Who taught you what beauty is???

[00:01:17][music] I can't go out without changing my clothes, my shoes, my body posture. I can't do what I want to do with my own body. And who in the hell set things [music] up like this? I was wrong again to be me being me where I was wrong to be who I am. I am very familiar with the problems [music] of the CIA and the problems of white America in general and the problems of the teachers and the preachers and the FBI [music] and the social workers and my particular mom and dad. I am very familiar with the problems because the problems turn out to [music] be I am the history of the terrorized incarceration of myself. I am the history of battery, assault, and limitless armies against whatever I want to [music] do with my mind and my body and my soul. I am not wrong. Wrong is not my name.

[00:02:11]And I can't tell you [music] who the hell set things up like this. But I can tell you that from now on, my resistance, my simple and daily and nightly selfdetermination may very well cost you your life.

[00:02:32]>> Greetings.

[00:02:34]>> What up? Happy Friday. You feel me?

[00:02:37]>> Happy Friday. Oh, you got some new glasses, don't you?

[00:02:40]>> These old. These are different, but they old.

[00:02:43]>> Okay. They're cute. Thank you.

[00:02:48]>> Oh, it's Friday.

[00:02:51]>> Yeah, we here.

[00:02:52]>> TG >> middle of the month.

[00:02:55]>> Hello to all our guests. You feel me?

[00:03:00]>> Uh, people got paid on the 15th. Most people.

[00:03:08]>> Yeah, that's different. New for me. Um, you know, in, uh, where I was teaching, they paid on the last working day of the month.

[00:03:19]>> I think a lot of schools are like that.

[00:03:21]So, you could be a Tuesday, it could be a Thursday.

[00:03:26]>> Yeah.

[00:03:27]>> Very uh, what's the word? Um, >> you have to be very disciplined to get paid once a month on a random day.

[00:03:37]We used to get uh at the lighthouse, we used to get paid once a month on the first day of every month. Was it the first day every month or the last day? I don't remember. But we when we first started, we got paid once a month. And um like you said, it does take a lot of discipline. Uh whatever kind of discipline. I don't even necessarily think it's financial discipline, but it takes a lot of discipline to only get one check a month.

[00:04:04]And I started to realize that um you know like the closer the the closer we would get to payday, of course I would feel it too, but I was I noticed how much everybody else was feeling it >> and so then we switched to getting um paid >> what's it called? Semi-weekly. Well, you know, on the 15th and the last day every month.

[00:04:30]>> Yeah, that's helpful. So we switched to that.

[00:04:33]>> Very very helpful. Yeah. Payday is >> it's easier for payroll to get paid once a month, but it's not easier necessarily for your life to get paid once a month.

[00:04:43]>> Facts. Yep. So what's what's what we got going on? What's what's the news? What's the word in your black girl world?

[00:04:52]>> My black girl world. Uh a few things are happening um that are exciting.

[00:05:00]So, one uh this is workrelated. We applied for a grant uh I mean we submitted an LOI uh to a foundation months ago. Never heard anything um didn't really think much of it. It was a shot in the dark. It is not uncommon to not hear anything you know from uh submissions grant proposals.

[00:05:28]Uh, and then Monday I got this email that was like, "Hey, the full proposal for this grant was due Friday. Are you still going to send it?"

[00:05:40]>> Oh, wow.

[00:05:41]>> Say, "What now?"

[00:05:44]I I have no idea what you're talking about, ma'am. Uh, so, you know, I wrote the person back and I was like, "Yeah, this is really strange."

[00:05:52]Never received anything. did not know we had been invited to send submit a full proposal. Would you give us a couple days and we could try to throw it together like if that's okay.

[00:06:06]Woman didn't respond to me. She called me the next morning um and was like, "Yeah, we've sent like 10 or 11 emails and we just kept getting bounce backs. I don't know how you got the this email, but you know, I know that you it's likely that you did not get the others because we kept sending them getting bounce back. The lady was like, "Yeah, so we really want you to submit this full proposal. What about you turn it in next Friday, and if that's not quite enough time, just let us know at some point in the middle of next week." So, that that's never happened to me before. It's really exciting. Um, and I I have just committed myself to the idea that this particular grant is one for us to lose, not one for us to get. Cuz I tell you, >> if I had applied Cole for a multi00,000 grant and the people didn't submit the proposal when I asked for it, I probably would have just moved right along. But to like just keep sending emails and then call like that was really that was good. Um had another um I'm sorry I'm going stop talking about grants in a second. One other thing that happened this week in that tangent tangentially uh uh uh a newly formed family foundation reached out a few weeks ago. They were like, you know, we're going to start slowly only going to do one grant, you know, whatever. And it was um the lighthouse and one other group. They decided to go with the other group. It's an indigenous group having some they're having major issues like being pushed off the land. Like for sure that makes sense to me that you would choose that.

[00:07:57]But the woman then says, "But you spent so much time on the phone with us um that I want to send you a little something just for the time that you gave."

[00:08:10]And of course, you know, I'll send this up with a a formal letter saying that, you know, we won't add you. You weren't chosen, but I just wanted to call you and talk to you about why first. That never happened.

[00:08:22]>> Oh, yeah.

[00:08:23]>> That never happened. So, that was that was really cool.

[00:08:27]Um, and then one last thing before it's your go. Uh, I have a recommendation. A thing that's been happening in my black girl world. I think we talk about this, but I had the experience just last night. Um, a recommendation if you don't have uh a community of people that you can just like laugh with and um who provocate you to think provoke you to think about things in different ways. My recommendation is to to be really intentional about trying to find at least a couple people with whom you can do that. Uh it's not uncommon for, you know, people to like hang out uh at my house. My mom used to call um me and uh me and my partner hippie minded. Uh cuz you know, we just like even you, you be like, "That's the freedom house, you know, like we're always just like hanging out with folks." Uh but there is just something especially um it reminds you of your humanity to be able to just connect [clears throat] with folks sometimes. So yeah, that's my black girl world. It's pretty good.

[00:09:40]Pretty pretty cool stuff. Um >> plants uh plants my black girl. Yeah, because um >> I am moving. I've mentioned this before.

[00:09:53]Uh this will be my second time in as many years moving from state, one state to another. In 2024, I moved from New Orleans to Memphis. And then in a month or so, I'll be moving from Memphis to Minneapolis, uh which is where I grew up. Um and I've been thinking more and more about actually getting some plants in my apartment. And for me, it's not just about the plants.

[00:10:21]Uh cuz we I grew up with plants in in the crib. My mom is really big on plants. She gardens. She loves plants. My dad too.

[00:10:31]Uh when I was hanging with my dad for Father's Day, that's what we did. We went to the plant shop and got him some plants. Um but for me, I've never felt steady in a place uh where I felt I could actually take care of plants the way they need to be taken care of. Um, so like for me it's an indication that I'm trying to like put down roots somewhere. So like when I um I had I had the house built in New Orleans, but when I started there from the time I moved in in summer 2019 until COVID hit, I was traveling out of state every month. So I was like, well, I'm not going to have time to keep a plant alive because I'm moving around so much. Uh, and then when CO hit, I was just overwhelmed by so much that, you know, it's hard to keep for me. A lot of people got into plants during CO. Yeah.

