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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Now we'll wrap up today's show with some very special guests. These next few days, today, tomorrow, and Friday, we'll hear from a few of our Radio Rookies. At this point in the show, they may be high school students but don't underestimate them. The stories they're bringing us are big and ambitious and told with humor and personality. We'll hear from them about the process of organizing tenants against the privatization of NYCHA, as well as what home means when it's a place you've never been to. Today, we'll see what the gentrification of part of our city looks like through the eyes of one of today's teens. Let's set the scene with a clip from today's Radio Rookies story reported by Christina Adja, a 16-year-old from the Highbridge Concourse area of the Bronx. Here's 30 seconds.

Christina Adja: If there were one word to describe my neighborhood, it would be loud. There's always a party going on. You can hear them from down the block, and sometimes the ground shakes as cars drive by blasting music. Kids laugh and play in fire hydrants, and people lean out their windows to talk to each other. Men sit outside the bodega playing dominoes. They crowd around a small table and they're always yelling at each other.

Brian Lehrer: Feels like she has transported you to the South Bronx. All that natural sound in addition to the voices, and I'll say the sophistication that these students are bringing to the mics already make it difficult to earnestly call them rookies, but they are because they're new at it. Let's continue on with our journey, hear about her process of reporting, and learn more about the program that brings voices like hers to our airwaves. Joining me now is Christina Adja, Radio Rookies reporter, and with her we have Carolina Hidalgo, senior producer of Radio Rookies, full-time staffer at WNYC who runs the program. Carolina, hi, and Christina, welcome to The Brian Lehrer Show.

Carolina Hidalgo: Hi. Thanks for having us.

Christina Adja: Thank you very much.

Brian Lehrer: Christina, let me start with you. How did you hear about Radio Rookies and what made you want to join and tell stories on the radio?

Christina Adja: I was doing a program called miseducation where we were focusing on highlighting issues within the public school system. They had a list of programs that they recommended that we can also go into. I saw Radio Rookies on the list and I realized there was much more-- Sorry about the background noise, but I realized there was much more freedom with this program. I could talk about something that I'm more comfortable with and that I know more about, which is why I joined it.

Brian Lehrer: Did I hear the PA system in the background? Are you in school right now?

Christina Adja: Yes. It turned on at the worst time.

Brian Lehrer: That's okay, more natural sounds, good for radio. Carolina, for those who aren't familiar with the program, introduce them to Radio Rookies. We've had it for a long time at this station, but tell people who don't know who's eligible to be a part of the program and how do they join.

Carolina Hidalgo: Radio Rookies is our youth media program at WNYC. Next year is actually the 25th anniversary of the program. Our goal is to amplify the perspectives of young New Yorkers. Teens and young adults, anyone who's around the ages of 14 to 24 is eligible. You do have to live in the five boroughs. We have information about how to apply and how to contact us at radiorookies.org.

Brian Lehrer: Christina, you are in high school at 16-years-old. There's got to be a lot of things that you're interested in or worried about. Why'd you pick gentrification?

Christina Adja: I picked gentrification because I feel like that's the main threat to my neighborhood. If I talk to some of my friends, they'll mainly talk about school and stuff that, but if I talk to people within my neighborhood, they'll talk about the changes they've seen, they'll describe the changes they've seen and they'll mainly talk about how they're afraid that our neighborhood is going to change and how they're going to be pushed out of the neighborhood soon enough.

Brian Lehrer: You want to describe for people who aren't from your part of the city or your part of the area, what your neighborhood is like, what blocks are we talking about, what landmarks might be there, who lives there. We played that 30-second clip from your piece where you set some of the scene and that was awesome. For people who don't know what we're calling the Highbridge Concourse section of the Bronx, where is that? Where is it in relation to anything else that people who don't go there might know?

Christina Adja: It's in the South Bronx. It's a area with many hills. That annoys me, but there's so many hills. There's lots of vendors. [crosstalk] Oh my gosh, I hate the hills, but there's so many vendors around. There's usually people hanging around the streets. Some people they sell icy. Now that it's extremely hot. There's people selling tamales, there's people selling tacos dorados. There's just so many cultures mixing in the South Bronx and it's especially highlighted in the Highbridge Concourse area.

Brian Lehrer: Your sound design in your piece is awesome. We played that clip. It really feels like we're standing on the street in the middle of your neighborhood. Take us into the process of creating your story. How did you go from the big idea that is gentrification, which we're going to talk about more to this personal accounting of what it looks like in Concourse where you transported us in your piece?

