This is a visual story depicting families in Williston in a time when many of us are spending much more time at home and with family. Things are both simpler and more complicated. I am making these portraits (curb-side while remaining socially distant) in an attempt to document a small (and local to me) piece of these historic times when many families are being directed to “stay home, stay safe”. -Andy Duback
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Portrait of the Schwartz family. Portrait of the Coady family. Portrait of the Murphy family. Portrait of the Spinelli and Quong family. Portrait of the Kanya family. Portrait of the Antonioli family. Portrait of the Twitchell family. Portrait of the Farr family. Portrait of the Steinmetz family. Portrait of the Nikel family. Portrait of the Weppler family. Portrait of the Gerry family. Portrait of Besaw family. Portrait of Snipes family. Portrait of Posner Jones & Dickin family. Portrait of Bouchard family. Portrait of Coons family. Portrait of Conant family. Portrait of the Arumugam family. Portrait of the Gallup family. Portrait of the Forrest family. Portrait of the Niarchos family. Portrait of the Souliotis family. Portrait of the Pratt family. Portrait of the Moreau family. Portrait of the Bartley family. Portrait of the Francke family. Portrait of the Palmer family. Portrait of the Thomas family. Portrait of the Conforti family. Portrait of the Jones family. Portrait of the Adams family. Portrait of the Bates family. Portrait of the Hill family. Portrait of the Montague family. Portrait of the Wilson family. Portrait of the Doane family. Portrait of the ZuWallack family. Portrait of the Dahlstrom family. Portrait of the Koenemann family. Portrait of the Roach family. Portrait of the Cieri family. Portrait of the Ttrifaro family. Portrait of the Morris family. Portrait of the Hunt family. Portrait of the Smith family. Portrait of the Sinopoli family. Portrait of the McCracken family. Portrait of the Pontbriand family. Portrait of the Candon family. Portrait of the Taylor family. Portrait of the Smith family. Portrait of the Howell family. Portrait of the Hark family. Portrait of the Brewer family. Portrait of the Dartt family. Portrait of the Vinci family. Portrait of the Hearn family. Portrait of the Porter family. Portrait of the Deyo family. Portrait of the Pogact family. Portrait of the Clark family. Portrait of the Sicard family. Portrait of the Whitmore family. Portrait of the Howe family. Portrait of the Corry family. Portrait of the Somaini family. Portrait of the Gray family. Portrait of the Lamorey family. Portrait of the Racette family. Portrait of the Hamble family. Portrait of the Hirschfeld family. Portrait of the Souliotis family. Portrait of the Rock family. Portrait of the Batdorf family. Portrait of the Dattilio family. Portrait of the LaPlante family. Portrait of the Jovell family. Portrait of the D’Agostino family. Portrait of the Barrett family. Portrait of the Amin family. Portrait of the Adams family. Portrait of the Nicholson family. Portrait of the Adams family. Portrait of the Devine family. Portrait of the Robertson family. Portrait of the Westman family. Portrait of the Blanchard family. Portrait of the Dyer family. Portrait of the Pellon family. I wonder how much this time will leave a mark on children. Their age will partly determine the answer to that. The duration of this will be a determinant. There are a lot of factors, but their energy and resiliency will help them through. Portrait of the More family. I see the forecast for tomorrow is in the 50s and sunny. I’ll take it. Portrait of the Bate family. We’re holding off on going to the grocery store for as long as possible. We’ll get creative with what remains in our cabinets and pantry. We’ve had a couple friends now, who brought over baked goods … examples of kindness like this abound. Portrait of the Ruwet family. My oldest daughter has been running an Etsy store selling bookmarks to raise money for the Williston Food Shelf. My wife is making masks. Both my kids slept outside in tents last night. I am going to make some homebrew today. I’m not sure any of those things would have happened otherwise. Everyone’s day-to-day is different. Some bad, some good, but definitely different. Portrait of the Mulvey family. I deliberately didn’t catch up on the news today. It’s not that I don’t want to know or don’t think it’s important to know. Now more than ever, we need to be an informed citizenry. Today, I just wanted to be present with my kids and not obsess about the situation. I think I needed that. I’ll bring myself up to speed before long. In the meantime, I am thankful for the walking and biking I did with my kids today, along with catching up with family (on zoom). Portrait of the Rosenfeld family. Their au pair, Leticia (right), is from Brazil and her aunt tested positive; thankfully, she is fully recovered. I also photographed a Mexican exchange student, who is continuing to stay with his