Stories

From Sagebrush to Steppe

Two years ago a group of Mongolian herdsmen and musicians traveled to Elko, Nevada, to participate in the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering.

Who Is Vern Nash?

The day Thelon Oeming moved into an apartment in a working class area of Toronto, he saw a hunched-back man shouting to himself in the middle of the street.

Many people look to the natural world for clues about living a more harmonious life. For example, we aspire to traits we associate with certain animals: the wisdom of the owl, the noble bearing of the bald eagle, or the grace of the swan.

2005
15:29
Guy Hand

New Orleans' Hurricane Risk

In September, 2002, three years before Katrina devastated America's gulf coast, veteran NPR reporter Daniel Zwerdling investigated what would happen to New Orleans if it fell in the path of a Category 5 hurricane.

2002
20:05
Daniel Zwerdling

Object Piece

Based on a short story by Drury Pifer, Object Piece is the story of a man digging his own grave after he loses his wife to a friend.

1976
08:53
Randy Thom

Ruth Ellis

Ruth Ellis lived to be over 100 years old. She realized in her teens that she was gay but she didn't talk much about it then.

2002
09:16
Neenah Ellis

Tur de Lima

Musician Lucho Hernandez is visually impaired, but is able to "see" his native city, Lima, Peru, simply by listening carefully.

The Change in Farming

This story brings together a young Toronto composer, Adam Goddard, whose passion is music, and his 90-year-old grandfather, Henry Haws, whose passion is farming.

Storymakers Durham

The Storymakers project elicits conversations about race and class that are candid, complicated, and as intimate as eavesdropping on someone else's dinner conversation.

At a Loss for Words

"I want to turn you inside out and fold you into a tiny square..." Sometimes the word 'love' just doesn't sum up how we feel about someone.

Road Scholar

You might recognize Andrei Codrescu's voice from his insightful commentaries on NPR, but Codrescu has also brought his unique perspective on American culture to the silver screen, via the movie Road Scholar.

2001
21:45
Andrei Codrescu

Basketball Diary

Katie Davis takes along her microphone when she is drafted to "coach" a high school basketball team in her neighborhood, allowing us to listen in as she stumbles through the season.

1999
05:23
Katie Davis

Jarman's Garden

Throughout the long illness at the end of his life, fllmmaker Derek Jarman put an extraordinary amount of passion and physical labor into his uniqe and rugged garden.

2001
14:49
Sherre DeLys

Face of Mercy, Face of Hate

Predrag Bundalo was a Serbian fighter in Sarajevo, who everyone called by his nickname, "Gaga." On the eve of his 36th birthday, Gaga stopped to visit an elderly Muslim woman in her apartment.

English

Karla Saavedra, 17, moved to Brooklyn's Bushwick neighborhood from Mexico two years ago.

Silence

Tripura and Om took temporary vows of silence when they first met almost 20 years ago. Joan Schuman produced this sound portrait of their experience by weaving together their vocal memories with an ambient narrative of chalk scratching on slate.

2001
12:22
Joan Schuman

Swim Lesson

In Scott Carrier's family, learning to swim means spending a few weeks at Al and Betty Switzer's Aquatic School in Center Sandwich, New Hampshire.

1996
08:10
Scott Carrier

Tupperware

In this nostalgic documentary, tag along with Tupperware dealer Lucky Laurel into the world of Tupperware conventions, regional meetings, and of course, those signature Tupperware parties.

2001
05:39
The Kitchen Sisters

We're Here to Work!

This documentary, part of a series called America's Women: A Legacy of Change, examines how women's lives have changed since they won the vote in 1920s, focusing on the period from World War II through the 1950s.

What's That in My Underwear? First Period Stories

From summer camp woes to blissful recognitions of womanhood, this feature on menstruation explores what it's really like to "become a woman."

2002
10:32
Arielle Adams

Voices From the Dust Bowl

In the 1930's, the Great Depression and Dust Bowl drove farmers and their families from the central states to California.

2001
22:14
Barrett Golding

Big in Japan

Desperate to learn the language, Japanese schools, businesses, and government agencies offer small fortunes to just about anyone who can help teach English.