Latest / Petty and Unbothered / #17 - Loud explosions and Trauma
Transcript
- Robin Axline: Yay! Okay, everybody stand up. We're gonna do the Pledge of Allegiance. Just kidding. Tita Lors: Oh my gosh! Wait, do you know it? Hold on. Ready? Okay, let's actually do it. We know it. Ready? Three, two, one. I don't know how does it start! I haven't done this since elementary school. Does it start with I pledge allegiance? I pledge allegiance to the flag and the United States of America. Yes, of which it stands. One... No wait, is it? God, indivisible, something for justice. There we go, and all. Robin Axline: I pledge allegiance to the flag, United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, wait, is that, okay, one nation, I mean, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Tita Lors: Amen. Just kidding. I don't think it's amen. I don't know you're supposed to say at end. Yeah, exactly. Bow. Robin Axline: Amen. Kurtzy. Well, for some for some reason, I thought it was like longer and I was cutting a section out, but I think it's not that long. Tita Lors: Yeah, no, was meant to be short. I feel like we're missing something too for some reason. But I don't know what it is and don't care. And I'm proud to Robin Axline: America! And then now... Tita Lors: be an American. Robin Axline: Everybody keep standing because I'm going to sing the Star Spangled Banner. Just kidding. No, Tita Lors: Do it, do it. We don't have time, but do it. Robin Axline: no, no, no, Tita Lors: My favorite, least favorite part is... You know the part where people usually put all the frills and stuff? I love when people don't. where they just Robin Axline: Yeah. Tita Lors: sing the song. It doesn't have to be that long. It doesn't have to keep going. Just sing the song. It's so it's fine the way it is. Add a little frill, but not like too much. You know, and then it's great. Perfect. Wonderful. You're saying it. Bravo. That's a very difficult song to sing. Good for you. Proud of you. Robin Axline: Yeah, and that's that's all she wrote. Tita Lors: Yes, exactly. Sit down. Robin Axline: Yeah. Sit down. Did you did you remember Fergie's performance at the NBA basketball game? That was wild. I mean, I understand, the jazz of it all was... Tita Lors: No. Yeah, we're Robin Axline: All right. That's it. Get the cane. Tita Lors: done. No, it does not need to be that way. Yep, Robin Axline: Now I'm just trolling it. Tita Lors: I know. Fergalicious brush. Fergalicious brush. Fergalicious brush. Whatever the words are. I'll just make shit up. But yeah, no. Seriously. Robin Axline: cringe cringe to the max. So folks, if you didn't notice with all this Americana vibes, this is our Fourth of July episode. Woohoo! Party in the USA! Tita Lors: So I put my hands up, playin' my song, and it's about to fade away. Robin Axline: Yes! Tita Lors: It's the party of the USA. Robin Axline: say that should be the new national anthem and the Britney song was on Tita Lors: Britney's was on This song was a- Robin Axline: Incredible. Let's make a petition. Anyone wants to help us out with that? That would be so fun. All canvas. Tita Lors: think it'll go far. like Miley said, you just gotta put it out there like it's already happened. So everyone, this is the new national anthem. Robin Axline: So a 4th of July episode. I want to be honest up top. I'm me particularly I'm not feeling especially patriotic in a fireworks hot dog kind of way. Tita Lors: You Robin Axline: But I do like to observe things. I like to observe trends and traditions and honestly like Tita Lors: Yeah, I can't imagine why you wouldn't be feeling super patriotic. What about Robin Axline: Do I need to go into it? I mean... Tita Lors: the current happenings makes you feel so meh? Robin Axline: Yeah, yeah. No, don't get me wrong. I appreciate our country and certain things about it. I feel like we are lucky with a lot of things that we have. So I'm not gonna put that down. Tita Lors: Mm-hmm. There's definitely, yeah, there's definitely privileges for sure that, I mean, with the way things are going in the Philippines, I definitely have like privileges that I would not have had if I was not born here. So yes, there's gratitude. And, Robin Axline: Yeah, so I'm not, you know, Tita Lors: yeah. Robin Axline: not gonna say that everything is horrible. Run out and burn your flags. Not, at least not yet, or not right now. Tita Lors: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Well, I also think that like part of loving your country, loving your community, loving where you're from is being able to also identify here's all the areas of growth that could make it so much better and wanting it to be better. It's okay to call out when things are not going right, when people are making mistakes. Like a good friend, let's just say, like we put this in friendship terms. A good friend is somebody who's going to call you out on your shit. Right? Like, I love you, but I don't know, man. Maybe. Robin Axline: can all relate to that. Tita Lors: Yeah, exactly. Maybe don't be an asshole. Yeah, I didn't like that you did that. No. Robin Axline: Anywho, I decided to take a little more of a petty angle and little... Little bit of snark, but not too much, I hope. So I was, Tita Lors: Snark away. Robin Axline: yeah, in a fun way. The more and more I researched the Fourth of July, it, to me, it didn't, the less and less it felt like a single holiday. Like, it almost felt like a system on the surface. It's all about freedom, history, fireworks, hamburgers. Let me see. Country