Diary of a Nation

Keith hopes to work again as a roofer and start his own business, but meth is in the way. Billie points to a passage in her Bible as she stresses obedience to God. Jeff insists the passersby who hurl fat insults no longer phase him. Johnny swallowed 25 sleeping pills, yet he’s alive. Remus lives with autism. Oklahoma is a stop along the way for Bubba as he makes his way to Cape Canaveral to help deter an asteroid.

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In 2011, Anthony Marquez deployed to Afghanistan with his dog Allie, who was trained to sniff out improvised explosive devices (IEDs). After seventeen fellow Marines died around him during the Battle of Sangin, Anthony and his brother Manny created a documentary to record a road trip during which they visited each family of the fallen Marines.

Oklahoma is home to more historic All-Black towns than any other state. At its height, there were more than 50 such towns. Today, there are 13.

Be advised. This interview contains graphic descriptions of war and death and violence and may not be suitable for all audiences. 

As a nurse practitioner, Karin Chen focuses on women’s health care. As a labor and delivery nurse, she has assisted children giving birth to children and women giving birth to babies they had to turn around and bury. Today, she practices in Lowell, Massachusetts, a Boston suburb. We discuss her career, her thoughts on the health care system and the path to healing personal pain.

Over the course of his careers as a police detective and an animal cruelty investigator, Steve Sprowl has seen the worst of humanity. He's a retired detective from the Rochester, NH, police department, where Sprowl spent 25 years. Today, he works as an animal cruelty investigator at the New Hampshire SPCA. Be advised, we discuss disturbing crimes and cases of animal cruelty in this interview.

War causes so much needless suffering, and Russia’s war with Ukraine is one distressing illustration. New Hampshire resident Marianna Lundberg grew up in Ukraine, in the port city of Odessa. Today, her mother and grandmother remain in Ukraine. In this episode, Marianna shares stories of her country and its people as they live in the midst of the Russian invasion. 

Carolyn Plummer has worked as a comic for nearly 25 years, and she's in the process of filming a sitcom pilot, "Finding the Funny". Later this year, she's slated to perform in Boston at "Comics Come Home", the longest-running comedy fundraiser in the US. I recently lured her into my basement for an interview. Look for Carolyn's upcoming shows at carolynplummer.com. More information on "Comics Come Home" at: camneelyfoundation.org/c...

Fred Marple is to New Hampshire what Garrison Keillor is to Minnesota. That is to say, Fred has a vivid imagination. Fred is an author, playwright, humorist, cartoonist, singer and songwriter. His most important role is serving as the official spokesman for Frost Heaves, a quaint New England town that flies under the radar, despite his half-hearted attempts to promote it. Listen as Fred and I share our love of his home state of New...

James Osborne is one of the coldest people to ever survive dry land hypothermia. He watched his friend die of the same fate during a winter hike in the White Mountains, and then James went unconscious himself. He left the hospital with several amputations, but the accident also led him to find love again. 

A New York woman climbed four of the famed Seven Summits but lost her life in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. The core body temperature of a New Hampshire man dropped to a record 76 degrees in an unrelated climbing accident that killed his hiking buddy on the same mountain range. 

The following episode contains explicit language and descriptions of disturbing incidents. My guest spent a decade in prison after he accepted a plea deal on drug conspiracy and gun charges. He went from stashing hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash under his bed at home to earning a few dollars a day in federal prison while managing over $200 million in military contracts. 

From opposing the death penalty despite the murder of his father to opposing nuclear power to defend the will of the people, the impact of Renny Cushing's activism reaches beyond the borders of his home state of New Hampshire. The state representative continues to dedicate his life to a wide range of social justice issues, but a diagnosis of prostate cancer is now making demands on his time.  Photo credit: Jim Cole, Associated...