Leigh Okies and Vawn Taylor
Recorded
March 25, 2022
Archived
March 25, 2022
47:55 minutes
0:00 / 0:00
Id:
ddv001521
Description
Leigh Okies (47) and her One Small Step conversation partner, Vawn Taylor (40), talk about their families both growing up and their families now, Leigh's work as a graphic designer, Vawn's work as a flight nurse, disparities in land taxes in Nebraska where Vawn lives, and how to make and sustain community relationships.Subject Log / Time Code
LO talks about a similarity between herself and VT and her upbringing with a loving family in Portland but then her parents got divorced.
LO talks about her sobriety for 20 years and how going to AA has shaped her experience of being around and talking to people who are different than her.
VT talks about being born in Nebraska and where she grew up, but how she moved around a lot and how that’s helped her fit in with a lot of different people.
VT says she paid for college from doing speech and debate and from her military career.
VT talks about how she’s learned to deal with the harder things that life has thrown her and talks about how she got into nursing.
VT talks about having a 6 week old.
LO talks about why she wanted to do this recording. And asks VT why she wanted to do it.
VT talks about watching Dave on 60 minutes and hearing about One Small Step.
LO talks about being aware that she is in a bubble regarding her social and work circles and wanting to take responsibility for the bubble she’s created.
VT says her relationship to politics is how it affects her job, family, and farm, and talks about how her property taxes don’t go back into her rural communities but go into bigger Nebraskan schools.
LO talks about the similarities in being under resourced in Oakland schools and the under resourcing VT is talking about in Nebraska.
LO and VT talk about finances and taxes and running a business. VT asks LO if there are things that are a hurdle in her industry.
LO talks about the gig economy and how it affects her business and business in general in California.
VT talks more about land, property, and seed taxes.
VT talks about what being a flight nurse means- and LO says VT is a hardcore person, VT says it is her dream job.
LO talks about the healthcare system and wondering how the healthcare system should serve folks who make choices vs taking care of people who are vulnerable.
VT talks about having a larger understanding and definition of family- not just blood relatives, and wonders how people make those connections.
LO talks about how in some nordic country they give prescriptions for older people to go salsa dancing for their mental health.
LO asks VT if she feels she has those connections where she lives. VT talks about her membership at the local Legion and other connections.
LO says in SF she never met her neighbors but that in Oakland she’s always meeting her neighbors.
VT talks about her hopes for across the country.
LO says she wants more community in her life.
LO says she has family members that she doesn’t agree with politically but has deep love for and asks VT if she has similar relationships in her family.
Participants
- Leigh Okies
- Vawn Taylor