True stories of everyday people

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Paul Francis Smith

Paul Smith grew up in a Navy family. In the 1960’s when he was a teenager they moved from Athens, Georgia to Monterey, California. Paul talks about the challenge of fitting in and learning to be true to himself.

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.

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...

Joseph McDonald

Joe McDonald talks about learning to ride a horse and eating most meals in the resort restaurant while living in Clifty Falls Park during his childhood in the 1940s.

Belinda Fong

An Unexpected Thanksgiving. Belinda, a recent immigrant from Australia, tells how overcoming an early hearing loss increased her love of music and her appreciation of other kinds of people.