We aren't a current events podcast, but we all need words of wisdom and songs of hope at this moment. Listen to our special recording of the Montpelier "Protect the Results" vigil on 11-4. 

​“The entire history of this country can be understood as a long and arduous struggle to count the votes, and indeed the lives, of working people, women, people of color, immigrants, and native peoples.” - Andrew Tripp, union organizer. Hear more from speakers, representing VPIRG, Rights and Democracy, and the VT AFL-CIO during a “Protect the Results” vigil in front of Vermont’s State House on November 4th. Best of all, hear from Plainfield singer and artist, Heidi Ann Wilson, as she leads us through songs of remembrance and hope. Recording courtesy of Carl Etnier, host of Relocalizing Vermont. Photo courtesy of sister Daphne Kinney-Landis. Stay strong and stay vigilant. Find “Protect the Results” events near you: https://protecttheresults.com/ 

We have created this special, two part bonus episode to learn and honor the story of “John Henry,” an African American folk hero to whom dozens of folk songs have been dedicated. 

In Part One, we will hear a live performance of “John Henry” by Eric George, a Vermont-based songwriter, sound engineer, and performer of original music and poetry. Eric also shares his relationship to the song and the repertoire of folk music more generally. We also discuss the role of music and culture in shaping personal narrative, social consciousness and social movements. Last, we hear Eric perform an original song off his album, “Songs of Resistance.”

In Part Two, Dylan Kelley, friend of the pod and local journalist, and I dive into the hard history embodied in the story of John Henry. We also discuss the revolutionary history and spirit so clearly embodied in the version we feature as our theme song in Season 1. 

We thought the story of John Henry and Eric George’s performance were so important and incredible, that we are making them available to all of our listeners. However, we will continue producing exclusive content for our Patreon members to show our thanks for being a member of our En Masse community. If you haven’t become a member yet, please consider doing so. Go to patreon.com/enmasse. That’s p a t r e o n .com / e n m a s s e. Thanks so much for your support.

This is a teaser of an exclusive bonus episode for our Patreon members. Hear the full, 53-minute BONUS episode by becoming a Patreon member today: Support En Masse on Patreon.

So you’ve finished Season 1 of En Masse. Maybe you’ve noticed En Masse is a bit different than other podcasts you’ve heard. The interviews are not quite interviews; they’re oral histories. And the oral histories are performed by different narrators. Liz Medina and Dylan Kelley take you behind the scenes to share our process and give some tips in doing your own oral history project!

Please excuse the decrease in audio quality! We are trying to find creative ways to keep on going with only our smartphones during the pandemic.

By Kevin Desmond
​
“Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with deeper meaning.” - Maya Angelou In these uncertain times something as simple as a person telling their story can be so powerful.

A person’s story carries nuance. It carries perspective. It carries darkness and light; moments of tragedy and moments of triumph. A person’s story carries grey areas and unsatisfying conclusions. It carries all of this while also acting as a microcosm of much larger forces at work.

The power of storytelling is on full display in Liz Medina’s podcast En Masse, centered around the rural town of Barre, VT and its once booming quarrying industry. Liz uses the first episode of the podcast to give a broad overview of the town and the rise and fall of the quarries. After the first episode, the podcast unfolds into a series of oral histories; painting a complex, spoken word mural of the people of Barre. These stories also act as a convincing indictment of American capitalism, by shining an empathetic light on the people who suffer at the hands of such a system...READ MORE AT https://bigheavyworld.com/latest-news/2020/8/31/dj-spotlight-liz-medina

This is a teaser of an exclusive bonus episode for our Patreon members. No stone will be left unturned, featuring fragments of resistance uncovered by The Barre Oral History Project (2017). Hear the full, one-hour BONUS episode by becoming a Patreon member today: patreon.com/enmasse

Description:
There’s a huge pile of rocks near each quarry pit. Large enough to make a person stop their car to look, or for the neighborhood kids to get scraped and bruised to claim kingship over. They are made of granite waste rock -- the bits and pieces considered invaluable and left behind. In the field of oral history, all stories are valuable. Oral historians care about people not profit. No stone is left unturned. In this bonus episode, we present to you fragments of working life in Barre, Vermont from the rest of Liz Medina’s Barre Oral History Project (2017). 

