The Grandparents Storylab

I recorded many sounds while riding a bike during La Baldi's art residency. Here is a mixdown of some of those sounds. I used this audio mix in a workshop where participants used turmeric to create sun prints with local plants at Villa Clara.

In this episode, journalists from Indykids, a newspaper for kids and by kids, interview Muriel Miguel, an actor, choreographer, and director of Spiderwoman Theater, the oldest feminist, Indigenous-led theater company in the United States. We recorded this episode using the Zoom application with kids in different parts of the United States during the COVID-19 pandemic—thanks to Brooklyn Arts Council, Sebastian Lopez, and Rachael Bongiorno.  Original music tracks by Blue Dot Sessions: Pedalrider, Dance of Felt, Fold Over and In Time We Rest. Sounds   

Maria Alejandro runs the senior's program at the community organization Union Settlement. Her work is inspired by one of the first lessons she learned in her life from her grandmother. In this episode you will learn why 'growing old is a blessing'.

Click here to listen to the theme song of our episode "An Oasis in the City." This story centers around the Coquí frog puppet activists built to protect community gardens from Rudy Giuliani's administration's attempt to destroy these green spaces in the late 90s. We produced this episode with a 10-session podcast workshop with youth and older adults at the @centerforwellbeing.nyc and @girlsclubny in the fall of 2023. During these workshops, the girls honed their podcasting skills and delved into a creative process to produce their own episode by interviewing two elders from the East Village who played pivotal roles in the late 90s struggle to preserve the neighborhood gardens from destruction.  Visit our website. Follow us in Instagram.

Today, we go to the East Village neighbourhood of New York City, where girls from the Lower East Side Girls Club interviewed JK Canepa, an activist who participated in the struggle in the late 90s to preserve the community gardens from destruction. And Beverly Love, a local resident, who was part of the creative movement that first gave birth to the gardens.   We produced this episode with a 10-session podcast workshop with ten-year-old girls at the Center for Wellbeing & Happiness and The Lower Eastside Girls Club of NY  in the fall of 2023. During these workshops, the girls honed their podcasting skills and delved into a creative process to produce their own episode by interviewing two elders from the East Village who played pivotal roles in the late 90s struggle to preserve the neighborhood gardens from destruction. These workshops resulted in a fascinating intersection of art and activism podcast episode.

Maria Alejandro runs the senior's program at the community organization Union Settlement. Her work is inspired by one of the first lessons she learned in her life from her grandmother. In this episode you will learn why 'growing old is a blessing'.

In this episode of the Grand Parents Story Lab, children interviewed stuntman and filmmaker, Roy T Anderson. For more than twenty-five years he has performed stunts for Hollywood stars such as Will Smith, Denzel Washington and Jamie Foxx, accumulating more than 400 production credits in the process. He has worked on box office hits such as "Men in Black 3," "The Dark Knight Rises," "Spiderman 2," "Bourne Ultimatum," "American Gangster," and top-rated TV shows; "Law & Order," and "Sopranos." He is also a film director. His film, Akwantu traces the journey of his ancestors, from Ghana to Jamaica- exploring his family's roots in the Jamaican Maroons, the first people from European colonies who successfully fought to free themselves from slavery and establish independent communities in the mountainous interior of Jamaica. This liberation struggle, came almost sixty years before the Haitian Revolution (1791), and almost one hundred years before the abolition of the slave trade (1834) in the former British colonies. Mr. Anderson is currently working on a documentary about the Pan Africanist, political activist, publisher, journalist, entrepreneur, and orator, Marcus Garvey.  The Grandparents StoryLab is an intergenerational storytelling project that connects New York City's youngest and oldest generations through podcasts and art. Children are taught interview skills, and then interview the elders. This audio came out of workshops held at The Sugar Hill Children's Museum of Art and Storytelling.

Our relationship with hair is often very personal. We can love it, loathe it, or do everything we can to change it. But as we hear in this episode from Simin, Sabura, and Cool Grandma, hair can symbolize resilience, self-expression, and community. And especially regarding women's hair, it can also be a tale of self-acceptance.  We recorded this episode at the Center for Wellbeing & Happiness in New York City. The stories emerged in collaboration with photographer Destiny Matta, who, in her photography class at the Lower Eastside Girls Club, was documenting hair stories back in 2022. Special thanks to Rubi Jones for hosting this episode's listening party at This is Salon in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

This week's fun and lively podcast is on Jillian Lazaridis, a 73-year-old teacher librarian who was interviewed by young journalists fromIndyKids, a social justice newspaper by and for kids. This year Jillian will be running her 36th NYC Marathon, having run just over 50 marathons in total!

Dr. Khadijah Matin was a child growing up in the 1960s in New York City. One of her child memories was going to the library so often that they told her "don't even bother to use your library card because you're going to bring the books right back". There she fell in love with history. In this episode Matin tells us how she was part of the movement for women to be able to wear pants to school in the city, and the struggle of her ancestor to protect the sacredness of African American lives. This interview was recorded at The Sugar Hill Children's Museum of Art and Storytelling in 2019 and the podcast was created by the Grandparents StoryLab. 

When Rev. Malika Lee Whitney was a child growing up in 1940s Harlem, street games were very popular among kids. Hopscotch, jacks, stick ball and stoop ball were played until the sun went down. But there was one game that she particularly loved — jumping Double Dutch. For the past 14 years Rev. Whitney has been running the youth development program Double Dutch Dreamz in Harlem and around New York City. Now in her 70s, she still jumps. She says it contributes to her overall well being, exercising her heart and balancing her body through its meditative rhythms.  Some of her young jumpers got to ask her about her passion during a podcast workshop at The Sugar Hill Children's Museum of Art and Storytelling and created this audio postcard. 

Margaretta Bobo Goines discovered the swimming pool in kinder garden by herself, and she loved being underwater. But it wasn't until she was 62, when she took swimming lessons and started to get gold medals. At 72 she became a lifeguard, because she was determined she wanted to teach kids to swim.  This interview was recorded at The Sugar Hill Children's Museum of Art and Storytelling in 2019 and the podcast was created by the Grandparents StoryLab. 

This podcast tells the story of 70-year-old Ben Navarrete. Ben only started running at the age of 53, and this year when he crosses the NYC marathon finish line, he will complete his 134th Marathon! Ben is also a coach for seniors who are part of New York Road Runners walking program, Striders.

This podcast is a co-production between children journalists who took part in the IndyKids Summer Camp, and The Grandparents StoryLab producers. IndyKids is a social justice news source that is created by kids, for kids.