KFAI's MinneCulture Presents

Guest curator  Tom Niemisto picks some of our favorite entries from the most recent Third Coast International Audio Festival's  Short Docs C hallenge . This years guidelines were that "Stories had to feature at least two neighbors, involve three seconds of narrative silence, and include a color in the title." Listen up... My Blue Bucket by by Helene Thomas and Steven Tilley " A simple scene of sharing language , laughter , songs and daily chores with my neighbors  in Kigali, Rwanda ." On the Day I Died, It Was Mostly the Blues   by Alix Blair I live next to the Westwood Cemetery in Carrboro, North Carolina and my neighbors are the ghosts who reside there. Glass Not Glitter   by Abby Wendle Neighbors of the Murrah Federal building recall the 1995 bombing that altered the life and culture of Oklahoma City . Redbricks and Weatherboards by Jaye Kranz "I've lived in Melbourne’s suburban inner west for five years, walked my street of red...

Running with Atalanta from Radio Netherlands Worldwide Eighteen years ago, two young women were both studying law - one in The Netherlands and the other in Latvia. Years later their lives would intersect in what the United Nations has called the fastest growing criminal activity in the world: human trafficking . Both women have written about their experiences; Ruth Hopkins as an advocate and Anna Ziverte as a victim of the sex trade. And both women are critical of the Dutch system that, in the face of concerns about illegal immigration, tends to view the victims as criminals themselves. Their stories are told here within a tale from Ovid's Metamorphoses .  The program is produced by David Swatling.

Edgar Poe was born January 19th, 1809. We'll celebrate his birth and genius with another episode focusing on his work. This time however, it will be decidedly less spooky. Called the father of the detective story,  he was the first well-known American writer to attempt to earn a living through writing alone.  His poem  The Raven ,  penned in 1845, numbers among the best-known poems in national literature. However, for all the information we know about Edgar, an equal amount of his life remains a mystery.  Much of the distorted picture we have long held of Poe can be attributed to  Rufus Griswold who was, in fact, a jerk. After Poe's death, Rufus published a libelo us obituary followed by a slanderous memoir; all aimed at defaming Edgar. Clearly, it didn't work. In this program, you'll hear several of  Basil Rathbone's readings of Poe , an  excerpt from The  Cavalcade of America 's excellent radio play "Edgar Allan Poe,"...

Trafficked, Pts. 1 & 2 from Youth Radio Child prostitution goes on in America every day and every night - despite the efforts of Federal, state and local authorities. The FBI estimates 100,000 - 300,000 kids are being exploited. Through a  Youth Radio  special investigation: "Trafficked," we'll hear from two of them.  For their safety, we're not using their real names. The girls we'll call Darlene and Brittany are originally from Oakland, California. 19 year-old Brittany and 18 year-old Darlene have been sharing their stories with Denise Tejada. In the second half of "Trafficked,"  Brett Myers tells us  how city police and community groups are fighting to save kids from the streets. According to the Oakland Attorney’s office, a mid-level pimp trafficking just four girls can make more than 500 thousand dollars a year marketing those girls on the street and online . Police say there are criminal networks that are moving into sexual exploitation...

Don't Do Anything to Yourself by Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock  Alaska Natives have the highest suicide rates in the country, but a program that enables teens to mentor their peers is working to stop the trend. The Natural Helpers program provides help in the Lower Yukon school district, but other regions in the state are looking at the program's success. Every year the kids hold retreats to train the next wave of Natural Helpers. We'll listen-in on a retreat in the village of Hooper Bay. Into a Million Pieces from Youth Radio Vermont How does a parent cope with losing a child? In October of 2003, John Halligan was faced with this heart-wrenching question after receiving the devastating news that his 13-year-old son, Ryan, had committed suicide. Since that time, he has traveled nationwide sharing his son's story in hopes of preventing teen suicide. Rebecca Starr spoke with him about how he copes with the loss of his son.