Has gun violence impacted you or someone you love? Share Your Story. Your story might be shared in an upcoming episode.
In the Cleveland area, and in cities across the country, teens and young adults are dying in our streets – victims of gun violence. There's no question: it’s an epidemic. It's the leading cause of death for teenagers. Young Black men often feel like they a target on their backs. Kids in schools face metal detectors, police presence in the hallways, and shootings at football games. Jr. High students are carrying ghost guns.
Every bullet fired creates two victims: the child in front of the gun, and the one pulling the trigger.
This season, we're asking what can be done to reverse cycles of violence and retaliation when shooters value their reputation over their own lives. We know where this violence occurs, we know what drives it. How can we start Living For We and decrease the violence?
We'll talk with people who are navigating streets where gun violence is normalized – seen as no big deal, while at the same time ruining lives. We'll listen to those fighting for their children and their communities, putting in work to uplift their neighborhoods and create meaningful change. This is more than a podcast, it's a resource for communities tired of chaos and ready to build peace.
Living for We: Keep Ya Head Up is presented by Ideastream Public Media, and a co-production of Evergreen Podcasts.
All content for Living For We is the property of Ideastream Public Media and is served directly from their servers
with no modification, redirects, or rehosting. The podcast is not affiliated with or endorsed by Podjoint in any way.
Has gun violence impacted you or someone you love? Share Your Story. Your story might be shared in an upcoming episode.
In the Cleveland area, and in cities across the country, teens and young adults are dying in our streets – victims of gun violence. There's no question: it’s an epidemic. It's the leading cause of death for teenagers. Young Black men often feel like they a target on their backs. Kids in schools face metal detectors, police presence in the hallways, and shootings at football games. Jr. High students are carrying ghost guns.
Every bullet fired creates two victims: the child in front of the gun, and the one pulling the trigger.
This season, we're asking what can be done to reverse cycles of violence and retaliation when shooters value their reputation over their own lives. We know where this violence occurs, we know what drives it. How can we start Living For We and decrease the violence?
We'll talk with people who are navigating streets where gun violence is normalized – seen as no big deal, while at the same time ruining lives. We'll listen to those fighting for their children and their communities, putting in work to uplift their neighborhoods and create meaningful change. This is more than a podcast, it's a resource for communities tired of chaos and ready to build peace.
Living for We: Keep Ya Head Up is presented by Ideastream Public Media, and a co-production of Evergreen Podcasts.
The summer before her senior year, Makayla Barlow had just gotten her driver’s license. While driving home from work through East Cleveland, her life was turned upside down—a stray bullet tore through her car window and hit her. She ended up in a coma for a month, fighting to survive.
In this episode, Makayla and her mom, Natasha Lovelace, open up about that terrifying day in 2021 and how an off-duty police officer jumped in to help save her life. Even though Makayla still has bullet fragments in her head and deals with ongoing neurological issues, she’s not letting that stop her—she’s now in college and pushing forward.
Hosts Marlene Harris-Taylor and Myesha Watkins also sit down with Dr. Edward Barksdale, a top children’s surgeon who recently left Cleveland’s UH Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital to become the Chief Surgical Officer for Chicagoland Children’s Health Alliance.
Dr. Barksdale shares what led him to start an anti-violence program back in 2019. After seeing too many kids and teens come into the hospital with gunshot wounds—and realizing no one was coming to fix the root causes—he decided to take action himself. His program, called Antifragility, helps young gunshot survivors deal with the mental and emotional aftermath, offering therapy and support once they’re out of the hospital. It was created in response to research showing that many young victims are re-injured within a year of being shot.
Dr. Barksdale talks candidly about how hard it’s been to build something that addresses not just the physical wounds, but the deep trauma caused by community violence.
Living For We
Has gun violence impacted you or someone you love? Share Your Story. Your story might be shared in an upcoming episode.
In the Cleveland area, and in cities across the country, teens and young adults are dying in our streets – victims of gun violence. There's no question: it’s an epidemic. It's the leading cause of death for teenagers. Young Black men often feel like they a target on their backs. Kids in schools face metal detectors, police presence in the hallways, and shootings at football games. Jr. High students are carrying ghost guns.
Every bullet fired creates two victims: the child in front of the gun, and the one pulling the trigger.
This season, we're asking what can be done to reverse cycles of violence and retaliation when shooters value their reputation over their own lives. We know where this violence occurs, we know what drives it. How can we start Living For We and decrease the violence?
We'll talk with people who are navigating streets where gun violence is normalized – seen as no big deal, while at the same time ruining lives. We'll listen to those fighting for their children and their communities, putting in work to uplift their neighborhoods and create meaningful change. This is more than a podcast, it's a resource for communities tired of chaos and ready to build peace.
Living for We: Keep Ya Head Up is presented by Ideastream Public Media, and a co-production of Evergreen Podcasts.
