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

My Mom

August 30, 2022 • StoryHelix, Wordcrafters in Eugene, Leah Velez, Intro and Outro Music by Otis McDonald • Season 1 • Episode 23

0:00 | 2:09

This young community member talks about their mother's trek across the country to live in Oregon.

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

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imagined in Lane County, Oregon.
What's up, Earthlings? I'm Leah

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Velez and Anonymous be your host. The
stories that follow are raw footage. So

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let's open up our ear nuggets and
give these community submitted stories listen.

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I think it all started back when my
mom was born. She was born in

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Louisiana, all the way across the
country, and then she grew up.

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When she was fourteen, she got
kicked out or something and then she worked

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in Louisiana for a couple of years. Got on apartmen, she's seventeen, her grandpa

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gave her a ticket on the grand
holme bus to go to Oregon.

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She lived there for about ten years
and she had my brother and then

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she came back, had him there
and actually she worked then in Louisiana when

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she came back again and she met
my dad and she had me. I

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lived Louisiana for a little bit,
a little town, small Shreveport, Louisiana.

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This is what I say. She
wasn't coming here hoping to have kids

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or not have kids. She was
coming here hoping to move away from her

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family and then when she moved here. She ended up meeting my dad and

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then making her life here, and
that's what I think she hoped for.

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What I've experienced like around Oregon, it's
pretty nice. I've lived here a long

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time. I don't think I plan
on leaving soon. Maybe one day, I don't know.

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Oregon's pretty cool. Yeah, I've
lived here my whole life, though

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most of the life I remember.
Thanks for listening. You can find us

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wherever you listen to your podcasts.
If you've got your own Lane County story

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

People on this episode

Wordcrafters

Host