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Book Club: The House of My Mother by Shari Franke, Part Two... Part One, I guess?
42 Plays3 days ago
Listen, we did our best. We had some technical difficulties with Part Two of the book, so we're releasing Part Two into... two parts. Thanks for understanding, and enjoy this part of our episode. We'll finish up Part Two next week.
Please note, our sound isn't great in this episode. We were able to record together! But we don't understand technology, so we went old-school and shared one mic. Sorry for the sound, but it was way more fun being together in the same room, so we're not THAT sorry :)
Check out our YouTube channel, Fixate Today: Grey Matters
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Transcript
Technical Difficulties and Announcements
00:00:00
Speaker
Hey everyone, Nikki here. Well, we ran into some technical difficulties with part two of reading Sherry Franke's book. There are tons of amazing things about being neurodivergent, but sometimes you do things like forget to charge your microphone.
00:00:18
Speaker
Whoops. So for today's episode, we're releasing the first 20 minutes of part two. Next week, we'll release the rest of part two. Don't worry, our mics will be fully charged.
00:00:30
Speaker
Hey, thanks for being cool about it.
00:00:42
Speaker
everyone.
Recording Location and Transition
00:00:43
Speaker
Welcome back. We are still walking through Sherri Franke's book. We're to part two today. We're still together. Like, we haven't broken up.
00:00:55
Speaker
The country hasn't torn us apart. Yeah, we are still physically together. we are in Syracuse. That's why we are in a hotel room. After today, then we'll be going back to our yes respective parts of the country.
00:01:11
Speaker
Our basement studios, storage closet studios.
Discussion on 'Ship of Fools' by Sherry Franke
00:01:15
Speaker
right, so we're going to continue with Sherry's book. We are in part two, which is called Ship of Fools.
00:01:22
Speaker
And it is another painting by the Dutch artist Hieronymus Bosch. This is another one of those cool triptychs. Is it the same painter?
00:01:34
Speaker
Same painter. And if you remember, the triptych is, it's like the three panels and then two panels like are hinged, so they open up and it's a hole. story basically so this one is on the seven deadly sins and this one there are pieces of it missing like it's not oh it's all together but the part that is depicted is gluttony ah so and it it seemed like one side was gluttony and the other side like the middle panel is missing and the other side is like frugality or stinginess and so like it's the danger of the two extremes
00:02:12
Speaker
Which is perfect for what's coming up. Again, I will say, Sherry is so smart. She is. So I guess we're on chapter eight, A Star is Born.
Ruby's New Ambitions Inspired by Sisters
00:02:22
Speaker
We're going to start getting into actually the beginning of the YouTube channel now.
00:02:28
Speaker
Yes. The chapter opens, Ruby's life was about to pivot. She had approached motherhood with the intensity of an Olympic athlete training for gold. Her identity singularly focused on procreation for more than a decade.
00:02:43
Speaker
But now, aged 30, with her sixth and last baby weaned, the Franke family was finally complete, leaving her with a strange mix of accomplishment and unease.
00:02:55
Speaker
Questioning what came next, she needed a fresh outlet for her energy and ambition. Ruby's sisters, Ellie and Bonnie, were already finding success on YouTube as content creators.
00:03:06
Speaker
So I think we can both appreciate part of this. It is hard. yeah I mean, I guess hers are weaned. Ours are kind of grown. Yeah. And there is an emptiness and a need for, it I guess, for learning, for trying something new.
00:03:19
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Ruby was obviously... more so well I would say a little more gung-ho. Yeah. We like to take things at our own pace. Yes.
00:03:31
Speaker
But I mean, I really can understand that. Yeah, absolutely. And even like I had my last baby two, six weeks before i turned 30.
00:03:43
Speaker
So even that, I, I, yeah. I mean, it is a weird point when you go, okay, this is, this is it. This is done. And even with me, I even thought about growing in a fourth book.
00:03:54
Speaker
Then I thought about college prices. So we actually would have if my pregnancies were so difficult. Yeah. So, well, going on. So as Ruby rolled through her sister's videos, a spark of inspiration ignited.
00:04:08
Speaker
Ellie and Bonnie were becoming vanguards of family v blogging revolution. But wasn't Ruby the one with the largest brood of all? Six children, each a character in their own right, a ready-made cast for a new type of reality show.
