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PONY ⭐️ UP Y’ALL 🏇
6 Plays1 year ago
Living a post "Cowboy Carter" release reality feels surreal. Beyoncé really did her big one!!!
Twitter: @GatherThemPod
IG: @GatherThemPod
Tumblr: https://www.tumblr.com/blog/weallgatherhere
Email: Gatherthempod@gmail.com
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Transcript
Introduction and Podcast Promotion
00:00:00
Speaker
Hey, everyone.
00:00:01
Speaker
Thanks for listening to Gather Them Podcast.
00:00:04
Speaker
I am Jerome, the host, the showrunner, the writer, the engineer, all of those things.
00:00:13
Speaker
I greatly appreciate it if you would leave a comment, review, thoughts, opinions, you know, wherever you get your podcasts, you know, it could be Apple Music, it could be Google, it could be Spotify, wherever you listen to your podcasts, rate and review.
00:00:31
Speaker
Also, share the podcast with your friends.
00:00:33
Speaker
This is how I can grow my listenership and expand the podcast a little bit.
00:00:41
Speaker
And again, I appreciate everyone that listens.
00:00:44
Speaker
And let's get into the show.
Powerball Dreams
00:01:16
Speaker
Welcome back to another episode of Gather Them Podcast.
00:01:19
Speaker
I'm your host, Jerome.
00:01:21
Speaker
And we're back on the show.
00:01:24
Speaker
It's funny, I ended last week's episode like very weird trying to sing and I was like, girl, why do I do that?
00:01:31
Speaker
But anyway, it's a new week.
00:01:33
Speaker
Brand new things, exciting things to maybe talk about.
00:01:39
Speaker
And I mean, not...
00:01:42
Speaker
I mean, things are exciting, but they're not like spectacular.
00:01:45
Speaker
Like, it's not like we've won a million dollars yet.
00:01:48
Speaker
Even though someone did, like the Powerball is kind of hot right now.
00:01:52
Speaker
I'm not, this is not like...
00:01:55
Speaker
promo to buy a ticket or whatever but like um powerball is hot right now and the numbers like pretty high i think it's in the billions again um which is a nice amount of money like i would honestly all right hold on sidebar i know this is like the introduction but this is like my adhd brain today um
00:02:16
Speaker
I would say if I won the lottery, like, I would definitely ask my friends and family.
00:02:21
Speaker
Like, honestly, I just probably, if I won that money, I just give them a million dollars up front.
00:02:25
Speaker
Like, I would give everyone a million dollars and just be like, that's it.
00:02:30
Speaker
That's all.
00:02:30
Speaker
You know, do what you want with that million dollars.
00:02:34
Speaker
Pay off debt.
00:02:36
Speaker
Um...
00:02:38
Speaker
buy a house like do whatever you want to do like and don't ask me for nothing else um but yeah i could see myself signing checks for like a million dollars to like friends and family um if i won the powerball
00:02:52
Speaker
But anyway, that's not what this is about.
00:02:56
Speaker
What this is about is at your back.
00:02:58
Speaker
And welcome on back.
Podcast Outline Challenges
00:02:59
Speaker
Thank you for returning to the podcast.
00:03:04
Speaker
I almost did not make an episode this week because I could not put together a...
00:03:12
Speaker
outline that made sense.
00:03:17
Speaker
I've been like very split brain and it'll probably be this way next week too.
00:03:23
Speaker
We'll see.
00:03:23
Speaker
I don't know.
00:03:24
Speaker
I get bursts of inspiration.
00:03:25
Speaker
We'll see.
00:03:26
Speaker
But that's what I really want to do.
00:03:27
Speaker
I'll talk about it in a second, but I've just been really busy.
00:03:31
Speaker
I have been feeling good.
00:03:34
Speaker
I've
00:03:40
Speaker
Not bad or anything.
00:03:42
Speaker
Been feeling good.
00:03:44
Speaker
Not depressed, which is good.
00:03:46
Speaker
Yeah, I've just been living, I guess.
Work Success
00:03:50
Speaker
And you know how that is.
00:03:53
Speaker
It's not something... Like, every day is just not special or spectacular.
00:03:57
Speaker
But I did finish a project for work that I was working on that I was pouring my sweat and tears into that.
00:04:06
Speaker
And it was just wild to get the reaction from my...
00:04:09
Speaker
team and my coworkers about how well I did.
00:04:13
Speaker
Um, because I, I knew I was like stumbling and I knew I was like mixing thing, maybe not mixing things up, but I was, um, trying, like I was talking, I think quicker than my slideshow was like going.
00:04:30
Speaker
And I think that that is, um, one of the things that I,
00:04:37
Speaker
I feel like when you know how the presentation flows or you know what you're going to talk about, it's hard to just section it off if it's a lot of information.
00:04:48
Speaker
So it was a lot of information.
00:04:51
Speaker
I got a lot of good feedback.
00:04:51
Speaker
It was like people were like, wow, this really informed me on XYZ, blah, blah, blah.
00:04:58
Speaker
So that part of it was good.
00:05:01
Speaker
And then I even got praise from my boss for it as well.
Grant Project and Budgeting
00:05:06
Speaker
But I'm also still working on my grant project, which is due next week.
00:05:11
Speaker
And I'm like very... I don't know.
00:05:18
Speaker
It feels like every time I'm almost done, I think of something else.
00:05:21
Speaker
That's the thing.
00:05:22
Speaker
When you are working...
00:05:28
Speaker
When you are like an adult, like I'll say it like that, it feels like when you're a kid and you're in school, it feels like, you know, you are the assignment is complete when you've met all of the marks.
00:05:39
Speaker
And I feel like that is.
00:05:42
Speaker
kind of open when you're an adult.
00:05:44
Speaker
Like there's endless bounds and hours and hours and hours of you can like just keep talking and or talking about an issue and it's like how engaged am I?
00:05:57
Speaker
How, you know, are people listening?
00:06:00
Speaker
Like what's going on?
00:06:01
Speaker
So for me, it is one of those things where a project like a grant proposal, for example, where I don't have a specific
00:06:12
Speaker
project or I mean I have a like you know like I'll say like this not a specific thing that I'm like working on in real life like it's very conceptual so for me it's one of those things where I uh start to feel like overwhelmed by all the options um like what feels like it's in my capacity like what feels like it's at my wheelhouse um
00:06:34
Speaker
for Grant that's conceptual, the ideas are just so broad and so big of what could be and how do you take that idea and then make it into something that's actually usable or doable.
00:06:51
Speaker
So since my idea is conceptual, it's just really hard for me to just... And it's a startup, so that's also another thing.
00:07:01
Speaker
It's not like this thing just flew out the sky, but like...
00:07:05
Speaker
It's a startup.
00:07:06
Speaker
And as someone that has never done nonprofit management or starting a business, I mean, a for-profit business.
00:07:19
Speaker
I've started a business, but it's just not for profit or it's not like I don't have employees and all of this and that.
00:07:27
Speaker
But it's just a lot to take in and it's a lot to think about.
00:07:33
Speaker
I will say I'm glad that this course gave me experience with budgeting because a lot of times when you want like macro jobs, they want you to look at a budget or create a budget or, you know, review a budget, whatever it is.
00:07:47
Speaker
So outside of personal experience, which I'm, you know, on budgeting, I feel like having an actual class that we sat down and talked about what net zero is and how, you know,
00:08:02
Speaker
you should always get to net zero in a budget.
00:08:04
Speaker
I was like, okay, that makes sense.
00:08:06
Speaker
And why programs oftentimes don't have any extra money left over because their funds are already allocated and like what that means essentially, or why a company can't give you a raise because it wasn't folded into the budget or like whatever.
00:08:23
Speaker
So it's just interesting learning all of that different stuff.
00:08:27
Speaker
And I will say it is like a challenge for me as I've not,
00:08:33
Speaker
done budgeting or grant proposals outside of grad school.
00:08:39
Speaker
Um, and even in grad school, we didn't do a budget.
00:08:42
Speaker
So, you know, um, but my presentation went well, still working on my grant project.
00:08:48
Speaker
That needs to be done by Wednesday.
Interview Nerves
00:08:50
Speaker
I have an interview, excuse me, on Monday and
00:08:56
Speaker
Um, which I don't know how it's going to go because, you know, that is a very, uh, the job itself is like a program analyst position and it's for behavioral health.
00:09:07
Speaker
It's through the city.
00:09:09
Speaker
Um, and I feel like I'll get it.
00:09:11
Speaker
I feel like a strong feeling about it.
00:09:13
Speaker
Um, like off the rip, um, excuse me, but I feel like once you got like after today, um,
00:09:26
Speaker
Excuse me.
00:09:27
Speaker
After today, like getting that praise from my team and then also just kind of almost feeling like when you're when you've like mastered something, it's always hard to do something new.
00:09:43
Speaker
And so this would be a something new for me.
00:09:47
Speaker
And because I've done a lot of direct care, I've done a lot of direct practice work, and moving into this space where all of my experience lines up, all of my, like, I have my master's degree, which is great.
00:10:02
Speaker
All of these things are, like, lined up, and it's, I don't know, it's, like, kind of scary how it's becoming real, or it feels like it's becoming real, like the things that you, like, I've asked for, and
00:10:16
Speaker
Like I've been wanting a macro job to offset therapy because I feel like I still want my clinical license.
00:10:25
Speaker
But I think for me, I have to have something that's like not as patient centered because it gets exhausting when you work with people like anybody and customer service, anyone that's worked any job working with a person.
00:10:43
Speaker
It is very frustrating to work with people.
00:10:47
Speaker
And I like therapy because it's a space where I can talk to someone like one on one and like, you know, really get their insight as to what is going on in their lives and like figuring that out or helping them figure that out.
00:11:04
Speaker
But other than that, like.
00:11:08
Speaker
It's... Oh my god, what the fuck is happening outside?
00:11:11
Speaker
There's like... There were sirens.
00:11:15
Speaker
Not too long ago.
00:11:16
Speaker
There's that siren just then.
00:11:19
Speaker
And then there's like... I'm leaving work in one of the buildings.
00:11:25
Speaker
I guess the student housing or like... One of those like really expensive condos or whatever.
00:11:31
Speaker
Their fire alarm was going crazy and then the fire truck had to come.
00:11:35
Speaker
But you didn't see smoke.
00:11:36
Speaker
So I was like, I don't know what's going on.
00:11:37
Speaker
But...
00:11:39
Speaker
It's been very active in Philly this week.
Weather and Home Comfort
00:11:42
Speaker
I think people are sensing the spring weather's coming.
00:11:44
Speaker
And next week it does look good for weather-wise.
00:11:49
Speaker
Like it's going to be 70-ish I think one day.
00:11:54
Speaker
which I'm, I'm excited about.
00:11:56
Speaker
I mean, in the sense of I'm ready for it to stop being cold.
00:11:59
Speaker
Like I'm running my heater in the background right now.
00:12:01
Speaker
Um, because it's like cold in my house and I feel like there's no balance anymore of just being comfortable.
00:12:09
Speaker
It's either too cold or too hot.
00:12:11
Speaker
And that's bugging the shit out of me, but yeah, that's it.
00:12:16
Speaker
I think for the week, um,
Career Day Preparation
00:12:20
Speaker
Let me see.
00:12:20
Speaker
I didn't have too much else to talk about.
00:12:27
Speaker
Oh, oh, the last thing was, um, well, two things.
00:12:31
Speaker
I'm kind of, I'm trying to unplug from social media a little bit, but that's kind of hard to do when you have a podcast.
00:12:37
Speaker
And then the other thing is, um, so I'm doing career day at my high school.
