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Ezra 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.