Jessica Bauman and Alicia Murie

00:00 Hello. I'm doing good. Good.

00:03 I'm Jessica. It's nice to meet you.

00:06 I'm Alicia.

00:13 I'm just looking at the notes of what? Like, they have a lot of guidelines for how this conversation should go. I'm like, what am I supposed to be doing? How's your day been? Let's just start with normal.

00:27 I don't remember the guidelines. It's been a while since I've done this, so I'll go by the guidelines you got because I don't have them in front.

00:38 Have you done one of these before?

00:41 Yeah, I've done one of these before.

00:44 Oh, good for you, then. You're way more on top of it than I am.

00:50 It's been over a year since I've done it.

00:53 Cool. I didn't even realize it had been happening for that long. That's awesome.

00:59 It's been a while, but the last person I talked to, I don't think they were younger. I think they were older than me, too. And the way opposite of the ends spectrum from where I was, like, belief and stuff. And I just get a kick out of talking to people that are, like, different beliefs than. I mean, I'm totally with you and just getting talk. And there was actually some stuff we agreed on and some stuff we differed on, and we just common ground, and we actually didn't argue. It was just a mellow conversation.

01:45 That's fantastic. That's awesome. Yeah, I feel like this thing, and.

01:53 That'S what I miss about this country.

01:55 Yeah.

01:55 I'm like, where did the 90s go? That's what you were able to do in the 90s.

02:03 It's so funny.

02:04 I can't do that in thousand two.

02:05 The. Yeah. I hadn't really thought about it in terms of time. Although, of course, that makes total sense that it wasn't always this way. So that means there was a moment where we could really have conversations more easily. I hadn't really named it that way before, but that makes total sense.

02:29 Um, and people are going by, oh, it's Gen X or it's boomers, or it's zenials. And I'm going, I'm a zennial. And they're like, no, it's millennials. And this. I'm going, okay, if you're just going millennials and above, you're just a crap. You don't know how to think for yourself. Well.

02:55 And I feel like all those categories make it really hard to. It's hard to figure out. Connect.

03:07 It's called get over yourself and let's just talk. Totally, which is why I like talking to my age group from those that were born in 81 or older, because we don't give a damn and we just want to talk.

03:27 I know it does feel like.

03:33 I.

03:33 Have some real compassion for why young people especially feel like they need to have some guardrails about the way people talk. But I also feel like if you police everybody all the time, it makes people self conscious, and then you can't really connect.

03:56 Yeah. My husband was born in 75, and so we're able to talk about stuff, and he's also full blood native american, so it's really fun because one thing that we did when we first started dating was because of the fact I didn't want to offend the tribes. Even though the DNA ran out by my grandpa, my grandparents, the DNA was out. They were the last ones. By my dad, time he was born, there was no indian DNA. But growing up, we knew our heritage, the timeline, and all that stuff, which was really cool. And so I was able to talk to elders and all that and get some history and just some common knowledge to the ones I met at powwows and stuff. And I went to powwows with my husband. We were dating, and I met with elders, and I got to talk to them and the chiefs and just get the actual facts about what my grandparents had taught me about what them and their parents and further on, the racist and God awful stuff they went through and everything, and they explained it better for me and the stuff that I knew from history and it further explained stuff I went through growing up that was racist.

05:34 Oh, interesting.

05:35 Can you tell me more about that growing up? And I didn't really understand why people made fun of me for being cherokee and for being, like, my skin going light and then going really dark in the summer. My skin changed color before I got on medicine. That just made me real light and everything, and I didn't quite understand it. And then my grandma, before she died, when she told me about the racism and stuff and then talking to tribal elders, they made it a little more bearable to understand and everything. Because of my short term memory, I don't remember everything, but it became a little more bearable and easier to understand everything I went through. And the beauty of it is the people I graduated with, I grew up with. In my graduating class, I received either an apology or just them saying, either I'm sorry I put you through that or them just treating me differently after my brain injury, or they just leave me alone.

