0:02

Hey here, we are back for

0:04

another episode of Ask

0:06

Kevin Almost Anything.

0:09

We've been having a lot of fun with.

0:11

These and so we're happy that you're

0:13

tuning in. I am here

0:16

with the executive director

0:18

of six degrees dot Org and

0:20

my friends Stacy Houston High

0:22

Stacy, Hey.

0:23

KeV, good to be back.

0:25

How are you.

0:26

I'm doing well, doing well.

0:28

How are the girls?

0:32

You know, they

0:36

we are raising strong girls.

0:39

They are they

0:41

are bright and strong,

0:43

and they are learning how to say

0:46

no to everybody, including

0:48

mom and dad.

0:49

So awesome.

0:51

We used to say to so Se well

0:54

Sosi had the situation where she, you

0:57

know, had an older brother so

1:00

who was a very very strong personality

1:03

and in his own right,

1:07

and you know, it was really

1:09

super important to both of us and

1:11

certainly Kira to make sure that she

1:14

found her strength and her voice.

1:17

It whatever it was, it worked.

1:21

Now that she's in her thirties, if she definitely

1:23

tells it like it is. But one of the things

1:25

that Kira kind of came up with, I

1:27

think she sort of came up with it was she

1:31

didn't she used to say use your power

1:34

all the time. And you

1:38

know, with Travis, he was so powerful

1:40

that you know, and we didn't need to remind him,

1:42

but associated it would be, you

1:45

know, just a message that we would always you

1:47

know, kind of.

1:48

Pound a table on. It's okay, just use.

1:50

Your power, tell us, tell

1:52

us what's going on, tell it,

1:55

tell you know, don't

1:58

don't get run over by the by the

2:00

little boys in your life, you know, and you

2:03

know, I don't need to tell you. There's so

2:06

many studies about you

2:08

know, when girls stop

2:10

raising their hands in class.

2:12

And you know, all those all those things.

2:14

You know, we certainly have to try

2:16

to plight to guess that.

2:19

You know, that would have been a good phrase

2:21

and maybe we can incorporate it. I

2:24

when Abby, my oldest, was

2:26

about two, you

2:28

know, she was starting to communicate, and

2:32

you know, there would be other little kids in her

2:35

daycare or something like that that we're

2:37

hitting or biting or babe yell

2:39

and be like you can't play with us. And we were

2:41

like, oh my gosh, this is a lot for already,

2:44

you know, two two and a half. And

2:47

Abby's response would always be like they're

2:49

just having a bad day,

2:53

Like, oh my gosh.

2:55

That's amazing.

2:56

I guess this is great. But we were kind of

2:58

like, Abby, you have to stick up for yourself

3:00

too, you know, especially if someone's hitting you, I

3:03

want you to say, you know, please don't,

3:05

don't, don't touch my body or that

3:08

sort of thing. And so now

3:10

Abby is she just doesn't want

3:12

to do what we want her to do. And we

3:15

go to like take her and move her from one

3:17

place to another, she will yell on

3:19

the top of her lungs, don't

3:21

touch my body. And

3:26

it has been very awkward for

3:29

my husband Danny being oh,

3:32

yeah, we were on a road

3:35

Oh yeah, we were on a road trip and he was

3:37

in taking her to a bathroom break and

3:39

I was waiting in the car with Eloise and

3:43

he came out real flustered with her

3:45

in his arms, and I'm like, that was quick?

3:47

What was going on? And he goes, you need to take her.

3:49

I'm like what He's like, I am trying to get

3:51

her to go onto the toilet and she is yelling

3:54

in a stall, don't touch my body

3:56

on the top of her lungs. In a male restroom

3:59

at like a rest stop.

4:01

Wow.

4:02

Well, okay, so

4:03

that's.

4:07

Oh boy, that

4:10

that is something else.

4:11

It's a balance, you know. You know, she's

4:14

in that very impressional age. So

4:16

she's she's learning it all. But no, it's

4:18

it's a lot of fun. I digress.

4:21

That's good. That is really good.

4:24

Well, we have been receiving questions

4:26

or comments, uh that have been

4:29

related to animals, you

4:31

know, animals people, the effect that animals

4:34

and people have on their lives. I think probably

4:36

because you know, a lot of people

4:38

when they comment on my

4:41

social media, they'll they'll mention animals.

4:44

You know, we use a lot of animals

4:46

in our in our social medium.

4:48

So our first comment today is

4:50

from Leanne speaks, and

4:54

Leanne says, animals

4:56

and music. It's definitely

4:59

a common DENI the dator, right, I

5:01

believed I could soothe my elderly

5:04

dog in this way. Obviously

5:06

I've seen you sharing your music with your

5:08

animal family. But any surprising

5:10

reactions, Well, yeah,

5:14

I mean it's interesting

5:16

that I

5:18

don't know that until the

5:21

pandemic, I really thought about the connection

5:23

between animals and music.

5:25

Let me think about that. I mean,

5:27

I've written at least two

5:29

songs about my dog

5:33

or one of my dogs.

