Rumble Strip

Erica Heilman / Rumble Strip, Erica Heilman
  • 5.0 (1)
  • PLACES & TRAVEL
  • TWICE MONTHLY
Rumble Strip

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

  1. Help Forrest Foster Get a New Old Truck

    1 DAY AGO

    Help Forrest Foster Get a New Old Truck

    Forrest really needs a new old truck. Will you pitch in a few bucks?

    6 min
  2. Forrest Foster is getting done...for now.

    4 NOV

    Forrest Foster is getting done...for now.

    I’ve made lots of stories about my friend Forrest Foster, a dairy farmer in Hardwick. He prides himself on being an ‘independent dairyman’. But a couple months ago, Forrest sold the cows. The last couple years have been hard on him. He lost his wife Karen. His barn isn’t up to code so he recently lost his insurance and he can’t keep the wood furnace burning in the house while he’s doing chores in the barn. But hardest of all, and like so many families, Forrest has a son with an addiction problem, which is expensive and terrifying and fills his life with uncertainty. So. This is a story about why Forrest is getting done with dairy farming…at least for now.

    16 min
  3. Heartbreak Hotel. End of an Era

    14 OCT

    Heartbreak Hotel. End of an Era

    This summer, a one-in-a-thousand-year flood hit the village of Plainfield, Vermont. A local apartment building, which everyone called the Heartbreak Hotel, collapsed and washed away down the Great Brook. Twelve people were living there at the time, and they all survived. Most of their cats did not. We talk a lot about the importance of affordable housing and community and village revitalization. For over a century, the Heartbreak provided all three. This is a story about what was lost that night, and what it might suggest about how we move forward.

    27 min
  4. The World Under the World

    10 SEPT

    The World Under the World

    All four of the people in this story are in recovery, but they spent years in the world of active drug addiction--a kind of world underneath the world. They’re aware of it in ways that most of us are not, and they agreed to describe it to me—what it feels like day to day, and its relentless demands.

    30 min
  5. Mark Utter Revisited

    20 AUG

    Mark Utter Revisited

    Mark Utter was born with a form of autism that makes it impossible for him to say what he's thinking. For the first thirty years of his life, Mark did not have access to the world of words, except as a listener. An observer. When he was thirty, he was introduced to supported typing, and for the first time in his life, with the help of a facilitator and a typing pad, Mark started his life as a writer of words. This is an interview about what it's like inside the life and mind of Mark Utter.

    23 min
  6. Allison after the Flood

    22 JUL

    Allison after the Flood

    On the one-year anniversary of a 100-year flood, Vermont experienced another devastating flood. This is the story of one Plainfield, Vermont resident, who lost everything.

    7 min
  7. The Aphasia Choir

    19 JUN

    The Aphasia Choir

    There are about 15 million people in this world having thoughts and ideas that they can't put into words. People who have had had strokes or traumatic brain injuries often live with aphasia, or difficulty talking or using language. Their thoughts are intact, but the language gets stuck. But music mostly originates in the undamaged hemisphere of the brain. People with aphasia can often sing. This is a story about a choir comprised of people with aphasia, and what it's like to struggle for words.

    20 min
  8. Tara

    22 MAY

    Tara

    This is a follow-up show to Finn and the Bell. If you haven't heard that story, you might want to start there. At Bread and Puppet in Glover, Vermont, there is a magical pine forest full of small homemade buildings and shrines to memorialize dead puppeteers and friends. It’s a place where my friend Tara Reese’s sons Finn and Lyle spent a lot of time when they were little, running around in the woods in the summer. Now there is a memorial here for Finn in the pine forest, built by some of the kids he used to play with here. Finn died by suicide on January 3rd, 2020. In 2021, Tara and I made a story about him called Finn and the Bell. People all over the world listened, and we received hundreds of emails and texts and artwork and poetry. Tara received letters that were addressed to ‘Finn’s Mom, Hardwick’, with no address. But this is a story just about Tara, and about her evolution of grief. About what happens after the worst thing happens. We recorded this conversation on Mother’s Day, at Finn’s memorial in the pine forest. This show ends with a song. The Bell was written by Jim Terry of Napa, California. He plays music with his sons, Graham and Clark and they’re called The Terry Family Band. Jim wrote this song after listening to Finn and the Bell. Thank you so much Jim!

    20 min
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Hosts & Guests

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About

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

Information

  • Creator
    Erica Heilman / Rumble Strip, Erica Heilman
  • Years Active
    2013 - 2024
  • Episodes
    279
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    Copyright © 2018
  • Show Website
    Rumble Strip

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