Juicy Bits

In this episode of Juicy Bits, Jen and Jillian reminisce about the early days of Juicy Bits. It's wildly fun and obnoxious, which will come to as no surprise to those of you who've been listening to our podcast over the years. For those of you who are new to Juicy Bits, this might explain A LOT.

What is Juicy Bits?

We created Juicy Bits because we wanted to continue the conversations that we start out on the trail and on the chair lift. Hosted by our CEO Jen Gurecki and Ambassador Jillian Raymond, they talk candidly about everything from dude soup, to sex, to politics, to equity in the outdoors. We occasionally (read: frequently) drop F-bombs, interview some of the most interesting people in the outdoors and beyond, and say things that many of us think but don’t feel comfortable saying out loud. If you are easily offended or looking for something that is G Rated, this is not the podcast for you. But if you love truth-telling and irreverence, get ready to laugh, cry, and maybe pee your pants a little bit. 

Participant #1:
The wind begins tomorrow.

Participant #1:
Hello and welcome. I'm Jillian Raymond, the co-creator of Juicy Bits and a Coalition Snow Ambassador. And I'm Jen Gurecki, your co-host and the CEO of Coalition Snow. For those of you who are new, get ready to laugh, cry, and maybe pee your pants a little. Juicy Bits is about taking the conversation that we start on the chair lift and at the trailhead and bringing them to you to explore alternative narratives that challenge the status quo about what it means to be a modern woman in the outdoors. Grab your helmet, because sometimes it's a bumpy ride. FYI friends, this podcast is for mature audiences, so you've been warned. Let's get to work and juice the patriarchy.

So, Jen, I don't know if you saw this. I might have sent it to you, but I'm, you know, looking through Instagram, and I see this post that's like, start therapy, not a podcast. And I have one of those moments, right, like, oh, my God, is this post directed at me? You know, when you think of things on the Internet or like you're talking about me, I'm like, what is it? The algorithm has targeted research directly. They know that I'm in season six, which is exactly I pause myself because I'm like, no, fuck that. We're in season six. I know everyone in their brother has a podcast, but I felt kind of proud. I'm like, I think we started the podcast before the podcast was even on everybody's lexicon. Nothing against their podcast. I mean, we definitely were not, like, OG podcasters. But starting six years ago is significant. For anyone who's new and doesn't know how this podcast started, let's be really clear it had nothing to do with therapy. Deep thoughts.

Jillian and I so every year we have the privilege to be able to go out on a snowcat in your trip with High Sierra snow cats in your and they invite us out. We always create a little bit of content. We have the best time. And so this would have been six years ago. We were out on a trip. I think it was actually more like a spring trip, and no one's going to be surprised to hear that. What came with us on this trip was a huge bottle of Bullet. A huge bottle. Huge as in the biggest ones you can buy. And I think there was like, what, five of us or maybe six of us on the trip for one night? This was not a good idea. I don't know why we thought this was a good idea. No one questioned it when we went in. I'm a little smarter now than I was six years ago, but I'm also still like, we learn from these things. Actually, there are times when I question if I've learned from I've learned a lot from. We were out on this trip. The evening was full of possibly drinking wine out of penis straws, which I know is wildly heteronormative, but also dumb and fun. I traded life with someone who was much younger than me. Like, they pretended to be me. I pretended to be them. We exchanged generations momentarily. And then the next morning we woke up and we were relatively hungover and did some skiing. And then it was time to go home. And we have to drive back to Tahoe at the time and High Sierra snowcat near to the Virginia Lakes on the east side of the Sierra, certainly hung over. One of our colleagues at the time and friends was in the back seat just not functioning at all. And Jillian and I were not in our most mature we were not being our most mature selves. Let's just say that Jillian started singing, creating these raps like ridiculous. And this is just like, let's get home, we don't feel good, it's late, let's go home. And Jillian starts rapping funny, rap silly, silliness. Then we just start talking and we have this moment where we say out loud, oh my God, we're so funny. And we turn around to the person in the backseat and we're like, do you think this is funny? Are we funny? And they're like, but Jillian and I thought we were so hilarious and we were amusing ourselves for 3 hours that we decided then and there on this road trip home that we were going to start a podcast because we were so funny. Now, good work. We have our moments where we are hilarious. Also, I acknowledge we have plenty of moments where we're not. But our podcast started not because we needed to talk through things. It started because we were super obnoxious and thought we were funny. And we were like, let's make something. And we didn't even know what we were making at the time. And then that's the origin story of Juicy Bits. That was a fun wrap for the name. It was going to be Juicy Bits because we thought that would just be a little, you know, again, us being funny. I will say that I have to this day not been able to recreate my hilarity. I think I brought this up on another time when we've shared this story because we want to make sure our listeners, if you're joining us now, you're like, oh, wait a second, six seasons, I've got to go back and do some downloading. Or if you're like, alright gals, I'm going to hang with you for this season and see how I feel. We've got lots of content for you to go back, but we recycle back to some of our honest, favorite memories because it also helps you understand how we got to where we are here, even on this episode.

