the real grimdark is the truths you learned about yourself along the way. So I guess I was taking this rather personally, but I don't even have the book. I'm gonna talk about Wisdom of Crowds. Hey guys it's Leigh Ann and I'm here today to talk about the Wisdom of Crowds by Joe Bercromby. So this is a terrible time to be filming this, but I finished it last night or technically this morning at like 1 a.m. so I just just like the trouble with these. I just have to talk about it immediately. However I got like no sleep. My neighbors are currently decided to start playing really loud music so I really hope you can't hear that. My cat scratched my face today so I covered that up with makeup and I'm leaving town tomorrow so like I really need to be packing right now. But instead I'm gonna talk about Wisdom of Crowds.  So I hope you can't hear the music or the cat or the traffic or any of the other things we're just gonna power on through okay. So I'm gonna do a non-spoiler review for the most part and then I do want to talk about spoilers and unlike Trouble with Peace when I do two separate reviews I'm just gonna do spoilers at the end of this so I'll give you lots of warning when I'm gonna talk about spoilers. So anyway yeah great okay let's do this. So the Wisdom of Crowds is the third and final book in the Age of Madness trilogy and also the final book for now in the world of the First Law and I if you've been watching my channel at all in the last you know honestly in the last week probably but this year I've been rereading all of the First Law books and I've said it so many times in all my videos been like and I'm reading this because I'm reading all of the First Law books in anticipation the release of the third and final book of the Age of Madness trilogy the Wisdom of Crowds and here we are the Wisdom of Crowds I don't even have the book because most of my pre-orders are coming from the UK so it's gonna be a minute before they arrive and I didn't put Wisdom of Crowds on my TBR in September because I was like no I'll read it in October because I'm reading Trouble with Peace in September and I did read Trouble with Peace I did do that and then I woke up on Tuesday and my phone the first thing it told me was that my audible pre-order of Wisdom of Crowds was ready to go and I was like great listen so uh no zero self-control and uh I was I was a little anxious after spending so long anticipating this book and putting kind of a great amount of pressure on it like would it live up because a little hatred dethroned my former favorite book and then Trouble with Peace dethroned a little hatred I was like well Wisdom of Crowds are you gonna dethrone and yes yes it did I cried I have never cried reading a never can't be a book at all not even teared up not even a little bit and I was ugly crying last night um and we'll get into why in the spoiler section if you stick around for that was it good it was good and it just it cannot be the last first law book it just absolutely cannot both because I need more but also because there's so many seeds planted for what could come in future stories in future books new things for uh him to explore uh new areas of the map for him to explore and uh I really hope he does which I mean even if it had wrapped up neatly in a bow I would have been like great well just pick another part of the map and just start telling a story over there I don't care but if there's definitely seeds planted I'm he's gonna write more okay but so it's okay it's really hard to do no spoilers for the third book in a trilogy and the final book in like an ongoing saga but okay we're gonna do our best a little hatred and the trouble with peace set up a world that was uh going through an industrial revolution and with that also comes uh populism so the first two books were sort of following a painfully familiar trajectory both for anyone that studied history and anyone that's living nowadays in our current world it's this trilogy has just been an extremely relevant and home-hitting one uh even more so than first law books have been in the past and first law books in my opinion have always been kind of uh painfully realistic and it's been one of the most honestly cathartic things about reading first law books is uh is seeing how cynical and corrupt and how futile and how uh just you know bad people doing bad things but not for you know massage twirling reasons but because because of little things because of little evils because of greeds and ambitions because of petty rivalries and jealousies and how despite the best efforts of good people and there's massive asterisks to anybody that is a good person because and you read an abracame book and you begin to lose faith in the idea of such a thing existing not because everyone in his books is evil just because what even is a good person like even if you present a good facade to the outside world if this is somebody that other people would say oh he's a good guy i mean we when you crack open the hood and you look beneath and what's ticking it isn't necessarily uh benevolence and selflessness and all these greater morals and virtues a lot of times there is there are selfish reasons there are ambitions there is greed there are other things beneath the surface that color what you've been seeing on the exterior as something incredibly virtuous few things are what they seem so good guys aren't necessarily that good and bad guys aren't necessarily that bad and everyone's just a big dark gray mess anyway we've brought an already relevant writing style and world into an industrial and populist age in this trilogy which has just been chef's kiss because i haven't seen a lot of fantasy series do that it is so painfully relevant for the times and then the master character builder that is joeb or crombie has somehow gotten better he's improved upon perfection so that's a neat trick and and he got me to cry he got me to cry that's the one thing he hadn't achieved yet he's getting me to cry and okay we've done it now so what else can i say without spoilers is it a satisfying conclusion i would say so uh the seeds that are planted throughout the trilogy and throughout the series in general there's just a lot of as i've mentioned before characters from previous books who pop in and out uh who do they aren't the main characters anymore in this new trilogy which is great but unlike the new star wars movies where they take the characters from the beloved characters from the original trilogy and shove them in and then do them such a disservice and completely assassinate their characters uh no this new trilogy uh when it does incorporate familiar characters it does it sparingly it does it only when the plot really needs it to and it's never destroying what you once knew about this character or once thought about this character i mean it helps that none of the characters were like great heroes like luke or you'd be like he was such a hero and you've ruined him i mean this is the first law so i guess it would be the only kind of character south stations if they turned into dudley do right all of a sudden and you'd be like what anyway everybody everybody who's a new character everyone who's an old character everyone who's a character in the first law in this new trilogy has just been incredible to observe to follow to to get to know to try to unpack to try to guess it what they're about because obviously you're in their hands but you only know so much you only know what lord grim dark has chosen to share with you so you you're still guessing at their motivations and what they might do next and they they do surprise you sometimes and that's what i love about it as well is that sometimes you can predict what they're gonna do and that's not a bad thing because if it's well written that means you've come to know this world and you've come to know these characters and an intelligent person can begin to make educated guesses and it's not poorly written if the reader is able to guess what's coming a lesson that the showrunners of game of thrones never learned if you plant seeds for something to happen and people start noticing that that's that means you've planted the correct seeds so there are there are things in this like final book um that i did i can't say i predicted anything like precisely which i think is unreasonable but there are things that i was starting to get a sense that might be kind of where this is going or might be what a character might do might be what a character is trying to accomplish or where their heads at and for a few things i was correct and but it wasn't like oh well i saw that coming it was very satisfying nevertheless because i didn't know exactly how that would come about and the way that it came about felt earned the payoff was there it felt true to what we had been told but we had come to know um and and even again so even though i guessed some piece of it or kind of the overarching thing that would happen or the direction something would go i never guessed exactly how that would go down exactly who might be involved exactly what would be said and how that would be accomplished and and i might guess that somebody is attempting to accomplish something but i can't guess if they're going to be successful at that so it was just a very rewarding third book because again questions that you had were being answered and sometimes it was something that you were like oh yeah i called it and hopefully or it came out of nowhere but not again not in a bad way uh there were still surprises there were things you're like oh i didn't see that coming so it was just it was great it was it was perfect it was amazing and it was even more i don't know not maybe more relevant but i guess each book in this trilogy has sort of driven the knife in deeper with how relevant it feels and how how painful that dark mirror is when it's held up for us to see our own selves in our own society and our own worst tendencies play out in grim dark glory you're like oh yeah oh this feels a little too familiar oof all i can say is if this whole year of me rereading the books and heaping praise on them and then anticipating this book so much and despite the amount of pressure that i put on it to be great it still lived up to my expectations and did not disappoint me uh because i could not have possibly hyped it more to myself than i did a little like the day after christmas when you're five years old i mean it's over now i've been waiting for this all year and it's over now i have no first law book to mark as bunch to read on goodreads i have no first law book to be refreshing every fancy booksellers website waiting for the special edition signed edition to be available for pre-order there's just nothing my life is meaningless now i always feel like inigo montoya in princess by he spent so long plotting his revenge that he doesn't really know what to do with the rest of his life he spent so long anticipating the wisdom of crowds i don't know what to do with the rest of my life yeah i honestly don't think i can say anything else without spoilers because we're just so far down the road now that um yeah i can't say anything that wouldn't be spoilery for some piece of this so if you haven't read wisdom of crowds if you haven't read the age of madness if you haven't read anything in the first plot what are you doing but so i think without further ado i do need to dive into spoilers before i burst so if you have not read them just click away now and go pick up whichever book you left off at uh and just get caught up okay spoilers so i mean the reason that i was ugly crying last night i think if you've read the wisdom of crowds which i sure hope you have if you're still sticking around for this part of the video uh is because of orso and as i was explaining this to like the few people that messaged me about how oh did