WEBVTT - Smarter in Seconds: with Blair Imani 0:00:04.040 --> 0:00:08.119 Big things happen when you're pretty, pretty bold, pretty clever, 0:00:08.800 --> 0:00:12.320 pretty strong. I'm Danielle Robe and each week my guests 0:00:12.360 --> 0:00:13.760 and I have conversations that. 0:00:13.760 --> 0:00:16.280 Put a new spin on pretty. 0:00:17.120 --> 0:00:21.240 This is pretty smart Blair and Moani wants to help 0:00:21.280 --> 0:00:27.880 you get smarter. Blair is a best selling author, historian, 0:00:27.960 --> 0:00:32.720 and educator whose Instagram video series Smarter and Seconds has 0:00:32.760 --> 0:00:36.159 received millions of views. When I say millions, I mean 0:00:36.280 --> 0:00:38.040 like millions each video. 0:00:38.280 --> 0:00:40.760 They're dubbed micro learning, which I love. 0:00:40.800 --> 0:00:44.040 It's like bite sized pieces of information to expand our 0:00:44.080 --> 0:00:47.680 hearts and minds. She's trying to make the world more informed, 0:00:47.720 --> 0:00:52.000 inclusive place, covering topics ranging from critical race theory to 0:00:52.080 --> 0:00:56.240 mental health. I actually found her when she did a 0:00:56.320 --> 0:01:01.200 video about anti Semitism this last summer. She also has 0:01:01.240 --> 0:01:05.120 so much insight when it comes to personal identity. Blair 0:01:05.120 --> 0:01:08.200 grew up Christian but converted to Islam in twenty fifteen. 0:01:08.920 --> 0:01:12.399 She's black and a member of the LGBTQ plus community. 0:01:13.319 --> 0:01:17.040 Her life dramatically changed when she accidentally came out live 0:01:17.120 --> 0:01:21.280 on Tucker Carlson just a few years ago. Yeah, we 0:01:21.319 --> 0:01:24.160 get into that and her efforts to enrich and inform 0:01:24.360 --> 0:01:27.600 have been influenced by her own journey, so today I. 0:01:27.480 --> 0:01:28.679 Want to talk to her about it. 0:01:29.200 --> 0:01:31.520 We get into a lot She taught me about how 0:01:31.600 --> 0:01:35.480 Elmo helped her deal with social media haters, how Angela 0:01:35.560 --> 0:01:38.360 Davis convinced her to drop out of law school, why 0:01:38.400 --> 0:01:41.600 she hopes her Instagram and Smarter in sixty second series 0:01:42.000 --> 0:01:44.039 helps us all learn to ask more questions. 0:01:44.640 --> 0:01:45.640 No, I loved that one. 0:01:46.480 --> 0:01:49.840 And the problem she sees with capitalism. We sort of 0:01:49.840 --> 0:01:53.559 debated on that unexpectedly too, which I loved. She touches 0:01:53.600 --> 0:01:55.880 on what period of history we should all spend more 0:01:55.880 --> 0:01:59.000 time learning about, and why she believes we will all 0:01:59.080 --> 0:02:06.080 change somebody's life even if we aren't changing legislation. Our 0:02:06.120 --> 0:02:09.240 community is called pretty smart, and you have your community 0:02:09.280 --> 0:02:11.160 of smarties, So I feel like we're right here. 0:02:11.160 --> 0:02:13.440 We're right in the line, definitely, And I think, you know, 0:02:14.000 --> 0:02:17.400 it's just all about making it accessible and approachable. That 0:02:17.440 --> 0:02:19.359 smartness isn't something that like you need to pass a 0:02:19.400 --> 0:02:21.640 bunch of standardized tests to get to. It's not something 0:02:21.639 --> 0:02:23.760 that is exclusive to men. That anybody can be smart, 0:02:23.760 --> 0:02:26.400 anybody can be intelligent, and just moving that forward, So 0:02:26.720 --> 0:02:28.079 definitely a line. 0:02:28.040 --> 0:02:29.840 Why is being smart important to you. 0:02:30.200 --> 0:02:32.560 It's important to me because I never really would describe 0:02:32.560 --> 0:02:35.520 myself that way. Like I think in the past month 0:02:35.600 --> 0:02:37.880 someone described me as a genius and I was like, what, like, 0:02:38.000 --> 0:02:39.959 thank you. But it was all always something that was 0:02:40.040 --> 0:02:42.120 unattainable for me. I was a B student, which I 0:02:42.120 --> 0:02:43.840 thought was pretty good, but I would have friends who 0:02:43.840 --> 0:02:47.000 would be sobbing throughout high school college who'd be like, 0:02:47.000 --> 0:02:48.880 oh my gosh, I got an A minus and I 0:02:48.960 --> 0:02:51.120 was like, here, I am happy with my B minus. 