Speaker 1: There has been dancing in the streets outside my house.
Speaker 2: Yes, the celebrations have begun. Everybody is super happy. We
Speaker 2: live right outside of DC and the streets have been
Speaker 2: flood dead.
Speaker 1: Yeah, the streets are definitely talking. It just feels like
Speaker 1: everybody sent around a memo and said, this is what
Speaker 1: you do when the election results are in.
Speaker 2: How did everybody know to go outside with pots and pans?
Speaker 2: That was my thing? I was like, wait, I didn't
Speaker 2: know that. I didn't know that that was part of
Speaker 2: the celebration.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 3: All I got is like a mini cow bell.
Speaker 1: Girl, Why do you have that?
Speaker 3: Gotta have more cow bell.
Speaker 2: I'm TT and I'm Zachiah and from Spotify. This is
Speaker 2: Dope Labs. It's official. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are
Speaker 2: our new president and vice president elect. And everybody, well
Speaker 2: maybe not, everybody is super excited. And as soon as
Speaker 2: the news broke this past Saturday, everybody just hit the streets.
Speaker 2: And when you have the excitement of the election results
Speaker 2: coupled with the upcoming holiday season, it made us really
Speaker 2: curious about why we as humans celebrate things.
Speaker 1: I think everybody went outside and made some noise, but
Speaker 1: that doesn't really align with my method of celebrating. When
Speaker 1: I celebrate, the first thing I look for is champagne.
Speaker 2: And for me, it's usually a meat lover's pizza, which
Speaker 2: is what I did to celebrate.
Speaker 3: That was the first thing on my mind. I was like,
Speaker 3: I'm very happy.
Speaker 1: My friend loves a meat lover's pizza, y'all.
Speaker 3: I do, I really do.
Speaker 1: Is really interesting, this whole culture around celebration, and it
Speaker 1: couldn't come at a better time because we're right on
Speaker 1: the cusp. We're just following Spooky Season, and no matter
Speaker 1: what Mariah Carey tells you, the first jump from Spooky
Speaker 1: Season is not directly to Christmas.
Speaker 3: Folks in my neighborhood already have up there Christmas lights.
Speaker 1: I'm like, when are we supposed to put up our
Speaker 1: wreaths and our cornucopia displays. I wanted to give me
Speaker 1: a little eucalyptus wreath or something.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I think there's still time. There's definitely still time.
Speaker 2: But the issue is is that we are still in
Speaker 2: a pandemic. Don't forget. The pandemic isn't over just because
Speaker 2: you're over it, and a lot of people are not
Speaker 2: going to be doing the kind of traveling that they
Speaker 2: were doing in previous years, So a lot of people
Speaker 2: are opting for friends giving. My friend Zakia also had
Speaker 2: a very good idea about having friends giving at her
Speaker 2: place with a very select few group of people, and
Speaker 2: then everybody else can just zoom in or instagram live in.
Speaker 1: That's the only way I'm going to feel okay smoking
Speaker 1: the turkey, you know what I mean. I don't want
Speaker 1: to be out there thinking about both inhaling smoke particles
Speaker 1: and viral particles too. Like I just it's going to
Speaker 1: be too much, but that will give me a little
Speaker 1: bit of the best of both worlds. Friends Given has
Speaker 1: been an amazing I know we didn't create it, but
Speaker 1: it feels like it was made just for us.
Speaker 3: I know, because we love celebrating.
Speaker 2: We like celebrating everything from big things to small things. Yes,
Speaker 2: in this episode we are talking all about celebration and
Speaker 2: the sociology behind it.
Speaker 1: I think it's important to really acknowledge celebrations exist across cultures.
Speaker 1: They may look different, but almost every culture has some
Speaker 1: type of celebratory time or season or event, and there
Speaker 1: are some cultural universals, so behaviors that or values that
Speaker 1: show up in different cultures. They might not necessarily be
Speaker 1: the same, but we see them all the time. So
Speaker 1: dancing or food, or rituals or different religious practices are
Speaker 1: cultural universals, and they're all often elements of various types
Speaker 1: of celebrations. So it can feel like celebration itself is
Speaker 1: a hallmark of human behavior. So with that being said,
Speaker 1: let's jump into the recitation. What do we know?
