A talented and dynamic speaker, Hannah Bergstrom de Leon closes the October 2023 Blaze Your Trail show with her story about the fruits of pushing yourself out of your comfort zone. Angie, Jeremy, and Shane chat about anti-imposter syndrom, curling, and the nature of time in this final episode of Season 7.

Story Show veteran Jen Vogt-Erickson returns to the show with a story about multiple generations of her family. Many of Jen’s ancestors came to the US during the latter half of the 19th century and settled on land in Minnesota and the Dakota Territory due to the Homestead Act of 1862. These are the people she thought of when she first heard the theme “Blaze Your Trail.” At the time she was also reading a book on climate change called The Parrot and the Igloo and noticed how it intersected with this period and her family’s history in the U.S.

It’s the early ’70s, and four bright high school boys with a passion for chess are faced with a challenge: How to compete for a Minnesota state high school chess championship when you have no coach. Kelly Callahan shares how he and his friends did just that in a time when students had a little more freedom than they perhaps do today.

In this episode from our October 2023 Blaze Your Trail show, a college student shares a tale of reckless adventure that quite literally sent him over the edge. Looking back, he discusses how the adrenaline rush of that moment has since given way to a valuable life lesson: there are more important--and less physically dangerous--risks to take in life. Be ready to laugh as you listen to this story about growing up, learning from mistakes, and finding balance between thrill-seeking and wisdom.

In the fourth story from our October 2023 Blaze Your Trail Story Show, educator Monica Ocampo shares her story about navigating through the public education system, college, and graduate school as a Latina and the first in her family to attend college in the U.S.

Award-winning educator Burke Egner encourages everyone to embrace their inner unicorns and ”be the one” with this children’s story about the power of overcoming fear and accepting oneself.

Innocent mistakes from our youth sometimes remain with us decades later, inspiring us to re-evaluate both our past and present actions. In this episode, Scott Pirsig returns to Story Show for Season 7 with another wilderness story, this time exploring the tension between our healthy engageent in nature and the inevitable impacts we make upon it. Jeremy, Angie, and Shane chat about the story first and remind listerners of the upcoming December 15, 2024 submission deadline for the February 8, 2025 show.

In the opening story from the October 2023 ”Blaze Your Trail” Story Show, a retired teacher reflects on the routines that shape our lives and her post retirement efforts to seek and blaze new trails for herself.

Bev Cotter Jackson returns at our January 2020 Pass the Plate Story Show with a story about growing up in Albert Lea in a time when much of what appeared on the supper table was a little wild (squirrel anyone?) and certainly not purchased at the grocery store.

In this season’s final episode, Shane talks about the creation of the Food for Backpacks Program (the beneficiary organization for the Pass the Plate Story Show) as an introduction to the show’s closing story by Janece Jeffrey. ”Nothing on the Plate” was inspired by a real student of Janece’s shrugging with food insecurity. Check it out here.

Only twice have we featured poets on the Story Show. This episode features the playful poetry of 11 year old Zachary Heiken.

In this story from our January 2020 Pass the Plate Story Show, chef and musician Bob Tewes shares this piece of fiction about need, service, and shared meals.

Jeff Zoller is a man who sees life through the lens of food. Prepared yourself for laughter as you listen to this story from our January 2020 Story Show.

Often the difference between a young person ”making it” or not is having a relationship with a mentor, a special adult who invests time and attention into that child’s life. ”My Uncle Luke” is a story about such a relationship.

While language and cultural barriers can make connecting with strangers challenging, sharing food often helps bring us together. Angie, Shane, and Jeremy chat about the power of shared meals before introducing world traveler Ross Pirsig‘s story about globe trotting and sharing food with new friends. Ross‘s story was recorded at the January 2020 Pass the Plate Story Show,

Our long-delayed second episode for season 6 comes from our January 11, 2020 Story Show recorded at the Marion Ross Performing Art Center in Albert Lea, MN.  In "The Anatomy of Giving,"  Jane Bute shares memories of her stepson, Derek and asks us to reflect on legacies, on what we leave behind.

So much has happened since our last release. Season 5 ended in early January, and now we're looking at distance learning, mass work stoppages, social distancing, and quarantining across the globe. While we adjust to all of this new stuff, The Story Show Podcast is asking listeners to submit audio recordings sharing how they're dealing with things. Angie, Shane, and Jeremy chat about this and share details on how to submit your pandemic stories in this first episode of season 6

Jeremy and Angie chat with Janece Jeffrey, a storyteller from the summer 2019 Light My Fire Story Show. Check out the interview and her story here. 

Ralph Waldo Emerson famously suggested that we should say what we mean today, and if we change our minds tomorrow, say it again just as passionately even if we sound like hypocrites. In other words, have an open mind because you might learn a thing or two and change a few major opinions over the years."A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines," he said. The trouble is that it takes a great deal of self-awareness, humility, and courage to publicly own our inconsistencies. This episode's story comes from a teen who did just that in her story from our July 2019 Story Show.

Most of could easily name four or five people who have given our lives shape, either as children or somewhere along our journey as adults. In this episode, veteran storyteller Bev Jackson Cotter shares a series of vignettes highlighting influential women in her life.