ShortDocs

Discover hundreds of short audio gems produced in response to a prompt from Third Coast for the ShortDocs Competition, hosted between 2003 and 2016. Each year ushered in a new set of rules, new creative partners, and ever-more magical results.


A Now Famous Tree

When spontaneous young sexual drives mingle in the shade of a tree, a unique and mysterious relationship is seeded.

Misplaced Memories

When you get rid of things, you never know what you are truly giving up, so keep everything.

The Big Strike!

When a venerable neighborhood tree is struck down its loss is felt by all the residents on the street, but sometimes nature has its reasons.

Two Libraries

A quiet eavesdropper gets more than he bargained for at the public library.

Ad Absurdum

A herd of marketing hits, cliches and platitudes, featuring a chorus of cats and two pounds of Velveeta.

Leaves

The planting of a memorial tree reveals a lost story about my grandmother.

Restful, Shady Places

The authors of Trailer Ahoy! and Trees as Good Citizens enjoy a written correspondence relating to their books' proximity in the library.

When Condos Travel

This piece explores what happens when trailers want to stay put, but condos travel -- removing Austin residents and their beloved trees.

If It Hurts, You Breathe Faster

Buffalo resident Kathy Mecca has been resisting a proposed expansion of the Peace Bridge that threatens to destroy residential homes, architecturally important buildings, and mature trees in a neighborhood that has higher than average rates of asthma.

Pills

A weekend away begets new interactions, with a little help from Andrew Jackson.

I'm Alive

A bell realizes it's alive while on a conveyor belt and then en route to a dollar store.

Life Plays On

An insecure boy discovers, through a saying on a mug, that there is more going on in the lives of others than meets the eye.

Mouse Trap Music

Composer Mark Applebaum describes the creative process he uses when inventing new instruments. He calls one of them "The Mouse Trap."