Soundings

Campaigns are about getting people to vote for your candidate, and today's show is about the missteps that can happen along the way. First, we tell the story of the musical jingles that help put people in (and keep others out) of office. Second, we answer the question you’ve always wondered: why is there so much negativity in most campaigns? And last, one student goes door-to-door and the people who answer either don't vote, or won't vote, for her candidate. Host: Micah Cratty Producer: Micah Cratty Featured: Gabe Winant, Kalani Leifer, Jonah Berger, Elissa Morales, Wesley Lim, Monica Uddin, Jeremy Newman, and Omair Saddat Music: Brad Wolfe, Taylor Murchison, Rego Sen, and Kissing Johnny Producer: Micah Cratty Featuring: Gabe Winant and Kalani Leifer More info at:http://web.stanford.edu/group/storytelling/cgi-bin/joomla/index.php/shows/season-1/101-episode-111.html

Today's show is about the different ways we experience time. In our first story, we explore the evolution of nostalgia and how it has become a way for us to cope with our rapidly changing lives. Then, we interview families about how one particular kind of time, 'the time of grieving,' has been changed radically by advances in medicine. Finally, we hear the story of how two people decided to make the time of their own personal lives synchronize with major historical events. Host: Micah Cratty Producer: Micah Cratty Featured: Aaron Zarraga, Hanna Michelsen, Rachel Dowling, Daniel MacDougall, Tom Wiltzius, Nadja Blagojevic, Kirstin Ganz, Sam Tanzer, Amy Freedman, Chris Noxon, the Dowling family, the Vantrain family Music: Chris Ayer, Brad Wolfe and Dave Chisolm Featuring: Rachel Dowling, Daniel MacDougall, and Tom Wiltzius More info at:http://web.stanford.edu/group/storytelling/cgi-bin/joomla/index.php/shows/season-1/121-episode-112.html

We usually think of mind control as part of the realm of fantasy, with witches and alien species as its perpetrators. But actually, mind control is all around us, in almost every area of our lives, and the consequences of ignoring its power range from failed pick-up-lines to genocide. In this episode, you'll hear stories of Stanford students who tried to out the calculated techniques of a famous pick-up artist at a campus party, poet Elizabeth Bradfield discuss how being a tour guide in Alaska involves mind control, and some of her and Emily Dickinson’s exquisite poetry. You'll also hear about mind control taken to its most extreme, from controlling the minds of whole cultures through fairy tales, to controlling only your own mind through lucid dreaming. Host: Rachel Hamburg Producers: Elizabeth Bradfield and Noah Burbank Featuring: Joshua Landy, Lanier Anderson, Fred Burbank, James Fearon, James Sheehan, William Dement, Christopher Collette, Ellora Karmarkar, Amber Davis and Lea Yelverton &#

Where does the physical end and the metaphysical begin? This week's show is about scientists who use traditional methods to investigate untraditional questions. We start in Special Collections of the Stanford Libraries, with a brief history of para-psychology and spiritualism at Stanford, and continue with the story of three contemporary researchers who study psychic phenomena. Today's one-hour journey reveals some of the social aspects that come into play in the pursuit of scientific knowledge. Host: Bonnie Swift Producer: Bonnie Swift Featured: Margaret Kimball, Robert Jahn, Brenda Dunne, Helen Longino and Dean Radin Music: Noah Burbank, Ambika, Jimi Hendrix, Thelonius Monk, and Frank Zappa and the Mothers Featuring: Margaret Kimball More info at:http://web.stanford.edu/group/storytelling/cgi-bin/joomla/index.php/shows/season-1/157-episode-114.html

