State of the Human, a podcast of the Stanford Storytelling Project, shares stories that deepen our understanding of single, common human experiences—belonging, giving, lying, forgiveness—all drawn from the experiences and research of the Stanford community.
State of the Human, the radio show of the Stanford Storytelling Project, shares stories that deepen our understanding of single, common human experiences—belonging, giving, lying, forgiveness—all drawn from the experiences and research of the Stanford community.
What do we gain from gathering? In this episode, we’re thinking about how coming together can change us. We’ll hear about a citizen-led clean-up movement in India, a Bay Area artist who forms an unlikely friendship with a church in Colorado, and a student who experiences the power of connection at a living museum on Stanford campus.
Story 1: My Ugly India “What do I owe to this land? And why?” In this story, Tanvi Dutta Gupta explores how one citizen-led clean-up movement has confronted the ugliness of Indian cities, and what this means for her own belonging as an Indian.
Producer: Tanvi Dutta Gupta Featuring: Kumar Music: “Bauxite” – Little Rock – Blue Dot Sessions
“Highride” – Radiopink – Blue Dot Sessions
“Tessalit” – Azalai – Blue Dot Sessions
“Louver” – Holyoke – Blue Dot Sessions
“Secret Pocketbook” – Holyoke – Blue Dot Sessions
“Anders” – Macrame – Blue Dot Sessions
“Silent Flock” – Migration – Blue Dot Sessions
“The Consulate” – Holyoke – Blue Dot Sessions
“Li-Fonte” – Architect – Blue Dot Sessions
Story 2: Engrique Chagoya: Making Art & Community Art can be controversial, and Enrique Chagoya, an artist and professor at Stanford, is no stranger to controversy. But, in his experiences, art also has the power to bring people together–often, in unexpected ways.
Producer: Regina T.H. Ta Featuring: Enrique Chagoya Music: “We Collect Shiny Things” – Blue Dot Sessions – Love & Weasel
“Are We Loose Yet” – Blue Dot Sessions – Bodytonic
“Six Gnossiennes: Gnossienne No. 1” – Erik Satie – 50 Essential Piano Pieces by Roland Pöntinen
“Thannoid” – Blue Dot Sessions – Bodytonic
Story 3: Experiencing Sankofa
What are you supposed to do after a noose is found on your campus? Stanford’s answer to that question was, in part, to invite The Experience Sankofa Project, a living museum on black history to campus. This story details what the Project can teach us about racism, activism, and (maybe most importantly), community.
Producer: Adesuwa Agbonile Featuring: Venus Morris, Dereca Blackmon, Mizan Alkebulan-Abakah, Sizwe Andrews-Abakah, Frank Omowale Satterwhite, Jeanette Smith-Laws, Persis Drell Music: “Multiple Crystal Bowl Rhythm – Freesound.org – Geerose
“All the Answers” – Lee Rosevere
“It’s a Mystery” – Lee Rosevere
“You’re Enough Version C” – Lee Rosevere
This episode investigates the act of preserving, a decision made in the present, regarding the past, looking towards the future. What can we learn from what we choose to preserve? What does preserving reveal about our values?
Story 1: Mother of Falcons Master falconer Kate Marden has an urgent mission: preservation through education. What’s at stake? The ability to connect to something as wild as a bird of prey
Producers:Regina Kong Music: Massive Attack by Podington Bear; Teals Descending Upon the Level Sand by Lo Ka Ping; Shines Through Trees by Podington Bear; Be careful, I’ve Stood On It Too by Bitbasic; Night Caves by Lee Rosevere; Le Songe d’Hacholhii by Sunhiilow; When You’re On the Moon by Tony Higgins
Story 2: Deekin’ on Boont Harpers Boonville isn’t just a sleepy wine town in Northern California. It has its own culture, tall tales, and even its own version of a language – Boontling. Sadly, like Boonville itself, Boontling is fading away. We explore a diverse array of perspectives on what Boontling really means, on how its multiple layers intertwine with the history, economy, and deeply human aspects of this community.
Featuring: Wes Smoot, Rod DeWitt, Karen Ge Producers: Carolyn Stein, Karen Ge, Cat Fergesen Music: Warmup by Patrick Muecke, Serenity by Jason Shaw, Animal Magic by Purple Plant, Every Life by Purple Planet, Mountain Breeze by Purple Planet, Evan Schaeffer by Graze, Easy Day by Kevin MacLeod
Story 3: Art Never Dies When we walk into a museum, we rarely think about the behind-the-scenes life of the art hanging on the wall. What goes into preserving art to stand the test of time? What happens when the physical material can’t be saved? Does the art piece die?