But I think the level of intoxication and my utmost responsibility as co captain to entertain you as you were driving that level of immaturity and stupidity, I will say there was one other time I did this. I was on a ski and sail trip in Iceland where there was a tremendous amount of consumption of champagne and wine, and every night was a celebratory thing. And each night the crew, not the captain and the actual sailing crew, but the crew of us skiers, we all sort of turned into pirates. And that might have slightly touched on the hilarity that I aim to create, that I aim to create for you that morning. And it was really out of my love for us and our safety to get home and keep you awake, as I imagine that drive was really difficult. So I'm just going to put a little goal out there for myself. Jen, my goal is to potentially get to that level of hilarity with you this season, so I might be able to recreate some of my immature honestly, they were mostly like potty wraps. Yeah, they was wrapping about really bad, but it was awesome poop. It was poop a lot. Yeah, maybe I had to throw up and poop at the same time and it was my way of processing it, so maybe. Here we are. We ended up in my therapy podcast of hungover functions that I needed to deal with in that moment and shout out to Sheridan for the resounding, which we heard is yes, yes, do it. The fact that we didn't get a hard no was all we needed. So it wasn't a hard no, it wasn't an emphatic yes.

Let's be honest, it was not an emphatic yes. But as with most things that I've done in my life, I feel like if I would have really thought them through all the way, I may not have done them because everything is more difficult than you think it's going to be. And so at some point, you just have to do the things that you want to do and certainly endeavor to be very good at them. But if you think through all of it, you may just say, like, oh, I don't know if I want to work that hard, or I don't know if I want to put myself out there that much. So I'm glad that we didn't really think this one through because now we're in season six and it's been the things we have talked about. I always have people, and by always, I mean always, people frequently ask me when I'm going to run for public office. And I'm always like, do you pay attention to what? I could never run for public office. And this podcast is one of the reasons why the things that I have said that have now been documented, that exist out in the world. I could never, ever run for public office.

Well, Jen, don't say never. I would love to live in a world where this podcast is listened to and humans are like, yes, I am voting for the two of them. I want them on the same ticket done. Like, I don't even need it to be election day. You have my vote. So I think that's all part of some of the work that I think we aim to do here, is be like, how do we change the fucking world that we live in? Because we know it's a shit show, we're existing in it. I would like to stay existing. I would like to stay alive. But I do recognize that sometimes when I think if we're pushing boundaries or we've put ourselves out there, we've made there's a sense of vulnerability in that, there's a sense of exposure. But what a concept that we would live in a world that we would be celebrated humans to then make big decisions to help in furthering the positive lives of humanity. So in case you're listening out there and you're like, oh, I'll be your campaign managers, oh, yeah, hit us up. You can hit us up for that.

