Joyful Connections with Jennie Lea at the Wild Goose Festival

In this episode recorded at the Wild Goose Festival 2024, Tara interviews Jennie Lea, the creator of Dudes in Cute Shirts. They discuss the importance of forming connections through simple joys and shared moments, such as complimenting bright shirts or dancing in the rain. They also touch on the challenges of isolation, especially during the pandemic, and the significance of community and authentic self-expression. Jennie Lea shares her personal experiences of building connections and how small acts of kindness can make a big impact.

Transcript

S5 E21 Jennie Lea

Tara: [00:00:00] Welcome to Holy Shenanigans. I'm your muse, Tara Lamon Eastman, pastor, podcaster, and practitioner of Holy Shenanigans. Since September of 2020, we've been sharing stories of the sacred And every day we're so happy you're here bringing your own spiritual and theological questions, as well as your own experiences of the sacred.

Tara: This episode of Holy shenanigans was recorded at the wild goose festival in Union Grove, North Carolina, this July. And this is where I finally met the real Jennie Lea in person. I was first introduced to Jennie Lea by way of a creative social media [00:01:00] photography experiment called hashtag dudes in cute shirts.

Tara: Join Jennie and I live from the wild goose as we share a conversation about the joyful origins of dudes in cute shirts and how it has become a sacred opportunity. For human connection. Hi there friends of Holy Shenanigans Podcast. This is Tara Lamont Eastman and I am coming to you from Wild Goose 2024. It is a beautiful day here in Union Grove, North Carolina. Just a, you know, mild 90 some degrees. Yeah, just a little bit sweaty. And I am here with Jennie Lea and we met 

Tara: through a wonderful, holy shenanigan that she is doing in the world. Dudes in [00:02:00] cute shirts. Dudes in cute shirts, yes. I was captivated by the fact that , wherever you went around the world, you were like, Oh, this is a way of connecting with people. And I just thought it was beautiful. Sometimes as women in the world, having those kind of just friendly conversations. With guys can be a challenging space, and yet you just have this beautiful way of creating community with people. That I was just really like, Oh, that's a beautiful way to, , build friendships and to break down some of these barriers between gender and understanding of who we are. Here at the wild goose, we're talking about connections all this weekend.

Tara: And so I'm wondering, , How did you come up with dudes in cute shirts? It's, I would say, I didn't 

Jennie Lea: actually come up with it. Okay. I was at a festival with someone and I said I love that guy's shirt I was all squealy and like fangirly and they said you should just go take a picture with them and I was like Okay, and I don't [00:03:00] know which one of us said it first We're like dudes and cute shirts and I did it and then surprisingly I started noticing people wearing bright clothing and much it actually brought joy to everyone around them.

Jennie Lea: And so I go tell them, I like your shirt, that makes me happy, you know. And every single time someone would laugh or smile. Everybody smiles. We're getting endorphins. People laugh. I get to ask them questions about themselves. , I've had people hug me and say , I so needed that today. Yeah. At times where I'm like, I just really don't feel like going out there and putting myself out there but I have so many now friends who have told me, your posts make my day.

Jennie Lea: Yeah. So not even being a part of it, it brings them joy. Right. Or they'll notice someone in a shirt that's bright or happy or whatever, and they'll say, don't you want to go do that? 

Tara: Yeah and that is such an [00:04:00] important. Point of connection. I mean I can hear it in your voice and I can see it in your face as we sit here under this beautiful shade so much of life there's a sense of isolation that people feel and this podcast Began in the middle of the pandemic I was in a new call as a pastor and two weeks later, the world shut down.

Tara: Yeah. I was in a totally new place, didn't know anybody 250 miles away from where I had come. Wow. And separated from family because of, , restrictions and, from people's health. And so my spouse and I were like, this is a really hard time and we're apart, but 

Tara: how can we work on something together, do something that's, , edifying to our spirits and also share something in the world that can help others to make people not feel so isolated to bring a sense of connection and encouragement in a playful way that also invites the [00:05:00] divine into the conversation.

Tara: And I found so many times You know, every Sunday when I get a sermon that sometimes I'll have this, what I think is a throw away idea or this last minute concept, right? Or, you know, and or I bring in, you know, bubble wands to talk about how the spirit of God moves around, between within and through us.

