My name is Dirk Scheffer. I'm from Germany based in Berlin. I'm 52 years old and since 25 years a part of the German drug user movement I started using drugs when I was 17. I was one of the pure opiate users. I did my stuff and then I have to go to jail for a time and then I got a huge new opportunity to work for the jazz network and that was the main part of my turnaround. Ariel has been a drug abuser. Not drug addict, not drug user, a drug abuser. My name is Aril Knutson and I'm the leader of the association for humane drug policy in Norway. And that's a drug user organization. I've been using illegal drugs, still illegal drugs since the 80s. I was 15, 16 years old and until 1992 I was in what they call institutional drug treatment. I have been to drug treatment again in 2014 to 15 and in 2017. My name is Jörgen Kier. The organization I represent is the Danish Drug Uses Union. On Danish it's warfighting. My personal drug use career started when I was 23 years old and I'm 67 so 44 years ago. I've been on hearing mainly. We are lucky in Denmark that we have access to white hearing which is not usual in many other countries. So it's possible to snort and I have snorted for the whole of my career. That's an old one about shooting and hand washing and it was the first of these pictures which is paid from the government. It was also a success for us that they paid something like this. The Jazz Network is one of the oldest drug user networks all over the world. This year we got our 30s anniversary. Yes, then for the J for Junkies, the E for X user and the S for Zubstituirte. That means people in opioid substitution treatment. It was a time when Nancy Reagan started their campaign Say No to Drugs and we did it in another way and said Say Jazz to Drugs and Jazz with NJ in the beginning. Our first picture is a picture of the Jazz Network. We did that 25 years before in the end of the 90s with the upcoming of HIV and AIDS drug users came to German AIDS organization and asked for support in knowledge because many drug users didn't know a lot about HIV at that time and the German AIDS organization did some seminars for them. During one of these workshops they found the Jazz Networks. They said we put our activists together and we build a network of people who use drugs, people in opioid substitution treatment and former drug users. From that day on German AIDS organization was the main supporter of drug user movement in Germany. All groups in the different cities have the same name. They all call Jazz normally and we have 20 to 25 of them and that is one thing which is very motivated for many people that they see it is not only one group with 5 or 10 people it is a whole network all over Germany. We got 180 members and then we got 350 around. They support Jazz. They support the groups but they are not members. That's a picture of Jazz activists during the 25th anniversary in Cologne and that's the oldest lady. She's about 80 but we have also younger ones as you can see. Since 1960s we had open drug scenes in Oslo and in many other cities in the 80s with the just say no area Reagan. We started criminalizing much more putting more and more people to jail up to lifetime in prison for using and possessing drugs and then we started to have very many drug overdoses and Norway has for a long time been one of the three countries in Europe with the most overdoses and it was when the HIV epidemic started in the 80s that we started to turn around and look to Switzerland, Germany, Netherlands and started very very careful with some harm reduction efforts. This comes in different colors so we don't share needles. This is Naloxone. This is the antidote for heroin and other morphine medication. We're giving out and training people to use this nasal spray or antidote.  You can't come to a humane scientific based drug policy without speaking to those who use drugs. We know what it's about, we know what are the good things to do to create a better society for us and for you who lives with us. In 1996 we got the first drug user organization that was a part of the temperance movement, the drug abusers organization and that was all until the harm reduction movement came. So this is ascorbic acid. Most of the heroin in Norway is made for smoking so you have to put it in water and boil it up with some acid to make it injectable and when we don't hand out ascorbic acid they use citric acid which is much much stronger and creates more harm. So this is harm reduction, pain reduction and it's white powders in these little bags and it's called acid so the police don't like very much.  It sounds like we're doing something criminal but this is very important. A lot of the harm reduction efforts is because of the signals coming from the drug users and what we needed but there was an organization representing them opposing harm reduction. So we needed more drug user organizations so we started up in 2006 and now we are five drug user organizations. Working for drug users' rights, promoting harm reduction like needle exchange, consumption room, heroin prescription and also substitution program. We're having a big switch campaign in Norway to inspire injecting drug users to start smoking heroin instead of injecting. It's a little hard but we're making big progress in this campaign so it's very important to us to have these smoking foils so they can choose to smoke when they want to try to smoke instead of injecting. And from this year we're handing out more single smoking foils than needles. Just this year it's passed each other and when we go to the riverside and backyards and so on we don't find so many needles anymore, we find smoking foil. So the culture is changing and where Naloxone treats heroin overdose this is prevention. The drug users' right movement in Denmark started in 1993. It was basically a user group of methadone users. The government has been fair funding us and we're still fairly funded and we have the most fantastic premises. We participate in meetings in the city and social ministry and health organization and health authorities and we dine together almost every night. It is an honor to be representing 13,000 injective users and you have to do that properly you have to have clean clothes and speak properly. In the beginning Jazz was kind of a radical opposition something like that. Very rough and a little bit chaotic and they were against things. In that time drug users got no rights in Germany and it was very important to show them that is not our drug policy in Germany. We were not invited from responsible political leaders and we were outside of the drug service system so we changed our attitude a little bit and we tried to bring things on our own way. That's one of the first posters we did in Germany from the German AIDS organization. The meaning is you didn't get AIDS when you use heroin because you get AIDS if you didn't get a clean needle and we did that poster. The government sold and we have to put it in the rubbish dump. They said that this is an advertisement for heroin use. But now the times changed and now it is possible to do things like that but in the former days in the 80s it was not possible. We did some brushes, our own brushes with our own experience of substitution treatment of HIV treatment and other things and from that day on many people saw us in different ways not only as the rough and rude drug user they saw a little bit more that we are also interested to change the local conditions for people who use drugs. Now we are included in many very important working groups on political level and that's the only chance to change the things in Germany. That's the only chance we have. So we had a rally up to the parliament and on our wake up we were told in 2008 that we should not just go up to the parliament we should be invited in as an interest group like anyone else in our society. When I grew up, drug users those who used alternatives to alcohol were treated like enemies of the society and were never seen as resources. It was just so unfair. Our society is much better than that on most areas so we needed drug policy reform. We were in the debates and we were doing good we are speaking, we are debating, we are writing the Norwegian people really liked that that's why all this price is because people liked us when we went into the media because we did a good job. Our strength in Norway is that we are what you call a diplomatic we are pragmatic and we are tolerant for other people's views we are not fighting each other we are cooperating with each other so we have got together and made some serious impact on the drug policy reform and we are listened to by the politicians if you are a drug user representative you are an advisor to the leaders working with them with mutual respect, always mutual respect that's the key. We need to stop criminalizing vulnerable drug users and if you use drugs well you might think about what you're doing but if you have problems with drugs you don't need punishment, you need help. The biggest thing this last year is that when all drug user organizations agreed that we must stop criminalizing drug users then the health minister answered us in the media and said okay when all of you oppose criminalization then I must be for decriminalization of use and possession and that is why we are now entering a drug policy reform in Norway based on the model of Portugal The response however will not have to be criminal and we propose that it should not be but instead you should as the person who uses drugs have to meet for a municipal calcium unit The Norwegian proposal aims to change the fundamental reactions of authorities to persons using drugs It's an example of how states at their own discretion can adopt humane policy measures based on a public health oriented approach We welcome the approach taken by you in Norway On behalf of our office I welcome Norway's new proposal on the drug reform which we recommend to move away from the punitive approach to supportive approach in addressing drug situation Thank you very much, my name is Arjen Knudsen leader of the association for humane drug policy in Norway I'm a drug user activist and we wrote this petition that Ben Töger told about and after this the civil society in general and the drug user organizations have been included in the work and I remember Mr Hey how we were standing outside the parliament with posters and banners and yelling at the government and the parliament and we didn't go get nowhere and when we were included we had this cooperation now we are getting into an evidence base and human rights based politics so this is just so fantastic and Ben Töger, thank you so much We have been discussing this for over 20 years we have been disagreeing you had right, I had wrong We really need to give people more help we don't need to punish people The civil society has been the driving force for this reform I was against this reform for like 20 years and have been in many many discussion with the civil society but they convinced me that this is the way forward because they had the best argument and the best facts and also the best personal experience By the way that's the German chancellor Angela Merkel she was invited by the 25th anniversary of our organization and as you see she came One of the main achievement we did in Germany was that we are included now we are included in the most important working groups and they ask us for meaning