00:12:42
Speaker
I think I mentioned this a couple of weeks ago.
00:12:44
Speaker
Um, um,
00:12:45
Speaker
on a previous episode, but I'm doing career day at my high school and I feel confident in the sense of... Like if someone asked me a question about social work, I feel like I'd be able to answer it, but I'm a little nervous just in terms of what it's going to be like to possibly be around, um, like old classmates or, um,
00:13:15
Speaker
like just kind of learning like these students like of today, like it's very surreal to think that like I graduated from high school 14 years ago and I've been in like the Philadelphia public schools like since then, cause I've, I did TSS work, but it's just, I don't know.
00:13:38
Speaker
Like it just feels like reconnecting in a way.
00:13:43
Speaker
And yeah,
00:13:46
Speaker
I know it's going to probably be different because they changed a lot of, they changed some stuff on the outside.
00:13:50
Speaker
It's not that different, but they painted like a mural.
00:13:54
Speaker
They have a little like garden on the outside.
00:13:56
Speaker
So I can't imagine what kind of stuff they've done to the inside.
00:14:00
Speaker
And so I'm interested in seeing like what it looks like, you know, what the students are like.
00:14:07
Speaker
It's report card time.
00:14:08
Speaker
So I feel like people aren't really as like,
00:14:11
Speaker
super serious about their classes right now.
00:14:16
Speaker
I don't know.
00:14:19
Speaker
I just don't know.
00:14:20
Speaker
And I am very interested to talk to Alexis, who again will be on the show, to talk about what the experience was like for both of us going back to high school.
00:14:33
Speaker
Because we met in high school.
00:14:35
Speaker
So it'll be really interesting to have that take on.
00:14:41
Speaker
And that like conversation.
00:14:43
Speaker
So I'm looking forward to that part.
00:14:45
Speaker
I am looking forward to that part, the like reflection of it all and experience of teaching something to.
Life Lessons and Youth
00:14:55
Speaker
individuals that are younger than me.
00:14:56
Speaker
Like, I think that that to me matters because I feel like there are a lot of things I didn't really find out until I was an adult or things that my parents kind of held back on because I was, you know, too young to know.
00:15:12
Speaker
And it's like almost like these realizations have been coming up for me throughout my life since my parents passed of, you know,
00:15:24
Speaker
insight, knowledge, the wondering why, you know, all of those things, having some answer questions from those, whether it's like through experiences or talking to family members, or it can be anything, honestly, that's that I've just been through.
00:15:45
Speaker
I just there's a lot that I kind of wish I knew back then that I knew that I know now and I know it's not like one of those talks.
00:15:52
Speaker
This is just a, you know, very career focused talk.
00:15:55
Speaker
But I think that even in that, like, I wish that.
00:16:01
Speaker
Because all that, you know, in high school, all we were taught was just like, you go to college and you go to college and you go to college and you go to college.
00:16:09
Speaker
And if you go to the military, you still go to college.
00:16:11
Speaker
So I'm very interested to provide adult wisdom and insight.
00:16:18
Speaker
And also to like, I don't want to go in and be like super proper, like,
00:16:22
Speaker
People do that.
00:16:24
Speaker
And I feel like that's just that's you're not connecting as well.
00:16:29
Speaker
I feel like that is very hard to do in general.
00:16:35
Speaker
But I the reality of it all is, is that like.
00:16:39
Speaker
the world is falling apart and we do need people in these careers that aren't just like a social media influencer or like a, like selling yourself as a brand.
00:16:55
Speaker
Like we don't really need that as much.
00:17:01
Speaker
And what we do need is people that are going to, that are, that have skills, that have the know-how, that can figure things out.
00:17:08
Speaker
We need more money across the board.
00:17:12
Speaker
Or the price.
00:17:12
Speaker
I feel like, honestly, at this point, either the prices of things just got to get lower.
00:17:17
Speaker
Like, if the money is not going to increase, like, then we got to tune back on some of that bullshit with raising prices on stuff.
00:17:27
Speaker
But yeah, I just feel like being, like, very real or as real as I can be with, like,
00:17:34
Speaker
teenagers, adolescents, like, is important.
00:17:40
Speaker
And not to, like, scare anyone, but just to, like...
00:17:44
Speaker
put it into perspective of this is what we're dealing with, you know, and this is what it can look like when you enter these spaces.
00:17:52
Speaker
And this is what you're going to guess, you know, you're going to be wondering, damn, is this person like have something against me?
00:18:01
Speaker
Like, why are they acting this way to me?
00:18:04
Speaker
I feel like we don't really learn like conflict mediation.
00:18:08
Speaker
It's kind of something you just are taught or like you, how can I say it?
00:18:12
Speaker
You're not taught it, but you're like,
00:18:16
Speaker
You get influenced by it with adults.
00:18:18
Speaker
Like no one's actually, I've never sat down and had a conflict resolution class or I've never sat down and had like a course or something about that in my time in school.
00:18:29
Speaker
Even as a therapist, like we talk about de-escalation and like what that looks like, but that's not to say that every situation is going to be a
00:18:44
Speaker
situation that revolves that is going to be like going from zero to 100 you know there's levels and um we aren't really like taught those levels in school because we're taught like all this other stuff doesn't like like useless for the most part but it's only going to matter if you like focus in the field you know so
00:19:10
Speaker
Yeah, I'm very interested
Unplugging and Degrassi
00:19:12
Speaker
in that.
00:19:12
Speaker
I'm very excited to talk about that.
00:19:15
Speaker
I'll try to hold my opinions until the episode.
00:19:20
Speaker
So I can, you know, chat with it, chat with Alexis about it.
00:19:26
Speaker
What else?
00:19:27
Speaker
I think that was my last thing.
00:19:28
Speaker
That was my last thing.
00:19:31
Speaker
Those were just kind of like my weekly updates, things that I've just been noted or kind of thinking about or things that have happened.
00:19:41
Speaker
I don't have a segment or a new segment.
00:19:44
Speaker
And we're just going to jump into the Media Lab.
00:19:47
Speaker
We're going to talk about...
00:19:49
Speaker
Two things.
00:19:51
Speaker
One, we're going to talk about Degrassi, The Next Generation, to be specific.
00:19:59
Speaker
So what actually made me think about this was since I'm going on my social media break that I, or not break, but I'm plugging a bit.
00:20:07
Speaker
So I'm trying to not use social media as much at home, unless I'm working on something specific or like allowing myself like
00:20:17
Speaker
Or locking my apps out.
00:20:19
Speaker
When you do that thing where you put the timer or you set a limit for one minute and then the app locks you out and you have to request more time by putting in your password...
00:20:30
Speaker
Um, I'm having a lot of my apps just locked out so that if I click it, I'm like, oh yeah, I can't get on it right now.
00:20:38
Speaker
Or I'll have to like put in my password if I want 15 minutes to, um, be on the apps.
00:20:46
Speaker
Um, but if I'm like working on something like on my computer or, um, something that is, uh, like for the podcast or whatever, like, I feel like
00:20:57
Speaker
those would be more of me, the times of me using social media for an intentional purpose.
00:21:05
Speaker
Like, I can't keep doom scrolling.
00:21:08
Speaker
I can't keep hearing everybody's thoughts and opinions on stuff.
00:21:13
Speaker
Like, I don't, it's not that I don't care, but I feel like a lot of people that go viral or that have these, like,
00:21:22
Speaker
big post or whatever.
00:21:25
Speaker
Like, it just feels like it's nonsense.
00:21:27
Speaker
It feels like it is... There's nothing of substance.
00:21:33
Speaker
I just saw something today about this... I don't even watch the whole... Like, I honestly did not watch the whole thing.
00:21:41
Speaker
It was a clip of something that I saw someone post before, but it was about...
00:21:46
Speaker
these men and they popped this balloon and like, if you know what I'm talking about, like, you know, you know, if you know, you know, um, if you don't, don't worry about it.
00:21:57
Speaker
But it was about these like men, um, who were, I guess, popping balloons.
00:22:02
Speaker
Um, this is me watching the one minute and 30 second clip, but, um, they popped their balloons and then talked about why they popped their balloon.
00:22:09
Speaker
Um, and then the, uh,
00:22:14
Speaker
Guys were basically supposed to, I guess, keep their balloons unpopped if they were interested in the person.
00:22:20
Speaker
But the guys, they were going down the line and the guys were talking about why they didn't pop their balloons.
00:22:28
Speaker
And for me, it just... Like, the commentary around... Dating and relationships right now is...
00:22:42
Speaker
interesting but I also feel like it's for it's interesting but it's also for various reasons and the reasoning of like you're just not my type when you don't really know someone is odd to me
00:23:02
Speaker
Like, I get it.
00:23:04
Speaker
Like, you know, you're attracted to who you're attracted to at the end of the day.
00:23:08
Speaker
But I can't keep doing this, like, conversation about dating and... Like, I can't do... Like, when people talk about love is blind, for example, like, I can't talk about...
00:23:24
Speaker
the shadiness and the almost like underhandedness of these dating shows because it almost feels like it's putting this expectation that dating is a game or that it's like fun and giggles because people are just starting to take it too far for me.
00:23:44
Speaker
So it's a thing of, and I'll get into Degrassi in a minute, but it's a thing of,
00:23:52
Speaker
I think for me, it's just a thing of saying to someone that I don't want to be walking around with someone that looked like my uncle when you also look mature.
00:24:09
Speaker
And you're 25 versus his 31.
00:24:14
Speaker
That to me sits so weird because the way in which these 20-somethings dress and act like they're older, like we just had this conversation on social media about how Gen Z looks like
00:24:31
Speaker
older than millennials.
00:24:32
Speaker
And I think for me, like being a millennial, I've been noticing that a little bit more, especially with the people that are, especially men, I'll say men more so with the beards and like the really scraggly beard or the dark circles, the like looking like you stayed up all night kind of vibe.
00:24:56
Speaker
The dress is just very much giving 40s sometimes.
00:25:03
Speaker
Like, this guy had, like, four braids or dreads in his hair or locks in his hair.
00:25:09
Speaker
And I'm just... And the way he was dressed, I'm like, this looks like you could literally...
00:25:15
Speaker
be in your 30s too.
00:25:17
Speaker
So... To say... Make a comment like that... I think they were just... I think he said it because his hairline was pushed back, the 31-year-old.
00:25:27
Speaker
But bitch, my hairline pushed the fuck back too.
00:25:32
Speaker
I'm just living with it.
00:25:33
Speaker
Like, you know, people can't control shit that they can't control.
00:25:38
Speaker
Like, you know what I mean?
00:25:39
Speaker
And I feel like something about like, oh, you know, having a pushback hairline, a little belly, like, that's not enough for me to like not want to talk to somebody.
00:25:52
Speaker
Like, it's enough for me to maybe be like, hmm, like,
00:25:57
Speaker
I'll entertain, but like, because the guy did not look bad.
00:26:00
Speaker
Like when I saw his face, I was like, oh, he looks pretty cute.
00:26:03
Speaker
Like he's not a bad looking guy, but I feel like all of the guys that they were asking the questions of, why'd you pop your balloon?
00:26:11
Speaker
They were just like, you know, iced out, bling, fancy dress, like very with the, you know, youth culture dressing, but still like looked older than like,
00:26:29
Speaker
You know, they were, I guess, saying that they were.
00:26:31
Speaker
So, needless to say, that's why I'm taking a social media unplug a little bit because I just feel like it's rotting my brain.
00:26:44
Speaker
It feels like I need to open a book.
00:26:46
Speaker
I need to touch some grass.
