1 00:00:05,519 --> 00:00:07,400 Speaker 1: What are the things you have in your life that 2 00:00:07,480 --> 00:00:10,640 Speaker 1: are really valuable but you don't pay for and you 3 00:00:10,640 --> 00:00:12,080 Speaker 1: couldn't quite sell them. 4 00:00:13,119 --> 00:00:17,360 Speaker 2: In January of twenty twenty four, the Gillette Coonsupper celebrated 5 00:00:17,560 --> 00:00:22,320 Speaker 2: its eightieth annual dinner. This bizarre wild game tradition has 6 00:00:22,400 --> 00:00:24,840 Speaker 2: made a name for itself as one of the premier 7 00:00:24,920 --> 00:00:29,120 Speaker 2: political events in Arkansas. But it's more than that. It's 8 00:00:29,160 --> 00:00:33,800 Speaker 2: holding a struggling but strong community together. This is one 9 00:00:33,840 --> 00:00:36,960 Speaker 2: of the most unique Beargrea stories we've ever told. It's 10 00:00:36,960 --> 00:00:40,640 Speaker 2: a deep dive into small town America and what makes 11 00:00:40,720 --> 00:00:44,080 Speaker 2: us what we are. We'll go to the Coon Supper 12 00:00:44,360 --> 00:00:46,680 Speaker 2: and hear from the cooks, the coon hunters, and some 13 00:00:46,800 --> 00:00:51,280 Speaker 2: hungry people. We'll interview best selling author Tim P. Carney 14 00:00:51,360 --> 00:00:54,600 Speaker 2: about why traditions like this matter and believe it or not. 15 00:00:55,160 --> 00:00:59,440 Speaker 2: We'll also hear from former President Bill Clinton about his 16 00:00:59,480 --> 00:01:03,120 Speaker 2: interaction with the Coon Supper. This episode will surprise and 17 00:01:03,280 --> 00:01:06,640 Speaker 2: impact you, and we'll teach you something about yourself and 18 00:01:06,720 --> 00:01:11,560 Speaker 2: about society. Eating barbecue raccoon has never been so good. 19 00:01:12,200 --> 00:01:14,240 Speaker 2: I really doubt you're gonna want to miss this one. 20 00:01:14,600 --> 00:01:18,240 Speaker 2: What would you say? There's a prime cut on a Coon. 21 00:01:18,640 --> 00:01:19,319 Speaker 3: Absolutely not. 22 00:01:19,800 --> 00:01:25,000 Speaker 2: It's all it's all prime. It's all prime, all prime, 23 00:01:25,520 --> 00:01:37,600 Speaker 2: all right. My name is Klay Nukem, and this is 24 00:01:37,640 --> 00:01:42,600 Speaker 2: the Bear Grease Podcast, where we'll explore things forgotten but relevant, 25 00:01:42,800 --> 00:01:46,640 Speaker 2: search for insight and unlikely places, and where we'll tell 26 00:01:46,680 --> 00:01:50,480 Speaker 2: the story of Americans who live their lives close to 27 00:01:50,560 --> 00:01:56,400 Speaker 2: the land. Presented by f HF Gear, American made purpose 28 00:01:56,440 --> 00:01:59,840 Speaker 2: built hunting and fishing gear as designed to be as 29 00:02:00,080 --> 00:02:02,280 Speaker 2: rugged as the places we explored. 30 00:02:10,720 --> 00:02:14,200 Speaker 4: My name is Scott Place. I'm from Gillette, Arkansas. I 31 00:02:14,280 --> 00:02:19,160 Speaker 4: live on Main Street and I've been associated with the 32 00:02:19,200 --> 00:02:24,680 Speaker 4: Coon Supper all my life. My dad was a master 33 00:02:24,760 --> 00:02:28,760 Speaker 4: of ceremonies for it from the beginning up until nineteen 34 00:02:28,840 --> 00:02:33,120 Speaker 4: eighty nine or ninety. So I had to go to 35 00:02:33,160 --> 00:02:35,240 Speaker 4: the Coon Supper one night I was even a little 36 00:02:35,320 --> 00:02:39,440 Speaker 4: guy because there was nowhere else to be. You couldn't 37 00:02:39,480 --> 00:02:43,280 Speaker 4: hire a babysitter or anything like that because everybody was 38 00:02:43,320 --> 00:02:44,240 Speaker 4: at the Coon Supper. 39 00:02:47,280 --> 00:02:51,320 Speaker 2: The first recorded coons Supper took place in nineteen thirty three. 40 00:02:51,360 --> 00:02:54,640 Speaker 2: Scott was born in nineteen fifty four. He's seventy years 41 00:02:54,680 --> 00:02:57,480 Speaker 2: old and he was born in the house he's sitting 42 00:02:57,520 --> 00:03:01,680 Speaker 2: in right now. In downtown Gillette. It's a handsome, well 43 00:03:01,720 --> 00:03:05,799 Speaker 2: taken care of brick home with white modern sighting. It 44 00:03:05,840 --> 00:03:09,000 Speaker 2: was his parents before it was his. Scott is a 45 00:03:09,040 --> 00:03:10,840 Speaker 2: second generation rice farmer. 46 00:03:12,040 --> 00:03:15,680 Speaker 4: My dad was at the first coon Supper. He was 47 00:03:15,720 --> 00:03:19,440 Speaker 4: a people person, and he sang and danced on the 48 00:03:19,480 --> 00:03:24,840 Speaker 4: stage when he couldn't sing and dance. And it started 49 00:03:24,880 --> 00:03:29,840 Speaker 4: as just a stag gathering from coon hunters around the area. 50 00:03:30,800 --> 00:03:33,600 Speaker 4: Well then you can imagine that got a little rough, 51 00:03:34,120 --> 00:03:37,200 Speaker 4: and so the next year or two they decided to 52 00:03:37,240 --> 00:03:40,480 Speaker 4: invite the women, and then it took off from there. 53 00:03:43,080 --> 00:03:45,880 Speaker 2: Gillette is a small farming town in the Delta of 54 00:03:45,920 --> 00:03:50,800 Speaker 2: southeast Arkansas. Their Coon Supper is more than a citywide tradition. 55 00:03:51,400 --> 00:03:55,040 Speaker 2: It's an event that brings an entire region together, really 56 00:03:55,200 --> 00:03:59,560 Speaker 2: an entire state. Today. Scott place, like his father, is 57 00:03:59,640 --> 00:04:02,800 Speaker 2: kind of the grand marshal of this event, not officially, 58 00:04:02,960 --> 00:04:04,760 Speaker 2: and he wouldn't want me to say that, but that's 59 00:04:04,800 --> 00:04:10,160 Speaker 2: my perception. The Coonsuper's importance to anyone who's been to 60 00:04:10,200 --> 00:04:13,760 Speaker 2: it is clear, but it's hard to nail down. Amid 61 00:04:13,800 --> 00:04:17,800 Speaker 2: the complexity of economic challenges and the loss of population, 62 00:04:18,480 --> 00:04:21,800 Speaker 2: people are leaving places like this and not coming back. 63 00:04:22,600 --> 00:04:26,200 Speaker 2: These are real problems for many small towns in America. 64 00:04:26,839 --> 00:04:30,719 Speaker 2: Existential time is moving forward without you, kind of stuff 65 00:04:31,080 --> 00:04:36,320 Speaker 2: that seems to hover over the delta like a biblical plague. 66 00:04:36,560 --> 00:04:40,880 Speaker 2: Just down the street from Scott's house lives Gillette's top politician, 67 00:04:41,360 --> 00:04:44,719 Speaker 2: the mayor, Randy Womack. He lives on the corner of 68 00:04:44,760 --> 00:04:48,839 Speaker 2: Main Street. He and Scott were college roommates. We're gonna 69 00:04:48,880 --> 00:04:51,480 Speaker 2: need some info on Gillette. 70 00:04:51,720 --> 00:04:52,320 Speaker 5: Back when we. 71 00:04:52,320 --> 00:04:56,640 Speaker 6: Moved here in the sixties. At that time there was 72 00:04:56,680 --> 00:04:59,200 Speaker 6: close to nine hundred people the best I can remember, 73 00:05:00,880 --> 00:05:05,200 Speaker 6: say since last census, best I can remember around five 74 00:05:05,279 --> 00:05:10,760 Speaker 6: hundred and twenty five. But it's changed, like a lot 75 00:05:10,760 --> 00:05:15,520 Speaker 6: of delta towns have changed as the tractor's got bigger 76 00:05:15,560 --> 00:05:19,800 Speaker 6: and eliminated a lot of a lot of the workers, 77 00:05:20,680 --> 00:05:24,040 Speaker 6: so it's gradually gotten smaller. 78 00:05:28,640 --> 00:05:32,799 Speaker 2: This is a row crop farming community where soybeans, rice, wheat, 79 00:05:32,839 --> 00:05:37,279 Speaker 2: and corn grow in alluvial soils. They call buckshot, which 80 00:05:37,320 --> 00:05:40,360 Speaker 2: is fertile clay that holds water, sticks to your boots 81 00:05:40,640 --> 00:05:43,880 Speaker 2: and they say it holds the world together. She Lett 82 00:05:44,000 --> 00:05:47,279 Speaker 2: is four miles north of the Arkansas River and forty 83 00:05:47,600 --> 00:05:52,400 Speaker 2: river miles southeast or twenty eight point two seven crow 84 00:05:52,480 --> 00:05:56,800 Speaker 2: flying miles to where the Arkansas River flows into the 85 00:05:56,880 --> 00:06:01,400 Speaker 2: Mighty Mississippi River. The bigger name for this bigger region 86 00:06:01,760 --> 00:06:04,279 Speaker 2: is the Delta. You've heard us talk about it a lot, 87 00:06:04,600 --> 00:06:08,719 Speaker 2: but more specifically, Gillette is in the Grand Prairie. These 88 00:06:08,760 --> 00:06:11,640 Speaker 2: soils have been built by ten thousand years of flooding. 89 00:06:12,360 --> 00:06:16,520 Speaker 2: The Quapalls farmed here from time immemorial into the early 90 00:06:16,600 --> 00:06:21,160 Speaker 2: eighteen hundreds, and modern farming commercial operations have only been 91 00:06:21,240 --> 00:06:24,479 Speaker 2: practiced here for roughly one hundred years. But one thing 92 00:06:24,600 --> 00:06:28,880 Speaker 2: is certain, if you live here, you're invested. Something about 93 00:06:28,920 --> 00:06:32,920 Speaker 2: the flat, muddy ground of the Delta evokes that in people. 94 00:06:34,240 --> 00:06:38,200 Speaker 2: There's a word for a person's relationship with their community. 95 00:06:38,720 --> 00:06:42,599 Speaker 2: It's called social capital. Just file that away for a minute, 96 00:06:43,160 --> 00:06:45,599 Speaker 2: and we're about to go to the Coon Supper. But 97 00:06:45,680 --> 00:06:48,640 Speaker 2: there's still one important piece of the story that we 98 00:06:48,720 --> 00:06:53,719 Speaker 2: haven't talked about yet. The Gillette school system. Something happened 99 00:06:53,720 --> 00:06:54,159 Speaker 2: to their. 