0:00

Hello, and welcome to Mikey Podd podcast, episode 353 for

0:05

October 31st, 2022. Happy Halloween.

0:09

Today's guest is Cat Lover Martina Myo. I mean,

0:13

she's also a prolific Pulitzer Prize winning playwright,

0:15

who that's a lot of Pease in a robe, prolific Pulitzer Prize winning playwright whose play another p Cost

0:22

of Living just happens to be on Broadway. But we're all here for the Cat chat,

0:26

right? I'm your host, Michael Herron. I'm a composer, pianist,

0:29

electronic musician, storyteller, and perhaps a bit dormant activist based in New York City. On this podcast,

0:35

I have conversations with fellow creators who use their creativity to change the

0:40

world. I've been sending this podcast to your ears for well over 17 years.

0:44

If you like what you hear, subscribe using the colorful buttons in the sidebar and [email protected].

0:49

Or just search Mikey Podd in your favorite podcast directory.

0:52

If you'd like to know more about me, stop by my website at Michael Herron. Uh,

0:55

you can find me on Twitter, Twitter,

0:57

Michael Herron at Michael Herron and all my other social media's turned off

1:01

right now. We've, I've gone on and on about that enough. So yeah,

1:04

welcome to the show. I really wanna get to the interview and some music that I have to share with you

1:08

too. Really great music from future guests. Um,

1:12

so I'm not doing my usual check in. There's not really anything to report anyway. Um,

1:16

so let's go right to the part where I thank my subscribers on Patreon for

1:20

powering this podcast. I have a lot of plosives today. Uh,

1:24

these are people who subscribe for $5 or more a month and get special perks,

1:28

like tons of free downloads of my music and zines and bonus podcasts.

1:32

There are over 70 of them that you'll have immediate access to when you

1:36

subscribe, including this week's bonus episode,

1:39

which features an extended conversation with today's guest, Martina Myo,

1:42

where we will be talking about cats. We really are gonna talk about cats in the,

1:47

uh, bonus podcast. Did you figure out that we're not only talking about cats <laugh> in our

1:51

conversation on this podcast, Um,

1:54

and in the bonus we're gonna be also talking about her surprising distaste for

1:58

writing, which I was surprised to find out about, but also could really relate to. So, um,

2:03

that'll be up on Patreon in a couple of days. patreon.com/michael Herron.

2:07

I'm very aware of my PS right now. Um,

2:11

can I give a shout out to the pop filter that I'm, Why does pop filter have a p?

2:17

Anyway, I have some music for you today. Also,

2:20

you may remember from back in July of 2020,

2:23

I talked to a brilliant composer by the name, name of Molly Joyce. Um,

2:27

you can always go back and listen to that episode. Uh,

2:30

her work focuses on disability as a creative source.

2:33

She has a new album that came out just last week called Perspective,

2:36

and she's gonna be a guest on the podcast in a couple of weeks, uh,

2:40

to talk about the album. Um, but I wanna share a track with you from it today.

2:44

Um, she, the premise of this album is that she interviewed,

2:47

I believe it was 47 different people, um,

2:51

about these various words on, um,

2:54

that are track names of the tracks on the album. And, um, you'll hear,

2:59

hear the responses, uh, to this track. It's called Connection. And, um,

3:03

she wove the responses together with her, uh, original music.

3:06

She's a really intriguing composer of new music

3:12

and ah, I love it, <laugh>.

3:14

So it felt like a great fit for today's show. And, um,

3:18

I just really want you to listen to this album, so hopefully you're in a place where you could really just sit and listen to,

3:23

uh, the words you're about here, the music you're about here. Um,

3:26

and get ready for our conversation today with playwright Martina My

3:31

Oak. This is Connection by Molly Joyce.

3:34

What is connection for you? <Affirmative>.

3:42

And the connections among people are impossible for you to understand because

3:47

a shimmer distorts the interactions,

3:49

much like a shattered mirror provides no coherent image,

3:53

so you glean only pieces of scattered reflections.

3:59

Eye contact, and more than just looking at someone's iris,

4:04

but actually looking into their pupils when you speak to them.

4:09

Connecting with friends and family

4:14

connection. Like we all I know talking to face to face.

