Much has been said about small towns. As someone with the dubious pleasure of living in a small town from birth to college, I think small towns have earned every aspect of their reputation. But when you’ve got a small town on a remote island, all those pressures double. Everyone knows everyone else’s business, and it’s harder to escape! Hell is even more hell, and other people are even more other people.
This week, we’ve brought you a story from the beating heart of one such island town: the volunteer firefighting squad. Get ready for a juicy power struggle featuring nepotism, inept boyfriends, and goji berries.
Our guest this week is Yowei Shaw! Yowei Shaw is the host and creator of Proxy, a new podcast that investigates niche emotional conundrums through conversations with strangers who have relevant experience. In her previous life, Yowei spent many years making NPR's Invisibilia podcast—first as a producer, then as co-host and editorial lead.
Yowei brought Rachelle some gossip about an activist getting handcuffed to a guy who resembled several of her exes for 13 hours, and then Rachelle brought Yowei up to speed on a volunteer firefighter squad plagued by nepotism.
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