The Observer Effect

The Observer Effect

By The Observer EffectSociety & CultureReligion & SpiritualityPersonal JournalsPlaces & Travel
Download on the App Store

The Observer Effect episodes

  • 136 Exposure Therapy—Sulawesi, Where Rachel Was a Fellow
    Rachel was a Fellow with the U.S. State Department’s English Language Program in Sulawesi. She embraced challenges like finding ants in her food to unravel her fears and came away reflecting on how race shapes our experience. I asked how she became such a good storyteller … and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician Dana Boulé.
    1 hr 2 min
  • 135 So Much More Than One Thing—Mauritius, Where Armen Was a Fellow
    Armen was a Fellow with the U.S. State Department’s English Language Program in Mauritius. I asked how the experience changed him … and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician Dana Boulé.
    Listen to Armen's podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/armen-kassabian/id1451319621
    Consider donating to Westin's Fund: https://www.westinsfund.org/
    39 min
  • 134 Moral Injury—Afghanistan, Where Joan Got a Text

    Joan took part in this past August’s “Digital Dunkirk,” the frantic effort to help Afghans escape the Taliban when the U.S. withdrew after two decades in Afghanistan. During those sleepless nights, she began advocating, writing articles calling on the U.S. government to honor its commitment to the people who served alongside its military. I asked how Afghans came to mean so much to her ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician Dana Boulé.

    Click to read Joan’s articles:

    “Digital Dunkirk” - Mother Jones

    “Op-Ed: Afghan Interpreters” - The Miami Herald

    “How Congress failed AFG” - The Orlando Sentinel

    “Breaking hearts and minds” - Military Times

    “From Quant Tin to Kabul”

    “The Class Is Yours, Hamid”

    “From PC to AFG” - The Providence College Podcast

    45 min
  • 133 All Very Hush Hush—Yemen, Where Aziza Wants to Help People Die
    Aziza told me the religious police arrested her and her fiancé in Saudi Arabia. The interrogator asked, “Did you hit the religious police?” I was like, “Damn yes I did!” I asked if that experience changed her ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician Dana Boulé.
    Consider donating to Westin's Fund: westinsfund.org
    “Peculiar traveling suggestions are dancing lessons from God.”
    —Kurt Vonnegut
    38 min
  • 132 Love Is Stronger Than Death—Benin, Where Jean Reconnected
    Jean was readier to answer my questions—as if he had somehow prepared—than anyone I have interviewed in the course of this project when we met randomly at a fountain in an alcove of Casablanca’s wondrous mosque by the sea. I asked him why ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician Dana Boulé.
    Consider donating to Westin's Fund: http://www.westinsfund.org/
    "Family is never lost."
    —Creole Proverb
    43 min
  • 131 La Direction de la Vie—Paris, Where Étienne Considered Suicide
    Étienne has decorated his entire Paris apartment with paraphernalia from The Little Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s classic children’s book. I asked what happened when he came home from nearly a year traveling the world ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician Dana Boulé.
    Consider donating to Westin's Fund: http://www.westinsfund.org/
    "On n'est jamais content là où on est."
    —Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
    1 hr 16 min
  • 130 Black Doesn't Speak—Paris, Where Caracola Clowns
    Caracola left Buenos Aires at 19 to study anthropology in Paris but soon realized her calling is to be a clown. She has been studying intensely and touring the world performing in streets and studios ever since. I asked whether she has traveled to be able to perform or performed to be able to travel ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician Dana Boulé.
    Follow Caracola on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/caracolaaaa/
    Consider donating to Westin's Fund: http://www.westinsfund.org/
    "Y ya que a ti no llega mi voz ruda, óyeme sordo."
    —Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz
    23 min
  • 129 Al-Amin—The Bronx, Where Mohibul Trusted
    Mohibul runs the restaurant his father established when he moved from Bangladesh to London. They named it Al-Amin, which means “trust.” I asked how he learned to connect so well with his customers ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician Dana Boulé.
    Visit Al-Amin Restaurant in East London: https://alaminrestaurant.com/
    Consider donating to Westin's Fund: http://www.westinsfund.org/
    "I think that we may safely trust a good deal more than we do."
    —Henry David Thoreau
    35 min
  • 128 Belonging—Mostar, Where Anja Is Writing a Bible
    Anja left Bosnia as a toddler and lives there now to reconnect with her roots. I asked if she has found herself in her journeys ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician Dana Boulé.
    Consider donating to Westin's Fund (westinsfund.org).
    Learn more about Youth Power (https://www.youth-power.org/).
    “The sharing of joy, whether physical, emotional, psychic, or intellectual, forms a bridge between the sharers which can be the basis for understanding much of what is not shared between them, and lessens the threat of their difference.”
    —Audre Lorde
    49 min
  • 127 The Beauty of Sorrow—Zipolite, Where Indra Drowned
    Indra broke up with his girlfriend in Turkey just months into traveling the world together and set off the series of events that brought him to South Korea. He almost died in Mexico. I asked whether he’s going to write all these experiences ... and hope listening like this evaporates borders. Special thanks to the musician Dana Boulé.
    Consider donating to Westin's Fund, an organization that covers the medical costs of families who lose children to stillbirth and miscarriage: http://www.westinsfund.org/
    “The longest absence is less perilous to love than the terrible trials of incessant proximity.”
    —Edna St. Vincent Millay
    1 hr

About The Observer Effect

From the publisher's feed

These are strangers' travel stories. Each time I ask how travel has changed them and hope listening like this evaporates borders.