All Episodes

Jennifer Griffith, Host of "About your Mother" Podcast and Author of Both Sides of Then: Finding Love After Abandonment, recalls learning at the age of 13 that her mother had an 18 year old son she had given up for adoption.

Allie Costa. actor, writer, director and singer, recalls being five years old and getting her first role without having to audition.

Dana Hall, award winning playwright and mental health therapist, recalls being 8 years old and watching a tree she loved get cut down.

Will Sonheim, writer, filmmaker and improvisationalist, recalls a disastrous 8th grade birthday party where he tried to recreate and film his own "Whose Line is it Anyway?"

Rabbi Allen Secher recalls the early anti-semitism he suffered and how he consequently became a Civil Rights and Social Justice advocate.

J.S. Puller, Chicago playwright and author, recalls an early acting experience playing "Hans Solo" for a grade school production and how it inspired.a lifetime of fan fiction and original storytelling.

David Kovacs, Co-founder of the Chicago Interfaith Family School, tells the powerful story of enduring the suicide of his father as a 14 year old boy, and finding strength through a loving partner and shared religious faith..

Jim Kleinmann, Artistic Director and co-founder of the playwright incubator PlayGround, recalls driving the Staten Island Ferry as a ten year old.

Gaby Iori, publicist at Quirk Books, recalls how receiving the Sacrament of Reconciliation in front of her second grade classmates started years of OCD.

Katie Todd, award winning elementary music educator & children’s music artist, recalls being inspired by the creative leadership of Mr. White, her second grade teacher.

Martin Ross, a nonprofit leader, recalls the advantages/disadvantages of growing up with an identical twin brother.

Alex Kingsley, writer and game designer, recalls being in third grade, feeling isolated, and how their participation in a "Destination Imagination" program changed their perspective.

Ken Tang, the first Vietnamese refugee elected to the Alhambra Unified School District Board of Education, recalls being a child, fleeing Vietnam on a fishing boat that was attacked by pirates.

Victoria Oltarsh, author of "The Boy and the Secret of the Stars," recalls being 8 years old and walking in the Easter Parade on 5th Avenue, much to the chagrin of her Jewish mother.

Lisa Lindsley, former investment banker turned shareholder activist, recalls being 8 years old and having her cousin returned to an orphanage by her aunt and uncle.

Jill Hopkins, Director of Civic Events and New Media for Metro Chicago and Gman Tavern, recalls a 5th grade fight with a friend over New Kids on the Block, and how she learned the power of words.

Eric Horvath, VP for Community-engaged Investing at Earlystone Management, recalls a traumatic simulation of the Ellis Island experience while in 5th grade.

Bob Bossie, a 56 year member of the Priests of the Sacred Heart, recalls the moment he suddenly understood his calling, after partying morning, noon, and night in California.

Mullissa Willette, President of Service Employees International Union 521, is devastated when her parents refuse to allow her to be double promoted from 3rd to 5th grade.

Tammy Fisher, owner of The Pleasure Principles, recalls being in 6th grade in Austin, TX, and being bussed across town to help desegregate the school system.

John Chisum, President of the Nashville Christian Songwriters, recalls moving from Birmingham, AL to Memphis, TN during the turbulent 1960's & his first interracial date.

Jay Rehak, author, animator and podcaster, recalls being frightened by a horror movie and his father's zen-like advice.

Allie McRaith, Chicagoan & worldwide nomad, recalls the moment her mother, suffering from cancer, would never fully recover.

Woody Rini, Spiritual Advisor & Recovering Addict, recalls being 12 & having his pastor tell him he was responsible for his 17 sister going to hell.

Vonda Brunsting, long-time labor & community organizer, recalls being 8 years old when her uncle lost part of his foot in a factory accident.

Hannah Rehak, improvasationalist, podcaster, recalls making friends with a girl at a Summer Camp who later revealed that she believed all gay people went to hell.

Ben Joravsky, Chicago Reader Investigative Reporter, Author, and Host of the Ben Joravsky Show Podcast, recalls one of his earliest experiences as a writer. (He was in fifth grade)

Caleb Frankel, co-founder of Early Bird (a financial technology company), recalls moving 20 times in a short period of time after his parent's divorce.