Teaser Music Credits:
"Amber Haze" by Daniel Birch
"Sun comes up, I come down" by Silicon Transmitter

EPISODE 11 "YOU GOT SOMETHING BEHIND YOU."
Denise is one of the few women working in what remains of Barre’s granite industry. She worked as a sandblaster for many years. A lot of experienced workers like her are leaving the industry...and the younger generations are not coming in to take their place. Her workplace now has a CNC machine; it can carve a memorial all on its own. She manages paperwork now as an expediter, but she misses the sandblasting room. As president of her trade union, the Granite Cutters Association, she would like to see more people get into the good union jobs available in the granite industry and join the labor movement.

Oral history transcript to be performed: Denise Guilmette, Granite Expediter, former Sandblaster (2017, original)

Narrator: Sharon (Skye) Forest

RESEARCH CITATIONS

• Day, Meagan. “There's Always Another Crisis.” Jacobin, 5 Aug. 2018, www.jacobinmag.com/2018/05/great-recession-economic-crisis-organizing-protest.
  
• McLaughlin, Scott. “The Granite Cutter's Story: A History of Vermont's 200 year old Granite Industry” Aldrich Public Library. 10/25/2017
  
  

SOUND & MUSIC CREDITS
Music: "Marie Madeleine" by Tryphème. From Free Music Archive. CC BY-NC-ND
Music: "Pour Olympe" by Tryphème. From Free Music Archive. CC BY-NC-ND
Music: "White Douleur" by Tryphème. From Free Music Archive. CC BY-NC-ND
Sound Effect: "Creaky bed" by ShadowReaper2814. From freesound.org. CC BY-NC
Sound Effect: "doctoroffice" by NoiseCollector. From freesound.org. CC BY
Sound Effect: "Mouse click and mouse wheel" by NWSP. From freesound.org. CC BY
Sound Effect: "Painting 02 090420" by LG. From freesound.org. CC BY
Sound Effect: "Packing tape pull" by Michaelvelo. From freesound.org. CC BY-NC
Sound Effect: "Printing Press Mechanics" by exuberate. From freesound.org. CC BY
Sound Effect: "rubbing paper 1" by thecityrings. From freesound.org. CC BY

EPISODE 10 "THE DAYS CAN BECOME VERY LONG."
Randy has worked his way up from driving a milk truck to working for the City of Barre. He has worked in both the Water Department and the Cemetery Department. The Cemetery Department covers Hope Cemetery in Barre, which is home to some of Barre’s finest granite memorials. Despite Barre’s multicultural past, some tension arose in the Cemetery Department when the cemetery held a Muslim funeral. Randy’s back in the Water Department, nearing retirement, but, not all is fine and placid: Providing essential services and being a union leader is always hard work.

Oral history transcript to be performed: Randy Edmunds, Work Leader for City of Barre’s Water Department and President of AFSCME Council 93 (2017, original)
​
Narrator: Carl Etnier

RESEARCH CITATIONS

• Bernard, Tara Siegel, and Karl Russell. “The Middle-Class Crunch: A Look at 4 Family Budgets.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 3 Oct. 2019, www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/10/03/your-money/middle-class-income.html.
• Haider, Asad. “Trump and the Muslim Question.” Jacobin, 16 Nov. 2016, www.jacobinmag.com/2016/11/trump-and-the-muslim-question.
• Kane, Joseph, and Adie Tomer. “Renewing the Water Workforce: Improving Water Infrastructure and Creating a Pipeline to Opportunity.” Brookings, Brookings, 22 June 2018, www.brookings.edu/research/water-workforce/.
• Martin, Emmie. “This Map Shows How Much Money a Family of 4 Needs to Earn to Get by in Every US State.” CNBC, CNBC, 16 May 2019, www.cnbc.com/2019/05/16/how-much-money-a-family-of-4-needs-to-get-by-in-every-us-state.html.
• Rowe, Amy E. “A Trace of Arabic in Granite: Lebanese Migration to the Green Mountains, 1890–1940.” Vermont History, vol. 76, no. 1, 2008, pp. 91–129.
• Sago, David C., and Andrew Kricun. “America Must Act to Ensure Qualified Water Workforce.” The Hill, 9 July 2018, thehill.com/opinion/energy-environment/395739-america-must-act-to-ensure-qualified-water-workforce.
• Thurston, Jack. “'There's No Safe Level of Lead:' VT Schools, Daycare Centers Undergoing Wave of Lead Tests.” WPTZ, WPTZ, 15 Aug. 2019, www.mynbc5.com/article/theres-no-safe-level-of-lead-vt-schools-daycare-centers-undergoing-wave-of-lead-tests/28708717.

SOUND & MUSIC CREDITS
Music: "Cave of Crystals" by Metre. From Free Music Archive. CC BY-NC-SA
Music: "my own space" by Hinterheim. From Free Music Archive. CC BY-ND
Music: "sednoseterces" by Hinterheim. From Free Music Archive. CC BY
Sound Effect: "110801-unloading" by miastodzwiekow. From freesound.org. CC BY
Sound Effect: "Fireworks, Close, A (H1)" by InspectorJ. From freesound.org. CC BY
Sound Effect: "Kids Birthday Party Crowd" by jakobthiesen. From freesound.org. CC BY
Sound Effect: "lost_maples_waterfall" by wjoojoo. From freesound.org. CC BY
Sound Effect: "Milk Bottles clanking" by foxen10. From freesound.org. CC BY
Sound Effect: "passing trucks 008" by tim.kahn. From freesound.org. CC BY-NC
Sound Effect: "pasture ambience LONG 130101_03" by klankbeeld. From freesound.org. CC BY
Sound Effect: "PhoneRinging" by acclivity. From freesound.org. CC BY-NC
Sound Effect: "Summer Barbecue" by nebulousflynn. From freesound.org. CC BY
Sound Effect: "Town amb - summer, day" by eric5335. From freesound.org. CC BY-NC
Sound Effect: "Tractor Mowing" by Puniho. From freesound.org. CC BY
Sound Effect: "Whistling antarctic blizzard" by stormpetrel. From freesound.org. CC BY-NC

EPISODE 9 "HISTORY IS VERY PERSONAL."
Christine is a true Vermonter in every way: she is part Abenaki, and her entire family has been here for generations. Growing up working-class in a working-class town, she knows what it feels like to be disregarded. When she finally gets the chance to go to college as a working mother, she is awakened to her own intelligence. She decides to teach history, focusing on the history of women and Native Americans. She believes history is very personal, and her students learn history by making it personal. She makes a decent living, but it is only because her union has fought hard for it -- and they have to keep on fighting for it.

Oral history transcript to be performed: Christine Smith, Librarian at Spaulding, former History Teacher at Spaulding HS (2017, original).

Narrator: Sb Sowbel

THEME SONG CREDIT
The “John Henry” song at the beginning of our show is from the Alan Lomax Collection at the American Folklife Center, Library of Congress. Used courtesy of the Association for Cultural Equity.

RESEARCH CITATIONS

• Cronon, William. Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England. Hill and Wang, 2003.
• “Native Americans / Native Vermonters.” The Vermont Movie, 2016, thevermontmovie.com/pdfs/abenakis.pdf.
• Post, Charles. The American Road to Capitalism: Studies in Class-Structure, Economic Development and Political Conflict, 1620-1877. Haymarket, 2012.
• Rooker, Sarah. “English Settlement In The Connecticut River Valley: 1691-1791.” Flow of History, 20 Feb. 2014, www.flowofhistory.org/english-settlement-in-the-connecticut-river-valley-1691-1791/.
• Matthewson, R. Duncan. “Western Abenaki of TheUpper Connecticut River Basin:Preliminary Notes on Native AmericanPre-Contact Culture in Northern New England.” The Journal of Vermont Archaeology, vol. 12, 2011, pp. 1–45.
• Rooker, Sarah. “The French Settlement Of Vermont: 1609-1929.” Flow of History, 10 Jan. 2014, www.flowofhistory.org/the-french-settlement-of-vermont-1609-1929/.
• Rooker, Sarah. “Stories of Forced Migrations to Vermont.” Flow of History, 14 Mar. 2014, www.flowofhistory.org/stories-of-forced-migragion/.
• Wood, Paul. “Granite Columm Early Uses of Stone Were Primitive, Helpful.” Times Argus, 18 Oct. 2018, www.timesargus.com/news/granite-columm-early-uses-of-stone-were-primitive-helpful/article_4c95190f-3669-5eea-a707-381da7ca7b52.html.

