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Doctor Whooch // Episode 077 // The Smell of Pregnancy

In which we’re watching Torchwood again and the drinking is more appropriate.

Danica and Brandon are back with their first episode of 2016 with a slurry dissection of the first two episodes of TORCHWOOD: CHILDREN OF EARTH. Or is that Children of Man? Or Men? Brandon is not good with titles, even when he is sober.

There’s a lot of great stuff to talk about in this episode, such as Captain Jack’s complete inability to comprehend CHILDREN, but we also make time to talk about the recent SHERLOCK special where a white dude explains feminism to a room full of silent women. That’ll probably go over well.

Outro music is “Ghetto Superstar” by Pras featuring May & Ol’ Dirty Bastard

Podcast picture is by GIRL NAMED SHIRL PHOTOGRAPHY

Who You Are, Not What You Think

I am awful at being mindful. Just awful. Do you know how hard it is to be in the present moment ALL THE DAMN TIME?

In any case, it’s a good thing to strive for, but if you’re anything like me, you’ll stress yourself out more if you try to live it.

But back to me. I am trying to be better about being mindful. Last year, I was doing really well. Focusing my on my current emotion, not getting too far into panicked thoughts about the future or what I did wrong in the past.

But then I started a business. A business that women aren’t really welcome in, no matter what values the store starts out with. I was immersed in micro aggressions, off-handed comments about murdering a female character simply because they preferred the original male character, comments about me being an employee and expressing doubt when I stated I was an owner of the store.

I stopped being mindful because I started to fall into depression. The odd thing was, I didn’t realize it until months later. I had put an air of everything being fine. I had begun to believe the lie myself. I lied to myself every day because I thought since I own a business, I can’t be a person any more. I can’t have bad days. Everything must be “Great! How are you? How are the kids? How was your holiday?” I gave more of myself than I ever had before, and ended up losing myself in this persona I created.

Ironically, last year was the year I realized I deserved respect. Not from myself, of course, that’s the longer road I have to travel. But from others. Random customers who barely recognize my existence to people I should be able to trust. It’s taken me a long time to realize I am really good at my job, and while I still pass people along to Brandon, now it is because I know he has specific information about a comic series I may not have read, instead of fear.

As I try to be the best I can be in my work, I will circle back to being mindful. I’ll see if I can actually appreciate the small moments, like when a 7-year old tells me I’m the reason she comes to the store, when a woman tells me I’ve made a safe space for her to shop, when a friend tells me I’m doing great things for the comics community. It can be really difficult with all the crappy moments and casual sexism I see literally every day, but I will try and focus more on the positive. The moments that don’t make me feel like I should just wither, give up, cry, and disappear. I’m sure there are a ton of people that wouldn’t even notice I was gone, but it’s not for those people that I stay(seriously though, fuck those people), it’s for everyone I mentioned previously, but mostly, for me. When this job is good, it’s amazing. It brings me such joy to see people happy to read.

I’m going to keep fighting. Even if it’s only with myself.

Danica LeBlanc // Twitter

The Curtain Rises

Hi there, everyone – and welcome to Submet Industries.

As you’ve all probably noticed, we’ve been counting down to today which means… something. If I’m being honest, we’re not entirely sure ourselves.

When I started Submetropolitan a few years back, it was intended to be a repository for all of the various things I was doing around the internet. As always with my projects, I would work on it intermittently and refocus every 3-8 months as personal deadlines would slip by faster and faster. Finally, near the end of 2015, Danica and I had a long and frank conversation about how we see the next phase of our life going.

We’d already made some monumental changes in the past few years – moving in together, getting engaged, getting married, quitting our jobs and opening a comic shop being amoung the bigger decisions – and we suddenly found ourselves in a pool of relative calm. It caused us to really look at what we’d done, and finally think about what it all meant. What were we doing? Why were we doing it? And where will we go from here?

This new version of Submetropolitan – now titled Submet Industries – is an exploration of those ideas. It’s a purposeful take on personal pop culture and motivation, with roots dug deep into the culturally rich city of Edmonton. It’s for us. It’s for you. It’s for… something. Or possibly nothing. Again, we’re honestly not entirely sure what this will look like in the end… but we hope you’ll come on this journey with us.

Brandon Schatz // Twitter // Facebook 
Danica LeBlanc // Twitter

1: I Woke Up Like This

2: Understood

Amphetamine tissues

Speak clearly, and with intent. Be loud, and be heard.

3: Control

No

You can’t control what happens in the world, just your reactions to it.

Always aim to build instead of destroy, even if you happen to be collateral damage.

Grow.

Strive.

You have this.

Replay // Doctor Whooch and the Case of the Cry Face Ianto

We’ll be starting up Doctor Whooch’s 2016 new episodes next week, but first let’s go back and check out one of our favourite episodes of olde. It involves guest host James Leask (of Comics! The Blog, Moneyballas, and Twitter fame), Torchwood, ugly cry face Ianto, and an uncomfortably sexy Cyberwoman.

Please enjoy Episode 21, Ianto, No! and tune in for episode 77 on January 14. 

4: Older Comma Wiser

The OC

You’re not too old to do something new or accomplish something great. What you might lack in energy, you make up for in tools at your disposal. You’re going to do just fine.

5: Do The Work

Jim at work

There’s always excuses, but you have enough time to do the work. You just need to… you know… actually do it.

You can do it.

6: Give No Fucks

Give No Fucks

People can be awful, and will be awful. These are not your people. Send out your beacons and own what you say. Be amazing. Stay true.

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