What Should We Call This?

UBC Creative Writing Students

This is a podcast about stories, place, and identity from students at the UBC Creative Writing Department in Vancouver, B.C., Canada. It features multi-genre writing, music, and experiments with sound design. This season, look for crucial fashion advice from inside a best friend's closet, tips on evaluating queer spaces, a horror story in an AI therapist's office, reflections on a family grocery store, notes from an action-packed dojo, and more. If you're interested in creative writing -- this podcast is for you. Created on the unceded, ancestral territory of the Musqueam people.

  1. Apr 6

    Memoirs of a Lost Home

    A daughter gathers the fragments of Partition stories shaped by silence, survival, and the long shadows of Mountbatten, Radcliffe, and Gandhi. In “Memory Keeper” an Episode of Memoirs of A Lost Home, Dhooleka Sarhadi Raj sits with her father to uncover the untold truths of the day his family was forced to flee for their lives.

    13 min

  2. Apr 6

    Threshold

    In this episode, we pull up a chair and settle in with the remarkable Maya Bruck — designer, thinker, and someone who has thought more carefully about the meaning of home than almost anyone we know. We wander through unexpected territory together: the sudden vertigo of letting go of homeownership, Fresh Prince of Bel-Air plot twists in real life, the Japanese philosophy of Shinto, and what architecture actually does to the human spirit when it's done with intention. This is a conversation between two friends who love ideas — and you're invited in. Pour something warm, get comfortable, and join us as we explore what your home means to you.

    14 min

  3. Apr 6

    Phone calls and Motherhood

    “Phone Calls and Motherhood” explores life on a First Nations reserve, and how that experience influenced one mother’s decision to move to the city of Vancouver, British Columbia. In this episode, Jennifer B.S. Williams uncovers her mother’s story, and reflects on how it is shaped by cultural identity and the concept of home.

    17 min

  4. Apr 6

    A Severed Limb - Restorative Remedies

    Ever wonder what more there is to yoga beyond downward facing dogs, headstands, and Namastes? Well, you’re in the right place! Join me, Roshni Riar, host of “Restorative Remedies,” where we do deep dives into yoga history, uncovering the true roots of yoga, while bringing in South Asian perspectives, voices, and lenses to the conversation. In our first episode, “A Severed Limb,” we talk about what it means to take yoga off the mat and chat with a close friend of the pod Jamil, to gain his perspective on the importance of South Asian yoga spaces and what decentering physicality looks like. Meet us in a comfortable position and let’s dive in!

    15 min

  5. Apr 6

    Daughters of the Northwest

    Stories of place and identity can carry knowledge across generations. From Haida mythology comes a transformation story about how the Trickster, Raven, seeing a world without light, hatches a daring plan. Introduced by Shae-Lynn Pearson, and discussed with Kennedy Jones, from Skidegate, in Haida Gwaii.

    12 min

  6. Apr 6

    The Floor is Lava and the Dragon is Real

    Imagination, something that somehow gets buried under the weight of being an adult. In this episode, I move from childhood games on bedroom floors to rolling dice at a D&D table, exploring how play, writing, and work shape the way we tell stories and picture the world, and how that connects to who we are. Through a few conversations and some wandering curiosity, the episode circles the question of why did we stop imagining so freely, and what happens if we start again? (Skylar Gruys)

    18 min

  7. Apr 6

    Even if it's Dangerous, I'm Going

    What is it about the horrifying, often grotesque, settings of survival horror games that I find so intriguing? This was the motivating question behind my foray into the frightening. Join me as I discuss the environmental storytelling of popular horror video games with three guests new to the genre. Together, we experience the settings of Silent Hill f, Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, and Silent Hill 2 Remake, alongside my recent personal experience with Resident Evil: Requiem. Is there something about these terrifying, monster-filled locales that is truly beautiful? Creatives, gamers, and game researchers come together to seek out those answers in live-narrated playthroughs. Whether or not we find a satisfying answer, however, is up to you. Game Audio Clip: Silent Hill 2 Remake, published by Konami Digital Entertainment and developed by Bloober Team, 2024 Games Played:Silent Hill f, developed by NeoBards Entertainment and published by Konami Digital Entertainment, 2025Silent Hill 2 Remake, developed by Bloober Team and published by Konami Digital Entertainment, 2024Resident Evil 7: Biohazard, developed and published by Capcom, 2017 Special Thanks to my Guests:Molly, Skylar, and Maria Cecilia Special Thanks to:The Happy Listening Project for permitting me to use their recording of bug sounds from Costa Rica. For more details: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/thehappylisteningproject/⁠ Your host:Stephanie Broder⁠https://www.instagram.com/artofstephaniebroder/⁠⁠https://www.stephaniebroder.com/⁠

    23 min

  8. Apr 6

    Happy Birthday Down at the Lockup

    On the weekend of May 24, 1986, a birthday party on Fleming Street in St. John’s, Newfoundland, took an unexpected turn when a police raid led to multiple arrests -- an event later dubbed, tongue firmly in cheek, “The Fleming Street Massacre". Hosted by Robbie Thomas, an influential figure in the local arts community whose legacy still lingers, the story of the gathering has since drifted into something more anecdotal, shaped by memory and retelling. Nearly four decades on, everyone seems to have their own version of what happened. In this episode, Emily Bridger sits down with guest of honour, Charlie Tomlinson, to reflect on that night and the people who made it matter.

    16 min
See All (27)

About

This is a podcast about stories, place, and identity from students at the UBC Creative Writing Department in Vancouver, B.C., Canada. It features multi-genre writing, music, and experiments with sound design. This season, look for crucial fashion advice from inside a best friend's closet, tips on evaluating queer spaces, a horror story in an AI therapist's office, reflections on a family grocery store, notes from an action-packed dojo, and more. If you're interested in creative writing -- this podcast is for you. Created on the unceded, ancestral territory of the Musqueam people.

Information

  • Creator
    UBC Creative Writing Students
  • Years Active
    2024 - 2026
  • Episodes
    27
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © UBC Creative Writing Students
  • Show Website
    What Should We Call This?