WPRB News and Culture: The Pidgin has growing pains, and we can feel ourselves aging like fine wine, so today we’re talking seniority – in all the meanings of the word. We talk about the elders in our lives, and our communities, but we’re also thinking about chapters ending and beginning. Ariel Chen starts us off by reporting on this past week’s May Day protests in the community, and points to how older people are starting to become the new face of activism. For our culture segment, Margo Mattes reflects on personal stories from the drama of her grandmother’s nursing home, and reflects on how the way we feel, and interact with other people, never really changes as we move through life. Finally, for our science segment, Teo Grosu and Natalia Maidique talk to Dr. Coleen Murphy, a researcher at Princeton who studies aging in many forms, about how research often needs the space to grow and age for its true importance to be revealed.

Hosted and produced by Teo Grosu and Natalia Maidique. Reported, recorded, and produced by Ariel Chen, Margo Mattes, Teo Grosu, and Natalia Maidique.

All music used under Creative Commons license.

(00:00) Introduction

(01:35) May Day Protests

(15:03) Acting Your Age

(24:50) Aging Research

This week, The Pidgin keeps its wits about it and takes on something that's been plaguing our online spaces, and how we interact with them: brainrot. Mind-numbing and addictive, born on TikTok and leaking into real life, brainrot has come to be a quintessential part of contemporary culture. And we're turning it on its head. For our community section, Maggie Stewart talks to sociologist Niobe Way, to Stanford psychologist Judy Chu, and to some of her own male friends, to understand what the internet phenomenon of the TikTok Rizz Party reveals about modern masculinity, and boyhood. Up next, in our culture section, reporters Martiza Roberts and Emilka Puchlaski go to an Everyone Asked About You Concert, and they get the feeling that emo isn’t dead, but concert etiquette might be. And for science, we stay on our social science kick, and we have WPRB usual suspect Margo Mattes interviews a sociologist from the Toronto Metropolitan University about the experiences of older adults with social media.

This episode of the Pidgin was hosted and produced by Teo Grosu, reported, and recorded by Maggie Stewart, Margo Mattes, Emilka Puchlaski, and Martiza Roberts, and edited by Teo Grosu, Zachary Vernon, Maggie Stewart, Amelia Carneiro-Zhu, Margo Mattes, and Natalia Maidique.

(1:54) The TikTok Rizz Party

(27:10) Emo Isn't Dead, But Concert Etiquette Might Be

(44:11) Not Your Mama's Brainrot

WPRB News and Culture: The Pidgin is dedicating an entire episode to the beauty of the radio. Independent radio enables the Pidgin’s existence, and does so much more than bring audio to our car speakers. First, Natalia Maidique and Teo Grosu host a LIVE interview with Dr. Jeff Dror from Florida University about what’s behind this medium – radio waves! – and what these waves can tell us about the elusive dark matter that makes our Universe. Next, Maggie Stewart and Ariel Chen dig into library archives to highlight a snapshot in history, the tragedy of 9/11 and how radio played a role in covering it, and healing the communities it impacted. Finally, Margo Mattes focuses on radio and independent journalism in Hong Kong, and talks to Princeton senior Joshua Yang about his experience with that scene.

Hosted and produced by Teo Grosu and Natalia Maidique. Reported, recorded, and produced by Natalia Maidique, Teo Grosu, Maggie Stewart, Ariel Chen, and Margo Mattes.

All music used under Creative Commons license. Theme music: "Montanita," by Ratatat. 

(00:00) Introduction

(01:05) Radio in Space

(24:53) Connection Through Tragedy

(45:12) Journalism in Hong Kong

The Pidgin knows what you truly want: some gosh darn peace and quiet… We are still working on bringing that to you, but we did the next best thing: talked about it! Our show today opens with its Community segment, in which Ariel Chen and Maggie Stewart report on the long-standing silent protests that the Society of Friends (and their friends) have been organizing in the town of Princeton. Next, Margo Mattes takes on Culture, and lets us know just how a silent retreat unfolds, and the good, the bad, and the–shht!– of being silent for ten days. Lastly, our Science section has Maritza Roberts and Ameila Carneiro Zhu attend a glacier meditation, and goes beyond the tip of the iceberg to learn about the special place glaciers occupy on our planet.

Hosted, Recorded, Produced by Teo Grosu and Natalia Maidique. Reported, Recorded, and Produced by Maggie Stewart, Maritza Roberts, Margo Mattes, Ariel Chen, Natalia Maidique, and Ameila Carneiro Zhu.

All music under Creative Commons license.

Theme music: “Montanita” by Ratatat.

(00:00) Introduction

(01:22) Protests for Peace

(6:41) A Ten-Day Silent Retreat

(19:10) Glaciers

Today, we on The Pidgin ask if we can take you out for a coffee... episode. First up, Ariel Chen and Lucy McWeeny peer inside your cup and ask ‘how did it get there’? You’ll hear their conversation with the world’s youngest Q-grader, who draws from her experience of having her own coffee line to give us an insider’s view of what it takes to grow, and commercialize coffee. The Culture section of today’s show is an ode to the coffee shop, by having Annie Rupertus search for the perfect one in Philly for a dear friend set to move there. Today's show ends, as usual, with its science component, in which The Pidgin acknowledges that global warming is changing coffee as we know it, and has Teo Grosu talk to Michael Oppenheimer about the big picture of climate change. Hosted and produced by Teo Grosu and Natalia Maidique. Reported, recorded, and produced by Teo Grosu, Ariel Chen, Lucy McWeeny, and Annie Rupertus. Research assistance: Margo Mattes and Maritza Roberts.