0:02:51.160 --> 0:02:54.760 And so it's really just about empowering folks to understand 0:02:54.760 --> 0:02:57.799 that intelligence is not it doesn't look one way. There's 0:02:57.800 --> 0:03:00.880 so many types of intelligence, and that it's a to everyone. 0:03:01.560 --> 0:03:02.560 It's really nice. 0:03:02.720 --> 0:03:05.280 So before we dig into how smart you are, which 0:03:05.280 --> 0:03:07.040 you are, can you tell us a little bit about 0:03:07.040 --> 0:03:07.639 your background. 0:03:07.840 --> 0:03:12.000 Sure. So, I'm a black, bisexual Muslim woman. I'm from Pasadena. 0:03:12.080 --> 0:03:14.760 I'm very much like in La gal which I realized 0:03:14.800 --> 0:03:16.600 as soon as I went to school in Louisiana. I 0:03:16.600 --> 0:03:19.000 went to Louisiana State University. I've lived in DC, I've 0:03:19.040 --> 0:03:21.480 lived in New York, and I very much give that 0:03:21.600 --> 0:03:24.480 energy of like you're from La what do you mean 0:03:24.480 --> 0:03:27.639 what energy is that, uh, like excited about the world, 0:03:27.680 --> 0:03:31.400 really into juice, spiritual. I just really feel like there's 0:03:31.400 --> 0:03:32.960 a lot of archetypes that I fit into that I 0:03:33.000 --> 0:03:36.240 didn't realize really until I was in Costa Rica doing 0:03:36.280 --> 0:03:38.720 like hours of yoga, doing like a soundbath meditation, and 0:03:38.760 --> 0:03:41.160 I was like, Oh, this is what people picture when 0:03:41.160 --> 0:03:42.360 they picture Californians. 0:03:42.960 --> 0:03:43.960 Really, that's funny. 0:03:44.120 --> 0:03:46.440 Other than that I'm an educator, I really wanted to 0:03:46.600 --> 0:03:48.680 work in a museum, and I did for a little 0:03:48.720 --> 0:03:51.560 while right out of college. And then I thought I 0:03:51.640 --> 0:03:53.960 was going to be a lawyer and that didn't happen. 0:03:54.080 --> 0:03:56.240 I dropped out of law school after seven weeks. 0:03:56.480 --> 0:03:59.840 So I have to interrupt you there because I read 0:03:59.840 --> 0:04:02.680 that Angela Davis gave you the confidence to drop out 0:04:02.680 --> 0:04:03.680 of law school. 0:04:03.400 --> 0:04:05.680 So that was That's definitely the case, as well as 0:04:05.800 --> 0:04:09.000 Erica Totten, who goes by to live unchanged on Instagram 0:04:09.040 --> 0:04:11.800 and is all about like rest and just really redefining 0:04:11.800 --> 0:04:13.640 what it means to be a person in the world 0:04:13.720 --> 0:04:16.520 and how our productivity isn't tied to our worth, even 0:04:16.560 --> 0:04:19.920 though capitalism tells us otherwise and hustle culture tells us otherwise. 0:04:20.240 --> 0:04:22.240 And so I was at an event with both of 0:04:22.279 --> 0:04:24.760 them there, and I was like, I was kind of like, okay, 0:04:24.760 --> 0:04:26.479 I need to drop out. I can't do this anymore. 0:04:26.760 --> 0:04:28.320 But then when it opened for Q and A, I 0:04:28.360 --> 0:04:30.520 like low key crawled to the front of the line, 0:04:30.520 --> 0:04:33.080 grabbed the mic from the MC and was like hey. 0:04:34.200 --> 0:04:36.760 And so that was twenty fifteen, and that definitely gave 0:04:36.760 --> 0:04:39.480 me the confidence because when my family or like any 0:04:39.480 --> 0:04:41.360 relatives or friends were like, where why did you drop out? 0:04:41.400 --> 0:04:43.760 And like, actually, Angela Davis said it was also a 0:04:43.800 --> 0:04:47.440 good idea. So you can't argue with that. 0:04:47.440 --> 0:04:48.880 That's really funny. I thought you were gonna say, like 0:04:48.920 --> 0:04:50.120 you read some of her work. 0:04:50.839 --> 0:04:52.919 Oh no, Like I asked her directly at