npr--2020-02-20--All Ears: Some New Ways To Hear Distortion

All Ears : Some New Ways To Hear Distortion The acorn must crack in order for the seedling to sprout .
That 's the energy I felt when I saw Rashad Becker , a German mastering engineer and artist , perform his own music live at London 's multi-venue MODE Festival back in September .
The setting was a gutted building in the middle of the city 's shopping district , which added its own layer of dissonance .
This kind of move – staging cultural events within the bones of long-dead industrial spaces – often goes hand-in-hand with gentrification @ @ @ @ @ @ @ residential areas .
Yet here we were , in capitalism 's lap , dancing in a patch of decay .
From behind a sheet of mesh fabric , Becker bent over his hardware .
Synthesized bells took on the quality of flint , generating sparks as they fell against each other .
As distortion burnt holes in the melody , it felt like my psyche was cracking , too .
`` Narratively , in that piece , the intention is to create a sense of delirious desperation , '' Becker told me a @ @ @ @ @ @ @ source of the scorched textures I heard in his live set was his Haken Continuum synth and a liberal use of saturation .
`` Very generally speaking , coming from a punk and hardcore background , distortion always carried anger and angst and war with society to me , like it probably does for most people . ''
While the conditions for distortion can be invited – for example , by pushing a speaker or instrument to its limits as Becker did , or via any number of digital methods – the form @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the same .
There are fuzz-type sounds , crackle-type sounds and so on , but the precise texture is a roll of the dice .
Distortion 's intensity is also on a spectrum .
At a low level , it can recall the warmth , and friction , of skin on skin ; a sonic rendering of a pleasurable shiver .
At a more extreme degree , it can sound like raging fire , driving rain , howling wind , or falling earth ; in fact , any force of nature intent on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Mother 's hands , distortion pans the sands of time ; a way to confront history 's grip on the present .
On the track `` Sonic Black Holes , '' from her recent album Analog Fluids of Sonic Black Holes , the Philadelphia sound artist and poet loops a voice from an unnamed source .
`` I can fee-eel you , '' the singer repeatedly insists .
( It 's the kind of soulful sample that the late footwork pioneer DJ Rashad would fold into a jacking track , spinning emotion into @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Sonic Black Holes , '' however , is existential .
A second voice — which sounds like jazz pianist , composer and singer Amina Claudine Myers — seems to confirm as much : `` Ai n't nobody ever gon na hear us ? ''
The two vocal samples half-answer one another , until they are swallowed by a wave of distortion .
There is feeling , this gesture seems to say , and then there is nothing .
But that 's not the whole truth .
In the closing moments of the potent @ @ @ @ @ @ @ grapples with the weight of systemic racism , both voices seem to re-emerge from the fray .
In reality , with a closer listen , they were there all along .
Distortion `` represents the dirt , the mud , '' Moor Mother explained when I asked about its role in her work .
`` It 's the static electricity .
It holds lots of energy and story . ''
To make `` Sonic Black Holes , '' she used a Moog Grandmother ( a semi-modular analog synth ) , a pocket-sized modular @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Moog iPad app that replicates the sound and capabilities of one of their mini modular synths .
The fact that hardware 's propensity for distortion has been programmed into a new generation of software follows Brian Eno 's musings in his 1996 book , A Year With Swollen Appendices .
`` Whatever you now find weird , ugly , uncomfortable and nasty about a new medium will surely become its signature , '' Eno wrote .
`` CD distortion , the jitteriness of digital video , the crap sound of 8-bit – all @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as soon as they can be avoided .
It 's the sound of failure : so much modern art is the sound of things going out of control , of a medium pushing to its limits and breaking apart . ''
Breaking apart is not always a reflection of failure .
Sometimes , as with the acorn , it is sign of germination .
In November , Sierra Leonean producer Lamin Fofana released Black Metamorphosis , the first in a trilogy of releases written in response to an unpublished manuscript of the same @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and novelist Sylvia Wynter .
Written in the 1970s , it traces Wynter 's thinking on the black experience in the Caribbean and America , and examines the cultural narratives that racism and inequality are built on .
While fragments of distortion pop up throughout Fofana 's album , the track `` Cosmic Injuries '' channels crumpled textures – like the recording of a walk through a city park after heavy rain – into transcendent waves .
`` There is definitely a level of violence and brutality that goes with adding distortion to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a form of disruption , '' Fofana told me .
`` A refusal of purity , going against the grain , against archaic and repressive systems of regulations , against violent and brutal structures of dehumanization , and embracing the noise and cacophony of life .
The devastatingly violent and the absolutely sublime .
To me , 'Cosmic Injuries ' is a devastating track because I wrote it thinking about anti-blackness around the globe . ''
Distortion scales like nothing else .
It can just as easily evoke the expansion of the universe @ @ @ @ @ @ @ skin .
Both are incremental processes that cycle onward of their own accord ; as much a part of life as they are death .
When I listen to New York writer and artist DeForrest Brown Jr. 's debut album as Speaker Music , of desire , longing , I can almost feel my senses becoming more attuned to gradual and granular movement .
To some extent , that 's because the album is comprised of two absorbing pieces of music that each hover around the 23-minute mark , coaxing your mind to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ so because Brown Jr. applies distortion like a patina .
In the second half of the A-side `` with empathy , '' which has the shape of a reflective monologue , he delicately coats remnants of jazz and techno in fuzz and hiss .
The music feels lived-in , loved , rich with black music history .
In many ways , it is a sonic companion to a recent talk that Brown Jr. took part in , titled `` Who does techno belong to ? ''
( That panel discussion kicked off Dweller @ @ @ @ @ @ @ electronic artists , organised by Discwoman 's Frankie Decaiza Hutchinson . )
`` While composing of desire , longing , I considered Jimi Hendrix 's approach to stereophonic mixing and phasing as well as John Coltrane 's 'sheets of sound ' technique for multi-tonic changes as a means of utilizing the speaker itself as an instrument and sound source that could produce a 'rhythmic body ' full of sentimental value , '' Brown Jr. explained of his approach in an email .
`` Towards the climax of 'with empathy , ' there was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ lush first half with time-stretched and smeared audio . ''
Distortion is anything but predictable .
According to Rashad Becker , `` intentional distortion is a very delicate beast to tackle .
It has been mastered many times , though – sometimes it becomes the exact right habitat for a piece or a certain notion within a piece . ''
As an example , Becker pointed to the 1998 album Means from an End by musician and writer Terre Thaemlitz , who also records as DJ Sprinkles , as `` a masterpiece of @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , non-macho , non-desperate way . ''
The album was only made available for digital download for the first time last year , when Thaemlitz , who is based in Tokyo , started a Comatonse Recordings Bandcamp for out-of-stock physical releases .
Listening to Means from an End is an intimate experience .
At times , the effect is one of getting so close to the music that it 's possible to see its pores .
For artists who do n't take a wholly chance-based approach to making music , composing with distortion @ @ @ @ @ @ @ find the desired effect .
Or in other words , using distortion can be way to search .
One of the most engrossing releases of 2019 that takes this approach is Plays ( Stefan Goldmann 's 'Ghost Hemiola ' ) by Peruvian sound artist Maria Chávez .
Within the hour-long recording are sounds that could just as easily be the amplified movements of microscopic creatures as they could a series of smartphone-recorded sonic booms .
That slippery sense of scale , and the many layers of resonance that it generates , is down @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a tool with which to search audio .
The album cover reads as `` Maria Chávez Plays Stefan Goldmann 's Ghost Hemiola , '' which is a very succinct description of the artist 's process .
Ghost Hemiola is a 2013 record consisting of two pieces of one-sided empty vinyl with 66 locked grooves each .
Released by the German-Bulgarian artist Stefan Goldmann , its intention was to allow listeners to either enjoy the surface noise of needle-on-vinyl as is , or to make it their own by cutting into the grooves with @ @ @ @ @ @ @ records at different speeds to generate polyrhythms .
The Doctor Who of remixers , Chávez digitally time-stretched and manipulated Ghost Hemiola to create a whole new world from its dust and static .
On the original , the needle searches , but finds only the surface of the vinyl .
On Plays , Chávez explores the needle 's findings , zooming into the audio to examine it from every angle .
What she found , and what she chose to be a part of the Plays universe , was informed by what distortion @ @ @ @ @ @ @ know how Yoko Ono says she hates the word 'optimist , ' `` Chávez wrote to me from her studio in New York , where she is recovering from brain surgery .
`` She says that the word implies that the person who is always optimistic is a fool .
Implying that optimism is foolish .
I think the words distortion , destruction , destroy , ruin all have this implication .
That the result is negative , that it lends to no longer being useful or valued . ''
`` To me @ @ @ @ @ @ @ form of deconstructing to recreate , '' she continued .
`` In a technical sense , distortion is a necessary tool in further understanding a medium .
It 's a form of 'sweeping through , ' an audio engineering term used in studio recording to find the sweet spot of frequencies .
Distortion is part of a system to me where you have to go through it in order to find the sound that you have an affinity towards . ''
The sounds we each have an affinity towards , believes Chávez , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ life . ''
Distortion is a process , a byproduct , a relationship , an evolution .
Sometimes it engulfs the body in a steely embrace , like Dreamcrusher 's 13-minute live improvisation from a July 2019 gig , and at others it evokes the struggle to recall a long-dissipated sensation , like Vladislav Delay 's recent transmission , `` Raajat . ''
Whatever form it takes , in breaking free from clean signal , distortion reaches out to the listener ; the closest sound gets to touch .
Above all , as @ @ @ @ @ @ @ it during a period of change and challenges , that included a move across the ocean and a mysterious stress-related illness ( that my body thankfully worked through ) , distortion is a refusal to be definitive .
Instead , it is a vibrating mess of meaning ripe for personal interpretation .
An infinite set of textures with which to explore the world .

