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Related Pieces
Piece Description
Janesse Nieves says she and her mother have one thing in common -- they were both betrayed by Janesse's father. He left them for Heroin when she was only a school girl. Janesse takes her microphone to her father's house to try to convince him he should leave Heroin alone. But she can't convice him to stop. A clinical expert tells her there's nothing she can do, but she finds that hard to believe.
Transcript
JANESSE: My father?s block is full of memories. When I went over there to find him, it was hot. A fire hydrant was open, and kids were just splashing and playing. I just told myself, "Okay, let's keep it moving. It's time to go upstairs, so we can do this.?
JANESSE: (Knocks on her father's apartment door) I'm at the door.
JANESSE: I stood there for about a half an hour, and he never showed up.
JANESSE: (Knocking.) Pop?
JANESSE: My mom and I don?t always see eye to eye. But we do have one thing in common. Papi.
MOTHER: He betrayed you guys, too. Just like he did Mommy.
JANESSE: I caught my mom in the kitchen while she was cooking chicken and fries.
JANESSE: What was his personality like?
MOTHER: He?s always been a good person?very lovable ? understanding? very attentive.
JANESSE: Basically the kind of person you wouldn?t think one day, they would a...
Read the full transcript
Timing and Cues
IMPORTANT NOTE: Please use the suggested host intro and outro. If you would like to re-write the intro, please email radiorookies@wnyc.org.
HOST INTRO:
And now a story about what happens in the wake of a father's addiction. When Janesse (JAN-ees) Nieves (nee-A-vus) was 16-years-old she got persmission from both her parents to do a very personal story about what it's like to grow up with a father addicted to heroin. This story was produced by WNYC's Radio Rookies program.
HOST OUTRO:
This story was produced by Czerina Patel and Marianne McCune of WNYC's Radio Rookies. To learn more, go to WNYC.ORG.
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Ben Adair
Posted on August 13, 2006 at 07:11 AM | Permalink
Review of Heroin
A thoroughly engaging piece from Jenesse Nieves and Radio Rookies that inadvertently illustrates a key failure of the War on Drugs and Americans' attitudes toward drug users.
This piece has a very simple purpose: Janesse goes to interview her father about his life as a marginly-housed heroin addict. In the process, we find out about her relationship with her other family members, a little about drug addiction from an MD and about the role her father's addiction has played in Janesse's own life.
The climax of the piece comes when Janesse finally finds her father and immediately starts arguing with him about his addiction. Even though she knows better, her emotions take over and there's very little attempt at communion; Janesse's primary goal in this exchange -- to tell her father she loves him -- is overcome by her feelings of anger and betrayal. It's clear that this particular drug addict needs love and support, yet all Janesse can show him is wrath and spite.
This piece is taylor made for a magazine type radio show that wants to show a personal take on drug addiction. it would also be a great lead-in story for a local talk show's conversation of the day (or hour, or half-hour). It provides so much to talk about: drug addiction, the practices of harm reduction, being the friends and families of addicts, the rapidly failing War on Drugs, etc.