Daniel Howe’s child psychologist explains why she advocated for his parole release, Kevin and Emma Howe are at odds over the former searching for his son and both Daniel’s childhood friend and cellmate give more of an insight into the boy who killed his brother and the man he’s now become.
CREDITS
Writer – Benjamin Long
Narrator – Benjamin Long
Kevin Howe – Keith Pinault
Emma Howe – Erika Santosuosso
Rick Dratton – Matthew Boccio
Lauren Mathers – Alexandra Rose
Mark Jackson – Ezekiel Jiles
MUSIC CREDITS
BOPD – New England Air
Podington Bear – Forces, Scaffoldings
Lee Rosevere – Sad Marimba Planet
stacxk – Woodmens Story
Mathieu Lamontagne and Emmanuel Toledo – Hydrophobe, Apprendre a flotter & Ondes de gravite
Scott Holmes – Locked Up
Amber Alert – the fictitious story of the abduction of 5 year-old Charles Howe, the impact it had on his family and a father’s hunt for his missing child.
Credits
Writer – Benjamin Long
Narrator – Benjamin Long
Kevin Howe – Keith Pinault
Emma Howe – Erika Santosuosso
Detective Patrick Norton – Adam Griffith
Music Credits
Scott Holmes – Locked Up, The Edge of Nowhere, Something in the Distance, Suspect Located
Daniel Birch – Dreams are for Living
Fatal Injection – Useless Search
Ian Alex Mac – the Tragedy of Loss
M.Nomized and Midnight Moonswings – Trapped in Recurrence
My podcast series would be called “Amber Alert”. It would be fictional, but follow the flow of an S.Town or Serial as a journalist reports on a missing child case.
Set in Chatham, Massachusetts, the story investigates the case of missing 4 year-old Charles Howes. It would be set after-the-fact, and would start with the journalist/narrator describing the history of Amber Alert and then introducing the small town of Chatham.
It would then move on to detailing the day Charles went missing by interviewing Charles’s father, David. David will talk about where he was when he heard the Amber Alert tone for his son that fateful day, and how, because he didn’t think it was his Charles, he didn’t bother looking into it. Only until going to the school to pick Charles up at the end of the day and realising he’s not there does it click for him.
The narrator would pull in some other voices to supplement Episode 1. Charles’s mother (now David’s ex-wife), the police officer in charge of the case, someone from the school, etc. Ideally, 90% of Episode 1 would be setting up the premise of the investigation as a mystery.
But the last minute or so of the episode would twist that and reveal David didn’t lose just one son that day, because it was Charles’s then-9-year-old brother Daniel who abducted and killed him.
The story would then evolve into looking at the after-effects on the family, the signs they felt they missed and a father torn between both wanting to find his son to reconnect on a familial level, and also to confront his son’s killer.
Every Saturday morning in Central Park On 76th Street, the Conservatory Water hosts the park’s Model Yacht Club. A handful of skippers, all different ages, race their sailboats around buoys bobbing in the water, exchange stories with one another and enjoy the serenity Central Park has to offer. We sent landlubber Benjamin Long out to report on this nautical tradition.
It’s a cold Saturday in late September, and the signs of Fall are showing. The leaves hang in hues of auburn and gold, collecting in clumps under park benches and floating aimlessly atop the Conservatory Water in Central Park. Joggers in neon clothing amble around the pond that is not only dotted with leaves, but the white sails of model boats that shimmer on the water.
The Central Park Model Yacht Club celebrated its centenary anniversary last year but active member numbers are declining. Roy Langbord, who’s been with the club for 40 years, has seen all the changes first-hand.
“The number of active participants has gone down,” Langbord says. “If you look in here, it’s about fifty to sixty boats, and you’d like to have all these boats out there on the water one day.”
Club member Jon Elmaleh makes some last-minute touches to his boat before the Saturday races.
It’s easy to join the club, provided you’ve got your own sailboat. The ones the club race on Saturdays are classified as the International One Metre, or IOM for short. This boat, not surprisingly, measures a metre long and casts a striking image on the serene Conservatory Water. The price of the IOM, though, makes something of a splash.
“A radio-controlled sailboat, as a kit with its own radio, is $180 to $200,” begins Langbord. “On the other hand, something like this world-championship calibre boat – completely built for you – somewhere between $3 to 4,000.”
