Everything Is Stories

By the time her boyfriend became violent, Kim Dadou Brown was confident she could handle it. It was just one of those things the women in her family dealt with. It wasn’t until Kim found herself in prison that she realized how seriously the years of abuse had skewed her reality – and what little support the system offered women like her.

In Part 01, Kim meets us in her home in Rochester, New York, where she shares what ultimately led to a final act of violence and how much work she’s had to do in order to free herself from the trauma.

*This episode contains strong descriptions of domestic violence, please listen with care.

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Produced by Grace Heerman, Mike Martinez, and Tyler Wray.

Music by Mike Etten

Sound Design by Armen Bazarian

Intro/Outro music by Anand Wilder

For more about this story, including photos by Casey Steffens, visit everythingisstories.com.

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They say stealing cattle in Texas can get a man hung by the neck until dead. From a young age Roddy Pippin was ready to take that risk, as he and his crew would take home close to a million dollars rustling cattle over the course of 3 years.

In this episode Pippin speaks of his idyllic childhood and love for the ways of the old west, the precarious choices he made while chasing the steal that would lead to brushes with death, and how those few years on the run pushed him and his lifelong friendships to the limit.

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Produced by Grace Heerman, Mike Martinez, and Tyler Wray.

Sound Design by George Drake Jr.

Music by Mike Etten and Dominic Palermo

Intro/Outro music by Anand Wilder

For more about this story, including photos by Justin Hollar, visit everythingisstories.com.

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For over two decades, Duane “Chili” Yazzie has been an activist for Native American rights. Of the Navajo tribe, Chili has spent his life on the reservation in Shiprock, New Mexico, following tribal traditions and questioning the relationship between Native Peoples and Anglo-Americans. As a young man, he became a member of the influential Native American rock band, XIT, playing at political rallies across the United States. Chili would later become involved in Navajo politics, being sworn into the administration of the Shiprock Chapter House, where he now serves as president.

In this story, Chili explains the principles of the Diné people, while also recalling his experiences of the United States Indian Affairs relocation program, armed take-overs of corporate factories, political riots in the Navajo Capital, and an assassination attempt by a local white man to take Chili’s life. A LINE DRAWN IN THE REZ DIRT illustrates the struggle of Native Americans transitioning into a modern day America that has renounced the traditions of its past.

Produced by Garrett Crowe, Mike Martinez, and Tyler Wray.

Music by High Aura’d.

Transcripts available at everythingisstories.com

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Diego Palma is a healer. Kush is a shaman. Both are located in Peru.Their methods for spiritual discovery include medicine songs, mantras, icaros, tobacco smoke, and ayahuasca. Ayahuasca is a brew made from the caapi vine and the chacruna shrub. Amazonas have used ayahuasca for centuries. When ingested, it opens the mind to cosmic possibilities.

Peter Gersten is a retired lawyer. In 1987, he sued the United States Government for UFO information. Years later, Gersten began following visions and signs which led him to Sedona, Arizona. He began to believe reality was a simulation that could be manipulated by action. On December 21, 2012, Gersten traveled to the top of Bell Rock, a butte with an elevation of 600 ft. There, he believed a portal would open that could take him to the center of the universe, but only if he jumped into it.

Produced by Garrett Crowe, Mike Martinez, and Tyler Wray.

Music by Kwaidan and William Cody Watson.

Transcripts are available at everythingisstories.com

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Created and produced by Mike Martinez and Tyler Wray, Everything is Stories is an ongoing survey of personal histories. Each episode is a first person narrative from someone who has lived through consequential changes to their notion of self and the world.

Harry Crews said it best: “Nothing is allowed to die in a society of story telling people. It is all–the good and the bad–carted up and brought along from one generation to the next And everything that is brought along is colored and shaped by those who bring it.” If that is so, is what they bring with them true? I’m convinced that it is.”

We don’t record to defend or demonstrate an idea. Rather, we create a document of what was seen and felt during their transformative experiences. Take a listen. Start anywhere. You may find a new definition of reality’s highs and lows.

Know of a story or storyteller? Send us your tales of genuine characters and unfamiliar places for consideration to: [email protected]. No story too troubled, no atmosphere too strange, no realm too foreign.

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