 Ladies and gentlemen, don't be afraid. It's just your friendly neighborhood long monster your host Justin Beach ladies and gentlemen Dave Tampkin in company Hey, that's right. Thanks for having us Justin from our small socially distanced audience. Let's hear it for these guys. Shall we? How are you Dave? Doing well. Thanks for having us. It's good to be on stage in the Longmont Museum with my good friends Brad Huffman and Chad Zilla Johnson Brad and Chad Zilla Good to meet you guys. It's nice to have you here. Thanks for joining us. This is the Long Monster house band exciting exciting stuff What have you been up to Dave? Been doing a lot of lawn work lately lawn work. Yes lawn. I thought you said long work Yes, been planting seeds mowing. I've lost a lot of friends just talking about it actually It's right up there in Boulder County with the way. Yeah Yeah Causes of not much else to do. Yeah, right. Do you have a green thumb? Would you say you have a green thumb? I would I would not say that you would not say no What color is your thumb? Well, I got bit by a dog last week, so it was red and purple for most of the week, but it's better now Did you know the dog? We know each other closely now Thank you so much at the time Very good. Very good. You still on good terms. You guys still yes It was both likely my fault and it's still connected to your hand. I see so that's good I'm glad you narrowly escaped total absolute Horror or something. Yeah, it was a chihuahua. Oh They're the worst little little mouse watch you gotta watch those. I was a bit by a chihuahua on the leg once actually anyway Ladies and gentlemen, this is the long monster and you know according to the Longmont Chambers website a Long monster is anyone invested engaged in and or in love with Longmont Whether we you were born and raised here moved here from somewhere else entirely work or attend events here You're a long monster. That's right And I should say that the long monster is of course a talk show where yours truly chats with Accomplished locals about what they do how they do it and what it means to be doing it here in dear old Colorado it's an investigation into Longmont itself where the mysteries of Longmont are revealed Yes, we'll attempt to answer some big questions like what is Longmont where is Longmont and Who's ever been there and Who better to answer these questions than then yours truly some middle-aged lanky white dude from Southern, California? That's right. I ain't from around here as you may have guessed I'm I just barely know squat about this town to tell you the truth. I can't tell my long speak from my meeker That's right. Anyway, how's your 2020 going? What a year, right? Don't touch your face Wash your hands wear that mask drive that truck wave that flag vote We're getting tired of it. Aren't we we're getting sick sick of COVID sick of politics. That's right America's patience is wearing real thin while America's COVID patients are wearing those real thin hospital gowns I Don't really know don't know who writes these to tell you the truth. Seriously folks. How about we take a little breather tonight? I think we could use one. Let's think about something else entirely something. We'll have in common You guessed it tonight all roads lead to Longmont Right, right? Isn't this the time where you start playing a little bit of music to get me to over to the gas Well, right This is of course the premiere of the long monster and before we really get going here I need to pay tribute and Thank a few people and those people are our museum members Our museum donors the friends of the Longmont Museum the scientific and cultural facilities district Otherwise known as a lot of words or SCFD The mighty KG and you community radio out of Boulder, Colorado They are our media sponsor and a special shout out to Woodley's fine furniture here Longmont's own Woodley's fine furniture for the excellent set here tonight You know all of this furniture is for sale just down the road at Woodley's and they're celebrating their 41st anniversary Can you believe it? Can't believe it. I know I know anyway Come on down to Woodley's and check out what they've got on sale. I can't believe it Such a nice stuff and you know, I don't know if you've ever been to a museum let alone the Longmont Museum But we've been here for like 85 years or something maybe not in this particular location But in some form shape or another we've been around a long time This particular building landed here in about 2003 ish and this lovely Steward auditorium was built just five years ago. So it's it's pretty much a baby It's it's the museum's little baby this this auditorium the Stewart and I'm the proud manager of it It's a real blessing To be able to run a little space like this even amidst something like a pandemic even where we can hardly have an audience I want to welcome our online audience this evening those of us those of us those of you who are streaming Us live on Facebook at Longmont public media org and local Comcast channel eight slash eight eighty welcome. It's It's good. I'd say it's good to see you, but I I can feel you I feel you out there I feel your energy. I want to thank you for it. Thanks for being here Anyway, we've got lots of stuff happening here at the Longmont Museum We've got our day of the dead Exhibition up through the end of the year if you haven't checked it out. It's actually our 20th anniversary Exhibition of day of the dead. It's been kind of a month-long celebration. It just kind of culminated in a special performance this last Sunday here in this very room. It was quite the show That's Available on Facebook if you want to check it out and then the exhibition as I mentioned is up through the end of the Year and every Thursday night, I know tonight's a Thursday night, isn't it every Thursday night We offer a program called Thursday nights at the museum So the Longmonts are is part of that series Please do check us out every Thursday night at 7 30 on your Facebook on your Longmont public media org or on local Comcast channel 880 We are here for you every Thursday. That's right next week. We have a special program with the N car It's their science series and we're going to be exploring the sky and the clouds with a pilot an N car pilot and One of their leading scientists that should be exciting. I think anyway without further ado I'd like to introduce to you our first guest of our very first long monster program He is a local legend really an internationally renowned frugal guru whose secret goal Not so secret goal now is to save the human race from consuming itself into oblivion He's the man behind the blog known as mr. Money Mustache. Please welcome Pete Adney to the Longmont Museum Oh Yes Hey, Pete Good evening. Justin. Thanks for being here Thank you for inviting me to this amazing show the first Well, just started yet. I don't know how amazing we'll see how amazing it is. It's amazing that you're here I think that's a big deal. Yeah, it was I had to travel 1.5 miles to get to this museum 1.5 miles on your bike, right? It is true. I actually did bike here. That's right You're kind of a bike. Are you would you describe yourself as a bike nut? No, I would just describe myself as like a somewhat reasonable Transportation choosing person. I see that's great. That's great 1.5 miles on a warm November night Is obviously fine on a bike. So warm. That's right. We are having an unseasonably warm early November here Want to make a joke about hell or something but anyway, um, I Really appreciate you taking a break from your retirement to join us Yeah, no, it wasn't too much strain to come here What are you do you have do you hold the world record for? Youngest retiree or do you know who does if you don't definitely not so I was I just stumbled into semi early retirement 30 years old, but It wasn't very aggressive or like efficient program So there's lots people who do this younger than me and I mean the basic idea is just saving enough money that you Can live off of the ongoing gains of that money And it was easy for me You know like I had didn't have children until later in life and had a good job and didn't have a lot of demands or like desires Just sort of and I came from a different country