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Family Matters: Sound Effect, Episode 204

Adrian Florez / KNKX

This show originally aired on February 14, 2020.

This week on Sound Effect, our theme is “Family Matters.” First, we meet one Indipino woman and learn how she connected to her roots on Bainbridge Island. Then, we meet a mother and author who is sharing her son’s story of addiction as a cautionary tale for other parents. We meet a woman who might have been forbidden from having children a century ago — and we meet her daughter. Grieving parents turn a tragedy into something constructive. And we meet the father — so to speak — of “I Didn’t Reproduce Day.”

INDIPINO COMMUNITY

Gina Corpuz stands off New Brooklyn road on Bainbridge Island, on land that has been in her family for two generations. She looks in every direction, and sees the history of the Indipino community.

Indipino stands for Indigenous and Filipino. It's a community that began one summer, nearly 80 years ago, when Filipino farmhands and Indigenous berry pickers met in the strawberry fields of Bainbridge Island, and fell in love. That first summer, there were 13 marriages.

Listen to this story to hear the story of one Indipino woman, and how she connected to her roots.

CAUTIONARY TALE

Seattle author, Paula Becker, writes about historical events, such as the 1962 Seattle World's Fair. She writes about people, as she did in her book “The Egg and I,” about the 1950s children’s book author Betty McDonald.

Her most recent book is about her own family. It’s called “A House On Stilts: Mothering in the Age of Opioid Addiction.” Specifically, it’s about raising her oldest child, Hunter, and his struggle with substance use disorder. Listen to her story

NOT ‘DEFECTIVE’

Who gets to have a family? It may seem like a weird question. Whoever wants to, right?

But for people with disabilities, especially intellectual and developmental disabilities, or IDD — that wasn’t always the case. In fact, for generations, many people with IDD were involuntarily sterilized and otherwise prevented from having children.

Ivanova Smith was born with intellectual and developmental disabilities. She lives in Tacoma now. But growing up in Soviet-controlled Latvia, kids like her were often warehoused in orphanages. Hear her story of overcoming her own expectations, and reflecting on what would have been.

SAVING LIVES

By the time Greg “Gibby” Gibson was in his 20s and 30s, he was a busy local promoter, handling the bookings at Tim’s Tavern in Seattle, planning shows and benefit concerts.

He had a reputation for looking out for the bands.

For years, Greg had lived in the basement unit of a run-down house in Shoreline with his faithful pitbull, Nino. Then, in the early-morning hours of Jan. 8, 2016, that house caught fire. Greg didn’t survive. He and his dog were found together.

Listen to this story about how his parents created a nonprofit, in an attempt to prevent similar tragedies.

PROCLAMATION BACKFIRE

Of course, not everybody chooses to have kids. And a lot of people say there’s a stigma attached to that, that our social norms are built around reproducing.

But people without kids are really doing the world a big favor, in a way: fewer people means less pressure on resources and on the climate.

One city councilman on Bainbridge Island wanted to celebrate that. He suggested the city designate the third Sunday in June as “I Didn’t Reproduce Day.”

It did not go well. Listen to learn more.

Kevin Kniestedt is a journalist, host and producer who began his career at KNKX in 2003. Over his 17 years with the station, he worked as a full time jazz host, a news host and produced the weekly show Sound Effect. Kevin has conducted or produced hundreds of interviews, has won local and national awards for newscasts and commentary.