KFAI's MinneCulture Presents

Tens of thousands of inmates live in total isolation in America's jails and prisons today. And the number is rapidly growing. Often prisoners spend years – even decades – by themselves in a cell the size of a small bathroom. They don't see anyone. They don't talk to anyone. They don't touch anyone. They are completely alone. In this half-hour radio documentary, "survivors" of solitary paint a picture of what solitary confinement looks, sounds and feels like. These are the voices of both men and women; Black, White and Latino; old and young. Listen to "Survivors: Solitary Confinement" by independent producer Claire Schoen at 7 p.m. on March 1. (Photo of Robert King Wilkerson, who spent 29 years in solitary confinement, was taken by Terry Foss.)

Four stories about race in America. Racial Cleansing in America , by Center for Documentary Studies Once in awhile you come across an American town or county that has long been virtually all-white, even though surrounding communities have substantial black populations. It may not always be an accident. In the six decades after the Civil War, in more than a few rural communities, white mobs violently expelled virtually all of their black neighbors. A new book, Buried in the Bitter Waters, describes a dozen of these racial expulsions. Among the places living with this uneasy history is Corbin, Kentucky, a small railroad town in the Appalachian foothills. Living Flag , by Dmae Roberts Street performance piece with Artist damali ayo as she panhandles around the country to create dialogue about reparations for slavery. Black Word Nerds , by Will Wright How do Black people think Anglos (white people) think they talk? A story by a KFAI producer. A Prohibition , by Terin Mayer Thre...

Radio Netherlands describes the documentary this way: "Jonathan is a nice Jewish boy from Brooklyn. He has a typically New York loudness, and he's flamboyant, musical and pretty good with languages. Dragana is a nice Serbian girl from Bosnia. She is prone to the occasional Slavic melancholy, but is also generally loud, musical, and pretty good with languages. They live in Holland, a small and sober country that, at first glance doesn't seem suited to either temperament." We first aired this story a couple years back on the Lounge. It makes a big, beautiful return on Feb. 15 so you soak in its Valentine's Day glow. By the way, the program won a Prix Europa in 2005 and a Gold Medal at the New York International Radio Festival.

Quite A Pair by Dan Epstein Jos is a sneaker fiend, an obsessive collector of gym shoes. Over one thousand pairs of Nikes crowd Jos's apartment . Plus, he's a thirteen - so they're big to boot. Shoes are now also spilling into a storage unit he secured to contain the ever-increasing collection. Most friends and family think he's nuts. Who on earth could stand to live with this guy? Robin, his shoe fetishizing sidekick. Matching Outfits Not Included by Hillary Frank Every night Dusty and Honey lie in their twin beds and talk before they fall asleep. The two sisters, now in their seventies, have been together all their lives. They also dress alike every day . In every way possible, the sisters seem to have preserved the relationship they had as girls. They've somehow figured out a way to turn life into an endless sleep-over. A Royale With Cheese by Sarah Elzas France was one of the first countries to start overdubbing foreign voices in film - dating back ...