Host Erik Fleming welcomes return guests Bremond MacDougall and Lisa Cooper, who run Quite Literally Books, and a community leader driving change in Arkansas. The episode features lively discussion about three newly republished books — a women-only utopia by Charlotte Perkins Gilman, a witty Civil War-era satire by María Amparo Ruiz de Burton, and a charming 1892 guide to intimate dinners — plus insights on the challenges of small-press publishing. Later, Tomekia Moore explains community action work in Arkansas, including Kids to College savings accounts and statewide efforts to improve digital access and lift families out of poverty.
00:00:00 --> 00:00:06 Welcome. I'm Eric Fleming, host of A Moment with Erik Fleming, the podcast of our time.
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00:01:11 --> 00:01:16 The following program is hosted by the NBG Podcast Network.
00:01:56 --> 00:02:01 Hello, and welcome to Another Moment with Erik Fleming. I am your host, Erik Fleming.
00:02:01 --> 00:02:05 Happy holidays, everyone, as we are officially in the holiday season.
00:02:05 --> 00:02:13 I hope you and yours will have a good holiday season, and I'm honored that you're
00:02:13 --> 00:02:15 spending some of that time with me.
00:02:16 --> 00:02:23 On the show today, I have a young lady on who is doing her part to try to make
00:02:23 --> 00:02:28 her state better in our own unique way of serving the underserved.
00:02:29 --> 00:02:34 And then I have some returning guests to talk about their new project.
00:02:35 --> 00:02:38 And it's always a joy to have them come on.
00:02:40 --> 00:02:46 Still want people to subscribe as this is the season of giving. Give us a subscription.
00:02:47 --> 00:02:54 Give us your support financially. You can go to patreon.com slash amomentwitherikfleming,
00:02:54 --> 00:02:59 and do that, or you can go to momenterik.com and do the same thing.
00:03:00 --> 00:03:06 If you are a first-time listener, you can go to the website and catch up on,
00:03:06 --> 00:03:09 other episodes that, you know,
00:03:09 --> 00:03:12 get you fancy and all that and just kind of peruse around the website.
00:03:12 --> 00:03:17 You'll find out a little bit about me, all the different guests that I've had on the show.
00:03:18 --> 00:03:22 And again, like I said, ways to support the work that we're doing.
00:03:24 --> 00:03:27 So, you know, I'm not going to waste any more time. We're just going to go ahead
00:03:27 --> 00:03:29 and get this show started.
00:03:29 --> 00:03:32 And speaking about returning, Grace G is back.
00:03:32 --> 00:03:38 So, ladies and gentlemen, it's time for a moment of news with Grace G.
00:03:45 --> 00:03:50 Thanks, Erik. U.S. authorities have arrested a suspect believed to have planted
00:03:50 --> 00:03:54 pipe bombs at the Democratic and Republican National Headquarters in Washington
00:03:54 --> 00:03:58 on the night before the January 6, 2021, Capitol assault.
00:03:58 --> 00:04:02 The suspect, accused of ambushing and shooting two National Guard members in
00:04:02 --> 00:04:06 downtown Washington, D.C., was charged with murder, along with other offenses,
00:04:07 --> 00:04:10 and ordered held without bond after his not-guilty plea.
00:04:10 --> 00:04:15 President Trump caused anxiety among members of Congress by abruptly declaring
00:04:15 --> 00:04:20 the airspace above and surrounding Venezuela closed in its entirety.
00:04:20 --> 00:04:25 President Trump granted a full and unconditional pardon to Democratic Representative
00:04:25 --> 00:04:29 Henry Cuellar and his wife Imelda for bribery charges.
00:04:29 --> 00:04:35 Federal immigration officials began an operation in New Orleans to arrest immigrants in the U.S.
00:04:35 --> 00:04:40 Illegally, focusing on criminal offenders released from local custody due to
00:04:40 --> 00:04:42 non-cooperation policies.
00:04:42 --> 00:04:47 Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro signed the Crown Act into law,
00:04:47 --> 00:04:53 making Pennsylvania the 28th state to ban discrimination based on hairstyle, type, or texture.
00:04:54 --> 00:04:58 A federal judge issued a preliminary injunction blocking the Trump administration
00:04:58 --> 00:05:04 from enforcing a provision in 22 states that would deny Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood.
00:05:05 --> 00:05:10 Four people were killed and 10 others injured after a mass shooting at a child's
00:05:10 --> 00:05:12 birthday party in Stockton, California.
00:05:13 --> 00:05:17 D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser, the first black woman to serve three consecutive terms,
00:05:18 --> 00:05:21 announced she will not seek re-election in 2026.
00:05:22 --> 00:05:28 Camp Mystic, a Texas Christian summer camp where 27 campers died in a July 4th
00:05:28 --> 00:05:34 flash flood, announced plans to reopen in May at a nearby location with enhanced safety measures.
00:05:35 --> 00:05:41 And Viola Ford Fletcher, one of the last and oldest survivors of the 1921 Tulsa
00:05:41 --> 00:05:44 Race Massacre, died at age 111.
00:05:45 --> 00:05:49 I am Grace G., and this has been A Moment of News.
00:05:56 --> 00:06:01 All right. Thank you, Grace, for that moment of news. And now it is time for
00:06:01 --> 00:06:06 my first guests, Bremond MacDougall and Lisa Cooper.
00:06:07 --> 00:06:13 Bremond MacDougall is a graduate of University of Texas at Austin with a B.A. in Spanish.
00:06:13 --> 00:06:16 While raising her three children between Austin and New York City,
00:06:17 --> 00:06:20 she amassed a collection of many thousands of books that make up what she calls
00:06:20 --> 00:06:24 a reader's library as opposed to a collector's library.
00:06:24 --> 00:06:28 Rather than first editions, it contains dog-eared favorites,
00:06:28 --> 00:06:32 collections from both of her grandmothers, complete with personal notes,
00:06:32 --> 00:06:33 and books she has yet to read.
00:06:34 --> 00:06:37 She and her husband helped to establish Eleanor Hall at St.
00:06:37 --> 00:06:41 Andrew's School in Austin, a kindergarten building named after her late mother
00:06:41 --> 00:06:43 who was a champion of joyful learning.
00:06:43 --> 00:06:47 Board member of the Citizens Committee for Children of New York,
00:06:47 --> 00:06:51 a nonprofit that aims to advance well-being, equity, and justice for all of
00:06:51 --> 00:06:54 New York's children, she lives in Manhattan.
00:06:54 --> 00:06:58 Lisa Cooper is a lawyer by profession
00:06:58 --> 00:07:02 and attended Amherst College and the University of Texas School of Law.
00:07:02 --> 00:07:08 She has worked at a small Bay Area law firm that specializes in immigration law since 2008.
00:07:09 --> 00:07:13 A lifelong reader and book lover, her stint as the communications director for
00:07:13 --> 00:07:18 a school in Palo Alto undergoing a rebrand sparked her interest in publishing.
00:07:18 --> 00:07:24 Working with a graphic designer to rethink the school's print magazines in an
00:07:24 --> 00:07:30 age that prioritizes digital experiences was an exciting and rewarding challenge.
00:07:30 --> 00:07:34 The mother of two adult daughters, she recently relocated to New York City.
00:07:35 --> 00:07:41 Now, these two ladies, Ramon and Lisa, are the publishers of quite literally
00:07:41 --> 00:07:44 books, and they are return guests.
00:07:45 --> 00:07:53 And so they came on the first time with their first three books that they had published.
00:07:53 --> 00:07:59 And now they have three more books just in time for the holiday season, y'all.
00:07:59 --> 00:08:03 And so we're going to talk about those three books. So ladies and gentlemen,
00:08:03 --> 00:08:10 it is my distinct honor and privilege to have as guests on this podcast,
00:08:10 --> 00:08:12 the owners of quite literally books,
00:08:13 --> 00:08:16 Bremond MacDougall and Lisa Cooper.
00:08:26 --> 00:08:32 All right. Bremond McDougall and Lisa Cooper. How y'all doing? Happy holidays.
00:08:33 --> 00:08:36 Happy holidays to you too. We're doing great. How are you?
00:08:37 --> 00:08:41 I'm doing good. Doing good. Especially get y'all to come back on.
00:08:41 --> 00:08:44 So for those listeners, this is your first time listening.
00:08:44 --> 00:08:49 My rule is that if I have guests on, they have an open invitation to come back.
00:08:50 --> 00:08:54 And Ramon and Lisa took advantage of that. They were on in April,
00:08:54 --> 00:08:59 if I'm correct, with their basically introducing the world to their publishing
00:08:59 --> 00:09:01 company, quite literally books.
00:09:02 --> 00:09:05 And they had come out with three books to start it off.
00:09:05 --> 00:09:09 And so now they have three more books that they want to share with the world.
00:09:10 --> 00:09:14 And so they said, can we come back on? Yes, ma'am. Both of y'all.
00:09:14 --> 00:09:18 Yeah, y'all can come on. So we're here. But I'm really glad that y'all are here.
00:09:19 --> 00:09:23 Thank y'all for doing this. Well, thank you for having us. I think we did say
00:09:23 --> 00:09:25 it just like that. Can we come on?
00:09:26 --> 00:09:31 Yes. All right. So y'all know the rules. So the first thing we're going to do
00:09:31 --> 00:09:34 is get your responses to a quote.
00:09:35 --> 00:09:40 And the quote is, everybody wants to rule the world, but women might actually be better at it.
00:09:42 --> 00:09:46 We've heard that before. My response to that quote, I think,
00:09:46 --> 00:09:48 is that we like to think that.
00:09:49 --> 00:09:52 And yet, you know, we like to think that if women ruled the world,
00:09:52 --> 00:09:55 it would be a more rational and humane place.
00:09:55 --> 00:10:00 But I think that may actually be only in literature, only in fiction,
00:10:00 --> 00:10:01 because women are human.
00:10:01 --> 00:10:08 And I'm not sure if the women who have positions of power right now in our country,
00:10:08 --> 00:10:11 I'm not sure that they're living up to that quote necessarily.
00:10:12 --> 00:10:18 I definitely understand that. The quantifier would be I've had a lot of social
00:10:18 --> 00:10:22 workers on, so they would say social workers that are women.
00:10:23 --> 00:10:25 We can rule the world better. I'd be right. Right.
00:10:27 --> 00:10:32 Add to what Brouwens said, it just would sort of be interesting to find out, wouldn't it?
00:10:33 --> 00:10:38 And that particular quote is about one of our books in which there is a world
00:10:38 --> 00:10:40 where there are no men at all.
00:10:40 --> 00:10:46 So that's an added sort of, you know, facet to that question.
00:10:46 --> 00:10:50 Like, what happens if there is a world of only women, right? Okay.
00:10:51 --> 00:10:56 And we'll get into that book and the other two as well.
00:10:57 --> 00:11:03 All right. So now it's time for 20 questions where you can give me a number
00:11:03 --> 00:11:08 between one and 20, but you can't give me number 11 because that's the one you did last time. Woo-hoo!
00:11:10 --> 00:11:16 All right. Choose one. Let's do it. Okay. Do you want to know what it is? Yes.
00:11:17 --> 00:11:25 12. Go on with 12. Okay. What advice do you have for recognizing fake news?
00:11:26 --> 00:11:34 Oh, what advice? I mean, what I do is I don't read news on my phone.
00:11:34 --> 00:11:42 I don't read breaking news that's on the Internet. I try to use sources that
00:11:42 --> 00:11:48 are actually reporting what's happening and not making stuff up.
00:11:49 --> 00:11:57 It's sort of similar. I trust the news outlets that tend to vet their news,
00:11:57 --> 00:12:04 and I'm also aware of any biases that those particular outlets may inherently
00:12:04 --> 00:12:08 hold and try to get news from more than one source.
00:12:08 --> 00:12:11 Yeah yeah it's kind of hard not
00:12:11 --> 00:12:16 to get news from your phone now um because
00:12:16 --> 00:12:22 the technology and all that but you know i'm old enough to remember going downtown
00:12:22 --> 00:12:29 and and and seeing the ticker on the on one of the places uh billboards downtown
00:12:29 --> 00:12:33 is like oh the war ended okay great you know.
00:12:35 --> 00:12:38 Keep it moving but i would think that
00:12:38 --> 00:12:43 tiktok is maybe not the best place to get your news which i think a lot of young
00:12:43 --> 00:12:49 people now are doing yeah yeah well you know maybe one day maybe one day we'll
00:12:49 --> 00:12:54 get a walter cronkite to show up on tiktok i don't know i get i'm dating myself
00:12:54 --> 00:12:58 boys and girls some of y'all don't even know who roger cronkite is anyway,
00:12:59 --> 00:13:03 Where do y'all look for these new books to publish?
00:13:03 --> 00:13:09 Because like I said, this is your second release, so that's a total of six books.
00:13:11 --> 00:13:18 Where is the treasure trove to find these books, especially these new books that you've put on you?
00:13:18 --> 00:13:24 Well, most of the time we're doing a lot of research, either online or going to libraries.
00:13:24 --> 00:13:28 But with these three new books, it was a little different, wasn't it?
00:13:28 --> 00:13:30 One of them we found at a used bookstore.
00:13:31 --> 00:13:38 One, we were recommended this author by someone that we knew came to us and
00:13:38 --> 00:13:39 was like, hey, have you ever heard of this author?
