Ep 358 - The End of The Line

Sitting Under A Tree with Aidan Jones

#Australian #Comedian #Stories #Storytelling #Aidan Jones #Australiancomedian #Australiancomedypodcast #Melbournecomedypodcast #Comedy

29:53

Steve Preston is the CEO of Goodwill Industries. Though Goodwill is known for big stores where people can donate clothes and buy them secondhand, those stores are just the first level of what Goodwill Industries are about. Those stores fund an international organization that provides job training, employment placement services and other community-based programs for people who face barriers in their employment. Steve joins Jay to discuss the ways Goodwill Industries support veterans and individuals who lack job experience, an education, or face employment challenges, such as those people who are formerly incarcerated. Today's episode was produced by Tani Levitt and Mijon Zulu. To check out more episodes or to learn more about the show, you can visit our website Allaboutchangepodcast.com. If you like our show, spread the word, tell a friend or family member, or leave us a review on your favorite podcasting app. We really appreciate it. All About Change is produced by the Ruderman Family Foundation. Episode Chapters 0:00 intro 1:02 The Goodwill you don’t know 4:33 The troubling reality of work reintegration for formerly incarcerated folks 10:00 How Steve brings his public-sector experience to Goodwill 11:17 Goodwill’s employment centers 15:51 The interplay between Goodwill’s national and local arms 24:07 The case for minimizing recidivism becoming a cross-party cause 27:05 Goodbye For video episodes, watch on www.youtube.com/@therudermanfamilyfoundation Stay in touch: X: @JayRuderman | @RudermanFdn LinkedIn: Jay Ruderman | Ruderman Family Foundation Instagram: All About Change Podcast | Ruderman Family Foundation To learn more about the podcast, visit https://allaboutchangepodcast.com/ Looking for more insights into the world of activism? Be sure to check out Jay’s brand new book, Find Your Fight , in which Jay teaches the next generation of activists and advocates how to step up and bring about lasting change. You can find Find Your Fight wherever you buy your books, and you can learn more about it at ⁠⁠⁠www.jayruderman.com⁠⁠⁠ .…

about a year ago 35:55

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I did a gig last night, then another one, then had a really nice chat with a friend who works behind the bar. Read a bit of poetry, some short stories when I got home, then today I went and got a sandwich.

396 episodes

Ep 358 - The End of The Line

Sitting Under A Tree with Aidan Jones

published about a year ago

MP3•Episode home

396 episodes

#Australian #Comedian #Stories #Storytelling #Aidan Jones #Australiancomedian #Australiancomedypodcast #Melbournecomedypodcast #Comedy

All episodes

Sitting Under A Tree with Aidan Jones

1
Ep 395 - They Just Don't Get It 46:23

1 day ago46:23

46:23

This week my football club Tottenham Hotspur fired Ange Postecoglou as manager after he led us to win the Europa League a few weeks ago. There are arguments for and against this decision from a footballing perspective, but ultimately it feels like a complete failure on behalf of the decision-makers at the club to grasp the entire point of following a football club, or of life in general. The reason I follow the club is because it's a big part of the friendship I have with one of my mates back in London, and the feeling I had when we won the trophy was shared with him. Everyone who follows the club and shares that with people in their life got to have that experience when we won, and if you believe what Ange was saying after we won, there's every chance that he could have led us to more of those moments. The people in charge took that opportunity away from him, from us, all because of some cold pragmatism, and finding out for certain that this is where their priorities lie has made me really sad.…

Sitting Under A Tree with Aidan Jones

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Ep 394 - New Bit 36:56

7 days ago36:56

36:56

I did two gigs tonight, and got out an ending to a bit I've been working on for like six months - exciting! I talked about the story around it a bunch on the podcast today, which is a day late I'M SORRY! But it wasn't nearly as shambolic and unfocussed as I would expect after the long day I've had. Here's the video btw: https://www.instagram.com/reel/DKZ5X2HRLuZ/…

Sitting Under A Tree with Aidan Jones

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Ep 393 - South Australian Sunset 44:01

15 days ago44:01

44:01

I've just finished 2500km of driving from Brisbane, to the South Coast of NSW, to Melbourne, and then Victor Harbor to visit my grandparents. I forget how flat South Australia is - as soon as you go West of Ballarat it's just flat in every direction. It's really beautiful. This afternoon I traced the sunset from mid-afternoon and watched it the whole way down, stopping the camper van in a car park for the last 45 minutes or so to record this podcast.…