All Ears: Some New Ways To Hear Distortion
Enlarge this image Philippe Intraligi / EyeEm/Getty Images/EyeEm Philippe Intraligi / EyeEm/Getty Images/EyeEm
The acorn must crack in order for the seedling to sprout. That's the energy I felt when I saw Rashad Becker, a German mastering engineer and artist, perform his own music live at London's multi-venue MODE Festival back in September. The setting was a gutted building in the middle of the city's shopping district, which added its own layer of dissonance. This kind of move – staging cultural events within the bones of long-dead industrial spaces – often goes hand-in-hand with gentrification, but usually takes place in more residential areas. Yet here we were, in capitalism's lap, dancing in a patch of decay. From behind a sheet of mesh fabric, Becker bent over his hardware. Synthesized bells took on the quality of flint, generating sparks as they fell against each other. As distortion burnt holes in the melody, it felt like my psyche was cracking, too.
"Narratively, in that piece, the intention is to create a sense of delirious desperation," Becker told me a few weeks after the festival. The source of the scorched textures I heard in his live set was his Haken Continuum synth and a liberal use of saturation. "Very generally speaking, coming from a punk and hardcore background, distortion always carried anger and angst and war with society to me, like it probably does for most people."
While the conditions for distortion can be invited – for example, by pushing a speaker or instrument to its limits as Becker did, or via any number of digital methods – the form in which distortion manifests is never exactly the same. There are fuzz-type sounds, crackle-type sounds and so on, but the precise texture is a roll of the dice. Distortion's intensity is also on a spectrum. At a low level, it can recall the warmth, and friction, of skin on skin; a sonic rendering of a pleasurable shiver. At a more extreme degree, it can sound like raging fire, driving rain, howling wind, or falling earth; in fact, any force of nature intent on travelling beyond its bounds.
toggle caption Kenzi/Courtesy of the artist
In Moor Mother's hands, distortion pans the sands of time; a way to confront history's grip on the present. On the track "Sonic Black Holes," from her recent album Analog Fluids of Sonic Black Holes, the Philadelphia sound artist and poet loops a voice from an unnamed source. "I can fee-eel you," the singer repeatedly insists. (It's the kind of soulful sample that the late footwork pioneer DJ Rashad would fold into a jacking track, spinning emotion into motion.) The energy driving "Sonic Black Holes," however, is existential. A second voice — which sounds like jazz pianist, composer and singer Amina Claudine Myers — seems to confirm as much: "Ain't nobody ever gonna hear us?" The two vocal samples half-answer one another, until they are swallowed by a wave of distortion. There is feeling, this gesture seems to say, and then there is nothing. But that's not the whole truth. In the closing moments of the potent track, which in just 67 seconds grapples with the weight of systemic racism, both voices seem to re-emerge from the fray. In reality, with a closer listen, they were there all along.
Distortion "represents the dirt, the mud," Moor Mother explained when I asked about its role in her work. "It's the static electricity. It holds lots of energy and story." To make "Sonic Black Holes," she used a Moog Grandmother (a semi-modular analog synth), a pocket-sized modular instrument called the Kastle Synth and a Moog iPad app that replicates the sound and capabilities of one of their mini modular synths. The fact that hardware's propensity for distortion has been programmed into a new generation of software follows Brian Eno's musings in his 1996 book, A Year With Swollen Appendices. "Whatever you now find weird, ugly, uncomfortable and nasty about a new medium will surely become its signature," Eno wrote. "CD distortion, the jitteriness of digital video, the crap sound of 8-bit – all of these will be cherished and emulated as soon as they can be avoided. It's the sound of failure: so much modern art is the sound of things going out of control, of a medium pushing to its limits and breaking apart."
toggle caption Taliesin Gilkes-Bower/Courtesy of the artist
Breaking apart is not always a reflection of failure. Sometimes, as with the acorn, it is sign of germination. In November, Sierra Leonean producer Lamin Fofana released Black Metamorphosis, the first in a trilogy of releases written in response to an unpublished manuscript of the same name by the Jamaican philosopher, critic and novelist Sylvia Wynter. Written in the 1970s, it traces Wynter's thinking on the black experience in the Caribbean and America, and examines the cultural narratives that racism and inequality are built on. While fragments of distortion pop up throughout Fofana's album, the track "Cosmic Injuries" channels crumpled textures – like the recording of a walk through a city park after heavy rain – into transcendent waves. "There is definitely a level of violence and brutality that goes with adding distortion to anything, but dialectically distortion is also a form of disruption," Fofana told me. "A refusal of purity, going against the grain, against archaic and repressive systems of regulations, against violent and brutal structures of dehumanization, and embracing the noise and cacophony of life. The devastatingly violent and the absolutely sublime. To me, 'Cosmic Injuries' is a devastating track because I wrote it thinking about anti-blackness around the globe."
Distortion scales like nothing else. It can just as easily evoke the expansion of the universe as it can the shedding of old skin. Both are incremental processes that cycle onward of their own accord; as much a part of life as they are death. When I listen to New York writer and artist DeForrest Brown Jr.'s debut album as Speaker Music, of desire, longing, I can almost feel my senses becoming more attuned to gradual and granular movement. To some extent, that's because the album is comprised of two absorbing pieces of music that each hover around the 23-minute mark, coaxing your mind to tighten focus accordingly — but even more so because Brown Jr. applies distortion like a patina. In the second half of the A-side "with empathy," which has the shape of a reflective monologue, he delicately coats remnants of jazz and techno in fuzz and hiss. The music feels lived-in, loved, rich with black music history. In many ways, it is a sonic companion to a recent talk that Brown Jr. took part in, titled "Who does techno belong to?" (That panel discussion kicked off Dweller, a five-day NYC festival celebrating black electronic artists, organised by Discwoman's Frankie Decaiza Hutchinson.)
toggle caption Ting Ding/Courtesy of the artist
"While composing of desire, longing, I considered Jimi Hendrix's approach to stereophonic mixing and phasing as well as John Coltrane's 'sheets of sound' technique for multi-tonic changes as a means of utilizing the speaker itself as an instrument and sound source that could produce a 'rhythmic body' full of sentimental value," Brown Jr. explained of his approach in an email. "Towards the climax of 'with empathy,' there was an opportunity to 'flip' its more lush first half with time-stretched and smeared audio."
Distortion is anything but predictable. According to Rashad Becker, "intentional distortion is a very delicate beast to tackle. It has been mastered many times, though – sometimes it becomes the exact right habitat for a piece or a certain notion within a piece." As an example, Becker pointed to the 1998 album Means from an End by musician and writer Terre Thaemlitz, who also records as DJ Sprinkles, as "a masterpiece of employing distortion in an ambivalent, non-tragic, non-macho, non-desperate way." The album was only made available for digital download for the first time last year, when Thaemlitz, who is based in Tokyo, started a Comatonse Recordings Bandcamp for out-of-stock physical releases. Listening to Means from an End is an intimate experience. At times, the effect is one of getting so close to the music that it's possible to see its pores.
toggle caption Camille Blake/Courtesy of the artist
For artists who don't take a wholly chance-based approach to making music, composing with distortion requires a great deal of searching to find the desired effect. Or in other words, using distortion can be way to search. One of the most engrossing releases of 2019 that takes this approach is Plays (Stefan Goldmann's 'Ghost Hemiola') by Peruvian sound artist Maria Chávez. Within the hour-long recording are sounds that could just as easily be the amplified movements of microscopic creatures as they could a series of smartphone-recorded sonic booms. That slippery sense of scale, and the many layers of resonance that it generates, is down to Chávez's use of distortion as a tool with which to search audio. The album cover reads as "Maria Chávez Plays Stefan Goldmann's Ghost Hemiola," which is a very succinct description of the artist's process.
Ghost Hemiola is a 2013 record consisting of two pieces of one-sided empty vinyl with 66 locked grooves each. Released by the German-Bulgarian artist Stefan Goldmann, its intention was to allow listeners to either enjoy the surface noise of needle-on-vinyl as is, or to make it their own by cutting into the grooves with a knife and simultaneously playing the two records at different speeds to generate polyrhythms. The Doctor Who of remixers, Chávez digitally time-stretched and manipulated Ghost Hemiola to create a whole new world from its dust and static. On the original, the needle searches, but finds only the surface of the vinyl. On Plays, Chávez explores the needle's findings, zooming into the audio to examine it from every angle.
toggle caption Courtesy of the artist/Olimpia Dior
What she found, and what she chose to be a part of the Plays universe, was informed by what distortion represents to her conceptually. "You know how Yoko Ono says she hates the word 'optimist,' " Chávez wrote to me from her studio in New York, where she is recovering from brain surgery. "She says that the word implies that the person who is always optimistic is a fool. Implying that optimism is foolish. I think the words distortion, destruction, destroy, ruin all have this implication. That the result is negative, that it lends to no longer being useful or valued."
"To me distortion has a negative connotation to a form of deconstructing to recreate," she continued. "In a technical sense, distortion is a necessary tool in further understanding a medium. It's a form of 'sweeping through,' an audio engineering term used in studio recording to find the sweet spot of frequencies. Distortion is part of a system to me where you have to go through it in order to find the sound that you have an affinity towards." The sounds we each have an affinity towards, believes Chávez, depends "on how we have experienced life."
Distortion is a process, a byproduct, a relationship, an evolution. Sometimes it engulfs the body in a steely embrace, like Dreamcrusher's 13-minute live improvisation from a July 2019 gig, and at others it evokes the struggle to recall a long-dissipated sensation, like Vladislav Delay's recent transmission, "Raajat."
Whatever form it takes, in breaking free from clean signal, distortion reaches out to the listener; the closest sound gets to touch. Above all, as I have learned while listening out for it during a period of change and challenges, that included a move across the ocean and a mysterious stress-related illness (that my body thankfully worked through), distortion is a refusal to be definitive. Instead, it is a vibrating mess of meaning ripe for personal interpretation. An infinite set of textures with which to explore the world.


npr--2020-02-20--The Case For Sending Drug Users Home From The Hospital With Open IV Lines.