00:13:40 --> 00:13:44 And we were like, nope, and went down that rabbit hole and we ended up publishing one of her books.
00:13:45 --> 00:13:52 And we also looked to authors that may be familiar to us, but have works that are unfamiliar to us.
00:13:53 --> 00:13:56 So that's how we ended up with Charlotte Perkins Gilman's Her Land.
00:13:57 --> 00:14:03 Okay. Yeah, whereas three were more research and serendipity in the library,
00:14:03 --> 00:14:09 I think they were all three library sort of things that we found. Yeah.
00:14:09 --> 00:14:16 Yeah. How is your personal satisfaction in publishing lost books grown over the last year?
00:14:17 --> 00:14:24 Oh, that's a good question. I think, I mean, it is very satisfying to have in
00:14:24 --> 00:14:28 your hot little hands a book that you have conceived of, you know,
00:14:28 --> 00:14:30 from beginning to end, the whole production of it.
00:14:31 --> 00:14:33 And when you get it, it's thrilled.
00:14:33 --> 00:14:38 That's true. I think that what we've learned in this intervening time period
00:14:38 --> 00:14:43 is that it is one thing to make a book, and it is a very different thing to
00:14:43 --> 00:14:48 market a book, and then different again to sell the book.
00:14:48 --> 00:14:52 And we've had to spend a lot more time doing the not-so-fun stuff, right?
00:14:53 --> 00:14:57 And that's been a really steep learning curve for us. The publishing book,
00:14:58 --> 00:14:59 we still love. We love doing that.
00:14:59 --> 00:15:04 We love finding the books and talking about them and reading different books,
00:15:04 --> 00:15:08 all of that, the selling has been a drag.
00:15:08 --> 00:15:12 Yeah. It's been a drag because it's not, that's not the fun part.
00:15:12 --> 00:15:17 It is really fun to, to have conversations with people who are excited about it.
00:15:17 --> 00:15:21 So that aspect of, you know, selling, so to speak, is really exciting.
00:15:21 --> 00:15:25 And the idea that we're getting books in people's hands, that is like,
00:15:25 --> 00:15:28 When you sell a book, that's really exciting.
00:15:28 --> 00:15:36 It's more the sort of business aspect of how do you sell books that is exciting.
00:15:37 --> 00:15:40 I don't know, different and harder, I think, than we thought it would be.
00:15:40 --> 00:15:44 And the publishing world is not set up for the success of small presses.
00:15:45 --> 00:15:50 It's not. It's a David and Goliath kind of thing, you know, and finding the channels.
00:15:50 --> 00:15:54 Like, you have to have a distributor, and we do have one, but it's a small distributor.
00:15:55 --> 00:15:59 It's not the one that, you know, that the most bookstores rely on.
00:15:59 --> 00:16:03 And just, like, finding, like, every time we think we're making some headway,
00:16:03 --> 00:16:07 There's a roadblock or something that we have to sort of be creative in our
00:16:07 --> 00:16:11 approach to getting around it. And we're new to this.
00:16:11 --> 00:16:15 We don't have years and years of experience figuring this out.
00:16:15 --> 00:16:20 But we are figuring it out. And we have some good people advising us.
00:16:20 --> 00:16:26 And I feel like every day we meet people who are just so excited about what
00:16:26 --> 00:16:28 we're doing and are so happy to
00:16:28 --> 00:16:34 jump in and advise and share expertise and knowledge. So it's been good.
00:16:35 --> 00:16:38 Yeah, and that was kind of like my follow-up question. You know,
00:16:38 --> 00:16:42 since the last time we talked, what have you learned about the publishing business?
00:16:43 --> 00:16:51 Since then. And it's obviously sounds like you're learning about distribution and sales and all that.
00:16:51 --> 00:16:55 Is there anything else that's been kind of nuanced to y'all?
00:16:55 --> 00:17:00 It is a business. I think we did not pay as much attention maybe,
00:17:00 --> 00:17:03 or we didn't think as much about how, you know, this is, it's a business.
00:17:03 --> 00:17:05 We are running a small business.
00:17:05 --> 00:17:10 We're not just doing the fun stuff that we got it. We have to do all of it.
00:17:11 --> 00:17:15 You can't really, you know, cut out this stuff that you don't want to do.
00:17:15 --> 00:17:19 That probably sounds really obvious to your listeners, as you're saying,
00:17:19 --> 00:17:22 and I'm like, oh gosh, we sound like idiots.
00:17:22 --> 00:17:27 But it's more just that before, you know, when you're in production,
00:17:28 --> 00:17:30 when you're searching for the books and you're designing books,
00:17:30 --> 00:17:31 you're very much in that world.
00:17:32 --> 00:17:36 And now we've had to shift our focus and sort of wear two hats.
00:17:36 --> 00:17:40 And that's, it's hard. And And we had this dream, right?
00:17:40 --> 00:17:46 Like, we had this idea and this dream, and it was going to be so much fun, which it has been.
00:17:46 --> 00:17:51 But I don't, you know, that's all sort of pie in the sky. It's not really the
00:17:51 --> 00:17:54 nuts and bolts of, like, how do you do it?
00:17:54 --> 00:17:56 Right. And, you know, there's a difference there.
00:17:57 --> 00:18:02 Well, politics is the same way, ladies. I can tell you, you know,
00:18:02 --> 00:18:07 it's like it's one thing to say, yeah, I would like to, I'd like to pursue that
00:18:07 --> 00:18:10 position. I think I could do well in that.
00:18:10 --> 00:18:14 I can, yeah, I've got some ideas and all that stuff. And then you get out there
00:18:14 --> 00:18:19 and you start campaigning and, and then somebody says something about your mama
00:18:19 --> 00:18:22 and stuff. And then it's like, whoa, wait, wait, wait, hold on.
00:18:23 --> 00:18:26 And in the background, you have to be raising money, right?
00:18:26 --> 00:18:31 Oh, my God. I used to hate that, Lord. It was almost like I was on punishment.
00:18:31 --> 00:18:35 The fundraiser would say, all right, it's call time, and I got to sit there.
00:18:35 --> 00:18:37 And it's like, hey, Jim, how you doing?
00:18:37 --> 00:18:40 Yeah, yeah, Representative Fleming, look. That time.
00:18:41 --> 00:18:45 Oh, my God, I hated that part of it. But it was like, you know,
00:18:45 --> 00:18:48 all that stuff is necessary in order to get stuff done.
00:18:48 --> 00:18:52 So I feel your pain. I've been there. You know what I'm saying?
00:18:52 --> 00:18:56 I got you. To build a dream, you have to do some stuff that, you know.
00:18:56 --> 00:18:59 Yeah, you got to make the dream a reality. Yeah, I think. I think,
00:19:00 --> 00:19:03 too, it's probably like politics in the sense that, like, we did sort of have
00:19:03 --> 00:19:08 an idealized version about, you know, how we could do this.
00:19:08 --> 00:19:12 And some of the realities, you know, again, because we're so small,
00:19:12 --> 00:19:15 trying to get attention, trying to get traction, trying to get into stores.
00:19:17 --> 00:19:23 Like, it's not really for the idealistically pure. Like, it's hard to kind of
00:19:23 --> 00:19:25 hang on to that pie in the sky, you know, feeling.
00:19:26 --> 00:19:31 But it's maybe not unlike a sort of grassroots political campaign.
00:19:31 --> 00:19:35 You know, I mean, it's sort of a grassroots, you know, come join us,
00:19:35 --> 00:19:39 come with us, come, you know, turn away from the big boys a little bit and,
00:19:39 --> 00:19:43 you know, look at what somebody else is doing over here.
00:19:43 --> 00:19:47 Yeah. Yeah, that's exactly what it is. All right, so let's talk about these
00:19:47 --> 00:19:52 books. Now, we mentioned the first book, Her Land by Charlotte Perkins Gilman.
00:19:52 --> 00:19:57 So as we go through the books, just kind of tell the listeners who the author
00:19:57 --> 00:20:01 is and then kind of go into what the book is about.
00:20:02 --> 00:20:07 So Charlotte Perkins-Gillman was writing in the early part of the 20th century.
00:20:07 --> 00:20:13 She wrote a short story called The Yellow Wallpaper, which a lot of kids still read in high school.
00:20:14 --> 00:20:18 It's anthologized a lot, and that's how we knew her.
00:20:18 --> 00:20:22 And she was a great champion of women's rights and a great feminist.
00:20:22 --> 00:20:29 She was also a eugenicist, which seems to happen a lot with progressive thinking
00:20:29 --> 00:20:32 people in the early part of the 20th century.
00:20:32 --> 00:20:39 So, you know, there's some nuance there in how we look at her a little bit.
00:20:40 --> 00:20:46 And the world that she's created in her land is this idealized female utopia
00:20:46 --> 00:20:50 that has been in existence for 2 years.
00:20:51 --> 00:20:57 There are no men. It is a peaceful and prosperous and beautiful society.
00:20:58 --> 00:21:03 They have developed a way to reproduce without men, which there's a name for
00:21:03 --> 00:21:04 that, and I cannot remember what it is.
00:21:05 --> 00:21:09 Parthenogenesis, yes. Parthenogenesis? I may be adding a syllable.
00:21:09 --> 00:21:16 Anyway, and so the story is sort of about these three explorers come into their
00:21:16 --> 00:21:21 world and find this world that they just, they cannot fathom that there are
00:21:21 --> 00:21:23 not men there. They just keep looking for the men.
00:21:23 --> 00:21:27 Why, you know, the roads are so straight and beautiful, and the buildings are
00:21:27 --> 00:21:31 If everything is perfectly done, men must have done it, is their conclusion. Yeah.
00:21:31 --> 00:21:36 Anyway, and the end of it is sort of, I don't know, don't want to give that away.
00:21:36 --> 00:21:39 Yeah, we won't give away the ending, but it is, I mean, it's a really interesting
00:21:39 --> 00:21:44 exploration of what would happen if not only women ran the world,
00:21:44 --> 00:21:46 but if the world actually didn't have men in it.
00:21:46 --> 00:21:52 And then what happens when men literally drop in from the sky and start mixing it up?
00:21:53 --> 00:22:00 So it's kind of like the Tocqueville showing up, like he discovered,
00:22:00 --> 00:22:02 you know, his book about America.
00:22:02 --> 00:22:08 So these people are like the Tocquevilles and they find this female utopia and
00:22:08 --> 00:22:13 they're trying to figure out how does this work and all that kind of stuff.
00:22:13 --> 00:22:17 Is that kind of a good gist of that? Yes, that sounds about right.
00:22:18 --> 00:22:23 It's a very, you know, it's written by a woman, but I think she does a really
00:22:23 --> 00:22:29 good job of characterizing these men. And they're very familiar.
00:22:29 --> 00:22:36 They are very familiar in their desire to explore and conquer a new world and
00:22:36 --> 00:22:42 be the first ones to be there, even though there are millions of people already living there.
00:22:42 --> 00:22:46 They're not the first ones there, right? There are already people there.
00:22:46 --> 00:22:51 And each of the male characters, there's three of them, they all sort of represent
00:22:51 --> 00:22:55 misogynists we have known and loved over the centuries.
00:22:56 --> 00:23:01 I mean, they represent an archetype. And the way she has them interact with
00:23:01 --> 00:23:04 each other and with her land is pretty funny. Okay.
00:23:05 --> 00:23:11 All right. So now the second book is called Who Would Have Thought It by Maria
00:23:11 --> 00:23:16 Amparo Ruiz de Burton. I hope I said that right.
00:23:16 --> 00:23:18 Yeah, we think so.
00:23:19 --> 00:23:24 We think that sounds right to us. So that was the one that was recommended to us.
00:23:25 --> 00:23:28 Someone came to us and said, hey, have you heard of this author? We had not.
00:23:28 --> 00:23:31 So she wrote this book in 1872.
00:23:31 --> 00:23:38 She was born in Baja, California, I believe. to land-owning Mexican family.
00:23:38 --> 00:23:44 She gets married to a rising star in the Union Army right around the time,
00:23:44 --> 00:23:47 you know, the Civil War is percolating.
00:23:47 --> 00:23:49 And this has her.
00:23:50 --> 00:23:55 Going around the country, living in different areas, and having access to the
00:23:55 --> 00:23:58 politically elite, to those circles,
00:23:58 --> 00:24:03 you know, and she's there as a participant and as a fly on the wall,
00:24:03 --> 00:24:06 and as a Mexican-American woman.
00:24:06 --> 00:24:15 And so, basically, this book that she wrote is a very witty satire.
00:24:15 --> 00:24:24 It's a rollicking Civil War saga that pretty much skewers the northern abolitionists
00:24:24 --> 00:24:29 in a way and at a time when I don't think they were expecting to be skewered.
00:24:29 --> 00:24:36 But we found it to be not only super funny, it's very insightful and very applicable
00:24:36 --> 00:24:43 to our country today. I found it fascinating and page-turning and,
00:24:43 --> 00:24:49 And really, really funny on top of it. It's like Mark Twain, I guess, a little bit.
00:24:49 --> 00:24:53 Burr thinks it's a little bit like Louisa May Alpiad as well.
00:24:53 --> 00:24:55 There's something, yeah, there's some feeling there.
00:24:56 --> 00:24:59 But it was a very unexpected book for us.
