Author Archives: mikeyllorin

Podcasts, Show Notes

7: ‘Shakespeare Would Be My Friend’ With Samantha Andico and Meira Furuki-Chua

In my first couple of years as a teacher, I wasn’t really a teacher. I was a pretender.

Or, I was an actor playing the role of a teacher.

I acted as if I knew how to conduct myself in the classroom, as if I knew how to teach young people how to read, as if I knew how to direct and inspire and mentor and guide. It was all an act. Some say it was a good act. But still, an act. Play time.

Having students like Sam and Meira in my very first class showed me what it was like to be a real teacher.

They were amazing from the beginning. They took ownership of their own successes, failures, feelings, responsibilities, and their place in the community. It’s all a teacher can ask for, really, for themselves, their students, and their institutions: own it. Own yourself. Own everything, the good and the bad. That way, we can all figure out how to be better, how to learn better, how to love better.

At the time, Sam and Meira did this as students in an international school classroom. Today, almost a decade later, they do this as fully formed adults in a crazy world.

I’m a teacher now. It’s no longer an act. I credit Sam and Meira—and students like them—for helping me get here.

Production Notes

  • We used Discord’s voice channel feature to have this conversation, and it resulted in it being the easiest episode I’ve had to produce. Virtually no audio glitches, even if there was a slight lag and lots of crosstalk. Good job, Discord!
  • I saw this on Reddit right after editing the interview audio, and thought it apropos for this episode. Yay Poetry!
  • We’re on Episode 7, so it’s very likely that we have more shows behind us than ahead of us, at least for this season. Plus the school year is starting. I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself, but I just want to say that it’s been an absolute blast every step of the way. Thank you for coming along for the ride. That said, I think my pal K Sawyer Paul might have a few ideas to help me scratch my podcast itch

Show Notes

This is for privileged kids, the teachers of those kids, and anyone engaged in international education.

Special guests Samantha Andico and Meira Furuki-Chua were in the first group of students I ever taught in a formal education setting. I’ve had the privilege of teaching wonderful people through the years, but Sam and Meira stand out not just because they were in my first class, but simply because they cared—about being excellent, being honest, and making a difference. It made my tumultuous rookie years easier than they should have been.

Sam and Meira share their stories of how their fancy International Baccalaureate education—and my involvement in it—helped (and didn’t help) them in becoming the kind, wonderful, and difference-making women that I see them as today. In the process, they let me share my stories (and screwups) as a rookie teacher. I’m grateful that Sam and Meira redeem them.

Links

Chapters

  • 0:00 — Opening theme
  • 0:27 — Introduction
  • 3:28 — It’s been…
  • 6:31 — So what are you?
  • 10:20 — First Class
  • 23:11 — The IB takes over your life
  • 39:00 — Advice for teachers of future Sams and Meiras
  • 49:12 — Highlights and lowlights
  • 1:09:08 — Outro
  • 1:10:26 — Head, Shoulders, Knees, and…
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Podcasts, Show Notes

6: ‘A Guest at the Banquet’ With Bebo Bharwani

It’s been a few days, but I am still reeling from this conversation.

I am immensely grateful that Bebo Bharwani joins me in this week’s episode.

Char had the idea of inviting Bebo to the podcast after we saw a post of his on Instagram. It was a poster with that said God’s invitation is to be a guest at the banquet, and not a guard at the door—in a rainbow color scheme. His caption reads:

I had members in the church that were members of the LGTBQ community, they could tell that I personally stood for full inclusion, but felt my struggle to come out. They never pressured me, they understood what being “closetted” felt like. I saw Jesus in the grace and friendship they lavished on me and my wife.

My coming out in support of the LGBTQ community, as scary and painful as it was doesn’t hold a candle to the heart ache and pain they had gone through. They have taught this scared man some courage.

Today, I push my fear aside to stand with them, in their fight for equal rights.

Seeing that post made us feel like we were not alone in a way that we hadn’t felt in years.

Bearing witness to a soul being bared, scars and all, affects me in a strange way. It moves me so, reaching places that tragedy and laughter only sometimes do. It makes me bare my own soul, shows me scars that I didn’t know were there, and reminds me to step aside and let healing happen.

