A community podcast
Host Alex Torpey shares stories, voices, and vibes around communities in the Upper Valley of New Hampshire and Vermont. From business owners, community and civic leaders, and just downright interesting stories and people that are relevant to our communities, learn more about the people who we share the Upper Valley with.
This podcast is produced by Alex Torpey and ReThink Local, with support from JAM – Junction Arts & Media, building community in the Upper Valley of NH and VT.
Episodes
Episode 4: In Rethink Local’s “Upper Valley Vibes” podcast, we talk Civility, critical thinking, education, Principles of Discourse, and community | I sit down with Greg Prince, former Dean at Dartmouth and former President of Hampshire College, at his home in Norwich Vermont. We talk about his long and inspiring career in education where Greg has worked tirelessly to find ways to engage and empower others to be critical thinkers and engage in the world around them with agency.
Episode 3: Discussion with Susan, Dana and Deb from Raymond Voter Information Project on informed town meetings and civic engagement – If you live in Raymond, NH you have an easier time getting informed about what’s happening at Town Meeting than people do in many towns. Why? This is because of the dedicated work of a dozen or so volunteers who constitute the Raymond Voter Information Project who are my guests this episode. These community members and volunteers have been compiling a detailed voter guide for 15 years that gets mailed to every household in Raymond prior to Town Meeting. They compile information, perform editorial reviews to ensure the information is as neutral and objective as possible, and even include things like further research and reasons why someone might vote yes and reasons why someone might vote no, and a voter guide you can fill out and take with you on election day. We all believe that helping ensure a well attended and representative town meeting is one of the most important things we can do in our communities.
Episode 2: Discussion with Josh Crane of Norwich about the Upper Valley’s borders, small community and journalism in local civics – In this episode I take a walk on the rail trail in Lebanon with Josh Crane, Senior Producer and Managing Editor of the really great podcast Brave Little State that many of you have probably heard of, produced by Vermont Public. Before joining Brave Little State and moving to the Upper Valley in 2021, Josh spent years reporting and producing podcasts at WBUR in Boston.
I asked him to talk in large part because of a great episode he did for Brave Little State about the Upper Valley where he talked to some local legends like Steve Taylor in Plainfield and Rob Gurwitt of Daybreak and many more. We actually don’t end up getting too far down that rabbit hole about the history of the Upper Valley in this episode, but if you’re interested in the history of the phrase “Upper Valley,” the newspaper wars, who thinks what boundaries are where and a lot more about what makes the Upper Valley unique, that Brave Little State episode is definitely worth checking out and is linked below.
In this episode on Upper Valley Vibes, Josh and I talk a bit about the Upper Valley, important dynamics about small, trusting communities and how that might influence politics and policy, the role of journalism in local civics, the value of local ownership and accountability, what he hears from meeting people around Vermont through Brave Little State, and importantly, who has the best town fair in the Upper Valley.
Episode 1: Hi everyone my name is Alex Torpey, your host of the new Upper Valley Vibes podcast. As we get this thing going I wanted to share a little bit about my goals for the podcast, and first, share a little of my background so you all can get to know where I’m coming from and the perspective that will be part of this podcast. I think it’s important to know about the context of people who we listen to, read, etc, and hope you’ll join me to hear a bit about what informs my mindset.
