Inside The Family Ties Podcast's premiere episode, cohosts and sisters Kelley Richey and Julia Avery take a moment to introduce themselves, discuss highlights from their interconnected past, their passions, and what has inspired them to embark on this new journey together.
Sisters, Kelley Richey and Julia Avery,  love politics, art, fashion, film, music, psychology, animals, etc. While they love discussing these shared interests, they live so far away from each other and there's never enough time to talk as much as they would like. In their endeavor to get closer to one another, they decided to develop a podcast. This provides a structured and goal oriented platform to further research and delve deeper into the topics they are passionate about.

Meet Kelley Richey-   Home: Aurora, CO     Age: 32

Kelley was and is OBSESSED with horses. Her Mom and Dad thought this was a harmless phase and fed into it ignorantly by giving her horse figurines, books, etc. If it had a horse on it...SHE WANTED IT. One Christmas her Mom and Dad gave her a hand-made certificate that allotted her one riding lesson at a local farm. From then on, she worked full time at the stables in exchange for lessons. She has a one-track mind and is not easily distracted from her goals. She was GOING to have a horse someday.
Kelley was homeschooled all the way through Senior Graduation. Her experience with homeschooling is the main reason for a vast amount of insecurities. Of which include a hunch that she has always had a learning disability of some kind as well as issues with focus, depression, and anxiety.

At the age of 13 on Christmas, Kelley saw the newly released Lord of the Rings part 1. It changed her life and inspired her to make movies from then on! She became a super fan of Elijah Wood, who was her first serious crush/love. To this day she remains a fan with an embarrassing amount of posters and collectibles! Kelley had originally wanted her career to be within the Equestrian world. But then she realized that there was a big and beautiful world out there in which she could nurture her artistic side!
She has also used up at least 3 of her "9 lives", which will be a fun discussion in a future episode.

Meet Julia-   Home: Jacksonville, FL   Age: 27

Julia was homeschooled all the way through to Senior Graduation.  As a result of her homeschooling experience, to this day she also harbors fears of having a learning disability. And similarly to Kelley, deals with focus issues, test taking anxiety, etc.

Julia participated in a variety of random programs while growing up. For almost six years, she volunteered as an assistant to the teacher and owner of a Preschool run at a local church. She found it to be a very needed safe space and enjoyed it. She was forced by her Mom to participate in a program called Teen Court. It’s a great program for teenagers who aspire to work for the Legal System. Unfortunately that was one of the few things she had no interest in doing. 

Passions/Interests: EVERYTHING. Literally everything. When she was younger, she had a career schedule made, planning out a different career for each day of the week. Like her sister, Kelley, Julia shared a love for horses and accompanied her to the Horse Barn and Equestrian Shows. She also would work at the barn to earn free lessons. In addition, Julia would catch ride horses for some of the wealthier clients at the barn in order to show. Even though it was real work (and ahem! Child labor laws again anyone?) it was another safe space from home and she loved it!

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Cinema Verite: In this week’s episode, Kelley and Julia discuss their top two movies that could be their biopics, also delving into the darkness of mental health when untreated in relation to childhood trauma.

Kelley’s Picks
The Wolfpack: is a documentary film about homeschooled siblings, the Angulos,  who are locked inside their Manhattan apartment and held hostage from the outside world by their father. They found the escape they needed from their reality through watching and re-enacting their favorite movies. Kelley has specific memories of her and her siblings using the same coping mechanism as the Angulo siblings; reenacting movies to escape from reality. Similar to Kelley’s homeschooling experience, it did not seem as though the Angulos had a real school structure. As a result of her similar experience, Kelley has a blog dedicated to evaluating homeschooling from an analytical perspective. It is evident that isolation has an effect on socialization and is the reason the bonds between the Angulo siblings were so strong. Play acting was a way for them to pass the time and bond with each other. This coping technique was their attempt at controlling their environment through a pretend reality.
The Babadook: is about a single mother, distraught over her husband’s death, with a son who begins to fear a monster that is in the house. She soon discovers the Babadook for herself and can’t escape it. Kelley found herself emotionally drained at the end because she realized the mom in the movie was her mom. The mom allowed the idea of the Babadook to manifest. The Babadook represents the mental illness manifesting in hers and her son’s life. You can’t get rid of the Babadook. Kelley’s mom was just as good at creating fear. She would allow the kids to read adult, Frank Peretti books about demons fighting souls that proved to be terrifying for the kids. Even with companionship with other siblings, they were always fearful to sleep. Feared what was under the bed, closets, in the shower, cabinet, any hiding space.

Julia’s Picks
Tangled: is a Disney animation of a classic tale. Beautiful princess Rapunzel was kidnapped as a baby and trapped in a tower by Gothel. Her magical long blonde hair has the power to provide eternal youth, and the evil Gothel uses this power to keep her young. At the age of 18, Rapunzel becomes curious about the outside world, and when a prince uses her tower as a refuge, she asks him to help her escape. Julia found that the manipulation techniques used by Gothel were similar to her mom’s. Like Julia’s mom, Gothel made the things that Rapunzel wanted to do come across as a personal attack, using Gas lighting.
Carrie: is about a quiet and sensitive teen who experiences bullying at school and abuse from her mother at home. She discovers that she has supernatural powers and gets invited to go to the prom, where things end up taking a dark turn. After watching this movie, Julia was terrified by how closely her mom and Carrie’s mom resembled each other. Sex and body image was another striking similarity. Like Carrie’s mom, Julia’s mom considered boobs and curves to be dirty and shameful. The opening period scene was relatable due to the insensitivity of the situation. Julia shared the same despair as Carrie and had no idea what was happening. Her mom just shoved

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Cinema Verite

This week Kelley and Julia are thrilled to interview Bradley Onishi from the Straight White American Jesus podcast. They discuss homeschooling, purity culture, and the Quiverfull movement, as well as the social and political effects of Evangelical patriarchy on women and minorities.

Interview with Bradley Onishi of Straight White American Jesus

The Family Ties Podcast is a fresh and new series created and curated by two sisters on opposite sides of the United States who want to share their journey of staying connected through the weekly discussion of topics that both affect and inspire them.

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