Story One: “He Weathered the Storm and Saved Lives”
The first story I listened to was about Skip Boe, a man who lived in New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina, an event which had its 20th anniversary a few days ago. Boe, along with his neighbors, experienced catastrophic flooding which drove him to spend the night on his roof. During the night, he heard his neighbors call out for help, but there wasn’t much he could do at the time. In the morning, he got on his boat to see who he could help, and started with an elderly couple who lived down the street. After rescuing them, he passed by another one of his neighbors, who unfortunately lost his bedridden sister overnight and was angry at Skip for not rescuing them first. After trying and failing to offer his angry neighbor a ride to the hospital, Skip took the people he already had to get help, and on his way back stopped by the angry neighbor’s house to try and help again. He was too late, as his neighbor had drowned by the time he got back. Skip was torn up by this for years following the hurricane, and often thought about what he could have done differently. This changed when the daughter of the elderly couple thanked Skip for saving her parents, saying that he gave them “three more years of life.” While tragic, Skip’s story showed that there was still some silver lining that came from what happened on that night twenty years ago.
I thought this episode was produced in a way that was fitting for the story. The episode started out by getting straight into Skip talking about the events of that night, with no frills or anything attached. It fit the solemnity of what he was talking about, and didn’t cheapen a story where lives were lost. This let Skip’s story speak for itself, as there was no input from whoever was recording him. The only bit of notable audio effects occurred at the end, where there was some poignant music played, which was a nice touch to end the story. I’m glad they waited until the end to put something like this in, though, as it gave a nice but serious bookend to a story that changed the lives of everyone involved.
Story Two: “Late Nights at Dubrow’s”
The next story I listened to was much more lighthearted. The story follows a couple as they reminisce about their favorite restaurant, Dubrow’s Cafeteria. The story outlines how the couple met, the nights they spent at the cafeteria, and the strange (yet endearing) people they became friends with. These characters included Herbie the Nibbler
(known for his sizable eating habits), One Ball Barney (named for obvious reasons), Mendel Berman (who had a leaky ear), and Filthy Milthy (an eclectic family friend who became the babysitter of the couple’s children.) There was no real message to the story, it was done more so to paint a vignette of the lives of this couple, and tell some fun stories while doing so.
This story was produced completely differently than the last. For starters, it was paired with an animation, which really helped me picture the characters that the couple talked about. There was also intro and outro music, which consisted of some lively jazz, something the couple would have probably listened to at the time. The story was framed much more like an active conversation, switching between the husband and wife throughout. Overall, it was a really enjoyable story to listen to.
While both stories were incredibly impactful, it’s important to see how different producing styles can be just as effective in different storytelling situations.