I'm Perfectly Fine Without You - podcast cover

I'm Perfectly Fine Without You

Sound piece "I’m Perfectly Fine Without You" by Daisy Patton is an ongoing project that discursively explores the perspectives of children of absent fathers through their own memory. A collection of tenuous yet emotionally charged recollections, the sole criterion is that their father was missing during childhood, with the only exception being death. The voices of the participants together form a kind of confessional, with you the listener as the recipient of their now unconcealed, personal divulgences.
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Episodes

BC

We don’t really have a great relationship…but I’m okay with that. I’m okay with that, but it’s also a little frustrating because we have had a good relationship at one point. https://archive.org/download/IPFWY_BC/BC.mp3

Nov 14, 2015

HH

It’s difficult to think, you know, how much do I owe my parents? What should I—what should I give up for them? I still haven’t resolved it…on the one hand, he gave me something in my childhood that nobody else could. But on the other, I don’t think I’m equipped to be able to help him the way he needs help. https://archive.org/download/IPFWY_HH/HH.mp3

Nov 14, 2015

TA

You know, I don’t know if this is going to affect me. But surprisingly it did, you know. It just–it fit everything together that I didn’t know it needed to be fitted together. It just answered a lot of questions that I had inside of me. https://archive.org/download/IPFWY_TA/TA.mp3

Nov 14, 2015

CC

You know, “why can’t you have the time for me?” and “why don’t you care enough not to be drunk around me?” Like…”do you realize how much your actions have warped my life?” Like…”just what makes you think you can throw a little girl down the stairs?” Like, “what makes you think you can do any of what you did?” Just…mainly just wanted to know what was in his head. What his reasoning for all of it was. https://archive.org/download/IPFWY_CC/CC.mp3...

Mar 14, 2013

CR

I technically do have him there for me, and he was there, I guess, some of the time. But I mean…I really only remember the absence. It’s really true, like, I only remember the absence. http://archive.org/download/CRfullfile/CR.mp3

Mar 14, 2013

IR

They always seem to want to redeem him, you know, try to like make him into someone I do want to get to know. But it only makes it worse, and I think they fail to realize that. http://archive.org/download/IRfullfile/IR.mp3

Mar 11, 2013

NE

When anybody says like, asks me questions about my “mommy and daddy” or my “mom and dad” or “your parents,” plural, it just makes me feel funny inside just cuz it makes me feel like people are ignorant, a little bit, and they don’t realize how many single parents there are… http://archive.org/download/NEfullfile/NE.mp3

Mar 11, 2013

RN

I think I wanted him cuz I was supposed to, but when I actually think of who my father is, like, I would not want him around more because we would just argue and he just annoys me. https://archive.org/download/IPFWY_RN/RN.mp3

Mar 10, 2013

JM

Why are you trying to pull me away? I’m perfectly fine without you. https://archive.org/download/IPFWY_JM/JM.mp3

Apr 27, 2012

AR

What is there to say for a guy who’s never around, who you’ve talked to maybe three times, and your only memory is a horrible one from when you were a little kid? There’s not much to say. http://archive.org/download/ARfullfile/ARMaster.mp3

Apr 25, 2012

DI

The most heart-wrenching thing for me is that it was my father’s decision. That my mother said please don’t, I will never talk about my feelings again if you just won’t leave me. http://archive.org/download/DIfullfile/DIMaster.mp3

Apr 25, 2012

QG

There should be good memories, but there just aren’t any. Guess that’s something I’ll always have and unfortunately will never be able to get over. https://archive.org/download/IPFWY_QG/QG.mp3

Apr 25, 2012

WY

But that name is obviously not the same name of the guy that I grew up with. http://archive.org/download/WYfullfile/WYMaster.mp3

Apr 25, 2012

MS

You feel like if you have a biological parent they would want to get to know who their children are? It’s so impersonal, like even though the minimal contact that he makes is so impersonal that I wish he didn’t make it at all. http://archive.org/download/MSfullfile/MSMaster.mp3

Apr 25, 2012

SA

I’m not ready to be okay with what happened. I’m not ready to forgive–I’m not ready to…to reward him, you know? Why should I contact you and have this relationship with you when…you didn’t? https://archive.org/download/IPFWY_SA/SA.mp3

Apr 25, 2012

AO

I think it remains an unresolved issue and probably always will create some sort of structural weakness in me… https://archive.org/download/IPFWY_AO/AO.mp3

Apr 25, 2012

EL

From an early age, I was not able to dream in the same ways or to think about life in such a positive way as many of the kids that were just thinking about cartoons. Like very early on, I realized that my parents were not a source of protection. Very early on, I realized my parents were not perfect. https://archive.org/download/IPFWY_EL/EL.mp3

Apr 25, 2012

HIL

Um, my mom’s told me that when I was little I used to ask where he was, and it broke her heart because she didn’t want to tell me or she couldn’t tell me. There was nothing that would sort of relieve that curiosity in me… https://archive.org/download/IPFWY_HIL/HIL.mp3

Apr 25, 2012

LG

I am not your daughter. You didn’t have anything to do with raising me…You didn’t try to contact us for 14 years… https://archive.org/download/IPFWY_LG/LG.mp3

Apr 25, 2012

AH

I rather he die than I say any of the things I thought about him. Because I don’t want to–I feel like it’s too late for him anyway, you know, like there’s no reform. So I might as well let him just, like, die with the thought that perhaps his kids don’t hate him. https://archive.org/download/IPFWY_AH/AH.mp3

Apr 25, 2012

YO

I don’t remember having a lot of anger, but I do remember the fights. https://archive.org/download/IPFWY_YO/YO.mp3

Apr 25, 2012

RI

His absence was just as formative as his presence. And it’s just…it’s so forced. http://archive.org/download/RIfullfile/RIMaster.mp3

Apr 25, 2012
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