To Build the Life She Wanted for Her Son, She Left Behind an Addiction
For Irene Montoya, becoming a mother in 2009 was a long held dream come true. At the time, she was years into a methamphetamine addiction and had never held a job for very long. She knew she’d have to make some big changes to her life.
Irene Montoya and Gianni Booth in her truck in Cheyenne, WY in 2021. Courtesy of Irene Montoya.
After getting clean during her pregnancy, Irene relapsed while Gianni was still a toddler. As a single parent, she struggled to make enough money for a decent place to live. At one point, Irene and Gianni found themselves sleeping in their car.
After a decade clean and sober, their lives look very different. Irene started her own company, Sunflower Trucking, and Gianni is attending a private high school. They came to StoryCorps in Cheyenne, Wyoming to talk about their family’s hard times and the turning point in their lives.
Irene Montoya with her custom-built dump truck in Cheyenne, WY on June 16, 2024. By Zanna McKay for StoryCorps.
Top Photo: Gianni Booth and Irene Montoya at their StoryCorps interview in Cheyenne, WY on June 16, 2024. By Zanna McKay for StoryCorps.
This broadcast is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Originally aired August 2, 2024 on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Sixty Years Later: The Children Of Freedom Summer Look Back
In 1964, civil rights groups organized Freedom Schools: summer programs for kids across the state of Mississippi.
Freedom School class at Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, students on the church steps with their teacher.
More than 2,500 children attended 41 schools. Classes ranged from literature and math to theater and crafts. But the central focus was government and civic engagement.
Ethel Murrell (L) Stokes and Theresia Clark (C) at Priest Creek Missionary Baptist Church Freedom School in Palmers Crossing with their teacher volunteer Sandra Adickes (R).
Many of the teachers were white college students who had traveled from across the country to participate.
Folksinger Julius Lester singing for Freedom School students on the steps of Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Hattiesburg. Glenda Funchess standing (second from left).
Hattiesburg, Mississippi had six schools – more than any other town.
The Clark sisters at a church during Freedom Summer in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, 1964.
This was one piece of a larger program called “Freedom Summer.” More than 700 volunteers, from across the country came to Mississippi to register Black voters en masse and fight discrimination at the polls.
Donald Denard (Center) with two other students outside Morning Star Baptist Church.
Sixty years later, Freedom School students Deborah Carr, Stephanie Hoze, Theresia Clark-Banks, Julia Clark-Ward, Glenda Funchess, and Donald Denard came to StoryCorps to reflect on their memories of that summer.
Top Photo: Clockwise Left to right: Stephanie Hoze, Donald Denard, Glenda Funchess, Julia Clark-Ward, Theresia Clark-Banks, and Deborah Carr at their StoryCorps interview in Hattiesburg, MS on March 10th and 11th, 2024. By Tamekia Jackson for StoryCorps.
Archival photos courtesy of Herbert Randall Freedom Summer Photographs, Special Collections in McCain Library and Archives, The University Southern Mississippi. Copyright Herbert Randall.
This broadcast is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Originally aired July, 26, 2024, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
“She’s probably the strongest woman you’ll ever meet.” Remembering the Mother of Women’s Judo
Women’s judo wasn’t allowed into the Olympics until 1988, after martial arts champion Rusty Kanokogi threatened to sue the International Olympic Committee for discrimination. This helped earn her the nickname, “the mother of women’s judo.”
Her daughter, Jean Kanokogi, remembers a physically powerful figure with a presence so imposing “You didn’t even have to turn around, because you felt that she was in that room.”
Eve Aronoff Trivella was coached by Rusty on the first U.S. women’s judo team at the 1988 games. At StoryCorps, she and Jean remembered what that competition meant to Rusty… and a pivotal moment from her early life that brought her there.
This broadcast is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Originally aired July 19, 2024, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
“I Was Born In A Refugee Camp.” Two Sisters Reflect On Struggle And Survival
Sisters Mai Lo Lee and Beth Lo grew up in a large Hmong family on a ginseng farm in Wisconsin. But their story dates back to the American War in Vietnam.
Originally from Laos, the Lo family fled persecution after the country fell to communist forces in the mid 1970s. The new regime declared the Hmong people enemies of the state, as they’d fought alongside the U.S. against the communist government.
The Lo family in the Ban Vinai Holding Center, Thailand, in 1980. Photo courtesy of Mai Lo Lee.
The Lo family crossed the Mekong River, which borders Laos and Thailand, and spent years in the Ban Vinai Holding Center—a refugee camp in Thailand. In 1980, six months after Mai was born, they immigrated to the U.S. and resettled in Wisconsin, where the parents found work as ginseng farmers.
Beth and Mai Lo with their father, Sai Vue Lo, in Wausau, WI, circa 2018. Photo courtesy of Mai Lo Lee.
At StoryCorps, the sisters reflected on their family’s struggles and survival, their Hmong heritage, and how a rice steamer became a family legend.
Top Photo: Beth Lo and Mai Lo Lee at their StoryCorps interview in Appleton, WI on August 20, 2023. By Delilah Righter for StoryCorps.
This broadcast is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Originally aired June 21, 2024, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
“We’re Going to Lead with Love.” A Lesbian Bishop Reflects on a Career of Service
Karen Oliveto didn’t grow up in a religious family, but as a kid she fell in love with Sunday school. She loved learning the stories from the bible, and she’d wake her mom every Sunday to take her and her siblings to church. Before long she knew she wanted to be a pastor, and gave her first sermon when she was 16.
