This is the Fall Line.

I listened to the first season of Silesia Stanton's podcast, True Crime, years ago.

There'd been a lot of buzz amongst our colleagues who were making shows that are now generally

classified into what people think of as ethical, nuanced, true crime.

I was told that Silesia was offering deep dives into cases that people might think that they

had a handle on.

Everything from possible wrongful convictions to large-scale historical tragedies like the Tulsa Race Massacre and presenting

a perspective that wasn't just fresh. It was multi-lensed. Silesia, a 20-something-for-Manyapolis,

with a background in debate and photography, had independently done what many large companies

have struggled to do, tell complex stories on several levels,

without losing the narrative thread that kept her listeners interested.

And her audience was learning, too.

She pulled together historical context that had fallen by the wayside,

and applied a contemporary perspective that proved that the simple, modern take on true crime was anything but.

Simple? Definitely not. And modern? Well, a lot of the issues that existed in our culture half a century ago, they're still at work today.

So, truer crime, it's a clever play on words, sure, but it also encapsulates Silesia's mission.

The show's description begins with a question. Quote, do you ever listen to a true crime

podcast and think that's not quite right? Same. Crime stories are getting hard to ignore and even

harder to forget, but the thing is, they're

stories, and getting a story right is all about how you tell it. True crime talks about real

people, murdered, missing, misled, with more nuance, more context, and more questions.

Silesia has been working to get it right since she started, and now,

...