Highland Park Litfest 2024 is this week!

Highland Park Lit Fest is this week, February 22 & 23!

Get ready to be swept away by the allure of the written word as we celebrate Highland Park Litfest with insiders Renne Lokey, Rachel Wallace, Christina Bell and Peyton Bono. This episode is a treasure trove of literary delights, from Kristen Harmel's anticipated keynote to the vibrant array of poetry contests and workshops that beckon readers of all ages. As we chat with our special guests, discover how this year's Litfest isn't just a festival—it's a movement to ignite a lifelong passion for reading and storytelling in diverse and creative ways. 

To learn more about HP Lit Fest and to volunteer visit https://hplitfest.com/

To make a donation, by texting HPLITFEST to 44321. 

This episode is sponsored by:

Cambridge Caregivers Kathy L Wall State Farm Agency Mother Modern Plumbing & SA Oral Surgeons

Please show your support for the show by visiting our amazing sponsors.

Chapters

• 0:00 Highland Park Litfest
• 5:02 Literary Events and Book Nerds
• 10:46 Community Involvement Opportunities in Highland Park
• 20:41 Highland Park Lit Fest Highlights

Transcript

Highland Park Litfest

Speaker 1 0:00

This episode sponsored by Stuart Arango, oral Surgery Learn more at SAOralsurgeonscom. And Kathy L Wall State Farm Agency. Learn more at KathyLWALLcom. Welcome to the Bubble Lounge. I'm Martha Jackson and I'm Nellie Shudeau.

Speaker 2 0:21

And you have a really big event this Thursday it's Highland Park, litfast, and I'm so excited.

Speaker 1 0:26

I can't believe it's here already. I mean, it seems like just yesterday that we were talking about it on the show.

Speaker 2 0:31

I know and I really love this event because it really draws in this amazing intellectual crowd and it brings back the book, you know.

Speaker 1 0:41

It's making reading great again.

Speaker 2 0:42

Yes, it is, it is.

Speaker 1 0:43

Well, I'm just so excited because last year I was unable to go and I've never been, and I'm going to be there Thursday night. Yes, I'm so excited.

Speaker 2 0:50

I'm glad you get to see it and you need to volunteer and help out. I plan to. So first up, we've got Rachel Wallace and Christina Bell. Welcome to the show. Please introduce yourselves.

Speaker 4 0:59

I'm Christina Bell and I'm with HP Litfest and I'm Rachel Wallace, also with HP Litfest.

Speaker 1 1:05

Well, this is our second year to cover the Litfest. We couldn't be more excited. I know that Nellie had a wonderful time being a presenter last year, but for those that might not be familiar, can you guys walk us through what to expect?

Speaker 4 1:16

Yes, happy to. So this is our 29th Litfest and basically it's something that is for the entire community, so we have. The biggest thing that we probably do is the keynote speaker, who's going to be Kristen Harmel this year. She's an author of many books. Her most recent one is the Paris Daughter. I don't know if y'all have read it, but I read it and loved it. Anyway, she will be doing the keynote speech on Thursday, the 22nd, at 7 PM, and that's going to be at the high school auditorium. We would absolutely love to have everybody come out and hear her. She is amazing and this is open to the entire community.

Speaker 4 1:56

You do not need to RSVP. It is free admission. You can just show up at the high school auditorium and listen. In addition to that, we have a poetry contest for the elementary school. The third and fourth graders write poetry and then the winning poets' poems are illustrated by the middle school kids, and then the big event also is at the high school. So every high school student at Highland Park High School, during their English class, has a speaker come in and do a workshop. The workshop presenters are everything from authors to podcasters to journalists, so it's a really cool event. They get to sign up and choose who they want to listen to, and that's actually what Christina and I are in charge of is putting together the speakers. There will be 24 speakers.

Speaker 2 2:51

OK, see, I think it's so cool, first of all, that you're bringing literature back. I hate to say it, but how often do people read books anymore? I mean, you're a big avid reader, Rachel. You really are. But it's great to me that you're doing this from the low all the way up to high school. I can't wait to be a part of it and tell us about the speakers, Like who else besides me? Who do you have? Oh, you're not allowed to talk about it, OK, OK. So I think it's exciting that you guys are doing something that applies to everybody and all the grades and brings them into literature. Tell us about what the speaker event is going to be like.

