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House of the Peace Makers · Outside Issues

• 0:00
  Speaker A: There's a wonderful line in the great W.E.B. du Bois in his essay in 1920 called the Souls of White Folk. What is it about America that somehow we have a profound fear of the truth and rely on the efficacy of lies? When you're tied to the efficacy of lies, then you're locked into childish innocence. The great Ethel Matheson used to say America is unique among modern industrial nations to move from perceived innocence to corruption without a mediating stage of maturity. Which means you never grow up. You grow powerful, you grow wealthy, you never grow up. Well, what is in growing up? Well, growing up has to do with being willing to confront the truth. That's what City on the Hill is all about. That's what Beacon of Hope is all about. And of course we know it's a lie, because every empire, every nation state, every society is locked into organized greed, institutionalized hatred, forms of cruelty. That's what it is. That's what human history is. So America is, of the 70 empires that have existed since the beginning of the species, is the only empire that denies it's an empire.
• 1:07
  Speaker B: Welcome to outside issues with Audrey and Patrick.
• 1:21
  Speaker C: Run off with me beyond the far reaches of Russia with love.
• 1:32
  Speaker B: RJ Mitte, the actor who played Walter White's son on Breaking Bad, took his life and. Yeah, I mean, I've just been thinking about, about that and especially like the remembrances that the cast members have released.
• 1:45
  Speaker D: Oh, yeah, what's it. Brian Cranston's just. It's heartbreaking.
• 1:49
  Speaker B: Yeah. And then John, John Carlo Esposito, you know, he, yeah, he, he wrote a really beautiful one. Anna Gunn, you know, who played his mom in the show.
• 2:01
  Speaker D: Especially over here with like winter and stuff and the like seasons changing, people start getting more depressed and then more suicidal. So over here we call it the Big Dark, where every, like it starts going dark at like 4 o' clock in the afternoon and then it doesn't like get. It doesn't get Sunny until like 7 or 8 in the morning the next morning.
• 2:22
  Speaker B: Big Dark.
• 2:23
  Speaker D: The Big dark. And so people get Seasonal Affective Disorder and then that drives up suicide over here and. Yeah, just dealing with. Dealing with suicide screening has been. Let's just say I've had an interesting couple of weeks.
• 2:39
  Speaker B: So you've been doing. You've been dealing with it or it's been part of your workload.
• 2:44
  Speaker D: Yeah, that and like risk of harm to others, which is always fun to. Always fun to deal with. Can't really. Oh, I'll. I'll have to tell you more about that. When, when I see you. But like, it's, it's. I'm so glad to be on PTO right now.
• 3:03
  Speaker B: God. Yeah. So you're technically on PTO.
• 3:06
  Speaker D: I am technically on PTO. I've got three clinical notes to finish and I'm gone for two weeks.
• 3:15
  Speaker B: What will you be doing for those two weeks?
• 3:17
  Speaker D: Getting married. Getting married and turning 10 years sober. So many life events.
• 3:24
  Speaker B: And now when you planned your wedding, was it with this in mind? Like, did you want, Were you trying to kind of have them dovetail?
• 3:30
  Speaker D: No, I, I honestly, I've been so busy for the last like three years with this job. Like, I completely forgot when we decided to be like, hey, let's plan this. It must have been less than a year ago or something because it was just kind of like, okay, well, let's go to. We're definitely going to go to California because we already, we always had in mind that, like, my mother in law is going to marry us because she's a federal judge and we would go to California, but we didn't know like the details. And then finally we're just like, okay, let's do it. And so now we're doing it.
• 4:04
  Speaker C: Of Siberia, Wisteria Dreams.
• 4:10
  Speaker B: I want to introduce my friend Sunny because I would been talking Audrey about having her on the podcast for a while.
• 4:16
  Speaker E: Currently I'm in South Minneapolis. And let's see. So Sunny Leilani is my spirit name. It was gifted to me in two parts. I worked on the road with a jazz artist, Melody Gardell, and we had a 6 foot 4 German bus driver and he called me Sunshine. He would say, good morning, Sunshine, and you either, when this big, massive, awesome man calls you Sunshine, you either love it or you don't love it. And I fell in love with it. And then he shortened it to Sunny. And after Standing Rock, I went to the big island. In the big island of Hawaii. I had met Earl De Leon, who was one of the Hawaiian delegation members at Standing Rock, and he had said if I ever made it over to Hawaii to hit him up. And when I was there, they gifted me the name Leilani and they dropped the Y because there's no Y in the Hawaiian Alphabet. And it's Sunny Leilani. So that's my spirit name. And I am a musician, a poet. You know, I, I've evolved from a, an activist from like, I'm still, I'm still a, you know, raise my fist up at heart, but I am definitely have kind of flowed my way into a love activist. It's like when you stand and protect the water for so many years, as I have, you start to. I started to understand that, like, the protest has, like, softened into. Dissolved into a love fest. And I think it. If I could just use one example, I was in northern Minnesota, and there was a. There was a slogan that said, love water, hate oil. And I just couldn't. I couldn't wrap my brain around that. I couldn't wrap my heart around that. I couldn't wrap my spirit and my soul around that. Because, truth be told, oil and water coexist together deep in the earth, like, for time immemorial, longer than we could even fathom. And oil is like the conglomeration of all of our ancestors. Deep, like aftermath or leftover essence. And oil and water are just fine down there under the Earth. Right. It's when we exploit oil, we poison water, you know, So I. That was like, this realization that I had that I don't hate anything. I. Yeah. So I think of being on the podcast Outside Issues. I just think that's a great way to start off and explain, like, the journey that I've been on from being an Earth and water activist to, like, a love fest and like a galactic citizen here on Earth.
• 7:39
  Speaker B: Well, yeah, you know, and so I. We have a mutual friend, my friend Cyril Otin, who was with Sunny at Standing Rock. And through a lot of adventures I feel like I have, I'm having a conversation with a lot of. A lot of people on the. On the backside of protest movements, the highest aspirations of what, you know, those movements were, trying to achieve what wasn't reached and, like, figuring out what our place is in the aftermath of certain things and finding a way to kind of, like, stay in. Stay in the fight or to stay in the kind of, like, hope without burning up.
• 8:16
  Speaker E: In the journey that I've been on, I'm learning to understand that we are one and that there's so much more that we are made from or come from than just Earth. Like, Earth is a planet within a solar system that's within a galaxy, a galaxy within a cosmos. So, truth be told, we. We are galactic beings. And I think that's helped me kind of like, expand out and then. Then come back in and understand that, like, it's not only one thing to treat the Earth with respect and reverence, but every creature, every, everything. And I think acknowledging myself as Galactic Audrey allows me to really embrace that.
• 9:05
  Speaker D: Beautiful. That's really beautiful. I live here in Washington State, by Seattle, kind of north of Seattle. And I just, like, I was exposed to little. To the. To the hippie community up here.
• 9:19
  Speaker E: Yes, I can imagine. I've been in Seattle and the Pacific Northwest, and it is a cosmic place. So I can just imagine what some of your circle of friends and community is like.
• 9:33
  Speaker D: It's certainly different than in Los Angeles, but I love Los Angeles and my community in Los Angeles. I love all my communities. What can I say? But this certainly moving up here certainly brought me a different, I guess, point of view of things like, spiritually. So I thought it was. And I think a lot of that has to do with like, the nature that I'm surrounded by. So.
• 9:56
  Speaker E: Absolutely.
• 9:57
  Speaker B: What was first, was it music? Was it the social justice? Or were they together from the start?
