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Sound Effect, Episode 24: Toilets

The inside of a graffiti covered bathroom.
Brie Ripley

"Sound Effect" is your weekly tour of ideas, inspired by the place we live. The show is hosted by KNKX's Gabriel Spitzer. Each week's show explores a different theme, and this time we've flushed out stories about toilets. 

First off, Gabriel Spitzer goes on a mission to track down Seattle's ill-fated million-dollar toilets. His quest takes him to a Thurston County racetrack, where he meets toilet man Butch Behn. 

Then, we skip to the loo with Carol McCreary of Portland, Oregon.  She thinks access to public restrooms are a basic human right. McCreary co-founded the advocacy group Public Hygiene Lets Us Stay Human, or PHLUSH, and devotes much of her time to evangelizing the Portland Loo.

The restroom is a place where we relieve ourselves, as implied by the very word itself. But what if every time you had to go, the choice of men's room or women's room elicited anxiety, and risked potential violence? We talk to Danni Askini of the Gender Justice League in Seattle about how she chose which bathroom to use as she transitioned from male to female.

And finally, we wrap up this episode with a man whose job is to deal with the world's crap. Carl Hensman is a Program Officer in the Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene Program for the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. He helps provide safe sanitation systems for people across the globe.

This weeks news panel features Phyllis Fletcher, Sarah Anne Lloyd and Aaron Burkhalter