Vermont author Mark Pendergrast talks about his books, from his latest–City on the Verge: Atlanta and the Fight for America’s Urban Future–to his previous writings about repressed memory, coffee, and Coca-Cola. (August 9, 2017 broadcast)
Mark Pendergrast, author
As smart machines replace human labor, how do workers stay relevant and essential? Author Edward Hess, professor of business administration at the University of Virginia, argues, “To stay relevant, we need to excel at critical, creative, and innovative thinking and genuinely engage with others–things machines can’t do well.” We discuss his new book and how to survive in the age of smart machines. (August 9, 2017 broadcast)
Edward Hess, co-author (with Katherine Ludwig), Humility is the New Smart: Rethinking Human Excellence in the Smart Machine Age
Sen. Patrick Leahy has represented Vermont in the U.S. Senate since 1974 . He is the longest serving senator in the U.S. Senate. Philip Baruth’s new biography, Senator Leahy: A Life in Scenes, chronicles how Leahy, a Catholic and a Democrat, was never expected to win his 1974 election. Leahy was Vermont’s first Democratic senator and won several subsequent elections by razor-thin majorities. Baruth is a professor of English at UVM and a Vermont state senator. He served as Vt. Senate majority leader from 2012 to 2016. Baruth discusses Leahy’s legacy, elections and oppositional roles under Pres. Bush and Reagan. Baruth also talks about Vermont politics and his assessment of Gov. Phil Scott’s first six months. (August 2, 2017 broadcast)
Philip Baruth, author, professor, Vermont state senator
David Blittersdorf and Deb Sachs want us to reimagine how we live. Blittersdorf is a well known renewable energy entrepreneur. In 1982, a year after graduating from the University of Vermont, he founded NRG Systems, a wind-energy company. In 2004, he founded AllEarth Renewables, and he owns several small wind energy farms. In 2017, Blittersdorf launched an effort to bring commuter rail back to Vt. He recently purchased a dozen rail cars that he plans to operate in the state. Debra Sachs is co-founder and executive director of Net Zero Vermont, which promotes carbon neutral solutions for communities, including Montpelier. Blittersdorf and Sachs talk about their work to move to a sustainable future and the promise and controversies around the expansion of renewable energy. (July 26, 2017 broadcast)
David Blittersdorf, founder, AllEarth Renewables, commuter rail advocate
Debra Sachs, founder and executive director, Net Zero Vermont
2017 has been an eventful year for Ken Squier: he became the first journalist ever inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame, he sold Thunder Road, the race track that he has owned for over a half century, and he has put his beloved WDEV radio station up for sale. In its Hall of Fame announcement NASCAR paid tribute to him: “One of NASCAR’s original broadcasters, Squier began his career with the Motor Racing Network in 1970. It was his golden voice that took NASCAR to a national audience thirsting for live coverage, giving his insider’s view of what he famously described as ‘common men doing uncommon things.’” Squier reflects on these milestones, growing up on the air, the fight to preserve independent media, what he is proudest of and his advice to young people. (July 19, 2017 broadcast)
Ken Squier, owner, WDEV Radio, NASCAR Hall of Fame 2018 inductee
In summer 2016, Sky Yardley, 66, was diagnosed with early stage Alzheimer’s Disease. There is no cure for this disease. He and his wife, Jane Dwinell, decided to begin writing and speaking about their shared experience of Sky’s dementia. “We started this blog as a way to erase the stigma attached to dementia and to increase understanding of the way it affects people on a day-to-day basis. People with dementia, and their loved ones, are not to be pitied or ignored, but to be treated with the full respect accorded to anyone, and with the understanding that they can meaningfully participate in life and in society despite their disability.” Alzheimer’s is the sixth leading cause of death in the U.S., affecting 5 million people in the U.S., including 12,000 Vermonters. Their blog is called Alzheimer’s Canyon, Sky’s term for a place with “no trails, no landmarks, nothing.” In this interview, Sky talks about his slowly deteriorating mental state, how the couple is dealing with it, and what gives them hope. (July 12, 2017 broadcast)
