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SLAP the Power
SLAP the Power - a dynamic new show from SLAP the Network that aims to weave artistry into advocacy through the raw power of music, comedy, movies, visual arts, and beyond.
Hosted by world touring musicians Rick Barrio Dill (@rickbarriodill @vintagetrouble) and Aja Nikiya (@compassioncurator), join them as team with musicians, comedians, actors and artists of all angles and try to chop up some of todays most troubling topics, but with a fat side of chocolate cake and incredible silliness.
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SLAP the Power
Activism Unleashed: Advocating for Rights, Civic Engagement, and Democracy with Loren Piretra
Loren Piretra, an inspiring activist and endurance athlete, joins us to unravel the intricate layers of socio-political issues gripping today's society. Her journey, marked by advocacy and athleticism, shines a light on the power of resilience and informed activism. Together, we examine California's Prop 3 and its far-reaching implications for civil rights and marriage equality, particularly in the context of recent Supreme Court decisions. Our conversation also navigates the emotional landscape of the upcoming election, spotlighting the fervor of volunteers rallying behind Kamala Harris and the stark contrasts defining the political arena.
Loren shares her insights on the importance of staying engaged in the political process, underscoring activism's critical role today. Back in Los Angeles, we weave through narratives of socio-political challenges, from the battle for equal access to education and healthcare to local activism efforts in Brentwood. These stories highlight the community's determination to address housing as a fundamental human right and the broader implications of governmental responses to crises.
Navigating the tumultuous waters of political dynamics, we confront the potential threats to democracy and the shadows cast by figures like Donald Trump. The conversation draws parallels with global authoritarian tendencies and the socio-economic divides influencing political landscapes. In a lighter moment, we celebrate the joys of dog ownership and the responsibilities that come with civic engagement. Loren's practical advice on voting logistics and community involvement serves as an empowering call to action, encouraging listeners to participate actively in shaping a better collective future.
AMAZON
Compassion Kind
PATREON
SLAP the Power is written and produced by Rick Barrio Dill (@rickbarriodill) and Aja Nikiya (@compassioncurator). Associate Producer Bri Coorey (@bri_beats). Audio and Video engineering and studio facilities provided by SLAP Studios LA (@SLAPStudiosLA) with distribution through our collective home for progress in art and media, SLAP the Network (@SLAPtheNetwork).
If you have ideas for a show you want to hear or see, or you would like to be a featured guest artist on our show, please email us at info@slapthepower.com
It's kind of mind-blowing that we're here To give people context with Prop 3, california's taking measure to codify civil rights, human rights for marriage, equality of both gender identity and race, marrying outside of your gender, clergy, gender standards, whatever they are, and outside of your race, because what we've seen with the Supreme Court is that they're willing to overturn years, decades of precedent because they want to push this ultra alt-right agenda.
Speaker 2:All right, the world may not need another podcast, but it could definitely use a slap. Welcome to Slap the Power. I am Rick Barrio-Dill.
Speaker 3:I'm Asia Nakia.
Speaker 2:That's right. And on the show today, donald Trump really, really likes talking about dead golfers' penis sizes. We have an update on hurricane relief from our one and only asia, nikia, who's got a lot of updates on from the ground. They're actually really incredible and inspiring. Our interview today is with lauren puretra. She's an activist, creator and an endurance athlete that will blow your mind on what this woman does before you probably get up in the morning, uh, and a little later we have our series Adventuros de Aja, and we're going to pick it off with a game called Two Scams and a Slap. But first, with days until the most important election of our lives the choices between women's rights and a two-times-impeached, convicted felon who thinks what you need in your life is to know how big Arnold Palmer's member was. How do you feel about the state of the race?
Speaker 3:Asia, oh I mean, you know, with with that lovely information, it really makes me that's what everybody that's, that's. It's in table issues, all right yeah me, like you know all the good feels inside. No sure, absolutely ridiculous sure yeah, heinous crime.
Speaker 2:but to talk about Arnold Palmer's member size, I mean, you know that's what the people want to hear.
Speaker 3:You've got to give them the juice. Apparently, no one could sleep at night without knowing about that. Yeah, apparently.
Speaker 2:But what's interesting is for those that know, we do have the volunteer office for Kamala Harris next door and the stories are incredible, like just the send-off on friday, where the stories that where everybody went around and kind of tell them why they were there, why they were going to take a bus, um, from here by the way, two more fridays left. Buses leave every friday from here and we have the info on our site and our instagram reach out to us. But the people that's, the stories about how, what has brought them here and how many of them are to tears with, how important this is to their lives. It is encouraging. I mean, I'm encouraged by a lot of the the fact that I do see a lot of people that feel like this is con. Even if Elon Musk is going to offer a million dollars, you know, for you to sign up for the fascist sweepstakes or whatever. Right, what was that? Sweepstakes used to be called when we were kids? The publisher's clearinghouse, oh that one, yeah, man maybe the fascist clearinghouse sweepstakes Something like that.
Speaker 2:We'll workshop it, but either way you're not really out there trying to help people with something. I don't think.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and just to piggyback off of what you're saying, I think everyone that's come through these doors has had such a fascinating story, but it's just been the mothers that are fighting for their daughters and the, and the grandma that wants a better life, for I mean her grandchildren.
Speaker 3:The reasonings are just so beautiful and poetic, and for all the right reasons you know, and it's just such good energy and warmth and it's been very just inspiring and it gives hope, Like you said, just seeing them coming through the doors, you know phone banking, the people getting on the buses.
Speaker 2:I mean, what wonderful people To go to two days in Arizona. Yeah, and go knock doors and it's fascinating.
Speaker 3:I'm like if I had to be in a world with any people, I would want to pick those people.
Speaker 2:Hey, hallelujah, they're just awesome. Speaking of the election, I feel like the disaster. You know, capitalism is always kind of one of the things that is always scary around. You know, this time of year, just a lot of misinformation and disinformation, but you have your teams on the ground and tell us how are things going, post both hurricanes Haleen and Milton. How are things going from your end?
Speaker 3:I mean, you know, from our area, the Tampa Bay area, you know we're covering mostly. You know Tarpon Springs to St Pete to Tampa, that's sort of you know we're covering mostly. You know Tarpon Springs to St Pete to Tampa, that's sort of you know our main area and I think that this Milton really did a number on our area this time.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Helene wasn't as detrimental to our area. We just got the heavy rains and flooding. But this one, this one came through with a punch and I think the the very the worst part of it was the tornadoes, probably that came through. So it's very like you know, one house and one house next to it will be perfectly fine. It's been very sporadic with the tornadoes, so you have like complete devastation. Yeah, and then right next door doing just fine. You know no issues at all. So it's very spotty.
