jason reynolds

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Win prizes! Tell us your favorite Sound Judgment episode
Deadline: 6.30.23

This Sound Judgment season is quickly coming to an end. Our season finale airs Thursday, June 29. We go behind the scenes with the hilarious hosts of Famous & Gravy, the podcast that asks, “Would you like to have had this dead celebrity’s life?” 

To celebrate, we need your help! Please tell us your favorite and/or most useful Sound Judgment episode and why. In return, we’re selecting a winner, at random, to receive merch from their favorite podcaster. If that podcaster doesn’t offer merch, you’ll receive NEW Sound Judgment merch!

To enter, respond to this quick questionnaire   by Friday, June 30, 2023, midnight EST. 

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If selected, we’ll run your voice memo on a future episode of Sound Judgment. (Be sure to include your name, the name of your podcast or business, your favorite or most useful Sound Judgment episode, and why you chose it.) 

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... 

Julia Barton is the executive editor of Pushkin Industries, following a long career in public radio. She helped develop Revisionist History and Against the Rules, among other chart-topping shows. She’s the editor of Malcolm Gladwell’s audiobook The Bomber Mafia, Michael Specter’s Fauci, and Michael Lewis’s unabridged Liar’s Poker and companion podcast. Her 2019 series for PRX’s Radiotopia, Spacebridge, was called “dazzling” by The New Yorker.

A note about Sound Judgment: We believe that no host does good work alone. All hosts rely on their producers, the hidden hands that enable a host to shine. We strive to give credit to producers whenever it’s possible to do so. 
 

Discussed on this Sound Judgment episode: 
The Best Audio Storytelling: 2022
Foreword by David Sedaris
Get 15% off The Best Audio Storytelling: 2022 with the promo code BestAudioSJ15 here.

The anthology features many different podcasts. We examined: 
"I Can Do Anything" by Jason Reynolds, from his Radiotopia podcast, My Mother Made Me

"Armand's Garden" by Erica Heilman, from her podcast, Rumble Strip

"The Tunnel,"  featuring reporter Andrea Bernstein, from Pineapple St. Studios/Wondery's Will Be Wild

Improve your storytelling Check out our popular workshops on interviewing, story editing, story structure, longform narrative, audience engagement, scriptwriting and more. 

Hire Elaine to speak at your conference or company. Subjects include: Communicating for Leaders; Communicating about Change; Mastering the Art of the Interview; Storytelling Skills; How to Build Relationships through Storytelling, and more. 

Discover our strategic communication services and coaching for thought leaders using storytelling tools to make the world a better place. Serving writers, podcasters, public speakers, and others in journalism & public media, climate change, health care, policy, and higher education. Visit us at www.podcastallies.com.

Subscribe to Sound Judgment, the Newsletter, our twice-monthly newsletter about creative choices in audio storytelling. 

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Help us find and celebrate today’s best hosts
Who’s your Sound Judgment dream guest? Email me: allies@podcastallies.com. Because of you, that host may appear on Sound Judgment.

Credits 

Sound Judgment is a production of Podcast Allies, LLC. 

Host: Elaine Appleton Grant

Podcast Manager: Tina Bassir

Production Manager: Andrew Parrella

Audio Engineer: Kevin Kline

Production Assistant: Audrey Nelson

Kate and Cassie recorded this edition of The Bookshelf onstage at the Sydney Writers Festival on Friday 26 May 2023 with writers Shehan Karunatilaka, Jason Reynolds and Grace Chan

Jason Reynolds is the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature of the Library of Congress — and a magnificent source of wisdom for human society as a whole. He’s driven by compassion and the clear-eyed honesty that the young both possess and demand of the rest of us. Ibram X. Kendi chose him to write the YA companion to Stamped from the Beginning. In his person, Jason Reynolds both embodies and inspires innate human powers of fortitude and imagination. Hear him on “breathlaughter”; the libraries in all of our heads; and a stunning working definition of anti-racism: “simply the muscle that says humans are human… I love you, because you remind me more of myself than not.”

