%s1 / %s2

Playlist: UnFictional

Compiled By: Bob Carlson

 Credit:

These are pieces purchased for broadcast on UnFictional, KCRW's program highlighting the work of independent radio producers.

400 Words for 79th Street

From Nate DiMeo | Part of the the memory palace series | 05:53

In which we hear the incredible (and incredibly sad) tale of Minik Wallace, an inuit boy who, at the age of seven, was taken to Manhattan to be studied by the Museum of Natural History.

400_words_240_small

How Are You Who You Are?

From Eric Winick | 21:13

A disinhibited love story.

62003_small In 1995, Douglas A. Nadeau of Marblehead, Massachusetts underwent a pallidotomy at Mass. General Hospital, an operation designed to eradicate neurons in his brain that no longer responded to dopamine, the naturally-created chemical that facilitates movement. Nine years earlier, while on a business trip, Doug had been bitten by an insect and developed strange Parkinsonian symptoms, such as the inability to keep his eyes open while talking. These caused numerous problems for Doug, a high-powered corporate lawyer in Boston. Over time, the symptoms worsened until Doug lost his mobility at night and was reduced to a hospital bed. Following the procedure, in which Doug practically walked off the operating table, he found he was unable to inhibit certain antisocial tendencies that, prior to the surgery, he'd kept repressed. To make matters worse, his surgery turned out to be a failure, and his symptoms returned one by one. The next nine years tested the boundaries and limits of love, marriage, and tolerance, both within the family and in the Nadeaus' wide circle of friends and acquaintances.

Willie McGee and the Traveling Electric Chair: A Granddaughter's Search for the Truth

From Radio Diaries | 22:59

In 1951, Willie McGee was executed in Mississippi's traveling electric chair for raping a white woman. Six decades later, his granddaughter is on a quest to unearth everything she can about his life - and his death.

Photo_b-wprx_small 30 Minute special also available on PRX: http://www.prx.org/pieces/111157-untitled-february-13-2014

Mexico '68: A Movement, A Massacre and the 40-Yr Search for the Truth

From Radio Diaries | 22:25

In the summer of 1968, students in Mexico began to challenge the country's authoritarian government. But the movement was short-lived, lasting less than three months. It ended on October 2, 1968, ten days before the opening of the Olympics in Mexico City, when military troops opened fire on a peaceful student demonstration. The shooting lasted over two hours. The next day the government sent in cleaners to wash the blood from the plaza floor.

The official announcement was that four students were dead, but eyewitnesses said hundreds were killed. The death toll was not the only thing the government covered up about that event.

The Massacre of Tlatelolco has become a defining moment in Mexican history, but for forty years the truth of that day has remained hidden.

Produced by Joe Richman and Anayansi Diaz-Cortes of Radio Diaries.

Rd_mex68_prx_small In the summer of 1968, Mexico was experiencing the birth of a new student movement.

But that movement was short-lived. On Oct. 2, 1968, 10 days before the opening of the Summer Olympics in Mexico City, police officers and military troops shot into a crowd of unarmed students. Thousands of demonstrators fled in panic as tanks bulldozed over Tlatelolco Plaza.

Government sources originally reported that four people had been killed and 20 wounded, while eyewitnesses described the bodies of hundreds of young people being trucked away. Thousands of students were beaten and jailed, and many disappeared. Forty years later, the final death toll remains a mystery, but documents recently released by the U.S. and Mexican governments give a better picture of what may have triggered the massacre. Those documents suggest that snipers posted by the military fired on fellow troops, provoking them to open fire on the students.

The Beginning Of A Movement

In 1968, student movements were breaking out all over the world — including in France, Germany, Italy, Czechoslovakia, Argentina, Japan and the United States.

Mexico, like many countries in the prosperous 1960s, had spawned a vibrant middle class that enjoyed a quality of life unimaginable in previous decades. These children of the Mexican Revolution that now lived in comfort were, for the first time, able to send their own children to university in unprecedented numbers.

The student movement got its start from a street fight between high school students after a football game. The students confronted the Mexico City riot police sent there to end the skirmish. After hours of student resistance, the army was called in to quench the violence. The siege ended when the soldiers blasted the main door of the National Preparatory School in San Ildefonso with a bazooka, killing some of the students in the building.

