Category: updates

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Hello!

Over the weekend, I finally took the jump and launched the first episode of a brand-new mini podcast. As someone who’s been producing audio for years now, the current landscape of podcasting can sometimes feel a bit overwhelming. On the one hand, it’s great that people are finally taking to podcasts and relishing in listening — but on the other hand, it can feel like everyone has a podcast, or thinks it’s so easy to start one given the barriers to entry are relatively low.

And, as Emily Bell has pointed out, the current swarm of podcast genres tends to include the following:

Which brings me to “Loitering,” the occasional, but lovable traveling minipod — and the name of the mini podcast I just launched on the app Bumpers! It admittedly took a bit of time for me to warm to the idea of recording and editing audio stories entirely on this app (some may call this snooty, but audiophiles who know the painstaking process of trimming audio to the finest detail know that the bigger the screen, the better). But, true to Loitering fashion, I also wanted to loiter on this app and experiment with new methods of audio production.

Also…I’ve been wanting to do my own podcast again for a long time! But I’ve been struggling with the big how. Shizuoka Speaks, my baby from my Japan days, was my first podcast (before the word became part of the everyday media landscape). But now that the medium has become so popular, and radio/podcasting industry wonks like me know how competitive and saturated the market is right now, it’s too much to just “launch a podcast” the way some non-industry insiders might presume. Who would listen? How would I market it/produce it/edit it/cultivate it while doing my other work?

So, I decided to approach a minipod on Bumpers as a way to chill out about this and do something a bit more low-key and fun (but insightful!). And because I personally have trouble finishing some podcasts, I wanted to keep it short. (I know, I should be ashamed given how many high-quality podcasts exist that are meant purely to delight your ear, but…I do think we tend to overestimate people’s time and availability, or indulge in our egos a bit too much when we think how great it is to be behind the mic/how great our story is, etc.).

Regarding the name of the minipod, well, that’s best saved for another post. But to put it shortly, it’s about staking claim in public space, especially as a woman.

Thanks for reading. 🙂

Look at that red flower loitering amongst the yellow! Taken while I was loitering in Washington, D.C., recently.

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Hi Everyone,

After much, much time, I’ve finally updated my website. I’m still toying around and figuring out certain things (for example, “Blog” is a work in progress since it currently contains ALL recent stories as opposed to an actual blog or updates). But I’m getting there. If you manage to check it out, please let me know what you think.

I’m still based in Lucknow, India, where I’ve been since the summer of 2013. If you don’t know the story, I originally landed here to study Urdu in an intensive language program, then realized one summer would not be enough for what I wanted to take away from the experience. So I extended the language program into the fall while getting my feet wet to try the world of freelance international reporting…and so here I am. 🙂 Lucknow is not a typical place for an American freelancer to base herself, I know, but that’s partly why I like it. I think there is something very valuable about getting to know a community this deeply, and having the lived, everyday experience of how people around me are reacting to news, issues and life (as opposed to discovering and understanding that through reporting specific stories). Uttar Pradesh, the state where I live, is also one hell of a place through which to learn about India. The entire population of Brazil could live here. As someone I recently interviewed put it, “The last battle of poverty would be fought in UP.”

I’ll try to be fairly consistent with this. Thanks for taking the time to read. 🙂

Peace,
Sonia