Busboys and 0:04:52.920 --> 0:04:55.760 Poets in DC, and she she told me that you 0:04:55.800 --> 0:04:58.839 don't need an institution in order to create change. And 0:04:58.880 --> 0:05:00.960 I was like, awesome, and I don't want to be 0:05:01.000 --> 0:05:03.359 miserable for the next, you know, three years of my life. 0:05:03.800 --> 0:05:06.479 And by the time folks were graduating from law school 0:05:06.480 --> 0:05:08.240 that were in my same class, I had come out 0:05:08.279 --> 0:05:10.600 with a book and so I was feeling like, Okay, 0:05:10.839 --> 0:05:13.840 my path looks different, but success looks different for everybody, 0:05:13.880 --> 0:05:14.440 and that's okay. 0:05:14.640 --> 0:05:17.400 Was that your goal to make to create change. 0:05:17.880 --> 0:05:21.040 I think that was my Yeah. I mean, I didn't 0:05:21.040 --> 0:05:23.240 know how it was going to look, but I always knew, 0:05:23.240 --> 0:05:25.839 like growing up with different like mental health situations, whether 0:05:25.880 --> 0:05:28.360 it was depression or anxiety, that I'm here at least 0:05:28.400 --> 0:05:30.760 to leave a mark and to do good. And I 0:05:30.839 --> 0:05:33.520 also was influenced by folks like doctor Terrence Roberts, who 0:05:33.560 --> 0:05:36.920 was one of the people who integrated schools in Little Rock, Arkansas. 0:05:37.279 --> 0:05:39.400 And I interviewed him when I was twelve and he 0:05:39.440 --> 0:05:41.479 told me that he volunteered with doctor Martin Luther King 0:05:41.560 --> 0:05:44.320 at fifteen to change history. And like the competitive part 0:05:44.320 --> 0:05:45.919 of me was like cool, So I'm twelve, So like 0:05:45.960 --> 0:05:48.520 what am I doing where by the time I'm fifteen, 0:05:48.560 --> 0:05:50.800 I need to be doing something too. And I just 0:05:50.800 --> 0:05:53.000 think that's why everybody's here, whether it's to just pursue 0:05:53.000 --> 0:05:55.920 your purpose, You're going to change somebody's life. It might 0:05:55.960 --> 0:05:58.279 not be literally changing legislation, it might not be winning 0:05:58.320 --> 0:06:01.480 court cases, but you are here to create a change 0:06:01.480 --> 0:06:03.839 in whatever that looks like, that's why we're here and 0:06:03.839 --> 0:06:06.440 that's why we're alive. And that kind of motivates me 0:06:06.520 --> 0:06:07.480 every day. 0:06:07.839 --> 0:06:10.760 So after that, you went to work in government relations 0:06:11.040 --> 0:06:14.320 and for planned parenthood. Where did the idea for your 0:06:14.320 --> 0:06:15.880 Instagram presence come from? 0:06:16.040 --> 0:06:17.960 So the funny thing is I was looking through my 0:06:18.000 --> 0:06:20.599 hard drive, like from college, and I forgot that I 0:06:20.640 --> 0:06:23.560 was taking all these classes on communications and social media 0:06:23.600 --> 0:06:27.760 communications and that one of my huge projects was about 0:06:27.920 --> 0:06:30.680 how a good social media presence is built. So like 0:06:30.800 --> 0:06:33.080 in the four resources of my mind, I had that 0:06:33.120 --> 0:06:35.960 skill set, but like I was so burnt out during college, 0:06:36.040 --> 0:06:37.760 Like I wasn't aware of it consciously. But while I 0:06:37.800 --> 0:06:40.520 was in college, I started a nonprofit called Equality for 0:06:40.560 --> 0:06:43.120 Her and we made these I say we because I 0:06:43.240 --> 0:06:44.960 was so used to saying that there was more than me, 0:06:45.120 --> 0:06:47.560 but it was literally just me. So I made these 0:06:47.560 --> 0:06:50.599 infographics and the first month we did it, the first 0:06:50.600 --> 0:06:53.039 Women's History month, Tumblr featured us, and so I was 0:06:53.080 --> 0:06:55.960 like me, I keep saying us and we, but like, 0:06:56.000 --> 0:06:58.240 literally it was just me during that time during twenty fourteen, 0:06:58.720 --> 0:07:01.800 and I just knew that memes were popular and that 0:07:02.200 --> 0:07:05.440 