The Story

The struggle to mentor a student in D.C.

We honor a former guest, Lindy Linenberger, who survived the Great Depression and Dust Bowl. Lindy died this past summer at the age of 88.

Rafe Sagarin first moved to the California coast as a college student at Stanford. He bought all the John Steinbeck novels he could find and began exploring his new home through the salty characters of "Cannery Row" and "Tortilla Flat." One of Steinbeck's most memorable characters is Doc. It did not take long for Rafe to realize Doc was the fictional version of Ed Ricketts, a biologist and one of John Steinbeck's closest friends. When Rafe learned Steinbeck and Ricketts had once gone on an expedition in the Mexican Sea of Cortez, his imagination lit up with the idea of recreating that journey. Also in this episode, walking while working a desk job.

Twenty-year-old Gerrin Hayes just dropped out of high school. He says growing up in a crack house made it impossible to focus on studying. But Gerrin still has hope. He has a mentor, Craig Zeno, who once was a dropout himself, and he makes a strong case for the value of school.