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A Note from Alix, Lulu, and Hanna

Scuff. Crackle. Hiss.

Hey, it's Alix, Hanna and Lulu here. And you're hearing the sound of the torch being lit at our semi-annual coven gathering, deep in the radio woods. It's the torch that has lit our way for almost nine years, starting back in the fall of 2012 when we set out to make our first story together, long before we had a name for what we were doing, or any idea of what Invisibilia would become. But we had plenty of utopian ideas about this thing we were trying to build - it would be more democratic! and constantly evolving! coordinated dancing might be involved! But even though plenty of our utopian ideas weren't perfect home runs, we kept circling back, trying to work out how to have a show that (truly) belonged to more than just the people who got it started. A narrative show that didn't belong to one person, or even two, but which was passed between people - a shared vessel. And particularly given the mission of the show, which is to try to see the invisible social concepts and forces that can limit us - it's critical to have a range of voices, generations, cultural backgrounds, and intellectual backgrounds. A shared vessel is more politically appealing to us, it's more artistically interesting, and it's just cooler and more dynamic.

Crackle. Hiss. Pop. Pop.

And now the time has come to pass this torch over to new hosts, Yowei Shaw and Kia Miakka Natisse. We couldn't be more excited for this moment. Yowei has been making the show since its second season; some of your favorite stories are made by her. She brings relentless care to the craft of structuring a story, like a fastidious boat builder, she wants every curve to be just right. But she has an adventurous spirit, a steel backbone and a habit of tugging us out of our comfort zones, pushing us all toward tougher and tougher questions. Kia is bored with traditions of radio; she is hungry to shatter old forms and experiment into new ways of telling stories. She also happens to be fire on the mic, as a host, as an interviewer, pretty much every second she's around is electric. We are incredibly grateful to everyone in the new generation of Invisibilians who are revitalizing the show, and we are incredibly proud (and just happy) for the amazing work they have done. When the show first aired in 2015, the world was a different place, now we need new voices. Kia and Yowei are the perfect combination of grounded, arty, hard working and just plain awesome.

Pop. Pop. Crackle.

So as we pass the torch over, we just want to give you, listener, a mission. Listen, through the excellent reporting and luscious sound design, through the hot tape and the funny and sad moments, listen closely and you'll hear it, the little crack crack cracks. The most beautiful sound there is. The sound of the show itself molting into a new form. A bigger and more beautiful and complex form than we could have ever even wished back at the beginning.

Crackle. Burn. Hiss.

Proud doesn't begin to do justice to what we feel. So we hope you'll join us in artlessly, wordlessly dancing from sidelines as they tear off ahead. Listeners, you are so damned lucky... and so are we.

Cackle, Smooch, Love,

Alix, Hanna and Lulu

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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