Next chapter
In mid-September, I decided to leave my reporting job at Vermont Public. I left my role for a lot of reasons, the most important being that it was definitely the right thing for me. I’m really proud of the work I was able to complete together with my colleagues and with so many communities in and around Vermont. Thank you to everyone who was a part of that.
A couple stories that I haven’t posted about on this blog, but that I still think about many months after their publication, are related to Indigenous communities in Vermont.
One is a three-part special series for the Brave Little State podcast, called “Recognized.” It came out in October 2023, and it was the result of two years of investigative reporting. The series is about Abenaki peoples and the ongoing dispute about who belongs to their communities. You can read and/or find all three episodes here.
The second story is the one I worked on with the late, beloved Unci Beverly Little Thunder a little over a year ago. In September 2024, we went to see the documentary Sugarcane together with her daughter, Lushanya, and Lushanya’s partner. The film became a launching point for Beverly to share, and for me — and the Vermont Public audience — to listen to her family’s experiences attending Federal Indian Boarding Schools. I fear any further summary will flatten what this story is, except to say there are certain moments in the course of journalism (and life) that feel sacred to me, and this is one of them. That piece is here, and if you can, I recommend hearing it versus reading it.
Below are images that I haven’t gotten around to posting anywhere yet, from some more memorable assignments from the past couple years. They include:
An art exhibit by Vermonters with disabilities.
Aurora Berger is a Strafford resident and one of the 25 artists with disabilities who showed work in Inclusive Art Vermont's fifth biennial exhibition, titled CYCLES. She said she painted Black Hole II, pictured here in February 2024, as a way to share what it felt like to be in her brain during an intense mental health crisis.
A 104-year-old who remembered the total solar eclipse in Vermont in 1932.
Floyd Van Alstyne, 104, seen here at his East Barnard farmstead, got to experience a "once-in-a-lifetime" total solar eclipse for a second time in Vermont in April 2024.
A Holi celebration in Winooski.
The Sharmas, who live in South Burlington, dance and sing at the Holi celebration held at Winooski School District's gym on March 24, 2024.
A workshop on raising rabbits for meat.
Amanda Corey shows off two rabbits during a Vermont Wild Kitchen workshop held in Franklin County on Sunday, April 14, 2024.
Abenaki citizens at the United Nations.
Sigwanis Lachapelle was one of the two Abenaki youth speakers to present on the topic of identity fraud during a side event at the 2024 United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.
A new set of adaptive-friendly mountain bike trails.
Greg Durso is one of the key players in building the Driving Range, a fully adaptive-friendly mountain bike trail network. Durso tested every trail as it was being built.
A visit to Heartbeet Lifesharing as part of a deep dive into “poor farms,” aka town farms.
Heartbeet Lifesharing is located on the same land as Hardwick's former town farm. It's designed to be an inclusive community for adults with developmental disabilities.
A Jamaican family band healing after a health crisis.
Caribbean Rain is an intergenerational Jamaican musical group made up of Shelburne residents Judi Emanuel, Mikey Dyke and their kids, Lara Emanuel-Dyke and Michael Emanuel-Dyke II. The family band also includes Mickey Dyke when she's visiting from Canada, where she lives.
July flooding (again).
The Winooski River flooded into Richmond's Bridge Street, the Volunteers Green and Esplanade Street for a third time in a year on Thursday, July 11, 2024.
Demystifying mammograms.
Mammographer Brittany Ferdinand adjusts Vermont Public Morning Edition host Jenn Jarecki during a routine cancer screening in September 2024.
The “Great Potato Harvest” at my local library.
Jericho resident Ann Squires, left, and Saxon Hill School pre-K student Gavin, age 4, help with the "great potato harvest" behind Deborah Rawson Memorial Library in Jericho on Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2024. Following the community harvest, the potatoes are donated to the Good Shepherd Lutheran Church food shelf.
The 2024 Indigenous Arts and Fashion Show at Dartmouth College. (This story won a Public Media Journalists’ Association award!)
Marietta Hamill, who belongs to Choctaw Nation, wears a ribbon skirt by Native Co. and earrings by The Beadin’ Box. Hamill was among the Dartmouth College students to model in the sixth annual Indigenous Arts and Fashion Show, held at the Hood Museum of Art on Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024.
Election night.
Lt. Gov. David Zuckerman waits to be interviewed by members of the press at the Vermont Democratic Party event on Nov. 5. At that hour, his contest against John Rodgers was too close to call.
A hydroponic farm growing free food for and with New American communities.
Nour El-Naboulsi harvests Tokyo Bekana, an Asian cabbage, in preparation for The People's Farmstand's final distribution of the season on Nov. 15, 2024. El-Naboulsi said the shipping container farm is an effort to continue sharing fresh, culturally relevant produce with New American communities all winter long.
How the dairy industry prepared for the second Trump administration’s immigration policies.
Lupita, who we only identified by her middle name due to her legal status, stands for a portrait with her kids in Addison County in December 2024. She left Mexico more than a decade ago to work on Vermont dairy farms. She has since become a leading organizer in the immigrant farmworker community in Vermont. She says her life changed after learning, from another organizer, about the concept of human rights – how they apply to everyone, no matter who you are or where you live.
The retirement of the only primary care doctor for miles in Vermont’s northeastern-most corner.
Dr. Bob Primeau in Island Pond, pictured on the right, was the only primary care doctor for miles until he retired over the summer. He spent his entire career taking care of patients from the day they were born until the day they died. Here he’s with Kirk Bloindow of Derby.
A W8banaki Nation community banquet.
Wôlinak First Nation citizen Yves Landry plucks a Canada goose on Saturday, May 3, 2025, that he hunted with his son and some other folks earlier this spring. He prepared the goose the traditional way, over a fire, for the Wlipogwat banquet at the Odanak First Nation reserve in Quebec.
The Burlington No Kings Day protest in June.
Mohsen Mahdawi sings "We Shall Overcome" before speaking in Burlington on Saturday, June 14, 2025. Several thousand people gathered to sing, to listen to speakers and to hold a "die-in" to protest the Trump administration's policies.
Citizens advocating against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)’s use of the Burlington airport to move detainees.
In response to public outcry over activist documentation and news reports of federal immigration authorities using the Patrick Leahy Burlington International Airport to transfer detainees, city officials said they were working to respond to community members' concerns.
And finally: The Jericho Underhill Food Hub’s efforts to keep food production local.
Jericho Underhill Food Hub lead volunteers Sandy Wilmot and David Clift, furthest right, visit with The Farm Upstream co-owners Spencer Hardy and Jacqueline Huettenmoser and 15-month-old Silas on Monday, Aug. 18, 2025. They're standing on the dirt path that was the old Lee River Road, which ran between the house and the barn.
I no longer have my work cell phone number (802-734-4713), so if you’ve been trying to get in touch and have been wondering what happened, that’s what happened. Please email me at elodierosereed [at] gmail [dot] com so we can stay connected!
And: I’ve been taking a beat to sort through what comes next, but I am definitely open for journalism assignments, photography (weddings, elopements, portraits, family), teaching and more. Reach out!