This is the Final Episode in Season 2 of Rural Roots Rising! We go behind the scenes of Tea, Toast, and Truth and talk with Ashland High School’s Truth to Power Club about how they pair education and action through their podcast and community organizing campaigns. If you missed last month, be sure and check out that episode to hear a shortened version of their work, Seeing Homeless. 

The transcript of this episode will be available at ruralrootsrising.org. 

More on what you heard in this episode:

Tea, Toast, and Truth is a podcast created by Ashland High School’s Truth to Power Club. You can follow Truth to Power on Facebook and Instagram. The show is produced collaboratively and is part of the club’s broader efforts to tackle important issues such as racism, mental health, the housing crisis and more.

This episode features hosts and producers Izabella Cantu, Isadora Millay, and Anya Moore discussing their response to the murder of Aidan Ellison, a Black teenager who was killed by a white man in Ashland last November. Shortly after Aidan's murder, Southern Oregon Black Leaders, Activists, and Community Coalition's leadership team pointed out that “the Black community in Ashland is less than 2% of the total population, but now makes up 100% of the homicide victims in our town.” Since then, Truth to Power organized multiple workshops on anti-racism, started work on a podcast episode and are planning a mural on Ashland Highschool to celebrate Ashland Highschool graduates who are Black Indigenous and People of Color. The mural will include Aidan Ellison and Michelle Alexander, author of the book, The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration, in the Age of Colorblindness.

You can listen to full episodes of Tea, Toast, and Truth on Spotify or Anchor FM.

Do you know a rural media maker we should connect with? Did Truth to Power’s work inspire you to take action on the issues that matter most in your community? Head to www.rop.org to learn more about Rural Organizing Project and how you can get involved or reach out to us at info@ruralrootsrising.org.

We featured music from The Road Sodas, Junior 85, and Ben Von Wildenhaus.

Rural Roots Rising is a production of the Rural Organizing Project. Thank you for listening!

In our second season of Rural Roots Rising, we’ve been on a state-wide mission to explore community-based, intergenerational, collaborative, rural media. Join us this month as we feature Tea, Toast, and Truth, a podcast created by Ashland High School’s Truth to Power Club. This podcast is a great example of everyday people using DIY media to amplify local voices and create community-driven change.  

Rural Roots Rising is both a podcast and a radio show airing on 20 community radio stations, and it’s also an ongoing experiment in building up our media skills across rural Oregon. We’re halfway through our second season, where we’re digging deep into how rural media makers do what they do. This episode features the work of creative high school students who are willing to explore complex issues in their community, all while teaching themselves how to create a podcast for the first time! 

We’re showcasing their second episode, “Seeing Homeless.” They describe the episode as one focusing “on the struggles and biases that surround the homeless crisis.” Truth to Power interviews members of the homeless community, home free and homeless rights activists, and the Ashland Chief of Police, and ask community members to take on an active role as an ally for the unhoused community.  

Download this episode’s transcript at ruralrootsrising.org.

More on what you heard in this episode:

Tea, Toast, and Truth is a podcast created by Ashland High School’s Truth to Power Club. The show is produced collaboratively and uplifts diverse voices and offers a teen point of view.

This episode is part one of a two-part series highlighting the Tea, Toast, and Truth podcast and features hosts and producers Izabella Cantu, Isadora Millay, and Anya Moore. They interview housing rights activists and many voices from the unhoused community, along with Ashland Chief of Police Tighe O’Meara. Together they touch on the criminalization of the unhoused community and the barriers to access many people face. 

You can listen to full episodes of Tea, Toast, and Truth on Spotify or Anchor FM. 

If you are interested in connecting with other rural Oregonians who are making media and building stronger communities in your area, head to www.rop.org to learn more about Rural Organizing Project and how you can get involved or reach out to us at info@ruralrootsrising.org.

We featured music from Daniel Birch and The Road Sodas!

Rural Roots Rising is a production of the Rural Organizing Project. Thank you for listening!

This month’s episode continues our community media spotlight series with a behind-the-scenes interview with KPOV 88.9 FM, High Desert Community Radio station manager Bruce Morris. This episode is the second in a two-part profile of KPOV and features Bruce discussing KPOV’s early history and the role of local stations in community organizing. Bruce also shares firsthand insight on both the future of radio and the ways that community organizers can and should partner with their local stations. If you haven’t already heard it, we recommend listening to part one, Community Media Spotlight: KPOV & The Point, first.

Find out when your local radio station is playing Behind the Scenes with KPOV & The Point at ruralrootsrising.org! 

This episode’s transcript will be available at ruralrootsrising.org.

More on what you heard in this episode:

ROP Director Jess Campbell interviews KPOV’s station manager Bruce Morris and together they explore the role of community stations in providing credible information via local voices, the longevity and sustainability of radio waves and audio-based programming, and local radio as a resource for community organizers.

You can listen to full episodes of The Point at kpov.org. To learn more about Bruce’s organizing work in Deschutes County historically, listen to “Building Community Power” from Season 1 of Rural Roots Rising. You can check out more episodes of Rural Roots Rising at ruralrootsrising.org.

If you are interested in connecting with other rural Oregonians who are making media and building stronger communities in your area, head to www.rop.org to learn more about Rural Organizing Project and how you can get involved or reach out to us at info@ruralrootsrising.org.

We featured music from Deef, Monk Turner, and The Road Sodas!

Rural Roots Rising is a production of the Rural Organizing Project. Thank you for listening!