MerryJoy Hoyt and Sally Blazar

[00:00] MERRYJOY HOYT: We need to start. That was our practice run. You can read like.

[00:03] SALLY BLAZAR: Oh, I see.

[00:05] SPEAKER C: So.

[00:05] SALLY BLAZAR: Oh, yeah. And then, then there are the questions after you press start recording.

[00:10] SPEAKER C: Yeah.

[00:11] SALLY BLAZAR: Okay.

[00:12] MERRYJOY HOYT: Yeah, we met. So we need to read it again. So let me do again. Let's see.

[00:20] SPEAKER C: Ah.

[00:23] MERRYJOY HOYT: I've lived in Boston area.

[00:24] SALLY BLAZAR: This is Sally.

[00:25] MERRYJOY HOYT: I've lived in the Boston area all my life and feel very fortunate that most of my family have. Have as well. I retired two years ago from college teaching, which I loved. I loved interacting with the students and sparking their thinking. And years ago from college, oh wait a minute, and years in growth, learning from them. I've been pleasantly surprised at how much I've been loving your tireman as well. Both Buddhism and Judaism are important to me as ways of understanding life. A lifelong Democrat, I have gotten more progressive as I've aged. Okay, your turn.

[01:06] SALLY BLAZAR: My turn. This is Merry Joy. I am the third of seven growing up in Wisconsin, which is why I'm an avid Packer fan, a passion that has followed me to all the places I have lived. Most of my worldview is shaped by my Christian faith. Caring for God's creation is important to me, but caring for his children takes higher precedent. Being an adoptive parent out of the foster system gives me an interesting political perspective. I've been married for 33 years with three sons, two of whom entered biracial marriages two years ago. My son's marriages occurred in 2023. After growing up in Wisconsin, I have lived outside of Boston, Dallas, and live in Pennsylvania the longest. Since 2002.

[01:59] MERRYJOY HOYT: Well done. I like the way you amended it, you know?

[02:06] SALLY BLAZAR: After hearing you, I thought I would do that.

[02:09] MERRYJOY HOYT: That was nice of you. Thank you. Because I was just saying, yeah, you did a good job.

[02:14] SALLY BLAZAR: Thanks.

[02:15] MERRYJOY HOYT: So why do you want to do this? We'll start there.

[02:19] SALLY BLAZAR: Okay. I want to do it because.

[02:26] SPEAKER C: I.

[02:27] SALLY BLAZAR: Have felt really bad the past many years, 12 years, not talking to anybody who has different political views than I do, because it's been so, what's the word, polarized. I feel like not talking to people who are different in that respect makes it much more easy to categorize people and I don't want to do that. That's basically it.

[03:09] MERRYJOY HOYT: That's kind of where I started too, is because I want to I mean, I have people in my life that don't agree with necessarily with what I agree with, but I just feel like getting out of your own echo chamber helps you kind of cement how you really feel and kind of challenge your belief system a little bit to see what you really do believe, but also to understand where other people are coming from. Just out of curiosity, you taught college. What did you teach?

[03:39] SALLY BLAZAR: A few different things by My main focus when I started was English, so writing, literature, English is a second language. And then I got very interested in issues of identity and started teaching courses. One was on identity. And I would look at different things like how does gender, impact and influence our identity, race, religion, our bodies, various things, and then started different courses. One was on masculinity and one was on race and ethnicity and identity.

[04:27] MERRYJOY HOYT: What school did you teach at?

[04:29] SALLY BLAZAR: Berkeley College of Music.

[04:32] MERRYJOY HOYT: Oh, really?

[04:33] SALLY BLAZAR: Is a great place. Really great place. Yes. There's a liberal arts department. And usually when I say I taught at Berklee College of Music, people ask what instrument, but there was a department of liberal arts. Thank you for asking.

[04:53] MERRYJOY HOYT: I'm just curious. My youngest son is majoring in piano actually. Ah, a pianist. He's a very good pianist. God's really gifted him. He's played since he was six years old. And right now we don't have. He, he's only, he's, he took a gap year, so he's just finished his freshman year. But, and he's actually working at a camp this summer, so he's only home on weekends. But I was like, our piano, like, they have all grand pianos at school. We do not have a grand piano. Yeah, he has access to green. The church we go to, hey, he's had access to the, he's on the worship team at church and. He, he has, anytime he goes, he has, you know, the, the, our worship leader has given him permission, like from when he was probably 10 or 11 to have permission to go up on stage. I mean, generally, the kids are caught up, are not allowed to go on stage unless they have special permission because of all the electronics and the wires and the instruments and everything and they're up there. But James has had permission since he, as I said, since he was like 11 or 12 to go up and play. And so, and because of his schedule, he hasn't getting there every Sunday. And so last Sunday he was there and, you know, well, two Sundays ago he didn't get to because the piano was covered because we had a VBS going on. And there was actually a cave on top of his piano where the piano sits. So he couldn't get there anyway. But, yes, when we, last Sunday, it was so funny. It's like, Jay, you know, you're gonna play after church because He goes, why one of people? And he goes, James, just go up. Everybody loves to hear you play. Because he sits down at the piano and he'll just get, because he is just so, so gifted. But anyway, so yes.

[06:43] SALLY BLAZAR: Yeah, it's amazing, I think, to see how gifted and hear how gifted people are and so many of the students and it sounds like him too, from when they were very young, really, really young, knew what they wanted to do. And that was it. I don't know if that's the case with your son, but it's incredible.

[07:07] MERRYJOY HOYT: He has been tinkering around the piano. I have pictures of him doing it. He's actually one of the foster kids we adopted.

[07:17] SPEAKER C: And.

[07:20] MERRYJOY HOYT: He wanted to play since he was like, I mean, when he was 18 months old, he was sitting at the piano. Isn't that amazing? So it's, yeah, it's definitely, he's, he's really, and then unfortunately, he doesn't play because our piano is not that good. I mean, we told him we'd buy him a piano like two Christmases ago, but he has to tell us what he wants. Now our house is not big enough for a grand piano. Yes. We can get one in here. Baby Grand, I don't even think we get in here. So we're not going to be able to get that. And so he's been going back and forth. He hasn't told us what he wants and, I'm like, okay, as soon as you tell us, we'll get you a good piano. Because he's like, our piano is not good. And he's gotten so used to the grands at school that he's like. And I was like, just play anyway. I know you don't like it. It's just because it's. It just brings. It just warms my heart when he sits in plays because it's just amazing.

[08:14] SPEAKER C: What? What?

[08:15] MERRYJOY HOYT: How he's, you know, the music that he produces. So, yeah, it's a. It's an interesting. So is that in Jamaica Plain? Where is. I don't know where that is. I've heard of it.

[08:29] SALLY BLAZAR: It's downtown Boston.

[08:31] MERRYJOY HOYT: Oh, okay.

[08:32] SALLY BLAZAR: It's pretty close. It's just a few miles from here.

[08:37] MERRYJOY HOYT: Okay.

[08:39] SALLY BLAZAR: Yeah.

[08:40] MERRYJOY HOYT: I don't know. Go to the next question or whatever, you know, kind of. We can.

