SSW Radio: Patricia Frazier, #GivingTuesday, and More

This week on SSW Radio, we spoke with a youth poet laureate, a local philanthropy organization, and heard a personal story about homelessness

In September, Patricia Frazier became Chicago’s second-ever Youth Poet Laureate. (Listen to our interview with the first, E’Mon Lauren, from September.) Frazier’s poetry stems from disrupting mainstream narratives in order to create “a narrative that has no holes, that does not tell a single story.” Having grown up in the Ida B. Wells homes, Frazier draws inspiration from the Black businesses that existed inside of the buildings, “a self-sufficient city inside of this institution that was meant to keep certain people in certain places.” After moving to Englewood, Frazier experienced the dichotomy between narratives told by the outside media and the narratives of the people living there. She explores these ideas in poems like “A Black Girl’s Attempt At Escaping Gentrification,” which you can read here.

In an interview with South Side Weekly Radio’s Erisa Apantaku, Frazier shared her poems, her process, and how she got her start writing poetry after learning from her peers that she couldn’t actually sing.

Later in the hour, Kathleen Murphy of Forefront Illinois shared some tips with SSW Radio’s Bridget Vaughn for Chicagoans who want to give back to local non-profit organizations on #GivingTuesday, a global day of giving.

At the end of the hour, the Weekly Read shares a story of her first experience with homelessness.

SSW Radio is the Weekly’s radio hour, featuring stories and interviews from the people of the South Side of Chicago. SSW Radio airs Tuesday afternoons from 3pm-4pm on WHPK 88.5 FM.

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