The Vermont Conversation with David Goodman cover art

All Episodes

The Vermont Conversation with David Goodman — 311 episodes

#
Title
1

‘How the Democrats Screwed Bernie.’ Former Sanders chief campaign strategist Tad Devine on the 2016 presidential race

2

‘Strive for that more perfect union.’ Rep. Becca Balint on resurgent white nationalism, war in Iran and her mixed feelings about America’s 250th

3

Cartoonist Tillie Walden celebrates early American queer love in Vermont in new book

4

‘Going to where the silence is.’ Journalist Amy Goodman on 30 years of speaking truth to power

5

Are smartphones birth control? Economist Caitlin Myers on sex, abortion access and talking across divides

6

Celebrating and defending protest, America’s founding principle

7

‘Action is the antidote to despair.’ Ben Cohen fights to save the soul of Ben & Jerry’s.

8

Journalist Jasper Craven on the toxic mix of militarism and masculinity

9

Going fast and breaking barriers

10

Shepherd, farmer and award-winning author Helen Whybrow on life, death and belonging

11

What happens when law enforcement is lawless?

12

Who made the president a king?

13

‘I am not afraid’: One year after arrest, Mohsen Mahdawi refuses to be silent

14

Who killed abortion rights?

15

"There are more of us than there are of them" — Vermonters speak out against Trump and in defense of democracy

16

Freed for now from ICE detention, Minister Steven Tendo on being a beacon of hope

17

How a melting Greenland went from universal wonder to imperial prize

18

Bill McKibben on fighting climate denialism with democratic power

19

How Ben Ogden became the best men’s cross-country skier in US Olympic history

20

Vermont Rep. Becca Balint on ICE, Epstein and presidential fealty

21

How Sen. Bernie Sanders went from perennial trifle to progressive trailblazer

22

Vermont clergy see Minnesota as 'testing ground' for Trump's immigration crackdown

23

House Speaker Jill Krowinski on the state budget and federal immigration crackdown

24

Cartoonist Alison Bechdel on cultivating a 'little oasis of queer freedom'

25

'An act of war' — Sen. Peter Welch on Trump's Venezuela and Capitol insurrection

26

Vermont Conversation: Yankee editor Mel Allen on a half century of New England storytelling

27

A former EPA official on how the plastics industry sabotages real recycling

28

A Vermont Jewish student banished from Israel speaks out

29

VTDigger Editor-in-Chief Geeta Anand on rebuilding trust through local news

30

'We don’t have a safety net': A Vermont family confronts a future without health insurance

31

Maria Stephan on the 3.5% Rule and how nonviolent protest can stop authoritarianism

32

Pianist Adam Tendler transforms his father’s death into 'little masterpieces'

33

Rep. Jamie Raskin on 'the fight of our lives' under President Donald Trump

34

Vermont Conversations: A field report from Vermont's historic 'No Kings' rallies

35

Mohsen Mahdawi & Bernard Avishai on Palestine, Israel and what lasting peace would take

36

Oscar Mayer heir Chuck Collins on how billionaires are fleecing everyone

37

Cynthia Miller-Idriss on 'the common thread' of misogyny and violent extremism

38

Former Chief Justice Jeffrey Amestoy revisits Vermont's most notorious crime

39

Will free speech survive Trump? FIRE's Aaron Terr is concerned.

40

Vermont Asylum Assistance Project confronts Trump's assault on immigrant rights

41

Dr. Becca Bell on the chaos at the CDC, and the uneven future of vaccine access

42

Writer and organizer Bill McKibben on how the renewable energy revolution can bolster democracy

43

Sen. Peter Welch slams Trump on his 'ugly bill', DC takeover and war in Gaza

44

Winooski Superintendent Wilmer Chavarria on why he was detained at the border

45

Journalist Garrett Graff on the 80th anniversary of the atomic bomb and the rise of authoritarianism today

46

Planned Parenthood's Nicole Clegg on reproductive rights without clinics

47

Sociologist Arlie Hochschild on the rise of the right in rural America

48

'Don’t back down' — Vermont’s marriage equality revolution at 25

49

'This is about white supremacy' – Rep. Becca Balint on fighting the Trump administration

50

Best of: CNN’s Elle Reeve on how far-right extremism became the Republican mainstream

