Our American Stories

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Latest Episodes:

EP260: Enrique the Penguin Who Wears Shoes, Don't Wear Slippers to a Job Interview and Iowa's Long-Lost NBA Team Who Beat the Celtics Apr 13, 2022

Show notes

On this episode of Our American Stories, Marija Elden, the Zoological Manager of Birds, shares Enrique’s journey to owning a pair of pretty cool kicks after being diagnosed with arthritis in his feet. Joshua Texidor tells us how it takes some time to find what we enjoy AND what we're good at. Tim Harwood of Waterloo/Cedar Fall's KXEL 1540 and author of Ball Hawks : The Arrival and Departure of the NBA in Iowa tells us the story of the only professional sports team ever to play in Iowa.

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Time Codes:

00:00 - Enrique the Penguin Who Wears Shoes

10:00 - Don't Wear Slippers to a Job Interview

23:00 - Iowa's Long-Lost NBA Team Who Beat the Celtics

Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EP259: Father Receives Daughter's Text during Pittsburgh Synagogue Massacre, My Grandpa the Storyteller and Apr 12, 2022

Show notes

On this episode of Our American Stories, Paul Kengor's daughters were across the street while a tragedy unfolded at the Tree of Life Synagogue on October 27, 2018. Dennis Peterson shares memories of his Appalachian storytelling grandfather, Paw Summers. Elisabeth Elliot, author of Through Gates of Splendor tells us the story of Operation Auca, an attempt by five American missionaries to reach the Auca tribe (considered the most dangerous in the world) of eastern Ecuador.

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Time Codes:

00:00 - Father Receives Daughter's Text during Pittsburgh Synagogue Massacre

10:00 - My Grandpa the Storyteller

23:00 - Through the Gates of Splendor

Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EP258: The Story of George Washington Carver and The House Built By Chewing Gum Apr 12, 2022

Show notes

On this episode of Our American Stories, National Park Service ranger Curtis Gregory at the George Washington Carver National Monument in Diamond, Missouri tells us the story of George Washington Carver. William Wrigley, Jr. was a brilliant businessman, but his ingenuity was out shined by his love for his wife. This is the story of how he made his fortune and then spent it on the one he loved.

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Time Codes:

00:00 - The Story of George Washington Carver

35:00 - The House Built By Chewing Gum

Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EP257: The Team Behind Old Dominick Distillery and One Mother’s Escape From A Sudanese Death Sentence to America Apr 11, 2022

Show notes

On this episode of Our American Stories, Alex Castle tells us how she came to own the first whiskey distillery, Old Dominick Distillery, in Memphis as well as the first female head distiller in the state of Tennessee since Prohibition. Mariam Ibraheem tells us how she came from Sudan to living in Virginia.

Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)

Time Codes:

00:00 - The Team Behind Old Dominick Distillery

23:00 - One Mother’s Escape From A Sudanese Death Sentence to America

Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EP256: In His Father's Shadow, From High School Dropout... To Owning D.C.'s Best Taco Chain! and Why Are Bananas So Cheap? (History Guy) Apr 11, 2022

Show notes

On this episode of Our American Stories, The History Guy tells us the story of the 16th President’s son, Robert Todd Lincoln. Osiris Hoil lost his construction job in 2008, but through his fantastic cooking, he started District Taco, D.C.'s best taco chain. The History Guy tells us the story of the banana and how it came to be the cheapest fruit.

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Time Codes:

00:00 - In His Father's Shadow

10:00 - From High School Dropout... To Owning D.C.'s Best Taco Chain!

35:00 - Why Are Bananas So Cheap? (History Guy)

Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EP255: Our Home Became Tidier After Having Four Sons, Burrito Restaurant Offers Job To Burglar and The Wizard of Menlo Park Apr 08, 2022

Show notes

On this episode of Our American Stories, Alexandra Frost shares her secret to being a mother of four young, active boys, yet her home is cleaner than it was before she had kids. After Diablos Southwest Grill was broken into owner Carl Wallace made a Facebook post with a job offer for the perpetrator. To Carl’s surprise, the post quickly went viral, bringing international attention to their store. Kathleen Carlucci and Russ Gehrum of the Thomas Edison Center at Edison, NJ, tell the story of how Edison perfected light.

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Time Codes:

00:00 - Our Home Became Tidier After Having Four Sons

10:00 - Burrito Restaurant Offers Job To Burglar

35:00 - The Wizard of Menlo Park

Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EP254: How American History Created the American Superhero Apr 08, 2022

Show notes

On this episode of Our American Stories, Jeffrey Johnson, WWII historian at Pearl Harbor in Honolulu, Hawaii and author of Super-History: Comic Book Superheroes and American Society tells us how the comic book superhero was born in the country’s margins.

Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)

Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EP253: Reconciling Dad the Farmer and Dad the Veteran Pilot, How The Civil War Openly Became about Slavery and Why it Took One Man 7 Years to Get His Car Back Apr 07, 2022

Show notes

On this episode of Our American Stories, Iowa listener Joy Neal Kidney shares her father's story. Our regular contributors Jon Elfner and Dr. Kate Masur, author of "Until Justice Be Done," tell the rest of the story that begins with three runaway enslaved people. Tyson Timbs tells us how he found out that old habits do indeed die hard when he was arrested and convicted for selling drugs to undercover cops.

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Time Codes:

00:00 - Reconciling Dad the Farmer and Dad the Veteran Pilot

10:00 - How The Civil War Openly Became about Slavery

35:00 - Why it Took One Man 7 Years to Get His Car Back

Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EP252: This Man Grows Pumpkins That Weigh a TON and Tom Morton Goes to Marine Boot Camp Apr 07, 2022

Show notes

On this episode of Our American Stories, In 2017, Rhode Islander, Joe Jutras, broke the record for the largest giant green squash ever grown coming in at 2118lbs. Tom Morton always wanted to join the military...but it took a while to get onto the yellow footprints at Parris Island.

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Time Codes:

00:00 - This Man Grows Pumpkins That Weigh a TON

23:00 - Tom Morton Goes to Marine Boot Camp

Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

EP251: Growing Up Rural: A Tale About Stinky Boots, The Bigger the Bureaucracy, the Smaller the Customer and The Tone Deaf, Bad Poet Who Wrote The National Anthem Apr 06, 2022

Show notes

On this episode of Our American Stories, Scott Jones, author of Growing Up Rural: Lessons Learned For a Lifetime, tells the story of the time he stunk up his classroom with hog manure covered boots...and how a gracious teacher really helped him out. Mike Leven shares his story as past President and Chief Operating Officer of Las Vegas Sands Corp. One of the great hoteliers of all time—a legend in his business. Marc Leepson, author of What So Proudly We Hailed: Francis Scott Key, A Life, brings us the story of Francis “Frank” Scott Key and how he came to write the National Anthem of the United States of America.

Support the show (https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate)

Time Codes:

00:00 - Growing Up Rural: A Tale About Stinky Boots

10:00 - The Bigger the Bureaucracy, the Smaller the Customer

23:00 - The Tone Deaf, Bad Poet Who Wrote The National Anthem

Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com

Support the show: https://www.ouramericanstories.com/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.