Speaker 2:That was my mom's house in Brandon. It was like their houses were fine, they were kind of tucked away and then right around the corner of the park that had all these great trees and everything, all the trees ripped out from a tornado and stuff. It's scary.
Speaker 3:It is scary and I mean you know there was thank goodness, everyone you know on my team and my family and you know friends, Everyone's okay A lot of flood damage and things, but the main thing that we were focusing on was doing cleanups. We helped out with some elderly communities that were really struggling to get help, just clearing things so that they could hire workers to come in, so they could get the garbage to the front.
Speaker 3:I mean, these little things you don't think of, especially when you're by yourself, or you're in an elderly community, and then we were also just going around to some of the hard-hit areas that had the massive flooding. We were lucky enough to save nine dogs, hey, and we rescued three cats, yes, and then we got six baby squirrels.
Speaker 2:I'm sorry. We're breaking news. Here at Slap Studios you have baby squirrels.
Speaker 3:Oh, we sure do.
Speaker 2:I did not know. And they're so cute. Do you have pictures?
Speaker 3:Oh yeah.
Speaker 2:Okay, we're putting them on the.
Speaker 3:we've got to put them on Instagram and most of them now have moved on to solids. Yeah, so, and I don't know if you know, if anybody knows this, but after a hurricane or disaster, you know, we don't always think about the small animals really that suffer these storms, animals really that that suffer these, these storms, the birds, the nests. I mean, we just came off of, you know, a season. There was a ton of baby animals around.
Speaker 3:So, um, the squirrels really get hit hard. They fall out of the nest. But then most of the time, unless they, you know, aspirate or they're dealing with another you know issue, usually they're okay. After a few days you get a nice heating pad you offer them some food depends on what you know what stage of life they're in, but but yeah, it's. It's really really cool to see them, and then you just get to release them right back in your yard and they're back to, back to business.
Speaker 2:So to me. I, you know, when you think about all the trees that are down and stuff, like I, you're right. I never actually thought about all the squirrels that are displaced. We, we actually had a squirrel that was kind of hiding a whole winter's worth of nuts underneath our outdoor patio chair. I moved it one day and like a bunch of nuts just fell out. I was like, oh my God, how do we?
Speaker 3:I didn't mean to mess your spot up.
Speaker 2:We were just I didn't know it, and so we left them out, and I think they came back and slowly picked them up, picked them up one by one and that's funny, Like the whole thing with where they hide their food.
Speaker 3:So a lot of them are missing out and a lot of the trees have come down now. So if anyone has squirrels in their yard and a lot of trees disappeared you should leave the nuts out for them before you get everything cleared, because there's going to be a food shortage in the squirrel world. Yeah, for sure, for sure.
Speaker 2:Has had some tremendous, tremendous adventures this year, and so we decided to, because she was gone so long and in such remote places that we weren't able to actually really catch up, because she's doing all these incredibly fascinating things, and so it was like, okay, what we're going to do is you're going to save the information and I'm going to learn about this, you're going to learn about it in real time the listener. But this is to the segment that we are now calling Aventuras de Aja, and in this one, I'm really interested to know in what happened in Greece, and you don't have to get into the personal side of things, but your connection to Greece, but I'm feeling Greece today. Give me something. Give me one of the highlights of your trip through Greece.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I mean, you know Greece is, you know, when you just go to a place, you know I've been Greek my whole life, I was born that way.
Speaker 2:But you know, wait a minute, I can't become one through some sort of mail order service. No, no, no, I can it. I don't shop at LL Bean. Zeus will just strike you down. Yeah, it would be horrible.
Speaker 3:We're actually all crafted from clay.
Speaker 2:Amazing.
Speaker 3:And Zeus just sits there all day just making us one by one Out of clay and yogurt, especially the Greek yogurt. Yes, exactly, that was the only yogurt.
Speaker 2:I was thinking so, anyways, yes, exactly. That was the only yogurt. I was thinking Exactly, exactly. Okay, yeah, sure so anyways, I digress.
Speaker 3:But yeah, greece is just. It is one of those places with such rich history I mean, the Greeks invented everything in case, anybody didn't know that no, but I mean, it is just a fascinating place.
Speaker 2:I saw my big fat Greek wedding.
Speaker 3:I know everything.
Speaker 2:I need to know, man you got some Windex yeah. I got some Windex. It'll fix everything. All right, cool, if you want to party, you throw some plates. It's a party. Hey, oppa, Oppa everybody.
Speaker 3:But yeah, it really just feels like home. I get there and it's like all this, just culture and my family, and it just reminds me of the way I grew up. I don't know there's something just so nostalgic about being there. The food is just so wonderful, the views.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:The island my family is from is called Galimnos, and it is I mean, it's becoming more popular now. Really no one ever knew about it, but apparently in the rock climbing community. It's got the most amazing boulder rocks for climbing, so now there's like a little hiking rock climber community out there.
Speaker 2:And gorgeous views Any rock rock climber community out there. And gorgeous views Any rock. Oh my God, yeah.
Speaker 3:Black sand beach, pink sand, I mean it's just absolutely beautiful. And you know I was there, you know, honoring my father, and that was a really beautiful thing and I was just happy that I was able to take him back home to where he's from. But yeah, it was beautiful, the weather was amazing. I think the biggest takeaway for me is that anybody that I meet when I'm in greece whether it was a taxi driver or someone at the restaurant there's a connection point to my family, so you tell them yeah, you tell them, you're a cuckoo boss and
Speaker 1:they're like oh, yeah, you gotta go to this place and that place and my.
Speaker 3:Thing you know, and I love that and I miss that in this busy, chaotic world. You, you know where everyone knows somebody. The guy at the coffee shop is your mom's aunt and you know, so I love that about Greece, besides the amazingly beautiful beaches and a million other views.
Speaker 2:But yeah, that was the highlight, for sure, that's awesome. I feel like Greece is kind of one of those places. Do you kind of feel like you're going to wind up there one day? Oh yeah.
Speaker 3:I feel like it has to. You know, in my perfect world, I feel like I would spend my time in the Caribbean, not during hurricane season.
Speaker 2:Sure sure.
Speaker 3:And then I'd probably be in Europe and then Africa when it's not 130 degrees out.
