Transcript // Mother Mine
Thursday, April 21, 2022
Episode description: Mothers can be wonderful or controversial. They can shape us profoundly. Laura speaks with fellow podcaster Katie Semro, whose podcast Mother Mine features 75 voices from around the globe about the myriad ways that mothers have made us who we are today.
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Transcript:
Laura: This is Shelter in Place, a podcast about reimagining life through creativity and community. Coming to you from Oakland California, I’m Laura Joyce Davis.
Way back in season one, when I was a few weeks in and only beginning to understand that this podcast—and the pandemic—would change me forever, I got an email in my inbox from someone I’d never met before, but had a lot in common.
Like me, Katie Semro began podcasting in the pandemic. She created a beautiful audio diary called the Transmission Times, where she asked people from all over the world to submit stories of what they were experiencing in the pandemic that first year.
Over the past two years, Katie and I have become friends, collaborating with each other many times, and contributing to each other’s work often. Katie is on the East Coast, and when I finally got to meet her in person last year when we were living in Massachusetts, it felt like seeing an old friend.
I caught up recently when Katie about her most recent project, a podcast called Mother Mine, which features short tightly-edited episodes that reflect on the ways that mothers shape us. Like the Transmission Times, Mother Mine is a global project. It includes the stories and voices of 75 people from around the world.
Mother Mine launched its first episodes last year on Mother’s Day, and so as we approach Mother’s Day once again, I asked Katie to share what she’s learned in making the show.
Here’s Katie Semro talking about why she made Mother Mine, followed by three short back to back episodes from the show. One of them is the one I contributed last year, when Katie asked me to share about my own mother.
I hope you enjoy these stories from Mother Mine, and that when you’re done listening, you’ll subscribe to Mother Mine and leave it a five-star rating and review.
Here’s Katie Semro.
Katie: I knew I really loved working with other people's stories and getting people from all over the world to send me audio, and that's what I had done in Transmission Times. And I knew I wanted to kind of use that same format. I wanted it to be something else that was really universal, that was happening to everyone or that everyone could relate to or participate in in some way. But I also wanted it to be not quite so heavy as the pandemic.
Mothers are a kind of topic that people tend to have a lot to say about. They can be really controversial. I felt like mothers were nuanced enough where people would have things to say. And it turns out they did.
So I started reaching out to people to contribute, and I ran a Kickstarter that was successful to fund that project. And then Mother's Day last year I released the first five episodes.
I work with really open-ended questions they're intentionally vague. So some of the questions for mother mine were things like how does your mother's influence show up in your life? Who are you because of your mother? What did or didn't you talk to your mother about I also ask people just to tell me what they called their mothers which for the most part was just kind of fun, but it was a good warmup question, I think for a lot of people.
And sometimes it yielded really interesting results.
Like the woman who called her mother by her first name or people who had like nicknames for their mother. Queen or great big stone, it was in a different language, but that's what it translated to.
The stories really resonated for me because they're all told from the perspective of the child and.
People who contributed were anywhere from 20 to, in their eighties.
There are five in other languages. So two in French, but they're actually Burundian refugees. They're living in Rwanda and then three in Spanish. Two in Peru and one who's currently in Argentina.
It was amazing to hear from so many people from other parts of the world, that cultural context was fascinating. And I think brought lots of layers. What was really interesting was that in a lot of situations there were people who literally had moved, like their family moved from one country to another.
So they grew up in a country that was not the country their mother grew up in. And so. They often were then judging their mother by their new culture. And the mother was like still in the old culture. So that created a lot of tension, but equally there were plenty of people where they lived in the same country, but because of the fast pace of cultural change, there was still a disjoint between the mother and the child
and it was fascinating to hear them look back on their mothers and to think about what my own children might say that was really powerful for me, and. Has made me sort of try to reflect a little bit more when I am doing mother type things, parenting things, having a little bit more of like, oh yeah, okay. remember I remember how this might be perceived.
I also look at the stories as almost a repository of strong women women. Who've done things an interesting, different way.