Healing. I think that’s what I experienced in my conversation with Bebo. It’s very much like being a guest at a banquet of grace.

Show Notes

This is for the ‘unchurched’, the Christian, the seeker, the LGBTQ community, and their allies.

Special guest Bebo Bharwani is the pastor of Arc: a Church of Cross and Table. He walks me through the mind and soul work he experienced to become the man I seem him as: vulnerable, truthful, wise, incredibly humble, and a staunch ally of the LGBTQ community. This one hits close to home. It’s my bleediest podcast yet.

Links

Outro instrumental: “Chords For David” feat. Jlbrock by Pitx copyright 2011 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license.

The Hurry Up the Cakes Podcast is published and distributed via Anchor.fm.

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Meta, Podcasts

“Things That Make Us Happy” — A Clarification

Hello! And, from the bottom of my heart, thank you.

We’re having so much fun making these shows. We’re also learning a whole lot too. This, in and of itself, makes this whole passion project worth it. But the fact that people actually tune in is mind blowing. So THANK YOU. THANK YOU. THANK YOU. 

As we move towards the season-ender, we just thought this would be a good time to clarify the “Things That Make Us Happy” part of the podcast. 

We don’t ask for sponsorships for the show. We’re super small scale, so no one has ever offered either. 

Organizations, products, food, apps, and shows we mention are basically things that make us happy on any given week.

So far, almost all of the things we mentioned were things that we paid for. There may be one or two things that we were gifted with, but they were just personal gifts we loved. There were no expectations to feature them at all. 

Like many of you, we’re making the most out of the lockdown, so the things that we mention during this very short segment are things that help us through the days, the weeks, the months.

We’re also trying to support local small businesses more, so whenever we find something new that we love, we try to mention it in this segment. It’s really our way of gushing about the things that we like. We don’t intend on monetizing this podcast. 

We just thought we’d put this on the site to avoid any confusion. We love working on this podcast and we’re already gaining way more than what we’ve put in. 

Many, many thanks. (Even if you just listened for a few minutes before deciding it wasn’t for you. Thanks for giving us a chance. 💙) 

Sincerely,

Team Hurry Up the Cakes / Squishy Days Productions

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Podcasts, Show Notes

5: ‘We Hide Our Genocides Really Well’ With K Sawyer Paul

I used to host a podcast with K Sawyer Paul called ‘You Chose Poorly’. It’s one of my favorite things I’ve ever done on the internet, and it’s still linked at the top menu of this blog. Every week we would talk about our poor tech choices, and we tried to figure out whose fault it was—ours or the companies that made them. It was a blast, and a dream come true. I loved podcasting with Sawyer. He was my podcast guru, and the guy that brought me into the podcast game in the first place when he interviewed me all the way back in 2009 for the old International Object Podcast.

We had to put our show on hiatus shortly before Max was born in September 2016. The world has changed since then (to say the absolute least). But Sawyer is just as sharp, as warm, and as much of a blast to talk to as ever. I think you’ll really enjoy this one.

Production Notes

  • At the start of our conversation, Sawyer went on a rant about how Spotify is a terrible podcast app. It’s hilarious and accurate. That being said, I think the best podcast app there is is Overcast (website / App Store) — it has a great audio processor, speed boost features, chapter support, options to stream and/or download, and it displays podcast show notes correctly, like any grownup podcast app should.
  • Sawyer and I talked on Skype, as we always do, and it was my first time to use it for the podcast. I now know why tech podcasters continue to use it, despite the multitude of options nowadays. Skype handles connection and audio interruptions so much better than Zoom or Google Meet do—audio simply disappears, instead of glitching out with a >BZZT<. Thus, it’s much easier to edit audio recordings. Maybe I’ll use it for all future episodes.\
  • Sawyer and I had our conversation at 6:00 AM, I recorded the interview at about 7:30, I edited and produced the show for the rest morning (while at work—sorry bosses), and I added finishing touches and Char’s voiceover recording in the afternoon. Total podcast production time is about 5-6 hours. In comparison, production time for episode 1 was about three days. Hooray for efficiency and streamlining workflows!
  • The Hurry Up the Cakes podcast is now available on Stitcher!