music, boats, boat culture. Yeah, all of the above. But underneath Tita Lors: Commercialism. Robin Axline: that, there's an extremely American combination of nostalgia, performance, corporate environment, corporate reinforcement, social pressure, and way too many explosives. So I'm not saying like everything's fake, but that's very much towards the surface of what we're actually experiencing. And I just mean a lot of industries are quietly benefiting from everyone believing that it's spontaneous family tradition that we all just do. Well, yeah, that's fair. Tita Lors: Ha ha ha! Robin Axline: But I haven't experienced it too much, not being around families much, but actually I take that back because still some acquaintances I know try to do like planning, hosting, like destination, like travel, shopping for Fourth of July. Old Navy t-shirts or something. Food, decorations, of course, spooze. Then there's also the viewing strategy that people do. Like, I have a better view at my house, or there's this... I think everybody has these things. That's what I'm saying. And then, Tita Lors: Mm-hmm. Guilty. Robin Axline: of course, that ends with an Instagram story proving that you had fun. Tita Lors: guilty. Robin Axline: Hahaha So it just feels like there's a lot Tita Lors: Bye. Robin Axline: of like logistics going on for a holiday that's about freedom. And that just kept coming up on my mind. I'm like, the holiday wasn't even like as straightforward originally. So that's when I started digging in and I found out that Congress didn't actually vote for independence on July 4th. The colonies voted for independence on July 2nd. And July 4th. Tita Lors: this is where we get our delayed freedom again. Robin Axline: You know it. geez. Tita Lors: We didn't know about it until two days later. Robin Axline: man. Something like that. Tita Lors: god. Robin Axline: I'm doing a big eye roll for people that are just listening. But, yeah, July 4th is when the declaration itself was formally adopted and New York didn't even vote until later. And a lot of famous signatures. picture weren't even added until August. So that's super delayed. Tita Lors: months later. Robin Axline: Yeah. So we're celebrating a simplified version of something that was a much messier process than people bring up in the history books. And to me that honestly feels pretty darn American. Tita Lors: Yup. Messy. Robin Axline: We love turning complicated hysterical realities into clean branding. Like the founding forefathers themselves were basically in beta testing, if you will. and John Adams actually thought July 2nd would become the holiday and he wrote a letter to his wife Abigail Adams saying independence should be celebrated with, and I'm going to read this quote, pump and parade, games, sports, guns, bells, bonfires, and illuminations from one end of this continent to the other. So apparently we took that instruction very seriously. Because now every Tita Lors: You're very literally. Robin Axline: year Americans collectively decide, tonight feels like a good night for legally questionable explosions. And there's another funny fact that I found out is 4th of July didn't even become an official federal holiday until almost a century later. Yeah. no, it just didn't really seem like a thing. So it was in the 1940s, actually. yes. Tita Lors: That's kind of like Turkey Day. Yeah, Turkey Day only became Turkey Day because some they would they're trying to get women back into the kitchens where they belong. Mm hmm. Yeah, I can't wait for Turkey Day, which one of us is doing it? Robin Axline: I I know, I'm like, not it, no. No, we can... No, it'll be fun. We'll bring up some Tita Lors: Yeah. Robin Axline: really crazy facts. yeah, yeah. Yeah, I have a story but I'll save it for the Turkey Day episode. Tita Lors: Okay. Robin Axline: boy. But so I was gonna bring up also the awkwardness that happens around planning for the holiday when people are trying to do small talk and they go, what are you doing for the fourth? And I'm just like, I don't know, existing quietly. Like, yeah. Tita Lors: Yeah, okay, sorry, another side tangent. So, the way that you're talking about July 4th is the way most people, or most Hispanic or Mexican people talk about Cinco de Mayo, because right now, it's the 7th of May, right, so Cinco de Mayo just passed. No one actually cares about Cinco de Mayo, except for non-Hispanic people. Yeah, yeah, non-Mexican people, because it's not actually their Independence Day. Robin Axline: Yeah, that's true. I don't remember when I found that out, but I was pretty shook. I mean, don't get me wrong, my Tita Lors: Mm-hmm. Same. I was like... Robin Axline: neighborhood was pretty litty on a Tuesday this week. Tita Lors: You Robin Axline: I saw somebody with a margarita on the subway. Salt on the rim and all. No. Tita Lors: Wow. Are you allowed to do that? Is this Vegas? Robin Axline: No. People do stuff like that, but I was like... Wow, you really went all out for a train ride. Tita Lors: Yes, you're safe. Goodness. yeah, but, you know, any excuse to drink? Mm-hmm. Robin Axline: Yeah, that's a big one. Yeah, same Cinco de Mayo and Fourth of July, to be honest. Tita Lors: Yeah, exactly. Robin Axline: And so while maybe I'm on the side trying not to inhale smoke particles, people are talking fireworks. And so just wanted to bring up some stuff I learned about that. Fireworks are And fireworks are mainly the most psychologically interesting part of this holiday. Like, the first organized Fourth of July celebration