2nd Story is dedicated to creating and crafting story-sharing experiences that foster meaningful connections between individuals and communities. We believe that well-crafted, well-told stories can be a catalyst for change for artist and audience alike. We believe that stories are what bind us to each other. We want to live in a world driven by empathy. We host events in and around Chicago that elevate the storyteller’s words to deliver a unique, live, literary/theatrical experience unlike a ...
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In this week's story, teller Liz Blondel recalls her early college days, and the culture shock she experienced while studying just a few blocks northeast of her childhood home.By 2nd Story
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Episode 298: Ana Martin Sagredo - And Then, There Was Sound
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In this week's story, teller Ana Martin Sagredo shares the early days of her second child's life, the unexpected hurdles they experienced, and the decisions they made for their family.By 2nd Story
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Episode 297: Nestor Gomez - Number 1 Or Number 2
15:22
15:22
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In this week's story, teller Nestor Gomez recalls some notable conversations around this year's presidential election, with a particularly poignant metaphor for how he feels.By 2nd Story
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Episode 296: Gregory and Vince Pagán-Hill - Gay As Sh*t
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In this week's story, tellers Gregory and Vince Pagán-Hill share a dual story of sexual awakening and finding a partner to explore with.By 2nd Story
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Episode 295: Jasmin Cardenas - Technicolor Me
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In this week's story, teller Jasmin Cardenas reflects on bringing stories into her classrooms from a variety of cultures and languages and how she sees the joy of familiarity in her students.By 2nd Story
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Episode 294: Ali Drumm & Christine Thoren - I Choose You
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In this week's story, tellers Ali Drumm and Christine Thoren reflect on a few of the pivotal moments from their relationship, sharing the difficult choices they've made because they're worth it.By 2nd Story
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Episode 293: Karla Estela Rivera - Sofritogate
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17:51
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In this week's story, teller Karla Estela Rivera shares how she and her husband navigated a particularly nasty fight that reared its head when the world around them was already in turmoil.By 2nd Story
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Episode 292: Yongwoo - Something Easy To Work Hard At
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In this week's story, teller Yongwoo recaps his internal battle to properly represent himself, and all men who share his race, in conflict.By 2nd Story
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In this week's story, teller Linda Sullivan recounts the highs and lows of one particularly impactful friendship from her youth.By 2nd Story
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Episode 290: S and Danielle Simmons - Just Friends
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In this week's story, S and Danielle Simmons share the origin story of their marriage - and how they started off on not quite the same page about romance.By 2nd Story
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Episode 289: Courtney Kotloski - Check Yourself Before You Wreck Yourself
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In this week's story, teller Courtney Kotloski shares the shock of her cancer diagnosis and how humor - along with the support of her family - helped keep her pushing through treatment.By 2nd Story
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Episode 288: Jen Schroeder - A Labor Of Love
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In this week's story, teller Jen Schroeder shares an intensely honest and real look at her experience just before, during, and after giving birth to her twins.By 2nd Story
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Episode 287: LaTanya Lane - The Perfect Amount Of Water
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19:22
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In this week's story, 2nd Story Company Member LaTanya Lane shares how she lost one type of faith but found another in the people and community around her.By 2nd Story
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In this week's episode, our teller recalls how certain major climactic moments from her life didn't resolve the way the shows and books she'd consumed prepared her for.By 2nd Story
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Episode 285: Lexi Saunders - An Important Part
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In this week's story, teller Lexi Saunders shares the road that led to their work as educator and just one moment of many where they saw the impact of their work in real-time.By 2nd Story
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In this week's story, our teller bring us through a so-called rite of manhood thrust upon him by a dear friend in a time of emotional vulnerability.By 2nd Story
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Episode 283: Aaron Talley - The Beyoncé Vibration
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In this week's story, teller Aaron Talley shares how the meaning we look for in the stars can sometimes be found staring us in the face when look in the mirror.By 2nd Story
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Episode 282: Reshmi Hazra Rustebakke - The Punishment Plan
19:04
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In this week's story, company member Reshmi Hazra Rustebakke reminisces on lessons of justice learned as a child, and how they changed and adapted as she grew into adulthood and independence.By 2nd Story
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Episode 281: CP Chang - You Have A Cute Face
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In this week's story, CP Chang shares how his journey to find the love of his life and to love himself have been intertwined since childhood.By 2nd Story
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In this week's story, 2nd Story Podcast Producer Max Spitz takes the mic, sharing what he and his wife learned when their adoption took a bit more out of them than expected.By 2nd Story
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Episode 279: Megan Stielstra and Aimy Tien - You Can't Lose A Fight
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In this week's story, tellers Megan Stielstra and Aimy Tien share a dual story of fighting to live their best lives and stepping in to help lift up others when that fight gets tough.By 2nd Story
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In this week's story, teller Coya Paz shares the unexpected connection between her youthful desire for nunhood and her later realization of her queerness.By 2nd Story
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In this week's story, teller Earliana McLaurin shares a moment when help that was desperately needed finally came, and the thanks she so earnestly gave when it did.By 2nd Story