[00:11:25]>> But, um, I did not.

[00:11:28]>> Uh, and then when I started thinking about getting into plants in 2021, I tore my Achilles, so I didn't have time for that. Um, and then 2022 comes and I'm traveling again. Uh, and I was thinking about getting some plants when I moved here, but I'm like, I don't want to move plants, right? I don't want to have plants for two years and then either have to get rid of them or move them. But I have been intentionally thinking about like having plants in my home, right? I think it's also um it's fun because I'm also kind of learning about what kind of care not just plants take, but what they offer, right? Like some plants are good for purifying the air. Some are good for adding humidity or taking out humidity.

[00:12:15]Some are good because of the colors, you know. So, just kind of getting into that world uh a lot more as I prepare to move. You know, moving is it's it's always a heavy lift. Uh no pun intended, but pun appreciated. Um so, just trying to figure out what that looks like. Um, the last couple weeks I've been back and forth. I was I was in Jackson, then I was in Memphis, then I was in Minneapolis, then I was back in Memphis where I am now. Um, but to your point about having people um that you can just be yourself around. I think that's not I think that's one of the coolest things about returning home >> because I get to be around people who >> I get to be around people who knew me in elementary school, people who knew me in middle school, you know, people who I didn't realize >> um have been proud of me since I left.

[00:13:12]You know, when I moved from Minneapolis, I moved to go to college. I moved at 17 and I haven't lived back since, but I've kept in touch with people to some degree. Um, but realizing that people have really been kind of like rooting for me the whole time from back home.

[00:13:28]>> Um, uh, Lache, Dr. Lache Harvey, who, uh, I work with at the lighthouse, she, uh, we were talking and she had a comment about how kind of about migration, like black folks in migration, and she was saying that the folks who stay maintain the archive of and for the folks who leave.

[00:13:48]And that just hit me because uh yeah, people were like, "Yeah, we've been keeping up with you since you've been gone or now that you're back, let's um pick up and hang out." And um it's been it's been really it's been a lot, but it's been fun. I think the most exciting because it it lets me know there's opportunities, but I'm a landmark person. So all my life when I drive, I'm not a street person. I'mma turn after the Pizza Hut or make sure you pass, you know, this gas station and you know, you know, you've gone too far to keep going.

[00:14:29]>> But since I haven't lived in Minneapolis since I was a teenager, one, I was navigating the city primarily by city bus, >> right? Uh, so my driving is a little not as not as good. But two, most of the landmarks that I remember are gone or changed. So I'm in my hometown, but I'm passing things. So I'm like, I know I'm supposed to turn at the, you know, at the fitness center, and the fitness center is gone, or the fitness center is now a cafe. So I'm having to kind of reorient myself to the city, >> which is fun. Uh, but it also lets me know that there's room specifically for doing what I want to do is like place-based black cultural and historical preservation because there's a lot of new black people in Minneapolis in the Twin Cities that don't know that there is a long-standing history of black people in the Twin Cities because a lot of stuff that they're looking at currently is not what it used to be, right? So doing stuff like getting um me and a friend of mine are working on creating like historical markers for black community in South Minneapolis central community like not deemed by the city or the state but just as a community like putting markers there to say this used to be this and this used to be that. Um so yeah excited about that and like plants like figuring out what kind of plants I want in which rooms. Um, yeah. So, transition and moving. That's the theme in my black girl world.

[00:16:02]>> You definitely want to get your snake plant. We'll talk about that. And >> rubber plant are the two plant I want.

[00:16:10]Everything else is up for grabs.

[00:16:12]>> Yeah.

[00:16:14]Got to get you a snake plant and a rubber plant. Both very easy to take care of. Attractive, you know, just Yeah. Good.

[00:16:21]>> I love both. Yeah. I'm excited. you get to pick pot colors and designs. Like, it's gonna be a thing. And like I say, I'm really excited because it g it's gonna give me a sense of stability that I haven't had >> probably in about 10 years.

[00:16:37]>> Yeah. [gasps] You know, we are different. This actually kind of leads us into um what we want to what we plan to talk about today. But I think we are we are different in that way. Um, I I don't care if I know I'm only going going to be in a place for three months.

[00:17:00]I'm putting stuff in that place. I'm going to have even if it's a if it's a little plant, I'm a lot more into plants now than I than I was, you know, when I moved around as much. Um, but I remember when I first moved to Chicago, I lived uh in the basement in the attic attic of uh one of my aunts um my aunts my aunt by marriage her uh family uh her mom and dad and I lived in their attic for 3 months and I move stuff around like this is is this where this is where I am?

[00:17:38]this got to feel like home to me in some kind of way. And uh yeah, that's just yeah, >> I'm getting there. I think because I've been, you know, been in situations where I know that moving is sudden and it's not something I like I've been here for two years and like I didn't put those up. My partner like he put those up. He was like, "Why don't you put the art up?" I'm like, "I'm only going to be here for two years." Like >> Yeah. And there's like if you see in the back there's art that never got put up because I was just like by time I get it up and enjoy it. But but I'm getting out of that right into the idea because another friend is the same way. She's like I don't care if she's like I'll go into a hotel room and change things around like >> put this over here. Put this candle over here like something that grounds. One of uh we there's a liturgy we use with one of the um programs and at the end at the end of the um near the end of the liturgy it says home is home is not a place I'm from. It's it's a place I carry.

[00:18:43]>> And like I I very much lean into that ideology about home.

[00:18:49]>> I like that.

[00:18:50]>> Yeah. I like that.

[00:18:52]>> Like I'm home. Yeah.

[00:18:54]>> My home. Yeah.

[00:18:57]>> Speaking of u speaking of homes and decorating, let's talk about taste.

[00:19:03]>> All right. Let's talk about taste. Uh so I have I have a few things I'm going to read uh to you throughout the thing um throughout our little chat um and with the audience. But I think the overarching question that I want to start with is is taste something we develop or is it something we're served?

[00:19:28]>> H [clears throat] Oh, you asking right now?

[00:19:32]>> Yeah, that's my rhetorical friend.

[00:19:35]>> Um, how do you define taste?

[00:19:40]>> We'll see.

[00:19:42]>> I can't answer the question if you don't tell me.

[00:19:44]>> How do you define taste? Um, I think I define taste as the things you're drawn to. Um, the things that register for you uh how do what I mean is the things that register for you as symbols of other things, >> right? So for me, if I want something um sweet, right, what registers for me as sweet, whether it be a food, whether it be a color, whether it be a demeanor, for me, taste is the thing, the symbols you associate with a certain thing. Um I think both. I think man I'm gonna use I'm gonna use music as an example because me and you know when D'Angelo passed uh I have conversations with my dad about music a lot and one of the things that I realized is the point in which >> my music taste stopped being so much what my parents were giving me >> and more what I was finding on my own.

[00:20:52]Right. So I was talking to him about how like >> for me D'Angelo was one of the first artists that I felt was mine. Like my parents didn't introduce me to D'Angelo like D'Angelo >> I miss myself.