you know, quick factoid information like the Snapple bottle caps 0:07:05.480 --> 0:07:08.000 like those were popular, So how do we force more 0:07:08.040 --> 0:07:10.280 information into those things? At the same time, I was 0:07:10.320 --> 0:07:13.600 working at the Greater New Orleans Fat Fair Housing Coalition 0:07:14.120 --> 0:07:16.760 making infographics out of their like white paper studies on 0:07:16.800 --> 0:07:20.320 housing discrimination. So making like big info into like little 0:07:20.320 --> 0:07:24.240 approachable info was my whole thing. And it wasn't until 0:07:24.320 --> 0:07:26.800 August twenty twenty, like all those years later that when 0:07:26.840 --> 0:07:28.440 Reels was coming out, I was like, Okay, I missed 0:07:28.440 --> 0:07:30.240 my opportunity to be a buying star and I really 0:07:30.240 --> 0:07:32.440 feel like that would have been my niche. But now 0:07:32.720 --> 0:07:34.720 is my time, and so I took it really seriously. 0:07:35.040 --> 0:07:36.520 And if there's one thing I can do, it's talk 0:07:36.560 --> 0:07:39.720 really fast, which is also an LA thing, and get 0:07:39.920 --> 0:07:42.040 you know, information across in a short period of time. 0:07:42.080 --> 0:07:43.600 And so I think it came from a lot of 0:07:43.640 --> 0:07:46.360 the background I had and just the right opportunity and tools. 0:07:46.840 --> 0:07:49.160 For someone who hasn't seen your Instagram yet, how do 0:07:49.160 --> 0:07:51.720 you describe the content that you create? 0:07:51.920 --> 0:07:55.680 Colorful for sure, sometimes shady, but always with the approach 0:07:55.680 --> 0:07:57.960 that wanting to educate folks. I try to tell it 0:07:58.000 --> 0:07:59.680 like it is without making people feel bad for not 0:07:59.720 --> 0:08:03.280 knowing something already, because we need more of that. Just 0:08:03.280 --> 0:08:06.120 being frustrated at somebody for not knowing everything that you 0:08:06.200 --> 0:08:09.360 know is like really like egotistical, but It happens so 0:08:09.480 --> 0:08:11.480 often because once you know something, you're like, why doesn't 0:08:11.480 --> 0:08:14.200 everybody else know this? Like even if it's like related 0:08:14.240 --> 0:08:19.320 to literally anything like fashion, whether it's related to like yoga, 0:08:19.480 --> 0:08:21.560 high k Like, we get so caught up in our 0:08:21.600 --> 0:08:23.640 ways of like, well I know this so clearly everyone 0:08:23.640 --> 0:08:26.880 else does, right, and then people are afraid to ask questions. 0:08:26.920 --> 0:08:29.040 And when that happens as it relates to social justice, 0:08:29.040 --> 0:08:31.000 then we're not going to get anywhere. So it just 0:08:31.000 --> 0:08:32.960 needs to be like a, hey, come and learn with me. 0:08:33.040 --> 0:08:35.360 And they're also great for winning arguments. My series Smarter 0:08:35.440 --> 0:08:38.080 and Seconds, I find that most folks send those two 0:08:38.160 --> 0:08:40.760 people to win arguments, and I love that because it's 0:08:40.760 --> 0:08:43.480 all like you know, researched. It takes a toll off 0:08:43.480 --> 0:08:45.480 of them, and it just helps folks to get their 0:08:45.679 --> 0:08:47.600 their point across in a way that they might not 0:08:48.120 --> 0:08:49.440 know how to do. So I'm happy to be there 0:08:49.440 --> 0:08:49.719 for them. 0:08:50.280 --> 0:08:54.760 So you said questions questions are my love language. You 0:08:54.800 --> 0:08:57.319 say that the point of teaching isn't to give people answers, 0:08:57.360 --> 0:09:00.920 it's to show people how to ask better questions. When 0:09:00.960 --> 0:09:03.880 I read that, I was like, I love blairmat I 0:09:03.920 --> 0:09:07.760 appreciate that because I agree, I created this card deck 0:09:07.800 --> 0:09:09.400 that we use at the end of every interview, and 0:09:09.440 --> 0:09:10.040 that is the. 0:09:10.000 --> 0:09:12.160 Point of the card deck. It's all about the power 0:09:12.160 --> 0:09:12.840 of questions. 