Home. Made.
by Rocket Mortgage
Inside every home, there’s a story. Hosted by Stephanie Foo (This American Life, Invisibilia), each episode of Home. Made. explores the meaning of home and what it can teach us about ourselves and each other. Poignant, hilarious, provocative and downright unexpected, take a journey into the diversity of home in America. Listen to the stories of reclaiming segregated spaces, finding community after tragedy, coming back from rock bottom and more.Rocket Mortgage is an Equal Housing Lender. Licensed in all 50 states. NMLSConsumerAccess.org #3030. (833) 326-6028. 1050 Woodward Ave., Detroit, MI 48226-1906.
Episodes
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Chosen Family
Kim Ceurstemont always knew she wanted to be a mother. In her late 30s and still single, she opted to become pregnant through a donor. She planned to raise her son on her own, but wanted her child to know who their father was. So she chose a donor willing to share his identity. His name was...
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The Blind Surfer
As a teenager, Ling Pai had barely settled into her new home, in a new country, when she learned she was losing her sight. She’d been diagnosed with dominant optic atrophy, a degenerative condition with no cure or treatment. Her vision would continue to get worse with every passing year, until…
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House Managers
At one time, Robert and Dareda owned seven homes – including a massive lakefront property and a 50-acre farm. And then it all came crashing down. But that didn’t quite spell the end of their opulent lifestyle – or at least not the appearance of it. For the next decade, the couple occupied dozens…
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Love, Loss and Baking
Jazzmyn Cramer and Chris Phillips arrived in the desert outside of Chama, New Mexico, with plans to build a home and live a self-sustaining life together. But in a flash, a tragic accident changed everything. Suddenly, Jazzmyn found herself alone, broke, and in a town where she knew no one. She...
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Found In The Fire
Brandon Smith was raised by a family of public servants, but he felt like he was more of a public nuisance. A couple of wrong turns after college landed him in prison. While languishing in his cell, lost and unclear on what path to take next, a prison counselor offered him an opportunity…
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The Birwood Wall
As kids, Esther Boyd and Teresa Moon spent hours playing alongside – and sometimes on top of – the 6-foot-tall, half-mile-long wall that cut through their Detroit neighborhood. But the wall’s intended purpose was much darker. It was built to segregate their Black neighborhood from the white...
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There’s No Place Like Home. Made. Season 3
Stephanie Foo returns with six new stories of people who redefine the meaning of home in ways that may just change your own definition. Two Detroit women work to reclaim a historic landmark built by hate and fear. A prisoner finds purpose and belonging fighting California wildfires. A woman...
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Bonus Episode: The House Instagram Built
Back in our “Is There A Doctor In The Dollhouse?” episode, we met Kwandaa Roberts, a doctor who went viral on Instagram after renovating her daughter’s dollhouse. Now, we dive deeper into the impact that reality TV and social media have had on Kwandaa, interior design, and how we all see…
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Bonus Episode: Return of the Ghosts
In this episode, we have another spooky story to share. We talk to Victor Castro, a paranormal investigator, about the two ghosts he encounters in his home. He also provides some expert insight into Steve and Krista’s ghostly encounters from our “My Roommate, The Ghost” episode. As a “Home.…
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Electric Lady
Shana Turner was struck by lightning and survived, miraculously unharmed – or so everyone thought. In the years following her lightning strike, she began to experience some serious physical and mental side effects and struggled to cope. To make matters worse, some of her family and friends…
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Mattie And The Motorcycle
Growing up in the church, there were a lot of things Mattie Murrey was told she couldn’t do. But she was a rebel – and a daredevil, too. Mattie raced motorcycles all over rural Minnesota when she was young. As she got older, however, her religious community told her it was not acceptable. She had...
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The Lady Is A Saddle Tramp
When Shannon King’s marriage ended abruptly, she realized that somewhere along the way, she had forgotten her #1 priority: herself. She’d stopped doing the things she loved and lost her sense of self in a relationship that wasn’t working. Unsure of what else to do when everything fell apart,...
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One Thread At A Time
Two people find a sense of belonging through a shared hobby: sewing. First, a woman named Rona battles overwhelming social anxiety both inside and out of her home. After a particularly difficult episode, she receives an old sewing machine and decides to start trying to stitch her life back...
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The City I Live In
Two people learn to love their new homes. First, a young girl arrives in Los Angeles from war-torn Iran with her family, seeking refuge. Her life is quickly turned upside down when the LA riots tear through the city where she was supposed to be safe. As she struggles to cope with the unrest of…
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The Principal
When Michael Atkins’s daughter was born, he vowed to support his family and be the father he didn’t have growing up. This meant swallowing his pride and taking a school custodian job, when what he really wanted to do was to be a teacher’s aide. When Michael finally gets the chance to go from the...
