0:01

All over the country we need to

0:03

improve reading in Wisconsin. Schools are changing.

0:05

The. Way they teach reading. I'm calling

0:07

for a nude focus on the nurse

0:09

and the government's role in New York

0:12

in all across the nation. And it's

0:14

happening because of a podcast. I

0:16

think you're are practicing my record

0:18

it to everyone I meet. Sold.

0:21

The story investigates how teaching. Kids to

0:23

Read went wrong. New episodes of sold

0:26

The Story are available now. This

0:31

is a Cbc podcast. We

0:38

were. All in the saloon having this

0:40

like heated debate about everything that was

0:42

going on in the world at the

0:44

time in two thousand and seven kind

0:47

of the attempted retreat of soldiers out

0:49

of Iraq. You know,

0:51

the whole oil prices? George Bush.

0:54

Laurel, The confident, well like twelve year

0:56

old leader of the Green District is

0:58

recalling when the subject of politics came

1:00

up on Kid Nation. So that

1:03

was such a such a clinical

1:05

moment in also interested American history

1:07

and in world history at that

1:09

time of everything that was going

1:11

on in the Middle East and

1:13

it was heated. By

1:15

two thousand and seven, the Us Led

1:17

invasion of Iraq had entered it's six

1:19

and most deadly year. The.

1:22

Country had descended into a brutal

1:24

civil war. Iraqi civilians were dying

1:26

by their thousands and each month

1:28

the bodies of hundreds of Us

1:30

soldiers were returning home and flag

1:32

draped coffins. President Bush had just

1:34

announced the deployment of another twenty

1:36

thousand troops. There were kids

1:38

there who had dad's in Iraq. You know

1:40

they were kids there who were truly affected

1:42

by what was going on. and you know

1:45

I haven't seen dad and seven months cause

1:47

he's fighting this war that none of us

1:49

agree with and then you would hear people

1:51

from another bug been like by heard x

1:53

y z person thinks that this whereas a

1:55

great idea blah blah blah I mean and

1:57

every producer was in the room watching this

1:59

on. We're gonna. We're to pursue

2:01

these kids sitting around a fake

2:04

saloon in a fake frontier town

2:06

in the desert discuss things geopolitics

2:08

sense us, foreign policy, But

2:10

for Laurel, who grew up outside of

2:12

Boston with her mom or dad or

2:15

older brother, arguing about politics was a

2:17

favorite pastime. I. Think

2:19

it was on my very last

2:21

interview er en Los Angeles. what

2:23

thought and and seal the subject

2:25

in one of my interviews about

2:27

the Iraq War and my father

2:29

being a Federal Agent for Homeland.

2:31

Security. And you know

2:33

with very prominent in what he was

2:36

doing for his job every single day,

2:38

especially around that time. So I remember

2:40

hearing all of his complaints about it,

2:43

all of his confusion about the war.

2:45

In a way he was tenants supporting

2:47

something he didn't support. Now

2:52

I can say is talking about

2:54

the war in Iraq was normally

2:56

a part of the casting process

2:58

for this so with an all

3:00

tude tests but when this casting

3:02

producer started defending be invasion it's

3:04

a moral off. I always

3:06

had. Any to find

3:08

a more eloquent way of saying this: Balls

3:10

like this. Ah

3:12

what spurred courage. Bravery but balls is the best

3:14

way to put it's an I was like will.

3:17

They were no weapons of mass destruction. There was

3:19

no evidence of that. So why would we ever

3:21

invade a country that there was no evidence that

3:23

they they were ever going to attack us? And

3:25

even though it was only like a five minutes

3:28

a day. We went at

3:30

it and we really I mean I know I

3:32

get not disrespectfully that I think I remember the

3:34

look on his face is part of looking at

3:36

everyone else like to I keep go into I

3:38

saw two assists. The fact that I wasn't intimidated

3:40

by this forty year old man I was told

3:42

was one of the reasons why they made me

3:44

one of the leaders. Button. For

3:47

moon. Laurel remembers the although

3:49

the argument not he did it

3:51

at least felt productive. Particularly.

