GRIT - Stories of Resilience

Jim Blackburn
  • 5.0 (27)
  • TRUE CRIME
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

GRIT can mean pebbles on the beach. It can also mean courage, passion, perserverance and even humilty. It is doing in an honorable way whatever it takes. GRIT is an essential characteristic of starting over in life when someone has hit a rough patch. With it, almost anything is possible. Without, not so much. This is a podcast about facing adversity, including mental health issues and starting over after a total career breakup. I talk candidly about it all and have interviews with many professional folks and friends who tell some of their own stories and searches for GRIT.

  1. MAR 2

    Punch, the Monkey show us Grit and Resilience

    Punch, the Monkey, abandoned at birth by his mother, is now seven months old. For the longest time, while living at a zoo just outside Tokyo, Japan, Punch was on his own, bullied and shunned completely by the other monkeys there. Punch was given a plush toy from IKEA, an orangutan, that became his only friend. Punch stayed with him, dragged him everywhere and slept with him. He would not let him go. Finally, another monkey befriended Punch, and the barriers came down, and he was finally accepted by the other monkeys in the zoo. But it was hard going there for a while. Punch's story is one of Grit and Resilience. He shows how to do it. This is his story and the meaning for all of us. Check Punch out on Google and see for yourself.

    29 min

  2. FEB 23

    The Fatal Vision Podcast - James McGinniss interview me

    It has now been over 56 years ago this month that Colette, Kimberly and Kristen MacDonald were murdered in their home. Nine years later, on July 16, 1979, the murder trial of Jeffrey MacDonald began in Raleigh, North Carolina and ended on August 29, 1979 with convictions on all counts. Joe McGinniss wrote his best selling book Fatal Vision in the spring of 1983, followed by the NBC miniseries by the same name in 1984. Though Joe passed away in 2024, his son James and good friend Billy Glidden, have a riveting podcast of the book, chapter by chapter. Here is the interview James did with me.

    57 min

  3. FEB 16

    Three Chairs in the Courtroom - The Defendant's Chair

    " Success is not final. Failure is not fatal." These words are often attributed to Winston Churchill, but not for sure. Perhaps the author is unknown. Still, they seem to me to be a perfect setting for grit and resilience. So, it is with sitting in the defendant's chair, a place no one wants to be. This podcast was recorded last week on this very topic as the final hour of a Continuing Legal Education online seminar. After looking at it again, I concluded it is the best I can do on this. So, here it is, my story of sitting in the defendant's chair in 1993. and getting my life back. It is a journey, not a destination.

    58 min

  4. FEB 9

    Three Chairs in the Courtroom - PCB and NC Lt Gov Trials

    PCB toxic chemicals illegally spilled on the roadways of North Carolina brought a federal trial that ended with the persons responsible being given active sentences in prison - the first time ever in the United States for violation of the relevant environmental law statute. But for me, it was a master class in learning lessons of professionalism from my opposing counsel. Years later, it happened again, only this time I lost, and the Lt. Governor of North Carolina was acquitted. Both stories are full of lessons learned in how to win and lose.

    52 min

  5. FEB 2

    Three Chairs in the Courtroom - Part 1 - Jeffrey MacDonald murder case

    There are three main chairs in a criminal courtroom - one for the Prosecutor, one for the Defense Attorney and one for the Defendant. I have sat in all three. This is Part 1 of the Prosecutor's chair in the Jeffrey MacDonald murder case. From my 1989 interview with Freddy Kassab, who pursued MacDonald all his life, after the murders in 1970, through the trial in 1979, I tell you why I believe the government won and Jeffrey MacDonald lost. It was emotion and passion on our side but most of all the evidence that led to his conviction of three counts of murder. This is that story.

    52 min

  6. 12/22/2025

    The Color of Hope - A Podcast at Christmas

    This Christmas season, it is easy to be distracted and somewhat depressed with all the news in our country and indeed, in many parts of the world. But there have been other times as the famous song, "The White Cliffs of Dover" remind us of the times of World War II. The song, " A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square" as the memorable line, the whole darn world seemed upside down". This is the way it feels to me now. Upside down." It isn't the first time, and it won't be the last. So, pick a color - paint the story of your life and give it a title. I picked the color blue and for a title "The Color of Hope. This is my take!

    36 min

  7. 10/05/2025

    Two Days at Chetola

    Forrest Gump said his mother told him that "Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you are going to get." That pretty much sums up my latest trip to Chetola for a seminar for lawyers and paralegals this past weekend. Hearing stories of surviving three bouts of cancer and no one thinking one lawyer would even be here to dealing with hosting and paying for a wedding to take place next Saturday, to confronting three large bears to worrying about one's career, this time we had it all. And to top it off, Chetola did not have a record of my reservation on one of their busiest times of the year. But everyone remained calm and through the day and a room move or two, it worked out with Chetola acting at their best. But at first, it was not guaranteed. This weekend and this podcast is about life, and how these people deal with it. It isn't always perfect, but it is full of grit and reslience.

    32 min

  8. 09/28/2025

    Escape to the Mountains - Restoration of a Landmark - West Jefferson Hotel

    Built in 1915 to support a railroad line from Abington, Virgina, to the North Carolina mountains, the hotel thrived for over a half century as the hub of West Jefferson, located in Ashe County in the northwest part of the state. In 1977, due to the closing of the railroad and bus lines, the hotel was forced to close its doors for about 50 years. Bought in 2019, Mark Beck and his family began a 5-year journey to restore the hotel to its former prominence and grandeur. Opening its doors to the future in July of this year, this is the story of one family's persistence and the resilience of an old hotel. Mark and his daughter Lily have given a new meaning to the words "grit" and "resilience". Complete with pictures, this is their story of the restoration of a landmark.

    1h 4m
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About

GRIT can mean pebbles on the beach. It can also mean courage, passion, perserverance and even humilty. It is doing in an honorable way whatever it takes. GRIT is an essential characteristic of starting over in life when someone has hit a rough patch. With it, almost anything is possible. Without, not so much. This is a podcast about facing adversity, including mental health issues and starting over after a total career breakup. I talk candidly about it all and have interviews with many professional folks and friends who tell some of their own stories and searches for GRIT.

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