This now sweet, small-town guy from Whitehall, IL (yes, I’ve never heard of it either) was once self-admittedly not-so-sweet, living in one of two opposing worlds: having no self-worth whatsoever or the mindset of, “I’m better than everybody else.”

 Listen as Terry starts the pod stating his mother gave birth to him, was married and widowed before the age of 16. This premature start and the immediate absence of his alcoholic, biological father set Terry up for a tough road. This road included, but was not limited to, a daughter he discovered when she was 6, a Hepatitis C diagnosis, multiple incarcerations, failed relationships, seeing his partner overdose and die beside him from “body bag dope” he bought a few times a week (not his rock bottom) and watching history repeat itself in a son. A son that is angry and placing blame on his dad. Terry and I have a back-and-forth on the likelihood and reality of passing on the disease to your children. Terry isn’t sure he was born with alcoholism or drug addiction but for certain he says he suffers from moreism. His sobriety and the people who helped get him to where he is today: gainfully employed, relatively healthy and in love, is not lost on Terry. His tears and gratitude are very apparent in this brutally courageous conversation. 

I’d like to thank this episode’s sponsor Illini Pella Windows & Doors of Champaign. At 1001 N Country Fair in Champaign you’ll find the brand synonymous with quality in windows and doors. Pella is one of America's most trusted names for replacement windows, entry doors and sliding patio doors. Visit their showroom on Country Fair Drive or call (217) 356-6474. Pellaofchampaign.com has all the information you need for planning. 

Thank you so much for listening! However your podcast host of choice allows, please positively: rate, review, comment and give all the stars! Don’t forget to follow, subscribe, share and ring that notification bell so you know when the next episode drops!

Also, search and follow hyperlocalscu on all social media. If I forgot anything or you need me, visit my website at HyperLocalsCU.com. Byee.

A Mahomet athlete, turned bartender, turned soldier, turned law office personnel, turned Reiki Practitioner, turned sound healer, turned real estate entrepreneur turned wife and mom (and not necessarily in that order) has lived a thousand lives. Amanda uses hard work, serenity and a mindset of evolution as the basis for her personal growth. 
 
 Listen as Amanda tells me about carrying crystals in her pocket during basic training, choosing a (mobile) home as a place to spread seeds over planting roots, changing the trajectory of her life after a DUI, learning from failed and abusive relationships, marrying the nice guy, the challenges of being a new mom and what the majority of this episode focuses on—holistic modalities. Holistic modalities!? ASMR, crystals, meditation, Reiki, sound healing and yoga. Amanda will play a variety of instruments that create healing, meditative sounds much like the ones you’ll hear in the increasingly popular ritual of sound baths. These sounds make me MELT, and I hope you’ll find them hypnotic, too. Amanda is the most fascinating mix of assertive and sweet, soft spoken and spirited.

I’d like to thank this episode’s sponsor Illini Pella Windows & Doors of Champaign. At 1001 N Country Fair in Champaign you’ll find the brand synonymous with quality in windows and doors. Pella is one of America's most trusted names for replacement windows, entry doors and sliding patio doors. Visit their showroom on Country Fair Drive or call (217) 356-6474. Pellaofchampaign.com has all the information you need for planning. 

Thank you so much for listening! However your podcast host of choice allows, please positively: rate, review, comment and give all the stars! Don’t forget to follow, subscribe, share and ring that notification bell so you know when the next episode drops!

Also, search and follow hyperlocalscu on all social media. If I forgot anything or you need me, visit my website at HyperLocalsCU.com. Byee.

An East Coast transplant has landed in our town to change the lives of those struggling with addiction. Passionate, smart and well versed in the complexities of the addict mind, Ozie has trudged through many treatment paths. From his own alcohol-ism to alcohol-wasm, he has educated himself on how to help others and pursued careers that do just that. 

 Listen as Ozie takes me through the buried traumas of his youth, the unavoidable genetic component that killed his dad, high school years fueled by liquor stashed in his locker, multiple failed marriages and gambling losses that started in his elementary school bathroom. In spite of all the ongoing personal destruction, Ozie made his way through higher education (getting drunk and lost on his way to graduation) and many careers helping others solve their own problems. He put himself through multiple treatment programs, denial and lies, wearing a sign that says, "I'm a Baby" in one program and cleaning ashtrays, sweeping and getting coffee at addiction meetings. Listen as he talks about going from the crack house to the White House, figuratively speaking, in the week's sweet and sassy episode.