4:23

I live at this intersection of autism or neuro

4:28

divergence and poetry. I've been trying to think about why these things feel so wedded

4:36

to each other in particular ways.

4:38

And I think connection is a big part of it.

4:42

And I think it's also what scares people about both of them.

4:47

The neuro divergent people in my life,

4:51

they really cut through all the bullshit right away,

4:55

and they want to talk about the real stuff.

4:59

And it's so refreshing.

5:04

I think, honestly, coming out to the pandemic, I,

5:06

I feel so disconnected with so many things. I think I'm struggling to,

5:12

to answer that question because I don't really know if I feel connected to much

5:15

of anything right now. Having inside connections as well as like outside connections.

5:24

Really feeling like you're safe

5:29

and seen and heard, and that you can just be your, like,

5:34

complete full self. I think this idea of like being seen and,

5:40

and like, understood.

5:44

How is the world created for you?

5:48

And if it's not created for you,

5:51

what are you going to do with the support of family, friends,

5:56

community, resources? What are you gonna do to make that a more of a

6:02

living reality for you? There is a level of trust when collaborating with another disabled person

6:09

because of that sort of, you know, that experience of,

6:14

you know, enduring ableism.

6:19

If you struggling to live, connection is the slightest thing in your mind,

6:26

you connected to try to have stability.

6:33

Connection is why I'm a storyteller. Uh, connection is the bridge.

6:40

Acting with my friends to me includes both my literal

6:50

physical dimension, but also the empty spaces that exist within me.

6:56

And a component that includes both the emptiness that I carry

7:03

and the, the more overt structure I carry.

7:18

Joining me now on the podcast is Martina Myo,

7:21

who is a playwright, a Pulitzer Prize winner, all kinds of great stuff.

7:26

And now the guest on Wiki Fad, welcome to the podcast.

7:30

Thank you for having me. I feel like I'm behind the times. I saw cost of Living this past weekend,

7:36

kind of not knowing what I was gonna see. Um,

7:39

and I didn't know anything about your work. And now that I'm investigating it and very excited, I'm like, Oh, this, like,

7:44

I'm behind <laugh>. So there's so much you've done,

7:48

but because Cost of Living is what I've seen,

7:50

I'd love to talk to you about it a little bit, and I read a little bit about your history. Um, so there's so much to discuss.

7:57

Um. Yeah, I thank you for seeing it. Also. Isn't that the best,

8:01

like when you just don't, don't know anything about a show? Can you walk in?

8:03

Yeah, I love it. And my sister is seeing it, uh, next week. Oh, okay.

8:08

Maybe the week after. And she's doing the same thing and she won't let mention,

8:11

she won't let me say anything about it or anything about you. She's like,

8:14

I don't know anything. I just wanna go in. Which. Is great. It's, it's so rare too. Like that's the best.

8:18

Yeah. So for people who may,

8:21

who are listening who may not get the chance to see the play anytime soon

8:24

because they're not in New York City, is there a, uh, what am I trying,

8:29

like an elevator pitch about what the show? That sounds terrible,

8:32

but you know what I. Mean. Oh no. Gosh, Yeah. I've sent 'em so bad at these. Uh, so, so like,

8:36

let's see, to play about loneliness, to play about caregiving,

8:39

it's a play about our interconnectedness. The plot of it, I guess,

8:43

is that there's, we're following two sets of two sets of couples.

8:47

One of them is, um, Eddie and Annie. And, um,

8:51

Eddie is an unemployed, recently unemployed truck driver. Uh,

8:55

and Annie is his estranged wife.

8:57

And the two of them come back together when Annie, uh,

9:02

is in a car accident, which leaps her quadriplegic. And, um,

9:06

Eddie begins being her caregiver and it's the, we follow how they sort of come,

9:11

come back together in a way. And the other couple is John and Jess.

9:16

And John is a PhD graduate student in political science

9:21

at Princeton, um, who has cerebral palsy. And he hires Jess,

9:26

who is a first generation immigrant who just graduated undergrad at

9:30

Princeton and is dealing with, um, a lot of financial instability, uh,

9:35

to be, she hires her to be his caregiver. And it's also,

9:39

we follow how they're challenged by and also brought,

9:41

brought together by their differences. Um, and, uh, it's a little,

9:46

it's a little sexy. It's a little, it's a little funny.