5:36

I grew up in

5:39

a household that didn't have any

5:41

animals because my

5:43

father didn't like dogs, and one of the reasons

5:46

my mother loved them. But my father just wasn't

5:48

really it to them. One of the reasons was that we

5:51

had a He got a dog for my

5:53

sister and

5:56

the dog bit me. So I was the youngest

5:58

of six and there

6:01

was a probably about it was like an eight year age

6:03

gap between my next oldest sister

6:06

and me and this little dog. I think I

6:08

probably was crawling over and trying to eat out of its

6:10

bowl or something. You know, it, you

6:12

know, bit me, and then whatever

6:14

there was, I don't remember it. I'm

6:17

not one of those people that ended up with a dog

6:19

bite and then you know, was scarred

6:21

for life, either emotionally or physically by those

6:23

things, because there are those cases,

6:26

and my father's like the dogs out of here and

6:28

we're not getting to know a dog. The second

6:31

I moved out of the house, I

6:33

think probably Tommy I was about twenty.

6:36

I mean I moved out when I was seventeen, but it only

6:38

took me a few years to get to

6:41

adopt the dog from a pound, and

6:44

you know that started years and years

6:46

and years of dogs, and between kir and I

6:48

think we had a total of five or something.

6:50

We don't have one now. And

6:53

during the pandemic.

6:54

I also have always loved horses. Even

6:57

though I was a city kid, I felt a real

6:59

connection with horses.

7:00

We were speaking on one.

7:02

Of these episodes about camp

7:05

and that was like a super important

7:07

camp experience for me, was connecting

7:10

with horses.

7:11

I liked the way.

7:13

I could just feel their energy

7:16

and I could feel they calmed

7:18

me down. I like the

7:21

way they smelled. I like the way they felt.

7:23

I like to be on them, and as

7:26

much as I like to ride them, I also like to just kind

7:29

of connect with them and groom them and be

7:31

in the stall and clean out the stalls,

7:33

and you know, all those

7:36

things were like I just felt the connection

7:38

with So by the time I was old

7:40

enough to get my own place and

7:43

had enough money, I was looking for a place where

7:45

I could keep horses. And I got horses probably

7:47

in the eighties and

7:50

have had big horses

7:52

ever since. But during the pandemic, I

7:55

don't know, for some reason, I

7:58

decided that for our anniversary

8:01

I should get Kira some goats,

8:03

and so I went and got these miniature

8:06

goats and

8:09

they were there was two of them. They

8:11

were super super cute.

8:14

I put them in a stall them in the bar,

8:16

and I didn't tell her about it. And

8:19

I went down and said, I have surprise for

8:21

you for our anniversary and

8:24

took her in the stall and there were these two goats

8:26

looking at her, and

8:29

she loved them, felt

8:32

a total connection with them.

8:34

Now.

8:35

Every day, for the first probably

8:38

few months of their lives, in

8:40

order to kind of socialize them to

8:43

people, we kept them in a

8:45

stall before we turned them

8:47

out into the field, and every

8:50

morning and every afternoon, I

8:53

would go down and hang out with them. Sometimes

8:55

in the morning it would be, you know,

8:58

with a cup of coffee. Times

9:00

in the afternoon I'd go down and you know, sit

9:02

there and drink a beer and just

9:05

hang out in the stall with these

9:08

goats, and they would come over, and you know, I would pat

9:10

them and they you know, just started

9:12

to kind of like connect it with them. And

9:15

not to drop a name, but Jimmy Fallon had

9:17

sort of randomly sent me this

9:20

instrument that was

9:22

a three stringed instrument

9:25

kind of like a almost like a

9:28

doughbro if anybody's familiar with that,

9:30

or you know, with kind

9:32

of like a drone droning tone

9:34

on it. And you know, I started

9:37

playing it and one day I was

9:39

like, well, you know, trying to play

9:41

this thing of practicing it, I think I'll just go

9:43

out and play it with the goats.

9:46

And so i'd sit there and play this

9:48

you know, funny kind of instrument, and.

9:51

I don't know it just

9:54

I'm not quite.

9:55

Sure whether it was that I

9:58

was a calming

10:00

down because I was playing music,

10:03

or if the actual music was having any

10:05

sort of effect on them, or or if

10:08

their energy was calming

10:10

me down. But the whole thing just kind

10:12

of felt right with

10:14

songs and music. And then I started doing these silly

10:17

goat songs. So, you know, I would

10:20

post on you know,

10:23

social media, different songs

10:25

that I wanted to play, and I'd go down and sing to the

10:27

goats. And that menagerie

10:30

has expanded quite a bit since then.

10:33

Yeah, I

10:34

am. I knew

10:36

a little bit about equestrian therapy,

10:39

you know, and that can be utilized to really help

10:43

comfort people in different types of ways and different

10:45

types of therapies. I

10:48

feel like goats are popping up in like yoga,

10:50

Like everywhere, everything's like you know, goat

10:53

yoga, and people just want to kind

10:55

of be near animals in that

10:57

sense. My mom

10:59

had a stroke several years back. She

11:02

since past, but when she was

11:04

rehabilitating in like a therapy center,

11:07

there would be a woman that would come through

11:10

with like a therapy dog, And

11:14

honestly, I think some of it was for you

11:18

know her as like the person that

11:20

was working in that space and

11:22

trying to help others by

11:24

sharing this passion that she had for

11:27

her canine. But I

11:30

saw a lot of people that didn't have a lot

11:32

of visitors at all, you know, no

11:34

one was kind of there seeing them day to day, and

11:37

they really obviously took to getting

11:40

to spend time with the animals and just pet them and

11:42

kind of cuddle up with them. And no,

11:44

I think there's a real power in animals

11:47

and humans and that connection kind

11:49

of understroken connection.

11:52

Yeah, they say that the horse's heartbeat

11:55

is pretty similar two

11:57

hours,

12:00

and.

