PODCAST · society
Say it this way
by Hammad Ahmed
audio from my blog --> http://hammad.we.bsEach month, a new story about people doing something funny, exciting, inspiring, or provocative. People like you and me, but up close and personal.
Episodes
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Wrong Number
We got the weirdest phone message from out of nowhere. I thought the voice on the other end was having a stroke, then all of a sudden the operator chimes in. Any explanations are welcome!
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Strange Roommates
I thought I was living with the craziest roommates ever. Turned out I was the crazy one. Music is All His Exes by Sylvie Lewis, and Oh What a World by Rufus Wainwright
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Death with Dignity
How movies get death wrong. And why two paramedics think physician-assisted suicide is a good idea. Music is Elegie by Sergei Rachmaninoff.
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Mouse trap
A classic story of rodent vs human. Except in this case, it wasn't just any mouse. It was our mouse. A tiny one that we had rescued from a snowstorm and brought home to take care of. It had a name and everything. But mice will be mice. Ours escaped, and this is the story of how we caught it and…
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Let Her Go
The worse her Alzheimer's got, the more he loved her. Arthur tells the story of how he took care of his mom for several years until she died from AD. At first he was her nurse. Then he became her advocate. And finally, he became the only barrier between her and death. This is the story of how he...
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Manboobs save the day
His thesis was stopped at the border. His future as a college student in America was on the line. But Komail gave border agents the slip with a little anatomy lesson. Background music is Balkan's Joke by Jacques Pellarin. Check out Komail Aijazuddin's website. This story was created from outtakes...
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Tom Bomdadil of Georgia
We're caught wearing shorts in tick-infested woods. But that's because when packing for our trip to Georgia, we had no idea we would be going hiking out there. Nor did we know we would be meeting Marcus, aka Tom Bombadil, who lives in an old wooden house dating from 1870 and who loves to eat wild...
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Powers the Visionary Dog
A seeing-eye dog learns to find bus stops. In this episode, we meet Powers, a black lab who helps out my visually impaired friend Mike. Powers is smart and obedient. But he has one big weakness. And it's not fire hydrants. The outro for this piece by Lindsay Starke, who handily won last month's...
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Hilary Duff meets Nietzsche
Who won the 2004 Hilary Duff essay contest? Several tween girls. And a six-foot-six man with a two-foot beard. This is a story about Deep Springs, an intensely academic all-male college, and its obsession with Disney pop princesses. Appropriately, all music in this piece is sung by the titular...
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Ma Knows Best
Two South Asian women lie to their mothers. In this installment of the podcast, three stories: The first one's a teaser. It's about a car accident. The kind where it's not your fault but you feel like somehow it should be. The second is about arranged marriages, leprechauns, and background…
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Pleasurable Alternatives
You can't always say yes. It's hard to say no. But what happens when you try to say both at the same time? Saurabh Tak tells the story of meeting Olivia one night at an art event, and then bringing her back to his apartment for an evening that got weirder and weirder. Funky jazz music from Jive…
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Radio as a Second Language
You might speak English, but do you understand it ? Me: 'Give up' means you stop doing something. 'Give in' means you start doing something. Her: No. 'Give in' also means a polite way of giving up. English is so confusing. But you don't think about it until you talk to a non-native speaker. Which...
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Under Pressure
Three men coach me as I try to record myself peeing. Me: Oh! I think I'm gonna do it ... [waiting] ... nope. Just stopped. Man 1: What would you like us to sing? Man 2: Should all acquaintance be forgot... Me: Yeah, that's good! They were there for a workshop to overcome shy bladder. Turns out…
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Inauguration Sounds
Took a recorder into DC for Obama's big day. Craziness. "We just broke through a bus caravan on G Street. We're like locusts, you can't hold us down." I've never seen so many people on a Metro train, heard so many boos for an outgoing president, felt so cold and yet so warm. If you couldn't be...
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The Running Jump
How do you spend recess if you don't want to play kickball? There are exactly two nylon sacks. Balls in the right sack. And jump ropes in the left. This is a choice that has already been made for Kabir. Poor Kabir. Jump though he may, he gets "roped" back into the kickball game. Does he…
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The Reel World
Scary stories about slot machines, as told by anthropologist Natasha Schull"At night while her husband was asleep, she would drive to the supermarket and play until dawn at these machines." What you always wanted to know about the random number generator but were too afraid to ask. Plus, some…
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Joy to the world so high
A children's song mash-up. Vocals by Patrick Callier. Twinkle, twinkle, little star. How I won- world -kle world world so worlds. What you worlds. In joy joy. Ever notice how similar the lyrics are in these "classic" American songs? There's a lot of word overlap. So you can take the songs, break...
