Ezra Speaks: a rustic chronicle

Send a textEzra describes his shed, and confesses his affection for the building. He then explains how the routine of walking from his shed to his house has contributed to his understanding of life and how it may end.NOTE: "Ezra Speaks" recently hit the "1,000 downloads" mark. Thank you, listeners. "The Shed" is the final episode of this first --- maybe only --- season. But the entire series of fifteen episodes will remain available for the foreseeable future. Spread the word! And don't be shy, "send us a text."

Send a textEzra responds to a query from a listener who wants to know what he thinks about death and the afterlife.

Send a textEzra reveals that he's been diagnosed with cancer, and that he will refuse treatment.NOTE: Ezra has been diagnosed with cancer. The author has not.

Send a textEzra pushes back against those who have criticized his recent commentary on social and political issues. Author's Note: I began work on these recordings about three years ago. The tone of the previous episode, Bats and Vaccine, and this latest episode, Under the Rock, are reflective of Ezra's mood and focus at that time, or even earlier.

Send a textJanine is away for the night, looking after the grandchildren, so Ezra has a couple of extra beers, and states his anti-vax position in no uncertain terms.Author's Note: In the note attached to Episode Ten I made it sound like reconciliation among our country's warring social and political factions was my ultimate objective for this project. Maybe...ultimately...but there's no denying that my satirical tendencies have come along for the ride.

Send us Fan MailEzra lays out the pros and cons of hound hunting, a method used to control the local coyote population, which is gaining popularity. This practice has stirred some controversy in Vermont, and Ezra attempts to give both sides their due before finally stating his own position in no uncertain terms.AUTHOR'S NOTE --- I’ve been wrestling with the prospect of this episode’s publication for weeks. Months. Ezra Speaks is a bit of an oddity in the podcast ecosystem. I’ve assigned the series to the “fiction” category, but my impression is that most podcasts fall into the broad category of non-fiction, and I suspect many of my listeners, without thinking about it all that much, receive this series as non-fiction. It’s true I’ve borrowed from my own life in Vermont for this series, but I’ve planted those details in the life of a character named Ezra who is different from me in many ways. I’m a relative newcomer to Vermont, having arrived four years ago. Ezra on the other hand has lived in Vermont for 45 years, after serving in the United States Air Force. He has two children plus a few grandchildren. And he probably voted for Trump. That’s not me. Not even close. Ezra and I may have a few things in common on the micro level, but at the macro level we are very different creatures. And that’s the way I wanted it.I undertook this project for a host of reasons, the most altruistic of which was to extend a hand across the ever-widening gap --- more like an abyss, lately --- between the red and the blue. So far as some of my friends and extended family back home are concerned, I’ve been out on an ill advised limb for a long time. And even before Trump was re-elected in November 2024, and post-electoral analysis was instructing us liberals to get better acquainted with the right and their grievances, I had been feeling the need to find some common ground. Ezra became my olive branch.But that’s not necessarily how Ezra Speaks will be received. We’re now a little more than halfway through this series of 15 episodes, and Ezra’s biases, laced with a dose of paranoia, will begin playing a larger part, making his pronouncements increasingly hard to accept. For some, at least. (There are others who would welcome Ezra’s increasingly aggressive manner, but I doubt they’re listening.) So why have I invested so much time and energy in a character with whom many of my listeners might disagree? Like I said, undertaking this project represented to me an opportunity to reach across the cultural divide that has led to so much hostility in our communities and country. I wanted Ezra to be charming enough, amusing enough, that people would enjoy listening to him, but who was more complicated than that gregarious part of his personality. I wanted to strain the boundaries of compatibility. Not something easy for me to do, as I am one of those who tends to feel awfully uncomfortable when I realize I’ve said or done something to offend (although I’m sure some of my friends and acquaintances would dispute this). But I had to give Ezra the freedom to express some opinions that I don't share if my attempt to understand was to have any meaning at all. So, as Ezra begins to show what I consider to be his darker side in these later episodes, I want to remind my listeners that he’s a character. That Ezra Speaks is not a diary. Not my diary, anyway. And besides, Ezra’s commentary is pretty tame when compared to what’s being spewed forth these days by some right-wing media. It might have been fairer to say “extremist right wing media,” but given the current G.O.P.’s support of Trump, whether passive or active, “extremist right wing” would be redundant.

Send us Fan MailEzra discusses the cause and effects of mud season, an annual weather event in southern Vermont, and attempts to explain why mud season is especially bad this year.**Actually, snowfall in this region has been plentiful this winter of 2025. The deep freeze dynamic Ezra talks about in this episode occurred in the winter of 2023.

Send a textEzra grumbles about the cold January weather, comments on a neighbor's struggle with frozen pipes, then takes apart a marketing strategy for men's pants.

Send a textEzra gets off to a rough start in this episode, listing the things he doesn't like about the Christmas holiday. But he manages to let that go, and moves on to a memory of himself as a happy, albeit confused, young Christmas caroler.

Send a textEzra shares a few tips on how to prevent wild turkeys from taking over the bird feeder, then offers his view on the cause beneath the growing tension in his family regarding Thanksgiving dinner.

Send a textEzra takes the plunge, and reveals the unpleasant truth about his first marriage.

Send a textEzra expands on his theory that his wife is a prankster, and stumbles into an aspect of his past that he’s not entirely comfortable with.

Send a textEzra addresses a listener who has challenged his claim that he is a Vermonter, and also his taste in music. Then he finally gets to his Halloween tip, which involves the use of a family pet to guard against ghosts.

Send a textEzra intends to share a Halloween tip with his listeners, but gets sidetracked when he chooses to talk first about an annoying experience he had recently being stuck behind a leaf peeping motorist. He also comments on his wife's apparent lack of sympathy for his annoyance, which adds to his irritation. This commentary goes on long enough that Ezra decides to postpone the Halloween tip until next episode.Next episode --- Episode Three --- arrives October 23, 2024.

Send a textEzra introduces his program, then offers his commentary on the summer weather in southern Vermont. He grumbles about the effects of climate change, then gives a detailed account of what happened to him one night during a recent power outage.