I’d like to thank this episode’s sponsor Illini Pella Windows & Doors of Champaign. At 1001 N Country Fair in Champaign you’ll find the brand synonymous with quality in windows and doors. Pella is one of America's most trusted names for replacement windows, entry doors and sliding patio doors. Visit their showroom on Country Fair Drive or call (217) 356-6474. Pellaofchampaign.com has all the information you need for planning. 

Thank you so much for listening! However your podcast host of choice allows, please positively: rate, review, comment and give all the stars! Don’t forget to follow, subscribe, share and ring that notification bell so you know when the next episode drops!

Also, search and follow hyperlocalscu on all social media. If I forgot anything or you need me, visit my website at HyperLocalsCU.com. Byee.

An Atwood-born, Arthur adjacent, former Amish congregant talks candidly about leaving the church at age 11 with her immediate family. Why? In broad terms, her parents wanted to emphasize the family’s relationship with God and worry less about the stringent rules set forth by the church. 

 Listen as this fearless young woman confidently explains why the rules: using a riding lawnmower, going to a play, taking part in meals with people outside the church led to ex-communication until a formal apology is issued. Gayle talks about how she just wanted to be like everyone else, how her family was bad at being Amish, how you had to earn the right to know her history, how her remaining Amish grandparents are still her favorite people, the FASCINATING custom of Rumspringa and how the retention rate, despite the strict rules, remains high in the community. Clothing, education, food, marriage, technology and woodworking are all discussed. Listen up to learn about a mysterious community so close to us yet light-years away.

🎅📷 🎅📷I’d like to thank this episode’s sponsor, Pixels by Emily. Pixels by Emily is hosting a FREE and EXCLUSIVE (are there two better words?) Christmas in June event on Thursday, June 29th and Friday, June 30th at her NEW Mahomet Studio, 704 E. Franklin St., in Mahomet. Here, Santa will be surrounded by decked halls, yummy treats and a personalized frame for each child to take home. Listen to Santa’s tales from his summer vacation on the 9:30 and 10:30 hour. Feel free to pop in when you can. Make sure your name is on Santa’s nice list before the event! Visit pixelsbyemily.com/storytime-with-santa to register!🎅📷 🎅📷

I’d like to thank this episode’s sponsor Illini Pella Windows & Doors of Champaign. At 1001 N Country Fair in Champaign you’ll find the brand synonymous with quality in windows and doors. Pella is one of America's most trusted names for replacement windows, entry doors and sliding patio doors. Visit their showroom on Country Fair Drive or call (217) 356-6474. Pellaofchampaign.com has all the information you need for planning. 

Thank you so much for listening! However your podcast host of choice allows, please positively: rate, review, comment and give all the stars! Don’t forget to follow, subscribe, share and ring that notification bell so you know when the next episode drops!

Also, search and follow hyperlocalscu on all social media. If I forgot anything or you need me, visit my website at HyperLocalsCU.com. Byee.

My dad's childhood friend and townie in the truest sense of the word, Steve Flynn, and I talk about his family's involvement in the Deluxe Restaurant. This 1935 billiards and bar establishment is now home to Legends on Green Street in our beloved campustown. 

 Listen as one generation tells the other about a time when everyone knew your name, neighborhoods were neighborly and safe and food was fresh, fast and sought after. The Deluxe fish sandwich was the backbone of this restaurant. Steve's dad literally gave everything he had to ensure its success. He was shot right outside the building, never fully recovering. Many years later, after the building was sold, Steve made the fish sandwich at his backyard parties and various restaurants in the hopes of finding a way for the sandwich to live on without compromising taste and quality. This has been a road with lots of misses, according to Steve, as it's a delicate balance that Steve knows through years of practice in both prep and taste. Steve has finally landed on packaging the dry ingredients to ensure the concoction is just right. Tune in for a ride down memory lane.

