video

The Signs Were Not There

“We used to say this was ‘up South,’ and, you know, the other places were ‘down South.’” Transcript for The Signs Were Not There All of my folks—my father and my mother’s side, they were all from Florida. Gainesville, Alachua, Florida, and all down there. Every summer, my mother packed us all up, you know, […]

How We Ended Up Coming to Gary

“It was the dirtiest place in the mill. But I guess they made a decent salary. So he encouraged my father to leave Florida and move to Gary.” Transcript for How We Ended Up Coming to Gary We grew up in the neighborhood that was near Pulaski School. My grandfather lived in the neighborhood. He […]

A Wonderful Childhood

“We had a village out there in Small Farms.” Transcript for A Wonderful Childhood I grew up in the Midtown section of Gary. It was a place called the Small Farms. It was called that for a reason because where I lived there were no sidewalks, no paved streets. I remember as a kid, we […]

In My Own Skin

“I think it’s the exact opposite. I think those are the reasons I can do it.” Produced by Carmen Vincent Transcript for In My Own Skin I was born in Texarkana in Texas. It’s a city near where Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas, and Louisiana come together. And then when I was two we moved to Northwest […]

Green Light to Go Out of Town

“Did you want to take a stand… or was it just an inevitability, ‘Man, we can’t stay here any longer?’” Transcript for Green Light to Go Out of Town It didn’t take a lot of, “Let’s sit down and have a Ward Cleaver moment with Beaver, you know, and tell him what’s going on in […]

Living with Mental Illness

“We should all be allies to each other for mental health, and for everything else.” Produced by Carmen Vincent Transcript for Living with Mental Illness When people say bad things about you, it’s sometimes hard to let them go, especially when you have anxiety and depression. So I was born in Texarkana in Texas, and […]

Fences

“Just leave me alone. I’ll leave you alone. We’ll be good.” Transcript for Fences Ok, what I think makes a good neighbor is fences. That’s what I think makes a good neighbor, and that sounds mean to say that, but when I was living in Portage, one of my neighbors wanted to put up a […]