Episódios
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This week, we're presenting stories from scientists who faced unusually difficult paths to science. We all know it's hard work to become a scientist. But for some folks, even getting to that point where you can pursue your science education can seem like an impossible dream.
Part 1: When Evelyn Valdez-Ward discovers that she's undocumented, she fears her dreams of becoming a scientist are over.
Part 2: Samuel Achilefu's experiences growing up during the Nigerian Civil War inspire his passion for science.
Evelyn Valdez-Ward is an undocumented, Latina, scientist and PhD student at the University of California, Irvine. For her thesis, she studies the impact of California's drought on the ways that plants and their soil microbes (fungi and bacteria in the soil) communicate and interact with one another. In addition to doing research, she's extremely passionate about advocating for undocumented students in STEM. She recently published her story "I'm an undocumented scientist fighting for my Dream" in Science, and was invited to speak at the March for Science rally in DC to advocate for Dreamers in STEM. She has been awarded a UCI's Dynamic Womxn's Award for Outstanding Social Justice Activist, and the Svetlana Bersahdsky Graduate Student Award for her lobbying and advocacy efforts. She plans to continue lobbying and fighting for her undocumented community after graduating, and work in science policy, where she can continue to advocate for both science and minorities in STEM.
Originally from Nigeria, Samuel Achilefu is the Michel M. Ter-Pogossian Professor of Radiology at Washington University School of Medicine. He also holds joint appointments as a Professor in Medicine, Biochemistry & Molecular Biophysics, and Biomedical Engineering and serves as the Chief of the Optical Radiology Laboratory (ORL), Director of the Molecular Imaging Center, Director of the Center for Multiple Myeloma Nanotherapy, and a co-leader of the Oncologic Imaging Program of the Siteman Cancer Center. His lab harnesses the power of light to develop methods for understanding, diagnosing and treating human diseases and is made up of biologists, chemists, engineers, medical scientists and physicists. He enjoys biking, playing tennis, and travelling. Samuel lives with his wife and they have two college-aged children.
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In this week’s episode, both of our storytellers have a passion for science that can’t be suppressed.
Part 1: As a zoo volunteer, Lisa Yeager adores sharing her love of the wild, but one zoo patron is ruining that for her.
Part 2: Anna yearns to be a scientist, but her strict mormon family doesn’t want her to become one.
Lisa Yeager started her career as an environmental educator and bookstore manager in Anchorage, AK. She shifted to build a career in project management after earning her MBA at the University of Washington. She currently works as a Program Manager for Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center where she works to bring innovation and transformational change to business practices and collaboration. Lisa built her life in Seattle after attending UW because where else are you within a day of ocean, sound, volcano, shrub-steppe, lakes and two mountain ranges? With 10+ years as an informal education volunteer at Woodland Park Zoo, she is exploring ways to translate her business background and a recent second master’s in biology to support climate change education and advocacy. She serves on the governing council for the National Network for Ocean and Climate Change Interpretation, and received a Cee-Change fellowship and grant funding from the North American Association of Environmental Education. She is a previous board member of the International Applied Improvisation Network. She is the co-founder of Yes and Nature Collaborative (climateconversations.net), which combines scientific data, communication theory, and improvisational theater techniques to help people have more effective conversations about climate change and nature.
Anna is a naturalist and aquatic entomologist. Going to school in Utah gave her the opportunity for a backyard mountain classroom. She got to learn about migration patterns of mule deer, moose, elk, and pronghorn through GPS collaring initiatives led by the Department of Natural Resources. Her coursework helped her learn how to identify all the plants and animals native to the desert, valley, and mountainous regions of Utah. Monitoring the restoration of a canyon after wildfires, flash floods, and debris flows bolstered her knowledge of the resilience of native flora and fauna to historical natural disaster regimes. She found purpose, love, and life in those experiences. Now Anna gets to connect to the parks and people within NYC, as well as challenge herself through a doctoral program studying the evolutionary history of stoneflies. These insects are fundamental to maintaining the health and balance of freshwater ecosystems, but many populations around the globe are experiencing substantial declines due to human interference and climate change.
*For privacy reasons, Anna’s last name has been withheld.
