My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark XX
[0] This is exactly right.
[1] And welcome to my favorite murder.
[2] That's Georgia Hartstar.
[3] Thank you.
[4] That's Karen Kilgara.
[5] You're welcome.
[6] We're proud to be here with you this week.
[7] Talking about true crime.
[8] Yep.
[9] Talking about whatever the fuck we want.
[10] Yeah.
[11] Maybe we'll recommend a book or two for your reading pleasure.
[12] What?
[13] Maybe we'll have an anecdote about a wonderful thing.
[14] Maybe there's correction corners.
[15] Oh, up the wazoo.
[16] Always and forever.
[17] Should I kick off with the emergency correction corner?
[18] Oh, shit.
[19] I didn't know we had one.
[20] This is an emergency.
[21] Oh, my God.
[22] Oh, my God.
[23] Okay.
[24] What did we do?
[25] Well, we can actually blame it on home gym because.
[26] Oh, yeah.
[27] This is an emergency.
[28] It's an emergency.
[29] You cannot put out a grease fire with flour.
[30] You cannot.
[31] You've been listening.
[32] Or if you haven't, please don't try to put out a, we've been giving false information.
[33] Dangerous.
[34] false spreading lies.
[35] Apparently, my dad's been retired long enough from the San Francisco Fire Department that he doesn't know how to put fires out anymore.
[36] I think it's sad.
[37] You think it's funny.
[38] Whatever.
[39] But we've got, I got lots and lots of tweets with people who are related to firemen who are sitting next to one at the time who, here's my favorite, just went to kindergarten and learned some basics.
[40] Learn the basics.
[41] Well, but I never, I always just thought it was a, I was happy to take his information and be like this is what I also have already not sure.
[42] This is the way families grow up ignorant.
[43] If Tom Jim doesn't know, then who among us is to know?
[44] But I do, I will defend him by saying that he did do that thing where he said, I think so.
[45] And maybe it was the flower that was getting him.
[46] Well, that's all you can expect him.
[47] My favorite murder is a solid.
[48] I think so with a question mark at the end.
[49] We're setting you, the listener up to help us.
[50] We need you to help us.
[51] We're trying to to get you to participate.
[52] This is an interactive podcast.
[53] This is a choose -your -own -adventure podcast.
[54] This is an intervention podcast where someone's going to walk in and say, enough is enough.
[55] Your stove's on fire.
[56] Your show's burning down, don't you care?
[57] And then that's when George and I grab hands and run into the sea.
[58] So, yeah, only use salt, baking soda or a wet towel.
[59] If you're even going to attempt to put out a grease fire, obviously fire.
[60] Extranger is your best bet, but those are hard to use.
[61] Someone told me I read online, too, that those, like, there's a green bottle one that's specifically for grease fires and then the red ones are for firefighters.
[62] They, like, they, they might cause the same problem.
[63] I had, you know what, here's the thing.
[64] Stop making bacon and fucking around.
[65] And stop making your favorite murder podcaster is your firefighters and your information about.
[66] And stop being mad because I pose as a firefighter and then get mad at you.
[67] when I give you the wrong information.
[68] Stop giving us good information.
[69] We're going to fight it every step of the way.
[70] Well, that's good to know.
[71] Hopefully we cleared that up for you.
[72] Let's all look up.
[73] Everyone right now, look up ways to put out fires.
[74] That's it.
[75] You know how to get red wine out of a dress.
[76] You should also know how to put out certain different kinds of fires.
[77] How about this?
[78] It's all salt.
[79] The answer is salt for everything.
[80] It's getting red wine out of a dress.
[81] It's putting out fires.
[82] It's rubbing into wounds.
[83] Whatever you need.
[84] It's making your food delicious.
[85] My favorite thing was people sending me pictures of other people's notes from their phone.
[86] Like it literally, or like a part of a Facebook post where I'm like, could we get a source on this?
[87] If my dad's not sure, why should I believe your iPhone note that just has a written list?
[88] That's still not a better source.
[89] Okay.
[90] Here's another listener generated piece of advice of safety advice randomly that I was going to read and it kind of goes along with it.
[91] So on Instagram, someone whose name is A underscore Nolf, they were doing like a deep Reddit dive about the Delphi murders, which I covered a while back.
[92] And the piece of advice they gave is, apparently you can set up your phone so that if you push the power button twice and said it's probably different depending on your phone, but there's a button on everyone's phone.
[93] And if you press it, the phone will take a picture of what's in front of you, behind you, and a five second video.
[94] And then all of that will get sent to your emergency contact.
[95] So like if you're my emergency contact, you'll know I'm in distress.
[96] It'll send you that information so you have it in case something goes wrong.
[97] And that's an app or that's already on the iPhone.
[98] It's already a feature of your phone, which I want to try, but I'm not going to.
[99] And I guess you probably have to set up an emergency.
[100] Steven's laughing.
[101] Is this just total bullshit?
[102] No, I've no idea.
[103] I've never heard of this before.
[104] Steven, is this a creepy pasta safety tip?
[105] Let's do it.
[106] But I don't think I have anyone set up as an emergency contact.
[107] So I don't know if it'll work.
[108] What if it just sends it to my ex?
[109] Because I haven't set up my emergency.
[110] Yeah, I was going to say.
[111] For real, I was just like, who would my emergency contact be?
[112] That's a sad moment.
[113] It's me. Yeah, but would you come over like 3 a .m.?
[114] No, I'd be like, she must have sat on her phone.
[115] Vince, Vince, go check.
[116] I try to call you.
[117] She's not picking up.
[118] I'm just going to.
[119] I'm going to make my neighbor, my neighbor that I just met recently, my emergency contact.
[120] Hi, can you be my best friend and my emergency contact?
[121] Can you pick me up at the airport?
[122] What else?
[123] I think that finding out your emergency settings on your phone is probably a really good thing to have.
[124] That's a good thing.
[125] Oh, maybe we go into, speaking of emergency settings, of safety.
[126] Lots and lots of people We all went into this This week This was something that happened on The internet And And I don't think No one missed it No not one person missed it And not one person didn't send it to me Samantha Hartso is her name On TikTok Who felt wind blowing from behind her mirror Yeah Took her mirror down only to discover There was an opening her medicine cabinet behind her her medicine cabinet mirror right yeah takes it off the wall in her apartment her roommates watch her go laughingly good job so she goes through the wall and there's an entire empty apartment hidden and she starts walking in it and mind you and this is the thing that like I was talking with my friends last night about she it wasn't like a space where she could like just kind of bend down and go it was like she had to contort herself to go through the mirror hole and then was walking freely around an apartment the contents of which she did not know yeah a huge looked like abandoned apartment but here's the thing I knew that that was a thing that they build them like that because my sister used to live in this like old you know I think it was like just pre -war apartment in Culver City and had that same issue because every morning the person who who shared a wall with her they would be getting they would be getting ready on either side of the medicine cabinet and then there would just be you could see them there would be like a little gap and they'd sometimes make eye contact like the smallest gap that you could see a sliver of each other's eyes and they'd both be getting ready and then there would just be this awkward moment of like to be acknowledge that we're basically roommates right now.
[127] Yeah.
[128] And you could, yeah, just take out the mirror and fucking go into each other's apartments.
[129] You're not safe anywhere.
[130] There's nowhere you're safe.
[131] It's a, the idea that with a big smile on her face and like with TikTok in her heart, she went into a question mark space and then kind of just fucked around.
[132] When she went down those stairs, I was like, this is not going to end well.
[133] No. You think you're in the safety of TikTok, but yes no it no and she but she did lock that door when she got down to the bottom of the stairs this is like a this is a tick talk recap podcast but everybody congratulations samantha because you were the character of the week on twitter and not in a bad way in a like in a way where we were all scared for you we were there with you you're very brave i thought i was very proud but at the same time like why are you doing it it ended well a hammer's not enough a hammer's not enough if you're going to go into a space like that.
[134] Because even it could be like there's going to be a squatter there who's like stop filming me and angry.