Sky Yardley and Jane Dwinell, authors, Alzheimer’s Canyon blog
Forty-four states and the District of Columbia have refused to provide certain types of voter information to the Trump administration’s so-called election integrity commission, according to CNN. Vermont Secretary of State Jim Condos declared, “I will not compromise the privacy of Vermont citizens to support the Trump Administration’s witch hunt for widespread voter fraud, which has been disproven many times over by nonpartisan experts.” Condos talks about resisting what he has called a “sham commission.” (July 5, 2017 broadcast)
Jim Condos, Vermont Secretary of State
Dr Ben Kligler is a pioneer in the field of integrative health and medicine – sometimes referred as complementary and alternative medicine. Last year, he was named the founding National Director to leading integrative health strategy at the Coordinating Center for Integrative Health of the U.S. Veterans Administration. In his new position, Kligler, a family medicine doctor, will help to significantly expand veterans’ access to a range of integrative health services. Kligler discusses the mainstreaming of what was once called alternative medicine, and the promise it offers. (July 5, 2017 broadcast)
Dr. Ben Kligler, National Director, Integrative Health Coordinating Center, U.S. Veterans Health Administration, and professor of Family and Community Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine, Mount Sinai, New York
This spring, Vermont Gov. Phil Scott vetoed the state budget after the legislature rebuffed his last minute demand for the state to to strip local school boards of the right to collectively bargaining health care benefits with teachers. Scott also vetoed the Legislature’s marijuana legalization bill. The standoff over these issues forced the Legislature to stay in session two weeks longer than anticipated and required a one-day veto session last week. The result? Scott signed a budget almost identical to the budget he vetoed. The budget includes penalties for school districts that may result in property tax hikes. No deal was struck to legalize marijuana. Advocates discuss the politics of the veto session. (June 28, 2017 broadcast)
Dave Silberman, Middlebury lawyer and pro bono drug policy reform advocate
Darren Allen, communications director, Vermont NEA
“Wherever he went, he got people singing.” So begins the beautifully illustrated children’s book, Listen: How Pete Seeger Got American Singing (Roaring Brook Press, 2017), by Vermont author Leda Schubert. The book chronicles the life and times of America’s most famous musical dissident. Schubert discusses her meeting with Seeger, and her personal shared history: During the anti-communist witch hunts led by Sen. Joseph McCarthy in the 1950s, Seeger was hauled before House Un-American Activities Committee and charged with contempt of Congress for refusing to testify; Schubert’s father also lost his government job during this time. Schubert also discusses how a progressive summer camp first brought her to Vermont, and why she writes for children. (June 28, 2017 broadcast)
Leda Schubert, author, Listen: How Pete Seeger Got American Singing
Michael Finkel is the author of the bestselling new book, The Stranger in the Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit, about a man who disappeared into the Maine woods for over 30 years. Finkel is also the author of True Story: Murder, Memoir, Mea Culpa, about a quadruple murderer who stole Finkel’s identity. The book was turned into the film, True Story, in which Finkel was played by actor Jonah Hill. Finkel was fired by the New York Times over fabrications in his 2001 article about child slavery in Africa, an experience that he revisits in his books. Finkel has written for National Geographic, GQ, Rolling Stone, Esquire, Vanity Fair, The Atlantic and the New York Times. He lives in Bozeman, Montana. (June 14, 2017 broadcast)
Michael Finkel, author
