In this second installment of our 5-week series New Voices (more info below), which we’ll continue to run on Wednesdays over the next 3 weeks, we’ll hear Marina’s very personal story about drug violence in her home town of Durango, Mexico.

Click on the player below to stream it or you can download it by right clicking on Marina Bounced

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New Voices (You can listen to the first installment HERE) came about this past Spring when The Big Something recorded personal essays by a group of students, many of whom, though not all, are immigrants learning English as a second language. Others are adults studying for their GED while working full-time jobs.

Their teacher, Sue Spengler, writes:

Teaching adults is beyond rewarding; I feel as if I am teaching two generations at once, because I know that whatever they learn, they will then be able to pass on to their children. My students inspire me every day with their persistence, determination, and often humor in the midst of it all. I repeatedly profess to them that EVERYONE has a story to tell, and that theirs are just as important as anybody elses.

Although they may be reading at the middle school level, many of my students are second language learners whose speaking and writing skills are still developing. So I have them talk and write about their lives. Thanks to KRCC, they now have a chance to tell them. I am so proud of their courage.

If you’d like to learn more about the students in Sue Spengler’s class, you can read their blogs at unity-2008.blogspot.com, and at writersofthefuture.blogspot.com.

(As it were, folks, if you’ve been enjoying The Big Something since it began in June, right now would be a great time to renew, join for the first time or give a little something extra to KRCC online. Thanks! thebigsomething@krcc.org)