Category: 2018

Naming

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

Story 3: Fursonas 

VOX at the San Jose Furry Convention 2017

Producers: Cameron Tenner, Adesuwa Agbonile, Hannah Nguyen, Claudia Heymach

Story 4: NumberTwo

An old house in Bangalore is the sun at the center of a family’s solar system. Or is it?

Featuring: Shantha Rao, Smitha Walling, Melina Walling

Producers: Melina Walling, Jett Hayward, Cathy Wong, Alec Glassford

Story 5: Make the Mascot Indian Again

Dahkota Brown campaigns to become the Stanford Tree, and making the mascot Indian again.

Producer: Erin Woo 

Story 6: Daisy, meet Finn. 

A Stanford senior decides to change their gender…and their name.

Featuring: Finn Sonder
Producer(s): Erin Woo, Jett Hayward


Survival

Sometimes you have to keep your head down to stay alive.

This is a show about playing the cello in the darkest hour, and returning to the site of the fire, and keeping your head down to stay alive. This is a show about what happens when the sun goes down, and when you get lost in the mall, and when you pick up the phone because you have nowhere left to turn.

This is a show about the terrible and the beautiful. This is a show about survival.

Producers: Jett Hayward, Bella Lazzareschi, Elisabeth Dee, Stephanie Niu, Cathy Wong, Dylan Cunningham, Hannah Nguyen, Jackson Roach, Melina Walling, Alec Glassford, Christy Hartman, Jake Warga, Sam Greenspan, and Jonah Willinghanz.

Release date: 25 April 2018

Story 1: Santa Rosa

After the Santa Rosa fires, Bella revisits her childhood home.

Producer: Bella Lazzareschi
Music: As Fast As You Can Happen, junior85

Story 2: The Brink

What is it like to be LGBTQ+ in a Mormon community?

Producer: Elisabeth Dee
Featuring: Kimberly Anderson, Dean Stonehocker
Music: Ambient Pad by Karma-Ron, Melancholic Haze by FoolBoyMedia, I’m Trying To Be Like Jesus by Emily Brown, Love One Another by The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Dark Water by Podington Bear, Fathomless – Ambient by Podington Bear, Calm Synthesizer, B by InspectorJ

Story 3: The Blue Time

A psychologist searches for the secret to survival in a town where the sun doesn’t rise for 50 days.

Producers: Stephanie Niu, Jett Hayward
Featuring: Kari Liebowitz and Jonas Björklund
Music: Sombra by Zé Trigueiros, Soft Euphoria by Lee Rosevere, Playmate by Podington Bear, Everybody Wants Gold and a Mermaid by Tony Higgins, Cylinder Three by Chris Zabriskie, Cylinder Nine by Chris Zabriskie, gaël by johnny_ripper

Story 4: The Misinformation Effect

Chris Coan remembers being lost in the mall, but we all have our stories.

Producer(s): Dylan Cunningham, Jett Hayward, Cathy Wong
Featuring: Dr. James Coan, Dr. Elizabeth Loftus, Chris Coan
Music: bj.b (re:construction)_ remix by ono by -ono-, An opener by Bitbasic, Stealth Elk by Bitbasic, Pattern 4 (Version 10) by Cyan341, Datalinks (Line remix) by Posthuman, c by Gallery Six, m by Gallery Six, k by Gallery Six, Upward by junior85, Action Discovery by Komiku, may by SHOMOMOSE

Archival Sound: Rewriting History, Out in the Open, CBC Radio; Archival interview with Chris Coan provided by Jim Coan

Story 5: The Jane Collective

In an era when abortion was illegal, a group of women took matters into their own hands.

Producer: Hannah Nguyen
Featuring: Jeanne Galatzer-Levy, Martha Scott, Judith Arcana
Music: Universe in the Bath by Letmeknowyouanatole, Illumination I by Letmeknowyouanatole, Choose Another Way by Letmeknowyouanatole, Weightlessness by Daniel Birch, Absolutely Sweet Marie by Bob Dylan

Archival Sound: Roe v. Wade, Oyez, 1973 CBS Evening News with Walter Cronkite (1/22/73), CBS, Third Presidential Debate Highlights | Trump, Clinton on Abortion, ABC News, Speaker Ryan’s Remarks at the March for Life, Speaker Paul Ryan, House’s 20-week abortion ban heads to the Senate, Fox News

SURVIVAL BONUS: Archival Tape Compilation

The Survival episode contains a collection of found archival sounds. These pieces of tape, on the theme of survival, have themselves survived the passage of time. Preserved fragments of another time, they remind us that human beings have always been survivors. This is a standalone collection of those fragments of tape.


