Latest / Normally / Normally Podcast: Navigating Holiday Traditions and Gift Giving

Transcript

Normally Podcast: Navigating Holiday Traditions and Gift Giving · Normally

• 0:01
  Speaker 1: Hey guys, we are back on normally the show with
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: normalish it takes for when the news gets weird. This week,
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: once again we are a little heavy on takes and
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: lighter on news because we were doing an AMA.
• 0:11
  Speaker 2: I am Mary Catherine Ham.
• 0:12
  Speaker 3: And I'm Carol marco Itz. Thanks so much for joining us.
• 0:15
  Speaker 2: I hope you guys have had a great break.
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: Carol, And can I ask what do you guys do
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: in Florida? You guys like light up your palm trees?
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: Is that what happens that as I sit in the snow.
• 0:26
  Speaker 3: Here, the day after Thanksgiving, Florida lights up all as
• 0:31
  Speaker 3: palm trees. I mean that's really literally what happens everywhere around.
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: I th think it did start that early in New
• 0:37
  Speaker 3: York either. It wasn't like the day after Thanksgiving all
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: the lights went up. It's very organized here, like a
• 0:42
  Speaker 3: lot of things, it just functions very very well. And
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: then one year, I think, you know, one community didn't
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: have its lights up and everybody was all up in
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: arms about it because what are you doing? Like what's
• 0:54
  Speaker 3: the delay here?
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: We've got some fun questions still coming in.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: We'll do a couple serious ones, but I like this
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: one what was your favorite Christmas gift you ever received?
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: Yours will have to be gift in general slash.
• 1:05
  Speaker 2: I guess.
• 1:09
  Speaker 3: I'm just not like A. I don't know. I you know,
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: I have to say my husband and I are just
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: not big gift givers. I know this that sounds awful,
• 1:16
  Speaker 3: but like it's more like when we need something, we
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: just get it. It's not I don't know. I sometimes
• 1:21
  Speaker 3: wish we were better at it, but I also don't
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: want to try that hard. So all right, can I do?
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: So?
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: Yeah?
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: I think it's okay.
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: You've called a You've called a truth as long as
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: your desires are wind up.
• 1:34
  Speaker 3: Back and nobody's disappointed. And you know that that's the
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: worst part, right when people are like one side is
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: like not a big on gift giving and the other
• 1:42
  Speaker 3: side is exactly I have to say, the best gift
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: my kids have gotten recently. If anybody's still looking at shop,
• 1:49
  Speaker 3: I know this is clost Christmas, but a silent basketball.
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: It like feels like a basketball and it doesn't feel
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: like it plays like a basketball, but it's for indoor
• 1:59
  Speaker 3: you and it's really good. I'm a big fan. Yeah,
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: get that.
• 2:04
  Speaker 2: Things that we can make in this modern world amazing.
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: I think I would say my favorite, maybe my favorite
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: childhood present was a do you remember the cartoon ThunderCats.
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: Of course, yes, thunder So I got the whole.
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: Yeah, my parents must have been doing pretty well that
• 2:22
  Speaker 1: year or something because I got There were other years
• 2:25
  Speaker 1: where like things were I remember. I still remember them
• 2:27
  Speaker 1: being so magical, but my parents will tell me later,
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: like we got all those things at the thirst store.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: This was a This was a brand new Thundercat's lair
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: with like a racetrack running through it that you could
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: put the ThunderCats uh cars on and vehicles and it
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: was like it was very elaborate. There were several figurines.
• 2:48
  Speaker 1: I'm sure it would be worse something if I still
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: had it. Loved that And I think I got a
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: pound puppy the same year, so it was like a
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: pretty I really was a big year Christmas.
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean my fae great gift ever was my
• 3:01
  Speaker 3: Cabbage Patch Kid.
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: That got a promotion or something.
• 3:04
  Speaker 3: Yeah. Yeah, Cabbage Patch Kid was basically the biggest toy
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: of my childhood. I still have it. My you know,
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: lives on my daughter's bed. He lives on my daughter's bed.
• 3:14
  Speaker 3: He Victor with the with the birth certificate.
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: Yes, yes, but signature on their butts.