Christina Adja: I want to thank Carolina again because I'm not going to lie, she helped me structure it so much. What we did was that we recorded a lot of sounds, ambient noise because we knew we needed to like you said, transport the reader into the South Bronx in order to help them understand how lively it is and how there's lots of cultures represented there. We also needed to, for the recording process, we needed to interview a lot of my friends because I needed to get a team's perspective of it because that's what I mainly wanted to highlight when it comes to gentrification.

Brian Lehrer: Carolina, let me put out the phone number. Listeners, first of all, anybody in Concourse section of the Bronx, Hybrid section of the Bronx, call in and talk about gentrification in your part of town if you would like, or anybody else on the larger picture of gentrification as an issue or anybody who heard Christina's whole piece, which has run on the station, or anybody else with a relevant comment or question. 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692. In part one of a three-part series of featuring our Radio Rookies here on The Brian Lehrer Show and this last portion of the show today, tomorrow, and Friday. Christina, one of my favorite parts of your piece is when you bring up the rivalry between boroughs that many New Yorkers are familiar with. Here's just a six-second clip of you.

Christina Adja: I hate how people be hating on the Bronx, but it's like you're from Brooklyn, don't speak. Oh my gosh.

Brian Lehrer: Weigh in on this fight that you've picked with Brooklyn and why do you think people hate on the Bronx? What misconceptions do you think people have of the Bronx?

Christina Adja: Oh my gosh, they think we're dirty. They think that the Bronx is like the slums. They think the Bronx is the bottom of the barrel when it comes to the five boroughs. The reason why I mentioned the fact that there's a battle between boroughs is because this is a frequent argument I get in with my friends at the Saturday program I attend. We literally argue about this every single week because their misconceptions about the Bronx is that it's dirty, there's garbage everywhere, there's rats everywhere, the people don't know how to take care of themselves, which is why I feel the need to defend the Bronx because I know I'm not dirty and I just got to let y'all know.

Brian Lehrer: Here, you're ready to get a critique from a journalism professor at Rutgers. You're in high school, you're going to get a college professor's take on your piece. I think Leo in Sunnyside heard the whole thing. Leo, you're on WNYC.

Leo: Good morning Brian and good morning WNYC. Yes, I did. I'm an adjunct. It's a very important distinction, Brian. I heard the piece this morning and it absolutely knocked my socks off and I encourage the entire listening audience to seek it out. It was so sophisticated. The writing was on such a high level. It just grabbed me in every way, culturally, socially, politically, economically, emotionally. Christina, long may you report and write and contribute. You are a vital voice in New York City.

Brian Lehrer: How does that feel to hear, Christina?

Christina Adja: Oh, my God. I'm not going to lie, like hearing my own piece, I was like, "Oh, this is great." Hearing so many people have positive feedback, it just makes me feel elated because I'm like, "Damn."

Brian Lehrer: [chuckles] Like, Damn.

Christina Adja: It's so real.

Brian Lehrer: Carolina, how do you support students in making these kinds of stories? As the WNYC staffer who directs Radio Rookies, what's the process like on your end?

Carolina Hidalgo: I think Christina could tell you it's a long process, but it starts with a lot of one-on-one conversations. I'm asking a lot of questions, trying to figure out when working with participants what's something that you really care about, what's something you really want to find out. Sometimes we want to tell a story about a topic, but we also want to go deeper. We want to actually have a question that we're trying to answer. Christina's question was, how does this affect young people specifically? We talk a lot. We decide who they want to interview. We go over questions together. Sometimes I'm out with them.

Like Christina said, that could look like walking around 167 with our recorders out, going up to people playing dominoes, and asking, "Hey, can we record you for a while?" Then we talk more and more and more, and then we write the script together.

Brian Lehrer: In your piece, you and your friends, Christina, discussed the changes you've noticed in your area due to gentrification. What do these changes look like to you?

Christina Adja: A lot of them are new buildings. This dermatology place just opened up right near the 4 train. I'm like, "Where the hell did this come from?" It was so sudden. There's also been this new building that blocks the view that I've always seen looking out at the 4 train. They're very apparent. They look more polished compared to the rest of the community, which is just old brick building.

Brian Lehrer: What does the Dermatology Center represent to you?

Christina Adja: I don't know. It just represents new people coming in. Because, for me, I feel like there should have always been a dermatology place. You get what I mean? If they really cared about the people that's been living here forever, there would have been a dermatology place that's been taking care of the people. Now that the demographic is slowly changing, now they want to have better stores and better services for those new people that have moved in.

Brian Lehrer: Do you feel like as those better stores and better services come in, people you know are being forced out?

Christina Adja: Not people I know specifically because I'm not going to lie, I keep to myself most of the time. There have been people that I haven't seen anymore that I've seen growing up.

