State of the Re:Union
Encyclopedia
State of the Re:Union is a nationally aired Public Radio
show created and hosted by playwright and performance art
ist Al Letson
. With a journalistic, documentary-style approach, the hour-long program focuses exclusively on one city or town in the scope of an episode featuring interviews, commentary, recordings, listener-generated letters and music. State of the Re:Union is distributed by the Public Radio Exchange and National Public Radio and is available as a free podcast.
, which started with more than 1,400 hopefuls. The contest aimed to identify a new generation of Public Radio on-air talent. After four rounds and voting from both a select panel of judges and the public at large, three winners were selected. For his pilot episode
, Letson and team created "Welcome to D.C." Two of the three winning shows were awarded with a year's worth of funding to produce new episodes, including State of the Re:Union.
narratives. The main segments are accompanied by listener-written and read letters to the city, music, lighter fare and Letson's spoken word
pieces.
Chosen topics are typically selected from current events, cultural happenings and out-of-the-ordinary business ventures. Due to such a wide range of features, the tone ranges from serious, investigatory and at times somber to happy, hopeful and humorous.
, Adobe Software
and the Doorpost Film Project.
In addition to hosting, producing, editing and writing State of the Re:Union, he works as a professional playwright, actor and director. His plays have been performed across the country to critical acclaim including Summer in Sanctuary, Julius X and Griot: He Who Speaks the Sweet Word. Letson has directed several stage productions and three movie shorts, one of which, Sign Language, was a semi-finalist for the Fox filmmaking reality show
On the Lot.
Featured: Washington D.C.
Subjects: Unknown Aspects of the Nation's Capitol, Go-Go Music, Shaw District's Gentrification Challenges, Interview with Ian MacKaye
Produced by Al Letson and Taki Telonidis
Listen to the Podcast
Episode 1 - Motor City Rebound
Featured: Detroit, Michigan
Subjects: Detroit Artist Broken Window Glass Project, Activist Grace Lee Boggs
, Avalon Bakery, Inner City Agricultural Revolution, Baker's Keyboard Lounge
Produced by Al Letson and Zak Rosen
Listen to the Podcast
Episode 2 - Jacksonville: Bold New City of the South?
Featured: Jacksonville, Florida
Subjects: Church of Jacksonville Takes on Racial Issues, Operation New Hope Paves the Way for Recitivism
Programs and the Controversy surrounding the Name of Local High School Nathan B. Forrest
High School
Produced by Al Letson and Creative Empire, LLC.
Listen to the Podcast
Episode 3 - Heart of the Heartland
Featured: Des Moines, Iowa
Subjects: Al Obeidi on His Story and New Home, The Des Moines Social Club, The Envy Corps and their music, a personal voyage on Gay Marriage in Iowa and innovative, yet simple Pig Farming methods used by one creative farmer to prevent being squeezed out by bigger factory farms
Produced by Al Letson and Creative Empire, LLC.
Listen to the Podcast
Black History Month Special - Bayard Rustin, Who Is This Man?
Featured: Bayard Rustin
Subjects: Bayard Rustin - Rustin counseled Martin Luther King Jr. on the use non-violent resistance, was the architect of the March on Washington and forever altered the course of American History. Despite these accomplishments, his name is not mentioned alongside other civil rights leaders. This episode explores his work, his life and tackles the question, why didn't Rustin make the history books?
Listen to the Podcast
Brooklyn - Change Happens
Featured: Brooklyn, New York
Subjects: Atlantic Yards is the biggest development project in Brooklyn's history and State of the Re:Union examines why residents are so divided about it. The episode also includes a whimsical tour through the borough, a look into the memory murals found throughout Brooklyn and an interview with musician and producer John Forte
.
Listen to the Podcast
Brooklyn - Change Happens was released as part of SOTRU's Spring Season.
Greensburg - To the Stars through Difficulties
Featured: Greensburg, Kansas
Subjects: A massive tornado came close to wiping the entire town of Greensburg, Kansas, off the map in May 2007. This episode includes residents recounting their experience on the night of the tornado and the aftermath, as well as a look into the town's decision to rebuild green.
