‘The Story Collider’ at The News makes science feel personal

Science can feel daunting, full of complex topics and discussed with confusing language. But it can also feel personal, as shown by a storytelling event Tuesday night at The Dallas Morning News.

Called “Confidence,” the event was hosted by The Story Collider and The News and featured four North Texans sharing their experiences with science.

Kofi-Kusi Boadum spoke about the challenges of bridging science and music. He’s had success as both a rapper and a pharmacist, but living in these different worlds has been exhausting, he said. “I don’t know how long I can be doing this for.”

He tried to leave behind his life as a rapper when pursuing a doctorate in pharmacy at the University of North Texas. But questions from listeners led to a revival of his music career.

Related:Researcher, rapper Kofi Kusi-Boadum releases album and pursues UNT doctorate

Kofi Kusi-Boadum speaks during a storytelling event on Tuesday, April 18, 2023, at The…
Kofi Kusi-Boadum speaks during a storytelling event on Tuesday, April 18, 2023, at The Dallas Morning News in Dallas. (Shafkat Anowar / Staff Photographer)
Saba Ansari, a science teacher at Bridge Builder Academy in Richardson, has also dealt with questions of belonging. She recalled a chemistry professor in the 1980s telling her: “If you hadn’t come in here, an able and qualified Muslim boy would have been in this classroom.”

But she assured him she belonged. “I’m like, no, I have the grades, I have the qualifications, and I’m here, he’s not,” she said.

Related:Richardson teacher to speak at Story Collider storytelling event at Dallas Morning News
She later got the experiment she wanted for her practical exam: She’d be working with a bomb calorimeter. “Easy peasy,” she said. But the experiment didn’t go as planned. “As I was looking to see the temperature of the top of the cylinder, I noticed a spark,” she said. “I looked down and suddenly everything went black. Boom.”

She sustained burns to her face and was taken to the hospital but made a full recovery.

Saba Ansari of Bridge Builder Academy speaks during a storytelling event on Tuesday, April…
Saba Ansari of Bridge Builder Academy speaks during a storytelling event on Tuesday, April 18, 2023, at The Dallas Morning News in Dallas. (Shafkat Anowar / Staff Photographer)
Ansari passed the class and later became an educator. She now makes sure to teach safety in the classroom. “I have found that I’ve got absolutely the best experience to put the bang back into science,” she said.

Hosting the event were Story Collider producers Hoda Emam and Devon Kodzis. Kodzis, who uses they/them pronouns, also shared their story about living with general anxiety disorder.

At a routine checkup, a medical student named Pedro asked Kodzis about their mental health. Kodzis said they were fine. “I’m doing great. Listen, I know I have anxiety. I know I’ve been in therapy. I do the breathing exercises 70 times a day. It’s fine. I’m crushing it, Pedro.”

But one question from Pedro stopped Kodzis in their tracks: “What would it feel like to do that without pain?”

Kodzis asked the audience to chant the words “failure” and “sick” as they recalled their first time taking an antidepressant.

Antidepressants aren’t shameful, Kodzis said. “And actually, if you don’t mind, it is Lexapro o’clock right now.” Kodzis pulled a bottle out of their jacket, took out a pill and swallowed it in front of the audience.

Devon Kodzis of The Story Collider cheers toward the crowd while taking medication during an…
Devon Kodzis of The Story Collider cheers toward the crowd while taking medication during an event on Tuesday, April 18, 2023, at The Dallas Morning News in Dallas. (Shafkat Anowar / Staff Photographer)
Greg Pandelis faced a different kind of challenge as he questioned his career choice on the edge of a cliff, carrying a backpack full of snakes.

Pandelis, who’s now curator of the Amphibian and Reptile Diversity Research Center at The University of Texas at Arlington, was on a small and uninhabited Greek island, looking for undocumented amphibians and reptiles.

After finding some snakes, and stashing them in his backpack, Pandelis headed back but ended up taking a wrong path.
Night fell and panic set in. “I started thinking, man, why’d I have to become a zoologist?” he said. “Why’d I have to come to this oversized rock in the middle of the ocean for a couple of snakes? And maybe my grandma was right and I should have gone to medical school.”

But when he looked down, he saw a Mediterranean monk seal, an endangered species. It confirmed his dedication to his career and gave him the courage to make it back.