WAMU 88.5 Contributors

Rebecca Sheir

Host, Metro Connection

Sheir joined WAMU in 2009 as a news anchor, host and reporter. She became the host of Metro Connection in August 2010.

Sheir came to the nation's capital by way of Alaska, where she traveled amongst the moose and mountains as the host of AK, the award-winning show on the Alaska Public Radio Network. While in the Last Frontier, she also did reporting for NPR member station KTOO in Juneau.

Sheir's radio stories have won numerous awards – including the Third Coast International Audio Festival Directors' Choice Award – and have aired on public radio venues and programs, including All Things Considered, Weekend Edition, Marketplace, The Splendid Table, Latino USA, Only a Game, Here & Now, Interfaith Voices, Voice of America, Chicago Public Radio, New Hampshire Public Radio and Iowa Public Radio. She has taught her original radio essay/commentary course, "Radio Voices," at the University of Iowa and University of Alaska Anchorage.

Sheir received her BA from Columbia University in New York City, where she also worked in Off-Broadway theater production: first with Stephen Sondheim's Young Playwrights Inc., then with Naked Angels Theatre Company. She holds an MFA in Creative Nonfiction from the University of Iowa.


Articles Written by Rebecca Sheir

WAMU 88.5
You might know about the old streetcar tunnels under Dupont Circle, but nearly a century ago, an entirely different -- and lesser-known -- series of tunnels was discovered on P Street NW. Rebecca Sheir visits the area with D.C. preservation buff Kim Bender, and hears about the mysterious tunnel system, and how this bizarre collection of passageways was the work of a man well versed in...
WAMU 88.5
Meeting your soul mate can be tough for anyone, but for some people with disabilities, it can be hard just to get out and form new friendships. That's why DateAble, Inc. started up in the D.C. area. Rebecca Sheir talks with one couple who found love using the service: Lynn Watson and her husband, Robert, who now runs DateAble, Inc. from their home in Brandywine, Md.[Music: "Bab...
WAMU 88.5
Cheryl A. Lofton's family has been nipping and tucking Washington's attire since the 1930s, when her grandfather opened the first African-American-owned tailoring business in downtown D.C. Cheryl moved the family business to a new spot in Shaw, and just opened a shoe-shine shop next door. Rebecca Sheir visits the operation to hear about the family's professional heritage, and how, in ...
WAMU 88.5
It's official: the Dog Days of Summer are here! Vacation season is in full swing, the mercury is rising and most of us just want to kick back in the shade with a frosty drink.So this week we're taking a pause, and revisiting some of our favorite Metro Connection stories from the past few months. Grab a tall, cool one... sit back... and enjoy![Music: "Every Little Bit Hu...
WAMU 88.5
Legend has it a curse was cast on a large, blue diamond after it was stolen from the forehead of an idol in India. Rebecca Sheir visits the Hope Diamond at the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, and speaks with curator Jeffrey Post and historian Paul Dickson about the alleged curse, and whether it may have been connected to the ill fortune of the Diamond's last -- and most notorio...
WAMU 88.5
Maybe you're trying to conserve energy this summer, and bravely turning off, or turning down, the A.C.? Or trying to save money, and forgoing your daily extra-tall-grande-venti iced coffee? Or thinking about digitizing old photos... bronzing baby shoes... transferring all your old vinyl to mp3? Whatever the case, we'll capture that spirit of Conserving and Preserving on this week's sh...
WAMU 88.5
What do a wooden gavel, a double-tiered baseball trophy and an 80-year-old restaurant menu have in common? They're among the 4,000 artifacts in the U.S. House of Representatives collection. Rebecca Sheir visits the Capitol to talk with the House's very first curator, who's tasked with tracking down, conserving and preserving the artworks and artifacts that give a human face to the fed...
WAMU 88.5
Remember taking your chalk and scribbling on the blacktop as a kid? The members of one of the District's newest theater companies sure do. Blacktop Theatre Co. is dedicated to creating boundaries, then erasing them, all the while focusing on the work of local artists. Rebecca Sheir introduces us to the company and its premier production, Pun: (n) A Play On Words, which takes an imagin...
WAMU 88.5
With the winter holidays upon us, many families have special traditions they carry out this time of year. And in Washington, D.C., the spotlight has been shining especially brightly on the traditions of one family in particular: the Obamas.WAMU's Rebecca Sheir spoke with historian Paul Dickson about presidential family traditions through the years. They met on New York Avenue a...
WAMU 88.5
In 2011, a local family will be celebrating 327 years of documented presence in the D.C. region. These days, the family runs the Quander Historical Society and keeps records at Howard University and the Martin Luther King Jr. Library.Rebecca Sheir visited Northeast D.C. to catch up with the Quanders, who many historians say are the longest-established African-American family in...
WAMU 88.5
It's been nearly 130 years since Washington, D.C., hosted the International Meridian Conference, where 25 nations met to decide where the world's Prime Meridian ought to be.The 41 delegates decided on Greenwich, England. But before the Royal Greenwich Observatory formed the natural splitting point for the globe's longitude, Washington, D.C., had a meridian of its own. Two D.C. ...
WAMU 88.5
It's been nearly 130 years since Washington, D.C., hosted the International Meridian Conference, where 25 nations met to decide where the world's Prime Meridian ought to be.The 41 delegates decided on Greenwich, England. But before the Royal Greenwich Observatory formed the natural splitting point for the globe's longitude, Washington, D.C., had a meridian of its own. Two D.C. ...
WAMU 88.5
James Smithson was a man dedicated to learning not just about science and the environment, but also about almost everything else. Smithson donated the money to create the Smithsonian Institution in the mid-19th century. It's one the stories told in a new edition of the book "On this Spot: Pinpointing the Past in Washington, D.C." Metro Connection host Rebecca Sheir recently m...
WAMU 88.5
Comedian Mike Birbiglia is known for his specials on Comedy Central and his stories on This American Life, but Birbiglia got his start as a comic at The DC Improv.Birbiglia's book, "Sleepwalk With Me and Other Painfully True Stories," is just out this week, and he's performing at D.C.'s Warn...
WAMU 88.5
Now that a record 15-million people are applying for passports each year, the State Department is increasing passport fees to help cover production and processing costs. But some fear the hike could hurt families' travel budgets.William Daroff hopes to whisk his family away from Potomac, Maryland, for a vacation in August."We have a couple of options," says Daroff. "It's...
WAMU 88.5
Now that a record 15-million people are applying for passports each year, the State Department is increasing passport fees to help cover production and processing costs. But some fear the hike could hurt families' travel budgets.William Daroff hopes to whisk his family away from Potomac, Maryland, for a vacation in August."We have a couple of options," says Daroff. "It's...