State of the Human: 2023-2024
State of the Human, the award-winning 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. Explore by show theme below or by year using the menu to the left. You can also listen to all of our shows here.
From 2013-2022, the Storytelling Project created shows in the style of This American Life (i.e. one-hour episodes focused on a single theme that typically included 3-5 stories). In 2023 we shifted to a new format that allows students to see their work published more quickly and expand the number of stories they could include. Beginning with “Reclaiming What's Been Lost,” each show theme includes a series of stories, each with their own episode of varying length. Many of these stories include bonus episodes where students articulate the craft of their process as they created these stories.
2023-2024 State of the Human episodes
Reclaiming What's Been Lost
This series will feature stories about reclaiming neighborhoods, music venues, childhood obsessions, sports teams, languages, and ways of seeing ourselves. It’s about holding the tension between what we were and who we’ve become. It’s about returning to our origins with a more nuanced perspective.
Nakedness
Being naked–or seeing others naked–can evoke a firestorm of emotions . . . everything from freedom to vulnerability to sensuality to shame. This series features stories about exposure therapy, naked theater, coming out to parents, worker-owned strip clubs, and nudist retreats.