Speaker 3: TT?
Speaker 2: Well, we know right now there are a lot of
Speaker 2: people that are celebrating, including us, Yes.
Speaker 1: And we also know there seems to be this gravitational
Speaker 1: pool to celebration, being outside, loud and with snacks and drinks. Yes,
Speaker 1: we need libations. And I think, you know, I just
Speaker 1: want to understand what's driving us to celebrate. I think
Speaker 1: I want to know why.
Speaker 2: It's food always something that folks want to bring out
Speaker 2: when it's time to celebrate. Is that something that's just like,
Speaker 2: is it a cultural thing? Is it all cultures and
Speaker 2: even beyond just us celebrating? This feels like some spontaneous
Speaker 2: celebration in the fall. There's that season of celebration right
Speaker 2: after spooky season where if people celebrate Thanksgiving around that time,
Speaker 2: heading into all of the winter holidays, I feel like
Speaker 2: I can almost smell it in the.
Speaker 3: Air, you know.
Speaker 1: But if I didn't grow up celebrating these holidays, would
Speaker 1: I still feel that same way?
Speaker 3: Right?
Speaker 2: Maybe it's a part of our subconscious mind to feel
Speaker 2: like we're supposed to be celebrating right now. And then
Speaker 2: I want to know friendsgiving is a new thing, but
Speaker 2: I don't.
Speaker 3: Know whose idea.
Speaker 2: Yeah, this was, it's a genius idea, but I want
Speaker 2: to know whose idea it was and when it got started.
Speaker 1: I think friendsgiving is the perfect example as we start
Speaker 1: to think about celebration on a whole right because you
Speaker 1: don't have to believe any one certain thing to participate
Speaker 1: in friendsgiving. It also feels like it's a little more
Speaker 1: low stakes than some of the other holidays, so you
Speaker 1: don't have to jump in and sprinkle cinnamon all over
Speaker 1: your house if you want to participate in friendsgiving either.
Speaker 2: Friendsgiving feels more like a come as you are, rather
Speaker 2: than you got to get dressed up with your auntie
Speaker 2: and uncle and answer all their annoying questions.
Speaker 1: I don't want to wear a sequin top. So I
Speaker 1: think we're ready to move into the dissection and understand
Speaker 1: more about celebration so this dissection is a little bit different.
Speaker 1: The guest expert today, Well, it's us welcome. I think
Speaker 1: we're professional celebrators, and I think it's a great time
Speaker 1: for us to just hold that mirror up and explore
Speaker 1: some of our own behavior around holidays.
Speaker 2: We're talking all about celebrations, and I think a great
Speaker 2: place to start would be talking about a celebration kind
Speaker 2: of like Friendsgiving, where it is a new form of
Speaker 2: celebration and I think a lot of people are starting
Speaker 2: to do it.
Speaker 1: So let's start with the history of Friendsgiving. It's basically
Speaker 1: a spin on Thanksgiving. And when we look back at
Speaker 1: Thanksgiving is basically a big feast. And so your want
Speaker 1: for a meat lover's pizza, my want for mimosa. That's
Speaker 1: gathering around food, and that's not new. Almost all cultures
Speaker 1: are considered kind of cultures of celebration, and Thanksgiving was
Speaker 1: centered on the fall harvest, similar to how we talked
Speaker 1: about cuffing season and having babies with the spring harvest.
Speaker 1: It's kind of this cyclical or seasonal celebration.
Speaker 3: M okay.
Speaker 1: And so it's best to have a feast, which is
Speaker 1: like a large meal, and it's usually outrageous amounts of
Speaker 1: food compared to what you would normally have day to day.
Speaker 1: It's gonna be pretty hard to do that if you
Speaker 1: don't have a season of harvest, if you don't have
Speaker 1: a lot of stuff.
Speaker 3: To choose from.
Speaker 2: And you know what I like is that when you
Speaker 2: look up the definition of feast, it's a verb and
Speaker 2: it means to eat and drink sumptuously.
Speaker 3: I like that word sumptuously. I'm start using that.