3:54

i think as in america the twenty

3:56

six team debates with hillary clinton and

3:58

donald trump and just the

4:01

ridiculousness that came out

4:03

of those debates. That was

4:05

a media circus trainwag.

4:08

We were able to have more respectful

4:10

conversations at that time in our lives

4:13

than these billionaire politicians were able to

4:15

do. I was able to look

4:18

at Taylor, who was borderline saluting George

4:20

Bush, and be able to

4:22

say, I'm going to roll my eyes at you, but I'm

4:24

still going to hang out with you when this is all

4:26

over. It really is one of those

4:28

moments that restores your faith in the

4:31

premise of Kid Nation. This idea

4:33

that unjaded kids can really

4:35

teach us world-weary adults more than a thing

4:37

or two. Except, for

4:41

some reason, this

4:43

whole scene or episode where the

4:45

kids discuss politics, it

4:47

never actually makes it onto the show. I

4:50

wish so badly that that got aired,

4:52

because I think it could possibly be

4:55

used in political

4:57

classes of like, look at how these children were

4:59

able to talk to each other in

5:01

a way that the leaders of the free

5:03

world were unable to. Who

5:10

knows why it didn't air? Perhaps in

5:13

that political climate, producers felt criticizing

5:15

the American invasion was too controversial.

5:19

This was the age of freedom

5:21

and patriotism and support the troops

5:23

and American flags and us versus

5:25

them. But politics?

5:28

That was only the beginning. See,

5:30

the producers had plenty of topics to let

5:32

the kids lose on, topics

5:35

that would end up being much more

5:37

controversial. In that

5:40

footage, it would make it

5:42

to air. I'm

5:44

Josh Gwen. I'm an audio creative, and

5:46

a lot of the work I do

5:48

focuses on the impact of pop culture,

5:51

not just as entertainment, but as a

5:54

lens that allows us to ask questions

5:56

about ourselves And the world we live in.

6:00

I want to know. Look at Sydney's

6:02

In V Re about and what does

6:04

this outlandish to the experiment tell us

6:06

about our culture and how it's changed.

6:10

From Cbc this is

6:13

split screen Kidneys Episode

6:15

Four Little People Big

6:17

Idea. Then

6:32

set up a third producers announce a

6:34

vague shake up the forty from a

6:37

town council who arrived by chopper on

6:39

the first day for told that their

6:41

roles for suddenly up for grabs There.

6:43

Are sitting there. Listening

6:46

sent us will need to said there's

6:48

gonna be or a Alexis and in

6:50

that moment I honestly I knew. Somebody

6:54

was going to run against Anja. It. Although

6:58

he was from a town council by

7:00

producers of the beginning of the so

7:03

twelve year old on during with his

7:05

bow tie in his transitions glasses was

7:07

not obvious leadership materials and so when

7:09

the election rolls around Olivia's season or

7:12

opportunity and I about point gonna go

7:14

and start working to figure out who's

7:16

gonna be on my side, who's not

7:18

and doing a kind of politicking that

7:21

is kind of necessary. For me

7:23

with kind of an opportunity to find my

7:25

voice and try to be something I had

7:27

never got into. Be back at my school

7:30

out at some point. Olivia says she's gonna

7:32

run it against me and that one. I

7:34

know that the producers definitely like Savino. Got

7:36

her riled up.me riled up. We

7:39

were never each other's to defend

7:41

at the beginning. Honestly, I viewed

7:43

him as kind of spineless and

7:45

see I think view me as

7:48

kind of obnoxious. As

7:52

the elections heat up. The. Candidates have

7:54

to give campaign speeches in front

7:56

of the whole town. And.

7:58

It's not long before the. The campaign

8:00

starts to get Olivia and Anja. I

8:03

was nervous about doing that speech. They

8:05

had pressed this dirt. On

8:08

on A. By that point I

8:10

kind of felt like. While.

8:13

A lot of the town supported

8:15

me. Ah, I knew that

8:17

Greg and his. Friends

8:19

did not. I. Definitely had

8:21

a little bit of me against the world

8:23

mentality going into that speech. I wanted to

8:25

fit in. I wanted to show that I could be deleted. I wanted

8:28

to show like to be one of the bigger kids. With.

