Stories That Stay

What happens when early experiences of race and difference stay stored in the body?

In this episode, award-winning actor, writer, director, and activist Rain Pryor joins hosts Shamm Petros and Dwight Dunston. As the daughter of comedy icon Richard Pryor and Jewish activist Shelley Bonus, Rain reflects on growing up Black and Jewish in Beverly Hills—from being chased at age 5 to experiencing racial terror on her front lawn.

Together, they walk through Lion Story’s CLCBE framework to explore how trauma shows up physically, how systemic stress impacts long-term health, and how Rain uses creative art, theater, and intentional self-talk to nurture her inner child.

About Rain Pryor: Rain Pryor is an award-winning performer, author, director, and daughter of groundbreaking legendary comedian Richard Pryor. She created the acclaimed solo show Fried Chicken and Latkes and the upcoming play Pass the Matza. Learn more: https://rainpryor.com/ 

Key Topics Covered:

• Somatic Care Recognizing physical responses to stress, trauma, and untruth in the body.
• The CLCBE Framework Calculate, Locate, Communicate, Breathe, Exhale.
• Reauthoring Trauma Turning personal history into cathartic, creative art.
• Validating Research Connecting lived experience to epidemiological studies on racial stress and health.

Episode Timestamps: 00:00 Intro & Mindful Moment 02:00 Introducing Rain Pryor & Pass the Matza 04:44 Early Memories of Difference 07:52 Somatics, Exhaustion, & Health 12:30 Healing the Inner Child 15:24 The CLCBE Strategy & Science 20:55 Recalibration & Closing

Stories That Stay is a project of Lion’s Story, a nonprofit dedicated to building racial literacy through storytelling, mindfulness, and healing. Rooted in over 35 years of research by Dr. Howard C. Stevenson at the University of Pennsylvania, our work guides individuals and institutions to reclaim their stories, reduce identity-based stress, and step into authentic inclusion—not as a checklist, but as a way of being.

For a full video version of this podcast, visit our YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/@StoriesThatStayPodcast

Produced and edited by Peterson Toscano.
Mindful moment music by Dwight Dunston.
Music by Epidemic Sound.

Podcast site: StoriesThatStay.net

 Hosts: Shamm Petros and Dwight Dunston

How do our desperate desires to fit in impact the people who love us most?

In this episode of Stories That Stay, co-hosts Shamm Petros and Dwight Dunston sit down with Jeremy Keys—a musician, social media strategist, and the creator of the Philadelphia Eagles newsletter Birds of a Feather.

Jeremy shares a vulnerable early memory of difference stemming from his childhood move to a predominantly white, affluent Philadelphia suburb. As a teenager navigating a newly blended, multiracial family, Jeremy desperately wanted to assimilate and be accepted. This tension culminated in a painful choice before a high school dance—lying to his parents to keep them away from a pre-dance photo meetup out of deep embarrassment and a fear of being judged.

With warmth, humor, and the natural shorthand of a longtime friendship with Dwight, Jeremy walks through the Lion’s Story CLCBE process. He locates his emotions—embarrassment at a 9 and profound love at a 10—residing right next to each other in his chest. Together, the three explore how the adolescent self-talk of "Am I cool?" eventually evolves into the much deeper human question of "Where do I belong?".

In this episode, we explore:

• Navigating adolescence and identity in a blended, multiracial family.
• The heavy pressure to assimilate in mostly white, affluent suburban spaces.
• The sinking, shortness-of-breath physical reality of childhood shame and embarrassment.
• How we can locate conflicting emotions—like deep love and profound shame—in the exact same part of the body.
• Transforming the anxious self-talk of "How am I being perceived?" into "Where do I belong?".
• Why you should always take your parents to the dance (and maybe leave the shark tooth necklace at home).

About the Guest: Jeremy Keys is a social media strategist, writer, and musician based in Philadelphia. He was the lead singer and MC for the Philly hip-hop band Hardwork Movement and continues to create and release solo music. A deeply passionate Philadelphia Eagles fan, Jeremy also writes and runs the dedicated newsletter Birds of a Feather.

