GRIT - Stories of Resilience

Serving Time - one basket of hushpuppies at a time

30 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

From the back of the house cooking quesadillas at the Border Cafe (back of the house) to hosting and then working as a waiter at the 42nd Street Oyste...

Freddy Kassab Says One for Them

23 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

On June 23, 1989, Freddy Kassab, the stepfather of Colette MacDonald and grandparent of Kimberley and Kristen, and I met in Tampa, Florida to talk abo...

Punch, the Monkey show us Grit and Resilience

02 Mar 2026

Contributed by Lukas

Punch, the Monkey, abandoned at birth by his mother, is now seven months old. For the longest time, while living at a zoo just outside Tokyo, Japan, P...

The Fatal Vision Podcast - James McGinniss interview me

23 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

It has now been over 56 years ago this month that Colette, Kimberly and Kristen MacDonald were murdered in their home.Nine years later, on July 16, 19...

Three Chairs in the Courtroom - The Defendant's Chair

16 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

" Success is not final. Failure is not fatal." These words are often attributed to Winston Churchill, but not for sure. Perhaps the author ...

Three Chairs in the Courtroom - PCB and NC Lt Gov Trials

09 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

PCB toxic chemicals illegally spilled on the roadways of North Carolina brought a federal trial that ended with the persons responsible being given ac...

Three Chairs in the Courtroom - Part 1 - Jeffrey MacDonald murder case

02 Feb 2026

Contributed by Lukas

There are three main chairs in a criminal courtroom - one for the Prosecutor, one for the Defense Attorney and one for the Defendant. I have sat in a...

The Color of Hope - A Podcast at Christmas

22 Dec 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This Christmas season, it is easy to be distracted and somewhat depressed with all the news in our country and indeed, in many parts of the world.But ...

Two Days at Chetola

05 Oct 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Forrest Gump said his mother told him that "Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you are going to get."That pretty much sum...

Escape to the Mountains - Restoration of a Landmark - West Jefferson Hotel

28 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Built in 1915 to support a railroad line from Abington, Virgina, to the North Carolina mountains, the hotel thrived for over a half century as the hub...

Jim Blackburn - Storytelling and Friendships - Summer of '56 and Today

22 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In the late spring of 1956, Wake Forest College moved from the town of Wake Forest to Winston - Salem and a new campus. Most of my friends were childr...

Jim Blackburn - Hope in an Uncertain Time

15 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This past week was a tough one for this country. Political assassination, shouts of revenge, we seem to have lost, or at least misplaced, our way.It i...

Jim Blackburn - From Prosecuting Jeffrey MacDonald to Serving Time to Serving Tables

08 Sep 2025

Contributed by Lukas

When former North Carolina Supreme Court Justice and legendary lawyer Phil Carlton asked me to speak to the residents of The Cardinal, a well-known se...

Two Week Summer Pause

25 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

After holding podcasts for over two years, I am hoping to make some changes and updates to my conversations with people and bring you the best podcast...

Come September - The Month of New Beginnings

18 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In a few weeks, freshmen, the Class of '29 will run together across a football field to the end zone and into their seats inside the stadium and c...

Hard to Say Good-bye - From Where Everybody Knows your Name

11 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

An article in the Washington Post tells us are becoming a nation of homebodies. So, when I went to Winston-Salem last week to hold a seminar, it was m...

Todd Boufford - Cybersecurity Tips - Protecting Yourself

04 Aug 2025

Contributed by Lukas

In late March of this year, I lost $2,000 one afternoon to an online scam that I should have seen coming from a mile away. But I didn't and allowe...

Rick Thames - A Reporter's Look Back at the Jeffrey MacDonald Trial

28 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Rick Thames was 26 years old and a new reporter for the Fayetteville Observer when he moved to Raleigh in the summer of 1979 to cover the Jeffrey MacD...

Why Not the Best - The Beauty of Aging and the Challenge of it All

21 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The three birthdays I remember most are when I became a teenage, when I turned 16 got my drivers' license and when I became a legal adult at 21.No...

Clark Wright - Finding Peace Near the Top of the World

14 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

It is in climbing many of the highest peaks in the world that Clark Wright, a long-time attorney from New Bern, North Carolina, says he "feels cl...

