Snap Judgment

Latest Episodes:

The Wedding Guest May 06, 2021

Show notes

After years of fighting battles as a child soldier, a Sudanese man finds himself a refugee in Australia. As he struggles to overcome his past, he comes face-to-face with his childhood tormentor on a TV show.

This episode recounts real events that happened to a child soldier, including graphic scenes inside a prison camp, listener discretion is advised.

Thank you, Ayik, for sharing your incredible story with us! To learn more about Ayik’s life, check out his memoir, The Lost Boy. You can also catch Ayik on Harrow, a crime drama now airing on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

Produced by Ruby Schwartz, edited by Nancy López. Special thanks to Wendy Love.

Original score by Renzo Gorrio, artwork by Teo Ducot

This week’s music spotlight features the song “Rocketeer” from our very own Renzo Gorrio! Renzo scores so many stories on Snap (just like this one!) and he produces under the name Hydroplane. Listen to “Rocketeer” from his new album Rockets out NOW! Cassette, vinyl, and digital versions are available on Bandcamp.

Season 12 - Episode 17

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Mettle - Snap Classic Apr 29, 2021

Show notes

When a four-seater plane violently crashes onto the top of an 8,000-foot mountain, an 11-year-old fights to survive. A white boy discovers he's black. And history calls on an Oglala Lakota Headsman in South Dakota to stand up for his people. Snap Judgment presents, “Mettle.”

STORIES

Electric Fence

As a country boy, Glynn puts his family pride on the line when his neighbor challenges him to the ultimate test of manhood.

Produced by Pat Mesiti-Miller

Wonderboy

In 1979, a four-seater Cessna plane carrying Norman Ollestad, his dad, and his dad’s girlfriend violently crashed onto the top of an 8,000-foot mountain. He was just 11 years old.

This story does contain graphic elements. Sensitive listeners, please be advised.

To learn more about Norman’s story, check out his book, Crazy for the Storm. Be sure to also check out his thriller, French Girl With Mother.

Produced & scored by Davey Kim

One Drop

For 10-year-old Greg Williams, life was good...until the day his mom left.

To learn more about Greg’s story, check out his book Life on the Color Line.

Produced by Adizah Eghan, original score & sound design by Pat Mesiti-Miller

Third King

What happens when history calls on you to step up? We go to Standing Rock to find out.

Lance King is an Oglala Lakota Headsman from Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. For more information on his grandfather, Matthew H. King, check out “Noble Red Man: Lakota Wisdomkeeper Matthew King.”

Produced by Liz Mak, original score & sound design by Leon Morimoto

Artwork by Teo Ducot

Season 12 - Episode 16

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Hair Battle Apr 22, 2021

Show notes

We follow four hairstylists who compete in the 2019 Bronner Brothers Salon vs. Salon Hair Battle - the only hair competition of its kind. As one contestant puts it, "It's a platform that every stylist that I know would absolutely love and kill for." Come for the big personalities and stay for the ultimate hair show. Find out who wears it best...

BIG thanks & love to all the stylists who shared their stories with us!

Ashley Payne, the bob queen, moved her salon to a new location, a private, appointment-only, suite. She is observing COVID safety protocols but has unfortunately suffered some health blows. Ashley has started a gofundme to help pay for a liver transplant.

Check out Tammie B’s work! Que Barnes is still at the helm of her salon in Atlanta. Terrence Davidson, the king of hair, started selling hair products online called Kingz N Queenz.

Produced by Chris Hambrick & Nancy Lopez, with assistance from Shaina Shealy

Original score by Marco Prestige, sound design by Pat Mesiti-Miller

Artwork by Teo Ducot

Season 12 - Episode 15

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Bloodlines Apr 15, 2021

Show notes

When Adreanna Rodriguez was a kid, she was given a choice about whether or not she wanted to stay in her home state of California. It was a choice she’s reckoned with for her entire life. Today, over a decade after she made that choice - Adreanna takes us with her to North Dakota to find out… what could have been.

STORIES

Mulatto

Glynn’s brother wants him to take a DNA test but Glynn already knows he’s one part Luna and one part Midnight.

Produced by Pat Mesiti-Miller, original score by Cheflee

Bloodlines

This story was supported by the USC Center for Health Journalism, which helps journalists investigate health challenges and solutions in their communities – reporting that serves as a catalyst for change.

BIG love to Adreanna’s mom, Sylvia, and her kid sister, Maudy.

Produced by Adreanna Rodriquez and Shaina Shealy

Original score by Renzo Gorrio

You can also hear this story on a new podcast from VICE Audio called Strongman. It’s a six-part series of intimate stories about power and control at every level... all over the world. It’s out now… subscribe & listen wherever you get your podcasts!

Special thanks to the incredible VICE squad: Adizah Eghan, Annie Aviles, Stephanie Kariuki, Joaqlin Estus, Karen Brown, Ivan MacDonald, and Catherine Stifter.

Full Episode

This episode features music from Cheflee, check out more of Cheflees’s music at cheflee.bandcamp.com!

Sound design by Pat Mesiti-Miller

Artwork by Teo Ducot

Season 12 - Episode 14

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Tin Man - Snap Classic Apr 08, 2021

Show notes

A scientist studying the minds of psychopaths gets dangerously close. A father’s inability to recognize faces tests his relationships. And a brother is reunited with his North Korean sister for the first time in over five decades.

You can look human and you can sound human... but what happens when you take a good hard look inside and realize... you're missing something?

STORIES

If I Only Had a Heart

Glynn knows… sometimes the sum of the parts does not equal the hole.

