Best of Story Collider 2019

As we come to the end of 2019, the Story Collider team is reflecting on the stories that have run on our podcast this year. This year, we produced 77 live shows, with more than 370 different stories. Out of those, 108 stories have made their way onto the podcast, in 54 episodes. Below, we’ve highlighted the stories that made us laugh, made us cry, and changed our lives in 2019!

The three stories that made us laugh the most in 2019

Devon Kodzis: “Freaky Little Frog Ears”

Devon shares her story with a full house at our debut show in Dallas this year.

In this story from our Nov. 1 episode, “Crush,” zoology student Devon Kodzis's strategy of attracting boys with fun animal facts proves difficult.

“I love this story because it’s just so relatable. Devon’s battle between being her true self and finding a partner isn’t just funny but poignant. Even while she’s regaling him with frog facts at the end, I’m present to just how wonderful it is to find someone who loves you just as you are.”

—Paula Croxson, New York senior producer

“This story genuinely made me laugh so hard and cry too. I felt like I was right there with her watching it all unfold. Its so honest and hilarious and moving.”

—Lindsay Cooper, operations manager

“This story made me both laugh and cry, but left me feeling nothing but joy!! I very much related to Devon’s animal facts. Sometimes it’s actually worked for me as a pick-up!”

—Kayla Glynn, Vancouver producer

Jenn Montooth: “House Baby?”

In this story from our Sept. 13 episode, “Secrets,” Jenn Montooth is accepted to graduate school just as she discovers she's pregnant.

“There's something incredibly powerful about being able to laugh and find joy in a story that is so often treated as an experience to be ashamed of. Jenn's ability to tell the story of her abortion in a way that had me laughing out loud so perfectly captured that power.”

—Maryam Zaringhalam, DC senior producer

“I still sometimes see a baby and think: ‘House baby!’”

—Nisse Greenberg, deputy director

“After listening to this story, I want to be Jenn's friend.”

—Skylar Bayer, roving producer

Chris Wade: “It Takes a Village”

In this story from our Aug. 30 episode, “Labor Day,” Chris Wade and his wife are determined to have a baby -- even if it means following some unconventional advice.

“Chris made me laugh, and also completely fall in love with his family during his story.”

—Skylar Bayer, roving producer

“Chris’s wife is the hero we need in this story.”

—Erin Barker, artistic director

Honorable mentions

• Zack Stovall: “Completely Untethered”

• Dana Strout: “A Little Incontinence”

• Gianmarco Soresi: “You Are the Company That You Keep”

• Kenny Kinds: “They Can’t Take That Away From You”

• Alvin Irby: “Accidents Happen”

The three stories that made us cry the most in 2019

Bhuvanesh Singh: “It’s Okay”

Bhuvanesh Singh shares his story at our show in partnership with Memorial Sloan Kettering.

In this story from our Aug. 23 episode, “Surgery,” surgeon Bhuvanesh Singh sees his patient back in the hospital months after what he thought was a successful surgery.

“As soon as he saw her again, re-admitted, I knew what was going to happen, and I just cried from then through the end of the story.”

—Liz Neeley, executive director

“The genuine care and emotion that Bhuvanesh feels for his patient, Alice, is inspiring to me.”

—Erin Barker, artistic director

Sarah Kaplan: “The Most Interesting Stories in the Universe”

In this story from ourSept. 27 episode, “On the Scene,” journalist Sarah Kaplan , who normally covers the science beat, takes on an assignment unlike any she's had before when tragedy strikes in Las Vegas,

“Sarah pours every piece of herself into her story. She embodies everything a journalist should be: skeptical, yet compassionate; perceptive, yet open-minded. Sarah's story reminds us that stories—and their tellings—are relationships, and they don't end.”

—Katherine J. Wu, Boston senior producer

“I cry every single time Sarah gets to the part of her story where the scientist explains: ‘The neutrino isn't the lucky one. We are.’ She so beautifully captures the power of bearing witness to the stories and experiences of others.”

—Maryam Zaringhalam, DC senior producer

Audrey Kearns: “Fighting a Dragon”

In this story from the second installment of our Mental Health series, Audrey Kearns' big opportunity to appear as a panelist at a "nerd-convention" turns disastrous when she has an unexpected reaction to a new antidepressant.

“Hearing the pain in Audrey's voice as she finds out what happened when she had a bad reaction to anti-depressants makes me cry every time. That shame breaks my heart.”

—Misha Gajewski, Toronto senior producer

“Audrey's story taps into a fear I think most of us have -- of not having any control over our own body. I also think one of the things that touched me most in this story is Audrey's ability to show her husband's love of her through Audrey's own eyes. Absolutely beautiful and also I required a lot of tissues during this story.”

—Skylar Bayer, roving producer

“Audrey’s bravery in telling this story takes my breath away.”

—Paula Croxson, New York senior producer

Honorable mentions

• Minerva Contreras: “How Do You Lose a Mind?”

• Sarah Hird: “My Emotional Bunker”

• Mike Brown: “Best Seat in the House”

• Tajana Schneiderman: “Enough”

• Luke Rosen: “New and Incredibly Unthinkable Normal”

The three stories that changed our lives in 2019

C. Brandon Ogbunu: “Friends and Enemies”

Brandon Ogbunu shares his story at our show at the 2019 Evolution Meeting.

In this story from our Dec. 6 episode, “Justice,” geneticist C. Brandon Ogbunu contemplates the role race has played in his academic career after he is confronted by the police.

“This story didn't make me cry the most (that one goes to Bhuvanesh), but made me weird-cry...that's the feeling of "OMG THIS STORY IS SO DEEP, WELL-TOLD, BEAUTIFUL, UGLY, COMPLICATED, SATISFACTORY THAT I DON'T KNOW WHAT ELSE TO DO BUT TO CRY".

—Reyhaneh Maktoufi, Chicago producer

“Brandon's story is one that will stick with me for years—probably decades—to come. It's a powerful lesson on the ways identities intersect, and how inclusiveness in science still has such a long way to go.”

—Katherine J. Wu, Boston senior producer

Latasha Wright: “Strong as a Horse”

In this story from our Feb. 22 episode, “Inspiration,” Latasha Wright gets a fateful call just before she leaves for her dream opportunity to teach marine science on the Red Sea.

“There is one specific moment in Latasha's story that comes to my mind all the time — when she says she didn't want comfort after her dad died, she wanted it to go back to normal. That always hits me.”

—Nisse Greenberg, deputy director

“It was such a gift Latasha gave to share this part of her life.”

—Lindsay Cooper, operations manager

Tricia Hersey: “A Tool for Liberation”

In this story from our April 5 episode, “Peace,” Tricia Hersey, who’s overwhelmed by setbacks as she pursues her academic ambitions, discovers an unexpected solution to her stress.

“Not only was it a delight to produce this story and witness her journey, but I feel moved by her mission and message: rest as resistance.”

—Kellie Vinal, Atlanta producer

“I'm someone who feels like I should be in constant motion, always hustling. Listening to Tricia's story made me feel like I actually had permission to slow down, listen to my body, and, yes, take a nap when I need it!”

—Maryam Zaringhalam, DC senior producer

Honorable mentions

• Rodrigo Solis: “Desperate Measures”

• Jeannie Purchase: “A Hot Shower”

• Paula Croxson: “I Know This Monkey”

• Margaret Rubega: “Tell Them Who You Are”

• Ralph Bouquet: “Fear That Stays With Me”

Other favorites

Meltem Alemdar: “The Most American of Stories”

In this story, from our March 29 episode, “New Places,” social scientist Meltem Alemdar leaves her home in Turkey to pursue her education in the US and struggles to find her identity.

“Not only was it great to work with Meltem on this story, I think it captures so much of the immigrant experience in the US — the challenge of walking the line between holding on to cultural identity and wanting to assimilate into your new home…It's made me much more sensitive about what she's experienced, what my husband and parents have experienced, and so many other immigrants that I encounter day to day.”

—Meisa Salaita, Atlanta producer

Skylar Bayer: “My Friend Andy”

In this story from our April 12 episode, “Limelight,” marine biologist Skylar Bayer finds an unexpected collaborator and friend in the fisherman helping her get scallops.

“This is one of my favorite Story Collider stories of all time — the way it speaks to the cultural divide between scientists and some of the folks they end up working with, and the fact that that divide can be bridged by the power of friendship. Plus, The Colbert Report makes an appearance!”

—Erin Barker, artistic director

Emily Yarrison: “No Ward for Sad Ladies”

In this story, from the May 17 installment of our Mental Health series, Emily Yarrison survives her suicide attempt and has to ask herself a whole new set of questions.

“I loved our entire Mental Health series, but Emily’s story stands out to me because she somehow manages to be incredibly funny and charming in a story about surviving suicide. Thank you, Emily!”

—Erin Barker, artistic director

Honorable mentions

• Adriana Briscoe: “One Step Closer to the Rocky Mountains”

• Aida Rosenbaum: “This Is Nothing Like My Classroom”

• Nick Baskerville: “Fire Is in My Job Title”

• Parmvir Bahia: “Warrior Princess”

• Adrien Behn: “My Best Friend”

Searching for New Producers in Toronto and St. Louis!

