Lights Out

Episode

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Broadcast

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Big Tex

20181112

Documentary adventures that encourage you to take a closer listen.

Dallas is a city built on creeks and streams and, in the 1970s, the children of Dallas often roamed a secret landscape of culverts, waterways and tunnels. Meanwhile, above ground, adults in the city were reckoning with a local court order to desegregate the city's schools. Almost twenty years after Brown v Board of Education ruled that racial segregation violated the US Constitution, Dallas began bussing minority students into majority-white schools.

The change brought conflict and strife, but also opened up new worlds for children in a city isolated by race. In classrooms and playgrounds, an osmosis of experience, perspective and rumours took place. Julia Barton, who is white, heard a murky legend of a tunnel to Fair Park, home of the bombastic and beloved State Fair of Texas. Much later (and buttressed by a local basketball star's biography), Julia's black classmate Sam Franklin helps her track the legend down.

But the children of Dallas have a new legend now. The story of desegregation itself has become a distant myth as white families fled the city's schools, leaving new patterns of isolation in their wake. Only the Fair's iconic Big Tex - a 55-foot tall, talking statue of a cowboy - seems to stay the same in Dallas from year to year. But even he may be more changeable than locals want to admit.

With Julia's classmate Nikki Benson, former teenage tunneller Melvin Qualls, local historian Donald Payton, retired teacher Leonard Davis and Sixth Graders from Alex Sanger Elementary School.

Presented by Julia Barton
Additional research by Paula Bosse
Produced by Hannah Dean and Alan Hall
A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4

Documentary adventures that encourage you to take a closer listen.

Deep Time And The Sparrowhawk

20181119

After a decade photographing The Oldest Living Things In The World, New York photographer Rachel Sussman said she began thinking of deep time as deep water: “The more time I spent in the depths, the more I could stay in that space longer ?

What can we glean from spending time in the company of those who fix their gaze on longer timeframes, whose work entails inhabiting expanded notions of time, who seek both to ask and answer questions about our bounded place in that which is boundless?

This is a sonic deep-dive into deep time and ‘the long now': a series of close encounters via philosophy and science, literature and nature, art and the lived life, which delves into how we can think long-term and hold something of deep time as we move through our days. With musings and moments that connect the speaker to the infinite at one time or another - to the deep past, the long future, or the ‘bigger’ present. Perhaps, if we can better inhabit an expanded view of time, we might also expand how we can live its mysteries and exigencies.

Featuring interviews with philosopher and author David Wood; NASA astrophysicist and research astronomer Natalie Batalha; Brooklyn-based photographer Rachel Sussman; Australian writer and philosopher Christina McLeish; and Danny Hillis, an American inventor, scientist and designer of The Long Now’s 10, 000 Year Clock.

Acknowledgement with thanks to NASA’s sound archive and the University of Iowa’s Space Sounds.

Produced by Jaye Kranz
A Falling Tree productions for BBC Radio Four.

A sound-led dive into deep time and \u2018the long now'.

Documentary adventures that encourage you to take a closer listen.

After a decade photographing The Oldest Living Things In The World, New York photographer Rachel Sussman said she began thinking of deep time as deep water. “The more time I spent in the depths, the more I could stay in that space longer. ?

This is a sonic deep-dive into deep time and "the long now" - a series of close encounters via philosophy and science, literature and nature, art and the lived life, which delves into how we can think long-term and hold something of deep time as we move through our days. With musings and moments that connect the speaker to the infinite at one time or another - to the deep past, the long future, or the bigger present.

Perhaps, if we can better inhabit an expanded view of time, we might also expand how we can live its mysteries and exigencies.

Featuring interviews with philosopher and author David Wood, NASA astrophysicist and research astronomer Natalie Batalha, Brooklyn-based photographer Rachel Sussman, Australian writer and philosopher Christina McLeish, and Danny Hillis, an American inventor, scientist and designer of The Long Now’s 10, 000 Year Clock.

With thanks to NASA’s sound archive and the University of Iowa’s Space Sounds.
Including extracts from poems by Alice Oswald and Edna St Vincent Millay.

Produced by Jaye Kranz
A Falling Tree productions for BBC Radio 4

Perhaps, if we can better inhabit an expanded view of time, we might also expand how we can live its mysteries and exigencies.

With thanks to NASA’s sound archive and the University of Iowa’s Space Sounds.
Including extracts from poems by Alice Oswald and Edna St Vincent Millay.