06:57 That's amazing. Can I ask you about your brain injury. Is that something that you.

07:04 I don't mind it because one thing that got me excited was, I think it said on your biography you're a director.

07:14 Yeah, I'm a theater director.

07:16 Kicked it extreme because I've written comic books and I've got a publisher in Arizona wanting to publish and I got to raise money for it. I got to get a job and I've got a podcast. I got to get everything going and stuff, but I want to get published and stuff. And then they're wanting me to get, like, there's been. People want me to get my brain injury, like, sorry about my brain injury and stuff. And I'm going, it's going to take a lot of work. I don't remember all what. Because I have like a five second memory sometimes. And when I was 16, after my brother's got brothers or my brother, I don't know if Bryce went on the band trip as well, but Josh, I know he went on the trip. After him and his classmates got back from the trip, dad suggested I take the two girls home. And one of them had known me from dance studio that I danced at, finished dancing at 17 years and was an assistant dance teacher two of those years when I finished dancing there. But she had known me from dancing there. And they both knew me from when I was also a lifeguard, swimming instructor. And then they both knew me from being a cheerleading babysitting several the kids my brother's age. There was like ten different plus ways they knew me. I was a role model for the kids and everything. And after I took the last girl home, I came up to intersection where there had been like eleven or twelve accidents there that year. And you've seen horror movies where there's like a steep hill incline and it's like bright, bright, bright sunny to one side. It was that sunny that day. And I looked to that way and I couldn't see anything. Pulled out, paused and thought I saw something my way. Slammed on the gas pedal to go straight. Didn't make it. The truck pulling a trailer full of wood got there in 2 seconds and hit me at 60 miles an hour. Oh, my God. Slamming the driver's door halfway in the middle of the driver's wheel and breaking the bomb like their ribs and slamming my brain against both sides. Skull at 60. Now, nothing happened to the guys. I don't blame them or anything. Ironically enough, one of my good friends I grew up in dance with, I knew from dance that was an assistant dance teacher, Nikki. She was good friends with both the guys. And when they were in college, I got to actually deliver messages to them back and forth.

10:19 Wow.

10:20 And I found out the driver came to see me when I was in ICU. He talked to my mom and that tell they blamed themselves and everything, and I got to tell Nikki to let them know that I didn't blame them or anything, stuff like that. So it was real healing for me to deliver messages back and forth to the guys.

10:47 Yeah, I'm sure. Have you stayed in touch with them at all? This was a long time ago.

10:52 No, I've never met them. It was just message back forth through it with my friend.

10:56 Yeah.

10:57 And they were like two, three years older than me. One graduated in 97, the other 96. It was like 96, 95 or something like that. 97, 96, something like that.

11:16 And was this like, do you still live in the community that you grew up in?

11:22 Oh, hell no. Literally hell no. I tried to kill myself to get out of that town, and that was. I drove that day, but I had tried before and after my accident to kill myself to get out of that town. And after my accident was because of my PTSD that nobody would acknowledge that I was actually developing. And I didn't get diagnosed with PTSD until 2015, and my doctors were upset I wasn't diagnosed sooner. And fortunately, I am in counseling, and the last five months I put myself in counseling because I wanted to understand my emotions and get my PTSD in control. And from August to the end of somewhere, mid July, mid August to the end, close, mid November, I got my PTSD under control and understand my emotions.

12:26 Congratulations. That's great.

12:28 And then next year I am going to work on the relationships with my family because that is one of the key things that gets affected with traumatic brain injury after traumatic brain injury and survivors is the relationship they have with their family. And I don't ever want that to get affected and everything because of how protective I am of my brothers, and I want a stronger relationship with my parents, and so that's something I'm going to work on in the new year.

13:02 That's fantastic. So did you grow up somewhere else in Oklahoma, or where did you grow up?

13:10 No, it's in Wellston.

13:13 I'm an east coast girl. Is that also in Oklahoma?

