 and how it shows up in these awesome human beings' works. So we can just begin by sharing your name, and what organization you're from. Hello, my name is Bob, and I'm a district creative and rocket-training detective. Hey, I'm Rachel Wilfred, and I'm with the new office of the council here, and that's the office. Woo! Hello, my name is Cheris, and I'm a director of the National Women's Doctorate in the Department of Justice. Uh-huh. Oh, my name is Senator, and I'm a director of the National Women's Doctorate in the Department of Justice. Okay, good. Very interesting to have you here, and I'm going to be working on this to see how you're doing. Thank you, good morning. My name is Cheris, and I'm a district creative and rocket-training detective. I'm with the International Story Science Center, basically, gentlemen's potency, and the tennis building center. All right. I didn't know that I was thinking, this might be much until we did our prep call, and it was quite a prep call. So, can you briefly describe the context in which you work for those who aren't familiar and how collaboration has shown up in that context? So, the context. I primarily identify as a theater artist. I'll work with story in all forms that shows up in relation to the community that I live in, the place in which we're privileged to steward, and I would say the ancestors that surround us that call for us to do a little bit better. So, how do I work? Well, so, giant puppets are all collaborative. I think, like, all of my work is collaboration, because I make trash art with lots of folks and the community gives me that as a community. See that as a process for building a relationship with lots of folks, and then private cutting offices work as we put on an annual community parade, and that is entirely collaborative as well, and, yeah, do lots of other projects. Community theater pieces, Jerry's going to talk more about that, so the collaborative process that we've been involved with, bring hip-hop together and dance and movement, so I see all of the arts being very fluid, and I see everyone as an artist, so any time that we're getting together in the community, it's a collaborative process. All right. All right, so, yeah, I work with a hip-hop group, which is a different collective, and collaboration is a center for the hip-hop. We eat a slice. So, first and foremost, I'm a producer and my work is also organizing as well, so through the hip-hop, each thing that I'm organizing, I also make music in the community, so I work at a community center, like, block away from here, or after maybe a center, and pretty much accepting folks that need a quarter to a quarter space. We also design, so we have a space where we design it in the studio, and I'm basically the support of our community in any way possible in terms of telling a story. And we also collaborate with other groups like Catmongers Public Council. I have Rachel with Block Party every year, so we support what we can. Being at a hip-hop, it's like food, it's very easy, but I'm not very excited. So, I obviously work with the International Tourism Center, the president of the institution, that took over about six years ago, got an institution that started before I was born in 1973, and he made an International Tourism Festival, which is an event, too, that started in Malcolm's 90s. But professionalized story telling even in the professional career industry, I mean, I wouldn't understand story telling as a specific genre. It's self-explanatory, professional journalism, professional journalism. So, I work with the organization, but I came in with a piece in the background, and I thought it was using story telling to piece in conflict resolution like Northern Ireland, with reconciliation processes in Israeli-Palestinian to the Middle East, and in Colombia. So, my interest is always using story telling as a kind of a vehicle piece-tilling community. So, when I arrived here, I came over to this country eight years ago, from Scotland, and to go through the study I do, to be able to see both your international development strengthening the role of story telling as a tool for piece-tilling. And then I took over the International Story Telling Centre in 2013, but still as an immigrant and non-U.S. citizen, I'm still not making any decisions, but I'm a good heart holder and I decided that the country needs a bit of help, so I decided to stay and I got a really good one. That's the conflict from here to here. So, I think the conflicts I want to speak to is actually the context of the kind of economy and the society we're in. So, at the Highlander's Centre focus on doing workshops and teaching, popular education methodology, how do we bring people into the room and share from their experiences of their experience living in the society and figure out from those experiences like what do we know about the kind of mobility and the context that we're in and how can we use that to change the world. And we're in the context of capitalism. Capitalism, the intersections of capitalism and the system and the influence of democracy and ableism and these things that have brought us to this moment of like a really, like a dire moment for our species, but also for the whole planet. That's also where the context is. And our culture only values like what we can produce like how we're productive and and like growth at all costs. You know, I've grown at any cost at any cost. So, I think deep legacies and histories and stories of resistance to that history and that context that we're in and yeah, taking a stand taking a stand that we're not going to be compartmentalized, we're not going to be split apart we're in big and small ways the ways that we resist the non-profit industrial complex and competing for funding figuring out ways to collaborate like the folks on the panel that other folks are doing to work together and