Document Actions
Archive
Which side are you on?
Friday, August 20 2010
| 
Send to a friend
which side are you on?
Maria Gunnoe larger >>
Maria Gunnoe's family has lived on the same West Virginia land since they settled there after escaping the Trail of Tears. The area has long been coal mining country. Maria's grandfather and two brothers mined for coal. But the methods of mining for coal have begun to change to something called "mountain top removal". Maria recently won a major environmental prize in honor of her opposition to this kind of mining. Maria talks to Dick Gordon about fighting for her land, and how she draws strength from the memory of her Cherokee grandfather.
- Learn more about Maria's work
- Find out more about Goldman Environmental Prize
Contact US
summer jobs: small town summer
Connie Jones
We have recently been running a series on your summer jobs - what they were and how they have changed you. Today Dick speaks with Connie Jones. Connie grew up in the rural south. She was headed to jail, not college. But a stranger arrived in town to set up a paper that planned to do investigative journalism into, among other things, race relations. Connie tells Dick how meeting this man in Birkenstocks totally changed the trajectory of her life.
Contact US
Fishing Perfect
Thursday, August 19 2010
| Send to a friend
FISHING PERFECT
Joe Jackson Sr. and his trophy catch. See full picture >>here
Sometimes a fishing story is about more than just the fish. Rick Jackson is a prize winning fisherman. He takes his dad out fishing every year on his dad's birthday. One day when the two were out fishing, they caught bigger and better bass than either one of them had ever seen. Rick's a serious fisherman and he couldn't make sense of it, until he realized they were fishing on the anniversary of his younger brother's accidental death. In fact, his dad had called him by his younger brother's name all day. Rick joins Dick Gordon to share his story about the best, most unexplainable day of fishing.
- Music in this story: Gone Fishin' by Louis Armstrong and Bing Crosby from the album 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection: The Best of Louis Armstrong
Your story: GETTING HOME AGAIN
Kenny and Jamie Deason
Kenny and Jamie Deason wrote in with their contribution to our "Your Story" file. They had lived in San Francisco for a year, helping kids and scraping by on money they made from selling bicycles. They decided it was time to return to their hometown, Oklahoma City. With only a few possessions and $20 in cash, they began their journey from California to Oklahoma - on homemade bicycles. After a few grueling, exhausting days, Kenny's bike and most of their possessions were stolen. They were stranded. Kenny and Jamie talk to Dick Gordon about how they got home and the kindness they found in perfect strangers.
Meeting Steinbeck
Wednesday, August 18 2010
| Send to a friend
Meeting Steinbeck
Phil Tobin
As rough economic times continue, many are looking back at the hard times America has faced before. Phil Tobin was just 6 years old when he left Maine with his father and uncle to find work in California during the Depression. They ended up on a farm picking cotton to make ends meet, and it was there that Phil met a man he knew only as John. Phil says John had a kind heart, a fancy tar paper shack and was always writing in a large notebook that captured young Phil's attention with its pages sticking out every which way "like porcupine quills". It was years later that Phil flipped through The Grapes of Wrath and saw his family's name on one of the pages that he realized, the man he knew as John was most likely the Pulitzer Prize winning author John Steinbeck. Phil talks with Dick Gordon about the lessons he learned growing up during the Depression, and how he finally got up the courage to relive those harsh memories by reading the Grapes of Wrath.
- Music in this story: Brother Can You Spare a Dime performed by Mark Hanson for the album Great American Songbook for Guitar
THE ODD VACATION
Elvira and Joe Woodruff found the perfect summer rental. It was located at their favorite secluded spot on a lake in Maine. When they arrived to pay for the rental, the owner had a shot gun and strange "art" that made them uncomfortable. Elvira tells Dick Gordon why their decision to stay in the not so perfect rental property enhanced their relationship.
Discovered
Tuesday, August 17 2010
| Send to a friend
DISCOVERED
Ray Matthews and Janet Hubbard
Ray Matthews captured his memories of South Hill, Virginia on canvas for years and tucked the paintings away in his apartment. He worked low-wage jobs and continued to paint. It was when he sold one painting to the local general store to get some money for medicine for his mom that Janet Hubbard took notice and set out to meet Ray. She fell in love with his work and helped give Ray his very first gallery opening. She also convinced him to enter a prestigious local art show. Dick Gordon talks to Ray and Janet about their unexpected partnership, the art contest results and how they're dealing with the sudden popularity of Ray's work.
