This year marks the forty-first year of the Crown being published, printed, and distributed to the student body. That’s forty-one years of the writers and editors at the Crown putting a paper together that caters to the unique students we hope to serve! Our audience today is obviously one that is increasingly digitized in how they communicate, and the way that we at the Crown tell stories should reflect that. With that said, a new project over at the Crown this year is Wisdom and Wonder, a podcast spearheaded by Anne Jan!
“I came up with the idea in January of this year,” Anne shared with me last week. “I was thinking about what I wanted to know. I follow this podcast from Oxford University called Futuremakers, and although I don’t know if theirs is student-led, it was so interesting to hear their guests! I realized a lot of universities have podcasts, and I thought that Redeemer should have one. Here I am, making it!”
In terms of the content, the idea for the podcast was built on three things: ideas, stories, and dialogue.
“I want it to be idea based,” Anne explained. “Recently we did a panel on AI for our launch event. We wanted to get at the ideas behind AI; what should our relationship with it be? The ideas behind the things we see shape the way that the world and everyone thinks.
“It seems to me that facts and feelings are on the same level of importance today, and that’s not a historical idea. I want the podcast to be a way of seeing what ideas are out there and how I can interact with them, considering both the facts and the feelings.
“I also wanted to emphasize the importance of stories. Personally, I love having conversations with people and seeing different sides of an argument. With this podcast, I want other people to be invested in their school and feel like they have a say, like they have agency. People don’t see themselves as change-makers, but instead we assume that the world is happening to us. In a way, that’s true. But in some way, I think you also have an obligation to stand up for just things. It helps you be more invested in your community when you have that.
“The method of focussing on ideas and stories is dialogue. Although people are scared of having conversations now, especially conflict-ridden, difficult ones, they really are unavoidable. Even more, I am hopeful that we can maybe bring back an appreciation for them. It stresses me out a little bit – how are we going to come to agreements if we can’t even talk? What will my kids’ futures look like? People do want to talk about what’s happening in a local sense, and I want to be able to show them how to have tough conversations about these things.”
An interview with Dr. J. Juilfs is already out as the first episode of the podcast, and the second episode will be out Tuesday, October 10th. Anne is eager to hear from you about how you’d like to bring your own ideas to the Crown, perhaps even helping out as a co-host to ask your favourite professor all your burning questions! If you’re curious, reach out to kjan@redeemer.ca. Happy listening!