Becoming a U.S. citizen on the Fourth of July and July 4 in 1826 and 1976

04 Jul 2025

Contributed by Lukas

"How it feels to be a proud new U.S. citizen on the Fourth of July" is the title of a new opinion piece in the Washington Post today, July 4...

Everyone Needs a Miracle - The Life and Times of Tara Lynn Stone

30 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

This is the story of a 17-year-old girl who is in a tragic car accident, while sitting in the back seat and what happens to the rest of her life.Tara ...

Wrightsville Beach - The First Days of Summer

23 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Friday, June 20 - the first day of summerIn Wilmington for a CLE program, the first person I see is my friend Dick Horgan, who had told me about a wee...

Jim Blackburn Two Week Pause

09 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Good morning, we are pausing new podcasts for two weeks until a new one on Monday, June 23. Meanwhile have a great couple of weeks.Jim

Dick Horgan - A Life and Career for All Seasons

02 Jun 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Dick Horgan wanted to come east, away from his home state of California, so he received a four-year scholarship to Yale, and never looked back.A lawye...

Jim Blackburn - Finding My Voice in Storytelling

26 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

I love telling stories. I love to watch peoples' faces as I tell one, making sure not to go on too long, but to keep their attention to the end.I went...

Dr. K - Wellness and a Holistic Approach to Getting Better

19 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Dr., Ramesh Krishnaraj, a graduate of UNC Medical School with a Master's Degree in Public Health from UNC talks about vaccinations, addictions, de...

Richard Tevere - The First Witness - The MacDonald Case

12 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Richard Tevere had just turned 23, when about 3:50 am, February 17, 1970, as a Ft. Bragg MP, he opened the back screen door and walked into the bedroo...

Rick Gammon - For the Defense - A Remarkable Career

05 May 2025

Contributed by Lukas

If you were in trouble in the last 45 years in Raleigh, North Carolina or points east, and you had Rick Gammon as your lawyer, you knew you had one of...

Dana Stevens - A Screenwriter's Life - Back by Popular Request

28 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Dana Stevens - a highly successful screenwriter of feature motion pictures and television.The Woman King starring Viola DavisThe City of Angels starri...

Dick McNeil - Representing the Unpopular Client

21 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Why would you represent a guilty client?How can you represent someone charged with murder in the first degree?How can you be currently representing te...

Geoff Hulse - AA and the Journey Home

13 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

What do you do when you are drinking so much that you black out? What do you do when, as result of alcoholism, your life is spiraling out of control?G...

42nd Street Oyster Bar - The Final Goodbye

07 Apr 2025

Contributed by Lukas

For more than three weeks they came, every night, lines out the door, waiting hours to get a stool at the oyster bar or a table in the dining room or ...

Story of 42nd Street Oyster Bar - as told by Brad Hurley - co-owner and President

28 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The story of the 42nd Street Oyster Bar as you have never heard it before...how it came to be what it became.From its creation in 1987 by Thad Eure, J...

42nd Street Oyster Bar - 38 years - Conversations coming March 31

24 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

42nd Street Oyster Bar - New Podcast coming Monday, March 3138 years - a look backConversations and pictures with wait staff and management

You know it's bad when the Bartender cries - Thanks for the Memories

17 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

A look back to my times at the 42nd Street Oyster Bar in Raleigh, first as a loyal and regular customer, then as a host and finally for some time a wa...

Glenn Blackburn - Changing a college Campus - "Saving Great Places" - Kindred Spirits and a Mailbox

10 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Glenn Blackburn was an 18-year-old college freshman in April, 1960, when he started the African Student Program at Wake Forest. His goal was to bring ...

The Fatal Vision Podcast - Episode 12 - Interview with Jim Blackburn

03 Mar 2025

Contributed by Lukas

The Fatal Vision Podcast with James McGinniss, son of Joe McGinniss and Billy Glidden is a multi-episode podcast on the true crime classic and bestsel...

Guess who's coming to Dinner - Wake Forest - 1962

24 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

It is October 1962, and the civil rights struggle is in its early hours. Wake Forest College (not yet a university} joins the struggle and in the spri...

Lives Interrupted - Fifty - Five Years Ago Today - February 17, 1970

17 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Fifty - Five years ago today, February 17, 1970, Colette, Kimberly and Kristen MacDonald lost their lives in their home, brutally beaten and stabbed.N...

