You're Not Ok. That's Ok.
Wonder Cabinet
Wonder Cabinet Productions
4.8 • 1K Ratings
🗓️ 18 June 2022
⏱️ 53 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, producer Charles Monroe-Kane made 300 yard signs that read "You're not ok. That's ok." He put them on his porch. Soon they were gone.
Original Air Date: June 18, 2022
Guests:
Charles Monroe-Kane — Susan Cain — Alissa Wilkinson — Mary Laura Philpott
Interviews In This Hour:
The story of a pandemic yard sign — Author Susan Cain on how bittersweetness adds flavor to daily life — 'Artists anticipate things because they work in the realm of the imagination': Creating in a pandemic time loop — What would you put in your bomb shelter?
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Categories: depression, mental health, COVID-19, pandemic
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Late one night in a pandemic winter, Charles Monroe Kane made a yard sign. |
| 0:10.6 | He was exhausted, stressed out, and grieving, and he knew he wasn't the only one. |
| 0:16.5 | The sign says, |
| 0:17.9 | You're not okay. That's okay. |
| 0:21.4 | Charles printed 300. |
| 0:23.2 | He stacked them on his porch and then he waited. |
| 0:25.8 | And within days, they started popping up all over town, |
| 0:29.8 | posted by neighbors, friends, even strangers who all felt the same way. |
| 0:35.6 | I'm Anne Strange Champs. |
| 0:37.1 | Today, onto the best of our knowledge, |
| 0:38.8 | the radical, life-affirming act |
| 0:41.0 | of admitting you're not okay. Wisconsin Public Radio It's to the best of our knowledge. |
| 1:01.3 | I'm Anne Strange Champs. |
| 1:14.8 | I saw the sign on a walk last October. |
| 1:17.8 | Black with simple white lettering. |
| 1:21.5 | It seemed to have been put there just for me. |
| 1:25.1 | Writer Rebecca Jameson. |
| 1:31.3 | Earlier that day, I had gotten a prescription for Alexa Pro. After struggling with anxiety and depression since I was a teenager. |
| 1:36.3 | Up until then, I hadn't felt like medication was right for me, |
| 1:40.3 | but my anxiety had gotten so bad over the pandemic that I knew that something had to |
| 1:45.0 | change. |
| 1:46.0 | With another COVID surge and a long, hard Wisconsin winter looming, I finally accepted that I needed |
... |
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