Trump and Sanders in South Bend, Indiana
Both candidates were speaking in the same place, on consecutive days, just before the Indiana Primary last Tuesday. I thought it would be interesting to compare and contrast the two events.
My Trip To Palestine
I've heard some people think these maps are not accurate. I think they are accurate enough.
I wrote this story as a way to overcome my fear of speaking about the Israel/Palestine Conflict, a serious problem for which we bear some responsibility. I don't know what the solution is, or if a solution is even possible at this point, but I'd at least like to not be afraid to talk about it.
Music: Mouth harp by Alex Caldiero; Colony Collapse, Dreams From Wounded Mouth, and Fitnah by Filastine.
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Maybe He Became a Bear: An Interview with Jim Harrison
I don't know who took this photo, but I owe him or her a t-shirt and patch.
I spoke with Jim at Dennis Sizemore's house up Emigration Canyon, about ten miles east of Salt Lake City. We'd eaten dinner and it was too noisy inside the house, so we sat in my pickup truck out in the driveway.
Prisoner of Zion
An essay on where I live and what I live for.
Music by The Mormon Tabernacle Choir--Come, Come Ye Saints
Photo by Julian Cardona
The Salt Lake Temple
Joseph Smith
Brigham Young
Searching for Amnesia
Scott Carrier
I'm currently at the Panama Music Festival in Launceston, Tasmania. I was invited to speak about podcasting. So this week I'm posting this story from the archives. It originally was broadcast in 1996 on This American Life.
New Home of the Brave patches for sale.
One Year Review Meeting
In which I present the numbers, an accounting, to the listeners/supporters of the show.
Music by Mum, Slow Bicycle
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Home of the Brave T-Shirts
The Iowa Caucus
Two Sanders supporters at the caucus in Dubuque.
A trip to Iowa to see if young people would turn out for the caucus.
Zach Meyer at the caucus in Dubuque.
Lots of older folks turned out, and they mainly supported Hillary Clinton.
Sometimes it was necessary to count more than once, by different methods.
Highway 6, Nebraska, on the way home.
Saints of the Last Days
Jim Harmston (photo by the Salt Lake Tribune)
Originally broadcast in the "Factions" show of This American Life in 1996. Edited by Alix Spiegel and Ira Glass. Inspired by a story in The Salt Lake City Weekly by Carolyn Campbell. About a group of renegade Mormon polygamists in central Utah.
Absolutely, God Told Us To Do This
Brand Thornton, one of the militia that has taken over the Malhuer National Wildlife Refuge in southeastern Oregon.
An Interview with one of the Bundy gang.
Pete Santili covering the event.
On the road from Burns, Oregon, to the Malhuer National Wildlife Refuge.
The Balkan Route
The final report on the refugee trail, describing how they travel from Athens to Germany.
Music: Crossroad Metamorphosis and Super FM Dub by Hayvanlar Alemi.
Photos by Camilla Q. Madsen
Walking from the Greek border to Gevgelija, Macedonia.
Gevgelija, Macedonia.
A Syrian with two babies, near Gevgelija.
Check point at the transit camp on the Serbia/Croatia. Slavonski Brod, Croatia. We were allowed to photograph the refugees but not talk to them.
Slavonski Brod, Croatia
Slavonski Brod transit camp, Croatia.
Transit camp at Sentilj, Slovenia.
Waiting to cross into Austria from the transit camp in Sentilj, Slovenia.
A team of medics from Norway at the Sentilj transit camp.
Inside the tent at the transit camp in Passau, Germany.
Passau, Germany
Afghan volunteers at the transit camp in Passau, Germany.
On the Ferry from Lesbos to Athens
Photos by Camilla Q. Madsen
On the Isle of Lesbos
Interviews with refugees as they arrive on the beach, having crossed the Aegean Sea in rubber rafts.
Photos by Camilla Q. Madsen
Newlyweds. They left Afghanistan after her family tried to force her to marry another man.
When the boats reach the shore, children are lifted out first by volunteers. This girl is crying for her mother who is still in the boat.
Children are wrapped in space blankets when they reach Lesbos because they are wet and cold from crossing the sea.
Volunteers and journalists waiting for the boats to arrive. Some volunteers swim out to meet the boats.
The volunteers create two lines and help each refugee out of the boat. Most of the people in the boat are Hazara from Afghanistan
Little boy sitting on his life jacket next to his float and getting warm after reaching the shoreline a few minutes earlier.
Mother and son resting after crossing the Aegean sea. The Turkish shore is in the background, six miles from the shore of Lesbos.
On the Border of Greece and Macedonia
Four days ago, the European Union decided to allow only refugees from Syria, Iraq, and Afghanistan into Northern Europe, stranding thousands of people at the Idomeni transit camp on the border of Greece and Macedonia. This report is from the Idomeni camp, where a variety of protests are ongoing by Iranians, Pakistanis, Moroccans, and Somalis who say they'd rather die than be sent home.
Photos by Camilla Q. Madsen
Macedonian police blocking the border. The rail track goes from Greece to Macedonia.
Men from Pakistan and Bangladesh are protesting and asking why they are not being let through to Macedonia: "We wouldn't have come here if we didn't have problems at home," a man from Bangladesh says (right).
Moroccan men protesting the border control. The protesters have made a coffin with the name Achraf. He is one of two men (allegedly) killed by Serbian Police two days ago while illegally crossing the border to Croatia at night.
Iranian men sewed their mouths shut to protest against the border controls of the Balkan Route.
Military and police from Greece and Macedonia guard the border.
People have been putting up tents along the train tracks.
Young Moroccan man lying motionless on the ground. After a while, the Red Cross came and carried him out. Many of the people are afraid the border will open any minute. Therefore, they don't go to the camp area to eat and drink, causing some to faint from dehydration.
The Refugee Trail
A Somali refugee at the Sandholm Asylum Center outside Copenhagen, Denmark, November 12th, 2015.
Timothy John Hinman of Third Ear invited me to speak about podcasting at the Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival on November 9th, and I was supposed to return home today, November 14th. But instead of going home I've decided to rent a car and drive south, following the refugee trail (backwards) to the Greek island of Lesbos. The refugees I've spoken with here in Copenhagen have told me amazing stories and I feel an obligation to record as many as I can. So I'm going to drive south through Europe, finding refugees moving north and ask them: "Why did you leave home? Where are you going? What has happened along the way?" I should be able to get the story produced and posted by the end of November.
Your donations will be very much appreciated.
Refugees at Central Station in Copenhagen, Denmark, November 13, 2015.
Refugees getting information from a volunteer at Central Station in Copenhagen, November 13, 2015.
Two refugees being escorted off the train in Malmo, Sweden.
The Death of Ruth Tuck: A Docu/Drama
A story for Halloween from the archives (1986). I wanted to make a documentary about how our culture deals with death and dying, but then decided it would be better to do it as a docu/drama, with some actors and some "real" people. My friend Ken Larsen wrote and directed the dramatic parts. I interviewed doctors, morticians, grave diggers, etc. The main character, Ruth Tuck, is completely fictional.