you write something super sad or whatever and he did write something super sad like the fact of or so dying i that's that's sad but i don't know that that would make me cry necessarily like the fact of that um it was the way that scene was written and even now every time i think about that scene it's the way that it's written that absolutely kills me i mentioned my trouble trouble with peace reviews that orso is the character that i most identified with personally saw myself in him so i guess i was taking this rather personally but i i mean i don't disagree with the i mean i kept thinking to myself as the plot was going down the road that it was going i was like there's just there's just no way like that he survives and i wasn't so much thinking about life and death as just like he has no place in this scheme he is not useful to anyone he isn't gonna be a player there's there's no there's no play here so at best he runs away and lives in obscurity but yeah as as these different plots and plans and schemes were coming to fruition and and meeting their natural end i was just there's no place on this board anymore for orso and i was like so where are we gonna find a place for him are we gonna find a place for him we're not gonna find a place for him like i couldn't say that i was surprised that that he that he died and it couldn't say that i was unprepared for it because i was sitting there going is is he gonna die there were several times that i thought that we would that he might die and so when we finally came down to it it's not like i was unprepared it's not like i didn't think the story was gonna naturally go there and it's not like i haven't seen first law characters die characters that i really like um but the way that i've seen is written where he's still being it despite everything he's he's putting a i don't want to see a brave face because it's not a brave face but he's putting a cheery face on it uh it was it's kind of uh in key it reminds me it reminds me of oscar wild um i don't know if this is actually true but i've heard this many times and i like to think that it's true that his last words were either this wallpaper goes or i do but that was kind of like the vibe of orso uh facing the gallows just sort of making the last few cracks and jokes while he still could jokes at his own expense jokes at the expense of his own imminent demise and just that the way that that was written like if he had if he had gone to the gallows nobly with you know stiff upper lip what what it would have been it would have been hard to read that but it was it was the you know you're either laughing or you're crying kind of which again this is why i see myself in orso like i do not want to say that oh i too would face the gallows with a smirk and a twinkle in my eye and i would mean i mean i would probably be screaming and running away but i have been known to say you're either laughing or you're crying a lot in my life and that was his entire vibe in that scene and then because i mean well when he dies his pov has to end but because it was being told from his perspective then we didn't really have eyes on him actually dying and so innocent sweet little me was like maybe he's faking us out again maybe it's a trick again maybe maybe maybe maybe maybe maybe we're gonna go through these other povs and suddenly find out that he's actually alive and that there was a last minute trick there was the last minute pull of the punch but but no it was like a second dagger to the heart when savine was like you hung my brother or you hanged my brother and i was like oh no he's really dead but even then i didn't really cry i didn't cry and i didn't full on cry until the book was over because i just kept holding out hope that someway somehow he's not dead even though i knew he definitely was but until i read the last page there was still hope and then then i finished the book and then i just thought about him smiling as he faced the gallows and i was like so yeah i was i was a mess um so yeah that's that those are the big feelings but so other spoilers less i don't want to say less impactful spoilers but that's the thing that made me cry but so the so the other stuff i already said in trouble with these that you know you could and i'm sure i'm not the only one that observed how leo was sort of going down the path of glockton and i thought that by the end of wisdom of crowds i would really like leo if he sort of fully transformed into the crippled butterfly that is sent in glockton and uh yeah he turned out to be a real dick he at first you know it was fun to see him get smarter and him get more uh wily and ambitious and and by the end you know you really when savina's like yeah no i you are what i made you you're kind of my creature i taught you to be this way and i remember wishing you'd be more this way but well i don't wish that anymore i kind of miss when you were dumb and pretty because the scheming version of you it's just it's not same as glockton because there's your hotheadedness and your your self aggrandizing tendencies are still there somehow against all odds he's so so stubborn and a lot of his worst kind of sexist ideas and and this weird kind of power-hungryness that doesn't even come from i guess it's ambition but it's not i don't even know what to call it i mean it is authentic to the way certain people are because evercraft me writes characters amazingly well so he's definitely feels like a fully fleshed out authentic character and you understand what's going on there it's just i don't know you really don't like it you're you're not fun you're kind of awful you're so awful i wish someone would kill you versus every basically everybody else in the series good or evil i would say i i liked you i mean and liking them is is always a a word with multiple asterisks and abercrombie book but they were people that i guess i enjoyed that even when they were being awful i was just like oh that's awful but with leo by the end i was like i really fucking hate you dude can you please go jump off a cliff do us all a favor versus i mean savine certainly makes mistakes um she kind of has to eat a lot of crow but the way that she has to sort of face adversity in new ways and kind of face up to what her preconceptions were about how the world works about how who she is in the world about what she is capable of about what her values are i mean she doesn't turn into mother teresa but she does kind of have to realign her values which is feels very authentic to what she's gone through when she learns that okay and this is i when we had the prophecy from rica i pretty much called um that the owl would be rica as soon as we had the situation with her long eye i was like well the owl would be rica i was like maybe possibly the owl is bias because bias has eyes on everything maybe but i think it's rica um so i was correct at least as far as or at least rica agrees with me she thinks that the owl is her but so i also then thought to myself that the weaver even though we were told it was pike part of me thought that either bias is behind this um even though it seems to be going against bias because they're going against valentine bulk um you know maybe he's seen bias has finally seen that valentine bulk has outlived its usefulness and it's time to burn it down and start fresh which is possible i was like or it's glockta and i was i've definitely favored it being glockta i preferred that outcome and i didn't think it at all uh improbable that it could be glockta especially how close he was with pike and how much he hates bias and how he just kind of so quickly just sort of melted away into the shadows and was like here pike can be in charge now it's like okay if you're either behind this or you are up to something so he was behind this and what i didn't see coming a lot of people i think predicted that zuri was an eater and i didn't think it unlikely that zuri was an eater what i didn't suspect was that glockta knew she was an eater and purposely put her with his daughter to be protection against your sulfur like i was like wow that is some 40 chests my god but a lot of these things again like it was satisfying to see them pay off because there's enough seeds planted you were like i have some idea about where this could go and so like if we came out of nowhere and we said that all along it was clover that was behind everything you'd be like uh well i didn't see that coming because that makes no fucking sense from the broken no speaking of clover clover is like my new favorite character i loved him from a little hatred and i continued to look him more and more so i am delighted that the end of this book kind of puts clover in the spotlight where he could easily be the focal point of a new of a new trilogy a new series or even a standalone i'm very excited to see more of clover clover if i was crying over or so i was laughing over clover a great deal he had some of the greatest one-liners some of the best witnesses and he was just such a such an amusing energy to have around greatly appreciated clover and something kind of told me that he's like he's got that cockroach energy where he's he's gonna survive he's gonna make it nothing can kill that guy probably should but he's sort of sort of like casca in that way where he's very amusing isn't a lot of dangerous situations but never puts himself in danger at least as little as possible clover is fantastic and i never ever get tired of seeing shivers just shivers but also i never get tired of seeing shivers with rika at a certain fail that little family unit if we can call it a family unit and i'm gonna call it a family unit it's so precious i mean they're horrible and violent and blood thirsty and etc but it's just so so sweet uncle shivers and tricky rika and good old if there was anybody that i wanted to like hang out with like for real because i mean usually when there's like questions you know on booktube or the internet that are like if you could live in your favorite fantasy world which would it be and i'm like my favorite fantasy worlds are like grim dark worlds and no i don't want to be in the world of the first law i basically rdm except with smartphones and if i have to face this world i would rather do it with a smartphone thank you very much so i've never really wanted to be able to transport myself into the world of the first law because uh i'm not that much of a masochist but i wouldn't mind hanging out for a day with shivers is sir and then rika because they're they're fun i was delighted delighted delighted to see stour get killed because it couldn't have happened to a nicer guy geez that guy i was almost worried that he wouldn't i was worried that that rika would decide to be the better person and i was like fucking kill him and she did and it was glorious what else what else what else i was um i guess a little disappointed in gunner broad just because i don't know the way he got swept up in this populous uprising it's not unbelievable that he would given his past but given also everything that he had that that savine had done for him and for his family i i kept waiting for him to be in on some kind of plan to save savine and it was very disappointing to me that he was just full on he had drunk the kool-aid and was down to kill savine and i was like really dude really but uh it's i mean it is realistic so it's it's not like i can say that that is out of character for him i was just i was like man sir i'm very disappointed in you and then i mean glaucus and bias the uh as savine puts it the fact that glaucus wanted to defeat bias and in doing so became bias and i mean she's not wrong but at the same time i couldn't help feeling like you don't get it savine this wasn't necessary because i mean wasn't necessary i don't know is our things better now i don't know and the fact that you know