All The Best

This week’s episode asks us to pause. To pay attention to the world around us and to think of the power that nature has to heal damaged and abandoned spaces.  

Would they survive without humans?

The first story is about resilience. Not human resilience, but about the persistence of trees growing in places that you might not expect.  Raihanah takes us on a journey to toxic places reclaimed by trees.  

Produced by Raihanah Raihanah as part of a collaboration between All the Best, the University of Melbourne and the Science Gallery. 

Supervising Producer Persephone Waxman. 

The Forest and the Trees 

Have you heard of Shirin-Yoku?  Ruth, who volunteers in palliative care, by helping people record their stories,  learns about the therapeutic benefits of listening to trees from a certified forest therapy guide,  Mayu Kataoka. 

Produced by Ruth Melville,

Supervising Producer Sarah Mashman. 

Between nature and the sound of the guqin 

So far, we’ve heard about the resilience of trees and the way nature teaches us to live fully in the moment. In our final story, Jiaen Pan teaches us about Guquin

Produced by Jiaen Pan, another collaboration between All the Best, the University of Melbourne and the Science Gallery. 

Supervising Producer Thomas Phillips 

All The Best Credits

Host Kwame Slusher

Executive Producer: Melanie Bakewell

Programs and Community Coordinator: Phoebe Adler-Ryan

Community Coordinator: Patrick McKenzie

Artwork: Ruijie Tang

Mixed and Compiled by Emma Higgins

Theme Music composed by Shining Bird 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Our stories this week look at this dissonance between thinking of COVID-19 in the past tense, while also knowing that it is still a very real threat to many vulnerable people in our community.  Just becasue it isn't in the news isn’t giving us a count of Covid infections anymore doesn’t mean that it's gone away.  

Hug

In our first story, Cristina talks about the desire and the danger of touch with the lingering threat of COVID-19

Produced by Cristina Marras for Audio Playground.

All We’ve Got

In our second story, Laura looks at how COVID-19 is still impacting many people today, even though the world seems to have forgotten about it.

Produced by Laura Pettenuzzo 

Supervising Producer Persephone Waxman

Horror Story: Dawn of the Covid 

In the final story, David channels his inner George Romero and digs deep into the classic horror genre to tackle the real-life terrors of COVID-19 and his own MS diagnosis.  

Written and Performed by David Maney 

Produced and Composed by Ben Keene. 

All The Best Credits

Host Kwame Slusher

Executive Producer: Melanie Bakewell

Programs and Community Coordinator: Phoebe Adler-Ryan

Community Coordinator: Patrick McKenzie

Artwork: Ray Vo

Theme Music composed by Shining Bird 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, we get outside and get our hands dirty as we take a closer look at the world around us, whether that involves rethinking the uses of the land or trying to protect it. This week's stories don't just call on us to pay attention to the environment around us.  It's also a cautionary tale of what can happen when we don't.  

 The Weedy One 

Are weeds just misunderstood? Society has been conditioned to think about what's good and bad in our gardens. But the what of those surprise guests in our flowerbeds is useful.  

In our first story, Diego encourages us to strip away our preconceptions and look at weeds differently.

Produced by Catarina Fraga Matos. 

The conservation and community of Merri Creek
 In our second story, we head to Melbourne’s northern suburbs. Maxine Forde follows the Friends of the Merry Creek, who worked hard to rehabilitate spaces around the waterway.

Produced by Maxine Ford

Supervising Producer Persephone Waxman

Special thanks to Dan Semo and Louisa Lim. 

Martha 

Our final story was a recording of a live performance at a Read to Me event in March this year.  It is an elegy to the last passenger pigeon, Martha,  who died in the United States in 1914.  You can find out more about Read to Me here.  

Performed by Zoe Sadokierski

Recorded by Zacha Rosen

All The Best Credits

Host Kwame Slusher

Executive Producer: Phoebe Adler-Ryan

Editorial Producer: Melanie Bakewell

Community Coordinator: Patrick McKenzie

Artwork: Ray Vo

Theme Music composed by Shining Bird 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this week’s episode, we continue with stories from the students at the University of Melbourne and explore the idea of having a sustainability mindset – not just when it comes to the environment around us,  but also when it comes to activities that bring communities together or online platforms that try to divide us. 

What if nothing matters?

