VT Untapped

In spring of 2020, face masks were one of the few tools we had against covid-19, and you couldn’t buy one. Anywhere.  When hospitals started calling for homemade fabric masks amid a world shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE), people with sewing skills in Vermont and around the world responded. In early April when the CDC changed its guidance and encouraged all Americans to wear a mask in public, sewers quickly expanded to sew for family, friends, and neighbors. At a time when anyone who could was asked to stay home, this work was one of the few active ways for individuals to help keep others safe.  In this three-part mini-series we’ll explore the pandemic experience through the voices of some of Vermont’s mask makers. You’ll hear how and why they joined the sewing effort, learn about the Great Elastic Shortage of 2020, and explore how they expressed themselves creatively through the masks they made (what, you didn’t have a mask with spikes on it!?).  The Mask Makers is co-produced and co-hosted by material culturalist and mask maker Eliza West.  SEWING IN A CRISIS In Episode 1 we explore the experiences of a handful of Vermont mask makers, learning about how mask making became an outlet for anxiety, while also forming an essential part of Vermont’s efforts to stem the spread of the virus. We also consider the complexities of mask makers earning money, or not, in exchange for their labor and the pressure some people felt to join the cause.    VT Untapped™ is a production of the Vermont Folklife Center. To learn more click here.

MEET VERMONT’S MASK MAKERS In spring of 2020, face masks were one of the few tools we had against covid-19, and you couldn’t buy one. Anywhere.  When hospitals started calling for homemade fabric masks amid a worldwide shortage of personal protective equipment (PPE), people with sewing skills in Vermont and around the world began to respond. In early April when the CDC changed its guidance and encouraged all Americans to wear a mask in public, sewers quickly expanded to sew for family, friends, and neighbors. At a time when anyone who could was asked to stay home, this work was one of the few active ways for individuals to help keep others safe.  In this three-part mini-series we’ll explore the pandemic experience through the voices of some of Vermont’s mask makers. You’ll hear how and why they joined the sewing effort, learn about the Great Elastic Shortage of 2020, and explore how they expressed themselves creatively through the masks they made (what, you didn’t have a mask with spikes on it!?).  The Mask Makers is co-produced and co-hosted by material culturalist and mask maker Eliza West.  ADAPTATION AND COLLABORATION You remember the toilet paper shortage, but did you know about the great elastic shortage of 2020? For home sewers, the global state of emergency elicited by the pandemic felt a lot like a war effort. On the “home front” (most often literally inside their homes) mask makers combated shortages of PPE to help those on the front lines of the pandemic as well as their family and friends.  Like other global crises, the pandemic caused shortages of goods and disrupted supply chains, but makers found countless creative ways around those problems. In this episode, we hear from mask makers who shared resources and solutions when elastic or fabric were hard to find and offered mutual support amid the isolation of the early pandemic.   VT Untapped is produced by the Vermont Folklife Center. Click here to learn more.

This year for our annual SPOOKY HALLOWEEN SPECIAL We teamed up with our friends at Vermont Public Radio and put out a call to all Vermonters, inviting them to get in touch and tell us their scariest ghostly encounters and supernatural sightings. We spoke with folks all over the state and we share four of the stories we heard in this episode. You’ll meet a traveling ghost, attend an elegant dinner party, and might think twice about going skiing in the Adirondacks. Thanks to Liz, Susannah, Gerry, and Tony for telling these tales. And speaking of spooky—did you catch last year’s Spooky Halloween Special featuring Floyd Cowdrey telling a tale of the haunted house he lived in as a boy? If not, hit the link below, turn off the lights and tune in. And if you’d like to hear Andy’s favorite Halloween song, you can give a listen here: “It’s Halloween!” by The Shaggs. VT Untapped™ is produced by the Vermont Folklife Center. Learn more on our website: www.vtfolklife.org/untapped 

This episode is the second in a pair of shows in which we reflect on the impact and legacy of Tropical Storm Irene. In Mendon Remembers, we hear from a group of Mendon, VT residents who gathered for a story circle in July, 2021 to share how their perspectives on Irene and its impacts have unfolded over the past ten years. Everyone who participated had also taken part in the story circles recorded by the Vermont Folklife Center immediately after the storm as part of the Irene Storytelling Project. If you missed it, make sure to listen to the previous episode, Revisiting Irene: “Weathering the Storm.” THE IRENE STORYTELLING PROJECT Organizing Story Circles was one part of the Irene Storytelling Project. In addition to recording these events, our engagement was also an effort to support community-initiated documentation projects that explored the impact of Irene, and to maintain Irene Digital Memory, an online repository for media generated about Irene and the human response to the storm.  VT Untapped™ is produced by the Vermont Folklife Center. For more information visit www.vtfolklife.org/untapped