I think one of the first stories that hit me was a woman from Turkey and how, woman was a very rebellious teenager and. Was really pushing her mother away. And her mother just like took her out for cake and they sat down and her mother was like, look, you can do what you want.
It's your life but care about you. I just want to be involved. She did this really interesting thing where she was basically giving the daughter permission to do whatever she wanted, but also just trying to be like, Hey, I still want to be here.
I want to be part of your life. it was fascinating to me because my kids aren't teenagers yet. And I was like, okay, that's a good tip. Like I will keep that in mind, in case I ever need to think about something like that. Thinking about all these different mothers as real people and often very inspirational people, or also people that I couldn't really relate to. when maybe they're feeling a bit resentful or a bit bitter or they're downtrodden by the responsibilities of motherhood, you know, I can also relate to that too.
I didn't expect it to resonate so much with my own. Motherhood experience. But that's what it turned into for me.
I hope you enjoyed these reflections on mothers from Mother Mine. You can help both Shelter in Place and Mother Mine by leaving a rating and review.
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Of course Apple Podcasts is the most common place to leave reviews, and we appreciate them there, but today we want to give some love to Podchaser, who for the third year in a row is donating 25 cents to charity as part of their #Reviews4Good effort. During the month of April, Podchaser is donating 25 cents to World Central Kitchen’s #ChefsForUkraine, which has provided more than 1 million meals to individuals and families fleeing Ukraine. For every review you leave, Podchaser will donate 25 cents. For every podcaster who responds to that review, Podchaser will donate an additional 25 cents. So what do you say we work together to provide more meals in Ukraine? Just head to Podchaser.com, search for Shelter in Place, and I will personally respond to each and every review so we can work together to double our efforts and support Ukrainians with more meals.
Just head to Podchaser.com
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While you’re there, leave a review for the Transmission Times and Mother Mine.
Before we go, I asked Katie to tell us a little bit about Til It’s Gone, her upcoming project, which she’s launching a kickstarter campaign for next month.
Katie: It's going to be a feature length, audio documentary.
I wanted to make space for People from all over the world to talk about what they've lost,
places, objects, freedoms, abilities, identities all of these things that. We don't necessarily talk about it. And we necessarily grieve.
that I think maybe we're feeling a little bit more right now. Right? Like we're realizing how much can be lost, even when it's not through death.
So you can find all the details for, till it's gone at, till it's gone.org. That's T I L I T S G O N E dot O R G. Thank you.
You can find information on Katie’s Kickstarter and learn how to submit your own stories at Tilitsgone.com.
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Midroll ads/promos:
Kasama Labs
Hey friends, we have officially opened enrollment for our next class, Labs Weekender, our online narrative podcasting course. If you’d like to master the art and science of audio storytelling and create the kinds of episodes you hear on Shelter in Place, but are sick of being on a screen, this course was made for you. Every week you’ll get a new module in your inbox to help you build a complete toolkit for narrative podcasting. We’ve made the course flexible for busy people, with audio tutorials in a private podcast feed so you can listen and learn while go for a walk, with plenty of exercises that get you away from your screen. Sign up for our next class at shelterinplacepodcast.org/labs.
Kasama Collective
Other Podcast
Making Waves Studios
Hindenburg
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Support Credits:
As always, if you listen to the very end of the episode, you’ll hear Shelter in Place outtakes, our little easter egg to thank you for sticking around.
But first we’d like to thank {some of/one of} our newest supporters . . .
But first I’d like to tell you about another podcast I’m listening to right now that I think you’d like.
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End Credits:
The Shelter in Place music was created by Chase Horsman at Reaktor Productions. Additional music and sound effects for this episode come from Storyblocks. Melissa Lent is our project manager, Sarah Edgell is our design director, Nate Davis is our creative director, and as always, I’m your host and executive producer.
Until next time, this is Shelter in Place. I’m Laura Joyce Davis.
And now if you’re still listening, here’s a little outtake.
OUTTAKE: