Hey listeners, this is our final episode of the season. Tell us what you thought. Call 702-706 Talk. That's 702-706, T-A-L-K, or email us at podcast at

storycore.org. And remember to listen for a special prompt at the end of the episode.

Hi, I'm Dave Isay, founder of StoryCorps.

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Hey, everybody.

This is the last episode of our season called Stepping Up,

and we're releasing it on Election Day, 2024.

In this particular election, has been more stressful than most.

And that stress has a way of bringing out the worst in us.

And at times, it seems like it's tearing us apart.

The climate that we're operating under has everyone on the defensive.

You see a person and you automatically put them in a box and say, well, this is what

this person should be like. All of this ostracizing people, what are we afraid of? So StoryCorps does a lot of

different things, but it's really all about connecting people, whether it's the participants in the

interview or someone even just listening on the radio or this podcast.

And the thing that makes it possible to connect, even if it's a total stranger you're listening to, is that at StoryCorps, people talk about the very things that make us human.

We're called to love one another. It can't be I reject you as a person.

It was important for me to meet somebody who really didn't have horns and a tail.

The voices you're hearing are participants in our one small step program,

...