Rachel Hartman

Operation North Pole

One day in December 1955, Air Force Colonel Harry Shoup received an unexpected call on his red phone — a top-secret hotline — at the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). It was the height of the Cold War, and Colonel Shoup was in charge of a radar system built to give early warning of a Soviet attack. To his surprise, it was a call from a child asking to speak to Santa Claus. At StoryCorps, Terri Van Keuren, Rick Shoup, and Pam Farrell—three of Colonel Shoup’s four children—share the tale of what happened next, and how their father created a beloved Christmas Eve tracking tradition.

Walnut Street

When Sharon Adams moved back to her hometown of Milwaukee, Wisconsin in the late 1990s, she needed help with fixing her house. Initially there to do electrical work, Larry Adams found himself enamored by Sharon. The two fell in love and embarked on a new undertaking: revitalizing their neighborhood one lot at a time.