In this ripped from the archives edition of B-Side we learn all about little things – everything from baby carrots, to pint-sized rock stars. We’ll also learn about what it’s like to shop for clothing in the kids section as an adult, and hear about the preemie ward at Oakland Children’s Hospital.This episode originally aired in March 2002.

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Liner Notes:
Baby Carrots: Tamara Keith
They’re sweet, they’re crunchy, and they come conveniently packaged and ready to eat at any supermarket – but have you even thought about where baby carrots come from?

Small Sailors: Katy Shrout
Katy Shrout spents a lot of time with the grade school crowd as part of her job working for the Age of Sail program at Hyde Street Pier in San Francisco. She introduces us to a crew of small sailors.

Shopping Small: Claudine Zap
B-side essayist, Claudine Zap, found a simple solution to her little size problem and went from a size two to a size 12 without gaining an ounce. All she had to do was start shopping in the kids section.

Preemie Ward: Emelie Gunnison
Emelie Gunnison visited the preemie ward at Oakland Children’s Hospital with one of its many volunteers.

The Moss Brothers.

Rock Stars: Dave Gilson
B-side crew member Dave Gilson met some local musicians who are well on their way to hitting it big. The Moss Brothers have a combined age of twenty-nine and they’ve already appeared on MTV and jammed with members of Metallica. Please note, this story originally aired in 2002, so these kids are pretty much all grown up now.  

This was B-Side’s second episode.  At the time, we were all living in or near Berkeley and that city certainly shaped this show.  It was also put together in the weeks immediately following 9/11 and that had an impact as well.

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From Esperanto diehards to high-school idealists and Punjabi separatist taxi drivers, we bring you a show about revolutionaries in our midst.

Liner Notes:

Free Writing: Mia Lobel
The assignment: write for 15 minutes straight. The topic: revolution.  The thoughts of high school students in Mia Lobel’s creative writing class.

Peace in a Time of War: Tamara Keith
With more than 90-percent of the country coming out in support of the war against terrorism, we look at how the peace movement is trying to sway public opinion.

One Woman Revolution: Katy Shrout
You’ve probably seen her on the freeways. You might think she’s a maniac, but in fact, Katy Shrout is a revolutionary.

Free Khalistan: Lyssa Mudd
The “Free Khalistan” movement is alive and well on the streets of Berkeley, but how’s it doing in Punjab?

Saluton, Amikoj: Dave Gilson
Esperanto, an artificial language created 80 years ago as a way of fostering international understanding and of course, world peace, never really caught on, but there are still some diehard esperantists out there, including a bunch in the East Bay.

For the next several months we’ll be restoring the B-Side online archives, starting with our very first episode.  This show first aired on KALX in September 2001.  Yup 2001!  These early shows were produced with a flurry of creativity and enthusiasm and you can certainly hear it coming through.  B-Side was hatched in the summer of 2001 right after the original B-Side crew members graduated from UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism.  There were lengthy brainstorming sessions at cafes and Thai restaurants, late nights with wine and ideas flowing.

We hope you enjoy this jaunt down memory lane.

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Liner Notes :

Praying Off the Pounds: Katy Shrout
Visit New Generation Church in Richmond where participants have added God to their diet regimen.

Portrait of a Nail Worker: Aryn Baker
Like many women in the nail biz, manicurist Jan Bwee is a Vietnamese immigrant.  In this personal reflection, She says helping others beautify their nails is helping her live out an American dream.

Roller Setting: Lyssa Mudd:
As the days of bouffants and behives grow more distant, it’s become increasingly difficult for older women to find stylists who even know what hair setting is.  Meet one woman who’s been roller setting hair since the 1950s.

Hair Braiding: Mia Lobel
Hair braiding, in the intricate styles often worn by African American women can take as many as 12 hours.  We visit African Traditions, a salon where braiding is the style of choice.

Curly Haired Essayist Goes Straight: Claudine Zap:
Not long ago, Claudine Zap visited the hair salon for a trim.  She was shocked, shocked, when her stylist asked her if she wanted to blow dry her hair straight.  From that experience, we get this personal essay.

The final product: five fabulous pedicures.

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Charla Bear and Tamara Keith continue trying to find their way home.  They reach civilization, only to realize they still have no idea where they are.  On this edition of B-Side, we’re finding ourselves.

Finding People: Dan Bobkoff
Have you ever had a cool experience of running into someone in an unexpected place?  Dan Bobkoff says it happens to him all the time in the most unlikely of places. New York City.  He calculates the odds of these chance encounters.

Courtesy of amateurgourmet.com

Finding Yourself, an Interview with Adam Roberts
Today Adam Roberts is a food blogger, the man behind the incredibly popular Amateur Gourmet. He has a show on Food 2 and wrote the book: The Amateur Gourmet: How to Shop, Chop, and Table Hop Like a Pro. But there was a time, not that long ago when he was lost…not physically, but metaphysically in Law School. He talks about how he changed his career and found his true calling.  Special thanks to Jody Avirgan for recording the interview.

If you want the recipe for Adam’s Janet Jackson Breast Cupcakes, click here.

Addicted to Junk: Mwende Hahesy
You can get a real thrill from an unexpected find.  Some people get hooked on that feeling and look in unexpected places to keep it going. Reporter Mwende Hahesy introduces us to a man who finds his thrills at storage unit auctions.

The Wren’s Nest: Katy Shrout
Our last story is about the author of the Brer Rabbit book. You might know the story from the Disney movie Song of the South…and the ride at Disneyland Splash Mountain. Well, it has quite a back story complicated by issues of race. Katy Shrout has the story of the great great grandson of the author and what he’s found as he explores his family’s legacy.

Katy Shrout is a writer, teacher and academic based in Atlanta, Georgia. She currently is finishing a Ph.D. in American religious culture, and is writing a cultural history of the sacred significance of weddings for women. In her past she has been a living history instructor, theater critic, freelance journalist, and the co-producer of a short documentary film about a former Black Panther from Kansas City that screened at the Sundance Film Festival in 2002. In her spare time, she listens to a lot of public radio, pokes around antique and junk shops, eats poached eggs on English muffins with her husband, and bakes cookies with her four-year old daughter.