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End of my childhood
Talk about the end of innocence. My 12 year-old brother interviews my 24 year-old brother about going to Islamic summer camp. "I remember seeing an inscription on the wall next to my bunk bed. It was very simple and straightforward. It said: On this bed, a boy became a man and a girl became a...
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Switching Exercise
Andrea's got some advice for couples: Next time you're having an argument, switch sides. Over the years, Andrea and John have had plenty of disagreements. For example: hair--does it or does it not absorb water? (answer inside.) Through it all, the switching exercise has arguably kept them…
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The Perfect Interview
A hypothetical radio conversation where the worst possible host interviews the worst possible guest. In this, I took a 12-minute phone conversation between an actual public radio host and an actual guest. Then, instead of editing out all the rubbish, I edited out everything of substance. What's...
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Sell your silverware
Take note, all you dumpster divers and free furniture junkies: metal prices are on the rise. And that means competition at junkyards is getting tougher. As if competing with grandmothers and bargain shoppers wasn't hard enough, now visitors at Harvard's weekly free furniture giveaway have a new...
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Smokestacks and Annals
"How utterly the alabaster spreads / to shade the coming light." Good poetry gets better with background sound and music. Here are two poems: "Schuylkill Smoketacks at Sunrise," and "The Town Historian," written by my friend Edward Stephens, and remixed by me.
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Lost in Ritual
Muslims pray five times a day, even if they happen to be stuck in Harvard Square on a hot June day. My aunts use the sun to figure out the direction towards Mecca. "Basically, it usually rises to your left. -No, it sets on your left. -No, towards your left is the east, and towards your right is…
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Float to the Bottom
A sound journey: escape from a burning office building into the peaceful grip of asphyxia. "The devil doesn't buy individual souls anymore. Now, he buys pieces of souls. Soul-backed securities, diversified bundles of souls. It's less risky, you know?"
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Facebook vs. the RIAA
Just hope you don't get caught. When the record companies sent Jared an email asking for three thousand dollars for music he’d downloaded online, he was dumbstruck. "Someone suggested I start selling illegal pirated music and movies. Pornography. They’re like well they’ve accused you of doing it…
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Can't touch this
But you can touch this. "I walked a couple of streets and then I called 911." I remember seeing Selvaraj the night he was mugged. He was shaking and a wad of tissue was plugged up his bloody nostril. That same night, a police officer lined up four suspects and asked Selvaraj to identify the...
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Early Music
You can hear it all over the place. "People into meditation and stuff have discovered it. I would say musicians and probably... older ‘folk.’ (laughs) So, why does old music draw old people?" After singing songs from the 1500s for an hour, the choir members peel off their flowing purple robes and...
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Mr. Anonymous
You've got a secret admirer. "At the conversation kept going, something came over me. Talking to Mr. Anonymous... it felt like home." Crushes are all the same in some ways—admiration from a distance, secret longing, nervous encounters, and eventually, either reciprocation or rejection. In Erica...
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Evil Chubbetta
See this story's evil twin. "Chubbetta would sneak up behind the bald man and rub his head, vigorously... I would say 'Chubbetta, stop it!' But she would say, 'Evil Chubbetta listens to no one.' " An evil twin can come in the smallest package. Like a baby doll. Courtney Matson got away with so…
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Black Islam
Take off your shoes before stepping in. "Damn, Brother! I didn't know you was pretty like that. What you going through the sisters' side for, boy? Huh? You pretty? You pretty boy?" I met Abdul Shabazz at a flea market in New Haven; he was distributing the latest issue of the Muslim Times. A month...
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Say it this way have?
Say it this way currently has 30 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Say it this way about?
audio from my blog --> http://hammad.we.bsEach month, a new story about people doing something funny, exciting, inspiring, or provocative. People like you and me, but up close and personal.
How often does Say it this way release new episodes?
Say it this way has 30 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
Where can I listen to Say it this way?
You can listen to Say it this way on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Say it this way?
Say it this way is created and hosted by Hammad Ahmed.
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