Stride & Saunter

This week we take a much more personal approach than usual. Zac Caputo returns as a guest and we discuss our experience at Kenyon College, a small, liberal arts school in rural Ohio. Specifically, we examine the impact student body size has on our social, personal and emotional lives. What are the benefits and drawbacks of small communities respectively? Does this experience distort our reality? Does it help to clarify elements of our lives?

As technology progresses in new, often fascinating and liberating ways, it is worth considering the role it has in our lives. Several works of science fiction have shown these advances and our reactions to them to be somewhat predictable. Black Mirror, a satire and dark comedy made by the BBC, offers many such conclusions in the form of troubling television episodes reminiscent of the Twilight Zone. In this conversation, we discuss our thoughts on the first season of the show which features the episodes The National Anthem, Fifteen Million Merits and The Entire History of You. We will be examining the second season later in November. As a warning, we do cover various crucial plot points in our review. If you would like to watch the show, please do not listen to this first.

It's been a year since we set out on this journey and started Stride and Saunter. We've learned a lot about podcasting, our world and our ever-growing audience. But we've also been fortunate to learn more about ourselves in the process - our ambitions, our capacities and new-found skills. We continue to thoroughly enjoy every aspect of this project and we hope the show continues to please and develop with time. We're very excited with upcoming plans and episodes and we can't wait to share them with you. With sincere gratitude, Kip Clark, Caroline Borders and Hector Marrero

Although cultural and societal ideas of feminine beauty are far too large to tackle on their own, we wanted to take a stab at relevant issues this week. We welcome Logan Bialik to our conversation on personal experiences with female body image, its construction and the impact of college life and mass media on values of feminine appearance. It is of course a sensitive issue and one we intend to revisit and examine in the future. Our special thanks to Caroline and Logan for sharing personal anecdotes and feelings regarding the topic.

With various grocery stores, restaurants and even food delivery services in the world, it is worth considering our food sources and how they affect local agriculture. This week we welcome Charlotte Graham, who has worked as a local food coordinator at Peirce Dining Hall in Kenyon College, to explain the impact of these systems. Our discussion ventures through issues of health, science, civic responsibility and economic considerations.

When we go to sleep, we often pass through countless scenes, images and worlds themselves. Our dreams reveal our unspoken thoughts, our realities and our unbridled fantasies. We stand to learn much from what and how we dream in the privacy of our minds. This week we welcome Zac Caputo to share some personal experiences with dreams. We also discuss our reactions in the real world to thoughts and feelings conjured in dreams.

As the most popular podcast of all time with over 94 million downloads since its 2014 launch, Serial deserves the attention, analysis and general interest it has received. It experiments with podcasting, storytelling and uncovering the "truth" behind the 1999 murder of 17-year-old resident of Baltimore, Hae Min Lee. Much of the podcast follows her supposed killer, former boyfriend Adnan Syed and his whereabouts during the tragedy. The host, Sarah Koenig asks crucial questions in both her interviews and of her audience. This week we welcome Gabe Brison-Trezise to review and discuss this podcast and critique Koenig's efforts and her creation.

In an increasingly global world, we are constantly exposed to new cultures, ideas and perspectives, many of which originate in remote spaces and times. As such, we often risk losing their original meanings and purposes. As peoples encounter new cultures, they often adopt and adapt foreign practices for different functions. This week, we welcome back Joe Walsh to discuss the phenomenon of cultural appropriation as it pertains to the indigenous Maori people of New Zealand and the All Blacks rugby team.

One of Kip's favorite films of 2014, Interstellar, was both highly anticipated and received with various reviews. Some loved it, others found it confusing, drawn-out and illogical. And while some see it as a science fiction film, its themes deal largely with the most innate levels of humanity, our fears and our hopes. It is as much about love, solitude and exploration as it is about space travel. We welcome back Kyle Aaronson to discuss his take as well as the highs and lows of the film.

While most people would point to verbal languages as the focal point of most human communication, the expressive power of the human body (and those of many animals!) cannot be denied. Increasingly, psychologists and other social scientists believe body language holds substantial attention and weight in social interaction. Because of the relevance and interest in the topic, we were happy to welcome Edgar Arceo this week to discuss some of these phenomena with us.

We're very happy to welcome Phoebe Lewis this week to discuss the nature of online relationships in the modern age. Not restricted to digital tales of romance, we wanted to examine how people behave both online and in reality as it parallels happenings on the Internet. We share our experiences, anecdotes of academic studies and offer insight on how to best navigate the ever-expanding realm of cyber-socializing.

When we go about our daily lives, we often forget or gloss over the complex systems of relationships and individuals who lead us to be who we are. Marriage, like many other social concepts, binds families and couples the world over. Libby Gardner joins us this week to examine some of the reasons for which people get married and to discuss the option of marriage itself and why some may or may not choose to pursue it.

This week we welcome Elliot Cromer to discuss some of his experiences and thoughts on pets and pet ownership. Both of us come from families with pets (especially Elliot) and we wanted to examine how people approach household animals. We also discuss some of the responsibilities and tasks necessary to care for the animals we own.

This week we welcome Tim Jurney to discuss ideas surrounding body hair. Scientific research has not concluded its every purpose on the body, though several hypotheses have been put forth. Nonetheless, people and cultures around the globe have made statements of approval or dissatisfaction with gendered and socioeconomic motivations. How do we consider body hair on others and on ourselves? Are our views ever independent of the societies in which we live?

This week we welcome Kyle Aaronson, a film major, to explain some of the dynamics of the Academy Awards and the 2015 Oscars in particular. In our discussion, we examine the roles that actors, directors and film-makers play in determining the popularity and relevance of films. We also talk about the Academy as an organization and its tendencies and general composition.