VOA – CONNECT
EPISODE 21
AIR DATE: 06 08 18
TRANSCRIPT
OPEN ((VO/NAT))
((BANNER))
She Deserves
((SOT))
She does, she does deserve shelter. She does deserve respect. She does deserve a home. She does deserve dignity.
((ANIMATION TRANSITION))
((BANNER))
He Plays
((SOT))
To me, music is a release.
((ANIMATION TRANSITION))
((BANNER))
They Provide
((SOT))
So, last year we kept almost two million pounds of materials out of the landfill. And we know that because we weigh items when they ome in.
((OPEN TRANSITION))
BLOCK A
((PKG)) EVICTION ((Russian Service))
((Banner: Evicted From Home))
((Reporter/Camera: Jill Craig))
((Adapted by: Philip Alexiou))
((MAP: Baltimore, Maryland))
((SARAH, BALTIMORE RESIDENT))
So like 11 years ago, I’ve been evicted, I was evicted. After being evicted, we, my family and I were separated because I had to go with my brother who lived in an efficiency apartment. My girls had to go with their godmother. You know, so, you know, we were separated for a whole year until I was able to find a place.
((BANNER: The Eviction Exhibit in Washington, D.C. was inspired by author Matthew Desmond))
((LOCATOR: National Building Museum, Washington, D.C.))
((MATTHEW DESMOND, AUTHOR OF EVICTED: POVERTY AND PROFIT IN THE AMERICAN CITY))
For a long time we haven’t known how big of a problem eviction was. We didn’t know what it was doing to families. The housing crisis isn’t at the top of our domestic agenda and it absolutely should be. So, this is the way to tell the story. This is the way to tell the story by these facts and these statistics, but importantly it’s a way to tell the story by elevating the voice of the families that have been evicted and have faced this crisis.
((LOCATOR: Baltimore, Maryland))
((SARAH, BALTIMORE RESIDENT))
It was very humiliating. It was hurting. It was embarrassing, you know. I felt like a failure, not only to myself, I felt a failure to my kids.
((MATTHEW DESMOND, AUTHOR OF EVICTED: POVERTY AND PROFIT IN THE AMERICAN CITY))
One of the things that this Eviction Exhibit does is help us throw this problem into the light. Take a problem that’s been invisible and put it on the map. I think that’s the first step. So, today most poor renting families spend most of their income on housing costs. One in four of poor renting families spend 70 percent of their income just on rent and utilities. So, if someone would ask me, 'hey, is this, you know, just irresponsibility?' I would respond by saying, 'it's more inevitability.’ You know, when you’re paying 70, 80 percent of your income on housing costs, a very small misstep can lead you to get evicted.
((SARAH, BALTIMORE RESIDENT))
When a person gets evicted, it’s something that always lives with you. It never ends, you know, because now legally, when you rent another place, that eviction goes with you. So your previous landlord already knows that you’ve been evicted before. So now, he’s going to use it to his advantage to make sure that he could, I say, ‘milk you.’
((MATTHEW DESMOND, AUTHOR OF EVICTED: POVERTY AND PROFIT IN THE AMERICAN CITY))
If you look at the numbers that we can see in places like London and Paris, our evictions are incredibly higher than those numbers. We have a speedy, efficient eviction crisis, and we have an eviction crisis that affects about 6,300 Americans every single day, who receive an eviction judgment.
((SARAH, BALTIMORE RESIDENT))
I think the laws needs to look at people as human. Look at as if you could look at an animal and don’t want to see an animal on the street, then why would you want to see a human on the street?
((PKG)) HOMELESSNESS IN LA ((Russian Service))
((Banner: On The Street))
((Reporter: Angelina Bagdasaryan))
((Camera: Vazgen Varzhabetyan))
((MAP: Los Angeles, California))
((BANNER: More than 500,000 people are homeless in the United States – 60,000 in Los Angeles alone))
((BANNER: The “She Does” campaign highlights the plight of homeless women in the city))
((BANNER: Residents set up tents in solidarity))
((WOMAN, “She Does” PARTICIPANT))
I brought a tent, a sleeping bag, and a pillow. And a bottle of water.
