1 00:00:01,760 --> 00:00:05,000 Speaker 1: Cool Zone Media. 2 00:00:05,120 --> 00:00:07,360 Speaker 2: Hello, and welcome to Cool People who Did Cool Stuff, 3 00:00:07,360 --> 00:00:09,840 Speaker 2: your weekly reminder that whenever there's bad stuff, there's good 4 00:00:09,840 --> 00:00:13,360 Speaker 2: stuff people trying to do good despite the bad. I'm 5 00:00:13,400 --> 00:00:16,840 Speaker 2: your house, Margaret Kiljoy, and this week's a little different. 6 00:00:16,960 --> 00:00:19,239 Speaker 2: But you probably noticed because most people don't start with 7 00:00:19,280 --> 00:00:22,480 Speaker 2: part two of something, But in case you do, this 8 00:00:22,520 --> 00:00:28,760 Speaker 2: week is different because it's just me. This week, I'm 9 00:00:28,800 --> 00:00:31,280 Speaker 2: talking about the mutual aid response to Hurricane Helen in 10 00:00:31,320 --> 00:00:33,559 Speaker 2: western North Carolina. And I'm talking about that because I 11 00:00:33,600 --> 00:00:36,280 Speaker 2: wanted to take a week off of researching history to 12 00:00:36,400 --> 00:00:39,159 Speaker 2: go down and try to talk to people on the 13 00:00:39,200 --> 00:00:42,080 Speaker 2: ground there and do whatever I could to help out 14 00:00:42,360 --> 00:00:44,519 Speaker 2: because I live there for a very long time. The 15 00:00:44,640 --> 00:00:48,000 Speaker 2: very first seed of this podcast was me in a 16 00:00:48,040 --> 00:00:50,479 Speaker 2: barn outside of North Carolina trying to explain to my 17 00:00:50,479 --> 00:00:52,879 Speaker 2: French friend why she should care about this one thing 18 00:00:52,880 --> 00:00:55,160 Speaker 2: that happened in anarchist history a long time ago, and 19 00:00:55,360 --> 00:00:58,040 Speaker 2: realizing that if I can convince her to care about it, 20 00:00:58,120 --> 00:01:00,120 Speaker 2: then hopefully we can figure out how to talk talk 21 00:01:00,160 --> 00:01:03,240 Speaker 2: about radical history and more interesting ways. And I was like, 22 00:01:03,320 --> 00:01:07,080 Speaker 2: I should do a podcast, And here we are. Years later, 23 00:01:07,640 --> 00:01:10,000 Speaker 2: I'm on two and a half years into this podcast 24 00:01:10,080 --> 00:01:12,040 Speaker 2: that some of you all listen to, and I'm really grateful, 25 00:01:12,280 --> 00:01:14,000 Speaker 2: but that's not what we're talking about. We're not talking 26 00:01:14,000 --> 00:01:16,200 Speaker 2: about history unless you count last week as history, which 27 00:01:16,200 --> 00:01:18,800 Speaker 2: you should because it's technically history. Where is it just 28 00:01:18,840 --> 00:01:21,160 Speaker 2: the past? I was learning the difference between history and 29 00:01:21,200 --> 00:01:25,840 Speaker 2: the past recently, but that's besides the point. And what 30 00:01:25,880 --> 00:01:28,080 Speaker 2: you all can tell is that I just drank a 31 00:01:28,080 --> 00:01:30,280 Speaker 2: bunch of sugar water. I thought it was just like 32 00:01:30,319 --> 00:01:32,840 Speaker 2: electrolyte mix, but I had a bunch of sugar in it. 33 00:01:33,319 --> 00:01:35,800 Speaker 2: And so I'm going to talk really fast, well or 34 00:01:35,800 --> 00:01:41,280 Speaker 2: more excitedly anyway. This week is the special week yet 35 00:01:41,400 --> 00:01:45,679 Speaker 2: still despite not being on Mike. Sophie is our producer 36 00:01:45,760 --> 00:01:49,320 Speaker 2: Hi Sophie, and Rory is our audio engineer Hi Rory. 37 00:01:49,480 --> 00:01:51,360 Speaker 2: And our theme music was written for us by on Woman. 38 00:01:51,880 --> 00:01:53,600 Speaker 2: I'd say pie on Woman, but I have no idea. 39 00:01:54,320 --> 00:01:56,520 Speaker 2: I think she listens to the show sometimes, but you know, 40 00:01:56,720 --> 00:01:58,240 Speaker 2: she doesn't have to for a job like the other 41 00:01:58,240 --> 00:02:03,240 Speaker 2: two people I mentioned. So where we last left the 42 00:02:03,320 --> 00:02:06,320 Speaker 2: people doing mutual aid in Ashville, They were doing mutual 43 00:02:06,360 --> 00:02:08,400 Speaker 2: aid in Nashville, and I had just shown up with 44 00:02:08,440 --> 00:02:13,480 Speaker 2: a van and started talking to people. There were and 45 00:02:13,600 --> 00:02:18,240 Speaker 2: probably still are two sort of informal economies running side 46 00:02:18,240 --> 00:02:21,960 Speaker 2: by side right now in Asheville, North Carolina. Both come 47 00:02:22,000 --> 00:02:25,720 Speaker 2: from a good place. There's a free economy and a 48 00:02:25,840 --> 00:02:29,800 Speaker 2: cheap economy. Like there's like needs wants boards, for example, 49 00:02:29,919 --> 00:02:33,079 Speaker 2: up on the outside of Firestorm, there's a big old 50 00:02:33,320 --> 00:02:36,360 Speaker 2: chunk of cardboard and lots of markers around, and people 51 00:02:36,360 --> 00:02:39,120 Speaker 2: are writing what they need and want, people where wellness 52 00:02:39,200 --> 00:02:41,480 Speaker 2: checks need to get done, and what people have on 53 00:02:41,560 --> 00:02:45,480 Speaker 2: offer and all those things right, And some people are 54 00:02:45,520 --> 00:02:48,799 Speaker 2: writing down things like generator available for sale. It cost 55 00:02:48,880 --> 00:02:50,560 Speaker 2: me six hundred, I'm willing to sell it for two 56 00:02:50,600 --> 00:02:55,359 Speaker 2: hundred and fifty. Other people are donating generators. I've got 57 00:02:55,360 --> 00:02:58,400 Speaker 2: a bias towards the latter, especially since I donated my 58 00:02:58,440 --> 00:03:02,120 Speaker 2: own generator. But I also can't blame someone who wants 59 00:03:02,160 --> 00:03:05,600 Speaker 2: to not fuck themselves financially, because the financial impacts of 60 00:03:05,639 --> 00:03:07,919 Speaker 2: capitalism will probably in the end be worse for the 61 00:03:07,919 --> 00:03:11,440 Speaker 2: community than the floodwaters themselves. Easier for me to donate 62 00:03:11,480 --> 00:03:15,320 Speaker 2: an extra generator because I didn't live in the flood. 63 00:03:16,560 --> 00:03:18,280 Speaker 2: There was a group of activists. I think they all 64 00:03:18,280 --> 00:03:22,080 Speaker 2: met through school, not entirely certain who was gathering up 65 00:03:22,080 --> 00:03:24,639 Speaker 2: all the donated gas cans they could, And they were 66 00:03:24,680 --> 00:03:27,120 Speaker 2: just driving back and forth two runs a day, the 67 00:03:27,200 --> 00:03:29,720 Speaker 2: three hour round trip to Shelby, North Carolina, to fill 68 00:03:29,800 --> 00:03:32,200 Speaker 2: up on gas. Then they would come back. They would 69 00:03:32,240 --> 00:03:34,960 Speaker 2: park across the street from Firestorm and fill up anyone's 70 00:03:34,960 --> 00:03:38,480 Speaker 2: tank who needed it for free. They were prioritizing those 71 00:03:38,560 --> 00:03:41,600 Speaker 2: driving around mutual aid supplies, but they weren't strict about that, 72 00:03:42,200 --> 00:03:45,080 Speaker 2: and no one was like selfishly taking advantage of it. 73 00:03:45,120 --> 00:03:48,120 Speaker 2: I actually saw no one get their entire gas tank filled, 74 00:03:48,200 --> 00:03:52,200 Speaker 2: even though that was being offered anybody. While I was 75 00:03:52,240 --> 00:03:54,400 Speaker 2: talking to them, a man walked up and asked if 76 00:03:54,400 --> 00:03:56,160 Speaker 2: he could buy gas. So he's like, coming from the 77 00:03:56,200 --> 00:03:59,360 Speaker 2: different economies, coming from the cash economy, that's kind of 78 00:03:59,360 --> 00:04:01,880 Speaker 2: growing up too, oh right, And they told him he 79 00:04:01,880 --> 00:04:05,080 Speaker 2: could have the gas for free. He asked if he 80 00:04:05,080 --> 00:04:07,840 Speaker 2: could buy one of the gas cans. They told him 81 00:04:07,840 --> 00:04:10,040 Speaker 2: that he could have the gas, but they needed the can. 82 00:04:10,840 --> 00:04:13,320 Speaker 2: The man was not rude about this at all. He 83 00:04:13,400 --> 00:04:15,760 Speaker 2: in the end, he only took the tiniest bit of gas, 84 00:04:15,880 --> 00:04:18,119 Speaker 2: just enough to get himself to where he desperately needed 85 00:04:18,120 --> 00:04:21,279 Speaker 2: to go and donated far more money than he would 86 00:04:21,320 --> 00:04:25,360 Speaker 2: have paid if he'd bought the gas instead. Two folks 87 00:04:25,400 --> 00:04:27,520 Speaker 2: from the south Side Community Farm showed up for a 88 00:04:27,560 --> 00:04:30,200 Speaker 2: refill too, and I talked to them for a while. 