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Real stories, real people, real change from the street media center of our nation’s capital: empowering people experiencing homelessness and educating the public since 2003. To help make more podcasts like this happen or more information, visit www.streetsensemedia.org.
Episodes
Monday Jun 21, 2021
Look at This a Street Sense Media Podcast: Episode Four
Monday Jun 21, 2021
Monday Jun 21, 2021
Street Sense vendor and artist Rita Sauls lives in a tent encampment with around 30 other people in Washington, D.C.
"Before becoming a tenter, I was living in a three-bedroom house," she said. "It did catch on fire, so I was displaced.”
In addition to being a Street Sense vendor and artist, Sauls is also a "tent facilitator," which means she provides and helps set up tents for other homeless people in the District.
"I used to walk around and see people on the benches and in the streets and in the storefronts, and I would ask them, 'Would you like a tent?'" she said.
In this week's episode of the "Look at This" podcast, Sauls talks about how she became a tent facilitator and reveals some of the hardships and losses she and her fellow tenters face by living on the streets in D.C.
Monday Jun 14, 2021
Look at This a Street Sense Media Podcast: Episode Three
Monday Jun 14, 2021
Monday Jun 14, 2021
Carlton Johnson is a homeless man who sells the Street Sense newspaper in Washington, D.C. He's also a poet.
Although Johnson began writing poetry when he was young, the poems he writes today reflect the things he sees and feels when he's out on the streets. Sometimes he even recites poetry to his customers.
"I call it street slamming," he said. "They'll see what I see but they'll hear what I'm feeling.”
In the first episode of "Look at This," Brian Carome, Street Sense Media's executive director, said a valuable resource the newspaper provides for its vendors is an opportunity for self-expression. Many vendors, like Johnson, do this by writing articles or poetry for the newspaper they sell.
This week's episode of the "Look at This" podcast, Johnson and fellow vendors Ayub Abdul and Darleesha Joyner share their poetry and talk about the importance creative expression plays in their lives.
Monday Jun 07, 2021
Look at This a Street Sense Media Podcast: Episode Two
Monday Jun 07, 2021
Monday Jun 07, 2021
Sheila White has been able to turn her life around thanks to the classes and connections she found working as a Street Sense vendor in D.C. In this week's episode of the "Look At This" podcast, White talks about how working for Street Sense Media put her on the path toward earning a college degree and pursuing a career in photojournalism.
Friday May 28, 2021
Look at This a Street Sense Media Podcast: Episode One
Friday May 28, 2021
Friday May 28, 2021
In the premiere episode of "Look at This," vendors Marcellus Phillips and Chon Gotti share stories on how Street Sense Media has helped them turn their lives around and become more self-sufficient and independent.
Wednesday Jun 14, 2017
Sounds From the Street: Ron Dudley on Hip-Hop & Fatherhood
Wednesday Jun 14, 2017
Wednesday Jun 14, 2017
“When you’re homeless, you have kids, you have bills, you have family, friends, responsibilities,” Ronald Dudley said. “The only thing separating you from the rest of the world is a lease.”
Dudley, aka Pookanu, is a musician on a spiritual mission — a mission to make sense of life, God, and fatherhood. It’s a lot to examine when you consider he’s relentlessly working to not only provide for his family but also find permanent housing. His life hasn’t been easy and you can hear it in the hard-bitten, sermon-like lyrics on his recently-released album, Father’s Day. Pookanu joins Sounds from the Street to discuss music, family and his experience with homelessness.
You can read more in this feature interview and his music is available at pookanu.com.
A full transcript of this interview is available here.
Wednesday May 11, 2016
Sounds From the Street: Wendy Oxenhorn on Founding the Street Paper Movement
Wednesday May 11, 2016
Wednesday May 11, 2016
As a girl, Wendy Oxenhorn aspired to become a professional ballerina before a tragic injury shattered her dream. But that twist of fate catapulted her into a life of social work that eventually led her to co-found the first street paper and spark a global movement. Today, there are 112 street papers in 35 countries employing some 11,000 homeless vendors at any given time.
But Wendy’s work didn’t stop there. She eventually landed a dream job saving musicians’ lives at the Jazz Foundation of America and was recently named a 2016 NEA Jazz Master, the nation’s highest honor in jazz.
Wendy shares her incredible journey in her own words.
A full transcript of this interview is available here.