Producers: Grace Zhang, Lola McAllister, Liv Jenks Music:Curiosity by Lee Rosevere, Sneaky Adventure by Kevin MacLeod, The Flight of lulu by Possimiste
We visit five places on campus where future doctors are learning how to practice medicine. We’re going to real classrooms: anatomy lab and wet lab, lecture halls, we visit a Stanford Free Clinic, bike across campus to the mausoleum, and head down the road to Webb Ranch. We’re asking: How are students learning to practice medicine, thoughtfully?
Story 1: The Healing Power of Getting Stoked Sometimes, a word can help identify exactly what’s missing. Urban dictionary says: to be “stoked” is to be completely and intensely enthusiastic, exhilarated, or excited about something. Those who are stoked all of the time know this; being stoked is the epitome of all being. In our next story, State of the Human Producer JJ Kapur learns the healing power of getting stoked.
Producers: JJ Kapur and Esha Dhawan Music: Thunderstorm (Pon VIII) by Kai Engel; Slimheart by Blue Dot Sessions; Ghost Surf Rock by Loyalty Freak Music; The graveyard by Loyalty Freak Music; Blue Highway by Podington Bear; Our Only Lark by Blue Dot Sessions; You Don’t Surf So Shut Up by Waylon Thornton and the Heavy Hands
Story 2: Warlock Genetics
For many doctors, it takes four years to complete their degree. But physician-scientists — doctors who have an MD and a PhD — have eight years of school. These physician-scientists treat patients and conduct cutting-edge medical research. Our producer tries to figure out if learning medicine and learning how to conduct medical research is the path for her. To make things more complicated, Victoria grew up in an Eastern Medicine household, so pursuing an MD in the Western tradition is already lifting a few eyebrows.
Producers: Victoria Yuan and Sarah Griffin Music: Never Forget by Ketsa; Multiverse by Ketsa; Tian Mi Mi by Teresa Teng; Syaba by Aoiroooasamusi; Slow Vibing by Ketsa; Robot Waltz by Ketsa
Story 3: Spiritual Cowgirl
In our next story, State of the Human Producer Aparna Verma visits Dr. Beverly Kane at Webb Ranch to observe Equine-imity. Formally a practicing doctor at Apple, and a family practice physician, Dr. Kane now teaches these courses at the Stanford School of Medicine. She also teaches another class called Medicine & Horsemanship, which trains medical students and practitioners to develop an awareness of the subtleties of communication that are necessary for a provider-patient relationship.
Producers: Aparna Verma and Linda Liu Music: Loco Lobo, Sergey Cheremisinov, Kai Engel
Story 4: Anatomical Mnemonics
Mnemonics use information already stored in long-term memory to make memorization easier. Maybe you also learned PEMDAS for order of math operations. parentheses, exponent, multiplication, division, addition, and subtraction. In no field perhaps, are mnemonics more abundant than in medicine. For our next story, pre-med student, producer Victoria Yuan visits Anatomy Lab after hours to ask if learning mnemonics affects the way medical students think about people.
Producer: Victoria Yuan Music: Kitty in the Window by Podington Bear; Awakenings by Ketsa; Dog Politics by Elvis Herod; Pictures of the Floating by Canada; Orange Sunshine by Rod Hamilton; Tinny Whistle by Elvis Herod
What ideas exist behind material objects? In this episode, we’re going to look at stuff—things we can see or hear or touch—to try to understand the intangible, like memory, history, and bias.
Our Immortal Stuff While moving out of her dorm, faced with putting everything she had in boxes, producer Yue Li began to feel uncomfortable about her own buying habits. So she took a trip to Berkeley to meet some people who think really differently about…stuff.
Featuring: Max, Jimmy, Sarah (Urban Ore employees and shoppers) Producer: Yue Li
Brains and Bronze: How Octavius Catto Came Back to Life Octavius Catto, a 19th century activist, stands in bronze as the first statue of a black man on Philadelphia public property. And he’s coming back to life in other ways–on a giant mural, and in the art and social justice scenes of the city. What would this statue of an activist from history say to the activists surrounding it now…why is he back, and what’s he trying to tell us?
Featuring: Keir Johnston, Shakirah, Eddy, Kim McCleary Producer: Melina Walling
Uncle Sam Wants YOU to Eat Processed Food We’re surrounded by processed food. But how did it get here? A story about what we can learn from the food we eat every day.
Becoming British As a kid, Esther wanted to change something fundamental about herself. Her solution? Put on a fake British accent. A story about what we can learn from a six-year-old pretend Londoner.
In this episode, we’re going to think about death. All things must come to an end, but that does not mean death is all ending. We ask — what can death teach us about life?
