Welcome back to this person I met! My name is Kayla, and this is the second part of Johnny Walker's story. As you may remember from the last episode, Johnny served 46 years and 13 days in jail for armed robbery, and a second charge, murder. Now, as the reentry specialist for A Brighter Way, he helps former inmates, who just like he did, struggle to find their place in the world after incarceration. In this episode, Johnny will share his struggles readjusting to a quickly progressing society and his search for human connection and humanity in our technology driven world.

Johnny’s episode, for me, was truly eye opening. Hearing how long his sentencing was, longer than my parents have been alive, is something that I can’t even fathom. Still, I can’t imagine the time that incarceration took from him, time he cannot get back and he can only heal from.

And yet, Johnny has one piece of advice for this young generation.

Welcome back to this person I met. My name is Kayla, and the voice you just heard is Johnny walker. He's the community engagement specialist from A Brighter Way, an organization serving formerly incarcerated people, assisting them in the tedious process of reentering society. Johnny and I sat down in the downtown library on a cold february afternoon, where he generously shared his story and new life after not mere years, but decades of incarceration.

Johnny, like many of us, grew up surrounded by a large community of family and friends, the most important to him being his mother. Despite her passing, her love still stays with him, a reminder that love knows no bounds even in death.

In this episode, Johnny shares his battle with trauma and his emergence on the other side. Taking it one day at a time, Johnny says, is the most important step to healing and finding yourself again, no matter how impossible it may feel.

Welcome back to this person I met! You might notice something new in this episode, or someone new. As you all may know, Maya, the host of this podcast, is off to college. And that means someone new has to take over. My name is Kayla, and I, coincidentally, am her younger sister! For the next few years, I will be the new podcast host, and I am beyond excited to share my experiences with you all.

The voice you just heard was Jennifer St. John, the social media manager and trauma informed peer led reentry navigator of a Brighter Way. From previous episodes, you may remember a Brighter Way as a nonprofit dedicated to helping those previously incarcerated build a better, stable life. In this episode, Jennifer shares her journey battling her trauma and finding herself again through all of it.

Hi, and welcome back to This Person I Met! Today’s interviewee is Jen Peacock, the policy director for the Michigan Center for Youth Justice, which is an organization focused on ensuring that youth in the juvenile justice system have equitable access to qualified legal representation.

To give you some background, Michigan has a “decentralized system,” which means that juvenile court services and programming are managed at the county level. This means varied application of practices and significant differences in treatment – “justice by geography.”

And while the system for youth is not identical to that of the adult legal system, attorneys, administrators, prosecutors, and judges all still play major roles in influencing the outcomes of youth in the juvenile system.

As Jen mentioned, one of the biggest things we can do as community members is educate ourselves – which I think applies both to juvenile justice, but also any topic, especially ones relating to social causes. You can find more information about MCYJ at miyouthjustice.org, or follow MCYJ online @mi.youth justice. Thank you so much for tuning in, and I’ll see you next time!

Music: Bella Vista by the Sea by Daniel Robinson, courtesy of Uppbeat.

Hello, and welcome back to This Person I Met!

Continuing on with our series relating to the public education system, today’s guest is Sara-Beth Badalamente. She is the advisor for Huron High School’s newspaper (called the Emery), which I write and edit for! She’s also the advisor for the yearbook (called the Enthymion), a soccer coach, and also works on the Ann Arbor Public School teacher’s union bargaining team. All these things combined led her to have a very interesting perspective on the recent budget crisis in my school district.

In March, my school district announced a budget deficit of 25 million dollars, 14 million of which was due to an accounting error. A vote from the school board authorized layoffs, starting with Community Service Administrators. This led to protests and rallies attended by teachers and students alike, but additional cuts continued to be made, including the elimination of world language classes in elementary schools, co-director hours in band and orchestra classes being reduced by half, and 141 more layoffs, which was about 6 percent of district staff.

If you’re curious, you can read more about this budget crisis at thehuronemery.com, where my peers and I covered the situation pretty carefully.

Thank you so much for your support, and see you next time!

Hello, and welcome back to This Person I Met! This episode is the second part of my interview with Mr. Sumerton, one of the principals at Huron High School. In this episode, we discuss some surprising effects of technology on students’ mental health, and other pitfalls of high school. It’s funny – we’d only planned to talk for 15-20 minutes, but ended up talking for an entire hour.

Be on the lookout for the next episodes in this school-related series - I hope you enjoyed this episode, and thank you for your support!

Hello, and welcome back to This Person I Met! Today’s guest is Mr. Sumerton, one of the principals at Huron High School. This episode marks the start of a series I’m hoping to do, which will cover common challenges that high school students in my generation face, from mental health issues, to unhealthy academic peer pressure. Mr. Sumerton discusses these themes in this episode, along with how his family life and personal experiences in other school districts contribute to his view of Ann Arbor Public Schools as a singularly unique school district.

Stay tuned for the next part of this interview, where Mr. Sumerton explains how he believes reliance on technology contributes greatly to much of the mental health issues that high schoolers face. I hope you enjoyed this episode, and as always, thank you for your support!

Welcome back to This Person I Met! In today's episode, Jamie Tang talks about her relationship with the game of Go, an ancient Chinese board game that juxtaposes strategy, tactic, and culture. Music: "Music Is" by Pryces.