Jennol and Debra Jenkins
Getting Raised
Teens Talk About Parents
Getting raised isn't easy. In this hour-long special, we hear stories from those who know. Teenagers explain how to deal with in-your-face parents, abusive parents, absent parents and becoming a parent when you're still in high school.
KUOW and the Public Radio Exchange scoured the country for the best radio stories created by producers under twenty. One teen tells us about folks who won't let their kid eat watermelon unsupervised, because they're afraid she'll choke on the seeds. Another young woman got kicked out of her mom's house when she was only eleven years old. She had to raise herself fast, and on the streets. We'll also hear some juicy secrets (you know that bullet hole in the basement?), and eavesdrop on conversations it's hard to have, at any age.
Getting Raised is a special youth radio program from KUOW Public Radio and the Public Radio Exchange, produced by Jenny Asarnow. Our host is Jennol Jenkins, a senior at Auburn High School. She participated in KUOW's Weekday High training program in 2005. She's joined in KUOW's studios by her mom, Debra Jenkins. Jones Franzel at the Public Radio Exchange leant additional production help. A special thanks to all of the youth radio groups who submitted stories for this program.
Related Links:
Giancarlo Hernandez
My Private Music
We begin our program with a memory. The shadow of a child's bed is stark against a wall, and he's scared of what's outside the window. He needs his mom, but she is fast asleep.
Produced by Giancarlo Hernandez of Curie Youth Radio, a public high school program in southwest Chicago. Students' stories have aired on WBEZ Chicago and NPR. Giancarlo produced this story when he was 18. He graduated from Curie High School in 2004.
Related Links:
Heidi Choe, age 15
In Your Face Parents
Heidi Choe's parents pay attention to her. A LOT of attention. Sometimes her mom pulls up a chair to see what she's writing online.
Reporting by Heidi Choe. Produced by Czerina Patel and Marianne McCune of Radio Rookies, a youth radio program at New York Public Radio. Radio Rookies stories have aired on WNYC in New York City and on NPR. Heidi recorded this story in 2001 when she was 15. She shared a 2002 Asian American Journalism Association prize for covering Asian American issues.
Related Links:
- Listen to 'In Your Face Parents'
- Radio Rookies
- 'Questions' Campaign, Partnership for a Drug-Free America
KC Quinn
The First Time I Left Home
KC's mom kicked her out of the house when she was 11. That was after she accused her mom's boyfriend of trying to molest her. KC talks with her sisters about growing up on the streets.
Produced by KC Quinn of Blunt Youth Radio Project in Portland, Maine. Blunt staff teach a radio production course at Long Creek Youth Development Center, a juvenile correctional facility. Participants broadcast their work on public radio station, WMPG. KC produced this story when she was 17, while incarcerated for a drug offence.
Related Links:
Jose Amaya
Family Separation
Jose Amaya's mom had to leave him in El Salvador when she moved to the United States. She brought him to America a few years later, but he resented her for the separation. Jose knows a lot of other kids in the same situation.
Produced by Jose Amaya of Youth Voices at WAMU Radio in Washington, D.C. Youth Voices teaches high school students how to create radio feature stories. Their stories air on WAMU. Jose produced this story as a senior in high school.
Related Links:
Curie Youth Radio participants
What We Wish We Could Tell Our Parents
Every teenager keeps secrets from their parents. The students at Curie High School have some juicy ones. In this confessional collage, the entire world gets to hear what they will never reveal to mom and dad. Now, about that bullet hole in the basement…Produced by Romana Amato, Jose Benitez, Lucy Munoz, and April Winbun of Curie Youth Radio.
Related Links:
Alla Pekareva and her parents on graduation day.
Glasnost
Alla Pekareva knew she was gay, but didn't want to tell her parents. They're from the Ukraine, and they weren't exactly open-minded about her sexuality. Alla says, "My mother once told me, 'If you ever turn out to be a lesbian, I'll curse the day you were born.'"Produced by Alla Pekareva of outLoud Radio. outLoud Radio works with youth "who are otherwise silenced because of their sexuality or gender identity." Their stories air on public radio station, KALW in San Francisco.
Related Links:
Mya Hunter
Finding My Ma
Mya Hunter thinks you never really get to know your parents. She didn't realize how little she knew about her own mom until she asked her about the men she's dated. We eavesdrop on their nerve-wracking conversation.Produced by Mya Hunter of Youth Noise Network. Youth Noise Network is an after-school program for middle- and high-school students in Durham, North Carolina. It is supported by the Center for Documentary Studies. Students' stories air on Duke University's radio station WXDU. Mya produced this story when she was 14 years old.
Related Links:
Alca Usan with her daughter Mia Sol
The Thing About Being A Teenage Mother...Is That I'm Young
We end with two teenagers who are mothers, too. They both live in southwest Chicago. One gets a lot of family support, the other can't keep up with all the work. What's it like to become a mother when your own mom still tells you what to do?
Produced by DeNashatae Horton and Carlos Maeda of Curie Youth Radio.
Related Links:
Hannah Smith
Lise's Story
RealAudio MP3: High
One of Hannah Smith's best friends lives in a family hit by tragedy again and again. Lise reflects on how that's changed her relationship with her parents.
Reporting and produced by Hannah Smith of KUOW Public Radio, Seattle. Hannah Smith was a Weekday High intern in 2006. She's a junior at a private high school in Seattle. Hannah produced this story for Getting Raised.
Related Links:
