What is ROCK PAPER RADIO?

It’s a dispatch for misfits & unlikely optimists.

It’s also a weekly newsletter that shares three curiosities every Thursday - something to hold on to (that’s the rock), something to read (that’s the paper), and something to listen to (you guessed it, that’s the radio).

Themes will include but will not be limited to:

  • rebel violinists

  • old Chinese dads

  • lesbian birds

  • single moms who should not be messed with

  • hip hop philosophers

  • emerald hunting

What does “something to hold on to” mean?

It’s something to take with you even after your internet-frayed brain has moved on to the next TikTok dance/Twitter fight/thirst trap. Something human and cool and perhaps a little unsettling.

What’s The Family Court Report?

The Family Court Report is sharing news and human stories from the frontlines of America’s broken Family Court system.

The Family Court Report is is a project of ROCK PAPER RADIO and has its own section in the newsletter. RPR subscribers can choose to subscribe to both RPR and FCP newsletters, or just one of them. Want to make sure you’re on The Family Court Report list? Good news—RPR subscribers are automatically added.

FCP is also by Kristin Leong and is generously supported by a 2023 Creative Capital Award. You can learn more about the project and Kristin’s over-decade-long warpath through the Family Court system as she’s fought to protect her son here: Single motherhood is like drowning and being on fire.

Join us. News and human stories from the frontlines of America's broken Family Court system. Subscribe to The Family Court Report newsletter here.

How do I share my story with RPR or FCP?

Have you too have stood in front of a Family Court judge swallowing rage and grief so profound you thought you might projectile vomit right there in court in your sensible heels and knee-length skirt? The Family Court Report is listening. Reach out.

Did Old Chingu’s episode make you think about your own story of being an outsider making your own way? You might be a great fit for our next Odd One In show. Reach out.

Email rockpaperradio@substack.com or just hit reply to one of the newsletters and share a glance (maybe 100 words—less is more) into what you’ve come through. I read and appreciate all of your messages, and although it sometimes takes me a bit, I make every effort to respond to everyone.

Why subscribe?

Why not? It’s fun here, even when we’re tackling tough stuff. Plus it’s a nice way to show your support for this little dispatch, which is offered up free and built out of love and guts and imaginary free time. You can unsubscribe anytime with one click. Join us.

Subscribers get full access to the newsletter and website. Plus you’ll never miss an update - new issues and special features go directly to your inbox.

No paywalls! So why is there a paid subscription option?

All RPR and FCP content will remain freely accessible to all—including our Odd One In podcast.

For subscribers who are able to, if you’d like to show support for this work and help ensure that this home for misfit stories and Family Court reporting can keep going, please consider upgrading your subscription to paid, or gifting a paid subscription to someone who’d be a nice fit for our crew. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

Give a gift subscription

Is ROCK PAPER RADIO on social media?

You bet.

You can find us @RockPaperRadio on Instagram and Twitter.

And you can be our friend @FamilyCourtReport on Facebook.

Does ROCK PAPER RADIO have a podcast?

Yes! Odd One In is ROCK PAPER RADIO’s podcast sharing stories of outsiders making their own way. It’s hosted and produced by public radio nerd and 2021 AIR New Voices Scholar Kristin Leong. The show is on Instagram and Twitter @OddOneInPod.

Listen, review, and subscribe to the show wherever you get your podcasts. Here are links to Odd One In: Spotify , Apple Podcasts, Stitcher , Pocket Casts

Looking for more narrated nonfiction audio features on outsiders and imperfect heroes? Check out Kristin’s portfolio of stories on SoundCloud here.

Listen to Odd One In’s first episode here: Hip Hop Redemption.

Who’s behind ROCK PAPER RADIO?

That would be misfit and unlikely optimist Kristin Leong.

Kristin is the publisher of ROCK PAPER RADIO and the host and producer of the Odd One In podcast. She is a 2023 Creative Capital awardee, a 2021 AIR New Voices scholar, and one of 20 international creators selected to be part of CUNY’s 2021-22 Entrepreneurial Journalism Creators Program. She was previously a producer with NPR station KUOW Public Radio, where she also edited the Seattle Story Project series. 

As one of 30 international TED-Ed Innovative Educators of 2017, she founded RollCallProject.com, a global portrait and storytelling project humanizing the culture gaps in schools. ROLL CALL is used in classrooms around the world to fuel conversation about equity and representation. Her portrait photography project HALF: Biracial + Bicultural in America was nominated for USA Today's Outstanding Academic & Intellectual Endeavor Award. As a senior at Sarah Lawrence College, the New York Times called her a "graduate already in the driver's seat." She is a 2018 Citizen University Fellow, a recipient of The Slants Foundation's 2020 Countering Hate Award, and a 2020 Seattle Mayor's Arts Award nominee.

ROCK PAPER RADIO is Kristin’s weekly newsletter for misfits and unlikely optimists. The Unwed Mother Agenda is her multimedia deep dive into news and human stories from the frontlines of America’s broken Family Court system. The Unwed Mother Agenda is generously supported by a 2023 Creative Capital Wild Futures: Art Culture Impact Award.

Kristin is originally from Honolulu and currently lives in Seattle with her wife, son, and rescue doodle Radley. She was the first in her family to graduate from college, and proudly comes from a long lineage of plant whisperers and expert parallel parkers. Find her on Instagram @leongstagram, on Twitter @kristinleong, and on SoundCloud here. Her newsletters and podcast are on Substack at rockpaperradio.substack.com and at RockPaperRadio.com.

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writer // multimedia producer // unlikely optimist // kristinleong.com