• 10:03
  Speaker E: Well, I was always a little, like, I was always a little dynamo. I was very quiet as a kid. But like growing up in. I grew up in a little town called Manahawken, New Jersey, alongside the Atlantic Ocean. And my father is Filipino. And I've learned recently the. The pre colonial Philippines were actually, it's called Maharlika. And our deep, deep ancestors are Austronesians. So they're like the early, early Polynesians. They were just a mixture of like, beings that were coming down from all parts of south, like Asia to Southeast Asia, into all of those islands and through the Philippines and then down in. Down into the deep South Pacific, up and then across the Pacific. So I was really the only kind of Asian or celestial. That's what they used to say. Like. Like being. Until like I was 16 and then a Filipino family moved into the neighborhood. So growing up, I was always like, I'll share this story. I was always like, are you Chinese? You know, and then everything you that little. You meet Chinese, me play joke, me go shishi and your coke or whatever. So I had all of like the Asian, Chinese, kind of like little things coming at me. And I was like, you know, I grew up without my dad around. He was living, but he. My mom and dad were never married and, you know, estranged. And yeah, I remember thinking, yeah, and I am Chinese and Bruce Lee's the dad I never had. So back off.
• 11:38
  Speaker C: Right.
• 11:39
  Speaker E: Because I was so. I was always a little tough. I had a little chip on my shoulder. And because of that, I kind of started going deep into reading about Chinese history, Chinese classics. Then I. Then I branched off into Chinese communism and reading about Russian communism and then learning about Che Guevara and Fidel Castro. So. And then, you know, reading Dennis Banks books, Ojibwe Warrior. So I was definitely a little activist. First and then I embraced Calvin and Hobbes.
• 12:14
  Speaker B: So that's just, that's just a little bit of honey on top, you know,
• 12:19
  Speaker E: a little honey because they're even feisty little ones too. So I think that, like, truth be told, I, I was definitely a little bit of a rebel rouser when I was a kid. And then I was. I was sexually assaulted at 13. I'm so sorry. Thank you, Audrey. And I wanted to share that because one of the questions that outside issues and the both of you shared with me was like, when did I. When did I have a moment with the mental health or like any kind of trauma and so on and so forth. And I think that what's very interesting is to share that moment. At 13, I literally went in and I discovered the music of Prince. Like Purple Rain came out when I was 13, going on 14. I turned 14 in August. Purple Rain came out like maybe a few months prior to my 14th birthday. And I went back and bought all of his records and Prince just dialed me in. I was like, I took my inner pain and I just engulfed his music. And he was sharing, he was sharing mantras with, you know, like, people like, have your favorite artist, yes, love them, maybe mimic them for a moment, but your favorite artist should shut you down and then you start over. And I was like, that just, that just shot me off into another, you know, place. And that's when the music started. And I, I was writing poems and songs. And by the time I was 21, I had another really traumatic experience that just knocked my socks off. And I started to learn to play the guitar. So I think that that's how the music became connected to the spirit. Because I think an activist has a spirit, a certain spirit. They fight, yes, they do fight. But, you know, like Che Guevara says that the true activ is a true lover. Someone who fights is a lover. And I. It's just, where's the moment where maybe one picks up a gun and has to fight? You know, that kind of power with power. And I always like to stay neutral because there might be a moment where I will have to pick up a weapon and protect myself. Thus far I haven't had to do that and. But I, I just prayed a great spirit that I have the, the fortune that I don't ever have to. And that if I do that, it's much needed, you know, to save a life or my own life or. Yeah. Wow.
• 15:20
  Speaker D: Well, that's really beautiful. I think that after such a traumatic experience. Experience says art coming out of it is the most beautiful thing I can even think of. I. I'm a mental health professional. I'm a therapist and with a. With a background in sexual assault and domestic violence. And not, of course, I say, I'm so, so sorry that those things happened to you, but like, at the same time, I'm so glad that you were able to create this piece, this. This wonderful art out of these horrible experiences. And I just love seeing people bloom after, you know, traumatic experiences.
• 15:59
  Speaker E: Yes. And, you know, Patrick and Audrey. Marjorie, what's beautiful about the mental health crisis is that I think our awareness now is not allowing us to just. To let these people linger in this pain and to know that they have, like that. It is something we have to address. Now. My father was a. Is. He's in spirit now, but he was a psychiatrist. And growing up with him coming in and out of my life, I often wondered, like, what is my dad doing? Like, how can my dad be a psychiatrist? Right. Because he has such a tumultuous love life. And I thought to myself, well, whatever he's doing, he's doing it. So I started to really think about what's, like, what are therapists talking about and what are psycho psychiatrists doing? Like, and they. I feel like they are like unsung heroes in a way. They're. Because they're not. They're like, they're fighting for the rights of people that have. That are mentally challenged from. Probably from some type of trauma. Trauma. And if we leave them unwitnessed, we will, like, you know, I don't think we'll ever be able to really fully embrace this, the magic and the sacredness of being a sentient being here. We cannot leave our mentally challenged or suffering folks anymore on the wayside.
• 17:29
  Speaker B: Absolutely. And, you know, I work with a couple of therapists, and, you know, I've been in therapy since I was like, maybe like 18 or 19 years old. And the people who practice and Audrey could probably attest to this. You know, they've gave. They've got a touch of the darkness, you know, they're wrestling with the same thing that they seek to treat, you know, in others. And. And one could argue that, like, that darkness or that conflict, that irresolution within themselves is part of what helps them be good at what they do, you know.
• 17:58
  Speaker E: Exactly.
• 17:59
  Speaker D: Absolutely. I self disclose like a motherfucker.
• 18:03
  Speaker B: Yes, you do.
• 18:06
  Speaker D: I'm.
• 18:07
  Speaker E: Thank you. Yeah. Thank you, Audrey, for the work you do. And you too, Patrick.
• 18:12
  Speaker B: Yeah. Well, I wanted to ask about Prince, actually, because I know that music Isn't something that you analyze really. It's just something you feel. But, like, looking back now, you listened to that album kind of like when you were at, like, one of the lowest parts of your life, probably. And what was it about? And I, by the way, like, I. I feel the same way about Prince. What a beautiful soul. And I was, you know, blessed enough to see him in concert a couple years before he passed away at the Forum in la and looking just as spry and vibrant as he did, I'm sure, when he debuted. And. And, you know, knowing about, you know, the circumstances of his passing, you know, that adds another wrinkle. You know, I identify, I think, even more deeply with him, knowing that he himself struggled. But, you know, like. Yeah, like, what. What do you think it was that was so kind of like redemptive in Purple Rain?
• 19:06
  Speaker E: Wow, that's a great question. Well, first off, Prince was like, I think in his early stages, he was definitely highly sensualized and sexualized, and he had no qualms about it. I think that, like, I feel that in. In retrospect, if I could go back, I was definitely his. His. The way that he was expressing his sensuality and sexuality just literally took the wounded per. Little person inside me and just helped me reclaim my own sexuality and sensuality, like, very quietly, you know, because I. There's a song called Lady Cab driver. It's on 1999. And there's this, like, scene. There's this scene in the song. It's interesting because I call it a scene in the song. It's like. It's Vanities on vocals in this track. And she's like, she. She's in a cab and you. You. Obviously some kind of sexual exploits happening. And she. He's like. So Prince is doing this whole poet. This whole poem. And he's like, this is for. He's like, this is for, this is for this one's for you that's for you and that's what that one's for this one's for the women so beautifully. So beautifully complex this one's for love this is for the wind that blows no matter how fast or slow not knowing where I'm going this galaxy is better than not having a place to go Now I know, Now I know. I just get the goosebumps thinking about that. When I heard that, I was like, whoa. I was just like, no one can take away my place in the cosmos. And when. When that. Yeah. So you'll have to go back and listen to that YouTube. It's Lady Cab driver, if you don't already. Maybe you might recognize it, Patrick. But. But Night Purple Rain just. I think just the pure sensuality of it is what I guess. And I was already, like, introduced to it so blatantly and so, like, stripped of my innocence, that Prince, like, offered it back to me in. In Purple Rain.