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: The butt still exists. Navier Roberts still kind of smells
• 3:25
  Speaker 3: a little bit like baby powder. I mean, this is
• 3:27
  Speaker 3: like tho years later, more than thirty even thirty five,
• 3:30
  Speaker 3: and it still has the little scent. It's it's and
• 3:33
  Speaker 3: we've washed it. So I don't know what they do.
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: That's all. That's impressive. What did they make that out of?
• 3:38
  Speaker 2: I wonder something right?
• 3:44
  Speaker 1: And then my husband is an extremely thoughtful gift giver,
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: so I have to keep married.
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: It's uh, it's great.
• 3:54
  Speaker 1: I think I actually think I've I've told him before
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: he should give classes to other hetero dudes about how
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: to give presents.
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: But he'd be hilariously bad.
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: At giving classes because he's just like, well, I just
• 4:07
  Speaker 1: listened to what you're saying, and when you say that
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: you like a thing, I remember it, and I'm like, yeah,
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: that's the thing.
• 4:13
  Speaker 2: That other people aren't doing right, Steve.
• 4:15
  Speaker 3: Yeah. But also people, I have never heard my husband
• 4:18
  Speaker 3: say he wants something ever. Ever. Ever, he has never
• 4:21
  Speaker 3: been like he's never walked by a store window and
• 4:24
  Speaker 3: kind of glanced. I never, So some people just don't
• 4:27
  Speaker 3: give you the clues either.
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's true.
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: And my husband actually frustratingly buys everything he wants for himself, which.
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: Is not a lot of husbands to.
• 4:35
  Speaker 3: Yeah.
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and so he's very hard to shop for.
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: I did one time make him a hat rack out
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: of like a you know, like a like a raw
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: edged piece of wood. We have a very large, tall
• 4:50
  Speaker 1: ceilinged wall that we put this like piece of spruce
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: on and I like standed it all up and finished
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: it and.
• 4:58
  Speaker 2: Put hooks on it.
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: And now that's where our BA small caps reside, so
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: that we would love it like fancy white trash instead.
• 5:03
  Speaker 3: Of I think we've seen it in the background of
• 5:07
  Speaker 3: some of our normally videos.
• 5:08
  Speaker 2: Is that is that the one that's a different one?
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: The other one?
• 5:10
  Speaker 1: This one is much more elaborate than that. I will
• 5:13
  Speaker 1: show it to you guys sometimes.
• 5:14
  Speaker 3: Yeah, definitely.
• 5:15
  Speaker 2: It was a little weird because we were actually not
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: early in dating, but it was like we were dating, yeah,
• 5:22
  Speaker 2: and I was like.
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: If I make this very elaborate gift for him, is
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: it going to be too much? You know, you have
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: to gauge your gift giving. And it was also very big,
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: so I was like, close your eyes on bringing this
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: giant thing into your home and I don't know if
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: you'll like it or not.
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: And he did and it's still on the wall.
• 5:39
  Speaker 3: Hey, it all worked out.
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: All right. I'm gonna do another fun one. Let's do it.
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: What was the first concert for each of you?
• 5:51
  Speaker 3: My first concert was Debbie Gibson Electric Youth. I have
• 5:56
  Speaker 3: to say, I know shade to Debbie, but I definitely
• 6:01
  Speaker 3: got into her to fit in with the other girls.
• 6:04
  Speaker 3: I was a bon Jovi like kind of getting into
• 6:09
  Speaker 3: like heavy metal person, and all the girls in my
• 6:11
  Speaker 3: class were like, Debbie Gibson is so much better than that,
• 6:14
  Speaker 3: and I was like, I want to hang out with
• 6:16
  Speaker 3: you girls, So I will. I will become a Debbie
• 6:19
  Speaker 3: Gibson super fan. I will go to her concert. I
• 6:21
  Speaker 3: will learn the names of her background singers and I
• 6:24
  Speaker 3: look I like her music. I had, you know, again,
• 6:26
  Speaker 3: no shade at all, but it was definitely an attempt
• 6:30
  Speaker 3: to fit in. I'll also say my last concert wasn't
• 6:33
  Speaker 3: also a long islander. I went to see Billy, Joel
• 6:35
  Speaker 3: and San Antonio last month with the children. My then
• 6:39
  Speaker 3: eight year old he is now nine, fell asleep for
• 6:42
  Speaker 3: most of that show. The lesson here is don't fire
• 6:45
  Speaker 3: kids extensive concert tickets because they can't make it.
