Our Stories, Our World: A community-driven podcast series

EPIOSODE SUMMARY

After working for half the year, we're releasing our long-awaited trailer for the Chicago community-led podcast series, Our Stories, Our World!

This collaboration connects Chicago’s Public Narrative, a longtime advocate for broader, more accurate and more authentic community representation in media, and A Picture’s Worth, a nonprofit focused on strengths-based storytelling for community transformation. Our Stories, Our World combines audio stories and photography to create a series of youth-led, citizen-centered podcasts that add depth and context to stories about Public Narrative’s three thematic pillars: public safety, public health and public education.

THE BACKSTORIES

STORYGATHERERS:
Kaylen Brandt of Chatham. “People have opinions about Chicago based on the way the [mainstream/traditional] media presents the city,” Brandt said. “I feel like that narrative actively blocks out voices that need to be heard.”

Daniel Animashaun of Woodlawn. “If you’re from the South Side, you’re either a thug or you’re stupid,” he said, referring to harmful and persistent stereotypes that are rooted in racism and that limit opportunities.

Andrea Hernandez of Englewood. “I think we need to stop jumping to conclusions, and find a way where we could come together and try to change something,” Hernandez said.

MUSIC:
The series features original music by Malci, a Chicago-based hip-hop artist, producer and co-founder of Why? Records. He’s been releasing music since 2015, but this will be the artist’s first foray into making music for podcasts.

PRODUCTION:
Mareva Lindo

Elissa Yancey

Samantha Gattsek

In our first episode, we focus on the topic of Public Education. This episode features teen story-gatherer Daniel Animashaun in conversation with Shohn Williams, the Dean of Students from Lindblom Math & Science Academy. Williams has deep connections at Lindblom. He attended the school and graduated as its highest-scoring basketball player; he grew up in the neighborhood. He went to college on a basketball scholarship and brought his administrative and inspirational talents home to Lindblom to give back to the community that helped build him. For Williams, public education means exposure to opportunities, to a community of supporters and cheerleaders, and to the resources they need to thrive. The photo he shared to illuminate those concepts shows him towering above students, center stage in his school’s gym, surrounded by community leaders, educators and a sea of smiling young men. For Williams, it’s a vision that inspires him daily.

Our Stories, Our World is a collaboration that connects Chicago’s Public Narrative, a longtime advocate for broader, more accurate and more authentic community representation in media, and A Picture’s Worth, a nonprofit focused on strengths-based storytelling for community transformation. Our Stories, Our World combines audio stories and photography to create a series of youth-led, citizen-centered podcasts that add depth and context to stories about Public Narrative’s three thematic pillars: public safety, public health and public education.

Music: Malci

Artwork: Dan MacDonald Studios

Audio Producer: Samantha Gattsek

Executive Producers: Mareva Lindo & Elissa Yancey

This podcast is brought to you by Public Narrative and A Picture’s Worth.

In our second episode, we focus again on the critically important topic of Public Education--this time with a distinctly different perspective. This episode features teen story-gatherer Kaylen Brandt in conversation with Chicago alderwoman Rossana Rodriguez, a teacher and community organizer by training. Running as a Democratic Socialist, she won her first political campaign in 2019, when she was elected to represent the city’s 33rd Ward on the Chicago City Council. She was born and raised in Puerto Rico, where her father was a community organizer. Rodriguez studied and taught drama in Puerto Rico before government cut-backs sparked her move to Albany Park in Chicago, where she became a resident director at the Albany Park Theater Project.

In this episode, Rodriguez shares a photograph she took when she was a teacher at Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos High School in Humboldt Park. The photo shows Koko, a Black trans woman in Rodriguez’s integrated arts class, on a very good day. Koko is smiling as she shows off a sock puppet she made as part of the class.

Content Warning: Anti-trans violence and transphobia.

