Day 21 𖦹 WORK

This episode is all about the setup and logistics behind serving free tea in the park. Miles and J.W. discuss the intentions of doing something like this. 

For a bit more context: In December 2022, Miles set up The Tea Stand for the first time in Maria Hernandez Park in Bushwick. They continue to serve free tea in the park once a month (and every day in April), but also at food distributions and other community events. But, as you will hear, some friction is coming up surrounding the frequency of the usual Popup in the park. 

Feel free to learn more about The Tea Stand background and common questions here. Until tomorrow!

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Day 21.

SPEAKER_01 0:02

Day 21. Free tea! 30 days of free tea in Mary Hernandez Park.

SPEAKER_02 0:17

Today's gonna be a little bit different. I'm gonna shadow Miles. See everything that goes into making the tea stand possible. How are you feeling?

SPEAKER_01 0:28

Good. I'm excited to show you the process. Miles has the keys.

SPEAKER_02 0:35

The keys to the office.

SPEAKER_01 0:38

A lot of people have the keys. I wake up at 6 30 and come back up. I have oatmeal, get dressed, read a page of my book, brush my teeth, email, do all the meditated bathroom stuff, and then I go for the same offers and tea and listen to the podcast. And then right around 10 a.m. Gotta get the cups and lids, restocked for the day. We'll get some hot water. Work is like sitting in the park for six hours and serving tea and chatting and playing and meeting my neighbors, and that's the best. There's really no complications there. That's just pure bliss. Work is also all this preparing and cleaning and whatnot. 90% of the work is biking around with a ton of stuff. And maintaining relationships. And neither of those things are fun all of the time. Like for a lot of people, I think the T-stand is like you can go low pressure, stay as long as you want, come in, come out. And there's a lot of strings attached for me. I feel like I I I really should remember that person's name from last week. And if I said I was gonna text that person a random thing, I'm gonna do that. You see someone doing something cool and inspiring, and you're like, oh my god, like that person figured it out and they have the dream life and all these things. But it's it's so romanticized. Um this is gonna be required. I am gonna have to sit down and bag tea and go through all of the motions and clean and prepare and do the tedious stuff. Um transparent do you want to get about the the money? That's always a good one.

SPEAKER_02 3:10

How much money do you have in your bank account?

SPEAKER_01 3:17

Alright, let's update the spreadsheet. Like 60k now. So spend like 40k of my savings over the past couple years. That sounds right. Um and yeah, the bleeding is just slowing, is the idea, and the hope is that it doesn't bleed out to the point where it's at whatever 15k. So the membership program is the way that we're hoping to sustain the T-stand financially. People make monthly contributions. Yeah, so altogether that is over a thousand dollars in monthly income for the T-Stand. So, yeah, and the membership program is also just like the most positive force of support and accountability in my life. That's what makes this all feel possible and worthwhile. Like every time someone signs up for the tea stand, that's a statement of I believe in what you're doing and I am willing to share my resources to keep this going. And having a hundred people sprinkled throughout that feel that way, it couldn't ask for a better, a better network of of love and support.

SPEAKER_02 4:41

Nine dollars, seventeen dollars, twenty, ten, ten, four, twelve, four, thirty-three. People make more than that in a day. In six hours for sure.

SPEAKER_01 4:53

For sure. Most people.

SPEAKER_02 4:57

Yeah, it's below minimum wage.

SPEAKER_01 4:59

Oh, oh significantly so.

SPEAKER_02 5:02

But you still have got a smile on your face. Yeah, it's about getting paid way less to be bringing neighbors together.

SPEAKER_01 5:13

It's a little bit deceiving the way that I was getting paid really well, and then every time I would tell someone my job, they would be like, Thank you so much. Like you are doing the most important work. Like, God bless you. And for a while that was enough to just be like, Yep, like getting paid good, doing important stuff, I'm a good person. Over time, thinking about the pharma industry in general, and how expensive these therapies cost to access, how much resources were required to get them through the clinical trials, and thinking about how much we pay school teachers and how much we pay nurses, and like all these other professions that are doing such amazing work. Um and just like the math, the math was not was not adding up in the bad way, you know? It's like I actually don't know if this is the best way that we as a society should be spending money. But like I think I've had a much, much more positive impact through the tea stand than I did in the biotech industry. Just gotta grab the zine off the counter.

