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so. i'm working for national public radio now for the story with dick gordon
(check it here)
here are the stories i've worked on:
(keep in mind that the stories i've produced are often surrounded by other stories, so the first story you hear may not be the one i've described)
this is the first piece i ever produced ... keep in mind that it's not the regular host of the show :)
thanks coach! (july 23, 2007)
[guest]Host Scott Jagow found this story sitting at the bar of a neighborhood pizza place.
Tom Holleran used to be a baseball coach at the Georgetown Preparatory School in Bethesda, Md. His coaching philosophy was simple: every kid gets to play. No matter how untalented the child is, no matter how big the game. So during a championship match, he chose not to bench a little left fielder named Maurice - even though his own teammates wanted Maurice off the field.
Then came the final inning, with two out. The hit went to left field. Maurice stuck up his glove... and caught the ball. It turns out that Maurice the left outfielder grew up to be comedian Mo Rocca.
Scott Jagow talks with Tom Holleran and Mo - now a regular contributor to "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart" - about what Coach Holleran's decision meant to him, then and now.
Music heard in this story: Centerfield by John Fogerty for the album Centerfield (Remastered); Take Me Out to the Ball Game by the Nashville Mandolins for the album 30 Mandolin Classics
challenging liftoff (august 7, 2007)
The space shuttle Endeavor is set for liftoff tomorrow evening. One member of the crew will be Barbara Morgan, a teacher.
21 years ago, Allan McDonald was a top manager at Morton Thiokol, a company that made the booster rockets for the Challenger. The Challenger exploded just after liftoff, killing six crewmates and Christa McAuliffe, who was to be the first teacher in orbit.
Before the Challenger launched, Allan worried there was a problem and argued, unsuccessfully, for a delay. He joins Aaron to talk about what it was like to work as an engineer on the space shuttle and watch as it exploded.
giving and taking (august 13, 2007)
Tamara Ball spent many years as an E.R. doctor who often had to deliver the news to families that their loved ones were going to die. She also had to ask them whether or not their family member had mentioned or considered organ donation, and she always found this to be an awkward conversation.
Then Tamara herself needed an organ donation. She talks with Aaron about what it's like to be on both sides of the transition - when one family's tragedy becomes another family's thanksgiving.
this is one of my all time favorites!!
closing shop (august 15, 2007)
Policy makers at the state and national level are considering creative ways to reintegrate ex-felons into society. Doug Haas Bennett had a unique approach - she employed former prisoners in her costume shop.
When Doug first opened her shop in 1975, she had a lot to learn. For one thing, it was just before Halloween, and Doug had no idea how busy her store was about to get. Over the years, she was asked to make costumes of all kinds. Once, a drug company asked her to make what they called "Herpes Man."
For Doug, the shop was always about more than fitting people in outrageous clothing - it was a way for her reach out to her community. For years, Doug worked at the North Carolina women's correctional facility teaching writing classes to inmates. Many of the women she helped came to work for her after they were paroled.
Guest host Aaron Henkin talks with Doug about her 30 years running Doug Haas's Raleigh Creative Costume Shop, and why the store had to close last month.
Aaron also talks with Onia Royster, one of the women Doug has helped. Onia is an ex-felon who served as Doug's office manager. These days, Onia continues to pay Doug's kindness forward. She works with people infected with HIV.
straight spouse
Erick Wiger heard The Story's interview with Bill Shipley, a Coast Guard officer who came out after a distinguished career in the military. Erick was most interested in one part of Bill's story - the years he spent as a husband and father before he announced he was gay.
Erick is a "straight spouse," or the husband of a woman who came out after having been married to him for many years. He talks with Aaron about what it's like to be on the other side.
* Learn about a resource for straight spouses
this one is also ... one of my all time favorites :)
listening for amelia (august 24, 2007)
On a July afternoon in 1937, 15-year-old Betty Klenck Brown was listening to her family's shortwave radio. She had her journal and was writing down the lyrics to popular songs when she turned the dial and heard the unimaginable: "This is Amelia Earhart. This is Amelia Earhart." At that point, Earhart had already disappeared, along with her navigator, in her attempt to fly around the world.
Betty jotted down everything she heard over 3 hours. She didn't understand much of what she wrote, but she kept transcribing. No one took Betty seriously, until her diary finally made it into the hands of Ric Gillespie.
Ric works for a group called TIGHAR (The International Group for Historic Aircraft Recovery). Ric has used the information in Betty's diary to lead a new search for the remains of Amelia Earhart and her navigator, Fred Noonan.
Ric is just back with his team from the search, and they believe they uncovered tantalizing clues.