The Case For Sending Drug Users Home From The Hospital With Open IV Lines .
Two mornings a week , Arthur Jackson clears space on half of his cream-colored sofa .
He sets out a few rolls of tape and some gauze , then waits for a knock on his front door .
`` This is Brenda 's desk , '' Jackson says with a chuckle .
Brenda Mastricola is his visiting nurse .
After she arrives at Jackson 's home in Boston , she joins him on the couch and starts by taking his blood pressure .
Then she @ @ @ @ @ @ @ foot .
His big toe was amputated at Brigham and Women 's Hospital in November .
A bacterial infection , osteomyelitis , had destroyed the bone .
Jackson is still taking intravenous penicillin to stop the infection .
He came home from the hospital wearing a small medication pump .
It delivers a steady dose of penicillin via a PICC line .
A PICC line ( for Peripherally Inserted or Percutaneous Indwelling Central Catheter ) looks sort of like a flexible IV tube , inserted into Jackson 's chest .
`` This all @ @ @ @ @ @ @ after checking to make sure the line is clean and in place .
`` You do n't need me . ''
When patients need weeks or months of IV antibiotic treatment , but otherwise do n't need to be hospitalized , the standard protocol is to discharge them with a PICC line , and allow them to finish the medication at home .
It saves money and is much more convenient for the patients .
But this arrangement is almost never offered to patients who have a history of addiction .
The fear @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to use the PICC line as a fast and easy way to inject drugs like heroin , cocaine or methamphetamine .
Jackson , who is 69 , was addicted to heroin for 40 years .
Although he 's been sober for years , most U.S. hospitals would force patients like Jackson to stay in the hospital , sometimes for eight weeks or more .
But Jackson 's hospital , Brigham and Women 's in Boston , along with just a few others in the U.S. , is challenging that protocol , allowing some @ @ @ @ @ @ @ argue doing so boosts the chances these patients will stay on their antibiotics and beat the infection .
A small team of Brigham doctors and nurses started planning this very unusual option shortly after opening the Bridge Clinic , a walk-in clinic in Boston for patients who are seeking treatment for a substance use disorder .
Dr. Christin Price , one of the clinic 's directors , says virtually every patient who injects drugs develops some kind of infection .
It 's difficult to avoid injecting bacteria into the bloodstream when using drugs @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
The national opioid epidemic has led , in many cases , to a parallel increase in diseases related to injection drug use , such as HIV , hepatitis C and bacterial infections of the heart and bones .
A study of North Carolina hospitals found a 12-fold increase in cases of the heart infection endocarditis between 2010 and 2015 .
`` Every time someone uses injection drugs , they 're putting themselves at risk for a very complicated infection , '' Price says .
Treatment options for endocarditis patients with a history @ @ @ @ @ @ @ skilled nursing facilities , home care agencies and antibiotic infusion companies wo n't work with these patients once they 're released from a hospital .
But Price says some of her patients are n't willing to remain in a hospital for weeks on end , just to finish a round of IV antibiotics .
`` They kind of get stir crazy , '' she says .
`` You can imagine it 's almost like being held captive for six weeks , especially when you 're feeling fine now because the infection is clearing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of them ca n't last — and so they leave before the six weeks are over . ''
Patients who do n't complete their course of antibiotics can end up with a recurring infection and a repeat trip to the hospital .
Doctors and nurses affiliated with the Bridge Clinic wondered if there was n't a way to send patients with a history of drug use home — safely .
They mapped out three requirements : First , patients would have be taking an addiction treatment medication such as buprenorphine , or be @ @ @ @ @ @ @ patients would have to check in weekly at the Bridge Clinic .
Third , patients would need to have stable housing , and live with a sober friend or loved one .
Price and colleagues began months of discussions with specialists in heart , bone and joint conditions , seeking buy-in from surgeons and nurses , so their patients could participate .
`` A lot of people did sort of look aghast , '' Price says .
`` It was just their policy that people with a history of injection drug use would @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Daniel Solomon encountered those looks , he says he 'd remind colleagues `` that the alternatives are n't that good either . ''
Holding patients for weeks in a hospital room is hard on both the patients and medical providers , he says .
And if patients want to use drugs they 'll find a way to do it , even in a hospital bed .
In the spring of 2018 , Price and Solomon and others enrolled a few of the first qualified patients , then a few more — intentionally cherry-picking @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and who had a sober , stable home .
Arthur Jackson says there should n't have been any question that he met the first and second requirements .
He 'd been on methadone for 10 years , used heroin again , then switched to Suboxone , a version of buprenorphine that he 's been taking for two years .
In fact , Jackson says he was insulted when one of the doctors presented the home treatment option to him , but said she was worried the PICC line might entice him to inject @ @ @ @ @ @ @ '' Jackson recalls telling the nurse .
`` When it comes to my recovery , I 'm serious because I 've done so much to lick this this thing . ''
Not that Jackson did n't consider it .
`` First thing I thought was , 'Oh , I could inject heroin in here easily , ' `` Jackson says .
`` But I dismissed that thought because I 'm not going back '' — back to winters on the streets , and living from one heroin fix to the next .
Other @ @ @ @ @ @ @ PICC lines .
`` Everyone makes such a big deal about this PICC line , '' says Stephen Connolly , 36 , who went home with the open port last year , while being treated for endocarditis .
`` If I want to get high , I know how to do it .
I 'm not going to mess around with a PICC . ''
Connolly says when he first came to Brigham and Women 's Hospital he was focused on his heart , ignoring his other disease : addiction .
Connolly says @ @ @ @ @ @ @ saw , even his cardiologist , wanted to talk about addiction .
`` I 'm like , 'listen dude , my heart 's falling apart here , so let 's hold up with the drug talk , '' Connolly recalls .
He assured the cardiologist he had his addiction under control .
`` Obviously I did n't , but my mind tells me that .
It 's just crazy . ''
Connolly finished his antibiotic treatment while staying with family members in Abington , Mass .
Brigham doctors say the housing requirement eliminates @ @ @ @ @ @ @ homeless patients who have HIV or Hep C do take their antiviral medicines ; there are no equivalent robust studies on treating homeless patients who have bacterial infections .
Nevertheless , a few other hospitals are testing ways to continue outpatient treatment for patients who do n't have a stable home .
In Portland , Ore. , a medical center tried providing IV antibiotics inside addiction treatment programs .
A hospital in Kentucky combines addiction treatment , counseling and outpatient IV antibiotics .
In Vancouver , the Canadian national health program pays for @ @ @ @ @ @ @ 24 hours a day , where patients can stay while they complete antibiotic treatment .
`` People who use drugs deserve the same standard of care , '' says Dr. Christy Sutherland , medical director at the Portland Hotel Society in Vancouver .
`` We ca n't change what we offer as clinicians — to give people subpar treatment with the excuse that they are IV drug users . ''
Arthur Jackson lives alone in his studio apartment , but he persuaded doctors he 'd be better off there than in the hospital @ @ @ @ @ @ @ mother daily , feed his tankful of tropical fish and his cat , and attend his regular Narcotics Anonymous meetings .
`` I guess the best way to put it is , I have a life and I need to get back to it , '' he says .
Jackson is one of 40 patients with a history of drug use the Brigham team has discharged from the hospital , to complete IV antibiotic treatment at home .
The team is paying particular attention to 21 patients within that group who , unlike @ @ @ @ @ @ @ So far , these men and women have finished their antibiotic treatment via a PICC line with no complications .
One had to be readmitted because he had trouble administering the antibiotics .
Price says there were three patients who relapsed into drug use , but no one actually used the PICC line to inject illegal drugs .
`` I think we 've shown , through this pilot , that it is safe and feasible for certain patients , '' she says .
Brigham doctors have not yet published these initial results in @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to .
But already , Price says , the pilot program is helping to cut health care costs .
Taken as a group , the 21 high-risk patients who needed IV antibiotics spent 571 days at home rather than in a hospital or rehab facility — saving as much as $ 865,000 ( based on estimates of $ 1,500 per hospital day . )
That does n't include the cost of home care visits by a nurse .
This story is part of a reporting partnership that includes WBUR , NPR and Kaiser @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Martha Bebinger on Twitter @ mbebinger .

