All Y'all Podcast

***This story contains adult subject matter and listener discretion is advised.***

Sometimes the job that you're assigned to do just isn't the job that you end up doing.

When journalist Maya Lau was 24 years old, she enlisted in the Peace Corps, envisioning herself taking a hands-on role in improving the lives of others through - as the Peace Corps puts it - "imparting technical expertise abroad." But, once she arrived in Senegal, language barriers and other difficulties kept Maya from realizing her idealized notion of global citizenship. In "Technical Skills," a story from the March 2015 All Y'all live storytelling event "Ladies Night," Maya tells how she impacted the lives of local women in a way that she'd never expected.

We've all had our "low points" on the job, moments when we were caught unprepared or off guard and we let our employers - and ourselves - down. Storyteller Wesley Hall Parker, who shared a story during the June 2015 All Y'all live storytelling event "Brush With Fame," experienced a Christmas Eve workplace crash-and-burn of epic proportions while working as a gift wrapper at San Francisco's Green Apple Books. As the title of her story implies, her workplace meltdown included some celebrity cameos.

We've all had our "low points" on the job, moments when we were caught unprepared or off guard and we let our employers - and ourselves - down. Storyteller Wesley Hall Parker, who shared a story during the June 2015 All Y'all live storytelling event "Brush With Fame," experienced a Christmas Eve workplace crash-and-burn of epic proportions while working as a gift wrapper at San Francisco's Green Apple Books. As the title of her story implies, her workplace meltdown included some celebrity cameos.

To hear someone say that they believe in life after death is one thing. To hear someone say that they have experienced life after death is another matter entirely. Stephen Price, who shared his vivid recollections of the afterlife at our August 2015 live storytelling event "O.M.G.," reminded us just how fragile our lives really are.

To hear someone say that they believe in life after death is one thing. To hear someone say that they have experienced life after death is another matter entirely. Stephen Price, who shared his vivid recollections of the afterlife at our August 2015 live storytelling event "O.M.G.," reminded us just how fragile our lives really are.

Have you ever played a video game in which you saw the world from the perspective of your character, and you wielded some type of gun or weapon to fend off enemies as you explored the world of the game? If you have played such a video game, congrats - you’ve enjoyed a technology that was born in Shreveport, Louisiana. At the June 2015 All Y’all live storytelling event “Brush With Fame,” storyteller Stephen Vekovius shared the story of Softdisk and Id Software, two game-changing companies that were born in downtown Shreveport.

Episode photo "Softdisk-mailer" by Dtobias at English Wikipedia - Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons by Liftarn using CommonsHelper.. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Softdisk-mailer.png#/media/File:Softdisk-mailer.png

Have you ever played a video game in which you saw the world from the perspective of your character, and you wielded some type of gun or weapon to fend off enemies as you explored the world of the game? If you have played such a video game, congrats - you’ve enjoyed a technology that was born in Shreveport, Louisiana. At the June 2015 All Y’all live storytelling event “Brush With Fame,” storyteller Stephen Vekovius shared the story of Softdisk and Id Software, two game-changing companies that were born in downtown Shreveport.

Episode photo "Softdisk-mailer" by Dtobias at English Wikipedia - Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons by Liftarn using CommonsHelper.. Licensed under Public Domain via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Softdisk-mailer.png#/media/File:Softdisk-mailer.png

In this special edition of the All Y'all podcast, we are proud to share a story by Bossier City native and friend of All Y'all, Al Bohl. "E.M. Bounds Sees Jesus" (that's our title, not Al's) was recorded at Al's home - it was not recorded at a live event. The story recounts a very bizarre week in the life of a young singing evangelist and chalk artist. We'd never even heard of Christian chalk art before Al shared his story, but apparently it's a thing

In this special edition of the All Y'all podcast, we are proud to share a story by Bossier City native and friend of All Y'all, Al Bohl. "E.M. Bounds Sees Jesus" (that's our title, not Al's) was recorded at Al's home - it was not recorded at a live event. The story recounts a very bizarre week in the life of a young singing evangelist and chalk artist. We'd never even heard of Christian chalk art before Al shared his story, but apparently it's a thing

When Eman Bader stepped onto the stage of the Woman's Department Club in Shreveport to share her story during "All Y'all Live: Ladies Night" on March 14, 2015, we - Sara and I, co-organizers of the event - were holding our breath a little bit. This was a story that we wanted to see succeed.

During the weeks leading up to an All Y'all event, we meet with storytellers to help them fine-tune their stories and develop the confidence needed to face the crowd. We'd met with Eman several times, and, even in the days immediately leading up to the event, she seemed intimidated and more than a little nervous. When she walked out onto the stage, however, all of that changed. Our audience heard first-hand what it was like to grow up as a devout Muslim woman in the Deep South in Eman's candid, touching and outrageously funny story, "Best Hair."