Soundings

We all do the things we do for fun a little bit seriously. Basketball, belly dancing, or playing in a band -- these all take practice and hard work to be really fun. But some people take fun more seriously than the rest of us. Some of them are just more competitive. Some of them want to expand the arena of fine art. And some of them want to re-enchant the world. This episode has stories about a historical re-enactment society that has helped professors make new discoveries about medieval warfare, video games that are becoming professional sports, and the tragic tale of a fan club so obsessed with a character from a book that they got rid of the author. And finally, Ken Kesey reads the children's story that he took seriously enough to say, "This was my best piece of work ever." Host/Producer: Rachel Hamburg Featured: Tony Ricciardi, Patrick Thill, Joshua Landy, Michael Saler, Ken Kesey, Arthur Maddox, Michael Lawrence Music: Kevin Macleod, The Yeltsin Collective, Arthur Maddox, William McGlaughlin,

What happens to us when we travel? How do we get beyond the brochure (and should we)? Poets, a professor of ecology, an observer of the Malaysian meat market, and a researcher who studies sense of place work toward answers and share stories of discovery on the road. Producers: Elizabeth Bradfield, Daniel Hirsch Host: Elizabeth Bradfield Featuring: Joshua Rivkin, John Evans, Laura McKee, Peter Vitousek, Nicole Ardoin, Samantha Wai, Michelle Traub, Selena Simmons-Duffin, Daniel MacDougall Music: Volunteer Pioneer, Johnny Hwin, Natalie Dawn, Eli Herwitz, The Reiterators, and Midawe More info at:http://web.stanford.edu/group/storytelling/cgi-bin/joomla/index.php/shows/season-2/109-episode-207.html

Normally Valentine's Day is a time to celebrate coming together, but today we're exploring the reasons people drift apart. In four stories, we explore all the reasons we fail to click. We have a story about a Stanford student who tried, and failed, to sell her eggs to an elite donation agency, an investigation into the paradoxical allure of French women, a radio play about the perils of matchmaking, and an essay on love that offers an unusual take on arranged marriages. Producers: Charlie Mintz, Hannah Krakauer, Rachel Hamburg Host: Charlie Mintz Featuring: Eva Glasrud, Paula England, Harville Hendrix, Stuart Blaire and Art Tosborvorn Music: George Pritzker, Jeff Striker, Snuffaluffagus More info at:http://web.stanford.edu/group/storytelling/cgi-bin/joomla/index.php/shows/season-2/115-episode-208.html

The human brain was built to predict the future. If you can't see what's coming, you can't survive. Tea leaves, entrails, and complicated algorithms are just a few of the ways humans have tried to divine the future for personal gain. Today on our show we have three stories about various attempts to look into the future. A Berkeley undergraduate tries to beat the racetrack, economists attempt to predict recessions, and a software that can listen to a song and predict whether it's going to be a hit. Guess which one is the most successful, and who forgot about a couple very important variables. Producers: Charlie Mintz, Daniel MacDougall, Bonnie Swift Jonah Willihnganz Host: Charlie Mintz Featuring: Sarah Rizk, Sam Alemayehu, Paul David, Howard Schwartz, Mike McCready, Jadena, Koji Gardiner, Eleanor Safridge Fields, Kasiana McLenaghan, Robert Mintz Music: Koji Gardiner, Ian Burrell, Andy Seymour, Jeff Striker, Pascel, Boomsnake More info at:http://web.stanford.edu/group/story

There all sorts of ways to send a messages: composing an email, writing a text message, pasting up fliers, or literally writing on the wall. In this show, we explore the various ways people communicate: digital and analog, private and public, even legal and illegal. The surprising origins of online social networks, the world of graffiti art, and bathroom stall vandalism. Producers: Dan Hirsch, Will Rogers, Host: Dan Hirsch Featuring: Fred Turner, Molly Butcher, Lyndsey Garlock, Lexi Tsien-Shiang, Mitchell Wilcox, Music: Johnny Hwin, Lauchlan Casey, Ill-Conditioned More info at:http://web.stanford.edu/group/storytelling/cgi-bin/joomla/index.php/shows/season-2/99-episode-210.html

Why are we drawn to stories of escape? How do we know when we've escaped or when we’ve been captured? Today’s show features stories of narrow escapes, written and read by the winners of our first story contest. The dangers of professional panty sniffing, a maybe catastrophic encounter with abandoned tires, and a short story recalling a scary chapter in Stanford's past. Producers: Lee Konstantinou and Charlie Mintz Host: Lee Konstantinou Featuring: Amanda Glasser, Erika Harrell, Mandy MacCalla More info at:http://web.stanford.edu/group/storytelling/cgi-bin/joomla/index.php/shows/season-2/133-episode-211.html

Sometimes our rites of passage are marked by large ceremonies, like graduations or weddings. But often the transformative moments of our lives come not on stage, but when we quietly face the challenges we are presented with. The strange importance of the unicycle in a young man’s life, Texas debutantes, and a 22-year-old trying to make it as a reporter in the real world. Producers: Micah Cratty, Matt Larson, Will Rogers Host: Micah Cratty Featuring: Jon Ho Music: Volunteer Pioneer, Kissing Johnny, Noah Burbank More info at:http://web.stanford.edu/group/storytelling/cgi-bin/joomla/index.php/shows/season-2/129-episode-212.html

