Mane Up Memphis Podcast
Mane Up Memphis Podcast serves up practical therapy insights, financial-empowerment tips, and inspiring Memphis stories—straight from the nonprofit that says “wrap-around support or bust.” Hosted by LMSW & CFSW Joey Laswell. New episodes every Tuesday.
Mane Up Memphis Podcast
Episode 6: The Mood Dudes Unpack Healthy Masculinity in the Modern Era
Send us a message at info@maneupmemphis.org
What does healthy masculinity actually look like in today's world? The Mood Dudes tackle this provocative question head-on in a candid, thought-provoking conversation that challenges traditional notions of what it means to be a man.
Join clinical therapists Immanuel, James, and Joey as they break down the artificial barriers between "masculine" and "feminine" tasks, revealing how many gendered expectations are simply life skills everyone should master. With refreshing honesty, they explore why men often struggle to express platonic affection for one another without discomfort or fear of judgment. Their discussion illuminates how historical economic concerns and religious misinterpretations have shaped harmful attitudes toward male emotional expression.
The conversation takes a fascinating turn when James shares cognitive neuroscience research about potential differences in male and female brain function, sparking a lively debate about nature versus nurture. Rather than settling for simplistic answers, the therapists examine how biology interacts with socialization to create our understanding of gender.
Drawing from personal experience, each therapist shares financial wisdom they wish they'd known at age 18 – from the importance of emergency funds to avoiding impulsive purchases – connecting financial wellbeing directly to mental health. Throughout the episode, they emphasize critical thinking, encouraging listeners to question whether traditional masculine roles actually serve them or those they love.
Whether you're struggling with outdated expectations, curious about healthier expressions of masculinity, or simply interested in understanding men's mental health better, this episode offers compassionate insights and practical suggestions for moving forward. Subscribe now and join the conversation about redefining masculinity for a healthier, more authentic life.
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You have to tell me what you are consuming, because I just see a spoon going to a sour cream cup and then going to your mouth. That's all I see.
Speaker 2:Once again. Why are you worried about what's in my mouth, what's?
Speaker 1:in your mouth Nothing but questions. I'm concerned for your well-being.
Speaker 3:Nothing but questions Capital One what's in your wallet Exactly?
Speaker 1:No, this is a wellness check at this point, because why are you eating sour cream? Is everything okay?
Speaker 2:I can eat sour cream on whatever I want to eat sour cream on.
Speaker 1:I'm not talking about your dietary autonomy. I'm talking about the decision to raw dog sour cream. What is happening? Are you okay?
Speaker 2:First of all, who is doing it the way that you phrased that? Also you no, absolutely not Sorry. No, absolutely not Sorry. Check the group chat.
Speaker 3:That is rice, that's a new phrase, that is rice. That is rice We'll just strike that from the record. We're not striking it, we're keeping it.
Speaker 1:So that was right. So you're just eating rice. Okay, I'm not mad at that Rice is great.
Speaker 2:So it's okay to quote unquote raw dog rice, but it's not okay to raw dog sour cream?
Speaker 1:Absolutely, Absolutely. One will get you judged and possibly assessed. One will not. And while we're on the topic of rice, being that girl like, what's your favorite side dish? Mine is rice, obviously.
Speaker 3:I thought you were going to say like so, joey, speaking of rice?
Speaker 2:Ha, I was prepared for that. I was prepared to help you out, bro. I'm sorry.
Speaker 3:I'm just kidding. You would never say that to me bro, I needed that laugh.
Speaker 1:It's been a day. Oh my god, it's been a day.
Speaker 3:Thank you, Joey that's what I'm here for cell phones and comedic relief. But yeah, like, okay, I think we got a good template, we got some good energy starting off the show Nobody's going to answer the question.
Speaker 3:And then if you watch the very first part of our recording, it's Emmanuel laughing because I messed up the cue on the 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. And you guys were laughing. I don't know if you caught that, but it's kind of like we caught like mid-blooper. You guys were laughing at me. Yeah, I hurt my feelings. No, I'm just kidding, that was funny.
Speaker 1:Are we having feelings behind comedy? Did it really hurt your feelings? No, I'm just kidding, that was funny. Are we hiding feelings behind?
Speaker 3:comedy. Did it really hurt your feelings? No, no, no, no, no, no. That part was real. That was real. Don't peer into my soul, okay.
Speaker 1:You know I highly enjoy peering into people's souls. It's a bad style. Yes, we all do.
Speaker 3:Let's be real, we all kind of do. That's why we're in this game. So this is true, this is true. I think we, we take a. We, I mean we I think we all genuinely enjoy you know the process, the, the layers, the digging and the questioning and all this other stuff. But you know that's, that's why, like, it takes a certain kind of person, I think, to be a therapist or a mental health professional. So, yeah, I just think we're all we all have. Like you know I keep coming back to like the avengers, I just think we all have. Like you know I keep coming back to, like the Avengers. And, like you know, we all have our own superpowers and our own like special skills and our lenses are all kind of like pointing in different directions. You know, and I just love that I plan on learning a lot of stuff from you guys I already have. But like, yeah, like it's just cool, you know stuff from you guys I already have but like, yeah, like it's just the, it's just cool.
Speaker 1:You know I'm here for it, so I think that was supposed to be the springboard to us, talking about superheroes as it relates to us. And so, if you joined us for our last episode, it was stated by me that I attribute. Well, we were asking what would be like your parallel or you know your superhero. So I was like James gives me very much Doctor Strange, right, because he's very textbook, but you have to learn a lot and it's as strength of as it really is. I'm not even being sarcastic for lot and it's as strength of it as it really is. I'm not even being talkative like for real. And then Joey, as you probably have discovered, joey is the calm one of the group, but he also means business and that gave me very much Captain America. But, like the recent Captain America, did you watch the movie, joey?
Speaker 3:I'm going to have to say no, I didn't Shame, but I did watch another movie I would like to talk to you guys a little bit about, so we can have like a little movie segment. But I want, if you guys have seen the movie Her by Spike Jonze with Joaquin Phoenix? No, neither of you. Oh man, I'm going to watch Captain America and then you guys have to watch her.
Speaker 1:Okay, and then we wanted you guys, the audience, to tell us what do you think our corresponding superhero will be. So just comment on our Instagram, youtube, tiktok, facebook wherever you're seeing or listening to this if you're not driving and tell us what do you think. Think, maybe by the end of this episode, what superhero you think goes with each clinician here. We would love to know. And also, they never answer my question about their favorite side dish, so tell us your favorite side dish. Um, so I don't feel lonely, thank you. And we're we're celebrating I hate you. We're celebrating men's mental health awareness month, and it is not 12 midnight, so we're still going. Hate you. We're celebrating Men's Mental Health Awareness Month, and it is not 12 midnight, so we're still going to get into it. It's so much into the sociology and the psychology of what we call masculinity and there's so many lenses you can put on micro meso. What's that micro? But like, I think, for the context of our conversation, like Micro, but like, I think, for the context of our conversation, like Western masculinity what does?
