Hey, I’m Jason. But more importantly, meet my mother, Isabell. I’m not in the best mood for this introduction, because she raised me to be ambitious and selfless, which means she’s also raised me to be… overwhelmed. With life. But not to worry, my mother also knows exactly what to say to pull me out of a rut, which she does every Sunday, when I roll up to her house for our weekly visit.

My Mother Made Me is a production of Radiotopia Presents, and is written and narrated by Jason Reynolds with his mother, Isabell Reynolds. The series is produced by Mark Pagán and edited by Julie Shapiro, with production support from Yooree Losordo. Julie Shapiro and Audrey Mardavich are Executive Producers for Radiotopia Presents. Special thanks to Levar Burton. Cover art by Jason Griffin. Theme song by Christian Reynolds. Mixing, sound design and additional original music is by Ian Coss. This episode was recorded at WAMU.

Radiotopia Presents debuts limited-run, artist-owned series, from new and original voices. Learn more and access transcripts at radiotopiapresents.fm and discover more shows from across the Radiotopia network at radiotopia.fm.