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.org. Welcome all to the final episode of season
three of the Inspired Insights podcast. We are
live, Soren, at the stage door in Bangor, Maine.
Indeed, with all of our lovely guests from our
past, present, and future. Yeah, yeah, it's awesome
to be here. This is the end of an era for us.
Yes, a dynasty created by me and Chris, and it's
crumbling, falling, and coming to an end. But
something will come from the ashes, I'm sure.
Like a phoenix. All the way from the UK. Hopefully.
Fingers crossed. So people on camera can't see
our audience, but welcome audience. It's lovely
to have so many friends and family and former
guests here. I'm seeing folks now. Yeah, it's
awesome to be here. Indeed. And sad. You know,
it's slightly bittersweet, and yet at the same
time, that sadness brings forth excitement, in
my opinion. Yeah. I feel that when one sees something
crumble, they can't help but foresee something
grow in its stead. Yeah. Well, you have an inspired
insight that might be a little reminiscent of
that piece. So do you want to start us off with
your inspired insight for the week? It's true.
My inspired insight today... as many of my inspired
insights have been, is inspired by Karl Marx.
Technically Hegel, but Karl, my boy, grabbed
the idea and made it better and applied it to
social theory more directly. But my inspired
insight is branching off from this idea of the
social derivation of value. Value, in Marx's
mind and in mine, is a metric of social esteem,
prestige, social utility. And thusly, we can
determine that as our podcast, being a commodity,
has value derived from society, its exclusive
value lies in the hands of those who are placing
value onto it. So, all of this comes together
to mean that the real value of our podcast is
not me or Chris or the product that we are producing,
but rather the audience and the value that they
are placing onto it. Soren! It took us a while
to get there, but that's awesome. That's an awesome.
Well, I'm going to thank you for sharing that.
My insight of the week is way less heady. What's
the word? Way less up here. My inspired insight
of the week is the old adage that teamwork makes
the dream work. And this podcast has been a culmination
of the last year of multiple folks. And we'll
get to some thank yous later. That sitting here
today, this is something I never would have anticipated
just over a year ago. And maybe if the time's
right, we'll share a little bit about how this
podcast actually came. together as i look at
your mom in the back row there um but yeah just
that uh this village that is kind of gathered
around this um essay college essay project is
uh here we are a year plus later this is our
30th episode that we're recording now um and
over the last year and a couple months, we have
had some incredible conversations. We've had
some even more incredible guests, again, several
of which are here today. And we have a lot to
be thankful for and a lot that I'm just kind
of sitting with just thinking about. And I was
thinking about it this morning with just in this
place of gratitude and thankful for the team,
however that is defined. A hundred percent. And
I myself, as our audience may know. and broadly
incapable of completing tasks. So without the
help of our lovely team, this product would truly
not exist as I know I can create it on my lonesome.
Yeah, something as simple as coffee cups, sugar,
and creamer. It takes the team and two trips
to Dunkin' to pick up the rest of the stuff.
This very morning, it's true. You know, they
were hiding from me on that Duncan shelf. They
were. They were. So as we think about season
three and wrapping up season three, what have
been some of your kind of favorite memories of
the last season? I think as, of course, we've
moved through each season, the quality of episodes
has gotten a lot better. And I... really just
love having guests on the podcast. I think that's
my favorite part of doing the podcast is that
we have the opportunity to have guests. And I
think this season we had some really awesome
guests. I really liked our episode where we had
the opportunity to sit down with a lobbyist,
I believe. Charlotte. Yes, Charlotte. Was that
our first episode this season? That was our first
guest episode. Yes, first guest episode this
season. And also I finally had the opportunity.
to bring some guests from my social network that
we just recorded an episode with. It's not released
quite yet, but by the time our viewers have listened
to this episode, it will have been released.
And I think it's just beautiful that we got to
talk to people that aren't us. Yeah, we had two...