center the communities that are most active and who refuse to like get into the same kind of productions that we have. Yeah, so with that in mind on the previous panel, they talked a lot about working outside of just the traditional art sector and so we brought up that slide into the next question of how has prospective partnerships impacted your work and the collaboration with people thought to not be traditional arts organizations? Do you got something to say here? I have something and you you put a bicycle We like bicycle so we're going to start we're going to cross the sectors, different sectors so story arts and our institution really began as a folk arts institution so we saw the story as a folk art I still do, I do and I think what Dougie spoke about and I think Dougie 100% understand the story telling and that's how I would say the story telling is the essence of the community it's the soul of the community it's not marketing it's not to kind of sell people to it and that's but at the same time over a almost half a century we've seen story telling go from this sort of a respectful story telling as a folk and traditional art to something that belongs to communities to something that become a way in which to advance capitalist ideas to companies that want to learn how to tell a lot of compelling stories so that they can sell their products and that's where I I sort of we get we get lots of people coming to us and there's an opportunity and I say it was story telling is almost like a Jedi force it can be used both for good and for bad it can be used to win elections it can get the wrong people into office it can be used by fracking companies it can really prevent war or conflict it can stop us from going to war it can stop the war and so I say this or that but the opportunity where we lie in our co-operative work is that everyone comes to us for those different artists we get people from the Pentagon from United Nations agencies from corporations TDA and all we come from opportunity is to the unrual hospitals and turning these spaces opportunity to turn a rural hospital into a storytelling cultural hub and that's because as someone talked about earlier storytelling as a medicine it is medicine so therefore we're going to be able to work in those kind of collaboration to have some of the benefit and when we get in on a group that want to kind of use our skill sets and resources to kind of just get what they want to be able to do we use the opportunity to sort of establish the idea of ethics of storytelling so there's a lot of different cultures and spaces which we work and it kind of crosses all sectors so for about 3 communities of all types together there's a lot of differences to to like learn from each other and figure out what we know about the world and how to change it culture and our our vial tools and we all come from from culture and like culture I think like hearing and saying culture can be something that's produced for and commodified and produced for consumption but it's also a source of resilience and just our people being people and connected to land and connected to each other and some of us have more healing to do to reconnect with our people, with our cultures but I think culture can be and in our can be that source of resilience and resistance to assimilation to this culture and the system so it has to be it has to be a tool to be when we're bringing people together and also when we're going about transformation in society so in terms of like cross-section partnerships every time we have an event out there from from our the artists and the culture workers and the women specifically and people of color that brought culture and art to the center and created a part of all the workshops and education work that that was done and we see it as a core methodology that culture organizes as we call it is sort of core to all organizations and we have to if we're going to do organizing work we have to do cultural organizing and we have to sit at it so yeah I think the work that people on the panel are doing is actually about the world it's not about using it's not only about using artists it's also about partnering deeply with communities and the people and understanding where they're coming from and using art as a way of unleashing the potential and the possibility of like expanding the imagination of what's possible and allowing connection and building strength and through that and I see that the work that Jerry has and my children and I see how they do that there it is alright so when I think about so the question is where are we here at the Center for Art or are traditional artists right so when I think about that I think about my culture organizing work just to give you guys some context like to organize things like to focus on issues in our communities but we use art as a means to address those issues and being that hip hop the platform that we then we can choose to express ourselves through to put a lot of platforms and not so force to do that you know our talent is really set up for that so we have to create these opportunities for us so when we look at cultural organizing for example I have a child right so if I'm going to do a pink one thing about art should come you know there's a food for people they're basically into me and we find those intersections and find folks to work with to support those things example we had a man through a couple of walls last one actually over in East Oslo over in the broadcast area it's a story of black art it's a story of business in our community folks who don't know my art school ranked really high in terms of black power right so we intentionally have a collective look at working in a community to try to further art in that space and actually use that art that in particular is really interesting in our community so we work all our time our figures in that