51

As Vermonters go hungry, the Trump administration threatens cuts to food assistance

52

Award-winning filmmaker Eugene Jarecki on Julian Assange, WikiLeaks and the global crackdown on truth

53

Jasper Hill Farm's Mateo Kehler confronts the twin challenge of tariffs and Vermont's affordable housing crisis

54

Flutist Karen Kevra on a quarter-century of making world-class music in Vermont

55

A walk in the woods with Mohsen Mahdawi

56

Attorney General Charity Clark sues Donald Trump and warns ‘there are consequences’ for defying courts

57

Bill Lippert on the 25th anniversary of Vermont's landmark civil unions law and the backlash against LGBTQ+ people

58

Journalist Jeff Sharlet on American fascism and how a civil war is speeding up

59

Trump's immigration crackdown comes to Vermont

60

Journalist Garrett Graff on the rise of authoritarianism and how Covid changed Vermont

61

Retiring Health Commissioner Dr. Mark Levine on the state of public health in Vermont

62

Best of: New York Times columnist Nick Kristof

63

Can capitalism save us? Will Patten believes Vermont shows us how

64

'Another World is Possible', says journalist Natasha Hakimi Zapata

65

Wall Street Journal correspondent Yaroslav Trofimov on why Trump admires Putin

66

The Mirnavator challenges herself and others to get outside their comfort zone

67

'An attempted coup' — Rep. Becca Balint on Trump's power grab

68

One woman's odyssey from Africa to asylum in Vermont

69

ACLU leaders on how freedom and unity will overcome fear and division

70

Facing 'systematic abandonment' by the Trump administration, Vermont refugees confront fear and uncertainty

71

Bill McKibben on fighting for change under the new Trump administration

72

Sen. Phil Baruth & Rep. Jill Krowinski on what comes next after losing the most Democratic seats in the U.S.?

73

Journalist and artist Myra Flynn on creating a "righteous space for art and race"

74

Best of Vermont Conversation: Author Julia Alvarez on borders and bridges

75

Best of the Vermont Conversation: A new Santa Claus is coming to town and ‘he is a uniter’

76

Million meter man Noah Dines on his record-setting year of living strenuously

77

Civil rights and environmental leader Ben Jealous on fighting and winning in tough times

78

John Rodgers and the future of Vermont politics

79

Elizabeth Price on the anniversary of her son, Hisham Awartani, 'being alive'

80

Vermont Rhodes Scholar Lena Ashooh on working "towards a brighter future"

81

Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark on fighting the next Trump administration

82

Former Gov. Madeleine Kunin on the next Trump presidency

83

Ex-GOP strategist Stuart Stevens on the presidential election

84

PolitiFact founder Bill Adair on how lies threaten democracy

85

Front Porch Forum co-founder Michael Wood-Lewis insists that social media can build community

86

What are the roots of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?

87

Dartmouth Prof. Tarek El-Ariss on despair and hope in the Middle East

88

Yale historian Timothy Snyder on freedom and fascism

89

CNN's Elle Reeve on how far-right extremism became the Republican mainstream

90

Peter Welch on Harris-Trump debate, voter suppression and potential election violence

91

Corinne Prevot of Skida and Sam Hooper of Vermont Glove on the trials and tribulations of making it in Vermont

92

Where are all these superstorms coming from?

93

'Hope is making a comeback': Vermont DNC delegates cast their votes for Harris

94

Zephyr Teachout on theater, politics and being ‘willing to fight’

95

Investigative reporter Jason Moon exposes a century of abuse in New Hampshire's juvenile justice center

96

Bill Mares chose how and when to end his life. He had a few things he wanted to say before he died.

97

New York Times reporter Peter S. Goodman on how the world ran out of everything

98

Becca Balint on the ‘freedom election,’ the Israel-Hamas war and fighting cynicism

99

“All history is current:” Jay Craven on filmmaking as activism and reimagining Vermont's founding story

100

One year after devastating floods in Barre, stories of survival and anxiety

101

Stop panicking and fight, Stuart Stevens tells Democrats

102

Best of the Vermont Conversation: The ‘courageous doctor’ who helped legalize abortion in Vermont

103

Can bikes replace cars and help save the planet?