((NATS))
((MEL TILLEKERATNE, #SHEDOES ORGANIZER))
One of the biggest things we want to do with this action is, first off, bring the attention of the council members, the mayor. If we keep leaving this without a crisis response, this is what you’re going to see on every city block in L.A.
((ANGELA, #SHEDOES PARTICIPANT))
I used to be homeless for nine and a half years, and that was not something I decided. It is something that I experienced because the system failed me. And so, trying to get off of the street, I was what they called ‘chronically homeless.’ I was violated while I was on the street. I was violated while I was in the shelters. I was very traumatized by a lot of things that happened. A lot of people took advantage of me, because, you know, when you are traumatized like that, being a female, and on the street, who do you go to? You can’t go to the cops. When you go to the cops, they don’t believe you.
((NATS))
((MEL TILLEKERATNE, #SHEDOES ORGANIZER))
Past couple of years, we saw a huge explosion in the number of homeless people in Los Angeles.
((NATS))
((MEL TILLEKERATNE, #SHEDOES ORGANIZER))
Unofficially, there are 6,800 women living outside of shelters. Unofficially, you are looking at over 30,000 women sleeping out of shelters. What we want through the ‘She Does’ movement is for the city of L.A. to rapidly shelter as many of these woman as possible. ((WOMAN, “She Does” PARTICIPANT))
She does, she does deserve shelter. She does deserve respect. She does deserve a home. She does deserve dignity, respect.
((ANGELA, #SHEDOES PARTICIPANT))
She deserves protection, love, a home.
((NATS))
((ERIC GARCETTI, LOS ANGELES MAYOR))
((COURTESY: City of Los Angeles))
Here in this city, we stand shoulder-to-shoulder with a homeless family. We need to stand up emergency shelters fast, and we need to do it now. Shelters that serve as a rest stop on the path to permanent housing.
((BANNER: Los Angeles has allocated $20 million for new shelters. Some residents oppose the expense.))
((PKG)) SLAB CITY ((Russian Service))
((Banner: An Alternative Home))
((Reporter/Camera: Genia Dulot))
((Adapted by: Martin Secrest))
((MAP: Slab City, California))
((LOCATOR: Slab City, California))
((BANNER: Called “the last free place in America,” anyone can live here free of charge))
((BANNER: There is no available electric grid, running water, or sewage system))
((NATS))
((BANNER: “Babylon” is slang for the state, or the system))
((IRA, SLAB CITY RESIDENT))
We are all in Slab City, in part, because we don’t like Babylon for some reason or another. We’re also all here, to an extent, because Babylon doesn’t like us.
((NATS))
((IRA, SLAB CITY RESIDENT))
This opens up, so that way we can keep puppies out of the living room. That’s what we call this area. Normally, there is these blankets up here to provide shade, and it makes a really comfy spot. It’s just, it’s been a little windy, and so it knocked them all over the place, and I’m a bit short, by myself, to put it back up.
((RODNEY "SPIDER", SLAB CITY RESIDENT))
I came here from Rhode Island. I was working, just like everybody else. I had a job, full time job. I fixed houses, I plowed the streets of Rhode Island. I worked on diesel trucks, you know. And I got tired of putting money in everybody else’s pocket. And it seemed like every time I put money in their pocket, they never put money in my pocket, you know. You get a paycheck, and that’s about it, you know. No pat on the back, no nothing, you know, and I got sick of that.
((NATS))
Don’t mind the mess. The wind last night was crazy, but this is only part of the solar power here. Those panels up there on the roof go inside that box, and then down to the batteries, and allows us to use the juice. I’m making this whole, this whole area here’s going to be enclosed, and there’s going to be a solar roof on the top of it.
((SHANNON, SLAB CITY RESIDENT))
In the city, you have to pay electricity. You'll pay hundreds of dollars a month for electricity.
((Reporter: 100))
((SHANNON, SLAB CITY RESIDENT))
Yeah, you know, hundreds, you never know, how much you're going to pay. Here, you pay 100 dollars for a solar panel, and it’ll last you years, and some batteries, and that’ll last you years, and there's your power. And a generator, that will last you, just pay for gas, and it would last you for a long time.
