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The Floods in Pakistan

THE FLOODS IN PAKISTAN

Ali Headshot Cropped Ali Abbas Zaidi <<More

The flood waters in Pakistan are still forcing people from their homes. There are millions already who have moved to safe ground or into camps for the displaced. The work to get aid to the needy continues. Ali Abbas Zaidi lives in Islamabad, where he works as an aeronautical engineer. But every weekend like many other Pakistanis, he’s helping deliver that aid.

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NEXT CHAPTER: DARRYL MONTANA

Darryl MontanaDarryl Montana

Darryl Montana grew up in New Orleans.  We first met him shortly after Hurricane Katrina. He was mourning his dad and his community. Darryl’s dad Tootie was a well-known master of elaborate Mardi Gras costumes. Tootie died unexpectedly shortly before Katrina hit. Today: an update on the story.

  • Listen to Dick's original conversation with Darryl here

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    RECOVERING A MILLION IMAGES

    Donn Youn CroppedDonn Young  Photo Courtesy: Michael Sokol

    Donn Young made a life as a successful photographer in New Orleans. He nearly lost all of his work when Hurricane Katrina struck five years ago. More than 1.5 million images were under 10 feet of water. Dick Gordon talks with Donn about how he recovered his life’s work in the five years since the storm.

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    The Florestine Collection

    THE FLORESTINE COLLECTION

    Hellen Hill CroppedHelen Hill and Paul Gailiunas

    This Sunday marks the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina coming ashore. People who watched that storm said they’d never seen such violence in nature. Those who came back to New Orleans after the storm, would soon discover a kind of street violence that was well beyond anything the residents had ever seen.  Helen Hill was a victim of a random killing in January 2007. She was a filmmaker, killed late one night in her home by an intruder. Her husband Paul and young son survived that night, but fled the city. Now Paul is making good on a promise, to finish Helen’s last film, an animated movie about an elderly woman from New Orleans named Florestine.

    • Find out more about Helen and the film

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    HOT 8 BRASS BAND

    Dinneral CroppedBennie Cropped(Above) Dinerral Shavers (Below) Bennie Pete

    Dinerral Shavers was the drummer and singer for the New Orleans-based Hot 8 Brass Band. He was also a victim of the post-Katrina violence. He was shot during what would turn out to be one of the most violent weeks in post-Katrina New Orleans. Dinerral’s band mate Bennie Pete remembers when the two met. Dinerral was just 12 years old -- a skinny little live wire with big glasses, eager to perform with the band. As the anniversary of Katrina approaches, Bennie talks about his friend Dinerral, the city that struggles to rise again, and the music that holds it all together.

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    NEXT CHAPTER: RUBY SLIPPERS

    Amy Cyrex SinsAmy Cyrex Sins

    Amy Cyrex Sins was first on the program a year and a half after Katrina hit. Amy had lost her home, but written a new cookbook, Ruby Slippers,  to replace recipes she lost in the flood waters. The recipe book has since won some awards - but the best update is that Amy is now settled into her rebuilt home. 

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    Behind the Strings

    Behind the Strings

    Joe Heydt croppedJoe Heydt

    The US Open Tennis Tournament begins this weekend. But not all the professionals there will be on the courts. 40-year-old Joe Heydt had been stringing tennis racquets at his tennis shop for almost two decades and he will be at the Open stringing for the pros. Joe was first discovered at a seminar when his speed and technique caught the attention of his instructor, and eventually he was introduced to the greatest, most exacting tennis stringer teacher in the world: Yat Kong. Yat's perfectionism shocked Heydt, but it also galvanized him and helped him earn a spot stringing at the world's Grand Slam tournaments. As he prepares to string at his second US Open, Joe talks with Dick Gordon about how his journey opened his eyes to his own passion and gave him an even greater appreciation for the discipline required of all members of the game.

