Our Story: Student Worker Esther Rea, Finding Hope Amidst Trial

It’s been five years since the last stadium tour that Taylor Swift traveled around the US. Now, after a pandemic, 4 album releases and legal battles with TicketMaster, the Swifties are celebrating Taylor Swift with her first 3-day leg of the tour from Friday, March 31 to Sunday, April 2.  With so many Taylor Swift fans unable to attend the concert because of TicketMaster site failure/ SeatGeek lobby issues or the expensive prices of resale/scalpers, I felt if I could capture the feelings of those fans and their emotions of that night that could tell its own story. I loved hearing individual’s stories on how they came to Era-lington (Arlington with Eras Tour), the treks from Swift’s latest album ‘Midnights’ release to tour announcements to battling with ticket purchasing to outfit planning to travel arrangements to arrival and most importantly concert begin time.

Taylor Swift's Eras Tour Comes to Arlington Texas

Have you ever felt like your cell phone is controlling your life, or that of someone you know? I’m sure you’ve asked yourself, “Why is it so addictive?” and then just scrolled once again. In this episode, dive into the new yet familiar world of TikTok as three Stanford students uncover the dangers of data collection, addiction, and algorithmic manipulation, shedding light on the impact of social media on privacy and mental well-being.

Data Diaries: Unpacking the TikTok Algorithm and Data Practices

Sometimes you have to climb mountains to go on an adventure, other times the adventure is hidden right in front of you. Join us as we uncover a campus mystery in real time, one where the writing was on the walls the whole time. Are all of Stanford’s stories set in-stone?

Deep the Plaque

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

In this episode, Nathan, Ana, and Nia explore the importance of sustainable food practices, and how alternative, truly healthy food practices are not necessarily the most commercially produced and advertised ones. The episode aims to broaden the horizon of viewing food practices in a context beyond just your own plate.

This episode was produced by Nathan Elias, Ana Nguyen, and Nia Patton, with support from Laura Joyce Davis and the Stanford Storytelling Project's course "Stories to Save Our Planet."

Complete show notes at storytelling.stanford.edu.

World On Your Plate

Stories to Save the Planet is a podcast about the stories behind climate change solutions. 

The United Nations have called climate change the challenge of our generation. A growing body of environmental storytelling is bringing clarity to complicated climate conversations by casting a vision for a better future, and providing compelling, actionable climate change solutions.

All work is produced by Stanford students, who learn the entire process of narrative podcast production in just 10 weeks, research a climate change challenge and solution of their choice, and work together to create a narrative episode. The class it taught by Laura Joyce Davis and the Stanford Storytelling Project.

Stories to Save Our Planet trailer

“Back to the Garden” tells the story of an organic farming couple, Jose and Rich, who are committed to sustaining the environment . . . and who don't believe in climate change. This episode explores how that dissonance might be possible, the power of language, and whether or not the term "climate change" will help save the planet.

Produced by Anna McNulty, Shameeka Wilson, and Laura Joyce Davis.

Reclaiming, Part 8: Back to the Garden

Destiny Cunningham learned shame early. The comments that teachers, church leaders, and other kids made about her body led her to wear clothes like armor, hiding herself from others so she wouldn't be noticed. Years later, Destiny and her friends decide to visit a nudist retreat in the hopes that she'll learn how to become naked without feeling exposed.

Nakedness, part 1: Exposure Therapy

Being naked–or seeing others naked–can evoke a firestorm of emotions . . . everything from freedom to vulnerability to sensuality to shame. In three stories pulled from the Storytelling Project archives (created in 2012) we explore the glory and grit of stripping down.

Nakedness, part 2: Stripping Down

Growing up with Indian immigrant parents in a Wyoming college town, Aru was used to the tension of what her parents expected her to be and the person she was actually becoming. In this story, recorded at First Person Story in April of 2024, Aru takes the risk of emotional nakedness with her mom–even though it may leave her feeling exposed. 

www.firstpersonstory.org
www.storytelling.Stanford.edu

Nakedness, part 3: Okay With the Gay

This episode covers how the world has been made aware of Duterte's bloody drug war. More people start to come forward to rat him out, and media outlets get censored. 

Disclaimer: Student work. This is a requirement for one of my classes during my stay at Humber Polytechnic. I do not own any music used for the production of this podcast.

Music Used.
Intro: "MoodyBeat" by Seth_Makes_Sounds (Freesound & Souncloud)
Outro: "Neo-Manila" by KOLATERAL (YouTube & Spotify)

SDFDWTD [ Ep.2 The Reckoning ]

This episode covers the arrest of former president Rodrigo Duterte as he returned from Hong Kong. Currently, he is beng held by the ICC at The Hague in the Netherlands awaiting trial for his crimes against humanity.

SDFDWTD [ Ep.3 The Arrest ]

This is the first episode of the short podcast "Breaking the Cycle". This is a show where we take a deeper look into the more toxic side of the gaming community. 

Why is gaming so toxic sometimes? Breaking the Cycle Episode 1

Superman's Decline is a podcast series about the late president of the Philippines, Rodrigo Roa Duterte who rose to power on the promise of eradicating crime and drugs in the Philippines. What followed was one of the most brutal anti-drug campaigns in modern history, leaving tens of thousands - dead, justice unserved, and a nation divided.

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

To hear all Soundings episodes, go to storytelling.stanford.edu orhttps://soundings.podbean.com/

Ozarks DynaCom: 5 Radio Stations in Branson Missouri and Harrison Arkansas.
Branson:  Legends 106.3 KRZK; My 100.1; Classic Hits 98.1 FM/AM1220
Harrison: 1029 The Z; The Original KHOZ 49.9FM/AM900

New tracks tagged #studentwork