12:01

Uh you

12:03

know, I I.

12:05

I've learned a lot about myself

12:08

from from just kind of spending

12:11

a little bit of time with animals. I mean, you

12:13

know, because they can so often pick

12:16

up on you know, your

12:18

your stress levels and

12:20

and

12:22

your energy.

12:24

You know, I'll see people that will.

12:25

Come and and hang

12:28

out with our animals. We we now have a situation

12:30

where uh you

12:32

know, there's we have pigs

12:35

and goats

12:37

and chickens, and alpaca

12:41

and miniature horses

12:43

and they're all sort of in this place together.

12:48

And a lot of times people's

12:51

relationship to animals

12:54

in you know, kind of petting suit situations

12:57

are is often about food.

13:00

And you know, of course

13:02

an animal is going to be responsive

13:05

to food, but we always try

13:07

to you know, interact

13:10

with them as much as possible where

13:12

there's no food evolve. And

13:14

what I've noticed is that they

13:19

don't always need the food in order

13:21

to be interested to see you.

13:23

You know, they

13:27

will if if you're

13:29

I go out and just you know,

13:31

sit down, they'll

13:33

just come hang out for no other

13:35

reason than you know. It's not like they

13:38

come and you don't have any food and then they just split.

13:39

They'll just they just want to hang out.

13:42

And I certainly have found

13:44

that very very therapeutic. And sometimes

13:47

I just feel my heart rate coming

13:49

down, my starting

13:51

to be more in touch with my breath,

13:54

or getting out out of.

13:55

My head a little bit. You know.

13:57

I think that one of the things

13:59

that is it can be really good

14:01

about pet ownership.

14:03

Is that, you know, you you

14:05

have to focus.

14:06

On something other than yourself a little bit. Now

14:09

I'm all about being self

14:11

aware and you

14:14

know, not bury your head in the sand

14:17

in terms of the problems in the world

14:19

or the or the problems in your own

14:21

personal life. But sometimes it's

14:25

good to step out of the of

14:28

your own personal thoughts

14:30

and your own personal head. I mean, that's kind of what meditation

14:32

is, right, a way to kind of stop thinking a little

14:34

bit. And if

14:36

you were sometimes with an animal, you're

14:39

thinking about that animal, you

14:41

can, you know, just kind of turn

14:44

the volume down on the thoughts that at

14:46

least I can on the thoughts that are inside

14:48

your habit.

14:49

That's a good way to describe it, turn the volume

14:51

down. Yeah, yeah, a little

14:54

bit of a reprieve.

14:55

Yep.

14:56

I mean I think that, you

14:59

know, obviously we've had

15:01

incredible you know, connections,

15:03

and the kids have to to their

15:06

dogs. Both

15:08

of both of my children, you know, of course, are

15:10

are pet owners, and a lot

15:13

of times I'm like, no, don't get another pet.

15:15

Oh no, what do you do when so much

15:17

responsibility.

15:18

Especially especially dogs. I mean, dogs are so.

15:20

Much of your responsibility, and nobody everybody

15:22

goes out and just kind of gets

15:25

one because their puppies are cute,

15:27

you know, and a lot of times they're

15:29

they're not willing to put the time in

15:32

or they're willing to to train them,

15:34

train them. Yeah, it's it's a it's

15:36

a it is a it's a it's

15:38

a problem. I mean, you know, you

15:40

you

15:42

you really I've learned over the years,

15:46

even though we've had quite

15:48

a few dogs, there's some people

15:50

would consider untrainable, but

15:53

but we we put a.

15:54

Lot of time and a lot of effort

15:57

into them.

15:58

And

16:00

you know, the time that you spend and

16:02

the effort that you you do, you

16:05

know, really does payoff. I mean, it really

16:07

does. It really does pay off. But

16:10

you have to know that. I guess

16:12

what I'm saying is I'm not not

16:15

lobbying for you know,

16:17

everybody running out and getting a pet, but

16:19

because you have to know that you're

16:21

going to be spending quite a

16:23

few years. You know, it's not

16:26

just that's just going to be the first few months

16:28

or the first few years. I mean, we had a dog, We

16:30

had an eighteen year old dog that was

16:32

a that was a big chunk of

16:35

our lives that we spent, you know with

16:37

that with that animal and being responsible

16:39

for that animal, walking, feeding,

16:42

vetting, caring for training,

16:45

picking picking up poop, you know, just buckets

16:48

and buckets and poop add

16:50

it all up.

16:51

You know, it's a big it's a big it's

16:53

a big thing.

16:55

I do think that there is a there

16:59

is I mean, I'm sure there's been studies

17:01

done about the possibility of animals too

17:04

to create a healing force of people's

17:07

lives.

17:08

Absolutely, Thanks

17:11

Leanne, that was a really good question.

17:12

Yes, thank you, Leanne.

17:19

All Right, you want to jump into question

17:21

number two.

17:22

Okay, here comes to question number two.

17:24

This is from Ali Kenny. Hey,

17:26

Kevin, I've been loving the podcast so far.

17:29

Thank you that the episode with

17:31

Thomas Rhett was great. I love hearing you talk

17:33

about music. Speaking of music,

17:35

the legendary Paul McCartney is

17:37

a big supporter of meat free mondays.

17:40

You should cover this on the podcast.

17:42

Ps.