00:25:00 --> 00:25:07 And it reads, it does not seem like a book that was written 150 years ago. It was a long time ago.
00:25:08 --> 00:25:13 It does not feel like something that has been sitting around that long.
00:25:13 --> 00:25:15 And it has kind of been sitting around.
00:25:15 --> 00:25:22 It's not well-known. And it was the first novel written in English for an English-speaking
00:25:22 --> 00:25:25 audience by a Mexican-American woman.
00:25:26 --> 00:25:32 And it's actually, a lot of our books did really well at the time that they
00:25:32 --> 00:25:34 were printed. This one didn't.
00:25:34 --> 00:25:37 And when you read it, you kind of figure out why.
00:25:37 --> 00:25:45 Because, you know, it's like poking fun and being critical of this sort of like,
00:25:45 --> 00:25:50 I think people who after the war felt pretty good about themselves and how things had gone down.
00:25:51 --> 00:25:57 But she's pointing out the hypocrisy of people who would put their lives on
00:25:57 --> 00:26:04 the line to free Black people who are enslaved and yet would have a really hard
00:26:04 --> 00:26:07 time having one sit down at their dinner table.
00:26:07 --> 00:26:13 Or even walk down their sidewalk. Yeah, like the inherent hypocrisy sometimes
00:26:13 --> 00:26:15 that is, you know, you can be
00:26:15 --> 00:26:19 abolitionist and still be tool of white supremacist. Frankly racist, yeah.
00:26:20 --> 00:26:25 Yeah, well, that definitely sounds intriguing. I, you know, I didn't get a chance
00:26:25 --> 00:26:29 to read any of these books before we got started, but that definitely sounds
00:26:29 --> 00:26:30 intriguing. And you're right.
00:26:31 --> 00:26:33 And that kind of gets me to a question I'm going to ask later.
00:26:34 --> 00:26:40 The third book is called The Little Dinner by Christine Terhune Herrick.
00:26:41 --> 00:26:45 And this one definitely is a little different than what y'all are looking for.
00:26:45 --> 00:26:47 So kind of talk about that.
00:26:47 --> 00:26:52 It is. Letha found this one on the shelf in a used bookstore and I think was
00:26:52 --> 00:26:54 attracted to it just because it looked sort of interesting.
00:26:55 --> 00:26:57 The cover was... It was cute. Yeah, it was cute.
00:26:58 --> 00:27:02 And then when we read it, we were struck. So it's a cookbook,
00:27:02 --> 00:27:09 but it's also a sort of a manual on how to give this thing that she calls the
00:27:09 --> 00:27:13 little dinner, which is a meal for six to eight people.
00:27:14 --> 00:27:19 Which now we would, I mean, I never, yeah, if I have people over for dinner,
00:27:19 --> 00:27:21 I would never have more than six or eight.
00:27:21 --> 00:27:25 That's a lot. But at that point in time, this is 1892, is that when it's written?
00:27:26 --> 00:27:31 1892, a little dinner, a regular dinner might have, you know, 18 people.
00:27:32 --> 00:27:37 And so this is sort of a peering down of that and a, and a sort of a how to
00:27:37 --> 00:27:42 have this kind of dinner if you don't have more than one servant,
00:27:42 --> 00:27:46 if you don't have, you know, it's sort of, it's pared back, but not in a way
00:27:46 --> 00:27:48 that we would necessarily recognize today.
00:27:49 --> 00:27:52 But it is so funny.
00:27:52 --> 00:28:00 Her wit is biting, and Lisa and I just sort of howled with laughter as we were reading this book.
00:28:00 --> 00:28:06 And then, so the first part of it is sort of her prose about how you do this,
00:28:06 --> 00:28:10 how you pick the people that come to your meal, how you pick the meal, how you set your table.
00:28:10 --> 00:28:18 And she's particularly biting in how you pick the people that come to your meal. Boars need not apply.
00:28:19 --> 00:28:24 He says, life is too short for busy people to waste any portion of it in cultivating
00:28:24 --> 00:28:26 uncongenial acquaintances.
00:28:27 --> 00:28:31 Uninteresting people doubtless have their uses in the great economy of nature,
00:28:31 --> 00:28:37 but their place of service is not at the dinner table which we just love yeah
00:28:37 --> 00:28:42 and then the recipes are some of them are are they're very you know they're,
00:28:43 --> 00:28:47 They're old-fashioned, and some of them are goofy things like peas,
00:28:48 --> 00:28:54 canned peas, which is you open the can of peas and drain them and then cook them in butter.
00:28:55 --> 00:28:58 It was delicious. It was. We made it.
00:28:58 --> 00:29:02 Oh, so y'all cooked everything that was in the cookbook.
00:29:02 --> 00:29:06 Not everything. No, we stayed away from— We have avoided the haunch of venison
00:29:06 --> 00:29:09 and the race of pheasants.
00:29:10 --> 00:29:13 We haven't done the oyster pates and things
00:29:13 --> 00:29:15 like that but we did try a few of them just because we
00:29:15 --> 00:29:20 were like oh yeah the roast reed birds what even are the broiled woodcock yeah
00:29:20 --> 00:29:25 we didn't do those but we did do the the peas and we did the cream spinach which
00:29:25 --> 00:29:31 was also delicious we did a few things so it's just it's fun and funny and she
00:29:31 --> 00:29:33 was an interesting person to the author so,
00:29:34 --> 00:29:40 Herrick was sort of like the Martha Stewart of the time, and she wrote a bunch
00:29:40 --> 00:29:43 of books and articles all on housekeeping, homemaking.
00:29:44 --> 00:29:47 Child-rearing, cooking, all the above.
00:29:47 --> 00:29:52 And she did it because her husband died of typhoid, leaving her with small children.
00:29:52 --> 00:29:54 And this is, she turned to the pen.
00:29:55 --> 00:29:57 And we've seen that happen over and over again. Yeah.
00:29:58 --> 00:30:01 Ruiz de Burton was similar, the woman who wrote Who Would Have Thought It.
00:30:01 --> 00:30:07 She was widowed young and had to make her way in the world with two kids.
00:30:07 --> 00:30:13 And she originally published her book under a pseudonym because a female Mexican-American
00:30:13 --> 00:30:19 author would have sold even more poorly than she did as, what is she, H.S.
00:30:19 --> 00:30:23 Burton, I think, is what she published under. But yeah, The Little Dinner,
00:30:23 --> 00:30:28 it is different than anything else that we have, but it's funny and fun.
00:30:28 --> 00:30:33 And we just thought it was a good one to put out there. People have responded really well to it.
00:30:33 --> 00:30:34 So when you were describing the
00:30:34 --> 00:30:39 book, I kept thinking about that ChatGPT commercials. Have you seen those?
00:30:41 --> 00:30:47 So it's like this, it's one particular one. And it's like this guy and this
00:30:47 --> 00:30:52 girl is sitting in the car, and she's, like, trying to get him to tell her where
00:30:52 --> 00:30:54 we're going and all that stuff.
00:30:54 --> 00:30:59 And they drive off on this country road, and you see mountains and trees and all that.
00:30:59 --> 00:31:05 And then a chat GBT starts scrolling. He said, this is how you do a surprise
00:31:05 --> 00:31:07 getaway. And just started going through all the stuff.
00:31:07 --> 00:31:11 He said, take these roads and all this stuff. And I kept saying,
00:31:12 --> 00:31:16 when you were describing the book, I said, that would be what we would do now.
00:31:19 --> 00:31:22 It's like, okay, we want to have a little dinner. What would we do?
00:31:22 --> 00:31:25 And then Chat GPT would roll all that stuff down. Yeah.
00:31:27 --> 00:31:32 It's just amazing how we've gotten to this point, you know.
00:31:33 --> 00:31:40 And I'm guilty of it because of my schedule and, you know, with the podcast and with my real job.
00:31:40 --> 00:31:46 So a lot of books, I don't, I very rarely get to hold a book in my hand.
00:31:46 --> 00:31:48 Usually it's like, is it an audible?
00:31:49 --> 00:31:53 Okay, cool. Can I put it on Kindle and then just, you know, and read it that way.
00:31:53 --> 00:31:59 But we talked about this the first time about just the feel of being able to read a book.
00:31:59 --> 00:32:04 Just to hold it in your hand and just, you know, like I said,
00:32:04 --> 00:32:10 nowadays, it's like, hey, AI, what you think we should be doing?
00:32:10 --> 00:32:16 Because, I mean, they've got programs now where I want to write a book about
00:32:16 --> 00:32:21 a murder mystery and with a political background.
00:32:22 --> 00:32:25 And AI will crank out a book for you.
00:32:25 --> 00:32:31 How do you, as people that, you know, look for these authentic,
00:32:31 --> 00:32:37 you know, writings and all that stuff, how does that make y'all feel? Do y'all...
00:32:37 --> 00:32:40 Do y'all feel some kind of way about it, or is it just kind of like,
00:32:40 --> 00:32:43 you know, this is what we're competing against?
00:32:43 --> 00:32:46 How do y'all navigate through that?
00:32:46 --> 00:32:51 Well, I would just say right off the bat that I just think it's sad.
00:32:51 --> 00:32:54 I mean, it feels sad to me for two reasons.
00:32:55 --> 00:33:02 I mean, I honestly don't believe that AI can reproduce human creativity.
00:33:03 --> 00:33:09 I don't see that happening. And I've looked at, you know, AI-generated art.
00:33:09 --> 00:33:11 I've even read AI-generated, like, short stories.
00:33:11 --> 00:33:14 Like, I can't remember who it was, but someone a few months ago,
00:33:14 --> 00:33:18 a short story writer, sort of went up against, you know, ChatGPT.
00:33:19 --> 00:33:21 Like, they were given the same prompt, basically, and they wrote it.
00:33:21 --> 00:33:25 And then it was given to us to determine which one was, you know,
00:33:25 --> 00:33:27 which one we liked better, I guess.
00:33:27 --> 00:33:32 And I thought that even though I could immediately tell which was which.
00:33:32 --> 00:33:35 And one was like very perfectly constructed and
00:33:35 --> 00:33:38 like hits all the things that your you know seventh grade English teacher
00:33:38 --> 00:33:41 told you to hit like when you're writing a short story but
00:33:41 --> 00:33:44 thank you Margaret Marcus our beloved seventh
00:33:44 --> 00:33:49 grade English teacher but but it just there was there were no surprises in it
00:33:49 --> 00:33:55 and it was kind of flat you know and so I don't believe that that it's ever
00:33:55 --> 00:34:02 going to really replace human creativity and I think that books we keep forgetting that And then we say,
00:34:02 --> 00:34:09 AI is such great technology, but books are the ultimate technological advancement
00:34:09 --> 00:34:11 and tool, and they still continue to be.
00:34:12 --> 00:34:18 Nothing is going to spark your, I think, imagination and allow you to live a
00:34:18 --> 00:34:24 different life for a moment, be in someone else's shoes the way that this book will.
00:34:24 --> 00:34:27 This is technology, y'all. It is.
00:34:28 --> 00:34:34 And we forget that. yeah yeah that's that's cool out of the three books which
00:34:34 --> 00:34:37 ones which one do you think.
00:34:40 --> 00:34:44 Encapsulizes where we're at now. Do you think all three books do it,
00:34:44 --> 00:34:49 or is there one particular book that kind of like, yeah, this is kind of like
00:34:49 --> 00:34:50 what we're dealing with at the moment?
00:34:51 --> 00:34:57 I feel like who would have thought it is extremely relevant at this moment.
00:34:59 --> 00:35:06 The political situation that she describes, the different, the factions,
00:35:06 --> 00:35:14 you know, that the way the society is split, it just seems, and the politicians that she describes,
00:35:14 --> 00:35:21 it just feels, gosh, a lot like what we're dealing with right now.
00:35:22 --> 00:35:28 There is, I think he's a Danish historian who just recently did a,
00:35:28 --> 00:35:31 gave a speech that was then.
00:35:32 --> 00:35:35 Censored by the bbc and i cannot remember what
00:35:35 --> 00:35:38 his name is but I saw an excerpt
00:35:38 --> 00:35:41 of his speech and one of the things and by the way he was censored
00:35:41 --> 00:35:45 because he called trump like the most
00:35:45 --> 00:35:53 I think outwardly corrupt you know president ever but the rest of his speech
00:35:53 --> 00:36:01 that I did get to hear He talks about this rise in or the success of, like, shamelessness.
00:36:02 --> 00:36:07 Like, these are the shameless are the ones who are in power right now.
00:36:07 --> 00:36:11 And this book, who would have thought it, is all about that.
00:36:11 --> 00:36:20 It's about populism and incuriosity and mercenary. Mm-hmm.
00:36:20 --> 00:36:25 Mm-hmm. And being mercenary. Yeah, it's a mercenary.
00:36:26 --> 00:36:31 Yes, of us. And shamelessness being just the most...
00:36:32 --> 00:36:39 It is the road to power. It's like how shameless and mercenary can you be?
00:36:40 --> 00:36:44 We will reward that. We will give you more power. And we see that throughout
00:36:44 --> 00:36:48 this book, and we are certainly seeing it now.
00:36:48 --> 00:36:52 Yeah, it's amazing. There's the old saying, there's nothing new under the sun.
00:36:52 --> 00:36:57 And I try to tell people in the podcast, it's like, in America,
00:36:57 --> 00:37:03 we've been through this before. It seems crazy now because we're inundated with
00:37:03 --> 00:37:06 stuff, like you said, through our phone and everything else.
