Susan Sarandon joins J-School audio project on gratitude

Around the holiday season, we are often told to feel grateful for something. Commercials and greeting cards beat us over the head with the gratitude stick. The true meaning and benefits of gratitude are often lost because we are told it is something we should feel and express.

Thankfully, Ben Manilla, head of the Berkeley J-School’s audio program assembled a crack reporting team consisting of a current J-School student, a recent graduate and an experienced producer to make, “The Science of Gratitude” a one-hour radio special that explores the scientifically researched effects that gratitude can have on our health, happiness and success.

Co-produced by the UC Berkeley entity, The Greater Good Science Center, and narrated by Academy Award-winning actress Susan Sarandon, “The Science of Gratitude” presents vignettes reported by Manilla’s team that combine academic and scientific studies on the effects of gratitude and real stories of people whose lives have changed by practicing more thankfulness. The program will be distributed by Public Radio International (PRI) and broadcast to over 100 radio stations, including KQED in San Francisco, WNYC in New York, and WBEZ in Chicago.

Manilla worked on an earlier version of the project with J-School alums Caitlin Esch (’10), Greta Mart (’15), and Lynne Shallcross (’15). Jason Marsh (’05), now executive director of The Greater Good Science Center, also had a pivotal role in the project. The team made a series of 90-second clips on the science of gratitude to be played on public radio stations during their fundraising drives. Those spots were such a hit that the funders of the project wanted to do something even bigger, laying the groundwork for the current one-hour special.

“I’m delighted to see projects like this getting produced out of the J-School,” says Dean Edward Wasserman. “They have national reach, and give students and alums a chance to work together under the direction of a seasoned veteran who’s passionate about teaching and, in this case, great radio. Ben has taken our audio journalism curriculum to a whole new level with this and other substantive collaborations with media partners in the last year.”

For his part, Manilla–who says he’s grateful for his family, his work and his dog–sees gratitude as a powerful motivator and stress reliever in his own life. His team’s reporting found this to be reflected in medical science as well. The one-hour project, he says, was “fueled by the power of the J-School,” and he praises radio student Laura Klivans (’16) and recent graduate Sukey Lewis (’15) for providing new perspectives and fresh ideas. “They both came up with completely different angles than I would have thought of,” Manilla says.

Klivans and Lewis, along with Shuka Kalantari, whose reporting on immigrant communities, is aired regularly on PRI, produced captivating stories on the effects of gratitude in the workplace, in nature and in schools.

For Klivans–who says she’s grateful for nature, friends and family as well as her dog–working on the project was an important learning experience. Through reporting her stories, she learned how gratitude can be expressed in other cultures, and how it can play an important role in education. Klivans is also glad she had the opportunity to work with her own radio professor and other accomplished reporters. “To have an end product that will be shared on stations all over the country is really cool,” she says.

Manilla says Susan Sarandon signed up almost immediately after being approached, and that her voice was a little sore during the recording because she was just coming back from Burning Man. Sarandon said of the project, “I’m grateful to have been a part of this project, especially since we now have the scientific evidence to prove that gratitude is the key to happiness. I loved being part of that discovery.”

“The Science of Gratitude” will be aired on KQED on December 26 at 2pm. You can also listen to it here.

By Matt Beagle (’17)