Jason Reynolds was appointed National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature by the Library of Congress in January, 2020. His body of writing about what it is to be a Black young person growing up in the U.S. has been received as a godsend by teachers and librarians — including the award-winning Ghost, Long Way Down, and Look Both Ways. His most recent work of nonfiction, together with Ibram X. Kendi, is Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You.

Find the transcript for this show at onbeing.org.

This show originally aired on June 25, 2020.

Jason Reynolds is the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature of the Library of Congress — and a magnificent source of wisdom for human society as a whole. He’s driven by compassion and the clear-eyed honesty that the young both possess and demand of the rest of us. Ibram X. Kendi chose him to write the YA companion to Stamped from the Beginning. In his person, Jason Reynolds both embodies and inspires innate human powers of fortitude and imagination. Hear him on “breathlaughter”; the libraries in all of our heads; and a stunning working definition of anti-racism: “simply the muscle that says humans are human… I love you, because you remind me more of myself than not.”

Jason Reynolds was appointed National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature by the Library of Congress in January, 2020. His body of writing about what it is to be a Black young person growing up in the U.S. has been received as a godsend by teachers and librarians — including the award-winning Ghost, Long Way Down, and Look Both Ways. His most recent work of nonfiction, together with Ibram X. Kendi, is Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You.

This interview is edited and produced with music and other features in the On Being episode "Jason Reynolds — Imagination and Fortitude" Find the transcript for that show at onbeing.org.

This show originally aired on June 25, 2020.

This specific episode which we released in June 2020 is featured on CBC Podcast Playlist this week in an episode titled "Feel good stories for when you need them most."  Though it originally aired last summer, we're giving it the good ole' encore treatment—along a  brief update from our host Betsy Bird on some exciting new happenings in the Story Seeds  world (like our summer camp for kids)!

About the Episode

A Worm's Worth: Twelve-year old Brooklynite, Irthan, joins forces with the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, Jason Reynolds, to grow his story seed about an earthworm that turns into a human every 28 days, on the night of a full moon. Join Irthan and Jason as they meet up at the Youth Wing of the central branch of Brooklyn Public Library where they get to know each other and plant the seeds for their collaboration which explores music, social justice, and being seen. Then, sit back and listen to the lyrical and timely short story, "Hoo and Wut," that Jason grew out of Irthan’s idea.

About CBC Podcast Playlist

This weekly podcast from Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Radio One features "fresh, new, provocative programs from the digital realm [and] kicks it off on terrestrial with a sampling of some of the most intriguing of what the internet has to offer." Follow CBC Podcast Playlist at https://twitter.com/podcastplaylist 

Episode Mentions

Summer of Podcasts camps & classes  www.storyseedspodcast.com/camp

Our activity book Imagination Lab: Experiments in Creativity is available at www.storyseedspodcast.com/imaginationlab

Listen to more episodes at www.storyseedspodcast.com/listen

Follow us on twitter.com/litsafarimedia or instagram.com/storyseedpod

Follow Jason Reynolds on twitter.com/JasonReynolds83 or instagram.com/

Episode Credits

This episode was produced by Sandhya Nankani, Anjali Sakhrani, and Kayla Fedeson. Scoring, mixing, and sound design by Ania Grzesik and Matt Boynton of Ultraviolet Audio. Field audio recorded by James Boo. Hosted by Betsy Bird. Music by Andrew VanWyngarden, Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter/musician and co-founder of MGMT. The music  at the start of Irthan and Jason's conversation is titled Brass Song and was composed by Irthan himself. 

To honor and celebrate Black History Month, Jody and Rachel chose to read and discuss a book by Jason Reynolds called Stamped: Racism, Anti-Racism, and You. Don’t worry, it’s okay if you did not read the book. The discussion will be relevant either way.

To be honest, this discussion pushed us out of our comfort zones, but we know that having these conversations is one of the most important ways we can take personal responsibility for raising awareness and making a difference.  

In this episode, we examine our own thoughts, our own behaviors, and even our own language to learn and evolve and move closer to becoming anti-racist. Please join us.

A sneak peek at Season 1 of Many Lumens, a new podcast by BlackStar, hosted by Maori Karmael Holmes.

Subscribe to Many Lumens wherever you listen to your podcasts and follow us on Instagram and Twitter @manylumens for the latest.

All episode transcripts and show notes are available at manylumens.com.

