POOR: I don't ask unless it comes up as part of the story. But of course when someone's in prison and the other person's not, there's so many things you can't do. And so I want to play the part where you return to ask him that difficult question. And to hear how it happened to him and to hear that he was shot 19 times, you know - and I just try to visualize, like, what he was going through at the time he was being shot at by those officers. What keeps your hopes up? Woods is a full-time producer, co-host, and co-creator of PRXs Ear Hustle with Nigel Poor. I was on some - I would like to say other words, but I'm holding my (laughter) E WOODS: (Laughter) I'm on the radio. So, Nigel, when you decided you wanted to start, like, a interview series that started on KALW - the public - one of the public radio stations in San Francisco, and then it became a podcast - you wanted a co-host and co-producer who was incarcerated in San Quentin. You start attending different self-help groups. Vice President . Like, what was all this for? And that's pretty much what I did. You feel invincible in some ways. I just stopped over there, went and sat on a rock and just watched the water for about an hour. Shes holding on. All rights reserved. He likes to keep his personal life private hence Earlonne has not mentioned any details concerning his marital status. One is that you're going to get killed, and the other is that you'll eventually go to jail. Why am I doing this? There's a story you did about how people like you from the outside who come in to volunteer - because you started at San Quentin volunteering teaching photography before you started doing the podcast Ear Hustle. I pretty much raised Tyler from '95 to '97, when I got arrested. [14] In an interview with Rolling Stone, Poor said the show is "about everyday life inside a prison. You have to go through a lot of E WOODS: Yeah, it's a lot of stuff you have to go through. Earlonne still co-hosts the show alongside Nigel. And so I found out what you're in prison for. Earlier this year, we introduced you to a man named Earlonne Woods who got some big news yesterday. POOR: Yeah, not skewed, not skewed. And you may be incarcerated 15, 20 years. I'm not doing that. GROSS: This is FRESH AIR, and if you're just joining us, my guests are Earlonne Woods and Nigel Poor. I was hoping I could talk to you a little bit about it. Woods was involved in an attempted robbery in 1997, when he was in his 20s. Do you usually know what somebody is in for and do you ask, or is that considered wrong to ask? "[9] She also praised its originality, "[using] prisoners' storytelling skills to show what it's like to spend decades behind bars. And I was - yeah, I was definitely nervous. POOR: How do we tell stories and leave out that part? At the time, your brother and your nephew's mother, Tyra, were living what you describe as a life of crime together. Mentally, it do, you know? GROSS: I want to thank you both so much. And you really get a better understanding of your impact that you've personally had on people in society. Therese Madden directed today's show. "[16] Quah contrasts standard prison narratives told entirely from an outsider's point of view with the interplay of insider and outsider perspectives provided by the hosts of Ear Hustle, with stories primarily told through Woods' and Williams' words and perspectives, and Poor in an active role adding "key narrative housekeeping". You're more looking at what you're getting out of the situation. In terms of his romantic life, Park is happily married to his wife in South Korea. I don't know. Earlonne, congratulations on life outside of prison. Earlonne Woods is the co-creator, co-host, and co-producer of Ear Hustle (PRX & Radiotopia). When Nigel Poor and Earlonne Woods met, Poor was a photography professor volunteering with the Prison University Project, and Woods was serving thirty-one years to life at California's San Quentin State Prison. He was born and brought up in the United States to his caring and supportive parents. It received 1,537 entries from 53 countries. Im thinking about my mama, shes 70. I'm not doing this. (SOUNDBITE OF NOEL BONNEVIE'S "DAHIL SA'YO"). POOR: Well, he wasn't necessarily a good talker because he was very quiet. He likes to keep his personal life private hence Earlonne has not mentioned any details concerning his marital status. While incarcerated at California State Prison, Centinela, Woods saw a documentary about the film school at San Quentin State Prison, and applied to transfer to that prison. Some might say that Nigel Poor and Earlonne Woods were destined to meet. Usually, you can't go back into a correctional facility on parole. My first prison term, I went to jail when I was 17. So there's a rule that pertains to the volunteers who come in, and they're not allowed to have, like, close relationships with the prisoners, anything that gets really intimate or emotional. And this time, they had something for me, which was the three-strike law. When asked earlier this year what was the first thing he would do if he got out, Woods said, Take a bath. WOODS: It's unrealistic, but I think about just getting out of San Quentin, jumping in the water and swimming to my yacht and going around the world. Earlonne Woods is the co-creator, co-host, and co-producer of Ear Hustle (PRX & Radiotopia). Earlonne Woods (@earlonnewoods) Instagram photos and videos earlonnewoods Follow 225 posts 24.1K followers 931 following Earlonne Woods Public figure Award winning Co-Creator + Co-Host, @earhustlesq . [3], Woods