Rumble Strip

Erica Heilman / Rumble Strip, Erica Heilman

Good conversation that takes its time, hosted by Erica Heilman. read less

Our Editor's Take

The Rumble Strip podcast is about society and culture. With host and producer Erica Heilman, this podcast details American life. Each episode delves into a different story to elaborate on a small part of culture and history. This podcast has a mini-documentary style. It demonstrates a column-like journalistic view of various true stories.

Heilman wanted to find a way to talk about the cultural divides in America. This podcast is an attempt to have conversations about culture without political influences. It features stories and interviews with the Vermont public. This podcast highlights local ideas. Rumble Strip offers the opportunity to connect them to the American experience.

In the podcast episode “Prisoners of War,” Heilman interviews four Vermont veterans. It includes real clips of the soldiers' reflections on their experience. They tell their story alongside the context provided by Heilman. In the episode “What Class Are You?,” Heilman interviews people around central Vermont. She asks questions about class divides and platforms their opinions. Another episode details a Vermont town meeting. It includes audio clips of the discussion. That, along with background noises, brings the atmosphere of the meeting alive. Heilman details her observations of the meeting with a poetic tone. She narrates the setting and makes it easy to visualize and connect to this authentic moment.

Rumble Strip pays attention to various types of people, lifestyles, and stories. Episode topics range from soccer moms to taxidermists. Heilman looks into the life experiences of servers and high school students alike. There are episodes about Vermont's Thunder Road, police logs, health care, and deer camps.

Ardent interviews provide authenticity to each story and the people in them. The storytelling allows listeners to observe the world in all its authentic complexities. The narration presents reality in a calming and gentle tone. Heilman brings attention to everyday life in a way that makes small, routine moments seem beautiful. The Rumble Strip podcast issues new episodes on a periodic basis.

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Society & CultureSociety & Culture

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Sugaring with Forrest Foster

Sugaring with Forrest Foster

I hung out with Forrest Foster in his sugarhouse a few weeks ago. Sugarhouses are the best because they’re full of warm, sweet steam and there’s nothing to do but hang around and make sure the pan doesn’t burn. Also, if sugaring is happening it means that winter is almost over and that is a joyous time for me. I love the hell out of April. So here are a few happy minutes with Forrest in his sugarhouse.

Episodes

Sugaring with Forrest Foster

Sugaring with Forrest Foster

I hung out with Forrest Foster in his sugarhouse a few weeks ago. Sugarhouses are the best because they’re full of warm, sweet steam and there’s nothing to do but hang around and make sure the pan doesn’t burn. Also, if sugaring is happening it means that winter is almost over and that is a joyous time for me. I love the hell out of April. So here are a few happy minutes with Forrest in his sugarhouse.

Fifty: A Phoenix Moment. REDUX!

Fifty: A Phoenix Moment. REDUX!

This is a show I made a few years ago that very significantly involves Total Eclipse of the Heart, which is my favorite song. I am playing it again now because it is ECLIPSE WEEK. I hope you enjoy it.

Kasey is Figuring it Out

Kasey is Figuring it Out

Kasey Phipps is transgender and has always been transgender. But Kasey didn’t grow up in a place where the word transgender was well understood. Or understood at all. It’s only in the last four years that Kasey’s put a name to this lifelong experience of living life in the wrong gender. This is just one story about the experience of being trans. Credits:Linda Young plays the harp in this show, for which I am eternally grateful. Here is a link to her excellent TRIO.There is also a song in the show from one of my favorite artists, Carla Kihlstedt and the Tin Hat Trio. Here is a link to them performing this song, little i.My thanks to Amelia Meath, Tobin Anderson, Chelsea Edgar and Serena Matt.

What Class Are You Ashley?

What Class Are You Ashley?

What Class Are You is a periodic series I make for Vermont Public. Thank you Vermont Public for letting me share the series on Rumble Strip.

What Class Are You Ashton?

What Class Are You Ashton?

What Class Are You is a periodic series I make for Vermont Public. Thank you Vermont Public for letting me share the series on Rumble Strip.

What Class Are You Kathleen?

What Class Are You Kathleen?

What Class Are You is a periodic series I make for Vermont Public. Thank you Vermont Public for letting me share the series on Rumble Strip.

Revisiting Isaac

Revisiting Isaac

Many of you got in touch with me after Isaac's story aired in the first week of What Class Are You. Isaac's on his way to Columbia in the fall, on a full scholarship, and you came up with amazing ideas for how you might be helpful, so I went back up to Newport to discuss it all with Isaac. And it turned into a really interesting conversation on a number of fronts.

What Class Are You Ethan?

What Class Are You Ethan?

What Class Are You is a periodic series I make for Vermont Public. Thank you Vermont Public for letting me share the series on Rumble Strip.

What Class Are You Mike?

What Class Are You Mike?

