Speaker 1: Hey everyone, it's Sophia. Welcome to Work in Progress. Hello
Speaker 1: whip smarties. Today we are joined by one of my
Speaker 1: favorite smart, creative, I mean brilliant women, who also happens
Speaker 1: to be one of the coolest chicks that I know.
Speaker 1: Today's guest is actress, writer and director Lake Bell, who
Speaker 1: is starring in the upcoming series The Chair Company on HBO,
Speaker 1: and who has just released a book inspired by her daughter.
Speaker 1: The book is called All About Brains, a Book about people,
Speaker 1: and it is a whimsical story that celebrates the ways
Speaker 1: all of our different brains make us special in a
Speaker 1: lighthearted and you'll hear me crying emotional exploration of neurodiversity.
Speaker 1: The book was inspired by Lake's own daughter, Nova, and
Speaker 1: we're going to talk about what it's like to be
Speaker 1: a parent of a brilliant and different kid, what both
Speaker 1: of our journeys with families look like, and how she
Speaker 1: views her career as both a personal sense of expression
Speaker 1: and as a real responsibility. Because with a platform comes privilege,
Speaker 1: and Lake is so amazing at mobilizing her privilege for
Speaker 1: others in really beautiful and inclusive ways. Let's dive in
Speaker 1: with Lake Bell. I was reading so many articles about
Speaker 1: your audiobook because it fascinates me. And also I feel
Speaker 1: like I needed to go back in time a little bit.
Speaker 1: And when you were talking about having a voice, like
Speaker 1: you have a voice similar to I'll.
Speaker 2: Say you yeah, you were on the list of unique voices.
Speaker 1: Well just in terms of what it was like as
Speaker 1: a young actor, particularly not sounding like all a little
Speaker 1: angen news.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, I was like, oh my god, same girl.
Speaker 1: I feel it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, well I think it. I think, you know, definitely,
Speaker 2: it's more. It affects more than you realize. I think
Speaker 2: it's like, sure, you can look a certain way, you
Speaker 2: can imbue a certain amount of qualities that isuesque, but
Speaker 2: then if your sound is different, there's like a juna
Speaker 2: sequa that might or either get you the role or
Speaker 2: not get you the role. Yeah, or have someone even
Speaker 2: in an interview situation or a meeting a potential partner
Speaker 2: for the first time, you know, whatever it is, you're like, oh,
Speaker 2: we're either going to get along or not. I mean
Speaker 2: for me, I you know, there's like a vocal chemistry.
Speaker 2: I think, yeah, that happens that I can be highly
Speaker 2: adverse to certain sounds. Also because my ears, I think
Speaker 2: are I call. I say to my kids, I'm like,
Speaker 2: I have wolf hearing, so you got to take it
Speaker 2: down or not. It's the same sensitive sensitive hearing, yeah,
Speaker 2: which means I'm like picking up on all kinds of
Speaker 2: you know, vocal little quirks and qualities and things that
Speaker 2: are you know, what's also what's not there, you know,
Speaker 2: resonance or like being really tinny, you know, and like pushing.
Speaker 2: I'm like, where's your breath? You know?
Speaker 1: Like yeah, like I science of sound and.
Speaker 2: Science of sound and the kind of emotional uh sort
Speaker 2: of qualities that I think really either pull you to someone.
Speaker 2: It's like a magnet, you know. You hear someone's sound
Speaker 2: and you're like, Ooh, I'm attracted to that sound, or
Speaker 2: I'm oh god, I'm just repelled by that sound, yeah,
Speaker 2: which is like sorry, but you know, it just is
Speaker 2: one of those things. I think it's almost like pheromones,
Speaker 2: you know, totally.
Speaker 1: I love that well. And I think about particularly that
Speaker 1: era we came up in as actors. We were in
Speaker 1: the height of sort of sexy baby voice.
Speaker 2: Yeah that like Paris hilt any sound Shurtney spears very sexy,
Speaker 2: very young, very yeah, vile.
Speaker 1: And I remember I can't recall. I think it must
Speaker 1: have been the maybe the second or third season that
Speaker 1: we were doing One Tree Hill in Wilmington. You came
Speaker 1: to do your show.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, that's right.
Speaker 1: We were there together, yes, and I remember hanging out
Speaker 1: with you. I don't remember if it was the apartment
Speaker 1: you were in or one of your castmates that used
Speaker 1: to be Dennis Hoppers. It was yours, and I remember
Speaker 1: just being like, this girl is so cool and I'm
Speaker 1: so excited to be her friend. And then your show
Speaker 1: moved on and then I was there, which was great,
Speaker 1: but I was there alone mostly, and I was so
Speaker 1: excited years later to see you again and be like,
Speaker 1: hey girl, and it was like the rast ones, We're
Speaker 1: still here.
Speaker 2: It is. It's it's interesting. And your sound has just
Speaker 2: now that i'm thinking about your sound, your sound and
Speaker 2: my sound both have evolved. Like if we took a
Speaker 2: clip of us during those earlier years in Williamsburg, Williamton.
Speaker 3: What is it, Wilmington, Wilmington, I'm like, Williamsburg Williamsburg would
Speaker 3: have been cool.
Speaker 2: No, in Wilmington, you know, I bet those sounds have
Speaker 2: you know, you know, the just the color of life,
Speaker 2: you know has occurred where more rasp has coming out,
Speaker 2: you know, or you know, also we've arrived in this
Speaker 2: space to speak in mics, So my my sound, I'm
Speaker 2: aware of my sound being a little more juicy and
Speaker 2: a little more liquid than it might be if I'm
Speaker 2: kind of just you know, talking to my daughter. I'm like,
Speaker 2: that's enough, you know, Like maybe I'm not supporting my
Speaker 2: voice as much when I'm when I'm parenting in in chaos.
Speaker 2: But you know, I think all of those things are
Speaker 2: just so sexy to me, Like you turned me on
Speaker 2: so much. I love the things that we don't notice,
Speaker 2: you know. And so if we looked back on and
Speaker 2: listen to our voices in those early episodes of those shows,
Speaker 2: ipekay would sound different than they are right now.
Speaker 1: Oh my god, I would love Well. That sort of
Speaker 1: leads me to the question I normally start with with guests,
Speaker 1: because you know, you come in, you're promoting something, You've written, something,
Speaker 1: you have a film coming out, whatever it is. You
Speaker 1: have this gorgeous career and listeners know you as this person.
Speaker 1: And I always am curious if you got to go
Speaker 1: back in time and hang out with yourself when you
Speaker 1: were a kid, maybe when you were your daughter's age,
Speaker 1: would you see yourself in that little version of you?
Speaker 1: And because it's you, I also want to know, was
Speaker 1: that little girl obsessed with sound?