before they took decisions Jazz was part of the movement to implement drug consumption rooms in Germany another thing was that we were closely included in the new law of opiate substitution treatment to get more doctors into treatment and more patients into the treatment The Jazz network did a safer crack kit and the main thing is that each drug user who want to use crack got their own pipe in their pocket it's a lighter, it's a chewing gum a little bit water to cook the cocaine a spoon and the pipe and a small information about crack use From the beginning on the Jazz network voted for the heroin treatment in Germany we did that also in the end of the 90s and now since 10 years we got heroin treatment in Germany we have 800, 2000 people inside heroin treatment heroin treatment is that you get diamorphine, you get it as a pure medical substance in a doctor's office you can shoot it or you can take a pill and that is what many people want they want the substance, the real substance and not opiate substitution treatment with methadone because they want to have the feeling and the rush they know from former days and now with the heroin treatment in doctor's office we can provide the substances who work for them in a clean environment it works very well last week I got a call from the doctor of the heroin treatment in Berlin and he told me that a quarter of them are now in business they have work now and that is a huge success I consider one of the largest successes with equipment for injection is that we have access to it free and that was introduced in the late 80s more or less because the prostitutes could bring HIV, AIDS further on to Mr. Hansen and it wasn't good so they introduced the bags with all the equipment you need for pure injection and today we see that we have two drug consumption rooms in Copenhagen and they save life almost every day we have worked for that idea for 15 years before it took action the users doesn't have to be in a backyard or basement or dirty staircase they can walk into these drug consumption rooms and there are nurses to take care of them if they get an OD another thing which also took us 15 years was to get here in on prescription as is at the moment we have a clinic a few hundred meters from here where the users can turn up at 9 to 11 and again by 15 to 17 and get an injection of pure founds with gallerine if it wasn't for the HIV issue we would still be considered as just enemies of the society we would still criminalize anyway unless you quit using drugs if there wasn't for the drug user movement you would have much more forced treatment we would not have syringe programs to prevent HIV and hepatitis C we would not have the drug consumption room in Norway we would not even have the substitution program in Norway we substitute heroin with methadone and buprenorphine for 8,000 people and then we got a science that was showing that this was much more effective much better for the society so now we're in the injection room that has turned into the drug consumption room and it has been open in Oslo since 2005 it's around 130 injections every day and there was more than 1,000 registered and here they can inject in a safe hygienic environment so no one has ever died overdose in the drug consumption room in the world ever so this place it saves very many lives now we have a very big syringe program in Oslo we hand out up to 5,000 syringes every day and we have that all over the country and we have 8,000 people in substitution treatment to next year we will have a heroin prescription program so we're turning heroin from deadly criminal narcotics to legal life-saving medicine we are suggesting and forming now a new model to see if we can substitute also amphetamine cocaine and MDMA the kind of addiction we have still the open drug since people are living in harshness it's terrible, a lot of people are still dying and a lot of thousands I guess 4 to 8,000 in Oslo are living in very critical health conditions all these drug related deaths we know we could be preventable that's why we're fighting for a new drug policy the opium has 73 alkalines but the big farmer thought that if they made it 99% pure and selected diamorphine then we would be happy we're actually more happy with the one we have here which are produced in the Golden Triangle and it has 60 to 80% pureness but it also has all the alcohol in it so it's having a better buzz I've always been open with my drug use so I hadn't had to hide anything drugs are illegal and that's the worst problem we have you can get arrested for having one or two days dose in your pocket and you will be fined we are not having the same human rights as ordinary people we are criminalized because of our drug use and the drug that we favor is polluted it's all from rat poison to sugar the states should take over the market and regulate so called illegal drugs that way we could secure that they were healthy or as healthy as possible clean and accessible from the pharmacies if we could walk in at the pharmacy once a week and pick up our weekly dose life with me is much easier and that's one of the political ideas we have to work on I bring this poster from an international Hamburg action conference with me to Germany in our office it's about drug policy at the Philippines very impressive poster in Germany the presence are full of people who use drugs and a third of them from 60.000 people who are in prison in Germany a third of them are drug users Germany is a very rich country and drug users and are not rich persons but they are safe in different ways most of them got an own apartment or they live with others together and they got monthly their salary from the authorities it's about 500 euros or something like that that's not much but when I saw the conditions in other countries where the social system is not that well equipped as in Germany our social system and also our health system all treatment in Germany is free of costs if you want to have HIV treatment or tightest treatment or OST you didn't have to pay for it and we are safe in a way we are excluded in a way socially excluded but the government and also the authorities they care about drug users in a way not always in that way we want that they are going with us to regulate illegal drugs but in Germany and in most other European Western European countries many drug users have a solid basement to live I really never suffered any of those negative consequences because I am who I am and I need respect like alcohol users like tobacco users I'm just feeling very lucky that I live in Norway and doing this and that don't live in Russia because no one would listen to me or respect me in any way or I wouldn't have no human rights Norway is a unique democracy and open society so it's not just us drug users that have done a great job it's a great society that has rooted us in all the processes and all the political development we had great politicians and we had great individuals who has fought this fight for many years we have great people in the media who has let us express our views and cheated us with respect my engagement in the IJAS network maybe were one of the most important because when I started to work with jazz things changed a lot I got the chance to go into opiate substitution treatment my lifestyle changed a lot I still use drugs when I want to use drugs but working with the network gave me another idea of my own life what I want to do and the goals I want to reach and the thing that people showed me that I could be responsible for something was one of the most important things in my life people get older and older I'm 52 and I think on the average is also close to 50 in Germany of the drug user movement I think the challenge is to invite younger drug users to work politically and on the safe help organization level to keep our movement alive it is one thing to do a drug user movement in Germany under clean and not that well paid but under safe political conditions and not that rich countries in developing countries we call that drug user movements work and they are alive and they doing a wonderful job and under very bad and poor conditions we have begun to cooperate much more with each other we are in European network of people using drugs we are an international network of people using drugs we use in social media to stay in contact with each other we cooperate on big conferences and we travel around the world meeting each other and that's quite new all the organization can commit to the international network of people using drugs that's the glue that sticks us together it's important to be consistent to have demands but also to be realistic we are not a fighting organization we are an interest organization and as such we cannot fight but we can argue and that's what we are supposed to do if you dream and you work persistent on it you can make dreams become true


I'm sure they'll mean that to us, mean they'll hate it, I'm sure they'll mean that, I'm sure they'll mean that


All right, so we got a game tomorrow night. It's the Bucks and the Bills. This is a good one.   So here it is, our No Sweat, same game parlay, for Thursday night football. It's a kickoff week eight, which is crazy. What's the first leg? You know why I flirt with the Bills? It's like the girl in high school that you always wanted and you couldn't get.  It's kind of like the Bills. They passed on me twice. I wanted to go to the Bills, and now they wanted me back when, 10 years later. So guess what? I like to just flirt with them to show them what they're missing throughout their career. So that's why I flirt with them, okay? But I'm going with the Bills, minus seven and a half. You know, the Bucks are sliding right now a little bit. Their offense are struggling a little bit. It's in Buffalo. The fans are gonna go crazy. Josh Allen always has bounce back games. This is the game he has to bounce back. Buffalo Bills minus seven and a half. Okay, I love that minus seven and a half. I like that. I'm gonna go with Josh Allen, who you just mentioned, likes to bounce back and we need him to bounce back. I'm gonna give it a cool 250 plus through the air. Okay, why? Because that's secondary with the Bucks. I got questions, I got questions. And they're allowing the six most passing yards per game in the league right now. So that seems like a safe bet. Back to you, buddy. I'm gonna go with Dalton Cancay. They're sensational rookie tight end to have 25 plus receiving yards. Oh, that's how much you believe in them. Just a teeny, meeny 25 plus, that's fun to grab.  I like it. And we'll wrap it up. I'll go with Stefan Diggs. We're gonna go Bills heavy on this when they're playing at home. Tampa's given up, like I said, their secondary, it's just weird right now. They've given up 400 yard games to number one wide receivers in six games so far this year. 400 yard games and Diggs is averaging a career high 96.9. 96.9, I think you might like that number. Parts of that number per game this season. That's our parlay. Let's recap Bills minus seven and a half. Josh Allen, 250 plus through the air. Dalton Cancay, 25 plus receiving yards.  Can he do 70? Can he give me 70 plus receiving yards? Right now, all fan dual customers can join our no sweat same game parlay for Thursday night football. Right along with us, it's a lot of fun.  Do not miss out on your chance for a no sweat same game parlay on fan dual America's number one sports book.


