We’ve read, listened and watched them on screens of all sizes. But what actually makes a myth or a fairy tale?

Today’s guest, Ann Schmiesing, kicks off season five of The Ampersand by delving into mythmaking and the lessons we can glean from fairy tales. She is the best-selling author of The Grimm Brothers biography, which the New Yorker listed as one of its best books of 2025, a professor of Germanic and Slavic languages and the vice chancellor for strategic initiatives at the University of Colorado Boulder. Ann dives deep into the Grimms and disability studies while also exploring CU Boulder’s crafting of mythologies in its 150th Anniversary.

Learn more about Ann's research.

Purchase The Brothers Grimm.

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Written and produced by Erika Randall and Tim Grassley.

Original music composed by Nelson Walker.

Recorded at Interplay Recording and Multimedia.

Music: Borodin's In The Steppes of Central Asia. Recorded, produced and released to the public by The Musopen Kickstarter Project.

The Ampersand is a production of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder.

We love to explore the stories we tell about ourselves—paying special attention to the way they change over time, what that shift says about where we are and who we hope to become.

The Ampersand is back for season five! In a year when the University of Colorado Boulder turns 150, we're asking questions that anniversaries make possible: What stories have we told? Which ones still hold up? And what do the myths we carry say about the future toward which we aspire?

This season, we're exploring the space between history and identity, where facts become folklore and where reflection and reclamation on these mythologies drive fresh creativity.

Join us as we walk into these many woods.

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Written and produced by Erika Randall and Tim Grassley.

Original music composed by Nelson Walker.

Recorded at Interplay Recording and Multimedia.

Music: Peer Gynt Suite No. 1, Op. 46 - IV. In the Hall Of The Mountain King. Recorded, produced and released to the public by The Musopen Kickstarter Project.

The Ampersand is a production of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder.

I read once that bravery required feeling tangible fear. A Shackleton-style blistering confidence that barrels into harsh landscapes is not, by definition, brave, because it refuses to acknowledge the contextual realities around one's experience. Today's guest, on the other hand, looks with clear eyes at challenging field experiences, the inherent risks of life and severe discomfort, and she goes anyway. Joanna Lambert, professor of environmental studies at the University of Colorado Boulder, is a conservation rock star. Known more recently for her research on Colorado's reintroduction of gray wolves, on today's episode she discusses her unexpected journey from commercial art into conservation, her love of the Rolling Stones and the music she finds in tracking wildlife through Yellowstone's extremes.

Joanna's website

Joanna's research

Wolves in Colorado

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Original music composed by Nelson Walker.

Recorded at Interplay Recording and Multimedia.

Written and produced by Erika Randall and Tim Grassley.

A moment of honesty: This producer shies from conflict. Most often, when someone disagrees, I perceive it as intellectual arm-wrestling—the more clever person winning the day and their opponent (usually me) hunched in a walk of shame away from the table. Imagine our delight when we began to work with today's guest, Megan Stephenson, who not only sees conflict as a means of connection and a path toward equity, but finds the reconciliation of differing views to be one way we can work toward a shared understanding. Megan is the College of Arts and Sciences' director of academic operations and student records, the college's hidden email voice and the person who helps students navigate academic policies. On today's episode, she discusses her take on conflict, how she arrived at this distinct stature, the way she sings through life and, yes, the sheer number of game shows on which she's competed.

For more about Megan, see her CU Boulder About me page.

See Megan's announcement on Family Feud.

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Original music composed by Nelson Walker.

Recorded at Interplay Recording and Multimedia.

Written and produced by Erika Randall and Tim Grassley.

The Ampersand is a production of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder.

ANDers, today's episode is a doozy. Today, we sit with Ed Chuong, associate professor of molecular, cellular and developmental biology and researcher at CU Boulder’s BioFrontiers Institute. Ed discusses his research exploring unexpected conflict, even in the womb, and his more recent exploration of the long-overlooked transposons. He also shares his journey into biology—from a love of science-fiction to an interest in developing video games, to a devastating discovery while snorkeling leading to original, career defining work in a lab. This conversation is a case study in ANDing's array.

For more on Ed Chuong's research, visit the Chuong Lab or his profile at the BioFrontiers Institute.

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Original music composed by Nelson Walker.

Recorded at Interplay Recording and Multimedia.

Written and produced by Erika Randall and Tim Grassley.

The Ampersand is a production of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Okay ANDers, we need a moment to fawn. Today's guest, Nick Houy, is a Hollywood film editing badass with movie credits like Barbie, Little Women, Mid90s and Lady Bird. Full transparency, these are some of our team's faves, and we couldn't believe our luck when Nick agreed to come on our show. When we discovered he is not only brilliant but incredibly kind and thoughtful, we lost it ... quietly, but we lost it. On today's episode, Nick discusses his career, his sculptor's approach to editing and why he looks for small moments among found footage.

Read more from Nick in his interview with Film Supply.

To craft a Houy movie marathon, check out Nick's IMDb page.

Nick Houy, ACE BFE, is a multi-award-winning film editor known for LADY BIRD, LITTLE WOMEN, BARBIE, and the HBO miniseries THE NIGHT OF. Houy is also known for editing MID90s, and the highly acclaimed documentary STUTZ.

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Original music composed by Nelson Walker.

Recorded at Interplay Recording and Multimedia.

Written and produced by Erika Randall and Tim Grassley.

The Ampersand is a production of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder.

Cleo Washington (DnceBFA'25) is a gifted dance performance artist who deftly performs pieces across styles—from ballet to house, Hip Hop to modern. Hers is a rare talent, but Cleo's journey to graduation from the University of Colorado Boulder was not a simple story of recognizing talent and shaping skill in an academic experience. On today's episode, Cleo discusses challenges she faced, the courage she needed to ask for help, the support of her family and how the simplest moments, like a casual, friendly hello, deeply affects students' lives.

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Original music composed by Nelson Walker.

Recorded at Interplay Recording and Multimedia.

Written and produced by Erika Randall and Tim Grassley.

Can we trust what we see on social? In the case of today's guest, the answer is adamantly the affirmative. Sarah Looper is a gifted sommelier and wine educator who has worked in the food and wine world for over twenty-five years. She is also the beloved personality behind Loopersomm, an online presence that democratizes wine with content that rapidly switches between hysterical and informative. That presence and personality is authentically Sarah, and on today's episode she discusses her background, synesthesia, fascination with wine and interest in social media as a means to convey a topic she loves to her community.

Connect with Sarah three ways:

• On Instagram @loopersomm.
• TikTok.
• Online at loopersomm.com.

This episode was recorded in October 2024. Since the interview, we are deeply saddened by the loss of Richard Chamberlain, who passed away in March 2025. Sarah remains a fan and noted, "If I could serve him one last wine, it would be a 1995 Roumier Bonnes Mares Grand Cru. And I would savor it with him and tell him how much I loved him."

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Original music composed by Nelson Walker.

Recorded at Interplay Recording and Multimedia.

Written and produced by Erika Randall and Tim Grassley.