((Reporter: How much normally you spend for gas, in a month?))
((SHANNON, SLAB CITY RESIDENT))
For a month maybe 200 dollars.
((NATS))
((SHANNON, SLAB CITY RESIDENT))
The most bill you pay - gas and propane. Gasoline and propane.
((Reporter: How much is propane now?))
((SHANNON, SLAB CITY RESIDENT))
Propane? We can go 40 dollars for the month, and we can cook on that all month, and run the hot water heater.
((IRA, SLAB CITY RESIDENT))
Different people have different means of getting food and money. There are lots of businesses throughout the slabs. There are solar panel (and) water delivery businesses. A lot of the things that you don’t necessarily need money to get access to resources here. There are lots of things that are considered currency. You can trade a lot. Beer, weed, shiny rocks, building materials, paint, crafting materials. Anything that someone can use is tradable. There are few things that are sacred in Slab City, but one of them is boundaries. Whether it’s literal, or figurative, right? Or metaphorical, right? We have literal boundaries, as in walls, as in borders, people build around camps. In the filming that you’ve done, or maybe at East Jesus maybe you may have seen, like, the tire borders around a camp, or things like that. So, those are all ways that people say, ‘Do not cross without asking,’ right? That is also true on an interpersonal level. Slabbers don’t like being filmed without being asked. Consent is the rule here.
((NATS))
Now, you asked, and that was beautiful, that’s the way to handle it. You know, it just shows that you respect us, and respect our community, when you have the consideration to sit there and ask, ‘Hey, is this cool?’ You know, and it’s simple things like that.
((RODNEY "SPIDER", SLAB CITY RESIDENT))
Here, you come here, you get pampered, you get babied. Give you a place to stay. You're going to need, you’re hungry? I'll feed you. You don't need money. You know, not everybody has money, and I know that. But if I see something like that, I'll help if I can. But this here is a little getaway, for like people like you, who are tired of the whole same thing, every single day. You know, come out, whoa, these people are living weird, you know, but they’re making it, they’re making it work. We’ll let everybody know that you don’t have to live in the society that you do. You can do things on your own. It’s a little harder, but it makes you feel, it makes me feel better. I smile every day. I’ve got a smile on my face every single day.
((Reporter: So what would prevent Slab City (from) turning into the Babylon?))
((RODNEY "SPIDER", SLAB CITY RESIDENT))
Me. Read my lips. I'll take every board down, every screen down, everything down, if Babylon moves here. And I'll move away. I'll find another place, and do the same thing, all over again.''
TEASE ((VO/NAT))
Coming up….
((Banner))
Trash to Treasure
((SOT))
In terms of the donors, we actually have more individual donors just cleaning out a closet but in terms of the volume, it’s businesses in New York City.
BREAK ONE
BUMP IN ((ANIM))
BLOCK B
((PKG)) TRASH TO TREASURE ((Mandarin Service))
((Banner: Supplies For The Arts))
((Reporter/Camera: Ye Yuan))
((Adapted by: Philip Alexiou))
((Map: New York, New York City))
((HARRIET TAUB, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, MATERIAL FOR THE ARTS))
Materials for the Arts is a 40 year old program. And what we do is that we take donations from everywhere, from businesses and individuals and we bring them to this warehouse where we display them. And then, twice a week, we’re open to our members and we give these things away for free. We are part of the Department of Cultural Affairs in New York City, so we’re city government, and we get additional funding from some other agencies, the Department of Education and the Department of Sanitation.
((NATS))
We have dance companies and theatre companies and visual arts organizations. And we also serve the public schools of New York City.
((STEPHANIE IZZO, SCHOOL PROGRAMS MANAGER, NYC METROPOLITAN OPERA GUILD))
We run a workshop over the summer for teachers, and so, we’re always looking for materials. They do a, basically a very short, intense creation process where they make their own operas within five days. And so, they’re creating their own costumes and their own sets and things like that. So, we use this, primarily, the materials that we are looking for today for that.
