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The Post-TAGGS Glow Apr 11, 2021

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#294: The team talks about their experiences at The Applied Geek and Gaming Summit, and gushes over how exciting and validating the experience was. Transcript Josué Cardona 0:07Welcome to gt radio on the Geek Therapy network. Here at Geek Therapy, we believe that the best way to understand each other and ourselves is through the media we care about, my name is Josué Cardona. And I’m joined by Link’s stomach. Link Keller 0:22rarblghblgh Josué Cardona 0:24Link Keller Link Keller 0:25Hello. Josué Cardona 0:26and lara taylor Lara Taylor 0:29hey Josué Cardona 0:32Yeah. So you were you were asking me right before we started recording? Lara, How I’m awake because you are not awake? Lara Taylor 0:39I am not. I’m not burnt out just exhausted. Josué Cardona 0:44exhausted. Yeah. Well, Lara Taylor 0:46a good way, in a good way, Josué Cardona 0:47in a good way. Yeah. I mean, so we had over the weekend. We finally we had taggs, which was a therapeutic and applied geek and gaming summit, the first ever I think, it went very well. Lara Taylor 1:03So too, I Link Keller 1:05agreed. Josué Cardona 1:06I would very much like to know what you think and what everybody who is there, thanks. We’ll send a feedback Form very, very soon. And Lara Taylor 1:17more puppet time. more happier. Josué Cardona 1:20More puppet time. That’s all the people want. Lara Taylor 1:22that’s what they want. Josué Cardona 1:24Yeah. So so I want to talk about two things. One, you asked me, How am I like, awake, and okay. And like, is my brain? Okay? You didn’t ask that one. But you should be asking is my brain. Okay, after this weekend. And Lara Taylor 1:38that was what that question was actually going to be. Josué Cardona 1:42Yeah, yeah. I, I, um, this weekend was so fulfilling. It really feels like a culmination of 10 years of, of work of doing things. And gian in the chat. It says it was life changing legendary. I, it was it was so fulfilling. And so. So I’ll keep saying fulfilling but it was it was very good. My my batteries are full. I am. You know, how, again, in, in all the best shown in anime, you know, like, you exceed that 100% capacity, right? Like, you’re, you reached 150%. Right. But you’re at level two, you like your, your, your power levels above 9000. Right. Like you broke the meter. Like, like that kind of thing. Like, that’s how I felt. On Sunday. I was a little tired by Sunday night. But after three days of that, and also it got it felt it felt more good as the weekend went on. Because, and I mentioned that and I’m glad he’s in the chat. Because I don’t I don’t think I’ve I haven’t talked him I don’t think there was a moment at the end of the weekend. which. Let’s explain what taggs was, by the way, just in case. So yeah, so the therapeutic and applied geek and gaming summit, a professional conference in gaming convention to we can talk about the gaming convention part that didn’t like it wasn’t as gaming as as I as I wanted it to be. But there were games, Lara Taylor 3:24there were games. We did games, we played some games. Josué Cardona 3:29It was I’m not disappointed. I’m just just just pointing that out if you think check the schedule. But the idea was to bring together people who use geek culture and gaming culture in either therapeutic or in applied ways. I think they’re using it intentionally within their work. And the work being you know, maybe you’re an educator, maybe you’re some kind of therapist, not just mental health therapist, right? You’re working in medicine and working in community practice. All the things that we always talk about here at Geek Therapy. Let’s bring together people who do this, and let’s learn from each other. The are so we framed it like a professional conference. And it was it was a professional conference for that. And we did a call for proposals. We got a lot of great submissions. I was reflecting on that part of it. I we did not expect to have 80 events running throughout the weekend, right? There were times where that we were we had five concurrent presentations Lara Taylor 4:29most of the time. five concurrent Lara Taylor 4:31what was four Yeah, Link Keller 4:33I think its was four most of the time, but there was definitely a slot on Saturday. That was five Lara Taylor 4:39on Sunday too Josué Cardona 4:40know, technically, only Friday had four at a time during four time slots, and I believe Saturday and Sunday. Always had five slots running at the same time. And that’s that’s, there was a lot going on at once. And there was a point on Sunday. It was it was during The last presentations on Sunday. And I can only do so much. So I can think my brain can only monitor two at a time. So I was watching two panels at the same time, I had EarPods, air pods, Apple AirPods to two different devices, so one in each ear, so I was listening to two at a time. And then they kind of going back and forth. Fun fact, if you just if you just changed your view, like then you sync up the mouth movements of the person talking in one and then like, your brain kind of blocks the sound from the other. You don’t have to mute that. Anyway. So I was watching Lara Taylor 5:33that would break my brain. Josué Cardona 5:35I think I think my brain is broken. But at the end, there were two presentations going on. And one of them was from Gian Ramos. And he was he’s a medical doctor, he he was doing a residency in New York City. And he wrote he wrote a blog post about this story. And it’s on the Geek Therapy website. And it it’s the story where he says like, oh, listen, like I was in residency, I listened to the Geek Therapy podcast, like I was thinking about this, this, this this. And then I did this stuff with a client who was catatonic and there’s it’s a beautiful story. But there’s a sense of pride to hear him tell the story. As the presenter as he’s presenting the story to teach other people and show them and like that was one of the stories that he showed. He’s doing this simultaneously while on on the in the other room. There is Vanessa hence, who is talking about using media to address transgenerational trauma, and is talking about how do we talk about race and racism. And she’s bringing up like horror movies like um, like us and the series like them, and she’s talking about Black Panther. And she’s bringing up all these different things. And I’m and and Vanessa, I met because she was a student at the Chicago School of Professional Psychology, taking the Geek Therapy, the geek culture and therapy course, that Patrick O’Connor and I co developed. He taught it there for two years. She was in one of those classes. They in I always guest lecture, but they invited me for final presentations. So I’m there I’m watching the final presentations of getting feedback. And I remember very clearly Vanessa’s presentation, she used the X Files as a as her for her project. And it was great and like, and I did meet her in person, eventually. And then but I’m seeing her right. It’s like, it’s like two students of yours, right? Like, like, like work that you’ve done over the years. And now they’re here at this conference that you set up for. You set it up for them to come and teach other people. Right. And it was like, so that was like the last thing during the weekend, right. And the rest of the day was through like, we joked about how many people like there were tears on Sunday, but it was because of the different presentations, right? It’s like because of the topics because the things that were being covered videos that were shown. Lara Taylor 8:01Kelli Dunlap I swear. Josué Cardona 8:03Yeah, she was she was doing. Link Keller 8:07She warned us. Lara Taylor 8:09She did. Josué Cardona 8:10Yeah, yeah. And it. It was it felt like on Friday, I was like, Oh, this this feels good. And on Sunday, I was like, Oh, this is this is what I hoped it would be. And yeah, so it was a success. So anyway, so I felt like I was overflowing with positive energy with multiple things. And, and I definitely want to talk more about taggs. But But I kept thinking about something from the video game. Ni No Kuni and I think about this all the time and and I love talking about it. But I hadn’t felt this way in a long time. Like, this week, in particular. Taggs taggs aside, this week has felt like 2020 right, it feels like I don’t know if there’s a word for, like 2020 PTSD yet if we have that, right. But I think this week just feels like 2020 and not just like at the national scale. Right? It’s like, yeah, COVID numbers are up again. There’s outbreaks, hospitalizations are up. One of the vaccines got like, the shutdown, right there. We’re like, No, no, let’s stop that. Um, the George floyd case is now you know, on trial. Like we’re seeing that on TV. Like there’s so many there’s more shootings, there’s just like horrible things happening. And then on personal level, like I’m talking to people and school had this issue and like I have nobody to take care of the kids are like this other thing. Like it felt so much like 2020 that it feels like last year was shocking. And now it was it does feel a lot like it’s just re visiting that that horrible 2020 it sucks. I don’t know if either of you feel that way this week, but it, I’ve felt that way. You know, I know a lot of people who do too, and but because of taggs, I was like, whoo, I feel really good. But for the last year, it’s been really hard for me to check in with people that I would like to check in with. Right, like, like, I’ve become very conscious of how much I’m able to handle or take on. So I, I often don’t ask, if I’m already not doing well be asking someone how they’re doing. And then being honest, and, and having a conversation about how bad things are or how they feel becomes more than I can handle at times. So sometimes I don’t I don’t ask them because I don’t feel equipped. And or I don’t want more of that. Because I’ve already have enough. But with taggs, I felt like I’ve been feeling good, right? And instead of being like, Hey, everybody had an amazing weekend, right? Like, like, How was yours. It’s not what I did, it was more like, Oh, I can def I definitely feel good enough. I feel. On the one hand, it was like I’ve got I’ve got love to share, you know, I’ve got enough positive energy that I can that I can that I can take some and hand it off. And in some ways, maybe it felt like I had enough that if I got a couple of hits. If I took a couple of hits, I was protected enough that I would still be okay after it. And so it reminded me of this mechanic and in yNi No Kuni where you have this ability to see different feelings and things and people and you can see, they’re not just feeling that some of them is like courage and kindness and things like that. And you can see when someone is like overflowing with one of those things, which basically the game is presenting it to you as like they have more than they need. And then your side quests often have to do with people who then the main quest to where you you meet people who are lacking in those things. So you can find someone with a little extra kindness and ask them if they’re willing to spare a little bit. And then you can take it and put it in a locket and then carry it over and then take it to someone else who needs it. Like as as the as the player you can’t like generate that energy, but you can find it in the world and move it and, and have some one person share it with another. I think about that game all the time. I love the visual of it. And I hadn’t felt like this in a long time. Like I was like, I got a little bit extra here. I can move it this way. So I could, I was able to check in with my friends I was able to check in with I checked it with people I haven’t checked in within a long time because it was like it was too much. But I felt like I could I could do it. This goes if this goes bad. I think it’ll be okay. Cuz cuz I’m like on this particular high, it just felt it just felt very, very good. And and, yeah, I mean, this this week is sucked. It still sucks. But I feel I don’t feel as down as I as I think I would have otherwise, or those I felt before taggs, definitely. I definitely feel good. So I’m mixing these things up because they they’ve been on my mind. And I wanted to make sure we we didn’t just talk about how great taggs was but also kind of bring in this these are the kind of conversations that we wanted people to present a taggs where you you these are real life application or metaphor of something that is a part of a of a game or something, you know, but no, like we we, we live this stuff. We love this stuff. And we see those connections and we’re able to bring them into to the work that we’re doing. So we basically had a whole weekend of that. And yeah, I’ll touch these topics back and forth a little bit. But I’m curious if there’s anything you wanted to say about tax review, you both presented, by the way. Yeah, Link Keller 8:10Yes, we did. Josué Cardona 14:01I’m very proud of both of you. By the way. I don’t know if I told you this. Link Keller 14:04I’m Proud of you! Josué Cardona 14:05No, no, I’m proud of you. But thank you. Thank you. I’m glad I’m glad. I’m glad. Yeah. I feel pride in in seeing you both present for different reasons. But it was but I can give you feedback off the air later. But but but it’s I felt I felt very I was very happy to. Lara Taylor 14:30Yeah, yeah. Well, I was on five and a half hours of panels on Friday. Josué Cardona 14:37Wow. What Lara Taylor 14:39cuz our panel was four the teenage nightmare game was four hours long. Got it. Got it? Yeah, yeah. That was a lot of fun. I don’t do well, I don’t do presentations. I do panels. When there are other people there. I could do it. Josué Cardona 14:57Do you still get nervous as nervous as you used to Lara Taylor 15:02Um, I think this is like an outlier. Because it was I was at home, in my chair in this chair, doing the same thing that I do here, I’m talking to my computer screen, there were just more people on the other side of it. Um, but I’d say this time, I wasn’t nervous. I wasn’t as nervous at all. The last time I did a presentation in person, I mini panic attack, I would say beforehand, this time, it wasn’t so bad. But I think when we were doing the panel, teenage nightmare was our opportunity to play a game together as a group of professionals that gets together on Fridays to play. And then we did a debrief after about what was important to us about playing as professionals. And one of the things that I mentioned is, I feel safe with them. They’re very welcome, welcoming and warm. And I think that, in general, tags felt safe. I felt like I wasn’t going to run into somebody who’s like, That’s stupid. You know. So I think we built a good environment and community, like we pulled more people into the Geek Therapy, discord, and there’s a separate discord for therapists and educators and spiritual directors and all kinds of people that use RPGs in their in their practices. And we that we’ve had an influx over there because of taggs, and it’s really cool and injected some excitement into the group. gian is one of those people, and we’re blaming him for all of the extra chatter, and it’s great, we love you. Josué Cardona 16:57The discord is, is Gian’s domain. Sohe’s doing his job. It’s good. Lara Taylor 17:03Yeah. Josué Cardona 17:05So what was it that made it feel safe? Lara Taylor 17:11I think that I felt like people got it. Like it’s like, it’s my people. They understand that. This isn’t a weird thing. Talking about how geek culture effects, I think the average person doesn’t really think about how, I don’t know, watching Falcon and the winter soldier affects them emotionally because it reminds them of a thing, or, I mean, a lot of people who are the average people, we’re talking about wandavision that way, but like, I don’t know, people play. They watch Star Wars, and they don’t think about the meaning behind these characters, and why they…

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Pre-TAGGS Excitement Apr 04, 2021