100 00:06:54,040 --> 00:06:59,600 Speaker 6: School football games. Doesn't matter what the record was. Stadium 101 00:06:59,680 --> 00:07:04,599 Speaker 6: was going on be full basketball game, kind of the 102 00:07:04,640 --> 00:07:09,240 Speaker 6: center part of the town when the consolidation had all 103 00:07:09,279 --> 00:07:13,360 Speaker 6: come and I understand what it was cased in the 104 00:07:13,440 --> 00:07:16,800 Speaker 6: state in as many school district as the were, or 105 00:07:16,920 --> 00:07:19,360 Speaker 6: so they went about and you know, putting limit on 106 00:07:19,480 --> 00:07:23,480 Speaker 6: what the tennis was once you got to blow that number. 107 00:07:26,280 --> 00:07:28,600 Speaker 2: You may have heard Randy grunt right there at the 108 00:07:28,760 --> 00:07:31,680 Speaker 2: end when he did. He was shaking his head as 109 00:07:31,680 --> 00:07:34,600 Speaker 2: if something died and he didn't want to speak it 110 00:07:34,640 --> 00:07:38,400 Speaker 2: out loud. The school was central to the town. It 111 00:07:38,440 --> 00:07:42,120 Speaker 2: was the social glue. Do you let schools consolidated with 112 00:07:42,200 --> 00:07:45,400 Speaker 2: the bigger school system in two thousand and four. I 113 00:07:45,440 --> 00:07:47,680 Speaker 2: wonder what Scott thought about the school closing. 114 00:07:49,000 --> 00:07:54,760 Speaker 4: It's awful, but one thing led to another, the suspense 115 00:07:54,880 --> 00:07:57,600 Speaker 4: of whether the school was going to shut down after 116 00:07:57,640 --> 00:08:02,360 Speaker 4: it was officially consolidated, know the district, how long was 117 00:08:02,400 --> 00:08:05,480 Speaker 4: it going to stay open? So nobody moves into town 118 00:08:05,600 --> 00:08:10,920 Speaker 4: and your slow death. It's agonizing. But the way farming 119 00:08:11,480 --> 00:08:14,960 Speaker 4: farm economy has changed, and the land that we farm 120 00:08:15,360 --> 00:08:21,600 Speaker 4: in the fifties supported twenty families and now the three 121 00:08:21,720 --> 00:08:25,520 Speaker 4: or four and everybody has two kids instead of nine. 122 00:08:26,000 --> 00:08:29,720 Speaker 4: There's not enough kids support us a school in this 123 00:08:29,840 --> 00:08:33,080 Speaker 4: area anymore. And so this is just inevitable. 124 00:08:36,120 --> 00:08:40,079 Speaker 2: Inevitable is a powerful and intimidating word for rural America. 125 00:08:40,760 --> 00:08:43,160 Speaker 2: Two thousand and four was the beginning of the end 126 00:08:43,240 --> 00:08:46,679 Speaker 2: for Gillette schools. They kept them open for five years, 127 00:08:46,720 --> 00:08:49,200 Speaker 2: but in two thousand and nine they completely closed the 128 00:08:49,280 --> 00:08:52,160 Speaker 2: high school in junior high, but the grade school K 129 00:08:52,240 --> 00:08:56,080 Speaker 2: through five stayed open until twenty twenty one, when the 130 00:08:56,200 --> 00:09:00,199 Speaker 2: last of the Gillette schools were completely closed. Today the 131 00:09:00,280 --> 00:09:03,719 Speaker 2: kids bus fourteen miles to de Witt or d Wit 132 00:09:03,920 --> 00:09:07,120 Speaker 2: as some would say. But it's not all bad. It's 133 00:09:07,160 --> 00:09:12,079 Speaker 2: just a matter of perspective. This is seth place. Scott's son, 134 00:09:12,640 --> 00:09:15,960 Speaker 2: he's in his early forties, lives in Gillette, but his 135 00:09:16,200 --> 00:09:19,000 Speaker 2: kids go to DeWitt schools. 136 00:09:19,520 --> 00:09:22,680 Speaker 7: It got heated there for a while with the school 137 00:09:22,760 --> 00:09:27,320 Speaker 7: consolidation and all that stuff. And it was no big 138 00:09:27,360 --> 00:09:30,000 Speaker 7: secret about some hard feelings here and there or whatever. 139 00:09:30,040 --> 00:09:32,760 Speaker 7: But when I think about Gillette and how it used 140 00:09:32,760 --> 00:09:35,360 Speaker 7: to be, that's how I feel when I go where 141 00:09:35,440 --> 00:09:37,120 Speaker 7: my kids go to school up here at d WIT. 142 00:09:37,320 --> 00:09:42,079 Speaker 7: Though it's basically from my perspective, the community has grown. 143 00:09:45,800 --> 00:09:50,079 Speaker 2: That's an optimistic perspective, and Gillette does have a history 144 00:09:50,080 --> 00:09:55,360 Speaker 2: of expanding its reach. On January thirteenth, twenty twenty four, 145 00:09:55,480 --> 00:10:00,440 Speaker 2: Gillette held its eightieth annual Coon Supper. Despite the child olenges, 146 00:10:00,720 --> 00:10:03,280 Speaker 2: this event is a bright spot on the calendar that 147 00:10:03,440 --> 00:10:07,560 Speaker 2: brings this community together. It gives it identity and is 148 00:10:07,600 --> 00:10:11,520 Speaker 2: one of the only anchors that is held. Myself, my 149 00:10:11,640 --> 00:10:14,520 Speaker 2: wife Misty, along with Brent and his wife drove to 150 00:10:14,559 --> 00:10:18,680 Speaker 2: the Grand Prairie to see it for ourselves. This is 151 00:10:18,720 --> 00:10:22,000 Speaker 2: about to get wild, folks, but let's not jump the gun. 152 00:10:22,520 --> 00:10:24,840 Speaker 2: The first stop that we made was not at the 153 00:10:24,880 --> 00:10:29,640 Speaker 2: Coon Supper, but at the Gillette Pre Coon Supper. That's right, 154 00:10:29,920 --> 00:10:33,400 Speaker 2: the pre Coon Supper, which starts about two hours before 155 00:10:33,400 --> 00:10:38,720 Speaker 2: the Coon Supper. We've driven a couple of miles down 156 00:10:38,760 --> 00:10:41,959 Speaker 2: a gravel road in park by a large metal building. 157 00:10:42,679 --> 00:10:46,640 Speaker 2: This is the late Congressman Mary and Barry's farm shed. 158 00:10:47,480 --> 00:10:51,320 Speaker 2: What is this? I hear music? I've never been here before. 159 00:10:52,640 --> 00:10:54,800 Speaker 8: Name is Clay Clay Leslie. 160 00:10:54,960 --> 00:10:59,400 Speaker 2: Nice to see a guy in dark framed glasses wearing 161 00:10:59,440 --> 00:11:03,120 Speaker 2: a man dadish kind of barbecue and apron greets me. 162 00:11:03,720 --> 00:11:06,400 Speaker 2: He carries himself like a guy in charge. I bet 163 00:11:06,400 --> 00:11:10,280 Speaker 2: he knows what's up with this pre coonsupper stuff. Hey, 164 00:11:10,320 --> 00:11:14,400 Speaker 2: how's it going? Hey doing kway? Newcomer? Give me like 165 00:11:14,679 --> 00:11:17,080 Speaker 2: a little overview of the Coon Supper or and maybe 166 00:11:17,120 --> 00:11:17,880 Speaker 2: even this event. 167 00:11:18,320 --> 00:11:22,520 Speaker 9: So uh so, yeah, we're we're here at the at 168 00:11:22,520 --> 00:11:26,080 Speaker 9: the very farm shop. So this is uh the pre 169 00:11:26,280 --> 00:11:27,560 Speaker 9: coonsupper reception. 170 00:11:27,800 --> 00:11:29,079 Speaker 3: So this, this. 171 00:11:28,960 --> 00:11:33,360 Speaker 9: Event, you know, really goes back fifty years. Uh So 172 00:11:33,520 --> 00:11:36,880 Speaker 9: former Congressman Marrion Barry, he used to live right across 173 00:11:36,960 --> 00:11:40,800 Speaker 9: the street from the Gillette High School and uh when 174 00:11:40,920 --> 00:11:44,600 Speaker 9: people and elected officials and Canadas would come down and 175 00:11:44,720 --> 00:11:47,280 Speaker 9: come to the Coon Supper, they'd stopped at his house 176 00:11:47,320 --> 00:11:49,920 Speaker 9: to have a cocktail before going over the coon Supper. 177 00:11:51,760 --> 00:11:54,640 Speaker 2: That was Gabe Holstrom, and he just told us a 178 00:11:54,760 --> 00:11:58,840 Speaker 2: very important component of the tradition that has become the 179 00:11:59,160 --> 00:12:02,880 Speaker 2: political event of Arkansas. Let's see who else is here. 180 00:12:04,520 --> 00:12:08,319 Speaker 10: My name is Jeremiah Moore. I'm from Clarenon, Arkansas. Currently 181 00:12:08,360 --> 00:12:11,079 Speaker 10: serve as a state representative for House District sixty one 182 00:12:11,120 --> 00:12:15,440 Speaker 10: in the Arkansas State Legislature. My district runs from Amigon 183 00:12:16,040 --> 00:12:18,680 Speaker 10: in Jackson County all the way down to Gillette in 184 00:12:18,800 --> 00:12:21,120 Speaker 10: Arkansas County. And I would be remiss if I did 185 00:12:21,120 --> 00:12:23,840 Speaker 10: not say that District sixty one has the best duck 186 00:12:23,880 --> 00:12:24,679 Speaker 10: hunting in. 187 00:12:24,720 --> 00:12:26,959 Speaker 2: All the world. 188 00:12:27,080 --> 00:12:29,920 Speaker 10: You know, we're here right now at the Gillette pre 189 00:12:30,040 --> 00:12:30,760 Speaker 10: Coon Supper. 190 00:12:31,080 --> 00:12:33,480 Speaker 2: We're about to be confused with the coon souber. This 191 00:12:33,520 --> 00:12:34,559 Speaker 2: is a pre coon safer. 192 00:12:34,600 --> 00:12:36,800 Speaker 10: We're about to head on to the actual coon Supper 193 00:12:36,800 --> 00:12:38,520 Speaker 10: in a few minutes. And I always say that this 194 00:12:38,640 --> 00:12:42,720 Speaker 10: is the foremost political event in the entire state of Arkansas. 195 00:12:42,880 --> 00:12:46,160 Speaker 10: Now you tell me any state east or west of 196 00:12:46,200 --> 00:12:51,360 Speaker 10: the Mississippi where the foremost political event revolves around eating 197 00:12:51,360 --> 00:12:52,760 Speaker 10: a raccoon, and. 198 00:12:54,440 --> 00:12:56,480 Speaker 5: Now it'll be right here in Jillette. 