[00:21:06]>> Yeah. Like older people or I saw a video or heard something on the radio. So I think as young as young people we are serve taste. Uh hopefully we aren't robbed of our ability to make taste in a way because for me I think that as you're being served your tastes there should be something that helps you discern whether or not what you're served actually you know metaphorically speaking tastes good to you right so you're being served these things and it's like oh I my mom always puts me in this color at some point you say I actually don't like green like that, you know what I mean? Um, so I think initially we're we're served. I think the way we're taught what we're being served determines whether or not we have the ability to develop, right? If you're a kid who's allowed to pick out their own clothes, you get the opportunity to develop your taste more than, you know, somebody who's put in animals all their life.

[00:22:10]>> I'm sorry. I don't know why Gan Animals is so funny to me. Yeah. Mhm. I understand what she's saying.

[00:22:15]>> Yeah. Because the people cuz the people who were put in Ganimals all their life >> end up being the people that come to the Foot Locker and buy the outfit off the mannequin, >> right? And that's not that's not a judgment, but I'm saying are used to like >> putting things like, oh, this is put together for me, right? So, let me keep going with the things that are kind of served to me. Um, >> but that doesn't mean that because taste is served to you, it it doesn't fit you.

[00:22:45]You know what I mean? Just because you've gotten it from someone else doesn't mean uh it's inauthentic for you to to accept, if that makes sense.

[00:22:54]>> It absolutely makes sense.

[00:22:57]So, I read I don't know if you got a chance to read uh the Guardian article uh but there is an exploration of taste in an article that is like a month old or something uh called have I been in uh let me see have I been influenced personal taste out of fashion algorithm um and in that article one of the things which I'll reference a couple times um during our conversation, but in that article um the author brings up uh as we're talking about like what is taste um a French author from I forgot however many uh 1800s maybe um who wrote a book called distinction a social critique of the judgment of taste and I wrote this down so I wouldn't u mess it up so I'm looking over here cuz I'm reading my notes So it um in this book Pierre Bordeaux I'm assuming is how you pronounce it >> sociologist you feel me >> suggests that good taste isn't neutral kind of like what you're saying uh good taste he suggests reflects class power education and access and then it gets presented as a natural superiority in the development of social class identity. The aesthetic choices that people make for themselves also create social class factions, which are in groups that distance members of a social class from each other and from other social classes.

[00:24:40]Yep. Bordeaux is one of the architects of like social capital, the I the the sociological concept of social capital.

[00:24:50]Not saying he was the first person to think about it, but he was one of the first people to write about [clears throat] capital that's not material, right?

[00:24:58]That's not financial. That's is material, but not financial. For sure.

[00:25:01]>> Right. And tying into class. Yep.

[00:25:04]>> So, how does So, does that resonate well with you about the in the in crowd and the out crowd and the things that we have access to or lack thereof to help develop what we're what we call taste?

[00:25:18]>> Yeah. I think I mean, you know, the the way socialization operates is to get everybody to buy into whatever's um to whatever the hierarchy wants you to subscribe to. But the beauty of, you know, the nefariousness of of these structures is that it wants you to believe it's neutral. So the the key part is socializing you to like and dislike appreciate and not appreciate certain things while making you believe that you're that this is your own mind creating these these taste preferences 100%. Um and not only that but teaching you very clearly that certain tastes are aspirational because of the capital that they give you in society.

[00:26:07]>> For sure. Right. Yeah. pushes us very rapidly um into uh conversations around what we're being served in terms of an algorithm.

[00:26:24]So, not just my parents listen to this kind of music uh and so this is the kind of music that I like and then I discovered that I like other things. But I think because we are at a point in history and present and future uh where we're living in like an AI age and so much that we do and experience is based on an algorithm that like yeah how how how are we how and when do we get to develop our own taste or do we ever really >> I think it's harder for young people. I didn't like for for folks our age. I didn't I didn't grow up with an algorithm. So, I was allowed more I I don't like how any of the stuff works now because it's clearly it's clear to me that it's suggesting ways I should think about stuff, right? And that's not what I'm at that like that's not what I'm using it for. Um, for an example, if I go into I use YouTube Music and I use YouTube Music because YouTube Music used to be Google Music and it used to um it used to allow you to download stuff to to a hard drive before um it turned into YouTube music. But I still like YouTube music because it also pulls from the random things that people upload on YouTube itself to play musically. So, I can get playlists and mixtapz that like Spotify and Title and other things don't allow. What I noticed recently though is I used to be able to click new music like right away. Now, instead of allowing me to click new music and figure out who I want to listen to, there's like 30 different suggestions for me, right? So it's like, "Oh, you should listen to this or let me make a playlist for you or and I'm like, so I have to scroll down to be given the option to say, you know, cuz I come from the era where on Tuesdays new music would come out." So on Tuesdays or throughout, >> right? So I still have that when something new comes out, let me listen to it. But the way the algorithm operates now, I don't even get the option to just go to the new music. the first thing it's telling me is like you should listen to this or you know and and it's so for young and I say this because I remember having a conversation with another educator about um taking away phones from kids and taking away internet and tablet and stuff from kids. Uh and one of the kids responded, "Well, without TikTok, how am I going to find new music?"

[00:29:16]because that's where they're because they're being fed, right? And this is and and and the issue is uh because someone said it's like a feedback loop, right? So now people who are getting introduced to to music through 30 second TikTok clips are never hearing full songs. So now because people aren't listening to full songs, artists are making one and a half minute songs. or when you go to a DJ set, you rarely hear a second verse of a song. You might hear two hooks in one verse because now, right, people's tastes have been primed in a way where they're consuming music in a specific way. So now, not only but that was the goal all along.

[00:30:03][clears throat] >> But do you think we can call that taste?

[00:30:08]Yeah. I think because people did figure when people figure out what they're listening to. Yeah. Now is that now the reality is depending on how deeply you're socialized into the dominant culture, your tastes are going to to the extent that's going to be the extent to which they reflect the dominant narrative. Right? So yes, it's it it becomes your taste, but it becomes your taste fundamentally in line with the socialization of the of the hierarchies that exist.

[00:30:45]>> [sighs and gasps] >> I I don't this is going to sound contradictory, but I think yes, that's your taste, but it's not actually your taste. It back to the original question about is taste something we develop or that we're that we're served. I think in that context, our taste, you know, just speaking generally, not for you or for me specifically, but our tastes, yeah, is what we've been served. Um because I think [sighs] one of the one of the questions that I was thinking about and mulling over is is create is taste creative a strictly creative endeavor taste and curation because I think taste requires curation right and the more I think about that though I think no it it's definitely not strictly a creative endeavor. It also requires uh some intellectualism. And I don't mean an intellectualism in the terms of I'm smarter than you are, she's smarter than I am, but an intellectualism that is rooted in curiosity.

[00:32:12]A lot of curiosity.

[00:32:14]Um a search for a thing, whatever the thing is. some yeah largely curiosity um where an individual is seeking out and taking in ideas and experiences and uh the ways these things um these people do this thing the way these people I don't know decorate a dining room or uh create a collage of um a collage or a gallery wall in their kitchen like whatever it is it requires some consideration of all of those things and that is an intellectual endeavor.