Stories That Stay is a project of Lion’s Story, a nonprofit dedicated to building racial literacy through storytelling, mindfulness, and healing. Rooted in over 35 years of research by Dr. Howard C. Stevenson at the University of Pennsylvania, our work guides individuals and institutions to reclaim their stories, reduce identity-based stress, and step into authentic inclusion—not as a checklist, but as a way of being.

For a full video version of this podcast, visit our YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/@StoriesThatStayPodcast

Produced and edited by Peterson Toscano.
Mindful moment music by Dwight Dunston.
Music by Epidemic Sound.

Podcast site: StoriesThatStay.net

 Hosts: Shamm Petros and Dwight Dunston

Dr. Maureen Fleming grew up believing that if she followed the rules, treated people well, and worked hard, things would turn out as they should. That belief carried her through school, graduate training, and years of work focused on social justice and identity-based stress. But during her Ph.D. program, the demands placed on her exceeded what her body could sustain.

In this episode, Maureen reflects on perfectionism, acquired disability, and the painful realization that doing everything “right” does not guarantee safety, success, or fair treatment. She talks with Shamm Petros and Dwight Dunston about the bodily toll of pushing beyond capacity, the difficulty of accepting disability, and the difference between doing what is expected and doing what is right for oneself.

The conversation also explores embodied stress, emotional regulation, unconditional love, and the people and animals whose care helped sustain Maureen through depression and disability.

In this episode:

• How childhood lessons about goodness and success can shape perfectionism
• The limits of pushing through physical and emotional distress
• Learning to recognize stress through the body
• Accepting acquired disability
• Why unconditional love and community matter in healing

Dr. Maureen Fleming is a licensed counseling psychologist whose work focuses on intersectionality, social justice, and somatic-based healing. She identifies as a White, cisgender woman with an acquired disability and has spent the majority of her life in and around Philadelphia. She received a master’s degree in counseling from the University of Pennsylvania and earned her Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from the University of Oregon, concentrating her research on racial and identity-based stress processing.

Over the last decade, Maureen has provided mental health services in schools, universities, private practice, and community-based clinics. She is also a part-time faculty member at Penn GSE and a long-time trainer and researcher with Lion’s Story. Learn more about Dr. Fleming and her work at  https://www.risingtidespsychologicalwellness.com/

Stories That Stay is a project of Lion’s Story, a nonprofit dedicated to building racial literacy through storytelling, mindfulness, and healing. Rooted in over 35 years of research by Dr. Howard C. Stevenson at the University of Pennsylvania, our work guides individuals and institutions to reclaim their stories, reduce identity-based stress, and step into authentic inclusion—not as a checklist, but as a way of being.

For a full video version of this podcast, visit our YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/@StoriesThatStayPodcast

Produced and edited by Peterson Toscano.
Mindful moment music by Dwight Dunston.
Music by Epidemic Sound.

Podcast site: StoriesThatStay.net

 Hosts: Shamm Petros and Dwight Dunston

Dr. James Peterson joins Shamm Petros and Dwight Dunston for a powerful conversation about memory, race, identity, and the stories we carry in our bodies.

Dr. Peterson is a writer, educator, consultant, and host of Evening Words on WURD Radio in Philadelphia. He is also the author of several books on hip-hop, Black culture, and the prison-industrial complex.

In this episode, Dr. Peterson reflects on growing up in Newark, New Jersey, and recalls a childhood moment at Newark Boys Chorus School when he and other young Black boys pushed back against singing a song they associated with slavery.

That memory leads him to another: being a teenager in a mostly white, wealthy school in Connecticut, looking in the mirror and wishing he could change his face.

With care and curiosity, Shamm and Dwight guide Dr. Peterson through Lion’s Story’s CLCBE process:

• Calculate your emotions
• Locate them in your body
• Communicate your self-talk
• Breathe
• Exhale

Together, they explore what it means to revisit old memories with new tools and how storytelling can become a path toward healing, clarity, and freedom.