199 00:12:56,559 --> 00:13:02,240 Speaker 2: So now, this pre he Coonsupper became a must attend 200 00:13:02,400 --> 00:13:06,880 Speaker 2: event in part because of Arkansas's most famous son, a 201 00:13:06,920 --> 00:13:10,600 Speaker 2: young man who became Arkansas's governor in nineteen seventy eight. 202 00:13:11,120 --> 00:13:13,120 Speaker 2: This is the guy that Gary Believer Nukan went to 203 00:13:13,240 --> 00:13:16,920 Speaker 2: high school with, and you may recognize his voice. We'll 204 00:13:16,960 --> 00:13:19,360 Speaker 2: step out of the pre coon Supper for a minute 205 00:13:19,440 --> 00:13:23,920 Speaker 2: to a speech this former governor made in twenty twenty three. 206 00:13:25,280 --> 00:13:28,480 Speaker 11: So when I started to run for office, the lad 207 00:13:28,600 --> 00:13:33,000 Speaker 11: had about eight hundred people and they were about as 208 00:13:33,080 --> 00:13:36,400 Speaker 11: I recall, a minimum of fifteen hundred people that showed 209 00:13:36,440 --> 00:13:37,280 Speaker 11: up at the Coon Sufferer. 210 00:13:38,640 --> 00:13:42,120 Speaker 2: This is former President Bill Clinton. Turns out he's a 211 00:13:42,160 --> 00:13:43,920 Speaker 2: long time coon supper guy. 212 00:13:44,280 --> 00:13:46,880 Speaker 11: And someone I said, you know, you've got to do this, 213 00:13:47,000 --> 00:13:48,600 Speaker 11: and you've got to call Marion Barry and you got 214 00:13:48,640 --> 00:13:51,439 Speaker 11: to go down there and see him make all over 215 00:13:51,480 --> 00:13:55,040 Speaker 11: the deal and act like you think coon is better 216 00:13:55,080 --> 00:14:04,440 Speaker 11: than Philet Mignon. So I show up and it was 217 00:14:04,480 --> 00:14:09,360 Speaker 11: already kind of required appearance to go to Marion's house first, 218 00:14:09,360 --> 00:14:12,080 Speaker 11: and all the paul for there and other people, and 219 00:14:12,080 --> 00:14:13,760 Speaker 11: then we'd mody over to the dinner. 220 00:14:14,200 --> 00:14:16,720 Speaker 2: He's talking about the pre coon supper, and. 221 00:14:16,640 --> 00:14:19,720 Speaker 11: So I said, Marrying, do I actually have to eat 222 00:14:19,760 --> 00:14:25,320 Speaker 11: his coon? He said no, He said not if you 223 00:14:25,320 --> 00:14:30,520 Speaker 11: don't want to carry this place ever again, you don't 224 00:14:30,560 --> 00:14:31,400 Speaker 11: have to eat it at all. 225 00:14:32,920 --> 00:14:36,560 Speaker 12: And I said, well, okay. 226 00:14:36,320 --> 00:14:40,360 Speaker 11: How do I eat it? He said, what do you mean? 227 00:14:40,440 --> 00:14:42,880 Speaker 11: I said, I've seen it prepared for eating, and I said, 228 00:14:42,880 --> 00:14:46,280 Speaker 11: there's a lot of gristlin fat right near the bone. 229 00:14:46,760 --> 00:14:50,720 Speaker 11: How do I eat it without getting sick? He said, well, 230 00:14:50,760 --> 00:14:53,000 Speaker 11: most people think they're eat coon meat with a little 231 00:14:53,040 --> 00:14:56,640 Speaker 11: barbecue sauce. You should think of it in reverse, thinking 232 00:14:56,680 --> 00:15:00,840 Speaker 11: you're eating barbecue sauce with a little coon. Mea, there's 233 00:15:00,920 --> 00:15:03,400 Speaker 11: no such thing as too much barbecue sauce. 234 00:15:05,960 --> 00:15:09,120 Speaker 2: Ironically, This is the second time Bill Clinton's voice has 235 00:15:09,120 --> 00:15:11,840 Speaker 2: been on the Bear Grease podcast, and he was once 236 00:15:11,880 --> 00:15:14,120 Speaker 2: involved in a plane crash on the way to the 237 00:15:14,120 --> 00:15:17,800 Speaker 2: coon Supper, but that's another story. But Clinton helped put 238 00:15:17,800 --> 00:15:23,000 Speaker 2: this tradition on the legendary column of Arkansas events. But 239 00:15:23,560 --> 00:15:26,160 Speaker 2: it's now time for us to go to the supper. 240 00:15:26,640 --> 00:15:29,520 Speaker 2: We're really about to eat some coon. This isn't a joke. 241 00:15:31,360 --> 00:15:35,200 Speaker 2: So we just left the pre coon supper party. Brent, 242 00:15:35,720 --> 00:15:36,480 Speaker 2: what are your thoughts? 243 00:15:36,640 --> 00:15:39,640 Speaker 3: Oh, well, there was no coon served, but lots of conversation. 244 00:15:39,760 --> 00:15:43,640 Speaker 3: But the food was good. There was duck poppers that's 245 00:15:43,840 --> 00:15:47,840 Speaker 3: duck wrapped with bacon and jalapenos, and there was ribs 246 00:15:47,880 --> 00:15:48,520 Speaker 3: and sausage. 247 00:15:48,560 --> 00:15:52,600 Speaker 2: And so we're driving on a gravel road in the 248 00:15:52,640 --> 00:15:57,120 Speaker 2: Grand Prairie of Arkansas. It's dark, the sun has set 249 00:15:57,360 --> 00:15:59,880 Speaker 2: and there's a light glow on the horizon on the 250 00:16:00,160 --> 00:16:04,520 Speaker 2: western horizon, and we're now headed to the Gillette Coon Souper. 251 00:16:05,960 --> 00:16:08,960 Speaker 2: As we get into the Gillette city limits, the streets 252 00:16:08,960 --> 00:16:13,480 Speaker 2: are filled with parked cars and people walking towards the school. 253 00:16:13,880 --> 00:16:17,800 Speaker 2: We get out of our car. It looks like we're 254 00:16:17,840 --> 00:16:22,720 Speaker 2: walking up to an old gymnasium it's dark outside, stars 255 00:16:22,720 --> 00:16:27,280 Speaker 2: are out a beautiful uh waning GiB us moon above us. 256 00:16:28,240 --> 00:16:31,280 Speaker 2: This is the old Gillette High School gym. It looks 257 00:16:31,280 --> 00:16:33,440 Speaker 2: like the movie Hoosiers could have been filmed here. 258 00:16:34,240 --> 00:16:34,440 Speaker 5: Here. 259 00:16:34,480 --> 00:16:38,120 Speaker 2: We are awesome. We just got our tickets and the 260 00:16:38,120 --> 00:16:43,200 Speaker 2: tickets are numbered. We gotive. Oh wow, we're gonna have 261 00:16:43,200 --> 00:16:47,000 Speaker 2: to split up sorrow. All right, it's on we go. 262 00:16:47,320 --> 00:16:50,160 Speaker 2: This year they had eight hundred tickets and they sold out. 263 00:16:50,600 --> 00:16:54,440 Speaker 2: The gym is lined with tables with white tablecloths. At 264 00:16:54,440 --> 00:16:57,520 Speaker 2: each place setting is the annual glass cup with the 265 00:16:57,560 --> 00:17:02,200 Speaker 2: coonsupper emblem. In the year, people collect these. But each 266 00:17:02,240 --> 00:17:08,000 Speaker 2: table has an aluminum foil trade of barbecue raccoon. I 267 00:17:08,040 --> 00:17:10,200 Speaker 2: see a guy, I want to talk to you. Tell 268 00:17:10,240 --> 00:17:10,800 Speaker 2: me your name of. 269 00:17:10,720 --> 00:17:11,120 Speaker 3: Who you work. 270 00:17:11,800 --> 00:17:14,359 Speaker 8: Zach Hartman, chief policy officer for Ducks On Limited. 271 00:17:14,800 --> 00:17:17,320 Speaker 2: Why the heck are you at the coon suburb? Man 272 00:17:17,480 --> 00:17:18,879 Speaker 2: at the coons eat duck eggs? 273 00:17:20,400 --> 00:17:25,240 Speaker 13: Well, the most important thing for net success is habitat. 274 00:17:25,720 --> 00:17:27,600 Speaker 2: But I'm not opposed to eating a few coon. 275 00:17:27,720 --> 00:17:30,119 Speaker 8: But I am not opposed to eat a few coons. 276 00:17:30,160 --> 00:17:32,919 Speaker 13: But the really reason that we're here is because this 277 00:17:33,000 --> 00:17:35,200 Speaker 13: is a great event for a great cause. We're here 278 00:17:35,240 --> 00:17:40,280 Speaker 13: to raise money for Arkansas State's Foundation and the scholarships 279 00:17:40,280 --> 00:17:42,760 Speaker 13: that they provide to students that want to get involved 280 00:17:42,800 --> 00:17:45,920 Speaker 13: in ag policy, and they have an opportunity to learn 281 00:17:45,960 --> 00:17:51,479 Speaker 13: about agriculture conservation, which is an increasingly important component of 282 00:17:51,960 --> 00:17:53,879 Speaker 13: our working lands these days. 283 00:17:54,160 --> 00:17:57,280 Speaker 2: Okay, enough all that, man, what do you think of 284 00:17:57,320 --> 00:17:57,840 Speaker 2: eating coon? 285 00:17:57,920 --> 00:18:00,879 Speaker 8: How my man had Penny over here, who you know. 286 00:18:02,600 --> 00:18:04,840 Speaker 13: I brought him here for his first time, and I 287 00:18:04,840 --> 00:18:06,879 Speaker 13: took him to the coon supper and I gave him 288 00:18:07,480 --> 00:18:08,919 Speaker 13: I sat him down and I said, you know, you 289 00:18:08,920 --> 00:18:10,600 Speaker 13: gotta eat some coon. And he ate a piece of 290 00:18:10,640 --> 00:18:13,400 Speaker 13: coon and then he grabbed another piece and I said 291 00:18:13,400 --> 00:18:15,800 Speaker 13: it or are you going back for seconds? And he 292 00:18:15,840 --> 00:18:19,720 Speaker 13: said yeah, it's good, and I said really, and I 293 00:18:19,760 --> 00:18:22,600 Speaker 13: tasted it and it was and it like ruined. 294 00:18:22,320 --> 00:18:22,840 Speaker 8: The whole joke. 295 00:18:25,040 --> 00:18:27,399 Speaker 2: Bret and I both grab a leg of coon and 296 00:18:27,520 --> 00:18:31,159 Speaker 2: have a bite, and he's right, it ain't bad. But 297 00:18:31,280 --> 00:18:33,600 Speaker 2: we've both had it before. We're old coon hunters. 298 00:18:33,640 --> 00:18:33,840 Speaker 14: You know. 299 00:18:34,320 --> 00:18:36,720 Speaker 2: Brent's wife won't even try it. But Misty took a 300 00:18:36,800 --> 00:18:39,960 Speaker 2: nibble and the report wasn't great, though she was a 301 00:18:40,000 --> 00:18:44,240 Speaker 2: little embarrassed to show her displeasure. Anyway, I see somebody 302 00:18:44,240 --> 00:18:47,639 Speaker 2: else I want to talk with. This is awesome Booth, 303 00:18:47,640 --> 00:18:50,239 Speaker 2: the director of the Arkansas Game and Fish. Why are 304 00:18:50,280 --> 00:18:51,320 Speaker 2: you at the coon supper? 