Soundings

Have you ever wondered how seemingly ordinary people are able to accomplish extraordinary feats? In this episode of Soul Searching, we explore this question and attempt to find the common threads between rowing across the Atlantic ocean, founding a start-up venture, and raising thousands of dollars for charity. Listen now to hear three amazing stories from some incredibly accomplished Stanford students, learn about their motivations, and difficulties, and glean transformational takeaways from their experiences.

Sometimes you have to climb mountains to go on an adventure, other times the adventure is hidden right in front of you. Join us as we uncover a campus mystery in real time, one where the writing was on the walls the whole time. Are all of Stanford’s stories set in-stone?

When’s the last time you spent an entire day without looking at your to-do list? Chances are —never. If so, you’ve come to the right place. Come take a break from your productive routine and join us as we uncover the layers of productivity, one checkbox at a time. Hold onto your Google calendars, because after this episode, you might just want to throw that to-do list away and join us as we lie in the wood chips!

Each year, the Stanford Storytelling Project awards Braden Grants to support the research, writing, and production of audio documentaries. The aim of the program is to help students learn how to tell powerful, research-driven stories based on testimony they gather through interviews, research, or oral history archives. Grantees receive up to $2,500, along with teaching, training, and mentorship for the duration of the project.

Here's what the 2023 Grantees had to say about their experience.

Each year, the Stanford Storytelling Project awards Braden Grants to support the research, writing, and production of audio documentaries. The aim of the program is to help students learn how to tell powerful, research-driven stories based on testimony they gather through interviews, research, or oral history archives. Grantees receive up to $2,500, along with teaching, training, and mentorship for the duration of the project.

Here's what the 2023 Grantees had to say about their experience.

This episode explores the different futures made possible when you balance narratives of dispossession with narratives of joy--and how we see that manifest in Oaxaca's celebrations and the different ways that community members seek to make themselves visible.

Despite 13+ years of a fractured relationship between mother and daughter, this episode journeys through the past, present, and future, highlighting one unlikely solution that changed the trajectory of a family and its generations.

When Navya AgarwalI travelled to Rajasthan to demistify the phenomenon of ancestral prostitution—a unique form of sex work that is embedded in community, and inter-generational

legacy—she expected to document a distant reality. Instead, she was confronted with deeply personal questions about morality, gender, and family history. In this episode, she attempts to answer the question: Is ancestral prostitution normal? And if something is normal, does that make it right?

TRIGGER WARNING: This episode contains references to prostitution, minors, and sexual exploitation.

Kevi grew up surrounded by Filipino caregivers--many of whom had to leave their families in the Philippines to work in the US. As she starts to unpack the histories of the people who raised her, Kevi embarks on a journey of discovery that reveals the dark history of how the US caregiving industry became dependent on the separation of Filipina workers from their families.

In an effort to reconnect with her Cambodian identity, Marissa Mengheang explores the experiences of Cambodian genocide survivors, including her own grandparents. But her search for knowledge takes to her to an unexpected place.

TRIGGER WARNING: This episode contains references to genocide, murder, and human rights violations.