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: My first one, And then I'm going to ask you
• 6:51
  Speaker 1: your favorite concert you've ever been to.
• 6:53
  Speaker 2: My first one, I believe, was Leonard skinnerd.
• 6:56
  Speaker 3: Ooh, that is a first concert which is on brand.
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: You are cool.
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: I have to say there may have been one I
• 7:04
  Speaker 1: went to with my parents before that, which was this
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: is an odd one.
• 7:08
  Speaker 2: Julian Lennon. Oh yeah, do you remember when Julian Lennon
• 7:12
  Speaker 2: was a thing.
• 7:12
  Speaker 1: Yeah, he actually had a He put out one great
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: album in the mid eighties, and we went to a concert.
• 7:19
  Speaker 2: So I did see that one.
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: And then Leonard Skinner on my own in high school
• 7:22
  Speaker 1: was my I think my first one, and my favorite
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: concert was probably and this is the only thing that
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: gives me any cred. I saw Outcast in nineteen ninety
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: eight in a very small out yeah yeah, and it
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: was like an eight dollar ticket and I was splurging, Carol.
• 7:43
  Speaker 3: I was like, it was really clea, this is worth it.
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: It was really close to my dorm room the field
• 7:48
  Speaker 1: where they played, and so some people were like, I
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: don't know, We're just going to sit in our dorm
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: room and open the windows, which you could do, and
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: I was like, I'm going to do it. I'm going
• 7:56
  Speaker 1: to spend eight of my hard earned dollars to go
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: see Outcast and it was fantastic.
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: Have you ever seen Ludacris? I really I associate you
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: with Ludacris very very tightly.
• 8:07
  Speaker 2: I have not, somewhat surprisingly, I should probably get that done.
• 8:10
  Speaker 3: Yeah, definitely, I'll see Luda. My favorite concert. I just
• 8:16
  Speaker 3: I know this is going to sound so cheesy because
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: it is cheesy, but it really was Taylor Swift. I
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: went to see Taylor Swift in June with my daughter
• 8:25
  Speaker 3: in Liverpool. It was a three hour show. It was incredible.
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: I'm not a huge Taylor Swift fan. I'm not, but
• 8:33
  Speaker 3: my daughter was so into it and we sang along
• 8:35
  Speaker 3: with all the songs and it was a very well
• 8:38
  Speaker 3: done show. Obviously, I mean, people aren't just going because
• 8:41
  Speaker 3: they're crazy, but that was amazing. Like you, I have
• 8:46
  Speaker 3: seen big rap artists. Back in Brooklyn, there was a
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: club called Intensity for and it was four teenagers, like
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: I was like fifteen at the time. I saw like
• 8:57
  Speaker 3: Cypress Hill, that's effects. I mean, just tons of really
• 9:00
  Speaker 3: big kind of acts, really up close I would say
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: eight dollars is probably more more than a cost. It
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: might have been like five or six. It's kind of
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: wild they would never do it at teenage clubs, for example,
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: is not a thing anymore.
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: No, we had that teenagers.
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: Like they started like seven and they end at like
• 9:18
  Speaker 3: nine thirty. It's crazy that they don't.
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: We had that too with like punk bands and you know,
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: get some cigarettes in there.
• 9:26
  Speaker 3: Well, yes, maybe that's why they don't have them anymore.
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: Not that I would engage in such a thing, but
• 9:32
  Speaker 2: I'd be.
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: Saying, yeah, yeah, it was a different time.
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: It was a different time, it was a better time.
• 9:39
  Speaker 3: We're going to take a short break and come right
• 9:41
  Speaker 3: back with normally. Should we do a more serious one?
• 9:48
  Speaker 2: Oh yeah, here's a question.
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: Would we ever have a non Zionist Jew on the
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: show for a discussion?
