Pacific Drift
by Ben Adair
Photo: Jeff Rogers
About Pacific Drift
Ben AdairThere were four central beliefs behind Pacific Drift – ideas that encourage and inspire me to this day.
- Between the entertainment industry, the arts scene and the universities, Los Angeles today may be the greatest collection of raw creative talent in the history of the planet.
- LA is also a city of secrets: the most delightful, weird and interesting things in the world are here, but it can be a complete pain in the butt to find them.
- To top things off, there is a disturbing lack of idea-exchange in the media and everyday conversation here; even discovered things are rarely talked about.
- And yet, despite all this, I believe that all our ideas and emotions tie us together in complicated webs of understanding and interrelationship. Even though we can’t see these connections, they are all around us and affix us to people and places we may not even know exist.
For just over a year, Southern California Public Radio allowed Queena Sook Kim, Ayala Ben-Yehuda and me – as well as a few other, key collaborators – to examine these beliefs.
The show we created, Pacific Drift, merged stories and ideas, blended topics and people, drifted from place to place all over Southern California in an attempt to capture the vibrancy, excitement, diversity and creativity that’s a huge part of living here. We showed how computer scientists have a lot in common with woodworkers; how film directors confront similar problems to those fighting for and against gangs; how art communicates with real life to answer some of the most pressing questions of our day.
Below are four stories. Each illustrates a specific aspect of the work we did. Though we only made 27 episodes in all, Queena, Ayala and I all worked very hard, are extremely proud of what we accomplished, and feel very lucky to have been able to do it.
I’m currently retooling five complete episodes to distribute through PRX. Until then, the complete series can be heard by going to the Pacific Drift webpage and clicking on the "Archives" link at the top of the page.
Ayala Ben-Yehuda"King Drew Dental Clinic"
by Ayala Ben-Yehuda
If healthcare has become a luxury in the US, dental care is an extravagance. More than the color of your collar, teeth have become our nation’s clearest indicator of where someone’s from and where, exactly, they are going.
In an example of the type of story that’s less and less common on local radio – the news feature – Ayala Ben-Yehuda spent a morning at the emergency dental clinic at King Drew Hospital in South LA to illustrate the human drama and social tragedy of bad, painful teeth.
"Sam Stern Rough Sex"
by Ben Adair
Pornography rates right up there with Hollywood as one of Southern California’s biggest and most influential industries, yet stories about it are often completely off the mark. Coverage of "the industry," talks hyperbolically about money and morality; coverage of "the workers" portrays them either as sexual superbeings or the Helpless Victims of Bad Men.
By focusing our stories on actual participants rather than the academics, policy-makers and opinion-mongers you usually hear on the radio, we found that reality is far more complicated and interesting, and tells us much more about the conflicted motivations that rule all of our lives.
Note: This piece deals with mature themes, so be warned.
"Botanica Sacrifice"
Queena Sook Kimby Queena Sook Kim
Charles Guelperin, aka Baba Funkee, is a santero, or faith healer, at a local Hollywood botanica. Botanicas are something that you see all over Southern California – little shops that sell religious trinkets, statues, candles and herbal remedies – but that few outside their target market ever enter.
We made it a mission on the show to explore the entirety of our community. We were often amazed by how friendly people were and how excited they got from our interest. We always put directions to the places we’d go on the website and encourage listeners visit themselves.
"The Uses of Fear"
by Ben Adair
More and more, abstract and ever-present fear defines us as a society. This montage made up of a mafia executioner, a horror film director and a hypochondriac explores a few different uses of fear and how we are all held captive by both others and ourselves. The story illustrates a style we were organically developing where linear narrative was discarded (and sometimes very purposefully undercut) in favor of a linear progression of ideas and emotions.
About the producers
Ben Adair is the managing editor of Weekend America. He was the creator and host of Southern California Public Radio’s Pacific Drift. He’s been a journalist and radio producer based in Los Angeles, Calif. for 16 years. More about Ben Adair on his PRX profile page.
Queena Sook Kim is a producer-reporter for 89.3FM-KPCC. She was born and raised in Southern California and has reported for the Wall Street Journal. Her work has appeared on Day to Day, Studio 360, as well as, the Los Angeles Times, Modesto Bee and LA Weekly.
Ayala Ben-Yehuda got her start in public radio as a freelance reporter for WFUV in New York City. After production stints at Marketplace, Weekend America and NPR, Ayala joined Pacific Drift in its second season. She now covers the Latin music industry for Billboard Magazine. |
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