All music under Creative Commons license.

Theme music: "Montanita," by Ratatat.

(00:00) Introduction

(01:36) Frankie's Coffee

(16:21) The Best Coffee Shop in Philly

(32:47) A Conversation with Michael Oppenheimer

WPRB News and Culture: The Pidgin has been noticing lately that a lot of our decisions are being made for us: algorithms decide what we watch, AI decides what we do, and lawmakers decide how we live. The Pidgin wants to learn more about those decisions today, and what they mean for each of us. First, Maggie Stewart and I talk about a recent court case in New Jersey affecting ballot design. Next, Sena Chang reviews “The Midnight Library” by Matt Haig, a recent novel that asks what each of our decisions mean. And Teo Grosu drives us into a conversation about self-driving cars, and whether we should accept this coming technology.

Hosted and produced by Teo Grosu and Natalia Maidique. Reported, recorded, and produced by Natalia Maidique, Maggie Stewart, Sena Chang, and Teo Grosu.

All music used under Creative Commons license. Theme music: "Montanita," by Ratatat. 

(00:00) Introduction

(01:16) Kim v. Hanlon

(17:45) The Midnight Library

(22:37) Self-Driving Cars

For Valentine's Day, The Pidgin spreads its wings and goes looking for love. Natalia Maidique peeks inside Princeton’s community to find a pair of lovebirds who are still in school. For our culture section, Isabel Jacobson has a conversation with singer-songwriter Kate Short about love songs. And our science segment ends this episode with Teo Grosu and Ariel Chen talking to ecological researchers about, literally, how birds show their love.

Hosted and produced by Teo Grosu and Natalia Maidique. Reported, recorded, and produced by Natalia Maidique, Isabel Jacobson, Teo Grosu, and Ariel Chen.

All music used under Creative Commons license. Theme music: "Montanita," by Ratatat. Music used in “The Choueiris”: “City Tour” by Dee Yan-Key. Music used in “Love Songs”: “Uplifting Acoustic Melodies” by Universfield. 

(00:00) Introduction

(01:32) The Choueiris

(18:17) Love Songs

(26:30) Birds in Love

This week, the Pidgin is talking about little red dots. Teo Grosu has a conversation with a researcher at Princeton University about new astrophysical discoveries coming from the James Webb Space Telescope, learning how a few little red dots on a telescope image can actually disrupt our understanding of how old the universe is.

Hosted and produced by Natalia Maidique. Reported, recorded, and produced by Teo Grosu, and edited by Natalia Maidique.

All music used under Creative Commons license. Theme music: "Montanita," by Ratatat.

This week, the Pidgin’s theme is kicking and screaming. Inside of each of us, there’s a little kid who wants to fly into a rampage when things just aren’t going right – so we’re gonna be digging into those times where you just want to put up a fight, give it your all, and lose control. First, Lauren Kim and Ariel Chen set the tone by talking to us about how adults have their tantrums. Next, Pat Grate talks the DIY music scene with Don Giovanni records, an independent record label, about going against the grain. Finally, Maya Kenny and Sena Chang discuss the value of emotions in sports. 

Hosted and produced by Natalia Maidique. Reported, recorded, and produced by Lauren Kim, Ariel Chen, Pat Grate, Maya Kenny, and Sena Chang.

All music used under Creative Commons license. Theme music: "Montanita," by Ratatat.

(00:00) Introduction

(01:31) Adult Tantrums

(20:17) Don Giovanni Records

(35:13) Sports Psychology

Today, we’re talking Dissonance – but no, we won’t be sharing tips on how to navigate political conversations with difficult people. Instead, we’re talking about dissonance in music and in our inner worlds, to help us all remember how dissonance can sometimes be a great thing. First, Brianna Dai asks composers about how dissonant sounds can add emotion to compositions. Next, Lucy McWeeny talks Oedipus Rex and how we all struggle to reconcile the two halves of ourselves. Finally, to end with another musical story, Navani Rachumallu and I dissect what dissonance in music actually is–and, in fact, what music itself is.

Hosted and produced by Natalia Maidique. Reported, recorded, and produced by Brianna Dai, Lucy McWeeny, Navani Rachumallu, and Natalia Maidique.

All music used under Creative Commons license. Theme music: "Montanita," by Ratatat. Audio clips in “Music Philosophy” from What Makes Music Sound Good by Dmitri Tymoczko and Sound Examples for Tuning Timbre Spectrum Scale by Bill Sethares.

(00:00) Introduction

(01:39) Conducting with Dissonance

(11:50) Oedipus Rex

(27:07) Music Philosophy

On 11/11, The Pidgin has stories about superstitions, wishes and symmetry. Something about the date being a palindrome, the same read forwards or backwards (or upside down), makes it feel like anything can happen. Lucy McWeeny and Cynthia Torres revisit middle school crushes and angel numbers. Then, Izzy Jacobson looks at how random alignments can lead to the closest friendships.

Hosted and produced by Natalia Maidique. Reported, recorded, and produced by Lucy McWeeny, Cynthia Torres, and Izzy Jacobson. 

All music used under Creative Commons license. Theme music: "Montanita," by Ratatat. Music used in Friendship and Chance story: “Calm Indie Rock Atmosphere” by Universfield, “NFLD” by Mr Smith, “Stone Crow” by Mr Smith, and “Grace” by Mr Smith.

(00:00) Introduction

(02:01) Angel Numbers

(06:57) Friendship and Chance