Braden Storytelling Grant
by Stanford Storytelling project
Each year, the Stanford Storytelling Project awards Braden Grants to a small number of students to support the research, writing, and production of audio documentaries. The aim of the program is to help students learn how to tell powerful, research-driven stories based on testimony they gather through interviews, research, or oral history archives. Grantees receive up to $2,500, as well as teaching, training, and mentorship during the period of the grant (March-December).In January of each year, all of the documentaries are aired on KZSU and published on the Soundings podcast. All pieces will be considered for inclusion in State of the Human, the SSP’s premier, award-winning podcast. State of the Human episodes are aired weekly on KZSU, Stanford’s public radio station, and some stories reach national broadcast outlets.
Episodes
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Echoes Across Oceans by Rosina Lin
This story is about how traditional Chinese music travels across time, distance, and migration, carried by the people who choose to keep it alive. Through the stories of two musicians and producer Rosina Lin's own journey as a listener, it explores memory, identity, and what it means to belong....
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California’s Promise by Rani Chor
Why do Cambodian American stories disappear—both from family albums and from school curricula? In this documentary, producer Rani Chor follows one community’s effort to reclaim its history, asking what happens to identity, power, and belonging when a people’s past is left untaught. In…
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Livermush: A Story of What We Carry by Ana Gray
This episode follows livermush from producer Ana Gray's family farm to a North Carolina factory, told through family memory, labor, and survival. What begins as a search for a childhood food becomes a story about inheritance, care, and quiet resistance. Produced with support from the Braden...
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The Invisible Forest? Protecting the Brazilian Atlantic Forest by Alice Heiman
What does it take to conserve a forest? Most people think about the Amazon Rainforest when they think of Brazil. But in fact, most Brazilians live in the Atlantic Forest. Despite being a patchwork of what it once was, the Atlantic Forest is incredibly resilient, biodiverse, and crucial to life.…
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My Mother’s Folklore by Kristine Pashin
After her mother’s passing, Kristine abandoned the Bulgarian folk dancing she’d grown up with. Now, through conversations with dancers across generations, she’s searching for what she lost — and questioning what it really means to belong to a culture. Produced with support from the Braden...
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Story Holders: Speaking the Multi-Generational Silence of Japanese American Incarceration by West Mulholland
Producer West Mulholland explores generational silence within the Japanese American community. A holder of heritage and a carrier of stories that are not his own, Mulholland searches for what it means to narrate an inherited silence near the desert fences of Manzanar, an American Incarceration…
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An American Icon by Alana Esposito
In this episode, producer Alana Esposito travels to Montana to learn more about the iconic American Buffalo and its complicated history in Yellowstone National Park. Produced with support from the Braden Storytelling Grant and the Stanford Storytelling Project. Music from BlueDotSessions…
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Applying for a Braden Storytelling Grant? Here's what our 2024 grantees want you to know.
Each year, the Stanford Storytelling Project awards Braden Grants to support the research, writing, and production of audio documentaries. The aim of the program is to help students learn how to tell powerful, research-driven stories based on testimony they gather through interviews, research, or...
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Hillbilly Highway by Viva Donohoe
How Patsy Cline shifted the country music industry--and a whole country's idea of femininity. Interviewees: Ellis Nasser Margaret Jones Sources: Country Music USA by Bill C. Malone Creating Country Music by Richard A. Peterson Selling Tradition: Appalachia and the Construction of an American Folk...
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New Flowers by Langston Buddenhagen
"New Flowers" explores the history of Addis Ababa's Piassa's neighborhood: its birth, destruction, and what sense of home remains. Includes interviews with Paul Buddenhagen, Sine Berhanu, Messay Gesesse Mikael Shebele, Dany Dereje, and Yalew Berhanu. Music: Mulatu Astatke: "Tezeta," "Tension,"...