00:37:06 --> 00:37:10 But yeah, human nature is human nature.
00:37:11 --> 00:37:15 And so how we navigate through all that, you know what I'm saying?
00:37:16 --> 00:37:18 That's what defines us in the moment.
00:37:18 --> 00:37:23 Yeah, so I'm definitely, okay, who would have thought it? All right,
00:37:23 --> 00:37:24 I'm definitely going to mark that.
00:37:26 --> 00:37:30 Yeah, we would like to rename it, maybe. We've been calling it just,
00:37:30 --> 00:37:32 you know, behind the scenes, who to thunk it.
00:37:32 --> 00:37:38 Because, like, we couldn't remember the title for the longest time.
00:37:39 --> 00:37:44 All right. Well, whichever title, y'all decide. I think I'm going to get that.
00:37:45 --> 00:37:49 What's your timetable for finding and publishing the next set of books?
00:37:50 --> 00:37:54 Well, we've been talking about that, actually. Yeah. We, you know,
00:37:54 --> 00:37:58 this first year we did six books because we wanted to lay some tracks.
00:37:59 --> 00:38:03 Six a year is tough for us, given the fact that we have to sell them and that
00:38:03 --> 00:38:08 there's limited space in Vermont's basement, which is where we keep our books right now.
00:38:08 --> 00:38:14 So, yeah, we're thinking maybe three. Yeah, I think we're thinking three by
00:38:14 --> 00:38:16 next, probably next fall.
00:38:17 --> 00:38:19 Give us time to market and sell the
00:38:19 --> 00:38:23 ones that we've got and then it takes five months
00:38:23 --> 00:38:26 to get books ready for a publication is that or
00:38:26 --> 00:38:31 less than that okay yeah i mean it's funny like the first round we didn't know
00:38:31 --> 00:38:34 what we're doing we had lots of people helping us but it could have been that
00:38:34 --> 00:38:38 there were more cooks than we needed in the kitchen which sort of yeah made
00:38:38 --> 00:38:42 our process longer and so one of the things we're doing this round is we're
00:38:42 --> 00:38:44 just trying to be smarter and more efficient about it,
00:38:44 --> 00:38:48 streamline the process, I think we can actually get it down after having some
00:38:48 --> 00:38:49 conversations with people.
00:38:49 --> 00:38:55 I think we can get it down, excuse me, to about maybe a month and a half to the most, actually.
00:38:55 --> 00:39:00 And then the actual printing doesn't take that long. It takes like six weeks, I think, total.
00:39:01 --> 00:39:04 But, you know, human nature being what it is, and you're all humans,
00:39:05 --> 00:39:08 a month and a half to two months will absolutely be three or four.
00:39:08 --> 00:39:11 There's no... Why don't we have just a production process? No doubt.
00:39:12 --> 00:39:16 Production process only. Making anything. If we get everything teed up,
00:39:16 --> 00:39:19 then the actual making of the book is not that long.
00:39:19 --> 00:39:23 So it'll be a minute before we have anything new out, but we'll let you know. Okay.
00:39:24 --> 00:39:29 Yeah, yeah, yeah. We'll do that. So since this is the holiday season and people
00:39:29 --> 00:39:33 are looking for great gifts and we need to get these books out of Vermont's basement.
00:39:35 --> 00:39:42 How can people reach out to y'all and get the books and even reach out to y'all
00:39:42 --> 00:39:47 for some ideas about, you know, publishing or being in the book business?
00:39:48 --> 00:39:53 Well, first of all, please come to our website, which is quiteliterallybooks.com.
00:39:54 --> 00:39:57 You can order our books directly from us. And when you order them from us,
00:39:57 --> 00:39:58 they come already wrapped.
00:39:58 --> 00:40:01 They look so pretty and ready for the holidays.
00:40:01 --> 00:40:05 And you can, of course, get them through your local independent bookseller.
00:40:05 --> 00:40:09 If we are not on their shelves, they can get us on their shelves using either
00:40:09 --> 00:40:14 Asterism, which is our distributor, but you can also ask them to order directly from us as well.
00:40:14 --> 00:40:18 We wholesale our own books as well. So those are two really great ways.
00:40:18 --> 00:40:24 And we love getting emails from people who like want advice on what to buy or
00:40:24 --> 00:40:27 want to chat about a book or anything.
00:40:27 --> 00:40:29 Have a book that they love that they love to see in print.
00:40:29 --> 00:40:33 Please tell us what you want to see in print. We love that. And that's,
00:40:33 --> 00:40:39 you know, you can get to us through our website, but it's writeusatquiteliterallybooks.com.
00:40:39 --> 00:40:43 And we're on Instagram. Oh, yeah. On Instagram. Boy, are we.
00:40:46 --> 00:40:46 Yeah.
00:40:48 --> 00:40:54 I look, I understand that social media, it's, it's, I, I, I'm on it just because of the podcast.
00:40:55 --> 00:41:01 And it's just like, oh my God, just, you know, I think the term they use is doom scrolling.
00:41:01 --> 00:41:06 Yeah. And I, I, I'm really trying to wean myself from that. I'm just, okay.
00:41:06 --> 00:41:09 Just the people that are talking to me, that's all I want to do.
00:41:09 --> 00:41:11 I don't want to deal with anything else.
00:41:11 --> 00:41:14 You get sucked in. Oh my God. Yeah.
00:41:14 --> 00:41:18 So look, Bremond, Lisa, thank y'all for coming back on.
00:41:18 --> 00:41:22 I wish you much continued success on the books.
00:41:22 --> 00:41:27 And again, ladies and gentlemen, it's Christmas time. And they said that the
00:41:27 --> 00:41:28 books come already gift wrapped.
00:41:28 --> 00:41:33 I love that. I wish I could go every store.
00:41:33 --> 00:41:36 There used to be a time where you could do that, where it was like you go to
00:41:36 --> 00:41:39 the store and then they have a little service department and you run as like,
00:41:39 --> 00:41:42 hey, I need this wrapped and they'll do it for you and all that.
00:41:42 --> 00:41:46 It's like, it's, it's, yeah. So that's, that's a nice touch,
00:41:46 --> 00:41:51 but ladies, again, thank y'all for doing this again, much success and,
00:41:51 --> 00:41:54 and, and happy holidays to both of y'all. Thank you so much.
00:41:55 --> 00:41:57 All right, guys, we'll catch y'all on the other.
00:42:16 --> 00:42:22 All right, and we are back. And so now it's time for my next guest, Tomekia Moore.
00:42:23 --> 00:42:28 Tomekia Moore serves as the executive director of the Arkansas Community Action
00:42:28 --> 00:42:33 Agencies Association, where she leads statewide efforts to address poverty,
00:42:33 --> 00:42:40 build organizational capacity and advocate for low income to moderate income Arkansans.
00:42:40 --> 00:42:47 Since stepping into this role in 2023, she has focused on advancing results-oriented
00:42:47 --> 00:42:51 initiatives, engaging policymakers at the state and federal levels,
00:42:51 --> 00:42:54 and amplifying the voice of community action across Arkansas.
00:42:55 --> 00:43:00 Tomekia played a pivotal role in securing a $600 capacity-building grant
00:43:00 --> 00:43:04 in partnership with the University of the Ozarks, launching a groundbreaking
00:43:04 --> 00:43:09 initiative to work alongside churches to drive community-level change.
00:43:10 --> 00:43:15 This initiative integrates a statewide approach to food and nutrition insecurity
00:43:15 --> 00:43:19 with a particular focus on underserved and rural communities.
00:43:20 --> 00:43:26 She also leads the Arkansas Pathways to Self-Sufficiency Initiative,
00:43:26 --> 00:43:32 a coordinated multi-sector strategy addressing the complex and interconnected
00:43:32 --> 00:43:37 drivers of poverty through regional task forces and collective impact frameworks.
00:43:38 --> 00:43:43 A champion for leadership development, Tamika initiated the ACAAA Leadership
00:43:43 --> 00:43:50 Academy, which equips emerging and current leaders across Arkansas with the skills,
00:43:50 --> 00:43:55 confidence, and tools to thrive in their roles and better serve their communities.
00:43:56 --> 00:44:01 Her journey with ACAAA began in 2022 as the Director of Professional Development,
00:44:01 --> 00:44:06 where she created and delivered training opportunities to strengthen the statewide
00:44:06 --> 00:44:08 community action network.
00:44:08 --> 00:44:12 Her background also includes frontline and community-centered roles as Unit
00:44:12 --> 00:44:18 Director of the Boys and Girls Club of McGhee and as a Head Start teacher with
00:44:18 --> 00:44:20 community service offices,
00:44:20 --> 00:44:25 giving her a firsthand understanding of the programs and people she now leads.
00:44:25 --> 00:44:29 Tamika holds a Bachelor of Science in Early Childhood Education degree from
00:44:29 --> 00:44:34 the University of Arkansas Pine Bluff and a Master of Public Service from the
00:44:34 --> 00:44:39 Clinton School of Public Service, where she was selected by her peers to serve
00:44:39 --> 00:44:40 as the student graduation speaker.
00:44:40 --> 00:44:46 She is a nationally certified ROMA trainer, certified family development instructor,
00:44:47 --> 00:44:48 and certified group facilitator.
00:44:48 --> 00:44:53 She was recently recognized and marquised Who's Who in America for her professional
00:44:53 --> 00:44:55 accomplishments and civic impact.
00:44:56 --> 00:45:00 Her deep commitment to children and families is reflected in her service across
00:45:00 --> 00:45:05 numerous boards and coalitions, including the Arkansas Kids Coalition.
00:45:07 --> 00:45:12 Steering Committee Member for Economic Justice and Citizens for Congress.
00:45:12 --> 00:45:17 A collaborator with Excel by Eight. Co-chair Bank on Arkansas.
00:45:18 --> 00:45:22 Member State of Arkansas Weatherization Policy Advisory Council.
00:45:22 --> 00:45:25 Member of the Business Diversity Committee.
00:45:26 --> 00:45:31 Little Rock Regional Chamber of Commerce. And member of the Finance and Advocacy
00:45:31 --> 00:45:33 Committees for the Junior League of Little Rock.
00:45:34 --> 00:45:39 Tamika is a respected thought leader, advocate, and connector dedicated to building
00:45:39 --> 00:45:45 systems that empower communities and ensure that all Arkansans have a fair opportunity to thrive.
00:45:45 --> 00:45:51 Ladies and gentlemen, it is my distinct honor and privilege to have as a guest on this podcast. Tomekia Moore.
00:46:03 --> 00:46:07 All right. Tomekia Moore, how are you doing this morning?
00:46:07 --> 00:46:11 Okay, awesome. Yeah, doing well. Very glad to be here this morning and glad
00:46:11 --> 00:46:15 to share. All right. Well, happy holidays to you, by the way.
00:46:16 --> 00:46:19 Well, same to you. Yeah. All right.
00:46:19 --> 00:46:25 So normally how I do these is that I do like a little icebreaker period to kind
00:46:25 --> 00:46:32 of get the conversation going. And so the first icebreaker is a quote that I want you to respond to.
00:46:32 --> 00:46:38 Okay. And the quote is, when every day our Arkansans win, we all win.
00:46:39 --> 00:46:40 What does that quote mean to you?
00:46:42 --> 00:46:45 You're using my own words this morning. I love it.
00:46:45 --> 00:46:49 You know, in community action, we believe in all people.
00:46:49 --> 00:46:53 So that's the premise there. It doesn't matter what your background is,
00:46:54 --> 00:46:57 where you come from, how much money you have, what you look like.
00:46:57 --> 00:47:02 Everyone deserves that pathway to a quality life, a life in which they can thrive
00:47:02 --> 00:47:06 and flourish, and just be proud, right?
00:47:06 --> 00:47:10 So that's where that comes from. When every day our camps is when we all win,
00:47:11 --> 00:47:16 and we know that when everybody's on that path, they're contributing positively
00:47:16 --> 00:47:19 to their community, and that's just a plus for everybody.
00:47:20 --> 00:47:25 Okay. Now, my next icebreaker is what we call 20 questions.
00:47:26 --> 00:47:31 So I need you to give me a number between one and 20.
00:47:33 --> 00:47:39 Between one and 20. I'm going to go with the far end, 20. Okay.
00:47:40 --> 00:47:46 What is one thing you'd like to learn from someone with a different perspective than yours?
00:47:47 --> 00:47:54 One thing that I would like to learn from someone with a different perspective than mine,
00:47:55 --> 00:48:06 I think it would be the ability to commit, I think, without condition,
00:48:07 --> 00:48:10 without pressure, if that makes any sense.
00:48:10 --> 00:48:20 I think that I admire, I think, a person when they are just fully in,
00:48:20 --> 00:48:24 fully committed to whatever that cause may be.
00:48:24 --> 00:48:28 There's something to be said about that level of commitment.
00:48:29 --> 00:48:32 And they're not afraid. There's no limits.
00:48:33 --> 00:48:41 Albeit, you know, sometimes the commitment to which that is attached to is questionable.
00:48:42 --> 00:48:48 But it's being able to commit without fear and without limits,
00:48:48 --> 00:48:52 without boundaries, if you will.
00:48:52 --> 00:48:58 I've always been very curious as to how that works. And that's not to speak
00:48:58 --> 00:49:02 illy of my commitment to my line of work in community action.