too. Right. You went you came from Canadians. Yeah Yeah, so back in my day like born in the 70s of Canada It was exciting to like upgrade from a Honda Civic to like a Honda Accord and that would be about like the glass ceiling of Middle-class life, so like I didn't even know the kind of stuff you Americans do with your money So when I got here and started making an American salary It's just naturally kind of just went into the bank Well, I think you know I think the Honda Accord for a lot of us in the 80s was kind of the was kind of a big deal Yeah, it was kind of like that one of the middle-class upper middle-class cars of choice. It was practical Yeah But nowadays people will laugh at you if you have that like you have to have like a $60,000 pickup truck with all the like special Princess chairs and upgraded knobby tires and stuff in order to be like making it nowadays. I mean, that's what I drive. Yeah What do you drive a bike you drive a bike? Oh, that's right. That's right. You drive a bike nice motorcycle. I have a lot of bikes, so You drive a you drive an electric bike. Is that right? Well, you you did catch me today I took an electric bike here because I was in a rush, but that's not cheating I would normally drive like, you know a normal muscle-powered bike Do you do right when it was like bike messenger bike for the fixie kind of things you have any of those? I have one of those Yeah, yeah, I mean, it's not super fixie like you can still coast Oh, because I think it's very pretentious if you have it locked in and some people have those things like with no brakes So you have to like just reduce your pedaling and that's you know, I'm very I'm a moderate gentleman I mean, this is like gonna be the theme of this interview is I'm not extreme in any way Are you extreme in your moderation? I knew it. I knew I'd get him on that one. I knew it. No cause in some ways I'm extreme in a genuinely extreme way so You're extreme in a genuinely Genuinely, you're extremely genuine Yeah, okay, I think I'll take I would take that Do you ever think about I mean you moved here from Canada you ever think like? Hey, maybe shouldn't done that. Oh That's probably a political reference you're making. Yeah, I mean, you know, I mean there are some of us out there I I know some people who are like, I you know, if things don't go the way I hope they're gonna go I'm I'm you know, I'm thinking about going north if you look at those Google search results for like how to move to Canada That always happens when yeah, are you researching that happens? What's that? You're not researching how to move to Canada No, I mean I could go back to Canada anytime because I'm a dual citizen, but I'm America is actually quite good You know, I'm like a flag waving eagle worshipping Citizen now and I like it here You know like it's true. I admit like the politicians are can be clowns for sure. Well, yeah I mean, but that's that's nothing new, right? I mean, we've always known that it's a little bit new to be honest Justin things have become much more clown like recently But it doesn't affect your life and that's the real thing like your core life can be excellent Regardless of what the politicians are doing and if you're on a news fast, which I kind of am just like don't even read it Definitely don't watch it and just focus on stuff. I can control Like having fun in Longmont and hanging out with friends and going on the Long Monster TV show. Yeah. Yeah Life is pretty good. Yeah, there won't be a whole lot of the news alerts tonight Yeah, yeah, no news flashes. No No tricking you into thinking we have new numbers or anything like that. Oh, yeah Right. Yeah, that's we don't we don't play those tricks. We don't play those tricks so tell me so you you originally when you moved from Canada you landed in Boulder and Like most folks you migrated Like a lot of people myself included you you migrated to Longmont. Yeah, that's true so I moved to Boulder at 24 years old in order to work as a software engineer and Then to buy my first house I had to move to Lewisville because that was the closest place I could afford to buy house way back then right and then live there the whole working career and then move to Longmont as a retirement destination for Longmont was like like the Like going to the beach to like kick back and you know no longer have to work anymore Yeah, and so that was in 2005 So we and then we had a my wife at the time and I had a baby born around then So now there's a almost 15 year old boy young man in town We just spent his whole life here, and I think it was a good choice. It's been a good 15 years here Yeah, what so what is it? What would what are some of your favorite things about Longmont? Would you say? Definitely number one is a st. Vrain River Creek and all the greenway stuff around there like the beautiful trails and bike paths and you can just walk So like pretty much the foundation of my job as a dad and the reason I consider myself a good dad It's basically I just took my son there And we were just playing the forest and playing the creek and make dams and stuff pretty much like You know a few times a week every week of his life so far Like that's the foundation of our time together And so having a natural area like that in the town is really the best thing and a lot of people use it and enjoy It's also a good transportation corridor You know they can get from my house to anywhere because my house kind of backs on to that area So that's number one number two is like the old town downtown area because it's very walkable Yeah, and between 2005 and now we've seen quite the Renaissance like it used to be just like Pawn shops gun shops empty stores and then like the pump house that will all we had downtown and now it's completely different We have like fantastic Restaurants and dryland distilleries and all these other places and I have a business on Main Street now, too Oh, right, right, so it's kind of like in the nice apartment buildings and everything that replaced the slaughterhouse So it's like it's really quite quite a revolution for a small town Yeah, we got we kind of got out of the slaughtering turkey business. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah Yeah, it was an upgrade and now wibby brewing is pretty much part of that space which is like the best Brewery and my place to hang out and have outdoor beers Ever mmm, so all this stuff has happened since I moved here And so long one is kind of on the way up as a as a as a long month newbie There any any kind of like a secret long month things that I should be aware of I Don't know like I'm I don't have a lot of insider Cultural secrets. I'm more of the nature guy. So if you want to know how to ride your bike somewhere I've got all the shortcuts and like the parking lots and trails you cut through okay, you know, you know Which you know, which which parking lots to cut through? Yeah, I know all the jumps are And you know the jumps are dirt single tracks and stuff I think I'm not really going off many jumps these days. I just I kind of gave up on jump Approximately the same age you can you can still jump on bikes Yeah, yeah, maybe I need to start training for that this cold COVID thing It's really kind of gotten the better of my exercise regimen a little bit Oh, did you say it's improved your exercise or it got me? It did for like a week For a week there I was like really grooving. I was doing yoga every day was lifting some I was lifting my little weights So like March 3rd through night it was good and then maybe more like March 20th through 27th or something But yeah, yeah, there was I was on a real exercise tear there for a little bit and I've just gone to you know I'm sorry hear that. Yeah. Yeah, I you know, I had a COVID I think my COVID-15 has turned into COVID-19 actually and going on 20 here. Anyway, um, tell me a little bit about the Mustache in nation Okay, so that's like my writing accidental career. Okay, so I started retired in 2005 Just lived no more tired life and then Gradually started to realize like not everybody was doing the same thing that I assumed they were like I thought there We would all do this and then I was like, oh, wow, okay. I better start explaining How this works? So I started