Long Haul: Public Radio Documentaries To Go!

Katie Michelle Edwards longish by Long Haul Productions

Emily Christensen long 5_22 by Long Haul Productions

Scotty Tribute Excerpt 2 by Long Haul Productions

Scotty Tribute Excerpt 3 by Long Haul Productions

Poo Poo in the Potty by Long Haul Productions

The story you’re about to hear is, at its heart, is a love story — between two artists, and a whole lot of dogs. It’s also the story of what it means to follow a dream — and the difficulties that can bring. Producers Dan Collison and Elizabeth Meister have the story of Vermont artists Stephen and Gwen Huneck, and their life’s work: a place called Dog Mountain. As you listen, tour Dog Mountain in an interactive website via www.longhaulpro.org.

A young Marine comes home after his first tour of duty in Afghanistan. His parents tell his story.

The Ivory Billed Woodpecker was thought to be extinct – until recently, when a bird was allegedly spotted near the small town of Brinkley, Arkansas. The sightings were big news in a community depressed by recession and population loss. Our story weaves the locals' reaction with an original song written and performed by musician Sufjan Stevens. Winner of the Sigma Delta Chi award for best national radio feature. The description is from the original broadcast.

For the past 60 years, people in northwest Tennessee have tuned each weekday at noon to a radio program on WENK/WTPR called The Swap Shop. For twenty minutes, listeners call or write offering to buy, sell or trade an item or a service in a radio version of the classified ads, things which range from a piece of used plywood, to a green cloth Berkline recliner, to a ten-acre farm. Long Haul sent Nashville-based musician Kurt Wagner (of the great band Lambchop) some program excerpts; he responded with a song, Paperback Bible. (Produced in 2006; description from the original broadcast.)

It's been 71 years since the "strike heard round the world" - when autoworkers in Flint, Michigan, occupied a General Motors plant and and jumpstarted the union movement in the United States. But in recent years, as the power of unions in the US has wained, sit-down strikes have been more common in Latin America, Europe, and even Canada. Things finally changed last December when immigrant Latino, African American, and white workers occupied the Republic Windows and Door Factory in Chicago. Producers Dan Collison and Elizabeth Meister spoke with the workers and organizers at Republic about their decision to stand up by sitting down - the first American sit-down action since the 1937-38 Flint strike. Their documentary, "Si Se Puede" (Yes We Can), is an intimate account of the occupation told by the people who participated in it. It includes original music by Jesus "Chuy" Negrete. (Produced in 2009; this description is from the original broadcast.)

Since the 1930s, delighted throngs have gathered just outside Linesville, Pennsylvania, to toss bread to a writhing stew of carp and ducks at the Linesville Spillway. The carp are so thick that mallard ducks literally hop, skip and jump on the fishes' backs to compete for a slice of bread. Famous worldwide as the place “where ducks walk on the fish,” the Spillway draws as many as a half-million tourists a year, part of a small but critical tourism economy bolstered by the sale of day-old Wonder Bread from bread shanties that line local streets. But recently, the people of Linesville learned about some big changes planned for the spillway. Dan Collison and Elizabeth Meister paid a visit and, in collaboration with musician Tim Fite, have the fishy tale of the fight for the right to throw bread - the latest in their Song+Story series. (Produced in 2008; description from the original broadcast.)

The small town of Baudette, Minnesota, sits on the U.S./Canadian border, about as far north in the contiguous U.S. as you can get. Famous for snowy winters and a giant concrete walleye that sits downtown, it's also home to a now-decommissioned Coast Guard navigational beacon, a LORAN tower built to guide people across and around the Great Lakes. The Tower is a Baudette landmark, rising hundreds of feet above the bog that surrounds town and signaling to drivers that they're almost home. But recently, it marked the sudden end of another traveller's journey. In the latest installment of their Song+Stories series, in which musicians contribute original songs that contribute to the narrative, Dan Collison and Elizabeth Meister worked with the band Mountain Man. Together, they share this tale of avian navigation gone wrong. Produced in 2011.