((ALEXI HO-TAI, ART DIRECTOR, SUPERHERO CLUB HOUSE))
Mostly fabrics of bright colors.
((MICHAEL HERRERA, FOUNDER AND PROGRAM DIRECTOR, HELP OURSELVES - BROOKLYN))
So, we’re doing the lower eastside festival, which is a festival that happens on the lower east side. So, we’re getting a lot of materials to create costumes for the parade.
((HARRIET TAUB, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, MATERIAL FOR THE ARTS))
We are not open to individual artists. But an individual artist that is working with a non-profit on a public art work like, a mural project in the neighborhood, or a concert in a neighborhood, if they were sponsored by the member organization, then they could come in and get materials for that project only. In terms of the donors, we actually have more individual donors. So, it could be someone like you or me who’s cleaning out a closet and has some extra bags of yarn or we’re moving and we have some things we want to donate. But in terms of the volume, it’s businesses in New York City.
((JOHN KAISER, DIRECTOR OF EDUCATION AND GALLERY MANAGER, MATERIALS FOR THE ARTS))
We take everything. We take things from across a spectrum and we never turn something away because we see those materials as valuable art supplies. We don’t take clothing, we don’t take new objects, because we’d rather those go to other services which help people in various capacities in New York City. So, we do programs with students across New York City. We go to schools. We send teaching artists into schools to create art projects with the teachers, with the students, and then we have students come here for field trips to Materials for the Arts, and then get a tour of the facility, and they work with an artist. They make an art project, and they really learn about how reuse can be part of art making for them.
((HARRIET TAUB, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, MATERIAL FOR THE ARTS))
That’s a very sustainable thing because budgets in schools are also very limited. So, if you can use what’s around you and put that in your curriculum, then your students can continue to be creative and make projects without there being a big price tag associated with it.
Back in 1990, the Department of Sanitation realized that this was a program of keeping things out of landfill and they realized that they should support it and that’s when we began getting money from them. So, last year we kept almost two million pounds of materials out of the landfill. And we know that because we weigh items when they come in.
((ALEXI HO-TAI, ART DIRECTOR, SUPERHERO CLUB HOUSE))
I think when I work on projects, I don’t even really imagine buying things because I know that this is a possible resource to use. And it just makes sense to me.
TEASE ((VO/NAT))
Coming up….
((Banner))
Mobile Music
((SOT))
When he came to me with this idea, I thought he was a little crazy. But people think it’s just really cool. A little bit insane.
BREAK TWO
BUMP IN ((ANIM))
BLOCK C
((PKG)) CONCERT TRUCK
((Banner: Music on Wheels))
((Reporter: Faiza Elmasry))
((Camera: Mike Burke))
((Adapted by: Bronwyn Benito))
((Map: Baltimore, Maryland))
((NICK LUBY, CO-DIRECTOR, THE CONCERT TRUCK))
The dream is to create a platform that allows musicians, not just us, but many musicians to share their craft and their art broadly.
((SUSAN ZHANG, CO-DIRECTOR, THE CONCERT TRUCK))
Nick was actually the person who originally came up with the idea.
((NICK LUBY, CO-DIRECTOR, THE CONCERT TRUCK))
I was traveling with my grandfather.
((SUSAN ZHANG, CO-DIRECTOR, THE CONCERT TRUCK))
When they would dock, they would go to certain churches where he could practice. And while he was practicing, people would gather, drawn to his playing.
((NICK LUBY, CO-DIRECTOR, THE CONCERT TRUCK))
And in the evenings we’d go to these town squares and people were all around, but there was no music.
((SUSAN ZHANG, CO-DIRECTOR, THE CONCERT TRUCK))
After that he started thinking ‘Oh, wouldn’t it be cool if we could make some kind of traveling venue.’
((NICK LUBY, CO-DIRECTOR, THE CONCERT TRUCK))
Why not a truck that can go anywhere in the country?
((SUSAN ZHANG, CO-DIRECTOR, THE CONCERT TRUCK))
When he came to me with this idea, I thought he was a little crazy. But people think it’s just really cool. A little bit insane.