[08:45] SALLY BLAZAR: Oh, I. Okay. I didn't realize. I see the next. Okay. Oh, we did that. Oh, but what would you like to know more about? Well, you asked already about my work.

[08:58] MERRYJOY HOYT: Yes, sort of. Is there any other?

[09:05] SALLY BLAZAR: Yes, I have my first ever pet that I got last year. I got a dog. And I can't believe how Google I am for the dog.

[09:19] MERRYJOY HOYT: What kind of dog is it?

[09:21] SALLY BLAZAR: It's a 30 pound mix of it's Bernedoodle, Labradoodle. So half poodle, a quarter Bernese mountain dog, and a quarter Labrador retriever.

[09:38] MERRYJOY HOYT: She's only 30 pounds?

[09:40] SALLY BLAZAR: Yeah, they, the breeders can do different sizes and there are some that are even smaller, like 15-20 pounds.

[09:49] MERRYJOY HOYT: Bernie's Molten Dog, that's only 30 pounds.

[09:52] SPEAKER C: Yeah.

[09:54] MERRYJOY HOYT: Even a lab, because labs can run to 50-70 pounds.

[09:58] SALLY BLAZAR: I know, I know, it's the poodle part that must be the small one. So maybe there was a mini poodle for the really tiny ones.

[10:11] MERRYJOY HOYT: Yeah, that's to be that size. Wow.

[10:15] SPEAKER C: Yeah.

[10:17] MERRYJOY HOYT: Did you get her as a puppy?

[10:18] SALLY BLAZAR: I did. I did. About 10 years ago, I thought when I retire, I want to get a dog. It was kind of reliving the childhood I wish I had had, I think.

[10:29] SPEAKER C: And.

[10:31] SALLY BLAZAR: I've been, so enjoying her. And it's really been great. I've been talking to people I never would have talked to. In a way, it's kind of like the one small step connection. It's been really interesting in that. And she's just a very happy, friendly dog. I really lucked out. So that's been my main focus since retiring.

[11:07] MERRYJOY HOYT: Interesting.

[11:09] SPEAKER C: Yeah.

[11:09] MERRYJOY HOYT: We're actually on our last dog, I think.

[11:12] SPEAKER C: Oh.

[11:15] SALLY BLAZAR: So you've had.

[11:15] MERRYJOY HOYT: She's only eight. Well, I've had dogs all my life. Oh, I've lived with dogs all my life. My husband has had dogs off and on. His, his, he's. He's more of a cat person. And I just kind of where we're at as far as we actually got this dog from my son who, yeah, he's like, well, I want to get this dog. It's like, I want a dog. I was like, Robbie, you already have a dog. But I think we'll just keep her. I keep on thinking we should rehome her. Just because it's just Scott and I are here and it's not, you know, it's, there's a little bit more freedom without when you don't have, you know, because the thing is with a dog, you have to make sure you get home and da, da, da, you know, it's, we are, our oldest son who his wife is from Angola is actually in Angola right now. They went last Thursday and they're coming home on the 31st. And which is the first time she was back to. To Angola since she came. Well, no, she's been since 2019, but it's the first time since she came to the states, like 2018, I think. No, 20, 14. I don't remember something like. Anyway, no, it's been it. Yeah, it's been 10 years since she's been home for her birthday, which was last weekend. And so she went home and they had a huge party and everything like that.

[12:46] SPEAKER C: But.

[12:49] MERRYJOY HOYT: We have to go pick them up from Newark on the 31st and their flight gets in at like nine o'clock at night. And so we have to go up to Newark, pick them up, and then take them home, which they live near Reading, Pennsylvania. So we have to take them home and drop them off and then get home. And it's an, it's like, it's an hour from their house to our house. I was gonna ask, so it's gonna be a late night because that's when they land at like 9 30 and then they have to go through customs and everything like that. And there's, there might be an issue there, hopefully not. We're praying that it's not because this, something that happened earlier in summer. But anyway, somebody said, well, why don't you just spend the night at their house, you know, and, you know, well, number one, my husband has to work on Friday. And the number two, we have a dog that nobody's gonna be here to take care of because everybody's, you know, we're gonna be gone. My, you know, Jay doesn't get home until Saturday. He's the, he's our 20 year old is working at a camp, so he, nobody would be here. So we, so the fact is, if we didn't have a dog, we could spend the night at their house and come home the next morning. But we can't do that because we have a dog and we're gonna go and be gone for probably five or six hours at that point. So we, she can't go overnight, you know? So anyway, well, there are, there is freedoms that you'd have if you didn't have a dog, I guess that's my point. I mean, they are great. I, I am a very much of a dog person. I just, I don't know. I'm, it'd be nice to not have to deal with, you know, my husband really isn't, not a dog person. And, you know, we, so that they're great, but, yeah.

[14:32] SALLY BLAZAR: That would be hard, I think, one. One being a dog person, one not.

[14:37] MERRYJOY HOYT: Well, he's not. I'm okay. Yeah, it's. It's kind of dogs are. They're okay. I mean, I'm not.

[14:45] SPEAKER C: I.

[14:46] MERRYJOY HOYT: They're not as big a deal to me as I was, you know, when I was younger. I mean, when we bought our first house, I had broken my leg, so I was on crutches, but we bought the house. I had to get my dog, right? I mean, before we even. We actually had the dog when we were still in the apartment because we did some remodeling to the house when we bought it.

[15:06] SPEAKER C: And.

[15:06] MERRYJOY HOYT: But I had to get the dog, right? Because I had to have a dog. And I have my house. I have to have a dog. And I'm not so much that anymore.

[15:13] SALLY BLAZAR: Yes.

[15:16] MERRYJOY HOYT: I mean, I like dogs. I really do like dogs. I just. It's like, okay, whatever. I'm, you know, my husband's very much not. He's more into cats, and so we'll, you know, I'll get a couple kittens that will take care of my pet. Pet urge. It seems like he wants cats for the rest of his life, so. But anyway, yeah, let's see.

[15:42] SALLY BLAZAR: So I. Let's see. I haven't about. Is there anything else in your bio that. That I would like to, there's a lot actually, one of the things that struck me the most of what I want to hear is being an adoptive parent out of the foster system gives me an interesting political perspective. So each of those things, being an adoptive parent, one out of the Foster system, two an interesting political perspective, three how those interrelate and whatever you might want to.

[16:24] MERRYJOY HOYT: Well, the adoptive parent is just dealing with, I mean, I guess one of the things that people complain, you know, abortion is a very hot topic to me because I think every child has a right to life irregardless of their conception. I, you know, there is no excuse. For a, you know, short of an atopic pregnancy, every, every child, you know, if it's, if, even if, you know, if they say their life, there's nothing, there's no reason a child should have to be killed. And a lot of arguments, when I hear people talk about this, it's like, well, what about all these kids in the foster system that aren't being adopted? Because there are, I mean, there's million, there's twice as many adoptive families waiting to adopt than there are children. Being aborted. So there is no family, no child would not have a home. But I think one of the things that really bothers me coming out of the foster system is probably most of the children in the foster care system are not adoptable. They are not open, they're not available for adoption, so therefore they can't get adopted because what they try to do first is reunite the family. Put the child, you know, they take them away, the child away, put them another home and have the parents take classes so they can become better parents. If that's the first goal. But I keep on hearing people say, well, you know, you, you, you, you, these kids have to be murdered in the, you know, in prenatal, prenatally murdered because they'll end up in the foster care system and then they won't be, you know, that's not what, how it works. And that part of it just really bothers me because it's like, no, 90, you know, nobody, I've never heard anybody say this. And yet it's the fact that probably 90 of the kids in the foster care system are not adoptable. There are children that are adoptable. It is harder to adopt an older child.