• 21:26
  Speaker D: What?
• 21:26
  Speaker B: I was.
• 21:28
  Speaker D: Sorry, Patrick.
• 21:29
  Speaker B: No, no, you go first.
• 21:31
  Speaker D: I was just wondering, because of your album title, Wisteria Dreams and Purple Ice. Purple. Is there a connection with purple here? Because I'm hearing a beautiful connection with purple, and I'm loving. That's my favorite color. So are we having a huge connection with purple here?
• 21:48
  Speaker E: Yes, and we are. And what's interesting about Wisteria Dreams and Purple Ice, I have no idea where that came from. I was. Well, I do. Patrick was speaking of our friend Surreal. Surreal's dog, Hunka, had gotten hit by a car, and I had just left Minnesota. I was on my Ancient Love Story tour. I had just left Minnesota, had done some traveling, was on the East Coast. Surreal called me, like, just hysterical. Hunka's been hit. Hunka's been hit. And, like, I just said, okay, do what you gotta do. Get to the. Get to the doggy hospital. There was a. I have, like, a family rape at the hotel. We got him a room right next to the hospital where. Where Hunka was at. And Hunka made it through. Audrey, Patrick knows this story.
• 22:42
  Speaker B: He looks so good now. He looks like a puppy. He moves like a puppy. It's incredible, the recovery. Yeah.
• 22:47
  Speaker E: I went back to Minnesota to nurse Hunka because Surreal was still working. So I was nursing Hunka, and I knew that after I got him well and I made him. Was making him, like, bison meatballs and rice and broth. And I knew that after I got him well, that I was once again going to be leaving. And I just started singing this song. Wisteria dreams run off with me beyond the far reaches of Russia with love and it just. And we shall fade away and da da da da and then Wisteria dreams and purple eyes we shall wander And I was like, what? So after that came out, I was like, what is that? And it definitely was Prince, because I had recently had just discovered another layer to my prince story. We'll have to do another podcast to. To share my prince story. But yes, Audrey, it was like. It was like Prince, Prince saying, like, are you with it? It's time to get with it, Sunny. Like, go one level deeper into becoming, like, the person you're meant to be on this planet. All my girlfriends love Prince. They wanted to. They were like, oh, I just want to make out with them. I want to kiss them. And I was always like, man, I want to make music with that guy. I was like, I always felt like he was my brother from another mother. I did get to meet him back in 2010 when he was headlining the Montreux Jazz Fest. And at the time, I had really short hair. I was, like, probably 20 pounds lighter. And I'll tell you, after meeting him, I ran back to the dressing room that I was set up in, and I. There was, like, five mirrors with all those big lights around them, and I was like, at the first mirror, I'm like, oh, my God. You just met Prince. And then I went to the next mirror, and I'm like, oh, my God. I was looking at myself. I'm like, tanya. I was still going by Tanya, Sunny T. I'm like, you just met Prince. And I went to each mirror, and by the time I got to the last mirror, I'm like, oh, my God, you fucking look like Prince. I was like. I literally had the pixie haircut, and I was like, my God. I was like. And in my mind, I said out loud, I'm like. And he probably thought the same thing, you know? Like, it was just one of those weird things. Like, I was like. He was my. I feel like he was my brother in another life. And so he was like. He was like, okay, you got to get your emotions in check, get them neutral, and you got to keep. You got to. You got to get to work. That's what he said to me. So, yes, that definitely wisteria dreams and purple ice. Because people said, what does that mean, Wisteria dreams and purple ice? Well, the purple ice is kind of like. I imagine it's like all of the best of us in moments of trauma, we get frozen, like, we're trapped, and. But it's not any old ice. Well, first off, ice is, like, magical state of water, but it's like, all of the best is preserved, and it's preserved in this purple ice and wisteria dreams. Wisteria is this flower that holds, like, beauty and magic and longing and, like, love. And when wisteria dreams, it's, like, purple. It's like everything is beauties encapsulated in that ice, that purple ice, and the only thing that can free it is sunshine. Yes, because in the last lyric, it says, awaiting erosion. That only ice knows, as the sun flows, this new iteration of who we become, who any of us becomes. Is like, it's like fine tuned. Like the only way that like ice something that's frozen, it can only be known by ice melt by sunshine melting ice, it's like such a specific, nuanced experience that only ice will know from sunshine finding it and melting it away.
• 27:07
  Speaker D: That's beautiful. That's beautiful. And then, you know, water is the antidote to so much pain, you know, like, you know, if you want to heal your, you know, we've talked about coping skills and stuff like that on this podcast, like using an ice pack if you're having a panic attack, taking a cold shower, jumping in the ocean or a lake, or in my case, in front of my office or river. Sometimes I want to jump into the river off when I'm in my office because I'm so. Ah, but you know, water knows. Water does know. Absolutely. It's the most. And I've seen it so healing.
• 27:46
  Speaker E: And when we're sick and we haven't been able to eat or drink and someone sets a glass of water by our bedside and then we, like when we're through the thick of it, we reach for that glass of water and we take a sip of it and it's like our will to live is always greeted by a sip of water.
• 28:07
  Speaker B: What was Standing Rock for those who don't, maybe they don't remember or maybe they're new to this. How did you participate?
• 28:15
  Speaker E: I had just been learning about some of my ancestry and I have a, I have Mandan, Hidatsa and Irikara, the
• 28:24
  Speaker C: three,
• 28:26
  Speaker E: the three affiliated tribes ancestry in, in my mom's side of the family. And I was just kind of diving into like, who, who I am. I was working on the road and was getting ready to, I was having this feeling of like it was time for me to, to leave the road because I was working specifically for, you know, another artist's vision. And I love her vision. I love Melody Gardo. She's amazing. Just some of the greatest experiences I've had in my life. I knew that there was like a change coming for me and I had, you know, been around the world. So I was like, you know, once an artist, always an artist, you know, and we're all artists, we're all co creators with great spirit. I will, I, I say that all the time, over and over again, but it is the truth. I mean, we can create life if we really want to put, you know, if we really want to roll the dice. Like everything pales in comparison to the fact that we can come together in many Ways now and create a being, a life being. So I always keep that in check when I'm, you know, making art. And I was going to visit a friend and help him paint a big log cabin in Montana. And I was in Portland at the time. And so I hopped on the Greyhound to get out to Montana. And I was on the bus and these two young kids sat down next to me and they started talking to me and they're like, what are you doing? Blah, blah. And they're like. And I'm like, da, da, da. I'm going to Montana to paint a cabin. And they're like. I'm like, where are you guys going? They're like, we're going to Standing Rock. And I was like, oh, what is Standing Rock? And they told me about it and I was just like, oh, my God, I have to go to Standing Rock. So I finished painting that house, that log cabin.
• 30:35
  Speaker B: True to your. True to your commitment. Love it.
• 30:37
  Speaker E: And I made my way to standing up.
• 30:41
  Speaker B: And where was that?
• 30:42
  Speaker E: That was in North Dakota. It's like in between Fargo and Bismarck. Early confrontations with the police dogs and the police happening, attacking elders and children and, you know, the water protectors there. It was a very, very tumultuous time. They were contesting the North Dakota Access Pipeline. The Dakota Access Pipeline. I can't remember what year Obama went to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe.
• 31:09
  Speaker B: June 2014.