True. We had two Pride -themed episodes this
season. talking about some important projects
going on here in Bangor area. I love talking
with your two friends, recent graduates of high
school, and hearing from more younger voices
of that whole perspective of pressure and what
it feels like to be under pressure. Yeah. I mean,
I think that from the beginning, we've had a
very generational perspective. Yeah. And of course,
it takes time and stratification to establish
like generational divides. And the real difference
between you and me is that you've had more life
experience. Is that a nice way of saying I'm
old? Yes. Yeah. But I think as the podcast has
progressed, I've gained more life experience
and as have you. And I think through that very
progression, me getting to view, hear, see new
things, I've sort of aged and we've bridged the
generational gap through that with the podcast.
Yeah, I think you're spot on. For me, that growth
of perspective, which from day one. All those
months ago, you and I sitting down, we wanted
to talk to folks around gaining perspective and
hearing other stories and this whole idea that
everybody's story is important and worth telling
and worth listening to. And we've heard some
incredible stories. And I'm just looking around
here in the room of some of our... Guests over
the years, and we've had some incredible stories
shared just this season, but as well as the last
few seasons as well. Really incredible stories
about faith, about trauma and growth and recovery
and reclaiming your voices, about the power of
drag and joy, about what comes next after the
high school experience as you move into the college
world and the dormitory living. world so we've
had um and then advocacy with with charlotte
that was a powerful episode for you as well i
think that's our episode where i've seen the
most like light bulb moments for you in real
time so we've had some cool stuff go on for sure
100 so what's next um for me as everybody knows
uh i will be leaving this godforsaken land um
And I'm going to school in Scotland. But for
the podcast, I think Chris is going to be continuing
it. Yeah, Inspired Insights 2 .0 will live on.
I'm still working on getting Taylor signed up.
I'm working on getting Carl. We can exhume him
from the grave. Yeah, our two dream guests, right?
Indeed. But yeah, short of Taylor coming up on
air, we've got some... other plans i'd love to
continue to stay in touch with you which i know
we will and hear some of your perspectives overseas
in in a new place i can't wait to hear your accent
that you'll be developing i'm sure are you practicing
it already uh i i have a scottish accent practice
of course i can't i can't abandon the scotch
accent Oh, but I really, I hope that I don't
develop a Scottish accent in the first like three
months of being there because I think it'd be
really cringe to be an American that shows up
with a Scottish accent already. In a kilt. Yeah.
Do you have a kilt? I do. I do have a kilt. Do
we still have a kilt? Surely, right, Mom? Yeah,
it's true. My waist is still snatched enough
for it, I think. Why didn't you wear it today?
Because you didn't know where it is. I'm saving
it for the Pride Parade. Oh, even better. I just
spoiled it then. Damn. Yeah, so we've got some
exciting... When do you actually leave? September
9th. Oh, wow. I still have a hot second. I'm
going to lavish in the glory of Maine for a bit
longer. For a bit longer. Yeah. Awesome. Awesome.
So we've collected some questions from our listeners.
You ready to get into some of these? I'm very
excited. I love hearing from the audience. All
right. Soren, what surprised you the most about
this experience? Okay, I would say my honest
answer is I always think that I can like help
and do things going into various assignments
and I was a little astonished at my continued
inability to complete tasks. Really? Yeah, I
mean I come in with such high spirits and I really
think I can do it and then I just never put that
effort in. What would you say surprised you the
most? That you didn't put that effort in. but
no uh you know i have not been surprised the
thing i was surprised about the least isn't your
lack of effort the the thing the least is um
your ability to shine when the moment comes when
we when you clap three times you turn it on and
you are ready to go regardless of anything else
going on around us or you that did not surprise
me i think what has surprised me the most though
is um The people who have reached out to us to
say that episode touched me, that episode, I
feel like you were speaking to me. I've shared
with you over the last year some of the people
that have outreached to us to say thank you and
that this episode mattered and that they hadn't
thought about something that way. And I honestly
didn't think we would have. that many listeners.
