26 November

Into The Storm: Sometimes In Vermont

by Jon Katz
Sometimes In Vermont
Sometimes In Vermont

Vermont, unlike the favored postcard images of it, is a very real place. It’s residents struggle to find secure jobs, they depend heavily on tourists, the state struggles with economic and social issues, especially poverty  and problems with drugs.

But it is a beautiful state, an oasis, where people on the left and people on the right work together to solve problems rather than argue about them. Vermont rejects polarization, the state is always getting things done, it is a place of powerful community, people watch out for one another. Today, as we drove through the storm, a giant tree fell on a truck and blocked the road.

Cars backed up right away and I thought we would be there all night, but a bunch of people jumped out of their cars and set to work with saws and bare hands and cleared the tree and make sure everyone was all right. Very Vermont, people there don’t wait for the police to come to fix things.

When Maria and I want to rest or connect with nature and community, we go to Vermont, there are so many beautiful towns and villages free of malls and box stores and traffic jams, it is possible to imagine an different and simpler life.

Sometimes in Vermont, on nights like this, snow everywhere, people coming into the inn stomping their boots and shaking off the snow on their jackets, I expect Bing Crosby to pop out in front of the fireplace crooning holiday songs and carols. We are buried in snow, we will not be moving much tomorrow, this after, Maria and I walked for miles through the storm, i took some photos, she make some snow sculptures. Now, a reading job and rest. I made it up a very steep hill this morning, something I couldn’t have done five or six months ago. I was grateful for it, my my life, for my time here.

The report from Bedlam Farm is comforting, the dogs lounging by the fire, the cats in Deb Foster’s lap, the donkeys and sheep fed and dry out in the pole barn. I am grateful for every one of them.

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