Speaker 2: Yes, so I have to say I was like unabashedly
Speaker 2: precocious and super into dorked out nerdy stuff like that.
Speaker 2: And I used to put on these at Nova's age,
Speaker 2: for sure, maybe even younger, as a procrastination tool to
Speaker 2: go to bed. I did not want to go to
Speaker 2: a night person, and I was like, I gotta entertain
Speaker 2: the adults. So it would be that thing of I
Speaker 2: put on voices and you know, play Harry Bellefonte and
Speaker 2: you know, throw on an outfit and do a dance number,
Speaker 2: you know, musical number. But definitely interested in from an
Speaker 2: early age being from New York, especially where you are
Speaker 2: surrounded by, whether you like it or not, just sounds
Speaker 2: of the city, but then also of a thousand different
Speaker 2: cultures and a thousand languages, you know, and how people
Speaker 2: spoke even within New York. You know, you had just
Speaker 2: this beautiful cacophony of accents and dialects and languages. And
Speaker 2: I think that was very integral to my interest in
Speaker 2: not just culture but character, you know.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So Where do you think that bug came from?
Speaker 1: When did you know you were studying people because you
Speaker 1: wanted to play people?
Speaker 2: I think it was super early. I knew I wanted
Speaker 2: to be an actor before I understood what it is
Speaker 2: to be an actor. I just knew that I wanted
Speaker 2: to be characters before I knew that word. I remember
Speaker 2: in the eighties growing up in the city, there was
Speaker 2: always movie trucks on the side of the road, and
Speaker 2: it was usually you know, there would be like Woody
Speaker 2: Allen movies being shot and whatnot, or I just remember
Speaker 2: this particular one because I was on the Upper East Side,
Speaker 2: so you know, he definitely would have lots of things
Speaker 2: shot there anyway. So I would be pouting like this
Speaker 2: in the taxi cab, say, and my mom would say,
Speaker 2: what's wrong, what's up. I'd be like, I'm not even
Speaker 2: in that movie, and she's like, you're six, like you know,
Speaker 2: and I'm like, yeah, but I didn't even, like, like
Speaker 2: there's just movies happening, and like everyone's just making fun
Speaker 2: things and I'm not even invited, and you know, and
Speaker 2: she'd be like, well, when you grow up, if that's
Speaker 2: still what you want to do, you know, you get
Speaker 2: to do that. So I just remember being like knowing
Speaker 2: I wanted to do it. I want to look, that's
Speaker 2: so fun that thing that they do, and I want
Speaker 2: to do that. I want to write stories. I want
Speaker 2: to be in stories.
Speaker 1: And so you did you have that? I think I
Speaker 1: did weirdly, And it was an interesting thing because, you know,
Speaker 1: it sort of occurred to me more recently somebody asked
Speaker 1: me why I ride really hard for the crew at work,
Speaker 1: like you know and not. It was partially a compliment
Speaker 1: in the conversation and partially a call out of like,
Speaker 1: you know, your job is to be focused on your job.
Speaker 1: You don't always have to be making sure everyone else
Speaker 1: has everything they need for their job, like that's kind
Speaker 1: of their job. And so it was this neat interesting
Speaker 1: thing because I was explaining, you know, when you are
Speaker 1: in a cast, and certainly when you've worked your way
Speaker 1: up to being in you know, the first four numbers,
Speaker 1: let alone number one on the call sheet, like you
Speaker 1: do have to really advocate for your people. And I
Speaker 1: think it was a person pointing out to me maybe
Speaker 1: having a slightly altered percentage of where my focus can
Speaker 1: go just to ensure that I'm to your point, like
Speaker 1: taking care of my instrument, doing the things that I
Speaker 1: really need to do for me as well. And I
Speaker 1: think it made me click into what it was like
Speaker 1: to grow up going to work with my dad a lot,
Speaker 1: because he was a photographer, you know, his whole career.
Speaker 1: I always say he was, and then I'm like, he
Speaker 1: didn't die, he just is retired. To my dad, it's scary,
Speaker 1: but you know, I went to work with a crew dadah,
Speaker 1: and so I got to see how talent behaved. I
Speaker 1: got to see how visiting executives or creative directors behaved,
Speaker 1: and I got to see how hard everybody else was
Speaker 1: working and how their behavior affected a set though wasn't
Speaker 1: often centered, and so I really I cherished that. And
Speaker 1: so I think I think I learned how to be
Speaker 1: a good crewe person and then eventual producer from working
Speaker 1: with my dad. But I don't think I clued into
Speaker 1: wanting to be a performer. I just knew art was fun.
Speaker 1: And then I think there was a period similarly to you,
Speaker 1: because I'm also a night owl where I never wanted
Speaker 1: to go to bed, and so I would get caught
Speaker 1: watching Dragnet like on Nick at Night or reruns of
Speaker 1: mister ed like, I've truly been a grandfather for my
Speaker 1: whole life. But then I realized if I could get
Speaker 1: my parents to hang out with me, yeah, yeah, then
Speaker 1: I could usually stay up a little later.
Speaker 2: Really, do you like the show? Whatever show you guys
Speaker 2: want to watch?
Speaker 1: Yeah, And then I'd start doing like a, oh, well,
Speaker 1: why don't you let me do the voices? Oh, like,
Speaker 1: I'll give I'll give you a performances grandpa yeah and
Speaker 1: all his friends in Teenac, you know, and like, then
Speaker 1: then I could stay up a little later. And I
Speaker 1: had not thought about it in that way until I
Speaker 1: was reading your reflections on how you became obsessed with
Speaker 1: voice acting, and I was like, oh my god, we
Speaker 1: would have been cool a little bit kid friends.
Speaker 2: For sure, we would have stayed up till like two
Speaker 2: in the morning.
Speaker 1: I still want to stay up till I know.
Speaker 2: Well, kids, we'll be back in just a minute.
Speaker 1: But here's a word from our sponsors. Okay, so this
Speaker 1: is my question for you. Completely. Yeah, they were taking
Speaker 1: a left turn, but it's perfect thinking about you and
Speaker 1: your two kids. Now that I love someone with two kids,
Speaker 1: I I am having to become a morning person. Yeah,
Speaker 1: because children are mourning people.
Speaker 2: They just want to get up.
Speaker 1: And I am I am a night person and I
Speaker 1: mean even like diagnosed circadian rhythm by a sleep doctor. Oh,
Speaker 1: you're one of the rare eight percent of people who
Speaker 1: is a true night owl. How do you do it
Speaker 1: as a mom? You don't have a choice, You just shift.