[00:33:05]>> Does that make sense?

[00:33:07]>> What I'm saying?

[00:33:07]>> I think yes. I think the extent to which you can participate in that depends on how intellectually you're engaging it. For sure.

[00:33:19]Yeah, because for me it's not it's not it's not one or the other. It's it's levels, right? It's a it's a continuum.

[00:33:27]The more thoughtful and more engaging you are, the more you can be more discerning in your taste, >> right? So, for me, it there's a there's a correlation between how the way you're defined intellectually, like how thoughtful, how curious, how um courageous to try new things, how expressive you are. There's a there's a correlation between those and the way also I don't think taste is the product.

[00:33:56]I think taste is the process because you and I could put on the same thing >> but we come to it in different ways.

[00:34:04]Right? I think my issue with the with being served taste is we're being served the process that results in us looking a certain way or us thinking a certain way or us liking a certain thing. Right. Um, if you're talking about like art, whatever art is popular is what we're fed as being good, >> right? But the quality of the art a lot of times it's in the process that the artist goes through to create it, right? Whether or not we like it doesn't fundamentally determine whether or not it's well created.

[00:34:50]So we get told that Bosad is a great artist, right? We get told and then and and I say that we get told because he's revered in um you know post postmortem, right? He's revered. You have a bunch of taste makers, right?

[00:35:10]um rappers, um fashion folks referring to him as um the one, right? But what about Bosa actually makes makes him great is the thing that we're not taught. So we're not taught the process of distinguishing great art. So we can say, "Oh, well, if Bosot is great for these reasons, then these other artists can be considered great as well." We're just told this Bosot painting is great. So we're fed the process that and now, you know, there's Boscot wallets and keychains, right? Um, but for me, when I was introduced to Bosot, the first thing I did was try to research other artists that were making stuff at the same time for me to gauge, okay, everyone's saying he's great, but who else was doing stuff at the time? Um, because I'm like, he can't be the only person, right? So, for me, it's the process that we're taught in kind of that intellectualism. Um, but we're not given, most of us aren't given the opportunity to develop a process of discernment. We're just given like this is the color for the year or this >> I don't know. See, I don't know if I agree with that. I'm sorry to cut you off. I don't know that we aren't given the opportunity or the time and the space. I think this sounds bad, but I think we in so many ways are lazy and if someone just offers this to us and and maybe lazy isn't even the best word. Let me try to fix that.

[00:36:54]>> I think it's accurate.

[00:36:56]>> I for some people lazy for some people there are so many other things grabbing for their attention. Let let's just do it like that. um that if there is an opportunity to skip over the process that gets us to the uh this is this is what defines good taste or bad taste or you know whatever. So clearly nobody wants to be on the end of bad like or without taste. So we skip over the process to get to this and where capitalism comes in like a roaring lion is then we commercialize the thing that has been determined as good taste. So it's not [clears throat] so bas like yes [snorts] basot is everywhere and that is a thing that can be capitalized on. So then it goes back to so are you interested in this particular piece of bas yachts because something about it resonates with you where we go to where we go to um defining taste uh that that there's also some value uh there's some value personal value that goes into our own taste right so yeah are you do you like this because it resonates with you or do you like it because you keep seeing it >> yeah I think and and I I think I'll distinguish because I think that's true for a lot of people but that's not me.

[00:38:26]So I think >> not you. Yeah.

[00:38:28]>> No, no, no. But but there's a difference because I think for some people that is true. I think that for younger people who have grown up with things being fed to them, they don't develop that curiosity. And I'll use music again as an example. I grew up with liner notes.

[00:38:46]I grew up getting a CD with a booklet and the booklet will have commentary from the artist. It'll let you know who played all the instruments. It'll let you know what samples came through there. And it was a process that while listening to the album, I also got into um understanding different sonic blends, different sounds. So that's why when I hear a diller beat, I can tell it's a diller beat because I've associated certain sounds because I'm reading the liner notes, right? And I'm like, "Oh, this sounds like that song." And over time, some most times you're right.

[00:39:24]Sometimes you're you're not. But for me, that's what I'm talking about with with the process because that's the same process that I'm doing like now with the plants. I know what plants are popular for people, but I'm still the person who's like, "Let me read, let me >> [laughter] >> Let me take because yes, you're going to I went on a site. Pretty cool site.

[00:39:45]There's a site. It's called like uh Ryz I think R A I Z. Um it's a young Afro Latino dude in the East Bay and he's kind of created like a way to curate your plant buying, right? Are you looking for this that and you know you put in information. It's like let me get to know a little bit about you and then I'll suggest you some plants, right? So, you can go through that process and it's going to pick plants for you. And of course, they're going to make sense, but I would rather be the person who's like, "Let me take the time and read about these things because I also don't care about being considered of bad taste because I don't necessarily respect the taste that the dominant culture has."

[00:40:32]Right? So I So if someone's like, you know, you're not that's ugly or that's mismatched. Um I don't care so much. What what I what I'll care about maybe is understanding how possibly I can refine what I'm trying to do. Right. If I'm going for a certain look and it's not working right, then again, I'll look and see it what what I but that's just and I say that to say like there are some people that you would consider lazy or want to shortcut the process. Um, but I think that's in an effort to fit in, right? Because you can't miss the truth, >> right? But for people who don't, so um, there's a book, uh, David Reman wrote this book called The Lonely Crowd, and it's about, it's, you know, it it builds on Bordeaux's argument, and it talks about people being interdirected or other directed, and it essentially talks about the extent to which people can be influenced by trends and culture and stuff like that. Um, I think our young people aren't really given ways to opt out, right? We we because we weren't born with this technology, we still have to opt in to participate in some of it, but for them, they don't know a time when it didn't exist.

[00:41:52]So, it's their default. So, it's harder to detach them from that [snorts] um because they believe that that is the way to develop taste, right? When you start seeing I remember when I started recognizing that no matter where my students were from, they were all using the same slang and dressing the same way because they're consuming the same thing, right? Um, which is which again that's how technology works, right? When you standardize the formats of of culture, you use you lose some of those regional differences and some of those some of those things that we get to, I guess, kind of nerd out about that everybody else doesn't pick up on.

[00:42:41]>> So, this brings two things to mind. one is uh referential to the uh to the article uh again um and then one is about um black women and girls in particular as it relates to taste. So I'm thinking so if taste a part of taste is value and access or lack thereof to things then where where do black women come in in terms of developing taste u whether that's you know dominant culture algorithm or not right so just like where where do we come in and then who validates who validates the things that we deem tasteful or not. So that's one thing.

[00:43:36]Then the other thing is um I took a screenshot of this part of the article in particular and highlighted if we can pull it up. [snorts] Um so these are things that stood out the most. Taste is going to become a distinguishing factor in the age of AI.

