Freedom Writers Podcast

Erin Gruwell shares her conversation with activist David Goodman, who tells the heartbreaking story of his brother's tragic murder in 1964 by members of the Ku Klux Klan, and the 44-day federal investigation that followed. David then talks about confronting the horror of racism in America's past, using one's voice to vote in our present, and the crucial role that the youth play in bettering our democracy for the future.

Links and Resources:

Andrew Goodman Foundation:

https://andrewgoodman.org/

Andrew Goodman with two Parkland students:

https://bit.ly/2JsTZdS

Learn more about the Goodman/Cheney/Schwerner case and Freedom Summer:

https://to.pbs.org/2sDiSJp

Video: https://bit.ly/2LUwHvX

Video: https://bit.ly/2JbIHat

More on Rosa Parks:

https://bit.ly/2qlBlHg

USA.gov State Election Office Directory:

https://www.usa.gov/election-office

Learn more about the Freedom Writers Foundation:

www.freedomwritersfoundation.org

Buy Signed Copies of Freedom Writers Books

www.freedomwritersfoundation.org/index.php/shop

This episode explores the "creative spark" that lies within each of us, and how to use creativity to heal after a loss. Our guest, author and producer Kathy Eldon, recounts her family's vibrant life of adventure, art, and activism, and how she helped nurture her children's creativity from a young age. She also talks about how she found solace in creativity after the tragic death of her son, Dan.

Links and Resources:

Kathy Eldon's Work

Kathy's Website (with books): www.kathyeldon.com

Creative Visions: www.creativevisions.org/

Dan Eldon website: http://www.daneldon.org/

Rock Your World: http://www.rock-your-world.org/

"Dying to Tell the Story" documentary: https://bit.ly/2IMVa8u

"The Journey is the Destination" book: https://amzn.to/2LHSMjN

Learn more about Peter Beard (Dan Eldon's artistic mentor): http://peterbeard.com/home

PBS News Report on Mogadishu, Somalia: https://bit.ly/2kwcCzG

Learn more about the Freedom Writers Foundation:

www.freedomwritersfoundation.org

Buy Signed Copies of Freedom Writers Books

www.freedomwritersfoundation.org/index.php/shop

Freedom Writer Tanisha Knight talks about her family's humble beginnings, her collegiate basketball career, and how education inspired her to become a teacher. Then in our featured discussion, actor Tony Danza joins Erin on the show to take us from a boxing ring in Brooklyn to his big break on the classic sitcom "Taxi." He then takes us to the moment where he chose a different stage and became a 10th grade English teacher at Northeast High in Philly. Tony discusses what motivates a person to want to teach, what kinds of challenges a teacher faces, and those magical moments in a classroom that make it all worthwhile.

Links and Resources:

Freedom Writers YouTube Channel:

www.youtube.com/channel/UCYV20mK-emJ9cC5VU8zPOLg

Tony Danza on Twitter: @TonyDanza

Tony Danza on IMdB: https://imdb.to/2IXUXP2

Buy Tony's book "I'd Like to Apologize to Every Teacher I Ever Had"

https://amzn.to/2xzW9AZ

Articles about Tony's latest show "The Good Cop"

Tony Danza https://bit.ly/2IXRgZU

Josh Groban https://bit.ly/2GBSoNw

Recommend a Teacher for a Freedom Writer Teacher Institute:

http://www.freedomwritersfoundation.org/index.php/programs/teachers

Buy Signed Copies of Freedom Writers Books

www.freedomwritersfoundation.org/index.php/shop

This episode pulls back the curtain on the making of the feature film Freedom Writers, written and directed by Richard LaGravenese and starring Hilary Swank. First, original Freedom Writer Tanya Payne reflects on what it was like to see her experience, her words, represented onscreen in the movie. Then Erin shares her conversation with writer/director Richard LaGravenese, recorded in New York City. Erin and Richard discuss the process of adapting The Freedom Writers Diary into a feature film; the casting choices and the real-life stories behind the talented kids who played Ms. G's students; and those special behind-the-scenes moments that proved to everyone involved that this was more than just a movie. It was a movement.

Links and Resources:

Richard LaGravanese on Twitter: @RLaGravenese

Richard LaGravenese on IMdB: https://imdb.to/2rEOPkj

Buy Freedom Writers: https://amzn.to/2XAP9mT

Bring a Freedom Writer to Your School or Organization:

http://www.freedomwritersfoundation.org/index.php/programs/outreach

Buy Signed Copies of The Freedom Writers Diary

www.freedomwritersfoundation.org/index.php/shop

Richard LaGravenese Bio:

Richard LaGravenese is a film & television writer/director/producer. Writer: “Behind The Candelabra”, (Emmy, BAFTA Nomination). “The Fisher King” (AcademyAward®, BAFTA and WGA award nominations), “Beautiful Creatures” “Unbroken”, “Water for Elephants,” “The Bridges of Madison County,” “A Little Princess”, “The Horse Whisperer,” “The Mirror Has Two Faces” “The Ref“. Writer/Director: “The Last Five Years”, “Freedom Writers” (Humanitas Prize winner), “P.S. I Love You”, “Living Out Loud”. With co-creator Tony Goldwyn, LaGravenese wrote and produced the critically acclaimed AMC/WEtv television series,“The Divide”. He co-produced and co-directed (with Ted Demme) the Emmy®-nominated film documentary “A Decade Under the Influence", (National Board of Review's William Everson Film History Award).

