Today Was a Bad Day

My name's Kate Robinson. I'm a storyteller on Finean Tell. I am an Iranian Australian podcaster who currently lives on Warundrii Woong and Bunoran country. I'd like to recognize the traditional custodians of this continent whose land was stolen nearly two hundred and fifty years ago, in particular the Camereaga and Warunduri people whose land this podcast was recorded on. And we extend our respect to all Aboriginal and Torres

Hello, I'm Jimilla Risby, and this is Fine and Tell the search for the next generation of Australian storytellers and a chance to honors some stories that we might not otherwise have heard. Each episode, our storytellers go head to head to tell a story related to the episode's theme. Whoever finds and tells the best story will win the episode and be one step closer to being crowned the Find and Tell Champion and win best in Class podcast.

A bad day.

First up, it's Ben, who last time took us on a Teddy Bear hunt. Let's hear what he's got in store for us today. Hey, Ben, welcome back to Find.

And Tell, Happy to be guest. Thank you tell me.

During the process of making your three podcast episodes, did you start to feel more comfortable as you went along or with a new challenges at every stage?

I mean, today was a bad day was a hard topic for me because no one really wants to talk about the bad days most times, you know, the stories that we tell are positives, like no one really wants to hear about you're feeling down or you're feeling negative. And I wanted to kind of take that as an opportunity to do, you know, I guess put myself out there and feel pretty vulnerable to address address how I felt about that day.

All right, I want to hear this episode. Your theme this week was today was a bad day. Let's get to it.

Brenna grew up in the landlocked state of Kansas, USA. She would recall the stories from her father about living on the coast in Australia and the culture that came with it. The moment Brenna turned eighteen do she wanted to experience this for herself. So Brenna made the move to the Ilahara with her older sister Tanil to live with their grandmother, and not too long after that, Brenna

Even when he sent me that message, I just was like, what, it's been one you okay? I messaged to Nil and I said, you'll not believe who's messaged me. And she said who? And I said Ben Heyward And she's like, what does that boy want? And I said, well, I don't know, and she's like, we'll better open that message.

Hi, Brenner, it's been a while. I know this is out of the ordinary, but I'm reaching out to ask you'd potentially be up to chat with me about the day over ten years ago when you were seriously injured.

I thought of this story because.

I've carried a lot of guilt for some time now, and I feel responsible for what happened to you that day. Obviously, it's a lot to take in, and I understand if you need more information or time. Once again, thank you for considering. I hope your chat soon.

Ben.

Hello, how are you good to see you?

Yeah?

Really good to see you.

Yeah.

This was the first time I've seen Brenner in over ten years, and the first time I've ever spoken to her about that day when we were kids.

We were eighteen. I was eighteen, new to Australia. I think I was just craving like new experiences and then meeting you and obviously like we were like good, would go on a few dates and things you offered. I just remember us having a conversation of things to do around.

The ill Worra.

Brenna was keen to learn how to surf, and I was excited to be the one to teach her.

I was like, oh, that's so cool because I haven't served. You know, I've never served in a grow up surfing.

So after a few weeks we planned to finally put the wetsuits on and head out. But that day the other war was hit with severe storms, pouring rain and huge swell. I could see the disappointment in Brenna's face, knowing that she was so excited to go out and surf for the day, so I decided I could take it to a local nine gem.

What did you call it again, the washing machine? The washing machine, Yes, that's what you called it.

Yeah.

The washing machine is a large flat slab of natural rock at the tip of Barrack Point, a local popular surf break. The rock drops down vertically about two feet and as kids, we would crouch down, lay hard against the rock wall and let the whitewash flow seamlessly over the top of us, allowing you to experience what it's like in the inside of a barrel of a wave. It's perfect for someone to get the experience of surfing

We walked out to the cliff edge. We looked down and there was the expanse of the rock. It just looked like a little rectangular slab.

I think the tide was high.

It was stormy as well, so it was a bit rough.

But like at that.

