Like “Thembi’s Diary“, this story takes us into its characters’ world without the use of a narrator. It’s an approach that can provide exceptional immediacy. In this piece, a soldier and his wife struggle to build a life after his return from the Iraq war.
We’ve read quite a lot of stories about PTSD; we thought this a particularly useful window on the disease, its costs to victims’ emotional well-being and their ability to function in society—as Anna Mohan, the soldier’s wife, notes so eloquently at the end of the piece.
Karen Brown has been a full-time radio reporter since 1998 for WFCR, the NPR affiliate in Amherst, Mass. She covers health care and general assignment stories, with a focus on mental health, children's issues, and community-based initiatives. Her pieces have aired nationally on National Public Radio, American RadioWorks, Marketplace Radio, Justice Talking, Primetime Radio, and Voice of America.