9:48

It's a little ghosty <laugh>. Uh, yeah, that was a really long,

9:52

So we basically got to the 96 floor with that elevator pitch.

9:55

That was a little too long. <laugh>. No,

9:57

but it was great because I feel like one of the things about talking to you on

10:01

the podcast I was thinking about was like a lot of people won't,

10:04

won't get to see the play. Like they, you know,

10:07

people who listen all over the place. Um, so I'm glad that you,

10:10

that we got to the 96 floor for that <laugh>. I really love working,

10:15

this is kind of what I do on the podcast, is talk to people who use their work to as activism or as like raising social

10:21

awareness and that type of thing. And the thing that can be really challenging,

10:25

this, this type of thing, as I'm sure you know,

10:28

is trying to be inclusive or address some of the,

10:32

it even feels corny to say address the issues that you do with this play.

10:37

It can come off as very like corny and forced and, um,

10:42

you know, all of those things that, that sort of undermine your message. Um,

10:47

and you've done it so not that you've so.

10:51

Like, Oh my God. And this is a fine example of doing exactly that <laugh>. No,

10:57

but I mean, like what you've done it,

10:59

you're telling a story and all of these things happen to be a part of the story.

11:04

Um, well, is it a challenge or was it a challenge for you to sort of get to a place and

11:09

like some of those topics you wanted to cover,

11:12

keep them from being cliched or.

11:15

I mean, that's exactly what what you're saying is like,

11:17

they happen to be like the,

11:19

there are two disabled characters play by two disabled actors in

11:24

the cast. There also happen to be two first gen, um, performers that,

11:28

that are also first gen. One is an immigrant, one is a one is a first gen character in the, the play. And I, um,

11:34

I tend to, I I'm an immigrant. I was born in Poland, um,

11:39

and, um, uh, grew up also when I, when I came to America,

11:43

I grew up in a largely multicultural immigrant neighborhood in,

11:47

in working class neighborhood in North Jersey. And, um, I,

11:50

when I first began writing plays, I was writing plays about my friends and family, um, who, you know,

11:56

happened to not have much money and maybe was English was their second language

12:00

and all these things that when I started writing, uh,

12:05

and sharing it with people from the outside, they were saying, Oh,

12:09

you are you writing about immigrants? Why are you writing about low income, um,

12:12

people, uh, um, you're,

12:14

you're writing about economic instability and how it relates to, to women,

12:17

et cetera. And I was like, I guess that is true, Yes.

12:20

But I was writing my friends and myself and my family once I was aware

12:25

that this is how it's gonna be seen as these are stories of people from the

12:29

outside because they're, they're the inside for me, <laugh>,

12:32

this is my experience, but for the American theater,

12:35

they are stories of people from the outside or marginalized communities.

12:39

And so I, um,

12:42

always wanna make sure I'm being as authentic as possible

12:47

to that experience while also inviting people in for

12:52

whom that isn't their experience. Um, uh, so that somebody,

12:56

somebody who's who I grew up with who would see my play wouldn't think I was

12:58

pandering <laugh>, like, Oh yeah, yeah. It's like how we,

13:01

it's like that's our life. Yeah. But also somebody who's not from that will feel invited into a different,

13:06

maybe a different experience that maybe they'll find is actually not that far

13:10

off from their experience. It's just sort of a different, different form. So I,

13:14

I never consider my plays issue plays, though. They're,

13:19

a lot of the characters are dealing with, um,

13:23

obstacles that have been created by policy that is just inherent in their

13:27

lives. I mean, the last play I wrote was, uh, called Sanctuary City, and it's a,

13:31

it was about, um, a friendship between two undocumented teenagers. And so it's not a,

13:37

it's not a play quote about immigration. Cause I don't know how to do that <laugh> more than, I dunno,

13:41

like how do you write a play about women? You know, it's such a,

13:44

there's so many this many various versions of those experiences. Um, um,

13:48

so it was never like, um, I must write about this identity or this experience,

13:53

it just as, or this, um, uh, Id, Yeah,

13:57

identity really is, is is more, cause the experience is part of it,

14:00

but like the, the political is inherent in the personal for these characters,

14:06

um, and these, and these worlds. So, so hopefully, I mean, I,

14:10

my my politics might be <laugh> pretty apparent <laugh>, which are like,

14:15

don't be dix to people and <laugh> and will survive equally as best,

14:19

equally as possible. Uh, but it's never,

14:22

I'm never trying to make a polemic. I'm not trying to make something that feels like it's eating your vegetables.