89 00:04:30,960 --> 00:04:33,440 Speaker 2: The black community in Asheville has been and this will 90 00:04:33,480 --> 00:04:37,400 Speaker 2: not shock anyone to hear, both been historically mistreated and 91 00:04:37,440 --> 00:04:39,640 Speaker 2: segregated away from the rest of the city and also 92 00:04:40,279 --> 00:04:43,000 Speaker 2: among the hardest hit by the storm because the black 93 00:04:43,000 --> 00:04:45,680 Speaker 2: community has been pushed out by gentrification over the decades 94 00:04:45,720 --> 00:04:49,880 Speaker 2: into like sort of physically more dangerous areas, physically more 95 00:04:49,880 --> 00:04:54,159 Speaker 2: disaster prone areas. The south Side Community Farm's motto on 96 00:04:54,200 --> 00:04:57,360 Speaker 2: its website is growing Black food Sovereignty, and of course 97 00:04:57,400 --> 00:04:59,680 Speaker 2: the farm itself was under risk of losing their farm 98 00:04:59,720 --> 00:05:02,760 Speaker 2: plot even before the storm. For anyone wants to check 99 00:05:02,800 --> 00:05:06,080 Speaker 2: them out there Southside Communitygarden dot org, and they seem 100 00:05:06,360 --> 00:05:11,040 Speaker 2: worth supporting. In general, most of the city of Asheville 101 00:05:11,080 --> 00:05:14,240 Speaker 2: is accessible. Most of the isolated communities that we talk 102 00:05:14,279 --> 00:05:16,120 Speaker 2: about are the ones that have been cut off by 103 00:05:16,160 --> 00:05:19,159 Speaker 2: the storm out in rural areas, but some of the 104 00:05:19,160 --> 00:05:23,520 Speaker 2: black communities within Asheville were just as badly hit. Public 105 00:05:23,560 --> 00:05:25,680 Speaker 2: transit has been disrupted, of course, and you know, these 106 00:05:25,720 --> 00:05:29,000 Speaker 2: places are often further away from downtown and things, and 107 00:05:29,040 --> 00:05:32,080 Speaker 2: also just physically more of the roads in and out 108 00:05:32,120 --> 00:05:36,240 Speaker 2: of these neighborhoods have been rendered inaccessible. Most of the 109 00:05:36,240 --> 00:05:39,320 Speaker 2: supplies are coming into downtown Asheville or West Asheville. I 110 00:05:39,400 --> 00:05:42,120 Speaker 2: mostly hung out near Haywood Street in West Ashville because 111 00:05:42,120 --> 00:05:44,159 Speaker 2: that's mostly where I hung out when I lived there. 112 00:05:45,360 --> 00:05:47,599 Speaker 2: One of the main tasks in front of mutual laid 113 00:05:47,680 --> 00:05:50,920 Speaker 2: workers that they're working on. It's not perfect, they're working 114 00:05:50,960 --> 00:05:54,560 Speaker 2: on it. It's distributing supplies out from these central locations 115 00:05:54,960 --> 00:05:57,719 Speaker 2: to the harder to access places or the places that 116 00:05:57,760 --> 00:06:02,080 Speaker 2: are more likely to be forgotten. The response from businesses 117 00:06:02,520 --> 00:06:07,880 Speaker 2: has been well mixed. Already infamous is that six employees 118 00:06:07,880 --> 00:06:11,599 Speaker 2: of Impact Plastics in Tennessee died after being told that 119 00:06:11,600 --> 00:06:13,599 Speaker 2: if they didn't report to work in the storm, they 120 00:06:13,640 --> 00:06:16,920 Speaker 2: would be fired. Rumors on the ground in Asheville, which 121 00:06:16,920 --> 00:06:19,240 Speaker 2: I haven't been able to confirm yet, include things like 122 00:06:19,279 --> 00:06:22,440 Speaker 2: one neighbor I talked to said some delivery drivers for 123 00:06:22,600 --> 00:06:24,440 Speaker 2: Ingles were told that they had to drive that day 124 00:06:24,480 --> 00:06:27,800 Speaker 2: and they died, or that Ingles, which is a large 125 00:06:27,800 --> 00:06:30,039 Speaker 2: grocery store chain in the area refused to give the 126 00:06:30,040 --> 00:06:31,719 Speaker 2: food away that was going to be lost when the 127 00:06:31,720 --> 00:06:34,000 Speaker 2: power went out from like their fridges and freezers and shit, 128 00:06:35,040 --> 00:06:37,560 Speaker 2: there's not a lot of ingles love going on, is 129 00:06:37,600 --> 00:06:39,800 Speaker 2: what I'm getting at from multiple different groups that I 130 00:06:39,839 --> 00:06:44,520 Speaker 2: talked to. Meanwhile, I waited alongside about ten or fifteen 131 00:06:44,560 --> 00:06:47,279 Speaker 2: other vehicles behind in Aldis, which is another large chain 132 00:06:47,320 --> 00:06:51,080 Speaker 2: grocery store, while employees brought us palette after palette of 133 00:06:51,120 --> 00:06:53,360 Speaker 2: produce and other goods that were going to go bad. 134 00:06:54,040 --> 00:06:56,039 Speaker 2: We loaded up our vehicles and drove out to the 135 00:06:56,080 --> 00:06:58,760 Speaker 2: various distribution centers where other drivers were to take the 136 00:06:58,760 --> 00:07:02,440 Speaker 2: produce the last mile. I recruited one of my best 137 00:07:02,480 --> 00:07:05,360 Speaker 2: friends to basically become my handler while I was there. 138 00:07:05,880 --> 00:07:08,359 Speaker 2: They've been doing relief work with Mutual ad disaster relief 139 00:07:08,360 --> 00:07:10,720 Speaker 2: for years, and we drove around the city and the 140 00:07:10,720 --> 00:07:15,000 Speaker 2: surrounding areas, dropping stuff off and talking to folks, and honestly, 141 00:07:16,040 --> 00:07:18,400 Speaker 2: even above driving stuff around, I think that one of 142 00:07:18,400 --> 00:07:20,400 Speaker 2: the main things that I've been able to do is 143 00:07:20,800 --> 00:07:24,800 Speaker 2: literally just connect people because of my public presence. It'll 144 00:07:24,800 --> 00:07:26,800 Speaker 2: be like people on Twitter, you know, messaging me, or 145 00:07:27,520 --> 00:07:29,560 Speaker 2: I guess adding me. I don't have my dms open 146 00:07:29,600 --> 00:07:32,000 Speaker 2: on Twitter because that was a nightmare because I'm trans 147 00:07:32,160 --> 00:07:35,920 Speaker 2: but you know, messaging me and letting me know what 148 00:07:35,960 --> 00:07:38,120 Speaker 2: they have to offer, what they need, and trying to 149 00:07:38,120 --> 00:07:40,600 Speaker 2: get that in touch with people. And that's also what 150 00:07:40,800 --> 00:07:42,760 Speaker 2: my friend on the ground was doing. You know. That's 151 00:07:42,800 --> 00:07:44,960 Speaker 2: also so much of the work as we're driving around 152 00:07:44,960 --> 00:07:47,880 Speaker 2: delivering these supplies. Some of it is delivering supplies and 153 00:07:47,920 --> 00:07:49,320 Speaker 2: a lot of it is just talking to people. A 154 00:07:49,320 --> 00:07:52,440 Speaker 2: lot of it is saying like, what's going on here? Right? 