Speaker 1: It's not that bad, Like the sharks aren't the problem.
Speaker 1: It's just how cold it is.
Speaker 2: Do you sometimes put your wet suit by your bed
Speaker 2: and the minute you wake up, you put it on
Speaker 2: because someone told me to do that, and then you
Speaker 2: literally have to go ah when you're already in your
Speaker 2: wet suit, Like I get up, go to the bathroom
Speaker 2: and put my wet suit on, and then it's like, oh,
Speaker 2: no a minute.
Speaker 1: That makes a lot of sense, though, that could because
Speaker 1: you usually go to the beach and then it's like, oh,
Speaker 1: let's go look at the what there's that floor? Yeah,
Speaker 1: and a process you go through. He's definitely answer something.
Speaker 2: Hello, I'm mini driver. I've always loved Proust's questionnaire. It
Speaker 2: was originally in nineteenth century parlor game where players would
Speaker 2: ask each other thirty five questions aimed at revealing the
Speaker 2: other player's true nature. In asking different people the same
Speaker 2: set questions, you can make observations about which truths appear
Speaker 2: to be universal. And it made me wonder, what if
Speaker 2: these questions were just the jumping off point, what greater
Speaker 2: depths would be revealed if I asked these questions as
Speaker 2: conversation starters. So I adapted Pru's questionnaire, and I wrote
Speaker 2: my own seven questions that I personally think are pertinent
Speaker 2: to a person's story. They are when and where were
Speaker 2: you happiest? What is the quality you like least about yourself?
Speaker 2: What relationship, real or fictionalized, defines love for you? What
Speaker 2: question would you most like answered, What person, place, or
Speaker 2: experience has shaped you the most? What would be your
Speaker 2: last meal? And can you tell me something in your
Speaker 2: life that's grown out of a personal disaster? And I've
Speaker 2: gathered a group of really remarkable people, ones that I
Speaker 2: am honored and humbled to have had the chance to
Speaker 2: engage with. You may not hear their answers to all
Speaker 2: seven of these questions. We've whittled it down to which
Speaker 2: questions felt closest to their experience, or the most prizing,
Speaker 2: or created the most fertile ground to connect. My guest
Speaker 2: today is the film producer, social advocate and activist Quaku
Speaker 2: Mandela Amua. Quaku is the kind of social advocate who
Speaker 2: effects change on a global level. He is a founding
Speaker 2: member and ambassador of jen Endit, a collective of HIV
Speaker 2: AIDS organizations committed to seeing the end of AIDS in
Speaker 2: our lifetime. He also sits on the board of the
Speaker 2: Amazing Global Citizen By the Way, their extraordinary concert will
Speaker 2: take place in Central Park in New York City this September,
Speaker 2: and Charlie's Sarren's Brilliant Africa Outreach Project. It's hard to
Speaker 2: speak about Quaku without contextualizing the legacy he comes from
Speaker 2: as the grandson of Nelson Mandela. Quaku's written about his
Speaker 2: grandfather over the years, and something he wrote has stayed
Speaker 2: and resonated with me deeply, perhaps on account of the
Speaker 2: times we're living in and particularly what has been apparent
Speaker 2: in this first half of twenty twenty five. Quaker wrote,
Speaker 2: my grandfather would always say that if we as humans
Speaker 2: don't transcend this cycle of hatred and violence that we
Speaker 2: find ourselves in so often, we will always be prisoners.
Speaker 2: Quaku carries with him this torch of peace, justice and reconciliation,
Speaker 2: which to me at the cornerstones of his grandfather's legacy.