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#293: Josué and Lara talk about preparations for The Applied Geek and Gaming Summit, and review all the wonderful Geek Therapy community spaces. Transcript Josué Cardona 0:07Welcome to gt radio on the Geek Therapy network here at Geek Therapy. We believe that the best way to understand each other and ourselves is through the media we care about. My name is Josué Cardona. I’m joined by Lara Taylor. Lara Taylor 0:18Yo, Josué Cardona 0:19yo, Lara Taylor 0:20yo. Link’s not here and I start changing up my opener. Josué Cardona 0:25Yeah, yeah. Links not here. They are working on stuff. Doing important taggs this weekend. three presentations at tags. That’s a lot. Lara Taylor 0:36Yeah, I’ve got three presentations to tags. How many you guys weigh a bazillion? Right? Josué Cardona 0:41Ah, they’re all mine. Oh, yeah, I’m, I’m, I’m going to take care of all of them. Hopefully. Not, I’m not alone in that. But um, you know, I will be, Lara Taylor 0:54you’ll be there all day. all the weekend. Josué Cardona 0:55I may be like the architect in the matrix with like, all the screens up and monitoring multiple things happening. But I, I’m not complaining. Actually. That sounds that sounds good to me. Okay, so here’s what we’re going to talk about today. And it may be a short one, because we have to keep preparing for taggs. I literally just finished the meeting before this. And I’ll go back to it. For those of you who don’t know, taggs is the therapeutic and applied geek and gaming summit, the first professional conference and, and gaming event of its kind, presented by Geek Therapy in the bodhana group. I’m very excited about it. And I’m a little tired, but it is going to be great. And if you’re listening to this in the future, after the event has past, don’t worry about it. That’s why we’re working very hard, perhaps even harder on making sure that we were able to record everything and preserve it so that we can continue to have a version of the conference that exists until yknow taggs 2022 Ooh, breaking news. I’m assuming we’ll do a taggs 2022. And until then, we will, we will keep it up. And then you can get a media pass. And just by access to all the stuff that we recorded Lara Taylor 2:12a pro tip probably want the media pass anyway. Because there’s like five panels going on at a time and everything looks so good. Josué Cardona 2:20So assuming that you Yeah, you’re listening to this live? There’s no way I’m posting this before taggs. Taggs live is actually done. Exactly. But if you’re listening to this before, then yeah, definitely get your live plus. plus media pass. Yeah. Yeah, no, I’m excited. But so what I’m excited about partially, and what I want to talk about today is this. The theme of taggs is community, everybody has a seat at the table. And we have always made it such a core part of Geek Therapy, to build community. And so we have very specific community spaces that allow us to do that. So the podcast part is weird. It’s the main driver of content. But there isn’t like a place where you can go or where people go, you can go to the forum, basically. And that’s where all the podcasts are and where you could post and things like that. But it’s it’s it’s other places where people congregate. Primarily, we have two, which are the the discord which we bring up all the time, which has been refreshed. Lara Taylor 3:34It’s looking great too Josué Cardona 3:36Good, it’s got options for you know that you can opt in and out of all the channels. Lara Taylor 3:40all those people who say we have too many channels. You don’t have to have all the channels. Josué Cardona 3:44you Don’t need them all. Yep, yep, yep. Lara Taylor 3:46Unless you want them all. Josué Cardona 3:48Unless you want them all. I think I think, yeah, I think it’s working out really well. I like it a lot. And I love it. I think it’s I think it’s great. It’s got this new feature where we can do live events, just exactly the same way that clubhouse. The app does them right where people we can, we can have a live event where we’re talking and it’s and it’s audio only. So it’s very fitting for for us even though like we’re live right now on video on Twitch. We’re primarily audio content. And so that’ll be really cool because we can have these live events and then people can like Raise your hands and come up and we can include them in the conversations and it’s called stages. And we’ve got it set up. It’s It’s great. We might do some of these episodes that way in the future, or other things we’ll see. But we’ve got it all set up on the discord as well. So it’s great. And I I love the Discord. I think it is I think it is fantastic. Obviously we also have like things like this, we can be live on Twitch and Brandon comes into the comments and put emojis up. Yeah, right. So hey, so Hi, Brandon. Yeah. Right. So this is a space for that also, right? We’ve had the string team over the years, different people. streaming and different people in the in the audience and in the chat. And that’s one way for community building. But the Facebook group, Lara Taylor 5:10that thing is a beast of its own Josué Cardona 5:12Facebook group is at 4300 people last time I checked, which, again, I think two years ago, there was an episode where you were like, oh, we’re almost at 400. It’s amazing. Lara Taylor 5:23I think last year, I think last year, I was excited that we were almost to 1000. I think two years ago, it was like 400 or 600. Yeah, Josué Cardona 5:34yeah. Yeah. And I mean, there are there are specific, they’re very good reasons that I can pinpoint. For a large part of that growth. Some of it is like the teleplay group, right? They’ve been Kara and Zach, that group over there. They’ve been fantastic. They’re always telling people like, depending on what it is like, Oh, you should check out the geek therapy group. And there’s just a lot of members of the community who are constantly promoting and advocating for for our Facebook group. Lara Taylor 6:04Yeah, there’s I check every person that comes in and I look at where they heard about us. And there’s a lot of different Facebook groups that people are coming from mostly therapists groups, but sometimes it’s like ADHD support, kind of groups in a couple of neurodivergent affirming groups. I love it. Josué Cardona 6:27Yeah, yeah. My favorites are like, Oh, my supervisor recommended me sometimes. Lara Taylor 6:32my coworker Josué Cardona 6:33Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So so the growth has been, it has been organic, like people, for the most part, it’s people suggesting, hey, check it out to people inviting their friends. And then then coming in. And I want to talk about that today. And other groups in general, we bring them up. But it is, it is so good. It is so good. Right? It is like it in a way it is exactly. It almost feels like the ideal version of what we set out to do 10 years ago, in that somebody posts a question about an anime or a video game, or they just post like a geeky reference or something like that. And then we can answer those questions. I answered a question yesterday, that was completely just technology related. And I don’t spend enough time on that anymore. The original tagline was like how can nerdy, geeky nerdy and techie things like save the world, and as someone with an electronics engineering degree, and someone who is loves technology, and is a big tech geek? I, I, we don’t do that anymore as much. Just because content wise, we used to have the psych tech podcast with me and Kelli Dunlap. That was so much fun. It was really like it was the second podcast on the network. There’s over 100 episodes, that website is and one of those situations just like the the original version of the GT library recipes. It’s a it’s it’s, it’s bad. Yeah, so I need to get I want to get it fixed someday. But just just for that, like nostalgia of it, like the website is up, all the episodes are there. But it is completely overrun by malicious code and stuff. And it’s just, it’s just, it’s just work that I haven’t I haven’t put into it. And I mean, at this point, it’s money. I think it’s beyond by my skill set. So but that’s there, right? It was a big part of it. And just like having questions, the thought that someone thought, I have this technology and not even like, practicing, like, it wasn’t like a like a, how do I use technology? It was like it was like almost like a tech support question that a therapist had in their practice. Lara Taylor 8:58Mm hmm. I’ve seen people asking about like, what kind of chair what kind of gaming chairs do y’all use? gaming chairs are usually pretty ergonomic. Josué Cardona 9:08The thought that someone would think, like, a router question or a gaming chair question and think, who can I ask? Oh, Geek Therapy. Let’s go to Geek Therapy Facebook group. Lara Taylor 9:19Oh, what kind of computer should I be using? Josué Cardona 9:23It’s, it’s, it’s wonderful. It’s wonderful. I love it. I love it so much. It makes me very happy. And, and that those are just like kind of outliers, but I’m just glad that they’re still there so that people can think of us and be like, I don’t have any nerds in my life. You know, who would I who can I go to? We got you. Lara Taylor 9:42We got some of my favorite posts are ones where like people were like, I hope I can post this. It’s not therapy related at all, and they’re geeking out on something and I’m like, this is exactly what this space is for too Yeah, we can be providers together. We can be clinicians together. There’s not just clinicians, and the group like, some of the best responses I’ve seen on some of those anime questions are from my friend Claire, who is a librarian, I believe, and just loves anime. It’s great. The fact that she goes, like, in depth into what the meaning of these characters are and what people could be pulling from them. It’s amazing. Josué Cardona 10:25Everyone has a seat at the table. I love that. I mean, this is exactly why we we have never closed the group off and said that it’s only for mental health practitioners, right? Like, just because I was when I started the group. I know like there’s so much value, there’s so much value, there’s so much that I learned from other professions, and there’s so much that other professions have learned from what we’re doing. Now, the beauty of the of the Facebook group is that the people who are responding like Claire, they are just members of the community, right? We definitely have. For example, we have a an awesome moderation team. Right? Lara Taylor 11:10We got a good squad, Josué Cardona 11:11we have an amazing squad, right? So like it we what what boonie and jameelah and Ariel are providing is so central, Lara Taylor 11:22and Sophia, Josué Cardona 11:23Sophia, Sophia. Yes, Sophia, too. But like, I’m not. I’m just think she’s, she’s very, very, very involved. But she’s like, she also has a podcast on the network, right? Like, actually, I think, right. And so to you until why like, we’re, we’re also part of that moderation team. But like, for us, it’s Lara Taylor 11:45for the other ones who were like, we’re bringing them into the circle right there from the community. Josué Cardona 11:52And that’s where their first role was, right. Like, I would love to create content with with them in the future, or, you know, I would like to provide them platform so that they can also talk about other work that they do. And, and and I’m sure that eventually, we will in a way, they’re all presenting a taggs, right? So in a way they’re all doing so. But they’re but it’s like if they weren’t helping us, like, there’s no way that we wouldn’t keep doing it. Right. Like, like, we were like, We’re too invested. Right? I think Sophia is very invested. Right? It’s, it’s, Lara Taylor 12:23it would be hard. But we would do it. Yeah, Josué Cardona 12:25exactly. Exactly. But But Sofia was I mean, she’s there now. But she wasn’t like, at the beginning, right? Or many, many years ago. She was like, oh, like, no, like, I resonate with this information. I’m a fan of the information that she would reach out and ask questions she was she was just very active in the community. So we have a lot of people that are very active in the community. And, and I, I like to sit back and watch and see what’s happening. And it’s beautiful. What’s happening is is beautiful. I yeah, I I often talk about Geek Therapy, like our on paper. Our mission, right is to advocate for the the effective use of pop culture and popular media and geeky stuff in different types of practice, educational, therapeutic community work. And and that’s like the statement of it. Right. But another way of talking about it is that in terms of our programming, the primary thing, or the way that I visualize it is resource building. And, and I think at one point, it was primarily community building. And then very early on, I saw Oh, wait a minute, no. Our role, or the best way that we can serve our community is to create resources. So everything that we do one way or another is resource building, like this conversation, this podcast, the idea is that it will, it will exist in a form that will allow people to visit it in the future and hopefully be helpful. And some episodes are more helpful than others and it’ll depend on what you’re looking for. I think we have we have this this week, I plugged our Disney podcast, which we haven’t recorded an episode in a very long time. Lara Taylor 14:13We we’ve been we’ve recorded a couple of episodes that are in the they haven’t aired like seen the light of day. Josué Cardona 14:20We Yeah, is that Lara Taylor 14:24Yeah, we’ve got a GT vault just like the Disney vault in we’ve recorded a Mulan episode that never saw the light of day, but that’s okay. Josué Cardona 14:31It will someday I’m I’m obviously our backlog Lara Taylor 14:34it’ll just magically appear, like Disney magic. Josué Cardona 14:39Not counting this the 110 psychtech episodes that are currently in limbo. There’s probably another 100 episodes that are in the vault right now. At some point, it just gets a little too overwhelming, right like At what point do you It just gets too much like where do you start? Like, do we? I don’t know. That’s something? Well, that’s a whole other show. But the we’re building resources, right? We have, we still have hundreds of episodes, we have videos, we have the GT library, we have these entries, we have all these things. And so everything that we’re doing is we’re always trying to build that up and build up the resources. I wanted to spend a little time today talking about the learning community aspect, or the those learning spaces. Because on the one hand, it’s a beautiful thing is, again, like I was there yesterday, I was like, I’m just huh. And you’re getting different perspectives, and you’re getting people, right, it’s like, I mean, I love those moments where someone asks something, and I’m like, Oh, I know exactly what that is. I’m gonna be the first one to respond Lara Taylor 15:47you were so happy to be on Facebook, when you hate Facebook. Josué Cardona 15:51Look, I hate Facebook. But the group is hard. I hate Facebook so much. So much. If I could, if I could effectively move everybody off of Facebook onto another platform. I would. But I know that’s not possible. I hate Facebook so much. But I love our group. One of the things that I resent the most you know resent Facebook for the most is that there used to be a group’s application, like for your phone that was completely separate, Lara Taylor 16:22like messages, Josué Cardona 16:24like messages? messenger, right? Yep, you could just go in and I would only go to the GT Facebook group. That’s it or other groups that I was a member of. That’s all, I would just go, No. Lara Taylor 16:35And then they got smart and realized that’s what you were doing. its your fault Josué Cardona 16:38And they to spite me, they they eliminated it. And then they they forced me to go into Facebook…

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The Falcon, The Winter Soldier, and The Therapist Mar 28, 2021