met artist and volunteer Nigel Poor, who was teaching photography at the film school. Earlonne Woods educational background is unavailable. You know, he running the streets. Ear Hustle was selected from 1,537 submissions, securing the funding for a 10-episode first season. His mother was a postal worker and his father was an unemployed alcoholic, who Woods described as violent and distant. Earlonne holds an American nationality and white ethnicity. And when I was sitting in a county jail, you know, mentally, I pretty much divorced myself from that whole way of life in that moment, you know? Earlonne Woods, co-host of the popular prison podcast Ear Hustle, had his sentence commuted by California Gov. And at one point, he revealed to me that he had raped quite a few women. But yeah, I can't. And it was one of them, I guess could you say, moments where you just feel embarrassed about your previous conduct. SHAPIRO: Earlonne Woods is 47. E WOODS: I like my colors bright these days. co-hosted by Woods and Nigel Poor, an artist and volunteer at San Quentin interviews men in the prison about their lives there. T WOODS: One the 19 - November 19, 2013 - federal prison - we have phones, and we have emails. And they shot at Tyler, like, 40-something times. I'm not doing this. Don't be - whatever you do, don't play with no guns. So you recorded interviews with Trevor and Tyra talking about how difficult it is to maintain a relationship with your child when you're incarcerated and how difficult it is to help them stay out of trouble. He also founded CHOOSE1, which aims to repeal the California . By entering your email and clicking Sign Up, you're agreeing to let us send you customized marketing messages about us and our advertising partners. I find it invigorating. He is also involved in the Repeal California's Three Strike Coalition, which aims to end California . E WOODS: And she even got mad at me the other day E WOODS: 'Cause I left dinner with everyone, and I went to the movies by myself to go see "Vice" (laughter). Behind 'Ear Hustle,' The Podcast Made In Prison. Yes, he can come to my house. For Walter "Earlonne" Woods, the path to freedom was podcasting. And when I went to prison, it was pretty much the California Department of Corrections, and there was not a rehabilitation on the name then. Tyler was sent to live with extended family. So it's been a real eye-opener for me. Poor, a professor of photography at CSU Sacramento, was volunteering with the Prison University Project at San Quentin State Prison when she met Woods, who was serving a 31-year-to-life sentence. GROSS: Yeah. So I think I understand more the complexity and the pressures and inside I get to see men relating in very heartfelt ways. E WOODS: Yeah, so that's cool. Like, I just walked away, you know? Or would you just as soon not know and just judge them based on what they present to you in their interactions with you? He also founded CHOOSE1, which aims to repeal the California Three . Earlonne Woods and Nigel Poor: This Is Ear Hustle Some might say that Nigel Poor and Earlonne Woods were destined to meet. So I was nervous at first to go in because, I mean, my head was full of all the images that, you know, of - from bad TV, bad movies, bad media about what prison was going to be like. For the first few months after Earlonne Woods was released from San Quentin in November, his "Ear Hustle" podcast co-host Nigel Poor kept receiving photos of ice cream on her phone. You know, prison, I'm going to live to the best of my ability. And it was one of the restore justice symposiums. Content Creator @CoinAcademy; Pres. I don't think I have the vision to see it. He is 5 feet 7 inches tall ( Approx1.7 m). I mean, I guess I had a kind of low estimation of men and what they were like. And the thing that I noticed in particular about him was that whenever there was an issue going on - and, of course, inside prison, there's all kinds of issues - and if we would have to sit down to solve a problem, Earlonne was the one who would speak up, cut through all of the baloney and get to the point. And it just puts you in a whole different space, you know? California Gov. The two established a rapport,[6] and Poor proposed the idea of creating a podcast to Woods, who had previously not known what a podcast was. You know, he calls me. And you've had two separate stays, and the last one lasted 21 years. Jerry Brown is releasing Woods from San Quentin State Prison after two decades behind bars. He became affiliated with a local Crips gang in high school, and began selling marijuana at 14, and later sold cocaine. And the captain comes in. Copyright 2019 NPR. Like, all of a sudden, you know POOR: We'll be like regular colleagues. Nigel first started going to San Quentin as a volunteer teaching photography. Redmond O'Neal is a voice actor, Hollywood celebrity, and Star Kid from the United States. When Earlonne was incarcerated in San Quentin, he and Nigel Poor started the podcast Ear Hustle. He is now 47. I felt like in Earlonne I found a true professional colleague. And the assumption is that what you did at that moment is what you are today even though it's five years, 10 years, 20, 30 years later. Earlonne Woods is co-creator, co-producer and co-host of Ear Hustle from Radiotopia. Earlonne still co-hosts the show alongside Nigel. I'm Terry Gross. In 2016, it was selected by the Radiotopia network as the winner of its Podquest competition, and the following year released its first season. It mentally puts you in a whole different space. And Jerry Brown was