“It’s just changed. It’s a bigger town feeling than it used to be.” Edited by Rich Elliott. Transcript for Getting Rich for My Blood Living in Valpo’s been great. My kids were able to roam the city and skateboard and rollerblade, and they were active in school. So, community-wise it’s been a real positive experience. […]
I’m 101-Years-Old (Parts 1 and 2)
Parts one and two of a two-part biographical story in which our 101-year-old storyteller remembers part of her family’s journey prior to the Emancipation Proclamation up to her birth in St. Louis, MO, and her move as a young adult to Gary, IN. Part I: But I’m Still Here “The doctor…made a comment, ‘Oh, the […]
Here on Earth to Help Each Other
“…we must do it in a good way so we don’t destroy our earth.” Part two in a two-part story. Transcript for Here on Earth to Help Each Other Always, whenever you spoke of Gary, people said, “Oh, the mill.” Because that’s why people came to Gary. Joe Chapman, when he got to working in […]
But I’m Still Here
“The doctor…made a comment, ‘Oh, the girl doesn’t have a chance.’” This is part one of a two-part story. Transcript for But I’m Still Here This goes way back to before the Emancipation Proclamation. My grandfather’s father was born in Virginia, and he knew about sea plants and what you could eat and what you […]
Making Enemies
“People are so afraid of change.” Edited by Rebecca Werner. Transcript for Title of Story If you want to talk about making enemies, I could tell you that I did a lot of zoning work, land use work. From 1965-1990, I was the man in Porter County that you’d talk to if you wanted to […]
Still Working on the Revolution
“You’ve given status to people who would ordinarily not have it…thus giving them power and ability to make change.” Rev. Dr. Gregory Jones Edited by Rebecca Werner Transcript for Still Working on the Revolution I moved to Valpo in 1988. I met Walt Reiner maybe a year before. I was running something called the South […]
Caught in the Crossfire
“I love hearing both sides. Which makes my black and white world very gray.” I think that like, all of us live this shared experience, but we see things differently, obviously. It’s like old—we all touch this elephant, and we have different parts of it, and we don’t know the other part. And I think […]
Resilience of the Residents
“I’m talking about people in my neighborhood who have been in their homes for forty years—they believe in the city and believe that it can work. Transcript for Resilience of the Residents Well, you know, I used to always think and say that even in the neighborhood where I live—because Tolleston is really older than […]
Thought I Was Stuck
“I thought I was going somewhere else. I was planning on going somewhere else. But I didn’t.” Transcript for I Thought I Was Stuck I didn’t think I was going to be the one left behind, but his name was Elmer, and he was a nice man. I miss him. I was not thinking about […]