All Y'all Podcast

During the second half of our July 2016 storytelling event, “I Fought The Law,” we featured stories from three attorneys who shared an insider’s perspective of our complex legal system. Our last storyteller of the evening, Meghan Shapiro, moved to Louisiana in 2013 to practice death penalty defense law in a place with greater need than most. From 2010 to 2014, more people were sentenced to death per capita in Caddo Parish than in any other parish or county in the United States.

Meghan has almost exclusively represented poor individuals charged with capital crimes or sentenced to death, a cause to which she has been heavily devoted since her teens. This story is about her first death row client.

Hi All Y’all! Sara here with a quick update. In addition to hosting our last live storytelling event in November, Chris and I have been hard at work building a new show for All Y’all. It’s called Stuffed & Busted, a podcast that takes an irreverent look at food in Shreveport and Bossier City as well as the fascinating folks who grow, cook and serve it.

I wanted to share the first segment from our second Stuffed & Busted episode, exclusively, here with you. I hope you like it and if you do, please listen to the full 45-minute long episode and subscribe by searching for Stuffed & Busted in your podcast app of choice or at stuffedandbusted.com.

Hi All Y’all! Sara here with a quick update. In addition to hosting our last live storytelling event in November, Chris and I have been hard at work building a new show for All Y’all. It’s called Stuffed & Busted, a podcast that takes an irreverent look at food in Shreveport and Bossier City as well as the fascinating folks who grow, cook and serve it.

I wanted to share the first segment from our second Stuffed & Busted episode, exclusively, here with you. I hope you like it and if you do, please listen to the full 45-minute long episode and subscribe by searching for Stuffed & Busted in your podcast app of choice or at stuffedandbusted.com.

Few All Y'all storytellers have ever seemed so comfortable in the spotlight as "Momma and Daddy" storyteller Dr. Jaya McSharma. Jaya had our sold-out audience in the palm of her hand from the moment that she stepped onstage, eliciting roars of laughter and more than a few tears. Her story takes us inside an Indian-American family on the cusp of gaining a new family member.

Few All Y'all storytellers have ever seemed so comfortable in the spotlight as "Momma and Daddy" storyteller Dr. Jaya McSharma. Jaya had our sold-out audience in the palm of her hand from the moment that she stepped onstage, eliciting roars of laughter and more than a few tears. Her story takes us inside an Indian-American family on the cusp of gaining a new family member.

As one of the citizens leading the Stop The Burn movement near Camp Minden and a pastor, environmental activist and community organizer, Colonel Sam Mims is an impressive figure. When he took the All Y'all stage, we had no idea what Col. Mims was going to say. He delivered a fiery call to action fueled by his righteous indignation over what he sees as systemic failures of leadership in Louisiana. In his voice, we hear anger and exasperation, but we also hear love and hope.

As one of the citizens leading the Stop The Burn movement near Camp Minden and a pastor, environmental activist and community organizer, Colonel Sam Mims is an impressive figure. When he took the All Y'all stage, we had no idea what Col. Mims was going to say. He delivered a fiery call to action fueled by his righteous indignation over what he sees as systemic failures of leadership in Louisiana. In his voice, we hear anger and exasperation, but we also hear love and hope.

Storyteller Sarah Smith took the All Y'all stage in July 2016, during our live event entitled "I Fought the Law," to share her personal account of trial by fire. The first case that Smith ever took to trial during her time as a public defender turned out to be a maelstrom of media coverage, protests and social media outrage.

Much of the public has only heard one side of this highly publicized story, which involved accusations of animal cruelty against a young black man from Shreveport. In this episode of the All Y'all podcast, we present another perspective on this controversial case.

Storyteller Sarah Smith took the All Y'all stage in July 2016, during our live event entitled "I Fought the Law," to share her personal account of trial by fire. The first case that Smith ever took to trial during her time as a public defender turned out to be a maelstrom of media coverage, protests and social media outrage.

Much of the public has only heard one side of this highly publicized story, which involved accusations of animal cruelty against a young black man from Shreveport. In this episode of the All Y'all podcast, we present another perspective on this controversial case.

We first met Daniel Ukpabi on an unseasonably cold October morning at Shreveport Farmers' Market, where he was ladling out steaming bowls of spicy Nigerian stew and telling anyone who'd stop to listen about his fledgling not-for-profit organization, The Pacemakers. At the time, we were just beginning to plan All Y'all Live: "Momma and Daddy," and we walked away thinking: "Wouldn't it be great if he had a story about his parents?"

It turns out, he did. Daniel took the stage on Saturday, March 12 at Bossier Arts Council's East Bank Theatre and charmed the crowd with memories of his youth in Nigeria, a bumpy road to America and a father who wouldn't give up.