in Philadelphia in 1977 already included cannons and fireworks. So, from the very beginning, Americans were like, how can we celebrate freedom? Loud fire! and uh, woohoo! Trauma! Tita Lors: Loud explosives! Trauma! Let's... We want to traumatize our soldiers from the very start. Robin Axline: Yeah, absolutely. And I, it's crazy to me to think that we've never evolved beyond that per se. Like, honestly, my neighborhood sounds like a war zone from like June. It's, it's really craziness. And in my experience, there's always like this one guy, every neighborhood has him, but nobody elects him. Nobody appoints him. He simply just shows up around June 24th and he is fully operating like an independent pyrotechnics coordinator by July 3rd. Tita Lors: You Robin Axline: He's got like, I got the big pet, big pet this year kind of energy. Tita Lors: Like, okay. I also just want to call myself out here. I am also the person who's like... Technically speaking, not supposed to fireworks Robin Axline: You Tita Lors: out here. But also, Philadelphia is only an hour and a half drive to the border. And right on the border, there is a huge fireworks depot thing. And it is very easy to get fireworks there. It's almost always buy one, get one free or buy one, get one half off or whatever, especially around this time. So you can quick drive. to and from and have like the goods. Mm-hmm. You'll have the good stuff out here. And it is my neighborhood is Liddy in a fun way, I think, actually, because there's a lot of kids and the kids like get together with with adult supervision, thankfully. Yeah. And there you get like different fireworks shows depending on which cul-de-sac you're looking at and or what like park direction. So I can't lie. I do like it. I do partake. I do enjoy. But Robin Axline: Yeah. Tita Lors: yeah, also, I respect like it's trauma for dogs, it's trauma for like, vets as well, and it's not the best, so I have mixed feelings about myself when it comes to fireworks. Robin Axline: Yeah, I mean, I do enjoy it. I mean, I don't do it personally, but in moderation, I like it. And the dog situation always upsets me every year because they're terrified, they're missing sometimes, traumatized. Tita Lors: Yeah, yeah, we got to figure out what to do with our dogs because we're going to be in California and the dogs. Well, we only have one dog, just kidding. Well, our dog will be alone, so we've got to figure out who's going to keep our company. Robin Axline: Sending good vibes. Okay, back to... So I was... Tita Lors: Thank you, thank you, thank you. Okay, bring it back, bring it back. Robin Axline: looking up fireworks and a lot of emergency room visits spike every 4th of July. And there's been severe hand injuries every single year. People end up in the ER from firework related accidents. Tita Lors: Mm-hmm. Robin Axline: And it's just, there's a lot of pollution too when the July is over, I see so many of those empty boxes and things just like everywhere for probably the rest of July. Right? And back home, I did, we always did buy sparklers from a stand and then we'd like run around with them and that was a fun memory. And we'd get those little like black pellets that were snakes and you light them and then they like. Tita Lors: my gosh, yes! Or the ones you just throw on the floor and they go pop pop pop! Yes. Yes, I have Robin Axline: yeah, we had to have those too. Tita Lors: all of it. I still have it. It's in the garage. Because Robin Axline: you Tita Lors: we didn't use them all, so they're just chilling, waiting to be used again. Yeah. I think Robin Axline: boy. Tita Lors: I might give it to my neighbors this year since we won't be here. Yeah. Robin Axline: cool. Yeah, I think they kind of go bad after a while, so you might want to. Tita Lors: Yeah, exactly. I might be like here, use them so they don't stay in our garage. But yes, my gosh, that's like one of the funnest things about being a kid is being able to be old enough to hold the sparkler by yourself. Robin Axline: Mm-hmm. Love that. Love that. It was a good memory for that reason. But I would be remiss if I didn't bring up the phenomenon of people filming fireworks. Give me a show of hands, like who rewatches their firework videos? No one, Tita Lors: you Robin Axline: I don't think. I mean you might post them on IG or show somebody one time, but then it's just holding up space on your phone. Tita Lors: Yeah, or your cloud. Robin Axline: I looked up a statistic and it said every American has approximately 14 blurry fireworks clips in their camera roll. Tita Lors: I'm like, I'm thinking back to last year's Fourth of July and all of the pictures of the girls that I had. Robin Axline: little different. I mean, I think what came to me, I know it was like last Fourth of July, I kept thinking there's all these people surrounding me with their phones up, but they're not like eyeballs not physically really taking it all in. Tita Lors: Yeah. Yeah, it's like concerts. Right, like I just beat in the previous recording. I was like, yeah, I got to see Bruno Mars. Like how many people were watching Bruno Mars through their phone? Yeah, I'm like, OK, well, you might as well just watch this on TV. What are we doing here? Robin Axline: Yeah, for sure. mean, like watching Coachella a month ago or whenever that was and seeing all the phones too. I mean, you could take like a picture, like doing a whole song and you're like rows and rows and rows back and you're forced to look Tita Lors: Yeah. Robin Axline: at a screen because the person