Sliding Doors - Choices

10 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Sliding doors we all go through lead us in different directions many times in our lives. The decisions and choices of friends, partners, careers, plac...

Song of Resilience and Writing a Book

03 Feb 2025

Contributed by Lukas

It was likely a Saturday morning as I sat on the top bunk of my bed in the dorm that had, for a brief time, become my home, that the idea first came t...

Clark Wright - Environmental Lawyer - Where we are, How we got here, What we can do about it

27 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

How can climate change be happening and global warming be real, if the United States has been experiencing one of our coldest months in a long time wi...

Blue Water - Postcard from the Beach

20 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

If you were a teenager in the winter months of 1961, you might remember the hit movie of that time, "Where the Boys Are". The opening scene...

Jim Blackburn - Serendipity

13 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

Serendipity is often referred to as something happening by accident or circumstance in your life that is happy or fortunate. The law of Serendipity i...

Dining on the Mall - Twelve Friends - A New Year's Resolution

06 Jan 2025

Contributed by Lukas

On July 19, 1994, twelve friends gathered for an early morning breakfast on the National Mall in the shadow of the Lincoln Memorial. On the menu tha...

Twenty-Three Days - Christmas Stories from the Road - Comfort Food and a Dose of Reality

16 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

They live their lives one day at a time. There are still more good days than bad. They look forward to the future, but just underneath, there is some ...

Happiness and The Journey to Building the Life You Want

09 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

"What is it that you want?" "I want to be happy." "What does that mean to you? What will make you happy?" "I'm not sure. But I will know it when I ...

"Twas the Night Before Christmas" - "The Tablecloth" - A Festival of Lights

02 Dec 2024

Contributed by Lukas

"Twas the night before Christmas, When all though the house Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse; The stockings were hung by the chimney w...

Ann (Kirby) Kirby - An Innocent Man goes home after 31 years in a North Carolina state prison

25 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Leon Brown just wanted to go home. He was at the police station in Red Springs, North Carolina, visiting his half - brother Henry McCollum, known as B...

Want to Live Longer and Be Happy at the Same Time? How about 5 Years or More?

18 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

A very recent article by CNN, based on a study in the British Journal of Sports Medicine says that physical activity in the top 25% if the US populati...

"Tomorrow - You're Only a Day Away" - Reflections on the Election

11 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

What do pancakes, early in the morning, snickers, a caramel macchiato from Starbucks, a hot dog with fries, a bag of chips and a box of cheezit have t...

"My Life on Fire" - Molly Byrd - Motorcycles and Hurricanes- What One Person can Do

04 Nov 2024

Contributed by Lukas

For thirty-five years to the day, Molly Byrd worked first as a secretary, before becoming a long-time legal assistant and mentor to many in the Winsto...

New Podcasts Paused for Two Weeks - resume live on Monday, November 4

21 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Hello Everyone, I am pausing new podcasts for two weeks (October 21 and October 28). I will have a new one on Monday, November 4 and hope to see you t...

"The Illness Hidden with a Smile" - Finding Happiness - What We can Do

14 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

"The Illness Hidden with a Smile" - the headline in a New York Times opinion piece about the death by suicide of the always outwardly upbeat Kate Spad...

Asheville - Resilience is Tough and Long -But Lots of Grit

07 Oct 2024

Contributed by Lukas

For more than fifteen years, I have traveled to Asheville, North Carolina, sometimes twice a year, holding Continuing Legal Education programs for law...

Closing Arguments - Becoming a Trial Lawyer - Telling Stories

30 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Whoever tells the best story usually wins! Whoever ends his or her trial with the most pictures still hanging on the wall usually wins! A trial is a ...

White Water Rafting on the Colorado River

23 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

What do you do for adventure and excitement after climbing many of the mountain ranges in the world and walking the entire Appalachian Trail from Geor...

Noel Allen - Lawyer, Educator & Writer - A Life for All Seasons

16 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

On Friday, April 19, 2024, Elon University, a private school of approximately 6,000 students, nationally known for being perhaps the premier teaching ...

Loneliness - A Crisis in Search of a Cure

09 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Surgeon General of the United States calls Loneliness a major public health crisis on a par with smoking and obesity. It one of the most serious m...

