Story Made Podcast Matt Sawyer

Our conversation this week is with Julyan Davis - artist, writer, narrative painter of the American South and West, explorer of lost stories, child of England and citizen of the world.
“If you’re able to find beauty in what everyone else doesn’t consider for a second, there’s a great richness in that. In a way you’ve made your own discovery.” In 1988, Julyan wandered into Sotheran’s Rare Books in London, England and discovered ‘Stars Fell on Alabama’ by Carl Carmer. Transfixed by the state’s history and a 19th century colony settled by Napoleonic exiles, he followed his curiosity to the source. After a few months spent working odd jobs and saving money, he set off on a great adventure from England to the American South – the untidy land of wistful melancholy that would shape his art and life. He’d eventually settle in the Southern Appalachian Mountains, finding in them a strange kinship and connection to his homelands.
When he was struggling to earn a spot at an art school, Julyan decided to take his own advice. He found the meeting point of all his particular interests and created a life there. He pursued his dream with conviction and certainty for so long that by the time he realized how difficult it would be, it was too late. He was an artist.
In this episode you’ll hear Julyan talk about his great adventure from England to Alabama, walking as a lifestyle, finding beauty where others don’t look, the never-ending story of American Ghosts, connecting Appalachia and the Scottish borders, the art of creating for yourself, creating a timeless children’s story for his son, and much more. 
Location: Julyan's home | Asheville, NC
Visit Julyan's Website!
Buy his debut novel, A History of Saints
 
Mentioned in this episode, for you to explore:
The Mind of the South by W.J. Cash
Excerpts from The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather
The Moviegoer by Walker Percy
Stars Fell on Alabama by Carl Carmer
Carson McCullers
Searching for the Wrong-Eyes Jesus
Caspar David Friedrich
City Lights Bookstore in Sylva, NC
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Bruce Chatwin: One of the Last Great Explorers
Walking with Werner Herzog
Paris, Texas (1984)
The Story of Picher, Oklahoma
'There's No Memory of the Joy.' Why 40 Years of Superfund Work Hasn't Saved Tar Creek
Cheap Old Houses
Edward Hopper
Andrew Wyeth
Populism and the World of Oz
Dark on Netflix
The Storied South by William Ferris
Helpmate Domestic Violence Services
How Erwin, Tenn. Is Reinventing Its Legacy of Killing Mary The Elephant
The Professor's House by Willa Cather
'Luddite' Teens Don't Want Your Likes
A Good Man is Hard to Find by Flannery O'Connor
Glenis Redmond
'Weather Vane' by Common Market
'Language of My World' by Macklemore
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck
Don Quixote by Miguel de Cervantes
Eugenics and Sex Harmony by Rubin Herman
Landmarks by Robert Macfarlane
 

Our conversation this week is with Elon Justice - filmmaker, writer, creator of the Appalachian Retelling Project, and child of Pikeville, Kentucky. 
"Challenging the narrative of Appalachia - one story at a time." Raised in Eastern Kentucky, Elon heard stories from her family that taught her who she is and where she comes from - and to be proud of it. But she also saw firsthand how negative, steretypical images of her home had the power to cause harm to the people and places she loved. So she decided to do something to change that.
Rooted in co-creation, the Appalachian Retelling Project shares stories that lift unheard voices and give an honest glance into what it means to be from the mountains. The people of Appalachia are tired of others talking about who they are, so this is a space for them to talk back. "Mountains stories, on our own terms" - as they should be told. 
In this episode, Elon talks about growing up in Pikeville, the influence of her family, her first recollections of Appalachian stereotypes, moving away for college, her wild and powerful journey to the Massachussetts Institute of Technology (MIT), why she started the retelling project, co-creation and community-based storytelling, and much more. I hope you listen!
Check out The Appalachian Retelling Project website
and elonjustice.com
Mentioned in this episode, for you to explore:
The Brier Sermon – You Must Be Born Again by Jim Wayne Miller
Pikeville Cut-Through drone video
Hillsville Remembered: Public Memory, Historical Silence, and Appalachia's Most Notorious Shoot-Out by Travis Rountree
Justified on Hulu
John Dils
General William Ratliff
Frank Waller
Effie Waller Smith
The Collected Works of Effie Waller Smith
Breaks Interstate Park: The Grand Canyon of the South
BitSource
Beyond Coal: Imagining Appalachia's Future
Diane Sawyer’s Hidden America: Children of the Mountains
Billy Ray Cyrus' trip to Kentucky on American Idol
We're not going to watch 'Hillbilly Elegy', and we hope you won't either
100 Days in Appalachia on the legacy of Deliverance 
The Moonshiner (1904)
The Dollmaker by Harriette Arnow (book, 1954)
The Dollmaker (movie, 1984)
Katerina Cizek
Collective Wisdom - Co-Creating Media for Equity and Justice by Katerina Cizek and William Uricchio
Sarah Wolozin
Elaine McMillion Sheldon
Hollow - An Interactive Documentary 
 
