We are so pleased to bring you State of the Re:Union’s 2011 Fall Season with the following episodes:

The Bronx, NY: Still Rising from the Ashes
The Bronx has long been seen as a symbol of America’s failings.  For many people here, ‘making it’ means escaping the crime and poverty of their borough.  But some have refused to flee. This episode shines a light on the hold-outs and the dreamers, people who’ve committed their lives to keeping chaos at bay in the Bronx.

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Mississippi Gulf Coast: Defending the Gulf
After Hurricane Katrina ravaged the area, Mississippi Gulf Coast residents were forced to come together to deal with the aftermath. Then, just as they were starting to get back on their feet, the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster dumped millions of barrels of oil into the water just off their shores. Cumulatively, these events have made environmentalists out of a whole lot of Gulf Coast residents who may not have considered themselves as such. We tell an hour of stories about the fight for the natural world bringing Gulf Coast residents together … both with one another and with unlikely partners. And how, in some instances, that fight is turning out to be exactly what a community needed to survive.

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Wyoming: The New Old West
People are few and far between in Wyoming.  Those that do live here prize tradition, self-reliance, and their connection to the land.  So when change comes to the high plains—an oil boom, a minister with new ideas—communities here are tested.   And neighbors have to strike a balance between preserving their independent way of life and learning to rely on one another. We trek to the small towns and remote ranches of Wyoming, meeting people as they adapt to the New Old West.

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Cleveland, OH: Entrepreneurs at Work
Cleveland, Ohio, is a city that was made by entrepreneurs. But for decades, it’s been known as a city that’s a shell of its former manufacturing-era glorious self. However, Cleveland is being embraced by a new generation of entrepreneurs as a place to put their dreams in motion. This is a now a city of entrepreneurship in a range of incarnations … in their kids’ education, in the environment, even in beer. This is an hour of entrepreneurial stories, taking a look at that go-get-em-seize-your-dreams energy in a variety of forms.

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Sacramento, CA: All Hands on Deck
There’s been a lot of bad news coming out of Sacramento lately: homelessness, the foreclosure rate, unemployment, and political gridlock in a state crippled by the recession.  Add to that a stubborn case of political fatigue, and you’ve got a lot of reasons to write this cityoff.  But we trekked to California’s beleaguered state capital to take a peek behind the national headlines and find out who keeps this city running—day in, day out—despite all that’s going wrong.  And we left with the realization that people in Sacramento are remaking the American city, in surprising and deeply moving ways.

We are perpetually moved by the incredible stories, people and communities we encounter in making each SOTRU episode. This season is no exception and we are sure that you will be as surprised as we were to learn the things happening in our communities.  You can visit the above pages to listen and download full episodes. There will also be some additional goodies (pictures, articles, and in some cases, a video documentary) you can peruse, adding even more insight into each episode.

Please listen for State of the Re:Union on your local public radio station. In the event your local station isn’t carrying us, you could always give them a call and request it! We’re sure they would love to hear from their listeners anyway. Thanks again for supporting SOTRU. We hope you enjoy the new episodes, documentaries and other bonus features from our travels.

*Listeners in Northeast Florida, you can celebrate the launch of the fall season with us at our annual fundraising event.  Together, Jacksonville’s Museum of Modern Art (MOCA) with SOTRU’s very own, Al Letson, will be hosting and entertaining with a live performance. ‘State of the Re:Union Live’ on Saturday, Oct 22, 2011, will have two shows: the first begins at 7:00 p.m. and the second is at 8:30 p.m. The seats are VERY  limited, so to make sure you don’t miss out, you can purchase tickets in advance for $15 here, or $20 at the door (provided there are seats still available).  See you there!

The Making of “Sacramento”

Get a behind the scenes look at the making of a State of the Re:Union episode.