00:26:48
Speaker
And I'm glad the weather's going to be nicer soon.
00:26:52
Speaker
I really want to read in a park that I think I'm going to do.
00:26:55
Speaker
I'm going to try to read...
00:26:59
Speaker
Either I'm going to try to finish all good people here if it comes back to my e-reader from the library from Libby.
00:27:11
Speaker
If it comes, you know, and because another thing, I don't know why they're e-reader books that are on hold when it's an e-book.
00:27:18
Speaker
Like that doesn't make sense to me.
00:27:20
Speaker
I get that you have to buy the copy, but like it's an e-book.
00:27:23
Speaker
It should be cheaper.
00:27:24
Speaker
You should.
00:27:26
Speaker
Yeah.
00:27:26
Speaker
Anyway, and for a book to like for me to have to wait 50 something weeks, that's a little ridiculous.
00:27:32
Speaker
But some people give up their space in line.
00:27:36
Speaker
So we'll see.
00:27:37
Speaker
I might get back to that.
00:27:38
Speaker
But if I don't get back to all good people here.
00:27:41
Speaker
Then I want to do Gerald's Game.
00:27:43
Speaker
And so this is kind of on time for me, where I told my one friend, my one internet friend, Austin, who he reads a lot, like he reads...
00:27:55
Speaker
so many freaking books.
00:27:56
Speaker
Like, I don't know how he does it.
00:27:59
Speaker
Um, but he's like reading almost like a book a day.
00:28:02
Speaker
Uh, and for me, I get like headaches and migraines and I get tired of looking at the, at the pages, um, after a while, unless I'm like really into it and I'm speeding to the end, but that's me like jumping over the
00:28:19
Speaker
description to get to know what happens.
00:28:22
Speaker
But he's like reading like it in like two days, which is 800 pages.
00:28:30
Speaker
And so I told him, I was like, I want to read Gerald's Game because that's a book I have that I've not read.
00:28:36
Speaker
And I want to...
00:28:41
Speaker
just kind of, I guess, talk about it with him, um, or give him like my opinion or my thoughts on it because like, I'm getting into like the Stephen King kick again.
00:28:50
Speaker
Um, and so since I have this book that I've never opened, not once, and I actually got it from, I think either a thrift store, it might've been the thrift store, um, that I got it from or a bargain bookstore or something like that.
00:29:03
Speaker
Um, and
00:29:04
Speaker
But it was cheap and I was like, oh, this looks good.
00:29:07
Speaker
I'm going to get it.
00:29:07
Speaker
And then to find out there's also a movie for Gerald's Game, I was like, damn, like I need to hurry up and read this book.
00:29:13
Speaker
So it's kind of perfect.
00:29:15
Speaker
It all kind of lines up.
00:29:17
Speaker
My grant project will be out the way.
00:29:20
Speaker
I can start like the weather will be nicer.
00:29:22
Speaker
I can start reading again for personal fun and not make it feel like a headache.
00:29:28
Speaker
So I'm looking forward to it.
00:29:31
Speaker
But yeah, going back to Degrassi.
00:29:34
Speaker
So since, you know, we're not watching or we're not super tapped into social media, we're not, you know, really watching the best, the brand new...
Degrassi Episode Analysis
00:29:45
Speaker
newest and greatest.
00:29:46
Speaker
I wasn't really doing it too much anyway.
00:29:49
Speaker
Uh, newest and greatest, uh, TV show.
00:29:53
Speaker
Um, I still will go and watch a good movie, a new movie.
00:29:57
Speaker
Um, but for TV shows, I'm pretty tapped out.
00:30:00
Speaker
I'm not going to lie when it comes to anything new right now, I might watch Georgia Mary cause it looks horny, but I'm,
00:30:15
Speaker
I just need to figure out if it's bingeable or not.
00:30:18
Speaker
If it's bingeable, I'll binge it and watch it.
00:30:21
Speaker
But if it's not bingeable and I have to wait weeks for... Because I'm not going to do that.
00:30:26
Speaker
I can't do another show like that.
00:30:28
Speaker
I already do that with Abbott.
00:30:30
Speaker
And I'm trying to pace that out as slowly as I can.
00:30:34
Speaker
It's so funny because Crystal said on the read that she's trying to ration out Abbott.
00:30:42
Speaker
And I was like, yeah, girl, I'm trying to basically do the same because that's like one of the only shows that makes me like one of the only live action shows that's on right now that I can say by the end of every episode, I'm smiling.
00:30:56
Speaker
And I feel like I'm gonna need that a little bit more later on down the road.
00:31:03
Speaker
So 20, you know, it's gonna be an interesting 2024.
00:31:06
Speaker
But yeah.
00:31:08
Speaker
Yeah, so I feel like when it comes to new stuff, I can't... It's hard to focus.
00:31:12
Speaker
And so I've been revisiting Degrassi.
00:31:14
Speaker
And I think this time around, this is like maybe my third Degrassi rewatch from the beginning.
00:31:23
Speaker
From the new generation.
00:31:25
Speaker
Or the next generation.
00:31:26
Speaker
And I feel like there's stuff that I always pick up on or read into differently.
00:31:33
Speaker
Especially now because...
00:31:36
Speaker
it's 2024 and Degrassi, like, I think debuted and like the early two thousands, the next generation, like the high school Degrassi junior high and, um, Degrassi high were way earlier.
00:31:51
Speaker
Like those were like the first Degrassi's and then, um, they rebooted it and did next generation and brought some of the original, you know, cast back from previous episodes or previous, uh,
00:32:05
Speaker
series and things like that and so um it's interesting having grown up with it and seeing these episodes countless times like i will watch the end like whenever um but as a fully like grown adult watching this like watching these shows i'm like huh or it makes you think a little bit like
00:32:27
Speaker
I always knew, for example, that Hazel felt like the token black character because she didn't really have a plot, but it became way more obvious as I'm watching.
00:32:39
Speaker
And I remember, I mean, there was a lot of Hazel hate.
00:32:43
Speaker
Like I,
00:32:45
Speaker
remember being a part of that.
00:32:48
Speaker
And I think part of the reason why I didn't like her was because she was, she followed Paige, you know, almost to a T, like basically agreed on everything that she said or did.
00:33:00
Speaker
And then like, she didn't have her own storyline.
00:33:04
Speaker
So I think that
00:33:05
Speaker
for me, um, growing up as a black student, um, to not really see that many experiences from like Hazel, for example, and then Liberty was like the other black girl that, you know, ended up getting pregnant.
00:33:25
Speaker
And then, oh my God, the guy that Emma dated in the season, in season three, I'm not even there yet, but, uh, yeah,
00:33:32
Speaker
The guy that used to wear the headphones all the time.
00:33:37
Speaker
Forget what... I think his name was Chris.
00:33:40
Speaker
I think his name... I feel like that's right.
00:33:42
Speaker
I feel like his name was Chris.
00:33:44
Speaker
And how she had a relationship with him for a minute and that he disappeared.
00:33:48
Speaker
Like, I just...
00:33:51
Speaker
I was watching the episode where Hazel bullied that one girl for being Muslim and Arab.
00:33:59
Speaker
And I'm just looking back at that and I'm just like...
00:34:03
Speaker
damn, that's all we got from her?
00:34:05
Speaker
Was a moment of self-pity or self-internalized hate?
00:34:12
Speaker
Like, is that it?
00:34:13
Speaker
Like, that's all we get?
00:34:16
Speaker
So I felt like that was a little annoying for me to, I guess, rewatch or, you know, to relive.
00:34:28
Speaker
But this past episode, I just watched You Got the Look,
00:34:31
Speaker
Which is actually one of my favorite episodes.
00:34:34
Speaker
Season 3 had a lot of good episodes.
00:34:35
Speaker
Let's start there.
00:34:39
Speaker
You Got the Look was one of those.
00:34:40
Speaker
If you remember, that was the episode where Manny had the thong.
00:34:43
Speaker
All I need to say.
00:34:45
Speaker
And the next episode, Pride, is also one of my favorites.
00:34:48
Speaker
But it's a two-parter and I'll probably maybe talk about it.
00:34:52
Speaker
Next week, we'll see, depending on what I come up with.
00:34:57
Speaker
Or I'll maybe sprinkle it in at another time or something or, you know, record.
00:35:01
Speaker
Because I feel like there's always this stuff.
00:35:04
Speaker
It's hard to do a weekly podcast when you are ADHD, need to know what's important, and...
00:35:14
Speaker
or needs to know what's important to say, and you have very hyper-fixed interests.
00:35:22
Speaker
So Degrassi for me is like a very hyper-fixed interest where there's times where I want to talk about it and there's times where I won't.
00:35:30
Speaker
So maybe I need to just record the little segment and just keep it on the back end and plug it in when I need to plug it in.
00:35:38
Speaker
We'll see.
00:35:39
Speaker
I like that idea.
00:35:40
Speaker
But anyway, back to the episode.
00:35:43
Speaker
So, of course, the focus, the A plot, the main plot, is Manny being obsessed with wanting to be sexier and not just be adorable.
00:35:56
Speaker
As she says at the beginning of the episode to Emma, she wants to be hot.
00:36:02
Speaker
And, you know, she reveals her crop top, uh...
00:36:08
Speaker
shirt or you know crop top yeah it was like a shirt and um that hat that she had on she looked really cute in that outfit honestly that was like one of my favorite mani outfits let's actually do that right now let's look at the um you got the look uh and then we'll kind of go
00:36:30
Speaker
Really quickly.
00:36:32
Speaker
Sorry, my family's always posting stuff.
00:36:35
Speaker
In a group chat.
00:36:37
Speaker
And so, yes, I'll keep talking.
00:36:39
Speaker
But anyway, so You Got the Look.
00:36:43
Speaker
It's just really one of my favorite episodes.
00:36:45
Speaker
I think because it highlights Manny's character.
00:36:49
Speaker
She starts to break off from Emma.
00:36:50
Speaker
And that's one of my favorite parts about this episode.
00:36:53
Speaker
They end up, you know...
00:36:55
Speaker
deading their friendship by the end of the episode.
00:37:00
Speaker
But I think it was important in the sense of her developing her own storyline.
00:37:11
Speaker
And that was, I mean, it was becoming the school, which, again, the fact that she's a Filipino actress, to me, I'm like...
00:37:23
Speaker
Alright, to make her like the school slut was a little typecast-y for me.
00:37:28
Speaker
I didn't like that.
00:37:30
Speaker
And that's something I've realized, I think, now, looking back on the show.
00:37:34
Speaker
Because I'm like... All these other girls y'all could have picked from?
00:37:40
Speaker
Like... Y'all couldn't have picked someone else?
00:37:43
Speaker
Because I feel like oftentimes, Asian women get... They're always brought up in these very sexual...
00:37:52
Speaker
like, conversations about, um...
00:37:59
Speaker
I don't know, like, I guess the scandal of it all.
00:38:04
Speaker
Like, I think about the white male gaze, and I think about the buying a, or, you know, purchasing, you know, quote-unquote, a wife from Asia, or I think about it in a way of just, like, the over-fetization of
00:38:30
Speaker
Asian women.
00:38:31
Speaker
So for me, like, that was just a little... Because... And the thing is, too, the other... One more thing.
00:38:35
Speaker
I'm gonna just say this and then move on.
00:38:37
Speaker
Another thing is, I think it's also, too, the fact that men will do this thing where they will, like, go to Asian countries and, like, talk about, like, oh, I'll find me a...