What is it to be a toy or a tool? What is the difference between work and play, or is there a difference at all? Seriously playful stories from an archaeologist, a designer of toys for disabled children, and circuit-bending musicians. Who is influencing who in the process of design, creation, and the use of toys and tools? Producers: Hannah Krakauer, Liz Bradfield, Daniel Hirsch Host: Hannah Krakauer Featuring: Michael Shanks, Jessica Zarin Kessin, Reed Ghazala, Sridharan Devarajan, Mike Rosenthall, Mike Mellenthin, Heather Roberts Music: Kissing Johnny, Dubious Ranger, Nimbleweed More info at:http://web.stanford.edu/group/storytelling/cgi-bin/joomla/index.php/shows/season-2/117-episode-214.html

Although superheroes may seem like two dimensional relics of our childhoods, they can have a significant impact on our lives. Stories of superheroes battling in academia, superheroes living among us, and fictional superheroes fighting real-world battles. Producers: Micah Cratty, Lee Konstantinou and Matt Larson Host: Micah Cratty Featuring: Professor Scott Bukatman and Robert Walker Music: Kissing Johnny and Noah Burbank More info at:http://web.stanford.edu/group/storytelling/cgi-bin/joomla/index.php/shows/season-2/161-episode-215.html

We attempt to come to better terms with our impending doom. This is such a mind-blowing episode that it is in a record eight parts: one short story, one excerpt from a novel, two poems, one interview, one story-booth vignette, one ballad, and a correspondence with our friend Pete, on the other side. Producers: Jonah Willihnganz, Bonnie Swift, Dan Hirsch, Micah Cratty, Lee Konstantinou, Killeen Hanson, Elizabeth Bradfield, Hannah Krakauer, Jack Wang Host: Bonnie Swift Featuring: Daniel Steinbock, Adrienne Chung Music: Nataly Dawn More info at:http://web.stanford.edu/group/storytelling/cgi-bin/joomla/index.php/shows/season-2/163-episode-216.html

Animals play strange roles in our lives. Often, critters captivate those of us in the of the so-called dominant species. Our debut show includes four stories and a poem. Students search for salamanders in Stanford's Lake Lagunita. A scientist hatches a plan to "Re-wild" North America with endangered predators from Africa. Cats and Dogs inflict drama on couples who try to co-own them. Elephants may or may not have rescued tourists in Thailand, and Fireflies illuminate the soul in a poem by Troy Jollimore. Will animals captivate you this week? Host: Bonnie SwiftProducers: Bonnie Swift and Jonah Willihnganz Featuring: Rebecca Jacobs and Kalani Leifer, Kate Youngman and Tom James, Tracy Shepard, Hilton Obenzinger, Troy Jollimore. Music: Hunt Alcott, Ambika, Cem Durouz URL's: Hilton Obenzinger, Troy Jollimore. Featuring: Hilton Obenzinger More info at:http://web.stanford.edu/group/storytelling/cgi-bin/joomla/index.php/shows/season-1/155-episode-101.html

More stories about the ways that animals shape our lives. A tour of Stanford's Animal Research Facility, and a short story about one father's strange relationship with the family dog. Producers: Steven Tagle and James Madson More info at:http://web.stanford.edu/group/storytelling/cgi-bin/joomla/index.php/shows/season-1/111-episode-102.html

How do different groups approach Africa? Stories about media coverage of Africa, a student who taught poetry at a Zambian refugee camp, and how Ghana influenced Martin Luther King Jr. Host: Micah Cratty Producers: Micah Cratty and Jonah Willihnganz Featuring: Chrissie Coxon, Stefanie Garcia, William Loel Von Hoene, Clayborne Carson Music: Grant Newsome, Kissing Johnny Producer: Micah Cratty Featuring: William Loel Von Hoene More info at:http://web.stanford.edu/group/storytelling/cgi-bin/joomla/index.php/shows/season-1/143-episode-103.html

This special episode features three documentary stories about the ways in which, as the old saying goes, "you are what you eat." The modern industry of food, the ritual of eating, and the politics of agricultural production. You'll hear about how long a twinkie can last, and about whether or not the US government puts its money where its mouth is, regarding what it tells us to eat, compared to what it subsidizes through the farm bill. What we eat - and how we eat it - reveals the workings of our societies. Host: Bonnie SwiftProducers: Micah Cratty and Jonah WillihnganzFeatured: Bonnie Swift, Jessica Schaefer, Mozzi Etemadi, Katherine Wells, Sherrie Chung, Micah Cratty Music: David Chilsolm, John Serna, Taylormayd Video Podcast: Pie from Scratch by Matt Harnack Producer: Micah Cratty Featuring: Walter Falcon More info at:http://web.stanford.edu/group/storytelling/cgi-bin/joomla/index.php/shows/season-1/127-episode-104.html