Freedom Writer Teacher Henry Wright tells his story of walking to the bus stop on the morning he integrated his high school in South Carolina. Then Erin shares her stirring conversation with civil rights icon Dr. Terrence Roberts of the Little Rock Nine, who was among the first group of African-American teenagers to integrate a U.S. high school in 1957. Dr. Roberts recounts facing a vicious mob outside the school, being escorted by soldiers through the hallways to each class, and the manner in which teachers and students regarded him and his African-American classmates. Candid and elegantly articulated, Dr. Roberts' message is one of hope and honesty about our past so together we can build a better, more equitable future.

Links and Resources:

Dr. Terrence Roberts' Website

http://terrenceroberts.com/

Buy Dr. Roberts' Book

Lessons from Little Rock: https://amzn.to/2XC75Zo

More on Brown Vs. Board of Education:

https://bit.ly/2GGyNjo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1siiQelPHbQ

More on the Little Rock Nine:

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Little-Rock-Nine

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ym8rdtq-KBE

Iconic Photo of Hazel Brown and Elizabeth Eckford:

https://slate.me/UzTXDf

Learn More About Freedom Writer Teacher Institutes:

http://www.freedomwritersfoundation.org/index.php/programs/teachers

Buy Your Copy of Teaching Hope:

www.freedomwritersfoundation.org/index.php/shop

Erin's brother Chris Gruwell brings us back to Bosnia in the early 1990s, where he visited as an American soldier at the time of a brutal civil war (a conflict which was later classified as a genocide). Chris recalls the chaos and violence in Sarajevo, painfully punctuated by an overwhelming sense of helplessness to stop the slaughter, and then recounts his experience chaperoning the Freedom Writers' trip to Europe in 1999. Next, Erin introduces her featured guest -- author, activist, and documentary filmmaker Zlata Filipovic, who was dubbed the "modern-day Anne Frank" when her heartrending book "Zlata's Diary: A Child's Life in Wartime Sarajevo" reached global acclaim. In her conversation with Erin, Zlata paints a vivid picture of what it was like to grow up with bombs and bullets in the streets of her hometown, reflects on the identity politics that initiated the genocide in the first place, and firmly cautions against the use of labels and stereotypes in the contemporary dialogue. She also encourages us to become the light for other people even amidst the darkness that surrounds us.

Links and Resources:

Books by Zlata Filipovic: https://amzn.to/2LJXKfR

Follow Zlata on Twitter: @ZlataFilipovic

Zlata's Films

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2482126/?ref_=nv_sr_1

More on the Bosnian Genocide:

https://www.history.com/topics/bosnian-genocide

http://worldwithoutgenocide.org/genocides-and-conflicts/bosnian-genocide

Bring a Freedom Writer to Your School or Organization:

http://www.freedomwritersfoundation.org/index.php/programs/outreach

Buy Signed Copies of The Freedom Writers Diary

www.freedomwritersfoundation.org/index.php/shop

Shanate Jones, a Freedom Writer and Tech Sergeant of the U.S. Air Force, shares her story about serving in the military and how she used writing to cope during combat. Then Erin presents her riveting conversation with author, historian, and world traveler Andrew Carroll. Andy admits he hated history as a kid, but the turning point in his life occurred when his family's home was burned to the ground along with all of their photos, letters, and heirlooms. This tragedy, together with a World War II letter written by his cousin, sparked a lifelong mission to find and preserve personal histories from veterans, active-duty troops, and their families. In this episode, Andy tells captivating stories from soldiers and civilians dating all the way back to the American Revolution. In his work and his service, Andy focuses on drawing out the humanity in history in hopes of inspiring people from all backgrounds to discover their family history and write their own stories for future generations.

Links and Resources:

Books by Andrew Carroll: https://amzn.to/2XvQczv

Follow Andrew on Twitter: @AndyCarrollUSA

Trailer for Andrew's Play, “If All the Sky Were Paper”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwaWHUdzLCI

Chapman University's Center for American War Letters

www.WarLetters.us

Read Captain Zoltan Krompecher's complete letter to his daughters on the Freedom Writers Foundation Blog: https://bit.ly/2K8ujRh

Read Anna Miller's full letter about her experience on 9/11 on the Freedom Writers Foundation Blog: https://bit.ly/2HL3G6H

Bring a Freedom Writer to Your School or Organization:

http://www.freedomwritersfoundation.org/index.php/programs/outreach

Andrew Carroll's Bio:

Andrew Carroll is an author, historian, and playwright, and the editor of several New York Times bestsellers, including War Letters and Behind the Lines. His most recent book is the critically acclaimed My Fellow Soldiers: General John Pershing and the Americans Who Helped Win the Great War.