joining, thank you for coming into the space. Thank you so much. So nice to see people's names that I know. Hopefully more people will be joining us as we are coming in. And so hello, hello, hello. Again, thank you so much for being in the space and being here with us. And as folks are coming into the space, I always like to start by acknowledging that I am in the presence of the traditional ancestral and unceded territory of the Gabberlino in Tonga peoples. I also want to acknowledge that we have a strike going on and it still has been going on. And today I was driving by a couple of different studios and there was a lot of people out there striking. So please, if you have the time, if you have the space, please join the Writers Guild of America and everyone who's coming out to strike. It's really important for folks that we have their support and that they are feeling us being there with them. Again, thank you so much for everyone joining us in the space. I wanted to acknowledge everyone who is here who will be joining us. We have Josh who's going to be doing our captions today. And we have Gregorio and Glashanda who are going to be doing our ASL interpreting for today. So thank you so much for joining us. And with that, I want to pass the baton over to one of my favorite people. Yay, Daryl. So happy you're joining us. Yes. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much for being here and for being in the space. It means so much that you would join us to join. And so I'm going to put your bio in the chat for folks and let's feel free to have a conversation. And I know you have a little writing activity plan for folks as well. So I'm going to pass the baton to you for a moment while I place your bio in the chat. Sure, yeah. Hello, everyone. I'm really excited to be here. I'm Daryl Alejandro Holness and I am a Panamanian-American poet and playwright and recently I've become a screenwriter also. So I'm thrilled about that. And I also work with the Latinx Playwright Circle. And I stand in solidarity with the WGA and I'm really excited that there was a land acknowledgement in today's intro. So thank you Daphne for that. I'm excited to see so many faces here that are new to me that I've never seen before. That's always exciting and thrilling. And we always welcome folks who I have seen before of course to come back. So I'm currently in New York City. I'm a black man with locks, wearing a leopard print. I don't know what animal this is. Sort of animal print shirt. I've got an Apple watch and I've got books in the background on these beautiful IKEA bookshelves behind me. I love it. So I wanted us to start with a little conversation about what got you into playwriting because you're this multidisciplinary artist.  You're not. So I'm really interested in like what was your journey like to decide to start writing a play? Yeah, absolutely. So when I was a kid, my sister studied dance and she would present her performances in community theaters that oftentimes also have plays. And my family would support all of the kids and members of the community that were creating different kinds of theater and performance. And my mother found that when I would come home, I would be able to repeat back verbatim almost everything that was said in the play. When it was like magical memories that children sometimes have. And I think it was clear that I had a profound connection to performance at that time. And then many years later, I was a poet and I was a fiction writer in college. And my writing professors really encouraged me to take a playwriting class because we had the unique opportunity to study with Edward Albee and then Mark Methoff at the University of Houston. And so just knowing how much I loved literature and how much I love to write, my professors in college encouraged me to take those classes. And I ended up writing a play in the Edward Albee workshop under the guidance of Mark Methoff and that play ended up participating in the Kennedy Center for the Arts College Theater Festivals, KCACTF. Yes, I love that. Yeah, and then that took me to the O'Neill. And then eventually after graduate school in Michigan, I moved to New York City and started to really learn what it meant to be a playwright outside of a college setting and sort of just never left. I love that you just shared about KCTF, especially if there are any students who are listening to this or who get to watch this and they get to learn about that opportunity for playwrights. And also I'm so glad you talked about the O'Neill as well because not everyone's like, what? And just mentioning these opportunities that appear when you're starting off and the workshop and get into your plays and not everyone is like, oh. And it's hard, it's hard to know about these things, especially when you don't have the mentorship. So thank you so much for mentioning them so that folks can be like, oh, let me Google that. All right, move it, check it out. I wanted to ask you, so you were sharing that you were a poet and a fiction writer and then a playwright. And so do you blend these different styles into your writing? I've read multiple of your plays and the different variations of your plays. And so I'm very curious for you to share with our audience, like, do you blend that? Because it's very different to be a poet than it is to be a playwright than it is to be a fiction writer. And they're different disciplines, but I'm very interested in knowing like if one influences the other or not, or if you keep them separate or you mix it up. I would love to know. Yeah, absolutely. Well, you know, I recently was told when I buy a prize judge for something that I applied for and was a finalist for that. My poetry is very, it reads like performance text. And they have always been really drawn to monologues in particular. When I was in high school, my favorite play was Hamlet, primarily because I love the soliloquies so much. And I think what I saw there was an opportunity to write a performance based text that had a lot of the basic elements of poetry. So, you know, when you read Shakespeare's soliloquies, you see the use of literary devices, the falsity, you see rhythm and musicality and an attention to it in ways that we typically find in poetry today, but not always in how dialogue is written in theater because there is that aesthetic turned towards the more naturalistic styles of dialogue in contemporary US theater. And so, you know, but that's what really drew me in when I was in high school to a work like Hamlet and I think it continues to be part of both my playwriting and my poetry now today. And when I was in graduate school and to some degree afterwards, there was always this, you know, this like sort of like bifurcation section, like everyone's like, I'm part of the poetry cohort and, you know, fiction writers, they're like this and non-fiction writers, they're like that. And we all have a little bit of, you know, which can sometimes be fun to be in an affinity group and sort of like gather yourself around that community and what you have in common. But I find that practically speaking, when I'm out, you know, as a writer now outside of any single community that I find that my writing really embodies all of my identity simultaneously. And so I think that my poetry has a lot of elements of performative writing, of dramatic writing in it. And I think that my plays always have elements of poetry and the dialogue and also in the design. And so I really am of the school that you don't have to choose just one thing and I'm inspired by many writers and performers, you know, and multi-hyphenates when I travel, like especially outside of the United States, you'll often find like theater makers and artists who really use a variety of different forms to express whatever their idea is. You know, I think so much of the way that we're siloed in this country has so much to do with like one, the culture of this country, but also to do with how we are marketed as products in this marketplace, right? Like it's like, oh, we already know you and we know that you have a market value in this particular form. So therefore you're somehow locked into this one tradition that you explored first or that we know you in first.   Like my career is not that dramatic, you know, my drama's on the page. And so if I wanna just write in a different form or continue to explore and to learn what it's like to be a writer, you know, according to the tradition that I've never tried before that I've always been curious about them.  I think that, I think about Bob Marley a lot because he used to play a lot when I was, my dad just loves Bob Marley and a lot of reggae, you know, from like the 70s and the 80s. And I've been recently writing about this phrase that actually comes from a Marcus Garvey quote in one of the Bob Marley songs and it's emancipate yourself from mental slavery none but ourselves can free our minds from redemption song. And, you know, he's talking about a lot of things, essentially systematic oppression, but I also think that we as artists can sometimes lock ourselves into one particular lane because of other people's expectations, but it's still your choice as an artist whether or not you want to just shut off your brain and limit your activity. And this is no shade to people who are not multi-hyphenates. It's good to focus on whatever it is that you love, you know, I'm just saying that, remember that everything is a choice that you have agency. So don't worry about agents, don't worry about managers, don't worry about editors. Really if readers are interested in what you're saying, the questions that you're asking, the things that you're exploring and your way of exploring it, they will follow you no matter what form you're working in. I love that, and I love that you just shared about, you know, the choice, right? If you want to just work on one craft, you can, but to not be afraid to explore different crafts. And I think that you're absolutely right. In this country, I know for sure about personal experience that I've been brought up to be like, oh, you're supposed to be this, but I'm not, I'm a multi-hyphenate artist. And so it's been fascinating being in academia, just like you being in academia and trying to explain to people like, no, I'm not just publishing in this or no, I'm not just creating in this. I'm creating in all of this. And the joy of that, and I just think it's beautiful for us to be able to share those things and to do those different things.  