0:00

Hey, Leela. Hey, Hannah. There's something I think we

0:02

should talk about. What's that? We've gotten vulnerable,

0:04

juicy. We

0:06

wanted to make this show about the things that

0:09

make us sweat, but we wanted to discuss it

0:18

openly, right? Yeah, I mean, we have gone places. We've gone there.

0:20

Yeah. Let's

0:22

just acknowledge that. I mean, I'm not saying we're not going to make it. I mean, we're

0:24

going to make it. I mean, we're going to make it. I mean,

0:27

we're going to make it. I mean, we're going to make it. I mean, we're going

0:29

to make it. Let's just acknowledge that. You were

0:31

a work colleague and we started this business

0:33

together, this venture,

0:35

this podcast,

0:36

but us becoming friends,

0:39

it was something that kind

0:41

of had to grow. Yeah.

0:44

And it's all been through this podcast.

0:49

But there were moments in the beginning

0:52

when I wasn't

0:53

really sure how close we

0:55

really were. And I remember

0:58

thinking... Oh, Lord,

1:00

what did you think? I

1:02

had questions. In the beginning,

1:05

I was like, you know, does Hannah trust me?

1:08

Are we going to get real? And

1:10

especially why? Why have

1:12

I never been invited to the

1:14

Sudanese cookout? What? What

1:17

are you talking about, Lila? You know

1:19

what I'm talking about. No. The

1:21

Sudanese cookout. What? Sudanese

1:24

cookout? The Sudanese cookout.

1:26

OK, we need to stoop this out. Mm-hmm.

1:30

The Stoop. The Stoop. The

1:32

Stoop. The Stoop. Stories

1:37

from across the Black diaspora that

1:40

we need to talk about. My cousins were water

1:42

and grease girls and I couldn't be a water

1:44

and grease girl. That's what I'm talking about, ballerina

1:46

in the hood. We

1:47

be Gullah Geechee United, people. When

1:49

a Black woman walks up to the

1:51

desk in labor, what

1:55

preconceived notions do you have about her? I

1:57

didn't even know we had a hair shard.

2:11

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2:13

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2:15

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2:18

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2:49

move on with a map of what's going on.

2:51

Okay, Lila, what are you

2:53

getting at here? What

2:55

are you talking about? What's going on?

2:58

Okay, hear me out. Let's be real. When

3:00

we first met,

3:01

we worked in the same newsroom. I

3:04

was a reporter and you were the host of the show.

3:07

For people who work in newsrooms out there,

3:09

you know that hosts can be a bit

3:12

intimidating. Lila,

3:15

I was not no intimidating. Do

3:18

not look her in the eye, they would say.

3:20

Do not look her in the eye. No,

3:22

I would say. Well, you know, they

3:25

could

3:25

have said that. They could have said that.

3:28

But you know, I would see you walk

3:31

in with your colorful

3:32

hijab and the way you moved

3:34

so regally to the corridors

3:36

and I would think. Not regally. Yes,

3:39

I would think that woman, she has power. Lila,

3:42

that's

3:42

just ridiculous. Come on. I

3:45

know.

3:45

I don't know what you're talking about. I do think I wasn't

3:48

super close with you in the newsroom because to be honest,

3:51

I wasn't sure what we

3:53

had in common. You know, not

3:56

only were you in this super big role,

3:58

you know, but you were also the

3:59

I was just queen of a Muslim

4:02

woman. And I actually had never

4:05

even known any black Muslim women at

4:07

that time. Ah, okay. I

4:10

still don't get the intimidating

4:11

part, but I understand.

4:13

You're talking

4:15

about a situation, the things that we talk

4:17

about, this stuff on the street too, right? Like, that

4:19

we all have these ideas of people,

4:23

we have

4:24

these biases, this imagination

4:26

of what people are like

4:27

from what they look like. It

4:30

can be from what we wear,

4:31

or our religion, or our background.

4:34

And all of a sudden you see this black Muslim woman

4:36

and you don't know what to do with

4:38

this image that you have in your head. Right, okay,

4:41

so

4:41

there was this moment when we both

4:43

just read the same article written

4:45

by a woman who said African Americans

4:48

should

4:48

stop appropriating African

4:51

culture. Remember that? Oh

4:53

yeah, I remember I saw you in the kitchen

4:55

at the station and

4:58

we both read the article and we

5:00

just went at it. Yeah, chopping

5:02

it up. I know, she was saying the African Americans

5:04

shouldn't wear African clothing because they didn't

5:06

know the meaning behind it. And we said, let's make an episode

5:09

about this, remember? So we were like,

5:11

let's make a podcast. And

5:13

we wanted to make it fun and talk about

5:16

some of the similarities that we have and

5:18

our differences and just make it real. Yeah,

5:21

because we are

5:23

both black people and we were

5:25

some of the only black people in that newsroom,

5:28

right? That's the other thing is that we knew

5:30

we had similarities

5:31

and that's also

5:34

partially why I wanted to do this too. And

5:36

now almost 100

5:37

episodes later,

5:39

you're asking me about a cookout.