8:30

All the love of the world's Livia There's a

8:32

pretty why girls over here and a brown guy

8:34

with them all caught like a dance. Not even

8:36

a context? Come on. This. Assume rascally

8:38

me to go way before I like lose my shit. That

8:42

was. When I now realize a

8:44

panic attack. And. Anxiety attack.

8:46

On. Tv. I'd.

8:50

Just was in a situation I was overloaded, I

8:52

didn't know what to do and I felt sick

8:54

to my stomach and my mind was just about

8:56

twenty jump the tracks. Never

8:58

been in that situation where been linked directly confronted

9:00

with a thing as already felt pretty insecure about

9:02

my i'm Not when he was ah Flaherty Qantas

9:04

other someone who's been like a thorn in my

9:06

said anything to do what we take any. They.

9:13

Sat us all down in the

9:16

town Hall and just had us

9:18

right out our boats on pieces

9:20

of paper and turn them on.

9:23

I was a little helpful, but

9:25

honestly very nervous that Greg controlled

9:27

enough of the vote to. Make

9:30

sure that I didn't when I mean, as

9:32

the votes are being counted, I was incredibly

9:34

nervous. I knew that. I

9:36

had done the best I could the campaign,

9:39

but there's always a chance that things don't

9:41

go in my favor. before

9:44

the final ballots are cast the

9:46

original members of the towns home

9:48

for have one final piece of

9:50

business to attend a warning a

9:53

twenty thousand dollar gold star olivia

9:55

watches on in horror as greg

9:57

is announced the lucky winner For

10:00

him, it's an emotional moment. Remember you gave that

10:02

tearful speech about how the money means that he's

10:04

gonna be able to afford college Not

10:08

everyone was pleased though. I

10:10

mean I saw Greg win the gold

10:12

star and I thought I've just lost the election Andre

10:15

has just paid this man twenty thousand dollars to

10:17

make sure that he gets the votes

10:21

Now, of course that was a

10:23

little bit conspiracy-stirrest of me for

10:25

thinking that but you know in

10:27

my mind at the time That's

10:29

really what I thought was that oh

10:31

my gosh, Andre just paid off Greg

10:34

to win him the election Each

10:43

district member votes for someone in their district

10:45

once you fill out your ballots shove them

10:48

into these boxes then I'll count them up

10:51

on your mark get set pioneers

10:57

With a glance in his eye Jonathan

10:59

Karsh starts announcing the results as Expected

11:03

Laurel is reelected as the leader of

11:05

the Green District unopposed But

11:07

there's two new faces There's

11:10

ten-year-old plucky pioneer Zach who beats Taylor

11:12

to become the leader of the yellows

11:15

and an 11 year old named Guylyn who

11:17

becomes leader of the Reds all

11:19

that's left is the blue district results One

11:23

by one the votes come in Jonathan

11:26

Karsh starts reading them aloud and

11:28

of course the producers are doing their sequencing of

11:30

events is for maximum drama you know one vote

11:32

here one vote there and Jonathan's

11:35

got the votes in his ear and

11:37

they're tallying and talking. That's three for

11:39

anj The

11:43

race is neck and neck, but there's

11:45

four more Atchas!

11:52

Atchas! Atchas! Atchas!

12:04

You see your seat on the.

12:08

You know a very much for leave

12:10

when I realize that one but very

12:12

you know aware that in some quite

12:14

close to losing. Weight. That have

12:16

gone either way. Oh I felt like

12:18

such a loser. I

12:21

felt like settlers or and I

12:23

had just lost. An. Election

12:25

to. A. Kid who

12:27

and in the town thought was

12:29

a good leader. So

12:31

what does that say about me? That.

12:35

I'd be even worse cause

12:37

I was super embarrassed. It

12:40

was definitely a punch to the does. Most

12:44

of whom are some episode the

12:46

producer seem to be saying look,

12:48

see these kids can do democracy

12:50

It's a moment that should have

12:52

steered the show back to it's

12:54

early ambition. Except just

12:56

like the producers decided to cut

12:58

the kids do wants discussion about

13:01

Iraq the drama of the lexing.