Gayle Petrillo, career and confidence coach, consultant, author and speaker, recalls suffering burns over 40% of her body when she was 2 and 1/2 years old.

Ellie Moller, publishing priestess, creative writer & clothing designer, recalls becoming bulimic at the age of 18, after absorbing the offhanded comments of an aunt.

Jon Taber, host of the podcast "Audit 15 Fun", recalls being 10 & experiencing the tragedy of his 13 year old brother's drowning & the aftermath of not being able to fully talk about it.

Hope Rehak, comic, teacher, writer, recalls being recruited by a classmate to attend religious fundamentalist summer camp when she was in third grade, and how it cost her a friendship

Harker Jones, LA screenwriter & former managing editor of "Out" magazine, recalls a childhood vacation on Mackinac Island, where a caricature artist labels his sister "cute" and him a "clown" and how those images haunted him for years.

Tina El Gamal, artist, educator & arts administrator in Chicago, recalls being seven and having her mother accidentally drive off without her and the lesson she learned of self-reliance

Dr. Kaci, Licensed Mediator, Life & Sex Coach, recalls being a teenager, and her mother trying to kill her.

Russ Klettke, business writer, recalls a grade school essay contest in which he zagged instead of zigged, and how that decision has influenced his career choice and writing style.

John Lee Dumas, founder & host of Entrepreneurs on Fire podcast, recalls a ski trip he took with his father when he was 8, and the impact it's had on his life.

Alanna Bennett, screenwriter & culture writer, recalls being in fourth grade and living out of a Portland, Oregon motel with her mother, two cats and a hot plate.

Molly Dunn, disabled writer and co-host of the podcast, Ketamine Insights, recalls her seemingly devout Catholic grandmother revealing why she hadn't been to confession in 35 years.

Jeff Salidor, Day Trader and Pattern Technician, recalls his father's first words, after Jeff returns home following his mother's cancer diagnosis.

Timothy Bernard Felton, actor, comedian, relates his rom-com experience that ended a bit differently than expected.

Keyante Aytch, Co-founder and President of Sunbend Solar, recalls a childhood full of Power Rangers

Mark Renz, retired Chicago Public School History teacher & administrator, recalls Ms. Marian Hesek, the 3rd grade teacher who inspired his lifelong career.

Thom Clark, Co-founder of the Community Media Workshop, recalls his arrest and trial for destroying draft cards during the Vietnam War.

Michelle L. Holleman, Highland Park City Councilwoman, recalls becoming a Brownie in first grade, thanks to the efforts of her community minded mother.

Tom Avitabile, Founder of the Online Academy of Creative Skills, recalls landing a job at NBC at the age of 14.

Dr. Philip Neely, Career Law Enforcement Officer, recalls how running track saved him from criminal behavior.

Marty Pick, Retiree and former Program Director for Chicago's Hull House, recalls attending the 1952 Democratic National Convention at the age of 12.

Travis Koury, ceramics teacher, recalls being 14 years old and committing a subversive act in response to his mother's demanding boyfriend.

Thomas Liebert, MacAlester grad and family friend, recalls finding "historic" artifacts from his childhood home in Albany and linking the experience to his international travels.

Randy Richardson, President of the Chicago Writers Association, recalls making an odd choice after learning of his parents' impending divorce.

Bill Ayers, educator & author, recalls being a 10 year old and having his idyllic suburban childhood profoundly shaken by the suicide of an 18 year old neighbor.

Kennedy Baldwin, Chicago writer, improviser and actor, recalls leaving a high school swimming class and being told by two of her friends she wasn't Black because she didn't struggle with her wet hair.

Anna Munson - Carpenter, an ICU nurse and former perfectionist, recalls freezing during a viola solo in high school.

Bree Lind, actor & writer from Seguin, TX, recalls a blow to the head during her first ride on a horse.

Ed Dziedzic, retired teacher, recalls how two harmonicas he inherited changed his life.

Michelle Gunderson, Early Childhood Educator & Union Activist, discusses the importance of adults not having "Childhood Amnesia."