One of the most moving Vermont Conversations was my 2016 interview with First Lt. Jay Karpin, a bombardier in the first wave of bombers that attacked Normandy in the famous D-Day invasion on June 6, 1944. It was the first time that Karpin, 93, among the most highly decorated living WWII veterans, spoke about his own PTSD and some of his secret missions over Europe. Karpin, who has lived in Vermont since 1959, flew 39 combat missions over Europe and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. In 2016, he was named a Chevalier, or knight, of the French Legion of Honor, the highest award given to a non-citizen. Karpin did not speak about his WWII experiences for 50 years, until his wife and daughter pressed him for stories. Karpin talks about his experience during D-Day, the realities of war, and his advice to young people today (May 31, 2017 broadcast)
Jay Karpin, WWII veteran, recipient of Distinguished Flying Cross, Chevalier in French Legion of Honor
Vermont Senate President Pro Tem Tim Ashe discusses Gov. Phil Scott’s veto of Vermont’s first-in-the-nation legislative marijuana legalization and the governor’s attack on teachers’ unions. “Perhaps we were too optimistic that there would actually be compromise,” he says. “I can imagine what might follow next is some type of proposal related to state employees, right to work laws which have gained currency in other states. …We will do everything that we can to stop that.” (May 24, 2017 broadcast)
Sen. Tim Ashe, Vermont Senate President Pro Tem
Vermont Gov. Phil Scott’s 2016 attempt to weaken the collective bargaining rights of teachers has a familiar ring. In 2010, Republican governors won elections in Wisconsin, Ohio and Michigan, in each case taking over from Democratic governors. Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, Ohio Gov. John Kasich and Michigan Gov. Rick Snyder surprised many by immediately attacking teachers’ unions. Another Vermont Conversation discussed Gov. Walker’s battle with unions. Today, we talk with leaders of teachers’ unions in Ohio and Michigan for the national dimension of this issue. (May 24, 2017 broadcast)
Michael Charney, former vice president, Cleveland Teacher’s Union
Amanda Miller, president, Kalamazoo Education Association
As Vermont Gov. Phil Scott attempts to assert state control over collective bargaining with teachers over their health benefits, we examine the national network of conservative organizations that is backing statewide efforts to weaken unions. A new expose shows how the Bradley Foundation, the Koch Brothers, and the American Legislative Exchange Council are behind national anti-union efforts and are leading a campaign to flip blue states red. (May 10, 2017 broadcast)
Mary Bottari, Deputy Director, Center for Media and Democracy
In his first few months in office, Vermont Gov. Phil Scott has attempted to level fund K-12 education and weaken teachers’ collective bargaining power. Scott’s moves have elements in common with the strategy of Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker and other Republican governors who have launched bitter fights with public sector unions. We explore whether Vermont is part of a national campaign to undermine unions. “Take this fight seriously and unite and push back harder than you’ve every pushed back before,” warns Wisconsin union leader Amy Mizialko. (May 10, 2017 broadcast)
Martha Allen, president, Vermont chapter, National Education Association
Amy Mizialko, vice president, Milwaukee Teachers’ Education Association
Transcription available here.
Paid family leave for Vermont employees moved a step closer to reality when the Vermont House of Representatives passed legislation for it on May 3, 2017. What form will the coverage take, and what will it take for paid family leave to become law? (May 3, 2017 broadcast)
Jen Kimmich, co-owner, The Alchemist
Lindsay DesLauriers, state director, Main Street Alliance
When Democracy Now! launched in 1996, it was planned as an eight-month experiment: a grassroots news hour on Pacifica Radio that would cover the 1996 presidential elections. Twenty years later, Democracy Now! airs on 1,400 radio and TV stations worldwide, with millions accessing it online. Amy Goodman, host and executive producer of Democracy Now!, internationally acclaimed journalist — and my sister — talks about how Democracy Now! has become “the modern-day underground railroad of information, bringing stories from the grassroots to a global audience.” Amy talks about our new book, Democracy Now! Twenty Years Covering the Movements Changing America, traces the roots of the show, the importance of independent media that challenges power, Trump and the corporate media, and what gives her hope. (April 26, 2017 broadcast)
Amy Goodman, host & executive producer, Democracy Now!
