PODCAST · society
Street Sense Media
by Street Sense Media
Real stories, real people, real change from the street media center of our nation's capital: empowering people experiencing homelessness and educating the public since 2003.
Episodes
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Street Sense Says Bonus: Being “at home” with Street Sense Media
For so many of the guests featured in this series, Street Sense Media has become its own kind of home. Regardless of the conditions or circumstances that led someone to homelessness, Street Sense makes space for community connection and creative expression. In this bonus episode, Director of…
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Street Sense Says Episode 7: Time, tide, and the ride of life
People say “time and tide wait for none” and nudge us to make the most of our time and the trials or treasures we experience on our way. Jet Flegette keeps perspective, even when facing trauma: valuing people (and pets) over things, staying joyous and curious in the world, and remaining...
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Street Sense Says Episode 6: Where are you growing?
People are naturally wired to evolve: to remain agile, adaptable, and ambitious even when facing serious life challenges. Queenie Featherstone and Morgan Jones explore the process of “rebuilding yourself” and describe what they strive for and how they thrive, despite housing insecurity. They...
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Street Sense Says Episode 5: The many faces of home
For some, housing insecurity might seem a distant or unfamiliar threat. But scenarios that can thrust someone into homelessness take many forms, and they may not be as impossible or implausible as is convenient to believe. Street Sense vendor James Davis talks about his journey of moving from a...
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Street Sense Says Episode 4: Super, and human too
If you could have a superpower, what would it be? How would you balance reveling in your strengths and leveraging them for the greater good? And what does it look like to be both superhuman and super humble? This special episode, a series highlight, captures a spontaneous conversation between...
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Street Sense Says Episode 3: Changemaking: The currency of place and power
While “community” can connect us, it can also mean different things to different people. Even in shared space, there can be tensions over who has the legacy or leverage to live and work there — who has the right to make it “home.” Responding to recent “not in my community” refrains, area natives...
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Street Sense Says Episode 2: Write at the root: How creativity intersects with community
When life leaves people feeling uprooted, sometimes places and spaces that feel like “home” can be especially grounding. For Frederic John, creative communities have helped him hone his craft, express his voice, and find a sense of purpose. As a D.C. native who also lived and worked in New York…
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Street Sense Says Episode 1: Who do you think you aren’t?
As humans, naturally driven to connect but also to categorize, we sometimes make false assumptions about each other (especially across lines of difference). What does it take to challenge misconceptions about who you are? Or to consciously “break the cycle” and avoid becoming who you don’t want…
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In Our Own Voices: Wendell Williams
Street Sense Media artist/vendor and homelessness advocate, Wendell Williams, shares his experiences as a fifth-generation African American Washingtonian and his insights about the changes the city has seen, his personal experience with chronic homelessness, and his involvement with the street...
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In Our Own Voices: Amina Washington
Street Sense Media artist/vendor, Amina Washington, reflects on her experience becoming homeless at the age of 14 and the ensuing years she spent being unhoused. She details her younger years, prior to becoming unhoused after a neighbor reported her father and she was sent to school in Florida....
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In Our Own Words: Rochelle Walker
Rochelle Walker, a Street Sense Media artist/vendor, shares her story about growing up in Washington, DC, going to Morgan State University and University of the District of Columbia for her associate’s degree in Early Childhood Development. She discusses how she worked in early childhood care for...
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In Our Own Voices: Martin Walker
Street Sense Media artist/vendor Martin Walker shares his history, growing up in Washington, DC and Landover, MD. He details how he learned about Street Sense Media when he was living in a men’s shelter, as well as his increasing involvement with the organization over the last 17 years. Walker…
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In Our Own Voices: Jacqueline Turner
Born in Leesburg, VA, into a religious family, Jacqueline Turner, a Street Sense Media artist/vendor, reflects on her experience growing up in and around Washington, DC. She details what it was like to live in DC during the 60s and 70s, especially her time attending go-go dances. Turner’s...
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In Our Own Voices: Eric Thompson-Bey
Street Sense Media artist/vendor and reporter, Eric Thompson-Bey chronicles his experiences growing up in Anacostia, as well as other parts of DC. He recounts how his mother was murdered when he was only two years old, as well as how his father died when he was only nine. After that, he was…
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In Our Own Voices: Aida Peery
Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Street Sense Media artist/vendor Aida Peery grew-up in Chicago, IL and Washington, DC. She studied networking and information systems at Strayer University, after which she worked for the Department of Defense for five years. She is now an artist/vendor and vendor program...
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In Our Own Voices: Conrad Cheek Jr.
Former biomedical engineer and graduate of George Washington University, Conrad Cheek has been an artist/vendor for Street Sense Media since its first issue in 2003. Cheek reflects on his experiences as a biomedical engineer at Arlington Hospital, as well as being the first African-American to…
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In Our Own Voices: Phillip Black
Street Sense Media artist/vendor, Phillip Black shares his experiences growing up in Washington, DC. When Black was in high school, he was an All-Metropolitan basketball player. He details how that led to a lot of attention, which was at times distracting. Black was the youngest of a family of...
