Brave Little State

Question-asker Manny recently got out of prison. He wants to learn about his options for transitional housing — a place where he could stay sober while readjusting to life outside a prison cell. It turns out, those options look very different today than they would have even a few years ago.To see photos from our reporting, check out the web version of this story here. This episode was reported by Carly Berlin and produced by Burgess Brown. Editing and additional production from the rest of the BLS team: Sabine Poux and Josh Crane. Our intern is Camila Van Order González. Our executive producer is Angela Evancie. Theme music by Ty Gibbons; other music by Blue Dot Sessions.Special thanks to Phil Edfors, Liam Elder-Connors, April McCullum, Susan Pullium, Glenn Russell, Paul Dragon, Tiffany Rich, Brenna Bedard, Jeff Moreau, Mary Verner, Jess Kirby, Jim Curran, and all the residents of the Burlington Dismas House.As always, our journalism is better when you’re a part of it: Ask a question about Vermont Sign up for the BLS newsletter Say hi onInstagram and Reddit @bravestatevt Drop us an email: [email protected] Make a gift to support people-powered journalism Tell your friends about the show! Brave Little State is a production of Vermont Public and a proud member of the NPR Network.

Rutland — or, “RutVegas” — gets a pretty bad rap outside the city’s limits. But some of Rutland’s most passionate cheerleaders say there’s a side of the city people are missing.Thanks to Linda Mullin of Rutland for the great question. If you want to be part of a future BLS live voting round, join us in Jeffersonville on Dec. 3 at Lot 6 Brewing. Reserve your ticket and find more information here.Check out the web version of our story here. This episode was reported by Burgess Brown. Editing and additional production from the rest of the BLS team: Sabine Poux and me, Josh Crane. Our intern is Camila Van Order González. Our executive producer is Angela Evancie. Theme music by Ty Gibbons; other music by Blue Dot Sessions and Dead Street Dreamers.Special thanks to Nina Keck, Phil Edfors, Joey Palumbo, Hannah Davidson, Sam Lucci, Paul Gallo, Barbara Giffin, Tom Giffin, Tom Fagen and Jacob Houser.As always, our journalism is better when you’re a part of it: Ask a question about Vermont Sign up for the BLS newsletter Say hi onInstagram and Reddit @bravestatevt Drop us an email: [email protected] Make a gift to support people-powered journalism Tell your friends about the show! Brave Little State is a production of Vermont Public and a proud member of the NPR Network. 

Leave your grocery store apples at home and join our search for this most unusual Vermont fruit.For photos from our journey, check out the web version of our story here. And if you want to read up on apples, here are three books that were helpful in our research: Apples of Uncommon Character by Rowan Jacobsen (2014) The Illustrated History of Apples in the US and Canada by Daniel J. Bussey (2017) The Apples of New York by Spencer Ambrose Beach (1905) Thanks to Ben St. James of Barnet for the great question.This episode was reported by Sabine Poux. Editing and additional production from Burgess Brown and Josh Crane. Our intern is Camila Van Order González. Our executive producer is Angela Evancie. Theme music by Ty Gibbons; other music by Blue Dot Sessions.Special thanks to Catherine Morrissey, John Bunker, Ryan Yoder, Erin Robinson, Dan Bussey and Paige Heaverly.As always, our journalism is better when you’re a part of it: Ask a question about Vermont Sign up for the BLS newsletter Say hi onInstagram and Reddit @bravestatevt Drop us an email: [email protected] Make a gift to support people-powered journalism Tell your friends about the show! Brave Little State is a production of Vermont Public and a proud member of the NPR Network. 

For the 200th episode of the show, we set ourselves a challenge: take on 20 listener questions in a single episode.We went back to the very beginning of our archive — combing through thousands of questions — and picked out some of our favorites that we’ve never answered before: about apple pie, nudity laws, haunted houses and Subarus. Laughter ensues.Find the web version of this story here.This episode was reported and edited by the BLS team: Josh Crane, Sabine Poux, Burgess Brown and Camila Van Order González. Our executive producer is Angela Evancie. Theme music by Ty Gibbons; Other music by Blue Dot Sessions.Special thanks to Phil Edfors, Frank Alwine, Zoe McDonald, Catherine Hurley, Pete Hirschfeld, Thomas Mather, Judy Rosovsky, Steven Picazio, Pamela Cartier, Hazel Brewster, Brian Vaughan, Justine Curry and Arthur Ruben.As always, our journalism is better when you’re a part of it: Ask a question about Vermont Sign up for the BLS newsletter Say hi onInstagram and Reddit @bravestatevt Drop us an email: [email protected] Make a gift to support people-powered journalism Tell your friends about the show! Brave Little State is a production of Vermont Public and a proud member of the NPR Network.

“There was this huge divide in, like, social grouping and connection … No one really talked to each other.”“Making friends at the high school wasn't really my priority because I felt like I had nothing in common with them at all.”“I think the closer we got to graduation, the more it kind of came out.” “Financial class absolutely affects everything beyond financial class in the classroom. Absolutely it does.”In this episode, a series of recent grads from Middlebury Union High School in Addison County wrestle with class differences among classmates — and how those differences shaped their experiences there.One of those grads is winning question-asker Ari Graham-Gurland from Middlebury, who asked the question at the heart of this story: “How does socioeconomic diversity affect classroom dynamics in high school?”Find the web version of this story here.This episode was reported by Sabine Poux, with editing and production from the rest of the BLS team: Burgess Brown, Camila Van Order González and Josh Crane. Our executive producer is Angela Evancie. Theme music by Ty Gibbons; Other music by Blue Dot Sessions.Special thanks to Stephanie Sherman and Ariell Slater.As always, our journalism is better when you’re a part of it: Ask a question about Vermont Sign up for the BLS newsletter Say hi onInstagram and Reddit @bravestatevt Drop us an email: [email protected] Make a gift to support people-powered journalism Tell your friends about the show! Brave Little State is a production of Vermont Public and a proud member of the NPR Network.