This video takes us to Sacramento, California. There’s no over-estimating the love fans here feel for their Sacramento Kings, one of the city’s few big attractions.  But last winter, the King’s owners put in motion a plan to move the team down to Anaheim, and fans here reacted more powerfully than anyone could have imagined.  We follow the ups and downs as the dramatic—and possibly final—Kings season unfolds.  You’ll get a firsthand look at just what goes into quilting together pieces of an episode to create an hour of radio storytelling, and what makes Al tick (sweet potatoes from Boston Market, for one.).

All Hands on Deck

There’s been a lot of bad news coming out of Sacramento lately: homelessness, the foreclosure rate, unemployment, political gridlock in a state crippled by the recession.  Add to that a stubborn case of politics fatigue, and you’ve got a lot of reasons to write off this city.  But we trekked to California’s beleaguered state capital to peek behind the national headlines and find out who keeps this city running—day in, day out—despite all that’s going wrong.  And we left with the realization that people in Sacramento are remaking the American city, in surprising and deeply moving ways.

For instance, after severe budget cuts jeopardize Sacramento’s biggest and best-loved park, a fifth grader masterminds a solution to help save it.

We follow the emotional ups and downs of die-hard fans as the threat to move their beloved basketball team, the Sacramento Kings, unites them as a community with one voice and cause. Also, Explore Sacramento’s tent city, and the people working to find innovative solutions to assist in resolving this crisis spanning many years. Al will give you a guided tour of all of these things involving facets of survival and community helping to bridge a divided community.

To find out more how the story unfolds, listen to the full episode of Sacramento, CA: All Hands on Deck.

Entrepreneurs at Work

Cleveland, Ohio, is a city that was made by entrepreneurs. John D. Rockefeller started Standard Oil there. The General Electric Company built one of the nation’s first industrial parks in Cleveland. But for a few decades, that is not what it has been known for.

Instead, thanks to the polluted Cuyahoga River catching on fire back in 1969, it has been known as “the mistake on the lake,” a reminder that it had been a city that had become a shell of its former manufacturing-era glorious self. However, thanks in large part to its dirt-cheap rents, Cleveland is being embraced by a new generation of entrepreneurs as a place to put their dreams into motion.   ………………………………………………………………….

This is a now a city of entrepreneurship in a range of incarnations … in the classic business sense, yes. But Cleveland’s also a city of people turning their entrepreneurial sense on the place around them– in their childrens’ education, in the environment, even in beer. This is an hour of entrepreneurial stories, taking a look at that go-get-’em-and-seize-your-dreams energy in a variety of forms.

To hear the full rundown of the many different ways the community that “rocks” is rocking even more, click on Cleveland, OH: Entrepreneurs at Work.

One of State of the Re:Union’s very own producers, Tina Antolini, gives a peek of behind the scenes action you’ll hear about in our newest installment of the fall season episodes, just click to listen: Cleveland, OH: Entrepreneurs at Work.

I have an exercise for you. If you were trying to describe what Cleveland, Ohio, tastes like, what would you say? Have any idea where to start? Maybe those of you familiar with the Polish or Italian heritage in the city might inch towards pierogi or salami territory. But, after a week of reporting there for SOTRU’s episode, I have a whole other idea of what Cleveland tastes like, and I can say with 100 % certainty, it is nothing like I’d imagined. Try this: buttered. popcorn. pots. de. crème.

This was the capstone to the kind of meal everyone should have when they go to a new city, a meal of abundant revelations … One that showcases the bounty of the region, but in a way that’s never show-offy. Such is the meal SOTRU host, Al Letson, and I had at Greenhouse Tavern in downtown Cleveland. Greenhouse Tavern is the baby of chef Jonathon Sawyer, a Cleveland native who spent years in the NYC kitchens of famous chefs, only to come back home when his kids were born and open Ohio’s first certified green restaurant. At the Tavern, that doesn’t just mean highly efficient low flow toilets and a compost pile out back (though they have those), it means efficiency in how animals are used, and sustainability in how ingredients are sourced. It was no accident that nearly every dish we tried featured pork in some form or another; when you’ve got a whole local pig to butcher on a regular basis, you better get creative in how to use it (one staff member told me you end up with 20 to 30 pounds of pure fat each time. And that can only mean… lots and lots of sausage.).

