Rumble Strip

Latest Episodes:

A Springtime Show about the Economy that Partly Explains why We’re Ashamed Apr 09, 2026

Show notes

This is a conversation with a money manager in Scotland who has given a great deal of thought to why many of us feel confused and ashamed about our financial lives. After the What Class are You? shows, I often receive interesting commentary, and I’m always frustrated that this commentary can’t become part of a wider conversation. So after receiving two fascinating comments from EM in Scotland, I asked her if she’d be willing to share some of her thoughts on the economy on the phone. She said yes, and then we had a conversation longer than she ever could have imagined. EM responded primarily to two shows. One featured a woman called Trudy, who worked all kinds of jobs in her life, and toward the end of her working years, she realized that she was not going to have enough money for a comfortable retirement, but she would have a little too much to qualify for services that would make her retirement more comfortable, so she made sure that she retired with little enough money that she could qualify for services. The other story that EM responded to was about Kaye, who talks about how not having money makes her feel like a child, and that all the people with money seem like the adults. Fair warning, I ask a lot of dumb questions in this show, because I don’t know much about the economy. But I’m figuring that maybe there are some people out there like me. And even though I don't know much about economics, most of what she says here has deep resonance. She is naming something I feel but don’t understand.

Hold On Mar 06, 2026

Show notes

This is a story about a song.

Six years ago, seventeen-year-old Finn Rooney killed himself in his home in Walden, Vermont. A couple days later, his community held a bonfire in the parking lot of Hazen Union High school in Hardwick. Hundreds of people came. Tom Gilbert, who organized the bonfire, asked his friend Heidi Wilson to write a song for the occasion. The song was called Hold On. She made sure it was a song everyone could sing. And they did.

Now people are singing this song all over the world. People in Minneapolis have been singing it to ICE agents. They’re singing it for their neighbors who are afraid to leave their houses. They’re singing it in Wales and Australia and Iralend in solidarity with the people of Minneapolis. Peole are singing it all over, to give each other some comfort and some courage.

This is a story about where that song came from and where it’s gone.

What class are you, Habib and Arwa? Jan 29, 2026

Show notes

I met Arwa and Habib Meiloud because they’re Anne’s kids and Anne works at the post office in the village here in East Calais. They live in the house right across the road from the post office. Arwa and Habib’s father is from Mauritania and lives out of the country, but both Arwa and Habib were born in the US, and their mother Anne grew up in Vermont. Arwa is 17 years old, Habib is 18. In this conversation, we talk about the roles that race and class have played in their lives.

What class are you Kaye? Jan 28, 2026

Show notes

Kaye Phipps lives in Montpelier, Vermont. Right now she works as a custodian at a local grocery store. She’s also been a florist, a housekeeper, and a house cleaner. But even though she’s sometimes working multiple jobs, she often comes up short. In this episode, Kaye talks about how having a limited income makes her feel like a child, long into adulthood.

What class are you Jules? Jan 27, 2026

Show notes

Jules Guillemette grew up on their family farm in Lamoille County, Vermont, which has been in the family nearly 100 years. Since then, Jules has worked as a chef, a meat cutter and now they're an electrician. In this episode, we talk about what it means to own land of enormous value but always be struggling to save enough money.

What class are you Trudy? Jan 26, 2026

Show notes

What Class are You? is a periodic series I make for Vermont Public, which started back in 2022. I wanted to talk with people about growing political and cultural divides without talking about politics or cultural divides. I had no idea how to do it. Then one day I just drove around and asked people what class they are. And what I found was that as dumb and offensive as this question is, people have a lot to say about it. Socioeconomic reality is one thing we all share. Some of us have a lot, some have a little, and most of us fall somewhere in between, but it’s a big common denominator.

Trudy Richmond lives in subsidized senior housing in Burlington. She’s educated and worked all her life, but at a certain point, Trudy realized that she had too little money to pay for a comfortable retirement and too much to qualify for services that might make her retirement more comfortable. In this episode of What Class are You, Trudy talks with reporter Erica Heilman about how she negotiated a comfortable retirement for herself.

I make this series for Vermont Public. Thank you Vermont Public for letting me share these stories with Rumble Strip listeners!

The Thanksgiving Show Dec 09, 2025

Show notes

This is a show about Thanksgiving, and what it sounds like. It is made entirely of your recordings.

Thank you everyone for sending me recordings. We have made a show that sounds like the whole damn country. Or a lot of it.

Thanksgiving show SAMPLER Nov 26, 2025

Show notes

A couple days ago I asked you to send me some recordings from Thanksgiving. I figured I'd give you a little better sense of what I'm looking for.

Happy Thanksgiving all!

Erica

Let's Make a Show about Thanksgiving Nov 25, 2025

Show notes

Let's make a show about Thanksgiving. I have always wanted to do this, and the time has come.

Anyone who is willing, I would love you to record a voice memo this week about your holiday. Stories, anecdotes, songs...I don't know. You don't have to speak in complete sentences. It doesn’t have to be organized. It doesn't have to be funny or important.

If you're willing to record some of the holiday ambience, that would also be great. The tv room, the kitchen, the dinner table, the drive or flight to your destination, the door greetings and departures. Anything you feel like recording.

Send me the recordings by Sunday, to rumblestripvermont@gmail.com and I will make a show that tries to capture just SOME of our complex feelings and experiences during this DAY OF THANKS.

Thank you all so much in advance!

Erica

An American Life Nov 11, 2025

Show notes

Music for this show is by Brian Clark, who is awesome.