What's at stake when we try to tell another person's story? We explore this question in two parts. First, a class at Stanford works to tell a real woman's tragic life story in graphic novel form, discovering huge challenges collaborating as a group and getting the story right. Second, Emily Prince takes on the overwhelming and somber task of drawing a portrait of every American soldier who has died in Iraq and Afghanistan. Host: Micah Cratty Producers: Dan Hirsch, Hannah Krakauer Featured: Emily Prince, Tom Kealey, Adam Johnson, Eric Pape, The Stanford Graphic Novel Project Music: Dengue Fever, Cambodian Cassette Tapes vol.1, Brother URLs: Emily Prince, Shake Girl Producers: Dan Hirsch, Lee Konstantinou Featuring: Tom Kealey, Adam Johnson, The Stanford Graphic Novel Class. URL: Shake Girl More info at:http://web.stanford.edu/group/storytelling/cgi-bin/joomla/index.php/shows/season-1/147-episode-115.html

The theme of this week's show is self-preservation -- that is, the preserving of whatever it is that makes you you, be it letters, journal entries, or a digital measurement of your heart rate and blood sugar for every hour of the day. We bring you stories of cybernetic "lifeloggers," a crafty, image-tweaking Founding Father, and the most astoundingly comprehensive diary ever to find its way into Stanford's Special Collections. We also have poems from one of Stanford's poets in residence, Kirsten Andersen. Host: Charlie MintzProducer: Charlie Mintz Featured: Kirsten Anderson, Liz Bradfield, Hsiao-Yun Chu, and Judith Richardson Music: Boomsnake, Howard Hello, George Pritzker There are scrapbooks, and then there is the legendary Buckminster Fuller's Dymaxion Chronofile. Fuller was a designer, futurist, speaker, and prolific life-logger. Stanford has his diary, if that word even applies to the massive collection of documents, notes, letters, and much more. Host Charlie Mintz interviews

What is it about live performance that makes it so appealing, terrifying, and wonderful? What drives people to stand up in front of an audience, to perform without a safety net and put themselves on the line? In today's data-driven world, where everything can be recorded, stored, and recalled at any time, what role does live performance play? This episode begins with the harrowing experience of our host subjecting himself to the most extreme form of live performance of all: stand-up comedy. We continue with a story from playwright Amy Freed and Stanford professor of drama Kay Kostopoulos. And finally, we follow a production of the Stanford Spoken Word Collective, and get a peek at what goes on behind the curtain. Host: Micah Cratty Producers: Daniel MacDougall, Micah Cratty Featured: Amy Freed, Kay Kostopilous Music: Noah Burbank, Dave Chisholm, Greg Sell, Chris Babson, Zach Katagiri, and Kissing Johnny Producer: Daniel MacDougall Featuring: Amy Freed and Kay Kostopilous More info at:

This week, we have three stories about the life-changing, transformative power of sound. First, we look at brain activity during moments of silence in music. Then, a student investigates the healing powers of traditional Cambodian chants. Finally, a class of Stanford students led by John-Carlos Perea find a new community while learning the art of the powwow drum. Host: Hannah Krakauer Producers: Angela Castellanos, Bonnie Swift, Hannah Krakauer Featured: Trent Walker, Vinod Menon, Daniel Levitin, Jonathan Berger, Chris Chafe, Gabe Turow, Pat Moffitt Cook, Sherwood Chen, John Carlos-Perea, Michaela Raikes, Ben Burdick, Luke Taylor, Jidenna Mobbison Music: Chloe Krakauer Producers: Bonnie Swift and Hannah Krakauer Featuring: John-Carlos Perea, Michaela Raikes, Ben Burdick, Luke Taylor and Jidenna Mobbison More info at:http://web.stanford.edu/group/storytelling/cgi-bin/joomla/index.php/shows/season-1/125-episode-118.html

Hidden structures and forms constantly influence the way we think, from social norms to rules of grammar. This week we give you four stories that illuminate the forms that underpin our lives. First, you’ll learn about a successful cosmetic surgery industry in modern day Korea. Second, a software predicts hit songs before they're hits, based on a formula (note: this piece also aired on our "Prediction" show). Third, Iambic Pentameter makes itself known in the modern world. And finally, An artist incorporates naturally occurring patterns into her audio art. Host: Bonnie Swift Producers: Bonnie Swift, Hannah Krakauer and Noah Burbank Featured: Olivia Puerta, Nellie Olsen, Olivia Prevost, Noah Burbank, Sarah Rizk, Sam Alemayehu, Jill McDonough and Jen Carlile Music: Palaviccini, Talisman, The Yeltsin Collective Producers: Lee Konstantiou Featuring: Jill McDonough A new software predicts the next big music sensation, and some local talent is put to through the software to see how they measur