That price tag didn’t put off twelve year-old Charles DeMarco, who proudly labels himself the youngest member of the club. Charles sails with his father, Chris, and has been at the club for two years, splitting his time between school, soccer and sailing.
“We just came here one day to rent a boat, and we saw this is really fun,” starts DeMarco. “It’s been two years since we got that boat and I like it because it’s relaxing and really fun and competitive.”
Charles DeMarco prepares to drop his boat into the water.
Members are invited to store their boats in the boathouse during the sailing season, with a $20 permit. The boathouse, located adjacent to the water, is adorned with photos illustrating the history of the club and the many changes that the sailboat designs have gone through. John Tucker has been with the club for decades, and runs a tight ship as club commodore.
“Years ago we had an entire fleet of females – wives, girlfriends and they didn’t like sailing with the boys,” says Tucker. “One time we had a big event, we had twelve females in the water and I locked the door and left all the men inside so the ladies could enjoy themselves.”
Club members look on as they glide their sailboats across the water.
The club itself doesn’t have an initiative to attract new and perhaps, more importantly, younger members. Langbord believes that the younger generation simply don’t have the patience needed to sail and are distracted by other forms of immediate entertainment.
“Sailboat racing tends to attract older kids and adults because there’s no throttle stick, there’s no gas pedal,” says Langbord. “We do have kids involved but it’s much harder in today’s world.”
Although not motoring across the water, the sailboats do catch a lot of attention from passers-by. Young families stop and watch the vessels drift through the pond, pointing as the boats catch sudden gusts of wind that swirl in this natural hollow in Central Park. And for Charles, he wished more people his age knew about what he did every Saturday morning.
Charles and Chris DeMarco, race their boats against each other at the end of their Saturday morning.
“Me and my dad are thinking of making an after-school to bring some kids here who are interested in doing it,” states DeMarco. “They should just rent a boat maybe for an hour or so and just try it out.”
With the sailing season set to wrap up in November, the model yacht club will he hoping the same faces, as well as some new ones, reappear in the Spring.
I’ve reached out to Asphalt Green Soccer Club and New York City Football Club (NYCFC) to look at the growing success of soccer in America and how prominent it’s becoming at a grass-root level in schools. I’d also want to hear from NYCFC about how they think they compare to the other New York sports teams and what challenges they face to get a foothold in a market dominated by traditional American sports.
I intend to interview Patrick Bobilin, a Democratic candidate for New York City Council District 5. The election is on September 12th, ensuring the interview would be highly topical. Moreover, politics is a hot-button issue in this country right now and Bobilin, someone who worked on the Bernie Sanders campaign last year, labels himself as a progressive whilst competing against two other Democrats for the council seat.
I would ask him questions regarding his campaign, the contrast between national issues and local elections issues and how, if at all, the events of last November have led to a more active stance at grass-roots level. I would also query him on campaign finances and how District 5’s incumbent, Ben Kallos, has raised over $100,000 for his campaign whilst Bobilin has raised ~$3,500.
Athletico Mince is a comedy podcast where two comedians, Bob Mortimer and Andy Dawson discuss a host of topics, though primarily concern themselves with football (soccer). Both Mortimer and Dawson hail from the north-east of England, an area typically known to be oppressively dour and their comedy matches it.
It is an unscripted back and forth between the two men – essentially a double act that has earned itself a cult following due to the success of Mortimer and Dawson’s careers. However, it’s quite limited as far as audience-outreach goes. The style of humour – particularly Mortimer’s – borders on absurdist and only true fans of his would actively seek out this podcast. Football addicts may find it appealing for its ‘two blokes in a pub’ aspect, but it’s apparent that the co-hosts aren’t hoping to make waves with it. What’s more, there’s no advertising and it has very few ratings on iTunes, audioBoom and Stitcher (where it airs).
However, for those who listen, the reviews have been largely positive and the podcast boasts nearly twenty-six thousand followers on Twitter. Both Mortimer and Dawson themselves suggest that new listeners start with Episode 8 “Mickey Drink Retrieves the Keys” because that’s when they “hit their stride”. Although, to those discovering Bob Mortimer and Andy Dawson for the very first time, perhaps they never really do.
