As an avid listener to Ira Glass' "This American Life" series, I was more than excited when I heard they would be creating a new true crime series. "The Serial Podcast", created by Sarah Koenig, has captured the nation's attention to a murder that occurred 15 years ago in Baltimore to high school to honor roll student Hae Min Lee. Initially, it appears to be a simple story about a high school romance gone horribly wrong. An angry ex-boyfriend who snapped due to an inability to deal with rejection. Koenig, after receiving the case file out of the blue, decides to talk to the supposed perpetrator Adnan Syed. An inmate of a Baltimore prison, they discuss the events freely leading to mixture of anger, conviction, and doubt in regards to whether he truly committed the murder. Mr. Syed is the ultimate unreliable narrator and he isn't the only one. With numerous players including past friends, a disbarred lawyer, detectives, and other suspects - everyone appears to have different narratives of what truly happened. "Serial" is powerful in that it explores the fickle nature of memory and how easily people can be tainted due to external or internal circumstances. How can one truly recall where they were and what they were doing on a particular day even 5 years ago? What were you doing on a Thursday 2 months ago? This begs the question - what essentially is truth if no one remembers it? The series is a roughly 12 hour meditation on the nature of truth and the American justice system. With countless lies being weaved throughout this ongoing story, I believe it would make a great companion piece to this class.
More info -
Serial is currently the #1 ranked podcast on itunes. There are even spoiler podcasts about Serial (such as "The Serial Serial") that discuss the case on a weekly basis with such fervor it reminds me of shows like True Detective.
The show is currently on Episode 9 (and it should be listened to chronologically)
http://serialpodcast.org/
Have a wonderful thanksgiving everyone.
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