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Sometimes life throws a curveball and children end up being the ones looking after their parents. In this week’s episode, both of our storytellers share stories about times they needed to adult-up and take care of their parents.
Part 1: When Saloni Singh’s mother is diagnosed with terminal cancer, Saloni is unexpectedly shoved into the role of caregiver and matriarch.
Part 2: After her deaf mother has several strokes and begins experiencing hallucinations, Michelle Antonucci struggles to get her mom the care she needs.
Saloni is known as the ‘girl in the white headphones’ because she is happiest when she is sitting in a corner, her noise cancelling headphones playing classical music, her Mac open and words pouring out of her. Those close to her will tell you that she lives life in techni-color and feels everything deeply so it’s hard not to listen when she begins to tell you about it. Saloni’s storytelling skills were first noticed when she distracted an entire wedding party with a story she was making up on the spot that combined Snow white, Cinderella and Thumbelina as one character – she was 2. She hasn’t stopped since. In her words - “I’m a corporate rat by day, introverted writer by night. Stories find me and then I try to find the courage to tell them.” She has been writing for years but has begun sharing her stories only recently at various platforms like The Moth, Fresh Ground Stories, 7 Stories and Story Sphere. This was her first story at Story Collider.
Michelle Antonucci was born and raised in Greenwich Village, later moving to Queens and now Long Island with her wife Patty and dog/child Charlie. She says she is a true New Yorker, as she does not have a Driver's License! Michelle is proud to be a CODA and has spent her life assisting and advocating for her parents. She is very grateful for her wife who has been her rock throughout her mother, Karen's, health crisis. "I truly don't know how we made it through, my wife is amazing". Michelle's story of life as a CODA and the issues the Deaf experience in health care is not unique, and needs to be told again and again to elicit change. "I need to make all the tears mean something".
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Happy National Honey Month! In honor of Honey Month, we wanted to celebrate beekeepers and the humble honey bees. In this week’s episode, both of our storytellers share their adventures with beekeeping.
Part 1: When Julie Carrick Dalton goes to check on her bees one day, she notices something isn’t right.
This story was shared at the Urban Waggle, a live storytelling event in support of the mission and programs at the Urban Bee Lab, in Somerville, MA in November 2023.
Part 2: Jon Schulz thinks rescuing a neglected apiary is the perfect opportunity to expand his beekeeping business.
Julie Carrick Dalton is the Boston-based author of The Last Beekeeper and Waiting for the Night Song, a CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, and Parade Most Anticipated novel. A former farmer and beekeeper, she is a frequent speaker and teacher on the topic of fiction in the age of climate crisis. When she isn't writing, you can probably find Julie kayaking, skiing, or tending her pollinator garden. Her next novel, The Forest Becomes Her, hits shelves in May of 2025.
Meet Jon Schulz, a data center architect turned beekeeper. In his day job, Jon works to merge high tech subsystems to deliver consistent, reliable and secure solutions for his global customers. As a beekeeper, his fascination lies in the autonomous functions of honeybees that combine collectively to create a thriving colony. Recently, Jon and his wife Amanda launched Blackland Bees, an apiculture business focusing on honeybee rescue, education, conservation and pollination services. Jon and Amanda can be found managing beehives at local community gardens, designing pollinator landscapes for schools and churches, rescuing and rehabilitating bee colonies and supporting Blackland Prairie restoration projects. Jon received a Bachelor of Science Degree in Computer Science, while also studying business and Spanish, at the University of Texas at Austin. He is currently pursuing his Texas Master Beekeeper certification, through Texas A&M Agrilife Extension. Jon and Amanda both grew up in the Dallas area and returned in 2012, after living in Austin, San Antonio and Houston. They presently reside in East Dallas, along with their two children, and manage an apiary of nearly 2 million honeybees!
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We're diving back into our archives to bring you some of our most memorable and impactful stories and episodes we've ever shared on The Story Collider podcast. This week, we're presenting stories about passion for science that keeps us going, even in the face of overwhelming struggle.
Part 1: When Cailin Gallinger struggles with her gender identity in college, her volunteer position in a plant lab becomes a lifeline.