00:04:24
Speaker
The potential was there waiting to be tapped. If Ellie and Bonnie could transform the mundane into goal, surely Ruby could. So, yeah. And this is like that sweet spot of social or not social media of reality TV has been established.
00:04:40
Speaker
It's not even like launched anymore. It is established. And so we see so-called regular people on TV. And then more and more people were realizing YouTube is that same outlet.
00:04:52
Speaker
Just you don't have to audition to be on The Bachelor. Yeah. And I mean, she, I mean, visually, she, she had a good eye. She had a, yeah. I mean, she quickly got on.
00:05:05
Speaker
She had a good house. I mean, which she could easily make her world look wonderful, I guess. Yeah. So Ruby Frankie was not just a mother, but a matriarch worthy of widespread admiration and emulation.
00:05:19
Speaker
I think that's a key, key line. Yeah. That's starred in my book. That's, yeah, I think that's, yeah. And it goes back to the, like, pregnancy and motherhood as a holy calling. Right. It's like, she had the most kids.
00:05:33
Speaker
She's doing best. Yeah. And, and her goal, yes, is to be a good mother, but she needs validation from everyone else. It's not just good enough.
00:05:44
Speaker
Right. The kids themselves are not good enough. She needs to be told. Exactly.
Family Blogging and LDS Practices
00:05:49
Speaker
So Eight Passengers is launched. Early 2015.
00:05:55
Speaker
And she went all in. Yeah, this was this was what she was doing. um Sherry says at first to her it seemed very innocent. Like this is just like her mom needs project.
00:06:07
Speaker
And then it took over everything. So this is a pretty short chapter. Yeah. But it does it goes on to talk about how LDS life really is aligned with and made perfectly with the blogging life.
00:06:22
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. The goal is to show everybody not just your perfect family, but your perfect Mormon family. Sherry writes, in many ways, family blogging is a very LDS-aligned pursuit, a natural expression extension of our traditional practices.
00:06:39
Speaker
Blogging offers a modern form of bearing testimony and keeping personal and family records while simultaneously engaging in passive missionary work. It hits everything. It does. hits the journaling. It hits the missionary work.
00:06:53
Speaker
It's amazing. Bearing testimony. Yep. And I mean, to some extent, I would believe, you know, the missionary work of the YouTube blogs, potentially more successful. Yeah.
00:07:04
Speaker
Than the traditional missionary work where you're going donor door to door, face to face with people. This is, if your platform is big enough, millions. Yep. Yeah, blogs to church members can share their faith values, daily lives to a global audience, potentially attracting interest in the church and its teaching.
00:07:25
Speaker
In a way, the synergy between YouTube and LDS families seemed almost predestined. Yeah, I think. Yeah. And it's also the thing of the very last chapter talks about like, things are, I mean, this wholesome family channel is what captured the attention of people, not salacious, kind of leisure stuff.
00:07:46
Speaker
It's a wholesome channel. And then of course it became a cautionary tale. Well, I mean, it kind of like the learning channel, you know, started one way and then had to become, yeah. Look at now. Yes, it had to had to change and evolve over time to keep viewers coming in. Yeah. All right, chapter nine.
The Franke Family's Rise to YouTube Fame
00:08:10
Speaker
Baby climbs out of a crib, not even a crib, just a crib. This is their first viral video that they're talking about, but they start talking about Sherry's discussing the first video that they ever did, which was ah video of ah gender the gender reveal of their sixth baby.
00:08:32
Speaker
I didn't realize this was like going back in time. It was an old video from 2013. Oh, okay. So it wasn't happening in real time. Okay. But then she used it kind of as like a gender reveal and then it would fade into a different memory that they'd recorded and fade to something else.
00:08:47
Speaker
Which quite honestly, that's pretty advanced for a first video. Yeah. mean, she is a creative. She's got talent. She does. And the drive to learn the things.
00:08:59
Speaker
Yeah. Because that wouldn't be easy.
00:09:03
Speaker
And she writes, nothing Oscar worthy by any means. wish I could go and see them. Yeah, I know. They are gone. so what do you think actually gender reveal?
00:09:13
Speaker
Did you ever do one? No, we didn't do an official one. Did you know? knew the first two and then we didn't find out what the third because we had one of each. So we were like, whatever. The third would be surprise. We have everything we need.