space we work with folks that cook food in that area and Rachel should tell you as well like when we told you see art in theater if you cook your art if you're talking about your art in some kind of way so I'd say you're one of those artists so there's that but yeah, you gotta get up to the old modern there's a lot more need than coming to a show and dancing and shitting folks like it's important to shitting but also I might be hungry or there might be some policy in the long community it's not really support we need the resources I need so you gotta be open-minded with that we try to find a way to work with folks yeah, echo Jerry because we talk a lot we've got pretty similar philosophies about a lot of stuff but what comes to mind for me is again this philosophy that everybody is an artist, I think it is incredibly important that we all have vehicles, mediums to tell our stories we need Ed, everybody is telling their stories right now and we also need everybody imagining the futures that we want to create we are in time and we are imagining a world that has never existed that we know of and you know I think I work with a lot of world kids I work with elementary schoolers and we art with them every week and it's amazing to me I've got five-year-olds that will get so hard on themselves making a picture and it is already set in so thoroughly to them that their art is so good I mean not kids breaking into tears over this stuff in it I see all of our work whether I'm making giant puppets doing paper mache with adults with elders who maybe never done visual art before I'm working with kids it's helping them realize that they have really important stories and whether they like paper mache or whether they love programming poems or they want to pursue hip-hop or dance whatever it is they want to cook or they want to learn it what is essential is that we need everybody in conversation and telling stories and listening and building relationships and so that crosses all sectors whether Jace has put it on the hip-hop show and we're talking about yes, yes we're whether we're talking about over politics we're getting together a non-profit to make a public public and to build relationships with one another or making art that they can use at their next event or the next protest that goes through or their next action it's just really important that we give people opportunities to find their creative pieces most medium self I really appreciate what you all are saying this through line of making art by with and for the communities that we are part of and helping ourselves and our world to have greater access to the means of cultural production for people to get better at telling our stories and to be stronger manifesters in the future that we want to live in and not just be in a box where we're fighting against the future that we're in now and understanding that there's time for that as well the sectors that the cross-sectors that I find our work often intersecting with elder care education of course land based sectors environment but in particular through this conversation agriculture so in our community in Rock Castle County not too far from Moria, Kentucky there's not a lot of theater there's not a lot of people who go to theater but there are a lot of people who eat food and then do a good job of eating food and we come together on a regular basis around family gatherings and funerals and reunions and that's the culture spaces that's where it came from and so we try to just dovetail all of our work around the work of our farmers and the work of the land and those stories that the land has to offer and how do we then make these models that are in some places might be it might be a pejorative to say something like dinner theater right and I think reclaiming the idea that we eat together, we feed our mind body and spirits through our work and that is work that we can do for the rest of our lives and families get better at so that's what's coming up in the beginning in that thing I'm curious what are some strategies or ways of working that you have found to be most useful in building authentic collaborations within the communities that you are working yes what are some ways of working that you can provide that you have found what are some ways of working that you have found successful that other people here carry forward in their own work that's another way of thinking back so let me just give one example we all know that storytelling happens and it's sometimes starting with that question what's your story people free from I'm sorry what am I doing okay okay don't get out of there so how's the starting something like what's your story people free from but if you start with questions about moments in their life that is meaningful to them or meaningful to us then you go into the world of storytelling but you're doing it in a place which you start to have a good time because there's so much in this world of math and this competitive storytelling that we feel our story has to be the best, the most compelling, the most humorous the one you can stand up on the stage and I have a lot of issues with that and it's really it's kind of the fact that it belongs to all of us and it's the most democratic art form it belongs to all of us it doesn't matter how good that story is the fact that it belongs to you is what matters the most one example of doing that was a couple of years ago and this is just a very simple example of how we published and shipped policy and this was two years ago three years ago it was the second week of the US presidential elections and national elections but a couple of months before that I was asked if I would somehow see if we could get Senator Bob Corker on board for a piece of policy that we wanted to introduce at the Senate now, Bob Corker is not but there was an opportunity to find some meal around and mix up this