I’d like to thank this episode’s sponsor Illini Pella Windows & Doors of Champaign. At 1001 N Country Fair in Champaign you’ll find the brand synonymous with quality in windows and doors. Pella is one of America's most trusted names for replacement windows, entry doors and sliding patio doors. Visit their showroom on Country Fair Drive or call (217) 356-6474. Pellaofchampaign.com has all the information you need for planning. 

Thank you so much for listening! However your podcast host of choice allows, please positively: rate, review, comment and give all the stars! Don’t forget to follow, subscribe, share and ring that notification bell so you know when the next episode drops!

Also, search and follow hyperlocalscu on all social media. If I forgot anything or you need me, visit my website at HyperLocalsCU.com. Byee.

My husband and dog whisperer, Andrew Harrington, and I talk in about our overly anxious and under trained mini-Australian Shepherd, General Heppenheimer Harrington aka Hep. 

 Listen as two townies tell their revisionist sides of history regarding who wanted to bring a puppy into the fold, who trained or improperly trained the canine, who considers him a comrade and who considers him an enemy, who endures the wrath of his spite poops and exactly how many people has he bit? Tune in for some tales of a dog who only remains in our house because my husband is loyal—to a fault.

I’d like to thank this episode’s sponsor Illini Pella Windows & Doors of Champaign. At 1001 N Country Fair in Champaign you’ll find the brand synonymous with quality in windows and doors. Pella is one of America's most trusted names for replacement windows, entry doors and sliding patio doors. Visit their showroom on Country Fair Drive or call (217) 356-6474. Pellaofchampaign.com has all the information you need for planning. 

Thank you so much for listening! However your podcast host of choice allows, please positively: rate, review, comment and give all the stars! Don’t forget to follow, subscribe, share and ring that notification bell so you know when the next episode drops!

Also, search and follow hyperlocalscu on all social media. If I forgot anything or you need me, visit my website at HyperLocalsCU.com. Byee.

This Malaysian beauty may not look like her neighbors within small town Homer. However, she is fully embedded in the community and close-knit culture of Midwest Americana. From mompreneur to marketing maven, Nicole has been more than busy. This summer she, and many others, have decided to take a step back and slow down.

 Listen as Nicole talks about looking different than her childhood classmates, how she handles the haters, growing a thriving online boutique business and a loyal community of women from the ground up, why our generation is scared to stop, slow down, lose followers, likes, momentum. Why do we feel guilty for not constantly producing, creating, pushing forward? Nicole also teases a new venture that has flexed her marketing muscles. Finally, Nicole talks about a miscarriage that made her dive deeper in her faith in order to cope, heal and grow.

I’d like to thank this episode’s sponsor Illini Pella Windows & Doors of Champaign. At 1001 N Country Fair in Champaign you’ll find the brand synonymous with quality in windows and doors. Pella is one of America's most trusted names for replacement windows, entry doors and sliding patio doors. Visit their showroom on Country Fair Drive or call (217) 356-6474. Pellaofchampaign.com has all the information you need for planning. 

Thank you so much for listening! However your podcast host of choice allows, please positively: rate, review, comment and give all the stars! Don’t forget to follow, subscribe, share and ring that notification bell so you know when the next episode drops!

Also, search and follow hyperlocalscu on all social media. If I forgot anything or you need me, visit my website at HyperLocalsCU.com. Byee.

A long-ago St. Louis area transplant now has roots deeply embedded in our community. She has seen first hand how coaches, schools, parents and the youth in our area can lift you up when you are down. Share a kind word. Spread a message. Keep one young man's name alive and well so that your biggest fear following the loss of a child isn't realized--that child being forgotten.

 Listen as Prudence talks about the tragic accident that caused her to lose her only son and first born exactly three years ago to the date of this podcast's release. She openly and honestly and bravely discusses developing unhealthy habits to pound down her pain, doing the work in therapy and developing healthy coping skills, Drew coming through dreams and earthly signs when she needed him to say, "I'm OK," realizing that she can do hard things--impossible things, that relationships come before to-do lists, how to console someone who is grieving in the most effective way and why she in no longer irritated when someone calls her strong. Resilient. Brave.