Speaker 3 3:26

Well, it's going to be the whole day and, like I said, it's during the language arts and they've signed up for whatever speaker they're having and it's a storytelling workshop, so the story is told through visual or through podcasting, I mean screenwriting, music. In all of them we have repeaters. We have some new ones, though.

Speaker 4 3:53

There are a few people who come back every single year because they love our festival so much and they love the kids and they love being there and the kids adore them. So there are several people who come back every single year and then we always are adding a few new ones and the kids Usually even the kids who don't love reading there's something for everyone, Like there's a songwriting. This year we have some HP parents, so some local people, and then we also bring in people from as far away as New York and California.

Speaker 1 4:27

Yeah, I saw in there a dad that I know that's in a band that is a Grammy nominated and he's written a ton of songs. There's some really big artists and I think that would be really fun to go to, because I just love music so much. We're so excited to get him. Yeah, I think that's what you did. Love is amazing. You too did an incredible job.

Speaker 5 4:44

Thank you, thank you.

Speaker 1 4:45

And I love the video. I was watching the video on the website today just to kind of get a feel of everything and that's a really that just kind of highlights a little bit of everything it does.

Speaker 2 4:54

You really draw people in and it makes people want to attend.

Literary Events and Book Nerds

Speaker 4 4:57

Well, thank you, it's been. It's been so much fun to be a part of this. Kristina and I are kind of book nerds and it's really fun to go to these meetings and we're sitting there in a room with all these other closet book nerds too, and then we kind of we spend like maybe the first five minutes talking about what everybody's reading and what we, what kind of genres we like, and then then we get down to business and then, when that's over, we talk about books again.

Speaker 1 5:22

Well, you never run out of things to talk about.

Speaker 4 5:24

True book nerds. True book nerds True closet book nerds.

Speaker 1 5:28

Well, I was talking to a good friend of mine today that was a former teacher at the high school and she was super excited about the keynote speaker because she went. She literally read me the entire list of all of her books and she had read all but like two or three. And she was just so beside herself about Thursday and couldn't wait. And she's like I was telling her we were doing this episode today and she says let me know if there's an admission fee. Do I need to make a reservation? Is it crowded? There's her question.

Speaker 4 5:51

Oh great Does it get really crowded in the evening Usually not too bad. I mean, I would get there maybe 20 minutes before it starts. Okay, although the last couple of years I don't know if you all have been following, but we've had some bad weather luck. Oh, no, so last year, right as the speaker was about to go on.

Speaker 5 6:07

We had a tornado, yes, and then, the year before that, was a snowmageddon year and that was just crazy.

Speaker 3 6:15

And then, before that, covid. Okay, well, it's going to be, beautiful on Thursday.

Speaker 1 6:20

So, yes, this year is going to be beautiful. It actually is, it is. It's like 70 degree weather.

Speaker 5 6:23

Yes, it's going to be beautiful weather, oh good.

Speaker 4 6:28

And we are really coming back from the tornado and the snowmageddon and COVID, covid, all the way.

Speaker 1 6:32

Yeah Well, I mean, how lucky are our kids to have access to this? I mean, I would have loved to have had something like this when I was in high school. We're getting exposed to every single thing music and songwriting, and photography and just storytelling and they're just getting hands on experience and really getting to dig in and find out what their passion is.

Speaker 4 6:50

You're so right, martha. I mean it's such a great opportunity. When people think of Highland Park High School, I mean they do think of academics, but usually I think what comes up first is sports.

Speaker 1 6:59

That's exactly what we saw last year.

Speaker 4 7:01

And now here we are bringing something a little thinky to the table, and so it's kind of a little bit something for everyone. You know, there are some kids who live for the sports, but this is kind of for the kids who are, I mean, granted, everybody loves it because there's something for everyone. But this gives the kids who are the budding authors, the budding songwriters, the budding journalists, it gives them a look like their special day, sure.

Speaker 2 7:26

It doesn't. You know. I have to say I love teenagers. A lot of people are like oh, I love to, it's my favorite age and I loved speaking last year and I'm looking forward to next week. Sorry, I love speaking last year and I'm looking forward to this year because I found that their responses and their questions were so interesting. They were very keyed in and very much listening and asking questions and interested, you know, because they may be jocks et cetera, but everybody still has an artsy side. Yes, agreed.