Karen Oliveto and Robin Ridenour at the Alive Now church camp in Sierra Nevada, California, circa 1993.
Courtesy of Karen Oliveto.
But during her first year of seminary, Karen realized she was a lesbian. Despite the United Methodist Church’s view at the time—that homosexuality is incompatible with Christian teachings—she persisted. And in 2016, Karen was elected to be the first openly gay bishop of the United Methodist Church.
She came to StoryCorps with her wife, Robin Ridenour.
Robin Ridenour and Karen Oliveto at a church in Sacramento in 2016. Courtesy of Karen Oliveto.
This broadcast is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Originally aired June 6, 2024 on NPR’s Morning Edition.
After Losing Everything to a Wildfire, A Couple Rebuilds
Ron and Julie Lynam had long dreamed of retiring in the Colorado mountains. As high school teachers living in a college town, the couple saved and planned for years.
Finally, after looking at dozens of properties, they bought a small home surrounded by a pristine pine forest.
Ron and Julie Lynam’s home in the aftermath of the High Park fire in 2012. Courtesy of Ron Lynam.
Just a few weeks after moving into their new home, Julie awoke one Saturday morning to a disaster; one of the biggest fires in state history was barreling towards them.
Ron Lynam by the barn he built using burned timber salvaged from their property. By Zanna McKay for StoryCorps.
Top Photo: Julie and Ron Lynam at their home near Bellvue, Colorado on September 20, 2023. By Jo Corona for StoryCorps.
This broadcast is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Originally aired May 31, 2024 on NPR’s Morning Edition.
“He Was a Gentleman and a Gentle Man to Me”: A Widow Remembers Her Late Husband, a Marine Veteran
Marine Corporal Daniel MacMurray at Camp Lejeune in Jacksonville, North Carolina in 1982. Photo courtesy Cynthia Alvarez.
Seventeen years ago, Cynthia Alvarez fell in love with Marine Corporal Daniel Mark MacMurray. She was a peace activist, and he was a proud Marine veteran and firefighter, and the two didn’t always see eye to eye. But they agreed to love each other. And they did just that, until Dan became sick and died.
Cynthia came to StoryCorps to remember him.
Cynthia Alvarez and her daughter, Isabela Alvarez, at their StoryCorps interview in Philadelphia on April 27, 2024. By Alan Jinich for StoryCorps.
This broadcast is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Originally aired May 25, 2024, on NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday.
“He’s A Rainbow Baby:” A Mother’s Lessons On Grief
Marilí Rodríguez García spent several years working as a doula in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She was called to the profession after losing her first child, Adrián José, a few days after his birth, May 14, 2009.
Marilí Rodríguez García, pregnant with her first son, Adrián José, and standing with a friend in Cayey, Puerto Rico in 2009. Photo courtesy of Marilí Rodríguez García.
Several years later, her son Emil Gustavo was born.
Marilí recently came to StoryCorps to remember that time and reflect on the ways she was able to move on.
The Figueroa Rodríguez family in Carolina, Puerto Rico in 2019. Photo courtesy of Marilí Rodríguez García.
Top Photo: Marilí Rodríguez García at her StoryCorps interview in San Juan, Puerto Rico on February 7, 2024. By Jo Corona for StoryCorps.
This broadcast is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Originally aired May 10, 2024, on NPR’s Morning Edition.
Two Iraq War Veterans Reflect On A Day That Changed Their Lives
Nick Bennett always knew he was going to join the military. His grandfathers were World War II combat veterans, and he hoped to follow in their footsteps. He joined the Marines, and missed being assigned to a combat unit during his first deployment. Dan Miller also had had a family legacy, and was inspired by his uncle to join the Marine Corps.
In 2004, when the Iraq War was in full swing, Nick and Dan were both deployed to a region known as the ‘Triangle of Death’, which saw some of the highest levels of violence and casualties during the war. There, Dan was a Gunnery Sergeant, and Nick was in charge of the internet cafe.
Nick valued his role in keeping soldiers connected to their families, but he felt called to fight. And so he requested to join Dan’s security team. They came to StoryCorps to remember what happened.
Top Photo: Nick Bennett and Dan Miller at their StoryCorps interview in Lafayette, Indiana on April 7, 2024. By Rec Room Recording for StoryCorps.
This broadcast is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Originally aired on April 27, 2024 on NPR’s Weekend Edition Saturday.
“Our Car Had Landed In The Water:” A Mother And Son Remember a Frightening Accident
StoryCorps conversations aren’t scripted, and even the participants can be surprised by what comes up when they get behind the mic.
That’s what happened when Karina Borgia-Lacroix brought her 10-year-old son, Levi, to the StoryCorps Mobile Booth in Fort Myers, Florida, and he asked about her favorite memory.
Karina Borgia-Lacroix and Levi Lacroix at JetBlue Park at Fenway South during spring training in Fort Myers, FL, in March of 2016. Courtesy of Karina Borgia-Lacroix.
Top Photo: Karina Borgia-Lacroix and Levi Lacroix at their StoryCorps interview in Fort Myers, FL on March 2, 2024. By Sara Barkouli for StoryCorps.
This broadcast is supported in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Originally aired April 12, 2024, on NPR’s Morning Edition.