team of food we had a beautiful conversation we found a common ground and what resulted in that was a meeting at the Senate in Washington DC and in that room one week after the US elections 2016, we had Corker he had six head moves for Republicans and Democrats and I started off with the question what was the moment in your life that made you see the world differently and what brought you to this table to make a difference what was the moment that moved you towards being a peace builder and in that space we went beyond the label of Democrat, Republican, religion and we introduced a bill called the Massachusetts Conflict Prevention Act and decided at that day that we would work in the right parts of the world in some way to get that push from so if we named it the Eddie Weasel Act it was signed into law this year in January by the US President and some act that can prevent genocide and atrocities and empower US agencies to recognize the role of culture arts and education and work with those partners to tell us more about it we said strategy what comes to mind is play so play is a strategy that we use in all of Harvard play is how we connect and this world that we live in makes it really hard for us to play sometimes there's a lot to be upset about there's a lot to be greedy there's a lot of trauma happening continuing to happen on any given day and I see play as a really beautiful way to bring people together and it's incredibly healing and important for us to be doing this work has to be joyful and playful to get people on board and I think we do that a lot of our work and I mean we love this it's hard to make that serious it's never really serious in the room that we come in but just to give an example last year we've done this annual and last year it rained on the day of our break and so we last minute ended up pulling our parade inside we were in this big show with the YWCA and we turned the parade into a giant public fashion show where you had your creation and you got to walk the runway and everyone just like hooded and hollered and saying for you and then we had hip hop performers after that we had like people making arts and crafts for you and everyone just went into it I looked around the room and I was like oh my god how do we get everybody to do this to be playful, to be silly to be just like connecting with each other and I think that can never be underestimated in how we build with one another you live again no doubt you live again oh thank you thank you thank you so strategies um I think the most effective strategy that we're trying to have noticed and I'm always referring to virtual training folks at the table for example virtual is a big part of the reason why we're doing this you know Joe T for example you know so like realize that everybody has a story to tell everybody's value and like seeing it you've been teaching about seeing it you've been writing posts on the table a lot of times when you're white for example like now profit just like funding and that's never been an option or even thought that was a good thing thought that was a good thing for your record deal also around my operating solution to make your message be effective you know so yeah it's breakfast on the table that went to the computer some strategies that that I've learned and as I'm looking around there's a lot of people who have taught me these strategies I'm thankful for that so providing something I learned from the higher ground community in Harmington providing food transportation support and childcare in all ways which we work together as a base way to try to get people to be there the work and the lineage of story circle as I've learned from my roots elders to John Neal the high order center story circle I'm honored to present that up in all of the work that I do because it works and I direct you to the many resources including Juba Productions website on story circles and it's a beautiful video interview with John Neal and then also something that works as a strategy is just gatherings of community I learned that from my roots community I learned it from from the third Bohemia community I learned we're learning and not knowing the hurricane gap community we're finding ways to bring together theater practitioners in Appalachia who don't have access to training but want to learn together in a skill share in a salon setting and a way for us to gather for a weekend, once a year and just what are we working on what works, what doesn't work when you're in the hustle and you sort of go or you're told to go and you don't have time for a lot of stuff but if you can just make that time of being with your community that is your family, that is your coworkers and your collaborators it builds you throughout the year it moves you in many ways so food transportation childcare, the use of story circles and everything that I do and gatherings of community on a regular basis I'll just share some of the cultural organizing we've tried to borrow from our community center which starts with a base which is spirit and wellness so what do we need to make our experience well and what do we do well ourselves and really that's where we have to start and the cultural work and organizing work that we do starts there and then from there how do we nurture our creativity towards the next plank and then the final plank is what are the shifts and transformations and policies and practices that we can see having done the work of nurturing our spirit and are connected bringing things to the part so what do we want to shift into policy and practice so yeah I love the tryout but all the work that these folks are doing I can see the ways that this kind of the movement and how it's useful yeah so we have people from a lot of different places here a guy named Aaron and so I want to speak to or get you all to speak to the southern content from where you're