Violence Week Podcast: A High School As A Microcosm Of A Nation's Problems

 There are a multitude of reasons why indie podcasts can outshine network-supported shows. One significant reason that indie podcasts pulsate with the sonic vibrations of real life is because, quite often, the indie podcaster actually lived that drama depicted. It's not someone else's true crime, or a stranger's intense suffering.

No, in an indie podcast, the creator / host is sharing a deeply personal and often intensely painful experience. The goal isn't to trick the listeners into audio rubbernecking. Instead, listeners travel through the circulatory system of the podcast's narrative along with the indie podcaster. 

In essence, listeners are bystanders. They're participants in this dark drama.

That's what Violence Week by Emily Reeves is all about. She is a Brooklyn-based podcast producer.

Producer and host Emily Reeves takes us to her hometown of East Lansing, Michigan, where an outbreak of violence and the discovery of a gun at the local high school ignited intense fears of school shootings and a fierce debate over policing in schools.
In the weeks and months following the murder of George Floyd, East Lansing and other school districts across the country removed police from their hallways. But school shootings, along with a post-pandemic rise in violence, have caused some districts to reconsider.

For some in the community, the decision to remove police put kids in greater danger of gun violence; for others, the calls for them to return put students of color at risk. In a community that takes pride in its diversity, East Lansing faced a consequential question: Should police officers return to East Lansing High School?

This timely documentary series explores the current state of the Defund the Police movement in schools through conversations with student journalists, community organizers, school safety
experts, police officers, and more. Violence Week confronts the tenderest points and most pressing questions around school safety, policing, and racial equity.

Emily Reeves explains: "The series is about a controversy at my old high school in Michigan—I first started reporting on it out of pure curiosity (who doesn't love a bit of hometown drama?!) and quickly realized the story contained so many juicy, timely, and complex questions that had much larger stakes than I could've imagined."

Violence Week is a four-part audio documentary series that premieres on Wednesday, August 7th with new episodes released throughout August.

The project was the runner-up at the RESONATE Podcast Festival's Pitch Party and is now being released in partnership with the Tribeca Award-Winning Silver Podcast Network (Independent Audio Fiction Award, 2023). The 2023 Tribeca Award-winning Silver Podcast Network (Variety) announced its latest venture in the world of audio storytelling. Marking their nonfiction debut, the network proudly presented Violence Week, a four-part audio documentary series about America in the era of school shootings — out August 7th, just in time for ‘Back to School.’

In her bio, Emily says: "I’m drawn to stories that explore big ideas with nuance and humor—ones that give us a window into something universal through a unique, personal narrative. Above all, I’m passionate about impact-driven audio; I love how the medium can humanize the news and connect big cultural conversations to intimate stories.

"As a former professional performer and theater artist, I spent years studying the art of captivating an audience’s attention and now use this experience to create sound-rich and energetic audio pieces."

She's a graduate of the Salt Institute for Documentary Stories, where she created a documentary about a Moby-Dick-inspired blues opera about heroin addiction. The piece won a Silver Award, the highest for the category, for Best Student Documentary at the 2023 New York Festivals Radio Awards.

 

I was fortunate to listen to the first two episodes before release, and it's not hyperbolic to say that they are riveting and thought-provoking.

 

Check out Violence Week. It's a terrific documentary podcast and presents a compelling object lesson for parents who fight in vain to keep their child separated from the real world. Reality has a way of breaking down all barriers.