 
 
 

Our conversation this week is with Suzi Altman: photographer, caretaker of folk-art treasure Margaret's Grocery, and Mississippian by way of Youngstown, OH and New York City. 
"I couldn't just let that be forgotten or overlooked." When Suzi moved to Mississippi, she received the gifts of friendship with James Meredith, "Preacher" Dennis, and Margaret Rogers Dennis. She didn't take them for granted, working tirelessly to honor, preserve, and amplify James' rightful place in history and save iconic folk-art site Margaret's Grocery. In spite of everything, Suzi keeps going because she keeps her promises. She doesn't wait for the miracle. She sees it and shows up for it every day. 
In this episode you'll listen to Suzi's journey to Mississippi, how a photograph started a special friendship with James Meredith, the simple beauty of Preacher and Margaret, her fight to save Margaret's Grocery and her own life, the power of saying 'yes', and much more. 
Location: Suzi's home in Brandon, Mississippi. 
Suzi Altman's website
The Story of Margaret's Grocery in Vicksburg, Mississippi
Donate to help Save Margaret's Grocery
Mentioned in this episode:
'Tell Me a Story' by Robert Penn Warren
David Milch - Every Story is a "Showing Up"
Brink Lindsey's "The Permanent Problem" 
John Maynard Keynes
Man's Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl
Lorelei Books in Vicksburg, MS
40 Years After Infamy, Ole Miss Looks to Reflect and Heal
The Rainbow Room at the Rockefeller Center
Maude Schuyler Clay
Eyes on Mississippi: A Fifty-Year Chronicle of Change by Bill Minor
Willie Tankersley
Dan Rather Interview with James Meredith
Oral history interview with 'Chooky' Falkner
Sacred Space: Photographs from the Mississippi Delta by Tom Rankin
Anson Sheldon, pro-segregation rioter at the University of Mississippi in 1962
Proud to Call Mississippi Home by Checky Herrington
Lemuria Books in Jackson, MS
Derrick Bell, The Man Behind Critical Race Theory
 Joe Minter's African Village in America