Speaker 2: We had such an interesting chat about the sacrifices his
Speaker 2: family made to be in politics, about music as a
Speaker 2: form of activism, and the role of art as a
Speaker 2: way of addressing major issues in society. Time and again
Speaker 2: we both return to the theme of our children and
Speaker 2: the hopes that we can and will make a better,
Speaker 2: kinder world for them. In your life, can you tell
Speaker 2: me about something that has grown out of a personal disaster.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you know, I always wanted my son to meet
Speaker 1: my aunt because she was such a big factor in
Speaker 1: my life of really pushing me to follow my passions
Speaker 1: from a young age. Like I think she brought me
Speaker 1: my first CD and I listened to that thing for
Speaker 1: like forty eight hours straight, just on her feat, and
Speaker 1: she came out like four am in the morning.
Speaker 3: She's like, you really love music. You should do something
Speaker 3: with music.
Speaker 1: I was like, all right, okay, And then I ended
Speaker 1: up starting that festival around HIV and AIDS awareness and
Speaker 1: followed my passion for live music and live events. And
Speaker 1: she was seminole undoubtedly and pushing me that way. So
Speaker 1: I definitely wanted her to meet my son. But COVID
Speaker 1: started and you know, you couldn't travel. I was in
Speaker 1: New York. She had just come back to South Africa
Speaker 1: and she passed away, and I remember just how weird
Speaker 1: it was watching her funeral memorial on YouTube.
Speaker 2: Oh my gosh.
Speaker 1: I remember saying to myself that every day I was
Speaker 1: going to wake up and like tell my son I
Speaker 1: love him and just told him and just carry that
Speaker 1: out into the world.
Speaker 3: And yeah, I know.
Speaker 1: It's helped build my relationship with him, and I think
Speaker 1: it's also affected how I treat people in the world.
Speaker 1: There's lots of things I understand now that I probably
Speaker 1: didn't understand when I was younger, about what one can
Speaker 1: represent without even knowing it by coming from the legacy
Speaker 1: which we all have because we all have parents and
Speaker 1: grandparents and great grandparents who did good things and some
Speaker 1: that did that. And so I just hope my son
Speaker 1: feels that as he grows up and he realizes that's
Speaker 1: what he eminate's.
Speaker 2: From and that's something that he will learn from you, Like,
Speaker 2: have you in your life felt the weight of that
Speaker 2: legacy or it was just what you knew and so
Speaker 2: you incorporate it into your daily life And is that
Speaker 2: the way in which you'll pass it on to your child,
Speaker 2: do you think?
Speaker 1: I think for a long time I was told what
Speaker 1: that was meant to be, and there was the expectation
Speaker 1: of what I was meant to be. But then you
Speaker 1: come into your own where you realize through all the
Speaker 1: things you've learned and the experiences you've had what that
Speaker 1: means to you, and that's the most important thing that
Speaker 1: you carry forward. And it's just the essence that I
Speaker 1: think is instilled in you, whether you want to call
Speaker 1: it DNA, whether you want to call it grounding or
Speaker 1: beliefs or teachings. And so I hope again, through his experiences,
Speaker 1: which will be very different from line, that he'll find
Speaker 1: and figure out how that relates to him.
Speaker 2: Is that part of the films that you make and
Speaker 2: the music that you're involved in is storytelling like a
Speaker 2: really important aspect of your life because you come from
Speaker 2: a big story and South Africa has a big story.
Speaker 2: I mean, I know every country does, but like we're
Speaker 2: talking about this now, do you think that's part of
Speaker 2: what you choose to do for a living? Like that
Speaker 2: is an extension of that?
Speaker 3: It could be.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I've never thought of it that way, but now
Speaker 1: that you've said it, I'm like, oh, that makes a
Speaker 1: lot of sense. So there's been three big things in
Speaker 1: my life. One is the idea of how you can
Speaker 1: bring people together in a music concert. When I was
Speaker 1: four and a half in Boston Park with Harrismith, not
Speaker 1: really knowing anything about that band, but knowing that they'd
Speaker 1: brought a bunch of people together really piqued my interest filmmaking.
Speaker 1: The ideas that you could tell stories and those could
Speaker 1: move people to think differently or feel something that they
Speaker 1: didn't feel before. That was always something that struck at me.
