Season Two

Las Vegas: Bright Lights, Big City, Small Town

These days, two versions of Las Vegas occupy the public imagination. One is of Sin City, home to The Strip, to glitter and entertainment. The other is as a dramatic victim of the recent economic recession, a city where whole neighborhoods have been foreclosed upon, where the jobless rate shot up to double digits, where massive casino and hotel constructions were suspended, leaving hulking ghosts to remind residents of the boom times. SOTRU explores stories of people making Las Vegas home between these two sides of the city.

Birmingham: The Long Story Short

Birmingham, Alabama. Just the words make you think about freedom riders, church bombings, civil rights marches and police dogs. This is a place that can’t escape its history—especially the painful parts. Almost fifty years later after the tragedies and triumphs of the civil rights era, Birmingham is still a community trying to put itself back together.

Utica, NY – City with a Warm Heart

A couple of decades ago, Utica, New York, was dying, by even its residents diagnosis: a popular bumper sticker in the ‘90s read “Last One Out of Utica, Please Turn Out the Lights.” Once a bustling textile city perched on edge of the Erie Canal, Utica lost its mills in the mid-20th century, and has been losing population ever since. But something has changed in recent years, with a surprising influx of refugees to this part of snowy, cold upstate New York—the newcomers have given Utica hope for second chance.

Miami – Bridging the Divide

Famous for its beaches and clubs, Miami is also the third poorest city in the nation. If you own a store in South Beach, your customers are equally likely to be billionaires or homeless people. And, on top of that, they’re very likely to have started life somewhere else.  Miami is an incredibly international city—but not in the way many others are. Here, instead of working towards assimilation and blending with one another, ethnic communities exist as a patchwork, remaining like isolated microcosms of their homeland.

Oakland: The Self-Made City

Refugees, entrepreneurs, visionaries—these are the historic roots of Oakland, California. The city has long been home for people building new lives and imagining even better ones. But dreams deferred also haunt this place, in its empty post-boom skyscrapers, its infamous homicide rates and deep budget cuts. In the face of entrenched problems, though, the people of Oakland characteristically answer back with diverse, revolutionary solutions. We explore the rewards—and costs—for people dreaming big in Oakland.

Season One

Brooklyn – Change Happens

State of the Re:Union visits New York City’s most populated borough to examine how this diverse collection of communities handles the friction of change, the pull of tradition, and discovers that special something that makes this neighborhood so celebrated.

Greensburg – To the Stars Through Difficulties

One night in May of 2007, a tornado wiped Greensburg, Kansas, off the map. The town’s residents have decided to not only resurrect the town, but to rebuild in a true spirit of renewal. State of the Re:Union examines the profound devastation and the rigors and rewards of this innovative rebirth.

Milwaukee – City of Vision

Once the toolbox to the world, Milwaukee has suffered the fate of many American rust belt cities. But despite shuttered businesses, and high unemployment rates, Milwaukee and its resilient people are poised for a rebirth. State of the Re:Union visits Milwaukee to explore it’s industrial past and to learn of its post-industrial future.

New Orleans – The Big Easy

The city of New Orleans is as proud of its traditions as it is steeped in them. But since the devastation of Hurricane Katrina, the city and its residents have been thrust into new relationships with those very traditions they hold so dear. State of the Re:Union visits the Big Easy to explore how the city is negotiating that tension between the old and the new — from music to po boys to combating crime — five years after the storm.

Oakridge – A Work in Progress

Back in the timber industry’s heyday, small mill towns in Oregon were thriving. Business was booming. Then in the early 1990s, the saws stopped. The mills shut down and their economies crumbled. State of the Re:Union surveys how a town that has lost its identity reinvents itself.

Black History Month Special

Bayard Rustin – Who Is This Man?

August 28th, 1963 will forever be tied to Martin Luther King Jr.’s hallowed “I Have a Dream” speech. This historic moment would probably have never come to fruition if it weren’t for a man standing in King’s shadow, Mr. Bayard Rustin. Rustin was a man with a number of seemingly incompatible labels: black, gay, Quaker… identifications that served to earn him as many detractors as admirers. Although he had numerous passions and pursuits, his most transformative act, one that certainly changed the course of American history, was to counsel MLK on the use of non-violent resistance.

Pilot Season

Jacksonville – Bold New City of the South?

Visit host Al Letson’s hometown and explore the colossal city of Jacksonville, Florida. We look at how the past and present vie to shape the future of Florida’s First Coast and try to capture some of the city’s spirit. Unlike previous State of the Re:Union episodes, our Jacksonville show uses three major stories to confront the difficult issue of race in the South.

Des Moines – Heart of the Heartland

Travel to the surprisingly metropolitan and remarkably progressive city of Des Moines, Iowa. Discover an immigrant Iraqi family’s take on the American dream, hear how traditional farming techniques have once again become relevant to 21st century business and get a Middle-American take on the gay marriage debate in Heart of the Heartland.

Detroit – Motor City Rebound

If you listen to the news, you’ve heard a lot about Detroit in recent years, none of it very good. Host Al Letson travels to Detroit to move beyond the headlines and explore the Motor City.

Washington, D.C. – Welcome to D.C.

This first episode of the series familiarizes the listener with a side of the capital city that most visitors never get to see — a thriving metropolis removed from the politics that govern this nation. The District is filled with arts and culture unique to the area, individuals striving to make the city a better place, and neighborhoods struggling to return to their former glory.