14:28

I'm just, I'm telling people, I'm telling stories of the humans that I know and,

14:32

and am, uh, and trying to bring us kind of, kind of connect us,

14:36

connect the people in the audience to the people on stage and, um,

14:40

make it in an inviting experience, Not a, not a vegetable,

14:43

not an eat your vegetables experience. <laugh>.

14:45

That's a great way to put it. But, you know, I think that like, it's,

14:50

it's the, um, when we include stories or tell stories about more different types of people,

14:57

that's just what happens, Right. It it, in a way, it sounds like, I mean,

15:02

you're writing from your experience, but also make an effort to include people who don't always, uh,

15:07

very rarely show up on mm-hmm.

15:10

<affirmative> on a stage just by telling the stories. It seems like you're,

15:14

you're hitting it, right? Like. Well, in this particular instance, I think especially with, um, I, you know,

15:20

I'm not disabled. I was a caregiver for, I worked as a caregiver for what,

15:24

two years. Um, so I pulled from that experience when I was writing the play, um,

15:30

as well as just, um, you know, people that I,

15:32

a lot of the characters are composites of people that I know. Um, but there,

15:36

I had written in the play the, the notes of the play, Please,

15:40

Please Cast Disabled Actors. And, um,

15:44

I didn't realize what a big deal that actually would be because there,

15:48

I didn't experience with the productions in New York and the productions that I

15:52

was involved with. But there had been theaters that, um,

15:55

reached out after the play was published. And it goes around for, um,

15:58

regionally with, you know, sort of with without me at that point, um,

16:02

theaters would reach out and ask me, do I really mean it? Wow. Uh,

16:06

and I was like, Yes, I do <laugh>. Um, do you need help finding, finding,

16:11

um, actors? Here's a list. Um,

16:13

here's a list of other theater com theater communities and companies that, um,

16:18

are devoted to, to, um,

16:20

telling disabled stories like Family and Deaf West and tbt. Um,

16:25

and some of those theaters did reach out and some just kind of, it was crickets.

16:29

Like they had no intention actually of changing the way that they,

16:34

a lot, a lot of people have typically cast disabled roles, which is, um,

16:39

not with non-disabled actors. Uh, so it's like, uh,

16:44

I guess that itself is a political act. Um, it's,

16:49

it shouldn't be, It seems it doesn't, it seems like so obvious,

16:52

why would you not wanna cast disabled actors to portray disabled characters?

16:56

But it, um, it's been sort of surprising to me how, how, um,

17:00

the response sometimes it's, I, I, it's, it's like, there shouldn't be response,

17:04

I guess in my, in my, in my thinking like, Oh, sure, just cast disabled actors.

17:08

Um, but there, that ist always the, the way that it's gone.

17:14

I, I can't remember where I read this. It was,

17:16

it was an interview with a woman who plays, uh, Ani.

17:20

Oh, Katie Sullivan. Yeah. Yeah. And she, she was observing,

17:23

I can't remember she said she heard it or the,

17:26

the people surprised that she was disabled that they Yeah.

17:29

That she wasn't an actor who was Yeah, yeah. Like, they were like, Oh,

17:32

someone said something like, Oh, it must have been really hard for her to sit in that chair with her legs tucked

17:37

underneath. Yes. Like, it was just outside of the realm of possibility that that could possibly be a

17:42

disabled actor. Yeah. Really interesting. Yeah. And there's also, this is, um, the other,

17:46

the other disabled actor in the cast, spr Mosca, um,

17:49

has cerebral palsies play and characterize more who has more intense cerebral

17:52

palsy than he has. Um, so he doesn't require,

17:55

the actor doesn't require a wheelchair, then they come out on stage.

17:58

People don't think that he's disabled. He's, he's heard some really interesting,

18:05

interesting and horrible things. Somebody, somebody came up to him after the,

18:09

after a show when we did the show Off Broadway. And because he doesn't use a, a,

18:13

a wheelchair, um, people might not like you, can he, you know,

18:18

he says this, he says this openly, so I, I I will share it, but he's like,

18:22

You can, you can, you can tell when he walks like that he is disabled.