Nine years ago the Vermont Folklife Center released Weathering the Storm - an audio documentary created with Vermonters from towns across the state hard hit by tropical storm Irene. In this special episode of VT Untapped we are re-presenting “Weathering the Storm” in its entirety to mark the 10th anniversary of this historic event. Tropical Storm Irene struck Vermont on August 28, 2011 causing widespread, catastrophic damage. At VFC we struggled with how to respond to the storm - how could we employ our skills in a way that might actually help people in the present? Through our conversations we developed what we called the Irene Storytelling Project, at the heart of which resided a series of in person story-sharing events across the state we called “Story Circles.” Late VFC folklorist Greg Sharrow and staff member Aylie Baker developed and refined the idea of Story Circles - structured, community storytelling gatherings where people embroiled in the experience of storm recovery could come together and share. The Folklife Center sponsored Story Circles in Mendon, Stockbridge, and Rochester, Vermont. In partnership with Starting Over Strong Vermont (an emergency response organization that provided free, short-term support communities impacted by flooding from Irene) we worked with residents of Athens, Brattleboro, Ludlow, Plymouth, Waterbury and Wilmington. These events were as much about being heard as they were about listening to others. As we came to learn, the Story Circles provided people with a way to give collective voice to the shared trauma of natural disaster. A place to reflect, connect with one another and find strength to move through—and beyond—the storm and its impacts. We were honored to be witnesses to the process. In many ways the Irene Storytelling Project was some of the most significant work we have ever done. VT Untapped is produced by the Vermont Folklife Center. For more information visit www.vtfolklife.org/untapped

Over a year since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic we take a moment to look back on a year of the Listening in Place project, focusing on submissions to our Sound Archive. This facet of Listening in Place began with a small collection of audio recordings submitted via a portal on our website in response to an invitation to sit down and interview someone in your household, or remotely, during our first weeks of lockdown.  We received about 30 recordings from across the state. College students interviewing their classmates or their parents who they were suddenly living with again after campus shut down; a father talking to his two kids; people connecting remotely with friends who were far away or who were quarantining just across town. In this episode of VT Untapped™ we revisit and reflect on these records, which we now think of as the first seeds planted in what has become the Listening in Place collection in our archive, documenting people’s experiences in Vermont during the pandemic. VT Untapped™ is produced by the Vermont Folklife Center. Learn more on our website: www.vtfolklife.org/untapped   

Sugaring is a central part of life in Vermont. Anthropologist Marge Bruchac tells us that the Abenaki people, the indigenous group native to Vermont, called the fourth new moon of the year the “maple sugar-making moon.” The Abenaki were the first people in the place we now call Vermont to boil down sap and make syrup, and they taught European settlers this practice--one unique to North America. Today in Vermont sugaring is an important economic activity and a seasonal milestone that marks the transition from winter to spring--not to mention it’s how we create our best known, homegrown, sweet treat. Along with syrup, candy and other maple products, the seasonal pastime of visiting the sugar house is often evoked as a classic ‘Vermont’ activity for tourists and locals alike. It’s no surprise then that there are songs about sugaring or even that the Vermont Folklife Center might make reference to the activity in the name of its own podcast, VT Untapped™! In our case we’re not tapping trees, but our archive, which contains thousands of interviews with Vermonters talking about their everyday lives and experiences. This episode brings you a seasonal selection of audio excerpts from our collection that reflect the sugaring tradition and its prominence in Vermont life across generations.  VT Untapped™ is produced by the Vermont Folklife Center. Visit www.vtfolklife.org/untapped to learn more. 

