097 - #ContentWarningEvent | A Recap and Debrief From the First Annual Content Warning Weekend

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[00:00:07] Hey everyone, I'm Nate from the Full Mutuality podcast.

[00:00:12] I wanted to take a moment to say thank you for tuning into this show.

[00:00:16] We're so grateful that you've decided to spend your time with us.

[00:00:19] Seriously, Dan, Gail, Jessica, Kathleen, Scott, and the rest of us here at the Dauntless Media

[00:00:24] Collective couldn't produce content like the show We're here to break down the binaries, deconstruct the dualities, and wander through what it

[00:01:40] looks like to live in the gray.

[00:01:43] In church, we were told that life after leaving it's a little like it brings up the HBO show about kids doing drugs and having sex and whatnot, because that's what euphoria triggers in my brain.

[00:03:00] Well, I haven't watched the show, so it doesn't bring that up for me.

[00:03:04] But also, yes, it was euphoric.

[00:03:07] It was a great experience. episode and I can't wait because Cora and I, like we haven't had a chance to debrief. Like we haven't sat down and had these conversations. So this is, you're getting the raw footage here. Not really. Yeah. It, we, we, after the event, we, we both just like kind of collapsed. And, uh, and then I got an Uber at like two in the morning to be at the

[00:04:21] airport at like three in the morning for a flight at five in the morning.

[00:04:25] And then by the time I got back to Denver, I slept all day.

[00:05:25] I get so many conversations just in my van and in my apartment about the event, about other things, about just all kinds of things that I was like, this is why we're doing this

[00:05:31] event because these are the people I have these conversations with and I just want to

[00:05:36] have them publicly.

[00:05:37] I just want all of us to have this conversation.

[00:05:39] It was just, whether it's about music or homelessness or women's rights year, which I know we're here to talk about content warning 2024. Is that the year it is 2023? What is it? 24? We just got here. We just got to 24. I'm not used to it yet. Um, but with some foresight, I think it will be, we'll need to like get out there early without having you there as like our home base because you

[00:07:03] were there like a couple days, you know, ahead of people said I'm so glad you didn't have a keynote speaker that was it was an interesting piece of feedback but it wasn't like we were

[00:08:21] highlighting one person or even that our collaborators were preparing a speech or but coming at things from very different areas, right? To have, you know, Chrissy Struepp, who's, you know, this secularist, this, you know, non-religious, openly non-religious person, and somebody like Damon Garcia, who's like, just wrote The God Who Riots,

[00:09:40] and is talking about this like liberation theology,

[00:09:43] this like kind of like radical, liberative God and theology

[00:09:48] on the stage at the table has a lot of thoughts. And some people have theology degrees and some people have just experience. And so I think it's just having, and then having the participants too with experience and questions and pieces. So I think

[00:11:01] it all added together because it was, that was've always desired to get up and just belt out songs. But I feel like as people were going up there, they were really good. Like people were blowing me away with their talent, right? Yeah, it was some people were pretty incredible.

[00:12:24] So yeah, the one thing that I had going for me is I picked a song called I'm, Saturday was a full day of content. We had five panels. We had three in the morning. We had a break for lunch. We had two in the afternoon. We had a break and then we had karaoke. It was a full day. And I think the karaoke and then those that went out to the Lesmy bar, it was a nice release at the end. Cause it was like, okay, we've had some heavy conversation. Now we're going to have fun and hang out

[00:13:41] and relax for a little bit, right?

[00:13:43] Yeah.

[00:13:44] The joy that I felt from everyone or in a really unique way. I also think that there was this aspect of so many of the people in attendance had come from areas of feeling like, maybe they had run, whether there was ministry

[00:15:00] or they had run church things before or whatever

[00:15:02] and being able, I think Jess said it.

[00:15:05] Jess was one of the yes, I agree. I think it was like, they were saying, I've been in spaces that I was welcome in, but not particularly specifically designed for me. It's like, yeah, you're welcome here in this space. You know, we allow for you to be here,

[00:16:20] but they were like, this feels like a space

[00:16:22] that was made with me in mind.