Speaker 2: Don't have a choice. Yeah, you don't have a choice
Speaker 2: at all. And it's like I remember my ex husband,
Speaker 2: who's awesome, Scott, was saying, you know, he knew I
Speaker 2: was a night owl, and he's like, let's, you know,
Speaker 2: drive for a kid. I'm like, yeah, totally, But what
Speaker 2: if they're what if what if they're like early birds,
Speaker 2: you know, like you? Because he's just like, he'll be
Speaker 2: up at five. Oh no, And I am he knew
Speaker 2: I was such a night owl. And he's like, I'll
Speaker 2: take care of morning shift forever. Don't worry about it.
Speaker 2: So you have a kid, and guess what your boobs
Speaker 2: are on morning shift, whether you like it or not,
Speaker 2: meaning you're attached to your boobs and therefore morning shift occurs,
Speaker 2: and then you're just trained. And the truth is, when
Speaker 2: you're pregnant, you are the reason. I feel like the
Speaker 2: reason why the body keeps you up all hours of
Speaker 2: the night and in the morning, and everything is because
Speaker 2: the body is just training you to just you sorry,
Speaker 2: You're going to have to be doing feedings every two hours.
Speaker 2: This is part of the training system that we put
Speaker 2: in place, and so the pregnant body just kind of
Speaker 2: starts training you. And then by the time you're deposited
Speaker 2: on the other side of this like epic life moment
Speaker 2: of child birth, you are You're like, I guess I'm
Speaker 2: a person who's up all night and also in the morning. Oh,
Speaker 2: I know, And then you start to paper off a
Speaker 2: little and right when you get comfy, it's like there's
Speaker 2: sleep aggression, you know, And so you're just needed. And
Speaker 2: the truth is just like you're chemically you're chemically connected
Speaker 2: to the progeny and the little being that is wanting sustends,
Speaker 2: and so your brain, you know, your body's just like
Speaker 2: all right, I'll give you.
Speaker 1: I guess I'm doing.
Speaker 2: It's just like in the same in a similar way.
Speaker 2: You know, it's different because it doesn't have the chemical component.
Speaker 2: But I love what we do so much, right, Like
Speaker 2: I it is so hugely a part of I feel
Speaker 2: so grateful and privileged to be able to be a
Speaker 2: writer and a director and create these stories as an
Speaker 2: actor and oh wow, get to be a part of
Speaker 2: this creative ecosystem, you know, family. And so when they
Speaker 2: say you have to be on set at six a m.
Speaker 2: To be inherent makeup, you're not psyched, but you totally
Speaker 2: do it. Yep, you wake up. You gotta get up
Speaker 2: at five because you're gonna have to get picked up
Speaker 2: by the van IoT fifteen and then the locations X
Speaker 2: amount of way. So you're just doing it. Yep, there's
Speaker 2: no it's there's no ques. You just do it. And
Speaker 2: I think the adjustment of anything in life as an adult,
Speaker 2: you know, it's just that. But I hear you. Yeah,
Speaker 2: it is when your like body wants to be asleep
Speaker 2: at certain times, you know, you just gotta you just.
Speaker 1: Gotta do it. You just gotta Well that's the thing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's been really interesting and I've nerded out a little
Speaker 1: bit on the you know, the sleep prep where I'm like, okay,
Speaker 1: this is when I got to turn my screens off. Yeah, yase,
Speaker 1: I if I'm watching TV, it's not even it's not
Speaker 1: ten nineteen. If it hits ten twenty one, it's like
Speaker 1: a little gremlin who's jolly. Yeah in me is like
Speaker 1: it's my time now. Yeah, yeah, And I just I
Speaker 1: want to reorganize. I want to do laundry. I want
Speaker 1: to watch television. I want to watch eight episodes.
Speaker 2: Of television, get the whole season.
Speaker 1: It's just so crazy. So I'm kind of like, Okay,
Speaker 1: i gotta wind down at nine thirty. I'm gonna put
Speaker 1: on your blue light glasses. Two and four oh nah, yeah,
Speaker 1: about to be three, okay, just tur and four in it.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah. And and my partner's the sweetest human in
Speaker 1: the world because she's like, you missed the like warm
Speaker 1: loaf of bread, the sleepy baby stage, like you you
Speaker 1: came into the this world, our world with two toddlers,
Speaker 1: and they're just like up all the time and absolutely amped.
Speaker 1: And they are my favorite little humans. Like they're so
Speaker 1: funny and so charming and wonderful and wild. And my
Speaker 1: godson is right in the age between the two of them,
Speaker 1: so it's just like pack of babies everywhere. My two
Speaker 1: best friends have have recent one year olds, and it's
Speaker 1: just like that's.
Speaker 2: A lot, it's a lot.
Speaker 1: We're having the most fun.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: But yeah, I was like Oh I didn't. I didn't
Speaker 1: get the like mostly napping phase. There's just it's just
Speaker 1: you sign up for the sleeplessness, you do.
Speaker 2: Yeah, and then you realize, I can't believe that I'm
Speaker 2: actually I'm getting through this like you do anyway. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I also will say in some of the you know,
Speaker 1: as stressful as things have been in our day job
Speaker 1: world where no one knows what's happening to our beautiful
Speaker 1: industry in the in the times where we're not on
Speaker 1: set hours and things like this are scheduled early or late,
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, it's nap time. I'm gonna nap too. Well,
Speaker 1: if that changes my life.
Speaker 2: The world is exhausting right now, you know. So it's gee,
Speaker 2: what do you mean you.
Speaker 1: Mean twenty twenty five something going on?
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean I just feel like the the endurance
Speaker 2: race that we've even been on since COVID, you know,
Speaker 2: is really you know, it's if you you know, Carpe Naptom,
Speaker 2: you know, I just like, if you have the great
Speaker 2: and beautiful privilege to rest, please do that for your
Speaker 2: own health and well being. Yeah.
Speaker 1: Like, if I get in a nap a month, I
Speaker 1: feel like there should be a thing in my little
Speaker 1: health app that I can. I want like a button
Speaker 1: that gives me a gold coin like in Zelda Luxury. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, because it's like two nap is to say that
Speaker 2: you're worth shutting your system down and taking that time
Speaker 2: to be that loaf of bread as it were.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, I will never forget. Many years ago, my
Speaker 1: therapist saying to me about a friend's recently born kid.
Speaker 1: Would you ever let that baby go without sleep? Would
Speaker 1: you ever let that baby go hungry? Would you ever?
Speaker 1: You know? And it was this sort of series of questions,
Speaker 1: and she said, why do you, as an adult woman,
Speaker 1: think you deserve less care? And I went ooof because
Speaker 1: we would We would do anything for our kids. We
Speaker 1: would do anything for the kids in our village, our friends' kids,
Speaker 1: like we show up for them in these ways. And yeah,
Speaker 1: on the off month that I get a nap, I'm like,
Speaker 1: look at me self care.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I mean, I I feel I think the main
Speaker 2: thing is you feel guilt. I think as a parent.
