The Case of the Empty Lake: Or, How We Learned Stop Whining and Love the Salamander

This is a fun story. Two students at Stanford University set out to discover why a lake on their campus which years ago played host to skinny dipping, bonfires and windsurfing, is now a muddy hole. The simple answer to their question is an endangered salamander that lives in the lake, but the story turns unexpectedly complex as the students learn that the salamander is preventing worse things from occurring there. This piece works because it captures the maturing, albeit in a small way, of these two college students into people with a more complex understanding of the world around them. The reporters? voices work well, as does the writing and sound; in one scene they try to record what salamanders hear at the lake. Music is used playfully even if somewhat predictably, and the actualities add information and texture. This piece could have been a bit shorter, and there are a couple of transitions in the storyline that aren?t quite convincing, but it?s generally a good ride.