13:17 It's in Wellston, Oklahoma. Ok. Where are you from?

13:23 I'm originally from Washington, DC, and I've lived after I graduated from college for the whole rest of my life. I've lived in New York City. So I'm like, east.

13:32 Oh, my gosh, that's where my buddy Josh Holland lives. Oh, yeah. He has a fitness center and he has a podcast. I don't know if he still runs the fitness center, but he has a podcast.

13:51 Fantastic. Well, New York is a gigantic city, so I haven't met him.

13:57 Well, I figured you wouldn't have, because he goes around and does all sorts of stuff and everything, but he's a.

14:09 My one connection to Oklahoma is that my roommate, my year of college was from Enid, Oklahoma. So I have old stories that I remember her telling me of her growing.

14:23 Up east of seawater.

14:28 Yeah, I never went to visit her there or anything, but I remember her telling stories about going out and partying on oil. Derek, when she was in high school, I think there was not a lot to do in Enid, Oklahoma, if you.

14:45 Were a high school student back in the day. I don't think there was, but I think there's a little more now.

14:51 There might be, um, looking at what they. What they recommend talking about. So one of the things you do is you're a teacher.

15:14 No, I used to be a substitute. Now I'm not. I'm just a podcast trying to build my podcast. Mondays, I talk about traumatic brain injury, which I've lived with for 26 years. Fridays to talk about disabilities, disability issues, politics, advocacy. And I actually show how to draft legislation, which I have actually done, and I've gotten the legislation I've drafted, either adopted or passed, and the governor vetoed the one. I got it passed, and I am not going to get into what the governor here.

15:59 I'm curious about what that process was of not having to get, but writing the bill and advocating for it.

16:11 If you want to check out the whole. Actually what I do, instead of already having the bill written, I actually will write the bill as I go when I do the YouTube on Fridays. If you go to YouTube.com and the username is TBI Raiders is the one you can check out. And that's where I do my podcasts. And in the future, I'm wanting to start on Wednesdays highlighting businesses, sponsors. I've got a Patreon page. I've got to get sponsors and stuff, or disability organizations or TBI, traumatic brain injury organizations and start highlighting, spotlighting them and everything. So it's about getting more about the issues since we've got more of people going, oh, no, we're more important. No, we're more important because when one of the former state lawmakers who had a disability was in office, he actually told me why disability bills weren't getting passed at state capitol. And it had to do with the fact that people were saying, no, we're more important, or no, we will do.

17:33 Different kinds of disabilities. Like people were working across purposes, no.

17:48 Okay. The whole disability groups as to why any disability issue legislation, as to why they wouldn't get passed, it had to do with. Because whether it be teachers or like oil or whatever issue going, no, we're more important, no, we got to do this now. We get to do that. And it's like, dude, anyone and everyone's got a disability, you got to do this. I've been to Washington, DC to represent Oklahoma youth with disabilities. I've met people who've worked from the first Bush administration, two of the Clinton administrations, the first and second administration for Clinton, the first administration for Bush. And then I haven't been back to DC for any of the disability conventions. So I've been to DC before. I just not wandered out because I didn't know anyone. So I was like, I'm not going out and about, I don't know anyone. And I called the state lawmaker, told him that what had been going on at the conference so he could know, to tell the lawmakers. I was like, I'm not wandering out because I don't know anyone. He goes, that's a smart choice. I was like.

19:06 Do you like sort of the experience of talking to politicians?

19:11 Oh, my gosh. I have been doing it since ice, my first year of college. I love it to pieces. I am 42 now. Love it to pieces.

19:24 Wow.

19:25 I gotten to meet two, not only, well, three governors, and the three governors, I've gotten to work closely with two of them and serve on committees and councils for the state.

19:46 Wow, that's fantastic.