0:09:13.320 --> 0:09:15.160 So where did you learn that, Like, how did you 0:09:15.240 --> 0:09:17.439 experience the power of questions in your own life? 0:09:17.840 --> 0:09:20.160 Well, when I was a kid, I was the one 0:09:20.160 --> 0:09:23.360 that always had on the report card like asks lots 0:09:23.360 --> 0:09:25.000 of questions, and it was kind of a little bit 0:09:25.000 --> 0:09:26.640 of tongue in cheek shade from the teacher where it 0:09:26.679 --> 0:09:29.960 was just like your daughter won't be quiet, exact. And 0:09:30.440 --> 0:09:32.000 I was at the mindset that if you were coming 0:09:32.040 --> 0:09:33.600 to class every day, it did not matter that there 0:09:33.600 --> 0:09:35.640 were thirty other people in class. I had to ask 0:09:35.640 --> 0:09:37.720 a question every day. And that was the added pressure 0:09:37.720 --> 0:09:39.360 of being the only black girl in class, where I 0:09:39.360 --> 0:09:41.400 felt like I had to be the representative for all 0:09:41.440 --> 0:09:44.920 of like black people in this class. Even in math class, 0:09:44.960 --> 0:09:46.920 I'm like, well what about this, or just contributing to 0:09:46.920 --> 0:09:49.800 the conversation. I was a very active learner, and I 0:09:49.840 --> 0:09:52.960 also experienced some teachers who were not used to being 0:09:53.120 --> 0:09:57.040 questioned or like challenge or just like okay, you've given 0:09:57.080 --> 0:09:59.240 me your answer, but I don't understand it. Still and 0:09:59.280 --> 0:10:02.960 some teachers in and everybody might take that as like, oh, 0:10:02.960 --> 0:10:04.880 this is a challenge to my authority, instead of it 0:10:04.960 --> 0:10:07.280 just being like no, I trust to you. I feel 0:10:07.320 --> 0:10:09.079 I can be vulnerable in this situation. Can I ask 0:10:09.120 --> 0:10:11.640 another question? It's usually like how dare you confront me, 0:10:11.720 --> 0:10:14.079 especially if the person has bagage for something else. So 0:10:14.640 --> 0:10:16.880 I had substitute teachers sometimes where I would ask a 0:10:16.960 --> 0:10:18.720 question and then I would get in trouble for asking 0:10:18.720 --> 0:10:21.640 that question, and my parents basically point blank told me. 0:10:21.679 --> 0:10:24.560 My mom in particular, was like Blair. Sometimes adults feel 0:10:24.559 --> 0:10:27.480 threatened when younger people, particularly children, ask them questions that 0:10:27.520 --> 0:10:29.320 they don't know the answer to. So you need to 0:10:29.400 --> 0:10:31.920 just forget about that. A really intelligent person would say 0:10:32.000 --> 0:10:33.840 I'm not sure. I'm going to get back to you 0:10:33.920 --> 0:10:35.719 on that, and we can have a discussion later and 0:10:35.760 --> 0:10:37.720 not be vulnerable or scared to not say that they 0:10:37.800 --> 0:10:40.559 know something. So I had like the rules. I had 0:10:40.559 --> 0:10:42.480 like the cheek codes to life. Like as a kid, 0:10:42.480 --> 0:10:44.160 I was like cool, So if a teacher's ever mad 0:10:44.160 --> 0:10:45.920 at me for asking something, it's because they don't know. 0:10:45.960 --> 0:10:48.240 I'm not the problem. So it gave me this like 0:10:49.000 --> 0:10:51.920 weird gravado as a kid where I was like, there's 0:10:51.960 --> 0:10:54.880 so much to learn and anybody who's afraid of information 0:10:56.200 --> 0:10:59.560 is really missing out. And it took me a while 0:10:59.600 --> 0:11:01.559 to get to a place of humility with that. I'm 0:11:01.640 --> 0:11:04.240 gonna be honest, But now that I'm kind of like 0:11:04.480 --> 0:11:06.839 I have a better, more mature understanding, it's just the 0:11:07.120 --> 0:11:08.719 door to open. Because if you can ask a good 0:11:08.760 --> 0:11:12.679 question about something, then you show an understanding of it, 0:11:12.800 --> 0:11:14.679 and you show what you don't know about it, which 0:11:14.720 --> 0:11:17.679 shows that you can envision what there is to know 0:11:18.080 --> 0:11:19.760 and what step can you take to get there, which 0:11:19.760 --> 0:11:22.080 I think is a lot more interesting and deep than 0:11:22.120 --> 0:11:24.280 just being like, oh, I've memorized the stuff, let me 0:11:24.320 --> 0:11:24.960 spit it back out. 0:11:25.240 --> 0:11:28.680 Yeah. I'm curious as to how you decide the topics 0:11:29.240 --> 0:11:31.800 that you're gonna cover, because I mean, you could cover 0:11:31.960 --> 0:11:32.480 so much. 0:11:32.920 --> 0:11:36.679 I found you. I think this summer. 