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#292: Lara, Josué, and Link talk about The Falcon and The Winter Soldier’s first few episodes, particularly about Bucky’s therapist. We wonder if HIPAA survived the blip, and if the therapist’s questionable methods are working in context. Transcript Josué Cardona 0:07Welcome to gt radio on the Geek Therapy network here at Geek Therapy. We believe that the best way to understand each other and ourselves through the media we care about, my name is Josué Cardona. And I’m joined by Link Keller, Link Keller 0:17what’s up gamers? Josué Cardona 0:21And Lara Taylor. Lara Taylor 0:23Hi, Josué Cardona 0:25it’s fine You don’t need you don’t need a catchphrase. Okay. You don’t need one Lara Taylor 0:30Link’s changes every week. It’s okay. Josué Cardona 0:32I don’t think so. I think that’s it. That’s the new catchphrase. Yeah, Link Keller 0:36I’m gonna zag on you. Keep y’all on your toes. Josué Cardona 0:39Oh, okay. All right. So this week, it’s Lara’s turn. So Lara, what are we talking about? Lara Taylor 0:46We’re talking about the Falcon and the winter soldier. Cuz that’s what is going on right now. In my life. Wow. That is, yep. It’s interesting. Everyone was so hyped for wandavision. And I do see a lot of chatter about Falcon and Winter Soldier right now. Mostly in our Facebook group. And a little bit on the discord. wandavision was more. I don’t know. There was a lot to unpack. But I’ve seen a lot of conversation, especially about the therapist on falcon and Winter Soldier? Josué Cardona 1:26Yeah, yeah. Lara Taylor 1:28Yeah. I don’t know how I feel about her. I don’t. Josué Cardona 1:32Oh, what does that mean? Like, what are you? Lara Taylor 1:36Like? Well, one, I like the actress but two, um, she’s she does some unethical stuff. But apparently it’s working. I don’t know. Is it working though? No, I don’t know. Josué Cardona 1:48Why, what is unethical? Lara Taylor 1:51Oh, let’s see. Let’s see. I don’t know a lot of people are upset in the first episode, she like uses her notebook as a and her writing things down because Bucky is going to court mandated therapy as part of his release, so she like threatens to write his resistance to treatment down to like, threaten him to comply with treatment. Like, oh, I’m gonna report you and I know, therapists that do that, but not in that flunky of a way, like clicking the pin and all of that. And apparently, that sets him off. And then in the second episode, she just straight up walks into like the waiting room at a jail and announces that she’s bucky’s therapist, and then says, Sam, you’re coming with me. And we’re gonna make this like couples therapy. Link’s face is priceless. Josué Cardona 2:48That one I understand. Yeah, that one. That one. Lara Taylor 2:50That one is that one really, really got me? Josué Cardona 2:53Yeah. What’s it there’s no HIPAA in MCU. Lara Taylor 2:57But it doesn’t HIPAA doesn’t matter. Even before HIPAA, we had confidentiality and privacy rules. Josué Cardona 3:04Yeah, yeah. Link Keller 3:07Also just like general ethical respect for other people’s human lives. Josué Cardona 3:14Yeah, yeah. Part of me wants to make a joke about not just normalizing therapy like that’s just normal in the MCU. Like, that’s just what happens like you and your therapist. just have it out in public. Lara Taylor 3:28you have it out in Public, but like, you know, you’re sometimes friend current, like, frienemy, right? Like they aren’t getting along. He can just get sucked into therapy without his consent. Like, literally, Sam didn’t want to go and she’s like, no, that’s, that’s not an option. You have to come. And he’s not even like the way they’re working the show. Right now. Bucky and Sam are outside of the military. Like she has no authority over this guy. Josué Cardona 3:59I don’t see him like Sam getting dragged in as like, therapy. Lara Taylor 4:07They literally sat in a soul gazing exercise, like a couple in the therapy room. Link, you have to watch the clip. Link Keller 4:15I guess I got I gotta watch this. Yes, I have no I have not seen these episodes yet. I was honestly I was waiting to hear from you guys. If it was, like wandavision worth giving some of my time to. Sounds like that’s gonna make me really mad. But Lara Taylor 4:32it might be but they’re all they’re addressing a lot of things. Yeah. Obviously I am not a person of color in this country right now. But they are also addressing being a veteran being a veteran of color. There’s a racial profiling scene. There’s dealings with the police in the military, it is all kinds of things, all kinds of things. Josué Cardona 4:57But this, this show, I if you like the MCU you got to watch it. It’s more MCU it’s not like the one it’s not like wandavision that was weird shit. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Link Keller 5:10i want weird shit. Josué Cardona 5:11I know. That’s the thing. So like, it’s hard for me to like, yeah, like, I don’t know, like, like, my mom was like, oh, is wandavision finally done? I want to watch it all, you know at one time like yeah, Mom, it’s done. And she was like I did not. I did not enjoy that. I don’t know if I’m gonna keep watching. I was like, Mom, it’s fine. Go watch falcon and Winter Soldier. It’ll give you your action, then you know, your MCU what you expect from the MCU I gave her the like, you gotta watch four episodes, you know, for the exposition thing in wandavision, and she’s like, Nah, I don’t got time for that. I’m old. Lara Taylor 5:44but really? It’s only two episodes when you count like the wandavision episodes are only half an hour. So I still Josué Cardona 5:51still still Link Keller 5:54but have to watch all eight minutes of credits. Otherwise you might miss something. Lara Taylor 5:58Yeah, spoiler alert. You don’t miss anything. Unless you skip the credits in the last couple of episodes. Josué Cardona 6:05I am Yeah, I mean, at least my mom watched all 21,000 movies you have to watch before Lara Taylor 6:12she’s gonna love Winter Soldier, Falcon and Winter Soldier. It’s gonna be great. Josué Cardona 6:17Oh, yeah, this is much more her thing. Yeah, so I don’t know if I would recommend Falcon, Falcon and Winter Soldier Link, Lara Taylor 6:26unless you want to watch a sam and Bucky? in there. I’ve seen a lot of talk in the queer community about it being very queer baity. Link Keller 6:36Do they smooch? Lara Taylor 6:37I haven’t seen smooches yet but they smash each other and in an action thing and then roll in a field and fall on top of each other Ala Attack of the Clones. Link Keller 6:51okay. alright. Josué Cardona 6:52Look after after. After listening to the queer comics podcast on the Geek Therapy network. I I I see subtext everywhere. I see queer subtext ever. I there’s nothing. Yeah. So is I see it. Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Lara Taylor 7:10And I’ve heard I have read. I can’t remember the name of the character. But Bucky, the MCU. Bucky. his backstory is based on a character in the in Marvel Comics, who is gay, who is and that’s the childhood best friend. Like the whole thing other than the name for Bucky Barnes is, Josué Cardona 7:35is not the bucky barnes from the comics? Lara Taylor 7:38not from the comics. And so I hope they make him gay. That would be really cool. I would love for him to be gay. Josué Cardona 7:49I think my favorite joke from the second episode was, it sounds like oh, you spent some time in Wakanda and now You’re the white Panther? He’s like, I’m the White Wolf. Actually, he’s like wait what? they call them the white wolf Lara Taylor 8:06then they’re like, White Wolf. Like when did that thing happen? Josué Cardona 8:09That’s one of those things. He’s one of my favorite moments because it’s it’s like a deep cut. You got to like have remembered details about It’s why I like it. I’m enjoying it. I’m the the therapy stuff. Yeah, I don’t, I don’t see Sam getting dragged in as therapy. Even. Lara Taylor 8:29But they she literally like them. That is the most emotion you get from Bucky, in therapy in the like, one minute of scene that we get a therapy in the two episodes. But like Link Keller 8:43it’s when the two boys stare deeply into each other’s eyes while breathing, Lara Taylor 8:46basically, like with their legs, like, here’s one set of legs, and then the other legs are in between and they get close. Link Keller 8:54that’s nice. Josué Cardona 8:56They do make a comment about it being like, probation kind of thing. Right? Like they make a couple comments about that. And, and Lara Taylor 9:05but that doesn’t mean Sam has to be there. Josué Cardona 9:07No, no, I know that. That’s That’s what I’m saying. Yeah, like, I don’t think Sam being there is like, therapy. It’s like, I don’t know that every time I brought in a teacher or a parent into the therapeutic process during a session. It’s, I wouldn’t consider that therapy. It was a weird moment. It was a weird moment, But it was fun. It was very fun. It was watching early. Lara Taylor 9:34She literally said that. These are techniques she uses with couples. Josué Cardona 9:39Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I I think ultimately she’s trying to help. Lara Taylor 9:46I think I think she is trying to help. I think she cares. Josué Cardona 9:49Yeah, yeah. And her. I like her and I liked her style, and I cried it too. But of course I like I’m an I studied RBT Albert Albert Ellis Institute right like Lara Taylor 10:03he was one of the questions that was coming up in Facebook and on the discord is what kind of therapist Do you think she is? And a lot of people on Facebook were weighing in that it was RBT. Josué Cardona 10:14There you go. There you go. Yeah, but they’re probably saying that because Albert Ellis has always considered an asshole. Lara Taylor 10:20I watched his videos in school, he is an asshole. Josué Cardona 10:24He’s not he’s not an asshole. Lara Taylor 10:26He’s when you get that little clip video. It doesn’t encompass him as a person. He looks like an asshole compared to Rogers, Josué Cardona 10:35not it’s a different style. Again, it’s a different style. Sometimes, Link Keller 10:41sometimes a little bit of asshole is needed and needed and necessary and beneficial. Josué Cardona 10:49The problem is that, that that it’s like Link Keller 10:50just gotta be in the right location, you know? Josué Cardona 10:54You’ve got it, right. Like part of it is calling people out, right? You’re calling people out and you’re, you’re you’re calling people out on their bullshit, right? That’s the RBT The problem is that that that one clip with the I forgot her name. That video that they always show in like, psych 101. It’s like, where she Lara Taylor 11:14sees like three different therapists or four different therapists. Yeah. Josué Cardona 11:18Gloria, is it Gloria? Lara Taylor 11:19Yeah. It’s Gloria. Josué Cardona 11:21Like that situation. He’s calling her out on her bullshit about her sister’s death. So it comes across as very, very not sympathetic as holy it comes off asshole ish. And so that’s why Yeah, but Lara Taylor 11:36I’m gonna be fair to be fair, all those all those different therapists in those videos. I wouldn’t want to see any of them. Link Keller 11:45Yeah, and also just in like, even in the best kinds of therapy for whoever individual, like taking a single exchange out of context. From therapy can it could be like, He really said that. That’s so fucked up. It’s like, No, no, contextually. It was very good. Josué Cardona 12:04Yeah. Like, sometimes it is fucked up, though. There are some fucked up therapists out there. Link Keller 12:08Absolutely true. Josué Cardona 12:10Yeah, yeah. Yeah. So yeah. I don’t know how representative it is or how much people would identify their experience seeing a therapist or being a therapist with these scenes. I especially Lara Taylor 12:26some some conversation about, like, it being wish fulfillment, being able to just tell off your clients you’re not doing the work so Fuck you. Josué Cardona 12:38thought like, wish, again, that was my training, right? Like, my training was literally like that, like one of the one of the strategies that that I learned in practice, and I believe executed very well. I think if you brought something up, I was like, Oh, really? Like, I didn’t say like, prove it. But I’d be like, Oh, so like, you’d be like, oh, there’s so many I mean, Oh, really? How many? Like a like, like, like, 20? Or like, Oh, damn, yeah. Like, Can I see it? Like, can we see the thing? Right? Because people tend to catastrophize and exaggerate. So it’s like, Lara Taylor 13:14you want the evidence? You want the receipts? Okay. Yeah, Josué Cardona 13:17yeah. So again, it’s like, I don’t know if that’s so much what wish fulfillment to call people out on their on their shit. It’s, um, and especially in her case, she knows like, she knows him very well. So she’s calling him on. They were coming into this. Lara Taylor 13:31She’s a veteran herself. She serves. They say she was in the military. So Josué Cardona 13:37yes, yes. But but I don’t. I don’t think that bucky’s experience. It can be metaphorically like serving in the military. But his experience is very, he’s like 100 years old. Lara Taylor 13:49he has brainwashing, Josué Cardona 13:50he’s like, they joke about him being a cyborg and right. It’s like, he’s, he’s not like, there’s a lot of things there. He was Captain America’s best friend. He’s a super soldier. Like, there’s an assassin. programmed, right. Like Lara Taylor 14:03he killed a whole lot of people. Josué Cardona 14:05Yeah, Stark’s parents, right? Like, there’s all these things. But she knows his story. She knows a lot of information about him. And so she’s able to call him out because she, I mean, she knows he’s lying. And she because like, she’s read his record, you know, it’s like, it’s like, like working with a kid at a school. Like, I read your record kid. Like, I know what your grades are. I know what classes you’re in. So I’ll play along a little bit. Right. But there are key moments where you’re like, I know, I know, I know that. It’s not true that you know, I can see your record. I can know it. You know, I have all this information. That’s definitely a part of this exchange, and they seem to get along, right. Like they seem to have this kind of rapport, where they are. Yeah. Again, he’s like, I don’t want to talk and she and the way we’re gonna talk Yeah. Lara Taylor 15:00Yeah, I guess she has these rules for him, which I mean the way he’s been brainwashed I think having that structure and those set rules Josué Cardona 15:10the rules thing is very strange. Lara Taylor 15:14I think so too Josué Cardona 15:16aren’t the rules, I did not prepare for this Lara Taylor 15:18one of the rules the second rule, because that’s the one that was clarified is don’t hurt anyone. Josué Cardona 15:23Yeah, but isn’t one of them, like don’t kill anybody? Or what is that is I’m not right. Link Keller 15:27What what are these rules? Lara Taylor 15:30she has 3 rules for Bucky? Josué Cardona 15:35no no It’s more it’s more like I think it’s kind of unclear. It’s not like she’s forcing rules upon him. It’s like these are Lara Taylor 15:44they created them together? Probably. Josué Cardona 15:46Yeah. Yeah. It’s like, remember, like, these three guidelines will help you avoid a relapse or problems in the future, right? What are they in the like, they review them. But one of them is like, don’t kill people, right? It’s like, because he’s an assassin. And he like he can really hurt people. And it’s, it’s interesting how much the therapy component kind of, it’s not a long scene. They’re not long scenes in either episode. But they again, it’s probably just because it’s us that like, we’re hung up on that particular thing we haven’t mentioned, like, the jumping out of planes and all the other stuff that’s happened. That happens in the like hour long episodes. But but they do frame a big part of the of the show is how so far is how Bucky and Sam are dealing with the loss…

