Mary Engisch

In early February, a first-year student at the University of Vermont died after passing out in a snowbank. Connor Gage attended two frat parties the night of his death. He died of hypothermia and acute alcohol intoxication.

During VPR's March Membership Drive Vermont Edition is featuring special episodes showcasing some of the best recent shows and collecting interviews with notable Vermonters. Few are more notable than the only woman to ever lead the state, former Gov. Madeleine Kunin.

This special Vermont Edition collects recent interviews that highlight technological innovations being developed in our area. We'll hear about cutting-edge cartography, a tactile sketchpad that helps blind students in subjects that require graphing and an electric air taxi.

Vermont Edition is featuring some of our recent coverage of climate change on our region - including significant changes for weather, wildlife and agriculture. Plus: discussion of what we can do on local and global levels to combat climate change and effectively deal with its effects.

A special Vermont Edition collects interviews with cartoonists and graphic novel creators, showcasing local work in the unique art form that presents novel-length stories in a comic strip format. It's a combination of words and images that doesn't shy away from difficult subjects: these Vermont cartoonists tackle mental health, crumbling marriages, world wars and the current political climate.

This program originally aired on Feb. 22, 2018.

Vermonters catch a fever at this time of year. And it isn't necessarily the flu bug. It's the hankering to get outside and start hauling buckets full of sap to the sugarhouse or to wherever they do their boiling. It's backyard sugaring time. 

Paintings, photographs, textiles and poems created by New Americans now living in Vermont make up the new Visions Of The World exhibit, a showcase of art from immigrants with refugee backgrounds now on display in Burlington's Amy E. Tarrant Gallery.

Sipping a cup of coffee. Floating down a river. Laundry detergent. Song lyrics can capture memories of relaxing mornings, summer adventures or even mundane daily duties. Writing lyrics like these are now very familiar to Dan Weintraub, a Quechee-based singer/songwriter, as he nears the end of a unique songwriting challenge: writing a song per day for 1,000 days. 

Music has the power to transport listeners across time, evoking memories of the past and whisking the listener back to a different age and place.

In his new graphic novel Skip To The End, Middlebury author Jeremy Holt explores how the right piece of music can take a listener back to their youth, to what they were wearing, who they were in love with. And maybe to just moments before something went wrong. 

Are today's parents overprotecting their kids and setting them up for failure? Or just keeping them safe? We're talking about the tricky balancing act between independence and safety, and what it means for kids’ development. 

Since the 18th century, Burton has been used as pasture for sheep and cows, and as farmland growing beans and peas. Now, the park is home to more than a dozen campsites and twice as many lean-tos, in addition to cabins, a bistro and even a 100-slip marina.

The age of malls seems to have passed. But what do you do to enliven or rejuvenate malls that are still in place? They represent an incredible investment in real estate, usually in a prime location with excellent access. Berlin has one of Vermont's few malls and it is undertaking a plan called the HUB Project to make the mall relevant again and serve the community. 

Although libraries are often associated with tight-lipped librarians demanding quiet, a Vermont band with ties to France intends to pump up the volume with a summer library tour supporting local branches.

The popularity of vaping among young people is sounding alarm bells for educators and health professionals, as trendy e-cigarettes like the Juul are becoming a more common sight in middle and high schools. We're talking about where the rise in this behavior is coming from, the health issues at stake and what schools and the state are doing in response.

According to the CDC, about one child in 60 is identified with Autism Spectrum Disorder or ASD. We'll discuss the unique challenges individuals with ASD face as they enter the workforce after graduating from high school and college.

Keane Southard spent many of his childhood weekends hiking and camping with his family in New Hampshire and Vermont. From that early age, he imagined one day he would hike the legendary Appalachian Trail.

Southard went on to study composition and theory, and all the while, the idea of hiking the trail and composing a piece about the experience percolated in his mind.

Vermont has been seen as a leader in equal rights for LGBTQ people, but queer Vermonters living in rural areas can face unique challenges, from accessing healthcare to aging well as a queer senior to finding support networks. We're talking about the needs and experiences of LGBTQ Vermonters in rural communities. 

It's a centuries-old tradition with a wild history and deep New England roots. We're talking about American country dancing, including contra dance. We'll hear from the author of a book that traces the story of this tradition, and we'll talk about how and why it still appeals to so many people today.

What do you want your obituary to say? What details beyond birth, death and the basics are essential to the story of your life? The Brattleboro Area Hospice is holding a workshop encouraging people to think about their life - and to to engage people about aging well, dying well and making plans now for how to spend one's final days.