104

How Rob Mermin ran away with the circus and spent a life under the Big Top

105

Harvard professor Steven Levitsky on how the ‘tyranny of the minority’ threatens democracy

106

Are the kids all right? Vermont high school students speak out

107

Journalist Jonathan Mingle on how a rural community defeated a major gas pipeline

108

New York Times Columnist Nick Kristof on exposing global injustice and chasing hope

109

Dartmouth Professor Annelise Orleck was arrested but not silenced

110

Campus protesters speak out in solidarity with Gaza

111

Surviving and escaping the Twelve Tribes cult

112

Father Michael Lapsley on becoming a healer after assassination attempt

113

Peace activist Jules Rabin on his century of raising hell and raising bread

114

Adventurer and author Jan Reynolds on breaking the glass summit

115

Filmmaker Bess O'Brien turns her camera on hunger, poverty and those ‘just getting by’

116

Legendary activist Tom Hayden on SDS, Chicago 7, climate change and making a difference

117

Acclaimed Vermont author Laura Waterman reflects on her life in the mountains and her husband's death

118

Emma Mulvaney-Stanak on making history as the 1st queer woman elected as Burlington’s mayor

119

20 years after the Deaniac insurgency, Howard Dean still swinging hard on politics

120

‘An amazing person in this world’: Mother of Hisham Awartani on his return to college after attempted murder

121

‘What is happening to really ensure that Black lives matter,’ NAACP leader Mia Schultz asks

122

Best of the Vermont Conversation: Matthew Desmond

123

‘A trail for everybody’ — Catamount Trail founders ski the length of Vermont to mark 40th anniversary

124

‘If All Else Fails’: Looking at far right extremism in the Northeast

125

Best of the Vermont Conversation: Katherine Paterson

126

Felicia Kornbluh on the perilous state of reproductive rights

127

Doxxed and defiant: Harvard student activist Eva Frazier refuses to be silent

128

Best of the Vermont Conversation: John Irving

129

Naomi Klein dives into the far right conspiratorial mirror world to find her doppelganger

130

Best of the Vermont Conversation: Alison Bechdel

131

Garrett Graff on UFOs, conspiracy theories, and the fate of civilization

132

‘This hideous crime did not happen in a vacuum’

133

Ken Squier’s lifelong conversation with Vermonters

134

Vermont voices on the Israel-Hamas war

135

A collaborative approach to divorce

136

What are the roots of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict?

137

Rep. Becca Balint navigates attacks, antisemitism and the "horrible situation" of war in Israel and Gaza

138

Walking Across America to Fix Democracy

139

How Vermont embraced eugenics in the 20th century

140

Best of the Vermont Conversation: Investigative journalist Jane Mayer

141

Peter Schumann on 60 years of Bread and Puppet Theater

142

Is truth dead?

143

Nikhil Goyal’s searing classic about coming of age in poverty

144

4 decades of changing students' lives at the Governor's Institutes of Vermont

145

Champlain College President Alex Hernandez on the transformative power of an education

146

Stephen Kiernan offers ‘a healing book’ for a divided nation

147

Fire, floods and the Great Displacement

148

Ex-GOP strategist Stuart Stevens on the existential battle to save democracy

149

A New Hampshire reporter exposes sexual abuse in substance use recovery industry and faces relentless attacks

150

Johnson and Jenna's Promise recover from twin disasters

151

Peter Welch on climate change-fueled disasters and democracy in the crosshairs

152

‘Someone was watching over me’: A near death and a second chance for Barre

153

Coming together and giving back in Waterbury

154

Disaster, grace, and resilience: A Vermont community after the flood

155

How the United States nearly disunited

156

WSJ reporter Brett Forrest on upheaval in Russia

157

Can community schools cure what ails education?

158

'A Good Ally': From peacemaker to culture warrior, Rep. Becca Balint stands her ground

159

Made in Vermont: The Marriage Equality Revolution

160

Bernie’s mitten maker weaves a tale of empowerment and overcoming abuse

161

The radical act of hanging out

162

In war on doctors, Vermont OB-GYNs strive to be 'a beacon of light and hope'

163

‘I'm not giving up’: Voices from Vermont's housing crisis

164

Trailblazing trans lawmaker Rep. Taylor Small on fighting anti-LGBTQ+ attacks and being 'a beacon of hope'

165

Who benefits from poverty? Matthew Desmond says many of us do.