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Streamers aren’t your Therapists Mar 21, 2021

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#291: Josué, Lara, and Link discuss an article ‘Streamers are not your Therapist’ shared by a community member. We cover streamers, parasocial relationships, and how context matters to therapeutic relationships. Transcript Josué Cardona 0:07Welcome to GTradio on the Geek Therapy network, here at Geek Therapy, we believe that the best way to understand each other and ourselves is through the media we care about. My name is Josué Cardona, and I’m joined by Lara Taylor. Lara Taylor 0:20I never know, and never know why you gotta throw me off hey everyone. Josué Cardona 0:25and Link Keller? Link Keller 0:27Hello, Josué Cardona 0:29hello. Alright, so today we’re talking about an article that was shared with us by Bryce, who reached out to Geek Therapy on Facebook, and asked what we thought about this. It’s an article that says streamers are not your therapists on ritual motion. And I think we’ve talked about this in the in the past, it’s definitely worth talking about. Often, every now and then I think it’s, it’s a, it’s important. So I kind of gave Bryce my my thoughts about it. I’m, I’m curious what what you think about this article? Basically, or I can review it real quick, which is basically that, you know, the Let me see the headline says that the streamers you’ve been watching starts to feel more like a personal friend, someone you could ask for advice or confide in. And basically the author is saying like, don’t, don’t do that. Just stop. Just don’t streamers are not your therapist. I have feelings about about the about the, the author’s opinion on it, I have I have my own. So what do you what do you think in reaction to it? Link Keller 1:48I think it does, it does suck to ask strangers to be your therapist is not not a cool thing to do. And Josué Cardona 1:56why? Why? Link Keller 2:01Because you don’t have the context for that kind of relationship. Josué Cardona 2:09mmhmm. Link Keller 2:10your relationship with your therapists. I mean, granted the past year with COVID, everything’s been a little bit different. But traditionally, you have a space that is dedicated and a time that is dedicated to having that interpersonal relationship with your therapist, as opposed to them being available anytime that they are online. Is is very different. Also, most streamers aren’t trained to be therapists, that it’s not fair to ask people to do things that they aren’t trained in. Josué Cardona 2:45Also, Lara’s off the clock. Lara Taylor 2:48I am off the clock. I don’t give out therapy for free. Damn, yeah. Um, yeah. I mean, not only link you said, strangers aren’t your therapists, friends, aren’t your therapists. It’s not okay to just dump that on friends, too. So even if you go to your friend’s stream and start asking advice. That’s not necessarily good, either. Josué Cardona 3:16That’s, yeah, that’s where that’s where, right around there is where I started having. It gets complicated for me. Because you may have a relationship or some sort of relationship parasocial relationship right with, with a personality on on Twitch or a streamer or, you know, any anyone else who you see online and Lara Taylor 3:39a tiktoker Josué Cardona 3:40a tiktoker I think that relationship can be meaningful. And if they are in a in a place where they are going live and want to engage with the audience, then then yknow, like maybe, maybe we’re kind of maybe we’re not friends, friends, but we’re kind of, we’re friendly, right? Like, there is a relationship there. So we can talk about stuff, maybe we can confide. And that’s where I, I, I don’t know that. It’s always someone. I don’t know if that people are looking for a therapist, or the things that you would go to a therapist for when you’re engaging in those relationships, because a lot of those things you might just be going to a friend for. Right, right. It’s like you, my friend, I’m gonna go. I have a therapist, and I also have friends and I talked to my therapist. My therapist relationship is one thing and my friends. My friend relationships are very different. And we wouldn’t necessarily talk about the same thing or I wouldn’t expect the same things. But that’s where there’s like, there may be a line there may be something in there that does get. There are relationships with therapists that aren’t healthy in their relationships with friends that aren’t necessarily healthy and there are lines that we tend to cross. in both areas, there are boundaries there that often get violated, I guess is is a is a is the only word I can think of like you cross these lines. And it might it might be just, it may not be dangerous, necessarily. But if you can’t tell the difference, right? If it’s like, oh, I don’t know, like, I feel like my therapist is my friend, just like, my friends are my friends. And but they give me better advice? Like, I don’t know, it’s like, once you’re looking for, like, looking for advice is also like, depends on what you’re asking me advice about? Because I might ask Link Keller 5:39i feel like most therapists, I would say that they they don’t like to give advice. as a concept. Lara Taylor 5:47I don’t I don’t give advice. Josué Cardona 5:50I hope that is true. universally. It is it is not. But, but that’s a good point. That’s a very good point. But you’re still going with a problem, right? So like coming to someone with a problem or even asking for an opinion or thoughts or anything or? Yeah, it’s it’s that’s kind of where I have issues with that. I don’t disagree. streamers are definitely not your therapists. But what you’re looking for in those relationships or any parasocial relationship? Is, is Yep, there’s, there’s two sides there that we’ll get into. But that’s kind of what I what I told Bryce, when he wrote to us on on Facebook, it’s kind of my, my take on it. Link Keller 6:38I mean, I think that there are certainly, like rare instances where where people are, you know, outside of online, they’re friends and one of them streams. And then one of them always shows up to support that stream or whatever, and maybe having more intimate conversations in that space than you would otherwise. But I feel like for a majority of people, they are watching the streams of people they don’t know, personally. And so the parasocial relationship is is a big, big, big part of it. So Josué Cardona 7:19yeah, yeah. That’s it. What How would you define? We’ve done this a million times. But how would you define a parasocial relationship? Link Keller 7:26A relationship with a fictional or semi real character? That is, by function one directional. Josué Cardona 7:41Yeah. We just got a comment from gian, which we, you know, Lara Taylor 7:50in true gian fashion, it’s like a little mini novel. side of my Josué Cardona 7:57Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So so I was gonna make a joke about that. Right. So we’ve been broadcasting on Twitch, right. And I don’t always announce that at the beginning of every episode. But pre podcast listeners, right, but we’re recording. We’re broadcasting live on Twitch. And, and I don’t know, I think there’s some amazing relationships that we’ve built through the Geek Therapy community through streaming through our discord through the Facebook group. And, I mean, I haven’t met in person, most people that I that I, that I appreciate so so much from the community. gian, we appreciate him so much that we can make fun of him. So we’re gonna do that. Now. He He is the reason why we started the forum because he needed longer space to write. So audio listeners, you’re gonna miss this, but I’m going to put gian’s comment on the screen. And let’s see how much it covers. I was going to take a look at the screen it covered up it covered your face. Yeah, yeah. Move up. Yep. Yep. Yep. No, this is great. I’m going to read the comment, right. Gian says I agree with elsewhere, therapy is not the only space where conversations about emotions and life circumstances should happen. And also gian right now is like, like, taking the lead on, on the discord. And that’s a that’s a it’s such a good community space. We could talk about it all the time. And a big part of that is thanks to to gian, like behind the scenes, right? Like he’s a moderator there. So there’s a lot of stuff that he helps with, and it’s so important. So he says it’s risky. It’s risky to trust a stranger for advice, because not everyone is a good advice giver, better trust a specialist for that. But if you admire someone and would love to know how they would feel about a specific circumstance, I think it’s healthy and good to want to have those conversations. And yeah, that’s what this is why it’s complicated. I think it depends on what you’re what you’re looking for, or what you’re talking about. Because maybe today The most important thing for me is is how do I do a particular thing in a game, right? Or maybe just like one thing, one thing I’ve even said recently is like, I, I sometimes hesitate to ask people how they’re doing, because I’m not equipped on that day to, to deal with it with an honest answer. If it’s, Josué Cardona 10:19if they give an honest answer. Josué Cardona 10:21Yeah, they’re not doing well, right. Like, most people, you know, most times I imagine most conversations are like, Hey, how are you doing? I’m good. How are you? I’m good. How are you? Do you go into a loop? By accident? But sometimes you’re like, I’m not okay. And I feel this way or that way. And, and that, that happens, right? So like asking someone, I don’t know, like, it’s all my fault as a streamer. If I asked you, like, Hey, how are you doing? And then I don’t know, like the conversation. It gets serious all of a sudden, right. And then it keeps going, it’s hard to manage that it’s hard to again, even within friendships, and again, you value, the person who is in your audience, you value the people that are in a way supporting you, but are just members of your of your community like that you can sometimes you feel this space that that person left behind when they’re not there, they don;’t come to your streamss, or they haven’t been on the discord in a while you’re like, oh, like, I wonder what’s up with this person? Right, those connections, they matter, those, those relationships are important, but definitely, definitely not your therapist. I know, a couple years back, we we had a we had a outreach coordinator was her official volunteer position. And it was Emily. And she was working with us. And she was very interested in these topics and streamers, and YouTubers who are who are addressing mental health issues. And so we sent out a survey and we have all that data. And we asked like, Are you having to address mental health issues specifically? And do you feel equipped to handle that? And if not, what could we? What could we do to help you with that? Right? And we’ve, we’ve built things for that. And we have like answers for that question. And, but ultimately, the most, the thing that we tried to do was simple things like, Oh, we need resources on our own twitch. So then when we’re there, so we can we can lead by example, there was a while when we had a policy that was like, you can never stream alone, you always have to have backup, because it’s it’s hard. We can’t, that was unsustainable to a point. But we have a you know, we have a bot running that shared different resources, we have resources on the page, things that’s like if people are there, and they’re engaged. There’s something there and we have, we should probably revisit them as a stream team. Again, I like to do that when we when we’re streaming more often, but like what, how do you how do you address this when it comes up? What do you tell someone who is who does want to come in and talk about mental health issues or or specifically just is looking for guidance advice, or I can think it’s hard to say that somebody is looking for treatment, you know, like, you may just want support? And like, do we not only is it is it wrong for a streamer to provide support, and empathy and understanding like and where does that line? I’m asking Lara Taylor 13:29more more. Right, but more of it like, That really sucks that that’s going on for you. Maybe you should talk to somebody about that. Josué Cardona 13:39It’s it’s honestly that simple. Right. Lara Taylor 13:44yeah but it’s hard. I talk with clients about how some of the things that I suggest are, there’s simple, very simple things, but they’re not easy at all. Yeah, Josué Cardona 13:56yeah. Yeah. I mean, I think the Yeah, the the finding help is hard. super hard. Oh, yeah, I’ve talked about that many times. But I mean, like as a streamer, just saying that isn’t? I would think it’s not too difficult. That’s what I was referring to in terms of difficulty. If if the person watching doesn’t stop there and continues, right, and then that’s where you know, some moderation in place is really important. And but I you know, we don’t talk about it as often. But what do you what do you do right, and how do I how do I handle that? What should I do next? If a person continues and there have been you know, their blog posts from from different streamers that I’ve seen and stories that the streamers have told about? Like, I didn’t, the person didn’t seem Well to me, so I but but I took them out of the chat and like, I told them, like, Hey, you know, maybe you should go talk to somebody or something. And they said something that was, yeah, they’re disturbing or like I can I couldn’t forget about and then they disappeared. And I didn’t know anything about them, like all these things are important conversations to have. And but they’re present in any type of live connection like this right? I think that the difference or what makes it harder is that there’s sometimes there isn’t a production team and a whole team of moderators, there’s so many people, even us right now, right? Like we, when we’re when we’re streaming, you know, what do we cap at? Like, ever is probably like, I don’t know, like, a dozen people, right? Sometimes 20 I think we’ve got that 30 people at a time, that’s still manageable, especially if everybody’s not writing all at the same time. I mean, there’s three of us right now. But imagine you’re playing a game or you’re doing something you’re trying to pay attention. They’re trying to pay attention to the chat. It’s a there’s that’s one piece of it. But the other is like there’s just like, there’s no other buffer, right? Like, it’s just you. And and the the chat, right, it’s just you in the comment section. And I mean, I don’t know if either of you have seen or played with this app clubhouse at all, and apps like this that are that are audio, right. It’s like, do like chat rooms, or just people just popping in. And then there’s a whole bunch of people. And for a couple of weeks, I was I was I was in there a lot. And just lurking like, Lara Taylor 14:35oh you’re in the know, cuz at this point, don’t you have to know somebody to be on there? Josué Cardona 16:26Yeah, yeah, yep. I got invited. I tried to invite Link, but it didn’t, it didn’t work. So but it’s it’s not even like the chat to the streamer feels very, very feels like there’s such a small or like a thin barrier between the two. It’s something like clubhouse where people can just speak is is is this situation can happen even more? Because like the person, Lara Taylor 16:59like invited up onto the stage to speak or whatever? Josué Cardona 17:03Yeah, I mean, you can do it that way. Yeah, yeah, there’s a way that that’s, that’s one way, but you can have a whole bunch of people there. And I’ve been in one where like, people are like, oh, like, you know, everybody take turns or whatever. And then somebody, you can invite somebody up, and then it’s like that mute button, like, do you mute them? Do you? Do you know, what do you do? And what if they’re in the middle of like pouring their heart out and like or asking for help? And if you’re not trained to do that, it’s…

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Wandavision: Grief and Perseverance Mar 14, 2021