Point, you know we're going to experience this, you know, barrel of a wave. Because you kept talking about how beautiful it was. I did have some reservations going all the waves are a little bit high, but you were like, no, like, this is how it needs to be. Okay, let's do it, you know, because I trusted you, and I.

Was just like if people have done this before.

Like they didn't really have any kind of initial fears for safety when I went there with you, I wasn't even thinking about, you know, what would it happen.

This is exactly how I remember that day. Besides one important piece. See, what Brennan didn't know was that I knew it was too dangerous to be out there. I knew we shouldn't have gone out that day. I've replayed this scenario so many times in my head trying to figure out why I ignored my instincts. The answer that I'd given myself was that I was too embarrassed to admit that I was in over my head. I let ego cloud my judgment, and I really just wanted to impress Brenner.

Then you told me, okay, like it's time to go, time to you know, crouch beneath the washing machine.

And by this point I'm screaming because the sound of the waves are just so loud, crashing against the rocks, I was.

You know, pretty thrilled, like it was exhilarating, you know, your your adrenaline's pumping.

I'm screaming, telling her, when the waves come, you have to duck hold on tight, and.

So we crouch along this rock.

I think you're holding on to me and I'm holding on to you, and you're like, okay, are you ready?

And we ducked down and the first wave crashed over the top of us.

And I think I remember just thinking, oh my god, this wave is really powerful.

Like that was crazy, and the excitement on her face was that feeling didn't last too long because after the first wave come over, the second wave, the third wave came over crashing.

I just remember going, oh my god, like please, like just stop, just stop, just stop.

It was white wash everywhere.

I was skidding on my bum had my hands out, my feet in front of me, and I was just skidding.

By the time I had enough kind of stable grip to lift my hands off the rock face and white wash out of my eyes.

I looked up and Brenna was gone.

I jumped up and I turned around and I could just see Brenna's body just laying hard up against the cliff. Face, which is in a pool of her own blood. She said, I can't stand my feet. Her feet had been sliced by oysters and cut by the sharp rock face, and they had cut her to the bone. Brenna was losing like a lot of blood, like there was blood everywhere. She was soaking wet. I could see muscles and bone and flesh.

We have to go to the hospital. We get to the hospital and I say, wait here, I'm going to go get your wheelchair and I run in. They were like, oh, you're okay, you're bleeding, and I remember saying, it's not my blood.

I need a wheelchair right now.

They had to.

Put me in the shower to remove the wet suit, and they basically washed all the wounds with me, and then they popped me back into the bed.

I remember standing next to the hospital bed, still dripping wet and salt water and blood. Brenna told me to call her grandmother. There's a phone, rang I remember thinking, the last time I spoke to this woman, I told her that her granddaughter would be safe.

Now.

Only hours later, I was calling to tell her that Brenner was in the emergency department. Making that call and happened to hear your grandmother say what's going on and I've gone Brenna's in the hospital.

After she told me you make sure you look after my granddaughter, I was like.

Fuck.

So that for me was like a pretty heavy moment because I was responsible and I knew better, because I knew we shouldn't have want to anything that day. I knew looking at the size of the swell and the conditions, but I was too embarrassed and I let my ego get in front of me. I remember you getting swept away, and that feeling was just horrific because I didn't address the guilt then, I just allowed it to kind of make me feel worse.

I felt bad that you felt so bad about it.

The experience that we shared together, it was not just you choosing to go out there and making me go out there. I went out there on my own accord as well. I wanted to be cool and I wanted to, you know, experience life in Australia, and I thought that

Have you been back there that day?

So I live I live around that area and I go for a lot of runs along Barrick Point where it's located out, but I've never actually been back down to that rock surface. It definitely doesn't look as menacing, I think as as I remember it. So is this the kind of weather that you would take people?

Yeah?

Wow, see right now, that's perfect that this is the type of weather. We should have come.

Out still potentially get dragged, but definitely not at the rate that I did.

Did you want to go give it a gay? Oh?

No, definitely not.

No, I got enough of it.

But yeah, one and done.

I don't think I could ever know that moment.

