There was a time when geography was memorizing chief crops, major bodies of water and picking out countries on a map. Knowing that cloves came from places like Zanzibar and Madagascar or locating the Caspian Sea seemed all there was to this study.  Not today.

Anne Knowles, a geography professor at Middlebury College, is using geographic information systems (GIS) to learn more about the Civil War and the Holocaust. St. Michael’s College professor Richard Kujawa is looking at the public benefit of conservation easements and the complex relationships that tie places together.  We look at geography in the 21^st century with both of them.

Plus, Vermont will get a new Supreme Court justice in the coming year as Denise Johnson steps down. Vermont Law School Professor Cheryl Hanna explains the process and the pressure on judges throughout Vermont's court system.

And we hear a recitation from Vermont’s reigning Poetry Out Loud champion Claude  Mumbere of Burlington High School. The competition is a national project supported by the Poetry Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. Claude recently represented the state at the national competition in Washington D.C.