Many Lumens is brought to you by the Open Society Foundations.

Who says podcasts are just for listening? Our activity book is ideal for at home fun, distance learning, or the classroom, and brings together the best of a magazine, workbook, and journal. It features over 80 pages of episode inspired, screen-free prompts and projects. Scan the QR codes inside to blast off on your interactive listening adventures!

Now available to order. Get your copy here. 

We also have single activity kits for each episode. Browse here.

Show credits

The Story Seeds Podcast is a Literary Safari production, created and executive produced by Sandhya Nankani. 

Music Credits

Music by Andrew VanWyngarden, Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter/musician and co-founder of MGMT.

To learn more about Freedom Reads, visit https://www.freedomreads.org and follow us on Twitter and LinkedIn.

You can find out more about the author and his work by going to https://www.jasonwritesbooks.com/.

Tom Butch and Eileen Dray-Bardon, Chair and Vice-Chair respectively, of the Columbiana County Parks District Board of Commissioners join us for this episode.

Learn about some of the great facilities the Parks District has to offer in Columbiana County, including the Greenway Bike Trail, Scenic Vista Park, Hellbender Bluff Park, the site of the first Ohio Supreme Court gathering, disc golf, pump track, and many other programs.

Tom and Eileen tell us about how they manage and maintain all this, what it costs to do it, and how they fund it. They also tell us about their upcoming levy request: a quarter-mill, five year levy that, if passed, would cost the owner of property valued at $100,000 about $8.75/year.

This is the first in a series of podcast episodes dedicated to candidates and issues on the November 2020 ballot. If you are a candidate, or would like to discuss an issue that will appear on the November 2020 ballot, we would like to have you on the podcast. If interested, please contact us at podcast@columbianacodev.org

Listen along as The Story Seeds Podcast host Betsy Bird chats with the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, Jason Reynolds (author of Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You, a Remix of the National Book Award-winning book by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi.) They talk about what it was like working with 12 year old Irthan in Episode 10  “A Worm’s Worth” and growing his story seed about a worm that turns into a human on a full moon’s night. 

Jason also talks to Betsy about how he got his start as a writer and shares advice for keeping your imagination alive: go learn the thing you’re not interested in. 

This episode is also available on YouTube. Subscribe here. 

Additional Information

Stories mentioned in this episode: Ghost, Look Both Ways, Long Way Down, Miles Morales: Spider-Man (A YA Marvel Novel), As Brave As You, Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You, a remix of the National Book Award-winning book by Dr. Ibram X Kendi by Jason Reynolds.

Young Landlords by Walter Dean Myers.  Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi

Calls to Action

Kids: Call The Story Seeds Hotline at 646-389-5153, email us at storyseeds@literarysafari.com, or visit our website to submit your story ideas for a chance to be on the show. You can also join The Story Seeds Society, our kids listeners club.

Grownups: Visit www.storyseedspodcast.com for subscription links, to sign up for our newsletter, and to download our printable activity e-zines for your kids (or the  kid in you!) Our zines offer opportunities to read, write, and get creative alongside listening to each episode . You can also follow us on Instagram @storyseedspod, on Twitter @litsafarimedia, and on Facebook @literarysafari. 

Get our Imagination Lab: Experiments in Creativity activity book! It pairs perfectly with the podcast and features tons of episode-inspired prompts and projects! Order your copy here!

Support Us

Visit our recently launched glow.fm page where you can support The Story Seeds Podcast on a recurring or one-time basis. Your donation - large or small - will help us create more episodes of the show and give us the ability to provide opportunities for more kids from around the world to participate in Story Seeds. 

Show credits

The Story Seeds Podcast is Literary Safari production, created and executive produced by Sandhya Nankani. Scoring, mixing, and sound design of this bonus episode is by Ania Grzesik and Matt Boynton of Ultraviolet Audio. Music by Andrew VanWyngarden, Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter/musician and co-founder of MGMT. 

Visit us at www.storyseedspodcast.com

This week’s Story Seeds collaboration brings together 12 year old Irthan and the National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, Jason Reynolds (poet, storyteller, National Book Award finalist, Newbery Honoree, and New York Times best-selling author.) Jason's latest work is Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You, a Remix of the National Book Award-winning book by Dr. Ibram X. Kendi. As National Ambassador, he recently started the Grab the Mic platform  which empowers young people  to share their own personal stories.