305 00:18:51,400 --> 00:18:51,600 Speaker 11: Sir? 306 00:18:52,119 --> 00:18:55,639 Speaker 15: Well, it's an Arkansas radition for us Flatlanders. It's a 307 00:18:55,640 --> 00:18:58,679 Speaker 15: good way to point out the nexus between public service 308 00:18:58,720 --> 00:19:02,520 Speaker 15: and young Arkansas and also a great way to see 309 00:19:02,560 --> 00:19:05,040 Speaker 15: the Grand Prairie in his most beautiful time of the year. 310 00:19:05,359 --> 00:19:08,520 Speaker 2: Shoot some ducks and eat some coon. Now? Are we 311 00:19:09,119 --> 00:19:11,520 Speaker 2: also not trying to reduce the coon population in the 312 00:19:11,560 --> 00:19:12,440 Speaker 2: state of Arkansas? 313 00:19:12,760 --> 00:19:15,200 Speaker 15: Sir, always and proudly. 314 00:19:16,240 --> 00:19:18,760 Speaker 2: This is a good way to do it right as popularize. 315 00:19:18,840 --> 00:19:21,120 Speaker 2: You know, there's a strategy you can If we can 316 00:19:21,200 --> 00:19:25,919 Speaker 2: popularize eating coon meat to the level that every child 317 00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:28,800 Speaker 2: in America, every man, woman, and child, wants to go 318 00:19:28,920 --> 00:19:31,040 Speaker 2: kill a coon and eat it, then we might we 319 00:19:31,119 --> 00:19:32,919 Speaker 2: might be winning. Do you agree with this? 320 00:19:33,920 --> 00:19:37,119 Speaker 15: I think coon Wellington would be an American tradition forever. 321 00:19:39,200 --> 00:19:42,639 Speaker 2: Austin Booth is a former marine, a lawyer, and native 322 00:19:42,680 --> 00:19:46,040 Speaker 2: our cans and and our youngest Game and Fish director ever. 323 00:19:46,560 --> 00:19:51,359 Speaker 2: For my angle, he's exemplifying some legit leadership while navigating 324 00:19:51,400 --> 00:19:55,120 Speaker 2: the very complex wildlife issues of our state. Hat tip 325 00:19:55,160 --> 00:19:59,280 Speaker 2: to Austin. Oh look, here's somebody else i'd like to 326 00:19:59,320 --> 00:19:59,639 Speaker 2: talk with. 327 00:20:00,640 --> 00:20:03,320 Speaker 16: I'm leslie right Ledge, the Lieutenant governor of Arkansas for 328 00:20:03,359 --> 00:20:06,040 Speaker 16: the past year. I was the attorney general for eight 329 00:20:06,160 --> 00:20:09,399 Speaker 16: years prior to that. I grew up on a cattle farm. 330 00:20:09,480 --> 00:20:12,640 Speaker 16: I'm married to a rogrot farmer. So I love being 331 00:20:12,680 --> 00:20:17,160 Speaker 16: here in Arkansas farm lamb, you know, celebrating our way 332 00:20:17,160 --> 00:20:21,280 Speaker 16: of life, our heritage, and then doing something really awkward. 333 00:20:21,200 --> 00:20:22,440 Speaker 8: Which is eat raccoon. 334 00:20:24,000 --> 00:20:27,800 Speaker 2: Pardon me, madame, Lieutenant governor, but is it really awkward 335 00:20:27,800 --> 00:20:31,080 Speaker 2: to eat raccoon? Is that the right word? And by 336 00:20:31,119 --> 00:20:34,760 Speaker 2: the way, when i'm governor, Brent will be my lieutenant governor. 337 00:20:35,440 --> 00:20:39,440 Speaker 16: You know, we're doing this odd thing of eating barbecued raccoon. 338 00:20:39,520 --> 00:20:42,720 Speaker 16: But it's really to talk about what the needs are 339 00:20:43,200 --> 00:20:45,600 Speaker 16: here in Arkansas County, what the needs are for the 340 00:20:46,200 --> 00:20:48,120 Speaker 16: farmers in this area. 341 00:20:48,520 --> 00:20:51,600 Speaker 2: Okay, so here's a real question after all that, how 342 00:20:51,600 --> 00:20:52,520 Speaker 2: do you like coon? 343 00:20:53,640 --> 00:20:57,159 Speaker 16: Well, it's best not eating. But if you have to 344 00:20:57,200 --> 00:21:01,440 Speaker 16: eat it, I certainly suggest getting like one of the yeah, 345 00:21:01,520 --> 00:21:04,240 Speaker 16: the banks or something where it looks big but it's 346 00:21:04,320 --> 00:21:05,120 Speaker 16: very little meat. 347 00:21:05,440 --> 00:21:07,879 Speaker 2: Oh, you got a strategy to get a big beecet, 348 00:21:07,920 --> 00:21:12,280 Speaker 2: but not getting much. That's right, you know, strategy, it's 349 00:21:12,320 --> 00:21:13,560 Speaker 2: all about strategy. 350 00:21:13,680 --> 00:21:14,240 Speaker 4: That was good. 351 00:21:15,359 --> 00:21:17,400 Speaker 2: I want to get into the nitty gritty of how 352 00:21:17,440 --> 00:21:21,159 Speaker 2: they're coming up with all this raccoon meat. This is 353 00:21:21,200 --> 00:21:26,679 Speaker 2: their main supplier, Tommy Cantrell. And how long have you 354 00:21:26,720 --> 00:21:30,040 Speaker 2: been supplying the coons over with coons? 355 00:21:30,040 --> 00:21:33,119 Speaker 17: Probably six or seven years probably now. 356 00:21:33,640 --> 00:21:33,960 Speaker 3: Uh huh? 357 00:21:34,359 --> 00:21:36,120 Speaker 2: So how many you usually catch for them? 358 00:21:36,640 --> 00:21:37,400 Speaker 3: I put it this way. 359 00:21:37,480 --> 00:21:40,719 Speaker 17: Last year I carried him like six d and fifty pounds, right, 360 00:21:41,200 --> 00:21:45,040 Speaker 17: and they're probably average seven pounds six to seven pounds 361 00:21:45,440 --> 00:21:49,240 Speaker 17: per coon. So you can figure that I trap them. 362 00:21:49,480 --> 00:21:52,040 Speaker 17: And also we hunt them with my dog. I got 363 00:21:52,119 --> 00:21:52,560 Speaker 17: old dog. 364 00:21:52,960 --> 00:21:54,320 Speaker 2: Got a coon dog? What kind of coon dog? 365 00:21:54,400 --> 00:21:57,440 Speaker 17: You well, she's not actually a coon dog coon dog. 366 00:21:57,520 --> 00:22:03,120 Speaker 17: She's about half German shepherd and have something new. But anyway, 367 00:22:03,200 --> 00:22:05,840 Speaker 17: if we find one, you know, and she'll run him 368 00:22:05,880 --> 00:22:07,760 Speaker 17: up a tree or something. But if we shoot him, 369 00:22:07,800 --> 00:22:09,760 Speaker 17: if you ain't got a dog, he gonna get away, 370 00:22:09,800 --> 00:22:12,360 Speaker 17: but she will ketch him. She will catch him. 371 00:22:12,480 --> 00:22:12,960 Speaker 11: Get there. 372 00:22:14,000 --> 00:22:16,119 Speaker 2: So I did the math, and that's about one hundred 373 00:22:16,200 --> 00:22:19,640 Speaker 2: dressed raccoons. But that's just what mister Tommy brought in 374 00:22:19,880 --> 00:22:23,000 Speaker 2: they had a few other suppliers. Now I want to 375 00:22:23,000 --> 00:22:25,639 Speaker 2: know how they cook it. Guess who the head cook is? 376 00:22:26,240 --> 00:22:29,879 Speaker 2: Yep Scott Place, the guy whose dad was the first 377 00:22:30,040 --> 00:22:33,600 Speaker 2: master of ceremonies. So are you you're the main coon 378 00:22:33,680 --> 00:22:34,360 Speaker 2: cook around here? 379 00:22:34,600 --> 00:22:36,679 Speaker 4: Well, I guess I'm the oldest cook. 380 00:22:37,160 --> 00:22:41,920 Speaker 2: Okay, So tell tell me about the process of how 381 00:22:41,960 --> 00:22:42,480 Speaker 2: you're cooking this. 382 00:22:42,920 --> 00:22:46,400 Speaker 4: My son Saith buys the coon and we got freezers 383 00:22:46,480 --> 00:22:48,919 Speaker 4: in the old field house and we'll keep it in 384 00:22:49,200 --> 00:22:51,720 Speaker 4: and then on Thursday we'll come get it out and 385 00:22:51,840 --> 00:22:54,440 Speaker 4: let it fall for a day. And then on Friday 386 00:22:54,440 --> 00:22:58,359 Speaker 4: morning we got a pan saw and we cut it 387 00:22:58,440 --> 00:23:01,480 Speaker 4: up in the pieces and in the salt water brine 388 00:23:01,680 --> 00:23:08,320 Speaker 4: and soak it twenty four hours. And then today is 389 00:23:08,359 --> 00:23:12,320 Speaker 4: our longest day, and we boil it in the big 390 00:23:12,359 --> 00:23:16,280 Speaker 4: pots with a special recipe of stuff that we put 391 00:23:16,320 --> 00:23:18,280 Speaker 4: in the boil of water, almost like a. 392 00:23:20,000 --> 00:23:20,200 Speaker 3: Fish. 393 00:23:20,680 --> 00:23:24,640 Speaker 4: Yeah, and we boil it and then we immediately put 394 00:23:24,720 --> 00:23:25,800 Speaker 4: it on these smokers. 395 00:23:26,400 --> 00:23:28,879 Speaker 2: How many coons did y'all You think y'all cooke today? 396 00:23:30,160 --> 00:23:30,600 Speaker 3: Coons? 397 00:23:30,640 --> 00:23:33,040 Speaker 4: I don't know, but it's right. It's just under eight 398 00:23:33,200 --> 00:23:35,240 Speaker 4: hundred pounds. 399 00:23:35,400 --> 00:23:37,439 Speaker 2: Now. At one time it was a lot bigger than that. 400 00:23:37,520 --> 00:23:39,320 Speaker 2: Y'all cooked like two thousand pounds. 401 00:23:39,400 --> 00:23:43,040 Speaker 4: Y'all back when we just served coon, Well, we've had 402 00:23:43,359 --> 00:23:44,879 Speaker 4: well over a ton before. 403 00:23:45,400 --> 00:23:47,119 Speaker 2: How many people you think we're here tonight? 404 00:23:48,359 --> 00:23:53,159 Speaker 4: Sold out of tickets? So right, eight hundred tickets. 405 00:23:53,480 --> 00:23:55,560 Speaker 3: I believe eight hundred people. 406 00:23:55,880 --> 00:23:59,280 Speaker 4: We used to have a thousand tickets, but we took 407 00:23:59,320 --> 00:24:04,440 Speaker 4: a table out, oh, probably twenty years ago, because maybe 408 00:24:04,480 --> 00:24:08,040 Speaker 4: Americans are getting a little bigger and. 409 00:24:07,680 --> 00:24:08,680 Speaker 2: Eating too much coon. 410 00:24:08,840 --> 00:24:10,480 Speaker 5: Yeah, it may be eating too much coon. 411 00:24:10,560 --> 00:24:12,639 Speaker 4: And it was just so crowded. 