[00:43:55]So that's really interesting because you know we're talking about how so much of all of this is squished down right and it is flattened into this is what taste is. Oh okay. So how how is it a distinguishing factor does this is the this is part of I think it's like the the executive director of open AI or something saying this. Okay. So then we drop down. It says, uh, companies are increasingly attempting to align themselves with current ideas of good taste. Back to the black woman question. And then it gives some examples, but one of the primary examples that stood out to me because I I remember being put off about this. We might even talked about this, mentioned this um in May. So, it's also musling in on old school gatekeepers exhibit A, Jeff Bezos's involvement in Maze Matt Gala, high fashion's biggest night of the year, which saw the Amazon boss and his wife pay a reported $10 million to serve as honorary chairs.

[00:45:04]Like, say what now? I did I didn't I didn't I didn't I didn't see that. And I think to your point about like black women and girls, um because this is I think my issue is that at this point we know I couldn't read it because I think it was behind a payw wall, which makes sense. Um >> uh no, no, no. It's not a payw wall, but it's one of those uh give us your email if you want free access. Um to me that I couldn't maybe I've just done all my guardian uh things for the month.

[00:45:40]>> Oh, that's probably what it was.

[00:45:41]>> Yeah. Right. So, I would have to log in or pay something to get access to it.

[00:45:46]>> Um, >> but I'm to the point where I know that media propaganda is serving whiteness.

[00:45:52]>> So, for whoever wrote this to tell me that AI is going to be important in taste making, that's that doesn't have to be true to me, right? So in terms of tastem, this journalist has decided to plant the seed that I should be paying more attention to these things.

[00:46:12]>> Well, actually she was railing against it, but she was giving all these examples of >> Yeah. Like but the the the idea that that matters, right? Because I don't I've never paid attention to the Met Gala. I know what it is. I like look at some of the outfits but and this is this is the differentiating like so that's never like that scene that ideology is never going to validate my taste.

[00:46:43]>> So even though like black women are there and are designers and on the you know on the carpet and behind the scenes that's never going to validate my taste as a black woman. even though there's spaces where black women can get validation there. I I don't see myself in that world. So my the way I and maybe I'm just like maybe I'm just taste like like maybe I'm just tasteless over here, but that doesn't necessarily move the way I continue to curate the things that I find beautiful and appealing. Um, it actually makes me a little bit more uh skeptical of what I'm being told is cool, what I'm being told uh I should care about. I think for black women, there's always been a tipping point where we are on the outs where we are fundamentally considered the antithesis of what's good, what's popular, what's beautiful, what's feminine until we do something that um one is undeniable and two is popular enough to commodify.

[00:48:02]So I think for me that's kind of the as black women to not get caught into having our taste validated by essentially by whiteness to the extent where people say oh that's cool still be mindful of what that means for what we have to give up especially in in the world of AI when you don't have to give permission for um something to take your likeness and create something from >> [clears throat] >> So I think [gasps] one of the things that is coming to me as we're talking about this is that um and this points back to the point this goes back to the point about laziness. I think that a part of what helps define style, I mean taste, sorry. What helps define taste is a and the accumulation of experiences over a length of time.

[00:49:11]So that is one of the reasons that even though I couldn't find the best way to articulate it, I say that yes, our taste is I don't know, we'll just make it tangible. So if this is taste, this remote is taste, then yes, I have taste, but if this is the taste that the algorithm curated, then sure, it's my taste, but it's not actually my taste.

[00:49:41]But I haven't had an opportunity the creative or intellectual investment made an investment in the journey of developing a personal taste.

[00:49:57]>> [gasps] >> So therefore I think what um what the algorithm you know like capital T capital A what the algorithm is presenting to me is not actually taste but a composition of trends from day to day because the algorithm isn't about it isn't about a journey. the algorithm is about the right now. Mhm.

[00:50:33]>> And to that end, I think where black girls and women are concerned in particular, especially if we pretend if we pretend for a moment like we exist can exist outside of um the algorithm.

[00:50:54]Then what we are creating and developing just as a part of our being is only interesting to or only ever validated by the algorithm's investment into in commodifying this little piece of the journey.

[00:51:21]>> I Yeah, I don't disagree. I think you said let's pretend that we can't exist outside the algorithm.

[00:51:28]>> Well, like like the algorithm is not there. That would have been a better way to say that.

[00:51:33]I mean it's not that I think that we [sighs] I think at this point again in history and present the age of AI is so insidious that even if we are not actively engaging even if we are removed from social media or whatever it is that there is influence on us.

[00:51:59]Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I don't But I I think I think there's a I think there is um I one I think we have to be more willing to find ways to disengage from the algorithm. Right. I was just talking to a friend of mine yesterday about like what the new search engine is.

[00:52:28]Because like Google can't be it anymore.

[00:52:30]Like Google doesn't even try to give you anything useful.

[00:52:35]>> Means YouTube doesn't try to give you anything useful. I used to me one of the things me and my dad used to do is he used to send like old songs or old speeches or things. But now when you try to search those things they're buried so deep because they're not trendy that you can almost never find it. So, um, I find myself going to internet archive more, right, than actually to find stuff that I know used to be there that's been buried by the algorithm.

[00:53:03]>> Um, but I also think that this is the trap, right? And this is why I always push back about the conversations about, well, if black women would just get more involved, right? Because if we acknowledge that the ultimate goal is to find ways to essentially commodify blackness without black people, right?

[00:53:23]Because if the algorithm can can copy your likeness enough, we don't even recognize ourselves, right? Versus what is an AI. Like people are talking about making AI movies, right? Instead of even using actors and stuff, just making everything AI. Like right now there's a whole big thing called faceless AI where people are creating like little shows and stuff with AI to monetize on social media. So I think the trap for black girls and black women it gets into the repres the representation trap, right? The fact that we are so hungry sometimes to see ourselves represented that we're not paying attention to whether or not the representations are really us. Um, and then what we see we want to replicate because those representations become aspirational without us being critical of of the nature that they're being used for. Like this is why Jasmine Crockett became so popular even though her politics are trash. Like super trash. Because when we saw her, her hair was laid, her fashion was on point, she was making the quippy black woman snaps at the white politicians. And we wanted that type of representation like oh look at look at sis doing her thing with these white people on this TV and we didn't think like what is she talking about right what so for me that's kind of the trap um for us as black girls and black women to remember that what we're seeing through the algorithm is only um not just a facade but it's a cheap imitation of who we really are and we have to resist the urge to give that authenticity and validation.

[00:55:09]>> This is a tangent. I'm sorry, friend, but this just made me think. Do you think, and maybe we should name Jasmine Crockett in particular, but >> I I will name her in >> I'm I'm Well, this is my question though. So maybe if it's offensive, just pretend it's not Jasmine Crockett I'm asking about.

[00:55:29]Do you think that a part of [sighs] her intention.

[00:55:45]I was trying to find if that was the best word. It it is presenting a character of character caricature of her self in order to uh further her appeal 100%. That's what she that that's that's that's the purpose she serves in the political theater, right? That's literally the purpose she serves in political theater to be that figure, right? There's there's different characters in political theater. You got the AOC, you got the Bernie Sanders. Yeah, 100%. She played she played the role very well.

[00:56:23]>> And now suddenly, >> was she pushed into that role or did she come into it like this is the role I'm going to play?

[00:56:30]>> I don't know. I think I don't I don't think Here's the thing. There's a you you invest in the players that can get you the wins.

[00:56:44]>> Yeah.

