VA Presents: My Life, My Story31 Aug 2020

Steve: Mein Freund

If someone asked you to tell your life story, where would you begin?

For a lot of people, the answer to that question is "I was born in … "

When we interview people, we often start there, too. "Where were you born?" is a perfectly fine way to begin a conversation. From there, Veterans might talk about where they grew up, who their parents were, where they went to school, when they got married, etc. In other words, they talk about their life chronologically, focusing on "milestone moments" along the way.

We have a phrase for interviews that go like that. We call them "Just the Facts."

A lot of Veterans we talk to are far less straightforward. They, like most of us, think in tangents, speak in anecdotes, and play hopscotch on the timeline as they recount the biggest moments in their lives. Writing stories from interviews like that can be harder than composing a "Just the Facts" life review. But those tangents and anecdotes can be gold when you're looking for a good story.

In this episode of our podcast, "Steve" did something we truly found delightful: he centered his entire life story around a single friendship that spanned a lifetime. It was an unusual way to tell a life history, but we loved it. We hope you do, too.

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Episoder(31)

Kari: A big, wonderful, dysfunctional family

A smart, funny sailor talks about her journey from being a cook on a destroyer to a counselor on an aircraft carrier.

2 Aug 202310min

Luke: Turnip soup, black bread

This amazing story details the day-to-day existence of a prisoner of war in Germany during World War II, and also what followed his liberation.

9 Jun 202310min

Eugene: He helps me, and I help him

A veteran discovers at 20 years old something that upends everything he thought he knew about himself. But life goes on.

2 Jun 20238min

Greg: Just keep pedaling

“You never know what other people are going through." That's a cornerstone idea for the "My Life, My Story" project, and it really rings true in this story about Greg.

26 Mai 20238min

Kevin: Boring can be good

Where you start in life can go a long way toward determining where you end up as an adult. But it doesn’t have to.

19 Mai 20239min

Florian: the story everyone wants to hear

The story that Florian tells in this episode is literally the stuff movies are (and have been) made of. Whether or not you know the history of the USS Indianapolis, this is a story worth hearing.

26 Aug 202110min

Jimmy: Leaving a mark

A taxidermist who trekked alone through China and made it into a book called "Weird Wisconsin" -- those are some of the highlights of this wonderful veteran's story.

19 Aug 20219min

Jeb: The Guy Who Got Out

A lot of people have screwed up, royally, at least once in their lives. They've crashed cars, yelled at the wrong guy in a bar, fallen asleep on guard duty, cheated on their spouse . . . or worse. Som...

12 Aug 20219min