a blog Called Mr. Money Mustache where I wrote out the principles of like how to run your life and be a little bit more efficient with your Money and kind of maximize your fun while minimizing your spending in 2011 and then it Unexpectedly took off a little bit on the internet so more and more readers were coming in and That encouraged me to keep doing it So now I've been doing this I guess nine years or something and it's become like a little bit of an insider cult Situation and it's we call it the fire movement now So there's like if you look the fire movement or Mr. Money Mustache You see a bunch of like interesting things that have happened like news articles like New York Times or whatever Washington Post stuff which has really helped bring more people in which encouraged me further and So it's advancing that mission that you mentioned before I walked out here Which is to get this idea of like lowering consumption for kind of middle-class or even upper income people and getting them excited about a Bicycle and you know like don't just don't spend all your money trying to be super fancy and And then you have a balance you're consuming less You have just as much fun You can quit work decades earlier, and you're consuming about 75% less natural resources, and that's attractive to some people I don't know. I mean, I mean, I I have to say that I'm a bit of a fancy pants And so my as you can see I mean I'm on your TV show. That's true. That's fancy. I'm fancy It's pretty 30 about so my website alone about 30 million people mostly in this country have Drifted through over these years, so I think it's like it's kind of catching on Sounds like you're not a reader yet, but I well, you know, I have to say that in preparation and you know This takes an incredible amount of preparation. I mean incredible really huge and Yeah, so I spent some time on your blog absolutely absolutely, but you know I I'm I tomorrow I'm gonna sign up for the new iPhone. I think so I I don't know I don't know how we're gonna turn around this aircraft carrier. You know, it's like of I mean I've got I don't know. I don't know how we're gonna get me off of the fanciness. I You know, I I I don't know. I don't know how we're gonna do well We'll have to do that. I just need to read your episode where we're gonna analyze your lifestyle And we'll do like one of those intervention We do interventions Well for you I might oh my god, this would be good this way, you know, maybe Maybe the next time we do a long monster. I'll be a changed man I that would yeah, and you can have a flannel shirt as well I have a flat I have I have a I think I have a flannel shirt. We'll ride our bikes here together, right? I do have bikes, but I don't know what else I Yeah, they're in my garage. That's that's that's where they like to be in my garage Against the wall leaning against the wall there with flat tires And you you have been you have a little Co-working space in town. Oh, yeah, yeah, that's the more recent story is in 2017 I bought a kind of dilapidated building next to a pawn shop, but it's in a really nice part of Main Street of Longmont across from the Longs Peak pub, which is kind of one of the best spots and then Restored it to life, you know, like it was really cheap found on Craigslist actually but because I'm a carpenter kind of For my main passion in life Along with friends and we restored it brought it into being in nice condition and then started a co-working space in there Which is sort of like a community Gathering area where people work, but we also have an outdoor gym and we have a workshop, you know Like a maker space and you can borrow tools and just all kinds of stuff like anything you can think of there That's We added to the co-working space and it's really I joke that it's called a friend harvesting machine Right because it's all about like taking the idea of like a website where you meet people from all over the world but they're not your real friends and Instead you can do that locally and then they are everyone is real friends with each other and after three years that is Really proving to be a great, you know great situation for all of us And we all help each other with our businesses and with our lives And we lend each other tools and bikes and go on camping trips and all this other stuff I think we I think I you know, I hope that the long monster will be a friend harvesting machine, too But that's that's what I aspire. Oh, yeah for it to be you think that's a good idea Dave I do. What's the name of the co-working space? Oh my It's called HQ or the full name is like mr. Money mustache headquarters co-working, but nobody wants to say that So it's just HQ co-working Where can we find that on Instagram or Facebook? I think if you just type MMM HQ co-working You'll see it or a long mock co-working It'll probably lead to that because there's not a lot of competitors here in town Chad, I think we should stop by tomorrow. What do you think? Yeah, I'll come meet you there It's 712 Main Street and 712 Main Street. We'll be there beer. We got places to plug in the instruments if you want to jam Excellent Well, you know, I think we've reached the I this little interview has gone way too fast And maybe we need to have you back sometime here. I hope this won't be the first and last Sounds like a long monster experience. Yeah, I would be honored to be a like a recurring filler Can't even feel her. No, no, you're not filler. There's no fit. No, no, no, you're very filling I mean, but but yeah, you're not filler. No Speaking of filling, would you would you mind filling the end of the couch for the duration of the program? Yeah, I'd love to stick around fantastic fantastic happens tonight. I'm gonna invite our next guest up She is a spiritual healer writer poet playwright performance artist speaker and facilitator who brings a highly creative background to her distinctive Presentational form of racial justice Activism her storytelling inspires awareness and insight about the everydayness of race in our lives and the Power we have to bring paths of healing to our future her writing and poetry about race is used enthusiastically by educators across the country Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Norma Johnson to the Longmont Museum Ground control to major town Hey Norma, we're on a talk show This is crazy You got the whole setup here, too. I know, right? Very nice. It's it's almost like we're in Burbank or something Burbank, you know Burbank You know, I spent a little time there. Is that right? It's a hot place. I heard something about that. I heard something about it. How are you? I'm great. Yeah, I am. What are you been up to? Mmm. Oh, I've had some fun gigs. Oh, yeah. Yeah zoom gigs Zoom. Yes. Yes. I'm still learning. Yeah, it's a different form of presentation It is. Yeah. Are you embracing it? Are you? Yeah? I mean, I'm grateful Because actually a lot more people have opportunity to attend that aren't local. So it's nice, you know And what what kind of work are you what kind of zoom stuff are you doing? Are you doing a lot of? Mostly like workshop forms. Yeah. Yeah just working with organizations just recently worked with the Colorado Parks and Wildlife Co-facilitated a workshop for them on equity, diversity and inclusion. Oh, yeah. Yes. Yeah And you're in I don't know how to break this to our audience, but you actually live in Boulder. I Do. Yeah. Yes. That's okay. That's okay. It's the same. It's the same County And we embrace we embrace people from other cities within the County within Boulder County here in Longmont and all are welcome even even people from Weld and You know Denver, you know, I mean, I mean even people from California, they welcome them here I mean, I've been we're both from California. Yeah, and when you first moved here, you lived in Longmont. I did. Yeah Yeah, I lived here for a few years. And what part of Longmont were you in? Up at the North End. Yeah, that's where I'm 66. Okay. I mean too. That's where I'm at. That's where I'm at Which was you know at that time. It was like farmland and stuff. It was nice. Yeah, it's still it's okay It's it's still rather nice up there Depending depending. Yeah, Ute Highway Right 66. Yes, Ute Highway And how's