Cultivated

<p>In this episode, I share the story of a seemingly small moment — the day my mum turned off The Flintstones at lunchtime.</p><p>I was seven years old, and what followed was a full-blown meltdown. But looking back now...

<p>Episode SummaryPublic speaking is terrifying enough—now imagine your eternal salvation is on the line. At thirteen, I stood up to Profess my faith, declaring absolute belief in front of a congregation that expected...

<p>In this episode, I start with squirrels - specifically, the ones taking over my backyard - but, as usual, we end up somewhere else entirely. This is a story about small, ridiculous battles: against rodents, childhood...

<p>Welcome to Cultivated.This is the starting point — an introduction to what this is, how to read or listen, and a little about the faith I grew up in (the one so secretive it forgot to name itself). Whether you like...

<p>Before I understood what was happening, before I knew what The Truth would come to mean for my family, there were signs. My mother’s growing defiance. My father’s quiet but relentless insistence. The way a simple...

<p>I didn't see the 2022 summer media coverage of the 2x2 abuse scandal...And then.</p><p></p><p></p> <br/><br/>Get full access to Cultivated at kristenhmcleod.substack.com/subscribe

<p>As I aged I had no clue how to perform friendship, and learned—from books and magazines and far too many mistakes—how to be and how not to be a friend.</p><p>I presumed once I was all grown-up, I’d understand the...

<p>At times, I used the Coles Notes version to explain why, for example, I lacked cultural knowledge around popular TV programs from the 80s and 90s.</p><p>But on occasion, I was inclined to provide a more fulsome...

<p></p><p>Quick notes.</p><p>* These are my own definitions and have absolutely not been blessed by anyone, nor did I run them by others who might want to weigh in. At the same time, I do not think myself the ultimate...

<p>It is likely she did not, but she hopes she played with particular abandon at recess later that hot afternoon.</p><p>She hopes she swung upside-down from the monkey bars, that she tumbled down the hill and laughed...

<p>My favourite movie used to be Sliding Doors. It still might be, but that's not what matters here. I loved it because it played out two versions of how things could go. In one, main character Helen makes her train. In...

<p>Do you want to go to heaven when you die? That’s the question my dad asked when he walked me to school that day when I was about ten. I solemnly assured him that of course I did, even though I knew this to be a lie...

<p>Cultivated is where I’ll talk about the 2x2 cult, but only a little, because it’s mind-numbingly boring. I wish I was in one of those glamorous cults; you know, the kind where everyone drinks poison at the...