Speaker 1:that look like, you know, and how can we? There's so many conversations around it happening, you know. People want to redefine it, people want to tear it down, people want to build it up. There's so much around it. I'll be interested to hear what you guys think like healthy. I want to hear both what do you think toxic masculinity is and what do you think healthy masculinity is? And then how can we support those definitions or tear them down, even beyond Men's Mental Health Awareness Month?
Speaker 3:Whatever superhero wants to go first.
Speaker 3:Let's see so toxic. I think toxic is being overused. I'm just going to throw that out there. I think the term toxic is way overused. I mean, yes, there is a technical definition of toxic, but if we're just talking about what is I? What does masculinity mean right now? And I think me personally, I think it's in flux.
Speaker 3:There's a lot of, uh, you know, with gender, gender roles and expectations are evolving and things like that and like the, the archetype of what a man was in, like the 1980s, you know, is way different than what, uh, a modern man is in 2025, and I think that's that's going to be a moving target, and so there's no, I don't think there's any right or wrong answer per se, but I think there is more of a push to to a more sensitive, um, version of masculinity I mean at least that's what I ascribe to, and and I I struggled with that for a long time as far as, like you know, masking sensitivity and I think there's a lot of sensitive guys out there that really, you know, feel the need to put that that kind of, you know, um, I don't know, machismo out there in like a certain way, and it's not not, you know, it's just a societal pressure.
Speaker 3:But I think that pressure is getting a little bit lower and lower into where now, you know, masculinity is a little bit fluid in some ways. But toxic masculinity, I think it's pretty clear, you know it's misogyny, it's, you know, mean-spirited and built on, you know, things from a really bad time in our history, you know. So, things like that. Definitely, I think we're we're doing our best to try to tamp down the toxic part and really ramp up the, you know, sensitive, rational, like just center, more centered version of masculinity, whatever that looks like.
Speaker 2:I don't know, I'm not a sociologist, but, um, yeah, I'd be being able to see that somebody else wants to learn something that you know how to do and then being able to teach them and help them to grow right, and also understanding your limits. As a person who teaches, like I've known people who have said, like I'm not a teacher, don't ask me about and Z, okay, I know not to go to your school, I mean that's just not part of your skill set. But for people who are able to teach stuff down and then like, hopefully, for teaching our kids to read, whatever metaphorical stove they're about to touch they can read. Not to do that Right, like, if you need to, you can open a book and you can figure out how to connect the car, the car battery cables. Don't ask me I need to read that book, but, yeah, you can find out that information. Isn't that a?
Speaker 3:masculine trope. Sorry not to interrupt, but isn't that kind of a masculine trope where you've got to learn how to? Every guy has to know how to change a car tire. Yeah, I don't know how to change a car tire, but the battery it's been 10 years since I've done that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm not trying to electrocute myself. I'm going to look on YouTube first or call my dad. On the toxic side it's more so, like the machismo or putting on airs thing like you were talking about before. I think that people try to be stoic but they don't do a great job Like they don't like. Either they're not the bookie type and they're not reading what stoicism is, or they get this idea in their head about what it means to be a man or tough or whatever right and they're trying to act on that, but it's like a little kid's impression of what a man is supposed to be and we've had several generations of that, so it's just gotten progressively worse and results in what we've got today.
Speaker 1:That is an excellent point. We have had people pretending or cosplaying or just projecting what their idea of, because they never had a template or the template they had wasn't healthy, and I guess a part of them recognized that or didn't and and they continued, or they tried to find it out on their own and maybe struggled with that. But I appreciate you guys sharing that. I even had to reevaluate the question, even though I posed it, because for me, especially this Men's Mental Health Awareness Month, I wanted and this was a theme in the men's collective that we had that we're still buzzing off from, but Baptist Memorial Health, where Mainland Memphis was a sponsor in a breakout session men to be healthy in their person, in their self, without the attachment of anything little, especially a gender role or this construct and that's arguable or debatable of masculinity. Right, because what is masculine? What is masculinity? Does it have a purpose? If so, what is that? How does that translate with me? It is so layered, so complex as an antithesis to femininity. I do not think it's that. I think it is a balance to femininity and vice versa. I also think masculinity, especially in the Western lens, is just to serve a purpose. Western lens is just to serve a purpose. Right, it is to be a buttress to society. Right? Biologically we have different makeups, so we have attributed these features and these factors to masculinity. So if you are biologically a male and you do not show these things, biologically a male and you do not show these things, then now you're quote, unquote masculinity is now challenged, right, and then it works for both ways.
Speaker 1:I will say, over the years, though, there has been a I don't want to say progression, but I want to say progression that some things that we have called masculine and feminine are literally just life skills. Like to James point like I'm not insulting you this time for once to James point about you know how to charge a car battery. Yeah, that's a life skill that has nothing to do with being a man or a woman or other identifier. Like you need to know how to charge a battery. Now to the same coin. There were some ladies at my church and they were charging their car battery and I got offended because I was feet away and I was like why didn't you ask me? I could have did that for you. Some would call it chivalry, whatever, but I do think it is a life skill, a lot of things we attribute to it. Changing a tire, that's masculine.
Speaker 3:No, that's a life skill, or you know the laundry for for a guy. You know like I do the laundry, I help out with the laundry, I do the cooking. You know like, so yeah, like I think we're kind of beyond those rigid I hope so.
Speaker 1:so Please wash your drawers. That is disgusting. You're not washing your drawers in the name of masculine. You're going to be masculine and stinky. That is disgusting.
Speaker 2:Women have memes about people like that. Yeah, you don't want to be the skid mark guy.
Speaker 1:At your big age that's fine You're like 2'3" pushing forward. But post-potty train, even late elementary school, you may still master it, but you're 35 talking about oh, I'm not going to wash my clothes because that's not a woman's job. Okay.
Speaker 3:You're going to be in the ER for a skin rash you can't do nothing with.
Speaker 1:So, I just think that is the first point of conversation like really delineating the difference between what is masculine and then what's just like neutral or you know a life skill or whatever, and then take off this dichotomous view of it, like it's not masculine or feminine or hard or soft, it's whatever benefits the unit you know. Like you mentioned, joe, you help out. You have a small child. I'm sure it makes sense for you to help out. It has nothing to do with masculine or feminine, energy or masculinity or femininity, and I really want men to embrace the concept of, first of all, critical thinking. I really want men to embrace the concept of, first of all, critical thinking for this month. Ask yourself these questions, right. What is the reason behind this? Was I socialized this way? Does this serve me?
Speaker 1:We talked about toxic masculinity. Is this toxic, and is it toxic for me or those that I love? That is the real question. Because, to your point, joy, you were saying things are overused and I would agree, because I think toxic is a little bit subjective. Now, abuse, that is very clear, but toxic is subjective, and I see James want to say something Go ahead, jump ahead.