Speaker 1: And then the idea that you can build community, which
Speaker 1: goes back to something you've talked about on this and
Speaker 1: you can do that in many different forms, but the
Speaker 1: easiest is through storytelling and getting people to realize that
Speaker 1: they have more in common than they don't exactly. So
Speaker 1: that's always been something. I guess organizing has always been
Speaker 1: something that I've been good at.
Speaker 2: What person, place, or experience has most altered your life?
Speaker 1: I would say place definitely, again, coming back to Africa
Speaker 1: when I was ten, and then coming back later my life,
Speaker 1: returning and there is something unique about the people here,
Speaker 1: the warmth, the resilience that I'd seen in glimpses around
Speaker 1: the world, but just really came home, and I think
Speaker 1: to find my belief in humanity, So my fervent kind
Speaker 1: of desire to want to be able to make sure
Speaker 1: the continent is seen and treated in a respectful way.
Speaker 1: And an equitable way. So I would say that's definitely
Speaker 1: been place for me that had an undeniable impact.
Speaker 2: Do you have a very clear recollection as a ten
Speaker 2: year old boy of arriving back and what did you feel,
Speaker 2: Because you've been in America, right, so do you remember
Speaker 2: do you have like crystal memories of what that was like?
Speaker 1: I remember was one day I went outside my driveway
Speaker 1: and there were these guys there standing in Zulu attire
Speaker 1: and they had spears and.
Speaker 3: My mom screamed, she was like sorry, she grabbed. I
Speaker 3: had no concept. I was like, oh, these guys look
Speaker 3: so cool. I was like, I've never seen anyone who
Speaker 3: just look like this.
Speaker 1: But at the time, there was this conflict going on
Speaker 1: between the Zulus and close so it was like very
Speaker 1: dangerous and I.
Speaker 3: Just remember that moment very vividly.
Speaker 1: Going to class with a group of kids that were
Speaker 1: very diverse and from all over the world. There were Greek,
Speaker 1: they were or Cheguese there, or British kids in my class,
Speaker 1: and you know, again meeting people that did not have
Speaker 1: a lot by any stretch of the means of what
Speaker 1: I'd grown up with before, but that were just so
Speaker 1: positive and content all of those moments really stuck with me.
Speaker 2: Do you think there's, like you said, concentration of kindness
Speaker 2: of coming back to South Africa? What creates that in
Speaker 2: that particular place, Like when you say that people are
Speaker 2: just so lovely and kind? Do you think there is
Speaker 2: something that engenders that.
Speaker 1: I think experience, I would imagine plays a role a
Speaker 1: country that had gone through this major shift and was
Speaker 1: trying to figure out what it was the tension of that,
Speaker 1: but also I guess the belief that you have to
Speaker 1: have that things can get better.
Speaker 3: And then I think there's also just nature.
Speaker 2: What relationship, real or fictionalized, defines love for you?
Speaker 1: I think for most of my life the kind of
Speaker 1: anecdotal idea of romance in the movie would have equated
Speaker 1: love the ability to show someone you care to be
Speaker 1: affectionate display public affection for someone else.
Speaker 3: Those things still inspire me.
Speaker 1: I think I'm just more pragmatic having been in relationships
Speaker 1: and come out of them in the concept of sacrifice
Speaker 1: and what that means. And again I always told myself
Speaker 1: I never wanted to do politics, largely because I know
Speaker 1: the human toll right that takes on someone and their
Speaker 1: family and their loved ones. But ultimately, when I think
Speaker 1: back on that in the context of my family, when
Speaker 1: I think about those sacrifices that not just my grandfather made,
Speaker 1: my grandmother's.
Speaker 3: My uncle, my aunts.
Speaker 1: It was for me in the sense the kind of
Speaker 1: true expression of love, the idea that you were doing
Speaker 1: something that it was bigger than yourself at such a scale,
Speaker 1: and doing it fearlessly even though there was so much
Speaker 1: danger and unknown and.