Fall is Coming - In September, All is Possible

02 Sep 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Fall, which gets its name from the dropping of the leaves, begins this month, in September. It gets its name from the Latin word "septem", w...

The Way We Were - Politics and Conventions in Mid 20th Century America

26 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Democratic Convention in Chicago - August 16, 1956 - Before he became JFK, John Kennedy ran for the nomination for Vice President in a four-way ra...

Steve & Louise Coggins - Lawyer & Psychotherapist talk Mental Health

19 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Steve & Louise Coggins - Dynamic Duo - Steve, a well-known trial lawyer in civil litigation in Raleigh, and for the last twenty-two years, in Wilm...

The Beauty of Hope

12 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

"Hope is the most powerful weapon in the world, when all else seems lost." These words were written to his wife while he, Nelson Mandela, wa...

Resilience and Mental Health in the Olympics - Simone Biles, Suni Lee, Michael Phelps and Snoop Dogg

05 Aug 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Are you watching the Olympics this year? If so, good for you. If not, it's not too late...there is another week to go. Simone Biles, Suni Lee, Micha...

Patrice Nealon -The Art of Teaching Well - Imagining the Future

29 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Think about taking classes in Digital Marketing, International Marketing, talking about and imagining the future. How about Artificial Intelligence? D...

Saving Parker - If You have ever loved an Animal

15 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

For over two weeks, a small several weeks old, gray kitten lived alone in a parking garage in the apartment complex where I live. Residents fed him a...

What did You do on July 4th?

08 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

"We hold these truths to be self - evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable right...

Joy Comes in the Morning

01 Jul 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The Scriptures tell us that "Weeping may stay for a Night but Joy Comes in the Morning". Inspired by those words from Psalm 30:5, this new p...

One Wild and Precious Life

24 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

"Tell me, what else should I have done? Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon? Tell me, what is it you plan to do With your one wild and pre...

Stories from the Road - "When You're Riding through Hell, Keep Riding" - Wade. Joe & Me

17 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Post MacDonald, and the publication of "Fatal Vision" there came more MacDonald, paper backs of Joe's book, the NBC Mini-Series, Duke Ho...

Stories from the Road - Wade Smith, Joe McGinnis and Me - Part Two - Part Two

10 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Wade Smith, one of the best lawyers in the United States for over fifty years, Joe McGinniss, a well-known author of twelve books, including multiple ...

Stories from the Road - Wade Smith, Joe McGinniss and Me

03 Jun 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Wade Smith - one of North Carolina's best trial lawyers in the last fifty years Joe McGinniss, writer of 12 books, including the New York Times best ...

Clark Wright - Climb Every Mountain

27 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

How hard is it really? How can Mount Ranier, located in the state of Washington, in the Pacific Northwest, be so beautiful and challenging and dangero...

Samantha Hamilton - A Young Lawyer's Perspective - WF Law Grad '22

20 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Samantha Hamilton believes the harder you work, the easier it is to get lucky. That is not the same as the harder you the luckier you will be. Those ...

Clark Wright - A Lifetime of Adventure - Part Two -Appalachian Trail and Mt. Kilimanjaro

13 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

It took seven years, but Clark Wright finished walking the entire Appalachian Trail, all 2,100 plus miles of it, from Springer Mountain, Georgia to th...

Clark Wright - Hiking the Appalachian Trail

06 May 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Clark Wright has a passion for the practice of law in New Bern, North Carolina. He has an equal passion for the outdoors in general and hiking in part...

Songs of Mr. Wake Forest - Remembering Ed Wilson - 1923-2024

29 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

No one has spoken as eloquently and passionately about Wake Forest University and its story as Dr. Edwin G. Wilson. He came as a freshman in 1939, at ...

Alex Nunnally and N.C.State's Road to the Final Four

22 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Alex Nunnally , a walk on Senior with N.C. State's men basketball team, thought his last time in a Wolfpack uniform might be on March 12, when as a 10...

Abbie Earley - Mental Health & Wellness for College Students - Her Personal Journey

15 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In a refreshingly candid and brave conversation, Abbie Earley, UNC Class of '23, tells her story of a descent into deep depression in the spring o...

A Moment in Time - N.C. State & the Final Fours - The Rest of Us

08 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

I so hoped the N. C. State basketball team might win it all in the Final Four. But wait! Which team, the men's or women's? Both earned tickets...

