This is Our Time

COLD OPEN WITH NYC SOUNDSCAPE

Fabian - NYC 

So what is it we are learning, what is the “there” that we’re heading towards? 

Sam VO NARRATION

That was Fabian and I sitting at Chelsea Piers, in New York City, where we met up about three months after Antarctica. 

This was us sitting and talking through memories, me digging in with more questions...

Sam VO NARRATION

It felt like a year ago, but last night was the vote, just 12 hours ago. 

By the time I crawled  into bed, it was really late.

But it was a difficult night. The ship felt like it was in rough seas, and I spent most of the night listening to someone barf in the room next to me.

[3:46] TAPE - Open frame Day after

Dr. Karen Alexander bravely took the floor first.

This is Purvi Gupta 

[7:43] TAPE - NYC

Opens with an NYC soundscape

Sam - Now I know I’m in complete sensory overload, much like Antarctica

Fabian - Yeah, Rotheragate for me was such a defining moment

You know there plenty of people whose instinct to go with the majority rule, I didn’t.

My instinct, was, that if can’t take all, can’t take any. 

It was me who initiated the blind vote. It was me who goes upstairs and debates the fact that if a small number out of a whole doesn’t want to go, then it is not right for women to go.

And transformational change work doesn’t happen with a textbook. It doesn’t happen because you logically go A, B, C, D E, F, G. 

We dealt with the anger that flowed from that, but the next morning, I wish we had fully recorded what happened. You may be the only person who recorded what actually happened.

Sam -  The Open Frame discussion?

Fabian - That was transformational

Sam - I’ve got it

Fabian - The poems, the poetry, the ...

Sam - I’ve got it all

Fabian - See that is a transformational moment. No matter how much you didn’t like it. You didn’t like the anger, or the uncertainty. Guess what, that’s where transformation change occurs. It doesn’t happen, the clean, the tight, the controlled moments. It happens when you are forced to confront: I contributed to that, it was my anger, I didn’t have to act that way….

Sam - Yup 

Sam VO NARRATION

The microphone was passed around the room, and I can only share a selection of everything that was said here…

TAPE - SHORT SELECTS

Gaia  

Fern 

[9:19] SamVO NARRATION

At the end of the session, Dr Helen Corney read something she wrote on the ship.

[12:05] Zodiac Landing through icebergs

[14:06] Sam Tape - Whiskey Ice

Sam VO NARRATION

And then, like the day could handle another twist, the Captain and Greg convened a meeting in the common room.  

SFX - crowd room tone

Scene TAPE - Greg and Captain come and tell us we are going

[14:52] Greg -  

Eye oi oi oi. A heady 24 hours we’ve had.

[19:15] Captain -

It’s a once in a lifetime. Even for us, I mean this is very unusual. Because usually the conditions down here are not favourable, let’s say, the ice conditions, are always hard. 

[22:06] Laugh Therapy

[24:50]  Rothera Landing 

[29:05] - New York City soundscape begins. Sam and Fabian go back to New York

...

Sam - So while I went in to make a 20 minute story, and it turned into a three and a hour epic. And I did this from my kitchen table, off my hard drive, with zero dollars funding, and you know, lots of good will. 

Fabian - But listening was never enough for you. Listening was never enough. You started the first podcast by putting yourself in the story. That’s where it started. You’re not a bystander. It’s a myth for you. You’re in boots and all.  

[36:09] - Greg 

Um, I’ve left Antarctica a lot of times. And I’ve found in that I’ll never know what I’ll feel like when I take the first walk in the streets of Ushuaia. It becomes a bit of a mystery. And it changes from time to time.  

[37:21] SAM  - Closing Narration

At the end of a cinema verite documentary, there’s often no obvious conclusion drawn--it was a moment in time, and that moment ended, and thus, so did the film. 

And while I love this for film, for a podcast, I still feel like I need to wrap, with some music...  

…

My instinct told me that GOING would put me inside a story that would grow and unfold, in real time. 

...

It’s all brought me to a quiet place inside.