Speaker 3: Risk attached to that.
Speaker 1: And so I would say, for me, yeah, as I
Speaker 1: get older, that's something I've started to think about a
Speaker 1: lot more as a reflection of true love.
Speaker 2: H It's funny because I think on a small or
Speaker 2: a bigger level, sacrifice it is a huge part of love.
Speaker 2: It's not the romantic part that we talk about, but
Speaker 2: it is a huge cornerstone of the things that we
Speaker 2: And maybe sacrifice is alongside compromise, the idea of what
Speaker 2: we do for those that we love that are not
Speaker 2: necessarily choices we'd make for ourselves. But you know that
Speaker 2: for a kind of greater good, we seem to be
Speaker 2: pretty far away from that. In our world. Everything's become
Speaker 2: so protectionist now it's not about sacrificing for a greater good,
Speaker 2: but rather protecting more for our own gain slash, I
Speaker 2: guess security, But.
Speaker 1: I think that's what the image of love has been
Speaker 1: presented to us, as something that we are meant to protect.
Speaker 1: Like you're not meant to go out of your way,
Speaker 1: You're not meant to compromise or sacrifice. You're meant to
Speaker 1: feel good, You're meant to feel happy and special, and you're.
Speaker 3: Meant to be upbeat.
Speaker 1: And I think the real toll of what love is
Speaker 1: is when you're willing to let something go, no matter
Speaker 1: what it is, because you know that something greater can
Speaker 1: come from that and those around you can benefit from it.
Speaker 2: Was that part of Global Citizens That organization for me
Speaker 2: feels like a kind of embodiment of like a love
Speaker 2: that is shared and spread around and actually is foundational
Speaker 2: and has the kind of infrastructure. Was that something you
Speaker 2: were really interested in being involved with, because it really
Speaker 2: does feel like an expression of love. I mean, that's
Speaker 2: simplifying it, But was that part of that?
Speaker 1: I don't know if it was an expression of love
Speaker 1: for me, and if it is, to be honest with you,
Speaker 1: I think I had been part of starting a concert
Speaker 1: when I was twelve, when I was really young and
Speaker 1: just idealic, and at the time I got out, I
Speaker 1: was going through like my cold Play phase where I
Speaker 1: was just listening to.
Speaker 3: Them over and over.
Speaker 1: I ended up calling a promoter and got lucky the
Speaker 1: right person spoke to me and four Triple six y four,
Speaker 1: which was an HIV and AIDS awareness concert, was born.
Speaker 1: And because I had that experience, and I'd also spent
Speaker 1: time in Australia, I was introduced to some of the
Speaker 1: co founders of Global Citizen and they'd asked if I
Speaker 1: wanted to be a part of it, and I took
Speaker 1: some time. About a month later, I went back to
Speaker 1: them and said, yeah, I'm open to this, but we
Speaker 1: actually have to be global. We can't just do a
Speaker 1: concert in New York. And so it was born out
Speaker 1: of that, in this idea that we could end extreme poverty.
Speaker 1: And back in twenty twelve and twenty thirteen, we had
Speaker 1: the Millennial Development Goals that Jeffrey Sachs and a bunch
Speaker 1: of really smart people had dreamt up around how the
Speaker 1: world could look to defeat poverty, which was something that
Speaker 1: my grandfather had been really passionate about when he retired.
Speaker 1: This idea that poverty was man made and it could
Speaker 1: be ended by us in our actions. And I think
Speaker 1: we were very idyllic. We didn't necessarily have a roadmap,
Speaker 1: and we obviously didn't know the things that would come
Speaker 1: in our world, and so.
Speaker 3: It was born out of that.
Speaker 1: It's definitely more we've obviously had COVID, You've had compounding
Speaker 1: conflicts in the world, and as you said, a world
Speaker 1: that's become more protectionists and.
Speaker 3: More nationalists in a lot of ways.