19:49 And when I did and when I was in college, I would actually write papers on TBI and specifically what was going on, like employment, education and everything, and send it to the governor and then the hierarchy and state legislature and everything, and then to Oklahoma congressional, various Oklahoma congressional leaders and stuff like Frank Lucas. He's known me since I was in college. I met him when I was in college. And Tom Cole when he first ran and everything. Here's a funny story on Tom Cole when he first ran and he came to I was, and I started grilling his butt on disability issues. And TBI, my advisor for the college Republican Party started getting on to me, started going, blah, blah, blah, blah, whatever. Tom was actually really nice and started defending me and not only defended me, he started addressing every single one of my, huh. And started pointing out and then from then on out, anytime I have contacted Cole Lucas Langford office and tell them I've been able to hear back and get information on stuff.

21:24 And I'm curious whether you find that disability issues, whether partisan politics affects. It seems like that might be a partisan politics outside of partisan.

21:41 Partisan politics does affect, and it's annoying as ever. And people are like, partisan politics does not affect. It helps. I'm going, partisan politics does not affect. It actually will kill those of us in the disability community if you do not watch it because it's going to affect our health. It's going to affect the way we live, the way we're able to do stuff and what we can and can't do.

22:07 And what are the like, I'm curious how the partisan lines sort of map onto the disability issues. Do you find, like, one party is more responsive or. No, nobody's responsive.

22:27 Okay. You got the republican party and you've got to toe the line. You got the democratic party who says this, this and this and this. You've got to watch it with the Democratic Party. Seriously. I don't care how liberal they are and everything and how much they say they do this, this and this. There are good ones in both parties because I have been able to find ones in both parties because I am someone who can work across party lines. But there are straight up con artists in both parties. And I'll straight up call AOC a con artist, and that is just from the way I see their behavior and the way they talk, the way they come across on tv and the way they portray themselves.

23:21 And what do you think her con is? I'm curious.

23:26 It's the way she comes off and acting like, oh, I'm all this, and, oh, you got to do this, or she's more important and she acts like she's God, her and the other whatever what you call it, of the democratic party, those five whatever women, the squad. The squad. I'll tell them the same thing. I'll tell Marjorie Taylor Green. They can shove it at their need. All right. MTV used to have a show. I forgot the, I forgot if there was a hip hop group or a rap group that one of the guys, one of the black artists, had this show on MTV that, crud, I can see the name, but I can't think of it. Anyways, had this show on MTV where took some girls and taught them proper manners and everything, took both sides of republican and democratic party, them young little millennials, and put them in that little mannerism school. Because even though I will say this, even though Nancy Pelosi noise me like hell, whether what she says, her mannerisms, what she does, or whatever else, at least she knows how to get stuff done. She knows how to work across party lines. How to work across party lines. She knows how to be polite and she knows how to be respectful. Yes, she can normally as hell, and I can whatever and stuff, but I will respect her for that because she is an elder and she has probably been through some stuff that my grandparents have taught me about that I don't want to know about. So I'm not going to act like, and like I saw on, oh, I forgot where it was. I don't know if it was on YouTube or one of the, uh, I think it was he, the former House speaker Kevin McCarthy. He said that his two girls looked up to her. I think he said his two girls looked up to her. Think that's what he said?

26:36 That surprises me, that he would say that publicly.

26:40 Well, whatever day it was, I think he had shook her hand or gave her hug or something, but he had said something really nice about Nancy and said that his girls looked up to her and said something really nice about Nancy to show the fact that he really doesn't care about politics or whatever it was going on that day.

27:10 I'm not sure that I believe that. I'm glad that.

27:14 Not the part about not really caring about politics, but is willing to cross the party line or something, whatever they were willing to show. But his point being his two girls looked. I guess the point was his two girls looked up to Nancy and he said some really nice things about Nancy.

27:38 Wow.

27:39 And everything.

27:39 That's kind of shocking.

27:42 I forgot where it was. I saw know, I don't know if it was on YouTube. It was either on YouTube or on tv. I saw it.

27:56 I wonder whether he's. Cause Congress is in recess and he's leaving at the end of the year, so maybe now he can say stuff like that. He doesn't have anything to lose.