basically a glaucus plan would include getting rid of orso as well my heart was a little too bruised to be okay with that i was like glaucus you are my favorite character and you are really really testing me right now with this plan that involves offing or so i mean and also i'm jumping around all over the place if that did not become clear only abacame could write um a book in which i am shipping the incest couple even after we i mean we knew they were incestuous all along even before they knew if we i mean if you had read the books in publication order which is what i recommend and i'm very disappointed in anyone that ignores publication order but i mean from the get go you know they're rather incest or even when they don't know it and so i mean part of you was like well they don't know it so i guess it's fine well incest isn't great like they don't know so i mean if they never know i mean it's fine so i was almost mad when already told savi and i wanted to be like well so what if their brother and sister these are royals like they do that shit all the time just whatever let her let her marry him you've lied this long once the worst thing can happen their kids will be a little funny like whatever so then even after they learned about it and even when they were still kind of like i that's my brother that's my sister but also like i'm still into them i want to be like okay we'll go beat together it's fine it's fine he had me questioning my morals in the first law trilogy when i was on the side of the torturer and now i'm questioning my morals because i'm on the side of pro incest the real grim dark is the truths you learned about yourself along the way but i don't i mean i just okay and so the end where we get this incredible vision from rica now we have these seeds planted where clover is with bias and is going to be training the next generation and i mean you know that things are not gonna go well and the agree on savi and leo who are ripe for civil war like on day one so this does i mean i guess this just doesn't feel it is a satisfying conclusion of this trilogy however it doesn't feel like a conclusion to the first law it because there's so many seeds planted for what could come next and i kept thinking that too when i was reading it i was like this is really all gonna wrap up by the end and i mean it does like the main things that are going on in this trilogy are wrapped up but there's just so much so much more to come i hope there's another trilogy but i'll take stand alone i'll take whatever but there's gotta be more because you can't just dangle all that stuff it was it was practically like a marvel post credits scene there was like here's an elaborate vision and here's bias plotting again already and you're like okay so when is the next installment coming our way you think i'm done i think i've run out of things to gush or complain or wax poetic amount so let me know in the comments down below what you thought of wisdom of crowds because if you are in this part of the video then you have read wisdom of crowds and if you are in this part of the video and you have not read wisdom of crowds shame on you whatever you want to let me know i have those videos on saturdays other random times as well but i think saturdays so like and subscribe join my patreon if you feel so inclined and i'll see you when i see you bye so i just finished the wisdom of crowds and um i'm gonna film i think my review it's tomorrow i was originally not gonna do i'm not gonna film views immediately after um because i'm yeah but i think i'm gonna um but i just wanted to capture i mean i'm gonna film a spoiler review so i just wanted to capture my immediate reaction after reading it um i have never cried reading an apricot me book and we didn't go from no crying to like a gentle glistening tear i am like full on ugly crying oh my god while i was reading it i wasn't crying i mean i turned up a little um but i would didn't cry because i kept i kept believing that there was just some way that it wasn't what it seemed there's gonna be a it's a it's it's gonna be a switcheroo he's faking us out um but nope he really did and um um if you watched my spoiler review or my non-spoiler review i forget where i said it in one of my two reviews for the trouble with peace i mentioned that the character that i most identified with in the new series and probably in all of the first law is um or so so um yep this is rough um it was so good though um so yeah um five out of five stars um probably my favorite apricot me book now except also like how much of a f***ing masochist do you have to be to make your favorite one the one that makes you ugly cry um but i was not expecting to ugly cry reading an apricot me book i've read and reread all of his books the original trilogy the standalone's sharp ends and now the new trilogy never cried did not expect going into wisdom of crowds that i would cry like i would joke that i'm gonna cry because there's no more first law books but and i mean that is upsetting especially the way this ended um he has to be writing more first law books the way it ends um but it's been emotional


Luis, we heard from Harky and he was saying that you looked like one of the most confident bullpens that he's ever seen for the first one after Tommy John. What do you think about that and why was it? Luis, we were talking to Harky and he told us that the confidence that you showed you, for your first bullpens, after Tommy John was impressive. How was that? Actually, I was feeling pretty good. That day I've been feeling pretty good. I didn't know what to do in my first bullpens, so I treated like it was a normal bullpens. They told me not to throw too hard, so I tried to back up a little bit. Actually, I was feeling pretty good. I was throwing a lot of strikes. I felt very good. My arm felt good. I didn't know how to prepare myself for a first bullpens after Tommy John. That's why I did it as if it were a normal bullpens. I felt good. I was saying a lot of strikes. And this one we can just do it in English, Luis. Thank you for that. Luis, so then do you still feel you said that you were 100% confident that you were on schedule? What does your schedule look like now, Luis? Right now we're just doing two bullpens a week, Tuesday and Friday. I don't know for how long we're going to do that. We're doing fast bullpens right now. I think maybe later on we're going to introduce the breaking pitches. And that's it, after that we will see how long it's going to be until we get to New York. Next question goes to Sweeney Murdy. Sweeney, please unmute. Hey, Luis, are you at all worried about how it's going to feel when you start throwing sliders, change-ups, anything like that? I'm not worried about it. I just want to know, you know, I want to start throwing breaking pitches and see how it feels not the same day, but also the next day to see how my arm is recovering for throwing those pitches. And when they tell you to back off a little, is that hard for you to do?  I'm excited, you know, to be in the mound.  So it's a little tough, but I will do my best.


I'm here with Mia Ostro with the school, talking to harp artists for the HowlRound about their projects. The harp is a program at the Hero Arts Center where they give artists multiple years to develop a piece and sometimes it depends on the project and what the artist wants. It goes longer than a couple years, sometimes it's just a year, sometimes they hear, produces the work, sometimes they co-produce, sometimes the artist has a different idea and they do that. So that's that's that program and we just wanted to introduce the HowlRound world a little bit more to some of the artists. So hello, how are you? Hi, thank you for having me. It's nice to talk to you on this winter day. Yeah, so I wanted to, you know, we both have our tea. Yes, I wanted to first get you to describe your project that you're working on at the Hero Arts Center. Sure. So what I'm working on with here and with the generous support as well of Creative Capital is a project called Priestess of Torque. Yes, please. Colin, A Black Thumb Temple to Pleasure. Yeah, that is what it is. I'm working on creating a full-scale immersive participatory temple where Black women are sacred, Black women, femmes and other folks for whom misogyny is a relevant experience. And, you know, the full scope of the thing is still being dreamed up, but I imagine a space that has water, that has saunas, that has hymns and criminals. Yes. That is a fully functioning monastery to Black feminist authors and artists. And of course ends with a concert because there has to be music. And with a concert, you know, well, music will be infused throughout the thing. Of course, there will be different rooms that speak to different kinds of rituals that one can experience when one is there. And so like I imagine actually a very tailored experience to the individual.  Each chamber will have its own priestess, you will be led in some things. You also might get interrupted because the building is alive and who knows what might happen. You might get kind of swirled, swept up somewhere and brought into a dungeon we don't know. But this is kind of the dreaming space that I'm in. I'm in a very activated dreaming space and it's been really fun to be in that place and to feel supported in that and to feel like there is an expanse of time because this is about time. It's about experiencing time and body and space differently. And yeah, just reimagining a world in which Black women and BEMs are free. So that's the big picture. That is amazing. So talk to me about form and how it fits in with ritual for you. Because it sounds like this might have a lot of ritual in it. Yeah, definitely. Well, I think that, you know, I'm always as a creative, I think, you know, creativity hates form in some ways, like in terms of genre, creativity hates genre. And so in terms of like form, I'm just really interested in it. I've never heard anyone say it that way. That's quite one genre hates form. No, creativity hates genre. Is that what you said? Yeah. Yeah. So like, first of all, I reject, you know, and then I feel I feel like after that, so when we think, so for me, like with that is like the starting place or the door, then I feel really free. And I feel I think it's the form is to be determined. I think that I'm certainly influenced by forms that have been invented by my predecessors, like theatrical jazz, aesthetics, and, you know, other kind of apro-indigenous ritual forms and structures that I have been exposed to and participated in and cultivated inside of my own spiritual life and path. Also part of my, a large part of my dissertation research was around West African and Indigenous American, both Americas, ritual forms and ceremonial logic. And so all of that is just part of the DNA infused into the structure of the piece, really working against the wellness industry or the like capitalization of healing. Virginia Bryce has a beautiful work you're telling me, right? So I'm really excited. But also like asking questions like, but can we still have the nice things? Like, can we still have nice lotions?  