This evening the younger kids were running around catching fireworks while the older kids were letting off firecrackers under the watchful eyes of the Brady parents. Many of the Brady girls were hanging with their mothers on the front stoop of their house, so I braved the noise and went by to say hello.
The two girls I hooked up with summer jobs told me they'd been going for two days and they love it. They get to do theater games and they are meeting a great group of people, many of whom live here in Back of the Yards. It turns out half the Holy Cross marimba players are doing this thing--I exaggerate, but only slightly. All the participants but the two Brady girls are already in college or starting next fall.
"Everybody's really nice," said the younger Brady. "I can't believe I'm the youngest one there!" They're now hooked up with a ride from one of the Holy Cross marimba players, and they met the musician I interviewed for the Peace & Education Scholarship, who will be starting at UIC next fall as a music major. "On the way home, we make her sing in the car for us," said younger Brady. "She has a really pretty voice."
"This is the best summer ever!" enthused younger Brady. Her older sister is happy for her and thinks it's a good thing she's spending her summer with a bunch of really nice older kids. I do, too. Plus, I'm really glad they are making connections north of 47th street, to top it all off. And I did give the older Brady girl the email address of someone at my party on Saturday, which might produce even more good connections for all involved.
I believe I posted before that these two Brady girls got accepted to Radio Arte's summer job/training program, Salud:Healing Through the Arts. They'll be writing radio novelas this summer dramatizing health issues facing immigrants. We had a poster who argued with the use of the word immigrant rather than "illegal immigrant" based on the issues one of the Brady girls raised, but I suspect the program will cover issues for the entire immigrant community. A huge one is language. I was at Northwestern on Monday and noticed they had a sign listing all the languages for which translation services are available. Unfortunately, many hospitals don't have such resources. This 2002 story from The Chicago Reporter talks about the shortage of medical interpreters available in suburban health clinics. As increasing numbers of immigrants to the Chicago area head straight for the suburbs, clinics lacking qualified interpreters are stuck asking patients to bring family members or friends to translate, which can be difficult when discussing sensitive medical issues. Worse, patient health care can be compromised when communication is so difficult.
This is true in city clinics, too, as Junior's experience showed over Christmas when his mom had to go to Mercy with a torn placenta. Junior was the only one in the emergency room who could translate for him mom, and much as I love him, I'm not sure I'd want him to be my translator if I were stuck in the hospital with a torn placenta.
Showing posts with label Radio Arte. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Radio Arte. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 02, 2008
Thursday, June 26, 2008
They're Hired!
So the two older Brady girls who applied for Radio Arte's summer paid training were accepted! This is the "Salud" program, in which they will write short radio novelas related to health issues faced by immigrant communities in Chicago. They'll draw from their own experiences, plus some formal research and interviews with health workers and community residents. They start next week.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Brady Girl, Take Two
So, my Brady buddy came over this afternoon and filled out the application for Radio Arte's Salud program. This is the one that pays.
Here's my favorites from her answers:
Q. What would you say are some of the health issues facing immigrants today?
A. Immigrants are facing less chances in life. They don't have health insurance. This affects them because if they get sick or need to go the hospital real bad they will be the ones who have to pay the bill. They have less chances in other ways, too, because they will have to pay more than other students who go to college and have papers. If you were not born here then no good jobs are being put in your position, you must have papers to get paid like actual citizens. If immigrants want to go and visit their family they will not be able to get a visa for the simple reason that they were not born here. Just for being immigrants they have less chances in life. They get paid less, but have to pay more.
Q. You will be asked to be creative, write and even perform a script. Please use this section to tell us about any writing acting or theater experience you have had.
A. In my school my teacher gave every student a journal to write in, at least 5 entries and 10 sentences about anything we wanted. Every two weeks she collected it to read it and gave us a grade for it. We also had the opportunity to decorate it and add anything in it. I took at least 1 or 2 hours every night to add pictures or write about my day. I loved it so much (still do). But one day she collected it and it disappeared. Some one took it and I miss it so much, but it's gone. My teacher has told me several times that thanks to that journal I have improved my writing, that I have improved the most from all the 8th graders. I feel like I have improved. Now when I get an essay or any writing homework my imagination grows. I have so many things and ideas and details to add to my piece of writing. I have never acted before in my life but one thing I adore to do is watch novelas and see how awesome they act. I've tried to do how they do with more drama and it is better than the real actors on television. Actually one of my dreams in the future is being an actriz for a novela, it seems so nice to be on television.
Here's my favorites from her answers:
Q. What would you say are some of the health issues facing immigrants today?
A. Immigrants are facing less chances in life. They don't have health insurance. This affects them because if they get sick or need to go the hospital real bad they will be the ones who have to pay the bill. They have less chances in other ways, too, because they will have to pay more than other students who go to college and have papers. If you were not born here then no good jobs are being put in your position, you must have papers to get paid like actual citizens. If immigrants want to go and visit their family they will not be able to get a visa for the simple reason that they were not born here. Just for being immigrants they have less chances in life. They get paid less, but have to pay more.
Q. You will be asked to be creative, write and even perform a script. Please use this section to tell us about any writing acting or theater experience you have had.
A. In my school my teacher gave every student a journal to write in, at least 5 entries and 10 sentences about anything we wanted. Every two weeks she collected it to read it and gave us a grade for it. We also had the opportunity to decorate it and add anything in it. I took at least 1 or 2 hours every night to add pictures or write about my day. I loved it so much (still do). But one day she collected it and it disappeared. Some one took it and I miss it so much, but it's gone. My teacher has told me several times that thanks to that journal I have improved my writing, that I have improved the most from all the 8th graders. I feel like I have improved. Now when I get an essay or any writing homework my imagination grows. I have so many things and ideas and details to add to my piece of writing. I have never acted before in my life but one thing I adore to do is watch novelas and see how awesome they act. I've tried to do how they do with more drama and it is better than the real actors on television. Actually one of my dreams in the future is being an actriz for a novela, it seems so nice to be on television.
Wednesday, May 14, 2008
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.
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.
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