This is the first part of youth producer Max Jungreis’ interview with David Kaczynski, the younger brother of Ted Kaczynski, more commonly known as the Unabomber. In this piece, David reflects on his childhood feelings and thoughts toward his older brother and provides a quick account of Ted’s life prior to his arrest. He also shares his perception of Ted’s relationship with the world. Though the piece is mostly raw tape, there are few intriguing moments that make it worth a listen. I encourage Jungreis to go back and edit the interview, especially the bits of blank space that appear in between some of David’s story.

In this piece, youth producer Bebe explores how being gay has become a fad among her female peers, so much so that it’s hard to be taken seriously as someone who is actually gay. At her school in New York, popular girls “play” gay, but it is unclear as to why. She attributes this openness towards gayness to celebrities like Lady Gaga, who advocate and celebrate what has been normally deemed as “weird” or “alternative.” I chose to write about this piece because when I was in middle school, all of my peers policed each other’s sexuality. Being gay was not a good thing and definitely kept a secret. This piece makes me questions whether “playing gay” is new thing or just a continuation of exotifying lesbians for the male gaze.

Listen and think about it.

Last week I reviewed Chelsea Alston’s piece “That Twenty Percent”, and when I found this one, I knew it deserved a review as well. Here, Alston provides a very fun and celebratory exploration into feelings about having brown skin. It is refreshing to hear her interviewees celebrating and loving their blackness, especially since the news about Treyvon Martin (and all of the young black and brown men shot before him simply because they looked “suspicious”) only further establishes that we live in an extremely white supremacist society. I commend Alston as well for not shying away from her exploration and including an alternative answer among the celebratory ones. I love this piece. I can’t wait to see what Alston has for us next!

I love this! In response to the marginalization and stigmatization of single teen mothers, Alston provides a refreshing perspective into the lives of teen parents who are working together to raise their children. In the piece, she interviews one pair of young parents about their experience and what they have learned in the process. The couple share some of their day-to-day struggles, but Alston also manages to capture a moment flirtation between them as well. Her use of music flows nicely, making the piece sound like an intro to a new series about teen couples and parenting (I would be excited to see this happen!). Alston asks great questions and could even dig deeper - I am interested in knowing if they receive any support from their parents, how they provide for themselves financially, and why they initially thought raising a child would be easy? This piece is definitely worth listening to. It left me with a smile.

Even though this piece was produced several years ago, the story told is both intriguing and timeless. In this piece, Catalina Puente shares a very raw experience about lusting after someone that she barely knows. It is such a personal and delicate story that you almost feel as if you are reading from her diary. As someone who has had her fair share of crushes (and does not like to remember the behavior that goes with them), I admire Puente for her ability to reflect on such a confusing experience and to share this story with us.

This is a story that definitely resonates! It not only sheds lights on our contemporary relationship with pop culture, but it also shows how love can transcend gender and sex. I would love to hear this story as a part of a series that showcases queer youth of color.

From the first few seconds of this piece, you feel as if you are actually surrounded by the hustle and bustle of Traverse Square: the community housing development in Middletown, Connecticut where 10-year-old Alexis Madera and Destiny Chandler live, learn, and play. The two young reporters tell us the positive and negative aspects of growing up in this community through interviews with family, friends, and neighbors. The piece is both moving and insightful because the girls expose their personal experience with being bullied while seeming to understand why bullies act the way they do.

Though the piece is short, I felt the arrangement of the story was a bit out of order. I think it would have worked better to include the interviews about violence in the community and how it has improved closer to the beginning of the piece, leaving all of the bullying content for the second half. Producers Maddie Neufeld, Harry Bartle, and Jake Schofeld captured strong interviews and ambient sound that enhanced the story's flow. It's a story definitely worth hearing.