Jesse and Misha hosting Story Collider Toronto.

This fall, we’re saying goodbye to two valued members of our team — Jesse Hildebrand in Toronto and Emma Young in St. Louis — as they move on to new opportunities. In preparation for their departures, we’re beginning the search for new producer/hosts in these cities! These new members of our team will start with shows in 2020.

If you are based in the Toronto or St. Louis areas and are interested in being a part of our live show production team, you can find more information on our Jobs page.

Best of Story Collider 2018

This year, The Story Collider aired more than a hundred stories on the podcast (and hosted nearly 300 in 59 shows across the US, the UK, Canada, New Zealand, and even Germany)! As we close out 2018, we wanted to highlight some of those that have stood out and resonated deeply with our team. Each of our producer teams based in our Home Stage cities of New York, DC, Boston, Los Angeles, St. Louis, Atlanta, Toronto, Vancouver, and Wellington has selected a story that appeared on the podcast this year that they feel represents the best of what their shows have to offer. In addition, our artistic director and executive director have also selected stand-out stories from our partnership shows around the world.

Best of New York: Bianca Jones Marlin

From Nov. 9 episode, “Pregnancy”

An expert in oxytocin, the hormone released during birth, Bianca Jones Marlin is determined to have a natural birth — even as the hours of labor add up…

“We love how Bianca’s story shows us the ways in which her life shaped her science, and the science she studied shaped her life. The after effect of studying something to the point of getting a PhD is so beautifully clarified through such a high stakes event. We also love the way that Bianca weaves in both emotion and humor. When she jumps into her second Uber Black - because she’s having a baby, after all - we’re there with her every step of the way.”

—Paula Croxson and Tracy Rowland Story Collider New York producers, with assistance from roving producers Nisse Greenberg and Zack Stovall

Best of DC: Jason Rodriguez

From May 4 episode, “Identity”

Mathematician and comic book writer Jason Rodriguez feels torn between separate cultural and professional identities.

“Honestly, Jason had us at ‘space cats!’ But ultimately we chose his story because he drives at something so dear to our storytelling hearts: the power of bringing our full selves to the work we do. At the core of Jason’s story lies a tension between multiple competing threads of his identity: that he’s Puerto Rican, white, a scientist, and a comic book artist. At Story Collider, we often speak of how stories can help us make sense of ourselves and Jason so perfectly captures how telling his story brought the threads of his identity together to make him whole.”

—Maryam Zaringhalam and Shane Hanlon, Story Collider DC producers, with assistance from roving producer Skylar Bayer

Best of Los Angeles: Evelyn Valdez-Ward

From Aug. 31 episode, “Trials by Fire”

When Evelyn Valdez-Ward discovers that she's undocumented, she fears her dreams of becoming a scientist are over. 

“Evelyn Valdez-Ward’s personal journey to becoming a DACA Dreamer is both heartbreaking and uplifting. The steps and exposure she and her family faced for DACA is heroic in my mind. Evelyn achieved Dreamer status and now it looks like she may save the world one day as a scientist.”

—Audrey Kearns and Joseph Scrimshaw, Story Collider LA producers

Best of Toronto: Cailin Gallinger

From Sept. 21 episode, “Science Saved My Life”

When Cailin Gallinger struggles with her gender identity in college, her volunteer position in a plant lab becomes a lifeline.

“We love this story because it is beautiful, vulnerable and shows how science can be a refuge even in the darkest of times. It was so captivating that you could have heard a pin drop when she told it on stage and the whole world stops when you listen to it on the podcast. As producers we still find ourselves thinking about Cailin’s story over and over again, which we think is true a testament to how powerful her tale is.”

—Misha Gajewski and Jesse Hildebrand, Story Collider Toronto producers

Best of Boston: Elorm Avakame

From July 13 episode, “Mortality”

As a medical student, Elorm Avakame befriends a patient who is dying from alcoholism.

“Education's a funny thing: The things that stick with us the most are usually the lessons we never expected to learn. Few stories exemplify this better than medical student Elorm Avakame's beautiful tale about his first brush with a terminally ill patient. Even though his story focuses on an experience that few of us will ever have, it touches pretty much every emotional milestone there is. His candor and his vulnerability leave you aching; his personable tone and self-deprecating humility make you laugh at exactly the right moments.”

-Katie Wu and Ari Daniel, Story Collider Boston producers, with assistance from Christine Gentry, roving producer

Best of Vancouver: Charlie Cook

From June 27 episode, “Pride”

Science educator Charlie Cook experiments with coming out to students.

“Charlie Cook closed the show at our official Vancouver launch in May and their story will always hold a special place in my heart. Working with Charlie has had a profound impact on my life. They shaped the way I express myself, in particular when it comes to the language I choose to use. I hope hearing Charlie’s story helps people understand how their choice of words can affect others.”

—Kayla Glynn, Story Collider Vancouver producer, with assistance from new Vancouver producer Josh Silberg

Best of St. Louis: Sarah Pearl

From Feb. 16 episode, “Black Holes”

Comedian Sarah Pearl checks into a psychiatric hospital after having suicidal thoughts.

“We both agree that Sarah Pearl's story is one of the bravest we've had in St. Louis. We recognize that it's not easy to talk openly about mental illness and suicide, but Sarah powerfully interweaves the pain of her experience with the beauty of humor and self-discovery, and she vividly illustrates how those things connected so crucially in her recovery. Towards the end of her story Sarah has a wonderful line about how she's comforted by the knowledge that there are researchers out there who study her illness -- and we're extremely grateful that those researchers made it possible for Sarah to share her story with us.”

—Eli Chen and Emma Young, Story Collider St. Louis producers

Best of Atlanta: Joe Normandin

From Jan. 12 episode, “Origin Stories”

When Joe Normandin begins to question his sexuality as a teenager, he turns to neuroscience for help.

“When we first approached Joe to tell a story, he replied that he had really wanted to say no to us because he was completely over-committed, but he couldn’t do it. He couldn’t say no. He felt like his story had to get out there so that young gay people, like the teenager he was in the story, could see that they aren’t alone in their journey coming to terms with their sexuality. We love the passion that Joe shares for how science helped him feel that there was nothing wrong with him, even though he was different.”

—Meisa Salaita, Emma Yarbrough, and Kellie Vinal, Story Collider Atlanta producers

Best of Wellington: Veronika Meduna

From Nov. 9 episode, “Pregnancy”

Science writer Veronika Meduna thought she never wanted to have children, but in her late thirties, she changes her mind.

“When something you feel is fundamental to your personality is swept out from under you, it hits the stomach hard. My tummy did that swooping, gravity-defying plunge listening to Veronika Meduna. Knowledgeable, analytical, and objective, Veronika is one of our favorite science journalists in New Zealand. But I listened to this intensely rational woman tell an emotionally charged story of deciding to become a parent, overturning all her youthful certainty that children would never be on her horizon.  Her story isn’t even slightly objective and you can feel the intensely charged emotional atmosphere by the end of it. “

—Ceridwyn Roberts and Dacia Herbulock, Story Collider New Zealand producers

From Our Partner Shows

Artistic Director’s Pick: Ethan Hollander

From Jan. 26 episode, “Good and Evil”

Political scientist Ethan Hollander interviews a Nazi war criminal as part of his research.

“I thought about this story for weeks after I heard it. Not only am I fascinated by the bizarreness of the scene Ethan paints — to conduct this interview, he, a Jewish political scientist, visits Nazi war criminal Maurice Papon at home and sits around the coffee table in his living room — I’m also captivated by the questions he faces as a result. Where do we draw the line between good and evil?”

—Erin Barker, artistic director of Story Collider

Executive Director’s Pick: Marco Quesada

From June 22 episode, “Unfamiliar Territory”

Costa Rican ecologist Marco Quesada sees a new side of his country when he travels to Chira Island for a conservation project. 

“I love stories that take me to a place I’ve never been, and Marco makes the mangroves of Costa Rica come alive in all their gorgeous, stinking, sweaty glory. It has one of my favorite lines ever, and amazingly, was the product of one of our workshops - written and performed in just two days. If you’re in the mood for a tropical story about humility, connection, and the importance of good lipstick, this one is for you. ”

—Liz Neeley, executive director of Story Collider

Find the full playlist of our Best of 2018 stories below!

The Story Collider Is Expanding!

We’re delighted to share with you all today that The Story Collider is expanding its team in 2019, as we prepare to launch new Home Stage shows in five cities, including Dallas and Chicago. This time around, we’re looking not only for producers, but also for podcast screeners and even a full-time assistant director. Check out the descriptions below -- and if they sound like opportunities someone you know might be interested in, we’d appreciate your help in spreading the word!

Assistant Director

The Story Collider is seeking a full-time Assistant Director to help direct and develop programming for our live shows, podcast, workshops. This is a brand-new role starting in January 2019, created to help facilitate our growth as we expand next year.

Find out more here.

Join our team, and you too could be a part of this massive producer group hug!

