Brattleboro ‘circus man’ Kevin O’Keefe takes us on a journey through time and space, sprinkling kooky and colorful newspaper accounts of the various circuses that passed through town with his own erudite observations on how the tradition lives on through institutions like the New England Center for Circus Arts. In his unique and entertaining manner, Kevin makes the case that Brattleboro, Vermont is the circus capital of America. Kevin describes how the train would roll into town in the 1800s, listing a difficult to imagine number of rail cars filled with animals and equipment. He starts at the old Island Park, an amusement pavilion on an island in the middle of the Connecticut River over the old Anna Hunt Marsh Bridge adjacent to the rail station where circuses would perform to thousands. He discusses PT Barnum’s visit to another circus location, Frost Fields, site of today’s Cersosimo Lumber yard, and how Jumbo the Elephant bathed in the Whetstone Brook. He paints an engaging portrait of ‘Tom Thumb’ – the 28-inch tall performer – and other circus acts of the time. He also adds amusing details some of the petty crimes that occurred during the circus performances. He ends at the Brattleboro Fairgrounds, site of today's Brattleboro Union High School, where giant circus spectacles last took place. On more serious note, he reflects on why Vermont has been home to so many circus performers and details several circuses that persist to this day here, including the legendary Rob Mermin's Circus Smirkus, his own Circus Minimus, and Troy Wunderle and his Wunderle’s Big Top Adventures. He also highlights twin aerialists Elsie and Serenity Smith Forchion’s New England Center for Circus Arts (NECCA), America’s largest professional circus school, and plugs NECCA’s first annual Vermont Circus Week from November 2 to 9, 2025 in – you guessed it - Brattleboro, Vermont.

This podcast features three interviews with the founders and family members who founded and continue to grow world-class puppetry at Sandglass Theater in Putne,y Vermont, just north of Brattleboro. Ines Zeller Bass and Eric Bass, co-founders of Sandglass, set the stage in the first seven minutes, discussing how they met in Germany (where Ines is from) and their unique approach to puppetry and ensemble theater. They discuss how being part of community has shaped their work. They emphasize their unique collaborative process of creating puppets and scripts and how they nurture and value the puppet's "soul" over ‘manipulation’ to ‘listen’ to the puppet's voice. Deeply rooted in images and metaphors, they describe how their work goes beyond linear storytelling toward a non-traditional, fragmented storytelling style that invites audience participation. From about seven to 12 minutes, Eric and Ines' daughter Shoshana Bass discusses the theater's origins in Germany in 1982, its relocation to Vermont in 1986, and the transformation of an old livery stable into a 100 seat puppet theater. She says, as an ensemble company, Sandglass creates original works, offers programming for all ages, and addresses pressing community issues like refugees and dementia. She talks about Sandglass' educational offerings including summer intensives, camps, and workshops. She describes navigating a leadership transition from her parents to the next generation while exploring the theater's future and community engagement. Jana Zeller, the elder daughter of Eric and Ines, rounds out the podcast. She discusses her role in continuing the family's legacy overseeing youth programming and outreach and performing in various productions, including children's hand puppetry shows she's inherited from Ines' repertoire as well as her own original work. She discusses how Sandglass has moved beyond Putney to foster partnerships in Brattleboro whose creative mix well supports their work. Jana highlights the unique aspects of puppetry, including its capacity for metaphor and the emotional connection it fosters. She describes her own trajectory in puppetry and special fondness for hand puppets. She details Sandglass's community engagement, such as the "Puppets in Paradise" event and the "Puppets in the Green Mountains" festival, which showcases international puppetry. Jana reflects on how difficult international touring has become and how Sandglass, while maintaining its historically deep connections to the international puppet community, is excited to expand its regional reach by designing a traveling 'Puppet Wagon' to bring this meaningful art form to communities in rural Vermont communities and beyond.

