The Scope Podcast

Lush plants, bright walls and booming Spanish pop music welcome customers to Ink Source, a new tattoo shop in Roxbury — but the parlor's warm ambience isn't the only feature setting it apart. Jordan Ziese and Sofia Baah sat down with Ink Source co-owners Estefani Benitez and Daniel Sanchez to talk about their culturally-informed approach to tattooing. This episode was produced by Jordan Ziese and Sofia Baah and edited by Rebeca Pereira and Marigo Farr. Want to keep up with the latest community news in Boston? Follow us online and on social media for more.  Website: ⁠⁠⁠thescopeboston.org⁠⁠⁠ Instagram:⁠ ⁠@thescopeboston⁠ X (Twitter):⁠ ⁠@thescopeboston⁠⁠ Threads:⁠ ⁠@thescopeboston⁠⁠ ⁠Click here to sign up for our newsletter.⁠ Contact The Scope editorial team by sending an email to Marigo Farr at ⁠[email protected]⁠. 

The King Tide rolled into Boston on Saturday, Oct. 19, flushing harbor water through the concrete seawall at Long Wharf, where climate activists gathered to protest the state legislature’s inaction on a climate bill.  King Tides are created by the moon’s orbit and have been happening for millenia. But rising sea levels exacerbate flooding during these tidal events, and experts say that since the start of the industrial revolution ocean levels in Boston have already risen ten inches.  To learn more about Boston's 'wicked' high tide, visit thescopeboston.org. This episode was produced and edited by Rebeca Pereira.  Music by Victor_Natas and 0megaMan, License: Attribution 4.0 Want to keep up with the latest community news in Boston? Follow us online and on social media for more.  Website: ⁠⁠thescopeboston.org⁠⁠ Instagram: ⁠@thescopeboston⁠ X (Twitter): ⁠@thescopeboston⁠ Threads: ⁠@thescopeboston⁠ Click here to sign up for our newsletter. Contact The Scope editorial team by sending an email to Marigo Farr at [email protected].

For years, pole dancing has been associated with stripping. Yet in Boston and across the country, fitness studios are bringing this radical art form into the mainstream, drawing dancers in search of a good workout and a sense of belonging. This episode was produced by Nora Holland and edited by Rebeca Pereira. Want to keep up with the latest community news in Boston? Follow us online and on social media for more.  Website: ⁠⁠thescopeboston.org ⁠⁠Instagram: ⁠@thescopeboston⁠ X (Twitter): ⁠@thescopeboston⁠ Threads: ⁠@thescopeboston⁠ Click here to sign up for our newsletter. Contact The Scope editorial team by sending an email to Marigo Farr at [email protected].

Jazz has long been a male dominated genre, embracing female vocalists but rarely female bassists, drummers, and other musicians. In Sudbury, an all-female ensemble, Women in World Jazz, is playing a different tune — one of progress and inclusion.   This episode was produced by Mirjana Hutnik and edited by Rebeca Pereira.  Want to keep up with the latest community news in Boston? Follow us online and on social media for more. Website: ⁠⁠thescopeboston.org⁠⁠  Instagram: @thescopeboston X (Twitter): @thescopeboston Threads: @thescopeboston Contact The Scope editorial team by sending an email to Elisabeth Hadjis at [email protected].

Even northerners know how to get down like the folks in Louisiana! On the Saturday before Mardi Gras, Cambridge, Massachusetts’ Regattabar hosted a jazz-centered jubilee in the spirit of the land of jambalaya.  Elana Lane transports us there, introducing us to Josiah Reibstein’s band and Robbie Pate’s vocals. This episode was produced by Elana Lane and edited by Rebeca Pereira.  Want to keep up with the latest community news in Boston? Follow us online and on social media for more.  Website: ⁠⁠thescopeboston.org⁠⁠ Instagram: ⁠@thescopeboston ⁠X (Twitter): ⁠@thescopeboston⁠ Threads: ⁠@thescopeboston⁠ Click here to sign up for our newsletter. Contact The Scope editorial team by sending an email to Elisabeth Hadjis at [email protected].

Disability rights activists are engaging in a renewed effort to ban an aversive therapy — electric shock therapy — that, despite being condemned as torture by the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture, is still practiced at the Judge Rotenberg Center in Canton, Massachusetts. The center is a day and residential school for students with intellectual disabilities.  Contributing writer Darin Zullo joins us on The Scope Podcast to discuss his article “Self-advocates lead movement against Judge Rotenberg Center’s controversial skin shocks.” Zullo won a Best of SNO award for his article, which you can read at thescopeboston.org.  This episode was produced, hosted, and edited by Rebeca Pereira with reporting by Darin Zullo.  Music from Mattc90, striptheband, and smethng through freesound.org. Want to keep up with the latest community news in Boston? Follow us online and on social media for more.  Website: ⁠⁠thescopeboston.org ⁠⁠Instagram: ⁠@thescopeboston⁠ X (Twitter): ⁠@thescopeboston⁠ Threads: ⁠@thescopeboston⁠ Click here to sign up for our newsletter. Contact The Scope editorial team by sending an email to Elisabeth Hadjis at [email protected].

Boston’s public parks are like open-air studios for the city’s artists and street performers. At the Boston Commons, Nick Shea attracts crowds with his one-dollar portraits and simple tools: a stack of index cards and a Sharpie marker.  One Sunday afternoon in February, Mirjana Hutnik sat beside Shea to watch the artist at work and survey his customers.  This episode was produced by Mirjana Hutnik and edited by Rebeca Pereira.  Want to keep up with the latest community news in Boston? Follow us online and on social media for more. Website: ⁠⁠thescopeboston.org⁠⁠  Instagram: @thescopeboston X (Twitter): @thescopeboston Threads: @thescopeboston Contact The Scope editorial team by sending an email to Elisabeth Hadjis at [email protected].