Producers - Chicago, Dallas, and Beyond

The Story Collider is looking for new producers in Dallas and Chicago as we prepare for our 2019 launches in these cities! If you’re interested in becoming a Story Collider producer but are not based in Dallas or Chicago, we are also exploring opportunities in other cities, such as San Francisco, Nashville, and Columbus, Ohio, among others, so please feel free to reach out as well. Please note: These are not a full-time positions; producers are paid on a per-show basis.

Find out more here.

Screeners

The Story Collider is looking to expand its pool of screeners for the upcoming year. Screeners are individuals who listen to raw audio from our shows in cities across the United States, Canada, Europe, and New Zealand, and provide their feedback and recommendations for our podcast. Because we produce around 300 stories at around 60 shows every year, and podcast only slightly more than 100, we rely on this feedback to inform our decisions. Please note: This position is fairly low commitment, and screeners will be compensated on a per-story basis.

Find out more here.

We’re incredibly excited to welcome new folks to our team! If you have any questions after reviewing the above information, feel free direct those to stories@storycollider.org.

—Erin Barker, Artistic Director, and Liz Neeley, Executive Director

Why the Human Stories Behind Science Matter

Last May, at our big eighth anniversary fundraiser at Caveat in New York City, I put together a presentation about my work with Story Collider and why it matters to me. I can’t watch it personally, because seeing my own stark sincerity is like staring directly into the sun, but I hope you enjoy!

And if you’d like to follow my ongoing adventures as Story Collider’s AD, I’m blogging about our travels and the things I see and learn about science and storytelling along the way here.

—Erin Barker, artistic director of The Story Collider

Our First Anonymous Story

This week, for the very first time in the nearly eight years that we’ve been podcasting stories, The Story Collider is running a story anonymously.

In this story, featured in part two of our recent episode, “Help," a marine scientist describes her experience being raped by a fellow student from her lab and then having to work alongside him every day, as both academia and the legal system failed her.

At the storyteller’s request, I—along with our executive director, Liz Neeley, and senior podcast editor, Zoe Saunders—made the decision to run this story anonymously because while the storyteller felt strongly that she wanted to share her story, she has, since sharing her story live on stage here in New York, faced harassment and professional retaliation.

You probably will not be surprised to learn that I find this infuriating—that victims of sexual assault should have to fear repercussions more than rapists and the people who enable them makes me sick to my stomach. But after nearly eight years producing stories for The Story Collider, I also know full well that this is sadly the reality today for many people in science and academia.

Last June, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) released a report on sexual harassment in science, based on decades of research. Among other striking details in the report: About half of all women in science experience some form of sexual harassment. As artistic director of The Story Collider, I cannot tell you how many scientists have privately shared with us their stories of sexual assault, harassment, gender discrimination—stories that they cannot share on our stage because their careers and their livelihoods would be threatened, or in some cases, even their health and well-being. 

If you’d like to read more about sexual assault and harassment in science, our team recommends the following:

• The group 500 Women Scientists has written a great summary of NAS's report on sexual harassment in science, and there's also a quick and helpful run-down on Vox.
• In her article “Have the Sciences Had a #MeToo Moment? Not So Much," from the May 2018 issue of National Geographic, Kathryn Clancy does a great job spelling out why this problem persists in science and why abusers and harassers often don’t face consequences.
• In "Confronting Sexual Harassment in Science" from Scientific American last October, Cristine Russell details some of the measures being taken to combat this problem.

If you yourself have been a victim of sexual assault, RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) has a free and confidential hotline that you can call: 1-800-656-HOPE. You can also chat with someone at rainn.org.

In our last exchange, our storyteller said to me, “I dream about the day that I am not going to care anymore about the consequences. That day I will call you and let you know that I am ready to share a second story and link them together publicly for real, with my full name.”

I dream of that day too, my friend. May it come sooner rather than later. 

—Erin Barker, artistic director of The Story Collider

Celebrating Pride Month with The Story Collider

Last October, neuroscientist Joe Normandin shared an amazing story about how neuroscience helped him reconcile his feelings about his sexuality.

This June, The Story Collider will be celebrating Pride Month by highlighting stories about the intersection of science and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer issues. These stories are important to be personally, because the first scientist I ever met -- really the only one I knew until I met Story Collider founder Ben Lillie in 2010 -- was my younger brother, Dan.

Ever since we were kids, he's been obsessed with the natural world. (Which usually meant that, when he went to summer camp, I had to feed crickets and other living things to his menagerie, something that still haunts me today...) But in his high school science class one year, his lab partner refused to include him in any of their work, telling him -- and I quote -- "Gay people can't do science."

Which, interestingly, is a statement that can actually be disproven by science. (Have you heard of Alan Turing, by chance? Or, I don't know, astronaut Sally Ride? Ben Barres, Margaret Mead, Sara Josephine Baker... I'll stop now.)

Sadly, Dan was used to dealing with this kind of thing from his classmates. So he approached his science teacher and explained the situation, and asked if he could change lab partners. But his science teacher was unsympathetic. Told him to just deal with it. So my brother was subjected to bullying every day in the class that should have been his greatest joy.

It broke my heart that science, something my brother loved and was so passionate about, would become something that he dreaded. It infuriated me that his teacher, the person charged with inspiring him to learn and love science, had done the opposite. This was my first glimpse into the idea that science can be exclusionary, even as early as high school, and that, for people like my brother, there can sometimes be extra obstacles the rest of us aren't subjected to. And even just in Dan's life, this barely scratches the surface.

This past March, I read about a study from Montana State University in which Dr. Bryce Hughes and his team found that students from sexual minorities leave science, technology, engineering and math degrees at higher rates than their heterosexual classmates, regardless of aptitude or enthusiasm. I can't help but think that this must be because they are overwhelmed by the same kind of obstacles my brother has faced. Especially considering the other stats, such as that 20% of all LGBT physicists in the US face "exclusion and harassment at work because of their gender identity or sexual orientation."

It drove home to me even more the importance of sharing these stories, especially since I understand the power they have to challenge people's mindsets and allow us to walk in another person's shoes. Six years ago, we had a story on the show that gave me a new perspective. In this story, Elana Lancaster's boyfriend (at the time) comes out as transgender. At first, Elana isn't totally sure how to feel about it -- until Elana sees her wearing a dress for the first time. There's a moment when Elana catches her looking at her reflection in a shop window and sees this joy in her face that Elana had never seen before... And suddenly Elana knows what to do. This moment touched me so much. Because everyone has, at some point, wanted so badly for someone they love to feel safe and confident in themselves. It made me understand in a new way how important it is to respect people’s identities and to support them being fully themselves. This is one of those stories that I sometimes just think about on the subway and start crying. I’m actually doing it now, to be totally honest with you.

So it's important to me, and to all of us at Story Collider, to share these stories. To raise awareness, to build understanding -- but also because they're just so damn good. We're fortunate to have had so many talented and fascinating people share stories about this topic with us. 

So this month, The Story Collider will be doing a few things to celebrate Pride Month:

Me with my brother, Dan.

• Each of our five episodes in the month of June will include an AMAZING story from an LGBTQ+ storyteller. (You can find our first episode here.) 
• On our social media channels, we'll be highlighting stories about LGBTQ+ issues from our back catalog. Follow us @story_collider on Twitter, @storycollider on Instagram, and @thestorycollider on Facebook. (You can also find some of these stories in our 2017 National Coming Out Day playlist.)
• We would also love to share your stories, or the work that's being done to advocate for LGBTQ+ issues in STEM! Tweet at us, or send us an email at stories@storycollider.org.
• We're hoping to put together a special bonus Pride-theme episode later in the month.

In addition to this, our Toronto crew is planning a show in honor of the very first international LGBTQ in STEM Day on July 5. If you're interested in sharing your story, send us your pitch at stories@storycollider.org.

Oh, and if you were wondering -- my brother is now living his best life with his boyfriend, Devon, and boxer-dachshund mix (don't ask), Cricket, working in vector surveillance and catching bugs and critters all day, just like he always dreamed. So it looks like gay people CAN do science after all, Chad!

-Erin Barker, Artistic Director

The Story Collider celebrates eight years!

The crowd goes wild!

Last week, on May 1, The Story Collider celebrated eight years of stories about science with its first-ever fundraising event! Scientists, storytellers, journalists, and other friends and supporters of Story Collider gathered at Caveat in New York City to enjoy stories from journalist Arielle Duhaime-Ross (VICE News Tonight), comedian Josh Gondelman (HBO's Last Week Tonight), and microbiologist Jo Handelsman (associate director of science under President Obama). [Note: Look for these stories on our podcast in the coming weeks!]

Story Collider directors Liz Neeley and Erin Barker also shared their own journeys to discovering the importance of stories about science that night. Erin's presentation featured clips of stories by mathematician Piper Harron, environmental engineer Siddhartha Roy, sociologist Rashawn Ray, marine ecologist Madhavi Colton, and criminologist Heith Copes.

The Story Collider team wishes to thank everyone in attendance for their generous contributions, as well as the night's sponsors -- Avenue Capital, Burroughs Wellcome Fund, Wheeler Farms, Bang & Olufsen, and Caveat. Here's to eight more years of stories about science!