Speaker 1: So when we start to think about friends giving, this
Speaker 1: is kind of new. Like you said, it's been on
Speaker 1: the rise. If you look at Google trends and they
Speaker 1: show you know, that little graph of how often different
Speaker 1: terms are searched, it doesn't make its first kind of
Speaker 1: big blip until like twenty ten, and then you just
Speaker 1: see every year around November it just peaks up. And
Speaker 1: so it's been a arise since like the twenty ten
Speaker 1: If you think about two thousand and seven to twenty ten,
Speaker 1: the economy trying to make a comeback. Millennials were one
Speaker 1: of the first generations to move really far away from home.
Speaker 1: So can you even afford to get back home?
Speaker 2: So I remember being an undergrad and before we would
Speaker 2: go home for Thanksgiving break. Me and my friends one
Speaker 2: year got together and had like a little Thanksgiving because
Speaker 2: we were like, oh, you know, we're thankful for each other,
Speaker 2: we should all get together and do something. So I
Speaker 2: think it also was something where folks wanted to celebrate
Speaker 2: Thanksgiving with their friends before having to go home and
Speaker 2: celebrate with their families.
Speaker 1: And that makes me think also there's something that we
Speaker 1: kind of borrow from LGBTQ culture, which is your chosen family. Yeah,
Speaker 1: these people you choose and who have chosen you in return.
Speaker 1: So even if you don't have great relationships with your
Speaker 1: blood relatives, right, you have this family who you are
Speaker 1: super grateful for and you want to celebrate with them,
Speaker 1: so you create this occasion to do that. I love
Speaker 1: that ze and so I think think we're almost talking
Speaker 1: about friends Giving, and when we think about the evolution
Speaker 1: of it, some of it may be out of necessity.
Speaker 1: So if you can't afford to travel home, or if
Speaker 1: you have to do a potluck style dinner, because do
Speaker 1: you know how much a turkey costs?
Speaker 2: Turkeys are expensive. I will never purchase a turkey. Write
Speaker 2: that in stone. I will never purchase a turkey.
Speaker 1: So when you consider those things, and then these other
Speaker 1: kind of emotional pools where you want to acknowledge these
Speaker 1: people who have supported you year round and who have
Speaker 1: helped you grow. You kind of have these converging factors
Speaker 1: that drive this new holiday.
Speaker 3: We're redefining family.
Speaker 1: We are, and we're also dignifying friendship.
Speaker 3: Absolutely.
Speaker 2: We talked about that in the What About your Friend's episode,
Speaker 2: like we need to be giving our friendships way more
Speaker 2: weight than we give them, Like, our friends are so
Speaker 2: important to our lives.
Speaker 1: And I think if you understand that, then you got
Speaker 1: to have a celebration. Yet, this is the bet Awards
Speaker 1: of friendship. Okay, the Emmys of friendship, the Grammys of friendship.
Speaker 1: That's what friends giving it is.
Speaker 3: I need to find a dress, roll.
Speaker 1: Out the red carpet for the people you love. So,
Speaker 1: as we mentioned before, we're looking at celebration through the
Speaker 1: lens of sociology.
Speaker 2: Sociology is the study of society and that's the big umbrella.
Speaker 2: So that can be the development the structure of a
Speaker 2: society or how it functions, and you can also talk
Speaker 2: about social relationships and institutions. So when we're talking about
Speaker 2: the sociology of celebration, we're talking about how we behave
Speaker 2: cross culturally when a celebration occurs, whether it's planned or spontaneous, when.
Speaker 1: We try to figure out some clues to help us
Speaker 1: characterize why we behave like this, why we enjoy celebration,
Speaker 1: and sometimes while we celebrate too much. We came across
Speaker 1: the Journal of Comparative Research and Anthropology and Sociology. They
Speaker 1: had a whole issue on celebration and these two authors,
Speaker 1: Rusu and Cantola laid out this great kind of way
Speaker 1: to now a gate through celebration. If you think about
Speaker 1: celebration as a map. On most maps, you have a north, south, east,
Speaker 1: and west. Those are four coordinates. They give us three
Speaker 1: coordinates temporality, spatiality, and sociality.