Listen to the Podcast
Greensburg - To the Stars through Difficulties was released as part of SOTRU's Spring Season.
Milwaukee - City of Vision
Featured: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Subjects: Family House, an assisted living center for seniors that was started by a registered nurse that quit her job and moved back to Milwaukee to make a difference. Also featured is Will Allen's urban agricultural movement and the effects of violent crime are explored as former convicts face residents and local law enforcement.
Listen to the Podcast
Milwaukee - City of Vision was released as part of SOTRU's Spring Season.
New Orleans - The Big Easy
Featured: New Orleans, Louisiana
Subjects: State of the Re:Union visits New Orleans to explore how the city is negotiating that tension between the old and the new, from race relations to po boys to combating crime, five years after Hurricane Katrina
. Topics from the rebuilding process to bounce hip-hop are included.
Listen to the Podcast
New Orleans - The Big Easy was released as part of SOTRU's Spring Season.
Oakridge - A Work in Progress
Featured: Oakridge, Oregon
Subjects: At one time considered "The Heart of the Timber Empire," the town's economy came crashing down when the lumber mills closed shop. This episode explores how the town is rejuvenating it's economy and image.
Listen to the Podcast
Oakridge - A Work in Progress was released as part of SOTRU's Spring Season.
Española - The Land Remembers
Featured: Española, New Mexico
Subjects: Acequias are an ancient tradition and this episode explores what they are, how they work and their uncertain future. The area's culture is explored through folk musician, author and educator Cipriano Vigil. Lowriders are a family tradition in the area dubbed the "Lowrider Capital of the World."
Listen to the Podcast
Española - The Land Remembers was released as part of SOTRU's Fall Season.
Twin Cities - World within Two Cities
Featured: Minneapolis, MN and St. Paul, MN
Subjects: From Tibetans to Somalis, Iraqis to the Khmer people of Cambodia, the Twin Cities have become a wildly diverse haven for immigrants. In this episode, SOTRU explores the worlds within the Twin Cities, from Ethopian Lutherans to Hmong rappers to a Somali community struggling with a devastating mystery.
Listen to the Podcast
Twin Cities - World within Two Cities was released as part of SOTRU's Fall Season.
Austin - Growing Pains
Featured: Austin, Texas
Subjects: Austin is wrestling with maintaining its countercultural feel due to the success that has ushered in new development and population growth. The episode also explores the boom of trailer eateries, the Cathedral of Junk and the Make Austin Normal movement, a counter to the Keep Austin Weird movement.
Listen to the Podcast
Austin - Growing Pains was released as part of SOTRU's Fall Season.
Los Angeles - Home, Sweet Home
Featured: Los Angeles, California
Subjects: The episode explores the idea of home from many vantage points. The Mariachi Plaza is has been a gathering place for mariachis since the 60s and has become a fountain of employment and community for them. The episode also includes the Watts House Project, the Starry Kitchen and transitional age youth homelessness.
Listen to the Podcast
Los Angeles - Home, Sweet Home was released as part of SOTRU's Fall Season.
Appalachia - Appalachia Rising
Featured: Town throughout West Virginia
and Eastern Kentucky
Subjects: This episode explores mountain top removal mining and its economic and environmental implications. Also featured is a radio show that gives hope to prisoners and a small West Virginia town reinventing itself as a center for the arts.
Listen to the Podcast
Appalachia Rising was released as part of SOTRU's Fall Season.
State of the Re:Union Veterans Day Special - Coming Soon
, articles, a music podcast titled Sounds of the Re:Union and blog posts from Al Letson as well as members of the State of the Re:Union team.
Podcast and Videos
State of the Re:Union features a number of videos and podcasts that dig further into stories featured in the radio program, thoughts from host Al Letson on a wide range of subjects as well as a podcast that focuses exclusively on music called Sounds of the Re:Union.
Sounds of the Re:Union recently released a podcast exploring indie rock featuring some of the genre's biggest names including Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie and The Postal Service), Lou Barlow (Dinosaur Jr. and Sebadoh, Chris Hrasky (Explosions in the Sky), Orenda Fink (Azure Ray) and Pat McGuire (Editor-in-Chief of FILTER Magazine).