For more photos from the event, check out our slideshow below! (Photos by Carly Hoogendyk.)

The Story Collider's 8th Birthday

The stage is set!

Gift bags and wine are all ready for our guests, thanks to Story Collider volunteers who worked diligently on setup! (Special thanks to Lavender Wind Farm for providing accessories for our gift bags!)

Story Collider board members John Rennie and Louie Rivers III catch up before the show. John is an editor at Quanta Magazine as well as former chief editor of Scientific American, and Louie is an assistant professor in the Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources at North Carolina State University.

Neuroscientist Heather Berlin and her partner, peer-reviewed rapper Baba Brinkman, settle in to enjoy the show. (Look for them on the Story Collider podcast soon!)

From left to right: Shannon Palus, journalist for Wirecutter/New York Times; Sarah Austin Jenness, executive producer of The Moth; Jenifer Hixson, senior director of The Moth; and Ben Lillie, chairman of The Story Collider’s board.

Guests visit Caveat’s bar before the show. Highly recommended as a measure to prevent learning.

Erin Barker and Ed Yong

After an intro video, hosts Erin Barker (artistic director of The Story Collider) and Ed Yong (journalist and bestselling author of I Contain Multitudes) take the stage! “Our first show was eight years ago in the basement of a bar in Queens… and look how far we’ve come — now we’re in a basement in Manhattan!”

Ed Yong, host with the most

Ed introduces our first storyteller, Arielle Duhaime-Ross, climate correspondent for VICE News.

Arielle Duhaime-Ross, journalist for VICE News Tonight

Our first storyteller, Arielle Duhaime-Ross, took the stage to share a story from her work reporting on climate change for VICE News Tonight.

Arielle Duhaime-Ross

“I got this job, working as a climate correspondent for VICE News Tonight, and suddenly I was spending a lot of time outside Brooklyn. And that was amazing. Because the very existence of a job like mine meant that nightly news was finally going to take climate change coverage seriously. And that mattered to me.”

Arielle Duhaime-Ross

“But as I learned really quickly, traveling a lot also meant that I’d get called “sir” multiple times a day — and not always as a sign of respect…”

Arielle’s wife, Meredith, applauds her spouse!

Erin Barker and Ed Yong

After Arielle’s story, Ed reflects on his own journalistic adventures in Peru, and Erin reflects on her adventures spending 24 hours at the San Diego airport.

Josh Gondelman, comedian and writer for Last Week Tonight

Our second storyteller, Josh Gondelman, is ready for his close-up. Josh is a standup comedian and Emmy-winning writer for HBO’s Last Week Tonight.

Josh Gondelman

“This is a story of defeating a nemesis. Normally when you defeat a nemesis it takes decades… my nemesis I vanquished in three days.”

Josh Gondelman

“My nemesis was the CEO of a pharmaceutical corporation, which sounds like a formidable opponent. Until I tell you he was the CEO of a company that manufactured a penis-numbing spray targeted toward premature ejaculaters...”

Story Collider DC producer Maryam Zaringhalam “loses her shit” during Josh Gondelman’s story.

Celebrating a hilarious performance by Josh Gondelman (center): Story Collider NYC producers Paula Croxson (also a neuroscientist at Mt. Sinai) and Tracy Rowland (also an Emmy-winning TV producer), SC artistic director Erin Barker, journalist Ed Yong, and SC executive director Liz Neeley.

Josh Gondelman with Story Collider St. Louis producer Eli Chen, also a science reporter for St. Louis Public Radio.

Meredith and Arielle, with Eric Jankowski, assistant professor of materials science and engineering at Boise State University and longtime supporter of The Story Collider.

Story Collider producer Paula Croxson (second from right) and engineer Eric Jankowski (right) mingle with guests.

Story Collider supporters Sandi Marx (right), New York-based storyteller, and Danny Miller (center), MIT astrophysicist. (Check out Danny’s story on our podcast here.)

Jo Handelsman, director of the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery at UW-Madison and our third storyteller of the night, chats with her former colleague, Yale psychiatrist David Ross, also a Story Collider partner and donor.

New York Times journalists Carl Zimmer and Andy Revkin. (Both are Story Collider alums — find their stories here and here.)

Emma Parry and Melissa Flashman of Janklow and Nesbit (outside) with storyteller Steve Zimmer, winner of more than 20 Moth StorySlams, and Justin D’Ambrosio, elegant man about town and one of the First Gentlemen of Story Collider.

Host Ed Yong with two guests.

Story Collider board member Sally Wheeler Maier chats with Josh during intermission.

Story Collider executive director Liz Neeley chats with Meredith Cornelius, Arielle Duhaime-Ross, and Story Collider board member Louie Rivers.

Each of our storytellers assembled a package of books for our raffle, with themes ranging from comedy to microbiology.

Story Collider DC producer and biologist Maryam Zaringhalam keeps an eye on the valuables.

Maryam and Story Collider roving producer Nisse Greenberg were two of the amazing volunteers who pitched in that night. (Check out their stories on our podcast, here and here.)

Story Collider executive director Liz Neeley (left) and host Ed Yong (right) chat with SC DC producer Maryam Zaringhalam’s delightful parents during intermission.

Story Collider executive director Liz Neeley makes her way to the stage.

Dessert is served!

Caveat’s signature Nerd shots are delivered to guests for the second half of the show.

Story Collider artistic director Erin Barker savors her signature Red Bull while preparing to go on for the second half.

Director Time

Co-directors prepare to take the stage.

Ed Yong, First Gentleman of Story Collider

Host Ed Yong introduces his favorite person, executive director Liz Neeley.

Liz Neeley, executive director of Story Collider

Story Collider executive director Liz Neeley introduces the second half of the show. A former marine biologist, Liz reflects on her journey from science to story.

Meanwhile, Erin lurks off-stage.

Liz Neeley

Liz introduces a presentation from Story Collider’s artistic director, Erin Barker.

Co-director love

Story Collider’s executive director and artistic director hug as the latter comes on stage for her presentation.

Erin Barker, artistic director of Story Collider

Story Collider artistic director Erin Barker reveals, with help from cinematic masterpiece X-Men Origins: Wolverine, that she will be flagrantly violating a key rule of Story Collider by using slides.

Erin Barker

Erin tells the story of her journey to understanding scientists. (Ed later objects to one element of the visuals.)

Erin Barker

Erin shares impactful clips from Story Collider stories by mathematician Piper Harron, environmental engineer Siddhartha Roy, sociologist Rashawn Ray, marine ecologist Madhavi Colton, and criminologist Heith Copes.

Jo Handelsman, microbiologist

Host Ed Yong adjusts the mic for our final storyteller, Jo Handelsman. Jo shared a story about her time as associate Director for Science in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy under President Obama.

Jo Handelsman

“About 45 minutes after the swearing in, I was sitting in my gorgeous Victorian office looking at my massive mahogany desk with nothing on it. I had just started thinking about which part of my agenda I should work on first...  And then a member of my staff knocked on my door…”

Jo Handelsman

“She asked how I liked my job so far. I responded that the first 45 minutes had been quite fine. She closed the door and told me she hoped I’d still like my job when she was done sharing her news…”

Storyteller Jo Handelsman assists with our raffle drawing!

Story Collider NYC producer Paula Croxson celebrates her raffle victory! (It wasn’t rigged, we swear!)

Photos by Carly Hoogendyk.

Introducing honoraria for storytellers

The Story Collider is excited to announce that we will now offer $25 honoraria to all of our storytellers, starting with shows in January 2018!

We've hoped to offer our storytellers honoraria for a long time, as we believe storytelling is an art and that artists deserve to be paid for their work. We have a deep respect for the time and effort that our storytellers put in. But as a small organization on a tight budget, it was a challenge for us to figure out how we could make this happen. After all, we produce 50 shows every year, each with five storytellers, and that adds up to... a lot of storytellers (hey, we're not mathematicians!).

Here we are, being very serious artists in Vancouver.

Fortunately, this year, an anonymous donor who believes strongly in storytelling as an art generously contributed funds specifically earmarked for storytellers -- enough for each to receive a $25 honorarium.  Although we're still on the lookout for opportunities to offer storytellers more in the future, we are grateful for this generous donation and the opportunity it has given us to honor our storytellers' time and committment. We hope this is just the beginning.

After their show, storytellers will receive a Google Form asking for anonymous demographic information, which we are gathering in order to promote inclusion at our shows, and feedback, which we may use as we apply for grants and other funding. Storytellers may contribute this information, or skip any or all questions, to get to the link that processes their honorarium. 

Storytellers will also have the opportunity to donate their honoraria to our pro bono shows, such as our upcoming collaboration with Society for Advancement of Chicanos/Hispanics and Native Americans in Science (SACNAS), an inclusive organization dedicated to fostering the success of Chicano/Hispanic and Native American scientists.

I will begin contacting our storytellers from Q1 2018 shows over the next few weeks to process their honoraria. If you have any questions or concerns about this, please get in touch with me at Erin@storycollider.org. We welcome your feedback!