155 00:07:52,720 --> 00:07:57,320 Speaker 2: Because these informal networks without central command, that's how they work, 156 00:07:57,480 --> 00:08:02,520 Speaker 2: and they work really well. And wherever we went, there 157 00:08:02,520 --> 00:08:05,040 Speaker 2: were people ready to help load or unload the vehicle, 158 00:08:05,160 --> 00:08:07,520 Speaker 2: and there were folks happy to talk, folks happy to 159 00:08:07,560 --> 00:08:12,760 Speaker 2: meet my poor overstimulated dog. It's currently quite happily napping 160 00:08:12,800 --> 00:08:15,880 Speaker 2: at my feet. I don't normally sug just bringing dogs 161 00:08:15,880 --> 00:08:18,520 Speaker 2: into these crises. I just live alone, and also was 162 00:08:18,600 --> 00:08:20,320 Speaker 2: set up to be self sufficient, and so I had 163 00:08:20,320 --> 00:08:23,560 Speaker 2: no other choice. And that friend of mine who was 164 00:08:23,640 --> 00:08:27,240 Speaker 2: driving around with was excited for the canned water. It's 165 00:08:27,280 --> 00:08:30,360 Speaker 2: apparently a thing in disaster relief circles. This like canned water. 166 00:08:31,200 --> 00:08:34,679 Speaker 2: This is unlabeled water. And beer cans, and it's water 167 00:08:34,720 --> 00:08:38,720 Speaker 2: that tastes a little beery. It doesn't have beer in it, 168 00:08:38,760 --> 00:08:42,360 Speaker 2: but it's like water that is perfectly potable, but is 169 00:08:42,360 --> 00:08:45,680 Speaker 2: like part of the process of making stuff. As my 170 00:08:45,679 --> 00:08:48,200 Speaker 2: friend explained it, breweries have an awful lot of distilled 171 00:08:48,240 --> 00:08:50,680 Speaker 2: water around in their tanks for the beer making process, 172 00:08:51,000 --> 00:08:53,839 Speaker 2: and when supplies are needed, they can just can up 173 00:08:53,920 --> 00:08:57,760 Speaker 2: that water and drop it off at mutual aid hubs. 174 00:08:58,400 --> 00:09:01,319 Speaker 2: The best breweries I don't put their name or logo 175 00:09:01,360 --> 00:09:03,160 Speaker 2: on the cans when they do it because they're not 176 00:09:03,200 --> 00:09:05,680 Speaker 2: doing it for clout. They're doing it to help people. 177 00:09:06,200 --> 00:09:10,280 Speaker 2: So ironically, I don't actually know who directly to thank 178 00:09:10,360 --> 00:09:13,280 Speaker 2: for the canned water that I drink. I'm guessing it 179 00:09:13,320 --> 00:09:16,120 Speaker 2: was from Pisca Brewery, but if it was someone else, 180 00:09:16,280 --> 00:09:20,160 Speaker 2: you're cool too. It was an interesting echo of when 181 00:09:20,400 --> 00:09:22,360 Speaker 2: only a few years ago in twenty twenty, when I 182 00:09:22,400 --> 00:09:25,400 Speaker 2: was living in Asheville, the distilleries turned their equipment to 183 00:09:25,440 --> 00:09:29,560 Speaker 2: make hand sanitizer to give it away. The small business 184 00:09:29,600 --> 00:09:33,640 Speaker 2: community in Asheville was out in force for relief. Restaurant 185 00:09:33,640 --> 00:09:37,080 Speaker 2: after restaurant was providing hot meals. Some places sold things 186 00:09:37,080 --> 00:09:39,760 Speaker 2: as cheap as they could without losing their shirts, you know, 187 00:09:39,800 --> 00:09:42,760 Speaker 2: like a quarter of their price or whatever. Other places 188 00:09:42,800 --> 00:09:44,640 Speaker 2: just accepted that they were going to lose their shirts 189 00:09:44,840 --> 00:09:48,640 Speaker 2: and gave everything away. At one point, I was waiting 190 00:09:48,640 --> 00:09:51,960 Speaker 2: outside my friend's house while the van was loaded with supplies. 191 00:09:52,760 --> 00:09:58,640 Speaker 2: Asheville is a strange place geographically, class wise, just just 192 00:09:58,679 --> 00:10:01,880 Speaker 2: an interesting place. There are all these streets where kind 193 00:10:01,920 --> 00:10:04,640 Speaker 2: of regular old vinyl sighted houses that have been around 194 00:10:04,640 --> 00:10:07,120 Speaker 2: since at least the eighties or nineties or whatever are 195 00:10:07,200 --> 00:10:10,280 Speaker 2: right next to these cube shaped modern houses. And these 196 00:10:10,280 --> 00:10:12,640 Speaker 2: cube shaped modern houses are often built on stilts because 197 00:10:12,640 --> 00:10:15,360 Speaker 2: they're built in the wash where there's not actually land 198 00:10:16,120 --> 00:10:19,480 Speaker 2: right or it's just a direct, crazy steep angle, so 199 00:10:19,480 --> 00:10:22,920 Speaker 2: they're built on stilts. And these houses seem to me, 200 00:10:23,040 --> 00:10:26,040 Speaker 2: and I could be absolutely wrong, they seem bougier to me. 201 00:10:26,200 --> 00:10:29,360 Speaker 2: I don't know if they are, but my friend calls 202 00:10:29,400 --> 00:10:32,080 Speaker 2: them Frank Lloyd wrong because they're kind of ugly. And 203 00:10:32,080 --> 00:10:35,760 Speaker 2: I'm not even like anti modernist stuff. I just honestly, 204 00:10:35,760 --> 00:10:37,680 Speaker 2: if I didn't think they were like a weird, gentrifying thing, 205 00:10:37,720 --> 00:10:39,600 Speaker 2: I might not think they were ugly. I don't know. 206 00:10:40,040 --> 00:10:43,120 Speaker 2: The class is complicated, but the Frank Lloyd Wrong houses 207 00:10:43,200 --> 00:10:46,040 Speaker 2: are around, and my friends live on a street like 208 00:10:46,080 --> 00:10:49,320 Speaker 2: that where there's, you know, some of the older houses 209 00:10:49,360 --> 00:10:51,760 Speaker 2: that are on land. And then Frank Loyd Wrongs on 210 00:10:51,840 --> 00:10:54,959 Speaker 2: stilts and a hatchback stopped in the middle of the 211 00:10:55,000 --> 00:10:57,200 Speaker 2: street where we were hanging out in the front yard. 212 00:10:57,800 --> 00:11:01,079 Speaker 2: A man got out and shouted water, and it took 213 00:11:01,160 --> 00:11:03,720 Speaker 2: us a while to sort out his meaning. He was 214 00:11:03,760 --> 00:11:06,439 Speaker 2: making sure we had enough water. He then asked about 215 00:11:06,440 --> 00:11:08,520 Speaker 2: each of the other houses in turn and didn't leave 216 00:11:08,600 --> 00:11:11,920 Speaker 2: until he'd satisfied himself that everyone had water, and he 217 00:11:11,960 --> 00:11:14,080 Speaker 2: introduced himself. He was actually a neighbor. He lived in 218 00:11:14,120 --> 00:11:17,040 Speaker 2: one of the cube houses on stilts. He didn't want 219 00:11:17,080 --> 00:11:19,439 Speaker 2: to approach us and come hang out and be friendly. 220 00:11:19,880 --> 00:11:21,920 Speaker 2: But I don't really blame him. We're a bunch of 221 00:11:22,080 --> 00:11:24,800 Speaker 2: subcultural folks wearing all black, and many of the people 222 00:11:24,800 --> 00:11:27,040 Speaker 2: I was hanging out with were the neighbors he'd never 223 00:11:27,080 --> 00:11:29,680 Speaker 2: actually met since he'd moved into the neighborhood. I would 224 00:11:29,679 --> 00:11:32,280 Speaker 2: be nervous if I was him too, And this interaction 225 00:11:32,400 --> 00:11:34,560 Speaker 2: stands out in my mind as a really positive one. 226 00:11:34,679 --> 00:11:37,040 Speaker 2: I ought to be really clear, this man did nothing wrong. 227 00:11:37,240 --> 00:11:40,160 Speaker 2: This man is amazing I like him, pro this man. 228 00:11:40,520 --> 00:11:43,880 Speaker 2: This interaction stands out in my mind because we don't 229 00:11:43,920 --> 00:11:47,240 Speaker 2: actually have to like each other to help each other out, 230 00:11:47,960 --> 00:11:52,480 Speaker 2: you know. Elsewhere, of course, I saw subcultural lines break 231 00:11:52,480 --> 00:11:55,720 Speaker 2: down fast at another friend's house. I talked for about 232 00:11:55,760 --> 00:11:57,520 Speaker 2: a half an hour with a seventy year old couple 233 00:11:57,559 --> 00:11:59,680 Speaker 2: who lived behind that house, like in a different house, 234 00:12:00,240 --> 00:12:02,400 Speaker 2: who are grateful that one of the watercubes from my 235 00:12:02,480 --> 00:12:04,720 Speaker 2: basement in West Virginia had wound up on their porch 236 00:12:04,760 --> 00:12:07,760 Speaker 2: because my friend knew they might need it. We talked 237 00:12:07,800 --> 00:12:10,640 Speaker 2: about the dry toilet situation, and they explained that growing 238 00:12:10,720 --> 00:12:13,319 Speaker 2: up around there, their own parents and our grandparents have 239 00:12:13,400 --> 00:12:17,080 Speaker 2: been used to outhouses anyway. And that's why we're proud 240 00:12:17,160 --> 00:12:21,160 Speaker 2: to announce our newest sponsor, shitting in a bucket. That's right. 