KFAI's MinneCulture Presents

Responding to the Opioid Crisis in MN Native Communities by Melissa Townsend For over a decade, the prescription pain killer and heroin abuse crisis has had a hold on communities across the U.S. Opioid overdoses tripled between 2000 and 2015. In 2015, Minnesota had more American Indians dying from overdoses than any other state. Many American Indians in Minnesota are still wrestling with how best to help people heal from the addiction and the historical trauma at the root of this crisis. In this special report fro m  Minnesota Native News , reporter Melissa Townsend explores the unique nature of addiction in Native communities, and how it is - or is not - shaping a response to the current crisis.

Deadly Force: Police Shootings in Black and White  from Making Contact  Why are so many of those killed by police young people of color? A recent ProPublica investigation found that a young black male is at twenty one times greater risk of being shot dead by police than his white counterparts. We’ll hear from one of the reporters who analyzed the data on police killings to come up with that startling conclusion , as well as stories of family and community members who say the justice system itself needs to be put on trial. This documentary also features audio segments from the film Arresting Power .

The Search for Silence  from Noise: A Human History of Sound and Listening In the noisy modern world, silence has become an ever more desirable – and fashionable – state. We  read books about it ; go on retreats to find it; and soundproof our living and working spaces in its name. But  when we have it  is it  what we want ? In the final episode of the series, Professor  David Hendy  of the University of Sussex considers the modern quest for quiet and asks whether  what really makes us humans happy is a little noise . Noise Retold  by  Matthew Herbert  We will close our program with an epic sound-effect sound-scape.  Mr. Herbert ,  head of the  New Radiophonic Workshop ,  retells  the story   of the Noise: A Human History by remixing the entire series using only the sounds themselves - sans narration. Matthew   is an e lectronic musician who is  perhaps  most famous  for his...

The Unusual Sound on Your Radio   by Delaney Hall Resonance 104.4 FM  is the world’s first radio art station, established by the London Musicians’ Collective. Its mission? To provide a radical alternative to the universal formula of mainstream broadcasting. You might tune in and hear Vietnamese pop music or  machine noises  or a man calling operators all over the world and trying to track down a phone number for the local zoo. Whatever you hear, station manager Richard Thomas hopes you'll be surprised. Or shocked. Or  delighted . Or all three. The Sonic World of Nancy Scott   by Sam Greenspan With the help of her mentor Alyce Ornella at   Spindle Works Co-Op , Nancy has begun to express her talents aurally.  There is an art to listening and sound artist  Nancy Scott 's ears are tuned to the sounds most of us  overlook .  Spindleworks is a non profit art center for adults with disabilities in Brunswick, Maine. While there...