Snap Judgment

We’re going back to college with Ronald Young Jr., where he couldn’t wait to explore a world beyond the watchful gaze of his churchgoing parents. He meets an amazing girl, but their story would not be a love story… because of their weight.

This story comes to us from Weight For It, a production of Oh It’s Big Ron Studios and is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX. This podcast series was a Tribeca Official Selection. It was also picked by the New York Times as one of the best podcasts of the year. Listen to Weight For It wherever you get your podcasts. Follow Ronald Young Jr. on Twitter, Threads, IG, and TikTok - @ohitsbigron

Episodes of Weight For It were produced and written by Ronald Young Jr., with editing from Sarah Dealey. The version you heard was edited for Snap by Regina Bediako.

Sound design and mixing from the Reverend John DeLore of Starlight Diner. Theme music from Jay Redd, with additional music from Mass Potential, the artist DT, and the mysterious Breakmaster Cylinder.

Special thanks to Caitlin Scanlan, Jessica Taylor Dickin, Myra Mejia, and Dr. Caitlin Gunn. Artwork by Heather Wilder.

Support Resources

If you need support for disordered eating or your body image; please check out the links below:

Crescent Counseling Center

Intuitive Growth Counseling

National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated disorders

Project Heal

Muti-service eating disorders association

National Alliance for Eating Disorders

Eating Recovery Center

What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Fat - Aubrey Gordon

Heavy - Kiese Laymon

Belly of the Beast - Da’ Shaun Harrison

The Body is Not an Apology - Sonya Renee Taylor

Season 15 - Episode 10

Armored trucks spew clouds of cash into the sky and the people who happen upon it are faced with an unexpected moral dilemma. And a kid from Harlem becomes the biggest heroin dealer in upstate New York. He soon learns what it will take for him to turn his back on a mountain of cash.

STORIES

Money Truck

Six people, six different times and places, but they all find themselves in the same predicament, asking the same question, should they stop or should they go?

This episode contains strong language, sensitive listeners please be advised.

BIG thanks to Tyler Estep, who first reported Philip Dean’s story for the Atlanta-Journal Constitution. Thanks also to Cole Richards and Randy Scott Carroll for recording assistance.

Thank you to everyone interviewed for this story: Troy Stokes, Philip Dean, Betsy Richards, Delrish Moss, Carol Steele, and the Lucky Guy.

Big love and thanks to Shannon Cason, who narrated this piece. Check out Shannon’s podcast ‘Homemade Stories’ to hear more from him.

Produced by Anna Sussman, John Fecile & Nancy López, original score by Renzo Gorrio, artwork by Teo Ducot

Whiteboy John and The Seven Saints

A kid from Harlem becomes the biggest heroin dealer in upstate New York. He soon learns what it will take for him to turn his back on a mountain of cash.

Abdul-Kenyatta has performed as a workshop facilitator and motivational speaker. He is a poet, storyteller, jazz and blues vocalist, and a novelist.

He was an actor with the San Francisco Neighborhood Arts Children’s Theater for five years, and a San Francisco State University, Black Studies Department Associate Professor, lecturing on African and African-American History and Literature.

His novel Five Thousand Urgently Pointless Distractions was published in 2000. He is the 2005 Berkeley Poetry Festival Slam Poetry Champion. He was a member of the Oakland 2004 National Slam Team and the 2006 San Francisco Slam Master, the 2007 Marin County Fair Slam Poetry Champion, and a member of the 2007 San Francisco National Slam Team. He appeared in the Jamie De Wolfe film “SMOKED”.

Produced by Anna Sussman, original score by Renzo Gorrio

Snap Classic – Season 15 – Episode 9

Two correctional officers pay a high price for exposing corruption and abuse by their fellow officers, in the most dangerous prison in California–New Folsom. This incredible episode is from On Our Watch, an investigative podcast series from our friends at KQED.

This story touches on intense topics including substance use, state violence, and self harm. Please take care while listening. If you need support, there are resources below.

On Our Watch is a story about broken promises and unwritten rules. It’s a story about who gets hurt when the system that promises to keep us safe is bent on protecting itself. Host Sukey Lewis and co-reporter Julie Small piece together an explosive narrative through interrogation tapes, 911 audio, prison phone calls, personal audio recordings, and hours of emotional interviews. It includes exclusive analysis of hundreds of previously secret documents—some only unsealed by lawsuits brought by KQED—and sheds light on misconduct and abuse within the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation.

Listen and follow now.

RESOURCES

If you are currently in crisis, you can dial 988 [U.S.] to reach the National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.

