by Benjamin Yap
Public Conversations was a podcast experiment, capturing the intersection of a time, a place, and the people that move through it. A project by Benjamin Yap (benjaminyap.me) currently beaming out of a community-led possibility room residing in Pearl Hills Terrace in Singapore, run by the team at Stranger Conversations (linktr.ee/strangerconvos). Podcast cover by Rania (IG: @artsbyrania), intro music by Eli Sands.
Language
🇺🇲
Publishing Since
6/21/2025
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November 23, 2025
<p>1 October, 2025. If you think of soup kitchens and beach cleanups when you think of volunteering, Bang is here to change your impression of what volunteering can be. Bang shares his varied volunteering experiences, encourages us to begin our own volunteering efforts, and shares why he thinks larger organisations can better manage and reward volunteers for their time. </p><p>Note: We’re experimenting with a different recording setup with this one so we apologise for there being more noise than usual!</p><p><strong>Shian Bang</strong>, also known as Bang, is a photojournalist with the local press. Outside of work, he dedicates his time to contributing to community-building efforts in Singapore. Follow him on IG @<a href="https://www.instagram.com/bangsphoto"><u>bangsphoto</u></a>. </p><p><strong>Ben </strong>talks about movies on his film podcast at <a href="http://deepcutpod.com"><u>deepcutpod.com</u></a>, and writes about film at <a href="http://thekinetoscope.com"><u>thekinetoscope.com</u></a>. This episode also inspired him to build and create <a href="http://filmbulletin.sg"><u>filmbulletin.sg</u></a> He lived a past life working in film production. Find him online at <a href="http://benjaminyap.me"><u>benjaminyap.me</u></a></p><p><strong>The Space</strong></p><p>This episode was recorded in a Public Living Room, a crowd-funded community space in 195 Pearl Hills Terrace. If you enjoyed this conversation and would like to help us keep recording, please support the Stranger Conversations crowdfund. This supports their mission to build a third place at the intersection of self-exploration and collective good. You can follow them on Instagram @strangerconvos or go to <a href="http://linktr.ee/strangerconvos"><u>linktr.ee/strangerconvos</u></a> where you can find links to the crowdfund and find out more about what they do. </p><p><strong>Timestamps:</strong></p><p>00:00 Intro</p><p>01:09 Intro to Bang</p><p>02:38 Relationship to the space (and food)</p><p>07:30 Volunteering</p><p>17:04 Making the most of volunteers</p><p>20:07 What makes Bang volunteer</p><p>22:38 Bang's volunteering experiences</p><p>29:32 Bread and butter issues</p><p>33:36 Non-profits and economics</p><p>38:20 KPIs for charitable events</p><p>42:04 Visibility for smaller minorities</p><p>46:14 Different ways of volunteering</p><p>50:23 Continuity</p><p>57:50 Competition</p><p>01:01:55 Iron ricebowl question</p>
October 4, 2025
<p>10 September, 2025. Maisie and Ben have a meandering conversation around embracing the unknown through the “spirit of exploration.” We cover our changing relationship with creative endeavours, Maisie’s focus on social impact, building extroversion, risk-taking, free will, and the power of connection among a laundry list of other tantalizing tangents.</p><p><strong>Maisie</strong> has a deep interest in connection, community, and the intersection between social impact and creativity. She has a deep appreciation for language, and believes that the journey of self-discovery is essential to healing, emboldening, and growing us in equal measure. When she's not enjoying caffeine in various formats, you'll find her diving into creative pursuits. Explore more of her work at <a href="https://substack.com/@inlivingfire"><u>https://substack.com/@inlivingfire</u></a> </p><p><strong>Ben </strong>talks about movies on his film podcast at <a href="http://deepcutpod.com"><u>deepcutpod.com</u></a>, and writes about film at <a href="http://thekinetoscope.com"><u>thekinetoscope.com</u></a>. He lived a past life working in film production. Find him online at <a href="http://benjaminyap.me"><u>benjaminyap.me</u></a> </p><p><strong>The