SOUND & MUSIC CREDITS
Music: "Cascade" by Parallel Park. From Free Music Archive. CC BY-NC-SA
Music: "Coming Round" by Parallel Park. From Free Music Archive. CC BY-NC-SA
Sound Effect: "ambience house with tv" by H0ugH. From freesound.org. CC BY-NC
Sound Effect: "atm money bank machine" by Nkzdra. From freesound.org. CC BY
Sound Effect: "Ambience, Seaside Waves, Close, A" by InspectorJ. From freesound.org. CC BY
Sound Effect: "Cafe busy with children" by Stevious42. From freesound.org. CC BY
Sound Effect: "Classroom" by sarcasticbracket. From freesound.org. CC BY-NC
Sound Effect: "College library ambience" by Hourofmidnight. From freesound.org. CC  BY-NC
Sound Effect: "GroupOfCollegeStudentsInClassroom" by adamlhumphreys. From freesound.org. CC BY-NC
Sound Effect: "Library sounds" by artemis_ch. From freesound.org. CC BY
Sound Effect: "Paintings at the exhibition » Lecture01" by LG. From freesound.org. CC BY
Sound Effect: "Prinknash Abbey Ground (Graveyard) at Dusk" by kernowrules. From freesound.org. CC BY-NC
Sound Effect: "Sad or Happy Movie Scene" by Soundscapes55. From freesound.org. CC BY
Sound Effect: "Wall Clock Ticking" by straget. From freesound.org. CC BY

EPISODE 8 "IN THIS AREA, I WAS STUCK"
Many people did struggle during the Recession, and some never fully recovered. Paul dedicated his life to the liberal arts, helping students achieve their dreams, including a young poet with a speech impediment. When the cumulative effects of the 2008 crisis kicked in, however, Paul was laid off. He found work as a Retail Merchandiser, but it paid less than $15 an hour.
​
Oral history transcript to be performed: Paul Cook, former Retail Merchandiser and Academic Advisor (2017, original)

VOICE CREDITS
Storyteller: Paul Cook
Narrator: Reverend Earl Kooperkamp

THEME SONG CREDIT
The “John Henry” song at the beginning of our show is from the Alan Lomax Collection at the American Folklife Center, Library of Congress. Used courtesy of the Association for Cultural Equity.

RESEARCH CREDITS

• DeSilver, Drew. “For Most Americans, Real Wages Have Barely Budged for Decades.” Pew Research Center, Pew Research Center, 7 Aug. 2018, www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2018/08/07/for-most-us-workers-real-wages-have-barely-budged-for-decades/.
• Eagan, M. K., Stolzenberg, E. B., Ramirez, J. J., Aragon, M. C., Suchard, M. R., & Rios-Aguilar, C. (2016). The American freshman: Fifty-Year trends, 1966–2015. Los Angeles: Higher Education Research Institute, UCLA.
• Morris, Alex. “Why Can't Allyson Get Ahead?” Rolling Stone, Rolling Stone, 13 Nov. 2018, www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/american-middle-class-disappearing-754735/.
• Schmidt, Benjamin. Mea Culpa: There *Is* a Crisis in the Humanities, 27 July 2018, sappingattention.blogspot.com/2018/07/mea-culpa-there-is-crisis-in-humanities.html.
• Selingo, Jeff. “Perspective | How the Great Recession Changed Higher Education Forever.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 21 Sept. 2018, www.washingtonpost.com/education/2018/09/21/how-great-recession-changed-higher-education-forever/?utm_term=.4c0cebee315b.
• Whistle, Wesley. “A Look At Millennial Student Debt.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 4 Oct. 2019, www.forbes.com/sites/wesleywhistle/2019/10/03/a-look-at-millennial-student-debt/#7ec1e7332437.

SOUND & MUSIC CREDITS
Music: "Burbujas de agua" by Circus Marcus. From Free Music Archive. CC BY-NC
Music: "intro_outro" by Circus Marcus. From Free Music Archive. CC BY-NC
Music: "La penúltima del jueves" by Circus Marcus. From Free Music Archive. CC BY-NC
Sound Effect: "00588 paperwork 1" by Robinhood76. From freesound.org. CC BY-NC
Sound Effect: "Applause 4" by VlatkoBlazek. From freesound.org. CC BY