alt.NPR: Youthcast from PRX

When Blunt Youth Radio member Iris SanGiovanni was eight years old, her dad became homeless for six months after her parents divorced. A few years later, she had the chance to talk with him about his experience.

This conversation exposes the myths and stereotypes that we have about homeless people. Iris even realizes after talking to her dad how much of the advice that he gave her came from his experience. After listening to this, I had to take a moment and reflect on my own life and I felt grateful for what I had. So thank you, Iris and Robert SanGiovanni, for sharing this story with such a large audience.

The Maine Association of Broadcasters awarded Iris’s reporting first place in its radio features category, and this was not a special youth category. This was for the whole state of Maine! So congratulations Iris for representing the kind of thoughtful writing and stories that young people are making!

Podcast: Download (0.0KB)

WEB EXCLUSIVE!

I gave Iris a call while she was at a meeting for Blunt. She told me about her new expectations for herself after creating an award-winning piece at the age of 14 and her new perspectives on family after interviewing her father.

(Listen to the interview!)

Music in this podcast was provided by the Free Music Archive. The intro is called Ringtones by (Xiu Xiu) / CC BY-NC 3.0. The outro is called Hot Brick by CAVE.

Ain’t the South Side of Chicago gorgeous?

I live in the great city of Chicago and not only has summer begun, it is in full sweltering, mosquito biting, leaf wilting, sweaty armpitting FORCE. Hey, no one lives here for the weather. But before it really got started, I have to take myself back to the beginning when summer was actually light and breezy, filled with chirping birds and neighbors out and about.

This week’s feature, about the very beginning of summer here in the Second City, comes from Tonette of Curie Youth Radio. Summer on 64^th is short and sweet so regardless of whether you live in the sultry Midwest, or the breezy coasts, you can get outside and enjoy your summer because one thing’s for sure: in a few months time, you’ll wish you were this sticky again.

Podcast: Download (0.0KB)

The newly installed camera that Tonette mentions. Thanks, Google!

Music in this episode is by YACHT. You can download their album, See Mystery Lights, for free because it is all up on the Free Music Archive.

KUNM Youth Radio Programmer Taylor Griffin interviewed KUNM Youth Radio Blogger Victor Torres about his struggle with being a student with disabilities at his middle school. Victor has cerebral palsy and while it affects the development of movement and posture, as well as speech, it has no effect on his mental capacity. Sadly, he was treated as such by his teachers and ended up taking legal action.

This interview explores how Victor and his attorneys changed policies at the school for students with disabilities.

Podcast: Download (0.0KB)

I know it requires a bit of attention to understand Victor in this piece. But luckily, KUNM Youth Radio posted an excerpt of the interview in video from YouTube, so watch it right here!

And watch other KUNM media at their section of the Youth Media International website!

Intro and Outro music is by Robot Koch / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 and it was found at the Free Music Archive

This week I wanted to feature some work by young but not so young producers: people who are in the 18 to 24 demographic, but are working as professional, adult producers. I thought it would be inspirational since it inspires the hell out of me to always be making more, making it better, and then getting it out there.

Sam Greenspan is a freelance radio producer, media educator, and production assistant at NPR in Washington, DC. And he has been incredibly gracious in lending me an additional feature for this edition of YouthCast. The one contained in the podcast below is The Shell Game. At first you might think that this is about video games, judging from the image above, but really, it’s about music, power, and gender. And more importantly, the way it was recorded totally grabbed my ears. I’ll explain in audio format a little more. Just click “Play!”

Podcast: Download (0.0KB)

WEB EXCLUSIVE

“Searching for Blelvis” is the story of Sam’s quest for DC area street character, Blelvis, or “The Black Elvis.” This story contrasts with The Shell Game because it is more intense: scripted, investigative, and took a few months. It aired on WAMU, Washington DC’s NPR affiliate. I think it really demonstrates the two sides of Sam, and a lot of young producers: they have the talent to do something offbeat and off the cuff, but also to report on and write features of substance. Head over to PRX to hear the whole thing.

And right here, listen to a bonus interview excerpt of Sam and I talking about the making of “Blelvis” and the trouble of being on the other side of the mic as a reporter and producer.

(Listen to the interview!)

Sam also wants to give a shout-out to Radio Rootz DC, which teaches District high schoolers audio storytelling and media literacy.

Music in this episode is by Transient / CC BY-NC-ND 3.0

The Mario Kart shell image is Flickr user michellegabriel.

Ece Erdagöz produced the feature in the most recent episode of YouthCast. And though she produced it with the Youth Media Project in New Mexico, she has returned home to Turkey for the summer. She answered some questions via email (“Hi! I have my driver’s test tomorrow, so sorry in advance for the short answers “) to let us know how her memory was jogged and her feature, Peculiar Privilege and the Elegy, was made.

* * * * * * * * * *

Why did it feel so awkward to ask that question about being an outsider toy your classmate? Why do you think people looked at you so strangely?

It was strange because a very tolerant atmosphere towards all cultures exists at [United World College]. Therefore, asking my friend about the feeling of outsiderness was a little out of place I think.

How did you get involved with the Youth Media Project?

I got involved because I was very involved with the Constructive Engagement of Conflict program at our school. Naomi, the director, suggested that I join YMP. I came to love the project right away.

Did you set out with a full idea of what you wanted to communicate through this story, or did it evolve more organically?

I actually had no idea about what to do at the beginning, But after talking to my German friend Tina, who is featured in my piece, I decided upon this project.

What was your writing process like? And then after that, what was your editing process like?

The writing process did not take too long because once I got the idea, it was sort of like a stream of consciousness. Editing process was tough though, especially choosing short pieces out of the long interviews I made with my friends, and figuring out the technical aspect of editing. But I had lots of fun!

Tell me a little more about growing up in Turkey. You talk about feeling out of place in your own family, but where do you feel like an insider? How would you define your culture?

I grew up in Istanbul so I have been immersed in the modern day city culture of Turkey. I am really not familiar with my parents’ ethnical backgrounds and cultures to this day. Plus, my mother was also born in Istanbul and my father moved here when he was 1-year-old. So, I have been well immersed in the majority’s culture.

Did you visit your father’s hometown?

No, I haven’t been there yet. I just graduated from high school, so after all the stress I suffered during the college admission process, I much more prefer the Turkish south with lots of beaches for this summer I’m planning to go to my father’s hometown next year. (It’s kind of cold out there in Kars)

What are you up to now?

I will be off to Harvard next fall. Thanks for featuring my story!

Ece Erdagöz is from Turkey and studied at the United World College in Montezuma, New Mexico. While in the States, she got involved with the Youth Media Project, which works with different groups of youth in schools, advocacy programs, performance art groups, etc.

Being a member of two minority groups in Turkey, Ece has been surprised that she never faced any kind of discrimination at home. But when she came to another country to study, she started interviewing her fellow “third culture” peers and found different stories of how people feel about being an outsider.

In the player below is our latest episode with the crisp writing and confident, conversational delivery from Ece Erdagöz in her piece “Peculiar Privilege and the Elegy.”

Podcast: Download (0.0KB)

Intro music is by Hayvanlar Alemi / CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

Outro music is by Digi G’Alessio / CC BY-NC-ND 3.0

Both songs were found at the awesome Free Music Archive.

Our theme encomapssing photo is from NoBorders Flickr stream. Please head over there if you want to see beautifil B&W phtotography from around the world, accompanied with the short stories behind them

The caption of this Flickr photo by Lars Plougmann reads: My father is visibly nervous the first time my sister drives the car after having obtained her driver's license

This is a series of tales from the Alaska Teen Media Institute about the first time people got their licenses… or the first time they drove a car before even getting a license. Scandal! Max Jungreis asks the tough questions in The Power of Plastic.

Podcast: Download (0.0KB)

Still haven’t taken that test? Here are some tips on passing.

Intro by minusbaby / CC BY-NC-SA 3.0

Outro beats from Childish Gambino. Listen to the whole song, but be warned that’s there are some dirty words in here! I Love Clothes (Deadbeat Summer) by Childish Gambino

Photo by Jakub Mosur

Iman Fears (right) was one of two teens chosen from Minnesota to attend the U.S. Sentae Youth Program. She spent a week in D.C. in early March 2010, conducting interviews and recording her thoughts in an audio diary.

In addition to meeting her senators, a chance few people have to begin with, she also met the President and Justice Sonia Sotomayor.

This inspiring report was featured as apart of Minnesota Public Radio News’s Youth Radio Series.

Podcast: Download (0.0KB)

MPR’s Youth Radio Series pairs high school and college-age reporters from diverse backgrounds with an experienced MPR producer to create compelling stories for MPR News, as they say on their website. That producer is usually Sasha Aslanian. She told me that the program was created after their first youth reported piece aired. There was such an overwhelming response from listeners, they now try to deliver a youth reported piece once a month. Check out the sensational premiere, Welfare Migration by Paris Porter on PRX.

Check it out! I talked to Iman on the phone and she does give the gossip like I promised: USA chants in the White House, and staying in the same hotel as former NY Governor Eliot Spitzer when he was, uh, scandalizing himself.

(Listen to the interview!)

Music in this episode is by Deal the Villain and I.D. and Baobinga. It was found at the Free Music Archive.

The Unobserved is a radio magazine featuring contributions from artists, journalists, composers, and anyone else who has taken the time and care to record a story  or sounds that communicate “the intimate, and sometimes surprising, moments of art, culture and life,” as their editor-in-chief likes to say. So if you’ve got a hankering to listen to audio not easily found on your regular Internet depositories, check out The Unobserved!

Young people are often called “invincibles” in the parlance of the health insurance industry. For the most part, we don’t have chronic health issues, we heal quickly, and then only need to see a doctor at a regularly scheduled time. But that doesn’t mean that we don’t have our own set of health care issues and one of those issues is access.

In this report from Priya Mirmira and Grace Bronson of Y-Press, we hear stories from two teenagers about how they’re health care access was put in jeopardy and became cost-prohibitive when their parents lost the job through which they were getting insurance. With real numbers in personal anecdotes, the giant, confusing mass that is U.S. health care reform becomes a little more understandable.

Podcast: Download (0.0KB)

Hear the rest of the series on health care and youth that Y-Press produced here on PRX.

Music in this episode is by Glasser. This track, Tremel, is available as a free download on Stereogum.