Talkin Story

In this episode with Velda Thomas, we sink into a relational field that includes ancestors, more-than-human-kin, and each other.

Velda also reads a beautiful original poem inspired by her recent exploration of communal healing called "For the Benefit of All" which you can find on her Patreon.

Velda was born in England, with family ancestry sourced from Africa, the Caribbean and the Americas.

Love of creative expression has been a constant thread running through Velda’s life. Whether visual, written or performance she has dabbled in it all: blending genres to expose distinct hybrid forms of personal expression.

Current practices and interests include sound, somatic movement, clay, printmaking, poetry and personal narrative.

www.veldathomas.com

www.patreon/veldathomas.com

Book - Blended - Perspectives on Belonging

Art Deck - Bless the Horses - An Equine Wisdom Deck

IG - veldathomas11

FB - Velda Thomas and Stardust Press

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Talkin Story is a project of Well Organized: Collaborative Community Driven Organizing in Port Townsend, WA.

https://well-organized.org/

We appreciate the support of the Port Townsend Arts Commission, Jefferson Community Foundation, Finnriver Farm and Cidery, Addieun Foundation, the Community Equity Initiative, as well as private in-kind and monetary donations. Thank you!In this episode with Velda Thomas sink into a relational field that includes ancestors, more-than-human-kin, and each other. She also reads a beautiful original poem inspired by her recent exploration of communal healing.

Velda was born in England, UK with family ancestry sourced from Africa, the Caribbean and the America's.

Love of creative expression has been a constant thread running through Velda’s life. Wether visual , written or performance she has dabbled in it all. Blending genres to expose distinct hybrid forms of personal expression.

Current practices and interests include sound, somatic movement, clay, printmaking, poetry and personal narrative.

This episode with Ave Avelino, together with co-hosts, Ezra and Lorenzo, uncovers what it is like to grow up in a small, white, progressive town. Finding your way and maintaining a sense of self is not easy but entirely possible, as they describe.

Ave Avelino is a second-generation Filipino/mixed-European American. They were born and raised in Port Townsend and have the interesting perspective of being a BIPOC person who has grown up in a primarily white town.

They see their destiny as one that continues to uphold the People's Power Revolution of the Philippines through protesting Imperialist Practices that still ravish colonized/formerly colonized countries, and plan to do this in part through art and music about the diasporic Filipino experience.

They are also passionate about keeping their culture alive through incorporating Arnis (Filipino Martial Arts) into performance, self defense, and daily movement.

Ave's website: www.suaveavemusic.com

Kickstarter

YouTube

Soundcloud

Instagram

TikTok

Email: [email protected]

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Talkin Story is a project of Well Organized: Collaborative Community Driven Organizing in Port Townsend, WA.

https://well-organized.org/

We appreciate the support of the Port Townsend Arts Commission, Jefferson Community Foundation, Finnriver Farm and Cidery, Addieun Foundation, the Community Equity Initiative, as well as private in-kind and monetary donations. Thank you!

In this episode we spend a bit of time with local musician and audio engineer, Camelia Jade, on a journey of the senses as we wind our way through culture and the arts on our way to community.

Since 2006, Camelia Jade has worked in audio production for music, live sound, radio, podcasts, analog and digital preservation, independent film, on-location recordings as well as youth audio workshops, gallery installations and more.

As a musician composing on guitar, charango, rhythm and voice, Camelia weaves tradition and innovation into songs that are lush and percussive, joyous or bittersweet. Camelia (pronounced kah-MEL-ee-ah) creates instrumental explorations that become a living soundtrack and sings with a voice that is both soothing and strong.

• https://cameliajade.com/

Talkin Story is a project of Well Organized: Collaborative Community Driven Organizing in Port Townsend, WA.

https://well-organized.org/

We appreciate the support of the Port Townsend Arts Commission, Jefferson Community Foundation, Finnriver Farm and Cidery, Addieun Foundation, the Community Equity Initiative, as well as private in-kind and monetary donations. Thank you!

Tomoki Sage wanders with us through experiences in the theater that mirror life as a person of the global majority in Jefferson county. Together we deconstruct the persona that wants to fit in the the dominant culture but never quite does and the what that makes possible.

Tomoki was a child of the forest. He spent many long hours as a boy running through the woods of Port Townsend without any shoes on. His family wasn't completely poor, they were just hippies living in the glories of mother nature.

Tomoki's parents are Aikido masters, so naturally, Tomoki was born to be a badass. From the tender age of three, he was doing backflips off the one piece of furniture in his house. As the land his family lived on got more developed, so did Tomoki's masterful ninja skills. With electricity came Jackie Chan movies. With hot water came showers. And before long Tomoki was wearing shoes.

Talkin Story is a project of Well Organized: Collaborative Community Driven Organizing in Port Townsend, WA.

https://well-organized.org/

We appreciate the support of the Port Townsend Arts Commission, Jefferson Community Foundation, Finnriver Farm and Cidery, Addieun Foundation, the Community Equity Initiative, as well as private in-kind and monetary donations. Thank you!

In this episode with JooRi Jun, we wind up our conversation about PGM in schools with an in-depth exploration about the need for radical new models that allow our children to unfurl into their truest selves.