Produced by Jaye Kranz
A Falling Tree productions for BBC Radio 4

A sound-led dive into deep time and \u2018the long now'.

Documentary adventures that encourage you to take a closer listen.

A Sense Of Quietness

20181126

Documentary adventures that encourage you to take a closer listen. This episode follows a line of connection through four women across two referendums to explore the unexpected consequences of talking about abortion.

Starting on live television at a beauty pageant, we hear from a journalist, a radio producer, the founder of a woman's clinic and a woman travelling from Ireland to the UK - and discover the quiet power and hidden dangers of speech itself.

Featuring the voices of Brianna Parkins, Siobhan McHugh and Anne Connolly.

Produced by Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree poduction for BBC Radio 4

Documentary adventures that encourage you to take a closer listen.

Featuring the voices of Brianna Parkins, Siobhan McHugh and Anne Connolly. With additional recordings courtesy of Zoë Comyns and Regan Hutchins

Produced by Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree poduction for BBC Radio 4

Documentary adventures that encourage you to take a closer listen.

Talking

20181126

In this feature we follow a line of connection through four women across two referendums to explore the unexpected consequences of talking about abortion.

Starting on live television at a beauty pageant, we follow a journalist, a radio producer, the founder of a woman's clinic and a woman travelling from Ireland to the UK, and discover the quiet power and hidden dangers of speech itself.

Produced by Eleanor McDowall
A Falling Tree Production for BBC Radio 4

Documentary adventures that encourage you to take a closer listen.

