Exploring Our Stories. StoryBoard Memphis is a nonprofit multimedia resource for news and feature-length stories on local arts, culture, history, and community. This podcast is a longer cut of the half-hour radio show that airs on Memphis's FM 89.3 WYPL each Sunday evening at 5:30 PM. Taken right out of the pages of StoryBoard Memphis, this show asks Memphians to talk about their passions, their initiatives, or to just talk about what makes Memphis, Memphis.
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The 3rd Word Artist Podcast is a about the artistic Journey of Trinidadian Storyboard/Caricature Artist Rajendra Ramkallawan. Rajendra will talk about what he learns on his journey, tips for young artist and his overall experiences as a 3rd world artist.
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"For many years merely to talk of angels invited scorn. Belief bespoke of craziness, even schizophrenia, and certainly denoted a pitiful lack of intellect. But after eight decades of personal observation, I fearlessly assert that angels are real. We swim like fish in spiritual waters, and like fish we know nothing of water until we’re yanked out fl…
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“To champion a cause, you have to reboot your fundamental belief in the goodness of people, and that goodness will win out. Because all of a sudden, out of nowhere, resources, people show up that you could not have imagined in a million years. There is power in beginning. The minute you decide to commit, all make and manner of support materializes …
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“We’ve seen Bridge Builders transform young people in countless ways, and the result is a growing community of young leaders poised to reach across, lead the way, and build our community. Bridge Builders are not just the future leaders of tomorrow; youth today want to make a real difference. We are here to support them on that journey. And now more…
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"We’ve been working with the consultants that helped reimagine Crosstown Concourse. We had some of the same braintrust working with us. It wasn’t too long ago that people said ‘that will never happen,’ and I hear some of the same voices saying this (the Coliseum) will never happen – I’ve heard it for eight years. Honestly, the Crosstown project was…
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The introduction to StoryBoard's multi-year project to bring the basement archives and collections of Beale Street's iconic and historic A. Schwab Dry Goods & General Store to the public and the collection scanned and added to DIG Memphis, the digital archive of the Memphis Public Library. Listen in as host Mark Fleischer joins original project adm…
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“At Playhouse, we have the honor of producing a number of shows each season. Some are just fun and easy and ‘let’s go take a break and have fun and sing along,’ and then we’ll do shows where we need to talk about that subject matter. “These are issues that are not new. And they won’t easily be resolved, so they’re going to be around for a while. An…
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“For me, the experience was daunting, certainly in the beginning. To be the leader of a production, and have all these folk who I know are very talented and extremely skilled and have more information and have the words . . . they’re all looking at me as the leader of this production, to guide it. So that was daunting, and I was slightly intimidate…
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"When you start really thinking about what (Rust Hall) can be... when I look at what our current exhibitions could look like here, having the space where you could actually walk around each of the objects instead of having things against the wall where you can't fully appreciate the work... that's a moment that's exciting to me. It's also our educa…
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He said “I want my work to stand the test of time, and be shared.” What reminds me of this is the Till story, where he says he was writing the publication so that it would be something that we had evidence of… so that “it need not occur again.” And here we are today working on the Till story. That’s Rosalind Withers, Executive Director of the Withe…
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"The album is very much about my recovery process. I started writing the songs before, and continued writings afterwards, and I think there's ... it wasn't intentional, but do I think there's a bit of a story arch there." That's musician, record producer and Memphian J.D. Reager - and creator of the podcast and record label Back to the Light - talk…
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“Our approach to housing homeless families is very different from other shelters in the city. Dorothy Day herself really believed in personalism in reaching people where they were. And she always saw the poor with great dignity, and took care of them with great care, and sacrificed herself in order to take care of people who didn’t have much. So wh…
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"All the possibilities are right there in front of you and you have no idea what's going to happen next. And it's live." That's Playhouse's executive producer Michael Detroit, talking with host Mark Fleischer about the power and the magic that is live theater. "That's the unknown. You plan, you practice, you rehearse, but life happens in live theat…