We had our own forms of excess and magic. And it didn't mean that it was somebody was oppressing someone in order to get it. Yeah. Yeah. So anyway, so really, really kind of trying to open up those structures without overvaluing capitalists, wellness industries without overvaluing kind of like, you know, this kind of monarchist vision of like what is beauty and what like royalty, but also wanting to experience really like lushness and luxury and really the best that the best embodied experience that life can offer us. Yeah. I've been recently I've been kind of trying to reimagine how my work can be structured. And one of the things that I've been driving towards is that that it's not just about commenting on the world that is or critiquing the world that it is, but actually manifesting the world that you want within the within the piece. So it's it's about the process is as much about the art as the art, which has always been there in the work, but but just being super conscious of it. And it just sounds like you're on a similar track is that is that right? No, that's exactly it. That's exactly the that the piece will make itself by by the ethos inside of which we make it and the people the people that are participating inside of that ethos and dreaming it up. So so yeah, the forms are actually like what is the form is probably the most exciting question to me because that's what we get to figure out. Yeah. Well, and in a space like like here, you're not I suppose there's some legacy of hampering in terms of there being walls in the in the theater, but it's not there's not a legacy of hampering in terms of what you can do in the space. It doesn't all have to be proscenium. It doesn't have to be at eight o'clock. It doesn't have to be eight times a week. It doesn't, you know, and so it frees you up to imagine whatever you want. I mean, yeah, I'm so sad that I never got to see any of any of your full scale. Like, I mean, you know, you also model that inside the space, right? Those things are possible, both because of Christian vision and also the collaboration of artists like you. And I just feel like, yeah, so it's exciting to me to think of all that has already lived inside of that space and already a part of its DNA and just to like go on that is exciting. Like what theater lets you do like a full like take yeah, take over both theaters and the hallways and the bathroom and you know, very few of them. Although they all want they all want it. They're all longing for it, but it's hard for a lot of them to break it. But yeah, but you said something earlier that was you start with rejecting. And I watched that a song of yours in the beginning that was on YouTube, filmed at Joe's Pub. And what I found so fascinating is like in the beginning and then the whole part like the beginning and that immediate it was just and then you and so a few things happened in that moment. One was like, Oh, in the beginning, okay, all right, we're in the traditional space. We're telling the story. And then you immediately broke it. And you said, no, we're recreating the rules.  Okay, so it's that kind of that kind of engagement with popular culture and popular language. And then you immediately deep into like just dig into really profound writing and that not that language that is deemed foul isn't profound. But you know what I'm saying, like the more kind of less populist kind of writing.  It was really, I was just so beautifully crafted. That's all I really wanted to say. Thank you so much. That's such a resonant comment and shout out to Troy Anthony, who composed that the music for it.  Yeah, yeah. And you're like, I'm gonna make our own beginning. Yeah, yeah. And so that the writing to I should shout out. So like what I did in that, in that really I think what I do one of the main things that I do as a writer is I'm a curator and I'm a DJ and I mash things up, you know, like that is, it feels like a part of my practice.  And then after that, I'm quoting the ifa oracle of sacred, of Yoruba sacred text. Amazing. I didn't know that. So there were no living things was a priest. There were no living things as the name of the priest in the beginning of the world, that which has suspended that which was suspended, but did not descend was the priest in the other world always just empty space with no substance with the priest of midair. Those are the three priests of the three different like realms of nothingness that existed before time before us at the at the moment of creation. And so like in that moment, I'm kind of braiding together, you know, these voices that I think always inform my work. And yeah, and then I go back to writing, whatever I'm writing. So yeah, yeah. Yeah, anyway, I don't know that moment. It was particularly special. I don't know. It just I love it. I love it when somebody frees me in two seconds. Sometimes it's nice to be pre-eaten over an entire show or whatever. But when someone frees me in two seconds, I'm like, oh, yes, thank you. It's so funny. I'm in this I'm in rewrites right now. I'm like, I don't even know if I should be talking about this in public. But it's like, anyway, this is the process. I'm in rewrites right now.    It's also that, right? And so it's like, it's impressive. When I have spirituality, spirituality and patriarchy. Exactly. Exactly.  So I'm actually that you brought that up, you know, I don't believe really in too many accidents. So I'm like, why are we having a conversation right now? Oh, yeah. Well, hopefully it's just loud. It's good for me. But the other thing that, oh, yeah, well, then the other thing that I noticed about that moment is the craft of how many people are on the stage. And I know, I know it's a, that's about creating a choir, but that's an artistic choice. And so I just wanted to ask you about ensemble, how do you feel about ensemble and and seeing those women on that stage singing that song in the way that they're singing it with the multifaceted style of voices that they all have. Because it's not a monolith like a choir sometimes can be, you know, it's like, it's really, it's multifaceted and beautiful. And and so I'm, yeah, I'm just wondering, like, what, what's the desire to bring in lots of people to the party? Yeah, so for that, again, I'll just say that. So one of the resonant points that Anthony, the composer and I have is that we really see a choir everywhere, whether or not that happens in the premiere, because like it's very, it's a high budget thing to do to like demand a choir in addition to like the full theatrical production. But because we had a Joe's pub concert, it became the thing that was more than possible, right? Right, because it's one show and everybody can do it for you know, yeah. So like, that was such a gift, because we got to, you know, we got to see that live whether or not we'll get to see that live in, you know, the premiere and in the tour. But our hope is actually to as because the choir voice feels really important in terms of thinking through what it means to, to speak to a collective consciousness or try to call up a collective consciousness, which I think that the work is trying to do like we're really trying to be like, where are we right now? And it's really important to do that with, with multiple voices. So even in our, even in the core cast, like, there will already be like eight voices. Yeah, yeah. So like, you're making a big work. That's what you're making. But I mean, we would like for it to be like eight voices plus a choir. But so we have dreams of like teaming up with choirs that are local choirs and the different cities and like if they want join up with us in this experience, then that's something that we can offer something and then they can offer something. And so I do think, yeah, I do think it matters. Yeah, especially I've done that. You've done it with choirs. I've done it. I have, I have, I have toured a lot of places and worked with local choirs so we can sidebar a conversation about the logistics of that and the pressures of it, but also the joy of it too. Yeah. Thank you. And with your, your piece, it seems like the kind of thing in some ways that you'd want to spend more time with the communities with each place that you went though. Is that it? Yeah, we were right. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So residencies everywhere you go is maybe a model. I think so. I think that is what we're looking for, even though it doesn't like necessarily go with the norm, because like we, it's almost like there's a whole, it almost feels like there's a whole kind of curriculum that's being, that's happening and that's being developed inside the creation of these works. And so, and I really think with everyone's work, like, there's so much dramaturgy. There's so much research. It's a movement. Come on. Like, this is why artists should be at the meeting, you know, like, like the artists, artists in social movements, like, you know, we need to be working together. And we are. And like, I just, I'm just saying more and more. So yeah, we're like a traveling band of like, you know, we're like the traveling band of like liberation theater. Yeah. Well, and you never know what, you never, I mean, the best part about it is you never know how it's going to expand you. You have, you have an idea of how it will expand you. But then once you actually get on the ground with the people in the various communities and spend time with them, it just, it's, it just opens up everything. It's, I feel that and my God, I just feel like we need Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Now, yeah. So what's your process right now? You're in, it sounds like you're in the dreaming phase, but you're also making things. So what's the, what's your, what do you feel like the process is going to be in terms of that they have to have an answer? Yeah. And I think there might be a little bit of a delay. So I think there might be some time when there's a delay. Yeah. Yeah. So sorry about that. But of twerk. What's happening right now? I'll just speak to what's happening right now.  I'm building relationships with different music makers and producers. And I'm also like, doing something that's really out of my comfort zone, which is that I am ordering technology to my own house, so that I can play with it by myself without any intermediary people that are good at it. So it feels really like I'm That's scary. It's so scary. I am a technophobe like I was one of the last people to have Gmail. I was one of the last people to have Facebook. You know, I just got an Instagram page like last month. So I just really, really, I'm scared. And also I'm really excited because I can like feel the things that I want to do. And I think that not having to explain in words what I want to hear or what I want to do or what I want it to be like, but to actually kind of conjure directly with the equipment is going to be like, like I just, I mean, it might be a grand failure, but if it works, it's going to change the whole piece because I'm going to have this other language that I can use. So that's one of the things like really That's the best part of being a theater artist is you get to learn. Your job never, you never stop playing. If you're interested in something, you make a show about it. So I'm excited about that. So that's part of the process right now. I mean, obviously with COVID, we haven't really been able to be in the room together since February, but it ended up being fine because I have this other premiere coming up for Chronicle X, which has had to be totally reimagined for as an outdoor piece. And so it's allowing the timeline for pre-sist to be as slow as it wants to be. So now it's about music. It's about building relationships with myself and with producers. And then just kind of like having conversations with potential collaborators and dreaming together. So I've been kind of like building the team. And once we have the team, I'd like to do a COVID safe retreat, whether it has to be virtual or ideally, I'd like to do it in person so that we can really do some ritual practice some ritual together and to really like tune in to some other frequencies and start to dream it up. Another idea I'm having is that I'd like to do a reading group with the performers of all the things that I'm reading so that we can just start to whatever it is so that we can start to water the thing and start to build together. But I have a lot of really fun devising ideas. Like, I want the priestesses to have their own areas and come up with their own rituals and their own songs.  