0:11:36.360 --> 0:11:38.360 For the first time when there was a lot of 0:11:38.360 --> 0:11:43.480 anti Semitism that sparked, and you did of like a 0:11:43.679 --> 0:11:45.000 co video way. Yeah. 0:11:45.040 --> 0:11:47.520 I did a lesson on the Jewish American Heritage Month 0:11:47.559 --> 0:11:49.880 back in May, and then I recently did one with 0:11:50.080 --> 0:11:53.880 Madison Werner on anti Semitism and a bunch of other folks. 0:11:54.200 --> 0:11:57.760 And I was curious, how you choose the videos that 0:11:57.800 --> 0:11:59.119 you're gonna talk about. 0:11:59.320 --> 0:12:02.120 Well, it's it's kind of like a complex process because 0:12:02.440 --> 0:12:04.680 what I think is interesting isn't always what my audience 0:12:04.720 --> 0:12:07.680 thinks is interesting. And so I had two interns last summer, 0:12:07.880 --> 0:12:10.920 Zada Jakil Zada and Maggie Giles, and they were like, 0:12:10.920 --> 0:12:12.600 you should just do a census, like the way that 0:12:12.840 --> 0:12:14.920 you know. That's how it's the best way to get information, 0:12:15.000 --> 0:12:17.320 not just to assume and to guess, but to ask 0:12:17.400 --> 0:12:20.079 your followers, like, hey, community, what do you want to 0:12:20.120 --> 0:12:22.439 learn about from me? And it doesn't mean I'm just 0:12:22.440 --> 0:12:24.959 gonna do exactly what they say, because it's still my page. 0:12:25.040 --> 0:12:27.120 It's still I still have to be interested and passionate 0:12:27.120 --> 0:12:28.840 and excited by it. But at least I can have 0:12:28.880 --> 0:12:32.040 some orientation. And I also do a lot of polling 0:12:32.040 --> 0:12:34.400 on Patreon. I was gonna spend so much time learning 0:12:34.400 --> 0:12:36.640 computer science so I could do a lesson on algorithms, 0:12:36.800 --> 0:12:38.760 and then I was like, hey, community, do y'all want 0:12:38.760 --> 0:12:40.440 to learn about algorithms? And they were like nah, And 0:12:40.480 --> 0:12:42.760 I was like, great, I'm glad I didn't spend any 0:12:42.760 --> 0:12:44.559 more time on that then I needed to. I'm still 0:12:44.600 --> 0:12:46.840 trying to get like the order of things correct, but 0:12:47.040 --> 0:12:49.400 I try to capture what is going undiscussed or what 0:12:49.400 --> 0:12:52.920 a lot of folks have just missing gaps of information on. 0:12:53.160 --> 0:12:55.520 And it's hard to do it in a way that's 0:12:55.559 --> 0:12:57.560 timely because I don't want to have to drop everything 0:12:57.559 --> 0:12:59.720 and like go out and get the stuff together, but 0:12:59.760 --> 0:13:02.000 still being mindful enough to be like, Okay, well, this 0:13:02.120 --> 0:13:04.360 month is you know, Black History months, so I'm going 0:13:04.400 --> 0:13:06.400 to focus more on Black history. It's Pride, so I'm 0:13:06.400 --> 0:13:08.240 going to focus on what Pride Month is and how 0:13:08.280 --> 0:13:11.000 to watch out for rainbow washing. During Earth Day, I 0:13:11.000 --> 0:13:12.920 did a lesson on greenwashing and what it looks like 0:13:12.920 --> 0:13:15.440 when companies are just like, oh, we love the planet, 0:13:15.440 --> 0:13:17.400 and it's like, no, you use a ton of like 0:13:17.440 --> 0:13:20.080 single use plastics. They're just greed and so we're supposed 0:13:20.080 --> 0:13:22.200 to think, like, you know, you're not fooling us. And 0:13:22.240 --> 0:13:24.560 then when I did recently do one that kind of 0:13:24.679 --> 0:13:27.960 touched very briefly on a pop culture moment, but I 0:13:28.040 --> 0:13:29.880 made sure not to like name the celebrity that like 0:13:29.920 --> 0:13:32.280 said the faux pas, because I don't want to turn 0:13:32.320 --> 0:13:36.360 the conversation into you know, pop culture commentary. I want 0:13:36.400 --> 0:13:38.240 to like bring it back to the material, di engage 0:13:38.240 --> 0:13:40.160 somebody and be like, hey, remember that, Yeah that was weird. 