1 00:00:11,720 --> 00:00:14,760 Speaker 1: Good morning, peeps, and welcome to OKAP Daily with the 2 00:00:14,840 --> 00:00:19,599 Speaker 1: Meet Your Girl Danielle Moody recording from the Home Bunker. Folks, 3 00:00:19,680 --> 00:00:24,840 Speaker 1: it has been an extraordinarily difficult week, and what scares 4 00:00:24,920 --> 00:00:29,280 Speaker 1: me is that we're actually existing in the in between place. 5 00:00:29,840 --> 00:00:34,800 Speaker 1: Donald Trump is not yet president for two months, but 6 00:00:35,560 --> 00:00:41,720 Speaker 1: the effects of this reality are really taking shape and 7 00:00:41,800 --> 00:00:44,519 Speaker 1: taking hold. And by taking hold, I mean taking a 8 00:00:44,600 --> 00:00:49,320 Speaker 1: stranglehold over half the country while the other half is 9 00:00:49,360 --> 00:00:56,280 Speaker 1: elated at their ability to cause pain and subject others 10 00:00:56,320 --> 00:01:02,240 Speaker 1: to levels of cruelty not experienced in modern times. The 11 00:01:02,280 --> 00:01:05,920 Speaker 1: rest of us are trying to figure out what a 12 00:01:05,959 --> 00:01:09,520 Speaker 1: path forward looks like. And I don't even mean a 13 00:01:09,560 --> 00:01:12,800 Speaker 1: path forward in terms of our politics. I mean a 14 00:01:12,840 --> 00:01:15,400 Speaker 1: path forward in terms of our day to day lives. 15 00:01:15,840 --> 00:01:22,520 Speaker 1: What does it mean to try and rebuild community, create 16 00:01:22,640 --> 00:01:26,440 Speaker 1: hopefulness when you are in the midst of despair, when 17 00:01:26,480 --> 00:01:31,120 Speaker 1: you find yourself breaking down into tears multiple times a day, 18 00:01:31,959 --> 00:01:35,560 Speaker 1: when you are experiencing a type of grief that takes 19 00:01:35,560 --> 00:01:43,120 Speaker 1: your breath away. And so today's conversation is with Stephen BlackBerry, 20 00:01:43,840 --> 00:01:49,240 Speaker 1: who I will tell you I needed this conversation so 21 00:01:49,480 --> 00:01:53,680 Speaker 1: very much, and the reason being is that we are 22 00:01:53,760 --> 00:01:59,480 Speaker 1: in the need, in need of radical healing and a 23 00:02:01,040 --> 00:02:04,000 Speaker 1: of where we think our lives are going. And Stephan 24 00:02:04,160 --> 00:02:08,919 Speaker 1: is the founder of the Clearing DC powered by Life 25 00:02:08,919 --> 00:02:15,320 Speaker 1: Well and it is a unique ecosystem around wellness and 26 00:02:15,360 --> 00:02:21,720 Speaker 1: community care, and he offers just so much depth and 27 00:02:21,840 --> 00:02:26,919 Speaker 1: perspective around how we need to see ourselves in this moment, 28 00:02:27,000 --> 00:02:29,360 Speaker 1: or I should say, an offering on how we should 29 00:02:29,360 --> 00:02:32,760 Speaker 1: see ourselves and our communities in this moment. And so 30 00:02:32,800 --> 00:02:36,079 Speaker 1: I hope as we close out the week here and 31 00:02:36,560 --> 00:02:40,000 Speaker 1: try and prepare ourselves for the weeks ahead, that this 32 00:02:40,160 --> 00:02:44,720 Speaker 1: offers a bit of solace, a safe space to sit 33 00:02:44,800 --> 00:02:49,520 Speaker 1: in for the duration of this interview. So coming up 34 00:02:49,560 --> 00:02:57,799 Speaker 1: next my conversation with Stefan BlackBerry. Folks, I am very 35 00:02:57,840 --> 00:03:03,000 Speaker 1: happy to welcome to Okay f Daily Stefan Bradberry, who 36 00:03:03,240 --> 00:03:08,720 Speaker 1: is the founder of the Clearing DC powered by Life 37 00:03:08,760 --> 00:03:13,440 Speaker 1: Well and Stephan. I want you to give us a 38 00:03:13,520 --> 00:03:16,560 Speaker 1: fifty thousand foot view, tell us a bit about the 39 00:03:16,639 --> 00:03:20,079 Speaker 1: Clearing DC powered by Life Well and the work it 40 00:03:20,160 --> 00:03:22,160 Speaker 1: is that you are doing. 41 00:03:22,960 --> 00:03:25,600 Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely well. First, happy day. Thank you so much 42 00:03:25,600 --> 00:03:29,639 Speaker 2: for having me across the life while ecosystem. We're imagining 43 00:03:29,680 --> 00:03:34,280 Speaker 2: new possibilities of care, connection, community and justice. And one 44 00:03:34,280 --> 00:03:36,400 Speaker 2: of the ways that we do that is the Clearing 45 00:03:36,400 --> 00:03:40,640 Speaker 2: Community Center. I envisioned the Clearing Community Center after reading 46 00:03:40,680 --> 00:03:45,240 Speaker 2: Tony Morrison's Beloved, where Baby Soaks Holy brings together all 47 00:03:45,320 --> 00:03:47,000 Speaker 2: the black books. You know, it starts off when more 48 00:03:47,000 --> 00:03:49,520 Speaker 2: and more there came Baby Sokes Holy, followed by every 49 00:03:49,560 --> 00:03:51,800 Speaker 2: Black man, woman and child made their great heart to 50 00:03:51,840 --> 00:03:55,800 Speaker 2: the Clearing, which was this place that Baby Sokes told 51 00:03:55,840 --> 00:03:58,440 Speaker 2: them that they weren't the glory bound pure of the earth, 52 00:03:58,480 --> 00:04:00,440 Speaker 2: and they weren't the meek and mild of the earth, 53 00:04:00,480 --> 00:04:03,640 Speaker 2: but they were people who deserve to be loved in 54 00:04:03,760 --> 00:04:06,360 Speaker 2: all of their fullness. That she told them to love 55 00:04:06,520 --> 00:04:09,880 Speaker 2: this here flesh of theirs. And I thought about what 56 00:04:10,040 --> 00:04:13,320 Speaker 2: it meant for the enslaved to love their flesh, or 57 00:04:13,360 --> 00:04:16,720 Speaker 2: the formerly enslaver, for people who, by Hoko krok have 58 00:04:16,839 --> 00:04:20,160 Speaker 2: found ways to survive and in some cases thrive, and 59 00:04:20,240 --> 00:04:24,960 Speaker 2: so life well really came from this idea that all people, 60 00:04:25,040 --> 00:04:28,000 Speaker 2: in all places, at all times should be free, healed, 61 00:04:28,040 --> 00:04:30,719 Speaker 2: and whole. And at the Clearing. What we've done is 62 00:04:30,800 --> 00:04:34,520 Speaker 2: we have a built up an amazing yoga community. So 63 00:04:34,600 --> 00:04:37,239 Speaker 2: we're the home of Flowel Yoga, one of DC's only 64 00:04:37,279 --> 00:04:40,520 Speaker 2: black owned yoga studios. We're not the only, but we 65 00:04:40,600 --> 00:04:43,440 Speaker 2: are one of the only. Inside of here, we have 66 00:04:43,960 --> 00:04:47,880 Speaker 2: to create well art collective because the artists are the 67 00:04:47,920 --> 00:04:52,080 Speaker 2: ones who