In each State of the Human episode, we take a common human experience, like teaching or breathing or joking, and bring you stories that deepen our understanding of that experience. In this series, we look at the experience of 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.

Reclaiming What's Been Lost

down to earth 🌎 [ chillhop / lofi beats ]

Starting Point

Choose Your Own Path

さんさんドライブ

またね

When Anastasia Sotiropoulos joined the Stanford chapter of the Prison Renaissance Project, she got paired up with a man named Adamu Chan, who had been incarcerated at San Quentin prison for two decades. Their relationship began a few weeks before the pandemic, and the first time they talked San Quentin was the site of one of the largest COVID outbreaks in the nation. Over the next three years, Anastasia and Adamu exchanged dozens of letters, had weekly phone calls, and dreamed of creating a film together. Neither of them could have imagined where that friendship would lead them: not just to Adamu’s release from San Quentin, but his admission to Stanford as a CCSRE Mellon Arts Fellow. Today Adamu is an award-winning filmmaker and community organizer. Adamu and Anastasia have continued their friendship, and together created the 2024 podcast episode, Friends in Liminal Spaces, through the Stanford Storytelling Project’s Braden Storytelling Grant.

Reclaiming, part 6: Friends in Liminal Spaces

All we have is time

Filthy Fil - On A Different Level (Official Music Video)

To hear all State of the Human episodes, visit storytelling.stanford.edu/podcasts/ or stateofthehuman.podbean.com/