• 31:11
  Speaker E: That's when Obama first made his visit to the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe. Probably when a lot of like the back, you know, the behind the scenes deals were being made. Because it was a big debacle in many ways, but not spiritually, like, like, because, like when, when Great Spirit calls everybody, everything's gonna happen. The good, the bad, the ugly, the spiritual awakening, the shutting down of things, like everything. When, when a call that big comes to protect the water, I mean, be prepared for everything. And you know, that's what happened. So Obama had gone there, gotten all. Gotten the votes, won the hearts over of the Standing Ratsu tribes peoples. And now fast forward, there is this North Dakota Access pipeline that's bringing tar sands oil from Canada across North Dakota down into the Great Lakes region, which is where I am now. And there's still not Dakota Access pipeline, but line five, line three. All these different pipelines that are totally defunct. They don't need to, they just need to stop flowing oil in them. But so North Dakota Access pipeline was being rerouted. It was supposed to go through Bismarck, but the people of Bismarck said, no way, it's not coming through. Bismarck. So they rerouted it. They rerouted it across the Standing Rock Sioux tribe reservation and across burial grounds, across rivers, the Cannonball river, the Missouri river, like the bedrock of, like, our natural drinking water, our fresh water for this whole continent. What happened was the children that were little itty bittys when Obama came are now. They are now teenagers. And they said, where are you, Barack? Where are you? This pipeline cannot go through. They were. They had. They were tired of seeing their peers dying from drugs, from poverty. These kids had just had enough. So they decided to run to Enbridge, which is their head office in Iowa. Then they were refused. No one came to see them. Then they. They. They ran to Washington D.C. and they made their stand. By the time they got back to Standing Rock, Ladonna Eller, Brave Bull, had put up 15 or so tense teepees. And she just said, there is no pipeline that's going to come through where my son and my children and my ancestors are buried. So she, along with these kids, they started the movement. But it was basically started from just the will and the anger and the power of these kids, you know, the youth. And before you know it, thousands of people. Then 10,000 people, 15,000 people. At the height of it, anywhere from 20,000 to 50,000 people in and out at all times. It could have gotten its own post zip code. You know, it was like the third largest city in North Dakota, all coming to protect the water. The. The Cannonball and the Missouri and then all of the other waters, you know, because they all run into the Mississippi and down into the Gulf of Mexico. But, yeah, and over 500 nations, indigenous nations that had like. Like this, that had never gathered once before in any time across our history happened. It was just like from all across the world, you know, they denounced the Declaration, the. I'm sorry, what is the name of it? They denounced the. The Manifest Destiny, the Pope. Like, you know, people from the Vatican were coming to say, like. Like, no more. What. What we've. Allah, what we've allowed in the name of, like, colonization and the church and all the things is just not. It's not good anymore. It's like, it's time to stop this. But this is the spirit of water. So I hope that without babbling too much. Yeah. So that. That's just. Was magical. Magical, tumultuous times, but people came together.
• 35:53
  Speaker D: We.
• 35:53
  Speaker E: We built. We built straw houses.
• 35:58
  Speaker B: So you were on the front. I mean, like, and you were living there for a while, right? And probably, like, you were probably, like, taking care of people and Just kind of. Yeah.
• 36:05
  Speaker E: Yep. I was on the front lines. I. Well, within the first week that I was there, I. I was told to go to the kitchen. It's. It was the Healing nations kitchen. And to ask for K. Kirimoto, who was a Jersey girl, because I was born in New York, raised in Jersey, And I was like, is there a K here? It's Sunny from New Jersey. And she's like, right here. And I'm like, what do you need me to do? I started shaping burgers, and then an hour later, I started dishes at 12 noon. And I was doing dishes till 12 midnight.
• 36:42
  Speaker B: Yeah. Well, for 20,000 people, it'll stack up a bit.
• 36:46
  Speaker E: And check this out, you two. All the water was heated on big fires.
• 36:53
  Speaker D: Wow.
• 36:54
  Speaker E: And all the warm water was just, like. People were moving hot, like, hot water from fire pits to the kitchen. We were offloading gray water. They were carrying gray water back to these big dugout holes, emptying it 24, 7. Water was being warmed and emptied, and the kitchen went silent for a few hours, but it was back and running. But those fires never stopped. The sacred fire went from. I mean, the la. When the camp was actually asked to be. Just to be broken down, because at. At the very end In February of 2017, if you were not a member of any of the tribes, you could be arrested and due time. And, you know, so we left there at that time. But the last. I mean, they carried the. They carried an ember from that sacred fire. They brought that ember, and they tried to keep it going. And sometimes when you're within the movement, you start to understand that it could be under the thumb of Big Brother. You know, some of the tribal members, they had already kind of, like, kind of signed the deal to have the pipeline come through, but they were not prepared to understand what was really going to happen. Like, they had no idea that 50,000 people were going to come there and, like, put their life on the line to protect their brothers and sisters of Turtle island, you know, because there's so many of us are aware of the history of this country and the history of this country. It's young, but there's still so much life and so many stories beyond what's happened in the last 150 years. And, you know, everything has its time and place, and witness and restoration is the key. And I think that that's what Standing Rock started, and that's what's still happening.
• 38:51
  Speaker B: Witness and restoration.
• 38:52
  Speaker D: If the.
• 38:53
  Speaker E: If you.
• 38:54
  Speaker D: We're talking about the spirit of water, and this is a quirky question. But if the spirit of Spirit of Water had a name, what would it be?
• 39:02
  Speaker A: Wow.
• 39:04
  Speaker E: Audrey, Patrick, Sunny. Would be us. Surreal. I have been practicing aloha, but more, more recently I've started practicing aloha Ma. And this comes from the teachings of a fellow named Kaoni Hanalei, who is whose ancestors 20,000 years back, it's all Mu Mu Hawaiian ancestry. And Mu is like. It's like. If I could explain Mu in one word, it's water. In the Mu teachings, it is said that plasma beings came. They, they travel throughout all space and time. Plasma beings, they're called Meane. That's the Mu Hawaiian name for them, Meane. And that means plasma beings. So plasma beings, when they're traveling through the vastness of space and all time and space, when they see something like maybe a big rock that looks like if we get in there and we mix up with it, can it bring life? Can it sustain life? Can the plasma beings mix with this rock and create an atmosphere that can bring forth life? So these ma came to this rock, which is Earth, and they actually mixed with it. They became the living waters on the, on the inside of the planet, on the outside of the planet. The me and are plasma beings are actually in Mu Hawaiian. They are our ancestors. They are like God. They are like what created life on planet Earth in this cosmology. So and you know, they didn't disappear. They became these plasma beings, became the living waters on the inside and the outside of the planet. So they are actually, you know, creator, great spirit. So Spirit of Water could have that name Mayene? It could, but like I think like it, it's us. So yes, Water's name would be our names and every other being on planet.
• 41:30
  Speaker B: What's your creative practice like these days?
• 41:33
  Speaker E: I get lots of sleep. I just finished a record. So I stay very creative. I mean very focused in on the creative processes, whatever they be. I'm taking on new projects all the time. Like I have friends because I'm doing DIY Do It Yourself tours, Do It Yourself funding for record, and so on and so forth. But I have friends in Corsica now. I'm starting a project, co writing songs with them. I practice Buddhism. I also practice high mind cosmology. I love to look up at the stars. Jose Agueras, he's like one of the founding fathers of bringing it into our awareness in the 20th and 21st century. He says that art is time. Art is time. And I'm like, whoa. And you know, like when art is time, that means every time Every moment, every hourglass that we have is an opportunity to create art.
• 42:37
  Speaker B: I feel that pressure. That's a pressure I feel when I'm not. You know, when I'm not, I feel like shit.
