“Once I got to be in seventh grade, eighth grade, we crossed 15th Avenue and nothing ever happened.” Edited by Nick Ladeau. Transcript for We All Played Together It’s the Froebel neighborhood, in Gary. It ran from 15th Avenue on the south end to 11th Avenue on the north end, and it went from Broadway […]
neighborhood life
Divorce Themselves from Gary
“We had this huge exodus and the population went from majority white to majority black.” Welcome Project at Valparaiso University · Divorce Themselves from Gary Edited by Rebecca Warner. Transcript for Divorce Themselves from Gary Well when I first started out, I was covering mostly high school stuff for the Post-Tribune. There were some great […]
Starting to Change
“As I got older…my freedom to be outside was definitely different.” Welcome Project at Valparaiso University · Starting To Change Edited by Olivia Brown Transcript for Started to Change I live in Northwest Indiana for about eight months now. I just moved there last year. I lived in Dolton before. Dolton is, it’s more of […]
“Us/Them” Mentality
“If you’re such a tight part of a certain community, you are more likely to see everyone else as the other.” Welcome Project at Valparaiso University · "Us/Them" Mentality Transcript for “Us/Them” Mentality I consider my home country to be the Netherlands. I grew up in what we call a row-house: it’s basically a street […]
Connective Tissue
“…that was fascinating, having a process where I feel I really met those actors and that creative team and really shared something with them. But I’ve never met them in real life.” Welcome Project at Valparaiso University · Connective Tissue The Coronavirus pandemic has clearly thrown up barriers to our ability to gather physically together, […]
War Zone
“…there’s a legacy around the capacity to stand one’s own ground and say, ‘No, this is who we are. And this is what we stand for. And this is what we can do.’” Welcome Project at Valparaiso University · War Zone This interview was recorded using Zoom. Transcript for War Zone I grew up in […]
The Neighborhood
“Nobody ever said, ‘Hey, you’re a Mexican,’ or ‘Hey, you’re an Italian’ or anything like that.” Edited by Nick Ladeau. Transcript for The Neighborhood Did he ever suffer any discrimination? I don’t know. Because I was a kid and he was working in the mill. My mom definitely did not suffer any, I don’t think, […]
Where Is Everybody Running Away To?
“The potential in Gary was and still is tremendous.” Edited by Welcome Project Intern Ella Speckhard Transcript for Where Is Everyone Running Away To? Everything was changing so fast. It was changing too fast. Everybody can adjust to change, but it just seemed like it happened overnight. But the physical town changed. And then, when […]
Code-Switching
“And so they had to negotiate both of those worlds. That’s what black people have always done.” Recorded over Zoom. Edited by Rebecca Warner. Transcript for Code-Switching The journey of my parents to South Bend, Indiana is—to me, it’s very interesting. They both went to Crispus Attucks High School in Indianapolis. They were both born […]