Have you guys been listening to Serial, the new podcast from the producers of This American Life? I listened to it on our bus rides to and from Rhode Island this weekend and I couldn’t be more hooked!
Here’s the summary from the Serial website:
On January 13, 1999, a girl named Hae Min Lee, a senior at Woodlawn High School in Baltimore County, Maryland, disappeared. A month later, her body turned up in a city park. She’d been strangled. Her 17-year-old ex-boyfriend, Adnan Syed, was arrested for the crime, and within a year, he was convicted and sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison. The case against him was largely based on the story of one witness, Adnan’s friend Jay, who testified that he helped Adnan bury Hae’s body. But Adnan has always maintained he had nothing to do with Hae’s death. Some people believe he’s telling the truth. Many others don’t.
Sarah Koenig, who hosts Serial, first learned about this case more than a year ago. In the months since, she’s been sorting through box after box (after box) of legal documents and investigators’ notes, listening to trial testimony and police interrogations, and talking to everyone she can find who remembers what happened between Adnan Syed and Hae Min Lee fifteen years ago. What she realized is that the trial covered up a far more complicated story, which neither the jury nor the public got to hear. The high school scene, the shifting statements to police, the prejudices, the sketchy alibis, the scant forensic evidence – all of it leads back to the most basic questions: How can you know a person’s character? How can you tell what they’re capable of? In Season One of Serial, she looks for answers.
Another interesting aspect of the podcast is that the team is basically reporting while they write each episode (i.e. no binge listening unless you’re catching up on the first 8 episodes). So, as listeners, we’re not that far behind the action, which makes it even more riveting for me.
Are you listening? What do you think? I’d love to chat about it!
(Image taken from the Serial website. Thanks, Joanna, for suggesting the Serial podcast!)