28:13 That's probably why he's saying it.

28:15 Yeah. Do you pay a lot of attention to national politics?

28:26 Sometimes. When my dad was still enlisted in the army, I paid more attention than I do now. I'm still involved in disability stuff and drafting legislation and everything. People are like, so would you draft legislation and send it to Congress? I'm like, no, because they have their head up their asses and they don't know what to do with it and I don't trust them. So, no, I wouldn't. I'll send it to the state because I have a little more wee way. And now the stuff I'm doing with everything I'm working on sending to the tribes and stuff, and cooler part is I've spoken with two of the tribes and I've spoken with one of the tribes vocal rehab. And potentially next month I will be speaking to the twelve VOC rehab chapters, whatever it's called, here in Oklahoma. Forget how many big organizations there are across the nation for the tribes, but I'll be speaking to the ones here in oklahoma, or chapters or organization, whatever, and speaking to them about creating Rev up, which is to help get those with disabilities registered to vote.

30:06 Oh, that's fantastic.

30:08 Help becoming part of Rev up and helping getting a chapter started, because I'm actually on the advisory committee for Rev up, which is a national thing. And there are.

30:27 I want to check them out.

30:29 There are 20 chapters in the US, I believe, and I am going to be working on getting a chapter started in Oklahoma here this next year. So since I am no longer serving on developmental disability council or I've served on national committees, councils the last 20 some years, and since I'm pretty much done with a lot of that stuff, time for me to get started on doing some other stuff.

31:12 Good for you.

31:13 To get started helping the local people.

31:17 It's interesting. I don't know how you felt about this movie, but a lot of my images of disability organizing is from the movie Crip camp.

31:29 What movie is that? I don't know if.

31:31 Oh, my God. Have you not seen this movie?

31:33 No. That's why I've got a notebook here so I can take notes because since I saw it from the notes, you were a director. I was like, I want to take notes.

31:47 It's a documentary.

31:48 How do you spell.

31:49 It's called Crip Camp. C-R-I-P. Crip camp.

31:54 Crip camp.

31:56 And it's partly about like the first half of it, I guess, is about this camp for people with disabilities in the. Can't remember exactly what the time frame is, and it's just like a regular summer camp, but people with all kinds of different disabilities were there, just like having a normal camp experience, but in a context where their disabilities were addressed in meaningful ways so that they could do all of the normal camp things. But then the second half of the movie follows a couple of the people who had met each other at this camp and then went on to be incredibly effective activists. And there's like a whole chunk of it that's about sitting in. I can't remember now whether it was like a state thing in California or a city thing in Francisco, but where they took over some government building and for a long stretch of time to make some policy change happen. And they're just such badass activists.

33:15 Sounds like it.

33:18 It's a really inspiring movie.

33:21 I thought, well, I'm going to have to check that one out.

33:25 I'm pretty sure it's on Netflix or it's not going to be hard to find. I can't remember what.

33:30 Well, I don't have a Netflix account anymore, but I'll definitely go check it out.

33:35 Yeah, I'm sure you can find it in a library or something. I'm sure you could be able to find it. But it was very inspiring, and it definitely left me with. Are you there?

33:48 Yeah, I'm hearing you.

33:50 Okay? Your face froze on my thing.

33:53 Oh, no.

33:56 But I definitely came away from seeing that movie with just, like, a sense of deep admiration for the disability rights activists and how effective that community is.

34:11 Yes. It's called don't mess with us. We get very passionate. Yeah, we get very passionate. And we will get motivated.

34:21 That's amazing. So let's see. They say, ask each other about the values that guide your life, which seems like an enormous question, but I'm curious if you have an answer to it. Values that guide your.

