Tennessee peace activist Hector Black died recently at the age of 95. He was best known for forgiving the man who murdered his daughter and pleading with a judge not to give him the death penalty. He leaves a legacy of compassion, justice and incredible forgiveness.
Neighbors: The Hero’s Journey
The town of Harrenheim is mysteriously out of water, yet its reservoir is full. The Heroes’ Guild summons four of its bravest to investigate. These particular heroes are middle-schoolers, playing a tabletop roll-playing game at a Nashville community center.
Neighbors: My Grandma’s A Spy
What happens when you want to learn more about your cultural heritage and find out that your grandma was a spy? 80-year-old Sara McCall grew up in Cuba. Now her family is learning just exactly how she came to America.
Neighbors: Back Home On Short Mountain
This is a story about a way of life put on trial. Jeffory Young was a beloved farmer and major landowner in scenic Short Mountain, Tennessee, a place about 90 minutes southeast of Nashville that’s long been a magnet for interesting people. But when police charged Young in a major marijuana distribution operation in 2006, […]
Neighbors: The Distressed Comedian
The story of how Stephen Spinola got to Nashville is not a typical one. The stand-up comedian posted a tweet on the day of Trump’s inauguration that got him in a lot of trouble, so much that death threats started pouring in. Fearing for his life he uprooted from New York to settle in Tennessee, […]
Neighbors: Before I Could Give Her The Ring
A story of Jakob’s is turned into poetry courtesy of the podcast Versify. Fighting wildfires is dangerous work. But to a 20 year old Jakob Lewis the work was all fun and games — at first. Jakob tells his story about fighting fire in Redding California to poet Lagnajita Mukhopadhyay. She then turns his story […]
Neighbors: Queen Of The Kitchen
An immigrant restaurateur, Elizabeth Martinez, struggles to make it in America, when the person she came to the U.S. with betrays her. After contemplating suicide and being coaxed out of it by a snuggly pitbull, Elizabeth started her own Honduran restaurant and earned the title Queen of the Kitchen.
Neighbors: Chimes, A Shrine, And a Cabinet Shop: Listener Questions Elicit Surprising Revelations
Jakob breaks from his usual format to sit down with his editor Mack Linebaugh and answer your questions. You’ll find out why he started the podcast, his favorite episode, and what’s up with those windchimes. Also Jakob calls back one question asker which led to an epic check-in with the subject of the recent “Dog […]
Neighbors: The Dog Trap, Part Two
Joel Rice got the opportunity to ghost-write the memoir of one of his childhood heroes—skateboarding legend Christian Hosoi. But Joel’s experience was an unpleasant one that brought up an old childhood trauma at a skatepark. In this episode, I call Christian to hear his side of the story, and then both Joel and Christian hash […]
Neighbors: The Dog Trap, Part One
What happens to someone when the thing they love most in the world — skateboarding— is also the source of their greatest wound? When Joel Rice, a naturally bookish kid was younger he wanted nothing more than to be a pro skater like his heroes, Christian Hosoi and Tony Hawk. That dream died the day […]
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