241 00:12:21,240 --> 00:12:24,200 Speaker 2: If you're listening to this, feel free to try shitting 242 00:12:24,240 --> 00:12:26,880 Speaker 2: in a bucket. Uh. But you gotta do it like 243 00:12:26,920 --> 00:12:28,120 Speaker 2: the right way. You got to use saw dust. You 244 00:12:28,120 --> 00:12:30,800 Speaker 2: got to either compost it real good or throw it away. Honestly, 245 00:12:31,200 --> 00:12:33,320 Speaker 2: it's like you need more information than is available in 246 00:12:33,360 --> 00:12:37,000 Speaker 2: this ad for shitting in a bucket. Here's some other. 247 00:12:36,880 --> 00:12:47,480 Speaker 3: Ads, and we're back and we're talking about toilets. 248 00:12:47,520 --> 00:12:50,600 Speaker 2: That's what everyone listens to podcasts to hear about. They've 249 00:12:50,640 --> 00:12:54,120 Speaker 2: all want to hear about poop. There are a lot 250 00:12:54,160 --> 00:12:56,040 Speaker 2: of problems when the water goes out in the city, 251 00:12:56,360 --> 00:12:58,599 Speaker 2: most notably, of course, the fact that you need to 252 00:12:58,640 --> 00:13:01,480 Speaker 2: drink water in order to be alive. But we also 253 00:13:01,559 --> 00:13:04,520 Speaker 2: use water, an awful lot of water to flush our toilets. 254 00:13:05,520 --> 00:13:08,520 Speaker 2: The folks from Southside Community Farm had been going door 255 00:13:08,559 --> 00:13:11,080 Speaker 2: to door teaching people how to bucket flush, where you 256 00:13:11,160 --> 00:13:13,760 Speaker 2: dump water directly into the bowl of the toilet to 257 00:13:13,880 --> 00:13:16,640 Speaker 2: force it to flush, and you can use non podable 258 00:13:16,640 --> 00:13:19,240 Speaker 2: water to do it. That's like the upside to the 259 00:13:19,240 --> 00:13:22,200 Speaker 2: fact that it takes a ton of water. One friend 260 00:13:22,240 --> 00:13:24,839 Speaker 2: of mine, while the storm was still going on, ran 261 00:13:24,920 --> 00:13:27,720 Speaker 2: around the house and cut all the down spout gutters 262 00:13:28,200 --> 00:13:30,679 Speaker 2: or the down spout spouts, I don't know if they're 263 00:13:30,679 --> 00:13:33,439 Speaker 2: still called gutters when they're the down spouts whatever, and 264 00:13:33,520 --> 00:13:36,480 Speaker 2: set up trash cans underneath them all which left their 265 00:13:36,480 --> 00:13:38,920 Speaker 2: house with hundreds of gallons of toilet flush water. That 266 00:13:39,000 --> 00:13:42,160 Speaker 2: has saved their asses. If you'll part in the pun. 267 00:13:43,559 --> 00:13:45,520 Speaker 2: I talked with a woman named Lark from the band 268 00:13:45,559 --> 00:13:48,160 Speaker 2: Holler and Crow, who was set up outside Firestorm teaching 269 00:13:48,160 --> 00:13:50,640 Speaker 2: people how to make and use dry toilets. And you'll 270 00:13:50,679 --> 00:13:52,360 Speaker 2: notice this is like one of the only names I've used, 271 00:13:52,520 --> 00:13:55,120 Speaker 2: and that's because I've mostly been leaving everyone's names out 272 00:13:55,160 --> 00:13:57,800 Speaker 2: of my writing, because that's like a default in the 273 00:13:57,840 --> 00:14:01,320 Speaker 2: activist circles that I'm part of. And I'm still readjusting 274 00:14:01,400 --> 00:14:04,960 Speaker 2: to journalism times because I mostly forgot to ask people 275 00:14:04,960 --> 00:14:06,679 Speaker 2: if they wanted their names on the record or not. 276 00:14:07,240 --> 00:14:09,840 Speaker 2: There's a funny tension here because a lot of activists 277 00:14:09,880 --> 00:14:12,360 Speaker 2: specifically don't want to be mentioned by name, but a 278 00:14:12,400 --> 00:14:15,840 Speaker 2: lot of people, for good reason, are looking for recognition 279 00:14:15,960 --> 00:14:17,959 Speaker 2: for the work that they're doing and don't want to 280 00:14:17,960 --> 00:14:20,800 Speaker 2: be left out of the story, especially groups and individuals 281 00:14:20,840 --> 00:14:24,600 Speaker 2: were traditionally left out of stories. I'm from an activist background, 282 00:14:24,640 --> 00:14:26,800 Speaker 2: so I default to not naming people. For anyone who's 283 00:14:26,840 --> 00:14:31,200 Speaker 2: work I've left uncredited, I'm quite sorry. So Lark has 284 00:14:31,200 --> 00:14:34,040 Speaker 2: set up outside Firestorm with a few dry toilets. These 285 00:14:34,040 --> 00:14:36,680 Speaker 2: are five gallon buckets with pipe insulation for a seat 286 00:14:36,720 --> 00:14:39,840 Speaker 2: and sawdust at the bottom. Normally you'd use these as 287 00:14:39,840 --> 00:14:43,160 Speaker 2: composting toilets, but for emergency use you just use trash 288 00:14:43,200 --> 00:14:46,400 Speaker 2: bags to collect the poop. The idea is that you 289 00:14:46,400 --> 00:14:48,560 Speaker 2: don't pee into them, You just poop, and then you 290 00:14:48,640 --> 00:14:51,680 Speaker 2: cover the poop with sawdust. You pee outside. In most 291 00:14:51,720 --> 00:14:55,520 Speaker 2: of these situations it sounds sort of gross, but honestly, 292 00:14:55,960 --> 00:14:58,440 Speaker 2: shitting in a bucket it's not too bad at all. 293 00:14:59,120 --> 00:15:01,240 Speaker 2: This was my primary toilet for years when I lived 294 00:15:01,240 --> 00:15:04,640 Speaker 2: off grid and done right. They actually don't really smell. 295 00:15:05,040 --> 00:15:08,239 Speaker 2: You have to cover them. But Lark printed up instructions 296 00:15:08,240 --> 00:15:11,280 Speaker 2: in English and Spanish to distribute. She figured she'd pass 297 00:15:11,320 --> 00:15:14,040 Speaker 2: out maybe four or so of these toilets. When I 298 00:15:14,040 --> 00:15:17,320 Speaker 2: talked to her two hours in, she'd given away around twenty, 299 00:15:17,800 --> 00:15:21,800 Speaker 2: which was more than she'd brought with her. Because people 300 00:15:21,880 --> 00:15:24,240 Speaker 2: had seen what she was doing and thought I can 301 00:15:24,280 --> 00:15:27,560 Speaker 2: help with that, and they brought her buckets and pipe insulation. 302 00:15:28,440 --> 00:15:30,680 Speaker 2: One man who owned a sawmill had already been driving 303 00:15:30,680 --> 00:15:33,800 Speaker 2: around town with trash bags full of sawdust, thinking I 304 00:15:33,840 --> 00:15:35,920 Speaker 2: bet someone needs these for composting toilets. 305 00:15:36,760 --> 00:15:37,280 Speaker 1: He was right. 306 00:15:38,680 --> 00:15:42,120 Speaker 2: Meanwhile, in the parking lot behind Firestorm, two groups, the 307 00:15:42,160 --> 00:15:46,360 Speaker 2: Asheville Tool Library and Western North Carolina Repair Cafe, had 308 00:15:46,400 --> 00:15:50,040 Speaker 2: teamed up to fix generators and chainsaws every time they 309 00:15:50,040 --> 00:15:52,120 Speaker 2: got one running, people would cheer, and then it would 310 00:15:52,160 --> 00:15:54,280 Speaker 2: go out into the field where the generators could keep 311 00:15:54,280 --> 00:15:57,480 Speaker 2: refrigerators full of meds cold, and the chainsaws could free 312 00:15:57,520 --> 00:16:00,640 Speaker 2: people trapped by down trees. And there's like three or 313 00:16:00,680 --> 00:16:04,680 Speaker 2: four mechanics working at any given point on these different ones. 314 00:16:04,760 --> 00:16:08,240 Speaker 2: You know. I brought my own backup generator down, the 315 00:16:08,560 --> 00:16:10,440 Speaker 2: one I'd used when I'd lived in a cabin and 316 00:16:10,920 --> 00:16:13,360 Speaker 2: the winter days had been too short for my solar array. 