The Case For Sending Drug Users Home From The Hospital With Open IV Lines
Enlarge this image toggle caption Jesse Costa/WBUR Jesse Costa/WBUR
Two mornings a week, Arthur Jackson clears space on half of his cream-colored sofa. He sets out a few rolls of tape and some gauze, then waits for a knock on his front door.
"This is Brenda's desk," Jackson says with a chuckle.
Brenda Mastricola is his visiting nurse. After she arrives at Jackson's home in Boston, she joins him on the couch and starts by taking his blood pressure. Then she changes the bandages on Jackson's right foot. His big toe was amputated at Brigham and Women's Hospital in November. A bacterial infection, osteomyelitis, had destroyed the bone.
Jackson is still taking intravenous penicillin to stop the infection. He came home from the hospital wearing a small medication pump. It delivers a steady dose of penicillin via a PICC line. A PICC line (for Peripherally Inserted or Percutaneous Indwelling Central Catheter) looks sort of like a flexible IV tube, inserted into Jackson's chest.
"This all looks good," Mastricola says, after checking to make sure the line is clean and in place. "You don't need me."
When patients need weeks or months of IV antibiotic treatment, but otherwise don't need to be hospitalized, the standard protocol is to discharge them with a PICC line, and allow them to finish the medication at home. It saves money and is much more convenient for the patients.
But this arrangement is almost never offered to patients who have a history of addiction. The fear is that such patients might be tempted to use the PICC line as a fast and easy way to inject drugs like heroin, cocaine or methamphetamine.
Jackson, who is 69, was addicted to heroin for 40 years. Although he's been sober for years, most U.S. hospitals would force patients like Jackson to stay in the hospital, sometimes for eight weeks or more. But Jackson's hospital, Brigham and Women's in Boston, along with just a few others in the U.S., is challenging that protocol, allowing some patients to go home anyway. They argue doing so boosts the chances these patients will stay on their antibiotics and beat the infection.
Mapping a path to safe at-home treatment
A small team of Brigham doctors and nurses started planning this very unusual option shortly after opening the Bridge Clinic, a walk-in clinic in Boston for patients who are seeking treatment for a substance use disorder.
Dr. Christin Price, one of the clinic's directors, says virtually every patient who injects drugs develops some kind of infection. It's difficult to avoid injecting bacteria into the bloodstream when using drugs in an alley or a public bathroom.
toggle caption Robin Lubbock/WBUR
The national opioid epidemic has led, in many cases, to a parallel increase in diseases related to injection drug use, such as HIV, hepatitis C and bacterial infections of the heart and bones. A study of North Carolina hospitals found a 12-fold increase in cases of the heart infection endocarditis between 2010 and 2015.
"Every time someone uses injection drugs, they're putting themselves at risk for a very complicated infection," Price says.
Treatment options for endocarditis patients with a history of drug use are limited. Some skilled nursing facilities, home care agencies and antibiotic infusion companies won't work with these patients once they're released from a hospital. But Price says some of her patients aren't willing to remain in a hospital for weeks on end, just to finish a round of IV antibiotics.
"They kind of get stir crazy," she says. "You can imagine it's almost like being held captive for six weeks, especially when you're feeling fine now because the infection is clearing. A huge problem is that some of them can't last — and so they leave before the six weeks are over."
Patients who don't complete their course of antibiotics can end up with a recurring infection and a repeat trip to the hospital.
Doctors and nurses affiliated with the Bridge Clinic wondered if there wasn't a way to send patients with a history of drug use home — safely. They mapped out three requirements: First, patients would have be taking an addiction treatment medication such as buprenorphine, or be willing to start one. Second, patients would have to check in weekly at the Bridge Clinic. Third, patients would need to have stable housing, and live with a sober friend or loved one.
Price and colleagues began months of discussions with specialists in heart, bone and joint conditions, seeking buy-in from surgeons and nurses, so their patients could participate.
"A lot of people did sort of look aghast," Price says. "It was just their policy that people with a history of injection drug use would not go home."
When Dr. Daniel Solomon encountered those looks, he says he'd remind colleagues "that the alternatives aren't that good either." Holding patients for weeks in a hospital room is hard on both the patients and medical providers, he says. And if patients want to use drugs they'll find a way to do it, even in a hospital bed.
In the spring of 2018, Price and Solomon and others enrolled a few of the first qualified patients, then a few more — intentionally cherry-picking those who wanted to be in treatment and who had a sober, stable home.
'I'm not going back'
Arthur Jackson says there shouldn't have been any question that he met the first and second requirements. He'd been on methadone for 10 years, used heroin again, then switched to Suboxone, a version of buprenorphine that he's been taking for two years. In fact, Jackson says he was insulted when one of the doctors presented the home treatment option to him, but said she was worried the PICC line might entice him to inject heroin.
"Stop right there," Jackson recalls telling the nurse. "When it comes to my recovery, I'm serious because I've done so much to lick this this thing."
Not that Jackson didn't consider it.
"First thing I thought was, 'Oh, I could inject heroin in here easily,' " Jackson says. "But I dismissed that thought because I'm not going back" — back to winters on the streets, and living from one heroin fix to the next.
Other Bridge patients scoff at those concerns about PICC lines.
"Everyone makes such a big deal about this PICC line," says Stephen Connolly, 36, who went home with the open port last year, while being treated for endocarditis. "If I want to get high, I know how to do it. I'm not going to mess around with a PICC."
toggle caption Robin Lubbock/WBUR
Connolly says when he first came to Brigham and Women's Hospital he was focused on his heart, ignoring his other disease: addiction. Connolly says he was surprised when every doctor he saw, even his cardiologist, wanted to talk about addiction.
"I'm like, 'listen dude, my heart's falling apart here, so let's hold up with the drug talk," Connolly recalls. He assured the cardiologist he had his addiction under control.
"Obviously I didn't, but my mind tells me that. It's just crazy."
Connolly finished his antibiotic treatment while staying with family members in Abington, Mass.
Brigham doctors say the housing requirement eliminates many otherwise-eligible patients. Recent research shows homeless patients who have HIV or Hep C do take their antiviral medicines; there are no equivalent robust studies on treating homeless patients who have bacterial infections.
Nevertheless, a few other hospitals are testing ways to continue outpatient treatment for patients who don't have a stable home. In Portland, Ore., a medical center tried providing IV antibiotics inside addiction treatment programs. A hospital in Kentucky combines addiction treatment, counseling and outpatient IV antibiotics. In Vancouver, the Canadian national health program pays for small apartments, staffed with a nurse 24 hours a day, where patients can stay while they complete antibiotic treatment.
"People who use drugs deserve the same standard of care," says Dr. Christy Sutherland, medical director at the Portland Hotel Society in Vancouver. "We can't change what we offer as clinicians — to give people subpar treatment with the excuse that they are IV drug users."
Promising early signs
Arthur Jackson lives alone in his studio apartment, but he persuaded doctors he'd be better off there than in the hospital, so he could visit his 93-year-old mother daily, feed his tankful of tropical fish and his cat, and attend his regular Narcotics Anonymous meetings.
"I guess the best way to put it is, I have a life and I need to get back to it," he says.
toggle caption Jesse Costa/WBUR
Jackson is one of 40 patients with a history of drug use the Brigham team has discharged from the hospital, to complete IV antibiotic treatment at home. The team is paying particular attention to 21 patients within that group who, unlike Jackson, are active drug users. So far, these men and women have finished their antibiotic treatment via a PICC line with no complications. One had to be readmitted because he had trouble administering the antibiotics. Price says there were three patients who relapsed into drug use, but no one actually used the PICC line to inject illegal drugs.
"I think we've shown, through this pilot, that it is safe and feasible for certain patients," she says.
Brigham doctors have not yet published these initial results in a medical journal, though they plan to. But already, Price says, the pilot program is helping to cut health care costs.
Taken as a group, the 21 high-risk patients who needed IV antibiotics spent 571 days at home rather than in a hospital or rehab facility — saving as much as $865,000 (based on estimates of $1,500 per hospital day.) That doesn't include the cost of home care visits by a nurse.
This story is part of a reporting partnership that includes WBUR, NPR and Kaiser Health News. Find health care reporter Martha Bebinger on Twitter @mbebinger.


npr--2020-02-21--A Studio At Your Fingertips: 5 Apps Teachers Are Using To Make Student Podcasts

