VOA – CONNECT
EPISODE 33
AIR DATE: 08 31 2018
FULL TRANSCRIPT
OPEN ((VO/NAT))
((Banner))
Making Goods
((SOT))
Practicing spirituality and faith is self-care, you know, like having a connection to the world around you.
((Animation Transition))
((Banner))
Selling Goods
((SOT))
I’ve got a fishing pole and an electric chord.
((Animation Transition))
((Banner))
Selling Well
((SOT))
And its promise for Baltimore is exciting, that we can put things like this on fragile neighborhoods.
((Open Animation))
BLOCK A
((Banner: Niche Products))
((PKG)) WITCHCRAFT SHOP
((Banner: Spells R Us))
((Reporter: Olga Loginova))
((Camera: Max Avloshenko))
((Adapted by: Aisha Handerson))
((Map: New York, New York City))
((NATS))
((STACY RAPP, OWNER/SENIOR WITCH, ENCHANTMENTS))
My name is Stacy Rapp. I’m the owner, I guess manager, whatever you want to call it, of Enchantments in New York City.
((NETTIE, STORE EMPLOYEE))
We’re invoking for the day. We want to bring a certain energy into the store. So, we tend to do the days of the week. Today is Thursday, so this is Jupiter.
((STACY RAPP, OWNER/SENIOR WITCH, ENCHANTMENTS))
We sell a little bit of everything. We’re what, I guess, the best term for it would be an occult supply store. Because we don’t really sell, like, we don’t do spells for people. We sell them the ingredients to do themselves. People can come in and either order sort of or buy one of the spell kits to go, or they can come in and buy all the supplies and do it themselves. So, our customers run the gamut, from people who’ve never done this before but are interested and people who’ve been doing it for years and just need to get their herbs or incense or whatever to do their stuff at home. So, we don’t really say, this is the right person or this is not. Anyone is welcome.
((ERICA, CUSTOMER))
So, a friend of mine found this on social media and then we just decided to check it out one day when we were free.
((JAKE, CUSTOMER))
Part of our evolution is based on ritual and ceremony and I feel like there’s a place in it in our lives.
((STACY RAPP, OWNER/SENIOR WITCH, ENCHANTMENTS))
Well, I mean, these are the books. We also sell statues of different deities, as you can see. These are some incense. Candles. These are candles that have the picture, sort of the purpose already on them. For people, these are about six or seven dollars each. These ones up here are for different deities, and then these ones are different magical purposes. So, herbs we got. These are the candles that we carve, like he’s doing back here, and that’s about all.
These are special candles. The ones that we generally make look like this, but he started doing 3D ones. And so, he makes those special for people as well.
((JUSTIN HOLDEN, STORE EMPLOYEE))
Last year for my birthday I made myself one of these and I thought it was a lot of fun, so I kept doing it. So, the idea here is that I’ve taken the seal, and you can see the star coming out of the cauldron, and then recreated it in three dimensions.
((COLEMAN DREW, STORE EMPLOYEE))
I think practicing spirituality and faith is self-care, you know, like having a connection to the world around you, what you stand for, what you believe in. And magic is a really good tool to facilitate finding out and answering those questions for yourself. It’s about self-transformation, self-betterment. It’s positive most of the time. And it helps you feel like you have control in a world that sometimes feels very much out of our control.
((NATS))
So, this is your candle.
Thank you!
((PKG)) PARROT STORE
((Banner: Feathered Pets))
((Reporter: Maxim Moskalkov))
((Camera: Sergei Moskalev, Sergii Dogotar))
((Adapted by: Martin Secrest))
((Map: Falls Church, Virginia))
((Banner: “Parrots, Parrots, Parrots, Just Parrots” store is owned and operated by Ed Willis))
((ED WILLIS, STORE OWNER, Parrots, Parrots, Parrots, Just Parrots))
Well, I bought my first parrot when I was 18 years old. I’ve had a parrot continuously since then. My last parrot I had for 35 years. I like the fact that they’re, it's a unique partnership between a parrot and a person. They are independent, but they’re still needy. They’re happy to see you when you come home. It's just a, it’s a really special pet relationship.
((NATS))
((ED WILLIS, STORE OWNER, Parrots, Parrots, Parrots, Just Parrots))
And then, we also have outcall services. It’s not just about training the bird. Sometimes we have to train the owner as well. So, we have an associate that will go to your house, work with you, show you how to handle the bird to make the bird a friendlier, more social bird.