Speaker 2: You know, I'm a parent of children with learning differences,
Speaker 2: and I'm divorced, I'm a single mom. You know. I
Speaker 2: we're fifty to fifty with everything, you know, so it's
Speaker 2: like there's this sense of I need to be doing
Speaker 2: something also as an activist, as somebody who gives a
Speaker 2: shit about the world, and how oppression just is just
Speaker 2: reeking through every orifice of this, of every systemic system.
Speaker 2: I don't space, place, place, countries, continents, world, I mean environment.
Speaker 2: I mean so through that, I think, you know, do
Speaker 2: you I feel personally? At least I can only speak
Speaker 2: for myself that I can feel a sense of guilt
Speaker 2: of how dare you rest? How dare you rest when
Speaker 2: so many cannot? So that's where I come from, And
Speaker 2: then I go, hey, guess what, you know, it is
Speaker 2: my It is my responsibility to take care of myself
Speaker 2: in order to take care of my children, in order
Speaker 2: to be an activist, in order to be a human
Speaker 2: who supports the values that I believe in. You know. Yeah,
Speaker 2: so it's like you have to do it.
Speaker 1: You have to. And I think one of the things
Speaker 1: that's so important about that is to take time for joy,
Speaker 1: not just because you as a human deserve it, but
Speaker 1: also because joy is fuel. How are you supposed to
Speaker 1: keep fighting oppression? How are you supposed to advocate for
Speaker 1: our equal protections under the law if you're just fried
Speaker 1: all the time.
Speaker 2: I do think, Yeah, I think I think it is Ye.
Speaker 2: I think I think joy is essential. I think that
Speaker 2: I'm trying to show my children. I mean, that's the
Speaker 2: other thing through the lens of being a parent and
Speaker 2: being you know, able to show up for these young
Speaker 2: minds and say, hey, look here's how I live my life.
Speaker 2: I hope that I can't say to you, read more books.
Speaker 2: If I don't read books, you know, it's like you
Speaker 2: must be a mirror and a model and thank God
Speaker 2: for them for that reason, you know, because I am
Speaker 2: also saying I will do I will experience joy as well,
Speaker 2: because part of the human condition, you know, sort of
Speaker 2: feeds on and needs joy. It needs sadness, it needs mourning,
Speaker 2: it needs activity. You know all these.
Speaker 1: Things when you think about all the things you've created,
Speaker 1: you know, characters and stories, you know from the books
Speaker 1: to the movies, and then you make this shift into
Speaker 1: writing a children's book. To me, it reads like such
Speaker 1: a love letter to your kid and to other people's kids.
Speaker 1: Was it easier do you think to do because you've
Speaker 1: written so much before, or did it almost feel like
Speaker 1: it had more weight because it's for her?
Speaker 2: Well, it's interesting I felt writing all about brains was
Speaker 2: very intuitive and easy for me because it really was
Speaker 2: born from a place of listening. Nova was my daughter
Speaker 2: has epilepsy, and I say she has epilepsy even though
Speaker 2: she is seizure free currently, because she has a genetic mutation.
Speaker 2: And so once you kind of have seizures, just say
Speaker 2: you have epilepsy, just for the sake of honoring your
Speaker 2: brain systems. Nova, because she has this genetic mutation, will
Speaker 2: always carry it right, and how it has shown up
Speaker 2: for her from a neurological standpoint of how her brain functions,
Speaker 2: and how she interacts with the world and interacts with academics,
Speaker 2: and how she enters with social emotional interactions. You know,
Speaker 2: it's it's present in a multitude of ways that are
Speaker 2: you know that you sure you could write down on paper,
Speaker 2: but to live it. It feels so unique to her
Speaker 2: and it's what makes her great and what makes her
Speaker 2: a poet, you know, and all of those superpowers, those
Speaker 2: uniqueness that those unique qualities as it were, when I
Speaker 2: look at her and I experience her as a little
Speaker 2: person who is coming up, the way she takes ownership
Speaker 2: of it and and lives in it is what I
Speaker 2: think really inspired the book because of how she speaks
Speaker 2: about her neurological differences to her peers, and so it
Speaker 2: was so easy to kind of like listen and then
Speaker 2: digest and then yes. Even as a screenwriter myself and
Speaker 2: how I sort of take on writing, which is through
Speaker 2: the lens of different characters, I could use her as
Speaker 2: that sort of beacon of little narrative.
Speaker 1: We'll be back in just a minute after a few
Speaker 1: words from our favorite sponsors. Okay, so this makes me
Speaker 1: really curious, loving words the way you do and grammar
Speaker 1: the way you do. What were the things that Nova
Speaker 1: started to say to you that made you realize, Oh,
Speaker 1: that's a new phrase, that's a new way of thinking.
Speaker 1: The way you experience your genetic makeup is something I
Speaker 1: want to write down.
Speaker 2: She there was a moment where she had a seizure
Speaker 2: and she apologized for it, and I think that it
Speaker 2: caused a massive reframe. Need to reframe the narrative of
Speaker 2: epilepsy in our lives and in our family. This is
Speaker 2: not something we apologize for. Right. Seizures, we explained to
Speaker 2: her are electrical misfires really in the brain. That it's
Speaker 2: simply that you know all of our brains are comprised
Speaker 2: of this mysterious electrical energy that is hard to map
Speaker 2: out precisely. So anyway, with Nova, you know, in explaining
Speaker 2: these electrical systems, she sort of digested that as, Oh,
Speaker 2: there's like this sparkling magic that's happening. So it's like
Speaker 2: this sparkle, right, this like like this sparkler that occurs
Speaker 2: because that's electrically, it looks electrical or something. It has
Speaker 2: sort of personality of something that is sort of bright
Speaker 2: and speck of light, you know, and it feels special.
Speaker 2: It feels special, and it sounds special. So then her
Speaker 2: explaining it to Peers is what I think got me
Speaker 2: really excited to think about, Oh, how could I explain this?
Speaker 2: How could I show this experience like Nova's experience, like
Speaker 2: her experiential sort of flavors of how she feels what
Speaker 2: an epileptic epileptic convulsion feels like. That's interesting too, you know.
Speaker 2: She would start to explain to me yo with this,
Speaker 2: because I'd ask, I'm like, what does it feel like?