Mary Rogers Cabot (Aug 20, 1856 to April 30, 1932) is mostly known for writing a two-volume history of Brattleboro entitled 'Annals of Brattleboro, 1681-1895' (Brattleboro, Vt.: E. L. Hildreth & Co., 1921 ) but her true claim to fame, hardly recognized, was being famed writer Rudyard Kipling's best friend during the years he and his budding family lived in the Brattleboro area until a legal battle between Kipling and his brother in law erupted into a globally publicized circus and the Kipling family escaped back to England. Mary's account of Kipling's time in Brattleboro is the best source of his incredibly productive life in Vermont. The episode also breaks new ground in exploring Kipling and Cabot's shared love for the same man as the basis of their bond. The episode begins discussing Cabot's life as a 'cosmopolitan villager' -- a wealthy, independent, intellectual and world-wise woman of the late 1800s, who possessed an unbridled curiosity about the people and goings-on in the town and its place in the world. Her extensive volunteerism, philanthropic life and approach to town history is presented and the Kipling quote she used to begin the Annals is offered. We hear her origin story and the source of her father's fortune as a merchant trader in the cotton port town of Wetumka, Alabama. We meet her sister Grace Holbrook and brother William Brooks Cabot, a noted engineer and explorer who documented Canadian indigenous peoples in books ('In Northern Labrador,' 1912) and photographs collected under the William Brooks Cabot collection at the Smithsonian. We learn that Mary was likely the prototype for William Dean Howell's 1888 novel 'Annie Kilburn' and hear a quote from that book. We learn about Cabot's deep feelings for Wolcott Balastier, Kipling's wife Carolyn Balastier (Carrie's) brother. Details of the Balastier family's Brattleboro home, Wolcott's life as a literary wunderkind in London, his shocking death at age 30 and his relationship with Kipling and Cabot are discussed. Mary's voice comes to life in multiple excerpts from her letters to her sister Grace found in the Howard C. Rice Kipling Collection at the University of Vermont. Sleigh rides at midnight, 'chafing dish suppers', Kipling and his wife's relationship, children and their home 'Naulakha' (still preserved in Brattleboro by Landmark Trust) and aspects of the artistic collaboration between Cabot and Kipling are revealed with select commentary from Kipling scholar Professor Christopher Benfey. We share Cabot's feelings about the feud that ripped the Balastier family apart and experience Kipling's tearful farewell to Cabot and departure from Brattleboro, one of the places he loved most in the world. The episode ends with Mary's last days, how she lived her whole life at the Terrace Street house in Brattleboro that still exists today, her family's burial grounds and how she was remembered by peers of her time.

Narrator Daniel Toomey, who researched and wrote this podcast for the Brattleboro Words Trail, discusses Pulitzer winning poet and playwright Robert Frost's (1874 – 1963) influence and philosophical imprint on Marlboro College. 'The Road Not Taken' is read by William Edelglass, a Philosophy Professor at Marlboro for the last 12 years of its existence (who also provides a more complete reflection on the college and its impact in a longer podcast accompanying this 'bonus' podcast). Edelglass also quotes from Frost poems 'Kitty Hawk' and 'Directive', and the piece ends with a line from that last poem: 'Here are hour waters and your watering place / drink and be whole again / beyond confusion.' Toomey, who also taught at Marlboro College, describes college founder Walter Hendricks devotion to Frost and how he brought him into its 'act of creation'. In the years subsequent to its opening in 1947, Frost spent considerable time on the new Marlboro College campus, visiting the Hendricks family, talking to students informally as a visiting associate in teaching, as Hendricks called his unpaid position, and participating in the 1948 inauguration graduation, as well as the 1950 graduation during which he received from Marlboro his 22nd honorary degree. Frost's democratic and characteristically American ideal of the shoestring start pointed toward a grander notion, carrying echoes from his reading of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henri Bergson and William James that was at the heart of much of his thinking, forming something out of nothing, making an immaterial idea substantive, convinced that the act of creation itself is the central purpose of our existence.

Narrator /Philosopher William Edelglass, PhD taught the last 12 years of Marlboro College before it closed in 2020 amid strong feelings in the community about the loss of a 'sacred place' of learning of particular import to Brattleboro. The gorgeous campus is now owned by the Marlboro Music Festival which brings world-class musicians to Potash Hill in Marlboro every summer and had enjoyed close ties to the college. Edelglass reflects on what attracted him and others to Marlboro and made the college the 'beautiful thing' it was and also a victim of changes in American higher education and society at large. He discusses the origins of Marlboro College, founded by Walter Hendricks who brought in Robert Frost as the college's first trustee and whose educational philosophy shaped the college's approach to students and learning. He shares how Hendricks founded the school after creating a post WWII college for veterans in Europe, and how veterans helped build the college, literally and figuratively, and shaped it as 'a training ground for democratic citizens to participate fully in civic life.' Universal particpation in a regular 'town meeting' gave students a rare say in essential campus decision-making. He discusses how Hendricks was fired after accusing colleagues and students of being Communists during the red scare. He discusses the shift in leadership to Tom Ragle who led the school for 23 years and brought in the 'plan of concentration' where students did a PhD-like defense of their topic for sometimes prominent outside examiners. He discussed the impact Marlboro had on the larger Brattleboro area and how many creatives and politically minded folks who went and/or taught at Marlboro have enriched the region, especially people like political leaders Emilie Kornheiser Sara Coffey and others and artists John Willis, Jay Craven, Blanche and Louis Moyse, Met Mott, and more. He spoke of the importance of the writing requirement and how many authors arose from Marlboro like T. Hunter Wilson and Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina. He described the painful process that led to the decision to close the campus and partner with Emerson College in Boston to form the Marlboro Institute of Liberal and Interdisciplinary Studies. He discusses the current stewardship of Marlboro Music Festival over the some 65 buildings and lush grounds and new programs happening in the old Marlboro campus, like the Marlboro Studio School and the Contemplative Semester. He ends with reflections on how Marlboro College lives on through the festival and in the many people who came there and settled to contribute in many ways to the greater Brattleboro area, and how it was 'a beautiful thing.'