[00:56:44]>> Right. So regardless of how she came into it, she was approached right by the super PACs, by the Democratic party, she was approached because they saw in her something they could mold into this caricature.

[00:57:00]>> To the extent that she >> like Barack Obama, >> like all of them. Yep. 100%. Manurion candidates, all of them.

[00:57:07]>> Yeah.

[00:57:07]>> Right. 100%. Uh, and that's why I say the the challenge is for us to remind ourselves specifically as black women, but black people in general, that the representations we see, the representations that are pro for us to view as good taste are always going to be in the interest of whiteness. So, we we should always be critical of them to at least determine, do I like this person or have I just been told to like this person enough, right? Because the truth is sometimes you like the stuff that's popular, right? But you like it because you actually >> because you like it, >> right? So I think just being critical.

[00:57:45]I'm seeing in the commentary people are talking about the devil wears Prada and the cerulean conversation.

[00:57:50]>> Yeah.

[00:57:51]>> Right. The idea of did you pick this color? But to the point it's a great point because like Andy Sachs was not mindful enough to have taste, >> right? She I mean in in in what I'm saying is she wasn't knowledgeable enough to know what good taste meant in that context.

[00:58:10]>> In that context. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

[00:58:12]>> You know what I'm saying? Like she didn't know she didn't even understand the decisions that went into all of that stuff.

[00:58:21]>> Now the cool thing about that movie is over time, first she gets serve taste, right? First night he's just picking stuff out for her. But then at one point in the movie, she comes in and he's like, "Who put that together for you?"

[00:58:36]>> And she's like, "Oh, [laughter] >> yeah. She shot Nigel. I did this. I did this." Yeah.

[00:58:40]>> Right. So, it's a that's kind of an example of and it it feeds into that like once she became aware like, "Oh, there is a thing to pay attention to here." And then like you said, given the resources, because if she hadn't had access to all the clothes, >> none of that transformation would have happened. And in that instance, I think we can blow that up even more. So that's where it goes back to our uh French sociologist friend. Like some of it is not about capital like money, right? But it's just an it's the access to it. So she had the money to buy any of that stuff, but she was around that stuff. So that helps me play the part of >> Yeah.

[00:59:22]>> Yeah. And then and this is exactly you know when Bordeaux talks about social capital this also goes into ideas of conspicuous consumption because it's the idea that you can perform a certain level of taste to leverage capital that you don't have financially >> right this is why this is why you know people listen man when I found out that people on TV are renting the clothes that you see them wearing as an individual person trying to compete with my meager income to have a closet that looked like the people like and then you real well wait you didn't buy this so I spent my hard earned money to buy stuff to kind of fit into a taste that the people presenting the taste to me got for free >> that's that's got for free or sent back >> yes got for free sometimes got for free and still sent back >> but I say that because it really it really made me realize how much we're being served taste, >> right? Because you and I and I and I pay attention to this in terms of like people whose fashion sense um I appreciate and listen to their commentary on how they got into fashion or you know what they think about taste and stuff like that. And it's always like you said, it's access. is being able to get the access and the opportunity and the safety to try stuff.

[01:00:56]But this is also why I go back to curation and taste is not just about creativity, but it's an intellectual endeavor because it also requires observation. So, I can put on the I can put on the uniform of good taste, but if I haven't studied or gone on my own journey, then I'm still at some point going to stick out like a sore thumb.

[01:01:23]Like, uh it's not just cuz I I was having this a similar conversation uh in preparation for this conversation with another group of people. One of the things that came up was about, you know, knowing which fork to use, right? So, it's not just do I know which fork to use because maybe I've not had an opportunity to even have a meal in a space where there are multiple forks, but the thing that uh that steps it up a bit for whoever random person is, no, I don't know which fork to use, but I do know enough to know to watch what other people are doing so I then can do it, >> right? So, I can walk into this dinner with the right with the right outfit on and trick you, but I'm only going to trick you long enough until we sit down and then you see me grabbing the dessert fork to eat my salad with and you like, "Oh, you not one of us."

[01:02:25]>> Right. Right.

[01:02:28]Yeah. That that and that Yeah. That's the That's the thing. And it it again speaks to the extent that you care, you know, because if if if you are using if you are trying to use taste as social capital, then you really got to pay more attention.

[01:02:46]>> You have to >> if you really just if you just really there to catch a vibe, then you have a little bit more leverage and latitude not to necessarily be confined by what other people are telling you taste is.

[01:02:59]Right? because I'm still to the point where like if I pick the wrong fork, I don't care as much as whether or not the food is good because I've been invited to and but but again, I don't care, right? So, if I go to a place and the food is not good, I don't care how many fancy forks and plates and spoons and stuff you had, but I'm also a person that will ask, "Hey, is which one is which one is the right one or you know what I mean?" But at all, what I'm saying, not that I don't care at all, but the reason I'm not there is to show to the people there that I know the right fork to use. So that becomes way less important to me than whether I'm enjoying the conversation or the food. So if I pick up the wrong fork and people like, "Oh, she's not one of us." Then I first of all, I probably shouldn't be having dinner there, right? Because why would you invite me to dinner? You know, like that that that's how I'm thinking. So in terms of again like the validation, the fork doesn't become as much important to me as the company and the food.

[01:04:05]Yeah. I I'm thinking what what what I was pausing for and then oh it looks like we probably need to wind down and go to our comments is um one thing that I used to tell and this this was about writing though but uh like when I was working especially when I was working before the lighthouse like working with young people and they would be um writing little articles for like the little newsletters we produce um I would tell them all the time that one of the most important things to know is what the rules are. So if you know the rules and choose to break them, that is there's intentionality behind this and that is a way of expressing yourself. If you don't know the rules and break them, then that's ignorance.

[01:05:01]I agree. But I I agree. And I think that how people respond to you being ignorant is going to tell me a lot more about their taste than whether or not I'm ignorant in the situation. So if I don't know the right fork to use and all y'all folks who have invited me to this thing, nobody pulls me inside and be like, "Hey, have you been here before? Do you know how this works?" Right? And then when I do something in ignorance, y'all shame me or laugh at me or be like, "Oh, you're not one." Then that tell that tells me more about not needing to be in the company of people who aren't um gracious with my ignorance, but who invited me to a space, >> right?

[01:05:42]>> You know, that's one of the reasons I'm so I keep cutting you off. I'm sorry.

[01:05:46]But that's one of the reasons like with uh with my my little homie Bonus Sons, like we we don't have to we don't have to live in this. Oh, let me tell you all the things that I've ever learned about how to navigate spaces that are different than where we are, right? But it is, I think, one of my responsibilities.

[01:06:11]Um, and this is just me. Other people might not think like this, but like if there is a thing that I can expose you to, I'm going to do that so that even if you're not exactly sure about how to navigate the space, the thing won't be completely foreign to you, >> right?

[01:06:28]I No, I agree with that 100%. Right. And that's why I say like if y'all invited me to the place with the fancy forks and nobody prepped me for that, like y'all set me up for failure.

[01:06:38]>> Yeah.