So it was surprising to me that people were tuning
in and really gave a damn about what a 50 -year
-old and a now 18 -year -old had to think and
say about the world. Yeah, that's awesome. And
of course, I think that's the best part of creating
any media or art. It's the emotions that you
can draw out of others. Yeah, yeah, yeah. All
right, next question. We have talked in a previous
podcast about the work that individual teachers
are doing to make education more inclusive and
more authentic in regards to what students need
to enter the world more prepared. Soren, what
advice would you offer someone working in public
education who is in leadership, perhaps like
an administrator? Interesting. What advice would
I offer? I think essentially the goal of an administrator
or a leader should first be to gain the trust
of the individuals that they rule over. In order
to create any dictate or edict, you must first
have the trust of those who will be ascribing
to said edict that it's good for them, right?
So first establish that trust and then... For
students more specifically, I think the main
thing that's important is just playing to their
interests. Students are interested. Humans are
interested. We like things. And I know it may
seem as though most students don't like things
and don't like school and aren't really interested
in anything. It's important to recognize that
once you find something that someone's interested
in, they'll actually want to learn. And that's
where education gets good, in my opinion, is
when individuals want to learn. Yeah. So specialize
and play to people's interests. Yeah. And we
actually with your friends that we had on the
podcast not too long ago, this topic came up
over and over again about not losing sight of
the joy. in education, that there's obviously
metrics and grades and curriculum and a lot of
have -tos, but within those have -tos, we cannot
lose sight of the joy that comes from learning,
whether that learning is classroom, woodshop,
chorus, or Latin club, right? So finding a way
to combine those pieces. Yeah, 100%. I pulled
out some questions for you to ask. Okay. What
do you each bring to the podcast that compliments
your co -host? You can go first if you'd like.
Do you want me to answer what I bring that compliments
you or what you bring that compliments me? I'll
do that. Okay, then we can. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Sword, you have taught me to live in the moment
a bit more, to make time to smell the roses as
it would be, and to not lose sight of the simple
things in life. that bring joy. Sometimes I can
get locked into planning and over planning and
triple planning. And with that comes the ability
to lose sometimes the joy of the moment. So you
have brought the the live in the moment perspective
for me. I think it's really interesting that
you say that because I feel that. Although like
I sort of bring the fly by the seat of our pants
energy, a bit of chaos and that. I feel that
you sort of really bring the podcast more down
to earth where I would want to talk about sort
of very heady things, as you said earlier, that
I think, frankly, most people would not be interested
in listening to. You create a relatable experience
for our audience and bring like. A lot more of
a positive, funny, and like more colloquial wisdom.
And I think that's really nice. And it balances
out my sort of super logical approach to things.
I love that. That is a perfect balance. Yeah.
Indeed. And sometimes I might do it in a make
fun of you way. Well. I mean, if one can't make
fun of themselves and others, what are they doing?
Exactly. It's the basis of human social interaction.
Exactly. Exactly. Okay. For our next question,
for you specifically, Chris, what will you miss
most about having Soren on as your co -host?
Well, some of that is the live in the moment
perspective that you bring. I think you have
such a fresh, I think you represent a younger
voice, younger voice and a perspective that as
adults we don't often seek out. or listen to,
and that's been a theme we've talked about a
lot in the first season, whether it's around
mental health or education, being able to make
sure that we have young voices at the table to
help shape these systems. And I just think you
have such an articulate way that may be up here
a bit, but when we bring it down here where I
can understand it, it is a fresh perspective
that I will miss. I will miss that perspective.
And I'm very, very hopeful that as school starts
in the UK, we find a way for you to share that
perspective still back home with us. Thanks.
Yeah, I mean that. Last question. Let's do, oh,
here's one. Perfect for pride. Best ways for
straight folks to continue allyship. not just
here in Pride, but beyond? You know, I had read
this question previously, and I said to Derek,
honestly, just not be a dick. Which I think we
could get Inspired Insights t -shirts that say,
just don't be a dick. I mean, like, the queer
community is similar to any oppressed community.
You don't need to go above and beyond to make
these individuals not feel oppressed. You just
have to not oppress them. Right. Like, just create
a welcoming, open environment and don't make
it a big thing when someone is queer around you.