00:38:47
Speaker
Asian wife and, you know, they're obedient over there and blah, blah, blah, X, Y, and Z. So even though the show was in Canada, I still felt like, like when they picked this Filipino girl with this very strict family, by the way, they did that twice.
00:39:04
Speaker
Once to her and then to the, I think her name was Ali.
00:39:09
Speaker
Ali was the Muslim...
00:39:14
Speaker
girl in the newer in the next generation but she was like in the uh batch of kids that came from that other weird school when Degrassi started to fall off a little bit um but looking at her outfits um yeah so it was the blue let me see it was the blue um yeah it didn't have like it didn't have like the spaghetti straps on it and um
00:39:44
Speaker
She had a like little jacket that went with it, which I guess she wore later in the day because she took it off when she got to the school and then put it back on with her and Emma went to the mall.
00:39:57
Speaker
But then she had this like really it's like when they were at the mall, she had that really cute hat on and it was like a it's like a bucket hat and the crop top and the like, I think that was a really cute look.
00:40:11
Speaker
I feel like the classic thong, her wearing the hat, the thong look, I like the lacy midriff top.
00:40:22
Speaker
I am not a fan of low rider jeans.
00:40:24
Speaker
I've never been a fan of low rider jeans.
00:40:28
Speaker
I feel like a lot of people that wear them don't.
00:40:35
Speaker
I don't think they look good.
00:40:37
Speaker
I just don't think they really look flattering on someone.
00:40:41
Speaker
And then the thong coming out, that was a hot ass mess.
00:40:48
Speaker
Which again, I kind of like, I'm not shaming her in that way of like, you know, the way in which the boys and like everyone was shaming her, you know, when she was
00:41:02
Speaker
walking around in the thong.
00:41:04
Speaker
But I think it's more of like...
00:41:07
Speaker
I know how disgusting and pervy these old men are.
00:41:12
Speaker
So I'm just like, I always get like very concerned about that.
00:41:15
Speaker
I'm like, girl, do you, but like these men are just nasty and disgusting.
00:41:20
Speaker
And I, sorry, I can't.
00:41:25
Speaker
So the thong thing was a bit much for me.
00:41:26
Speaker
Like that just kind of was like over the top and it felt weird.
00:41:31
Speaker
Like it felt like a very dramatic shift.
00:41:34
Speaker
And I think, yeah,
00:41:36
Speaker
Manny is a very dramatic character.
00:41:40
Speaker
The classic, you're just jealous.
00:41:42
Speaker
And the fact that she, oh my god, we're not there yet, but like, organized to break Paige's leg, like that was crazy.
00:41:50
Speaker
She's a very dramatic girl.
00:41:53
Speaker
But I like that she is like very passionate and she does give a fuck about her friends when she's not feeling like they're jealous.
00:42:01
Speaker
Yeah.
00:42:02
Speaker
And then the last outfit was the one at the end.
00:42:05
Speaker
No, because there was an outfit.
00:42:06
Speaker
I think this was the one where.
00:42:11
Speaker
Liberty told on her for wearing.
00:42:15
Speaker
The thong and.
00:42:21
Speaker
This outfit was the one.
00:42:23
Speaker
Where she like bent over in the classroom and everybody went to say, and I was like, what are y'all looking at?
00:42:29
Speaker
Was it going to be her butt crack?
00:42:30
Speaker
Because I don't know.
00:42:32
Speaker
Which we're going to see.
00:42:33
Speaker
But they all kind of turned to look.
00:42:36
Speaker
Because she went to bend over.
00:42:38
Speaker
And then JT jumps in.
00:42:40
Speaker
And that was my other point about this episode.
00:42:42
Speaker
I feel like JT is one of those characters who you can't not like.
00:42:47
Speaker
But I also remember not liking him.
00:42:50
Speaker
When I was a teenager or yeah, I was like a teenager because mainly for the fact that I felt like he was just so immature and so annoying and obnoxious.
00:43:03
Speaker
But I look back at that and I'm like, as an adult, I'm like, damn, like.
00:43:08
Speaker
He was just having a ball.
00:43:09
Speaker
And that's it.
00:43:10
Speaker
And I love that for him.
00:43:12
Speaker
So, um, also a shame.
00:43:15
Speaker
Rest in peace, JT.
00:43:18
Speaker
Um, but he was also, I mean, a pretty good friend.
00:43:20
Speaker
He just was very naive, very, you know, young, gullible.
00:43:27
Speaker
Um, I see some of myself in him now.
00:43:32
Speaker
of just this idea or this like, sometimes you let the clown come out way too much and you need to pull back a little bit.
00:43:41
Speaker
So I feel like with that, I feel like I feel I can connect to that.
00:43:48
Speaker
But the showing off for Sean and Toby or anybody who could give him a little bit of props, I never liked that.
00:43:58
Speaker
I don't like that in people because it seems desperate and very
00:44:05
Speaker
needy and I don't like the idea of needing to be seen like that's not something for me um yeah so
00:44:17
Speaker
I think Liberty was jealous and a hater.
00:44:19
Speaker
I do think that was true.
00:44:21
Speaker
Like, I think that that part was true.
00:44:22
Speaker
And I only think that she did any and all of that was because she had a crush on JT.
00:44:27
Speaker
And the fact that Manny had never once brought up JT until he started paying attention to her is a little suspect.
00:44:37
Speaker
Like, I'll give...
00:44:39
Speaker
Liberty, all of that, because she's been said this, like she's been said she's interested.
00:44:46
Speaker
Manny just kind of disregarded her.
00:44:49
Speaker
And this is what I mean when I talk about like these,
00:44:52
Speaker
the way in which some of the characters were written on the show.
00:44:56
Speaker
Because, again, I remember Emma knew.
00:44:59
Speaker
Emma knew that they both liked each other.
00:45:01
Speaker
I think Manny knew that they both liked each other.
00:45:04
Speaker
Or not, they both liked each other, but that Liberty liked him.
00:45:08
Speaker
I think that they both knew that.
00:45:09
Speaker
But...
00:45:11
Speaker
JT did reject Liberty, which I guess made her feel like she should just get over it.
00:45:16
Speaker
But it's also weird if you're my friend and I tell you I'm crushing on someone, they reject me, and then you go and
00:45:25
Speaker
sleep with them when you don't even really like them like that's the thing that manny did like she entertained jt because he was giving her attention when she's and then she started i mean she started feeling like the school slut because you know everyone started that rumor or started the rumors about her and then oh my god and her having to get an abortion and all of this and that so i feel like
00:45:50
Speaker
She's definitely one of those people that knows what she wants.
00:45:53
Speaker
But again, she's like, I mean, written as a teenager, like she's not going to be perfect.
00:45:58
Speaker
She's not, you know, she's trying to find herself.
00:46:00
Speaker
Like that's the point of Degrassi.
00:46:02
Speaker
It's a show about coming of age and finding yourself and, and self, you know, discovery, like social learning, like all of that stuff.
00:46:13
Speaker
What else?
00:46:14
Speaker
What else?
00:46:14
Speaker
What else?
00:46:16
Speaker
Oh, yeah.
00:46:18
Speaker
I also will say I do don't give Manny too much flack about this.
00:46:25
Speaker
But the fact that she when she got dumped by Craig, I think that did impact her way deeper than they made it seem on the show.
00:46:34
Speaker
Because I remember the episode where she was daydreaming about when she went with Craig to.
00:46:41
Speaker
Oh, my God.
00:46:41
Speaker
Where the fuck did she go?
00:46:42
Speaker
She went with Craig to.
00:46:45
Speaker
Oh, God.
00:46:45
Speaker
What the fuck was it?
00:46:47
Speaker
I guess they went to the movies, but then the movie theater had a carnival inside or something.
00:46:52
Speaker
And Manny wanted to do that instead, even though they were going to miss the movie.
00:46:57
Speaker
And she replayed.
00:46:58
Speaker
And the episode was interesting because Craig's perspective was more so the real perspective.
00:47:03
Speaker
And then Manny's was the overly exaggerated.
00:47:11
Speaker
Everything went good version of.
00:47:14
Speaker
But I feel like, and even in that, there's still, like, the level of the truth.
00:47:17
Speaker
Like, I don't 100% trust Craig's interpretation either.
00:47:21
Speaker
But I feel like she liked Craig.
00:47:27
Speaker
Like, you know, really, really liked him.
00:47:29
Speaker
Like, she talked about him.
00:47:31
Speaker
She daydreamed about him.
00:47:34
Speaker
She was, like, shocked when he asked her in season one.
00:47:38
Speaker
Or was it season one?
00:47:39
Speaker
Might have been season two.
00:47:40
Speaker
Yeah.
00:47:41
Speaker
I don't know.
00:47:42
Speaker
I've been watching... I've been binging from the episode where she did... Where Ashley did Molly, but... Because I can't watch... The episode where Emma got... Almost got sexually assaulted was wild.
00:47:53
Speaker
That one... The cyberbullying one was very wild.
00:47:56
Speaker
Especially because I was talking to like 20-something, supposedly, when I was like 12.
00:48:02
Speaker
My mom would have beat my ass.
00:48:04
Speaker
But... She... I feel like with...
00:48:10
Speaker
with Manny and that whole thing with Craig, the idea of becoming a different person kind of makes sense for her character.
00:48:17
Speaker
I will say that the thong thing was a little wild because I'm like, is this Manny like taking it too, too far?
00:48:26
Speaker
Um, and then the no underwear was also the one that was the next one, which I don't know.
00:48:31
Speaker
I feel like that one is kind of like no underwear is crazy, but like,
00:48:37
Speaker
I feel like it's not crazy crazy.
00:48:40
Speaker
I feel like it's something... I think the no underwear thing...
00:48:46
Speaker
And see, that's where I'm like, if it wasn't for the halter tops, like the midriffs, like you wouldn't even know.
00:48:54
Speaker
Like you wouldn't know she wasn't wearing underwear unless you were looking under the stall or some shit.
00:49:00
Speaker
And you'd get arrested for that.
00:49:02
Speaker
So I don't think it was necessarily that one for me.
00:49:09
Speaker
I just think that the thong one was the most extreme because it seemed like...
00:49:16
Speaker
It caused a lot of stir in the school.
00:49:20
Speaker
I mean, it shouldn't be a big deal, but it looked goofy.
00:49:22
Speaker
Like, I think that's the thing.
00:49:23
Speaker
It looked goofy as hell.
00:49:25
Speaker
Like, even if it was supposed to be sexy, it looked crazy as hell.
00:49:29
Speaker
Like, walking down the hall with your thong out, and you were, like, in ninth grade.
00:49:34
Speaker
Like, that... And even, like, if you were to just walk around on the street as a, you know, adult, like, 20, 30, whatever, like, it would still look very weird.
00:49:43
Speaker
Like, it looks weird to me when...
00:49:45
Speaker
men wear their boxer briefs out.
00:49:49
Speaker
Like you can see like they're on, you can basically see the, the boo-boo stains.
00:49:54
Speaker
Like I, I like to me, that's ridiculous.
00:49:58
Speaker
So I feel like this is also falling into that category of ridiculous... That was
Themes in Degrassi
00:50:04
Speaker
a show.
00:50:04
Speaker
That was a show.
00:50:05
Speaker
Ridiculousness.
00:50:10
Speaker
Yeah.
00:50:11
Speaker
So that's how I felt about that.
00:50:13
Speaker
And then also, too, I felt like in this one episode... Oh, this is the last... No, second last thing.
00:50:18
Speaker
I also felt like in this episode, Emma did try to be supportive of Manny.
00:50:23
Speaker
She didn't outright judge her.
00:50:24
Speaker
She did...