A Studio At Your Fingertips : 5 Apps Teachers Are Using To Make Student Podcasts Karen Keating 's eighth-grade English students at Lower Dauphin Middle School in Hummelstown , Pa. , fire up their laptops and gather a bundle of snowball microphones .
With the click of a mouse , their laptops become studios , and they 're ready to record .
Keating 's class is writing , producing and editing podcasts that they 'll submit to the NPR Student Podcast Challenge , and , like many teachers , Keating is using apps to help them make it happen .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ are working on their podcasts , we checked in with educators to see what digital tools they 're using .
The good news ?
Many of these apps are free .
They 're also accessible .
In many classrooms these days , teachers and students have their own laptops , Chromebooks or iPads .
In many cases , the technology is already downloaded and , like Keating 's eighth-graders , students these days are pretty tech-savvy already .
All of which means teachers can focus on the substance — ideas , writing , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ .
`` I can spend time helping students develop their stories rather than explaining the app , '' says Amanda Suttle , an English teacher who 's using the Anchor app to help her juniors and seniors get their podcasts in shape at Licking Valley High School in Newark , Ohio .
So , with several weeks still to go before the contest deadline , here are some of the apps and programs teachers told us they 're using .
( Of course , we 're not endorsing these , we 're just @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of you ) .
Developed by Spotify , think of Anchor as a mobile recording studio : With a wi-fi connection , you can record with multiple people in different locations at the same time ( as long as they have the app ) .
And you can edit what you record right in the app , using simple tools like trimming and removing segments .
Other tools let you add transitions , sound effects and background music to help make your podcast unique ( NOTE : Please read our strict rules on @ @ @ @ @ @ @ submission ) .
Another benefit for students doing lots of experimenting : No storage limits .
Amanda Suttle says that when she started using Anchor , she did n't know anything about editing sound .
Anchor made it easy .
`` It 's intuitive , '' she says .
`` I love how user-friendly it is , and it 's easy to explain . ''
Of the more advanced , laptop-focused software , Audacity is one of the most popular ones we heard about .
It 's an audio recording and editing package @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Mac users .
With Audacity , you can record directly on your computer 's microphone or an external one ( although , the audio does n't need to be recorded with the software to edit it there ) .
Eric Applen , who teaches 21st century technology and careers at Friedell Middle School in Rochester , Minn. , oversees the school 's podcast club and says he taught himself how to use Audacity .
`` It just has some really handy features , '' he says .
`` It comes down to what @ @ @ @ @ @ @ them to use . ''
He says one of his favorite features is the ability to put together audio segments that were recorded at different times to create one episode .
Audacity can also export files in various formats , including the wave file format you 'll need to submit for the Podcast Challenge .
Stacy Kreitzer is an instructional technology coach for Lower Dauphin Middle School and Lower Dauphin High School in Hummelstown , Pa. She helps teachers learn how to use the software on their laptops — she 's an Audacity @ @ @ @ @ @ @ bells and whistles for those that want to use it , '' she explains , `` but it 's also simple enough for the students that just want and need the basics . ''
Shari Jones ' sixth-grade language arts students are using WeVideo to record and edit their podcast at Independence Elementary School in Liberty Township , Ohio .
WeVideo is a desktop and mobile app where users can upload , trim and arrange both audio and video clips .
This is her second time submitting to the Podcast Challenge , and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ year because it does n't have an age restriction for children like previous apps she 's used .
`` This is more user friendly and all sixth graders have access to this WeVideo , '' says Jones .
`` They can do it more independently .
They have step-by-step directions . ''
Students with Google accounts , like Jones ' class , can save their podcasts to their Google Drive through WeVideo .
Jones says this makes it easier to export their submissions for the challenge .
Timothy Belmont , an English and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ in Lyndhurst , N.J. , wanted to give his students the option to go more in-depth with audio recording and editing .
For him , Soundtrap is an accessible way to do that .
`` It 's like a fully functional studio , '' says Belmont .
`` They can use it on their iPad through their web browser , but they can also use it on a laptop . ''
Soundtrap is an online , collaborative music workstation that can edit and record vocals and instruments .
`` You can even have @ @ @ @ @ @ @ same place record together collaboratively , '' says Belmont .
That , he adds , `` can extend the assignment from just being during class time to being outside of class . ''
Since Soundtrap is web-based , there 's no installation required and all projects also save to the cloud , allowing students to access their files from multiple devices .
Joanne Stanley 's English students at Swift Creek Middle School in Midlothian , Va. , are also using Soundtrap .
She says she has n't used the app very much , @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Her students have taken the lead and they are working through the `` kinks '' together .
GarageBand is a music creation studio that is automatically installed in all Mac and iOS devices .
As long as there 's an iPhone , students can record and produce their podcasts anywhere .
In New Jersey , Timothy Belmont says his students are using GarageBand as well as Soundtrap .
He likes the accessibility and says that many of his students were already familiar with it : `` Some of the students had already used @ @ @ @ @ @ @ were recording things or just experimenting . ''
These of course are just a few of the options out there , and some of the educators say it 's been a trial-and-error process to find the right app for their students , and their experience level .
`` My advice is to check with students first to see what their experience is with recording and listening to podcasts , '' says Applen .
`` Secondly , teachers should not be afraid to reach out to the podcast world and ask for help .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ that are willing to share their stories and experience to help get others started . ''

A Studio At Your Fingertips: 5 Apps Teachers Are Using To Make Student Podcasts
Enlarge this image LA Johnson/NPR LA Johnson/NPR
Karen Keating's eighth-grade English students at Lower Dauphin Middle School in Hummelstown, Pa., fire up their laptops and gather a bundle of snowball microphones. With the click of a mouse, their laptops become studios, and they're ready to record.
Keating's class is writing, producing and editing podcasts that they'll submit to the NPR Student Podcast Challenge, and, like many teachers, Keating is using apps to help them make it happen.
As teachers and students around the country are working on their podcasts, we checked in with educators to see what digital tools they're using.
The good news? Many of these apps are free. They're also accessible. In many classrooms these days, teachers and students have their own laptops, Chromebooks or iPads. In many cases, the technology is already downloaded and, like Keating's eighth-graders, students these days are pretty tech-savvy already.
All of which means teachers can focus on the substance — ideas, writing, narrative, editing — instead of process.
"I can spend time helping students develop their stories rather than explaining the app," says Amanda Suttle, an English teacher who's using the Anchor app to help her juniors and seniors get their podcasts in shape at Licking Valley High School in Newark, Ohio.
So, with several weeks still to go before the contest deadline, here are some of the apps and programs teachers told us they're using. (Of course, we're not endorsing these, we're just sharing what we've heard from many of you).
Anchor
Developed by Spotify, think of Anchor as a mobile recording studio: With a wi-fi connection, you can record with multiple people in different locations at the same time (as long as they have the app).
And you can edit what you record right in the app, using simple tools like trimming and removing segments. Other tools let you add transitions, sound effects and background music to help make your podcast unique (NOTE: Please read our strict rules on what music you can add to your submission).
Another benefit for students doing lots of experimenting: No storage limits.
Amanda Suttle says that when she started using Anchor, she didn't know anything about editing sound. Anchor made it easy. "It's intuitive," she says. "I love how user-friendly it is, and it's easy to explain."
Audacity
Of the more advanced, laptop-focused software, Audacity is one of the most popular ones we heard about. It's an audio recording and editing package that is downloadable for both Windows and Mac users.
With Audacity, you can record directly on your computer's microphone or an external one (although, the audio doesn't need to be recorded with the software to edit it there).
Eric Applen, who teaches 21st century technology and careers at Friedell Middle School in Rochester, Minn., oversees the school's podcast club and says he taught himself how to use Audacity. "It just has some really handy features," he says. "It comes down to what's accessible for students and easy for them to use."
He says one of his favorite features is the ability to put together audio segments that were recorded at different times to create one episode.
Audacity can also export files in various formats, including the wave file format you'll need to submit for the Podcast Challenge.
Stacy Kreitzer is an instructional technology coach for Lower Dauphin Middle School and Lower Dauphin High School in Hummelstown, Pa. She helps teachers learn how to use the software on their laptops — she's an Audacity fan.
"It has all the bells and whistles for those that want to use it," she explains, "but it's also simple enough for the students that just want and need the basics."
WeVideo
Shari Jones' sixth-grade language arts students are using WeVideo to record and edit their podcast at Independence Elementary School in Liberty Township, Ohio.
WeVideo is a desktop and mobile app where users can upload, trim and arrange both audio and video clips.
This is her second time submitting to the Podcast Challenge, and Jones says she started using WeVideo this year because it doesn't have an age restriction for children like previous apps she's used.
"This is more user friendly and all sixth graders have access to this WeVideo," says Jones. "They can do it more independently. They have step-by-step directions."
Students with Google accounts, like Jones' class, can save their podcasts to their Google Drive through WeVideo. Jones says this makes it easier to export their submissions for the challenge.
Soundtrap
Timothy Belmont, an English and public speaking teacher at Lyndhurst High School in Lyndhurst, N.J., wanted to give his students the option to go more in-depth with audio recording and editing. For him, Soundtrap is an accessible way to do that.
"It's like a fully functional studio," says Belmont. "They can use it on their iPad through their web browser, but they can also use it on a laptop."
Soundtrap is an online, collaborative music workstation that can edit and record vocals and instruments.
"You can even have students who are not necessarily in the same place record together collaboratively," says Belmont. That, he adds, "can extend the assignment from just being during class time to being outside of class."
Since Soundtrap is web-based, there's no installation required and all projects also save to the cloud, allowing students to access their files from multiple devices.
Joanne Stanley's English students at Swift Creek Middle School in Midlothian, Va., are also using Soundtrap. She says she hasn't used the app very much, and she doesn't have to: Her students have taken the lead and they are working through the "kinks" together.
GarageBand
GarageBand is a music creation studio that is automatically installed in all Mac and iOS devices. As long as there's an iPhone, students can record and produce their podcasts anywhere.
In New Jersey, Timothy Belmont says his students are using GarageBand as well as Soundtrap. He likes the accessibility and says that many of his students were already familiar with it: "Some of the students had already used GarageBand for other classes, whether they were recording things or just experimenting."
These of course are just a few of the options out there, and some of the educators say it's been a trial-and-error process to find the right app for their students, and their experience level.
"My advice is to check with students first to see what their experience is with recording and listening to podcasts," says Applen. "Secondly, teachers should not be afraid to reach out to the podcast world and ask for help. There are tons of podcasters out there that are willing to share their stories and experience to help get others started."


