
{"id":12891,"date":"2010-09-30T08:00:36","date_gmt":"2010-09-30T16:00:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.carrborocitizen.com\/main\/?p=12891"},"modified":"2010-09-30T08:00:36","modified_gmt":"2010-09-30T16:00:36","slug":"voices-faces-stories-and-souls","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/2010\/09\/30\/voices-faces-stories-and-souls\/","title":{"rendered":"Voices, faces, stories and souls"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Susan Dickson<br \/>\n<\/strong><em>Staff Writer<br \/>\n<\/em><br \/>\n<em>Talking Sidewalks<\/em> is a literary magazine, one among many in these wordy parts. What sets it apart though is its prerequisite for authorship in this particular magazine \u00e2\u20ac\u201d homelessness.<\/p>\n<p><em>Talking Sidewalks<\/em> was started by a group of UNC students two years ago and strives to be a place of community and conversation. The semi-annual magazine has published four issues, including one commemorated, just a few weeks ago, by a launch party at Flyleaf Books. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Homelessness had always been one of those issues I was curious about, because it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s right there in front of your face,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d said Jonathan Young, a UNC senior and a founder of the magazine.<\/p>\n<p>Young got involved with the Campus Y\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s HOPE (Homeless Outreach Poverty Eradication) committee when he transferred to UNC in 2008. At that time, committee members were in talks to film a documentary about homelessness, which became <em>Faces of Franklin<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We basically walked into the shelter one night with a video camera and a sign-up sheet,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Young said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We ended up getting really lucky.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>Several shelter residents were eager to share their stories with Young and the other students, who listened to their words over and over again as they edited their work. <\/p>\n<p>The process broke down any misconceptions or stereotypes Young and the others had about homelessness, he said, and he realized what the homeless community could offer in the form of a publication. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Anyone has a story,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Anyone has opinions and ideas.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>Young and other volunteers then began holding weekly meetings at the IFC men\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s shelter, women and children\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s shelter and on campus. When Young and other students first approached the IFC about their project, they had a difficult time convincing staff and residents they weren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t like other students working on class projects, who come to the shelter all the time.<\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s really hard to work in a homeless community because of lot of them have been taken advantage of and been school projects and things like that,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. But the group of volunteers who work on <em>Talking Sidewalks<\/em> is different because \u00e2\u20ac\u0153all of us are there because we love doing it.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>Now, Young\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s heard that shelter staff encourage residents to come to Talking Sidewalks meetings. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s one of the few positive spaces that you can find in there,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153We try to bring a positive energy.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d <\/p>\n<p>Every meeting begins with introductions, followed by a question to inspire storytelling. If participants have written things they\u00e2\u20ac\u2122d like to share, they then offer readings, followed by an inspirational reading from volunteers. <\/p>\n<p>Time is set aside for authors to work on their writing at the end of each meeting. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Some of them are really talented and spit out amazing stuff in 20 minutes,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Young said, while others choose to work on their writing outside of meetings.<\/p>\n<p>Though the publication volunteers do a little editing, most of the words are printed exactly as the authors wrote them. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We absolutely try to preserve all the content,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Young said.<\/p>\n<p>Authors change from issue to issue, though there are a few who have contributed more than once. For residents of the shelter, Young said, it can be inspirational to work on <em>Talking Sidewalks<\/em> with former residents who have since moved out. The writings themselves also serve as inspiration, as some of them depict sobriety and recovery. <\/p>\n<p>The magazine provides a chance for people from the homeless community to own and be proud of something, Young said. <\/p>\n<p>\u00e2\u20ac\u0153People write about homelessness, but people also write about different ideas,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he added.<\/p>\n<p>Printing 1,000 copies of each issue of <em>Talking Sidewalks<\/em> costs about $1,000. Though the students are able to secure some funding through HOPE, they cover most of the costs through sponsorships from local businesses.<\/p>\n<p>Volunteers distribute <em>Talking Sidewalks<\/em> at local coffee shops and at the UNC Campus Y. Readers also can view <em>Talking Sidewalks<\/em> online at <a href=\"http:\/\/www.talkingsidewalks.com\/\">talkingsidewalks.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><em>Talking Sidewalks<\/em> is a literary magazine, one among many in these wordy parts. What sets it apart though is its prerequisite for authorship in this particular magazine \u00e2\u20ac\u201d homelessness.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12891","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community","category-miscellany"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12891"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12891\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12926,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12891\/revisions\/12926"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12891"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12891"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ibiblio.org\/carrborocitizen\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}