As we mark the end of 2025, we created a brief episode to share some lessons learned during our recent “hibernation” period. During this time of quiet, seeds of possibility have been germinating underground. We’ve been slow-cooking a couple of possible collaborations, letting new ideas soften and deepen, and giving space for a few new people joining our team to find their footing. More on all of that in due course.

For now, we’re choosing to stay in this liminal space intentionally: not quite “away”, not quite “back”, and not rushing either.

We feel so grateful that we could record again this year, as we put together the 8 episodes which comprised season 2 of our podcast. The conversations, the questions, the moments of honesty, and the way the show kept teaching us how to listen is what keeps us excited about what's next.

The two small offerings mentioned in this episode:

1. A poem by Tristan; see the full text on our substack.

2. A neat collation of themes from season two — a small map of the terrain we’ve explored. It’s there for your wandering on lazy afternoons. We won’t say too much; part of the fun is discovering what it shows you. See link here.

Thank you for being here with us, on the threshold. We’re looking forward to what comes next, and we’re letting it arrive in its own time.

The music in this episode is composed and arranged by Rashid Epstein Adams / Arkenstone.

We started season 2 with a question, "Can stories change systems?" We weren't sure that we would land on an answer but we thought of it as a thread we could explore throughout the season. In some episodes we had beautiful answers to that question, and even more beautiful questions. We end this season reflecting on the season. And rather than trying to summarise each conversation, which we may do in future in some format, we rather offer some brief reflections.

Our starting point for this episode was self-analysis. We asked the question “where were we at” in terms of creative energy, personal wellbeing, and how grounded do we feel. What emerged was an idea for a shorter episode. We both answer the question “What stories ground you?”.

We now take a break for the South African winter. Hibernating. And then we plan to emerge in the spring with new energy, inspiration and more questions, conversations and - of course - plenty of stories.

The song Tristan references is by Pearl Jam and is called “Present Tense”, whilst Rashid shares a quote from the book Kapilolo’s Kulimatji: A !xun San storyteller’s memoir (2016) by Kapilolo Mario Mahongo.

Right at the end of the episode, Rashid reads a quote from an editorial titled “Speaking truth to power: Indigenous storytelling as an act of living resistance” by Aman Sium and Eric Ritskes, which comes from the book Decolonization, Indigeneity, Education & Society (2015). It says:

“If stories are archives of collective pain, suffering and resistance, then to speak them is to heal; to believe in them is to reimagine the world”.

The music in this episode is composed and arranged by Rashid Epstein Adams / Arkenstone and Pursuit.

Abduragman Adams (also known as Abdu Adams) is an award-winning South African actor, director and drama lecturer. He has appeared in several television shows including Heartlines, Known Gods, Rugby Motors and Die Boland Moorde. In 2015 he landed a starring role in the kykNET soap opera, Suidooster, set in Cape Town in the fictional suburb of Ruiterbosch. He also worked on 7de Laan, where he played the character of David Abrahams. He also starred in award-winning films such as Four Corners (2013) directed by Ian Gabriel and won a SAFTA award for best Supporting Actor in Daryne Joshua’s feature film Noem My Skollie (2016).

His passion for performance extends into his work in various South African theatre productions. He also loves mentoring the next generation for the screen and stage and is the founding director of the Saturday Varsity Film Academy, which specialises in Acting Master Classes designed to make actors screen and set ready. Abduragman is currently working on his one man theatre show, titled From Constantia to Manenberg Avenue, a memory play which explores his unique performance DNA as an actor, arts activist and educator.

In this episode Abdu shares with us lessons learned in his career both as an actor, and as a nurse. He was trained and worked as a nurse before what he calls a Divine intervention. Access to a dreamspace led him on a trip to a drama department that would change his life. Abdu also reflects on refusing the stories that told him not to pursue acting as a career and choosing to do it anyway. We delve into the power of dreaming, with Abdu remarking, “If you don't dream, you’re dead”.

At the end of the episode we have some fun speaking about the characters he has portrayed over the years. This was a special episode and the first time we interviewed a family member, with Abduragman also being Rashid’s beloved uncle.

The music in this episode is composed and arranged by Rashid Epstein Adams / Arkenstone and Pursuit.