In the middle of Amelia's family, there's a silence. She wants to crack it open, so she starts learning to sing.

Voice Lessons is a special feature from Signal Hill, a new, independent audio magazine. You can listen to more Signal Hill stories at www.signalhill.fm or wherever you get podcasts. Sign up to support Signal Hill through their membership program (there are perks!) here.

Voice Lessons was reported and produced by Amelia Schonbek, with sound design and additional production by Jackson Roach. It was edited by Annie Rosenthal and Liza Yeager.

Story 1: Safwat has A LOT of anxiety for his daughter's future: that she won’t learn enough Urdu to be able to talk with her grandmother while she’s still alive. That she’ll grow embarrassed by his accent. That she’ll bear the brunt of climate change. Now that she’s 7 years old, Safwat confesses some of these worries to his daughter and tries to uncover her own anxieties for the future.

Story 2: Julie used to hum in class as a kid to soothe her anxieties. Until her teacher complained that Julie’s humming was distracting the other students. So she found herself in a doctor’s office, being diagnosed with Tourette’s. And there, the doctor pointed to Julie’s mom and said “your daughter has it… because you have it.” Twenty years later, when Julie’s ticks reappear following a great loss, Julie and her mom talk about this shared connection.

Featuring Julie Piñero and Safwat Saleem. To see Safwat’s anxiety charts, go to: safwatsaleem.com

Talia is half-Greek and bisexual. But her Greek and queer sides have been forced to stay hidden from each other.

Her Greek grandad doesn’t know that she’s bi and keeping these two parts of herself compartmentalized has been taking a toll. So Talia comes up with a plan: to unite her two halves by dressing up as a Greek man on stage in full drag.

We follow Talia as she choreographs her first ever drag king performance, complete with costume reveals and lessons in homoerotic Greek history, as an attempt to connect more deeply with her cultural heritage and with herself.

Featuring Talia Augustidis.

Original Music by David Drury.