Speaker 2:I do want to jump in on the point that you made about do we use our critical thinking skills for what is masculine and what is not? Because if we think, if we think way back in society, like most jobs used to be manual labor right, right, okay and we also had structured society for men to be the only people bringing in income at that time, right.
Speaker 2:So it was very easy to make a role division. But has society kept up with the way that work is done and who is doing outside an income revenue type of work? Because if we're going to stick to the old system, then yeah, it doesn't make sense to do certain things. If you're a man, because it's working on the idea that you've been out in the field or working in a factory or doing something laborious all day and you don't have the energy to do anything but to kick your feet up once once you're at home, because that's all that home is there for. For if this is your role, right, right, that's not what we're seeing in today's society. Every job is not go out and break your body anymore um, for some people it is and find your way around that. Do what works for your family. Also, if that is not your structure, don't use that structure. It's not for you.
Speaker 1:Oh my God. Yes, do James, do we agree?
Speaker 2:on something, but yes, do something that works for you.
Speaker 1:If you want to be the archetypal, I bring home the bacon type guy. You cannot be a broke guy Like no. If you want a kept wife, you have to meet the conditions for the lifestyle that you want. It's not automatic and that's why you are so anxious and upset and irritable all the time because you're trying to fit into a role that you don't match. No, no, no, how somebody gets free of that.
Speaker 2:I was born with an X and Y chromosome. I am entitled to this.
Speaker 1:No, you're entitled to what you produce, which I really just hate. I said that because I want us to not have our identity connected to what we produce, because that's our problem now. Nonetheless, in this context, it has to work, and if it does not work, it just doesn't.
Speaker 2:Do not connect your identity to overproduction. Correct you cannot work with materials that are not there. You cannot burn yourself up and think that you're still going to have enough of you left over for tomorrow. It's just not going to work that way, it's not Okay, I got to interject a little something.
Speaker 3:I'm curious Now. We've been talking a lot about men's stuff, but how, if you're a female listener, what should they be taking away? What should they be thinking about from this conversation? That they could learn something or glean something about the male identity and the male like what we're talking about? What do you think women can take away from this conversation?
Speaker 1:I'm not answering that till July 1st. It's still men's mental health. No, I'm joking. I think they should also again getting away from roles and assignments. Right? How does the lifestyle I want fit with this other person, right?
Speaker 1:Do their goals and I don't know, just talk about romantically, which, of course, is where my mind goes to. And we can, we can go there, but because it's like one of the easiest examples. Because it's like one of the easiest examples, but do our goals align right? Does what you see for the future match and or support what I want to do for the future? Because I also think that's a myth that you have to necessarily want to do the same thing. I just think it doesn't have to be the exact same thing, it just needs to align. I think that's how you have healthier relationships, whether they be romantic or whatever. But just again back to critical thinking. I think that'll stop all this war between, especially online, which is half of it is propaganda. But this war between men and women, no, you don't see like manatees fighting each other, or you know birds fighting, like female-male birds fighting each other. Why are we doing that?
Speaker 3:Like that's not no, I think we got bigger fish to fry, you know, we got bigger things to talk about.
Speaker 1:Hello, hello, like I think so. If you are a female listener and you probably are, because I don't know I was about to get stereotypical I'm back. I don't know a lot of men who listen to podcasts healthy ones anyway. I listen to podcasts sometimes do you listen to bad ones too? What's a bad one? That's way too much. I listen to podcasts sometimes. How many do you listen to bad ones, to what's a bad one? That's way too much. Tell us which bad podcast.
Speaker 2:You're listening to Emmanuel.
Speaker 3:I don't listen to garbage podcasts. I like to learn and grow and develop. I listen to finance stuff. I listen to psychology. Have you guys listened to Esther esther perel's um relationship podcast, where she actually does live sessions with couples in the podcast space? Yeah, is that ethical? First of all, uh, they signed a release. They know what they're getting into.
Speaker 1:It's a whole thing, yeah, but um sounds a little Dr Phil, but okay you know, dr Phil carried for generations at least two decades, which is a generation he really did oh, I don't want to go there.
Speaker 1:I'm not going there. I'm not going there for another show, that is another show. But to answer your question, joey, no, because I didn't even realize people actually listened to podcasts until I married my wife and you know the whole trope about not trope, but saying that opposites attract. It is true, I listened to music during that 24-7. I remember she was driving us somewhere for a date because you know I'm allowing us, I don't have to control everything and we got in the car and I was like what is this? It was so foreign to me. Like you're willingly listening to people talk in the car while you drive. Like I hate commercials. I do not have one streaming service except for YouTube that is not commercial free. My Spotify is commercial free. All my streamers and I have like 10, not even exaggerating are commercial free. Why are you talking? Shut up talking to me, right, but so the concept of listening to people, which is might sound contradictory because we're literally recording a podcast.
Speaker 1:It was so foreign to me and it's hilarious because obviously I love talking and to be a great speaker you have to have excellent listening skills. They actually have to be better than your speaking skills, but something about just listening to people with like for leisure just blew my mind. I was like what? But you know, to the bigger topic at hand, it's okay to explore things that are not immediately to your nature, Right, and even have some exchange. There are maybe two podcasts, including this one, that I would genuinely listen to, Like for real, and now I have heard listening to music almost as loud as mine.
Speaker 1:So there is a beautiful exchange that happens with this, if you want to call it masculine feeling energy. But you have to have. It's a skill. You have to have the openness and the skill set to allow that to happen and not allow everything to be such a challenge. We'll see how you can integrate it if need be, you know, and I think we will have much healthier relationships and again not just romantic If you just allow people to be their genuine selves, without this attachment or expectation of a label.
Speaker 1:that is a social construct, most likely tied to capitalism if we're in the West. So yeah let that be Points.
Speaker 3:James, you've been awfully quiet, okay.
Speaker 2:This goes back to some research that I read back in undergrad, so it's been some years.
Speaker 2:I don't know if this is current anymore, but I remember when I was in the cognitive neuroscience program that we were looking at some MRI studies and it turns out that dudes are not using as much of their brains as ladies are, as much of their brains as ladies are, and so I get a lot of people who are asking me about like a relationship, and I'm just like I need for y'all to understand that we are not on the same level of thinking that y'all are on.
Speaker 2:Dudes are using like two or three maybe four if we're lucky brain areas connected at a time like, let's see, we look at like a puppy or something, right, and the first thing that pops into our mind is, oh, that's a cute puppy. And then, oh, I want that puppy. And then like, oh, it costs too much for me to get that puppy. And then we're done, right, it's like we're just going can adopt this puppy, but I know that my friend is looking for a puppy. I should ask her if she wants this puppy. And then like, oh, actually, so-and-so has an allergy, but this other friend was also looking for a puppy, right? So that's like six different things that she's balancing on like the daily basis with any given subject, and so dudes are not.