We got to have a big slap in the face with our mortality. We are not immortal, even though we're eighteen and feel like we are and feel like we're on top of the world and the world is our oyster. No, the world has oysters and they cut off your feet.

Ben, What are you most proud of hearing that?

Ah?

One of my most proud of I think I'm proud of myself that I took the opportunity and the chance to address the guilt that I've carried for such a long time. You know, I don't know if I would have done it otherwise. Yeah, And given the opportunity to, I guess have the courage to, I guess reach out to Brennan after so many years I don't know if I would have put myself out there if it wasn't for this, if it wasn't for you know, find and tell and giving me the platform to do it.

She was incredibly generous with her contribution and forgive me for making a story that's close to you a bit too in the business. But she was also great talent, like she can really tell a story. How did you coach or prepare her ahead of the interview.

I didn't, I didn't at all. I yeah, Wow, the Brenner that I remembered from when we were kids and when we used to hang out when we were teenagers, I knew that she was going to be able to tell a good story, just because she's so intricate with the way she speaks. And I remember telling her that as well. I said, the Brenner that I know can can speak amazing like she can speak amazingly well. So I didn't really have to coach in any way. I just asked her to just recap the events of that day.

You've shown us what it is to have two people experience the same event and have very different memories of it and very different perceptions and processing of it. And you didn't have to tell us that and give us a lecture on that being the case or what the psychology of that is. You sort of made that point so beautifully, and I think much more powerfully by showing

The first time I recapped my memories of the event, which were much more traumatic than Brenner's, and you can kind of hear the difference of it, you know, I recorded my recap first of all, and then in the interview with Brenner, and I just said, you know, go for it, told me what you can remember, and that was her one take. I guess it's like a bit of a juxtaposition. I guess that is that the word that we.

Use in the internet got Yeah, and you've kept it. You've kept your retailing quite pure by making sure you did yours first, and you weren't you weren't colored by what she said.

Yeah.

Next, I suppose in your last episode you interviewed someone you'd never met before who could have been a teddy bear, and in this episode you interviewed someone who you hadn't seen for a long time, but you who you knew.

Well.

What was the difference in preparing for those two inter use and was it more or less daunting to interview Brenner.

I definitely had more nerves sitting down with Brenner because it's such a sensitive topic and we hadn't had no contact for such an extended amount of time. I think it was just a little bit nerve wracking. Yeah, reaching out to somebody from your past and for me to carry something, you know, that I felt like I was responsible for for such a long time. And for her to be like, oh, that was just a silly thing that happened when we were kids.

You know.

I think we both kind of left that a little bit more, I guess, wiser from both people's perspective on the situation as well. So I was glad I had that opportunity. I'm so grateful that Brenna wanted to actually sit down and then revisit that.

Ben.

I think you've made a really stunning piece of audio. Congratulations, Thank you so much. How will Ben fair up against Nar? We're going to hear what story she found. The theme of today was a bad day in just a moment. This is Fined and Tell, and our theme this week is today was a bad day. When we last heard from Nan, she made us consider what it's like when your name becomes a global phenomenon and helped us sympathize with Karen's around the world. Let's see what she's made

Hello, it's good to be back.

All right, we're going into story number two, so we're not quite you know, old hands at this, but I feel like we've had a little bit of practice. Is a little less nerve wracking sending this one out into the world than it was last time.

No, I thought it'd got easier, but no. And I feel also because this story is the one that I'm most yeah, feel most personal and passionate about, So I'm extra and O.

You're a news journal in your day job, so this is a little bit different for you, but at the same time it's a little bit familiar. I feel like the big shift is you. You're being asked to bring more of you to this project. How does that feel? Is that comfortable for you?

It makes me feel very vulnerable. Yeah, it's yeah, definitely a great opportunity to explore topics that I normally wouldn't be able to. And my initial reaction to you know, the theme today was a bad day. I mean, every day is a bad day news. There's lots of bad things happening here. So I thought, yeah, I could hopefully make this something a bit more personal, something a bit more poignant, and something that even though it's a bit

Really looking forward to hearing it. This is today was a bad day. That's the theme we're tackling, and it's NaN's second contribution to find and tell.