you can't even see as an aunt. Tita Lors: Yeah, you're not even, it's not even an image of the actual person. It's an image of a screen. Which is the funniest thing to me. Robin Axline: Yeah. hilarious. Yeah. And I'm not going to say I haven't done that, but not for like the whole show. Tita Lors: Exactly. Right. Yeah, I'm obviously making fun of myself here as well. Like, it's ludicrous. Like, why am I doing this? But yeah, not the Robin Axline: haha Tita Lors: whole show. I was like, here's a clip. Just as a reminder, I did it. I'm here. Robin Axline: Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. I'm not no shade on that, but the sand. Tita Lors: Yeah, but people will do the entire concert. Yeah. Robin Axline: Right? And yeah, it cracks me up when I see people like looking at the phone screen and not at the fireworks. Because nothing beats, nothing is going to capture the fireworks. Yeah. Unless you have some amazing camera Tita Lors: Mm-hmm. The actual fireworks. Yes. It's so cool. Robin Axline: and something else. But the fireworks aren't even the most engineered part of the holiday. I... excited that barbecue is. Tita Lors: What? Also, I like how you're going, but wait, there's more. Like you just keep on nothing. I really love it. The structure is great. I know exactly. Great structure to today's story. I love it. Robin Axline: It's like a Russian doll or just an onion layer. So the barbecue of it all, I started researching the food culture and then accidentally discovered what I made up is the hot dog industrial complex. Tita Lors: You Robin Axline: I found out that there is a real organization called the the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council. And Tita Lors: Okay. Robin Axline: to me I was like is that real? That sounds fake. Tita Lors: It was that big hot dog, big barbecue. Robin Axline: Yeah, yeah, it just, I don't, to me it sounded like a organization that would be on like Parks and Rec, how they have like all those different groups. Tita Lors: Yeah, yeah. Robin Axline: But these are like real people with real LinkedIn accounts and people who are responsible for maintaining hot dog relevance. So every year they announce how many hot dogs Americans are expected to consume over 4th July weekend and the answer is usually 150 million. And the statistics said it's enough hot dogs to stretch from Washington DC to Los Angeles multiple times. And to me, I was like, I feel unsettled about that measurement. Like, not just how bad it is probably for you. And not how much soul crushing it is. It just started to spiral. Every element of this holiday has these industries attached to it. And the ones I came up with are Weber, Kingsford, Budweiser, Costco, Walmart, grocery chains, firework companies, beer companies, meat companies, and the Fourth of July is basically the Super Bowl for corporations that sell smoke-related products. Tita Lors: That makes sense, yeah. That would make sense. huh. Yeah. Robin Axline: you think about it. So it feels like it's clever because none of it like feels like it's an advertisement. Like nobody at the cookout's like, wait am I responding to decades of carefully reinforced seasonal marketing? No. Yeah, it's like my father grilled his father grilled and now I too shall stand outside. Yeah, totally. Holding metal tongs is my birthright. Yeah, women go in the kitchen all Tita Lors: I'm the grill master. Robin Axline: stand and look at some meat sizzling. Tita Lors: This is the only time I cook. Robin Axline: Yeah. Tita Lors: Sorry for throwing a lot of shade. We love you. Robin Axline: Yeah, I know, I just literally guys, I'm just having fun, but it feels Tita Lors: you Robin Axline: like the especially the dudes are just in the ceremonial meat trance. people get like emotional about their burgers like I only flip it once or I only salt and pepper it yeah and then people are like this Tita Lors: You have to do it this way, yeah? Yeah, or like... Robin Axline: is good protein Tita Lors: Mm-hmm. Or what do you put inside your burgers? I put chips in mine. Yeah, people put... So like the crackers... So they'll put like rice crackers in it because it adds density, but also it's supposed to like absorb moisture too. So it just adds a different quality to the burger patty. So there's like... Yeah, it's in the patty, so it's mixed and mushed in there. There's a lot of science to why people do what they do. It's very interesting. Love food and food science and all of that stuff. But I don't think we need like, we don't need millions of hot dogs. Yeah. yeah. Robin Axline: And I just feel like there's always like somebody that has a big barbecue opinion. It's like, sir, you're just flipping meat. Rotated it. That's it. Relax. Tita Lors: But you have to get the appropriate amount of caramelization, And audiences, don't come at Robin. She's vegetarian. Leave her alone. Robin Axline: Thank you. That's literally what I was just thinking. was like, well, I'm a vegetarian. So sometimes watching this is kind of like funny to observe from the outside. And Tita Lors: Yeah. Robin Axline: people literally freak out and they go, what can you eat? I'm so perplexed. Salad, rabbit food. Yeah, yeah, I'm not sure. gosh. Tita Lors: Yeah, what am I supposed to feed you? Tofu? Yes. A mushroom? Do want me to grill this lettuce for you? Robin Axline: Yeah, ooh, I've had a good grilled vegan Caesar salad before. The romaine is just grilled lightly. Tita Lors: there's. huh. Yeah, I was going to say there's like the specific lettuce that I