The Observer Effect

By The Observer Effect

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

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FAQs about The Observer Effect:

How many episodes does The Observer Effect have?

The podcast currently has 186 episodes available.

The Observer Effect episodes:

January 23, 2022 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.
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1h 2min
January 15, 2022 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/
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39min
January 08, 2022 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
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45min
May 20, 2020 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
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38min
April 19, 2020 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
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43min
April 10, 2020 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
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1h 16min
April 03, 2020 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
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23min
March 28, 2020 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
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35min
February 27, 2020 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
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49min
February 20, 2020 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
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1h

FAQs about The Observer Effect:

How many episodes does The Observer Effect have?

The podcast currently has 186 episodes available.