[135] The Blair Witch could be there with her back turned in the corner right?
[136] And then you're like wait, there's someone in the corner with their back turn.
[137] I'm going to go tap on her shoulder.
[138] Ma 'am?
[139] Ma 'am, are you okay?
[140] I'm the girl from TikTok.
[141] The end.
[142] She comes back.
[143] Her eyes are weird.
[144] She starts eating a roommate.
[145] Good for her.
[146] I'm happy for And good for her if she does.
[147] I'm happy for.
[148] I'm so happy.
[149] Congratulations, Samantha.
[150] Congratulations, Samantha.
[151] Even the fucking New York Post picked up your story.
[152] It's pretty sweet.
[153] It was a good one and it was like it was really, she just was basically like, you know what, we're in quarantine.
[154] Oh, yeah.
[155] This is happening to me. I'm going to create some content for all of us.
[156] Yeah.
[157] And it blew up.
[158] She did it.
[159] We love an internet success story.
[160] We love a viral TikTok success story.
[161] That's for.
[162] I hear she's getting a. a DIY show on HGTV now.
[163] Good for her.
[164] Samantha and her hammer.
[165] I love it.
[166] Okay, what else?
[167] Well, I made a chicken.
[168] A whole one?
[169] Yes, didn't I show you?
[170] Congratulations.
[171] I'm going to text you this picture right now.
[172] Is it roasted and broasted?
[173] It was roasted.
[174] The barefoot contessa taught me how.
[175] And I made a tweet in it, but honestly, because my sister, anytime I ask my sister how to do something, she's like, just look up in a garden.
[176] knows I'm going to make everything.
[177] There's always videos.
[178] Like that's Laura's advice across the board.
[179] I agree with her.
[180] Yes.
[181] And in this chicken roasting video Oh, she's the best.
[182] It starts with Eindegard and looking in the camera and going, I could do this in my sleeve.
[183] And I was like, whoever you, that's what I said.
[184] That's hilarious.
[185] Did you see the tweet?
[186] No, I'm literally.
[187] I did that quote and wrote yes, bitch.
[188] And then proceeded to watch the video truly like 10 times because she's so good at it and soothing and it really was so simple.
[189] Did she put the butter under the skin, which is the grossest thing to do, but it really does make it better.
[190] Did she do that?
[191] She we basted the top of the skin we didn't do underneath, but my mom used to do that to the Thanksgiving turkey.
[192] Yeah, big pats of butter underneath.
[193] Yeah.
[194] Stuffing it in there.
[195] Let's take a look.
[196] Long fingernails shoving like butter and spices under dead poultry skin.
[197] Don't do that.
[198] Well, she had clean hands.
[199] my mom.
[200] I'm sure she did.
[201] I didn't need it.
[202] I didn't mean to insinuate your mother was filthy.
[203] How day?
[204] Okay, wait.
[205] Here's my chicken final form.
[206] It was really fun and easy.
[207] Boom.
[208] Check that out.
[209] Who, Karen!
[210] This makes you honorary Jew.
[211] Really?
[212] Why?
[213] Because we Jews are greater roaster chicken.
[214] This is like...
[215] Is that true?
[216] Uh -huh.
[217] Look at you even tied up its little legs.
[218] I found some string in my drawer that I saw.
[219] saved like a weird little pack rat and I was like I have twine is that cauliflower hell yeah that's innovative that's all the vegetables I had I didn't have any good root vegetables so I just threw onions and cauliflower that's all you need it's beautiful I wish I could have some right now I'm hungry there's I have so much the only problem is that I now have I'm living in chicken it's ridiculous it's everywhere all the time but it used to it was it seemed so intimidating for so long.
[220] And I think it's just one of the side effects of quarantine, which I am grateful for, which is I put aside all of my cooking negative top and just started actually doing it.
[221] Like, who cares if you mess it up?
[222] You're here anyway.
[223] Yeah.
[224] Well, good.
[225] I didn't make it.
[226] Vince made corned beef and cabbage.
[227] We're all about the slow cooker in the house.
[228] Oh, good.
[229] Nice.
[230] You should bust that out.
[231] Oh, I got an air fryer because you guys all told me I had to get one, but I haven't used it yet.
[232] But fucking.
[233] They're all the rage.
[234] People really love those things, so Zara Friars.
[235] Apparently, I'll try anything.
[236] This is just after, it's not really a correction because this was more the way this listener let me know about this really felt more like a celebration.
[237] Plus their name on Twitter is Mad Mac Murderina.
[238] Great.
[239] And they said, almost peed my pants listening to today's episode.
[240] When you talk about Yara Grayjoy going up against the detector in.
[241] I didn't notice that at all.
[242] I saw that.
[243] That's when I get really excited because, you know, that thing you do when you're talking and thinking at the same time where you're like, oh, what's the word I'm about to say?
[244] Because in England, they don't call them, you know, this.
[245] And then I'm like, what do they call them?
[246] I watch so much British TV.
[247] I know what they call them.
[248] And then, of course, that's what I say.
[249] She wrote, played it back six times, right?
[250] Sounded good to me. Played it back six times to make sure I wasn't just mentally fatigued.
[251] Thank you for the joy spoken word dyslexia is real.
[252] Hell yeah.
[253] And then she did hashtag it me. And we know that because it happens quite frankly when you do a podcast for five years.
[254] When you have, yeah, when you have five years of yourself recorded, there's going to be a lot.
[255] And, you know, I have some classic ones that I still use to this day.
[256] Legendary.
[257] So it's going to happen.
[258] And hopefully what's the big one that I can't think of right now?
[259] Stephen, what was it?
[260] We called that episode.
[261] Oh, perclivity.
[262] Perclivity.
[263] Perclensity.
[264] Preclensity.
[265] Which I now use.
[266] It works.
[267] It works in many.
[268] It just worked.
[269] I refuse to admit that it's wrong.
[270] Oh, I have a couple pieces of news.
[271] Oh.
[272] What is it?
[273] Things that are in the news.
[274] Oh.
[275] One of them you might have sent me. Oh, you did.
[276] That the Kendrick Johnson case that I covered, Stephen, if you can find out what episode that was that I covered it, where the young high school boy was found dead, rolled in a gym mat at his school, and it was ruled accidental.
[277] I don't have a lot of information, but it's being reopened.
[278] It was 2013 and the case is being reopened, which was like all his parents wanted because there were some issues with other kids at school that he was fighting with.
[279] There was some missing time on the surveillance camera at school.
[280] And then some like evidence burn.
[281] So it was really suspicious.
[282] So even if they just look into it and found that there was wrongdoing in the way that it was investigated, you know, I think there's room for that at least.
[283] Yes.
[284] Just the idea that it's being like just everything's being analyzed and looked at is very good news.
[285] I'm really happy to hear that one.
[286] When was that, Stephen?
[287] It was in April of 2020 and it was episode 2, 16, April 2nd.
[288] Awesome.
[289] Thank you.
[290] Yeah.
[291] So we'll keep our eye out for more information on that.
[292] Oh, and then, did you send?
[293] Oh, Stephen sent us this, that Elizabeth Banks is set to direct the bear -centric thriller about the cocaine bear.
[294] Yes.
[295] Yeah.
[296] Which I'm just happy it's happening.
[297] I think today I got 50 tweets about that.
[298] See, I'm not on Twitter, so I don't see this.
[299] Yeah.
[300] Cool.
[301] What else?
[302] Do you have anything in that genre?
[303] Well, I just finished a book.
[304] I want to brag because I finished a book.
[305] Congratulations.
[306] Look, it's not, I have a hard time.
[307] No, I mean it.
[308] I literally have to drag my finger along, like that little two -year -old girl.
[309] Oh, yeah.
[310] So the author Elena Ferrante, who wrote my brilliant friend, which is a series on, I believe, HBO.
[311] Yeah.
[312] She has a new book called The Lying Life of Adults.
[313] And I loved my lovely friend, Jamie Filipini, who is what I used to call my normal friend, because she wasn't a stand -up comic and she wasn't in show business.