Boulder treating you? It's all pretty good. Yeah. Yeah, I've been there a good while now. Yeah Yeah I we when we chatted we chatted about this show some months ago and we talked about how How, you know, Boulder does have this reputation of being rather pale It seemed to be an awful I don't know if you've noticed this anybody has ever been to Boulder there are a lot of white people in Boulder and What seems like a distinct lack of color? Hmm, I've noticed you've noticed that have you noticed that how how what is it like to live in Boulder and be like kind of I mean you must sometimes feel like the Sort of the the token Black person or something is that yeah, sometimes I am yeah, sometimes I am but it's been the place that's inspired a lot of my work hmm, I Don't know if I'd be Doing the kind of work I did or writing the kind of things that I do if I hadn't been living in Boulder, right? And that work is is healing It's healing It's writing I do poetry short stories playwright So yeah, it's it's been an inspirational place, right Would you say it's been? More inspirational than your time in Los Angeles Do you remember those days Burbank? Yeah, well, it was a different life It was a different life. Yeah And you weren't you weren't it wasn't writing you were perform were you performing back then I Always kind of been performing some at least on the side Yeah, but actually I was a costumer in the entertainment industry. That's right. Yeah, any any shows we might be familiar with Well, there was Star Trek next generation. Oh, yeah, I've heard of that one. Yeah. Yeah, and Tonight show with Jay Leno. Well, hot damn. Yeah Who's who's Wardrobe shows not new for me. Oh, no. Yeah, this isn't your first rodeo, which is actually a reference to our next guest anyway Yeah, so you were you just Leno's Word wardrobe guy costume guy. Actually, I was Bramford Marcellus. Oh Oh, that's person You know Jay Leno almost ran me over in a gas station in Studio City once He was driving some big car with big wheels on it some like 19, you know 18 ridiculous Clown tractor car and he just about ran me down. He loved his car You know every day he would drive a different car or truck or motorcycle To the lot every day, but he always wore the same clothes Hmm. He always loved to wear a jean shirt and jeans. That's it. Yeah, he's not a fancy guy He just loved cars. I also noticed his head. He's got a really big head. I don't mean like that I mean like physically he's yeah, it's a jaw. Yeah. Yeah, it's a long jaw. Yeah long long jaw Yeah, he seems like a nice guy So who what do you what sort of wardrobe or a costume work were you doing on a Star Trek next generation? Actually some of everything I Would construct costumes and I would also work the set So, you know, I've been on the set when they're attacked and you know, actually everybody just moves a lot Yeah Doesn't move What didn't you tell me that you were Picard's When he was when when Jean-Luc Picard not that I know anything about this ladies gentlemen, I'm not a Trekkie. I'm not but Weren't you Jean-Luc Picard's Borg? You were like the Borg costume person. I was when he was a Borg Yeah, I was his costumer. That's pretty cool. It's very cool I think a lot of people are really geeking out right now on Facebook watching this They're probably sharing it everywhere, aren't you? I think you are Anyway, so that was the old you and then you you lived in that when were you in LA? Oh Yeah, the years There for a while. It was about it was about I left about 22 years ago. Oh, wow. Okay. Yeah, okay 20 maybe 25 now and you actually lived in Altadena and I'm from Pasadena, so we're very very kind of close I lived in Pasadena, too. Oh, you did. I did. Okay. Fair Oaks. Oh, you did. Yeah. Oh my you guys don't know We don't we need to talk about hover and Ken Pratt. We shouldn't be talking about Fair Oaks and Pasadena And so what it what what led you to moving to to Colorado We just I want to get out of the rat race Yeah, I had a friend here and it was time You ever have just it's time. Oh, yeah Here I am. Yeah Yeah, so it was time to shift and I could also feel that I was moving out of the industry Because my my first Love and my first piece in the industry was actually theater live live theater opera like that So as a wardrobe person or as wardrobe. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I used to make the costumes and So when I came here to Colorado, I worked at Denver Center Creating costumes there for a little while By the way, you look fantastic tonight. Your outfit is so perfectly coordinated. Thanks. It's the colors are really nice Wardrobes fun. Yeah Did you bring anything I think maybe you brought something to share with us maybe a poem You know, these these are I you know, these are hard times. We're going through some very stressful times and it's it's it's hard on a lot of people and I think we underestimate just how how how COVID and This social and political unrest that we've been going through is is affecting us. So If you have something to share with us that that might kind of Yeah, you know, I brought I did bring a poem brought a few because I wasn't sure but You know, I just want to say that you know, you're talking about hard times and this isn't the first hard times I Think we have short-term memory a lot but I think a lot of it is always about remembering remembering who we really are and The power that we really have we can change things we can make things move We have that power and at the core of it At the core of it is love like remembering what that really is. So so this piece I'm gonna share is called let love win What do you say to letting love win? Is it painful? Does it hurt? Is it frightening? Does it take you by surprise when they love you like you've always wanted? What do you say? To letting love win is there a crack of lease resistance where it can sink in and Slowly replenish the dry dry desert in your heart What do you say to letting love win? Do you speak at all? Are there words of grace and belovedness or only the fire from your parched and lonely dwelling place of your insecure and frightened mind What if you said I Let love win Would the rocks come tumbling down the mountain and crush your soul or would have fire catch hold That you could never put Gorgeous here's to letting love win Blaine do you feel like you were saying how Do you feel like that we've forgotten our our power our ability to to transform I think we do I think I think we're in and out of that You know all the time because we get swept away with the news We get swept away with a lot of factors that are trying to control what people do But I think when we stop and and stop, you know just stop that motion and Remember when you were talking about being in nature, right? That's that kind of time when we can remember and reconnect but I Think fanning those flames is always worth it Fanning the flames of love of love. Yeah of remembering. Yeah, just remembering who we really are Yeah It's a it's a kind of waking up, but you know, I so I feel I feel like we're We're talking a lot about you know people are talking a lot about being woke So there's this there's this element of being awake now But there's also this element of being Very much not so it seems like and it's interesting that those two things can coincide like that well being woke First you have to Understand you've been asleep so So I think we're waking up to ourselves We're waking up to who we are to who we've been to what we've been participating in and I think that makes us consider where we want to go and what we want to create now How do you how do you feel that we how do we go about he? How do you think we go about healing this kind of divide this incredible intense Polarization that we're experiencing these days. What can an individual do do you think? Well, I think it's it's a lot of different things. I think again that essence of who we are Because when we remember that then we'd we're Generating and fulfilling ourselves in our own power instead of trying to look for power on the outside So that naturally directs us to what's best for us What we're passionate about that can be a form of that we can serve in our communities in our world And I didn't know I'd be writing and doing poetry about race. I didn't know that It just came through me, you know through Being inspired through being angry actually, you know my anger took me to that place But here I am doing it and people are using my work all over the place. So It's it's helped me heal You know and it's helped me to remember Like who I am and it's giving me a channel to follow That I can do this that I can help create the kind of change that I want and everybody everybody can do that So you worked through you worked you passed through anger to get here. Where was that? When did you experience that anger? Were you experiencing that in here in Colorado? Was that was that in Boulder? Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah, and in some ways, it's just a part of my life, you know being black skin in this country So I'm always navigating anger But I have to decide what to do with it because it'll eat you up Yeah, you know so to find creative expression That's actually useful I Was actually surprised, you know when I started creating the poems that it was useful to somebody else outside of me I didn't know that But now, you know, they move out and they have a life of their own Do you have do you have hope for where we are now do you feel us coming out of this? dark period Well, like I said, we have a lot of short-term memory. This hasn't been the darkest by any means right and I I think I always have hope I Don't always remember that I have it But it's been generated in me, you know just through my lineage. I'm a descendant of hope so It's not even a Concept to not carry it forward Hmm a descendant of hope absolutely Or is that is that unique to you? Or you do you feel are we are we all descendants of hope or are we all some of us descendants of of other I Think we're all descendants of hope if we choose to claim it Because There's a tendency for things to be divided into black and white literally and not But as human beings we have so many shades of being, you know, even the person that does the worst acts imaginable May still love their family. They may still you know, it's it's just not that That those divisions that we draw Is just something that we do but I think we can all claim That hopeful place because we all have it in our ancestry. We all have it in our homes We all have it in our communities. It's there everywhere. Look at us sitting here now, you know enjoying this time You created this whole venue To serve and uplift the community So Don't you think that's hopeful? I think so. Yeah. Yeah, you know, and I'm struck that you know What you're describing the kind of work you're describing to kind of improve things? I feel like Peter is also engaged in that I feel like you're both both doing what you can in your unique ways to To improve things for people to improve the world to make the weather the bet the world a better place to live for for all of us and I think that's really really incredible I think it's probably time to Welcome our next guest. I would like you to Stick around Norma our next guest will be joining us over the internet Virtually from beyond so you can stay seated right where you are. Yeah Pete you can continue to occupy that corner of the couch. You look really just Suit you. You look good over there. Yeah, I chose my clothes to go with this woodleys fine furniture couch Yeah, well done. Well done. Well done. You must have been spying on us as I was sort of shopping at Woodleys You know, I some people may be expecting Bridget law to join us this evening. She is out of the country, believe it or not She's safe as far as I know and she's she's visiting Canada Actually, so Instead we have a special treat Another person all the way from Boulder Our next guest. Let's see if I can find my note card here It's here somewhere Here we go Our final guests this evening hardly needs an introduction. She's a celebrated historian a bona fide public Intellectual and a MacArthur fellow. She's the author of desert passages the legacy of conquest Addition time the city the West and water and countless essays she's been a guest calmness for the New York Times and Currently writes a monthly column for the Denver Post as well as a blog This is not my first rodeo Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome the director of CU Boulder's Center of the American West Patty Limerick back to the Longmont Museum Thanks guys Patty Welcome to the Longmonster Thank you so much for having me but a lovely musical Intro that was the Wild Wild West. Does that was the name of that song? Wild Wild West Wild Wild is too wild Yeah Yeah, I didn't want to push it. You didn't want to push it. Yeah, okay If it is the why is the West still wild Patty Yes and lots of ways in terms of okay fundamental definition of wild something that I cannot possibly predict and it surprises me all The time really wild really well. Yeah, right wild wild life still quite a bit of it considering everything that's happened to a wild life Improbable cast of characters that's recently have that and I think we might be more peculiar in temperament and personality Then we were in the 19th century. I guess I don't know So I'm just doing my best here Justin, but I don't quite have a grip on the word wild Right, and I may have a grip on the world West if you really push me on this But I I think there is so much going on that is so interesting and so compelling and so worth the world's attention So if that's a definition of wild I'm going with it. Okay. Yes. I agree. I agree. This is it's a wild It's definitely a wild time here in the West in the Western world We're both from California You grew up in Banning And you know, I grew up in Pasadena a little bit little north But I you know growing up I never really thought of us as living, you know as Western this didn't we I didn't feel like I was living in a Western when moving to Colorado. I felt like oh, this is the West, you know, this is California never really felt like the West to me. Do you know what I'm talking about? You know, I'm getting it. I don't I lived in Banning, California is on the edge of the desert, right? It's doesn't have the amenities of Pasadena right class trouble here, but different And it had forest fires. It had an important Indian reservation on the edge of edge of town Okay, to the north of town. Oh, we had we actually were kind of Head of the Interior West in terms of having Palm Springs as a resort town with my hometown is where the working people the janitors the maids And brownskeepers from Palm Springs live there So in some ways we were kind of ahead of the game in terms of the pattern of ask Aspen or drinks Idaho and Jackson, Wyoming so Tourism economy in Palm Springs working class people not able to afford to live in that town I feel like I had pretty good credentials now Sadly, I was a kid and then I was a teenager and Teenagers are obligated to feel that they are living in a very boring place So I just thought oh, this is so sad that I have ended up in this Land in this really boring place, but looking back at it. I thought man pretty much the center of that action and Then we had for a while here at the San American West We had a funny man an odd man who thought that California had to be excluded from the West and so he drew up our first Program for a certificate of Western American studies just eliminating the West now for a story Excuse me eliminating California from the West that is hard for a story because a lot of people in 1840s and 1850s Start across the country and then vanish at the foothills of the Sierras on the eastern side If we if we can't have California and Western history We have some pretty peculiar episodes of the Overland trail ending basically nowhere So so that didn't really work for us to do that plus I would say there's more and more reason to think of the Pacific Ocean as more of a place of Lively exchange with the world than the Atlantic and so so so that so much trade so much Important international relations happening on the Pacific and such to the degree that the West claims the Pacific we'd better hold on to California Right You're a fast you're a fast talker and a fast thinker and I feel like I am I feel like I'm moving in slow motion right now It's funny. I You know, you