00:49:03 --> 00:49:07 But also we go about our processes with a level head.
00:49:07 --> 00:49:12 We apply logic to what we do and we think things through.
00:49:13 --> 00:49:19 But again, just being able to jump straight in and it almost seems as though
00:49:19 --> 00:49:22 there is no question as to how this is going to work out.
00:49:22 --> 00:49:28 I have to say, I do admire that inner person, just being able to fully commit
00:49:28 --> 00:49:31 without fear, without limits, without boundaries.
00:49:32 --> 00:49:39 Yeah, that's interesting. I often wonder that too sometimes how people can do it.
00:49:40 --> 00:49:45 I think there's been certain people in our lives, maybe when we were younger
00:49:45 --> 00:49:50 that we did that too, but as we got older and more professional, I guess,
00:49:50 --> 00:49:56 we started applying, like you said, logic and trying to, is this person really making sense?
00:49:56 --> 00:50:01 Do I really want to stick my neck out for that person? yeah so I'm with you
00:50:01 --> 00:50:03 on that I'm always always been curious,
00:50:04 --> 00:50:07 how can you do that how can you sleep at night but that's a whole nother conversation
00:50:07 --> 00:50:12 anyway talk to the listeners about your journey to become the executive director
00:50:12 --> 00:50:17 of the Arkansas Community Action Agencies Association Inc,
00:50:17 --> 00:50:19 well I you know,
00:50:19 --> 00:50:25 I always refer to my career path as being whimsical in that it doesn't make
00:50:25 --> 00:50:28 sense, but it does make sense in perfect harmony.
00:50:29 --> 00:50:36 And I'll tell you, just thinking back to my younger years, I had no idea that
00:50:36 --> 00:50:38 I would end up in this line of work.
00:50:38 --> 00:50:44 I always thought that maybe psychology, maybe teaching, which I did end up teaching for a while.
00:50:44 --> 00:50:50 And funny thing, little third grade Tamika, I declared,
00:50:50 --> 00:50:56 and my parents will confirm this, I declared as a third grader that I would
00:50:56 --> 00:51:02 actually go on to be the first black woman to be the president of the United
00:51:02 --> 00:51:06 States in the third grade from the east side of Pine Bluff.
00:51:06 --> 00:51:08 I just knew this was going to happen.
00:51:09 --> 00:51:14 And I was very confident in that belief, which I'm thankful today because I
00:51:14 --> 00:51:18 did go on to become the first Black woman to lead community action across the state of Arkansas.
00:51:19 --> 00:51:22 So I'm very proud of that. But it's something that I'm very passionate about.
00:51:23 --> 00:51:27 But just thinking back to that career path, when I finally figured it out,
00:51:27 --> 00:51:31 and we don't fully figure things out, right? We're always learning.
00:51:31 --> 00:51:36 But when I got an idea of what purpose looked like in my life,
00:51:37 --> 00:51:40 I knew that I just wanted to show up and be there for others.
00:51:41 --> 00:51:44 Others that needed a voice, others that needed a champion in their lives.
00:51:45 --> 00:51:48 So initially that started out as teaching.
00:51:48 --> 00:51:56 I wanted to influence young people and young lives and be there for children and their families.
00:51:56 --> 00:52:02 And eventually that led into youth development work where I started and founded
00:52:02 --> 00:52:05 my own youth development program in Pine Bluff, Arkansas.
00:52:06 --> 00:52:10 Went on to become unit director for the Boys and Girls Club of McGhee,
00:52:10 --> 00:52:15 and then eventually landed at the State Association for Community Action in Arkansas,
00:52:16 --> 00:52:24 first in the role of professional development director and now as the executive director.
00:52:24 --> 00:52:29 Yeah. Yeah. I, I wanted to be president when I was three years old.
00:52:31 --> 00:52:36 And cause I, I just, I just thought in the, you know, the world book encyclopedia,
00:52:36 --> 00:52:40 I just thought that was the coolest article. Cause like the first two pages
00:52:40 --> 00:52:41 were done with pictures.
00:52:41 --> 00:52:45 Right. And then, you know, I said, I want to be one of those portraits. Right.
00:52:46 --> 00:52:49 And so I, I, you know, I, everybody, everybody, like you said,
00:52:50 --> 00:52:55 deviates in their path, but you know, and I didn't get where I wanted to be. to be president.
00:52:55 --> 00:53:01 But, you know, I'm just glad that, you know, I was able to do something in politics,
00:53:02 --> 00:53:04 and achieve some things.
00:53:04 --> 00:53:10 So I definitely feel you on that. What is a community action agency?
00:53:11 --> 00:53:15 So Community Action has deep roots across the nation. Actually,
00:53:16 --> 00:53:18 we are a 61-year-old network nationwide.
00:53:19 --> 00:53:24 We spend 1 plus local agencies and state associations.
00:53:25 --> 00:53:32 So just looking at Arkansas, there are 15 local agencies across the state of Arkansas.
00:53:32 --> 00:53:37 These agencies have reached across all 75 counties in Arkansas.
00:53:38 --> 00:53:45 And the infrastructure is so interesting because we're able to do a lot with a little.
00:53:45 --> 00:53:49 We are congressionally mandated to fight the war on poverty.
00:53:49 --> 00:53:50 So I guess I'll start there.
00:53:51 --> 00:53:55 And of course, we know that there are many complexities when it comes to poverty, right?
00:53:56 --> 00:54:03 There's no one sure path to how to eradicate it and to speak to the needs of communities.
00:54:03 --> 00:54:08 So with that infrastructure across our agencies and across our network,
00:54:09 --> 00:54:11 agencies speak to the immediate needs of their communities.
00:54:12 --> 00:54:18 So that is why with community action agencies, you're going to see a variety
00:54:18 --> 00:54:22 of services, which might include Head Start and child care services.
00:54:23 --> 00:54:28 Housing services, services that speak to workforce development,
00:54:28 --> 00:54:32 economic mobility, health care, et cetera, et cetera.
00:54:32 --> 00:54:38 If there is a need across a community, we do have boots on the ground that are
00:54:38 --> 00:54:39 delivering those services.
00:54:40 --> 00:54:45 And again, that's the work that I'm so proud of because it speaks to the empowering
00:54:45 --> 00:54:50 of communities. So we don't just go in and start a service or program or an initiative.
00:54:50 --> 00:54:55 We actually check in with our communities. We're in conversation with our communities.
00:54:55 --> 00:54:59 We're speaking to our communities and we're hearing and we're listening to our
00:54:59 --> 00:55:04 communities because the thought there is, after all, they are experts.
00:55:05 --> 00:55:09 On what's going on in their communities, right?
00:55:09 --> 00:55:15 So they definitely should have a say in solutions that speak to the challenges
00:55:15 --> 00:55:16 across their communities.
00:55:16 --> 00:55:22 So that's my favorite piece to the whole process is that empowering piece in
00:55:22 --> 00:55:26 which we are championing our communities, giving them agency,
00:55:26 --> 00:55:29 voice, and choice throughout the entire process.
00:55:31 --> 00:55:38 Yeah, and like you said, This was an offshoot of the war on poverty legislation
00:55:38 --> 00:55:41 that President Johnson pushed forward.
00:55:42 --> 00:55:46 And like you said, y'all have been doing it. And, you know, in Mississippi,
00:55:46 --> 00:55:51 that, you know, the first time I had ever heard the term community action agency,
00:55:51 --> 00:55:53 it was connected to Head Start.
00:55:53 --> 00:55:59 That was each agency responsible for the Head Start and Head Starts in their area.
00:56:00 --> 00:56:04 And, you know, and as I, you know, got more involved and engaged,
00:56:04 --> 00:56:07 it was like, oh, they do this and they do that, too.
00:56:07 --> 00:56:13 So I'm glad you kind of explained a little bit about some of the services that you provide.
00:56:13 --> 00:56:18 There's two particular things in Arkansas that y'all are doing.
00:56:19 --> 00:56:27 So kind of talk to the listeners about the Kids to College program and the R Connect program. Sure.
00:56:28 --> 00:56:30 So I'll start with Kids to College.
00:56:30 --> 00:56:34 That is a program that we do in partnership with Entergy Arkansas.
00:56:35 --> 00:56:39 And I will just say, you know, throughout history, traditionally,
00:56:39 --> 00:56:45 Entergy Arkansas has been a really good partner to community action in Arkansas.
00:56:45 --> 00:56:51 They've been very supportive of a number of works and initiatives that we do.
00:56:52 --> 00:56:59 But specifically Kids to College, it is a program, it actually hits a couple of components there.
00:56:59 --> 00:57:05 Number one, we're teaching or promoting, rather, youth financial literacy.
00:57:05 --> 00:57:12 And so the way that that works is through Kids to College, children as old as
00:57:12 --> 00:57:19 16, and so from birth to age 16, they're offered a free child savings account.
00:57:20 --> 00:57:26 And Andrew G. Arkansas, being as awesome as they are, when the family actually
00:57:26 --> 00:57:32 opens up the account, they see the account with $50 off the top.
00:57:32 --> 00:57:34 So there is nothing they have to do.
00:57:35 --> 00:57:39 There is no requirement or anything connected to that.
00:57:39 --> 00:57:48 Once you enroll, once you open the account, you automatically get $50 just for opening the account.
00:57:48 --> 00:57:52 And then throughout the remaining part of this year, we don't have long in 2025,
00:57:52 --> 00:57:56 but throughout the remaining part of 2025.
00:57:57 --> 00:58:04 Entergy will match any money that's put into that account by the family up to $300.
00:58:05 --> 00:58:09 Now, I don't know what that's going to look like going into 2026,
00:58:09 --> 00:58:14 but that offer is still on the table as 2025 remains.
00:58:15 --> 00:58:21 Now, looking at some components of the program, again, the intent is to promote,
00:58:21 --> 00:58:27 youth financial literacy, but the other tenant to that is that we also want
00:58:27 --> 00:58:31 to promote the pursuit of higher education, right?
00:58:32 --> 00:58:36 So, the name of the program is Kids to College, so I guess that's a given,
00:58:36 --> 00:58:39 but we also understand that there are.
00:58:40 --> 00:58:47 Multiple ways, right, to achieve higher education today or to achieve some form
00:58:47 --> 00:58:50 of education post high school.
00:58:50 --> 00:58:56 That doesn't always look like a two-year college or a four-year university, right?
00:58:56 --> 00:59:01 Our kids are so resourceful today. In fact, we have children that are making
00:59:01 --> 00:59:09 millions of dollars just from being TikTokers and YouTubers and all of these really neat things.
00:59:09 --> 00:59:15 So we want to make sure that the door remains open. So not just limiting that
00:59:15 --> 00:59:18 to a two-year college or four-year university.
00:59:18 --> 00:59:25 We also want to make sure that children have a path to, let's just say,
00:59:25 --> 00:59:29 trade programs, to certifications.
00:59:29 --> 00:59:35 We realized that as we went through COVID, right, that we had a shortage of
00:59:35 --> 00:59:40 essential workers across our country, people that did electricity.
00:59:40 --> 00:59:43 So where were the electricians? Where were the plumbers?
00:59:43 --> 00:59:45 Where were, you know, all these different people that we needed?
00:59:46 --> 00:59:50 So we want to make sure those pathways are there. And through this program,
00:59:50 --> 00:59:53 it is certainly opening up the door.
00:59:53 --> 00:59:59 So with this child savings account, the families can actually take the monies
00:59:59 --> 01:00:01 from this account, including what they deposit,
01:00:02 --> 01:00:06 including what Entergy Arkansas deposits as they provide the matches,
01:00:06 --> 01:00:14 and apply this to any cost affiliated with the pursuit of higher education or
01:00:14 --> 01:00:17 seeking a trade or certification or that sort of thing.
01:00:18 --> 01:00:22 And let's just say we're in a perfect world. And the child hates it through
01:00:22 --> 01:00:25 high school and they get all sorts of scholarships, right?
01:00:25 --> 01:00:30 So tuition is covered. But what about a cost for a car?
01:00:31 --> 01:00:34 What about costs for lodging? What about costs for books?
01:00:35 --> 01:00:39 What about costs for food, et cetera, et cetera? They can take this money and
01:00:39 --> 01:00:43 use it in any way to cover those expenses.
01:00:44 --> 01:00:45 So it's very flexible.
01:00:46 --> 01:00:52 It's there for the child. They can actually withdraw this money at any time.
01:00:53 --> 01:00:59 There's no maturation date in which, let's just say, they have to wait till
01:00:59 --> 01:01:03 they're 18. No, they can actually withdraw this money at any time.
01:01:04 --> 01:01:07 So there are no strings attached. It is free.
01:01:08 --> 01:01:12 Again, you get $50 just for opening it. And Entergy throughout the remaining
01:01:12 --> 01:01:19 part of 2025 will match the deposits from the family up to $300.
01:01:20 --> 01:01:22 There are a few things. Uh-huh.
01:01:24 --> 01:01:28 No, I just wanted to put out there as far as requirements. I did mention that
01:01:28 --> 01:01:31 the children have to be from birth to age 16.
01:01:31 --> 01:01:38 But also in looking at income, a dual income earner household, that's up to $80.
01:01:39 --> 01:01:43 Single parent earner household, that's up to $60.
01:01:43 --> 01:01:47 And we wanted to try to make sure that we could capture as much or catch,
01:01:47 --> 01:01:52 rather, as much of the population as we could in that ceiling there.
01:01:53 --> 01:01:56 So to make it available to as many families as possible.
01:01:57 --> 01:02:00 And other than that, just being an entity customer, having an entity account
01:02:00 --> 01:02:06 number, that sets you up for being eligible for Kids to College.
01:02:06 --> 01:02:13 Yeah, and before you get into the AR Connect part, I had some questions.
01:02:15 --> 01:02:21 So the cutoff to start an account is 16, but you can keep the account all the
01:02:21 --> 01:02:24 way to your 18 or 19, whatever.
01:02:25 --> 01:02:29 Yeah, as long as you get it before you reach the age of 17.
01:02:29 --> 01:02:34 So as long as you're still 16 years old, you can still open up an account.
01:02:35 --> 01:02:40 And yes, you can keep it as long as you need to. Once it's open, it's open. Okay.
01:02:40 --> 01:02:48 So now when you say the match, so let's say I decide every paycheck I want to
01:02:48 --> 01:02:51 give, put $50 in my child's account.
01:02:51 --> 01:02:58 So every time I make a deposit, Energy, Arkansas is going to match whatever I deposit?
01:02:59 --> 01:03:03 That is correct. Oh, that's correct. Throughout the remaining part,
01:03:03 --> 01:03:07 now I will say, as a disclaimer, throughout the remaining part of 2025,
01:03:07 --> 01:03:11 I'm not sure if that is going to continue into 2026 yet.
01:03:11 --> 01:03:14 We haven't discussed that part yet.
01:03:14 --> 01:03:19 But if funds are there, you know, there's been some discussion around that.
01:03:19 --> 01:03:22 So we will have to see going into 2026.
01:03:22 --> 01:03:26 But yes, throughout the remaining part of this year, the answer is yes. OK.
01:03:27 --> 01:03:34 Yeah, that sounds a lot like the individual development accounts that they had tried to start up.
01:03:34 --> 01:03:39 And I think it was supposed to go through community action agencies to where people could put.
01:03:40 --> 01:03:45 X amount of dollars in, but they had to, they had to have like a certain amount
01:03:45 --> 01:03:47 of money when they withdrew.
01:03:48 --> 01:03:51 And then the federal government was going to match that. And then you could
01:03:51 --> 01:03:56 use that like to go to school or buy a car or put down payment on a house or
01:03:56 --> 01:03:57 wherever the case may be.
01:03:58 --> 01:04:02 So that's, that's, that's pretty cool. All right, go ahead and talk about our connect.
01:04:04 --> 01:04:08 Okay. So there needs to be, and we are in the process of updating our website.
01:04:08 --> 01:04:13 And the reason I say that is that R-Connect is one of those former programs
01:04:13 --> 01:04:14 in which we were affiliated with.
01:04:14 --> 01:04:19 So you can definitely look for some updates to the ACCA website.
01:04:19 --> 01:04:24 However, one of the things that's in connection to that that I would love to
01:04:24 --> 01:04:27 talk about today is Arkansas Pathways to Self-Sufficiency.
01:04:28 --> 01:04:30 This is a program in which we've
01:04:30 --> 01:04:35 brought together 122 organizations from across the state of Arkansas.
01:04:35 --> 01:04:42 And this coalition is really unique in that there are so many different perspectives
01:04:42 --> 01:04:43 that have been brought to the table.
01:04:43 --> 01:04:49 So across these 122 organizations, you have people from corporate America,
01:04:49 --> 01:04:52 such as Energy Arkansas.
01:04:52 --> 01:04:58 Baptist Healthcare, and then you have your non-profits, as well as government
01:04:58 --> 01:05:00 organizations and legislators.
01:05:01 --> 01:05:06 So everyone's at the table and a part of this conversation in which we're really
01:05:06 --> 01:05:10 taking a hard look at how do we move Arkansans forward.
01:05:10 --> 01:05:16 The end goal is to create a self-sufficiency model that speaks to the needs of the entire state.
01:05:16 --> 01:05:21 So regardless of what your physical capabilities are, regardless of a.
01:05:21 --> 01:05:27 Any other factors, we want to make sure that all Arkansans have a pathway to
01:05:27 --> 01:05:34 a life that speaks for of quality, to a life that speaks to being able to flourish
01:05:34 --> 01:05:36 and thrive in our great state.
01:05:36 --> 01:05:41 So the reason I'm talking about that in connection to AR Connects is that there
01:05:41 --> 01:05:45 are eight task forces within this initiative.
01:05:45 --> 01:05:50 One of those is our Digital Opportunity Task Force.
01:05:50 --> 01:05:56 And in this task force, we have members from the Arkansas State Broadband Office,
01:05:56 --> 01:06:02 as well as some great partners from the University of Arkansas and their Division of Agriculture.
01:06:02 --> 01:06:10 And their main goal is to increase digital access across the state,
01:06:10 --> 01:06:16 as well as the capacity right across the state, because it doesn't work if you
01:06:16 --> 01:06:22 have access and you don't really know how to utilize the tools that you have available to you.
01:06:22 --> 01:06:26 So that is something that we're really taking a hard look at across our state.
01:06:26 --> 01:06:33 How can we leverage those opportunities across our state and make sure that
01:06:33 --> 01:06:36 more Arkansans have that access? Okay.
01:06:36 --> 01:06:39 Yeah, that sounds great. And.
01:06:39 --> 01:06:46 You know, that was something that, you know, I haven't been in the legislature
01:06:46 --> 01:06:49 in almost, it's almost been 20 years now.
01:06:49 --> 01:06:55 And, you know, so like in the early 2000s, we were talking about that in Mississippi,
01:06:55 --> 01:07:00 about making sure that everybody had Internet access and, you know,
01:07:00 --> 01:07:02 broadband in the whole state and all that stuff.
01:07:02 --> 01:07:10 I don't know if they've ever done it. But like I said, it's been a conversation
01:07:10 --> 01:07:16 that now the technology is advancing, but government moves slower than technology.
01:07:16 --> 01:07:27 And so, you know, I really hope that every state has access for their people,
01:07:28 --> 01:07:34 especially those in underserved communities, that they have access to the Internet or digital access.
01:07:35 --> 01:07:39 And like you said, know how to utilize it so our children can have a chance
01:07:39 --> 01:07:42 and not only compete with other children across the country,
01:07:43 --> 01:07:46 but kids around the world. I think that's important.
01:07:47 --> 01:07:51 And I'm glad that y'all are a major part in making that happen.
01:07:51 --> 01:07:56 What challenges are the community action agencies facing in this current political climate?
01:07:58 --> 01:08:03 I think right now, what's coming across all nonprofits and people that provide
01:08:03 --> 01:08:08 direct services just in general, of course, is the funding structure.
01:08:09 --> 01:08:14 And when you look at that with funding being as limited as it is right now and
01:08:14 --> 01:08:21 the need being so great, that does become a really valid conversation, right?
01:08:21 --> 01:08:26 But one of the things that we're doing to combat that in Arkansas,
01:08:26 --> 01:08:32 as I just mentioned, Arkansas Pathways to Self-Sufficiency, we realize now that
01:08:32 --> 01:08:34 we have to come together now more than ever.
01:08:35 --> 01:08:42 So, coalitions, right? That's the key. And I think funders, individuals working
01:08:42 --> 01:08:43 in philanthropy, right?
01:08:44 --> 01:08:48 All of these different sources, they love a good coalition. And I think we are
01:08:48 --> 01:08:52 stronger in numbers. So as we identify these challenges and we work through
01:08:52 --> 01:08:57 these challenges, we realize that the answer lies in working together.
01:08:58 --> 01:09:06 Yeah. So that was that was very good. And I appreciate you giving the answer that you say.
01:09:06 --> 01:09:15 You know, my experience in government has been learning that it's not a funding
01:09:15 --> 01:09:18 shortage as it is a priority shortage.
01:09:18 --> 01:09:27 Right. I think that, you know, in this country, we have the money to do what we want to do.
01:09:28 --> 01:09:36 And I think the challenge that you and other of your contemporaries have is
01:09:36 --> 01:09:43 that our priority is we're going to spend money on the fence and we're going to spend money on.
01:09:44 --> 01:09:45 Oh, I don't know.
01:09:46 --> 01:09:49 Bitcoin or something like that. but we're not putting money into...
01:09:51 --> 01:09:54 People or putting money into health care, whatever the case may be.
01:09:54 --> 01:09:59 So that's my answer to that, to my own question.
01:10:00 --> 01:10:05 And that is a priority deal. And I think, go ahead.
01:10:06 --> 01:10:10 Well, no, and sorry to interrupt, but you're, you know, spot on with it.
01:10:11 --> 01:10:13 I think it's a matter of just reframing that, right?
01:10:13 --> 01:10:20 Because we know that the purse strings are attached to the things that we care about, right?
01:10:20 --> 01:10:25 The things that we prioritize, right? And when I say that, I'm referring to
01:10:25 --> 01:10:28 our policymakers and those that do have the power of the purse.
01:10:28 --> 01:10:34 But I always like to kind of flip things, if you will, when I identify like a negative.
01:10:34 --> 01:10:38 I always like to try to apply a positive to it because I just believe that's
01:10:38 --> 01:10:39 being solution oriented.
01:10:39 --> 01:10:45 So even in looking at that challenge within itself, I know that I have an opportunity.
01:10:45 --> 01:10:46 I'm not even going to say a challenge.
01:10:47 --> 01:10:53 I have an opportunity to become louder, to push my story out there.
01:10:54 --> 01:11:01 I have an obligation to the communities that I serve to paint the picture,
01:11:01 --> 01:11:07 if you will, so that they can see the need, so they can make this a priority.
01:11:08 --> 01:11:11 And I'm just going to keep up a lot.
01:11:12 --> 01:11:15 We'll keep fighting and we'll keep pushing. That's right. That's all you can do.
01:11:16 --> 01:11:21 The late Congressman John Lewis is famous for encouraging others to get into good trouble.
01:11:21 --> 01:11:25 Why have you adopted this as your personal mantra?
01:11:26 --> 01:11:33 Because that's what it takes, right? At the end of the day, get in good trouble, necessary trouble.
01:11:35 --> 01:11:40 And in this line of work, we realize that in order for work to happen,
01:11:41 --> 01:11:46 in order for change to take place, that you just have to speak truth to power.
01:11:46 --> 01:11:50 We have to continue to tell our story. we
01:11:50 --> 01:11:53 have to continue to be a
01:11:53 --> 01:11:56 voice for the people who need us most
01:11:56 --> 01:11:59 and sometimes that's not always the
01:11:59 --> 01:12:02 most popular thing to do but while
01:12:02 --> 01:12:08 it may not be the most popular thing to do it is the right thing to do and not
01:12:08 --> 01:12:14 only is it the right thing to do it's the critical thing to do and I think The
01:12:14 --> 01:12:22 huge fail in this sometimes is that we don't see the bigger picture, right?
01:12:23 --> 01:12:26 But what I talked about earlier, that statement that you opened up with,
01:12:26 --> 01:12:31 that icebreaker, when everyday Arkansans win, we all win, that's what it takes.
01:12:32 --> 01:12:34 We live in ecosystems.
01:12:35 --> 01:12:38 And when one level of that system is not doing well, guess what?
01:12:38 --> 01:12:40 We're all going to feel that impact.
01:12:40 --> 01:12:44 So we have to keep pushing and fighting for one another.
01:12:44 --> 01:12:48 And that is what that statement means to me. Get in good trouble,
01:12:48 --> 01:12:51 necessary trouble. Yeah. Yeah.
01:12:52 --> 01:12:56 That's one of my guests started it and I've been carrying it on.
01:12:56 --> 01:12:59 It's like when people say something like that, it's like, say that a little louder.
01:12:59 --> 01:13:03 So the folks in the church, back in the church can hear it.
01:13:04 --> 01:13:06 I mean, just, you know.
01:13:08 --> 01:13:15 People need to understand. And I hope that, you know, it's been 250 years and
01:13:15 --> 01:13:18 we still ain't quite got to that level political maturity yet.
01:13:18 --> 01:13:24 But I hope that at some point in time that in America, people understand that
01:13:24 --> 01:13:30 when everybody, when people are succeeding, that benefits everybody.
01:13:31 --> 01:13:36 And, you know, and just, you know, holding other people down or not lifting
01:13:36 --> 01:13:42 other people up. whether it's deliberate or not, hurts everybody.
01:13:43 --> 01:13:45 And so I appreciate the way that you framed that.
01:13:46 --> 01:13:51 Last question. I did have one more, but I don't want to take up too much more of your time.
01:13:52 --> 01:14:00 But my last question was, or is, what has been your most satisfying moment in your current role?
01:14:01 --> 01:14:06 I would have to say my most satisfying moment.
01:14:07 --> 01:14:12 Every day I wake up, I'm like that person that wakes up every morning so full
01:14:12 --> 01:14:16 of energy, and I can see it, right?
01:14:17 --> 01:14:23 And it's a crazy thing because I always think about how God gives each of us
01:14:23 --> 01:14:26 purpose. He gives each of us a vision.