Speaker 3: Okay, so let's get into it.
Speaker 1: So let's talk about temporality. And this is all about time.
Speaker 1: So when we think about time as it relates to celebration, celebrations,
Speaker 1: are these disruptions in our day to day I can
Speaker 1: remember as a kid, somebody's birthday party happening on a Saturday.
Speaker 1: That was an anomaly, right, Yeah, we were gonna eat cake,
Speaker 1: we were gonna do all these things that we did
Speaker 1: not normally do on Saturday.
Speaker 3: Chuckie Cheese had the best pizza.
Speaker 1: Pizza is your celebration food, It really is, and it
Speaker 1: probably started with Chucke Cheese. But you almost find that
Speaker 1: when we think about these celebrations that are rooted in time,
Speaker 1: so religious holidays, they almost pattern our day to day.
Speaker 1: So if you think about our year going along in
Speaker 1: a circle, every time we hit March or April, there
Speaker 1: are some spring celebrations. Every time around the summer, there's
Speaker 1: June teenth or fourth of July, whatever you celebrate, Right,
Speaker 1: there's these things in every year when you come around,
Speaker 1: they almost pattern what our cycle of time looks like
Speaker 1: because they're a disruption every time, over and over again.
Speaker 3: Every year at the same time, right, And so.
Speaker 1: It's interesting we can think of these celebrations that's helping
Speaker 1: us shift from the monotony of this day to day
Speaker 1: kind of punch in, punch out, clock in, clock out.
Speaker 1: They add some excitement to our day to day lives
Speaker 1: and it gives us something to look forward to, right. Yes,
Speaker 1: And it feels a little crazy, right because you're saying, oh,
Speaker 1: we pattern time with these celebrations and they disrupt time.
Speaker 1: So if they disrupt time at the same time, all
Speaker 1: the time. Aren't they a pattern too? It's too much
Speaker 1: for my brain. It's like if we're going into exception, right.
Speaker 1: I saw something else that was really interesting. It talked
Speaker 1: about these two Greek words related to Greek mythology about time,
Speaker 1: So there was chronos and chiros. You can think of
Speaker 1: chronos as representing the godly personification is what this text
Speaker 1: says of linear, never ending quantitative time. So for me,
Speaker 1: chronos is the clock and we can think of chronological
Speaker 1: order right, linear time right. But Kiros is a little
Speaker 1: bit different. Kiros is like I'm just going off the vibes, right,
Speaker 1: and for me, that is what celebration time is, like,
Speaker 1: you know the vibe when we're celebrating. Just show up
Speaker 1: when it's time. Do you remember that time we had
Speaker 1: a party and our friend Sean said she was gonna
Speaker 1: bring hamburger buns and she showed up so late, Oh my.
Speaker 3: Gosh, and she showed up late.
Speaker 2: I was like, okay, well, you're bringing a critical element
Speaker 2: because we're grilling out and we have burgers and hot dogs,
Speaker 2: and you were in charge.
Speaker 3: Of the vehicle buns for those meets.
Speaker 1: Sewn showing up when she felt like it was time
Speaker 1: to show up for me, that's chiros, right, it's no
Speaker 1: real What is an hour. What is time is when
Speaker 1: the party starts. And I am a firm proponent of kiros.
Speaker 1: When it comes to when a celebration ends, the party
Speaker 1: is over when we're dead.
Speaker 2: So the next element of the coordinates of celebration is spatiality,
Speaker 2: and that's all about where's the party at. Along with
Speaker 2: our routinized celebrations, this usually happens at a certain place. Right,
Speaker 2: So if you're celebrating passover, maybe you go to a
Speaker 2: satyr at your grandmother's house every year, or maybe if
Speaker 2: you're celebrating ed, you go to your uncle's house every year,
Speaker 2: and that's where all of that celebrating happens. But it
Speaker 2: happens in the same place, and so in your mind,
Speaker 2: as soon as you walk through those doors, you're like, okay,
Speaker 2: it's time to celebrate. For me and my family, it
Speaker 2: would alternate every year. For Thanksgiving, we would alternate between
Speaker 2: my uncle Jacob and Aunt Rachel's house. Then it would
Speaker 2: be at my house, so my parents would host Thanksgiving,
Speaker 2: and so we would just go back and forth and
Speaker 2: back and forth. And I think that's because my dad
Speaker 2: is the oldest of eight siblings, and then my uncle
Speaker 2: Jacob is his younger brother. He's right behind him, so
Speaker 2: they're kind of like the heads of the family, and
Speaker 2: so we just alternate between those two. There was always
Speaker 2: so much fun seeing all of my cousins and aunts
Speaker 2: and uncles and everything like that all in one place.