-Erin Barker, artistic director

Producer Search: Vancouver

Producer Kayla Glynn tells her story at our first Vancouver event last December.

The Story Collider is looking for a new producer in Vancouver, BC. This job has three pieces: 1) event planning and promotion, 2) storyteller recruitment and coaching, and 3) hosting live performances. There will also be opportunities to contribute to the broader organization.

Experience in storytelling is essential, and experience on stage (such as in theater or stand-up, improv and sketch comedy) is strongly preferred. Scientific background is not required. We deeply appreciate people who are fun, funny, hardworking, and brave. You must have great communication skills and respect for people from all walks of life, and be able to work cooperatively with a co-producer to launch our series in Vancouver. We’d love to hear about and help you develop marketing, audio production, and other event-related expertise.

This is not a full-time position. Producers are paid on a flat per-show basis. 

Interested? Take a listen to our podcast to see the kind of stories we produce and then email us at stories@storycollider.org with "Vancouver Producer" in the subject line. Let us know what you think makes a great story, and why you have a passion for true, personal stories about science.

2017 Podcast Highlights

This year, 104 stories from New York, Toronto, St. Louis, Atlanta, Boston, DC, Los Angeles, the UK, New Zealand, and more have appeared on our podcast! To celebrate another banner year of science stories, each member of our production staff has selected a story from 2017 that was especially meaningful to them.

Veronica Ades

From "Identification," part 2

I heard this story live in New York and it left me speechless. It conveyed to me so many things: how hard it is to live in a country like South Sudan, how tough it is to be a medic, and how little we know about the human body. As a scientist I always want to be in control of things, and the more I try to do that, the harder it feels when I fail. For medical doctors, wherever they are working, failure means even more. “Sometimes you do your best, and it’s not enough.” Veronica also conveys beautifully all the complexity that goes with putting your career before your own health. I love how she comes to realize, through her experience, how to express her own needs and desires even while she continues her amazing, important work. I want to be her when I grow up.

-Paula Croxson, New York producer

Megan Hatlen

From "Pressure," part 2

"Science is 99% failure, which is slightly horrifying--especially if you're a scientist, which I am." I love a good failure story. And a good love story. And Megan Hatlen gives us the best of both in our recent "Pressure" episode. Our empathy muscles cramp as Megan describes failing and failing again in the lab. Our hearts flutter as her wife, Jess, reaches for her hand and says, "Do you know that there's no one else that I would rather go through this with than you?" We're #TeamMegan no matter what happens. But we get to jump up and down with her when her eureka moment finally arrives.

-Christine Gentry, Boston producer

Jess Thom

From "Excited State," part 2

Storytelling, at its heart, invites your audience to understand, perhaps just for a moment, what it feels like to be you. When Jess Thom finds herself staring out into a windy night, a poetic phrase bursts out of her: "You are waving like the sea, tree! Are you a large tree or a sea anemone? Trees, the squirrels are so lucky you’ve given them whitewater rafting lessons. It’s an adventure!” I LOVE that image -- it feels like magical realism. I'd never understood before that Tourette's can have a generative beauty to it. Jess speaks in such a warm, witty way that I couldn't help but share in her raw delight in that particular tic. Jess's exploration of what her tics feel like is unforgettable. Her story felt like a personal gift, and in giving it, she reminded me that the tiniest moments in my life can become magic too.

-Liz Neeley, executive director

Rob Campo

From "Oil," part 2

We were invited to host a Story Collider in New Orleans in early February that showcased stories related to oil spills. Finding scientists to fill the lineup was fairly simple. But our sponsors rightly encouraged us to reach out to at least one non-scientist — ideally a fisherman. I emailed and called a couple fishermen who didn’t respond. Fair enough: it’s a tall order to agree to share a personal story in front of an audience you don’t know for a show you may not have heard of. Another fisherman picked up the phone when I called but wasn’t available the night of the show. With the evening drawing closer, our options were running out. And then I got referred to Robert Campo. He’s a proud fourth-generation fisherman. The first time we spoke, Rob’s love of fishing oysters and running his 117-year-old business was evident. So was his pain when he told me about how the Deepwater Horizon oil spill impacted him and his community. I was honored when he said he’d share his story on our stage. When it came time for the show, we decided to have Rob close the evening out. We had a bunch of good stories that night, but Rob’s deep connection to the Gulf and his ability to weave together the science and the emotion were a powerful combination. At one point, Rob said, “Louisiana is near and dear to me. It’s in my heart. I was born and raised on these bayous all my life. I tell people all the time that I have saltwater in my veins. That’s what my blood type is, it’s saltwater.” People listening that night were touched. Including me. In our eyes, there was saltwater.

Special thanks to the Gulf of Mexico Research Initiative and the Center for the Integrated Modeling and Analysis of Gulf Ecosystems for supporting our show in New Orleans earlier this year.

-Ari Daniel, Boston producer

Heith Copes

From "In the Field," part 2

When Heith Copes embarks on a study of meth users in rural Alabama, he expects it to be like any of the other work he's done as a criminologist. The sign outside the trailer that says, "Don't get caught being stupid" is the first indicator that he's wrong. And pretty soon, he finds himself connecting with his subjects on a much deeper level than he'd ever expected. I love so many things about this story -- the way he shows us the humanity and the struggle of his research subjects, the honest emotion with which he tells it, and especially the powerful conclusion he comes to about what love and sincerity have to offer both him and his science. (Since I hosted this show down in New Orleans, in conjunction with the American Society of Criminology's meeting, I can vouch for the fact that after this story, many hugs were had by all.) What makes this story even more incredible is that Heith's subjects are captured in a series of photos by Heith's collaborator in this project, Jared Ragland. You can view those here: https://jaredragland.com/good-bad-people

-Erin Barker, artistic director

Yael Fitzpatrick

From "Symbiosis," part 1

Full disclosure -- Yael is a good friend, so when she told me she was going to pitch us a story, I vowed to be hard on her as to not show favoritism. Turns out that was unnecessary as she told told a beautiful story about friendship, wildlife, and the power of good lighting. Sitting on the edge of the stage, listening to her story, I was taken to that beach, felt the wind and spray of the water, and was actually jealous of not being there in that time of acid-washed jeans, big hair, and flashlights that aren't on your phone. I get chills to this day when I hear those final words: "...it's definitely the most meaningful lighting work that I've ever done..."

-Shane Hanlon, DC producer

Devon Collins

From "Idenfication," part 1

I’ve often heard the refrain: “You can’t be what you can’t see.” Still, there’s this really pernicious idea in science that once you don your lab coat, you must shed your race, ethnicity, gender, religion, and accumulated lived experiences. That’s the price you pay to preserve your objectivity. As a scientist, I’ve rejected that idea with my whole heart. When I think about why, I turn to Devon’s story, to something his mother told him: “Sometimes what you imagine for yourself is not what the world imagines for you. And sometimes what the world imagines for you is a lot less than what you deserve. But you have to keep imagining because the world is wrong.” Devon’s story beautifully weaves the crushing blows of racism with the importance of role models, winding its way to why the work he does today, teaching and mentoring students who look and think like him, is so important. “As a teacher, I get to be the flesh in front of somebody actually living out their dreams, living out the best things that they could imagine for themselves.” I became a producer for The Story Collider this summer, and Devon’s story has become a touchstone for me when I think about the power of scientists telling stories. The stories we tell are windows into our humanity. And at their best, they offer hundreds of mirrors through which we might find ourselves reflected.

-Maryam Zaringhalam, DC producer

Skylar and Thom Young-Bayer

From "Chemistry," part 2

I have to admit, part of the reason I chose Skylar and Thom's piece is because I enjoy a good love story where things work out for the both of them (contrary to the piece that I performed earlier this year at the "Eclipse" show). What really got me hooked onto this story from the start was Skylar's frankness and self-deprecating admissions. For example, I laughed when I heard her talk about shaving her legs and reflecting on her exes and going, "Well, I'm really good at showing guys what they don't want," because I've been there, pretty hard. Skylar and Thom did such great job with building tension by describing the thoughts going through their heads and how that played into the way they acted with each other. The Story Collider pieces that I think do really well are ones like this where the storytellers' personalities are just so captivating that you forget you're listening to a science story.

-Eli Chen, St. Louis producer

David Baron

From "Syzygy," part 2

This summer I was listening to NPR and stumbled upon an interview with a solar eclipse chaser. My ears perked up. A total solar eclipse was to pass a couple hours north of Atlanta in a few weeks, and I’d been debating about pulling my small children out of school and going. My husband was going to be out of town and until that moment, I was on the fence thinking that without him, it would be too much of a pain. But hearing this man’s interview convinced me that there was no way I could pass up the opportunity. And he was right. Seeing the eclipse was the most mind-blowing, beautiful thing I’d ever witnessed. For those two minutes, I felt completely in touch with the universe, but also so very small.