[314] um and she's been a friend for a long time and she just sent me this book and she's like I got it and I'm like wait I got this weird book and then she texted me and she's like I just finished it I think you're gonna like it was just like one of those things I'm like surprise surprise quarantine gifts is the best feeling yeah it's a teenage girl who is changing over from being kind of an innocent only child where her two parents like it's just this family that she is regular and she goes through an adult adolescence thing, but it's kind of that thing of like as you grow up as a girl and you get an idea in your head about yourself.
[315] And then you start acting based on this truth that you've made up about yourself.
[316] Is it current day?
[317] Yes, I believe so.
[318] That's so funny.
[319] I'm reading a similar book about a young woman, a growing young woman who's coming into herself.
[320] What's it called?
[321] But, okay, it's called the Book of Longings.
[322] And it's by.
[323] Sue Monk Kid, K -I -D -B, who I've mentioned before, beautiful poetic writer.
[324] She wrote The Invention of Wings and the Secret Life of Bees.
[325] So this one is about a young woman coming into her adulthood, but it takes place in the first century in Israel.
[326] Ooh.
[327] And she's going to be like, fucking given away into marriage, but she's so smart and worldly and, like, learning about God.
[328] She's Jewish.
[329] And she, this is a spoiler, but not really, because it's what it's about.
[330] She meet cute.
[331] She meets a boy who's like under her in class, like in her class ranking.
[332] But he is an outcast from his town of Nazareth where he's from.
[333] The J -Man?
[334] They fucking have a meet cute and fall in love.
[335] And his name is it.
[336] Jesus.
[337] It's so, I was not expecting it because I was like, I'm just going to not even read the, I'm just going to listen to it because I love her right.
[338] Sue Munt Kids writing.
[339] And then I was like, hold on.
[340] His mother's name is Mary.
[341] Hold on.
[342] Like, I didn't figure it out.
[343] That is the ultimate.
[344] So beautiful.
[345] And I, you know, I'm not.
[346] It's just really lovely and like heartfelt.
[347] And yeah, right.
[348] That's great.
[349] So this is, the title of this book is Jesus's first girlfriend.
[350] Jesus's first love.
[351] It's called the Book of Law.
[352] it's called who I was seeing at the time you know when people do that we're like my girlfriend they're telling you a story and they're like my girlfriend at the time right really I get it it's not now because I think people are like now coming out the like Jesus had a wife like that's a thing I dare you I'm maybe I'm totally wrong maybe you don't put I'm putting grease fire I'm putting flour on the grease fire flame you are this the perfect no no no you know you're thinking of that you're right, but you're thinking of my favorite book ever written the Da Vinci Code, which is that Mary Magdalene, that Mary Magdalene was Jesus' wife and that there, that the, that the, that the, um, ark of the covenant.
[353] Yeah, not the arc of the covenant.
[354] Noah's art. Holy Grail, sorry.
[355] Yeah.
[356] The Holy Grail is actually Jesus's child.
[357] Oh.
[358] That's that, that, that it's a symbol.
[359] Whatever.
[360] Okay.
[361] That, so basically there's a, there's a bloodline of Jesus' family on Earth.
[362] Okay.
[363] Is the idea.
[364] Well, I don't know anything about that.
[365] Well, I would love for you to watch DaVinci Code 1 and 2 with me. Is it good?
[366] And really, we'll just take a journey through Tom Hanks making terrible hair decisions.
[367] All right.
[368] I have another book recommendation, but I took this one from our friend of the the family.
[369] Rachel McCarthy James, who is the co -author of my favorite favorite book, The Man from the Train.
[370] If you haven't read The Man from the Train and you like true crime, it is...
[371] Stop yelling at me. I'm mind -blowing.
[372] I just want to reread it.
[373] But she just recommended a book.
[374] So this is actually not a recommendation, but this is the book I'm picking to read after this because I just finished.
[375] The other one, an author named Elon Green, is a writer, a very accomplished writer.
[376] He wrote a, it's a true crime book called Last Call, a true story of love, lust, and murder in queer New York.
[377] And it's the story of the last call killer.
[378] That's right.
[379] From the 90s.
[380] Yeah.
[381] Yes.
[382] And I cannot wait to read it.
[383] It's that the reviews are amazing.
[384] And Rachel McCarthy -Janes recommended it today on Twitter and was basically like, this is going to be amazing.
[385] But then did a thing, which we always love, she linked it to her local independent bookstore.
[386] Great.
[387] So if you can buy books from independent bookstores when you're buying your new book, do that.
[388] Beautiful.
[389] Best move you can do.
[390] I love that.
[391] This corner completely provided by Rachel McCarthy -James lifted entirely from her Twitter feet.
[392] But with credit.
[393] Yes.
[394] But with credit.
[395] And I still need to read the man from the train or around the train, in the train on the train.
[396] From?
[397] From.
[398] Yeah.
[399] Got to get it.
[400] He's from that train.
[401] Hey, Choo.
[402] Two, he killed everybody.
[403] Choo Chooch's, stab, stab, axe, axe.
[404] Unbelievable.
[405] Should we do a little news, a little business?
[406] Hey, let's do a little exactly right corner because we have a business, a growing business, a startup, some would say.
[407] A startup and you know when people in the tech industry are going to seed a good idea, they always combine the combined elements, which is what we did on do you need a ride.
[408] Oh.
[409] So it's do you need a ride this week has Banana Boy Kurt Browneler.
[410] It's a fun, great episode where we chatted nonstop, obviously that you're forced to, but we liked it.
[411] We had a great time.
[412] We laughed our asses off.
[413] Okay, so that's a crossover.
[414] And then lady to lady, the podcast on Exactly Right Network, has friend of the family fortune fiendster on, who's just an incredible talent.
[415] If you haven't watched her special, her comedy special, sweet and salty, you're missing out.
[416] So that's all in the family, that's one I'd say.
[417] And over on, I saw what you did.
[418] Of course, Millie and Danielle are continuing the is it good or was I horny movie bracket.
[419] So definitely they're going over all the movies that affected you as, you know, a youngster.
[420] Go check that out and see if you have anything to say or any way to participate in that.
[421] It's a really, really funny.
[422] watch along.
[423] It's really funny.
[424] And that's on their Instagram is I Saw Pod.
[425] So you can follow along there.
[426] You can vote yourself if you want.
[427] And they also have incredible new merch out that we highly recommend to support them and to fucking look cool as shit while you're doing it.
[428] And to wrap it down this week on the per cast, Stephen Ray Morris and Sarah, they have a friend of the fam, author Maureen Johnson on and you might know Maureen because she this was a while ago this was like a couple years ago she dedicated one of her books she's a very accomplished author she dedicated one of her books to all murderinos and then in the first printing they left out the R so it said to all mutterinos and when it came out she posted it to us and it was on Twitter and she was like you know wrote this whole thing and then I DMed her and I was like I hate to do this but I just want you to know before.
[429] From the source.
[430] From the source.
[431] Like I just want you to know first and like just get it, rip the bandaid off.
[432] And then so if you're following me along in the minisodes, we've been doing some stories about, oh, I guess only did one story about gravestone cleaning, the art of gravestone cleaning.
[433] No, too, like, because you did it this week as well.
[434] No, last week I, yeah, this week and then last week I suggested a Instagram, I think.
[435] Oh, sorry.
[436] Whatever.
[437] But I mean the topic's been brought up.
[438] Yeah.
[439] Let's just go.
[440] Yeah.
[441] So we thought it would be fun to have a callback to, we have a gravestone inspired design for my favorite murder that we've been selling.
[442] And so we refilled those items.
[443] So it's like a cool Victorian looking gravestone that says my favorite murder on it.
[444] And you can get that at my favorite murder .com in the store.
[445] There's also some cool extras with that design if you're part of the fan cult.
[446] And we also got, if you were waiting for the, here's the thing, fuck everyone mugs, they are back in stock.
[447] Yes.
[448] So they have been returned.
