Everything Is Stories

Oct 21 2024 40 ep. 52 mins 395

Everything Is Stories Podcast artwork

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.

These voices have told their greatest moments where peace is far and death is close. Sometimes these stories explore the philosophy of outsiders. But most importantly, these stories examine what it is to be human.

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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The Disorientation of Survival - Part 2

Oct 21 2024 78 mins

*This episode contains descriptions of sexual situations, listener discretion is advised. As a closeted gay teenager, lying was familiar to Mark Olmsted. Concealing parts of his identity was just part of the deal–and he was good at it. But when the AIDS crisis threatened his life and left him with little to lose, the lying would turn so grandiose that no one who knew him could q

The Disorientation of Survival - Part 1

Sep 23 2024 96 mins

*This episode contains descriptions of sexual situations, listener discretion is advised. As a closeted gay teenager, lying was familiar to Mark Olmsted. Concealing parts of his identity was just part of the deal–and he was good at it. But when the AIDS crisis threatened his life and left him with little to lose, the lying would turn so grandiose that no one who knew him could q

Where Two Lines Meet

Jul 22 2024 57 mins

Since the year 2000, more than 3,500 border-crossers have met a gruesome fate throughout the Sonoran Desert of Arizona. With over 1,000-and-counting still missing, the numbers have only continued to rise as more attempt the trek each year in pursuit of a better life. This is the story of Alvaro Encisco, an immigrant who found his own version of the myth of the American dream, and w

Hen’s Teeth

Jun 17 2024 75 mins

*This episode contains strong descriptions of sexual abuse. Listener discretion is advised. Susan Pavlak is at work hospicing the Catholic Church, and after spending her youth in the crosshairs of a sexual predator, found solace in forgiveness and truth. Pavlak describes how she reconciles her history of abuse with her continued faith in the Catholic Church and the goodness it pro

Del From Hell

May 20 2024 68 mins

Where do we go when we can’t make it in mainstream society? As someone who has often battled mental illness and rage, Del Hendrixson Jr. connects the dots between a violent mental breakdown and his struggle to find a sense of belonging as a child. In this episode, Del talks about a successful career in printing that would eventually turn criminal, hitting rock bottom, and fightin

A White Noise in Your Head - Part 2

Apr 15 2024 83 mins

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. Kims' story continues in part 02, where

The Shores of Acheron

Apr 09 2024 100 mins

Forty years ago, military-backed death squads descended on Dora Rodriguez’ hometown as a civil war spiraled out of control in El Salvador. Forced to flee as a teenager and leave her family behind, Rodriguez began what she thought would be the only journey north through Mexico and into the harsh Sonoran Desert. In this episode, Dora recounts her harrowing start-stop passage across

A White Noise in Your Head - Part 1

Mar 18 2024 68 mins

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

Across the Purple Sage

Jan 15 2024 68 mins

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 th

Lonewolf

Dec 18 2023 64 mins

Death, life’s ultimate closure, often casts a long shadow over the funeral that follows. These ceremonies rarely spark protest or public outcry, but in the spring of 2013 Lonewolf Smith was thrust into a national dilemma when he and his colleagues at Graham, Putney, & Mahoney Funeral Parlors were asked to tend to the body of one of America’s most reviled terrorists. In this sto