screamed the calls of revolution. Artists are the 68 00:04:52,080 --> 00:04:54,680 Speaker 2: ones that help us look inwards to do outwards. And 69 00:04:54,760 --> 00:04:58,680 Speaker 2: so inside of our center we have a community gallery 70 00:04:58,960 --> 00:05:02,880 Speaker 2: where we're constantly up lifting the works of particularly Galus 71 00:05:03,040 --> 00:05:06,279 Speaker 2: of Color, but people who believe that their art should 72 00:05:06,320 --> 00:05:09,359 Speaker 2: stir the soul and should shake us towards being free. 73 00:05:09,600 --> 00:05:12,240 Speaker 2: We also have Advocate Well, which is our politics and 74 00:05:12,279 --> 00:05:15,159 Speaker 2: policy group, because I understand as someone who used to 75 00:05:15,160 --> 00:05:18,039 Speaker 2: work inside the United States Congress that it's an arena 76 00:05:18,080 --> 00:05:20,800 Speaker 2: and battlefield that some people have to be in. And 77 00:05:20,839 --> 00:05:23,720 Speaker 2: so we lead a team that's constantly thinking about how 78 00:05:23,760 --> 00:05:27,040 Speaker 2: do we put our ideals into action and into practice 79 00:05:27,080 --> 00:05:30,000 Speaker 2: and into policy and into law. And then we have 80 00:05:30,120 --> 00:05:33,080 Speaker 2: work Well, which is our well being consultancy. So whether 81 00:05:33,240 --> 00:05:36,440 Speaker 2: you own a yoga studio or you are the CEO 82 00:05:36,520 --> 00:05:38,760 Speaker 2: of a fortune five hundred company, what we do is 83 00:05:38,800 --> 00:05:41,680 Speaker 2: we help you see the limits to your systems that 84 00:05:41,720 --> 00:05:45,880 Speaker 2: prevent people from being well and help you strategize toward 85 00:05:46,120 --> 00:05:50,760 Speaker 2: environments and toward communities and spaces where individual wellness can 86 00:05:50,800 --> 00:05:54,400 Speaker 2: be tended to and communal well being can be uplifted. 87 00:05:55,200 --> 00:05:59,720 Speaker 1: I love every single piece of the collective and the 88 00:05:59,760 --> 00:06:02,800 Speaker 1: world that you're doing. And I must say that when 89 00:06:02,800 --> 00:06:06,560 Speaker 1: I lived in DC for many, many years, Flow Yoga 90 00:06:06,600 --> 00:06:09,920 Speaker 1: Studio was my favorite. 91 00:06:09,520 --> 00:06:11,400 Speaker 2: Yes, and that's where I did my teacher chain on. 92 00:06:11,800 --> 00:06:16,440 Speaker 1: Yeah. I lived up the street and attended classes often, 93 00:06:16,720 --> 00:06:21,720 Speaker 1: and so wonderful. You know, right now, as you are 94 00:06:22,040 --> 00:06:25,320 Speaker 1: well aware, and as everybody is listening to this, we 95 00:06:25,360 --> 00:06:34,960 Speaker 1: are living in really uncharted territory where people, namely people 96 00:06:35,040 --> 00:06:44,520 Speaker 1: from historically marginalized communities, are now recognizing that their government, 97 00:06:44,600 --> 00:06:48,359 Speaker 1: who has been elected to lead our government in twenty 98 00:06:48,400 --> 00:06:54,840 Speaker 1: twenty five, has no desire to see any type of difference, 99 00:06:55,520 --> 00:07:00,479 Speaker 1: to see or or create unity in this country, to 100 00:07:00,600 --> 00:07:05,760 Speaker 1: bring our divided states back together. There is a sense 101 00:07:06,400 --> 00:07:11,120 Speaker 1: right now of dread, of impending dread and doom and hopelessness, 102 00:07:11,560 --> 00:07:15,560 Speaker 1: particularly as many see the announcements day by day of 103 00:07:15,640 --> 00:07:17,800 Speaker 1: who is going to be leading some of our most 104 00:07:17,920 --> 00:07:23,800 Speaker 1: important agencies and departments in this country. And I want 105 00:07:23,840 --> 00:07:27,400 Speaker 1: to talk to you about a lot of folks are 106 00:07:27,400 --> 00:07:33,600 Speaker 1: saying they desperately need community, They desperately need to figure 107 00:07:33,640 --> 00:07:38,000 Speaker 1: out what it means to care for yourself in a 108 00:07:38,080 --> 00:07:40,840 Speaker 1: country that not only is saying that we don't care 109 00:07:40,920 --> 00:07:44,680 Speaker 1: about you, but that we're going to make targets of you. 110 00:07:45,280 --> 00:07:50,320 Speaker 1: Cruelty is going to be our new compass. Talk to 111 00:07:50,440 --> 00:07:57,560 Speaker 1: us about how we find stuff on grounding and healing 112 00:07:57,680 --> 00:08:01,480 Speaker 1: at a time when there is so much pain, and frankly, 113 00:08:01,920 --> 00:08:05,160 Speaker 1: we're not even really in the pain part. We're in 114 00:08:05,240 --> 00:08:08,000 Speaker 1: the between space right right. 115 00:08:08,480 --> 00:08:11,720 Speaker 2: You know, there's a few things. The first you know, 116 00:08:12,160 --> 00:08:15,840 Speaker 2: we're in these yet to be United States and what 117 00:08:16,120 --> 00:08:19,720 Speaker 2: could be potentially because I've heard a lot of and 118 00:08:20,040 --> 00:08:23,800 Speaker 2: we kind of heard this during the insurrection, that this 119 00:08:24,000 --> 00:08:26,480 Speaker 2: is not who we are, right there was a lot 120 00:08:26,520 --> 00:08:28,800 Speaker 2: of there's a lot of people that were talking like that. 121 00:08:29,720 --> 00:08:35,040 Speaker 2: And those of us who have been relatively conscious, those 122 00:08:35,080 --> 00:08:37,280 Speaker 2: of us who so happened to live on the other 123 00:08:37,360 --> 00:08:40,800 Speaker 2: side of the color line, know that this is exactly 124 00:08:40,840 --> 00:08:44,800 Speaker 2: who America is. This is exactly what we do when 125 00:08:45,000 --> 00:08:48,920 Speaker 2: multiracial democracy begins to show its head. You know, before 126 00:08:49,000 --> 00:08:50,640 Speaker 2: I owned a yoga studio, you know, I was a 127 00:08:50,679 --> 00:08:54,400 Speaker 2: scholar I am a scholl It and you know, I 128 00:08:54,440 --> 00:08:57,959 Speaker 2: was writing my master's thesis a while ago, quite a 129 00:08:58,000 --> 00:09:01,520 Speaker 2: few years ago, and I was in the archive, and 130 00:09:01,600 --> 00:09:07,280 Speaker 2: I learned about these moments post Civil War when multi 131 00:09:07,400 --> 00:09:10,360 Speaker 2: racial city governments were coming up all across the East 132 00:09:10,360 --> 00:09:13,400 Speaker 2: Coast and down into the South, and for what they 133 00:09:13,440 --> 00:09:17,679 Speaker 2: could do, they were thriving and all people were benefiting. 