18:27

Um, but because there's never a wheelchair, and it's like not, his,

18:30

his disability is not as pronounced as, um, as the characters.

18:35

People. Somebody at one point came to him and after the show and was like,

18:39

Oh my God, thank God you're not actually disabled. And like,

18:42

how horrible is that to hear? Like, Oh, thank God, thank God. He's like,

18:46

Actually, actually am <laugh>. But, um, but the judgment of like,

18:51

Oh God, thank God, thank God, um, when that's his lived experience.

18:55

So it's been, it's been interest. It's, yeah. And then people who are,

18:58

who I've heard say like, Oh, they're not, oh, but they,

19:01

they're not actually disabled or what, uh, or have been, or quote unquote,

19:05

are playing, playing. Um, yeah,

19:07

there's such a rarity of seeing those actors on stage, I guess that, that,

19:12

that is, uh, it's been the response.

19:15

<Laugh>, hopefully some of those people that ask these questions or make these incorrect

19:19

observations, we're able to,

19:22

to take something away from having said something like that. Uh,

19:26

we can only hope, I guess. We're. All learning. We're all learning, I guess.

19:29

Yeah. And that's totally true, like, about a lot of things. Um,

19:34

it, it makes me think of times in the past that I look back now,

19:38

I've learned just about various, you know, things, um,

19:42

the moments that I just look back like, Oh,

19:45

I wish I could like find that person again. That I said that microaggression to like five years ago. Like, I didn't,

19:51

you know, when you learn like, Oh my God, I said that to someone. Yeah.

19:54

And I guess it's, a lot of times it's actually, it's an act of trying to connect. Like,

19:57

that person was probably trying to connect with the, with Greg, the actor,

20:02

um, and didn't realize that, that that's maybe, maybe a hurt,

20:06

hurtful thing to hear. Um, and, uh,

20:09

Greg and other actors I've talked to mentioned that there's, um,

20:14

you gotta, there's this reliance of humor to, to, um, there's,

20:19

there's a, there's a need to use humor to kind of make other people comfortable.

20:24

Um, I do the same thing in the play. Like there's, I, I've,

20:27

I've learned with my plays, I need to make the audience laugh within the,

20:32

I used to say within the first minute, and now I think it's like the first 30 seconds, maybe 15 seconds mm-hmm.

20:36

<affirmative> so that they know it's so, I want them to laugh.

20:39

It's okay to laugh. I wanna invite them into this, this,

20:42

the experience and the story. And, um, they might,

20:44

they might be tense because of the subject matter, um, not just for this play,

20:49

but my other, my other plays as well. Yeah.

20:51

I was, that was one of the things that I really appreciated.

20:53

And there's some like dark <laugh> like, uh,

20:58

humor in the play, which I always appreciate. But, um, I can feel that too,

21:02

as a, as a point, especially when they're disabled characters.

21:06

I'm sure that if you don't really set it up in the beginning of the play, like,

21:10

this is a thing, we're gonna laugh today too, <laugh>, you.

21:13

Know? Yeah. It's every, I mean, the other, like Iron Bound is about a woman in like, incredible,

21:18

like financial instability, and there's of domestic violence in the, like,

21:22

talks of domestic violence and there's, there's like, there's heavy things in the play. And I think, um,

21:28

if you don't let them, let the audience know early that like, it's,

21:33

it's okay then, then there feels like there's a, there's a feeling of like, Oh,

21:37

we're not allowed to, we're not allowed to laugh at this. And it's not,

21:39

you never, the audience should never feel like they're laughing at a character usually.

21:44

I have noticed that, uh, that like the more marginalized character and whatever scene will tend to tend

21:49

to lead the humor. Like they'll be the ones that are in charge of the jokes,

21:52

and so you're laughing with them. They're the ones,

21:55

they have the agency over the humor, and so you're never laughing at that character.

22:00

And hopefully that lets everybody, you know, feel more, feel more comfortable.

22:04

And like, we're all here together in our, in our awkwardness,

22:07

in our shared tension and with respect.

22:10

Uh, I hadn't noticed that, but now that I'm thinking back to the play, I'm like,

22:14

Oh, yeah, that is, that is how that was handled.

