Reading Michael Jackson Podcast - June 25th Bonus Episode "Journey to Neverland"

[staywild23]

My God has it been a minute since I have posted in MJJC or what?? I'll admit it's been awhile since I've been a regular contributor on this board, but that's not for a lack of perpetual Michaeling. That is now simply my lifestyle. It is embedded into the fabric of who I am, regardless of my infrequence on this board these days!

This love for Michael is so deeply engrained in me that in January I launched a podcast called Reading Michael Jackson. The premise of the podcast is that each week I read a piece from Dancing the Dream and follow it up with a discussion of the piece itself. I have now released 27 episodes (I'm over halfway through the book!) and it's been such a joyful ride. I always loved Dancing the Dream, but spending so much time with it has helped me to really appreciate it, and I feel like I understand Michael more and more.

Anyway, today I am finally sharing this. Not only because I would love for anyone interested in Dancing the Dream to check out the show in general, but because today I released a "bonus" episode to honor Michael on June 25th.

Last October I had the incredible opportunity to visit Neverland. Not to be dramatic, but it was sort of a life changing experience for me. It was beautiful, painful, spiritual, and I ultimately felt so much more connected to Michael. I had an experience there unlike anything I've experienced anywhere else. So because of that, and because Michael's fanbase is so huge and international, I decided to record an audio version of an essay I wrote about the experience. Of course, I don't only read the essay. I also discuss June 25th, what it means to us as fans, etc. But my chief focus for this episode is sharing my experience.

So if you are interested, please check it out! Reading Michael Jackson is available on all major podcasting platforms. But I'm including the links to a few:

Regardless of if you want to tune into this or not, I hope everyone finds their own way to feel close to Michael today. We all miss him and I think there's no wrong way to celebrate him.

 

[jasmine.uddin]

My God has it been a minute since I have posted in MJJC or what?? I'll admit it's been awhile since I've been a regular contributor on this board, but that's not for a lack of perpetual Michaeling. That is now simply my lifestyle. It is embedded into the fabric of who I am, regardless of my infrequence on this board these days!

This love for Michael is so deeply engrained in me that in January I launched a podcast called Reading Michael Jackson. The premise of the podcast is that each week I read a piece from Dancing the Dream and follow it up with a discussion of the piece itself. I have now released 27 episodes (I'm over halfway through the book!) and it's been such a joyful ride. I always loved Dancing the Dream, but spending so much time with it has helped me to really appreciate it, and I feel like I understand Michael more and more.

Anyway, today I am finally sharing this. Not only because I would love for anyone interested in Dancing the Dream to check out the show in general, but because today I released a "bonus" episode to honor Michael on June 25th.

Last October I had the incredible opportunity to visit Neverland. Not to be dramatic, but it was sort of a life changing experience for me. It was beautiful, painful, spiritual, and I ultimately felt so much more connected to Michael. I had an experience there unlike anything I've experienced anywhere else. So because of that, and because Michael's fanbase is so huge and international, I decided to record an audio version of an essay I wrote about the experience. Of course, I don't only read the essay. I also discuss June 25th, what it means to us as fans, etc. But my chief focus for this episode is sharing my experience.

So if you are interested, please check it out! Reading Michael Jackson is available on all major podcasting platforms. But I'm including the links to a few:

Regardless of if you want to tune into this or not, I hope everyone finds their own way to feel close to Michael today. We all miss him and I think there's no wrong way to celebrate him.

Beautiful
Thank you for sharing!
I always despaired that MJ fans were never given a place to go to mourn him. Neither can we enter Neverland or Holly Terrace. Just as he was out of reach during his life, so he is in death. It's comforting to know you felt closer to MJ after your experience.
I didn't 'get' all of it, particularly the part where you discuss feeling confused, but it was all still beautiful

 

[staywild23]

Beautiful
Thank you for sharing!
I always despaired that MJ fans were never given a place to go to mourn him. Neither can we enter Neverland or Holly Terrace. Just as he was out of reach during his life, so he is in death. It's comforting to know you felt closer to MJ after your experience.
I didn't 'get' all of it, particularly the part where you discuss feeling confused, but it was all still beautiful

Thank you so much for listening to it! I totally agree with you about not having a place to go mourn him. There is a definite barrier, some of which makes sense, but is largely kind of frustrating. What you said about him feeling out of reach is so true. Also, I definitely understand why some of this maybe doesn't make complete sense lol. I mean, I don't know that I would have understood it if it was someone else's experience and not mine. But I am glad you still enjoyed it and I really appreciate you checking it out!

