Hi friends, and welcome back to Milkweed & Monarchs. I’m your host, Dawn Klem, and today I’m inviting you into a memory that’s etched into my heart—a story of childhood innocence, unexpected friendships, and the quiet magic of growing up in a simpler time.

In this episode, I take you back to the early 1960s, to a hill overlooking the football field at Hillsdale College, where my little brother and I found joy, freedom, and connection in the most unexpected of places. It’s a story about community, about how children see the world without filters, and about how a shared Coke bottle became a symbol of something much bigger.

So grab a cup of something warm, settle in, and let’s journey together to a time when the world felt just a little more open, and a lot more kind.

Chapters

• (00:00:00 ) - Growing Up With My Brother
• (00:09:44 ) - The African-American Parents of Detroit Lions and Tiger baseball
• (00:17:54 ) - Black and White at Hillsdale College