34:39 Well, pretty much the value is the one that my friend Ginger, that wrote my senior book and everything that's helped guide me through everything. And she wrote my senior book, never say never, even when you think you've taken your last step. So that's gotten me through every struggle that I have been through. Anytime I've come across something, I'm like, yeah, I want to get through it. I'm like, nothing's worse than facing death. I'm like, this is not bad. And then this summer, I got the best news from my rehab doctor. And then I even got better news when I got a phone call. But the best news this summer was when he told me that I made a full recovery from my left right traumatic brain injury and that I would pretty much, okay, granted, I'm going to have side effects for the rest of my life, but they're going to be at a minimal and everything. But as far as new medicines, anything like that, no. But as far as he was concerned, I'm going to be able to live a normal life because I've found a way how to get back to like I used to be. And then I got a call to find out that my rehab doctor is going to close his office. But here's the cool thing. I do not need a new rehab doctor. I get to stick with my primary doctor and she's going to manage my medicines because of the fact I'm doing so well and everything.

36:27 That's fantastic.

36:29 I'm going. I succeeded everything. And my doctor's nurse said, everything you have ever wanted since you were 16. Everything I have ever wanted since 90. See, 97, when I came out of my coma, I've gotten. I've achieved.

36:55 That's amazing.

36:56 I've been happily married since 2011. I've got a wonderful husband, and we're going to be looking at adopting in the new year, so it's just peachy. I've got three wonderful nieces, two wonderful brothers, so life is grand.

37:17 That's fantastic. How wonderful.

37:21 Brain injury. No brain injury. I really could care less because of the fact God has allowed me to have normal days to where I can actually live my day, or multiple days followed by each other to where I can go, just like I was. Like I was before the accident and the people who knew me before the accident, especially those that I grew up with in dance. As far as they're concerned, nothing's different. I'm still the same person I was before the accident. They're like, there's a few things different, but as far as they're concerned, I haven't changed. I'm happy.

38:06 That's fantastic. It sounds like you've done a lot of work to get to that place.

38:14 Yeah. A lot of researching on TBI, a lot of soul searching, a lot of counseling and going to counsel in different places and found the right counselor. And she's certified in cognitive behavioral therapy, which is what I really need. And she's the perfect counselor I've got.

38:45 It's very inspiring to hear you talk about sort of the ways that you have built a life after your accident. It's quite amazing, honest.

39:00 Part is, I can still do close to everything I did prior to the accident. Okay, granted, I got to get new clarinet roots, but I can still play clarinet. I can still sing, I can still dance. I can still write. I can still write poems. I can still write stories. I can still write song lyrics. I can still do okay, I can't play sports, but I really could care less about that. But all the main essential things I really love doing that were artistic and, like, entertainment value and stuff, I still do. So nothing's really changed in my life. I still have what's important to me. I still have what's important. And the really bonus part is I like talking to people who are older than me because gives me insight on things I can do that can actually help me with my recovery as I get older and more wisdom and on things to not get so frustrated at myself, because seeing that, oh, I haven't been through worse stuff. There's people that's been through worse things than me. Okay, I'll shut up. Like my grandma telling me about the Great Depression and all that stuff and the wars that my families have fought in, and I'm like, okay, I'll shut up. So I'm happy.

40:42 That's fantastic. It's very inspiring to hear you talk. Do you feel like I'm kind of curious about the politics of the community that you're in? Do you feel like you're kind of like most of the people around you kind of think about the world the same way you do, or politics of the community?

41:19 I feel like I live in Congress, literally, where I live. It feels like Congress because of the republican party and the democratic party here in Stillwater. It feels like the hall of, uh.

41:33 Oh, that doesn't sound very.

41:36 There's. At times, it feels like the hall of Congress. And I'm like, I want to tell people, shut the hell up.

41:43 I'm like, are there Democrats? I think of.

41:46 Oh, trust me.

41:47 Such republican state.

41:49 There are strong armed Republicans that have literally their heads shoved up Donald Trump's ass. There's some genuinely moderate, decent hearted Republicans that can stand, but there's some Republicans that have their head. Shut up. The former president's ass. Those I cannot stand. Trust me. I can start naming who they are.

42:20 If any of them have a national profile, I'm sure I've heard of them.

