State of the Human
State of the Human, a podcast of the Stanford Storytelling Project, shares stories that deepen our understanding of single, common human experiences—belonging, giving, lying, forgiveness—all drawn from the experiences and research of the Stanford community.
Episodes
As a pediatric neuro-oncologist, Dr. Paul Fisher works with children fighting brain cancer. In this episode, he shares how invisible skills like empathy and human connection are central to his medical practice.
Producer: Alex Strong
Viva Donohoe always saw her grandmother as the archetype of a sophisticated woman, modeled in the spirit of iconic country singer Patsy Cline. But an investigation into Cline’s life leads Viva to discover hidden truths about her grandmother and the woman she modeled herself after.
Story By: Viva Donohoe
Producers: Viva Donahoe, Eva Sanez, Ana De Almeida Amaral
Music: Internet ...
In today’s episode, Sarah Lewis reads “Willies on West 79th,” a strangely moving tale about love, body dysmorphia, and why a rat ballet company might be the most honest place in New York.
Producers
Arun Chhetri
Sarah Lewis
Alex Strong
Story by: Sarah Lewis
Music by: Blue Dot Sessions
In today’s episode, Wallace Stegner Fellow Zach Williams reads his surreal story “Mousetraps,” where a simple errand spirals into a disorienting interrogation of masculinity, guilt, and moral performance.
Producers
Arun Chhetri
Zach Williams
Isabelle Edgar
Story by: Zach Williams
Music by: Blue Dot Sessions
As an added bonus to our Invisibility series, we’re including conversations with the creators who made them to give you a behind-the-scenes look at the craft of audio storytelling. In this episode, Alex Strong talks with Langston Buddenhagen, the creator of New Flowers, the first story in our Invisibility series.
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 Music from Blue Dot Sessions
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.
Producers Arun Chhetri: Host, producer, sound design With Will Briger & Henry Segal ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------...
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. www.firstpersonstory.org www.storytelling.stanford.edu
Max Du is so obsessed with whales that his childhood friends call him Orca Boy. But when a SeaWorld trainer named Dawn is killed by an orca and there's public backlash against SeaWorld, his love for whales turns to shame. Years later he meets a whale trainer named Lyndsey, who was Dawn’s best friend. As Max and Lyndsey learn together the complicated dance of grief, loss, and healing, they find in their friendship a way to reclaim a...
- “State can be held liable for San Quentin COVID deaths, court rules,” https://www.sfchronicle.com/politics/article/covid-liability-prisons-18404372.php
- “An...
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