It’s that time of year again! Although our annual “Meet Cute” episode is a bit different this year, isn’t everything? We’re coming up on one year of living through the Covid-19 pandemic, and as a part of our Listening in Place project, we’ve focused on hearing from Vermonters about their experiences of this tumultuous time, in their own voices. We know that Vermonters have continued to cultivate new romantic connections during this time but, to be honest, we paused a bit around asking people to tell us their touching stories of new flowering love in the midst of the pandemic. Would anyone really want to put a spotlight on a newly forged connection by sitting down for an interview with us? So instead, our 2021 Meet Cute focuses on two themes that have consistently emerged through Listening in Place: resilience and human connections. Less of a “meet cute,” this year’s February episode of VT Untapped explores Covid as a catalyst for strengthening an existing relationship—a story about love across distance and across borders. We hope you enjoy!   VT Untapped™ is produced by the Vermont Folklife Center. Learn more on our website: www.vtfolklife.org/untapped 

Back in March 2020, Pete Sutherland opened up the voice memo app on his phone, hit record and said “This is just day-one of one person's journal about isolation in the time of the Coronavirus outbreak worldwide.” In the following nine months, Pete continued to hit record and share his thoughts with what he calls “the vault” on his phone. Sometimes he discusses the COVID-19 Pandemic, other times he reflects on walks in the woods, his family, teaching, or the 2020 election. In this episode of VT Untapped™, we bring you excerpts of Pete’s COVID Diary. Pete is a longtime friend of the VFC and a vastly influential contributor to traditional culture in Vermont. He is prolific as a musician, teacher, visual artist, composer, writer, and storyteller and his way with words comes through in this diary. Beyond the words, the sonic experience of the diary transports us right into Pete’s world; many of his entries are made “on site” as he goes about his daily life. So take a seat and join Pete on his journey through COVID times. In addition to providing material for this podcast, Pete has donated his diary in its entirety to the VFC archive where it will add to our growing collection of materials documenting the COVID-19 pandemic and our Listening in Place project. We are profoundly grateful to Pete for agreeing to share this personal account with us.   VT Untapped™ is produced by the Vermont Folklife Center. Visit our website for more information.

Established in 1991, our Vermont Traditional Arts Apprenticeship Program (VTAAP) was created to support the vitality of Vermont's living cultural heritage. In this episode we explore VTAAP by talking with some of the program participants—master artists and their apprentices—to explore their perspectives on these time-honored art forms, and the experience of teaching and learning during a global pandemic. Traditional arts are often perceived as primarily—or even exclusively—tied to the past, but we see them as living practices, constantly evolving and changing to meet the unfolding needs of the people who care about them. Traditional art draws on the past, but is continually refined and shaped by needs and perspectives of the present.  Over the years the program has supported traditional forms ranging from Abenaki basketry and dance, Yankee and Franco-American fiddling, Somali Bantu instrument making, memorial stone carving in Barre, Japanese Ikebana, Congolese Dance, and Tibetan dranyan performance among hundreds of others. VTAAP is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts and donors around the state. Despite the current challenges of the pandemic, 13 collaborations between master artists and apprentices are being supported in the 2020-2021 VTAAP cycle (you can see the full list of projects here). In this episode you’ll come along with VFC staff on three "virtual site visits” to meet a few of this year’s cohort of artists and apprentices and hear about the art forms and projects they’ll be working on over the course of the next 10 months.   VT Untapped™ is produced by the Vermont Folklife Center. Visit our website for more information. 

What does a vibrant camp sound like without its campers?  Camp Killooleet sits on the banks of the Hancock Branch, a tributary to the White River in Hancock, Vermont. Since 1927 it’s welcomed kids ages 9-14 for a classic summer camp experience. Hiking and swimming, arts and woodworking, sports, horse-back riding and a particularly strong music and song culture due in large part to the longtime connection of the Seeger family with Killooleet. John and Ellie Seeger bought the camp in 1949 and today their daughter, Kate Seeger and her husband Dean Spencer are the camp directors. John Seeger was the brother of the legendary folk singer, Pete Seeger.    Back in August, Mary Wesley and assistant producer Abra Clawson drove down to Hancock to meet with Kate, Dean and Kate’s brother, Tony Seeger. Tony is an anthropologist and audio-visual archivist and he serves on the Board of Directors for the VFC. It was an unusual visit because for the first time in 93 years, Camp Killooleet was closed, due to Covid -19. Where you’d expect to hear splashing and shouting in the pond and music in the camp house there was only birdsong and a slight breeze.    This episode explores the ways in which a summer camp community, an inherently ephemeral group, stays connected over time and distance. Camp Killoolleet in particular offers a unique site of observation and reflection thanks to two albums recorded in 1958 available from Smithsonian Folkways: Songs of Camp and Sounds of Camp. These historical recordings feature documentary soundscapes and sing-alongs that allow us to travel back in time to hear just what was missing from Killooleet during this “camper-less” summer of 2020.   THE RECORDINGS We thank Smithsonian Folkways for granting us permission to feature selections from Sounds of Camp and Songs of Camp in this episode. You can find both albums--as well as the entire Smithsonian Folkways catalog here on their website.  The campers and counselors featured in this episode are Charlie, Kim, Smitty, Danny and Avi. You can sit in on one of the Killooleet Virtual Campfires here on YouTube.    Vermont Untapped is produced by the Vermont Folklife Center. For more information visit our website. 