17:42

I love the Bacon Brons and can't wait to see you

17:44

guys again in November. Oh well that's

17:46

very nice. Yeah,

17:50

thanks Okay, So, yeah,

17:53

that was a great episode with Thomas

17:55

Rhett. I really enjoyed it. I mean, I love

17:58

listen. One of the things I've

18:00

loved about this podcast is

18:02

that it hasn't just been actors.

18:05

You know, it hasn't just been people from the from the

18:07

movie business.

18:08

Uh, there's been.

18:09

Musicians and people in sports

18:11

and uh

18:14

you know, uh reality

18:16

television.

18:17

And you know we had deep Pop.

18:19

Choper the other day. It was uh a

18:21

doctor and a you

18:24

know, spiritualist.

18:25

And and and and it's been.

18:26

Really that's been really kind of you know,

18:30

really kind of fun and and and interesting.

18:32

And I'm so I'm glad so getting

18:35

with Thomas Rhett we're getting a jewel for instance,

18:37

we've had when those of you

18:39

know, two of the musicians that we've had.

18:41

It's just fun to talk

18:43

music.

18:43

I'm always fascinated with, you

18:46

know, people in terms of like their

18:49

songwriting process and what

18:52

they feel about life on the road and

18:55

you know, trying to break out and

18:57

keep things fresh from creative staying. So

19:00

so thanks, I'm glad you. I'm glad you enjoyed

19:03

it. And you know, he's

19:05

got this new record.

19:07

I think it's called.

19:08

Twenty right, it's like

19:10

twenty twenty number ones or something like that.

19:12

It's number ones.

19:13

It's like, yeah, number one has it.

19:15

Was like twenty of them.

19:16

I mean it's great, it's amazing, and

19:18

it's great.

19:19

It's a great record.

19:20

He's a great writer, great

19:22

singer and really

19:24

good dude. So I'm glad he was there with us.

19:27

But now the second question that

19:30

you mentioned is about Paul McCarty

19:32

is meat free Monday. So I can tell

19:34

you, you

19:38

know, when I

19:40

meet actors, I've worked with a lot of very

19:42

very famous people and you

19:45

know, the top top, top

19:48

actors ever in our in

19:50

our business, I've gotten the chance oftentimes

19:53

to interact with and work

19:57

with, you know, and

20:00

you know actors, I

20:02

love it. I think of them as sort

20:04

of colleagues. And it's doesn't

20:06

really you

20:09

know, it doesn't really affect me that much or I don't

20:11

get thrown that much from from I don't

20:13

get starstruck.

20:14

Let's put it that way.

20:16

If I meet a musician that

20:18

I grew up with, that's where I turned

20:20

into the babbling, you know, kind of

20:23

like starstruck dude. And

20:26

so I have met Paul McCartney,

20:30

and he is one of those guys that

20:35

you know, we've only met kind of in passing,

20:38

but he's the type of person that

20:40

immediately sort of puts you at ease. I

20:42

don't know how people do that, you

20:44

know, who are that

20:48

that well respected,

20:50

that famous, that that

20:52

type of a person that words

20:55

like genius have been applied to you

20:57

know so many times that a person

20:59

that is had such a musical

21:02

and impact on all

21:05

of our lives when they're able

21:07

to just make you feel like you're

21:09

just you know, talking you

21:11

know, to your dentist or whatever.

21:14

You know.

21:14

I mean, it's really it's really a nice it's

21:16

a nice it's a nice skill.

21:18

That he has in terms of that.

21:21

So yeah, I actually have

21:23

to stop you real quick. Okay, So you

21:27

have that same effect. I can't tell

21:29

you the amount of times that we've you know,

21:32

had people that have met you and have done work

21:34

with us that are like Kevin is

21:36

just you know, so easy to talk to and

21:40

and it's kind of disarming. I think, you know, and I

21:42

don't think. I think when people aren't used to being

21:44

around famous people, you know, they say, don't meet

21:46

your heroes, they're kind of nervous about that

21:48

bubble bursting. But I think similarly, you

21:51

have that effect. The first time I met

21:53

you, I was super nervous

21:55

because I was like, what what to

21:57

expect. I was also coming to work for you, so it's like

22:00

with being your first day on the job, right,

22:02

And I remember you

22:05

coming down from from the hotel with

22:07

with Michael, and you said I'll just ride

22:09

with you. And I'm like, okay,

22:11

and you jumped into my prius and I'm thinking,

22:15

I hope, do I need more insurance? But

22:17

if I came to a corrass it with Kevin Vacon,

22:20

like what does that mean? And

22:22

but you immediately started asking questions about my

22:25

family, you know, where I was from,

22:27

if I had siblings, and and really

22:29

taking like a like just an authentic

22:32

approach of like getting to know somebody. And

22:35

I do think that not everyone does that. I

22:38

mean, having done this work for a

22:40

good amount of time now almost a decade, tell

22:42

you that this is not always the case, you know,

22:44

and you so it's nice

22:47

to hear that Sir Paul McCartney is

22:49

also a real genuine

22:52

dude or sir I guess, yeah.

22:55

Oh yeah, yeah he really,

22:57

I mean he really is.

22:58

I mean I I of course

23:00

I would, you know, I love to

23:03

someday spend more time.

23:04

And you know, I mean the think about

23:06

it is that I

23:08

guess.

23:10

You have to kind of judge, uh,

23:14

you know how much somebody wants

23:16

to share about you

23:18

know, their work and and the things that

23:20

they've done, because you know, you're you know, with someone like

23:22

that, you can imagine that the just

23:28

so many people say, you know, you

23:30

just changed.

