No. 8: A River Connected: stories about river, race, home, and climate
12 Noon, Thursday, September 15, 2022
Graydon Swisher, Dinah Bradford, John Bradford
Gathering and Welcome
Introduction: Who are you, where are you, and what is the river to you?
River—Climate: Sunny Dawn Summers
Former School Leader at New Orleans’ New Harmony Charter School, an institution with a unique vision to bring kids closer to coastal issues. Sunny has a deep connection to the waters running through the Delta despite being from Kansas herself.
Q&A: How do we educate the next generation?
Climate—Home: Rod Lincoln
Local historian for Plaquemines Parish, Rod has a diverse understanding of the history and the present state of this special stretch of land.
Q&A: Why do we make our homes in threatened environments?
Home—Race: Kinchen “Bubba” O’Keefe
Tourism Director in Clarksdale,Mississippi—this home of the Blues, Bubba sees the gift of authenticity in the poverty of his surrounding community.
Q&A: How do we want our communities to be accessed?
Race—River: Raymond Willie
Caretaker of the Pillow Thomson House in Helena-West Helena, Arkansas, Raymond has had his fair share of experiences with racial injustice, from childhood up through adulthood.
Q&A: What fears and prejudices do we hold?
We had the whole gang together today! Tom was back, Graydon showed up again, my parents zoomed in—a solid group, but hey! we’d love to see more of your shining faces. Don’t be strangers… Hopefully these recordings are being accessed by some of you, as I really feel there’s a lot of good content embedded here. And not just in the stories we share, but even more so in the dialogue surrounding them. Today was no different. After each story, everyone had such vital commentary, stimulating thoughts and ideas that need much more time to percolate. I hope we can revisit them in another iteration of this project.
Join us next month for A River Connected, Episode 9! Sign up here, and tune in on October 20th at Noon!