166

Best of the Vermont Conversation: Ed Koren

167

Author Tracy Kidder on homelessness, hope and telling stories that matter

168

A lifelong advocate for the homeless confronts violence and crisis with commitment 'to heal, to start again'

169

Journalist Sue Halpern on threats to democracy

170

A literacy crusader fights poverty and prejudice with books

171

Best of the Vermont Conversation: Rep. Jamie Raskin

172

Journalist Jeff Sharlet on America's "slow civil war"

173

The endangered ski bum

174

‘Skiing saved my son’s life’

175

Best of the Vermont Conversation: Yale professor Timothy Snyder

176

Middlebury President Laurie Patton on divestment, diversity and resisting censorship

177

Vermont Conversation: Red, white and blacklisted: The Red Scare in Hollywood and Vermont

178

Kiah Morris continues her fight for justice

179

Vermont Conversation: Food, love and mental illness

180

Bill McKibben on ‘a moment of extraordinary opportunity’

181

Are we doomed to fight?

182

Sen. Patrick Leahy passes the gavel after a half-century

183

The last American newspaper

184

Greed is not good — Jon Erickson on building an economics of prosperity

185

‘Dictator Hunter’ Reed Brody on his global quest to bring tyrants to justice

186

‘I am trans, I am here’: Randolph high school student speaks out after hate campaign

187

A new Santa Claus is coming to town and ‘he is a uniter’

188

Barack Obama's speechwriter on "the power of a president's words"

189

The abortion election and male allies

190

Reclaiming the outdoors and finding Black joy

191

A couple's journey into the uncharted world of Alzheimer's disease and dementia

192

Literary icon John Irving on LGBTQ+ rights, abortion and ‘The Last Chairlift’

193

Legendary cartoonist Ed Koren on art, humor and his mortality

194

A ‘Token Black Girl’ breaks her silence

195

How anti-science disinformation spreads poison

196

America's long battle for voting rights

197

Climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe on how to talk to climate deniers

198

How Ralph Nader launched a movement in Vermont

199

Journalist Thom Hartmann on ‘Brunch With Bernie’ and threats to civil liberties

200

Becca Balint on her race to defend democracy and make history

201

Stroke survivors bike across America to raise awareness and hope

202

Vermont's anti-Republican Republican congressional candidate Liam Madden

203

A child of the radical Weather Underground reconsiders its legacy

204

From homelessness to Harvard

205

From performing for presidents to making music for mental health

206

Will local news survive?

207

Delivering justice from Island Pond to Kosovo

208

The human cost of America's forever wars

209

Chamber music for the people

210

What the world can learn from South Africa

211

Have Supreme Court justices become 'politicians in robes?'

212

What happens to abortion rights after Roe?

213

The “courageous doctor” who helped legalize abortion in Vermont

214

Bill McKibben reconsiders his boyhood and the American dream

215

Peabody award-winning podcaster Erica Heilman on death, grief and love in a Vermont community

216

The extraordinary class of 2022

217

How abortion became a battlefront in the culture wars

218

A dirt road revival to win rural voters

219

Fighting a wave of censorship

220

Fighting for abortion rights to honor her late mother's struggle

221

Rep. Jamie Raskin on losing his son and saving democracy

222

Can anxiety be good for you?

223

An abolitionist newspaper rises again

224

Journalist Joel Simon on the ‘Infodemic’ of lies making people sicker

225

The mother of all toxics battles

226

‘It feels like a dangerous hiatus right now’: New Yorker journalist Jane Mayer on how dark money fuels right-wing extremism

227

The roots and way out of Vermont's housing crisis

228

Transgender Vermont educator responds to Fox News attack with ‘love and light’

229

GOP operative Stuart Stevens on how Republicans went from Cold Warriors to Putin apologists

230

Vermont Land Trust navigates a contested landscape

231

Should public money pay for religious schools?

232

Kit DesLauriers on skiing the world's highest Seven Summits

233

David Sanger on the end game in Ukraine

234

Why is Russia at war with Ukraine?

235

Does Vermont need a Truth Commission?

