The Ampersand

Artists have often turned to old stories to make sense of new truths. On today's episode of The Ampersand, Hip Hop choreographer and artistic director Rennie Harris gives insight into that process. Known for works like Lazarus and Rome & Jewels—retellings that play with familiar stories to reveal new understanding—Harris was praised by the New York Times in 2025 as an artist who "has done more...

Institutions of higher education frequently work to understand its purpose and values. This process of shaping identities can often be seen in their buildings, where the choices of style and substance reflect what leaders hope to accomplish. This week on The Ampersand, Erika walks CU Boulder’s Quad to explore how our institution’s self-understanding shifted from its founding at Old Main to the Ivy...

We’ve read, listened and watched them on screens of all sizes. But what actually makes a myth or a fairy tale? Today’s guest, Ann Schmiesing, kicks off season five of The Ampersand by delving into mythmaking and the lessons we can glean from fairy tales. She is the best-selling author of The Grimm Brothers biography, which the New Yorker listed as one of its best books of 2025, a professor of Germ...

We love to explore the stories we tell about ourselves—paying special attention to the way they change over time, what that shift says about where we are and who we hope to become.  The Ampersand is back for season five! In a year when the University of Colorado Boulder turns 150, we're asking questions that anniversaries make possible: What stories have we told? Which ones still hold up? And what...

I read once that bravery required feeling tangible fear. A Shackleton-style blistering confidence that barrels into harsh landscapes is not, by definition, brave, because it refuses to acknowledge the contextual realities around one's experience. Today's guest, on the other hand, looks with clear eyes at challenging field experiences, the inherent risks of life and severe discomfort, and she goes...

A moment of honesty: This producer shies from conflict. Most often, when someone disagrees, I perceive it as intellectual arm-wrestling—the more clever person winning the day and their opponent (usually me) hunched in a walk of shame away from the table. Imagine our delight when we began to work with today's guest, Megan Stephenson, who not only sees conflict as a means of connection and a path to...

ANDers, today's episode is a doozy. Today, we sit with Ed Chuong, associate professor of molecular, cellular and developmental biology and researcher at CU Boulder’s BioFrontiers Institute. Ed discusses his research exploring unexpected conflict, even in the womb, and his more recent exploration of the long-overlooked transposons. He also shares his journey into biology—from a love of science-fict...

Okay ANDers, we need a moment to fawn. Today's guest, Nick Houy, is a Hollywood film editing badass with movie credits like Barbie, Little Women, Mid90s and Lady Bird. Full transparency, these are some of our team's faves, and we couldn't believe our luck when Nick agreed to come on our show. When we discovered he is not only brilliant but incredibly kind and thoughtful, we lost it ... quietly, bu...

Cleo Washington (DnceBFA'25) is a gifted dance performance artist who deftly performs pieces across styles—from ballet to house, Hip Hop to modern. Hers is a rare talent, but Cleo's journey to graduation from the University of Colorado Boulder was not a simple story of recognizing talent and shaping skill in an academic experience. On today's episode, Cleo discusses challenges she faced, the coura...

Can we trust what we see on social? In the case of today's guest, the answer is adamantly the affirmative. Sarah Looper is a gifted sommelier and wine educator who has worked in the food and wine world for over twenty-five years. She is also the beloved personality behind Loopersomm, an online presence that democratizes wine with content that rapidly switches between hysterical and informative. Th...

Erika and Producer Tim discuss Erika's debut novel, Music for Leaving, its origin story, what makes the story grand and how Erika and Tim navigate feeling like imposters, even with a gorgeous book in-hand. Buy Music for Leaving on IngramSpark , our preferred vendor. Music for Leaving is also available, often by request, from your favorite bookstore or online service. --- Original music composed by...

An encounter with the smallest material can spark nostalgia: the first bite of saltfish and home, the texture of satin and standing onstage, just the right weight of rain. While these unexpected free-falls into memory can be a lovely surprise, today's guest reaches intentionally into her imagination and shapes memories into gorgeous narratives of fiction and nonfiction. Marcia Douglas is an author...

So many highlight their winding roads to self-discovery, but we still seem in a rush to get to our end fast. But could a wide curiosity of all of our becoming (i.e., reflecting on how you AND) help you rediscover facets of our being that lived inside us all along? On today's episode, musical artist Monica LaBonte recounts a winding journey of discovering her love of music and performance, becoming...