Haley Haislip - Much of what I needed to know in Life, I learned playing Softball

01 Apr 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Do you ever wonder what a baseball or softball player is thinking when a fly ball is hit to his or her position, all the while waiting for the ball to...

Josh Traeger - Air Force JAG - The Stressful Life of a Trial Lawyer

25 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Josh Traeger, a resident of Traverse City, MIchigan, by way of Pennsylvania, Wake Forest University, law school in Chicago, Air Force JAG, and ultimat...

Unafraid - The Beauty of Age & What We can Learn from Our Youth

18 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

What is it that we can learn from our Youth on questions of fears and overcoming them? How important is it that we have a full and purposeful life? Ho...

Unafraid - Overcoming the Fears of our Lives

11 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

How many fears do you have? I have many, including a fear of heights, seeking to please people way too much, getting older and not as well balanced as...

Ethics and Professionalism for Everyone Staying out of Trouble What to do if You Can’t

04 Mar 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In a few days, I am speaking to a North Carolina Leaders' Institute for elected Sheriffs in this state about Ethics and Professionalism. Like so many...

Personal Reflections of Robert Morgan - Keeping His Promises

26 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The bumper sticker in the fall of 1972 was short and simple..."Robert Morgan Keeps His Promises". Running for and winning re-election as No...

February 17, 1970 - The MacDonald Family - Reflections on Lives Lost

19 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

This past Saturday was the 54th anniversary of the deaths of Colette, Kimberley, and Kristen MacDonald. Convicted by a jury in late August, Jeffrey Ma...

Meet Bernie Carbo - Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame - Founder, Diamond Club Ministry

12 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Bernie Carbo made Boston Red Sox and World Series history in Game 6 of the 1975 Classic, hitting a two-strike pitch for a three-run home run with two ...

The Passion and Power of Story Telling

05 Feb 2024

Contributed by Lukas

We all tell stories, almost every day of our lives, to most of our friends and many of those whom we have just met or known for long. It is what we do...

"To Seek a Newer World" - Change Comes for All of Us

29 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

The long-ago poem Ulysses, by Alfred, Lord Tennyson, includes, near the end, these two lines... "Tis not too late to seek a newer world... To st...

Three Chairs in the Courtroom - Moments in Time

22 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

In a criminal courtroom, there are three important chairs, not including those for the judge and jury. First, there is one for the prosecutor, next, t...

Life is Short - Embracing the Invincible Summer within You

15 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Albert Camus, a French writer and philosopher, winner of the 1957 Nobel prize for Literature, once wrote "In the depth of winter, I found there l...

Lemons and Lemonade - Starting Over Again

08 Jan 2024

Contributed by Lukas

Regardless of whether you are responsible for the lemons in your life, or whether they are beyond your control, lemonade is what you want. With Monda...

Christmas Pause for Podcasts - New Podcast coming on January 8

11 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

I am taking a Christmas Pause for Podcasts this month and will have a new epidsode on January 8 in the new year. Thanks to all of you who have taken t...

Summer of ‘79 - The Trial of Jeffrey MacDonald - Part One

04 Dec 2023

Contributed by Lukas

How do you prosecute a murder trial more than nine years after the crime? Are there witnesses still alive? Have their memories faded? Do they still wa...

"On The Street Where You Live" - This Thanksgiving

27 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

This Thanksgiving, as I was driving through several neighborhoods, I saw so many people out walking in the streets, after what was undoubtedly a large...

Wade Smith - Legendary Lawyer - A Passion for Life

20 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Earlier this year at a gathering in Raleigh's Pullen Memorial Baptist Church, after the funeral services of Wade's dear brother Roger, I saw A...

Chekeshat Hukins - Assistant District Attorney - New Bern, NC - Prosecuting Illegal Drug Cases

13 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Chekesha Hukins knew from the time she was seven years old, she wanted to be a lawyer, and from the time of college, she knew she wanted to be a prose...

Clark Wright - A Family's Survival - The Resilience and Triumph over Attempted Suicides - Twice

06 Nov 2023

Contributed by Lukas

Clark Wright, the son of a well-known and respected medical doctor in Raleigh, has been, for many years, a highly successful business litigation lawye...