Rumble Strip Vermont

This is a story about a song. Six years ago, seventeen-year-old Finn Rooney killed himself in his home in Walden, Vermont. A couple days later, his community held a bonfire in the parking lot of Hazen Union High school in Hardwick. Hundreds of people came. Tom Gilbert, who organized the bonfire, asked his friend Heidi Wilson to write a song for the occasion. The song was called Hold On. She made sure it was a song everyone could sing. And they did. Now people are singing this song all over the world. People in Minneapolis have been singing it to ICE agents. They’re singing it for their neighbors who are afraid to leave their houses. They’re singing it in Wales and Australia and Iralend in solidarity with the people of Minneapolis. Peole are singing it all over, to give each other some comfort and some courage. This is a story about where that song came from and where it’s gone.

I met Arwa and Habib Meiloud because they’re Anne’s kids and Anne works at the post office in the village here in East Calais. They live in the house right across the road from the post office. Arwa and Habib’s father is from Mauritania and lives out of the country, but both Arwa and Habib were born in the US, and their mother Anne grew up in Vermont. Arwa is 17 years old, Habib is 18. In this conversation, we talk about the roles that race and class have played in their lives.

Kaye Phipps lives in Montpelier, Vermont. Right now she works as a custodian at a local grocery store. She’s also been a florist, a housekeeper, and a house cleaner. But even though she’s sometimes working multiple jobs, she often comes up short. In this episode, Kaye talks about how having a limited income makes her feel like a child, long into adulthood.

Jules Guillemette grew up on their family farm in Lamoille County, Vermont, which has been in the family nearly 100 years. Since then, Jules has worked as a chef, a meat cutter and now they're an electrician. In this episode, we talk about what it means to own land of enormous value but always be struggling to save enough money.

What Class are You? is a periodic series I make for Vermont Public, which started back in 2022. I wanted to talk with people about growing political and cultural divides without talking about politics or cultural divides. I had no idea how to do it. Then one day I just drove around and asked people what class they are. And what I found was that as dumb and offensive as this question is, people have a lot to say about it. Socioeconomic reality is one thing we all share. Some of us have a lot, some have a little, and most of us fall somewhere in between, but it’s a big common denominator. Trudy Richmond lives in subsidized senior housing in Burlington. She’s  educated and worked all her life, but at a certain point, Trudy realized that she had too little money to pay for a comfortable retirement and too much to qualify for services that might make her retirement more comfortable. In this episode of What Class are You, Trudy talks with reporter Erica Heilman about how she negotiated a comfortable retirement for herself.   I make this series for Vermont Public. Thank you Vermont Public for letting me share these stories with Rumble Strip listeners! 

This is a show about Thanksgiving, and what it sounds like. It is made entirely of your recordings.  Thank you everyone for sending me recordings. We have made a show  that sounds like the whole damn country. Or a lot of it.

A couple days ago I asked you to send me some recordings from Thanksgiving. I figured I'd give you a little better sense of what I'm looking for.  Happy Thanksgiving all!   Erica

Let's make a show about Thanksgiving. I have always wanted to do this, and the time has come. Anyone who is willing, I would love you to record a voice memo this week about your holiday. Stories, anecdotes, songs...I don't know. You don't have to speak in complete sentences. It doesn’t have to be organized. It doesn't have to be funny or important.  If you're willing to record some of the holiday ambience, that would also be great. The tv room, the kitchen, the dinner table, the drive or flight to your destination, the door greetings and departures. Anything you feel like recording. Send me the recordings by Sunday, to rumblestripvermont@gmail.com and I will make a show that tries to capture just SOME of our complex feelings and experiences during this DAY OF THANKS.  Thank you all so much in advance! Erica 

Music for this show is by Brian Clark, who is awesome. 

Thank you Phil Edfors of Vermont Public for cleaning up the whale recordings. This was no small feat and I am grateful. The whales were recorded for an oceanic soundscape project at the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute. 

Credits Thanks to all the residents who talked with me, and the beautiful Arlene and Becky Wright, managers of the house. My friend Kelly Green produced this show with me. She’s great at this PLUS she’s a great defense attorney! If you're in trouble, call Kelly. Click here for more information on the Joslyn House The song for this show is A Wave in the Air by The Imperfectionists, from their latest album, Universal Consent. And my frickin ALL TIME FAVORITE IMPERFECTIONIST SONG: Astroplane.

I stopped in to visit with Forrest Foster about his barn project. Here's our conversation.

Williams Family Field of Dreams Tractor Pulls  

A couple weeks ago my friend Susan Randall came to visit. She’s a private investigator and we’ve been friends for thirty years and every  now and then we get together and compare notes on our lives, and on what the hell is going on. Sometimes we talk about her work, sometimes our kids, once we made a show about a dead owl. This has been a very difficult year for Susan. In this  conversation, we talk about her health...and the federal government.

Bryan's substack, Chasing Nature  Bryan's article about the zombie snails and some wicked video

Links: Adopt a Station: Where you can donate to your local public radio station or find stations to support Transom: The place where good radio begins Recent New York Times interview with Bill Siemering about the fate of public radio Information on Transom story trainings Rumble Strip episode w Jay called Fishing with Jay

The women in this show are: Clare Dolan, Holly Rae Taylor, Alison Bechdel, Deb Fleischman, Annie Greensfelder, Rosana Vestuti and Tamar Cole.  Thanks to all the kids and families and dogs and loons and crows that were there that day on the pond. And the trumpet guy. Huge thanks to Chelsea Edgar for your edits. 

This is the last episode in season 6 of What Class are You?, a periodic series I make for Vermont Public. Susan Ritz grew up in a wealthy family in Minnesota. For the past 36 years, she's lived in central Vermont, where she writes books and is an active philanthropist. In this episode of "What class are you?" we talk about the surprising complexities of having more than most.

Today, episode 4 of season SIX of What Class are You?, a periodic series I make for Vermont Public about living in the American class system. In today’s episode, we revisit Kytreana Patrick, who was a guest from the first class series back in 2022. Back then, Kytreana was working as a cashier at Olney’s general store in Orleans, Vermont. Since then, Kytreana’s gotten a job at a factory that manufactures combat helmets. She’s got a small apartment in Newport, and this past January she gave birth to her first child, a daughter, Emberlyn.   Thank you Vermont Public!

Dan Sedon has been working as a criminal defense attorney in Vermont, where he works with poor people and rich people and all the people in between. In this latest episode of What Class are You?, reporter Erica Heilman talks with Dan about what this line of work has taught him about the American class system. What Class are You? is a periodic series I make for Vermont Public. Thank you Vermont Public for letting me share this series with the Rumble Strip audience.