Speaker 2: I'm just curious. I've never had one. Yeah, So here
Speaker 2: you are a six year old, You're experiencing something I
Speaker 2: have never experienced. And she's like okay, well, you know,
Speaker 2: and she would explain that there was kind of a
Speaker 2: tingling in her mouth, so sparkling in the mouth kind of,
Speaker 2: and then that things go black and that she doesn't
Speaker 2: then she says she's out, and then she comes back
Speaker 2: and all of her body is tired. So it was like, oh, okay,
Speaker 2: this is such such great information. Wow, And then we
Speaker 2: started talking about it in this way of like this,
Speaker 2: you don't have to apologize for this. This means you're
Speaker 2: just operating on a level of you are like a shaman,
Speaker 2: like you are when you have these sparkles, you gotta
Speaker 2: let me know because that means you're sparkling more magic
Speaker 2: than I am right now, and maybe everyone in the
Speaker 2: room or maybe anyone on the block. So let me know, girl,
Speaker 2: because when you're sparkling, like because I had to write
Speaker 2: it down anyway in a log. Yeah, So when she
Speaker 2: would feel them come on, because some seizures, just so
Speaker 2: you know, are like not all the big fancy grand
Speaker 2: mal ones where you fall down and it's a whole thing.
Speaker 2: There's also myoclonic seizures, which were the little mini ones
Speaker 2: that she would get, which were more stuttered in the mouth,
Speaker 2: so you like that. Yes, So when you're trying to
Speaker 2: experience say something and it it it trips up, it
Speaker 2: looks like an electrical uh yeah, fl miss flip.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: So she would have those And then that was really
Speaker 2: interesting because I was like, oh, thank you so much
Speaker 2: for letting me know that you had a mini you know,
Speaker 2: she'd be like, I'm just like really smart today.
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh, oh, do you know?
Speaker 2: So it became that instead of sorry.
Speaker 1: But what an amazing thing that you, as a parent
Speaker 1: were not only able to reframe it to get her
Speaker 1: out of the feeling of needing to apologize for herself,
Speaker 1: you know, because we all know the crazy research about
Speaker 1: how much women say sorry all the time. So to
Speaker 1: help stop that impulse, but also to take the fear
Speaker 1: away for her, because you are you turning this into
Speaker 1: something sparkly, letting her know she's doing something and you
Speaker 1: want to know about it, and to take that what
Speaker 1: I would imagine at first caused a lot of terror
Speaker 1: and anxiety for your child, and to help her feel
Speaker 1: powerful in her body instead like makes me want to sob.
Speaker 2: It's what the book is about. So it's like it
Speaker 2: me too. I mean the second I saw her shift
Speaker 2: her perception of seizures and report one to me while
Speaker 2: she was in the other room, come running in and say,
Speaker 2: I'm smart today, you know, like I'm fired on all cylinders.
Speaker 2: You know. It's like, oh you have a mini all
Speaker 2: right girl, like a shoot. You know. Was such a
Speaker 2: great moment. And so I think that the book with
Speaker 2: that same respect of our neurological differences that we all
Speaker 2: imbue in some shade. And my own feeling is like
Speaker 2: I said to Nova. I say to Nova all the time,
Speaker 2: like everybody's walking around here, and everybody's got a thing,
Speaker 2: you know what I mean. You don't see it, but
Speaker 2: they've got it some shade of something. Of course, I'm dyslexic,
Speaker 2: like not running around going on.
Speaker 1: As an adult, I got diagnosed with ADHD. Or He's like, wow, okay,
Speaker 1: so does a lot of things really make more sense
Speaker 1: for me? I wish I'd knowne this as a kid. Sure,
Speaker 1: maybe I didn't have to white knuckle through the like
Speaker 1: overachieving tendency of my neurospiciness mixed with like growing up
Speaker 1: with an immigrant dad. Okay, but that that was so
Speaker 1: special even for me as an adult reading the book
Speaker 1: as nova opens up for our listeners at home to
Speaker 1: her class. In this beautiful children's book, so many other
Speaker 1: kids in the class begin to share their thing and
Speaker 1: to read about her classmate sharing about her ADHD. I
Speaker 1: was like, oh my god, I needed this book. It
Speaker 1: made me feel so emo even in my adult body.
Speaker 1: And what it really, I think beautifully reminds readers of,
Speaker 1: is this thing you're saying that you remind your kid
Speaker 1: in the world that everyone's got their own particular brain.
Speaker 1: And I find it really refreshing in a time to
Speaker 1: relate to our earlier conversation, which might sound sad, but
Speaker 1: I think is actually really beautiful. In a time when
Speaker 1: our exceptional leaps in our medical and psychological practices mean
Speaker 1: that more and more people learn what their thing is
Speaker 1: are advancements. Our ability to see people is actually being attacked,
Speaker 1: and it's being scapegoaded so that people who want to
Speaker 1: make a bunch of money selling you non approved vitamins
Speaker 1: can convince you not to get the vaccine that you need.
Speaker 1: It drives me crazy, you know, because people want to
Speaker 1: talk about that, but they don't want to talk about
Speaker 1: the fact they you know, they like to say, oh,
Speaker 1: pharmacy pharma is a billion dollar a year industry, and
Speaker 1: I'm like, yeah, the supplement industry is over four billion
Speaker 1: dollars a year. So who do you think is grifting?
Speaker 1: The doctors or the people who don't have to adhere
Speaker 1: to medical standards. So it's like, for me, it hit home.
Speaker 1: You know, you're not talking about politics in the book,
Speaker 1: You're you're in a kid's classroom.
Speaker 2: Yeah, who we talk about meds. We talk about medication exactly.
Speaker 1: And what I loved is that without having to get
Speaker 1: overtly political, what you're doing as a mom is celebrating
Speaker 1: your own kid and everyone else's kids for whatever they
Speaker 1: are and how lucky they are to know what they are.
Speaker 1: Whether they have anxiety, or one kid is on the
Speaker 1: autism spectrum, or your kid has epilepsy or another kid
Speaker 1: has ADHD. They are being celebrated for the ways they
Speaker 1: see their world, their friends, their classroom, their teacher, and
Speaker 1: I just like it really makes me want to cry.
Speaker 2: Well, no, it's beautiful, Thank you. I appreciate that. I
Speaker 2: feel like we are in a time where I think
Speaker 2: what keeps me up at night is not understanding how
Speaker 2: I mean the core of our humanity and what makes us.
Speaker 2: Human is caring for other humans and being in community
Speaker 2: with other bodies, regardless of their brains, their shapes, their colors.
Speaker 2: It's like we're you know, I religions, and I feel
Speaker 2: like anything short of ultimately you know I, anything short
Speaker 2: of ultimate radical kindness and love is just like violent. Yeah,
Speaker 2: you know. It's like I really look around and I'm
Speaker 2: just like, you know, yes, my book has this generosity
Speaker 2: of spirit as anything that I'm going to write in
Speaker 2: my life will always have that because I think of,
Speaker 2: you know, if I can impart anything, I mean, in
Speaker 2: the lives of young minds, but also in parents as well.
