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The Story with Dick Gordon brings the news home - through passionate points of view and personal experiences. The program brings together ordinary and extraordinary people to provide perspective on the issues which affect us all. Our goal is to inspire conversation, thinking and understanding. Produced at North Carolina Public Radio - WUNC.
Combat Bunny
Friday, March 19 2010
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Combat Bunny
Carolyn Schapper
Carolyn Schapper was a 30-something Army sergeant serving in Iraq, and the only woman in a unit full of men. One day her convoy was approached by an Iraqi boy selling bunnies. Carolyn was soon reluctantly holding a white rabbit on her lap as the convoy headed back inside the wire. The bunny was a hit as soon as it arrived at the base - the soldiers called it Combat Infantry Bunny, or CIB. Before long Carolyn realized the bunny was saving her from her loneliness and isolation. Carolyn talks with Dick Gordon about how her unlikely connection with a rabbit changed her experience of the war.This show originally aired November 5, 2009.
- Meet CIB, Combat Infantry Bunny
 RuNNING TOGETHER
Nancy & Tim West, larger >>
Nancy West felt like her son was growing away from her, immersing himself in video games and baseball, things that Nancy had little interest in. So Nancy, an avid runner, invited her then 8-year-old son to take on a challenge: see how many consecutive days they could run. Called streak running, Nancy and Tim started out with no goal in mind, and ended up running at least a mile per day for two years. Nancy talks to Dick about her mother-son experiment, and how it brought them closer together, which was the point all along. This show originally aired November 5, 2009.
Reuniting the Kinks
Thursday, March 18 2010
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REUNITING THE KINKS
movie poster for "Do It Again"
Geoff Edgers is a staff writer at the Boston Globe. A few years ago, he had a mid-life crisis and decided that he had to get the rock band The Kinks back together again. He reconnected with a high school buddy who’s now a famous filmmaker. And the two set out to film Geoff’s attempts to get the band to reunite. Trouble is, the two brothers who fronted the group more than 40 years ago can’t stand each other. Lead vocalist Ray Davies and lead guitar Dave Davies haven’t spoken in years. Geoff talks with Dick Gordon about his oddball quest, and the memorable moments he had with each Davies brother. The movie, Do It Again, is now on the film festival circuit.Â
Surviving Obama
Nicole Anderson Cobb
Nicole Anderson Cobb is a history professor, born and raised on the south side of Chicago. Her family and friends are die-hard Obama fans, supporting the President come hell or high water – dissent or disapproval out of the question. Nicole has wrestled with this strange silence, and as an emerging playwright, turned her frustration into a one-woman show. On the heels of her first public performance, Nicole talks to Dick about her true feelings about the President, and what it was like to get up on stage to air them publicly in Obama’s old stomping grounds.
Health Care from the Inside
Wednesday, March 17 2010
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Health Care from the inside
As the debate over health care reform continues we take a look back at the long debate over the establishment of Medicare. Ted Marmor spent one unforgettable summer working as a Washington insider and helping to establish the Medicare rules before the landmark act was implemented in 1966. Though he went on to a successful academic Ivy League career, Ted always wanted to be back in government and making change from the inside. Ted talks with Dick Gordon about the lessons he learned in the 1960s and how those lessons can be applied to today.
- Learn about Ted's book The Politics of Medicare
Ripped Off
Kristen Edsall
Kristen Edsall moved to Boston with high hopes. She landed in a hip neighborhood and she had a nice neighbor - or so it seemed. Kristen became friends with the neighbor - her daughter watched Kristen's cat when she was away. But the relationship turned sour when the neighbor asked to borrow Kristen's car. Kristen said no…and later found out the neighbor scammed her and keyed her car in revenge. Dick talks with Kristen about how easy it is to be conned, and not realize it, till much later.
Walking Away
Tuesday, March 16 2010
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WALKING AWAY
Steve Walsh
Arizona is one state that's really feeling the effects of the collapse in home prices. One in every 163 households got a foreclosure filing last month. Steve Walsh is one of the many who may soon see his home put up for auction. What makes Steve's story different is that he could have continued to pay his mortgage, but he is choosing not to. It's a choice that a growing number of people are considering. Steve decided that it just wasn't worth it anymore to keep making payments on a place that wasn't going to regain its lost value.
