Sandstone sandstonepodcast

In 2012, Bana and her family bought round trip tickets to the United States, planning to return to Syria once the war ended. But things didn’t get better, and they didn’t go home. With time, they made a new home in West Virginia, opening a restaurant called Beity, the Arabic word for “my home.”

I had the pleasure to work at Beity with Bana and her husband. Every shift I would come in smiling and go out smiling. If you’ve ever worked in a service job, you know that’s rare. Meet Bana, hear her story, and enjoy the last full episode of Sandstone!

When I first began my explorations in the Arab world, I was a dedicated Spy Cluber with big dreams and closed mind. I was searching for good and bad. East and West. Right and wrong. And I looked. I looked hard. But I just found people … and stories. And the deeper I went, the more uncertain I was. In this final mini episode, I share some of the feels that I’ve felt throughout this journey - how I’ve changed and what I’ve learned. Tune in and hear the behind the scenes of Sandstone!

Air strikes. Denied permits. Restricted freedoms. This is Gaza. Gaza is a Palestinian territory occupied by the state of Israel. In Episode 10, we’ll meet a Palestinian family from Gaza who will tell us what life is really like on the ground.

It’s said that this land is holy; it’s said that this land is home. Yet both Israelis and Palestinians claim this land and they both call it home. Nearly a century since the establishment of the state of Israel, hostilities and injustice remain. So what’s up with the Holy Land? Tune in and find out!

Poverty in Appalachia. Protests in the Middle East. In both regions, conflict and struggle have been defined as cultural problems, self-inflicted and incurable. But are we in Appalachia just behind the times? And is the Middle East inherently prone to conflict? The answers are more complicated than we might think. And when we attempt to explain the headlines of today, history might be worth considering.

Ted is Syrian, a refugee from a war torn country. But that’s just one of his stories, and it’s not the story you’ll hear today. Ted might be a refugee, but he’s an engineer, too. He’s a musician, an Uber Driver, and a Wendy’s Manager. He’s a friend and a fellow mountaineer. Tune in to meet the man named Solidarity!