• 42:43
  Speaker D: I can't. I'm horrible at art. I have an art history degree, but I'm. I'm great at analyzation.
• 42:50
  Speaker E: I just can't see, Audrey, isn't that art? But see, that's art.
• 42:55
  Speaker D: That's very true.
• 42:56
  Speaker E: Everything, like how you approach your, how you approach your clients, how you approach the way you study the mind and the heart, that's art, Patrick. Like everything that you're doing is art. Like when you are, when you're choosing to make a plot, take a platform and share your ideas and your, and your thoughts and your philosophies and your rants, that is art. Because you are expressing and you're doing it, but you're co creating with everything around you. And that is art. So I think that like, that's another thing I like to just tell people. You know, it's not just painting and it's not just singing. It's like the way you step out in the morning. Like getting, getting sober is art. Do you think about, think about that?
• 43:46
  Speaker B: What do you got coming up Sunny you can tell us about?
• 43:49
  Speaker E: Okay, well, I just released Wisteria Dreams and Purple Ice. There was a couple different layers of that. Yep. Online. So now I am getting shelves together to get that to the vinyl pressing Master mastering engineer. So this is going to be the first record that I'm actually going to make into vinyl and oh my God,
• 44:12
  Speaker B: I need to get a vinyl player just so I can play that.
• 44:14
  Speaker D: Me too. Me too.
• 44:16
  Speaker E: This record, Mysterious Dreams and Purple Ice, has been the first iteration of Sunny E. It's. It's S U N N I apostrophe I. It's like Sunny E. It's in reverence to every one of us as co creators. Like I, I have this deep urge to merge with other beings, find my tribe or make music with more than myself, you know, like, or be part of a community. And not only does that, like I find that in my high Mayan cosmology, I'm a crystal blue crystal. Hand crystal is a tone that's all about like collaboration, like coming together, crystallizing and then moving into cosmic. It has. There's 13 tones I won't get into. We'll have to do another high Mayan cosmology podcast. But I, and then I also like, I just want to merge. So I have this Desire to merge. And as we are moving into the age of Aquarius in astrology, my south node is in Leo and my north node is in Aquarius. So north node is like where we move to. It's like, it's like the trajectory of where we're going from like our, our past, our deep past, our recent past into the future. So I have a desire. It's in. It's in my birth chart, it's in my blueprint to merge, to be one. And so Sanii is the coming together of all the people that I make art with. And so it's our band, it's Sani'.
• 46:05
  Speaker D: I.
• 46:05
  Speaker E: And that's kind of like, that's, I think, what I would share most excitedly. And I'm excited because I think Sunny was Prince. I think Audrey.
• 46:18
  Speaker B: I think Prince was like, that is so Prince.
• 46:20
  Speaker E: Sunny E. Yeah.
• 46:22
  Speaker D: Yep.
• 46:22
  Speaker E: He's like him. Let's kick it into Sunshine doubled. That's what Sunny E is. Sunshine doubled.
• 46:36
  Speaker B: Let's just like go through a little bit of the news from last month and some significant stories that jumped out at us. And you've got some doozies in here.
• 46:44
  Speaker D: The Cornell seven, as they like to call it, but I think that sounds like a boy band name. There was a frat party at Cai Phi, I think was the frat. The frat. And this was in 2024. And there was an. A girl, undisclosed name, so we call her Jane Doe. She was drugged, gang raped and left for the taking, essentially. And at this frat house, at this frat party. And now it's being brought to light because she decided to take it to a criminal court. Initially, she goes, she went to the Title 9 office, which handles like sexual harassment, sexual assault cases on campus. And the punishment for these seven guys was to write an essay about consent or something like that. And everybody's really upset because first of all, they're asking, like, we have the online trolls being like, who the is this? Like, she's probably lying about them, these men.
• 47:52
  Speaker B: And it's like just become a light, a lightning rod for all the kind of the usual politics, you know, from the pro and anti rape side, you know?
• 48:02
  Speaker D: Yeah, right, exactly. It's just, and, and being. It's. It's a little hard to sort of go into detail about because I'm a survivor myself. And so it's like, I don't like, I think about the time that I was sexually assaulted and how I was not believed. I even had the person admit it on, on, on the phone with a Detective still wasn't charged. Just, I was off. I was offered victims compensation, and then I was on my merry way.
• 48:38
  Speaker B: Where did the victim's compensation come from? Was that from the state or was that from the purpose from the state?
• 48:44
  Speaker D: So I just remember the DA being like, yeah, you know, there's no way that we can prove that this wasn't consensual. And that's the whole thing. It's just like I always have to preface saying, oh, yeah, I was sexually assaulted, but I was wearing a dress that looked like a paper bag, and I hadn't had one drink. And it's funny, considering I'm like, an alcoholic. And at that time When I was 24, I was a huge, huge alcoholic, like, at the worst part of my alcoholism, but I wasn't drinking that night. And it's just depressing and angering that I have to preface that with saying, like, I wasn't drunk during my sexual assault, but this decided to, you know, take advantage of me in the worst kind of way and, you know, traumatized the shit out of me and who, who knows how many other girls or women he's done that to.
• 49:42
  Speaker B: So there was no institutional. Well, let me not just move past that. That sounds absolutely horrible. And I'm doing the math. So that was about 10 years ago. Something like that.
• 49:55
  Speaker D: It was in, like, 2011, maybe. It was in 2011.
• 50:00
  Speaker B: Okay. So it's coming up on, like, maybe like, 15 years.
• 50:04
  Speaker D: Yep.
• 50:04
  Speaker B: And you've just been recovering ever since, or trying to, huh?
• 50:09
  Speaker D: You know, I, I, this is a separate incident from my domestic violence story. And so it's this whole situation about Cornell sort of got me thinking about this other trauma that I went through. And I've come to terms and come to full reckoning for the most part with my domestic violence story. About my sexual assault story, I just never really think about because it's not in, like, the front of my, like, I survived this queue. So it's like all these memories started coming back, and I'm just like, oh, God. And then just a lot of outrage.
• 50:52
  Speaker B: What do you, what do you aspire to? Or what do you think, like, we ought to aspire to in terms of, like, how ought society and how ought our institutions address these crimes when they happen to support, to support the survivors? And, you know, because what comes up for me in my memory is, you know, I've never been sexually assaulted, but I remember when the Brock Turner assault happened in the early 2010s, very much, you know, like, similar circumstances or the crime Was very similar. And there was also a similar lack of accountability in the end, you know, just the slap on the wrist. And this is just one of these things. It's like we just feel like. I feel like we're frozen in place. But, like, you know what comes to mind? Like, you know, how do you wish these things would be dealt with?
• 51:42
  Speaker D: I truly wish that men would understand rape culture. That's where I feel like the most impact could be made is if men just said, hey, like the 50 other guys in this group chat with the. With the court, with the rapists at Cornell. There were 50 of them and nobody said one thing because they saw all of these messages saying, like, free and stuff like that. Free coming. Oh, what does she look like? Like, okay, just whip. Whip it out, boys. Like, if somebody, like, if you're. If. If you're in a group chat and you're seeing something, say something, do something. You know, if you see a woman being physically or verbally attacked, say something. You know, we can't. We can't do this ourselves. And to teach men and boys about consent to the fullest. I mean, at the youngest, like, you know, when you're a kid, like, teach about, like, where not to touch on your body. Teach them, you know, can I give you. Asking if you can give somebody a hug and just asking if you can touch something, somebody, or asking if you could, you know, speak to them in the certain way, because it's just so disgusting. I have had some instances recently where it's like, being a woman has, like, not been in my favor because I've had to question, like, oh, do I. Do I talk a certain way? Do I sound flirtatious or something like that? Do I sound like I'm into a guy when I'm just being nice to him? So it's like, it's just very frustrating. And I feel like a lot of women are. And female identifying people are wanting to call all of this out. And I don't know, institutions are just. I don't see any way out of that. And in our lifetime, to be honest, I think that as long as violence exists, institutions will not act accordingly because they never really have. When I used to work at peace over violence in la, I would go to a lot of forensic exams as an advocate for. For folks, for mainly women who had been sexually assaulted and, like, sit by them with what's called a rape kit. Like the forensic exam.