Sitting Under A Tree with Aidan Jones

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Ep 392 - Energised By The Performance 50:36

22 days ago50:36

50:36

I saw a wonderful band called FERLA on Saturday night with some friends. The lead singer was bald with his hair completely gone up top, but at the back where it still grew he'd let it go out into a mullet! Awesome. His voice reminded me of the singer from that band Future Islands who did the incredible spot on Letterman like ten years ago. Then on Sunday morning I went to an 11am performance of Chopin's Piano Sonata no. 2 and a few pieces by Ravel, at Tempo Rubato in Brunswick. That was also a magical performance and has had me humming the Funeral March from the Chopin Sonata all week. I had a great show in Bendigo on Thursday, and have another one coming up in Brisbane this weekend!…

Sitting Under A Tree with Aidan Jones

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Ep 391 - This Fucken Sucks 37:42

29 days ago37:42

37:42

Bit of a dramatic title this week, I'm feeling pretty good about things and blah blah, but I guess I'm just in a grumpy mood because I sat down this morning to try and do a bunch of things, and try as I might, none of them are completed. There's always more bullshit isn't there. Right now I'm torn between getting back on the emails and trying again, or just fucking all of it off and going to the piano. As always, I think I'm going to try to do both. Ho ho ho.…

Sitting Under A Tree with Aidan Jones

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Ep 390 - Peter Dumbcunt 44:22

5 weeks ago44:22

44:22

I try not to engage with politics too much because I feel it's a part of life that only leads to anger and frustration, and I think our time is much better spent working hard (and the work is VERY hard) to be good to the people around us. Having said that, when something beautiful happens like a horrid little scumbag of a man being destroyed in a Federal Election, I do absolutely love it. I don't talk about that too much on the podcast, but I do talk about my brother's surprise birthday, getting my money from the Melbourne Comedy Festival, and workshopping realistic poems for the side of tea cups.…

Sitting Under A Tree with Aidan Jones

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Ep 389 - Australia 39:47

6 weeks ago39:47

39:47

I'm annoyed that I have to leave Australia to keep pursuing my dream in stand up comedy. I'm scared, and excited, and all of that other stuff, but at the core of it, I am annoyed. By which I mean, heartbroken. Also it's late and I'm really tired right now.

Sitting Under A Tree with Aidan Jones

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Ep 388 - Thankyou 45:09

7 weeks ago45:09

45:09

I took MDMA on the last night of comedy festival and it really brought the emotions out of me. The mixture was strong, and I'm glad I got to feel it all at the festival club, surrounded by my community of comedians all at the end of this beautiful thing we do every year. I'm proud of everything I've done with this show, excited for what's to come with it, and also slowly beginning the process of writing the next one. I'm committed to my aim of making work that prioritises final quality over any financial concerns, and I am grateful for this moment right now.…

Sitting Under A Tree with Aidan Jones

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Ep 387 - Last Week 31:35

8 weeks ago31:35

31:35

It's the last week of the Melbourne Comedy Festival and I'm feeling reflective. The show has been a dream, and with seven still to go I've smashed my goals for attendance and profit. I've got an idea for the next show, which I'll keep nurturing, but for the next three months, all my focus is on the rest of the tour in Australia, and getting ready to leave Melbourne and move to London. Terrifying!…

Sitting Under A Tree with Aidan Jones

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Ep 386 - Tullamarine 48:08

9 weeks ago48:08

48:08

I've got a joke that I've been doing in the show the last few nights about how the airport in Warsaw is called the 'Frederic Chopin International Airport', like that's how much of a big deal this guy is - they don't name airports after anyone! Who's Tullamarine, you know? After the second show I'd done that joke, someone messaged me and told me that actually Tullamarine was an indigenous freedom fighter in the area, and that's why they named it after him. Pretty brutal that I don't even know the guy's name, and that he's so unknown that a joke about Melbourne's airport not being named after someone can literally use his name as a working punchline. So I've decided to add, as a tag, that someone contacted me and told me that, and now I feel really bad, but I'm still doing the joke. So yeah, that's why the pod is named what it is. Heaps of other cool shit happened this week, but if you want to know about any of that, you'll just have to pop your little headphones in and have a listen, won't you!…

Sitting Under A Tree with Aidan Jones

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Ep 385 - Return To The Flower Festival 39:40

