Summary
A dream-like journey, a man trying to prove he hasn't died and a reflection on a eulogy. Josie Long presents documentaries where words linger long after they're uttered.
Featuring the voices of the oral historian Studs Terkel, recorded a couple of years before he passed away, and the writer Julia Cooper, finding the words she wished she could offer her younger self.
A Taxi Stops Produced by Rikke Houd
Afterwords Featuring Jeremy Lee Bass Produced by Andrea Rangecroft
Eulogy Featuring Julia Cooper Produced by Veronica Simmonds
Series Producer: Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4, first broadcast in May 2018.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is the BBC. |
| 0:03.4 | Hello, welcome to the new series of shortcuts. |
| 0:07.5 | I hope that you've had a good time in the little break between the last two series. |
| 0:11.3 | The first voice that you're going to hear is that of Studs Terkel, |
| 0:14.7 | the fantastic oral historian from Chicago, |
| 0:18.2 | and the recording was made when he was in his 90s, |
| 0:21.5 | a couple of years before his death in 2008. |
| 0:27.5 | I think there's places I spoke out, I shouldn't have, |
| 0:33.8 | and I didn't, perhaps why I should have. |
| 0:37.2 | This is shortcuts. |
| 0:39.4 | Hurting people. |
| 0:41.4 | Being aware of it and not being aware of it. |
| 0:43.8 | I think casually is good, but hurting people close to me. |
| 0:50.8 | Without giving it a thought at the moment, you know. |
| 0:56.0 | Brief encounters, true stories, radio adventures, and found sound. |
| 1:03.2 | And so, you know, regrets, sure. Good things, yeah. |
| 1:10.0 | I said, evens itself out. |
| 1:12.6 | Today, afterwards. |
| 1:15.6 | You have all these things telling you that you are dead, you are dead, you are dead, |
| 1:19.6 | and I wouldn't be able to tell you how the afterlife would actually work, |
| 1:23.6 | but hey, you got a lot of people telling you something, you could be in denial, so, |
| 1:28.3 | you know, you gotta stay the course. |
... |
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