Telling the Truth while Twitching the Horse

(The content of this blog is for general informational purposes only and is not intended to reference any specific person, place or entity.)

Many of my blogs and podcast topics cover more political and controversial topics. While many of my post are a reaction to the latest barrage of harassment from certain people in my small town, some aren’t. It’s to shed light on the issues that many are experiencing all over our country and we are experiencing in our small town. Many people are fearful to talk about their issues thinking this can result in retaliation from their boss, neighbors, community and officials. That retaliation can come in many different shapes and forms like doxing, bullying, harassment, deterioration of their reputations, harm to their businesses and selective enforcement (stay tuned for this next blog on this very topic). I’m no stranger to any this but as long as I have a voice I will always stand up for truth, transparency and integrity.

Years ago, I launched a podcast titled “Women in Farming.” It appeared to be a harmless topic, and I used the platform to interview women who manage community farms in New Hampshire, inviting them to share their experiences. Women are natural nurturers, so we discussed topics like death, loss, and livestock processing. Many of the women I interviewed are mothers and wives who lead busy lives, balancing family care, cooking, cleaning, and tending to sick children, so we talked extensively about managing home life. I discovered that many of these women also worked full or part-time jobs. Work-life balance became a significant topic, inspiring many people to reach out and share their stories. A particularly popular topic was how to transition from a 9-5 job to self-employment. This was something I was exploring myself, so I shared numerous personal stories about the challenges and rewards of this journey. My audience grew significantly, and the feedback was inspiring. My podcast series “Make It Happen” propelled me into new discussions about social and economic challenges.

Social and economic challenges.

I didn’t realize it at the time but the more I put myself out there (which was the ultimate goal at the time) it would present a whole new set of challenges. Not being shy about using my platform to discuss these, in real time, with my growing audience of women, farmers, self starters and like minded people, I moved along with my podcast and blog writing capturing the essence of growth, inspiration and change. I never said it would be pretty! So in 2022 I hit “publish” to one of my most celebrated, hated, listened to and controversial podcast of all time: Small Town Snobs.

This podcast hit the central nerve of every single small town bitch. Good, I didn’t create the podcast topic to just sit in the corner of the internet. Plus, I got paid advertising for this podcast and made a decent coin for all of the listens. It was HUGE. I mean, I have never received more supportive and hate mail at the same time.

The introduction to the podcast: “Don’t lose your integrity due to small town snobs. Let’s talk about the dynamic of women in small business. Every town has a snob and the bully mentality is very real. Women can be very supportive and mean to each other. Let’s chat about it.” I wanted to touch on some of the real time issues that not only I was experiencing in my small town but others were in theirs. What I found is the more I put myself out there and the more successful I was the more I encountered snobs. The vulnerability I shared on that podcast was a forecast to how the “snob mob” would respond. They responded just as predicted. They listened all the way up to part that says “if this makes you upset, stop listening.” They listened all the way to the end where I predicted that this will upset a few and they will feel obligated to respond. Respond they did. In a world of “free speech” and the “me too” movement they sure did get their panties in wad over my small little, but mighty, podcast. They shared it to the small town community social media page and worked around the clock to tear apart my reputation and my business. One even attacked my husbands business. That’s not really appropriate at all. As a matter of fact, that’s just wrong. As I mentioned several times on my podcast, you need to focus on you and your growth and worry less about others. Start by taking control of your emotions and stop being so damn hateful. Stay out of others businesses. If you don’t have anything nice to say then don’t say anything at all. But they were so blinded by rage they missed that monumental part of the podcast and decided to follow the text book, cliche response by literally being a “small town snob”.

How hateful or harmful was the podcast?

Well, no names were mentioned. No businesses were shared. No calls to my minions to go on damage control. I was driving to my local farmers market to set up for the day and recorded it in my truck. It’s about 27 minutes long with commercials. The one thing I can ensure you is that those small town snobs sure did reveal themselves all on their own.

How much damage did they make?

This is the best part. They actually launched an increase in everything! My farm store was visited by more and more people. Many of the new guest came just to show their support of me and my farm. My facebook page gained hundreds of new followers. No doubt, some were there to snoop, but when it comes to marketing those little boost are everything. My podcast was being listened to over and over again and my sponsored ad’s were cashing in.

I was simultaneously running for the open seat for the Planning Board and this person in town that shared my podcast decided to write-in their name on the ballot and run an “alt-campaign” against me. (I should highlight this more but I don’t want to cast too much shame on the person) They did not win their election against me. They lost. I got more votes than they did. Maybe if this person actually attended Planning Board meetings, went to town hall and put their name on the ballot with intention, ran a campaign on hope and promise and not hate and revenge, they might have had a chance. I ran on experience since I had already dedicated 2 years to the board as the clerk and attended every single meeting, site walk and committee meeting. But again, this is sort of the nerve of the podcast in a broad sense. Stop being so damn mean. It reeks of jealously, revenge, hate, angst and ignorance.

Do you know what “twitching a horse” is? It’s using a device or hand to apply pressure to the lip or ear. It’s meant to release endorphins and to calm a horse during certain procedures. This is what’s its like for me these days. Telling the truth, speaking with honesty and integrity seems to always be followed by a gnashing of teeth and increased heart rate. I think I am finally getting to point where I have desensitized myself enough I don’t really need the twitching anymore. Things aren’t always as they seem and the truth seems to be harder and harder to see through the small town cow shit. I will continue to use my platform to shine light on the parts that need shining. Freedom of speech is one of the foundations of our country. You can be assured that I will be posting more blogs and podcast