Like you are gonna tell us everything we need to know about Octopi and like channel that energy, you know, and bring it to earth. So you know, whatever that thing, I'm really, really excited to retreat with people and just kind of like be in the room and be in process and activate like have everyone else's creativity and imaginaries be present because I feel like I've already, I feel like I'm pretty far in the container of it to like let people dream inside of it and oh I should also say part of the process is you're like I was not asking that big of a question. I will say the last thing about part of the process. No, no, no, I actually was. Okay, okay, okay. Good. I'm long-winded. The other part of the process is Tuche. My other collaborator, she is, she does light set and installation. She's like one stop shop for brilliant magic spaces. And so one of the other things that we're doing is like we're just doing monthly downloads of like all of the ways the piece can look so that she can start to just sketch and we can start to be able to show folks like it's like this and it feels like this and like what would you do inside of a room that looked like this, you know? That's exciting. That question, what would you do inside of a room that looked like this is not something that feels like every theater show asks that question. I guess is that a devised approach or is that how you would approach all your work or do you only make devised work? I'm forgiving for not knowing. No, no, it's fine and I make all of the kinds. So yeah, like I have plays that are straight plays. I've been doing a lot less of that recently but I have a bunch of ideas for other ones. We'll see if I ever get to them. I know. The straight play thing is interesting that quote unquote straight play is again I keep saying okay I'm never writing one of those again.  Yeah I mean it's like yeah again creativity whatever I said before about genre you know. Creativity hates genre. So yeah I feel that that's there too and but more recently I have been devising over the past maybe five years or so I've been devising more than I've been writing straight plays. No plays are straight. Yeah and how do you find your people? Like that's always a question I have. I mean I found my people over like two decades but like how do you find your people if you don't already know them for a piece like this? Because it's not like you can go to a casting director. A casting director is not going to find the people that you want for this piece. Like I don't believe but prove me wrong casting directors. Right I know hello casting directors. Actually I know a couple. Shout out to y'all. You know who you are but I think really it has for now it has come down to like building and making creative community in this city in the past yeah like five years or so and really creative community kind of like activists and social justice liberation folk community and the for all of the many of us that are working at that intersection and becoming someone that people can trust to an extent and want to work with and have been collaborating with or like going to shows and meeting people who are working on shows of the people whose work you like like I mean all of that stuff like I just feel like I've been participating inside of this world for not as long as some people but like long enough to start to find who my folks are inside of it but it's also so random like my co-director for Chronicle X, May Ann, Tio, we met when I did a residency up at Hampshire where she was a professor. I mean where they were a professor and so we just like literally clicked there and then I needed to get back to the city and they were like I'm driving back to the city and we talked for three hours and we fell in like art love and we were like oh my god we're gonna work together on everything you know so right yeah it's like that too so it's muses in a lot of ways it's just you I mean I look at the the woman that you had on the stage it was like oh all of these women are muses for her like you didn't like cast anyone you're like yeah you weren't like trying to fit a person into a box you were like looking for your muses and then you collected them and put them on stage is that fair I mean yeah if you look at the performers they're just like they're yeah they are all muses that's a perfect word for them they're all stunning and inspiring and that's why I'm like I can't wait to get in the room with folks for precepts work because I already like just from watching people's energies move with each other and interact it's just like oh you're already like y'all are already making the peace like there's which is what I love about devising like they are not walking into something that doesn't um where they are a non-factor they are walking into something where they matter so much you know um can we uh can we see something I know you have an example is that yeah yeah set it up tell us give us all the caveats okay also a question are we so when we when when the public receives this it's audio only yeah okay uh you can share your screen if you want to um and you can do it uh I don't know if you're a technophobe so you don't know and I don't know either maybe at this point our invisible guests Kristen Martin can come on and help us with sharing the screen oh I can share it I can share it I know how to share it yeah because I had to teach on zoom all semester oh great amazing like you know how to share the screen but I am wondering so I guess yeah so it is visual so you answered my question it's visual it can be visual and audio at the same time but okay but I you have to share your audio too but I don't yeah what I prepared was thinking that it was going to be audio so um but I'll still share the screen so we don't have to just like watch us listening um so okay this setup this setup is um as it's fascinating of a performance piece as that would be um I will this is from Chronicle X this is the first workshop that we did at Jack in a couple of years ago a couple of years ago and um this is composed by written by me and can see by me composed by Troy Anthony co-directed by me and to and this is a scene where Chronicle X is um the first of the Darko Chronicles the Darko Chronicles um are a mashup of Yoruba and other African diaspora sacred stories with contemporary stories of Black women who have experienced state violence and it's really asking the question about what can we know differently when we experience these together um and so in this particular uh Chronicle Chronicle X it's the story of Diamond Reynolds and Philando Castile who was murdered in 2016 uh in St. Paul Minnesota um while his fiance Diamond Reynolds was in the passenger seat and um so uh and it's merged with a Yoruba creation story um it's the story of knowledge wisdom and understanding who are these deities that get trapped inside of the snail shell the snail shell is actually the creator's belly and they end up exploding into the Big Bang and so Chronicle X braids these two together in this particular moment um in this particular moment after they've been stuck inside the snail shell one of them named Wisdom Ogbon in Yoruba starts wandering so that's the setup and uh I have just asked the audience to close their eyes and experience it as a soundscape so whatever you're gonna see is not really what the intention is but so we can close our eyes and experience this as a soundscape if we want an experience that is a soundscape exactly okay I'm gonna share now great all right okay can you see I can and yes great the walls are sticky and round round and round and round round and round and round a thousand and one round without warning a blustering wind it is winter Wisdom moves against the winds of a blizzard with great struggle calling her own name Ogbon she sees a shadow figure in her periphery his face is made of light he holds his arms outstretched palms open a golden gun is inside his open palms it's not loaded he says Wisdom keeps walking I have a pillow he says Wisdom pushes past the man a giant gold window appears the shadow man with the face of light is behind the window Wisdom falls out like a rag doll all of a sudden she is surrounded by fish which swims frenetically around her she awakens as someone else wisdom jolts out of the trance and runs back through the dark wet rounds to tell knowledge and understanding that she had seen or known or felt or held or heard something a something of possibility and a something of dread a something that knew why they were here and where they were going and that they must return all together was winter that was gorgeous thank you wow um the she she's making the siren sound with her with her mouth and the screeching comes from the humans and so they're acting like folio artists in a way but vocally and uh it's so every time I hear a siren in a play I just I it feels oppressive and this instead felt like an invitation um just to what you were talking about and there's this I hate to say this word again trek trek into a contemplation I it's very it's really moving thank you I wish I could have seen the whole thing are you is so this is not this is not the piece you're working on now this is a piece that you did at jack uh that and that was the full production no so this um this is chronicle x which will premiere uh fingers crossed in june at the shed this was we did like a concert version um it was the first time that Troy and I had and may an had worked all together um and so we wanted to workshop a concert installation to just kind of yeah everything um and it ended up feeling a lot fuller than like it ended up being that we're like oh we can do the concert version of this piece um and you could do that without yeah yeah but you're moving forward with staging and but we're moving for yeah there's a full a full scale um installation that will be that this will live inside of that to change the same person is designing um for an indoor outdoor hybrid piece also with a I also showed this because it's going to have AR and one of the um one of the spaces that we're thinking about AR is inside of these portals winter is the first portal but there are these portals that happen when the goddess is kind of like travel inside the snail shell and they get kind of swept up in the creators dreams and these other worlds and so um yeah so this is that was why I was um excited about showing that and also it's um you know how like in a dream like you get information from all of these places like your day the last thing you watched on tv like you know whatever all the things like history all of our sources and then maybe numinous unknown sources as well so it feels like that's what if I have a form then then that's probably what the form is um and so like for this piece the dream tendrils are like that that creation story and like all the documentary evidence so you can hear them saying numbers 16 9 like these are all numbers from the case like the case number the day that he died the day he was born the number of shots like those are all the numbers that they're saying to create this kind of like sonic tapestry and inside of the process to um that was kind of a really interesting process was like going over and over and over again diamond reynolds's transcripts both of her facebook live uh where she posted just after right right when he was shot and then also of her investigation transcripts and so a lot of the lines also kind of are a part of the thread of the dream is also so that final line that the actor says we are innocent like that came from her transcripts and so it's like yet another like braid that's floating around inside of layering layering layering yeah yeah and so talk to me about I'm sorry to ask you about your youth and stuff but I'm curious how how you how you come to this kind