- Playing
- Women of the YW
- From
- David Duncan
At the corner of Church Street and 7th
in Lynchburg, Virginia stands a building
that serves as a home to many women.
This building is the YWCA of
Central Virginia.
These women live at the YW for varying
reasons. Some may be seeking refuge
from bad relationships or other
unsafe situations in their lives.
Safety is made available to them by a
staff that serves in a 24/7 environment.
Still other women simply enjoy living in a
community setting. Whether seeking
refuge from hardship or merely desiring
quality relationships with other women,
the YWCA administers to both needs.
The YWCA is more than a building,
its a home.
This audio is part of a multimedia
slideshow that I developed and produced
for the YW as a pro bono project. The
link was added to their annual fund
letter that they sent out.
If you are interested in viewing the
multimedia go to this link,
www.davidduncan.com/annualfundyw.
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Piece Description
At the corner of Church Street and 7th in Lynchburg, Virginia stands a building that serves as a home to many women. This building is the YWCA of Central Virginia. These women live at the YW for varying reasons. Some may be seeking refuge from bad relationships or other unsafe situations in their lives. Safety is made available to them by a staff that serves in a 24/7 environment. Still other women simply enjoy living in a community setting. Whether seeking refuge from hardship or merely desiring quality relationships with other women, the YWCA administers to both needs. The YWCA is more than a building, its a home. This audio is part of a multimedia slideshow that I developed and produced for the YW as a pro bono project. The link was added to their annual fund letter that they sent out. If you are interested in viewing the multimedia go to this link, www.davidduncan.com/annualfundyw.
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John Biewen
Posted on January 01, 2007 at 10:22 AM | Permalink
Review of Women of the YW
This piece offers the voices of women talking, over uplifting music, about harrowing experiences of domestic violence and illness, and about the haven they've found living among other women in the Lynchburg, Virginia YWCA. A couple of minutes in, the piece begins to sound like a promotional bit for the YWCA. No wonder: that's the purpose for which it was originally produced.
This raises an intriguing question. Public radio reporters routinely produce earnest, positive pieces about non-profit service organizations and the people they serve. Sometimes those organizations wind up linking to such pieces on their Web sites, effectively using them as promos. Why shouldn't things run in the other direction? Why can't an audio piece produced for a non-profit, especially a piece made pro bono by an independent media-maker, double as a bit of impressionistic journalism?
With some more editing, it might have worked better in this case, at least on the surface. The recordings are good and the women's stories are compelling and well put-together. Trouble is, there are a few too many direct references to the blessings of the YW, and, just as jarring, the music is the light and "healing" sort routinely heard in PSA's and hospital ads. These factors, combined with the knowledge that the piece was in fact done as a promo for the YW, would put me off if I were a station PD. At the very least I'd think that the origins of the piece should be disclosed to the audience.