23:30

My life with that song. And I mean, you know, at

23:33

what point.

23:34

Do you keep do you keep responding to that

23:36

or do you still are you still open to hearing

23:38

that type of thing? It's who knows. But I

23:42

love the music. I

23:44

love the music with the Beatles. I

23:46

love the music.

23:47

Beyond the Beatles.

23:50

And uh, and I just think he's

23:52

a super super cool.

23:54

Guy and and and.

23:57

Yeah, I hope our paths cross again and

23:59

me this mondays, So I

24:02

am Are you a vegan

24:04

station?

24:05

No?

24:05

No, no, I have dabbled

24:07

in the vegan arts.

24:08

You've dabbled right, okay,

24:11

in the vegan arts. That's

24:13

funny. What

24:17

for? For how long were you?

24:19

So?

24:20

I decided that I was going to do you

24:23

know, like many people, January approaches

24:25

and you're like, I'm going to do I'm gonna eat

24:27

clean, right, So I

24:29

told my husband we were gonna eat clean for a month

24:32

and just kind of like reset start the year

24:34

off right. I guess what I didn't

24:36

tell him is that we were going to be doing vegan, which

24:40

he really protested pretty hard.

24:42

Oh really, I think he's almose, adamant people He's

24:44

like, I need meat to survive, like

24:46

I and he, you know, was very

24:48

cranky for about a week. But then he,

24:51

I think reset a little bit and was like,

24:53

okay, like we can

24:56

eat some pretty delicious.

24:57

Me I need my marriage more

25:00

exactly.

25:00

And it was then he also wasn't going to be in the kitchen

25:03

cooking every single meal, so I'm

25:05

like, you're eating what I'm cooking,

25:07

or you can definitely cook for yourself, which

25:10

she's not opposed to, but he's, you

25:13

know, if I'm cooking, he's gonna prefer to eat

25:15

that. So it was fine. We did it for thirty

25:17

days. I did feel

25:19

great. I'm not a big fan of like tofu

25:22

and things like that kind

25:25

it kind of almost gives me a headache.

25:28

Yeah, Tempe is a little.

25:30

Just kind of wheat wheat.

25:33

Yeah, I don't actually know.

25:35

I don't know that's soybean as well.

25:38

Okay, well don't quote me on this, folks. Vegan.

25:40

I know we're clearly not vegans here, but I

25:43

do like the idea of meat free, eating

25:46

meat free a few times a week. You

25:50

know, I like cheese,

25:53

so it would be a hard thing for me to go completely

25:56

vegan in that sense. But what

25:58

about you? Have you ever tried it?

26:01

No?

26:01

I well not vegan. I mean

26:04

I was a

26:07

vegetarian for a while.

26:09

But you know what's funny about that, I

26:11

have this, I have a little bit of a

26:13

bone to pick here, so to speak.

26:17

Shouldn't they're just if

26:21

you're a vegetarian, it's

26:24

in the word. You should just be eating

26:27

vegetables. So I don't really see why vegetarians

26:30

and vegans should be different. If you're

26:32

eating cheese and eggs

26:34

and occasionally fish, you're not a vegetarian.

26:37

I don't understand that. People say, but I'm

26:39

a vegetarian, but I eat.

26:43

You know, whatever animal

26:46

products. You know, it doesn't make any

26:48

sense to me. So that being said, I

26:50

was a vegetarian for quite a few

26:52

years. I was one of those you

26:54

know, I call it a bageltarian

26:58

because basically you're vegetar

27:00

Harriet, but you eat cheese and bagels all the time,

27:03

and pizza and you know all those

27:05

things. It was really

27:07

because I was dating a girl who you

27:09

know, wouldn't have wouldn't

27:13

go out with me if I was gonna eat you.

27:15

Know, bacon.

27:21

Your last name, but I will not eat.

27:23

Yes, exactly.

27:24

Yeah, And

27:26

and you know, I now I

27:30

don't eat pigs anymore, and

27:33

it's it's makes no sense at all. But

27:35

I love my pigs so much, Jude and Johnny

27:37

that the idea it just changed my

27:39

mind about eating them.

27:42

And somebody once said to me, say, well, you don't have

27:44

to eat your pigs. You could eat other people's

27:46

pigs, and I said,

27:48

that's fine.

27:49

I don't eat lamb.

27:52

I don't like Okra, but that's

27:55

just because I don't like Okra slimy.

27:58

The Okra thing. I don't know it at all.

28:00

Okay, it's not my thing.

28:02

All right, when when you're coming over from dinner, we're

28:04

not having oak or okay, you

28:07

know. So I got a couple of things that I'm not that

28:10

crazy about, not eating goats.

28:12

I mean, maybe it's just that I

28:14

don't know.

28:15

Just the animals we have where I'm not eating.

28:17

But I don't know.

28:19

But I do certainly

28:21

do have at least

28:24

a day a week of meatlessness.

28:28

I don't really know why.

28:29

I mean, partly because I kind of feel like it's

28:32

fun to experiment with different things to eat.

28:34

I mean, I like to do that all the.

28:36

Time, with with all different kinds

28:39

of food, whether

28:41

it's you know, trying I

28:43

don't know, suh or you

28:46

know, or something Indonesian

28:49

or or you know, going to

28:51

a you know, an African restaurant

28:54

or or you know whatever, just trying

28:56

different you know things. Yeah,

28:59

I love food and I

29:04

and I think it's interesting, you know, I just

29:07

having some friends over. I

29:09

actually think it's kind of interesting that people

29:12

are starting to look

29:15

closely at the food that they

29:17

eat and the things that they put

29:19

in their bodies. And hopefully we'll continue, as

29:22

we were talking about on the podcast, to look at the

29:25

source of the foods.