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#289: We chat about Wandavision, and how many of our predictions were correct! We touch on grief and perseverance as the central focus of the show and how it succeeded (and missed the mark) in its execution. Transcript Josué Cardona 0:07Welcome to gt radio on the Geek Therapy network here at Geek Therapy. We believe that the best way to understand each other and ourselves is through the media. We care about my name is Josué Cardona. And I’m joined by Link Keller. Link Keller 0:17what’s up? Josué Cardona 0:18And Lara Taylor. Lara Taylor 0:20Hey. Josué Cardona 0:22A few weeks ago, we talked about Wanda, grief and loss. Tonight, we’re talking about Wandavision, grief and perseverance. We finally finished watching the day. I mean, just like everybody else, apparently, it’s been very popular wandavision. Lara Taylor 0:40Very popular. And yeah, who thought it was really weird at the beginning. Josué Cardona 0:45Also, also very popular for us an episode, like a lot of people found us because of that episode, a lot of people googled wandavision and, and, and we popped up. Lara Taylor 0:55I just, I was just gonna say I just want to bring up that we were right. About most thingswe said Josué Cardona 1:01yeah, so So welcome to Episode 289. Link Keller 1:06We were right. Josué Cardona 1:09I mean, to be fair, Link Keller 1:10great episode everyone. Josué Cardona 1:12Yeah, to be fair, we, we speculated all over the place. So we couldn’t not be right, because we pretty much covered every possibility. The only way that we could have been wrong is if it was all a dream, and nobody guessed that. So it was so we did good we did good. We weren’t we were some of us. Were right. Some of us were more right than others. It doesn’t matter who it was. You can go back and listen, it’s fine. But I think I think that was a lot of fun. After the first four episodes, there’s definitely something going on there. At least we were all correct. And that there was definitely it was wanda dealing with her with her grief. And now that the show is over, and yeah, we got to the end. So yeah, so this will be full of spoilers. So if you haven’t seen the show, and don’t care to, be sure to stick around. But if you want to see the show, and you haven’t yet, save us for later, you know the drill. So yeah, wandavision ended. And we were right about a lot of things. A lot of grief going on. But there were there was, yeah, I mean, yeah. Either of you can start with whatever whatever you wherever you want to go. There’s a lot to cover. Link Keller 2:28Well, I want to start by saying I was very much on the train of Wanda’s story being about grief, and dealing with grief. But after the finale, I think it really has less to do with her grief over losing vision and more to do about her general life trauma, and dealing with trauma. Obviously, visions death was traumatic. So that still fits in there. But I think the way that they wrap the show up was less to do with grief and acceptance of loss and more to do with really coming to understand how all of these series of traumatic events in her life fed into each other up to the point that she created this magical world to escape from it. Lara Taylor 3:21Interesting, interesting, because I would argue Link Keller 3:23that’s where I’m gonna start us off, Lara Taylor 3:25you’re going to start off, I would argue that a lot. There are other traumas in her life, but most of her traumas deal with the death of a family member, both of her parents, her brother, her brother, and then her life and she’s literally alone. So Josué Cardona 3:45there’s, there’s something that happens in episode eight, I think it was. That’s the one that explained everything and showed everything from before. And they show her going. She says that she’s going to retrieve visions body. And I believe her like she’s like, he’s like, you can’t have the body. Right. The Hayward is like, Well, you can’t have it. You can you can see his dismembered body right there. But you can’t you can’t have it and then she’s so angry that she but she’s telling him like, I don’t want to bring him back to life. And he’s like, I think you want to try to bring him back. And she’s like, that’s not what I want to do. Like, I want to try to, like I just I just want to bury him. And and I don’t know, Lara Taylor 4:39he’s like no, no, bring bring him back. Bring him back so I can use him. Josué Cardona 4:44Yeah, maybe maybe. Yeah, that could that could that could have been it actually. Yeah. Lara Taylor 4:48I’ve seen I’ve seen a lot of commentary about how that’s Josué Cardona 4:50exactly what’s happening. Okay. Okay, Lara Taylor 4:53because that’s what he was trying to do the whole time was bringing him back. Josué Cardona 4:55Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, no, that makes sense that he was manipulating her but I feel She was, she was ready at that point to, to go through that process of laying him to rest. Right. And, and again, like she had already at that point she had already accepted that she couldn’t bring him back to life. Right. Like, I don’t think she was even trying. And then maybe when Hayward was manipulating her, she got get close. And she’s like, I can’t, like I can’t feel him there. like, I don’t, I don’t feel you, I think is what she said when she touches the body. And then, and then she then she gets upset, and then she can’t like proceed with this with the with just the grieving of going through the ritual of grief that she wanted to. That was taken from her. Um, although she’s super powerful, she could have just like, murdered everybody there. But again, like at that point, I think she was still she was good enough that like, she was like, I’m not gonna do this. And then like the sorrow of when she went to the house and started thinking of everything that could have been that couldn’t be, that’s when she she like exploded and created this entire world, including creating a version of vision. Which, which I think, I don’t know, in episode eight is where there’s a quote, where vision tells her What is grief, if not love persevering? That’s been like shared all over the place. Lara Taylor 6:27Beautiful line. When Nina and I watched the finale, and Wanda says, I think it was she says, You are my love. And Nina said, it is a missed opportunity that she didn’t say, You are my love persevering. Josué Cardona 6:44I think it’s implied. I think it’s implied. That’s it. That’s what I’m getting at. Lara Taylor 6:47But it would have been a good call back. Josué Cardona 6:49I’m just saying doesn’t have to be. So on the nose. Some people need it on the nose. Link Keller 6:54it feels very on the nose to me, but Josué Cardona 6:56already, right Link Keller 6:57already. Josué Cardona 6:58So So he says, So vision vision says, You know what, what am I and she says you vision are the peace of the mind stone that lives in me. You are a body of wires and blood and bone that I created. You are my sadness and my hope. But mostly You are my love. And then he says, have been a voice with no body, a body, but not human. And now a body. Oh, no, and now a memory made real. Who knows what might be next. And, And to me, that’s where like, the show makes a lot of sense. But it’s like, you have all these feelings and they change over time, right? Like you’re experiencing these things, and they can at one point, it’s horrible. But then it’s like, it’d be they change and you change, right? It’s like, it’s like, how do you it’s this whole process. And I think it’s really interesting, talking about him, and even him reflecting on all of these different versions of himself. And, you know, who knows what he’ll be in the future. Next time that that he comes up, and I think it’s like, Okay, so this love was this, like, the love with between her and the vision started. During that moment of trauma, right, like when she was already when she was grieving the loss of her brother. She was watching Malcolm in the Middle, right? for comfort. And, and then she found comfort in vision, right? And then vision went from like, helping her deal with that grief, to being her love. And then he died. And, you know, she felt all these things and he became these different things for her. And, and finally, at the end she accepted like she’s got she’s kind of got to stop what she’s doing. Because at this point, she’s hurting people, but just like there’s a lot of stuff. I think there’s so many different ways to to see and to and to not just relate but but like just yeah, there’s there’s a lot of different feelings and versions of things going on. So I think Yeah, she did deal with a lot of trauma and I mean we were right last time when we’re talking about like, these TV shows where comfort for her right and somehow like she kept and we see that she when her parents died she just watched TV for was like three days or something right? Yeah, right. And and she was just and that was it. So I was thinking about like if maybe that would have spoiled it for her because it was so connected to this horrible moment. Link Keller 9:45that’s what I was thinking is like how did this like I feel like it would have been her love for it that she shared with her parents would have been like extremely diminished by the fact that that event was Like, really, really fucked up. And instead of being like, now when I hear, you know, the theme song, come on All I can, you know, imagine is like the smell of burning concrete, and like the blood puddle of my mother seeping across the floor, you know, just thinking about the nice stuff. I’m like, Wahh, that was a little much to me. Lara Taylor 10:21But sometimes we take the experience the other way. And no two people grieve in the same way. Link Keller 10:27Yeah. obviously Lara Taylor 10:28And there are things that so after, after my dad died, or after my dad died, after my mom died, my dad wouldn’t sit on the couch where she died. For the rest of the time, we had the couch, which was probably two or three years and I never noticed. I didn’t, that’s not the same experience, but like, my mom was a smoker. And that led to her dying. And I still, I don’t have it, but I know that it’s in the house, and I can find it. My mom’s cigarette case. And I can count the number of cigarettes there. And for some reason that is comforting to me, because she always had it. It was a part of her that was always there. Even though ultimately that is what killed her. Josué Cardona 11:16Did you ever view it differently? Did you ever did you ever, like hate the case or whatnot presented? Lara Taylor 11:23No. I don’t I for the longest time I and I wouldn’t date anyone who smoked. I don’t want to be like I want to be around people that smoke cigarettes. It makes me sick. But her case was her case. Right? Yeah. Josué Cardona 11:41Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I think there’s there’s a weird thing about the whole magic part of the of the show. But it seemed like she, what do they call it a probability hex? Yeah. Right. Which, right, which made it so that everything I mean, technically, like, the power didn’t go out, or like that thing kept having power, not just the TV. It kept running, the bomb didn’t explode, right? Like she created, she was able to create this situation where, within as horrible as it was, and she was a kid at the time. The only like, the only thing again, and this was seem to have been unconscious, but she created this moment where her and her brother were just watching TV until they were rescued. And and so even at that moment, right, she It was so I feel like for her it was so it was so meaningful, right? That even the horrors of losing your parents, and I mean, just the explosion, and everything happening right in that moment, wasn’t enough to or she chose not that she chose. But she found comfort in that when there was nothing else to find comfort or safety in at all. Lara Taylor 13:01If if the TV hadn’t been there for her and her brother to watch, all they would have heard is the bomb, ticking and going for for two or three days, Josué Cardona 13:11people dying. And there was there was a war zone right where they were like, yeah, Lara Taylor 13:18so yeah, it’s been a good distraction from Josué Cardona 13:21Yeah, yeah. But But I thought the same thing. I was like, How can she still go to these? Like, why would even in that moment? In that moment, when she transformed everything and made everything she went to, I mean, she can recreated the van dyke show, right, which was the show, it’s almost like she went to the first like, to the most comforting thing, which was, which seem to be that. But then but you know, we see that over the years, she still found kind of comfort in, in television, because you know, we see her again watching this case, Malcolm in the Middle after her brother dies. Lara Taylor 14:00And when we also see her watching what the Brady Bunch Josué Cardona 14:06Oh, was that too? Lara Taylor 14:08That was when she was at the Hydra. Josué Cardona 14:11Oh, right. Right. Right when she was in the south. Yeah. Lara Taylor 14:14Yeah. Yeah, that was all she had to entertain herself. Josué Cardona 14:17Right. Right. Yeah. Yeah, I forgot about that. Yeah, it’s like, again, another moment where you’re just like, it’s not a fun place to be doesn’t look very comfortable. She didn’t seem very happy. But she still she was able to find something as I’m in, in many ways in escape. But still, comforting. There’s there’s eventually, right whenever we’re talking about Geek Therapy, whenever we’re talking about using media in some kind of helpful or therapeutic way, someone always comes up and is like, Oh, well, you know, how much is too much. And you know, what about escapism? It’s like, escapism is not up. It’s not bad, like you need to take a break. It’s fine to find Things that can take you away from these these things that are overwhelming and too difficult. Like anything you can you can find yourself escaping what you’re if you’re really escaping for like, if you escape forever, and you don’t come back, that’s that’s where it starts to become a problem. But having something that you can go to we talk about that all the time. And I know I liked it that they showed that right that that was it was something for so many people, you know that she maybe, she may be super powerful. She may be the Scarlet Witch and there’s a chapter about her in the darkhold and all this stuff. But still. Lara Taylor 15:37She’s a person that watches TV Josué Cardona 15:39sitcoms make her, help her, Link Keller 15:43how they have sort of framed it is that like, that’s kind of all she has, is just watching TV and then being tortured. Like the two things that happened in her life consistently. Josué Cardona 16:00While she while she had her parents, she had her brother, she had vision. Mm hmm. And then, but she lost those things, right. But like, those were things that she had. Those things were not consistent. But they were it was she Link Keller 16:15had she had her family. And then her family was watching Dick Van Dyke, and then bad thing happens. All right, I can follow that later in your life. Another bad thing happens. And the thought process is I need some sort of stability and comfort and a safe space to just exist for a fucking moment. And having that be like, okay, dick Van Dyke was like the last time I felt that way was right before the big bad. First thing happened. Like I follow that. But then just being like, literally any time she’s has like, free time, it seems like it’s the perfect opportunity to absorb some more sitcom information. I don’t know, I just feel like I feel like for me, I would I would want to get away from that stuff. I understand why for Wanda, it works that way. And it does make sense within what they’ve showed in the show, but part of me is just like get get another hobby baby, like read a book. like, Come on. Josué Cardona 17:28We’re all we’re all. We are all filling in gaps, Lara Taylor 17:…

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Superman and Lois Mar 07, 2021

