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Rumble Strip

Erica Heilman / Rumble Strip, Erica Heilman

Good conversation that takes its time, hosted by Erica Heilman.

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23 episodes
Avg 16 min
English

Episodes 23

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#334
September 15 · 22 min
The Last Chapter
When Bill was diagnosed with terminal cancer, he asked his best friend to help him die.
#333
September 8 · 14 min
Summertime and dead batteries
This is the third episode in a periodic series called Life of Kaye, which is about the life of Kaye, but also about what life mostly sounds like and feels like, day after day after day. This episode is called Summertime and dead batteries.
#332
August 4 · 10 min
Places Go
This is a special guest show from the excellent CBC series, Love Me. For the past few months, Chris and his partner Beth have been crying. A lot. What’s triggering the waterworks? Reading Dr. Seuss’ “Oh, The Places You’ll Go” to their toddler. It gets Chris and Beth weepy every... single... time. Eavesdropping on home recordings, we join Chris and Beth on their absurdist quest to get through this kids’ book without crying. Featuring Chris Attaway. More episodes of Love Me are available everyw
#331
July 10 · 20 min
Rest in Peace Bonnie Tyler
A few days ago we lost a power ballad hero. Bonnie Tyler is gone. She wrote my favorite song, Total Eclipse of the Heart. Years ago I forced people to listen to me sing this song and then I made a show about it and forced MORE people to listen to me sing it, and talk about turning fifty. So I'm playing it again in honor of Bonnie Tyler.
#330
July 2 · 21 min
Let's make a show about the fourth of July
This weekend is the fourth of July. The 250th. LET'S MAKE A SHOW ABOUT IT. Record voice memos on your phone and send them to me at rumblestripvermont@gmail.com and I will make a show that sounds like all our holidays together. Conversations, arguments, fireworks, temper tantrums, parades. I'd love to hear it all.
#329
June 18 · 12 min
Life of Kaye: Healthy Dollars
This is the second episode of a periodic series I’m making called Life of Kaye. Making Rumble Strip is the closest I can get to understanding what it’s like to be someone else. But what would happen if I wasn’t standing around holding a mic and asking a lot of questions? For the last year I’ve been asking my friend Kaye Phipps to record voice memos on her phone and send them to me. I love listening to these recordings. It feels like looking at a whole life through a keyhole. Life of Kaye isa s
#328
May 28 · 10 min
Life of Kaye: Some kind of a speaker
Welcome to a new, periodic series called Life of Kaye. This first episode is called: Some Kind of a Speaker. The series is produced by me and Kaye Phipps. Send us your comments if you have them and thank you so much for listening.
#327
May 21 · 18 min
A Day on the Road with a Visiting Nurse
Home health and hospice nurses provide all kinds of healthcare to people in their homes...day and night, and in mud and snow. I knew of these folks because I met some of them after my father came home from the hospital. A nurse came to help with his medications. A VNA therapist came to give him physical therapy. But I wasn’t really aware of these nurses and therapists UNTIL my family really needed them, and I expect there are a lot of people out there like me. So this is a show about the nurse
#326
May 1 · 7 min
Ladies' Day at Vermont Quick Lube
Vermont Quick Lube is a stay-in-your-car oil change place and car wash in Barre, Vermont. Wednesday is Ladies' Day and since I love Vermont Quick Lube, I made a story about it. On a Wednesday.
#325
April 30 · 53 min
A Requiem for Larry Massett
A special airing of A Requiem for Larry Massett, produced by The KItchen Sisters Present, and Barrett Golding and Transom. It's really good.
#324
April 9 · 13 min
I Eat the Marshmallow
This is a same-day reaction to this morning’s story called: A springtime show about how about the economy that partly explains why we feel ashamed. That story features a wonderful listener in Scotland who is a money manager and made some fascinating comments about the last class series. I asked her if she’d be willing to share some of these thoughts on the phone, and she was willing, and that was this morning’s story. A couple hours later I got a reaction audio from one of the people featured i
#323
April 9 · 20 min
A Springtime Show about the Economy that Partly Explains why We’re Ashamed
This is a conversation with a money manager in Scotland who has given a great deal of thought to why many of us feel confused and ashamed about our financial lives. After the What Class are You? shows, I often receive interesting commentary, and I’m always frustrated that this commentary can’t become part of a wider conversation. So after receiving two fascinating comments from EM in Scotland, I asked her if she’d be willing to share some of her thoughts on the economy on the phone. She said ye
#322
March 6 · 16 min
Hold On
Six years ago, seventeen-year-old Finn Rooney killed himself in his home in Walden, Vermont. A couple days later, his community held a bonfire in the parking lot of Hazen Union High school in Hardwick. Hundreds of people came. Tom Gilbert, who organized the bonfire, asked his friend Heidi Wilson to write a song for the occasion. The song was called Hold On. She made sure it was a song everyone could sing. And they did. Now people are singing this song all over the world. People in Minneapolis
#321
January 29 · 7 min
What class are you, Habib and Arwa?
A conversation about the roles of race and class in the lives of two biracial teenagers in Vermont.
#320
January 28 · 15 min
What class are you Kaye?
Kaye Phipps lives in Montpelier, Vermont. Right now she works as a custodian at a local grocery store. She’s also been a florist, a housekeeper, and a house cleaner. But even though she’s sometimes working multiple jobs, she often comes up short. In this episode, Kaye talks about how having a limited income makes her feel like a child, long into adulthood.
#319
January 27 · 9 min
What class are you Jules?
Jules Guillemette grew up on their family farm in Lamoille County, Vermont, which has been in the family nearly 100 years. Since then, Jules has worked as a chef, a meat cutter and now they're an electrician. In this episode, we talk about what it means to own land of enormous value but always be struggling to save enough money.
#318
January 26 · 8 min
What class are you Trudy?
Trudy Richmond lives in subsidized senior housing in Burlington. She’s educated and worked all her life, but at a certain point, Trudy realized that she had too little money to pay for a comfortable retirement and too much to qualify for services that might make her retirement more comfortable. In this episode of What Class are You, Trudy talks with reporter Erica Heilman about how she negotiated a comfortable retirement for herself.
#317
Dec 9, 2025 · 20 min
The Thanksgiving Show
This is a show about Thanksgiving, and what it sounds like. It is made entirely of your recordings.
#316
Nov 26, 2025 · 3 min
Thanksgiving show SAMPLER
Hello all. Here's a little sample of the show I'm trying ot make with YOU this Thanksgiving...
#315
Nov 25, 2025 · 2 min
Let's Make a Show about Thanksgiving
This is me imploring YOU to make some recordings this year about your Thanksgiving.

Showing 1–20 of 23 episodes