Near Dover, MA, reeds grow out of sandbars along the Charles River where sediment has built up over time. Wetland vegetation offers a diverse habitat for microorganisms to thrive and pathways for nutrients like nitrogen, which in excess quantities can pollute the water, to exit the river.  Yet in the Charles’s lower basin, an area that extends from the Watertown Dam to Boston Harbor, that natural process is completely absent. Here, large rocks, granite retaining walls, and the Esplanade’s manicured lawns contain the river, limiting habitat diversity for microorganisms and contributing to nutrient pollution. Engineer Max Rome estimates that, in the steady climb toward total ecological restoration, the Charles is “90% of the way there,” but there is still more to be done.  Rome, a stormwater program manager at the Charles River Watershed Association, investigated ways of reintroducing vegetation to the river and came across “one simple way to take a granite wall and turn it into something that’s very alive”: Rafts carrying wetland plants rooted entirely in the water column.  “All of the nutrients that they need to grow, they're pulling right out of the water. So, the same things that are pollution to the Charles River — excess nitrogen, excess phosphorus — those things are actually sustaining the growth of these wetland plants,” Rome said in an interview with The Scope. “The roots that are going down to the water are creating a kind of complex habitat as a substrate for microorganisms and tiny animals to survive in ways that would be difficult for them to survive elsewhere in the river.”These symbiotic platforms are called "floating wetlands." Rome sat down with The Scope’s audio editor Rebeca Pereira to talk about them and the future of the Charles River. This episode was produced and edited by Rebeca Pereira. Music from Alec Cowan, Tim Kahn, MattJ99, Logic Moon, and EminYILDIRIM through freesound.org. Want to keep up with the latest community news in Boston? Follow us online and on social media for more. Website: ⁠⁠thescopeboston.org⁠⁠ Instagram: @thescopeboston X (Twitter): @thescopeboston Threads: @thescopeboston

It’s the beginning of a brand new Lunar New Year. Clara McCourt takes us inside how the holiday means more to one Boston business, Mei Mei Dumplings in South Boston, than meets the eye. Join Clara as she steps inside Mei Mei, joining Jessica Coughlin, Caitlin Yam, Cal Callahan, and owner Irene Li as they explore the dumpling making process and celebrate Mei Mei’s second Lunar New Year.  This episode was produced by Clara McCourt and edited by Rebeca Pereira.  Want to keep up with the latest community news in Boston? Follow us online and on social media for more. Website: ⁠⁠thescopeboston.org⁠⁠  Instagram: @thescopeboston X (Twitter): @thescopeboston Threads: @thescopeboston Contact The Scope editorial team by sending an email to Elisabeth Hadjis at [email protected].

This month, Massachusetts could become the 12th U.S. state to implement programs supporting doula work, in an effort to fight increasing maternal mortality rates. Reporter Colette Pollauf joins us on the Scope Podcast to discuss her article “Massachusetts introduces programs to support doula work” and doulas’ important contributions to maternal healthcare in the Commonwealth. Pollauf won a Best of SNO award for her article, which you can read now at our website ⁠thescopeboston.org⁠. This episode was produced and edited by Rebeca Pereira, with reporting by Collette Pollauf.  Want to keep up with the latest community news in Boston? Follow us online and on social media for more.  Website: ⁠⁠⁠thescopeboston.org⁠⁠⁠ Instagram:⁠ ⁠@thescopeboston⁠ X (Twitter):⁠ ⁠@thescopeboston⁠⁠ Threads:⁠ ⁠@thescopeboston⁠⁠ ⁠Click here to sign up for our newsletter.⁠ Contact The Scope editorial team by sending an email to Elisabeth Hadjis at ⁠[email protected]⁠.

Juan Perez is a man of many titles. You could classify him as a former chef at Fenway Park, an instructor of fine arts, an immigrant, a painter, or figure drawing professional, but that would only scratch the surface of who Juan is. His current role is artist-in-residence at the Fenway CDC's Newcastle Studio — a position that has also earned him the title of de facto community leader of his city block. Reporter Hannah Sammut sits down with Juan to discuss his unique approach to life and how his passion for bringing the neighborhood together has made an impact on his corner of Boston’s South End. This episode was produced by Hannah Sammut and edited by Rebeca Pereira.  Want to keep up with the latest community news in Boston? Follow us online and on social media for more.  Website: ⁠⁠thescopeboston.org⁠⁠ Instagram: ⁠@thescopeboston⁠ X (Twitter): ⁠@thescopeboston⁠ Threads: ⁠@thescopeboston⁠ Click here to sign up for our newsletter. Contact The Scope editorial team by sending an email to Elisabeth Hadjis at [email protected]. 

Hi, we’re The Scope: Boston. It’s nice to meet you.The Scope is a digital community news magazine covering the Greater Boston area. We primarily publish stories of hope, justice and resilience, working to connect communities, inform civic life and amplify voices that are often overlooked or mischaracterized by traditional media. Our work is available for free on a variety of digital platforms and is intended to supplement, not compete with, the city’s existing news outlets. Today, we’re breaking into the audio journalism space with our newest project, The Scope Podcast. In this first episode, we’ll bring you into our newsroom and introduce you to some of our team. We’ll also dive into The Scope’s mission and what to expect from this channel going forward. If you like what you hear, send us an email and let us know! You can find us at [email protected]. This episode was recorded and edited by Rebeca Pereira.  Want to keep up with the latest community news in Boston? Follow us online and on social media for more. Website: ⁠thescopeboston.org⁠ Instagram: @thescopeboston X (Twitter): @thescopeboston Threads: @thescopebostonClick here to sign up for our newsletter.