Nelson Starts As Intern At Herald

Sara Nelson is a summer intern for The Herald. (Tim Calabro photo)

This month, The Herald welcomes a new intern working with its reporting staff, Sara Nelson, a Minnesota native who moved to Vermont in June.

Nelson graduated in 2006 from St. John's College in Santa Fe, N.M., with a bachelor of liberal arts degree, and a double major in philosophy and the history of mathematics. She spent the last year in Portland, Ore., playing trombone and singing back-up in an indie rock band, while holding down "a bunch of crummy jobs," in an attempt to make ends meet in an expensive town.

She headed to Vermont, she said, because she knows a few folks here, and because she'd heard promising things about "the sustainability movement in Vermont."

Recently graduated from a college known for its academic and analytical rigor, Nelson is now in the process of applying her studies to the practical question of "what is the best way to live."

Writing for a local newspaper seemed promising, she decided, since it was a way to pursue an interest in good writing, while providing a way to "experience the connections between people" in a new locale.

She walked in the newspaper's door at the right moment, and was writing stories for The Herald within the week.

Her new job has also given Nelson an avenue to explore a deeply personal interest- living on earth in an environmentally sustainable way- and to report on it to the community. In her first week on staff, Nelson produced a page-one story on communitysupported agriculture operations in White River Valley towns.

A runner and a biker, Nelson also enjoys choral singing, figure drawing, and creative writing.

After her four years at St. John's, immersed in a structured academic setting, "I am ready for the arts," Nelson said.