The National University oversaw the Preparatory School, so the involvement of university officials and students was inevitable. In the following hours, the students decided to organize and protest against the violence exerted by the riot police. Over the following months, Mexico City witnessed a series of student protests and rallies against repression and violence.

The Massacre

Students expected the government to give in to their demands, but they were greeted with a clear message from the president: "No more unrest will be tolerated." The army proceeded in the following days to seize the National University, with virtually no resistance from the students, and later the National Polytechnic Institute, with active and violent student resistance.

After these events, the students rapidly called for a new gathering on Oct. 2 at the Three Cultures Square in the Tlatelolco housing complex. Thousands of students showed up to get firsthand knowledge of the movement's next steps. As the gathering was ending, soldiers arrived to capture the movement's leaders. They were greeted by gunshots from the buildings surrounding the square. The troops then opened fire, turning the evening into a shooting that lasted nearly two hours.

Over the following days, the official account of the events would be that the students — infiltrated by communist forces — had fired on the army, and the soldiers had to fire back to defend themselves.

The 40-Year Search For The Truth

Under an authoritarian regime, no formal investigation into the killings was ever initiated. But a renewed hope to find the truth arrived in 2000 with the election of President Vicente Fox, who broke nearly 70 years of one-party rule. In November 2001, Fox ordered the creation of a "special prosecutor for crimes of the past" to investigate the Tlatelolco massacre. But little was uncovered about the killings or those killed.

The number of civilian casualties reported has ranged between four — in the official count directly after the event — and 3,000. Eyewitnesses recount seeing dozens of bodies and prisoners being trucked away to military bases. But despite efforts by both the student leaders and the special prosecutor to compile the names of the dead, only about 40 have been documented. No siblings, parents or friends of the remaining casualties — if they exist — have come forward to add names to the list.

But new information has come to light through the release of official documents. They reveal that the Presidential Guard — a branch of the military — had posted snipers in the buildings surrounding Tlatelolco Plaza on the day of the massacre. The idea was that the snipers would shoot at the troops posted around the square, and the troops would think student snipers were shooting at them — and then they would open fire.

Using the documents, first-person accounts and archival news reports, along with historic recordings — many of which have never been broadcast before — Radio Diaries has woven together a clearer picture of what happened on Oct. 2.

This story was produced by Joe Richman and Anayansi Diaz-Cortes of Radio Diaries. Thanks to George Lewis and NBC News for some of the audio used in this story.

Frank Schubert, Lighthouse Keeper

From Radio Diaries | Part of the New York Works series | 03:15

Frank Schubert is the last civilian lighthouse keeper in the United States.

Lighthouse_small Frank Schubert became a lighthouse keeper in 1937. Today at 85, Frank works at the Coney Island lighthouse. He is the last civilian lighthouse keeper in the United States. The Next Big Thing (NPR) 2/2/2002

This can go on forever

From Big Shed Audio | 10:25

When Carol was 20, she gave her baby boy away for adoption. Twenty years later, the son, Joel, came looking. The two tell their story of reunion.

Joelpolaroid_sq_medium_small Carol Brobeck and Joel Woodruff recount the adoption and reunion, twenty years later, that define their relationship.  The story centers around the reunion itself, the moment when they actually found each other.  Joel and Carol were interviewed separately, but their story is interwoven here, without narration or music.

American Dreamer: Sam's Story (half-hour version)

From Long Haul Productions | 26:09

Every year, an estimated 65,000 undocumented students graduate from American high schools. Raised entirely in American culture, they finish high school only to find themselves in a peculiarly American limbo. "American Dreamer: Sam's Story" is a first-person longitudinal half-hour radio documentary sharing the experience of one of these kids.

Sam_small “American Dreamer: Sam’s Story” tells the story of a talented and articulate young jazz musician named Sam, who was brought to the U.S. at age 5 by his Mexican parents. He stayed out of trouble, was drum major of his high school’s marching band, fell in love with playing jazz on the tenor sax, and got his diploma with honors– only to find that for an “illegal,” graduation marks a dead end. .  Though Sam dreams of attending college to study jazz performance, he hides his status from even his closest friends, and can’t legally work, drive, get financial aid, or even gain admission to some colleges.  "American Dreamer" follows him from his high school graduation, through the following summer, as he struggles to raise money to continue his education and weighs the risks of working and driving illegally against his own desire to achieve his American dream.

