Folks on both sides of the aisle agree: The Iowa Caucuses are a big deal in the presidential election process. So we’re thrilled to announce that we’re heading to Des Moines with NPR’s David Greene, who will host Morning Edition LIVE in Iowa from Smokey Row Coffee during the caucuses. That’s right: we’re hosting two MEGA LISTENING PARTIES, live from Iowa, and we hope that YOU come join the excitement and become a part of the most listened-to weekday show in the country.
Politics nerds everywhere have been counting down the days to this major milestone in the 2016 presidential race. You may be wondering: Why are the Iowa caucuses first, why are they important, and why are they called caucuses? NPR’s own Sam Sanders went to Iowa recently to break it down.
You can learn even more starting at 4am on February 1 and February 2 (yes, AM - which is why we’ll have free coffee from 4-6am). Get the chance to meet David and the NPR Politics team, participate in a Q&A, and feed your curiosity – all while seeing live radio made for broadcast and connecting with new friends as part of NPR Generation Listen’s community of curious citizens.
Mon, 2/1 and Tues, 2/ 2 Smokey Row Coffee 1910 Cottage Grove Des Moines, IA
4am – 6am: Free Coffee and first run of Morning Edition 6am – 8 am: The main event! Watch a live recording of Morning Edition with David Greene and NPR Generation Listen 8am – 11am: Have a chance to meet David Greene and hang with other guests
The Listening Parties are open to the public on a first come, first serve basis so get there early and let us know you’re coming here.
We want to pack Smokey Row with great people so make sure to share the Facebook invite with your friends in Iowa! Not from Des Moines? See who’s down for a road trip. We have a Gen Listen crew coming up from Kansas City already. Drop us a note if you want to sync up with them. GenListen@Npr.org.
Happy 2016! Has the new year got you seeing visions of personal goals dancing in your heads?
The start of a new year brings an invitation to reflect, reset, and recalibrate the ideas, actions, and patterns that set the direction of our lives. We get a reason to choose change: to cultivate more goodness, release deadweight, face a challenge, or rebuild something we’ve lost.
Generation Listen not only wants to help you become your most curious, empathetic, and engaged self – we also want to help you connect more deeply to your community and kindle conversations about fresh starts.
Peep some NPR story excerpts we’ve hand-picked for January’s kit:
“I had so created my life that I didn’t have enough minutes in the day to work out if this was really making me happy, and so I thought, I need to stop right now and go to a very clear environment and then take stock of things.”– How Can We Find More Time To Be Still?, TED Radio Hour, Nov. 21, 2014
“There’s a…trigger for an automatic behavior to start unfolding. And then there’s a routine, which is the behavior itself…And then there’s a reward. And the reward is what tells our brain whether we should store this habit for future use or not.” – How You Can Harness ‘The Power Of Habit’, Morning Edition, Feb. 27, 2012
“There’s four types of people…How you react to the idea of forming a habit or someone telling you that you should form a habit…is going to be very different depending on what tendency you are.” – Change Your Habits And You’ll Be ‘Better Than Before’, Weekend Edition Sunday, March 15, 2015
We’ve also adding a brand new element – an interactive writing session that will help you and your pals define your 2016 goals. You probably already know that putting your feelings down on paper can provide all kinds of emotional benefits. This particular writing activity is intended to help you solidify your personal priorities, maybe even reveal patterns that can help you cultivate good habits.
Happy hosting! Please share your Renewal Edition Listening Party experiences with us on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. #NPRListeningParty @NPRGenListen
The 10 stories inside the kit each have a firestarter question to ignite a lively post listening discussion - and one that ultimately inspires you and your friends to discover unique ways to give your time, talent or treasure to your communities.
Inside the Kit you’ll hear familiar NPR voices from Shankar Vendantum to Guy Raz to Elise Hu. Together we explore topics ranging from the human behavior behind compassion and generosity to how millennials are changing the face of philanthropy to people’s personal and emotional giving experiences.
And since the NPR Listening Party is a party afterall, you can’t forget food, drinks, and music! Our friends at NPR Music and The Salt have got you covered.
We’d love for you to share your #NPRListeningParty stories, photos and videos from your own gathering with us on social media, tagging yourselves and @NPRGenListen.
Keep an eye on this space. New toolkits will be introduced each month on the Listening Party Hub with the content of the kits changing based on new topics or themes.
Welcome to #FollowFriday: Public Radio Edition. On select Fridays, we’ll introduce you to rad young radio makers at NPR and from public radio stations across the country. They’ll share work they’re excited about, insights into how they got their start, and who they are when they’re not on the mic.
