Podcast
Talkin Story
Hosted by Well Organized Podcast Crew · EN
The Talkin Story podcast is a project of Well Organized. It features local people of the global majority (PGM) who are quietly acting as flashpoints for social and cultural transformation within Port Townsend/East Jefferson county. These are the people who have been steadily working almost under the radar to craft a world in which they exist with sovereignty and creativity. They may or may not be in designated leadership roles, but their very existence is a source of inspiration and a touchstone within the PGM community primarily and the broader community as well.
The first season of this intergenerational podcast is co-hosted by Oceana Sawyer, Ezra Kikue Cook, and Lorenzo McCleese.
The second season is co-hosted by Oceana Sawyer and Cameron Jones.
Oceana (she/we/they) is an eldering person of African descent who has been working to weave PGM community via food sovereignty and land stewardship in space beyond capture and towards liberation. They are a poet and a writer with a vision of community of local PGM that has the capacity to navigate the reality of liquid modernity.
Cameron (he/him) is a mixed Black, White, and Indigenous community organizer, policy advocate, and land steward in Port Townsend, Washington. Through Well Organized Jefferson County, he integrates Afro-Indigenous stewardship, housing equity, and food sovereignty into local policy while advancing participatory governance models. Trained in Permaculture and yoga, Cameron pairs land-based knowledge with sharp structural critique to mobilize grassroots coalitions for systemic transformation. He identifies as a liberatory eco-socialist with anarchist tendencies, committed to liberation for all people and achieving human–nature symbiosis from within, while willing to dismantle failing systems to build just, regenerative alternatives from without.
Previous hosts:
Ezra is an ever changing force for change. As much as they talk, you'll never really understand them. His look is always changing and his list of passions is always expanding. Professionally he is known for working at Centrum for the last three years as both a grip and a videographer/broadcast technician. Ezra has years of experience in theater tech, acting, and media production. They are a writer and director with dreams of putting out original films on the big screen. They believe in the importance of advocacy and integrity- the fight for what is right at the small level. They are particularly involved in activism for Queer and Transgender support systems at the local level.
Lorenzo being born & raised in Port Townsend, Lorenzo is eager to move out to Seattle and study Environmental Science at the University of Washington. He hopes to continue engaging with his passion for equity and diversity in Seattle. Lorenzo is a member of the 7th...
17episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Communal Healing
Nov 17, 202300:51:02Tap to summarizeIn this episode with Velda Thomas, we sink into a relational field that includes ancestors, more-than-human-kin, and each other.Velda also reads a beautiful original poem inspired by her recent exploration of communal healing called "For the Benefit of All" which you can find on her Patreon.Velda was born in England, with family ancestry sourced from Africa, the Caribbean and the Americas.Love of creative expression has been a constant thread running through Velda’s life. Whether visual, written or performance she has dabbled in it all: blending genres to expose distinct hybrid forms of personal expression.Current practices and interests include sound, somatic movement, clay, printmaking, poetry and personal narrative.www.veldathomas.comwww.patreon/veldathomas.comBook - Blended - Perspectives on BelongingArt Deck - Bless the Horses - An Equine Wisdom DeckIG - veldathomas11FB - Velda Thomas and Stardust Press---Talkin Story is a project of Well Organized: Collaborative Community Driven Organizing in Port Townsend, WA.https://well-organized.org/We appreciate the support of the Port Townsend Arts Commission, Jefferson Community Foundation, Finnriver Farm and Cidery, Addieun Foundation, the Community Equity Initiative, as well as private in-kind and monetary donations. Thank you!In this episode with Velda Thomas sink into a relational field that includes ancestors, more-than-human-kin, and each other. She also reads a beautiful original poem inspired by her recent exploration of communal healing.Velda was born in England, UK with family ancestry sourced from Africa, the Caribbean and the America's.Love of creative expression has been a constant thread running through Velda’s life. Wether visual , written or performance she has dabbled in it all. Blending genres to expose distinct hybrid forms of personal expression.Current practices and interests include sound, somatic movement, clay, printmaking, poetry and personal narrative.