I know that that's really close to your heart and that's something that's very, very important. And I know that you've been involved in some pretty amazing initiatives, especially with the Latinx Playwright Circle and creating and producing the Greater Good Commission and Festival. And I would love for you to share, I'm gonna put a little bit of information about the Greater Good Festival in the chat, but I'd love for you to share about the Latinx Playwright Circle and then share also about like, what is this Greater Good Commission that you did? Especially, you know, well, actually both that you did were incredible. The first one focusing on Afro-Latinidad, the second one focusing on LGBTQ playwrights, and I'm just like, oh, what's the third one gonna be? Yeah, the third one is coming up. It hasn't been announced yet, but it's going to come up soon, so stay tuned for that. So, thank you for mentioning that. I'm really proud of the work that I've been able to do with the Latinx Playwright Circle and also proud of the work that the Latinx Playwright Circle in general has been doing. You know, we're a collective of seven different staff members, but we work for a membership of over a hundred Latinx-identified playwrights across the nation. And the organization was founded by Guadalupe Parming and Oscar Cabrera. And there are, in addition to them, five founding members of which I am one. And the Greater Good Festival and Commission started out when the pandemic hit, and I saw many of my friends who were in the performance community lose employment. And this was an opportunity for them to gain some commissions, to help make up for some of the lost income at a time when there was just great need in the city and the industry and the world and to continue to make their art. I have found that New York City in particular, which is where I've spent the last decade, but I'm sure other cities and other towns and other communities, just like it can be very hard to maintain your practice because of economic expectations that come and responsibilities that come with participating in this economy. So I wanted to really put my money where my mouth was and to provide these commissions for my community members during this incredible time of need so that they know that despite whatever challenges they were facing with the pandemic that there was still support for their work and for them to not give up. That's my big mission in life. I think one of them is to make sure that artists, especially writers don't give up as they face whatever the challenges are that come their way. So the commission, as you mentioned, really provides an opportunity for writers who identify as Latin. So we've been talking about Latina, Latinx, Latino, Latina, Latin and all of that. So I've started to say writers with Latin American and Caribbean heritage. And just to sort of try to be as inclusive as possible. And I know I could even go beyond that and talk about Afro-Indigeneity and talk about Abiyayala and et cetera. But when I say the Latina community, I'm talking largely about anyone who self-identifies in that way. And what I learned growing up in Panama and also living in New York City is how diverse Latinidad is and how there are communities within Latinidad, which oftentimes that detail gets overlooked in the sort of black and whiteification of racial dynamics and theory in the United States. And so by having a commission that gave opportunities to people who experienced oppression within the Latinidad community. So that's why the first year we chose playwrights that identified as black or Afro-Latine. It just so happened that all of the winners were women. Yeah. They identified, so they just naturally rose to the top and were the strongest applicants. Two of them have off-road reproductions. One of them is amazing. Yeah, that was great. And then the next year we chose to open up the opportunity to LGBTQIA plus identifying Latina playwrights. And so the idea is that when we look around the community at what Latina playwrights are oftentimes the most supported, it is overwhelmingly men. They're overwhelmingly straight and cis and they have some proximity to whiteness. So our goal is to make sure that the entire community as much as we can address, we wanna make sure that more people in the community continue to feel included and have opportunities to continue to rise. And so we're interested in supporting underrepresented genders. We're interested in supporting people who identify as disabled or differently abled. We're interested in supporting the deaf and autistic community. We're interested in supporting Asian Latinos as well. I mean, in Panama in particular, we have such a huge Chino-Panamanian population that this idea that to be Latinez, to be of a single race has always been very confusing to me because Panama being that we have the canal and the meeting of the two continents and the two oceans, we really see the diversity of the world represented within our nation. And so, and I think that you have that here in the United States to their degree, but just the politics of it and how the rhetoric around it is just completely different. And so, you know, the greater good is an opportunity for anyone who has heritage in Latin America and the Caribbean, no matter what their race is and no matter what other identifiers they have to somehow have an opportunity that addresses them and really can join together. So. I love it. Thank you so much. I also wanted to know, you know, how are you able to keep up with producing? How are you able to keep up with the Latinx Playwright Circle? Teaching, because you're also a professor, writing poetry and plays because I think it's really important for again, anyone that's listening to understand that as you are working on your craft or crafts, it isn't always easy to support oneself. And so there's different things. And then as you're passionate about certain things, you also become involved with certain projects and support in certain things. And so I'm really curious, you know, and like, how are you able to keep up with all of this? Self-care, all of those things sort of like put together. Yeah, absolutely. You know, I think balance is hard. But I think of finding balance as an active practice. And so today, what I'm gonna do to create balance in my life is to dedicate 30 minutes to working out and to watch a show that I'm not gonna analyze and that I don't have to pay that much attention to whatever that is for me that day and talk to a friend who doesn't live in New York that I haven't maybe spoken to in a long time like. But every day I decide that it's something and it can change depending on what the day is because it's an active practice. So it's something that is evolving as I move through my life. And but it's something that I'm committed to despite whatever challenges there are. And I've learned a lesson in my 30s that I think I wish I had known in my 20s but I was just so ambitious and so like had such a go-get-them attitude which is like opportunities will come back. And so if you set aside time to spend with your family or if you set aside time to have a spiritual practice or if you set aside time to take care of your health don't then sacrifice that to just work more because you suddenly got an email that says, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah, dah. I used to think that that's what it meant to be a serious artist is to continually prioritize your art no matter the impact on your relationships and to just surround yourself by incredibly understanding and generous people who really love you. But I also, but I realized that every time there's an opportunity you wanna be able to show up 100%.  And so it's better to just say no, I'm tapped out. Thank you for offering me this opportunity but I'm not available right now and make sure that you take care of yourself and prioritize balance because that same exact opportunity might not come around again but there'll be other opportunities down the line. So you don't need to just, I think I've been told by other people that career in the arts is like feast or famine. I think that that's a bad mindset. I think that that is counterproductive and I don't think it's sustainable. And yeah, so that's not in my best practices model. So, but now that I'm a little older I know how to kind of see good advice from bad advice because I have so much more experience but I've made a lot of mistakes in my 20s and I wrote poems about them. You put it back in the art, put it in the art, put it in the art. I love it. So I'd love to, and we just had this lovely conversation. I'd love to pass the baton over to you because I know you want to guide us through an activity and I'd love for you to be able to share that and have the time to be able to engage in that activity. Yeah, absolutely. So I call this activity Bal de los Recuerdos, which is trunk of memories. I think treasure chest something in English.  Everyone, you know, make sure that you have a paper and a pen or a pencil. So something to write with. You can type it out if you prefer, but, you know, I always encourage folks to hand write as much as possible because oftentimes a different process opens up other parts of your brain that you're not used to using. If you're used to typing, then now might be a good opportunity to switch over to handwriting, but it's up to you. And then I want you to think of an object that you keep around because it reminds you of a good memory. And if you can, it would be really helpful for this exercise to get the object and have it in front of you.  Just imagine that object as much as possible. And this is a three step process. So the first step, you're gonna take five minutes and just describe the object physically, right? So what is, and use your five senses. The second step is that you're gonna write a five minute short summary of your memory with that object and why it means something to you. And the third step, which I think is the most fun part is that you are going to make a fake memory related to this object. And so there's the real memory and then there's the fake memory. And the fake memory can be whatever you want. It could be a variation on the real memory. So you could be rewriting a real memory that you have with the object or it can be entirely made up, you know, your story with this object in a completely fictional context not related to your real experience with the object. So again, those three steps are, first take five minutes to just write a physical description of the object using your five senses. The second step is to take five additional minutes and write a short reflection of your memory with the object of your real memory. And the third step is to write a fake memory with the object. So imagine yourself with this object in a new light, right? Really just think about what other powers does this object possess that could create a new and precious moment for you in your making. All right, let's give everyone five minutes to do the first. So I will keep the clock so that folks know. And if you get stuck, just keep describing it. Are we at the five minutes now? Daphne, you're on mute. We are at the five minutes now. Great. I'm curious what folks chose and what your experience of writing it was. You don't have to share if you don't want to but if we could get maybe these two volunteers to let us know, I think that might be helpful for moving on to the next step. Would anyone like to share their object? Thea? Yeah. I have a shell that I found on the beach. I don't know how it feels like a fade thing on it but it's a really like almost sort of perfect shell that I use as a little jewelry dish. But I liked the, you can sort of see this like almost like bruising colors on the inside. Really, really, it just feels sort of old in a way that I quite like. That's really cool. Can I have one more volunteer? And then I'll share mine too. Wilson, Simone? A bracelet. See that? Yeah. I belong to my mother and it's very, very, very old and it's kept the gold all these years. There is an inscription on the front which I have never been able to make out. And this bracelet