being strangled into a toxic submission, we reminisced fondly of the glory days, and the not-so-glory days of the Blackhawks. We talked of the unique, independent spirit of politics in Vermont. Ireland, and whisky, and beers, and how the art of conversation was being lost. It was a great night for me, and after that, we'd always greet each other when we'd bump into each other out and about in ole 'Burlap.

Requiem in pax, Peter. Hope you're gonna keep 'em honest there.