Show notes

#288: Josué and Lara discuss the premiere episode of Superman and Lois, and their son Jonathan’s social anxiety diagnosis. Transcript Josué Cardona 0:07Welcome gt radio on the Geek Therapy network here at Geek Therapy. We believe that the best way to understand each other and ourselves is through the media we care about. My name is Josué Cardona. I’m joined by Lara Taylor. Lara Taylor 0:18Hey, Josué Cardona 0:19yo, let’s put our names up. Oh, there we go. Oh, Lara Taylor 0:25now people can tell the difference between Lara and Josué. Josué Cardona 0:28Yep. listeners. We’re broadcasting live on Twitch, which we do every week now. And I forget to mention every week. That’s why we have visual gags now. that don’t translate well Lara Taylor 0:41and then we forget. Josué Cardona 0:43Yeah, Lara Taylor 0:43yeah. Josué Cardona 0:44Yeah, at least we can see each other, which is good. And you can join us every Wednesday at around 8pm. Central. 7pm. Eastern 6pm. Pacific. Lara Taylor 0:56That’s very wrong. 7pm. Eastern. Josué Cardona 1:01That’s right now it’s 9pm. Eastern, 8pm, Central, and 6pm. Pacific. I get Lara Taylor 1:11somewhere in there. Usually we’re up and going by like the 20 of the hour. Sometimes we’re not Josué Cardona 1:19depends. Yeah. Yep. Okay. Link isn’t here this week. So that was a last minute thing. So we just switched up the topic that we were gonna do. Lara Taylor 1:31Okay, hey. Yeah, I wanted to talk about one thing. And then we’re like, Huh, Superman and Lois came out started airing. And you texted me right away? That I needed to watch it until I watched it. Yeah. And we figured since we both watch it, we should talk about it. Josué Cardona 1:52Yeah, yeah. I actually watched a second episode today. I’m Lara Taylor 1:55I haven’t watched that one yet. Yeah. Josué Cardona 1:57So but but I’ll bring up some stuff that I think is relevant, too. So yeah, so why do you want to talk about Superman Lois? Lara Taylor 2:05Cuz like, you texted me that in the first three minutes, they talked about social anxiety disorder, and name it as a character having it. Josué Cardona 2:16So first of all, this show is on The CW. Technically, it’s an arrowverse show. Lara Taylor 2:25We’ve seen the Superman and Lois before. Josué Cardona 2:29This does not feel like an arrowverse show to me. It is. Lara Taylor 2:35It looks cinematic. Yeah, Josué Cardona 2:38yeah, I don’t I don’t know. I don’t want to disparage the other shows, Lara Taylor 2:42because they’re very good too. Josué Cardona 2:45I remember thinking the same way about the flash as I am thinking about Superman now. in context, right thinking like, Wow, I can’t believe that a show like the flash is on television. Because these effects look really good and everything like so many things feel high quality. I don’t feel that way anymore about the CW in general. I haven’t felt that way about the CW in a long time. I think Marvel has a lot to do with that. But so do other shows Lara Taylor 3:16Marvel’s got the very bright and shiny world. But the high quality special effects. Josué Cardona 3:23Yeah, I mean, the only one that really did it. The only real Marvel TV show before like in humans Lara Taylor 3:30shield, shield and humans. Josué Cardona 3:33Yeah. And humans was cheap. Yes, yeah. True. True True. True Agent Carter to Yeah, but in humans felt cheap. Agent Carter felt, I’m gonna say middle of the road in terms of like, feeling expensive Lara Taylor 3:51TV budget, right Josué Cardona 3:52to budget and shield started cheap. And then Lara Taylor 3:59got better Josué Cardona 4:00looking very expensive. And it looking like MCU level. And of course, like wandavision is just like whoa, what is this this is this is another level and so other DC shows like Doom patrol and even Titans. Not so much Titans but like Doom patrol feels pricey, right? Like it feels like like a cost like it feels it feels like I don’t know how much you know, any of these shows costs over another. But this Superman and Lois is on another level. And just in general, right? Like there’s the same Lara Taylor 4:32felt like I was sitting down to watch a movie. Josué Cardona 4:34It feels like a movie even the aspect ratio is is shorter. So it feels more cinematic in that sense, but everything the colors the way it’s shot. And the effects are really really good. And I thought Oh, is this only the pilot? No, the second episode feels exactly the same. And I am so me surprised. Lara Taylor 4:57The laser eyes felt the same. I think as supergirls laser eyes I think but the but the after effect like the explosions and the all those things. Yeah a little different. Josué Cardona 5:10Yeah, there’s I don’t know there’s something. There’s a Lara Taylor 5:13giant ice cube look like a giant ice cube. I’m just saying Josué Cardona 5:18it. It looked really good. It looked really good. I can just imagine. Like Ruby Rose, or what’s the actress who plays Supergirl? Josué Cardona 5:29Melissa Benoist Josué Cardona 5:31Melissa Benoist like both of them being like, whoa, wait a minute. Why didn’t our shows look like this? Like I could have imagined Ruby Rose sticking around if? Lara Taylor 5:38ruby rose would’ve stayed if it was that good Josué Cardona 5:41that but there’s something so far it’s two episodes and and there’s no monster of the week. Like that is like this is I think we’re going to talk about the show more often because this is a family drama. And this is like there’s a reason why it’s called Superman and Lois. This is about they’re, It could have been called the super family, but that’s not as good of a title. Lara Taylor 6:04One thing that I loved about this show is this is a Clark Kent we haven’t gotten to see yet like in TV comics, you might have seen them. But seeing him with teenage sons. I think being a parent. I think that’s a whole other level. And I think they’re tapping into like, nerds who are parents right now. Josué Cardona 6:27No, that’s, that’s probably that’s a good point. So do you remember the Lois and Clark show? Lara Taylor 6:32Oh, I loved that. That was my Superman. Josué Cardona 6:35Yeah. So So Lara Taylor 6:36Dean Cain is my Superman. Josué Cardona 6:38Yeah. Wow. Wow. So when that show, at the end of that show, Lois is pregnant. And they had plans for them to have the baby but the show that like it was canceled. And so they never I don’t remember if the last episode they had the baby, but we never got to see them having a family. So when they announced that this new Superman show was going to pick up from the last time we saw Superman on the Supergirl show are on the crossovers which was Lois is pregnant we’re going to have the baby we’re going to go off to Lara Taylor 7:12they went to Argo city Josué Cardona 7:14Argo City oh okay. Yeah. And so they went and they’re like no, we’re gonna have a baby there boba. After that the world kind of I don’t remember where exactly. That happened in terms of the Lara Taylor 7:25it was right over the multi right before the multiverse crossover Josué Cardona 7:30Yeah. Was it before? Okay, so so then good. Because if it would have been after, Lara Taylor 7:33cuz then they all died? Josué Cardona 7:36Yes. But like the whole universe reset. Right. So that Yeah, they could get away with just telling whatever the story they wanted now, which is, which I love I mean, I think I think that’s a great idea. And, and so this, I did not expect it at all to pick up technically. 15-16 years after the last year saw them. Yeah, because the kids are full grown. So when I saw that trailer, I was like, What? And I remember seeing the actors that play the two sons and I was like, oh, I don’t know how I feel about this. Like choir. Lara Taylor 8:10They get having a blond haired son. Josué Cardona 8:13Yeah, that was like, we’ve seen so many different versions of super boy and Jonathan Kent. The son in the shows, I was like, Oh, what is? What is this? And the second episode, they confirmed that they’re twins. I don’t remember that for the first one. Lara Taylor 8:27They did. They’re twins. Josué Cardona 8:28Yeah. So they’re twins. And I am I love these. These these brothers. They are. It’s amazing. So yeah, so this show is about Superman, and Lois raising these teenagers. And in the first episode, the Superman is struggling with telling, being honest with his, with his sons about who he is. So he’s managed to go this long without them knowing. Lara Taylor 8:57He’s struggling with balancing being Superman and being a husband and a father too. Josué Cardona 9:05But it’s like it’s multiple things piled on because I think, you know that a father who’s not very present because of work or other responsibilities, Lara Taylor 9:14it’s a common experience. Yeah, Josué Cardona 9:16yeah, that’s relatable from all sides, right from as a spouse as a person doing it as the kids. All of that. And so as we’re learning all these things, right, like even even before they really go into details of that we learn that one of the sons that was recently diagnosed with social anxiety disorder, and so like that was just like, again, like you said, like three minutes in I texted you. I was like, we haven’t I haven’t seen a show in a while that just like, hit you with a disorder at the beginning and it’s Superman narrating it, there’s something there’s something about that character talking about it. And I don’t know how you feel about this, but the idea that he he says it It’s like, oh, like, this is just like, here are all the things that my family is dealing with at the moment. It wasn’t so much like, here are the things that we’re struggling with at the moment. I don’t know. Lara Taylor 10:13I’m dealing with like managing. Yeah, yeah. I don’t feel like it felt more positive than because you can deal with positive things, too. Josué Cardona 10:23Yeah, yeah. Yeah. But and that’s not that he was saying there was a positive thing. It’s just that he was just listening like, Hey, you haven’t seen me in a while or ever, right? We’ve never really seen this particular version of Superman in a personal way. And so we’re learning everything about him. He’s like, catching you up. And he’s like, here’s what’s going on. And like, these are the things exactly I’m dealing with right now. And it wasn’t like, my son was just diagnosed with social anxiety disorder. It wasn’t like a tragedy. It was just like, we’re a normal family. This is one of the other things that is happening to us that may be happening to you and to your family. So that was, that’s the way I saw it anyway. Lara Taylor 11:03Mm hmm. I agree. I think it’s ultimately like, Yeah, he’s Superman. He’s an alien. He’s got a whole bunch of things to deal with, on top of being a family guy. But it’s like a conversation I’ve been having with a lot of clients now, like we are dealing with global pandemic, climate change all of that big picture things. But personally, we’re also dealing with things every day human things. Unemployment. Josué Cardona 11:34Yeah. Lara Taylor 11:36Struggling with family well, dealing with having family members with mental illness and or, just absent parenting or whatever it is like, yeah, yeah. It’s it’s a relatable experience. Definitely. Definitely. Struggling with telling your what, when to tell your kids something that’s really difficult. Josué Cardona 12:01disagreeing with your spouse about whether you should do it or not. And when? Yeah, Lara Taylor 12:07yeah. Yeah. Such a good show. One thing, when Nina and I were watching, she was like, they’re totally setting up this kid with social anxiety disorder to be the villain. And I was like, but that was at the beginning of it. And then by the end, I was like, I’m not so sure. Josué Cardona 12:25I never thought that. I Lara Taylor 12:27just because he was, he was harder. And we’ve seen this in other parenting shows, I think this is us covers us a lot like one child being, quote, unquote, easier to deal with, or harder to deal with the other than being harder to deal with. And the pressure that that kids can feel around that. And I think you see it very clearly, like Clark does not relate very well, until the end of the episode. He doesn’t relate very well to Jordan. Josué Cardona 12:58Yeah, yeah. There’s Again, only two episodes in. I feel like Lara Taylor 13:05I know, you have a little more context than I do. Josué Cardona 13:07But but it’s consistent. I mean, so far, it’s been consistent to the first episode, in that there’s something about the way the entire show feels, it doesn’t feel like a CW show. Because if I feel like a CW show would go that direction. Usually, right. It’s like, it’s kind of obvious, right there. There aren’t many surprises in a CW show. Like they seem they don’t seem too super complicated, right. Like they telegraph things. from a mile away. It’s just nothing. It’s just, it’s just the type of show that it is. This doesn’t feel that way. It’s possible that that happened. There are a lot of things that could happen on the show that I hope that they never happen. I don’t want to see that happen. I would, I would. I don’t know how you do a monster of the week. On a show like this that looks like this. Lara Taylor 13:59I think it’s got an overarching plot. Like this is a this is very clearly like something there’s there’s some thing going on, right? We’ve already been introduced to like, the big bad. Yeah. of the series. Josué Cardona 14:16Yeah. And yeah. Yeah, there’s some episodes of, but again, I’m not gonna I don’t want to disparage some of the other shows. They’re just Anyway, I’m concerned because it’s still on The CW. But I don’t know if you saw the news, but it’s already been renewed for season two. Yep. The day that the second episode came out, I think that’s a good sign. People seem to like it. I think it was time for the shows for like the CW shows to like, do something a little different. And again, this feels good. But yeah, so I mean, you want to talk about this particular show, what other things are what did you want to focus on? What else did you want to talk about? Lara Taylor 15:01Well, I liked the the representation of somebody and they mentioned it like, it’s part of the story, social anxiety disorder. I hope the writers are paying attention to people that actually have social anxiety disorder. Yeah. And getting input from professionals too. But, um, so far, I like that. I like that. It’s about the family and that it’s like about the club. I feel like even though it is Superman and Lois, I am hoping that it’s a focus on Clark Kent and having to be a dad and a family man. Josué Cardona 15:38This Okay, so this is this is a good that’s that’s a good question. To bring up. Because there’s Um, there’s a there’s a scene in the second episode where Lois says, Clark, you focus on your Superman thing? I’ll focus on my Lois Lane thing. Right, like you focus on being Superman. I’ll focus on being Lois Lane. And I think that’s Batman and Superman like Who is it? Or is it really Clark Kent? Or Superman? Or you Batman or you? Bruce Wayne? Lara Taylor 16:12that’s ultimate question and you can talk about DC and Marvel and how Marvel characters are usually their personal selves first, and the hero second. And DC characters typically are the hero first and their personal selves second, as far as Josué Cardona 16:28Really? Lara Taylor 16:29Yeah. I’ve had this conversation with with Nina a few times, because she worked in the comic industry and paid a lot of attention to comics. And I think that is you’re more likely to hear someone referred to as their real name not their made up names as Peter Parker would say. In in Marvel, but there it’s usually that way first, Batman is Batman. Bruce Wayne is the Josué Cardona 17:00he’s the mask Lara Taylor 17:01He’s the mask. Yeah, Josué Cardona 17:03yeah. I think that’s like solidified in terms of Batman. But with Superman. I always felt that was the other way around, where he’s like, no, like, I’m Cl…

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What are the Rules of the Game? Feb 28, 2021

