My special guest, Tim Smith, never set out to become a writer, but he carried a story that refused to stay buried. His memoir, Fault Line - Still Standing, follows Tim’s long, uneven path toward healing, identity, and personal truth. With a voice that is direct, reflective, and at times unexpectedly humorous, he explores resilience and what it means to build a life after survival—and the quiet realization that you can carry your past without letting it define you. Both devastating and defiant, Fault Line is more than a memoir of abuse. It is a testament to endurance, an unflinching look at generational cycles, and a reminder that even in the harshest landscapes, something can still grow. Executive Producer: Jake Landry.

Hello Co-journeyers! Please join me with the second edition of The Truth So Help Me Good Mini POD!!

Mini PODs are short episodes that share ideas, spark curiosity, and inspire reflection as we continue exploring this journey we call life—together! Thank you for listening! Executive Producer Jake Landry.

Ana Hebra Flaster was nearly six when her family fled Cuba and settled in Nashua, New Hampshire. After graduating from Smith College and enjoying a career in software consulting, she began her writing career. Her writing about Cuba and Cuban Americans has appeared in the The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Boston Globe and elsewhere.

Her commentaries and storytelling have aired on NPR’s All Things Considered and PBS’s Stories from the Stage.

Property of the Revolution, her first book, was shortlisted for the 2023 Restless Book’s New Immigrant Writing Prize and the 2022 Cintas Creative Writing Fellowship.

After forty years in the Boston area, she recently moved to southern New Hampshire with her family. When she’s not writing, Ana loves birdwatching, walking in the woods, and digging in her garden.

Cuba Curious Substack

https://anahflaster.substack.com/

Amazon buy page

https://tinyurl.com/y39pzkzm

Ana Hebra Flaster Personal Website

https://anacubana.com/

Lena Fein is an author, retired engineer, and philanthropist based in San Francisco. A graduate of Engineering at UC Berkeley, Lena spent decades as Vice President of Sales and Marketing at a successful high tech company. When Lena was fifty-one, her mother died which propelled Lena on a path of healing from childhood abuse and trauma. Her debut memoir, Shattering the Mirror, explores her transformative journey to wholeness. Lena believes it is never too late to reclaim your freedom and truth. Now in her late sixties, Lena can often be found taking long walks by the San Francisco Bay and hugging her grandchildren. Executive Producer Jake Landry.

Hello Co-journeyers! Nancy Shear, author of I Knew a Man Who Knew Brahms, was only fifteen when she began sneaking into Philadelphia Orchestra concerts through the stage door, and seventeen when she was hired as a member of the orchestra’s library staff to help prepare the music; one year later, she became Leopold Stokowski’s musical assistant. Being young and female, she was a pioneer in both positions.

It is a privilege to share with you my conversation with Nancy that is both inspiring and insightful. Where she takes us into rehearsals and concert halls, revealing the choices musicians must consider, and what conductors, players, and composers really do.

Executive Producer Jake Landry

Hello Co-journeyers! Join me and my special guest, Mario Cartaya, author of Journey Back Into the Vault: In Search of My Faded Cuban Childhood Footprints, to hear the amazing story of his return to Cuba after 56 years to rediscover his childhood memories reconnect with unknown family members, and find inner peace through reconciliation with his past. Executive Producer: Jake Landry

Hello Co-journeyers! Join me for my discussion with Dr. Craig Yorke as we explore the meaning of success and failure, and how they both shape our life journey.

Hello Co-journeyers! Welcome to Season 3 of The Truth So Help Me Good! As we enter this New Year, and for reasons that require no explanation, it is incumbent upon us to take our exploration of the bigger questions about this journey we call life to a new level. Why? Because our hearts and minds demand it. As human beings, our longing for meaning and purpose are at the core of our very existence. Please join me together with my special guest, Jake Landry, and get into the weeds (light brush) about memoir in its most expansive form. Jake is an educator, anthropologist by education, and Executive Producer of The Truth So Help Me Good podcast. He is also my son. This is a conversation you will not want to miss, including questions about meaning, literacy, philosophy, and what is memoir anyway? You may even find yourself smiling, just like Sisyphus. Thank you for listening. Take care and be well!