are a woman who wears many hats from what I understand Oh, and I think oh And here's one of the hats now. Oh, yes, that would be your Let's see That's the academic. That's the academic hat. Okay. Yes. I that looks familiar right so you rich or European kind of version Not the square not the rectangular thing but when you think of yourselves you think of yourself as primarily an academic No, no What's funny there or that Now did you you didn't wear those in banning did you oh that's the most ridiculous thing to bring up now that you didn't know I don't like we talked about this my father had a Place called the California date shop my mother worked full-time as a legal secretary my father so dates not as in Human to human dates, but as in as in dates from date palms, right and shakes and chocolate-covered dates and so on So he had a story that that was my daycare center daycare center so I Was where I was when I was a tiny child on up and somewhere when I was about four or five years old My mother and father bought me some cowgirl clothes And so when my father's customers driving from Los Angeles to Palm Springs and back They would stop and they would come in the store and they go. Where's the cowgirl? So There she is she is right little friend back in and so so it was but I was not in the least bit Authentic, but then the greater share of people wearing Western wear are not particularly authentic as cowgirls or cowboys either so So I guess in that way I was more typical, but yes I did have this kind of stuff. This is actually a Stetson It's really it's really smart. I really like the it's a nice white Stetson. Yeah But it is you did call me a public intellectual. I did This is probably more my public intellectual dress and did you did you embrace the cowboy hat here in Colorado to kind of blend blend in Well, it's a complicated story For a while as a younger Young person. I was trying to keep my distance from the Western myth the Western romance I was in fact debunking that much of what I was writing as an historian was debunking that and then for various reasons I questioned the allocation of energy I was putting into debunking the Western myth and I decided that I might try to co-opt it and use it for better purposes and There's very good reasons to do that. So I did Change my presentation of self and I did acquire cowboy hats cowboy boots fringe leather jackets I should have worn one of those right now and I Think I also learned to step dancing that was harder than buying the clothes I'll say by a long shot, but I can do two step and triple step dancing I've always liked Western music so I Felt that would be if you can't but it wasn't exactly if you can't beat him join him But that I might have more credibility if I if I didn't fight that Insignia and now I actually feel very good about it. I feel really happy to have that and I'm I Guess I've always worn colorful things, but it was really fun to just think I'm going only in the Western wear thing My father my father wrote for Republic films in Hollywood and he had become quite skeptical of Western portrayal on screen So I probably took a little bit of time working that out in my relationship with my departed father and deciding that okay He was very cynical about Western movies, but I love Western movies and I always watch Western movies Dreaming that the cowboy hero will come into my life and bring order to it. Oh, yeah Yeah, well top three Western Westerns for you Well, I that's a very tough question because I would I would want to say some of the things like stand and deliver that wonderful movie about the Latino man teaching School and motivating students that set in the West is that you still are so I try sometimes to push against the boundary of That but I I have watched with the wonderful Howie Mosiewicz one of great cultural resources in our area the film critic I've I've done discussions of The searchers a number of times with him and with another friend in film studies here Dan board the stagecoach And I always end up and well Shane and stagecoach Probably the ones that I spent the most time thinking about but good heavens that to think that those are all just positive celebrations of Western men is really missing how hard it is for that for the classic Western hero to Come in Play an important part of town and then have to leave That's the role of the Western hero is to leave and to think of it as a Romanticized life that we would all enjoy if we could be cowboys. That's really doing a disservice I think to the filmmakers who have been made much more Difficult challenging anybody who watches John Wayne and the searchers is not going to say oh, I would like to be like that Potted desperate Murder no actually that doesn't seem well who knows maybe some people would enjoy that But the great majority of humanity would think no I don't want to see that so so I do like Western movies But I I have a very simple-minded wish that that a John Wayne like character would come into my life and take over Responding to emails and we just keep responding by saying that John Wayne character would say the little lady has enough messages as it is The little lady doesn't need any more messages Well, thank you for responding to my email I'm glad that I didn't get John Wayne That would have freaked me out Right, I suppose. There's no I guess there's so much fraudulent activity in the internet now. I suppose I could just create my own John Wayne answering service, but but would you wear that hat? Or would you wear a different hat? So they have oh, yeah, this hat at the Elko cowboy poetry gathering 15 16 years ago, so this is a really close for a good place. Did you read poetry at that event? You have a real poet sitting there with you and oh, yeah, you have a writer of a dog rule verse and limericks Dog rule verse and limericks. Yeah, right and mostly dog rule verse So I was actually just giving a speech at the Elko cowboy Okay, but again soon, but I certainly have a good cupboard full of limericks if That's only seems appropriate, of course We you know, we had a cowboy poet here last year. He was phenomenal He could yodel he had a dog that yodeled Yeah, yeah yodeled with him. It was incredible. We do a lot here Yeah, if you're just tuning in Tune back in because to keep tuned in yeah Yeah, guys, I saw a couple when I was in college. I did a lot of stuff with elderly people which are now turning into one but back in those days I went to a talent show where a couple a very nice older couple probably in their 80s Maybe you know 80s they sang of the song the Indian love call which I wouldn't recommend as a song But they had a Chihuahua who howled along with them And I've never forgotten that performance. That was the most amazing performance of these two people Singing the Indian love call and every once in a while the Chihuahua just threw in its head back and howling Was it a biter? They all are I think they all are see yeah, you got to watch out for those little Little mouths, yeah Because they have to catch up in some way and beauty no not gonna happen and scale really really lost so I'm not encouraging them to bite, but I can see why they do it the same I can't figure out a great segue here, but there are other hats. I think that you wear that we had talked about and Oh see here's here's another hat who knew like people tuning in are like oh, we're gonna we're gonna hear from Patty Limerick She's gonna speak very she's gonna break down Western, you know Western history for us or something But no no we're gonna talk about hats Yes, cuz this is the long monster Yes, and this is that this is probably the best track of my career. I was the Initially I was an applicant to be the official Yale fool. I was a graduate student I asked the president of the university to appoint me as the official Yale fool There's some dispute as to whether he did that or not, but he accepted the president of Yale Accepted my resignation as the official fool of Yale when I left Yale Now I cannot think why anyone would ever accept a resignation of someone who didn't actually hold the job So we had a dispute he didn't he claimed he had never appointed me fool But he did accept my resignation then I went to Harvard as an assistant