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Owning Your Individuality
Nov 10, 202300:34:00Tap to summarizeThis episode with Ave Avelino, together with co-hosts, Ezra and Lorenzo, uncovers what it is like to grow up in a small, white, progressive town. Finding your way and maintaining a sense of self is not easy but entirely possible, as they describe.Ave Avelino is a second-generation Filipino/mixed-European American. They were born and raised in Port Townsend and have the interesting perspective of being a BIPOC person who has grown up in a primarily white town.They see their destiny as one that continues to uphold the People's Power Revolution of the Philippines through protesting Imperialist Practices that still ravish colonized/formerly colonized countries, and plan to do this in part through art and music about the diasporic Filipino experience.They are also passionate about keeping their culture alive through incorporating Arnis (Filipino Martial Arts) into performance, self defense, and daily movement.Ave's website: www.suaveavemusic.comKickstarterYouTubeSoundcloudInstagramTikTokEmail: aveareo@gmail.com---Talkin Story is a project of Well Organized: Collaborative Community Driven Organizing in Port Townsend, WA.https://well-organized.org/We appreciate the support of the Port Townsend Arts Commission, Jefferson Community Foundation, Finnriver Farm and Cidery, Addieun Foundation, the Community Equity Initiative, as well as private in-kind and monetary donations. Thank you!
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Community Thru the Arts
Nov 3, 202300:43:33Tap to summarizeIn this episode we spend a bit of time with local musician and audio engineer, Camelia Jade, on a journey of the senses as we wind our way through culture and the arts on our way to community.Since 2006, Camelia Jade has worked in audio production for music, live sound, radio, podcasts, analog and digital preservation, independent film, on-location recordings as well as youth audio workshops, gallery installations and more. As a musician composing on guitar, charango, rhythm and voice, Camelia weaves tradition and innovation into songs that are lush and percussive, joyous or bittersweet. Camelia (pronounced kah-MEL-ee-ah) creates instrumental explorations that become a living soundtrack and sings with a voice that is both soothing and strong.https://cameliajade.com/Talkin Story is a project of Well Organized: Collaborative Community Driven Organizing in Port Townsend, WA.https://well-organized.org/We appreciate the support of the Port Townsend Arts Commission, Jefferson Community Foundation, Finnriver Farm and Cidery, Addieun Foundation, the Community Equity Initiative, as well as private in-kind and monetary donations. Thank you!
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Excavating Whiteness
Oct 27, 202300:54:29Tap to summarizeTomoki Sage wanders with us through experiences in the theater that mirror life as a person of the global majority in Jefferson county. Together we deconstruct the persona that wants to fit in the the dominant culture but never quite does and the what that makes possible.Tomoki was a child of the forest. He spent many long hours as a boy running through the woods of Port Townsend without any shoes on. His family wasn't completely poor, they were just hippies living in the glories of mother nature.Tomoki's parents are Aikido masters, so naturally, Tomoki was born to be a badass. From the tender age of three, he was doing backflips off the one piece of furniture in his house. As the land his family lived on got more developed, so did Tomoki's masterful ninja skills. With electricity came Jackie Chan movies. With hot water came showers. And before long Tomoki was wearing shoes.Talkin Story is a project of Well Organized: Collaborative Community Driven Organizing in Port Townsend, WA.https://well-organized.org/We appreciate the support of the Port Townsend Arts Commission, Jefferson Community Foundation, Finnriver Farm and Cidery, Addieun Foundation, the Community Equity Initiative, as well as private in-kind and monetary donations. Thank you!