What Class Are You is a periodic series I make for Vermont Public. Thank you Vermont Public for letting me share the series on Rumble Strip.

What Class Are You John?

What Class Are You John?

What Class Are You is a periodic series I make for Vermont Public. Thank you Vermont Public for letting me share this series with Rumble Strip.

What Class Are You? A Conversation with Garret Keizer

What Class Are You? A Conversation with Garret Keizer

What Class is a periodic series I produce for Vermont Public. Thank you Vermont Public for allowing me to share this series with Rumble Strip.

What Class Are You Kytreana?

What Class Are You Kytreana?

What Class Are You is a periodic series I make for Vermont Public. Thank you Vermont Public for allowing me to share the stories with Rumble Strip.

What Class Are You Kate?

What Class Are You Kate?

What Class Are You is a periodic series I make for Vermont Public. Thank you Vermont Public for allowing me to share these stories with Rumble Strip.

What Class Are You Irfan?

What Class Are You Irfan?

Irfan Sehic and his family fled the war in Bosnia when he was seventeen, and landed in Barre, Vermont. Irfan did a lot of jobs when he got here, then went to college, and now runs an insurance company out of his house. I’ve interviewed Irfan for Rumble Strip before, about the war, which you can find on this site somewhere, but in this story, Irfan talks about the American class system as he sees it, starting with the middle class.This is a periodic series I make for Vermont Public. Thank you Vermont Public for letting me share the shows with Rumble Strip.

What Class Are You Isaac?

What Class Are You Isaac?

Isaac lives in Newport, Vermont, which is as far north as you get in Vermont. It’s a town in the Northeast Kingdom with a beautiful lake. It’s also a town with a state prison and a lot of drugs and poverty.I met Isaac at a writers group in town, which meets once a week in town at the amazing Nevermore Bookstore. Isaac is eighteen. He loves to read and write and this spring he’s graduating form Lake Region High School. I asked if he’d be willing to talk with me about class, and he was.What Class Are You is a periodic series I make for Vermont Public, and I want to thank them for letting me share these stories on Rumble Strip.

What Class Are You Susan?

What Class Are You Susan?

Today is the first episode of What Class Are You, a periodic series I make for VP. This series started as an experiment a few years ago. I wanted to have conversations with people about the terrible cultural divides that keep growing in our country, without ending up in boring conversations about politics…so I drove around asking strangers ‘what class are you’, which is a kind of stupid and offensive question, but it turns out people have a lot to say…about money, education, opportunity…power. The very first shows I made about class I already ran on RS as a single show…you can find it on my website….but these next episodes in the series I’ll run one at a time, every couple days, for a few weeks. We’re going to start the series with my old friend Susan Randall, the private investigator I interview a lot for Rumble Strip. She talks about what it was like to grow up upper-middle class.

Makeup For Special Occasion Valentines Day Redux!

Makeup For Special Occasion Valentines Day Redux!

This is a rerun of what could be called a VALENTINE’S DAY SPECIAL, and I hope you enjoy it.Last year on Hardwick's Front Porch Forum, someone called Tiana asked if there was anyone who could help her with her hair and makeup for an important date with her boyfriend. Front Porch Forum is an online, daily community forum, which is like a bulletin board at a local general store. You can find secondhand tires there. Or read complaints about the Selectboard. Every Vermont town’s got a Front Porch Forum and you have to be from that town to be on it.Since Tiana's new to town, she thought she might have luck finding someone to help her get ready for her date through the Forum. And she did.Here is her original posting:Makeup for Special Occasion Tiana • Hardwick I'm looking for someone who'd be willing to do my makeup (and possibly hair?) on the 23rd of this month. Just something simple with my eyes and something to hide some red spots. Is there a way to make an illusion of a skinner face? I think thats a thing, right? I understand it's a long shot and I don't have much money. I usually don't like anything thats considered "girly". However I want to surprise my boyfriend for our first anniversary. I have a nice dress picked out with matching press on nails. The issue is I have no clue how to do makeup. YouTube tutorials have never done me any good considering I don't own any makeup and I have a very round, chubby face.Thank you for reading! CreditsMusic by Brian ClarkThanks to Tara Reese for finding the postingThanks to Tobin and Mike and RoseWelcome the Civic Standard!Thanks to Aubrie St. Louis at the Rehair Shop

A 100 Year Flood

A 100 Year Flood

The Anair story was produced for Vermont Public.

Little League Playoffs

Little League Playoffs

This is one of my all time favorite shows. I made it for Vermont Public in 2019 and I think about these guys all the time. It was the little league playoffs in St. Johnsbury in 2019, before the pandemic, recorded in a simpler time. Let's play some good D out there.

East Hill Tree Farm Please Buy Their Trees

East Hill Tree Farm Please Buy Their Trees

East Hill Tree Farm is awesome. Honestly. It's just the best.