Claire and I asked Madison residents about their favorite place to eat cheese curds, and has responsibile Wisconsinites, we had to check these places out. 

Madison Curd Crawl

That Time When is a new podcast all about college. We'll here short stories from college students about awkward hook ups, best first dates, when shit got real, and so on. 

This podcast was written and produced by Sofi LaLonde and Dana Scholl. Music by Podington Bear from freemusicarchive.org.

That Time When

Housing Horror Stories

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An explosion and a fire in Puerto Rico’s main power substation leaves the northern part of island without power Sunday night. 

Griselda Flores reports. 

Photo by Elizabeth Beyer (Twitter @bethabeyer)
Produced by Sofi LaLonde.

NEWS: San Juan Blackout

Reported & translated by Griselda Flores. Produced by Sofi LaLonde.

English translation below.

***

"This is my humble home. 

My parents used to live in the area and this is my little house. It gets wet and everything, but we live happily here.

Hurricane Irma passed through here and we stayed home. Nothing happened. But Hurricane Maria just wouldn’t ‘shut up’ like we say.

Well, I was home with my husband and my brother who lives nearby. I brought my brother to my house so he could be here with us. The three of us were here. Up there, there was an avocado stick and it fell on top of the house. When I looked outside the window, I saw that the stick had fallen and landed right in front of the door. We also had a van here and that’s what … I get chills just talking about it … so the van moved and landed there. It was on the edge right on top of the road. Ay, I can’t say it.

When I was leaving [my house], I heard the dad and the kids screaming, ‘Oh my God, the van is moving’ and then I heard the kids crying.

When I saw the van had been removed, I was able to come back. But sometimes when they park cars where the van was, I get very nervous. I also get very nervous when it rains because this wasn’t easy for me.

The only thing I have are my grandkids. Sometimes I stay there with them a couple of days. At first, when it all happened, I would go over there, and when it would rain, I’d tell my husband that I wouldn’t come home, that I’d stay with my daughter instead.

The only one who can help me get through this is God, honestly. To have faith, which I have, and God will help me get out of this."

***

Spanish Transcript:
---
“Aquí adentro. Esta es mi humilde casa.

Como 7 u 8 años. Por allá vivían mis papás y esta es mi casita aquí. Se moja y todo pero como uno dice, feliz.

Pasó Irma y pasamos aquí. No pasó nada. Pero esa no, no se quería callar como uno dice.

Bueno, estaba yo, mi esposo y mi hermano que vive allá. Me lo traje para acá y aquí nos quedamos los tres. Había un palo de aguacate, bajó y se cayó encima de la casa. Cuando yo me asomé, estaba ahí en la puerta. Teníamos un carro aquí, una hua hua, que fue lo que llevó a la … mira todavía me da frío, me da cosa, entonces pues llegó hasta ahí el carro y quedó así de la carretera .. ay no puedo decirlo.

Entonces para yo no ver la hua hua, como estaba ahí, esa gente como tiene hijos pues yo me fui a casa de mi hermano me ayudaron a pasar mi hermano y eso. Cuando yo fui allá, yo oyí a ellos como gritando, ‘ay se fue a hua hua, se fue la hua hua, y escuchaba a los niños llorando.

Cuando vi que la hua hua estaba allá, pues entonces vine otra vez acá. Pero a veces cuando ponen los carros ahí para arreglarlos o algo y tu me ves, y cuando llueve porque te digo, de verdad esto no fue nada fácil.

Lo único que yo tengo aquí son mis nietos. A veces yo me voy estoy días allá y eso. Al principio cuando pasó todo eso, me iba allá. Y cuando llovía mucho yo le hablaba a mi esposo y me decía ‘sí está lloviendo’ a pues yo no voy pa’ allá. Y siempre me quedaba en casa de mi hija. 

El único que es Dios que me ayude a salir de todo esto, de verdad. Mucha fe, que tengo, y yo sé que Dios me va a sacar de esto.”

Six months after the storm: Leonides Maldonado

Reported by Sofi LaLonde and Griselda Flores. Produced by Sofi LaLonde.

Six months after the storm: Angie Rosa

Photo by John Taylor on Flickr: https://bit.ly/2KCbdqd

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We spent a week in Puerto Rico last month reporting about life on the island nearly six months after Hurricane Maria, but found a story that is more complicated and nuanced. The audio-diary-style story features testimonials of three people with very different stories about why they stayed on the island during and after Hurricane Maria, and touches on post-hurricane life, emigration, and the colonization of the island. We also asked them what it means to be Puerto Rican in this moment of transition and rebuilding.

This story was reported by Griselda Flores and produced by Sofi LaLonde. Special thanks to Saybian Torres, Marisol Plard-Narvaez and Ibrahim López Hernández for speaking with us, to Kari Lydersen for her editing help and the Medill School of Journalism.

Featured photo: Saybian Torres by Bill Healy.

English translation available here: https://bit.ly/2HdlMty

Sofi LaLonde

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