A Powerful Story

In my 55 years of life on our planet and 32 years as a professional educator and teacher, I’ve shared a lot of stories and more than a few presentations. This evening, I believe I shared one of the most important and powerful stories I’ve ever personally connected with. But like we often do as “storychasers,” sometimes the stories we share are not our own… but we have the opportunity and privilege to “be a witness,” a conduit, and an amplifier for someone else’s story. That was the case for me tonight.

The audio interview clip of this story is just under 6 minutes long, and it’s titled, “Stan Davis: From West Virginia’s First Black Air Traffic Controller to Healing and Friendship.” It’s an excerpt from a longer interview that is over an hour long, from November of 2024.

I shared this digital story during the featured presentation in the 2026 annual meeting of the Mint Hill Historical Society, where I’ve been a volunteer the past three years. More details and the full slideshow from my presentation are shared as an update on the MHHS website. I did video and audio record the entire presentation, and will be editing and sharing that full talk soon.

What I want to briefly share with and encourage you to do now is the following:

Give Stan Davis’ story a listen. You won’t be disappointed.
Consider the ways we need to listen deeply to the stories of other people, and not just those in our ‘normal circle’ of family and friends.
Think about the ways storytelling, listening, and “digital storytelling” can play a role in your own life and in your community through racial healing.

We live in challenging times, and I believe we are called to serve as “culture healers, not culture warriors.”

This evening, I am thankful I was able to lean into this aspirational, personal vocation.

Some of the digital tools which enabled and empowered me to share this evening’s stories and presentation were:

It is deeply fulfilling to have an opportunity to put some of my skills as a media literacy classroom teacher to good use.

Let the storychasing and cultural healing continue.

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