Narrator and Words Trail co-producer Steve Hooper introduces Chestnut Hill, a special little neighborhood just above Downtown Brattleboro marked by an old reservoir, houses with spectacular views and access to the lovely Retreat Trails network. Steve describes visiting his grandparents, Howard Crosby and Amy Rice, his aunt Marion McCune Rice and uncle Howard C. Rice Jr. at their respective homes there. The Rice family's creative, cosmopolitan and community-minded lives and spirits helped shape the identity of Brattleboro. Howard and Amy were the first to build a house at the apex of Chestnut Hill after a former park created by publisher George Crowell was closed. That house at 105 Chestnut Hill, with its wonderful view of the Connecticut River, still stands today. Howard C. Rice was the first editor/publisher of The Brattleboro Daily Reformer, launching its first edition in 1913. (The Reformer was founded as the weekly Windham County Reformer in 1876.) He led the paper for more than 40 years until his son-in-law John S. Hooper (Steve's dad) took over for a collective and continuous leadership of the daily paper for more than 60 years. John S. Hooper married the Rice’s eldest daughter Marion in 1931 in the rose garden behind the house. Together they founded and led the Stephen Daye Press, one of the best regional book publishers in New England at that time. The press was sold after WW2 and John Hooper assumed the reins of the Reformer when Howard C. retired. Steven introduces the story of his Aunt Marion, who lived at 90 Chestnut HIll, a World War I American Red Cross nurse for four years in the thick of fighting in France. Her extraordinary body of letters and photographs, which Steve discovered after her death, poignantly describe her war experience. Steve's daughter Althaea reads from the letters in the first half of the podcast. Steve's wife Jackie Hooper narrates the second half of the podcast about the founding of the Reformer and family life with Howard C. Rice and Amy and gives a brief history of Chestnut Hill itself. Actors recount colorful vignettes of life at the time, including tales of stolen rings and dogs. She also tells of Steve's Great Uncle Howard C. Rice, Jr.and his wife France Chalufour Rice, who lived at 160 Chestnut Hill in a house closer to the famed Retreat Tower. Howard Jr. was an assistant librarian for rare books and special collections and an associate professor at Princeton University from 1948 until his retirement in 1970. He wrote several books on Kipling including “Rudyard Kipling in New England.” His research papers, originally housed at Marlboro College, are now at the University of Vermont library providing crucial information on Kipling and his Brattleboro friends. All in all, the podcast provides a charming account of the achievements of an extraordinary family with a very special place in Brattleboro history.

Dr. Amer Latif introduces us to the Persian poet Rumi, who, though born in Konya, Turkey, more than than 800 years ago, remains one of the world’s most beloved and inspiring poets. Dr. Latif talks about Rumi ’s surprising connections to Brattleboro, reads a bit of his work in English and in Persian, and plays the sacred Sufi flute - the ney - to accompany this story. He shares the story of how Brattleboro's Threshold Publishing played a pivotal role in introducing the Rumi to America and a larger world. Latif, a professor of cross cultural studies at Emerson College, says: "Scriptures vary, cultures vary; The book of nature is what we have in common, and Rumi helps us read that book." He talks about the Threshold Society and Kabir and Camile Helminsky's bringing musicians and whirling dervishes from Rumi's Sufi order to Brattelboro and on US tours which popularized Rumi and Sufism, and describes how these traditions remain in this area.