0:13:40.360 --> 0:13:42.760 Here's why it was weird. Let's learn and grow instead 0:13:42.760 --> 0:13:45.280 of it being like, let's shit on the celebrity, because 0:13:45.320 --> 0:13:47.000 that's not what my classroom's about. 0:13:47.600 --> 0:13:48.600 It's interesting, you know. 0:13:48.840 --> 0:13:51.679 So for a while I did a lot of entertainment reporting, 0:13:51.760 --> 0:13:53.880 and people would ask me because I was a political 0:13:53.920 --> 0:13:55.480 science major, and they would be like, well, why are 0:13:55.520 --> 0:13:58.680 you doing like entertainment stuff? And I always felt like 0:13:58.720 --> 0:14:01.199 pop culture held a mirror up to where we are 0:14:01.240 --> 0:14:03.920 and where we're going, and gave us such a great 0:14:04.440 --> 0:14:08.160 sort of water cooler way of talking about complicated issues 0:14:08.679 --> 0:14:13.160 and bringing them into a SoundBite that everybody heard about, 0:14:13.320 --> 0:14:15.760 understood and then could pick apart exactly. 0:14:16.080 --> 0:14:18.160 And it's just so much more approachable. And I think 0:14:18.160 --> 0:14:21.360 when folks say that, I think, particularly again being from 0:14:21.440 --> 0:14:24.480 LA having such a connection to like you would see 0:14:24.480 --> 0:14:26.040 some celebrities all the time, Like every time we went 0:14:26.040 --> 0:14:27.720 to the mall, we'd see somebody, not every time, but 0:14:27.760 --> 0:14:31.320 like often that if we all can view somebody in 0:14:31.320 --> 0:14:34.440 our pop culture like context as important, like I recently 0:14:34.480 --> 0:14:37.040 met Lil Nazex, Like, for fifteen seconds, I felt very 0:14:37.080 --> 0:14:39.680 compelled to tell Little Nazex in those fifteen seconds what 0:14:39.760 --> 0:14:41.560 he meant to queer young people and that if he 0:14:41.600 --> 0:14:43.880 ever feels like the criticism is too much, that he 0:14:43.920 --> 0:14:45.960 literally helps people feel like they can exist and that's 0:14:46.000 --> 0:14:48.480 so important and that's beautiful. And then he's like whoa, 0:14:48.560 --> 0:14:49.760 And then I was like, can we take a selfie? 0:14:49.920 --> 0:14:52.800 And then we did. But that's really, in a nutshell, 0:14:52.840 --> 0:14:56.960 what it is when people don't don't feel as though 0:14:57.000 --> 0:14:59.160 they can be themselves because they've been so oppressed, they've 0:14:59.200 --> 0:15:01.680 been so harmed, and then they see somebody being successful, 0:15:01.720 --> 0:15:04.880 being loud, being praised for being themselves, then that person, 0:15:04.920 --> 0:15:07.560 wherever they might be, be able to hit through another day. 0:15:08.000 --> 0:15:10.280 And that's huge. And when we reduce pop culture to 0:15:10.400 --> 0:15:13.080 like something that's not deeper doesn't matter, Like, Okay, those 0:15:13.120 --> 0:15:14.840 same folks might think that the periodic table is like 0:15:14.840 --> 0:15:17.480 super important, but like, is that really like interfering with 0:15:17.480 --> 0:15:19.800 people's daily lives. Are they really thinking about like helium 0:15:19.800 --> 0:15:21.800 and oxygen in the same way. Yes, they're dealing with 0:15:21.800 --> 0:15:24.000 helium and oxygen because they're breathing or at least the oxygen, 0:15:24.320 --> 0:15:28.360 but like what connects to different people is so varied. 