Living for We: Season 2 now available
Hear the latest episode:
S2E10: The Cavalry Ain’t Coming
The summer before her senior year, Makayla Barlow had just gotten her driver’s license. While driving home from work through East Cleveland, her life was turned upside down—a stray bullet tore through her car window and hit her. She ended up in a coma for a month, fighting to survive.
In this episode, Makayla and her mom, Natasha Lovelace, open up about that terrifying day in 2021 and how an off-duty police officer jumped in to help save her life. Even though Makayla still has bullet fragments in her head and deals with ongoing neurological issues, she’s not letting that stop her—she’s now in college and pushing forward.
Hosts Marlene Harris-Taylor and Myesha Watkins also sit down with Dr. Edward Barksdale, a top children’s surgeon who recently left Cleveland’s UH Rainbow Babies and Children’s Hospital to become the Chief Surgical Officer for Chicagoland Children’s Health Alliance.
Dr. Barksdale shares what led him to start an anti-violence program back in 2019. After seeing too many kids and teens come into the hospital with gunshot wounds—and realizing no one was coming to fix the root causes—he decided to take action himself. His program, called Antifragility, helps young gunshot survivors deal with the mental and emotional aftermath, offering therapy and support once they’re out of the hospital. It was created in response to research showing that many young victims are re-injured within a year of being shot.
Dr. Barksdale talks candidly about how hard it’s been to build something that addresses not just the physical wounds, but the deep trauma caused by community violence.
Listen to Season 2: Keep Ya Head Up
In the Cleveland area, and in cities across the country, teens and young adults are dying in our streets – victims of gun violence. There's no question: it’s an epidemic. It's the leading cause of death for teenagers. Young Black men often feel like they a target on their backs. Kids in schools face metal detectors, police presence in the hallways, and shootings at football games. Jr. High students are carrying ghost guns.
This season, we're asking what can be done to reverse cycles of violence and retaliation when shooters value their reputation over their own lives. We know where this violence occurs, we know what drives it. How can we start Living For We and decrease the violence?
Every bullet fired creates two victims: the child in front of the gun, and the one pulling the trigger.
We'll talk with people who are navigating streets where gun violence is normalized – seen as no big deal, while at the same time ruining lives. We'll listen to those fighting for their children and their communities, putting in work to uplift their neighborhoods and create meaningful change. This is more than a podcast, it's a resource for communities tired of chaos and ready to build peace.
Has gun violence impacted you or someone you love? Share your story. Your story might be shared in an upcoming episode.
Featured Story
For years, Cleveland police have told the mostly Black families living in neighborhoods most beset by crime and poverty, like Buckeye, that violence prevention starts with the parents.
They have called on community members to cooperate with police investigations.
They have asked others to address the “root cause” of violence.
Antoine Tolbert, who is known as Chairman Fahiem, and members of New Era, a community activist group that provides armed safety patrols and neighborhood programs around Buckeye, say they are picking up that torch.
Ideastream Public Media’s Engaged Journalism team partnered with four community organizations, and paid for their services, to help organize listen-and-learn sessions about gun violence with community members in Cleveland, Akron and Lorain in 2023 and 2024. Information from those sessions helped inform coverage of gun violence, including the podcast, "Living for We: Keep Ya Head Up." New Era Cleveland, and its partner organization, The Love Project Movement, Inc, was one of those groups.
Resources
This is more than a podcast, it's a resource for communities tired of chaos and ready to build peace. Click here to see a list of resources.
Season 1
In 2020, cityLAB of Pittsburgh released a study that ranked Cleveland dead last in terms of livability for Black women. On Living For We, we talk to Cleveland's Black women about their experiences at work, at school, in the doctor's office, and in community with each other in an attempt to answer the question... is Cleveland really as bad as they say it is for Black women?
Award-winning podcast
Living For We has received the following honors:
- Regional Murrow Award: Excellence in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
- Webby People's Voice: Diversity, Equity & Inclusion
- Davey Awards: Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (Gold), Series (Gold), Society & Culture (Silver)
- W3 Awards: Cause Awareness (Gold)