Nye Ffarrabas, a Brattleboro resident for the past four decades, is a conceptual visual artist, poet and writer who for eight decades, since early childhood. In the 60's, publisher and printer of The Black Thumb Press and a Fluxus artist. Growing out of the Happenings of the late 50s and early 60s, Fluxus is an international interdisciplinary community of artists, musicians, and poets, an ongoing laboratory of experimenting and exploring the boundaries of what is considered art, often performance-based, often text-based, intentionally defying definitions of itself, often playful, often contemplative and counter-intuitive drawing inspiration from the Zen Koan without specific contexts of religion. Now in her 90s, Nye is annotating her Friday Book of White Noise in print through CX Silver Gallery Press, the first time these seminal works are appearing in their entirety in public after only excerpts in John Cage's 'Notations' Anthology. You can find her work in The Museum of Modern Art, Walker Art Center and The Getty Research Center, among other venues. She shares poems 'Behind the Dream' and 'Be All' in this thoughtful audio segment narrated and produced by Adam Silver of C.X. Silver Gallery, on Western Avenue in Brattleboro, home to one-of-a-kind art from ancient and modern times, the best dim sum in Vermont, and, for the past several years, the work of Nye Ffarrabbas.

February is Black History Month, so we turn to two extraordinary Black women whose stories point to the important role Black people played in the shaping of Vermont. The episode begins with narrator explaining how Black stories have too often been under-appreciated. For instance, nobody knows Brattleboro's first black landowner, Benjamin Wheaton, an accomplished furniture maker and prominent person, bequeathed the West Brattleboro town common to the town. The host describes the remarkable Grafton storyteller Daisy Turner, whose story begins at 4:05. Narrator Jane Beck first met Daisy Turner when Daisy was 100 years old. Beck says Daisy 'spoke about the Civil War as if it were yesterday.' Beck was "astounded by the scope and significance' of Daisy's family's story from slavery, to Civil War, to freedom in Vermont and life in Grafton. We hear Daisy's vivid voice tell how her father -- Alec Turner - 'the strongest man in Grafton' carried a full flour barrel up the hill to their home "Journey's End' to win a bet. Beck helped found the Vermont Folklife Center and worked with the Windham Foundation to create the Turner Hill Interpretive Center around this work. Beck received a Peabody Award for an audio documentary about the Turner family as told by Daisy. The tape transitions at 9:15 to the mellifluous voice of narrator Desmond Peeples introducing the story of Lucy Terry Prince (1730 - 1821), a freed and learned African woman, whose legal arguments swayed the Vermont Republic's highest court. In 1764, Lucy and her husband Abijah, a free black couple, settled on 100 acres in Guilford as one of Guilford's first landowning settlers. There, they raised six children and defended their rights as landowners against the vicious efforts of certain racist neighbors. By the end of the 18th century, Guilford was the most popular town in Vermont and the Princes were one of its most prominent families. Lucy Terry Prince's only known surviving poem is called 'Bars Fight'. Lucy Terry Prince was about 20 years old and enslaved in Deerfield MA in 1746 when she witnessed an attack by indigenous people of the area on townspeople in Deerfield. The incident became known as the Bars Fight because it happened on the ‘bars’, a colonial term for meadow. She documented this historical incident in her poem, the oldest known work of literature by an African American. 'Bars Fight' survived in oral tradition about 100 years after her death, and appeared in print for the first time in 1854 on the front page of the Springfield Daily Republican. Gretchen Holbrook Gerzina, biographer of the Prince family, reads from her book 'Mr. and Mrs. Prince' about the attack on the Prince home. Multi-media artist and poet Shanta Lee shares some thoughts about Lucy and recites the poem "Bars Fight." The host ends the podcast by describing the Brattleboro Words Project's long effort with the town of Guilford to place a state historic marker honoring Lucy and the Prince family in 2021 at the Guilford Welcome Center (at Exit 1 on Interstate 91) and reads the actual text of of the marker. She also mentions that a joint Vermont State Legislature proclamation led by then State Representative Sara Coffey recognizing Lucy, the marker and the Princes.

For more than 100 years, the Harris Hill Ski Jump has stood as a beacon on the local landscape. Every February, Harris Hill comes alive as thousands of people gather to watch ski jumpers from around the world soar above their heads at speeds up to 60 miles per hour. This episode brings the thrills of this event to life as jumpers fly, crowds roar and cowbells ring and the sensations of flight are evocatively shared. Local Brattleboro radio and podcast host Peter Case narrates three perspectives on Harris Hill. First, (from 1:38 to 6:16) the internationally recognized 'voice of skiing' Peter Graves shares the flavor and history of Harris Hill and describes Harris, the man whose vision and persistence shaped this unique Brattleboro event. Then (from 8:20 to 13:20) we hear an evocative memoir written and narrated by jumper Chris Lamb, who held the Harris Hill record for seven years. Lamb eloquently describes the physical preparation required and the sensations he experiences during ‘the art of flight.’ The episode ends (from 14:00 to 18:00) with reflections on the long and deep native American presence at this place we now call Harris Hill from Elnu Abenaki representative and Atowi project director Rich Holschuh. Episode narrator Case closes with a reference to the 2022 book that marked the 100th anniversary of the event: Harris Hill Ski Jump: The First Hundred Years.