Kathy Kelly, International Peace Activist, recalls her first childhood love and how that person has circled back into her life.

R DUB!, AKA "The Sultan of Slowjamastan" and the creator & host of Sunday Night Slow Jams, recalls breaking into radio at the age of 15, thanks in part to his supportive mother.

Dr. Duane Davis, Educator & Executive Director of K12 Education Initiatives and My Very Own Library at the University of Chicago, recalls interviewing for a business internship though the Inroads Program.

Kenzo Shibata, Union Activist and Teacher, recalls resisting recruitment in a gang when he was in 4th grade.

Zaya Odish, Physical Therapist Aide, recalls immigrating to the Unites States when he was nine.

Timothy Troy, filmmaker, (Crazy Little Monster Productions) recalls not making the baseball team as a player in high school and the valuable lessons he learned from the experience.

Eli Boyer, family friend, recalls being physically removed from his home in the middle of the night on Father's Day during his difficult teen years.

Nina Slesinger, co-host of the Podcast "Nina, Hannah & Emily in Paris," tells the story of creating a music blog as a teenager & the boldness of her "Almost Famous" experiences.

Lawyer Darfour describes his journey from the South Side of Chicago to International Construction Management.

Dr. Efrain Martinez, Middle School Principal & host of the "Wisdom & Productivity" Podcast, describes discovering why his mother mistreated him throughout his childhood and his journey to forgiving her and himself.

Kristel Bauer, Wellness Expert, recalls visiting Austria as a little girl, and learning how to communicate with relatives through play.

Kaelin A. Vu, Host of the Dear Lovely Universe Podcast, recalls being abandoned at the age of three by her mother.

Eva Lopez, New York based Communication Strategist, recalls being eight years old and visiting a market in Mexico to buy a live chicken.

Kelley Gessner, Product Manager for a web app, recalls her first "time out" in first grade; a "time out" she did not deserve.

Doctor Joyce Kenner, Principal, Whitney M. Young Magnet High School in Chicago, recalls the values she learned working at her parents' record store as an 11 year-old in Dayton, Ohio.

Jay Rehak, author, activist, music producer, is arrested at 16 as an accomplice to a crime, but is given the "Benefit of the Doubt" as a consequence of white privilege.

Doctor Wilma Turner, author of Every Day Racism in America & the Power of Forgiveness, recalls integrating her high school.

Jeff Holden, host of the "In Your Words" podcast, recalls being bullied about his weight when he was in grade school.

Roy Huff, Science Fiction author and educator, tells the story of learning his father was gay and HIV positive.

Scott Suma, author, minister and retired teacher, speaks of the profound influence his barber, a World War II veteran, had on him.

Mollie Glazer, professional cellist & music teacher, recalls her early training and how those experiences have impacted the instruction she provides to her students.

Stuart Blatt, TV and Movie Production Designer, on the "Hippie Aunt" who taught him to value painting your own refrigerator and creating "outside the box."

Eileen O'Farrell Smith, Lifelong social justice advocate, remembers vomiting her First Communion host.

Orlando Piedra recalls the difficulties of emigrating to the United States from Cuba as an eleven year old.

Jay Rehak, teacher, author, activist, host of "Tell Me What Happened," explains how surviving a fall from a cliff when he was 7 years old has given him a sense of invulnerability, purpose, and surreality.

Hamlet, an award winning musician, tells the story of growing up without people to call "mom" and "dad" and how other adults in his life helped him emotionally survive.

Alina Celeste, award winning children's singer and YouTube personality, discovering at the age of 15, that her mother was a real person, and not the saint she believed her to be.

Julie Biehl, Clinical Professor of Law, Director of the Children and Family Justice Center &Interim Associate Dean for Clinical Education of the Bluhm Legal Clinic, recalls being raped at her first dance.

Jay Rehak, teacher, author, activist, host of "Tell Me What Happened," remembers challenging his 4th grade teacher and the price he paid for it in a memory he calls,"All that for a bag of chips."

Jay Rehak, teacher, author, activist, host of "Tell Me What Happened," details his first fight with "One Hand on the Mailbox."