Speaker 2:This came up on the mri right, and so they're looking at um blood flow and so they were assuming that different brain areas that were getting more blood are more activated, right, and so they were looking at this and they're finding out that women. Well, what they theorize is that women have more brain interconnectivity for different subjects that they're thinking about at a time than men do, which kind of explains, you know, like, when men and women get into arguments, it's like how could you not consider that x, y and z were a factor in the situation? It's just like, well, we're simpler than you, we did not. We did not. That is the answer. Is not that we knew about it, like maybe we did, but it wasn't online. It wasn't an online brain area for us question.
Speaker 1:Question, ladies, I can hear you. My ear is burning right now. Is that a nature versus nurture thing? Because, some some can say that and it could be a cop-out. Well, I don't like this because I'm a man, which is literally what we're talking about now.
Speaker 2:You see what I'm saying right, but they did not go into that. That was not what was studied, right. They were just looking at whether or not certain stimuli activate more brain areas for men or for women. Typically women have more brain activity. Um, with the, with the dudes. We don't know if it's because that's the way that we're socialized, because with a lot of dudes we don't socialize them to spend a lot of time thinking or considering how other people feel about things a lot of the time it's just like alright, are you done with this task, get up and go do another task.
Speaker 2:Oh, you fell down. Can you get over it?
Speaker 1:I would make. I'm not a gambling man, but I would bet Joey's last dollar.
Speaker 2:What Joey's Bet? Your own dollar man up? Okay, I would bet.
Speaker 1:James last bottle of conditioner, that it is socialization cause? There is no way, because we are all organic intelligence, right? If socialization? There is no way. We are all organic intelligence. If we would be socialized otherwise, if we weren't born into these roles, you see what I'm saying. If it wasn't hunt, protect reproduce, that is primary and it's instinctual and it should be there. Doesn't hunt, protect reproduce? That is primary and it's instinctual and it should be there. I'm sorry, I can be very PC sometimes. I can just hear all the rebuttals, but I've trained myself to do that because of the nature of work that I do, but that's another conversation. That should be there because that's instinctual, that is biology. Some can argue otherwise.
Speaker 2:My point is that there is more to you than that, you see what I'm saying, right and that's where the epigenetic argument comes in Is that, yes, it can be because of the way that we're being raised, but also your brain grows new pathways based on what you're exposed to and what you repeat.
Speaker 2:Right, and so it's both.
Speaker 2:It's a good chance that it's both, not only that we are encouraging women to think about more things at a time and that we consider that we teach kids, young boys, to consider less at a time, but also that through repetition of this encouragement and telling them this is how you have to behave, that this is the way that their brain is developing, just like um, with the I don't know which part of the brain actually does numbers, but I know the parietal love is kind of related to words, right? If you make somebody grow up reading a bunch and doing a bunch of like poetry spoken word, um, somebody grow up reading a bunch and doing a bunch of like poetry spoken word, anything like that, anything verbal, that brain area is going to be a lot more developed than like maybe the occipital lobe. If they're not spending a lot of time looking at various things or artwork, right, like they might not be able to tell the difference between like red and magenta, but they can tell you all about Shakespeare, I don't know, just hypothetical example there.
Speaker 1:Now see what I call them Doctor Strange Textbook Textbook.
Speaker 3:And I'm going to be the mediator slash middle ground guy because I've always been fascinated with the nature versus nurture, discussion and debate. And I think part of the reason why is because because it I feel like it's not a binary thing, you know it's. It's always like a spectrum, like somewhere in the middle, or a combination, a confluence of all these other different factors that come into like, because you know how, you know some, some guys are born, you know, with more like tough exterior or a tough persona, like it's almost like like maybe it's even a hormonal thing where some guys are just quicker to anger, maybe, or they have, you know just more testosterone than other guys and they're just, they just are built that way. That's their biology. But that doesn't mean that that can't, that same person can't be a sensitive, thoughtful, caring, compassionate person. And that's where you know, the biology meets the socialization and you know you can have, you know, an archetypical bodybuilder, big guy that you think is going to be super mean and, and you know, aggressive, and it turns out he's just a big teddy bear, you know.
Speaker 3:So, yeah, I don't know like it's, I don't know how the there is. I don't think there is a really satisfying answer, but it is something to think about and I think you know both sides really do kind of you guys both gave some really good insights into you know the biological functions of you know how our brains are naturally wired. You know James was saying of how our brains are naturally wired. You know what James was saying. But then, like, our conditioning, our social conditioning, you know, can override some of that genetic wiring in some ways. So yeah, I don't know it's a mixed bag for me and I'm going to die on that fence. I'm going to sit on this fence until I turn into a scarecrow. All right, a scarecrow, yeah, that's where my mind went Scarecrow.
Speaker 1:Why not a skeleton?
Speaker 2:Because he's built different Emmanuel.
Speaker 1:Dang leave him alone. Is it something in your DNA? You don't go to a skeleton, you go to a scarecrow.
Speaker 3:I guess I identify with Team Scarecrow.
Speaker 2:Joey doesn't age. Remember what? So Joey doesn't age.
Speaker 1:That's true. Well, we established that in the last episode. So there's that. If you are watching this, Joey, please make this a short. If you are watching this, please tell us how old you think Joey is. If you are right, I will like your comment. You thought I was going to give you a prize, no, but if you are right, I will like your comment, because I am still shocked to this day. I'm still shocked.
Speaker 3:You know it's funny. I have a fond memory of going to Six Flags in Atlanta and they had that game where it was a carnival game where they guess your age, and I smoked them Even this was in my early 20s.
Speaker 1:See, I was going to give you a hint.
Speaker 3:It's definitely a thing. It's an Asian. Don't raise anything. Yeah, I think we'll put that out there.
Speaker 3:Yes, all right. Well, that was a really I really like that discussion honestly, because you know we really covered a lot of different aspects of masculinity. You know we, we touched on, you know, the socialization part, we touched on the biological part and I don't know, I think. And then you know I really I really wanted to picture a female listening audience and like, okay, what are they going to glean from this type of conversation? So I really appreciate you guys jumping in and really giving it your all and yeah, so if you guys have any feedback or comments or questions, we're going to be engaged.
Speaker 3:On the YouTube all the comment sections I'm pretty responsive, pretty active. We might even go into the Reddit category. I don't know, I haven't done a Reddit page yet, but if we can even have our own Mood Dudes or our own man Up Memphis subreddit, I don't know, that's a little premature, we'll put a pin in that. But just a little bit of a self-congratulation for us we just passed 50 downloads for our episode. Woo, thank you guys. We appreciate it so much. 50 episodes to me it's a huge deal. I don't know about you guys, but I'm just over the moon.
Speaker 1:Manuel's impressed. He's like let's'm just over the moon, manuel's not impressed.
Speaker 3:He's like let's get to 50k and then we can celebrate. Correct, oh man.
Speaker 1:And it's dope because I'm doing it with you, aw.