is just very, very special to me because as a child I would see it in her jewelry box. Yeah. And I wanted to wear it. I'd always put it on as little girl. And so I have it to keep this with me. Oh, that's so nice. Thank you for sharing. That's a great object to use for this exercise. And I have to share this. Simone, I picked my grandmother's bracelet because of the same reason because she used to wear it and then she gave it to me before she passed and seeing that person wearing it. Thank you so much for sharing that. It was really powerful. Sorry, I had to share it. Oh yeah, I'm so glad that this is why it's good to share. It resonates with the room and we see what the connections are. Peggy says mine is an ID from the Human Resources Office when I was denied public assistance as a team mom. Ooh, yes. Yeah, so there's so much story attached to that one, right? Yeah, that's really great for this exercise. Thanks for sharing, Peggy. I have here a sound wave that was printed out and framed. And it's a sound wave of the words, I love you. So that's my objects. And I wrote about how it's metallic in color and geometric in design and how, yeah. So now we're going to write for five minutes. It's a free writing portion. So you're just going to write a short summary of the memory of the object. And I want you to allow yourself to dig deep, right? So there are a lot of things that you already know at the surface about this object. Push a little bit further, try to go into territory where maybe the memory starts to get a little fuzzy, right? Because then this will be an exercise where you discover more than just recollect. So five minutes on the clock. Let me know if you have any questions. You're just writing a short summary of the memory of the object. Thanks. Thank you. And those five minutes are up. Great. Thanks for keeping time, Daphne. What was that experience like for you? You don't have to share the story if you don't want to share. But what was the experience like for you writing this part of the exercise? Can I get two volunteers to share? Thea? I'll go after Thea. You want to go first? You go first. OK, I'll go first. It's funny because I was reading what Esther has just written. And Esther was like, it was easy because memories attached to the object. For me, it wasn't because I had to think of it. So the contrast, for one person, it would be easy even though there's memories with it. And so I was trying to focus on the earlier memories of the object versus the latter memories of the object because my grandmother had Alzheimer's. And so the latter memories of the object are so hard and painful. But the earlier memories aren't. And so my mind kept wanting to go to the latter. We got to go back to the earlier. And so that was where I was at. Thea, how about you? Yeah, first of all, my grandmother also had Alzheimer's. And so I felt that very deeply when you said that. The shell that I wrote about. I don't remember when I found it. I stayed with my parents for a while in quarantine. We went to the beach to walk along the beach. That was sort of our escape from the house. And so I have very vague memories of all of our walks. And so it was a much more broad sort of, when you talked about going deeper beyond the superficial memory, that was almost easier for me because I remember the sensation of being there. I remember the smells and the feeling of it more than the events themselves and the sense of being with my family and being in a place that felt relatively safe in a really unsafe time. Wow. Yeah, that was great. Well, thank you, all three of you, for going so deeply when it comes to writing about the object. The point is to try to use this as something that, or you discover something that isn't obvious about the object but still really meaningful to you. And I'm going to read Peggy's comment in the chat. I feel like I have a great seed idea and there is so much more to write. The memory of hunger and hustle was at the forefront. But then I couldn't escape the tactile feelings, experience, and a human resources setting where your person is devalued and shamed. Yet it was a turning point, a decision to stay and sit in that shame and rejection or learn to hustle for self-dignity despite it all. So yeah, that's really meaningful. And thank you also for going deep. I think that that's really going to be useful to you for this exercise as we continue to move through it. So now we're going to take the last step before we get to the sort of like the playwriting part. And the last step is to imagine a new memory with this object. And I want you to just remember one thing that you chose the object because it was really meaningful to you in a profound way. So make sure that the new memory is just as meaningful even though it will be made up, right? Think about something that would really resonate with you that impacts you significantly even if it didn't actually happen. So in order to do a lot of these exercises, you really have to know yourself. Or maybe this will be a way of getting to know yourself. So just take five minutes and come up with a fake memory for this object. Thank you. And those five minutes are up. Great. So you have the ingredients for a play. Imagine this. The first memory that's your real memory is a real memory for character A. And the second memory that is the fake memory is a memory for character B. And now imagine that they're fighting over this object. It could be that the object was left to the two of them in an inheritance, but it wasn't designated who should get it. Or it could be that they both somehow had different experiences with the object and left it behind and have both rediscovered it at the same time. You can decide how it is that these characters have come to be in the same room together at the same time with the object. Whatever inspires you is what you should follow. But now there's the emotional significance to the relationship that both characters have to the object. And they're in conflict because only one of them you have decided can keep it. So I love these kinds of activities because oftentimes my students will say, I've come up with an idea for a play, but I don't want to write it. And I'll be like, well, why don't you want to write it? And they'll be like, well, I think it's a good idea for a play, but I don't feel connected to it or I don't know how to enter it, how to engage with it, how to start, where to start. And so this is a way of looking for that starter kit within yourself. So it allows you to bring your personal experience and an object that means something to you into play with the new play. But it also allows room for the imagination because when you assign your personal memories to a character that's not yourself, so you are not character A, nor are you character B. And then you have a fake memory in there. So all of that is room for the imagination to take over and to really shape this into a play that might be inspired by your personal relationship to an object, but it's not actually the story of your personal relationship with the object necessarily. And so that's a way of looking within yourself for that starter kit so that you feel connected to that play from the start. And it was interesting because I didn't know where the activity was going. And so part of me was like, I wonder how can it all connect? And as soon as you, I was like, oh, the starter kit for the self, and I love the like, there's already a connection because the connection to a memory that you have with this object, but you're giving it its own life and its own story. That was amazing. We have a moment or two for questions if anyone has a dying desire to ask a question I would love for folks or if they just want to share what this was like. And just to me, like this epiphany all of a sudden of being like, oh my God, I totally have a story. And it's gonna be a good one. It's really exciting to me. So I'd love to hear from anyone or if anyone has any questions. Yes, Simone. This activity was good for me because I haven't. I haven't been writing per se for a few months and I'm just starting a new play. And so I have now that starter kit within. So that was very helpful. I do a lot of outlining first. A lot of notes, a lot of outlining. And that's where I am. And so that's gonna help me pull it all together. So thank you. That was beautiful. Thank you. Peggy. I love this exercise. I don't know if my ID, my welfare ID is gonna work now but I have to know with this. I just wonder, I have more of a question or inquiry kind of a thing and it's for everybody. But do you, I find that when I write I always enter any kind of writing exercise with something very deeply personal. And I think it stems from the fact of just erasure and silence within my own personal family. I'm always, I don't know what that is, but it's like, okay, if I didn't get to talk about this as a child or as an adult, I'm gonna write about it. And I think that's why I gravitated towards that ID which sits on my actual desk which unfortunately someone is working on right now downstairs in my family home.  But is that, I don't know, is that discouraged? I find that sometimes people have told me other mentors have said like you shouldn't always anchor to that. But I think that that's where my best work comes from. So what is your opinion on that? Yeah, I think you should always follow your instinct. I think that at times it's good to step outside of that comfort zone. But if that is the point from which you write then that's something that you should always honor as much as possible. So I think that we come to this earth with a purpose and those of us who are artists, I feel like sometimes we already have a game plan even though we don't know it, that we sort of came to this earth with. And if your game plan had to do with giving voice to that which has been silenced and there's something about it that feels innate to you that you feel like you have an instinct to naturally write from that place, then I think you are honoring your gift by following that instinct. It's okay to step outside of your comfort zone and to try something different, just to stretch your skills and to push the level of craft that's a part of your work. But I don't want you to dishonor that instinct because I think that there's something like mysterious about it on purpose. I think the most powerful things about our existence are meant to be mysterious on purpose. And so that doesn't cause, that doesn't make me feel uneasy. I'm not like, oh, I don't have a way of pathologizing this or explaining it. Therefore I should deny it or question it constantly. I'm like, no, that's why I should embrace it because some wisdom that's greater than my own has decided to put this in my life. So I'm gonna embrace it and explore it. And so I highly encourage you to pursue it. It's a great question. That was beautiful. Thank you so much. And thank you so much everyone for being in this space today. Thank you so much, Lushana. Thank you so much Gregorio for providing our ASL interpretation for today. Thank you, Josh so much. And of course, thank you Daryl so much. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you everyone. And I will see you all next week. So see y'all next week. Enjoy, have a wonderful rest of the week and weekend everyone. Bye. Bye.


