The French first came to Vermont with Champlain in the early 17th century. And ever since, French Canada and the state of Vermont have been trading people, goods, and ideas. We've got the names to prove it - of both people and places - from Grand Isle to the state's families of Bodettes, Greniers, and Levesques.
Even now, tourism from Quebec is a big part of the state's economy. Yet for many Vermonters, the lands to the North can be a bit of a mystery, though it's getting easier to find good poutine.
We're discussing the ties between Vermont and French Canada, with Sonya Enright, of the Vermont-Quebec Initiative, writer and actor Abby Paige of the "When We Were French" one-woman performance piece, and Ed McGuire of the Vermont French-Canadian Genealogical society.
Plus, Senator John McCain has singled out a National Endowment for the Arts grant to Putney's Sandglass Theater as an example of an "outrageous pork project." We hear a response from Sandglass director Eric Bass.
And we hear another segment of Timeline from VPR Classical, on Guido of Arezzo and the solfege system.