5:42

Yes, I am asking you.

5:45

How much was it about

5:47

the Sudanese cookout? Because we

5:49

would record episodes sometimes and you

5:51

would tell me about your weekend. What

5:54

a great time you had. How much fun you

5:56

had with the drums playing in the park.

5:58

All your friends eating the place. and

6:01

having just a glorious time.

6:03

And I was always thinking,

6:06

why wasn't I invited to

6:08

this molecule, this cookie? I

6:10

don't know if I remember this exactly,

6:13

Leela. I have

6:13

the receipts, come on. I don't know. I know

6:16

it's from our very first episode we

6:18

did together. Let me rub

6:20

the tape. Rub the

6:22

tape, rub the tape. And my favorite

6:24

is the way I'm feeling. Well, girl, it will

6:26

be like honey. But, Humma, I remember asking

6:28

you how Africans feel

6:31

when black folks wear things like Tysheets.

6:33

Okay, well, I've heard a

6:35

lot of Africans

6:37

talking about that stuff, right? They'd

6:40

say, African Americans shouldn't be

6:42

wearing our clothing. But what makes

6:44

it

6:45

yours?

6:46

Okay, okay, so what if I wear

6:48

a tobe? You know, the sorry

6:51

body wrap, it's either cotton or silk.

6:53

You wear it in Sudan. Sometimes I've seen you wearing

6:55

it at your party. Yes. It's

6:58

all dolled up. In Sudan, it's the

7:00

daily outfit that women wear,

7:02

mostly married women. And what if I wore

7:04

it? Just because, you know, I was feeling festive.

7:07

Ooh, I think it would look gorgeous

7:09

on you, Leela.

7:11

But I just would want you to know

7:14

a little bit about

7:16

it. That's all. But that's just me. Other

7:18

people might have a different opinion. Well,

7:21

how do we find out? What do we

7:23

Google? That's what producer TK

7:25

was asking people at Afropok. The answer

7:27

was pretty simple. So basically,

7:30

ask an African.

7:31

Okay, well, I'm an African.

7:33

Yep. And I took that question

7:35

to some Sudanese

7:36

ladies at a recent picnic.

7:39

I want to know what they thought. Okay, I wasn't invited

7:41

to that picnic. Oh, next

7:43

time. Okay.

7:46

It's just one of those things. It's just like

7:48

a community picnic. I don't know. I didn't

7:50

think like, do you invite me to your picnics

7:52

and your cookouts and your retreats?

7:55

No. I think that's what we need to talk

7:58

about today. need to

8:00

talk about this because I started thinking about our relationship

8:03

as hosts and as a work partners

8:05

and as friends and I

8:08

did think that at that time I wonder if

8:10

Hanau considers me someone she would

8:12

invite to the picnic or not. Now

8:14

that I'm kind of thinking about this, that

8:17

moment would have been like about six years ago.

8:19

I'm surprised

8:22

that it

8:23

really stuck with you that moment.

8:26

It's been so long but it's still with you.

8:28

Yeah for me it brought up this feeling

8:31

of are we really truly

8:33

getting to know each other? Are

8:36

we truly understanding

8:39

each other or are we

8:41

just creating something together? Are

8:44

we involved in each other's lives? Like if we're talking

8:46

about the stupid Africans and African Americans

8:48

and the distance we have from

8:50

each other sometimes, like was there

8:52

distance between us?

8:54

That's what it brought up for me.

8:57

I'm glad we're talking about this because on the

9:00

stoop, like the whole premise is

9:02

we've always tried to go there with

9:06

other people and other issues and

9:09

now it's like well what about us? Right?

9:12

Have we been able to

9:14

really go there with each other? And

9:18

one thing we've been doing I think

9:20

is bringing these things up by softening

9:23

the stereotypes we have and

9:26

the images kind of that we have in

9:28

our heads of each other. And

9:31

that's what we did with the

9:32

episode The Nod. When

9:35

we sent three reporters across the country

9:37

from New York to North Carolina

9:39

and Washington State to go

9:41

around and nod at people, remember that?

9:44

Yeah. And see if they nodded back.