00:09:28
Speaker
Did you do i if My whole philosophy was it's so exciting when you have your baby. You know, because people are say i want the surprise. And it's, there's nothing that could be better at the moment you have your baby. That's how we felt.
00:09:43
Speaker
Than having your baby. So it's not, you can't make it better. yeah or you may can't make it more surprising. So I'd rather start celebrating and having the baby, feeling like the baby was real.
00:09:55
Speaker
Made it more real once you think that. Yeah, I kind of felt the same way. I'm also very anxious. And any Anything that I could control in the pregnancy, like knowing as much information, like may helped me with, I had really terrible pregnancy.
00:10:09
Speaker
So it like helped me be like, okay. And I could like refer to my boys like, okay, he, just like helped with some control things when I felt completely out control. also had boy and the girl. And then third was like, flip the coin, whatever. yeah
00:10:26
Speaker
Nice to knock out those two. Yes. All right. So, um, oh, so there's another video posted before the viral one that I didn't realize. And it's just like a quick video of them out to dinner with like Kevin's work friends trying sushi.
00:10:42
Speaker
Hey. And it was just like, spoiler alert. She's not a fan. The end.
00:10:50
Speaker
She being Ruby. Ruby. Yeah. But I do wonder if that kind of like set the precedent of, The kids are what people care about.
00:11:02
Speaker
yeah Yes. ah yeah It's not like they don't care about me trying sushi, but they see Sherry trying sushi. And how awkward for the work friends.
00:11:13
Speaker
I'm kind of surprised she's not a fan of sushi. I mean, I'm not, but she seems fancier. I think she's fake fancy.
00:11:21
Speaker
And I'm real fancy. Yes, you are. So I think this is where it becomes interesting. it A few days later, video number three, meet the eight passengers.
00:11:32
Speaker
Chad. Yeah. I thought it was at least she didn't go in birth order. Yeah. Well, and introducing my 10 year old blonde blue eyed prankster of a brother. it was cute and people liked it and so on.
00:11:46
Speaker
Like he was, whenever Chad was but on the thumbnail. Yeah. That's what they said in the, docuseries was if it were Chad and Sherry in the thumbnail.
00:11:57
Speaker
The viewers went up, but especially Chad. So do you think part of Ruby's angst toward him was a bit of jealousy? i think so. I think he got kind of like the same level of fame almost without having to do the work and not being perfect, like being the prankster and being goofy.
00:12:19
Speaker
Yeah, I think in some ways Chad is like think it is like kind of the perfection that they both like Chad and like I could I see Ruby as young wanting to be popular and cool yeah and I see and Kevin already said he wanted to be athletic and Chad kind of had all of it yeah so it's actually kind of odd that he's like yeah it's not ah their faith so yeah if its yeah i'm more of a Yeah, Chad seemed to have it all. But at the same time, even the perfect child and Sherry, they that wasn't enough.
00:12:52
Speaker
Yeah, no, no. and there were Yeah, so there I think they would find issues with whoever was the most popular kid. Yeah. And then I i don't want understand as much. the Well, the two middle kids, i you don't see as much of them yeah if you didn't follow the show. so Because the they're not the money mates, the older kids or the babies.
00:13:10
Speaker
Yep. Who makes the money. wonder if there's insecurities on the part of the middle. I wonder a lot about the middle too. I don't want to ask questions because that's none of our business, but I'm curious.
00:13:20
Speaker
And I hope like one day they'll maybe write their own book or share their story how they want to, or even if they want to, it's okay. But I'm just nosy. um I will say it is pouring rain. You hear rain.
00:13:34
Speaker
Can't do much about it. And we're not in our best ah setup here. So almost immediately Sherry hated the lack of privacy. Like the, It fell away fast.
00:13:46
Speaker
Sherry is quick to, she's got a good instinct. Yes.
00:13:53
Speaker
And yeah, I mean, of course she was oldest, so she was going to understand it best. But, but she was 12. That's right. such an awkward ti Such an awkward time. an awkward time.
00:14:05
Speaker
And yeah, I just can't just want to be alone so much at that age. You just want to be in your room and So this constant surveillance was excruciating.
00:14:17
Speaker
and can imagine. I was beginning to feel like a sideshow freak. Step right up and witness Sherry. An amazing, awkward adolescent in all her pinch-worthy glory. He says the worst part, the internet ate it up.
