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Kathy Quimby Johnson grew up in East Peacham, Vermont, in the '60s and '70s, when it was mostly farmers and summer people. She attended college out of state, and in her 50s, she got her MFA at Vermont College of Fine Arts. Now she lives in the village of Cambridge.

In the latest installment of our series "What class are you?," Kathy talks with producer Erica Heilman about growing up blue collar and straddling two Vermont cultures as an adult.

This interview was produced for the ear. We highly recommend listening to the audio. We’ve also provided a transcript, which has been edited for length and clarity.

Kathy Quimby Johnson: Peacham at the time, people who were year-round residents were farmers, basically. My dad worked for Ralston Purina, and he delivered grain for 15 years, at least.

So one of the things I remember thinking about was, "Where do we fit in?" We're certainly not rich, but we're not poor, but our lives don't look like the farmers' lives because there's a regular salary. I wore hand-me-downs from cousins. We canned or froze the year's vegetables. We shopped on sale.

It felt like we didn't have much money, but I also didn't have to worry about, if I needed to see a doctor, I could see a doctor. We didn't seem to fit in in the obvious groups in town.

Erica Heilman: What were the messages you were getting at school, or what were the dynamics around it?

Kathy Quimby Johnson: I think the dynamics around it came a little bit later at fifth and sixth grade, when you are starting to want to fit in more. And that was when, in sixth grade, in St. Johnsbury, somebody was offering ballet lessons, and two of the girls in my grade were going to take them, and I asked my mother if I could go, and she said, "Oh, no. We don't do that." Because that's an indulgence.

Erica Heilman: Your father worked for a company but considered himself working class. It was important to him that he wasn't rich. Was that what he was saying?

Kathy Quimby Johnson: I think it was important to him that he was not rich. I think he associated "rich" with being wasteful, being self-indulgent, being boastful. And my father was not a boastful man. In fact, he was self-deprecating to a fault.

Erica Heilman: When you think of class, what comes to mind? What are the elements of class? Because it's an intentionally vague question that I'm asking.

Kathy Quimby Johnson: We tend to think about it as poor, middle class, rich. And I think it gets further complicated by �

Erica Heilman: Ballet.

Kathy Quimby Johnson: Yeah, ballet and piano lessons, and I think a part of class is maybe what possibilities you see for yourself when you're young, and also for your children.

And then I think certainly when I was growing up, the possibilities were local. You maybe went to teachers college, and the idea was that you were going to stay in the area, probably, or you would go down country to get a job.

Erica Heilman: Where was down country?

Kathy Quimby Johnson: Down country was anywhere south of Vermont. And my husband and I at least raised our daughter with the idea that it was important for her to know who she was and know what her strengths were, and then what the options were for her with her strengths.

So instead of sort of fitting into a mold, it was, "What do you like? What are you good at? Here are the possibilities. You can try and see what works." And that's not a conversation I think working-class people often have with their kids.

Erica Heilman: What are the class assumptions you see around you now as a grown up, or people's blind spots that you see?

Kathy Quimby Johnson: So Cambridge is an interesting community because it is such a mix of families who have been here for generations, similar to the town I grew up in, and commuters and people who work at the resort because Smugglers' Notch is here.

I have been able to feel at home with people who've lived here for generations, whose families have been here for generations, and I notice there is a group of people � alas it's shrinking � but these are people with whom I code switch. I can relax. My Vermont accent will be more present, and I am aware that when I'm with these people, I feel more relaxed because we know things about each other. We have a common background, but I can also talk to a lot of the commuters who, we've got similar college experiences. We have similar concerns for our children.

Erica Heilman: Where are the blind spots that you're concerned about in terms of class and Vermont tension points?

Kathy Quimby Johnson: So there is a community center in town that is being sold, and the question is whether or not the town will buy it. The argument against it is that there are so many people in town who can't afford to use it, even at $5 a session, and so that is a place where I really see the haves and the have-nots coming into conflict.

Erica Heilman: Is the whole story money, or is it also a cultural resistance to that community center?

Kathy Quimby Johnson: I think it is partially a cultural resistance, because we're not used to having that sort of thing, and that's always a challenge in traditional Vermont towns.

Erica Heilman: Is that a class thing? Is that a culture thing that is born of class?

Kathy Quimby Johnson: I would say it's the latter. I would say it's a cultural thing that is born of class. I would say it's part of that, "We, people like us don't indulge in that." Yeah, it's, it's where you put your priorities.