13:03

it's also emphasized at the expense

13:05

of something more meaningful. Would

13:09

started to needed to explore

13:11

christians about politics and principle.

13:14

it's reduced to superficial popularity

13:16

contest. And it

13:19

doesn't stop there. As

13:21

Olivia and ons it's also go

13:23

head to head on Another tiny

13:25

little non controversial topic. God.

13:33

All over the country we need to

13:35

improve reading and schools are changing the

13:37

way they teach reading. I'm calling for

13:40

a new to focus on but or

13:42

simeon. Into your. Nieces

13:45

and it's happening because of a

13:48

podcast I. Think your podcast saved my

13:50

life and I said he says is that

13:52

everyone I meet. Saw the story investigates

13:54

how teaching kids to read went wrong.

13:57

New episodes of Sold The Story, All

13:59

The Mobile. Roughly

14:04

midway through the series, the town council

14:07

sent off to read the journal. You

14:09

know, the instruction manual supposedly passed

14:12

down from the original inhabitants of

14:14

Bonanza City, and in this

14:16

manual, they find a request to

14:18

bring the pioneers together for a

14:20

joint religious service. My

14:23

thought was that we were all going to talk about our

14:25

different religions and find the similarities between all of them. Here's

14:27

Laurel. But in America, there

14:30

are some people that are just

14:32

so devoutly tied

14:34

to their religion, particularly to

14:36

their Christianity, that even

14:39

entertaining the thought of

14:41

having a conversation about someone else's

14:43

religion is directly attacking their own. For

14:46

some of the pioneers, the idea of a joint

14:48

religious service might as well have

14:51

been dreamt up by Satan himself. There

14:53

were a lot of people who were

14:55

from all different religions, and

14:58

that there was not

15:01

really much in common that every single

15:03

person had when it came to religious

15:06

views in the room. And

15:08

so I understood

15:10

that we wouldn't be able to even agree

15:12

on who we were praying to, and so

15:15

the idea seemed silly to me after that.

15:18

You know, there were just fundamental things

15:21

that people disagreed on. On

15:24

screen, Olivia raises her hand and accuses

15:26

her election rival, Anjai, of pushing an

15:29

idea that she thinks will cause chaos.

15:32

Really, it's all in one service,

15:34

and everybody's in service with women. And

15:36

you really want to put your kids all

15:39

in one place? Olivia, no, no, no. You don't

15:41

want to tell me. Tell me, do you? Olivia,

15:43

do you? He did not like that

15:45

I just had to say every single thing that was

15:48

on my mind. The room erupts in

15:50

arguments. What is wrong with learning about other

15:52

religions? Are you so afraid of

15:54

the other religions that you are saying we don't care

15:56

about them? Everyone

16:01

to All these years later Andrea

16:03

Joe to is still perplexed by

16:05

the response. Oh, I'm already

16:07

back in that room where we announced that doing

16:09

service and I december. Everybody.

16:12

Being angry all at once. It

16:15

was even like a slow build. It

16:17

was just absolutely not I just with

16:19

zero to one hundred in a matter

16:22

of seconds. As.

16:24

Ever but erupts into yelling and

16:26

just. Insanity.

16:31

Part. Of the reasons on day some,

16:33

the intensity of these arguments so disorienting

16:36

was that they were so far removed

16:38

from anything he experience growing up. My

16:42

childhood was i think a fairly

16:44

decent one mile standards. My parents

16:46

for any a fairly standard days

16:48

and parents pay for immigrants said

16:50

this country to the United States

16:52

from Diana. In. The

16:55

late eighties had me and

16:57

Ninety Four and. They

17:00

adding put everything into making sure that I

17:02

had every shot of success available to me.

17:06

I. Was reading by age two and a

17:08

half, doing spelling bees by age three and

17:10

four, and. More often than not,

17:12

I'm pretty sure I've had to get a

17:14

call him the school saying you know, stay

17:17

your kids the something class as he's bored.

17:19

can we? I'm do something about that And

17:21

so as a kid I guess I just

17:23

kind of kind of a nerd. I'd still

17:25

am hundred and my. Teachers.

