Each episode of our show walks a different line of life in Brooklyn, telling New York stories in the voice of the people. This week, we’re lifting every voice from here to Hawaii, as the nation decides what comes next. By the time the early voting window closed in the city, over one million New Yorkers had cast their ballot. Almost 400 thousand of us did so in Brooklyn, after waiting anywhere from 5 minutes to 5 hours in lines snaking around parking lots, armories, temples and arenas. In Park Slope, voters were treated to live chamber music played by their generous and talented neighbors, and at the Barclays Center, the BK United Marching Band and Drumline welcomed Brooklyn’s earliest voters on opening day at the polls. 

The less musically inclined provided long lines of strangers with water, snacks, folding chairs and words of encouragement, as an army of volunteer New Yorkers helped the rest of us cast our vote. By the time this comes out, we’ll know little more about who won the 2020 General Election than we do right now. So, instead of spending the episode speculating, or reliving all the wrongs that we’ve come to vote against, we’re checking in with our community and our friends across the country on what it was like to cast their ballots in the messiest election that we hope to ever live through.  
 

FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT >>

A special thanks to all the amazing contributors who shared their stories with us: Kyla from Brooklyn (2:49) —  The Workers Justice Project (6:31) — Jeanne from Arizona (8:30) — Jeff from New Mexico (12:04) — Aqsa from Georgia (18:34) — Yonaton from San Francisco (26:01) — Beatrice from Brooklyn — (33:06) Alejandrina from Texas (18:05) — Elizabeth from Florida (36:22) — Natalie & James from Florida (43:20) — Diana from North Carolina (46:19) — Yesenia from Staten Island (49:14) — Molly from Minnesota (52:29) — Mary Pat from Wisconsin (54:19)  — Vivian (56:00) — Claudia from Massachusetts (40:43) — Chancey from Brooklyn (60:15) — Molokai from Hawaii (63:29) — Matthew from Vancouver (64:45) —  Judith from Staten Island (70:03) — Railroaded Underground from inside a prison  (72:47) 

--

“Griffin’s World” was produced by Emily Boghossian, Taylor Cook, and Lauren Germain. Brooklyn USA’s “Messages From Over Here” are produced by Voltron.

If you have something to say and want us to share it, all you have to do is...

1. Call (917) 719-0021 to reach our Voicemail Box
2. Tell us your name, neighborhood, email (we’ll edit this out – just want to know how to reach you!)
3. Tell us any and all of the things that you need or want to say.

• It can be a story, a joke, a secret, or a fact.
• It can be something that you overheard from six feet away, or have been thinking about, worrying about, or a thing that made you smile.
• It can be a way that you're coping with, processing, and navigating this moment, and what you’re hoping that the next one holds.
• It can be a movie recommendation, a book you love, a self care tip or breathing technique that you’re finding very useful...
• or anything else that you want to share with the world!

 
And if you’d rather just record yourself and send it in, just...

1. Open up your phone’s Voice Memos / Voice Recorder app and hit RECORD.
2.  Follow Steps 2 & 3 (from before).
3. Email the audio file to brooklynusapodcast@gmail.com.

 
We’re here when you need us, and we can’t wait to hear from you.
 
See you on the other side, in Brooklyn, USA.

Brooklyn, USA is produced by Sachar Mathias, Emily Boghossian, Shirin Barghi, Khyriel Palmer, Mayumi Sato, and Charlie Hoxie.

For more information on this and all BRIC Radio podcasts, visit www.bricartsmedia.org/radio.