We All Played Together

“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 […]

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 […]

Responding to a Report

“We tried to come to an understanding that there wasn’t any intent, there wasn’t any ulterior motive, you know, on behalf of the officers.” Welcome Project at Valparaiso University · Responding To A Report from an interview with Michael Brickner, City of Valparaiso Chief of Police, 2013 Transcript for Responding to a Report Michael Brickner, […]

You Have Hair on Your Arms

“It’s those kinda questions that people are asking and…you have to have a little patience…because they don’t know.” Welcome Project at Valparaiso University · You Have Hair On Your Arms Transcript for You Have Hair on Your Arms So, Valpo was kind of like a mirror image of a lot of places in the United […]

Valpo Fit the Bill

“The premise of the academic environment made it worth considering.” Welcome Project at Valparaiso University · Valpo Fit The Bill Transcript for Valpo Fit the Bill I had competed for the military service academies, and I had a stack of scholarship offers all across the United States as a National Merit Scholar, but I also […]

Standing on Shoulders

“I was very fortunate because…people had gone through it already, you know, my brothers.” Welcome Project at Valparaiso University · Standing On Shoulders Warning: story contains racial slurs. Find a bleeped version below. Welcome Project at Valparaiso University · Standing On Shoulders – Bleeped Version Recorded over Zoom. Edited by Rebecca Warner. Transcript for Standing […]

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, […]

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 […]