((NATS))
((ED WILLIS, STORE OWNER, Parrots, Parrots, Parrots, Just Parrots))
So, Snowball is not really a typical cockatoo. He’s actually very quiet and very friendly. A lot of the cockatoos are known for being extremely loud, and he has not been, so a lot of people are interested in this bird. But this bird is my daughter’s bird, and I can’t let anybody have my daughter’s bird.
((NATS))
((ED WILLIS, STORE OWNER, Parrots, Parrots, Parrots, Just Parrots))
And you can see that, like the baby up front, he’s got a lot of yellow under the wings.
ED WILLIS: (To bird) What are you doing out?
REPORTER: How old is Snowball, do you know?
ED WILLIS: Snowball’s about three years old now, yeah.
((NATS))
((ED WILLIS, STORE OWNER, Parrots, Parrots, Parrots, Just Parrots))
When you handle birds, inevitably, you’re going to get some wounds, OK? So I’ve got, I have a lot of scratches and a lot of little nips from birds, where they’re not really trying to hurt me. Sometimes it’s just playfulness, and sometimes they’re scared, or they fall, and they grab hold. This guy is a classic example of this. The scarlet macaw likes to just nip for fun. He thinks it’s great fun. If he likes you and he’s having fun, he’ll just bite you.
((NATS))
((ED WILLIS, STORE OWNER, Parrots, Parrots, Parrots, Just Parrots))
Bird ownership can be a little bit more liberating than dog ownership. So, you’re not quite as tied to the home as you are with a more traditional pet. You have a little bit more freedom and flexibility, because the birds can fend for themselves a little bit better than a dog or a cat.
TEASE ((VO/NAT))
Coming up
((Banner))
Handmade
((SOT))
I’ve always loved doing things with my hands and so I, you know, started working in the jewelry industry.
BREAK ONE
BUMP IN ((ANIM))
BLOCK B
((Banner: Making the Product))
((PKG)) VINTAGE JEWELRY
((Banner: Vintage Jewelry))
((Reporter: Faiza ElMasry))
((Camera: Adam Greenbaum))
((Adapted by: Philip Alexiou))
((Map: Harrisonburg, Virginia))
((NATS))
((Banner: The history and art behind vintage jewelry))
((HUGO KOHL, JEWELRY ARTISAN))
I’ve always loved doing things with my hands. And so I, you know, started working in the jewelry industry. Everything in this workshop, for the most part, comes from Providence, Rhode Island. Providence, Rhode Island is where the industrial age starts in the United States, but it’s also where the jewelry industry starts in the United States, so it’s natural that it would come from there.
((HUGO KOHL, JEWELRY ARTISAN))
I was already working in the jewelry industry when I discovered Providence. And when I discovered Providence, it was very much in the process of scrapping the last remnants of this early industrial age jewelry making.
((HUGO KOHL, JEWELRY ARTISAN))
These are pieces of gold. I’m stamping a couple of heads. This machine is from the mid 1,800s.
((NATS))
And so one of the things that I find interesting about this technology is the durability issue. The things I’m talking about are being die struck and die rolled, which means a lot of pressure between two pieces of steel. And so when we die strike something or die roll something, typically it’s going to go at least a couple of generations.
((HUGO KOHL, JEWELRY ARTISAN))
This jewelry was not ever meant to just be a pretty design. This is the beginning of when humans are able to have symbols. We are one moment before the industrial age starts. We have no symbols. We are not manufacturing anything, so they don’t actually exist. And then all of the sudden we have stepped into this world where we’ll join art by means of mechanical reproduction and now for the very first time, just sort of normal people can have a symbol.
((NATS))
((COLE WELTER, ART PROFESSOR, JAMES MADISON UNIVERSITY))
These pieces are the ancestors of American metalsmithing, silversmithing and they bring to, in a very tangible way, the processes, yes, the technical skills that are involved, yes, the meaning of what these pieces meant to people.
((NATS))
((SARAH BROWN, CUSTOMER))
When I come in, I love to be able to look and see that the jewelry is made right here. Hugo is often here. It feels very personal and the pieces, like I say, they’re unique and beautiful but they have an old, they have a timelessness about them that just feels really good and it feels like they kind of tell us a story.