It has been seven years since the US Supreme Court Citizens United decision unleashed unfettered corporate influence in politics. What has happened as a result? In his new book, political economist Gordon Lafer follows where the big money is flowing: into state politics, where corporations have succeeded in flipping legislatures and governor’s races, and passing a raft of anti-labor, pro-corporate legislation through the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC). (April 19, 2017 broadcast)
Gordon Lafer, author, The One Percent Solution: How Corporations are Remaking America One State at a Time
Are social service cuts necessary? One Vermont, a coalition of advocacy and social service groups in Vermont, argues that proposed state budget cuts will hurt the vulnerable, and can be avoided by closing tax loopholes for the wealthy and lowering tax rates for all. Three advocates make the case against austerity budgets and for a progressive alternative. (April 19, 2017 broadcast)
Stephanie Yu, One Vermont Coordinator, Public Assets Institute
Dan Hoxworth, Executive Director of Capstone Community Action
Ed Paquin, Executive Director, Disability Rights Vermont
On April 12, 2017, hundreds of high school students from around Vermont descended on the Vermont State House to demand climate action in the second annual Youth Lobby Day. We speak with the student activists and the founder of Youth Lobby Day, Matt Henchen. (April 12, 2017 broadcast)
Matt Henchen, founder Youth Lobby Day, teacher, Harwood Union High School
Zoe Werth, Liliana Ziedins, Ellie Zimmerman, Duncan Weinman, Page Atcheson, and Vermont student activists from Harwood, Stowe, Hazen Union, Winooski, and Randolph Union high schools
This week, Vermont state representative announced four proposals to tax carbon while eliminating or reducing other taxes. One bill would replace Vermont’s sales tax with a tax on carbon pollution; another would return all carbon tax revenue to Vermonters through dividend checks; a third proposal would cut income taxes while doubling a tax credit for low-income residents; and a fourth bill would cut property taxes for education and replace it with a tax on carbon pollution. We talk with two of the bills’ sponsors about how Vermont could put a price on carbon. (April 12, 2017 broadcast)
Rep. Diana González, P/D-Winooski
Rep. Martin LaLonde, D-South Burlington
According to Justice for All: “People of color are being treated unfairly as a result of institutionalized racism across the nation and here in Vermont. In the criminal justice system these disparities create challenges ranging from disproportionate traffic stops to overrepresentation in prisons. Ashley Nellis of The Sentencing Project reported that Vermont leads the nation with one in 14 African American males incarcerated. Stephanie Seguino of UVM reported that the Black arrest rate is almost double the White arrest rate.” Advocates discuss the reasons they are calling for a Racial Justice Oversight Board in Vermont. We begin with an update from Migrant Justice about the arrest of three of its members for immigration violations and the campaign to free them. (April 5, 2017 broadcast)
Will Lambek, Migrant Justice
Mark Hughes, Justice for All
Sarah Robinson, Vermont Network Against Domestic & Sexual Violence
As the Trump Administration intensifies its crackdown on immigrants in the U.S., the New Sanctuary Movement of Philadelphia has received national attention for its creative and determined efforts to protect undocumented people. It has pioneered a Sanctuary in the Streets campaign to shield immigrants from police raids. The movement declares, “Through grassroots organizing led by affected immigrants, we fight and win immigrant justice campaigns with our members across nationality, faith, class, and immigration status.” We discuss its goals, tactics, and national implications. (April 5, 2017 broadcast)
Blanca Pacheco, assistant director, New Sanctuary Movement of Philadelphia
Former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean discusses President Trump’s failure to repeal Obamacare, the Clinton-Sanders schism in the Democratic Party, what it will take for Democrats to win again, Gov. Phil Scott’s first 100 days, and why he believes that today’s Republicans can’t govern. (March 29, 2017 broadcast)
Gov. Howard Dean
Can the power of state procurement be used to give incentives to companies that create livable wage jobs and good benefits? We discuss legislation that would level the playing the field for socially responsible businesses. (March 29, 2017 broadcast)
Dan Barlow, public policy manager, Vermont Businesses for Social Responsibility
Pat Heffernan, president, Marketing Partners
Jennifer Chiodo, co-owner, Cx Associates
Is there life after prison? For 30 years, Dismas House of Vermont has been a welcome home for those leaving prison. There are now four Dismas Houses in Vermont: Burlington, Rutland, Winooski and Hartford. The mission of Dismas is “is to reconcile former prisoners with society and society with former prisoners.” The success of Dismas can be seen in the fact that the recidivism rate for its residents is about 15 percent; the recidivism rate nationally is over 70 percent. The cost of living at a Dismas House is about $19,000 per year, versus about $60,000 per year to incarcerate prisoners in Vermont. We explore this innovative approach to working with former prisoners with staff and residents. (March 22, 2017 broadcast)
Richard Gagne, House director, Dismas House, Burlington
James King, resident, Dismas House, Burlington
Jan Tarjan, executive director, Dismas of Vermont
The US incarcerates more people than any country in the free world, and Vermont spends more money on incarceration than it does on higher education. Who is in jail in Vermont? Is there a better alternative than prison? (March 22, 2017 broadcast)
Suzi Wizowaty, execuive director, Vermonters for Criminal Justice Reform
Hillary Clinton murdered her political opponents, used body doubles, and ran child sex rings. Sounds absurd? It is. But these stories were part of a tidal wave of fake news that hit the presidential campaign of Sen. Bernie Sanders. Where did it come from? An explosive Huffington Post expose details how fake news from Russia and Eastern Europe — from the same shadowy sources that were working to promote Donald Trump — began overwhelming Sander’s social media in mid-2016. We discuss the story, fake news, and its impact with two investigators.
