6-minute Stories

South Carolina writer and genealogist Paula Teem Levi shares a story of her great-grandmother, “fetched” to help the mothers-to-be in the Poe Run holler in West Virginia.

In this bonus episode, North Carolina writer and portrait artist Arlene Mandell remembers two fathers of her career—admiration and inspiration, of course, but also her father and Grandpa Moe.

Forty years after arriving South from Massachusetts, a North Carolina writer and photographer reflects on losing his innocence of assumptions and being awakened to an awareness of race realities in a changing South.

In keeping with the theme of “That Southern Thing,” podcast host Randell Jones shares in this bonus episode the story of how the first day of thanksgiving by English-speaking settlers happened in Virginia two years before the Pilgrims had their celebrated day. Wishing you and yours a safe and happy Thanksgiving.

At Thanksgiving and in gratitude and love for the life of her late sister who charmed the world as “Clancey, the Clown,” North Carolina writer and poet Karen Luke Jackson shares selected excerpts from her tribute chapbook, “Grit” in this bonus episode. Karen’s writing for “that Southern Thing” appeared previously this season on July 22.

a rage exploded inside me

North Carolina writer Lauren Summers recounts in spoken word her encounters with overt racism among her peers throughout her schooling. (This episode includes brief explicit language and racial epithets.)

North Carolina poet, writing teacher, and retired English professor Ken Chamlee recalls an early encounter that sharpened his thinking about language and perception and “Southern.”

“6-minute Stories” Podcast producer and host Randell Jones claims the prerogative of the platform to share on Veteran’s Day a bonus story from April about his father’s experience in World War II. His father, Dennis, celebrated his 96th birthday on Monday, November 9. Thank a veteran today.

This is a shorter story, a bonus episode offered for our enjoyment by Landis Wade, producer and host of Charlotte Readers Podcast. He shares his thoughts on the care and keeping of a strong Southern tradition—the handshake.

This North Carolinian, who didn’t know he could write a good story until he tried, shares a memory of his own transition out of boyhood at a price he could afford, a memory with a priceless lesson for us all.