Story-maker, writer, radio personality, woodworker and Brattleboro treasure Tom Bodett invites us into the story of his life in words -- and near death -- in the utterly straightforward and completely captivating way only he can. Tom's 'way with words' has fueled a fascinating life and career that has led him lately to open a woodworking school and gallery in the heart of Brattleboro, Vermont. The podcast begins with Tom's framing of the piece to follow through the lens of 'Words' for the Brattleboro Words Project. From growing up in a large family in Michigan a bit of a rebellious youth, to his hilarious seventh-grade efforts at poetry and a school assembly where becoming the object of hilarity opens new doors in his mind. A catastrophic accident leads him to hit the road to settle in wild-wild 1970s Alaska where he builds buildings and his writing career with a first piece in the Anchorage Daily News. He moves on to radio KBBI in Alaska where a chance piece on his dog's castration gains quick notice for its style and humor and starts submitting personal essays on a regular basis. Within four months he's a contributor on National Public Radio. In 10 months he has a book contract. He describes signing with Motel 6 and how his mother's adage and seven little words 'We'll leave the light on for you," ignited his 30+ year relationship as spokesperson for that company. He talks about how various genres of writing and spoken words have impacted him in different ways and how he has struggled with the identity of 'writer.' Being a panelist on NPR’s 'Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me!' builds confidence in his ability to go 'out without a net.' He says it wasn’t until he was invited to appear on The Moth in front of a live audience at the Flynn Theater in Burlington, Vermont, that he found his a true calling with storytelling. In stark and moving terms, he reflects on the importance of honesty and courage in any art form, and offers advice to those seeking to 'make it.' He shares how facing his relationship with his father through that first moth story (link shared below in Notes) broke through his own limitations toward a more deeply transparent storytelling and vocal art. He reflects on the human need for narrative, and his ultimate identity as 'story maker.'

College student Nora Rodes narrates this episode on folk legend Margaret MacArthur, whose love of music led her to preserve and document many old songs, creating a home in Marlboro Vermont, very close to Brattleboro, where she set down deep roots for her family and an extended folk family. Through Nora's storytelling and adroit use of multiple musical selections, we learn about Margaret's peripatetic journey growing up, her college years in Chicago where she met her husband, and the young couple's move to Marlboro to start a family. Margaret discovers local music and begins gathering songs and oral histories with the help of Edith Sturgis’ 1919 book 'Songs from the Hills of Vermont' and Helen Hartness Flanders’ 1937 book 'Country Songs of Vermont.' She forms important relations with the authors and other Brattleboro-area folk musicians and scholars Tony Barrand and John Roberts (who wrote the book 'On the Banks of Coldbrook') and James Atwood, among many others. Margaret collected stories, songs and made numerous field recordings as well as writing her own pieces. We learn about her instruments and marketing of the 'MacArthur Harp' during the American Folk Revival. Her relations with Smithsonian Folkways Records' Moses Asch and her first album with them in 1962 are also covered. The historically significant song "Marlboro Merchants" and its relation to the MacArthur Collection at the Vermont Folklife Center in Middlebury, Vermont are included. She recorded nine albums, appeared at folk programs and festivals with her children performing original songs as well as traditional ballads and other songs of the lives and ways of Vermonters of the past. As a visiting artist at elementary schools, she spread the joy of song-making with many children and helped keep stories alive. Margaret's many accolades are mentioned, including her June 2005 concert at the Library of Congress and songs performed there. The piece concludes with how Margaret's home was a welcoming hub for folk folks who often gathered there in her warm embrace.