Speaker 3:See, that's healthy male affection right there. That's the kind of stuff we should be normalizing. You know, I've been watching a lot of clips about manhood and the male experience and Josh Johnson actually, who just so happens to be coming to Memphis. And you know, josh, if you have some extra time and you want to talk to some Memphis people made up Memphis podcast, you know we might be, interested in having you.
Speaker 3:I mean if our schedules align. But anyways, all I have to say we want to chat. We loved I shared in the group chat your bit about. You know this tiktok trend that's going viral.
Speaker 3:That's basically guys calling other guys and telling them good night like like basically wishing them like hey, man, I just wanted to say I hope you have a good night, man, sleep tight. You know, and it's meant to be funny but, as Josh Johnson tells the story really well and really funny, he basically observed in this trend that guys were actually kind of like low key connecting with each other. Even though this was like a funny gag, it actually brought a couple of guys to like really have a conversation and turned into like a real thing and a real connection. So I just really appreciated, you know, a comedian like josh johnson like elevating that kind of discussion to to his on his platform, you know, and I think he's doing a really good job of asking some of these tougher questions about manhood and masculinity and just in general society and culture. So he's really good.
Speaker 3:Excited to see. I have tickets. I'm going to go ahead and say I'm a fanboy, I have tickets to his show. He's got two shows in Memphis coming up next month and we're going to try to get the Move Dude crew out there if we can. And we're going to try to get the Move Dude crew out there if we can. But yeah, if you're a Josh Johnson fan, you know, shout us a comment, you know, say we love Josh Johnson or something, and you know, maybe we can get him on the show.
Speaker 1:Josh, you owe us a check as much as Joey talks about you. My God, you owe at least some backstage passes.
Speaker 3:I'm listening. I, low-key, have been kind of stalking him honestly. But you know, out of love, josh, if you're listening, I'm sorry. He didn't say that, josh, he didn't mean that.
Speaker 1:Hey, that's just somebody else in the group who name starts with J. Can we? I'm sick of it.
Speaker 3:Y'all.
Speaker 1:I'm not joking, our audience, literally. There's like three group chats and one of them everyone's name starts with J, except for mine and our founder, rachel. What is that about? You want to?
Speaker 2:know what that's about.
Speaker 1:No, not if it's coming from you. James, Change your name Just legally change it. Never and I don't use the word never often. I don't use the word never often. I don't use words like never, always, forever, unless I really mean it. I would never change my name Ever in life. What about Jemangro? Yeah, I was about to say.
Speaker 3:Absolutely not Never.
Speaker 1:No one does not.
Speaker 3:You can have a really nice name. You can have a really nice J name.
Speaker 2:James go away like listen. I want to talk about something. Millions of people are named james. You should try it.
Speaker 3:Try it for a day no okay, emmanuel, you, you, you had something you wanted to bring to the table.
Speaker 1:I just wanted him to fill that period after I said no, because you know it was all over your face.
Speaker 1:Listen, I think, oh, I don't know, that's a can of worms, but let's go fishing. So to that TikTok trend that I'm aware that you are talking about, james, I was in another similar space like this. We were having some conversation around Men's Mental Health Month and they were saying how men not as much these days in certain circles, but can be very dichotomous in their view when it comes to affection. Either it's none or it's perceived homosexual, and whether there's a negative connotation to that or not, that's up to the individual. But it can never just be genuine love or affection, it can never just be, bro. I always have to have some motive behind it, which I think is toxic. But I'd be curious to know your thoughts on that. Why is that so polar, so spectrum with men? Why can't we just let it be what it is? Because I think most men would know if somebody is flirting with you, but maybe you just haven't been exposed enough to understand, you know. Oh no, this is literally just platonic love, you know.
Speaker 3:Here's my theory His wheels are turning, he's got something going All right, james, go ahead. Here's my theory. His wheels are turning. He's got something going. All right, james go ahead.
Speaker 2:Here's my theory Throughout time and throughout history and throughout civilizations, homosexuality has been frowned upon. Right, because we can't amass wealth if our son is homosexual, if our daughter is homosexual. Right, we need our kids to marry and to build wealth. It's always capitalism. It always goes back to capitalism In any case. Case that's why people get so damn mad is because we've had families over generations trying to build this wealth and we have like one homosexual kid. And then what do you mean? We can't build wealth anymore, that everything I did was for nothing. And then people are flying into rages. Right? In addition to that, there's also religious um caveats motivations it is, um, to treat homosexual people badly, right?
Speaker 2:so with all that, again, are we using roles that fit our current society because the homosexual kids can still build wealth and pass that off to somebody else? Again, are we using roles that fit our current society Because the homosexual kids can still build wealth and pass that off to somebody else? They can pass that off to a niece or a nephew. Why did it always have to be a direct descendant? It didn't, but because that's what the role required. That's what everybody just did and nobody questioned it for a long time. That's my theory anyway.
Speaker 1:I just want to say this go ahead, I'm sorry and with that being dangerous right.
Speaker 2:Nobody, no guy, wants to express any type of affection for another man, lest it be in this day and age of people not understanding what is homosexual, what is just a friendship.
Speaker 1:Nobody wants to be called a homosexual because then we get cut off from our support networks, we get cut off from our business, we get cut off from everything and ostracize which is why there's such a high rate of anxiety and depression and suicide ideations in the lgbtqia plus community, because men are already socialized to not talk and then you're going to have the nerve to be a homosexual man and throw some other layers in there. Don't be a bipoc homosexual man. Oh, yeah, it's. You have all so many strikes against you and it's not healthy. But what I wanted to interject on earlier when you brought in the religious component, I can speak for all religions, but I am a youth uh, youth and young adult pastor. I've been actually today makes 12 years. I've been in the clergy. When people use the argument of thank you, joey. When people use the argument of Sodom and Gomorrah thank you, james please do your research. Sodom and Gomorrah was not destroyed because of homosexuality. Sodom and Gomorrah is where we get the word sodomy. It was non-consensual sex.
Speaker 3:Okay, it was I don't know if I can say that over the air but it was grape Right.
Speaker 1:It was that. That is why Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed, because men were literally sexually assaulting other men. Okay, and that's because there was a consensual homosexual encounter. That is two different things. Do your research. I just want to put that out there for those who may be part of the religious community who are listening to this. Thank you for your time.
Speaker 2:Cancel. Emmanuel, specifically Mood Dudes, will still be broadcasting every other Monday, for all it is.
Speaker 3:I love that. I love that.
Speaker 2:As an aside Made Up, Memphis does not endorse the views or opinions of any of the individual Mood Dudes.
Speaker 1:Correct no real, Real talk.
Speaker 3:He doesn't want to get his head blown off by Amanda Waller.
Speaker 2:What are you doing to get these threats? Lots is always on your mind Because you're always doing something. Stop doing stuff. That's an assumption. Every thought that comes into your head doesn't need to come out of your mouth.
Speaker 1:That's what you're doing to hold her. You heard that ticker ticketing your head because Amanda.
