Sound. Story. Church.

December 28th, 2008 by Rob | Posted in Uncategorized |

Salt’s Radio Church during the Fall 2008 opening, “Meet Me Anywhere.”

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Here’s a beautiful thing: a Radio Church full of listeners.

No twitters. No Facebook. No emails. No blogs. No cell phones.

Just sound.

The human voice. The natural and built environment. Mainers living their lives.

The sound of story.

Sound. Story. Church.

The culmination of a fifteen-week semester at Salt is an opening. After all the uphill climbs, dangling on ropes, and tears (yes, tears), Salt’s photo, writing, and radio students present their work at a public opening. Photos are displayed in a gallery; writers publish essays and read excerpts aloud; and Team Radio presents their features in iTunes on classroom computers and at Radio Church. This semester’s opening was titled “Meet Me Anywhere.”

Radio Church is a dimly lit room with a couple dozen or more chairs and space for hardcore listeners to stand at the edges. Up front is “Bertha,” a 1930s radio that doesn’t work but she sure ads ambiance. There’s also a nice set of monitor speakers to “broadcast” student productions.

Church gets hot and stuffy pretty quickly. That’s a good thing. It means a room full of ears! Radio students introduce each others work and play fourteen features produced during the semester — one story per student.

Below are a few pictures from the opening and a cool sound clip from graduation day.

The world is now a better place because of fourteen new radio producers with big ears, big ideas, and big hearts.

Make good radio gang.

Rob

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A snap from the first day of class, September 2, 2008. Standing left to right: Suzi Piker, Allison Swaim, Ari Zeiger, Selena Simmons-Duffin, Jamie Yuenger, Lydia Crafts, Eloise Meltzer, Josie Holtzman, and Sarah Jessee. Kneeling: Emily Eagle, Jud Esty-Kendall, Natasha Haverty, Whitney Eulich, and Craig Jarvie.

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“Bertha” in all her glory.

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The line to get into Radio Church.

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Natasha Haverty (c) rips a joke (as usual), Allison Swaim (r) is a bit embarrassed, Emily Eagle laughs herself out of the frame.

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Left to right: Mandy Morrish, Salt’s Outreach Coordinator, Liz Donovan, Salt Radio grad, and Patty Wight, radio instructor.

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Kate Philbrick (r), Salt photo instructor, reminds me it’s illegal for me to take pictures in the state of Maine because I’m such a lousy shot. Colin Woodard, Salt writing instructor, remains silent on the issue.

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GPS coordinates for gallery visitors.

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Selena Simmons-Duffin lookin’ a bit too happy.

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A catty Suzi Piker.

A full gallery.

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And this just looks cool.

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In addition to the gallery opening, Salt ends the semester with a graduation ceremony. Staff and faculty give speeches. Students receive certificates. There are a lot of hugs and crying. But, the most endearing moment is when the students speak. Here’s a clip from the radio students graduation presentation.

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