Center of the World

Charles Monroe-Kane in Center of the World

Seth Jovaag (TTBOOK)

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Original Air Date: 
June 02, 2018

Shuttered businesses line the familiar streets of producer Charles Monroe-Kane’s hometown in the Rust Belt in northeastern Ohio. The steel mill where his father worked is shut down, locked behind chains. Opioid abuse is rampant, poverty is high, jobs are scarce. But people remain. What keeps them going? What do they hope for? Charles went back to talk with friends, family and community members in a journey to the Center of the World, Ohio.

We leave the lives of Ohioans to travel back in time into the lives of Koreans in Japan with Min Jin Lee. Then we head to Brooklyn (well, "Another Brooklyn") with Jacqueline Woodson. 

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The Lucky Inn in Center of the World, Ohio
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Amidst economic devastation, producer Charles Monroe-Kane asks what it takes to survive in the Rust Belt.

Length: 
36:18
Wooden Japanese figures
Articles

Author Min Jin Lee grew up Korean-American and she thought she knew her ancestors.  But when she moved to Tokyo, she discovered a history she didn’t know. The history of Koreans in Japan.

Jacqueline Woodson
Articles

Author Jacqueline Woodson writes the kind of “black girl narrative” that didn’t exist when she was younger — and she’s always wished she had to read.

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Show Details 📻
Airdates
April 30, 2016
October 14, 2017
June 02, 2018
March 30, 2019
September 26, 2020
Last modified: 
September 25, 2020