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In Our Own Voices: Daniel Ball
Street Sense Media artist/vendor Daniel Ball shares his story about growing up in and around Washington, DC, as well as his work with Street Sense Media over the last ten years. He recounts details about his childhood, as well as his experience with chronic homelessness. He has struggled with...
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Look at This a Street Sense Media Podcast: Episode Six
For many of the homeless men and women who sell the Street Sense newspaper in Washington, D.C., the COVID-19 pandemic was just another obstacle they had to deal with in their day-to-day lives. The restrictions caused by the pandemic had a significant impact on Street Sense vendor Queenie...
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Look at This a Street Sense Media Podcast: Episode Five
Saul Aroha Nui Tea, who goes by "Salty," has chosen to walk a different path than many of the other vendors of the Street Sense newspaper in Washington, D.C. "The life I have chosen is a preparation in the Gospel of Peace and a full commitment to being willing to lay my life on the line as a...
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Look at This a Street Sense Media Podcast: Episode Four
Street Sense vendor and artist Rita Sauls lives in a tent encampment with around 30 other people in Washington, D.C. "Before becoming a tenter, I was living in a three-bedroom house," she said. "It did catch on fire, so I was displaced.” In addition to being a Street Sense vendor and artist…
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Look at This a Street Sense Media Podcast: Episode Three
Carlton Johnson is a homeless man who sells the Street Sense newspaper in Washington, D.C. He's also a poet. Although Johnson began writing poetry when he was young, the poems he writes today reflect the things he sees and feels when he's out on the streets. Sometimes he even recites poetry to…
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Look at This a Street Sense Media Podcast: Episode Two
Sheila White has been able to turn her life around thanks to the classes and connections she found working as a Street Sense vendor in D.C. In this week's episode of the "Look At This" podcast, White talks about how working for Street Sense Media put her on the path toward earning a college…
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Look at This a Street Sense Media Podcast: Episode One
In the premiere episode of "Look at This," vendors Marcellus Phillips and Chon Gotti share stories on how Street Sense Media has helped them turn their lives around and become more self-sufficient and independent.
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Sounds From the Street: Ron Dudley on Hip-Hop & Fatherhood
“When you’re homeless, you have kids, you have bills, you have family, friends, responsibilities,” Ronald Dudley said. “The only thing separating you from the rest of the world is a lease.” Dudley, aka Pookanu, is a musician on a spiritual mission — a mission to make sense of life, God, and...
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Sounds From the Street: Wendy Oxenhorn on Founding the Street Paper Movement
As a girl, Wendy Oxenhorn aspired to become a professional ballerina before a tragic injury shattered her dream. But that twist of fate catapulted her into a life of social work that eventually led her to co-found the first street paper and spark a global movement. Today, there are 112 street...
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Sounds From the Street: Patty Smith Sings the Blues
Born in Mississippi, raised in Pennsylvania, Patty Smith now calls D.C. home. It’s here where she’s spent the last decade selling Street Sense. She started in 2005, two years after the paper was founded. Her life, like many struggling with housing stability, was steeped in unexpected setbacks…
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Sounds From the Street: Middle Schoolers Discuss Homeless Activism
On June 3, 2015, a group of students from Alice Deal Middle School organized a rally to support homeless anti-discrimination legislation. Guided by their teacher, Michael Martini, then-sixth graders Nico Foxley and Sofia Giorgianni worked with The National Coaltion for the Homeless and the People...
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Sounds From the Street: Advocate Kate Coventry on the D.C. Winter Plan
Though Snowzilla and the dark days of winter are fading from our memories, it’s technically not spring yet. In fact, the Interagency Council on Homelessness’s [ICH] plan to protect the homeless from hypothermic injury lasts until the end of March. Analyst Kate Coventry of the D.C. Fiscal Policy...
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Sounds From the Street: Adam Motiwala on Digital Training for the Homeless
After weeks of walking past a Street Sense vendor selling newspapers, online marketing expert Adam Motiwala eventually asked the vendor if he was interested in an experiment. What began as a one-on-one digital marketing tutorial developed into a weekly workshop at Street Sense called Digital…
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Sounds From the Street: Writer Nick Flynn on Reconnecting with His Father
At age 24, Nick Flynn started working at the Pine Street Inn, the largest shelter in Boston. It was here that he reconnected with his estranged father, who was unsheltered at the time. Ten years later, Nick shared the story in his moving memoir, “Another Bullshit Night in Suck City”, which was...
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Sounds From the Street: Father Tom Weston on Addiction and Recovery
It doesn’t take much for someone to lose his or her way in life, but substance abuse certainly accelerates the process. Addiction is a painful problem that plagues people from all walks of life. No one is immune and that became abundantly clear in talking to Father Tom Weston, a Jesuit priest.…
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Sounds From the Street: Christie Jones on Her Children’s Book About Homelessness
Working as an educator and counselor in Stafford, VA, Christie Jones has come into contact with a lot of children experiencing homelessness. She decided to write Are We Home Yet?, her first book, to shine a light on the issue. Max, the main character, gives homeless children a chance to see...