I feel like going back to, like, when we were originally creating this podcast, our whole idea was really, let's take these conversations that we start at the trailhead or we start on the lifts and let's dive deeper into them in the podcast. And I'll speak for myself, and I think that you feel the same way. What a privilege it is to have this platform, to be able to talk about the things that we talk about. Also, we know that as CIS white women, we can say things that other people can't say. Like, there's just a different level of safety for us. And then, you know, obviously the fact that this podcast is a part of coalition snow and I run coalition snow. I don't need to be worried about the boss getting mad at me because I am the boss, so that's convenient. But there has always been this idea, or this belief, I think, between the two of us, that there's so many things that we don't say that we need to say. And it's really, I think, two parts. One, knowing that women don't feel like they are allowed to say the things that they feel that they shouldn't be saying them. I think that we speak to that in terms of understanding our worth, knowing our value, being able to articulate the things that we need and that we want and that we expect. And I think the other part of it too, is when I think particularly around what's transpired in this country over the past two to three years, there are a lot of white women who won't talk about race, who won't stand up when they're at that dinner table or when they're with that group of friends. They will not stand up to the people who are saying racist things. And even that, you know, when we think about intersectional, feminism, race, gender, class, ability, there are so many white women, and I'm going to just focus on white women. As a white woman, I'm going to talk about white women who will not say the things that need to be said so that we live in the world that benefits all of us. And I feel like this podcast, like you and I have for many years, always said things that may have been relatively unpopular, certainly provoked feelings in people, but they're also the things that need to be said. And so that's part of the inception of this podcast. And in the early days of the podcast, we were really looking at the gender dynamics in snow sports and the outdoors and just that total bullshit. Dude, soup mess. Go listen to that episode. And certainly focusing on a wider society as the podcast has developed over the years, I can think of the moment we were in the skin track together, headed up to LSP.

So here on the west Shore, there's a wonderful little resort, homewood mountain. They are, unfortunately, in the process of becoming potentially privatized. And it's a terrible situation if you are a homewood skier or rider or lover of that mountain. Do a little research, kind of see what's going on. It's not looking good, but this might be our last season to ride and ski at homewood as we've always known it. But you and I had lift access. Up you get off of the top of Ellis chair, and then it took maybe 45 minutes, hour long skin to the top of Ellis Peak. And again, we're in the skin track, and we're talking whether it's kind of we're making each other laugh, we're sharing what's going on with work and life. And I distinctly remember you getting a message from someone who was critiquing the fact that coalition snow. There were messages related to gender equity, inclusion of all humans. There was a shift around, and I'm going back probably this might be prepandemic. The last time you and I were up there, or maybe it was in Pandemic, I can't quite remember. I can remember distinctly us, where we were. I mean, we were just about up to those kind of those trees before you go above treeline and you're at the peak. But we paused in our tracks. So this person was being critical of Coalition as a ski brand, bringing in questions of gender equity in the ski industry, representation of people of color. And we would just, like, pause in our tracks to be like, this person. It's bullshit, because you can't separate the two if you want to separate the two. All that does is highlight your privilege as being that white male. That's like, all I want to do is keep seeing, like, white male athletes. All I want to keep seeing is, you know, ski branding. All I want to see is me reflected back at me, right? And this kind of relationship that a ski brand could have with the larger world, to be so much more than just hard goods and so much more than just a company that's making and selling stuff. But this company in terms of how are we providing access to all humans to recreate? And we've touched on this before in other episodes of, like, we're all lovers of the outdoors. We might do it very differently, but how for you and I, in that moment, as friends, as people who work together, we recreate together. We're backcountry riding together in this beautiful spot, and here we are trying to figure out how to just send this troll on their way and recognize if we're doing that, then maybe we're touching on things that are provoking and are shifting people's way. Granted, this person, I think they wanted to be off your email list, or they wanted to so that was the winter of 2021.

So it wasn't last winter because remember, we had a really bad snowpack. Like, it just didn't really snow a lot last winter. So you and I didn't backcountry last year. So it was the year before it was 2021. And you're telling the story and I'm literally running through, like, which troll is Jillian talking about? Which one? Yes. I cannot remember exactly which man. And they're predominantly straight, CIS white men who give us this air quote feedback or something where they didn't want to see, like, the word ski and the word, like, sexism in the same email. Or they were like, how can you sorry that we're not going to continue this idyllic, fake version of what it means to be a human. It's so ridiculous to think that every single person who recreates in the mountains actually can separate out what's happening socially and politically from their everyday life. If you are a person who can who actually says, oh, what happens politically, what's happening out in the world doesn't impact me. You are one of the most privileged people in the world, and good for you. You know what? I wouldn't want to take that away from you necessarily. Like, I don't need to wish any harm on anyone, but to not be conscious of the fact that there are so many of us who cannot separate what's happening politically and what's happening socially from our everyday lives. Do not send me those fucking emails. You're not going to get the response that you want from me. You're not going to feel good. And part of it is, I won't engage with your shenanigans. Like, I'm not going to argue with someone who has such little understanding of the world. And that's what I mean. It's not going to work out well for you because you're not going to get the last word, and you're not going to be able to win, which I know that's what you're trying to do.