[18:18] SPEAKER C: Art.

[18:18] MERRYJOY HOYT: We adopted. Well, we first got James when he was a baby, and then he left for a while. And while he was gone, Jan Robbie came, but we didn't get Robbie. Robbie was three. He moved here before the day before he turned three. And when we got Robbie he came in with his parent, the, the, the rights were his parent, her, his, the parental rights were already terminated. So he was, because of what we went through, James, we didn't want to have to go back and forth like we ended up. I mean, it's a whole God story and how it happened. But, but, and I guess in that perspective, it just frustrates me because people are so adamant about the fact that these kids are in the foster care system not being adopted. Well, they're not adoptable. That's why they're there. And don't excuse. Yeah, that's an excuse to kill kids. It's just. It's mind-blowing to me. I'm. So anyway, that's kind of my, you know, and I'm trying to think what else. What does that explain it?

[19:17] SPEAKER C: Yeah.

[19:18] SALLY BLAZAR: Yeah. Thank you. I. I have a question. What I don't understand is what is.

[19:24] SPEAKER C: What.

[19:24] SALLY BLAZAR: What falls into unadoptable, but besides what you were. Or in addition to what you were saying about the first thing they try to do is reunite.

[19:35] MERRYJOY HOYT: The parents' rights have to be, they're either have to, for whatever reason, I mean, the first role of the foster care system is put the child in a safe place if there's abuse going on or neglect, but you don't terminate the parental rights unless you have cause. And so as long as the rights of the parents are not terminated, which I don't, I mean, the thing is my husband and I got into this Well, I mean, we started, we started, let's see, James is 20, so we probably started doing fostering. Like, he was our first placement, actually. So like 20, we started down this road about 21 years ago. And some of the thing, and we got into it from a, the per, a person that has done our hand, he's a handyman for us. He's done a lot of work on our house. He remodeled our kitchen and built our, you know, built, did a lot of stuff on our house. So we've known him since we moved to Pennsylvania. And they had been foster parents for a long time. They actually had adopted eight kids out of the foster care system.

[20:39] SPEAKER C: Wow.

[20:40] MERRYJOY HOYT: And but you hear stories of there's families. There's like there's one one, one or two other kids were adopted from a woman who had was a revolving door for the foster care system. And their kids didn't get adopted until they were in the foster care system from the time they were born, but they didn't get adopted until they were six. Because every time they'd have, because the way the foster care system works is they'll have, you'll go to court, family court, they'll have a review like every 90 days, where are you at? These are the classes you have to do to get your kids back or whatever. And they play a game where they get everything done right before so then they extend the 90 days. And this kid, say that, and, you know, like, one of the things for her was that she wasn't supposed to kind. There was a man in. In her life that was abusive to the kids. They didn't want her in contact with him in order to get her kids back because of the abuse that was going on. And she said I wasn't. But then she get pregnant by this guy. Well, you gotta see the guy in order to get pregnant. You can't do this, you know, remotely.

[21:49] SPEAKER C: Right.

[21:49] MERRYJOY HOYT: And so Scott and I would have these conversations about, you know, why don't they just terminate the rights and get the kids free? And, you know, the government, because you really don't want the government to have that much power that they can step in and say, you know, because if you allow the government to have that much power, then they, the day is going to come when you're not going to agree with what you believe, like your religion or whatever. So it'll take your kids away. You know, you have to have this balancing act of what's best for the child, and it can't, you know, and so it's kind of a. So I guess that's where my perspective comes from. I understand. I do not want the government to have the right to just come in and take your kids away and terminate your rights without due process. And yet, you know, so it's kind of, you know, so anyway, that's kind of where that comes in, if you don't understand what I'm saying.

[22:40] SALLY BLAZAR: Yeah, I do. I do. Thank you.

[22:43] SPEAKER C: Yeah.

[22:46] MERRYJOY HOYT: I mean, it's just really hard because the kids are, I mean. I keep on hearing this that these kids are not adopted. It's like because they cannot be adopted. The prices have, as long as the parental rights are there, they cannot just take kids and put them in adoptive homes. I mean, it's, you know, it's, it's like, it's one of my pet peeves right now because I keep on hearing on videos of people like, you know, you have to kill the kids because they're going to end up in the foster care system because, you know, and everything like that.

[23:15] SPEAKER C: And.

[23:15] MERRYJOY HOYT: It's like, no, number one, there's people waiting to adopt children. If you, you know, if a child is born, it's so easy to play. You can pick the family. You know, you don't, there's, there's a lot of, the birth mother has a lot of discretion on where it happens to this child. If she places it for adoption, she doesn't have to parent it. You know, once it's born, just let it be born and give it. I mean, because I was talking to somebody just recently and I said, when we were going through, because my, my oldest child, I gave birth to Ben and then we wanted to have more children. We weren't able to get pregnant. And I was working at a crisis pregnancy center doing ultrasounds when we were in Texas.

[23:54] SPEAKER C: And.

[23:56] MERRYJOY HOYT: I had such a hard time. I kept on praying because it's like it really, I literally, my arms ached for one of a child. And these women I was talking to, they would go and throw them, literally throw them in trash cans when there's families just, you know, like I literally had achy arms because I wanted a child so bad. And it just. It was really a hard time. I mean, it was a blessing, but it was really. I really struggled with the fact that, you know, these children are being thrown away. Literally thrown away. Can you hold on a second? This is my son. Real quick. Rob, you okay? Can you call dad? Because I'm doing, I'm doing a meet, I've got a meeting right now. Can you call dad or you good? All right. Thanks. Bye. If it wasn't my kid, I wouldn't answered, but sorry. I was like, honestly, yeah, I think he, yeah. So anyway, I think he thought this, he's on his way to New York right now. So anyway, I hope that, I mean, so how does Buddhism and Judaism mix?

[25:16] SALLY BLAZAR: That is a good question that I always have a hard time answering. So I grew up in a secular Jewish family. And we, we would go to Temple on the, the major holidays, which is Rosh Hashanah is the new year and Yom Kippur is. Oh, okay. Okay.

[25:50] MERRYJOY HOYT: Yeah, I know, I know some, because of Christianity, I know a little bit of the Jewish.

[25:55] SALLY BLAZAR: Okay. And Passover, which is in the Temple.

[26:00] SPEAKER C: And.

[26:03] SALLY BLAZAR: And I, I, once I was in my 20s, I, I wasn't going to Temple for those. And so it was kind of a cultural Judaism that I, I feel. And about 20, 25 years ago, I got interested in Buddhist meditation, and.

[26:26] SPEAKER C: The.

[26:26] SALLY BLAZAR: Way I've been kind of practicing it, it could go along with any religion and not just Judaism, but any religion, I think it could kind of go hand in hand with and enhance it. And kind of the, at least for me, the I don't know the, I wouldn't say worldview, but some of the questions that are major questions never get answered in either one. I don't think so. So in terms of God, which is a major question with, I think, most religions, In Judaism, there's a whole spectrum of what people believe about God. And in Buddhism, it's not a question, actually. So I think my major interest in the idea of God is what people mean by it. By the word God and the being if people envision that. I don't think I can.

[27:54] MERRYJOY HOYT: I'm just curious, you see it's a whole spectrum of Judaism because I don't see that. I don't know, so is it depending on what sect of Judaism you are? Because I'm like, if you read the Old Testament, It's kind of clear who God is.

[28:11] SPEAKER C: Yeah.

[28:12] MERRYJOY HOYT: Kind of like, I, you know, so that's kind of an interesting point. I don't, I don't, can you explain a little bit more what you mean by that?

[28:22] SALLY BLAZAR: Sure, I'll try. I, I think most people, most Jewish people I know don't ground their Judaism in the Old Testament. Or the Bible. So we have the Bible.

[28:46] SPEAKER C: So.

[28:48] SALLY BLAZAR: It'S a very different way of thinking about the holy text than Jewish people and Christian and Catholic people who ground their faith in the Bible or the new and Old Testament. So it's kind of, I was going to say it's kind of like the political spectrum in that, I mean, you can have a whole range within Judaism of people who do ground their faith in the Torah and other people who you don't go to the Torah in services at all. One of my aunt's raised her four kids in something called humanistic Judaism. And they distinctly, one of their.

[29:55] SPEAKER C: What.

[29:55] SALLY BLAZAR: To call it, one of their grounding things was that there is no God or they weren't sure if there was God. So it was kind of agnostic, atheistic Judaism.

[30:11] MERRYJOY HOYT: That's kind of an interesting concept to me because I was just like, it is. It is.

[30:18] SALLY BLAZAR: It's, I think, and Among Jews, if.

[30:24] SPEAKER C: You.

[30:26] SALLY BLAZAR: Listen in on conversations of Jewish people and what they think Judaism is and what their beliefs are, it can be all over the place with people disagreeing with each other about what Judaism is. And I think it's in part because it's both a religion and a culture. Which is different from a lot of other religions. But I think from what I understand about, let's say, Catholicism or some Protestant, sex is not the right word, but Protestant religions, there's a wide spectrum too, from what I understand, of like liberal to conservative just to.

[31:21] MERRYJOY HOYT: Oh, yeah. I mean, yeah, it's. Yeah, I mean, it depends on how much, how much, how much you base your belief on what the Bible actually says, if you've read it yourself.

[31:32] SPEAKER C: Right.

[31:33] MERRYJOY HOYT: And that's, I mean, I kind of take it that, that it's, my belief system is, it's the word of God. It's true from beginning to end, and I take it as literal.

[31:44] SALLY BLAZAR: Literal, that's the word. Yeah, yeah.

[31:47] MERRYJOY HOYT: And so it's kind of like I sit there, I mean, I can read, you can read it because it's, you know, it's God's story on how, what, what he's, why he created the world and who he wanted us to be in it. It's my, you know, this is how I take it. And when you read it, it's, and it's a history book. I mean, you can read it as a, you know, it's historical events that have happened through time. It's been proven that it's happened, you know, what, you know, the, all, everything that happened with the Israelites in Egypt and, you know, with the Exodus and coming into the promised land and all this, all the things that have happened with the different Kings down through time, you know, King David and the, so that's kind of where I'm coming from. So it's kind of like, and I understand if, you know, people are like, well, it's an allegory and it's like, I don't necessarily. I mean, it's hard to understand because, you know, the difference between God and us is so vast. You cannot understand him. We all get a. We have a piece of his understanding because he's, you know, if we. If God's small enough, you can understand him. He's not a very big God because the human intellect is not. Yes, we are intelligent, but we are nowhere. We're not even the same, you know. Realm of where God is at. And that's the, you know, one thing that he says in there is his ways are higher than our ways, and he's, you know, we just can't understand him. We can only sit, but. So that's kind of where I come from. So I'm just curious. It's like, I don't know.

[33:24] SALLY BLAZAR: Yeah, it's a, it's certainly a completely, totally different. Take on, on the Bible, because I, I don't take it literally, as you probably could guess. Yeah, it's just totally.

[33:45] MERRYJOY HOYT: Do you believe the stories in the Old Testament actually happened? I mean, when you look at the Jewish Nation, how they came about with Abraham, I mean, where is your take with that and Israel and all this stuff?

[33:57] SALLY BLAZAR: I think some of I am sure that some of it is true.

[34:03] SPEAKER C: But.

[34:07] SALLY BLAZAR: I want to say I don't know the Bible really well. I don't think that Genesis is true and how life began and that we've been here for 5,000 years.

[34:22] MERRYJOY HOYT: Just.

[34:25] SALLY BLAZAR: I can't conceive of that.

[34:29] SPEAKER C: So.

[34:32] SALLY BLAZAR: Some I do, some I don't. I think, I think probably the major, what would be really major to you and others who take it literally.

[34:45] SPEAKER C: A.

[34:45] SALLY BLAZAR: Major difference for me is that I don't, in terms of the creation story, I just, I don't take it literally. Two years ago, for the first time, I went to Israel and also to Jordan. It was really powerful to me to be in spots literally on the ground.

[35:19] SPEAKER C: Where.

[35:23] SALLY BLAZAR: Religious events and historical events had happened, both in terms of Christianity and also in terms of Judaism and Islam.

[35:35] SPEAKER C: And.

[35:39] SALLY BLAZAR: There are a couple of really powerful things to me. More so than others. One was the Stations of the Cross.

[35:47] SPEAKER C: And.

[35:50] SALLY BLAZAR: It was just really moving to me to go through those places and then be at the church where all different types of Christian and Catholic groups had put their contributions to the church there and were there and kissing the stone where Jesus is thought to have been laid after he was crucified. And the other one that was incredibly powerful to me was supposedly the mountain where God pointed out to Moses after fleeing Israel, fleeing Egypt, pointed out to Moses where the promised land was and told Moses, and you're not going to get there.

[36:45] SPEAKER C: Right.

[36:45] MERRYJOY HOYT: Because he had sent. Yeah, because he spoke. He was supposed to, he struck the rock instead of speaking to it. And so God said, you can't.

[36:53] SALLY BLAZAR: Yeah. Yeah. And, wow.

[36:57] MERRYJOY HOYT: Although he did, if you believe the Bible, he did end up in the promised land because of the monochorans figure. This is a New Testament story when Jesus went up into the mountain with Peter, James and John and was transfigured. This is shortly before his crucifixion. Moses and Elijah appeared on the mountain with him. So they say that Moses never got to the promised land. He actually did. God did. He did. It was after he died. But, you know, he did. Yeah, he ends up. He did. So it's kind of funny when they say, you know, because he, he, he and Elijah appeared on the mountain with, when they were there, when Jesus, when they saw his true nature.

[37:39] SPEAKER C: Yeah.