42:24 Oh, they don't have a national profile, but I'm already thinking of their pictures, pictures of the people. And then there are the democratic ones. The former state rep, he is the vice president for the state democratic party. He can shove his head up the ass. Because when my PTSD was at the headwears and I was wanting to divorce my husband, and it had to do with my PTSD, nothing to do with my husband. It had to do with my PTSD and things going through my head. PTSD and all. Corey was telling me some shit. He was telling me things that I want to hear, apparently, and this, this and this. Said he'd help me. Da da da da. Well, he didn't win the election, doesn't follow through, and he keeps letting on that I'm his friend and whatever else. And then on Instagram, when I went and asked if I was his friend. No. Flat out told me no. And he's one of those, okay, you know those politicians that will go and bitch about the other party, about how two faced they are and how they do this, this and this and how too faced and how liars and how they'll do this or that and they won't. Whatever. Yeah, that's him. Because he would be doing it when he's campaigning for Trish and he's doing that. And I'm going, okay. Why don't you take a look in the mirror? That's the only thing I'm thinking. Mom's shutting up it.

44:42 Yeah. It does seem like that kind of manipulative behavior is definitely not confined to one party or the other. They're all capable of it.

44:59 But I can say this about the Republican Party, that the ones I've encountered on here in this county, they won't do that. They'll straight up let you know if they'd like you or not by their behavior and the way they talk to you and everything.

45:15 So at least they're being honest. Yeah, at least they're straightforward about it.

45:20 They're straight up forward. The ones in the pink Kelly democratic side, they're a little manipulative.

45:29 Interesting.

45:32 So that's a little more where I've got a little more respect for republican versus democratic. But I'm like.

45:45 Well, it sounds like. It sounds like you really value people being direct and honest about what they think and what they mean and that that's more important, maybe, than what party they're affiliated with.

46:04 Exactly. Which is why I don't vote straight party line. Interesting. I think I've probably voted once in my lifetime, straight vote, party line. And I wish I hadn't. I mean, I didn't regret voting who I voted for, but I just wish I hadn't put straight party line. I still would have voted straight party line, but I just wish I hadn't put straight party line and everything. I really could care less about that. But people are. People forget the party.

46:39 Yeah, I agree. I completely agree. I mean, I'm pretty much a lifelong Democrat, but there are some Democrats that I do not feel good about, like the mayor.

46:57 They truly are the donkey's ass.

47:05 Yeah, if you want to put it straightforward.

47:08 They truly prove they're the donkey's ass.

47:10 Yes, I'm with you there. Well, it looks like they're going to cut us off pretty soon.

47:23 Okay, so as far as director, in terms of directing, is it movies you've directed or films.

47:31 Mostly plays. I'm starting in little ways to like, I directed a short film last summer and I'm starting to learn a little more about film and video, but it's mostly been plays.

47:46 Are any of them on YouTube?

47:50 No. I have little clips of things on YouTube, but nothing longer than like, I think that we'll still have our chat through storycore. I can email you some link. Or I can send you some links.

48:12 Well, I'll give you my email. I'll give you my email. My email is osu [email protected] okay.

48:28 I'm in the process of redoing my website, but I promised it will be done by the end of the year, so I might wait until my new website is up. But I'll send you some things that have some videos so you can see a little bit of my work. That'd be fun. Cool.

48:50 That would be completely awesome. Well, it's been really lovely.

48:58 Sorry.

48:58 If there's anything ever I can do to help promote your work, your films or plays, like on my podcast, let me know, and I would love to help.

49:10 Oh, fantastic. Thank you so much. I really appreciate that.

49:14 I would love to do it, like, on one of my Wednesday shows.

49:17 That's great. Well, it was really a pleasure to talk to you, Ali. I really enjoyed it.

49:24 Me too.

49:27 And I hope you have great holidays and a happy new Year.

49:31 Merry Christmas and happy New Year.

49:33 Thank you. You too. All right, bye.