Host introduces acclaimed writer Pablo Medina, originally from Havana, Cuba, who now lives in Williamsville, Vermont near Brattleboro. Medina will be featured as part of the October 18-20, 2024 Brattleboro Literary Festival reading mostly from his new book of poetry "Sea of Broken Mirrors". Medina reads 'Home in Vermont,' an essay he wrote specifically for the Brattleboro Words Trail. It describes how in 1960 at age 12, after leaving on the last plane out of Cuba in the midst of the Cuban Revolution, after embracing a brand new and very different city (New York), after working and teaching in various US cities, he's come to regard Vermont as home. Medina reads several short poems including "El Tiempo en Una Semilla" (in Spanish); 'Canticle of the Moon in Vermont' and 'New Pastures.' He talks about how he moves between poetry, novels, memoir, essays and translation of greats poets like Virgilio Peneira, Rafael Alcide and novelist Alejo Carpentier, and his book on Federico Garcia Lorca "A Poet in New York" co-authored with poet Mark Stanton, to publish his many books of poetry and novels. He reflects on how imagery of his early life appears in his work and his feelings about the ongoing US embargo and 62-year estrangement between the US and Cuba. He discusses his first experiences at the Brattleboro Literary Festival and how he's looking forward to reading again on Sunday, October 20 at 12:30pm at 118 Elliot in Brattleboro and how delighted he's been by the dedicated readers and writers he's found in the Brattleboro area.

Narrator Jon Potter of Latchis Arts in Brattleboro introduces Jacob Estey and the Estey Organ Company, builders of more than half a million musical instruments that traveled the globe with their prominent made in Brattleboro, Vermont, USA stamp. Jacob and his remarkable family, down through several generations, fed the dynamism and helped shape the personality of Brattleboro while playing a significant role in the history of American popular culture. Commentator Dennis Waring, who wrote the quintessential analysis of Estey's place in the history of American popular culture “Manufacturing the Muse: Estey Organs and Consumer Culture in Victorian America" is featured throughout the episode, along with varied and delightful reed and pipe organ music. Jacob Estey's early life of indentured servitude and poverty is described. His rise in business is profiled as well as locations of his various factories before building a row of iconographic slate covered buildings all in a row along Birge Street, a short walk from historic downtown Brattleboro. Barbara George of the Estey Organ Museum discusses the iconographic buildings and workforce. Assembly line manufacture, dedication to equal pay for women, worldwide distribution and testimonials, contributions of Levi Fuller are described. The drive to build bigger and more ornate instruments and how Estey "a master of words" led groundbreaking advertising and marketing with beautiful and distinctive posters and cards still traded today as well sheet music, books and hyperbolic descriptions of instruments are highlights. Estey and family's dedication to the First Baptist Church on Main Street in Brattleboro is discussed, along with Jacob's financing the first building dedicated to the education of black women at Shaw University in North Carolina. Changes in company structure through generations, manufacturing changes and the giant Estey pipe organ being played in new ways at the old First Baptist Church building now performance space Epsilon Spires is detailed. The episode ends with a discussion of the formation and highlights of the Estey Organ Museum, housed in the old Estey complex on Birge Street. An additional bonus segment on the sounds of the various organs narrated by Dennis Waring, edited by Sally Seymour taken from the Brattleboro Words Trail free app is also featured.

The episode begins with host introducing political science Professor Meg Mott, known as the ‘Constitution Wrangler’ who tackles issues regarding interpretation of US founding documents and the role of three branches of government. Mott will update info on the courts relating to two segments she helped produce on two judges who pertained to the Brattleboro area for the Brattleboro Words Trail: Judge James L. Oakes (Brattleboro) and Supreme Court Chief Justice Harlan Fiske Stone (Chesterfield, NH). Host interviewed Mott about the relevance of the two judge’s work on our understanding of the court system and Supreme Court today in order to update the two stories about each judge. From about 4:00 to 7:00, Mott talks about the role of judiciary in a republic, how the Constitution differentiates between the three branches of gov starting with how Article 1 lays out power in the legislature. She describes the executive and electoral college and how the judiciary lacks democratic accountability and is the weakest branch of government. She quotes Alexander Hamilton on the judiciary having ‘no sword, no purse’. She starts with Judge Oakes. He was a Nixon appointee but bucked him on Pentagon Papers case in favor of First Amendment free speech, exemplifying the ideal of an independent judiciary. Mott reminds us that the federal judiciary, many of them Trump appointees, rejectedTrump’s challenges to the 2020 election and validated election. We cut to piece on James L. Oakes narrated by Elizabeth Caitlan who worked for Judge Oakes. She describes judiciary structure and 2nd Circuit court of appeals and Oakes role in the Pentagon Papers case, the first time US gov tried to stop a newspaper (The New York Times) from running a story, ruled no prior restraint of free speech. At 9:40 we hear the voice of James L Oakes regarding the interplay between national security vs. free speech. Oakes speaks at 10:25 on the Bill of Rights ‘the idealization of our humanity.’ Caitlan tells us Oakes understood law as a developing system for managing human behavior. Describes Oakes’ relationship with Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor with whom he shared fundamental values. Oakes at 11:50 introduces pressure cooker metaphor, says thinking like a judge requires ‘kitchen wisdom and professional expertise’. At 12:40 we hear how Oakes definition of recreation helped conservationists protect land. At 13:54 the Words Trail story about Harlan Fiske Stone begins. He was 'a Wall Street guy' everyone thought would side with business and ‘liberty of contract’ during the Progressive Era, but he didn’t. He’s famous for ‘Footnote #’ which sets out ‘levels of scrutiny’ for when the Supreme Court should rule on a lower court case. Stone said court should defer to state legislatures, democratic process to make a legislative, rationale basis for law. ‘Tiers of scrutiny’ means court should defer to legislatures, but if a legislature severely restricts, discriminates against the rights of discreet minority, the supreme court should strike it down. Mott discusses how Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has been bypassing ‘tiers of scrutiny’ with strict historical assessment of texts and how ‘tiers of scrutiny’ is much more workable. She discusses how ‘operating with self-restraint’ was a Stone legacy, he understood the importance of limits. She discusses 1936 case, US v Butler, Congress enacts progressive legislation, SC Court wants to strike it, Stone dissents saying ‘Appeal lies not to the court but to the ballot and processes of democratic gov.’and how it relates to the Dobbs decision / Roe v. Wade. At 24:39 Harlan Fiske Stone story begins with Mott narration. At 28:44 discusses Footnote 4, judge will rule against anything that discriminates against a ‘discreet minority.’ We hear Stone is known for his legacy on the court for ‘exercising self restraint’ because he always understood the limits of human beings while executing the power of the court.