29:27

That we're eating. I mean, it is a really.

29:30

Sometimes frightening and overwhelming thing,

29:33

but it is also great

29:35

to kind of be, you know, aware

29:38

of what it is that you.

29:40

Know, you're willing to put in your body.

29:42

But I have some friends coming over

29:45

for dinner, and later on in the week and

29:48

reached out to my buddy and I

29:51

said, okay, just remind me what's

29:54

the dietary thing. And

29:57

he can't have anything that

30:01

has any kind of nuts in it.

30:03

And that's like a serious

30:06

allergy.

30:06

Though no it's a serious no, no, no, it's really

30:08

bad. He's got the EPI pen and the whole

30:10

thing ready to go. Yeah, he's yeah,

30:14

he said to me once you

30:16

know, you know, it's not a real party until

30:18

the EpiPen comes out. So

30:22

he's a very funny guy. He's very used to this. But

30:24

also no seafood and

30:26

then I was like okay now, and then

30:29

also gluten free, so

30:31

so you know, it presents challenges,

30:33

but that's that to me is what's really kind

30:36

of fun about about food and stuff is when

30:38

you go, okay, well, you know, working within

30:40

these parameters, whether it's veganism or

30:43

or you know, allergies or whatever, you

30:45

can you know, experiment with new

30:47

ways to create something

30:51

delicious.

30:52

And I'm up

30:54

for the challenge.

30:56

Yeah.

30:56

Absolutely, that

30:58

was a good That was a really good question, Ali

31:02

Bacanism eating clean.

31:05

There's a lot to unpack there. Let's

31:12

jump in. Our next question

31:14

is actually a caller in from

31:17

Jack Thomas.

31:19

Hey, Kevin, my name is Jack Thomas pronounced

31:21

shib. I'm recording today because

31:24

I want to ask what is your personal experience

31:26

and your opinion on the link between

31:28

creative education, mental health and

31:31

creative careers. I'm an artist

31:33

and former art educator who has

31:35

watched art and music and theater programs

31:37

be the first to go, or at

31:39

least the first impacted when budget cuts

31:42

happen. This seems to mostly affect districts

31:44

that serve low income and BIPOP kids, speaking

31:46

from personal experience here. Consequently,

31:49

these kids, just like I did, often grow up

31:51

with basically no support for creativity

31:53

as a mental health lifeline, and they definitely

31:56

do not think of creative fields when they

31:58

think about viable career paths.

32:00

Way too many of us get their way too, Lay.

32:02

I really love the work that my friend David Greiner

32:04

formerly A Bad Week, is doing with Brian Reynolds

32:07

through their recently launched nonprofit Creative

32:09

Ladder, but they can only do so much.

32:11

They're just one ord.

32:13

So what I'm asking is if you

32:15

could send a message to public school systems

32:17

and the US about the link between creative

32:19

education, mental health, and career success,

32:21

especially in creative fields.

32:23

What would it be?

32:24

Hey, Jack, thank you so much for

32:26

this question. I

32:30

am a very very

32:32

strong supporter of

32:36

the arts when it comes to mental

32:38

health, and certainly starting

32:42

with kids. I

32:45

was incredibly lucky to

32:48

be raised in a household where

32:50

creative expression was

32:52

put on a giant pedestal

32:55

by my parents. They

32:57

really didn't care what are great?

33:00

Were like, they really didn't.

33:01

Give us any kind of messaging

33:04

to a fault in terms of

33:06

like how.

33:07

To make money.

33:10

And they weren't big fans

33:12

of sports.

33:15

But uh, and I'm

33:17

not putting down sports and education and

33:20

and and money. But

33:22

when it came to doing something creative,

33:24

that was put on a pedestal, and it

33:27

was make a make

33:29

a drawing, sculpt

33:32

something, create a costume,

33:34

do a dance, write yourself a

33:36

song, write a play, pick up an instrument,

33:41

do anything of

33:43

a of a of a creative nature.

33:45

And it was so informative

33:48

for me, and not only that, it was

33:50

so important

33:52

to.

33:52

My own mental

33:55

health. Uh. You know, I've often talked

33:57

about it. I've talked about it on the podcast.

33:59

Of getting into an

34:03

acting class as a as a young

34:05

kid and all of a sudden feeling

34:11

safe and feeling like I had a

34:13

place that I could

34:16

express myself in a way that I really wasn't

34:18

able to in school or

34:20

on the street. You know, a

34:23

lot a lot of it was wrapped up and being a boy

34:25

and you know, trying to be tough all the time

34:28

and survive, and all of a sudden

34:30

in the acting classes, you know, I could just

34:32

kind of be anything that I wanted to be. And

34:35

in terms of music in

34:37

the public school system at that time,

34:40

if you wanted an instrument, you could get an instrument.

34:43

They would have. This is in Philadelphia.

34:46

You know.

34:46

It would start, you know, as a as a

34:49

little kid with a recorder and they

34:51

just gave you this, you know, plastic

34:54

recorder and you would play

34:56

this little kind of flute thing and figure out

34:58

putting your fingers on it and and learn

35:00

a song. And then from that point on,

35:03

if you wanted music lessons, if you wanted to

35:05

be in the school band, it

35:08

was it was always always

35:10

there for you. And those programs are

35:13

as, as you pointed out, the first to go

35:17

when Cutts happened. Stacey

35:20

and I with six degrees, have been involved

35:23

in a couple of sort of creative

35:26

and music based

35:29

organizations, one of which was called

35:31

Rock in the Future, which is in.