00:50:25
Speaker
And I will say, like, Emma's that one character that I did hate in the beginning because she was, like, always into some shit.
00:50:33
Speaker
But I will say that in this episode, we really did get to see her show up for her friend.
00:50:39
Speaker
Like, she literally was like...
00:50:42
Speaker
girl, I don't know, like, even when like Manny got all those guys, you know, all those other, all the boys to come to Emma's talk about, I think it was about freeing the whales or, um,
00:50:57
Speaker
I don't know, some shit she was on protesting about.
00:51:01
Speaker
But they were all paying attention to Manny.
00:51:04
Speaker
And Manny's just like, yeah, I'm sure I can make them come back.
00:51:07
Speaker
And I feel like that, even though I see Emma's point, I see the point that Manny is becoming a different person and all of this other stuff that she's told her in the end.
00:51:25
Speaker
She did bring a turnout.
00:51:26
Speaker
And unfortunately, I hate to say it, especially for a kid show, but sex sells.
00:51:36
Speaker
And I feel like even if...
00:51:41
Speaker
And that's what I feel about sometimes with my podcast.
00:51:43
Speaker
Like, this is, like, almost like a self-reflective moment.
00:51:47
Speaker
But the fact that I don't do the things that normal people are—I mean, not normal, but, like, people that are mainstream podcasters do, like—
00:51:59
Speaker
the Fresh and Fit podcast or whatever DJ Academics is doing or whatever.
00:52:05
Speaker
Like, I just feel like because I'm not that messy and I know better and I'm, like, educated enough to talk about things that are a little bit more important, I feel like the draw is not going to be there.
00:52:20
Speaker
You know what I mean?
00:52:21
Speaker
Like, the draw is not... Because that's not what people want.
00:52:22
Speaker
People want to be...
00:52:24
Speaker
like, overly entertained, and everything's got to be, you know, clocked to T, messy, ridiculous, whatever.
00:52:32
Speaker
And I feel like with Emma, like, even if she were to, like, follow Manny's lead and try to present as sexier, they would only be doing it because she's dressed sexier.
00:52:48
Speaker
Like, that's the only reason.
00:52:49
Speaker
They would only—and they wouldn't even be taking in that information, most likely—
00:52:53
Speaker
because they're just paying attention to her.
00:52:56
Speaker
Now, some might.
00:52:57
Speaker
Now, it's not to say that's not to discredit everyone, but I think that the message always gets lost when looks is put first.
00:53:09
Speaker
And unfortunately, I think that that is a product of
00:53:19
Speaker
Social, I mean, it's social media, it's the media, it's what we think people should be attainable.
00:53:26
Speaker
I mean, sex is a very primal need, desire, want.
00:53:31
Speaker
So I just always feel like sex is going to sell.
00:53:34
Speaker
Excuse me.
00:53:38
Speaker
But I also feel like.
00:53:46
Speaker
Some people got it and some people don't.
00:53:50
Speaker
And that's like weird.
00:53:51
Speaker
I feel like I can only say that because I'm just commenting on Emma and Manny and don't actually know anyone in real life that are
00:54:03
Speaker
you know, kids or whatever.
00:54:06
Speaker
And first of all, like, even looking at a child like that is crazy.
00:54:09
Speaker
But that's the thing about these shows.
00:54:10
Speaker
Like, these shows were, like, tackling, like, a lot of adults.
00:54:14
Speaker
So it feels weird to talk about it.
00:54:16
Speaker
But it's also, like...
00:54:19
Speaker
I went through some of the things that happened on this show.
00:54:22
Speaker
So I feel privy enough to talk about it as an adult, especially a millennial, that we review everything.
00:54:30
Speaker
And this is what this podcast does.
00:54:33
Speaker
We re-critique the media.
00:54:38
Speaker
But I just feel like the whole portrayal of sex selling and getting, finding people
00:54:48
Speaker
love in that is just or even trying to sell something that actually matters it almost like not devalues it but it does distract from what the main point is and a lot of times we want people to take away the main point like I feel like if you could weave in selling sex and a really important big thing all into one thing and again I feel like some people can probably do that
00:55:17
Speaker
cool.
00:55:17
Speaker
But to show up to a thing, like teenagers showing up to a thing about whales or vegan food or whatever it was, like them just wanting to talk to Manny was not a surprise.
00:55:31
Speaker
It also made me uncomfortable with all those boys just standing around her because again, like Paige got reaped in the one episode or, you know, a while ago.
00:55:41
Speaker
And I'm just like,
00:55:48
Speaker
Like, I don't know.
00:55:50
Speaker
I know what happens in the end, but I also don't feel great for Manny or for, you know, any woman that feels like they have to do it for male attraction.
00:56:02
Speaker
Like, I think the difference between then and now, though, is that girls and women don't.
00:56:08
Speaker
Like, a lot of women now are...
00:56:13
Speaker
at the point where they're like, I don't care how these men see me because they're going to see me how they want to see me regardless.
00:56:19
Speaker
And I think that that's a more powerful message than back then, which was a lot of the slut shaming, a lot of the idea that, you know, if you show your body, you get more attention, which is still true today.
00:56:36
Speaker
You do, but it's not always wanted attention.
00:56:39
Speaker
That's the difference.
00:56:40
Speaker
And, um,
00:56:43
Speaker
I feel like if Degrassi... I mean, Degrassi is one now, I think, but... Or did... They tried to reboot it or something, but girl, I'm too old.
00:56:50
Speaker
Like, I can only keep up with the shit that happened either during my time or before me.
00:56:54
Speaker
Like, I can't with the new stuff.
00:56:58
Speaker
Unless it's, like, really good or, like... I get... I hear good reviews or something like that.
00:57:05
Speaker
And that's mainly, like, for these kid shows.
00:57:06
Speaker
Like, kid... Adult novels.
00:57:10
Speaker
Kid shows.
00:57:11
Speaker
Uh...
00:57:13
Speaker
you know, young adult books.
00:57:15
Speaker
Like I can barely, like I read the one, oh my God, I told you about that.
00:57:18
Speaker
When I read that one book, A Thousand Pieces of You, and I thought it was going to be a little, I didn't notice that it was a young adult book.
00:57:26
Speaker
And I just was so like exhausted by the writing of that book.
00:57:32
Speaker
And I don't know if it was just a writer, but it just was too teenager-y.
00:57:37
Speaker
And I was like, I can't do this.
00:57:39
Speaker
So never again.
00:57:41
Speaker
The last thing I just wanted to comment on was Joey Jeremiah and how I had... I had and have this really huge crush on him.
00:57:54
Speaker
And it's like every time I see a bald man, I'm always just like, I find him attractive.
00:58:00
Speaker
I don't know what that's about.
00:58:02
Speaker
And it's weird because I'm bald and I always get on people about...
00:58:07
Speaker
dating people that look like them, well, the gays, dating people that look like them.
00:58:12
Speaker
But it's something about a bald head on a man.
00:58:15
Speaker
It is... I feel like it's one of those things where you've, like...
00:58:24
Speaker
come to peace with the fact that you've lost your hair.
00:58:28
Speaker
And that's why I don't really care too much about being bald and don't, you know, go out and run and get a 22 inch bust down.
00:58:35
Speaker
Cause I could, if I really wanted to, I could.
00:58:38
Speaker
But I also recognize that like,
00:58:41
Speaker
there is kind of a power in reclaiming, not to tread on alopecia or, you know, anything like that, but there is something powerful about cutting your hair off when you're starting to, when it starts to go or when it patches start to come up or rise because, you
00:59:06
Speaker
And even like, you know, for people that are cancer patients, like I feel like there's just something so powerful in holding your head up high and having a bald head.
00:59:18
Speaker
Like the fact that people used to say things like bald head is skittle diddle or whatever.
00:59:27
Speaker
Comment on the fact that, like, you know, you're already growing up with, like, C4 hair.
00:59:32
Speaker
And then to, like, lose it from, like, anxiety and stress and the fact that your family is predisposed to that.
00:59:41
Speaker
To not just run and get, like, a wig or a toupee and, like, put it on.
00:59:45
Speaker
I don't know.
00:59:46
Speaker
It just feels like you've accepted something.
00:59:49
Speaker
And I think that that, unlike not comparing that to cancer, don't eat me up.
00:59:55
Speaker
I'm just saying that, like, there is something about an individual that has no choice but to go bald.
01:00:03
Speaker
And they...
01:00:07
Speaker
just decide to wear it and they don't disguise it there's nothing wrong of course with wearing a wig there's nothing wrong with um weaves or anything like that um i think just as a personal thing like the way in which people have that connection to their hair it's there's like this connection i have to baldness and the idea of at least for your head like i'd rather
01:00:31
Speaker
a hairy guy, because that's where people joke all the hair goes, is on your body.
01:00:36
Speaker
But I'd rather a hairy guy or a guy with body hair versus someone that didn't have body hair and had a full set of hair.
01:00:45
Speaker
But there's something about having a bald head, I think, that just feels very distinguished.
01:00:50
Speaker
And it feels like... I don't know.
01:00:55
Speaker
It feels very mature.
01:00:56
Speaker
Like, it feels very... Like, you've... You...
01:01:02
Speaker
Like, you've been through stuff or something.
01:01:04
Speaker
Like, and I know it's not that deep or shit.
01:01:06
Speaker
Like, I don't know how to read it into that deeply, but...
01:01:12
Speaker
because I guess I haven't really thought about it, but I'm thinking out loud about it.
01:01:16
Speaker
And I'm like, yeah, it is something about a ball hit for me.
01:01:19
Speaker
And Joey Jeremiah is like another example of a man with a ball hit where I'm like, yeah, like that is a problem.
01:01:29
Speaker
Maybe a problem, maybe not a problem.
01:01:31
Speaker
Only reason I, I'm not going to say why, no, I'm not going to say the other reason why I'm just going to leave it at that.
01:01:39
Speaker
Um, yeah,
01:01:41
Speaker
But I was just going to say he was a bald, beautiful man.
01:01:43
Speaker
I went on for like minutes just now talking about this bald, beautiful, light skinned man.
01:01:50
Speaker
And was he light skinned or was he?
01:01:55
Speaker
I assumed he was.
01:02:02
Speaker
Latin.
01:02:04
Speaker
I don't know.
01:02:07
Speaker
I think when I was younger, I assumed that, but I don't know.
01:02:10
Speaker
He looks mixed.
01:02:11
Speaker
I'm just going to say that.
01:02:12
Speaker
That beautiful bald man, goofy as hell, wanting to really, his glory days.
01:02:18
Speaker
I think he is white.
01:02:19
Speaker
The thing is, I think the thing that like throws me though about the show is the way in which the characters are all really diverse and
01:02:31
Speaker
They have all these, like, really specific, like, diverse backgrounds.
01:02:35
Speaker
Kind of the start.
01:02:36
Speaker
Like, everyone's like, this is the black girl.
01:02:38
Speaker
This is the white fat girl.
01:02:40
Speaker
This is the goth girl.
01:02:42
Speaker
This was the... Like, everyone had their own thing.
01:02:45
Speaker
And I feel like with Joey, I could never land because he didn't seem...
Ethnic Backgrounds in Degrassi
01:02:52
Speaker
I guess the relationship, the thing it was, is the relationship with him and his daughter.
01:02:57
Speaker
Because his daughter is biologically his.
01:03:02
Speaker
And she's Filipino as well.
01:03:04
Speaker
So I don't know.
01:03:05
Speaker
And then Craig's...
01:03:07
Speaker
not half Filipino.
01:03:09
Speaker
Like, I don't know if I'm reading too much into it that way, because his daughter was Manny's sister, who in real life, they're both half, almost half Puerto Rico, half Filipino.