[37:39] MERRYJOY HOYT: So it's kind of an interesting side point. And I just, it is kind of, you know, so he didn't, he, yeah, so it's, it, I just, I'm, so who is Jesus then to you? If you, if those, if the, if the way of the, the, I have never, I, that's one of my, like, my bucket list things I want to do is I, I would love to go see Israel. I would love to just walk and.

[38:07] SALLY BLAZAR: See that you would to be there.

[38:10] MERRYJOY HOYT: And see everything and actually, I mean, I've seen pictures, but it's, you can't, pictures never do anything Justice.

[38:16] SALLY BLAZAR: No, they don't.

[38:17] MERRYJOY HOYT: I mean, you go to the Grand Canyon, you go to Niagara Falls, you just pictures just, you know, and so I would love to go there. So what did you think? I mean, what do you think made it so impactful to you?

[38:34] SALLY BLAZAR: Different things in terms of the Moses, that part of it, it was because of being Jewish and having heard this story all my life.

[38:48] SPEAKER C: And.

[38:54] SALLY BLAZAR: Not knowing, I think all Jews, we don't know where we came from, or most Jews don't know where we came from, literally, like three generations ago or four generations ago. And because Our families were killed or kicked out of Eastern Europe for the people who came from there. Both sides of my family came from Eastern Europe. So to kind of have these ancient roots was, it was very moving. In terms of Christianity, It wasn't a personal connection, but certainly I've heard about Christianity all my life and if I live in a Christian country and you would ask how I think of Jesus.

[40:03] SPEAKER C: As.

[40:08] SALLY BLAZAR: Like Buddha, a figure, a person.

[40:14] SPEAKER C: Who.

[40:19] SALLY BLAZAR: Was in touch with depths of emotion and understanding about life and people.

[40:29] SPEAKER C: That.

[40:31] SALLY BLAZAR: Most people aren't that way and wanted to teach people. And fundamentally about our connectedness, I think, our literal connectedness as human beings and as part of nature. And love.

[41:01] SPEAKER C: So.

[41:06] SALLY BLAZAR: I think that I. I don't know if that answers your questions.

[41:10] MERRYJOY HOYT: I'm just. I'm just curious. So do you. Because there's another question I wanted to ask you, but I'm just curious about something. Do you believe in the Miracles that Jesus did? The resurrection? I mean, what's your.

[41:23] SALLY BLAZAR: No, I don't.

[41:25] SPEAKER C: And.

[41:27] SALLY BLAZAR: I I I'm a. I feel.

[41:30] MERRYJOY HOYT: Because you said you went to see the place where he was laid after he was crucified.

[41:34] SALLY BLAZAR: Yeah, because I. I. That happened.

[41:40] MERRYJOY HOYT: Then he was crucified, but that. That he was raised from the dead, right?

[41:45] SALLY BLAZAR: Yeah.

[41:47] MERRYJOY HOYT: It's an empty tomb.

[41:50] SALLY BLAZAR: I know. I'm.

[41:52] MERRYJOY HOYT: I'm just curious because it's like, you know, there's no other explanation for. I mean, his body was not there.

[42:01] SALLY BLAZAR: That I don't know. I. I don't know. I have no explanation. I just have no clue. I don't know enough to know. And I wasn't there. I, I hope I'm not in, I be. Say that, that you're not.

[42:23] MERRYJOY HOYT: No, you are not insulting at all. I'm just, to me, it's kind of like there's not, I mean, because of my beliefs, I, I, I've was raised Catholic and I became more Evangelical as I got older because of what I've read in the Bible and. I read the stories of what actually happened and that people the, I'm just curious because it's like there's, there was no body. It was a, it was a new tomb where he was laid and there was no body out, you know, three days later, his body was not there. And, you know, it's like, so, and so it's, I'm just curious. It's like, okay, if he was crucified, and he was dead and then he's not there. Is there another explanation? I guess I'm just throwing it out there.

[43:12] SALLY BLAZAR: But, you know, I think it, we're so different in terms of how we understand the Bible. The new and Old Testaments just so different because.

[43:27] SPEAKER C: So.

[43:29] SALLY BLAZAR: Given, given it. Each of our, like, view understandings and beliefs about it, we wouldn't be able to.

[43:42] MERRYJOY HOYT: That's fine. I'm just trying to understand where you're, you know, because I'm trying to. Because there's got to be an explanation, I guess, is my point. And because you can't, you know, how does it just disappear? Because there was no, you know, there was. There's no, like, you know, over time. You know, a body's gonna decompose and. Yeah, but it's like, you know, three days later, it was not there. Body does not decompose in three days.

[44:06] SALLY BLAZAR: Right, right.

[44:08] MERRYJOY HOYT: And it's, you know, so. And there's a whole bunch of explanations, but it seems like every explanation, people like they went to the wrong tomb when they went on Sunday morning, and that doesn't make sense. There were guards in front of the tomb. There was a seal put in front of the, you know, on the, on this. I mean, if you look at the historical record, it's just something you have to, you know, it's like you can't, it's not like normal processes in that time would not have, there wouldn't be an answer. So, I mean, other than he was resurrected, but, you know, so I just, like, I'm just curious, you know? And I don't, I, you know what? I don't, it doesn't, you know, it, we don't have to come to a meeting of the minds. I'm just curious because of your, I really, I love I'm really fascinated with the Jewish people as far as what your history is and the.

[45:07] SPEAKER C: I mean.

[45:08] MERRYJOY HOYT: I've always had a real fascination for that whole, and I really, it's just so interesting how God brought you what God did to bring you about and the fact that there's, I don't know that there is another nationality that has survived the centuries that is still intact as a Jewish Nation. Everybody else, like, there's a, there's always been Nations from, you know, from back all the way to Noah. You know, there's been different nations and everything. They've different people groups. And God has kept the Jude Jews intact as a nation all that time because he has a plan, because, well, for one thing, you have chosen to bring them side to, to the world through Jesus and, you know, and everything else like that. And I just really honor the Jewish nation because of that. And that's one of the reasons I want to go to Israel because I want to see not just the sites for that, you know, where Jesus walked the earth and where he walked on the water and he did all that, you know, all the miracles that happened in the biblical times. But I also want to be able to see where, you know, like you said, I love to see Mount Sinai and every, you know, and kind of make it real. What has happened. And so I'm just, you know, whatever. I'll shut up now. But I'm just curious, one of the things that we're almost out of time. We, I, I'm fine. We keep on talking. It's not going to stop the recording. The recording is going to stop if you want to stay. And it doesn't kick us off. But you said you've gotten more Progressive as you've gotten older, and I'm just kind of curious how that. Transpired. And what you mean by that?

[46:57] SALLY BLAZAR: I'm not sure how it transpired, but I think probably from people I met and started talking to and what they And of course, I talked to other people who had different views, but their kind of understandings of history and of current events made sense to me in ways that a less progressive one didn't take into account.

[47:42] MERRYJOY HOYT: For example.

[47:43] SALLY BLAZAR: Oh boy, I was hoping you wouldn't ask for an ex, you know, my memory is so bad. Let's see.