Part 2: In the midst of homelessness and abuse, Rose DF dreams of a life in science.
These stories do include mentions of suicide, rape, sexual abuse, physical abuse and domestic violence. In case you’d find them helpful, now or at any point in the future, we have some resources available on our website.
Cailin Gallinger is a Master’s student in the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Toronto. She studies the geophysical processes of planets in our solar system, from impact craters on the Moon to volcanoes on Mars and beyond, and has performed in several scicomm events in Toronto, including the LGBTQ-themed Science Slam at Glad Day Bookshop and David Hamilton’s Solar System Social. She is currently soliciting submissions for a forthcoming zine, Corona, focusing on queer and trans scientists living and working on the margins, and hopes to continue combining her passions for both science and art in her post-grad life.
Rose DF is a born explorer with a passion for accessible and inclusive science and education. A first generation scientist born and raised in the Dominican Republic, currently pursuing studies in Biophysics. After opening up about her life for a feature in "Stories in Science" Rose's social media presence has increased since, and she now uses it to raise awareness in the topics of inclusivity and diversity in STEM as she constantly challenges some of the stereotypes associated with being an "non-traditional" academic and a Latina in the US.
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In this week’s episode, both of our storytellers share their experiences with grief and how they chose to say farewell to their dearly departed.
Part 1: When Sanjana Murthy misses her grandfather’s funeral, she struggles with the lack of closure.
Part 2: Paul Barach impulsively decides to walk the Pacific Coast Trail to escape the grief of his girlfriend’s suicide.
This story does include mentions of suicide. In case you’d find them helpful, now or at any point in the future, we have some resources available on our website.
New York City based Research Coordinator Sanjana Murthy is thrilled to be here. Her lab's work at Mount Sinai (Dept of Psychiatry, Center for Advanced Circuit Therapeutics) identifies neurophysiological biomarkers to improve treatment for depression. She holds a B.S. in Brain and Behavioral Sciences from Purdue University, where she curated shows for the TEDxPurdueU stage.
Paul Barach is a writer, storyteller, and thru-hiker from Seattle, Washington. A 2013 Moth GrandSlam runner up, his stories have been featured on Risk, Out There, and other podcasts. Paul has also been a featured guest on Deviate with Rolf Potts, Backpacker Radio, Zero to Travel, and Armchair Explorer. Paul has hiked the Shikoku Pilgrimage, Colorado Trail, and Pacific Crest Trail among others, bicycled the Trans-America Trail, and most recently completed the Annapurna Circuit in Nepal. He is the author of the travel memoir "Fighting Monks and Burning Mountains: Misadventures on a Buddhist Pilgrimage" and is currently working on a memoir about the Pacific Crest Trail, as well as a comedic novel about a vampire hunter who's sick of his job. Paul currently lives in Tacoma with his wife Michelle and their dog Izzy.
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Fanny, vajayjay, kitty, muff, coochie, hoo ha, lady garden – whatever you call it, in this week’s episode, both of our storytellers share weird and wonderful tales about their vaginas.
Part 1: When Milly McDermott is 15, she finds a grapefruit-sized tumor growing out of her vagina.
Part 2: After a guy she was dating tells Dawn Harris she has two vaginas, she can’t help but wonder what is going on down there.
Milly McDermott is a cartoonist, comedian, and show runner who has ran comedy shows in both the U.S. and in China. Milly began her comedy career after being diagnosed with a rare uterine cancer at the age of 15. She now runs comedy shows in New York City and continues to publish comic strips about her life.
Dawn Harris is a theatre major from Alabama, enjoying a lucrative career in an unrelated field. She has studied storytelling at The Magnet Theater and The Story Studio. Her early years in New York were spent studying improv comedy with The People’s Improv Theatre, The Magnet Theater, and The Upright Citizen’s Brigade. Dawn has been featured on the podcasts Love Hurts and RISK! (under a mysterious pseudonym) and has told stories live with Story Collider, Awkward Teenage Years and The Armando Diaz Experience. Adam Wade highly recommends her.
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Defining yourself as a person or as a scientist is no easy feat. In this week’s episode, both of our storytellers grapple with who they are and how they want to be perceived.
