True stories of everyday people
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Ellen Marcy Rosenthal
Ellen Rosenthal tells of researching the history of her great-grandfather, Maurice Rosenthal, a Jewish peddler during the 1880’s; a challenging time for families living in the tenement apartments of New York City.
Kathryn Morgan Cimera
Kathryn Cimera tells about making one of the best decisions in her early life: participating in the Peace Corps in Thailand.
Frank Basile
Frank Basile talks about going to Santa Fe where he was able to thank a former teacher of fifty years ago, face to face, for encouraging him to overcome the fear of public speaking.
Dennis Paul Strickland
Beth, the babysitter, is nice but she does not know what four-year-old Paul wants for lunch when he asks for “Foffy.” So begins the quest for food and understanding.
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...
Ann O’Bryan
Ann tells of growing up in the small town of Somerset Kentucky; family camping, bike trips with her father, and her love of nature.
Frances Whitener
After a childhood in Martinsville, North Carolina, reading plays and dreaming of being a teacher of drama, Frances faced the frightening real life drama of serious heath issues. When Frances and her husband Rick came to Indianapolis they found job opportunities,...
Gwendolyn Julia (Judy) Kelley
Gwendolyn Kelley tells about seeing the change in Indianapolis during the civil rights movement and the legacy of her poem about Martin Luther King Jr., “The Dream In You.”
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.