This episode of VT Untapped™ is the first in a six-part series built around our “Listening in Place” project. We’ll take you into six different Vermont communities where we’ve spent some time listening to what people are going through and what they’re thinking about during the pandemic and beyond. Since mid May the VFC has been working in partnership with Project Independence, an elderly day center in Middlebury, as part of our Listening in Place project, which seeks to document the everyday lives of Vermonters as they live through the extraordinary events of 2020. Project Independence serves over 100 participants with the goal of keeping elderly people independent and at home for longer. However after the COVID-19 pandemic hit, it was clear that they had to greatly adapt their in-person programming in order to keep their participants and staff safe. Project Independence transitioned to Zoom video calls, which required much technical support and providing people with new devices that would fit their needs. Now each day, participants can take part in a large array of activities online. Between May 12 and August 5, one of these activities was to participate in an online interview with the VFC. We spoke with 22 different people, participants, staff and volunteers who shared their perspectives on life during Covid. Having a conversation and recording online could be tricky and many times we heard the common refrain, “Can you hear me? Are you there?” But when technology cooperated the connection went deeper than just a clear internet signal. People shared about the impact of suddenly having to stay home (for some, visiting Project Independence was their only outing), missing family and friends, honest confessions of loneliness and powerful messages of resilience that perhaps only the perspective of age can allow. We hope you enjoy hearing some of these perspectives in this episode of VT Untapped™. This podcast is produced by the Vermont Folklife Center. Please visit our website to learn more.   

In the run up to election day 2022 VT Folklife is re-releasing our audio series Under the Golden Dome: The Stories Behind Vermont’s Citizen Legislature.  In 2004 the Snelling Center for Government commissioned Vermont Folklife to interview 35 former legislators. VT Folklife founder Jane C. Beck along with audio editor and musician Bob Merrill then worked together to create this ten-part radio series. It allows a rare, very human view, of our Legislature and its workings over the prior fifty-plus years.  The series demonstrates that within our state house the only constant has been change. Yet under the golden dome a unique citizen legislature where anyone can serve continues to thrive. Funding for radio production was provided by The Vermont Community Foundation and The Windham Foundation. We’ll be releasing the full series over the next week to accompany you during the countdown to election day on November 8, 2022. We urge everyone to vote! You can learn more about this series and listen to other episodes of VT Untapped at www.vtfolklife.org/untapped.

In the run up to election day 2022 VT Folklife is re-releasing our audio series Under the Golden Dome: The Stories Behind Vermont’s Citizen Legislature.  In 2004 the Snelling Center for Government commissioned Vermont Folklife to interview 35 former legislators. VT Folklife founder Jane C. Beck along with audio editor and musician Bob Merrill then worked together to create this ten-part radio series. It allows a rare, very human view, of our Legislature and its workings over the prior fifty-plus years.  The series demonstrates that within our state house the only constant has been change. Yet under the golden dome a unique citizen legislature where anyone can serve continues to thrive. Funding for radio production was provided by The Vermont Community Foundation and The Windham Foundation. We’ll be releasing the full series over the next week to accompany you during the countdown to election day on November 8, 2022. We urge everyone to vote! You can learn more about this series and listen to other episodes of VT Untapped at www.vtfolklife.org/untapped.

In the run up to election day 2022 VT Folklife is re-releasing our audio series Under the Golden Dome: The Stories Behind Vermont’s Citizen Legislature.  In 2004 the Snelling Center for Government commissioned Vermont Folklife to interview 35 former legislators. VT Folklife founder Jane C. Beck along with audio editor and musician Bob Merrill then worked together to create this ten-part radio series. It allows a rare, very human view, of our Legislature and its workings over the prior fifty-plus years.  The series demonstrates that within our state house the only constant has been change. Yet under the golden dome a unique citizen legislature where anyone can serve continues to thrive. Funding for radio production was provided by The Vermont Community Foundation and The Windham Foundation. We’ll be releasing the full series over the next week to accompany you during the countdown to election day on November 8, 2022. We urge everyone to vote! You can learn more about this series and listen to other episodes of VT Untapped at www.vtfolklife.org/untapped.

