Photo by Greg Henshall - Greensburg Twelve Days after the Tornado Hit

Today is the fourth anniversary of the tornado that devastated Greensburg, Kansas. In our radio episode, Greensburg – To the Starts through Difficulties, we discovered the resiliency of the residents there and that altruism is alive and well in the country. And beyond resiliency, we discovered the innovative spirit that guides Americans to build anew, in both financially and environmentally sound ways. Visit our Greensburg page to not only listen to the episode, but to discover some of the incredible organizations that we had the opportunity to learn about that are leading the way in rebuilding both the infrastructure and the culture of the area. Below you’ll find a post by Tina Antolini that she wrote shortly after leaving Greensburg, about the vast amount of historical artifacts lost in the storm, how residents came to terms with that, and then carried on.

Ed Schoenberger shows SOTRU host Al Letson some of what remains of his collection of old Greensburg photos

There’s a red, white and blue sign in front window of the house where Ed Schoenberger lives in Greensburg, Kansas. It says “Rebuilding Greensburg with Pride.” This is certainly true for Ed, who has lived in this town for decades, and cared for its history with equivalent pride for just as long. Ed is the caretaker of the cemetery in Greensburg, and is also the curator of the town’s historical museum—that is, before the museum blew away, along with most of Main Street, in the tornado that hit Greensburg in May 2007. It took most of Ed’s treasured artifacts with it, whole rooms of lovingly assembled displays, depicting Greensburg in its early days, as frontier town. He’s managed to salvage bits and pieces from the wreckage of the museum, and some of it has now taken up residence in his home. Out on the front porch, he’s got a beautifully painted tin panel that was once part of the ceiling of the old art deco Twilight Theater. A ledger book filled with the names of Greensburg’s earliest leaders sits on his kitchen table. But, for all his fondness for this memorabilia, Ed has now lived through what’s arguably the most important even in Greensburg’s history: the tornado. He and his wife huddled in their basement, as the winds destroyed the house around them.

Today, more than two years later, he clearly grieves for what was lost—not only his home and those of most of his friends, but decades of history, written into the buildings, the landscape, as well as what was stored in the museum. When Ed and the rest of Greensburg chose to rebuild, they did so stripped of most of the evidence of what had come before. That’s especially hard to a man—and a region—that prizes roots and tradition, a part of the country that changes only gradually and with unease. But, for all his love of the past, Ed has done what much of his town has: mourned that loss, and made his peace with it. He lives in a different house now, one that’s newly fixed up. He talks with excitement about a group that’s just formed called “Greensburg 2020,” which aims to have the town’s population reaching 2020 by that year.  In some ways, Ed says, it’s like Greensburg has become the frontier all over again—this time, as it works to become a model green community.

“It started back in 1884;” he says. “We had basically nothing; Absolutely nothing no water tower, no city buildings, we had nothing. We had streets, but that’s about it. It’s just like starting all over again… But, you know, I can say I’m part of it. “

Marietta Synodis started as an intern for SOTRU and is now our Senior Researcher. She has a knack for finding great stories and in the course of researching for our Los Angeles episode, found an incredibly helpful, community building social media effort called Hidden Los Angeles. Check out Marietta’s post about Hidden Los Angeles and be sure to let us know how you feel about it and about what may be similar efforts in your hometown below.

Having grown up in San Diego, I definitely have engaged in anti-LA sentiment more times than I should probably admit. You know, it’s so polluted, cement everywhere, wallets (and bodies) full of plastic, Los Angel-less, and lest I not forget the unbearable traffic, traffic, TRAFFIC!  We all know the stereotypes.  But in doing research for our LA episode, I came across the website Hidden Los Angeles: “embracing the depth beneath the shallow.” OK, interest piqued. And, as is often the case with the internet, I found myself an hour later still looking through all the vintage photos, event listings, and intriguing collateral posted throughout the site. (more…)

So it seems that we missed this year’s Obscura Day, “A day of expeditions, back-room tours and hidden treasures in your hometown,” introduced to us last year by former SOTRU Radio Producer Zak Rosen. The day is celebrated in cities and towns throughout the world, with the highest concentration taking place in the United States. It’s a fantastic window into the types of people and places that give a community its uniqueness. Be sure to visit the official Obscura Day website to learn more and check out Zak’s post from last year about it.

My friends at the Craig Fahle Show just made me aware of Obscura Day, coming up on Saturday.  It’s “an international celebration of wondrous, curious, and esoteric places,” with local events being held all over the country.  It’s all being organized by the zany folks at Atlas Obscura, “a collaborative project with the goal of cataloging all of the singular, eccentric, bizarre, fantastical, and strange out-of-the-way places that get left out of traditional travel guidebooks and are ignored by the average tourist.”

The idea behind Obscura Day made me think about a project that I previously worked on. A few years ago, I produced an audio portrait of Jenenne Whitfield for Studio 360.

