Soundings

Dead animals, opera music, and cute cats. Welcome to Animal Control.

On February 13, 2019 the famed rover Opportunity, which explored the Martian surface for 14 years, was declared dead. But what does it mean for Opportunity to have died? There’s something in its name that induces both grief and inspiration. In fact, there something similar that happens with all names.

A day at the firehouse, finding where the action is.

100 billion servings of instant noodles are sold every year. What does their journey across the world tell us?

If a river could talk, who’s story would it tell? Running 51 miles through one of the most urbanized landscapes in the world, the Los Angeles River is overflowing with a rich history, a complex present, and a contested future. Travel down its concrete banks with producer Cameron Tenner, as he uncovers a story of power, exploitation, and resilience. Special thanks to Catherine Gudis, Robert García...

I would have been born here, had my parents never left this town for the U.S. In my journey, I retrace my steps back to Malinaltenango, Mexico, the land my parents have always called home and a land I have never really known on my own. During my time here, I struggle with ideas of identity, belonging, family, and trauma. I re-open wounds that have long been sealed to make sense of my life in relat...

Description: In Hue, Vietnam, bullet holes and bunkers are constant reminders of the stories no one mentions. In New York, a daughter tries to understand how the war in Vietnam has shaped her father’s life and hers. In both worlds, however, “History is politics” and silence is the rule. But what happens when we start asking about memory, not History? Producer: Axelle Marcantetti

Besher grew up in Syria till the war forced him, and his family, to flee. This non-narrated portrait follows his journey from Aleppo to California and finally to Stanford Medical School. Produced as part of MED 232 Global Health course (2018) Producer: Besher Ashouri (and Jake warga) Photo: www.flickr.com/photos/seier/1477997213

Hurricane Maria revealed a dependency on the government but there was one community that used it as an opportunity to claim their independence. “There was no government here. And we couldn't wait for the government. We couldn't wait for anyone.” In this story I visit of the community of Mariana that has tried to separate themselves from the government. Producer: Gabriela Nagle Alverio Music: Puert...

What does a war taste like? Tracing the history of U.S. military combat ration in Korea, the podcast tells the Koreans’ bittersweet encounters with America. Producer: Won-Gi Jung Music: “Submerging Blue-Black” by Podington Bear, in Fathomless-Ambient “Memory Wind” by Podington Bear, in Fathomless-Ambient

Octavius Catto, a 19th century activist, stands in bronze as the first statue of a black man on Philadelphia public property. And he’s coming back to life in other ways--on a giant mural, and in the art and social justice scenes of the city. What would this statue of an activist from history say to the activists surrounding it now...why is he back, and what’s he trying to tell us? Produced in memo...

If sound matters, why? I am not alone in fearing blindness, because we live in a world of visuals. Whether I am reading a book, following street signs, or hopping on a train, I can’t imagine navigating a world without my eyes. I tune out the cacophony of cars, squeaks, barks, and pedestrian crossings on a daily basis. In privileging sight, what am I missing in sound? “When you close your eyes you...

You’re six years old. Child protective services removed you from the only life you’ve ever known and placed you in state custody, into the foster care system. Producer: ​​Rachel Vaughan Music:​​ Junior85 - You can calmly put this thing together Lee Rosevere - And So Then Podington Bear - Daydreamer

Coursework from students in "Your American Life" Oralcomm 130 Winter18. Storytelling.stanford.edu

Coursework from students in "Your American Life" Oralcomm 130 Winter18. Storytelling.stanford.edu

Course work from students in "Your American Life" Oralcomm 130 Winter18. Storytelling.stanford.edu

Coursework from students in "Your American Life" Oralcomm 130 Winter18. Storytelling.stanford.edu

Coursework from students in "Your American Life" Oralcomm 130 Winter18. Storytelling.stanford.edu

Coursework from students in "Your American Life" Oralcomm 130 Winter18. Storytelling.stanford.edu

Claudia Heymach, Megan Calfas, Isaac Goldstein Individual stories here: https://soundcloud.com/stanfordsoundings/sets/braden-grant-stories-2017

Producer: Katie Lan Some people pray to gods, but other people pray to ghosts. In this story, Katie Lan explores the temples and folk religion in Taiwan, where her parents and the rest of her family is from. Here, she explores ghost temples and even learns to pray to a dog? Music: 晶晶 1969 鄧麗君 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zI0lHGnKtSI

Producer: Nya Hughes From the rhyming styles of breakbeat poets and Bronx backyard jams of the 1980s, hip-hop sprang forth from the heart of urban black culture to give voice to the silenced narratives of black communities. The rhythm of resistance. Uncontainable, the sound waves traveled much farther than the national border. In the 1990s, young Cubans living in the barrio of Alamar resonated wit...

How does one build a new home after losing all of one’s family? A son interviews his mother, a Cambodian refugee and genocide survivor, about her experience resettling in the U.S. He learns how her past has shaped his life. Producer: Bunnard Phan Featuring: Nickie Phan, Bunnard Phan, Music: Khnom Min Sok Chet Te by Pan Ron Chnam oun Dop-Pram Muy by Ros Sereysothea Orchestral version of “Unchained...

Explore the ties between language and identity in South Africa with two women who see Afrikaans as the language of reconciliation. Two women in South Africa are currently challenging the assumption that Afrikaans is solely the language of the oppressor. One is a poet. The other runs a community radio station. Through a retelling of the true history of the language and the people who created the la...

In Abra, a province of the northern Philippines, members of several indigenous communities - collectively called the Tinggian - are fighting to protect their histories. Listen to the stories of an elder charged with upholding a centuries-old peace pact; a pastor whose ancestors fought as revolutionaries; a mayor who evaded assassination to build a school in his hometown; and a weaver who’s made it...