Life is changing in Australia and around the world.

Those were Twenty twenty was a weird year, but particularly for Asians.

Police in London say the number of hate crimes against people of East Asian descent has tripled since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic.

We had been seeing things about attacks already, like in the US, and that boiled our blood every time we saw it, Like I saw a really sad one in New York about a man who literally got like beat up, beat up for being Asian in the subway.

Sophie Doe first saw these kind of news headlines as Sydney was locking down. Like most of us. She thought the pandemic would pass quickly. Obviously it didn't. Sophie has a younger sister, Rosa. They've shared a room for most of their lives, finish each other's sentences and even sound a little alike.

Me and Rosa are like two peas in a pod where best friends were like, literally we're the same person, except I feel like I grew up a little more tomboyish than her.

The sisters of Vietnamese Australian It's like wearing another layer. According to Rosa, I feel like growing up Asian in Australia is something that only Asian Australians have to think about, right, Like being Asian was almost a disadvantage and almost something that I had to leverage. There were the usual insults, things like ching chong and where are you really from,

This place is predominantly an Asian area. That is where all the Asian grocery stores are, that's where all the Asian restaurants are, and it's a place where I was like, I'm always safe here.

March thirty was a mundane not that you could tell. The streets were empty, most shops were closed, and social distancing was mandatory. The sisters wanted Bubble Team an excuse to go outside or.

Azara and I were going out for gong cha, that's what we wanted, and we were like, I need to get out of the house. We could just go for a nice walk.

I remember we were like leaving the house and we were like, oh, we should drive, but then we're like, oh, it's a nice day. We've been locked in like like how long, so let's just go for a walk.

And it's not that far. That day was just kind of like a fluke. We kind of just decided like, let's just go a different way.

They eventually come to the main road where they noticed they're not the only ones around, and.

When we got down to that crossing, I remember like hearing people, two girls specifically being like super loud, and I was just like, why are they going too loud? It's like super quiet and dead on the streets right.

Now, So seeing anyone was like, oh, like someone's there, rosa notices. One of the girls was especially noisy, and she had her hair in like a like a high bun, and she had like a headband.

She was white, and she also had like this like shoulder bag with her. They looked, honestly, like the best way to describe the two girls where they looked a little sketchy, like they looked as though they got in trouble frequently.

The sisters were on the other side of the street, but felt like something was off, so they continued to wait for the pedestrian light. But then the two girls start to cross the road towards Sophie and Rosa, and they walked past us, saying us stay away from those girls.

They've got coronavirus shit, like you guys eat bats and shit and like Eurasian dogs. And I'm like, what does that even mean? At first, I.

Didn't think I heard it right, but then I was like, wait a second, did she actually just say that?

So that was why Rosa and I were both like almost in unison, like what did you say?

As Rosa recalls, the reaction set the girl off even more.

She drops her bag and then starts running out Elson, I'm like, oh shit, like this isn't gonna go well.

Like she had like her fists up and she was like jumping around and like looking like she wanted to swing.

It was like pure like ftal flight.

It was pure fear because I remember like feeling my legs shaking, you know, when you're like about to do a speech in class and you're really nervous and your legs start like shaking.

That's how I felt, but like jelly.

Rosa, Sophie, and the two girls were roll in the middle of the road. People were watching and filming from their apartments and shops, but no one came out to help. Eventually, a man walking by carrying his groceries tries to come between them. It looked as if the two girls were finally moving on when one of them stops and turns to face Rosa, and.

That's when she turned around and she spat on me.

In that moment, Sophie felt powerless.

I watched the whole thing in slow motion, like it happened so slow in my eyes, like I remember seeing it so like vividly, and I felt dumb for not stopping it, like I felt guilty. I was like, I wish it got on me.

Sophie's furious and wants to protect her younger sister. She tries to retaliate, but the man with his groceri is intervenes and.

I was like, oh man, I want to do something so bad. And I was just like, you're so disgusting, Like what's wrong with you?