((COLE WELTER, ART PROFESSOR, JAMES MADISON UNIVERSITY))
I really enjoy the entire scope of what’s happening here. It’s not just the preservation of the work, but it’s the re-creation of the works and it’s the selling of the works to the public so they all become part of our culture.
((HUGO KOHL, JEWELLERY ARTISAN))
What does it mean to have a full and meaningful life, and part of it is making things.
((PKG)) SOAP LADY
((Banner: Luxurious Basics))
((Reporter/Camera: Hannah Kay))
((Map: St. Augustine, Florida))
((ATHENA HINMAN, CO-OWNER, ANTOINETTE’S BATH HOUSE))
Japanese cherry blossom. So, loosely these are not cherry blossoms on top. They are little roses but I made them pink and put glittery so they look kind of like cherry blossoms. I could pipe them but I didn’t do it this time.
((ATHENA HINMAN, CO-OWNER, ANTOINETTE’S BATH HOUSE))
My name is Athena Hinman and I am 33 years old. My current occupation is, I am a co-owner of Antoinette’s Bath House. So, I sling soap. My grandmother was very artistic. She actually dabbled in everything and she did a little bit of everything. When I was growing up, she actually taught me how to make bath bombs but not like they are now. We used to put them in ice cube trays and then I would use them obviously afterwords, but she taught me how to do that. And we would make little mountain pour soaps and scrap booking and making hair bows and stuff, and then I would sell it to the neighbors. I kind of really got into this artistic stuff and as I got older, you know, my grandmother passed away and she left me all of her crafts. And when my grandfather passed away, I felt like it was time to go ahead and start going through her stuff, and I started pulling out the soaping stuff and all the little recipes she had and started making soap myself. It has just kind of been one of those things I did it as a craft but I wanted to make more and in order to do that, I had to buy the products and I didn’t have the money to do that. So, I had to sell what I made. And then, you know I was able to buy more fragrances and stuff because who wants to use the same scent every single day.
((ATHENA HINMAN, CO-OWNER, ANTOINETTE’S BATH HOUSE))
These are my fragrance oils. I have a whole bunch. You see we have them alphabetical. That doesn’t always mean they are in the right spot. But I can pretty much make anything anybody comes in and requests because I am a fragrance hoard. I have collected so many.
Today, we have been making frankincense and myrrh bath steamers or shower steamers. And they have real frankincense and myrrh resin on top and that is actually just for decoration, nothing, you know, more than that. But it has frankincense and myrrh essential oils that helps relax the body. You throw it in the corner of your shower. It has menthol in it, so it cleans, clears your sinuses out, makes you smell great, really good for morning time when you are just getting up to go to work.
No matter who you are, you should have some kind of skill and be able to know how to make something of some sort.
TEASE ((VO/NAT))
Coming up
((Banner))
Unclaimed Baggage
((SOT))
So, the best of the best is what we bring out to our sales floor.
BREAK TWO
BUMP IN ((ANIM))
BLOCK C
((Banner: Cost Conscious))
((PKG)) SALVATION ARMY GROCERY STORE
((Banner: Food))
((Reporter: Deborah Block))
((Camera: Adam Greenbaum))
((Adapted by: Martin Secrest))
((Map: Baltimore, Maryland))
((NATS))
((Banner: The Salvation Army’s nonprofit DMG store provides affordable food to neighborhoods with few grocery stores))
((NATS))
((JOANN WEAVER, NEIGHBORHOOD RESIDENT))
You come in, you get what you want, and they close at a reasonable hour. You can still get off from work, and come and pick up a few things, and then go home and prepare dinner. But, you know, the other stores, they stay open a little bit late, but you have to ride far. And with the gas getting as high as it’s getting, I like to do everything on the way home, and if I can find everything I want on the way home, and the price is good, I’m stopping right there.
((NATS))
((MAJOR GENE HOGG, CENTRAL MARYLAND COMMANDER, SALVATION ARMY))
Well, we started taking a look, and we thought, we need to open a grocery store where affordable food can be had. Food education and nutrition is an issue, and that’s what we’re trying to address. We know it’s a long bridge to get through, and we also know that you just can’t tell somebody to eat it. You’ve got to show them what it is, how to cook it, what it tastes like, and the joy of cooking. And part of our mission is to strengthen that family table, right? Because (for) even people in middle class America, that’s a problem. What they do, they eat on the run. So, what we’re trying to do is to encourage people in our area to sit down with their families, cook a meal, and eat.