Our first feature is Laine Kaplan-Levenson of WWNO in New Orleans. She founded the Big Easy’s local storytelling event, Bring Your Own, and is now producing and hosting WWNO’s first long-form podcast, TriPod. We caught up with her to get the scoop (and hope some of her contagious joy would rub off on us).
Name: Laine Kaplan-Levenson Age: 28 Hometown: Larchmont, NY Current City: New Orleans Station: WWNO Role: Producer and Host of Documentary series ‘Tripod: New Orleans at 300’
Laine: Who are you? Tell us a story that captures you as a person.
I lived in Staten Island, NY until I was five, where most of my neighbors and the kids I went to nursery school with were Italian. I didn’t talk for the first two years of my life, or have any hair. My fellow toddlers thought I was an alien. So did my parents, who were actually slightly concerned. When I finally did start talking, still without any hairs on my head, I spoke with an Italian accent, saying my ABCs ‘Ay-uh, Bee-uh, Cee-uh, Dee-uh…’. My mom always tells me about this one time, I had just started saying a few words (mostly ‘I dunno’), and we had to take my older sister to ballet class. I was playing by myself, something I was very happy to do, undisturbed, all day long. My mom came and scooped me up into her arms, taking me from my Little Tikes kitchen set, and said ‘Laine, we have to take Sara to dance now!’. And her two year old daughter looked at her and said, ‘You’s-a-bad-a-mama’. I eventually lost the accent, but not the love for seafood fra diavolo and eggplant parm.
Tell us about your new podcast!
Tripod: New Orleans at 300 launched in October of 2015, and we just released our 10th episode. The three-year project is WWNO’s first long-running podcast and will lead up to the city’s tricentennial (hence the name). What I love about the idea is that instead of doing a typical, PBS-style, one or two-hour documentary, we’ve designed a series to put out weekly episodes that tell the history of New Orleans, one story at a time. The episodes are made for broadcast, and air Thursday mornings, but are also available as a podcast on iTunes, which has been a great way to expand the reach of the audience.
We’re working with the Historical New Orleans Collection and the Midlo Center at the University of New Orleans, who are content advisors and liaisons; I have an editorial committee that has been amazing at helping brainstorm episode topics (there’s a lot to cover in 300 years of history) and connecting me to people who can speak on the stuff. They fact check my scripts, and then I do a traditional radio editor with my news director, Eve Troeh.
The process has more steps than what I was used to, coming from producing and reporting news, but I am thrilled to be making documentaries now. It allows me to bring more of myself into the show’s voice, and be more creative in style and tone with story structure, mixing in music, etc. And to have support from a team of advisors, as well as from the station, has been invaluable in the experience so far. And making content like this is really gratifying when working in a smaller market- a podcast coming from a local station really lets listeners engage with the producers and staff, share thoughts, and contribute to the development of the product they consume. I look forward to discovering, along with the audience, what TriPod becomes.
How did you end up becoming a media maker and was the very first radio piece you made?
I always knew I wanted to be a ‘producer’ even though I didn’t know what that meant, because it means everything and nothing. I’d say the first piece of radio I made was during my senior year of high school. The year prior I became obsessed with Shakespeare’s ‘Hamlet’ (‘how weary and unprofitable seem to me all the uses of this world’). And so a year later, my business-savvy friend and I decided if we made a study guide for the play, we could sell it to the juniors- like a hyperlocal cliff notes. I then realized that it would be way sexier to make a book on tape, because high schoolers don’t want to read, but if they could listen…so we came up with Hamlet: Book On Tape, also known as ‘H-BOT’. I held auditions, where members of my graduating class tried out for the various roles; the only ones that were already taken were Hamlet, played by me, obviously, and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, both played by my business-savvy friend). We made our selections, and then actually recorded the play onto a cassette. I never made the next step of mass producing the audio, aka we made no money, but boy do I still have that tape.
What advice would you give to someone who wants to get into radio?
If you want to get into radio, I think the best thing is to avoid trying to figure out what ‘being good at radio’ means, and just focus on getting to know yourself, and being as comfortable in your own skin as possible. The more comfortable and relaxed you are, the more at ease your interviewee will be, which will lead to the type of conversation you want to have. You can’t make good radio without good tape, and you can’t get good tape without real, raw, expression. It sounds counterintuitive, but learning how to be natural is truly the most important skill in radio, both when engaging with someone else, and when you’re alone with your mic. This is fortunate, because this ‘professional advice’ will also make you a happier person!
What is something you love to do that has nothing to do with your job?
