The Stoop Story Archive contains the true, personal tales shared by thousands of everyday people on our stages since 2006. We’re proud of this amazing collection and invite you to listen, browse by topic or storyteller, check out past shows — and share, share, share.
Archive
| Story Title | Story Date | Story Description | Story Tags |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sophia Garber: Keep Calm and ____! | February 23, 2018 | Strong City Baltimore, in partnership with The Stoop Storytelling Series, presents an evening of stories about how Adult Learning Center learners, staff, and Baltimoreans “keep on keeping on” amidst challenges, A new Baltimorean has some bad luck — robbery, break in — before finding her way. | Baltimore, crime, millenial |
| Isabell De La Cruz: Keep Calm and ____! | February 23, 2018 | Strong City Baltimore, in partnership with The Stoop Storytelling Series, presents an evening of stories about how Adult Learning Center learners, staff, and Baltimoreans “keep on keeping on” amidst challenges, A non-English speaking Spanish woman has adventures in Baltimore learning to speak English. | language |
| Thom Hawkins: Keep Calm and ____! | February 23, 2018 | Strong City Baltimore, in partnership with The Stoop Storytelling Series, presents an evening of stories about how Adult Learning Center learners, staff, and Baltimoreans “keep on keeping on” amidst challenges, A man in a figure drawing class finds his calling as a comic nude model. AWESOME | comedy, gimmick, weird job, yoda |
| Stuart Thorton: Keep Calm and ____! | February 23, 2018 | Strong City Baltimore, in partnership with The Stoop Storytelling Series, presents an evening of stories about how Adult Learning Center learners, staff, and Baltimoreans “keep on keeping on” amidst challenges, A man who left school in the 8th grade comes back for his diploma. Inspirational story! | GED, school |
| Karen Stokes: Keep Calm and ____! | February 23, 2018 | Strong City Baltimore, in partnership with The Stoop Storytelling Series, presents an evening of stories about how Adult Learning Center learners, staff, and Baltimoreans “keep on keeping on” amidst challenges, Thank you talk. Not usable. | |
| Seda Boli: Keep Calm and ____! | February 23, 2018 | Strong City Baltimore, in partnership with The Stoop Storytelling Series, presents an evening of stories about how Adult Learning Center learners, staff, and Baltimoreans “keep on keeping on” amidst challenges, A highly educated man from Burkina Faso comes to US illegally and struggles for 15 years to find a way to work, get a GED, and get a green card. | Africa, culture shock, family, foreigner, immigrant |
| Albert Terry: Keep Calm and ____! | February 23, 2018 | Strong City Baltimore, in partnership with The Stoop Storytelling Series, presents an evening of stories about how Adult Learning Center learners, staff, and Baltimoreans “keep on keeping on” amidst challenges, An adult who graduated from high school even though he couldn’t read comes back to learn. Now owns his own business. “I didn’t know I had this in me.” | adult learner, crying, education, perservering, reading, surprise yourself |
| Kay Meg Washington: Keep Calm and ____! | February 23, 2018 | Strong City Baltimore, in partnership with The Stoop Storytelling Series, presents an evening of stories about how Adult Learning Center learners, staff, and Baltimoreans “keep on keeping on” amidst challenges, run-on story about doing acting. dancing. being a therapist. not usable! | |
| Brittney Renettan: Keep Calm and ____! | February 23, 2018 | Strong City Baltimore, in partnership with The Stoop Storytelling Series, presents an evening of stories about how Adult Learning Center learners, staff, and Baltimoreans “keep on keeping on” amidst challenges, A girl growing up in a basketball family gets a brain injury and can’t fulfill her dream of playing in college. So she becomes a basketball manager at UMD | athletics, basketball, injury |
