Podsburgh - Podcasting: Language & culture through storytelling

By Sommer Schneller, Samara McCallum, Trento Von Lindenberg, and Natalie Nankervis What does home mean to you? Does it bring back warm memories? A sense of comfort? Or maybe even a wave of nostalgia? What if I told you that your hometown was hiding something? That tucked just underneath the covers… was something terrifying? Gruesome accidents, untold stories, and even… murders. True crime is defined as the examining and retelling of actual crimes with details of the actions of real people. In recent years, this genre has become exceptionally popular. Audiences love to listen to retellings of everything from gruesome murders to strange disappearances. We thought it would be pretty cool to figure out how true crime could tie to the ways we live our everyday lives. How do we talk about it? How do we react to it? What does our interest in it say about us? To answer some of these questions we found some people directly affected by two very different “true crime” experiences. One witnes...

By Sommer Schneller, Samara McCallum, and Trento Von Lindenberg On this episode of Straight Outta Podsburgh, our hosts Sommer and Samara delve into the topic of “food:” What differentiates food from one region vs another? How do we use food to open up a dialogue between each other? And most importantly, what does our food say about us and our culture? Featuring interviews with a resident of Chicago as well as a native Pittsburgher, talking points include: Favorite foods and the memories they evoke How Chicago and NY-style pizza differ How the cultures of NYC and Chicago are reflected in how their pizzas are made History behind how the styles developed What the food culture is like in Pittsburgh How foods in Pittsburgh differ from their origins Hosted by: Sommer Schneller, Samara McCallum Guests: Intro music from Club Penguin, and theme song/other music by Joseph McDade.

By Sommer Schneller, Samara McCallum, and Trento Von Lindenberg On the very first episode of Welcome to Podsburgh, Samara and Sommer dive into the deep cultural experiences within music. The two find similarities and differences within their own musical interests and seek outside experiences when talking with guest and radio host, Char Pyle. Through this episode, the hosts hope to determine just how important to culture a person’s musical taste it, and how it can say so much more as an introduction to one’s self that even words can sometimes. Listen in to hear this for yourselves.

By Sheela Hanagal, Wynne Yao, and Zachary Rapaport Meals that we get at home often don’t match up with their restaurant versions, or are different from what’s served at restaurants advertised as representing a certain culture. We decided to explore these differences through interviews with people originating from India, China, and Mexico. We discuss the differences in the food, possible reasons behind them, and more! These differences between home-cooked meals and restaurant meals gives us better insight into the preferred tastes of various cultures.  Reyna Foods opened their retail outlet, in the heart of Pittsburgh’s historic Strip District, in 1988. Being the first and only Mexican grocery store in the Pittsburgh area, Reyna Foods has grown into a favorite stop for shoppers. More information can be found here .  Everyday Noodles is a restaurant in Squirrel Hill where meals come with a show. Tables are positioned so diners can watch the action behind a plate glas...

  By Sheela Hanagal, Wynne Yao, and Zachary Rapaport How does Pittsburgh welcome people? We set out to answer this question with a particular focus on how immigrants and international students at Carnegie Mellon University are welcomed to the city. Facilitating Opportunities for Refugee Growth and Empowerment (FORGE) is a student organization that seeks to educate, empower, and enrich the lives of refugees in order to catalyze sustainable social change. FORGE works toward this mission by engaging in direct service with refugees resettled to Pittsburgh and by spreading awareness of refugee issues. More information on FORGE can be found here . The Alliance for Refugee Youth Support and Education (ARYSE) supports immigrant and refugee youth in becoming engaged, confident, and celebrated members of our communities. More information on ARYSE can be found here . Casa San José supports and advocates for Latino communities on issues related to local integration and self-sufficiency. The...

By Sheela Hanagal, Wynne Yao, Fatima Ahmed, and Zachary Rapaport We’ve all heard about the travel ban, but what if there was a loophole around it? In our podcast episode, The Loophole, we look into the art exhibit The Other Apartment at the Mattress Factory in Pittsburgh, an exact replica of an artist’s apartment in Tehran, that mirrors events across the two apartments. We talk to the exhibit’s translator, Golnar Touski, to learn more about the loophole this exhibit provides to the travel ban, and her unique perspective on this attempt to create a loophole around Trump’s travel ban. Rather than interview Pittsburgh-based artist Jon Rubin or Tehran-based artist Sohrab Kashani , we sat down with Golnar to better understand how she, a member of the Iranian diaspora, interprets and responds to the artwork. Golnar Yarmohammad Touski is a doctoral student of History of Art and Architecture at the University of Pittsburgh. Her research focuses on modern and contemporary Iranian art,...