Speaker 1 7:55

So you just had Flick Fest. Tell us about that. How did that go?

Speaker 4 7:59

Oh, that was great. Okay, so I had the burial and that was written by a 1981 Highland Park grad, and so the class of 81 just really showed up for them. Apparently, that class is still super tight. That's so nice. They all showed up and it was. It was at the Angelica and it was pretty full and it was very, very well received. I don't know, have y'all seen that movie? No, it is a great movie it's got.

Speaker 3 8:29

I don't want to ruin it. Jamie Foxx is in it. Yes, Jamie Foxx is in it.

Speaker 1 8:32

Enough said yes.

Speaker 4 8:34

But he's I mean, he's kind of funny in it, but he's more serious Like. This is his more serious side. What it came down to was a true story. It's based on a true story about this family that ran a burial service and a funeral home, and it turns out that I don't want to ruin it for everybody, don't don't don't Okay, but you're cut off.

Speaker 1 8:59

It's just a good movie, right? It's a good movie.

Speaker 4 9:01

And there's like a deeper truth to it that is so relevant today. Okay, I think that was a good description with that giving away. I know I don't want to give away, you have to stop her before she gets anywhere. I have to tell her that with books.

Speaker 6 9:15

I know I talk too much, just tell me a little bit.

Speaker 1 9:18

Yes, just enough to entice her.

Speaker 2 9:21

Not a sounds awesome. What made you all want to chair this event? What made you interested in it?

Speaker 3 9:26

We wanted to be part of the school and just something that our kids were going to experience and just to see more about it, plus reading and authors, and we just really liked to read. So we wanted to kind of control that and add speakers that we could find yes.

Speaker 4 9:42

So Christina and I, as I said, are in charge of the workshop speakers, the presenters, but we should probably mention Rennie Loki and Kyle Huckabee. They are running the entire event and I think we were just talking about that a minute ago. It is literally a full-time job. Oh yeah, those two have worked so hard and deserve so much credit, and there are also quite a few Highland Park teachers and the librarians who have been a big part of it. And then everybody's favorite HPISD librarian, Jen Hampton, who retired last year.

Speaker 1 10:14

She's going to be there. She's still involved with all of this.

Speaker 4 10:16

She's still involved in just making things happen. But yeah, so Jen Hampton is just a big part of this and I know she has been instrumental in all of our children loving books and loving literature and the four of us all have 2023 Highland Park grads and she just really knew all of the kids at the elementary school level and at the high school and just I don't know. I can't say enough about her Right.

Speaker 1 10:40

She was our librarian at UP Elementary and that's where all of our school kids went to school.

Speaker 2 10:44

Yes, she was Charles's.

Speaker 1 10:46

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Speaker 1 11:41

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Speaker 1 12:17

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Speaker 3 12:50

Yes, we would love it, and also we need volunteers to help with the speakers. We have to have them in the rooms and have them transport from each room and handle the technical stuff.

Speaker 2 13:02

That's right, it is a technical stuff, so basically the day of the workshops.

Speaker 4 13:07

We need to have multiple volunteers there during the day. They have all kinds of jobs such as greeting the speakers when they come in. There's food that we have in the little lounge for the speakers, if somebody needs to help manage that, and walking them to their classrooms, because I don't know if you all have been in Highland Park High.

Speaker 1 13:24

School, but it is a maze. It is so confusing, right. I don't know if I need that job. It's huge.

Speaker 4 13:29

I don't know how to get around there, so if we can have people walk the speakers plus their hearts to their classrooms, and then there are also parent volunteers who hang out in the classroom with the speakers just in case they need anything, or if there's any kids who need to be told to put their phone away, or anything like that.

Speaker 1 13:46

Well, how can people sign up? Because I actually tried. Today Rene sent a link on a group text that I'm on and I couldn't get the signup genius to work correctly.

Speaker 4 13:54

So they can go to hplitfestcom Perfect and look for the signup genius, and I know probably half the people listening to this podcast either know Rene Loki or Kyle Huckabee personally. So if you cannot find it there, just contact the two of them and they'll be happy to make sure you've got the correct signup genius.