| Dan Guidebec: Keep Calm and ____! | February 23, 2018 | Strong City Baltimore, in partnership with The Stoop Storytelling Series, presents an evening of stories about how Adult Learning Center learners, staff, and Baltimoreans “keep on keeping on” amidst challenges, A young man pays homage to his tough-as-nails mother — single mother, stuck with a HIV needle, quiet perserverance. | HIV, mother, nurse, resilience |
| Kathleen O’Neill: Keep Calm and ____! | February 23, 2018 | Strong City Baltimore, in partnership with The Stoop Storytelling Series, presents an evening of stories about how Adult Learning Center learners, staff, and Baltimoreans “keep on keeping on” amidst challenges, A DC teacher in an open classroom experiences an earthquake and learns how to perservere from her students. Cries. Gives a pitch for Strong City. Can edit | 7th grade, earthquake, resilience, teaching |
| Doug Powell: Keep Calm and ____! | February 23, 2018 | Strong City Baltimore, in partnership with The Stoop Storytelling Series, presents an evening of stories about how Adult Learning Center learners, staff, and Baltimoreans “keep on keeping on” amidst challenges, A 40-year-old man struggles to fit with the social norm of having a career. Drops out of college, goes to Marines, does standup, then becomes an electrician. Don’t conform. Trust | college, dropout, growing up, school |
| Kathy Smith: That 80s Show | February 22, 2018 | In the 1980s A group of high school friends decides to teach a nosy boy (who’s actually a closeted gay boy) a lesson by telling him that a friend’s mother | 80s, belonging, frenemies, friends, gay, girl gang, high school, Jewish, lies, pranks, purse |
| Tim Brennan: That 80s Show | February 22, 2018 | strange story about gun violence back on The Block in Baltimore in the 1950s — not usable | |
| Naomi Cross: That 80s Show | February 22, 2018 | watching the Berlin Wall fall while in Germany as an Army brat. | army, Berlin Wall, border guard, childhood, customs, depravation, East Germany, Regan, tear down, West Germany |
| Bill Henry: That 80s Show | February 22, 2018 | Playing D and D in the basement of Govans library leading to finding his people in life | blerd, Comic Con, d&d, George R R Martin, Govans, nerd, outcast |
| Cynthia Shea: That 80s Show | February 22, 2018 | After getting a terrible haircut in the 80s that made her look like a boy, Cynthia’s sister saved her by taking her to get her ears pierced. | 80s, hair, sister |
| Robin Yasinow: That 80s Show | February 22, 2018 | fear of Mutually Assured Destruction as a high school model UN geek | fright, geek, Model, Nuclear, Russia, UN, worry |
| Wolf Bindu: That 80s Show | February 22, 2018 | Flying on People’s Airline in the early 80s | cane, flight, fur, people's airline, pimp, stalled, stuck, tarmac |
| Louis Hughes, Jr: That 80s Show | February 22, 2018 | gay activist involved in early AIDS efforts | 80s, activism, aids, black community, gay |
| Steven Parke: That 80s Show | February 22, 2018 | Becoming Prince’s photographer | art, art direction, concert, hero worship, napkin, prince, records |
| Gillian Quinn: That 80s Show | February 22, 2018 | illegal nighttime boat trip in Abu Dhabi Xmas 1987 that resulted in a capsize and myself and my three companions being arrested and taken prisoner in the Sheiks palace (it | 80s, Abu Dhabi, Christmas, Oil, Scotland, sheik |
| Jordan Lally: Taking a Leap | January 6, 2018 | Stoop and Baltimore Improv Group present “Taking a Leap: Stories about doing before thinking, closing your eyes and jumping, and just generally trust-falling through life.” This is a fundraiser for The Story about how his father’s suicide lead to solace in meditation | anxiety, awareness, bands, depression, funeral, meditation, music, secrets, suicide, van |
| Laura Wexler: Taking a Leap | January 6, 2018 | Stoop and Baltimore Improv Group present “Taking a Leap: Stories about doing before thinking, closing your eyes and jumping, and just generally trust-falling through life.” This is a fundraiser for The Story about participating in a psychedelic drug experimental study | bayview, club, gated community, it's not scary, johns hopkins, Psilocybin, restaurant bill, risk taking, security, what-if |