Brian Lehrer: Let's take a phone call on that topic. Basil in Williamsburg, you're on WNYC. We're going to get the Bronx versus Brooklyn battle going here, or maybe not. Hi, Basil.

Basil: Indeed, I am from Brooklyn, and I am going to speak, but I love the Bronx. I actually teach a cultural exchange program in one of the high schools in the South Bronx.

Brian Lehrer: Cool.

Basil: I just want to congratulate Christina and Carolina on this piece. I was, like the professor, completely blown away. Her awareness of her community and her ability to talk about the culture and what makes the culture great is exactly where I seek to lead my students. It's really, really difficult. There's a lot going on in the Bronx, and it's easy to be pessimistic. I just want to salute you as a student, salute you as a journalist who train the student, and just wish you the brightest future. I also want to say one thing politically, and that is that I've watched gentrification happen over 25-plus years in Williamsburg.

Exactly what Christina just said is one of the heartbreaks about living here, and that's that you suddenly notice that people you've always seen are no longer here. It's a failure of the political system. People in the Bronx shouldn't have to go through what the people in Williamsburg have gone through. It could be studied, it could be rectified through a period of a whole generation. Finally, I know I'm running out of time, is just that she's a student. I just want to say there was a time in Williamsburg where I had construction literally by the MTA underneath me, three projects going on, on the block, the school. There was literally 24-hour construction.

I thought if I had a kid of my own, there's no way they could study here. Gentrification has just impacted in so many ways. I'm glad that you brought this up. I hope people become more politically aware, and I hope that politicians really are able to mitigate this in the Bronx. [unintelligible 00:15:14]

Brian Lehrer: Thank you, Basil. See what you're starting out there, Christina. Do you hope that a piece like yours has some political impact on something?

Christina Adja: Most definitely. Not only political impact among adults, they start actually becoming more aware of the fact that gentrification, even if it may not affect them, it is affecting others. Also, I wanted to educate kids my age as well, because one of the main points of my piece is that kids are already going through a lot, which is why gentrification shouldn't be added on top of it. A lot of students, especially in my school, they don't pay attention to that type of stuff if they're not going through it. I want them to realize that the kids they may be sitting down with in classes right next to, their peers, they could be going through this stuff. They have to be aware of the fact that New York is changing, the demographics is changing, and how that's affecting people.

Brian Lehrer: Some might think that the renovations to an area are an improvement to the quality of life available to residents already there. What would you say to someone with that mindset on gentrification?

Christina Adja: I'd ask them, "Who is it benefiting? Who are the renovations for?" Because the renovations could have came a long time ago, but who are they benefiting now that they're being made?

Brian Lehrer: You said you're on the number four line, and you talked about the hills. I can relate. It seems like every stop on that number four train, when you get off, you have to trudge up a hill to get where you're going, right?

Christina Adja: Yes. Oh, my God. I hate the four. Yes.

Brian Lehrer: Carolina, last word. How can people listening at home support the Radio Rookies program? Where can they hear Christina's full story if they missed it on Morning Edition?

Carolina Hidalgo: Christina's story is up right now. It's at radiorookies.org. As far as supporting us, I think if anyone works with young people, teachers, community groups, youth programs, if you can share the information, if you want to reach out, we're always looking for people to collaborate with also, so just different groups, and finding people to work with all across the city.

Brian Lehrer: We have two more of the current group of Radio Rookies coming up on tomorrow's show and then on Friday show in the same time slot, around 11:40 or so. You want to give us a preview? Who do we have tomorrow?

Carolina Hidalgo: Tomorrow, we're going to hear from Saldin Hansin, and Saldin is also 16, and she's from Woodside, Queens, where there's a large Tibetan community. She's going to talk about her journey to go from feeling a little bit different, feeling a little bit ashamed of her culture to really embracing it and also questioning how do you, as a first-gen kid, try to hold on to a culture and keep it alive, even though you've never been to that country that your family is from.

Brian Lehrer: Carolina Hidalgo, Senior Producer of Radio Rookies, and Radio Rookie Christina Adja. All right, Christina, your star turns over. Back to class.

Christina Adja: [laughs] Bye. Thank you so much.

Brian Lehrer: Thanks for coming on. You were awesome. Carolina, talk to you tomorrow. That's the Brian Lehrer show for today, produced by Lisa Allison, Mary Croke, Amina Srna, Carl Boisrond, and Esperanza Rosenbaum. Zach Gottehrer-Cohen, handles our daily politics podcast, Juliana Fonda at the audio controls. I'm Brian Lehrer. Stay tuned for All Of It, Alison with Zadie Smith and more coming up next.

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