[47:55] MERRYJOY HOYT: I mean, like something you believed before that you feel like you've gone more to the progressive. Yeah, because I've actually gotten more conservative as it's gotten older. So I'm just, you know, because I'm like, I'm seeing here when I, you know, my, my worldview is just like, I don't. I don't get into gender stuff. I mean, there's male and female. God created them male and female. And if. And I'm not willing to say God made a mistake because he doesn't make mistakes. So whatever you're created as. And if you have an issue, I'm not saying you don't help the person, but you don't buy into their. Their. It's a mental illness, is my take. So I'm just curious that, yeah, you know.

[48:35] SALLY BLAZAR: Yeah, my take on that is is completely different as you would guess.

[48:40] MERRYJOY HOYT: So yeah, that's what I'm trying to figure. I'm trying to figure because that's you know, it's like God does not make mistakes.

[48:46] SALLY BLAZAR: Well, exactly. I would say I would say exactly God doesn't make mistakes and people people are babies are literally born with male and female sex organs. And as I said, I don't believe in God, but God doesn't make mistakes. And so the only explanation for that is that people can be very different from what we think of as male and female. Bodies are different in terms of sex organs and chromosomes are different. So there are people not just with XY or XX chromosomes, and God doesn't make mistakes. Exactly.

[49:45] MERRYJOY HOYT: So. Well, I mean, I mean, my. I'm a nurse, and when I was in nursing school, basically what we learned is that. It's not because I understand there's xxy and there's y, you know, and it's whatever, but it's the presence of the y chromosome that determines male or female. And so even though you have, I mean, there has been because of there's been mutations of like, okay, I'm going biblical here because of sin. What God originally created in Adam and Eve is not necessarily, it has been, there had, because of sin coming into the world, there have been things that are done that, I guess, is the best way is mutations in the, in the, the genome and, and, you know, because of our environments or whatever can mess up how we put, pass on genes to the children and that's, you know, can mess up some. But I still think that even someone who has, if there's a Y chromosome, the person is a male. If that's, that's biologically, that's how science says it and that you don't have, and I get the fact that you, you can feel differently. Okay. No, I don't understand this. I have five brothers. I have a father. I have three sons. I have a husband. I have no idea what a male feels like. And it really bugs me. It's like, I feel like I'm male. It's like, okay, I've been surrounded by men all of my life. And boys I grew up with. I have a sister and five brothers. I've been growing up, you know, I've been heavily masculized in my life. And yet, how do you know, unless you actually have grown up in that? Sex, what the others, you know, you could think, you know, but you really can't know because it, it has to do with your, your hormones and body, you know, and it's like, so that's why I feel like you don't, I have a hard time agreeing with people that sit there and go, well, I know I'm that I'm, I'm in the wrong body. I'm like, how do you, I mean, in this, there's the guy that the was got Bud Light in so much trouble a few years ago.

[52:14] SALLY BLAZAR: Who.

[52:16] MERRYJOY HOYT: He'S practicing being a woman or whatever because he feels like, I mean, Mulaney, I don't know what his name is. He was a few. He is a guy who trans, you know, was like, decided when he was like, I don't. He's in his 20s, I guess, or 30s, and he decided he's a woman and started living like a woman or whatever, because I feel like a woman. It's like, How do you know what it feels like to be a woman? If you're not, if you haven't had to go through what women have to go through, you know, have to go through menstruation and the changes that, you know, it's like it, there's such a, you know, and then to sit there and go, if you feel strange in your body when you're like 12 years old, you know, you're in the wrong sex. And it's like, how many people that are pre teen with the body change that are taking place that don't feel strange in their body as things change that they've always known from their entire life? And I, it really almost anger. And that, that's why this whole gender confusion thing, it's like, that is such a lie. I feel like to tell a girl, if you feel strange in your body when you're 13, 12 or 13 in your body, you're starting to menstruate. Your, your boobs are starting to form. Yeah, you're going to feel strange in your body. Boys are going to look at you differently. Yeah, you're going to feel strange in your body. You know, it's kind of like that is such a unfair assessment of life at that age. Everybody. I mean, I don't know, maybe not everybody, but I think most people, most girls will feel strange when they start, you know, they don't understand what's going on. I mean, because it, it feels strange. It's different. And allow it to go play out. It's so. I don't know. That's my time.

[53:55] SALLY BLAZAR: Yeah, I, I know. Trans people. And I had a lot of students who are trans and all of them.

[54:12] SPEAKER C: Felt.

[54:17] SALLY BLAZAR: What they were feeling way before adolescence. They felt that three, four, five years old. And I know some people feel it later, but I certainly can't explain it, but I totally, by the way, I am fascinated by issues of gender, as you might have guessed when I said I taught a class on it.

[54:39] MERRYJOY HOYT: Yeah, that's what I was wondering.

[54:40] SPEAKER C: Yeah.

[54:42] SALLY BLAZAR: And we would talk about this, and the students were, and the students had really differing opinions about this. So there were some, that said what you are saying and others who were saying what I'm saying and then everything in between. There's one, and I've read a number of books about this, but there's one book that blew my mind about it. I don't know if you're interested and I'm not trying to convince you.

[55:19] MERRYJOY HOYT: No, I'm fine. I know what I believe.

[55:21] SALLY BLAZAR: Yeah, yeah.

[55:23] MERRYJOY HOYT: I'm interested to hear a different perspective. I don't think I'm going to change my mind on what, you know, because I know, yeah, I'm, you know, but this is what I, you know, kind of thing, why I do this. So I kind of.

[55:36] SALLY BLAZAR: Yeah, that's what I was imagining. And for me, too. I, by the way, I wouldn't suggest this to try to change your mind. I, that's not at all what I'm interested in and. I assume that that's not what this is about.

[55:51] SPEAKER C: No.

[55:53] SALLY BLAZAR: But I just, it really blew my mind and it's probably, there aren't many books that have changed my mind on things, but this did. Anyway, I have no doubt that there's a spectrum of gender and a lot.

[56:19] SPEAKER C: Of.

[56:21] SALLY BLAZAR: Our attitudes about it are so culturally formed. Because I know that in some cultures.

[56:30] SPEAKER C: And.

[56:32] SALLY BLAZAR: I think Thailand in some countries, I think Thailand's one of them, I'm not sure that there's a third sex that is just officially acknowledged. And so I think so much.

[56:56] SPEAKER C: Of.

[56:57] SALLY BLAZAR: This is, yeah, is cultural. But I think ultimately I think it's biological. What trans people are experiencing. And also, I would say, I assume that there are some people who transition, and I know that this is the case, who felt that they made a mistake.

[57:27] SPEAKER C: And.

[57:29] MERRYJOY HOYT: I've heard several people have done that.

[57:31] SALLY BLAZAR: Yeah. And I'm not, I'm not sure.

[57:38] SPEAKER C: How.

[57:38] SALLY BLAZAR: To explain that, but I know that it happens. And I think that that must be incredibly confusing and disorienting and upsetting because they had these changes to their bodies.