| Mike Subelsky: Taking a Leap | January 6, 2018 | Stoop and Baltimore Improv Group present “Taking a Leap: Stories about doing before thinking, closing your eyes and jumping, and just generally trust-falling through life.” This is a fundraiser for The Story about how a failture to become a Navy Seal lead to the creation of the Baltimore Improv Group | community, Craigslist, failure, Green Beret, hero, improv, Navy, San Diego, Seal |
| Story Title | Story Date | Story Description | Story Keywords | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nicki Seibert: That’s Incredible! | October 20, 2014 | |||
| Nicole Espaillit: Re-emergence | June 5, 2021 | moving to Alaska from Miami | ||
| Nicole Yeftich: Culture Shock | April 25, 2011 | |||
| Nik Korpon: The Story Behind the Story | September 24, 2016 | |||
| Nik Self: Coming Out Stories | September 24, 2015 | |||
| Nikayah Fayson: No Limits | March 6, 2019 | Story of taking a risk and moving with her mom to Baltimore from Ohio allowed her to develop a love of theater and get a promising internship | Baltimore, bloomberg, change, city, country, daughters, motherse, moving, ohio, theater | |
| Nikki Gamer: Breaking with Tradition | December 12, 2017 | Story about dealing with Christmas depression by going on a spontaneous solo trip to Costa Rica | adventure, Boston, break-ups, Costa Rica, depression, New Kids on the Block, single, travel | |
| Nikki Genis: Coming Out Stories | September 24, 2015 | |||
| Nora Lutzgendor: Head in the Stars | November 12, 2020 | story about working on the hubble during a hurricaine | ||
| Norine Schiller: Guilty | November 21, 2013 | |||
| Norman Prentiss : O Little Town of Baltimore | December 20, 2010 | |||
| Norman Prentiss: Haunted | October 18, 2010 | Man who makes a career in horror due to having an agoraphobic mother who lost a young child (his brother) to hemophilia. | agoraphobia | |
| O’Malley Steuerman: Every Body Has a Story | February 6, 2023 | the journey and joy a trans person feels after their top surgery | joy, struggle, trans identity | |
| Oleh Voloshyn: Keepers of the Culture | September 22, 2024 | |||
| Olu Butterfly: Twilight Zone | October 24, 2019 | story about visitng a village shaman to heal her marriage | african, fathers, forgiveness, history, shaman, tinctures, tractor, trauma, tree | |
| OMalley: Moving With Pride | June 18, 2022 | Story about being lonely hiking in the smoky mountains and meeting kind strangers. | ||
| Omar Omar: Scaling the Mountain | October 4, 2011 | |||
| Ori: Too Close For Comfort | April 18, 2024 | |||
| Outcalls: Something for Everyone | March 23, 2022 | |||
| Paige Boehmcke: Lies! | March 12, 2015 | Girl meets compulsive liar in college | ||
| Paige Bourne: Into the Wild | May 30, 2018 | Hiked the El Camino/Santiago | El Camino, hiking, monks, Munich, naked pictures, pilgrimage, Santiago, slugs, snails | |
| Palea: Mark Me Present | June 17, 2016 | Woman discusses her time teaching in Malaysia and how it made her become a better educator at home in Baltimore. | classroom dynamics, dominance, learning, lessons learned, Malaysia, middle school, power dynamics, teaching abroad | |
| Pamela White: Baltimoored | July 11, 2009 | |||
| Pamela White: Family Secrets | February 11, 2008 | Pilgrimage to seeing Cal Ripkin at Cooperstown led her to visiting the family plot to see her grandmother’s grave, who had a very long and crazy life | ||
| Paroma Nandi: Off the Menu | March 28, 2019 | story about working at a restaurant near Camden Yards | camden yards, hamburger, outside, tips | |
Ed Levy: Crossing Borders
Story Date: July 30, 2013
Story about traveling the world with his wife...Read More
Eden Walker: May the 4th Be With You
Story Date: May 4, 2017
Orthodox Christian who is an asshole...Read MoreEduardo Antonio: Unmasked
Story Date: March 10, 2021
starting a dream restaurant during covid...Read MoreEdward Doyle Gillespie: Head in the Stars
Story Date: November 12, 2020
story about writing a feminist sci fi novel for his daughter...Read More