Guest

Dr. Peterson is the author of several books, including The Hip Hop Underground and African American Culture, Prison Industrial Complex for Beginners, and Hip-Hop Headphones: A Scholar’s Critical Playlist. He is a columnist for The Philadelphia Citizen and has written for Fortune, Newsweek, The Guardian, The LA Times, Reuters, The Huffington Post, The Daily Beast, and The Grio.

Listen to Dr. James Peterson on his regular radio program on WURD. Evening WURDS is a daily news program dedicated to engaging the WURD community through a critical analysis of the news, culture, and arts stories that resonate with our community. https://wurdradio.com/shows/evening-wurds/

Stories That Stay is a project of Lion’s Story, a nonprofit dedicated to building racial literacy through storytelling, mindfulness, and healing. Rooted in over 35 years of research by Dr. Howard C. Stevenson at the University of Pennsylvania, our work guides individuals and institutions to reclaim their stories, reduce identity-based stress, and step into authentic inclusion—not as a checklist, but as a way of being.

For a full video version of this podcast, visit our YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/@StoriesThatStayPodcast

Produced and edited by Peterson Toscano.
Mindful moment music by Dwight Dunston.
Music by Epidemic Sound.

Podcast site: StoriesThatStay.net

 Hosts: Shamm Petros and Dwight Dunston

In this episode of Stories That Stay, hosts Shamm Petros and Dwight Dunston welcome Sali Mudawi, a Sudanese-born photographer and creative director based in London, shaped by growing up in Sweden and the UK.

Sali shares an early childhood memory from Sweden, when a beloved teacher apologized for calling her “Medusa” because of her braids—an incident that left her with questions about race, difference, hair, accountability, and what children are expected to carry alone. Through the Lion’s Story process, Sali explores the emotions still connected to that memory: feeling cheated, sadness for her younger self, tightness in her chest, and the self-talk that helped her make meaning over time.

The conversation also opens into Sali’s creative path. With a background in architecture, she first focused on structure, form, and landscapes before finding a deeper calling in portrait photography. After the death of her sister and a period of unemployment, photography became more than a creative practice—it became a way to connect with people, emotion, and story.

Together, Shamm and Dwight guide Sali through the CLCBE practice: calculating emotions, locating them in the body, communicating self-talk and images, breathing, and expanding toward new choices. Sali’s story becomes a powerful reflection on hair, grief, identity, artistry, and the freedom of authorship.

NOTE: When Sali says she “was made redundant,” she is using a British expression that means her job was eliminated, similar to being laid off.

In this episode, we explore:
* Race, difference, and childhood memories
* Hair as identity, symbol, and site of scrutiny
* The emotional impact of being singled out as a child
* Grief, creativity, and discovering a calling
* How portraits can hold emotion and story
* The CLCBE practice as a tool for processing racial stress
* Why healing is not always linear

Reflection question:
What is one early memory of difference that still lives in your body, your self-talk, or your story?

About Sali Mudawi
Sali Mudawi is a Sudanese-born photographer and creative director based in London, shaped by growing up in Sweden and the UK. With a background in architecture, her work is influenced by structure, form, and space, which helped shape her visual style. She first focused on landscapes, but soon became drawn to photographing people, where she found a deeper connection through portraits, emotion, and storytelling. Her work is guided by authenticity, creativity, and a willingness to be bold.

Follow Sali on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/saliphotog/

Stories That Stay is a project of Lion’s Story, a nonprofit dedicated to building racial literacy through storytelling, mindfulness, and healing. Rooted in over 35 years of research by Dr. Howard C. Stevenson at the University of Pennsylvania, our work guides individuals and institutions to reclaim their stories, reduce identity-based stress, and step into authentic inclusion—not as a checklist, but as a way of being.

For a full video version of this podcast, visit our YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/@StoriesThatStayPodcast

Produced and edited by Peterson Toscano.
Mindful moment music by Dwight Dunston.
Music by Epidemic Sound.

Podcast site: StoriesThatStay.net

 Hosts: Shamm Petros and Dwight Dunston

How do early memories of difference live in the body? And what happens when we finally have the tools, language, and support to process them?