35:34

Philadelphia, which is my

35:36

hometown.

35:38

And what they do is they provide places

35:41

for you know, underserved

35:44

communities and kids

35:46

to make music, to play instruments,

35:49

to record, to put

35:51

bands together. You know, these

35:55

things are happening in classical

35:57

and in visual arts and all the all this.

36:00

But you're right, it is.

36:01

It is extremely important. And

36:05

you know, I'm sure

36:07

there's a lot tremendous amount of research

36:09

and information about uh,

36:13

you know, kids and and their own mental

36:15

health and you know, around

36:17

being able to have creative expression.

36:20

But you know what I always like to just

36:23

you know, kind of point

36:25

the point, the example

36:27

of which is when people are playing music,

36:30

Uh, nobody's getting hurt. You know, no

36:32

one's shooting each other, right, no

36:35

one's you know, you know, you know, you're not fighting.

36:37

You know, you're you're, you're, you're you

36:40

know.

36:40

You're you're you're making music and

36:42

and it's got to be it's

36:44

got to be a positive thing.

36:46

Do you thinks, Dave, oh, one hundred

36:48

percent. And that's actually one of the core

36:50

ways we know Rock to the Futures using it as

36:52

a tool to reduce gun violence and to

36:55

create outlets. We're also

36:57

you know, when we interviewed the

36:59

different students through these different

37:01

network partners, they all said

37:03

the same kind of underlying

37:05

thing, which was that they felt like this

37:08

created space for them to be

37:11

safe, to have

37:13

community. They felt like they were seen

37:16

and listened to. There

37:18

was a real belonging, which

37:21

we know has a direct effect to someone's mental

37:24

health and mental wellness. So, you

37:27

know, looping back to Jack's really

37:30

thoughtful submission,

37:34

I think that the education systems need

37:36

I think we as constituents

37:38

of them, need to figure out a better way to ensure

37:41

that kids have access to the

37:44

arts, whether it's to music

37:46

or performance. But

37:49

these types of outlets are so

37:51

critical in giving

37:55

young people a way to express

37:57

themselves

37:59

and to have something of their own.

38:03

Yeah, that great, That was a great question,

38:06

and thank you Jack, Thanks thanks

38:08

for that. Yeah, we're

38:12

I want to look into this organization

38:14

that she mentioned around

38:16

the that I

38:19

guess right, Ryan Reynolds maybe is in

38:21

Bob with something, so we should check that out.

38:23

That's how it's cool.

38:23

Yeah, definitely, definitely, we'll put the information

38:26

in the in the notes. We're

38:28

going to do one last quick

38:30

question before we wrap up today's awesome

38:32

episode, all right, and this

38:35

one is from Lex Lumier.

38:37

I hope I'm pronouncing your last name correctly.

38:40

Lex, who's from the US Department

38:43

of Arts and Culture.

38:45

Hell loove Kevin. My name is Lex lamer I'm

38:48

a citizen artist and cultural partner with the

38:50

United States Department of Arts and Culture. February

38:53

seventh of twenty twenty, I

38:56

was volunteering for the Tim Tebow

38:59

Night to Shine event at

39:01

Houston First And this church is

39:03

older than the state of Texas, so

39:05

one hundred years ago, there would be no dancing

39:08

and no music being played other than

39:10

you know, the worship team.

39:14

What I thought was really interesting is as the

39:16

decorations were going up for this

39:18

event, which is a really amazing event for

39:20

special needs for them to have a prom

39:23

on their own, so it's really sweet, and

39:26

people were coming in. It was just a really nice

39:28

time, and Your

39:30

Footloose song came on from the film

39:33

and this film was like, I really like this song,

39:35

and I thought, this is amazing. Out

39:37

of all places there are playing this song in

39:39

this church that's posting a dance for

39:42

people, because you know, one hundred years ago that would have happened.

39:44

And I just wanted to ask you what you

39:46

think about the openness and

39:50

the inclusion of

39:52

the arts into you

39:54

know, churches and facilities of spiritual

39:57

practice. You know what you think about that

40:00

is just amazed and impressed at the same time.

40:03

Hey, thanks like so much for that

40:05

that question.

40:06

Uh, it's

40:08

interesting.

40:09

Let me let me You're tied a

40:11

lot of things together that have actually been

40:15

a part of my life. Coincidentally,

40:18

the first one that you mentioned is Footloots,

40:20

right where there's a there's a town and

40:23

uh, and people are not allowed

40:25

to dance and the and the

40:28

the rules are set by this

40:30

minister in the town and played by

40:32

John Letgow and the you know, it's

40:35

it's

40:37

this this, this kind of creative expression

40:40

is looked at as anti

40:43

religion.

40:44

Uh.

40:45

And It's been a while since I've seen the movie,

40:47

but I think I used the Bible when I talked

40:49

to the town council and say

40:52

that there were

40:54

I think there's a quote about in

40:56

the Bible about leaping and dancing.

40:59

Yeah, I'm in the church. Has

41:02

let me let me first frame this.

41:04

By saying, I'm not what I would consider

41:07

a spiritual person, and I don't

41:09

go to church at this point in my life,

41:13

but the church

41:16

has always been a place

41:19

where there has been art, I mean incredible

41:21

art.