[00:16:25] And that just fucking hit me in a way Like, look at what happened, look at what's happening, people are connecting, this is what I wanted. I wanted an affirming space and I could not have done it by myself. I don't have the wisdom and the knowledge and the experience that everyone brought to the table. I don't have what the panelists have. I just wanted, like I've said before, to be that barista, to turn on the lights and open the doors and have people come in.

[00:17:41] And I bawled.

[00:17:42] Like, I just burst into tears because I...but out of joy. We had the amazing AV team that we did who were able to just guarantee that things were going to work. There was a team of people that were making sure the cameras were running, making sure the screens were happening, making sure that the stream was happening. And so we could really just focus on hanging out and sharing the experience with those

[00:19:04] who were online. at dinner where I was like, I wonder what they think of this event because I don't know that they've seen other and they said like they've hosted Planned Parenthood and they you know were in Portland so you get these kind of unique niche events but I was like I just I kind of wonder what they're thinking as we're having these discussions and sure enough I go back and there was the team

[00:20:23] was there were a couple guys and there was a was in ministry, but that was hell eight,

[00:21:40] ten years ago almost now.

[00:21:42] And now he's 12, so he doesn't remember much of that.

[00:21:46] But he's still like, he the vibe, which is so funny because it's not something that you can really intentionally cultivate, kind of. But also, can we talk about that piece for a minute? Like, just the vibe, because that's, as I've had conversations with people, they're like,

[00:23:01] I just loved the vibe.

[00:23:03] What is it? What was the vibe?

[00:23:05] What is that vibe that people are feeling?

[00:24:04] trans people, you know, like, oh, we have women on staff, or, you know, but like all of those things felt

[00:24:06] at the very center of the room,

[00:24:10] and the center of the vibe.

[00:24:16] And I think that that is a really important part

[00:24:19] of the vibe being what it was.

[00:24:25] What do you think?

[00:24:26] I would add, I, and this identity represented. That's not anything that's the piece that's different because I think the approach that

[00:25:42] we have, and we've had this on the podcast with our guests, the approach that we've had from my like point of view is an intentionality that I have about breaking down hierarchies. And I think size of event is as an important piece of that, right? And even as the online like was a little bit bigger, it still felt like we had multiple

[00:28:23] people engaging. a work around and luckily, like I said, our AV team who was just amazing for the weekend, found a way for us to have that open in a whole other window so it was way easier to see what was going on in the chat. But it felt like it didn't feel like just like a big space where everyone was

[00:29:42] kind of nameless, faceless among the thousands or millions or whatever, right? And I think we really to be transparent because i don't we're gonna be selling the videos afterwards and we're gonna be selling more t-shirts and stuff and i don't want people to think that were in this to make money because we didn't meet we actually lost money on the event i'm okay with that quite a ways away from making yeah we did we did not break even and i'm okay with that i had i had a some money

[00:31:02] set aside i was a sponsor of the event and fund future events. So I just wanted to mention that. Yeah, I think that that's a really important piece to mention. And also that we have always, you know,

[00:32:20] this podcast has always been

[00:32:25] a hobby that's cost money

[00:33:25] as we can pay for these things,

[00:33:30] we're paying in to create sustainable community and space.

[00:33:35] I look at everyone who bought a ticket or bought a virtual ticket

[00:33:37] as being a part of producing this event.

[00:33:41] They are the ones along with Meghan, yourself,

[00:33:45] and myself and others or Indiana and some other places. But by and large, most of our live attendees came from the P&W. I think being Atlanta, we're gonna see an ability for a lot more people to come in person because of just the centrality of that location.

[00:35:02] Yeah, yeah.

[00:35:03] And I will also say, I have so many thoughts

[00:35:06] because Atlanta is more diverse.

