We end the second season of the award-winning Mighty Writers podcast in my personal comfort zone, as I sit down with a former student,16-year-old Brooke Fulton.

Brooke talks to me about her childhood in one of the most distressed neighborhoods in Philadelphia — a section of the city where drugs are sold and used openly, a place that continues to be afflicted by all of the devastating effects of the opioid crisis, especially homelessness and violence.

Brooke was born in Brooklyn, but her family moved to Kensington when she was 4 years old. She lives with her 11-year-old sister and 7-year-old brother just off of the intersection of Kensington Avenue and Allegheny, a place so well-known that many Philadelphians refer to it simply as “K&A.”

Brooke was a student of mine when I taught 9th grade English at an accelerated school where students earn diplomas and associate’s degrees in four years. She is an exceptional student with grand academic achievements and ambitions.

I spoke to Brooke the day after the mayor made good on her promise to clear encampments that had been erected by people in addiction at Kensington and Allegheny.

Brooke talks to me about growing up in Kensington and what she thinks about the new mayor’s plan to revitalize the community.

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The Mighty Writers Podcast with Maureen Boland is produced by Mighty Writers in partnership with Rowhome Productions. The executive producer is Tim Whitaker. Lead producer is Danya AbdelHameid. Rowhome’s executive producers are Alex Lewis and John Myers.

Our theme song was composed by Jim Morgan. This episode also includes music from Blue Dot Sessions.

In Philadelphia, one figure who needs absolutely no introduction is the Phillie Phanatic, the team mascot who is as iconic in these parts as Dr. J, Ben Franklin, or Rocky Balboa.

Beyond being a key fixture of Phillies' home games, the Phanatic shows up at playgrounds, schools, hospitals and all kinds of special events with one purpose: to bring happiness — especially to kids.

In this episode, I speak with Dave Raymond, the man who first brought the Phanatic to life in 1978. Dave spent 16 years in the green suit, entertaining thousands along the way.

Now a marketing expert, personal development trainer and coach, Dave is also a motivational speaker who talks about the power of fun and the tenets of positive psychology.

Listen in as we talk about the Phanatic’s inception, the business of mascoting and how Dave was saved by the power of fun.

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The Mighty Writers Podcast with Maureen Boland is produced by Mighty Writers in partnership with Rowhome Productions. The executive producer is Tim Whitaker. Lead producer is Danya AbdelHameid. Rowhome’s executive producers are Alex Lewis and John Myers.

Our theme song was composed by Jim Morgan.

This episode also includes music from Blue Dot Sessions.

Philadelphia is awash in grieving children and families. But it’s not all bad news, because where there are serious problems, there are humans at work on serious solutions.

In my years as a classroom teacher, I saw many organizations try to help students with problems like grief. Rarely did I see an immediate impact — that is, until I observed the work of Uplift, formerly known as The Center for Grieving Children.

Uplift’s therapists go into schools (and other places where kids gather) and convene groups of young people who have lost someone significant. Some of my students involved with Uplift moved from despondent and unfocused to engaged and hopeful after just six sessions. My only regret was that they couldn’t work with more of the kids in my school. It sometimes felt like they were only getting at the tip of an iceberg.

Because I believe so deeply that children need this kind of support, I invited Samantha Anthony, a senior clinician, to speak with me about her work facilitating therapeutic grief groups with youth in grades K-12. Like others at Uplift, Samantha also provides support for the families of grieving children.

Samantha and I talk about how grief presents itself in young people, as well as our own experiences with grief, her work with students at the Juvenile Justice Center, and what it means to say that grief is a social justice issue.

It’s a heavy but hopeful conversation about the good that comes when we acknowledge grief in community and with mindful empathy.

The Mighty Writers Podcast with Maureen Boland is produced by Mighty Writers in partnership with Rowhome Productions. The executive producer is Tim Whitaker. Lead producer is Danya AbdelHameid. Rowhome’s executive producers are Alex Lewis and John Myers.

Our theme song was composed by Jim Morgan.

This episode also includes music from Blue Dot Sessions.

I’ve been obsessed with coming-of-age stories since I first read “A Catcher in the Rye” when I was in seventh grade. That obsession is probably what made me feel entirely at home when I became a ninth grade English teacher. There is very little that moves me more than hearing people grapple in language with themselves and society during that short but profound moment that occurs somewhere between the ages of 13 and 16.

In the thousands of pieces of writing I had access to as a ninth grade English teacher in Philadelphia, certain themes emerged over and over. And when I met a young person named Semaj in a workshop I facilitated for Mighty Writers, I was struck by how his storytelling embodied those themes, including the way his everyday life was shaped by gun violence and an inequitable criminal justice system.