Over the past year, I’ve been really into lying on the floor. I’ll use a yoga mat, but I don’t do yoga. I just lie on the floor. On my back. Sometimes I listen to music, or talk on the phone, or do nothing. But it’s the best. Better than lying in bed, if you can even imagine. I love it because it feels more restorative than anything else I can do for my body- I love running and swimming, too, but there’s a sense of calm and control when lowering yourself, seeing the dust under your dresser, and knowing there’s only so much one can expect you to do when in that position. It’s compromising and safe at the same time. Sometimes I do good thinking when I lie on the floor, and sometimes I go completely blank. Which is ideal.
What are you reading / listening to right now?
Right now I’m reading “How to Slowly Kill Yourself and Others in America” by Kiese Laymon, an amazing collection of essays. I’ve been listening to a lot of Joey Bada$$, Hop Along, Eddie Kendricks, and ‘The Things I Say’ off Joanna Newsom’s new Divers.
Where can people get into contact with you?
Believe it or not, I have an email address! Feel free to use it: laine@wwno.org. I’m also on twitter: @lainekaplev. And I run a live storytelling event and podcast called Bring Your Own- you can get in touch at bringyourownstories@gmail.com
Earlier this fall, we hit the road with NPR’s Kelly McEvers for two live conversations about a public health crisis that’s impacting countless families across the country: opioid addiction. In Atlanta andChicago, thoughtful and compassionate listeners joined us for intimate, in-depth listening parties and conversations about the human face of this epidemic and ideas for how we move forward.
These were powerful, personal experiences that can be hard to describe. So we’re excited to bring you deeper into the experience and show rather than tell.
Watch the video – and if you’re moved to do so, snag ourHost Your Own Listening Party Kit to bring this important conversation in your community and/or living room.
Thank you to everyone who attended these events and shared so openly. Thank you to our Member Station partners – GPB, WABE and WBEZ – and thank you to Cigna for the generous support that brought this whole project to life.
And last but not least, thanks to YOU, our community, for moving this conversation forward, one living room and listening party at a time. Happy hosting.
Maya Angelou once said, “One must know not just how to accept a gift, but with what grace to share it.” We couldn’t agree more. In fact, we’ve created an entire playbook that guides you to listen and reflect on this sentiment and discuss it with your nearest and dearest.
We’ve curated 10 artfully told NPR stories designed to make you think more deeply about what giving truly means and designed to prompt smart conversation amongst your friends.
These stories serve as the heart and soul of our newly launched Listening Party Kit, which makes it incredibly easy for listeners to host their own parties.
Of the 10 stories, we’ve grouped them into three different categories around giving, but it’s up to you to make that final selection based on the vibe you wish to create.
Here aresome tips on how to choose the best rundown of stories to make it an epic NPR party with your friends:
1) Consider your guests’ interests and backgrounds. Are they serious business types? Creative artists? Entrepreneurs? Fellow students? Activists? Teachers? Design your playlist based on what perspectives your guests can bring to the conversation.
2) Decide what mood you want to set. Do you want the group to be moved or inspired, to solve a complex problem, or to dive into a philosophical discussion?
3) Gauge the attention spans of your friends. Are they chatty Kathys who can’t wait to talk the moment an idea pops into their heads? Or are they more introspective and reflective and have a desire to dig into a meaty story? The individual stories in the kit range from 2 to 18 minutes and can be paired and parsed depending on your individual taste.
Check out the types of stories we’ve personally selected for inclusion in December’s kit:
“If I have enough time, I will do four, five, 1,000 jobs for your education. It’s a joy to do that knowing that I’m doing that for you.” - StoryCorps
Our package of personal giving stories run the gamut from inspirational and humorous to emotional. One TED Radio Hour segment features a scientist helping people find their true voices, while a “gangsta gardener” talks about giving his community the gift of health in another segment. We also hear how courageous Central Europeans are risking arrest to help refugees. And you might want to break out the tissues for a touching StoryCorps collection about what parents and grandparents give to their children.
“When someone dies, people…surround you with support. When your company goes out of business, everybody heads for the hills.” - TED Radio Hour
Interested in an intellectual and forward-looking approach to giving? Check out these stories about the future of philanthropy. An interview from TED Radio Hour, “Do We Have The Wrong Idea About Charity?” forces us to question how we expect philanthropic organizations to function: How should they spend their money? What image do we have of nonprofits? Another story in the future-of-philanthropy package explores tech-driven donations, while a third story highlights a different way of giving back (one that involves getting on an airplane).
“It seems that compassion is contagious.” - Hidden Brain
If you’re more of a people-watching armchair psychologist, you might like our selection of stories about the psychology of giving from Shankar Vedantam, NPR’s social science correspondent and host of the Hidden Brain podcast. Through interviews and a review of current social science research, Shankar investigates whether generosity is a learned behavior or if we are born compassionate, giving individuals.