standing and how I feel like the history of this is one of collaboration so I'm one of you all to talk to kind of where you're situated what's the histories that you may be connected to that give rise to collaboration in your practice there's a part to this question but we'll start here for you so thank you so I'm located in the hills of the Appalachian Mountains in the Rockets County, Kentucky we've been in a region that's been dominated by the extractive resource industry for well over a hundred years and that saying what you do to the land and the people lives in our community and we're also taking that story and reframing that story around what is the community that we want to live in that has abundance rather than scarcity and that a lot of us talk about as a just transition and that just transition and that future that we want to live in offers a lot of spaces for collaboration spaces for manifesting it's that idea that we're trying to not just be in a place of fighting against the thing that we don't want because there's limited options in its exhausting understanding and knowing that that's what you have to do in times but to move what is it to be in a space where we're creating the conditions for change to happen and how to be able to build infrastructure or continue in many cases infrastructure that's already been placed decades before us and continue to prepare that soil for that type of harvest rather than something that is scarce that's the frame because I'm looking at that question so I'm from the south I'm from South England originally then I moved to South Scotland my politics is very Scottish very left of Scotland and if that makes any sense but I moved to Manchester eight years ago on straight to North Carolina and then I moved to I think you can see six years ago and I never thought that I do a lot of stuff I work a lot in DC in New York and San Francisco giving talks and stories and such and therefore I end up defending the south as I do and I do and I think this country and I think people know it's still suffering to some extent from the legacies of the civil war in the political map you can see in the cameras of the system how it exists within our nation I think we had our conversation really there's so much that the south can teach and shouldn't teach the rest of the nation and I think and I'm just from an example I am not an administrator and I'm an administrator thinking and visioning a space or a program or a project I still think as a lot and so when I'm planning a festival 11,000 people coming together to share a space together for three days then I also think that we're not in New York, we're not in San Francisco we are in the US south and what can happen in that space is that people can sit together in a little spectrum cultural spectrum aged demographic one person can wear an NRA cap and they can sit next to someone with an ability to share and that is good that is the opportunities so in this space it's not it's not to try to convince them how to think it's to remind them of where they come from collectively many complex stories hilarious poignant stories infuriating but it's complex and there's no one single story that makes up this country so when I'm thinking about the place that we are the opportunities that we have and then you can do so much more in that space so again people have ideas around immigration or topics and allowing people to give the opportunities to hear the perspectives of different people that have historically had that chance to have their story told on a main natural stage so we think about planning that process but thinking of the space that we already have in those cultural spaces in the world we're getting more and more the art galleries, the museums in a third of the world became known as Oasis of the Carp why? because it was one of the other spaces that you could meet your neighbour in a safe space and interact on a natural level with them in the opportunity and we have very, for some reason and I kind of fear this country is going into what's happening more in my land the problems of very war we're kind of reminded of that right now so it's thinking about those spaces the festivals, the events, the museums, the art galleries the programs that do it to kind of allow people to feel safe and explore these four different stories the ones that make us happy too so when I think of this I think of contradictions I think contradictions are a beautiful place an opportunity for healing an opportunity for dialogue an opportunity for exploring possibility and just opening and like one of the contradictions I see is like what we've heard the history of extravagant industry in our community south and the prevalence of safe weapons and at the same time culture and communities that have lived and still have practices of resisting safe weapons and resisting commodification and providing for themselves and the self-reliant way not being sort of a asylum capitalism market and so I think there's something in my work teaching about solidarity and talking about the new economy that we need to build beyond capitalism it needs to be populated with so many different models and ideas and a lot of those already exist here in the south so I think we have a lot of fertile ground to build on these interactions and one more thing is black funding I think especially in non-profit and philanthropic security in the south I think that's something that we should know now is like a lot of philanthropic scholars will come here and they'll take care of it so I was born and raised in East Tennessee so I've been here for a while I was also born and raised in Jewish East Tennessee and we have a very small Jewish community here so we kind of like to grow into maybe somewhere by home it was like a really, really experience for me yeah I think there is a lot that we can learn from the south the