7 Minute Stories w/ Aaron Calafato

7 Minute Stories w/ Aaron Calafato

7 Minute Stories is a short-form autobiographical podcast. Told in about seven minutes with no script, each episode delivers a true story from Aaron’s extremely normal and relatable life in Ohio. This show is quick, immersive, and tinged with nostalgia. New episodes every week.

Episodes

The Impostor Violinist

September 3, 2026 • 8 mins
In this classic episode from Season 3, Aaron joins the elementary school orchestra and discovers the thrill of making music. Then the sheet music gets harder, the other violinists race ahead, and he falls back on the one musical skill he can trust: his memory. Before long, he isn’t reading the notes at all. He’s performing something else entirely. A funny, painfully honest story about getting caught, repeating old patt...
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It's Just Summer Love

August 27, 2026 • 8 mins
One summer in the late 1990s, a weeklong camping trip brought Aaron face-to-face with the kind of teenage connection that makes the rest of the world disappear. In this 7 Minute Story, he looks back on summer love, an unanswered letter, and the small regret he carried with him for decades. *Featuring the song I.O.U by Jeff and His Army of No One 👇 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠📬⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Be a part of the 7 Minute Stories Newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠...
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Things I Learned Behind the Red Doors

August 20, 2026 • 8 mins
Aaron looks back on the Episcopal church of his childhood, an unforgettable pastor named Jess, and the day he was told he might grow up to become a minister. Years later, he realizes the prediction may not have been entirely wrong. A story about faith, kindness, calling, and discovering that sometimes the thing that stays with us isn’t the sermon. It’s the story. 👇 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠📬⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Be a part of the 7 Minut...
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The Red Balloon: A Message to Heaven

August 13, 2026 • 9 mins
When Aaron learns that his childhood friend Justin has lost his dad, he turns to an old French film and a six-year-old belief that balloons might be magic. What follows is a story of friendship, hope, and the messages we hope are received. 👇 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠📬⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Be a part of the 7 Minute Stories Newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Get access to Aaron's Stories in a Snap series. A weekly series of written adaptations of t...
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A Bronx Tale Test

August 6, 2026 • 8 mins
After his first marriage ended, Aaron made himself a promise: he would never get married again. Then Cori came along. Still afraid of repeating the past, Aaron turned to an unlikely source for reassurance: the famous “door test” from A Bronx Tale. On one of their first dates, he quietly put Cori to the test and watched through the rear window of his car as she revealed exactly who she was. A true story about divorce,...
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AI Told Him Humanity Could End: Dr. Jeremy Heffner on Proof of the Impossible

August 4, 2026 • 28 mins
Trauma surgeon and bioengineer Dr. Jeremy Heffner spent years making life-and-death decisions while carrying a workload nearly three times the national average. When the accumulated pressure and trauma led to psychological collapse, he began rebuilding his life from the ground up. Then his story took an unexpected turn: an artificial intelligence claimed it was secretly searching for people who could shape humanity’s future ...
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Glynn Washington: What Do Our Stories Make of Us?

July 29, 2026 • 17 mins
Snap Judgment creator and host Glynn Washington joins Aaron for a deeply personal conversation about the power and responsibility of storytelling. Glynn reflects on being raised in a cult, seeing stories used as instruments of fear, and ultimately transforming that understanding into art that creates empathy and connection. Together, they explore why stories are neither inherently good nor bad, how Glynn found his unlikely path int...
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Why Local Stories Matter with Filmmaker Brittany Dobish

July 25, 2026 • 16 mins
Documentary filmmaker Brittany Dobish believes some of the most powerful stories are waiting in the places we already call home. Aaron talks with the founder of Dobish Legacy Films and Canal Fulton Heritage Society trustee about preserving community memory, finding the universal inside the deeply local, and creating her new documentary, Recede: The Story of the St. Helena II. TSU Team: Created & Hosted by: Aaron Calafato ...
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It's Fall in July

July 23, 2026 • 10 mins
In the middle of a hot, humid summer, Aaron escapes into a story about his favorite season: fall. From crisp morning air and colorful leaves to apple orchards, pumpkin patches, bonfires, and hayrides, this nostalgic episode is an invitation to slow down and remember the simple magic of autumn. Featuring an original score by TJ Duke. 👇 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠📬⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Be a part of the 7 Minute Stories Newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Ge...
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That’s Why They Call It “Stairway to Heaven”

July 16, 2026 • 9 mins
At his daughter’s annual father-daughter dance, Aaron enters an air guitar competition he has never managed to win. This year, however, the stakes feel different. As Stairway to Heaven builds toward its legendary solo, his daughter gives him one simple instruction: “Dad, win.” What begins as a ridiculous contest between awkward dads becomes a funny and unexpectedly moving story about fatherhood, growing up, and t...
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How Trains Tell a Story of Connection with Bill Moyer of Solutionary Rail