Al Letson hosted a preview party at WJCT studios that included:
SOTRU - A Celebration of Community - September 8, 2010
State of the Re:Union held a fundraising event at the Hicks Auditorium in the downtown Jacksonville Library that included:
Public broadcasting
Public broadcasting includes radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. Public broadcasters receive funding from diverse sources including license fees, individual contributions, public financing and commercial financing.Public broadcasting may be...
show created and hosted by playwright and performance art
Performance art
In art, performance art is a performance presented to an audience, traditionally interdisciplinary. Performance may be either scripted or unscripted, random or carefully orchestrated; spontaneous or otherwise carefully planned with or without audience participation. The performance can be live or...
ist Al Letson
Al Letson
Al Letson is a poet, playwright, performer and is now host and executive producer of his own national radio show, State of the Re:Union. Letson avoided college in large part due to his dyslexia and the myriad challenges that the learning disorder presents in the academic world and instead became a...
. With a journalistic, documentary-style approach, the hour-long program focuses exclusively on one city or town in the scope of an episode featuring interviews, commentary, recordings, listener-generated letters and music. State of the Re:Union is distributed by the Public Radio Exchange and National Public Radio and is available as a free podcast.
Origins
State of the Re:Union was a concept created by Al Letson as an entry in the Public Radio Talent QuestTalent Quest
Talent Quest is an organization which organizes a singing contest which is conducted in the United States. Singers perform songs with karaoke background music tracks, and are judged by vocal ability, stage presence, and presentation/appearance...
, which started with more than 1,400 hopefuls. The contest aimed to identify a new generation of Public Radio on-air talent. After four rounds and voting from both a select panel of judges and the public at large, three winners were selected. For his pilot episode
Television pilot
A "television pilot" is a standalone episode of a television series that is used to sell the show to a television network. At the time of its inception, the pilot is meant to be the "testing ground" to see if a series will be possibly desired and successful and therefore a test episode of an...
, Letson and team created "Welcome to D.C." Two of the three winning shows were awarded with a year's worth of funding to produce new episodes, including State of the Re:Union.
Format
The stated mission of State of the Re:Union is to "show listeners how we are more alike than we are different and the many ways our differences are celebrated." The additional underlying premise is to show "how a particular city, town or area creates a community." Each hour-long episode centers on a particular area and typically poses a question with which to explore the area. For example, the Jacksonville episode asks the question, "Is Jacksonville the Bold New City of the South?" as it is advertised. Typically, the show centers on three to four segments that feature stories that try to answer the proposed question. Letson narrates the program and conducts most of the interviews, but stories are also heard from first-personGrammatical person
Grammatical person, in linguistics, is deictic reference to a participant in an event; such as the speaker, the addressee, or others. Grammatical person typically defines a language's set of personal pronouns...
narratives. The main segments are accompanied by listener-written and read letters to the city, music, lighter fare and Letson's spoken word
Spoken word
Spoken word is a form of poetry that often uses alliterated prose or verse and occasionally uses metered verse to express social commentary. Traditionally it is in the first person, is from the poet’s point of view and is themed in current events....
pieces.
Chosen topics are typically selected from current events, cultural happenings and out-of-the-ordinary business ventures. Due to such a wide range of features, the tone ranges from serious, investigatory and at times somber to happy, hopeful and humorous.
About Al Letson
Early in his career, Al Letson established himself in the Poetry Slam Movement, reaping artistic credibility and renown. He has performed on a number of national, regional and local stages, including HBO's Def Poetry Jam, CBS's Final Four PreGame Show and commercial projects for Sony, the Florida Times UnionThe Florida Times-Union
The Florida Times-Union is a major daily newspaper in Jacksonville, Florida, USA. Widely known as the oldest newspaper in the state, it began publication as the Florida Union in 1864. Its current incarnation started in 1883, when the Florida Union merged with another Jacksonville paper, the...
, Adobe Software
Adobe Systems
Adobe Systems Incorporated is an American computer software company founded in 1982 and headquartered in San Jose, California, United States...
and the Doorpost Film Project.
