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Playlist: O'Dark 30 episode 130 (3-26)

Compiled By: KUT

Caption: PRX default Playlist image

KUT's O’Dark 30 is astonishingly half way through a third season as we bring you more of the very best from the world of independent radio production this week. Every Sunday at midnight on Austin's KUT 90.5 and also at 4pm on digital KUT2 we present 3 hours of a little bit of everything from the world of independent radio production.

Episode 130 (3-26) The Mikie Show #36, Liz...The Decisions Project - 25 - Cold Feet...WTF Episode 108 with Carlos Mencia...99% Invisible #52 - Galloping Gertie...Graham Shelby and the Heartbeat Story...Weenie Royale: The Impact of the Internment on Japanese Cooking in America...Bracelets of Grace: The Vietnam War Story of Major Stanley Horne...Don't Take the Colors Apart

The Mikie Show #36, Liz

From Michael Carroll | Part of the The Mikie Show series | 28:03

This episode we speak with Liz Tilley, a soon to be PhD in Family Studies and Human Development. Her focus is on awareness and prevention of teen pregnancy and how policy, family context and our evolution all contribute. Plus she’s a sweet person who is inspired to work to help all of us. Do we deserve it? I hope so. Of course, we have a quiz and a little news from, ooh, the future… I know an unannounced guest is dropping in and Mikie wants to share some thoughts about little dogs. Why not join the fun by clicking the little arrow. Remember, The Mikie Show helps prevent heartburn!

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This episode we speak with Liz Tilley, a soon to be PhD in Family Studies and Human Development. Her focus is on awareness and prevention of teen pregnancy and how policy, family context and our evolution all contribute. Plus she’s a sweet person who is inspired to work to help all of us. Do we deserve it? I hope so. Of course, we have a quiz and a little news from, ooh, the future… I know an unannounced guest is dropping in and Mikie wants to share some thoughts about little dogs. Why not join the fun by clicking the little arrow. Remember, The Mikie Show helps prevent heartburn!

The Decisions Project - 25 - Cold Feet

From Aengus Anderson | Part of the The Decisions Project series | 03:45

A young man proposes to his girlfriend... and then reconsiders.

Cover_small During the summer of 2010, producer Aengus Anderson rode his motorcycle around North America and interviewed 220 people about the hardest decisions they had ever made. A cross-section of their conversations are presented here as The Decisions Project.

WTF Episode 108 with Carlos Mencia

From WTF with Marc Maron | Part of the WTF with Marc Maron series | 59:00

A revealing and surprising interview with comedian Carlos Mencia. Both news hole and 59 minute versions are provided.

Carlos-mencia_small Carlos Mencia is a major name in comedy. He's also one of the most reviled characters in the business among other comics. So, naturally, Marc wants to find out what makes him tick, what it feels like to be so controversial, and what he says in his own defense. This may take a while. Then Marc speaks with comics who have worked very closely with Carlos -- Willie Barcena and Steve Trevino -- and then gets Carlos to sit back down for a follow up discussion. Questions will get answered. Opinions will get shaped. Comedians will get serious.

99% Invisible #52- Galloping Gertie (Standard 4:30 version)

From Roman Mars | Part of the 99% Invisible (Standard Length) series | 04:30

Even during the construction of the original Tacoma Narrows Bridge, the deck would go up and down by several feet with the slightest breeze. Construction workers on the span chewed on lemon wedges to stop their motion sickness. They nicknamed the structure Galloping Gertie.

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[For Director's Cut, go to: http://www.prx.org/pieces/89174-99-invisible-52-galloping-gertie-director-s-cu]

Even during the construction of the original Tacoma Narrows Bridge, the deck would go up and down by several feet with the slightest breeze. Construction workers on the span chewed on lemon wedges to stop their motion sickness. They nicknamed the structure Galloping Gertie.

The original Tacoma Narrows Bridge design by Clark Eldridge was pretty conventional for a suspension bridge, but it was later modified by Leon Moisseiff to be slimmer and more elegant. The most notable change was that the 25 foot lattice of stiffening trusses underneath the bridge on the original drawings, were replaced with 8 foot solid steel plate girders. The new solid girder along the side in Moisseiff’s design made for a much lighter and more flexible bridge— it also caught the wind like a sail— but they didn’t know that. Moisseiff’s design was also 2/3 the price of the original Eldridge design and that fact ultimately won the day.

Motorists who used the bridge found out first hand why it got the name Galloping Gertie, and during the four months while the bridge was open, many traveled from far away just to ride the undulating waves as they crossed high above Puget Sound. The thrill ride didn’t last long.

