Noah Kahan on ‘existing in a place that you've just written about’

The Deeper Dig

17:27

Why do so many of us get nervous when public speaking? Communication expert Lawrence Bernstein says the key to dealing with the pressure is as simple as having a casual chat. He introduces the "coffee shop test" as a way to help you overcome nerves, connect with your audience and deliver a message that truly resonates. After the talk, Modupe explains a similar approach in academia called the "Grandma test," and how public speaking can be as simple as a conversation with grandma. Want to help shape TED’s shows going forward? Fill out our survey ! Become a TED Member today at https://ted.com/join Learn more about TED Next at ted.com/futureyou Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.…

2 years ago 22:18

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Noah Kahan remembers getting excited when a song he put on SoundCloud hit a thousand plays.

Now, his songs have been streamed more than one billion times.

Kahan’s metaphorical use of “stick season,” the time between Vermont foliage and proper snow, went viral on TikTok last year and sparked covers by Zach Bryan, Chelsea Cutler, Maisie Peters and countless fans who recorded themselves strumming in their bedrooms.

The album that followed, recorded in Guilford, debuted at #14 on the Billboard 200 Chart and has been Kahan’s most successful to date. He performed on Jimmy Kimmel Live and the Kelly Clarkson Show and sold out venues coast to coast.

And then, after the first leg of his tour, he returned home to the Upper Valley and the isolated, between-villages places he crystallized on his third full-length album, Stick Season. With lyrics that describe “dirt roads named after high school friends’ grandfathers,” the record is, in Kahan’s words, “a love letter to New England.”

Turns out returning to a place you’ve described so candidly can feel a bit strange. He’s had to reconcile his romanticized version of Vermont with the reality: He’s just home, and it's cold, and he has to go outside and clean up after the dog.

There’s a “weirdness of existing in a place that you've just written about,” he said.

Kahan is going back on tour later this month. He’ll return to Vermont this summer, for two sold-out shows on the Burlington waterfront.

He joined VTDigger on Zoom earlier this month.

198 episodes

#News #VTDigger

Noah Kahan on ‘existing in a place that you've just written about’

The Deeper Dig

published 2 years ago

MP3•Episode home

Noah Kahan remembers getting excited when a song he put on SoundCloud hit a thousand plays.

Now, his songs have been streamed more than one billion times.

There’s a “weirdness of existing in a place that you've just written about,” he said.

Kahan is going back on tour later this month. He’ll return to Vermont this summer, for two sold-out shows on the Burlington waterfront.

He joined VTDigger on Zoom earlier this month.

198 episodes

#News #VTDigger

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The Deeper Dig

1
'It's hard out here' 37:49

40 weeks ago37:49

37:49

For the past few years, Vermont has had the second highest per-capita rate of homelessness in the country. During the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of people counted as homeless more than doubled, and the numbers keep going up. Lots of people are trying to grasp: Why is this happening? Why have we seen this huge, dramatic spike in the number of people experiencing homelessness here? Carly Berlin was brought on by Vermont Public and VTDigger last year to report on Vermont’s housing crisis. She’s spent hundreds of hours talking to researchers, politicians, government officials and housing advocates to understand the situation here. And she’s spent a lot of time with people who don’t have a permanent home right now. Her inbox is full of messages asking some version of this question: How many homeless people in Vermont are really from here? And sometimes, the question is really more of an implied explanation — that Vermont’s recent rise in homelessness is driven by people crossing state lines. Berlin worked with the Brave Little State team at Vermont Public to produce this podcast investigating that question, and its implications. Updated: Sept. , 2024— We removed a caveat about data presented in this story to avoid repetition and the potential for misinterpretation.…

The Deeper Dig

1
A plan for what’s left of Vermont Yankee nuclear power plant 18:24

2 years ago18:24

18:24

For decades, Vermont Yankee, a nuclear power plant in Vernon, was the largest producer of electricity for the state. The plant has been shut down since 2014, and the company that now owns it is in the process of deconstructing it. That company, NorthStar, has recently submitted a plan that describes in detail the final steps of decommissioning, which is projected to be completed ahead of schedule, by 2026. However, national developments mean that radioactive spent fuel on the site is likely to stay where it is for the foreseeable future. Host Sam Gale Rosen spoke to VTDigger environmental reporter Emma Cotton, who has been covering the decommissioning process.…

The Deeper Dig

1
Edi Abeneto of Feeding Chittenden on fighting hunger and breaking down cultural barriers 12:43

2 years ago12:43

12:43

Edi Abeneto is food shelf supervisor at Feeding Chittenden, a Burlington-based nonprofit that focuses on hunger relief and serves more than 12,000 people every year. Abeneto has worked at the organization for more than 17 years. He speaks six languages, and among other duties, he facilitates communication and provides interpretation for visitors from a wide range of backgrounds. Over time, he said he’s built up trust with visitors that help him connect them to whatever help they need. “I was able to break down the barriers to food access, you know, and while building trust and communication with the new Americans,” Abeneto said. “So every time they see me here, I can say, be more comfortable because I speak the languages, you know, I give them more information about what we're doing. Host Sam Gale Rosen talked to Abeneto about some of what his work involves.…