In addition to hosting, producing, editing and writing State of the Re:Union, he works as a professional playwright, actor and director. His plays have been performed across the country to critical acclaim including Summer in Sanctuary, Julius X and Griot: He Who Speaks the Sweet Word. Letson has directed several stage productions and three movie shorts, one of which, Sign Language, was a semi-finalist for the Fox filmmaking reality show
Reality television
Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...
On the Lot.
Pilot Season
Pilot Episode - Welcome to D.C.Featured: Washington D.C.
Subjects: Unknown Aspects of the Nation's Capitol, Go-Go Music, Shaw District's Gentrification Challenges, Interview with Ian MacKaye
Produced by Al Letson and Taki Telonidis
Listen to the Podcast
Episode 1 - Motor City Rebound
Featured: Detroit, Michigan
Detroit, Michigan
Detroit is the major city among the primary cultural, financial, and transportation centers in the Metro Detroit area, a region of 5.2 million people. As the seat of Wayne County, the city of Detroit is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan and serves as a major port on the Detroit River...
Subjects: Detroit Artist Broken Window Glass Project, Activist Grace Lee Boggs
Grace Lee Boggs
Grace Lee Boggs is an author, lifelong social activist and feminist. She is known for her years of political collaboration with C.L.R. James and Raya Dunayevskaya in the 1940s and 1950s. She eventually went off in her own political direction in the 1960s with her husband of some forty years, James...
, Avalon Bakery, Inner City Agricultural Revolution, Baker's Keyboard Lounge
Baker's Keyboard Lounge
Baker's Keyboard Lounge located on 20510 Livernois Street in Detroit, Michigan, claims to be the world's oldest operating jazz club, operating since May 1934.-Early History:...
Produced by Al Letson and Zak Rosen
Listen to the Podcast
Episode 2 - Jacksonville: Bold New City of the South?
Featured: Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville, Florida
Jacksonville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Florida in terms of both population and land area, and the largest city by area in the contiguous United States. It is the county seat of Duval County, with which the city government consolidated in 1968...
Subjects: Church of Jacksonville Takes on Racial Issues, Operation New Hope Paves the Way for Recitivism
Recidivism
Recidivism is the act of a person repeating an undesirable behavior after they have either experienced negative consequences of that behavior, or have been treated or trained to extinguish that behavior...
Programs and the Controversy surrounding the Name of Local High School Nathan B. Forrest
Nathan Bedford Forrest
Nathan Bedford Forrest was a lieutenant general in the Confederate Army during the American Civil War. He is remembered both as a self-educated, innovative cavalry leader during the war and as a leading southern advocate in the postwar years...
High School
Produced by Al Letson and Creative Empire, LLC.
Listen to the Podcast
Episode 3 - Heart of the Heartland
Featured: Des Moines, Iowa
Des Moines, Iowa
Des Moines is the capital and the most populous city in the US state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small portion of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines which was shortened to "Des Moines" in 1857...
Subjects: Al Obeidi on His Story and New Home, The Des Moines Social Club, The Envy Corps and their music, a personal voyage on Gay Marriage in Iowa and innovative, yet simple Pig Farming methods used by one creative farmer to prevent being squeezed out by bigger factory farms
Produced by Al Letson and Creative Empire, LLC.
Listen to the Podcast
Season 1
Season one is composed of 12 total episodes that includes 5 spring season episodes, 5 fall season episodes and 2 specials. State of the Re:Union's spring season carriage topped out at 172 markets and the Black History Month special on Bayard Rustin was carried in 165 markets.Black History Month Special - Bayard Rustin, Who Is This Man?
Featured: Bayard Rustin
Bayard Rustin
Bayard Rustin was an American leader in social movements for civil rights, socialism, pacifism and non-violence, and gay rights.In the pacifist Fellowship of Reconciliation , Rustin practiced nonviolence...
Subjects: Bayard Rustin - Rustin counseled Martin Luther King Jr. on the use non-violent resistance, was the architect of the March on Washington and forever altered the course of American History. Despite these accomplishments, his name is not mentioned alongside other civil rights leaders. This episode explores his work, his life and tackles the question, why didn't Rustin make the history books?