In the Season Two premiere of Stories that Stay, Shamm Petros and Dwight Dunston welcome Stasie Maxwell for a conversation rooted in land, language, breath, and belonging. Stasie’s work sits at the intersection of land trauma and community healing, with deep ties to the Rogue Valley and intertribal community in Southern Oregon.

When asked about her earliest memories of difference, Stasie shares four stories: a painful childhood comment about her appearance, unequal treatment from a beloved family member, a frightening religious message about who belongs in heaven, and a joyful friendship formed across a language barrier through basketball.

Together, Stasie, Shamm, and Dwight slow down and notice what these stories stir up: grief, embarrassment, sadness, numbness, shock, connection, and joy. Stasie reflects on how qigong, psychology, breathwork, and community have helped her understand what her body knows and how healing becomes possible through practice.

Listeners are invited to breathe, notice their own reactions, and consider how beauty and pain can both be held with care.

Key Themes

· Earliest memories of difference

· How painful and joyful stories can live side by side

· Land trauma, Indigenous language, and connection to place

· How racial stress and identity stress show up in the body

· Breathwork, qigong, and emotional regulation

· The role of practice in healing

· Finding connection beyond spoken language

Compelling Quotes

· “So much knowledge is encoded in Indigenous languages.”

· “Meditation and breath work is really at the root of a lot of thinking and behavior.”

· “At that time, I didn’t have people or tools to help me with the feelings that those moments brought up.”

· “Even though there was this very significant difference of language barrier, we were still really close friends.”

· “If you don’t have time to meditate for five minutes, you should meditate for an hour.”

· “The beauty and the pain can both be held by the breath.”

About Our Guest: Stasie Maxwell

Stasie Maxwell is a community leader whose work focuses on land trauma, Indigenous language, community healing, and reconnection to ancestral homelands. Rooted in the Rogue Valley and the intertribal community in Southern Oregon, Stasie works with tribal communities and Native youth while helping create pathways for people to return to land, language, and cultural memory.

She holds a degree in psychology and has maintained a qigong practice since her early twenties. In this conversation, Stasie reflects on how body awareness, breath, and emotional practice have shaped her healing work and her ability to hold both painful and joyful stories with care.

Stories That Stay is a project of Lion’s Story, a nonprofit dedicated to building racial literacy through storytelling, mindfulness, and healing. Rooted in over 35 years of research by Dr. Howard C. Stevenson at the University of Pennsylvania, our work guides individuals and institutions to reclaim their stories, reduce identity-based stress, and step into authentic inclusion—not as a checklist, but as a way of being.

For a full video version of this podcast, visit our YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/@StoriesThatStayPodcast

Produced and edited by Peterson Toscano.
Mindful moment music by Dwight Dunston.
Music by Epidemic Sound.

Podcast site: StoriesThatStay.net

 Hosts: Shamm Petros and Dwight Dunston

In this season finale of Stories That Stay, hosts Dwight Dunston and Shamm Petros pause to reflect on the stories, insights, and moments of healing that shaped Season One. Rather than introducing a new guest, Dwight and Shamm turn toward one another—processing what they’ve learned, what surprised them, and what continues to give them hope.

Throughout the conversation, they revisit key themes that emerged across the season: racial stress, identity, memory, resilience, and the power of storytelling as a tool for healing. They reflect on how stories can cause us to expand or contract—and how paying attention to those responses offers valuable information about ourselves.

The hosts reflect on powerful moments from conversations with guests, including Dr. Darryl Ford, Mona Norfleet, Merrill Garbus, Osahon Tongo, Inua Ellams, and Lisa Nelson-Hayes, exploring how each story contributed a distinct thread to the season’s larger tapestry. From early memories of difference to creative survival, generational legacy, grief, belonging, and accountability, these stories collectively demonstrate how meaning-making can foster agency and hope.

This episode also highlights the practices at the heart of Lion’s Story’s work—slowing down, breathing, naming emotions, and observing internal responses without judgment. Dwight and Shamm discuss how storytelling, whether through conversation, music, poetry, or memory, helps people fall in love with their stories—or at least begin to understand them more fully.

As the season comes to a close, the hosts express gratitude for the guests, the listeners, and the shared courage it takes to tell stories honestly. They close with an invitation: to keep listening, keep learning, and keep telling the stories that stay.