Part 1: After Fernando Cuevas flunks out of college, he’s worried he’s destined to be stuck at his dead end Best Buy job forever.
Part 2: When Sonia Rehal’s sister passes from complications caused by the rare disease lipodystrophy, she doesn’t know how to define herself in the absence of her other half.
Fernando Leonardo Cuevas is a Theoretical Mathematician by degree, Analytical Engineer by profession, and an avid fan of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, MMA and pointlessly hard video games.
Sonia Rehal is currently an educator at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario and the director for Lipodystrophy Canada, and non-for-profit organization supporting lipodystrophy patients and caregivers. Being a lipodystrophy patient herself, her advocacy for awareness started young. Interested in understanding the pathophysiology of lipodystrophy, her postdoctoral training focused on lipid inflammation and insulin resistance in animal models of obesity. This journey has allowed her to travel the world and publish important research findings in highly cited research journals. More importantly, her academic career has given her a unique perspective to patient advocacy, highlighting how important disease awareness and research funding for prospective treatments and are for the lipodystrophy community. Lipodystrophy can vary in severity however these themes hold in common: Lipodystrophy is incurable, has inadequate medical treatment and affects multiple organ systems. Unfortunately, a severe form of lipodystrophy has affected her family and herself, losing both her mother and sister to its complications at a very young age. This loss has only further intensified her passion to support our rare disease community affected by lipodystrophy.
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As The Beatles famously sang: “I get by with a little help from my friends.” And the saying is just as true in life as it is in science. In fact, in this week’s episode, both of our storytellers show just how much they needed the help of their friends to succeed at science.
Part 1: Months into her fly experiment Michaela Agapiou still can’t catch flies efficiently and now she’s faced with the challenge of scaling up her experiment.
Part 2: In order to get a good grade in her biology class, Ashley McKelvy designs her own experiment that requires her friends to drink a cup of coffee every 20 minutes.
Michaela Agapiou is a research scientist and storyteller living in London. Nowadays Michaela’s research is all computer based but she carries around a glow in the dark sperm cell keyring to remind her of her lab work days.
Ashley McKelvy has lived in Arkansas, Florida, Texas and currently lives in Georgia. She is a former runner who has traded her sneakers in for cycling cleats, and she loves nerding out over her last workout. She has worked as an English teacher, a librarian, a grader of standardized tests, and she once had a career at Old Navy that lasted three hours.
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In this week’s episode, both of our storytellers discover shocking truths through genetic analysis.
Part 1: When Mackenzie Brown’s adoptive father passes away suddenly from a heart condition, she is determined to find out what genes she did inherit.
Part 2: Martha Buford Reiskind thought the case of her mom’s murder was closed when no DNA match came up for the single piece of hair left at the scene.
Mackenzie Brown grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina and graduated with a Masters of Public Health from the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University. Her graduate research focused on understanding how depressive symptoms impact disease management strategies in people with hypertension in the rural South. After a year of collecting data across the country as a Research Fellow with Stanford University, she moved to New York and worked as a Research Coordinator conducting behavioral interventions for individuals with rheumatic diseases. Now at DAC, she is interested in pursuing a PhD to explore how early birth trauma and premature birth can impact mental health across the lifespan.
Martha Buford Reiskind started her undergraduate career as a theater arts and music major at a small liberal arts school in Bronxville NY, Sarah Lawrence College. At the time there were only 1,200 students and it had only recently become a coed school. After several years in what she likes to call her Liberal Arts Tour, she finished up her undergraduate work at University of California Berkeley, in Integrative Sciences. She started her Faculty Position at NC State in 2012 and conducts research in conservation genetics and teaches courses in population genetics, conservation science, science communication and science ethics. She is also a sister, daughter, wife, auntie, and mother and love those roles as much as the research and teaching she does. She directs a first-year graduate training program at NC State, the Genetics & Genomics Scholars program, and graduate training and education is one of her passions. She seeks out opportunities to combine the arts and sciences and help her students develop effective science communication, both visual and oral. You can find her near or in the water or with her hands in soil or dough.
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In this week’s episode, both of our storytellers grapple with what they can and can’t eat.