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“After the trial though, that photo makes a difference… And that photo circulates. Just the act of standing up and testifying as a witness is a big deal - you’ve got a Black man standing up to white power and saying, ‘These men did this thing.’ And yet Friday afternoon the 12 white jurors come in and find the defendants not guilty. From that perspe…
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“Like the endurance of the metal itself, contemporary Black artists sustain the historic and symbolic significance of working with iron that began with ancient practices of blacksmithing in Africa,” Dr. Earnestine Jenkins. Dr. Earnestine Jenkins, visual culture historian and professor at the University of Memphis, and host Mark Fleischer discuss Fr…
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Shelley Moore and Mark Fleischer sat down in the Memphis Room at the Memphis Public Library to talk about Shelley's first book Through a Blue-Eyed Lens: Reflections - Snapshots - Pinholes. When Shelley arrives from the outer reaches of Wyoming, her new stage is Memphis, a segregated city increasingly steeped in conflict and turmoil. By recounting t…
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SB 30 Episode 70: A Shell for all Memphians with Overton Park Shell Executive Director Natalie Wilson
33:15
“It’s a gift from Memphians to Memphis, in the belief that free concerts bring people together and build community. There’s nothing like it. Food and music. 19 months of being in the pandemic, and being dark, people realize truly how important this place is. It is the heartbeat of our city, and it is something that we need. We all need it. We need …
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SB 30 Episode 69: Jeffrey Robinson and the filmmakers behind Who We Are: A Chronicle of Racism in America
41:54
“We’re fifty years later now (since the tipping point of the Civil Rights era and the King assassination), and once again, young activists in America are making Americans take a look in the mirror in terms of our true history of race and racial prejudice. Once again the young activists are calling us to account. Once again America is having to look…
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Join host Mark Fleischer as he talks with historian and Tennessee History For Kids executive director Bill Carey, as the two discuss the importance of learning history, about the controversies around ‘critical race theory,’ and about the 2021 in-person TN History for Kids Summer Road Shows in West Tennessee.…
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“My characters meet at Ole Miss, when there were very few Black students on the campus, in 1966. In February of 1970, on campus, a group called Up With People gave a concert. And there was this huge protest where 60 Black kids were arrested. Eight of the those students came to be known as the Ole Miss Eight. (The character) John is a composite of t…
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“I grew up in a one-traffic-light Mississippi town, a place of innocence and nostalgia that never reached my door. A cotton-top little girl, I was entered into beauty contest at the age of eight, but even the strength and poise I learned to present during competitions couldn’t protect me from my neglectful, angry mother and absent father. My abusiv…
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“Memphis is a city based on contradictions. And great things have happened because of cultural collisions and contradictions. And what makes it great is the fact that you can go to a small venue that’s doesn’t even have a stage and see some of the most amazing people making some of the most amazing music. I’ve been around a lot of places, seen a lo…
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“These venues provide a laboratory for growth. I’ve played some big gigs and a small gigs, but honestly some of the most substantial exponential growth I’ve ever had was here in town, like with regular gigs. It wouldn’t have happened were it not for those venues.” ~Steve Selvidge, Memphis musician “If there hadn’t been independent venues, we wouldn…
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SB 30 Episode 62: Puppies bringing happiness & light to dark times, in a new children’s book from Candace Echols
32:52
“Sometimes they see things I don’t see, like in this book. . . where the children know something the adults don’t. In this story that does happen, and I think it does sometimes happen in real life, and that children can clue us into things. There came a point in this story where mom realizes Josephine was already on to the truth in a way that mom h…
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“We’ve never seen anything like this in our lifetime. It’s traumatizing. And some people have better coping skills than others and have a support system. If you don’t have a well-developed support system and then you’re isolated . . . some of the things that are happening with mental health and substance abuse . . . it’s really tragic. We’ve seen p…
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B 30 Episode 60: The magic and majesty of the Orpheum’s Mighty Wurlitzer with historian and organist Vincent Astor