317 00:16:14,040 --> 00:16:17,200 Speaker 2: I hadn't run it in three years, and Okay, I 318 00:16:17,240 --> 00:16:20,120 Speaker 2: sort of hate small engines. They're so fussy and I 319 00:16:20,120 --> 00:16:22,640 Speaker 2: don't understand them. And I was like, oh, I left 320 00:16:22,640 --> 00:16:24,840 Speaker 2: this for three years. It probably doesn't work anymore. I 321 00:16:24,840 --> 00:16:27,080 Speaker 2: don't know. It's a weird thing to say you hate 322 00:16:27,080 --> 00:16:29,680 Speaker 2: small engines. But in my personal life, I tend to 323 00:16:29,720 --> 00:16:32,440 Speaker 2: run solar generators as my first backup choice, and I 324 00:16:32,520 --> 00:16:34,600 Speaker 2: use an electric chainsaw because I'm only taking down the 325 00:16:34,600 --> 00:16:36,960 Speaker 2: occasional tree, not doing like arborist work day in and 326 00:16:37,040 --> 00:16:40,080 Speaker 2: day out, things that need oil changes and use chokes 327 00:16:40,120 --> 00:16:43,560 Speaker 2: and rip chords. They're finicky and confusing and they scare me. 328 00:16:43,840 --> 00:16:46,400 Speaker 2: So I had literally no idea. I had no idea 329 00:16:46,400 --> 00:16:48,680 Speaker 2: whether my generator worked, and I actually thought it was 330 00:16:48,720 --> 00:16:50,640 Speaker 2: sort of like a dick move to bring down a 331 00:16:50,680 --> 00:16:53,200 Speaker 2: generator without bringing everything it needed to be immediately put 332 00:16:53,240 --> 00:16:55,160 Speaker 2: into the field. And in a lot of situations that 333 00:16:55,200 --> 00:16:57,200 Speaker 2: would be true. Right if there was like only one 334 00:16:57,280 --> 00:16:59,520 Speaker 2: group doing this work and you show up and like 335 00:16:59,560 --> 00:17:03,880 Speaker 2: I brought you a broken thing, that's like not great, right, 336 00:17:05,080 --> 00:17:09,760 Speaker 2: But I had forgotten. Ashville is full of people. People 337 00:17:10,320 --> 00:17:14,000 Speaker 2: are resourceful. Also, it turns out my generator was fine. 338 00:17:14,000 --> 00:17:15,760 Speaker 2: They just put gas in it and it ran, So 339 00:17:15,840 --> 00:17:19,640 Speaker 2: I guess that's good. Watching people do what they were 340 00:17:19,680 --> 00:17:22,320 Speaker 2: good at in the service of saving lives was sort 341 00:17:22,320 --> 00:17:25,359 Speaker 2: of magical. All of everything I saw was magical, to 342 00:17:25,359 --> 00:17:28,560 Speaker 2: be clear, Maybe the repair station wasn't even like extra magical, 343 00:17:28,960 --> 00:17:31,520 Speaker 2: But I just I love a world in which there 344 00:17:31,560 --> 00:17:33,840 Speaker 2: are people who like fixing things and who will fix 345 00:17:33,880 --> 00:17:38,040 Speaker 2: things because there's things that need fixing, and that is 346 00:17:38,080 --> 00:17:41,000 Speaker 2: the world we live in. I love the world we 347 00:17:41,080 --> 00:17:43,960 Speaker 2: live in. I did a supply run drop to the 348 00:17:44,000 --> 00:17:47,000 Speaker 2: Asheville Tool Library itself, which is just outside of town. Well, 349 00:17:47,040 --> 00:17:49,040 Speaker 2: I guess it's technically within the city limits, but it's 350 00:17:49,080 --> 00:17:53,560 Speaker 2: like rural area greenhouse land because They were collecting bar 351 00:17:53,600 --> 00:17:56,440 Speaker 2: and chain oil there and also tarps and ppe and 352 00:17:56,480 --> 00:17:58,200 Speaker 2: I had a bunch of that stuff and it's gonna 353 00:17:58,200 --> 00:18:00,399 Speaker 2: be one hell of a long cleanup. I talked to 354 00:18:00,440 --> 00:18:02,639 Speaker 2: the sculptor there who was sorting gear and getting it 355 00:18:02,680 --> 00:18:05,520 Speaker 2: ready to go out with the various crews. We also 356 00:18:05,600 --> 00:18:07,920 Speaker 2: drove up to Marshall, which is a smaller town about 357 00:18:07,920 --> 00:18:11,760 Speaker 2: thirty minutes north of the city. There we saw what 358 00:18:11,880 --> 00:18:15,399 Speaker 2: we'd been seeing everywhere, named groups using their infrastructure and 359 00:18:15,440 --> 00:18:19,240 Speaker 2: then melting into one another. The Harm Reduction group up there, 360 00:18:19,240 --> 00:18:22,680 Speaker 2: which distributes safe use supplies to the rural community, teamed 361 00:18:22,760 --> 00:18:25,919 Speaker 2: up with a group called ROAR, which stands for Rural 362 00:18:26,040 --> 00:18:29,800 Speaker 2: Organizing and Resilience and this is a rural mutual aid organization. 363 00:18:30,720 --> 00:18:34,520 Speaker 2: Their storefront, the Harm Reduction storefront, was now a relief center. 364 00:18:35,160 --> 00:18:37,240 Speaker 2: They talked to their landlord at the Strip Mall, who 365 00:18:37,400 --> 00:18:39,520 Speaker 2: I believe for free opened up another one of the 366 00:18:39,520 --> 00:18:43,760 Speaker 2: empty storefronts for them to expand into. Because Marshall became 367 00:18:43,800 --> 00:18:47,440 Speaker 2: a node reaching out further into the county. A group 368 00:18:47,480 --> 00:18:50,320 Speaker 2: of rural punks unloaded supplies from the van, a lot 369 00:18:50,359 --> 00:18:52,439 Speaker 2: of diapers and wet wipes and stuff like that, if 370 00:18:52,480 --> 00:18:55,200 Speaker 2: I remember correctly, and we hung out for a while 371 00:18:55,240 --> 00:18:57,879 Speaker 2: so that Rentraw my dog could run around and not 372 00:18:57,960 --> 00:18:59,840 Speaker 2: be over stimulated by the people on the cars of 373 00:18:59,880 --> 00:19:03,479 Speaker 2: the city. Several families came in to gather what they 374 00:19:03,520 --> 00:19:05,520 Speaker 2: needed and take it out to people while we were there, 375 00:19:05,520 --> 00:19:08,199 Speaker 2: and a pickup truck full of donations arrived and it 376 00:19:08,240 --> 00:19:11,920 Speaker 2: was unloaded and sorted. One of my friends from RORA 377 00:19:12,119 --> 00:19:15,760 Speaker 2: was there, and I've known him almost twenty years. I've 378 00:19:15,760 --> 00:19:18,159 Speaker 2: been working with him on anarchist projects off and on 379 00:19:18,280 --> 00:19:21,520 Speaker 2: the whole time he was busy, but we talked briefly 380 00:19:21,520 --> 00:19:25,520 Speaker 2: about how well it's just fucking cool to realize that 381 00:19:25,560 --> 00:19:28,000 Speaker 2: so many of us from the early aughts are still here, 382 00:19:28,320 --> 00:19:30,840 Speaker 2: still doing things, still trying to make the world better 383 00:19:30,880 --> 00:19:34,320 Speaker 2: however the fuck we can. And for him it's organizing 384 00:19:34,359 --> 00:19:37,920 Speaker 2: his rural community. And I don't have a clever AD transition. 