Tara: And I have all of these people blowing little bubbles and those. beautiful marble little chapel. Yeah, nice. And the thing that they remember is the bubbles. Yeah. Yeah. 

Jennie Lea: It is. , I think having a child helped me with that.

Jennie Lea: Yeah. Because she would notice things that I was longing to remember. I have a video of us just like, dancing in the rain, and I was like, I seriously thought my phone was going to die because I was still holding it out recording in the rain. I'm thinking, and I can hear in the recording, going, Marl, you know, like it mumbled, it mumbled [00:06:00] the recording.

Jennie Lea: I thought, my phone is going to die in this process. But she was just like looking at me and swear she did like river dance. Like she kept doing this like, kind of like, I don't know. She was very emboldened, it was a definite moment because we were both like, Where is it going to go?

Jennie Lea: Get in the rain and feel it in our bodies and enjoy that moment. Yeah. , even now it's like when we create those moments, the memory of it still. I'm playing the video in my mind, in my heart. You know, I can feel it swelling. I can feel the goodness. I can feel the endorphins. I can feel all the good things that moment.

Tara: I think that those kind of precious moments are often underestimated. And again, , I really appreciate, that example of, dudes in cute shirts. Or, you know, blowing bubbles, or, , dancing in the rain. Those are all examples of ways to embody all of who we are and [00:07:00] also, invite the sacred into that space.

Tara: Yeah. Yeah. And so today at the Wild Goose, you were presenting a table talk, and you brought some treasures with you. Yes. And I wonder if you could describe for us what you have here. 

Jennie Lea: I will shake one just for sound, but 

Jennie Lea: it's I went through the art tent, and just collected objects into similar 

Jennie Lea: Everybody has a unique item, they have ten of them. And when we share our story, whether it be joy, absurdity, obscenity, pain, we would take one of our objects out and share it to the table

Jennie Lea: being able to see it visually that when you speak out loud and you say the things that are happening in your life, you do give them away to someone else. Mm hmm. And that they either take the burden off of you, Yeah.

Jennie Lea: Yeah. So it's, another vehicle. [00:08:00] It's not cute shirts. It's not bubbles. It's not rain dance, but it's, another tangible way of living into that joy in the present. 

Jennie Lea: I hope so. Yeah. 

Tara: Yeah. Yeah. Or whatever folks need to bring to that space. Yeah. Yeah. Right. 

Jennie Lea: There was obviously some awkwardness in it, , and that's what I even said, too, is like.

Jennie Lea: When you're learning to speak your voice, especially if it's been suppressed in any way, it will be awkward. It will come out too loud. It will come out too quiet. It will come out too angry. 

Tara: It 

Jennie Lea: will come out, , not really meaning exactly what you meant. But the more you practice, this kind of thing helps.

Jennie Lea: Yeah. Us remember who we are and the uniqueness of who we are. Yeah. 

Tara: Can you say more about that call for people to speak and use their own voice and live into that authenticity? . 

Jennie Lea: I had a friend tell me, you are one of the bravest, strongest, most kind, loving people that I know.

Tara: Hmm. [00:09:00] 

Jennie Lea: I hope that you're cashing in a lot of favors right now. 

Tara: Hmm. 

Jennie Lea: And reaching out. And telling people what your needs, and that has been extremely hard. 

Tara: Hmm. 

Jennie Lea: But I've done it So you might say I have this need this other person says I have plenty of that And we try to read too hard into like, well does that person have enough, like, love to give it to me if I ask them for their love?

Jennie Lea: Or does that person have it? But sometimes we just throw it out there and say, I need this specific type of care right now. Yeah. I have been blown away , by people who just suddenly like, are overjoyed I have so much of this and I haven't been trying to figure out where to give it Yeah, and you just giving me an opportunity to give it and i'm so excited to do so and that's happened a lot more lately and it takes a lot of Like a shit ton of humility for me it feels like that.

Jennie Lea: Yeah, don't want to seem weak. I [00:10:00] don't want to seem like I don't have my shit together but the connections I've made with people and the love that I've felt from people and the hope that it's given me is 

Tara: profound. yeah, thank you for that explanation because there can be in our just general daily lives of, you know, being strong or intelligent to speak a certain way and to present in a way that is this gloss, right that is not real or sustainable and to be able to come to a space.