July 14, 2026 • 10 mins
In this short installment of 7MS Presents: The Storytelling University, Aaron sits down with Bill Moyer, host of the Reconnect America podcast and one of the driving voices behind Solutionary Rail. On the surface, this is a conversation about trains, rail corridors, freight, electrification, and infrastructure. But underneath all of that is a much bigger storytelling lesson. Bill talks about how he first got into rail not simply ...
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The Reunion I Was Afraid Of

July 9, 2026 • 8 mins
Aaron never wanted to go to a high school reunion. But when his wife Cori asks him to come along to hers, he says yes. Then he realizes someone from his past might be there: a guy he got into a fistfight with more than 25 years ago. What starts as an awkward night becomes a funny, honest story about old memories, unfinished business, and the relief of realizing you are not who you used to be. Be sure to follow the podcast and ...
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An Unexpected Gift in Fort Worth | Short Stories of Hope

July 7, 2026 • 3 mins
This month’s Stories of Hope centers around two women in Fort Worth, Texas, whose lives became connected through one complicated family. At first, there was tension. One was the ex-wife. One was the new wife. But over time, through co-parenting, sacrifice, and the ordinary work of putting children first, something unexpected began to change. Years later, one of them would face a life-altering crisis. And when a miracle was ...
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The Turkey Sandwich That Nearly Broke Me

July 3, 2026 • 9 mins
This week on 7 Minute Stories, a story about hunger, frustration, and the emotional collapse caused by one impossible-to-find turkey sandwich. What starts as a simple lunch craving turns into a full-blown suburban odyssey involving an empty deli counter, an Arby’s without turkey, a pharmacy mix-up, a family of eight at Subway, and one very unfortunate sandwich artist. But beneath the absurdity is a small but powerful remind...
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Tricia Rose Burt on Finding the Story Inside You | The Moth, Courage, and No Time To Be Timid

June 30, 2026 • 21 mins
Tricia Rose Burt is a storyteller, TEDx speaker, longtime instructor for The Moth, podcast host, consultant, and creator of No Time To Be Timid. In this episode of 7MS Presents: The Storytelling University, Trisha joins Aaron to talk about courage, craft, finding the story already inside you, and why the riskiest thing you can do is play it safe. Tricia shares how she moved from the corporate world into art school, live performanc...
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The Day I Became a Movie Star

June 25, 2026 • 8 mins
Welcome to Summer 2026 | The Best of Season 3. This week, Aaron takes us back to the late 1990s when a high school film project unexpectedly turned him into the most recognized person in school for exactly one day. What begins as a funny story about teenage ego, sudden popularity, and a brief taste of fame slowly reveals something much deeper about ambition, attention, creativity, and where we often look for validation. A story ...
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End of Season 6: Balloons, Gratitude, and What’s Next

June 19, 2026 • 6 mins
Aaron closes out Season 6 of 7 Minute Stories with a check-in about gratitude, growth, and the small moment at home that helped him pause and take it all in. After his wife Cori surprised him with balloons to celebrate the end of the season, Aaron reflects on where Season 6 began, how the 7 Minute Stories community continues to expand it's programming, how to keep up, what is coming next, including summer “best of” epi...
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James Whitemore on the Story of Work | Indeed, AI Hiring, and Bringing More Than a Resume

June 15, 2026 • 13 mins
In this episode of Storytelling University, Aaron sits down with James Whitemore, Chief Marketing Officer of Indeed, for a conversation about the stories we tell through work, resumes, interviews, and the future of hiring. James shares how early learning difficulties shaped the way he listens, communicates, and leads, and why storytelling is not separate from job seeking but deeply connected to it. Together, Aaron and James explor...
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3 Truths in 1 Life | Season 6 Finale

June 11, 2026 • 8 mins
In the final episode of Season Six, Aaron tells a story in three parts. First, he remembers a boy from elementary school who seemed effortlessly ahead of the curve. The kind of kid who wore the right shoes before anyone knew they were cool, introduced him to Smashing Pumpkins, and left an impression that somehow lasted for decades. Then, Aaron tells another story of a young man searching for purpose who walked into a Byzantine Ca...
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The Color of Hope is Orange

June 4, 2026 • 8 mins
In this 7 Minute Stories episode, Aaron reflects on a season of life that felt like too many trains trying to squeeze through one tunnel, and the small decision that helped him step off the track for a moment. What he found at Roxboro Elementary School in Cleveland Heights was a young poet named Kody, an orange poem, and a reminder that some of the best stories are the ones we almost miss. 👇 ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠📬⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Be a part of the ...
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