npr--2020-02-21--The Lessons To Be Learned From Forcing Plants To Play Music

The Lessons To Be Learned From Forcing Plants To Play Music The music sounds , at first , like it belongs in a power yoga studio : electronic and rhythmic , rising and falling like breaths .
But then a higher pitch juts into the mix , and the strains of sound diverge , becoming faster-paced and a bit more like electronic dance music .
The rise and swell fluctuates , not entirely predictable .
The artists at work are , ostensibly , plants : a philodendron , two schefflera and a snake plant .
Plant music is coming to @ @ @ @ @ @ @ there if you seek it out — and there are plenty of musicians these days waiting to be discovered .
The indoor houseplant market is booming , especially among millennials .
By one report , sales surged almost 50 % , to $ 1.7 billion , between 2016 and 2019 .
Relatedly , there 's been a surge in `` plantfluencers , '' social media stars at the intersection of horticulture , wellness and Instagram , curating photos of minimalist jungles in well-lit living rooms .
Now , through bio-sonification devices like Music @ @ @ @ @ @ @ enthusiasts can open channels of communication with their plants , conducted in the trending language of ambient noise .
The plants can speak `` ambient chill , '' it turns out .
Er , right ?
PlantWave grew out of a zero-waste record label called Data Garden , started by Joe Patitucci and Alex Tyson in 2011 .
Data Garden produced digital albums , partially distributed via download codes printed on artwork that was embedded with plantable flower seeds , as well as installations and interactive exhibitions that combined plants , music and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ iteration of PlantWave was born when the Philadelphia Museum of Art invited the label to do an installation at the museum .
Data Garden worked with an engineer to develop a device that translated micro-conductivity on the surface of plants into a graph that could be used to control hardware and software synthesizers .
The result was `` Data Garden Quartet , '' featuring four harmonizing plants that played continuous music .
After that , Patitucci and Tyson wanted to create a commercially available version for musicians and plant lovers ; the first @ @ @ @ @ @ @ and improved model , funded by a successful Kickstarter campaign , will be released in the near future .
The resulting plant music can be used in a variety of ways – musicians can mix it into their songs , yoga studios can put it on in the background of shavasana , art galleries can play it as installations .
But Plantwave 's primary mission with plant music is to foster an awareness of plants as living organisms .
`` I think some people are very aware that plants are sentient beings that @ @ @ @ @ @ @ themselves and responding to their environment — but for a lot of people that 's not something they think about every day , '' says Jon Shapiro , product development manager of Data Garden .
`` It does allow people , and it has allowed me , to look at other life forms and appreciate their aliveness in a different way . ''
But their aliveness is n't necessarily human , so saying that plants `` play instruments '' is more a figure of speech .
`` Plants do n't sound like flutes @ @ @ @ @ @ @ version of the invention includes sensors that issue small signals through the plant , measuring variations in electrical resistance between two points within it .
`` The variation in the connection is largely related to how much water is between those two points , which changes a lot as the plant is moving water around while it 's photosynthesizing , '' Shapiro said .
`` Then we graphed that change as a wave , and then we translate that wave into pitch , so then essentially we 're getting a stream of all @ @ @ @ @ @ @ . ''
The pitches then enter the device 's software , which features different electronic instruments — the flute , harp , piano , guitar , bass and some synthesizers among them — that you can elect for the plants to `` play , '' then scaling them to be harmonious .
A symphony ( of sorts ) , generated by algorithms and leaves .
Like people , not all plants are naturals .
Some are too small or delicate to measure , and a large tree might only bring about a few @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the ( millennial-preferred ) healthy , glossy houseplant .
And even so the sound will vary a lot , and not simply based on the species of plant .
`` Even within the same species , even within the same plant , depending on what two leaves you choose , '' Patitucci says , `` the fluctuation between two points in the plant will be different within every single plant . ''
`` For me , one of the most exciting things about it is not about necessarily finding a specific signature sound @ @ @ @ @ @ @ familiar with what the patterns are with this plant . ''
The music often shifts with changes in light , time of day , oxygen levels , and even in response to movements in the room , something Patitucci notices when he leads yoga and meditation classes to plant music .
So , have we found a way to commune with our plants , transcending species and genus ?
In a word , no .
The sounds are human-generated , even if they 're responding to internal changes in the plant .
Though @ @ @ @ @ @ @ to communicate with us .
The sounds they make are responses to things in their environment or their internal workings -- stuff moving around and processing inside of them .
Frank Telewski , a plant biologist at Michigan State University , notes that plants make sounds related to plants make sounds related to external factors like wind , and also to `` the cavitation in the hydraulic pathway resulting from tiny bubbles forming in the xylem .
Neither of these sounds are made intentionally by the plant to communicate , but they can @ @ @ @ @ @ @ or physiological status . ''
He compared it to the noise your stomach makes when hungry — a message , but not communication in the way we think about it .
Patitucci said that at Data Garden , they try to stay away from anthropomorphizing the plants too much .
`` I think that a lot of times when people think of plant music , when they first hear of it , they think , will it sound like death metal in this case or classical music in this other case ?
Will @ @ @ @ @ @ @ at you or sad ? ''
he said .
`` It 's really important to understand that these are beings that are living in another dimension . ''
This is a paradox of sorts about plant music : the imposition of a human scale and pitch allows us to be more aware that plants are living , but it might make us think they feel like us , even when they do n't .
Still , as with a rumbling stomach , human-generated plant music can tell you something .
When Patitucci was @ @ @ @ @ @ @ roommate to water his plants .
From a distance , he tuned in to listen to them—and one of them was playing the same note over and over .
A few days later he checked in again and the same thing was happening .
`` I texted my roommate , 'how are the plants doing ? '
And he said , 'Oh they 're doing great , really healthy ' and I asked , 'Could you send me a photo ? '
And all the plants were really happy except that one plant @ @ @ @ @ @ @ a lot more water , and its leaves were drooping .
So I could tell that , over a long period of time and from a distance , just by listening . ''

The Lessons To Be Learned From Forcing Plants To Play Music
Enlarge this image toggle caption DEA / G. Cigolini/De Agostini via Getty Images DEA / G. Cigolini/De Agostini via Getty Images
The music sounds, at first, like it belongs in a power yoga studio: electronic and rhythmic, rising and falling like breaths. But then a higher pitch juts into the mix, and the strains of sound diverge, becoming faster-paced and a bit more like electronic dance music. The rise and swell fluctuates, not entirely predictable. The artists at work are, ostensibly, plants: a philodendron, two schefflera and a snake plant.
Plant music is coming to you, or rather, it's there if you seek it out — and there are plenty of musicians these days waiting to be discovered. The indoor houseplant market is booming, especially among millennials. By one report, sales surged almost 50%, to $1.7 billion, between 2016 and 2019. Relatedly, there's been a surge in "plantfluencers," social media stars at the intersection of horticulture, wellness and Instagram, curating photos of minimalist jungles in well-lit living rooms.
Now, through bio-sonification devices like Music of the Plants and PlantWave, plant enthusiasts can open channels of communication with their plants, conducted in the trending language of ambient noise. The plants can speak "ambient chill," it turns out. Er, right?
PlantWave grew out of a zero-waste record label called Data Garden, started by Joe Patitucci and Alex Tyson in 2011. Data Garden produced digital albums, partially distributed via download codes printed on artwork that was embedded with plantable flower seeds, as well as installations and interactive exhibitions that combined plants, music and technology. In 2012, an early iteration of PlantWave was born when the Philadelphia Museum of Art invited the label to do an installation at the museum. Data Garden worked with an engineer, Sam Cusumano, to develop a device that translated micro-conductivity on the surface of plants into a graph that could be used to control hardware and software synthesizers. The result was "Data Garden Quartet," featuring four harmonizing plants that played continuous music. After that, Patitucci and Tyson wanted to create a commercially available version for musicians and plant lovers; the first iteration sold out, and a new and improved model, funded by a successful Kickstarter campaign, will be released in the near future.
Hear a bit of beach-based plantaphonia above. YouTube
The resulting plant music can be used in a variety of ways – musicians can mix it into their songs, yoga studios can put it on in the background of shavasana, art galleries can play it as installations. But Plantwave's primary mission with plant music is to foster an awareness of plants as living organisms. "I think some people are very aware that plants are sentient beings that are, arguably, making decisions for themselves and responding to their environment — but for a lot of people that's not something they think about every day," says Jon Shapiro, product development manager of Data Garden. "It does allow people, and it has allowed me, to look at other life forms and appreciate their aliveness in a different way."
But their aliveness isn't necessarily human, so saying that plants "play instruments" is more a figure of speech. "Plants don't sound like flutes," Shapiro says. The consumer version of the invention includes sensors that issue small signals through the plant, measuring variations in electrical resistance between two points within it. "The variation in the connection is largely related to how much water is between those two points, which changes a lot as the plant is moving water around while it's photosynthesizing," Shapiro said. "Then we graphed that change as a wave, and then we translate that wave into pitch, so then essentially we're getting a stream of all these pitch messages coming from the plant." The pitches then enter the device's software, which features different electronic instruments — the flute, harp, piano, guitar, bass and some synthesizers among them — that you can elect for the plants to "play," then scaling them to be harmonious. A symphony (of sorts), generated by algorithms and leaves.
Like people, not all plants are naturals. Some are too small or delicate to measure, and a large tree might only bring about a few notes — so it's ideal for the (millennial-preferred) healthy, glossy houseplant. And even so the sound will vary a lot, and not simply based on the species of plant. "Even within the same species, even within the same plant, depending on what two leaves you choose," Patitucci says, "the fluctuation between two points in the plant will be different within every single plant." "For me, one of the most exciting things about it is not about necessarily finding a specific signature sound from one plant, but to get familiar with what the patterns are with this plant." The music often shifts with changes in light, time of day, oxygen levels, and even in response to movements in the room, something Patitucci notices when he leads yoga and meditation classes to plant music.
So, have we found a way to commune with our plants, transcending species and genus? In a word, no. The sounds are human-generated, even if they're responding to internal changes in the plant. Though plants do make sounds — but not to communicate with us.
The sounds they make are responses to things in their environment or their internal workings--stuff moving around and processing inside of them. Frank Telewski, a plant biologist at Michigan State University, notes that plants make sounds related to plants make sounds related to external factors like wind, and also to "the cavitation in the hydraulic pathway resulting from tiny bubbles forming in the xylem. Neither of these sounds are made intentionally by the plant to communicate, but they can indicate something about the plant's structure or physiological status." He compared it to the noise your stomach makes when hungry — a message, but not communication in the way we think about it.
Patitucci said that at Data Garden, they try to stay away from anthropomorphizing the plants too much. "I think that a lot of times when people think of plant music, when they first hear of it, they think, will it sound like death metal in this case or classical music in this other case? Will it tell you if it's mad at you or sad?" he said. "It's really important to understand that these are beings that are living in another dimension." This is a paradox of sorts about plant music: the imposition of a human scale and pitch allows us to be more aware that plants are living, but it might make us think they feel like us, even when they don't.
Still, as with a rumbling stomach, human-generated plant music can tell you something. When Patitucci was traveling in Thailand, he asked his roommate to water his plants. From a distance, he tuned in to listen to them—and one of them was playing the same note over and over. A few days later he checked in again and the same thing was happening. "I texted my roommate, 'how are the plants doing?' And he said, 'Oh they're doing great, really healthy' and I asked, 'Could you send me a photo?' And all the plants were really happy except that one plant, a peace lily, which needs a lot more water, and its leaves were drooping. So I could tell that, over a long period of time and from a distance, just by listening."


