- Playing
- Girl Detectives-Expanded Version
- From
- Sue Mell
This is the expanded "Invisible Ink" version of the piece "Girl Detectives" that first aired on Transom.org in the fall of 2003.
Girl Detectives is a poignant and personal piece about the struggles of three women to cope with the murder of a beloved friend in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Frustrated and unsatisfied with the findings of the police, they try to do some investigating of their own but are ultimately unable to provide any clear resolution. In the end, they can only continue to search inwardly for peace.
As it tells the story of Susan and Stephanie--two lively and determined women--and their attempt to step out of their assigned roles as providers of comfort and take action on behalf of their friend, it also reveals the producer's attempt to make something meaningful and worthwhile out of these terrible events.
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Related Pieces
Piece Description
This is the expanded "Invisible Ink" version of the piece "Girl Detectives" that first aired on Transom.org in the fall of 2003. Girl Detectives is a poignant and personal piece about the struggles of three women to cope with the murder of a beloved friend in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Frustrated and unsatisfied with the findings of the police, they try to do some investigating of their own but are ultimately unable to provide any clear resolution. In the end, they can only continue to search inwardly for peace. As it tells the story of Susan and Stephanie--two lively and determined women--and their attempt to step out of their assigned roles as providers of comfort and take action on behalf of their friend, it also reveals the producer's attempt to make something meaningful and worthwhile out of these terrible events.
Broadcast History
Girl Detectives (17 minute version) aired on Transom.org 12/03
Girl Detectives (expanded version) aired on Invisible Ink on KALW in San Francisco May of 2004 and January 2005.
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Joseph Dougherty
Posted on December 29, 2006 at 11:02 AM | Permalink
Review of Girl Detectives-Expanded Version
One of the saddest and most consistent traits of the human heart is the need to make sense of the senseless. Part of what powers the search for answers, the need to turn the comprehensible into something graspable, understandable, is the knowledge of how fragile life is, how so many worlds can change catastrophically because of something as benign as a decision to go to the movies.
Profound in its simplicity, Sue Mell?s calmly courageous documentary about the painful ripples radiating from the violent death of a friend and the chillingly dismissive attitude of authorities that followed echoes with loss and frustration.
The discussion of conflicting sex-roles is appropriate, but not the most valuable lesson of the piece. The message that cuts across the gender lines is the vital importance of participation. Even in the worst moments of our lives, we need to be present, ask questions and demand answers, of those in power, those we love and ourselves.