Listen to the Podcast
Brooklyn - Change Happens
Featured: Brooklyn, New York
Subjects: Atlantic Yards is the biggest development project in Brooklyn's history and State of the Re:Union examines why residents are so divided about it. The episode also includes a whimsical tour through the borough, a look into the memory murals found throughout Brooklyn and an interview with musician and producer John Forte
John Forte
John Forte was an American comic-book artist, active from the early 1940s on, best known as one of the primary pencilers of DC Comics' early Legion of Super-Heroes stories....
.
Listen to the Podcast
Brooklyn - Change Happens was released as part of SOTRU's Spring Season.
Greensburg - To the Stars through Difficulties
Featured: Greensburg, Kansas
Greensburg, Kansas
Greensburg is a city in and the county seat of Kiowa County, Kansas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 777. Greensburg is also home to the world's largest hand-dug well....
Subjects: A massive tornado came close to wiping the entire town of Greensburg, Kansas, off the map in May 2007. This episode includes residents recounting their experience on the night of the tornado and the aftermath, as well as a look into the town's decision to rebuild green.
Listen to the Podcast
Greensburg - To the Stars through Difficulties was released as part of SOTRU's Spring Season.
Milwaukee - City of Vision
Featured: Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee is the largest city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, the 28th most populous city in the United States and 39th most populous region in the United States. It is the county seat of Milwaukee County and is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. According to 2010 census data, the...
Subjects: Family House, an assisted living center for seniors that was started by a registered nurse that quit her job and moved back to Milwaukee to make a difference. Also featured is Will Allen's urban agricultural movement and the effects of violent crime are explored as former convicts face residents and local law enforcement.
Listen to the Podcast
Milwaukee - City of Vision was released as part of SOTRU's Spring Season.
New Orleans - The Big Easy
Featured: New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans, Louisiana
New Orleans is a major United States port and the largest city and metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana. The New Orleans metropolitan area has a population of 1,235,650 as of 2009, the 46th largest in the USA. The New Orleans – Metairie – Bogalusa combined statistical area has a population...
Subjects: State of the Re:Union visits New Orleans to explore how the city is negotiating that tension between the old and the new, from race relations to po boys to combating crime, five years after Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina
Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...
. Topics from the rebuilding process to bounce hip-hop are included.
Listen to the Podcast
New Orleans - The Big Easy was released as part of SOTRU's Spring Season.
Oakridge - A Work in Progress
Featured: Oakridge, Oregon
Oakridge, Oregon
Oakridge is a city in Lane County, Oregon, United States. The population was estimated at 3,205 in 2010. It is located east of Westfir on Oregon Route 58, about east of Eugene, and southeast of Portland...
Subjects: At one time considered "The Heart of the Timber Empire," the town's economy came crashing down when the lumber mills closed shop. This episode explores how the town is rejuvenating it's economy and image.
Listen to the Podcast
Oakridge - A Work in Progress was released as part of SOTRU's Spring Season.
Española - The Land Remembers
Featured: Española, New Mexico
Española, New Mexico
Española also known as Espanola , is a city primarily in Rio Arriba County, New Mexico, in the United States. A portion of the central and eastern section of the city is in Santa Fe County. Española was founded in 1880 as a railroad village, incorporated as a city in 1925. The city is situated in...
Subjects: Acequias are an ancient tradition and this episode explores what they are, how they work and their uncertain future. The area's culture is explored through folk musician, author and educator Cipriano Vigil. Lowriders are a family tradition in the area dubbed the "Lowrider Capital of the World."
Listen to the Podcast
Española - The Land Remembers was released as part of SOTRU's Fall Season.
Twin Cities - World within Two Cities
Featured: Minneapolis, MN and St. Paul, MN
Subjects: From Tibetans to Somalis, Iraqis to the Khmer people of Cambodia, the Twin Cities have become a wildly diverse haven for immigrants. In this episode, SOTRU explores the worlds within the Twin Cities, from Ethopian Lutherans to Hmong rappers to a Somali community struggling with a devastating mystery.
Listen to the Podcast
Twin Cities - World within Two Cities was released as part of SOTRU's Fall Season.
