“Tough and Universal: Stories of Grit” mini-series features intergenerational voices of Louisvillians
Created through a partnership between IDEAS xLab and Louisville Public Media’s 89.3 WFPL, Tough and Universal: Stories of Grit will launch Friday, September 28, 2018. The multi-platform mini-series, which features 6 Louisvillians, will air each Friday on WFPL at 5:45 pm, with accompanying photographs and longer narratives available at wfpl.org. The series will culminate in November with a live taping of a seventh story, paired with an arts and culture provocation and discussion focused on identity — held at the studios of Louisville Public Media.
The series is inspired by the words of James Baldwin from The Fire Next Time. “Love takes off the masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within. I use the word ‘love’ here not merely in the personal sense but as a state of being, or a state of grace — not in the infantile American sense of being made happy but in the tough and universal sense of quest and daring and growth.”
“For us at IDEAS xLab — that tough and universal experience is built on HOPE and the pathways it creates toward a more resilient, creative, and healthy Louisville,” said IDEAS xLab co-founder Theo Edmonds. “Our collaborative Tough and Universal series — created in partnership with WFPL — builds on our Creative Placehealing ® movement which leverages the power arts, culture, and the creative industries to frame, seed, and scale innovation in community health.”
It is through the dual lens of culture and health that the series delves into the diverse lives of Louisville participants — putting forward positive, asset-based narratives demonstrating the challenges and opportunities that have shaped each person or couple’s lived experience. The series will provide a counter-narrative to the often negative stories that splash across our screens and media headlines that fill our peripheral vision.
“This series brings our listeners the voices of six Louisvillians, telling their stories in their own words,” said WFPL News Director Erica Peterson. “Their stories are amazing and complicated and yes — sometimes tough. But they’re also stories of overcoming challenges and hope, which sometimes we don’t hear enough about during the day-to-day news cycle.”
Over the coming weeks, WFPL will bring you stories from:
· Nikkia Rhodes, a young cooking instructor;
· Carlos Hernandez, a newly-minted lawyer and Navy veteran who came to the U.S. from Cuba when he was a child;
· Paige Harlow and Sally Evans, who married and had twin girls despite struggles with fertility;
· Herb Henry, who runs his own sports apparel company and plays on a wheelchair basketball league;
· Catherine Talbott, an octogenarian and retired educator; and
· Asia Ford, who has embraced running and lost more than 200 pounds over the past few years.
You’ll hear snippets of these conversations on Fridays during All Things Considered on 89.3 WFPL; the full pieces, told by the subjects themselves in their own words, will be available for download at wfpl.org or wherever you get your podcasts.
To learn more about Tough and Universal: Stories of Grit visit wfpl.org and tune in to WFPL 89.3 at 5:45 pm time on Fridays from September 28 — November 2, 2018.
About IDEAS xLab
Based in Louisville, KY, IDEAS xLab’s mission is to create a culture of health in business by leveraging the power of arts, culture, and the creative industries to frame, seed, and scale innovation through Creative Placehealing®. With the vision of a society where everyone has a fair chance to become their best self, IDEAS xLab is focused on re-imagining the narrative of Corporate Social Responsibility by aligning meaning and measure, looking at impact through a lens of health, and monitoring the bigger picture of human flourishing that is grounded in the diverse cultures that define the American landscape.
Learn more at IDEASxLab.com
About Louisville Public Media
Louisville Public Media (LPM) is an independent, community supported not-for-profit corporation serving our community with three distinct public radio stations, an investigative unit and a free online calendar service: 89.3 WFPL News Louisville provides local, national and international news, public affairs and cultural programming; 90.5 WUOL Classical Louisville is our city’s only classical music radio station; 91.9 WFPK Independent Louisville showcases independent, alternative music and an array of musical genres; Do502 connects the community to shared interests, passions and our rich cultural life; and the Kentucky Center for Investigative Reporting (KyCIR) shines the light of accountability on the people and institutions in power.
Louisville Public Media is also a proud member of the Kentucky Public Radio Network and manager of the Ohio Valley ReSource, a regional journalism collaborative reporting on economic and social change in Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia.
Learn more at louisvillepublicmedia.org