Williston host family despite most CVU exchange students having already left to go home. This is a global pandemic that touches all of us in one way or another. It reminds me of one of my favorite books, the Family of Man, which is a book of photographs about our shared humanity. This is shared experience no matter your place on Earth. Portrait of the Devitt family. We all miss will and will continue to miss our family, friends and teachers. For children – who are so home-centered at this phase in life anyway – this transition might not seem as drastic as it does for us parents. Portrait of the Ruid family. This is the perfect post to talk about the pets of Williston. It’s a theme that runs throughout these photos. I know many families are thankful for their cats and dogs and chickens (I haven’t managed to include one yet) and farm animals. These two beautiful dogs weigh in at more than 300 lbs! Portrait of the Gigliotti family. I need to get into Friday night mode. My youngest has a movie cued up. I’ll be there just as soon as I hit post. Can’t wait. Portrait of the Boisjoli family. Just a couple observations on the home front: we generate a lot more dirty dishes than normal; and my kids predictably oscillate from hatred to utter devotion to one another. All will be well tonight, however, as we’re going to watch Onward tonight. Thank you, Disney. Portrait of the DuBois family. Outdoor recreation is very important for our mental and physical well-being. In April, I have never seen so many people on their front or back lawns throwing a frisbee, playing catch, shooting hoops or otherwise being outside. Portrait of the Lewis family. This morning, I was on a zoom meeting where Sen. Ashe was the speaker. He was updating our Rotary group, largely speaking about the state response, though he said one upside of this is that everyday Vermonters can “zoom” into state government meetings. At the statehouse, they typically get just a few onlookers. With many people at home with free time, they are seeing a drastic uptick in people tuning in. Portrait of the Brady family. I’m going to share something pretty personal. Tonight, I introduced my 8-year-old to Rage Against the Machine; it seemed like the right time. She was receptive. It will not be the last time. Portrait of the Pilausic family. I bumped into a friend while out for a walk in my neighborhood. He said we have less but are enjoying what we have more. Well said. Portrait of the Johnson family. I’m reading of the initial positive results of social distancing. It’s one of the few tools we have in this fight. #FamiliesOfWilliston … keep it up! Portrait of the Daudelin family. We are getting ready for a grocery run in the coming days. I never thought I’d have to get myself so prepared to run to the store, a seemingly simple task to which I have never given a second thought. When the Corona Age (as my daughter calls it) has either settled down or passed us by, I will relish these simple tasks. Portrait of the Read family. Having talked with Willistonians who are on the front lines of this, there are good developments and some that are not so good. We’ll need to take the good with the bad. Taking both in is important. Fixating entirely on the negative can be counterproductive. Being aware and appreciating the situation is critical. Every day feels longer than normal. Someone repeated the phrase to me today: “the epoch of April”. Maybe so. Portrait of the Vaughan family. Despite this being an emergency and major disruption, technology allows us to stay connected. Though we remain largely “distant” from one another, we can still tend to important work and relationships. The internet is bending, I’m sure …. I only hope it doesn’t break. Portrait of the Morris family. We’re beginning another day of home school and I’m thankful my daughter is focused this morning, quietly working so I can get a few things done. It’s April Fools’ Day and we’re planning a prank on her older sister. In an odd way, it’s a bit of regularity in an irregular time. Portrait of the Tesini family. Things are day-by-day. With so much in flux, uncertainty and new information, we all need to be adaptable. We are in the same boat. We’re paddling together. Portrait of the Falkenbush family. The sun has come out and for that, I’m thankful. We’ll spend most of our afternoon in our back yard, seeing spring shoots, increased flow in the streams, birds chirping, and plenty of other signs of spring. My daughter’s teacher assigned her to make a work of art out of nature. I think we’ll look at some Andy Goldsworthy for inspiration … not that a 2nd grader needs any advice regarding outside play. Portrait of the Sturgis family. I joked with them that when the baby comes, it’ll be intense nesting. Not a bad thing. Congrats to all the new parents out there … I can’t think of a better place to have a family than Williston. Portrait of the Davie family. I have been hearing about the myriad of activities families have done to pass the time. We’re all