Episode 67: Tray, Tumbler, Spork

Illustration by Antwan Williams

Earlier this year, some of the Ear Hustle team spent a month living under a specific set of constraints informed by the daily routines of our inside colleagues, changing the way we ate, got dressed, and exercised. The goal wasn’t to replicate prison life, but to see how constraint shapes the way we experience the world. We report back on what was hard, what was surprising, and what we discovered along the way.

You can learn more about the Ear Hustle Challenge here and about Tehching Hsieh’s performance art that inspired it here.

Thanks to Reggie Thorpe, Elton Spencer, Jason Robenson, Garcia Anicasio, and Seneca Terrell for speaking with us from inside San Quentin.

Thanks also to Rosa Warder and Joseph Whitaker Davis, and to Michael and the rest of the team at Philz Coffee in Dogpatch for letting Nigel record in there. Big thanks also to Ms. Sapoa in the San Quentin kitchen, as well as Casey, Julia, Lauren, Jamie, Anna, all of the listeners who posted on social media, and everyone who gave the challenge a try.

This episode was scored with music by Antwan Williams, Rhashiyd Zinnamon, and David Jassy.

As always, big thanks to Lt. Sam Robinson and Warden Ron Broomfield for their support of the show.

Ear Hustle is a proud member of Radiotopia, from PRX.

You can download the episode here and find the transcript here.