of making um because it's not like you know you're at a high school and they're like you could make this kind of work I don't know maybe they were at your school but like my john wasn't like that and I don't imagine stamper where you went was the university was like that as well although maybe so how do how do you at what point do you say to yourself ah this the tools that I've been given aren't aren't aren't the direction for me I want this such a juicy question yeah I know we don't have much time but maybe we'll end it with this one yeah yeah um I think that well my first response to your question was like I wish that like this is the way of make like I think it has been a process of like unpeeling versus peeling like I I am making in the way finally that feels like I have the most agency and let it is coming the most organically to me to and through me um and I think that it has just taken more confidence and audacity and surrender to spirit than I had before to just allow to like to give in to that as opposed to like make it the way that I'm supposed to make it and the reason that I have that level of confidence and audacity and surrender to spirit I think too is by being inside rooms where that mattered um I was lucky enough to be inside the rooms of Sharon Bridgeforth um and performing uh with her uh that's what I wanted to ask you about Sharon talk to me oh yeah I we can't let it go with just this question my favorite humans on the planet yes Sharon how's that to Sharon Bridgeforth allowed me into her spaces where I basically just like followed her around and interviewing her for my dissertation until finally she invited me to be in something because I just wanted to be in those rooms because I could feel that something was happening there that was unknown and being discovered every single moment and that whole process of being inside of a theatrical jazz room um and being asked to show up as one's full self um has has profoundly affected how I am inside of rooms um another mentor that matters so much to me is Shari Maraga and though she writes really play plays there is never a space where like she's always pushing against the boundaries of where ceremony inserts itself and then things don't go as we think they will and so and then in terms of like being inspired like people like Adrienne Kennedy like I just I knew that the first play I didn't know anything about theater other than like musicals and when I found her work in grad school right um she was the first play that I ever directed was Funny House of a Negro and I was like yes this this is this is this is why I'm here so it was really like being able to find seeds and and even still like I was always told I was doing too much like like all of my critique sessions like all of my feedback is always like you're doing too much why is why does it have to be projection too that's so interesting yeah so anyway I think that I think that's that's where I find it it's the layering the layering that makes it we we got a delay so but yeah it's the layering that is just so moving to me I I don't know it's the it's the human voice telling that the story of the siren is what makes you feel like your heart is gonna break you know and and you don't get that without without the layering of um if all she was able to say was dialogue or seeing notes that were written for and then you don't get it you know that's all that's what I mean to say no totally I know we were like we were excitedly overlapping each other for a couple minutes but I agree like that's it's really that I mean it's we got to study the transcripts together and so then we got to say what are all the sounds that feel like we need to hear and also how can we hear and like represent these sounds in a way in such a way that we're not taking part in trauma porn that we're not re traumatizing that we are actually holding space with our voices for these bodies for these stories that are us that we care about so much and that we want to honor and uplift and so I think it does become about reinventing forms and layering and doing the things that feel kind of intuitive and impulsive and making a road in the way that wisdom is doing in winter like really kind of searching through the snail shell and trying to find form um that is required of us if we're going to overturn any of these ways of being that we've inherited that are so harmful so yeah yeah I just said my dramaturge Morgan jenice we're talking and I said you know onslaught almost always wins and what I meant by that is mosaic like like if you look at one tile it's pretty but if you look at a whole wall of tiles I don't know I'm always like more please because within more there is simplicity like you know I agree I think that's also like a very like clear aesthetic to you know we think about it is yeah yeah that's there we like we like the we like the community on we like the parade on the stage yes we like it yeah thank you so much for talking and just to close it out is there anything that you feel like you need from the larger community from the howl round community who people who are listening right now anything that might help you finish your project or or you know play in your project rather uh yeah well I'll say like one shameless plug right now yeah I have the invitation which is that over the summer during really what felt like the height of COVID in New York City I was and also at the height of kind of like the racial justice explosion that our country experienced I was sitting very kind of like I was trying to figure out who I was and having an identity crisis and trying to figure out what my role was and one of the things that happened for my family in 2020 is that in a basement of my great aunt we found a memoir written by my great-grandmother um and it's uh it's pretty astounding and her name is Jean Moy nobody even knew that she was a writer so to find this like manuscript with her whole life story was just like I don't know it broke us all into pieces and also I have someone who I came from that did what I do you know and that meant everything to me and I was I am really really um livid that we didn't know and I know why we didn't know because she was a black woman writing in like the 1920s and 30s um about her life and you know we know all of the reasons why that never saw the light of day you know how it was so brilliant and so uh my kind of call to action became starting this fund in her name called the Jean Moy dark fund for black women queer and GNC artists and um it is going to be um a residency space a performance incubator um and uh like a brick and mortar uh location that we are now raising money for and um we're about yeah we officially started in September so we're really really young and um I just want to encourage folks to just like get on board it feels really urgent that we protect black women's lives and imaginations um and you know I think that this is a project that is for us by us and it's something that I would love the larger theater communities support on it's a I feel like I've kind of given my life over to the theater and this is what I'm asking um so I I will say that if you right now we are in process of like getting our own page up right now it's just attached to my own artist page um so www.neowitherspoon.com or also I'm an artist in residence at here as well as BAX and at BAX they also host um a page for the Jean Moy dark fund here and BAX have been really generous um supporters in terms of admin labor and really getting us uh off the ground so there's a paypal link uh at the BAX page and you can also follow me on Nia Soli, N-I-A-S-O-L-I no more technophobe I have an Instagram page I post about it and I post selfies and things um so yeah definitely please get at me and support the fund if you can yeah definitely thank you so much it was really nice talking to you thank you I really look forward to more sidebars this was so lovely yeah yeah yeah yeah


time for another chitchat video.  My hair, let me tell you something. Yesterday I attempted to do a flexi rod set the same day and what I was trying to say in the video which I don't think I clearly communicated is that I had created a poll for you guys. I want to start, well now since I'm not doing product reviews as much as probably wouldn't be necessary, but I like to interact with you guys as much as possible so I had created a poll and basically asked y'all if I should set my flexi rods the same day and do a dryer or sleep in them. An overwhelming amount of y'all say girl just dry it. Now I want to say a couple of you, at least three or four of you say you will need more than two hours, two hours minimum, but I didn't have two hours. I had one and a half hours to dry my hair and I air dried for two hours. So that's three and a half hours.  So this is another thing I didn't mention in that video. If you notice the actually the part where I use the Sultanicals product, that didn't dry. But the other sections where I was using meal, that section didn't dry. I mean it was still puffy but it didn't dry. So yeah anyway girl this is what my hair looks like literally less than 24 hours. I knew it would do this. My whole goal was to not go. My whole thing yesterday was I was going to put my hair in twist last night girl after two drinks. No, that was not happening. So we're going to go ahead and set my hair in twist. I'm going to be using a little bit because I feel like my hair feels greasy and I don't plan on washing my hair literally until it's time for me to go to Texas. Yes.  The only thing I will say is this failed style has now introduced me to another style. There was a picture I shared on my Instagram a couple of months ago. It was I believe it was a woman from Madagascar and they have this beautiful thick four seat hair where they have their hair in these puffs, textured puffs very much like this okay in a very pattern. Now I know how to do it. Here we go. How was your labor day? Did y'all cook? What did y'all eat? Look I cook a lot as y'all can clearly see from my vlogs and so a lot of the times I don't be wanting to cook. So yesterday I was like I know we're going not to eat. And another thing on the same type of topic I've gotten comments from several of you who are like you know why don't you do a cookbook? Why don't you do a um you know like a cookbook or something or you know catering or you know something to do with food. I don't like you see me cooking because that's what I do. I like cooking. I like baking but I'm not passionate about it. I believe that when you get into you know creating something like a blog or that's specific for cooking or creating a cookbook you have to be passionate about it because you have to keep it. I'm not passionate about any of that. I'm good at it. It's a hobby but I'm not passionate. My best friend is passionate about baking. She bakes every week and I don't mean like you see me with the Betty Crocker kid and no she bakes something from scratch. She decorates it. She's actually taking a class um for the next five weeks a buttercream class that's called passion. So and with that being said yeah I was so passionate that we went to Papa Dose last night. So yeah we went out to eat and it's so funny while I was there I saw my friend Wanda and she was the one who I made the cake for for her birthday um and I was like Wanda she didn't even recognize me at first so she she just wasn't paying attention and she looked tired so she said they just got back from Vegas um I'm not okay. So anyway y'all yeah that's saltanicals no and that's the thing I was concerned about reviewing because on Amazon the Amazon reviews were not that good on some other products especially the non-sauce though. The non-sauce was okay and so the styler had hard hard pebbles or beads. First of all it was watery very watery um which is why that section