Ghost Tour
The actual name of Stanford University is Leland Stanford, Jr. University after a boy who died of typhoid at 15. After Leland Jr. died, his parents, Jane and Leland Sr., built this university to honor him. Lecturer Jake Warga gives campus tours – ghost tours – to remind us that even if Leland Jr. is dead, Stanford’s history isn’t.
Featuring: Jake Warga Producers: Nikhil Raghuraman, Mike Mahowald, and Warren Christopher
Death Cafe
Michelle Chang drives around the country hosting “death cafes,” gatherings where strangers come together and talk openly about death. At death cafes, people confront the reality of dying and in doing so, make meaning of their lives.
Producer: Will Shan
Claudia Biçen
Claudia Biçen, a San Francisco artist, interviewed nine hospice patients about their experiences of dying. She then created larger than life-size portraits of each patient, and on each person’s clothing, wrote out the test of their interview. At exhibitions, Biçen played audio clips of the interviews, so you can actually hear the voice of the person you’re seeing. She called her project “Thoughts in Passing.”
Featuring: Claudia Biçen Producer: Aparna Verma
Dia De Los Muertos
We go to San Francisco for the annual Day fo the Dead parade, a tradition that can be traced back to the Aztecs. It’s a time when families come together to celebrate ancestors and loved ones who have passed away, prompting us to ask what we can learn about life through death.
Producers: Regina Kong, Lena Lee, and Isabella Tilley
In this episode, we search for myths in the modern world. We ask . — where are monsters hiding, and who created them? What do the myths we circulate say about ourselves?
Story 1: Miscreants, Wretches, Witches, And Hags
Professor Elaine Treharne talks about Beowulf and the women who are called monsters.
Producer: Sophie McNulty
Story 2: Myth Of the Golden Hands
In the desert, sitting in a broken down car, a graduate student faces off against a powerful myth.
Featuring: Ahinoam Pollack, a PhD student in the Energy Resources Engineering Department Producers: Christy Hartman, Morgan Canaan
Story 3: A Comical Escape
Is your favorite superhero just a mislabeled monster? Are you? Professor Scott Bukatman discusses the creation of monstrous superheroes and the peculiar power of comics.
Featuring: Scott Bukatman Producers: Ben Schwartz, Jett Hayward
Story 4: Iceland’s Concealed Conservationists
Iceland’s Concealed Conservationists is about the elf population in Iceland and how Icelanders’ tradition of hidden creatures living in the landscape encourages a deep respect for nature and a sense of responsibility to preserve the wilderness which is an essential part of Iceland’s culture and identity. But over the past few years the numbers of tourists travelling to Iceland has increased drastically as people from other countries seek these rare and dramatic locations and so Iceland’s untouched wilderness is at risk of losing its essential character. This story is about the landscape of Iceland and the magic of life that it holds, and the Icelanders’ efforts to ensure that it is not lost.
What happens when we find ourselves in solitude, whether on purpose or accidentally? In this episode, people navigate aloneness and explore what it means to be secluded from everyone and everything else.
Release date: 26 April 2019
Story 1: Ryan Petterson
Geology researcher Ryan Petterson goes out into Death Valley for research. Even though there’s no one around for miles, he finds connection with others.
Producer: Sofia Sanchez-Luege
Story 2: Charlotte Brown
Charlotte Brown takes a deep dive into a form of solitude that more and more people are trying out — meditation. This solitude takes her places she never imagined.
Producer: Stephanie Niu
Story 3: Soundtracker
Gordon Hempton goes to the most remote places of the world and records the soundscape before it disappears.
Producer: Leslie Chang with help from Jett Hayward
Story 4: Sienna
While working in Alaska, Sienna White grapples with solitude, and the loneliness that it can produce.
Producer: Sienna White
Story 5: The Bridge
Adesuwa talks to the staff at the Bridge, an on-campus peer-counseling center about what it’s like to take calls from people alone in the night. Featuring: Hannah Nguyen, Albert Gehami, Rebecca Bromley
We name people, places, and things out of necessity, but the labels we choose take on the weight of history, culture, and identity. In this episode, we talk about the names we use, and why they matter.
Release date:12 June 2018
Story 1: Choi Jeong Min
“My korean name is the star my mother cooks into the jjigae to follow home when i am lost.” // a spoken word poem
Story 2: Sweet Potato Love
In an isolated fishing village in Papua New Guinea, a linguist sets out to write the first dictionary of the Ende language. Not long after she begins, she finds that one word was more difficult to translate: mokwang, Ende’s word for love, which also means survival.
In this story, we’ll hear how Ende women define what it means to love in Limol, Papua New Guinea.
Producer: Kate L. Lindsey, with help from Claire Schoen