Speculation

What can we know about the future? And where do we look? We plan ahead by speculating. We can’t imagine not imagining the next hour, the next day, the next email. In this show we look at the nature of guessing, of predicting, and what that can tell us about the future. And the past.

Host: Yue Li
Producers:​​ ​Chris Leboa, Cameron Tenner, Yue Li, Claudia Heymach, Noelle Chow, Sam Kargilis, Risa Cromer, Sam Greenspan
Release date: 11 April 2018

Story 1: Miner Threat

Meet the last Bitcoin miners of Stanford.

Producer: Sam Kargilis
Music (from Free Music Archive): Curves, Jhhhzzr

Story 2: Vanishing Vaccines

During the 2017-2018 flu season over 60 million Americans were infected with influenza and an estimated 50,000 died. Why has there been so much sickness when a vaccine does exist? Producer Chris LeBoa investigates the process and guesswork that goes into creating the flu shot each year and what is being done to take guesswork out of future vaccines.

Producer: Chris LeBoa
Featuring: Corrie Dekkar, Julie Parsonnet, Julie Fogarty

Story 3: The Coming Storm

In the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, Houstonians Yue and Claudia wonder how future storms can be predicted. And if they can be predicted, whose responsibility is it to protect Houston?

Producers: Yue Li, Claudia Heymach, Noelle Chow
Featuring: Jeff Lindner, Jim Blackburn
Music (from freesound.org): vision- ambient gamelan by that jeff carter, Ambient Drone Solfeggio by Headphaze, Cosmos by pointpark cinema, cyclone hurricane hugo by solostud

Story 4: My Dear Melville

Herman Melville’s “great American novel,” Moby Dick, has fascinated, entertained, bored, and horrified audiences for the past 150 years, but … is Moby Dick gay? Was Herman Melville caught up in a same-sex-love affair? Producer Cameron Tenner searches for answers and learns about exploring queerness in the past.

Producer: Cameron Tenner
Featuring: Mark Beauregard, Kyla Schuller
Music: Cylinder Five by Chris Zabriskie, Gentle Chase by Podington Bear, Skeptic by Podington Bear, Vanagon by Podington Bear, Little Black Cloud by Podington Bear, Waltz for an Imaginary Piano by Johnny Ripper, Lonesome by Podington Bear, Lucky Stars by Podington Bear, In My Head by Podington Bear, Sensitive by Podington Bear, Whaling Song by Paul Clayton


Caretaking

How do we take care of the past after it turns to ash? We visit with families digging through the rubble of their homes in Sonoma after the fires as they sift for memories. This episode asks how we care for people, and what to do if there’s no obvious path to healing. Along the way, we meet a midwife, some worms, and a daughter caring for her mother and herself.

Host: Claudia Heymach
Producers: Claudia Heymach, Crystal Escolero, Emma Heath, Bella Lazzareschi, Helvia Taina, Sarah Jiang, Eileen Williams, Jackson Roach, Jake Warga
Featuring: Ronnie Falcoa, Claire Mollard, Josh Weil, Roshni Thachill
Show music: “The Flight of the Lulu” by Possimiste
Release date: 7 February 2018

Story 1: Midwife Crisis

We don’t always think of caretaking in a professional terms, but for a homebirth midwife, the emotional and physical wellbeing of others is the whole job.

Producer: Emma Heath
Featuring: Ronnie Falcoa

Story 2: From the Ashes

We went to Sonoma County after the fires to help residents dig through the rubble of their homes. Along the way, we asked about what they took with them, what they wanted to take, and what they’re looking for now.

Producers: Crystal Escolero, Helvia Taina, and Claudia Heymach
Featuring: Claire Mollard and Josh Weil
Image courtesy of Jake Warga

Story 3: Depression 1, 2, 3 …

Living with mental illness means living with the mysterious and mundane. Caretakers of loved ones with depression, anxiety or psychosis must come to grips with both sides, and resist the tug of their own demons in the process. This is an ongoing story about a mom, her daughter and the everyday work of love.

Producers: Sarah Jiang and Eileen Williams
Music: “Undersea Garden” and “Love Sprouts” by Podington Bear, “Tennessee Waltz” by Patti Page
Image: “San Valentin 14” by Milan Rubio