Twenty Third and East Union is near the geographical center of Seattle. It's a short trip from downtown, the University District and the parks on Lake Washington.

It's just one corner in one Seattle neighborhood, the Central District. For decades, it's been a center for Seattle's African American community. Now, like other neighborhoods in this city, it's changing.

Newcomers - many of them white - have moved in. Housing prices have shot up. Now neighbors, old and new, are struggling to find their place in this changing community.

Twenty-Third and Union is a corner in flux. What's not visible here? How can listening and speaking to one another transform and deepen our experience of a place?

The Corner is an experiment in community story telling. It's a public radio documentary created with the people who make 23rd and Union part of their lives.

From June-August 2009, The Corner opened up a phone line and asked people to call in, listen to stories, and share their own. Callers left more than 200 messages. Their stories collectively depict a rich and complicated place.

Some stories aired on KUOW 94.9 Public Radio and Hollow Earth Radio. You can listen to all the stories on this Web site, where they'll be preserved permanently.

The Corner: 23rd and Union is supported by Public Radio Maker's Quest 2.0, an initiative of AIR, the Association of Independents in Radio, with funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Our hope is that media producers and community groups will find this project useful and will steal our ideas.

Starting in June 2009, a monumental art installation featuring larger-than-life photographs of neighbors beautified an empty lot on the southwest corner of 23rd and Union. Learn about and see photos of the installation at 23rd and Union here.

Transom Special Feature

The Corner Technical Guide

Project Director/Audio: Jenny Asarnow
Photographer: Inye Wokoma / Ijo Arts
Visual Art: Handsome Murals
Artists: NKO, 'Scratchmaster' Joe Martinez, No Touching Ground, David Rauschenberg
Web site: Anna Callahan
Software Engineer: Joseph Sheedy
Editor: Jim Gates
Production Assistants: Ann Kane, Emily Eagle
Voicemail Host: Yirim Seck

'Bunch of Changes,' Black On White Affair (V. Lewis; C. Law; R. Hill)
Published by Lamplighter (BMI). Courtesy of Audio Recording, Inc. and Light In The Attic Records
Taken from the compilation 'Wheedle's Groove: Seattle's Finest in Funk & Soul 1965-75'

'East Union Street Hustlers,' Ice Cold Mode
Courtesy of Merciful aka Moorpheus of dRED.i

'Farewell to Them All' and 'My Dance is an Orbit,' Alaskas
Courtesy of Dillon James Rego

'Infamous intersection gets some good news,' KING5
'Art installation tries to tell Central District intersection's story,' Seattle Times
'The Corner: 23rd and Union,' KUOW's The Conversation
'Neighborhood Watch:An interactive art installation records a city in transition,' Seattle Metropolitan Magazine
'Opening Celebration for The Corner,' Central District News
'23rd and Union: 'It's a powerful corner,' SLOG

Thank you to everyone who has offered support and advice throughout the creation of this project. Special thanks to Arvid Hokanson, Amber Kai Morgan, Jones Franzel, Willow Fox, Vaughn Bell, Jordan Bell, Joan Rabinowitz, Garrett Kelly, Forrest Baum, Carmen Santos, John Funderburk, Chris Black, Saviour Knowledge, Trevor Griffey, the Umojafest PEACE Center, Blackpast.org, Alex Kostelnik, Kenyatto Amen, Light in the Attic Records, Alaskas, Ingrid Lakey, Sue Schardt, Julie Drizin, Lu Olkowski, Kara Oehler and the whole MQ2 community, and everyone at KUOW, 4Culture, Hollow Earth Radio and the Big Blue House. This wouldn't have happened without you.

Volunteers: Smurf, Aron Schoppert, Sean Scott, Devin Kelly, Jessica & Lindsey Brockish, Cappy's Boxing Gym, Catherine Spengler

Donors: Davis Sign Company, The RE Store, Limback Lumber, Earthwise, Urban Press, Central Cinema, Kall8

Thank you to JC Mueller for donating use of its property on 23rd and Union.