[58:02] MERRYJOY HOYT: Yeah, I, I mean, I might, my thing, I just think that there's, number one, the explosion of it, of, you know, I had, there was a person, a teacher in Florida, and this is a couple, I think this is during COVID this is a number of years ago that came out and she said half her class were trans. And I'm like, yeah. And that's what it's like. Okay, this is not, you know, and she was like, middle school. And that's what I mean. You know, it's like it's gotten to the point where, and I think with what's going on now, where they're kind of back where, you know, guys cannot compete in women's sports because they shouldn't be able to, because they have the biological Advantage. I don't care how long they've been off testosterone or whatever or taking estrogen, they still have the, the. They're, they have larger lung capacity. They have the larger heart, the larger muscles, you know, because they're just made differently. And so I'm not, I just think there's, you know, it, it, this whole thing's been around for, I mean, you could say, you know, trans or whatever has been around for a long time, but it, it's like every generation now, it seems like is adding another, you know, and you can't. That's what bothers me about it. And it's like, that's why people are, I think you have to, they're, they're so willing. And cases that a deeper transitioners that I've, I've heard interviewed, a lot of them are like they had, you know, they were affirmed. A lot of them are on Austin Autism Spectrum, and they are affirmed in this, and so therefore they go for it. And they've had double mastectomies as teenagers and they decide that, you know, it's like, it's just such a tragedy because it's a moneymaker for the medical community. You know, it's, and I'm sorry to say, this is, this is my, I mean, they, they make lifelong patients out of these people because once you do these, you know, the, the surgeries, you have to be on the, so anyway, it's, it's a big mess. And I just think there's, there's, that's what, and I, you know, there is, there is, there are, I I can, I agree there are spectrum between, you know, girly girls to tomboys to more a feminine men to masculine. I mean, that's, you know, it's kind of like a spectrum on that way. But I see there's, my feeling is there's a demarcation. Whether you're born, you're born a male, you are a male. You're born a female, you are a female. You could be on a spectrum of what you're, you know, where you lie in that, but that doesn't mean you can cross over. And I think it's, you know, that's where I have the time, the problem with, because there are cultural, cultural expectations for each gen, each sex. But that doesn't mean you can do it's not if you have XY chromosomes, you're never gonna be a woman. I don't care how you try and how many surgeries you have, you cannot become a woman just like if you have XX you are a woman and I don't care how many surgeries you have you'll never become a man because that's not how that's the chroma it comes down to the chromosomal makeup of your body not what you feel. And, you know, it's like, so I, I just, this whole gender thing is really, I think, confuses the kids. And, you know, because you're not, it's, there is a re, there, I guess to me, there's reality. I mean, there's, you can say, I mean, because I've heard people say, well, I identify. As I mean, there was a guy who was going around and said, you know, when this, this was a few years ago, and he says, well, I, he was like, I don't know. He's a white guy who was, you know, five foot tall. And he was saying, I, I identify. I am a six foot black female. And, you know, and, and people are like, yeah, you can do that. And it's like, no, like, you know, are you that or, you know, people are, like, sitting there going, I identify. You know, you're, you can't pick your adjectives. Your adjectives, you know, it's like, yeah, the fact is you are who you are, and you can't sit there and say, I'm not that. Because people that say that, you know, there's, there's a reality to, there's a truth to reality. And, you know, it's like, because then people are like, there was a one person that was saying, well, I'm, I like, there was that woman that they got all upset. She was, I think, from Seattle, and she was. Said she was a black woman and trying.

[01:02:54] SPEAKER C: Yeah.

[01:02:55] MERRYJOY HOYT: And people, like, we're all up in arms. It's like, well, what's the difference between choosing your race and choosing your gender?

[01:03:01] SPEAKER C: Yeah.

[01:03:01] MERRYJOY HOYT: The fact is, you're not, you know, there's not any difference. You know, you can't choose your gender. You can't choose your race. You are what your chromosomes are, what you are. And you can't just say, I'm not.

[01:03:13] SALLY BLAZAR: Well, actually, with race, it's, it's. More complicated because it's not biological. And sure it is. No, it's not.

[01:03:23] MERRYJOY HOYT: It's the monomel in your skin determines your race.

[01:03:27] SALLY BLAZAR: But that's because of geography in terms of where, where we're born. It's not like XY chromosomes.

[01:03:39] MERRYJOY HOYT: I don't understand. I don't understand how race is any different than gender than yeah, yeah, it's because they're both chromosomal, chromosomal determination. Although you can have, you know, my, my daughter-in-law is from Angola, and she has a totally interesting perspective because people expect her to have one perspective because she's, she has dark skin.

[01:04:01] SPEAKER C: Yeah. Right.

[01:04:02] MERRYJOY HOYT: So she's like, and she's like, no, I'm not, that's not her. She has a totally, like, this whole, she doesn't get it. We've had this conversation, and it's really funny because my other son who married someone who's into black, you know, black lives matter and everything like that. And it's like, it's like two. They're both of, you know, black descent, but they have two totally different viewpoints of how to deal with this stuff, you know? So race to me is no different. It's. It's choosing. There's. To me, it would be no difference because they're both biologically determined. The amount of melanin in your skin is determined by genes. Your. Your chromosome will make, which is genes. Your chromosomal makeup is determined by genes. So you can't change your race any more than you can change your gender. To me, there's no difference.

[01:04:53] SPEAKER C: Well.

[01:04:55] SALLY BLAZAR: I agree with you in terms of that woman. You can't say that you're. You're black if you're white. I agree with that, but. By the way, I have to get off in terms of in a few minutes.

[01:05:13] MERRYJOY HOYT: Just just that's fine.

[01:05:14] SALLY BLAZAR: Just to let you know. Yeah, but I think I mentioned that I taught a course on racial identity.

[01:05:23] SPEAKER C: And.

[01:05:25] SALLY BLAZAR: I all the stuff that's written now by people who are looking into the race biology thing are saying that it's not biological. And some of the examples that are given are people who, let's say, have two, a mother and a father who are very dark-skinned but somewhere in their past, there was a white person on each side.

[01:06:12] MERRYJOY HOYT: There was that set of twins in England that one was black. The parents were, I don't remember if, but they were twins and one was basically darker skin than the other. And I agree. I honestly, my feeling is when I am don't like being categorized by race. So every time I have to, you know, they, you fill out these forms and ask you what race you are, I say, I'm the human race. We're all the same. We all have 46 chromosomes. We're different to use. But I, to me, it's like I don't race to me doesn't mean anything, you know? Yeah, I mean, there's cultures, but there's not, we are all of one race. We all descended from one cup, you know, from a, a single. Family, and we are all the same race to me.

[01:06:58] SALLY BLAZAR: So, well, I would say that we aren't descended from a single family, as you would guess. As you would guess. I do agree that we're all one race. And I would say that it matters a lot what race people are in terms of how they're treated.

[01:07:23] MERRYJOY HOYT: I, I think I was, we were getting, it shouldn't. I mean, I kind of, Martin Luther King is my, you know, one of the things he said is he wants his children to be.

[01:07:34] SPEAKER C: Yeah.

[01:07:36] MERRYJOY HOYT: To be treated by the content of the character, not the color of their skin.

[01:07:40] SALLY BLAZAR: Yeah.

[01:07:41] MERRYJOY HOYT: And I think we were getting there. And I think, I mean, I'm gonna be really political here. I think Barack Obama really sent us back, like, decades. In that when his presidency.