was still wet and yeah I tried to dissolve it it wouldn't dissolve I can't warm it up because it's already watery and I can't mix it with shea butter because those beads or whatever the heck it is is throughout all of the product and I know one other person at least on the Amazon made that comment about the batch that she received. So yeah y'all moving on girl so I'm gonna be twisting my hair and hopefully I have a young lady who asked me about her styles for college so hopefully I will be able to record that video this week. Yeah so what's going on y'all what's the tea what is happening what's happening in these YouTube streets I know some y'all just saying another folks business I'm just kidding I don't know what's going on. I get on YouTube you know every now then I'll do a recommendation but I also like to look at old TV shows which by the way keeping up appearances excuse me you cannot purchase through YouTube I've already seen every episode twice but that's just those of you who it's a British comedy I look I like British comedy I really do. I could never get into what does it call you guys where they're all at the hotel and the woman with the pink hair maybe it's her that I couldn't get into are you being served is that's what it's called I could never get into that but keeping up appearances is my shit. But then I was also watching an old episode of mama's family child that Eunice and mama's family is a spin-off from the Carol Burnett show she had a skit on there now I'm not that that's not my age group but I used to watch stuff like that just reruns and stuff on TV land right and so they had a skit on there called mama's family and then they turned it into a show with Vicki Lawrence mama's it's so funny to me and I could relate to a lot of it because the mama's from the south right funny as hell that show is so funny to me I used to watch old reruns of that show when I was in college too. Vicki Lawrence looks good y'all she's the woman that plays mama she's in her 70s look her up she's on Instagram she looks really good too. Yeah y'all I look at salt shows like that look at old old reruns of Morton right now I'm binge watching how to get away with murder let me tell you something first of all there is way too much yeah I know how I feel about a lot of sex sex scenes and stuff like literally on this show every other episode they you know what they call it they bumping pocket books first of all I'm allergic to seafood so that's way too much seafood eating on this show if that's your thing more power to you but you know not even just that you know I'm talking about lesbian girls but not even just that all over I don't care what your six sexual orientation is I don't see any of it any of it good lord but that's how it is with a lot of these shows now I told y'all power good power is a mess I can't even I'm like I stopped watching the last I didn't I don't think I watched the last episode cuz I'm like I don't have time to be watching people have sex every other episode every other scene so anyway yeah I'm watching how to get away with murder and I'm liking it you know at first like the first two or three and I'm on season two the first two or three episodes I was like this is slow as hell and I wasn't getting it cuz it has a this is one of those shows it has a formula to it and so at first I wasn't getting it I'm like this is cheesy as hell but it's okay spoiler alert I'm on the second season and I got finished with the scene where Frank shaved his face and beard when I tell you I was screaming cuz first of all y'all I love facial hair I got my when my husband and I were dating I once got him to grow out his facial hair girl girl I love me a clean you got to be clean though you can't be looking like you know you just step out of a cave but I dig me some facial hair but anyway one of the main characters has facial hair or had and but in one scene he shaved it off off but he still looks good now that's very rare to find someone who looks good with and without facial he look he looks real good without a but I prefer him with it you know who doesn't look as good without his beard is caught caught I want to call him coffee coffee who starts in Queen sugar he doesn't look as good without that beard he's still chocolate but he doesn't anyway y'all bench watching that marriage to medicine is back on when I tell you I am here for Mariah shenanigans I really am really am now I think that Quad is gonna have to come to her senses and realize that you know unfortunately being a part of this show means that you have to kind of go into your personal life even when you're going through something that's like a impending divorce you know I do think that you know a lot of her antics and sands and stuff she got from Mariah but I don't know I don't have a favorite I do like Quad a couple of seasons ago she actually responded to me I think it was like two or three seasons ago and it was when her and Mariah had first had a blow-up and Mariah invited Quad over to her house but then she was acting stank stanky at least Mariah was so I wrote Quad and I was like why would Mariah invite you over to the house and then just basically pay you dust that doesn't make any sense to me she respond she's a child I don't know and I will be watching that I will watch out of all the reality TV that's the only thing I'm really watching oh that I would really watch right now I don't do the housewife stuff anymore I didn't even really watch you know real housewives in Atlanta that much anymore but yeah marriage to medicines back and I will be brought speaking of real housewives of Atlanta okay this is one thing I want to talk about let me tell you something this kind of blew up in the blocks this week or a couple of days ago actually and it shows me that most people this is why there's a divorce rate of damn near 70% in this country most people have no idea what a marriage is about so a story that came out that candy who starts on the real housewives of Atlanta and she's also a singer-songwriter whatever and she had purchased her daughter at least she's 16 Riley a car a $100,000 Porsche I mean Candy has coins I mean she has money you know she could spend her money however she wants however the story was she did not communicate the purchase with her husband now the child is not here she had to child with someone else but however they are married and the child lives with them this is my thing y'all and this is kind of goes back to when I was talking about blended families when you marry you become one you know she she get his approval tied to approval no she doesn't need his approval that's her money however if you're making a big ticket purchase a $100,000 car you may want to run about your husband say hey by the way I plan on buying Raleigh a car just want to let you know FYI she didn't do anything any of that the child is showed up with an expensive ass car I mean marriage is that was just not a good move if the story is true it's not a good look do I believe it I wouldn't be surprised if it happened you know I wouldn't be surprised I'm not sure if I believe it a hundred percent but I wouldn't be surprised I think she did something similar to that like she bought something or did something with her money and she didn't communicate it with him before I think she's done something like that before but so no I wouldn't be surprised but we don't know it's coming from the blocks you don't know what's really what's not but yeah girl my husband used to do that just spring stuff on me I'm like no we can't do that you have to communicate oh there's a dishwasher being delivered oh sorry I'm like what thank you but yeah he bought me a new dishwasher like I think it was two years ago granted we weren't married then it was two years ago he bought me a new dishwasher first of all I'm a Leo Leo's we don't like surprises no matter how good it is just communicate you know yeah something what is that smell oh you know what I put I put basil existential oil in my oil mixture yeah nothing else is going on so funny when I ran into my friend Wanda at the store I got to meet one of her best friends I don't know if you want to call it her best friend but a good friend of her hers Jason now I've only talked to him maybe two or three times I met him that was my second time meeting him so when I ask her when I saw I'm not cool you hear what she's like Jason that's okay let me go say hi to him so I went over to go say hi to him he gave me a long hug yeah I love long you know people from the country we have long hugs child um and I like him he's good people he's from Shreveport originally from the country like me she's Shreveport is only like 30 40 minutes away from Longview East Texas excuse me Shreveport is in Louisiana so I like him even though you know we've only spoken a few times I feel like I've known him for like 10 20 years he seems like a really good person um yeah yeah most people from Louisiana are good people to be quite honest not all of them girl but most people from the south in general but from Louisiana Texas certain parts of Georgia we're good people who y'all can y'all believe they already got all this Halloween stuff out and look I know y'all like well have a double did you take create your child's costume yes let me tell you why I went ahead and got this dangling thing out of the way because we're gonna be doing um he wants to do these little festivals in the beginning of the off in the beginning of October and you know we're gonna leave it for Texas soon so I wanted to get it out the way so that I could focus on our trip and when we come back boom we're gonna be doing all this little bit of stuff so yes my child's Halloween costume was I already out the way however Dollar Tree Walmart they had Halloween candy out in August like I'm not even exaggerating I don't know what was going on in your area the out here in Phoenix I was so irritated when I saw that especially at the Dollar Tree they had all the stuff out I'm like Lee can we get out of August the hell yeah y'all I'm still on um this purpose-driven journey and like I mentioned in one of my vlogs I've really been taken the time to basically meditate and be still be silent um and I want to start journaling again I found a bunch of old journals of mine I mean from like 20 years ago and it's really really interesting to see where I was at and where I where I came from and all that um but yeah I'm still on this purpose-driven thing and I'm not certain and I have this conversation with a woman out here I'm not certain if my purpose is going to be aligned up with my career does that make sense like I think oftentimes people assume that your career is your purpose I think that you can use you know your gifts and your purpose in your career but I think they could be separate I really do at this point I really do so I'm not gonna focus on that part I'm just gonna I don't know for sure yet um the problem that I'm having is that I'm good at a lot of different things it's not trying to be cocky or you know there's a lot of different things that I'm good at um I'm good at cooking I'm good at baking I'm good at organizing I'm a creative person so I can make JB halloween's costumes and I can make you know little bitty things for him for school for my friend's family etc but am I passionate about that you know does that really is that something that you always every now and then you hear the question well if you could do one thing in life and not get paid for it what would it be girl is it not a damn thing if you seriously one thing in life and I get paid but sit at home and not do anything yeah don't ask me that question because there's not nothing I would do yeah so I'm gonna get it together though y'all I really am look at that juicy twist look at that this this could be a cute hairstyle right here girl but yeah I