Mergers increase safety of the bond holders by increasing the value of their bonds, but it hurts the stockholders. Although mergers allow for diversification, which in turn reduces the volatility in the value of the combined firm, more than volatility is in the sum of the values of the individual firms participating in the process of merger. To understand this decrease in the volatility, let take an example as a base case where we have two firms, firm A and B and the acquirer is the firm A who is acquiring the firm B. There are pre-merger two states with equal probabilities of 50% each. So if we see in the red box where the combined firm's market value is 75 dollars assuming no synergy effect and B's stockholders receive stock in the new firm titled as AB equal to the B's standalone market value of 25. This means that if B's shareholders are compensated for the merger in the stocks of the new firm, then the value of the new firm's stock is exactly equal to the value of the B firm's stock at present. The A's post merger value is 50 dollars and this is basically the difference between the value of the combined firm which is 75 dollars and the value of the stock given to the shareholders of B which is 25 dollars. So it leaves nothing for the firm A as well. So we see that the both firms A and B's stockholders are indifferent in this merger attempt because after merger the value of their holdings is equal to the value of their holdings which is pre-merger. Now we use the case of debt and here we see again two states. We see that if A is default in state two its debt has market value of 20 dollars. So the bondholders of firm A will receive only 20 dollars. In this case the A's average value is 25 dollars whereas if B gets a default in situation A or state one, its debt market value is 10 dollars. Its bondholders will receive only 10 dollars leaving the market value of the firm at 12.5 dollars as the debt's market average market value. So the sum of pre-merger market value of A and B with respect to their equity and debt is a same value and that is 37.5 dollars. Now if the post merger combined value of AB firm is 75 dollars then what will be the effect of the merger on the bondholders. Let's see we see that post merger combined value of the debt is 45 dollars whereas the pre-merger value of this debt is 37.5 dollars. So there is a value enhancement in the values of the debt and that is 7.5 dollars. So bondholders are gaining but about merger's effect on the stockholders we see that post merger combined value of equity of both the firm is 30 dollars whereas pre-merger the combined value of both of the firms was 37.5 dollars. So in this situation the stockholders are losing by 7.5 dollars. So we see that the loss of stockholders in this merger attempt is equal to the gain of bondholders but the firm or the combined firm is gaining no benefit at all. So what does this transfer of value occur or how this transfer of value has occurred. See that separately B does not guarantee A's debt. After merger bondholders can use cash flows of the combined firm AB. This means that individually the debt holders of A has no guarantee from the debt holder from the owners of B firm but when both of the firms are combined in the merger the cash flows of the B can be cash flows of the combined firm which is AB can be used to pay off the debt of the firm AB. This form of mutual guarantee is generally termed as co-insurance effect. In co-insurance effect this makes the debt less risky and more valuable than before merger. The bondholders gain at the cost to the stockholders under this co-insurance effect which means that loss of the equity holders is exactly equal to the gain of the debt holders due to the non-availability of the synergy effect. Then question arises that how shareholders can reduce their loss from the co-insurance effect. See that firm A may retire its debt before merger announcements, debt and it can reissue an equal amount of debt after the merger. And this refinancing of debt retired at the low pre-merger price can utilize the effect of co-insurance to the stock hold bondholders. Similarly the new firm AB can issue more debt after the merger because of two reasons. The first is that the interest tax shield from new corporate debt will raise the combined value of the new firm AB and the post mergers increased debt will raise the probability of financial distress. Thus it will reduce the bondholders gain from the co-insurance effect


I left the academic system to work it mad, not because I wanted to stop doing science, but because I think that some of the most powerful and interesting and innovative new ideas about food are coming out of restaurants, not out of university labs.


Hey friends today, we are hanging out in Disneyland. I am so excited to be here I love it so much and there's still quite a few things that I have never done here before So I figured we'd come on out ride some rides eat some food and have an amazing Disneyland kind of day Anyhoo's Let's go do this And we have made it to Disneyland look at that little baby castle down there I love it though. I think it's so cute and it's actually a pretty nice day out today a little gloomy and a little bit cold So that's why I'm wearing a long-sleeve hoodie, but I like I said, I'm happy to be here There is just something about Disneyland that makes me smile on the inside and outside And I just get this warm like comfy feeling whenever I'm here and I just love it I can't wait to just walk around and ride some of my favorite rides like mr. Toad's wild ride and snow white I love all of the dark rides and just have a cozy little Disneyland day. It's gonna be amazing. I Don't have much of a plan for the day I kind of just want to go with the flow and just casually walk around and enjoy the park I don't know if we should start in frontier land or maybe back to fantasy land. I Have been having the best time ever here in California as soon as we landed we went to Walt Disney Studios in Burbank, California And then we also got to go into the Walt Disney archives Walt Disney Imagineering it was so amazing a dream come true for me Definitely and just being able to go to such iconic places. We got to see Walt's office the Sherman Brothers Theatre It was incredible. I got to go and Walt Disney Imagineering they had a Heimlich Choo Choo there and I just I was geeking out I wish I could have made a video for you guys, but some areas you weren't allowed to film You're only allowed to take pictures. So I did take some pictures. I posted them on Instagram But let me tell you something that was a highlight that was a core moment in my life and I'm just so happy it was so great and now we can have a great Disneyland day Of course, we've got the new Mickey and Minnie's runaway. We're a way that I can check out The only thing I'm interested in seeing there though is probably just the queue But a couple of things I always wanted to do and I never done before With the Davy Crockett's explore canoes and I've never done it before so and also I think I've never done the many adventures of Winnie the Pooh here a lot of stuff over in Critter country I haven't done. So maybe we'll actually head over there or maybe grab something to eat first One of the best things I love about Disneyland is all of the amazing food We're definitely gonna be trying lots of food, but it looks like Mickey and Minnie are actually coming down Main Street with the band As I'm heading towards the castle. I see Mickey and Minnie and the marching band Seeing them in their hundred years of wonder like costumes I think it's actually really nice and they're probably going down and actually doing meet and greets I definitely want to see them later on today because I love how the Disneyland characters are just walking about freely We're just walking by and Captain Hook is just standing here. No lie. No character attended This just chillin out by the Matterhorn. Look at him. That is just incredible I just found out my friend has never done Alice in Wonderland So we were gonna actually head up there and ride that first, but she is eating food So we're gonna hop on the Matterhorn bobsled and ride it until she gets to come join us Look at this Okay Now I did buy genie plus for the day and I think it was 20 dollars So I'm gonna use it as much as possible, but for Matterhorn bobsled I think we're just gonna hop on the single rider line. I think it'll be quicker bang bang boom The good old Matterhorn you're almost as tall as that Yeah Is that real snow or fake snow? That's real snow. Haven't you seen it's been snowing here in Disneyland Single rider took us a little bit, but now it's time to ride Look at Sean looking like Michael Eisner Looks like I got the back row I have a feeling this is gonna hurt a little oh boy. Here we go I love this ride so much Even though it does toss you around a bit it feels good It's a good way to crack your back and actually get a little loose if you're stiff Oh, no, it actually looks like Alice in Wonderland the line got super long I just see it from the Matterhorn Honestly, I wouldn't mind doing the Finding Nemo submarine voyage here You've never done that before have you? They don't want to walk this way 20,000 leagues under the sea jealous look at this though I mean if we can't get on Alice right now, maybe we should try for this. I love riding this ride Let's do it Before we actually go into the subs I think I need to get a little snack a little something to munch on and the stand right outside the Matterhorn Actually sells Buffalo and barbecue turkey legs And I don't think I've ever had a buffalo or barbecue turkey leg So I think that's what we're gonna do grab a little turkey leg before the subs Yeah, they got bratwurst. They've got corn on the cob bunch of turkey legs.  