professor And I became the official Harvard fool and for that I had a very beautiful ceremony with the president of Harvard and the Dean of the Harvard University Congratulating me. I was in clown makeup. It was it was very beautiful. Unfortunately I had bought some new clown makeup that I had not tried before and it took me Two or three days to get that off my face after that particular ceremony So there is some risks there that I hadn't had an expected but I did have a wonderful time as an official fool and then a Wonderful form of community outreach. There's no better way to meet people than to go out as a fool And then I came to Boulder and not long after that that rival the Dane appointed me the official fool of the College of Arts and Sciences and then Guess that made the president feel a little bit competitive So I was appointed the official fool of the University of Colorado and I was renewed maybe four years ago with No term limit. This was quite exciting the previous appointment had had a term limit But this one just goes I guess into eternity So I am the official fool of the University of Colorado and I find that I have acquired quite a few hats In that process. So that's a that's a gorgeous one. This is over the top really well over the top Most hats are You see what I did there yeah That's gorgeous. So were you the were you the inaugural Fool at Harvard or do they can yeah? Yeah, this is this is the more classic Tradition oh Yeah, yeah, it's that's kind of more historically accurate or something. Yeah, I guess that should be historically accurate. That's right It's really I hated these hats. It's very darling actually Because they made me feel more like an idiot than a fool And I recognize the power of the symbol system and I and I'm proud of having all these hats I have several of them. Yeah, I mean put on yet. So I wanted I took a very good workshop from a man named Bill Carpenter who had revived the tradition of the fool no medieval king could claim to be anything in life if he didn't have an official fool and The understanding in the medieval era was that if you didn't have an official fool You really really courted bad luck because you the king should have one person Who could speak frankly to the king honestly to the king risk the king's wrath and not end up punished or Hurt So that really was a tradition and anyone has read Shakespeare seeing Shakespeare knows that that tradition was really important that King Lear had no friends except for the fool the only person to go out into the storm with King Lear was the Was the loyal fool? So it's really important to have fools that mistaken notion was that fools were necessary in the medieval era with Monarchy aristocracy, but that we needed fools or did not need fools at all when we had a democratic republic That could be fool free and boy was that mistake. Yeah, it seems like it our fools now fools were appointed Are they also elected do we also? Elect fools, this is a distinction of extreme importance. Yeah, I as you'll notice in my Array here. I am an official fool. I am openly out in public as an official fool There are thousands that's an underestimate of closet fools small f fools I'm a capital f the small f fools are out pretending to be any number of other things That's very dangerous there closet fools and it's very dangerous So I don't have any kinship really with the closet fools. I urge them to come out and be forthright, but Come out come out wherever you are. Yeah Oh, are you frozen? Oh, no You froze for a second there, but you're back Yes So Anyway, so the hope was that if I set an example at Yale and Harvard that that would spread And every public official of note Every secretary of defense every secretary of state would think well, I must have a fool That's important an important figure is You have to have a fool because the fool speaks frankly when no one else dares to that's important But that just charges bad luck. So my dream has come in a little bit short of the goal liner But it still seems like a really really good idea. So yes closet fools have run for public office, right? Right In order to be an official fool you have to self identify First Okay, because when I was appointed for instance when I was appointed appointed at three different universities If I had not asked for that if I had Received an announcement from the president of Yale University that he had appointed me the official fool Without my having asked for that that would have been very hurt. Yeah, I can see how that might be the case But if you choose that there's nothing more joyful about it when I was I was a very actually I mean I was really nervous at first as graduates in Yale really nervous about wanting to come out as a fool and I would put on my clown makeup It's kind of like Superman I would slip into the basement of the big library Go into the restroom there put on my clown makeup put on my colorful clothes and then Oh dear I've driven into some people some people are oh no Peter's got to go be a dad. I think oh, okay Okay, so anyway, so I would come out of the out of the basement As a fool and I would think this could be very dangerous if I'm hoping to get a phd here I it's gonna be quite dangerous, but what I saw every time I would appear on campus Very solemn a kind of pompous professors would see me all colorful and they would look like Tiny children who didn't realize they were going to go to the circus and Found themselves at the circus So there would be a moment where a really pompous really solemn professor would look at me and just lie down and then try to Bring that back down and to a properly solemn vote But it was so delightful just to see these moments where they just looked just childlike and Cheerful to see that so I I did every once in a while I take a brand or student out with me and clown makeup, but I'd say you have to watch for that first Five second probably less than that four and a half second moment where the Solemn person sees a fool which is not to be confused with the clown I'm not a clown, but the fool and the colorfulness and the openness of it. It's really fun I used to walk around the Yale campus with a sandwich board that said Official fool congratulations any occasion and then I would walk up to people and say What should I congratulate you on and they'd say well, I don't I'm not sure I'd say well, you must know and so then they would tell me sending data accomplished. I could congratulate them It's great. I had a sandwich board that said official fool encouragement any good cause and I could walk around and encourage people Causes I would never it was wonderful. So it is still a wonderful thing. I don't have as much time for it As I used to and then as the official fool at CU your your you can go into any meeting at any time and just Right I can I can interrupt I can I have not done I used to have a couple of administrators who would go with me I used to have a dean who would who would take me around and say here's the official fool. I'm the king Welcome us here. I I do feel that I have an authority that The tradition I mean it is actually a wonderful wonderful tradition that humanity has there and many different cultures have it Not just not just medieval Europe But I feel that if I walk into a room and I am the official fool of the university and things aren't going well In that room if there's a meeting that has gone off the tracks and become contentious I am entirely licensed to take over and to run the meeting That's fantastic. I would like to invite you to do that here at the museum occasionally I'm I'm there. I'll be there. Well, I as soon as I get a little bit less paranoid about Right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, we do have a lot of Disinfecting solutions here. I see that giant container. Yeah, it's huge and it has a longmont sticker on it. We branded it longmont You know, I I don't want to freak you out patty, but it's that time, you know Are you are you ready for this? Ladies and gentlemen, it's the moment we've all been waiting for. Yep. It's time for everybody's favorite new quiz You're so rain The longmont history quiz with the man who literally wrote the book on longmont the museum's curator of history Mr. Eric mason