Speaker 2: I just feel exhausted with the idea that somehow it's
Speaker 2: radical to be inclusive.
Speaker 1: Yeah. What strikes me constantly is this is the whole point,
Speaker 1: the point of evolving as humans, of becoming a more
Speaker 1: globally connected society, of having our most successful social media
Speaker 1: app be for picture sharing so you can see where
Speaker 1: and how other people live. The whole point is to
Speaker 1: be nicer to each other. And people can sell this
Speaker 1: really old world tribalism through fear, and I'm like, wouldn't
Speaker 1: it be so much nicer for us all to not
Speaker 1: be afraid and just I don't know, be able to
Speaker 1: go to the doctor and breathe clean air. Like doesn't
Speaker 1: that just sound better?
Speaker 2: Yeah? I mean I was just talking about this with
Speaker 2: the friend of mine who's an activist, and it's like, I,
Speaker 2: you know, the systems, you know, It's like, uh, we
Speaker 2: want to burn the systems down. I'm like, the systems
Speaker 2: are like a knot. It's like your hair. It's like
Speaker 2: knotted hair. They're tiny, tiny not It's not like you
Speaker 2: can sit down in an afternoon and kind of like
Speaker 2: undo them, right, And there's thousands and millions of them,
Speaker 2: these systems, you know. Yes, so we have to be
Speaker 2: within the systems radically conscientious and active and and kind
Speaker 2: and and unrelent you know, relentless with our radical compassion.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I think about it. You know. The difference, I
Speaker 1: would say from becoming an activist in my twenties and
Speaker 1: the version of that for me today is to use
Speaker 1: your not analogy. It's not just that it's knotted like
Speaker 1: your hair. It's your hair. If you burn it down,
Speaker 1: you burn with it. And so the most radical kind
Speaker 1: of care is to sit with people and help them
Speaker 1: untake And I actually think that when you're younger and
Speaker 1: less patient. The idea of burning a whole system down
Speaker 1: sounds cool, but when you as you get older and
Speaker 1: you actually learn to hold more things to be true
Speaker 1: at the same time.
Speaker 2: The nuanced For sure, the nuance matters.
Speaker 1: And actually the way to be radical is to stay
Speaker 1: in the fight for your whole life. Yes, I think
Speaker 1: about activism.
Speaker 2: Using voice right, like coming back to voice.
Speaker 1: Yes, but I think about activism as the longest marriage
Speaker 1: I'll ever be in. Right, you know, I am dedicated
Speaker 1: to this place and how we leave it for our
Speaker 1: kids first and foremost. And if you treat your activism
Speaker 1: like your greatest love story, it's also going to be
Speaker 1: ugly sometimes it's going to be it's going to require
Speaker 1: patience and.
Speaker 2: Like dadding sometimes, Yeah.
Speaker 1: That's that's what I want, And I you know, someone
Speaker 1: Some might say it's ironic for two divorced women to
Speaker 1: be sitting here having this conversation, but I actually think
Speaker 1: it's part of how I how I came to that
Speaker 1: analogy because I went, oh, I get it. This, this
Speaker 1: is the thing that I will actually be the most
Speaker 1: patient with. I'm much more willing to wake up one
Speaker 1: day and say, oh, I'm in the wrong thing and
Speaker 1: move along for myself, but for us, I'm like, oh no,
Speaker 1: I am married to this country. You can't get rid
Speaker 1: of me. I mean, you are stuck with me forever.
Speaker 2: I'm married to I think. You know, it's interesting when
Speaker 2: you talk about that, the activism. Well you say I'm
Speaker 2: married to this country, right, and I'm like, I think
Speaker 2: this planet. Maybe, yeah, maybe I'm married. I'm married to
Speaker 2: the to the planet and to the you know, to
Speaker 2: humanity right where it's like, I can't first of all,
Speaker 2: I can't unsee what we've seen, right possible, And I
Speaker 2: am in solidarity with you. I feel the same way.
Speaker 2: I do think that, you know, I'm kind of thinking, like,
Speaker 2: why why is it so ironic the two divorced women
Speaker 2: talking about that. I actually think it makes all the
Speaker 2: sense in the world, you know. I'm so grateful to
Speaker 2: be in this space now at my age. I'm in
Speaker 2: my forties, and I know who I am, and I
Speaker 2: understand that that little activist was inside me my whole life,
Speaker 2: you know, and showing up in different ways and feeling
Speaker 2: like I wasn't invited to the party of active, I
Speaker 2: wasn't even allowed to be participatory, and it didn't feel
Speaker 2: like I I mean, my mom was definitely showing me
Speaker 2: some forms of active activism. But I think that how
Speaker 2: great that we get to write our own, our own
Speaker 2: path and then use our voices to be betrothed to this,
Speaker 2: you know, to the cause of all bodies, you know.
Speaker 1: And now for our sponsors. So much of your work, inquity,
Speaker 1: you have focused in our industry for women and with
Speaker 1: women in Film and everything that you do. How did
Speaker 1: you find that kind of home for yourself.
Speaker 2: It's interesting. I've served on the board for nine years
Speaker 2: and then I had to cycle out and Women in
Speaker 2: Film and I had such a tremendous experience there, I
Speaker 2: think realizing that obviously culture moves with culture, right, so
Speaker 2: in order to in order to really move things from
Speaker 2: you know, in a way that people alter how people
Speaker 2: think or open the minds of how people think, we
Speaker 2: have to utilize storytelling. And so it felt like Women
Speaker 2: in Film was and is still an organization really worth
Speaker 2: supporting because it's helping create culture. And so there are
Speaker 2: these and also highlighting where they are massive inequities within
Speaker 2: our industry, which is the industry that I love and
Speaker 2: care about. I think as I've expanded and had to
Speaker 2: cycle off of the board. I still support women in
Speaker 2: film tremendously, and now I am I'm working with Women
Speaker 2: for Women International, who I love, and I stay within
Speaker 2: organizations that I think are empowering and building a positive
Speaker 2: system of support for women in their communities where they
Speaker 2: are marginalized, but also just without infrastructure. So I think
Speaker 2: that's where my voice and life force energy lie. And
Speaker 2: also I'm with you and looking around and seeing the
Speaker 2: gross discrimination of our within our country and the pain
Speaker 2: and oppression that has been here for since this country
Speaker 2: was founded. That is just a loud and front and center.
