Re:sound #62: The Long Haul Show

This hour: the work of Dan Collison and Elizabeth Meister of Long Haul Productions. Dan and Elizabeth specialize in stories that follow people over days, weeks, and even years.

Movin' Out the Bricks
by Dan Collison and Elizabeth Meister (Chicago Public Radio, 2003)
In the fall of 2002, Catherine Means was living on the 10th floor of what she describes as "hell": Chicago's Stateway Gardens high-rise housing project. That September, Catherine (a.k.a. "Coco") finally left Stateway and moved into her first apartment. Long Haul followed her for over a year as she transitioned to her new home and life.

Lord God Bird
by Dan Collison and Elizabeth Meister (All Things Considered, 2005)
The Ivory Billed Woodpecker was thought to be extinct until 2004, when it was rediscovered near the small town of Brinkley, Arkansas. The sightings were big news in a community depressed by recession and population loss. This story is one of Dan and Elizabeth's song stories, interweaving interviews with Brinkley locals and an original song written and performed by Sufjan Stevens.

Poet Laureate
by Dan Collison and Elizabeth Meister (Day to Day, 2006)
Three Oaks, Michigan is one of the smallest towns in America to have a poet laureate. Like many rural towns, Three Oaks' economy was badly hurt by farm consolidation and factory shutdowns, but an influx of artists and creative types has given it new life. Dan and Elizabeth recently relocated to Three Oaks and documented the selection of the new poet laureate.

This episode of Re:sound was produced by Roman Mars.