5/28/2012 MinneCulture

Five stories from KFAI's 10,000 Fresh Voices series:

1. Sam Jasmine's talking dart board
Produced by Dixie Treichel
Sam Jasmine is an avid dart player, who also happens to be blind. In 2009 she invented the Audio Dart Master, a talking dartboard for the visually impaired, while playing in an audio dart league in the Twin Cities. KFAI's Dixie Treichel has more.

2. Spoken word artist Tish Jones
Produced by Dixie Treichel
Tish Jones is the Community Engagement Director for the St Paul Almanac, and Executive Director of TruArtSpeaks. She began performing at age 14, and today the 24-year-old poet and spoken-word artist has a body of work that focuses on the rhythmic and lyrical content of words. KFAI's Dixie Treichel has the story.

3. CHAT: Center for Hmong Arts & Talent
Produced by Will Wright
Hmong people come from the mountains of China, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand, and have a strong presence here in the Twin Cities. KFAI producer Will Wright spoke to Hmong arts and culture advocate Kathy Mouacheupao and artist Kao Lee Thao about arts and identity in the Twin Cities' Hmong community

4. Architect Clarence Wigington
Produced by Will Wright
Clarence “Cap” Wigington was the nation’s first Black municipal architect, and served as a senior designer for the city of St. Paul for 34 years. Sixty of his buildings in Minnesota are on the historical registry, including the Highland Park Water Tower. Producer Will Wright talks to biographer David Taylor about the architectural legacy of Cap Wigington.

5. Science fiction writer Clifford Simak
Produced by Britt Aamodt
Science fiction author Clifford Simak published his first pulp story in 1931. During his 50-year career, he wrote hundreds of short stories and nearly 30 novels—all while working as a reporter for the Minneapolis Star newspaper. Today Simak is considered one of the great writers from Science Fiction's Golden Age, alongside Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Robert Heinlein and Ray Bradbury. But unlike other Sci-Fi writers, Simak’s stories focused on common men and women, living in ordinary surroundings.