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#287: Josué, Lara, and Link discuss how using video game rules as a framework can help us better understand how to succeed in real life systems. When we deeply understand the rules, we are better at knowing how to play within the rules – or how to break them. Transcript Josué Cardona 0:07Welcome to gt radio on the Geek Therapy network. During Geek Therapy, we believe that the best way to understand each other and ourselves through the media we care about, my name is Josué Cardona. And I’m joined by Lara Taylor. Lara Taylor 0:19Hey, Josué Cardona 0:20and Link Keller. yo, Link Keller 0:24what’s up? Lara Taylor 0:26It’s always it’s always like, I don’t know, my heart stops, are you gonna say me first? Or Link first? who has to say, hey, first? Josué Cardona 0:35I never know who it’s gonna be. All right. So it’s my turn this week. And I’ve been thinking a lot about rules. Okay, and specifically, like framing them in the sense of video games and how useful it can be to do that. So let me let me bring up a few examples of what I mean. I’ve been thinking about Breath of the Wild. Lately, I’ve talked to people who the few people I’ve ever heard from who do not like Breath of the Wild. It’s because it’s too open. Like, there’s no direction like you don’t you don’t know where to go. You don’t know what to do. Right? And, and I get that, I get that, right. It’s like, Oh, I need instructions. I need a waypoint. Please tell me what to do. The moment I step out there, and I see 10 different possibilities. I don’t know where to go, and I don’t know what to do, etc. I’ll say, okay, that’s interesting. That’s interesting. And then I’m thinking about the people who are still playing with the physics of the game. And having fun with it, years after it came out, trying to figure things out. And they’re not hacking the game, right. They’re just, they understand the rules of the game. The rules of the world. And they’re, they understand them so well, that they’re able to do things that we never thought were possible to do. And and I think that’s really cool. I think that’s really cool, right? But but it requires a type of understanding of the game mechanics and everything that you can possibly do within that world. When you can, you can’t do to then possibly do these amazing things. And, and it’s not just completing the game, right? It’s like it’s going, just doing all these things that maybe, I don’t know if the game designers weren’t intending for you to do but they definitely weren’t expecting you to do. So I remember, I was working with very small children. I think it was, I think it was still an intern I was like, it must been like 10 years ago, I was around around gt origin story. Time, at the same place the same, I was looking at the same supervisor who told me all video games are stupid. And remember doing a group with these kids. And I remember there being a conversation. It’s I mean, but just seven and eight year old in sitting around this table. And they’re complaining about how they hate that their parents are always telling them what to do. Right. And like you they hate. They hate the rules of their home and tell somebody Okay, so like, What? What do you like to do? Not only like, what are your favorite games, right? And I was like, Oh, I love to play video games with my dad. I remember this one girl was like, Yeah, I love I love playing Call of Duty. I’m like, Okay, cool. So, do you know how to play? Like, like, what are the rules of the of the game? Take Oh, you have to do this. Alright, so what if, what if there weren’t any rules? What would that be like? And then we all start thinking about what a game without rules would be like. So and they came to the conclusion that it would suck. Right? Link Keller 4:07chaos Josué Cardona 4:08It would really suck. Like, call duty? Wouldn’t be fun if it were if there weren’t any rules? I was like, Okay, so, you know, like, and I get like, sometimes the rules aren’t? Aren’t. We don’t like them. We don’t like the rules. But I feel like only when we understand the rules, can we? And when we accept them, can we then start to play in those spaces and start to do something that you can’t win the game unless you accept the rules of the game. Otherwise, you’re just going to be complaining the entire time, about the rules, and then you’re not playing and then you’re you’re not gonna win it there’s no way to win the game. If if that’s what you’re doing. And so I’ve been thinking a lot about that idea in, in my in my day job and multiple areas of my life. And I even revisit it over the weekend. Victor Frankl’s Man’s Search for Meaning. This is like i think i think it’s relevant. I think there’s something relevant about it. And I’m not a logotherapy expert. So I do not know if this is a good representation of Victor Frankl’s theories, and what logotherapy is about. But in that story, like the first half of the book is him. And I just read read their prologue. And he’s like, this isn’t a story about being at a concentration camp. This is a story about people’s experiences. And basically, he’s in this place, and he’s observing why some people are more miserable. Right, then other people, and why some people are, are actually thriving in this space. That’s horrible. I like the comments where Steve is in the house. Yeah, man. Yeah, my search for meaning is always relevant. Thank you, thank you for validating my idea steve. And so, I, I’ve been thinking a lot about that, in that. I remember all my clients, and there’s something about accepting that sometimes feels like, like, you’re like, you’re compromising, or you’re yielding, right? Like in your, in your in your real life. But only when you get to the point when you can, like, accept that like, Okay, this is something, this is what’s going on. But then you understand the rules. And when you can, and you can’t do and then you can kind of move within that. There’s, at at my job, right, I do I do diversity inclusion work at my, at my, at the university I work at. And this idea has been on my mind, in a way there to where, like, Oh, you know, like some students? Like, why are some students thriving and some not? Right? What is it? about it? And it’s like, yeah, like, you can be in a class with a professor that kind of sucks, right? Then you can either like complain the entire the entire semester about it. But that’s not gonna, like, you’re not gonna get to the to the, you’re not gonna pass the class. Like, it’s like, that’s not helpful. Right? And, and so, obviously, like, I’m thinking about that I’m thinking about clients I had in the past, I’m like, Oh, no, no, this is this is, this is the thing. But for me, it’s been super helpful to frame it in the sense of games, right? Now I’m thinking about it in terms of rules of the game, if I understand the rules of the game, then I can actually get to the get to the end, or I can win, or I can actually do something with it otherwise. And this is where it gets where it’s hard. Like, I think the part where I always remember my clients getting hung up, and it’s the part where I still get hung up. And it’s, I don’t like the rules so hard, you know, that I don’t want to play the game. But some games like you’re just like, they’re just they’re like, they’re just, it’s all just the rules, right? Like you can, sometimes you can change the rules. And sometimes maybe, maybe that’s part of it. But But sometimes you can’t, or sometimes to get what you want, maybe changing the rules isn’t the most effective or easiest thing to do. So it’s been like a, like a, like, I’m revisiting this life lesson that I learned a long time ago. That’s been super relevant this week. And it was a metaphor that I use a lot with my clients, that was always super helpful. And it’s been helpful for me this week. That’s kind of what the idea that I want to explore. Any thoughts on on that? Lara Taylor 8:46A few things came up. When you were talking, um, I have a friend who I used to live with who he’s what I call it, game breaker, any board game card game, whatever that we would play. I would, I would never play Magic the Gathering with him. Because no matter what I would always lose. He finds the rules that synergize with each other and can break a game and he discovers how to win in the most over the top way, every time. And when I would play with him. And there’s a game that he couldn’t figure out how to break. This is stupid. Why would they do this? Why would this rule be this way? Well, that’s the way the rules are. We that’s how we got to play. And it would just frustrate him to know that he could not get around something that he thinks is wrong in the design of a game. Which maybe the maybe it’s not possible to just break the game. Maybe it’s a balanced game. Not everything is there for you to break and figure out the best way to do this and to do the thing. Um, that was the first thing that came up. Okay. Second thing that came up for me when you were talking is I’ve played a lot of the card game flux, where the rules are constantly changing. And it’s really hard to keep up. And I’ve used that with clients who understand the game, talking about what the rules are always changing. How do we adapt, like, Oh, I’m planning to win with these you collect cards, you got to put the cards on the table in a certain way to be able to win and the the card you have to put on the table in front of you change all the time, based on how people play their cards, you change the win condition. And this idea of, well, if the win condition is always changing, you can never win. Except by chance, you just happen to have the cards that need to be in front of you. And so that’s been a really deep conversation I’ve had with clients about life and how the rules always change. And even if they don’t change much. Yeah, like they change enough that it can throw you off. Josué Cardona 11:03Yeah, you jumped to fairness. Yeah, that’s, that’s definitely something I wanted to touch on. Further down the road, but yeah, yeah. It sucks when the rules when the rules feel unfair, or they’re constantly changing. I hate games where the rules are constantly changing. I hate that. I hate. What’s the Munchkin? Right. Well, it’s like, oh, like, you can swap hands. I’m like, No, no Lara Taylor 11:28cheat card built into the game. Josué Cardona 11:30I Cannot. But Lara Taylor 11:34I love flux cuz its a quick game. yeah, there’s a life lesson. I mean, if you’re trying to get a medication, and you finally get through all these hoops, and your your insurance company is like, yeah, finally we’ll cover it. But it’s gonna cost you like this much money. And it’s like, I can’t do that. Josué Cardona 11:54yeah Lara Taylor 11:55you just changed the rules. You said you would cover it. So Josué Cardona 12:00yeah, yeah, Lara Taylor 12:01it happens. Rules. I like rules. Josué Cardona 12:08you like rules. What rules do you like? What are your What’s your favorite rule? Top three? Top three rules? Lara Taylor 12:13Top three rules? Josué Cardona 12:14Yeah. Lara Taylor 12:17Well, when you’re playing a game, everybody plays by the same rules. I like that rule. When you’re playing a game, you come and sit with your friends at a table, everybody is expected to follow the rules of the game. I’m not talking about playing with kids, where you change the rules. When I play with kids, and the rules change. I’m like, okay, what’s the rule? What are we? What are we playing by? We’re gonna play the way like you can make the rule up. But we got to play the same way. So we’re on the same page. I like that rule. I don’t know in general, I like structure. And I’m one of those people that has a harder time with open world games. Um, Breath of the Wild wasn’t too bad for me, because I could find some kind of linear path. But yeah, as, as someone who loves Assassin’s Creed games, I just finished the storyline of Valhalla yesterday or the day before. And I just follow that, like, okay, I don’t need to get lost with all the other things. I can follow a path, there are rules. I usually play on consoles, where I can’t mod or hack things. So Josué Cardona 13:29yeah, I have two examples of games where I wasn’t playing by the same rule as the other person in the game. And I didn’t we didn’t know this happens, just tends to happen in board games. Sometimes when people don’t Lara Taylor 13:40when somebody forgets to explain the rules, Josué Cardona 13:42when woody forgets to explain a very important rule, right. And then, in that game, there was no way I could win. Because Terra mystica is so so complicated. That like two hours in when I when I learned the new rule that I didn’t learn before, and everyone else at the table know that there’s three of us, right, the other two people knew that rule, they were playing with that rule in mind. Two hours in me learning that rule, it was kind of too late for me to be able to to win the game. It Terra Mystica is just complicated. It has too many systems going on at the same time. One time I was playing checkers with a friend of mine, who’s from Belgium. And when we were playing, I get to the other side. And then you know, like it gets kinged and I’m able to move, you know, move around. And when he did it, he started playing completely differently. Because, like in Europe, it at that point, it changes like checkers is different at that point. And so I’m playing a particular way he got he finally does that too. He does. He starts playing in a completely different way. But it was one thing that changed and it felt So good to win that game. Despite, like I swapped rules, I was like, Oh, wait a minute, this is what you’re doing. I technically the rule that I was in, I just wasn’t going far as far as you’re allowing this to go. So no, we can do that. Okay. I’m in. I’m doing that. It was one switch, and I was able to adapt, and I won the game. And I’m sure my friend doesn’t remember this at all. But I ended up talking about this all the time, because it was like, it felt so good. Lara Taylor 15:26I think I’ve heard you bring it up, like three times on rolling for change. Josué Cardona 15:29multiple time on rolling for change. Yeah. Yeah, I’m glad I finally get to bring it up here. And, and it was, it felt really good to have someone try to be like, Oh, no, like, now. Basically, try to switch the rules. But I was like, No, I got you. Because I haven’t had a deep enough understanding of the simple rules of checkers to be able to adapt, make the change, and then proceed to victory. Regardless. terra mystica there was no way there’s no way like there was it was just not on my first, the first time I was ever playing the game and two hours in. But checkers? checkers, I was able to do it. Um, yeah. I mean, it depends on the circumstances and the context. If, if that happens, right, if like, the rules change, are you able to adapt or, or, or not? Lara Taylor 16:17Yeah, yeah. It’s also nice in games, when, say, if the rules aren’t clear, you can go to boardgamegeek. And look, what other people have done if the if rules have been updated, from the game company, things like that. I’ve had that happen several times in newer games, where it’s like, Ah, you didn’t think about this thing, I think breaks the game completely. And we can’t no one can win. So let’s look at the rules and see if we’re actually playing this right? Or we read something wrong, or so having that crowdsourcing of like, what are the rules of a game? Josué Cardona 16:59Yeah, there’s right now I’m playing a game called Genshin impact I enjoy very much. And I’m at the stage right now, where I’m probably watching as much YouTube videos about genshin impact as I am playing on a daily basis. And I’m at the looking at spreadsheets to min max level of obsession. But at that, at that point, now I have a way better understanding on the way that the game works. Again, it’s a game with multiple systems and all these thing…

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Harry Potter and the Author Who Must Not Be Named Feb 21, 2021