01:14:27 --> 01:14:35 And I don't know I have so many and and not to sound you know I don't know one
01:14:35 --> 01:14:40 way or the other but I have so many moments in which I feel like that like,
01:14:41 --> 01:14:46 This work is truly rewarding for me. If I could scale it down, I guess,
01:14:47 --> 01:14:51 maybe to one thing, if you will,
01:14:51 --> 01:14:59 it's just knowing that when I wake up in the morning,
01:14:59 --> 01:15:06 when I send an email or when I attend a meeting or when I'm in front of this
01:15:06 --> 01:15:12 person or that person, or that those occurrences matter,
01:15:13 --> 01:15:13 right?
01:15:14 --> 01:15:22 That each action is going to impact somebody's life in a positive way.
01:15:23 --> 01:15:30 And that for me is the most gratifying thing. I can't just scale it down to one single thing.
01:15:31 --> 01:15:35 But looking at the sum of it all, like it all matters.
01:15:35 --> 01:15:39 And I may not see the change in my lifetime the
01:15:39 --> 01:15:44 change that I like because you know leaders as leaders like we have this thought
01:15:44 --> 01:15:50 right of what change is going to look like like for Martin Luther King it was
01:15:50 --> 01:15:55 the mountaintop right for Moses Moses even went up a mountain.
01:15:57 --> 01:16:00 And for Nehemiah he had his wall and
01:16:00 --> 01:16:03 sometimes we don't get to see that in completion in
01:16:03 --> 01:16:07 our lifetime but it's having the faith that that
01:16:07 --> 01:16:10 change is going to take place and
01:16:10 --> 01:16:13 I look at it like this like little Tomekia
01:16:13 --> 01:16:18 I'm doing my part but somebody's going to come behind me so I have the opportunity
01:16:18 --> 01:16:23 to plant the seed somebody else can part of the seed somebody else can grow
01:16:23 --> 01:16:30 it and nurture it into something beautiful so I'm saying all that to say this I think it all matters,
01:16:31 --> 01:16:36 And for me, that's the rewarding part of it, just knowing that I have a hand
01:16:36 --> 01:16:38 to play in that somewhere.
01:16:39 --> 01:16:43 Somewhere. Yeah. So in summary, you're saying that your most satisfying moment
01:16:43 --> 01:16:47 is being present and being at the table and being in the moment.
01:16:48 --> 01:16:52 That is a great way to put it. Yes. Yeah. I feel you on that.
01:16:52 --> 01:16:59 And then, you know, you talked about the seeds and the watering and the cultivation
01:16:59 --> 01:17:02 and the growth, but there's got to be a harvest too, right?
01:17:03 --> 01:17:10 And that's the ultimate goal we want, No matter where that happens in our timeline
01:17:10 --> 01:17:16 or is beyond our timeline, if what we're doing now, there's a harvest at the end,
01:17:16 --> 01:17:20 then that makes that work satisfying.
01:17:20 --> 01:17:22 So I feel you on that.
01:17:22 --> 01:17:30 I do. If people want to get involved with the Arkansas Community Action Agency Association,
01:17:30 --> 01:17:35 whether it's through the state organization or through their local community
01:17:35 --> 01:17:37 action agency, how can they do that?
01:17:37 --> 01:17:42 And if people want to get in touch with you directly, how can they do that?
01:17:43 --> 01:17:47 Sure. So there are several ways that they can do that.
01:17:47 --> 01:18:01 My email is T as in Taw Moore, my last name, M-O-R-E, at A-C-A-A-A dot org. They can email me.
01:18:01 --> 01:18:05 They can hit us up on any of our social media pages. We're on Facebook.
01:18:06 --> 01:18:10 TikTok, Instagram, and X.
01:18:10 --> 01:18:16 And they can just type in Arkansas Community Action Agencies Association, and we will pop up.
01:18:17 --> 01:18:21 They can also visit our website. I did mention that we're upgrading it,
01:18:21 --> 01:18:29 but they can still utilize that link, which is www.acaaa.org.
01:18:30 --> 01:18:40 And the final point of contact, they can always reach us at the office at 501-372-0807.
01:18:41 --> 01:18:46 All right. Well, Tomekia Moore, I really appreciate having the time with you
01:18:46 --> 01:18:50 this morning for you to come on. It's really been an honor to do that.
01:18:51 --> 01:18:56 I wish you much continued success in the good work that you're doing and being
01:18:56 --> 01:18:59 present where we need to have a presence.
01:18:59 --> 01:19:05 And, you know, I just wish you and your staff and everybody out there doing
01:19:05 --> 01:19:09 the work at those 15 community action agencies throughout the state of Arkansas
01:19:09 --> 01:19:12 continued success and a happy holiday season.
01:19:13 --> 01:19:16 Well, same to you. This was fun. Thank you for the opportunity.
01:19:30 --> 01:19:38 All right, we are back. So I want to thank Bremond MacDougall,
01:19:38 --> 01:19:44 Lisa Cooper, and Tomekia Moore for coming on to the podcast.
01:19:44 --> 01:19:48 It is always a delight to have Bremond and Lisa come on.
01:19:48 --> 01:19:58 Their enthusiasm for finding these literary works and republishing them and
01:19:58 --> 01:20:02 getting them back into the hands of readers.
01:20:04 --> 01:20:10 It's infectious and is, like I said, it's always a joy to talk to them.
01:20:11 --> 01:20:18 And, you know, they're engaged politically and pay attention to things.
01:20:19 --> 01:20:25 But the cool thing is, is that instead of like running for office or being part
01:20:25 --> 01:20:32 of this group, they find these books that are very, very relevant to what's
01:20:32 --> 01:20:33 happening now that were written like.
01:20:34 --> 01:20:45 100, 150 years ago, you know, and that's an incredible talent and very, very resourceful.
01:20:45 --> 01:20:51 And I greatly appreciate what they do to contribute to our enlightenment.
01:20:52 --> 01:20:56 Because again, enlightenment is the goal, right?
01:20:57 --> 01:21:01 And then having the privilege for the first time to talk to Tomekia Moore,
01:21:01 --> 01:21:06 who is basically the leader of all the community action agencies in the state of Arkansas.
01:21:08 --> 01:21:17 You know, those organizations were created by Congress to make sure that rural communities,
01:21:18 --> 01:21:25 underserved communities, you know, had access and resources to things they need.
01:21:25 --> 01:21:32 Primarily the biggest or their most known service is Head Start, which has,
01:21:33 --> 01:21:41 contributed to more black children being ready for college than any other program
01:21:41 --> 01:21:42 that's ever been created.
01:21:43 --> 01:21:47 You know, so much so that everybody else started talking about,
01:21:47 --> 01:21:54 well, we need to have a pre-K program and all this stuff because that's what Head Start is. And,
01:21:55 --> 01:21:58 It's one of the most successful government programs ever created.
01:22:00 --> 01:22:08 So, you know, and just to be in that kind of work to make sure that people are
01:22:08 --> 01:22:12 not only taken care of, but they're heard, right?
01:22:13 --> 01:22:20 Because as you heard in the interview, sometimes the most important thing is just to be in the room,
01:22:20 --> 01:22:29 just to be a presence, just to be able to sit at the table and voice your concerns.
01:22:30 --> 01:22:35 Sometimes that's all that's needed. It's not necessarily that you have to pass
01:22:35 --> 01:22:40 a bill or have a big protest. Just get in the room.
01:22:41 --> 01:22:45 And once the voice is heard, it can't go back.
01:22:45 --> 01:22:49 They can try to deny, but it's in their brain.
01:22:49 --> 01:22:54 And even if you don't get credit for what happens, if it happens,
01:22:55 --> 01:23:01 it's because you had that presence in the room, right? Good trouble.
01:23:03 --> 01:23:11 Getting engaged. That's all we really ask people to do is just get engaged.
01:23:11 --> 01:23:16 And you don't have to be paid to get engaged. That doesn't have to be your job.
01:23:16 --> 01:23:20 But as a citizen, we need you to be engaged.
01:23:21 --> 01:23:27 Sometimes that means you're a little angry. Okay. But just like I tell people,
01:23:27 --> 01:23:32 don't go to the grocery store hungry, don't go to the voting proof angry, right?
01:23:33 --> 01:23:38 The motivation to get engaged might have been anger, but you've got to be reasonable
01:23:38 --> 01:23:43 and rational in choosing leadership, right?
01:23:43 --> 01:23:51 And on that note, I had several friends in different states running in runoffs. They didn't win.
01:23:52 --> 01:24:00 But in a couple of cases, you know, the person that won, I'm not, I knew them too.
01:24:01 --> 01:24:05 And I don't think that they're bad people. I think they're going to do a good
01:24:05 --> 01:24:08 job. I just happened to be running against my friend.
01:24:10 --> 01:24:18 You know, on the one hand, though, in one particular race, I was disappointed.
01:24:18 --> 01:24:24 And that's with Dontaye Carter because Dontaye, one, was a guest on the show. And then two.
01:24:26 --> 01:24:35 The person who won has been the mayor, this city has only had two mayors and
01:24:35 --> 01:24:37 this guy is the second mayor.
01:24:39 --> 01:24:45 And that race was an aberration compared to the trend that's happening nationwide.
01:24:46 --> 01:24:51 Because in the neighboring town, the incumbent mayor got beat, right?
01:24:51 --> 01:24:59 The same people that supported Dontaye supported this young lady in Roswell, and she won.
01:24:59 --> 01:25:02 But the folks in Sandy Springs didn't get the memo.
01:25:03 --> 01:25:09 Nonetheless, it is what it is, you know, and hopefully, you know,
01:25:09 --> 01:25:15 in four years, you know, Sandy Springs will catch up with everybody else.
01:25:16 --> 01:25:20 That's not an indictment on Sandy Springs. It's just that I guess they didn't
01:25:20 --> 01:25:24 see the current mayor as part of this group,
01:25:24 --> 01:25:33 even though his history would say that he's old school as far as this group is concerned.
01:25:34 --> 01:25:38 You know, but it's kind of interesting when people run against an incumbent.
01:25:38 --> 01:25:42 They don't make it to the runoff and then they endorse him.
01:25:43 --> 01:25:48 The incumbent that they were running against instead of building an alliance
01:25:48 --> 01:25:50 with somebody that's going to beat that incumbent.
01:25:51 --> 01:25:54 I think that's always a fascinating thing in politics. People can do what they
01:25:54 --> 01:25:58 want to do. This is not a judgment. I just think it's fascinating.
01:25:58 --> 01:26:02 You wanted this person out so bad, you signed up to run.
01:26:02 --> 01:26:08 And then when it comes down to somebody who made it to the runoff against the
01:26:08 --> 01:26:13 incumbent, you turn around and support the person you were trying to get out
01:26:13 --> 01:26:15 of office. I think that's fascinating.
01:26:17 --> 01:26:23 You know? But it is what it is. You know? It would have made a difference. I don't know.
01:26:24 --> 01:26:30 But anyway, it is what it is. I'm very proud of Dontaye for how he ran his campaign
01:26:30 --> 01:26:36 and the support that he gathered will go a long way for him,
01:26:37 --> 01:26:39 whatever political future he has.
01:26:40 --> 01:26:44 You know, I just... I just hate it for Sandy Springs.
01:26:44 --> 01:26:48 I think they missed out on an opportunity to go in a different direction.
01:26:49 --> 01:26:51 But, you know, they made a choice.
01:26:52 --> 01:26:55 And that's all we can do is offer ourselves up.
01:26:57 --> 01:27:01 And, you know, if the people respond to us, so be it.
01:27:02 --> 01:27:07 If they don't, it is what it is. At least you were present.
01:27:07 --> 01:27:13 At least you got your voice out there. and just like Ms. Behn in Nashville.
01:27:15 --> 01:27:19 Who ran in a district that was designed for a Republican to win forever,
01:27:19 --> 01:27:25 or at least for the next 10 years, you know, she, she made it a close and competitive race.
01:27:25 --> 01:27:30 And in her concession phone call, according to her, in her phone call,
01:27:30 --> 01:27:34 she basically said, look, the reason why this election was close because people
01:27:34 --> 01:27:36 want this and the people want that.
01:27:37 --> 01:27:43 So whatever agenda you talking about, you need to incorporate that.
01:27:43 --> 01:27:48 What the people want, in your time in Congress. And it may be a short time because
01:27:48 --> 01:27:50 this was a special election.
01:27:50 --> 01:27:56 So he's got to turn right around and start campaigning now because the regular
01:27:56 --> 01:28:00 election is less than 365 days away.
01:28:01 --> 01:28:07 No, actually, yeah, about 330 some days. So, you know, we'll see.
01:28:08 --> 01:28:13 It didn't sound like he was too receptive based on his speech that he gave and
01:28:13 --> 01:28:15 his victory speech, but we'll see.
01:28:15 --> 01:28:20 We'll see, especially the way the political winds are blowing.
01:28:21 --> 01:28:30 And it's still encouraging that people are getting engaged some places more
01:28:30 --> 01:28:33 than others, but they're getting there.
01:28:34 --> 01:28:39 And if the voices of reason and the voices of logic continue to prevail,
01:28:40 --> 01:28:45 we'll see a change on the first Tuesday of November in 2026.
01:28:45 --> 01:28:50 We'll see it. And I don't know how big of a change it'll be,
01:28:50 --> 01:28:51 but it'll be significant.
01:28:52 --> 01:28:58 It will set a foundation, I think, for a generation.