Speaker 2 14:13

Well, and we should mention that when authors have their books for sale at the Litfest, that the proceeds go back to HP. A percentage of the push yes, a percentage, yes a percentage goes back One more time.

Speaker 4 14:24

I'd just like to invite everybody, the entire community, to come listen to the guests or the keynote speaker, Kristen Harmel, on Thursday night, the 22nd. We would absolutely love to see all of you there At 7 pm At Highland Park High.

Speaker 3 14:40

School yes.

Speaker 1 14:42

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Speaker 2 15:14

No, and it's really fun and I have to say, and I mean, this is very well organized, but they also leave room to fly by the seat of your pants and I like that because that's how it should be when people are speaking or you have to respond to your audience. I noticed that because I sat in on a couple of them.

Speaker 1 15:27

Well, I'm so excited because last year, when you were a speaker again, I was out of town or something was going on I can't remember and I couldn't go, and so I'm so excited to see it firsthand and volunteer at it.

Speaker 2 15:37

You can volunteer and help me with all the technical stuff. Okay, sounds good, it's a deal.

Speaker 5 15:42

I'll request that. Well, you know.

Speaker 1 15:44

I would love to hear a student's perspective because they get to see so many different options, the workshops. They have so many people to choose from to go listen, and so we invited Peyton Bono to come in and talk to us. Peyton, welcome back.

Speaker 5 15:58

Hi, it's great to be here.

Speaker 1 15:59

Well, Peyton joined me last year and we talked about your fundraiser for the American Heart Association and I would love to hear an update of how that went.

Speaker 5 16:09

Yeah, so American Heart Association, the whole Peyton for Hearts journey. That was so fun. It was so nice talking to you. We ended the campaign having raised $55,000 for the American Heart Association, breaking the record in the Southwestern region, and since then I have just been reaping those benefits. I was able to go down and speak at the Houston Women's Luncheon for the American Heart Association and present the Peyton Bono Award for fundraising and innovation to some really awesome people. And this last September I was able to go down to Washington and go to the Rally for Medical Research as a lobbyist with the American Heart Association. I got to talk to our senators, our house representatives, and really push for more funding to the National Institutes of Health.

Speaker 2 17:04

Wow, I have to say that's like a resume for somebody who's 30.

Speaker 1 17:07

So I mean, I know I'm thinking how many teenagers get this opportunity Exactly I mean you just ran with it.

Speaker 2 17:12

And how many get themselves this opportunity Like good for you.

Speaker 5 17:15

I was definitely one of the youngest people there, but it was so cool. I just did a room full of the most competent medical professionals in the United States. I got to have lunch with the women who run all of the lab rats in America. They all come out of Maine and they all talk about here's what a government shutdown would do and et cetera, and it's just so many different facets of medical research and opportunity and it was such a fun experience and I look back at it with such fondness and I hopefully will go back someday, you know, as an adult, and be able to increase change and push for more of that.

Speaker 2 17:54

Well, it's interesting, you're a senior, so you're still involved with Litfest, which is amazing. Tell us why. Tell us what drew you to it and is keeping you there.

Speaker 5 18:03

Yeah, so I have been involved in Litfest since freshman year and it's mainly because I am one of the students at Highland Park that's just really into books. I love the library, I love all of the services and the things that it offers not only books, but resources, but media opportunities. You know literature not only being confined to the pages of a novel, but being in the form of movies and script writing and even podcasts like this. And I think that that's what really such a strength of Litfest is is I get to hear from so many awesome people who have so many different backgrounds across the world, of the humanities around Dallas talk about how they got there, their experiences, how us as teenagers can push ourselves creatively.

Speaker 1 18:54

Have there been any lectures? Obviously you've been to a lot over the years that have really inspired you and moved you to pursue whatever you heard them speak about.

Speaker 5 19:07

Let me think.

Speaker 2 19:13

I think that, like you, really enjoy it.

Speaker 5 19:14

Yeah, okay. So I'd say, while I've been to so many awesome of the workshops I loved the songwriting one in sophomore year was just a fun one I'd have to say my favorite one has been our speaker last year, our keynote speaker, Peter Wait. What's his name? Peter Heller.