Fast forward to later in the summer. I was working on the official launch of the regular series of The Story Collider in Atlanta. It was my first show as a producer, so I asked our artistic director Erin Barker for a story she’d suggest as “a good one” to help in trying to recruit tellers. And when I hit play on her suggested story, there was his voice again, the eclipse chaser I’d heard earlier on the radio. But this time as I listened to him, I’d actually witnessed the celestial phenomenon. Hearing him tell his story with such heart made all those emotions of feeling tiny, awestruck, tearful and connected with the universe come flooding back. Except this time, I felt a new connection. Not just to the universe, but to this man I’d never met.
If you’ve seen an eclipse, have a listen and find yourself reliving the wonder all over again. If you haven’t seen one, still listen. It’ll convince you to hop on a plane and head for Argentina on July 2, 2019. I’ll see you there.

-Meisa Salaita, Atlanta producer

Benjamin Rubenstein

From "Adaptation," part 1

Tales of survival can provide some of the most poignant reflections on life and the human experience, but Benjamin’s story is different and so much more. Picking up where many such stories end, he takes us along on his post-survival journey, handling the reverberations of his illness with a sense of humor and practicality that gives me such hope. We all experience surprise detours along our road; Benjamin’s story shows it’s possible to re-invent ourselves and persist with style.

-Emma Yarbrough, Atlanta producer

Jean Ansolabehere

From "The Science of Growing Up," part 1

When Jean took the mic at our LA show in September, I had read and heard her story a handful of times. It’s this beautiful interconnecting storyline of her relationship with her mother and her coming-of-age realization that Keanu Reeves no longer can keep her identifying as heterosexual. This is illustrated by a beautiful metaphor of a science project that her mother orchestrated for Jean that featured an open lamb heart: splayed open, strong, impossibly complex, and intricate. This is all of us! Our identities are influenced by loved ones, our likes, our dislikes, our environment, etc, and I know what it feels like to not be able to be who you really are in the world. While I already loved Jean’s story, hearing it along with an audience confirmed that this was my favorite story of 2017.

-Cassie Soliday, Los Angeles producer

Renee Hlozek

From "Life and Death," part 2

I had the privilege of working on Renee's story with her personally, and from the first draft to the telling on stage it struck a chord and hit a nerve. My own father passed away when I was 20 years old, and I can understand completely feeling like the world expects something from you that you might not be keen to give. Grieving is an intensely personal process, and Renee found a beautiful way of both coping and making sense of something that doesn't through her own work on the cosmos. The death of a person and the death of the universe may seem unrelated, but both have the power to change the way you look at the world and your place in it, and Renee captured that beautifully. The story was particularly gripping for me at the time with my best friend's father dealing with what proved to be a terminal illness too. In an odd way, helping him deal with his situation was more troubling for me than my own experience years before, and this story helped me be more compassionate towards him when he needed it most.

-Jesse Hildebrand, Toronto producer

Cylita Guy

From "The Bats and the Bees," part 1

While I’m definitely not a scientist who will ever have to do field work that involves tagging bats in the middle of the night in High Park, the main theme of Cylita’s story really resonated with me. Cylita’s hilarious tale of misadventure was a great reminder that stepping outside your comfort zone and embracing whatever happens can be amazing. In my line of work I often find myself in situations that make me exceptionally uneasy, such as when I did yoga with goats. But no matter how reluctant I am at the start, the adventure is always worth it. Cylita proves that if you have a sense of humor, you can turn even the most ridiculous mishaps and challenges into fond memories and the greatest stories. Plus Cylita’s story serves as an important lesson that you never know when you could find your true calling.

-Misha Gajewski, Toronto producer

Margot Wohl

From "Friction," part 1

I’ve always been envious of people who seem to float through the world knowing exactly what to do at every turn. For some of us, that sense of security in our abilities and confidence in our worth is hard-earned, especially within the throes of academia. I saw Margot tell her story live at SciComm Camp in 2016, and was struck by how much it resonated with me. Like Margot, I’d entered the land of science without knowing what to expect, and thought I was navigating things fairly well. Like Margot, I encountered inappropriate behavior and abuse of power during the early years of my PhD. These stories are difficult, both to process and to tell, and are often not told at all for fear of repercussion. I’m moved by Margot’s ability to articulate the struggle of finding inner strength and cultivating a sense of worth within a culture that isn’t always supportive. I applaud her honesty and celebrate her journey. I think it’s important to tell these stories (and to share the pain of learning these things the hard way) in order to to foster a culture of support and empathy within science and beyond.

-Kellie Vinal, Atlanta producer

Donate to Story Collider this Giving Tuesday!

This #GivingTuesday, we're hoping you think of The Story Collider, and the important work we do producing powerful science stories and training scientists to be effective storytellers. As an extra incentive, we're excited to offer a few new special rewards for our donors!

Special #GivingTuesday offer

Danny Artese's story, as illustrated by Maki Naro.

WE LOVE ART...

Support us at $10/month via Patreon, and we’ll send you a comic book of four classic stories from our podcast, by Danny Artese, Patrick Freeman, and Story Collider’s own Maryam Zaringhalam and Paula Croxson. 

Illustrated by the amazing Maki Naro, Angela Entzminger, Jordan Jeffries, and our LA-based producer Cassie Soliday!

AND WE LOVE COFFEE!

If you sign up for monthly $25 donations via Patreon, you’ll receive both the comic book and a Story Collider coffee mug. The mug is large enough to hold literally all of the coffee you will ever need, and makes an excellent holiday gift for the overcaffeinated scientist in your life.

Please note: The Story Collider is a Section 501(c)3 nonprofit and your gift may qualify as a charitable deduction for federal income tax purposes.

If you’d prefer a one-time donation, for the next week, we’re also offering the comic to those who make a one-time donation of $20 or more, and the comic + mug to those who make a one-time donation of $50 or more. Go to https://www.paypal.me/TheStoryCollider to make it happen!

Yep. It is genuinely almost as big as your head. 

---

What are you supporting when you support Story Collider?

When you donate to Story Collider, you have a chance to make a huge difference to a small organization with a big mission. You’re contributing to:

Kick-ass shows

The Story Collider produces more than forty  powerful, hilarious, gut-punching live shows every year, in cities around the country and beyond. Part of our mission is to gather stories about science from as many different types of voices as we can. That’s why, this year, we launched regular shows in three new cities: St. Louis, Atlanta, and Toronto. Our continued expansion depends on your support!

POWERFUL Stories

Story Collider stories have the power to change our perception of who science belongs to, and who can be a scientist. In fact, a recent study by scientist Jeff Schinske found that community college students who listened to a selection of Story Collider stories came away with increased interest in science careers and a higher likelihood of seeing a place for themselves in science.

TRANSFORMATIVE TRAININGS

We believe that now, more than ever, it’s crucial for scientists to connect with the general public. That’s why our indefatigable executive director, Liz Neeley, has been traveling the globe almost nonstop this year to run workshops that empower scientists with storytelling skills.

Kellie Vinal and Meisa Salaita host our new Atlanta-based show at the Highland Inn Ballroom.

Marine scientists gather to listen to each other's stories at one of our recent workshops.

Welcoming our new producers!

I’m so pleased to announce that The Story Collider is welcoming several new producers onto its team this month.

In addition to launching new shows in Atlanta and St. Louis, we’ve also been searching for new folks to help with our existing shows in New York, LA, and DC. I sincerely wished we could have hired everyone who applied for these producer posts -- they were all so lovely, so talented, and so excited to share stories about science. But our executive director, Liz Neeley, informed me that as a small nonprofit, we’re unable to hire fifty new producers, and I think that’s probably a fair point.

Paula Croxson, telling a story at our STEM Fest 2016 show.

So I’m excited to share with you that Paula Croxson, Audrey Kearns, Maryam Zaringhalam, Eli Chen, Zack Stovall, Kellie Vinal, Meisa Salaita, and Emma Yarbrough will be joining us for our 2017-2018 season.

Paula Croxson will be working with me on our New York-based show. Paula is a neuroscientist and professor from Mt. Sinai who’s assisted us in the past with our annual Brain Awareness Week shows every March. If you’re an avid listener of our podcast, you may recognize her as an Alzheimer’s researcher or an insane open-water swimmer. She’s also a rock flautist in alternative rock band Marlowe Grey and nerdy rock band Pavlov’s Dogz. Catch her hosting her first show with me next week at the Kraine Theater!

Maryam Zaringhalam, telling a story at our November show in New York.

Molecular biologist Maryam Zaringhalam will be working with producer Shane Hanlon to continue production of our bimonthly show in D.C. Maryam, who recently received her PhD from Rockefeller University here in New York, also co-hosts the science policy podcast Science Soapbox. Again, if you’re an avid listener of our podcast, you may recognize her as a connoisseur of fine snack foods who cheats on tests or someone who once pooped under her bed.

Writer and actor Audrey Kearns is joining Cassie Soliday in producing our L.A.-based show. Audrey is founder and editor-in-chief of the website Geek Girl Authority, and also hosts and produces the podcasts Booze and Phasers, Kneel Before Aud and 5 Truths and a Lie. Look for their first show together this August!

Eli Chen, sharing a story at our St. Louis debut in May.

Eli Chen and Zack Stovall will be working with St. Louis Public Radio to launch our first regular show in the Midwest! We debuted there in May as part of the St. Louis Storytelling Festival, and hope to follow it up with a show this October. Eli is a science and environment reporter with the radio station, and Zack is a local comedian who also produces STL Sketchpad.

