BELLOWS FALLS, Vt. – Pick up a free copy of “The Most Costly Journey” at the Rockingham Library. Open your eyes to the lives of migrant dairy farmworkers in Vermont as they cross the southern border, struggle with English, adapt to winter, grow gardens, raise children, deal with health crises, and work long hours.
“The Most Costly Journey” tells the stories of nineteen migrant workers in their own words. Illustrated by New England cartoonists, each short chapter describes life as an immigrant farmworker.
On Oct. 6 at 6 p.m., a panel discussion about this book will be held at the Rockingham Library, featuring Julia Doucet, a nurse who serves the healthcare needs of migrant workers, and Andy Kovolos, the archivist of the Vermont Folklife Center, who guided the interview process from which this book evolved. Those who can’t attend this program in person may go to this zoom link on Oct. 6 at 6 p.m.: www.us02web.zoom.us/j/83284494764.
A related photo-audio exhibit “The Gilded Cage” is currently on display at the Rockingham Library. The photos and audio clips reveal a portrait of Vermont dairy farmworkers and their migrant workers, who they are, and what they hope for.
The distribution of 75 copies of “The Most Costly Journey” and the panel discussion are sponsored by the Vermont Humanities Council, www.vermonthumanities.org. “The Guilded Cage” photo-audio exhibit is on loan from the Vermont Folklife Center, www.vermontfolklifecenter.org. For more information about the book distribution or panel discussion, email programming@rockinghamlibrary.org, call 802-463-4270, or stop by the Rockingham Library at 65 Westminster St., Bellows Falls, Vt.