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Digital Diagnosis by Priyanka Shrestha
Digital diagnosis explores how telehealth is changing the physician patient relationship. Through interviews with both physicians and patients we uncover where telehealth shines and where it falls short, ultimately getting to the heart of what medicine is and how we can use technology in a way…
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Bolt Wars by Alex Strong
Climbers modify the rock to climb safely, leaving permanent anchors for catching falls. This was not always the practice, and its early implementation lead to a period of conflict in the climbing community when ethics were in flux. Climbing has solved this dilemma, and can show the world how to...
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The Voices of Those Who Came Before by Natasha Charfauros
A California-born CHamoru woman’s personal journey discovering how CHamoru became endangered and how Guam’s island community was restoring the language. Show Notes: Interviews included Antoinette McDaniel, Aunt and Professor studying Chamoru culture; Mark Mendiola, Director of Institutional...
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A Taste of Tusán by Jenny Duan
This episode explores the story of Lima’s Tusán—Peruvian Chinese—community, examining their influence on Peruvian culture and identity through Chifas, restaurants serving Peruvian-Chinese cuisine. From the history of Chinese immigration to Peru to today’s Barrio Chino (Chinatown), I consider what...
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The Chaldean Conundrum by Fadie Arabo
Fadie Arabo's story is about uncovering the Chaldean identity: What it means to him and how it has changed since coming to Stanford.People interviewed:Dr. Dean Winslow: Medical doctorTerezsa Arabo: Young ChaldeanRami Sarafa: Harvard BusinessKen Alyass: Harvard HistorianZiyad Gawis: El-Cajon...
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The Stanford Stopout by Cassie Shaw
What does it mean to come face to face with failure as a student at an 'elite' school? What advice do alumni, advisors, and professionals have to share about wellness, academic competition, and perfectionism? And is there a secret to surviving in today's age of a dangerous productivity culture?…
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Friends in Liminal Spaces by Anastasia
In this story about connection outside the bounds of physical space, time, and life experience, an unlikely friendship buds during uncertain times.
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We Are the Voice by Marissa Mengheang
In an effort to reconnect with her Cambodian identity, Marissa Mengheang explores the experiences of Cambodian genocide survivors, including her own grandparents. But her search for knowledge takes to her to an unexpected place. This episode contains references to genocide, murder, and human…
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Back to the Garden by Anna McNulty
“Back to the Garden” tells the story of an organic farming couple, Jose and Rich, who are committed to sustaining the environment and who also don't believe in climate change. This episode explores how that dissonance might be possible, the power of language, and whether or not the term "climate...
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Beautiful Bonds of Banter by Shameeka "Smeek" Wilson
Despite 13+ years of a fractured relationship between mother and daughter, this episode journeys through the past, present, and future, highlighting one unlikely solution that changed the trajectory of a family and its generations.
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Back to the Philippines by Kevi Johnson
Kevi grew up surrounded by Filipino caregivers--many of whom had to leave their families in the Philippines to work in the US. As she starts to unpack the histories of the people who raised her, Kevi embarks on a journey of discovery that reveals the dark history of how the US caregiving industry...
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Regeneration Pilgramage by Alice Grace
This intro episode of the Regeneration Pilgrimage series is about a journey of self discovery that took place in nature-based off grid communities in Portugal and Spain. This episode is an intimate, deeply personal story of the month long solo-pilgrimage that your host, Alice Grace, set out on in...
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La Fiesta and Cosmovisions in Oaxaca by Lizbeth Luevano
This episode explores the different futures made possible when you balance narratives of dispossession with narratives of joy--and how we see that manifest in Oaxaca's celebrations and the different ways that community members seek to make themselves visible.
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Applying for a Braden Grant? Here's what you need to know. (UNBLEEPED VERSION)
Each year, the Stanford Storytelling Project awards Braden Grants to support the research, writing, and production of audio documentaries. The aim of the program is to help students learn how to tell powerful, research-driven stories based on testimony they gather through interviews, research, or...
-
Applying for a Braden Grant? Here's what you need to know (BLEEPED VERSION)
Each year, the Stanford Storytelling Project awards Braden Grants to support the research, writing, and production of audio documentaries. The aim of the program is to help students learn how to tell powerful, research-driven stories based on testimony they gather through interviews, research, or...
