| Craftsbury was swaddled in grey skies. A dreary drizzle dictated the consistency of the mud beneath our feet as we made headway toward the car. We were less than uncomfortable… we were miserable. Some sick cosmic synchronicity had thrown us both into the gravitational pull of menstruation. We had all of the symptoms; anger, depression, anxiety; it is said some women feel a burst of creative energy during this omnipotent monthly cycle in their lives. We seem to be exempt from this beneficial experience; we just get cranky and suffer cramps. As we drove down the hill, Crystal vengefully shifted the car into gear. I uncomfortably shifted the plate of cookies in my lap and cursed at the odds that were stacked heavily against us; it was to be our first interview with Carol and nervous would not quite describe how we were feeling. We pulled into the Country Store. I carried the brief case that held the recording equipment like a crutch as we walked inside, unprepared to face the hard reality of our social ineptitude. We walked into the store and set our stuff on the table. Crystal set the cookies down and frantically searched for an outlet. She held the cord in hand and looked to me questioningly,“ Where is the outlet, there is no outlet, none of these work right now, they are out of order, can you hear me, do you understand what I am saying, what do we do?” I stared back with a dumbfounded and confused look, unable to handle the situation I turned my attention to the plate of cookies, “God, I hope I didn’t get any hair in them, they look burnt, I think I left the oven on, does Carol even know we’re here, why is she working, who’s working, who’s going to watch the store while we interview her, what are we doing here?”
Black River Voices - As A Class Black River Voices is an upper-level humanities course in which students are encouraged to collect oral histories from people living along the Black River watershed. The class began by discussing what exactly oral history is, and we all quickly came to understand that we signed up for a class we knew nothing about and were going to get quite a bit more than we bargained for. Our many questions were only answered with more questions... apparently this is a teaching tactic that Pavel and Julia seemed all to keen on employing. There was only one thing we were sure of and that was that, at some point, we needed to conduct an interview. When the class was asked to choose their interviewee, we had no hesitation; if there was ever a woman with a story, it would be Carol, the owner of the Country Store. Crystal and I had originally intended to collect stories about the store and its various patrons in hopes of illustrating a colorful picture of Craftsbury and its present day inhabitants, the more scandalous the better. Our first meeting with Carol changed everything. We were forced to think about what oral history meant to us on a personal level, and we found that shocking people fell low on the prioritized list. We both decided we were more interested in simply getting to know Carol. Through the ten weeks of this course, and our finely polished projects, we as a class, have since become experts on oral history and have all developed a fondness for it in one way or another. Most everyone in the class has voiced the desire to interview a grandparent or relative, to preserve their memories and stories as we have done in a similar manner with the interviews conducted for Black River Voices. We are pleased to open these projects to anyone who shares an appreciation for storytelling, history, and good conversation. On that first day of our interview, it seemed that Carol shared none of the angst that we felt. She beckoned us into the small room that contains video rentals, the smell of strong coffee and a table and chairs. We gratefully sat down, I practically melted into my chair; the smell of coffee and Carols calming smile seemed to have wondrous effects on my stress level. All of the time that we had spent worrying, wishing we could just go home and take a nap or read some murder mystery was behind us. The room itself, with old photographs hanging on the walls and an uneven wooden floor had the feel of an imposing history. We settled down into our seats and began the interview, the following audio is the conversation that ensued. |
First Interview with Carol Part 1
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The smell of bar and chain oil wafted in the store and Carol excused herself so that she could tend to her customer. I peered around the corner and saw a man covered in camouflage. He purchased a can of chewing tobacco and stuffed it into a pocket of his pants that seemed to be permanently imprinted from the many cans that had come before. I looked out a window towards the red pickup with five chainsaws in the bed, a truck that frequents the Country Store parking lot. The man chatted with Carol for a time, flashed her a brilliant smile and made his way out the door. This store has its regulars, and then they have Jobe. |
First Interview with Carol part 2
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First Interview With Carol Part 3
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A man with a tobacco stained, handle bar mustache wiped callused hands on his checkered flannel shirt before pouring himself a cup of coffee. He tipped his dusty hat, grunted at us, and carefully tip toed out of the room after giving the recording equipment a petrified look that lasted less than a second. I looked at the microphone, the box it was attached to with the myriad of buttons and all the wires that came out if it; with only a hint of imagination one could see that contraption as some sort of torture device, and the concept may not be very far off of the mark either. |
First Interview With Carol Part 4
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Intro to 2 nd Interview October 30 th came around the corner with beautiful fall weather at its heels as Maria and I prepared for our second visit with Carol. With one interview under our belts, we were feeling excited and happy to dive into another conversation, and tasty treats. As promised, Maria and I owed Carol a homemade pumpkin pie in return for her being our interviewee. We spent the better part of the afternoon borrowing a friend's kitchen to create our pumpkin delight, and long boarded in the sunshine while we waited for the pie to bake. Once at Carols, with our bellies full of pie and aching from laughter, we were ready to jump into our interview, anticipating talk of Halloween, life above the store, Carols sense of community she has come to find in Craftsbury. Her inquisitive Grandson, Jonathan, somehow manages steals the show and all of our attention in this interview, Maria and I are no match for a giggling grandson. |
Intro to 3 rd Interview Who would have thought that the end of a school assignment would have left us feeling sad and wanting more? Such was the case, for November 6th marked the last interview for Carol, Maria and I. We began by asking Carol who she might enjoy interviewing if she had the opportunity. We know this is a difficult question to answer as it was one our class struggled with for some time. Simply having options can make life extremely complicated, sometimes there are just too many possibilities. Everyone has a story to tell, grandparents, neighbors, friends; everyone can be a teacher in their own right. We talked with Carol about how she would feel wrapping up her time here in the Country Store. She seemed sad to be leaving but knew that in the end it was the right decision as it would allow her to spend more time with her family. This conversation led Maria and I both to pondering how we would wrap up our own project. A lot of beauty can come from something so difficult as closure. |
Third Interview With Carol
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Conclusion I had originally taken this class to fulfill my graduation requirements, while Maria had hopes of improving her writing skills, which could still benefit from some refinement. The both of us got more than we bargained for. Initially, the idea of a class on “Oral History” seemed like it would have involved a dusty text book, read aloud by a professor with a droning voice in a dimly lit classroom. Black River Voices was really nothing even close to those presumptions, well, we did have the text book but I swear it accumulated no dust. We as a class made new friends, both inside and out of the Sterling College community. We learned about the people who call the Black River watershed their home. We came out of our comfort zones by talking to folks we were unfamiliar with, and working with technology we had never used before. We tested our patience by working in pairs for the duration of a semester, incorporating each others writing styles and creativity, dovetailing into one final and cohesive project. Maria and I could not have hoped for a better interviewee. Carol was a delight to work with, we only hope she got as much out of the process as we did. Maria and I both enhanced our appreciation of a sense of place, and the importance of the individual roles people play in a community. I am sure we will all set foot in different places throughout our lives, but we’ve learned in this class that talking to folks in your neighborhood and making connections help you hone your perspective on who you are and the world you live in. Carol had said it best during our last interview, “You don’t realize how much you’ve become a part of a community until you’re there and you’re thinking about leaving”. Life tends to move us all along pretty quickly, and before we know it, we are on to something else. By listening to stories and passing them on, we can preserve a time in our life, perhaps a better time. We can in turn be the authors of the dusty text book on life, and the oral history that makes it. |
