Help This Garden Grow

Hey Help This Garden Grow fam! We've got a new related project we're hyped to share with you about a really big story happening right here in Chicago.

Quantum Entanglements is a new multimedia investigative feature from Respair about South Side Chicago communities fighting for self-determination in response to potentially being poisoned, pushed out, and policed by an impending 9-billion dollar quantum computer on the shores of Lake Michigan. You can also check out the video version here: https://www.youtube.com/@respairmedia, and share the podcast with your people here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/respair-presents-quantum-entanglements/id1721426761

Over the four decades since the US Steel South Works steel mill shut its doors, the land it sat on has remained undeveloped as the surrounding communities heal from the physical, environmental, economic, and social wounds left behind by this industrial behemoth. 

Now, a coalition of public and private power players from all levels of government and different sectors of industry is preparing to break ground on a "Quantum Campus"–a multi-billion dollar sprawling facility of next-generation technology and surveillance that could both release poisonous contamination and dismantle digital privacy around the globe. 

As the next industrial revolution descends on a community still reeling from the destruction of deindustrialization, we talk with organizers and neighbors living alongside the site about how they're building power, demanding answers, making sense of the area’s history, and fighting for the ability to determine the future of their neighborhoods, livelihoods, and relationships to the land on which they live.

Quantum Entanglements was recorded at Chicago Beyond and Kit Studios here in Chicago. 
Find all of our work at http://respairmedia.com. 

Check out the video version here: https://www.youtube.com/@respairmedia,

Share the podcast with your people here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/respair-presents-quantum-entanglements/id1721426761

Get the Quantum Entanglements Listening Guide here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/19sgxkK8Uf45YpsgjuGECzzuij4sBBoC8/view?usp=sharing

CREDITS
Cohosts & Executive Producers - Damon Williams and Daniel Kisslinger. 
Video Post-Production Supervisor - Troi Valles
Lead Video Editor - Troi Valles
Multimedia Producer is Troi Valles - Troi Valles 
Associate Audio Editors - Cin Pimentel & Rocio Santos  
Engagement Producer - Rivka Yeker
Additional Reporting - Kamari Patrick
Artwork - Areanna Eggleston & Danbee Kim

MUSIC
Dubstep Next Left (feat. Tom Wilkinson) - Asthmatic Astronaut
Funk Heaven - Ketsa
China Town - Audiobinger
Contemplate Jat - Katrah Quey
Agua - Katrah Quey
Sleeper Agent - Tab Anitek
Outer Orbit - Revolution Void
Dragon Drop - Darkstorm Diabolik
Glass Harp - dustmotes
Ascension (Leaving Earth Pt. 1) - Mr. Smith

Hey Help This Garden Grow fam! Here's the trailer for our new project, dropping this Thursday 6/18/26, that we're hyped to share with you!

Quantum Entanglements is a new multimedia investigative feature from Respair about South Side Chicago communities fighting for self-determination in response to potentially being poisoned, pushed out, and policed by an impending 9-billion dollar quantum computer on the shores of Lake Michigan. You can also check out the video version here: https://www.youtube.com/@respairmedia, and share the podcast with your people here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/respair-presents-quantum-entanglements/id1721426761

Over the four decades since the US Steel South Works steel mill shut its doors, the land it sat on has remained undeveloped as the surrounding communities heal from the physical, environmental, economic, and social wounds left behind by this industrial behemoth. 

Now, a coalition of public and private power players from all levels of government and different sectors of industry is preparing to break ground on a "Quantum Campus"–a multi-billion dollar sprawling facility of next-generation technology and surveillance that could both release poisonous contamination and dismantle digital privacy around the globe. 

As the next industrial revolution descends on a community still reeling from the destruction of deindustrialization, we talk with organizers and neighbors living alongside the site about how they're building power, demanding answers, making sense of the area’s history, and fighting for the ability to determine the future of their neighborhoods, livelihoods, and relationships to the land on which they live.

Check out the video version here: https://www.youtube.com/@respairmedia

Share the podcast with your people here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/respair-presents-quantum-entanglements/id1721426761

Get the Quantum Entanglements Listening Guide here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/19sgxkK8Uf45YpsgjuGECzzuij4sBBoC8/view?usp=sharing

Quantum Entanglements was recorded at Chicago Beyond and Kit Studios here in Chicago. 
Find all of our work at http://respairmedia.com. 

CREDITS
Cohosts & Executive Producers - Damon Williams and Daniel Kisslinger. 
Video Post-Production Supervisor - Troi Valles
Lead Video Editor - Troi Valles
Multimedia Producer is Troi Valles - Troi Valles 
Associate Audio Editors - Cin Pimentel & Rocio Santos  
Engagement Producer - Rivka Yeker
Additional Reporting - Kamari Patrick
Artwork - Areanna Eggleston & Danbee Kim

MUSIC
Dubstep Next Left (feat. Tom Wilkinson) - Asthmatic Astronaut
Funk Heaven - Ketsa
China Town - Audiobinger
Contemplate Jat - Katrah Quey
Agua - Katrah Quey
Sleeper Agent - Tab Anitek
Outer Orbit - Revolution Void
Dragon Drop - Darkstorm Diabolik
Glass Harp - dustmotes
Ascension (Leaving Earth Pt. 1) - Mr. Smith

Sign up for more info at https://www.respairmedia.com/help-this-garden-grow!

