Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Utah mine interview on NPR

Today on NPR, All Things Considered at like 5:15, there was this little interview about the Utah miners. This guy was talking about his friend/coworker who was feared dead. Oh my god, I was crying in my car on the way home. They were saying how this guy was always joking, made everybody laugh. They said teasing is a part of "miner culture." I think you have to have pretty thick skin to be a miner. They also said that one guy feared dead is 24 and has only been working for 2 weeks. He said that, at 2 weeks, you still have no real idea what you're doing, you don't have your bearings underground yet.

And they said they wear these brass tags with their SS# attached to their belt. After disasters like the one in Utah, often those brass tags are the only things that are recognizable. It's like the military.

And then this guy that they were interviewing picked up a guitar and said that he and his friend used to jam together and this song is dedicated to him, and then he started playing. And I had to pull over. Wow.

2 comments:

Emily Hart said...

Oh, and they said that they'll only admit that these guys might be dead to friends and people really close to the community. To the general public, they all say they're staying optimistic. It's like "the code" or something.

Julie Ohl said...

The NPR site says Audio for today's show will be available at approx. 7:00 p.m. ET if you go to www.npr.org - click on Programs, and choose All Things Considered. It should have the link to the broadcast there when it's available.