Speaker 1: And so I think the organization is kind of figuring
Speaker 1: out and finding what it represents in a modern era.
Speaker 1: What I'm proud about with Global Citizens the idea that
Speaker 1: people can mobilize behind something. Yeah, they can believe something
Speaker 1: that's bigger than themselves, and the idea, yeah, that their
Speaker 1: impact in actions can equate something really special. But the
Speaker 1: only time will tell if that's real or just smoke
Speaker 1: and mirrts.
Speaker 2: I think there's something really beautiful though about the idea
Speaker 2: of everybody from whatever socioeconomic background, culturally, the idea that
Speaker 2: you can affect change. And there's something about Global Citizens
Speaker 2: that makes the way the information is presented, in the
Speaker 2: way engagement works, that feels like anybody can help. Beginning
Speaker 2: affecting change, like within their local community on a grassroots
Speaker 2: level or on a bigger sid like however you want
Speaker 2: to get involved. I remember it's like when I first
Speaker 2: met Chris one hundred years ago, we would both work
Speaker 2: for Oxfam. I opened for him and Ram because Michael
Speaker 2: Stipe was also really involved. And I remember sitting in
Speaker 2: the green room with like backstage in London, all these
Speaker 2: unbelievable people and all these beautiful musicians were sitting around
Speaker 2: talking about the amelioration of poverty, like what does that
Speaker 2: look like? How does that look How can you use
Speaker 2: this tangible platform? And remember this was before social media,
Speaker 2: and it's really like, well, here we are using this
Speaker 2: platform here to talk about things. So what we say
Speaker 2: in between songs? And I was like, I'm not saying
Speaker 2: anything because you guys are saying all the stuff, but like,
Speaker 2: how you at your own level, how do we talk
Speaker 2: to each other. I've loved I've watched in the sidelines
Speaker 2: of the expansion of Global citizens and I really love it,
Speaker 2: like it inspires loving me and like lots of other
Speaker 2: people that I know. So I think it's very cool.
Speaker 1: I hope it will inspire a new generation to figure
Speaker 1: out how it is that they move the needle, and
Speaker 1: that it may not necessarily be through music events, it
Speaker 1: may be through a new form of storytelling. And maybe
Speaker 1: do them realizing that they have unique communities that exist
Speaker 1: amongst themselves, and then how do they apply pressure. Because
Speaker 1: when I think about any of the kind of great
Speaker 1: what it's Woodstock, whether it's Freeman Della concert and a
Speaker 1: lot of them have existed. Some really did have an impact,
Speaker 1: others were just moments to galvanize people and exist in
Speaker 1: that moment solely right, And I think with all of
Speaker 1: the information we have, it's hard to have a breakthrough
Speaker 1: and so global sys since then a good job of
Speaker 1: finding a model potentially works in certain parts of the world,
Speaker 1: it's not going to work everywhere. And so that's where
Speaker 1: the next generation really has to evolve.
Speaker 2: It, I think, and figure it out. So interesting just
Speaker 2: talking about community called Jefferson was on the show the
Speaker 2: other day and he was talking about the loss of
Speaker 2: the third place, which so the first place being home,
Speaker 2: second place being work, and the third place being community
Speaker 2: and whether that was church or the village hall, or
Speaker 2: the sports matches or the places that we used to
Speaker 2: go to find that and when I was a kid.
Speaker 2: That's where any kind of activism came out of those
Speaker 2: places where sort of people would come together in a
Speaker 2: time that wasn't home and wasn't work and would start
Speaker 2: moving things forward. And we live in a community in
Speaker 2: California where that's very much in play. It's interesting watching
Speaker 2: my kid, he's sixteen, and how him and his friends
Speaker 2: are doing that, like, yes, in addition to all of
Speaker 2: their gaming, and they're this, and they're that, this idea
Speaker 2: of like minded souls and what can we do and
Speaker 2: how can we do this together as opposed to them
Speaker 2: being so isolated. And I don't know if it's a
Speaker 2: function of COVID and needing to be part of something
Speaker 2: and not so isolated, but I think it's really interesting
Speaker 2: and I do think that that's where I think that's
Speaker 2: the key. And I watched these kids sort of starting
Speaker 2: to unlock that idea that it's community that is transnational.
