WERS, Emerson Help Highlight Boston in 100 Words

There are many ways to tell Boston’s story. On Saturday, May 2, 2:00 pm, WERS 88.9 FM will  showcase several of them.

WERS is a media sponsor of Boston in 100 Words, a writing contest modeled after a global initiative that originated in Santiago de Chile in 2001, and the first to take place in the United States. In November, all Boston residents were invited to write stories of no more than 100 words depicting everyday life their communities, and the winners will be announced by WERS afternoon DJ Phil Jones Saturday on Facebook Live.

“Our mission at WERS is all about bringing our Boston community closer together through music, performance, and the arts,” said Ali Dorman Fernandez, Associate Director of Underwriting and Corporate Support for the station. “We also have tremendous pride when it comes to the talent of our Emerson student staff. It’s kismet when this all intersects in a project like Boston in 100 Words.”

Boston in 100 Words was founded by Jane De Léon Griffin, an associate professor of modern languages at Bentley University, with the help of the Boston Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture. But Emerson has its fingerprints all over the project.

In addition to WERS’ Jones hosting the awards ceremony, seven Emerson students created artwork to illustrate some of the winning stories, which will be exhibited in MBTA stations and in trains and buses.

And Creative Writing MFA student and 2019 Boston Poet Laureate Porsha Olayiwola was one of three judges to evaluate the entries (other judges were novelist Gish Jen and WGBH host Callie Crossley).

The grand prize winner will join WERS Morning Host George Knight on Monday, May 4, at 9:15 am, and read their story on air.

Nicole Bae ’20, a Business of Creative Enterprises major and WERS creative services coordinator, was one of the 10 or so Emerson students who designed posters for the project – in fact, Bae recruited many of the Emerson designers.

She was randomly assigned a story entitled “Freedom Trail,” about a girl walking into the city from Dorchester. She called the story and the project as a whole, “heartwarming.”

“I think it’s really fun. It was a great opportunity for me, too, because [the illustrations] are meant to go on the MBTA, which is so crazy as a college student to have that opportunity,” Bae said.

“I’m really grateful to work on it.”