My Piccolo

Friday, April 20 2007 | Send to a friend

MY PICCOLO

Mary as a student, with her piccolo

In March, Dick talked to Lloyd Pardue from Yadkin County, North Carolina about the army jacket Lloyd left at the dry cleaners in 1961, and had returned to him 45 years later.

That story led Mary Hakes of Minnesota to write to us:

I loved the story about he gentleman who got his army uniform back from the cleaners decades  later. Here's my version of that story…

Mary graduated from high school in 1976. But it wasn't saying good-bye to classmates or moving away to college that got her teary-eyed. What made Mary emotional was the moment she had to return a piccolo - the piccolo she had carried and played all year long - to the high school band director.

Mary and her piccolo, now

Mary moved away for college, married and had kids, even bought new instruments. But she never quite forgot the wooden piccolo she had left behind. More than 20 years later, when her father's death brought her and her sisters home, Mary was surprised by a reunion that she never expected. She shared her unlikely story with Dick on today's show.

Music heard in this story: Concerto for Piccolo, Strings and Basso Continuo in C Major, RV. 443: II. Largo by Leonard Bernstein, New York Philharmonic for the album Bernstein Century - Bach: Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 - Vivaldi: Piccolo Concerto

Your Story - Katarina Cerny

Friday, April 13 2007 | Send to a friend

Your Story - Katarina Cerny

Katarina Cerny

Dick recently talked to Tim Brooks about his CD called "Lost Sounds: Blacks and the Birth of the Recording Industry," which won a Grammy this year as Best Historical Album. Tim pointed out that these recordings aren't simply archival. They had a huge impact on the musical landscape of their own day, including on the European composer, Antonin Dvorak.

That program inspired Katarina Cerny to e-mail The Story:

When I was a child growing up in the former Czechoslovakia in the 1950s and 60s, my father sang Negro spirituals every night to me and my sister. Even though I did not understand the words, I (like Dvorak) loved the melodies. I always wondered why my father, who trained as an opera singer, was so drawn to the spirituals…
-Katarina Cerny

Katarina's father recorded himself singing some of his favorite spirituals before he died of cancer. Katarina talks to Dick about how much it means to her now to hear her father sing, and how the spirituals touched his heart.

• See a photo of Katarina and her father
• Listen to Katarina's father sing "Ma Curly Headed Baby"

Remembering Joey

Thursday, April 12 2007 | Send to a friend

REMEMBERING JOEY

Karen Dalton is an artist who lives near Bynum, North Carolina.  She recently wrote to The Story about someone she knew from her childhood in Newark, New Jersey, a boy named Joey.

Joey was a Downs Syndrome kid that lived on our block 4 houses from mine… Joey was not allowed out of the house. He lived on the second floor. [But] Joey spent his childhood playing with us from the windows in his house.
-Karen Dalton

Karen learned from her mother just this month that Joey passed away. He was 61. She talks to Dick about her poignant and fun memories of Joey's friendship.

• Read Karen's essay about Joey

What a Coincidence!

Wednesday, April 11 2007 | Send to a friend

What a coincidence!

Only 25 percent of women in science study astronomy. Dick talks with future astronomers Jane Moran, Rachel Rosen and Maggie Eftamova. These scientists find themselves turning to astrology to explain a very strange coincidence. [click thumbnail left for larger image of the students being interviewed by Dick.]

Your Story - Bahaa Gizzi

Tuesday, April 10 2007 | Send to a friend

Your Story - Bahaa Gizzi

Beirut, Lebanon, 1976. Two teenage boys, friends, stopped to get gas and groceries. Though they had different religions, they shared an interest in girls and martial arts. Authorities asked for identification. They separated, and never saw one another again. Remembering the story, they each recall the power of friendship and the bravado of youth.

Your Story - Pam Rock

Tuesday, April 03 2007 | Send to a friend

YOUR STORY - PAM ROCK

Pam Rock writing letters home to friends from Guatemala

Thousands of young Americans make their first foreign trip as a part of the Peace Corp program. Pam Rock signed up because she was interested in working in a developing country, sharing ideas on nutrition and women's health. Pam was also living in Florida and eager to improve her Spanish.

But for Pam,  the whole Peace Corps experience was not a lot of fun for her, even months into her time abroad. Then, one day, she read something that changed her perspective, not only of her time in the Peace Corps, but for her whole life.

• Read the letter Pam wrote home about 'expectations'

Your Story - Lloyd Pardue

Wednesday, March 28 2007 | Send to a friend

Your Story - Lloyd Pardue

Lloyd Pardue, 1946

Lloyd Pardue was released from military service in 1946.

He kept his uniform, especially his Eisenhower jacket, a greenish, smart-looking tapered military jacket ever since.

Lloyd Pardue and his Eisenhower jacket