Interior Alaska: Frontier Community
Interior Alaska can be a forbidding place. The region is largely wilderness, covered with expansive stretches of tundra and towering mountain ranges. Winters are long…
The Sorting of America
The U.S. has been a country shaped by migration, dating back to the days of the pioneers making their way West. But recently, this country…
Salt Lake City, UT: Updating Tradition
When Mormon pioneers rolled into the Salt Lake Valley in 1847, they brought with them a new theology, a short but intense history of persecution,…
Contested
Host Al Letson and guest producer John Biewen (of the Center for Documentary Studies at Duke University) present a collection of stories from Durham, North…
Hawai’i: The Legacy of Sugar
For many Americans, Hawai’i is a tropical playground, the place of surf, sun and dream vacations. Behind the tourist façade, though, is one of the…
SOTRU Short: The Friendship of Ross and Stardust
Produced by: Jen Chien
When Words Matter: A National Poetry Month Special
In this National Poetry Month special, SOTRU explores all facets of poetry and its influence in host Al Letson’s life. We talk to poets from…
SOTRU Short: Thrashing in the Woods
SOTRU Short: The Life of a Big Idea
Leadership from the Bottom Up
Usually during Black History Month, we remember civil rights icons and reflect on their legacy. But over the past couple of years, SOTRU has met…
Re:Defining Black History
During a month selected to celebrate “history,” we certainly are treated to a lot of the same familiar stories: the battles won for Civil Rights,…
SOTRU Short: In East Portland, Soccer Helps Make a City Home
SOTRU Short: The Possibilities of the Stars
SOTRU Short: Dear Tulsa
SOTRU Short: Move by Bike
The Southwestern Range
Among the most iconic landscapes in America is the Western Range, a stretch of millions of acres of land, much of it remote and undeveloped.…
SOTRU Short: Dear Voices
SOTRU Short: Soteria
Tulsa, OK: Reconciliation Way
Tulsa, Oklahoma sits at a crossroads of American identities. In a special episode of SOTRU, we travel to the middle of Middle America to see…
Portland, OR: A Tale of Two Cities
Portland is a city that some residents praise as a kind of eden: full of bike paths, independently-owned small businesses, great public transportation and abundant…
The Hospital Always Wins
Back in 2004, staff producer Laura Starecheski visited a state mental hospital in Queens, New York, called Creedmoor. She stumbled on to a mystery there…