385 00:19:38,160 --> 00:19:41,120 Speaker 2: I'm sorry. I know that's usually the thing I'm best at, 386 00:19:41,240 --> 00:19:43,159 Speaker 2: but I don't have one. I just have a regular 387 00:19:43,160 --> 00:19:47,600 Speaker 2: AD transition, which is where talking gets interrupted by ads. 388 00:19:48,560 --> 00:19:59,480 Speaker 2: Now and we're back. I remember talking to someone from 389 00:19:59,560 --> 00:20:02,679 Speaker 2: RH few years back about their work. One of the 390 00:20:02,720 --> 00:20:05,200 Speaker 2: main things that they do normally is that they get 391 00:20:05,240 --> 00:20:07,280 Speaker 2: firewood to people who heat their homes with wood and 392 00:20:07,320 --> 00:20:10,240 Speaker 2: don't have the resources or often the physical strength anymore 393 00:20:10,560 --> 00:20:14,000 Speaker 2: to go pick it up themselves. Rural communities do tend 394 00:20:14,000 --> 00:20:18,119 Speaker 2: to be older than city communities, and one thing that 395 00:20:18,240 --> 00:20:23,680 Speaker 2: Roor noticed is that it wasn't just progressives and activists 396 00:20:23,720 --> 00:20:28,000 Speaker 2: and stuff who were down to help out. A man 397 00:20:28,040 --> 00:20:30,920 Speaker 2: with a pickup truck and a trailer wants to be useful, 398 00:20:31,160 --> 00:20:34,000 Speaker 2: whether he voted blue or red or refuses to vote 399 00:20:34,000 --> 00:20:36,399 Speaker 2: at all. And I'm not trying to like say me samey. 400 00:20:36,480 --> 00:20:38,960 Speaker 2: I understand that there's like serious political divisions and that 401 00:20:39,000 --> 00:20:41,680 Speaker 2: those do impact our lives. I'm a trans woman living 402 00:20:41,720 --> 00:20:43,960 Speaker 2: in a rural area. I'm very aware of this, but 403 00:20:44,920 --> 00:20:49,960 Speaker 2: there's still the desire to be useful. I think about 404 00:20:50,160 --> 00:20:52,720 Speaker 2: the pickup truck a lot. It's not my Roman empire. 405 00:20:52,720 --> 00:20:54,720 Speaker 2: I probably only think about it like once every couple 406 00:20:54,760 --> 00:20:57,200 Speaker 2: of months, but I think real deeply about pickup trucks. 407 00:20:57,240 --> 00:20:59,960 Speaker 2: When I do, I mean I also think about the 408 00:21:00,000 --> 00:21:03,640 Speaker 2: because I drive one. From the outside, sometimes people see 409 00:21:04,040 --> 00:21:06,439 Speaker 2: and sometimes from the you know, lots of people, including 410 00:21:06,440 --> 00:21:08,520 Speaker 2: pickup truck drivers, see them as sort of these big 411 00:21:08,560 --> 00:21:12,320 Speaker 2: phallic symbols of exaggerated masculinity. But I remember one time 412 00:21:12,359 --> 00:21:15,560 Speaker 2: someone asked me what non toxic masculinity looked like to me, 413 00:21:16,400 --> 00:21:19,320 Speaker 2: and I actually wound up thinking about some of the 414 00:21:19,320 --> 00:21:23,560 Speaker 2: people I know and their trucks. People drive trucks because 415 00:21:23,600 --> 00:21:27,399 Speaker 2: they're symbols of self reliance, and even more so because 416 00:21:27,400 --> 00:21:30,199 Speaker 2: they believe that they can be useful if they have 417 00:21:30,280 --> 00:21:33,760 Speaker 2: tools to be useful with. Someone carrying a recovery strap 418 00:21:33,800 --> 00:21:37,680 Speaker 2: in their pickup truck isn't carrying it for themselves. They're 419 00:21:37,720 --> 00:21:39,920 Speaker 2: carrying it so that they can tow a car out 420 00:21:39,960 --> 00:21:44,120 Speaker 2: of a ditch, so that they can be useful. We 421 00:21:44,160 --> 00:21:46,560 Speaker 2: talk all the time on this show, especially recently since 422 00:21:46,600 --> 00:21:48,320 Speaker 2: the last week's episodes were about it. In this week's 423 00:21:48,320 --> 00:21:51,800 Speaker 2: episodes about it, we talk all the time about disaster compassion. 424 00:21:52,640 --> 00:21:55,440 Speaker 2: And when you talk about disaster compassion, people often say, yeah, 425 00:21:55,440 --> 00:22:00,359 Speaker 2: but that can't last past the disaster. It could. How 426 00:22:00,400 --> 00:22:03,680 Speaker 2: do I know that? Because RAR knows that people will 427 00:22:03,720 --> 00:22:06,200 Speaker 2: donate their time with their pickup trucks to haul wood 428 00:22:06,280 --> 00:22:10,400 Speaker 2: for their neighbors, because people will pull people out of ditches, 429 00:22:11,080 --> 00:22:18,359 Speaker 2: because we're fucking hardwired to help anyway. Pickup truck tangent Aside, 430 00:22:18,520 --> 00:22:21,800 Speaker 2: the people in Marshall itself ironically got power, were stored sooner, 431 00:22:21,840 --> 00:22:24,080 Speaker 2: and since so many of the people there are on wells, 432 00:22:24,720 --> 00:22:28,160 Speaker 2: they have more reliable access to water. While we were there, 433 00:22:28,480 --> 00:22:30,800 Speaker 2: they were discussing how to get water relief into the city, 434 00:22:31,280 --> 00:22:37,760 Speaker 2: mutual aid being famously mutual. Unfortunately, since I left last 435 00:22:37,800 --> 00:22:40,680 Speaker 2: Thursday morning, it's come out that the level of toxins 436 00:22:40,720 --> 00:22:44,159 Speaker 2: in the water downstream, which is north of Ashville, the 437 00:22:44,240 --> 00:22:48,760 Speaker 2: level of toxins is terrifyingly high due to plastic chemical spills, 438 00:22:49,160 --> 00:22:51,720 Speaker 2: and people in Marshall are likely to be going through 439 00:22:51,840 --> 00:22:55,520 Speaker 2: something an awful lot worse than initially expected. This is 440 00:22:55,560 --> 00:22:58,240 Speaker 2: still in the rumor stage as I record this, but 441 00:22:58,280 --> 00:23:00,959 Speaker 2: I'm hearing about relief workers with rat and worse and 442 00:23:01,440 --> 00:23:05,639 Speaker 2: serious ppe is needed in the area. Another sort of 443 00:23:05,720 --> 00:23:08,119 Speaker 2: rumor has been floating around since the start of the crisis, 444 00:23:08,560 --> 00:23:12,240 Speaker 2: rumors that hopefully will know more about soon, Rumors of 445 00:23:12,280 --> 00:23:16,080 Speaker 2: law enforcement interfering with relief efforts. I expect I'll be 446 00:23:16,240 --> 00:23:19,320 Speaker 2: returning to this subject as I understand more about it. 447 00:23:20,160 --> 00:23:25,560 Speaker 2: But to be clear, the government is not a monolithic entity. Local, state, 448 00:23:25,680 --> 00:23:28,840 Speaker 2: and federal are all different. There are different departments within 449 00:23:28,920 --> 00:23:31,719 Speaker 2: each of those, and each department is staffed by people 450 00:23:31,760 --> 00:23:37,120 Speaker 2: who are famously different from one another. There has absolutely 451 00:23:37,160 --> 00:23:40,400 Speaker 2: been a lot that various government agencies have been doing 452 00:23:40,440 --> 00:23:43,760 Speaker 2: that is useful. There are radio broadcasts of information that 453 00:23:43,800 --> 00:23:46,440 Speaker 2: have been going out constantly. There are places for people 454 00:23:46,440 --> 00:23:49,480 Speaker 2: to fill their own water containers. The government is set 455 00:23:49,560 --> 00:23:53,119 Speaker 2: up a refugee camp essentially. I've heard FEMA, which actually 456 00:23:53,160 --> 00:23:54,919 Speaker 2: in the end is more of an insurance company than 457 00:23:54,960 --> 00:23:58,600 Speaker 2: an actual disaster response organization, is working to get people 458 00:23:58,640 --> 00:24:02,240 Speaker 2: some monetary relief, although I understand why. We also people 459 00:24:02,280 --> 00:24:04,280 Speaker 2: are very madahema about all of that because there's an 460 00:24:04,359 --> 00:24:06,600 Speaker 2: enormous meta red tape and it sounds like the whole 461 00:24:06,600 --> 00:24:08,360 Speaker 2: thing isn't going to be as funded as is expected. 