I Saw My Own

Explicit content warning

10/24/23 • 33 min

At age 15, novelist Vanessa Veselka ran away from home and began living life as a hitchhiker in the United States during the 1980s. From highway to highway, coast to coast, truck stop to truck stop, Veselka experienced poverty, perversion, and a showdown with a potential serial killer. She shares her story at the MacDowell Colony for Artists where she works on her second novel, Light the Lamp With the Last of the Whale Oil (Riverhead Books).

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

Music by Dan Svizeny.

Transcripts are available at everythingisstories.com

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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

Music by Dan Svizeny.

Transcripts are available at everythingisstories.com

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Previous Episode

Always Keep the Fire Going Somewhere

B.B. St. Roman is the only staff member for the New Orleans Police Department Homeless Assistant Unit. Before helping the homeless, she traveled the world, recording sound for documentaries involving shamans, Buddhist monks, and Mother Teresa. And at one point, she became the tour manager for Dr. John, Louisiana musician and legend.

Now, she works full-time with the homeless. She tells her stories of Hurricane Katrina, shelter issues in the city, as well as planning and dreaming of ways to help those living in the streets.

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

Music by Holy Gallows.

Transcripts are available at everythingisstories.com

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Next Episode

Sulome

For the first seven years of her life, Sulome Anderson never met her father, journalist Terry Anderson. Three months before she was born, her father was kidnapped and imprisoned by Shiite Muslim militants in Lebanon. Through hostage videos and letters, Sulome began forming an image of a perfect parent. But after his release, she soon realized Terry Anderson was not the person she imagined.

Years later, Sulome began investigating the events that led to her father’s kidnapping. In this episode, she tells her story of a personal journey into the Middle East and confronting the extremists responsible for her family’s fracture.

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

Transcripts are available at everythingisstories.com

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