Speaker 2:Yeah, speaking of like 130 degrees, I feel like activism is definitely on the forefront, because we've got to meet Lauren Puretra and she is amazing. She came in with her little dog and we were like both Asia and I were like, okay, we have to talk to you, what is your deal? And she had a little dog and a ring light and she had the ring light on the whole time and I was like, wait a minute, is she live this whole thing? And she was she time. And I was like, wait a minute, is she live this whole thing? And she was, she was live through the whole thing. I was like we had to talk to her and come to find out.
Speaker 2:She is a beast, she is badass. You go to her page. It's going to be on our show notes. Um, it's incredible. If you want to find out if your voter registration is good, if you want to find out you know where, where your polling places are and things like that, she's the one. So really really looking forward to getting into that conversation with her and that's going to be coming up after the break. All right, joining us for the interview today. She is a chief marketing officer. She's a creator, an endurance athlete and really how she came to us is because she is a badass activist. Welcome to the show, lauren Perretra. Thank you so much for coming on the show.
Speaker 1:Thank you.
Speaker 2:Exc to the show. Lauren peretra, thank you so much for coming on the show. Thank you excited to be here. So you know one of the we you came in and anyone that comes in with their own uh, with their own sort of theme music, like you did to the vice presidential debate with your dog and everything. I I think it was awesome because you, right away, it was like what is what is that person about? And uh, come to find out you are a beast of an activist and so for the people that don't know on the show, please talk about yourself a little bit and tell us how you got here and why we're sitting across from you?
Speaker 1:Yeah. So over the last 15 years I've really worked in the creator economy and I say I do a lot of things. I am many things like many women so I run marathons. Um, that's a really powerful way for me to kind of find grounding.
Speaker 2:All right, I'm gonna stop you there too, but only because you've you've run 21 marathons. Let's see, I, yeah, I gotta get up earlier in the morning. I really, I really gotta get up earlier.
Speaker 1:I've actually like pushed I'm, I run, I'm still running but, in this moment. I told my coach I like I will see you after the election. And they were fully supportive because I was like another movement is calling me in right now and I've got to contribute all I've got to it.
Speaker 2:And that's another thing is you're fiercely unapologetic.
Speaker 2:As for us, the whole reason this, the whole reason this is here for me as a, as an artist, is I we hit a point where it was somehow bad to talk about things that seemed like everywhere we went on tour in the United States, people were agreeing on a lot of things, you know, and Sandy Hook, when we had 92%, you know that wanted just simple background checks and Barack Obama couldn't get that done, it was.
Speaker 2:It started to become apparent to me that oh yeah, this is, this is systemic, driven, driven by a propaganda apparatus largely on the other side. And so when we, when we got to meet you at the vice president uh, the vice president presidential debate watch party, uh, one of the things that you you said was that that you said was that it was almost like a calling where we're at right now in time, and what of all the things, because you've done so much, let's help our listeners with the down ballot races first, because I know you've been doing some real roll up your sleeves type work there. And yeah, yeah, tell us about that I mean.
Speaker 1:I think, like we're. It's an incredible moment in time and I've been just trying to find whatever ways I can to like use my gifts to contribute to this very important moment of time.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And I think what people don't realize about California is like yeah, we're a blue state, but your vote matters, because there's a lot like the race for us Democrats to regain the House runs through Southern California which is incredible. We have about four seats in Southern California alone where, if we gain those, we can flip the House from Republican majority to Democrat. And then we have to maintain the Senate. Sure, sure, because it helps when we talk out the side from Republican majority to Democrat, and then we have to maintain the Senate, sure, sure, because.
Speaker 2:It helps when we talk out the side of our mouth. Yeah, I like it. My wife and I say that all the time. It really does. It's good luck to talk out the side of our mouth, you know and you might hear some different accents from me, I just you know I love it.
Speaker 1:I love it. I have really important propositions. And like one of my recent Instagram reels. Tiktoks that I was talking about was around Prop 3. And I was so deep in presidential and state and it wasn't until I finally sat down to go through each and every ballot measure and check my voter resource guides and really go line by line that I realized, holy fuck, indentured servitude is on the ballot that. I realized holy fuck yeah, Indentured servitude is on the ballot yeah.
Speaker 1:Equal marriage and granted in a good way, yeah, but it's kind of mind-blowing that we're here, yeah, and to give people context, with Prop 3, california's taking measure to codify civil rights, human rights for marriage, equality of both gender identity and race, marrying outside of your gender, clergy, gender standards, whatever they are, and outside of your race, because what we've seen with the Supreme Court is that they're willing to overturn years, decades of precedent because they want to push this ultra alt-right agenda. So California is just taking steps to codify that. But then we're also Prop 6, we're looking to also finally get rid of the last remaining bits of slavery with indentured servitude.
Speaker 1:Slavery is not rehabilitation, so your vote matters in California and it enormous weight this election, more than ever before.
Speaker 2:And that you actually that segues into how, how we met and where our sort of missions converge, because I'd done some work with Obama and the call banks back in 12. And you know all the people that I got to meet there and kept in touch. And when the compressed timeline became a reality, when Joe dropped out and it was like, oh wow, she's got 100 days every, a lot of, because so all the resources went into primarily the seven key battleground states in a country that that decides power through the Electoral College. You know, for all its flaws, uh, it isn't still the way that power is sort of decided, or, um, you know, taken from a side, if that, if you can put it that way.
Speaker 2:But uh, one when, when we, when it came time to get an office next door, uh, brandon Keating, shout out to Brandon Keating she called me up and she was like, hey, do you know anything? We were like, yes, we absolutely do know something. So we were able to put in the volunteer office help sort of broker, that deal and bring them in under the auspices of Obama for America, kind of like architecture, just because we are California right Now. What I've learned from this whole process is like last week. It was 2.5 million calls called last week to battleground states from California, right, hey. And then you know, we have the. We have bus trips now that are leaving every Friday and one of the reasons why we're in here on a Sunday afternoon. As a matter of fact, you just came from doing a killer call bank and for our listeners. She came in and she was like I just crushed this call bank, I want to talk about it.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, I was like you found my calling and she was like I just crushed this callback, I want to talk about it. So, yeah, I was like you found my calling. Yeah, no, no, tell it, tell it, tell it. This is the role I was born to play, so I've always wanted to phone bank.
Speaker 1:You know, you don't really know how simple it is until you get into it, and there's obviously so many different ways to contribute to the movement. I talked recently about how I found, of of all the things that I'm doing, one of the most rewarding things I've been doing is just like helping out my friends get their shit together. Where I have some friends who have moved abroad but they're still residents of California Technically, they're living abroad temporarily and I've helped them with their absentee abroad ballots or international voter ballots.
Speaker 1:Some of my friends have just given birth to their third children like child. So, helping people out and making sure that they have a plan and then also checking in. I before I lived in California, I lived in Florida.
