Student Podcast ‘This Harvard Life’ Premieres at Barker Cafe

Roughly 30 undergraduates filled the Barker Center Cafe on Wednesday evening to listen to the two premiere episodes of “This Harvard Life,” a student-produced podcast that explores what it means to be a member of the Harvard community.

Loosely based on the NPR series “This American Life,” the podcast was co-produced by Wynne M. Graham ’17, Kelly C. McGee ’17 , Ruby C. Emberling ’17, and Alison B. Reed ’17, who said they conceived the idea for the series last year and started production after peers encouraged them.

The first two episodes, which featured music from Harvard affiliates, explored the role that an individual’s own name plays in building social connections at Harvard and the origins of cultural beliefs, respectively.

The producers tentatively plan to release two podcasts of between 15 and 20 minutes each month, Graham said at the event. The podcast’s production is funded by the Harvard Bookstore, rather than Harvard itself, specifically to keep the podcast independent from the University, she said.

“We love telling stories,” Graham said. “We are talking to people about stories, what it means to be a person in this place in this world.”

During the event, attendees enjoyed J.P. Licks pastries and hot chocolate and participated in a bingo game based on quotes from the podcast. The producers also distributed Post-It notes, asking students to write down ideas for future episodes.

Noah A. Fechtor-Pradines ’18 said the organizers did a “fantastic job” and that the podcast “sounded professional,” praising the structure and clarity of the episodes.

“I listened to podcasts in high school, but that was stuff that didn’t necessarily relate to me,” Julia Davis ’19 said. “It was cool to listen to a podcast that explored things that are more relevant to me.”