This year's Holiday Special episode (whoop whoooop!) is an audio essay I produced for the Future Horizons summer project series. The series was organized by the fabulous Sarah Roger and Paul Barrett, and my essay was produced with generous support and feedback from Myra Bloom.
The audio essay is "Feeling My Way through Walmart," and it spans my experiences from growing up in a Walmart, to my time working in retail, navigating the company in present day, and researching Walmart and other chain stores and sites of retail and travel. The audio essay features clips from an interview with my mom (hi mom!) and stories from my family and childhood, which I thought made it an especially appropriate piece to share with you during this holiday season. <3 I hope you enjoy!
Thank you, Sarah and Paul, for giving me the go-ahead to share this essay on Teachin' Books! And to everyone who may be listening in real time: I hope you have a restful holiday season and can find some moments of joy at the end of another difficult year.
- The Future Horizons: A John Douglas Taylor Conference website has more information about the summer project series and links to all the projects (check them out!!)
- Original webpage for "Feeling My Way through Walmart": including transcript, references, and acknowledgements
If you're interested in getting your hands on a Teachin' Books tidbits zine as part of my ongoing fundraiser to ensure I can keep providing honoraria for students and precariously or under-employed folks who come chat on the podcast, e-transfer to teachinbookspod@gmail.com or paypal.me/jambermcd or just drop me a line wherever you can find me :) The zines are pay-what-you-can, and I'll need your mailing address to get the zine to you.
The podcast music is by Dyalla Swain and the graphics are by @muskrathands.
Follow the podcast on Twitter and Instagram @TeachinBooksPod. You can also get in touch at teachinbookspod@gmail.com. Please share the pod with someone you think might like it!
**The transcript for this episode, once available on the Teachin' Books site, will be here, but you can also find the transcript on the original audio essay page here.**
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