22:16

There was a scene that I especially loved, um,

22:19

Jess's helping John take a shower. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>,

22:23

it connected a lovely memory with my mom when she was sick and

22:28

passed away, um, that I was helping take care of her. And it was,

22:33

that scene was so beautiful,

22:36

and it really captures that like,

22:39

sort of intimate exchange of care, like,

22:44

of caring for, for someone else. Um, was that,

22:48

I'm silly question. I think <laugh>,

22:50

how much did you draw on your experience as a caregiver, uh, for that scene?

22:55

And was it important to you to sort of portray that?

22:58

Yeah. And thank you for the kind, the kind of words. Yeah. Thank you. I, I,

23:03

so the, the job that I, one of the jobs I,

23:05

I had was working for a man was cerebral palsy. Um, I was,

23:09

I worked with two men and, um, that was,

23:13

that was how I showered him. That was like how I prepared him for the day.

23:18

And so I, I wrote it into the script really specifically. Um,

23:23

and then when we, when we did the first production,

23:26

I just showed them what I did. I, I worked with, it was always Greg was,

23:30

was always in that role from the, from the moment we had a first production till, till now on Broadway.

23:35

And I just showed them like how I, how I maneuvered.

23:38

I wanted to show how natural it is,

23:41

like how connected those two bodies are. Like it's almost a dance that they're,

23:46

that they're doing of, um, they've, at that point in the play,

23:49

they've been working together for I think three or a few months,

23:52

but at that point, so they've established a kind of rhythm with each other,

23:55

with their bodies, um, such that they can have conversations, you know, flu,

23:59

pretty fluidly. Um, and, um, and I wanted to,

24:03

I think it's just beautiful. I watched that scene and I'm like, it's a scene of,

24:06

of somebody caring for another person's, another for another person.

24:12

And it's also just so routine, um, and, um,

24:16

such a, so natural. So I wanted to,

24:19

and I also wanted to show how much work it is. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>, um,

24:21

like this, it's such a physical, it's just such a physical job that this other person is doing. But that, and,

24:28

and that like, um, that, that really both of them are doing because they're,

24:31

they're kind of working in tandem as much as they, as they as they can. Um,

24:36

so I wanted to invite an audience into what that is.

24:39

I wanted them to see it all. I didn't wanna just open, you know,

24:41

lights up and you see, um, um, uh,

24:45

he's already in the shower chair, whatever. But like, I wanted them,

24:48

I wanted everyone to see that full act. And so throughout the whole scene,

24:51

he's showered, Um, he's brought into the shower, he showered,

24:55

he's brought back into this wheelchair. He's, he's, um, dressed.

24:59

His hair is done, and he is like ready for the day and the whole scene.

25:02

So I was like, yeah, I wanted to show, show people that's what the work is.

25:06

I didn't realize that that was part of what I love so much about that scene,

25:09

but the, the feeling that they had been doing this and they just had this,

25:13

this dance, Um, that was a great scene. Yeah.

25:17

There was a clip that I saw today that talks where you're talking about,

25:22

and it's very short. Like it doesn't tell the whole story.

25:24

I'm so curious about more of this, um, where you,

25:28

your agent was telling you that you won the Puli tour.

25:32

<Laugh>. Like, I, I mean, I partly love this type of story because it,

25:36

it wasn't something until I moved to New York and,

25:38

and I met people who had been on Broadway or who had like, success, um,

25:43

in the theater. And then next, a month later they're like, Okay,

25:48

I'm back on unemployment now because I don't have a job.

25:51

I didn't really realize that. So it's really this story,

25:55

um, it's important to me for that kind of way.

25:58

So <laugh> whatever part of that you feel like.

26:01

Oh, yeah, yeah. I, I actually love this story too. Cause I'm like, this is,

26:04

it's just so exactly what you're saying. You're like, Yep.

26:07

And one day on Broadway, and the next, like, like, we,

26:09

you open the show and the next day I'm like,

26:12

gotta do my laundry and my Ikea bags, take it downstairs. Like, it was like,

26:16

these like sharp contrasts of, of what your life is like. You know,

26:20

one day you're at this, at this go opening, and then you're like,

26:23

gotta do my laundry in the basement. Um, <laugh>. But, uh, yeah,

26:27

for the day of the, I was, um, I was supposed to be at jury duty that day. Um, I, it was like flash floods.