The ingenuity with which those pigs are used is what impressed me: pig tongue dolmas, for example. Greenhouse Tavern has a whole roasted pig’s head on the menu, but they have to remove the tongue, because it cooks more quicky than the rest of it. Hence the dolmas, which are not recognizable as anything even slightly resembling a tongue. Instead, they just taste like very moist minced pork, mixed with raisins and spices, and wrapped in romaine leaves that have been lightly pickled. Another example: the appetizer that I might champion as one of the best bar snacks ever: pork cracklins tossed with crisp fried hominy, pickled red onions, lime juice and cilantro. Porky, crunchy, and pickley, all at once.

The Tavern even has a daily changing menu item called “the fifth quarter,” which is a play on the butchering technique that divides an animal into four quarters, and whatever extra falls out—the intestines, the brain, what have you—well, that’s the fifth quarter. The night we were there it was rabbit spanikopita, and, let me tell you, if that’s produced from leftovers, we should all be so lucky to scraps lying around.

But back to the dish that has indelibly stamped itself into my memory of Cleveland. The story behind the buttered popcorn pots de crème is that they emerged out a of a quasi-joke one night. Greenhouse Tavern’s pastry chef, Matt Danko, saw a bag of stale popcorn in the restaurant, and said offhand that they should make a caramel corn flavored custard. The chef told him to go for it, and then he turned out not to be kidding. Matt makes the pots de crème by whipping up a batch of popcorn and then infusing cream with it, turning that into custard, and adding a topping of caramel and sprinkle of sea salt. What you get is what caramel popcorn would be if it had been transported into some sort of ethereal realm. Light, evoking the best buttery popcorn you’ve ever had, but with the dark “roastiness” of caramel and spike of salt. If this is what Cleveland tastes like, it tastes damn good.

The New Old West

People are few and far between in Wyoming.  Those that do live here prize tradition, self-reliance, and their connection to the land.  So when change comes to the high plains—an oil boom, a minister with new ideas—communities here are tested.   And neighbors have to strike a balance between preserving their independent way of life, and learning to rely on one another. We trek to the small towns and remote ranches of Wyoming, meeting people as they adapt to the New Old West.

People in Wyoming have had their fair share of wrestling with the demons of humanity. During this episode, Al explores the stories that have started changing the face of this once-rugged human terrain.

To listen to the full episode of Wyoming: The New Old West, click here. Following  are the latest in the collection of fall episodes: Cleveland, OH and Sacramento, CA, set to be released over the next two days.

Defending the Gulf

 After Hurricane Katrina ravaged the area, Mississippi Gulf Coast residents were forced to come together to deal with the aftermath. Then, just as they were starting to get back on their feet, the BP Deepwater Horizon disaster dumped millions of barrels of oil into the water just off their shores.

Cumulatively, these events have made environmentalists out of a whole lot of Gulf Coast residents who may not have considered themselves as such. Al will take you an hour of stories about the fight for the natural world Gulf Coast bringing residents together, both with one another and with unlikely partners—and how, in some instances, that fight is turning out to be exactly what a community needed to survive.

You’ll learn about Turkey Creek, where a historic African-American community fights for its survival with the unlikely allies of rare birds and the Audubon Society. Al will also talk to a resident combing the beach for sea turtle strandings that they fear are related to the oil spill. We’ll also hear about former spill cleanup workers fighting for recognition of what they believe are oil-exposure-related health problems.

To enjoy the entire Mississippi Gulf Coast: Defending the Gulf episode, click here. There are three new episodes queuing up for you to enjoy, and we will keep you posted as they come. Episodes to look for: Wyoming; Cleveland, OH; and Sacramento, CA.

Still Rising from the Ashes

We are proud to announce that today begins the release of the new SOTRU fall season! The first episode gives us an intimate look at the Bronx, NY.