9:46

I mean this is our way of experimenting

9:50

with how different black people are reacting

9:52

to each other on the street. Yeah.

9:55

I don't know if there's power walking.

9:58

Now are they walking in a powerful way?

9:59

from you or towards me? No,

10:02

towards me. Funny

10:05

where I get the most nods.

10:07

From older men,

10:10

African-American men in the grocery store, they

10:13

always nod and speak. My

10:16

friends and I joke when we don't get the

10:18

nod, we quickly say,

10:20

oh, they're not from here.

10:21

So, Leonita,

10:24

do you see any more black people?

10:28

I do. Did you

10:30

give me a nod? Did you say

10:32

hello to me? We're just asking

10:35

people why they give

10:37

the nod or why don't they give the nod

10:39

or how often? I guess

10:42

it depends on the circumstance. Like,

10:45

the nod to me is not like really a... Like,

10:48

it's cultural, but it's also like something

10:51

that is just an acknowledgement. But

10:53

what if you don't get a nod back? Doesn't

10:56

matter, just keep them open.

11:02

I remember there were so many dissenters

11:05

in that episode, but

11:07

also something that came up in

11:10

that episode was something that was

11:12

hard to talk about. Because

11:15

in that episode, we talked to Africans

11:18

and we got their perspectives on the nod,

11:21

because of something you had said. Do

11:23

you remember what you said?

11:24

Yes, I remember I said that when

11:27

I gave the nod to some

11:29

Africans many times, I don't get the

11:31

nod back. And I remember

11:33

me thinking, do I really want to bring this up? Am

11:36

I really

11:36

going to say this to Hannah?

11:39

I did, we talked about it. If we can't

11:41

ask ourselves these questions, how are we

11:44

going to

11:44

get other people to think about

11:47

these questions and these assumptions?

11:49

And we got clear on

11:51

stuff that could get lost in

11:53

cultural translations. Okay,

11:56

so I've talked about some moments

11:59

where I asked... questions

12:02

I was sort of nervous or embarrassed to bring

12:04

up. What were some of the things that were hard

12:06

for you? Hmm

12:08

I mean one has

12:11

got to be the episode

12:13

you called me African what?

12:15

Our episode about the names.

12:18

Partially it was about the names I was called

12:20

when I was in school and

12:24

it was revisiting

12:26

a lot of

12:27

emotional memories. She's

12:30

a pom-pom she could do the twist but

12:32

most of all she can kiss kiss kiss.

12:34

Mailman mailman do your duty

12:37

here comes a lady with the African booty.

12:40

Well when I was growing up in Texas I was

12:42

called African booty scratcher.

12:44

What does it mean? I

12:46

don't know I have a feeling it just means

12:49

you Africans who

12:51

are you don't have any clothes

12:54

probably and you're poor and you're

12:56

so poor that you're just

12:58

standing there all backward and pathetic scratching

13:00

your booties I guess. That's

13:02

so weird. That

13:05

was a hard one and I remember it

13:08

was even more difficult for

13:10

you to bring up another

13:12

thing

13:13

from your childhood. Remember

13:16

we talked about the derogatory name that you

13:18

grew up hearing for African Americans.

13:21

Yeah

13:22

that was a conversation that I remember

13:26

I had a lot of hesitation

13:29

about having. It was

13:32

hard. It's one thing

13:34

to relive things

13:37

that were very hard to go through in your life

13:39

and talk

13:40

about them again but it's

13:42

another thing to

13:43

talk about a slur

13:46

that my people use against

13:49

African Americans. That's

13:51

just so horrible and just

13:53

so embarrassing.

14:01

So there's some words, there's

14:03

some words, some hurtful words. Right,

14:06

so let's go there. A

14:09

lot of immigrants coming from Africa

14:12

have perceptions of African

14:14

Americans. And it's also,

14:16

again, going back to the media, it's what

14:19

they get in their media back

14:21

home. It's the movies, it's the music,

14:23

it's the rap videos. What

14:26

they see, it's the mainstream

14:27

interpretation of Black America.

14:29

So it's the rapper

14:32

with the pants sagging. It

14:34

is the gangster with the, you

14:36

know, like, terrorizing a neighborhood in

14:39

LA or whatever. And for

14:41

women, what movies are y'all watching? What

14:44

are you watching? Like, stuff from the 80s? This is

14:46

the stuff I remember seeing,

14:49

and I think some of the only positive

14:51

images of African Americans shown in Africa

14:54

relate to music for sure,

14:56

you know, and sports. So

15:02

all of these are, I think,

15:04

a result of just like

15:05

what people see, just like here about

15:07

Africa. Okay, it's the same. It's just

15:09

the other way around.

