Proud Stutter

Elisha Boxer Magnifico and David Catlin are both professors at Northwestern University. Together, the developed "Break The Blocks," an improv program developed at the university to help build confidence in young people who stutter. They delve into the program’s conception, its structure, and the profound positive impact it has had on participants, parents, and student leaders.

For anyone interested in signing up for the improv workshop, they can either call: 847-491-3165, email NUCASLL at [email protected], or email Elisha directly at [email protected].

The flyer can be found at this google drive link.

We’re grateful to Elisha and David for sharing their story with us.

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Big thanks to Proud Stutter's recurring supporters: Jennifer Bolen, Jerry Slaff, Josh Compton, Pablo Meza, Dustin Wells, Alexandra Mosby, Ingo Helbig, Jonathan Reiss, Paige McGill, Wayne Engebretson, Swathy Manavalan, and Martha Horrocks.

Learn more about Proud Stutter's impact campaign for its film project at proudstutter.org/impact

If you can become a monthly donor at $10 or more, we’ll give you access to ad-free episodes and bonus Proud Stutter+ content as a token of our thanks! Make your tax deductible gift at https://bit.ly/3xLezBk.

Proud Stutter is proudly fiscally sponsored by Independent Arts & Media.

Want to lean more about what Proud Stutter has to offer? Sign up here to stay in the loop and take advantage of our upcoming events, actions, and educational materials.

Blackness, stuttering, music, and religion are all complex topics in their own right. Yet, Jerome Ellis combines them beautifully in his work, like when he uses academic and theoretical language to parse out the relationship between blackness and music.

In the second part of our interview with Ellis, we talk more about his album, The Clearing, and how he draws out the beauty of stuttering through various mediums – history to show the connection between music and blackness, and comparing waiting birds and trees to the unknowingness of stuttering.

“If I were...if I were repeating the first syllable of a book title than they...then [people] would be less likely to hang up because they would hear like, and they might be like – Oh, he's stuttering right now – but, because [my] glottal block so often sounds silent...people don't know what's happening, and...it's been so painful for so many years, but I gradually I’ve been able [to see there is something important there] in the not knowing.”

Other topics include:

• How Blackness and stuttering play next to each other
• Historical knot of blackness and music
• Mosaics of difference
• Voluntary and involuntary stuttering
• Herons and stuttering
• Honoring the mystery and beauty of the stutter
• Stuttering and the state of unknowing
• Tress and stuttering
• Glottal block stuttering vs. repeating syllables in TV and film
• “Stuttering is an occasion to be present in complex thought”

Mentioned in the episode:

• “We do not live single-issue lives” - Audrey Lorde
• Historian Saidiya Hartman
• Track 1, 2, 4, 6, and 8 of The Clearing
• History of the word grallatorial
• This American Life episode featuring Jerome
• “The Cloud of Unknowing”
• Jerome’s forthcoming projects

Upcoming Live Performances:

• April 10, 2022: Rewire Festival in The Hague, Netherlands
• May 7, 2022: XJAZZ! Festival in Berlin, Germany
• July 2022: Performances at Haus Der Kunst in Munich, Germany

BE PART OF THE SHOW:

Rate this pod - https://ratethispodcast.com/proudstutter

Have a question or comment - Leave a voicemail for Maya & Cynthia at (415) 964-0140 - this is a voicemail-only line, so we promise you won't have to talk to someone in person!

Be a guest on the show - we would love to talk with you! Send us an email at [email protected].

FOLLOW PROUD STUTTER & ITS CREATORS:

Maya’s Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/mayasharona

Cynthia’s LinkedIn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/cynthia-l-chin/

Podcast website - https://www.proudstutter.com

SUPPORT US:

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Kai Caragenis is a father of a young girl. In this bonus episode of Proud Stutter, he shares his feelings around being adequate enough to be a father, how the King’s Speech changed his relationship with his stutter, and how breathing techniques helped his speech.

Host & Producer: Maya Chupkov

Save the date (12/7/2023) for Proud Stutter’s 1st Annual Gala + Community Comedy Event in San Francisco

Support Proud Stutter’s Mini Series Crowdfunding Campaign

Maya’s dad is one of her biggest fans. He’s listened to every episode and now it’s time for his podcast debut. In this bonus episode, Maya talks to her dad, also known as “Aba,” about his experience moving to a country where he didn’t speak the language, what he’s learned from listening to Proud Stutter, and more!

Mentions:

• Proud Stutter S1, Ep12: A Teenager’s Journey to Finding Pride In HIs Stutter
• Creating a Safe Spaces for Students Who Stutter (Proud Stutter Bonus Episode)
• Proud Stutter S1, Ep3: Real Talk With Mom
• The Bachelor’s Abigail Heringer
• Netflix Shows That Center on Disabilities

Today’s Episode:

[1:58 - 5:26] Living and communicating in a country while not speaking the language

[8:49 - 10:17] Advice for parents and fathers who have a child who stutters

[10:45 - 11:45] What stuttering topics does Maya’s Dad want to hear more of?

[11:45 - 15:20] Israeli Reality TV Show Features Person Who Stutters

Connect with Maya and Proud Stutter: Twitter | Instagram | Website | LinkedIn | Support | Subscribe | E-Newsletter | Shop

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Join Proud Stutter’s Membership Program

Make a One-Time Donation

JJJJJerome Ellis talks with Maya and Cynthia about the intersections of being a black person who stutters and a musician, how his views of his disability evolved since childhood, and why it was so important for him to connect his stutter to his ancestral history of slavery in his work. He also highlights how the stage is a safe space for stuttering and music is a source of healing the pain he experienced as a child.

“Growing up I felt so much of the pain and also the beauty of the stutter. Over time I’ve come to feel the stutter alters time, and music is another way that we can alter time. Part of what I was trying to do with The Clearing is to try to undo some of the things that have been told to me about stuttering and to transform the stuttering narrative through poetry, music, history, and philosophy.”

Other topics include:

• Stuttering easily with animals
• Intersectionality
• Pain in not being able to connect with people
• The stage as a safe space
• Comparing stuttering to being frozen in time
• Music as a source of healing
• Being at odds with language
• Poetry allows for so much freedom to explore language
• Getting through interviews with a stutter

LINKS FROM THE EPISODE:

Jerome’s album The Clearing

Jerome’s accompanying book to The Clearing

The Guardian article, Artist and stutterer JJJJJerome Ellis: ‘So much pain comes from not feeling fully human’

More about the collaboration between James Harrison Monaco and Jerome Ellis

Performance at the Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art

Brittany Cooper’s Racial Politics of Time TED Talk

Joshua St. Pierre, Canada Research Chair in Critical Disability Studies

Jerome's upcoming live performances:

April 10, 2022: Rewire Festival in The Hague, Netherlands

May 7, 2022: XJAZZ! Festival in Berlin, Germany

July 2022: Performances at Haus Der Kunst in Munich, Germany

BE PART OF THE SHOW:

Rate this pod: https://ratethispodcast.com/proudstutter

Have a question or comment - Leave a voicemail for Maya & Cynthia at (415) 964-0140 - this is a voicemail-only line, so we promise you won't have to talk to someone in person!

Be a guest on the show - we would love to talk with you! Send us an email at: [email protected]

FOLLOW PROUD STUTTER & ITS CREATORS:

Maya’s Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/mayasharona

Maya’s Twitter - https://twitter.com/MayaSharona

Cynthia’s Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/cynthsta

Podcast website - www.proudstutter.com

Support us:

Donate: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/proudstutter

Buy cute merch: https://www.proudstutter.com/shop

Share Proud Stutter with your friends: https://pod.link/1588336626