KFAI's MinneCulture Presents

The first episode of our  Pledge Drive  brought the triumphant return of crack reporter, Mr. Todd Melby! He played for us some of his most recent pieces from his acclaimed  Black Gold Boom  series. In our coming show, we will spin a few short favorite docs that we've aired over the past year. Tune in, enjoy the show, and please make a donation -- b ig or small, each pledge is extremely important to us. You can contribute online right  here  or y ou can give us a call at  612-375-9030   and show your endorsement of truly public, listener-supported, independent community radio!

Fear on the Inside: A Story of Domestic Violence from Long Haul Productions According to the CDC one out of three American women will experience some form of domestic abuse at some point in their life. Dan Collison has one such story in Chicago. He brings us a woman's audio diary recorded over one week in 1994 as she attempted to escape a physically and emotionally abusive marriage . The document begins three days after her estranged husband has threatened to kill her and their baby at gunpoint.

Work in Progress by Zak Rosen Detroit is in the midst of an economic and cultural revolution, “as awesome as the transition from Hunting and Gathering was to Agriculture 11,000 years ago and from Agriculture to Industry a few hundred years ago," says Grace Lee Boggs . We'll explores how in Detroit's underclass, out of creativity, necessity, and compassion, a new idea of Work is emerging.  Entrepreneur by Jesse Dukes Adam Johns is a self-styled entrepreneur . These days, that means digging for bloodworms at thirty cents a worm, or anything else to make a quick buck. Adam is frustrated by his circumstances and worried that he might not even be able to dig worms anymore. Even so, he still manages to laugh at life sometimes.

Colonists  from Noise: A Human History of Sound and Listening The colonists liked to imagine that their new homeland was an empty wilderness -- but of course they weren't the first to live there.   Settlers arriving  in the 17th century decreed the songs  and  sounds  of  native American Indians  to be bloodcurdling, barbaric, and  wild . Professor   David Hendy of the University of Sussex   explores how f or many Native Americans  sound itself  was thought of as being alive. Shutting In  from Noise: A Human History of Sound and Listening In the eighteenth century,  Edinburgh  was one of most overcrowded cities in Europe. Narrow alleys separated looming tenement buildings, each housing multiple families. Individuals of very different classes and  ways of life  had to rub along in cramped conditions. We will squeeze in among them, to  hear  how a similar situation in  Paris  led to a  surreal and brutal massacre  of  cats .