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.