01:03:24
Speaker
And so I think for me, like, maybe it was growing up, I was like, I know she's not
01:03:32
Speaker
fully white and, but her and Craig share the same dad or same share the same mom.
01:03:39
Speaker
Um, and she died and Craig's dad is like white, like Craig's white.
01:03:44
Speaker
I'm like, huh?
01:03:45
Speaker
How did he not end up being half Filipino?
01:03:47
Speaker
That's weird.
01:03:49
Speaker
Um, and so that's why I thought that Joey was, um,
01:03:56
Speaker
um mixed or had or you know yeah mixed or latin or something because i was just like huh like there's there's an ethnicity here that i'm not seeing why am i rambling about this um but he wanted to relive his glory days and i applaud him for that but i also wanted him to sit the fuck down uh because he was just being goofy as shit and it was a little bit too much
01:04:20
Speaker
Moving on, the last thing I'm going to talk about is Cowboy Carter.
01:04:25
Speaker
So I've listened to the album a couple times.
01:04:29
Speaker
First of all, Beyonce, I don't even know where to begin.
01:04:38
Speaker
I, and it's interesting because I remember I went into this last week talking about how I can't watch or can't listen to 27 songs in one sitting.
01:04:45
Speaker
And then you find out that it's actually not 27, 27 songs.
01:04:50
Speaker
Uh, it's more, it's less than that.
01:04:52
Speaker
Um, because of the interludes and the radio, uh, the breaks in between, uh, with Willie Nelson, the smoke hour, uh,
01:05:04
Speaker
So it's not actually like 27 songs.
01:05:07
Speaker
But when I first started listening to like the first three songs, I was like, no, I got to take a step back.
01:05:16
Speaker
And the main reason why I had to take a step back was because of people...
01:05:22
Speaker
I guess everyone was talking about it like all day.
01:05:25
Speaker
And then I finally listened to it Friday evening and admittedly on an edible, I did do that.
01:05:32
Speaker
And I was just thinking about how, or like kind of thinking about some of the lyrics and like American Requiem, thinking of like what a Requiem actually is.
01:05:47
Speaker
And this idea of,
01:05:52
Speaker
The Blackbird, 16 Carriages.
01:05:55
Speaker
And like, when I first, I guess, started listening to the album and I got to 16 Carriages, I was like, I got to put this down for a minute.
01:06:07
Speaker
Like, The Edible hit me too strong, I think, number one.
01:06:11
Speaker
Number two, I was like,
01:06:15
Speaker
what the like what is she doing like what is she actually doing because I feel like everyone's been talking about the album as this like you know as a Beyonce album that is like you know she's going to talk about of course she's going to talk about twirling on you know uh on Jay-Z's dick and you know doing a split and all this and the other of course she's going to do that but um
01:06:39
Speaker
I just kind of felt like in the lyrics of American Requiem and then hearing this like Blackbird as this.
01:06:50
Speaker
Yes, it is this.
01:06:54
Speaker
Kind of or like moment where she's.
01:06:58
Speaker
singing about not being in, or being left out of the conversation when it comes to country music, but then to have a second song where you bring in other female country artists, I'm like, hold the fuck up.
01:07:16
Speaker
Like, that's fucking crazy, like, to do that.
01:07:21
Speaker
And everyone was like, and that was the other part of it.
01:07:23
Speaker
Like, I kept watching people post the, like, who was going to be on the album, all of the features on Thursday.
01:07:31
Speaker
And it was so exhausting because I was like, I just want the album.
01:07:34
Speaker
Like, I just want it at this point because you're just teasing it out.
01:07:39
Speaker
But I wasn't going to listen to it until midnight.
01:07:42
Speaker
Um, even if I were to, uh, you know, have listened to it earlier in the day, like I would have listened to it when everyone else did, but I was like, I need a minute.
01:07:52
Speaker
Cause I feel like I'm gonna need to digest this album and really sit with it.
01:07:56
Speaker
Um, because the fact that, um,
01:08:01
Speaker
That happened.
01:08:01
Speaker
And then, you know, there was like the 16 carriages.
01:08:05
Speaker
It started feeling very, and I might be stretching.
01:08:08
Speaker
It might, you know, might just be me overanalyzing.
01:08:12
Speaker
But it felt like there was this part of it that felt, I guess, political-ish, where I feel like, yes, the...
01:08:23
Speaker
And I guess I'll break it down like this.
01:08:25
Speaker
Like, I'll say that, yes, this album is born out of the idea that Beyonce was not nominated for Daddy Lessons.
01:08:38
Speaker
And, you know, at the time when she went to the CMA, she faced the backlash and all of this and that.
01:08:44
Speaker
I hear that, but I also hear just this, like, message of...
01:08:53
Speaker
what America was and this push to make it better.
01:08:58
Speaker
And almost like, because when she talked about, you know, how things were, you know, kind of promised and I'm forgetting the lyric off the top of my head directly, but like, um, and then just singing, you know, American Requiem, um,
01:09:20
Speaker
the lyric and hearing the organ, like it felt, it felt very funeral like, and to then go into Blackbird, which, you know, kind of picks up on a different beat, almost feels like the death of,
01:09:39
Speaker
where we're, you know, our nation was and like where we're going, I guess.
01:09:45
Speaker
And I think that speaks to, and again, because Beyonce is a very smart, talented woman.
01:09:50
Speaker
I think I would not underwrite it or undercredit her to say that she would not
01:09:56
Speaker
create a song that has, or songs on the album that have more than one meaning to them.
01:10:04
Speaker
I think that she is crafty enough to do that.
01:10:10
Speaker
And again, talented.
01:10:12
Speaker
It has the skill.
01:10:14
Speaker
She works with people that are like-minded, that get her vision, that get what she's trying to portray and put off.
01:10:23
Speaker
And I feel like when she had talked about
01:10:26
Speaker
I think the thing that really drilled home for me was when she talked about how she felt... Oh my god, I'm losing the thought.
01:10:38
Speaker
But when she really talked about how she felt like she wanted to release this album first as Act 1 and then Renaissance as Act 2, to me, it was almost like my antennas went up.
01:10:49
Speaker
Like, huh?
01:10:50
Speaker
Why would you do that?
01:10:51
Speaker
And so I went back and kind of, which I also went to the record store and brought Renaissance for like 50 something dollars because it's the one that has the album book in it.
01:11:02
Speaker
And it's beautiful.
01:11:04
Speaker
So I digress.
01:11:05
Speaker
I will definitely be getting Cowboy Carter as well.
01:11:09
Speaker
But...
01:11:10
Speaker
When she said that, when she said that this album was supposed to have been like the first part of the trilogy released, but I decided to push it until after the...
01:11:26
Speaker
Renaissance came out because of the pandemic.
01:11:28
Speaker
She was like, I feel like people just were in a space where they needed to dance.
01:11:31
Speaker
They needed to, you know, release, kind of rejoice and live.
01:11:37
Speaker
And I think that that felt very intentional, like at the time, and I felt very much the spirit of Renaissance.
01:11:43
Speaker
When you think about it, two years ago, when it came out, I
01:11:48
Speaker
Times are just starting to get hard.
01:11:50
Speaker
Like, that's an album I feel like where we have to lean on it now because things are getting way worse.
01:11:58
Speaker
And I feel like Cowboy Carter, even though it was supposed to be first, and this is how I think a good musical...
01:12:09
Speaker
artist is, is that if your project is interconnected, you may be able to create it where you're able to tweak some things, change things around, you know, the mood feels different.
01:12:24
Speaker
The goals feel different.
01:12:25
Speaker
You've re-envisioned.
01:12:26
Speaker
That's what it is.
01:12:27
Speaker
It's like the goals start to feel different.
01:12:29
Speaker
And then it starts to align with like what's actually happening in the moment.
01:12:33
Speaker
And I feel like back then when I,
01:12:37
Speaker
We were still deep kind of in pandemic, even whether or not people wanted to believe it or not.
01:12:42
Speaker
We were very much still like I hadn't even gotten COVID yet and didn't get it until 2023.
01:12:51
Speaker
So we were still very deep into pandemic like Miss Panty.
01:12:54
Speaker
But I think we did need Renaissance at that time because.
01:13:01
Speaker
it was almost like everyone felt very defeated.
01:13:03
Speaker
Like we had gotten, you know, Joe Biden in the office and he's like falling the fuck apart and everything just starts looking like it's going to shit.
01:13:12
Speaker
And I feel like that that was important to highlight at that time, to lift people's spirits, to get people to start doing some self-healing, self-reflecting.
01:13:25
Speaker
I remember one of my friends talked about,
01:13:28
Speaker
how Renaissance really helped her after the death of her father.
01:13:31
Speaker
And I just, like, remember feeling when Break My Soul came out, this, like, re-en- like, this-
01:13:44
Speaker
I guess reinvigoration or like re-energizedness to myself and feeling like, okay, like maybe life is worth living a little bit because shit was fucking hard as hell.
01:13:59
Speaker
And shit still is hard as hell.
01:14:01
Speaker
Don't get me wrong.
01:14:02
Speaker
But when I did my stint in New York for a little bit and was there for three months, I felt, I was really depressed.
01:14:10
Speaker
Like I felt like,
01:14:14
Speaker
I was in a new place, traveling between Philly and here.
01:14:20
Speaker
The work itself wasn't hard or bad or anything like that, but I had a negative experience with my manager there because she was just so on my ass all the time.
01:14:30
Speaker
You can listen to the previous episodes where I've talked about that.
01:14:34
Speaker
And feeling almost like I can't function because I feel so overwhelmed with this decision of wanting to do travel social work, having a boss that's like not, you know, the greatest, having like to still come home and check on things, get the mail out the door, drive back and forth.
01:14:56
Speaker
To New York, you know, it just was a lot like it was a lot of it was a lot of work.
01:15:02
Speaker
So I started to feel and, you know, not having friends in New York.
01:15:07
Speaker
I had my co-workers, of course, but I'd go home.
01:15:09
Speaker
I wasn't really cool or talk to like my Airbnb host.
01:15:15
Speaker
Yeah.
01:15:16
Speaker
Like, he was a good guy or whatever, but we never really hung out or anything.
01:15:22
Speaker
But even in that, I just felt depressed.
01:15:26
Speaker
I felt sleeping a lot.
01:15:32
Speaker
I was sleeping so much when I look back on that.
01:15:34
Speaker
I was sleeping through my weekends.
01:15:37
Speaker
It was so bad.
01:15:38
Speaker
I was barely...
01:15:41
Speaker
When I was there on the weekends, I was barely ever outside.
New York Struggles
01:15:46
Speaker
And I was doing a lot of door dashing and a lot of things like that.
01:15:49
Speaker
So when I look back on that time, I'm like, damn.
01:15:52
Speaker
And I was depressed.
01:15:53
Speaker
Like I said, I was depressed.
01:15:54
Speaker
I was cutting.
01:15:56
Speaker
I was drinking.
01:15:57
Speaker
I was doing all of the things.
01:16:00
Speaker
And so I think to have Break My Soul come out at this point in time where, again, my life personally was like,
01:16:12
Speaker
a mess.
01:16:13
Speaker
I recognize that my friend's life was a mess as well after losing her father.
01:16:19
Speaker
And, you know, the world is still on fire post Donald Trump.
01:16:24
Speaker
And, you know, this promise of everything is going to get better and things are going to, you know, there are all these things that were promised and then never really came through.