[01:06:39]>> Yeah. Somebody said, "How do the fancy forks look?" Uh, I'll invite you to a dinner party at my house. [laughter] >> Yeah. Cuz she she's a fancy fork person.

[01:06:48]Listen listen, >> I [laughter] I and I and I appreciate having fancy fork friends. And I don't mean that in a bad way, but the like the the sizes of the forks >> is the difference, right? The dessert fork is smaller.

[01:07:03]>> Yeah.

[01:07:03]>> And there's a salad fork and there's a longer for like >> a dinner fork.

[01:07:07]>> Yep. Which it's the sizes of the forks.

[01:07:10]That's That's the >> There's a water glass and a drink glass and a glass for spirits and libations.

[01:07:17]Yeah. Then you got >> It's a whole It's a whole >> It's a whole situation.

[01:07:21]>> It is. It's a whole what's our one of our favorite new words. It's a whole ecosystem.

[01:07:26]>> Yeah, it's a it's a thing.

[01:07:27]>> Yeah.

[01:07:28]>> Um what we got in the comments and and and and to the to to the point cuz someone's like I do again being black folks in western society means that the taste the dominant taste here is coded to whiteness. Right. And I think sometimes we forget or we don't have the opportunity to experience how taste is completely different in in black spaces that aren't that aren't um consumed in some ways by whiteness, right? Because you know in in in in synagog you eat with your hands, right?

[01:08:14]You don't bring a fork at all, >> right? When you're eating family style, someone might have a spoon, but if you if you in if you in West Africa and you get served your plate and you be like, "Can I Where's my fork?" They're going to look at you the same. You know what I mean? Because Yeah. But I say that to say again, as black people, we always have to be I think we just have to be mindful of who's serving us taste and whose interests because a lot of times we will express a taste that will be perceived as bad taste because it's different taste.

[01:08:49]>> You know what I mean?

[01:08:49]>> Agree with that. I uh I think the thing for me uh about so much of this is taste is our taste is how we show what we pay attention to what we value.

[01:09:07]Um, yeah.

[01:09:10]>> And I think to add to that, sometimes we can't commu we sometimes that isn't communicated or people don't pick it up in as much intentionality as we give it. Right? So, a friend of mine, like I'm not the I'm not the most dressy up dresser, right? You [clears throat] know this. Now is helping me um translate my style and taste into a different aesthetic, right?

[01:09:42]>> Um but a friend of mine pointed out like, "No, I can tell you take a lot of even though it might just be a t-shirt, uh a pair of jeans, and a pair of sneakers." They're like, "Ah, we can tell you put time like you didn't just >> you thought about this >> right." Yeah, there's value there, >> but it's not all but so but that's not always communicated because >> it's not always legible. That I wanted to think about that. We'll bring that up later in our >> Yeah, that's the word. It's not always legible.

[01:10:09]>> Yeah. How do we make it legible?

[01:10:11]>> Especially with black women, right?

[01:10:13]Because there's some ways that femininity is served to us that even if you don't put as much energy into those things, they're more legible as feminine than other things, right? Like if you get your nails and if you get your nails done, right? whether or not you are nurturing, caring, if people see that you get your nails done a lot, that just registers a certain level of like femininity and care for yourself that may not even be accurate, but we've been taught that certain things specifically with black women signal, oh, you must like this because you're wearing this or you must think this because you, you know, dress like this, right? So yeah, legibility and taste is something we should probably talk more about at some time.

[01:11:02]>> Yeah, I think we could. Yeah. Uh it's so much to say about all this. Uh let's try to go through these. Uh is Tik Tok the new radio? Is the DJ record company the algorithm of old?

[01:11:16]>> I think 100%.

[01:11:17]>> Yeah. Right.

[01:11:20]when when when radio uh 1966 I mean 1996 FCC communications act that essentially eliminated um community radio and standardized radio format was how you would get the same songs on every radio station. I got that from Jarro Balls I mix what I like book you know >> and it's what only it's just like three radio stations.

[01:11:45]>> Yep.

[01:11:47]>> Yeah. monopolies.

[01:11:49]>> Yeah. Uh it's hard to find authenticity when it feels so in line with the dominant narrative. Yeah.

[01:11:59]>> Yeah. And that again talking about that >> I feel this is I'm I'm really big about communing in person and getting off the algorithm.

[01:12:08]>> Um having the courage to try different stuff.

[01:12:11]>> It I'm telling you that's a that was like a part of my recommendation. It feels so good.

[01:12:17]It really does >> because you'll start believing again because I say I say that because working with college students specifically at H.B.CU, you see how they're starting to form their taste because they're at that age and because they're consuming the same media, they develop the same taste preferences, but in their mind it's authentic and it's individual. And I'm like, y'all literally all come in here with the same exact >> same hairstyle, >> same hairstyle, same tattoos. That's what when I started seeing them get the same >> tattoos is crazy.

[01:12:52]>> I was like, and they're like, "No, I got mine." And it's like four other people have the same tattoo. You know, >> your personal expression in a tattoo is the same as these 17 people over here.

[01:13:05]Okay, friend.

[01:13:09]>> Yep.

[01:13:12]Let's see. Oh, Britney caught a little of it. You know, for uh people who who um have listened to us more than one time, I think I just want to say this.

[01:13:25]One of the reasons that we talk about Britney in particular is because she was like our very first listener, watcher, whatever you call it. And so it's just like, oh, where's Britney?

[01:13:36]>> Yeah, we're she's one of us. Yeah, she's part of she's part of the crew, right?

[01:13:41]>> Um >> uh Oh, yeah. We talked a little bit about the Oh, what you was about to say?

[01:13:45]I'm sorry.

[01:13:46]>> Uh she said, "I'm I'm I'm I'm forced to wear a suit to court, but my dayto-day dress is really relaxed and casual, usually urban, but I would not wear a suit if I didn't have to. I won't defer to white taste on my own." I think that, you know, being honest, profession and stuff has a lot to do with it. Um, I have a degree in accounting and [clears throat] when I was about to graduate from undergrad, I was getting recruited by like the top firms. So, I go to Macy's and this lady helps me pick out a really I thought it was a really nice like gray um not herring bone, but it was like it was a really nice gray like powers suit for all these interviews. And at the time I had a fro and the people at the interview were kind of like what are you going to do about the dress code? And I was like what? And I realized like you know someone explained like we generally only wear black and navy blue like you can't wear earrings that are such and such.

[01:14:47]And they were like you know we have a dress code for hair. And at that moment, I was like, "Oh, so I'm not going to be an accountant because I just didn't I just didn't feel like I could do that." Now, on the flip side, >> what's that got to do with these numbers, though, >> right? Because I didn't come here for that. First of all, I I thought I put on something nice.

[01:15:10]>> Like, I thought this was going to be enough. But then also when I got into teaching um and this is again where the professor fresh comes from because I wear um you know I come into class with sneakers and the stuff I wear and I had a colleague I think I've told this story before like pulled me aside and like pulled up like Talbits like pulled up the website for like casually he's like have you ever considered maybe dressing a little bit more professionally and I'm just like sir the PhD is the professionalism that I have to teach these classes.

[01:15:44]>> I do like a good cardigan though. I ain't going to lie.