• 9:57
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I like that question actually because because
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: well we don't do guests on normally. But I have
• 10:03
  Speaker 3: another show where I interview people. And my answer to
• 10:06
  Speaker 3: that is no, I would not, And why would I
• 10:09
  Speaker 3: not not? Because I don't feel like I could be
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: challenged or any of that. Zionism is the belief that
• 10:16
  Speaker 3: Israel should exist, or even more specifically, it's the pre
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: Israel belief that there should be an Israel that you know,
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: let's have an Israel. Now that Israel exists, it's not
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: up for debate anymore. So to me, it'd be similar
• 10:31
  Speaker 3: to having on somebody who doesn't think America should exist
• 10:34
  Speaker 3: or France should exist or whatever. You're arguing with something
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: that will absolutely never happen. Israel is not going to
• 10:41
  Speaker 3: pack up and call it a day, right, They're not
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: going to say, oh, this argument that this guy I'm
• 10:47
  Speaker 3: made on this podcast is so strong that we are
• 10:50
  Speaker 3: we're going to just leave now. So what you're saying
• 10:54
  Speaker 3: is you want basically mass genocide of Israelis, and I
• 10:58
  Speaker 3: can't engage with that. It becomes you know, people from
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: a distance can't tell who is who with the whole
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: arguing with an idiot. That's where I feel like anti
• 11:07
  Speaker 3: Zionism brings me. So, if you believe Israel shouldn't exist,
• 11:11
  Speaker 3: that is a fringe, crazy belief that will never come true,
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: and I don't want to engage with that.
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: Well, I think the point you've made before, which I
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: think is very smart about it doing a disservice to
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: Palestinians truly argue assuming that an Israel.
• 11:29
  Speaker 2: Will ever not exist exactly. Yea, is very real.
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: You're just hurting people by engaging in something that is
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: never going to happen, and.
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: I'm certaving them that false hope. Yeah.
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and it perpetuates all sorts of societal incentives that
• 11:48
  Speaker 1: have not served the Palestinian people thus far and will
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: continue not to and in fact have not served the
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: entire Middle East and all of Iranian proxies for the
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: past two years as they face hard times after October seventh.
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: I'm also just I was gonna say, cracks me up.
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: It's not cracks me up. It's like it's dismaying to
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: hear people to watch people watch the world post October
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: seventh and be like the solution to all of this
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: is to have nowhere for the Jews to go. And
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: I'm like, well, that sounds like a different kind of solution,
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: if you know what I'm saying.
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: And we right, we.
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: Have a place because you guys already ethnically cleansed in
• 12:33
  Speaker 1: all of these places. So I also, I just, I
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: also found it hilarious that people are like international international
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: international law until like, you know, the un sanctioned the
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: creation of Israel. The UN says that Hesblas should be
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: behind this certain line and Lebanon and they're like, oh no,
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: not those international laws, right, those aren't the ones that
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: we like.
• 12:54
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so yeah, I mean I appreciate you so much,
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: Like it is a different guilt lonely, you know, fight
• 13:02
  Speaker 3: sometimes for Jews, and I just you're amazing. So many
• 13:06
  Speaker 3: Christians are amazing. I'm just thankful for you and thankful
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: for a lot of people. People are so good. We
• 13:14
  Speaker 3: forget that, and I like to be reminded of that.
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: Well, I'm always my favorite trait in people. Well, there's
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: two good. Humor and resilience are my two favorite traits,
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: and I feel like the Jews certainly embody both of those,
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: and particularly if you ever get the chance to visit Israel.
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: I went in March when and you went with us
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: when things were really pitched there and there's just people
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: out on the beaches playing volleyball, and I'm like, this
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: is what life is about.
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: It's an amazing thing to see.
• 13:46
  Speaker 3: That's right, and will bring the funny. We will definitely
• 13:49
  Speaker 3: bring the funny.
• 13:50
  Speaker 2: Do you want about living in a blue state You've.
• 13:52
  Speaker 3: Been there, Yeah, let's do it someone says, I'm.
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: Living in a blue state for important reasons like job
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: and family. My husband and I dream of retiring to
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: a state with actual checks and balances. I try not
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: to get overly invested in state politics, but it can
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: be frustrating. My state prioritizes policies and spending in ways
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: that I strongly oppose. What recommendations do you have for
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: people in my circumstances.
• 14:13
  Speaker 2: I need a normal ish take.
• 14:16
  Speaker 3: Yeah, it's so tough, I get it. I like I.
