Sound Effect

This week, Sound Effect looks back and reflects on storytelling from 2018. The staff shares their favorite stories from the year.

This show originally aired on January 20, 2018. This week on Sound Effect, we share stories of fish out of water -- people who find themselves in places they're not sure they belong in. We start by talking to writer Rosette Royale, who after beginning an unlikely friendship , decided to plunge right into a place that always terrified him. We hear from former WSU history professor Sue Armitage about how one of Seattle’s founding fathers recruited women to come to Seattle from the East Coast. Then

This show originally aired on January 6, 2018 This week on Sound Effect, take a trip down a rabbit hole. It all started when contributor Warren Langford brought to our attention a man who was trying to track down a mystery disco musician on a cassette he found. That led us to Seattle’s first openly-operated gay disco bar in Seattle, Shelly’s Leg , and the story behind the owner, Shelly Bauman. In researching Shelly’s Leg, we came across a rumor about a relative of our current President, which is

Lauren Davis and Ricky Garcia met when they were teenagers working together at a preschool in Issaquah. They formed a strong and close bond, as young people often do. That bond was destined to change the course of their lives. It also changed the possibilities for other Washington state residents who are struggling with addiction. When he was in his early 20s, Ricky developed an alcohol habit. And a marijuana habit. And a habit of "dabbling" in heroin. "I knew I was feeling depressed," he says.

A woman from a conservative background decides to leave that world and join the Rainbow Family. Then, a woman becomes excommunicated from her family for marrying outside of her religion. Also, a woman reunites with her daycare caretaker, but this time in a completely different type of environment.

We head to Scarecrow Video, where competing against streaming media is a matter of survival. An over-50 women’s champion basketball team finds that losing can be more sweet than winning. Then the story of a man who ran Wyatt Earp out of town , shot the chief of police, and then went straight. Finally, the cutthroat world of pumpkin-growing competitions.

There’s a debate going on in American higher education about trigger warnings and safe spaces, orthodox thinking and free speech. Evergreen State College in Olympia became briefly famous in that debate in May 2017, when a discussion about campus equity spiraled into a true crisis, involving protests, counter-protests, death threats and neo-Nazis. Graduation had to be moved off campus because of safety concerns. In the fall of 2018, the crisis has subsided, but it isn’t really over. Enrollment is

It's our annual Thanksgiving week tradition, when we share our favorite music stories from the past year. We open with Karen Sakata, who has been running karaoke at Bush Garden for decades. We also meet Robbie Luna, who is a carpenter in Seattle, but by night he portrays the role of Prince in the Prince cover band Purple Mane. But Robbie would soon find that his Prince act had an even deeper impact than he’d imagined. Also, we meet a musician who continues to perform with his hardcore punk band,

We meet a woman who combines tap dancing with social justice . A pediatric oncologist shares his story of being pulled out of his comfort zone . And a woman talks about how she chose to shout her diagnosis from the rooftops , only to find out later that she was misdiagnosed.

If you’ve spent any time walking around Seattle neighborhoods, you’ve probably spotted a “Fantasy A” poster bearing the name and image of a young African-American man. His handmade fliers promote performances at local clubs and bars where he shares details about his life through rap music. He spends about six hours each day putting up posters. “I’m a musician with autism and I write songs about my personal struggles,” Fantasy A said.