[449] So the merch is there.
[450] There's lots of bugs.
[451] There's also the fucking hooray mug.
[452] There's so much bullshit.
[453] That looks like balloons.
[454] That is my joy is every time Denton shows us new designs and then lets us pick out what they're called blanks.
[455] Like, do you want it on this kind of shirt or this kind of shirt?
[456] Do you want it on this tank top or do you want it on a towel?
[457] or do you want it on a coozy?
[458] It's like the most fun for me. So please check that.
[459] Even just look at it and be like, yeah, George is right.
[460] This is fucking cool.
[461] It's good.
[462] It's good.
[463] And we have some great artists and designers.
[464] We do.
[465] I'm proud of it.
[466] It's very fun.
[467] Karen, you know I'm all about vintage shopping.
[468] Absolutely.
[469] And when you say vintage, you mean when you physically drive to a store and actually purchase something with cash.
[470] Exactly.
[471] And if you're a small business owner, you might know Shopify is great.
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[487] Goodbye.
[488] Okay.
[489] All right.
[490] So I'm going this week.
[491] And I got this.
[492] So we got this info.
[493] Speaking of exactly right, Aaron Brown, our social media manager, who I've known for a very long time, she wrote, you know, what she does in her little bio and then said that the way she got into true crime was when she was little and saw the made for TV movie of this story.
[494] And I'd never heard of it.
[495] So I went and found it.
[496] And I'm going to do the story of Teresa Saldana.
[497] Oh, my God.
[498] I figured you'd know all about it.
[499] also this made for TV movie was I think I probably saw it when I was I bet you it's like 14 15 yeah I think she said she saw it when she was eight and then like yeah yeah so it's unbelievable yeah so I had never I didn't know the story at all so I went down this rabbit hole of it um I got the information from an article by Sharon Lynn Pruitt for oxygen kale Haverfold for Goliath Cheryl Eddie for Gizmodo Diane Klein for Wapho, Andrew Limbong for NPR, Carol Baker for UPI, The Shadroom .com by Christina Calloway, New York Times, and Wikipedia.
[500] And I also watched The Made for TV movie, of course.
[501] Yeah, which you can find on YouTube.
[502] So Teresa Saldana is born August 20th, in 1954 in Brooklyn.
[503] At just five days old, she's adopted by Davina and Tony Saldana.
[504] at 12 years old she starts taking acting classes and she is good she lands a handful of off -Broadway plays as she grows and then starts to book small roles on TV shows and in films and then her career grows and she starts seriously attracting notice after she's cast in the 1978 Beatlemania film I want to hold your hand did you see that no well it's not the original it's like a was it like a made for TV movie movie I think it's like a TV movie about Beatlemania.
[505] Yeah, yeah.
[506] Then in the early 80s, so she starts landing significant roles and she's getting bigger and bigger, including in the revenge thriller Defiance, in which she plays a nice girl in a tough neighborhood.
[507] And then her career takes a giant step forward when she's cast in the Martin Scorsese film Raging Bull, a fucking classic.
[508] She plays Joe Pesci's wife, Lenore.
[509] Lamada, who's also the sister -in -law of Robert De Niro's character.
[510] So these are big roles with big up -and -coming actors that's like, I'm sure she's duped.
[511] I mean, this is, yeah, we're going into Peak Scorsese area where he had been, you know, I bet you when she got that part in Raging Bulls.
[512] She was fucking, she partied, she partied.
[513] She went out for some, like, some champagne with.
[514] her friends.
[515] that would have been a really big deal.
[516] I mean, With those actors and that director.
[517] Yeah.
[518] That's amazing.
[519] And he always casts like he seems like he keeps the same actors in his like wheelhouse.
[520] So I'm sure she was like, this is it.
[521] These two films bring her career success.
[522] But unfortunately, they also bring the attention of a 47 year old drifter living in Aberdeen, Scotland named Arthur Richard Jackson.
[523] Unbeknownst to Teresa, Jackson Stock Saldana for 18 months.
[524] And he even hires a private investigator to find out her personal information.
[525] He's able to get the unlisted phone number of her mother.
[526] And then he calls her mom pretending to be Martin Scorsese's assistant and tells the mom who, of course, you know, I think they're in New York still.
[527] They have no idea about the business.
[528] Tells her what.
[529] Sorry.
[530] It just doesn't understand how it works, that there's, There'd be no reason why the assistant.
[531] The way that just, sorry, the way it came out, though, is in New York, they don't understand about business.
[532] It's like, I don't know.
[533] I feel like that's one of those cities where there's a bunch of people who do understand.
[534] You know, I'm guessing they live in the suburbs in the main particular movie.
[535] You know, there's Hicks in New York.
[536] They don't know how business works.
[537] They're all concentrated on Broadway.
[538] What do they know from Martin Scorsese?
[539] They don't know how the typical office works.
[540] Yeah.
[541] Phones.
[542] They don't know phones.
[543] So, so.
[544] So the mom gets the call.
[545] And in the movie, she's like, typical mom, New York mom.
[546] It's not like, you know, she would know about these things that Martin Scorsese's assistant wouldn't be calling the mom to be like, hey, can I get the phone number and address of Teresa?
[547] There's this script that Martin Scorsese needs filled right away, like how you talk about.
[548] It's an emergency.
[549] And that's tricks people into doing things they wouldn't normally do.
[550] Yep.
[551] It's a rush.
[552] You have to do it right now.
[553] I'm official.
[554] I'm important.
[555] Right.
[556] You have to do it right.
[557] says they're shooting a film in Europe.
[558] They need an actress replacement right away.
[559] What's Teresa's phone number?
[560] So she gives this man Teresa's phone number.
[561] And in an interview with Larry King, Teresa Saldonna later says, as soon as I got the call from my mom, because the mom was like, I think I did.
[562] I think I fucked up immediately.
[563] As soon as she got off the call with her mom, her manager, Selma Rubin, called a minute later to tell her that she had been getting some weird calls too.
[564] and it appeared to be from the same person and so then Teresa says I called the police but at that time they didn't have themselves on the alert for things like this they thought it was just nothing they thought it was a fan just a fan doesn't try to get your phone number right?
[565] Well and also it's I was just kind of thinking it's that thing this kind of stuff where it's like predatory behavior and it's definitely red flags and it's the kind of thing when you read these stories all the time and you talk about these stories this is the stuff that you watch and it always leads up to a thing that you know is coming and it just would be great if like the authorities would adjust to that instead of it being like sorry we can't do anything but this isn't normal phone calls I mean this specific they wouldn't be able to do anything but it is that kind of thing well go ahead yeah I'll tell you all about it so meanwhile while the sky Jackson scrapes together enough money to head to the United States with his intent being to find Teresa Saldana.
[566] So on March 15th, 1982, in the middle of the day as Teresa, she's now 27 years old, she leaves her West Hollywood apartment to go to a music class and she's approached by a man that she doesn't know.
[567] And she's already on high alert because of these phone calls.
[568] The man politely asks her, it's the middle of broad fucking day in her neighborhood.
[569] Excuse me, are you Teresa Saldana?
[570] As soon as Teresa replies, yes, Jackson immediately pulls out a five and a half inch hunting knife and starts stabbing Teresa.
[571] He stabs her 10 times in the chest, the arms, and the legs using enough force that he bends the blade and punctures one of her lungs.
[572] 23 people witness the attack.
[573] That's how brazen it is.
[574] It's not even like he's trying to be secretive at all.
[575] Like, he's just out.
[576] And that's not to be this person, but in the TV movie, that's the thing that's very upsetting that I remember the most is people are standing there screaming.
[577] Yeah.
[578] Like what, right?
[579] Like, there's like, it's, like, it's crazy.
[580] It's like, it's just so bizarre.
[581] It's like something that, yeah.
[582] There's no forethought to it.
[583] There's no, it's like this predator, exactly how you said.
[584] So 23 people witness, including a past.
[585] A passing delivery man named Jeff Fenn, F -E -N -N, he hears Teresa screams.
