Conversation With Aaron Henkin
“Honor your own curiosity” is the message of the day from Conversation With speaker Aaron Henkin, a radio producer for WYPR. His current project, “Out of the Blocks”, is a program that goes block by block to different Baltimore neighborhoods, allowing the residents to tell their stories. Mr. Aaron started the discussion by playing a clip of the show as an example. He explained that he wants to show what types of people you can meet when you show up “with the radical agenda of having no agenda”. He said that you can often find a more nuanced story if you let people talk about the issues they care about.
“Everyone I meet is the teacher of the day,” said Mr. Aaron. The factor that drove him to making content for radio and podcasts is is passion for discovering stories he didn’t know existed. He got tired of hearing the same stories to the same ways, over and over again. Mr. Aaron said that although they started with the most marginalized of blocks to showcase, he quickly realized that each block is like a tile in the mosaic that is Baltimore City; now they have gone to many diverse neighborhoods to tell their stories.
The discussion culminated in an activity with the students. Paired off, they each took a card that posed a question. The students used the question as a starting point for a mini interview. The point of the exercise was to practice active listening and to demonstrate the world of questions that open up from just one part of someone’s story. What a great skill for the students to learn!