keep seeing on like Food Network, where you're if you grill it, takes out the bitterness of it and it makes it more nummies and has like a peppery undertone. I try it. Yeah, I'll tell you what it is whenever I come across, yeah. Uh-huh. also, people grill watermelons. I'm sorry. Robin Axline: Okay, deal. But the facts of the story. Yeah! No, they do! I actually did that one time on my grill pan at home. It was good. It was pretty tasty. Tita Lors: huh. Ooh, how was it? Yeah, I heard it. like... Yeah, it adds like an extra character to the watermelon that I've heard is really delicious. Okay, sorry, back to the story. We're supposed to be focused! Robin Axline: No worries. I also, just to add on this culinary conversation, we, one time I had a lot of watermelon and I looked up how to pickle the rind and it was delicious. Yeah. So I just cut the rind off. Yeah. And put it in like a brine and Tita Lors: Mm-hmm. Robin Axline: it's a little sweet. It's really good. Tita Lors: Ooh, interesting. Robin Axline: It breaks the rind down and you can like put it in sandwiches or whatever. Yeah, so basically I was just going Tita Lors: Yeah. Robin Axline: to say the most American part isn't even the food itself. It's the fact that companies have managed to make consumption feel emotionally meaningful. So people don't feel like they're participating in a marketing ecosystem. They feel like they're continuing family traditions. And in my opinion, that's how effective the branding is. Somebody... Man, I feel bamboozled. Tita Lors: Hahaha Yeah. You don't even have to it anymore. Like it's just part of tradition. Robin Axline: Yeah, tradition! Let's do a little fiddler on the roof. Tita Lors: Actually, one of my favorite things about you. You, I, we can always call and response a song. Robin Axline: I love it. Listeners, if you want us to call and response a song, we take requests. Tita Lors: Calling our tea line. Robin Axline: Yeah, call in our T-line. We can even stitch in and we can do a duet. Tita Lors: Exactly. We don't have TikTok, but we'll get a TikTok specifically for that. Robin Axline: just for you. Tita Lors: Yeah, just for you. Send it to us and we'll be like, I don't know how to do this. Some young person teach me how to stitch it. Exactly. Robin Axline: Take two seconds. Tita Lors: We'll figure it out. Robin Axline: But yeah, so bringing up the bamboozled feeling, there are some, I wouldn't even say they're conspiracies, they're facts. One of the ongoing conversation is that hot dogs come traditionally in a pack of 10, and then buns come in a pack of eight. What's up with that? Tita Lors: Yeah, what for real no a hundred percent that pisses me off isn't it the same thing with like hamburger patties too Robin Axline: Maybe I don't know about that one Tita Lors: No, no, no, no, nevermind. Hamburger patties come in like, it's different, I think, for hamburger patties than that. But specifically, yes, hot dogs. Why? Why? We know. Yeah, we know how many hot dogs there are and we know how many buns there are. Can we just match it up, please, people? Robin Axline: Yeah, it's literally been decades of this nonsense and you still haven't... Well, the thing is that people are saying it's a conspiracy theory engineered so consumers would buy more because it has to eventually match up, I guess. Tita Lors: Yeah, yeah. Because the math will math. It's multiples of two, both of them. Yeah. So, is it four and eight? What is it? It's eight and ten. Robin Axline: Mm-hmm. It's yeah, so eight hot dogs, ten buns. Tita Lors: So, so five, five and eight. Cause they'll match at 40. Yeah. Exactly. Robin Axline: Yeah. Oh, so you just have to have a big party. Or have a big freezer. I remember there was even a joke on this on Seinfeld once about the bun to dog ratio. It just came up to me. I'm like, oh yeah, that's on Seinfeld. But I would say this mismatch again says a lot about America. where we might disagree on literally everything else politically, but we all looked at the hot dog bun situation and thought, someone is screwing me. And the funniest Tita Lors: It's okay. Robin Axline: part is the real explanation is somehow even more American. Hot dogs were optimized for manufacturing efficiency and buns were optimized for baking tray efficiency. I was like, hmm, alright, fine. Tita Lors: Hahaha Robin Axline: But then nobody cared enough to fix the mix match. So you still have to buy both. Tita Lors: I know for Robin Axline: but fix it. Tita Lors: real, someone's gotta figure out a way to make that work. Why are you making us do the math? Robin Axline: And then I discovered an entire culture war happening inside the grilling culture. Apparently lump charcoal. People think that Kingsford briquettes are low class and full of chemicals. Kings and Kingsford loyalists think lump charcoal people are pretentious. So there's charcoal elitism happening. And leave it to America to turn literally anything into identity politics. Tita Lors: huh. Yeah. smokers? smoke pellet people? Are we... getting into this? Robin Axline: Yeah, and I can just picture it. like you're wearing flip flops and making hot dogs. This isn't some sacred elitist thing that we've been worried about. Tita Lors: It is. There's a difference between, what is it? There's like Hebrew something something versus Oscar Meyer Robin Axline: answer to a higher calling. Yeah. well, good point. Tita Lors: Wiener versus, I don't know, probably some other things I don't know about because it's more expensive. Robin Axline: Yeah, and then of