Ryan Grim, Washington bureau chief for The Huffington Post and an MSNBC contributor
John Mattes, former Emmy-award winning investigative consultant for ABC World News I-Team in Miami and reporter.
Every summer since 1982, high school students from Vermont and beyond spend up to two weeks living on college campuses and immersing themselves in current affairs, math, engineering, the arts, and other topics. This is the transformative experience offered by the Governor’s Institutes of Vermont which “provides young people with intensive, hands-on learning experiences in college settings, igniting academic and creative passions, building confidence and leadership, and expanding students’ sense of possibility.” Some 88 percent of alumni say GIV was one of their most important life experiences. Leaders and participants discuss the role and promise of GIV:
Vermont voters overwhelmingly rejected Gov. Phil Scott’s call to slash education spending, as 91 percent of school budgets were approved on Town Meeting Day. We discuss the politics of school budgets in Vermont, the impact of education cutbacks, the controversy around independent schools, and future of school district mergers. (March 8, 2017 broadcast)
Nicole Mace, executive director, Vermont School Boards Association
Jeff Francis, executive director, Vermont Superintendents Association
Vermont State Auditor Doug Hoffer keeps a watchful eye on the numbers, both in his official duties and as a frequent contributor to local blogs and comments. Here, he takes down some persistent economic myths.
Doug Hoffer, Vermont State Auditor
David Moats has been editorial page editor of the Rutland Herald for 35 years. He won the 2001 Pulitzer Prize in editorial writing for his coverage of Vermont’s debate over civil unions. Moats discusses editorial writing, the parallels between Presidents Nixon and Trump (“It’s not hard to foresee the collapse of the Trump administration”), Vermont Gov. Phil Scott (first budget is “far-fetched” and reflects “naiveté or cynicism”) and his reflections on covering civil unions. (February 22, 2017 broadcast)
David Moats, editorial page editor, Rutland Herald
In early February, Fadwa Alaoui, a resident of the Montreal suburb of Brossard, was turned away at the U.S. border station at Highgate after being questioned about her Muslim faith and her views on Donald Trump. The Moroccan-born Canadian citizen was headed to Vermont to do some shopping, which included buying a toy for her five-year-old son Youssef who had recently completed chemotherapy. In Vermont, undocumented farm workers discuss their fear of immigrant roundups, and activists discuss strategies for defending basic rights. (February 15, 2017 broadcast)
Fadwa Alaoui, Muslim Canadian citizen denied entry to US
Will Lambek, Migrant Justice
Wilmar Santiz, undocumented Vermont farm worker
The Trump administration’s first immigration crackdown led to more than 680 arrests in just a week in a series of operations around the country. Two leading immigration advocates and attorneys discuss the fallout and how Vermont is fighting to protect the rights of immigrants. (February 15, 2017 broadcast)
Erin Jacobsen – supervising attorney, South Royalton Legal Clinic, professor, Vermont Law School
Jay Diaz, staff attorney, Vermont ACLU
Gov. Phil Scott has proposed a budget that key Vt. legislators charge is out of balance, raises property taxes, is unconstitutional, and impossible to implement. Is Gov. Scott’s first budget irreparably broken? Paul Cillo, president of Public Assets Institute and a former House majority leader, discusses the politics and dollars of the new budget, and what lies behind the new politics of resentment, nationally and locally. (February 8, 2017 broadcast)
Paul Cillo, president, Public Assets Institute
The Vermont Business Roundtable, along with VBSR and others, released a report, Vermont’s Early Care and Learning Dividend, which details the return on investment that Vt stands to gain by increasing public investments in high-quality early care and learning programs. The report found that investing in a high-quality, affordable early care and learning system would yield net benefits to Vermont’s economy of $22 million a year. These benefits would continue to accrue over the working lifetime of the children receiving that care, totaling $1.3 billion over the next 60 years. This equates to a return of $3.08 for every dollar invested. Gov. Phil Scott has expressed support for investing in child are, but has proposed funding it by taking money from K-12 education, which the Legislature has nixed. Has the governor punted on child care? What’s the future for early childhood education in Vermont? (February 8, 2017 broadcast)
Robyn Freedner Maguire, campaign director, Let’s Grow Kids
Lisa Ventriss, president, Vermont Business Roundtable
Kelly Klein, owner and CEO, of Groennfell Meadery, Colchester
In President Trump’s first week in office, the American Civil Liberties Union handed him his first defeat: successfully challenging his refugee and Muslim ban in court and winning a stay in multiple federal courts. Now the Vermont chapter of the ACLU prepares to defend immigrant rights, privacy, LGBTQ rights, press freedom and other civil liberties in Vermont. We discuss the road ahead.