41:24

You know, all in the beginning

41:26

of the visual arts that

41:28

that was all the art that was made was you

41:31

know, iconography and the

41:34

religious paintings of religious art.

41:36

In fact, when.

41:37

It's kind of moved away from there, you

41:39

know, that was the blasphemous

41:42

you know, time was when people started painting

41:44

things that weren't religious.

41:48

And music, uh for sure,

41:50

and and dance, and in all kinds

41:52

of religious practices there's music

41:54

and dance and art, and so I think there is a

41:57

there is a very powerful connection, and

41:59

of course I would encourage

42:02

that in places of worship that

42:05

people experience art.

42:06

And the other reason is because.

42:09

If you are, you know, trying

42:11

to get to cut a higher you

42:13

know, kind of personal plane. And maybe this connects

42:15

to the last the

42:18

question we were talking about in terms of mental

42:20

health. You know, music certainly,

42:23

and dance as well, you know, can be calming

42:28

and can take you to other

42:30

kind of realms of consciousness.

42:32

I think, you know, even staring at a

42:35

picture of a beautiful portrait

42:37

or a beautiful.

42:39

Landscape or whatever.

42:40

I mean, I think that I think there's a

42:42

a very strong connection.

42:45

I couldn't agree more. And

42:48

I come from I don't want to say the

42:50

other side, but I probably

42:52

would consider myself spiritual.

42:55

But for me, when I'm like

42:57

singing or to use

43:00

sexist words like worshiping, I

43:02

feel closeness to you

43:05

know who. I believe

43:07

my creator to be right more so than

43:09

any other time. And I think a lot of people, like

43:11

you said, with lots of different cultures, different

43:13

religions around the world. That's actually what my degree

43:16

is in my under undergrad degree is religious

43:19

world studies. And

43:22

so I always found it really fascinating to see

43:24

the connections of different religions

43:27

and groups of people. I

43:29

found that there was way more in common than

43:32

not. We tend to focus on than

43:34

not the things that we don't have in

43:36

common that drive a wedge

43:39

instead of like the overwhelming majority

43:42

of things that we are so similar

43:44

in. So

43:46

yeah, no, and I think

43:49

I actually have spent some time in

43:51

places in the world where you see this like convergence

43:54

that I believe Lex was speaking to, where

43:57

what seems to be these unlikely elements

44:01

are coming together at this focal point and

44:03

you feel like like you're standing

44:05

in awe of something that's really cool that's

44:07

happening. Yea, I think

44:10

the world needs more of that. I think

44:12

we need to have more opportunities

44:15

to see these different

44:17

elements, seemingly different elements, you know, come

44:19

together. I

44:22

think we'd be in a better place.

44:24

Yeah. Yeah.

44:26

And I'll also tell you something else, Lex that

44:28

you might find interesting, and that is that when

44:31

I was a little boy. My

44:34

father never went to church. He

44:37

was raised a Quaker and had

44:39

sort of, I don't know, sort of walked

44:41

away from the Quaker meeting and

44:44

it wasn't in his life.

44:47

But my mother had found this

44:49

church in our neighborhood that she was very

44:51

involved with, and it was a Unitarian

44:54

church, which is one of those religions where

44:56

it's supposed to be very inclusive of

44:58

all religions.

45:01

And she would go all the time.

45:03

And there was a minister

45:05

at this Unitarian church who

45:09

was I guess, I guess

45:11

he would and nowadays call him a progressive

45:14

kind of minister. And he loved

45:16

theater. He really was

45:19

obsessed with theater. So the very first

45:21

acting that I ever did was

45:24

in church because

45:26

he would sometimes take little

45:29

sections of plays

45:31

I guess they were, and

45:33

use them to kind of put a point

45:35

across in his certainments.

45:39

And sometimes there were parts for

45:42

a young man or a child,

45:44

I guess, because I was going to be very little,

45:47

and so I would go and

45:51

that was really where I first, you know, was you

45:53

know, learned how to act

45:55

and had to learn lines, and you

45:58

know, got nervous and did all the stuff.

46:00

Was h was at the at the.

46:02

Unitarian Church of Philadelphia and in Centara

46:06

City, Philadelphia, and

46:08

so that was a definite connection

46:11

of of the arts and

46:14

the spiritual

46:16

place.

46:16

Of port a Star

46:18

was born. You hear that story all the time. I

46:21

feel like so many singers

46:24

that you want to win Grammys, like

46:26

they started in the church, absolutely

46:29

because that's where they could sing, you know, their

46:32

craft every Sunday. Yeah,

46:35

that's a very very good question.

46:36

Thanks Lex, Thank you Lex. That's

46:40

a wrap, all right, Well, this was fun.

46:42

Thank you, Stacy Sure

46:46

and folks, I hope you're enjoying

46:48

these Ask Kevin almost

46:51

anything episodes. We're having a good time with

46:53

them. And uh, you know, keep the keep

46:55

the questions coming. I

46:58

really find this really fascinating.

47:00

It's always it's always interesting because

47:04

you guys out there are you know, kind

47:06

of doing our jobs in a way, you know, try to

47:09

highlight and find interesting causes

47:11

and people who are or have great stories.

47:14

It's it's it's uh, it's it's a

47:16

lot of fun and it's a lot of fun to hang out with

47:18

you.

47:18

Stacey same, I'm enjoying

47:20

it. Keep the questions coming. If

47:27

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