• 54:10
  Speaker B: Yeah.
• 54:12
  Speaker D: And like, just seeing that, see, it's probably the worst night of your life, like, like being assaulted and then getting this rape kit done and being violated by that even further, and then having police involved and the police don't take it seriously most ever. And I remember being in the. I remember being even. Even after the police and the detectives were like, okay, this is one case. We're like, oh, okay. I think this is actually something that we can try to charge this guy, this, this guy who had brutalized this woman. We can charge him with something. And we were in the da's office and the DA was like, yeah, no, I can't prove that this wasn't consensual. And had tied her up, punched her in the face, sexually assaulted her. She had bruises and there were pictures of her. But the D. A. Was like, this seems consensual. So we can't prove it to a jury if it's, if this sex wasn't consensual. And she, Even though she was like beaten up to a pulp, it was probably the, the thing that stood out most in my sexual assault survivor advocate career.
• 55:32
  Speaker B: And I mean, what I'm hearing is we need to self regulate. We need to regulate in our communities. You know, we need to speak up when. About behavior when we see it. And yeah, you're echoing what I hear from everybody across the spectrum that, like, we don't see a way out.
• 55:50
  Speaker D: We've got, you know, the law enforcement going after people with weed and people in prison who are serving lifetimes for stealing a gram of weed or something like that. Yet rapists and domestic violence abusers decide to run free. And it's all part of this system, this patriarchal system.
• 56:10
  Speaker B: How you doing with, I mean, I don't know with, with your recovery from the trauma.
• 56:18
  Speaker D: Not great. I, I've had to have some conversations with my therapist about it, obviously. And hearing, you know, seeing people, like, you know, seeing people online trying to dox Jane Doe, get her name, see, like, oh, what does she look like? Like, if I even saw a comment of like, oh, she was. I think Megan Kelly for some reason thought that she saw a picture of Jane Doe and was like, oh, she, she said something like, oh, she should be lucky that somebody was attracted to her. And it's like, like, are you.
• 56:56
  Speaker B: What a, What a disappointment of an advocate for women Megyn Kelly has been, huh? I mean, you know that she was the poster child during Roger Ailes, you know.
• 57:04
  Speaker D: Yeah.
• 57:04
  Speaker B: For that whole systemic thing with fox news. But I mean, you know, we're living under the rape administration right now, you know, and all kinds of minions just reinforcing this regime, you know, and yeah, you know, the steps, the Epstein boys, you know, and yeah, Megan Kelly. Yeah.
• 57:27
  Speaker D: She's terrible. She's terrible. I hate her.
• 57:29
  Speaker B: Is it hard to not hate men sometimes?
• 57:32
  Speaker D: Yes. I'm sorry.
• 57:34
  Speaker B: Yeah. No, I mean it's. How do you, I mean, how do you like. I don't know, I guess you just have to look at it fresh every day. Right. But like, how do you like cope with that?
• 57:43
  Speaker D: I look at it, try to, try to look. So I, so I'm, I'm chronically an online tick tock person and I see really, I really see. I just watch stupid like about animals and like the polit. I don't reference any politics from Tik Tok, that's for sure. But like there was like, there are these like sort of simulations of like, what if all men disappeared from the earth? Or what if all women disappeared from the earth? And I saw this one by this animator who was like, you know, what if all men disappeared and essentially is showed like a utopia, like because we can freeze sperm and everything so the population can continue. But like there was a whole thing about like, oh, you know, once the, you know, all men disappear, then women start learning all these like big trade jobs and like, you know, construction and all the, the man jobs or whatever and they take the sperm and then people, then new boys are born into a society full of women. And what would that look like of generation of boys raised by only women? What would that look like?
• 58:54
  Speaker B: I'll just say like for my men's stag, that's like the biggest like coalescing of testosterone that I participate in in my life. And there is an attempt and you know, and there's tension throughout the fellowship at times because there is. You're going to get misogyny, you're going to get homophobia, you're going to get transphobia. You know, you're going to get like all this stuff that's like prevalent with like, like masculinity that's going to show up in spaces like that. But I think like what we try to do and what I do notice it. Civilize each other. Civilize. Speak up. Don't tolerate, you know, like. And you know, I do see speaking up, you know, and there's been like racism, that's another one. You know, racism will come up in the fellowship and somebody will say something and so we'll actually have the, the, you know, secretary. Not the secretary. No, no, yeah, the secretary. Treasurer does the finances, secretary just kind of DJs the whole thing. But yeah, makes an announcement and just says, hey, like, you know, we're gonna nip this one in the bud. And I'm just mentioning this because like, AAA is just one example of like an institution or a place where like, you know, men have eyes on each other and there is an opportunity to kind of like, you know, to try and like, move people away from misogynistic ideas and behavior and just towards a kind of a more, more compassionate way of moving through life. And that's something, you know, like whatever your fellowship is, whatever your community, you know, it begins on a person to person basis. Maybe you'll be blessed with a son and your son will grow up and, you know, he'll be the prince. That's what that was promised that, you know, vanquishes misogyny from the land.
• 1:00:35
  Speaker D: That would be fantastic. He's probably just going to learn about attachment styles from the time he's like 2 years old and nerd out on and like, watch old grandpa Bernie Sanders on TV or something.
• 1:00:47
  Speaker B: Yeah, man. Yeah, watch like, yeah, Bernie Sanders celebrates his 150th birthday. You know, they, they find a cure to cancer and.
• 1:00:54
  Speaker D: Yeah, yeah, find a cure to cancer. And then Bluey shows up. So, you know, yeah, that's, that's my future.
• 1:01:01
  Speaker B: I saw Digger. Digger is a new film by alejandro Gonzalez in Yari 2. He made Birdman, he made the Revenant, 21 grams. So he's like this real, you know, you know, artists, artist, filmmaker, and Tom Cruise in old age makeup as an oligarch who's like a Texas oil magnate. You know, he's like, he's like an amalgam of, yeah, different billionaires. But it's a really interesting movie because it's about, it's kind of like it's meta and that. It's about, it's about this character, Digger Rockwell, Tom Cruise. But then it's also about a play that's being made in the future about Digger Rockwell and kind of like looking back from like the year 2050 at like our current moment and our, our political stasis and like, you know, how billionaires are ruining everything. So it's like a, it's a, it's a play in the future that's actually financed by like the grandson of the oligarch, you know, and which brings up all these interesting ideas about like, you know, the, the benefactors of like Hollywood right now, you know, are like Zionist billionaires. And like the very people responsible for driving us into the abyss are the ones that Are, you know, kind of like these philanthropists or these kinds of, like, art people. And so there's like, all these, like, interesting levels to it and kind of like. But, like, the most profound thing that I pulled from it is how, like, we all just feel so unequal to the task. You know? Like, I think more and more people are waking up to, like, okay, these are the problems. You know, it's climate change, it's oligarchy, it's capitalism. There's not much at the ballot that seems to be, like, solved by it. And. And so we're kind of this vague sense of, okay, we need to do. We need to organize. We need to do mass organizing. And if we organize and grade enough numbers, you know, we can really kind of like. Like, turn things around. But then, you know, we. We get thwarted. You know, we get lazy. You know, there's this, like, you know, when we kind of imagine like, what's, you know, our way through the maze, you know, we just kind of. A lot of us just kind of throw up our hands or we get frustrated. And so what we're. A lot of us are doing is we're already thinking ahead to, you know, well, what will the movie adaptation be about? You know, the fall of, you know, the American Empire. It's a very, like, dystopic and kind of, like, bleak. You know, it's a. It's a really. It's a tough movie to watch. It's like. It was really challenging on a lot of different levels, really unusual, but it's. Yeah, it's just about kind of like the death of. The death of our current system, you know, and, like, the, you know, this moment that we're in and, like, you know, all the ideas that we were raised about when. With America, and kind of like our expectations for the future, you know, we were millennials or elder millennials, you know, so there were some guarantees or some promises, you know, that we'd heard at one time, and those are kind of, you know, have been foregone. And the Zoomers never were. Never promised anything. So, you know, we. They're off the hook. Audrey, you. You've lived a life.