134 00:09:18,200 --> 00:09:22,640 Speaker 2: But the white majority in these places refuse to seed 135 00:09:22,800 --> 00:09:27,800 Speaker 2: their space. They refused to allow the city or their town, 136 00:09:27,920 --> 00:09:31,440 Speaker 2: and let's say, the country to grow beyond this need 137 00:09:31,520 --> 00:09:35,880 Speaker 2: to be white. That there is a history of black 138 00:09:35,920 --> 00:09:38,840 Speaker 2: folks being at the forefront and other folks of color 139 00:09:39,240 --> 00:09:43,400 Speaker 2: being a part of these progressive movements and pushes forward, 140 00:09:43,880 --> 00:09:49,040 Speaker 2: but always with this violent, let's say, hand tapping of 141 00:09:49,080 --> 00:09:51,080 Speaker 2: white supremacy constantly coming through. 142 00:09:51,280 --> 00:09:51,480 Speaker 1: Right. 143 00:09:51,960 --> 00:09:55,160 Speaker 2: And I have thought about when I was in the archive, 144 00:09:55,280 --> 00:09:57,080 Speaker 2: I was being I was very defeated because I was 145 00:09:57,080 --> 00:10:00,240 Speaker 2: trying to make this argument that if the United States 146 00:10:00,040 --> 00:10:03,400 Speaker 2: it was a democracy, we could only be that because 147 00:10:03,440 --> 00:10:05,719 Speaker 2: black people made it so, right, very similar to what 148 00:10:05,800 --> 00:10:08,640 Speaker 2: Nicole Hanna Jones was doing with the sixteen nineteen project Right. 149 00:10:09,200 --> 00:10:11,480 Speaker 2: And I was in the archive and I was seeing 150 00:10:11,520 --> 00:10:14,440 Speaker 2: that here are all these black people, these black folks 151 00:10:14,520 --> 00:10:18,680 Speaker 2: through time who, using this saying by Zoroloherson, by hook 152 00:10:18,679 --> 00:10:22,080 Speaker 2: a crook, found ways to survive and, like I said, 153 00:10:22,160 --> 00:10:25,600 Speaker 2: in some places thrive. And they did it because they 154 00:10:25,760 --> 00:10:31,560 Speaker 2: saw themselves in each other. And it kind of is 155 00:10:31,600 --> 00:10:35,800 Speaker 2: this thing of you could never believe in the veil 156 00:10:36,000 --> 00:10:38,720 Speaker 2: or the midst lies and illusions of what the country was, 157 00:10:38,800 --> 00:10:42,440 Speaker 2: because we bear the brunt of them. Yep. And that's 158 00:10:42,480 --> 00:10:45,839 Speaker 2: how we were able to forge community, not in response 159 00:10:46,000 --> 00:10:50,040 Speaker 2: to this visceral force of white supremacy, but in a 160 00:10:50,160 --> 00:10:54,560 Speaker 2: response in life affirming ways to say that, hey, actually, 161 00:10:54,640 --> 00:10:58,320 Speaker 2: whether or not the United States survived, we will. And 162 00:10:58,400 --> 00:11:01,160 Speaker 2: I've been thinking a lot lot about that over the 163 00:11:01,240 --> 00:11:05,040 Speaker 2: last week or so because in the immediate after, I mean, 164 00:11:05,160 --> 00:11:08,000 Speaker 2: I don't know about you, but Tuesday, you know, around 165 00:11:08,080 --> 00:11:10,320 Speaker 2: ten o'clock, my partner had gone to bed and I 166 00:11:10,360 --> 00:11:11,959 Speaker 2: started to see I said, oh my god, this is 167 00:11:12,040 --> 00:11:13,680 Speaker 2: not going to go the way that we wanted to. Yeah, 168 00:11:13,760 --> 00:11:16,040 Speaker 2: let me see a girl. I tried to go to bed. 169 00:11:16,080 --> 00:11:18,880 Speaker 2: I was tossing and turning. I couldn't figure it out. 170 00:11:19,360 --> 00:11:21,840 Speaker 2: And then I go to bed and spirit wakes me 171 00:11:21,920 --> 00:11:24,720 Speaker 2: up at three o'clock to see that Pennsylvania and Georgia 172 00:11:24,960 --> 00:11:27,880 Speaker 2: had gone to him, and I said, oh, it's over. 173 00:11:28,920 --> 00:11:31,520 Speaker 2: And I woke up on Wednesday and I was devastated. 174 00:11:32,000 --> 00:11:35,559 Speaker 2: I was devastated because for a moment I allowed myself 175 00:11:35,559 --> 00:11:42,480 Speaker 2: to maybe not forget, but to disremember what the country is. 176 00:11:43,600 --> 00:11:46,000 Speaker 2: But by the time that Thursday and Friday had come 177 00:11:46,040 --> 00:11:47,920 Speaker 2: around and I was here in the center, and I 178 00:11:48,040 --> 00:11:51,320 Speaker 2: was with people who had been nervous for weeks and 179 00:11:51,360 --> 00:11:53,880 Speaker 2: had constantly been asking me about what did I feel 180 00:11:53,880 --> 00:11:55,559 Speaker 2: and how did I think about things? And I said, well, 181 00:11:56,480 --> 00:11:58,320 Speaker 2: on this side or that side, we're going to have 182 00:11:58,360 --> 00:12:00,640 Speaker 2: to take care of each other. This is a long 183 00:12:00,679 --> 00:12:03,679 Speaker 2: way to say, like what is community. Community is more 184 00:12:03,760 --> 00:12:07,840 Speaker 2: than people of shared identity together. People would say that 185 00:12:08,000 --> 00:12:11,760 Speaker 2: pocs this tart, that we're community. Obviously, after last week, 186 00:12:11,800 --> 00:12:15,240 Speaker 2: we see that we are not right right that part. 187 00:12:16,400 --> 00:12:21,720 Speaker 2: And what community is is a vested interest in the success, 188 00:12:22,280 --> 00:12:24,960 Speaker 2: the health, the wellness and the well being of the 189 00:12:24,960 --> 00:12:27,760 Speaker 2: people that we are around. It is a commitment to 190 00:12:27,880 --> 00:12:31,480 Speaker 2: not abandon or disregard. It's a commitment to say that 191 00:12:31,760 --> 00:12:34,160 Speaker 2: I will step up when you have to step back. 192 00:12:34,200 --> 00:12:37,000 Speaker 2: It's a commitment to say that I don't have to 193 00:12:37,080 --> 00:12:39,800 Speaker 2: experience life for way that you do to see that 194 00:12:39,880 --> 00:12:43,720 Speaker 2: you deserve to live a just life, that you deserve 195 00:12:43,800 --> 00:12:45,880 Speaker 2: to live in the fullness of whoever it is that 196 00:12:45,920 --> 00:12:49,760 Speaker 2: you decide to be and in community is something that 197 00:12:49,920 --> 00:12:53,600 Speaker 2: requires a lot of us. And I think right now 198 00:12:53,640 --> 00:12:55,880 Speaker 2: in this moment, for people who are listening and for 199 00:12:55,960 --> 00:12:58,800 Speaker 2: people who are thinking a lot about what do we do, 200 00:12:59,640 --> 00:13:03,800 Speaker 2: I would say start with that small seat community, the 201 00:13:03,880 --> 00:13:07,280 Speaker 2: few people that you let intimately into your life, and 202 