Jason sat down with 12 year old Irthan at Brooklyn Public Library to grow this story idea: 

A worm becomes human at the stroke of midnight. Kind of like werewolves, but the opposite. Why a worm? Because worms are the least popular. Barely anybody talks about worms. A worm would be interesting and it would put them on an equal status with all the other bugs. 

Join our host Betsy Bird as she introduces you to Jason and Irthan and sets the scene for an episode where:

• Irthan shows Jason his YouTube videos of him playing the drums
• They talk about Spongebob, Minecraft, and music that inspires them
• They hash out some important details about Irthan's story seed
• They connect over their common observations as young Black men in America today
• Jason chronicles his writing process and reflects on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s legacy and Irthan's story seed as a metaphor for social justice

The episode concludes with this week’s storytime (25:15) where Jason reads the story, "Hoo and Wut," that he grew from Irthan’s story seed. 

This episode is also available on YouTube. Subscribe here. 

Additional Information

Books mentioned in this episode: Ghost by Jason Reynolds. Stamped: Racism, Anti-Racism, and You: A Remix of the National Book Award-winning Stamped from the Beginning by Jason Reynolds and Dr. Ibram X. Kendi. 

Musicians mentioned in this episode:  R David R, Jack White, Bob Marley

Media mentioned in the episode: Write. Right. Rite. video series by Jason Reynolds for The Library of Congress. Minecraft. Spongebob Squarepants. 

Calls to Action

Bonus Episode: Check back next Thursday to hear Betsy's bonus interview with Jason. You’ll get to hear about his approach to writing and he also shares his tips.

Kids: 

Call The Story Seeds Hotline at 646-389-5153, email us at storyseeds@literarysafari.com, or visit our website to submit your story ideas. You can also join The Story Seeds Society, our kids listeners club.

Grownups: Visit www.storyseedspodcast.com for subscription links, to sign up for our newsletter, and to download our printable activity e-zines for your kids (or the  kid in you!) Our zines offer opportunities to read, write, and get creative alongside listening to each episode . You can also follow us on Instagram @storyseedspod, on Twitter @litsafarimedia, and on Facebook @literarysafari. 

Get our Imagination Lab: Experiments in Creativity activity book! It pairs perfectly with the podcast and features tons of episode-inspired prompts and projects! Order your copy here!

Support Us

Visit our recently launched glow.fm page where you can support The Story Seeds Podcast on a recurring or one-time basis. Your donation - large or small - will help us create more episodes of the show and give us the ability to provide opportunities for more kids from around the world to participate in Story Seeds. 

Show credits

The Story Seeds Podcast is Literary Safari production, created and executive produced by Sandhya Nankani. This episode was produced and written by Anjali Sakhrani with Kayla Fedeson. Scoring, mixing, and sound design by Ania Grzesik and Matt Boynton of Ultraviolet Audio. Field audio recorded by James Boo. Hosted by Betsy Bird. Music by Andrew VanWyngarden, Grammy-nominated singer/songwriter/musician and co-founder of MGMT. 

The music  at the start of Irthan and Jason's conversation is titled Brass Song and was composed by Irthan himself!

Visit us at www.storyseedspodcast.com

It's easy to get caught up in the busy pace of life and simply switch on "autopilot." But living with more intention and understanding the "why" behind your life choices can mean the difference between enjoying a full and meaningful life or letting life happen to you. Sisters Jody and Rachel welcome Tim Krick from The Intentional Project blog to the show to discuss ways we can all recognize when we've strayed off path and how to find your way back to your own unique journey. Tim also encourages us to actively work to make the world a better place, including intentionally learning more about how to be a better ally for all people. 
http://www.theintentionalproject.com/
https://www.facebook.com/theintentionalproject

The two Jesses (TTJ) thought they were going to do a book and podcast review and they ended up having a brutally honest and uncomfortable conversation about the intention vs the impact of our actions. 

As they discuss how they are approaching their "unlearning" within the context of white privilege, TTJ continue to be transparent about their difficult conversations in hopes that it will help others as they are having their own.