But yeah, even look at what's happening politically now. We're recording this episode on October 29. By the time this goes out, the midterm elections will be over. We have no idea if the Republicans or the Democrats are going to control the House and the Senate. And we know that if the Democrats control the House and the Senate, our president has said that he will codify Roe v. Wade so that abortion is protected at the federal level. And we know that if the Republicans take the House and the Senate, they have spoken about making abortion illegal. I don't know any human being with a uterus is going to be concerned about this daily. And I guess I can't say any because there's, again plenty of straight white women who will vote Republican graciously, I want to say, because they're focused on the economy, but also that's bullshit. There is a lot of internalized racism and sexism in those decisions. But yeah, we have always talked about all the things and we are not the typical ski and snowboard brand and we're not the typical outdoor podcast either, because so much, Jillian, we talk about things that aren't even about the outdoors on this podcast. Sorry. Not sorry. But the one thing about the separation, which I think is something we've touched on before, and I think you and I do well as friends that like to get out. And whether it's a trip to Mammoth or it's the yurt trip that we spoke about at the opening of the podcast, is when you go to do those things, it's not like this break right from reality. You're not like separating. It's like you go and you do those things and this refueling of energy, this connection with those that help you. For me, again, maybe it goes back to, you know, don't start a podcast, start therapy. But I'm like how you feel at the end of the day, having been in the mountains, right, having talked ourselves up a mountain through all the things, made each other laugh, pissed each other, not necessarily pissed each other off, but gotten pissed. And something that has really that we're passionate about and then that works. So it's not just like we're spending time researching the snow and we're researching the storm and we're looking at avi forecasts, all of which are important, right, for safety in the backcountry. But just that sense of the time that we put in in the mountains is very interconnected to what we're also engaged with in our everyday lives, both socially, politically, professionally, and understanding that those two things, I don't really want them to be connected. I love the energy and the fuel that you get. And then there's also so much I mean, there's a lot of shit that you and I could go through, Jen, that's super playful and super fucking silly. And us being our most immature and ridiculous selves, because that's also part of the full sense of being human, right? And existing in this world. We're all entitled to that play.

I think we do that. Certainly we contain multitudes. That's what this podcast is all all about. It started from the most ridiculous, hungover, we're so funny, let's keep this going state of mind to wow, we have this platform, people are listening. Let's talk about things that are really important to us, that we hope will inspire other people to be vocal about, to be outspoken about, to take action on. Do not wait for other people to do things for you. This is the world that we live in, requires us to show up each and every day in community and in a way that is cocreating something that is better, better for people, better for the environment. You can't leave it up to other people. You have to show up in that. And this you know, I hope that us just talking about some of these issues inspires people to feel more confident in speaking their truth. And by speaking your truth, I mean only if it's intersectional and supportive of all oppressed people. If speaking your truth is talking about anything that's even mildly white supremacist or fascist, like you're a shush, we're giving you a shush. So and also, people may not like that statement at all, but we really are encouraging being open and vocal about social justice. I have just a slight pause here and not for any disagreement in what you just share, but I feel a sense of sadness isn't the right word. But almost like I feel like there are people that don't have that community, right? They don't feel like they're in a partnership where they don't feel like they can speak up safely or they can engage, whether they're in a same sex or hetero couple, whatever their dynamics are. Maybe in dating or in this world, there's such this narrative around like what you don't say at the holiday table, right? Whether it's religion or politics. And I feel like our country as a whole has always sort of made that this sense of taboo to keep things in the status quo, right? It's by design. You don't talk about it because then you don't question it and you don't engage. So you don't push people's thinking and push them past this collective air, quote wisdom that has kind of run our country in this really toxic way.

