Short Stories by Greg Marshall

Send us Fan Mail Jeremy Bryan, aka Quill the Messenger, has written several hip hop albums for all ages. He has performed for millions of people and won many awards for his music and for two books he co-authored for educators and parents.  A couple years ago, Jeremy wrote an intense album called Plight of a Parasite. I re-listened to the album recently and it struck me deep. Its music production a...

Send us Fan Mail In episode 16, I talk with Caron Butler, a 15-year NBA veteran, prolific commentator and analyst, two-time All-Star, author, entrepreneur, philanthropist and media personality. His story is being turned into a feature film, and it should be. It's pretty amazing. And it continues to grow. Caron is investing his influence and resources into making positive change in communities...

Send us Fan Mail Calista Anderson is an Advanced Grief Recovery Specialist in Los Angeles. She helps people heal from tremendous loss. One of the reasons she is an expert in this area is that she has lost more than most of us can imagine.  Sexually abused as a child. Developed addictions in high school. Lost her mom during the first week of college. Became addicted to heroin. Landed in jail… and t...

Send us Fan Mail When Laura told me the news, she looked afraid. I could sense that she simultaneously wanted to fall into me for comfort and yell at me with resentment. She did neither of those things. Instead she became distant and stoic. We didn’t plan it. I hadn’t really even thought about becoming parents. We had only been married a few months, and that in and of itself was kind of hard. We w...

Send us Fan Mail Brian Anderson calls play by play for the Milwaukee Brewers on the Fox Sports Network, NCAA Tournament basketball for CBS Sports and Turner Sports, regular season NCAA basketball for FOX Sports and the Big Ten Network, MLB games for TBS and NBA games for TNT...  But did you know he was also a breakdancer?  In this conversation, we talked about Brian's most memorable mistake a...

Send us Fan Mail Ingrid was the first black child to attend a white school in Milwaukee, WI. I told her story in detail in episode 11 of this podcast. In this new episode, I have a phone conversation with Ingrid about that school experience and other personal stories from her childhood.  As a child she knew and spoke to relatives of hers who were alive during slavery. Those stories are extraordina...

Send us Fan Mail One day in 1958, six year old Ingrid Carter was sitting with her father in the front room of their home.  I imagine her sitting there, looking up at her dad, wondering why his face was so focused, and why his words were extra gentle yet so firm.  He said, “I promise I will not let anything happen to you.”  He was asking her if she would be willing to change schools, to become one...

Send us Fan Mail Within a couple days of George Floyd's death, I received a text message from a close friend, saying, "I would really like to have you over to the house. With this situation in Minnesota and the conversations I am having with my kids and family. I really need them to see us interact. The actual love we have for each other. I don’t want them to be jaded towards white peopl...

Send us Fan Mail One day I was driving out of our alley and I saw a guy standing there, staring at the traffic. I said hi. When I asked him how he was doing, he told me, with tears in his eyes, he was trying to decide which car to throw himself in front of.  I found myself in a fragile moment with a decision to make. This is episode 9 of The PegLeg Podcast, a deep reflection on suicide, hope, and...

Send us Fan Mail This is by far one of my most favorite memories. Imagine being a freshman in high school and discovering secret tunnels under your school. That happened to my friends and me, and the discovery opened up a world of adventure we'll never forget. We felt like we were living a true-life version of The Goonies movie. Looking back I feel like those adventures we had are like a meta...

Send us Fan Mail This is a conversation with Dave Olson, a musical genius. We talked about his first record deal, being born with diastrophic dwarfism, navigating a paradoxical rave scene in Minneapolis, and many adventures since. Dave has created the music for every video I've ever produced or directed, including two Emmy winning videos and several Emmy nominations. This guy is a treasure. 

Send us Fan Mail This story is about me meeting a new friend who changed the trajectory of my life. It started with a bizarre phone call, and led to opening for Three 6 Mafia. Not to mention that time we opened for Ne-Yo and performed for thousands of girls who really only wanted to see Ne-Yo, haha. This is an important story. You'll enjoy the narrative as much as the music. 

Send us Fan Mail What can we learn from kids who see the world from a totally unique perspective?  You and I are in a global pandemic together. Right now is not easy for a lot of reasons. With that in mind, I want to share three short encouraging stories about three very unique individuals. Each one helped me to discover pieces of wisdom that I/we need right now. At the heart of this episode is th...

Send us Fan Mail This is a true story about discovering my love for storytelling and the power of listening to other people's stories. In it I nearly die, I lose my shoes, and I give my first speech to a large group of strangers in the light of a campfire. How I got to that campfire and what I learned there is the story.  At the heart of this episode is one of the most important insights I&ap...

Send us Fan Mail I heard someone on a Moth Podcast say "How people date has changed but how they fall in love has not." Do you agree? Laura and I went directly from being friends to sort-of-engaged. This is the story of how that happened, and how we fell in love. It's also a quick look at the question: What does that even mean?  

Send us Fan Mail This is the story about my lowest point. It's about the time I nearly died, lost the ability to walk, and came to the end of myself. Low points in life can be scary. In those moments we feel very far from the life we thought we'd be living. But when we keep going, allowing ourselves to grow through it all, we find a reward that is a new version of ourselves. I hope this...

Send us Fan Mail  This is my first episode. It's a story about getting caught stealing, about officer Rodriguez and my dad's terrifying conversation with him, and how my conversation with my dad changed my life forever. This episode is about 13 minutes long. If you take the time to listen, please give me feedback. Did you enjoy it? Is it too long? Too short? I'd love to hear from yo...