50:20
“I became very verklempt. It was such a wonder to play it and hear it again. It’s hard to describe. When I was down here and the organ was being demonstrated, he (Tony Thomas) was playing ‘There Will Never Be Another You.’ And I had a flashback. All those hundreds of people who courted in this theatre, during the war . . . they were all around me. …
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SB 30 Episode 59: From the outside looking in – America from an Aussie’s point of view with Christina Day
37:38
“I think I’ve asked every person that I’ve met here. Where do you find your truth? What do you read? What do you watch? Most people look at me blankly and can’t really answer me because, well, does it exist? I end up having to look for raw data because that can’t lie. So I guess you try and make your arguments out of the raw data, whether it’s FBI …
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“The Central Gardens Home & Garden Tour is an anticipated event every fall, we’ve been doing it annually for (40+) years, and it’s something that people in Memphis and the greater Mid-South really look forward to. We were on target to have an amazing tour, and then (after the pandemic shutdown in March) the committee got together and said Hey guys,…
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SB 30 Episode 57: Behind the treasures of DIGital Memphis with Jamie Corson of the Memphis Public Libraries
52:38
“History’s not stuffy. And it’s not as far away as you think it is. And either looking at the images and wondering ‘where is this?’ and ‘why is it different?’ and ‘what does that mean?’ . . . makes you feel more connected to the city and with the past. You realize that ‘Oh, these are people like me, and they have the same concerns and the same fear…
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“Private wealth and public poverty . . . the notion is that while in America we’ve accumulated vast wealth in the private and corporate sector, that when we look at the public sector, in terms of public facilities it’s a status of real impoverishment. And that certainly would be the case with the loss of a facility like this . . . The church was ev…
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“Somehow my performing created this safe place where they could talk and share their stories. . . and the conversations that came from that. . . it was really something. People were moved, not just by what I shared, but they were moved deeply by what each other shared, Black and White, about what it was like to grow up in Memphis, Black and White, …
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“Livability has never been more important . . . at the very moment when city revenues are in decline and city leaders are challenged by managing through a pandemic and big shifts in the economy, I think you’re still going to have to look ahead and be bold and not be afraid of asserting changes amidst this chaos. There’s the tendency when you’re fea…
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“Today we are going to be talking about housing, and what is really a set of crises as a result of the pandemic and economic shutdowns. As many of us in Memphis and around the country are in isolation, workers are working from home, parents are teaching from home. But there’s another part of our community, the traditionally disinvested part of our …
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SB 30 Episode 52: Developments & new construction during the pandemic with ArchInc’s Chooch Pickard
30:29
“The first obvious one that will be affected for quite some time is office space. Employers and employees are realizing a lot of work can be done from home – that was a bit of an eye-opener for me. When I realized how easy it was to work from home it was a bit scary – I think it’ll interesting to see how many businesses come back. I don’t think the…
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“Oh, yes. This is everybody’s favorite question. And also, my favorite question to ask people as well. . . Mainly it is because the inspiration that I get from talking to other Memphians propels me every single day. Everybody has a moment where they feel bogged down in their work or their day-to-day or they’re feeling rightfully overwhelmed by ever…
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“It becomes an equity issue. We can’t forget that for a very long time there was a large segment of the population that was excluded from enjoying Overton Park. Whatever we do with the master plan… we have to be sure we’re including everyone. We need to make sure that we are welcoming, that we are undoing those years when people felt excluded. And …
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“. . . to the people who make a living playing music, it was shocking in a way that was different than for you and me. They were trying to figure out how to pay rent. If you wake up every day and you say, ‘I’m a musician and I play live music every day,’ and then someone says, ‘that actually doesn’t exist anymore, that’s not even a thing’ . . . tha…
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“That’s what some nonprofits are facing . . . if your mission and work doesn’t line up with direct service it’s a more challenging fundraising environment. How do we do publicity in this context? We’re in the middle of a paradigm shift. Nonprofits have to think, ‘How is our message relevant in this new context?'” That’s Marvin Stockwell, director o…
