True stories of everyday people
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Carol Bussell
Born in New York, Carol Bussell is a professor at IUPUI who uses stories in her teaching. She came to her Life Stories intervew with family artifacts, journals, diaries, photos, and most importantly books!
Lou Ann Homan
All that her three little boys wished for Christmas was a pony. But in order to raise the $75 dollars to pay for it their homesteading mother would have to bake THIRTY PUMPKIN PIES for Thanksgiving … with no electricity, no running water and a wood burning stove! This...
Gwen Althauser Betor
In this excerpt of Gwen Althauser Betor’s life story we hear how she is a survivor with a love of life, family and the poetry of the Hoosier Poet, James Whitcomb Riley.
Carol Ann Brown
Martha Annexton Karatz
After graduating from Northwestern with a teaching degree and working in England for a while Martha Karatz moved to Paris. There she landed a luxurious job as a private teacher for a wealthy family in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower. But how long could this last…?
Sherril Lyn Adkins
In the Summer of 1966 Sherril Adkins got a job as a waitress at Catfish King in Birmingham, Alabama. Having grown up on integrated military bases she had not yet experienced the racism of ordinary white folks of the South. When the restaurant would not serve an...
Megan McKinney Cooper
Megan McKinney Cooper tells how In the late 70’s after her parents’ divorce, her mother earned an MBA, moved the family to San Francisco, and she and her brother became “Latch Key Kids.”
Michael O’Brien
Michael Obrien talks about training to go to India with the Peace Corps in 1973, how growing up in a large family on a Wisconsin dairy farm helped prepare him for that work and how stories and language affect our world view.
Brendan Dean Burrow
Brandan Burrow tells about leaving home to escape harmful relationships and bad experiences. After meeting Sarah, his wife to be, he came to Indianapolis. and learned how to believe in himself.