Speaker 5 19:44

He had just such this awesome background and I loved reading all of his National Geographic articles beforehand and getting to know him as, like this wild man, adventurer person and he comes onto the stage and he starts telling these outrageous stories from his world of investigative journalism and what it's like to go out in Nicaragua and canoe the rivers and climb the mountains and the Himalayas and report on all of that. And it was just such a fascinating speaker from a job that frankly I am not suited to have. But that. I so respect and I love to reap the benefits of it. You know, safely from home.

Speaker 2 20:30

Yeah, and he really did engage the audience. He was very good about. He was like a performer.

Speaker 5 20:35

Yes, yeah, it was like seeing a concert. I'm like, I'm edge my seat the entire time.

Speaker 2 20:41

So what is your involvement this year?

Speaker 5 20:44

So the student committee has a ton of different awesome stuff that we can do. One of those things is volunteering at Flick Fest. That is the majority of where Lit Fest funding comes from, and it's just an awesome event every year. I have to miss it because I can't come this year, and I'm so sad about it because all of you listeners, and you too, should all just enjoy Flick Fest as a presentation of a movie, with the speakers that come along with it and getting to get the inside details on how these movies are made, and so we volunteer there. We also volunteer day of as like runners.

Speaker 5 21:23

Last year I was bolting between classrooms fixing projectors making sure that everyone's microphones work, signing people in, handling attendance and that's just a fun almost a day off of school just to just get to help around and get kind of this inside. Look at all of the logistics. We do a student book club, which is super awesome that I'm actually headed to right after this, where we read one of the books from the keynote speaker and we get to discuss it as a group. And then my favorite, which is Open Mic Night, which happens at the very end of Lit Fest and I encourage everyone to come because it's just such a fun space where people bring cookies and baked goods and everyone gets to perform pieces of poetry and writing and songs. And my friend Calvin and I emceed last year and we performed a stellar rendition of Let it Go, and this year my good friend Shania is now emceeing.

Speaker 1 22:29

I mentioned Shania.

Speaker 5 22:30

Yes, she's fantastic and I'm so excited for her because she it's just one of the many opportunities that we get to do as student committee members is be able to take these events and lead them ourselves. We choose what book we want to read for the student committee. We get to choose what workshops we want to go to. We have priority access. It's very nice and it's just so much hands-on coordination from the student side that I really admire the balance, because it takes a lot of hard-working, awesome adults to get and nail the base stuff, but as a student's, getting to fill in the details and just help around, it's such a special experience.

Speaker 1 23:15

Well, this has been so fun hearing from you because we have talked to the chairs for the past two years and hearing their perspective from the planning side is one thing, but then hearing your experience from a student has been really fun as well.

Speaker 5 23:27

Yeah, I'm sure they probably have a much more stressful job than I do. I just make the posters.

Speaker 2 23:34

I think you do a lot more than that.

Speaker 1 23:37

Well, Peyton, thank you so much for being here today Of course, it was lovely talking to you, lady.

Speaker 5 23:42

It's been great Thursday.

Speaker 2 23:43

Oh yeah. Well, it's been great to talk to you and so impressive what you've accomplished as a senior in high school.

Speaker 5 23:49

So good luck. Well, thank you so much. Yeah, I appreciate you having me on Go Lit Fest.

Speaker 2 23:54

Peyton was so impressive.

Speaker 1 23:55

I know I just love that girl. I just think she is going to do such big things in this world and, like she said, I mean being able to lobby as a teenager and she wants to go back as an adult.

Speaker 2 24:05

No, I think it's great and the thing is she's obviously very bright. But aside from that, to me the most important thing is she's using it Right.

Speaker 5 24:11

Right.

Speaker 2 24:11

She's been accomplishing so much. She's very active.

Speaker 1 24:15

Absolutely, yeah for sure. Well, we have also brought in Rene Loki, who has been heavily involved with the HP Lit Fest for the past four years. Well, rene, thank you for being here.

Speaker 6 24:25

Well, thank you for having me again. You're smart too.

Speaker 2 24:29

Oh, and active.

Speaker 6 24:29

I appreciate that Active may be the key word.

Speaker 1 24:34

So Nellie and I talk about this a lot Just how much the women in our neighborhood volunteer. And not only do they volunteer, but they are running the show and making all these big events happen, of all the things that you've worked on. Why the Lit Fest?