Speaker 1: Is it kind of crazy to you that we've essentially
Speaker 1: had one generation of virtual I'm not going to say
Speaker 1: actual equity for men and women, but like closer than
Speaker 1: ever before. You know, like my mom couldn't get a
Speaker 1: credit card without a man's permission until nineteen seventy four, right,
Speaker 1: so we're really the first generation. You know, Granted, we
Speaker 1: know women get funded less, you know, our movies get made,
Speaker 1: love like anywhere. Whatever. We know, we know all the stats,
Speaker 1: but I'm like, god, we just started to get like
Speaker 1: a little bit of freedom. We had one generation of
Speaker 1: us who could get a credit card and file for
Speaker 1: a no fault divorce, and now y'all want to roll
Speaker 1: it back. Are you that scared of us?
Speaker 2: I mean, I mean even you know, there is such
Speaker 2: flagrant misogyny and white supremacy in this country that is
Speaker 2: baked into the bedrock of so many of our systems
Speaker 2: that it is like, I think, if anything, it's most
Speaker 2: recent that the awakening of us all realizing, certainly as
Speaker 2: white bodies, to realize that this has been going on
Speaker 2: from day one. It's like when you have the privilege
Speaker 2: of not you know, people who say, oh, you know,
Speaker 2: I'm not really political, and I'm like, well, that's because
Speaker 2: the system is working for you.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Okay, you don't have to be.
Speaker 2: That's a privilege to not be political. So I think
Speaker 2: understanding that and being thoughtful and not being overly self righteous,
Speaker 2: you know, but the idea that you're just like, I'm
Speaker 2: aware and I'm wanting to be a part of educating
Speaker 2: myself and being supportive of of real and true equity.
Speaker 1: Yeah, and realizing that the scarcity mentality, yes, lie, And
Speaker 1: when you feel like, oh god, if we achieve this,
Speaker 1: will I lose?
Speaker 2: That's what they want you to feel Yeah, I mean,
Speaker 2: and it's like, no, if we win, we all win. Yeah,
Speaker 2: if if if some are not free, then we're not free.
Speaker 1: So yeah, because then it's just an illusion.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's it's it's like, but you have to like really,
Speaker 2: I mean certainly I think in our generation too, I
Speaker 2: think that, like you said, there's this oh we got it,
Speaker 2: we can we can vote, we can get.
Speaker 1: Look, we won all these rights and now they're set.
Speaker 1: It's like they're not set. We got to hold on
Speaker 1: to them.
Speaker 2: You gotta hold onto them. And then also be aware
Speaker 2: that so many other marginalized groups are in a constant
Speaker 2: state and have never still still not thriving. So it's like, god,
Speaker 2: damn it. You know, it's like we have so much
Speaker 2: work to do. But then as at least we have megaphones,
Speaker 2: you know, And you know, I really try to even
Speaker 2: in non megaphone ways, I try to like live my
Speaker 2: values as I walk down the street and sit in
Speaker 2: the subway and who who you know, like how I interact,
Speaker 2: how I pick up the trash from the you know,
Speaker 2: this old woman across the street, you know, like trying
Speaker 2: to show and also with my children, I'm like, yeah,
Speaker 2: this is who we are, okay, it's like this is
Speaker 2: where you're from, Okay, totally.
Speaker 1: So yeah, it's little things. It's like it's funny that
Speaker 1: you say, you know, you pick up the trash or
Speaker 1: you do this thing, you set an example when no
Speaker 1: one's watching. Also because it's who you are, you live
Speaker 1: your values. And the other day, I was on a
Speaker 1: couple of planes last week and I had a layover
Speaker 1: in Denver Flags. Yeah, you know, sick layover was great,
Speaker 1: and I went to the restroom in the airport as
Speaker 1: one does, and you know, it's like midday. The whole
Speaker 1: countertop in between every sink is wet, and I had
Speaker 1: like a three hour layover, and I got extra paper
Speaker 1: towels and just started like drying up the countertop and
Speaker 1: I saw this woman at the other end of the
Speaker 1: counter like kind of look at me, and I saw
Speaker 1: her pause. I was doing the thing where I was
Speaker 1: really watching out of my peripheral, which I think I've
Speaker 1: gotten good at, because it's like on set, I need
Speaker 1: to know when the person I'm not supposed to see
Speaker 1: is coming, so I turned at the correct time for camera,
Speaker 1: you know, to not get the shot. And so it's
Speaker 1: so stupid, but I'm like, ooh, I have a really
Speaker 1: wide per here, and I like see her and she
Speaker 1: takes a beat and then she gets a couple of
Speaker 1: paper towels and starts drying, and we literally met in
Speaker 1: the middle of the counter and looked at each other
Speaker 1: and just nodded and like went about our day. It was, oh,
Speaker 1: girlhood is my It's like just my joy the countertops.
Speaker 1: We were like, you know, we did it. We did
Speaker 1: a nice thing, and nobody saw us, but I saw
Speaker 1: you and you saw me, and this is cool.
Speaker 2: And it's like she's a huge one tree hill fanto.
Speaker 1: By the way, if she was, she played it so cool.
Speaker 1: I have no idea, but like, it's just little things
Speaker 1: are capable of having such a ripple effect and you
Speaker 1: can pause and be generous in your space at any time.
Speaker 2: It's it's so true, and I feel like, look, not
Speaker 2: every day. Some days you're going to be like I'm
Speaker 2: pissy today.
Speaker 1: Some days you're the nightmare person at the airport, like
Speaker 1: we try.
Speaker 2: But but for the majority of the time, yeah, I mean,
Speaker 2: you know, people I say to my kids too, I'm
Speaker 2: like ninety nine point nine percent of the people as
Speaker 2: you walk down the street are good. Yeah they are.
Speaker 2: I mean, I'm just telling you there's a you know,
Speaker 2: zero point one percent okay that are like born bad.
Speaker 2: I guess I don't know whatever that means, and it
Speaker 2: means we'd be like, you know, they want to harm
Speaker 2: or something. But otherwise, I mean, people are pretty good.
Speaker 2: They're gonna look different than you. They might have differences,
Speaker 2: like you got differences, and it's okay. I'm just telling
Speaker 2: you you don't have to like fear the world. Yeah, okay,
Speaker 2: because this is the problem we're growing up because I
Speaker 2: have to. I have to manage myself as well. Where
Speaker 2: it's like, you know, how do I not fear the world?
Speaker 2: The world? You know, we have so much anxiety. We're
Speaker 2: reading in the news and you're just like, there's a
Speaker 2: thousand ways to die today, Yeah for everyone. Yeah, and
Speaker 2: it's just like Jesus Christ and.
Speaker 1: You gotta combat it.
Speaker 2: But do you take a nap?
Speaker 1: Then once a month you get you.
Speaker 2: Take a month, you take well maybe once a week
Speaker 2: if you can't month.