Saints and Indians

From Homelands Productions | Part of the Worlds of Difference series | 15:40

Winner of the 2006 Edward R. Murrow Award for best national news documentary, Saints & Indians tells the story of a program that placed thousands of Navajo children in Mormon foster homes. **CULTURALLY SENSITIVE MATERIAL. License terms require shows to contact producer regarding any changes to intro language.**

Girls_small Between 1954 and 1996, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints sponsored a program for American Indian children. The Indian Student Placement Program had two aims: to provide Native children with an education and to help the Church fulfill one of its central prophecies. According to Mormon teachings, American Indians are descendants of the ancient House of Israel and Church members have a responsibility to help bring them back to the Kingdom of God. More than 20,000 children from more than 60 tribes were baptized and enrolled in the Placement program. For some, it was a chance to overcome the stresses of reservation life. For others, it was a repudiation of their identity. For everyone, it was a life-changing experience. Producer Kate Davidson spent a year talking with people involved in Placement. The story that emerged is a complicated one -- about culture, power, identity and belief.

Las Vegas

From Hearing Voices | Part of the Scott Carrier stories series | 06:58

The Night of the Living Gamblers.

Playing
Las Vegas
From
Hearing Voices

Scott150_small Up all night, in and out of the casinos, talking to the folk trying their luck. NOTE: this piece is part of The Plan- Gamble http://prx.org/pieces/7594 Aired: NPR All Things Considered 1989.

Up All Night

From Seattle Globalist | 05:23

Jessica Partnow takes us through a night in the life of Ali Jaffri, a professional telemarketer in Lahore, Pakistan.

Untitled_image_253_small Like India, Pakistan has its share of call centers, offering everything from customer service and tech support to health insurance and home security systems. Jessica Partnow takes us through a night in the life of Ali Jaffri, a professional telemarketer in Lahore.

Night of the Insomniac

From Hearing Voices | 04:20

Up all night; night after night.

Default-piece-image-1 A wide-eyed glimpse into the world of Michael White, insomniac; how it feels and sounds to spend night after sleepless night. Produced for the Salt Institute of Documentary Studies (long vers of this piece).

I Wake Up Holding My Alarm Clock

From One Hello World | Part of the One Hello World series | 01:35

For all the tragedy, death, destruction and chaos in the world, I really think there is twice as much beauty.

One-hello-world_small For all the tragedy, death, destruction and chaos in the world, I really think there is twice as much beauty.

// That’s a really nice way of putting it. Thanks for sharing.

Off The Bus

From Jay Allison | Part of the Stories From Carmen series | 05:23

Carmen Delzell gets of a bus in Texas at 4am. She's coming back from Mexico with $5.00 in her pocket. She puts her bags in a shopping cart and records this monologue by the side of the road. As she says, "Sometimes the difference between being a traveler and a homeless person is hard to define."

Playing
Off The Bus
From
Jay Allison

Phpthumb_generated_thumbnailjpg_small Carmen Delzell gets of a bus in Texas at 4am. She's coming back from Mexico with $5.00 in her pocket. She puts her bags in a shopping cart and records this monologue by the side of the road. As she says, "Sometimes the difference between being a traveler and a homeless person is hard to define."

The Secret

From Canadian Broadcasting Corporation | Part of the CBC Radio's Outfront series | 13:27

Jarrod Livingstone was once officially dead for three minutes and his sister Carma wants to know what this experience was like.

Prxoutfrontplain_small The Secret by Carma Jolly Producer: Laurence Stevenson and Carma Jolly Everyone has secrets. Once, many years ago, Jarrod Livingstone was officially dead for three minutes. His sister Carma wants to know what this experience was like. But no matter how many times she asks, Jarrod won’t tell her. Why does she want to know so badly? She has her own secret. Broadcast on CBC Radio One's Outfront December 13, 2004 SEE ADDITIONAL LICENSE TERMS Outfront Opening and Closing Theme available - (see Rundown section for more details)