SPEAKER_00 6:40

Let's go.

SPEAKER_02 6:41

Oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 6:46

Just gotta focus on your breathing. Yep. Now we're out. Now we're out. That's the worst part. Okay. Oh I could use a cup of tea. How about you?

SPEAKER_02 7:12

I could too.

SPEAKER_01 7:13

Yeah. I've gotten so specific with this stuff.

SPEAKER_02 7:19

Why do you think you've gotten so specific with the spacing and all that?

unknown 7:23

That feels like it's a good thing.

SPEAKER_01 7:24

Because I love it.

SPEAKER_02 7:27

Seriously though, how many tins do you have?

SPEAKER_01 7:30

Way more than what you're seeing. 50? Whoa, actually? Probably maybe more. Whoa, going for an adapt today.

SPEAKER_00 7:43

Oh yeah, you need a little clock. Will will be back?

SPEAKER_01 7:47

Countdown clock. That very dynamic is a little complicated of how much should I be factoring in other people's perspectives? Like, there is a hierarchy with the T stands. It is a project that I started and I'm the only full-time employee in air quotes.

SPEAKER_00 8:10

If you want to build a really, really strong community, you need to consistently do everything with you.

SPEAKER_01 8:18

Yeah. Like I don't think the goal is necessarily to build a really strong community.

SPEAKER_00 8:26

Really? Yeah. Okay.

SPEAKER_01 8:29

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:31

What if that's everyone else?

SPEAKER_01 8:33

Right.

SPEAKER_02 8:35

What's the goal?

SPEAKER_01 8:38

The goal is to create the spaces where connection can take place.

SPEAKER_00 8:48

I mean I I can come to the park every day and I can see the people that come to the park every day already.

SPEAKER_01 8:53

Yeah, but you can't really chat with that.

SPEAKER_00 8:55

Why not?

SPEAKER_01 8:57

Because it's awkward.

SPEAKER_00 8:59

So how is chatting with them twice a month gonna be different? I think it I think it is really different. I think you're getting your needs met. Like you're traveling around all over New York City. You're meeting hundreds of people. You know, you sitting somewhere for eight or six hours twice a month means you're gonna bump into whatever 50 people every time. Whereas the chances of me bumping into that exact same person, you know, twice a month on that exact same hour is almost zero. I said it before, but I honestly think all the other things you could drop all of them. I don't actually think that they're meeting anyone else's the web. I don't know, obviously, but like I think that most people want to make more and better friends, generally speaking. Um and to feel a sense of community and grounding in the places that they live.

SPEAKER_01 10:05

The neighborhood acquaintance connection feels like more of the like goal in my head of just like more familiar faces, more people that you're saying hi to on the street, not necessarily these like long-term relationships, but like that is also important. You're like building community, you know. Someone like that.

SPEAKER_02 10:34

It's probably hard to hear JW's words over there. Because it's putting a spotlight on what you're doing and what you're not doing. Yeah. But it's only because he cares, you know.

SPEAKER_00 10:51

I don't I don't love being that critiquey. It doesn't feel good. Like I'm not like, good job. I'm like, ouch! Really? Yeah, it fucking hurts. Just not telling you all that? I did not enjoy telling you that. Oh. I'm not happy to tell you that. I'm telling you that because you're asking. Uh-huh. Well, thank you.

SPEAKER_01 11:14

I wanna hear it. I know it's hard. Alright, we're we got it close. What time is it? Yeah. Uh 557.

SPEAKER_02 11:29

554.

SPEAKER_01 11:34

Oh wow. Five.

SPEAKER_02 11:37

Three, two, one, the tea stand is closed. No tea for anyone.

unknown 11:45

No more tea.

SPEAKER_02 11:46

Okay, how are you feeling? The day's done.

SPEAKER_01 11:48

Cold. Hungry. Crazy.

SPEAKER_02 11:55

Okay, and tell me about tomorrow.

SPEAKER_01 11:58

Earth Day.

SPEAKER_02 11:58

Earth Day.

SPEAKER_01 12:00

Secret. Secret host.

SPEAKER_02 12:01

Secret host. I don't know who it is. I'll just say tomorrow's day might be full of love.

SPEAKER_01 12:11

Full of love.