In the run up to election day 2022 VT Folklife is re-releasing our audio series Under the Golden Dome: The Stories Behind Vermont’s Citizen Legislature.  In 2004 the Snelling Center for Government commissioned Vermont Folklife to interview 35 former legislators. VT Folklife founder Jane C. Beck along with audio editor and musician Bob Merrill then worked together to create this ten-part radio series. It allows a rare, very human view, of our Legislature and its workings over the prior fifty-plus years.  The series demonstrates that within our state house the only constant has been change. Yet under the golden dome a unique citizen legislature where anyone can serve continues to thrive. Funding for radio production was provided by The Vermont Community Foundation and The Windham Foundation. We’ll be releasing the full series over the next week to accompany you during the countdown to election day on November 8, 2022. We urge everyone to vote! You can learn more about this series and listen to other episodes of VT Untapped at www.vtfolklife.org/untapped.

In the run up to election day 2022 VT Folklife is re-releasing our audio series Under the Golden Dome: The Stories Behind Vermont’s Citizen Legislature.  In 2004 the Snelling Center for Government commissioned Vermont Folklife to interview 35 former legislators. VT Folklife founder Jane C. Beck along with audio editor and musician Bob Merrill then worked together to create this ten-part radio series. It allows a rare, very human view, of our Legislature and its workings over the prior fifty-plus years.  The series demonstrates that within our state house the only constant has been change. Yet under the golden dome a unique citizen legislature where anyone can serve continues to thrive. Funding for radio production was provided by The Vermont Community Foundation and The Windham Foundation. We’ll be releasing the full series over the next week to accompany you during the countdown to election day on November 8, 2022. We urge everyone to vote! You can learn more about this series and listen to other episodes of VT Untapped at www.vtfolklife.org/untapped.

In the run up to election day 2022 VT Folklife is re-releasing our audio series Under the Golden Dome: The Stories Behind Vermont’s Citizen Legislature.  In 2004 the Snelling Center for Government commissioned Vermont Folklife to interview 35 former legislators. VT Folklife founder Jane C. Beck along with audio editor and musician Bob Merrill then worked together to create this ten-part radio series. It allows a rare, very human view, of our Legislature and its workings over the prior fifty-plus years.  The series demonstrates that within our state house the only constant has been change. Yet under the golden dome a unique citizen legislature where anyone can serve continues to thrive. Funding for radio production was provided by The Vermont Community Foundation and The Windham Foundation. We’ll be releasing the full series over the next week to accompany you during the countdown to election day on November 8, 2022. We urge everyone to vote! You can learn more about this series and listen to other episodes of VT Untapped at www.vtfolklife.org/untapped.

In the run up to election day 2022 VT Folklife is re-releasing our audio series Under the Golden Dome: The Stories Behind Vermont’s Citizen Legislature.  In 2004 the Snelling Center for Government commissioned Vermont Folklife to interview 35 former legislators. VT Folklife founder Jane C. Beck along with audio editor and musician Bob Merrill then worked together to create this ten-part radio series. It allows a rare, very human view, of our Legislature and its workings over the prior fifty-plus years.  The series demonstrates that within our state house the only constant has been change. Yet under the golden dome a unique citizen legislature where anyone can serve continues to thrive. Funding for radio production was provided by The Vermont Community Foundation and The Windham Foundation. We’ll be releasing the full series over the next week to accompany you during the countdown to election day on November 8, 2022. We urge everyone to vote! You can learn more about this series and listen to other episodes of VT Untapped at www.vtfolklife.org/untapped.

In the run up to election day 2022 VT Folklife is re-releasing our audio series Under the Golden Dome: The Stories Behind Vermont’s Citizen Legislature.  In 2004 the Snelling Center for Government commissioned Vermont Folklife to interview 35 former legislators. VT Folklife founder Jane C. Beck along with audio editor and musician Bob Merrill then worked together to create this ten-part radio series. It allows a rare, very human view, of our Legislature and its workings over the prior fifty-plus years.  The series demonstrates that within our state house the only constant has been change. Yet under the golden dome a unique citizen legislature where anyone can serve continues to thrive. Funding for radio production was provided by The Vermont Community Foundation and The Windham Foundation. We’ll be releasing the full series over the next week to accompany you during the countdown to election day on November 8, 2022. We urge everyone to vote! You can learn more about this series and listen to other episodes of VT Untapped at www.vtfolklife.org/untapped.