462 00:24:08,400 --> 00:24:11,719 Speaker 2: And again, this is not a current events podcast, and 463 00:24:11,760 --> 00:24:15,800 Speaker 2: that's stuff that's coming out now. Fire stations are collecting 464 00:24:15,840 --> 00:24:19,199 Speaker 2: and distributing gear. Official city workers are often handling the 465 00:24:19,200 --> 00:24:23,680 Speaker 2: most dangerous chainsaw tasks, like specifically chainsawing the trees entangled 466 00:24:23,680 --> 00:24:28,399 Speaker 2: with power lines, and the lines between official and informal 467 00:24:28,440 --> 00:24:31,919 Speaker 2: relief are often blurred. And we can and should be 468 00:24:31,960 --> 00:24:36,000 Speaker 2: friends whenever possible. A mutual aid disaster really friend of 469 00:24:36,040 --> 00:24:38,320 Speaker 2: mine made coffee for the chainsaw crew on their street 470 00:24:38,320 --> 00:24:40,560 Speaker 2: working at night to yeah clear a tree tangled up 471 00:24:40,560 --> 00:24:44,200 Speaker 2: in power lines. People from various organizations are sharing supplies 472 00:24:44,200 --> 00:24:48,440 Speaker 2: with one another wherever it's necessary, including going from government 473 00:24:48,480 --> 00:24:52,399 Speaker 2: to informal or formal NGO to informal or vice versa. 474 00:24:52,640 --> 00:24:56,639 Speaker 2: You know, the emergency declaration that allows doctors to be 475 00:24:56,680 --> 00:25:00,000 Speaker 2: doctors in informal settings, or allows pharmacies to refoe prescriptions 476 00:25:00,000 --> 00:25:04,120 Speaker 2: without prescription forms are life saving things that the government 477 00:25:04,160 --> 00:25:06,040 Speaker 2: is sort of doing now. Granted they're kind of like, 478 00:25:07,040 --> 00:25:09,600 Speaker 2: is not enforcing a thing really count as doing a thing? 479 00:25:09,640 --> 00:25:13,720 Speaker 2: I don't know whatever. While I was there, though, there 480 00:25:13,720 --> 00:25:16,240 Speaker 2: were constant rumors about roadblocks being set up by the 481 00:25:16,280 --> 00:25:19,080 Speaker 2: government to prevent resources from going where they needed to go, 482 00:25:19,760 --> 00:25:24,360 Speaker 2: or attempting to requisition disaster supplies and to centralized official locations, 483 00:25:24,680 --> 00:25:27,840 Speaker 2: which are famously really bad at getting things out that 484 00:25:27,920 --> 00:25:30,600 Speaker 2: last mile and figuring out where things actually need to go. 485 00:25:31,720 --> 00:25:33,960 Speaker 2: On the condition of anonymity, I spoke with a female 486 00:25:34,000 --> 00:25:37,640 Speaker 2: worker about this. They told me, in essence that while 487 00:25:37,640 --> 00:25:39,840 Speaker 2: a lot of the long term disaster relief staff come 488 00:25:39,880 --> 00:25:43,640 Speaker 2: from community organizing backgrounds a greater percentage of the immediate 489 00:25:43,720 --> 00:25:47,440 Speaker 2: disaster response. People who are interested in the shorter deployments 490 00:25:47,680 --> 00:25:51,040 Speaker 2: are like military and law enforcement types who struggle to 491 00:25:51,040 --> 00:25:54,840 Speaker 2: see something seemingly structuralist and have an intense desire to 492 00:25:54,880 --> 00:25:58,000 Speaker 2: impose structure upon it, which is to say, to move 493 00:25:58,040 --> 00:26:01,840 Speaker 2: into sort of an enforcement mode. Some of the rumors 494 00:26:01,840 --> 00:26:05,480 Speaker 2: of roadblocks have proven to be exaggerated, but not all 495 00:26:05,520 --> 00:26:08,480 Speaker 2: of them. I can point to three things like that 496 00:26:08,480 --> 00:26:10,760 Speaker 2: that I have more information about right now, and again 497 00:26:10,880 --> 00:26:13,159 Speaker 2: I suspect we'll know more by the time you're listening 498 00:26:13,200 --> 00:26:16,560 Speaker 2: to this. That's why I normally stick with history. Hell, 499 00:26:16,600 --> 00:26:19,040 Speaker 2: that's why I used to start with only doing history 500 00:26:19,080 --> 00:26:21,480 Speaker 2: of where no one in the story is alive anymore. 501 00:26:22,080 --> 00:26:24,600 Speaker 2: But eventually I moved into the more recent history. Here 502 00:26:24,640 --> 00:26:27,159 Speaker 2: we are, what's next? Am I going to do future episodes? 503 00:26:27,400 --> 00:26:32,400 Speaker 2: Who knows? Okay, the stories that I know a little 504 00:26:32,400 --> 00:26:35,119 Speaker 2: bit more about. I know that cops pulled over a 505 00:26:35,200 --> 00:26:37,680 Speaker 2: vehicle headed into one small town earlier in the week 506 00:26:37,800 --> 00:26:39,600 Speaker 2: to tell them that the town was closed to traffic. 507 00:26:39,960 --> 00:26:42,159 Speaker 2: When the people in the car explained that it was 508 00:26:42,160 --> 00:26:44,760 Speaker 2: full of diapers and other supplies, the cop let them through. 509 00:26:45,320 --> 00:26:48,280 Speaker 2: That's the nicest interaction I know of like that. Another 510 00:26:48,400 --> 00:26:51,040 Speaker 2: well publicized cases of a helicopter pilot who went to 511 00:26:51,040 --> 00:26:53,000 Speaker 2: go rescue people and was told he'd be arrested if 512 00:26:53,000 --> 00:26:55,720 Speaker 2: he flew into the area again. I've heard rumors on 513 00:26:55,760 --> 00:26:57,920 Speaker 2: the ground that other pilots have been welcomed with open 514 00:26:58,040 --> 00:27:01,400 Speaker 2: arms by local officials and they've promised a clear airspace 515 00:27:01,440 --> 00:27:04,800 Speaker 2: for them. I've also heard from a tractor trailer of 516 00:27:04,840 --> 00:27:06,919 Speaker 2: supplies that was pulled over on the interstate and the 517 00:27:06,920 --> 00:27:09,879 Speaker 2: cops essentially said, you can either turn around or let 518 00:27:10,000 --> 00:27:12,800 Speaker 2: us take all that stuff to our distribution center, and 519 00:27:12,880 --> 00:27:15,680 Speaker 2: the tractor trailer turned around. I'm assuming they found another 520 00:27:15,760 --> 00:27:19,000 Speaker 2: route in cops are famous for highway robbery. Of course, 521 00:27:19,240 --> 00:27:21,840 Speaker 2: it's called civil asset forfeiture, so it doesn't surprise me 522 00:27:21,880 --> 00:27:27,120 Speaker 2: at all. There are also rumors of regular highway robbery, 523 00:27:27,520 --> 00:27:30,399 Speaker 2: and some of these seem to be corroborated. It seems 524 00:27:30,560 --> 00:27:34,160 Speaker 2: very likely that a tractor trailer full of supplies on forty, 525 00:27:34,560 --> 00:27:37,320 Speaker 2: where they were sleeping in their truck, as people and 526 00:27:37,359 --> 00:27:41,560 Speaker 2: trucks often do, was robbed at gunpoint, and people took 527 00:27:41,600 --> 00:27:44,159 Speaker 2: all of the supplies that fit into their car. That 528 00:27:44,320 --> 00:27:48,520 Speaker 2: is the only corroborated thing like that I've personally seen. 529 00:27:49,200 --> 00:27:52,000 Speaker 2: There are a lot of rumors going around about wild 530 00:27:52,119 --> 00:27:54,199 Speaker 2: looting and things like that, And first of all, I 531 00:27:54,200 --> 00:27:56,760 Speaker 2: don't have a problem with people breaking into stores to 532 00:27:56,800 --> 00:27:59,520 Speaker 2: take what they need when it's that or starve. That 533 00:27:59,560 --> 00:28:02,880 Speaker 2: doesn't bother me at all, especially if people then redistribute 534 00:28:02,880 --> 00:28:05,040 Speaker 2: those things where they need to go. I love living 535 00:28:05,040 --> 00:28:06,960 Speaker 2: in a society where we all love robin hood and 536 00:28:07,040 --> 00:28:10,080 Speaker 2: yet pretend like looting and disaster situations is wrong. I mean, 537 00:28:10,119 --> 00:28:12,480 Speaker 2: even in disaster movies the heroes do it. What's wrong 538 00:28:12,520 --> 00:28:15,800 Speaker 2: with you people? Anyway, It's still not nice to rob 539 00:28:15,840 --> 00:28:17,840 Speaker 2: people at gunpoint for the supplies that they're driving into 540 00:28:17,840 --> 00:28:22,000 Speaker 2: the city. But these rumors of looting, it's possible that 541 00:28:22,040 --> 00:28:25,080 Speaker 2: a couple people looted or were arrested looting, they seem 542 00:28:25,119 --> 00:28:29,480 Speaker 2: to be greatly exaggerated. Even again, I'm hearing this on hearsay, 543 00:28:29,480 --> 00:28:32,640 Speaker 2: but even the local law enforcement when sort of asked 544 00:28:32,680 --> 00:28:35,640 Speaker 2: about it, were like, Nah, that's just like not really happening. 