Stories That Stay
Stories That Stay is where healing happens at the intersection of art, science, and storytelling. Hosted by therapist, learning strategist, and refugee Shamm Petros, alongside facilitator, educator, and artist Dwight Dunston, each episode invites listeners into conversations that make space for resilience, rupture, and repair. Grounded in over 35 years of research in psychology, racial socialization, and human development, Stories That Stay is a project of Lion’s Story—an organization committed to building racial literacy and transforming identity-based stress into tools for healing and change. Through personal stories, reflective questions, and practical tools, Shamm and Dwight guide you in navigating identity and difference with more clarity and less fear. Whether you’re an educator, organizer, artist, or simply trying to make sense of the world around you, this podcast offers a space to process what’s hard, discover new language for your truths, and move toward healing. Fair warning—it gets emotional. But that’s the point.
Episodes
In this episode, co-hosts Shamm H. Petros and Dwight Dunston sit down with longtime educator and Quaker school leader Dr. Darryl J. Ford for an intimate reflection on early memories of race, difference, family legacy, and the practices that helped him navigate childhood and leadership.
Dr. Ford traces the deep educational roots in his family—from a grandmother sent to a private girls’ school in the early 1900s, to elders like “Mama ...
In this powerful episode, educator, musician, and longtime Lion’s Story trainer Brian Caselli Jordan takes us deep into one of his earliest memories of racial difference. What begins as a tender portrait of his Italian American grandfather expands into a layered exploration of inheritance, identity, silence, and the emotional weight of witnessing racism from someone you adore.
Together with co-hosts Shamm Petros and Dwight Dunston, ...
In this episode of Stories That Stay, hosts Shamm H. Petros and Dwight Dunston talk with Mona Norfleet—equity advocate, writer, and community builder—about growing up biracial and finding belonging across cultures. Mona reflects on her biracial upbringing as the daughter of Mary Norfleet, an Italian American from the Bronx, and Tom Norfleet, a Black man from rural Alabama.
Through tender reflection, Mona revisits her earliest memor...
In this episode of Stories That Stay, hosts Shamm H. Petros and Dwight Dunston sit down with Inua Ellams—poet, playwright, performer, and creative force—to explore the first edges of difference and the lifelong echoes of separation.
At age four, Inua and his twin sister were placed in different classrooms. What began as a child’s tantrum became an early lesson in loss, identity, and independence. Through mindful reflection and somat...
In this episode of Stories That Stay, hosts Shamm H. Petros and Dwight Dunston talk with musician and producer Merrill Garbus, the creative force behind Tune-Yards. Together they explore how early memories of difference—body, race, and class—shape our sense of belonging and the lifelong practice of racial literacy.
Through honest reflection, Merrill names feelings of fear, avoidance, gratitude, grief, and curiosity, and locates wher...
In this episode of Stories That Say, hosts Shamm H Petros and Dwight Dunston engage with Emmy-winning filmmaker Osahan Tongo, exploring the intersection of identity, storytelling, and emotional healing. The conversation delves into Tongo's early memories of difference, the role of family in shaping identity, and the impact of food and care in relationships.
Osahon Tongo traces an early memory—“French toast at daycare”—into a p...
In this powerful premiere of Stories That Stay, co-hosts Shamm Petros and Dwight Dunston converse with Lisa Nelson-Haynes—Executive Director of Lion’s Story and former Chief Programs Officer at StoryCorps—about a childhood memory that shaped her identity and her career. Lisa revisits a vivid moment when her father confronted racial disrespect, exploring how that act of love, protection, and trauma informed her journey. Their conver...
Stories That Stay is a podcast where healing happens at the intersection of art, science, and storytelling. Hosted by therapist and strategist Shamm Petros and educator and artist Dwight Dunston, the show blends personal storytelling with mindfulness practices and over 35 years of racial literacy research from Lion’s Story.
Each episode begins with the question: What is your earliest memory of race or difference? Guests—artists, edu...
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