The kids of Randolph, Vermont describe their neighborhood as a place with three purple houses. They tell me there’s a shortcut through the woods down to Dunkin’ Donuts, and they say it’s pretty close to three graveyards. The kids run in twos and threes and sometimes in one big pack for a game of hide and seek tag.
I spent an afternoon talking with them and following them around. This show is a little taste of that day. It’s a postcard from childhood, a place we remember but can’t visit anymore.
Thanks
Thanks so much to Kelly Green for introducing me to the kids and letting us camp out upstairs for an entire afternoon. Thanks also to Tally Abecassis, Mike Donofrio, John Schak and Larry Massett.
The whispering part about the great hiding spot. The friendships part… two days on, two days off. The Zombie and antidote. Yeah, that and everything else. You were meant to interview all, but your connection with kids is fanfreakintastic.
Thank you again Erica. Thanks for the memories.
Loved the post card from childhood. makes me want to hear one about girl power. Remember the feeling of an 8-20 year old body and all it could do and how you didn’t care about boys yet?
Erica- I think you really nailed it with this one. You have captured the timelessness of this spot, which is one of the things that drew me back as an adult. The games are slightly different and the neighbors and kids have changed but the geography remains and the story goes on.
The one part of the piece that stood out for me were the comments about a particular person. I dearly hope the person referenced will never hear this. How hurtful. I also hope that the children who made the comments don’t hear this, as these sensitive kids, who I am closely connected to, would be horrified to know that this person might someday listen to their words. Broadcasting those thoughts was a thoughtless and pointless betrayal of their trust. Surely, out of the several hours of audio recorded that day, you could have found another bit that would have been more appropriate to fill out a ten minute piece. Listening to this made me feel sick.
Larry,
I appreciate your comment, and I’ll admit I’ve been in a turmoiled state thinking about it most of the day. I probably won’t have a response that will satisfy you, or ME entirely. But a couple things come to mind. First, I give tremendous care to the feelings of my interviewees when I make selections. Sometimes too much, frankly. Of the several hours of tape you refer to, there was a lot of wonderful tape I did NOT include because it MIGHT be hurtful to someone and I steered clear of it. Second, I wasn’t trying to ‘fill out a ten minute piece’. I had no idea how long the story was going to be in the end. But I will say that a short piece like this takes leagues longer to build than an hourlong interview. There are multiple voices and elements, there is no narrative arc, and the GOAL was to make a story that evokes the feeling and sensibilities of childhood. That’s really hard to do. I don’t know how well I did…but it took a long time in trying. Which leads me to a stickier point. The story you refer to…for better or worse from your point of view….delights me. I find both these girls incredibly sympathetic, sensitive, and beautiful. Most important, this story gets at a particular way that children think about the grownup world around them that NONE of the other tape does.
My goal was to make a story that listeners could recognize themselves in. This is always my goal. I was also trying to make a story that did justice to these great kids who shared their time and their ideas with me. If I fell short for you, I’m sorry.
I completely understand why you were moved to include that segment. If it was more anonymous, it would have been great. I also have no doubt that you spent a great deal of time and energy putting the whole thing together. That’s partly why it was so shocking to me to hear that segment included.
My comment about filling “out a ten minute piece” was unnecessary and wasn’t intended to imply that you had a particular length in mind.
I don’t think you had any large obligation to the kids for their time. They were happy to do it and it was fun for them. What a wonderful thing for a kid to have an adult, a stranger no less, who is interested in you and your ideas and wants to record them. How awesome. Once that day was over, though, I didn’t hear them mention it again.
That is what is so great about kids. They don’t sentimentalize events the way we do.
‘Sure, that was fun. On to the next thing.’
I love them.
Larry.
I gave this more thought and decided to take that segment out of the story.
My primary interest is in making good stories. Because I make stories about real life, there is always the risk that people’s feelings will be hurt, or that someone will feel uncomfortable and exposed. It goes with the territory. But I AM deeply concerned with the feelings of those I interview, and representing them respectfully. In this case, particularly because there are children involved, I decided to take that segment out. I disagree that the segment to which you refer was ‘pointlessly’ included. It made the story stronger. But I should have thought more about the effect it might have on the neighborhood, and in this way I was thoughtless. Thanks again for your criticism. Erica
Thanks for taking it out. I greatly appreciate it.
I liked the Neighborhood, having lived in Randolph and being borne at Gifted. The earnestness of children is magical, as we seem to lose it later on, when everything is illusive and changeable. I wish there was a way to show what its like in nursing homes especially the low rent ones of Medicare like my mother is in. It seems to me this issue is one we are all heading towards and yet ignore. It is both political and economic and for those on the bottom, if they have any awareness left at all, it’s a nightmare of poor care, bad food and changing faces that are always telling you everything is alright when you know it isn’t, with no way out.Thanks, PF
I listened to this piece again as summer is coming to a close and kids are disappearing from the neighborhood, back to their scheduled after school activities. There is nothing like listening to free play and boundless adventure. Thanks Erica!
Made me laugh and cry, both. I don’t want to grow up!
Erica,
I’m a pre-school teacher so I’m always interested in play. Your episode about the Randolph kids was lovely, with one giant exception: confidentiality. Why was it necessary to include children’s names? Or the name of the town? Or exactly where the shortcut through the woods is?
You had me shouting”TMI! TMI!” at my radio. A few hours later, a coworker asked if I’d heard the radio story “that was a pedophile’s dream”. We can’t be the only listeners with this reaction.
I’m sure that a little bit of creativity could have produced an equally charming episode without putting children at risk.
Please think about this.
Ellen, point well taken. A listener complained to VPR and the intro was changed for the second airing. Thanks for writing in.