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Here Say is a project in community storytelling. We travel to a new place each week and ask people to share true stories about things we all experience: love, family, learning, etc.Click here for a full-screen or mobile-ready map.00000178-cc7d-da8b-a77d-ec7d2fad0000

Here Say: Your Stories about Winning and Losing, Told at Cosmo Park

Kenneth Garr
Samantha Kummerer
/
KBIA

Here Say is a project in community storytelling. We travel to a new place each week and ask people to share true stories about things we all experience: love, family, learning and more. To see where we've been, check out our interactive map. And to hear your favorite stories from last season, you can find our free podcast on itunes.

   

Kenneth Garr Sr. told us about his pride when he sees his son Jonathan, or as his dad calls him, “Jay” on the football field.

"He’s a great sportsman. He’s always patting his teammates on the back or even the kid that he might hit hard and tackle. He picks ‘em up, pats ‘em on his head “Good hit, good game” or whatever, you know.

I just get excited about, you know, him enjoying the play so this is what we do, come out and enjoy.”
 
 

Kathi Plackmeyer
Credit Mary McIntyre / KBIA
/
KBIA
Kathi Plackmeyer

Kathi Plackmeyer shared her story of

devastating loss, and a life changing victory.

"Well, I lost my husband to a heart attack. He was perfectly healthy, went to play hockey and had a heart attack and that was it and, you know, so that’s the biggest lost and that’s been 13 years ago but it’s still hard to talk about, I guess. I didn’t even know I would but bringing it up, yes, it is kinda hard. And then I did win, I won sobriety. I’ve been a drinker all my life, and two years ago, I stopped drinking. Just on my own. I just stopped so that’s my biggest win. It’s the best feeling in the world."

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Mary Christensen
Credit Emma Nicholas / KBIA
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KBIA
Mary Christensen

Mary Christensen told us about family gatherings around the ping pong table - and how she finds it hard to let anyone else win.

 

“I’ve always been a winner but now that I’m getting old, my son came home and we played ping pong and he beat me. That was a first because I’d always beat him and my husband, when he would play the little kids, he’d always let the little kids win in our family to make them feel good but not me."

 

Zach Williams
Credit Mary McIntyre / KBIA
/
KBIA
Zach Williams

Zach Williams shares a story with us about a time when the odds were in his favor, and how that winning streak soon ended.

 

“I once won like a $50 scratcher. I walked in the gas station, got a beer and got a lottery ticket and then scratched it off in the parking lot, went back in, got more beer. That’s pretty much it”.

 

Zach also told us that his one win didn’t translate into a winning streak.

 

“I felt like I would be really into doing that but then I tried like I bought more scratchers and kept losing so that was that. Waste of money.”

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
For more stories about winning and losing, check out our interactive map here.
 

Sara Shahriari was the assistant news director at KBIA-FM, and she holds a master's degree from the Missouri School of Journalism. Sara hosted and was executive producer of the PRNDI award-winning weekly public affairs talk show Intersection. She also worked with many of KBIA’s talented student reporters and teaches an advanced radio reporting lab. She previously worked as a freelance journalist in Bolivia for six years, where she contributed print, radio and multimedia stories to outlets including Al Jazeera America, Bloomberg News, the Guardian, the Christian Science Monitor, Deutsche Welle and Indian Country Today. Sara’s work has focused on mental health, civic issues, women’s and children’s rights, policies affecting indigenous peoples and their lands and the environment. While earning her MA at the Missouri School of Journalism, Sara produced the weekly Spanish-language radio show Radio Adelante. Her work with the KBIA team has been recognized with awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and PRNDI, among others, and she is a two-time recipient of funding from the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.
Hope Kirwan left KBIA in September 2015.
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