Hearing Voices - Radio Stories / Family

Song & Memory: I’ll Take Manhattan 4:37 Ann Heppermann, Rick Moody & Kara Oehler

The song "I'll Take Manhattan" is upbeat and jaunty song to most people. But to writer Julia Slavin, the song elicits some darker, more unsettling thoughts about her childhood pets.

Broadcast: Feb 11 2006 on APM Weekend AmericaSeries: Song & Memory Subjects: Children, Youth, Music, Family

Chasing Death: Understanding a Friend’s Suicide 8:15 Jake Warga

It takes four seconds to hit the water from the Golden Gate Bridge. A year ago the producer’s friend Phil took that fatal jump. And several year’s ago Phil’s brother committed suicide. [transcript]

Broadcast: Nov 29 2005 on NPR All Things Considered Subjects: Family, Health

Grandmother: A Story of Aging, Decline and Love 8:16 Jake Warga

The producer chronicles the life and decline of his paternal grandmother. As she grew older, she mistook him for his father, who had already died. Warga tells the story of how and when she started to forget things as she entered her 90s. [transcript]

Broadcast: Oct 6 2005 on NPR All Things Considered Subjects: Senior, Family, Health

Jan & Jack Kerouac 6:57 Marjorie Van Halteren

A father-daughter dialog: Jack Kerouac’s daughter Jan, reads her an ode to her rarely seen dad; intertwined with Kerouac’s speeches and prose.

Broadcast: Sep 11 2004 on PRI/WNYC Studio 360 Subjects: Family, Literature

Father’s Day 6:22 Jake Warga

Remembering a father with a pile of old recorded tapes. Winner of a 2005 NFCB Golden Reel.

Broadcast: Jun 19 2004 on APM Weekend America Subjects: Family, Holidays

Tije is Not Dead 2:42 Crossing the BLVD

Haitian-American activist Ray Laforest reads a poem about his brother Tije, who died mysteriously in Haiti in the late 1990s. Judith Sloan, Scott Johnson and Warren Lehrer produced the piece. From the Crossing the BLVD series (book/CD); interviews from mostly immigrants and refugees who now live in Queens NY. [transcript]

Broadcast: Jun 1 2004 on NPR Day to DaySeries: Crossing the BLVD Subjects: Politics, International, Family

They Lied 2:59 Crossing the BLVD

The story of Joanna Pittner, a Polish vacationer who got more than she expected on a trip to the United States. From the Crossing the BLVD series (book/CD); interviews from mostly immigrants and refugees who now live in Queens NY. [transcript]

Broadcast: Jan 27 2004 on NPR Day to DaySeries: Crossing the BLVD Subjects: Family, International

Family with AIDS 3:45 Joe Plotts

From the Vernacular Project: Barbara Bryon is Dori’s mother. She unknowingly passed the virus to Dori in the womb. Dori considers her mother "her number one hero." She suffers from numerous disabilities, a result of oppportunistic infections that she’s faced in the past 19 years. Dori passed away in September. [transcript]

Broadcast: Dec 1 2003 on NPR Day to Day Subjects: Health, Family

Old Together 3:39 Barrett Golding

Three couples:Tom and Ruth Kassoy, Kate and Mike McCabe, and Lad and Lois Shorey, reminisce on romance, life, love and growing old together. (Music: Kels H]Koch and Joe Bass.) [transcript]

Broadcast: Nov 1 2003 on PRI/WNYC Studio 360 Subjects: Family, Senior

The Kiss and the Dying 7:45 Ceil Muller

His mouth might have been the most antiseptic place in that hospital. Certainly it was the most welcoming. Greedily reaching out for every possible life giving experience he could get. Death was not without pride, it just was greedy." An etiquette list for those who may be dying soon, and for the soon-to-be survivors. (Photo by Man Ray.) [transcript]

Broadcast: Aug 23 2003 on NPR All Things Considered Subjects: Health, Family