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Journey Through Generations by Arundathi Nair
Aru Nair goes on a journey to India to understand how oral tradition preserves cultures. But when a surprise trip to her father's home town shows her a side if him she's never seen, she emerges with a new understanding of how the stories we tell shape the people we become.
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Off the Beaten Path by Alina Wilson
After months apart, a mother and daughter pick an unlikely reunion activity: a pilgrimage. Follow them as they take a journey up coastal Scotland and deepen their understanding of themselves and their relationship.
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Soles Returning Home by Autumn Parrott
This is the story of a mother fighting grief after the loss of her daughter, and navigating what it means to be Indigenous within a criminal justice system that tries to take away her voice. These are her words. To learn more about Skye, visit: justiceforskyejim.com/ and for resources on Missing...
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Home is Little Tokyo by Leah Chase
Little Tokyo is a small neighborhood in Downtown Los Angeles. Since 1905, it has been home to generations of Japanese Americans. Today, gentrification is threatening to destroy everything these families have built. This episode tells the story of one community's struggle for survival and the ways...
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Home of the Hodag by Isabella Saracco & Sam Waddoups
The town of Rhinelander Wisconsin has a curious obsession: the Hodag, a fearsome green beast that a lumberjack allegedly discovered there in 1893. Entranced by the legend, Isabella and Sam travel to Rhinelander to uncover what’s behind the Hodag— and to decide if they should believe, too.
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Missed Connections by Neeharika Bandlapalli
A story about people experiencing homelessness and their path to reconnection with their loved ones. Listen to learn why no matter where you are and what your journey in life has been, you will always be someone’s somebody.
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Radical Puppets: Revisiting the 1999 Seattle WTO Protests by Emily Zhang
What does it mean to protest and are there ways to do so that bring creativity to the forefront along with the issues? Listen to how those who were on the front lines of the WTO protests in Seattle used puppetry to get their ideas and demands across to those in power.
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Wonder Under Water by Gracie Newman
Come on a journey to understand our fascination with sea monsters and what they inspire in humans. In particular, hear about the Icelandic Lagarfljótsormur, the water monster that sparked a 13 person commission of the Icelandic government to investigate its existence.
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She Was There by Paloma Moreno
Every year, a small group of Stanford Students are awarded grants to complete audio stories under the teaching, training, and mentorship of the Stanford Storytelling Project. These are the stories that came out of that process from 2020 to 2021.
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Weird F***ed Up Amazing by Hannah Scott
I grew up in the sprawl of Los Angeles. I grew up on garage shows, Whiskey-A-Go-Go on Sunset Boulevard, classmates rapping on SoundCloud, my mom driving me an hour and a half to a venue in Orange County. My experiences with DIY music communities have been among the most important aspects of my...
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To The Beat Of The Drum by Mylan Gray
When you feel at home thousands of miles away from your birthplace, what choice do you have but to return? I take a return trip to the Festival of the Rosary—an African syncretic festival in the southeast of Brazil. In returning, I learned African diasporic peoples might be connected by more than...
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The Reality Teacher by Elena Press
In the summer of 2019, I took off on a cross-country road trip to discover my father’s mysterious hippie past. Though I grew up with a dad who worked as an accounting professor, all throughout my childhood I heard stories of my dad building log cabins in Washington Woodlands, running a granola…
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Swimming In Dreams by Ethan Lo
What’s the point of all of this? It’s a question we've all asked ourselves. For child-refugees who’ve come to America (and their descendants), attempting to answer this question is inevitably tied with wondering why fate, God, or whatever higher power they believe in has given them opportunities...
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Seekers by Sophie McNulty
In her late thirties, Lanie, Sophie’s mom, became a born again Christian. Christianity gave her life meaning and happiness. When Lanie found God, “All the heaviness was just lifted.” Sophie, an atheist, struggles to find purpose in her own life. In this story, Sophie sets out to determine if what...
