Rumble Strip

From The Kitchen Sisters Presents:

Pioneering radio artist Larry Massett, a producer's producer, who led listeners into unexpected worlds and influenced so many in public radio and beyond, died last year at the age of 80. 
The Kitchen Sisters were fortunate to work with Larry on our NPR series Lost & Found Sound and Soundprint. He was a friend and colleague. 
We learned of Larry's passing last spring on Transom.org, the p...

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 hour...

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 si...

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 ...

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. Socioecono...

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. T...

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 frick...

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 federa...