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Oysterville, Washington is about 15 miles up the peninsula from Long Beach. It used to be a hub for oyster farming. It’s a tiny town, with an even tinier church. But this church has a very long history in Washington, as a little seaside haven. Sydney Stevens is the great granddaughter of R.H. Espy, who helped create this town. He also built the church, now called the Historic Church of Oysterville. This was in 1892, about 38 years after the founding of Oysterville. And while the town had a new

The Islamic Center of Eastside is Bellevue’s only mosque. It was at this Sacred Space that Muslims from more than 40 different countries prayed five times a day. That is, until it was the target of arson -- not once, but twice. In the Islamic faith, the mosque is not only a house of prayer, but the central place for Muslims to gather, according to Omer Lone, a mosque elder at the Center. "The mosque plays the role of the community center," he said. "It's the university and the town hall." In a

At the Cascades Volcano Observatory in Vancouver, Wash., monitors are updating the latest Kilauea eruption on Hawaii's Big Island. About half the scientists there are helping with the Hawaii eruption. Two of them recently flew to the Big Island to assist on the ground. About a year ago, KNKX went inside the observatory to find out what they do for our show Sound Effect . Given all the volcanic activity in Hawaii right now and the fact that this Friday is the 38th anniversary of Mount Saint

This week, stories of beating the odds on your very first try. We hear from a comedian who braved an open mic night which led to a career in comedy. Then, a woman who hit the bull’s-eye with a bullet on her very first and last shot. Also, we talk to a teenager who sued the government over climate change and won. We then learn of an unexpected finding of a butterfly thought to be extinct. Finally, new parents are faced with a task no parents are ever trained for in advance. "Sound Effect" is your

Brad Upton was a fourth grade schoolteacher in Pasco, Wash. who dreamed of becoming a standup comic. On a Tuesday night in 1983 he finally summoned the courage, and made the long drive to Seattle to try his first open mic at the Comedy Underground in Pioneer Square. Just before he was supposed to go onstage, he lost his nerve. “I walked out of there and drove home and waited for a year,” Upton says. “I just hated myself that whole year. I’d gotten that close and chickened out.” When Upton

When I was 16 I spent a month living with a wonderful family splat in the middle of France. The village where they spent their summers was tiny. Really tiny. It was composed of about 70 people, all of whom were related in some way or another, so, as an extraneous bit of DNA in their midst, it was hard to know what to do with myself or how to fit in. Every night in this tiny village one of the families hosted a soiree, a party that usually started in the middle of the afternoon and went on well

A few years ago, a group of teenagers in Washington state took on one of our most perplexing problems with a novel strategy: They sued the state government for failing to safeguard the climate for future generations. The tactic was new, the plaintiffs were young, and yet, they won. A superior court judge ruled in their favor in 2016. But then nothing much happened. Now they’re trying again, this time suing the federal government. Seventeen year-old Aji Piper has become one of the faces of this

Silvana Clark was sitting at home, feeding her 6-month old daughter in the wee hours of the morning. Everything felt peaceful and perfect, like a Hallmark commercial. Suddenly, she felt a whoosh over her head. Turning on a lamp, she was horrified to see a bat sitting in the nursery on a lacy, white curtain. "There’s a bat in the baby’s room. Get it out! Get it out!” she screamed. Then she looked closely at her daughter's face, and noticed blood covering the inside of her child’s ear. She had

This show originally aired on April 15, 2017. This week on Sound Effect , stories of time and how it rules our daily lives. First, retired UW astrobiology professor Woody Sullivan shares how his 25-year love affair with sundials began and how he invented the first working sundial tattoo. Then Sound Effect contributor Hebah Fisher tells the story of how Alkhanshali braved a dangerous voyage for coffee. Then, a disability rights lawyer explains why dozens of people are waiting behind bars for

This story originally aired on April 15, 2017. Retired University of Washington astrobiology professor Woody Sullivan is obsessed with the concept of time. It's apparent the instant you walk into what he call’s his “man lodge," the little study behind his North Seattle home. It’s full of shelves of books with titles like “Empires of Time,” and “Time, The Familiar Stranger.” Plus, there are shelves of small, ornate sundials, some that can fit into the palm of your hand. Finally, across his