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In this week's story, 2nd Story company member Vince Pagán-Hill shares how his experience teaching a class of incarcerated women gave him insight into the lives of an all-too-often overlooked population.By 2nd Story
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In this week's story, teller Avi Bowie takes us through some of the ways they've grown to understand death and the relationship to both grief and joy they've found in mourning.By 2nd Story
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Episode 274: Jeff, Yolonda, and Lauren Sivak - To Be Loved
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In this week's story, the Sivak family shares a moment when the strength of their love and support was tested, and the power they found to stand by each other.By 2nd Story
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In this week's story, teller Lynnette Li shares how she broke free of the need to do what's expected and stop apologizing for being herself.By 2nd Story
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Episode 272: Audry Farber - Audry And Jim
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17:38
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In this week's story, teller Audry Farber shares the highs and lows of her openly trans identity, and how she works to find community and be visible even when others ask her for invisibility.By 2nd Story
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Episode 271: Darren Meyers - From Another
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In this week's story, teller Darren Meyers shares the highs and lows of an acting rivalry and what happens when real life intervenes.By 2nd Story
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Episode 270: LaTanya Lane - The Time Of My Life
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In this week's story, teller and company member LaTanya Lane helps us ring in the 25th season with a story about a few memorable birthdays of her own.By 2nd Story
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In this week's story, teller Jane deLaubenfels brings us back to a moment of terror and shares the community that helped her move through it.By 2nd Story
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Episode 268: Sheree L Greer - Time Traveling
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In this week's story, teller Sheree L. Greer shares the moments that lead to a few big decisions in her life - and how she learned to recognize when it's the right time to make them.By 2nd Story
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Episode 267: Kim L. Hunt - It's Me - Finally
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In this week's story, teller Kim L Hunt helps celebrate Pride Month with a story about finding her voice and the power it holds.By 2nd Story
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Episode 266: Nestor Gomez - Codeswitching
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In this week's story, teller Nestor Gomez brings us on a journey through the way his language has moved and evolved just as he and his community did so as well.By 2nd Story
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Episode 265: Amanda Dunne Acevedo - Adopting
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In this week's story, teller Amanda Dunne Acevedo shares the moment she learned of her adoption, and how her experience since clashes with the classic clichés.By 2nd Story
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In this week's story, teller Jeff Bakkensen shares the memory of one particularly strong friendship, and how the loss of that friend stayed with him as the world expected him to move on.By 2nd Story
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Episode 263: Liz Rice - Una Estadounidense En Habana
18:19
18:19
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In this week's story, teller Liz Rice shares how, while abroad intending to study Spanish, she learned a great deal more in addition.[Teller's Note: At the 4:50 mark, Liz intended to state that her teachers speak fluent English, in addition to the expected Spanish.]By 2nd Story
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In this week's story, teller Geneva Norman shares a milestone moment in the early years as a medical provider and what she learned about caring for different communities.By 2nd Story
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In this week's story, whose title means "freedom" in Farsi, our teller recalls her first time wearing hijab when visiting family in Iran and how the meaning of hijab has evolved for her since then.By 2nd Story
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Episode 260: Jeanette Mrozinski - Eucharist
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In this week's story, teller Jeanette Mrozinski shares the immediate aftermath of an assault, and how she found grace in the strangers who helped her.By 2nd Story
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In this week's story, our teller shares a moment of deep embarrassment in the most emblematic of high school gauntlets: gym class.By 2nd Story
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Episode 258: Karla Estela Rivera - My Island
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In this week's story, teller Karla Estela Rivera reflects on what she learned when a moment of personal triumph clashed with a shocking and unexpected tragedy.By 2nd Story
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In this week's story, teller Katie Hauser reflects on her relationship to sin in a distinctly nonreligious locale.By 2nd Story
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Episode 256: Tiffany Moten - Roller Coasters
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13:27
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In this week's story, teller Tiffany Moten reflects on the ups and downs of being the thrill seeker in her family.By 2nd Story
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In this week's story, teller Yongwoo shares just a few of the moments of self-discovery he's had through his lifelong study of martial arts.By 2nd Story
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Episode 256: RJ Silva - My Father's Stroke
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14:09
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In this week's story, teller RJ Silva shares how the milestone moment of his 30th birthday revealed unexpected understandings of his family dynamic.By 2nd Story
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Episode 255: Ric Walker - Good Cope/Bad Cope
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In this week's story, teller Ric Walker shares musings on punishment, policing, and parenthood.By 2nd Story
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Episode 254: Earliana McLaurin - Everything For The Cardi B (Fear)
16:29
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In this week's story, teller Earliana McLaurin shares a series of moments that helped her find her place in the BLM movement.By 2nd Story
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Episode 253: LeeAnn Trotter - My Mind's Eye
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In this week's story, we celebrate Halloween with a story about the truth of what lies beyond death from teller LeeAnn Trotter.By 2nd Story
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Episode 252: Lynnette Li - The World I Want To Live In
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In this week's story, originally commissioned by the ACLU, teller Lynnette Li shares her unique approach to parenting and what it means to "be in charge."By 2nd Story
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