Speaker 1: Do you think that bards and still plays a little
Speaker 1: role in helping us, I guess address major social issues
Speaker 1: that we have.
Speaker 2: Yes, hugely. But I think there is a huge problem
Speaker 2: in the arts being seen as some kind of dessert
Speaker 2: to the meat and potatoes of a far more prosaic academics.
Speaker 2: I don't know. I have advocated and I will never
Speaker 2: stop on the idea that creative thought for me comes
Speaker 2: out of the art. It comes out of music and
Speaker 2: kids finding their voice, no matter whether that's what they
Speaker 2: want to do in their life, but learning to speak
Speaker 2: and to articulate how you feel text that you read,
Speaker 2: to stand up, to feel heard and seen, to experiment
Speaker 2: with music and with words, with reading. I think it's
Speaker 2: phenomenally important. I really do. And it's interesting my kid
Speaker 2: goes to a school where they don't mind even if
Speaker 2: you are just a full blown academic scholar, you will
Speaker 2: play a musical instrument, or you will be in the choir.
Speaker 2: It's fully just this is part of your whole brain development.
Speaker 2: This is as vital as double physics. Yeah, I stand
Speaker 2: by that. Do you think that? Do you think that
Speaker 2: it's possible?
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 1: I think when I look back, and maybe this is
Speaker 1: just the fact that we're looking back right when you
Speaker 1: look back at Woodstock and what that'spawned, or a lot
Speaker 1: of the cultural boycott that existed during a part that
Speaker 1: it felt like it really broke through, and I think
Speaker 1: now I see a lot being done. I just don't
Speaker 1: know if it actually breaks through and it comes to
Speaker 1: the whole idea of who controls what we see, censorship,
Speaker 1: all of that that you can have a debate and
Speaker 1: a conversation around. I think I'm still trying to figure
Speaker 1: out that's possible.
Speaker 2: I think it's changing at such a fast pace, like
Speaker 2: with no regulations, and it's such a crazy free for all.
Speaker 2: I agree, but I think if everything is going to
Speaker 2: get thrown into that crucible anyway of the Internet of
Speaker 2: social media of this world, then I'm going to go
Speaker 2: through in as much of the arts and communication as
Speaker 2: I possibly can. Because I agree with you. I think
Speaker 2: it's wayward and it's clearly without a plan, but I
Speaker 2: still think we're better off with it than without it.
Speaker 2: So what quality do you like least about yourself?
Speaker 1: I would say I've always felt the need to be accessible,
Speaker 1: whether that's in real life or taking time to engage
Speaker 1: and listen to people, friends, colleagues, and that can be
Speaker 1: a lot, And I know there's plenty of moments now
Speaker 1: that I look back, I'm like, oh, I wish I
Speaker 1: could have got that time back, because I listen a lot.
Speaker 1: I think earlier today I was on a call for
Speaker 1: an hour hearing someone's business idea, and I knew probably
Speaker 1: five minutes and I was like, I really don't want
Speaker 1: to do this conversation really, but stuck with it and
Speaker 1: I just listened and took the time. And I would
Speaker 1: say that's something I do wish that I could be
Speaker 1: a lot better because I realized how fleeting time can be.
Speaker 2: Do you feel like a responsibility because people hold you
Speaker 2: in high regard and they come to you. Do you
Speaker 2: feel that it's impossible to create a boundary.
Speaker 3: I feel it's hard to create a boundary.
Speaker 1: I just think it's something that's innate in me, the
Speaker 1: kind of need or want to be there for people
Speaker 1: and to let them know that they are seen or
Speaker 1: they are heard. And I can't explain why that is,
Speaker 1: but it's just always been there.
