Joe Biden is the president, but Bernie Sanders is an icon.

Their ascensions occurred on January 20 in Washington, D.C., at the inaugural ceremony at which Biden was formally elevated to the U.S. presidency. Sanders, a political independent and Vermont's junior senator, showed up informally — wearing gear that's true to himself and his home state: wool mittens made by an Essex Junction school teacher and a Burton jacket. His mask was blue, and disposable.

A candidate for the Democratic presidential nomination last year,  Sanders sat alone on the steps of the U.S. Capitol, socially distant, legs and arms crossed, and dressed for the weather (downright cold by D.C. standards). It was there that Brendan Smialowski, a photographer for Agence France-Presse, captured the shot seen 'round the world.

The University of Vermont is losing one of its longest serving and most accomplished experts on social justice. Dr. Wanda Heading-Grant, UVM’s vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion, has accepted a job at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. She starts the newly created position, as CMU’s vice provost for diversity, equity, and inclusion and chief diversity officer, on April 1.

Heading-Grant has been on the UVM campus since 1983, when she first arrived as an 18-year-old freshman, one of the university's only students of color at the time. A first-generation African American college student from Trenton, N.J., Heading-Grant went on to earn her doctoral degree at UVM before rising to one of the university’s highest administrative positions.

Rough Francis have fired bassist Dan Davine for allegedly attending what the band called "the terrorist insurrection" in Washington, D.C., on January 6, at which supporters of President Donald Trump rioted and stormed the U.S. Capitol building. The Burlington punk band announced the decision in a post on Instagram.

"Rough Francis is first and foremost a Black punk band," the post begins, "so when we heard that our bass player, Dan Davine, held views rooted in white supremacy and had attended the terrorist insurrection at the Capital [sic], we took swift and decisive action to immediately remove him from the band."