course, well, if you're California, you got the Dodger dogs. Tita Lors: yes, the dot bit. You'd have to go to doctor's alien for that one. Robin Axline: Well, they, yeah, for a good one, but they do have them at stores. Yeah, I know because my family would be like, getting Dodger dogs. They're just extra long. Tita Lors: okay. We have to get this one. Yeah. I know, I see it immediately in my head. As soon you said it, was like, okay, yeah, we're getting those ones. Robin Axline: Yeah. And so while we're on the hot dog tip here. Tita Lors: Just the tip? Robin Axline: Why? I had to bring up Joey Chestnut, the winner of the Nathan's hot dog eating contest for multiple, multiple years after Kobayashi. I do admit, I do watch it sometimes on ESPN. On the 4th July. I don't go there because Coney Island gets shut down on 4th of July. There's so many people it's outrageous. So I just watch it on TV. But yeah. Tita Lors: I just I don't know how people you're not even eating your food you're not really like it's not about the enjoyment at this point like it just I can't chug a beer or anything that's like got the what's it called Robin Axline: Yeah, I mean, that just makes me kind of ill to imagine. Does the pit take place in New York or? Pittsburgh. the pit. get it. Tita Lors: Yeah, exactly! Where is it going? No, I think Pittsburgh. Yeah. Yeah. Robin Axline: Aha. So, yeah, I watch it and I here's just a little sidebar. They don't. I've already missed it. But I have watched clips in that Mickey... Mickey Soto, I think her name is? Is like... She won... couple years ago and then she was pregnant and she didn't do the eating and then this last year she came back and then got number one again. I'm She's not, yeah, she's like in shape, fit, spoiled. But if you train, you kind of know what to do, I guess. Tita Lors: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Robin Axline: Anywho, I brought this up not only because it's just about hot dogs and over consumption and Tita Lors: literal over consumption Robin Axline: sponsorship and everything else. I was really stoked that Joey Chestnut partnered with Impossible Foods. And he... was all like doing commercials for them and I was like hell yeah that's awesome as a vegetarian myself but then Nathan said that that was breaking a contract and they told him he couldn't be in the eating contest he was banned I was in 2024 yeah as long as he has the contract with them so he was like alright, guess I'm not doing it but then last year he was back and he won so I guess maybe he's not with impossible anymore either yeah either because a lot of people heard about that it could be that Ori just ended his contract who knows but it's crazy because he got suspended over brand loyalty issues and it's crazy that eating contest would have a non-compete clause. Tita Lors: Hahaha I dare you put that other guy's dog in your mouth. Robin Axline: Yeah, plant and plant based boot. Tita Lors: you Robin Axline: So I definitely Tita Lors: RUDE Robin Axline: respected the chaos of it all. I was like, all right, let's show a side of Nathan's that probably people don't know about. And for a hot dog eating champion to be politically divisive through hot dogs was not on my bingo card that year. And this kind of goes along with the people that all show up to Coney Island for this thing. There's some kind of social pressure like FOMO that people feel around 4th of July in my opinion. Like... social pressure, like it's a holiday, it's a three day weekend, whatever it is and it goes back to the what are your plans? feels like am I being grilled or something? Grilled. my gosh. Tita Lors: Ha ha, pun intended? Pun intended, come on. We're gonna say you did that on purpose. Robin Axline: yeah, I totally did. But yeah, like sometimes my parents would have a party and then a relative would travel all the way from LA to come to this party and I just felt like there was a lot of expectations around it. And it's not even like, why? Tita Lors: I don't know, house that I didn't know, a family friend or whatever. And I'm like, there better be some bomb freaking fireworks if we're going to be all the way out here. But the IE is not supposed to have fireworks because it's the desert. But there were like, because we were far enough. exactly where we were, I don't. Somewhere off the 91, I guess. But you could see all the different fireworks that were going off in all the different communities. So it was pretty cool, but because it was so far, they weren't as big. They were little tiny things. But there is. Robin Axline: That does sound kind of cool. Tita Lors: Yeah, but there's a lot of pressure because you expect to see kind of like how everyone goes all out with the fireworks for New Year's. You're expecting that to you're expecting to see that level of stuff as well. But in your tiny communities instead of like globally all Robin Axline: Yeah, yeah. Tita Lors: over the world. Robin Axline: Right. It's like you can't just sit at home and eat a bowl of pasta without feeling some type of way that you like failed somehow. Tita Lors: Yeah, or hating people for fireworks. Robin Axline: Yeah, that too, yeah, put some earplugs on and get all crumpy. that's nice. I like that. Yeah. So just to finish with the FOMO of it all, I feel like social media has made it extra weird and hard not to kind of get sucked into it. Like people are showing the side of their life where they're perfect and happy and wearing a red, white and blue outfit. And it's almost like they have a lifestyle brand, but they're