01:16:34
Speaker
And I feel like I really connected on that level with American Requiem
01:16:40
Speaker
as it is the song of like empty promises and the dream of what the dreams that are, that get, that come here to die, that are buried here, that, you know, are taken advantage of like, no one should be struggling right now.
01:17:00
Speaker
Like I'm so dead serious when I say this, but I don't care if you are homeless.
01:17:07
Speaker
I don't care if you are, uh,
01:17:09
Speaker
on social security, I don't care.
01:17:13
Speaker
No one should be on this earth struggling.
01:17:16
Speaker
That, to me, does not make sense.
01:17:18
Speaker
It does not make sense to me that we have a war, that multiple wars going on across the world, and we all know it's wrong, but we're still doing it.
01:17:30
Speaker
That is fucked up.
01:17:31
Speaker
The fact that
01:17:33
Speaker
We have our government right now just taxing us out the ass and penny pinching all of us for all we got.
01:17:41
Speaker
And then to want to build up the prison industrial complex and...
01:17:48
Speaker
Basically create new slaves.
01:17:51
Speaker
It's like the dream of... The American dream just feels like it never existed.
01:17:57
Speaker
And specifically, it's never existed for Black people, and even more specifically, Black women and Black queer women.
01:18:07
Speaker
It feels a little bit more powerful at times for me when I'm listening to this album.
01:18:14
Speaker
And almost like in the song, the fact that the song Protector was on there, I was just like, is Beyonce trying to say something to me?
01:18:23
Speaker
Because I feel like she's trying to say she's on our side.
01:18:27
Speaker
So I kind of want to go through and like look at the lyrics for some of the songs because some of the songs like you are just kind of like, OK, like this is not a this is a Beyonce track.
01:18:38
Speaker
Like she just kind of talking her shit on here.
01:18:42
Speaker
Or it's a song that is like a dedication to like a style of country music or like.
01:18:52
Speaker
I mean, country music is so rich.
01:18:54
Speaker
It is the one genre I feel like I've not explored that much.
01:18:59
Speaker
And there are songs that I know that are country songs that I do like, but it's a genre I've never explored as much because I've never connected to the fact that it's mainly...
01:19:12
Speaker
the advertisement of it is that there's no one that looks like me.
01:19:16
Speaker
And so I think that this album is very powerful, both sonically, visually, like the album cover, like the outfits, her going on these like award shows and giving her speeches, like everything feels so
01:19:39
Speaker
specific, tailored... I just don't... I don't know what it is with Beyonce.
01:19:47
Speaker
It's something about her.
01:19:49
Speaker
And this is why I say when the read was talking about her for two weeks in a row, and I was like, oh my God, why do y'all keep talking about her?
01:19:57
Speaker
And it just always brings me... These moments about Beyonce are the things that always bring me back to her in a way in which I'm like, I understand you.
01:20:06
Speaker
And I think...
01:20:08
Speaker
This album might be that album that sticks with me long enough to say, I see you.
01:20:13
Speaker
Because the thing about Beyonce is, I feel like I never really know with people... We talk about billionaires all the time, and she's not on her own a billionaire, but her and her husband are.
01:20:25
Speaker
And I mean, again, I try to not put too much stock in...
01:20:34
Speaker
people, in the sense of people I don't know.
01:20:37
Speaker
I talk about that all the time on the show.
01:20:39
Speaker
I talk about how we don't know these people.
01:20:41
Speaker
We don't know these people.
01:20:42
Speaker
But what I also do know is that I trust someone like Crystal.
01:20:50
Speaker
Like, I feel like I could trust her.
01:20:52
Speaker
And I feel like she gets good energy and good vibes about people.
01:20:56
Speaker
I also trust Kid Fury as well because...
01:21:02
Speaker
he also has the same level of like discernment about people like the you're not gonna play in my face.
01:21:08
Speaker
So I feel like I would trust both of them to tell me if Beyonce was like a horrible person.
01:21:17
Speaker
So I feel like that, you know, with me not knowing her, I can't imagine a world where she's just this like,
01:21:28
Speaker
billionaire.
01:21:28
Speaker
And the fact that she actually does give back, like the, a couple, it was a couple weeks, weeks or months ago, where her and Kelly Rowland announced that they were creating a low income project home situation for people in Houston, Texas.
01:21:46
Speaker
And I think it was going to be over a million dollars spent to make this happen for people.
01:21:51
Speaker
And I'm like,
01:21:53
Speaker
that's not a bad person.
01:21:56
Speaker
You know what I mean?
01:21:57
Speaker
That's not someone that is outwardly, that I feel like would turn their back when, now I feel like she'll protect her family and herself.
01:22:08
Speaker
Like I do feel that, but I feel like she would be crafty enough to, in the musical realm, to continue to weave pieces that are
01:22:19
Speaker
that have more than one meaning or that have this like coded message or something in it, the way in which happened in the creation of country music.
01:22:30
Speaker
And that's what I think.
01:22:32
Speaker
I feel like if you stuck long, you know, stuck long with stuck with me long enough to get to this point to talk about the album and why I feel like there is some politicalness
Beyoncé's Cowboy Carter Album
01:22:44
Speaker
to it.
01:22:44
Speaker
It's this level of,
01:22:48
Speaker
the way in which country music came about.
01:22:51
Speaker
So the fact that it was built out of, um, gospel and I always forget the other one.
01:22:58
Speaker
I think it's blues, gospel and blues are the two.
01:23:02
Speaker
Um, blues was more secular.
01:23:05
Speaker
Gospel was a lot more, um, church bound.
01:23:11
Speaker
Um, and so,
01:23:13
Speaker
I didn't realize this until I started, you know, when I was like, huh, something's like, I'm feeling something, but I'm not understanding it.
01:23:20
Speaker
And I started doing research about, like, because I didn't know this, you know, going in, because again, country is like one of my genres I listen to, like the least, not necessarily one of my least favorites, but it's just the one I listen to the least.
01:23:33
Speaker
When I started to learn that country music was built during slavery as a kind of method of passing messages, or at least it bore out of this.
01:23:47
Speaker
It bore out of struggle.
01:23:50
Speaker
Which, again, that's...
01:23:53
Speaker
how I feel like a lot of our genres, like when white people say, this belongs to us, or like every, like black people can't claim this, or blah, blah, blah, y'all think y'all own everything.
01:24:05
Speaker
The fact that folk music and classical music were the only two things that really white people brought to America from Europe, but like...
01:24:15
Speaker
Black people have been able to cultivate country as a genre, get kicked out of that, cultivate rock and roll as a genre built off of country, get kicked out of that by white people.
01:24:29
Speaker
And then now we're at a point where hip hop is in that same boat and it's like fighting for its life.
01:24:36
Speaker
It feels like Beyonce is just doing something.
01:24:42
Speaker
Like, it just feels, it's something there.
01:24:46
Speaker
The fact that Crystal was like, oh, the album is coming out like...
01:24:50
Speaker
on 3-29-2023, and then Renaissance came out on 7-29-2023, or 20, no, Renaissance came out 29, 7-29-2022, and then this one was three, Cowboy Carter's 3-29-2024.
01:24:58
Speaker
I feel like that even is significant, like something is up there,
01:25:19
Speaker
I don't know.
01:25:20
Speaker
Like, Beyonce's just doing something.
01:25:21
Speaker
I feel like... My theory is that she releases the third act in three years.
01:25:28
Speaker
I feel like, again, the fact that this album was kind of a surprise drop, I feel like almost... Not a surprise drop in the way that... It's just a surprise drop in the fact that, like, she did this in a commercial.
01:25:45
Speaker
Um...
01:25:47
Speaker
She was just like, oh, drop the new music.
01:25:48
Speaker
And then all of a sudden there's like new music.
01:25:50
Speaker
There's the album coming out on the 29th.
01:25:52
Speaker
And like this whole thing that Beyonce does is just.
01:25:58
Speaker
She's a witch.
01:25:59
Speaker
I'm sorry.
01:26:00
Speaker
Like there's something like, I don't know.
01:26:03
Speaker
Like it's just got really on her side.
01:26:06
Speaker
Like it's just something there because the way in which.
01:26:10
Speaker
That planning happens the way in which she just is able to, like, play my house in a Super Bowl commercial for, like...
01:26:24
Speaker
five seconds or whatever, and then talk about breaking the internet and, you know, releasing the new music and, you know, all of this.
01:26:34
Speaker
And like, there's just this like methodology, which, I mean, I know she's been doing this for like, she says she's been working on this album for years and years and years, but like, it's just something about an artist that I feel like,
01:26:53
Speaker
strongly about when they can make statements like that, when they can do things like that and still keep some level of secrecy.
01:27:01
Speaker
Like, I feel like she keeps it in the music.
01:27:04
Speaker
And so I feel like there's just, again, this like thing of just letting us know where she stands and that she sees that everyone is...
01:27:14
Speaker
in a bad situation right now um that again going back i like detoured greatly but going back to the fact that like country music you know was born out of call and response um sending messages to other workers um to know you know what was going on um
01:27:42
Speaker
Which is like so smart.
01:27:43
Speaker
Like that's something I feel like you could really only achieve out of having that experience.
01:27:51
Speaker
And that's the, you know, again, like the whole kind of premise of this project.
01:28:01
Speaker
Like I feel like that's what it is.
01:28:02
Speaker
I feel like this project is just speaking to us in a way of
01:28:10
Speaker
And when I say project, I mean trilogy.
01:28:12
Speaker
I just feel like it's just speaking to us in this way of reclaiming.
01:28:16
Speaker
Yes, of course, reclaiming the genres that are now super heavily dominated by white people.
01:28:24
Speaker
But it also feels like there's this level of reclaim that unifies a little bit, that is...
01:28:40
Speaker
Trying this like thing of like creating something that's new, interesting, that fuses the old with the new.
01:28:49
Speaker
The fact that this, you know, trilogy is coming out during this time right now is crazy because it just feels like when I talk about music, I feel like music that is good usually comments on.
01:29:02
Speaker
Like real things.
01:29:05
Speaker
It just can't all be like I shook my ass in the club.
01:29:07
Speaker
It can't all be that.
01:29:09
Speaker
But I feel like when it comes to someone like a Beyonce that has such an artistry, I'm like, there's something there.
01:29:16
Speaker
There's something going on.
01:29:18
Speaker
I feel like I'm feeling the signs.
01:29:20
Speaker
It's making sense to build people up and to reinvigorate folks.
01:29:26
Speaker
And then on the other hand, it also makes sense to then create an album that's
01:29:32
Speaker
where the whole premise of country music was born out of this very this coded language, so to speak, of
01:29:44
Speaker
like sending messages so that white people couldn't understand what was going on or what was being said or what was happening.
01:29:51
Speaker
And to just kind of stay almost like low profile, because of course, like, you know, they're just probably thinking like, oh, these, you know, niggers are like talking gibberish or whatever.
01:30:04
Speaker
Or they're probably just glad that we were speaking English, honestly, because we were still speaking our native languages.
01:30:09
Speaker
But yeah,
01:30:11
Speaker
Yeah, it just almost feels like she's doing this thing of trying to unify everyone and create less division within music and life.
01:30:24
Speaker
Because again, the thing about music is that it unifies people.
01:30:27
Speaker
So I feel like with her, someone like her that is striving to be great artists,
01:30:35
Speaker
Greater than, I don't know if she's ever said this, but greater than Michael Jackson.
01:30:39
Speaker
I mean, it seems like she's trying, or she has in some cases, with just the impact that she's had on the industry.
01:30:55
Speaker
I can't really name a male artist that's doing the same.
01:31:01
Speaker
Like when it, when I really have to think about it in my brain, I, you know, people do, they compare the weekend to Michael Jackson.