Season 15 - Episode 8

When a reporter’s love story hits a dead end, she turns to a Palestinian couple for answers. A pretty ugly Photoshop project explodes and a man comes out to his mother repeatedly.

STORIES

Photo Session

When a reporter’s love story hits a dead end, she turns to a Palestinian couple for answers.

Thank you Rayan, Samih, and Anna!

Two years after their engagement, Rayan and Samih got married and moved to a flat just outside the camp and they still work there as journalists. Our storyteller Anna and her boyfriend got engaged shortly after she moved to Iraq to be with him. Read these two stories and many more in Anna Lekas Miller’s book Love Across Borders.

Produced by John Fecile. Original score by Clay Xavier. Artwork by Teo Ducot. Translation by Naziha Baassiri. Voice acting by Snap producer John Fecile and his wife Sarah Fecile.

Make Me Beautiful

Esther asked 50 Photoshop artists to make her beautiful. Things got pretty ugly.

Thanks Esther for sharing this story!

Esther Honig’s photo project still gets re-published to this day. It’s appeared in books for English language learners. The University of Cambridge put it in a textbook chapter about beauty. Her photos have been printed and hung on the walls of the Museum of Tomorrow in Brazil and The National Science and Media Museum in the UK. Check out her TED talk about this project.

Esther is currently a producer at Storycorps, and has also produced two Snap episodes, “White Gold Fever” and “Map to the Disappeared.”

Produced by John Fecile. Original score by Dirk Schwartzhoff.s

When Are You Going To Get Married?

For Ben Nakamura, coming out gay to his parents was not exactly like ripping off a band-aid…

Produced by Liz Jones. Sound design by Renzo Gorrio.

Season 15 - Episode 7

From the heart of Waziristan, the legend of Genghis Khan is being rewritten... on the squash court. Maria Toorpakai Wazir was raised as a boy, and took on everyone and everything - neighborhood bullies, Peshawar weightlifters, and all the rules about who should be able to compete.

This story contains references to violence. Please take care while listening.

Thank you, Maria Toorpakai Wazir, for sharing your story with Snap.

In 2011, Maria moved to Toronto to train with Jonathon Power, a world champion in men's squash. Maria writes about this and so much more in her book: A Different Kind of Daughter: The Girl Who Hid from the Taliban in Plain Sight. She has also set up the Maria Toorpakai Foundation encouraging families to educate girls and allow them to play sports.

Produced by Zahra Noorbakhsh & Nancy López, original score by Dirk Schwarzhoff, artwork by Teo Ducot

Season 15 - Episode 6

A newlywed couple travels down a South American River into the thick of the Amazon jungle on a raft… alone. Their romantic adventure soon turns into the ultimate test for survival.

Thank you, Holly Fitzgerald, for sharing your story with us! Read more about Holly’s epic romance in her memoir, Ruthless River.

Produced by Nikka Singh, original score by Renzo Gorrio, artwork by Teo Ducot

Snap Classic - Season 15 - Episode 5

A small plastic boat bobs helpless in the Aegean Sea, overwhelmed and overloaded. A young father from Mogadishu must take the helm to save everyone on board -- but will he lose his family because of it? And a boy on a top-secret mission tries to win over the most elusive, electrifying student in his 7th-grade class.

STORIES

Hanad & Faysa

A small plastic boat bobs helpless in the Aegean Sea, overwhelmed and overloaded. A young father from Mogadishu must take the helm to save everyone on board -- but will he lose his family because of it?

Thank you, Hanad and Faysa, for sharing your story with us.

Reported by Niki Kitsantonis. Produced by John Fecile and Niki Kitsantonis. Original score by Lauryn Newson.

Hanad’s translation was read by Said Shaiye. Additional recording by Daphne Tolis. Additional translation by Abdi Mohamed.

Danger 9b

Richard Hatch is overseas on a top-secret mission… to win over Jill, the most elusive, electrifying student in his 7th-grade class. He isn’t suave or sophisticated, so he’s gonna need help from The Beatles, the Russians, and even the CIA to pull it off.

Thank you, Richard Hatch aka Danger 9b, for sharing your story with us!

Rick is back in the US and is putting the finishing touches on a kid-friendly memoir about his travels abroad.

Produced by Regina Bediako, original score by Dirk Schwarzhoff

Artwork by Teo Ducot

Season 15 - Episode 4

Hyphy, the legendary youth culture movement from the Bay. Uptempo music, oversized airbrushed T-shirts, stunna shades and candy painted cars doing donuts in intersections. It was an unbridled, livewire, communal celebration. The people fueled the music, and the music moved the people. But beneath it all? That’s where it gets real.