Faulkner County, Arkansas, has a whole lotta shakin' going on these days. Some of it is from the cash infusion brought on by the gold-rush like influx of natural gas fracking in the community, with over 3,000 new wells drilled in the area since the mid 2000s. But even more is due a mysterious wave of thousands of small earthquakes that have rattled the towns of Guy and Greenbrier since September, 2010. Long Haul went down to Arkansas to check in with residents about what's going on – literally – under their feet. And we then shared the tape we collected with musician Bonnie "Prince" Billy, also known as musician Will Oldham, who wrote an original song to contribute to the narrative. (Produced in 2011; this description from the original broadcast.)

Written and performed by Bonnie "Prince" Billy in 2011 for "The Natural State," a Long Haul Song+Story.

A week in the life of a woman trying to leave her physically-abusive husband. The documentary begins three days after Anna's estranged husband has threatened to kill her and their baby at gunpoint. Anna keeps an audio journal of her attempt to have her husband, who she says beat her repeatedly before they separated, arrested. She tells of her frustration with the police and legal system and of her attempt to live a "'normal life." Produced in 1994. Winner: 1995 Robert F. Kennedy Award Honorable Mention; 1995 Clarion Award; 1995 Exceptional Merit Media Award.

The story of two chronically mentally ill, homeless repeat offenders as they attempt to break the cycle that, for years, has spun them from jail to psychiatric hospitals to the streets and back to jail again. The documentary is a follow-up to "A Danger to Self or Others," which profiles the mental health division at Chicago's Cook County Jail. "Life on the Outside" tells the story of Colbert, beginning with his release from Chicago's Cook County Jail, and Richard, who's been arrested 137 times but who's managed to stay out of jail for more than one year. Winner: Public Radio News Directors' Award; National Federation of Community Broadcasters' Golden Reel Award (Produced in 2000; description from the original broadcast.)

In November 1995, journalist Rebecca Perl was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. She learned had a tumor in her chest, six months after giving birth to a baby boy. Months of chemotherapy and radiation proved unsuccessful, leaving only one treatment possibility: a lethal dose of chemotherapy followed by a life-saving bone marrow transplant. This award-winning documentary follows her through the transplant. We also produced a film of this story, which was broadcast on HBO. Winner: 1999 duPont-Columbia Silver Baton Award; Edward R. Murrow Award; 200 National Federation of Community Broadcasters Award; 2000 Silver Hugo Award; 2000 New York Festival World Medal for Health and Medical Information Award. (Produced in 1998; this description is from the original broadcast.)

"A Danger to Self or Others" portrays everyday life inside Cook County Jail's Mental Health Division - the largest provider of mental health services in the United States. On any given day, there are 10,000 men and women held inside the Chicago jail, the largest of its kind in the United States. An estimated 10%, or 1,000, are suffering from some form of mental illness. In many cases, it's the first time their disease has been diagnosed. With fewer state mental hospitals and limited resources at the community level, jails have increasingly become a critical provider of mental health services throughout the country. The documentary leads listeners through various stages of treatment -- from "Receiving" where the staff must perform a kind of triage and make an immediate psychiatric assessment; to the "Acute Care Unit" where the mental heath team has just a few days to stabilize detainees; to the "Residential Treatment Unit" which offers longer term individual and group therapy; and finally to the release proces

"Learning to Live: James' Story" is the story of an ex-felon's transition from prison to the free world. James, who narrates, is 38 and has been in and out of prison all his adult life. After completing a seven-year prison term for burglary, James comes to live at St. Leonard's halfway house for ex-offenders on Chicago's west side. Over three months, James goes through a rigorous education process that includes job training, drug counseling and twelve-step support meetings. His recovery is tested when his eighteen-year-old son, whom he hadn't seen in fourteen years, is arrested on a drug charge. After landing his "dream job" in customer service for a cable company, James leaves the halfway house having begun to "learn how to live." Winner: 2002 Edward R. Murrow Award; 2002 Third Coast International Audio Festival Public Service Award; and the 2002 Society of Professional Journalists Sigma Delta Chi Award. Judges in the latter competition called it "a tightly straightforward report that skillfully wove actua

"When All Else Fails" is a first-person account of a man undergoing electroconvulsive therapy (ECT), formerly known as electroshock. Rob MacGruder tells of his lifelong battle with bipolar disorder and how ECT has repeatedly saved his life. The story follows MacGruder for almost a year as he falls into a severe depression, undergoes a series of ECT treatments and gradually recovers. During that time, MacGruder loses his job, and loses his children to the state. Produced in 2002. Winner: 2003 National Mental Health Media Association’s Media Award.