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    Gangster Prankster

    Adam Whisner croppedAdam Whisner

    Tim and Adam were work buddies who liked to joke around with each other often. Tim decided to play what he thought was a harmless practical joke by calling Adam and pretending to be a mobster who was after Adam. Tim was sure that Adam would know it was him. Little did he know that Adam thought he was serious and that his own life was in danger. Tim and Adam talk to Dick Gordon about what happened to them when a practical joke went horribly wrong.

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    The Next Chapter - A Hurricane Katrina Sweeping Success

    Jerome BoykinJerome Boykin

    When Dick interviewed Jerome Boykin after Hurricane Katrina, Jerome was sweeping big box store parking lots. At just 27, he'd become a millionaire. Today, Dick checks in with Jerome to find out how his life and his business are faring 5 years after the big storm.

    • Learn more about Jerome's business.
    • Hear Dick's original conversation with Jerome.

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    Reprogramming Child Jihadists

    Reprogramming Child Jihadists

    Pakistan School HeadshotFeriha Peracha  <<More

    When psychologist Feriha Peracha was asked to assess a handful  of boys rescued from Islamic militants, she had no idea it would lead to a life changing project - a school designed to undo the training they'd gotten to be informants, fighters and suicide bombers.  Feriha talks with Dick Gordon about the difficulties she encountered, and what she's doing to ensure they don't become radicalized again. The school is in Northern Pakistan which has seen severe flooding, a new challenge because in the chaos Taliban militants might seize the opportunity to move back into the area.   

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    Summer on the Farm

    Rama headshotRama Hughes  <<More

    Rama Hughes was in graduate school training to be an art teacher when he dropped out to pursue a childhood dream: working on a farm. Though it took this city-raised guy awhile to get used to the rural life, he eventually found his rhythm among his fellow farmhands. Along with learning about raising vegetables, he was also introduced to the finer points of skinny dipping and became a local guru of pop culture. Rama joins Dick Gordon to talk about his job and how it inspired him to return to art and teaching.

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    One Right Move

    One Right Move

    Michael head croppedFreddie head croppedMichael Atamas and Freddie Degraffinreid  <<More

    Michael Atamas came to Baltimore as a young boy and didn't know a word of English. One of the things that made him feel a little less lost was playing chess with a teacher at his new school. Almost twenty years later Michael was a teacher himself in a Baltimore city school where he had a hard time connecting with his students. Then one day he was playing chess in the classroom and a student said "teach me how to play." Dick talks with Michael, and one of his students, Freddie Degraffinreid, about how Michael found a new way to teach students about the game of chess and the game of life.

    • Find out more about the chess league Freddie plays in.

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    Getting Past the Past

    David was a typical teenage kid whose family was just getting by, living paycheck to paycheck. Then his stepfather lost his job and took out his frustrations on David by beating him. Soon David was not only being beaten at home - his stepfather forced him to fight in an underground fighting ring for money. David eventually escaped that life, but he never spoke about what happened to him. Not until a couple of years later when he wrote about it for a class and read his work in front of his classmates. David talks with Dick Gordon about what it meant for him to open up, and in doing so, get past his past.

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    Working in a War Zone

    Working in a war zone

    Afghan Aid CroppedJolynn Fisher <<More 

    This year is proving to be a deadly one for aid workers worldwide. 45 have been killed so far and another 47 have been kidnapped. Afghanistan is currently the most dangerous nation for people delivering aid. Jolynn Fisher knows the risks. She's been working there for the past year and a half.  Jolynn talks with Dick Gordon about working in Kabul as the war heats up, and aid workers are experiencing deadly attacks.

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    Yosemite Safari Guide

    Yosemite Photog CroppedPat Althizer  <<Larger

    Pat Althizer has always had a love affair with his camera lens. But his passion was just a hobby. It wasn't until Pat decided to retire that he figured out what he wanted to be when he grew up: a photo safari guide in Yosemite National Park. Pat talks to Dick about the moment his future came into focus.

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    Which side are you on?

    which side are you on?

    Maria GunnoeMaria 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.

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    summer jobs: small town summer

    Connie JonesConnie 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.

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