The Eye: A Medical Humanities Podcast

Rebecca Messbarger
  • 5.0 (1)
  • Education

The eye is the organ of sight, and a symbol of insight, understood from ancient times as the aperture to the heart. In this show, we will look through the lens of the arts and the humanities at stories of injury and repair. While subjects will vary, along with the angle and intensity of our vision, we will always begin where we live: in the city of St. Louis. If we’re talking about cancer, contagion, gun violence, mental health, or abortion, we will focus here first, before we pan out. Cover art: Julian Graham Fiorello Music: HolzinaCC0 (2022). Ugly Truth. Left Overs. Public Domain.

Episodes

  1. 1d ago

    Episode 2: A View from the Farm

    In Episode 2 of Across the Fenceline, WashU students Tanisha Paul, Oliver Oates, Clara Foltz, and Alessandro Judah-Ormani speak with Mark Scott and Kyle Durham, multigenerational farmers in Wentzville and Norborne, Missouri, about the realities of farming today—from the seasonal rhythms and rewards of working the land to the economic pressures, physical and emotional demands, technological innovations, and environmental uncertainties shaping its future. Their conversations, joined by insights from Michaela McGinn, a scientist working in sustainable agriculture, reveal the deep commitment to stewardship that defines family farming—and the challenges of preserving this way of life for generations to come. We interviewed Mark Scott, a third generational farmer, whose family has been in Wentzville, Missouri since 1914. He and his wife Susan raise corn, soybeans, wheat and cattle; Kyle Durham is a sixth-generation farmer from Norborne, Missouri, where he manages 2,400 acres of soybeans and corn with his father; Dr. Michaela McGinn, Senior Program Director for Sustainable Production, United Soybean Board Credits Rebecca Messbarger: Producer, Writer, and Host Keysha Patel: Project Manager Kaitlyn Reece: Editor Tanisha Paul, Oliver Oates, Clara Folta, Alessandro Judah-Ormani: Research and Reporting Max Fiorello: Voiceover actor who read poet Wendell Berry’s “The Farm” Nick Acquisto: Audio Editor John Barth: Media Consultant Julian Graham Fiorello: Cover art Mishka Narasimhan: Podcast Advising and Support Music: HolzinaCCO (2022) Ugly Truth. Leftovers. PublicDomain; Tadashikeiji-dust-and-rosesinstrumental-371424. Public Domain

    Episode 2: A View from the Farm

  2. 1d ago

    Episode 1: We Are Each Other’s Harvest

    In this first episode of Across the Fenceline, we center the precarity of family farming in America today, where less than 2% of the population produces our food, hundreds of millions of acres of farmland are being lost to development, economic shifts, and consolidation of land ownership, and those who hope to farm, especially the young, must contend with soaring costs for land and inputs. WashU students Max Liu and Camila Rosario Calderon spoke with Brooks Lamb, an author, farmer, and advocate for the future of American agriculture. Brooks Lamb is Director of Food Systems and Agriculture Policy at the Vanderbilt University" Policy Accelerator, and author of Love for the Land: Lessons from Farmers Who Persist in Place (Yale Univ. Press, 2023), and "Why the Kids Won't Farm," March 13, 2026. NY Times Op-ed. Credits Rebecca Messbarger: Producer, Writer, and Host Keysha Patel: Project Manager Kaitlyn Reece: Editor Max Liu and Camila Rosario Calderon: Research and Reporting Max Fiorello and Susanna Skaggs: Voiceover Actors in "Our Town" Segment Nick Acquisto: Audio Editor John Barth: Media Consultant Julian Graham Fiorello: Cover Art Mishka Narasimhan: Podcast Advising and Support Music: HolzinaCCO (2022) Ugly Truth. Leftovers. PublicDomain; Tadashikeiji-dust-and-rosesinstrumental-371424. Public Domain

    Episode 1: We Are Each Other’s Harvest

  3. Season 2 Trailer

    Trailer: Across the Fenceline

    In our new six-part series, Across the Fenceline, part of The Eye: A Medical Humanities Podcast hosted and produced by Prof. Rebecca Messbarger, Washington University undergraduates traveled across Greater St. Louis and Missouri to learn firsthand about the knowledge, skill, and ingenuity it takes to farm today. Through conversations with farmers, health practitioners, researchers, advocates, and community leaders, they discovered how food systems, health care, economics, technology, and public policy converge on the lives of farmers facing mounting economic pressures, shrinking farmland, and limited access to physical and mental health care. What emerges is a story of interdependence of urban and rural communities—and a conviction shared across the fenceline: the future of farming depends on trust, collaboration, and solutions built with farming communities themselves. Credits Rebecca Messbarger: Producer, Writer, Host Keysha Patel: Project manager Kaitlyn Reece: Editor Oliver Oates, Tanisha Paul, Max Liu, Camila Rosario Calderon, Clara Foltz, Alessandro Judah Ormani: Research and Reporting Max Fiorello and Susanna Skaggs: Voiceover Nick Acquisto: Audio Editor John Barth: Media Consultant Julian Graham Fiorello: Cover art Mishka Narasimhan: Podcast Advising and Support Music: HolzinaCCO (2022) Ugly Truth. Leftovers. PublicDomain; Tadashikeiji-dust-and-rosesinstrumental-371424. Public Domain

    Trailer: Across the Fenceline

  4. 05/13/2025

    Episode 3: Pruitt-Igoe and Healing Communities

    This concluding episode in our series on St. Louis delves the tragedy and unhealed wound of the Pruitt-Igoe Housing Project. From there, we explore contemporary efforts to ignite economic innovation and revitalize the very ground where Pruitt-Igoe once stood. We then examine broader challenges and initiatives shaping the city’s economic future, culminating in a reflection on how the arts are mending the fabric of a community scarred by its history. Hosted by Rebecca Messbarger. Produced by Mishka Narasimhan. Content by Mishka Narasimhan, Evan Bradley, and Tymon Krzywinski. Music from HolzinaCC0 (2022), Ugly Truth, Left Overs (Public Domain).

  5. 05/13/2025

    Episode 2: The Story of Homer G. Phillips Hospital

    In this episode, we explore the rise, demise and enduring legacy of an institution that is a linchpin and symbol of the racialized history of the city over the last 100 years to the present day. Hosted by Rebecca Messbarger. Produced by Mishka Narasimhan. Content by Mishka Narasimhan, Evan Bradley, and Tymon Krzywinski. Music from HolzinaCC0 (2022), Ugly Truth, Left Overs (Public Domain).

  6. 05/12/2025

    Episode 1: St. Louis, A Tale of Two Cities

    In this episode, we investigate the underpinnings of distrust between St. Louis citizens and city leadership, as well as the fragmentation of St. Louis into communities with disparate access to social services and healthcare infrastructure. Hosted by Rebecca Messbarger. Produced by Mishka Narasimhan. Content by Mishka Narasimhan, Evan Bradley, and Tymon Krzywinski. Music from HolzinaCC0 (2022), Ugly Truth, Left Overs (Public Domain).

  • 1 Trailer
    5 Episodes

Trailer

About

The eye is the organ of sight, and a symbol of insight, understood from ancient times as the aperture to the heart. In this show, we will look through the lens of the arts and the humanities at stories of injury and repair. While subjects will vary, along with the angle and intensity of our vision, we will always begin where we live: in the city of St. Louis. If we’re talking about cancer, contagion, gun violence, mental health, or abortion, we will focus here first, before we pan out. Cover art: Julian Graham Fiorello Music: HolzinaCC0 (2022). Ugly Truth. Left Overs. Public Domain.

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