Welcome to Story Garage. This podcast is a production of the Storytelling Program at East Tennessee State University.

Here in the Garage, we pop the hood and kick the tires, exploring how Story, storytelling, and narrative function in the world. Our contributors are students, faculty, and alumni of ETSU’s Department of Communication & Performance.

In this episode, we feature a full-episode segment by Storytelling Garage producer Thomas Townsend.  For most of the world, March 2020’s most indelible moments marked closures due to a global pandemic. For him, it marked the death of his father.  In the wake of his father's not-unexpected but untimely passing, Thomas pivoted a research project from oral history to narrative inheritance, a concept coined by Communication scholar and writer Bud Goodall.   Narrative inheritance refers to stories given to children by and about family members. Many times, it can be about the toxic secrets we keep. Narrative inheritance is shaped not only by details shared in the stories we tell about our families but by what we omit, distort, exaggerate, and lie about. By recognizing this narrative inheritance, we can consciously reshape the stories we tell ourselves and we pass on, for better or for worse.

Thinking on this, Thomas set out to examine some of the narratives his father left him. He shares one such instance in which he consciously shaped the story and pulled the veil back on a traumatic incident that most would consider a family secret.

**Content warning** This episode includes issues of self-harm and gun violence.