Speaker 2:Hey, so did I. So this, our whole office is a Florida office.
Speaker 1:I went to college in Tampa.
Speaker 2:Same Tampa. I went to USF. Okay, I went to UT. All right, all right, my ex went to UT. Yeah, yeah, wow, okay, yeah, that's crazy.
Speaker 1:A very blue city In a very red state, red state, sure. So I've been helping my friends and family who are still in Florida.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Get their voting plans in order and then literally Providing them Voter guides.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Like doing my research and then putting it In front of them and making it really easy.
Speaker 2:I want to give you A plug there too, Because we'll have your link tree, um, you know, for the show notes and everything, and her link tree is incredible. If you want to know if your voter registration is is set, if you want to know where your nearest polling office is, you know, if you want to know how you can help, how you can call back. Uh, so much stuff is on is on your page. So, yeah, shout out to you there and, um, hey, Bree, I'm going to put this segment, uh, we're going to put this at the front real quick so I can do kind of a setup for Lauren and I. Um, so, for those of our listeners that don't know, talk about your. You know your storya little bit too, as far as how did you get into activism? You? You know, as a, as a, as an endurance athlete, I feel like it's perfectly apt to be an activist, because one out of 100 is a success on a door knock or a call bank.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I think that activism came first. I think that there's always been something in me that's been a little bit anti-authoritarian. Hey, give me some. I grew up in New Jersey, so the softest people don't generally come from New Jersey. We're a little bit, you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, we bring the cock-a-punch. No, no, no, my wife's Indian, but they live in Jersey, the East Coast side. Yeah, yeah, no, it gives you a certain sort of like you can't be pushed.
Speaker 1:And my first.
Speaker 1:The first election that I was eligible to vote in was 2008 Obama in Tampa which is where I was able to cast my ballot and I was able to vote in Florida, which was very exciting and important and the more I kind of like dug into the way things worked with politics, I was like, oh like, of course I stand for human rights, of course I stand for people to have access. I don't think your social status should determine your eligibility to live. So these things felt very like matter of fact to me. And then, as I kind of got into my career, I've, you know, often been the only woman in the room, especially in an executive environment. So I've also felt a big calling to, you know, support other people and they're, you know, making sure everyone has a fair chance at going to college, if that's their path, or getting the access to healthcare that they need.
Speaker 1:Um, so it always just felt very like duh to me and, um, I think, as things have shifted to definitely in 2008, when I voted in that presidential election, it wasn't quite as polarizing or radical as it. No sure, this isn't capital gains tax and Mitt Romney, now it's like people have gone completely off the rails and so I think also a lot of my activism on a local level was really reinvigorated. I went through like a traumatic experience last year where I experienced the total loss of my home and all of my personal property.
Speaker 2:And it was from a toxic mold.
Speaker 1:Oh my God. So it culminated. It was five years of me just absolute chronic health hell and towards the end I was on disability and I was like I'm fucking dying and we can't figure it out. I'm in and out of doctor's offices and navigating that process. For me, once I had made the discovery, was just a reminder of how privileged I am. But beyond, just on the surface level, as like a white woman, the access to resources that I had, with community places to stay while I was figuring out like where do I go? Having to gut my house, all those things and it, I've always felt that people deserve like people.
Speaker 1:Housing is a human right yeah and that was definitely re-inspired for me going through that where I was like fuck if I was undocumented, if I was queer, transgender, suffering from the disease of addiction. Black or brown, I might not be in the same.
Speaker 1:I might not be able to bounce back, quite the way I was and, and I was so fortunate to know that I was like on a path to restored health. But thinking about that and then also that kind of projected me more into the local scene and I had supported a number of progressive candidates prior to that, so I already had a bunch of contacts and just navigating that crisis was a lot and then, um I? I was fortunate to buy a home in March in Brentwood where Kamala Harris is based.
Speaker 1:Um and I attended my first Brentwood HOA meeting and this was in March of this year and um Mayor Karen Bass was there. I attended her inauguration.
Speaker 3:I was very proud to Whatever.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you know I was very disappointed in the general sentiment of my fellow constituents at this meeting where everyone not everyone, but for the most part the overall complaints voices were. They were talking about how homeless people or unhoused people were an inconvenience to their quality of life, and that was so upsetting to me as somebody who had recently lost their home and I had gone there with a different agenda.
Speaker 1:I was like there's recent unprecedented heavy rainfall it only takes toxic mold 24 hours to form and colonize and like wreak absolute havoc on people's systems and homes and personal belongings.
Speaker 1:So like, what are we doing about that to make sure that landlords if we are landlords or homeowners and renters are protected in this environment? And just seeing that sentiment around me was pretty upsetting. From there, the mayor's team had asked me to stick behind after that because it's quite vocal, and they were like we would love to invite you to city hall. We need your voice to be heard, um and and once you go to the chamber floors and like yell at a bunch of people.
Speaker 1:It's very cathartic and, um, something kind of hooks you where you just want to continue coming back and I think also for me, like it.
Speaker 1:People were saying like I unleashed. I was quite upset when I went there because at the time we were debating whether or not to provide additional resources to unhouse and on. On that note, what a lot of people don't realize about the housing crisis in LA is like I saw something where, around the hurricanes, they were talking about how there's 20,000 people living in house in Florida. There's about estimated 60,000 living in Los Angeles alone.
Speaker 2:Now I will jump in there, and only because you know, for those that don't know me as a, as a musician, uh, from, from your audience. You know, as a musician I've traveled the world and when you get to see other governments and how they deal with just basic municipalities and things like that, you start to understand also when things break down and how quickly they can break down, especially in smaller countries and places. I'd say we had one tour several years ago. We had three shows canceled for terrorism in one tour and you can just see how fast things can turn on a dime Now with the unhoused, in fairness, skid Row, when you're talking about we have two of the largest ports on planet Earth right next to each other and we have, you know, Los Angeles as a city is kind of the third ports on planet earth right next to each other, and we have, you know, los angeles as a city is kind of the third largest city economy on planet earth on most days, and then the weather is amazing and then there's also a sense of community down there.
Speaker 2:And so our numbers, because you know what do we do? We're, I don't even eight, ten million when you spread it across the the county. You know it's not like new york where it's all on top of each other. Now, I'm not in no way is this in any way anything other than we had this.