will be coming up with that video on I think I'm gonna do five hairstyles that you could wear for either work or school aside for that girl I had to call y'all back because to take a break to check my work email anyway y'all so I don't even know what I was talking about just a bunch of random stuff huh I am ready for my trip back home I spoke to my best friend this morning and I'm like do you have a menu together yeah um we're gonna go stop by her house before stop and see her before we head out to east Texas because they live in thorny her and her husband my best friend and her husband live in a small town called thorny it's going outside of Dallas near mesquite yeah that area garland that area y'all know what I'm talking about those of you from DFW area y'all girl I am ready to go back home visit my family visit some of my aunts um some of my cousins y'all I come from a very big family I know people say oh you come from a no I come from a big family my mom's the youngest of 13 kids that's on one side my dad's the youngest excuse me my dad's the middle of 10 um when we have get-togethers on my mom's side especially oh we ran out gymnasiums I'm not even exaggerating and my grandfather's 100 birthday we had it at the church at a church in their gymnasium and the thing with you know in itself everybody knows each other so um people in my dad's side of the family excuse me my dad some of the family showed up um a lot of first cousins I mean a lot girl um last time I counted I think cousins total on my mom's side a little over a little over 200 probably more than that um but you know I was talking about how to how to get away with my and my mom tells me nonchalantly she's like oh yeah she's a friend of the family I'm like what she's like yeah well miss Susie Lee so country miss Susie Lee is my step-grandmama well yeah miss Susie Lee daughter is friends with her and they have their own instagram pictures of them so I don't have to go on instagram and check them out she said that they share pictures on social media I don't have to check it out and see if my cousin's on there with her um I just think it's funny how she notionally said that I think I've told you all before um Jennifer holiday is friends with well I should say my my aunt at least two of my aunts are friends with Jennifer holiday and I can remember growing up because Jennifer holiday was always a plus size woman um up until well she had gastric bypass was that the 90s y'all I don't remember exactly but I remember being in my grandparents house and they had a picture of her you know it was her magazine of Jennifer holiday her before and after photo and I just remember her with her hands on her hips I didn't know who it was I mean I was like 10 11 years old and they had it framed and they had it hanging up in their wall I didn't think of anything I don't know who it was and um even still you know I didn't know who Jennifer holiday was even she didn't really you know come back into light until after the movie with Jennifer Hudson and Beyonce right so my because my mama say oh uh Jennifer Jennifer holiday is going to sing at your your aunt's uh birthday party I'm like who all right y'all I'm rambling not really talking about anything now just rambling but I will be doing a couple of hairstyles from this I'm not really good at styling my hair if you notice I'm just gonna go ahead and clap my own teeth if you look at my videos I don't style my hair I set a hairstyle oh I could do a bang and twist out but actually styling a twist out so yeah I've had the right I had to write down some ideas of how I could create five new hairstyles I would do the same thing over and over or I would do my signature pompadour in the front and going about my way girl don't have time for all that or I'll pull it back in a little bun I'm gonna take my time and create some hairstyles for y'all um but I have one more review scheduled it's for a deep conditioner and that is it no idea I didn't even feel like putting in my background you see there's nothing behind me um but the then area being a youtuber is a lot of work and you have to I mean this is something that I do that I enjoy doing because I'm sure as hell and I'm doing it for the money girl please no it's just something that I enjoy doing um but it's a lot of work because at this point I'm doing two to three videos a week and just to put out that many videos a week I'm literally I'm recording editing recording editing I'm editing at least if I'm not recording I'm editing the day or I'm looking at comments you know I'm liking comments so every day I'm doing something in regards to my channel and sometimes that's not even enough you know what I mean so it's a lot of work gotta put a lot of work put in a lot of work I should say um so I'm looking forward to the break I'm not doing any product reviews but y'all know we've already talked about this that there will still be hair related I mean look at me now I'm doing my hair um you know I have a couple of DIYs I like DIYs um yeah that is the big look at that long that is a long ass twist look look how long that twist is yeah I can't see it all right so we are done and um I'm gonna let these set I may redo this one because see that's well that's okay I'm gonna let these set for a good day and then I'm gonna come back with that video like I said of five hair styles on a twist out these are juicy and yes one of the styles will be using my own twist because look how beautiful that is very moisturizing um products the mule organic says um but yes I do have one review still scheduled that's coming up next week um it's a store vault deep conditioner I've had it in the back there for months I'm like you know since I'm in the shower let me go ahead and record this video um and then after that traveling with natural hair which I've already started to record and I will be blowing out my hair from my trip to Texas which is in two more weeks and just showing you guys how I'm going to be styling my hair while I'm in a it's going to be extreme going from dry to humid but I've done it before so so that is it you guys thank you so much for watching and thank you as always to my new subscribers take care


This is stock number 9184X, a 2011 Chevy Camaro SS. This vehicle has the 6.2 liter V8 motor. From this HD video you'll be able to tell that this car is extremely clean all the way around for the age and miles. Front bumper is in excellent condition, no dents, dings, scratches or scrapes. It has a projector lamp, headlamps, LED running lamps, and you have the factory fog lights. It has BF Goodrich G-Force tires, these are 245, 45 ZR20s and they are on 20 inch chrome foos rims that are in pretty nice condition. It has Brembo brakes all the way around, you can see that these tires have roughly about 60% of the tread left, maybe a little bit more. Black is the color, front bumper very, very clean. If you have HD capabilities on your tablet, phone or computer, turn them on now because we shoot everything in 1080p so that you can get the most accurate representation of the car from the comfort of your own home. The passenger rim is absolutely perfect. As you go down this side of the car you can see just how clean the body is, how reflective and glass like that paint is. Very, very clean down this side. Back rim or back tire I should say, has a lot of tread left on it. I'd say maybe just as much as the front, maybe even a little bit more. And the back rim is pretty nice, no scuffs or scrapes on that. It has the soft top, this is a convertible which will take the top down in just a little bit here when we check out the interior. But that's in excellent shape, I wanted to get a shot of it while it's still open, or still up I should say. When we open it up later we'll be able to see the car without the top on which will be a good variation of how it looks now. Dual rear exhaust, backup sensors, deck lid spoiler and the deck lid itself is in excellent shape, no dents or dings on that. And the rear bumper is in pretty nice condition as well. As you go down this side of the car, just as clean as the passenger side, these videos really give you a good idea of the overall quality of the paint and body. Something that you just don't get with pictures, because you can see the light reflecting off the vehicle. And for good measures this rim does not have any scuffs or scrapes on it either. Inside I believe this is the 2SS package which gives you the black leather seats, both of these seats are heated. Power driver seat, factory floor mats throughout, we got Boston premium audio system in here. Power windows, power locks and power mirrors. This car has 28,093 miles, it has Bluetooth audio controls, cruise controls on the leather wrap steering wheel. If you look up here you can see that blue zero right there, that's the heads up display or HUD as Chevy calls it. Also has the CD player, AM, FM and I believe it has a serious XM radio capabilities. Your heated seat buttons are actually in these little knobs right here. Got locking doors and your CD player and of course all of your climate controls as well. Have an oil temp, oil pressure, volts and trans temp gauges right there. Stability control, the 6 speed manual transmission with the little hearst shifter on there. Passenger seat is absolutely perfect, this car is very clean inside, I don't believe it's ever been smoked in. Passenger side floor mat and carpeting is very clean. So to open up this top, pretty simple, just grab this, give it a turn, it'll unlock. Press this button right there, all the windows will go down and the top will open up like that. When it's done it'll beep at you, let you know that it is done. We'll check out the back seats and then we'll check out under the hood. So in addition these door panels on these Chevy Camaros all have this inlay, some of them are dark charcoal, this one is silver, but it has the sparkle paint in it, looks really cool. Rear seats are in excellent condition as well, no rips or tears in these seats. Has a latch child safety system if you want to try and get a car seat back there. And you can see that that sits real nice inside the trunk there. Heated mirrors, so this is how the car looks with the top down. I think it looks way better with the top down than up, but that's just my opinion. Very good looking car, take a quick look under the hood here. 6.2 liter V8, engine bay is very clean, runs very smooth. This car has been fully safety and inspected by our service shop, has a fresh oil and filter change. All the fluids have been checked and topped off. This car has been gone through an inspection mechanically 100% and has passed all our mechanical inspections and is 100% ready to go. To see more pictures of this car or one of our other 400 new and used cars, trucks, SUVs, minivans, Wranglers, you name it, we got it, go to our website www.SummitAuto.com. Full pictures and descriptions of every single vehicle on our lot, videos of every single used vehicle that we have. All at SummitAuto.com, thank you so much for checking out my video. If you like it, you want to check out more, go to our YouTube channel which is youtube.com. Like, subscribe and share. If you want to make this car yours, give us a call right now,<PHONE_NUMBER>. Ask for one of our sales associates to make this super clean 2011 Chevy Camaro SS2 yours. Once again that number is<PHONE_NUMBER>. Thanks again, we look forward to helping you out with this super clean Camaro and if you want to check out more sports car videos like this one, go to our YouTube channel www.SummitAuto.com. And in a second you'll see a link to subscribe to our YouTube channel on your left, a link to more sports car videos on your right. And if you're not on our website, go there, it's www.SummitAuto.com. Thanks again, we look forward to helping you out with this super clean car, thanks.