From the Source is a podcast driven by Pittsburgh people and Pittsburgh stories. In season 3, we’re focusing on breaking barriers, entering new spaces, the challenges of growth and achievement. And we’re asking after all this life experience, what do you know for sure?
Hosted and narrated by PublicSource senior community correspondent Jourdan Hicks, From the Source is a compelling combination of first-person narrative, audio storytelling and community engagement.
If you want to feel moved, informed and inspired by Pittsburgh people, this is the podcast for you.
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Karen’s challenge to herself — and ultimately to you | S3, Ep. 1
Has someone ever said something to you that just stunk? It was biased, close-minded, perhaps straight-up hateful. Where did you dump the feelings associated with it? Karen Zellars reflects on her formative years in Pittsburgh, where there is a continuing legacy of misrepresentation and mistreatment of Black Pittsburghers like herself. Karen challenged what the outside world was telling her she was capable of to find her place in the workforce and community.
Season 2 recap: How do you measure a good life?
In the second season of From the Source, we focused on quality-of-life issues. Here’s a recap of some of the Pittsburghers you met and the stories they brought to life this season.
Episode 14, Season 2: Lives left in caring hands?— A conversation with a palliative care social worker
Tanisha Bowman is a support and palliative care social worker who serves within the UPMC Hospitals network. From the Source Host Jourdan Hicks speaks with Tanisha about the barriers that race and bias present for people faced with carrying out…
Episode 13, Season 2: Stigma and support — A conversation with a Pittsburgh bereavement doula
Heather Bradley is the executive director of Pittsburgh Bereavement Doulas. From the Source Host Jourdan Hicks speaks with Heather about her 20-plus-year career as a doula, how the prevalence of poor prenatal experiences for women make her work essential, and…
Episode 12, Season 2: Communal land and ownership — A conversation with Pittsburgh affordable housing advocates
Crystal Jennings and Ed Nusser represent City of Bridges Community Land Trust. They believe building permanent affordable housing and increasing community control through homeownership is a way to address displacement and development throughout changing neighborhood housing markets in Pittsburgh. Jourdan:…
Episode 11, Season 2: Leading with generosity — A conversation with a local jeweler about his career and culture of giving.
Anthony Mock, owner of a Monroeville-based jewelry business, and employee Terri Hogan-Williams talk about the importance of relationships at work following the pandemic. Mock also lifts the curtain on how doing what you love matters and on his journey into…
Tuition isn’t free, and neither is emotional labor — A conversation with Pitt’s departing Black Action Society president.
Meet Morgan Ottley as she unpacks the lessons and challenges of remotely completing her senior year at the University of Pittsburgh following 2020’s summer of racial reckoning and protests. Morgan discusses the emotional, often invisible labor left to students when…
Pittsburgh’s Black Muslim history uncovered.
Meet Ali R. Abdullah as he explains the significance of being an African-American Muslim in the Pittsburgh region and what you should know about Pittsburgh’s role in Islamic history in the United States. For a deeper look into what Ali…
Episode 8, Season 2: Sweat equity — A conversation with Pittsburgh activist Dena Stanley
In this episode, you’ll hear Dena Stanley, activist and executive director of TransYOUniting PGH, on the emotional and mental labor it takes to defend equity and the protection of human rights for the Black and trans community. We discuss how…
Episode 7, Season 2: Flair with care — A conversation with a Pittsburgh alternative hairstyle and wig specialist
Listen and learn how this business owner is helping clients find their perfect fit and style after trauma, illness and injury.
Better nature, better relationship, better planet — A conversation with a Pittsburgh urban ecologist
Are discussions about the non-human natural world relevant to folks outside of climate change and environmentalist circles? After listening to Pittsburgh urban ecologist Marijke Hecht, you’ll understand how everyone plays a role in creating the environment. For episode 6, we’re…
Episode 5, Season 2: Let’s get free — A Pittsburgh-based prison abolitionist’s point of view
It’s not every day you meet someone who can say they’ve helped someone get their freedom back. I mean, not anytime after the 1860s, and not from someone who isn’t a lawyer or police officer. And not in 2021, because…
Episode 4, Season 2: Meet the 9-year-old chef dishing up recipe videos for social media.
On this episode of From the Source, I speak with Tayshawn and his mother about his growing interest in the culinary arts and dishing up recipe videos for social media
Year-end reflections from PublicSource staff on the never-ending year that was 2020
For this episode we’re turning the microphone to my PublicSource colleagues. You’ll meet Jennie Liska, director of loyalty programs, Naomi Harris, our new higher education reporter, and Jay Manning, visual storyteller and producer.
Episode 3, Season 2: How Pittsburgh shapes and cages the experience of Black women. For real. (Part 2)
Black women are not a monolith. So, building on the first part of the episode about Black women in Pittsburgh, I spoke with Jahqwhan “Jah” Watson. A native Ohioan by way of Cleveland — who came to Pittsburgh as a…
Episode 2, Season 2: How Pittsburgh shapes and cages the experience of Black women. For real.
Black women are not monolithic people. The experiences that sculpt our lives matter. How our stories show up in studies observing our quality of life deserves context.
Episode 1, Season 2: Why vote? We spoke to local residents on why they’re at peace sitting it out.
Two words can be used to explain the predictions for the looming presidential election of 2020. Record. Breaking. It’s being predicted that in this election, 17 million more Americans than in 2016 will show up next week to cast their…
Episode 14: Pandemics, plural: Season 1 recap
Season 1 of “From the Source” set out to hear about life in Pittsburgh during the coronavirus pandemic. We heard from business owners, students, parents and others. Then, we shifted attention to the crisis of racism and police brutality against…
Episode 13: The student and her grandma, an intergenerational view on civil rights
Mekka Lloyd, a student at Obama Academy, grapples with how to make progress on the pandemic of racism and balance her views with what her beloved grandmother shares about her own experiences and the history of the Civil Rights Movement.
Episode 12: A mom of boys navigates the pandemic and fight for justice
Pittsburgh resident Kim Neely was taking the pandemic in stride. It was a relief, to some degree. And it was because her family was home alongside her, and that makes a big difference for the Black mom of two Black…
Episode 11: A Pittsburgh punk rocker’s case of COVID-19
The coronavirus pandemic had already shut down Piper’s Pub manager and punk band member Alex Peightal on many fronts. Then, he was dealt another blow: He contracted COVID-19. On this episode, Alex discusses the illness, recovery and his outlook.