By Caroline Triscik and Ann Boyd

Caroline Triscik: An Invitation to Listen and Remember

“We’re inextricably connected to one another, and if we are ignoring someone, then we’re ignoring ourselves as well.”​

— Caroline Triscik

Listen in on our conversation with podcaster and counselor Caroline Triscik about her next step in her career, her time hosting this podcast, and the lessons she has gleaned along the way.

For the past three years, over the span of multiple academic years, liturgical seasons, and even a global pandemic, Caroline Triscik has shepherded the listeners of this podcast through dozens of conversations with women in academia and beyond. Even as she built a platform to give voice to the experiences of a diversity of women, Caroline was in the midst of her own academic journey. At this juncture, Caroline is following her own call to invest in bringing healing to others through her work as a clinical mental health counselor. As I step into her shoes as podcast host for this next season, we thought it was only fitting to share some of Caroline’s own unique story in this farewell episode. We’ll hear a bit about Caroline’s journey, her decision to pursue this fresh calling, and even an original poem by her — plus a Spotify playlist featuring some of her favorite musicians. Join us for this conversation as we bless Caroline in this next stage of life and celebrate all that she has offered us through these years as podcast host!​

— Ann Boyd

 

You can listen on iTunesSpotify, or at All Shall Be Well: Conversations with Women in the Academy and Beyond. We hope you enjoy this conversation as much as we did.
 

Links mentioned this interview

זָכַר : Zakar

Hebrew, verb, to remember
by Caroline Triscik

Give me a word and I’ll write a poem,
I say to my son.
Fern,
he replies.

I instantly time travel back
to 1988 — the year
that my grandmother died —
to The Land Before Time,
a cartoon film of dinosaurs,
one, called Littlefoot,
who was orphaned and lost,
found by an unexpected group of friends
to walk with him along a sort of ascent,
through famine, fire, and adversaries,
to find “The Great Valley,”
to home once again.
And if my memory correctly holds
the story,
they arrive at a river,
with ferns to feast,
nuzzling their dinosaur noses together,
families reunited,
grief and laughter mingled
as they drank from the waters.

It seems as though random
memories come to mind
from any word —
associations from scents,
or sounds,
or tastes,
or a touch.
Some disrupt my day,
drag me into the past.
And some, bring nostalgia,
comforts from childhood
that hold me like Littlefoot’s friends
held him.

Zakar, to remember,
is one of the most repeated words
in the Hebrew scriptures.
An invitation
to intentionally
draw to mind
all that has been.
Zakar calls me
and you
and us
to recall, not just in mind,
but in body,
to wade in
with equal parts fear and courage,
reminding me of what Mary Karr has written,
            Everybody I know who wades deep enough
            
into memory’s waters, drowns a little.

I am reminded of the third chapter of Ezra as well,
where the temple began to be rebuilt,
brick by brick,
“despite the fear,” it says.
And when the foundation
was finally laid,
there was weeping,
as the older generation
remembered.
And shouts of joy
over new beginnings,
woven together
with the sounds of the sorrow
of all that had been,
indistinguishable from one another,
“And the sound was heard
far away.”

I hold in my hands
cupped as a vessel
the memory’s waters —
and lightly tap my fingers
into that basin of holy water,
I bless myself
with the sign of the cross,
both those reminders that disrupt
and those that call to mind
goodness.
I honor them
and all that falls between. 

Give me a word,
I ask again,
and I’ll write a poem,
to remember.

 

 

Photo by Mike Erskine from StockSnap
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About the Author

Caroline served with InterVarsity since 2002 as a campus staff member in northwest Indiana and most recently in central Pennsylvania. She received her bachelor’s degree in English with a focus on creative writing from Purdue University in 2002 and holds a master's degree in clinical mental health counseling from Messiah College. Caroline, her husband, and their three children live in “the sweetest place on earth,” otherwise known as Hershey, Pennsylvania. In her spare time, she likes to read, discover new music, and attempt to train her exuberant Labrador retriever, Pax. Caroline is a clinical mental health counselor and a former associate with Women in the Academy and Professions.

Ann is the Women Scholars and Professionals Podcast host and the interim editor for The Well. She has worked for InterVarsity Christian Fellowship since 1997, exploring her interests in community, spiritual formation, and writing. Ann has a BM in Music Education from Northwestern University and lives in Chicago, Illinois with one husband, two spunky teenage daughters, and three snuggly cats. You’ll often find Ann baking sweet treats in the kitchen while listening to a podcast or audiobook.

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