State of the Human

Reclaiming, story 3: Keep Stanford Wrestling

In the spring of 2020, Stanford University made the decision to cut 11 of their varsity teams due to financial issues and lack of success. This episode follows the men’s wrestling team and their coaches in the months following the decision to cut their team as they navigate the challenges of fighting for their spot back.

BONUS: Story Craft Conversation with Aru Nair on Journey Through Generations

As an added bonus to our Reclaiming series, we’re including conversations with the creators who made them to give you a behind-the-scenes look at the craft of audio storytelling.
In this episode, Alex Strong talks with Aru Nair, the creator of Journey Through Generations, the second story in our Reclaiming series.

Reclaiming, story 2: Journey Through Generations

In this episode, the 2nd in our Reclaiming What's Been Lost series, Aru Nair goes on a journey to India to understand how oral tradition preserves cultures. But when a surprise trip to her father's home town shows her a side if him she's never seen, she emerges with a new understanding of how the stories we tell shape the people we become.

Reclaiming, story 1: Home is Little Tokyo

Little Tokyo is a small neighborhood in Downtown Los Angeles. Since 1905, it has been home to generations of Japanese Americans. Today, gentrification is threatening to destroy everything these families have built. This episode tells the story of one community's struggle for survival and the ways in which historical development has both fractured and solidified its people. For some, home is a bed one sleeps in. For us, home is Little Tokyo.

Feeding (Full Episode)

Eating is one of life’s great pleasures, but what about the pleasures that come with sharing your food with others? In this episode, we’re looking at how the act of feeding can bring people together. We’ll hear the tale of an unlikely pet, a meditation on cannibalism, and a story about children on a rooftop garden in San Francisco.

Gathering (full episode)

What do we gain from gathering? In this episode, we’re thinking about how coming together can change us. We’ll hear about a citizen-led clean-up movement in India, a Bay Area artist who forms an unlikely friendship with a church in Colorado, and a student who experiences the power of connection at a living museum on Stanford campus.
Producers: Isabella Tilley, Tanvi Dutta Gupta, Regina Ta, Adesuwa Agbonile, Aparna Verma, Victoria Yuan, Patricia Wei, Hannah Scott, Jenny March
Featuring stories produced by Tanvi Dutta Gupta, Regina Ta, and Adesuwa Agbonile. The stories feature the work of the Experience Sankofa Project (Venus Morris, Mizan Alkebulan-Abakah, Sizwe Andrews-Abakah), the artwork of Stanford professor Enrique Chagoya, and the grassroots-organized Ugly Indian Movement in Bangalore, India. Also featured in these stories are the voices of Frank Omowale Satterwhite, Jeanette Smith-Laws, Dereca Blackmon, and Persis Drell.
“Le Songe d’Halcohii” - Sunhiilow - From There to Here
“Awakenings” - Ketsa
“Clouds at the Gap” - Blue Dot Sessions - Zander
“Throughput” - Blue Dot Sessions - Holyoke
“Louver” - Blue Dot Sessions - Holyoke
“Willow Belle” - Blue Dot Sessions - Little Rock
“Soothe” - Blue Dot Sessions - Bodytonic
“Songe d’Automne” - Latché Swing

Preserving (full episode)

This episode investigates the act of preserving, a decision made in the present, regarding the past, looking towards the future. What can we learn from what we choose to preserve? What does preserving reveal about our values?
Producers: Cat Fergesen, Karen Ge, Regina Kong, Liv Jenks, Andy Lee, Lola McAllister, Carolyn Stein, Allie Wollner, and Grace Zhang
Music:
Traveler by Alexander Nakarada
http://oroclick.com/Celtic-music/3_Traveler.php
Teals Descending Upon the Level Sand, Lo Ka Ping:
https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Lo_Ka_Ping/Lost_Sounds_of_the_Tao/lokapingtealsmp3
Mountain Breeze, Purple Planet
https://www.purple-planet.com/mountain-breeze

Learning Medicine (full episode)

We visit five places on campus where future doctors are learning how to practice medicine. We’re going to real classrooms: anatomy lab and wet lab, lecture halls, we visit a Stanford Free Clinic, bike across campus to the mausoleum, and head down the road to Webb Ranch. We’re asking: How are students learning to practice medicine, thoughtfully?
Producers: Victoria Yuan, Aparna Verma, JJ Kapur, Sarah Griffin, Esha Dhawan, Linda Liu, Christy Hartman, and Gaby Li

Materializing (full episode)

What ideas exist behind material objects? In this episode, we’re going to look at stuff—things we can see or hear or touch—to try to understand the intangible, like memory, history, and bias.
Producers: Adesuwa Agbonile, Jett Hayward, Yue Li, Jenny March, Isabella Tilley, Melina Walling, Val Gamao

Dying (full episode)

In this episode, we’re going to think about death. All things must come to an end, but that does not mean death is all ending. We ask -- what can death teach us about life?
Featuring special reflections on death at the beginning and end of the show by Lazarre and Simone Elias, aged 6 and 9.
Producers: Aparna Verma, Isabella Tilley, Will Shan, Lena Lee, Regina Kong, Alessandra Wollner
Show Music:
Téki (with Les Gauchers Orchestra), Lee Maddeford, Instrumentals
kate bush, johnny_ripper, epilogue.