Throughout the past year and a half, I have found myself constantly listening to podcasts. My new habit of listening to podcasts has become noteworthy for two reasons. First, I never listened to podcasts before this time in my life. Second, it seems as if everyone is listening to podcasts now, or have seemingly become interested in listening to them. Podcasts are in. For those who want to start listening to podcasts but don’t know where to start, here’s a quick rundown of some of my personal favorites:
The Moth markets itself with the tagline “The Art and Craft of Storytelling.” From listening to this podcast, I’ve discovered that it’s not easy to tell a story well, and those who can have a true knack for it. The Moth actually started as live storytelling events in New York City in the late ‘90s and has evolved to include a national public radio show called The Moth Radio Hour and the weekly podcast, which highlights different stories told at the live events. The stories are told unscripted and in first-person, rendering each story stylistically unique. Storytellers are given a one-word topic to jump off from, such as “redemption” or “conviction,” and are asked to tell a story relating to the given theme in some way or another. The relation to the theme can be explicitly clear, or the story may only use the theme as a starting point. Participants who tell their stories on this show do so with finesse, keeping a listener engaged all the way through to the end of their deeply human stories.
Code Switch constantly makes me laugh. Sometimes I think people stare at me in public as I’m going through my day listening to the hosts’ wise words while trying to keep my laughter in. In short, the podcast covers issues regarding overlapping themes of race, identity, and culture. The podcast is produced through NPR, and its hosts are all journalists who have been working in the field covering stories on these themes. The name of the podcast comes from the linguistic term “code-switching,” which means to mix different languages or speech in conversation. To give you a better picture of the podcast, the last one I listened to was called “Safety-Pin Solidarity: With Allies, Who Benefits?” and it discussed the tricky boundaries of what it means to be an ally of marginalized groups. Listen, and you’ll learn a lot.
Invisibilia is also produced by NPR and is about “the invisible forces that control human behavior — ideas, beliefs, assumptions and emotions.” The co-hosts combine narrative storytelling with scientific research to provide a comprehensive examination of things you may not have realized or considered in your life. Compared to the other podcasts on this list, the runtime of these episodes are a bit longer at about one hour. Some of my favorite episodes include “The Secret History of Thoughts,” which explores how thoughts are related to the conception of the self, and “Fearless,” which speculates on what humans would be like if fear didn’t exist. The show strikes a good balance between presenting scientific knowledge and people’s real-life stories.
New podcasts are constantly being produced and released. Listeners can tune in on the web through a podcast’s website, or through the Podcast app found in the App store. You can find a podcast on almost any topic, and the best part is that they’re free. They are a great way to keep your brain absorbing new knowledge whether you’re on your daily commute or enjoying a nice meal by yourself.