By C. Garrett Keidel, Staff Writer
As the Director of Multicultural Affairs, Hayden Greene says in the first episode of the center’s new podcast, it’s “all about what goes into making up Manhattan College.” This first episode was posted on Oct. 1, titled Frankencast.
“We called it the Frankencast because it’s supposed to be a combination of things combined, so it’s a reference to the Frankenstein monster. We really want to focus on student interviews where they can come in and tell their stories about how they identify, what they like to do, what it means for them to be of a specific, race, religion, identification,” says junior Sydney Kukoda.
The idea for the show developed in the Multicultural Center with students showing interest in creating a podcast and Hayden Greene having some experience with podcasts and the equipment.
“I think the idea for a podcast was one that was always on the Multicultural Center’s mind, but we never had a chance to put it together until now. It stems from a place of wanting to have people’s stories shared and more importantly, heard. The goal was to be able to create a platform, where people can feel safe and invited to share their stories and thoughts with the rest of the community,” said sophomore Gabriella Montes.
The podcast has multiple segments per episode with student interviews, student submitted jokes, and listings for the events on and around campus and those being hosted by the Multicultural Center.
This is a very new group on campus with an active search for new members. “Looking for new members has been the biggest challenge for sure. We have a good list going of students we’d like to interview,” says junior Hannah Rome.
Because the show is so new and because students haven’t had much exposure to the show, it’s been hard to get participation in segments like the student submitted jokes. Students “outside the bubble” of the Multicultural Center are encouraged to come in and talk or share their jokes one the show.
For the students involved, they hope that in the future the show can become a connecting agent between students on campus, a way to get to know people and their stories better. “I just think it will be a way for students to really know who else is on campus, maybe you have something in common with them and you can reach out to each other and know you’re not alone. Trying to connect students by what they may have in common, and to celebrate the differences too,” says Rome.
Right now the show is being hosted, directed and pieced together by Hayden Greene. But in the future the goal is to try and gets students more involved in the process of creating the show and holding interviews, editing the show and doing it mostly on their own. “We want people to look forward to it every week,” says Rome.
“There’s one thing that I would say about everything we do at the Multicultural Center. There are a lot of people on campus who would say that ‘I don’t need the Multicultural Center’ because I don’t identify as multicultural, or I’m white or I’m from New Jersey, etc. It’s really a place where people can come and talk about who they believe they are in any sense. So the emphasis with this and the podcast is that the show is for everyone, not just people who are international students, or identify as a person of color, who speak a different language at home besides English,” says Kukoda.
The podcast airs every week on Sunday, with the third episode set to come out Oct. 15. The show is currently available on SoundCloud, YouTube, and the multicultural center website.
The podcast will be linked on mcquad.org.