Speaker 6 24:48

I had heard about Lit Fest years ago and… I'm a reader, I love, I love. That's my escape. I love to read all different types of genres. And it just somebody reached out one time and said would you like to join? And so I did it on a very basic, low level of I think I wrote thank you notes that year to all the presenters had no idea what I was doing or why I was thanking them but got involved and it is an amazing program.

Speaker 6 25:19

It's not necessarily affiliated with the PTA. It actually is its own program. So what's fun is the people that are involved. They're not necessarily all parents of the children at the school. We have some that had their kids are graduated from college or just graduated high school, and then we have, you know, some of the younger ones that have middle school or elementary, so it's not just high school specific or because it's part of the PTA.

Speaker 6 25:48

So, it's fascinating to be able to bring you know a big name author. We had Amor Tolls a couple of years ago, peter Heller last year. The list is amazing when you look back at how many people I mean this is. Next year will be 30 years. So I have to tout that my year, this year, 29,. Woohoo. But next year is gonna be a big, huge draw, being 30 years.

Speaker 6 26:16

So it's hard to believe we've been in the community this long. But it's a really a great opportunity for our students to it's not career day, and that's what I think a lot of people outside might hear and think oh, that's just writers coming in and talking. It isn't these authors, songwriters, bloggers, podcasters. They engage the students in exercises in how to write, how to put that word on the page, to get what is in your mind and out on the paper. So for these kids who are really into writing and creativity, it is really helpful. Some of the kids you know maybe they're more into science fest, which, hey, we've got that too. But it's a really impressive opportunity that we can give our students in their one English period out of you know, one year of their life. So it's pretty cool.

Speaker 2 27:12

And what is special about this year.

Speaker 6 27:14

What is special about this?

Speaker 2 27:16

year.

Speaker 6 27:16

Everything we actually it's kind of fun. Over the years, we have just added new speakers, workshop presenters, so we've got five new ones that are coming this year. I'll have to do a shout out Carrie Pierce of Jack O'Pierce is gonna be one of our presenters, which is kind of fun.

Speaker 2 27:38

Someone in this room is gonna be one of our presenters for the second year in a row, which is kind of fun. Which is fun.

Speaker 6 27:46

Just a lot of great people from you know different places and seriously these people are not just Dallas local. We fly people in from LA, from, I mean, all over the country, and they come in. And I do wanna say this because we heard this not too long ago again. But evidently Harvard has a lit fest and one of the authors that came one year told us that our lit fest was second only to the Harvard.

Speaker 1 28:16

Wow, that's impressive.

Speaker 6 28:17

Which is impressive and all of the authors. They come back year after year and it's because they're like they cannot believe that this is something that we have. But we have created and brought to the students that a high school level has something like that and pulls them all in.

Speaker 2 28:34

And by the way, next year, if I did it again, I should have done it this year I'm gonna say I'm in Paris and you need to fly me out.

Speaker 6 28:40

There you go, there you go, okay, and fly you back?

Speaker 3 28:43

Yes, I'll just pay for one way ticket, and you guys?

Speaker 6 28:45

can get back, that's all right. Sure, we can do that that just says.

Speaker 1 28:49

so much is when they come back year after year because they travel all over the place doing these things. And to wanna come back to this little small town high school within Dallas is really impressive it is impressive.

Speaker 6 29:02

It is amazing. And then we have our big author visit. She will do. She'll also do a workshop on Friday morning to the students too. So besides speaking Thursday night, kristen Harmel just for all of y'all to know hear it one more time come see us. She will also have a workshop with the students for those who signed up for her. So it's great, we're excited to have her.

Speaker 1 29:26

Ready, tell us one last time where we need to be on Thursday night.

Speaker 6 29:30

Okay, february 22nd, thursday night, Highland Park High School Auditorium. The doors open at six. The program will begin at seven. Get there early because you can buy Kristen's books and after she speaks we will have an author signing. So stay tuned, be there, be square and it'll be a great night.

Speaker 2 29:53

Well, thanks for being on Great information.

Speaker 6 29:55

Thank you so much, I appreciate being here.

Speaker 1 29:58

That's been another episode of the Bubble Lounge. I'm Martha Jackson.

Speaker 2 30:00

And I'm Nellie Shudo, and we'll catch you next time, thank you.