Re:sound #24: The Talent Show

This hour: the strange world of competitive model horse collecting and an investigation of an old classmate's death.

Are There Any More Rare Plastic Ponies?
by Julie Shapiro (Re:sound premiere, 2005)
We go inside the world of model horse collecting, where plastic horses that are store-bought and factory-made are judged and awarded ribbons in public shows. They "compete" despite the fact that every horse is plastic and came out of a mold. Julie talks to competitors, judges, even the manufacturers, and for many of them, the distinction between real live horses and fake plastic horses is a little blurry.

The Mayor of Nichols
by Gwen Macsai (Transom.org, 2005)
Last summer, Gwen went to family camp and ran into an old friend from junior high. In the course of catching up, they talked about another friend of theirs named Arthur Earl Hutchinson, who had been killed by a Chicago policeman in 2000. Later, Gwen looked into the story, and discovered the circumstances around Arthur's death suggested someone who was not at all the person she remembered.

This episode of Re:sound was produced by Roman Mars.