The Spark

Fridays at Noon, Saturdays at 3pm

The Spark is WMRA's own creative look at --well-- creativity.    We dig into whatever people are passionate about in the WMRA region:  sculpture, model railroading, costume-making, poetry, whatever  --we might go there. 

We want to hear from those who are doing artsy or interesting or wonderful or obsessive things.  We also recognize that lots of creatives are a tad shy and might not ever speak up for themselves. 

You can put something on our radar about yourself or can tell us about someone you know of who might be interesting by sending an e-mail to the show host, Martha Woodroof:
WoodroMH@jmu.edu
(To launch an email to Martha automatically click here. )

Scroll down to hear past segments.

Consider this hour a community-wide celebration of the many people among us who invest time, energy and discipline into pushing against life's boundaries.

Listen to a typical 2012 version of the show's end credits (including Martha asking to hear from those who know about creative goings-on) : here (60 seconds).

2013 Spark intern Julia Skinner has been tasked with blogging about potentially Spark-worthy peers, and you can find the link to that blog on this page.

Genre: 
Composer ID: 
5187f51fe1c8951d21ce7787|5187f510e1c8951d21ce7773

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The Spark
12:16 pm
Fri January 18, 2013

Strolling with Alzheimer's

Another essay from Kim Johnson.

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The Spark
12:18 pm
Thu January 17, 2013

The once and future Cuban Burger

After a couple months last year spent running a tiny, one-person eating space housed inside a wine shop in downtown Harrisonburg,  Steve Pizarro is taking the plunge into a full-time restaurant ownership.  Martha talks with the jolly owner of the once-and-future Cuban Burger.  

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The Spark
2:03 pm
Fri January 11, 2013

Hands Off The Speleothems

Highland County’s Rick Lambert is a project caver.  Rick has been caving for decades and tells about some of the changes along the way --and about the joys of mucking about in the mud while wearing a hard hat. 

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The Spark
11:58 am
Fri January 11, 2013

Reason OR Intuition? Why not BOTH?

Photo credit: JMU / State of Virginia

Past NASA scientist Dave Pruett wishes it weren't so often thought of as an either/or choice when it comes to  intuition  and  reason.  He spent a dozen years trying to get his thoughts down on paper.  And the book is ready. 

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The Spark
6:03 pm
Thu January 10, 2013

Coach Laslie's Biographer

The "right hand man" of epic football coach "Bear" Bryant was coach Carney Laslie.  Leslie's granddaughter, Carey Keefe, is working on a memoir of him.  The ending has an odd twist --and she reads us part of it. 

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The Spark
10:26 am
Thu January 10, 2013

Meet "Eve" from GardenOfEveSkincare

Photo credit: GardenOfEveSkincare.com

Sickened by exposure to chemicals used in restoration of the building where she worked, past dancer and mathematician Eve Stahl was inspired to create a line of natural skin-care products with no toxic ingredients. 

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The Spark
2:06 pm
Fri January 4, 2013

Violinist Daniel Heifetz

Retired concert violinist Daniel Heifetz founded the Heifetz International Music Institute in 1996 with a mission to draw “the sacred fire” from the world’s brightest and best young classical musicians. Daniel sat down recently with Martha to talk about life, virtuosity, technical precision, and passion. 

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The Spark
12:10 pm
Fri January 4, 2013

Photographer Art Pekun

Photographer Artem Pekun is a discount world-traveler with an eye for interesting scenes --whether picturesque or serious-minded. Originally from Belarus, Art is now in the Harrisonburg area, advising a top language-software company on their stock-photography choices. 

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Arts & Culture
12:40 pm
Thu December 20, 2012

We Interviewed This Composer (Thurs 9:30pm)

Photo credit: Derek Gleeson (via Wikipedia)

We normally wouldn't trumpet one particular bit of music, but since WMRA's Bob Satterwhite just interviewed composer Rick Sowash for The Spark, gotta mention that Sowash's Variations on the Boar's Head Carol is on our playlist for Thurs 20 Dec 2012. 9:30pm(-ish). Enjoy.

The Spark
11:54 am
Wed December 19, 2012

Salvaging Vintage Lumber

Long ago, big trees were felled for building-lumber. Today's lumber is from smaller quickly-grown trees.  Larry Stopper specializes in salvaging and recycling old wood --warehouse beams, barnwood, floorboards. 

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