In Egypt, in Iran, and in Tunisia, we've heard a lot about the so-called Twitter and Facebook revolutions. But what about the radio revolution? Working from archives in New Delhi and London, Neel Thakkar resurrects the forgotten story of the Congress Radio -- the secret, underground radio station which, during the Quit India movement of 1942, helped keep the Indian nationalist movement alive during some of its darkest days. This project was funded by a Braden Grant from Stanford Storytelling Project. More info on the Braden Grant here: http://web.stanford.edu/group/storytelling/cgi-bin/joomla/index.php/grants.html Producer: Neel Thakkar Featuring: Usha Mehta, C.K. Narayanswami, K.A. Abbas, Anant Kanekar, and J.N. Sahini Special thanks: Kevin Greenbank at the Cambridge Centre for South Asia, and Kamlesh and Naina Ramani Image via wikimedia

Some 76 million years ago an asteroid smashed into our planet, killing the dinosaurs and three-quarters of the Earth’s plants and animals. Once again our planet is facing a wave of extinctions, this one of man's making, and more than ever we need to know what it takes for a species to survive a cataclysm. Laura Cussen traces the improbable story of an ancient, venomous mammal of the Caribbean, and of the local people who have unearthed its secret to survival. This project was made possible by a Braden Grant from the Stanford Storytelling Project. More info about the Braden Grant: http://web.stanford.edu/group/storytelling/cgi-bin/joomla/index.php/grants.html Producer: Laura Cussen Featuring: César Abril, Nicolás Corona, Pedro Martínez, and Alexis Mychajliw Special thanks: The Last Survivors, Natacha Ruck, Will Rogers, Graham Roth, Weston Gaylord, Professor Elizabeth Hadly, to all the people who have made this project possible, and to the Hispaniolan solenodon. Music: Sunsearcher, Chris Zabriskie, Nicolás

In 1999, France created the French equivalent of a civil union. The PACS--an acronym for "pacte civile de solidarité"-- was intended as an alternative to marriage for gay couples, but it was open to straight couples as well. And it was used by them--perhaps paradoxically, 94% of PACS couples are straight. With the legalization of gay marriage in May 2013, gay couples who want legal protection are no longer relegated to the PACS. What does the PACS mean to the people who get it, and how is it different from marriage? How can love and commitment be expressed, and how is this changing in modern French society? Savannah Kopp interviews PACS couples in Paris about their love stories and their PACS stories. This piece explores how a culturally specific label for a relationship comes to have meaning and how, as the cliché goes, maybe the French can teach us about love. This story was supported by a Braden Grant from the Stanford Storytelling Project. Click here to learn more about the Braden Grant: http://web.sta

Birth is celebrated as one of the most profound and joyous moments in life. Yet in the nation of Uganda, delivering a child is an undertaking steeped in danger. The African country faces one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the world. Why are so many Ugandan women dying in childbirth? In this piece, Charlotte Sagan explores the issues surrounding maternal health in the Southeastern district of Iganga. Conversations with Ugandan mothers, fathers and health care practitioners reveal intimate narratives of health, perseverance and family. The delivery story of a young woman named Miriam, in particular, illustrates the perils and joys of childbirth. This project was supported by a Braden Grant from Stanford Storytelling Project. For more information about the Braden Grant for the Study of Oral Narrative, go here: http://web.stanford.edu/group/storytelling/cgi-bin/joomla/index.php/grants.html Producer: Charlotte Sagan Featuring: Nabalumba Miriam, Joshua Moangze, Dr. Charles Waiswa, Kaina Rita, Nampina