The man gives Rosa some water to wash her eye out while the two girls run off, Sophie and Rosa and left to process what had just happened.

I was just like shocked and disgusted.

I was like, how, like, no one's ever spoilt on me before, first of all, And I was like, how could she.

I just felt very.

Like angry, very angry, very disrespected. The feelix spitting on someone is like, it's such a disrespectful thing to do, Like I probably would have rather have punched me in the face, to be honest. After reporting the incident to police, the sisters make their way back home. Now they have to tell their family.

And my dad was very upset.

So my dad's very protective of us, obviously, and he was really really angry, really upset. And I also remember my hearing from my cousins that my aunties and uncles, a few of them had said like, oh, they shouldn't have done anything, like should have just like ignored it.

They should have just like turned the other cheek. I remember not crying until like the night of like everyone went to sleep and I was in my own room and I had time to myself, and I finally like, broke down and cried because I was just like, how could this happen to us?

Later that night, Rosa and Sophie posted videos of the incident online. It wasn't long before people on the internet identified the girls behind the attack. It turns out the main perpetrator was already known to police, but she was seventeen years old, meaning she was charged as a minor. In the end, she only had to pay a fine and received a good behavior bond.

Or Two women who were spat on in an alleged coronavirus fueled racist attack have spoken about the ordeal.

The incident even made headlines internationally. Rosa and Sophie were overwhelmed by the response. It made them feel like they weren't so alone.

A huge band of people, not just Asians but white people too, of every background defending us and being like, that's not how we treat people in Australia. And I think meeting those made me feel very like there are good people still and it just takes, unfortunately, something like this happening for people to be like, no, we got your back.

Rosa and Sophia are grateful most of the internet stood up for them, but more importantly, they're proud of themselves speaking up during that whole thing that only lasted five minutes.

I'm happy that we spoke up. I'm happy that we, you know, stood our ground, and I was also able to make sure we both got out of it safely.

Neon, congratulations again on some really impressive storytelling and storytelling that.

I think.

There's a lot of complexity of what's going on in that story, and so I'm hoping we can unpack that a little bit. You're an Asian Australian woman yourself, so how did you manage your own well being and your own feelings about the situation while you were creating the narrative?

Yeah, good question. If you remember at the time, you know, the pandemic was so chaotic, there was so much coming out in the news every day, let alone in a daily news cycle, a lot of stories. You know, you hear maybe twenty thirty seconds best from them, you know, in a small news report, and you get the crux of what they're saying, but you don't get the nuances. And there's yeah, so many things I feel aren't able

As part of you bringing it to life, we heard audio of the incident. What were we listening to there?

So that was raw footage of the actual whole incident that happened. Oh wow. It was a mix of people bystanders who had filmed and then eventually they uploaded it or sent it to Rosa and Sophie, And one of the videos was Rosa filming herself because she wanted to, I guess, in that moment defend and protect us. So that was actually what happened on the day.

I think it's a really impressive piece of storytelling and something that's important to revisit. You know, I think there's a bit of a sense of, well, that's something that happened in COVID and that was COVID specific, rather than recognizing the underlying racism that's going on there. That doesn't go anywhere just because the virus isn't something people are as scared of anymore. Thank you so much for sharing it.

Thank you.

The theme was today was a bad day and we heard some really heavy stories. I'm going to take a moment and try and figure out who's going to win this contest. Are we back in a moment and we'll let them know. From the opening moments to the final seconds of Ben's episode, I found it utterly captivating. I really commend him on being so vulnerable and going and finding an girlfriend to be able to tell this story

Congratulations, thank you so much. I can't believe it. I honestly can't believe it. Thank you so much. You are most welcome.

I think the way that you put that story together, you help me from the first second to the last. Okay, that was an extremely hard decision to make. It's a real testament to our storytellers who are absolutely raising the bar week by week. Thanks are starting to get very exciting as we get close to the finals, so make sure you don't miss an episode of Find and Tell. Just hit follow in your podcast app. A big thank