- Hear Dick's interview with a couple who fought to save their home
DEAR STARBUCKS
Christine Ferrera
Marc Tasman was a guest on the program a few weeks ago. He took a Polaroid photograph of himself every day for ten years. Christine Ferrera wrote in response to that program. Christine is conducting an "endurance art project" of her own. She's been filling out and submitting the comment card at Starbucks - daily. She joins Dick Gordon to share some of her letters, and the coffee company's responses.
Special thanks to the storytelling program The Stoop for the audio from Christine's public readings of her letters. Listen to Christine's public reading here.
Avoiding Foreclosure
Monday, March 15 2010
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AVOIDING FORECLOSURE
Frank and Judy Viola, larger >>
The threat of foreclosure is not just a problem for Frank and Judy Viola - across the country, more than one in every 500 homeowners are facing it. The Obama administration has a new plan which could force banks and mortgage companies into short sales, meaning the home would be sold even if no one (the owners or the banks) gets their money back. Judy and Frank came close to that step. They were struggling to save their home of 22 years after Frank was injured and lost his job. They turned to a non-profit housing adviser to negotiate with their mortgage company. They talk with Dick Gordon how their children and community - and ultimately their lender - helped them avoid foreclosure.
Learn more about the foreclosure prevention program the Violas used
- Hear another perspective on foreclosure
reconsidering the profession
David and Jill Alvarado
Despite efforts to stimulate the economy, unemployment still leaves millions without the means to support their families. And for many families, even having a good job isn't enough to make ends meet. Jill Alvarado is a first-year teacher in Las Vegas. She's fallen in love with her new job, but with her husband out of work, she's struggling to support her family of four on her current salary. Jill and her husband David talk with Dick about the financial and emotional adjustments they've had to make in the face of economic uncertainty.
Chilean Crush
Friday, March 12 2010
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Chilean Crush
Derek Mossman
Yesterday, Chileans paused in their clean-up efforts. Two things happened. There was a frightening series of aftershocks - the largest since the quake - and they happened to coincide with the swearing in of a new president. Derek Mossman is among those in Chile hoping things will soon get back to normal. Derek runs a small winery in the hills near Santiago called the Garage Wine Company. As he tells Dick Gordon, when he made his way to the vineyard after the quake, the spilled wine on the floor looked like blood. He and his wife Pilar Miranda lost four barrels, a fortune for a small business like theirs. But they're already seeing signs that they and others in Chile's growing boutique wine industry will bounce back.
- Learn more about the Garage Wine Company
- Learn more about the Movement of Independent Vintners
- Music in this story: Gracias a la Vida by Gracia Parra for the album Violeta Parra: Las Ultimas Composiciones
THE ORIGINAL WASPS
Deanie Parrish
Earlier this week, the surviving members of the WASPs - Women's Air Force Service Pilots, were honored in Washington with the Congressional Gold Medal. Deanie Parrish was one of over 1,000 women who flew for the U.S. military during World War II. They helped train male pilots for combat, transported officers around the country, and allowed more men to serve overseas. They weren't recognized as veterans until decades after the war. Deanie has only recently begun to tell her story. She talks with Dick about her adventures in the air and the importance of remembering the past.
- Learn more about the Wings Across America project
- Read more about Deanie and see her World War II scrapbook
- See Deanie then and now
Malagasy Homecoming
Thursday, March 11 2010
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Malagasy Homecoming
Razia Said
Razia Said grew up in her grandmother's home in Madagascar, dancing and singing on the table as her relatives clapped. When she was 11, her mother came and took her away to live in West Africa with a French stepfather. Razia eventually went even further, to New York City, where she was singing R&B and jazz: she'd never felt so homesick. It wasn't until Razia had a baby that she began writing and singing in Malagasy, the language she grew up with. She ended up returning to Madagascar to record traditional music. The environmental devastation she saw there became the subject of her album.
- Learn more about Razia and her music
Remembering Granny D
Doris "Granny D" Haddock
When she was 90, Doris "Granny D" Haddock walked across the country to lobby for campaign finance reform. She became an instant hero, but that walk was nothing compared to her 2004 run for the US Senate - at age 94. Granny D died earlier this week. She was 100 years old.
Today we remember "Granny D." On October 17, 2007, Dick Gordon talked with a still feisty "Granny", her son Jim and Marlo Poras, who made a film about her unlikely campaign called "Run Granny Run."
- Learn about Granny D's autobiography
- Find out more about the film Run, Granny, Run
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