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Moving Out Of The Living Room
Ismael Chamu says he was homeless before he was even born. His whole life, he and his family were constantly moving from town to town, living out of garages and vans. Ismael even wound up homeless while attending an elite college – until his story went viral, and he and his family found permanent...
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The Accidental Mayor Of Mobile City
Kenny Phillips once had it all. He held a prestigious, high-paying job as personal chef to baseball’s top player, Alex Rodriguez, and owned homes in Manhattan, Dallas and Miami. He rubbed shoulders with celebrities of all kinds – until a bad divorce meant he had to leave his luxurious lifestyle...
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Rez Ball
Quiana Dishface knew that going to high school off the Navajo Nation was her best shot at going to college to play basketball. On the reservation, where they played fast paced rez ball, she was a star player. At her new school, however, she faced racism both on and off the court – and she had to...
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Season 2 Coming Soon
Rocket Mortgage is an Equal housing lender licensed in all 50 states. NMLSconsumeraccess.org #3030 Stephanie Foo returns with a second season of 10 brand-new episodes. Follow along as Stephanie explores the meaning of home with people from across the country. Like the Native girl who takes her...
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Boots On The Farm
During his time in Iraq and Afghanistan as an Army Ranger, Jon Jackson completed six tours, was hit by over 20 IEDs and watched friends die right in front of him. Over time, he learned to dissociate and became numb to the horrors he witnessed. When he finally returned home, he found a new battle...
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My Roommate, The Ghost
Whether you believe in ghosts or not, most homes come with a past. But what would you do if your home’s past was haunting your present? In this episode, we’ll hear two stories about people who discovered they were not alone in the homes they’d moved into. After negotiating boundaries with an...
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Home After The Hurricane
Kim Ford loved her home in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans. She dreamed of spending her retirement on her front porch in her cast iron rocking chair, surrounded by grandchildren. For her, homeownership was a spiritual experience. But then Hurricane Katrina hit, and her family lost everything....
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The Artist Who Drew Himself Out Of Prison
When he was just 21 years old, Valentino Dixon was sentenced to 39 years to life for a murder he didn’t commit. When he first got to prison, he believed it’d just be a matter of time before he was exonerated, but as time wore on, he started to lose hope. Then, everything changed when his uncle…
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Like Father...
When Hrag Kalebjian agreed to take over the family’s coffee shop, he also saw it as an opportunity to finally spend quality time with his father, Henry – time he didn’t get when he was young and his dad was too busy working. But when Hrag starts making changes, Henry flips out. If they want the...
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Home. Alone.
In this episode: Two very different stories about communication issues, and how being home alone can become a catalyst for connection. In our first story, Audrey Murray finds herself in Shanghai – completely unable to speak Chinese. When she discovers the Magic Number, however, she finds she...
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The Landlady
Thirty years before, a mysterious woman rescued Shaheen Pasha’s family from homelessness when they arrived in New York from Pakistan. The Pashas never forgot that act of kindness from the woman they’d known only as “the landlady.” But now, as anti-immigrant sentiment overtakes the country…
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Why Won't You Be My Neighbor?
When Michael Wood-Lewis moved to Burlington, Vermont, he was excited to start a family and to meet his neighbors ... but they weren’t as eager to get to know him and his wife Valerie. So – long before Facebook – Michael built a community-based social network. And not only did it introduce the...
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The Man And The Mountain
In 1980, as Mt. St. Helens threatened to erupt, local officials evacuated the area. They had one problem: Local lodge owner Harry R. Truman refused to go. He said the mountain and the lake his lodge sat on were like his arms and legs, and if he left, he would die. But that’s what would happen if…
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Is There A Doctor In the Dollhouse?
Philadelphia doctor Kwandaa Roberts had it all: a thriving practice, a big house in the suburbs, two kids. But she harbored a secret dream to be an interior designer. Her chance came about when she renovated a dollhouse. And it went viral on social media. But then the pandemic happened, and…
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Introducing Home. Made.
Welcome to a new show about home, and what it can teach us about ourselves and each other. In 10 episodes, we'll hear unique and engaging personal stories about the pursuit of comfort and belonging, and the many different ways people define "home." Rocket Mortgage is an Equal Housing Lender....
About this show
Inside every home, there’s a story. Hosted by Stephanie Foo (This American Life, Invisibilia), each episode of Home. Made. explores the meaning of home and what it can teach us about ourselves and each other. Poignant, hilarious, provocative and downright unexpected, take a journey into the diversity of home in America. Listen to the stories of reclaiming segregated spaces, finding community after tragedy, coming back from rock bottom and more.Rocket Mortgage is an Equal Housing Lender. Licensed in all 50 states. NMLSConsumerAccess.org #3030. (833) 326-6028. 1050 Woodward Ave., Detroit, MI 48226-1906.
Hosted by
Rocket Mortgage
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