country can learn from the south and there as folks have already spoken to there is in here we need to collaborate in this region for yet to share our resource we don't have spaces to perform we don't have spaces even to use the studios to make it so how are we being created how are we working together so there is definitely a need for that and I thought he was saying that's the culture that we are trying to create we are trying to shift what we provide supremacy culture from individualism all of these things so moving in and figuring out how to make it here and it's also really hard just because we have to do it and our community is a lot better than the city I think it's like easy to get up here and not be able to say it's a collaboration but it's really hard it's really hard to be in a community with people it can be a really challenging to create in a community with people and it's a really beautiful process and part of going through that process of learning how to be in a community and collaborating is that we all get to heal and shift a lot of stuff in a relationship with people that are really different from us from people, whose people, whose ancestors may have hurt us so our ancestors may have hurt them and don't violence with them so how we just bringing us into that space together going through that process begins that process that we need to do so there's a lot to learn from here and also we still have a lot to learn here and it's totally possible the first theater piece that Junior Science did together we had like 15 of our people involved in an art we brought to the hip hop and puppets and dance and theater people like what are you doing but yeah it's possible we all got to learn too oh trust me what I can add thank you Rachel I was thinking the biggest thing about working in the south I believe yeah it's that there's not a lot of resources in our community so obviously collaborations keep huge resource for us doing where we came to be we may be able to achieve our own to find those relationships and I think that's one of the challenges especially you're not having big funding so it makes it be great so we have time for a couple questions and so if you have a question it's here we said it's not the number of people back there for the new years and I put on a yoga festival every year we're in our fifth year and I want to jump off on spirit wellness because as a community organizer and an artist and activist moving into I just came from a sea good war you know when I'm in Knoxville when you're in a sea good war there's too much of Indians there they're like what oh you know so I guess that's not a thing I don't know your name Karen I can is around how we build this community arts yoga festival but also add activism where we can all sit together and share and it's not so much about your spirit or your wellness but it's about the overall wellness of people so I guess I want to explore a little bit more about how important wellness is and not just like how I have my full well but how sick the world is without saying how sick the world is and how to dive a little deeper and sort of explore that space that's a big question but as we use what's really important and I maybe just ripping off this now because it was a question I wanted to ask at the end of the last session maybe appropriate at the end but it was something that a conversation I had with someone recently maybe in the year of 50s and 60s and 70s activism was very clear but today it's so confusing which cause do you support how do you support it and also in the globalized world you know I spend two days over Thanksgiving we can contact partners in India because of what's happening in India with President Modi the demonization to catch many people and I'm Indian heritage so I put my role in doing that but I'm also collaborating with some colleagues in the Middle East and then I'm thinking about how I support the future model as much as possible so I don't know I think there's more recognition now with the experiences that we have the need for society that we have today basics understanding what the experiences that we have and our own childhood that can come from before we can never really fully understand the completeness of who we are until we grapple with our early traumatic experiences to understand who we are human being but same goes for nation a nation that never really understands its full completeness of its story until it grapples with the legacies of its early years trauma so that it starts to enslave its birth, its beginnings its foundations its kind of what Bernice King, Dr. Bernice King said a couple of years or a few years ago when Dr. King came to Johnson City, Tennessee he said there's something about Donald Trump and Black Lives Matter and that is that both phenomenons have broken this country up to the great disparities that already exist and that's why the arts and culture and the storytelling matters and I think you know most of all people but I'm not quite sure how to affiliate I approach in our city so I approach things from my opinions, my spirituality but that's just a personal thing for me but I think trying to get essence of when I'm in storytelling workshops going beyond the circus level of our story we're going deep into the joy of suffering with Michelangelo's 1816 channel he didn't learn to paint a one hour workshop at the counter he learned the techniques of painting and then he learned how to break the rules then he learned the application of soul if you want to create a masterpiece then you learn the rules you learn to break it then you learn to have a joy and you're suffering and then you get to a place where you want to create a masterpiece in this nation collectively the most beautiful story about how we overcame these great challenges that we have with the rise of fascist regimes and trying to learn to think