Part 1: Danielle Meinert struggles to eat anything other than cheese pizza, Easy Mac and toast with butter.
Part 2: Ellis Ballard has life-threatening food allergies, which makes eating, drinking and living life challenging.
Danielle Meinert is a writer and recovery advocate for Avoidant/Restrictive Food Intake Disorder (ARFID). She lives with her husband and adopted mini poodles in Atlanta, Georgia. She loves food.
Ellis Ballard is a creative producer, editor, director and prolific maker of creative projects. They produce the True Story London Podcast which features stories from London's vibrant live storytelling community and in-depth interviews with the storytellers. Ellis also co-facilitates True Story London's DRAFT storytelling workshops, and works with performers to direct and craft live comedy and theatre projects. Ellis's new podcast 'The Secret Podcast' is an outlet for some more unconventional audio creations that have willed their way into existence despite considerable efforts to suppress them.
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In this week’s episode, both of our storytellers share their less than straightforward paths to healthier lifestyles.
Part 1: Asthma had always held Tara Turner back, but when the doctor tells her she’s officially “obese,” she decides to make a change.
Part 2: Paul Aflalo struggles with the decision to get gastric bypass surgery.
Tara Turner began her journey in the fitness industry over 20 years ago. She has dedicated her life to helping people achieve their fitness goals. Tara holds several national certifications including Group Exercise, Personal Training, Spinning, and Zumba. She is also a master trainer in teaching boxing, kickboxing and kettlebell and shares her knowledge with upcoming instructors. Tara encourages people to embrace their beauty, power and wisdom within their spirit, soul and body no matter what shape or size!
Paul Aflalo is Replay’s artistic director. He is a storyteller and documentary producer. He creates narrative-driven pieces for film, radio and podcasts. Paul has shared stories across Canada and parts of Europe and the UK. His focus has always been to help others share the stories that need to be told. He is also fascinated by the human unknown, take a listen to his radio documentary about aphantasia.
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In honor of Disability Pride Month, this week’s episode examines personal triumphs and societal challenges of being a person with disabilities in STEM.
Part 1: As a deaf person, Alma Schrage doesn’t see a place for herself in the traditional academic world of science.
Part 2: After a fall leaves Jennifer Piatek paralyzed, she must rethink how she defines herself as a scientist.
Alma Schrage is a bee biologist currently involved in conservation research for the endangered rusty-patched bumblebee. Deaf since birth, Alma uses American Sign Language and English. She often uses her finely honed lipreading and guessing skills to understand the sign-impaired and supports early sign language access for deaf and hard of hearing children of hearing parents. Alma often talks like a book because that’s where she learned most of her English. Her hearing aids are great for discrete Bluetooth music streaming at inaccessible conferences.
Jennifer L. Piatek is a planetary scientist who studies impact craters on Mars, a college professor teaching geology and astronomy courses, and in general someone who is just trying to navigate the world from a wheelchair.
These two stories have been adapted from the book Uncharted: How Scientists Navigate Their Own Health, Research, and Experiences of Bias, for the podcast.
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In this week’s episode, we highlight two stories from this year's Proton Prom, Story Collider's annual fundraiser and celebration of science storytelling.
Part 1: Pamela Toh is dead set on being the “bad kid” at school.
Part 2: On a family vacation to Disney, Matthew Dicks becomes more and more frustrated by his daughter’s strange behavior.
Pamela Toh is an aspiring writer and graduate student at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai where she conducts research on how the brain and body coordinate to elicit the symptoms of PTSD. Originally from Singapore, Pamela moved to NYC after completing her undergraduate studies at the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa (because the proximity to sun and surf was simply too much to bear). When not hunched over a lab bench, Pamela can be found coveting the latest LEGO sets, or in a yoga studio trying to correct her bad posture.
