Interview with Barbara Aragon, social worker with Substance Abuse Mental Health Services Administration’s Tribal Training and TA Center, and Pedro Reyes, Iraq veteran and Native American digital storyteller.

THE WRITE TO HEAL: SOLDIERS DEEP DIVE INTO STORYTELLING  

In this new, limited six-episode audio series, Artist Soapbox speaks with life-changers – people who champion creative writing as a catalyst for soldiers’ healing, as well as soldiers whose lives have been radically transformed through story. The interviews are conducted by Tamara Kissane, Artist Soapbox producer and 2020 Piedmont Laureate, with June Guralnick, 2022 Raleigh Medal of Arts recipient and creative writing teacher for veterans.

GUEST BIOS

BARBARA ARAGON (Laguna Pueblo/Crow) is an experienced storyteller, facilitator, and curriculum developer with decades of experience working with indigenous communities and organizations across the U.S. and the Pacific Basin. She is passionate about reviving the healing power of storytelling by teaching digital storytelling to diverse populations in indigenous communities. She enjoys flash vacations with her three adult children and lives in Sacramento with Wilson, her rescue Labrador.

PEDRO REYES (Laguna Pueblo/Crow) is a veteran, poet, facilitator, editor, scholar, and voice-over professional. He has been called the indigenous Morgan Freeman. He graduated with a degree in English Literature from Stanford University and earned an MBA from the University of Minnesota. He is a skilled digital storytelling facilitator and enjoys the NFT world.

EPISODE LINKS

Talas Gifts

Big Gunz Small Bullets

Transcript

CREDITS

• THE WRITE TO HEAL: SOLDIERS DEEP DIVE INTO STORYTELLING is a production of Artist Soapbox in partnership with June Guralnick.
• This series is dedicated to the memory of David Brave Heart.
• The intro montage is sound engineered by Royce Froehlich, and music in both the intro and outro are by David Brave Heart, with additional music by Louis Wilkinson.
• Post-production is by Tamara Kissane and Jasmine Hunjan.

WHEN I WRITE I FEEL… CONTRIBUTORS

• Jenny Bailey
• Linda Belans
• Gail Ashby Bryant
• Kammie DeGheto
• Chuck Galle
• Linda Giles
• June Guralnick
• PJ Harper
• Kirsten Howard
• Tamara Kissane
• Allie McDonald
• Ray Owen
• Shirley Perry
• Sande Southworth
• Scott Charles Whittemore
• Norah & Susannah

For more information, see artistsoapbox.org and juneguralnick.com.