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.

It’s all about how issues and individuals string our communities together in surprising ways. Podcast producers Kevin Beasley and Ann Powers take the show on the road starting out in U.S. District Court and sitting down with Judge John V. Acosta’s, which leads them to a ridealong with a Trimet bus operator and ultimately lands them in a psychologist’s office speaking with Dr. Elisa Rudd. 

So, how are these three unique professionals strung together? From the importance of being heard to unlikely safe spaces for those in need, and introducing mental health issues into everyday narratives – listen and find out how these connect to each other.

We’d love to hear your thoughts as well.  Please submit your comments and suggestions on other strings you know of or how we can make this series the best it can be. 

Show notes & links:

• Judge John V. Acosta 
• Trimet
• Dr. Elisa A. Rudd

Last summer, bestselling author and Atlantic magazine contributor Amanda Ripley published an essay, Complicating the Narratives, exploring what journalists could learn from mediators, lawyers, rabbis, and others “who know how to disrupt toxic narratives and get people to reveal deeper truths.” Ripley revealed how she discovered her own shortcomings as a journalist and called on reporters to change how they conduct interviews and cover conflict — in order to do a better job listening and being heard in the current age of outrage. The essay went viral online and was translated into multiple languages.

This episode captures a presentation Amanda did at the University of Oregon’s Agora Journalism Center as well as a conversation with Agora’s director Regina Lawrence. 

Show notes & links: 

• Complicating the Narratives
• Amanda Ripley

Kaitlin Prest is an award-winning podcast artist whose keen ability to blend intricate sound design and distinct narrative storytelling into one-of-a-kind sensory experiences has earned her high acclaim at audio festivals and conferences worldwide. She got her start as a puppeteer, moved onto launch a Canadian radio show called Audio Smut, directed The Shadows for CBC Podcasts and is the co-founder, creative director and host of Radiotopia’s The Heart.

Our conversation with Kaitlin touches on her own personal journey in striving to make it in the radio and podcast worlds, as well as the inspirations and ethics driving her unique creative process that transforms audio into artwork expressing the complexities of intimacy and the human condition.

(Photo of Kaitlin Prest by Eleanor Petry)

Show notes & links:

• The Heart
• The Shadows
• Audio Smut

The August Wilson Red Door Project strives to change Portland’s racial ecology through the arts. It started with a play called Hands Up: 7 Playwrights, 7 Testaments that showcases a powerful set of monologues commissioned by The New Black Fest in response to police shootings and institutional profiling. Then came Cop Out: Beyond Black, White & Blue. This series of monologues portray police of various rank and experience relating to the community, each other, their families and the institutions they represent. Up next for the Red Door Project is The Evolve Experience, a blend of Hands Up and Cop Out.

Kevin Jones and Lesli Mones co-founded the Red Door Project. They sat down with us for a compelling conversation about closing the gap between racial divides by taking center stage. During our talk, you’ll hear us reference findings from the Portland Police Bureau Strategic Insights Report, which is a summary of data collection and outreach efforts on behalf of the Bureau.

Show notes & links:

• About August Wilson
• Hands Up: 7 Playwrights, 7 Testaments
• Cop Out: Beyond Black, White & Blue
• The Evolve Experience
• Portland Police Bureau Strategic Insights Report

Research shows that developing empathy, connection and compassion is crucial to a sustainable and humane society. But, in order to do that we must first admit our own biases, overcome them and step outside of our bubbles – or comfort zones.  

So, how do we do that?  Claire Cain Miller is a Pulitzer-prize winning journalist who covers gender, work, family and the way technology changes our lives. She writes for The Upshot – a New York Times site about politics, economics and everyday life. In one of her recent articles, How to Be More Empathetic, she offers a guide on doing just that – bursting our bubbles to become better members of society with evidenced-based exercises anyone can do to increase empathy.

Show notes & links:

• How to Be More Empathetic
• The Upshot

Reading literary fiction is one of those evidenced-based exercisers. We’ve listed three books Claire recommends during the episode:

• The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai
• An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
• How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram X. Kendi

In addition, this The Ezra Klein Show episode also came up during our conversation with Claire: Jay Rosen is Pessimistic About the Media. So am I.

Original music by Podington Bear.

What happens when we change the narrative of the classic American Dream mantra – that our position in life depends on more than just pulling ourselves up by our own bootstraps? How does this impact reaching our personal and professional goals, helping others reach theirs and how public policy and resources are developed?

Bob McKinnon is an author and founder of GALEWiLL, an organization that designs social change programs, executive director of the online platform Moving Up and creator of Your American Dream Score – a quiz to help you reflect on the headwinds and tailwinds guiding your life and an opportunity to better empathize with the journeys of others.

Show notes & links:

• Find Your American Dream Score
• GALEWiLL Center for Opportunity & Progress
• Moving Up & Your American Dream Score
• How Did You End Up Here? TEDx Talk
• Actions Speak Loudest: Keeping Our Promise for a Better World

Original music by Podington Bear & Kevin Beasley

Kara Moore is the lead facilitator at Kickstand Comedy Space in Portland, OR.  Having studied, performed, and coached improv and sketch comedy since 2001. She says improv is more about being a hardcore listener than it is about trying to be funny. We had a fun conversation with Kara about being present, genuinely portraying subjects, and how the best improvisers listen for cues to further the narrative.

Show notes & links:

• Kickstand Comedy Space
• Kara’s Website
• Kara on LinkedIn

Original music by Podington Bear