Ep Bio: Noah Mauchly sits down with Media Maker Hayden Young to discuss his upbringing in the Upper Valley watching age-inappropriate movies and what led him to become the filmmaker he is today.

Join the JAM team as they discuss all things JAM and what's happening in the Upper Valley. With a rotating cast of guests to keep you on your toes, and local legends and legends in the making sitting in the hot seat, find out what makes this organization and the community around it tick!

Hosted by the JAM Media Education and Membership coordinator Noah Mauchly. Contact him at noah@uvjam.org. Original art by Cedar O'Dowd.

This podcast is made by JAM - Junction Arts & Media serving the Upper Valley of NH and VT from White River Junction, VT.

S2 Episode 3: Sandra Gartner – Recorded November 20, 2025 Photo: Sandy with book, by Liora

Among many roles that she plays, Sandra Gartner has been co-producer of Vermont Actors’ Repertory Theatre for 20 years, an actor with the company, and is co-producer with filmmaker Nora Jacobson on her latest project. Sandra also writes for Rutland Magazine and other publications. Not surprisingly, she has a wonderful way of telling stories. In this conversation she picks up threads of her life in Vermont and New York City; her life in theatre, journalism, and the Rutland, VT Jewish community.

Sandra was a Youth Ambassador to Israel in 1966, at 16 years old, and “came back a changed person”. She maintains great affection for the land and people not withstanding that the current situation “doesn’t sit well” with her. The book she is holding in this photo is To Life: A Celebration of Vermont Jewish Women, based on an oral history project she undertook with Ann Zinn Buffum and which was contributed to the Jewish Women’s Archive.

S2 Episode 2: Irit Librot–Recorded November 12,2025 Courtesy Photo: Irit. Irit Librot takes us through her early years in Haifa immediately following the creation of the State and the subsequent move to the US where “the streets are paved with gold” (spoiler: didn’t turn out that way). We get a strong and inspiring picture of Irit’s mother, Rachel Dziecholska Rotkovitch,who lived, studied, and worked in Poland, Palestine, Lebanon, Egypt, and the US. You can read about Rachel in the alumni magazine of the American University in Beirut, photos p.51, write up p.64. Irit’s own experience of October 7 and the war is tempered by her time in Israel and the reactions of those in her close community here, where, as you can see from the show notes, her life is infused with music and dance.