All Y'all

Through her work as a diversity consultant, Roxann Johnson helps people have difficult conversations. Through her activism and leadership, she has become a recognized leader of Shreveport’s efforts toward racial reconciliation. Every community could use more voices like hers: strong, empathetic, humane, and wise. When she took the All Y’all stage, Roxann shared a disarmingly personal triptych of lessons from the life of an African American mom in the Deep South. Mark Your Calendars All Y'all Live: Wildcard 2 will be held at 7:30 p.m., Friday, July 26 at RSVP (formerly Maurice's Bar) in Shreveport. During Wildcard events, any audience member may be called onstage to tell the best true story that they know - it's 50% live storytelling event, 50% party. There'll be a cash bar, live musical interludes from Nate Treme, and more. Tickets available at http://allyallblog.com/tickets All Y’all will host its sixth annual fundraiser event at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 28 in the University Center auditorium on the campus of LSU Shreveport. Please Support Our Sponsors We have wonderful sponsors in Marilynn’s Place and Maccentric. Please help us thank them for their patronage by doing business with them whenever you need someone to feed you a po’ boy or fix your Apple products. Do you have a story that you’d like to tell at an All Y’all live storytelling event? Call us at (318) 582-0665 and leave a message about your story, as well as your contact information, and we’ll be in touch! Like All Y’all on Facebook: http://facebook.com/allyallblog Follow All Y’all on Twitter: http://twitter.com/allyallpodcast Follow All Y’all on Instagram: http://instagram.com/allyallpodcast

Sometimes, we get the impression that folks are embarrassed to say “we met online” when they’re unspooling the backstory of their love affair. As if “online” means anything at all, really, in the age of Fitbit and Alexa. The average person has no reason to be embarrassed about having met their boo through an app or dating site. That’s just how we meet one another these days. But Charnae McDonald’s story, a modern love story filled with catfishing and coincidences, isn’t exactly average. A note about "Wildcard" stories Wildcard stories like Charnae's are told by storytellers who have no advanced warning that they are about to be called onstage to tell a story. The only opportunity to prepare that is given to these storytellers is the time that it takes for them to walk to the stage. Mark Your Calendars Our next event is on the books. Join us on July 26, 2019 beginning at 7:30PM for our next Wildcard live storytelling event at RSVP Event Space. Tickets are now available – come join us! Please Support Our Sponsors We have wonderful sponsors in Marilynn’s Place and Maccentric. Please help us thank them for their patronage by doing business with them whenever you need someone to feed you a big-ass po’ boy or fix your Apple products. Do you have a story that you’d like to tell at an All Y’all live storytelling event? Call us at (318) 582-0665 and leave a message about your story, as well as your contact information, and we’ll be in touch! Like All Y’all on Facebook: https://twitter.com/allyallpodcast Follow All Y’all on Twitter: https://twitter.com/allyallpodcast Follow on Instagram: https://instagram.com/allyallpodcast

As far as nicknames go, “Catfish” is as good a nickname as any for a young, Southern fellow with charm to spare. Anthony “Catfish” Woodward was the first storyteller to take the stage at Red River Brewing Company during our fifth annual Fidnto Award fundraiser event in 2018. Like the late, great Anthony Bourdain, ‘Fish was once a line cook on the most fearsome of all kitchen shifts: the Mother’s Day brunch. Second Helpings of Stuffed & Busted Stuffed & Busted, a podcast about food and drink in North Louisiana produced by Chris and Sara from All Y’all, will be returning with new episodes and blog posts soon. Catch up on the first four episodes, subscribe to Stuffed & Busted on iTunes, or like the Facebook page to get prepared for new episodes about farmers’ markets, thrift store cookbooks, mayhaw jelly, and more. All Y'all Live Returns on Sept. 28, 2019 We're not quite ready to spill all of the beans about our next fundraiser event, but here's what we know: All Y'all Live: "Going Through It" will be held at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 28, 2019 at LSU Shreveport's University Center. Lots more details coming soon. Please Support Our Sponsors We have wonderful sponsors in Marilynn’s Place and Maccentric. Please help us thank them for their patronage by doing business with them whenever you need someone to feed you a big-ass po’ boy or fix your Apple products. Do you have a story that you’d like to tell at an All Y’all live storytelling event? Call us at (318) 582-0665 and leave a message about your story, as well as your contact information, and we’ll be in touch! Like All Y’all on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/allyallblog/ Follow All Y’all on Twitter:

Some folks are just born storytellers. Boz Baucum, the gregarious and bawdy chef/owner of Marilynn’s Place in Shreveport, is one of those folks. When Boz volunteered to tell a story at All Y’all’s June 2016 live event, we had no idea what an unbelievable tale of small-town malfeasance and chicken-fried chicanery we were in for. Mark Your Calendars All Y’all will host its sixth annual fundraiser event at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 28 in the University Center auditorium on the campus of LSU Shreveport. Proceeds from this evening of mental health-themed stories will benefit a to-be-announced organization or individual whose work in the area of mental health is deserving of special recognition. This annual fundraiser is also known as The Fidnto Award. Please Support Our Sponsors We have wonderful sponsors in Marilynn’s Place and Maccentric. Please help us thank them for their patronage by doing business with them whenever you need someone to feed you a big-ass po’ boy or fix your Apple products. Do you have a story that you’d like to tell at an All Y’all live storytelling event? Call us at (318) 582-0665 and leave a message about your story, as well as your contact information, and we’ll be in touch! Like All Y’all on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/allyallblog/ Follow All Y’all on Twitter. https://twitter.com/allyallpodcast

A mourning artist confronts the spirit of her deceased husband. A young line cook has a meltdown during a Mother's Day brunch service. The hedonistic deputy sheriff of a small Mississippi town oversees the collapse of a redneck vice den. Gather 'round, because there are 10 new episodes of the All Y'all podcast headed your way beginning on Memorial Day, May 27. Live events coming this Summer and Fall All Y'all Live will return this Summer with our next Wildcard event. During these adrenaline-fueled live storytelling events, anyone who purchases a ticket to the show must be prepared to tell a story if their name is called. We'll be announcing the very cool location of this event, the date and other details soon. There'll be a cash bar, musical interludes and goodness knows what else. In the meantime, Mark your calendar for Saturday, Sept. 28, when we'll host a live fundraiser event at LSU Shreveport's University Center. One hundred percent of proceeds from ticket sales at this event will be donated to a to-be-announced organization. This will be the sixth annual presentation of the Fidnto Award. Like All Y'all on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/allyallblog Follow All Y'all on Twitter: https://twitter.com/allyallpodcast Like All Y'all on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/allyallpodcast/ Bloop All Y'all on Bloopster (just kidding, that's not a real social media thing...yet.)

On some level, we all know that we're dying. But Coleen McKechnie, who assisted with her mother's end-of-life care - her mother was battling Huntington's Disease - at the same time that she was also diagnosed with Huntington's, is more familiar with her own mortality than most of us. Now, Coleen faces what she calls "a known and unknown future" with awe-inspiring grace.

Sometimes thoughts and feelings from the past can hit you out of the blue, like Imperial Japanese fighters on a December morning in 1941. Storyteller Luke McClung's tale of family secrets and repressed feelings is one of our favorites.

A few years ago, All Y'all friend and storyteller Maya Lau told us that we should conduct exit interviews with folks who are moving out of Shreveport. The idea burrowed into our brains, and we've reconsidered it many times since. We could build an archive of peoples' answers to the question "So, why are you moving out of Shreveport?" It's not, as Sara puts it, "a bitch-fest." It's an opportunity to hear - in their own words and voices - the folks who've decided that, for one reason or another, the Shreveport-Bossier community will no longer be their home. Our first exit interview features Jim Hayes and Christine Cox-Hayes, who were brought to Shreveport by Jim's job in the film industry. The couple put down roots and ended up staying in Shreveport long after the film industry had withered. Sara led our first-ever All Y'all exit interview with Jim and Christine on the eve of their move to Santa Fe.

The first time we met Farah Cowley, at a business networking event in Shreveport, her warm smile, Southern drawl, and friendly demeanor won us over. We'd never have guessed that Farah had immigrated to the United States from Amman, Jordan - as a 14 year-old-girl who spoke very little English - just six years prior. For Farah, the path from the Middle East to Deep South was fraught with dangers seen and unseen. Her incredible journey, and what it says about America, is the subject of this podcast-exclusive episode of All Y'all. Thanks, Sponsors! This episode of All Y'all - and every other episode and live event that we'll present in the 2018-2019 season - is presented by Marilynn's Place, Williams Creative Group, and Red River Brewing Co.

Annie Kendig is a badass. At our 2015 live event, "Ladies Night," Annie bravely took the stage to share the incredible true story of how she and her family traveled to the Democratic Republic of the Congo to adopt their third child, Tauntine. Annie's story reminds us that all mothers are fighters - and some are action movie heroes.