Tara: Like Wild Goose, where there is a sense of authenticity and sharing that is unique, but also needed in the world. Like, I mean, that's part of, with Wild Goose, , we come together, and then we're called to carry those things out in the world. Refreshed, 

Jennie Lea: yeah. Yeah. It's like, your cup got filled up, yeah.

Tara: Do you have story of a holy shenanigan or a joy that you would like to share with [00:11:00] us?

Tara: Well, 

Jennie Lea: I woke up Monday morning. And my autoimmune stuff, and I woke up and I couldn't even hardly move my left arm. And I was like, there's no way I'm gonna be able to camp, sleep on the ground, You know, the temperature changes and all that stuff. Yeah. This is gonna be hell. So I was like, anybody wanna share a hotel room?

Jennie Lea: Cause I was looking at rates and I'm like, hmm. But you know what? I get a couple people to go. This wouldn't be too bad. I could probably do this and swing it. I had a couple people reach out and one fell through at the last minute and so then I reached out to the second person and They were like cool, but we hadn't connected yet 

Tara: Mm hmm 

Jennie Lea: I Just kept doing these routes where I'd walk around because I was just like I need a walk and it breathes I just needed to go around and just kind of feel the energy and walk and I made eye contact with this woman at a food Truck, I think yeah, and then I just said hi, so we made eye contact Let's talk and we started talking a little bit and then she introduced herself and I was like, oh my god \ jenny, you know, and she's like, oh my [00:12:00] god She was the one i'd been emailing.

Jennie Lea: Oh my goodness. That had offered me a bed Oh, and so now I told her, you were the only stranger that I talked to today. Wow. Everybody else is somebody I'd already known. You're the only person. I felt the courage to go ahead and just push myself and try to get to know a new person and do the extroverted thing that is, you know, whatever.

Jennie Lea: I wasn't feeling that energy at all and that Yeah. But I felt it when I looked at her. Yeah. And I just did it. And that was your person. And it was! I mean, it's been great. It's so weird. 

Jennie Lea: One of the tips I gave to somebody who was their first year at the Goose. And he was asking, The same way a lot of us do when we first go, like, What are all the things I want to go to? And what are all the talks I want to go to?

Jennie Lea: And let me highlight everything and , be really organized. And it's like, I encourage you just to walk the grounds. And if you make eye contact with someone, stop and talk to that person. Because their story is important. And your story is important. And you will be blown away.

Tara: I think that's wonderful. [00:13:00] Thank you for sharing that holy shenanigans story here from the wild goose.

Tara: If folks are trying to find you on the interwebs, where can they find you? 

Jennie Lea: Instagram is probably the best, and it's TheRealJennie.Lea, J E N N I E L E A. 

Tara: Like your little jars with the little tokens of our stories, you can choose. to give that stone to someone else, or you can choose to hold on to it. You know, you can have autonomy over those stories and also courage to try. I'm so glad that the love that you share in the world with dudes in cute shirts connected us.

Tara: And it's such a joy to meet you today and you know, me, you continue all of the wonderful holy shenanigans. That is you, Jennie Lea. 

Tara: And for our Holy Shenanigans today, , thank you so much for joining us here from the [00:14:00] Wild Goose Festival and being on this always sacred, never stuffy journey that is Holy Shenanigans podcast.

Tara: Thank you, Jennie Lea, for your joy and efforts to build a more meaningful and connected world to connect with Jennie Lea on Facebook or Instagram, use the hashtag dudes in cute shirts, or find her at the real Jennie dot Lea.

Tara: To learn more about the wild goose festival, go to wild goose festival. org. I am your holy shenanigans. Muse. Tara Lamont Eastman. Thank you for joining us this week for holy shenanigans that surprise, encourage, redirect, and turn life upside down all in the name of love. This is an unpredictable spiritual adventure that is always sacred, [00:15:00] but never stuffy.

Tara: Thanks to Ian Eastman for sound production and editing. You can help the holy shenanigans to continue by supporting us at www. holyshenanigans. org. BuyMeACoffee. com backslash Tara L. Eastman. Until next time, may you be well, may you be at peace, and may you know that you are always beloved. And yes, that shirt is really cute.