On November 7, 1940 stiff winds caused the road deck to twist violently along its center axis. The center span endured these brutal torsional forces for about an hour and finally gave way.

The collapse of the twisting suspension bridge is one of the most dramatic images caught on film.

I talked to John Marr from the seminal zine Murder Can Be Fun for this story and I’d like to give a shout out to Alan Bellows of Damn Interesting for independently suggesting Galloping Gertie as a show topic and publishing a great, much more detailed account of the disaster on his site .

Special thanks to Benjamen Walker for the audio of Kathryn Schulz . That interview originally aired on his show Too Much Information in the episode called “Mistakes Were Made .”

Graham Shelby and the Heartbeat Story

From KUT | 02:20

Graham Shelby learns his wife is pregnant with triplets.

Default-piece-image-0 After learning that his wife is pregnant with triplets, Graham Shelby gives his family members the news by recounting "The Heartbeat Story." The story, in a nutshell, is this: the doctor found a heartbeat, then another heartbeat, and then... wait for it... a third heartbeat. Reaction to the news varies from relative to relative. The piece originally aired as a commentary on KUT-FM.

Weenie Royale; The Impact of the Internment on Japanese Cooking in America

From The Kitchen Sisters | Part of the Hidden Kitchens series | 09:18

After Pearl Harbor, about 120,000 Japanese Americans were uprooted and forced to live for years in remote federal camps around the country. The upheaval of internment changed the traditional Japanese diet.

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This historical Hidden Kitchen comes from the memories and kitchens of the Japanese Americans uprooted from the west coat and forcibly relocated inland  after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. In camps like Manzaner, Topaz, Tule Lake some 120,000 internees lived for four years in remote and desolate locations—their traditional food replaced by US government commodities and war surplus—hotdogs, ketchup, spam, potatoes—changing the traditional Japanese diet and family table. 

Bracelets of Grace: The Vietnam War Story of Major Stanley Horne

From David Berner | 29:17

It's been 40 years since the very first POW-MIA bracelet was made and distributed. The iconic bracelets had a humble beginning at the height of the Vietnam War. This documentary focuses on the lasting impact of those bracelets told through the story of one U.S. Air Force pilot, Major Stanley Horne. In 1968 his fighter bomber was shot down over North Vietnam and his name was then engraved, like so many others classified as POW or MIA, on metal bracelets distributed to millions.

The bracelets were first released in November, 1970.

The documentary is available at :29:17 length, at 20:20 length, and as three separate installments.

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In January of 1968 U.S. Air Force Major Stanley Horne was listed as missing-in-action (MIA) after his fighter-bomber was shot down over North Vietnam. Soon afterward his name was one of the many engraved on a POW-MIA bracelet. His story and the stories of those who wore his bracelet, not only contribute to the narrative of the impact of those bracelets, but also to the story of how America struggled with the war and tried to heal from the scars it left behind.

The POW-MIA bracelets of the Vietnam War era made a lasting impression on all those who wore them. Millions of bracelets with the name of a missing or imprisoned soldier were worn on the wrists of family, friends, supporters and critics of the war. It may have been the only item - the only common bond - that crossed the tumultuous political divide. 

BRACELETS OF GRACE: The Vietnam War Story of Major Stanley Horne includes audio from the personal tapes sent back and forth between Southeast Asia and Major Horne’s family in Madison, Wisconsin. It also includes recollections from the young California college students who originated the bracelets, those who wore Major Horne’s bracelet, and those who wrote hundred of letters to the Horne family until the major’s remains were finally recovered in April, 1990, 22 years after his plane was shot down.  

November 11, 2010 is Veterans Day and the 40th anniversary of the POW-MIA bracelets of the Vietnam War.

The documentary is available to broadcast in its entirety or in three installments. 

 

 

Don't Take The Colors Apart

From Dmae Lo Roberts | 26:09

Amerasian Playwright Velina Hasu Houston learned early on to have pride in her identity through her African American father and Japanese mother.

Mailedd12_small This piece is about cultural identity seen through the life of Playwright Velina Hasu Houston as she travels back to Junction City, Kansas to move her mom back with her to California. Early on, Houston's dad taught her to appreciate her African American, Native American and Japanese roots by scooping out a spoon of neapolitian ice cream and telling her "Don't Take The Colors Apart." Houston has written numerous plays but the one closest to her "Tea" is about her mother's story as a military bride in Kansas. First aired in 1994 as part of the "Legacies: Tales From America" series.