Shaun Raviv is an Atlanta-based journalist and a fellow at Harvard’s Nieman Foundation. In 2024, he reported and hosted “Noble,” which was named the best podcast of the year by the New Yorker. But in this episode of Origin Stories, he talks to Matthew about the story that got him started in longform nonfiction: “The Killers of Swaziland,” which explores a tragic string of murders in the African country. “Even though I had very little experience,” Shaun says of his early efforts, “I still felt in my gut, I could take this really amazing story and put it on paper in a way that people would appreciate.”

To connect with the team and gain access to behind the scenes content, join our community at ⁠joincampside.com⁠. You can also find us on ⁠Instagram⁠, ⁠TikTok⁠ & ⁠Youtube⁠. Have a question, guest recommendation or just want to say hi? Email us at Originstories@campsidemedia.com

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Dr. Sohaira Siddiqui and Salman Ahad Khan are behind More Muslim, a narrative podcast that explores the diversity of Muslim life through personal stories, history, and culture. The project grew out of a relationship that began more than a decade ago, when Khan took an Islamic law class with Siddiqui at Georgetown’s Doha campus and found himself having the kind of complex conversations about religion, ethics, and identity he’d been waiting his whole life to have. Years later, he returned to the idea of turning those conversations into a podcast, launching More Muslim with support from the Al-Mujadilah Center and Mosque for Women, where Siddiqui now serves as executive director and host of the show.

In this episode, they talk to Matthew about building the podcast and the challenge of telling stories about Muslim life without flattening them into familiar narratives. They discuss the balance between universal themes and cultural specificity, and why each episode aims to capture a different slice of experience.

“There are universal experiences that bind us together and connect us — that’s what makes storytelling across generations and people and religions compelling,” Siddiqui says. “But there are also moments of difference, and those are important to touch upon.” Khan adds: “There’s some part of my brain that’s been hardwired to be like, maybe I need to explain this thing to you.”

To connect with the team and gain access to behind the scenes content, join our community at ⁠joincampside.com⁠. You can also find us on ⁠Instagram⁠, ⁠TikTok⁠ & ⁠Youtube⁠. Have a question, guest recommendation or just want to say hi? Email us at Originstories@campsidemedia.com

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Gus Van Sant is an Academy Award–nominated filmmaker whose work spans four decades of American cinema, from independent classics like Drugstore Cowboy and My Own Private Idaho to mainstream hits like Good Will Hunting and Milk.

In this episode, he talks to Matthew about Dead Man’s Wire, his new film about a bizarre and largely forgotten 1977 standoff in Indianapolis, when a struggling businessman walked into a mortgage office, wired a shotgun to his hostage’s neck with a so-called “dead man’s wire,” and held a mortgage executive captive for nearly three days. Van Sant explains how he stepped into the project after another director dropped out, how the film’s tight schedule forced him to shoot the movie in less than three weeks, and why the story interested him less as a conventional thriller than as a portrait of desperation.

“I’m imagining that something’s interesting to me,” he says. “And I imagine that it’s interesting to other people.”

To connect with the team and gain access to behind the scenes content, join our community at ⁠joincampside.com⁠. You can also find us on ⁠Instagram⁠, ⁠TikTok⁠ & ⁠Youtube⁠. Have a question, guest recommendation or just want to say hi? Email us at Originstories@campsidemedia.com

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.