Semaj embodies something else I’ve seen repeatedly: He really wants his story to be heard.

People are sometimes surprised to hear this about teens. But in my experience, young people can quickly sense a safe space, and when they do, they often want to share their experiences far and wide.

Semaj’s voice is memorable and beautiful for reasons far beyond his vulnerability and what he can tell us about broken systems, gun violence and injustice.

It’s also worth hearing because he shares wise advice for living in this deeply fraught place, time and place (no matter your zip code). He reminds us to reflect, meditate, accept, strive, connect, dream and heal.

I am deeply honored to be able to share this interview with you, and I hope Semaj’s voice does, in fact, travel far and wide.

The Mighty Writers Podcast with Maureen Boland is produced by Mighty Writers in partnership with Rowhome Productions. The executive producer is Tim Whitaker. Lead producer is Danya AbdelHameid. Rowhome’s executive producers are Alex Lewis and John Myers.

Our theme song was composed by Jim Morgan.

This episode also includes music from Blue Dot Sessions.

I often say that my favorite thing about being a classroom writing teacher was my access to stories. It was enriching to me as a teacher and as a human being to learn about my students' lives through their stories. And I learned a lot about issues in society by hearing the same kind of stories over and over again.

One issue that came through to me via my students’ stories is the challenge people face when their citizenship — or the citizenship of their loved ones — was unsettled. I became aware of how anxiety-provoking it is to grow up worrying that a traffic ticket could lead to deportation. I watched the best and brightest high school seniors defer college dreams because they couldn’t figure out how to navigate the educational system without a U.S. birth certificate.

Because this particular kind of anxiety is something I’ve heard so many times, I was deeply grateful when my colleague, Yakquelin Garduño, agreed to tell her story. As director of Mighty Writers in Kennett Square, Yakquelin works with children who are facing many of the same issues she faced as a DACA recipient (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals).

In this candid interview, Yakquelin shares her family’s immigration story and what her life has been like as someone who crossed the southern border before she was able to walk. Even though she’s never known life outside of the U.S., and even though she has lived a life of exemplary citizenship, she still cannot claim to be a U.S. citizen. Yakquelin agreed to this interview because she knows she speaks for countless others who live with the daily consequences of a broken immigration system.

The Mighty Writers Podcast with Maureen Boland is produced by Mighty Writers in partnership with Rowhome Productions. The executive producer is Tim Whitaker. Lead producer is Danya AbdelHameid. Rowhome’s executive producers are Alex Lewis and John Myers.

Our theme song was composed by Jim Morgan.

This episode also includes music from Blue Dot Sessions.

My close friend and colleague Liz Wesley knows what it’s like to fight for fairness in a profoundly unfair world. She battled her way through the education system as a child only to find herself up against some of the same forces of inequity as a teacher in Philadelphia's highly segregated public school system.

Always a social justice warrior, Liz became even more involved in trying to fight racial segregation in education in the aftermath of the police killing of George Floyd.

But the often lonely struggle took its toll. After working with a therapist and reading the work of Tricia Hersey, author of “Rest is Resistance,” Liz finally decided to give herself some much needed rest.

Liz shares her deeply personal journal toward the realization that she owed herself rest and self-care with the hope that others may benefit from her wisdom.

The Mighty Writers Podcast with Maureen Boland is produced by Mighty Writers in partnership with Rowhome Productions. The executive producer is Tim Whitaker. Lead producer is Danya AbdelHameid. Rowhome’s executive producers are Alex Lewis and John Myers.

Our theme song was composed by Jim Morgan.

This episode also includes music from Blue Dot Sessions.

LuQman Abdullah caught my attention when I read his commentaries on gun violence in the Philadelphia Citizen.

He emphasized something that had become evident to me through my work as a classroom teacher: Young people are not being heard.

Now maybe that’s always been the case. Maybe American adults have perennially dismissed the voices of children. But what LuQman says is that given the prevalence of guns and despair, our failure to listen is having deadly consequences.

LuQman’s passion for saving Philadelphia’s children is connected to the fact that he lost his way as a young man.

In this episode, I talk to LuQman about losing his way and about his perspective on young people.

We talk about the years he spent in prison, including five and half years in solitary confinement, and how he emerged from that time as a scholar, a leading voice in violence prevention and a human rights activist. I hope you’ll be as inspired as I am by LuQman’s vision for a more just and equitable city.

The Mighty Writers Podcast with Maureen Boland is produced by Mighty Writers in partnership with Rowhome Productions. The executive producer is Tim Whitaker. Lead producer is Danya AbdelHameid. Rowhome’s executive producers are Alex Lewis and John Myers.

Our theme song was composed by Jim Morgan.

This episode also includes music from Blue Dot Sessions.