not getting paid for it. something like that. And it's the question is, yeah, Merk! Tita Lors: The lifestyle brand is Merca. Robin Axline: And it's like, no more, there's no more questions about like, did you have fun? It's more like, did it look like I had fun on my profile? Tita Lors: Didn't you see how smiley I was? Robin Axline: Yeah, totally. But back to the story that you're talking about, the Joshua tree reminds me of a story I wanted to share about a dinner party I went to. And to me, it felt like the most connected I've ever felt at 4th of July in recent years. And it wasn't a traditional 4th of July party. This is going to sound. funny to some people listening maybe but it was an American descent themed dinner party in a speakeasy garden. Tita Lors: What? Robin Axline: I'll say it 10 times fast. Well first of all the invitation. No. Tita Lors: Walk me through it. Like you're, you have to be an American descendant only. Like what's happening? Robin Axline: Descent as in like you're feeling disillusioned by Tita Lors: okay, okay, okay, we're spelling that differently. Yes, okay. Robin Axline: America and you're not happy about it. Tita Lors: It's the two S's, not the S-E. Yeah, not S-E, okay, or C. Robin Axline: D-I-S-S-E-N-T. Yeah. Yeah. Tita Lors: Okay, okay, Yep, Robin Axline: Yeah, you get it now. Tita Lors: I'm spelling it in my brain. I'm trying to see the words. I see, okay. Robin Axline: So, And you had to know somebody to get an invitation because it was like a speakeasy, almost like a knock on the door kind of vibes. And Tita Lors: huh. Yeah. Robin Axline: the invitation literally said, I'm going to read the invitation. I found the invitation to talk about this. Tita Lors: you Robin Axline: Since there's nothing to celebrate, let's just keep drinking. Okay, cool. That's it. Yeah. Tita Lors: Okay cool. Sure. What else? Robin Axline: And honestly, like, I felt the most emotionally, like, real there than most patriotic advertising because I thought at first I didn't want to go because I didn't want to have like a negative experience. I thought it would be too cynical or performative or exhausting, but it weirdly ended up feeling kind of communal. And I didn't know a single person there, but everybody who were assembled were kind of open-minded folks. And there was actually real conversations being had about history, politics, identity, traditions, frustration, and just kind of what America means anymore to people. me. And I guess what struck me was that nobody there was trying to perform the perfect American summer holiday. Like nobody was taking pictures for one. Didn't care if it looked iconic or there was like some, I'm trying to think, like a pressure to feel like it's the best party ever. It was just people being and talking. And yeah, yeah, it was really lovely. And everybody brought a little something like you could bring mixers, booze, a snack, anything you wanted to share. And that kind of brought about conversation as well. And I actually this. No, I, I believe it. I felt like more patriotic, actually. because it was kind of about people engaging and not disagreeing and people were listening and curious and just sharing the stories. Tita Lors: and so many other things too. And people are trying to create a space to belong here and it becomes like a melting pot and where the whole point is to create a space for everyone to feel seen, to belong, to encourage each other and not to bring people down. ourselves and our communities and stop trying to be better than everyone because the whole point isn't to be better than everyone. It's just to be the best. Be the best that you can be, you know, as cliche as that statement is, it just is. And and now it's kind of gotten to a point of life where we're better than you. So we're to punk you and bully you and try to make you be like us. But there's so many other societies and cultures and things out there who have things that are better that if we could learn about it and then incorporate it into the melting pot that is America, then how much better could America be if we learned from other people? And we folded that into our belief system and our ideas of like showing up for each other. Robin Axline: Amen. Yes to all of that. That is the dream. That is the dream. Tita Lors: Yeah, just at least that's how I've always thought about America and when I think about like. historically, right? Like, am I wrong? People, the people who are the original cult, like the colonies or whatever, they were like, unwanted. They were the Protestants, right? Like you don't belong Robin Axline: Yeah. Right. Absolutely. Tita Lors: here. We are all Christians and Catholics or whatever. You're Protestants. Get out of our country. Go be there. And, and then they created this or somehow, right? So you were the original colonizers were unwanted. And had to. Robin Axline: What an interesting parallel. Tita Lors: Exactly right, you had to carve out a space for yourself and demand that you belonged. Robin Axline: Mind blown. Tita Lors: I didn't even think about that. Look at me being smart on a Thursday. Unless I'm totally wrong and then somebody's gonna be like, Laura, you're so stupid. Robin Axline: no, no, no, not gonna happen. Tita Lors: you Robin Axline: man. But yeah that being said, I also want to point out that I don't think people are stupid for loving traditions. I love traditions, I love nostalgia just like anybody else. I'm just kind of pointing out that I think people are hungry for ritual and community and meaning