The Bronx has long been seen as a symbol of America’s failings.  For many people here, ‘making it’ means escaping the crime and poverty of their borough.  But some have refused to flee. This episode shines a light on the hold-outs and the dreamers, people who’ve committed their lives to keeping chaos at bay in the Bronx.

To listen to the Bronx, NY: Still Rising from the Ashes episode in its entirety, click here.

The rest of the new SOTRU episodes will be released over the next four days. Take a trip with Al as you listen to him tell the stories of men and women throughout our communities. After becoming engrossed in the Bronx, NY episode,  you can lose yourself some more in: the Mississippi Gulf Coast; Southern Wyoming; Cleveland, OH; and Sacramento, CA.

Emerging through Immersion

State of the Re:Union is continuing the School Spotlight segment with a look at a very special school in Sacramento, California. This region will be featured in one of our new episodes which begin releasing today. SOTRU is highlighting the Susan B. Anthony Elementary School that is beginning a new immersion program to assist the largely Hmong-populated community. (If you are dying to find out more about the Hmong people and culture, we can help you with that. You can check out our Twin Cities episode now, and you can learn more on our new Sacramento episode being released this upcoming week!)

Like many states across the nation, California has a very diverse range of  countries, creeds and backgrounds. For the Hmong people, escaping persecution due to hiding and assisting American soldiers in the Vietnam war was one of the driving reasons they sought asylum in the United States. Deracinating ties with family, friends and country, the Hmong community has been planting roots and making America their home.

A large population of Hmong people now call Sacramento, California their home. In an effort to help children and families acclimate more easily,  Susan B. Anthony Elementary of the Sacramento City Unified School District (SCUSD),  is implementing a new Hmong Immersion Program in an effort to assist the ever-growing Sacramento community.

This program’s goals have been designed to help students become proficient in both English and Hmong languages to increase academic achievement. The school gives a bit more of a breakdown of exactly what dual language immersion is:

•    Uses both English and Hmong instruction
•    Serves English learners and native English speakers
•    Includes high levels of proficiency in new language and home language
•    Increases use of English gradually

According to a press release issued on September 1, 2011, Susan B. Anthony Elementary has implemented this ambitious plan as part of SCUSD’s initiative to “graduate high-achieving, bilingual and bicultural students ready to compete in the future global marketplace.”

As immersion programs go, this is the latest in Sacramento’s ground-breaking list of language immersion programs. Participating kindergarten students in the immersion program are primarily taught in the targeted program language, which in this case is Hmong.

As students progress through school grades, they are taught less in their language and more in English. By the time these students reach fifth grade, they will be learning in all-English. Years of research shows that students in language immersion programs are more successful at school, scoring higher on standardized tests given only in English than their counterparts taught only in English. This will have a profound impact on not just the students, but their families, and in turn, the community, state, and the nation.

Susan B. Anthony Elementary is leading the way for other schools in the Sacramento area. More schools are joining this effort helping children and families in their community through similar acclimation and immersion programs. Of course, being in America pretty much obligates us to having conflicting viewpoints on this program. People throughout the nation differ in opinion about the immersion program and just how necessary and/or helpful it is. On one side of the coin, I’ve heard some say that, well, “we’re in America, so English needs to be spoken in our schools.” However, as we at SOTRU have seen, it is not always that simple. To quote from the American Graduate initiative, “There is no ‘One Size Fits All’ solution” when contemplating a solution in the never-ending educational battles.

What other places around the country are using similar programs? Do your neighborhood schools offer similar programs? Has there been a noticeable change benefiting the community? Of course, we would love to hear what they are and in what ways they’ve helped or hindered your community.