then we need to think about the application of our soul and maybe our spirituality Do we have another question? So Sunny the great is going to be on May 16th so you've got lots of time to get ready any other questions any other questions? Who would like to be? So I thought I could use moderator privilege and make an answer and we just hang out but of course they're putting me on the spot now I would say my answer in this moment can be to thrive because I think it's been said that maybe many of the riches on this channel that we've been putting in like this as long as I'm well you know and that's good enough for me but I would like for people to like dream out from that and know that what happens to me affects you affects this person over here and that interconnectedness whether that's for good or for bad and so I would love for the South to yeah we need to create what we need to thrive and not just rely on what always has been and make the pivot from resisting only and getting to the space of creation Thank you for that Jonte to build off that some sort of operation work except the conditions to thrive for us as a species to take all the energy that we use in fighting against each other my team, your team binary storytelling which I think is a false path to divide and conquer and to use those energies around collective consciousness around what can we do together and maybe we can evolve as a species that would be my hope You took the words out of my mouth Joe so yeah not only everybody having everything that they need but being able to thrive and I think part of that for me I think the South already has a lot to teach the rest of the country about how we care for one another how we take care of our people because we know that the systems in the place aren't going to do that right so I want to see the South not only all of those things but a place where we've really learned how to care deeply for one another and make sure that everyone has those things alright sorry I'm a bit distracted a little one of being classic it's good for the South I think it's the parallel to these guys I think the biggest aspect that I want to see in the South is like our needs are there and all of this is that there are two things we heard that people are seeing as such you know and how it was to be more folks having financial resources you know folks being aware of how they actually look quite like whether they would be home it's more about educational platforms and folks that realize they didn't know about it I'm not sure but I know that so yeah great opportunity for folks to be aware of their value and their worth and a place where access would be sort of the need to actualize the ideas that they had and create the work they want to see as well you know I'm so it's fun so the word economy comes really it's etymology comes from take care of your home so I root for the South I think of my home being from the South and I think folks that are already saying how do you take care of I think one step in that direction is healing the southern question that I think we all carry with us from the South and that's internalized by us being from the South and also internalizing the North and other places in the world that there's something wrong with the South and there's something wrong with us there's something wrong with the South that we have to fix and I think we know that our story is about the story of the whole nation and of the empire in general so I think if we take one step and kind of healing from being in the scapegoat for racism and the scapegoat for empire then there will be one step closer to figuring out how to take care of each other because I feel I haven't lived here a bit more to answer that question as a southern but maybe it's great to be able to know the things that you've said and it's something I know teach the nation how to be kind but I also want to live more but I think it was going to be really mean and maybe, and I'm saying this really we can be very mean to those that are different from us politically and I think something that's to talk to me about where I live in East Tennessee which I've been here before that a conservative community can be very welcoming and very open to those who are different from the rest of the France and being to those with different values and I think it comes from not just living in the South but working class values it's rural mountain there's many components of that and I think there's a building on that I think it's a really beautiful thing because I choose to live here as a narrow road it's a place I choose a lot of the richness of culture the richness of traditions the soul that exists the histories, the complexities the only thing I would say I'd love to see is an an opening up and a second observing and maybe sort of an acknowledgement of how it came to the place that we are today and that includes things like our indigenous peoples who have been treated including and how we explored the French slavery of the day I think also seeing tested spaces in the South, in the way that Germany, in the Third Reich that we invented it's now a place like Northern Ireland we explored opportunities in coming up with the new war so thinking about it as, you know, not to ignore it to face it also use the opportunity to have a conversation just like Brine Stevenson is doing inviting a national conversation but I think we could be doing that in the South a lot more and I have to give beauty place in all aspects of its completeness but it's still a beautiful place where it is now too as well it's traditions So, thank you all for your questions and thank you all panelists and can we give a special round of applause to our new addition to the panel Mr. Erwin Mr. Erwin Thank you all for your time and I'll see you in the second opportunity for you to introduce yourself to someone else who you don't know