26:34

I went down downtown. I, I was all the way, all the way uptown.

26:38

So I went downtown. I wasn't chosen, like, thank God,

26:41

I came back to my apartment and I was about to start doing my taxes because they

26:45

would do the next day. So like, great. Like, it's very, very late. Like, so I,

26:50

so I was opening up TurboTax, like ready to go,

26:52

and I get a call around three o'clock from my agent, um,

26:55

who's screaming at me that I won the Pulitzer.

26:58

And I was so mad at him because I thought he was fucking with

27:03

me. Arthurs lying to me Uhhuh. Um, and uh, uh,

27:07

it was nine minutes and 48 seconds of me being like,

27:12

How dare you? Um, it was also April. So I was like, Oh,

27:15

this is like a delayed April Fools joke. Like, how cool. Yeah. And, um,

27:19

he's just laughing at me for almost 10 minutes and was like, Well,

27:21

why don't you, why don't you hang up?

27:23

And I think you will find that you actually indeed have won the poll for

27:27

<laugh>. The thing is like, why the phone, why was 10 minutes was I was trying to Google it,

27:30

but apparently I didn't know this. Like,

27:33

apparently it's a live stream announcement that that goes out.

27:36

So it was recorded, so there was no, like,

27:38

there was no language on the internet, which means it's not real that like that.

27:42

I had one that pulled Sarah, so I was like, Was gonna watch this video. Um,

27:45

so I hung up and I saw that, um, I had 20, 20 texts,

27:50

like 12 or 20 texts, and the first one was from Steven Allen GIAs being saying,

27:54

Congratulations. I was like, Oh, well, I guess it's true <laugh>.

27:57

And I called my agent back to apologize. Uh.

28:02

Uh, I'm sure he appreciated that the whole thing out.

28:06

Laugh at me the whole. Time. Yeah. Well, you know, we should wrap up this part of our conversation.

28:10

Okay. Um, sad to say, um,

28:13

for those of you who are listening and would like to hear more,

28:15

there'll be a little bonus podcast conversation where we might be talking about

28:19

cats. Cats, I don't. Know. Best content. Yeah.

28:23

All cats all the. Time. All cats All the time.

28:26

Yeah. Um, so thanks for joining me on this podcast.

28:29

Thank you for having. Me. And, um, your, your website is martina myo.com. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>.

28:35

Um, anywhere else I should tell people to go to learn more about your work or?

28:39

I'm on, I'm on all the socials. I don't really use Twitter that much,

28:42

but I'm on, I'm on, uh, it's all my, all my name. M A r t y N A m h A O K,

28:47

Um, Instagram I've been using more most lately, but yeah. Yeah.

28:51

Yeah. Cool. All right. Thanks for talking to me today.

28:54

Thank you. That was the title track from Sophia Saba Vatex in our softening.

33:40

Uh, Sophia is going to be on the podcast soon.

33:43

I'm very excited for this conversation as well. Uh,

33:46

that piano has a history and it inspired the album, the,

33:51

the piano that that was recorded, that piece come on.

33:54

So I'm excited about so many things that are coming up.

33:56

I'm excited about this thing that just happened, this interview with, uh,

33:59

Martina Myo. A lot of things. A lot of things. Thanks so much for listening.

34:04

If you're a patron, uh, stop by patreon.com/michael Herron in a couple of days,

34:09

and there will be an extended cat conversation <laugh> with Martina.

34:14

And if you're not yet a patron, feel free to go on over there and sign up for five bucks.

34:17

You get access to all that cool stuff I talked about in the beginning of the

34:20

show. Um, I'm really grateful to you for listening. Tell a friend,

34:24

I've taken quite a pause from social media right now and <laugh> whatever with

34:29

the new owner of Twitter. Maybe I'll be leaving there too. I don't know.

34:33

I'm just on a personal level, I'm much happier not being as engaged on social media as I used to be.

34:40

And that is the end of this podcast. Thanks so much for listening, and, uh,

34:45

let me hear from you. Please, I'd love to hear from you.

34:48

I hope you enjoyed the interview. See you next time.