Plus, a big story from a little boxer.

STORIES

Hyphy Kids Got Trauma from KQED

This week on Snap, we have a special story to share from our friends at KQED’s Rightnowish podcast– it’s from host Pendarvis Harshaw’s series, Hyphy Kids Got Trauma.

In 2006, Pen was 18 going on 19, and he had a front row seat to one of the most notable times in Bay Area hip-hop history– a period often referred to as “the hyphy movement”.

It was an era of uptempo-bass-heavy music, oversized airbrushed white t-shirts, candy painted cars and stunna shades. There was exuberant dancing, extravagant slang, and goofy party antics. While there was a lot of partying and celebration, there was also a lot of pain. That year Oakland saw its second highest annual homicide total ever.

Pen experienced all the highs and lows back then, but feels like the full story of the culture didn’t get told, until now when he brings us into the real meaning of “hyphy.”

This story contains explicit language, mention of drug use, and violence. Sensitive listeners please be advised.

BIG thanks to KQED and the whole Rightnowish team who shared this incredible story with us! Listen to the Hyphy Kids Got Trauma four part series on Rightnowish - wherever you get your podcasts!

Hosted by Pendarvis Harshaw, produced by Maya Cueva, edited by Chris Hambrick, sound designed and mixed by Trackademics.

With support from Eric Arnold, Jen Chien, Holly Kernan, Victoria Mauleon, Marisol Medina-Cadena, Gabe Meline, Xorje Olivares, Delency Parham, Cesar Saldaña, Sayre Quevedo, Katie Sprenger, Nastia Voynovskaya, and Ryce Stoughtenborough.

The Little Boxer

It's the 1950s in San Francisco. After getting beat one time too many, little Gus Lee decides to fight back.

A big thanks to Gus Lee. This story comes from his novel, “China Boy,” based on his childhood. Lee is a courage-based leadership trainer and consultant. He’s now completing his eighth book, "Courage Is a Verb."

Produced by Liz Mak, original score by Renzo Gorrio

Engineering by Pat Mesiti-Miller, illustration by Teo Ducot

Season 15 - Episode 3

A rock band from Zimbabwe becomes the voice of a revolution. And a New York Rabbi has his faith tested when he takes a job helping a member of the KKK.

STORIES

Fault Lines

Glynn goes on a date...and things get shaky.

Sound design by Pat Mesiti-Miller

Zim Heavy: Rock and Revolution in Zimbabwe

Before there was Zimbabwe, there was the “Heavy” scene. In the 1970’s, Rock music rang out from the black townships in Rhodesia. One band, Wells Fargo, became the voice of the people. Founding members Ebba Chitambo and Never Mpofu tell their story of music and revolution in the face of an oppressive government.

Listen to Wells Fargo’s release "Watch Out!" Learn more about the work Matthew Shechmeister and Eothen “Egon” Alapatt are doing to document the Heavy scene at Now-Again Records.

Produced by Pat Mesiti-Miller

Correspondent: Albert Nyathi

Featuring Music by Wells Fargo courtesy of Now-Again Records

Rabbi And The KKK

A New York Rabbi has his faith tested when he takes a job in Nebraska.

Produced by Anna Sussman, original music by Leon Morimoto

Artwork by Teo Ducot

Season 15 - Episode 2 - Snap Classic

A charming father wins just about everyone over until his criminal ways force his family on a ten-year journey running from the law.  A secret artist becomes an art world sensation but unearths a family scandal. And a bank manager who loves to gamble gets into trouble.

Sometimes the con job hits close to home.

STORIES

Con Man Daddy

You’re young, fun, and on the run from the law. One kid’s journey across the Deep South leads to a big confrontation with the man who inspired it all… Con Man Daddy.

BIG thanks to Jason Russel Waller as well as his brothers, Randy and Kel, for sharing your story with Snap!

Produced by Bo Walsh, original score by Renzo Gorrio, artwork by Teo Ducot

The Art Of The Con

What if the real story is even better than the fake story they made up? A secret artist, an art world sensation, a family scandal.

Thanks, Ron, for sharing your story with us!

Produced by Andrew Stelzer with support from Anna Sussman

Insidious by Shannon Cason LIVE

And a bank manager who loves to gamble gets into trouble.

This story was told live by Shannon Cason at Snap LIVE in Los Angeles. Original music by Alex Mandel and Tim Frick.

Snap Classic - Season 15 - Episode 1