• 14:20
  Speaker 3: You know, when I was struggling with living in New
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: York and I was just unhappy, so unhappy with so
• 14:27
  Speaker 3: many policies. My kids weren't going to school. They went
• 14:30
  Speaker 3: to school sometimes, and I was watching red states just
• 14:33
  Speaker 3: continue to function normally. A lot of people would just
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: tweet at me and say, just move, just move. It's
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: really hard to move. And I want people to understand
• 14:45
  Speaker 3: that that is terrible advice. It just just move is
• 14:48
  Speaker 3: something you could say to like Jeff Bezos, like, oh,
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: you're not a happy where you are, just move, And
• 14:53
  Speaker 3: even him, even if you do have a lot of means,
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: you still have family and friends and roots and all that,
• 15:00
  Speaker 3: and end up the picture of how you thought your
• 15:03
  Speaker 3: life would go. I never imagine i'd leave New York.
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: I always thought I would grow older. I had a
• 15:08
  Speaker 3: vision for how that would look. I would retire to
• 15:11
  Speaker 3: Manhattan from my home in Brooklyn. It was, it was
• 15:14
  Speaker 3: very specific. So I would say that's it's really tough.
• 15:19
  Speaker 3: Go easy on yourself that you haven't been able to
• 15:21
  Speaker 3: make it happen, or that you might not be able
• 15:23
  Speaker 3: to don't. I feel like people get really hard on
• 15:25
  Speaker 3: themselves and they don't accomplish what they want. And so
• 15:28
  Speaker 3: I would say to this person writing in that, I
• 15:33
  Speaker 3: would say for them. In the meantime, do get overly
• 15:35
  Speaker 3: invested in state politics. Try to make changes in the
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: place where you are. Our friend Alicia Kraus, for example,
• 15:41
  Speaker 3: lives in California, says she's never going to leave, is
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: staying and fighting and doing her best over there. So
• 15:49
  Speaker 3: do that.
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: Yeah, California got a bunch redder.
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: And I texted Alicia and I was like, look at this,
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: and she's like, it's really happening. So that you can
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: make progress. I also think your impact on state politics
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: or local politics can be a lot larger. And I'm
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: not practicing what I preach because it's very hard to
• 16:10
  Speaker 1: find the time to engage in those things.
• 16:12
  Speaker 2: And I do all this national politics.
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: However, I think another thing that you can do in
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: blue states is find your normy community right wherever it is.
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: We have a little school that our kids go to
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: with a bunch of normy parents and a bunch of
• 16:28
  Speaker 1: normy kids, and we have we have a neighborhood that
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: is full of military moms and dads, and so those
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: families really are closer to our values. I feel very
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: lucky that we ended up there, a church community. Whatever
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: it is that you can find that is certain, that.
• 16:47
  Speaker 3: Is removing you have sounds amazing.
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah, No, it's great, and I think it's our saving
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: grace living in a place that is fairly I mean,
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: certainly Northern Virginia is very blue. And then I would say,
• 16:58
  Speaker 1: if you are paying attention to state politics, occasionally someone
• 17:02
  Speaker 1: can come along who's sensible and smart and good at politics,
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: like Governor Glenn Youngkin, who will then become the governor
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: of your state instead of Terry mccauliffe, who my husband
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: and I were considering leaving if he became the governor
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: during COVID because we thought that that would go very
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: badly and youngin one he has a sixty five percent
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: approval rating. And the power of a figure like that
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: to change the tenor in your state and to change
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: the way that life feels in your state is can
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: be really powerful.
• 17:35
  Speaker 3: Yeah. And you know, you don't say what blue state
• 17:38
  Speaker 3: you're from the person who's writing it in, so I
• 17:41
  Speaker 3: don't know if it's somewhere that is kind of beyond
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: that that. I mean, that would be completely impossible. But yeah,
• 17:49
  Speaker 3: the I look continue that dream also the retirement. You know,
• 17:54
  Speaker 3: maybe you do get to a red state and I
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: so I would say, in the meantime, stay and fight,
• 17:59
  Speaker 3: but get to that red state as soon as you can.
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: It is pretty glorious, pretty glorious.
• 18:05
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I know she does make me jealous sometimes.
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: This person had a great comment too that said, listening
• 18:09
  Speaker 1: to the podcast is the equivalent of getting coffee with
• 18:12
  Speaker 1: our mom friends.
• 18:13
  Speaker 2: And I love that.
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: That's the vime we're going for.