being challenged, requiring us to use our brains and interact (or not) in new ways; as a result, this will be a time of creativity and resourcefulness. This is a positive dynamic resulting from a negative situation. Portrait of the Heck family. The health care workers on the front lines of this … this goes out to them. Not only are they confronting this insidious virus while caring for patients (and do so with increased potential exposure), but they themselves have families. I’ve photographed many health care workers over the past several weeks; I admire and am thankful for them all. Portrait of the Pratt family. We start another week of home school with amazing support from Williston Central School, Allen Brook School and CVU. Within a very short period of time, administrators, teachers and staff wound down the in-school year, transitioned families to the home classroom, and delivered an educational platform with regular communication, online tools, and a curriculum. They did so while simultaneously dealing with massive changes in their own homes. That transition was nothing short of amazing. A huge thank you to our schools. Portrait of the Smart family. I was photographing another family in front of their home and met the Smarts, pretty much as you see them here. With significantly less vehicular traffic, foot traffic predominates, even commandeering the entire roadway some afternoons. Portrait of Peg & Larry, our neighbors. We struck the neighbor jackpot. In walking around the various neighborhoods, I’m noticing that people are outside – doing spring cleanup, playing with their children, talking with their neighbors (at a safe distance) – much more than normal for late March. Portrait of the Wax family. Already having children is one thing. Having a new one this spring is another thing altogether. In witnessing (I photograph for the UVM Health Network) and hearing from friends about changes at UVM, there are clear lines of demarcation, now more than ever, so that essential services (like having a baby!) can be done with confidence. Congrats in advance to the Wax family on their new arrival! Portrait of the Bruneau family. The more I make these portraits, the more I want to change the title of the series to “Portraits of Resiliency”. Families are definitely grappling with the new normal, but they are facing those challenges head on and with open eyes. They are making the most of the situation while spending quality time with one another. Portrait of the Campbell family. The thrust of this series is about families – how they’re doing, feeling and adapting. Though there are mixed emotions, I’ve witnessed a lot of laughter, especially from children. Portrait of the Meservey family. It’s Friday night. The kids are asleep. I have nothing except that I’m thankful they are down, everyone is relatively happy and we’re making the best of things. Portrait of the Provencher family. We just received word from the Governor that school will likely be online for the remainder of the year. This, of course, is a huge announcement. Shortly thereafter, we received an email from one of our children’s teacher saying, “the idea of getting back to school with your kids was honestly what was keeping me moving forward.” Portrait of the Hall family. Children want to go-go-go, especially preschool children. You can see that “I want to go” face in this portrait. I wonder if children of this age will even have memories of this time. I wonder if they will be able to heed social distancing calls (I can’t even get my 5th grader to listen to me at times). I am thankful for Vermont’s open spaces … a real asset, given the circumstances. Portrait of the Phelan family. Many are able to work at home, many are not. Thankfully, much of the Phelan’s work can be done remotely. Now that there are many restrictions on movement, many businesses have ground to a halt. Whatever the federal response ends up being, I only hope that the most affected people and businesses can be supported in a meaningful way. Portrait of the Barron family. Both parents are essential staff, so will juggle work and family more than ever. Their children will be required to work more independently, as all children adapt to a new normal. Through the ups and downs, children adapt well and are models of resiliency. Portrait of the Donovan family. Children have a lot of energy they need to get out. Group sports and activities are canceled, so we need to find new, closer-to-home ways to be active. I’ve already rediscovered the importance of a simple walk around the park or block. On these crisp spring days, there’s more activity on the paths at Community Park than normal; others must feel the same. Portrait of the Bufano family. As travel has ground to a near halt, our time is increasingly spent hyper-locally. A sunny day will be an invitation to spend time outside, especially in our back yards or nearby parks and open spaces. Starting today with the Gates family, which we made yesterday. More to come…one per day.