Monday, September 18, 6:30 PM, come hear Dan read from and talk about his novel!
SUGARING DOWN spins the harrowing tale of two young activists, David and Jill, as they struggle to build a new society on an abandoned farm in Vermont's Northeast Kingdom in 1968. Soon, their idealistic dreams shatter as the realities of the anti-war movement devastate their small commune, spiraling the couple down towards two very different paths.
"In writing SUGARING DOWN I wanted to explore a place and a time that were important for me personally, and important in terms of the emergence of the culture we live in today," explains Dan Chodorkoff, "The late 60's were a time of significant social change; a new ethos was emerging, and young people were in the forefront. We questioned everything and challenged many forms of hierarchy and domination; racism, sexism, imperialism, and capitalism. Our rebellion led to a great outpouring of creativity, and a movement intention actualizing our vision of a new society. The movement accomplished a great deal, but also sowed the seeds of its own destruction through its nihilism and excess. SUGARING DOWN gave me an opportunity to reexamine those days of love and rage and to tell a story of Vermont in all of its glory and harshness."