Brady Girl Goes for Summer Gig

So one of the Brady girls down the block asked me about 10 days ago if I knew anything about summer jobs. She said she filled out an application for the city summer jobs program in April but she hasn't heard anything yet.

I told her I thought she might still hear back from the city, but I'd look for other things she could apply to. Radio Arte has a summer training program and I think it comes with a stipend. So tonight--now that my computer is back--she filled out the application on line.

I copied some of her answers before she submitted because I thought what she had to say was worth bringing to the Tattler. Here goes.

Q. Please tell us why you are interested in being part of the Radio Arte training program, and what interests you about being a journalist or radio producer.

Brady Girl: Well, the reason why I am interested is because every summer of my life has ended up being bad and I don't do anything interesting. Since I asked my friend to help me find a job she found out this program was taking place and I thought, "THIS SUMMER CAN BE UNFORGETTABLE!" Also my dad works and it's hard on him to be paying all the bills without any help. So if I do something to help him out I know he would be real happy with me. In fact it too expensive because I always ask him for a lot of stuff, and I would like to know how hard it is to get money. Maybe I can learn how hard it is to make money, and how hard life is. I would like to be a journalist or a radio producer because that way I can learn more about other people's lives and about their communities. That way I will learn how to help other people in my community, and tell them about somebody else's life.

Q. Tell us some challenges that are being faced by people or groups of people that surround you--for example in your school, neighborhood or family.

Brady Girl: Well, I live on the South Side. As we all know it is a bad neighborhood. There are a lot of bad influences. There are a lot of shootings, a lot of people end up being real hurt and some pass away. A lot of my friends have lost brothers, cousins, friends, and it's not that easy knowing the one you love is gone forever. I in particular have not, and hopefully won't, lose any of my loved ones. There are a lot of people who think it is easy to steal from somebody. They just go for it and steal precious things that they have no clue how much they meant to those people. My mom has faced those times several times. One time they tried to steal her gold necklace that my father had bought her with his hard work, and with lots of love. The thief most likely saw it and liked it but never imagined how precious it was to my mother. He pulled it so hard that she fell on her knees and luckily my oldest sister was there. I cannot imagine what could have happened without her being there. She ran after this man and caught up with him. She said so many bad words that it was worth it, this man understood he was not going to get away with it. He just turned, said sorry and left. My sister saved the one gift that my dad worked so hard to get. Hopefully this neighborhood will get better in some years, Hopefully these people could learn that stealing is taking someone's life away. They can be taken to jail for a life time. We need somebody to create a program where people would join to help all people, good or bad.


Q. In your opinion, what role can community media play in advancing social justice?

Brady Girl: Community media will help the people who live in the hood to know what is going on around them. what they can do to improve, what they can do to prevent injustice. This can also inform the bad people that the good people are aware of what's going on around them.

Q. Please tell us anything else about you that may be relevant to the application process (experience with sound equipment, digital production or website design; if you're involved with school or community campaigns; other skills or hobbies).

Brady Girl: Well I have never had experience working with sound equipment or digital production, because I have never heard of a program that will help me learn these kinds of equipment until now. It seems pretty interesting to learn how to do it, to have experience and help people who some day might need your help. One thing that I really like to do is help younger kids with their homework or with anything they want to do, or just take care of them. I also think it is important to help out your community because its the place where you live and a place where younger kids will one day live in. I really like to help my school because it is somewhere where you go every day to learn something.

Of course, after we submitted her application I figured out that this training program offers service learning hours, not a stipend. Fortunately the one with the stipend has a later deadline: May 30. So we can do that one over the weekend.