With all the crises happening, many young people feel helpless and become nihilistic, thinking life as meaningless. Sometimes, I have a similar feeling. Am I nihilistic, or as many people said, pessimistic?

Through chatting with the author of The Romanticism of Contemporary Theory: Institution, Aesthetics, Nihilism, Associate Professor Justin Clemens, and my Gen Z friends, we discuss what nihilism could be for young people, and our way pursuing the “meaning of life”.

Produced by Tin Yan Wong

Supervising Producer Thomas Phillips 

Sharing the city with possums

As cities continue to expand, more native wildlife have to adapt to urban life. The possum is one of the most familiar urban wildlife species in Australia. In this story, reporter Peiyao Xu has “a conversation with a possum” to explore residents' views on possums, and an interview with Dr Kylie Soanes to understand the living situations of urban possums and explore the future of people and urban wildlife as “neighbours”.

Produced by Peiyao Xu

Supervisign Producer  Persephone Waxman 

Gender Online Debate

Young men and women are getting increasingly socially and politically engaged online – but seemingly in opposing ways. Ava Morrison investigates, by speaking to a digital communications expert and a feminist TikToker, about incels, feminism, and online hostility.

Produced by Ava Morrison

Supervising Producer Thomas Phillips

Beyond the Needle

The tattoo industry in Melbourne is facing a complex challenge. While the city remains a hub for ink culture, artists are grappling with a growing demand for sustainability in a sector dominated by single-use plastics and strict health regulations. As artists innovate and clients become more conscious of their environmental impact, the industry is at a crossroads. Can tattooing evolve without compromising safety? Preeshita Shah reports.

Produced by Preeshita Shah

Supervising Producer  Thomas Phillips

Forest Food Gardens

According to the Foodbank Australia Report, 3.5 million households are experiencing food insecurity. While climate change and social disconnection deepen the crisis, Melbourne Skyfarm transforms a rooftop car park into an urban farm to grow food and build community. So far, it has produced 3.4 tonnes of food worth $118,000, directly to food relief charity OzHarvest.
Our reporter Cheuk Lam Li spoke to project leader Zarah Copeland and urban farmer Dario Rivero on how Melbourne Skyfarm is bringing changes in these challenging times and why it matters.

Produced by Cheuk Lam Li 

Supervising Producer Thomas Phillips

All The Best Credits

Host Kwame Slusher

Executive Producer: Phoebe Adler-Ryan

Editorial Producer: Melanie Bakewell

Community Coordinator: Patrick McKenzie

Artwork: Ray Vo

Mixed and Compiled by Ramon Briant 

Theme Music composed by Shining Bird 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, we’re hearing about climate crises and what we can do about them, from students at the University of Melbourne.  

All of them challenge us to rethink our relationship to the land, plants and animals around us. It also asks us to consider the impact that the changing climate is having on our health.   

Water Is More Than a Resource 

Dr Clint Hansen is fighting to protect the cultural and ecological values of water in sites affected by coal seam gas mining in Central Queensland. Clint asks us to reflect on the conflict between ownership and stewardship when thinking about one of our most precious resources: water.

Produced by Ruby Perryman

Supervising Producer Thomas Phillips

Original Music by Sammy Perryman

Helmeted Honeyeaters

Qian Dong takes us on a journey to save the species that emits a sound between a song and a chirp.  

Produced by Qian Dong

Supervisign Producer  Persephone Waxman 

Harvesting Harmony 

David wants us to rethink farming’s relationship with nature and farm in a way that improves biodiversity.   

Produced by Xianghan Meng

Supervising Producer Thomas Phillips.

Asthma and the Impacts of Climate Change

Have you thought about the impact of climate change and health? In our next story, Daniel looks at the impact of the changing climate and asthma.  

Produced by Daniel Gawne

Supervising Producer  Persephone Waxman

Bug Appetit

Would you let your pet eat bugs? In our final story,  we look at how we can feed our pets in an environmentally sustainable way …so … instead of meat, your little furbabies … it's insects. 

Produced by Kelli Li

Supervising Producer Persephone Waxman    

All The Best Credits

Host Kwame Slusher

Executive Producer: Phoebe Adler-Ryan

Editorial Producer: Melanie Bakewell

Community Coordinator: Patrick McKenzie

Artwork: Ray Vo

Mixed and Compiled by Ramon Briant 

Theme Music composed by Shining Bird 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, we are celebrating NAIDOC Week with an audio drama originally written as a short story by Marcus Woolombi Waters, titled 'No Going Home'.  