00:14:32
Speaker
Everyone seemed to love what Ruby was posting, which of course encouraged her to post more. So there was no escaping.
Privacy Concerns vs Business Opportunities
00:14:39
Speaker
Yep. Said like the phone was an extension of her arms.
00:14:44
Speaker
And yeah, it didn't, you didn't get the feeling that it was certain parts of the day set aside. It was just, and they showed that in the docuseries when Kevin like walks in from work and he's just like, I can't wait again.
00:14:57
Speaker
Yeah. and I mean, so I actually had an opportunity, like one of my favorite YouTube programs, I was actually able to go like spend a couple weeks with them. Now it wasn't quite like that, but there were times like, you know, we'd have a dinner and the phone would be there.
00:15:14
Speaker
You know, ah yeah I didn't think she was going to be out. Yeah. yeah And most of it was pretty not set up, but there would be times where you'd be like, okay, say that again. Or like, okay, that was funny.
00:15:28
Speaker
Right. Repeat But also I shouldn't say that at the same time, they fully respected if somebody did not want to be on camera. that was when you're in. When I was at the Chateau, fully respected anyone who did not want to be on camera. Yeah.
00:15:41
Speaker
So while Sherry was mourning the loss of her privacy, Ruby is treating YouTube as a business immediately. Quickly. She hyper-focused on hitting the thousand subscribers, which is where your channel is monetized.
00:15:54
Speaker
And it only took her six months. Pretty good. Yeah. I mean, we're we're almost on Ruby though. And we don't close any day now. Hit that 2 million.
00:16:05
Speaker
And our kids are fine. It's barely affecting them. Honestly.
00:16:12
Speaker
I think they'd be embarrassed if anyone i put together that they were. I mentioned it to one of my oldest friends once after they were like, don't say that again. sad.
00:16:25
Speaker
Pathetic. Yeah. People are always what's your channel? Like, yeah, it's very niche. So then July 9th, 2015 is where they hit their thousand subscribers and And after that, they posted ah video that was the first like viral big success video.
00:16:45
Speaker
And it was just like a super simple video of the two year old figuring out how to get out of her crib. And Ruby saying like, none of my other kids did this. How did you do this? And honestly, Sherry wrote writes, like she didn't understand why this was so exciting and so interesting.
00:17:03
Speaker
It's the hype you give something. mean, I, I don't think a two-year-old crawling out crib is that unusual, quite honestly. And quite honestly, I don't think she probably remembered how old her kids were the first time. And if she caught it on film, boy, that was it was very ah good timing.
00:17:20
Speaker
Fortuitous. But it's the thing also of like, she's building herself to be this perfect mom and even her baby can climb out of the crib. So if your baby's climbing out of the crib, it's completely relatable and understandable.
00:17:31
Speaker
But, and people, I mean, as parents, I feel like, Yeah. My baby crawled earlier. Well, that's not going to make them. My baby did this earlier.
00:17:42
Speaker
Well, hey, I mean, and we all do it though. I think so. But I don't think that's going to be. Let's say my first baby walked at eight months. And then when my second didn't, like, didn't walk until he was one, i was like what's wrong with this?
00:17:56
Speaker
and My doctor was like, no, there was something wrong with the first one. That's funny. But she had the whole world to share these things with. Yeah. Yeah. and could curate it however she wanted and give it the spin of whatever.
00:18:07
Speaker
Right. And everyone wanted to feel like they're part of this family. Yeah. And Sherry even said like, surely people are going to get bored of this. Little does she know. don't like, I just remember old TV shows and movies where it's like the grandparents would make you watch the old home movies. And it was like, so boring. It's not what you wanted to do.
00:18:29
Speaker
And then that's now we're watching other people. We're watching people we don't know. So it said ah by September that year, so a couple months later, they had reached 5,000 subscribers, then 10,000, then 400,000 come August, which is amazing.
00:18:45
Speaker
Amazing. You want to help us grow like that. Yeah. Like and subscribe. Feel free. and And then this is something cool. i It's amazing how they they said they reached from Louisiana to Laos, Kentucky to Kenya.
00:19:00
Speaker
And it it's surreal, and which it is. And so when we've had comments and somebody, made like someone's from Italy, we're like, are you kidding?