[586] He stops his truck and runs to her aid.
[587] He fights Jackson off and holds him until the police arrive.
[588] Like, what a freaking hero.
[589] Hero.
[590] Not that the other people aren't like we're going to do anything, but like, you know, jumping in, it's like, it's just.
[591] That's that's first responder vibe of a person that you, not just anyone can do it.
[592] Not just anyone has that.
[593] It's like we talk about flight or fight or whatever.
[594] And that's a person who is just like, I go in when stuff like this happens.
[595] And stintial, exactly.
[596] So the paramedics take Teresa to nearby Cedar Sinai Hospital.
[597] And by this time, her heart is actually stopped.
[598] And she's rushed into the ER where she gets heart and lung surgery and 26 pints of blood, which miraculously save her life.
[599] And she needs a four month hospital stay in order to recover from the whole ordeal, which is like.
[600] just shows you how fucking detrimental it was to her body.
[601] Yeah.
[602] Four months.
[603] Meanwhile, Jackson is convicted.
[604] I'm not going to go through the whole fucking trial, but he's convicted of attempted murder and inflicting great bodily injury, but he's only sentenced to 12 years in prison, which is the maximum sentence in the early 80s in California for these crimes.
[605] So while he's in prison, Jackson continues to threaten Saldana.
[606] He sends a letter to a Geraldo producer and details his plan to, quote, assassinate her, saying, quote, I am capable of alternating between sentiment and savagery, romance, and reality.
[607] So he's got, he's definitely, you know, evaluated psychologically and there are huge glaring issues with his mental health.
[608] The same month, he writes another letter saying that Saladonna telling her she's marked for death.
[609] So he's basically given free access from the prison to continue.
[610] to harass and threaten her, despite his vicious attack and conviction.
[611] He's still able to send out these letters unchecked.
[612] By 1989, just seven years into a sentence for attempted murder, Jackson's already scheduled for parole and will be let off on good behavior.
[613] Despite the fact that he continues to send these letters to Teresa and other news outlets throughout his entire sentence, and he refuses psychiatric counseling treatment while in prison and confesses while incarcerating to murdering a man during a London bank robbery two decades earlier.
[614] Apparently, good behavior includes those things.
[615] Which is just so absurd.
[616] Like, say what it's really for is that you don't give a shit.
[617] You know what I mean?
[618] Well, also just that kind of thing where this isn't, we're not talking about the average inmate here.
[619] Right.
[620] It's a person who, like stalked and then victimized a woman and went to jail for attempted to murder her.
[621] Yeah.
[622] And continues to victimize a woman and continues to promise harm to her.
[623] And then they're like, and how about some parole?
[624] Like that doesn't make sense.
[625] Yeah, it doesn't make sense.
[626] The point of parole is proving you have been rehabilitated.
[627] So I don't get how I don't get, but this is also from the 80s, right?
[628] Yes, yes, and there's more.
[629] So let's get into that.
[630] Yeah, yeah.
[631] So, Donna, when she finds this out, is shocked and she's told there's nothing anyone can do about it that his threats are looked at as, quote, just words by the prison officials.
[632] But they're not just words if he already acted on them.
[633] Is there?
[634] Okay.
[635] And just words after you've acted on in the same way should be a problem.
[636] You know what I mean?
[637] Well, it's a problem not to be in jail.
[638] Right.
[639] So, yeah.
[640] It should, it should be like.
[641] that he's not just the kind of person that's going to say stuff.
[642] He's going to do stuff.
[643] Exactly.
[644] So clearly he's not rehabilitated in any way.
[645] So now Teresa's 34 years old.
[646] She's six months pregnant and she fears for her life, of course, saying, quote, this man is going to kill me if someone doesn't help.
[647] That is the truth.
[648] She begins advocating against his release and starts shining a light on the fact that the system is flawed and protecting people from violent criminals.
[649] This is further enforced.
[650] by a 1985 state law being overturned that would have kept him incarcerated beyond his really state on a year -by -year basis if the state psychiatrist thought he was still a violent threat.
[651] And those psychiatrists came forward and said they wholeheartedly did think he was still a violent threat, but it didn't matter at that point because that law was overturned.
[652] And Jackson actually does end up serving additional time after endless appeals.
[653] Saldon said, quote, and then even when I got the letter about the repeal, they said they weren't going to take the repeal as the final thing.
[654] They would be that would be appealed.
[655] But in the last couple of weeks, all we got were very, very tactic and very, very specific and serious words to the effect of prepare yourself because he's coming out on June 15th and there's nothing we can do.
[656] Eventually, the court sides with Sal Dana and Jackson received an additional five years in nine months for his death threats.
[657] So finally he gets punished and they take those fucking seriously.
[658] Yeah.
[659] At the sentencing, Superior Court Judge James Basque tells Jackson, quote, I find you to be an extremely dangerous person.
[660] It is my opinion.
[661] You are a danger to yourself.
[662] You are a danger to Miss Sal Donna.
[663] And you clearly, and clearly you are a danger to everyone around you.
[664] The derange Jackson says the sentence is, quote, a declaration of war.
[665] What?
[666] To the judge.
[667] To the judge.
[668] Yeah.
[669] And then judge is like, double what I just said.
[670] Please.
[671] Okay.
[672] This is not a sane person and it's not a person that's in their right mind.
[673] No. A judge is mid is like mid literally sentence sentencing you.
[674] And you're just like, it's on, bitch.
[675] You're just like, here's the answer.
[676] Guess he's going to win this.
[677] Guess who's going to win this dummy.
[678] In 1996, Jackson is extradited to England for the murder that he admitted to in prison, the bank robbery murder.
[679] He's found not guilty, but he's placed in a psychic.
[680] psychiatric hospital where he dies in 2004 of heart failure.
[681] All right.
[682] So in 1984, Teresa makes the decision to relive her traumatic ordeal by playing herself in the made for TV movie, Victims for Victims, the Teresa Saldana story, which makes the made for TV movie, as we were talking about, so real and gut wrenching and like she fucking played herself.
[683] Okay, I didn't remember that.
[684] Oh.
[685] So, so I remember the movie.
[686] I remember that scene.
[687] And so no, I'm like, that scene was so creepy or whatever.
[688] It's like, yeah, because she was in it because it was basically like the ultimate reenactment.
[689] I mean, that is reliving her exact trauma.
[690] Also, can I just say that I remember the commercials for that made for TV movie?
[691] Like, are they terrifying?
[692] As they, yes as they as they built up to that it was because the story was in the news and the story was kind of like everywhere it happened in 82 and it's 84 now so I'm sure it's just this big it was around all the time and then it basically because I know she did obviously press and stuff like that but it became about her going yeah a minute I'm taking it back this is my story this happened to me and I want and it was just like a thing that was very consistent in that part of my child.
[693] It's just like watching her be like, yeah, I'm doing.
[694] I'm taking it back like this enough like people need to care about victims.
[695] So badass.
[696] Yeah, that's, it's incredible.
[697] And watching it, you're just like amazed by her.
[698] So, um, the, oh, and in fact, in the movie, a doctor and paramedic from her attack played themselves as well in the emergency room scenes.
[699] Did the, um, that's amazing.
[700] I love that.
[701] Yeah.
[702] I love like a detail.
[703] I was thinking you were going to say that the delivery man, played himself.
[704] No, but he comes back into the story.
[705] So I'll tell you about him in a minute.
[706] Ms. Saldana said, quote, working on the film released a lot of tension for me. Because you want to ask the question, like, you could have re -traumatized you very easily, you know?
[707] Yes.
[708] So she actually said, working on the film released a lot of tension for me. As we shot, I felt elated and creative, because she's an actress, you know.
[709] I felt that I was capable of anything.
[710] How many people are offered the opportunity to go back in time and really, live a traumatic experience, but without any of the physical or emotional pain that they felt the first time.
[711] Yeah.
[712] It's almost like exposure therapy.
[713] I hope there was, I'm sure there was, but like someone on set.
[714] Yes.