Speaker 2:We had this discussion one tour where we had somebody that tried to get on when we were catching the ferry to get over from England to France and somebody had jumped on the back of our trailer to a couple of people that jumped on the back of our trailer to get inside the, the the ferry, to kind of take it over. And for me it was weird because on one level you want to, you, you, you, you kind of want to help and you're like, but you can also see the systemic part of it that's really really broken down and and some of it is just sheer like. You know, it's like when you have nothing else, you're gonna go to the best of the what are the nothing choices around, and I think that's where compassion is so much more, I think, on the ballot this this year than anything else.
Speaker 1:I like try to reframe the housing crisis to people as like this is a humanitarian crisis.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and what I think a lot of people don't realize is like during COVID. Um, I worked in tech. I was very fortunate to work in a thriving. I worked for a company that was owned by Amazon. During the pandemic, I worked from home. It was, all things considered, a breeze. A lot of people were losing their jobs and livelihoods in LA alone. Um, we, we jumped up about 20,000 in people living unhoused and granted maybe the most visible people living Mortgage or the eviction moratorium right, which held for a second.
Speaker 1:So the number one reasons people are living unhoused in Los Angeles is an unforeseen circumstance, a medical bill, crisis, health, losing their jobs. It's not like this illusion that people think of. It's just people who can't quit the bottle.
Speaker 1:And yeah, and no, no, no, no, no, yeah, sorry, yeah, and one other thing that I also really like to tell people, and I think it's surprising, is that more than half well, two stats, one more than half of the people living without housing in LA are women. Most of those women are survivors of domestic assault and sexual assault and violence, and then one third of them are under the age of 18, their children. So it's like when when I hear people talking about how they feel entitled to live in an environment free from poor people it's um, and that's not.
Speaker 1:That's not what you're saying, but I hear that a lot in casual conversation.
Speaker 2:No, no, no, I would-.
Speaker 1:I think it's been conditioned into people's minds that, like because I have more, my life is more valuable or whatnot. And we see this play out a lot Like all these issues are so intersectional. So we see this play out with like wildfires, like my first wildfire in California, in LA, when it at a weird time of year, maybe fall, and it was raining ash and I was like I'm a 9-11 teen, I do not like this like I'm getting the fuck out yeah and what I saw unfold from there is that so many people who lost their homes went through hell, but then there was a lot of people who had access to private fire private estate.
Speaker 1:No, sure, sure, sure, so it's like survival of the richest and I'm like that's kind of broken for the richest.
Speaker 2:It's the health care, though I mean, it's just the natural evolution when you tear the system down from the inside. I think you know, and I just like, for the record, what I was kind of alluding to was I think we have more of a responsibility than any other city to take care of it, because we should be we should, you know, be be leading out of this by example, and we can and we do have and turn that reach towards your politicians.
Speaker 1:Yes, those are the people correct, correct, correct.
Speaker 2:And I think you hit. You hit something because we used to work out with our studio, used to be in the hollywood media district and then, and then we got the opportunity to come here and I didn't really realize it until we had done the build-out. And then I kind of realized if you look at a map of Los Angeles, it's blue, except for really right here, which is interesting, and I was like, okay, cool, I actually want to take this as an opportunity to try. And you know, because you being in your first homeowners association meeting in Brentwood, right, and hearing you know, because you being in a, in a, you know your first homeowners association meeting in brentwood, right, and and hearing you know stuff like that, I think a lot of those people have just been picked their.
Speaker 2:The brains have been pickled in some ways because I'll tell you, like federal, any kind of federal building, post office, federal worker, building fox is running 24 hours a day on loop, right, this sort of top one percent agenda is filtered and then it's disseminated into lies. We know this from the january 6th hearing and the release of the text messages. It's filtered into lies that then to get poor people of all kinds to vote against their own self-interest, right, and that that's the place where I feel like we as a, as a, as a state, I love it, I love it, it inspires me not whereas because you can't we can't get there in florida, right, we can't get there, no matter how much you know. We maybe, maybe, but it's not like here. We have a super majority and you also have just a.
Speaker 2:You have a way of life where, where there's a, there's a tolerance here and there's a sort of an animal, the thing I loved about it, which is why I was born in Florida. But but when you, when you really understand LA is like, like planet earth, it's like no other, it's got, it's got, it's got all of planet earth. Whatever you want, it's right here and I love that. It says, and here especially, we have a lot of chance to talk to conservatives and things like that, and I'm I'm looking forward to no matter what happens on November 5th, we're going to need to talk to each other and we're going to need, you know, to find some kind of ways. The problem is, I do not think we are speaking the same language.
Speaker 1:We're not yeah, and like a couple of different directions, we can go with this, but like we have a lot of really important local elections, and campaigns happening here, really important local elections and campaigns happening here. You know, if you think the stuff that's happening, the shenanigans happening in the presidential race, are something. They all start here and there's a whole lot of it and what I will say is like right now it's definitely easy to doom, scroll and get into this like pit of hopelessness and despair and I know I experienced it.
Speaker 1:This is not like a sad song for me, but people say really violent things oh, tell me and like it's really bad yeah so today I was like kind of like bracing myself going into phone banking and I was like this is my first time phone banking, believe it or not. I've done the trainings but I've never like dove in and I was like really hoping to mob out to a swing state this weekend. I I unfortunately wasn't able to, so I was like this is the next best thing, I'll just call them.
Speaker 1:And it gave me a lot of hope. And, um, I found that like I just got to use who I am to get them on the line and then tell them just in the most layman's terms possible that like, hey, this is why I'm voting for Kamala Harris. Can I count on you to vote for her too? And there was one person that I was able to get on the phone and stay on the phone undecided. But they stayed on the phone with me for over eight minutes and I was like, okay, let me just tell me, tell you about why I'm voting for her. What are the things that matter to you? And he would give me like little nuggets. He gave away that he had, at one point in time, lived in san francisco.
Speaker 1:So I hit him with a like I used to work in tech out of san francisco and, like, gave him some factual information about kamala harris and her time as a prosecutor, because what I've come to learn, too, is that there's a lot of misinformation meant to contribute to the divisiveness oh, democratic party on purpose.
Speaker 1:Elon musk is doing it every day, we're our own worst enemy, like historically, when you look back at like yeah fumbled democratic races yeah it's because we cannot rally behind the candidate, and I see this a lot with my own audiences and my own friends, where it's like you're looking for the stars to align and you're looking for your presidential candidate to share all the same values as you, and the reality is it's unfortunately.
Speaker 1:You can vote any party and the local level, but in the presidential election at this stage, 17 days out, it's a binary choice and it's a vote for Kamala or any other vote goes towards Trump and I see some people who are like really trying to like give it to the democratic party and like give, teach them a lesson, but really the only person that's going to be impacted by that lesson is like you and anyone who's not a? White billionaire man.
