Cherry Geelan and Aaron Hall take us on a deep dive into the challenges for our PGM students and teachers inside public school systems, where systemic racism continues to reign, despite decades of reform.

An independent documentary called, The Right to Read, is specifically mentioned as a beacon of hope and a powerful depiction of effective advocacy for literacy among PGM children.

We are pleased to offer the film for your streaming pleasure for a limited time (October 13-15, 2023). Our hope is that it ignites a substantive conversation in our communities about effective strategies for ensuring the literacy of our people.

You can access the film here. Invitation Code (case-sensitive and contains a single dash): TRT-WBLM

Also mentioned in this episode is a podcast called, "Sold A Story": https://features.apmreports.org/sold-a-story/ .

Aaron Hall Is an Indigenous (Séliš/Qlispé/Ktunaxa) Educator and currently works at Salish Coast Elementary School in Port Townsend, Washington. Aaron works with colleagues to create a sustainable PGM/BIPOC community for youth and family from our locale.

Cherry Geelan has lived in Port Townsend for twelve years with her partner and two children. She was born in Los Angeles, California to immigrant parents from Thailand. She has a bachelor's in Ethnic and Women's Studies, an M.Ed in Reading Instruction and Curriculum, a National Board certification in Literacy, and recently became a certified Dyslexia Therapist.

As a reading interventionist in the area, her goal is to spread the word that literacy is a social justice issue. This is her twentieth year in teaching.

Talkin Story is a project of Well Organized: Collaborative Community Driven Organizing in Port Townsend, WA.

https://well-organized.org/

We appreciate the support of the Port Townsend Arts Commission, Jefferson Community Foundation, Finnriver Farm and Cidery, Addieun Foundation, the Community Equity Initiative, as well as private in-kind and monetary donations. Thank you!