champlain sounding

Burlington Works Toward Inclusive Schools

Vermont’s Burlington school district is the most diverse in the state.  More than 60 countries are represented in the student body, and 27% of the students are of color.  It’s a multiracial, multicultural environment — and one that the district works hard to make inclusive.

This story aired on May 6, 2011 as part of Vermont Public Radio’s series, Vermont Reads: To Kill a Mockingbird.  The series was a collaboration with the Vermont Humanities Council’s statewide reading program.  To stream the story, click here.

                                     Burlington students perform at “Shades of Ebony.”

Barred Owls Where They Shouldn’t Be

This winter’s record breaking snows have taken a toll on our roads, our roofs and our psyches.  But we humans aren’t the only ones suffering.  Vermont’s Barred Owls are struggling to hunt their prey under the deep snowpack.  So the nocturnal creatures are getting creative - and showing up in unexpected places.

This story aired on Vermont Public Radio’s Vermont Edition on March 23, 2011. 

It also aired, in another incarnation, on North Country Public Radio on March 20, 2011.

The Spirit of a Mining Town

Sierra Crane-Murdoch and I co-produced this story for World Vision Report. It aired on NPR member stations across the country during the week of February 19, 2010.

“Americans around the country are struggling through this recession. But in southern West Virginia, coal-mining communities have been living with economic downturn for decades…Discouraged by the dangers of mining and the lack of alternative jobs, many working-age people have moved away. In some towns, the elderly are the only ones who remain.

Sierra Crane-Murdoch reports from one town along the Coal River where more than a dozen older women raise their spirits with weekly dances.”

To stream the story, click here.