• 18:16
  Speaker 1: That's what we're going for. So I wish you the
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: best in your blue state. I know it can be
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: tough to find the folks who are your folks. The
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: other thing I always recommend to people, particularly if you
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: are a political outlier in your neighborhood is I don't
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: do next door or neighborhood Facebook. Now you can miss
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: things like cool things on the side of the road
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: that you could pick up for free. Yeah, but I
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: think next door is basically designed, unfortunately, to make you
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: hate your neighbors interest and I don't want to. So
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: I used to live in a much more liberal neighborhood
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: and I didn't do that. And I think if I had,
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: and I had seen certain people's online personas before I
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: had met them in real life, I would not have
• 18:59
  Speaker 1: had those acquaintances or friendships. I think it would have
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: set me up to fail in a couple of situations
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: so or made me more isolated.
• 19:08
  Speaker 2: So I just don't. I don't do that.
• 19:11
  Speaker 3: Yeah, you know, I don't know if we have next
• 19:13
  Speaker 3: door actually where I am. But people don't participate that
• 19:16
  Speaker 3: much in the Facebook groups.
• 19:18
  Speaker 2: It's probably because you live somewhere normal.
• 19:23
  Speaker 3: Maybe. Yeah, but that is a very interesting take that
• 19:26
  Speaker 3: don't don't participate too much in your neighborhood stuff.
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: I just think if you get too much exposure to that,
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: you start getting really sour about everyone around you.
• 19:35
  Speaker 3: Yeah, makes sense. Online online life doesn't always make us
• 19:38
  Speaker 3: better people? All right, what else do we have?
• 19:44
  Speaker 2: We have?
• 19:44
  Speaker 3: Actually, we have a bunch of other questions, but let's
• 19:47
  Speaker 3: let's take another one.
• 19:48
  Speaker 2: Let's see. Okay, I got, I got a semi serious
• 19:51
  Speaker 2: one and a silly one. Here's one you can give
• 19:54
  Speaker 2: your take.
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: Because I enjoy your your your ex get togethers that
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: I see in Florida and don't get to go to.
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: What really goes on during those conservative Twitter get togethers
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: where we see everyone breaking bread together.
• 20:08
  Speaker 3: It's funny because what I want to tell you is like, oh,
• 20:11
  Speaker 3: when we get together, we don't talk politics at all.
• 20:14
  Speaker 3: We just hang out and like it's totally normal. I
• 20:18
  Speaker 3: want to tell you that that is just not true.
• 20:21
  Speaker 3: Like my husband will say to me, I don't understand
• 20:23
  Speaker 3: how you and your friends talk about your work when
• 20:27
  Speaker 3: you were together. But look, we obviously love this crazy
• 20:30
  Speaker 3: thing of ours, right, we love this this thing that
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: we do. When we get together, we still talk politics
• 20:37
  Speaker 3: a lot, like for most of the time, I mean,
• 20:39
  Speaker 3: we get we have to like how are the kids,
• 20:41
  Speaker 3: how's the wife, how's whatever, But we still have political
• 20:46
  Speaker 3: conversations and they do feel you know, we share ideas,
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: we talk things out, We you know, do stuff like that.
• 20:55
  Speaker 3: They're great. I mean, I've always enjoyed the conservative happy
• 20:59
  Speaker 3: hours that we had, you know, in New York, and
• 21:02
  Speaker 3: you and I have had in like, you know, around
• 21:04
  Speaker 3: Seapac when it was in d C and Virginia. Always
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: a good time. I think we have a good thing
• 21:11
  Speaker 3: going on the right. I know that there are some
• 21:14
  Speaker 3: divisions and there's some fractures, but in general, I like
• 21:19
  Speaker 3: most of the conservative right and there's very few you know,
• 21:22
  Speaker 3: kind of exceptions to that, so you know, having drinks
• 21:26
  Speaker 3: with them, I'm all in Forlida all the time.
• 21:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah, No, I'm with you that it's it's often is
• 21:32
  Speaker 2: shop talk.
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: But I think places like in particular, I think I
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: like feel like they're like satellite conservative mafia clubs in
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: New York and Florida, and I feel like they look
• 21:45
  Speaker 1: like so much more fun than ours in DC, because
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: DC is like and there's so many people who are
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: professional conservatives there.