Sometimes the normal words just don't work, and we need to figure out an entirely new way of talking. This episode presents a story on Esperanto, the international language that could-have-been-and-might-yet-still-become, followed by a short story by Suzanne Rivecca. Producers: Micah Cratty Producers: Bonnie Swift and Jonah Willihnganz Featuring: Micah Cratty, Ben Savage, David Heyman, Nate Solon, Suzanne Rivecca Music: Kissing Johnny, DJ Danny Glover, Julian Wass URL: Storytelling Project's interview with Suzanne Rivecca More info at:http://web.stanford.edu/group/storytelling/cgi-bin/joomla/index.php/shows/season-1/139-episode-105.html

Inspired by a 200 year old design for a more efficient prison called the panopticon, this show explores just a few of the ways we experience surveillance in society today, and how we respond to it. A story by Andrew Altschul about phones and loss, an interview with the founder of a site that uses cell phones to fight street harassment, and a speech about the joys of Facebook. Producer: Charlie Mintz Featuring: Eli Edwards and Hollaback More info at:http://web.stanford.edu/group/storytelling/cgi-bin/joomla/index.php/shows/season-1/113-episode-106.html

Stories about the faithful in conflict with society, their families, and themselves. First, two Stanford students (one who is gay and another who is a conservative Christian) map out the battlefield between gay marriage and Christianity. Second, a story about how the ‘divine divide’ in America entered into one student’s relationships with his parents and his girlfriend. And third, Will Rogers faces the same ‘divine divide’ in himself and is able to bridge part of it by posting videos online. Host: Micah CrattyProducers: Micah Cratty Featured: Vinni Intersimone, Matt Buchanan, Drew Jacoby-Senghor Music: Amboy Kelso, Dave Chisolm, Hunt Alcott, Jennifer Lindsay, Kissing Johnny Producers: Vinni Intersimone, Matt Buchanan Featuring: Richard Barbour, Rev. Scotty McLennan More info at:http://web.stanford.edu/group/storytelling/cgi-bin/joomla/index.php/shows/season-1/149-episode-107.html

Stories of the education system struggling, and sometimes failing, to adjust. First, a look at how some high schools are responding to the increasing presence of gangs, and how their policies are often backfiring. Second, we assess the progress of schools in fulfilling their educational mission while facing increasing numbers of minority students. And third, English lecturer Adam Johnson tells a true story involving a bloody murder, police detectives, and a fiction writing class. Host: Micah CrattyProducers: Bonnie Swift, Elizabeth Bradfield, Tom Freeland, Christina Ho, Danielle Spoor, and Lily Kornbluth Featured: Micah Cratty, Molly Roberts, Britton Caillouette, Richard Norte, Adam Johnson, Lee Konstantinou Music: Supergreen JellyBean, Zach Katagiri, Taylor Murchison, Kissing Johnny Producer: Lee Konstantinou Featuring: Adam Johnson More info at:http://web.stanford.edu/group/storytelling/cgi-bin/joomla/index.php/shows/season-1/119-episode-108.html

A Valentine's Day special. The unlikely story of Saint Valentine, but as it turns out, most good love stories seem just as improbable. Second, we stood in Stanford's White Plaza and asked passersby about just who - or what - they love. You'll hear their strange replies, followed by a story about the risky and rewarding world of online dating. But that's not all: four splendid love poems are dispersed throughout this episode. Host: Rachel HamburgProducers: Bonnie Swift, Elizabeth Bradfield, Tom Freeland, Christina Ho, Danielle Spoor, and Lily Kornbluth Featured: people passing through White Plaza Music: Side by Side (Maxine Tang, Michelle Goldring, Deri Kusuma, Madalyn Radlauer, Alison Herson, Jose Araneta, and Michael Hsueh), Talisman, Matt Anderson SSP producers brave the bicycles of White Plaza to record stories of love from passersby. Featuring music from Side by Side. More info at:http://web.stanford.edu/group/storytelling/cgi-bin/joomla/index.php/shows/season-1/151-episode-109.html

Remakes are all around us. This week's show is made up of stories of remaking sound-- through instruments, living organisms, and other means. First, an experimental instrument designer brings joy to our ears with some of his wackier creations. Then we speak with some innovative inhabitants of Stanford's Center for Computer Research in Music and Acoustics, who have turned old junk into something truly exquisite. And, stay tuned, tomatoes sing... Host: Daniel MacDougall Producers: Charlie Mintz, Noah Burbank, Daniel MacDougall Featured: Bart Hopkin, Sasha Leitman, Jen Carlile, Chris Chafe Music: Johnny Hwin, Bart Hopkin Producer: Daniel MacDougall Featuring: Jade Wang, Karen Warner, Hannah Krakauer, Shelly Ni Creative organologist Bart Hopkin remakes the sounds of the world. He is the founder of Experimental Musical Instruments, an organization that explores the acoustic potential of metals, woods, string, tubes, and anything else that makes a sound. More info at:http://web.stanford.edu/group