Specifically, it brought me back to Antarctica. At a time when it felt like everything around me was breaking, I had that memory, that experience, to draw from.

And at some point, after a bunch more reflection, I landed on this new, and final conclusion, that I want to share with you.

What that was, and what this is, are the same, when you boil it down. It’s a transformational learning experience. 

Fabian: So I’m wondering if having listened to what you heard. You can just trust us to have heard all the issues, and we will take this into consideration. I’m going to ask you all to close your eyes….

*Footsteps walking upstairs, then into faculty meeting*

*Door closing*

Merryn: She is downstairs, basically having a full-blown panic attack. She has left in tears.

*footsteps walking back into the room*

Reporting the results [9:20]

Fabian: Ok. So, I need to tell you a bit of a story, and then it’s a lead-in to the decision. Shhh.

There’s a part of me that loves adventures. In my family, if somebody’s going to do something crazy and take a risk, it’s probably going to be me.

WAS IT DEMOCRACY OR PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION? [12:55]

Sarah H: Well, I’m not a political scientist, but there are a lot of different ways of doing democracy, aren’t there. That didn’t strike me as a democracy to me, what happened, but-

THE TEND AND BEFRIEND THEORY [14:56]

Sam: This turning point marked the halfway mark of the journey. Half done, half to go. But the question that lingered was: How was this moment going to change the experience?

Back in the 1920s, groundbreaking research in psychology began, and the American psychologist Walter B Cannon published a very important paper where he identified the human response to stress. His paper gave us a phrase we all know: Fight or Flight.

And this was gospel. For about 70 years, most of the subsequent research confirmed his results. 

But then, in the 1990s, a different psychologist unwrapped these old ideas. She took a different approach...her name is Shelley E Taylor, and when she analyzed these old studies, she realized something was missing. 

There were no women who worked as researchers, and in fact, most of the rats used in the studies were also male. 

She wondered. If she were to remount these same experiments, but this time included females, could there be a different result?  

And in fact, there was. 

Shelly E Taylor published her work in the year 2000. Her research confirmed the third way, an alternative reaction to stress, and she called it Tend and Befriend.

This means that when some of these rats faced stress, they cared for each other instead of fighting. Instead of fleeing, they put the needs of others before their own.

THE EMOTIONAL DECISION NOT TO GOT TO ROTHERA [20:04]

This episode was written, hosted and produced by me, Samantha Hodder.

Sound mix by Kristie Chan

Original music by Podington Bear

Original Theme song by Gabriel Corindia

For this episode, I’d like the thank:

Dr. Adriana Humans

Dr. Susan Scott

Fabian Dattner

Dr. Merryn Mckinnon

Kerryn Millar

Sarah Anderson

Dr. Justine Shaw

Marshall Cowley

Professor Mary-Anne Lea

Greg Mortimer

Dr. Sarah Hamylton

Dr. Amal-Lee Amin

Valerie Sage

Nina Earl

Tune in next week for the final episode of this series.

And if you’re not already receiving our newsletter, please head to the bottom of the page and subscribe, and then I’ll send you one minute of audio love each week.

Thanks for listening.

I’m Samantha Hodder, and This is Our Time.

Cold Open- Walking with penguins 

[1:02] SAM VO NARRATION - Ok, last time I promised that we would get off this ship….out of these heady conversations and deep soul searching. Get out there. Go see some things, get a cold nose and make a snowball and throw it at someone.

Antarctica hits everyone differently, but it doesn't’ miss a shot

[1:47] SAM VO NARRATION

We’re on Paulet Island this day

Sam Tape:
Oh! Here’s a flash of green. This is moss!

We’re on Paulette Island this day

[3:13] SAM VO NARRATION

Only 0.0001 of the world’s population ever get a chance to come here to Antarctica. And for me, every step I took was a reminder of just how lucky I was.

Sam VO NARR [4:07] Everything about being here was hitting that day. 

Antarctica is the fastest warming continent on our planet except for Greenland. But in some ways when you’re here, it’s hard to see, because it’s still very cold, and you see lots of ice. It’s just deceiving. Because the change is happening, it’s just can’t not there in front of you. 

