Hi Shannon,

You present a lot of topics and potential stories. While you do your mind-mapping, think about what that you see around you that really gets to you. Think smaller, more specific. Thinking too […]

Good map and good framing questions. A couple of thoughts: If you look at the statistics in dairy, VT has had a sharp drop in farms — yet milk production has remained about the same. Why? Breeding, efficiency, […]

Aidan,

Shel’s comments are well taken and I won’t repeat.

I would just add that Vermont is small scale. We don’t have the large meat factories that are often the subject of documentaries. I would also argue […]

Aidan,

A year ago or so I ran into a farmer in Rochester (may be a bit of a haul) who would, I think, be perfect. The short story: He and his wife raised Holsteins. To get the grain he needed, he had to use GMO […]

Aiden,

It always warms my heart to hear someone of your age refer to newspapers (where I spent 33 years of my life as a journalist.)

The power of story is two-fold, for the teller and the listener.

I […]

Zymora,

I think my response just was eaten by the Ethernet. Drat.

I wanted to say that I found both ideas compelling — but challenging. I’ll try to recreate what I said in the earlier message:

UVM: […]

Zymora, both powerful topics. Statistics can be illuminating and confusing. Illuminating: that UVM has such a high rate of reported rapes; what about the culture of the university leads to these? Confusing: If […]

Hi Riley,

I empathize.

I want to give you some thoughts that I hope will help. I can relate to your sense of being stuck. And you seem to be pushing yourself towards two ideas in which you have interest but, […]

I appreciate the depth of your thinking and work so far in identifying this as an issue to work on. There is no question that there is enormous food waste here and everywhere in the U.S.

I think the question […]

Sophie,

I think this would be a fascinating — and tricky — project. But I agree with Shannon and with some of the people you interviews — it would be worthwhile.

The difficulty, of course, is that for […]

Lizzie,

I look forward to working with you in this exploration at WTS. And all that you wrote here, I know to be true. You are someone who has remarkable curiosity, intellect and capacity. You will do well in […]

An interesting piece and it is interesting to see the divergent opinions of your parents.

So did you find that you were more or less interested in pursuing the topic after your conversations with your parents? […]

Lena,

I haven’t had a chance yet — but will — to read some of your blogs from last year to get a better sense of your growth as a writer and thinker. But clearly from our conversation at lunch and this blog I […]

Another idea as you zero in on a topic — look for the framing question, as in, “I’d like to do something about the migrant workers.” Well, what, exactly? What is the framing question you’d most like answered? […]

Shannon,
I love this piece because, I think, it reveals a lot about you and your intentions. What echoed for me was your comment about finding something that really interests YOU. I think there are a lot of […]

Rachel,

As a professional writer who has confronted the “blank page” numerous times, I understand your feeling. A couple of thoughts… ideas come from questions and/or observations: what bothers you? what do […]