545 00:28:35,880 --> 00:28:38,880 Speaker 2: That's like more of like the Facebook madness that happens 546 00:28:38,920 --> 00:28:42,760 Speaker 2: where people are posting like Ashville's gone into crazy mode. 547 00:28:42,800 --> 00:28:46,520 Speaker 2: The purple hair freaks are killing everyone, and there's all 548 00:28:46,560 --> 00:28:50,920 Speaker 2: these rumors about people burning their houses down while they're gone, 549 00:28:51,000 --> 00:28:55,320 Speaker 2: and just fucking bullshit. It's just all fucking bullshit. That's 550 00:28:55,320 --> 00:29:00,680 Speaker 2: besides the point where were we It's possible, even likely 551 00:29:00,720 --> 00:29:03,280 Speaker 2: that official channels will slowly get their shit together and 552 00:29:03,400 --> 00:29:05,960 Speaker 2: start essentially trying to strong arm the competition out of 553 00:29:06,000 --> 00:29:09,960 Speaker 2: the business of helping people. One small town restaurant posted 554 00:29:09,960 --> 00:29:11,760 Speaker 2: a Facebook that it was told to shut down its 555 00:29:11,760 --> 00:29:14,400 Speaker 2: free distribution center to get back to the business of 556 00:29:14,640 --> 00:29:18,200 Speaker 2: selling things in order to bolster the local economy and 557 00:29:18,280 --> 00:29:22,680 Speaker 2: let the cops handle the relief work. And that's the 558 00:29:22,720 --> 00:29:26,680 Speaker 2: whole twisted end of it, isn't it. We actually genuinely 559 00:29:27,280 --> 00:29:31,120 Speaker 2: could build a society based on mutual aid and solidarity. 560 00:29:31,920 --> 00:29:35,280 Speaker 2: Many such societies have existed throughout history, and they pop 561 00:29:35,400 --> 00:29:38,720 Speaker 2: up naturally every single time something goes wrong. It's what 562 00:29:38,840 --> 00:29:42,760 Speaker 2: we want to do. And what's funny is they don't 563 00:29:42,800 --> 00:29:47,520 Speaker 2: look good on paper, they look good in person. There 564 00:29:47,600 --> 00:29:50,000 Speaker 2: was a carnival air to Asheville while I was there, 565 00:29:50,320 --> 00:29:52,760 Speaker 2: which is a bit tragic and strange, and some people 566 00:29:52,800 --> 00:29:56,760 Speaker 2: feel intensely alienated by that Carnival air especially the people 567 00:29:56,760 --> 00:30:00,240 Speaker 2: who are suffering, or are isolated, or just lost loved ones, 568 00:30:00,520 --> 00:30:02,240 Speaker 2: or have no fucking clue how they're going to pay 569 00:30:02,240 --> 00:30:05,720 Speaker 2: their rent now that their job is closed indefinitely. But 570 00:30:05,880 --> 00:30:08,520 Speaker 2: still there are a lot of smiles on a lot 571 00:30:08,520 --> 00:30:14,920 Speaker 2: of people's faces, because giving each other things feels good. 572 00:30:15,520 --> 00:30:18,880 Speaker 2: That's the core of it. That's the lesson I learned 573 00:30:18,880 --> 00:30:21,160 Speaker 2: from Rebecca Soulnett by way of all my friends who've 574 00:30:21,160 --> 00:30:24,280 Speaker 2: read her books. That's the lesson I've learned from the 575 00:30:24,360 --> 00:30:27,560 Speaker 2: random Soviet era beggar by way of a strange biography. 576 00:30:28,440 --> 00:30:32,320 Speaker 2: We feel good when we help each other. We can 577 00:30:32,360 --> 00:30:37,480 Speaker 2: help each other more, but the state and capitalism wants 578 00:30:37,520 --> 00:30:39,840 Speaker 2: us to get back to the business of selling things, 579 00:30:40,320 --> 00:30:43,640 Speaker 2: back to paying rent, and back to waiting around to 580 00:30:43,760 --> 00:30:48,440 Speaker 2: die in the next disaster. I don't want to paint 581 00:30:48,520 --> 00:30:52,280 Speaker 2: a rosy picture. I didn't go toward the devastation. I 582 00:30:52,320 --> 00:30:54,880 Speaker 2: didn't work with a chainsaw crew or an ATV crew 583 00:30:54,880 --> 00:30:58,360 Speaker 2: to get supplies into the worst areas on our signal loops. 584 00:30:58,440 --> 00:31:01,880 Speaker 2: There are constant messages of worry and fear, and the 585 00:31:01,920 --> 00:31:05,880 Speaker 2: need is intense and ongoing. People need help. If you're 586 00:31:05,880 --> 00:31:07,960 Speaker 2: in western North Carolina, make sure you have what you 587 00:31:08,080 --> 00:31:12,040 Speaker 2: need personally, and then go see about helping others. If 588 00:31:12,040 --> 00:31:14,360 Speaker 2: you're within a day's driver or so, there might be 589 00:31:14,440 --> 00:31:16,920 Speaker 2: hubs being set up to collect supplies to get them 590 00:31:16,920 --> 00:31:19,520 Speaker 2: to Ashville. Work with a supply hub rather than assuming 591 00:31:19,560 --> 00:31:21,320 Speaker 2: the best thing to do is go beyond the ground. 592 00:31:21,840 --> 00:31:25,440 Speaker 2: Asheville doesn't lack people at lacks supplies. Help move supplies 593 00:31:25,440 --> 00:31:28,440 Speaker 2: towards Asheville wherever you are, but also look into what's 594 00:31:28,520 --> 00:31:31,719 Speaker 2: needed instead of just sending old sweaters or whatever. If 595 00:31:31,760 --> 00:31:34,520 Speaker 2: you do expect to go into Ashville bringing supplies, do 596 00:31:34,640 --> 00:31:37,440 Speaker 2: so connected with a group and expect to be self sufficient. 597 00:31:37,920 --> 00:31:39,560 Speaker 2: If you're coming for a day, make sure you have 598 00:31:39,600 --> 00:31:42,520 Speaker 2: five days of food and water with you. But for 599 00:31:42,600 --> 00:31:45,040 Speaker 2: most people, the best way to help is to donate. 600 00:31:45,440 --> 00:31:47,960 Speaker 2: There are a lot of groups worth donating to, too 601 00:31:48,000 --> 00:31:51,440 Speaker 2: many to easily collate here, and the needs EBB and flow, 602 00:31:51,480 --> 00:31:53,640 Speaker 2: and who knows when you're listening to this, So I'll 603 00:31:53,680 --> 00:31:56,480 Speaker 2: say two groups that I've either donated to or worked with, 604 00:31:57,120 --> 00:31:59,920 Speaker 2: and they are Asheville Medical Solidarity and Mutual Aid Dissease 605 00:32:00,040 --> 00:32:04,080 Speaker 2: US for Relief. Donate to them. Thank you for listening 606 00:32:04,160 --> 00:32:06,120 Speaker 2: to this extra strange episode of Cool People Who Did 607 00:32:06,200 --> 00:32:09,360 Speaker 2: Cool Stuff. Thank you listeners for providing me a job 608 00:32:09,400 --> 00:32:11,280 Speaker 2: that's flexible enough that I was able to take a 609 00:32:11,320 --> 00:32:14,000 Speaker 2: week off to go help my friends. And thanks for 610 00:32:14,040 --> 00:32:17,320 Speaker 2: taking care of each other. Oh, and if there's a 611 00:32:17,360 --> 00:32:20,560 Speaker 2: second lesson here, Store a week's worth of water and 612 00:32:20,600 --> 00:32:23,200 Speaker 2: food in your house, keep at least half a tank 613 00:32:23,200 --> 00:32:25,600 Speaker 2: of gas in your car at all times, and go 614 00:32:25,680 --> 00:32:27,160 Speaker 2: introduce yourself to your neighbors. 615 00:32:33,240 --> 00:32:35,720 Speaker 1: Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff is a production of 616 00:32:35,760 --> 00:32:38,880 Speaker 1: cool Zone Media. A more podcasts and cool Zone Media, 617 00:32:39,040 --> 00:32:42,280 Speaker 1: visit our website foolzonmedia dot com, or check us out 618 00:32:42,360 --> 00:32:45,760 Speaker 1: on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get 619 00:32:45,800 --> 00:32:49,600 Speaker 1: your podcasts.