[715] So it wasn't just like.
[716] Yeah.
[717] You got to hope.
[718] We're back in five.
[719] You know what I mean?
[720] That's some, but I would imagine if she's this together that they probably, they they clearly manage it well if that's her story.
[721] We don't suggest doing this with your trauma.
[722] but if you're in a place where you can, I mean, then, or that works for you.
[723] I mean, wow.
[724] If you could be it in a Monday, CBS Monday, 90 of the movies.
[725] Like back then, those made for TV movies all had names.
[726] They had their own opening graphics.
[727] And it was a thing that got promoted all week long.
[728] Like, this was appointment TV.
[729] It was one of your four choices.
[730] And they're just like, I pick this one.
[731] It's on YouTube.
[732] Watch five minutes of it.
[733] And you'll know what we grow up on.
[734] this inspiring story.
[735] Yeah.
[736] So Teresa then goes on to have a steady acting career appearing in the 1984 Charles Bronson film The Evil That Men Do and in guest roles on several television series.
[737] In the early 1990s, she lands a starring role in the television series, The Commish.
[738] Remember that as Rachel Scali?
[739] Scali, the wife of the police commissioner, Tony Scali, played by Michael Chickles.
[740] Classic actor.
[741] And not to be confused by mine and Gareth Reynolds' TV show, the coefficienter.
[742] I forgot about that.
[743] Totally different ideas.
[744] I forgot all about that.
[745] Similar, not the same.
[746] That's right.
[747] The commissioner was actually a good TV.
[748] It was classic.
[749] My mom totally watched that.
[750] Yeah.
[751] She also goes on to write a memoir about her attack called Beyond Survival.
[752] And she becomes an advocate for others who have suffered a violent crime by founding a support group called Victims for.
[753] victims.
[754] As a result of Teresa's efforts and the 1989 murder of actress Rebecca Schaefer by an obsessed fan, California passes the nation's first anti -stalking law in 1990.
[755] But that's, I mean, that's how long it took for anyone to fucking admit that that's a crime.
[756] Long overdue, but, you know, first steps.
[757] That's right.
[758] Then on September 13th, 1994, the federal law called Violence Against Women Act of 1994 is signed by then president Bill Clinton.
[759] The act provides $1 .6 billion towards investigation and prosecution of violent crimes against women, imposed automatic and mandatory restriction on those convicted, and allowed civil redress in cases prosecutors chose not in which they chose not to prosecute the case.
[760] So you can then be like, fuck you, I'm taking this up higher.
[761] the act also established the Office of Violence Against Women within the Department of Justice.
[762] So finally, by 1994, it's being taken a little more seriously.
[763] The bill was sponsored by a certain Delaware senator named Joseph Biden.
[764] Oh, yeah, I didn't know that.
[765] And gained support from a broad coalition of advocacy groups.
[766] The act passed through both houses of the Congress with bipartisan support in 1994.
[767] although the following year, the House Republicans attempted to cut the acts funding.
[768] Many of those grant programs that were authorized in the act have been funded by the U .S. Congress.
[769] The Office on Violence Against Women have received appropriations from Congress for things like grants to encourage arrest and enforce protection orders, court training and improvement grants, research on violence against Native American women, national tribal sex offender registries, stalker reduction.
[770] database, protections and services for disabled victims, and violence on college campuses grants.
[771] So they're trying to cover, you know, really specific issues that in and of themselves are delicate and take a lot of care and effort.
[772] But of course, even 25 years later, we're still a long way from stalking victims having adequate rights and protection.
[773] So in a January 2009 National Crime Victimization Survey said that during a 12 -month period, an estimated 14 in every 1 ,000 persons aged 18 or older were victims of stalking.
[774] Nearly 54 % of female victims and 41 % of male victims experienced stalking before the age of 25.
[775] And an estimated 5 .9 million U .S. residents aged 18 or older experienced behaviors consistent with either stalking or harassment.
[776] So while the federal government, all 50 states, the District of Columbia and U .S. territories have enacted criminal laws to address stocking, the legal definition for stocking varies across all the jurisdictions.
[777] In 2000, the National Center for Victims of Crime partnered with the U .S. Department of Justice Office on Violence Against Women to create the Stocking Resource Center, SRC.
[778] And that's, you can go to victim connect .org and victims of crime .org to find the protection orders and national hotlines if you need help with that.
[779] So then there's a woman called Tamara Hill.
[780] She is a YouTube personality and she's an internationally and board certified trauma therapist and licensed child and family therapist.
[781] I would highly suggest going to her YouTube page.
[782] That's T -A -M -A -R -A -H Hill.
[783] She covers a lot of topics including and related to stalking, trauma, and psychotherapy.
[784] So it's YouTube .com slash Tamara H. Therapist.
[785] So if you need any information or help, she's a really great resource.
[786] Oh, nice.
[787] As for Teresa Saldana, she passed away in 2016 at Cedar Sinai of pneumonia at the age of 61.
[788] And the man who heroically came to her aid, the delivery man, he switched careers after the ordeal.
[789] And he became what he always wanted to be a police officer.
[790] Can you even?
[791] That's crazy.
[792] I know.
[793] So we had that thing in him of like emergency I go.
[794] I run towards the problem.
[795] Isn't that amazing?
[796] Yeah.
[797] All right.
[798] So then finally, I looked at, of course, this story up on our Gmail account to see if anyone had written in about it.
[799] And there weren't a lot, surprisingly.
[800] But one murdererino named Katie wrote in.
[801] And here's what she said.
[802] She said, I'm writing into y 'all today to tell you about an incredible woman that I am proud to say I knew as a little girl growing up.
[803] When I was about eight years old at one of the first at one of my first ballet schools in L .A., I met this mother and daughter duo whom over the years.
[804] we always seem to have left and changed over to the same ballet schools one after the other.
[805] When I first saw and met her mother, I was instantly intrigued and thought of her as such an interesting person and character.
[806] She was unlike anyone I had ever come across before.
[807] She always wore very long and flowy dresses, and she also always wore a hat that cast a shadow over her face.
[808] While you had a sort of peek under the hat to see her face, I always remember thinking how beautiful she was.
[809] Her garments were always in the darker tones and hues, but the brightness of her spirit and personality were always gleaming through.
[810] I cannot quite remember how it came about that my mother revealed to me who she was, but I'm 99 % sure it was in the car where all are serious and almost always inappropriate for my age type conversations occurred.
[811] My mom revealed to me that my ballet friend's mother was a pretty famous actress in the 1980s and 90s and was is basically the reason why California became the first state in the U .S. criminalized stocking.
[812] Wow.
[813] She could have easily gone into retreat after such a heinous and traumatic attack, which no one could ever fault anyone for doing, but she didn't.
[814] She went out and used her trauma to bring awareness to something that I was shocked to find out wasn't always illegal.
[815] It is crazy to me that before the 1990, it was totally okay, apparently, to follow someone around because you're obsessed with them.
[816] She experienced many health complications due to her attack, but that too never stopped her from continuing her acting career, from taking her daughter to every single one of her ballet classes and to every one of our rehearsals and definitely never stopped her from being a loving and supportive mother and friend, not only to her daughter, but to me as well.
[817] She even nicknamed me the baby ballerina.
[818] She was truly a great lady and I often think about her and her daughter.
[819] And that is the story of Teresa Saldana.
[820] I love that ending, like a personal I knew her, I knew her personally.
[821] Like I got, I got to know her as a person.
[822] And her very touching shown through.
[823] It wasn't that lovely email?
[824] Thank you, Kate.
[825] That's so lovely.
