Episode 93 (Local Channels)

the memory palace

Nate DiMeo

Radiotopia, Publicradio, History, Natedimeo

4.8 • 7.2K Ratings

🗓️ 30 July 2016

⏱️ 14 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The Memory Palace is a proud member of Radiotopia, from PRX, a curated network of extraordinary, story-driven shows. Learn more at radiotopia.fm

SPOILERS BELOW

Notes * Much of what I read about Florence was pulled from old newspaper articles. * The biography in Notable American Women: Volume 5 does a nice, thorough job with Florence story. * I first stumbled on Florence Chadwick in a photo in a restaurant in Santa Barbara and was struck by, as the photo suggested, she went on a world tour, swimming local channels.

Music * First up is Solitude, from (delightfully named) Janis Crunch. * Then we’ve got Like a Bell to a Southerly Wind, by Chequerboard. * Modular Body #7 by Machinefabriek. * After Catalunya by Ephemetry and Richard J. Birkin. * Finishing up on The Old Favourite by The Gloaming.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	This is the memory palace. I'm Nate Demet.
0:11.4	The dream came to her in the water.
0:14.0	She was six, she always said.
0:16.8	In the Pacific, at the foot of the cliffs,
0:20.0	rippled sandstone, orange in the late summer late,
0:23.2	at Point Loma at the mouth of San Diego Bay.
0:27.0	Her parents watching, smiling on a blanket on the beach,
0:31.4	were splashing nearby in the surf,
0:33.8	beaming at their girl, how she took to the water,
0:37.8	a mermaid, a harbor seal.
0:41.0	They didn't have much for her parents.
0:43.2	Dad was a cop, mom kept the house.
0:46.4	They didn't have much, but they had the sea,
0:49.1	right down the block.
0:50.9	Down the worn path lined with wildflowers and sea beans that snaked down the hill from the
0:55.4	lighthouse. And that was enough.
0:59.0	It was everything to Florence, who spent her childhood in the water at the edge of America,
1:04.4	swimming the channel where a conchistador sailed 400 years before,
1:08.6	where the Pacific fleet would pass through on its way to Wake Island and Guadalcanal some 20 years later.
1:15.8	Florence Chadwick learned to swim, to read the currents and the rhythm of the waves,
1:21.8	to keep her hips up, to reach out as far as she could, and to breathe.
1:27.0	Right arm, breathe, left arm, right arm, breathe, left arm,
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Nate DiMeo, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Nate DiMeo and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.