Books and podcasts discussed in this episode:
http://austinchanning.com/the-book
https://www.powells.com/book/stamped-9780316453691
https://brenebrown.com/podcast/brene-with-austin-channing-brown-on-im-still-here-black-dignity-in-a-world-made-for-whiteness/
https://www.chimamanda.com/book/americanah/

Becoming Anti-racist Graphic:
https://umich.app.box.com/s/d1zl3r2dlso7gs76wjfybv9z52m397ho

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This week on Deadline City we are heading to the Arena! Fantasy vs. Contemporary. We have the immense pleasure of being joined by multi-award-winning and bestselling author, Jason Reynolds. The big debate? How do creators keep pushing themselves to become innovators? Is fantasy in a Middle-Earth sized rut? Do contemporary writers feel the same constraints as their genre counterparts? But most importantly, what did dragons ever do to Jason Reynolds? Find that out and more in this lively discussion.

Best-selling young adult author Jason Reynolds dissects some of his favorite passages to uncover the keys to writing a powerful narrative.

Works discussed in this episode:

1. Long Way Down  by Jason Reynolds
2. Look Both Ways by Jason Reynolds
3. Stamped: Racism, Antiracism, and You by Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi
4. Beloved by Toni Morrison
5. Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead
6. I saw Emmett Till this week at the grocery store by Eve L. Ewing
7. When You Learn the Alphabet by Kendra Allen
8. Girl by Jamaica Kincaid
9. Fences (2016) [film]
10. Black Enough by Jason Reynolds

Read more about Jason Reynolds, listen to our interview with him and more on our episode page.

Listen along as The Story Seeds Podcast host Betsy Bird chats with Chris Grabenstein (author of The New York Times best-selling Mr. Lemoncello's Library series). They go behind the scenes and talk about what it was like growing Jasper’s giant story seed about Zeta Zingone, the 74 foot tall boy detective on Episode 3, “The View From the Top.” 

On this bonus episode, Chris shares tips and exercises on getting your imagination unstuck. He also talks to Betsy about his writing career: starting from the school newspaper, to his jobs in advertising creating commercials for Burger King with his buddy (and boss at the time) James Patterson, to finally becoming the best-selling author of books for kids. 

Books and Media mentioned in this episode:

• Mr. Lemoncello’s Library series by Chris Grabenstein
• Donna Cody: A Tall Tale by Jeanie Murphy
• Swamp Angel by Anne Isaacs
• Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift
• The John Ceepak Mysteries series by Chris Grabenstein
• The Island of Dr. Libris by Chris Grabenstein
• Dinosaur Bob and His Adventures with the Family Lesardo by William Joyce
• Encyclopedia Brown by Donald J. Sobol
• Welcome to Wonderland by Anson Seabra
• I Funny series by James Patterson and Chris Grabenstein
• Treasure Hunters series by James Patterson, with Chris Grabenstein & Mark Shulman
• Jackie Ha-Ha by James Patterson & Chris Grabenstein
• House of Robot series by by James Patterson & Chris Grabenstein
• Shine by JJ Grabenstein & Chris Grabenstein

Call to Action

Kids: Call The Story Seeds Hotline at 646-389-5153, email us at storyseeds@literarysafari.com, or visit our website to submit your story ideas. You can also join The Story Seeds Society, our kids listeners club.

Grownups: Visit www.storyseedspodcast.com for subscription links, to sign up for our newsletter, and to download our printable activity e-zines for your kids (or the  kid in you!). You can also follow us on Instagram @storyseedspod, on Twitter @litsafarimedia, and on Facebook @literarysafari. 

Get our Imagination Lab: Experiments in Creativity activity book! It pairs perfectly with the podcast and features tons of episode-inspired prompts and projects! Order your copy here!

This episode is also available on YouTube. Subscribe here. 

Show credits: Matt Boynton and Ania Grzesik of Ultraviolet Audio for the sound mixing, design, and score of our bonus episode. Theme music is composed and performed by Andrew VanWyngarden. And, our host is Betsy Bird. 

The Story Seeds Podcast is a creation and production of Literary Safari www.literarysafari.com