V E R M O N T   G I R L : IN WHICH AMY DOES VARIOUS THINGS IN THE GREEN MOUNTAIN STATE BY AMY STENDER Vermont is snuggled warmly betwixt New York and New Hampshire. It is a fine place for skiing, and probably other outdoorsy-type things. Kayaking or hunting or what-have-you. Frankly, all Y.P.R. knows of Vermont (being itself New York-centric) is that two crazed lunatics on a savage sugar high run some sort of heavily fortified ice-cream compound. Anyway, it's a good thing that Y.P.R. and Amy Stender have found each other. For what it's worth, the following things rhyme with "Vermont Girl": croissant pearl, détente swirl, savant whirl, puissant twirl, Commandant Earl, nonchalant curl, debutante hurl, Miltont Berle, Nice font, Shirl. September 23, 2003 VG #1: Putney In Which Amy Samples Some of the State's Finer Cuisine. September 30, 2003 VG #2: Stowe In Which Amy Gets Wasted and Tries to Go Rock-Climbing. October 14, 2003 VG #3: Woodstock In Which Amy Visits a Working Dairy Farm and Tries to Find a Neck. [and in which the Y.P.R. editors repeatedly misread "dairy" as "diary."] November 18, 2003 VG #4: Swanton In Which Amy Interviews and Rides with the U.S. Border Patrol. February 2, 2004 VG #5: Fairlee In Which Amy Nearly Freezes Her Ass Off. March 20, 2004 VG #6: Weathersfield In Which Amy Learns the Science of Sugarmaking. Amy L. Stender lives in the woods, feeding off indigenous roots and berries. Last winter, she got wicked crazy-hungry and took down a 4-point buck with nothing more than dental floss and a pen knife. She runs around in a T-shirt emblazoned “ILOVERMONT” and likes to yell “Funkified!” at strangers. Her favorite reading selections are usually penned by Neil Gaiman, Charles Bukowski, and Hubert Selby Jr. The first graphic novels she read were Nausicaa of the Valley of Wind (volumes 1-4) by Hayao Miyazaki and she hasn’t stopped since. She wants Henry Rollins to know she thinks he’s a hot animal machine and she wishes he would return her phone calls. You can read her work at McSwys and on her blog, Fluid Motion. Send love mail to Ms. Stender by clicking on these underscored words. MORE C O L U M N S HERE