In an era marked by impatience and shortened attention spans — Hang on ... I forgot where I was going with that. — Anyway, today's guest is Dan Carlin, whose podcast, Hardcore History, is one of our medium's gold standards for narrative storytelling. On today's episode, we dig into Dan's past, discover the music that defined his counter-cultural posture and learn how deep, detailed descriptions of...

ANDers, look at the horizon. Coming fast are an epic lineup of guests making up our fourth season of The Ampersand. Featuring Dan Carlin, Monica Labonte, Marcia Douglas, Sarah Looper, Cleo Washington, Nick Houy, Ed Chuong, Megan Stephenson and Joanna Lambert. Debuting on Radio 1190 AM Boulder, 92.9 FM Denver and coming soon to your favorite podcast platform. Tune in and discover the alchemy of AND...

What we love about ANDing is synthesizing our interests, personalities, cultures and experiences into a swirling, gorgeous human that is you. But does that variety implicitly encourage overdoing it? We've heard from many ANDing-curious listeners that they worry an emphasis on ANDing encourages busyness and maxing out the calendar with an ever-growing list of to-dos. So, does it? Erika and Producer...

If storytelling is an art, today's guest is a maestro. Jennifer Ho is a professor of ethnic studies and director of the Center for Humanities and the Arts at the University of Colorado Boulder. On today's episode, our finale for season three, Jennifer's ability to convey meaning through compelling narratives is on full display. She discusses growing up in California, navigating cultural difference...

Beyond a wild ride of an interview, Eric Small gifted us a new favorite word that describes his hydrological research on water, energy and carbon budgets of the Earth's surface—ground-truthing. On today's episode, Eric explosively (i.e., like a Muppet) walks us through the practice of matching on-the-ground maps with satellite data. Beyond the sheer hilarity of his and Erika's conversation, what m...

Empathy is trending again—we are reminded in venues as wide as SNL sketches and self-improvement podcasts that growing our capacities to step into another’s point of view and feel their perspective brings boons to our interpersonal, professional and emotional lives. The practical work of looking for opportunities to empathize often goes unsaid or appears trickier to realize. Today’s guest, though,...

Activists have expressed that the work of changing oppressive structures requires tirelessness and strength. When we consider how this looks lived out, striking photos and stories of campus protests, marches and sit-ins focused on a given issue come to mind, but how do communities come together to advocate for change? Today's guest, Eswari Duggarala (she, they), is the co-founder of Students Again...

After reading a poem out loud, we hope you've had the experience of inexplicably welling with emotion. Be it joy, grief, adoration for beauty or those emotions harder to describe, we've found these literary experiences can dramatically alter our points of view. But why? What in tightly written pieces of prose causes us to shiver with goosebumps, weep or smile ear-to-ear? Julie Carr is an award-win...

The Ampersand is bringing ANDing to the Big Apple! Join Erika and Producer Tim for an evening of networking and nostalgia at the first roadtrip version of Arts & Sciences CU After Work. We're busy in our ANDer's Workshop whittling experiences and games to complement our keynote discussion (with mystery guests) about the essence of ANDing. Save your spot ! Details: Oct. 22, 2024 6:00 – 8:30 p.m...

Nostalgia can be tricky business. Love of the past can lead to a slowing stasis of the people we are/were or our refusal to let relationships evolve. But remembering places and experiences can fill us with warmth or teach us to live into our respective nexts. Today's guest beautifully threads that balance. Francois Baptiste is co-founder of the company 3DEEP Productions, and he has built a success...

Today's guest owns that dance. Tin Tin Su is an intellectual force, whose research on tiny fruit flies led to fresh discoveries and innovative approaches to radiation therapy for those living with head and neck cancers. While she offers us a snippet of her work in the lab, Su spends today's episode discussing the childhood experiences in Burma and India that shaped her worldview, her interest in t...

Over our years, we've collected quite the stories of A&S students at the University of Colorado Boulder living out the alchemy of ANDing. Their experiences perpetually nudge what we suppose our students can experience—opportunities that reach for the boundaries of the profound and even the obscure. Our guest today, Ava Altenbern (art history, biochemistry '24), puts the unexpected on full disp...