Jenenne is the Executive Director of the Heidelberg Project on Detroit’s eastside.  Not only is the Heidelberg wondrous and exotic, but it’s also a community hub, a creative statement, and one neighborhood’s unexpected salvation.

Is there a place like this in your hometown?  If so, tell me about it by commenting below.  Maybe SOTRU will head your way for a future episode.

Happy Obscura Day!

Music lovers across the globe all have stories of that first record store that ushered in their individual Age of Enlightenment. Chances are, those little shops of our youth are long gone, particularly now that digital technology offers customers the chance to shop from home with a click. But there are still die-hard fans out there who not only continue to go out into the world seeking used vinyl and new and used CDs, these folks are also fostering a young brood of new music lovers; buyers who are still willing to embrace new technology but also looking for both the tangible and more intrinsic benefits of vinyl. (more…)

The New York Times published an article yesterday titled, “As the Mountaintops Fall, a Coal Town Vanishes.” It discusses the devastating effects of mountain top removal mining, in this case, on Lindytown, West Virginia. In our 2010 Fall Season, we visited Lindytown for the Appalachia Rising episode and discussed in great detail the toll that the town, and the surrounding area, had taken and continues to take as a result of mountain top removal mining.

The thing that really stood out to us at SOTRU, was learning of the passing of Lawrence Richmond who so graciously invited us into his home and spoke to us during the recording of the episode. Rest in peace Lawrence and our deepest sympathies to the Richmond family.

Radio Producer Tina Antolini’s post from October of 2010, about her time in Appalachia seemed appropriate to share upon hearing this news:

Abandoned Home in Lindytown, WV

We all know what it’s like to be homesick—that bittersweet pang of longing for a place so familiar it feels part of us. Estranged from it, at certain moments it seems almost as if we are estranged from ourselves. But what’s it like to feel homesick when you’ve never left home? When, instead, your home has changed around you? (more…)

Source: Man Vyi

Honestly. It sounds like an empty feel-good mantra, but even in those times that you may get to feeling misanthropic and like nobody cares about anything or any one but themselves, something seems to reveal itself. Just the idea of how we care and help each other can be cause for division and anger. But it’s so profound when you see real help through the lens of a child taking on a herculean affliction. It’s comforting to know there are those times, those challenges and those people that individuals in communities are willing to surrender their inclinations for and help. There are times when it is completely visible and others that we will probably never hear about.

It’s exciting to think of all of the good, selfless work that is going on in large and small pockets of the country . . . even humbling.

We Want to Know:

• Is there a person or organization doing work in your community that encourages you to help improve humanity?
• What type of work is desperately needed in your community and what do you think would help?

This post was inspired by a story from WEKU called Little Soda Pop Tabs Go a Long Way. It is about a little boy by the name of Dalton Brock that got into a serious car accident with his mother in which the doctors said of his skull fractures and head bleeds, “It was impossible that he lived.” He is now at the Cardinal Hill Rehabilitation Hospital in Lexington hoping to be able to walk without assistance. The family moved into the Lexington Ronald McDonald House. This is a story about the family and community raising money by collecting soda can tabs.

We are excited to announce that Al and Tina are wrapping things up in warm Miami (Al has been working hard and deserved a balmy climate for our final spring stop), the last city on our 2011 Spring Season itinerary. Al and our all-star team of radio producers have collected incredible stories of community and the resiliency and devotion of people meeting challenges head on . . . and creating solutions. Come along this Spring as we visit:

• Las Vegas, Nevada
• Birmingham, Alabama
• Utica, New York
• Oakland, California
• Miami, Florida

Watch our newest short documentaries shot in Birmingham about the incredible stories of Red Mountain and Scrollworks and read the breakdown of all five upcoming Spring Season episodes on our Season 2 Preview page!

Go ahead, we know you’re a leader, get the conversation started! SOTRU would love to get your thoughts on the episodes when they are made available, our newest documentaries and all things SOTRU and community related.

Use your imagination.

Their Slogan . . . and It's True

When it comes to playtime, nothing beats a good, old-fashioned cardboard box. As little kids, I bet many of us spent our fair share of time inside one – imagining ourselves as spaceship drivers heading toward outer space, or treasure hunters exploring a deep dark cave. As we’ve grown older and the real world has catapulted us forward, that cardboard box has probably lost its appeal – becoming just another storage container, or a reminder that moving day is on the horizon. But imagine if we could maintain that childhood imagination a little longer. How might we apply it to the benefit of our communities?

In New Orleans, a writer named Rob Walker is answering these questions – not with cardboard boxes, but with vacant, dilapidated buildings. Like many towns, New Orleans has several neglected edifices, and they struck a chord in Walker’s imagination. What could these buildings become, he wondered, in some limitless, hypothetical future? How could they be renovated and used by the community? He had a few ideas up his own sleeves, so he decided to play them out artistically – producing architectural renderings of imagined, fictional and exciting new spaces – and posting them outside the current, neglected ones. In this vein, he founded the Hypothetical Development Organization in 2010.

