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For some time now, you have heard me hint of this elusive podcast that I’m launching. I’ve kept suggesting that my next newsletter would include a link to the first episode. But weeks… okay, months… have gone by with neither hide nor hair of said episode.
It turns out that launching a podcast is trickier than it looks, especially if you are technologically inept. I’ll spare you the details (unless you like hearing about this kind of thing, in which case you are most welcome to call and hear me describe the whole tedious process step-by-step). But I am happy to announce that today really IS the day. As of 7 a.m. Eastern time this morning, you can now listen to the introduction and first episode of the “Waking Up Goliath” podcast series.
Why the strange name? It comes from the first question that I asked my wonderful guests when launching each interview: Can you tell me about a moment when you woke up to discover that you were Goliath in someone else’s story? It is a question that probably could use a bit of context.
When I was growing up, the biblical story of David and Goliath was one of my favorites. Ever since hearing it at the Lutheran VBS program down the block from where I grew up, I always imagined myself as a “David.” I was the young one; the one fighting against injustice and oppression perpetrated by the powerful; the one who bravely went into battle at a severe disadvantage. It is kind of fun being David. Scary, too. But you know that you have God on your side.
Somewhere along the line, though, I began to realize that others were not seeing me in this role. I still thought of myself as “the girl next store”— a nice ordinary person, easily approachable, deserving of all the encouragement you had to offer. But others weren’t looking at me through the same set of glasses. In their eyes, I was a teacher, an administrator, a public personality. I was the big person in the story—the one with all the power. And this was going to require a different way of being in the world… a different set of virtues than those that had been called upon before.
In the Waking Up Goliath podcast series, I interview Catholic leaders active in a variety of ministries about the moment in which they work up to the fact that they were Goliath in someone else’s story…. and then what they were trying to do about it. How were they trying to live their power in a healthy and holy way? What does “goodness” look like when you are “Goliath”?
I conducted these interviews primarily in Fall 2022 and Spring 2023 in preparation for my forthcoming book Redeeming Power which will come out from Ave Maria Press mid-February 2024. I’m still in the process of transcribing and editing all of the interviews, but the first season of podcasts is now ready and will be released every other week between now and Easter. Before doing a larger public launch with the release of the book, I’d like to share them first with you.
You can access the podcast presently in one of two places. One is my website. Click anngarrido.com/leaders to go directly to the place where they will be housed. Two, if you are a regular podcast listener, I’d suggest Spotify. At Spotify, you can click “Follow” and each time a new episode comes out, it’ll automatically appear in your feed.
A special thanks to my son Micah (an amazing sound engineer) and Scott Steinkerchner, OP (my great webmaster) who have both been very patient with me as I call and ask for instructions about what to do next, and then promptly forget what I’ve been told and need to ask again. If you like the podcast, it is to their credit because they made it sound so good and so accessible. If you do not like the podcast, you can fault me for not following their coaching better. But regardless, you will love the people I interview because they are healthy and holy people who are trying to do the best with the power they hold and have lots of interesting insights on the topic that deserve to be more widely heard.