Biochemist and science communicator Kellie Vinal will be leading the charge in Atlanta! For years, we’ve traveled down south every year for the Atlanta Science Festival and we’re excited to now have a permanent residence in this amazing science and storytelling community. Chemist and sculptor Meisa Salaita, who co-founded and co-directs the Atlanta Science Festival, will coproduce our debut show this fall, and Emma Yarbrough, a local performer and theater program coordinator at Emory University, will be working with Kellie for our spring festival show.

Please join me in welcoming them! I hope you will check out their shows as they debut this summer and fall.

And stay tuned for upcoming news about future shows in Toronto!

-- Erin Barker, artistic director

JOB SEARCH - Project Assistant

The Story Collider is looking for a part‐time project assistant to support a special series of storytelling workshops and live shows. Please apply and/or help us reach excellent candidates for this administrative position!

FAQS:

Click on the image above to download the PDF of the job announcement & instructions for applicants. If you have any problems, email Jobs@StoryCollider.org and we'll troubleshoot. 

• This is a part-time contract that will be up for renewal for 2018.
• This is administrative work, see the position description for further detail. 
• The work schedule can be self-determined. We anticipate 10-15 hours of work per week and pay $25/hour. 
• We are likely searching for someone in Washington DC, but will consider New York or remote work for the right person. 
• We do not have formal educational requirements, but we do want to see proof that candidates can manage projects of this size and complexity. 
• Application deadline is June 10. Instructions on how to apply are in the attached PDF.

The Story Collider Wants YOU!

The Story Collider is looking for new producers for shows in various cities, including New York, DC and Atlanta. This job has three pieces: 1) event planning and promotion, 2) storyteller recruitment and coaching, and 3) hosting live performances. There will also be opportunities to contribute to the broader organization.

Experience in storytelling is essential. Scientific background is preferred but not required. We deeply appreciate people who are fun, funny, hardworking, and brave. You must have great communication skills and respect for people from all walks of life. We’d love to hear about and help you develop marketing, audio production, and other event-related expertise.

This is not a full-time position. Producers are paid on a flat per-show basis. 

Interested? Take a listen to our podcast to see the kind of stories we produce and then email us at stories@storycollider.org. Let us know what you think makes a great story, and why you have a passion for true, personal stories about science. If your city isn't mentioned in the first paragraph above, feel free to let us know why you think it would be a great location for Story Collider!

Please note: We are no longer accepting applications for producer positions in New York, DC, and Atlanta, as of June 9, 2017. Thank you for your interest!

Joining the March for Science

When the March for Science invited us to sign on as an official partner last month, we weren’t sure what we wanted to do.

The March is a political but nonpartisan protest taking place this Saturday (April 22) in Washington, DC and more than 500 other cities at last count. It began unceremoniously, but we see it as having come together around the need to speak out against government actions that ignore or impede science, from slashing budgets for essential research to outright denial of climate change to attempts at immigration bans that would stifle collaboration.

Courtesy American Astronomical Society

Many of us have been personally galvanized by recent political events, but our team hesitated. We worried (and continue to worry) about missteps from the March organizers on social media, and what we've seen and heard from critics and supporters alike. We wondered if we were straying from our core mission to find and share true, personal stories about how science affects people’s lives.

And then we thought about some of those stories we’ve gathered over the past seven years.

The environmental engineer who fought against government cover-up in Flint, Michigan, when he and his team discovered lead in the water.

The Muslim physicist whose neighbors reported him to Homeland Security.

The biomedical engineer who had to take out a loan “equivalent to feeding ten thousand hungry people for ten years” just to come to the United States for his education. The physicist whose perspective is forever shaped by her experience as a war refugee. And all of the other immigrant scientists we’ve worked with who came here to contribute to science.

The bioethicist who was sexually assaulted on the subway and couldn’t find a police officer who would take her seriously.

The geneticist who was harassed by Milo Yiannopoulos and his followers because she believes women have a place in science.

The transgender marine biologist who worried he wouldn’t be accepted by his colleagues.

The African American biologist who was called a “whore” because she wouldn’t work for free. And all of the other scientists who were told they weren’t good enough for science, or that they didn’t belong in science because of the color of their skin or because of their gender or ethnicity or sexuality, or because of their accent or where they’re from. The scientists who, as biologist Danielle Lee put it, have to “work twice as hard” for the same recognition.

And that was when we realized that, above all else, The Story Collider must stand with scientists. Not only because we genuinely care about each individual scientist we’ve worked with, but also because we know that things like racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, and Islamophobia stand in the way of good science, which is proven to be most innovative when it’s diverse and inclusive.

There are three things that The Story Collider cannot, in good conscience, compromise on: respect for all people, respect for science, and respect for scientists. To remain silent now, a time of crisis for all three, would betray our values as an organization.

In the end, our board voted unanimously to become an official partner of the March for Science. In doing so, we’re proud to join over hundreds of other science organizations such as the American Geophysical Union (AGU), SACNAS, and AAAS. Many of our producers will be participating in their local marches. Our executive director and artistic director will be marching in Washington. We invite you to march with us, and to join us at our local DC venue, Busboys and Poets 5th and K, at 6 pm on April 22, for a post-march drink.

-- The Story Collider team

Celebrating the Stories of Women in STEMM

On March 27, 2017, The National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine hosted a "Celebration of the Stories of Women in STEMM."

The Story Collider was honored to contribute to the event by creating two audio segments to frame the discussion panels. These pieces were designed to be evocative sketches. They weave together just a few of the countless moments of courage, perseverance, and insight shared on our stage.

This playlist pulls together the full stories - we hope you enjoy! 

On March 27, 2017, The National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine hosted a "Celebration of the Stories of Women in STEMM." The Story Collider presented two audio segments weaving together moments of courage, perseverance, and mentorship from our archives of true, personal stories about science. This playlist pulls together the full stories - we hope you enjoy!

NASCelebratesWomenInSTEMM - Curated tweets by LizNeeley

Our science, our stories

The Story Collider's tagline is true, personal stories about science. From time to time, we are asked "Where is the science in this episode? I thought this was supposed to be about science!" This is almost always in reaction to a story that focuses on experiences and feelings not directly tied to research. Here's how I explain our choices: 

First, The Story Collider believes that science is shaping all of our lives, perhaps now more than ever before. That means everyone has science stories and the right to tell them. This is why Story Collider has all kinds of people on our stages and podcast - scientists, of course, but also comedians, cops, patients, parents - and we're hungry to keep growing in this way. I've heard people call this "quietly subversive." I like that. Science belongs to everyone.

Second, we know that science is a human undertaking. A process that shapes and is shaped by flawed, funny, perfectly imperfect human beings. I care about the suffering scientists experience as they try to make careers or share their findings. I will not ignore the ways that race, gender, sexuality, disability, religion, age, class, ethnicity, and immigration status shape their struggles.

We believe sharing intensely personal and political stories of science is essential. It reassures those in pain are in that they are not alone, that they are not unheard. We hope it moves our audiences to think about how their own work and lives would benefit from solving problems that don't affect them personally. And finally, we hope these stories inspire those with power to act. 

This is a great moment in time for all fans of science to think carefully about what exactly they are fighting for. 

- Liz

Story Collider Staff Picks 2016

At the end of every year, each Story Collider staff member selects a story that resonated with him or her to feature for our end-of-the-year roundup. This year, each of us has selected a story that changed us, or opened our eyes in some way, big or small. We hope you enjoy!

Paula Croxson: How Cold Is Too Cold?

There are people who are built to run. They gracefully devour the miles with long, strong legs and are a marvel to behold. I know because I spend a lot of time watching them while I plod along in their wake. I’m a late-blooming runner, galvanized by an NPR interview in which running was described as a “sport for stubborn people.” I may not be graceful, but tenacious? Sure. And I think it is specifically because I will never be particularly fast that distance running has become seductive to me. I had just started training for my very first marathon when I heard Paula Croxson tell the story “How Cold Is Too Cold?” Her human anatomy lesson is what initially caught my attention, but her race-day story and inner monologue during her swim are what stick with me. During my marathon training, I slipped on ice once and fell spinning. I got lacerated by brambles and sunk in mud over my ankles many times. I got disoriented and euphoric, crying with joy and exhaustion. Every time, Paula’s story was a touchstone for me. Was I overdoing it? Was I endangering myself? Were these things to be proud of or embarrassed by? Knowing when to turn back is just as important as being able to put your head down and keep swimming. As Paula says at the end of her story, “Don’t get me wrong, [doing these swims] still scares me… but I can’t wait to do the next one.” As for me, well, my second marathon is in April.

-- Liz Neeley, executive director

Nathan Boll: What Else Is Out There?