It was like 13 dollars Look at this comes in a big old bag Comes with some rice That's corn. I know but I've never seen anything like this.  That does look good. Oh my lord. It's always very saucy. Let me show you guys this. It's a very saucy saucy thing Lots of buffalo on here Yeah, look at it I'm gonna unwrap it like it's I'm gonna make a mess of myself somehow. Look you can see that buffalo in there It's basting good.  Be careful There we go, holy moly Holy god, okay We're going all in buffalo buffalo turkey leg That's amazing. Holy moly. I probably got buffalo sauce all over myself. She says it's better than the well-dissing roll Of course it is a buffalo one you got buffalo sauce everywhere It also might be The hardest and most difficult thing I think I've ever eaten Like if I can walk out of here without buffalo stains on my shark I did a good job because this thing is just loaded and I don't even know how you would stick your Turkey leg in the the kens I can't believe I'm still eating this Hmm Okay, I've officially gone to the point where my hands are very sticky My face is covered in buffalo sauce and I need to find a bathroom But I'm gonna have to walk across the park and look like a fool Oh my lord, I'm so embarrassed. I'm gonna have to walk past max covered in buffalo sauce Yeah, I know there he is Max, sorry buffalo turkey leg Enough of the buffalo business that was actually amazing It's time to head on in and do finding Nemo submarine voyage and I'm so excited first timers over here I'm not my first time, but I'm mad at you for eating that turkey leg without me. I know Is my face all clear better You still have a little under your nose. Oh boy. It's really good. Maybe get the barbecue one. Maybe I will Stand by to dive. We're about to head on in Bye Kristen Wow, look at this guy. Are you excited? I'm excited. I'm cause you're foaming too, so I understand Kristen's pain Oh, this is crazy. I've never done this one We're locked in Look at Shelly out there Shelly We've been hit this ride is so much fun I do think that if you are on the other side you get a better view because you get to see all of the open like lagoon But I still enjoy it a lot. I wish I can I wish I could have wrote 20,000 the end of the sea Okay Definitely a fun ride if you've never done it before and honestly, I actually like it and I have done it before I'm gonna do it again even Enough of the submarine business. It's time to make our way over to the canoes. I want to go canoeing Canoedling I've never done it before. You've never done it before either, right? We're gonna go canoeing It's always fun when you get to do something you've never done before and this is another ride I'm going to be able to knock off my bucket list of riding every disney ride ever Can you imagine I want to go to every park every single country ride out all of them This is seriously going to be so much fun I don't know how much I'm going to be able to film with this because I am going to be actively Growing and I've never done it before so I don't know what to expect Thank you Look at this Eating some grapes Eating some growth eating some grapes and canoeing California grapes But with that being said, please remember my name is Tony Stark and she was Peter Parker and this was web slingers That's why you're on tour Sounds like it's going to be a good time I'm gonna eat my oranges No, you're eating oranges Whoa, we're hopping in Like I just seem so fun Excited a little nervous Yeah, I'm doing great too. Thank you for asking All right guys, I could tell this is going to be a long trip All right, mama cheats you out of powder already paddles up paddles up Make sure that inside hand is on the fish bail two three Now right over here, we call it Disneyland's daycare That's why you can bring your kids drop them off right all the rides they couldn't get on Just make sure you pick them up before five If you don't we pick them up and take them over to a small world Glue their feet to the ground That's where the Disney crew start Yeah, they won't let me go guys Look at this seagull on this boat right there This is a lot of fun We can try to catch it. Yeah, I thought I was going to catch it. All right guys ready paddle in again Wow That's where people are coming down the broader patch right there Is this on a track? No, this ain't on a track All right guys, give me two more good strokes We did it One of the best rides here one of the best That was so much fun. I really did love that and you were actually uh canoeing like you were actually rowing The only time I was able to film was when uh, I actually like when they said you could take a break And then I tried filming it like within my hands, but it got a little difficult So I was like no i'm not going to do that camera will probably end up in the water And that's just not good for anybody, but I still love that ride a lot. I would definitely do it again Now we have made our way back down the main street Because we're gonna get ready to watch magic happens the parade at three o'clock. Look a lot of people are lined up already I hear this is a really good parade. So i'm kind of excited As we were making our way down to the parade we were able to grab a reservation at cafe orlean And i've never eaten there before so now we're going to be able to say we knocked off a ride that we never rode And a restaurant we never eaten at Hope it's time Oh You're ready I think i've ever seen Dante it's an a la brea hey Fantastic and it got super crowded So we made our way over to adventure land and I ended up getting a topochico Which i've never had one of these before but dom said it's good and also I got the uh Chew uh chew pork bao bun see it A little bunny bun so we're gonna dive on in I'm so excited I love these so much. I wanted to get bangle barbecue, but I couldn't mobile order for some reason I needed a safari skewer. So this will have to do for now Look at that So good I just wish magic kingdom had some of this food if magic kingdom Had like bangle barbecue and then I don't even know is this just a tropical hideaway When they sell this if they had these like sold over there Non-stop I get them non-stop Now we're gonna try the twisted lime that bao buns in my throat Another thing they don't sell in magic kingdom this is only disneyland they sell this We got the hiccups, but that is very good now. I sound like oh that is really good. It's like a light sprite Exactly. There's no sugar either. Wow. It's just fresh lime here Calories I don't like this a lot Now it's time for our reservation at cafe orleens and I'm sad I'm not able to get my jambalaya because they actually have this park closed off for the refurbishment But I've never been here before I'm excited They got some gumbo I tend to eat in incredibly a lot of food whenever I come to disneyland I make multiple reservations and it's just something that I love I love just trying all the different food from the different parks And it's so convenient just to hop from here to dca and back So we might actually get second dinner tonight. You never know or third Thirds too. I mean fourth is good might close out the night at in-and-out. You never know Here is a look at the menu at cafe orleens. They've got cup of seasonal soup right now It looks like it's a winter squash brown sugar pork belly and poblamo cream And then they also have chicken gumbo, which I'll probably get the gumbo They have a red wine braised short rib. They have roasted chicken the battered and fried montecrisco And I think this is the triple cheese one. It looks like it's around 22 dollars And then oh a mardi gras cream puff crème brûlée This looks all pretty good. I think I might get a coffee. Oh a mint julep too. Yeah I'd like this Oh wow we can hear the band playing outside This is nice open our tables over here This is a nice cozy table. We got flowers a band Very nice This is incredibly cozy the music the flowers like I said good friends out. They sure dog are higher I feel like that would be dangerous It would be dangerous Cheers to the mint julep I'm not too sure if these are free refills But if they are I'm gonna drink a lot of them and also I'm proud of myself For not getting buffalo on my shirt when I ate that turkey leg. Yes, I did. No, I didn't did I? Aw you made me look you made me look Just as I was enjoying my delicious mint julep the chicken gumbo has arrived and look at it It's got a lighter color to it. This also has ham inside of it Which I think is the traditional way to actually have some gumbo and I'm excited to dive in It looks pretty good. The rice looks good And I like the way they serve it in a little cup like this so I can sip on it later. Cheers I was gonna get that seasonal soup, but I I couldn't pass up the chicken gumbo Look at this. Let's see Oh, okay looks pretty good. I'm lacking on steam here, but it's okay. It might not be too hot and I like that So I'm gonna drive in Now it's steaming. There we go. I hope now I'm hoping it's not too. I already I already dribbled That's good That's good gumbo Seriously, not too heavy.  