So I feel like, again, echoing that sentiment, if you are in that situation where you're like, I like the platform, I would love to sit and have those conversations. I wish that that's something that was like part of my partner and I pillow talk or ways that I felt safe. I think that's that first step, that's that brave space that you help create. And it's kind of in this in my work and my degree, we looked at this idea of the tempered radical, right? I'm in a system of education where I am thankfully not silenced. As a teacher, I have been very fortunate in the district that I work in, in the classes that I run, that we can hang Columbus and celebrate Indigenous People's Day. I can bring Ibrahim Kennedy and Jason Reynolds work of anti racism into my 8th grade history class. These are things that are celebrated and supported in the work that I do as a social justice educator. But if you're someone that doesn't feel like they have that space, that safe space in their professional environment, there's ways that you whether it's like the button on your blazer or the poster up in your office or the casual drop to a colleague that you feel, like, energetically connected to, that you're like, oh, actually, I think they just understood that I care as much about November as they do. Right. Whatever it is that is you're passionate and your kind of social justice direction, sometimes it's a matter of finding your people. Because I do think Jen and I notice this a lot in Tahoe, and it's been something I've reflected on personally and with my partner over the years is we came back to Tahoe after a small stint away in Humboldt County, which we both found very transformative. A space of people growing their own food, constantly questioning local, county, state and federal government, regular rallying and protesting, boycotting, you name it. And coming back into Tahoe, we were like, uh oh, what did we just get ourselves back into? And we have a lot of love for the community, but there was something missing. And one of my great mentors was like, Jillian, part of the reason you need to be there is some of that doesn't exist, so you need to be the one at the dinner table or at your friends gathering that brings up some of those questions. Or a local thing for me right now is really rebranding around the name change for Palisades Tahoe in honor of Washo territory and sexual and lands. And just yesterday as my daughter's in ballet and so I used that time to like, drink wine and either read or look at the Internet. It's been a lovely little like my own little ballet club I've made. And the S word was thrown around like ten times. And I spoke up. And thankfully, the business owners didn't want to upset me because there I am as a client giving them money, and it ended up being a really peaceful and productive conversation. But I could have sat there and said nothing, because when speaking up in that, you have the potential to kind of help shift and transform. But I do think it takes a community so you don't feel like you're doing that alone.

Right? But I think another thing, I think that what we're trying to do here is give people this is this commutunity. Like, there are people who feel similarly as you, and you have people who support you. And certainly, as I said earlier, there's different people who have different levels of safety about what they can and can't say. But one thing that I think is something you can always do is you can ask people for clarification. So if somebody says something that is even mildly racist or you're not really sure, how did they mean that? Did they not mean that? What was that about? Oh, but I know them. They're so nice. Oh, that must have just been a slip of using the old name for palisades. They don't really whatever it is, you could just ask for clarification. You could say something like, I'm sorry, I didn't quite understand what you were saying. Or I'm sorry, I'm not sure. What mountain are you referring to? I'm sorry. You can ask for clarification. You don't necessarily have to always insert your opinion or tell people the way that they have to think. But creating that moment where they have to be reflective upon what just came out of their mouth is, I think is an easy way to start for people who are very nervous and or inexperienced and or worried about the repercussions. And with that, I will say really consider what the repercussions are. If you are a straight, CIS white woman, unless you're in a I would probably say like a domestic violence situation or you were looking or you might get fired, which is not probably really a thing, what are you worried about? What are you worried about losing? Like, what is it that you can say that maybe people won't like you, but that's the extent of the repercussion is that people don't like you? Who fucking cares? Who fucking cares? Because for all the people who won't like you for speaking up, those are probably not the people who you want in your community anyways. Those aren't your friends. It shouldn't matter if people like you or not. And by speaking truth to these issues, you'll find that you actually end up building a completely different community of people who are working like you are to make the world a better place for all people. Stop worrying about being liked. That is not a legitimate enough reason to not be vocal about issues. Legitimate reasons would be your physical health, your psychological health, actually losing a job. There are going to jail. There are real things. But otherwise not being liked is not a good enough reason to not be outspoken like drops. So for anybody else who wants to join my little community of people who are disliked and loved at the exact same time, that's the world that I live in. It's a very warming, cozy place. But I would actually really be interested in hearing from our listeners either some of the wins that they've had around being outspoken or some of the challenges that you've faced. So please send us your wins or your challenges at Juicybits@coalitionsnow.com or you can head over to the coalition website and just leave a little note in the contact or you can message us on Instagram but send us a little note about your. Wins and your challenges. And remember that we are here to shred the patriarchy.

Let's get to work. Motherfuckers.