Episodes

Episode	Title	First Broadcast	Comments
01	Big Tex	20181112	Documentary adventures that encourage you to take a closer listen. Dallas is a city built on creeks and streams and, in the 1970s, the children of Dallas often roamed a secret landscape of culverts, waterways and tunnels. Meanwhile, above ground, adults in the city were reckoning with a local court order to desegregate the city's schools. Almost twenty years after Brown v Board of Education ruled that racial segregation violated the US Constitution, Dallas began bussing minority students into majority-white schools. The change brought conflict and strife, but also opened up new worlds for children in a city isolated by race. In classrooms and playgrounds, an osmosis of experience, perspective and rumours took place. Julia Barton, who is white, heard a murky legend of a tunnel to Fair Park, home of the bombastic and beloved State Fair of Texas. Much later (and buttressed by a local basketball star's biography), Julia's black classmate Sam Franklin helps her track the legend down. But the children of Dallas have a new legend now. The story of desegregation itself has become a distant myth as white families fled the city's schools, leaving new patterns of isolation in their wake. Only the Fair's iconic Big Tex - a 55-foot tall, talking statue of a cowboy - seems to stay the same in Dallas from year to year. But even he may be more changeable than locals want to admit. With Julia's classmate Nikki Benson, former teenage tunneller Melvin Qualls, local historian Donald Payton, retired teacher Leonard Davis and Sixth Graders from Alex Sanger Elementary School. Presented by Julia Barton Additional research by Paula Bosse Produced by Hannah Dean and Alan Hall A Falling Tree production for BBC Radio 4 Documentary adventures that encourage you to take a closer listen.
02	Deep Time And The Sparrowhawk	20181119	After a decade photographing The Oldest Living Things In The World, New York photographer Rachel Sussman said she began thinking of deep time as deep water: “The more time I spent in the depths, the more I could stay in that space longer ? What can we glean from spending time in the company of those who fix their gaze on longer timeframes, whose work entails inhabiting expanded notions of time, who seek both to ask and answer questions about our bounded place in that which is boundless? This is a sonic deep-dive into deep time and ‘the long now': a series of close encounters via philosophy and science, literature and nature, art and the lived life, which delves into how we can think long-term and hold something of deep time as we move through our days. With musings and moments that connect the speaker to the infinite at one time or another - to the deep past, the long future, or the ‘bigger’ present. Perhaps, if we can better inhabit an expanded view of time, we might also expand how we can live its mysteries and exigencies. Featuring interviews with philosopher and author David Wood; NASA astrophysicist and research astronomer Natalie Batalha; Brooklyn-based photographer Rachel Sussman; Australian writer and philosopher Christina McLeish; and Danny Hillis, an American inventor, scientist and designer of The Long Now’s 10, 000 Year Clock. Acknowledgement with thanks to NASA’s sound archive and the University of Iowa’s Space Sounds. Produced by Jaye Kranz A Falling Tree productions for BBC Radio Four. A sound-led dive into deep time and \u2018the long now'. Documentary adventures that encourage you to take a closer listen. After a decade photographing The Oldest Living Things In The World, New York photographer Rachel Sussman said she began thinking of deep time as deep water. “The more time I spent in the depths, the more I could stay in that space longer. ? What can we glean from spending time in the company of those who fix their gaze on longer timeframes, whose work entails inhabiting expanded notions of time, who seek both to ask and answer questions about our bounded place in that which is boundless? This is a sonic deep-dive into deep time and "the long now" - a series of close encounters via philosophy and science, literature and nature, art and the lived life, which delves into how we can think long-term and hold something of deep time as we move through our days. With musings and moments that connect the speaker to the infinite at one time or another - to the deep past, the long future, or the bigger present. Perhaps, if we can better inhabit an expanded view of time, we might also expand how we can live its mysteries and exigencies. Featuring interviews with philosopher and author David Wood, NASA astrophysicist and research astronomer Natalie Batalha, Brooklyn-based photographer Rachel Sussman, Australian writer and philosopher Christina McLeish, and Danny Hillis, an American inventor, scientist and designer of The Long Now’s 10, 000 Year Clock. With thanks to NASA’s sound archive and the University of Iowa’s Space Sounds. Including extracts from poems by Alice Oswald and Edna St Vincent Millay. Produced by Jaye Kranz A Falling Tree productions for BBC Radio 4 After a decade photographing The Oldest Living Things In The World, New York photographer Rachel Sussman said she began thinking of deep time as deep water. “The more time I spent in the depths, the more I could stay in that space longer. ? What can we glean from spending time in the company of those who fix their gaze on longer timeframes, whose work entails inhabiting expanded notions of time, who seek both to ask and answer questions about our bounded place in that which is boundless? This is a sonic deep-dive into deep time and "the long now" - a series of close encounters via philosophy and science, literature and nature, art and the lived life, which delves into how we can think long-term and hold something of deep time as we move through our days. With musings and moments that connect the speaker to the infinite at one time or another - to the deep past, the long future, or the bigger present. Perhaps, if we can better inhabit an expanded view of time, we might also expand how we can live its mysteries and exigencies. Featuring interviews with philosopher and author David Wood, NASA astrophysicist and research astronomer Natalie Batalha, Brooklyn-based photographer Rachel Sussman, Australian writer and philosopher Christina McLeish, and Danny Hillis, an American inventor, scientist and designer of The Long Now’s 10, 000 Year Clock. With thanks to NASA’s sound archive and the University of Iowa’s Space Sounds. Including extracts from poems by Alice Oswald and Edna St Vincent Millay. Produced by Jaye Kranz A Falling Tree productions for BBC Radio 4 A sound-led dive into deep time and \u2018the long now'. Documentary adventures that encourage you to take a closer listen.
03	A Sense Of Quietness	20181126	Documentary adventures that encourage you to take a closer listen. This episode follows a line of connection through four women across two referendums to explore the unexpected consequences of talking about abortion. Starting on live television at a beauty pageant, we hear from a journalist, a radio producer, the founder of a woman's clinic and a woman travelling from Ireland to the UK - and discover the quiet power and hidden dangers of speech itself. Featuring the voices of Brianna Parkins, Siobhan McHugh and Anne Connolly. Produced by Eleanor McDowall A Falling Tree poduction for BBC Radio 4 Documentary adventures that encourage you to take a closer listen. Documentary adventures that encourage you to take a closer listen. This episode follows a line of connection through four women across two referendums to explore the unexpected consequences of talking about abortion. Starting on live television at a beauty pageant, we hear from a journalist, a radio producer, the founder of a woman's clinic and a woman travelling from Ireland to the UK - and discover the quiet power and hidden dangers of speech itself. Featuring the voices of Brianna Parkins, Siobhan McHugh and Anne Connolly. With additional recordings courtesy of Zoë Comyns and Regan Hutchins Produced by Eleanor McDowall A Falling Tree poduction for BBC Radio 4 Documentary adventures that encourage you to take a closer listen.
03	Talking	20181126	In this feature we follow a line of connection through four women across two referendums to explore the unexpected consequences of talking about abortion. Starting on live television at a beauty pageant, we follow a journalist, a radio producer, the founder of a woman's clinic and a woman travelling from Ireland to the UK, and discover the quiet power and hidden dangers of speech itself. Produced by Eleanor McDowall A Falling Tree Production for BBC Radio 4 Documentary adventures that encourage you to take a closer listen.