People know that drugs are dangerous, but people do them for the emotional high first, and the addiction comes later

Subject B talks about her experience with losing a past friend who she had graduated high school with. Rhian: “So who is it in relation to you that you’ve lost to drugs?” Subject B: “Um it was like, he was...

Andrey MacCracken & Harold "Bear" Cubbage

Andrey's mother died in childbirth and his father died on his way to the hospital. Andrey and his brother went to live their grandparents. At 8 y-o, Andreys grandparents could no longer afford to care for both boys and Andrey...

“It’s a domino affect, you have to help each other out in a family”

MYA: Who misused drugs in your family? MOM: My dad, your grandfather. MYA: How did their addiction begin? MOM: Being a little girl he played baseball and he joined a clubhouse. Every weekend they would have baseball games and we...

“Kevin’s drug addiction, started in junior high, when he started to feel like an outcast.”

Georgia: Who is in relations to you that you have lost to drugs and how are you connected? Georgia’s Father: Boys name was Kevin, he was my friend’s son, who happened to be one year older than my son. My...

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34:06
Teresa Suganski and Mary Claire Whelan

Teresa Suganski (61) and her daughter, Mary Claire Whelan (25), share a conversation remembering Mary Claire’s father.

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33:54
Cynthia Rose and Taylor West

Taylor West (24) interviews Cynthia Rose (58) about her role as the mother of the community and how she is learning to give that same love and care to herself in this next phase of her life.

Suzanne Sculley & Jill Souza

Suzanne talks about her work as a substance use counselor and what drew her to the work she does at Queen of the Valley Medical Center in Napa California. How she was able to let go of judgement and find...

Addiction Interview #2

KP: This morning I’m with my friend’s sister, speaking a bit with her about her heroin addiction. I’d actually like to ask you about what you think the hardest thing about addiction is? NA: Well, when I relapsed after getting...

mby020748
22:30
Catherine Shirey and Rachel Brown

Catherine Shirey (47) shares a conversation with her mother, Rachel Brown (74), about kindness, acceptance, and radical grace.

Common Ground Tacony Oral History Project: Rich

Rich, a longtime resident, of Tacony is now caretaker an abandoned and overgrown citygarden in Keystone Park. Working his whole life as a contractor and 22 years in recovery, Rich talks about his experiences living through addiction to then building...

mby020622
45:33
Jamie Crowne and K. Rita Souweine

Jamie Crowne (71) interviews her mother, Rita Souweine (99), about her earliest memories in New York City, the experience of raising a family and her relationship to gender roles of the time.

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52:13
Thomas Barlow and John Amoroso

One Small Step partners Thomas "Tom" Barlow (39) and John Amoroso (45) share their challenges being divorced fathers of daughters, and their learning process around the changing language and mores regarding sexual orientation and gender identity.

“I will never look up to her, I will never try to be like her”

In this story, I sat down with a person that wants to remain anonymous. We sat down to talk about how marijuana has affected their family. B: Who was the family member misusing drugs in your family? A: The family...

“They grew up with her being that way…..and then we grew up with her being that way.”

Kierre- Can you tell me who was the person misusing drugs in your family? Destiny- Well...there were a number of people, like my aunts, my uncles. Like my grandmother. Kierre- Did she ever lie about her addiction to any of...

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50:32
Derick McGhee and Gregory Lakin

One Small Step partners Derick McGhee (35) and Gregory Lakin (63) share a conversation about their work, their faith, and their community. They discuss issues prevalent to rural Kansas such as addiction, isolation, and climate change.

Jennifer Justice & Kirsten Lavery

Jennifer shares her story with Kirsten of how through a series of unfortunate events she went from "supermom" to dealing with an opiate addiction and living on the streets. While on the streets she got pregnant with her third child....

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36:12
Ola Sylvia Lamar Sheffield and Valeria Lynn

Friends and "sisters in Christ," Dr. Ola Sylvia Lamar Sheffield [no age given] and Valeria Lynn [no age given], describe their spiritual journeys, discuss the role faith plays in their lives, and give advice to those struggling.

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51:25
Mary Garner DeVoe and Maria Roberts

One Small Step partners Mary Garner DeVoe (63) and Maria Roberts (61) share stories and have a conversation about seeking to understand their kids and friends in the lgbtq community, interacting far right conservative friends and neighbors, and knowing anarchists...

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01:26:59
Jason McConnell and James Dean

One Small Step Conversation partners Jason McConnell (43) and James "Jim" Dean (76) share their stories about adolescence, rebellious teen years, their journey to seminary studies and how those studies led them down different paths.

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40:40
Roniece Gilkey and Janessa Jordan

Roniece Gilkey (49) speaks with the teacher of three of her sons, Janessa Jordan (32), about changes in education during the COVID-19 Pandemic, and the extra burdens that students, teachers, and parents have all had to take on.