Speaker 2:Waller is about to blow your head off. I don't have this Because I don't do things that she doesn't like.
Speaker 1:I've never pushed her to that point. Don't make me call her on the air.
Speaker 3:I've never pushed her to that point, sir. We should have Miss Miss on the show with the new dudes. I'm going to have to talk to her because I think she would love that. Honestly, she's been really supportive of this little endeavor, this side project that we got going, of this little endeavor, this side project that we got going. And then we're also doing regular interviews with Made Up Memphis team members, and we actually got a couple people who are not true members, as far as I understand that actually want to be on the show as well. So if you feel like you have something to bring to Memphis that you think needs to be highlighted and maybe you're doing something really good, or you want to highlight an organization that's doing really good in the city, then shoot us an email and maybe we'll feature you guys.
Speaker 1:Michelle Obama.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, oh yeah. We're manifesting. So this is our manifesting segment. So we're going to manifest a bunch of people that we want to have on the podcast. So Manuel has voted for Michelle Obama.
Speaker 2:Please today.
Speaker 3:And what was your logic behind Michelle Obama? Oh no, that was James' logic.
Speaker 2:So we want to invite Mrs Michelle Obama, because she helped to get Orange Mountain named as one of Memphis' historic districts as one of the first self-sufficient black communities.
Speaker 3:I love that. There's a lot of history in Orange Mountain and I know a lot of people. It gets a bad rap but they're trying to revitalize in Orange Mountain, aren't they Revitalize? It's never really, wasn't there a school or a library that got refurbished in Orange Mound so it was.
Speaker 2:We installed one of the Memphis libraries behind one of the community centers in Orange Mound recently. It's never really been a situation where we have tried to let it go downhill. There's always been people. There's been just as many people trying to build Orange Mound up as we have had bad actors tearing it down. It's a constant cycling. Things are always evolving in Orange Mound.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 1:If you want to know.
Speaker 3:I'm sorry.
Speaker 1:Joy Go ahead.
Speaker 3:I was going to say. That's part of what we're trying to. We're trying to bring the community members and the big players together and, like you know, really address some of these things at a more systemic, macro level. You know, and we're just, you know, we're worth the worker bees, but we're also, you know, we're thinking big Might as well, you know, and we're going to shoot our shot and see what happens.
Speaker 3:But yeah, speaking of shooting shots, memphis Grizzlies we got any intel on Memphis Grizzlies? Oh, yes, I wanted to bring up in the previous episode I had mentioned, not our episode, but episode five that's coming out soon that I wanted to meet the Japanese Grizzlies player, yuki Kawamura. And yeah, I'm actually trying to meet him, I'm trying to get his autograph. So if anyone from the Grizzlies is listening, that would be really cool. My mom is coming in from Japan literally tomorrow and she's a huge fan. A lot of Japanese people are just over the moon between Shohei Otani, who's a baseball player in the Dodgers, and then Kawamura for the Grizzlies. There's a Japanese pride there. That's hard to explain, but they just are fanatic about their Japanese players playing in American sports. So she's just happy to be coming and visiting. She was disappointed that there wasn't going to be a game, but I'm still trying to figure out a way to get her at least meet him, take a picture with him or something like that.
Speaker 1:I hope that happens for you, Joey.
Speaker 3:Yes, we'll see what happens and you know, if it doesn't happen, I try, you know. But yeah, so we're manifesting. Hey, let's have Yuki come on the show. That would be man, that would be a dream. So I'm probably need an interpreter, because my Japanese is subpar. I will go ahead and admit it.
Speaker 2:Doing an on-the-spot interview with your mom there.
Speaker 3:Ooh, I think he has an interpreter. I mean he's a pretty big deal in Japan, Like I mean, I think people are not really understanding how high. Like he has an ad campaign with Asics which I'm trying to get his shoes from Japan, I'm trying to get my mom to bring me some shoes from Japan his basketball shoes.
Speaker 1:Mm-hmm.
Speaker 3:Because those will be collector's items someday, I think. At least for me, and then I'm trying to get her to bring me some Japanese jerseys of his from Japan. We'll see how that goes. I'll keep you guys in the loop. But okay, james, what's your manifestation? Who do you want to bring to the podcast?
Speaker 2:I would want to bring Okay. So podcast I would want to bring okay. So there's an artist named meg sieve and she's done a lot. She shares a lot about work that she's done on herself and surviving um toxic personalities. I would want to talk to her, and what? Was her name again megsiver siveru megsive Siv Just call her Meg. Siv Subaru like the vehicle. No, that's a Subaru. This is S-Y-V.
Speaker 3:Meg Siv. Alright, we'll put it in the show notes and then we'll add them and, you know, say, hey, we mentioned you guys. So I think Emmanuel also mentioned Brene Brown, which would be for social workers.
Speaker 1:We don't care about her. I want to bring Meg the Stallion. I was going to say that before you said Meg Sif, so don't think that I thought about her. I actually thought about her when Joey said that his Japanese is a little rusty, because I can say a few things in Japanese, like noni, and that's just from watching anime. I can say dang it, I lost it. It's how you say oishi, that means delicious right. But I can also say okone katsugu Watashi Wasta, which means I make money on a star.
Speaker 1:Because if y'all didn't know, james and Joey and our listeners, I am a hottie. I love Megan Thee Stallion and if you know Megan Thee Stallion, you know that she loves her Japanese culture, particularly anime. But like I would oh my God, I would, oh my God, I would love to interview Megan. The style, megan, if you are listening to this. I know you have your platforms for mental health. So does Taraji B Henson, specifically for men. So you come on too, because I know y'all are friends. I would love I'm sorry, we would love to interview you guys. Oh, I would. I listen to things I would do for that interview.
Speaker 3:I probably shouldn't say over the air that's for the special episode. We're going to have like a whole special. You know how some of the podcasters have like the secret episodes or whatever. The bonus shows yeah, so we'll have a bonus show someday.
Speaker 1:I love you, Megan.
Speaker 3:All right. Well, I mean, that's a pretty good spread and I really I think, yeah, we've got a good spectrum, we've got sports, we've got entertainment, we've got, you know, mental health. Yeah.
Speaker 2:I mean yes, her, bring her on the show, please.
Speaker 3:Okay, we need a social media team for somebody to reach out to. Mostly, it's just me being annoying and trying to grab people on the internets, but yeah, so okay, we got some momentum there. I will keep you guys updated on if we make any contact and I'll go ahead and say going back to josh johnson, I'm sorry if I've annoyed you with my comments on like facebook and things like that, so I apologize. I realize that it's probably annoying, but it comes from love because I genuinely have been watching your stuff for a while and no harm. But yeah, we're just big fans and we're excited to see you in Memphis. Well, guys, was there anything else that we wanted to touch on or any?