Show Notes

This is for the frustrated wrestling fan, the podcast snob, the tech enthusiast, and privileged folk affected by the pandemic.

Special guest K Sawyer Paul is a novelist, podcaster, graphic designer, one of my favorite technology and wrestling critics, and one of my favorite people in the world to talk to. In our first conversation since we put our podcast on hiatus four years ago, we talked about podcasting, how stupid wrestling is nowadays, how quitting Twitter is a lot like quitting a church, and how important (and challenging) it is do the right thing, in any context.

Outro instrumental: “Chords For David” feat. Jlbrock by Pitx copyright 2011 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license.

The Hurry Up the Cakes Podcast is published and distributed via Anchor.fm.

Chapters

  • Opening Song 
  • Introduction (0:27)
  • Spotify is the worst (4:00)
  • Sawyer is my podcast guru (9:36)
  • ‘Why Are We Wrestling Like This?’ (17:27)
  • The best internet (32:16)
  • Rich Boy Watch Pals (40:08)
  • The pandemic has changed us (56:01)
  • What matters now? (65:59)
  • Outro (71:44)
  • Super Wings Theme (Transformers Remix) (72:41)
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Podcasts, Show Notes

3 and 4: ‘Shocking the System’ With Stan Sy

On Thursday afternoon, while I was editing this week’s podcast episodes, Stan sent me a message. It was a screenshot of a Chinese-Filipino Facebook group that he railed against last month for promoting xenocentrism. Apparently this group is now advertising an event gathering “new people with different backgrounds”—a clear 180 from the tone that Stan so harshly criticized. “I feel validated,” Stan wrote. “But more imporantly, yay! Positive change!”

I am so very proud of my friend Stan Sy. He demonstrates having the passion and work ethic to actually realize the dreams that so many people, including me, grew up having—becoming a popular pro wrestling performer, interviewing the biggest wrestling stars in the world, hosting the longest-running weekly episodic Filipino wrestling podcast, even taking the pilgrimage to watch WrestleMania live. But what actually makes me the proudest is how he just can’t help but speak out—articulately and compassionately—about inclusivity, equality, and justice. His voice doesn’t add to the noise, but actually makes a legitimate positive change. I’m honored that he shares it with us on the Hurry Up the Cakes Podcast.

Production Notes

  • Stan is a professional broadcaster, and he used his home studio gear for our conversation. We had a Zoom conference, and the only local recording was on my end. Even so, his gear made such a difference on the audio. I hope you’ll be able to tell!
  • Episode 3 ends with a very special outro by one of my best friends (and Godfather to my son) Zig Hagamann. It is the realization of an over-a-decade-long dream that we all shared back in when we were goofing off while rehearsing for a play. It seemed appropriate to finally pull the trigger on it here for this double-episode interview.
  • The instrumental backing Zig’s episode 3 outro is entitled “Between Worlds”, which is just perfect considering the subject matter.
  • This week’s Max bumper is a tribute to Joey Torres, a founding member of our theater company. Joey was the sweetest, and he was just such a bright light. Buongiorno in heaven, my friend. Rest now. ❤️

Show Notes

This is for the Chinese-Filipino, the Filipinos who want marry them, and the children they will bear.

Special guest Stan Sy is a Chinese-Filipino radio DJ, pro wrestling performer, voice actor, podcaster, and an outspoken cultural critic. He joins in me a conversation that is too big for a single episode. Stan shares his experience as a Chinese-Filipino, the intricacies of what the Chinoy community calls “The Great Wall”, the implications of the use of certain Chinese terms, and how the Chinese-Filipino community is exactly like J.K. Rowling’s “Potterverse”.

Links

Episode 3 Outro instrumental: “Between Worlds (Instrumental)” feat. Smiling Cynic by Aussens@iter copyright 2017 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license.

Episode 4 Outro instrumental: “Chords For David” feat. Jlbrock by Pitx copyright 2011 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license.


The Hurry Up the Cakes Podcast is published and distributed via Anchor.fm.

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