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#286: Link, Josué, and Lara discuss the negative emotions that can happen when we find out the creators of beloved media have done awful things in real life. Transcript Josué Cardona 0:07Welcome to gt radio on the Geek Therapy network here at Geek Therapy. We believe that the best way to understand each other and ourselves through the media we care about my name is Josué Cardona. And I am joined by Lara Taylor.Lara Taylor 0:19Hey,Josué Cardona 0:20and Link Keller.Link Keller 0:21Hello.Josué Cardona 0:23We are live on Twitch. Coming back atcha i don’t know i don’t have like a thing for for live, but I’m just I’m just excited. We don’t always have our cameras on. If you want to see what we look like. Come Wednesdays. Yeah. Around 9pm. Eastern 6pm. Pacific.Lara Taylor 0:45So when we’ve all had long days,Josué Cardona 0:47when we’re exhausted and kinda sleepy andLara Taylor 0:50yeah, you can watch me asleep on my desk. It’s okay. Yeah,Josué Cardona 0:54yeah. Don’t do that. Alright, so welcome. It is Link’s turn this week. SoLink Keller 1:01yaayJosué Cardona 1:02What what are we talking about this week? what depressing topic do you have?Link Keller 1:08well, you’re right now. right on the money there Josué because I have been feeling some bummer feels lately related to media, and I wanted to talk about it with you guys. Most recently, it is attached to new stories of abuse by Joss Whedon. This is stuff that’s been talked about over years, but it’s sort of gained a lot of traction this past week and a half. But also JK Rowling and Harry Potter. So Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Harry Potter were both big part of my adolescence. I was obsessed with both of them. And so finding out as an adult, that their creators are disappointing. Has has brought up a lot of feelings. And you know, you know me I want to I just want to talk about him. I want to talk about my feelings.Josué Cardona 2:15Yeah, I mean, yeah. Yeah. How does it feel?Link Keller 2:21It feels bad. Yeah, it feels disappointing. It feels cynical.Josué Cardona 2:35Yeah. Yeah.Link Keller 2:40Yeah, yeah. It’s, it’s a complex miasma of various disappointed sad feelings.Josué Cardona 2:50Yeah. Yeah. I it’s, it’s happened so often. I was watching a show. I’m not gonna say what show the other day. And the character died. And I texted a friend. I was like, I can’t believe this character died. And then my friend wrote, yeah, I think they killed off the character because of the allegations. I was like, what, and this this wasn’t even. And this is like, slightly different. Because it’s not the creator of the thing. It was just, it was just an actor, but it’s like, ah, like, I love the show so much. I love the character so much, and that you can’t it’s hard to separate the two. It’s really hard. Yeah, but when it’s the Creator, it kind of like, yeah, I mean, there’s so much like, Where do you want to go with this? Yeah.Link Keller 3:42I mean, you know, obviously, there’s there’s already a distinction between Joss Whedon being the showrunner of a seven year running show with lots of different writers who were involved across several seasons and everything versus JK Rowling, who is the author of her book, obviously, in a different amount of power resides in those those relationships butLara Taylor 4:12and had a pretty heavy hand in editorial for the movies, if people are less familiar with the books. But yeahLink Keller 4:21yes, um, yeah, she she has had a fair amount of control over all of the Harry Potter projects to an unusual amount as far as I understand. It is pretty rare for an author to maintain that much power over their IP once it has become a huge multimedia conglomerate. Adventure zone thing is like it’s, it’s kind of impressive in some ways, say is you know, as a woman, author who you really started kicking off in the in the 90s. And she’s somebody we’re still talking about today, somebody who’s still getting you know, money payout from films and video games and reprints of books and all that stuff. And part of her being such a well known name, and us continually hearing about her is it gives her a lot of social power, she has a platform, and she uses it. The unfortunate thing is, she has been lately using it to be extremely transphobic. And trans transphobia is, you know, already problem everywhere. America is awful, but it lately it has been particularly horrible in the UK. And there are connections between that, that this woman, this author, this name that people recognize, has been saying things that are untrue. not supported by science, not supported by logic, in some cases, but because she’s JK Rowling, it gets published, it gets spread, it gets news articles written about it. And it’s really upsetting and painful. To to read that kind of transphobia getting spread around, and then seeing a bunch of people support it, because they just support JK Rowling. And they just love Harry Potter so much that anything,Josué Cardona 6:40how much is that happening? How much is how much is is? Or do you think people are because this is one of my fears? Right? Like right now my nine year old niece is in it. And she she watched all the movies now she’s reading so she’s reading the books, right? The other day, she went to the bookstore and she bought the the Beatle Bard book, right? Like she’s like, she’s in it like she wants. She’s, she’s living and breathing Harry Potter at this point. I don’t, I don’t know what to say. I don’t know what to, right, It’s like she’s, for a nine year old. I’ve seen her say things like, like, call out her parents for you know, for the way they refer to gender or things like that. Right? Like she like she is? I don’t know. I don’t know she is just like that, because she saw it on TV, or because she has adults in her life where I’ve like taught her a different way of like her school is teaching her this? Or was it in a book that she read it and she thought that that was a better way to do it. And so is she going to is she one of those people like you just described? It’s like, oh, if JK Rowling thinks that then then I’m down. Like, I’m curious, or is it like, oh, JK Rowling. Finally, she finally said, well, we’re all thinking and right. And then they come out of the Woodworks versus people who are like, Oh, you know, I never thought of it that way. You know, and so Okay, yeah, no, you’ve convinced me like, I don’t know, there’s no way to measure that. I’m just curious. Yeah.Link Keller 8:17I have seen evidence of both. I’ve seen people tone policing, where you, you know, don’t speak to her that way. She’s trying her best. And it’s like, we are trying to educate her about how she is directly harming people. And instead of listening, she’s attacking us. And then you unrelated viewer is now also in this tweet thread, including yourself in the conversation. I’ve also seen people who you know, on the other side of that, I know an artist who has been doing a bunch of if you got the Deathly hollows symbol tattoo I am doing cover up tattoos that incorporate that shape. So it covers it really well, which is like, Oh, okay. Yeah, and so, with something like transphobia there’s always gonna be people who have no skin in the bag at all. They don’t care about Harry Potter. They don’t care about JK Rowling, but she’s saying something. transphobic then I’m gonna get behind that because I’m also transphobic. And I want to elevate that kind of rhetoric. There are people you know, of course, who were like, ambivalent is like I don’t I don’t care what JK Rowling says.Lara Taylor 9:39I believe what I’m going to believe in either direction. Yeah.Josué Cardona 9:43Yes. No,Link Keller 9:45absolutely. Yeah.Lara Taylor 9:49Josué from what I know about your niece, though, and I’ve I’ve only you know, you send me snippets of things she says you tell us stories is very cool. She’s very cool. I think she’s the kind of girl that will Be like, Tio, I love Harry Potter? JK Rowling says some bad things, some wrong things.Josué Cardona 10:09I would I would. I haven’t brought up the topic. I don’t know, if it’s one of those things, right whereLara Taylor 10:22do you want to break her heart?Josué Cardona 10:24well it’s not just break her heart. It’s like, is my, is my sister gonna get mad at me? For for? Or am I introducing? Like, it’s that kind of thing, right? Like, Oh, we don’t want her to know, like, Look, I don’t want to, if I spoke more with my niece and it came up, I can guarantee you I would take the opportunity to, to try to figure out what she knows or what she thinks. I would love to believe that she’s at a point where she she could make that distinction of like, Hey, I can, or actually no, actually. So there’s the one part which is the the Yeah, I don’t agree with her. Right. But then there’s like, there’s a separation piece, right? Like, can you still I think it’s hard to continue to like something well, and then disconnect it from the Creator. For some people, that’s very difficult. And it completely changes your relationship to this thing that was very important to you. Um, I think I am able to do that pretty well. I like to think so. I’m sure there are exceptions. But there are. Yeah, I mean, it’s hard. So I don’t know what to do. Yeah, I mean, I’m sure there’s lots of parents who are in the same exact situation right now. Who, who may know more about JK Rowling? And then you have your kids like idolizing them? And but what do you how do you how do you handle that? Yeah, um, I think I think I think you handle that by kind of talking about it and actually having a conversation. I think that’s the answer. I know that. People are thinking like, oh, what do I do? My sister is like that, right? My sister’s like, oh, oh, no, I don’t know how to talk about it. And like, I’ll jump in. I’ll do it like, you know. I’ll sit you both down.Lara Taylor 12:09just give me permission.Josué Cardona 12:11Yeah. But I think Yeah, yeah.Lara Taylor 12:15And that separation between the creator and the work. I think it’s, it’s easier for some people, and it’s harder for some people.Link Keller 12:24it also depends on what kind of media it is.Lara Taylor 12:30Yeah. And I do know, a lot of people back when when JK Rowling’s started her her TERF speech. I know, there was a collection of queer, I think was all trans cartoonists that created a ‘zine, that was called trans affirming magical care. And it was all Harry Potter with trans characters and gender queer characters. And it was it was beautiful. And I think being able to lean into that, and not just lose the feeling of joy that you had from this thing. And taking it as that was that and now it’s kind of tainted, but let’s hold on to the experience that I had.Link Keller 13:24Yeah, yeah. I mean, there’s definitely a big difference between me being a fifth grader and reading, you know, the first couple of books and then as the, you know, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh books come out and the movie start coming out, and I am growing up with Harry Potter. And like turning 18 when the final book comes out, and everything is like, it was very much a part of my childhood, it’s a little bit different being like, your niece being a nine year old now. And having access to all of it is a little bit different. I know that when, when I was really, really into Harry Potter. I got I got into the fan fiction side of Harry Potter. And I think that is maybe the greatest thing about Harry Potter and the wizarding world is that it inspired so many people to get in there and create stuff of all sorts of different types of things way beyond anything that JK Rowling could have ever come up with on her own or come up with several years later and retro actively applied to her work. God Yeah, I think that that has always been the strength of Harry Potter is that the way that people engage with it. But but as an adult, and as somebody who can’t help but have media critical brain on all the time, I don’t I don’t know if I could go back and read those books again, I loved those books. I read the first three or four books probably 10 times apiece, I, when the seventh book finally came out, I only read it once. Partly because I really got mad about the prologue or epilogue. epilogueJosué Cardona 15:43epilogueLink Keller 15:47But it’s like, up until that point, I had always like reread the whole series before the book came out. And as an adult, there’s part of me like, I started going through some other YA book series that I was into as a kid and a teen. And it’s a very different experience reading these books as an adult, some of it is just like, I’m a different person now. And so I’m reading different things into it. Some of it is just like, I have, you know, more life experience than a preteen and therefore, like, I conceptually relate to, to a story differently. And I’m more aware of the social aspects that I never picked up on really, as a kid. Because that’s not how I was necessarily raised to engage with media, being critical of like, what is this saying? What, you know, what, what is it mean, when this author makes bad characters, fat, and fat characters bad? What does that mean? This is not stuff I ever considered as a child, as an adult. That’s the stuff that I’m paying attention to gender stuff a lot I read one of the quartets by Tamora Pierce, the protector of the small quartet, and that is about a character named Kel and she wants to be a knight. And she is following in the footsteps of the First Lady Knight in this world. So she’s dealing with a lot of like, you’re a girl, and you can’t do that stuff. But she actually has somebody that she can point to and be like, Look, I deserve, like, I can be here, I can do this. And reading through that, and the the kinds of ways that they had gender get brought into character interactions. As a kid, I was just like, this is cool. She’s just like a tomboy. And now like, adult and non binary, I’m all like, what if what if she was just non binary? What if that? wouldn’t that be cool? And we don’t have to do the gender thing at all. Like, let’s skip it, it could be real fun. Yeah, and so like, I want to be I don’t want to be that person who’s like, you know, don’t don’t read this stuff. Because there’s bad stuff. And I don’t I think that’s not a fun way to engage with media or with life is like, be present for it, like recognize that nothing is going to be perfect. So what are the pieces that feel Right and good to you? What pieces fit in with your own worldviews? What doesn’t? Does it fit in, in ways that makes you feel uncomfortable about that? Or is it make you feel uncomfortable about the way that you do it? Or you believe in it is like, there’s so much depth that you can get into if you’re willing to accept that no piece of media is going to be perfect. Especially because we live in linear time.Lara Taylor 19:16no piece of media is going to be perfect because people make media and people aren’t perfect.Link Keller 19:21Yes. And so I think I think what I end up struggling with most is recognizing that I can sit and think about this stuff and grapple with it but there’s certain stuff I’m not going to pick up because of my experience because of who I am and where I came from and how I was raised. And so it feels it feels almost equally bad to to feel like oh, you know, don’t read that. It’s bad to be like you should read it and just ignore The bad stuff is like, there is like harm can come from this stuff, the fatphobia in JK Rowling’s work. The questionable toxic relationships in Joss Whedon’s work. Like, those are things that I can sit down and grapple with. But that’s not going to be true for everybody. The people are harmed by these things. And we need to also be cognizant of that.Josué Cardona 20:32But I feel like this conversation, it can be done independently of the creators, right? Like, even if we didn’t, even if even if they were like a not written by anonymous, we could still pick apart the…

Full show notes at the publisher

Superheroes Need Support Too Feb 14, 2021

Show notes

#285: Lara tells Josué and Link about a geek therapy moment she had in counseling. From Rogue’s gloves to Batman’s Alfred, superheroes need support people and tools just like the rest of us.

Transcript Characters / Media

– Rogue / X-Men
– Sync / X-Men
– Alfred / Batman
– The Babadook
– Magneto / X-Men

Themes / Topics

Conversation Topics:

* Burnout
* Difficult emotions
* Family
* Feeling alone
* Mental Health Services
* Resilience
* Working with others
* Other: Feeling overwhelmed

Relatable Experience:

* Clarity/Understanding
* Fear/Anxiety
* Fighting
* Other: pandemic burnout

Questions? Comments? Discuss this episode on the GT Forum.

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Find us at www.GeekTherapy.org | @GeekTherapy | Lara: @GeekTherapist | Link: @CHICKENDINOSAUR | Josué: @JosueACardona

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Join the Conversation!

Who is your “person in the chair”?

The post Superheroes Need Support Too appeared first on Geek Therapy.

WandaVision, Grief, and Loss Feb 07, 2021

Show notes

#284: We discuss the first four episodes of WandaVision on Disney Plus. We interpret what’s happening to Wanda as metaphors for grief and loss, and talk about how events so far might be different types of coping mechanisms.

The Therapeutic and Applied Geek and Gaming Summit, or TAGGS, is happening April 9-11, 2021. For more information visit https://taggsummit.org.

Questions? Comments? Discuss this episode on the GT Forum.

Ask us anything through the Question Queue and we’ll answer on the show: geektherapy.com/qq

GT Radio is broadcast live, every Wednesday at 6pm PT / 9pm ET at https://twitch.tv/geektherapy

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GT Twitch: twitch.tv/geektherapy

Find us at www.GeekTherapy.com | @GeekTherapy | Lara: @GeekTherapist | Lauren: @CHICKENDINOSAUR | Josué: @JosueACardona

Become a supporter of Geek Therapy on Patreon: http://www.patreon.com/geektherapy

Ask us anything through the Question Queue and we’ll answer on the show: geektherapy.com/qq

[spp-transcript]

The post WandaVision, Grief, and Loss appeared first on Geek Therapy.

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