00:13:07,400 --> 00:13:11,680 Speaker 2: to start really really sitting there considering that when the 203 00:13:11,760 --> 00:13:15,280 Speaker 2: going gets tough, well the people that you around sell 204 00:13:15,360 --> 00:13:19,240 Speaker 2: you off, that they maybe have some hope and something better. Right, 205 00:13:19,240 --> 00:13:22,079 Speaker 2: because we're seeing a lot of people talk about, well, 206 00:13:22,080 --> 00:13:23,880 Speaker 2: I voted for the economy, or I did this, or 207 00:13:23,880 --> 00:13:26,520 Speaker 2: I did that, and now they're starting to see, wait 208 00:13:26,559 --> 00:13:29,559 Speaker 2: a minute, when they get done with y'all, they're coming 209 00:13:29,600 --> 00:13:30,400 Speaker 2: to us next. 210 00:13:30,720 --> 00:13:31,000 Speaker 1: Yep. 211 00:13:31,559 --> 00:13:33,720 Speaker 2: And so what community says is that we have a 212 00:13:33,960 --> 00:13:38,080 Speaker 2: vested interest in ensuring that there is nobody next. And 213 00:13:38,200 --> 00:13:41,840 Speaker 2: that is really at the core of what I'm thinking about, 214 00:13:42,080 --> 00:13:44,280 Speaker 2: because at the end of all of this, we want 215 00:13:44,280 --> 00:13:46,640 Speaker 2: to be able to say that we lived well, not 216 00:13:46,880 --> 00:13:50,960 Speaker 2: in response to visceral and violent forces, but in life 217 00:13:51,000 --> 00:13:54,760 Speaker 2: affirming ways and reminders that it is still worth living 218 00:13:54,840 --> 00:13:56,880 Speaker 2: so long as we keep, you know, getting up to 219 00:13:56,920 --> 00:13:57,240 Speaker 2: do it. 220 00:14:00,320 --> 00:14:06,280 Speaker 1: Everything that you just said, particularly about and defining community 221 00:14:06,679 --> 00:14:12,400 Speaker 1: and what you said about community makes so much sense. 222 00:14:13,200 --> 00:14:17,880 Speaker 1: And my question for you is what the election revealed 223 00:14:18,720 --> 00:14:24,600 Speaker 1: to your earlier point is that we are not in community? Right. 224 00:14:24,880 --> 00:14:29,960 Speaker 1: What you said about the veil being lifted, this veil 225 00:14:30,320 --> 00:14:33,440 Speaker 1: and I look at it as the veil between what 226 00:14:33,680 --> 00:14:39,680 Speaker 1: we had hoped for America and what America actually is. Yea, 227 00:14:40,160 --> 00:14:45,640 Speaker 1: that is what has been lifted. And when we recognize 228 00:14:45,760 --> 00:14:52,320 Speaker 1: now what America has been who America actually is, what 229 00:14:52,360 --> 00:14:56,440 Speaker 1: does it look like to forge community when half of 230 00:14:56,480 --> 00:15:00,520 Speaker 1: the country hates the other half of the country. Right, 231 00:15:00,600 --> 00:15:05,120 Speaker 1: Like you say, to invite those that you care that 232 00:15:05,240 --> 00:15:10,720 Speaker 1: have a vested interest in your thriving into your intimate space. 233 00:15:11,640 --> 00:15:14,720 Speaker 1: But we now recognize that people that we have had 234 00:15:14,880 --> 00:15:18,400 Speaker 1: in our intimate space, whether they be our colleagues, whether 235 00:15:18,440 --> 00:15:21,440 Speaker 1: they be our family members, whether they be our friends, 236 00:15:22,360 --> 00:15:29,600 Speaker 1: looked at us and put themselves first. Our grandparents voted 237 00:15:29,640 --> 00:15:36,120 Speaker 1: against their grandchildren. Yeah yeah, Husbands voted against their wives. 238 00:15:36,720 --> 00:15:41,880 Speaker 2: Mm hmmm hm. And it makes you sit and for 239 00:15:41,960 --> 00:15:44,840 Speaker 2: a while act, you know, and just being real. And 240 00:15:44,840 --> 00:15:48,320 Speaker 2: in my community, we've been saying, you know, out riding 241 00:15:48,320 --> 00:15:51,040 Speaker 2: the Metro or walking in the area and just you 242 00:15:51,080 --> 00:15:53,320 Speaker 2: find yourself just looking at people and you squint in 243 00:15:53,400 --> 00:15:56,520 Speaker 2: your eyes a little bit because it's like, girl who 244 00:15:56,640 --> 00:15:58,240 Speaker 2: sides you? Was it you? 245 00:15:58,600 --> 00:15:58,800 Speaker 1: Yeah? 246 00:15:59,280 --> 00:16:01,520 Speaker 2: Yeah, you know. So there's a lot of that, and 247 00:16:01,560 --> 00:16:03,040 Speaker 2: you know what, I'm going to be honest, I don't 248 00:16:03,040 --> 00:16:05,720 Speaker 2: have a clear, cookie cut answer. I wrote this essay 249 00:16:05,720 --> 00:16:08,640 Speaker 2: a few years ago, entitled returning to the Village, and 250 00:16:08,760 --> 00:16:13,880 Speaker 2: it was after reading Tony morrison Soula and reading some 251 00:16:14,840 --> 00:16:18,280 Speaker 2: a New York Times review book review of the book, 252 00:16:18,360 --> 00:16:21,560 Speaker 2: right and this white lady of this white reviewer, she 253 00:16:22,200 --> 00:16:26,200 Speaker 2: essentially says that one day Tony Morrison will grow beyond 254 00:16:26,240 --> 00:16:27,480 Speaker 2: this provincial place. 255 00:16:27,840 --> 00:16:32,280 Speaker 1: Yes, I actually I remember, okay, I remember that reveal. 256 00:16:32,480 --> 00:16:35,640 Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, and so one day Tony Morrison will 257 00:16:36,080 --> 00:16:38,920 Speaker 2: She's amazing, but one day she'll get beyond this. And 258 00:16:39,480 --> 00:16:44,560 Speaker 2: you know, Tony never really directly responded to that. And 259 00:16:44,760 --> 00:16:47,600 Speaker 2: I thought a lot about this idea of provincial as 260 00:16:47,640 --> 00:16:51,440 Speaker 2: if black people living in our fullness isn't the center 261 00:16:51,560 --> 00:16:55,240 Speaker 2: of our world. You know, so I'm like provincial, Like 262 00:16:55,280 --> 00:16:56,840 Speaker 2: that doesn't make sense to me. So I started thinking 263 00:16:56,840 --> 00:17:00,480 Speaker 2: about what it means to me to exist in my 264 00:17:00,600 --> 00:17:03,640 Speaker 2: black life, from my black livelihood, and I started thinking 265 00:17:03,640 --> 00:17:07,360 Speaker 2: about what Tony Morrison and word workers of her tradition 266 00:17:08,280 --> 00:17:10,760 Speaker 2: we're trying to do. Was essentially sit us all down 267 00:17:10,840 --> 00:17:14,720 Speaker 2: by a camp fire, and we sat around this fire 268 00:17:15,119 --> 00:17:19,160 Speaker 2: that is in let's say this village, and it's an 269 00:17:19,200 --> 00:17:22,840 Speaker 2: open door village. There are boundaries around it, but there's 270 