Sign up now for Hazel's Seeds, an environmental justice listening club centered around Help This Garden Grow, the award-winning podcast docuseries about Mother of Environmental Justice Hazel Johnson. Hazel’s Seeds has two paths: “Hazel’s Garden,” which is a six-session virtual book club-style discussion series facilitated by docuseries hosts Damon Williams and Daniel Kisslinger alongside other voices of the contemporary EJ movement; and “Community Gardens,” which are independent listening clubs facilitated autonomously in classrooms, EJ organizations, and communities across the country. Both paths are structured around the Hazel’s Seeds Listening Guide, a community curriculum created to guide listeners through engaging with the show.

We follow where Hazel's legacy lives in Chicago’s EJ struggles today, and commit to the mission of actualizing the legacy Hazel envisioned.

Show Notes
Support the work of People for Community Recovery - https://www.peopleforcommunityrecovery.org/join-our-fight/donate

Learn about Respair Production & Media - https://www.respairmedia.com/

Music Credits
Contact by Anitek
Intelligent Galaxy by The Insider
Smooth Lovin by Kevin Macleod
Plainsong by dust motes
Be Quiet by Jahzzar
Ashes by AANI - produced by Adlai, mixing/mastering by Nicky Young

As her health begins to wain, Hazel passes the baton to her daughter Cheryl who guides PCR through the treacherous waters of attacks, blackballing, and disrespect.

Show Notes

Support the work of People for Community Recovery - https://www.peopleforcommunityrecovery.org/join-our-fight/donate

Learn about Respair Production & Media - https://www.respairmedia.com/

Music Credits
Contact by Anitek
Mounsell Forts by Roger Plexico
Cinematic Sentimental Lullaby Sketch - Celesta only version by Gregor Quendel
Funk by Podington Bear
Cooling by Audiobinger
Be Quiet by Jahzzar
Ashes by AANI - produced by Adlai, mixing/mastering by Nicky Young

We hear Hazel become a mother of the newly coalesced global Environmental Justice movement and take EJ to the highest halls of power, while still connecting the dots in her home community.

Show Notes
Support the work of People for Community Recovery - https://www.peopleforcommunityrecovery.org/join-our-fight/donate

Learn about Respair Production & Media - https://www.respairmedia.com/

Music Credits
Hipster’s Meditation by IShaamin
Contact by Anitek
Money by Jahzzar
Cooling by Audiobinger
Be Quiet by Jahzzar
Ashes by AANI - produced by Adlai, mixing/mastering by Nicky Young

We learn about and from Hazel's early fights scrapping with the power of the state, and the new possibilities for healing that she created.

Show Notes
Support the work of People for Community Recovery - https://www.peopleforcommunityrecovery.org/join-our-fight/donate

Learn about Respair Production & Media - https://www.respairmedia.com/

Music Credits
Contact by Anitek
Cinematic Sentimental Lullaby Sketch - Celesta only version by Gregor Quendel
Morning by KV
Be Quiet by Jahzzar
Ashes by AANI - produced by Adlai, mixing/mastering by Nicky Young

We go to the roots of the land where Altgeld Gardens sits and where Hazel's legacy lives, digging through the layers of indigenous, Black liberation, and personal lineages that make up the area.

Show Notes
Support the work of People for Community Recovery - https://www.peopleforcommunityrecovery.org/join-our-fight/donate

Learn about Respair Production & Media - https://www.respairmedia.com/

Music Credits
Contact by Anitek
Talky Beat by Twin Musicom
Cinematic Sentimental Lullaby Sketch - Celesta only version by Gregor Quendel
Smooth Lovin by Kevin Macleod
Too Cool by Kevin Macleod
Green by Yoitrax
Be Quiet by Jahzzar
Ashes by AANI - produced by Adlai, mixing/mastering by Nicky Young

We begin our story–the story of Hazel Johnson, of Altgeld Gardens, of Environmental Justice, and of how we each fit into the fight to change our lives and our world.

Show Notes
Support the work of People for Community Recovery - https://www.peopleforcommunityrecovery.org/join-our-fight/donate

Learn about Respair Production & Media - https://www.respairmedia.com/

Music Credits
Contact by Anitek
Sunrise Drive by South London HiFi
Intelligent Galaxy by The Insider
Roy by JBlanked
Spilled Beans by Gurty Beats
Life Is by Cosimo Fogg
Merry Bay by Ghostrifter Official
Catch My Breath by Ambient Boy
Be Quiet by Jahzzar
Ashes by AANI - produced by Adlai, mixing/mastering by Nicky Young

Subscribe to Help This Garden Grow, a new podcast docuseries coming soon on 7/27/23!

Help This Garden Grow tells the story of Hazel Johnson, a visionary of the Environmental Justice movement and a resident of the Altgeld Gardens community on the far South Side of Chicago. Hazel is the founder of People for Community Recovery, a 40 year-old organization that fights to address the toxic industrial pollution that has been killing the members of her community. Over the course of the multigenerational multipart documentary, hosts Damon Williams and Daniel Kisslinger talk with organizers, policy-makers, historians, and community members about how PCR emerged and led, the legacy of Ms. Johnson's work, and how this marginalized Chicago pocket built the lineage of today's vibrant, impactful, and necessary modern environmental justice movement. Help This Garden Grow is presented by Respair Production & Media, Elevate, and People for Community Recovery.

RSVP for the Release Party at the Harold Washington Library Winter Garden - https://www.eventbrite.com/e/help-this-garden-grow-release-party-tickets-668272128927

Get in tune with Respair - http://respairmedia.com

Support PCR - https://peopleforcommunityrecovery.org

Learn about Elevate - https://elevatenp.org