Sound Effect

Meet a mother and a daughter working through how blood and language have shaped their relationship. Simone Alicea is a reporter and editor here at KNKX. Her mom Veronica Alicea-Galvan is a King County Superior Court judge. They came together in a Storycorps booth in Chicago to talk about something specific: the bilingual court that Judge Alicea-Galvan used to run in Des Moines, Washington. But the conversation strayed pretty quickly into this intimate space, where both women learned things about

This show originally aired on December 9, 2017. This week on Sound Effect, our theme is "Blood Ties." Host Gabriel Spitzer heads to a class at the University of Washington where midwives learn how to deal with hemorhage during pregnancy. Alex Ashley profiles a Jehovah Witness who had to find an alternative to a blood transfusion during a medical emergency. We’ll meet a woman who found her birth mother, and then worked to keep her native language alive . Finally, Jennifer Wing introduces us to a

Singer-songwriter Kimya Dawson writes intimate music that connects with her fans in a very personal way. Olympia's independent K Records wrote that "her recordings make it feel as though you have a friend there whispering in your ear. And you do because Kimya is your friend." However, Dawson's intimacy can sometimes get her into trouble. She finds herself opening her heart too much and taking in too many friends. At our live event in May, Dawson shared one of her songs and explored how she

This week's episode of Sound Effect contains adult language that, while "bleeped," may not be suitable for all audiences. This week, some of our favorite stories of how money drives the choices we make. Host Gabriel Spitzer plays a game of Job Title Bingo . Ed Ronco gets a history lessons from Bill Kurtis on skyjacker D.B. Cooper. Writer Paulette Perhach makes the case for creating a fund specifically in order to escape a bad relationshiup or job. Nick Morrison talks about his experience working

In 1931 in the small southeast Washington town of Asotin, a 12 year old boy named Herbert Nicholls Jr. shot and killed the town sheriff. Nicholls was starving and abused, and had run away from home and broken into the local store to steal some food. The sheriff came in to find him, and Nicholls fired the gun with the intent to scare him away. The bullet hit the sheriff in the head, killing him instantly. Nancy Bartley wrote the biography on Nicholls, titled The Boy Who Shot the Sheriff: The

This week, stories of childhood mischief. First, host Gabriel Spitzer shares some mischief from his childhood, when he took some poetic liberties during the morning announcements in middle school. Next, a woman talks about a mathematical discovery she made in third grade, and how it likely kept her from working hard in her education from then on. Also, a man reflects on his capture of an octopus , and the attention he got from it. Finally, woman reflects on her experiences with her shoplifting

It all started when CeCe Moore decided to make a family tree as a wedding gift for her niece. At that point she’d had a whole career in entertainment, working as a model and television and musical theatre actress. But once she started digging into her family history, CeCe quickly realized that she couldn’t put it down. “It just started as a hobby, but once I saw the potential of it, I kind of dropped everything else I was doing,” she said. CeCe started a blog to share her genealogical

This week, stories of speaking out, even when it would have been easier to keep quiet. First, a climate scientist talks about her experience speaking out about sexual harassment and assault in field. Next, a doctor shares what he learned about interacting with the assertive parents of patients. Also, a citizen scientist contradicts mainstream research on asteroids. Finally, a retired investigator speaks out about his theory to why fishing vessel "The Arctic Rose" really sank. The full broadcast

Sara Jamshidi grew up in Iran before the 1979 Islamic Revolution. She remembers when her mother could wear sunglasses and mini-skirts on hot summer days, before the new fundamentalist government made laws about what women could and could not wear. As an adult Sara became a journalist and wrote often about being a woman in a conservative Muslim society. She worked for newspapers that were shut down by the police, and worked for editors who were arrested and sometimes tortured for publishing

This week, stories of career paths and their unexpected twists. First, a man finds himself lucky enough to never have to work again, and decides he’ll pivot to being a LEGO artist . Then, an Iranian journalist is forced to leave her country and career behind, only to discover a new kind of journalism in Seattle . Next, a career dishwasher becomes an internationally renowned artist . Also, a man who used to be in the rock ‘n roll business ends up helping musicians recover from some of the vices