Matthew Dicks is the internationally bestselling author of six novels and three nonfiction titles, including Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, Change Your Life Through the Art of Storytelling, and Stories Sell: Storyworthy Strategies to Grow Your Business and Brand. His novels have been translated into more than 25 languages worldwide. When not hunched over a computer screen, he fills his days as an elementary school teacher, storyteller, comedian, blogger, wedding DJ, minister, and communications consultant. He’s been teaching for 25 years and is a former West Hartford Teacher of the Year and a Connecticut Teacher of the Year finalist. Matthew is a record 60-time Moth StorySLAM champion and 9-time GrandSLAM champion whose stories have been featured on their nationally syndicated Moth Radio Hour. Matthew is the founder of Speak Up, a Hartford-based storytelling organization that produces shows throughout New England. He teaches storytelling and public speaking worldwide to individuals, corporations, school districts, hospitals, universities, and more.
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In this week’s episode, both of our storytellers share moments where they felt out of place and were very much foreigners in a strange land.
Part 1: When Christine Gentry moves across the country to California, she struggles to find community.
Part 2: After moving to Beirut, Lebanon from the U.S., Mary Ann Perkins doesn’t understand why everyone keeps staring at her.
Christine Gentry joins BBQ on the list of good things to come out of Texas. She holds a Ph.D. in English Education from Columbia University and currently serves as a clinical assistant professor in the NYU Teacher Residency, where she directs the NYC Public Schools partnership and leads the data, assessment, and continuous improvement efforts of the program. In what little spare time she has, Christine performs in oral storytelling shows and produces/hosts shows and workshops for The Story Collider. Her writing has been published in English Journal, The English Record, and Printer's Devil Review magazines, and her oral stories have been featured on the TEDx stage, The Moth Radio Hour, and This American Life. She is also a Moth Mainstage performer and three-time Moth GrandSLAM champion.
Mary Ann Perkins grew up in St. Louis County and then lived overseas–in Germany, Lebanon and Thailand–for most of the next two decades. While abroad she had two children, survived a war, left the Mormon church, completed two master’s degrees, got divorced and built a career as a United Nations editor. After returning to the United States in 2021, she founded a peer-support group for people who have lost their faith. The group meets Mondays at 7 p.m. at the Ethical Society of St. Louis. Mary Ann loves distance running, standup comedy, and poetry.
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Sometimes things don’t go well the first time… or the second… or even the hundredth time. But as the saying goes: if at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. In this week’s episode, both of our storytellers share stories about going back to the drawing board and trying again.
Part 1: As the team principal of the autonomous racing team, Madhur Behl is determined to win.
Part 2: Engineer Mate King searches for a plane that crashed in the remote mountains of Idaho.
Dr. Madhur Behl is a professor in Computer Science at the University of Virginia, where he conducts research in Robotics and Artificial Intelligence. His primary focus is on advancing the frontier of safe autonomous systems capable of operating seamlessly in the real world. Dr. Behl is the team principal for the Cavalier Autonomous Racing team, which proudly holds the title of the leading American team in the global Indy Autonomous Challenge. Additionally, he is co-founder of the F1tenth program which has hosted numerous 1/10 scale autonomous racing Grand Prix events, engaging over 70 universities and 1000s of students worldwide.
As a second generation Mechanical Engineer (in training) Mate King has spent his life asking "How can I make this work?" Whether trying to figure out how to make a motorcycle ride on water, to designing fuel delivery systems for rocket ships, his world of engineering is just getting started. His dream is to work in the outdoor space, designing cutting edge gear that allows the greatest performance possible in the most extreme conditions.
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Happy Pride Month! Science might be a bit behind when it comes to exploring sexuality and gender identity but our storytellers managed to figure it out just fine. In this week’s episode, in celebration of Pride Month, both of our storytellers share stories of being queer and proud of it.
Part 1: After fully embracing their asexuality, Katherine Holmes begins questioning the necessity of a romantic relationship.
Part 2: Julie Tomé is thrown for a loop when her child announces they’re “not a girl”.
Katherine Holmes (They/She) is a final year mathematics PhD student at Imperial College London studying quantum mechanics, and they identify as both asexual (ace) and aromantic (aro). They have been engaging in ace and aro awareness and community building with Imperials LGBTQ+ student and staff networks and external networks including Aces in STEM and Ace Space London. https://katherineholmespublic.wordpress.com
Julie Tomé is a science educator and communicator who has worked at various observatories, science centres, and museums where she shares her passion for all things science and history with folks of all ages through school programs, camps, exhibitions, and special programs. When not doing that, she can be found spending time with her family, at the karate dojo, playing board games, or doing all the crafting.