Stories That Stay is a project of Lion’s Story, a nonprofit dedicated to building racial literacy through storytelling, mindfulness, and healing. Rooted in over 35 years of research by Dr. Howard C. Stevenson at the University of Pennsylvania, our work guides individuals and institutions to reclaim their stories, reduce identity-based stress, and step into authentic inclusion—not as a checklist, but as a way of being.

For a full video version of this podcast, visit our YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/@StoriesThatStayPodcast

Produced and edited by Peterson Toscano.
Mindful moment music by Dwight Dunston.
Music by Epidemic Sound.

Podcast site: StoriesThatStay.net

 Hosts: Shamm Petros and Dwight Dunston

In this episode, co-hosts Shamm H. Petros and Dwight Dunston sit down with longtime educator and Quaker school leader Dr. Darryl J. Ford for an intimate reflection on early memories of race, difference, family legacy, and the practices that helped him navigate childhood and leadership.

Dr. Ford traces the deep educational roots in his family—from a grandmother sent to a private girls’ school in the early 1900s, to elders like “Mama Irma” who shaped his understanding of service, to his own formative experiences in progressive and Quaker schools. He describes what it felt like to be “other” on his block in Cobbs Creek, how books and historical heroes became sustaining companions, and how self-talk helped him prepare for conflict and claim his worth long before such practices had a name.

Through guided mindfulness questions, Shamm and Dwight invite Dr. Ford to explore the emotions, images, and narratives that live inside his early experiences. Together they uncover themes of pride, survival, excitement, and a generational commitment to service that continues to guide Dr. Ford’s work today.

About Our Guest: Dr. Darryl J. Ford

Dr. Darryl J. Ford is Vice President of Education Leadership Services at Carney, Sandoe & Associates, where he leads executive searches, mentors aspiring leaders, and supports educational organizations through transitions and strategic initiatives. He previously served as Head of School at William Penn Charter School in Philadelphia from 2007–2023. A graduate of Friends Select School, Dr. Ford holds degrees from Villanova University and the University of Chicago. He lives outside Philadelphia with his wife, Dr. Gail Sullivan, their dog Nova, and Alvin, their youngest son’s horse.

Quotes from the Episode

Dr. Darryl J. Ford:
 “Breathing, settling in, finding something in silence is really, I think, central to much of who I am and much of my work and experiences in this life. And so I want to thank you, Shamm, for that exercise of having us center for this conversation.”

Shamm H. Petros:
 “This story is one that holds a lot of both-and emotions—pride and sadness, excitement and survival. And as you reflect on these memories, particularly the moment realizing ‘I'm different,’ did you then or now have any self-talk?”

Dr. Darryl J. Ford:
 “We have strategies. We have self-talk as a concept, and we have practice as a concept of how you confront the bully. All of this helps.”

Stories That Stay is a project of Lion’s Story, a nonprofit dedicated to building racial literacy through storytelling, mindfulness, and healing. Rooted in over 35 years of research by Dr. Howard C. Stevenson at the University of Pennsylvania, our work guides individuals and institutions to reclaim their stories, reduce identity-based stress, and step into authentic inclusion—not as a checklist, but as a way of being.

For a full video version of this podcast, visit our YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/@StoriesThatStayPodcast

Produced and edited by Peterson Toscano.
Mindful moment music by Dwight Dunston.
Music by Epidemic Sound.

Podcast site: StoriesThatStay.net

 Hosts: Shamm Petros and Dwight Dunston

In this powerful episode, educator, musician, and longtime Lion’s Story trainer Brian Caselli Jordan takes us deep into one of his earliest memories of racial difference. What begins as a tender portrait of his Italian American grandfather expands into a layered exploration of inheritance, identity, silence, and the emotional weight of witnessing racism from someone you adore.

Together with co-hosts Shamm Petros and Dwight Dunston, Brian traces how this childhood moment shaped his understanding of race, family loyalty, grief, anger, and repair. He reflects on the contradictions in his lineage—his grandfather’s generosity and creativity alongside the anti-Black racism he absorbed from his environment—and how becoming a father has opened new paths toward healing.