412 00:24:13,960 --> 00:24:25,719 Speaker 2: I think they've got this coon coulking process dialed. I 413 00:24:25,760 --> 00:24:28,760 Speaker 2: shuffle to sit down quickly as the main speaker is 414 00:24:28,800 --> 00:24:32,320 Speaker 2: about to start. The room quiets as a man in 415 00:24:32,359 --> 00:24:36,280 Speaker 2: a suit approaches the stage. Behind the podium is a 416 00:24:36,359 --> 00:24:42,600 Speaker 2: giant orange handmade mural paper mural commemorating the eightieth Coon Supper. 417 00:24:42,920 --> 00:24:46,199 Speaker 2: On it is a raccoon as big as a picnic table. 418 00:24:46,640 --> 00:24:50,840 Speaker 2: On the lookers left since eight high school seniors. These 419 00:24:50,960 --> 00:24:54,080 Speaker 2: kids go to de Witch schools now, but they're from 420 00:24:54,320 --> 00:24:58,440 Speaker 2: families that live in Gillette. The night is all about them. 421 00:25:00,080 --> 00:25:01,800 Speaker 5: I want to thank you all for trowning. It is 422 00:25:01,920 --> 00:25:05,680 Speaker 5: no weather to come and enjoy yourself tonight or really 423 00:25:07,240 --> 00:25:08,600 Speaker 5: really happy to have you here. 424 00:25:09,960 --> 00:25:12,920 Speaker 18: This is the eightieth time this group has met. 425 00:25:12,920 --> 00:25:14,919 Speaker 5: This coon sover has been put on. 426 00:25:16,760 --> 00:25:21,240 Speaker 2: The speaker's demeanor changes in the room quiets as everyone 427 00:25:21,440 --> 00:25:23,280 Speaker 2: knows what he's about to say. 428 00:25:24,320 --> 00:25:27,520 Speaker 5: Many of you know that we lost Pastor Chad Philip 429 00:25:27,560 --> 00:25:28,320 Speaker 5: this past year. 430 00:25:30,560 --> 00:25:34,520 Speaker 18: Pastor was a great icon of Jellette, the surrounding area 431 00:25:35,080 --> 00:25:36,040 Speaker 18: and the Coon Sobber. 432 00:25:36,480 --> 00:25:37,639 Speaker 5: Just remember Pastor Chad. 433 00:25:39,920 --> 00:25:42,720 Speaker 2: Pastor Chad was a big player here for the last 434 00:25:42,760 --> 00:25:46,320 Speaker 2: several decades. But he's not the only one being remembered 435 00:25:46,320 --> 00:25:46,720 Speaker 2: this year. 436 00:25:47,760 --> 00:25:50,960 Speaker 18: As many of you may know, we've lost another icon 437 00:25:51,240 --> 00:25:55,119 Speaker 18: of Jillette and the Coon Sober this past year. Without 438 00:25:55,119 --> 00:26:00,119 Speaker 18: a doubt, the most famous person from Jillette, Representative Marion Barry. 439 00:26:01,240 --> 00:26:04,200 Speaker 18: Marion love the Lord. He loved his family, he loved 440 00:26:04,200 --> 00:26:07,399 Speaker 18: his farm. We loved you lit its people in the 441 00:26:07,440 --> 00:26:11,520 Speaker 18: Coon Suffer. Mary devoted his life of the service to 442 00:26:11,600 --> 00:26:14,639 Speaker 18: his family and his country and his community. Instead of 443 00:26:14,640 --> 00:26:16,960 Speaker 18: an example to other's an impact that a man from 444 00:26:16,960 --> 00:26:20,080 Speaker 18: a small town can make when seeking direction from God 445 00:26:20,560 --> 00:26:21,280 Speaker 18: and being. 446 00:26:21,040 --> 00:26:24,919 Speaker 5: In service to others. Let's remember Representative Marion Barrier. 447 00:26:32,119 --> 00:26:34,639 Speaker 2: I hope you can feel the sense of community and 448 00:26:34,680 --> 00:26:38,080 Speaker 2: connectedness in this gym, and to think the mechanism that 449 00:26:38,119 --> 00:26:41,800 Speaker 2: it's built around is eating a raccoon. This isn't a joke, 450 00:26:42,359 --> 00:26:45,600 Speaker 2: and it's being done inside the context of a town 451 00:26:45,920 --> 00:26:51,040 Speaker 2: that by measurable statistics might seem like it's wilting. But wait, 452 00:26:51,480 --> 00:26:54,320 Speaker 2: there's more. Here's Senator Tom Cotton. 453 00:26:55,280 --> 00:26:55,800 Speaker 14: Good evening. 454 00:26:55,800 --> 00:26:58,160 Speaker 19: It's great to be back at the Coon Supper again. 455 00:26:58,720 --> 00:27:01,360 Speaker 19: You know, we always join at this time of the year. 456 00:27:01,359 --> 00:27:02,240 Speaker 19: It's the darkest and the. 457 00:27:02,240 --> 00:27:03,040 Speaker 5: Oldest time of the year. 458 00:27:03,080 --> 00:27:06,040 Speaker 19: We have a night of festivities and the warmth of 459 00:27:06,119 --> 00:27:09,879 Speaker 19: community and fellowship. As we've heard, though, we have heavy 460 00:27:09,880 --> 00:27:12,440 Speaker 19: hearts two degree this year because of the passing of 461 00:27:12,440 --> 00:27:15,480 Speaker 19: the pastor chat and Mary and Mary. But I think 462 00:27:15,880 --> 00:27:19,000 Speaker 19: they would want all of us to be here where 463 00:27:19,040 --> 00:27:21,040 Speaker 19: we are tonight, and they're looking down on us, and 464 00:27:21,080 --> 00:27:24,919 Speaker 19: they're proud that this community is continuing with this unique, 465 00:27:25,000 --> 00:27:28,160 Speaker 19: distinctive tradition. I think it's a testament to their legacy 466 00:27:28,160 --> 00:27:31,280 Speaker 19: that we're all joining here together as we always do, 467 00:27:31,720 --> 00:27:32,840 Speaker 19: to help support. 468 00:27:32,640 --> 00:27:38,040 Speaker 5: The great students and kids of this community. Thank you all, Godless. 469 00:27:43,680 --> 00:27:46,679 Speaker 2: The evening comes to a close after every senior is 470 00:27:46,800 --> 00:27:50,880 Speaker 2: recognized for their academic achievements. They each address the crowd 471 00:27:51,119 --> 00:27:54,760 Speaker 2: and tell what their plans are after graduating. One young 472 00:27:54,800 --> 00:27:58,359 Speaker 2: man is going into his family's pest control business, Another 473 00:27:58,480 --> 00:28:01,360 Speaker 2: is heading to the University of Arkansaw. Another is going 474 00:28:01,400 --> 00:28:06,600 Speaker 2: into nursing school. Scholarship recipients are announced, and each senior 475 00:28:06,880 --> 00:28:13,000 Speaker 2: is met by volumeous applause. Despite the town's population shrinking 476 00:28:13,240 --> 00:28:16,880 Speaker 2: the school's closing, the place is riding high on a 477 00:28:16,920 --> 00:28:20,920 Speaker 2: deep sense of community pride. This is really something special. 478 00:28:24,680 --> 00:28:28,720 Speaker 2: As the Coon Supper adjourns, I'm standing outside the doors 479 00:28:28,760 --> 00:28:32,520 Speaker 2: of the event. I ask a passing guy his thoughts 480 00:28:32,560 --> 00:28:36,080 Speaker 2: on what just happened? This is Johnny. You've come to 481 00:28:36,119 --> 00:28:37,000 Speaker 2: this quite a few times. 482 00:28:37,080 --> 00:28:38,000 Speaker 5: Yes, sir, Yes, sir. 483 00:28:38,040 --> 00:28:38,760 Speaker 2: Where are you from? 484 00:28:38,920 --> 00:28:39,800 Speaker 3: I'm from Palm Low? 485 00:28:40,200 --> 00:28:42,240 Speaker 2: So what what what do you like about this? 486 00:28:42,360 --> 00:28:44,920 Speaker 5: I love it. It's just good people. 487 00:28:45,280 --> 00:28:47,960 Speaker 3: One thing about it is it's constant. 488 00:28:48,000 --> 00:28:51,280 Speaker 5: Ain't nothing ever changed. It's gonna always be the same. 489 00:28:52,000 --> 00:28:53,640 Speaker 5: You do not have any problems. 490 00:28:54,000 --> 00:28:56,920 Speaker 2: You're a commercial fisherman. Yes, where do you fishing? 491 00:28:56,960 --> 00:28:57,400 Speaker 4: White River? 492 00:28:57,640 --> 00:29:01,560 Speaker 14: White argistas and awesome man. 493 00:29:02,360 --> 00:29:03,920 Speaker 2: But you're a fan of the Coon something. 494 00:29:03,960 --> 00:29:07,960 Speaker 5: It's beautiful, beautiful, It's beautiful. 495 00:29:09,240 --> 00:29:13,440 Speaker 2: It's good people, stays the same, and it's beautiful. I 496 00:29:13,440 --> 00:29:17,200 Speaker 2: think that's a pretty good synopsis. As I'm leaving, I 497 00:29:17,240 --> 00:29:20,680 Speaker 2: see Seth Place, who's the second in command cook behind 498 00:29:20,680 --> 00:29:23,080 Speaker 2: his dad. I'm a little late in asking him this, 499 00:29:23,440 --> 00:29:25,920 Speaker 2: but he seems to be a coon meat expert, and 500 00:29:25,960 --> 00:29:27,520 Speaker 2: I have a burning question. 501 00:29:28,720 --> 00:29:29,480 Speaker 5: That's what would you. 502 00:29:29,440 --> 00:29:32,560 Speaker 2: Say there's a prime cut on a coon? 503 00:29:32,920 --> 00:29:37,400 Speaker 20: Absolutely not, it's all it's all prime. 504 00:29:37,680 --> 00:29:41,240 Speaker 2: It's all prime, all prime. Okay, all right, all right, 505 00:29:42,400 --> 00:29:44,920 Speaker 2: he asks me if I want to see the cookers. 506 00:29:45,400 --> 00:29:48,480 Speaker 2: So we walk out further into the yard right by 507 00:29:48,480 --> 00:29:50,840 Speaker 2: the gym. So, y'all cook them all on this big 508 00:29:50,880 --> 00:29:51,600 Speaker 2: smoker right here. 509 00:29:53,280 --> 00:29:54,520 Speaker 4: But these are the smokers. 510 00:29:54,920 --> 00:29:57,520 Speaker 2: Now do they all bring these in or they stay here? 511 00:29:58,040 --> 00:29:59,440 Speaker 2: These are permanent. 