00:17:22,920 --> 00:17:26,560 Speaker 2: one door coming through the front, and you could come 271 00:17:26,600 --> 00:17:29,199 Speaker 2: in and out of it as you please. But in 272 00:17:29,320 --> 00:17:32,240 Speaker 2: order to make sense of what's happening, you got to 273 00:17:32,280 --> 00:17:36,159 Speaker 2: release some stuff. You got to release this desire to 274 00:17:36,280 --> 00:17:39,800 Speaker 2: make them understand. You have to release this desire of 275 00:17:39,920 --> 00:17:42,360 Speaker 2: constantly responding. You know, they tell you that you don't 276 00:17:42,400 --> 00:17:44,560 Speaker 2: have a language. So you spend thirty years proving that 277 00:17:44,560 --> 00:17:47,480 Speaker 2: we have a language, the language. Yep, come on, they 278 00:17:47,520 --> 00:17:49,719 Speaker 2: tell us that we don't have you know, that our 279 00:17:49,760 --> 00:17:52,240 Speaker 2: communities aren't strong, and then you spend all this time 280 00:17:52,640 --> 00:17:55,560 Speaker 2: creating quote unquote traditional family you know what I'm saying, 281 00:17:56,240 --> 00:17:58,760 Speaker 2: ripping away the vestiges of who we are and who 282 00:17:58,800 --> 00:18:01,800 Speaker 2: we have been. And I started just thinking a lot 283 00:18:01,840 --> 00:18:04,959 Speaker 2: about this return to the village, and and and then 284 00:18:05,000 --> 00:18:09,399 Speaker 2: I started thinking about, well, this essay isn't about white people, 285 00:18:09,440 --> 00:18:12,560 Speaker 2: but but they they find themselves, and not just whites, 286 00:18:12,560 --> 00:18:14,960 Speaker 2: but let's just say non black people that they find 287 00:18:15,000 --> 00:18:18,000 Speaker 2: themselves with their hands cupped over their ears at the 288 00:18:18,080 --> 00:18:21,119 Speaker 2: village door. They want to study us, They want to 289 00:18:21,160 --> 00:18:22,959 Speaker 2: they want to see how do y'all how does the 290 00:18:23,000 --> 00:18:26,480 Speaker 2: fire stay lit? How do y'all stay so the worst 291 00:18:26,480 --> 00:18:29,240 Speaker 2: of humanity throwing your way, and yet you still create 292 00:18:29,320 --> 00:18:31,919 Speaker 2: the jazz and blues. It's like you still find a 293 00:18:31,960 --> 00:18:34,720 Speaker 2: way to dance and to celebrate. I mean, I think 294 00:18:34,760 --> 00:18:37,399 Speaker 2: one of the things about Kamala is that that was 295 00:18:38,040 --> 00:18:40,560 Speaker 2: at least inspiring to me is that you know that 296 00:18:40,640 --> 00:18:43,880 Speaker 2: she knows what half the country thought about her. Mm hmm. 297 00:18:44,520 --> 00:18:48,320 Speaker 2: I don't think that she, by any means was off 298 00:18:48,400 --> 00:18:51,000 Speaker 2: about what the nation thought about not just her but 299 00:18:51,080 --> 00:18:55,680 Speaker 2: the people like her. And yet she found ways to 300 00:18:55,720 --> 00:18:58,359 Speaker 2: get a nation to laugh and dance, or to people 301 00:18:58,400 --> 00:19:00,520 Speaker 2: in fiber Nation to laugh and dance for a sec 302 00:19:00,640 --> 00:19:03,679 Speaker 2: and to just for a moment see that, Hey, life 303 00:19:03,760 --> 00:19:06,399 Speaker 2: is still worth living, even though it doesn't book the 304 00:19:06,400 --> 00:19:08,639 Speaker 2: way that we fully wanted to. So going back to 305 00:19:08,680 --> 00:19:12,360 Speaker 2: this point of people who voted against us, people, I really, 306 00:19:12,920 --> 00:19:15,120 Speaker 2: let me tell you ding they are at the furthest 307 00:19:15,240 --> 00:19:18,360 Speaker 2: edge of my mind. They will have to be dealt with. 308 00:19:18,800 --> 00:19:21,399 Speaker 2: Let me be clear, but I know that the final 309 00:19:21,440 --> 00:19:25,440 Speaker 2: assignment of white supremacy is to destroy whiteness itself. And 310 00:19:25,600 --> 00:19:27,600 Speaker 2: what my God says is that the last will be 311 00:19:27,680 --> 00:19:31,080 Speaker 2: first and the first shall be last. I'm actually less 312 00:19:31,119 --> 00:19:35,760 Speaker 2: concerned about them being dealt with and more concerned about 313 00:19:35,800 --> 00:19:39,800 Speaker 2: have I created the conditions and being inside of the 314 00:19:39,880 --> 00:19:42,840 Speaker 2: spaces that I'm with people who aren't constantly trying to 315 00:19:42,880 --> 00:19:46,159 Speaker 2: respond to them. You know, in the commentary on my 316 00:19:46,400 --> 00:19:49,280 Speaker 2: I'm like or like the people on the news right now, 317 00:19:49,359 --> 00:19:51,200 Speaker 2: black folks going on the news, and I'm like, y'all 318 00:19:51,200 --> 00:19:53,400 Speaker 2: can just say that the nation is racist as hell. 319 00:19:54,280 --> 00:19:55,960 Speaker 2: Let's let's let's actually get to THEO. 320 00:19:56,280 --> 00:19:58,360 Speaker 1: If we want to grow, get to the let's get 321 00:19:58,359 --> 00:19:59,080 Speaker 1: to the root of it. 322 00:19:59,520 --> 00:20:01,200 Speaker 2: Yeah, let's let's name a thing a thing. 323 00:20:01,280 --> 00:20:06,280 Speaker 3: Let's seek here and say that for certain populations of 324 00:20:06,359 --> 00:20:10,640 Speaker 3: non black people of color, they understand that in this nation, 325 00:20:10,840 --> 00:20:13,560 Speaker 3: if you want to succeed, you know that you have 326 00:20:13,640 --> 00:20:15,800 Speaker 3: to swim in the waters of anti blackness. 327 00:20:15,840 --> 00:20:17,480 Speaker 2: You know that that is what you get in the 328 00:20:17,520 --> 00:20:19,240 Speaker 2: welcome packet when you immigrate here. 329 00:20:19,480 --> 00:20:19,840 Speaker 1: Come on. 330 00:20:20,720 --> 00:20:25,040 Speaker 2: And so I'm actually I'm not. I don't really they 331 00:20:25,040 --> 00:20:29,080 Speaker 2: are at such the corner of my mind because again, 332 00:20:29,680 --> 00:20:31,919 Speaker 2: I'm worried about those of us who are on the 333 00:20:31,960 --> 00:20:35,440 Speaker 2: side of life, living and justice. And on that side, 334 00:20:35,480 --> 00:20:38,119 Speaker 2: we got a lot to sort through, you know what 335 00:20:38,200 --> 00:20:40,760 Speaker 2: I'm saying. I think because at the end of the day, 336 00:20:40,880 --> 00:20:43,119 Speaker 2: let's say Kamala did get elected, we would still have 337 00:20:43,160 --> 00:20:44,440 Speaker 2: to deal with these horses. 