17:27

So my parents about the Script Southern Be program

17:30

and I made into the Nasa selling these three

17:32

times in two thousand and three, Two thousand and

17:34

Five and two Thousand Six. I

17:39

just eight years old, Andre became the

17:41

youngest person at the time to enter

17:43

the National Spelling Bee, which is how

17:46

he caught the attention of Cbs casting

17:48

producers. To. Grow up

17:50

in a Hindu household and conservative

17:52

Texas. I lived in suburban Taxes

17:54

and was a lot of you know. Conservative.

17:57

Christianity around and they weren't

17:59

racist. outwardly, but you know the first question you'd ask

18:01

when you meet somebody is, hey what's your name, what do you

18:03

do for work, and what church do you go to? And no

18:06

ill will was meant by it, it's just how it was, that

18:08

was just how they'd grown up. Andre

18:11

always felt like a little bit

18:13

of an outsider, but that became

18:15

a lot more intense after 2001.

18:19

Even though Kid Nation was filmed in 2007, six years after

18:23

the events of September 11th, it

18:26

kind of felt like no time

18:28

had passed at all, the

18:30

United States was still stuck, frozen

18:33

in this us versus

18:35

them sort of mindset. Post

18:37

9-11, hate crimes against

18:39

Muslims and people of Arab and

18:41

South Asian descent increased drastically. I

18:44

remember exactly where I was when the towers

18:46

came down. I was

18:49

up at the crack of dawn getting ready for school,

18:51

listening to 99.1 KGGI, my

18:53

favorite radio station at the time,

18:55

whose slogan was hip-hop imaaz. But

18:59

that morning, I remember

19:01

one of my favorite DJs coming in after the

19:03

song with this tone

19:06

that I can only describe

19:08

as scattered, like

19:10

unsure, fearful.

19:14

He explained that if you were near a television, you

19:16

should probably turn on the news, and

19:20

that's when I ran to my parents room

19:22

where the TV was already on. No

19:26

one was breathing as we watched the second

19:28

plane go into that second tower, and

19:30

time stood still. And

19:33

I looked at my parents who looked back at me

19:36

with the same questions that I had. I

19:48

remember the next year, Disney ran a PSA with all of

19:51

its stars. We're

20:00

talking the Raven-Simone-Hillary-Duff era, where they

20:02

talked about 9-11 and their feelings

20:05

about it. I

20:07

bring this up to say that these

20:10

conversations were happening at

20:12

all parts, at all corners and ages of our

20:14

culture at that point. It

20:24

was not weird to see kids

20:27

talking about things like patriotism or

20:29

religion. And

20:32

it felt like religion was being used as

20:35

a proxy to talk about racial anxiety. It

20:38

truly felt like regardless of where you

20:40

were in the States, if you walked

20:42

into a random mall and started asking

20:44

people the difference between Sunni and Shia,

20:46

between a Muslim and someone who was

20:48

Sikh or Hindu, the difference between Iraq

20:50

and Iran, people wouldn't

20:53

be able to tell you. And

20:55

so my parents made it clear, hey, don't rock the

20:57

boat. You just say, hey, I go to a temple,

20:59

I'm Hindu. If someone needs

21:01

to lead a prayer for something, you just

21:03

sit there, fold your hands, and whatever you

21:05

do, do not rock that boat, because it

21:08

could get interesting. And

21:11

I didn't realize how much of a

21:13

serious discussion this was until much later in my life,

21:15

because I was just like, okay, I just don't want

21:17

to get into an argument or get made fun of

21:19

for being Hindu. Not that this could be life-threatening in

21:21

later situations, as it may have appeared to them. And

21:25

I didn't realize how divisive religion was in America

21:28

until about that point in my life when I

21:30

see everyone yelling about the simple fact of having

21:32

to spend two hours sitting and listening to another

21:34

person's teachings. Like

21:41

smoke in the air, it felt

21:43

like you couldn't go anywhere

21:45

and avoid this anti-Muslim, anti-Arab

21:47

sentiment. In 2008, a

21:50

year after Kid Nation, then-Presidential

21:52

candidate John McCain was at a town

21:54

hall in Minnesota when a woman told

21:56

him that she didn't trust McCain's opponent.