That’s where scientists come in.

Antarctica is often called the “canary in the coal mine” for climate change, because what is happening there will tell you about the problems that will happen elsewhere. 

[5:31]  The skua symphony  

[6:34] Prof Mary-Anne Lea talks about the Adelie penguins on Paulet Island 

[9:03] TRANSITION - Sfx- zodiac heading back to boat    

SAM VO NARRATION

[9:47] Outside was a sea of white...it looked more like land, than water. Actually, it looked like giant white bed sheets had blown off the clothes line and been forgotten on the lawn. 

Except that this was supposed to be water. And now it was ice. 

And this ship, does not have the jaws of an icebreaker. 

As the day progressed, the focus began to shift, and the reality settled in.

Something was going to need to change. 

[11:19]  TAPE - WITH CAPTAIN

… In order to sail in Antarctica, or in ice waters, you need to have experience and competence, and also,  you train to sail in ice

[13:05] ]SAM VO NARRATION  

The Captain had been charting a course through an inside passage, called The Gullet Straight. But the winter was closing in fast and the water was freezing behind us quickly. 

[14:34] SAM VO NARRATION

Our trip plan had been to get all the way to Rothera Base Station, which is the fabled British Antarctic Research Station, and it’s so remote and hard to access, that it’s almost an illusion. 

[14:46] Fabian - tape

We've made a decision to bring a vote to you all, which is not common in this sort of context, but it seems fitting because upstairs we became paralyzed with a very important decision. 

{15:Q5] Tape- Greg 

Um, incredible day….if you’re on the bridge, or got any sense of what was going on. The Captain, the Chief Mate, the Second Mate and the Third Mate….so all the navigators were there, 

[15:51] TAPE - Greg

 If we want to go to Rothera, it requires us to go out into open water tonight, to go around Adelaide Island. 

[16:36] Our decision is quite straight-forward….

[17:07] TAPE - FABIAN

There’s no reason in isolation to do this

[17:37] SAM VO NARRATION

You see, there’s no good way to answer this question. THere is not just ONE answer. THere are way too many. There was no way to appease all the sides.

[18:17] TAPE - Open Frame - discussion before the vote

In what could possibly be the longest conference, 21 days at sea on the Southern Ocean, Samantha does her best to make you feel at home here. In a “being-there” moment, you will be brought into the room to consider terms like your “Personal Strategy Map,” your “LSI” type and discover how to cope with all this intensity--through “Peer Coaching.”

Cold Open with Greg Mortimer: Good morning Possums.

[1:30] Opening VO : I’ve described this before as the world’s longest, most intense conference.  

With whales frolicking, penguins moulting, icebergs floating by, and glaciers melting off in the distance.

And yes, that’s a totally privileged sentence to form. 

I want to put that right up front. 

This experience doesn’t come cheap, and it doesn’t come easy.

[3:19] Sam VO: And If I’m going to do a good job of sharing how this experience changed me. Why this was an emotional odyssey to the end of the world... 

Then I’m going to need to put you in the room with me. 

[3:56] Sam VO: In the last episode, I explained how I want to tell this story using what I’m calling Audio Verite … which is another way of saying that I want to let the tape roll when I can. Rather than continually breaking the moment to explain what’s going on

[5:30] Virtual tour of the ship

[7:10] Lecture by Dr Justine Shaw: Antarctica 101.

[9:12]  Lecture by Professor May-Anne Lea. It’s a primer on the Antarctic Ocean Systems.

[12:05] Sam VO: Everyone is examining how to be a strong leader, how to be better to each other, how to be better to the planet in the midst of a collapsing ecosystem.

[13:20] Fabian Dattner Introduction to LSI

[15:19] Kit Jackson and the Personal Strategy Map

[17:01]  Sarah Anderson and Visibility

[17:58] Justine - it’s not so easy to find role models for women in STEM

[18:53] Kerryn Miller - Introduction to Peer Coaching

[21:05]  Sam: VO - But what brought it all together, what balanced out these very long days, was when we could go ashore and walk around. 

