Episode 000 – Welcome to the podcast
13 March 2021
This transcript has been edited for clarity.
T: Well gidday B, welcome to our special intro episode.
B: Gidday T, yes love an intro episode. We’ve seen these in other podcasts, and I think it helps people understand and navigate the podcast a bit better, understand who we are and what we’re doing and all that sort of biz.
T: Plus as you know, we’ve had some people sort of challenge us, question us what’s this all about, what does it all do. We’ve been answering it, it’s just really good to steer them back to this, so hello to you.
B: Absolutely. So what is the intent of what we want to do? What we want to do is create a conversation.
T: Exactly right, and tell our stories. We used to sit around and tell our stories and laugh, or get upset, and we thought hey these are stories worth telling, let’s put them out on the internet for the world to see.
B: That’s right – I don’t think we started this with a clear vision or endpoint, or even parts in the journey, but I think they’re resonating with people, and we’ve had some good feedback that it is resonating with people, it is helping them, it is bringing some stuff with people, but it’s also helping them to process it as well.
T: I think we need to be clear, we’re not anti-Christian, or even anti- where we came from. It’s more the fact that we’re telling these stories, we’re calling out the shit, but we’re also celebrating the good things as well, right?
B: Absolutely, and I think with any part of your life if you can’t deconstruct it, reconstruct it, and try and understand it a bit better, then I think you’re doing a disservice to yourself.
T: So one of the questions we keep getting asked, and I’ll throw it to you first B, where are you at now, what do you believe now?
B: Yeah and that’s not one I can answer. I think I’ve spoken about this in maybe first, second or third episode where I really don’t know exactly where I’m at. I’m not sure what I believe. I’m not sure which bits I’ve picked up, put down, I don’t know. I can’t really comment on it to be quite honest, because it’s an ongoing journey for me. How about you?
T: Yeah well, to be honest I don’t want to answer it because that will start to alienate part of the audience, you know. Like, if you say you’re an atheist, or you say you’re a born again Christian or you say you’re a Hindu or a Buddhist or whatever – I really don’t want to answer it intentionally because we’re more doing the reflection on what we believed then and I think what’s more important is what did we believe at that point, when we’re telling these stories. So depending on what point of the journey we’re telling the story about, that’s what that is then. But I think people will be able to listen and the way we respond to things and piece it together, but otherwise, let it go.
B: Yeah and I think it’s very much important to emphasise context as well – we’re contextualising it through the eyes of now, but the reality is it was a very different story for us then, what we believed, why we believed it – there was a whole range of factors. So I guess what this is about is looking at it through now’s eyes with hindsight, I guess.
T: The other question we get asked is – two things, why are you anonymous, and second why do you name some people in the stories that you tell, but in others you use initials.
B: Look, anonymity from both our perspectives, we’ve got professional lives, we’ve got family lives, we want to separate some of that stuff. We don’t want it enmeshed. So anonymity is important, and I think it’s not just important for us but those that we speak about because it’s not necessarily reflective of a particular person in every story.
T: We know that people have moved on, just like we have moved on from that time in our lives, so telling stories and saying this was such and such, and giving their real name is hurtful and they may feel a sense of shame about what they did, and they’ve moved on and grown just like we have. So I think it’s really important to note that people change, and whilst we want to tell the stories we don’t want to point the finger at “he did this” or “she did that”. And we want the same for us as well, because we’re telling stories that make us look like idiots – because we were sometimes – and we want to make sure that people don’t tarnish us with that brand as well. I remember there was a Native American storyteller who I’ve heard said at the beginning of his stories, I don’t know if this happened at all, but it’s entirely true. And the point that he’s making there is that these stories – the message is true even though some of the details may be a bit fuzzy. The other thing we do sometimes is we create composite characters as well, so we may tell a story knowing there was 3 or 4 people or leaders or whatever, and we’ve enmeshed them into one. So don’t be looking so much at historical accuracy as much as the spirit of the story.
B: Absolutely, and if you recognise yourself in one of these stories or characters, it’s probably completely coincidental because the reality is they are definitely all meshed together, as T said.
T: Now, the production value certainly got better as we went along, so please don’t judge us for episodes 1-5. Please know we do get better, so as you plough through them, keep that in mind. We bring guests in from time to time, and we’re planning to bring even more in as well. The other thing to remember is we have the Facebook group which is there for discussion, but if you don’t want to discuss you can just sign up to our Facebook page and then you just get notifications about new episodes and that kind of thing.
B: Absolutely. There’s been some really good conversations in there, and certainly as we said before, anyone is welcome. Come on board. We don’t really care what flavour you’re coming from, have come from, or whatever, but as long as it resonates with you, you’re open to the conversation. Be respectful to each other, come have a chat, come reflect, but also we want this to be a healing environment where people can go forward.
T: Lastly I think, we’re evolving, and the show is evolving as well. As time goes on our focus will shift, season 1 will be very different from season 2, season 3, etc, but we invite you to come along and be a part of it and evolve with us.
B: Yeah, so listen, enjoy, start at number one and work your way forward.