What Class Are You Isaac?

Isaac McDonald lives in Newport, Vermont, which is as far north as you get in Vermont. It’s a town in the Northeast Kingdom with a beautiful lake. It’s also a town with a state prison and a lot of drugs and poverty.

I met Isaac at a writers group in town, which meets once a week in town at the amazing Nevermore Bookstore. Isaac is eighteen. He loves to read and write and this spring he’s graduating form Lake Region High School. I asked if he’d be willing to talk with me about class, and he was.

What Class Are You is a periodic series I make for Vermont Public, and I want to thank them for letting me share these stories on Rumble Strip.

Correction: I said Isaac goes to Lake Region. He actually goes to North Country. Good god what a dumb mistake. I’ll fix this as soon as I can get back in my closet to record. Apologies to the GREAT PEOPLE OF NORTH COUNTRY UNION!