then the governor of California. Wake up to the day's most important news. And you also spent time in solitary, where it's very hard to stay sane. But it was just - it was spectacular. She first started working at San Quentin in 2011 as a volunteer in the Prison University Project, teaching the history of photography. "When. And I was paroled when I was 23, about to turn 24. I've never felt scared or disrespected. Ear Hustle is a non-fiction podcast about prison life and life after incarceration created by Earlonne Woods and Antwan Williams, both formerly incarcerated, and Nigel Poor, an artist who volunteers at San Quentin State Prison. And so (laughter) it was just incredible. Nigel first went to San Quentin as a volunteer teaching photography. [8] Galen Beebe's review for The Atlantic called it a "brilliant series" which "return[s] some of the humanity that the carceral system removes and provide[s] a link between inmates and outsiders. POOR: It is a different world over there. Tyra got arrested first for kidnap and robbery, and she was sentenced to 17 years. [12] On October 19, 2021, co-hosts Poor and Woods released a book on the podcast, This Is Ear Hustle. Tyler had missed a court appearance, so he feared that he would be locked up. Why we living like we don't care - because this is somehow how we grew up and how - since as early teenager we've been living in the streets, in the gangs. Earlonne Woods was released from San Quentin in November after his sentence was commuted by Governor Jerry Brown. They grow up literally., In Browns letter announcing the commutation, the governor echoed that thought, saying Woods has clearly shown that he is no longer the man he was when he committed this crime., He has set a positive example, Brown wrote. So you can't wear blue, which is what they wear. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Woods, 47, was recently released from San Quentin State Prison after California Gov. Yeah - the butcher cutters. E WOODS: So I think that goes into, like, what they call politics in prison and where, you know, you may have certain prisons that it matters what you're in prison for like - and it's a difference on a race level. And they won't get that opportunity to present the person that they are today. And I'm not even talking about physically intimate, but just emotionally intimate is against regulations. You know, when I was out for the two years 10 months, I raised Tyler, you know? "[15], The New Yorker's Sarah Larson said the show "might be the best new podcast Ive heard this year" and described it as being "about the creativity required to live a satisfying lifeor even a sane lifein prison, and is itself a product of that creativity. And one of my goals has been for us to travel to other prisons, and I never wanted to do that without Earlonne. Our technical director and engineer is Audrey Bentham. It destroys hope, and it violates the principle that redemption is at the essence of what it is to be human. Ive been taking showers for like 20 years.. She co-created the podcast with Woods and has co-hosted and co-produced it with him. What's it like to not care about the person who you're robbing or the person who might be killed by a stray bullet? [16] In 2021, Woods and Poor co-authored the book This Is Ear Hustle. And I always wore black. After a break, we'll hear and talk about excerpts of two episodes of Ear Hustle, one about a death that was devastating for Earlonne, the other about an interview that raised serious ethical questions for Nigel. You have to wear the same clothes all the time. Earlonne Woods is the cocreator, coproducer, and cohost of the Pulitzer-nominated podcast Ear Hustle. Woods and Poor cohost the show while Williams does the show's sound design, working in San Quentin's media lab to record music and effects, including foley work. I wouldn't spend time in a place that made me uncomfortable or I didn't like. And then what worries me is, like, so people will leave with this very, like, I love this guy. E WOODS: It was devastating because I had - one, I had just talked to Tyler, like, probably the day before. I don't (laughter) take them for granted. SHAPIRO: That's Earlonne Woods from the podcast "Ear Hustle." They struck him 19 times, killing him. And I think - I didn't - I didn't become accustomed to the lifestyle of working or having a job, you know? GROSS: That people can change and that you should look at the person and not just the crime - that you'd still be in prison, I mean? But I took way more from that person than $1. [17], Last edited on 21 December 2022, at 04:36, "Host Of The Prison Podcast 'Ear Hustle' Reflects On His 27 Years Behind Bars", "After parole, podcast producers are turning skills learned in prison into paying gigs", "Prison-produced podcast 'Ear Hustle' lets you listen to real stories of incarcerated life", "The story of "Ear Hustle", a podcast made by prisoners at San Quentin", "Podcast on prison stories wins PRX backing", "California inmate Walter 'Earlonne' Woods takes unlikely path to freedom: A popular podcast called 'Ear Hustle', "With eyes on the inside, 'Ear Hustle' makes the big time with its look at prisoners", "Earlonne Woods, Co-Host Of 'Ear Hustle' Podcast, Gets Prison Sentence Commuted", "San Quentin's Breakthrough Prison Newsroom", "This Is Ear Hustle: Unflinching Stories of Everyday Prison Life", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Earlonne_Woods&oldid=1128635338, This page was last edited on 21 December 2022, at 04:36. 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