* See a map of Amelia's Pacific Route
* See a diagram of Earhart evidence on the island of Nikumaroro
* Find out more about Ric's organization, TIGHAR ("Tiger")
* See Betty's notebook
* See the only film known to exist of the takeoff
Maps and photos of Betty copyright TIGHAR, 2007
Music heard in this story: Moonlight Sonata for the album Smart Sleep With Classical; True Story of Amelia Earhart and Following Amelia by Plainsong for the album New Place Now
lp's candy tree
Steve Lanier wrote to The Story to tell us about the funniest person he has ever known - Mr. Louis Phillip Hornthal, better known to all as "LP."
Steve spent many days visiting with LP when he was a child. He died years ago, but LP's antics are still legendary among his friends and family - he is particularly remembered for his cleverly-executed pranks - including the time he convinced the neighborhood kids that a tree could blossom with candy.
Steve tells Dick about the joy and laughter LP brought to the lives of the people around him, and he shares his favorite stories from LP's book of practical jokes.
the gift of goats (september 3, 2007)
Tom Currie was out in the yard on the night of an eclipse, shooting the breeze with his neighbor, when the discussion turned to his neighbor's work with animals. Tom had a flash of inspiration - he didn't have enough space for cows, but he was going to try to raise goats. Tom then got involved with Heifer International, an organization that gives away animals to families in need. Tom talks with Dick about how raising and giving away goats has changed his life.
* Learn more about Heifer International
Music heard in this story: I Love My Goats by Caliche Con Carne for the album Goat Songs 2 the Flesh
living with tics (september 4, 2007)
Tom Johnson wrote to The Story to tell us that it is at this time of the year - the start of the school year - that he is most in awe of his son, Campbell.
Campbell Johnson is a 12-year-old kid who attends middle school, plays in the band, enjoys soccer, and is active in his local church youth group - just like anyone else his age. Yet Campbell has incorporated into his life a neurological disorder that can be difficult to control and is often misunderstood: Tourette Syndrome.
Campbell talks to Dick about what it's like to have Tourettte's, and how he explains it to adults and other kids. His parents, Tom and Stephanie, talk about the roller coaster of discovering Campbell's Tourette's, and how they have learned to appreciate it.
* Learn about Tourette Syndrome
living with loans (september 10, 2007)
On Friday, Congress gave final approval to legislation that will overhaul the federal student loan program. That's welcome news to many students and graduates who have been frustrated by unfair practices in the student loan industry. Earlier this year, it came to light that several student lenders were offering perks and kickbacks to colleges and alumni associations in return for being included on preferred lender lists.
Jason graduated from college in 2004 and now works for a large financial institution. He says he was sold on the dream that going to college would give him a middle class lifestyle, with a house and a white picket fence. Instead, he's living with his mother and working to pay off $30,000 in debt. Jason says when he was choosing a loan company to help pay for college, he selected from a preferred lender lists provided by his university's financial aid office. The loan he picked turned out to be a very bad deal.
Jason talks with Dick Gordon about what he wishes he had known sooner - and what it's like to work in the very industry that he thinks contributed towards his spiral into debt. He asked us not to use his last name so he could protect his job.
* Read a book that features the stories of Jason and other young people like him
your story: richard simmons and me (september 17, 2007)
Devin Singley was visiting his sister in Italy with his mom one spring break when they ran into none other than Richard Simmons. Devin's mom walked right up to him and began talking to Simmons as though they were old friends. At 17, Devin wasn't quite sure what to make of the aging exercise star, especially after they bumped into him later that day and Simmons insisted on buying them coffee.
The story doesn't end there, though. Devin and Richard Simmons met up again in the United States some time later, and Devin got an autographed copy of his picture with Richard Simmons - and another "squeeze-the-life-out-of-you" hug.
reading the rocks (september 20, 2007)
Jerry Spangler spent years working as a journalist, and he has now turned his investigative skills towards a very personal quest: Jerry is trying to save archeological sites that are threatened by the production of oil and natural gas in Utah.
The land around Nine Mile Canyon and Range Creek in Utah is rocky and rugged, and it is full of petroglyphs and pictographs. Jerry first visited the sites as a college student, where he discovered cliffs covered in hundreds of thousands of images.
Dick Gordon talks with Jerry about what he has seen in the rocks, and what he is doing to preserve them now that the U.S. Bureau of Land Management has given natural gas companies permission to drill.
* See Jerry's photos
* Learn about the organization Jerry works with.
Music heard in this story: Voices of the Ancient Ones and Walking In Two Worlds by Nancy Rumbel for the album Southwest
marrying straight
In August, The Story profiled Bill Shipley. Bill had hidden the fact that he was gay throughout an entire career in the Coast Guard and his marriage. Bill finally came out to his wife and children. That story inspired one with Erick Wiger. Erick wrote to say he was on the other side of that story, a "straight spouse" whose wife came out to him after years of marriage.
And now one more: Joe Moore wrote in to say, "I want to thank you for airing Erick's story. Like Erick, I too was dragged into my former wife's closet. It took a while before I learned that my story is mine to tell and I don't need to carry the burden of my (then) wife's secret. In fact, Joe says, "I met my wife in a str8 spouse support group. My ex came out as a lesbian after 16 years of marriage and 3 children. My wife's ex who was a minister of a conservative baptist denomination came out after 13 years of marriage and 2 children."
