Soundings

Iceland’s Concealed Conservationists is about the elf population in Iceland and how Icelanders’ tradition of hidden creatures living in the landscape encourages a deep respect for nature and a sense of responsibility to preserve the wilderness which is an essential part of Iceland’s culture and identity. But over the past few years the numbers of tourists travelling to Iceland has increased drastically as people from other countries seek these rare and dramatic locations and so Iceland’s untouched wilderness is at risk of losing its essential character. This story is about the landscape of Iceland and the magic and life that it holds, and Icelanders’ efforts to ensure that it is not lost.

Produced by: Michaela Elias

Featuring: Michaela Elias, Steinar Kaldal, Olof Yrr Atladottir, Oddur Sturluson, Ragga Jonsdottir, Terry Gunnel, Gudmundur Ögmundarson

Producer(s): Michaela Elias, storytelling.stanford.edu

Music: Two Stragers, Rachel Mason, Live at WFMU on Scoot Williams show

Song Four, Bridget St John—Live at WFMU’s Monty Hall

Calendula, Ava Zandieh, Patterns and Drones

Henfight, Itasca, Live at WFMU on The Avant Ghetto with Jeff Conklin

Open your eyes, Jarkko Hietanen

A body, a feeling, or an object—it’s possible to bury nearly anything. Sometimes, we bury because we want to forget. Other times, we want to remember. In this episode, we consider what it means to bury--and what happens when we fail.

"Burying" from State of the Human: https://soundcloud.com/stateofthehuman/sets/burying

After I retired I thought… what do I do next?” We all the know the rags to riches story of immigration and the American dream – but what happens next? The East and West have clashing views of what it means to age, and each person has to define for themselves what it means to grow old in a country that’s not their own. This piece tells the stories of immigrants learning to grow old in America, and how they have found their homes in each other during that process.

Produced by: Annabel Chen

Featuring: Tei Decus, Ann Jordan, Nori Kobayakawa, Jean Yih, Gwen Yeo, Ousha Pancholi, Kusam Patel

Music: Fragile, do not drop (Podington Bear, Tender); Gentle Chase (Podington Bear, Background), CSM (Podington Bear, Neoclassical), Triste (Podington Bear, Solo Instruments), Wilt (Podington Bear, Duets)

In the rural Himalayas healers called dhami have used local plants and mantras to treat the sick for thousands of years. However, westernized medicine is now coming into the area and rendering the traditional ways obsolete. The tension between between the two healing practices plays itself out in a surprising way.

Produced by: Christopher LeBoa

Class Project

Freshman Seminar History 50

Class Project

Freshman Seminar History 50

Part 1: Crime, Victim and Suspects

“It was a makeshift circle in the tent and someone suggested that we play spin the bottle…” What is it about a first kiss that makes it so interesting? Everyone has a story to tell even if it isn’t romantic or mint flavored. This week, the Stanford Storytelling Project asked you to tell us about your first kiss.

Featuring: Voices from Stanford University

Producers: Sienna White, Rachel Lam, Christy Hartman, Jake Warga, Claudia Heymach, Yue Li, Dustin Dienhart, Christine Chen, Eileen Williams, Alec Glassford, Hadley Reid, Kate Nelson, Jackson Roach, Tia Schwab, Max Pienkny, Claire Schoen, Andrea Lim, Rosie La Puma, Jack Alexander Herrera

Music: Pretty Build, Chrom, Lola, Whiplash Sting Swell, Podington Bear http://www.soundofpicture.com/download/

Image via flickr: https://www.flickr.com/photos/lynnfriedman/8859836877

“For women, then, poetry is not a luxury. It is a vital necessity of our existence. It forms the quality of the light within which we predicate our hopes and dreams toward survival and change, first made into language, then into idea, then into more tangible action. Poetry is the way we help give name to the nameless so it can be thought. The farthest horizons of our hopes and fears are cobbled by our poems, carved from the rock experiences of our daily lives.”- Audre Lorde

Featuring: Alfalfa Brown, Queens D. Light, Ericka Huggins, narrated by Natasha Mmonatau

Producer(s): Natasha Mmonatau and the Braden Storytelling Department (storytelling.stanford.edu)

A Neglected Story - Hatred in Yemen highlights the story of Shoshanna Shechter, a 30-year-old Jewish woman who escaped Yemen at age 14. She speaks of physical abuse, verbal abuse, rape, murder, and kidnapping against herself and all Jews in Yemen. More symbolically, she brings to light the reasoning as to why we never hear about this silent war against Jews occurring in Yemen – escapees fear that if they share their story, the Yemeni government will kill them. As a result, they flee the country, and never look back at their past again. This podcast aims to share this silent story, and to teach us that the anti-semitic war still exists today.

Narrated by Ariela Safira

Producer(s): Ariela Safira and the Braden Storytelling Department (storytelling.stanford.edu)

In an isolated fishing village in Papua New Guinea, a linguist sets out to write the first dictionary of the Ende language. Not long after she begins, she finds that one word was more difficult to translate: mokwang, Ende’s word for love, which also means survival.

In this story, we’ll hear how Ende women define what it means to love in Limol, Papua New Guinea.

Featuring: Grace Maher, Lois Sadua (translator), Musato Giwo (translator), Joshua Dobola, Robai Reend, Donai Kurupel, Manaleato Kolea, Jenny Dobola, Pingam Uziag, Loni Garaiyi, Sandra Dikai, Merol Kwe, Wagiba Geser

Writer: Kate L. Lindsey

Producers: Kate L. Lindsey, with help from Claire Schoen

Music: Women from Limol

Image caption: Kate Lindsey listening to Limol women

Image photographer: Grace Maher

Production date: April 16th, 2016