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Foliage-Loving Influencers Turn Life in Vermont Town Into Hell

The town of Pomfret is restricting access to a popular photo spot after complaints of excessive traffic, trespassing, and noise. -    Rhea Nayyar   One of thousands of photos capturing the idyllic Sleepy Hollow Farm in Pomfret, Vermont (photo by Anthony Quintano via Flickr ) Hold off on the riding boots and camel-brown scarves! One exasperated New England town has officially approved temporary vehicle restrictions on two roads after a plot of private property became a worldwide content farm for what’s known as “ Christian Girl Autumn ,” a curated social media aesthetic centered on the beauty of changing leaves, fall attire, seasonal treats, and cozy vibes. The town of Pomfret, Vermont, has seen an unprecedented surge in fall foliage fans, known as “peepers,” since its Sleepy Hollow Farm became an influencer destination in recent years. However, complaints of trespassing, invasive drone activity, littering, a

oTis: oMg

 

no more cursive: YES👆

Had I heard him correctly? Who else can’t read cursive? I asked the class. The answer: about two-thirds. And who can’t write it? Even more. What did they do about signatures? They had invented them by combining vestiges of whatever cursive instruction they may have had with creative squiggles and flourishes. Amused by my astonishment, the students offered reflections about the place—or absence—of handwriting in their lives. Instead of the Civil War past, we found ourselves exploring a different set of historical changes. In my ignorance, I became their pupil as well as a kind of historical artifact, a Rip van Winkle confronting a transformed world.

In 2010, cursive was omitted from the new national Common Core standards for K–12 education. The students in my class, and their peers, were then somewhere in elementary school. Handwriting instruction had already been declining as laptops and tablets and lessons in “keyboarding” assumed an ever more prominent place in the classroom. Most of my students remembered getting no more than a year or so of somewhat desultory cursive training, which was often pushed aside by a growing emphasis on “teaching to the test.” Now in college, they represent the vanguard of a cursiveless world.

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indeed!

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