((NATS))
((Reporter: What do you think of the store?))
((REVEREND SAMUEL LUPICO, CATHOLIC PRIEST))
I think it’s wonderful. I like little stores that I can get around, and I don’t have to wait an hour to get out of the store, and there’s nothing here to get me to buy more than what I need. That’s what I like about it, and the staff are great, the people that work here are great, and I love it because it provides an opportunity for people who don’t have stores like this to shop in one, without paying for transportation to get out, and can’t carry stuff home. And it’s also a store where you can come every week, and just buy a little bagful and you’re OK. That’s what I like about it.
((NATS))
((MAJOR GENE HOGG, CENTRAL MARYLAND COMMANDER, SALVATION ARMY))
Our business model is really to break even, alright? If we do better than that, then the proceeds from this would go to support our program called Catherine’s Cottage for women who’ve been rescued from human trafficking. So, if we were to receive any type of profit, it would go into another service of the Salvation Army.
((PKG)) UNCLAIMED BAGGAGE STORE
((Banner: Almost Anything))
((Reporter: Daria Dieguts))
((Camera: Sergii Dogotar, David Gogokhia))
((Adapted by: Zdenko Novacki))
((Map: Scottsboro, Alabama))
((Banner: The Unclaimed Baggage store sells the contents of unclaimed baggage))
((BRENDA CANTRELL, BRAND AMBASSADOR, UNCLAIMED BAGGAGE))
The business started in 1970 by Doyle Owens, Doyle and his wife Sue, and he was a part time insurance salesman at the time and he had a friend in the area that had a thrift store. The concept came together, and so he borrowed 300 dollars from one grandfather and a pickup truck from the other. So, by the mid 70’s, they started going after the airline industry and securing some of those contacts and moved here to where we are on Willow Street. Of course, the property was not as large then as it is now.
((TAYLOR, SCOTTSBORO RESIDENT))
I think I come here probably two or three times a week and just look around because they always have something new.
((BRENDA CANTRELL, BRAND AMBASSADOR, UNCLAIMED BAGGAGE))
So, the best of the best is what we bring out to our sales floor. Things that just meet different criteria from just how much they are worn, you know, if it is an older brand, the quality, things of that nature. And so we bring out, you know, the better items that we stock to our sales floor, and that mainly applies to apparel. Several years ago, we had a men’s presidential platinum Rolex watch that was appraised for 64,000 dollars and we sold it for 32,000 dollars.
((KATHY, CUSTOMER))
I found Lulu leggings for like a little over ten dollars, normally they are like forty.
((CUSTOMER))
I got a fishing pole and an electric cord.
((NATS))
((BRENDA CANTRELL, BRAND AMBASSADOR, UNCLAIMED BAGGAGE))
I have a gentleman who was passing through on business and bought a pair of ski boots for his wife. And they just were a great deal and looked like something that she would like in her size. And so he gets back home and she opens up the tongue of the boot because she says these look really familiar and there was her maiden name. She had lost them a couple years before on a trip.
((NATS))
TEASE ((VO/NAT))
Coming up
((Banner))
The Book Seller
((SOT))
It’s funny because my favorite saying is fairly recent, the idea that we tend to overestimate short term gains and underestimate long term successes.
BREAK THREE
BUMP IN ((ANIM))
BLOCK D
((Banner: Print and More))
((PKG)) POSTER MUSEUM
((Banner: Posters))
((Reporter: Olga Loginova))
((Camera: Michael Eckels))
((Adapted by: Zdenko Novacki))
((Map: New York, New York City))
((NATS))
((PHILIP WILLIAMS, FOUNDER, POSTER MUSEUM))
You’re in the home of the largest collection of posters for sale in the world. We have posters from virtually every country, and every theme. Probably half a million posters, and they’re all types of art, from little labels for perfume or water, labels for ax-handles, or sardines, for beer or wine, and then, of course, larger posters and prints of all types. A hotel was being renovated, and I bought the contents of the basement which were the trunks, and inside the trunks, I found three letters from the Wright brothers
((Chyron: AP Images))
and I sold those for, I think, 1,200 dollars which 45 years ago was a great deal of money.