The Brattleboro Hydropathy Establishment, better known as the Wesselhoeft Water-Cure, was the poshest medical 'spa' of its time, a celebrated mecca for mid nineteenth century writers, statesmen and advocates who flocked to 'the healing waters of Brattleboro' and guidance from one Dr. Robert Ferdinand Wesselhoeft. Among its many famous visitors were Harriet Beecher Stowe (Uncle Tom's Cabin), Francis Parkman (The Oregon Trail), Helen Hunt Jackson (A Century of Dishonor) and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, whose experiences in Brattleboro inspired their writings. In just seven years, from 1845 to 1852, the highly cultured Dr. Wesselhoeft left an indelible impression on the town and all who knew him. The episode begins with a synoptic overview of the Wesselhoeft Water-Cure and a later Lawrence Water-Cure across the street. At 7:52, we learn Dr. Wesselhoeft's fascinating origin story - son of a publisher, student of Goethe, lawyer and political prisoner in pre-Germany - who remade himself into a physician when he came to the U.S. to join his brother William (Wilhelm) Wesselhoeft who helped found the first school of homeopathy in the US. The two would eventually move to the Boston area to open a successful clinic serving noted 'Trancendentalists.' At 9:32 we learn that Nathaniel Hawthorne disliked Dr. Wesselhoeft so much he created at least two repellant characters in his fiction reportedly modeled after him. Hawthorne joined forces with another 'Boston Brahmin' Dr. Oliver Wendell Holmes (father of the famed jurist of the same name) to humiliate Wesselhoeft and drive him out of town. Dr. Wesselhoeft escaped to Brattleboro where he found the cleanest water on east coast. Starting at 11:55 Wesselhoeft, in his own words as interpreted by actor Ned Childs, describes details of his treatments. Outcomes were meticulously noted in his regular newspaper Green Mountain Spring. Dr. Wesselhoeft describes how 'our water-cure' addressed the sad state of Americans' 'perverse and unnatural habits of life' society, diet and health and answers his detractors. The episode closes with descriptions of the elaborately landscaped paths the Dr. created around the Whetstone Brook and along the Connecticut and West Rivers that define Brattleboro. At 20:05 we hear a vivid historical account from then Brattleboro High School student Elery Loggia as the voice of Abby Estey Fuller recalling Abby's childhood fascination with the 'gloriously beauteous' paths and scenes with Wesselhoeft clients and expresses her gratitude for Dr. Wesselhoeft and the 'brains' that created enchanting settings that formed a sort of wonderland for local children.