Speaker 3: What about u Z.
Speaker 1: I think for major holidays like Christmas, Thanksgiving, when we
Speaker 1: celebrated those growing up, we always went to my grandma's house,
Speaker 1: so my mom's mom the drive down there, I remember
Speaker 1: it will be like so excited to go there. It
Speaker 1: was like an hour or so away from where we
Speaker 1: lived in Greensboro, and it was just a thing, right,
Speaker 1: you were just bubbling with excitement. Now we went there
Speaker 1: every other weekend that wasn't a holiday, but it just
Speaker 1: hit different right now, it would have been like homecoming season.
Speaker 1: I can remember A and T homecoming all right, geho,
Speaker 1: greatest homecoming on Earth. I didn't even go to A
Speaker 1: and T. But I grew up in the city where
Speaker 1: it was, so I felt like A and T's homecoming
Speaker 1: was always like another big holiday. People would come because
Speaker 1: a lot of my family members went there, so you
Speaker 1: would see family it was like a mini Thanksgiving before Thanksgiving,
Speaker 1: and we would go to my great aunt, my aunt Lina,
Speaker 1: we would go to her house. And so it's just
Speaker 1: interesting how as soon as we started talking about celebrations,
Speaker 1: I can pinpoint these different places for different celebrations.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I guess we can zoom out a little bit.
Speaker 2: So it's like not even just specific for your family,
Speaker 2: but even like culturally as Americans, like when we think
Speaker 2: about celebrating New Year's Eve, we think of the ball
Speaker 2: dropping in Times Square. We might not necessarily be there,
Speaker 2: but it's just so iconic and ingrain into our minds
Speaker 2: that we think of that when we think of New
Speaker 2: Year's Eve.
Speaker 1: The spatiality aspect is really interesting because it can be
Speaker 1: a whole city, you know, like when we think about
Speaker 1: Mardi Gras in New Orleans and when we think about
Speaker 1: Running of the Bulls. There are these places where these
Speaker 1: celebrations occur. And it can be broad like that, but
Speaker 1: it can also be really specific. So, right, if you
Speaker 1: normally eating your kitchen or your living room, but for
Speaker 1: big holidays, you guys all gather around the dining table
Speaker 1: and you use that special furniture hah.
Speaker 3: The special plates yeah, the napkins.
Speaker 1: That's a spatial queue, right, is almost reminiscent of some
Speaker 1: religious ceremonies and celebrations that happen in these sacred spaces
Speaker 1: or sanctuaries. Right. We're almost replicating that there's something ritualistic
Speaker 1: about a lot of our celebrations anyway, and so here
Speaker 1: we see it appearing again.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and then.
Speaker 2: Even if there isn't a special place for whatever you're
Speaker 2: trying to celebrate, we convert our existing spaces into a
Speaker 2: space for celebration, absolutely, and that is.
Speaker 3: Literally what folks did for Friendsgiving.
Speaker 1: So we've touched temporality, which is time space, reality which
Speaker 1: is where are you? And now we're hitting sociality, which
Speaker 1: is how does it feel? It's the social aspect. So
Speaker 1: the togetherness you're kind of dropping those barriers is the vibes.
Speaker 1: It's really interesting because when you have a holiday, you
Speaker 1: got your core group of people that you always normally see,
Speaker 1: but then you always have some stragglers. You got that
Speaker 1: one cousin who shows up for Easter, you like, we
Speaker 1: haven't seen them all year, right, Or you have that
Speaker 1: aunt or uncle that you don't really deal with like that,
Speaker 1: but you're going to keep it cute for the holiday, right.