There’s been a lot of bad news coming out of Sacramento lately: homelessness, the foreclosure rate, unemployment, political gridlock in a state crippled by the recession.  Add to that a stubborn case of politics fatigue, and you’ve got a lot of reasons to write off this city.  But we trekked to California’s beleaguered state capital to peek behind the national headlines and find out who keeps this city running—day in, day out—despite all that’s going wrong.  And we left with the realization that people in Sacramento are remaking the American city, in surprising and deeply moving ways.

State of the Re:Union wants to hear from you! Use the comment section below to let us know what you think about our latest episode, All Hands on Deck.

  [podcast]http://sotrupodcasts.creativeempirell.netdna-cdn.com/Sacramento_podcast.mp3[/podcast]  [/podcast]

Since State of the Re:Union is all about topics featuring people and communities turning broken realities into new beginnings, we thought it befitting to highlight this storyline. If it has a familiarity to it, it might be that the talented producer, Mr. Zak Rosen, spent some time with us at SOTRU as a radio producer. Even though his physical presence is elsewhere, his character still permeates the creative air that we breathe.

Now working independently, Zak is producing Work in Progress, a story about a Detroit auto worker who found herself crippled after suffering severe nerve damage from a traumatic head injury she received while on the job. The 50-year-old Gloria Lowe had to re-learn everything, from how to speak, to how to brush her teeth. She literally had to start completely over with just learning how to exist in life and how to be in the world. Doctors informed her that she would never maintain a job again. However, as the human spirit often does, she defied their life sentence and got back to work after two and a half years of recovery. This woman of fortitude did not return back to the auto plant, but rather became one of the leaders of a new movement that is taking shape in Detroit, Michigan. Block by block, the city’s residents are taking back communities that have been written off for some time.

Lowe started an organization, We Want Green, Too,  that is dedicated to training Detroiters in how to reclaim their community. Now Through teaching people how to rebuild the homes that will create neighborhoods, Lowe believes that eventually this can revive her beloved city. She has firsthand knowledge of what it is to come back from a devastating blow. Now, without a whole lot of outside help she is at the she is at the leading edge of a movement that’s taking a stand for Detroit, a kind of DIY urban policy.

Source: KCRW

Work in Progress tells the story of how Gloria Lowe and a small army of dry-wallers, community gardeners, bakers, philosophers and other true-believers are working small miracles all over Detroit. This didactic narrative introduces us to some characters who follow Lowe’s lead in accepting the challenge in reinventing who they are. One such person is Edward Collins, a shift manager at Detroit’s On The Rise Bakery, which offers a culinary arts training program for Detroiters
reclaiming lives derailed by unemployment, crime and substance abuse. Another player on the stage is Grace Lee Boggs,  a 96-year-old philosopher and political activist who has taken a part in almost every major social justice movement over the past 70 years. She still lives and works in Detroit and takes no exception when it comes to participating in this movement. It keeps her young.

While this story has a unique beginning, its ending is starting to find its place in a trending world. SOTRU loves to hear the stories that make up a community of doers dedicated to making change happen through taking the first step of faith.  Everyone loves the stories that invoke the spirit of the Phoenix. We’d love to hear about yours. If you or someone you know have shared in a similar story or experience, we would love to learn about it.

You can watch or find out more about Rosen’s Work in Progress or the We Want Green, Too organization by clicking here.

The City of New Orleans has been long referred to as “The Big Easy,” but since Hurricane Katrina ravaged the city and its inhabitants, that “Easy” has been hard to come by. Fighting to regain normalcy, the city and its residents were forced to reconfigure some of the longstanding New Orleans traditions since the devastation left after Katrina. As part of our episode this storied city, we looked at one church’s unorthodox response to the city’s continual violence.

New Orleans and its residents continue to fall victim to unnecessary deaths, adding to the toll of a city’s depredation. Sadly, murder victims have been framed as statistics, especially in high crime cities. Father Bill Terry grew tired of the apathetic way in which these victims were regarded, so he decided to do something about it. He found a way to bring caring back into the equation by humanizing these victims through his New Orleans Murder Board.

For links to Father Terry’s church and additional stories of New Orleans from Al, visit our episode page.