Listeners are invited to slow down, breathe, and notice what arises as Brian moves through the emotions in real time. The episode models Lion’s Story’s racial literacy practices: naming feelings, locating them in the body, holding multiple truths, and moving toward transformation rather than avoidance.

Key Themes

• The earliest memory of racial difference
• Intergenerational inheritance: gifts and harms living side by side
• Silence, complicity, and the longing for protection
• How racial stress imprints on the body
• Grief, anger, gratitude, and complexity as data for healing
• Parenting as a site of repair and rewriting the story
  
  

Compelling Quotes

• “There’s no throwing out your beloved grandfather. And also I’m not comfortable excusing it away.”
• “We’re going to be healed this time.”
• “Telling the truth is how you honor someone you love.”
  
  

About Our Guest:

Brian Caselli Jordan is an educator, singer-songwriter, and facilitator who jokingly aspires to be “a 2025 Mr. Rogers.” For 17 years, he has taught young children, with over a decade in kindergarten and preschool classrooms. He holds a master’s degree in Early Childhood Education from Temple University.

Brian co-founded City Love in 2014, leading music-driven school assemblies and workshops on race, equity, and belonging for tens of thousands of students and educators nationwide. Since 2012, he has taught first and second grade at The Philadelphia School, and he is a proud father.

He has been a Lion’s Story trainer since 2019, helping individuals and institutions build racial literacy skills rooted in healing, accountability, and community. 

Stories That Stay is a project of Lion’s Story, a nonprofit dedicated to building racial literacy through storytelling, mindfulness, and healing. Rooted in over 35 years of research by Dr. Howard C. Stevenson at the University of Pennsylvania, our work guides individuals and institutions to reclaim their stories, reduce identity-based stress, and step into authentic inclusion—not as a checklist, but as a way of being.

For a full video version of this podcast, visit our YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/@StoriesThatStayPodcast

Produced and edited by Peterson Toscano.
Mindful moment music by Dwight Dunston.
Music by Epidemic Sound.

Podcast site: StoriesThatStay.net

 Hosts: Shamm Petros and Dwight Dunston

In this episode of Stories That Stay, hosts Shamm H. Petros and Dwight Dunston talk with Mona Norfleet—equity advocate, writer, and community builder—about growing up biracial and finding belonging across cultures. Mona reflects on her biracial upbringing as the daughter of Mary Norfleet, an Italian American from the Bronx, and Tom Norfleet, a Black man from rural Alabama. 

Through tender reflection, Mona revisits her earliest memories of racial difference: her father’s warm brown hands and a painful moment of exclusion that reshaped her sense of self. With openness and courage, she explores how storytelling helps transform shame into pride and memory into healing.

“I remember looking at my father’s hands—they were the color of sweet chocolate milk and mahogany wood.”

 “When that boy said what he said, it felt like someone slapped me in the face. I was furious—and ashamed for the first time.”

 “Just thinking of my parents showing up for me—I don’t feel the tightness in my chest anymore.”

What you’ll hear
• Grounding breath and mindful arrival
• Early memories of race and belonging
• Naming and scaling emotions
• Reimagining moments of racial stress
• Healing through story and ancestral connection

About Mona Norfleet
Mona Norfleet is a human-services student, racial-equity advocate, and membership director at her local YMCA. She cultivates belonging across generations and cultures, centering dignity, cultural humility, and lived experience.

Stories That Stay is a project of Lion’s Story, a nonprofit dedicated to building racial literacy through storytelling, mindfulness, and healing. Rooted in over 35 years of research by Dr. Howard C. Stevenson at the University of Pennsylvania, our work guides individuals and institutions to reclaim their stories, reduce identity-based stress, and step into authentic inclusion—not as a checklist, but as a way of being.

For a full video version of this podcast, visit our YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/@StoriesThatStayPodcast

Produced and edited by Peterson Toscano.
Mindful moment music by Dwight Dunston.
Music by Epidemic Sound.

Podcast site: StoriesThatStay.net

 Hosts: Shamm Petros and Dwight Dunston