StoryHelix

Welcome to StoryHelix! Intertwining stories past, present, and not yet imagined, told by folks in Lane County, Oregon.Wordcrafters in Eugene began this project with the idea of making our area a braver, safer, more beautiful, and more equitable place to live. We believe, as Chinua Achebe put it, that stories create people, create stories. Meaning, the stories we tell ourselves and other people make us who we are. Because of this, we also believe that if we are to move into a better imagined future, a reckoning with our past and current stories is needed. As Alice Walker said, “Healing begins where the wound was made.”The StoryHelix project invites us to trace our "EUGeneology" and examine what stories we have inherited, and what stories we will pass down.You can read more about the project, about Wordcrafters in Eugene, about our sponsors and community partners, and send in your own Lane County, Oregon stories at StoryHelix.Wordcrafters.Org. Thanks for listening!

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StoryHelix

Home

August 30, 2022 • StoryHelix, Wordcrafters in Eugene, Leah Velez, Intro and Outro Music by Otis McDonald • Season 1 • Episode 21

0:00 | 4:38

This community member talks about what home should feel like.

You can read more about the project, about Wordcrafters in Eugene, about our sponsors and community partners, and send in your own Lane County, Oregon stories at StoryHelix.Wordcrafters.Org.

Thanks for listening!

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You're listening to StoryHelix, intertwining
stories past, present and not yet imagined

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in Lane County, Oregon. What's
up, earthlings? I'm Leah Velez and

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I'll be your host. The stories that
follow our raw footage. So let's open

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up our our nuggets and give these
community submitted stories a listen.

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I've lived here my entire life. I was born
here. My family has lived in Eugene

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ever since I could remember. So
I think they chose this place because,

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I don't know, it's a good
place to be and it rains a lot.

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I like the rain. There's a
lot of trees and the air is

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really clean and we don't have a
lot of like overpopulation and it's not really

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overpopulated and it's not like the cheapest
place to live, but it's also not

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the most expensive place to live.
So I think that was a really big

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factor for my family. But they've
just always lived here, so. I struggled

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a lot with my relationship with my
mother after she got married and living with

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her. Her house did not feel
like home and I just didn't feel at

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home in general. But living with
my grandparents is also kind of a struggle,

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just because our apartment is so small
and we're just so close to each

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other constantly. We get into arguments
a lot and it's really hard to feel

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at home when it's like 90% fighting and
yelling, 10% love and affection. I

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don't know, I feel like love-- I feel like home is somewhere where

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you can be comfortable and like in
your own space, you feel nice,

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you're not surrounded by people who just
want to yell at you. So No,

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I don't think so. My life
definitely has not been easy. My

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Dad left when I was really young. He's been in prison my life

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and my mom kind of just threw
me away because I told her I didn't

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want to live in a house with
her and her husband because her husband is

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literally abusive and gave me so much
PTSD. My grandparents mostly raised me and

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made me who I am as a
person. I sort of had to develop

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my morals on my own, because
nobody around me really has morals that I

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see as correct. Like, they're all
biased in some way and none of us

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really have a valid opinion, because
opinions aren't facts. But life is hard

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and experiencing shitty things just makes life
life. Like you can't just live your

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life without something bad happening to you
at least once. Something bad always happens

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to everyone. Everything that I've endured
and had to put up with makes up

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who I am as a person,
makes up how I act towards others,

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makes up how I react towards things
other people do. Everything I've experienced just

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makes me me. Thanks for listening. You can find us wherever you listen

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to your podcasts. If you've got
your own Lane County story to tell,

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we'd love to hear it at StoryHelix Dot WordCrafters dot org.

People on this episode

Wordcrafters

Host