Produced by Pat Mesiti-Miller

The Scientist and the Psychopath

Neuroanatomist James Fallon, Ph.D. studies the most dangerous kind of person: the psychopath. His job is to get up close and personal with the mind of the psychopath so that we can better understand what makes them tick. He treats their brains with the cold calculation of a scientist at work. But in the process, things get mighty personal.

James Fallon, Ph.D. is a neuroanatomist and geneticist at UC-Irvine. For more about his work and his own life, check out his book: The Psychopath Inside: A Neuroscientist's Personal Journey into the Dark Side of the Brain.

Produced by Julia DeWitt

About Face

You’ve heard the saying, right? You can’t see the forest for the trees. Well, imagine if your whole life all you could do, all you knew how to do, was see the trees, the details, the minutiae of the world. What would you miss out on? Let’s take a walk in Tom Conces’ shoes and find out.

Produced by Nancy López, original score by Renzo Gorrio

Across the DMZ

What happens when you are reunited with your North Korean sister for the first time in over five decades?

Thank you to our voice actors, Yongnam and Mikyung Kim!

Produced and scored by Davey Kim

Artwork by Teo Ducot

Sound design by Pat Mesiti-Miller

Season 12 - Episode 13

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Cloak of Good Fortune Apr 01, 2021

Show notes

Sieu is a young boy living in the big city of Phnom Penh, but he misses his old life in the Cambodian countryside. The air, the farms, but mostly… the animals. When the Khmer Rouge promises a return to the land, Sieu has no idea how far he and his family will have to go.

This story recounts aspects of the Khmer Rouge civil war including scenes of torture and death. Sensitive listeners, please be advised.

BIG thanks to Sieu Do for sharing your story with us! There is so much that we were not able to share with you about Sieu and his family’s incredible journey. To find out more check out his book, A Cloak of Good Fortune.

Produced by Nikka Singh, original score by Renzo Gorrio

Sound design by Pat Mesiti-Miller

Artwork by Teo Ducot

Season 12 - Episode 12

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Snap Judgment Trailer Mar 30, 2021

Show notes

Hosted by Glynn Washington, Snap Judgment brings new voices to public radio and podcasting... voices that did not know the world of public media, and many voices that did not know they belonged.

We build Snap Judgment’s signature sound around immersive audio, incredible first-person storytelling, and original scoring for each and every experience. Snap’s musical brand of storytelling dares listeners to see the world through the eyes of another. This is storytelling… with a BEAT!

Snap first aired on public radio stations nationwide in July 2010. Today, Snap Judgment airs on over 400 NPR & CBC stations and is brought to the airwaves by PRX.

Don’t miss a beat! Subscribe now wherever you get your podcasts and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

Sound design by Pat Mesiti-Miller

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The North Pond Hermit - Snap Classic Mar 25, 2021

Show notes

There was a legend in central Maine, about a hermit who had lived in the woods, unseen, for 30 years. Then, in 2013, the police arrested a man named Christopher Knight.

To learn more about Chris Knight’s story, be sure to check out Mike Finkel’s book, The Stranger In The Woods: The Extraordinary Story of the Last True Hermit.

Check out The North Pond Hermit Song by Stan Keach.

Produced by Joe Rosenberg, original score by Renzo Gorrio & Andrew Vickers

Sound design by Pat Mesiti-Miller

Artwork by Teo Ducot

Season 12 - Episode 11

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Spartan Hall - Snap Classic Mar 23, 2021

Show notes

Glynn finds a cheap place to spend the summer… at a halfway house.

This story was performed at Snap LIVE in Los Angeles and was presented by KPCC.

Original Music by Alex Mandel, performed by Alex Mandel and the Snap Players (David Brand and Tim Frick).

Watch the live performance!

Sound design by Pat Mesiti-Miller

Artwork by Teo Ducot

Season 12 - Episode 10

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Marshmallow Day Mar 18, 2021

Show notes

Katie falls hard for Barys during a whirlwind trip to Belarus. But there’s a giant red flag she can’t ignore any longer. And two people who have the same name, live in the same city, and have the same professional interests soon find out what else they have in common.

STORIES

Real Love

Boston-based writer Katie Simon is on assignment in Belarus when she meets and falls hard for Barys in less than a week. When she’s back home, her friends alert her to a giant red flag she can no longer afford to ignore.

This story briefly mentions sex, sensitive listeners please be advised.

Thank you, Katie, for sharing this story with Snap! Keep up with her latest work, including an upcoming book about falling in love and generational storytelling here. Learn more about Katie on her Facebook, Twitter, & Instagram.

Produced by Regina Bediako, original score by Renzo Gorrio

Ovrkast “Love Somebody” - Music Spotlight

This week’s Snap Music Spotlight features Oakland artist Ovrkast with the song, "Love Somebody" watch the video here!

Listen to Ovrkast's latest album, Try Again (DELUXE) out now!! To stay up to date with all things Ovrkast, be sure to follow them on Twitter and Instagram.

Katie vs. Katie

When Katie Crouch learned there was another Katie Crouch who lived in the same city and apparently had the same professional interests as her she thought, huh, what else do we have in common? She would soon find out.

This story was done in collaboration with Ozy.com, the online magazine that published both Katies’ essays: The Other Me and Doppelgangers Unite?

Katie Crouch continues to virtually cross paths with her name twin from her new city of Chicago, where she works for an educational publisher, raises a toddler on her own, and writes a blog.

Katie Crouch is a New York Times best-selling novelist. Her books include Girls in Trucks and Abroad, among others.

Produced by Nancy López, original score by Renzo Gorrio

Sound design by Pat Mesiti-Miller

Artwork by Teo Ducot

Season 12 - Episode 9

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