Walk In My Shoes » radio

listening to the wind.

Adwoa — Tue, 18 Nov 2014 07:41:49 +0000

A couple weeks back, we were lucky enough to have Teresa Chin (pictured) and Cliff Lee of Youth Radio join us in the classroom for a session on interviewing techniques. With excellent mic handling skills (and a great deal of giggling), the girls interviewed each other about their lives and what was important to them. You can catch those files, as well as their homework for the day, in separate posts under the “radio” tag.

I also asked the girls to write a piece to share the sound of home for them. It could be anything – their alarm clock in the morning, their parents cooking a meal, the sound of wind through a particular tree outside their window. (We all got super into the sounds you can take in with a good recorder when the headphone volume is turned all the way up – wind can be absolutely gorgeous. Who knew?) I thought about this for myself, and it hit me while walking through the courtyard at OIHS, listening to conversations in Karen and Spanish and Arabic and Somali and Farsi. The sound of home for me… is languages that I recognize, but don’t speak.

Growing up, my parents didn’t teach my sister and me to speak Twi. But it was always in the background, meaning that now I have this ghostly grammar hanging out when I hear it spoken. I can pick out insults in Akan languages, certain verbs in French, certain place names in Tagalog. When I was younger, I worried a lot that my sense of displacement meant I’d never find a permanent home anywhere. It’s beginning to seem, though, that it’s giving me the ability to sink in wherever I may find myself – even, to my occasional surprise, in Oakland. Along with the girls, I’m learning how to settle in and make this place home.

BamBam

BamBam — Tue, 18 Nov 2014 05:51:19 +0000

http://walkinmysho.es/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Poe-Meh.mp3

Passing on religion, a love of story – and some anxiety about the CAHSEE (California High School Exit Exam).

Rocksand

Rocksand — Tue, 18 Nov 2014 05:17:42 +0000

http://walkinmysho.es/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Sathusha.mp3

Caring about being fashionable – for this one, it’s in the family (her father is a designer!)

soleil

soleil — Tue, 18 Nov 2014 05:00:40 +0000

http://walkinmysho.es/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Mariam1.mp3

Lots of questions! Budding reporters here o

ehpadoh

ehpadoh — Tue, 18 Nov 2014 04:58:46 +0000

http://walkinmysho.es/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Dah-Meh-Paw.mp3

On treating people well – and never being far from a song.

loveforever

loveforever — Tue, 18 Nov 2014 04:55:30 +0000

http://walkinmysho.es/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Kristika.mp3

How do you share feelings in a borrowed language? Thoughts on words and emotions from a future software engineer.

sunonthesky

sunonthesky — Tue, 18 Nov 2014 04:53:22 +0000

http://walkinmysho.es/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Eh-Hsa-Say.mp3

An older brother at OIHS – and a long road from Burma.

Sounds I hear every day

Rocksand — Thu, 13 Nov 2014 05:27:15 +0000

When I wake up first I hear the sound of my alarm. then I hear the sound of my bed sheet moving when I wake up.Then I hear the sound of my mom cooking and my dad talking. Then I hear the sound of I am brushing and taking shower.Then I hear the sound of my wardrobe open when I open it.Then I hear the sound when I get dressed up and the sound of the hairdryer.The sound when I put on my shoesand the sound of perfume andsound of my sereal box and the sound when the spoon and bewl hiting each other.AfterIgo out I hear the sound of wind and the sound when I sktep on the dry leaves.Then the sound of a women cicycling. The sound of the bus the sound of the ticet going in and out. The sound of my friends talking in different languages,sound of my teacher and my writing,sound of my binder, sound of the paper. The sound of I am chewing the gum and popping sound of gum bubbles.Sound of the bell ringing and the sound of the music.Then I hear the sound of the baskettbell when I play it.Then I hear the sound of player

Sounds that i heard

sunonthesky — Wed, 12 Nov 2014 23:45:13 +0000

This is the morning I heard many things. In the morning I heard the many bird sound and so many bird so they sound is different. In the morning I heard my aunt cooking and she pick up the pot and clean a dish is like different sounds and in the morning I heard my aunt know the door and ring the door is make me sounds is different. In the morning I heard my family voice is like different things and in the morning I heard the air is push my window and the air is push the tree is make me sound is different but is come from the air. In the morning I heard the my aunt wash the floor and sweeping the floor is make me sounds like different. In the morning I

sound that I hard in the morning

ehpadoh — Tue, 11 Nov 2014 22:51:22 +0000

I am in my bad room. Every morning when I wake up the first thing I hard was bird singing. When I listen to the bird sound carefully, there is a lot of different bird mad different sound. Some make very small sound but some make really loud sound. Another thins I hard was the sound of my parents cooking. While their cooking they also listen to the music. I also heard the sound of people are talking outside my house and inside my house. After my two little brother wake up I hard the sound of their voice and movies because their watching a cartoon movies and they also fight, so who ever win get to watch movie first . Then I hard the sound of water because someone is washing their face and brushing their teeth. This are sound that I hard in the morning when I woke up.