State of the Human

Langston Buddenhagen takes us to Ethiopia's capital city of Addis Ababa in order to explore how neighborhoods change and what that change means. In the process, Langston explores how his mixed racial identity dovetails into these same issues, and how is own hometown - Oakland, California - is changing too. 

We all know what it's like to sense something unspoken in a conversation—the hesitation, the sharpness, the softness. It's not the words, but how they're said. This episode, we explore the invisible language of emotional prosody—the tone, rhythm, and subtle cues in our voices that reveal how we feel, often without us realizing it.

Alana Esposito and Alex Strong to discuss the process behind how A Foot in Both Worlds came to be. 

Producers: Alana Esposito, Alex Strong

Paul Calvo has always been ambitious, but he hasn't always been on the right side of the tracks. This is his story.

Producer: Alex Strong.

Music by Blue Dot Sessions.

Sounds by Free Sounds.

Paul Calvo has always been ambitious, but he hasn't always been on the right side of the tracks. This is his story.

Producer: Alex Strong.

Music by Blue Dot Sessions.

Sounds by Free Sounds.

A group of Stanford alumni recall their time in undergrad climbing buildings on campus – and the way it permanently altered their lives.

Producer: Alana Esposito

When a group of students stumbles upon a mysterious plaque hidden beneath an oak tree, a late-night discovery turns into a real-time detective story. Their search for answers uncovers a decades-old secret, and a story that’s both forgotten and unforgettable. 

Growing up with Indian immigrant parents in a Wyoming college town, Aru was used to the tension of what her parents expected her to be and the person she was actually becoming. In this story, recorded at First Person Story in April of 2024, Aru takes the risk of emotional nakedness with her mom–even though it may leave her feeling exposed.