01:29:00 --> 01:29:06 It's kind of lofty language for an election, but that's just the way I feel.
01:29:06 --> 01:29:10 I just think that people are tired of being disappointed.
01:29:12 --> 01:29:18 Now, you know, we're all human beings, and, you know, whether you have a favorite
01:29:18 --> 01:29:24 sports team or, you know, whatever, you know, family member,
01:29:24 --> 01:29:26 you know, somebody's going to disappoint you.
01:29:27 --> 01:29:34 But when government disappoints you, that really hurts, you know,
01:29:34 --> 01:29:41 because that, when government makes decisions, could be a life or death decision for you.
01:29:42 --> 01:29:47 It's definitely quality of life decisions for you. But in some cases,
01:29:47 --> 01:29:48 it could be life or death.
01:29:49 --> 01:29:53 And some people don't look at government that's serious, but you should.
01:29:54 --> 01:29:59 Because if, you know, for all these years, we've been saying people need to
01:29:59 --> 01:30:03 get vaccinated. And now we have an administration that says, yeah, not so much.
01:30:04 --> 01:30:06 And now measles are back.
01:30:08 --> 01:30:11 So, you know, life and death decisions.
01:30:12 --> 01:30:16 It's real. Whether people can afford their health care or not,
01:30:16 --> 01:30:17 that's a life and death decision.
01:30:18 --> 01:30:26 So, you know, I want people to pay attention and take this stuff really, really serious.
01:30:26 --> 01:30:28 I don't want it to be consuming.
01:30:29 --> 01:30:32 Again, don't want you to be a political junkie like me.
01:30:32 --> 01:30:37 I just need you to be engaged. I need you to pay attention. And I need you,
01:30:37 --> 01:30:41 like I say in my promo, I don't want you to keep this a secret.
01:30:42 --> 01:30:48 I need you to tell people. I need you to do what Jesus told the disciples. Spread the good news.
01:30:49 --> 01:30:54 Talk to folks. That they're, you know, and debate people.
01:30:55 --> 01:30:58 Whether it's your family members, your friends, whether co-workers.
01:30:59 --> 01:31:04 Talk to them. Say, hey, look, I think there's a better way to do X, Y, and Z.
01:31:04 --> 01:31:08 I'm going to vote for somebody that I think is going to take us in a different
01:31:08 --> 01:31:12 direction and not worry about whether you're going to get kicked out of the
01:31:12 --> 01:31:14 country club or not, or, you know,
01:31:15 --> 01:31:21 they're not going to invite you to poker night or somebody's bar mitzvah. It doesn't matter.
01:31:22 --> 01:31:25 You have a right as an American to voice your opinion.
01:31:25 --> 01:31:31 You know, and that's the one thing that I guess the current conservatives,
01:31:31 --> 01:31:34 the MAGA people don't get, is that,
01:31:35 --> 01:31:39 excuse me, we get that you may feel as though you haven't been heard.
01:31:40 --> 01:31:46 We make the argument that in the history of the country, that opinion's been out there for a while.
01:31:47 --> 01:31:51 And sometimes we agree with that, but most of the time we don't.
01:31:51 --> 01:31:56 And it all depends on the issue, right? If you're talking about something,
01:31:56 --> 01:32:01 again, like health care, yeah, we can have pros and cons about that when it
01:32:01 --> 01:32:04 comes to the liberties of human beings, human rights.
01:32:06 --> 01:32:12 Yeah, most of us are not going to agree with that. So you just have to deal
01:32:12 --> 01:32:15 with the fact that people are not going to agree with you all the time.
01:32:16 --> 01:32:23 Does it frustrate you? Sure, because it frustrates us. We don't see the value of human life, right?
01:32:25 --> 01:32:27 Except, you know, before birth.
01:32:29 --> 01:32:37 Anyway, I just really want people to get to a point where they can be comfortable
01:32:37 --> 01:32:43 respecting something different and not be afraid of it, right?
01:32:44 --> 01:32:47 You know, when we was little, we used to play this game called the cooties.
01:32:47 --> 01:32:52 And it's like, it was basically a game of it or tag.
01:32:52 --> 01:32:56 It's like somebody said, well, you got the cooties and then everybody tries
01:32:56 --> 01:33:01 to run away from it. You know, try to get back to home base before you get tagged or whatever.
01:33:01 --> 01:33:04 And then if you get tagged and you got the cooties and everybody runs away from
01:33:04 --> 01:33:07 you, right? Political thought is not like that.
01:33:09 --> 01:33:15 Not inherently bad, you know, progressive ideas are definitely not the cooties.
01:33:16 --> 01:33:24 You know, it's just a change. I mean, don't you feel strange that you can go
01:33:24 --> 01:33:30 to certain countries and you can see clean streets and no homeless people?
01:33:31 --> 01:33:37 You know, you see high speed rail and then you come back here where we talk
01:33:37 --> 01:33:40 about we're the baddest and best country to ever exist.
01:33:41 --> 01:33:46 We're the wealthiest country on the planet. We have the most powerful military, yada, yada, yada.
01:33:47 --> 01:33:49 But we ain't got the cool stuff like these other people do.
01:33:50 --> 01:33:58 Again, you can make as much money as you want, but I don't think we need to
01:33:58 --> 01:34:03 have anybody worth a trillion dollars if people don't have a place to live.
01:34:03 --> 01:34:08 I don't think we need to have a trillionaire, if healthcare is not free for
01:34:08 --> 01:34:10 every American citizen.
01:34:11 --> 01:34:16 I don't think we need to have a trillionaire if college education is not free, right?
01:34:17 --> 01:34:21 I just don't think that. I think that if we're the wealthiest nation in the
01:34:21 --> 01:34:24 world, we need to show that. Everybody needs to have a house.
01:34:24 --> 01:34:27 Everybody that can work needs to have a job.
01:34:27 --> 01:34:35 Everybody that wants to go to college can go, You know, and that's not necessarily a liberal idea.
01:34:36 --> 01:34:42 Dwight D. Eisenhower created a student loan program as a national security measure, period.
01:34:43 --> 01:34:49 You know, the Freedmen's Bureau was created so that enslaved people could buy
01:34:49 --> 01:34:57 property and become full citizens, live a life that was abundant after being enslaved.
01:34:57 --> 01:35:03 That was supposed to be the reparations. There was literally a government agency
01:35:03 --> 01:35:08 set up for enslaved, the formerly enslaved. And we let it slip away.
01:35:11 --> 01:35:16 So if you had done what you were supposed to, it's like the old Fram commercial.
01:35:16 --> 01:35:17 You can pay me now or you can pay me later.
01:35:18 --> 01:35:22 People are upset about reparations, but it's like if the Freeman Bureau had
01:35:22 --> 01:35:29 not been undercut, if it was created as a standalone agency rather than stuck
01:35:29 --> 01:35:30 in the Department of Defense,
01:35:31 --> 01:35:36 we wouldn't have this conversation about reparations now because it would have been taken care of.
01:35:37 --> 01:35:43 If you don't follow through, You don't know what direction things are going to go.
01:35:43 --> 01:35:48 In golf, if you don't follow through on your swing, you can't control the flight of the ball.
01:35:49 --> 01:35:52 It's the same in public policy. If you don't follow through,
01:35:52 --> 01:35:55 you don't know what direction that legislation is going to lead to.
01:35:56 --> 01:36:00 If there's no controls, if there's no commitment, then go off the rails.
01:36:01 --> 01:36:04 There's no checks and balance, right?
01:36:06 --> 01:36:09 So, you know, that's where we are.
01:36:10 --> 01:36:14 And we got to fix it. We got to get it right.
01:36:14 --> 01:36:17 We got to do capitalism right.
01:36:18 --> 01:36:21 I don't care how much money you make.
01:36:21 --> 01:36:29 I don't. I do care that I'm paying double what you're paying in taxes and I
01:36:29 --> 01:36:31 make considerably less money than you.
01:36:31 --> 01:36:34 I do care about that. I don't think that's fair.
01:36:35 --> 01:36:41 Nonetheless, that's what we are. And I think we need to change that, right?
01:36:42 --> 01:36:51 I mean, it's just common sense things that don't seem common because we let
01:36:51 --> 01:36:58 greed and avarice and all this other stuff take hold, right?
01:36:59 --> 01:37:03 So as far as Gump would say, that's all I got to say about that.
01:37:05 --> 01:37:13 I just really hope that in my lifetime. We just had a sister who passed away at the age of 111.
01:37:14 --> 01:37:23 I pray that if I get to be 111, that I will see the seeds that are being planted
01:37:23 --> 01:37:27 now come to fruition and get harvested.
01:37:28 --> 01:37:34 That's what I was talking to Sister Moore about. You know, I would love to see
01:37:34 --> 01:37:37 this nation really live up to its fullest potential.
01:37:38 --> 01:37:44 And the only way we can do that is if we stop worrying about how much melanin
01:37:44 --> 01:37:47 somebody has in their skin and...
01:37:49 --> 01:37:53 Are concerned with how much talent that they have to offer.
01:37:54 --> 01:37:58 I don't care how you wear your hair. I don't care how many tattoos you got.
01:37:59 --> 01:38:03 I don't care who you live with or love.
01:38:03 --> 01:38:09 I just want you to contribute to society in a positive way.
01:38:09 --> 01:38:16 I want you to be involved in the uplifting of everyone around you.
01:38:17 --> 01:38:21 Whatever my religious beliefs are, are my religious beliefs.
01:38:22 --> 01:38:25 And it's my choice, it's my life to live.
01:38:26 --> 01:38:28 Can't judge anybody else.
01:38:29 --> 01:38:35 What I do want is that regardless of our differences, physical,
01:38:36 --> 01:38:37 psychological, whatever,
01:38:38 --> 01:38:45 sociological, that when we decide that we need to do something to make this
01:38:45 --> 01:38:49 country better, we can lock arms and make that happen.
01:38:51 --> 01:38:56 That's all I care about. And maybe that's a kumbaya moment. I don't know.
01:38:57 --> 01:39:05 But I think in order for this country to move forward, we got to take those steps.
01:39:05 --> 01:39:10 You know, nobody thought that a colony,
01:39:11 --> 01:39:18 whether it was 13 colonies or one colony of enslaved people,
01:39:18 --> 01:39:23 that they could defeat a major power.
01:39:24 --> 01:39:28 Americans did it. The American colonists did it. The Haitians,
01:39:28 --> 01:39:30 the Haitian slaves did it.
01:39:31 --> 01:39:37 And throughout history, we've seen the French Revolution. We've seen that, right?
01:39:37 --> 01:39:43 Where the people make a decision, hey, look, it's time to change what's happening.
01:39:44 --> 01:39:50 And throughout history, people are not really too keen on being part of an empire.
01:39:51 --> 01:39:56 They kind of want to have, even if it's just an illusion, right?
01:39:57 --> 01:40:04 They want to have independence. They want to have the right to live their lives
01:40:04 --> 01:40:05 the way that they want to.
01:40:05 --> 01:40:10 All of us have to circumscribe the rules, right?
01:40:10 --> 01:40:15 We call them laws, but that's part of a society.
01:40:16 --> 01:40:20 But we still want to feel free.
01:40:20 --> 01:40:25 We still want to have the liberty to pursue what we want.
01:40:26 --> 01:40:29 It's just a basic common thing.
01:40:29 --> 01:40:35 I think that's why pamphlets like Common Sense and the Declaration of Independence
01:40:35 --> 01:40:38 and the Constitution of the United States were written the way that they were
01:40:38 --> 01:40:41 written, with the addition of the Bill of Rights.
01:40:42 --> 01:40:44 You can go back to the Magna Carta. You can...
01:40:46 --> 01:40:50 People wanted to govern. They wanted to have rights and freedom.
01:40:51 --> 01:40:53 They wanted to have their voices heard.
01:40:53 --> 01:40:55 They wanted to be respected.
01:40:55 --> 01:40:59 And I don't understand a political party that doesn't get that.
01:41:00 --> 01:41:05 I don't understand a political ideology that doesn't get that.
01:41:05 --> 01:41:08 Not a select few. Everybody.
01:41:09 --> 01:41:14 So, I don't know. Like I said, I hope that we can get there.
01:41:14 --> 01:41:21 And if we can get there in my lifetime, I hope that me and others will have
01:41:21 --> 01:41:24 done enough to plant that seed.
01:41:26 --> 01:41:34 And I think where we're at now, there's going to be a lot of seeds planted and
01:41:34 --> 01:41:37 we're going to get there.
01:41:38 --> 01:41:41 Because, you know, each time we keep saying it can't get worse,
01:41:41 --> 01:41:44 it can't get worse. It probably can if we don't change our ways.
01:41:45 --> 01:41:51 But I think we're moving in the right direction. And I appreciate those of you all who listen.
01:41:52 --> 01:41:57 And I appreciate those of you all who are engaged. And now we just got to get more.
01:41:58 --> 01:42:04 I could have talked about what's going on with HEGSF and, you know,
01:42:04 --> 01:42:08 what's going on with the redistricting stuff and all that. But all that falls
01:42:08 --> 01:42:13 under the broad picture about respecting others.
01:42:14 --> 01:42:20 We got to respect other human beings. That is the only way that a country that
01:42:20 --> 01:42:24 is supposed to be the greatest in the world can live up to that title.
01:42:25 --> 01:42:26 All right, that's all I got.