((NICK LUBY, CO-DIRECTOR, THE CONCERT TRUCK))
We started by winning a creativity in music award from our university in South Carolina and that was matched by The Performing Arts Consortium. They provide some financing for artists to perform. We also had a South Carolina Arts Commission grant. We’ve been to Columbia, Dayton, Ohio, Baltimore, D.C. And in Minnesota, we’ve been to Alexandria, Fargo, St. Paul, Duluth.
((SUSAN ZHANG, CO-DIRECTOR, THE CONCERT TRUCK))
So we’ve been in a few schools. We’ve been to a children’s home. We go to restaurants, open squares, pretty much anywhere you can park a truck. We’ve probably done it, so far. Ideally I like to get about four hours of practice in each day. And then we also will rehearse an additional hour or two. I think there’s definitely a kind of endurance that you gain from playing on the truck. There’s so many distractions that are around and for you to be able to tune out and just really glue into the music is, I think, a huge skill. Sometimes the weather is not ideal. Like today it was very windy, so it was hard to keep our music on the stand. Sometimes you get rained out. There’s lots of noise, lots of distraction. Usually when we perform in the concert hall, everything is very controlled. Everybody is very quiet, and the lighting is just right. But in a place like this, anything could really happen.
((NICK LUBY, CO-DIRECTOR, THE CONCERT TRUCK))
It’s an amazing time we live in because people can listen to music anywhere they are on their earphones with MP3 players. But, there’s something about live music that is essentially human and connecting.
((REBA CORNMAN, PASSERBY))
I was walking to the market, and all of a sudden I heard Prokofiev’s Cinderella being performed on piano. It was extraordinary. I love Prokofiev and I love Cinderella and it was just very magical for me.
((NICK LUBY, CO-DIRECTOR, THE CONCERT TRUCK))
We think classical music tells stories that are universal, and we try and share little pieces of information that might help a listener clue in to the things that we feel when we’re performing it.
((JILL CIOTTA, FARMERS MARKET MANAGER))
And, because they gave a description of the music before they played it, what the scene would be, I think it really got people’s imaginations into it and they could really feel the music a little bit better.
((REBA CORNMAN, PASSERBY))
I felt the emotion behind their playing just reached to everybody here.
((NICK LUBY, CO-DIRECTOR, THE CONCERT TRUCK))
When you listen to live music, there’s an energy that you just can’t get from a recording. It brings people together, and for me, makes life worth living. We want it to be easier for people to share music. Classical musicians, but also we hope to collaborate with musicians of all kinds.
((PKG)) JAZZ / PIA -- RENALD RICHARD
((Banner: Old School))
((Exec. Prod: Marsha James))
((Camera: Kaveh Rezaei))
((Adapted by: Philip Alexiou))
((Map: New York / New York City))
((RENALD RICHARD, MUSICIAN))
To me, music is a release that brings satisfaction and comfort to the one who produces it.
((NATS))
Well, I started out playing the piano when I was six. I was at a church dance and there was a band from New Orleans that came to play for that dance and they had two young trumpet players in the band. They were really cool. So, what happened, all the girls went after these two trumpet players, including my girlfriend. So, I said, well I’m going to have to do something about this. So, I went home. I asked dad if I could play the trumpet. And he told me, he said, “why do you want to play the trumpet?” I said, “well, I think I like the trumpet.” And I started lessons on the trumpet. I continued lessons on the piano and trumpet. And it went on like that for a while and I got my girl back.
Eventually, Jeff Brown, the manager of Ray Charles, approached me and he said, “Ray Charles is forming a new band and he would be interested in you playing trumpet with him and the band.” And, of course, Ray Charles, I said yes. I was honored by that and a little nervous, a little nervous. I didn’t know, then, of the genius of Ray Charles that I found out later. But, anyway, now in my life, I play music mainly with the Marco Island Strummers. To be a musician is like fulfilling a part of your life that’s irreplaceable. It’s something that I enjoy and I get a satisfaction from it.
CLOSING ((ANIM))
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BREAK THREE
BUMP IN ((ANIM))
SHOW ENDS