Speaker 2:updates from the last episode. I don't think any updates, but I'm still going to shill for the show. If you have any questions, please send them to info at maynotmemphisorg. We would love to field your questions. You can also find Joey's information in our show notes down below. Any type of questions about mental health or relationships, or am I crazy? Be ready for us to say yes, though, because a lot of people in memphis I don't know, we we have some dysfunctional families and some dysfunctional situations. Um, you might be doing something crazy, but we'll at least help you straighten it out. Um, absolutely, please send us questions. We love to hear from people and we love to answer questions yes, oh, and that reminds me I, I we did.
Speaker 3:We did talk in the pre-show like that we were gonna, we're gonna, bring up a money thing. So, uh, I asked jasmine in episode five if she could give her 18 year old self some financial advice. What would it be her? Before I even finished the question, she was like do not max out your credit cards. So she had that one ready to go and we talked about it a little bit. But yeah, so I guess this is going to be a running segment on anyone who comes on the show. So I might as well get you guys' takes on this, because you know it's part of the show now. So who wants to go first? 18-year-old self money advice Save the S-A-V-E.
Speaker 1:I don't have to write paper scissors for that one, james, because I don't want to say I have like regret Because I was learning, you know, and that would be the main thing, because I can spend. I don't mean just spend as in blow money, I mean budget, make investments, make money moves. But as far as like, when I say save I literally mean just accumulate. I don't mean save with ROI or investment, that's a different thing. I will say most rich people I know, like me and their status and up, they don't really explore the concept of saving like other people's do, outside of cash, like they all have a cash savings, but all the other income is invested. So what we will call I'm not going to say we, because I'm rich too but what most some would call saving, they call investing.
Speaker 2:You see what I'm saying.
Speaker 1:And I would say so now that I've said that out loud, I would tell my 18-year-old self to invest and have an emergency fund, because that's really the term have an emergency fund and invest. Other than that, I think I did okay Still learning and growing and I would choke me by the neck because so many things could be avoided, especially my early 20s. That broke era. Oh my god. I'm so glad that's over, but like I could have avoided so much if I just saved and invested, you know. But yeah, that's what I would say. How about you guys?
Speaker 2:probably, yeah, save. I'm glad that you went into how to. But yeah, that's what I would say how about you guys? Probably, yeah, safe. I'm glad that you went into how to safe, because I would have challenged you, because my things would have been safe too. But specifically I would have said do what you can to not move out from home ASAP. Rent is expensive and it takes up a good amount of your check and the jobs around you ain't going to be paying nothing for a good minute for at least 10 years.
Speaker 3:so stay at home, so kind of build a financial foundation first, before you kind of just go out and flail which is what a lot of young people do is they just kind of wing it and they get a couple roommates? Maybe that's exactly what I did. I just got some roommates, made some dumb decisions and did not manage my my money well. So, yeah, I would say for me the biggest thing 18 year old me struggled with was just kind of like mindless shopping on on things that didn't really like. Because I was big into movies, like I had a DVD collection and you know I would always want to get like the special edition or the limited edition, and it was like a collector thing and a movie nerd thing and I probably spent a good amount of money on just DVDs. And then the irony and the sad irony is still kind of A part of me still dies every time I tell the story. But I lost all of my DVD collection in a fire in 2003. And the icing on the cake was I didn't know anything about property insurance. None of us had insurance, so all of our stuff was just burnt up and we had to start from scratch. So that's my cautionary tale is you can spend all your money on these items, these things, and then they can just go up in smoke.
Speaker 3:So I would tell myself, 18-year-old self go out and do things. Go out and explore and experience life while you're young. Not to say that I didn't, but I would have done it in a little bit more intentional, mindful way as much as an 18-year-old can be intentional and mindful, because that's not really something that comes natural to a lot of teenagers mindful way as much as an 18 year old can be intentional and mindful you know what I mean, because that's not really something that comes natural to a lot of teenagers. But yeah, that's some good, you know good advice for future listeners If you're 18 or younger.
Speaker 3:You know we do have a financial literacy component to our program at made up Memphis and you know I can sit here and talk all day about you know, the psychology of finance and things like that. But yeah, I mean that's kind of what we're here. You know we're here to try to change the narrative around money but also change the narrative around mental health. So if you like our vibe, you like what we're doing, you know give us, you know like thumbs up, subscribe, share it. You know sharing goes a long way. Sharing is caring. I just made that up. I've never heard that expression before, so that's like a new thing that just came up with that.
Speaker 2:So I like you should say it more you're going that probably trademark that sharing is caring.
Speaker 3:You know like it rhymes, it's original, it's unique, so um you're welcome universe. Um, but yeah, I, I really uh, yeah, so I mean, uh, we got, we got a lot of good stuff today, guys, I really I enjoyed this conversation. We're coming up on an hour of recording, so that's pretty, that's pretty good. Um, so next the next episode. Uh, what are what are we teasing? What are we? What are we going to talk about? Or are we just gonna kind of wing it Next time on?
Speaker 2:Mood Dudes.
Speaker 3:On the next Mood.
Speaker 2:Dudes. We talk about Emmanuel's darkest secrets.
Speaker 1:I'm perfectly fine with that, but I'm hoping Megan Thee Stallion will be on our next episode.
Speaker 3:So that's what I'm hoping about, Since I've been taking on annoying Josh Johnson and Yuki Kawamura. So I think your mission now is to try to use your clout to try to get into making the stallions. Dms. I think you can do it. I believe in you. You have to do it now honestly, I probably could.
Speaker 1:That's the funny part um, see it um we'll see.
Speaker 3:Okay, yeah, okay, challenge accepted. And and then, james, you might as well reach out to your prospective therapist influencer type. And yeah, maybe that's something that we could explore is reaching out to other social media therapists and people in the mental health field and kind of talk their brains, pick their brains mental health field and kind of talk, talk their their brain to pick their brains.
Speaker 2:You know who else I want to come on the show. I want your friend trend to come on the show. I want mr blake w to come on the show. Your friend, what, your friend trend? Okay, she's a friendship influencer.
Speaker 3:And I also want, um, mr blake w, who's kind of like a self-respecting boundaries influencer okay, yeah, so we're gonna have to start exploring the mental health influencer space, um, you know, just to learn from them. And actually there's a there's a therapist that does have a podcast, um, called sell the couch. I think, um, I'm friends with him on linkedin. I might have to reach out to him because he, he would be a good, uh, a good person to talk to, because he can also talk about the entrepreneurial side of therapy and how to build a business and the business side of things, because I mean, I don't know about you guys, but in grad school they didn't talk about business stuff, you know. So that's, that's probably a whole, a whole episode, right there is.
Speaker 2:Do we get to talk to the baby? Therapist?
Speaker 3:Oh, oh, you're talking about Okay, yeah well, I'm a baby therapist, so no, joey, you've been doing this for a minute.
Speaker 2:Okay, well, to the brand new, the shiny ones.
Speaker 3:Oh, okay, the shiny. So we should start partnering with schools like Memphis University.
Speaker 1:Yeah, rachel, I think you should start working on that.