Speaker 1: I think it's really interesting. Even on a broader scale,
Speaker 1: even if you just zoom out, we can almost consider
Speaker 1: this as people being in the holiday spirit or having
Speaker 1: some holiday cheer.
Speaker 3: Mm hmmm hmm.
Speaker 1: It almost feels like community level or group level. We're
Speaker 1: all extending a little bit more grace.
Speaker 2: Yes, worldwide vibes and no one is supposed to be
Speaker 2: coming in and killing the vibe, and so sociality I
Speaker 2: think is key to a good celebration.
Speaker 1: But I think it's important to highlight sociality can go
Speaker 1: either way because that sense of community. You can either
Speaker 1: leverage it and make everybody feel equal, you can bring
Speaker 1: everybody in. And it really depends on your holiday because
Speaker 1: if you have a holiday that is built on power
Speaker 1: dynamics and access to certain things, it can also isolate too.
Speaker 1: So you want to be aware of that when you
Speaker 1: build in your friends giving, are you saying everybody got
Speaker 1: to bring a ball of asa space. Everybody can't do that.
Speaker 1: I won't be there, and some folks don't drink right,
Speaker 1: And so those are all the things to think about.
Speaker 1: You know. I had to really question my cookout style
Speaker 1: over the past couple of years, I've had more and
Speaker 1: more vegetarian friends. Oh, and I said, what do you
Speaker 1: have to offer them? Is it a celebration if they
Speaker 1: can only have a potato? It's not.
Speaker 2: Oh my goodness, Yes, this happened to me because me
Speaker 2: and Jimmy do a holiday dinner every year, and two
Speaker 2: dinners ago, so not the last one we did, but
Speaker 2: the one before that. We had some friends that showed up,
Speaker 2: and I knew that they were vegetarians, so we tried
Speaker 2: to have some vegetarian options, but one was vegan, and
Speaker 2: that just eliminated all options. There was literally nothing for
Speaker 2: them to eat. And I was mortified. I was messing
Speaker 2: up the sociality of my dinner party. I was killing
Speaker 2: the vibes from my vegan friends. But I know that
Speaker 2: they knew you meant well. They were good sports. I
Speaker 2: was crying into my hand.
Speaker 1: The Queen of the ham was having a bad night.
Speaker 1: That just takes us to the next point about what
Speaker 1: happens when celebrations and the expectations around them get really high,
Speaker 1: and they can on a lot of pressure. But we're
Speaker 1: not going to talk about it just yet. We're about
Speaker 1: to take a break, and when we come back, we'll
Speaker 1: jump right into the case for scaling back on celebrations.
Speaker 1: I know it seems a little counterintuitive, and how we'll
Speaker 1: continue to celebrate even when we can't be together.
Speaker 2: We're back, and now we're going to jump into the
Speaker 2: case for scaling back on celebrations. We have already talked
Speaker 2: in great detail about how we love to celebrate, but
Speaker 2: in some cases, some you kind of have to just
Speaker 2: fall back a little bit and chill.
Speaker 1: I think we have to make some points really clear.
Speaker 1: When we say we like to celebrate, we don't mean
Speaker 1: every time we have to take things to the top.
Speaker 1: I mean we like to find the celebratory moments even
Speaker 1: in the small things. Right, So it's like, hmm, this
Speaker 1: doctor Pepper has all the fizz. It's a par day,
Speaker 1: you know. It's all the little things, the little stuff.
Speaker 1: When it happens things go the way you want, or
Speaker 1: even when things don't, that's the time to really celebrate
Speaker 1: that we're just here and making it okay.
Speaker 2: Yes, I remember one time when we were in grad
Speaker 2: school and I baked a batch of cookies and I
Speaker 2: took some to the kid's lab and she loved it.
Speaker 2: It was a celebration really for nothing.
Speaker 1: I love that kind of stuff. You know, I think
Speaker 1: we just need more moments of joy for ourselves, right,
Speaker 1: because if we are relying on it externally, the external
Speaker 1: world will fail.
Speaker 2: You.
Speaker 1: We see that we had all a twenty twenty and
Speaker 1: look at what he did. I'm so ashamed of twenty twenty.
