On the day of Sept. 11, 2001, I had been living in Brooklyn for three years. I had just enrolled at NYU graduate school and was planning to visit the stores in the basement of the World Trade Center, but, luckily, I slept in… I was not in Manhattan at the time of the attack, instead, I saw the smoke from my brownstone and walked to Fort Green Park to see the aftermath of the fallen towers. Fast forward to the following spring, 2002. After a very difficult year in New York and at NYU, I decided to leave the city for the summer. I had arrangements to work at Labour of Love Landscaping in Glover, as part of the WOOF program (Willing Workers on Organic Farms) for room and board, and a big part of the draw was that the Bread and Puppet Theater was right up the road. In New York, I worked as a teaching artist in underserved schools all across the city and did my own performing as well. I had studied B+P in my one year at NYU, so when the opportunity arose to work with them, I jumped at it! I spent a magical July in Glover, landscaping, hauling puppets, meeting the community. I returned to NYC later that summer, dropped out of grad school, protested the Iraq war, continued teaching and performing, and then returned to visit Vermont in August 2003. On the way to see a Sunday B+P show, I stopped for a swim, slipped on some wet rocks, and broke my wrist. I ended up passing out and then ended up in an ambulance. My friendly West Glover EMT said to me: "where are you from?" I replied: "I live in New York City. I’ve been there for five years, but I think I need to move." His reply: "You should move here." So of course, I said "OK!" I stayed another week with friends in West Glover, in the home that now houses Parker Pie, to get medical care for my broken wrist. Then I went back to NYC, packed my apartment, and moved everything I owned into the yellow farmhouse in West Glover for $100 a month. I bought my first car, learned to chop wood and feed the wood stove, got a job teaching at North Country Union High School, and continued to work with Bread and Puppet, eventually as one of the founding members of the Lubberland National Dance Company. All this time later and I am still here. Now I live in Berlin, teach at U-32 High School, perform and write plays, and even finished my MFA - this time at Goddard (all those years later, after reading about B+P’s residence at Goddard while studying at the NYU library). I am married and have two wonderful kids and love Vermont with all of my heart. A long time ago, in Glover, someone called me a “lifer!” It was true. It all started with 9/11 and my intense need to get out of the city. It forever changed the trajectory of my life and brought me here.

Erin Galligan-Baldwin