First, we had to vacuum - 

[21:23] Sam VO: Conservation of Antarctica is taken very seriously - and any of these tiny seeds could become the zebra muscles of Antarctica.

For this episode, I’d like to thank :

Greg Mortimer

Dr. Beth Christie, 

Dr. Justine Shaw

Professor Mary-Ann Lea

Fabian Dattner 

Kit Jackson 

Sarah Anderson 

Dr. Sylvia Struck

Kerryn Miller

Somewhere Around Antarctica
Season 2, Episode 1

[0:00] Boarding the Ship to Antarctica

*Audio verite tour of the ship*

[2:00] VO starts with Samantha Hodder

I’m on a ship, somewhere in the thumb joint that sticks out from the fist of Antarctica.

We left Argentina about a week ago and coasted down the Beagle Channel, which has Argentina on one side and Chile on the other. 

[3:25]  Because this is my dream: To share a story of being there in a way that makes you feel a bit like you were there too.  

[4:02]  Julietta: Ok. Please, when you are ready, sit down. Perfect. Ok. Buenos Dias. Thank you very much. So I will try to keep it simple. If there is something that you don’t understand, I can repeat it. 

We will navigate inside the Southern Ocean, and the Drake Passage is a little bit tricky. The ship is going to move. So that’s why we need to prepare ourselves. The first thing is, is seasickness.

[5:00] Samantha does an audio diary

[6:15] Backstory of why this story was made

[6:50] Hilarious reaction from family when she announces that she’s leaving for a month.

[7:34] Opening night welcome by Fabian Dattner

[9:20] “When I think back to this moment back in 2018 it’s like a mirage, because the freedoms we all had back in 2018 are very different from where we are now, inside a global pandemic.”

[9:30] We were all getting ready to take part in this leadership development program - a sort of mastermind that hangs on four pillars: 

• Women
• Leadership
• Science
• The State of our Planet.  

[10:43] “When I started following this story in 2016, it was right when the Trump Hillary race was heating up...and during those months, it actually seemed like Hillary was going to win the Presidency. The notion of women in leadership, was pregnant.”

I’m not a scientist, like the rest of the women in this group. I was brought in as the podcaster,  the storyteller who embedded with the journey, to record it, and you know, see where it all went."

[12:32] “What I didn’t know then, which I know now, is just how much road was ahead of me on this one. First, personal struggles, then job struggles, and now we all find ourselves in a world struggle, a global pandemic with a race against the clock to get these brand new vaccines into literally billions of arms, in every country, on every continent. “  

Meanwhile, we’re living through a cultural reckoning. 

[14:04 ] Shocking personal story 

“But then….my house caught fire. It was a small fire, but with the smoke damage, we lost most of everything. My family life, I have three kids, was turned upside down. I literally spent 2019 sorting it all out and rebuilding.” 

Things finally got back to normal, I was looking forward to 2020 when we moved back home, and I could get back to work again….and then the pandemic hit. 

I mean….is someone sending me a message?

There’s something about what happened when I was on the ship that keeps me coming back to me. Over and over again." 

It’s THIS moment I can’t shake.

[14:43] The Blind Vote Moment

[15:09] As a storyteller, if there’s something you can’t shake, if there’s some moment that wakes you up in the night, that’s the thing. That’s the abyss you dive into.  You have to. Even when you don’t want to. Even when practically every single event, on a global scale, is suggesting to, maybe, just move on.

The moment even got a nickname: We called it Rotheragate.

[16:20]

But thanks to this blind vote, it was ALSO  the story of an emotional journey, which has nothing to do with travel, and everything to do with something else.

Maybe everything else.    

==

I’d like to thank the following people for offering their voice to this episode:  

Paola Tello Guerrero

Sue Mauger

Dr Sarah Hamylton

Rachel Zombor

Rashmi Venkatraman

Dr Julietta Pedrana

My family

And Fabian Dattner