Several resources are mentioned in this episode, should you wish to go further down the rabbit hole:

Sky Bear ALC - www.skybearalc.org

Alliance for Self Directed Education: https://www.self-directed.org/

Agile Learning Center Network: https://agilelearningcenters.org/

Akilah Richards' work: https://raisingfreepeople.com/

A Brief History of Education: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/freedom-learn/200808/brief-history-education

Carol Black's Schooling the World Documentary: https://carolblack.org/schooling-the-world

Leticia Neito's work: https://beyondinclusionbeyondempowerment.com/

JooRi is the vision steward for Sky Bear Agile Learning Community and a parent of a self-directed child. A naturopathic physician and ancestral healing practitioner, she has always been drawn to healing. Her personal journey of decolonization, healing from internalized oppression, and cultural reclamation as well as inspiration from her child led her to create a radical, liberated alternative to school for PGM children in her community.

She envisions a community of children growing up fully honoring themselves, remaining liberated, and staying connected with their own specific and unique gift and purpose to offer to the world. She sees this work as her deepest ancestor and earth-honoring work yet.

To learn more about her work and offerings:

www.ancestralkorea.com

www.ancestralreconnection.com

Talkin Story is a project of Well Organized: Collaborative Community Driven Organizing in Port Townsend, WA.

https://well-organized.org/

We appreciate the support of the Port Townsend Arts Commission, Jefferson Community Foundation, Finnriver Farm and Cidery, Addieun Foundation, the Community Equity Initiative, as well as private in-kind and monetary donations. Thank you!

Cherry Geelan and Aaron Hall take us on a deep dive into the challenges for our PGM students and teachers inside public school systems, where systemic racism continues to reign, despite decades of reform.

An independent documentary called, The Right to Read, is specifically mentioned as a beacon of hope and a powerful depiction of effective advocacy for literacy among PGM children.

We are pleased to offer the film for your streaming pleasure for a limited time (October 13-15, 2023). Our hope is that it ignites a substantive conversation in our communities about effective strategies for ensuring the literacy of our people.

You can access the film here. Invitation Code (case-sensitive and contains a single dash): TRT-WBLM

Also mentioned in this episode is a podcast called, "Sold A Story": https://features.apmreports.org/sold-a-story/ .

Aaron Hall Is an Indigenous (Séliš/Qlispé/Ktunaxa) Educator and currently works at Salish Coast Elementary School in Port Townsend, Washington. Aaron works with colleagues to create a sustainable PGM/BIPOC community for youth and family from our locale.

Cherry Geelan has lived in Port Townsend for twelve years with her partner and two children. She was born in Los Angeles, California to immigrant parents from Thailand. She has a bachelor's in Ethnic and Women's Studies, an M.Ed in Reading Instruction and Curriculum, a National Board certification in Literacy, and recently became a certified Dyslexia Therapist.

As a reading interventionist in the area, her goal is to spread the word that literacy is a social justice issue. This is her twentieth year in teaching.

Talkin Story is a project of Well Organized: Collaborative Community Driven Organizing in Port Townsend, WA.

https://well-organized.org/

We appreciate the support of the Port Townsend Arts Commission, Jefferson Community Foundation, Finnriver Farm and Cidery, Addieun Foundation, the Community Equity Initiative, as well as private in-kind and monetary donations. Thank you!

Darrell Thomas and Melissa O'Neil drop the veil on a personal pivotal moment, stewarding children, and what it takes to support youth and each other as professionals as they make their way in educational systems setup for their failure.

Talkin Story is a project of Well Organized: Collaborative Community Driven Organizing in Port Townsend, WA.

https://well-organized.org/

We appreciate the support of the Port Townsend Arts Commission, Jefferson Community Foundation, Finnriver Farm and Cidery, Addieun Foundation, the Community Equity Initiative, as well as private in-kind and monetary donations. Thank you!

Azurite and Corey talk to Lorenzo and Oceana about the significance of culture in this episode. Notably, how the exploration of one’s own cultural ways allows for a kind of rootedness beyond place.

Azurite is a biracial Black, neurodivergent, artist, community organizer and mother. Azurite was born and raised in the Southwest before moving to Port Townsend where she has lived for the better part of two decades. Azurite has been working with PGM youth and families in community settings through the BIPOC Family Excursion Program alongside Corey Chin and with Tonia Burkett and Zhaleh Almea as a member of the Community Equity Initiative. Azurite also works within the Port Townsend School District co-facilitating the Port Townsend School district’s BIPOC student unions with other PGM community members. Azurite hopes to continue supporting more equitable experiences for PGM in Education and the Arts while also creating community centered spaces for BIPOC youth and families.

Corey Chin is mixed race person of Japanese, Chinese, and mixed European descent. They currently reside in Quilcene, Washington on Twana and S'klallam land. Corey has a background in experiential education with children and now works to build inclusive community that empowers cultural healing and community wellness. She currently works for the Jefferson County Anti Racist Fund coordinating a no cost reparations based fresh food and medicine distribution program as well as for the BIPOC Family Program discussed in this podcast episode, and hopes that this work can uplift the dignity and well being of their community.

Talkin Story is a project of Well Organized: Collaborative Community Driven Organizing in Port Townsend, WA.

https://well-organized.org/

We appreciate the support of the Port Townsend Arts Commission, Jefferson Community Foundation, Finnriver Farm and Cidery, Addieun Foundation, the Community Equity Initiative, as well as private in-kind and monetary donations. Thank you!

Welcome to Talkin Story! In this first episode, the co-hosts - Oceana, Lorenzo, and Ezra - describe how the podcast came to be and the point of the project.

Talkin Story is a project of Well Organized: Collaborative Community Driven Organizing in Port Townsend, WA.

https://well-organized.org/

We appreciate the support of the Port Townsend Arts Commission, Jefferson Community Foundation, Finnriver Farm and Cidery, Addieun Foundation, the Community Equity Initiative, as well as private in-kind and monetary donations. Thank you!