Since October 5, there have been seven eight suspicious deaths in rural Vermont. Yes, that’s a lot. But it’s not so far out of character as we’d like to believe for our oft-celebrated countryside. Which in our mind’s eye looks less like the above and more like the below:

There is, in truth, plenty of both in rural Vermont. On balance, though, probably more of the former than the latter. Rural Vermont, like rural America, can be beautiful and ghastly, peaceful and dangerous, prosperous and abandoned.

It would behoove us to hold both pictures in mind. It might help break down the imaginary barriers between our suspect cities, full of drugs, crime, and recent arrivals, and our countryside, a paradise of scenic beauty and hardworking people. You know, the “real Vermonters” living in the “real Vermont.”

What bullshit.

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