- Explore Ray's artwork
- See Ray’s award-winning painting, "Main Street"
- Music in this story includes Dancing in the Sunny South and Singing Birds, performed by Paul Brown for the album Red Clay Country
Contact Us
tOE-cHECKER
Mel Miskimen
Mel Miskimen has been listening to our series about summer jobs and how they can change us. Mel just knew she had to tell us about her job as a "toe checker" at the local pool after graduating from high school. It involved looking carefully at all kinds of people - and their feet. Mel tells Dick how she used this low-paying job to take revenge on middle school snobs and pay her way through college.
Contact Us
The Bionic Woman
Monday, August 16 2010
| Send to a friend
The Bionic Woman
Leonor Childers
 Leonor Childers is one of the few people in this country who have a new kind of heart pump - one that is permanently implanted that she plugs into the wall each night. When Leonor was pregnant with her second set of twins, she discovered a lump on her breast. It was cancer. She and her husband decided to go through with the pregnancy, despite chemo and other treatments. When she delivered 8 weeks early, the last thing the couple expected was for Leonor to suffer heart trouble. But that's what happened. Soon after, she found herself in the hospital with a failing heart. She received a cutting edge heart pump with a 54-percent survival rate after 2 years. Dick Gordon talks with Leonor about what life is like with the new device and what her goals are these days.Â
- See pictures of Leonor
Three Strikes
Liz Kite
Liz Kite's house got struck by lightning. Not once, not twice, but three times. And then, a car (without a driver!) rammed through her living room window. Liz was not a believer in the great beyond, but something about these accidents made her start thinking that her dad, who passed away a few weeks before the first lightning strike, had something to do with them. Liz talks to Dick about how she got her home remodeled thanks to some very strange events.
- See pictures of Liz's house
Reuniting the Kinks
Friday, August 13 2010
| Send to a friend
REUNITING THE KINKS
Movie Poster for "Do It Again"
Geoff Edgers is a staff writer at the Boston Globe. The 40-something reporter had a midlife crisis a few years ago and decided that he had to get the rock band The Kinks back together again. He reconnected with a high school buddy who's now a famous movie-maker. And the two set out to film Geoff's attempts to get the band to reunite. Trouble is, the two brothers who fronted the group more than 40 years ago can't stand each other. Lead vocalist Ray Davies and lead guitarist Dave Davies haven't spoken in years. Geoff talks with Dick Gordon about his oddball quest, and the memorable moments he had with each Davies brother. The movie Do It Again is now on the film festival circuit.Â
Surviving Obama
Nicole Anderson Cobb
Nicole Anderson Cobb is an African American history professor, born and raised on the south side of Chicago. Her family and friends are die-hard Obama fans, supporting the President come hell or high water, dissent or disapproval out of the question. Nicole has wrestled with her own opinions, and as an emerging playwright, turned them into a one woman show. On the heels of her first public performance, Nicole talks to Dick Gordon about her true feelings about the President, and getting up on stage to air them publicly in Obama's old stomping grounds.
The Layoff - A Child's Perspective
Thursday, August 12 2010
| Send to a friend
The Layoff - A Child’s Perspective
Rachael Clark and her daughter Alison Spiller
More often than not, when we try to see how the great recession is affecting people, we talk to the adults who are looking for work. Today, we talk to a child. Nine-year old Alison Spiller wrote Dick Gordon a letter after listening to an episode of the program. She wrote, "I hope my experiences will help your listeners with children." Turns out, Alison's father was unemployed for more than a year before he found a new job and that meant big changes to Alison's lifestyle. Alison Spiller and her mother Rachael Clark join Dick Gordon to talk about their family's experience after unemployment.Â
YOUR STORY- CHANCE ENCOUNTER
When we turn the storytelling over to you we get all kinds of meaningful stories. Chan Gannaway wrote in to say his story goes into the coincidence category. And he's right, it is one that ties together a powerful and dramatic moment from his youth with a recent surprise encounter. This all began innocently enough, these stories always do. Chan was job hunting and knew there was a good opening nearby. He drove over to the location, hoping to meet the manager in person. And that's where the story takes a strange turn. Chan talks with Dick Gordon about how this chance meeting changed his life.
| To subscribe to this as a podcast use this link: |
|
| To subscribe to this as an RSS feed use this link: |
|
