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- Oakland Scenes: Snapshots of a Community
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Youth Radio chronicles life in Oakland, California, where an alarming number of youth homicides has weighed heavily on the community. The story uses as its centerpiece a poem by Ise Lyfe -- a retelling of Romeo and Juliet.
The killings have been a major topic of conversation in Oakland among youth, from young poets, to teens gathered on the sidewalk, to kids taking the bus home from school. A high percentage of the victims are youth, sometimes as many as three in a single week. Youth Radio documents the words of young residents in street corner conversations in East Oakland, the neighborhood where much of the violence has taken place. The voices are Youth Radio's Gerald Ward II, Bianca Yarborough, her mom Bridget Taylor, and poet Ise Lyfe.
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Piece Description
Youth Radio chronicles life in Oakland, California, where an alarming number of youth homicides has weighed heavily on the community. The story uses as its centerpiece a poem by Ise Lyfe -- a retelling of Romeo and Juliet. The killings have been a major topic of conversation in Oakland among youth, from young poets, to teens gathered on the sidewalk, to kids taking the bus home from school. A high percentage of the victims are youth, sometimes as many as three in a single week. Youth Radio documents the words of young residents in street corner conversations in East Oakland, the neighborhood where much of the violence has taken place. The voices are Youth Radio's Gerald Ward II, Bianca Yarborough, her mom Bridget Taylor, and poet Ise Lyfe.
10 Comments
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Review of Oakland Scenes: Snapshots of a Community
This piece pulls the listener through the story
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Review of Oakland Scenes: Snapshots of a CommunityReally inventive blend of poetry and documentary. Reminds me that sky's the limit on radio format these days. Thanks! |
Transcript
Intro:
Youth Radio has been chronicling the violence in Oakland, and the experiences of young residents.
What you are about to hear is a street corner conversation from East Oakland, documented by Youth Radio. The voices belong to Gerald Ward The Second, Bianca Yarborough, her mother Bridget Taylor, and the poet Ise Lyfe.
Script:
Poem: Rome and Net Net Intro
I?m here today to tell a story. A twisted story of ghetto glory. Now, I know you heard of Romeo and Juliet, but I bet you?ve never heard of Rome and Net Net. See, their story is a bit different. A bit more explicit. So sad, almost all bad, young and beautiful and don?t even know? Society tell him to be a thug, tell her to be a ho? They victims of a system placed on us years ago.
Street Scene/70th Avenue/Gerald and Bianca:
Gerald: Where are we right now, Bianca?
Bianca: 78th avenue.
Gerald: What do you see?
Bian...
Read the full transcript
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Eming Piansay
Posted on November 14, 2008 at 07:34 AM | Permalink
Review of Oakland Scenes: Snapshots of a Community
The difficulty in creating journalist pieces (especially audio) is making them timely. The fact that this piece was created in 2002 and can still resonate in the year 2008 makes the piece as a whole even more engaging.
The use of poetry brings a fresh new perspective to the story. The choice of words, the speed of the poet made the story come alive.
The layers of an actual story of people in Oakland's concern about the violence and the Romeo and Juliet retelling gives the and unconventional method of story telling that isn't used a lot by main stream radio.
Producers did a very well in going back and forth in between the two parts of the story. There was no jarring awkward moments and the piece ran together very smoothly.
The only thing I would have done different is have had the poet read a little slower during certain parts, the poetry is so rich and detailed you want to be able to hear every word before he moves on to the next word/words. But that was only in a few cases during the piece.
As a whole, the piece stands well on its own.