And I think, frankly, that's the best way to
support any individual that has an insecurity
or something of that sort. Not that being gay
is an insecurity for some people, but it can
be sort of a social barrier in some contexts.
Yeah, I totally agree. I think I'm just going
to stick. simple and don't be a dick that's a
perfect answer to that question yeah yeah like
we one of the themes for three seasons now has
been around the power of community and belonging
and what can come from that and conversely what
are the consequences of not having spaces where
people feel welcomed and included and so any
opportunity to to welcome folks in and include
them as part of the conversation, I think is
allyship, regardless of the community you're
partnering with. Yeah, 100%. I think Cubans are
fantastic at creating sort of illusory social
barriers through our tendency to categorize.
And frankly, I think that's one of the primary...
issues with modern ideology in the political
sphere, at the very least. And that is the production
of sort of meaningless social labels through
which one can abuse others. And frankly, I'm
just not a fan of social labels more broadly.
Which we've talked about. You've talked about
that. They inherently divide individuals, I feel.
I think we have one last question coming in.
Go ahead. What have you each discovered different
in differing queer experiences due to age or
experience? Oh, I might answer immediately. What
I've discovered being young and gay, I think
this is lessened significantly by the fact that
we're in a rural area, but young gay men be hoes.
For real. Not that it's bad to be a hoe. I think
that's fantastic for them and they're having
fun. No shame. But I mean, men are on the more
flagrant sexual side of things and when you add
two of them together, it's... It's quite a potent
combination. That was not my experience. At all.
At all. So that might be one of the different
perspectives here. Those, well, there were no
out queer kids and they certainly weren't hoes.
Nope. All of them I've met are. Interesting.
Well, there's a different perspective there.
I would say even the, we've talked about this
before too, even just the term queer. has been
a change. And I remember we talked about that
in the first season. We talked about it with
our Four Generations of Pride conversation with
Frank and Paul, just where the three of us, Frank,
Paul, myself, that word carries with it a very
different connotation than with your generation.
And so just the terms and the evolution of language,
I think, has been a continued discovery for me.
I think actually something else that is the most
striking difference in my opinion between older
queer experience and younger queer experience
is like Really, it's not that big of a deal,
and it's far more fluid for young people. Like,
I think as much as sort of like preteens, like
ascribing to strong labels, as I get older, the
queer individuals that I'm interacting with more
frequently don't really ascribe to any labels
and simply act the way that they want. And I
think that labels historically have been super
important for the queer community as sort of
a means through which we can legitimize queer
experience. by providing labels for individuals.
So it creates almost a protection for these behaviors
and such. But as these behaviors have become
more accepted, it's far more fluid and less of
a major labeled part of one's identity. And you've
talked about that over and over again, that not
just you, Soren, but that your generation, this
rejection of both the binary and the label surrounding
the binary. Yeah. Yeah. I have something for
you. Go for it. Oh, a gift. Oh, my. We know people
that know me. know that it's not the, I'm not,
these are, this is just a shoebox. It's what's
in the shoebox that matters. People that know
me know that gift giving is one of my love languages.
It's true. And I know that this sometimes can
make people uncomfortable and I don't care. So
this is graduation slash wrap party slash going
away. Goodness me. Oh, wow. Full of things. First,
we have this lovely little card. It says my name
on it. Should I open it? Yes, you're welcome
to. Goodness me. This is a high -quality card.
Oh, it's not. Trust me. People who know me know
where I get most of my cards from, too. Not high
quality. I would climb a mountain for you, but
I would probably only make it this far. And it's
Machu Picchu. Which I had to Google to spell.
Oh, I still don't spell it right. Congrats on
all your amazing accomplishments. I'm so proud
and so very happy for you. Thanks for being a
part of the podcast. It's been a wild plus awesome
ride. Long live hearts, Chris. And then we have
stickers, bracelets. You didn't even look at
the bracelet or the sticker. You know, it's a
Swifty bracelet. Yep. Long live. One of the best.
Another Swifty sticker. Honorary Swifty sticker.