June is the month of graduations, and this episode tells the story of two strong and inspiring women whose words left an enduring impact on students -- and many others -- in the Brattleboro area. Invited to the Putney School commencement in June 1956 by its founder Carmelita Hinton, Eleanor Roosevelt encouraged graduates to be good global citizens. Narrator Anna Kusmer sets the stage of McCarthy-era America where civil rights were routinely violated especially for people of color. Commentator Marni Rosner, Hinton's granddaughter, helped the Brattleboro Words Trail discover a forgotten reel-to-reel tape of Roosevelt's speech and restored it so it could be heard for the first time and used for the podcast. Roosevelt cautions that democracy can only survive when citizens are educated. She says if the US wants to lead the world, it had better lead by example. She says the world is composed of mainly people of color who would be lifted up to a higher standard of living through the new UN's work and that they would be watching what's happening in the US. Rosner reflects on her grandmother's work in the Progressive Era with Nobel Peace Prize winner Jane Addams and education leader John Dewey. Kusmer ends with keen observation on youth, the future and a great Roosevelt quote. The second half of the episode on Wangari Maathai, the first black female (and environmentalist) Nobel Peace Laureate, is narrated by filmmaker Lisa Merton who, along with her partner Alan Dater, made the wonderful documentary "Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai." Merton discusses how the filmmakers met Maathai and how potent, communicative and loving an individual she was. We hear archival tape of Maathai speaking stirringly and presciently about the origins of her famed 'Green Belt Movement' and how humans must act to maintain the Earth - our life support system.

The old depot of the West River Railroad in Newfane Vermont was where Station Master JJ Green, a prominent citizen of the town who wore many hats, including telegraph operator and journalist, worked each day and kept a diary for the year 1885. The depot was lovingly restored in recent years by The Historical Society of Windham County into the West River Railroad museum, where the original copy of Green's diary and many other artifacts are preserved. The book, 'The Diary of JJ Green: A Daily Record of the Year 1885 by a Stationmaster on the West River Railroad', gives an intimate view of life at the time, reflections on the seasons and current events, and the woes of the West River Railroad. The story is poignant, the diary ironic: JJ Green died on the train on his way to deliver a story to the Vermont Phoenix in Brattleboro in the infamous “Wreck at Three Bridges” the very next year (1886). The second third of the podcast is an interview with writer and narrator Deborah Lee Luskin on a bit of the history of the West River Railroad, where it fit-in regionally and a sense of how it was used. A description of the museum is also discussed as well as the West River Trail's recreational possibilities.

Narrator Maria Margaronis introduces us to the writers and creatives who retreated the chaos of the time in the late 60s to Vermont to create intentional communities based on free expression and the idea of a commonwealth in a hamlet in Guilford near Brattleboro, Vermont. Maria discovered this 'little Utopia' in the 80s when she was 'a slip of a girl' and returns frequently from her home base in London. First part introduces the community founded 'around the word at a time of language assassination' with comments from poet Verandah Porche and Richard Wyzanski, one time 'pariahs' who have turned 'pillars' of today's community, 50 years later. Second Part further explores 'bard of Guilford' Verandah Porche. Verandah shares delightful verse and experiences at 'Total Loss Farm.' Part Three takes us on an evocative night walk around Packer Corners with former 'communer' Peter Gould and where we linger at a cemetery to hear Peter's ghost story about early Black villagers Abijah and Lucy Terry Prince, complete with thundering hoofs in the night.

Brilliant chronicler of the 1960s, Andrew Kopkind was a courageous, insightful and remarkably groundbreaking journalist always 'sniffing the zeitgeist' and pushing boundaries while covering race, civil rights, war and poverty. An openly gay man in an era when such freedom was sorely contested, he co-produced “Lavender Hour,” the first gay and lesbian vari­ety program on American commercial radio with his long-time partner John Scagliotti. After obtaining degrees from Cornell University and the London School of Economics, he reported for Time, the New Republic, the Village Voice and many other publications before becoming Associate Editor of The Nation, America’s oldest continuously published weekly magazine. Kopkind wrote two books: America: The Mixed Curse (1969) and The Thirty Years' Wars: Dispatches and Diversions of a Radical Journalist, 1965-1994, an anthology of his writing published posthumously in 1995, edited by JoAnn Wypijewski. In 1974, Kopkind bought Tree Frog Farm in Guilford, Vermont, which became his and John Scagliotti's home and a gathering place for like minded journalists, filmmakers, and other culture makers -- like episode producer/narrator Maria Margaronis -- who shared Kopkind’s passion for social justice. When Kopkind died of cancer in 1994 at age 59, the Kopkind Colony was founded at Tree Frog Farm to remember his work. The Colony, under the continued direction of Scagliotti, Wypijewski and others, mentors journalists, filmmakers and community activists through a summer residency program and other activities that continue there today.