Speaker 1: I don't even want to talk about it.
Speaker 3: Right, you got to celebrate life while you still got it.
Speaker 1: That's right. But I think some people take it to
Speaker 1: the extreme on the other part. Right, it's not a
Speaker 1: party unless there are custom name cards for everybody, streamers
Speaker 1: hanging down, a minor explosion of viral technics, and I'm
Speaker 1: just like, no, no, no, we don't need that for
Speaker 1: a birthday, for the first birthday, you know, you know,
Speaker 1: they won't even remember.
Speaker 3: This, right exactly.
Speaker 2: I think we've seen even this year some issues with
Speaker 2: some celebrations that went a little bit over the top,
Speaker 2: like the gender reveals that started wildfires in California and Arizona. Yeah,
Speaker 2: you want us to know what genitalia your child has,
Speaker 2: and then you're gonna burn down half the state.
Speaker 1: I think that's a little excessive, right, it is it is.
Speaker 1: I think there's also a whole culture around celebrations. Some
Speaker 1: of this feels like I look at Pinterest, I say, Pinterest,
Speaker 1: you're giving people way too many ideas. My friend, her
Speaker 1: cousin was having a baby and she made a whole
Speaker 1: cake out of diapers. She was like, I have to
Speaker 1: find the right lace to tie around these diapers. I
Speaker 1: have to find the right ribbon and trimming. It was
Speaker 1: a Safari style thing, and she needed to find all
Speaker 1: these animals and glue them on. And I was like, girl,
Speaker 1: this feels more stressful than anything. But it was a
Speaker 1: labor of love for her.
Speaker 3: I remember this.
Speaker 1: But I think social media is also a driver because honey,
Speaker 1: people started posting yes, doing it for the I'm just
Speaker 1: trying to do it for me.
Speaker 2: So another reason why people might be celebrating a lot
Speaker 2: could be because of this whole idea of globalization. A
Speaker 2: lot of people are starting to live farther and farther apart.
Speaker 3: From each other.
Speaker 2: Because of the way technology is, we have the ability
Speaker 2: to stay in contact with people literally.
Speaker 3: All over the world.
Speaker 2: Yes, the cultures are blending, so we have a lot
Speaker 2: more multicultural families, and social media is at.
Speaker 3: The wheel of this bus.
Speaker 2: We are over celebrating and oversharing and doing all.
Speaker 3: Of the extra things.
Speaker 1: And so it's going to be really interesting to see
Speaker 1: how this season of celebration plays out. With first everybody
Speaker 1: sharing on social media, with second, everybody supposed to be
Speaker 1: quarantining up until now.
Speaker 3: Right, y'all supposed to be social distancing.
Speaker 1: I'm interested to see how all these factors come together
Speaker 1: during this season of celebration.
Speaker 3: It's a unique time.
Speaker 1: And let me tell you something, baby, I'm zooming. Okay,
Speaker 1: I'm zooming with y'all, and don't zoom by my house,
Speaker 1: especially not unannounced.
Speaker 3: Yes, we are talking about the web conferencing software. Do
Speaker 3: not zoom here.
Speaker 1: I'm all about togetherness, but let's be together virtually.
Speaker 3: Be together apart.
Speaker 1: This year, I'm gonna do a friends giving with a
Speaker 1: few people who have been in their homes NonStop and
Speaker 1: who are just as diligent about coronavirus safety protocols as
Speaker 1: I am. And then I'm zooming with everybody else. They
Speaker 1: can also have the same thing we're having here. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna be sharing my recipes.
Speaker 2: Yes, all of it, and I will be eating yes.
Speaker 2: So that's all I bring to the table. This is
Speaker 2: the reason why I've been so diligent. Over the last however,
Speaker 2: many months, we've been social distancing because I knew this
Speaker 2: time would come. I knew that folks would mess us
Speaker 2: up for all of us, and we would not be
Speaker 2: doing the normal fall time celebrations, and that friendsgiving would
Speaker 2: be affected. And I knew that my friend would still
Speaker 2: be cooking, and I know me, I want that food.
Speaker 2: So I said, sacrifice now so you can joy the
Speaker 2: spoils later.
