A Woman of No Consequence
From Canadian Broadcasting Corporation | 31:32
The story of a remarkable Indian woman who struggled with the bonds of tradition and finally broke them in old age, told by her granddaughter.
Born into a cultured Indian family, she read all the novels of Charles Dickens before she turned ten. Then she was forced to leave school to get married. At 15 she was a mother. And for most of her adult life, Sethu Ramaswamy was in the shadows, trying to find her place in the light.
Finally, at 80, her memoir - Autobiography of an Unknown Indian Woman - was published, to great fanfare and acclaim.
This is the surprising third act in a drama full of surprises - the story of a child bride whose husband was both her true love and the biggest obstacle to her freedom, the story of a woman who set out one day to make for herself the life she'd always wanted.
Sarmishta Subramanian’s intimate and remarkable documentary brings us the story of her grandmother: It’s called "A Woman of No Consequence"
Sarmishta Subramanian is a senior editor with Maclean’s Magazine, a national news weekly. This is her first radio documentary.
Karen Levine is the documentary editor at CBC Radio’s The Sunday Edition. She is a two-time winner of the Peabody Award.
Mark Sundeen, author of 'The Man Who Quit Money'
From KUFM - Montana Public Radio | Part of the The Write Question series | 29:01
"In the first year of the twenty-first century, a man standing by a highway in the middle of America pulled from his pocket his life savings--thirty dollars--laid it inside a phone booth, and walked away." During this program, we find out who this man is and why he quit money. True story, researched and written by Mark Sundeen.
The Man Who Quit Money is an account of how one man learned to live, sanely and happily, without earning, receiving, or spending a single cent. Suelo doesn't pay taxes, or accept food stamps or welfare. He lives in caves in the Utah canyonlands, forages wild foods and gourmet discards. He no longer even carries an I.D. Yet he manages to amply fulfill not only the basic human needs-for shelter, food, and warmth-but, to an enviable degree, the universal desires for companionship, purpose, and spiritual engagement. In retracing the surprising path and guiding philosophy that led Suelo into this way of life, Sundeen raises provocative and riveting questions about the decisions we all make, by default or by design, about how we live-and how we might live better.
Mark Sundeen was born in Harbor City, California, in 1970. He is an award-winning writer whose nonfiction has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, Outside, National Geographic Adventure, the Believer, and elsewhere. He is the author of the books Car Camping (HarperCollins, 2000) and The Making of Toro (Simon & Schuster, 2003), and co-author of North By Northwestern (St. Martin’s, 2010), which was a New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestseller. He has taught fiction and nonfiction at the MFA creative writing programs at the University of New Mexico and Western Connecticut State University. He lives in Montana and Utah.
Never Seen So Much Trouble: A Stranger Comes to Biddeford
From Salt Institute for Documentary Studies | 16:47
Residents describe Rory Holland as charming and fiercely intelligent, but there was something about him that made people wary.
Sometime during the mid-1990?s, a stranger moved to Biddeford, Maine. Biddeford is a former mill town, descended largely from French Canadians, and bit rough around the edges.
Residents describe Rory Holland as charming and fiercely intelligent, but there was something about him that made people wary. Rory was a tall man, aggressive and opinionated, with a dark past. And, he was one among the only African Americans in the very white town.
DIY Disasters
From Rendered | Part of the Destination DIY series | 59:00
All about do-it-yourself projects gone wrong.
- Playing
- DIY Disasters
- From
- Rendered
It happens to the best of us. You start a project that you think will be easy, fun and totally awesome, but instead, it turns out to be a complete disaster. In this hour of radio, trees will crush structures, taxidermy will get ugly, donuts will nearly turn deadly and misguided creativity will be both mocked and celebrated.
Iraqi Kurdistan, Parts One & Two
From War News Radio | 22:43
Parts One and Two of Amy DiPierro's series on economic development, poverty, and inequality in Iraqi Kurdistan. These previously released segments are now prefaced by an interview with the producer, in which she explains how she became interested in this story, the history of Iraqi Kurdistan, and the meaning of the word Kurdistan itself.
- Playing
- Iraqi Kurdistan, Parts One & Two
- From
- War News Radio
Parts One and Two of Amy DiPierro's series on economic development, poverty, and inequality in Iraqi Kurdistan. This show-length feature is prefaced by an interview in which DiPierro explains how she became interested in this story, the history of Iraqi Kurdistan, and the meaning of the word Kurdistan itself.
The two segments featured in this piece are also available on War News Radio's PRX account.
One Nation? Try Eleven.
From Burton Cohen | 59:54
Colin Woodard, author of the new book "American Nations, A History of the Eleven Riva Regional Cultures of North America" is interviewed. Much of America's current divides are explained.
- Playing
- One Nation? Try Eleven.
- From
- Burton Cohen
One nation, indivisible? No. Try eleven.
Gingrich kicked butt in South Carolina. Are you part of that nation?
It's not just blue vs red, North vs South. There's us here in Yankeedom, Then there's New Netherlands, The Midlands, Tidewater, Greater Appalachia, The Deep South, New France, The Far West, El Norte, The Left Coast, and First Nation. You know this is accurate. Colin Woodard, author of the acclaimed new book "American Nations," reveals a history of these rival regional nations and questions whether today's boundaries will look the same in a hundred years. One Nation? Never was. Enjoy this provocative and informative discussion. The guy has done his homework. Check it out. It's our past, present, and future
Two Little Girls Explain The Worst Haircut Ever
From Jeff Cohen | 02:57
My five year old cut off my three year old's hair. A few weeks later, I decided to interview them and get their explanations. Here's what they told me.
Happy to say that this little radio story has taken another life. In the summer of 2014, it will be a children's book released by HarperCollins Children's Books. Take a look!