“In our view, plausibility is a creative dead end.”

Mobile Cornucopia

Much like children and their cardboard boxes, The Hypothetical Development Organization isn’t bound by convention as it invents future uses for New Orleans’ buildings. Its designers don’t think about commercial potential, practical materials or physics as they come up with their ideas, and their renderings don’t look realistic. Indeed, as the organization’s website states, “In our view, plausibility is a creative dead end.” With this freedom, past ideas have included, “The Museum of the Self” and “The Loitering Centre.” Although some critics wonder whether the signs will confuse local residents – Are they really turning this old ugly building into a “Museum of the Self”? – Walker says his signs aren’t intended to confuse anyone. Instead, The Hypothetical Development Organization is simply trying to get communities thinking and talking about otherwise overlooked spaces, engaging in a new kind of urban storytelling that could even spark community activism. Might the architectural renderings inspire local residents to take action and transform a dilapidated space into something new?

The Hypothetical Development Organization in New Orleans really got me thinking about communities and the evolution of neighborhood spaces. Like New Orleans, many cities are home to neglected real estate, and people tend to walk by without a second thought.  The empty buildings have history, and they might remind us of what used to be there. The question is, how can we inspire our neighbors to start discussing their futures?

We want to know:

• Does your community have any old vacant buildings? Have you ever imagined a future use for them?
• What do you think about The Hypothetical Development Project?
• If we consider renovations, should we focus on preserving the history of vacant properties? Or should we try to imagine a modern use, even if it’s totally different?

These thoughts were inspired by two September and December articles in Good Magazine.

Start the discussion below!

Photo By: Naz Hamid for www.pictorymag.com

Water permeates every aspect of life. The chemical substance is essential for survival, covers more than 70% of our planet’s surface, composes anywhere from 55% to 78% of our bodies and epitomizes Bruce Lee’s philosophy on life. It is even a direct connection to the stars, as much of the universe’s water is produced as a byproduct of star formation. It’s amazing that a substance so abundant carries vastly different meanings from community to community.

Some places build their economy around a body of water while for others, the disbursement of water is an ancient, sacred and challenging practice. The needs, uses, esteem . . . all present a vast range. Can you imagine explaining to someone twenty-five years ago what a huge industry bottled water would become? Anecdotes surrounding water are endless.

While it has been a source of division in some cases, it generally is something that brings people together. Think about the times you have spent at your local watering hole swimming, plunging in from a rope swing, fishing or time spent at the seemingly endless ocean just taking in the view, surfing, walking, thinking, bonding.

We Want to Know:

• Besides being a necessity of your survival, what role does water play in your life?
• How important is water or a body of water in your community? Please explain.

Start the conversation by commenting below!

Pictory, a website that captures user’s stories in incredilbe, high-quality photos, did this piece about water called In Deep. We’re looking forward to hearing what you to say. Get the discussion started!

Featured image on home page by Serrah Russell for Pictory.

Utica is not a city that makes many outsize claims these days. There’s a pervasive sense that a lot of the city’s glory days are in the past, that the time when people boasted about Utica with words like “best” and “biggest” are long gone. Except… when it comes to food. Economic hard times or not, this is a city that takes its eating seriously. Maybe that’s because it was home to so many Italians… (more…)

Idil Abdull and Al Letson

and for the Somali Community in the Twin Cities where autism is so prevalent among its children.

When researching stories for SOTRU’s Twin Cities episode, there was one story that the entire team couldn’t stop thinking about after hearing it: within the large community of Somali immigrants that live in the Minneapolis area, there is an alarming trend of autism among their children.

We told the story of a mother, Idil Abdul, turned activist, and a father, Abdi Hassan, who has dedicated his life to the special needs of his child. In the spring of 2009 the Minnesota Department of Health conducted a limited study. As Al says in the segment, “In some ways, the study created more questions than it answers.” After all, the big question, the “Why of Autism” is something the world is still trying to figure out. The public health professionals conceded that even the baseline of whether someone has autism or not is hard to determine.

The segment ended with Al lamenting how there has been talk of several in-depth studies researching what might be happening with these Somali children, but, at the time, nothing concrete had evolved.

However, we were all recently elated to hear the news this month that there is now an in-depth study set to happen!

We got an excited email from Idil letting us know that on Tuesday Jan 18th, 2011, the  Center for Disease Control (CDC), National Health of Institute (NIH) and Autism Speaks announced a study of Autism and Somali children in Minnesota. As Idil wrote to us, “Any family that has a child or children in our case knows it is no day at the park and no parent should accept autism is an unsolved puzzle.  We must find cause, cure and better treatments.” With this study, there is a chance for progress on that front!

You can read more about the study in the Star Tribune or on the Autism Speaks website.

State of the Re:Union is excited to announce that our Black History Month special, “Bayard Rustin – Who Is This Man?” will be airing on public radio stations across the country during January, February and March.

August 28^th, 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. (more…)