“What if” terrifies me. I can’t even have a discussion on vacations too far ahead of time because I worry about scheduling, taking time off from work, planning logistics, etc. The “let’s move to X” exercise often employed by my partner when we’re feeling overwhelmed actually ends up being more overwhelming because my mind immediately goes to, “How would we pay for it?” or “What if we couldn’t find jobs?” or “What would we take?” With this mindset, I have to say that I surprised myself when thinking about memorable stories from 2016 and immediately thought of Nathan Boll’s story, “What Else Is Out There?” He didn’t worry about the small (what I feel is huge) stuff. Each time in his life when he wasn’t happy, he took action to fix it. His independence and spirit and willingness to put himself out there are an inspiration to me. His story reminds me that things will work out, so perhaps I should stop worrying about everything.

-- Shane Hanlon, DC producer and host

Kaća Bradonjić: The Nature of Space and Time

There’s a particularly difficult kind of story to pull off: one where the science and the story are separate, but comment on each other. It’s easy to make that forced or for the parallel to not really work. Kaća Bradonjić’s story is spectacular in how well it works. The story of a war refugee whose notions of time and space are shattered by the experience is perfectly complemented by the ideas of a theoretical physicist who studies the notions of space and time in Einstein’s general theory of relativity, and of course the story is really made powerful by the fact that they’re the same person. I love stories of science directly impacting people’s lives, but there is extraordinary poetry in the parallels when it really works.

-- Ben Lillie, co-founder and director of special projects

MaryAnn Wilbur: Two Pregnancies

Those of us in the storytelling scene talk a lot about empathy. What does it mean to experience someone else's life vicariously? Professor Amy Shuman offers a warning: “Empathy is one kind of obligation, sometimes creating a possibility for understanding across differences, sometimes involving sentimentality, sometimes romanticizing tragedy as inspiration, but in any case deeply compromising the relationship between tellers and listeners.” MaryAnn Wilbur's story is one of the most literal examples I have ever seen of the potential problems with empathy: an OBGYN delivering a pre-term baby at exactly as many weeks as she is herself "secretly pregnant." Totally understandable thoughts of her own fetus are followed by an admonishing "This is so not about me." MaryAnn beautifully captures the paradox many of us in caretaking professions confront every day: "I'm charged with caring for humans, but I'm a human."

-- Christine Gentry, Boston producer and host

Maryam Zaringhalam: Cheating My Way to Smart

When I was in school, I always finished my math test first, and was very proud of the deep sighs of annoyance that my fellow students would give me as I walked to the front of the class to pass in my exam. I played this story for my students the other week while they were studying for their final. I regularly find my role as a high school teacher is to relieve anxiety instead of teach because they seem to believe that if they don’t pass their math test, they will end up destitute, alone, and unloved. I find myself regularly telling my students that the test doesn’t matter, their grades don’t matter, and they just need to learn how to breathe. It may seem irresponsible, but I want them to know that they can cheat their way through school because I want them to know that success in school and success after school are not analogous. Though it may feel like it, school is not just a level in a game that they complete, but rather school is a time in life when they are open to learning lessons. Maryam’s story really hits home that idea that the lessons she learned from the classroom were not the ones on the syllabus. It’s an amazing reminder to have as a teacher -- it relieves me from the awesome responsibility that I arrogantly place on myself, and also humbles me to remember that the lessons that my students learn are as much based on who I sit them next to as what I say to them. So therefore I want them to know that they can cheat their way into all the smart classes, but the reality is that in adult life they are going to have to do the work, so they might as well learn how to do it now. I wish I had known that I was learning useful lessons when I was that age -- I might have paid more attention instead of just focusing on finishing as soon as possible.

-- Nisse Greenberg, New York producer and host

Nneze Akwiwu: The First Female President of Nigeria

I first met Nneze Akwiwu by phone.  I was interviewing her for a public radio story about her chemistry professor at Spelman, John Dimandja.  She spoke eloquently about the role he played in getting her to believe in herself.  John told a story at our Atlanta Story Collider in 2015.  When we returned to do a show in Atlanta in 2016, I asked him for recommendations of storytellers.  He suggested Nneze.  I leapt at the chance to work with her again.  And her story -- about her journey to want to become the first female president of Nigeria -- really moved me.  Nneze’s semester ramped up fast, so we worked together on her story over the phone just a couple of times. We decided to position her last in the lineup for the show, and her story was the perfect way to conclude the evening.  It contrasted the hardships of growing up as a girl in Nigeria with Nneze’s dreams of leading her country into a new era.  After the show concluded, numerous people approached Nneze.  One person asked her to follow up about a job opportunity.  And within a month of us posting her story on the Story Collider podcast, it became one of the episodes listened to the most.  I’m so proud of Nneze -- for daring to dream, and daring to do it out loud.

-- Ari Daniel, Boston producer and host

Patrick Freeman: Elephant Time

As a physicist, I don’t think much about biology. I mean, I appreciate it as an invaluable part of science, and I know there’s tons of interesting stuff happening in the field, but it’s not something I feel much connection to. Patrick Freeman’s story, “Elephant Time,” changed that for me. Patrick talks about how, while doing field work on elephants, he got the news that his grandfather had died, and how being among these large, serene, beautiful creatures helped him deal with his emotions even during the chaos of being in the field. When my parents died, I found consolation in my own research, i.e., math. The orderly process of doing a calculation helped me find solace in the middle of a turbulent personal period. Hearing Patrick’s story of how he found comfort in a “messy” discipline -- conservation biology -- let me experience how another type of scientist processes grief. And although I’ll never find myself in the middle of an elephant preserve, the next time I need to work through some difficult emotions, I may just sit down with a glass of bourbon, think of Patrick’s story, and watch a few elephant videos.

-- Brian Wecht, co-founder and LA producer and host

Dan Daneshvar: Making the Death Call

Listening to Dan's story about making phone calls to families requesting the donation of their deceased loved ones’ brains for science research, I couldn't believe that someone would do such a thing!  It seemed wrong to donate something that isn't yours -- or to pillage your family member's dead corpse.  I couldn't imagine saying yes to a request like that for my mother or father's brain!  In looking at a person, you don't imagine all the inner workings going on inside their skin.  You only see them on the outside.  The idea of a brain outside a body, being studied and poked -- I didn't want to think about it at all.  Even Dan himself admitted to feeling torn about the appropriateness of making this big ask to total strangers and admitted that it doesn't get easier to make each phone call.  What changed my mind about what I would say if I were ever to receive this call was his sense of mission.  It gives him the energy to continue -- to study the effects of repetitive concussions in order to help those who will be affected by it in the future.  If he's successful, his research could help save a life.  Not only would I now say yes, but his story has also made me realize that the best thing that you can do with your own life is do something bigger than yourself that will help others, create a ripple effect of good, and hopefully outlive you.

-- Cassie Soliday, LA producer and host

Rachel Yehuda: Cause and Effect

I first heard Rachel's amazing story last winter as part of a six-week workshop The Story Collider did with Mt. Sinai's Friedman Brain Institute. Rachel is a professor of psychiatry and neuroscience at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mt. Sinai who has made important discoveries about why some people develop post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and others don't, and how the effects can even cross generations. (You can tell she's important because she has her own Wikipedia page.) In her story, she returns to her hometown of Cleveland as a young psychiatrist in an attempt to study PTSD in Holocaust survivors in her community and finds they're less eager to hand over their "blood and urine" than she'd anticipated. Last winter, I was especially struck by this part of her story: "We used to have all these discussions about whether the Holocaust could happen again, in the United States. I really thought those were rhetorical questions. I guess I felt safe. But I could see that my friends who had Holocaust survivor parents were actually in some way preparing for this possibility... There was one family that cooked, ate, and slept in their basement, leaving two floors above unoccupied. I guess they still felt like they were in hiding." At the time, I couldn't fathom that anyone could really believe another Holocaust could happen today, in the United States -- so much so that they would still live with this fear. But since last winter, I've seen how hate can take root and gain strength quickly and unexpectedly, from the spray-painted swastikas that appeared overnight on our local Adam Yauch Park after the election to its more serious and insidious forms, and the way I listen to this story has changed. Like Rachel in her story, I've learned that the fears these survivors experienced are very real, and need to be heard and understood.

-- Erin Barker, artistic director

Remembering Raine, Ron & Stephanie

Two years ago, The Story Collider did a show with cancer patient community Smart Patients out in San Francisco that I was lucky enough to produce. I got to know six really special people who were fighting, or had fought, cancer, and work with them on their stories. Last year, I found out that two of those people, Raine and Ron, had passed away. Just this week, I found out a third, Stephanie, has passed away.

This is heartbreaking. I was fortunate to get to know these folks and to have them share their stories with me, and I will never forget them or their stories. Stephanie was a truly special and warm person. Her obituary describes her as "a quiet, but potent, lesbian-feminist activist." I can tell you from experience, she gave quality hugs.

We were only podcasted one of the stories from our Smart Patients show, "Fading Notes" by Emily Caudill (who is fortunately still with us), but you can watch the rest, including those from Raine, Ron, and Stephanie, on the Smart Patients YouTube channel. (You'll notice many of the patients were using notes, due to what they called "chemo brain.")

Sadly, they aren't the only storytellers we've lost to cancer. In 2010, Michelle Dobrawsky, one of our first storytellers on the podcast, passed away. 

-- Erin Barker, Artistic Director