I’d like to thank this episode’s sponsor Illini Pella Windows & Doors of Champaign. At 1001 N Country Fair in Champaign you’ll find the brand synonymous with quality in windows and doors. Pella is one of America's most trusted names for replacement windows, entry doors and sliding patio doors. Visit their showroom on Country Fair Drive or call (217) 356-6474. Pellaofchampaign.com has all the information you need for planning. 

Thank you so much for listening! However your podcast host of choice allows, please positively: rate, review, comment and give all the stars! Don’t forget to follow, subscribe, share and ring that notification bell so you know when the next episode drops!

Also, search and follow hyperlocalscu on all social media. If I forgot anything or you need me, visit my website at HyperLocalsCU.com. Byee.

Blue Ridge School graduate, Retired Sergeant in the U.S. Army, stay-at-home dad turned Community Outreach Coordinator and Student Recruiter for the University of Illinois Chez Veterans Center tells his story of a post-September 11th war with humor and zero regrets.

 Listen as Garrett talks about 130-degree days in full body armor, marrying his now wife of 17-plus-years on a whim just days before deployment, trying to build relationships with Iraqis while never knowing a good guy from a bad guy with an AK-47 and how it wasn’t uncommon for women and children to literally become human bombs in the name of their religion. In a few months Garrett would see and experience more pain than most will see in a lifetime, yet he lives with no regrets. He lights up when he talks about coaching at area schools, his daughters and his wife, local attorney, Sami. He tears up when he talks about a fellow soldier and friend who could never recover from the injuries that Garrett sustained in an ambush—a severely broken jaw and a lost arm. His friend, Sonny, blamed himself to the point of no return. Through all this pain and remembrance, he still maintains a positive disposition as he recounts the way he always has to face the door at a restaurant in an effort to maintain vigilance. As Memorial Day approaches, think of Garrett and all other soldiers who fought for our freedoms—some returned forever changed and some never returned. 

I’d like to thank this episode’s sponsor Illini Pella Windows & Doors of Champaign. At 1001 N Country Fair in Champaign you’ll find the brand synonymous with quality in windows and doors. Pella is one of America's most trusted names for replacement windows, entry doors and sliding patio doors. Visit their showroom on Country Fair Drive or call (217) 356-6474. Pellaofchampaign.com has all the information you need for planning. 

Thank you so much for listening! However your podcast host of choice allows, please positively: rate, review, comment and give all the stars! Don’t forget to follow, subscribe, share and ring that notification bell so you know when the next episode drops!

Also, search and follow hyperlocalscu on all social media. If I forgot anything or you need me, visit my website at HyperLocalsCU.com. Byee.

This Champaign-based father and son (in-law) duo shares much more than business ventures. At the time of this recording, Dan and Greg were celebrating their 2nd year “kidneyversary.” When Greg’s kidneys were poisoned because of an undiagnosed prostate issue, family and friends around the globe stepped up to help in many ways.
 
  Listen as they retell the story of Greg’s dramatic health decline. A previously energetic and youthful Greg shares the moment things went down, literally, as he was dancing the Cha-Cha at a wedding and could not get up after “going down low.” From that point many diagnostic tests and complications would lead to complete kidney failure. His son-in-law would ultimately be a willing match for a kidney transplant. These entrepreneurs talk about the importance of faith, family, selflessness, fear of the unknown and putting your ultimate trust in a higher power.  You can hear the respect from Dan as he talks about protecting the patriarch of the family. You can hear the relief from Greg as his body and spirit continue to heal from months of poor health. When you are a mover and shaker and your energy is zapped, it’s hard to accept the change of pace. Both men show vulnerability and a true love of family in this story with a happy ending.

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I’d like to thank this episode’s sponsor Illini Pella Windows & Doors of Champaign. At 1001 N Country Fair in Champaign you’ll find the brand synonymous with quality in windows and doors. Pella is one of America's most trusted names for replacement windows, entry doors and sliding patio doors. Visit their showroom on Country Fair Drive or call (217) 356-6474. Pellaofchampaign.com has all the information you need for planning. 

Thank you so much for listening! However your podcast host of choice allows, please positively: rate, review, comment and give all the stars! Don’t forget to follow, subscribe, share and ring that notification bell so you know when the next episode drops!

Also, search and follow hyperlocalscu on all social media. If I forgot anything or you need me, visit my website at HyperLocalsCU.com. Byee.