It's a story set in early colonial Australia that explores the disruption caused by invasion and family conflict.

Content Warning: This drama includes themes of mass murder and genocide. Please listen with care and always put yourself first.

No Going Home written by Marcus Wollombi Waters

Adapted by Blayne Welsh

Directed by Colin Kinchela and Martin Gallagher.

Produced  by Pariya Taherzedah

Originally Published by Spineless Wonders Audio. 

All The Best Credits

Host Kwame Slusher

Executive Producer: Phoebe Adler-Ryan

Editorial Producer: Melanie Bakewell

Community Coordinator: Patrick McKenzie

Artwork: Ray Vo

Mixed and Compiled by Ramon Briant

Theme Music composed by Shining Bird 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week's story is streaked with the glittering rainbow of magical realism. 

Atul Joshi queers the fabric of reality in Sydney on the 40th anniversary of Mardis Gras by opening portals and cruising paradise for another state of being.  

That story was written and performed by Atul Joshi, with sound design by Ramon Briant and production assistance by Phoebe Adler-Ryan. 

All The Best Credits

Host Kwame Slusher

Executive Producer: Phoebe Adler-Ryan

Editorial Producer: Melanie Bakewell

Community Coordinator: Patrick McKenzie

Artwork: Ray Vo

Mixed and Compiled by Ramon Briant

Theme Music composed by Shining Bird 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This week, we dive into the All the Best archives, we march alongside the largest lesbian football club in the world,  learn about the not-so-secret lives of drag kings, and … and hear  about the challenges of living with … fake gay clout?

Secrets and Confessions 

In our first story Jared challenges our assumptions by confessing a shocking secret.

That story was written and performed by Jared Richards 

Bats and Balls 

In our next story, we learn  about the largest lesbian soccer team in the world.

That story was produced by Tegan Nicholls in 2018.

Drag Kings 

Madhura Prakash looks behind the curtain at the lives of drag kings.  

This story was produced by Madhuraa Prakash 

All The Best Credits

Host Kwame Slusher

Executive Producer: Phoebe Adler-Ryan

Editorial Producer: Melanie Bakewell

Community Coordinator: Patrick McKenzie

Artwork: Ray Vo

Mixed and Compiled by Ramon Briant

Theme Music composed by Shining Bird 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We continue our celebration of June as Pride month with more live performances from Maeve Marsden's Queerstories.  

This week’s continued celebration of queer stories is about finding love … or realising that you just want to be loved … whether that’s through a niche television show and a whale obsession or being the only trans woman at a straight sex party in Coolangatta. 

Straight People At The Sex Party

Sean tells us about wanting to truly be seen and to be more than just a stepping stone for someone else to discover their queerness.

Written and Performed by Sean Dowling 

Psychics, Ocean Girl and Falling in Love 

Chloe lets us know that finding love can be as momentous as spotting a humpback whale from the beach. 

Written and Performed by Chloe Mills 

All The Best Credits

Host Kwame Slusher

Executive Producer: Phoebe Adler-Ryan

Editorial Producer: Melanie Bakewell

Community Coordinator: Patrick McKenzie

Artwork: Ray Vo

Mixed and Compiled by Emma Higgins

Theme Music composed by Shining Bird 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

It's June! Which means that for Pride Month we are celebrating queer stories and queer storymakers!

In this episode, we tackle the gender binary and explore gender identity.  

One of da boiiz 

How far did you go to fit in when you were in high school? Nico takes us all back to those awkward moments of high school when we might have faked it just to fit in.  

And he asks, "How far would you go to sit with the boiz?"

And a warning, there are swear words in this story.

Produced by Nico Bruni

Originally produced for Maeve Marsden's Queerstories in collaboration with Western Sydney University.   

Danny's Story

Danny takes us on a journey of gender exploration with the joys and heartbreaks of becoming more of who they are meant to be.  

Produced by Duncan Stephen 

Sound Design by Persephone Waxman 

All The Best Credits

Host Kwame Slusher

Executive Producer: Phoebe Adler-Ryan

Editorial Producer: Melanie Bakewell

Community Coordinator: Patrick McKenzie

Artwork: Lindsey Vassallo

Mixed and Compiled by Emma Higgins

Theme Music composed by Shining Bird 

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.