[01:15:47]>> I'm like I'm like I'm I'm I'm 28 years old teaching at community college where most of the students are like my age.

[01:15:55]>> Yeah.

[01:15:56]>> But I I I also listen I also do like a cardigan.

[01:16:00]>> But sir like >> Yeah. Now now that I'm doing other things I'm starting to understand how to translate my aesthetic into more professional clothing.

[01:16:12]Y'all will see the change as it manifests. But >> but they just see you from shoulder up.

[01:16:17]So maybe >> Yeah. But but you can tell this is a t-shirt though. They'll they'll be seeing collars at some point and scoop neck and all you know.

[01:16:24]>> Okay. Come on. Scoop neck.

[01:16:26]>> You know what I'm saying?

[01:16:32]>> I turn my algo off after I give it one or two videos. Oh, you have to tell me how to do that. I don't know how to do that. Yes, I've seen Devil Wars Prada. I just misunderstood. As a matter of fact, I intend to watch Devil Wears Prada 2 over the weekend because you can rent it now because I was not about to go to the theater. But >> it's not bad. It kind of addresses the new shift uh the essential the death of journalism as we know it and what that means for what it means for taste and how we curate and how we introduce people to stuff. Yeah, it's decent. It's hard to top the original, but yeah, it's it's decent.

[01:17:13]>> Uh, last one.

[01:17:15]>> The evolution of a of work dress codes is a topic to be explored. For sure.

[01:17:20]>> We got you.

[01:17:22]>> For sure.

[01:17:22]>> Ain't no problem.

[01:17:24]>> Uh, could you tell us more about Jasmine Crockett's problematic politics for those who are uninitiated?

[01:17:33]>> I I did a video about it. I'll link that. But I think my biggest issue with her is um one uh her support of um how do I say this? No, the people who give her money are the people who are deeply invested in exploitive AI, who are deeply connected to um Israel. Um, and my bigger issue with that is that she's run on a platform to make black people think that we're her constituents. When in reality, like her voting pattern is more beholden to those folks than it is to the people she says face to face she's she's uh she's representing, >> right? Because you can't come right out and say, "Yes, I'm a black woman. Yes, I you know how to put it put it on." and and blah blah blah. But when it comes down to vote, I'm going to vote in the interest of the healthare companies, right? I'm going to vote in the interest right now. In some ways, she tries to make it seem like those interests are also black folks interest, >> but they don't. And that that that's my Yeah, that's my thing. Her she gets her money from people who do very exploitive things. um and she panders to black folks for for the vote when in reality in her position she can't actually do anything for black folks. Um and that's the misleading thing about representation, right? If you're not in her district, you can't vote for her and she's not going to do anything for you anyways. So me being in Memphis, like I can't support Jasmine [laughter] Crockett.

[01:19:17]>> That just means send that n that uh $10.

[01:19:20]I was about to say, right? But I can't she can't solicit donations from me for support.

[01:19:26]>> But I say all that to say she's no different than any other politician who's trying to be good at politics. I think perhaps we should not expect politicians who are black to be black first before they're politicians.

[01:19:41]>> Uh yeah, I think there's a degree that you got to lay some of it aside or you won't be elected at all. But then I also think the other thing that makes a whole lot of politicians uh ineffective in terms of what they're doing or not doing for their constituency or and the people at large is that you're only looking toward reelection. You you are looking to be uh uh that's that that's your profession, right? is not to make a change. Cuz I mean, if you if you are sincerely um pushing toward making some kind of change against the status quo, there is no way on earth that most politicians would serve as long as they did.

[01:20:27]>> It would be a constant turnover.

[01:20:29]>> That's a fact. And then and and as we see with now the new redistricting, she's had to reposition herself and figure out, well, I can't get the support that I that's that's how she switched districts the last time >> because when they redistricted, she was like, dang, I gotta >> I gotta either try to move into the district where my previous supporters were, or I got to figure out how to >> cultivate some new ones.

[01:20:56]>> Yeah. And whoever her team was was like, you know, uh throw throw shade and stuff at white people in public and then um >> and do like this.

[01:21:06]>> Mhm. All of that >> big fat bushy whack whatever she said about that.

[01:21:12]>> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. She went in and people people ate that up. And I was like, but she don't she don't care about us though.

[01:21:19]>> But she look good not caring about, you know. She went to road. She went to She graduated from the school where I teach at.

[01:21:26]>> I only knew that after you were there.

[01:21:28]>> You know who else graduated from the school I teach at?

[01:21:31]>> The Amy Barrett lady.

[01:21:33]>> Yep.

[01:21:34]>> Yeah.

[01:21:34]>> They're not as different as They're not as different as they may appear. You know, >> that's so funny that you say that. Well, you teach there. You didn't go there, but the the governor of Mississippi graduated from the same school I did just a couple years before I got there.

[01:21:52]And people just, you know, like she went to me s Okay.

[01:21:57]>> Yeah. Don't don't put don't put that on my degree. Thank you very much.

[01:22:01]>> Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, this was great.

[01:22:05]Thank you so much. Um >> Yeah.

[01:22:08]>> Always for our time together here.

[01:22:11]>> We might just have to turn into an hour and a half show at this point.

[01:22:15]>> Yeah. Well, let me see. The thing says Oh, yeah. Cuz we're at 1 hour and 22 minutes. Um, next time we will tackle, did we say this already? Uh, we will >> talking about >> girl. We talked about it in the group chat. We'll parlay this into uellectualism.

[01:22:36]>> I don't know if we agreed. I don't know if we agreed on that, but we're here now.

[01:22:40]>> Well, put a thumbs up so it'll say that you agree.

[01:22:45]>> Public intellectual >> benevolence. You see that's the benevolence right there.

[01:22:52]Whatever. I hope y'all have a great weekend.

[01:22:55]>> Yes. Have an amazing >> Somebody said they would be interested in our halfoop. Uh, have a great weekend.

[01:23:00]>> Stay healthy. The air quality in the Midwest is terrible right now.

[01:23:04]>> You know, the lettuce is bad. So, be good.

[01:23:08]>> I think I got got >> Oh, we'll talk about that later. But, yeah, >> pay attention to your taste this weekend.

[01:23:16]>> Yep. Let it Yeah. Let us know how you're doing. curating that. Have a great time.

[01:23:22]>> Thanks y'all.

[01:23:23]>> Peace.

[01:23:25][music] >> I can't go out without changing my clothes, my shoes, my body posture. I can't do what I want to do with my own body. And who in the hell set things [music] up like this? I was wrong again to be me being me where I was wrong to be who I am. I am very familiar with the problems of the CIA, the problems of white America in general, [music] and the problems of the teachers and the preachers and the FBI and the social workers and my particular mom and dad. I am very familiar with the problems because the problems turn out to be [music] I am the history of the terrorized incarceration of myself. I am the history of battery, assault, and limitless armies against whatever I want to do with [music] my mind and my body and my soul.

[01:24:12]I am not wrong. Ron [music] is not my name.

[01:24:19]And I can't tell you who the hell set things up like this. But I can tell you that from now on, my resistance, my simple and daily and nightly selfdetermination may very well cost you your life.