Stefen Robinson is a father, partner, musician, teacher, and revolutionary. He's also a pretty rad dude.

This is the season for graduation speeches. Here is one, of sorts, from a Next to Normal Story Slam at the McLean County Arts Center. Story Slam stories are true experiences and from the heart.

The latest Next To Normal Story Slam is about getting schooled, stories about education in the classroom and out.

People learn in classrooms. They learn from parents. They learn from friends. Sometimes painfully, they learn from life.

Stories told in the Next to Normal Story Slams each month at the McLean County Arts Center are often funny. This one not so much. It shows in a scary way that teaching can be full of the unexpected. Chris Belt is an English teacher at Normal Community High School. Seven years ago Belt was in school when a troubled teen took a classroom hostage and a shooting incident happened. Devon Lovell produces the Next to Normal Story Slam. Subscribe to the podcast to hear more stories. People like you

Many people will be flying for the holidays. Here's a story about airplanes, the way they used to be, taken from a recent Next To Normal Story Slam held at the McLean County Arts Center and produced by Devon Lovell. Kathy Davis is a former flight attendant. She's writing a book about her 35-year career called "Coffee, Tea, or Peas."

Here's a story of change, of resisting change, fearing change, realizing change, and then accepting it.

The Fourth of July holiday is all about mom and apple pie, as well as the nation's founding. Here is a different story of motherhood.