• 1:04:07
  Speaker D: Yeah, I have. You know who's going through worse bullshit than me right now is Ilan Omar.
• 1:04:13
  Speaker B: She speaks up for immigrants, and she speaks out against US Foreign policy. That's why she's so hated on both sides of the aisle. You know, I mean, there's like, you know, the kind of centrist moderates in the Democratic Party hate her and don't back her up and tell her she's anti Semitic and stuff like that. And then everybody on the right, basically, because she wears a hijab and she's, you know, she's a woman, woman of color. And so I've always just felt like a soft spot in my heart for her, and I, you know, she's always been one of my favorite people, favorite representatives, and. Yeah, and this is just like, just another heinous fascist thing that the Trump administration is doing is, you know, starting this federal investigation just based on nothing, no real evidence. You know what I mean? And it's during. It's. It's within a certain zone of the midterm election, so it's actually legal. Right. Because you're not supposed to begin investigations into political. Local candidates, you know, within a certain, you know, what is it, 60 days? Within 60 days before the election, you're not supposed to start an investigation because, you know, it could, like, unduly influence the outcome.
• 1:05:25
  Speaker D: It just scares the shit out of me a little bit to be like, should I speak up on certain things or am I going to be, like, persecuted? Like, if the DOJ can go after anybody?
• 1:05:37
  Speaker B: The thing with the Somali immigrants and just, like, they're eating the cats and dogs and, you know, and. And Minnesota is just. Has been. It is being targeted by the Trump administration as just being like, there's just certain people from certain backgrounds that, like, the Nazis take special. Have a special animosity towards. And I also think, like, it just all comes back to Trump. Trump is the godhead of this movement. And, like, you know, if you made his. If you said something to Trump that made his dick feel small, he'll just never let it go. You'll just never, like, stop with this obsessive. That's so I'm told. You know, I mean, he likes to talk about it sometimes, but, you know.
• 1:06:20
  Speaker D: Yeah, I imagine South. The south park dick, but. Yeah, go ahead.
• 1:06:25
  Speaker B: Oh, that was. That was incredible. I actually, you know, when that came out, that, you know, South Park Trump parody, you know, this last season, I kind of wanted to, like, get back into that show, but, like, I got busy and I haven't been able to. It was so funny. I was actually speaking of Obama, and I just, like, I'm trying to say nice things about him sometimes, but, like. And I was gonna say something nice about him because I saw that he tweeted a defense of Ilhan Omar. I think it was like, it's either this morning or yesterday, right? And I. So I started reading it, and I was just like, well, you know, this is great. This is important. It's important for figures like Obama, who still command so much respect within the party to, you know, to stick his neck out and, you know, to talk about the overreach, the racism of what the Trump administration is doing. But then, you know how, like, if you're like a celebrity or I think if you, like, pay for, like, premium Twitter, they basically just give you, like, no limit on the characters that you can use. So basically, he wrote like, it was like an essay. It was like a sub stack, but it was like in a tweet. And then, like, as I started to read it, I'm like. Like, he. He prefaces everything with like. Well, I may not agree with all of our political opinions, but, like, this big, like, kind of apology, basically. Apology to, like, the people that he's really aligned with, you know, for, like, actually for even sticking his neck out at all. And I'm just like, dude, you know, brevity is the soul of wit. Like, you can't fit that into, like, two paragraphs and just, like, give it. You know, like, you're a powerful guy. Your words have of. They have a far reach. You know, you're, like, literally, like, you know, turning off half of the people that would otherwise be interested in what you had to say about this just by this kind of. What do you call it? It's like he's a constitutional law professor. Right. So, you know, he's. I think you just say, where I stand with you. I stand with you.
• 1:08:19
  Speaker D: Yeah, that's all you got to say. I mean, but, you know, I'm glad that he's teamed up and is backing El Sayed, which is.
• 1:08:29
  Speaker B: Yeah, let's. Right. So you were saying. Okay. In Semaphore, there was like a. Was an article in October about AOC and Al Said are test driving a national platform for the left. It's economic populism as the skeleton of a 2028 run. Now, that, to me, is the only direction for the Democratic Party. And then that's why it feels kind of like ordained at this point. Like, you know, it's. Whatever the challenge is going to be towards J.D. vance or, you know, whoever the Republicans put up. In a couple years, it's gonna have to be progressive, you know, I mean, maybe. Maybe it won't be aoc. I have a feeling it probably will be, but it'll. It needs to be somebody kind of like a Bernie Crat, you know, that's going to be challenging the right rather than, like, A, you know, like a John Ossoff, like, Obama type, you know, you know, kind of corporate friendly. Centrist. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
• 1:09:28
  Speaker D: I can't stand him.
• 1:09:30
  Speaker B: Yeah, well, you know, for Pete, like, he had released a statement earlier this week that was something like. It was really harshly anti Iran and pro. Is real. And. And to me, it's like, you know, that's kind of like the inverse of, like, where the spirit of the electorate, the Democratic Party electorate is right now. So it's like, you know, obviously disagree with it on its face, and then also bad politics, like, that just doesn't seem to be. And, you know, all the better because I never liked Buttigieg anyway.
• 1:10:05
  Speaker D: So. Yeah, I don't know. He's just a teacher. Reminds. He's just a dweeb. I don't know. This reminds me of a dweeb which
• 1:10:13
  Speaker B: doesn't believe in anything. I think that's, you know, I think I'm very wary. I'm very wary of. Of politicians where. Because I think all politicians, they've got kind of like a, you know, either like a low tolerable level or like a high level of narcissism or like, belief in self. You know, there's like a celebrity. You know, there's a celebrity quality to it that's just inevitable. And like, you know, they've got a will to power and, you know, and some have the will to power, you know, that comes from like. Like, you know, a heavy dose of, like, altruism. Like, they really want to make the world a better place, and they just feel like they're, you know, Joan of Arc. That's another good archetype of leader. You know, she just feels like, you know, she's. She, you know, she's. She's a fighter for the dispossessed, and she's to make the world a better place. But, like. But some. But there's those, like, Pete, you know, where all I see is the will to power, you know, and basically, like, what ideas? You know, I'll adopt any ideas I need to, too. I mean, I think I see that in Gavin Newsom also. So, you know, it's just like, they just really want to be president. They really want to be the guy. And. And, you know, it's like we. We used to be told, you know, that's okay. You can vote for a person who just wants to be the guy. You know what I mean? When they get into office, they'll just figure it out later, you know, and they'll be receptive to the Will of the people. And, you know, it's okay to elect a cipher just as long as it's a cipher that we can kind of like mold into the shape we want them to be in. But that doesn't seem to be working out too well. We've kind of had some. Yeah.