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Liberating Education
Oct 20, 202300:56:55Tap to summarizeIn this episode with JooRi Jun, we wind up our conversation about PGM in schools with an in-depth exploration about the need for radical new models that allow our children to unfurl into their truest selves.Several resources are mentioned in this episode, should you wish to go further down the rabbit hole:Sky Bear ALC - www.skybearalc.orgAlliance for Self Directed Education: https://www.self-directed.org/Agile Learning Center Network: https://agilelearningcenters.org/Akilah Richards' work: https://raisingfreepeople.com/A Brief History of Education: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/freedom-learn/200808/brief-history-educationCarol Black's Schooling the World Documentary: https://carolblack.org/schooling-the-worldLeticia Neito's work: https://beyondinclusionbeyondempowerment.com/JooRi is the vision steward for Sky Bear Agile Learning Community and a parent of a self-directed child. A naturopathic physician and ancestral healing practitioner, she has always been drawn to healing. Her personal journey of decolonization, healing from internalized oppression, and cultural reclamation as well as inspiration from her child led her to create a radical, liberated alternative to school for PGM children in her community.She envisions a community of children growing up fully honoring themselves, remaining liberated, and staying connected with their own specific and unique gift and purpose to offer to the world. She sees this work as her deepest ancestor and earth-honoring work yet.To learn more about her work and offerings:www.ancestralkorea.comwww.ancestralreconnection.comTalkin Story is a project of Well Organized: Collaborative Community Driven Organizing in Port Townsend, WA.https://well-organized.org/We appreciate the support of the Port Townsend Arts Commission, Jefferson Community Foundation, Finnriver Farm and Cidery, Addieun Foundation, the Community Equity Initiative, as well as private in-kind and monetary donations. Thank you!
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Making Schools Habitable for PGM
Oct 13, 202300:42:49Tap to summarizeCherry Geelan and Aaron Hall take us on a deep dive into the challenges for our PGM students and teachers inside public school systems, where systemic racism continues to reign, despite decades of reform.An independent documentary called, The Right to Read, is specifically mentioned as a beacon of hope and a powerful depiction of effective advocacy for literacy among PGM children.We are pleased to offer the film for your streaming pleasure for a limited time (October 13-15, 2023). Our hope is that it ignites a substantive conversation in our communities about effective strategies for ensuring the literacy of our people.You can access the film here. Invitation Code (case-sensitive and contains a single dash): TRT-WBLMAlso mentioned in this episode is a podcast called, "Sold A Story": https://features.apmreports.org/sold-a-story/ .Aaron Hall Is an Indigenous (Séliš/Qlispé/Ktunaxa) Educator and currently works at Salish Coast Elementary School in Port Townsend, Washington. Aaron works with colleagues to create a sustainable PGM/BIPOC community for youth and family from our locale.Cherry Geelan has lived in Port Townsend for twelve years with her partner and two children. She was born in Los Angeles, California to immigrant parents from Thailand. She has a bachelor's in Ethnic and Women's Studies, an M.Ed in Reading Instruction and Curriculum, a National Board certification in Literacy, and recently became a certified Dyslexia Therapist.As a reading interventionist in the area, her goal is to spread the word that literacy is a social justice issue. This is her twentieth year in teaching.Talkin Story is a project of Well Organized: Collaborative Community Driven Organizing in Port Townsend, WA.https://well-organized.org/We appreciate the support of the Port Townsend Arts Commission, Jefferson Community Foundation, Finnriver Farm and Cidery, Addieun Foundation, the Community Equity Initiative, as well as private in-kind and monetary donations. Thank you!
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Shifting the Narrative for PGM Youth
Oct 6, 202300:43:37Tap to summarizeDarrell Thomas and Melissa O'Neil drop the veil on a personal pivotal moment, stewarding children, and what it takes to support youth and each other as professionals as they make their way in educational systems setup for their failure.Talkin Story is a project of Well Organized: Collaborative Community Driven Organizing in Port Townsend, WA.https://well-organized.org/We appreciate the support of the Port Townsend Arts Commission, Jefferson Community Foundation, Finnriver Farm and Cidery, Addieun Foundation, the Community Equity Initiative, as well as private in-kind and monetary donations. Thank you!
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