Day 15 𖦹 TREE

Day 15! An episode mostly about all kinds of trees.

The second half of this episode is largely inspired by an audio piece called A Tree Is Not A Forest by Ray Pang. Before you do anything, listen to that piece because it is utterly fantastic. 

Until tomorrow. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_05 0:01

Day 15. Free tea.

SPEAKER_02 0:14

30 days of free tea in Mary Hernandez Park.

SPEAKER_05 0:18

Jose's already at the tea stand, so that's how I know it's gonna be a good day.

SPEAKER_07 0:25

Day 15! That way! Perfect. So there's two cold options. There's a chrysanthemum on puer, and then there's also a cinnamon apple.

SPEAKER_04 0:38

Give me the one that you like. Ooh, okay. I got you. Cold or hot?

unknown 0:43

Okay.

SPEAKER_04 0:43

Universe is watching you, you remember that. Okay, you're gonna put energy in here, and God is gonna give you that. Universe always gives me whatever I have today, it's all been I left my home, my everything for universe. Yeah. And now I work, whatever it told me, I go. What's trying to help others? Mimi. Mimi. The universe is looking out for you too, Mimi. Yeah, he they are. They love me. I love them. Thank you so much. Have a fantastic day and stay blessed. Stay blessed. See you guys.

SPEAKER_01 1:14

So simple. Just so simple. Nothing about it, just some tea.

SPEAKER_04 1:24

No, no, no.

SPEAKER_00 1:28

Everybody has a story here, whether you're a native here or you've just been here for like I don't know, like six months. Everybody has a story.

SPEAKER_04 1:37

That's what makes it bush for you. You're gonna love it. Because you're doing this. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 1:46

I never get tired of living in this area because there's always something new, but then it still holds that that same old school kind of feel to it. It's kind of like a GTA almost. What do you mean by that? Yeah, because it's like you see you do see the same people doing the same thing every day, right?

SPEAKER_01 2:11

Anybody say something, you take a picture, you show me, and I'll hunt them down. We don't need cops. Thank you, Tree. I'll hunt them down and find them.

SPEAKER_04 2:17

We don't need cops. I'm from the neighborhood.

SPEAKER_02 2:20

Alright, peace. To meet him for literally four years. Really? It just happened. That's incredible.

SPEAKER_06 2:29

So you met Tree. Tree?

SPEAKER_02 2:32

Tree.

SPEAKER_06 2:33

The speaker man.

SPEAKER_02 2:35

The famed speaker man of Maria Hernandez Park. Which is all that I've really known him as for the entire time I've lived here. I I gotta think he he might be the single most recognizable person in Maria Hernandez Park. Partially because he plays music so loud that if he is in the park, you know he's in the park.

SPEAKER_00 3:03

He plays, he has a certain genre, he'll play the same exact song for a certain period of time.

SPEAKER_02 3:17

And yeah, he said that he's the protector of this park, and if anyone gives me trouble, just show him a photo of the perpetrator and he'll take care of it. So I feel very protected. Which is also kind of crazy because I've definitely given him some waves and smiles, and I've never had it reciprocated. So I've had this narrative in my head of like, this guy does not fuck with the tea stand. Like he's been here so long, and he's like seeing this white guy serving tea, and it's like, yeah, there's just some kind of dissonance and dislike there, which I like I I would understand and respect, but it was just in my head, like we were talking about all of those judgments that don't have any real basis. Well, I don't know, maybe maybe originally that's what he thought it was, and then just with enough consistency over the years, he started to see it in a different light. But it's like the longer you're here and the more you're paying attention, it's like I'm seeing Mr. Lee and Jaime approaching the tea stand now. It's like all of the things that would just be part of the background become the foreground. It's like the same thing as knowing the names of the plant life. It's like you wouldn't really care that this tree is that or that or that, but when you have a relationship with it, all of a sudden it becomes important and it becomes a source of meaning for you.

SPEAKER_01 4:40

That's not a sparrow. What is that? Ziggy, Ziggy. Right in this branch closest to us.

SPEAKER_03 4:45

Is it a female goldfinch?

SPEAKER_07 4:46

Maybe, yes. What are you all doing at?

SPEAKER_03 4:49

Wait, I can't see. Oh yeah, that's a female goldfinch. Female goldfinch. Yeah. Yeah! I knew it.

SPEAKER_02 4:57

Shout out, tree. Shout out tree. And it's like so like I feel protected by the trees in the first place. Like, I'm counting down the minutes until I get some shade from this linden tree right here. And so now there's another another tree in my life that is protecting protecting me.

SPEAKER_07 5:16

If you could ask a tree questions and it would answer, what would you ask?

SPEAKER_02 5:23

I think I would just want to ask, like, how are you? I would want to ask if they're like happy being here in Maria Hernandez Park. I would want to see if they're like okay with their place in the world. What changes have they observed in the neighborhood over the years? And how does it affect them?

SPEAKER_03 5:55

When was the first time you felt the sun?

SPEAKER_02 6:00

Are you walked on a lot?

SPEAKER_03 6:02

Or do you remember your first time meeting a human?

SPEAKER_02 6:05

Does it feel way different without your leaves?

SPEAKER_05 6:08

Are you okay being so still all the time?

SPEAKER_02 6:13

Do you have feelings?

SPEAKER_06 6:15

Does it tickle you in the window? Dances between your branches.

SPEAKER_03 6:21

What does it feel like when a bird chooses you to make a nest?

SPEAKER_04 6:24

Are you talking to each other?

SPEAKER_03 6:26

What are your first memories?

SPEAKER_01 6:27

I think about the passage of time.

SPEAKER_02 6:32

Does it bother you when you see someone vulnerable or in trouble?

SPEAKER_03 6:42

Do you feel yourself attracted? Does it feel like morning stretches? You know, or like does it feel like doing yoga, or is it just when you grow an inch when you're a kid and you don't realize once you say that a tree?

SPEAKER_07 7:09

You guys love the tree? Yeah, they do.

SPEAKER_05 7:11

Oh cheers today fifteen. Woo! Day fifteen.