These are going to go everywhere. You know how
I love my Taylor Swift. I know. You're getting
there. Spite Insights t -shirt. Oh my goodness.
This is a whole lot of stickers and bracelets.
What's this? Let me be perfectly queer. That's
beautiful. Your dorm room. Oh, this is a nice
little handbag. Tall poppy. Tall poppies. We've
talked a lot about tall poppies. More bag. A
bag. A beautiful mug. Which we'll be raffling
some off to our attendees later. What is this?
That's perhaps my favorite gift to give ever.
A little easel with Taylor Swift cards? Yes!
There's a, one of your inspired insights a while
ago was you were surprised that there's a Taylor
quote for everything. Your challenge will be
to find a Taylor quote for everything in Scotland.
Wow. You and me should start establishing a Taylor
Swift Bible. Got it. Nice little mouse pad. Which
we'll be raffling off as well. Thanks, Chris.
You're so welcome. These... Oh, planner. These
are your, there's a little bit of everything
here. Knowing that your parents will not obviously
be in Scotland with you. This is your adulting
to -do list, pad of paper. This is your crap
to do today, pad of paper. And your plan of attack,
pad of paper, to map out the day. I'm sure with
all three of those, I'll only be five minutes
late. Well, your challenge is to remember to
pack them and bring them. Oh, that's a challenge
in and of itself. So I want to give some thank
yous. Folks, I had to write these down so I do
not forget. So I'm going to start with a thank
you to Penobscot Theatre and to the Stage Door
for hosting us today for this wrap party and
final episode. I want to thank our attendees
and our former guests, of which I see several
here in the audience. I want to thank our team,
the teamwork. People just walked in. I want to
thank your mom, Amanda, your dad, Kevin, Elizabeth,
who is here taking some photos. I want to thank
Derek, also our producer and musician for our
opening. I want to thank our listeners, of which
we have now approached almost triple digits.
With some episodes, which I guess in the podcast
world, in all seriousness, is kind of a big deal.
Really? When you have like triple digits on an
episode, you, I forget there was actually, I'm
looking at your mom, but yeah, there's some like,
if you hit this many, you're automatically in
the top 10 % of podcasts. We're in the top 10
% of podcasts. Wow. Now, to be clear. There's
like 9 ,757 ,000 podcasts. So we're in the top,
but we're there. We're there. So I want to thank
our listeners. And without our listeners, we
would not have continued the way we've continued.
And I want to thank you for your willingness
to join this thing, to have one more thing on
your calendar, one more task, one more thing
to get up for, one more thing to show up to.
So thank you. I'd like to thank you as well,
because I think that in my framing for this podcast,
more specifically in regards to work, I've sort
of made it seem like a burden. But frankly, I've...
Every single time we have a recording, I'm energized
to come, and I feel fantastic for the rest of
the day. Oh, that's great. You've never said
that before. Truly, I love talking to people,
and I think it's just awesome that I have the
opportunity to discuss a variety of important
topics with so many intelligent and interesting
individuals at such a young age. If I had not
had this podcast, I think the discussions that
I had the opportunity to have otherwise would
not have even held a candle to the discussions
I've been able to have on the podcast. It's been
an awesome opportunity. That's awesome. Well,
we will make sure that our guests, former guests
that could not be here today, hear that from
you because I think that's important for them
to know as well. Indeed. Closing thoughts. The
end of this era. You know, it's been a beautiful
thing, but I think we did it to its utmost. We
brought it to its conclusion. And I'm really
pleased with what we've done. Me too. Me too.
I guess my final thought, again, is just gratitude.
One giant thank you. I'm excited to see what's
next for you and to continue to stay in touch
with you across continents. I think you're going
to set the world on fire. Hopefully not literally.
No, I meant that quite literally. I really think
you're going to set the world on fire. Yeah,
yeah. All right, that's it. Thanks so much, everybody.
Thanks, everyone. Cool. Yeah. The Inspired Insights
Podcast has been brought to you by Inspired Consulting
Group, LLC. Edited and produced by Amanda Seidel
and Derek Harder. Marketing support for the Inspired
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