and belonging more than ever. no, I was just gonna say like, I don't think the answer is rejecting holidays completely, but it's just paying more attention to like, what's real. Tita Lors: Yeah, similar, similar thing. I was going to say maybe it's just about us being more intentional about what we're celebrating. And. And the meaning behind it, like my kids, they're going to celebrate the Fourth of July with hopefully their cousins and my family this summer. And honestly, it's just an excuse to hang out. Robin Axline: Really? Tita Lors: Yeah, it's really just an excuse to hang out and to be with my family and to get together and have this fun experience either with my friends or with my family, whoever it is that I end up celebrating with. But also if like also being maybe a little bit more intentional as they get older about why we do this, what's the whole point of this and. that led to freedom and why it's important and all of that. yeah. So if anybody has any ideas, like how are you all teaching your kids, teaching yourself to be more intentional about the holidays that you do celebrate and how you celebrate it? Or is it just to like acknowledge and not make a big fuss, commercialized fuss about it? Yeah, exactly. Let's be a community. I don't know how to raise these kids. Robin Axline: Ha! Yeah, in closing, basically, I just was thinking the parts that everybody remembers about Fourth of July is what you were saying, just an excuse to be together. And it's not about your paper plates with an American flag or your t-shirts or decorations. That's nonsense. It's honestly the people. And if we can just drop that performance for a second. That, yeah. Tita Lors: Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I think and something also, right, like, it doesn't mean anything. The bigger your barbecue is, the bigger your fireworks. doesn't make you more American than anybody else. You're not more patriotic. Exactly how many hot dogs you eat. It doesn't make you more patriotic. It's just Robin Axline: No, how many beers you crush on your forehead or yeah. Tita Lors: whatever. Like, celebrate with your people. Do the traditions, have fun, enjoy the holiday, but it's no reason for you to talk down to anybody else or make anybody feel less than just because you're gonna have better party. Nobody cares. Robin Axline: Yeah. Yeah. Well, the other thing I was going to add is to what you said earlier about how we can think about it and change eventually being the dream that we all dream is that is the only form of patriotism that I can currently trust. Everything else is just kind of. But if you think about the people and being a community, I think that's way more important. I just wanted to throw that out there. Right now, it's a little iffy for everybody, but we're all in it together. So anyway, happy Fourth of July. Tita Lors: Yeah, so yeah, we're all in this together. Wait, sorry. Wait, wait, wait. So just wanted to reflect and make sure that I'm understanding you correctly. Like you're saying that the form of patriotism that feels real for you is when we're just showing up for each other and like intentionally being present with one another and not about like showing off your patriotism and being better than anybody but just being present with our fellow Americans and being helpful and kind and stuff like that. That's what I heard you say. Okay, cool. Just wanted to make sure. Robin Axline: You got it. 100%. That's I was just trying not to like repeat everything that we just said. But but yes, to be clear, that's what I was saying. Tita Lors: Yeah? Okay, cool. Robin Axline: I feel like that's what I can trust right now. And that's what keeps me wanting to make the world better. and hopefully everybody else wants that for the world as well. Anywho, happy 4th July. Happy 4th July, Laura. Happy 4th July, me. Happy 4th of July, everybody. Your party was great. Keep all your ten fingers. Yeah, thanks for inviting us. Go check on your dogs. Tita Lors: Happy Fourth of July everyone! Your party was great. Your barbecue was wonderful. Thank you for inviting us. Yes, we enjoyed your fireworks show. Yes, exactly. Robin Axline: and question marketing ecosystems Tita Lors: Check on your vets. Robin Axline: and check on your vets. Buy some new flip flops. Tita Lors: Eat the gummies if you're into it. Robin Axline: Yeah, yeah, if you want a really trippy firework time then go you. But yeah, if you stand, if you're standing outside holding a little paper plate and there's some illegal fireworks going on, just remember you're participating in one of the most successful corporate culture rituals every- ever created. So God bless America or at least good luck to it. That's all I have to say. Tita Lors: Oh man, that last one. Good luck to it. Oh, also, it's the 250th anniversary, right? Yeah, I just remembered it. Robin Axline: Get. Yes. I meant to mention that. Tita Lors: Yeah, so it's 250. Do you know the theory around the 250? So, allegedly, every 250 years, give or take a few years, it's the fall of an empire. Yeah, so conspiracy theories is saying that everything that's happening right now is going to lead to the fall of the Americas. Yeah. So I know doomsday people. Can I come to your bunker? Robin Axline: Wait and see, folks. Yeah, yeah, let's do it. Post-apocalyptic party. I think we should take a break, but when we come back, I have some questions to wrap it up. And then we got a petty Tita Lors: Ooh, yes, okay, awesome. Robin Axline: battle. Tita Lors: Petty battle! Woo woo woo!