npr--2020-02-21--Enjoy The Extra Day Off! More Bosses Give 4-Day Workweek A Try

Enjoy The Extra Day Off !
More Bosses Give 4-Day Workweek A Try Companies around the world are embracing what might seem like a radical idea : a four-day workweek .
The concept is gaining ground in places as varied as New Zealand and Russia , and it 's making inroads among some American companies .
Employers are seeing surprising benefits , including higher sales and profits .
The idea of a four-day workweek might sound crazy , especially in America , where the number of hours worked has been climbing and where cellphones and email remind us of our @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , the four-day concept is taking off like a viral meme .
Many employers are n't just moving to 10-hour shifts , four days a week , as companies like Shake Shack are doing ; they 're going to a 32-hour week — without cutting pay .
In exchange , employers are asking their workers to get their jobs done in a compressed amount of time .
Last month , a Washington state senator introduced a bill to reduce the standard workweek to 32 hours .
Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev is backing @ @ @ @ @ @ @ four-day week .
Politicians in Britain and Finland are considering something similar .
In the U.S. , Shake Shack started testing the idea a year and a half ago .
The burger chain shortened managers ' workweeks to four days at some stores and found that recruitment spiked , especially among women .
Shake Shack 's president , Tara Comonte , says the staff loved the perk : `` Being able to take their kids to school a day a week , or one day less of having to pay for day care @ @ @ @ @ @ @ company recently expanded its trial to a third of its 164 U.S. stores .
Offering that benefit required Shake Shack to find time savings elsewhere , so it switched to computer software to track supplies of ground beef , for example .
`` It was a way to increase flexibility , '' Comonte says of the shorter week .
`` Corporate environments have had flexible work policies for a while now .
That 's not so easy to do in the restaurant business . ''
Hundreds — if not thousands — of other @ @ @ @ @ @ @ four-day week .
Last summer , Microsoft 's trial in Japan led to a 40 % improvement in productivity , measured as sales per employee .
Much of this is thanks to Andrew Barnes , an archaeologist by training , who never intended to become a global evangelist .
`` This was not a journey I expected to be on , '' he says .
Barnes is CEO of Perpetual Guardian , New Zealand 's largest estate planning company .
He spent much of his career believing long hours were better for business @ @ @ @ @ @ @ the toll it took on employees and their families , particularly when it came to mental health .
So two years ago , he used Perpetual Guardian and its 240 workers as guinea pigs , partnering with academic researchers in Auckland to monitor and track the effects of working only four days a week .
`` Core to this is that people are not productive for every hour , every minute of the day that they 're in the office , '' Barnes says , which means there was lots of distraction and @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Simply slashing the number and duration of meetings saved huge amounts of time .
Also , he did away with open-floor office plans and saw workers spending far less time on social media .
All this , he says , made it easier to focus more deeply on the work .
Remarkably , workers got more work done while working fewer hours .
Sales and profits grew .
Employees spent less time commuting , and they were happier .
Barnes says there were other , unexpected benefits : It narrowed workplace gender gaps @ @ @ @ @ @ @ time off for caregiving — suddenly had greater flexibility built into their schedule .
Men also had more time to help with their families , Barnes says .
The company did n't police how workers spent their time .
But if performance slipped , the firm could revert back to the full-week schedule .
Barnes says that alone motivated workers .
The Perpetual Guardian study went viral , and things went haywire for Barnes .
Employers — including big multinationals — started calling , seeking advice .
`` Frankly , I could n't @ @ @ @ @ @ @ number of companies that approached us , '' Barnes says .
Demand was so great that he set up a foundation to promote the four-day workweek .
Ironically , in the process , he 's working a lot of overtime .
`` You only get one chance to change the world .
And , it 's my responsibility at least , on this one , to see if I can influence the world for the better , '' he says .
To date , most of that interest has not come from American @ @ @ @ @ @ @ of management at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania , says that 's because the concept runs counter to American notions of work and capitalism .
Unions are less powerful , and workers have less political sway than in other countries , he says .
So American companies answer to shareholders , who tend to prioritize profit over worker benefits .
`` I just do n't see contemporary U.S. employers saying , 'You know what , if we create more value here , we 're gon na give it to the @ @ @ @ @ @ @ see that happening , '' Cappelli says .
Natalie Nagele , co-founder and CEO of Wildbit , has heard from other leaders who say it did n't work for them .
She says it fails when employees are n't motivated and where managers do n't trust employees .
But Nagele says moving her Philadelphia software company to a four-day week three years ago has been a success .
`` We had shipped more features than we had in recent years , we felt more productive , the quality of our work increased .
@ @ @ @ @ @ @ it , '' Nagele says .
Personally , she says , it gives her time to rest her brain , which helps solve complex problems : `` You can ask my team , there 's multiple times where somebody is like , 'On Sunday morning , I woke up and ...
I figured it out . '
`` Mikeal Parlow started working a four-day week about a month ago .
It was a perk of his new job as a budget analyst in Westminster , Colo .
He works 10 hours a day @ @ @ @ @ @ @ as he puts it , until the job is done .
Parlow says he much prefers the new way `` because it is about getting your work done , more so than feeding the clock . ''
That frees Fridays up for life 's many delightful chores — like visits to the DMV .
`` For instance , today we 're going to go and get our license plates , '' Parlow says .
But that also leaves time on the weekends ... for the weekend .

Enjoy The Extra Day Off! More Bosses Give 4-Day Workweek A Try
Enlarge this image toggle caption Brittany Murray/MediaNews Group via Getty Images Brittany Murray/MediaNews Group via Getty Images
Companies around the world are embracing what might seem like a radical idea: a four-day workweek.
The concept is gaining ground in places as varied as New Zealand and Russia, and it's making inroads among some American companies. Employers are seeing surprising benefits, including higher sales and profits.
The idea of a four-day workweek might sound crazy, especially in America, where the number of hours worked has been climbing and where cellphones and email remind us of our jobs 24/7.
But in some places, the four-day concept is taking off like a viral meme. Many employers aren't just moving to 10-hour shifts, four days a week, as companies like Shake Shack are doing; they're going to a 32-hour week — without cutting pay. In exchange, employers are asking their workers to get their jobs done in a compressed amount of time.
Last month, a Washington state senator introduced a bill to reduce the standard workweek to 32 hours. Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev is backing a parliamentary proposal to shift to a four-day week. Politicians in Britain and Finland are considering something similar.
In the U.S., Shake Shack started testing the idea a year and a half ago. The burger chain shortened managers' workweeks to four days at some stores and found that recruitment spiked, especially among women.
Shake Shack's president, Tara Comonte, says the staff loved the perk: "Being able to take their kids to school a day a week, or one day less of having to pay for day care, for example."
So the company recently expanded its trial to a third of its 164 U.S. stores. Offering that benefit required Shake Shack to find time savings elsewhere, so it switched to computer software to track supplies of ground beef, for example.
"It was a way to increase flexibility," Comonte says of the shorter week. "Corporate environments have had flexible work policies for a while now. That's not so easy to do in the restaurant business."
Hundreds — if not thousands — of other companies are also adopting or testing the four-day week. Last summer, Microsoft's trial in Japan led to a 40% improvement in productivity, measured as sales per employee.
Much of this is thanks to Andrew Barnes, an archaeologist by training, who never intended to become a global evangelist. "This was not a journey I expected to be on," he says.
Barnes is CEO of Perpetual Guardian, New Zealand's largest estate planning company. He spent much of his career believing long hours were better for business. But he was also disturbed by the toll it took on employees and their families, particularly when it came to mental health.
So two years ago, he used Perpetual Guardian and its 240 workers as guinea pigs, partnering with academic researchers in Auckland to monitor and track the effects of working only four days a week.
"Core to this is that people are not productive for every hour, every minute of the day that they're in the office," Barnes says, which means there was lots of distraction and wasted time that could be cut.
Simply slashing the number and duration of meetings saved huge amounts of time. Also, he did away with open-floor office plans and saw workers spending far less time on social media. All this, he says, made it easier to focus more deeply on the work.
Remarkably, workers got more work done while working fewer hours. Sales and profits grew. Employees spent less time commuting, and they were happier.
Barnes says there were other, unexpected benefits: It narrowed workplace gender gaps. Women — who typically took more time off for caregiving — suddenly had greater flexibility built into their schedule. Men also had more time to help with their families, Barnes says.
The company didn't police how workers spent their time. But if performance slipped, the firm could revert back to the full-week schedule. Barnes says that alone motivated workers.
The Perpetual Guardian study went viral, and things went haywire for Barnes.
Employers — including big multinationals — started calling, seeking advice. "Frankly, I couldn't drink enough coffee to deal with the number of companies that approached us," Barnes says.
Demand was so great that he set up a foundation to promote the four-day workweek. Ironically, in the process, he's working a lot of overtime.
"You only get one chance to change the world. And, it's my responsibility at least, on this one, to see if I can influence the world for the better," he says.
To date, most of that interest has not come from American employers.
Peter Cappelli, a professor of management at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, says that's because the concept runs counter to American notions of work and capitalism. Unions are less powerful, and workers have less political sway than in other countries, he says.
So American companies answer to shareholders, who tend to prioritize profit over worker benefits.
"I just don't see contemporary U.S. employers saying, 'You know what, if we create more value here, we're gonna give it to the employees.' I just don't see that happening," Cappelli says.
Natalie Nagele, co-founder and CEO of Wildbit, has heard from other leaders who say it didn't work for them. She says it fails when employees aren't motivated and where managers don't trust employees.
But Nagele says moving her Philadelphia software company to a four-day week three years ago has been a success.
"We had shipped more features than we had in recent years, we felt more productive, the quality of our work increased. So then we just kept going with it," Nagele says. Personally, she says, it gives her time to rest her brain, which helps solve complex problems: "You can ask my team, there's multiple times where somebody is like, 'On Sunday morning, I woke up and ... I figured it out.' "
Mikeal Parlow started working a four-day week about a month ago. It was a perk of his new job as a budget analyst in Westminster, Colo.
He works 10 hours a day, Monday through Thursday. Or, as he puts it, until the job is done. Parlow says he much prefers the new way "because it is about getting your work done, more so than feeding the clock."
That frees Fridays up for life's many delightful chores — like visits to the DMV. "For instance, today we're going to go and get our license plates," Parlow says.
But that also leaves time on the weekends ... for the weekend.