236

Bill McKibben on Russia's fossil fueled aggression

237

One couple’s story of romance and chronic illness

238

Garrett Graff on the unlearned lessons of Watergate

239

Mentors and youth tackle challenges together

240

The mother-son Olympic connection of Barbara Ann Cochran & Ryan Cochran-Siegle

241

Katherine Paterson on writing books that are beloved — and banned

242

The 'pandemic-to-prison pipeline' and the student mental health crisis

243

Project N95 works to mask the masses

244

Vasu Sojitra on breaking barriers in backcountry skiing

245

Jeremy Jones on the fight to save winter

246

Rebecca Bell on kids, Covid and caregivers at 'their breaking point'

247

America is in the 'legal phase' of fascism, says Yale Prof. Jason Stanley

248

Rep. Peter Welch says it’s ‘an all-hands-on-deck moment’ to defend democracy

249

Mark Levine on Omicron as an inflection point

250

What's so funny about Vermont?

251

Gregg Gonsalves on how — and how not — to stop the pandemic

252

As Covid rages in New England, officials attack public health

253

Are we in danger of losing winter?

254

Can farmers survive?

255

How to spend money and not wreck the world

256

Fritjof Capra on finding balance and connection in a turbulent world

257

Kekla Magoon on writing 'to make the world a better place'

258

The race for a shot to save the world from Covid-19

259

Gus Speth on the U.S. government's 50-year role in causing the climate crisis

260

A recovering opioid user seeks justice in the crime of the century

261

Musician Karen Kevra returns to performing on a new stage

262

Can Vermont reach its renewable energy goals?

263

Vermont's last Republican congressman

264

Confronting the addiction epidemic behind the Covid pandemic

265

Why do people hate government?

266

How Vermont's greatest fraud happened

267

Where will homeless Vermonters live?

268

John Killacky on culture wars and the night Trump came to Vermont

269

A new film traces Rutland's struggles with poverty and xenophobia

270

Author & activist Bill McKibben launches his Third Act

271

Abortion rights and the “fight for democracy”

272

Is Vermont squandering its Covid-19 success?

273

A superintendent confronts a 2nd pandemic school year

274

The long history of public health panic, politics and backlash

275

Is Vermont fertile ground for white extremists?

276

Uncovering a family's secret Nazi past

277

Vermont teens sing and speak their truth in 'Listen Up' musical

278

A widow's quest for truth

279

Could the next election be stolen?

280

We're not done with Covid-19

281

How did German democracy collapse and give rise to Nazism?

282

Will moving beyond fossil fuels help or hurt low-income Vermonters?

283

Political cartoonist Jeff Danziger on how his Vietnam service led to holding the powerful to account

284

Is rural America a place of hope or despair?

285

Andrew Bacevich on ending the "catastrophe" of American militarism

286

Shedding her secret, outdoor athlete and trans trailblazer Alex Showerman becomes role model

287

Daniel Ellsberg on leaking the Pentagon Papers and helping to end the Vietnam War

288

Trading fame and fortune to work with Vermont’s homeless youth

289

Dorothy Day's granddaughter continues her radical work for peace and the poor

290

Becca Balint recaps the historic 'Covid session'

291

Who's afraid of critical race theory?

292

Black Lives Matter in a Vermont town

293

Is there an inoculation against misinformation?

294

The state of hate

295

Madeleine Kunin on poetry, pearls and politics

296

Cartoonist Alison Bechdel reveals the 'Secret to Superhuman Strength'

297

Mark Rank debunks the myths of poverty

298

Syd Ovitt, a sexual assault survivor who sparked a movement

299

Anne Sosin on surviving Covid and studying Vermont's response

300

Author Jessica Lahey on how to prevent kids from getting hooked

301

The player who nearly integrated baseball 42 years before Jackie Robinson

302

Rev. Lennox Yearwood on why 'racial justice is climate justice'

303

Oscar Mayer Heir Chuck Collins on how the rich hide wealth

304

Journalist Eva McKend blazes trails from Vermont to D.C.

305

Donovan v. George: Why are Vermont's top prosecutors at war?

306

Should prisoners get priority for vaccination?

307

Vermont journalist Theo Padnos on surviving al-Qaida

308

Tyeastia Green on race and policing in Burlington

309

How misinformation poses a threat to democracy

310

Jessie Diggins smashes records in the ski world

311

What explains vaccine hesitancy?