This week on Sound Effect, we hear about changes of scenery. We bring you stories of people who were exposed to a whole different part of the world, a culture they weren't familiar with, or a lifestyle they never imagined.
The Logging Camp
Long before tech workers flocked to the shiny new apartments of Seattle and Bellevue, the Northwest offered a different kind of workforce housing. Logging camps were ready-made towns that lumber companies built specifically for loggers and their families deep in the woods. The last of those camps closed 30 years ago. But the people who lived there, they’re still around. And while they can’t ever go back to the place where they grew up, they also never fully left.
Just Say Hello
One way to get a different view and to exit your comfort zone is to trade the warm and dry home you live in, for a van — a camper van — that will take you around the country to meet and help the homeless. And, you bring your nine-year-old along for this adventure that involves volunteering in shelters, soup kitchens and handing out necessities — toothbrushes, socks, and extra clothes — to people who could really use a little help. This is what Jennifer Underwood is doing with her daughter, Rory.
Always A Drummer
Paul Wager played drums for nearly 40 years, keeping the beat in clubs in Pioneer Square, throughout Tacoma and anywhere he could get a chance to play. For Paul, his seat on a the drum throne was always the best seat in the house, until one day, he lost his time.
Blind Researcher
Maxine Linial is a virologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and one of the world's leading researchers on an obscure group of microorganisms: simian foamy viruses. She’s been at the Hutch for 40 years, looking through microscopes in the lab and studying swirling cells in petri dishes. But that changed very suddenly five years ago.
How To Win An Irish Pub
Sometimes you enter a contest on a whim and you end up getting really lucky. For Erika Lee Bigelow, her 50-word essay was chosen out of thousands to let her compete for a chance to win a pub in Ireland. There was a beer-pouring contest, a dart-throwing competition, and another essay. And in the end, she won her very own pub. In the blink of an eye, she went from Portland native to Irish resident and business owner.
Sound Effect is your weekly tour of ideas, inspired by the place we live. The show is hosted by knkx's Jennifer Wing.
