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Call them twixters, kidults, or boomerangers- they are a new generation of twentysomethings caught in a transitional phase between adolescence and adulthood, floating for a few years, putting off the heavy threat of adult responsibility and oftentimes, moving back home. Laura's guest is Tom Sedoric, Senior Vice-President of Investment for A.G. Edwards and Sons, a financial consulting firm with offices nationwide. She's also joined by Dr. Jeffrey Arnett, Research Associate Professor for the Department of Human Development at the University of Maryland. He is also the Editor of the Journal of Adolescent Research, author of several books on adolescence and emerging adulthood and Chair of the Special Interest Group on Emerging Adulthood.

*This show originally aired on 2/9/05*

In our second installment of our Granite State Stories series, we talk about our experiences growing up in New Hampshire through the pages of Ruth Doan MacDougall's coming of age novel, "The Cheerleader". The story follows Henrietta "Snowy" Snow, her gang of friends and their experiences as high school students in the small fictional town of Gunthwaite, New Hampshire in the 1950s. Snowy is wrapped up in all the things most teenagers are consumed by--classes, homework, clubs, sports, and of course, dating and sex. As we get a glimpse into Snowy's life and that of her friends, we are ushered into the 1950s through the popular music, movies, clothing styles and etiquette of the day, like going "parking" and boys "getting fresh". But even though the story takes place in a world very different from the one that came after the major social movements of the 1960s and 1970s, "The Cheerleader" is a classic story about growing up with universal themes that resonate today. We'll look at what it was like for teens in a small New Hampshire town a half a century ago, especially for girls, and see what has changed, and not changed for young adults today in the Granite State. Laura is joined by the author of "The Cheerleader", Ruth Doan MacDougall. Doan MacDougall grew up in New Hampshire and went to high school in Laconia, the place where the fictional Gunthwaite is based on. Also joining us is Dr. Ann V. Norton, Professor of English at Saint Anselm College, and Selma Naccach-Hoff, English Department Coordinator and Teacher at Central High School in Manchester.

With high land costs and more lucrative job opportunities in the white collar sector, it's getting harder and harder these days to attract young farmers into the business. The Granite State has been helping young farmers get and stay into the business for years. We'll have a panel of young farmers on to talk about their experiences, why they do it, and what they see as the future of farming as well as what the Granite State is doing to help keep them in business. Union Leader columnist John Clayton hosts. His guests are Greg Berger, who started working at Spring Ledge Farm in New London in the tenth grade and purchased the farm this year from the Clough family. Greg is thrity four years old with a wife and two kids and a degree in Plant Science from The College of Agriculture at Cornell University. Beth Hodge, who with her sister Courtney, purchased Echo Farm in Hinsdale in nineteen ninety and now co-manage it along with the Schofield family. Beth is thirty years old and Co-Manager of the farm and Director of Marketing for their pudding line, which was started in 1997. Her sister is twenty eight. Keith Chapin, who co-owns Pinball Dairy in Alstead with Keith Kimball. They purchesed the farm in 2003. Previous to that, Keith worked as a cow herder at a farm in New York. Keith is twenty nine and his business partner, Keith Kimball, is twenty eight. Gary Matteson, who owns and operates New England Anenomes, a flower farm in Epsom. He is Chair of the Legislative Committee for the New Hampshire Farm Bureau and Director for Northeast New Hampshire for the Farm Credit Bureau.

At a time of the Watts riots, Selma marches, and great tensions between blacks and white, Jonathan Daniels, a twenty-six year old white Keene born Episcopal seminarian went south to join the civil rights movement. While protecting a young black woman in Alabama, Daniels was shot and killed by a white law enforcement officer. The shooter would later be acquitted and Daniels considered the first martyr of the civil rights movement from New England. Forty years after his death we look back at the life of Jonathon Daniels and at this volatile time in history. Kevin Gardner hosts, his guests are Larry Benaquist, Chair of Film Studies at Keene State College and William Sullivan, co-collaborator with Benaquist on a documentary on Jonathon Daniels called "Here Am I, Send Me: The Journey of Jonathon Daniels". We'll also hear from Jack Pratt who was Legal Counsel for the Commission on Religion and Race for The National Council of Churches in the early sixties.

Nineteenth century women formed anti-slavery groups and tested the waters of activism. We’ll look at why New England played a central role in this early women’s movement and who led the charge. Laura's guest is Beth Salerno, Assistant Professor of History at St. Anselm College and author of "Sister Societies: Women's Antislavery Organizations in Antebellum America". She is currently working on a book about Mary Clark, one of New England's early female antislavery activists.