Speaker 3:It's funny how we're talking to Rachel through the podcast because we know she's going to listen to this eventually.
Speaker 1:She's waiting for the opportunity to blow. James' head out of his head.
Speaker 2:Yes, I think you just want this to happen, because this is your impending doom. You just want to share it with people. It's not happening, though. Another person I want you just want this to happen, because you know this is your impending doom. You just want to share it with people. It's not happening, though. Another person that we need to segue on the show is Dr Raquel Martin from National. She's great, okay.
Speaker 3:Yeah, we'll have to put all these into the show notes and start tagging them. Uh-oh, what's going on? What?
Speaker 1:question do you have in your mouth, sir? I don't know what James is fussing about. I don't know, oh man.
Speaker 2:James is being James.
Speaker 1:Hey audience, One more thing I've got for you.
Speaker 3:I don't know why I responded to that, but yes, go ahead.
Speaker 2:Oh, one more thing.
Speaker 3:Yes, okay, go ahead. Oh, one more thing. Yes, okay, what is happening?
Speaker 2:you said you said hey, audience, and I responded yes, like like a person.
Speaker 1:This play-by-play by joey laswell and emmanuel waris you know, sometimes I wonder how we got here, because one day I didn't know y'all and now I'm being berated by your personalities. I don't understand. In addition to guessing Joey's age and commenting what superheroes you think we are and your favorite side dish that they still haven't answered, also guess what you think our zodiac sign is. I would love to know. Not the Chinese one, but if you're into that, you can let us know. I have a fortune.
Speaker 2:I just want to let everybody know that this is a safe space and we listen and we don't judge. However, we does not include me in the situation. We is them too. I will judge you if you are a star racist oh, my god, I'm not doing it.
Speaker 1:Just tell us I'm. I'll be curious to know what you think our yes zodiac signs are.
Speaker 3:That's it so it going to be like half roast or a third roast and then two thirds is going to be like okay, let's talk about that.
Speaker 2:I will judge you about this specifically.
Speaker 1:What does that sound like, you guys? What horoscope, not horoscope. What zodiac is that? What does the zodiac of James sound like? And I don't even know, james will confirm if we're right or not, because that's just who he is.
Speaker 2:I'll tell you what my Zodiac sign is. What'd you say? I'll tell you what my Zodiac sign is. Okay, then what is it? Once everybody has, how are they going to guess if they already know? Emmanuel?
Speaker 3:Because Increase audience, engagement, engagement.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that happened. Yeah, so shout out to MainUp Memphis. Thank you, joy and James, for sharing time with me this evening. I'm going to resume eating tacos and I look forward to our next podcast. If you haven't already like, follow, share MainUp Memphis, including the podcast and reels and whatever else awesomeness that we release on our various platforms um again, if you have questions, we're gonna.
Speaker 3:We're on substack now. That, too, made it happen. So, yeah, writing. So if you're um, you know aspiring writer or you, you're a writer and you want to contribute some articles, or you know anyone, mainupmemphis team, we're going to start doing some articles and stuff. Yes, yes, I'm signing out. Well, James, you got anything. Any last sage words of wisdom you want to impart onto the world?
Speaker 2:Keep your star racist comments to yourself, oh God, because nine times out of ten you will be wrong. Keep your star racist comments to yourself, because nine times out of ten you will be wrong well, you use your platform for that, so I hope you feel good about that. I do we need to stop being? That's your message to the world we need to stop being star racist. That's my message to the world.
Speaker 3:Yes, that's the hill. He's dying on everybody.
Speaker 1:So is he going to turn into a scarecrow?
Speaker 2:too no I'm going to morph now.
Speaker 3:Now I'm just imagining me with a scarecrow body and somebody making a meme of me as a scarecrow. That's, that's great. I just, I just it's like bad luck, brian. You know, I just did. Oh man, all right. So, emmanuel, do you got any any?
Speaker 1:any last parting thoughts Nope, but I will say I'm the best sign out of all of them. And the next thing I will say for real, for real man please, please, please, please, please, please, please. Continue addressing your mental health in a healthy way, whether that be seeing a therapist or a life coach or whatever your preferred helping practitioner is. Clinician is Take your medicine if you need to, please see or start seeing a physical I mean primary care physician if you have not, get your teeth clean, get your eyes checked, get a haircut, get your teeth clean.
Speaker 1:Get your eyes checked, get a haircut, Get your nails done, Get a pedicure, Do your laundry. Oh my God, yes, Take time to relax, Go fishing. Do some pro-socials Engage in protective factors Like who is your emergency contact? Do people know where you are? Like? Address is your emergency contact? Do people know where you are? Like address your finances? Because there is a correlation, heavy correlation, between your mind and your wallet. Or you know financial portfolio. So, yeah, all that. Explore your interpersonal relationships. Do you have good coping skills? Do people like talking to you? Don't be like James. Do people? That is the top recommendation. Don't be like James.
Speaker 2:I talk to people for a living. What are you talking about? Don't be like James. Don't have good boundaries, don't you tell people.
Speaker 1:You don't tell people I have bad boundaries and the best thing you can do for your mental health awareness is not be like James no, I'm kidding Is to stick around and make sure that you're plugged in with this awesome resource here at Memphis. We are here to help, we are here to serve, we are here to help keep you away from James, and we are here to make sure that your mental health is adjusted in a healthy way.
Speaker 3:We do this with James so that you guys don't have to.
Speaker 1:Thanks, joey, that's all I got.
Speaker 3:All right. Well, I guess my parting thoughts, you know, in light or in honor of Mr Johnson, call up one of your buddies. If you're a guy, call up one of your buddies, wish them good night. You know, even if it's a joke, do it and see what happens. You know, tell us what happened. You know, comment and say, hey, I've reached out to my best bud of you know many years and we haven't talked in a while. And so, yeah, like, just do that. I'm going to do that myself. So I encourage everybody to do that. Yeah, take care of your mentals, take care of your physicals, take care of your financials, take care of each other. You know we're, we're all in this together, and I think there's a lot of division out there and let's just you, and let's just try to come together as humans, as people, and be kind, be kind, not nice, right, james, be kind, you got it.
Speaker 2:You got it there we go.
Speaker 3:All right, yes, I'm listening, I'm paying attention. Okay, all right, guys. Well, I appreciate your time. I really do. This is my therapy right now is talking to you guys, getting this out there into the world and just kind of shining a light on this wonderful organization and the city of Memphis, yeah, so, thank you everybody for coming to my TED talk, or our TED talk. I should say, yeah, we should do a three-way TED Talk. That would be fun to watch. All right, we're manifesting that too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, for real, for real.
Speaker 3:Wherever Ted is, where's Ted? But we're going to have a talk with Ted, all right? Well, that's it for the Mood Dudes Made Up Memphis podcast man. We just we're happy to be here. We're loving you guys and thank you so much for the support so far and this is just taking off. So thank you guys and have a great, great evening.