 

[jasmine.uddin]

Looking forward to listening to other episodes, I love studying books and I love MJ!
Would appreciate it if you felt you could explain that confused feeling further.

 

[staywild23]

Looking forward to listening to other episodes, I love studying books and I love MJ!

Oh, wonderful! I hope you will enjoy this show then. Season 1 is entirely about Dancing the Dream, but I'm considering continuing it for more seasons and discussing other books, interviews, lyrics, etc.

Would appreciate it if you felt you could explain that confused feeling further.

I can try to! Is there anything specific I could clarify? I tried to explain it in the podcast itself, but I'd be happy to explain further if there are particular aspects that didn't make sense for you.

 

[jasmine.uddin]

Thanks for being so accommodating!
It sounded like the confused feeling came from facing the harsh reality of wanting to feel you were close to MJ but realising he wasn't there. Is that it? Then this confused feeling was resolved the following day.
That's what I understood from it.
And those passer bys sounded awful! It's never easy being an MJ fan, can't even grieve without someone trying to rub salt in the wound

 

[staywild23]

Thanks for being so accommodating!
It sounded like the confused feeling came from facing the harsh reality of wanting to feel you were close to MJ but realising he wasn't there. Is that it? Then this confused feeling was resolved the following day.

The confused feeling was actually even more confusing than that! lol Basically, when I arrived I felt this intense swell of pain because the realization that he was real, but gone hit me all at once. And that alone was very overwhelming. But I was confused because the reality of him being gone was completely incongruent to how I felt, which is that I felt this spiritual presence was so palpable there. So on one hand my brain was completely aware he is no longer with us, but my higher, more spiritual self felt his presence there innately. The "buzzing" feeling I described is something I eventually came to believe was a spiritual kind of resonance. I could feel his spirit, despite his physical absence from the world.

I definitely know not everyone experiences things like that, or believes in things like that, and that's totally ok. But honestly, it was the only way I can describe it! I hope this clarifies it a bit

And those passer bys sounded awful! It's never easy being an MJ fan, can't even grieve without someone trying to rub salt in the would

And yeah, absolutely. It was very "grounding" if that makes sense. It felt like a very sacred experience and place and I was so deeply immersed that to have those people come out of no where and say that was really kind of disorienting. It sort of "woke me up." But that's why I'm so happy I returned the next day and things felt so different.

 

[jasmine.uddin]

The confused feeling was actually even more confusing than that! lol Basically, when I arrived I felt this intense swell of pain because the realization that he was real, but gone hit me all at once. And that alone was very overwhelming. But I was confused because the reality of him being gone was completely incongruent to how I felt, which is that I felt this spiritual presence was so palpable there. So on one hand my brain was completely aware he is no longer with us, but my higher, more spiritual self felt his presence there innately. The "buzzing" feeling I described is something I eventually came to believe was a spiritual kind of resonance. I could feel his spirit, despite his physical absence from the world.

I definitely know not everyone experiences things like that, or believes in things like that, and that's totally ok. But honestly, it was the only way I can describe it! I hope this clarifies it a bit


And yeah, absolutely. It was very "grounding" if that makes sense. It felt like a very sacred experience and place and I was so deeply immersed that to have those people come out of no where and say that was really kind of disorienting. It sort of "woke me up." But that's why I'm so happy I returned the next day and things felt so different.

Thanks for explaining it to me!

I'm glad you didn't minimise your experience in your podcast, we need those who feel deeply to explain it to the rest of us who don't always understand all the feelings.