Season 2: Trailer!
Speaker 1: (00:12)
Hello everybody. Welcome back. Season two is coming. Um, welcome at all. If this is your first time with everything’s relative. My name is Eve Sturgis. I’m the host of this podcast, which seeks to create and nurture conversation about modern DNA testing and all of the things that are happening to people and their families and their family secrets because of them. I’m a lot about, this season is going to be similar to last season, uh, but I’m hoping that this season is even better. And I thought long and hard about what that meant. Could I say the word season anymore? So let me back it up a minute for the new people. Um, I started this whole project because, uh, more or less a DNA discovery happened to me. Um, there’s a fun, elaborate, complicated, terrible, dramatic story. But the gist of it is a man contacted me two years ago to say that he believed he was my real father.
Speaker 1: (01:15)
Um, as opposed to the man who had raised me, who I thought was, was my father, the man who was, whose name is on my birth certificate. Um, so we did a DNA test because that seems like the next indicated action. Uh, and he was correct. So in less then a week, my entire identity and understanding of my life, uh, and who I was completely deteriorated, Sue. That was really hard. It’s still really hard. Um, for me like this, this, when something like this happens, uh, it, for me it has not been an isolated incident. Like it has permanent ramifications that are still unfolding around me and inside of me, um, and for my family. So, um, that’s the answer to that. Uh, but something that came out of it though was this discovery along the way that there are tons of people like me out in the world and most especially, uh, the numbers are growing because of these male in DNA kits like 23 and me or ancestry.com, uh, family secrets are spilling out onto people of all walks of life.
Speaker 1: (02:33)
Uh, it’s blowing up. Families is changing lives sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worst. And more than anything, it seems that everyone experiencing this, no matter what their role in the dynamic feels like they are alone. They’re the only ones and almost every time, regardless of the story, people feel shame. So there is secrecy and shame and isolation and I’m no expert at this DNA stuff or DNA test, genealogy results. Um, and like honestly, I didn’t even study family systems extremely thoroughly in graduate school. Um, but as a person I’ve been through a lot and as a therapist I’ve seen a lot. And there is one thing I definitely know in order to heal shame, we’ve got to talk about it and we have to open up all these secrets. So on the one year anniversary of my biological father contacted me last year.
Speaker 1: (03:35)
So let’s see, it was the one year anniversary I announced I was starting a podcast. So that was a year ago. It has been two years since he contacted me. Um, I just announced that I was starting a podcast and I want to talk to people from all angles of this DNA discovery experience. I’m not just the person who discovers that they have a different parent, but all the angles. I want to talk to women who kept secrets from their partners for myriad reasons. Men who get contacted by adult children they didn’t know existed and all the people in between who had suspicions about their families or about their own identity or of the identity of their children or their parents. And I want to talk to people who work in and exist in this sphere. Um, for example, last season I brought in an archivist to talk about what he’d seen and his position at the archive place.
Speaker 1: (04:27)
Where does an archivist work? The stacks? I don’t know, but I’m so sorry that it don’t remember the location. I’ll go back and listen to that episode. Uh, it was great. It was informative. It had gave me a lot to think about. Um, I also talked to a woman in a who’s in a same sex marriage to talk about what donor conception looks like today and how that may change as this information spreads and anonymity becomes harder and harder to maintain. And more than anything else. I talked with people who have had these NPE experiences through mail in DNA kits. Um, and in the end, um, most of my guests were women and most of my guests were white. So part of my goals for season two is to really dedicate more space to finding a diverse representation, diversity, um, like on all fronts. So I want race, gender and perspective.
Speaker 1: (05:22)
All of it. I haven’t, um, and I haven’t, like I haven’t finished collecting all my episodes yet, episode. I mean, season two isn’t completely finished with episodes, but so far, um, I think that I’m doing a pretty good job of meeting that goal. Um, I’ve got men, I’ve got people of color, I’ve connected with a father, I’m tracking down an author who has a book coming out about a secret brother. Um, so I think that season two is going to be, uh, even better and really start to shed light on all the different facets of, uh, this sort of cultural phenomenon, which I keep telling people that we’re having. Um, so also I’m just kind of like a personal goal. I want to be a little bit bolder in my conversations with people. It’s hard because I want people to feel comfortable with me so that they feel safe being vulnerable.
Speaker 1: (06:16)
But I also know there are times when I could or should. Um, I hate the word should, but like I should press people to really think about what they’re saying, you know? And I’m like, for one reason or another, there’s just been so many times when I don’t, I just don’t like follow up with, with people when I’m with them, like asking these questions cause I don’t, I don’t feel like I’m a journalist. I don’t, I’m not, I’m not like trained at, at catching all the idiosyncrasies or the odd things that don’t make sense or so I just want to get better at that. Um, so that’s just like a personal goal. I thought I would let you all know, I guess. Um, and so it has to do with trusting myself and trusting the people, trust me. And um, yeah. So, so I think I’m going to be, that’s going to be a part of it too.
Speaker 1: (07:07)
So, um, I hope that all of that me rambling at you was enough to get you excited about season two. Uh, what I feel like the past four months and I’m putting it all together. I’ve thought of this trailer and thought of all the things I wanted to tell you that’s coming. And, uh, of course I forgot to include like all of it or most of it here. I can’t remember right now. Um, but I will just, I’ll just tack them into the episodes as I think of them or as it comes up appropriately. I’m really pumped to get this ball rolling. I hope you are along for the ride. Welcome to the new people. Welcome back to the season one people, uh, and uh, get ready for everything’s relative coming April 3rd episode, one season two. Bye.