512 00:29:59,320 --> 00:30:03,320 Speaker 20: Smoker now I used to Yeah, the school's closed so 513 00:30:03,560 --> 00:30:08,320 Speaker 20: and then they basically donated the these buildings to the 514 00:30:08,360 --> 00:30:11,800 Speaker 20: Farms and Businessman Club. So we can have this indefinitely 515 00:30:11,840 --> 00:30:14,680 Speaker 20: as long as we can sell tickets, really, but yeah, 516 00:30:14,720 --> 00:30:16,120 Speaker 20: we just keep everything here now. 517 00:30:16,520 --> 00:30:19,400 Speaker 2: So this this used to be Gillette Public School. This 518 00:30:19,480 --> 00:30:22,000 Speaker 2: is Coal Counts. It consolidated to be with. 519 00:30:22,840 --> 00:30:24,560 Speaker 8: But this year is the first year that elementary has 520 00:30:24,600 --> 00:30:25,000 Speaker 8: been gone. 521 00:30:25,200 --> 00:30:28,120 Speaker 2: So this is kind of like a ghost town down here. 522 00:30:28,600 --> 00:30:30,560 Speaker 20: It is, at least in the sense of the school. 523 00:30:32,160 --> 00:30:33,760 Speaker 8: I got to go to school here till I was 524 00:30:33,760 --> 00:30:34,760 Speaker 8: in the seventh grade. 525 00:30:34,800 --> 00:30:36,640 Speaker 2: In my eighth grade year, we consolidated, had to go 526 00:30:36,640 --> 00:30:41,680 Speaker 2: to d with Okay, amid the excitement and energy of 527 00:30:41,720 --> 00:30:45,160 Speaker 2: the event, it's easy to forget this community is struggling 528 00:30:45,160 --> 00:30:48,000 Speaker 2: to stay together. More people were in that gym than 529 00:30:48,040 --> 00:30:51,360 Speaker 2: live in this town. They leave their giant built in 530 00:30:51,440 --> 00:30:54,840 Speaker 2: cookers outside the gym because it's not a functioning gym anymore. 531 00:30:55,320 --> 00:30:57,120 Speaker 2: Just keep that in mind. We're going to go back 532 00:30:57,120 --> 00:31:00,680 Speaker 2: to that. But first, I've had something on mine since 533 00:31:00,760 --> 00:31:03,680 Speaker 2: that first bite of raccoon. We're now in the car 534 00:31:03,720 --> 00:31:07,240 Speaker 2: heading home, and I think it's possible that we've all 535 00:31:07,360 --> 00:31:12,160 Speaker 2: broken the law. I decide to confront Brent on his hypocrisy. 536 00:31:12,640 --> 00:31:15,479 Speaker 2: I'm trying to understand how I'm not the only person 537 00:31:15,480 --> 00:31:21,080 Speaker 2: who thought of this. Okay, So the one problem that 538 00:31:21,160 --> 00:31:26,160 Speaker 2: I've foreseen is that they're buying this coon meat, and 539 00:31:26,240 --> 00:31:32,640 Speaker 2: it is illegal to buy or sell wildlife meat. 540 00:31:33,240 --> 00:31:39,600 Speaker 3: There is an exception, really, yeah, p with coon. Yeah, 541 00:31:40,120 --> 00:31:42,239 Speaker 3: let me tell you something. Are you holding onto that 542 00:31:42,280 --> 00:31:45,640 Speaker 3: mic because yeah, this is a mic drop moment. Okay, 543 00:31:46,120 --> 00:31:52,320 Speaker 3: my brother Tim skins coons and prepares them to be sold, 544 00:31:53,280 --> 00:31:58,240 Speaker 3: and his nephew sells them out the window of their 545 00:31:58,280 --> 00:32:00,640 Speaker 3: pharmacy in Ford Asson, Arkansas. 546 00:32:01,120 --> 00:32:03,520 Speaker 8: Serious, you can go buy the drop off. 547 00:32:03,360 --> 00:32:07,040 Speaker 3: A gun to get picked up, to get cleaned and repaired. 548 00:32:07,080 --> 00:32:09,040 Speaker 3: You can pick up your prescription and you can buy 549 00:32:09,040 --> 00:32:09,440 Speaker 3: a coon. 550 00:32:09,760 --> 00:32:12,560 Speaker 2: Really raise yourself because I got the Okay, what's the 551 00:32:12,560 --> 00:32:15,440 Speaker 2: AGFC say about it? Missy, We've just left the gillet 552 00:32:15,480 --> 00:32:16,160 Speaker 2: coon supper. 553 00:32:16,960 --> 00:32:17,240 Speaker 14: It is. 554 00:32:17,600 --> 00:32:21,280 Speaker 21: It is unlawful to purchase, sell, offer for sale, barter, 555 00:32:21,520 --> 00:32:24,160 Speaker 21: or trade any species of wildlife. 556 00:32:23,640 --> 00:32:26,880 Speaker 14: Or proportions there up period exceptions. 557 00:32:27,040 --> 00:32:30,560 Speaker 21: Hey, fur bear pelts and carcasses taken during a fur 558 00:32:30,600 --> 00:32:32,200 Speaker 21: bear season may be sold. 559 00:32:32,440 --> 00:32:34,720 Speaker 14: Wow, that's the first one. 560 00:32:35,160 --> 00:32:37,440 Speaker 21: May be sold by person who's valid hunting are furred 561 00:32:37,400 --> 00:32:41,600 Speaker 21: to their licenses, legally taken squirrel tails and pelts, rabbit pelts. 562 00:32:41,920 --> 00:32:44,440 Speaker 14: This is a second. This is a like a different 563 00:32:44,440 --> 00:32:45,000 Speaker 14: bullet point. 564 00:32:45,240 --> 00:32:48,560 Speaker 2: I've heard all I need to hear red fox grace legal, Baby, 565 00:32:48,600 --> 00:32:49,600 Speaker 2: We're going into business. 566 00:32:49,680 --> 00:32:51,120 Speaker 14: Alligator high alligators. 567 00:32:51,200 --> 00:32:56,080 Speaker 2: I'm staying corrected. Sounds like Brent's off the hook. Somehow. 568 00:32:56,120 --> 00:32:59,600 Speaker 2: The legality of selling fur bear meat has eluded me. 569 00:33:00,240 --> 00:33:03,479 Speaker 2: But I'll tell you what else has eluded me, the 570 00:33:03,520 --> 00:33:07,360 Speaker 2: real understanding of why something like the coon supper is valuable. 571 00:33:07,640 --> 00:33:10,320 Speaker 2: I mean, it's easy to see and feel the value 572 00:33:10,360 --> 00:33:14,080 Speaker 2: when you're there. It's undeniable. Anybody sees it. Everybody sees it, 573 00:33:14,160 --> 00:33:17,080 Speaker 2: But how could you explain it to someone? I got 574 00:33:17,080 --> 00:33:21,280 Speaker 2: the opportunity to talk with author Tim P. Carney, who's 575 00:33:21,280 --> 00:33:25,640 Speaker 2: written multiple best selling books. One is called Alienated America. 576 00:33:26,280 --> 00:33:28,720 Speaker 2: He's an expert on this kind of stuff. And to 577 00:33:28,760 --> 00:33:32,280 Speaker 2: be more specific about what that stuff is, a lot 578 00:33:32,440 --> 00:33:36,680 Speaker 2: of the Coonsupper's value could be summed up by people 579 00:33:36,800 --> 00:33:40,360 Speaker 2: gaining social capital. I remember I told you to hold 580 00:33:40,400 --> 00:33:44,360 Speaker 2: on to that word, file it away. This is incredibly interesting. 581 00:33:44,840 --> 00:33:45,960 Speaker 2: Here's Tim. 582 00:33:46,480 --> 00:33:51,600 Speaker 1: Social capital is this term that like sociologists ues maybe historians, 583 00:33:52,120 --> 00:33:55,040 Speaker 1: and it's a weird word because capital is kind of 584 00:33:55,080 --> 00:33:59,680 Speaker 1: a financial term, right, you're talking about money. Social is 585 00:33:59,720 --> 00:34:02,959 Speaker 1: showing us that we're talking about something very different. So 586 00:34:03,040 --> 00:34:05,239 Speaker 1: one way to think of social capital is what are 587 00:34:05,280 --> 00:34:07,360 Speaker 1: the things you have in your life that are really 588 00:34:07,440 --> 00:34:10,760 Speaker 1: valuable but you don't pay for and you couldn't quite 589 00:34:10,840 --> 00:34:13,279 Speaker 1: sell them. Do you have a next door neighbor who 590 00:34:13,280 --> 00:34:16,440 Speaker 1: you're just best friends with, that's social capital. Do you 591 00:34:16,520 --> 00:34:19,200 Speaker 1: have extended family who will bail you out if you 592 00:34:19,239 --> 00:34:23,200 Speaker 1: get into trouble, that's having social capital. And so the 593 00:34:23,600 --> 00:34:27,560 Speaker 1: truth is there's real inequality in social capital across America 594 00:34:27,600 --> 00:34:31,160 Speaker 1: in ways that sometimes parallels and sometimes deviates from kind 595 00:34:31,200 --> 00:34:33,760 Speaker 1: of wealth inequality. But one way of thinking of social 596 00:34:33,840 --> 00:34:36,600 Speaker 1: capital is valuable things that you might or might not 597 00:34:36,680 --> 00:34:41,000 Speaker 1: have in your life that are they're social, they're not financial. 598 00:34:41,040 --> 00:34:43,560 Speaker 1: They have to do with your connections and interactions with 599 00:34:43,640 --> 00:34:48,080 Speaker 1: other people, and they usually explicitly are not something that 600 00:34:48,120 --> 00:34:51,319 Speaker 1: you could pay for or sell or directly buy. 601 00:34:53,160 --> 00:34:56,600 Speaker 2: Our society is good at measuring external things that have 602 00:34:56,719 --> 00:35:00,880 Speaker 2: monetary impact. So social capital is hard to make, but 603 00:35:01,360 --> 00:35:05,040 Speaker 2: it's primarily a function of our relationship to other people. 604 00:35:05,440 --> 00:35:07,920 Speaker 2: Whether you're conscious of it or not, every human on 605 00:35:07,960 --> 00:35:12,240 Speaker 2: earth has some level of social capital. Now, this next 606 00:35:12,280 --> 00:35:16,400 Speaker 2: observation about American society is kind of mind blowing. 607 00:35:17,280 --> 00:35:20,960 Speaker 1: The greatest work on the United States of America I 608 00:35:21,000 --> 00:35:22,880 Speaker 1: think that was ever written, was written by a French 609 00:35:22,920 --> 00:35:26,200 Speaker 1: guy and was written one hundred years ago. Yeah, it 610 00:35:26,239 --> 00:35:29,319 Speaker 1: was Alexis to Toakville's Democracy in America. You know how 611 00:35:29,320 --> 00:35:31,440 Speaker 1: sometimes somebody shows up at your house and they notice 612 00:35:31,440 --> 00:35:33,880 Speaker 1: something that you don't notice because you just you've come 613 00:35:33,960 --> 00:35:37,359 Speaker 1: to take it for granted. Americans, he was saying, two 614 00:35:37,440 --> 00:35:41,319 Speaker 1: hundred years ago, take for granted how much they kind 615 00:35:41,320 --> 00:35:45,600 Speaker 1: of just rely on not themselves as individuals, but themselves 616 00:35:45,840 --> 00:35:50,240 Speaker 1: and their neighbors, their fellow countrymen, their brothers, or whatever 617 00:35:50,320 --> 00:35:52,960 Speaker 1: other people they know to solve problems. 