The Deeper Dig

1
How to raise emotionally intelligent kids 29:43

2 years ago29:43

29:43

Managing big emotions is hard for adults, so what must it be like if you’re 3 feet tall and still in diapers? Anyone who’s been around kids knows how they can get overwhelmed by big emotional reactions. Those can run the gamut from despair to rage to laughing fits, sometimes within the same five-minute period. So, how can you teach kids to manage emotions in a healthy way? Especially if you’re still figuring it out yourself? Deeper Dig host Sam Gale Rosen talks about this with Alyssa Blask Campbell, a Burlington-based expert on parenting, education and child development. She’s the CEO of Seed & Sew , which serves parents, teachers and caregivers with tools for mental wellness and building emotional intelligence. She also hosts the podcast “Voices of Your Village.” Her new book, written with Lauren Elizabeth Stauble, is called “Tiny Humans, Big Emotions: How to Navigate Tantrums, Meltdowns, and Defiance to Raise Emotionally Intelligent Children.”…

The Deeper Dig

1
The star-studded history of a small island in Lake Bomoseen 15:32

2 years ago15:32

15:32

Neshobe Island is a small island located on the Castleton side of Lake Bomoseen. It has two houses, a barn and some surrounding woods, and that’s about it. In the 1920s and ‘30s, though, the island hosted a who’s who of celebrities and intellectuals most summers. These included Noël Coward, Thornton Wilder, Irving Berlin, Margaret Mitchell, Dorothy Parker, Laurence Olivier, Vivien Leigh, Walt Disney and Harpo Marx. Host Sam Gale Rosen toured the island with its current owners and talked about some of its surprisingly star-studded history.…

The Deeper Dig

1
Who is the University of Vermont for? 27:01

2 years ago27:01

27:01

At the University of Vermont, the share of in-state students is dwindling, and it’s raising questions about the role and mission of the state’s flagship public university. VTDigger education reporter Peter D’Auria — with the help of data reporter Erin Petenko — has been looking at the enrollment statistics over time, as well as how they compare with those of other large public universities across the country. Here’s the short version: Peter writes: “over the past two decades, the number of undergraduate Vermonters at UVM has decreased by about 300. Meanwhile, the university’s student body has added roughly 3,800 out-of-state students.” That means less than a quarter of the school’s undergrads are Vermonters, as of spring 2023. That rate is near the bottom of the list of every large public university in the U.S. Host Sam Gale Rosen talked to Peter about what we should take from these numbers.…

The Deeper Dig

1
Synagogue sold — what happens when a historic house of worship becomes something else 19:24

2 years ago19:24

19:24

Vermont’s oldest synagogue has been sold — and its new owner plans to turn it into a food hall and apartments. The nearly 140-year-old brick synagogue in Burlington’s Old North End served as an important center for the city’s Jewish community for decades. Now deteriorating physically, with its congregation mostly dwindled away, it has been sold to an entrepreneur who plans to redevelop the building. Host Sam Gale Rosen toured the historic building with the new owner and visited the nearby, newer synagogue that has now acquired many of the historic artifacts from the older location. On this episode of The Deeper Dig, we talk about the history at play, what’s planned for the building and what happens when a space for spirituality becomes something else.…

The Deeper Dig

1
‘It dominates anxiety’ — unpacking the process and impact of health insurance premium hikes 31:41

2 years ago31:41

31:41

Earlier this month, the Green Mountain Care Board made a decision that would affect most people and companies that get their health care through the state’s health insurance marketplace. The board said that two companies that offer insurance through Vermont Health Connect would be able to increase premiums by double digits in 2024. These increases will be less than insurers had asked for. Despite that, they’ll be among the highest annually since 2014, the first full year of the marketplace’s operation. “We had double digit rate increases last year and, from the looks of it, we are going to have double digit rate increases again this year, for insurance, for hospitals, for pharmaceuticals, clearly there is a nexus between these three things,” Charles Becker, a lawyer with the Office of the Health Care Advocate, said at a recent Green Mountain Care Board meeting. “To Vermont consumers, the dynamics of this system seem like a wildfire burning out of control.” To find out about these increases, what they mean and where they fit into the wider conversation about health insurance, host Sam Gale Rosen spoke with health care reporter Kristen Fountain on this episode of The Deeper Dig.…

The Deeper Dig

1
How flooding affects Vermont’s wildlife and ecosystems 24:34

2 years ago24:34

24:34

Vermonters are still coming to terms with the devastating toll of this summer’s flooding, which inundated downtowns, destroyed homes and businesses, and caused two confirmed deaths. Considered from almost any angle, the impact of this extreme weather on the state has been massive. Among the issues that environmental reporter Emma Cotton has been looking into is how the floods affected wildlife and ecosystems — and in turn, how those ecosystems impact the way flooding affects humans and our infrastructure. In this episode, host Sam Gale Rosen talks to Emma about fish, turtles, salamanders, birds, wetlands, water quality, river efficiency (it’s not a good thing), climate change and more. Plus they visit a swamp.…