Yeah, I'm I I love it The mint juleps are free refills. This is not a drill Mint juleps for days It looks like the food has arrived. We've got some Monte Criscos on the table Yeah, I ended up getting the roasted chicken. I decided it looked good I liked what like the the sauce that they had on there and I got some fries and mashed potatoes What did you get the Monte Crisco? Yeah, oh, what did you guys get? Ah very fancy and a gluten-free one Alleywood Studios they're coming in for the gluten-free people and I'm excited There we go. I'm trying the chicken This chicken is unique It's very soft very delicious. I love the sauce that they have on top now. I'm going to try the mashed potatoes I'm happy with my choice here. I know a lot of people are going to be like you should have got the Monte Crisco, but I think I did good Kristen, what do you think of the Monte Crisco? It's Cristo. The Monte Cristen The Monte Cristen I've been seeing photos of this sandwich for years and I'm so happy. I finally get to try it The ambiance has been great and the salmon is great too. The hype is there. The hype is real I'm a sucker for sweet and salty and this is sweet and salty And how's the gluten-free one Alley? This is the best thing I've ever been tired of Wow Looks like we are all done here at cafe Orleans and I think we're going to do a little flip flop Do a little wrap around make our way over to dca and uh, maybe a credit coaster Maybe some fun. I mean, I'm happy the night is young. I just had a nice delicious meal Had some coffee and I'm in Julep. I'm ready to go I think we're going to start our day off in disney california adventure. We were at Disneyland most of yesterday So I think it'd be fun to start here and then probably bounce over there later on I really want to ride in credit coaster and radiator springs So hopefully we're going to be able to do that. We kind of have like a big party with this I think there's around eight of us. So it's hard to get like lightning lanes and reservations And today we're just winging it. We'd even buy gd plus We've made it inside dca and I noticed that they had this disney 100 photo opportunity But on the back of it. It says disney land resort where wonder comes to life I like the backside of this way better than the front But there's a line of people taking photos of the front of it Donna hi, lady. Hi, Donna Where are you all from? Well, I'm from orlando Oh What's your dog's name lady, and I'm donald lindell aria mayor of wendell vista street. Well, donald lindell aria Oh She's a lady I love the random character interactions here at dca Hollywood studios used to be like that and especially with the citizens I wish they would bring it back or even at the plaza in at magic kingdom was the same way We need more character interactions when you're just walking around on the streets, you know I just love being here at disney's california adventure. Look at this What a beautiful sight to see and I hope that we're gonna actually get the chance to ride Both the mickey fun wheel and In credit coaster. It just looks so fun right now I've been wanting to ride this ride so much. So i'm so happy. We're actually going on it right now Oh Guys who made it back We're actually going to meet up with my friends peter and kitra from ordinary adventures and then ashley from mouse vives They're going to hang out with us and join our group and uh, enjoy a little mickey's fun wheel That's what I still call it. I mean, I know I think the name changed but that's that's what I've always called it known it as This isn't an ordinary ferris wheel. It's an extraordinary ferris wheel Because it actually swings as you're actually riding it and it can get a little bit rocky up there That's why a lot of people are afraid of it Are we doing swinging? Swinging wow, it's actually a longer way. We're going swinging Swinging Look at them. Look at the swinging machines I mean, they do have the stationary ones, but why would you want that when you can have this? Look at that. Yeah, that's gonna be us I hope you guys are excited Oh Sky rockets in flight. All right, we're securely locked in Here we go I can't wait first drop No, it's not it. Oh, yeah Look at that unbelievably amazing view people down there. I think it's raining I think of like Yeah, wait a second. Oh, yeah, this is it. We're at the top now We're at the top Oh my god, we're rocking a ride Such a fun ride. Everybody was screaming. It was great and uh now we're gonna keep moving along That was such a fun ride. I absolutely love it the tear the terror Enough of the mickey fun wheel as you could tell it has gotten dark outside And I think we are gonna actually make our way over to a mic in sully to the rescue It's one of my favorite dark rides and I think it's a low wait time Look at this. Here we go Goodbye Sean, I'll never forget you. Oh Michael Eiser. Hello, I'm Michael Eiser Oh Hello, if you are new to the area the monstropolis chamber of commerce would like to welcome you while you're in town We interrupt this program for a special resource for a child is on the lease in monstropolis A human child if witnesses are to be believed there has been a child's security powers and shoot me like a doll It's true Oh It shook me like a doll My Race you to the scare I was out ski Doesn't that make decontamination You just can't go wrong with a little monster zinc. I love that ride so much and I love superstar limo too I never got to ride it but watching back. I kind of wish I was able to I thought it was really fun But I'm good with monster zinc now And we have made it back to disneyland look at that a little late night disneyland time All right, we got a nice spot and we're gonna wait for wonderous journeys to come on and I'm excited I haven't really seen anything about the firework show and I was here the other day while I was going off But I wasn't listening to the music so it's gonna be fun to be surprised to see what they actually do And I hear really good things All right For over a hundred years walk disney animation studios has invited audiences to believe in things never thought possible And so tonight We once again invite you to wish upon stars To step into the unknown and to join us on this our wonderous journey End of this chapter. Oh, no, please. Can't we go back to page one and do it all over again? But pool it's just another turn of the page I think what comes next will be That firework show it reminded me so much of happily ever after I don't know how much I could put in there because of the music and honestly I was just kind of enjoying it, but it was so So awesome the music was great the fireworks. I mean, I'm sure disneyland's working with what they got But I was all here for the music and it was fantastic I can't wait for happily ever after to come back. That's probably been the best firework show sent happily ever after We're making our way up to alice in wonderland I've been wanting to do this ride for this whole entire trip and uh, it looks like it's gonna be tonight Nice looks like we're doing second rope drop or something We're gonna get a run We're sprinting Don't run guys walk So during the fireworks they actually rope off fantasy land and they clear it out because of the debris And now they have a rope backup So it's like a second rope drop of the day and everyone rushes over there To get to all the rides because it's honestly like the start of a day and it worked As we're waiting for alice in wonderland open back up the tea cup started open back up and look at they look so cool It looks so much better out the tea cups here in disneyland the disney world This is definitely one of my favorite dark rides, especially over here in fantasy land And it's cool because it goes in indoors and outdoors and that's why I love it so much That's why I chose to second rope drop it Oh boy here we go Okay Now this is curious, I wonder if the rabbit came in here You lost your chance I'm not sure So let the paper spread We're picking the roses wrap and many a cherry shade Amazing, isn't it Well, I love this ride Yeah, look at that Alice in wonderland was amazing and now I think we're gonna make our way over to the storybook canals and uh ride those at night Well That was a fun little ride I love all of fantasy land back here if magic kingdom had a fantasy in land like this I'd probably spend a lot of time there And for the last ride of the night, it's time to say goodbye to splash mountain Oh my lord There we go You This is great Oh my lord What I regret my decision That And with that, I think we are done here today I've had such an amazing trip out to california And I'm sorry. It's kind of a little bit all over the place I've been really relaxing and having fun hanging out with my friends I might be able to put this into one video like take two days and put it together We'll see how it comes out But I had such an amazing time going around checking out all my favorite track Celebrating disney 100th and I can't wait to come back out and do it again You know what I mean? I want to come out to disney land as much as possible I do have a magic key So i'm kind of like coast to coast now So i'm able to hop in and hop out all I have to do is buy flights and uh a hotel and I already have my tickets already So I hope you guys enjoyed the video. I enjoyed making it. We're gonna head back to florida now and uh Probably see gracey girl. I hope you guys have fun. Bye