James Lyall, executive director, Vermont ACLU
The Lake Champlain Community Sailing Center is a community-based nonprofit group that provides lake access to over 6,000 people each year regardless of age, ability or income. In May 2017, the CSC moves into a new permanent facility on the Burlington waterfront that will offer free and affordable usage of sailboats, paddleboards, and kayaks. It also has programs for people with disabilities, women, and others. We discuss the vision of a Lake Champlain accessible to all
Make Naud, executive director, Lake Champlain Community Sailing Center
Vermont Gov. Phil Scott has proposed a radical change in how education is funded and governed. In his first budget address on Jan. 24, 2017, Scott proposed mandating level-funded budgets for all schools, pushing back school budget voting nearly three months, and funding early and higher ed by cutting $50 million currently allocated to pre K-12 education. Two education advocates debate the proposal and its impact on local control of education in Vermont.
Geo Honigford, president, Vt School Boards Association
Martha Allen, president, Vermont-National Education Association
Buying local is a powerful economic driver: for every $1 spent at a local business, 45 cents is reinvested locally. For every $1 spent at a corporate chain, only 15 cents is reinvested locally. Local First Vermont has been spreading the gospel of localism with its annual coupon book, which has over $3,000 in savings. This year, Vermont localvores can turn to a new mobile app to find deals at their favorite business. We talk about the impact of the Buy Local movement in Vt, and where to find local bargains, and the mobile app.
Wendy Wilson, manager, Local First Vermont
James JT Thompson, CEO, Daft Labs
Chris Morrow, owner, Northshire Books, Manchester, VT
Amy Goodman, host and executive producer of Democracy Now!, the daily grassroots global news hour, and Bill McKibben, author and founder of the international environmental group 350.org, participated in a public conversation at the Chandler Music Hall in Randolph, Vermont on January 14, 2017. They discuss climate change, the protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline and the Goodman’s ensuing legal battle when North Dakota authorities unsuccessfully charged her with rioting, McKibben’s experience being spied upon by Exxon, the critical role of independent media, and the importance of movements in making change–especially now. This audio is their unabridged 70 minute conversation (thanks to Chandler Music Hall for the recording). (January 18, 2017 broadcast)
Paul Burns is executive director of the Vermont Public Interest Research Group, a position he’s held since 2001. In just the past few years, VPIRG has played a major role in the nation’s first ban on fracking, new regulations on toxics, and the movement to have GMO foods labeled. Previously, Paul worked for 15 years as an attorney, advocate and organizer for PIRGs in New York and Massachusetts. Burns talks about Ralph Nader and the PIRG movement that he launched, why he pursued public interest law, and how he was inspired by Lois Gibbs and her fight for environmental justice in Love Canal. He also discusses the backlash against renewable power in Vermont, toxics, government ethics, clean power, Gov. Phil Scott and Donald Trump. (January 11, 2017 broadcast)
For 48 years, Vt Sen. Bill Doyle has participated in the ebb and flow of Vermont politics from inside the Legislature and from his classroom at Johnson State College. He notes proudly that about 50 of his former students have run for elective office. Doyle, who is now 90, is one of the longest serving state legislators in the US. He has served under seven different governors. Sen. Doyle narrowly lost his re-election in Nov. 2016.