Happy hosting! Please share your experiences with us on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram. #NPRListeningParty @NPRGenListen
It’s that time again! We’re looking for a photo editing intern for the summer semester. It’s a paid internship and you get work with the NPR Visuals team in DC! Deadline is March 15.
Girls and women of all ages and backgrounds came to together to listen to powerful stories about the lives of 15 girls around the world, followed by a conversation led by NPR’s All Things Considered co-host, Kelly McEvers.
The #15Girls project is an NPR editorial series that aired across NPR shows and digital platforms in October 2015. Generation Listen collaborated with the NPR Global Health Team to host a series of accompanying listening parties in DC and LA.
Last night we collaborated with our friends at KCRW and 826LA for a very special evening in West LA: to gather around the “radio” (or in this case, an audio player and some plants) to explore the lives of girls around the world with an #NPRListeningParty.
The evening included 30 girls and women from different backgrounds, multiple countries and various walks of life. We began the evening reflecting on what bound us together as women, and each shared a story about a woman who has influenced our lives in a profound way.
NPR Host Kelly McEvers then introduced the series and featured stories: #15Girls: Teens Taking Control and Changing Their Fate, that would transport us to El Salvador and Zambia as seen through the eyes of fifteen-year-old girls.
The first story was riveting and intense, and we were glad to be able to reflect on it together. Kelly was the lead reporter on the story and she told us what it was like to travel to El Salvador and uncover what was happening. We discussed which of the girls we most related to - the one that retreated or the one that fought - and explored the difference between truly living and merely surviving. We agreed that life is often about what we choose to do with what comes our way - which in our case, sitting together in Los Angeles felt like a lot of goodness.
The second, more uplifting story about a young girl in Zambia using Harvard Business School negotiation tactics to raise money to attend school, had us smiling at her upbeat tenacity. It prompted us to reflect on the value of an education and the powerful idea of a woman asking for what she wants.
Our lively conversation drew to an end with a thoughtful sentiment from one of the teens in the room: “You know, so many people I go to school with complain about how much it sucks. Sure, it sucks sometimes, but I want them to listen to this story and hear about how hard this girl is working just to get to go to school in the first place.”
That felt like the perfect way to end a powerful evening. Can stories change how we view the world? Looks like it. Even more so when we listen to them together. Check out pics from the evening below and host your own. We make an informative and engaging evening like this super simple for hosts with our newly launched NPRListening Party Kit.
Dr. Kevin Olival from EcoHealth Alliance (left) and NPR’s science correspondent Michaeleen Doucleff lead our NYC discussion on pandemics.
Over 30 listeners filled a rooftop terrace blocks from Central Park to listen to reporting from Goats & Soda.
As the sun started to set, our group walked over to Central Park to observe some local bats.
Dr. Olival brought two bat detectors that allowed us to listen to, record, and even identify bat species by their echolocation calls.
Success! We found bats right as we entered Central Park.
We detected multiple bat species using the echolocation app.
We walked over to the bridge near W. 77th, which is known for bats.
The Manhattan skyline lit up the sky as Central Park grew dark and we wrapped our immersive experience.
photos: @hopeleigh
Did you know there are bats living in Central Park?! Neither did we, until Dr. Kevin Olival from the EcoHealth Alliance mentioned NYC as a cool place for an immersive Listening Party a few months back when we started designing this project.
You may recognize his name from Michaeleen Doucleff’s reporting on pandemics from Borneo. He’s the voice of the virus hunter who guides her and senior producer Jane Greenhalgh through the rainforest, where he and his team work to identify new viruses in bats.
Yesterday, he joined us on a rooftop terrace on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, just a few blocks from an area of Central Park known for bats. Our group of 30 has gathered for a listening session and discussion around two of Michaeleen’s stories: one about the rainforest in Borneo and one about the Gomantong Cave, also in Borneo, which is full of bats.
The group was engaged and curious, full of questions about the practical applications of Olival’s research and ideas about future pandemic prevention.
When the sun started to drop over the horizon, it was time to go look for bats. As we entered Central Park, Olival pulls two bat detection tools from his backpack: one that attaches to his cellphone and one that stands alone. He turns them on and BAM - immediately we pick up the sounds of bats! The device connected to his phone has the ability to record and identity the bat calls. We hear and see big brown bats as well as hoary bats. And we’re not even at the bridge at W. 77th known for bat sightings yet!
Olival guided us through the park to the lake, where he answered people’s bat questions and busted bat myths (they are NOT blind, they actually have great vision). We wrapped the evening with a newfound awe for bats and a continued curiosity around the ways humans interact with the animals all around us.
Budding bat enthusiasts, follow Kevin Olival at @nycbat on twitter for the latest on bats in NYC and beyond.
