Are We Here Yet Podcast Scott M. Graves

Up End This is a custom modular housing solution, a startup located in Johnson, VT.  It’s founder Michael Zebrowski is the kind of entrepreneur that everyone can both connect with and look up to.  He and his family have weathered the recent floods and the more daily mundane challenges inherent in owning your own business.  
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They are looking to grow with a smart strategy and an eye towards the future of de-centralized housing solutions. 
We spoke about how decisions made on materials and design can offer solutions to the challenges of building in our current environment.  We discussed the challenge of contemporary vs. traditional vernacular in the marketplace and a whole lot more that folks in the trades and consumers alike can find connection to.
 

We begin our episode with an interview co-host Scott M. Graves held with Vermont State Rep. Monique Priestley (D-Bradford) regarding the latest on the bill she is co-sponsoring.  VT. House Bill 121 was vetoed by Gov. Phil Scott at the end of the 2024 legislative session and upheld by the Vermont Senate.
We offer our listeners the latest on the future of the bill from Monique, who used the opportunity to engage our audience with information via her new web presence Let'sDoPolicy.com.  
Many citizens and small business leaders are not informed on the importance of data privacy rights to their lives and businesses.  Further, many people do not have a comprehensive understanding for what's at stake and exactly how their information is used and potentially abused every day.
We offer our listeners some definition around the issue and perspective from both the voters, small business professionals and  technology companies.

Since 1975, Tom Fox has been at the forefront of urban park and waterfront development primarily in New York City.
His creative thinking, commitment to community engagement and coalition building, use of unique funding mechanisms, and knowledge of government and the media have resulted in revitalized waterfronts and waterways, new parks, greenways and community gardens that have made the city a more desirable and sustainable place to live, work, and visit.
A working class kid from Brooklyn, Tom’s work has required a lot of creativity when it comes to financial planning.  It’s required knowledge of government, media and it’s also required an ever-refined sense for relationships and how to keep things moving.
Tom’s also been resilient.  He’s seen the development of the Hudson River Park from the outset and he knows how to win, lose and just keep going. On top of also being a successful entrepreneur.
Tom is the author of ‘Creating the Hudson River Park: Environmental and Community Activism, Politics, and Greed and it’s the story he tells us here that’s why Tom is joining us today.
... In The Jazz Room  We met Pianist, Composer Arturo O‘Farrill after his set at the Newport Jazz Festival. We talked about his Grammy winning album “Four Questions”. In part 1 we talk about the influence of Dr. Cornell West and the ”Four Questions” as the inspiration for his album. Learn more about Arturo at https://www.auturoofarrill.com.

Erica Von Kleist is performing artist, educator, businesswoman, colorful commentator on any number of the more ridiculous intersections between art and modern life and wouldn’t you know, she plays the saxophone to top it all off and we have to acknowledge,  just had the premiere of three new arrangements at no less than Carnegie Hall. 
Find Erica on the Web
I’ve admired her work for many years now and thought about asking for an interview for the AWHY podcast, it was the commentary of many of our peers in and out of music to a social media post by a third party some months ago that finally brought us here. 
It seems that within music education circles, art is certainly imitating life.  With one comment by a young-ish undergrad regarding the behavior of collegiate faculty in music departments that we got a whole lot of ‘Boomer’ and ‘kids these days’ type of repartee.  
So what gives when we’re all just trying to get along? Wouldn’t we be more useful to each other by crossing the threshold of generational divides?  I thought that was what Jazz was all about anyways, we’re hoping Erica can set us straight.
And in the Jazz Room… We had a fun interview with Grammy nominated, singer/composer Claudia Acuna at the Newport Jazz Festival. She talks about the inspirations for her songs. You’ll hear cuts from her albums “Duo” and ”Turning Pages”  . Learn more at www.claudiaacuna.com
 

 
“Rural communities do not exist solely to be extracted from.  They are also generative, they can host tech, sic (the example from) our radically Rural biotech (program) is to not just bring (biotech) to but grow from the people and places we already have.”
Julianna Dodson, Director of Radically Rural and Deputy Director for the Hannah Grimes Center for Entrepreneurship spoke with us regarding the well documented need and regenerative benefit of our relationships in order for community development, the kind that is lasting and has a net positive effect, to develop.  It was clear from our conversation Julianna has a deep commitment to her work and that of countless others bringing people together for business and social benefit in her community of Keene, NH.  For those of us building local economies through tech or creative class industries, building a socially cohesive environment is essential for realizing a desirable city to live in.   
Engage with the Radically Rural Summit in September 2024 
Listeners, what’s your experience in bringing tech to your communities and how has it affected the social fabric of your community? We want to hear from you. 
...And in the The Jazz Room: We met with singer/composer/arranger Jazzmeia Horn at the Newport Jazz Festival. We talked about her CD “Dear Love” and her big band, ”Noble Force”.  Learn more about her work by clicking here.
 

"I DON’T THINK THE ‘MONTANA MIRACLE’ IS A ONE-TIME FLUKE. I THINK IT CAN REPRESENT A NEW PARADIGM OF POLITICS IN MONTANA, WHERE THE LEFT AND RIGHT JOIN TOGETHER IN COMMON BELIEF THAT MONTANANS MUST BE FREE TO BUILD, INNOVATE, AND PROGRESS IN ORDER TO OVERCOME THE BIGGEST CHALLENGES FACING OUR STATE."
So we opened our Season Nine here at the ‘Are We Here Yet?’ podcast with this quote from Kendall Cotton.   He is Executive Director of the Frontier Institute. We met earlier this year after Kendall was interviewed by the New York Times.  What caught my attention and compelled me to reach out to him was his thoughts on the housing crisis. 
In our discussion we focused much time on how the current housing  market is affecting Big Sky Country and especially on the solutions this rural state has brought to the table including re-thinking zoning and passing Montana House bill 819 which offers developers funding in order they may pass savings on to the future homeowner. 
Additionally, Kendall and I spoke regarding other initiatives important to the institute and to Montana’s 21st century economy including #artificial intelligence, #dataprivacy and the government and how these sectors affect each other in the rural places we call home. 
The similarities with our other rural states abound.  The bipartisanship baked into the efforts of the Frontier Institute are an example to others working on substantive solutions to our rural development challenges.  
You’ll find Kendall on twitter @Cotton_MT
And in The Jazz Room…
We enjoyed our conversation with singer, Christie Dasheil. She talks about her CD “Journey in Black” and what it was like growing up in a musical family. 
Learn more about Christie by clicking here