Speaker 2: It sounds like a very amazing quality. But it does
Speaker 2: sound like you probably don't have as much time for
Speaker 2: yourself because you do that for other people.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's a taxing quality, and I think it's something
Speaker 1: I didn't think about a lot before, but I've definitely
Speaker 1: started to realize, particularly prompted by that question.
Speaker 2: It's really interesting because a lot of people would look
Speaker 2: at that and go, gosh, that's an amazing trait, But
Speaker 2: to actually have the awareness that it takes its toll
Speaker 2: being fully available all the time, like that idea of accessibility.
Speaker 2: No one's ever answered that question that way. It's really
Speaker 2: true that these things that we are told are virtues
Speaker 2: can also be really difficult for us to hold in
Speaker 2: our own lives.
Speaker 4: Take note of Yeah, yeah, will you tell me when
Speaker 4: and when you were happiest?
Speaker 3: You know?
Speaker 1: I thought about that a lot before coming on. And
Speaker 1: it's crazy because there's so many ways one could answer
Speaker 1: that question in a lot of ways. I could say
Speaker 1: right now being at peace with myself where I'm at,
Speaker 1: but also at the same time realizing I'm in a
Speaker 1: world that's not at peace with itself. So I probably
Speaker 1: would have to say being with my son at the
Speaker 1: start of COVID. I think he was four and a
Speaker 1: half months old. He woke up early and I just
Speaker 1: picked him up and put him on my chest, stopped crying,
Speaker 1: and we just laid there. I just foundered that moment,
Speaker 1: how simple it was, but how much it affected me.
Speaker 1: And I definitely have other moments professionally, being on a stage,
Speaker 1: being part of bringing together one hundred thousand people in
Speaker 1: South Africa to celebrate my grandfather's centennial. Being in nature
Speaker 1: and realizing that I can connect with something that's bigger
Speaker 1: than me, it was just something, you know. I think
Speaker 1: now that I've gotten older, I try and do more
Speaker 1: and more. I've made a concerted effort to move out
Speaker 1: of cities, and so even though I'm speaking to you
Speaker 1: from Johannesburg, I typically spend my time in a place
Speaker 1: called the Garden Room, which is about four hours outside
Speaker 1: of Cape Town, and it's got the most amount of
Speaker 1: biodiversity in Africa. But it's also just a really majestic,
Speaker 1: magical place where the scenery changes every ten to twenty minutes.
Speaker 1: There's always a new adventure around the corner.
Speaker 2: Wow. And is that somewhere that you go with your
Speaker 2: kids as well, or is that somewhere that you go
Speaker 2: to retreat just you?
Speaker 1: You know, I go there with friends, have gone there
Speaker 1: with some of my family as well. We went when
Speaker 1: I was younger, and now it's mainly become a place
Speaker 1: that I go to.
Speaker 3: Like my retreat.
Speaker 2: It's maybe obvious to say, but it's an enormous legacy
Speaker 2: that you live with it in like the paradigm of
Speaker 2: your name and your life and how you're choosing to
Speaker 2: live within your life. When you said at the very
Speaker 2: beginning that you would say that you were happiest now,
Speaker 2: but that we are living in such a deeply unhappy
Speaker 2: time like in our world. Do you think that you're
Speaker 2: constantly looking at the bigger picture just because that's part
Speaker 2: of how you have always lived or is it something
Speaker 2: that you consciously faster to stay connected with all of that.
Speaker 1: Going back to the question, everything's about framing and how
Speaker 1: we frame our minds, how we frame ourselves in any
Speaker 1: given time. There was a large part of my life
Speaker 1: where I was so sheltered from everything that I barely
Speaker 1: knew that there are different continents that existed. And this
Speaker 1: was my early childhood, growing up in liberal Arts America
Speaker 1: and New England, and so the idea of understanding that
Speaker 1: there's conflict or turmoil, all of those things evaporate. And
Speaker 1: it was only when I was ten I moved to
Speaker 1: South Africa and it was a vibrant place but also
Speaker 1: a very chaotic place that was finding itself that I
Speaker 1: really started to get a grasp of the rest of
Speaker 1: the world.
