Third Coast ShortDoc

The pieces on this page were produced as responses to the annual ShortDoc Challenge from the Third Coast International Audio Festival.

The 2015 Challenge, created in partnership with the Studs Terkel Archive at the WFMT Radio Network, comes with the following rules:

Your radio story must:

– be two to three minutes in length
– be titled with a question that begins with one of the five Ws (who, what, when, where or why)
– contain the question “And what happened then?”
– include a shout of silence or a cry of laughter

 

What Was Left, by Indaia Whitcombe

Morgan Lennon describes a kind of loss that is not uncommon to women, though rarely spoken about.

 

What Happens to Orphan Photos? by Qathi Hart

What happens to our photos after we pass away? What if we have no next of kin? Qathi Hart talks to found-photo collector Hank, aka, EspressoBuzz on Flickr; Tom Rankin of the Duke University Center For Documentary Studies and Trustee of the Library of Congress American Folklife Center; and Lee Sorensen of the Duke Lily Library about Orphan Photos, our pictures that have lost their way.

 

Who Cares? The Politics of Texting, by Robert Vann

In an increasingly connected world, the smartphone is changing the way we communicate and interact. What might seem like simple dings can have far-reaching social ramifications. We hear from two college students about connecting in the digital age.

 

What Is Your Mexican Story? by Malia Stephens

Two people of Mexican heritage talk about their individual experiences of traveling through Mexico and the insights they gained about their culture. What will happen next as they further try to understand their heritage?

 

Where’s My ACL? by James Min

A young man loses his ACL but gains it back and much more.

 

What Makes a Good Wife? by Erin Leyson

Times have changed since the 1950s. Just ask Tía Nora.

 

Where the Hell Is My Paper, Ms. Gerdes? by Abby Gerdes

I had always sworn that I would never be the type of teacher to misplace a student’s work. I was simply better than that–or so I thought. The following is an account of the day I broke this promise and gained a little bit of humility.

 

Why Remember Her? by Katie Fernelius

Judith Mason’s blue, plastic dress hangs in the Constitutional Court of South Africa. Although it hangs humbly from a wire hanger among hundreds of pieces of art, Justice Albie Sachs has called it one of the most important pieces of art in the twentieth century. The story of the blue dress represents just one of the many stories of unsung heroes in South Africa’s history.

 

What’s in a Car? by Lily Doron

Lourdes Mello, now 59, moved to the Unites States from Portugal when she was thirteen years old and met her future husband in Massachusetts that same year. In her words she is “different”: she collects all kinds of quirky treasures for her home, changes the color and style of her hair often, and has shining diamonds in her front teeth. She has worked at Famous Hair salon for thirteen years and says that her clients become like family to her. In this piece she talks about the car her husband bought her in 1989, which she still keeps though it is badly broken, because of the memories it holds.

 

What Lies in a Voicemail? by Jesse Dembo

We can measure distance in miles, but the heartache it causes is undefinable.

 

“Misi boy, What we doing now?” by Reem Alfahad

Two seniors in Punahou High School in Honolulu, Hawaii share their tender voices and their cries of laughter as they sing us the story of their friendship and community in Hawaii.

 

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