Andrew also edited, on a pro bono basis, Operation Homecoming: Iraq, Afghanistan, and the Home Front, in the Words of U.S. Troops and Their Families, and the book inspired the Emmy award-winning documentary “Operation Homecoming.” Both the book and the film have been used at military hospitals and medical centers to help servicemembers with post traumatic stress, and Andrew’s work has provided counseling for thousands of troops and veterans.

Andrew is also the director of the Center for American War Letters at Chapman University (www.WarLetters.us). The Center’s mission is to honor and remember veterans, active-duty troops, and their families by preserving their wartime correspondences. Andrew has traveled to all 50 states and more than 40 countries, including Iraq and Afghanistan, and he has collected, to date, more than 100,000 previously unpublished letters and emails sent during every conflict in U.S. history, from the American Revolution up through the present day. Andrew wrote a play based on these letters and his travels to find them called “If All the Sky Were Paper,” which has starred Oscar-winning and nominated actors including Annette Bening, Laura Dern, Common, Jason Hall, and Mary Steenburgen. Andrew lives in Washington, DC and Orange, CA.

John Lewis, original 1960's Freedom Rider and now Congressman, tells his story about growing up as an African-American boy in the south and how he became a civil rights activist under the tutelage of Dr. Martin Luther King. He encourages us to stand up for justice and get into "the good kind of trouble" when necessary. Then Erin shares her humbling conversation with the courageous Jim Zwerg, a white male Freedom Rider who protested segregation in the south alongside his friend John Lewis and several other key players of the civil rights movement such as Bernard Lafayette, Jim Bevel, and Diane Nash. Jim paints a vivid picture of the youth movement in Nashville in the early 1960s and then takes us to that fateful moment in Montgomery when he and John stepped off a bus and their lives were changed forever.

Links and Resources:

Books by Congressman John Lewis: https://amzn.to/2XyMOnu

More about the Freedom Riders:

https://to.pbs.org/2rPYWDV

Jim Zwerg's Speech from the Hospital Bed:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQbqzaRAql8

Buy Signed Copies of The Freedom Writers Diary

www.freedomwritersfoundation.org/index.php/shop

Freedom Writer Michael Bongiorno tells his story about falling into alcoholism as a teenager and how writing helped him overcome his addiction. Then Erin shares her inspiring conversation with former Congressman Patrick Kennedy. Patrick opens up about what it was like growing up in the Kennedy family and how he discovered his calling in politics; he shares personal experiences from his childhood, including how his mother and grandmother suffered from alcoholism and depression; then, Patrick tells the stirring story of his own struggle with addiction and mental illness, addressing common stumbling blocks and expounding on his fight for mental health parity today.

Links and Resources:

Patrick Kennedy

www.parityregistry.org (Patrick's website that shows people how to file an appeal after being denied insurance coverage for mental health or addiction treatment services and send a formal complaint directly to enforcement officials in their state)

https://www.patrickjkennedy.net/ (Patrick's main website)

Patrick's book "A Common Struggle" on Amazon: https://amzn.to/2LKpxwP

Twitter: @PJK4brainhealth

Facebook: @PJK4brainhealth

Mental Health

www.mentalhealth.gov (For information about mental illness, recovery plans, and other resources)

www.activeminds.org/index.php (Non-profit for mental health awareness, with a particular emphasis on helping students. Contains a useful and extensive index organized by issues and demographics)

Addiction

addictionresource.com (Contains information about addiction and rehabilitation and an index for rehab offerings in every state)

Suicide Prevention Hotline

1-800-273-8255 (Immediate contact with crisis workers who can offer support and direct you to local mental health care providers)

On the inaugural episode of the Freedom Writers Podcast, one of Ms. G's first students tells a story about a moment in class that changed his life forever. It all started with a drawing, an embarrassed classmate, and a question that surprised everyone: "What is the Holocaust?"

Next, Erin shares a harrowing discussion she had with Holocaust survivor Renee Firestone and her daughter Klaire about what it was like in the concentration camps, how Klaire learned about the Holocaust from her parents, and a shocking revelation about what happened to Renee's sister at the hands of a Nazi doctor. Renee and Klaire also share their advice about how to learn from history and challenge us to act now to make a difference in the world.

Links and Resources:

Holocaust Education

www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/the-holocaust

www.museumoftolerance.com

www.holocaust.org.uk

The Last Days documentary

www.imdb.com/title/tt0174852/

www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-last-days-1999

Buy Signed Copies of The Freedom Writers Diary

www.freedomwritersfoundation.org/index.php/shop