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Everyone has moments when they’re totally clueless about something; that’s just part of being human! In this week’s episode, both of our storytellers share the growth that comes from a moment when they didn’t know better.Part 1: Growing up in sexually conservative Ireland, Connor O’Donoghue is completely in the dark about sex, sexuality, and anatomy.Part 2: Justina Assaad thinks the nausea she’s feeling while waiting to go parasailing is just a fluke.Connor O'Donoghue is a 42-year-old Irishman, living in London. In his professional life, he runs a teacher training company. In recent years, he has started writing and performing true stories, including a one-person show called Homobesity: How my fat gay body made me, which has had runs in London, Brighton and Dublin. Justina Assaad is a Speech-Language Pathologist in the Stroke & Neurological Rehabilitation program at Sunnybrook Health Sciences centre, and Adjunct Lecturer at the University of Toronto, finding joy in helping others discover their voice. Outside of her regular working hours, she is an actor, director, and playwright for her local parish, and self-proclaimed drama queen whose adventures and misfortunes appear to occur solely to entertain others. Though new to the art of performative story telling, she has been sharing her personal triumphs, laughs, and tragedies with complete strangers since childhood. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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English, with its complex phonetic rules, presents challenges for pronunciation. Seriously, can anyone say Worcester right? In this week's episode, our storytellers delve into the personal and psychological aspects of pronunciation, exploring the nuances and hang-ups associated with the way people say certain words
Part 1: As someone who values language, Jerzy Gwiazdowski is thrown into turmoil when his partner says “suposably.”
Part 2: No one can ever say Casie Caldwell’s name correctly and it makes her furious.
Jerzy Gwiazdowski is a writer/performer who has appeared on Broadway, originated roles in new plays (NYC and regionally) and made numerous film/TV/streaming appearances. His plays have been produced on four continents. Jerzy is co-creator of Vocabaret, a monthly wordplay variety show since 2019. An ten-time champion at the O.Henry Pun-Off World Championships, Jerzy is pretty sure he's the winningest wordplay competitor in the world. His most recent project—THE LIE (a True Story)—is a solo show about the time he gave the greatest performance in history (which was only ever seen by one seven-year-old child). Alum: UNC School of the Arts. Faculty: The New School.
Once deep-fried in an almost 20-year-long restaurant career, Casie Caldwell has now simmered down into the world of marketing consulting. While her culinary chronicles remain a proud part of her legacy, it's her newfound passion for pickleball that's spicing up her life. Her friends joke about her undeniable "pickleball problem” now that she’s crafted her work schedule around being on the court five times a week without fail. And her penchant for decorating everything, including her Halloween décor, with everything pickleball-related, truly gives the game away! Beyond the court, Casie cherishes the art of storytelling and life's quieter moments on the lake with her wife and ever-loyal Australian Shepherd, Indigo. Trading the sizzle of restaurant operations for the pop of pickleball shots, she's found a delightful balance between her professional journey and her playful present.
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It’s important to remember that incompetence is not a permanent state but often a stepping stone on the path to mastery. In this week’s episode, both of our storytellers share their experiences of navigating moments when they felt completely out of their depth.
Part 1: As a student, Emily Pitts was never a fan of science, but now, as a middle school teacher, she’s not feeling confident in her skills to teach the subject.
Part 2: Despite his deep desire to study science, Andrew Barnes is constantly told he can’t.
Emily Pitts loves telling stories of all shapes and sizes. From 99 seconds to a one-hour Fringe shows. When she's not jotting down notes for stories, she's working on a manuscript about trees, co-producing comedy shows in Iceland, or wandering off in search of other exciting things to do. Recently, she started co-producing and hosting a powerpoint edu-tainment show in Seattle called ‘My Comedian Teacher’. In her spare time, she teaches middle school.
It's never too late to follow your dreams, and at 30, Andrew Barnes is doing just that. Back in school to get his degree in biology, Andrew plans to work in Veterinary Medicine or ecological restoration, or both. That story is still being written.
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