10 weeks ago39:40

39:40

Going to the Melbourne Flower Festival last year was what originally inspired me to host my Melbourne Comedy Festival show in a beautiful, bespoke space this year. I went back on Sunday and it was just as beautiful as I remembered, but I didn't enjoy it as much because I was busy worrying about ticket sales and money and comparing myself to my peers. I'm having an objectively great festival. It's only been one weekend, but I've already sold more tickets across the run than I did in the whole of Perth Fringe World. I sold 251 in the first five shows alone. That's great! Those are great numbers. And I'm still not happy. Last year when I didn't do a show at any festivals, and instead just worked a normal job and paid my bills - that was one of the happiest years of my life. It'd be easy to romanticise it and conclude that actually comedy is the thing that's making me upset here, but I know that isn't the full story. I know that the only reason I was able to let go of the grinding and striving for a year and be happy was that for that whole year I was dreaming of this time I'm living in right now. Every day I drove the bus down the Great Ocean Road, when I was done talking about the stuff out the window, I would put the music on and drift off into fantasies of this run. The first show. The last show. The night I finally film it. The ending. New jokes... those fantasies got me through the year, and made it a very happy one, and now I'm here in that imagined future, and I'm struggling to enjoy it because I'm always wanting more! The irony is not lost on me... but I am having a nice time, I promise.…

Sitting Under A Tree with Aidan Jones

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Ep 384 - Here We Are 36:23

11 weeks ago36:23

36:23

This week has been intense, gratifying, exhausting, terrifying, humbling, exciting, overwhelming, and over in the blink of an eye. The gallery is ready for opening night tomorrow, which is sold out by the way! And so is the night after. I can't believe how many different people have stepped up out of nowhere in the last week to offer their help in whatever way they can to make this project happen. I had a moment yesterday while I was eating dinner by myself when I realised that all of this work - this beautiful, tiring, exhilarating work - is because of me! This whole thing exists because of an idea that I had and then started telling people about and working on, and now it's a venue in the Melbourne Comedy Festival. I'm so excited for the next month, and I'm so happy in this moment right now.…

Sitting Under A Tree with Aidan Jones

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Ep 383 - Meditative Podcasting 45:42

12 weeks ago45:42

45:42

I've had the best month in Adelaide doing my show to great audiences, winning an award in the first week and getting five star reviews! Then on Monday, my last day in town, I accidentally crushed the door of my Mum's partner's car in the carwash. It was really scary actually, and it's going to cost me $2000. I find myself here yet again, in a moment where I could have maybe slowed down a little, but felt like I had everything under control, and then realised too late that I didn't. It was a mistake, whatever, we move on, but it'd be good to learn from it too, eh? For the next week I'm back in Melbourne and working on the setup of the gallery. There's lot's to do, and I feel really stressed about it, but I'm going to find time every day to stop and take stock of everything that's around me. Have fun. Slow down. Be in the moment. Have fun.…

Sitting Under A Tree with Aidan Jones

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Ep 382 - Just Imagine You're A Cow Floating Through Space 43:38

13 weeks ago43:38

43:38

I had the best day yesterday at WOMAD with a wonderful bunch of friends. Khruangbin were incredible, I was soaring through the trees for the entire 90 minutes that they played. And I'm still having the best time at the Adelaide Fringe in what has turned from a two-week, eight-show run, into a month-long season of 17 performances. I feel like I'm getting better at choosing not to engage with things and people that don't make me feel good. There's so much of that out there, especially if you spend even a bit of time on the internet. Comment sections are full of angry, hurt people taking their feelings out on the world. It's their choice to do that, and we really can't do anything to stop them, but we all have the power to choose how we react to that stuff, and I choose to disengage. Today I tried to wash my Mum's partner's car at the car wash and after downloading their stupid app, giving them my details, confirming my phone number, and then paying for a $12 wash with my card, they told me that the machine was broken and I couldn't use the thing I'd just paid for. It's in infuriating situations like that when the use of those reserves of energy is warranted - I sent them an email, and you better believe I will be calling them tomorrow, and reporting them to consumer affairs if I don't get my money back and some vouchers on top of it. 'Happy Wash' indeed. And this is my point man!! If I was letting myself get angry at every lunatic I saw on the internet, maybe I wouldn't have enough left of myself to pursue these motherfuckers when I actually need to. And yes I DO need to, by the way. Oh I will have my twelve dollars. And then I'll go back to enjoying good times with wonderful friends, which is where the energy comes from in the first place.…

Sitting Under A Tree with Aidan Jones

1
Ep 381 - Five Stars 36:47

14 weeks ago36:47