Speaker 3: And what that meant and the impact that had.
Speaker 1: And so yeah, I would say I'm definitely always looking
Speaker 1: at myself personally, but then also the larger scope and
Speaker 1: trying to figure it out. And I've had many a
Speaker 1: moment where I've had to challenge my own perceptions of things.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I guess we all do. And maybe it's a
Speaker 2: good thing. Maybe that is like the sort of soulful
Speaker 2: checks and balances that we check in with. Sometimes I
Speaker 2: feel like if I'm having a bad day, it's because
Speaker 2: I have to trace it back to things that I've read,
Speaker 2: or things I've been made aware of, or things that
Speaker 2: I'm giving my time to that you just can't stay
Speaker 2: immune to what is going on around us. But it
Speaker 2: then somehow piggybacks onto the way that you're looking at
Speaker 2: your own life.
Speaker 3: I agree with that.
Speaker 2: So maybe it's just about awareness. What question would you
Speaker 2: most like answered?
Speaker 3: Probably are we alone in this galaxy in the world.
Speaker 1: There's so many questions, but that would probably be the
Speaker 1: big one, because I think it would push us as
Speaker 1: a human civilization to maybe think bigger, more considerate, and
Speaker 1: lose the.
Speaker 3: Elements of selfishness and greed that we have.
Speaker 2: If we thought we weren't sovereign in this galaxy.
Speaker 1: If we actually knew there was more out there and
Speaker 1: it wasn't a debated topic, it wasn't something that was secret.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I feel like just since all of those videos with
Speaker 2: the flying pyramid and everything, I was like, are we
Speaker 2: seriously still debating now that the government declassified all of
Speaker 2: these We're.
Speaker 3: Just confused at this point, right right, we don't know.
Speaker 3: It's the way.
Speaker 1: It's been sold to us now is like it's like,
Speaker 1: oh that's yeah, that's probably believable, but I don't really care.
Speaker 3: You know. It wasn't like this.
Speaker 1: Thing where they're like they exist, right, and this is
Speaker 1: how they exist and this is where they come from.
Speaker 1: It was just like one of those well maybe because
Speaker 1: there's this evidence, but then there's also these people that
Speaker 1: say this, so no one really knows.
Speaker 2: It's so human, I think, to think that we are alone,
Speaker 2: like it's so typical like man as a species, to go, yep, no,
Speaker 2: it's just us. It's like, it's highly unlikely that it's
Speaker 2: just us.
Speaker 1: True, But would you go to your kids' school and
Speaker 1: tell him and all his classmates and as parents that
Speaker 1: you believe.
Speaker 3: That audience success?
Speaker 2: You know, I definitely take that video of like the
Speaker 2: US Air Force with that very shocked pilot. I'd take
Speaker 2: that video and no, no, look kids, watch this TikTok
Speaker 2: and now let's talk about aliens. And I want you
Speaker 2: to draw me a picture because what kind of alien
Speaker 2: do you think lives in a pyramid? Is like, yeah,
Speaker 2: I could see you doing that, many I'm not sure
Speaker 2: it would answer any questions. I might frighten the children. Oh, Quakie,
Speaker 2: thank you so much, Thank you so much for spending
Speaker 2: the time. It's so good to meet you, and it's
Speaker 2: so good to talk to you. I'm very grateful. Thank
Speaker 2: you for your time. Mini Questions is hosted and written
Speaker 2: by Me Mini Driver, Executive produced by Me and Aaron Kaufman,
Speaker 2: with production support from Jennifer Bassett, Zoey Denkler, and Ali Perry.
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