The couple joins Dick to talk about how they learned to trust again, and the hilarious first date that brought them together.
* Explore the group that introduced Joe and Deadra.
rough waters (september 24, 2007)
Captain Ed Montgomery had his first bout with cancer in the spring of 2005, and as an ex-fighter and a tugboat captain, he was never one to show much emotion.
But being diagnosed with cancer three times has changed the way Ed feels about life. As his battle raged into the winter of 2006, his wife Jeannie became the tough one. Ed was most shocked, though, by how one friend in particular really came through during the dark times. "Big Butch" works closely with Ed on the docks. Butch checked in regularly with Ed, and even came to the hospital to keep Ed up to date on the shipping news.
Ed is now in remission. Both Butch and Ed talk with Dick about how guys relate to other guys during times of crisis.
* Read the e-mail Ed wrote to friends that inspired this story
* Read a poem Ed wrote about his experience
painting by intuition (october 1, 2007)
The first time Dean Nimmer went to teach abstract art in China, he had to change what he called it. Before his first seminar, professors from China's Central Academy of Art wrote Dean to tell him there was no equivalent word in Chinese for "abstract art," and suggested he use the expression "intuition painting" instead.
Dean talks with Dick about what it was like to teach art in a communist system where students prize similarity. Through concrete workshops like painting blindfolded, Dean made a connection with his Chinese students and learned that "intuition painting" is a better description of what he teaches.
* See photos of Dean's workshops in China
* See Dean's art
Music heard in this story: Blue Little Flower (Chinese Traditional)by The Silk Road Ensemble & Yo-Yo Ma for the album Silk Road Journeys - When Strangers Meet; Oasis by Yo-Yo Ma, The Silk Road Ensemble for the album Silk Road Journeys: Beyond the Horizon
sputnik kids (october 4, 2007)
50 years ago today, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik, the first man-made object to orbit the earth.
At the time, Tom Ward was a student in East Los Angeles. Although his school didn't have great math and science programs, the launch of Sputnik convinced him he had a future career in the space program. He spent long hours gazing up at the sky, straining to see Sputnik.
Later, the U.S. government pumped more funding into math and science programs. Tom went on to get several degrees, became a professor, and ended up working for the Department of Energy's space program.
And that's where he met Dr. Alexander Rimski-Korsakov. Alex grew up at the same time Tom did, but in Russia. Dick talks to both men about how Sputnik shaped their lives, and what it's like to now work with someone from the other side.
Music heard in this story: Sputnik (song for Laika)by Sputnik for the album Meet Sputnik; Flight of the Bumble-Bee by Itzhak Perlman for the album Itzhak Perlman's Greatest Hits
listener follow up: tourette's syndrome
Jim Eckblad was driving in Milwaukee when he heard Dick's interview with Campbell Johnson about growing up with Tourette Syndrome. He had to pull the car over and listen. The condition Campbell was describing sounded very familiar.
Jim tells Dick that the program affected him so profoundly that he ended up going to the doctor, where he was diagnosed with Tourette Syndrome himself.
600 things (oct 17, 2007)
Grant Baciocco heard Dick Gordon's conversation with Chris McNaught, a man who was in the process of paring down the items he owns to 500 things. Chris, who says he was inspired by someone else, has now inspired Grant to begin his own quest.
Grant says he is going to whittle down his belongings to just 600 things. This will be a feat for Grant - he has spent many years collecting comic books, various toys, and countless odds and ends. Grant is blogging about this experience, and he is sharing each update via video from his house.
* See Grant's room before and after
* Follow Grant's progress on his blog
surviving blackwater (oct 22, 2007)
Janessa Gans had regular contact with the private security company, Blackwater. Between 2003 and 2005 she was working in Iraq, and on many of her trips around the country she traveled in vehicles driven by Blackwater contractors. Janessa talks to Dick about both the professionalism and recklessness she experienced firsthand.
In her opinion, every time a Blackwater convoy passed through an Iraqi town, the company lowered the reputation of the United States in the eyes of Iraqis.
* Read an article Janessa wrote about her experiences with Blackwater
one way through (october 26, 2007)
Charlie Simpson's family has been farming in Jefferson County, Missouri for a very long time. His great grandfather moved there in 1896. Charlie is the 4th generation farmer, and his son, who works the farm now, is the 5th generation.
But this year, the weather has hit Charlie hard. This latest drought comes on the heels of a string of bad weather incidents. Charlie says the creek in town is the lowest he's ever seen it.
So, Charlie is building himself a field of dreams - but it's not a baseball field, it's a corn maze. The family has over 7 miles of trails that meander through the corn.
* Find out more about the maze
Music heard in this story: Field of Dreams by Mark Ayres for the album Titanic - The Essential James Horner Film Music Collection
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