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Klezmer For My Grandmother by Daniel Helena Alexander
In the summer of 2019, I fly to Israel with a single goal in mind. I want to play a song. But not just any song. I want to play a Klezmer song. This podcast follows my journey meeting Jewish musicians and dealing with family tragedy to compose a personal song. “Music doesn’t lie.” You'll agree…
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Coming of Age (Online): Imagining Queer Futures by Julie Fukunaga
What does it mean to (be queer) and come of age on the internet? In the past ten years, the queer games movement has exploded. Around the world, more and more people feel like they can make free and simple and strange games - ones that speak to queer stories and experiences. But it wasn’t always...
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Behind the Lens, Outside the Walls by Dylan Junkin
While working in Entebbe, Uganda for two months, Dylan befriends a group of musicians and creates a music video for a rapper named Ben. Join Dylan as his personal identity and perceptions about Entebbe are challenged, nuanced, and shaped through the creation of the music video. Producer: Dylan...
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The Stories They Don’t Tell: the Vietnam War at Home by Axelle Marcantetti
Description: In Hue, Vietnam, bullet holes and bunkers are constant reminders of the stories no one mentions. In New York, a daughter tries to understand how the war in Vietnam has shaped her father’s life and hers. In both worlds, however, “History is politics” and silence is the rule. But what...
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My Mexican Dream by Andrea Flores
I would have been born here, had my parents never left this town for the U.S. In my journey, I retrace my steps back to Malinaltenango, Mexico, the land my parents have always called home and a land I have never really known on my own. During my time here, I struggle with ideas of identity,...
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What I’m Grateful For by Besher Ashouri
Besher grew up in Syria till the war forced him, and his family, to flee. This non-narrated portrait follows his journey from Aleppo to California and finally to Stanford Medical School. Produced as part of MED 232 Global Health course (2018) Producer: Besher Ashouri (and Jake warga) Photo:...
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A Postcard from Mariana by Gabriela Nagle Alverio
Hurricane Maria revealed a dependency on the government but there was one community that used it as an opportunity to claim their independence. “There was no government here. And we couldn't wait for the government. We couldn't wait for anyone.” In this story I visit of the community of Mariana...
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The Taste of War: The Koreans and U.S. Combat Ration by Won-Gi Jung
What does a war taste like? Tracing the history of U.S. military combat ration in Korea, the podcast tells the Koreans’ bittersweet encounters with America. Producer: Won-Gi Jung Music: “Submerging Blue-Black” by Podington Bear, in Fathomless-Ambient “Memory Wind” by Podington Bear, in...
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Seeing with Sound by Chloe Barreau
If sound matters, why? I am not alone in fearing blindness, because we live in a world of visuals. Whether I am reading a book, following street signs, or hopping on a train, I can’t imagine navigating a world without my eyes. I tune out the cacophony of cars, squeaks, barks, and pedestrian...
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Respite: a Journey Into Foster Care by Rachel Vaughan
You’re six years old. Child protective services removed you from the only life you’ve ever known and placed you in state custody, into the foster care system. Producer: Rachel Vaughan Music: Junior85 - You can calmly put this thing together Lee Rosevere - And So Then Podington Bear - Daydreamer
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Ghost Temples: The Spirit of Taiwan by Katie Lan
Some people pray to gods, but other people pray to ghosts. In this story, Katie Lan explores the temples and folk religion in Taiwan, where her parents and the rest of her family is from. Here, she explores ghost temples and even learns to pray to a dog? Producer: Katie Lan Music: 晶晶 1969 鄧麗君...
About this show
Each year, the Stanford Storytelling Project awards Braden Grants to a small number of students to support the research, writing, and production of audio documentaries. The aim of the program is to help students learn how to tell powerful, research-driven stories based on testimony they gather through interviews, research, or oral history archives. Grantees receive up to $2,500, as well as teaching, training, and mentorship during the period of the grant (March-December).In January of each year, all of the documentaries are aired on KZSU and published on the Soundings podcast. All pieces will be considered for inclusion in State of the Human, the SSP’s premier, award-winning podcast. State of the Human episodes are aired weekly on KZSU, Stanford’s public radio station, and some stories reach national broadcast outlets.
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Stanford Storytelling project
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