• 1:11:42
  Speaker D: Speaking of Gavin Newsom, how are things going over in California, election wise?
• 1:11:47
  Speaker B: Oh, I don't know, just that I saw or. I mean, I'm. I have some catching up to do, I guess, with that. But Nithya Ramen, I'm really hoping wins as LA mayor because she's a progressive. You know, she's got great politics. I saw a sign, I saw a couple updates in protest. So I drove by the Trump golf course in Palos Verdes near Portuguese Bend.
• 1:12:12
  Speaker D: Right next to where I'm getting married.
• 1:12:14
  Speaker B: Yeah, right next to where you're getting married. No shade on your wedding. And there was a no kings protest and there was like a good turnout actually at the golf course, just holding up signs. And so I got to honk my horn at them as I drove by the other day. And then I saw, I saw a banner hanging over the. I think it was the 110 freeway the other day, like a Pro Nithia Ramen banner. You know, I, I hear that she's favored to win. I, I think that, you know, like, we'll probably get a progressive LA mirror, which I'm really excited about.
• 1:12:46
  Speaker D: So that is exciting. That's exciting over here. I think we just, just have to. We don't have any, like, big elections, but our big thing is that as the millionaires tax, Governor Bob Ferguson signed tax into law. And around. Was it two years ago now? Yeah, I think it was two years ago. That would put a tax on some people who were making over a million dollars. And so in backlash, there's i645 that was introduced by Washington's first or some, some group like that, and then it's to repeal it. And what happened was they're putting, they're, they're leaving most language. They're most. There. I think there was a, there's a story that I saw that kind of shared that it, like if, if the language on the ballot said, hey, by implementing i645, that means it would take funding away from schools and roads and infrastructure. People would not vote for it. So there's this kind of thing going on over here about like, oh, you know, what is I645? And like, what's the language around it? And do People even know what it means. So that's kind of the big issue in my book over in Washington state, electoral wise. Otherwise, nobody. Nobody exciting to vote for.
• 1:14:19
  Speaker B: Yeah, you know, I. And you believe in it, the millionaires tax? It sounds good to me.
• 1:14:23
  Speaker D: Yeah. Oh, yeah. There are so many people who hate it.
• 1:14:27
  Speaker B: Yeah. Yeah. I, you know, like, I'm trying to, like, kind of. I need to be thinking about more. First of all, like, when you asked me about how things are going in L. A, the fact that I didn't have, like, an answer locked and loaded, you know, made me feel bad about myself because I think, you know, people are just like, there's going to be. I don't know if there's going to be a blue tsunami. That's the question, right? Is it. We know it's probably going to be a blue wave in the midterms, but will it be a blue tsunami? Like, just how much is the broader electorate wanting to say fuck you to Trump for what he's done, you know, and not done? That's like an open question. The fact that the, that the Democratic Party is so disparate and ununited and the leadership is so corrupt and feckless, there's no real well articulated, clear, observable policy or vision or kind of direct sense of direction for the country as an alternative to the fascism of the right. I want to be able to say with my whole chest, you know what I mean? You got to get out and vote. You got to, you know, you advocate for that and, you know, and voting, like, for these local policies and state policies, and I think that stuff's very important. And like, I, you know, we all need to kind of like, like get out alongside that. But I think I just, I have a. I don't know if nihilism is the right word, but I just have a kind of like, just. I feel like without and without those things, without that vision, you know, without that, those, like that real policy, without any kind of policy articulated, you know, or some kind of, like, some consensus on, like, you know, that this is what we're going to do if we get in power, and then we're going to do what we need to take. Take to get it done. That, like, all we're doing is basically just like, biting time, you know, like, you know, for a cycle or two. You know, like, we kind of take it away from the Republicans for, like a cycle or two. But it's just the way that America is. Is just like, it bums me out because it's like you still get these idiots that are just like, well, you know, it's, it's still bad. Like everything's still bad. Like everything's still expensive, you know, like, let's give the Republicans a crack at it, you know, and like, surely, surely we need something different. You know, when it's just really like hard, higher grade, you know, that's what it is. It's like, you know, you get the low grade of, you know, like institutional Democrats and then you get like, you know, radioactive Ebola, you know, from the Republicans. And it's just like one is not really, we're not really a solution to the other. But obviously I, I'll take the lower grade, you know, I'd like to, to live, live longer if possible. I really like Abdul Syed. I really like Nithi Rahman. What I've seen of her. Politicians are people and you know, they all have the capacity to support us. But like what will move me away from the dark side? It's just more of these kinds of younger progressive candidates who are really willing to take like unpopular positions. Very popular to people like us or to the broader electorate, you know, if you look at the numbers unpopular to, you know, their colleagues, you know, in Congress or the Senate. But you know, politicians like that, you know, I, I really like feel I'll tell all my friends to get out and support people like that. You know what I mean? So we gotta like cultivate more people like that.
• 1:17:35
  Speaker D: I guess we do. I saw Angie Nixon speak. Angie Nixon love her with Bernie and Bernie kept. Because Angie Nixon is challenging someone. Ashley Moody and poor Bernie kept getting the name get Angie and Ashley mixed up. So I was just like, no, no, it's okay.
• 1:17:56
  Speaker B: He's 483 years old. Okay, Come on.
• 1:17:59
  Speaker D: Right? Yeah.
• 1:18:01
  Speaker B: I think Gandalf out there.
• 1:18:04
  Speaker D: Seriously, I can't. He's going to be on the COVID of some manifesto at some point.
• 1:18:10
  Speaker B: God bless Bernie. Well, can't wait to see you next week.
• 1:18:15
  Speaker D: Can't wait to see you too. I'm going to be so excited. I'm even excited to wake up early so we can go to this meeting. I, I'm just like, I'm like, I'm gonna be traveling. Wait. Yeah, I'm gonna be traveling all day. The day before and I'm gonna be exhausted. But hey, I'm turning 10, so who better to spend it with?
• 1:18:47
  Speaker C: Run off with me beyond the far reaches of Russia with love
• 1:18:58
  Speaker E: we shall
• 1:18:59
  Speaker C: fade away in a horse drawn sleigh Drift into the crystal white haze of sepia wisteria wisteria Dreams in purple eyes we shall wonder. I am not afraid in your arms, in your fur I am bold, I am warm.
• 1:19:37
  Speaker E: I am a woman.
• 1:19:40
  Speaker C: My perfume is wild on the snow. My perfume is winter on the soul. Drop your rose the frigid cold. A whisper words in my ear.
• 1:20:07
  Speaker D: Tanya.
• 1:20:10
  Speaker C: Expose your skin, show your bone Draw me in ever closer. Waltz with me 1, 2, 3, 3, 6, 9.
• 1:20:30
  Speaker E: Across the tundra
• 1:20:34
  Speaker C: Dance with me deep down under. Any deep down under that you have ever known. I'll draw you in, spin you back and away if I die, I. I pray it's in your arms.
• 1:20:57
  Speaker B: Tanya.
• 1:21:03
  Speaker E: Tanya.
• 1:21:34
  Speaker C: Ice castles for comrades and lovers far away A wolf cries in the gist Echoes from deep down inside. Into a gleaming space There without a single trace. You erased me from your world.
• 1:22:06
  Speaker E: I disappear.
• 1:22:09
  Speaker C: Was it it ever clear our vision? I was snow blind A blizzard Mission create illusion Lull us off to sleep Cold and dying no man crying when I am frozen Awaiting erosion that only ice knows as the sun blows its heat in its warmth to course nine times within and without My heart, my mind, mind, my body all over me. Sunshine has finally over found me.