338 00:20:45,119 --> 00:20:46,560 Speaker 1: Yeah, And I was just going to say, and I 339 00:20:46,600 --> 00:20:49,359 Speaker 1: think that that is right, Like I want I will 340 00:20:49,359 --> 00:20:51,480 Speaker 1: say this. I want to be in the space where 341 00:20:51,520 --> 00:20:55,000 Speaker 1: I say that these people are at the furthest edges 342 00:20:55,080 --> 00:20:59,000 Speaker 1: of my mind, because right now they are occupying the center. 343 00:20:59,840 --> 00:21:06,720 Speaker 1: I am riding this wave of despair where I have 344 00:21:06,960 --> 00:21:14,520 Speaker 1: dedicated my entire career to public service and public offering 345 00:21:14,600 --> 00:21:20,399 Speaker 1: in public education, using various platforms, positions, and spaces in 346 00:21:20,520 --> 00:21:25,560 Speaker 1: order to advance the rights of other people. Yeah, and 347 00:21:25,920 --> 00:21:36,080 Speaker 1: to witness America's forceful return to its origin story is wild, right. 348 00:21:36,200 --> 00:21:39,040 Speaker 1: And then to think like, did we come this far 349 00:21:39,240 --> 00:21:42,320 Speaker 1: to only get this far to be pulled all the 350 00:21:42,359 --> 00:21:47,200 Speaker 1: way back. And I feel like that is where people 351 00:21:47,240 --> 00:21:50,360 Speaker 1: are struggling right now, which is where there are some 352 00:21:50,720 --> 00:21:54,800 Speaker 1: particularly you know, black women who you are seeing on 353 00:21:54,840 --> 00:22:01,480 Speaker 1: social media since the election, say I'm done. I've tapped out. 354 00:22:01,720 --> 00:22:04,399 Speaker 1: Y'all take it from here, because we've been on the 355 00:22:04,440 --> 00:22:08,480 Speaker 1: front lines doing the work, being the warriors for justice, 356 00:22:08,520 --> 00:22:11,480 Speaker 1: only to look behind us and recognize nobody has our. 357 00:22:11,400 --> 00:22:15,560 Speaker 2: Right, nobody is there. Yeah. Yeah, And I think that 358 00:22:15,560 --> 00:22:20,000 Speaker 2: that's righteous. I think that that's holy. I think that 359 00:22:20,080 --> 00:22:23,720 Speaker 2: there is because I don't think that like because I've 360 00:22:23,720 --> 00:22:26,600 Speaker 2: been seeing you know again, social media is just a 361 00:22:26,640 --> 00:22:29,720 Speaker 2: hellscape right now, and and I've been seeing so much 362 00:22:29,760 --> 00:22:33,760 Speaker 2: of it, and I'm like, I don't hear that sisters 363 00:22:33,800 --> 00:22:36,800 Speaker 2: are turning away from us. I don't hear that. And 364 00:22:36,800 --> 00:22:39,040 Speaker 2: so when people are like, well, black, you know, they're 365 00:22:39,040 --> 00:22:41,879 Speaker 2: saying that they're done, they're done with y'all trying to 366 00:22:41,920 --> 00:22:45,760 Speaker 2: save you correct, but with me, And what I'm thinking 367 00:22:45,760 --> 00:22:49,320 Speaker 2: about as a black queer person is how how am 368 00:22:49,400 --> 00:22:51,720 Speaker 2: I getting in the ring? You know what I'm saying, like, 369 00:22:51,760 --> 00:22:54,639 Speaker 2: how how do how do okay? You know what y'all have, 370 00:22:55,160 --> 00:22:57,720 Speaker 2: It's time for all of us to step up and 371 00:22:58,160 --> 00:23:01,560 Speaker 2: how do I how do I confront where I can 372 00:23:02,600 --> 00:23:07,480 Speaker 2: the massage andoi of people in community who don't want 373 00:23:07,520 --> 00:23:10,040 Speaker 2: to see the space for black women to lead. Because 374 00:23:10,080 --> 00:23:12,639 Speaker 2: I started thinking about, you know, in my environments and 375 00:23:12,640 --> 00:23:14,520 Speaker 2: stuff that I've been in, you know, there have been 376 00:23:14,600 --> 00:23:17,720 Speaker 2: ample of moments where I have had to say, like 377 00:23:18,640 --> 00:23:20,720 Speaker 2: where we were in the room together and I wasn't 378 00:23:20,760 --> 00:23:23,800 Speaker 2: gonna let nobody play her. I didn't care right or wrong. 379 00:23:24,119 --> 00:23:26,680 Speaker 2: I got her in the same way that she has me. 380 00:23:27,400 --> 00:23:30,880 Speaker 2: And I think that there is something so holy to say, 381 00:23:30,920 --> 00:23:35,120 Speaker 2: you know what, nurse your own baby this time. Come on, 382 00:23:35,840 --> 00:23:41,200 Speaker 2: and I I, you don't have access to my flesh 383 00:23:41,280 --> 00:23:44,480 Speaker 2: no more. I think we should hold that for some 384 00:23:44,680 --> 00:23:49,640 Speaker 2: time now. I also think that it doesn't mean and 385 00:23:49,680 --> 00:23:52,280 Speaker 2: I'm telling no one how to feel about anything. I 386 00:23:52,320 --> 00:23:56,600 Speaker 2: don't think that what I'm hearing is that we're done forever. 387 00:23:57,440 --> 00:24:01,480 Speaker 2: I don't hear that as an y'all, I don't hear that. 388 00:24:01,840 --> 00:24:04,200 Speaker 2: What I hear is is time for y'all to get 389 00:24:04,240 --> 00:24:08,280 Speaker 2: your houses in order, because we're already here. Our house 390 00:24:08,400 --> 00:24:11,360 Speaker 2: is already in order. And when you you know, when 391 00:24:11,440 --> 00:24:13,600 Speaker 2: you get into it with us, you know, and I 392 00:24:13,600 --> 00:24:17,280 Speaker 2: think there's also something about like that Jewish women, Jewish 393 00:24:17,280 --> 00:24:19,280 Speaker 2: women and black women are the people who showed up 394 00:24:19,320 --> 00:24:23,000 Speaker 2: the most. Yep, I just I think that that's that's 395 00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:26,679 Speaker 2: saying something, and I don't know if we fully know 396 00:24:26,720 --> 00:24:29,159 Speaker 2: what it means. But all I know is all of 397 00:24:29,240 --> 00:24:32,880 Speaker 2: us who are not black or Jewish women, we got 398 00:24:32,880 --> 00:24:33,560 Speaker 2: some work to do. 399 00:24:36,760 --> 00:24:40,520 Speaker 1: I appreciate you and the work that you were doing 400 00:24:41,080 --> 00:24:46,119 Speaker 1: to try and help people make sense of what it 401 00:24:46,200 --> 00:24:50,240 Speaker 1: actually means to be well and to live well, because 402 00:24:50,280 --> 00:24:55,560 Speaker 1: there is a and has been a desire to lie 403 00:24:55,640 --> 00:25:01,000 Speaker 1: to ourselves in order to convince ourselves that everything has 404 00:25:01,119 --> 00:25:05,520 Speaker 1: been okay, because the adversity hadn't been so stark in 405 00:25:05,560 --> 00:25:08,760 Speaker 1: our faces as it had been for our ancestors. But 406 00:25:08,960 --> 00:25:12,320 Speaker 1: now that truth has arrived on our door and we 407 00:25:12,440 --> 00:25:15,320 Speaker 1: actually don't really know what's on the other side. History 408 00:25:15,359 --> 00:25:17,480 Speaker 1: can only be your guide to a certain extent. But 409 00:25:17,560 --> 00:25:20,800 Speaker 1: like I said at the beginning, we're in uncharted territory. 