Speaker 2:Yeah, my mom, you know, I grew up my dad poor, my mom Cuban, and I grew up with only knowing immigrant relatives and only this sort of just kind of an immigrant sort of hustle culture. But you, you know, I just always ran around thinking, okay, this is, I know America is a democratic experiment, but it's a multicultural, multiracial democracy, right?
Speaker 2:Which is what makes it great, right, what makes it great? Exactly that's what. And yet, uh, what give what? What? Because that's what gives you hope. I don't feel like people are talking loudly enough about the con that is in which is the like you said people are to stick it to the Democrats and stuff like that, that this is not something where he's not going to leave at a presidential level. He's not going to leave. You know, we were talking about it off before, before we started. Mike Flynn and his comments of what would happen on day one taking over right.
Speaker 2:These people are telling us outright and successfully tried to overturn an election from the inside, and we're not punished Violently and there was no punishment. So what? This really is happening right now, with two weeks out. This is a coup and this is a fascist coup and I understand where you know. That's why I love Charlemagne putting Vice President on the spot the other day, because why can't we just call it what it is? It is a fascist coup and it sounds extreme because it's coming to the left. And if I'm wrong, perfect. I'd love to be wrong on this, love to be wrong, okay. But if we're right, this is. You know, there's a reason, vladimir Putin, they have two term limits in Russia too, right? He's been there for 35 years.
Speaker 1:Well, that's like a perfect example, like a couple of years back I was in Ireland at this literary festival and it was a international forum and they were talking about the future of American politics. And this was a couple of years back now, so we weren't this close to the election as we are now, and they were referencing so many examples of like second term dictator leadership.
Speaker 2:It's no holding back like no fucks given and the Supreme Court gave him the word absolute, essentially right, Because if you put that in front of an official act you can do anything. Which is the scariest part, because then you can't be tried for an official act because you can obstruct you getting the information. So ostensibly we're giving a green light to that.
Speaker 1:That ain't happening that ain't happening and like zooming out. I think, like the reason so many people are not as vocal or alarmed or as involved as we may be is because ignorance is bliss and voting is very confusing by design. Politics are very confusing by design. Well, there's the lies too, and that.
Speaker 2:How does Elon Musk get on a pedestal, on a podium, and said the only savior to democracy is Donald Trump. The only person that can save the Constitution I believe was another quote of his is Donald Trump. How does Dennis Quaid get on the mic talking about democracy and Donald Trump?
Speaker 1:This man does not believe in democracy and so this is like a it's just narcissists soup and I think like I love that I think we got the episode title and I think about it like I think about growing up and I grew up in a very upper class community outside New York city suburb and at that time it was like Republican and Democrat was more of like a badge of social status. And it's like I'm a Republican because I am so rich that like cute little Democrat. And now it's. I think there's still a little bit a hint of that amongst our culture where some people just align themselves unknowingly with a really problematic.
Speaker 1:I can't even use the word leader, whatever he is number 45.
Speaker 2:He's a weak man's idea of a strong man.
Speaker 1:That's what's so funny, and it's like I mean you've insulted and wronged virtually every community, every population.
Speaker 2:You're not trying to. Yeah, it's all division, it's all negativity, it's all just shit talking. And if you want to vote for a shit talker, you know, then call it that, but don't try and act like this man is saving democracy.
Speaker 1:Get the fuck out of here, like they're righteous. And like even in a hypothetical world where Donald Trump was protecting the middle class, upper class and just leaving the lower like to suffer, your bag is nothing without half of the population's access to healthcare and reproductive rights.
Speaker 2:Right, where do you?
Speaker 1:think like people like where do you think you came from?
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:A mother.
Speaker 2:Yep, yep, I think you know, and with where we are at, it is a power grab. It's been a power grab, the thing about it I've. I said this. I said this from when October 7th happened. I was like, okay, well, bibi Netanyahu appeased the far right in his party. That makes a lot of our, some of our far rights look actually kind of tame, which is scary. But at the same time, bibi needed the war to stay out of jail, trump needs this to stay out of jail, and that, in and of itself, should be a disqualifier. A convicted felon should be a disqualifier. There's so many things that should be a disqualifier that I think.
Speaker 2:A rip-ass for example yeah, sure, yeah, no, serial, yeah, you name it Serial essay, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Tax evader I.
Speaker 2:I think one of the smartest things that I saw Charlemagne do as well, which was just on the economic tip we, on all metrics I think Mark Cuban did this last night too, on Bill Maher on all metrics, we have the best recovery of any modernized nation on the economy post-COVID Some metrics by three times. And yet you know he's running on the other side. It's just so horrible and it's dystopian. And's dystopian and it's all this stuff and it's not. What I worry about is the people behind him, the people under him, the Project 2025 people, and so thank God for the fact that let's do what we can Before we kind of let you go. I know you've come off of a good high and I don't want to get down this rabbit hole.
Speaker 2:So I want to, but before we kind of let you go. I know you've come off of a good high and I don't want to get down this rabbit hole, so I want to. I want to do a little palate cleanser on our way back up. So what is your biggest joy right now? Coming up, say, between now and the end of the year, what do you think is your biggest joy?
Speaker 1:I mean, I think and finding community in this chaos has been really like the nugget of hope I've been able to hold on to, and also in many ways similar to like running marathons or whatever kind of music your thing is 21 of them.
Speaker 1:It's you know you find community and it restores your faith in humanity a little bit, because people are coming together over a shared mission and purpose which is like human rights and like our responsibility, like we're here on this planet not to like make money and be powerful, but like to help each other out at the end of the day, like we're tribal beings, um, so I found a lot of hope and community in that.
Speaker 1:I feel that the more that I speak out, the more I'm finding my own voice and also inspiring others to like you don't have to overthink it. Like, say what you feel, speak from your heart. Um, I was able to, as a first time phone maker, coach somebody through kind of phone banking, um, and do a few of them together and it's just like you don't need to follow this perfect script. Just act like you're going up to somebody and like telling them they have lipstick on their teeth. Like how would you approach them in a way that's not going to be like, if you're nervous, they're going to be nervous, and that is just how do you match their energy.
Speaker 2:How do?
Speaker 1:you like insert yourself delicately, and that's how I was able to like get so many people in Arizona on the phone for like eight, 10 minutes at a time and be able to like hit undecided voters with hey, you know, like abortion conversation light, where it's like hey, in case you didn't know it like one in four women who are experience a pregnancy experience a miscarriage. 20 to 25% of pregnancies result in a miscarriage. The medical term for a miscarriage is spontaneous abortion the medical term for a miscarriage is spontaneous abortion.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Not all of these miscarriages mean that the fetus is gone but it means that it's not viable and that there's no chance.
