Selena Simmons-Duffin

Whoa, this isn’t a post about an NPR segment, what’s going on? I had my food blog debut today and I’m really excited about it so I’m breaking form.

Fill Up My Day

Well qualified, plenty of skills, eager to work. But 3 months after getting laid off, still no job. Spend a day with Kyle Simpson, a member of the unemployed army in Washington D.C.

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Production notes: Produced for the DC Listening Lounge‘s Sound Scene 2010 themed “Work & Play” at La Casa Multicultural Center on May 22, 2010. Music credit: “Snorkel” by Leo Kottke.

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 credit: “Light Chair” by Shugo Tokumaru.

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 credit: “Spotless Mind” by Jon Brion for the soundtrack of “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.”

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 the process of 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.