The Mighty Writers Podcast... with Maureen Boland
The Mighty Writers Podcast with Maureen Boland is a show from Mighty Writers, a Philly nonprofit that promotes literacy as a tool for social change. Through decades of experience as a writing teacher, host Maureen Boland knows the power of storytelling and mindful listening; how an honest story, especially one that looks unflinchingly at a sometimes brutal world, has the power to lessen the isolation, despair and polarization so many of us feel. Like the Mighty Writers centers themselves, this podcast is a place to find creativity, compassion and community through devotion to writing and storytelling.
The Mighty Writers Podcast with Maureen Boland is produced by Mighty Writers in partnership with Rowhome Productions. The executive producer is Tim Whitaker. Lead producer is Sojourner Ahebee. Rowhome’s executive producers are Alex Lewis and John Myers.
The Mighty Writers Podcast theme song was composed by Jim Morgan.
The Mighty Writers Podcast... with Maureen Boland
Mighty Writing at Covenant House
The U.S. is facing an unprecedented youth crisis: 1 in 10 young adults is dealing with some form of homelessness each year, and the numbers of them struggling with mental health issues has increased dramatically. When host Maureen Boland was a high school teacher, it was not unusual for her to discover that one of her students was homeless. The clues were subtle: Maybe they’d just be carrying extra bags, or arrive later than usual. But when she learned that one of her students who had a baby had no place safe to stay, she took her to Covenant House.
In this episode, Maureen speaks with Makiyah, a young writer who’s in transitional housing at Covenant House, about how she came to be homeless and what that experience was like. She also talks to Covenant House Pennsylvania’s Hugh Organ, who describes the remarkable strengths he’s seen in some of society’s most vulnerable people: “I’ve been doing this 23 years. I’ve never met a bad kid in the bunch.”
Warning: This episode deals with difficult topics such as childhood sexual abuse and domestic violence and may be triggering for some people. This episode is not appropriate for young children. Please take care when listening.
The Mighty Writers Podcast with Maureen Boland is produced by Mighty Writers in partnership with Rowhome Productions. The executive producer is Tim Whitaker. Lead producer is Sojourner Ahebee. Rowhome’s executive producers are Alex Lewis and John Myers.
Our theme song was composed by Jim Morgan.
This episode also includes music from Blue Dot Sessions.
