Violence Week Podcast: A High School As A Microcosm Of A Nation’s Problems

There are many reasons why indie podcasts can outshine network-supported shows. One significant reason is that indie podcasts pulsate with the sonic vibrations of real life. Quite often, the indie podcaster actually lived the drama depicted. It’s not someone else’s true crime or a stranger’s intense suffering.

No, in an indie podcast, the creator/host is sharing a deeply personal and often intensely painful experience. The goal isn’t to trick the listeners into audio rubbernecking. Instead, listeners travel through the circulatory system of the podcast’s narrative along with the indie podcaster.

In essence, listeners are bystanders. They’re participants in this dark drama.

That’s what Violence Week by Emily Reeves is all about. She is a Brooklyn-based podcast producer.

Producer and host Emily Reeves takes us to her hometown of East Lansing, Michigan, where an outbreak of violence and the discovery of a gun at the local high school ignited intense fears of school shootings and a fierce debate over policing in schools.
In the weeks and months following the murder of George Floyd, East Lansing and other school districts across the country removed police from their hallways. But school shootings, along with a post-pandemic rise in violence, have…