Speaker 2:I heard someone say the other day it was a great way to think about it that when you leave anything to the, what is it?
Speaker 1:Your zip code shouldn't determine your eligibility to live, determine life like with the life of the mother?
Speaker 2:yeah, so who is determining when and you can get care if you're bleeding out somewhere I mean, and that was the same this is absurd. It was toxic, right? It was the same argument that they used to defend slavery too that let's leave it up to the states.
Speaker 1:states, and I don't know about you, but like I can't even see my dentist till February 2025. So imagine if you're in a medical crisis, trying to get access to care. Calling UCLA Health is like calling the DMV like good luck.
Speaker 1:So, watching all these women die out, or people not want to even go on to like people who can experience pregnancies, not even want even go on to like people who can experience pregnancies, not even want to go on to start a family because their healthcare is determined by their zip code or state Like. None of these fools should have a right. It's me and my doctor period full stop. So, very, very interesting time, but yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Well, and the last question I'm going to ask you because you brought in your little fur baby today and we're definitely a studio of fur babies. But aside from her, what is your favorite type of dog and why?
Speaker 1:I love squishy dogs and I love seniors.
Speaker 3:So Will is my first dog and.
Speaker 1:I grew up with Boston Terriers. I love them, I'm partial to them. So she came to me through a rehoming situation. So as soon as she came up on the scene I was like give me the damn dog. She's mine, and I always knew that I wanted my first dog to be an elder. So she was seven and a half when I got her.
Speaker 2:She's already body trained. That's the nice thing about it.
Speaker 1:She'll never eat my shoes or anything, and she's just like the best part of my life, sincerely so. I can't. I can't like. Dogs are the freaking best.
Speaker 2:Tell me about it. Tell me about it. Yeah, they are, they can solve anything. Well, lauren Peretra, is that it, peretra?
Speaker 1:Peretra.
Speaker 2:Peretra. Okay, let me try that one. All right, lauren Puritra, thank you, you are a beast in the best way, and so much of the activist side and what you do. And, uh, you know, please, keep in touch what we're going to do. We'll make sure to have your information on our uh show notes and everything like that. And, most importantly, uh, you've you've told everyone here that, no matter where you're at, you can help right now and you don't need to be. It's okay if you're in California, it's okay if you're somewhere else, it's okay if you're in another country.
Speaker 2:There's lots of help that's needed now. And both on the link tree that we have on our site as well as you can go to votesaveamericacom, put in your information, show up. Yeah, we have it right next door to us. Every friday, there's going to be buses that are that are taking two nights, hotels, food, everything, but you can go knock doors in the critical battleground state of arizona. So that's fridays at uh, I think 11, 30 and noon is where. And phone banking, yeah, multiple, multiple times a week. All of it on our site and everything. Again, lauren, thank you so much, appreciate all of all that you're and everything. Again, lauren, thank you so much, thank you.
Speaker 1:Appreciate all that you're doing.
Speaker 2:Thank, you yeah.
Speaker 1:If you want, I can plug some direct actions. I don't know how you splice it up.
Speaker 2:Let's talk, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:So some of the things I'm telling everyone to do checking in on your people. California is a vote-by-mail, by-default state. Okay. So, fault state. So that's the other thing that we didn't talk about, but I can kind of plug really quick is that?
Speaker 1:we're still rolling, so we can sub it in, right, or did you stop it? Okay, great, so I'm going to be an election worker this election. I have long felt called to learn more about the democratic process and the ins and outs, and I don't think it's fair that we leave it up to our seniors to be, working like 13 hour, 14 hour shifts.
Speaker 2:What a great point.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah yeah so, and I've always known voting is confusing, Like it's not as simple as like you just pick your choices and you drop it off. Like every state is different.
Speaker 3:All the deadlines.
Speaker 1:But, speaking about California specifically, you can vote. You can register same day and vote in California. There's hotlines that will help support you to know your voter rights. But I'm going to be a vote center clerk. I'm going. I've gone through my training.
Speaker 2:Now, is it going to be in Brentwood or somewhere else? Bel Air? Okay cool, it's the closest polling location that needed help.
Speaker 1:It opens on Saturday, which I believe is November 2nd. There's different hours, but people can come cast their vote. I've learned how to register people who are unhoused. So, even if you don't have a physical address it's a myth you can still vote. You can register on site. That's so important you can bring your cross streets of where you most regularly sleep at night.
Speaker 1:That matters because there's different districts, that you different races for different districts and then for all the other states. Like voteorg great resource, so that way you can check if there's same day voter registration, being that California is a vote by mail by default. What I'm telling everyone use a voter guide. Don't guess on anything. Don't go off of last names or gender assumptions. Use a voter guide. Find an organization that aligns with your values, whether it's Swing Left or Planned Parenthood. Almost every organization that's involved in civics is putting out some sort of endorsements or voter guide.
Speaker 1:Use that. Make sure you don't leave anything blank. Vote up and down, and then my next thing is drop it off in a valid ballot drop box. So USPS, cornerstone of our democracy. They make sure that people are eligible to vote. They receive their ballots by mail, but there's a lot of election deniers out there working really hard to disqualify votes and just pull some shenanigans.
Speaker 1:So the best thing for voters to do is drop it off in a valid ballot drop box, which are most often at a library, public school rec center. Mine was at a rec center.
Speaker 3:In.
Speaker 1:California. Your ballot will come with your locations that are closest to you. And then my other favorite resource is ballot trackscom tracks with it or dot org t-r-a-x yeah so I like to know when my ballot's on my way, on its way to me, when she's like on her little journey and gotten counted. So I dropped my ballot off last sunday.
Speaker 1:She's giving much democracy, lots of, and I got a text, or I got a voice note or voicemail a couple of days later and an email confirming that my vote had been counted. So I can sleep at peace, knowing that I did everything I can there. But now it's on to helping all my friends and calling swing states. And there's a lot of different ways to use your gifts, whether you're talking on social hosting lives, bringing community members together, but the most impactful, like I shared with you earlier, is just helping your immediate circle checking in on your people, getting them registered, making sure that they have a plan.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I've been surprised with not in a judgmental way, but like the demands of life are demanding for a lot of people and I know that like last year I was in survival mode this time of year, so it wouldn't have been as easy for me if I had just moved and needed to find my ballot and register and all that. Thank God, california is you can register same day. But, um, making sure that your people are set up and good to go and that you can even ask them like if they're your friends, like ask them for receipts, be like okay, check your status and show me, because a lot of my friends have moved around, shuffled around over the last couple years and maybe only vote in the presidential.