22:00

When Barack Hussein Obama

22:02

because he was an

22:04

Arab. In what

22:06

was later described as an example

22:08

of Mccain sense of integrity and

22:10

honesty, he stops the woman mid

22:12

sentence and says. He. Says

22:15

is a decent family man citizens

22:17

that I just happen to have

22:19

disagreements with on on fundamental issues

22:21

and that's what this campaign is

22:23

all about. The idea that Mccain

22:25

would be called brave for saying

22:27

that Obama was an Arab as

22:29

though being of Arab descent is

22:31

bad, but instead a decent family

22:33

man and citizen as the people

22:36

of Arab descent can't be, Those

22:38

things just goes to show you

22:40

how backwards these conversations with. Also.

22:44

Toni Morrison said the function,

22:46

the very serious function of

22:48

racism is distraction. It

22:51

keeps you from doing your work. It

22:53

keeps you explaining over and over again

22:55

your reason for being. Somebody.

22:57

Says you have no language in you. spend

23:00

twenty years proving that to do Somebody says

23:02

your head isn't say properly so you have

23:04

scientists were gone. The fact that it is

23:06

someone says you have no, aren't see, dredge

23:08

that up. Someone says you have no kingdom

23:11

for you. Dredge that up. None of this

23:13

is necessary. There will always

23:15

be one more thing. That.

23:18

Has all the say. To. Have brown skin

23:21

and be on television at a

23:23

time like this team with a

23:25

lot of best. And

23:27

the more producers put pioneers to

23:29

talk about religion. The. More

23:31

on, Jay was forced to confront

23:34

just how different see would be

23:36

perceived in certain parts of America.

23:44

They were sincere. even

23:53

though the meeting to discuss the

23:55

religious service and when complete disarray

23:57

the town council decides to him

24:00

the service anyway. Almost

24:02

nobody shows up. I

24:04

guess no one likes state-enforced religion. But

24:06

then later that night something

24:08

special happens. One of the

24:10

pioneers, a 12 year old Green District member

24:12

named Morgan, brings everyone together

24:15

around a bonfire. A

24:17

spontaneous informal prayer session

24:19

takes place with kids from different

24:21

faiths offering their own prayers. So

24:24

something that they didn't show

24:26

too much of and what

24:29

we ended up doing actually was that

24:32

several of us thought if we

24:34

want to hold religious services that's completely fine.

24:36

Let's do that. But let's hold a different

24:38

religious service for each religion and people can

24:40

go to whichever ones they want to go

24:42

to. But when you look at

24:44

that episode you see us holding

24:47

an Easter service and lots of different kids going

24:49

to that. So Zach was Jewish

24:51

so he did some readings and some of it

24:53

was in Hebrew and you know these kind of

24:55

things and we were curious. We just wanted to

24:57

see you know what

24:59

this part of these other kids lives were like. Anjay

25:03

is nervous but he takes the opportunity

25:05

to celebrate his Hindu faith and performs

25:08

a ceremony in front of the other

25:10

kids. When

25:12

I did my Hindu ceremony my puja

25:14

during the show I thought it was

25:16

important to show who I was and

25:18

it was important for me to show my culture especially

25:21

in a positive light. Because

25:23

when I realized that people started asking questions and

25:26

that they didn't really know what they were talking about

25:28

when it came to being Hindu so I said let

25:30

me do something that shows this is

25:32

my culture this is what it is this is why it's

25:34

important to me. For

25:37

me this scene is almost ruined by

25:39

the producers filling the need to add

25:41

this cliche Middle Eastern music. Just

25:44

carrying that list of gods is considered

25:46

to be holy. But

25:56

still it's nice to see the

25:58

other kids gathering around our Andrei genuinely

26:01

taking an interest. We

26:03

had a chance to say, this is what we're

26:05

all about. This is what we do. This is

26:08

what we think. In an environment

26:10

that is honestly, without adults around telling you,

26:12

this is what the elders

26:14

say, you kind of got this

26:16

big tent thing going on with the town

26:19

hall. And it's a little bit more inclusive, I think,

26:21

because there's not iconography and just kind of like the

26:23

pressure of being, you know you're in someone else's house.

