The Happy Hour bonus episode: WINE WEDNESDAY!

Malakai Wade, shaylyn martos, and Andres Velasquez • Oct 21, 2020

Welcome to a very special bonus episode of the Happy Hour!

On today’s Wine Wednesday mini-episode, hosts Malakai and shaylyn share how they choose which stories to cover on the palate-cleansing podcast. For them, positive stories can either be “feel good” or “happy” news. So what’s the difference between the two? And why is it important to focus on the latter rather than the former?

Our hosts are taking a much-needed mental health break. The Happy Hour will be back with more happy stories, important interviews and tailor-made cocktails on Nov. 6, starting with an episode about the positive outcomes from the election and the way forward.

Listen on Apple Podcasts. Leave us a review on Apple Podcasts and we’ll craft a cocktail in your honor! Find us on Instagram @thhpodcast and on Twitter @happyhournews. Thank you to Arman Billimoria for our theme music and Andres Velasquez for help editing. And happy Filipinx and Spooky History Month! Pour yourself a glass of your favorite beverage and enjoy this Wine Wednesday mini-episode.

Feel Good Stories:

News reporter’s cats fight behind her on live TV (link)

A B.C. research project gave homeless people $7,500 each — the results were ‘beautifully surprising’ (link)

Researchers gave thousands of dollars to homeless people. The results defied stereotypes. (link)

Happy Stories:

NASA’s Earth Observatory student worksheet on pink penguin poop (link)

How to Save a Dying Language: The Hawaiian language nearly went extinct. Now it’s being taught in dozens of immersion schools. (link)

About the Contributors

Malakai Wade

Malakai is a senior journalism student at SFSU and the Editor-in-Chief of Xpress Magazine. She is in her last semester after finishing a minor in International Relations. Malakai wants to focus on multimedia productions such as podcasting and video, as well as magazine design and publishing. She likes writing about global feminism, community organizations, and other artists. She also co-hosts and produces The Happy Hour Podcast, a comedy/news/talkshow all about happy stories. Catch her at home or wearing a mask when she goes out.

shaylyn martos

shaylyn martos (she/her) works to provide better representation of LGBTQ+ people in media, and produces stories that address possible solutions to larger, systemic issues. She currently serves as multimedia editor for SF State's Golden Gate Xpress and produces The Happy Hour Podcast. In 2019, shaylyn was honored as an NPR Next Generation Radio Mentee. When not chasing a story, shaylyn can be found reading speculative fiction, cooking her favorite native Chamorro foods or bombing at a stand-up open mic. She's online @shaylynmartos

Andres Velasquez

Andres Velasquez as born-and-raised in San Francisco. Andres went to City College of San Francisco for two years before transferring to San Francisco State University in Fall 2019. He decided to pursue journalism after my first semester at CCSF with the intention of combining his talent for writing with his love of sports. His main interests are soccer, basketball and American football. During his time at CCSF Andres covered the school's women's tennis team for the second half the Spring 2017 semester for The Guardsman, CCSF's student publication. [email protected]