Spencer is a normal nine year old boy...except for one thing.  He has Tourettes. His mother and father, Hayley and Richard have been to hell and back looking for answers as he increasingly twitches and yells out inappropriate comments.  For the sake of Spencer and his little brother, Lewis, they try to keep family life normal.  This is thier story.  The song at the end is by Nick Tatham who was a competitor in The Voice and also has Tourettes.   

MEX FACTOR TIC TALK

To what extent is it a storyteller's job to subvert our expectations? "Footsteps" explores the rules of fiction, finding a plot twist in the boundlessness of truth. Produced by nomadic storytellers Emma Knight and Anthony Green from their home town of Toronto, and featuring interviews with Dan Yashinsky, Ian Hamilton, Lisa Moore, Sam Taylor, and Ozgun Atasoy, and music by Lee Reitelman.

FLAMENCO SKETCHES: Footsteps

When tragedy strikes his high school friend, David Epstein vows to find out what happened.

David Epstein is author of the recent New York Times bestseller The Sports Gene, an exploration of the genetic basis of athleticism. He is currently an investigative reporter at the non-profit ProPublica. Up until September, he was a senior writer at Sports Illustrated. He has been a crime reporter at the New York Daily News, and an education reporter at Inside Higher Ed. In his past life, David was a geology grad student. He has lived in the Sonoran Desert, on a ship in the Pacific Ocean, in the Arctic in Alaska, and -- like every other writer -- in Brooklyn.

Help keep us going! If you love the podcast, please donate here: www.patreon.com/thestorycollider

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David Epstein: A turn on the track

[APWW #678] [Originally aired 2013]
The legendary Cuban pianist / bandleader / composer Ramón "Bebo" Valdés used to say, el día que me muera, no quiero lloradera. Que toquen una rumba, que tomen ron y coman chocolate, y que toquen mi música más bailable. The day I die, I don’t want weeping. Have a rumba, drink rum and eat chocolate, and play my most danceable music. 

Bebo passed on March 22, 2013 at the age of 94, and to honor his memory in high spirits, Afropop Worldwide producer Ned Sublette travels to the Voll-Damm Barcelona International Jazz Festival for an exclusive presentation: highlights from the historic Rumba Para Bebo – part concert, part memorial, part Cuban jazz jam, part rumba, and part Kongo ceremony. 

The show features Bebo's son and former pupil, the reigning grandmaster Cuban pianist / bandleader / composer Jesús "Chucho" Valdés and the Afro Cuban Messengers, and with special guests Jerry González, Omar Sosa and Malongo, Mayra Caridad Valdés, Lázara Cachao, Javier Massó “Caramelo,” Javier Colina, Mauricio Vallina, Paloma Manfugás, Eladio Reinón, David Pastor, and more! 

Rumba Para Bebo

Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed in the early hours of March 26th, after being struck by a cargo ship. Eight maintenance workers were on the bridge at the time; six of them died, two others were rescued. The disaster shut down most shipping operations at the Port of Baltimore for nearly three months.
On March 28, On the Record spoke with Scott Cowan, president of the International Longshoreman’s Association Local 333, about what the Port shutdown meant for workers.
While port operations remained at a standstill, many ships’ crew were forced to remain on their vessels. On April 2, we spoke with representatives of two local organizations who were checking in on them:  Andrew Middleton, who directs the Archdiocese of Baltimore’s Apostleship of the Sea, and Rev. Joshua Messick, an Episcopal priest and executive director of the Baltimore International Seafarers’ Center.
On April 10, we got perspectives from the community near where the bridge once stood. We heard from Tasha Gresham-James, executive director of Dundalk Renaissance. And Giuliana Valencia-Banks, Baltimore County chief of immigrant affairs, talks about her work with the families of the workers who died in the accident.

On the Record - WYPR radio - Continuing Bridge Coverage

Traditional Pow Wow music with Club/ Dubstep

On the Record - WYPR radio - Continuing Bridge Coverage

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