Rumble Strip

This is a same-day reaction to this morning’s story called: A springtime show about how about the economy that partly explains why we feel ashamed. That story features a wonderful listener in Scotland who is a money manager and made some fascinating comments about the last class series. I asked her if she’d be willing to share some of these thoughts on the phone, and she was willing, and that was this morning’s story. A couple hours later I got a reaction audio from one of the people featured in the class series who we talked about in this morning’s story. So I’m playing it. Because it’s great and because the point of the class series is to talk about these things and this is almost like a real goddamn conversation! What Class are You? is a series I make for Vermont Public. 

This is a conversation with a money manager in Scotland who has given a great deal of thought to why many of us feel confused and ashamed about our financial lives. After the What Class are You? shows, I often receive interesting commentary, and I’m always frustrated that this commentary can’t become part of a wider conversation. So after receiving two fascinating comments from EM in Scotland, I asked her if she’d be willing to share some of her thoughts on the economy on the phone. She said yes, and then we had a conversation longer than she ever could have imagined. EM responded primarily to two shows. One featured a woman called Trudy, who worked all kinds of jobs in her life, and toward the end of her working years, she realized that she was not going to have enough money for a comfortable retirement, but she would have a little too much to qualify for services that would make her retirement more comfortable, so she made sure that she retired with little enough money that she could qualify for services. The other story that EM responded to was about Kaye, who talks about how not having money makes her feel like a child, and that all the people with money seem like the adults. Fair warning, I ask a lot of dumb questions in this show, because I don’t know much about the economy. But I’m figuring that maybe there are some people out there like me. And even though I don't know much about economics, most of what she says here has deep resonance. She is naming something I feel but don’t understand.

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. 

CreditsThanks 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 HouseThe 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 supportTransom: The place where good radio beginsRecent New York Times interview with Bill Siemering about the fate of public radioInformation on Transom story trainingsRumble 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.