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Sounds From the Street: Executive Director Brian Carome on the State of Homelessness
As Street Sense enters a new year, our executive director sits down to discuss the organization’s past, present and future. Brian, who has been fighting homelessness in the nation’s capital since the 80s, discusses what still needs to be done to solve the problem and how an exciting new Street...
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Sounds From the Street: DHS Director Laura Zeilinger on Affordable Housing
In a slight departure from our typical guests, we sit down with a policy maker. This is something we hope to do more and more. Laura Zeilinger has dedicated her professional career to working on behalf of low-income families who need access to better (and more) affordable housing. The former...
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Sounds From the Street: Entrepreneur Ken Martin Wears Many Hats
A father, a jazz-lover, an artist, and an entrepreneur, Ken Martin is a true renaissance man. But after two heart attacks and a prolonged health struggle cost him his job and his home, he found himself sleeping at Reagan National Airport. In an ironic twist of fate, a man that worked in social...
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Sounds From the Street: Robert Williams on Service, Respect and Art
Robert Williams says his years of service in Marine Corps helped him secure a HUD housing voucher, but not the respect and compassion that he and so many homeless veterans like him deserve. Surrounded by a society blind to the struggles of the homeless, Robert has turned to poetry and theatre to...
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Sounds From the Street: Benjamin Gates on Busking, Part 2 of 2
In the last episode, we learned how Benjamin is a musician of and for the people. He performs with homeless musicians and will often donate some of his proceeds to folks who are struggling to make it on the streets. This time, Gates is going to reveal his origin story– how he found the cello, or...
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Sounds From the Street: Benjamin Gates on Busking, Part 1 of 2
Benjamin Gates grew up playing the cello. Now the instrument is his livelihood. From playing gigs at the Embassy of Sweden to the occasional wedding, Gates connects with the greater community through what he calls being a “musician of the people.” That’s not some fluffy promotional nickname – he...
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Sounds From the Street: Angie Whitehurst Part 2 of 2 - A Life Resumed
It’s no secret that, whether you’re suffering from PTSD, depression, pain or grief — making art heals. Art therapy through music, dance and reciting poetry is gaining traction in all sorts of scientific studies. This week, in part two of our conversation with Angie Whitehurst, she shares her...
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Sounds From the Street: Angie Whitehurst Part 1 of 2 - A Life Interrupted
Angie Whitehurst’s story explodes any and all stereotypes of what homelessness is or “looks like.” An econ and poli-sci major at Connecticut College, Whitehurst was an accomplished international consultant for years until she contracted a rare—and oftentimes fatal—strain of malaria in the early...
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Sounds From the Street: Jeffery McNeil on Self-Determination
Jeffery McNeil discusses the joy of writing, welfare (and why he’s not for it) and how his regulars helped him kick his addictions, find employment and rise up out of homelessness. A full transcript of this interview is available here.
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Sounds From the Street: Cynthia Mewborn on PTSD and Recovery
Cynthia Mewborn lived in a tent for a year on the street. In spite of the mental and emotional toll that’s taken on her body and soul, she’s fighting harder than ever to get her life back. Part of her recovery, as she calls, is opening up about her rough experience and the associated PTSD and…
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Sounds From the Street: Levester Green on Art and Finding Stability
Thanks in large part to police brutality and racism, Levester Green has been homeless off and on for years. But when you see Levester’s electric smile, it’s difficult to grasp the fact that he lives on the street. He’s living proof that people have an infinite capacity to endure. In this episode,...
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Sounds From the Street: Sasha Williams on Finding a Home
In this episode, Sasha Williams reveals the haunting story behind her homelessness and then counters her tragic narrative with extraordinary grace and positivity. She also shares a couple beautiful life hacks: one of which is being a mom to her pride and joy, Eboni. A full transcript of this...
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Sounds From the Street: Bardia Saeedi on the Homeless Art Bus
In this interview Artist-in-Residence Bardia Saaedi, explores interactive art, becoming an activist, and, of course, his dynamic art/bus project. The participants in his workshop are literally transforming a bus into a mobile art gallery and advocacy platform. If you'd like to see the bus and the...
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Sounds From the Street: Eric Thompson-Bey on Go-go, Homelessness and more
In the inaugural Street Sense Media podcast, longtime vendor Eric Thompson-Bey discusses shelter conditions, friendship, and more. A full transcript of this interview is available here.
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Real stories, real people, real change from the street media center of our nation's capital: empowering people experiencing homelessness and educating the public since 2003.
HOSTED BY
Street Sense Media
CATEGORIES
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Street Sense Media have?
Street Sense Media currently has 47 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Street Sense Media about?
Real stories, real people, real change from the street media center of our nation's capital: empowering people experiencing homelessness and educating the public since 2003.
How often does Street Sense Media release new episodes?
Street Sense Media has 47 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Street Sense Media?
You can listen to Street Sense Media on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Street Sense Media?
Street Sense Media is created and hosted by Street Sense Media.
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