This Is Actually Happening

After spending much of his life trying to outrun the feeling of being trapped, a man’s violent kidnapping on a solo motorcycle trip through Mexico forces him to reckon with the fear, rage, and longing for freedom that have shaped him since childhood.

Today’s episode featured Gary Stauble. If you’d like to reach out to Gary, you can email him at ezinef@gmail.com. 

Gary is on Instagram @garystauble

Gary is on Fac...

A man grows up in a home defined by violence, secrecy, and fear, and decades later a deathbed confession confirms his belief that his father was responsible for the Chicago Tylenol murders, forcing him to reckon with a lifetime shaped by trauma and silence.

Today’s episode featured Joseph Cibelli. Joe is a former salon entrepreneur turned author, legal scholar, and forensic psychologist. He wrote The Tylenol Murders: ...

After decades of stability, a woman’s experience of menopause brings back a lifetime of buried symptoms and reveals an unexpected truth about her identity, forcing her to reexamine everything she thought she knew about herself.

Today’s storyteller wishes to remain Anonymous. If you’d like to reach out to her, you can email her at SunflowerSpark44@gmail.com. 

Producers: Whit Missildine, Andrew Waits, Elle...

After years working as a humanitarian aid worker in war zones and disaster areas around the world, a man is forced to confront the psychological toll of witnessing a broken world he could never fix.  

Today’s episode featured Gray Doyle.  If you’d like to email Gray, you can reach him at graydoyle@meetmeinzanzibar.com. 

You can purchase Gray’s book on his website, https://meetmeinzanzibar.com/.&...

After surviving the 2015 ISIS terrorist attacks at a Paris café, a woman begins the painful work of confronting buried childhood trauma and reclaiming a life she had never fully allowed herself to live.

Today’s episode featured Mandy Palmucci. You can email Mandy at mandypalmucci@gmail.com. 

Mandy is on Instagram @palmuccim  

Mandy is currently working on a book about her experience. 

When a family sailing journey ends in capture by child soldiers during Mozambique’s civil war, a man must protect his children while confronting the unsettling truth that his captors are both perpetrators of violence and children shaped by it.

Today’s episode featured Dave Muller. Dave has written about his experiences in a book entitled, “Not Child’s Play”, available where books are sold or at https://notchildsplay.c...

After overcoming addiction and rebuilding her life around motherhood, a woman's world is shattered when her son kills her daughter, forcing her to grieve one child while fighting to protect the other and learning how to survive an unbearable moral and emotional divide.

Today’s episode featured Charity Lee. If you’d like to email Charity, you can reach her at bawmedia@gmail.com. You can also find her on Facebook @IAmCh...

After the sudden death of his father leaves him drowning in guilt, a man unknowingly spirals into a manic break that strips him of his freedom, his relationships, and his grip on reality, forcing him to confront bipolar disorder and rebuild his life from the ground up.

Today’s storyteller wishes to remain Anonymous. However, you can reach out to him at anytom2020.t@gmail.com. 

Producers: Whit Missildine,...

After a lifetime of striving for control, a woman is thrust into unimaginable loss when a potentially catastrophic twin pregnancy collides with restrictive laws, forcing her to rebuild her life from the ground up.

Today’s episode featured Helen. Helen and her husband, Zach, began The Marigold Foundation, whose mission is to lead the way in providing financial aid to families that are facing a complex medical diagnosis...

When a son discovers that the man who raised him is capable of unimaginable harm, he is forced to become a whistleblower against his own father, risking his family, his identity, and everything he once believed to be true.

Today’s episode featured Kai Zen Bickle. To find out more about the legislation drafted with Child USA to close jurisdictional loopholes, specifically to ensure that evidence of sexual crimes commit...

After a white supremecist killed his father at a Sikh temple outside of Milwaukee, Pardeep Singh Kaleka pairs up with a former neo-Nazi to teach students about overcoming hate and finding forgiveness. 

Today’s episode was produced in collaboration with Pauline Bartolone, and was funded in part by UC Berkeley's Greater Good Science Center, as part of its "Spreading Love Through the Media" initiative, supported by ...

After killing a cyclist while driving drunk, a woman confronts the consequences of her actions and begins the long, painful work of rebuilding a life shaped by guilt and accountability.

Today’s storyteller wishes to remain Anonymous. 

Producers: Whit Missildine, Andrew Waits, Sara Marinelli

Content/Trigger Warnings: Drunk driving, Fatal accident, Death, Manslaughter, Substance abuse / alcoholism, Emotio...

After surviving a stranger’s shove into the path of a subway train, a man confronts his mortality and viral fame, and finds himself transformed by community, clarity, and the everyday poignancy of being alive.

Today’s episode featured Joe Lynskey. You can email Joe at upfromthetracks@gmail.com. 

Joe is on Instagram @lynskey.joe. 

You can find news articles about Joe and his DJ career at his link tree: ...

Growing up Black and queer in the South, a man finds an identity for himself through the arts and establishes a wonderful marriage with children, until one day, when his husband is late coming home, there’s a ring at the door and his entire life unravels.

Today’s storyteller chose to remain Anonymous.

Producers: Whit Missildine, Sara Marinelli

Content/Trigger Warnings: use of a derogatory racial slur, us...

From an idyllic childhood in communist Yugoslavia, as a teenager, Mirsad’s world becomes a living nightmare as the Bosnian War brings shelling, torture, murder and ethnic cleansing to his village, leaving deep scars that haunt and transform his life. 

Today's episode featured Mirsad Solakovic. If you would like to contribute to help the Solak Gym (a charitable organization) that Mirsad helped create, you can dona...

A mother struggles to raise her child through a series of chaotic relationships, when one day, as her daughter’s mental illness spirals out of control, an unthinkable decision will change their lives forever. 

Today’s storyteller asked to remain Anonymous. 

Producers: Whit Missildine, Andrew Waits

Content/Trigger Warnings: mental illness, self-harm, sexual abuse, suicide attempt, car accident, near...

After a traumatic childhood, a young woman spirals into mental illness and in her darkest moment makes an unthinkable decision that will change her family forever. 

Today’s episode featured Brittany. You can read more about Brittany, and her current life updates on her blog at becomingB.com.

Producers: Whit Missildine, Andrew Waits

Content/Trigger Warnings: mental illness, alcoholism, self-harm, sexua...

Growing up Muslim in the Middle East, a woman juggles the chaotic expectations of a severely abusive mother with her desire for self-expression; but when she comes into a sexual awakening, a secret world opens where a deeper healing awaits. 

Today’s storyteller chose to remain Anonymous.

Producers: Whit Missildine, Andrew Waits, Aviva Lipkowitz

Content/Trigger Warnings: domestic violence, domestic abuse o...

Struggling to prove himself and find his identity growing up, a man eventually builds a career and begins occasionally helping out a friend with his granite import business, when one day, the dangers of the job become all too real.

Today’s episode featured Mike Wolo. You can find him on Instagram @Titanium_Mike110. You can read more about his story, and see photos on his website TheOtherSideofTheRock.com, and you can ...