Have you ever felt a moment split your life into a before and an after, even if you couldn’t explain why?
This episode begins not with a conversation, but with a story.
Child and Woman is a piece of creative writing told through myth and image: a mirror, a locked bathroom door, running water, and a forest that quietly receives what cannot yet be spoken.
Written years before Shame Out Loud existed, this piece lived privately, waiting for the right mix of safety and language. When it finally emerged, it became the foundation for this entire series.
What you’ll hear is not a retelling of events, but an inner landscape. A girl who cannot stay in the light. A witness who forms in real time. A choice to disappear into darkness as a way to survive.
Though spoken in one voice, this story belongs to many. It speaks to silence, protection, disconnection, and the long, often invisible walk back to oneself. The harm itself is not described. What’s named instead is what happens after—inside the body, the breath, the sense of self.
This episode opens a six-part series exploring how shame takes shape, how it’s carried, and how voice slowly returns. The episodes that follow feature roundtable conversations with guests whose lives have been shaped by different forms of harm, instability, and emotional survival
. The details differ. The ache does not.
If you listen, take your time. Notice what your body does. Pause if you need to.
This is where Shame Out Loud begins.
And when you’re ready, Part Two is waiting, where Tammy Valicenti and Lori Clarke begin walking the forest together, out loud.
Chapters:
00:14 The series begins. Lori explains that this piece was written years ago and held back
00:55 Lori shares the idea of inviting Tammy to co-host roundtables around the piece
01:57 Clear framing of the series themes, why guests’ stories differ, but the pain overlaps
04:23 “Curious writing companions,” what they are and how to use them
05:10 Listener care notes, content warnings, and a reminder that it’s not professional advice
06:15 Welcome to Shame Out Loud. This episode is the starting point
07:47 The creative reading begins, the split between child and witness
09:22 Generational secrecy, violation, dissociation, and the body’s shock response
11:34 Numbness, ringing, tightening, and dissociation arriving
12:55 Mirror scene, two images, and the first clear split
14:31 “I’m okay,” the body shaking, absorbing what happened
15:40 The path appears behind the reflection, a road into the unknown
16:47 The turning point, “I’d rather go into this darkness…”
18:13 The witness waits, the forest imagery, the girl begins to emerge
20:12 The pool of water, the girl sees a woman in reflection
22:13 Mirrored gestures, the shared scar, recognition
23:22 “It was decades,” the pull to return to the forest, the older voice calls her back
24:51 Wrap-up, how this piece becomes the base for the five roundtable episodes
25:32 Part 2 preview with Tammy Valasenti, “exploring the forest.”
26:35 Where to find the writing companions and episodes, closing thanks
