“Why Do I Stay” is a podcast that surrounds young Rainy’s story throughout years in her toxic relationship. This podcast was very unique in its rhetoric. I think for a lot of people, at least for me, podcasts can be a turn off because of the stereotype that they are long and boring. Rainy breaks this stereotype right off the bat. She establishes a sort of ethos, or lack thereof, by talking about how she dropped out of high school and works with an assigned counselor. She establishes a sort of commonplace as well when she describes what an assigned counselor is. She knows that most of the audience does not know what this is, and explains it so they do. The commonplace is that the audience isn’t used to her experience, and she helps change it so they are. She’s not a professional talking about this topic, which made me more inclined to listen, as I knew it wouldn’t be long and confusing. The tone of this piece is very serious, but Rainy lightens it constantly throughout the podcast. Her inclusions of humor in an otherwise dark story create an interesting contrast, such as her reference of Nicole as “Nicky boombox,” or calling Tony “doodoo face.” The flow is very easy to follow and very informal. Rainy is the expert in this story and still asks the people around her for detail clarifying questions. This also was done through Rainy making jokes, laughing, and occasionally mispronouncing words. Her doing these things lightens the tone as well as makes the podcast more informal, which helps make the story easier to follow and understand. I also thought it was interesting how whenever she mentioned a new character in the story, they would talk on the podcast. This helped develop that character and connect it in the audience’s head to their part in the story. Although this podcast is on the shorter side, the audience gets a chance to really connect with Rainy through her story. She tells it so casually that it seems like you are a friend listening to her talk. Towards the middle when it mentions that Rainy disappeared around Christmas time, I got worried because I had developed a connection with Rainy in such a short time. This is a very powerful thing that the podcast does very well, as the listeners establish a strong emotional connection with Rainy throughout her story.