0:15:28.760 --> 0:15:31.320 And however, we can get people from point A to 0:15:31.360 --> 0:15:33.840 point B, which is like you know, interest to understanding 0:15:34.400 --> 0:15:36.560 the better and whatever method it takes us to get 0:15:36.600 --> 0:15:39.720 folks through that is a good one. And entertainment is 0:15:39.720 --> 0:15:41.320 such an approchonal one to do it through. 0:15:41.920 --> 0:15:45.160 What's an overlook chapter or event in history that you 0:15:45.160 --> 0:15:46.440 think people could learn a lot from. 0:15:46.520 --> 0:15:49.720 I think Reconstruction, And I say that immediately because it 0:15:49.760 --> 0:15:52.960 was the time period where the United States government was like, okay, 0:15:53.080 --> 0:15:55.680 chattle slavery, no more of that, or at least in 0:15:55.720 --> 0:15:58.600 a different way, because they're still slavery in the context 0:15:58.640 --> 0:16:02.480 of prison, but it's definitely different because people aren't being bought, sold, inherited, 0:16:02.480 --> 0:16:04.440 and traded like property in the same way that was 0:16:04.480 --> 0:16:07.720 happening prior to eighteen sixty five. And why I think 0:16:07.760 --> 0:16:10.480 it's so important is because there was this moment where 0:16:11.360 --> 0:16:14.520 life could have gone so many different ways. Speaking of 0:16:14.520 --> 0:16:16.120 pop culture, like if you look at the multiverse and 0:16:16.160 --> 0:16:18.440 all those things with like Spider Man and Marvel, like 0:16:18.680 --> 0:16:20.440 the way that they're like, oh, this timeline could go 0:16:20.480 --> 0:16:22.160 this way and that way, like Okay, cool, but like 0:16:22.240 --> 0:16:25.520 apply that to historical context. We literally could have had 0:16:25.520 --> 0:16:28.880 a country where all of the different plantations were redistributed 0:16:28.920 --> 0:16:30.880 to the people who had made those plantations possible. The 0:16:30.960 --> 0:16:35.880 enslaved people, provided reparations, provided literacy programs, and what ended 0:16:35.960 --> 0:16:38.640 up happening was a bunch of private efforts to do 0:16:38.680 --> 0:16:41.320 those things. But imagine if the United States government said, like, hey, 0:16:41.400 --> 0:16:43.800 let's be accountable to the harms that we've perpetuated against 0:16:43.800 --> 0:16:48.400 not only enslaved Black Americans, but against displaced indigenous Americans. 0:16:48.440 --> 0:16:50.080 We would be living in a different country. We'd have 0:16:50.160 --> 0:16:53.480 different values. And so many folks want to look at 0:16:53.480 --> 0:16:56.280 the civil rights movement, but that's very studied, but the 0:16:56.320 --> 0:16:59.200 way that we got there was through this longer history. 0:16:59.240 --> 0:17:02.840 So I'm obsessed with reconstruction and it just shows you 0:17:03.680 --> 0:17:06.280 how progress can be stifled. And I think it's an 0:17:06.320 --> 0:17:09.320 important lesson, particularly as we're seeing anti trans bills, as 0:17:09.320 --> 0:17:12.240 we're seeing you know, don't say gay laws, and it's 0:17:12.320 --> 0:17:14.520 just really like, how did we get from point A 0:17:14.560 --> 0:17:16.639 to point B? And how do we not do that again? 0:17:16.800 --> 0:17:18.840 But if we don't look at the possibilities and the 0:17:18.840 --> 0:17:21.560 ways it's gone wrong, then we'll never strategize to get 0:17:21.600 --> 0:17:22.440 to a better outcome. 0:17:23.480 --> 0:17:27.919 Interesting when you mentioned reparations, for a while, I was like, 0:17:28.720 --> 0:17:31.199 I wonder if we did that in our country, if 0:17:31.280 --> 0:17:35.160 if it would almost backfire? And then as I thought 0:17:35.200 --> 0:17:37.520 it through, I was like, if we bring it down 0:17:37.520 --> 0:17:40.280 to a one on one level, if I do something 0:17:40.320 --> 0:17:42.720 wrong and I don't apologize to you, how are you 0:17:42.840 --> 0:17:46.320 ever going to be in conversation with me again? And 0:17:46.400 --> 0:17:49.520