I interviewed Terry, Erin, and Eliza. Terry is a one on one special education teacher at Robinson School, and Erin is the full time mom of John (6), Eliza (4), and Asher (9 months). I enjoyed my interview, but it felt a bit stilted. I felt like I couldn’t keep the conversation going very well. I didn’t want to be patronizing, but unfortunately it might have come off like that. I really loved Eliza, she is a great little kid though she did create a lot of background noise. I think it gives the interview character, but it also made me lose my train of thought sometimes. Additionally, I felt like Terry and her family didn’t really fit into some of the trends we have observed. For example, three of her four children still live in Starksboro. Overall I felt like the interview went well, but I didn’t quite get the magical experience that other people seemed to feel. I would really like to interview Terry’s mother, who grew lived in Starksboro as a child and attended school in a one room school house.
warning: frequent interruptions by Eliza (age four)
0:23: How long have you lived in Starksboro?, explanation of where Terry is from and how long she has called Starksboro home.
1:00: Erin talks about how long she has lived in Starksboro and her time in Maine.
2:00 Terry talks about her job as a one on one special education teacher. And how she got involved working at the school.
3:23: Terry talks about what Starksboro means to her.
3:50: Erin talks about college and life in Maine and her return to Starksboro.
5:45: I talk to Eliza about Starksboro and where she was born and her future as a kindergartener.
6:50: What does the Robinson School mean to the town? conclusion: the school is the center of town. there is so little else here.
8:00: Terry talks about her mother and how she grew up in Starksboro too. and the history of Robinson. It used to be much smaller.
9:30: we talk about Mount Abe and the transition to there from Robinson. Erin says there is a lot of inter-school activity so that kids actually know lots of kids before hand.
10:45: Terry talks about her mom going to a one-room school house and then to the old Bristol High School.
11:37: Erin talks about her return to Starksboro from Maine and how there were more houses when she returned. Terry says the she felt like she knew a lot more her neighbors twenty years ago.
12:19: Where Terry and Erin live (neighbors) in South Starksboro in the neighborhood Erin grew up in. In the woods, but right on the highway.
14:40: Terry talks about why she chose where she lived. The place was already set up by family members when she got married. And she discusses her mother’s history, and why she left Starkboro. She lived with another family in Bristol to go to high school.
16:30: Terry discusses how she has no plans to move, neither does Erin. Erin’s husband works for Green Mtn Power.
17:56: Terry hopes that Starksboro stays the same. But it is true that farms are kind of dying out.
21:20: Terry met both of her husbands through mutual friends in Starksboro.
22:20: Erin talks about the kind of games that Eliza and John (age 6) like to play, mostly outdoor things. “wild escapades”
23:30: Erin talks about the different things she does in town, Bristol Band in the summer, and school sports program with the kids.
24:30: Eliza talks about having two brothers and how she likes to play outside. She tells me what she does with John (after asking me to play with her outside). She says she likes to play chess with John, but really she likes fishing better.
27:10: Terry talks about where all her family lives. Two sons remained in Starksboro, but her last son lives in Crown Point, NY.
27:50: Erin laughs and says that her mom brainwashed her and her siblings to stay. Terry didn’t think about whether or not her kids would leave when they grew up.
29:30: Discussion of Starksboro being a commuter town. Actually a lot of teachers at Robinson commute from Burlington. “A lot of people must be going somewhere” based on the people driving by in the morning by Terry’s house.
31:00: Neighbor in between Terry and Erin is never ever seen. He is one of those commuters.
32:50: What do you do in town besides working at the school? It’s mostly about the school, as the kids grew up, less and less involved.
33:30: Vision for Starksboro: Erin thinks that change might happen, close enough to Burlington. The survey makes it look like something is going to happen, but no idea what. And THE survey. Discussions over the future for a reason.
35:00 Terry says there used to be 100 more kids at Robinson. It has stayed at around 140 for a long time. A lot of the older couples without kids remained. They talk about how Terry’s son in NY thinks it is too expensive to live in Vermont.
38:38: Terry realizes that she is becoming one of the older generations.
40:00: Discussion of best farmland in the middle of town, making town “bigger.”
41:20: Eliza tells me where she goes to school. (after trying to explain to her what a recording is). And Terry tells me more about the pre-school in the basement of the meetinghouse.
43:19: Terry talks about how her grandkids go to school together. The idea of everyone having cousins at school.
44:00 Conclusion that Eliza likes it here in Starksboro.