01:31:09
Speaker
I said, I've talked about that before.
01:31:11
Speaker
And I was like, like, I see it, but I also, and I could see him like trying to achieve it, but, and he's been given it, given that crown, but by some people, but I feel like,
01:31:22
Speaker
The thing about Michael Jackson was that he also was able to unify people.
01:31:28
Speaker
There are people all over the world that like that listen to Michael Jackson and that love his music.
01:31:34
Speaker
And I feel like.
01:31:37
Speaker
Beyonce's striving for that while also actually.
01:31:44
Speaker
putting the work into be innovative and different and create something that feels new and fresh.
01:31:51
Speaker
Cause country music is not, and that's part of the turnoff for country music for some folks is that it sounds like some old whiny white man, like, you know, bordering a folk song of just about having woes and miseries that like, you know,
01:32:11
Speaker
a black, like a slave would not, you know, a slave would have it 10 times worse.
01:32:16
Speaker
You know what I mean?
01:32:18
Speaker
And that's, again, not to say that
01:32:22
Speaker
white people don't ever have it bad.
01:32:24
Speaker
It's just the recovery for it is not easy if you do end up in a bad situation.
01:32:32
Speaker
But I feel like Beyonce knows that we're all headed for a bad situation.
01:32:36
Speaker
And I feel like we all like to take from to use like
01:32:44
Speaker
music from and inspiration from like Black artists and have Black features and on the album and have, you know, these different segments, but then also have like Willie Nelson and...
01:33:03
Speaker
Miley Cyrus.
01:33:04
Speaker
That was a little surprise.
01:33:07
Speaker
But Willie Nelson.
01:33:09
Speaker
The song is good, but it was a surprise.
01:33:11
Speaker
I didn't realize she was going to have her on there.
01:33:12
Speaker
But Linda Martel, having this mixed, diverse group of people feels almost intentional in the sense of let's not fight about who, at the core, let's not fight about who created country music, but let's like
01:33:33
Speaker
Fight to make spaces equal to give people the opportunity to showcase their talent.
01:33:41
Speaker
There's so many people that are like, wow, there's all these country artists I haven't discovered because I never really listened to country.
01:33:47
Speaker
And I think that, again, this is why she's done it.
01:33:49
Speaker
Like she's done it because...
01:33:51
Speaker
She recognizes that these are areas that have been lackluster as of late when it comes to Black recognition and to provide back to the community in that way is...
01:34:11
Speaker
of course, one of the biggest like gifts you can give, you know, a community, um, to give them like their voice and their space back, um, by using your voice.
01:34:24
Speaker
Like that is a very powerful message that I think Beyonce sends.
01:34:28
Speaker
Um, wow.
01:34:30
Speaker
That is wild and deep, but also since I mentioned a gift, uh, one more thing, I'm not going to do a final thought.
01:34:38
Speaker
Um,
01:34:39
Speaker
because I don't really have a final thought this week, but one more thing.
01:34:42
Speaker
I just want to say for the people that hate the GIF, or not the people that hate the GIF, but I think the people that are like, oh, the GIF wasn't that great, or I skipped the GIF, or blah, blah, blah, X, Y, Z. Yeah, it wasn't like Beyonce's, like, you know, it wasn't like just her own project.
01:35:02
Speaker
Like, she had, you know, it was a collaboration with Disney or whatever, but like,
01:35:08
Speaker
that was, they, that, those songs were, they're still good.
01:35:11
Speaker
Like don't, not too much because find your way back is one of my favorite Beyonce songs.
01:35:18
Speaker
Probably if I had to list Beyonce songs off the dome without even using, um, cowboy Carter.
01:35:26
Speaker
Cause I feel like I still am trying to figure out what my favorite is.
01:35:29
Speaker
Um, if I had to say top three Beyonce, so, Ooh, yikes.
01:35:34
Speaker
Let's do top four BX Beyonce songs.
01:35:37
Speaker
Um,
01:35:40
Speaker
That's even harder.
01:35:42
Speaker
Still, I would definitely say haunted ghosts.
01:35:51
Speaker
From Renaissance, alien superstar.
01:35:53
Speaker
And...
01:35:59
Speaker
don't know find your way back and there's some i feel like deja vu is probably my fourth one i would probably say between those those are like my top favorite beyonce songs of like all time um not deja vu i don't know why i'm thinking i'm thinking daydream daydream um is my uh one of my favorite beyonce songs of all time but even in that like i feel like
01:36:30
Speaker
the album is so good.
01:36:31
Speaker
Like, find your way back, top four for me, number three.
Reception of The Gift Album
01:36:34
Speaker
But I feel like people have been like, oh, the gif is, you know, it just was okay, or it didn't really give, or, you know, blah, blah, blah.
01:36:43
Speaker
But y'all was turning up to them homecoming songs when she was performing them live.
01:36:47
Speaker
So let's not, you know, let's not play that game.
01:36:54
Speaker
I, again, love the album, love the direction.
The Lion King Live Action Discussion
01:37:00
Speaker
I didn't see that.
01:37:00
Speaker
I never saw the movie, actually.
01:37:02
Speaker
Now I'm saying this out loud.
01:37:03
Speaker
I've never... Excuse me.
01:37:05
Speaker
I've not seen... The Lion King live action.
01:37:12
Speaker
And I think the only reason why I didn't... Was because... I don't know why I'm having gas all of a sudden.
01:37:17
Speaker
I think the only reason why I didn't... Was because...
01:37:24
Speaker
I think I heard mixed reviews about it.
01:37:26
Speaker
And then I was like, I kind of don't want to, I don't really care about a live album now.
01:37:31
Speaker
Like I was like, or not a live album.
01:37:32
Speaker
I wasn't, I didn't really care about a live, um, musical thing.
01:37:37
Speaker
Like I was just like, okay, that's whatever, you know?
01:37:41
Speaker
Um, I'm just trying to see something real quick.
Beyoncé's Album Release Dates
01:37:51
Speaker
I don't know why I said that, uh,
01:37:54
Speaker
Y'all was hating on the GIF because it came out around the same time as the Renaissance album.
01:37:58
Speaker
That's why I got that mixed up.
01:38:01
Speaker
I mean, it came out around in the same year of each other, but the GIF had came out later.
01:38:05
Speaker
I did forget that.
01:38:07
Speaker
Either way, everyone said that music videos for that were good as shit.
01:38:14
Speaker
Everybody was turning the fuck up to... What song was it?
Beyoncé's Reinvention
01:38:23
Speaker
move forever like that song was everywhere like i feel like people how soon you know people forget so um i feel like and then again once be honest like she keeps reinventing herself so i feel like once like this next album comes out i'm gonna be like i don't know how she keeps i'm gonna do this all over again i'm gonna literally have a i don't know how she keeps doing this how she keeps us on our toes
01:38:46
Speaker
kind of uh situation like she's just larger than life with being very humble at the same time like she just knows who she is and i find that that's a very like
01:39:05
Speaker
attractive trait like to have to just know who you are to know what you with the music you want to put out the type of like sound you wanted to have you you know break down your body and you know just to dance like and keep creating these big like projects that get bigger and bigger and bigger and it's like I'm just always like damn what is she gonna do next like I that's my thing with her I'm like I don't
01:39:32
Speaker
I don't even know.
01:39:34
Speaker
Like, I don't even know.
01:39:34
Speaker
Like, it's, I don't know what to say.
01:39:38
Speaker
But I do think that I will speculate a little bit and say that I do think that the third album and the act will be a rock album.
01:39:45
Speaker
I do agree with that now.
01:39:47
Speaker
I wasn't on board with that theory before.
01:39:48
Speaker
Cause again, I hate when y'all speculate like way too much.
01:39:52
Speaker
And it seems like y'all fall in love with that idea.
01:39:55
Speaker
That's what, again, just me reading it off of social media.
01:39:59
Speaker
It feels like y'all want it so bad that y'all,
01:40:01
Speaker
are claiming it and i'm like this isn't even your project so um i don't know why you're like super super like that deep invested in it but it would make sense then for this next album to be a rock inspired album because a couple things i remember beyonce said she had a goth face i remember um
01:40:22
Speaker
And that was around the time when she released Self-Titled.
01:40:28
Speaker
So I think she had a comment or someone had asked her about her style or something.
01:40:32
Speaker
And she was like, I don't got faith.
01:40:35
Speaker
And she did the track with... Oh, God.
01:40:42
Speaker
Jack White.
01:40:43
Speaker
And...
01:40:45
Speaker
on Lemonade and then she had Daddy Lessons on Lemonade.
01:40:48
Speaker
I'm just like, I feel like when I have to go back and listen to Lemonade because I feel like we didn't, there's something there we didn't catch either because in a way I feel like this feels connected to
01:41:06
Speaker
like, the trilogy somehow, like, I don't know, because I'm like, daddy lessons, and then if she do come out with a rock song, I'm like, don't hurt yourself, and then I'm like, so then what was the dance song, like, I, I'm trying, I had to figure that out, I mean, all her songs were dance songs, but, oh, I was about to say something crazy, I was about to say something so fucking crazy, um,
01:41:35
Speaker
Just know, if you ask me about six-inch heels, ask me off the chat or off the live.
Listener Interaction and Feedback
01:41:44
Speaker
Like, you got to ask me off of this because I just... A connection connected and I was like, ooh, telling.
01:41:50
Speaker
Yeah.
01:41:53
Speaker
It was a little bit of tea.
01:41:54
Speaker
I was clacking a little tea.
01:41:56
Speaker
So yeah, that's it for this episode.
01:41:59
Speaker
Again, thank you all for listening.
01:42:02
Speaker
Definitely rate, review.
01:42:04
Speaker
I feel like I could have been better this week, but at the same time, I'm here.
01:42:09
Speaker
I showed the fuck up this week.
01:42:11
Speaker
I almost did not show the fuck up, but I showed the fuck up.
01:42:14
Speaker
So clap for me.
01:42:17
Speaker
Uh, you know, if you got any advice, if you want to curse me out, you know, send a letter to gather them pot at gmail.com.
01:42:25
Speaker
I would, I mean, I'd be interested in getting a curse out and read it all out.
01:42:28
Speaker
I probably would bust out fucking laughing.
Social Media Bots Criticism
01:42:31
Speaker
If you want to connect with me on the socials, I'm Gather Them Pod on Instagram and on X. Also, shout out, you ate this like one little thing, Elon Musk.
01:42:41
Speaker
The fact that he talked about wanting to get rid of these bots on social media, you ate that one little thing and that's it.
01:42:49
Speaker
That's all you eat.
01:42:50
Speaker
Because it's always some lusty woman, never a man, like literally never a man unless you type in sugar daddy and that comes up, which I fucking hate that.
01:43:02
Speaker
Like you can't say sugar daddy without it, without a bunch of people DMing you.
01:43:07
Speaker
But yeah.
01:43:09
Speaker
You got all these bots popping up, and then you got me sitting up here being like, oh, well, I got to figure out which way this square goes because of whatever reason, blah, blah, blah, X, Y, Z. And I'm just like, no.
01:43:24
Speaker
Mm-mm.
01:43:26
Speaker
How are the bots existing on this app?
01:43:29
Speaker
Get them out of here.
01:43:30
Speaker
So, you know, shout out to him for that.
01:43:34
Speaker
But that's all he gets from me.
01:43:39
Speaker
Yeah, that's it for this episode.
01:43:43
Speaker
This week's episode.
01:43:46
Speaker
And I'll talk to everyone next week.
01:43:48
Speaker
Bye.