[826] Yeah, I really, it's such a cool, it's such a cool story because the amount of strength and resilience it would take, I mean, just that, that idea what she went through and the stages of what she went through because the stalking, it's, is so scary you know what I mean and then it's just like it's really impressive it's just always there's nothing like a survivor story because there's something in that that it's just like you know the attack is so horrible the story you know the the details of what she went through after that yeah and then she just continued to to to like fight back and and then start fighting for other people it's just like that's like an a plus survivor story She's kind of the She's the OG really Because that's like one of the first ones I ever saw And it was to watch A Made for TV movie like that as a like adolescent It was really shocking and really like Wait, this can happen Totally And then the point of the story was it can happen And you can then take it back Yeah And she was kind of like their front and center To be saying that it's amazing She's that's an incredible work she did in her life definitely we all owe her a debt of gratitude and then went on to like be to start on a very popular TV show it wasn't just like yeah she's a true badass totally totally the commissioner for God's I know I couldn't believe I had heard about this yeah she was like yeah it was huge she did it yeah so really incredible and uh gives us all hope and let's all carry some of her tenacity in our bones Yeah.
[827] Yeah.
[828] So cool.
[829] I love that.
[830] It made me immediately think of the Rebecca Schaefer story, too, because he, that stalker also got her information by hiring a private detective.
[831] Yes.
[832] It was like very common, no big deal.
[833] Wasn't it also the DM, he called the DMV to.
[834] And that was that they made laws that you can't, that the DMV cannot.
[835] Because they could just, you could just call and be like, hey, I'm a bail bondsman and I need the information.
[836] for this, you know, person who's job bail or whatever.
[837] This person's, yeah, address or whatever.
[838] I know.
[839] It's so creepy.
[840] Those kinds of things where it's like what things are set up just based on like if it had to have happened already.
[841] Totally.
[842] We can't do anything until the bad head hasn't happened.
[843] It's just so backwards.
[844] It is.
[845] It's so backwards.
[846] Also, just the idea, just from the beginning of that story, it's just like this was a person who had real mental disorder.
[847] Yeah.
[848] And the idea that it was just like, and then his choice to never address it, to never get help.
[849] Yes.
[850] To continue his actions.
[851] And to, you know, feel almost entitled to be able to act that way.
[852] Yeah.
[853] Is really it's that in and of itself is really something.
[854] Because it's like, there's so many things could be solved if people could just instead of being like, you know what I'm going to do is violence.
[855] Or it's like, all right.
[856] Or you could talk to someone.
[857] could maybe see if you could get on a pill that would make you stop wanting, like, you know.
[858] Totally.
[859] Anyway, you know, I'm a dreamer.
[860] The idea that people would just go to therapy and work on their shit.
[861] I mean, if only, if only.
[862] If only.
[863] Well, should we do some fucking hooray?
[864] Let's fucking do it.
[865] All right.
[866] You want to go ahead?
[867] Okay.
[868] This is from Alien Ned.
[869] A -L -I -N -N -N -Ned from Instagram.
[870] My fucking array is a. small victory.
[871] I had the overwhelming desire.
[872] Could the name be like Aileen?
[873] Aileen D. Alia N Nid.
[874] A L -I -A.
[875] Allie and Ned.
[876] It's Allian -Ned.
[877] And there's a couple in the photo.
[878] This is...
[879] Allie and Ned.
[880] What's up?
[881] It's just like the game concentration.
[882] Oh, my God, it is.
[883] I'm so bad at it.
[884] Amazing.
[885] You sounded it out.
[886] You stuck with it.
[887] Great job.
[888] Thank you.
[889] Okay.
[890] My fucking alien Ned.
[891] This is from Alien Ned.
[892] Alien Ned.
[893] My fucking array is a small victory.
[894] I had the overwhelming desire to cancel my virtual therapy appointment so that I could avoid working on myself and maybe take a three -hour depression map instead.
[895] I've been there.
[896] I've not been doing.
[897] so well lately.
[898] I fought the impulse to avoid and ignore, which is the loudest voice in my depression and attended my session.
[899] I'm glad I did because fuck you, Depresh.
[900] I needed it and I am worth it.
[901] Congratulations, Allie, and or Ned.
[902] That's awesome.
[903] That is actually humongous and that's the kind of thing.
[904] And yes, we've all been there for sure.
[905] But the more you fight that impulse and I'm saying this as a person who often does not.
[906] But, like, fighting that impulse and doing, what do they call, like, opposite behavior.
[907] Yeah.
[908] And, like, doing the thing you don't want to do, which is, like, the stronger choice.
[909] Yeah.
[910] Is the key to life.
[911] Just little tiny improvements like that will get you everywhere in this world.
[912] That's so true.
[913] I need to do that.
[914] Alien Ned, I'm proud of you.
[915] Keep it up.
[916] Okay.
[917] So this says, this is Mia Jacobson 21.
[918] My fucking hooray is that this year I'm graduating college.
[919] I got into my dream school.
[920] And I'm, oh, sorry, I got into my dream vet school.
[921] And I'm celebrating my three year remission from cancer.
[922] I was diagnosed freshman year of college, went through surgery and six months of chemotherapy, and then went back to school as soon as I could.
[923] Whoa.
[924] I'm blown away.
[925] Although the trauma of having cancer as a young adult is something I constantly have to work through, I'm so proud that I've been able to accomplish so much over the past few years.
[926] Thank you for always being there and talking so openly about dealing with trauma.
[927] I can't wait to listen to you as I walk to my vet school classes in the fall.
[928] Fucking hooray.
[929] Unbelievable.
[930] Congratulations on all fronts.
[931] I couldn't get through school with every.
[932] goddamn advantage and like the idea that they went through school.
[933] Yeah.
[934] And got cancer, recovered from cancer.
[935] Yeah.
[936] Went into remission and then went back to school.
[937] As soon as possible.
[938] I would have made, I would use it as an excuse to not.
[939] Yes.
[940] Of course.
[941] Built in.
[942] Yeah.
[943] Not an excuse.
[944] I mean, rightfully so.
[945] Well, as a reason.
[946] But I would have used it as an excuse.
[947] So just like hey can you bring me some just milking it for years afterwards okay this is from M this is from M underscore cube on Instagram got a fucking hurry for y 'all you all I put the y 'all in I spent seven years in a quote stable career after college that had severe impacts on my mental health I stayed because I thought that's what I needed to do but I felt trapped miserable and unqualified to do anything else.
[948] Last year, I read SSDGM.
[949] And with a lot of inspiration from you fine ladies and encouragement from a few best friends, I quit that job, went back to school.
[950] And today, less than a year later, all caps, I got hired as a graphic designer.
[951] Nice.
[952] I've never been this proud of myself or cried happy tears until I called my mom to tell her I did it.
[953] So fucking hooray, I'm a badass who's taking what she wants in this shit.
[954] show world, fucking array.
[955] Is that around?
[956] A year.
[957] That's incredible.
[958] You could be a year away from your dream job if you just decide what you want to do in this year.
[959] This next year is the deciding factor between right now and 365 days from now.
[960] Yeah.
[961] Me too.
[962] Hey, me too.
[963] I just realized.
[964] Hey.
[965] Also graphic designers, I think, are the coolest jobs there is.
[966] It's the coolest.
[967] It's very cool.
[968] You get to be an artist, but you also, it's straight up business.
[969] Like, people need you.
[970] Yeah, it's art, it's business, it's scientific in a lot of ways.
[971] It's like, it's the coolest.
[972] That's a very cool job.
[973] Congratulations.
[974] You did it.
[975] Good work.
[976] You did your work.
[977] Yes.
[978] Okay.
[979] This is from 4 and 6B mod.
[980] That's not real.
[981] Is that a bot?
[982] Four and six B mod.
[983] Sounded out.
[984] I'm trying to, like, this is.
[985] It's like, yeah, driver's license plate, a license plate game.
[986] Foreign, 6B mod.
[987] Nope, no, okay.
[988] I had a big fucking hooray today.
[989] I volunteered at my state's first mass vaccination clinic.
[990] It was the first time in over a year that I felt that joyful energy you can only get from being in a crowd of people that are experiencing true happiness like a concert, but with needles and allergy observations.
[991] I even had a gentleman tell me he loved me in that way that seemed so genuine, recognizing a moment of lovely connection with a stranger.
[992] And it's just about the humanity of it all.
[993] My empath self soaked it all up.