618 00:35:53,320 --> 00:35:53,880 Speaker 12: He said. 619 00:35:54,280 --> 00:35:58,840 Speaker 1: In England again this is eighteen thirties. In England, people 620 00:35:59,200 --> 00:36:01,640 Speaker 1: they turned to the the big landlord. I mean it 621 00:36:01,680 --> 00:36:03,960 Speaker 1: was semi feudal at that point. There'd be a big 622 00:36:04,080 --> 00:36:06,800 Speaker 1: rich landholder and they turned to him to solve their problems. 623 00:36:07,200 --> 00:36:10,360 Speaker 1: In France, they turned to the government. In the United States, 624 00:36:10,480 --> 00:36:14,440 Speaker 1: if there's a problem, people will like form a you know, 625 00:36:15,719 --> 00:36:19,960 Speaker 1: a ditch digging organization to keep the town from flooding 626 00:36:20,000 --> 00:36:22,920 Speaker 1: when the runoff is coming down from the mountain. So 627 00:36:23,000 --> 00:36:26,400 Speaker 1: that idea that where it's both that were self starters, 628 00:36:27,120 --> 00:36:30,399 Speaker 1: but we're not just individuals. So it's still a sort 629 00:36:30,400 --> 00:36:33,120 Speaker 1: of self reliance, but it's a self reliance in fraternity, 630 00:36:33,600 --> 00:36:37,560 Speaker 1: in neighborhood, in community. And that that was unique to 631 00:36:37,640 --> 00:36:42,359 Speaker 1: America is what Toauville argued, we. 632 00:36:42,360 --> 00:36:47,759 Speaker 2: Have self reliance inside of fraternity, inside of community, and 633 00:36:48,120 --> 00:36:51,440 Speaker 2: this thing was unique to America kind of from the beginning. 634 00:36:52,120 --> 00:36:55,120 Speaker 2: A different term to describe what the Toaueville saw here 635 00:36:55,320 --> 00:36:59,880 Speaker 2: is civic engagement. That word sounds pretty scary to me, 636 00:37:00,400 --> 00:37:04,200 Speaker 2: but it actually determines a lot about our communities. And 637 00:37:04,239 --> 00:37:07,160 Speaker 2: to equate it back to the coon supper, attending or 638 00:37:07,239 --> 00:37:11,160 Speaker 2: volunteering at a community event like this is civic engagement. 639 00:37:11,680 --> 00:37:15,200 Speaker 2: Turns out that stuff is quite important, and it's on 640 00:37:15,239 --> 00:37:17,719 Speaker 2: a dramatic decline in America. 641 00:37:18,600 --> 00:37:20,040 Speaker 1: So you could look at you know, how much do 642 00:37:20,160 --> 00:37:25,200 Speaker 1: people vote, how much do people participate in the census? 643 00:37:24,640 --> 00:37:28,160 Speaker 12: That all matters. How does that relate to social capital? 644 00:37:28,680 --> 00:37:31,160 Speaker 1: Well, if you're the guy who took it on the 645 00:37:31,239 --> 00:37:34,359 Speaker 1: chin and coach kindergarten girls basketball, if you're the guy 646 00:37:34,400 --> 00:37:36,279 Speaker 1: who you didn't even think about it, but you sent 647 00:37:36,280 --> 00:37:39,840 Speaker 1: your sons over to shovel the neighbor's yard sidewalk when 648 00:37:39,880 --> 00:37:42,520 Speaker 1: he was away. It is a little bit like finance 649 00:37:42,680 --> 00:37:45,360 Speaker 1: in that you put a bunch in and then when. 650 00:37:45,239 --> 00:37:47,600 Speaker 12: You need it you can draw it out. But there's 651 00:37:47,600 --> 00:37:48,160 Speaker 12: not like a. 652 00:37:48,200 --> 00:37:51,560 Speaker 1: Ledger being kept. That's the real thing about social capital 653 00:37:51,600 --> 00:37:55,200 Speaker 1: and community. There's just an understanding that we have an 654 00:37:55,200 --> 00:37:57,240 Speaker 1: obligation to look out for other people. 655 00:37:57,480 --> 00:37:58,319 Speaker 12: So we're going to do it. 656 00:37:58,320 --> 00:38:01,960 Speaker 1: We're going to be civically engaged, and the more civically engaged. 657 00:38:01,640 --> 00:38:03,520 Speaker 12: You are, the more capital you had. 658 00:38:03,800 --> 00:38:06,239 Speaker 1: The main way I would say that works is the 659 00:38:06,239 --> 00:38:11,040 Speaker 1: more things that you belong to, then the more things 660 00:38:11,120 --> 00:38:14,560 Speaker 1: you can rely on. That is, I belong to my 661 00:38:14,640 --> 00:38:17,759 Speaker 1: local church. I belong to my kids' schools. I don't 662 00:38:17,800 --> 00:38:19,879 Speaker 1: just cut the check and send my kids there where 663 00:38:20,040 --> 00:38:21,920 Speaker 1: I serve on the board of one. My wife's a 664 00:38:21,960 --> 00:38:25,279 Speaker 1: substitute teacher at another. We show up at things. I 665 00:38:25,320 --> 00:38:28,680 Speaker 1: belong to my employer. You know, I work to get 666 00:38:28,680 --> 00:38:30,760 Speaker 1: to know my neighbors. So I belonged to all these things. 667 00:38:30,840 --> 00:38:35,680 Speaker 1: So a common word in this area of study is reciprocity, 668 00:38:36,040 --> 00:38:39,040 Speaker 1: which again is just relationship. The understanding I'll take care 669 00:38:39,080 --> 00:38:41,719 Speaker 1: of you, you take care of me, and community was 670 00:38:41,719 --> 00:38:43,600 Speaker 1: always built on the fact that we had needs. It 671 00:38:43,640 --> 00:38:45,720 Speaker 1: wasn't just hey, I want to hang out with my buddies. 672 00:38:45,880 --> 00:38:48,560 Speaker 1: It was oh, I need to go into town to 673 00:38:48,640 --> 00:38:51,000 Speaker 1: get something. Oh I need to call on my friend 674 00:38:51,040 --> 00:38:53,479 Speaker 1: to lift this one thing, and if you take away 675 00:38:53,520 --> 00:38:55,920 Speaker 1: some of those needs, then we lose the stuff we 676 00:38:55,920 --> 00:38:58,960 Speaker 1: didn't know we needed, which was a connection, the friendship, 677 00:38:59,040 --> 00:39:04,120 Speaker 1: the camaraderie, the longing. And so the guy who wrote 678 00:39:04,160 --> 00:39:07,040 Speaker 1: the best book on this was Robert Putnam Bowling Alone. 679 00:39:07,080 --> 00:39:09,279 Speaker 1: That came out right as you and I were finishing up, 680 00:39:09,440 --> 00:39:12,359 Speaker 1: you know, our college years there. Two thousand, I think 681 00:39:12,480 --> 00:39:15,520 Speaker 1: was the pub date on that, And he used bowling 682 00:39:15,640 --> 00:39:19,120 Speaker 1: because he said he found out that people weren't bowling 683 00:39:19,239 --> 00:39:22,240 Speaker 1: less in two thousand than they had in nineteen sixty, 684 00:39:22,280 --> 00:39:26,600 Speaker 1: but they were bowling leagues had crumbled everywhere, so people 685 00:39:26,640 --> 00:39:28,960 Speaker 1: were more likely to bowl alone, or bowl just with 686 00:39:29,000 --> 00:39:32,480 Speaker 1: their best friend or their their wife or whatever. And 687 00:39:32,520 --> 00:39:37,040 Speaker 1: that was just almost a little analogy for what was 688 00:39:37,080 --> 00:39:41,680 Speaker 1: happening more broadly. Membership, you know, pta membership had collapsed, 689 00:39:41,719 --> 00:39:45,359 Speaker 1: and all of this stuff what we belonged to, had 690 00:39:45,400 --> 00:39:47,840 Speaker 1: gone down across the board. 691 00:39:48,160 --> 00:39:48,919 Speaker 12: And so I. 692 00:39:48,920 --> 00:39:51,440 Speaker 1: Went and I looked to update the numbers. 693 00:39:51,719 --> 00:39:53,080 Speaker 12: When I wrote Alienated America. 694 00:39:53,120 --> 00:39:55,720 Speaker 1: That came out twenty nineteen, so almost twenty years later, 695 00:39:56,040 --> 00:40:00,960 Speaker 1: and it had just continued. The people just again more 696 00:40:01,080 --> 00:40:03,520 Speaker 1: likely to sort of strike out on them their own. 697 00:40:03,560 --> 00:40:05,880 Speaker 1: When I was on the board of a small organization 698 00:40:05,960 --> 00:40:09,239 Speaker 1: here in DC. We did this study and it came 699 00:40:09,280 --> 00:40:11,080 Speaker 1: back Millennials didn't want. 700 00:40:10,960 --> 00:40:13,400 Speaker 12: To join anything. We should be a member. They're like, 701 00:40:13,400 --> 00:40:14,280 Speaker 12: I don't want to be a member. 702 00:40:14,360 --> 00:40:18,359 Speaker 1: We're like, will you chip in twenty bucks to help 703 00:40:18,440 --> 00:40:19,719 Speaker 1: us out? They're like, oh, yeah, I'll do that, but 704 00:40:19,719 --> 00:40:22,000 Speaker 1: I'm not joining. Okay, I don't want to belong to it. 705 00:40:22,360 --> 00:40:24,200 Speaker 1: And so you and I are at the sort of 706 00:40:24,239 --> 00:40:26,840 Speaker 1: tail end of gen X. And I think that that 707 00:40:27,040 --> 00:40:29,960 Speaker 1: was already in motion. 708 00:40:32,640 --> 00:40:36,680 Speaker 2: Studies showed that America's civic engagement peaked in the nineteen 709 00:40:36,800 --> 00:40:40,279 Speaker 2: sixties and has been declining ever since. By the time 710 00:40:40,320 --> 00:40:43,279 Speaker 2: I graduated high school in the late nineteen nineties, it 711 00:40:43,320 --> 00:40:48,719 Speaker 2: had plummeted. I remember my dad, the believer, being involved 712 00:40:48,760 --> 00:40:52,200 Speaker 2: in everything he possibly could his whole life. He was 713 00:40:52,239 --> 00:40:55,319 Speaker 2: in a fraternity in college, he never drank, by the way, 714 00:40:55,680 --> 00:40:58,239 Speaker 2: a member of the Kawanas Club, the Lions Club, the 715 00:40:58,320 --> 00:41:00,920 Speaker 2: archery club. He was a deacon at the church, and 716 00:41:00,960 --> 00:41:03,400 Speaker 2: for decades he was heavily involved in a group that 717 00:41:03,520 --> 00:41:08,000 Speaker 2: helped families with critical construction projects, like if the roof 718 00:41:08,040 --> 00:41:10,320 Speaker 2: was leaking and they couldn't afford to get it fixed. 