Speaker 1:I'm an every race voter. But, you know we love a first time voter, However long it takes you to get here.
Speaker 2:As long as you get here, we're all in. Yes, yes, we're all in, yes, yes, oh, and then the last thing is election workers really important?
Speaker 1:Because when we don't have enough election workers, poll workers, polling locations close and most often they're pretty strategic in how these polling locations close. There's data that shows over 50% of polling locations have closed since like 2020.
Speaker 1:And they most often disproportionately impact black and brown communities. So they'll strategically close voting centers. And then anyone who's disabled, low income, not able to get out of work and get there in time, it creates further barriers, longer wait time. So it's a nonpartisan role. But election workers really help power our democratic process and ensure that everyone has a safe, fair, accessible, equitable chance at voting. I signed up this year to be a vote center clerk or I got an assignment through LA County Registrar, but I applied with PowerThePollsorg and we're always looking for new people to vote. California actually pays, so if people are motivated by that, I think it's like $100 a day for your voting assignment.
Speaker 2:Power to the polls. Powerthepollsorg, powerthepollscom and we still need org.
Speaker 1:And we still need backups in case people call out sick. So there's a lot of key call outs for the states that are remaining that need more election workers and now that I've learned it it's so complex I'm like OK, I'm like I'm in it for life and it's going to be really rewarding and exciting to help the people.
Speaker 2:Yeah, hell yeah, and come on, we owe it. We can't have it. Turn this on to our seniors. Come on, so we owe it. We can't turn this on to our seniors, come on. So. Thank you again for the work that you're doing there and for anybody that wants to find out information on how they can be a poll worker again.
Speaker 1:I love polls. Yeah Dot org.
Speaker 2:Yeah, we'll see you after the break. All right, before we go, wasn't Lauren? I mean, she's a gem. She makes me want to get up earlier in the morning and do more.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I feel like I need to backtrack and be up at 5 to accomplish. I thought I did a lot.
Speaker 2:I thought we did a lot too. I thought we were doing a lot yeah.
Speaker 3:But she is like a walking resource.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:Like a walking tool box of knowledge and just action.
Speaker 2:She knows about the down ballot races.
Speaker 2:She's doing the work she's doing, the work, helping us out too, kind of keeping us informed. But before we go, as promised, we've got this fun game that we have here. We've titled Two Scams and a Slap. We don't know what is real in the news anymore and what is not. The Onion used to be a funny newspaper. It used to be this funny thing. It was like, well, look at these, wouldn't these headlines be funny? And then the Simpsons did some crazy shit and we were like, ah, that'll never happen. And then it started happening. And then the Onion just doesn't even look any funny anymore, and so we were like we have to continue with this, with two scams and a slap. And so I'm going to list down three things. All of them are pretty batshit crazy, but one of them is actually real. Can you tell which ones are the scams and which one is a slap in the face Because it's real? So here we go, you ready?
Speaker 3:I'm ready.
Speaker 2:Number one the world's oldest person revealed to be 128 year old ninja from Japan 128 years old ninja from Japan. Researchers have developed ice cream that does not melt. It's called the Endless Summer Treat. And the third is a guy makes soap from his own body fat.
Speaker 3:Okay, which one?
Speaker 2:do you think is actually real Two scams and a slap.
Speaker 3:The ice cream one kind of just gets to me, because then I'm like is it even ice cream?
Speaker 2:then it's a fair point. What's the consistency? I struggle with the consistency. Ice cream should not be chewy right.
Speaker 3:And, oddly enough, I believe that the man is making soap with his body fat.
Speaker 2:You think that's a slap. That's what that's a slap of reality, right there.
Speaker 3:I want to say that's. That's the one I mean. You'd have to be either eating an absorbent amount of food to keep up with the production line.
Speaker 2:Sure, it depends on how popular your logos are, who your influencers are. I suppose, right? I?
Speaker 3:mean because, you know, I don't know how much he can put into soap after he goes through his body once or twice, but you know yeah, I saw Fight Club.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you gotta get it from other places. You can get this all from yourself. No, no, no, no.
Speaker 3:I'm gonna go with that one.
Speaker 2:Okay, the slap of reality is indeed Guy makes his own soap from his own body fat. It's an incredible story, it's. You know, some call it disgusting, but this is definitely next-level recycling. We're at this place where a Connecticut man is drawing comparisons to Brad Pitt's character in Fight Club after converting his own body fat into soap. He also posted some TikTok videos detailing the entire Grizzly process from body to bar. Yeah, you know, I mean, you know what's funny? When I saw it, I was trying to. I was trying to because our producer, bree, put this together, so I was, you were learning it in real time. But I actually didn't know. On this one as well, I thought that the 128-year-old ninja, I feel like that's coming. I feel like that, with all the longevity stuff and everything, I think that's coming, and especially Japan.
Speaker 3:So it's like I went, you know. I was struggling a bit because it would not surprise me that there's someone over 120 in Japan. That's what I'm saying, and there's also a ninja. And there's also a ninja. Sure it just goes hand in hand, it goes hand in hand.
Speaker 2:Alright, that's going to be our show today. Make sure to check all of our descriptions, the website, the Instagram, all that stuff. If you care about discourse in this game like we do, please make sure to put some comments out there and we'll do our best to respond. But, most importantly, get involved. With two weeks left, no matter what, you can go to votesaveamericacom. You can find out how, no matter where you are on the planet, you can get involved. Phone banking makes a huge difference. Even though we're in California, we are technically. We have the potential and the power to be a battleground state because we can make calls to other states. Last week, we made over two and a half million on the volunteer offices that we have here in the state, collectively together. So make sure to get involved there. You can find the Obama for America, ca for Harris links, which are on our site as well. And yeah, love yourself and someone else and we will see you next week. Bye.
Speaker 2:Slap the Power is a Slap Network production. It's written and produced by Rick Barriodil and Asia Nakia. Our senior producer is Bree Corey, audio and video editing by Asher Freidberg and Bree Corey, and studio facilities provided by Slap Studios LA and 360Pod Studios. If you're into online power scrolling, like we are, don't forget to follow Slap the Power on Instagram, twitter, tiktokok, youtube and probably pinterest soon, for access to full episodes, bonus content and more. And if you're as full of hot takes and crazy ideas as we are, please think about dropping us a review to help boost this episode. And you can help blow up the group chat by sharing with friends, family or random shit posters on the internet. You want in on the conversation and if you're interested in being a guest on the show, please email info at slapthepowercom.
