800 Miles from Ground Zero: 9/11’s Impact on Central Illinois is a four-part podcast series that
documents how people currently living in the Champaign-Urbana (CU), IL area experienced September
11, 2001. Uni High School students collected perspectives from community members who lived in CU,
New York, and Washington on 9/11/01, members of the local Muslim community, veterans who fought in
Iraq and Afghanistan, university experts and anti-war activists to uncover how 9/11 influenced our
understanding of U.S. foreign policy, our local efforts at “homeland security,” and how those efforts both
divided and brought a nation together.

Several UUCUC members are connected to the project. Melissa Schoeplein serves as the Project Director for Uni High and Kimberlie Kranich serves as Project Director for WILL-Illinois Public Media. Angela and Daniel Urban are featured as interviewees and share their experiences serving in the military post-9/11.

800 Miles from Ground Zero: 9/11’s Impact on Central Illinois begins on Monday, September 11, with
new episodes available each Monday on the Illinois Youth Media website.

The series includes four podcasts:
 
– 7:46 CST (9/11/23 release date)
– The Frontlines: War and Protest After 9/11 (9/18/30 release date)
– Liberty vs. Security: Domestic Policy Post 9/11 (9/24/23 release date)
– Whispering As-salaamu Alaikum (10/2/23 release date)

Comments or questions about the series may be directed to Melissa Schoeplein, mschoepl@illinois.edu