410 00:25:21,400 --> 00:25:26,200 Speaker 1: And so my last question for you is in knowing 411 00:25:26,280 --> 00:25:29,960 Speaker 1: that we are in uncharted territory, in knowing that you 412 00:25:30,240 --> 00:25:34,840 Speaker 1: may practice ways to find grounding to build community, but 413 00:25:34,880 --> 00:25:39,320 Speaker 1: that there still may be a bulldozer yeah, that waits 414 00:25:39,320 --> 00:25:43,280 Speaker 1: for you. There may still be flames that wait for 415 00:25:43,320 --> 00:25:46,200 Speaker 1: what it is that you're building. What do you say 416 00:25:46,240 --> 00:25:50,960 Speaker 1: to people that are really in the spiral of hopelessness 417 00:25:51,000 --> 00:25:56,160 Speaker 1: right now, knowing that safety, knowing that their idea of 418 00:25:56,280 --> 00:25:59,120 Speaker 1: safety right and we know that people have said for 419 00:25:59,280 --> 00:26:04,600 Speaker 1: centuries say is an illusion, But now that illusion is 420 00:26:05,200 --> 00:26:08,240 Speaker 1: it's very clear that it was true. It wasn't just 421 00:26:08,320 --> 00:26:10,919 Speaker 1: as saying, So what do you say to people that 422 00:26:10,960 --> 00:26:13,040 Speaker 1: are grappling with that reality right now? 423 00:26:13,640 --> 00:26:19,639 Speaker 2: Yeah? First, I would honor that it's really tough to 424 00:26:19,720 --> 00:26:24,399 Speaker 2: go through this type of identity crisis because during the 425 00:26:24,480 --> 00:26:31,600 Speaker 2: uprisings and all that was happening in COVID nineteen I, 426 00:26:32,200 --> 00:26:34,560 Speaker 2: before I had gotten there, I knew America was filled 427 00:26:34,560 --> 00:26:37,760 Speaker 2: with baltz. I knew the stories, I knew the history. 428 00:26:38,040 --> 00:26:41,280 Speaker 2: I come from a Vietnam War veteran who went and 429 00:26:41,320 --> 00:26:43,760 Speaker 2: signed up and served his country, not because he was 430 00:26:43,760 --> 00:26:47,879 Speaker 2: so patriotic, but because, as a black man in Niagara Falls, 431 00:26:47,920 --> 00:26:51,480 Speaker 2: New York in the middle of the twentieth century, there 432 00:26:51,560 --> 00:26:55,040 Speaker 2: were only a few options available to him. And I 433 00:26:55,160 --> 00:26:58,360 Speaker 2: know that when he came back, he went to bars 434 00:26:58,840 --> 00:27:01,800 Speaker 2: and he wasn't able to be served even in his 435 00:27:01,920 --> 00:27:07,080 Speaker 2: military uniform. I know that when Barack Obama ran from 436 00:27:07,119 --> 00:27:11,320 Speaker 2: president of the United States that my grandfather brimmed with pride. 437 00:27:11,840 --> 00:27:14,280 Speaker 2: I know that also because at the time I was 438 00:27:14,320 --> 00:27:17,159 Speaker 2: living in Texas, he refused to send me any of 439 00:27:17,200 --> 00:27:19,240 Speaker 2: the swag that he had made for the family. I 440 00:27:19,280 --> 00:27:22,359 Speaker 2: couldn't get a Barack Obama sweatshirt, a hat, a stick 441 00:27:22,400 --> 00:27:26,199 Speaker 2: that I can get nothing because he understood what the 442 00:27:26,280 --> 00:27:30,080 Speaker 2: country was, and he understood that even in the glimmers, 443 00:27:31,800 --> 00:27:34,760 Speaker 2: even in the glimmers, who we are. I think what 444 00:27:34,840 --> 00:27:36,720 Speaker 2: he says to me and what I would say to everybody, 445 00:27:37,000 --> 00:27:40,040 Speaker 2: it's time to be a witness. And to be a 446 00:27:40,080 --> 00:27:43,240 Speaker 2: witness means to stare it out into the world and 447 00:27:43,359 --> 00:27:46,359 Speaker 2: name exactly what you see, not what you want to see, 448 00:27:47,359 --> 00:27:50,680 Speaker 2: but what's there and what that allows us to do. 449 00:27:50,760 --> 00:27:54,879 Speaker 2: It allows us to become embodied, and only and embodied 450 00:27:54,920 --> 00:27:58,160 Speaker 2: people can be free. I think about those people who 451 00:27:58,200 --> 00:28:01,440 Speaker 2: stole themselves a way to freedom, people who maybe never 452 00:28:01,560 --> 00:28:04,119 Speaker 2: ever ever saw their reflection in a mirror, but knew 453 00:28:04,160 --> 00:28:07,119 Speaker 2: exactly what they looked like. They knew what they felt like, 454 00:28:07,200 --> 00:28:09,359 Speaker 2: they knew what they tasted like, they knew what it 455 00:28:09,400 --> 00:28:11,760 Speaker 2: would sound like for their feet to run on grass. 456 00:28:11,800 --> 00:28:14,920 Speaker 2: They knew what they smelled like and what the hounds 457 00:28:14,920 --> 00:28:18,760 Speaker 2: would smell, and yet they stole themselves away. And it 458 00:28:18,800 --> 00:28:21,920 Speaker 2: gets to this thing that it disembodied. People can never 459 00:28:22,000 --> 00:28:25,399 Speaker 2: be free, and we can't get free, healed or whole 460 00:28:25,720 --> 00:28:30,480 Speaker 2: disembodied or by ourselves. It means that we start seeing 461 00:28:30,520 --> 00:28:34,240 Speaker 2: that my wellness is my responsibility. At life all we 462 00:28:34,359 --> 00:28:38,120 Speaker 2: believed that wellness is the daily, moment by moment endeavor 463 00:28:38,160 --> 00:28:42,680 Speaker 2: of providing care to one's individual mental, physical, emotional, and 464 00:28:42,680 --> 00:28:45,840 Speaker 2: spiritual needs. Right, so it's tending to you that while 465 00:28:45,920 --> 00:28:50,480 Speaker 2: being is the responsibility and obligation of communities, institutions, and 466 00:28:50,560 --> 00:28:53,520 Speaker 2: more broadly, the state, we live in a time where 467 00:28:53,720 --> 00:28:56,959 Speaker 2: the nation doesn't believe it is their responsibility to provide 468 00:28:57,000 --> 00:28:59,440 Speaker 2: for our well being. So let's go to the next tier. 469 00:28:59,520 --> 00:29:03,480 Speaker 2: Our institututions, the places that we're working, that they have 470 00:29:03,640 --> 00:29:06,080 Speaker 2: vested interest in ensuring that we can provide for our 471 00:29:06,120 --> 00:29:09,360 Speaker 2: own individual wellness, and we should. We all ought to 472 00:29:09,400 --> 00:29:13,400 Speaker 2: gather and organize, you know, in whatever ways that we 473 00:29:13,440 --> 00:29:15,560 Speaker 2: can to push that forward, and then go the tier 474 00:29:15,800 --> 00:29:20,680 Speaker 2: under that community. You start to say, hey, actually we're 475 00:29:20,680 --> 00:29:24,360 Speaker 2: going to start putting together a bi weekly dinner and 476 00:29:24,400 --> 00:29:26,880 Speaker 2: you'll host it at your house this week. And we'll 477 00:29:26,880 --> 00:29:30,040 Speaker 2: also launch our book club together, and we'll go on 478 00:29:30,080 --> 00:29:33,280 Speaker 2: our walks here and we'll go and do this together, 479 00:29:33,440 --> 00:29:36,520 Speaker 2: or we'll just sit and be and become together, because 480 00:29:36,520 --> 00:29:40,200 Speaker 2: you start again to see that when we have each other. 