 So Kelly, I wanted to take this opportunity to introduce you to our Codepink community. Thank you for joining Codepink and taking on our growing a local peace economy project. What's cool is that you have your own local peace economy. So you know what it is, you know the joy it is, and the real work that it is, and also the real need. Here we are, the day after an election, after we threw billions of dollars and tons of time, a system that serves the war economy, and we can be excited that there was a pink wave, a lot more women, and a lot more diversity in the women. I love your language! A pink wave! I'll say it's a pink wave too, it's cool, yeah, you're right, you're right, it's awesome. I was just like taking it out, you know the Democratic Party and the Republican Party, they both serve the war economy, so you know, you can have a pink wave. Well I think the local peace economy way of looking at it would be that we've spent a lot of time, people have been galvanized to organize in their own communities, and so we have a lot of relationships today that we didn't have six months ago or a year ago, and so that kind of sets us up already for, once everybody rests and gets themselves together a little bit and does some self-healing and some self-care, to plan a meal with community, with the people that they've met, you know, out there knocking on doors, the people who have really shown up to volunteer, the people who have really shown up to stay late, phone banking, I was getting text messages in Oakland the day before, the night before about text banking, which I'd never heard of before, and met some really young, beautiful college students who were phone banking for friends and folks who were running for office, those are relationships to maintain and to work, to like treat it like new neuropathways, so you've got to continue to blaze the new neuropathways so that the grad doesn't become overgrown, then we're sitting on the couch and we're thinking about what's going on or looking at what's going on in our communities, but actually using those new relationships that are fertile and exciting and get together and talk, make a meal, pot of tea, you know, and invite people over or gather where you've been gathering and figure out what you want to do next. I think that's the huge opportunity right now, and I know people are heartbroken. I live in Oakland, California, and there's a lot going on for children, for elders, for people who are most compromised on their lives when we're not observing local peace economy, that means getting together, sharing, nurturing, caring for relationships. These are people who are peripheralized and marginalized, especially the most vulnerable. So, you know, the incumbent, she was re-elected, but the people who organized, and we all know who we are now, and we can continue to support each other and to support those children, those elders, and people who are being made to be homeless in ways that we probably hadn't even thought about before, you know, this election. So, it's exciting too, even though I want to honor the fact that people are heartbroken. I do want to say that. So, was the homeless issue a big issue in the race in Oakland? I think for activists and people who are deeply disturbed by houselessness and the reasons for gentrification, Oakland's kind of ground zero for what's going on globally. Ground zero in the United States, what's going on globally around moving people, you know, forced migration, pushing people out of their homes for corporate, you know, spaces and tech companies and that kind of thing. I know in this area, you guys are kind of going through a little bit of that too, so everyone's feeling that. So, there is a fear, I think, on the part of folks who support establishment, terrorism, I guess, to support folks who are going to keep things safe and keep money moving through cities and communities. But what we really need to do right now is hold on to each other and love each other because the money's not going to save us, you know? It hasn't ever, and it's not going to, you know? So, yeah. So, if somebody's listening and they want to figure out what they could do, are you available to support them in that? Yes, absolutely, wherever you are, of course, definitely. To talk to, to email, to work things out, to even point folks, very exciting people to point folks in the direction of either, you know, communities or activist folks or organizations or just a person that they could, to help them ignite, you know, and take advantage of the feelings moment right now where, you know, what's next? So, yes. So, some of the, the local peace economy gatherings are really to figure out what's next, the constantly what's next as we watch the effects of the money we invest in weapons and war come home to our communities and the 60% of our tax dollars that goes to bomb outside the United States but also the weapons that come home and the police that are now militarized and our minds that are militarized and our culture is militarized. So, when you're thinking about what the peace economy looks like for you or what love is, how love is expressed, what are some examples you've seen that are really beautiful and touching that if somebody doesn't know what to do, if you could, you know, as we say here, you know, at growing a local peace economy we're planting seeds and building bridges and telling stories. So, maybe tell us a couple of your favorite stories. I particularly appreciate when folks are on an elevator and you have that moment of like silence and there's all strangers on an elevator and saying hello or telling a joke or saying something in that muted space that's so pregnant with like as all this possibility and having people that donate to their lives and by the time they get off the elevator they're talking and they're, this is such a like a visual example of how we're, we force our spirits down in a way and it always feels weird to me like I was like, I don't know what to say, but you know, that's a local peace economy because you walk off the elevator and you know people and you've brightened someone's day and you planted that little bud of, okay, I'm not alone in the world, you know. So, I think when we think about economy, it's like it feels huge and it feels big and it can be, but it's also, it starts right within us as we approach our communities. So, saying hello to people on the street, buying a cup of coffee for someone if they don't really have enough, you know, just, but the first negotiation is within ourselves to have the courage, because it takes courage unfortunately to tap into that place that we've been convinced is meaningless and doesn't and can't do anything and is worth less. So, tapping into that and then the miracle that comes after we do it and it's so much fun and it's great, you know. And in Oakland, there are lots of amazing place to think things that are happening with people. Well, maybe you could tell us about your project. My, my local peace economy project, the Electric Smoothie Lab Apothecary. Yes. We go out into community where children are living and elders and people living in food deserts. I'm not sure everyone knows what a food desert is, but it's a place where there's a lack of living food, a lack of access to living food. And we make smoothies for them. We make smoothies and people laugh and we make smoothies, but yeah, it's, it's living nutrition. It's something that is not just an offering from our community. A lot of the things are locally harvested and we get them from, you know, gardens and that kind of thing. A lot of the greens and things are donated, but it's also an offering unto the health and longevity of the recipient. And so in the giving of it is an explosion of love, but also the person who's giving it has an idea and they take it back to their own community too. Like how do I do this? How do I make, you know, a smoothie for my mother or for my, my grandfather who's diabetic. And it started when I was working for a food justice organization in West Oakland and met a little boy who had diabetes but he was afraid to try the green smoothie because he had diabetes and he thought, well, is this going to be, is this safe for me to drink? And I thought, wow. So that was kind of like the bud that started, you know, a radical journey in my life of just going and doing that. And like I said, being laughed at by people was like, how are you going to change the world with smoothies? But we were just awarded a fellowship by Way Founder Foundation. Thank you, Way Founder, which is awesome. And I've met a lot of amazing people. I just followed that, the eyes of that little boy, knowing that he's probably headed unfortunately for not such a good place because his educational opportunities are diminished, his opportunities for healing through health and good food are diminished even though he lives, you know, right down the street from a co-op place but his mother couldn't afford to buy what was there. So the idea that when we go out and do this one small thing, which is just plug in a blender and get some stuff and put it in it, that we're really changing the world by feeding children and communities have been forgotten, is really powerful and amazing. That's exactly why growing a local piece of town is a perfect story. So what's your email in case someone wants to reach out and get your help? KellyC KellyCatCodePink.org Great. Well, we hope you'll reach out and join us in growing a local piece of economy.