[00:35:07] It's a direct flight movie and she's trying to ride this big wave and at the very end she rides the big wave and all of a sudden she hits she doesn't even win but she gets all of these sponsorship deals and then now she can fund her surfing and I'm like oh this is just like what happened I got people reaching out saying they want to sponsor the event and that was a much better experience

[00:36:20] than having watched the fire fest documentary the week before can we talk festival like what the as soon as people got there the next day the day after it was supposed to start because I do think but I okay along those lines I think there were people that were like what is this and can can y'all we're like, nah. And it's not uncommon, unfortunately, for even people to exit evangelicalism or church

[00:39:03] or whatever and then move into some sort of, you know, salesy thing, whether there's value in it or not.

[00:40:21] I don't know.

[00:40:22] I'm not going to make that determination, but it can be the field. That's funny. Yeah, I think that's kind of why I wanted to emphasize that we're not doing this for a living, because when we make decisions about this event, it's not driven by how can we generate more income

[00:41:43] or how can we make this huge But I do think there's something to be said about,. But I mean, I was having this conversation with Ashley,

[00:44:21] unashamedly Ashley on Instagram.

[00:44:24] She's been on the show, she's great.

[00:44:26] And we were both saying very similar things. when they're asked to like, hey, pause for a second and think about what's happening, because we're people, we're just human beings, right? And if I am getting into a place of unhealth and I cause some harm, you, Megan, can go, Cortland, sit down for a second. You're harming people. We love you, we care about you.

[00:45:41] We need you to like not be on the mic for a minute

[00:45:43] because the community matters and you matter

[00:45:46] and we need you to not like what because the root of what's driving us is talk about in church a lot of times with pastors and church planners

[00:49:23] in a different way. And you see people doing this in business with co-ops and with other models to go like, okay, how do we create community that is sustainable,

[00:49:30] that does cost money, that has to exist within capitalism, right? But we could

[00:49:36] maybe go at this a different way that thinks about people first. And so anyway,

[00:49:43] we kind of got off topic but it's fun assigned in high school. That's like a, and hopefully this isn't happening anymore, by the way. I'm hoping there's diverse perspectives all through elementary school. But I've seen this happen where a book will be assigned in high school that has a black perspective or a Mexican perspective. And a white student will be like, why would I read this book?

[00:51:01] It doesn't really apply to me.

[00:51:02] And it's like, they've never realized about how I'm gonna interact with my relationships outside of my marriage as far as friendships and pieces like that in that non-monogamy session. So I think people are starting to realize like, oh, this is the value of all of those perspectives. Yeah, yeah, and I mean, I think you hit it right on and we've kind of like gone over and over this piece

[00:52:23] but it's kind of cool to go over and over again outside a typical experience. In conjunction with or in contrast to a cis experience. It could just exist as its own thing. The black experience doesn't have to always be given next to or in contrast to the white experience. We don't have to hold and talk about

[00:53:41] and think about and observe queerness

[00:53:44] always in contrast with heteronormativity. Can I say one more thing? Absolutely you can. A random thought that I had this weekend was, um, I don't know. I thought about my parents and just like, I wish they could look at that and be proud because I'm really fucking proud of that work and what happened that weekend.

[00:55:02] And, and I'm going to give them credit because I'm not, this isn't about demonizing

[00:55:07] my parents.

[00:55:07] My parents are great.

[00:55:08] Right.

[00:56:04] honored to be a part of this thing with so many incredible people.

[00:56:10] And I feel likewise, like I, like, I don't know.

[00:56:17] It's hard not being able to share this part of ourselves with people who home Bible, you're drunk. Let's be clear that that's the majority, Megan from There After podcast and Justin from go home Bible, you're drunk with a little flair from Cortland and Tori. I love that. Because that's definitely how I felt.

[00:57:41] You guys carried so much of the on the ground logistics

[00:57:45] for making this happen.

[00:57:47] And it never would have happened

[00:57:48] without either one of you.