Quarantine has meant that we’re having to listen to ourselves and each other as we navigate through new ways of being together for long stretches at a time. It’s near impossible to know how this global pandemic is affecting the quality of our relationships. The stories are endless and varied. Listeners producer Cecilia Brown takes us on a journey into one of these stories asking this question: how do we address changes in relationships when we’re in small clusters of family or friends for months on end?

Photo by Will O on Unsplash

Are you eager to diversify what you’re listening to these days? This episode is for you especially if you’ve been reflecting on and processing what we’re all going through these days. Listeners producer Cecilia Brown talks with her friend Andrea Baron about her process of not only making a playlist of sad songs for her dad but also went the extra length to analyze and categorize them. You too can contribute your favorite sad songs to Andrea’s on-going Sad Song Project.

Listeners producer Cecilia Brown talks with Cleo Davis and Kayin Talton-Davis about homeschooling during COVID-19 and reimagining education by challenging the Eurocentric ideals most educational institutions are built upon. The Portland-based artists and designers have long been using art to tell stories about the Black experience and their current project aims to “create a cultural space of memory, advancement, and artistry for Portland’s Black Community” at Building Cornerstones.

Show notes & links:

• Building Cornerstones – Please consider donating to Cleo and Kayin’s efforts to finish building out the Mayo House, and making it a place for the Black community.
• Root Shocked – a documentary short about generational loss, racial disparity, and the steps taken by one family to force a city to reckon with its history. This doc was also produced by Cecilia Brown.
• Rebuilding Cornerstones: Spatial Justice for Portland’s Black Diaspora – More about Cleo and Kayin’s class at the University of Oregon’s College of Design: Design for Spatial Justice.

New to the Listeners Podcast? Episode piqued your interest? Check out the following previous episodes that are peripherally related:

• #16: August Wilson Red Door Project – Hands Up, Cop Out – Look Within & Evolve
• #14: Bob McKinnon – Headwinds & Tailwinds

Thanks to Cleo & Kayin for sharing their story, experience, and gifts with our community.