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“The presence of the Memphis College of Art just permeates the Memphis community now. And if you think of the concept of impermanence, that nothing can last forever, I’ve thought a lot about that. But it feels disingenuous to say that anything other than. . . this is a very tragic loss for the community.” That’s MCA President Laura Hine, speaking t…
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“…Those places of strength, of meaning to a community – it’s how we approach picking a venue for the summit. It’s a space related to the work we do in fighting property blight and a space that’s meaningful for the community.” That’s Imani Jasper, program manager for Neighborhood Preservation, Inc., and the coordinator of this year’s NPI Summit, tal…
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SB 30, Episode 45: Community News in Crisis, a discussion with four leaders in community, non-profit, and independent news
29:22
“If feels like a crisis,” said the Flyer’s Anna Traverse Fogle. “We can’t do the kinds of community engagement we normally do,” said High Ground‘s Emily Trenholm. “It’s difficult building relationships with people when you can’t see them in person,” said MLK50‘s Wendi C. Thomas. “We’ve been looking to our Chalkbeat family for strategies on how to r…
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SB 30 Episode 44: Discussing the economic impact of COVID-19 on the arts with Playhouse’s Michael Detroit
30:03
“It had an immediate impact on us – we had three shows up and running. We’re a resident professional theater company, so everybody gets paid, and these were folks who were suddenly going to be out of work. Now, we promised everybody that we were going to fulfill payment on all of their contracts, and we’ve done so. So, there aren’t going to be any …
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“The grief really never leaves. You tend to put it in its proper place and carry on with the work you have to do to close the school and honor the commitment to the students. But the undercurrent of grief is always there. Certain events really stoke it up some more, like our recent art sale, going through our collection of art, and seeing the vast …
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“Before I ever got here, I thought a parking garage would be a great solution. And I know a lot of people in town have thought the same thing. We want to be very careful about what we do in Overton Park and with the Zoo, but there’s new technology, things become more affordable in terms of what can constructed – a lot of people are working on these…
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“I was 40 years old. I wasn’t the world’s oldest intern, I was the intern that never left.” That’s Emily Trenholm, one of 2020's Mojo of Midtown Award recipients, talking about her start with the Community Development Council back in 2000, when the organization was just forming. “Community development corporations (CDCs) are nonprofits that are eng…
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SB 30 Episode 40: The Future of the Mid-South Coliseum with Marvin Stockwell and Chooch Pickard of the Coliseum Coalition
29:00
Is 2020 the year when we will see an indoor event in the Mid-South Coliseum? The Coliseum has been empty since 2006, when “Memphis was at low civic ebb in enthusiasm,” as Marvin Stockwell said. The FedEx Forum and the Pyramid were open and in use, and the Mid-South Coliseum was seen as obsolete. However, since 2015, various groups of passionate ind…
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SB 30 Episode 39: Helping Homeless Children Get Through School, Gracefully, with Sheleah Harris
29:00
“We see homeless adults all the time. They are very visible. But when you think about children, they’re in the classroom all day. The numbers of homeless kids are staggering, up to 1300-1400 in Shelby County. It’s traumatic for these kids. As a teacher, you have to ‘teach’ to that level of trauma – forget math, forget reading, you have to teach to …
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“There are about 27,000 veterans in the Mid-South. And we’re reaching people finally, but truthfully, the hardest part is finding veterans who want to talk. Even after World War I, soldiers came home and didn’t talk about what they saw. Soldiers, marines, sailors… it’s something that happened to them and something that no one else can understand. B…
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“The Heights has about ten percent of Memphis’s vacant and blighted structures. Addressing this was identified as a priority, but what was realized was that addressing one housing project at a time probably was not going to affect the kind of community development that the neighborhood wanted to see." “‘We rise by lifting others‘ is our motto… So w…
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“What we found was that market forces tended to favor growth within the geographic center of the city, from downtown to the eastern edge of the city along the Poplar corridor… and it left out a lot of areas of the city that otherwise would not see much activity. This was dissatisfying for everyone, and though we’re excited about growth, we want it …
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