Austin - Growing Pains
Featured: Austin, Texas
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
Subjects: Austin is wrestling with maintaining its countercultural feel due to the success that has ushered in new development and population growth. The episode also explores the boom of trailer eateries, the Cathedral of Junk and the Make Austin Normal movement, a counter to the Keep Austin Weird movement.
Listen to the Podcast
Austin - Growing Pains was released as part of SOTRU's Fall Season.
Los Angeles - Home, Sweet Home
Featured: Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
Subjects: The episode explores the idea of home from many vantage points. The Mariachi Plaza is has been a gathering place for mariachis since the 60s and has become a fountain of employment and community for them. The episode also includes the Watts House Project, the Starry Kitchen and transitional age youth homelessness.
Listen to the Podcast
Los Angeles - Home, Sweet Home was released as part of SOTRU's Fall Season.
Appalachia - Appalachia Rising
Featured: Town throughout West Virginia
West Virginia
West Virginia is a state in the Appalachian and Southeastern regions of the United States, bordered by Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Ohio to the northwest, Pennsylvania to the northeast and Maryland to the east...
and Eastern Kentucky
Kentucky
The Commonwealth of Kentucky is a state located in the East Central United States of America. As classified by the United States Census Bureau, Kentucky is a Southern state, more specifically in the East South Central region. Kentucky is one of four U.S. states constituted as a commonwealth...
Subjects: This episode explores mountain top removal mining and its economic and environmental implications. Also featured is a radio show that gives hope to prisoners and a small West Virginia town reinventing itself as a center for the arts.
Listen to the Podcast
Appalachia Rising was released as part of SOTRU's Fall Season.
State of the Re:Union Veterans Day Special - Coming Soon
Accolades
- Friedheim Travel Award: for the public radio broadcast of “Brooklyn - Change Happens” - National Press Club Award
- Made Shortlist (Top 20) for 2010 Vimeo Awards in the Original Series Category - Vimeo Awards Shortlist
Multimedia
State of the Re:Union's website, www.stateofthereunion.com features segments produced solely for the web, videos taken from stories featured in the radio showRadio programming
Radio programming is the Broadcast programming of a Radio format or content that is organized for Commercial broadcasting and Public broadcasting radio stations....
, articles, a music podcast titled Sounds of the Re:Union and blog posts from Al Letson as well as members of the State of the Re:Union team.
Podcast and Videos
State of the Re:Union features a number of videos and podcasts that dig further into stories featured in the radio program, thoughts from host Al Letson on a wide range of subjects as well as a podcast that focuses exclusively on music called Sounds of the Re:Union.
Sounds of the Re:Union recently released a podcast exploring indie rock featuring some of the genre's biggest names including Ben Gibbard (Death Cab for Cutie and The Postal Service), Lou Barlow (Dinosaur Jr. and Sebadoh, Chris Hrasky (Explosions in the Sky), Orenda Fink (Azure Ray) and Pat McGuire (Editor-in-Chief of FILTER Magazine).
Live Events
State of the Re:Union Preview Party - June 19, 2009Al Letson hosted a preview party at WJCT studios that included:
- A video feature as well as an interview and audience question and answer session with Pastors Mike and Connie Smith from the “One Nation, Under God” segment.
- An interview and audience question and answer session with Kevin Gay of Operation New Hope from the “Operation New Hope” segment.
- A video feature of the “What’s In a Name?” segment.
- A sneak-peak of the nearly-finished State of the Re:Union video introduction.
- An audience question and answer session, as well as a spoken word performance from the show’s creator and host, Al Letson.
SOTRU - A Celebration of Community - September 8, 2010
State of the Re:Union held a fundraising event at the Hicks Auditorium in the downtown Jacksonville Library that included:
- A presentation by SOTRU host, Al Letson, that was emceed by WJCT's Melissa Ross and an introduction from NPR's Eric Nuzum.
- A recounting of Season 1 travels.
- A viewing of three State of the Re:Union documentaries - New Orleans: Murder Board, Austin: Trailer Eateries and Appalachia: Mountain Top Removal Mining. and
- A multimedia poem.