Our conversation this week is with Lee Stockdale - acclaimed poet, Army veteran, and winner of the 2022 United Kingdom National Poetry Prize.  
For 10 years, Lee felt a slab on his head - to infinity in every direction - weighing him down. His father, Grant Stockdale, was close friends with John F. Kennedy and, overcome by grief, jumped to his death ten days after the assassination. Due to the shame, stigma, and guilt, he didn't talk about it. But with the help of an extraordinary therapist, a chance enounter with Patti Smith, and cab ride with Jackie Kennedy, Lee felt the weight lift; the loneliness give way to connection. He started doing the things his father did. He finished college, got married, had children, and built a life worth living. And just like his mother, Alice Boyd Stockdale, he started writing poetry to move through the grief and into joy and healing. 
In this episode you'll hear Lee talk about that journey to joy and healing, how writing brought him close to his father again, the influence of his mother's poetry on his life, the unsung wonder of Alice Notley, and some other fun stories featuring Bing Crosby, Yoko Ono, and Bob Hope. 
Location: Lee's living room in Fairview, NC.
Visit Lee's website
Buy his book of poems Gorilla
 Watch and listen to Lee read his award winning poem, 'My Dead Father's General Store in the Middle of a Desert'
Mentioned in this epsiode:
Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost
Quote from Dante: The Divine Comedy
Midway Books in St. Paul, MN
Where the Roots Reach for Water by Jeffery Smith
James Hillman
Wendell Berry
City Lights Bookstore in Sylva, NC
Grant Stockdale
Can Antioch College Return From the Dead Again?
The Fillmore East
St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery Poetry Project
Patti Smith
Allen Ginsburg
William Burroughs
Gregory Corso
Yoko Ono
CBGB - Bithplace of NYC's Rock, Folk, and Punk Music
Alice Notley
The Village Voice
Robert Wilson
The Talking Heads
the Ramones
Blondie
Are you Jackie Kennedy? by Lee Stockdale
Alice Boyd Stockdale
Humbird Live at Salon Sonics
Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, and Grant Stockdale in England
The Road to Hong Kong
Jack Paar interview Robert Kennedy in 1964
Brian Lamb
St. Mark's Poetry Project Archive
Alice Notley 101
Alice Notley and the Art of Not Giving a Damn
Ada Limon
White Phosphorus by Alice Notley
Samuel Beckett
Anne Waldman
Mary Oliver
Hannah Kahn
Ladies' Home Journal
Young Man, Strolling by Alice Boyd Stockdale

Our conversation this week is with Castel Sweet: Hip-Hop lover and scholar, Sociologist, Director of Community Engagement at the University of Mississippi, and child of Memphis, Tennessee. 
So much good stuff in this episode: Hip-Hop feeling like home. The influence of Big K.R.I.T. and Outkast. The struggle of staying true to yourself. Music opening worlds and reminding you who you are. The disconnect between universities and their local communities. Turning theory into practice. How to make space for everyone. Why representation matters. Sharing knowledge and listening to lived experiences. Consistent curiosity and endless discovery. 
Read Castel's Dissertation on hip-hop artists' interaction with their community
Castel's SouthTalks: Does My Message Define My Role?
Check out Castel at TedXUniversityofMississippi
Mentioned in this episode:
Big K.R.I.T.
Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward
Tobacco Road by Common Market
Connect For by Common Market
Rakim
Masta Ace on NPR Tiny Desk
The genius of science: GZA & Science Genius
The Blue Scholars
RA Scion
Nickerson Street Saloon - Vanishing Seattle
Andre 3000 -  1995 Source Awards: 'The South Got Somethin' to Say'
Clipse: 20 Years of Lord Willin'
Three 6 Mafia's influence on hip-hop
8Ball & MJG
Elevators by Outkast
Ludacris
Eliza Edens - 'Ineffable' live in studio
RZA on redefining hip-hip and building generational wealth
Lord Jamar & his contradictory ramblings sum up his soapbox career
The Rural Studio: Educating Citizen Architects
Ways of Being Home and Making Noise ~ The story of a skatepark by Cecilia Cornejo 

Our conversation this week is with Jordan Rushing, Warren County's Old Court House Museum historian and child of Vicksburg, Mississippi. 
How can you play and still accomplish something cool? I love that question. We talk in this episode about life-changing teachers, the legacy of Gordon Cotton, learning and work as play, Eva Whitaker Davis and the story of the Old Court House Museum, clandestine county seat swaps, iconic election-day debates on the courthouse lawn, Reconstruction and diversifying Vicksburg, and much more.
This one goes out to all the teachers who sparked my curiosity and imagination. I owe my life to you. 
Location: Old Court House Museum | Vicksburg, Mississippi
Visit the musuem! 
Visit Vicksburg - The Key to the South
Mentioned in this episode:
How Eva Whitaker Davis Saved a Warren County Institution
PJ McGann
Jonathan Marwil
Gordon Cotton
Bubba Bolm
The Song of the Lark by Willa Cather
Vicksburg National Military Park
B.L.C. Wailes 
Seargent Smith Prentiss
Peculiar Digs: The strange life of Washington Green
How Vicksburg almost became the capitol of Mississippi
Annual Lebanese dinner in Vicksburg
Peter Crosby, Warren County's first black sherriff and the Vicksburg Massacre of 1874
Pat Cashman and The Vicksburg Post