Snap Judgment

Latest Episodes:

The Sleuthers - School Daze Sep 25, 2025

Show notes

A team of high school students investigate a new hire at their school. What they discover leads them towards an all out battle for the truth.

Extra special thanks to Emily Smith and her team of sleuthers!

Produced by Shaina Shealy, edited by Nancy Lopez, original score Nick Marks.

Season 16 - Episode 46

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Stuck in the Middle - School Daze Sep 18, 2025

Show notes

Drama Club is the happy, safe space for Lee and Parker until their school play becomes a homophobic middle school meltdown. The lights get turned up to 10, the adults are in a media frenzy, and the kids are just trying to figure it all out.

STORIES

Don’t Say Gay Dads

This story contains descriptions of abuse directed at gay persons. Please take care while listening.

A very big thank you to Lee and Parker—who are best friends to this day. Thanks as well to Jamie McGonnigal.

Produced by Mark Betancourt, original score by Dirk Schwarzhoff. Artwork by Teo Ducot.

Playground Bullies and Dark Secrets

In middle school, Mike has a secret. But no one has ever seen “it.”

This was performed at Snap LIVE in Los Angeles.

“Mighty” Mike McGee is an international spoken word artist, writer, performer, speaker, slam poet and comic. McGee is the first slam poet to win both the American National Poetry Slam Individual Grand Championship and the Individual World Poetry Slam Championship.

Original score composed and performed by Alex Mandel, Tim Frick, and David Brandt.

Season 16 – Episode 45

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County Clerk Sep 16, 2025

Show notes

The county clerk in a sleepy town finds himself on the frontlines of a national fight over abortion care. When a New York doctor prescribes abortion meds to a Texas woman, a state's rights fight erupts. Ulster County Clerk Taylor Bruck is front and center when he invokes the "shield law" to prevent Texas AG Ken Paxton from filing a case against the doctor.

Produced by Anna Sussman and Zoe Ferrigno. Original score by Dirk Schwarzhoff.

Season 16 - Episode 43

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Dirty Work - Snap Classic Sep 11, 2025

Show notes

This week on Snap Judgment… it's the tough jobs, the rough jobs, the roll up your sleeves and get it done jobs. When the oddest man in town is arrested for murder, only one lawyer steps up to represent him. Plus misadventures under the Not-So-Big Top.

STORIES

The Writing Is On The Wall

When the scariest man in town is arrested for murder, only one lawyer volunteers to represent him...

Produced by Joe Rosenberg, sound design by Renzo Gorrio. Artwork by Teo Ducot.

Corrections: In a previous version, McCracken Poston is referred to as both a state senator and state representative. He was a state representative, not a state senator. Also, Virginia Ridley is described as having last been seen in public in 1980, 17 years before the events described in this story. In fact it was in 1970, 27 years before.

The Indiana Bust-Out

How does a well-mannered math kid become a first-class hustler? Through the ancient carnie tradition of "The Indiana Bust-Out."

Check out Pete’s book -- Eyeing the Flash: The Making of a Carnival Con Artist

Produced by Davey Kim, sound design by Leon Morimoto and Davey Kim.

Season 16 - Episode 42 - Classic

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A Tiny Plot: "Burned" EP 5 Sep 04, 2025

Show notes

The group from Union Point moves into their new homes on the tiny plot of land near Lake Merritt. They run their own security and decide who comes into their space. But then, on a Monday morning in March, we hear devastating news…

A fire burns through the plot of land on E12th. Is this the end of the experiment, or will the group keep building?

This episode contains strong language & graphic imagery. Please take care while listening.

Thank you to the entire cast from A Tiny Plot for sharing your story with us.

Hosted and produced by Shaina Shealy. Edited by Anna Sussman, original music by Renzo Gorrio, engineering by Pat Mesiti-Miller. Director of Production: Marisa Dodge. Executive Producers: Glynn Washington and Mark Ristich. Artwork: Teo Ducot.

Special thanks: Jen Chien, Catherine Winter, the City of Oakland, Sweetie at the Travel Inn, Ryan Finnegan, Will Craft, JP Dobrin, Thomas Brouns, Sukey Lewis, Alistair Boone, The Street Spirit, KQED legal, and Ott House Audio.

Episode 5 of 5. You can listen to the entire series now!