481 00:29:40,800 --> 00:29:42,520 Speaker 2: And I'm not saying that this makes this is a 482 00:29:42,600 --> 00:29:45,360 Speaker 2: quick fix to everything, but I will say that every 483 00:29:45,440 --> 00:29:48,080 Speaker 2: day I come in here to this center, I see 484 00:29:48,120 --> 00:29:50,200 Speaker 2: what's happening in the world that I see what's happening 485 00:29:50,240 --> 00:29:52,800 Speaker 2: in people's lives, and I see the way that they 486 00:29:52,800 --> 00:29:57,360 Speaker 2: still laugh and they find hope and hopelessness. I see that, 487 00:29:57,560 --> 00:30:00,920 Speaker 2: like so long as life is choosing us, we choose it, 488 00:30:01,760 --> 00:30:03,920 Speaker 2: and there is for all the people who are listening 489 00:30:04,000 --> 00:30:07,280 Speaker 2: to this, it does. It does seem dreary, but let 490 00:30:07,320 --> 00:30:10,440 Speaker 2: me tell you. We may be an uncharted territory, but 491 00:30:10,480 --> 00:30:15,120 Speaker 2: this is not unfamiliar. Mm hmm. This is not unfamiliar. 492 00:30:15,920 --> 00:30:19,200 Speaker 2: And you think about it, Not all of us will survive, 493 00:30:19,920 --> 00:30:24,400 Speaker 2: but those of us that do, we demand witness. We 494 00:30:24,560 --> 00:30:26,640 Speaker 2: say that we're going to tell the truth. Because here's 495 00:30:26,680 --> 00:30:28,440 Speaker 2: the last thing. I know. I'm long winded. I'm sorry 496 00:30:28,680 --> 00:30:32,880 Speaker 2: The last thing I'll say is that we always think 497 00:30:32,920 --> 00:30:35,800 Speaker 2: about the New world, and we think about this world. Right, 498 00:30:35,880 --> 00:30:37,440 Speaker 2: we want to leave this one and we want to 499 00:30:37,480 --> 00:30:41,600 Speaker 2: go to the next one. What if we accepted that 500 00:30:41,680 --> 00:30:44,040 Speaker 2: those of us here probably won't make it to the 501 00:30:44,040 --> 00:30:46,760 Speaker 2: New world. But what can we leave for the rebble 502 00:30:47,440 --> 00:30:50,240 Speaker 2: that when this world is destroyed and they start cleaning 503 00:30:50,240 --> 00:30:52,520 Speaker 2: through the ashes, when they start lifting up the bricks 504 00:30:52,520 --> 00:30:56,040 Speaker 2: and the foundation, what did we leave them? Maybe not 505 00:30:56,160 --> 00:30:58,560 Speaker 2: all of it will be useful, but some of it 506 00:30:58,600 --> 00:31:02,720 Speaker 2: should be. And that's what I am living for. Because 507 00:31:02,720 --> 00:31:04,240 Speaker 2: when I was trying to live for the New World, 508 00:31:04,280 --> 00:31:05,960 Speaker 2: I was depressed all the time because I thought it 509 00:31:06,000 --> 00:31:09,800 Speaker 2: would never come. But I am. I am living for 510 00:31:09,880 --> 00:31:12,880 Speaker 2: the rubble, for the place in the in between, that 511 00:31:13,080 --> 00:31:15,440 Speaker 2: wilderness that people will have to map out. And my 512 00:31:15,520 --> 00:31:18,280 Speaker 2: hope is what we're doing here at the clearing, what 513 00:31:18,440 --> 00:31:21,760 Speaker 2: I am doing in my own individual life is something 514 00:31:21,800 --> 00:31:24,680 Speaker 2: that people can pick up hundreds of years from now 515 00:31:25,080 --> 00:31:27,840 Speaker 2: and find some use in it to talk about how 516 00:31:27,880 --> 00:31:29,880 Speaker 2: we relate to ourselves and to other people. 517 00:31:31,000 --> 00:31:36,600 Speaker 1: Amazing, amazing, Stephan, Please tell people how they can connect 518 00:31:37,240 --> 00:31:39,360 Speaker 1: to you, to the center, to your work. 519 00:31:40,040 --> 00:31:44,120 Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, so you can feel free to follow me 520 00:31:44,240 --> 00:31:47,680 Speaker 2: on social media across all platforms. It's stefan as te 521 00:31:47,800 --> 00:31:51,920 Speaker 2: Pho n Underscore JB. Same thing for the clearing at 522 00:31:51,920 --> 00:31:54,880 Speaker 2: the Clearing DC and you can find all the information. 523 00:31:54,960 --> 00:31:56,960 Speaker 2: You'll be able to find our website and I'm sure 524 00:31:57,000 --> 00:31:59,200 Speaker 2: we can maybe pass it along for the show notes. 525 00:32:00,080 --> 00:32:03,520 Speaker 2: But you know, understand that the digital is just one way. 526 00:32:03,720 --> 00:32:06,200 Speaker 2: You know, we understand that someday somebody can come and 527 00:32:06,280 --> 00:32:09,080 Speaker 2: erase all of that. Right. If you are in the 528 00:32:09,200 --> 00:32:12,040 Speaker 2: DC area, I invite you to the Union Market area. 529 00:32:12,120 --> 00:32:15,400 Speaker 2: I invite you to our clearing because from what I hear, 530 00:32:15,560 --> 00:32:17,600 Speaker 2: it is a place like none other. It's a place 531 00:32:17,600 --> 00:32:20,840 Speaker 2: where people feel sustained and fortified. Though the road may 532 00:32:20,880 --> 00:32:23,160 Speaker 2: be rough and weary, we know that we have each 533 00:32:23,200 --> 00:32:25,680 Speaker 2: other and we know that you know, so long as 534 00:32:25,720 --> 00:32:27,640 Speaker 2: life is choosing us, we'll keep choosing it. 535 00:32:28,280 --> 00:32:31,520 Speaker 1: I appreciate you so very much. Thank you for making 536 00:32:31,560 --> 00:32:33,200 Speaker 1: the time for WOKF. 537 00:32:33,760 --> 00:32:35,440 Speaker 2: Thank you, thank you so much. 538 00:32:38,800 --> 00:32:42,320 Speaker 1: That is it for me today, Dear friends on WOKF. 539 00:32:42,480 --> 00:32:46,920 Speaker 1: As always, power to the people and to all the people. Power, 540 00:32:47,600 --> 00:32:50,000 Speaker 1: get woke and stay woke as fuck.