Speaker 1: I think it's really cool though, that you It sounds
Speaker 1: to me like you are constantly able to claim the good,
Speaker 1: not just for yourself, but because you're also modeling it
Speaker 1: for your kids.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's kids. But then it's also like, oh,
Speaker 2: like you said, you guys were wiping down those counters,
Speaker 2: and there's just something about that woman's gonna then walk
Speaker 2: on to hurt. You felt better, right that you had
Speaker 2: a comrade in that, and you I believe in society
Speaker 2: and yeah, I'm like, see people are good. Yeah, so
Speaker 2: you're having that feeling, she's having that feeling. Yeah, and
Speaker 2: then she's gonna you know, that's gonna ripple, like you
Speaker 2: said to the person she's sitting next to, you know,
Speaker 2: in Denver or whatever. So the point is, I'm with you.
Speaker 2: I think that when you feel helpless, it's like, yes,
Speaker 2: you're gonna do all the thing. You're going to go
Speaker 2: to the protest. You're gonna go you know, you're gonna
Speaker 2: call your representative. You're going to you know, write a
Speaker 2: check if you can. You're gonna buy a T shirt
Speaker 2: and support of X, Y or Z, and then you're
Speaker 2: gonna pick up that piece of trash. You're gonna wipe
Speaker 2: down a counter, You're gonna smile, you're gonna have a
Speaker 2: conver Like I had a conversation with a guy who
Speaker 2: came onto the subway and just was immediately like wanted
Speaker 2: to start talking about the subway cars and the models
Speaker 2: of the subway cars. He clear he's a delivery guy,
Speaker 2: but he boy, he had all the answers.
Speaker 1: Sounds like the little boy in your book.
Speaker 2: Yes, totally, Yeah, there was totally. And I was thinking,
Speaker 2: you know, I'm always under the impression that like, since
Speaker 2: I have some neurodiversity, you have some everybody in this
Speaker 2: room has some nerd adversity. They're looking at us rabbits.
Speaker 2: But the point is like the whole you know, this
Speaker 2: man walks in clearly like he's got some stuff going on,
Speaker 2: and I'm like, let's get into it. It's like I
Speaker 2: was like, you're kidding me. This was born Okay, so
Speaker 2: these were made in Japan. What parts were we to
Speaker 2: j We just went into it, put down my book
Speaker 2: and we just like had a great conversation, and you know,
Speaker 2: the New Yorker and me is like, this is what
Speaker 2: I fall in love with New York every time I'm
Speaker 2: here for that reason, because too you can you can
Speaker 2: you can like participate with the city, or you can
Speaker 2: sit back.
Speaker 3: It's there for the taking. Well, you can engage or
Speaker 3: watch totally. And I like that you can do whatever
Speaker 3: you would ever given day. And I like that you
Speaker 3: got the encyclopedic coverage. The subway cars, I.
Speaker 2: Really didn't realize. I was like, oh yeah, the ones
Speaker 2: with the orange and the yellow seats. That's different making
Speaker 2: model right, And it's like, oh yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, I had to really get Those are my
Speaker 1: favorite the like seventies technicolor or something like cars are
Speaker 1: my favorite ones.
Speaker 2: Those are usually yeah, those go deep.
Speaker 1: I love it. Okay, we have to take a subway
Speaker 1: ride before you go home.
Speaker 2: Indeed, and I'm going to do it tonight awest for
Speaker 2: this same.
Speaker 1: So tech tell the people. I know we're coming up
Speaker 1: on time, because my poor producer is like, ladies, you're
Speaker 1: not at lunch. Stop talking, but tell the people where
Speaker 1: to find the book, where to find the audio book,
Speaker 1: even though I know it's been a minute since it
Speaker 1: came out, but it's my favorite, and about the new show,
Speaker 1: and then I promise I'll let you go on the subway.
Speaker 2: So first, All About Brains is the children's book that
Speaker 2: you can purchase on pretty much any bookseller right now,
Speaker 2: also at Simon and Schuster Kids. But then, yeah, I
Speaker 2: mean you could go into the Barnes and Nobles as
Speaker 2: it were. You could go on a mega site which
Speaker 2: I will not even mention, go to bookshop. Yeah, you
Speaker 2: can go to Libro or whatever. But yeah, you can
Speaker 2: go to a multitude of local small bookshops and.
Speaker 1: The Strand if you're in Manhattan one of the best. Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it's actually it's kind of it's everywhere and that,
Speaker 2: and I highly recommend it. And the age range because
Speaker 2: a lot of people ask me that it's anywhere from
Speaker 2: like four years old to twelve basically, but obviously you
Speaker 2: also enjoyed it. Yeah you're a full grown woman.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it made me cry, so that's cool. The age
Speaker 1: range goes well past forty two.
Speaker 2: Everyone past forty two. So, and then Inside Voice with
Speaker 2: How We Sound is an audiobook that I highly recommend
Speaker 2: it with Pushkin. It's still available with Malcolm Gladwell's Pushkin,
Speaker 2: but also on I believe, on Audible and anywhere you
Speaker 2: can get your sort of audiobooks. So that's a fun listen,
Speaker 2: lots of really exciting interviews and whatnot with some of
Speaker 2: the most iconic voices. And then the show that I'm
Speaker 2: doing is called The Chair Company with Tim Robinson, great
Speaker 2: comedian that I adore, and I'm so jazzed to be
Speaker 2: a part of this series. It comes out on HBO
Speaker 2: in the fall.
Speaker 1: Can't wait. Yeah, I'm so excited. So we're caught up
Speaker 1: on all of the work. And for my last question
Speaker 1: for you, it can be a work thing, but it
Speaker 1: might also be a personal thing. You've got a lot
Speaker 1: kind of cooking at the moment. When you look at
Speaker 1: the sort of landscape of life right now, what feels
Speaker 1: like you're work in progress?
Speaker 2: My work in progress will be forever being a parent,
Speaker 2: I think being an activist. Those two are in me,
Speaker 2: whether I like it or not, on a cellular level,
Speaker 2: on a daily from the second I wake up in
Speaker 2: the morning, as I go to sleep, and I you know,
Speaker 2: these are the those are the two tenants of my
Speaker 2: work in progress as a person. I would say as
Speaker 2: a woman, but I think just as a person, and
Speaker 2: so I know they're both a privilege to you know,
Speaker 2: the privilege as you spoke of, to evolve, but really
Speaker 2: to evolve within these tenets of activism and mothering and
Speaker 2: being what it is to be a present. And I'm
Speaker 2: not going to say good mother, because I think that's unfair.
Speaker 2: I think just to be a present mother with love,
Speaker 2: you know, mm hmm. And I'll lets you know if
Speaker 2: that changes at all.
Speaker 1: I think it's really beautiful. Thank you God.
Speaker 2: I got a stretch