Space</strong></p><p>This episode was recorded in a Public Living Room, a crowd-funded community space in 195 Pearl Hills Terrace. If you enjoyed this conversation and would like to help us keep recording, please support the Stranger Conversations crowdfund. This supports their mission to build a third place at the intersection of self-exploration and collective good. You can follow them on Instagram @strangerconvos or go to <a href="http://linktr.ee/strangerconvos"><u>linktr.ee/strangerconvos</u></a> where you can find links to the crowdfund and find out more about what they do. </p><p><strong>Timestamps:</strong></p><p>03:27 Relationship to the space</p><p>07:42 Spirit of exploration</p><p>09:14 What am I doing?</p><p>13:49 Building extroversion</p><p>15:22 Spontaneity</p><p>17:43 Social impact</p><p>21:51 Reframing creativity</p><p>37:42 Leaving conventionality behind</p><p>41:26 Contradictions</p><p>43:36 Does exploring stop?</p><p>51:18 Learning to let go</p><p>54:07 Risk</p><p>57:21 Difficult conversations / Inconvenience and friction</p><p>1:04:50 Ben’s current relationship to this podcast</p><p>01:12:40 Iron ricebowl question</p>
September 14, 2025
<p>20 August, 2025. Julian shares his process of finding inspiration for and writing poetry with the podcast. We chat about how he discovered his own poetic instincts by accident (with the help of a guitar), discuss the (false?) dichotomy between the technical and the artistic, and listen to a few of Julian’s poems.</p><p><strong>Julian </strong>is a poet & ecological storyteller. He seeks to tell compelling stories that would help people live more harmoniously with the rest of the natural world. He is a regular volunteer at Ground-Up Initiative & his work has been featured by Urban Birds Initiative Singapore, Living Soil Asia and Coastal Natives. He really likes trees. Follow Julian’s poetry IG <a href="https://www.instagram.com/juli.po.etry/" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">@juli.po.etry</a></p><p><strong>Ben </strong>talks about movies on his film podcast at <a href="http://deepcutpod.com" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">deepcutpod.com</a>, and writes about film at <a href="http://thekinetoscope.com" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">thekinetoscope.com</a>. He lived a past life working in film production. Find him online at <a href="http://benjaminyap.me" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">benjaminyap.me</a> </p><p><strong>The Space</strong></p><p>This episode was recorded in a Public Living Room, a crowd-funded community space in 195 Pearl Hills Terrace. If you enjoyed this conversation and would like to help us keep recording, please support the Stranger Conversations crowdfund. This supports their mission to build a third place at the intersection of self-exploration and collective good. You can follow them on Instagram @strangerconvos or go to <a href="http://linktr.ee/strangerconvos" rel="ugc noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">linktr.ee/strangerconvos</a> where you can find links to the crowdfund and find out more about what they do. </p><p><strong>Timestamps:</strong></p><p>00:00 POEM: Today I Am Doing Nothing</p><p>03:04 Relationship to the space</p><p>06:53 Julian’s start in poetry</p><p>13:57 Nature</p><p>18:15 Favourite poets</p><p>19:59 Formal humanities education</p><p>26:54 The Projector closure sidebar</p><p>28:03 Artistic/Technical</p><p>45:36 Writing process</p><p>51:21 POEM: A Dancer and a Debonair</p><p>52:48 Ease</p><p>55:16 Iron ricebowl question</p><p>57:24 POEM: A Poem is a Silk Song</p>
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Public Conversations was a podcast experiment, capturing the intersection of a time, a place, and the people that move through it.
A project by Benjamin Yap (benjaminyap.me) currently beaming out of a community-led possibility room residing in Pearl Hills Terrace in Singapore, run by the team at Stranger Conversations (linktr.ee/strangerconvos).
Podcast cover by Rania (IG: @artsbyrania), intro music by Eli Sands.
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