Audio
Significant Objects: A Doll With A Story
Diversions
On this day, the Sunday before Christmas, when shoppers are in overdrive, there's an intriguing experiment going on: Joshua Glenn and his collaborators are trying to see if they can take junk — say, an ugly, plastic Russian doll with a big cloth mustache — and turn it into something valuable by simply adding a back story. And it seems to be working. They hired a writer named Doug Dorst to come up with a story for that little $3 doll — and they put it up on eBay. The winning bid? $193. NPR's Selena Simmons-Duffin has the story.
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Big-Screen Memories Of A New York Adventure
Betty Simmons at 18 years old.
Commentary
It was 1939, the year of the New York World's Fair, Germany's invasion of Poland, and the publication of Steinbeck's classic The Grapes of Wrath. It's also the year two 18-year-old girls from Denver took a train to the East Coast for an adventure that inspired a Hollywood musical.
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A Renaissance For Cupcakes?
Cupcakes (Creative Commons license from ChrisB).
Diversions
Cupcake stores are popping up across the county. One expert says it's a classic economic bubble — with a sweet topping. Producer Selena Simmons Duffin talks cupcakes with host Guy Raz.
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Special Olympian Remembers Shriver
David Egan, courtesy of Special Olympics
Remembrances
Eunice Kennedy Shriver, the founder of the Special Olympics, died this week, and the tributes have been pouring in. But David Egan's life was affected directly by Shriver's work. The longtime Special Olympian remembers Shriver, and thanks her for her work.
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Larynx, from Gray's Anatomy (Creative Commons license)
Laryngitis
A time-lapse instructional audio piece on how to recover your voice.
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Production notes: Produced for the DC Listening Lounge’s Sound Scene 2009 event themed “The Human Body,” at the Warehouse on May 8, 2009. Music: “Light Chair” by Shugo Tokumaru on the album “Night Piece.”
Photo credit: Selena Simmons-Duffin
I’m Relatively Human
Marty is 57 and lives off social security, alone, in central Maine. 10 years ago, Marty had a steady job, a house on a lake, and a loving wife. 10 years ago, Marty was also a man.
Her story is not about transitioning between genders. It’s about what happens after you’ve arrived at your destination, and are forced to consider what you gained, and what you lost.
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Production notes: Produced at the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies in the fall of 2008. Featured on “Culture Matters” on WMPG, and featured in an episode of the PRX and Salt collaborative podcast, the Saltcast.
Photo credit: Emily True
The Only Place We Could Go
The Peabody House in Portland, Maine was the only place in New England founded especially for HIV positive people. They could get home cooked meals, 24 hour nursing care, and a respite from constant worries about keeping their status a secret. But now the Peabody House is closing.
The reason? HIV medication has gotten so much better since the Peabody House was founded, the care the house provides doesn’t fit the need anymore. That’s good news for HIV care, but that isn’t much comfort for the staff and residents that remain at the house. A lot still hangs in the balance.
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Production notes: Produced at the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies in the fall of 2008. Photography collaboration with Salt photo student Emily True. Music: “Spotless Mind” by Jon Brion for the soundtrack of “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.”