You're so brave Hi, Eric Hi, Justin. Welcome to the long monster It's good to be here. Well before we get going. I want to make sure that well, you know We did lose one of our guests because he has to go Put a pizza in the oven for his son or something. So Peter's no longer with us. So it's going to be It's going to come down to patty and norma here You'll be the first ever to play the you're so rain longmont history quiz and Patty you may be a historian But norma has actually lived in longmont. So she may have a leg up here I'm going to give you norma this little paddle Which you can raise If you'd like to Answer the question if you feel like you have the answer raise that paddle And we will call on you patty. Do you have a paddle? Yes, of course you do You were quite the ping-pong player at some point In my in my day, I was And a lot of people are still Filling their injuries over how badly I beat them when I was a kid But if you ever come back out of retirement at a ping-pong retirement, let me know because I'd love to be humiliated by you And your paddle Are there's been a serious decline in this but okay, okay So um So I think you have some questions for us, don't you and we have a prize So be in it to win it ladies All right Our first question What sweet substance did longmont produce millions of pounds of annually between 1904 and 1976? I'm afraid patty beats you to it norma Yes patty I think it's might be the only one I will get probably but sugar beats Yes That is correct. I was very good. We're gonna say that norma was gonna say that that's what I always say I was gonna say that I'm going downhill really fast norma. So you're okay. Okay. You just got to be quicker on the You know on the raising the paddle paddle. Okay. Yeah I got it. But maybe wait until we get to the end of the question to raise your paddle. Okay Okay question number two What mountain whose first documented climb was by a party led by john westley powell Is longmont named for Yes norma longs peak Yes, indeed We're tied. We're all tied up. It couldn't get any closer. This is a real nail biter All right question number three What astronaut was born at 613 lincoln street in longmont Oh, yes patty Scott carpenter seems so associated with colorado that i'm gonna try for scott carpenter Oh, I'm sorry Yeah Do we have are we giving up here? We have we have yeah, okay All right, what is the answer? All right, that would be vance brand for whom vance brand airport here in longmont is named And vance brand auditorium as well. Yes indeed, but I didn't want to mention a rival, you know, oh, thank you, eric We have no rivals I learned something. Okay. All right question four What author Mentioned napping at a longmont gas station in his most famous book patty Jeff curic. Yes. Yes. You got it. Ding ding ding ding ding ding Okay, it's two to one two to one patty is in the lead Time for a big comeback all right question five What structure did longmont build? in 1939 Making it the first town west of the mississippi to have one You raise your paddle if you know the answer Yes norma water tower Yes close enough It was a really know your longmont stuff a mono pole water tower Unlike the old ones that had the big struts and all ours just has a single shaft And it's still there. Yeah, it's still there. It is now a historic landmark. Oh boy. Oh boy up by sunset pool if you've ever been So we're all tied up at yes, too So that means we are up for our tiebreaker Gotta go into overtime here tiebreaker question What is longmont's? official elevation We're gonna give them like if they're if they're within 100 Yeah You're even 500 Well denver's the mile-high city and I believe that's 5,000 something Oh looks like patty has her paddle up patty I don't this very you'll notice this is a very wobbly paddle. It's just really going back and forth. So I'm going for 5,000 And Yeah, 5,350 Yeah, that's uh That's uh, I'm sorry. That is incorrect. Okay. I'll give it a try. Okay. Yes norma 6,000 That's even more in the out. We're just We're getting further and further away. So I'm afraid neither of you have answered The uh, the the bonus the tiebreaker question and which leaves us still at a total We can't call this one. It's too close to call We're gonna have to get back to you ladies and gentlemen. We're gonna count up these what's that? Hold your breath. Oh, what is the answer eric the answer which is on all of the Signs leading into longmont in case you've ever noticed is 4,979 feet Yeah, well, where's that and where's that measured from eric? Ah, that's a very good question Um, if you think about where denver's mile high is measured from you might get a clue of where longmonts is measured from Longmont's is from the bottom step of the old city hall on fourth avenue There's still a benchmark and uh step to this day Well, what do you know? I think we all know a little more about longmont Now than we did when we started. I'm going to go ahead and award you both with a prize Patty we're gonna have to ship this off to you or especially special deliver it Yes, it's sugar beets Longmont would not exist if it were not for sugar beets I am going to go ahead and bestow norma with this sugar beet On behalf of the people of longmont and the longmont museum We'd like to have uh, you take this home with you as a special Token of our appreciation for appearing on this the first long monster And uh, we have yet another one. It's smaller Patty, but I it's uh, it's it's it's more, uh, uh, natural Can you see it? Okay, do you see it? I can certainly see it. It's quite handsome You know, if I mean eric, I don't know if you can tell us a little bit about how I mean, we wouldn't have longmont if if it weren't for these sugar beets. Am I right or am I wrong? Certainly this sugar was a key commodity in longmont and those beats Made people a lot of money for a lot of years. They also led to a lot of suffering because Growing them is a back breaking amount of work today. It's all mechanized. So Uh, I don't have to worry about blood beets or anything anymore. All right Well, um, don't eat that all at once norma. Yeah I got a whole posse here. We'll share. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah share sharing is caring Anyway, I want to thank all of our guests peter who is now at home I'm sure tucking his his 15 year old in the bed or something Norma Thank you for joining us patty Thanks for being such a good sport and joining us on your zoom Your zoom machine From your den there. What is your cat's name? I saw your cat kind of sneak through at some point Yes, my my sister gave me that cat for various reasons and she has been it. I visited israel a lot And in hebrew when someone says to you How's it going? How are you the answer if you want to say fine? Basically you say yofi Yofi Yofi as it really it means beautiful. I guess in hebrew But if somebody says how's it going and I'm not sure how can we get to say that these days? But if we want to say just beautiful just great Oh, then we then yofi is what we would say. So my cat is named yofi and she totally lives Up to that Well, yofi attitude if you guys were here She would be so happy. She just she loves visitors. So Norma and Justin and eric, I hope that you will come visit me and yofi at some point Oh, well, thank you. I think we'd be delighted to meet yofi I'm a cat good but asking on yofi's behalf so much as my own I would enjoy that very much to have you visit here and thank you for putting up with me from a remote location Well, thank thank you. Thank you for joining us And I want to thank all of you out there on internet land for joining us as well We're going to be doing this. Uh, it's not going to be every week It's not going to be every month. It's going to be twice a year So you can look forward to another long monster in march ish March i'm going to just go ahead and commit to sometime in the month of march on a thursday So mark your calendars We'll see you then. Thank you everybody. Thank you to our band Dave Tamkin and company And we look forward to possibly having a real live audience one of these days physically present audience of course um, I hope you get through this uh, this long election night and uh, we'll see you on the other side Yeah, until then