npr--2020-02-21--Some In Rural Florida Want Officials To Change Direction On Toll Roads

Some In Rural Florida Want Officials To Change Direction On Toll Roads Florida is planning a major expansion of its highways with a series of toll roads that would open new parts of the state to development .
Exactly where the roads will go has n't been announced yet , but opposition to the highways is growing in rural areas such as Jefferson County in North Florida .
Mike Willis ' family has lived there since before Florida became a state .
He likes to refer to it as , `` the other Florida .
Most people think of Florida @ @ @ @ @ @ @ , '' he says .
`` We have rolling clay hills and beautiful pine forests . ''
It 's a quiet , rural county without a single stoplight , mostly timberland and cattle ranches .
Willis says many people there want to keep it that way .
That 's why they became alarmed when word came down from the state legislature that a new toll road would likely come through their county .
`` We do n't need this toll road , '' Willis says .
`` We did n't ask for this @ @ @ @ @ @ @ that this whole project is a pet project of some powerful legislators as well as some powerful lobbyist . ''
Florida 's road construction industry , along with the trucking and asphalt contractors associations were among those promoting three new toll roads , including one that would begin on Florida 's Gulf Coast and end somewhere in Jefferson County .
Monticello , the county seat , is a small country town with a courthouse with bells that ring on the hour .
A historic opera house , restaurants , antique stores and other @ @ @ @ @ @ @ out-of-town day trippers .
`` We have two new clothing shops downtown , '' says Michelle Arceneaux , who until recently was head of the Chamber of Commerce .
`` We have a new gift shop and she 's thriving .
So , we 've had a lot of great success in the last few years . ''
Arceneaux and other merchants worry that a new toll road will suck the life out of Monticello 's thriving downtown .
People here are also angry about how the decision to build the new highways @ @ @ @ @ @ @ proposed by the state Department of Transportation after years of traffic studies and planning .
These new toll roads were ordered by the state legislature — a top down process that has left many distrustful and suspicious .
Task forces have been set up to study where they should go .
But J.T .
Surles , a Jefferson County commissioner , thinks that decision 's already been made .
`` It 's naïve , to me , to think there 's not a roomful of people somewhere that do n't know exactly where @ @ @ @ @ @ @ says .
`` They 're just really keeping us in the dark on where that is . ''
The president of Florida 's Senate , Bill Galvano , proposed the new toll roads and pushed for their approval .
He says hundreds of people each day move to Florida and the new highways are about preparing for the future , not about opening Florida 's rural areas to development .
`` We 've seen the growth that 's occurred around the perimeter of our state and I do n't believe that it 's @ @ @ @ @ @ @ says .
`` It 's driven because people [ want ] to be here . ''
Public meetings to discuss the new roads have been well-attended and sometimes heated .
Some county officials and local business groups support the roads for the jobs and development they would bring .
Environmental groups see the roads differently .
`` They would constitute the most disastrous single thing that 's ever happened to the rural areas and the environment in the state of Florida , '' Charles Lee of Audubon , Fla. , says .
Lee @ @ @ @ @ @ @ could go through natural and agricultural areas that provide habitat for endangered species , including the Florida panther .
They 're hoping to minimize the impact to the environment by convincing planners to locate the new highways along already existing routes .
That may help protect the environment , but does little to alleviate concerns about the traffic and development the roads will bring to rural areas .
In Jefferson County , there 's a push for the commission to ask the state to remove it as the likely terminus of the new @ @ @ @ @ @ @ Barfield opposes that move .
A new highway , she believes , may bring benefits .
`` If we are smart about where the toll road is going to go , how that growth is going to look , then I believe we can mitigate some of the fears that people have about Jefferson County looking like a Central Florida , '' Barfield says .
As planners discuss where to put the new roads , one thing they have n't figured out yet is how to pay for them .
Building more than @ @ @ @ @ @ @ more than $ 10 billion .
Opponents hope that high cost , along with growing concerns in rural areas , may lead policymakers to scale back their plans .

Some In Rural Florida Want Officials To Change Direction On Toll Roads
Enlarge this image toggle caption Greg Allen/NPR Greg Allen/NPR
Florida is planning a major expansion of its highways with a series of toll roads that would open new parts of the state to development.
Exactly where the roads will go hasn't been announced yet, but opposition to the highways is growing in rural areas such as Jefferson County in North Florida. Mike Willis' family has lived there since before Florida became a state. He likes to refer to it as "the other Florida."
"Most people think of Florida as palm trees, white sandy beaches," he says. "We have rolling clay hills and beautiful pine forests."
It's a quiet, rural county without a single stoplight, mostly timberland and cattle ranches. Willis says many people there want to keep it that way. That's why they became alarmed when word came down from the state Legislature that a new toll road would likely come through their county.
"We don't need this toll road," Willis says. "We didn't ask for this toll road. It seems to me that this whole project is a pet project of some powerful legislators as well as some powerful lobbyist."
Florida's road construction industry, along with the trucking and asphalt contractors associations, was among those promoting three new toll roads, including one that would begin on Florida's Gulf Coast and end somewhere in Jefferson County.
Monticello, the county seat, is a small country town with a courthouse with bells that ring on the hour. A historic opera house, restaurants, antique stores and other shops make it a popular destination for out-of-town day trippers.
"We have two new clothing shops downtown," says Michelle Arceneaux, who until recently was head of the Chamber of Commerce. "We have a new gift shop and she's thriving. So, we've had a lot of great success in the last few years."
Enlarge this image toggle caption Greg Allen/NPR Greg Allen/NPR
Arceneaux and other merchants worry that a new toll road will suck the life out of Monticello's thriving downtown. People here are also angry about how the decision to build the new highways was made.
New roads typically are proposed by the state Department of Transportation after years of traffic studies and planning. These new toll roads were ordered by the state Legislature — a top-down process that has left many distrustful and suspicious. Task forces have been set up to study where they should go. But J.T. Surles, a Jefferson County commissioner, thinks that decision has already been made.
"It's naive, to me, to think there's not a roomful of people somewhere that don't know exactly where this thing's going," he says. "They're just really keeping us in the dark on where that is."
The president of Florida's Senate, Bill Galvano, proposed the new toll roads and pushed for their approval. He says hundreds of people each day move to Florida and the new highways are about preparing for the future, not about opening Florida's rural areas to development.
"We've seen the growth that's occurred around the perimeter of our state and I don't believe that it's driven because of infrastructure," Galvano says. "It's driven because people [want] to be here."
Public meetings to discuss the new roads have been well attended and sometimes heated. Some county officials and local business groups support the roads for the jobs and development they would bring. Environmental groups see the roads differently.
Charles Lee of Audubon Florida says, "The original bill filed to build these roads would have constituted the most disastrous single thing that's ever happened to the rural areas and the environment in the state of Florida."
Lee believes environmental protection safeguards now in place should minimize the impact. But he and others remain worried the new roads could go through natural and agricultural areas that provide habitat for endangered species, including the Florida panther. They're hoping to minimize the impact to the environment by persuading planners to locate the new highways along already existing routes.
National Infrastructure Experts Wondering Where Funding Would Come From For Trump's Plan Infrastructure Experts Wondering Where Funding Would Come From For Trump's Plan Listen · 3:11 3:11
That may help protect the environment, but it does little to alleviate concerns about the traffic and development the roads would bring to rural areas. In Jefferson County, there's a push for the commission to ask the state to remove it as the likely terminus of the new toll road. Jefferson County Commissioner Betsy Barfield opposes that move. A new highway, she believes, may bring benefits.
"If we are smart about where the toll road is going to go, how that growth is going to look, then I believe we can mitigate some of the fears that people have about Jefferson County looking like a Central Florida," Barfield says.
As planners discuss where to put the new roads, one thing they haven't figured out yet is how to pay for them. Building more than 300 miles of new highways may cost more than $10 billion. Opponents hope that high cost, along with growing concerns in rural areas, may lead policymakers to scale back their plans.