Our Words, Our Voice
By Nora Knoepflmacher
You read and write everyday, whether it involves your favorite song lyrics, a grocery list, crafting a text to your best friend, or projects for school or work. In fact, we use our literacy so much that we often take it for granted. What about the centuries of people who were denied this powerful tool? Or the inspiring female pioneers like Phillis Wheatley who, through her poetry, used literacy as a vehicle of activism against slavery? My podcast, “Our Words, Our Voice” explores the way in which to embrace your literacy is to find and use your power.
Process
I initially began this project in my English class, Borderlands. In one unit, we read Yaa Gyasi’s novel Homegoing in conjunction with the podcast “The 1619 Project.“ We were tasked with creating our own podcast inspired by the novel and podcast. The theme of literacy as a powerful force, both in my life and in history, was present in the original version of my podcast. However, I wanted to hone in on this even more for the Multimedia Anthology. In order to achieve this, I used the podcast app Anchor to edit and refine it.
Meet the Pair
MENTEE NORA KNOEPFLMACHER & MENTOR NATALIE DAHER
Nora’s Anecdote: On Mondays, I’m most likely sitting across from Natalie at The Wing or any café we happen to find ourselves in. There’s such a level of comfort and joy I feel whenever we meet. Although it’s our first year as a pair, we have developed familiarity and ease with each other. Whether we’re walking to the subway together, strolling through a gallery at MoMA, discussing a Sex Education episode, or I’m teaching her how to send effects on iMessage, there are always smiles. I am so thankful to be paired with her for my final year of high school!
Natalie’s Anecdote: Nora has been such a joy to work with this year and a very special part of my Mondays. She is beaming with creativity and a fountain of ideas, and she makes the writing process look easy. She’s incredibly curious about the world around her, and I enjoyed being able to share experiences at MoMA, K-Town cafés, The Wing, slam poetry salon, and more. Nora shows the type of commitment and openness that it takes to thrive as a writer, and I can’t wait to watch where she goes in college and beyond.
Nora Knoepflmacher
Nora Knoepflmacher is a class of 2020 Girls Write Now mentee based in New York, NY.
