Write Up The Coast – Step-In! Stories
Write Up The Coast – Step-In! Stories brings community voices to life — recorded live in the moment. At its heart is the mobile Step-In! booth, a small traveling space where people pause amid the noise of daily life to share a thought, a memory, or a feeling.
Beyond the booth, Step-In! also meets people where they are — on the street, at events, or in quiet one-on-one conversations — capturing the same spirit of openness and spontaneity wherever it happens.
Season 1: Write Up The Coast — curated conversations and reflections that explore the meaning of community through storytelling.
Season 2: Step-In! — spontaneous recordings from public spaces and personal exchanges that reveal real voices, real moments, and real connection.
Created and hosted by Mark Sanford Gross, Step-In! invites us all to pause, listen, and remember: every story matters.
Write Up The Coast – Step-In! Stories
Step-In: New Year’s at The Sea Ranch Lodge
On New Year’s Day—the first day of 2026—Write Up the Coast set up the Step-In Story Booth at The Sea Ranch Lodge, on the rugged northern edge of California’s Sonoma Coast.
Set at the entrance to the Lodge, the booth drew people in by curiosity rather than invitation. Some were gently nudged to step in; others arrived entirely on their own. One at a time, they recorded a two-to-three-minute, stream-of-consciousness response to a simple New Year’s prompt, offered just before entering:
What is something you’re leaving behind, and what is something you’re taking with you?
There was no preparation and no performance. Each person spoke in their own voice, in the moment, without names. Those voices were later woven together in this podcast—just a moment of sharing, held in sound.
Credits
Music: Still Blue Quartet
stillbluequartet.com
Produced by Mark Sanford Gross
Gualala, California
Write Up the Coast — Step-In Story
writeupthecoast.com
writeupthecoast@gmail.com
for more information on Write-Up-The-Coast visit writeupthecoast.com or email writeupthecoast@gmail.com