719 00:41:10,680 --> 00:41:13,920 Speaker 2: Or if some family needed a wheelchair ramp built. He 720 00:41:14,080 --> 00:41:17,319 Speaker 2: was very civically involved, but he grew up in the 721 00:41:17,360 --> 00:41:21,480 Speaker 2: time of America's peak civic engagement. He always wanted me 722 00:41:21,640 --> 00:41:26,040 Speaker 2: to do more stuff, but I just wasn't that interested. Now, 723 00:41:26,120 --> 00:41:29,880 Speaker 2: as an adult, I have maintained high levels of involvement 724 00:41:29,920 --> 00:41:33,080 Speaker 2: in my church my whole life, but I have not 725 00:41:33,360 --> 00:41:37,360 Speaker 2: been nearly as involved in other stuff. I didn't know 726 00:41:37,560 --> 00:41:39,960 Speaker 2: until I talked with Tim that I was just a 727 00:41:40,160 --> 00:41:44,320 Speaker 2: pawn in the common trend of my generation. I didn't 728 00:41:44,440 --> 00:41:47,799 Speaker 2: choose this all on my own, like I thought. It's 729 00:41:47,840 --> 00:41:50,480 Speaker 2: kind of spooky when you realize that you have less 730 00:41:50,520 --> 00:41:55,560 Speaker 2: control over your life than you think. Hmm, that is interesting. 731 00:41:56,440 --> 00:41:59,600 Speaker 2: But who is most affected by this lack of civic 732 00:41:59,719 --> 00:42:03,239 Speaker 2: gay Is it the rich or the poor who are 733 00:42:03,320 --> 00:42:06,880 Speaker 2: less civically engaged? I bet it's those rich folks. 734 00:42:07,960 --> 00:42:09,239 Speaker 12: There are nuances to this. 735 00:42:09,600 --> 00:42:15,840 Speaker 1: It's worse the collapse of of belonging, civic engagement, bowling leagues, 736 00:42:15,840 --> 00:42:19,240 Speaker 1: et cetera. All that stuff is worse in the working 737 00:42:19,320 --> 00:42:22,840 Speaker 1: class in America than it is in the middle class 738 00:42:22,880 --> 00:42:26,560 Speaker 1: or the upper middle class. There's this stereotype that you know, 739 00:42:26,680 --> 00:42:29,920 Speaker 1: wealthier Americans you know, you live behind a gate, or 740 00:42:29,960 --> 00:42:33,880 Speaker 1: you're you know, with your money, you're just buying your isolation. 741 00:42:34,120 --> 00:42:36,960 Speaker 12: But if you go to like these rich suburbs. 742 00:42:36,560 --> 00:42:40,080 Speaker 1: Where houses are really expensive and the property taxes are high, they. 743 00:42:39,920 --> 00:42:43,160 Speaker 12: Have enough Little League coaches for every team. 744 00:42:43,640 --> 00:42:47,839 Speaker 1: They have people leaving the kids lead their bikes out 745 00:42:47,840 --> 00:42:50,320 Speaker 1: on the front yard because neighbors sort of know neighbors. 746 00:42:50,960 --> 00:42:55,239 Speaker 12: The collapse in community, in civic engagement is greater for 747 00:42:55,320 --> 00:42:56,600 Speaker 12: a dozen reasons I go. 748 00:42:56,560 --> 00:43:00,400 Speaker 1: Through in the book in the working class. And that's 749 00:43:00,440 --> 00:43:05,600 Speaker 1: particularly harmful because these are people who rely more on 750 00:43:06,400 --> 00:43:09,360 Speaker 1: social capital. If you're rich and don't have friends, you 751 00:43:09,360 --> 00:43:12,040 Speaker 1: could sort of you could buy stuff. But the irony 752 00:43:12,160 --> 00:43:15,440 Speaker 1: is the richer people in America, not the you know, 753 00:43:15,480 --> 00:43:17,880 Speaker 1: super rich celebrities who have to live in a gated, 754 00:43:18,080 --> 00:43:21,520 Speaker 1: you know, mansion, but the upper middle class. They are 755 00:43:21,640 --> 00:43:24,800 Speaker 1: more likely to know their neighbors, more likely to volunteer, 756 00:43:24,880 --> 00:43:28,520 Speaker 1: more likely to belong to things. And it's because this 757 00:43:28,640 --> 00:43:30,920 Speaker 1: sort of thing isn't just an individual choice, it's a 758 00:43:30,920 --> 00:43:35,360 Speaker 1: community thing. The community has to give you those opportunities, 759 00:43:35,520 --> 00:43:38,440 Speaker 1: and in some parts of America, those opportunities for belonging 760 00:43:38,840 --> 00:43:40,520 Speaker 1: and volunteering aren't there. 761 00:43:42,120 --> 00:43:45,759 Speaker 2: That's very interesting and not what I was expecting. But 762 00:43:45,800 --> 00:43:49,320 Speaker 2: that's just why the community of Gillette is so unique. 763 00:43:50,840 --> 00:43:53,920 Speaker 2: I spent some time describing the Gillette Coon Supper to 764 00:43:53,960 --> 00:43:56,720 Speaker 2: Tim Carney. I wanted to see what he thought. 765 00:43:57,239 --> 00:44:01,239 Speaker 1: Here's what he said, when you describe that, I want 766 00:44:01,239 --> 00:44:04,120 Speaker 1: to go to Jillett and see this and eat the 767 00:44:04,160 --> 00:44:07,359 Speaker 1: food and watch the people. This is the stuff that 768 00:44:07,400 --> 00:44:11,120 Speaker 1: makes America great, really, and I've seen it in other towns. 769 00:44:11,400 --> 00:44:13,439 Speaker 1: There's my favorite town in Iowa. It is this town 770 00:44:13,480 --> 00:44:17,600 Speaker 1: called Imagen, Iowa, which is down to thirty people. How 771 00:44:17,640 --> 00:44:19,440 Speaker 1: does the town survive with thirty people? Well, it has 772 00:44:19,440 --> 00:44:22,839 Speaker 1: an Irish pub, a beautiful Catholic church, and then a 773 00:44:22,840 --> 00:44:25,640 Speaker 1: softball field where they have a big tournament as part 774 00:44:25,680 --> 00:44:28,760 Speaker 1: of what they call Shamrock Days. Because you know Irish 775 00:44:28,800 --> 00:44:31,640 Speaker 1: population traditionally, and it brings in people who used to 776 00:44:31,719 --> 00:44:33,879 Speaker 1: live there and people from the other towns, and these 777 00:44:33,920 --> 00:44:37,560 Speaker 1: sort of things, even if they're only occasional things, they 778 00:44:37,680 --> 00:44:43,680 Speaker 1: really keep a town alive. Tradition, customs, these things are 779 00:44:44,320 --> 00:44:47,600 Speaker 1: social capital that gets passed down from generation to generation. 780 00:44:48,160 --> 00:44:51,520 Speaker 1: It's almost like you're time traveling, right. You're talking about 781 00:44:51,840 --> 00:44:54,160 Speaker 1: these kids in Jillette, and they don't even have a 782 00:44:54,239 --> 00:44:56,600 Speaker 1: high school, but they still they almost get to travel 783 00:44:56,640 --> 00:44:58,839 Speaker 1: back to when they do because suddenly there's a senior. 784 00:44:58,560 --> 00:44:59,760 Speaker 12: Class the high school. 785 00:45:00,120 --> 00:45:03,480 Speaker 1: Let senior class, even though there's no Jillette High school. 786 00:45:03,520 --> 00:45:07,680 Speaker 1: And so that is what customs do they provide. 787 00:45:08,800 --> 00:45:11,080 Speaker 12: I often talk about social capital. 788 00:45:10,719 --> 00:45:13,640 Speaker 1: As providing sort of a I mean, we use the 789 00:45:13,640 --> 00:45:17,919 Speaker 1: word network, but just imagine an infrastructure, something that's a scaffolding, 790 00:45:18,080 --> 00:45:22,560 Speaker 1: a scaffolding that holds you up. Traditions are a sort 791 00:45:22,560 --> 00:45:26,920 Speaker 1: of scaffolding that spans across time. And so that's one 792 00:45:26,920 --> 00:45:30,560 Speaker 1: of the key things that strong communities do is they 793 00:45:30,560 --> 00:45:32,800 Speaker 1: have traditions, they have customs, they have. 794 00:45:32,719 --> 00:45:35,480 Speaker 12: These things, and it just injects a little bit of 795 00:45:35,560 --> 00:45:37,839 Speaker 12: meaning into everybody's life. 796 00:45:38,280 --> 00:45:41,440 Speaker 1: And so these big annual things they can sort of 797 00:45:42,800 --> 00:45:46,480 Speaker 1: keep a town on the map, give it town an identity, 798 00:45:46,840 --> 00:45:49,040 Speaker 1: even if other things are crumbling. 799 00:46:01,840 --> 00:46:03,799 Speaker 2: I think it's pretty unique that we can learn so 800 00:46:03,880 --> 00:46:07,520 Speaker 2: much about ourselves and our community by looking at a 801 00:46:07,680 --> 00:46:12,200 Speaker 2: wild tradition like the coon Supper. I love it, and 802 00:46:12,280 --> 00:46:15,680 Speaker 2: I'd say there's a high likelihood Brent and I will 803 00:46:15,719 --> 00:46:19,080 Speaker 2: be back at the Coon Supper next year that is 804 00:46:19,400 --> 00:46:23,680 Speaker 2: if we can get some tickets. I can't thank you 805 00:46:23,760 --> 00:46:26,440 Speaker 2: enough for listening to Bear Grease. Please leave us a 806 00:46:26,480 --> 00:46:29,440 Speaker 2: review on iTunes, and tell your friends, family, and co 807 00:46:29,640 --> 00:46:33,719 Speaker 2: workers about the amazing stories you're hearing here and on 808 00:46:33,880 --> 00:46:37,879 Speaker 2: Brent's podcast This Country Life. Be sure to check out 809 00:46:38,120 --> 00:46:42,919 Speaker 2: our friend Tim P. Carney's new book called Family Unfriendly, 810 00:46:43,520 --> 00:46:47,440 Speaker 2: How our culture made raising kids much harder than it 811 00:46:47,520 --> 00:46:49,960 Speaker 2: needs to be. I hope you have a great week.