Hey, hey, hey!
Well, that’s a wrap on season one of People Watching!
I hope you've enjoyed this first season as much as I have. When I first conceived of this podcast, I thought about how episodes would hang together. Would I lurch from one person to another, based on their availability and interest? Would I change my questions and approach for each person? Gradually I settled on the idea of thematic seasons—not necessarily telling a story over several weeks, but rather, seeing how different guests illuminate one central idea. As you can tell, this season was all about women: wives, mothers, activists, small business owners: people.
"I'm determined that this is going to be part of my legacy: that I'm going to be the kind of person that gives away power." -Dr. Sandra Glahn
Exploring their lives together was fascinating. I knew that I would have good conversations because I've known most of these women for several years. I expected that I would learn a lot about and from them, and I did. But what really stands out most is how reflective and thoughtful these women are with their lives, especially their willingness to engage the self-awareness necessary to show up for their families and communities.
In some cases, they've made a commitment to a specific work and community. Here, I'm thinking of Dr. Glahn in academia, and her support of women; also Cayce Utley showing up for racial justice and marginalized communities.
In other instances, they've made a commitment to their lives and families in everyday circumstances. Here, it's Rachel Hastings and her stewardship of authors and new books, as well as her family; Dr. Kandyce Thomas as a small business owner and single parent; Mollie Miller in caring for creation, her children, and others' health.
And some, like Ashleigh Hill, have shaped different paths that don't include a traditional family, but have made commitments to friends and a community that are just as strong and influential.
What also stands out to me in all of these varied lives and choices is the commitment that each woman made to herself (whether consciously or not). What each woman has done is to discover and cultivate her unique gifts, skills, and identities by the very fact of making those larger commitments, by showing up for others in specific, embodied ways.
"The greatest gift I can give my children, and therefore others, is the gift of self-awareness." -Mollie Miller
I also noticed how each of these women that I spoke with felt themselves as connected to others beyond their immediate circumstances—to people who lived two thousand years ago, fifty years ago, right now. It's as though, in connecting to those figures, my guests found themselves, or found new ways to be themselves.
If role models are those who show us what to love and how to love it, then I think each of my guests in this first season of People Watching demonstrated so beautifully how they found people—in history and in their lives—who could help them connect with who they wanted to be.
But more than direct imitation or copying, it's about adaptation: taking some resonant idea communicated by someone else's life and applying it to the here-and-now in a way that makes sense for the life we're living.
We often think of communication as an unbroken chain of sender → message → receiver. But what really happens in communication is transformation: messages don't retain their original sense, and even the very act of passing on meaning involves a re-negotiation of that meaning. When we communicate across time and cultures, we interpret and transform meanings even further. It’s a miracle we learn from our past at all.
And yet.
We are still able to communicate across time and space because we are still persons alive and figuring things out. Thinking and feeling and doing in the only way we know how: one day, one minute, one step, one word after another. Just as women two thousand years ago had to navigate a world that saw them as valuable only for their wombs, we also have to navigate equally limited, and limiting, perspectives today. Each of the women who shared their lives with us in this season show us how they have, and continue to, move beyond those limits.
While we can always make new friends within our communities, what I've realized in these conversations is that we can also start by renewing the relationships we already have.
A lesson for me was that it's not always about meeting someone new. We can also re-meet people we're already connected to, discovering who they've become since you last met. When's the last time you sat down and brought your full self to another?
"Even if I can't understand your experience, I'm not going to tell you it's not worth understanding." -Ashleigh F. Hill
As an introvert, I felt a bit nervous about conducting so many sessions: what kind of energy will I, can I bring to the conversation? What I discovered was a deep delight, a sense of aliveness after each session. Far from being drained, I felt renewed. I felt myself as part of the web of human beings spread across history and space, connected to what matters most: real persons in rich, significant conversation with each other.
This sense of connection is what Hartmut Rosa calls "resonance." He describes resonance as a "mode of relation" in which we are "inwardly reached, touched, or moved" by the other, and are able to reach out in response. This delight, this connection, this "being-in-relationship" cannot help but leave us somehow transformed.
I'm inspired by Sandra Glahn's ability to connect the lives of women from two thousand years ago with the lives of women right now. Mollie Miller reminds me of the importance of cultivating self-awareness, and of listening to, and living within, the seasons of creation. I love how Cayce Utley shows up for justice, for speaking with and for those whose voices are not heard. Rachel Hastings challenges me to question the status quo, to build differently, and to create spaces where power can't be hoarded but is constantly shared.
And dude, listening to Kandyce Thomas talk about how her grandfather's example encourages her to persevere, no matter what...whew. That's some righteous stuff right there. And it's Ashleigh Hill's commitment to solidarity, to companioning others in their journey, that encourages me to look with compassion at the world around me.
Catch up on all the episodes from Season One!
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I'm so glad that my guests and I were able to share time together, to inhabit a moment in which we brought our full selves to the conversation. I hope you found something in these conversations that resonated for you, that sparks a little bit of hope, encourages you to explore your own creativity, and helps you cultivate wisdom in your daily life.
Thanks for being here. I hope you'll stick around for more amazing conversations in season two of People Watching, coming in May 2025.
Let’s be hopeful, creative, and wise—together.
Shalom,
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