Speaker 1: I want to hear from everybody else, though. What are
Speaker 1: you guys doing over the holiday season? What are your plans?
Speaker 1: Are you zooming with people? Invite us if you are
Speaker 1: doing an Instagram live, we want to see how you prep.
Speaker 1: I love to see people do their meal preps and
Speaker 1: get ready.
Speaker 2: Oh I just I learned so much so on the
Speaker 2: Spotify platform. Right now, there's a poll where we're asking
Speaker 2: what you're going to be doing to celebrate the holidays
Speaker 2: this season.
Speaker 3: Are you staying home? Are you doing zoom calls.
Speaker 2: Where you and your friends and family are eating over
Speaker 2: the internet, or are you doing an extended bubble situation
Speaker 2: like Zekiah?
Speaker 3: Let us know. Hit the poll right now.
Speaker 1: I do love all the creative things that I've seen
Speaker 1: Halloween I saw people doing some great stuff.
Speaker 2: I loved the engineering that came out of Halloween this year.
Speaker 2: People came up with all types of contraptions. I saw
Speaker 2: tubes where they were just sliding down the candy to
Speaker 2: the kids. I saw some catapults. It just made everything
Speaker 2: so much fun. And I saw y'all using your engineering minds,
Speaker 2: which I love.
Speaker 1: Yes, TT was standing, I can't wait to see our
Speaker 1: They going to catapult sweet potato pie. What will we
Speaker 1: see for these coming holidays? You know, I'm really excited.
Speaker 1: I love that we remain resilient. We continue to innovate
Speaker 1: and think of different ways to leverage technology, leverage physics,
Speaker 1: leverage engineering, to be with one another, to be in
Speaker 1: community and share and just uplift one another.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, I think it's important. Yeah, And it's all science. Honestly.
Speaker 2: Coming up with new ways to do stuff because of
Speaker 2: a new challenge is science. It is engineering that is
Speaker 2: like the basis of all things, coming up with solutions
Speaker 2: to new problems and sometimes.
Speaker 3: All problems that you didn't even realize that you had.
Speaker 2: So I think we should all be excited about the
Speaker 2: possibilities about what this holiday season is going to look
Speaker 2: like and get ready to celebrate.
Speaker 1: Check out our website our show notes for this lab
Speaker 1: to read more about the research that drove the ideas
Speaker 1: we brought to you from Russu and Kintola, and to
Speaker 1: learn more about the sociology of celebration.
Speaker 2: On our website, you can find a chee cheet for
Speaker 2: today's lab, along with a ton of other links and
Speaker 2: resources in the show notes.
Speaker 1: And if you want to stay in the note with
Speaker 1: Dope Labs, don't forget to sign up for our newsletter
Speaker 1: on our site too. Also, we love hearing from you.
Speaker 1: What did you think about today's lab? Do you have
Speaker 1: ideas for future labs? Call us at two zero two
Speaker 1: five six seven seven zero two eight and let us know.
Speaker 1: You can find us on Twitter and Instagram at Dope Labs.
Speaker 1: Podcast tt is on Twitter at dr Underscore Tsho.
Speaker 3: And you can find Zakiya at z Said.
Speaker 1: So follow us on Spotify or wherever else you listen
Speaker 1: to podcasts.
Speaker 2: Dope Labs is produced by Jenny Raddlet Mast and Lydia
Speaker 2: Smith of Waverrunner Studios.
Speaker 1: Mixing and sound design are by Hannes Brown.
Speaker 2: Our theme music is by Taka Yasuzawa and Alex Sugiura
Speaker 2: with additional music.
Speaker 3: By Elijah Alex Harvey.
Speaker 2: Dope Labs is a production of Spotify and Mega Own
Speaker 2: Media Group.
Speaker 1: And it's executive produced by US T. T Show Dia
Speaker 1: and Zakiah Wattley. I have a video from our last
Speaker 1: Friends giving of us doing the electric slide?
Speaker 3: Was I doing it?
Speaker 1: I think you were in the kitchen, but Jimmy was
Speaker 1: definitely doing it with us.
Speaker 3: Of course Jimmy was doing it.