Shotzy Harrison's dad has spent most of his adult life homeless. Growing up, he was in and out of her life. They reunited in 2013 before he disappeared again — but she hopes she'll see him again.

Rodger McDaniel grew up to the sounds of his dad's guitar, a memory eclipsed by his dad's addiction. Finding the guitar 25 years after his death helped transform McDaniel's memory of his dad.

In 1963, more than a dozen girls were jailed for about two months in an old, squalid stockade in Georgia for protesting segregation. At StoryCorps, some of them talk about the experience.

Jeanne Satterfield and Barbara Parham landed in a tight spot after each lost their homes. The two were each other's anchor during a pivotal life transition in a Boston homeless shelter.

John Nordeen and Kay Lee lost touch after serving in the Vietnam War. They recall how, decades later, they reconnected. "John, we were so lucky," Lee said. "We survived Vietnam and we're still here."

Linda Kwong tells her daughter Emily about the day she tried to kill herself. "In that moment that I took those pills," Linda says, "I wasn't thinking of you and that's hard to accept."

"Grief is like standing in the shallows of the ocean, knee-deep in the water," Heyer's mother Susan Bro tells her daughter's former supervisor Alfred Wilson in a StoryCorps interview.

Allan Fuks' name subjected him to a childhood of teasing. Although the name-calling led his parents to legally change the family name, he recently decided to use it in his career as a comedian.

It's an infamous scene: Juan Romero, then a teenager, attends to Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, who had just been shot at LA's Ambassador Hotel. He reflects on his brief time with RFK 50 years ago.

A mother's once "happy-go-lucky" son took his own life in after serving in Iraq. Because of this, she feels he's not seen as a "hero," like his fellow soldiers — which makes her loss more painful.

At 13, Kay Johnston pretended to be a boy and played first base for a Little League team in upstate New York. That was in the 1950s. Now 81, Kay Johnston Massar says, "I just wanted to play the game."

Recent school shootings are prompting many difficult conversations for families. In a StoryCorps interview, a fifth-grader and his mom discuss active shooter drills.

Rickey Jackson served nearly four decades of a life sentence. Recently, he sat down with the man whose false testimony led to his wrongful conviction.

A father and son remember a Christmas in Edmond, Okla., when financial hardship forced an easy choice for the children: family over gifts.

William Weaver planned to confront the boy who stole his younger brother's bicycle on Christmas Eve. Instead, his parents showed him the power of kindness and what it means to help those in need.

In 1992, when Lynne Houston first laid eyes on the man who would become her husband, he was wearing a white gown with blood all over it. The then-waitress dropped the food she was delivering and ran.

William Weaver, who helped integrate his Southern high school, recounts painful memories of football games he played with teammates he says may now wish they would have said something supportive.

Josh Hanagarne has an extreme form of Tourette's syndrome, where his tics — or involuntary movements and sounds — have been so severe, they've put him in the hospital.

William Weaver was one of 14 students who integrated West High School in Knoxville, Tenn., in 1964. He struggled at first, but with help regained his footing and earned a scholarship to college.

By the time Five Mualimm-ak completed a sentence for weapons charges in 2012, he had served nearly a dozen years in prison. When he was released, his son Omar was already a senior in high school.