• 21:52
  Speaker 2: That it's not so much you don't really need that raft.
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: I think as much as a Norman place like Florida
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: where you want a place to discuss it things, or
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: a place like New York where you're just really not
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: the norm there and so you need like a little
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: life raft to have those discussions. I also think for
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: people who like policy, not everybody wants.
• 22:14
  Speaker 2: To talk about it.
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: It's not fun for everyone, but we do, and we
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: sometimes like to debate that. I think that's one of
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: the things someone asked in an earlier episode about our temperament.
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: And I think one of the things I didn't realize
• 22:27
  Speaker 1: about my temperament until I was much older that would
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: have been helpful to know when I was younger, is
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: that having an intellectual debate. I don't like emotional confrontations,
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: but having an intellectual debate does not bother me at all.
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: I find it fun most of the time. I find
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: it interesting and I understand it. To other people it's
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: conflict and they're like, no, no, no, right.
• 22:49
  Speaker 3: Well, I was saying that this is the most abnormal
• 22:52
  Speaker 3: thing about us, is that we enjoy this insane thing.
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: Yes, And so having people that are happy to toss
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: the ball around like that and not get mad about
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: it or get mad about it and then have another
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: drink and be fine. You know, that is a that's
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: a fun environment to be in. And honestly, I wish
• 23:08
  Speaker 1: that DC fostered a little more of what I see
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: in Florida, in New York and New York in those communities.
• 23:15
  Speaker 3: Yeah, but you're right, it is because we need the
• 23:18
  Speaker 3: life rafts. The last half of that question was what
• 23:21
  Speaker 3: was Ben like in person? For instance? And I assume
• 23:23
  Speaker 3: that means Ben Shapiro. He talks super fast. He is
• 23:27
  Speaker 3: exactly who you think he is. He's like the guy
• 23:30
  Speaker 3: that you see on the screen. Is the guy that
• 23:32
  Speaker 3: you know I see over dinner.
• 23:34
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: By the way, I'm going to make the weirdest comparison ever,
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: but perfect for us. Ben Shapiro in person is much
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: like Outcast in concert. It's just as fast as it
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: is on the recording, and it's very impressive.
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: I like that Ben Shapiro the rapper.
• 23:50
  Speaker 2: He is a rapper, so I've seen him do it.
• 23:53
  Speaker 3: Do it. We'll be right back on normally. All right,
• 24:00
  Speaker 3: our last question what should it be? Oh? How about this?
• 24:04
  Speaker 3: Let's leave with a nice, easy one. How do you
• 24:06
  Speaker 3: help your kids stay in the normy range as they age?
• 24:10
  Speaker 3: Love all the content, Thanks for working so hard. Look,
• 24:12
  Speaker 3: I mean one thing is our kids just my kids
• 24:15
  Speaker 3: do not have any concept of what goes on in
• 24:17
  Speaker 3: my online world. We keep them normal by keeping them
• 24:24
  Speaker 3: normal and by not introducing them to concepts that are
• 24:28
  Speaker 3: too advanced to them. I think that's the overall thing.
• 24:32
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I think we do try to be a light
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: screens family. They are allowed screen time, but it is
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: pretty restricted at this point. They do not have a
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: rich online life. They don't know much about my online
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: life or even about my job.
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: They know what I do, but they don't.
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: They don't think about it very much because they don't
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: need to think about politics very much.
• 24:56
  Speaker 2: They're sort of.
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: Well informed about civics, which is what we're going for.
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: I keep them connected to family and to faith. I
• 25:05
  Speaker 1: think those things have enduring values that go beyond whatever
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: the fat of the day might be that they run into.
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: And yeah, reading books also, which is the thing that
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: at the beginning of all these asking me other things,
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: we decided we were going to do more of in
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: twenty twenty five.
• 25:22
  Speaker 3: So that's right to learn what my kids are well.
• 25:25
  Speaker 3: Thank you for joining us on this very special episode
• 25:27
  Speaker 3: of Normally Normally airs Tuesdays and Thursdays, and you can
• 25:30
  Speaker 3: subscribe anywhere you get your podcasts. Get in touch with
• 25:33
  Speaker 3: us at normallythepod at gmail dot com. Thanks for listening
• 25:37
  Speaker 3: and when things get weird remember act normally