The Deeper Dig

1
‘I was in shock.’ — Reporters on the impact of Vermont’s catastrophic flooding 27:10

2 years ago27:10

27:10

Early this month, heavy rains led to historic flooding in many parts of Vermont, causing massive — as yet uncounted — damage to homes, businesses and infrastructure. At the time of this recording, the state has confirmed that one person was killed by the floods. Like in Tropical Storm Irene in 2011, many towns were under feet of water, and some were transformed into islands, with routes in and out cut off by floodwaters and damaged roads. Against this backdrop, reporters and photographers from VTDigger fanned out, reporting from as many of the affected areas as they could reach. Today, we’ll hear from a few of them about what they found.…

The Deeper Dig

1
The fraught politics of Vermont’s motel housing program 38:15

2 years ago38:15

38:15

For months, Democratic lawmakers and Republican Gov. Phil Scott insisted that extending the Covid-19-era program providing people with vouchers to live in motels past this summer was a no-go. Federal money had run out, and, they said, the program was just too expensive to continue. Then, at the end of June, lawmakers worked out a deal. The program would be extended, for at least some people, until April. The governor signed the bill. This comes after about 800 people had already lost their housing earlier that month. At every stage, the motel program has been at the center of fierce debate — among the state’s leaders and the public at large — over cost, efficacy, and what support is owed to some of Vermont’s poorest and most vulnerable residents. So what changed to take this extension from out of the question to a done deal? To unpack this and other questions about homelessness, host Sam Gale Rosen talked to Lola Duffort. She covers politics for VTDigger and has been reporting extensively on the motel program and unhoused people in Vermont.…

The Deeper Dig

1
A spate of deaths focuses attention on Vermont prisons and the Department of Corrections 34:43

2 years ago34:43

34:43

It’s not unusual for Vermont’s Department of Corrections to be at the center of debate. The department manages six prisons across Vermont, with more than 1,000 incarcerated people in the system. The department is perpetually facing challenges, which only increased during the pressures of the Covid-19 pandemic. There are perennial discussions over the ethics of sending people to out-of-state prisons, the conditions that incarcerated people face and what working conditions are like for the department’s employees. Since January 2022, 16 incarcerated people have died — 12 at one prison, the Southern State Correctional Facility in Springfield . That has focused even more attention on the Department of Corrections as well as the health care and conditions in Vermont’s prisons. In this episode, host Sam Gale Rosen talks about some of these issues with reporter Ethan Weinstein. He covers southeastern Vermont for VTDigger, and much of his recent journalism has focused on the Department of Corrections .…

The Deeper Dig

1
A VTDigger reporter’s guide to the Statehouse 20:34

2 years ago20:34

20:34

If you follow this podcast, you’ve probably read a lot of the work of reporter Sarah Mearhoff. She covers politics for VTDigger, and, especially when the legislature is in session, is a close watcher of every aspect of state government. That means that she spends a lot of time in the Vermont Statehouse, the home of the state legislature and the backdrop for an enormous amount of highly consequential sausage-making. In this episode of Deeper Dig podcast, Sarah took host Sam Gale Rosen and photographer Glenn Russell — another Statehouse expert — on a tour of the capitol. We talked about architecture, operations, the job of a reporter and — most of all — carpet patterns.…

The Deeper Dig

1
Deep in the forest, a patch of common ground 26:51

2 years ago26:51

26:51

There’s a story about forests that you’ve probably heard. Some environmentalists want to protect old trees, and leave the forests alone to sequester carbon. Others say there are good reasons for humans to actively manage forests. Those advocates include loggers and foresters, who earn their livelihoods from the land, but also scientists and other members of the environmental movement. But amid a heated scientific debate about what is best for forests, and for people, some researchers warn against a false dichotomy. A bill is now working its way through the Vermont Legislature. It seeks a delicate, three-part balance, setting aside sections of forest with varied degrees of permanent protection. Some would become “forever wild.” Other tracts would allow some human intervention and sustainable forestry. In this episode, VTDigger reporter Emma Cotton explains the different schools of thought in forest conservation. Bill Keeton, a professor of forest ecology and forestry at the University of Vermont, describes the benefits of mixed-method conservation. Sam Lincoln, formerly the deputy commissioner of Vermont’s Department of Forest, Parks and Recreation and owner of Lincoln Farm Timber Harvesting, discusses some of the ethical and economic challenges of permanent easements. Ecologist Shelby Perry guides us through “forever-wild” forest.…

The Deeper Dig

1
What’s happened at Vermont sheriffs’ departments 26:20

2 years ago26:20