Our Stories, Our World is a collaboration that connects Chicago’s Public Narrative, a longtime advocate for broader, more accurate and more authentic community representation in media, and A Picture’s Worth, a nonprofit focused on strengths-based storytelling for community transformation. Our Stories, Our World combines audio stories and photography to create a series of youth-led, citizen-centered podcasts that add depth and context to stories about Public Narrative’s three thematic pillars: public safety, public health and public education.

Interviewer/Host: Kaylen Brandt
Music: Malci
Artwork: Dan MacDonald Studios
Audio Producer: Samantha Gattsek
Executive Producers: Mareva Lindo & Elissa Yancey
This podcast is brought to you by Public Narrative and A Picture’s Worth.

Resources and Links

• Our Stories Our World podcast site: http://apicturesworth.org/publicnarrative
• Chicago Magazine profile of Rossana Rodriguez: https://www.chicagomag.com/chicago-magazine/march-2021/new-power-30/rossana-rodriguez/
• Albany Park Theater Project: https://aptpchicago.org/
• Dr. Pedro Albizu Campos High School: https://pachs-chicago.org/
• El Rescate: https://www.humboldtparkportal.org/directory/el-rescate/
• Resources and programs for LGBTQ+ individuals in Chicago: https://www.bravespacealliance.org/
• Public Narrative: http://publicnarrative.org
• A Picture’s Worth: http://apicturesworth.org

In our fifth episode, we introduce our final topic, Public Health, as seen through the eyes of Taneka Hye Wol Jennings, an adoptee and immigrant rights activist. Jennings was born in Cheongju, South Korea. As a Korean American and a transracial, inter-country adoptee, she is dedicated to adoptee and immigrant rights work, as well as building authentic solidarity with others who have been marginalized by systems and structures that perpetuate injustice. She is a Campaign Director with Adoptees for Justice, a project of the National Korean American Service & Education Consortium (NAKASEC) and an active volunteer for intersectional justice causes. For Jennings, citizenship is a public health issue, determining who does and doesn’t have access to health care. In the photo she shares, Jennings stands in front of the US Capitol Building, about to be willingly arrested as part of a Citizenship for All protest.

Interviewer Kaylen Brandt is a rising senior at Lindblom Math & Science Academy in Chicago’s West Englewood neighborhood. When she’s not interviewing community members, the aspiring Chicago alderperson is busy applying for colleges.

Music: Malci

Artwork: Dan MacDonald Studios

Audio Producer: Samantha Gattsek

Executive Producers: Mareva Lindo & Elissa Yancey

This podcast is brought to you by Public Narrative and A Picture’s Worth.

Resources and Links

• Adoptees for Justice: http://adopteesforjustice.org/
• National Korean American Service & Education Consortium: http://nakasec.org
• Beyond Speaking Out, a blog post by Jennings: https://www.wearekaan.org/post/beyond-speaking-out

Retired officer Vanessa Westley spent 25 years working within the Chicago Police Department. She has played an active role in Community Policing initiatives since 2004 and managed the CPD and Metro YMCA’s “Bridging the Divide” program before her work with the Youth District Advisory Councils (YDAC). She also served as project manager for the Mayor’s Office of Faith Based and Community Partnerships. Westley is currently a restorative justice practitioner and trainer.
Interviewer Andrea Hernandez began serving as a member of YDAC when she was in high school. Now 20 years old, Hernandez is completing college coursework and pursuing plans to work as a Chicago Police Department officer. She credits YDAC for her growth and understanding of the importance of public and community safety.

EXTRA! EXTRA!
Watch what happens when the tables are turned on interviewer Andrea Hernandez as she if featured in this news story about her work with YDAC. Young Documentary Filmmakers Working With Chicago Police To Uplift City’s Communities

Music: Malci

Artwork: Dan MacDonald Studios

Audio Producer: Samantha Gattsek

Executive Producers: Mareva Lindo & Elissa Yancey

This podcast is brought to you by Public Narrative and A Picture’s Worth.