26:30

Olivia was portrayed as Andrei's

26:32

election rival and used as

26:34

a stand-in for conservative intolerance.

26:36

But during this moment, we

26:39

see she's on board with this

26:41

prayer session. Is

26:43

it perfect? This messy religious

26:46

service with its offensive quote unquote

26:48

ethnic music? No,

26:50

of course not. It's

26:52

a corny kumbaya campfire scene that

26:55

reduces religious expression to a strange

26:57

and exotic ritual. But

26:59

compared to the election, this

27:01

feels like a rare moment that lives up to

27:03

the promise that Kid Nation once had. The

27:08

moment doesn't give Andrei a chance to talk

27:10

about what it's like living in an America

27:12

that doesn't know or care for

27:14

the difference between being Muslim and Hindu. The

27:18

one thing I will give this moment is

27:20

that it does offer a glimmer of hope

27:22

that these kids, when left to their own

27:24

devices, would approach each

27:26

other with curiosity and with openness,

27:29

an impulse that continued even after

27:31

the cameras stopped rolling. After

27:36

the election episode aired, Olivia wrote

27:38

Andrei a heartfelt letter apologizing for

27:40

how she acted towards him. I

27:43

mean, it was pretty much, I am sorry

27:45

for the way I treated you. I didn't

27:48

realize how bad it looked, and I'm so

27:50

sorry. And it was very much

27:52

an apology and like an olive branch being

27:54

extended. And I was very happy to receive it. While

27:57

there beef over religion and the election...

28:00

fueled the drama on screen. Off

28:02

screen, it turns out Anje and Olivia were

28:04

a lot more similar than they initially thought.

28:08

Probably the reason we remain friends. I mean, I

28:10

think we both realized we were both kids who,

28:12

again, were

28:14

trying to do the best thing we could. And

28:17

we both came from different backgrounds, and I think both of us

28:19

recognized that in the other person of... I'm not in the heat

28:22

of the moment, obviously, but at the end of it, we know

28:24

she has values, and she was trying her best to uphold them

28:26

and do what she thought was right. And I was doing the

28:28

same thing. And

28:30

I think we both

28:32

connected over that. And I think, you know, we've had

28:35

varying different views over the years, but I think

28:37

we've always been like, we're both passionate about doing

28:39

what's best for our families and our communities and

28:41

each other. And I

28:43

think that's kind of kept us connected over the years, yeah. Next

28:50

time, the rules that have

28:52

governed life in Bonanza City suddenly

28:54

collapse as all hell

28:56

breaks loose. Wow,

28:59

all these kids are stealing from other

29:01

stores. They're looting, they're like trashing everything,

29:03

they're running around like crazy, and you

29:05

see like the stores getting emptied of

29:07

everything and everybody like running into each

29:09

other and knocking things over. And

29:12

then when the camera pans down to

29:14

Sophia's legs and back up, it's odd.

29:16

It's just weird. It's very weird. Very

29:19

weird. That was really

29:21

manipulative to do to children and could have... I

29:24

mean, we were all friends at this point. Split

29:30

Screen Kid Nation was hosted by me, Josh Gwynn.

29:34

It was written by myself and Oran Keller, who was the series

29:36

producer. For

29:39

Raspucci, the managing producer is Thomas Curry. The

29:42

story editor is Matt Willis. The series

29:44

was sound design and edited by Alice Boyd. Executive

29:48

producers are Johnny Galvin and Daniel Turkin. For

29:52

CBC, the senior producers are Kate Evans

29:54

and Willow Smith. Anna

29:57

Ashtey is a coordinating producer. Our

30:00

executive producers are Chris Oak and Cecil

30:02

Fernandez. Tanya Springer

30:04

is the senior manager of CBC

30:06

Podcasts, and Arif Noorani is the

30:08

director. Episodes are

30:10

recorded at Arcade 160 Studios in

30:12

Atlanta, Georgia. Our sound engineer is

30:14

Jimmy Dufford. Split

30:17

Screen is a Vespucci Production for

30:19

CBC. For

30:29

more CBC Podcasts, go

30:31

to cbc.ca/ podcasts.