This week Sound Effect brings us stories of coming out of the darkness.
‘Bathed In Light’
Imagine being in a cramped, sunless space for three whole months and then emerging into the light. That’s exactly what Petty Officer Steve Watkins experiences at the end of a submarine patrol at Naval Base Kitsap-Bangor. To kick off our show, he tells us about climbing the 20-foot ladder toward the pinprick of light at the top, and bursting out into fresh air. “It’s just the most amazing experiences,” he said, “just to be bathed in light.”
Blind Café
There’s a saying among chefs that “you eat first with your eyes.” KPLU’s Ed Ronco and Ariel Van Cleave discovered just how true that is when they were forced to eat without their eyes – in the pitch dark. The two of them went out to dinner at the pop-up event, “Blind Café,” where diners have to get through a meal using their other senses. By the time they stumble back into the light, they’re learned a thing or two about how we take in the world around us. And Ed definitely needs a napkin.
Bringing Mental Illness Out Of The Shadows
Jenny Heddin was newly married and newly pregnant when darkness fell over her family. Her husband, seemingly overnight, developed severe mental illness. She was shocked to discover how difficult it was to get treatment for him, even with insurance and some financial means. And in the depths of her husband's struggles, Heddin went into pre-term labor, giving birth to a premature and very vulnerable baby boy. What followed were moments of joy mixed with almost unimaginable sorrow, and a determination to push for changein our mental health care system.
'Things That Didn’t Kill Me'
“When I was 16 years old, I came home from school one day and found my dad crawling around the kitchen floor in a big pool of blood.” That is how Seattle author Jason Schmidt’s memoir “A List of Things that Didn’t Kill Me” begins, and it doesn’t let up from there. Schmidt tells the storyof growing up in the Northwest amid the chaos of drugs, crime, AIDS and social dysfunction; and how he managed to come out more or less healthy on the other side.
Into A Home, And Into The Light
Sometimes you see somebody in a dark place, and from where you stand, you can see the way out, but they just can’t manage to get free. Kristi Hamilton says it’s hard to understand the barriers unless you’ve been there yourself. She’s been a registered nurse and a homeowner, but for the last few years she’s struggled with addiction and homelessness. Now that she’s back in the light, she can look back and understand betterwhy it was so hard to pull herself out.
Sound Effect is your weekly tour of ideas, inspired by the place we live. The show is hosted by KPLU's Gabriel Spitzer.