[01:07:50] SALLY BLAZAR: Why do you think?

[01:07:52] MERRYJOY HOYT: Because he made race such, he made the race such an important issue when he was president. I think people were basically looking at, I think we had only almost reached Martin Luther King's dream in the early 2000s because not, and I'm not saying there aren't racist, there's, there are racist people. I get it. And there's people that prejudge all the time, but as a culture we were, we had gotten to the point where it didn't really matter to most people in, you know, in this country. And he just kind of sent us way back and just said, you know, this is, you know, I'm, you know, he was very, I mean, he was good as far as saying that they need fathers in the home. You know, fathers need to take responsibility in that, you know, and families and stuff like that, but. When it came to race and the whole thing that happened within Boston with the professor and the, the, the beer Summit with the, whatever. I mean, he just seemed like, and I'm not the only person, I've heard a number of people say this, that in his presidency, this nation became more divided on race lines. And interesting because everybody was so focused on race. And it's like, no, we're people, okay? We're just. Just look at each other as people as opposed to what color persons, you know, it's, it's just, we're, don't focus. That is not the most important issue in a person's. And I, and to me, it's like, I understand race being important in the biolot, in the medical realm because different diseases run in different races. I mean, you know, sickle cell anemia and, you know, different things that will affect one race or there's Tay Sachs, I think, is important with the Jewish. So I understand the genealogy of different races, but as people working as operating one-on-one we were.

[01:09:48] SPEAKER C: Yeah.

[01:09:48] MERRYJOY HOYT: And it's like, it's, it's just blown up since 2010. As far as, you know, people more focused, so focused, hyper focused on race is the most important issue about who you are. No, you're a person. I can, you know, and so that's my. Oh, yeah.

[01:10:09] SALLY BLAZAR: I do want to give my take on that before we get. I bet you can guess that I don't agree with you.

[01:10:18] MERRYJOY HOYT: Oh, I'm sure you don't. Yeah.

[01:10:20] SPEAKER C: And.

[01:10:23] SALLY BLAZAR: My. And I haven't. I actually haven't heard what you just said, so I'm thinking about it. That things got worse about race during his term. I haven't heard that. Thinking about it, but I have thought about other things. I don't think things would have blown.

[01:10:46] SPEAKER C: Up.

[01:10:50] SALLY BLAZAR: If racism was getting resolved.

[01:10:53] SPEAKER C: I.

[01:10:55] SALLY BLAZAR: Think Racism is deeply, deeply embedded in America.

[01:11:01] MERRYJOY HOYT: It doesn't have to be as much.

[01:11:03] SALLY BLAZAR: It doesn't have to be. No, I agree.

[01:11:06] MERRYJOY HOYT: And the fact that when George Floyd happened, there's so much the way that was presented was not actually what happened. The guy was high on fentanyl. He did not, you know, if you hear what, you know, what was not a, they basically if you hear the background story to what actually happened with him, it's not what they promoted in the news. That's what I'm saying. They, they have fed this narrative that, you know, the first, the first slave owner in America was actually a black man, you know, and people don't know, you know, that that's part of our history. He was, you know, and he was a horrible Master, but he was the first slave over in the, in, and I, yes, there was, you know, and so there's a lot of history that's not taught correctly.

[01:11:53] SALLY BLAZAR: I totally agree with you. I I'm sorry, Mary Joy. I have to get.

[01:11:58] MERRYJOY HOYT: I'm sorry. And you wanted to say so. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to cut you off, but I just, you know, it's like I. Well, yeah, whatever. I'm sorry. I really enjoyed this.

[01:12:08] SALLY BLAZAR: Yeah. Thank you so much. Thank you. Yeah.

[01:12:12] MERRYJOY HOYT: I hope you don't hate us for us conservatives after talking to me, but.

[01:12:16] SALLY BLAZAR: No, no, I really appreciate talking with you. It's really interesting.

[01:12:27] SPEAKER C: And.

[01:12:29] SALLY BLAZAR: You are my first, so I will definitely remember you.

[01:12:35] MERRYJOY HOYT: I hope in a good way.

[01:12:38] SPEAKER C: I.

[01:12:40] SALLY BLAZAR: Appreciate, I really appreciate. That you. That you shared.

[01:12:44] MERRYJOY HOYT: It's. It's something that, you know, I I I didn't mean to cut you off, and I'm sorry, because I know I I figure I. Yeah, I should have let you say more. I'm sorry.

[01:12:57] SALLY BLAZAR: I just. That's okay. That's okay. I it. I learned I need to say more. Because I typically my role in life, I listen to people. So I get this a lot and I'm realizing that for these conversations, I need to push myself more to say more. And so that's a learning for me too.

[01:13:31] MERRYJOY HOYT: Yeah, I mean for the most part, I don't think you're, I mean I can't, I know for me coming against people, you know, or not against people, but hearing somebody else's perspective. It does not offend. I'm just letting you know it does not offend me at all. I can. And I really do want to hear, so it's okay. I mean, don't. I've noticed this is just. You've seemed to be mincing your words a lot, and I understand there's a. There is a place for that, but you also can, you know, because you have valuable opinions, you know, you can. You don't have to be as, you know, not. I don't know. I, it's kind of hard because I don't, I don't really get offended by people. So I can say, I mean, if you came in and, you know, with, with both blend, both, you know, guns blazing, it'd be okay. But I can't say that for everyone that you're going to come across contract with, but, you know.

[01:14:23] SPEAKER C: Yeah. Yeah.

[01:14:24] SALLY BLAZAR: I thank you for saying that.

[01:14:27] SPEAKER C: Yeah.

[01:14:27] MERRYJOY HOYT: You don't have to mince because I, I could tell you were like, well, am I gonna, if I say this, if I say that, it's like, you know what? Just say it. It's gonna be okay because you're not. You know, it's really so, you know.

[01:14:37] SALLY BLAZAR: You know, I I have a dear friend who says that to me a lot, and it's not about, it's not about disagreements about Paul, you know, things. You don't have to miss your words. Just come out and say it.

[01:14:52] SPEAKER C: Okay.

[01:14:54] MERRYJOY HOYT: Especially when you only have 50 minutes.

[01:14:57] SALLY BLAZAR: I know, I know. I have to have them. It's a learning. It's a learning.

[01:15:01] SPEAKER C: Yeah.

[01:15:01] MERRYJOY HOYT: I mean, I'm glad, I'm glad you came on. I hope you have a wonderful conversations going forward. And, you know, I'll just. I'll be praying for you, that you, you know, find the truth.

[01:15:11] SALLY BLAZAR: Thank you. Thank you. I don't even know how to get off, though.

[01:15:18] MERRYJOY HOYT: It should. There's. Well, let's see. It should end. Stop recording.

[01:15:26] SALLY BLAZAR: Oh, if we press stop recording, does that do it?

[01:15:29] SPEAKER C: Yeah.

[01:15:29] SALLY BLAZAR: Okay. If it does it, I'll. I'll say goodbye now. All right. Okay, fine.

[01:15:36] MERRYJOY HOYT: All right, bye.

[01:15:38] SALLY BLAZAR: Bye.