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A Tiny Plot: "Rocked" EP 4 Sep 02, 2025

Show notes

Mama D, President Matt, and the rest of the group are finally seeing their experiment in co-governance take shape. They built their security sheds and saw their tiny homes for the first time. But when Nino Parker stepped onto the sidewalk in a neck brace, on crutches, it was clear that the group was about to face a whole new level of chaos.

This episode contains strong language & graphic imagery. Please take care while listening.

Thank you to the entire cast from A Tiny Plot for sharing your story with us.

A Tiny Plotis a new 5-part series from KQED’s Snap Studios, hosted and produced by Shaina Shealy. Edited by Anna Sussman, original music by Renzo Gorrio, engineering by Pat Mesiti-Miller. Director of Production: Marisa Dodge. Executive Producers: Glynn Washington and Mark Ristich. Artwork: Teo Ducot.

Episode 4 of 5. Listen on any podcast platform, right here on Snap Judgment!

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A Tiny Plot: "The Fence" EP 3 Aug 28, 2025

Show notes

Mama D sees that the future of the experiment is up to her and what she decides: Lead the group to the plot of land offered by the city, hope and pray for a magical new plot, or disband the group and dissolve the experiment.

Following weeks of indecision, Mama D makes a choice. And while everyone from the group was hard at work to turn their dream into reality, they didn’t seem to notice a major problem with the set-up. A fault line of sorts.

This episode contains strong language & graphic imagery. Please take care while listening.

Big thanks to the entire cast from A Tiny Plot for sharing your worlds with us.

Episode 3 of 5. Episodes drop on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Listen on any podcast platform, right here on Snap Judgment!

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A Tiny Plot: "Moving Camp" EP 2 Aug 26, 2025

Show notes

The standoff between Public Works and the group from Union Point Park ends with a handshake -- a deal to build a new kind of housing community funded by the city where homeless residents make their own rules. But right away, the civility of this agreement seems to break down.

And after months of waiting, the group from Union Point Park finally gets a plot of land on E12th street for their radical experiment. But there’s a big problem with the land. It's something that leaves the future of this experiment in limbo.

This episode contains strong language & graphic imagery. Please take care while listening.

A Tiny Plotis a new 5-part series from KQED’s Snap Studios. Host and Reporter Shaina Shealy takes listeners inside an encampment in Oakland for an against-all-odds story about scarcity, community, and the complexity of building something new from the margins of a broken system. What happens when people who’ve been shut out of a system that has failed them decide to take the lead? Disaster, and unexpected beauty.

Big thanks to the entire cast from A Tiny Plot for sharing your worlds with us.

Episode 2 of 5. Episodes drop on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Listen on any podcast platform, right here on Snap Judgment!

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A Tiny Plot: "The Barricade" EP 1 Aug 21, 2025

Show notes

Using broken refrigerators, mattresses and dishwashers, residents of Union Point Park barricade their tent-city. And they fight for an extraordinary idea: their own plot of land from the city, where they could live in community and set their own rules, on their own terms.
A Tiny Plotis a new 5-part series from KQED’s Snap Studios. Host and Reporter Shaina Shealy takes listeners inside an encampment in Oakland for an against-all-odds story about scarcity, community, and the complexity of building something new from the margins of a broken system. What happens when people who’ve been shut out of a system that has failed them decide to take the lead? Disaster, and unexpected beauty.

This episode contains strong language & graphic imagery. Please take care while listening.

Huge love & thanks to the entire cast from A Tiny Plot for sharing your worlds with us.

Episode 1 of 5. Episodes drop on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Listen on any podcast platform, right here on Snap Judgment!

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A Tiny Plot: Trailer Aug 19, 2025

Show notes

It's barricades vs. bobcats, tents vs. tiny homes and a team of people fighting to stay together. Listen to a radical experiment in freedom that puts an entire city under the microscope…

"A Tiny Plot” is a new series from KQED’s Snap Studios. Producer Shaina Shealy embedded with a group of people in an encampment in Oakland at a park called Union Point. They were ordered to disperse, running out of time, but they were bound together by an extraordinary new idea: their own living space where they can set their own rules. Over five episodes, we learn the story of Mama D, Papa Eddie, President Matt and more. They invite listeners in to witness high-stakes decisions, devastating failures and wild successes.

Episode 1 drops August 21, 2025. Episodes will drop on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Listen right here on Snap Judgment.

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