Positive Good News Stories

Wheels of Good Fortune.

One hundred sixty years ago, a man with a bold mustache and a bicycle with a huge wheel dreamed of pedaling around the world. Meet Thomas Stevens, the first human to circumnavigate the globe on a bike.

In 1884, the world was much larger than it is today. There were hostile territories, many regions were poorly mapped, and highways were yet to traverse continents. Sounds like the perfect time to ride a bicycle around the world. Read Story

‘The Velveteen Rabbit’ – How we Discover what Makes us Real … is Love.

Just as Margery Williams’ classic children’s book helps us all through the transition of childhood into adulthood, it helped the author through difficult times.

Margery Williams was an accomplished writer and author long before she wrote “The Velveteen Rabbit.” Born in London in the summer of 1881 to a wealthy and successful lawyer, she was the youngest child. Read Story

He Ain’t Heavy, He’s my Brother.

The tender relationship between two brothers is a beacon for us all. A StoryCorps moment that will make your day.

Rob Rigano lives in the town he grew up in on the East Coast, in New York state. His older brother, Phil, lives in San Diego. The two are in their mid-fifties now, and they got together before COVID to record a few memories. Read Story

Everybody’s Grandma.

Connie might have said there was nothing special about her. Her grandchildren and their friends will tell you a different story.

Connie would tell you she was not very good at choosing husbands. As a schoolteacher in South Carolina, she worked hard to ensure her students were up to grade level. Read Story

What we Learn About Ourselves from the Boys in the Boat.

Joe Rantz overcame childhood scarlet fever, abandonment and depression to become the oak-strong oarsman of the winning boat that shocked the world in the 1936 Berlin Olympics.

In 1929, as the American economy crashed and one-quarter of the workforce was unemployed, Joe Rantz stood on the planks of a dilapidated porch and watched his father, stepmother and younger brothers drive away. Read Story

The Woman Who Talks to Trees.

Understanding the power of relationships in the natural world will help us heal the people we share our communities with.

Suzanne Simard grew up in the woods. Her family worked as loggers, and when she was old enough, she, too, could be found in the trees. She loved the work, which she describes as “extremely exciting because it was so dangerous” and because she was one of the first women in the industry. Read Story

The Friendship Heard Round the World.

Luz Long and Jesse Owens struck up a friendship at the 1936 Olympics that transcended sport, race and history.

Jesse Owens was the grandson of enslaved people and the son of Alabama sharecroppers. Luz Long studied law at the University of Leipzig and was the physical embodiment of Hitler’s nationalistic ideal. One would become a national hero. One would die in the upcoming war. Both would call out racism at a time when it could cost them everything. Read Story

Unlikely Friends with Common Roots.

From the StoryCorps archives, a story of two friends from the same side of the tracks, with very different backgrounds.

Tucson, Arizona, has long been a place with the romance of the Wild West, even in the years right after World War ll, and that’s what drew all kinds of people there during the late 1940s and 1950s. Read Story

If a Man Asks for Bread, Will You Give Him a Stone?

Treating people, even prisoners, with respect is what food service giant Bill Mouskondis is all about.

Bill Mouskondis is always smiling. He is the son of a Greek immigrant who started a food service company with an old truck and cases of dented cans scavenged from railroad cars. Read Story

Real-Life Blue Bloods.

The Vigiano family has served New York City for four generations: Grandfather, father, two sons, daughter-in-law and grandson. Two of them were lost on 9/11. This is their story, from the StoryCorps collection commemorating heroes from that day. Read Story

Anatomy of a Bestseller.

How “Gray’s Anatomy,” a book of drawings featuring blood vessels, muscles, the nervous system and other squeamish things, came to be one of the world’s most widely read books.

Seeing the inner workings of a hand, or the nervous system surrounding the spleen, doesn’t seem appealing to most people. Read Story

The Key to Life.

Father-and-son locksmiths Phil and Philip Mortillaro share the simple wisdom of being happy. From the StoryCorps collection.

Phil Mortillaro is the son of immigrants. He has worked as a locksmith since he left school in the eighth grade. All five of his children grew up watching their father work hard in his Greenwich Village shop, but only his youngest son followed in his footsteps and became a locksmith as well. Read Story

The Frozen Race to Save Lives.

The 1925 dog sled run to deliver serum across Alaska covered 674 miles with 20 mushers and 150 dogs.

Nome, Alaska, January 1925. Home to roughly 1,400 hearty people who live off what they can pull from the rugged landscape. The population in the U.S. territory of Alaska is a mix of Athabascan and Inuit people and intrepid adventurers from the United States and the colder parts of Europe. Read Story

Out of the Village and On to Break Records.

The incredible story of Makazole Mapimpi, the first South African to score in a Rugby World Cup Final. Against almost impossible personal odds, Makazole succeeded, a triumph of the human spirit.

Rugby is a fluid, creative game that begins with strict training and structure but moves according to players’ wits. There are collisions and tackles, deft maneuvers and hard falls. But at the core of the game is cooperation. Read Story

From the Beach to the Desert.

How a group of ambitious kids from Laguna Beach High School in California are digging wells in Kenya.

Cruise down Highway 1 through the little beach town of Laguna Beach in California and you’ll be charmed by the quaint shops, the sea breezes, the soothing sound of waves. This is where people come to relax, watch sunsets, read lazy books and let the stress of the modern world be carried away on riptides. Read Story