((NATS))
((PHILIP WILLIAMS, FOUNDER, POSTER MUSEUM))
So, I've been long one of the bigger buyers of interesting political and especially Russian. I've had thousands of really great Russian posters. This is by Chéret, selling a lamp oil, which didn't have any odor and was really very good.
((MARIELLA AVEILES, RESTORER))
They’re like really unique and you can’t find them anywhere else. So, when you’re like missing a huge piece and you try to search for how the piece looks like, you don’t know how it looks. So, we just try to use our imagination to see how we’re going to draw this part that is missing. We pieced it in, and then we just used the color presses to basically draw in this whole part that was missing. This was missing. This whole part was missing as well.
((PHILIP WILLIAMS, FOUNDER, POSTER MUSEUM))
I was buying the types of posters that other people weren’t buying, primarily in Europe.
((ALEXANDRA ORTIZ, CUSTOMER))
I just bumped into the store, and I came in because I'm very interested in Puerto Rico posters from the sixties, from protest era type of. I love the colors and I love the fonts and, of course, I'm looking for the year I was born.
((PHILIP WILLIAMS, FOUNDER, POSTER MUSEUM))
I always buy new and old. There’s always something that’s happening today that’s interesting and worthy of saving. And so, I’ve always concentrated on ephemeral art and fashions and fads, because they quickly disappear, and the art quickly disappears as well, if someone doesn’t save it.
((PKG)) PIA – ANDY SHALLAL
((Banner: Books and Philosophy))
((Executive Producer: Marsha James))
((Camera: Kaveh Rezaei))
((Adapted by: Martin Secrest))
((Map: Washington, D.C.))
((Banner: "Busboys and Poets" is a restaurant, book store, and gathering place founded by Iraqi-born Anas “Andy” Shallal))
((ANDY SHALLAL, OWNER, BUSBOYS AND POETS))
I look forward to everyday to work. There's always something new, something exciting. I mean, the restaurant business in itself is a dynamic business, always changing, and you know, it's where people come to connect and meet. And this is my place of work. It's a great space to be in. I don't have to leave an office to come to eat. This is my office, and this is my space, and I can have a great time here, and meet people here.
((ANDY SHALLAL, OWNER, BUSBOYS AND POETS))
I've learned so many things I think in life, you know. I'm 60 years old, I just turned 60.
I've learned that facing your fear is the best way to get rid of it. I stuttered as a kid, and finally, I met this therapist who said, “You know, stuttering is about being afraid. It's about being afraid of speaking. So, you have to say, own it. Own the fear. And stutter more, and feel comfortable with your stuttering.” And I thought, she must be crazy. What do you mean, “stutter more?” She said, “When you stutter more, you let go of that fear.” And sure enough, with stuttering more, I was able to get rid of my speech impediment.
((ANDY SHALLAL, OWNER, BUSBOYS AND POETS))
I tend to get in trouble for using words that people are not supposed to generally use. So, I'm very colorful in my language. I'm trying to be uncolorful because I'm on camera right now. But I love words, I have to say. Because I, I asked someone, I said, you know, it's really hard to read poetry sometimes, like reading poetry is not something that is comfortable for a lot of people. And the person that advised me said to me, said, “Read the words.” And I started reading the words and enjoying the words. I live in a word world. So, it's very exciting for me when I hear people using words in a way that is creative and exciting and makes you pause.
((ANDY SHALLAL, OWNER, BUSBOYS AND POETS))
I don't try to limit myself in what I say and what I don't say. And I think, you know, I take the rights that this country affords very seriously. I really do. I'm an Arab and I'm a Muslim. There's a price these days to be an Arab and a Muslim in this country, you know, with all the disparaging comments and things that are going on around us. I mean, I think this is a country that I chose to become a citizen. I didn't have to become a citizen. I chose to become a citizen. The reason why is because of the values this country has. You know, Langston Hughes wrote about those values, and he wrote about how important those values are. So he says, "Let America be America again", you know, and you have to ask, like what is that "again" he is talking about? What he's talking about is the original idea that the dreamers dreamed, the idea of equality and freedom and love and all of that. So, for me, I always go back to, you know, what makes me an American. And it's about the freedom and the ability to say whatever I want to say, whenever I want to say it.
CLOSING ((ANIM))
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