I want to address the issue of my decision not to say our last names in our podcast or include them on our website. This was a tough decision. But having my daughter so involved in this project made my husband and me concerned about my daughter's exposure, in terms of harassment by those in social media. I hope this website, our voices, and our personal story give the project the authenticity that's behind this effort. But should there be enough interest in our podcast outside of the Michael Jackson community, we of course are willing to bring to light more of our personal selves for authentication.
To make it perfectly clear, my daughter and I put this project together completely on our own--on our own dime and our own time. (With my husband's worried, but kind support.) I've been calling it "my volunteer project," for the past few years. We're not a social media family, and had no connection whatsoever to the Michael Jackson community, outside of our emails expressing appreciation to The MJ Cast for being a valuable resource to us. But not even they had any idea we were putting this together. I didn't know if it would actually pan out for a long time myself, as I've never done anything like this before, and had to learn a whole new set of skills. We are only now interacting with the Michael Jackson community since our podcast went live.
As a parent, I weighed heavily the potential cost of putting my daughter's face and voice out there on such a sensitive topic. But because seeking truth holds such a high value in our family, it felt like the right decision and lesson for my daughter that we share our experience, and expose as much of ourselves as we felt was warranted. I hope that listeners can understand my initial decision to not advertise our last names throughout our podcast.