In this Vermont Conversation, Sen. Doyle talks about the high points of his career, his advice to others considering running, and says he is considering running again in 2018. (December 28, 2016 broadcast)
Sen. Bill Doyle, Vermont State Senator, Washington County
Christopher Curtis has dedicated his life to eradicating poverty. Though he has never held elected office, Curtis, staff attorney at Vermont Legal Aid and co-chair of the Governor’s Council on Pathways from Poverty, has been the force behind many key policy changes made on behalf of low-income Vermonters.He discusses the final report of the Governor’s Council, growing up as the adopted son of parents who later divorced and both came out as gay, and why he keeps fighting for the poor. Whitney Nichols joins the conversation to talk about his experience being homeless in Vermont and his work with Curtis on the Governor’s Poverty Council. (Dec. 14, 2016 broadcast)
Christopher Curtis, staff attorney, Vermont Legal Aid, co-chair, Governor’s Council on Pathways from Poverty
Whitney Nichols, consumer advocate, member of Governor’s Council
Duncan McDougall quit his job as a globetrotting management consultant in order to help those in need. In 1998, he founded the Children’s Literacy Foundation (CLiF). Today, CLiF has provided free and inspiring literacy programs and brand-new books to low-income, at-risk, and rural children up to age 12 in almost 85% of the communities in New Hampshire and Vermont. McDougall discusses how CLiF is fighting poverty in rural towns and prisons one book at a time. He is joined by several beneficiaries of CLiF’s work. (Dec. 7, 2016 broadcast)
Duncan McDougall, founder and executive director, Children’s Literacy Foundation
Jess Kell, Kids-A-Part program for incarcerated mothers, Lund Family Center
Jamie Kinnarney, principal, Williamstown Elementary School
Journalist and broadcaster Lowell Thomas is best known for dramatizing the story of Lawrence of Arabia. But Thomas had a storied career as a radio broadcaster for CBS, which often originated from Stowe, Vermont, where Thomas loved to ski. Thomas traveled the world in search of his stories, combining his lust for adventure and journalism. This summer, filmmaker Rick Moulton retraced one of Thomas’s trips to Tibet, where he was one of the few westerners to visit. Moulton recounts his odyssey, and the story of Lowell Thomas. (Nov. 23, 2016 broadcast)
Rick Moulton, filmmaker
Eben Bayer discovered something on his family’s Vermont farm that could save the planet: mycelium, the fine white filaments that are part of fungi such as mushrooms, form a bond as dense and strong as commercial adhesives used in plywood. His company, Ecovative, is now literally growing building materials that can replace plywood, Styrofoam, and packing materials. Fortune 500 companies are lining up to use it. Bayer talks about this “disruptive technology” and how it can transform manufacturing and help the environment. (Nov. 23, 2016 broadcast)
Eben Bayer, founder, Ecovative Design
Two senior advisers to Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign are out with a new book that they intend as a playbook for progressive activists. Rules for Revolutionaries: How Big Organizing Can Change Everything (Chelsea Green, 2016) challenges conventional wisdom about how to wage a political campaign. It tells the story of the organizing behind the Sanders campaign: a technology-driven team that empowered volunteers to build and manage the infrastructure to make 75 million calls, launch 8 million text messages, and hold more than 100,000 public meetings—in an effort to put Bernie’s insurgent campaign over the top. The authors reflect on Donald Trump’s victory and suggest a way forward for progressive activists and those who want to advance Bernie’s “political revolution.” (Nov. 16, 2016 broadcast)
Becky Bond and Zack Exley, co-authors, Rules for Revolutionaries
Pres.-elect Donald Trump has declared that climate change is a “hoax.” What are Vermont climate change activists to do? An organizer of a Climate Solutions Summit sponsored by Energy Independent Vermont discusses plans to press ahead on climate issues, and how she will maintain her activism under a Pres. Trump. (Nov. 16, 2016 broadcast)
Shaina Kasper, Vermont state director, Toxics Action Center
Vermont Conversation 