[994] It was a beautiful break from COVID anxiety and depression.
[995] We managed over 500 vaccinations per hour and over 12 ,000 vaccination in three days.
[996] Holy shit.
[997] I can't wait to help.
[998] with the next one.
[999] Let's get those shots in arms.
[1000] That's amazing.
[1001] That's so great.
[1002] But also that reminds me, Kurt Brownler has been posting on Instagram this.
[1003] So it's called Get Out the Shot, L .A. And I'm sure it happens in other towns as well, where if you volunteer to work, you know, eight hours or however long at a vaccination location, you're eligible for the shot as well.
[1004] Yeah, you get it.
[1005] Right.
[1006] They give it to you automatically.
[1007] Yeah.
[1008] This one's G -O -T -S -L -A .org, but look up your town and see if there's something similar because that could be really great for people who need it but aren't on the immediate list and a really cool way to like volunteer.
[1009] Okay, this is my last one.
[1010] It's from Jordan.
[1011] Dot Motsinger.
[1012] I think I got that right.
[1013] My fucking hooray is finally able to be shared.
[1014] I've waited so long to be able to say that after a long, indescribably emotional journey, we brought home our adopted baby two weeks ago.
[1015] While we never want to see a family broken up, especially if an expectant mother would be able to parent with ample support and resources, we pray to be able to stand in a space where we were needed.
[1016] We pray to be able to stand in a space where we were needed and join arms within an expectant mother to love, support, and serve her.
[1017] Our son's birth mother is a beautiful, compassionate, outrageously strong woman, and we love her endlessly.
[1018] our family has not only grown by adding our son, but also by adding his bio family.
[1019] If you read this on the pod, please share that the adoption community needs ethical advocates for all members of the triad, not just adoptive families and children, but also the birth mothers and fathers.
[1020] We named our son Merritt because it means worthy and he is all that and more.
[1021] Oh, I know.
[1022] Isn't that beautiful?
[1023] I mean, it's a lovely message.
[1024] And it's, yeah, but at the same time, it's also just like, you have a little family.
[1025] I know, that's so lovely.
[1026] A big, an exciting thing.
[1027] A big growing family.
[1028] That's lovely.
[1029] Yeah.
[1030] All right.
[1031] Here's my last one.
[1032] It says, fucking hooray.
[1033] It's never too late to advocate for yourself.
[1034] And this is from Tizzy.
[1035] It says, I've always had issues with reading, writing, spelling, and math.
[1036] As I progressed through school, I hid my struggles because I didn't want others to think that I wasn't capable or stereotype me as, quote, another child of color who couldn't read.
[1037] I started to figure out little shortcuts to get by, but my studies eventually outpaced my ability to adapt.
[1038] I did research some years ago and talked to some of my friends that specialized in dyslexia.
[1039] I seemed to have an unofficial answer, but that wasn't satisfying enough.
[1040] It wasn't until recently that I was able to afford a proper evaluation.
[1041] And then in parentheses it says side note they're expensive an average of two thousand dollars which raises questions of equity among other things yeah but i digress very true end parentheses come to find out i don't have dyslexia but a visual processing disorder basically my brain has trouble processing input from my eyes which causes my brain to flip and mirror letters move the words on the page make solving math equations difficult and can even affect depth percentage perception.
[1042] My brain will also skip lines and omit words or notes altogether when reading books and sheet music.
[1043] At 29 years old and 1 .5 semesters into a PhD program for music education, I finally have an answer and will get the academic accommodations that I need.
[1044] Stay sexy and never stop advocating for yourself.
[1045] Safira.
[1046] And then it says, it's Jewish, L .O .L. I'm going to cry and now I'm laughing.
[1047] Oh, my God.
[1048] Isn't that the fucking greatest?
[1049] Okay, first of all, with all of that, they're in a Ph .D. program.
[1050] Yeah.
[1051] Like, all of that problems, like, clearly they adapted well enough to get themselves.
[1052] You're brilliant.
[1053] And it's like, you're brilliant.
[1054] And then the American school system's way of teaching and way of how you have to learn doesn't work for everyone.
[1055] So you're still incredibly smart, and you've, your, your workaround is like probably makes you way more intelligent than just, you know, they have to bear.
[1056] But it's such a good point of like that kind of testing should be available to all children.
[1057] Not just rich kids.
[1058] No. Because kids should know if you're having problems reading or if you're having problems in school.
[1059] Yeah.
[1060] It, it's very possibly could not be your fault.
[1061] Totally.
[1062] It's not about your concentration or anything like that.
[1063] Yeah, you're stupid or something.
[1064] Oh, my God.
[1065] Well, stupid, which is a self -esteem thing or it turns into like a behavioral issue because you're, you know, like there's all kinds of ways that goes wrong where it's like, you know.
[1066] Well, I say stupid in that when I was a kid, I had some learning issues too and I just thought I was stupid because it didn't fit.
[1067] Everyone else could understand the basic way.
[1068] So it made me think I was stupid and I didn't try.
[1069] it's a scary feeling yeah so hearing that and that she's 29 it's like it's never it's never it's never too late to stop advocating for yourself that's right amazing you guys send in your fucking arrays on Instagram on Twitter there's a fan cult forum where you can put it in you can email it to us I think social media and fan cult's best but also respond to each other and congratulate everyone for their fucking badassery and I mean there's great stuff stuff going on out there.
[1070] Oh, I'll mention this because I, oh, I just remembered it right now.
[1071] It happened.
[1072] It happened almost like more over a week ago.
[1073] But, you know, there's this uptick in, in, um, racially motivated attacks on Asian people these days.
[1074] And it's, it's in the news.
[1075] It's in, it's happening a lot.
[1076] It's very disturbing.
[1077] It's really upsetting.
[1078] And someone, they reached out on Twitter, see if it's going to find the for us, and said that there were Asian people that were in New York City who were talking about being worried about walking around, like that it was that worrisome on a, like, on a murderino forum somewhere, and all these murderinos started volunteering to walk people where they needed to go.
[1079] I mean, it's awful that it has to happen that way, but that's incredible.
[1080] But someone, like the first one I saw, because they included like, like a picture in their post that they sent to me. And the first one was like, somebody saying, I'm a martial arts instructor.
[1081] I'll walk you anywhere.
[1082] You need to go.
[1083] The person who tweeted it at us was at Gene Kim with three ends.
[1084] Gene Kim.
[1085] And can you see that first one?
[1086] Can you see the name of the, I think they said they were a martial arts instructor or something along those lines.
[1087] It's in her, it's in the picture of the thing she posted that she was looking at.
[1088] Like the forum picture.
[1089] Oh, the name is blocked out in that.
[1090] Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[1091] I just wanted to give that personal credit.
[1092] But apparently there were, there were, I think she says in the tweet, right, Stephen, that there's like 50 people or 60 people that offered to walk any Asian that felt 48 people, uh, murderinos offered to walk any Asian person who felt unsafe being by themselves on the street.
[1093] Words are like, this is the best thing.
[1094] And I just wrote back, I love this and it doesn't surprise me. Yeah, it's awful, but we, but murderinos, once again, are the best fucking people.
[1095] Yeah, just, uh, we got, we've all got to unite.
[1096] We got to unite against that bullshit.
[1097] That's not cool.
[1098] Fuck yeah.
[1099] All right.
[1100] That was a great episode.
[1101] Yeah, that was fun.
[1102] Good job.
[1103] Good time.
[1104] Good time.
[1105] Good job all of us.
[1106] Good job to Georgia for handling the story this week.
[1107] Good job to all of us for being here.
[1108] With her and for her.
[1109] Uh, thanks for listening.
[1110] you guys are the best, as I just said.
[1111] You are really, I think you're, you personally are among our top 10 favorite listeners.
[1112] Yes, you.
[1113] And you know, you're.
[1114] Oh, me?
[1115] Oh.
[1116] No, not you.
[1117] Stay sexy.
[1118] And don't get murdered.
[1119] Goodbye.
[1120] Elvis, do you want a cookie?