S2 Ep1 | Somewhere Around Antarctica

This is Our Time

Somewhere Around Antarctica
Season 2, Episode 1

[0:00] Boarding the Ship to Antarctica

*Audio verite tour of the ship*

[2:00] VO starts with Samantha Hodder

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

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

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

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

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

[5:00] Samantha does an audio diary

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

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

[7:34] Opening night welcome by Fabian Dattner

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

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

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

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

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

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

Meanwhile, we’re living through a cultural reckoning.

[14:04 ] Shocking personal story

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

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

I mean….is someone sending me a message?

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

It’s THIS moment I can’t shake.

[14:43] The Blind Vote Moment

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

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

[16:20]

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

Maybe everything else.

==

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

Paola Tello Guerrero

Sue Mauger

Dr Sarah Hamylton

Rachel Zombor

Rashmi Venkatraman

Dr Julietta Pedrana

My family

And Fabian Dattner