15:12

But there is a word, I am going to

15:14

bring it up, that is equivalent

15:16

to the N word that I know people from

15:18

my community, sadly, some

15:21

of them. And it's not like the N word

15:23

with the A from the N, it's the

15:25

N word with the ER.

15:28

And the word is abid, abid,

15:29

and it's coming from

15:32

Arabic, and it means slave.

15:36

And so that is

15:39

still to this day, a word,

15:42

a derogatory

15:42

term for African Americans.

15:45

And it's, again, like I said,

15:47

it's shameful, and it's sad, but it's there. So

15:50

you're right, it goes both

15:51

ways.

15:53

For some reason, abid

15:56

hits you harder, hits me harder

15:59

than African people. Because it means slave. And

16:01

that for an African American person, it's very

16:03

hard and very deeply. But

16:06

does African booty scratcher hit you as

16:08

hard as I beat? Not as hard as I beat, no. That's

16:11

what I'm saying. Mm-hmm.

16:14

I get it. I get that.

16:22

How did you feel after talking about it?

16:24

Even listening back

16:25

now, I'm like cringing

16:28

and very uncomfortable. It's

16:30

hard to listen back to or to

16:33

remember or to admit that your people

16:36

can be so cruel.

16:39

But the soup, this

16:41

space that you and I created,

16:43

it just pulls the honesty

16:45

out, right? And it just lets us talk

16:47

about this stuff and challenge

16:50

our own biases.

16:52

And it can be really easy

16:55

to avoid doing that in real life, but

16:58

we don't avoid that

16:59

here. We do it. There's

17:01

no room for shame. Yeah. It really

17:04

does make us push ourselves to

17:06

the limit to talk about some very difficult

17:08

stuff.

17:12

What were your thoughts about me when you first

17:14

met me? You were quiet. I

17:16

remember that. And you were like this thoughtful,

17:20

very artsy, stylish

17:25

woman. But

17:28

to be honest, a lot

17:30

of the times I

17:32

feel, again, maybe

17:35

this is because of previous experiences

17:37

from my childhood.

17:38

Maybe it's like

17:40

that childhood trauma.

17:41

But I always feel when

17:44

I meet a black person, when I meet

17:46

an African American, when I'm with them in a space

17:49

that I have to

17:52

earn their approval

17:56

or trust. I

17:59

don't know how to shake it. that till this day. I

18:02

think it's something my father once told

18:04

me a long, long time ago, this idea that

18:07

immigrants, we are guests. I

18:11

don't know if I believe that fully. This

18:13

country does belong to you at

18:15

some point, but that kind of sticks

18:18

with me, this idea of when

18:20

I worked with you in a newsroom, there's

18:23

always this feeling of wanting

18:26

to check with you to see

18:28

if I'm doing blackness right. What do

18:30

you mean? I mean, like

18:33

you are the African American and I am,

18:37

as we say, another

18:39

kind of black, but

18:42

there's this, I don't know, is it imposter

18:45

syndrome? Is that what it's called? You felt

18:47

imposter syndrome around me?

18:49

I

18:49

think so. This idea

18:52

of like, I'm a

18:54

black woman, but I am the

18:57

immigrant daughter black

18:59

woman,

19:00

but you are quote unquote, the

19:02

real deal black person of this country,

19:05

the African American person.

19:07

So, you know, I always have a little

19:10

bit of that. And I think I had a little bit of

19:12

that with you as well. It's just like, oh, I wonder

19:14

if Leela, you know, the black

19:17

woman, does

19:18

she approve? You know, it's like,

19:20

I held you in high regard and was

19:22

like, I looked up to you. So that's why

19:24

it's so surprising to hear

19:27

that you thought I was intimidating.

19:30

I

19:41

think there are these moments, you

19:43

know, that are a reminder

19:46

of how different our experiences are

19:48

culturally. I mean, it's

19:50

just real. Like when we talked about Sudan.

19:53

Oh yeah.

19:54

We were going through our season and

19:57

then in April war,

19:59

broke out in Sudan. And

20:03

we were just going on with our season.

20:05

And I was sad.

20:07

I was frustrated. I was angry

20:10

a lot. And I think it just built up

20:12

and built up. And

20:15

it was your idea. You

20:18

kept checking on me to see how I was,

20:20

how my family was. And I think

20:22

as you

20:23

heard the

20:24

feelings build up with me, you said,

20:27

you know what? We

20:28

need to talk about this. Yeah, it was

20:30

hard. It was a hard time. I

20:32

just really felt like we

20:34

have this space. We have to make something.

20:37

And we did. You feel

20:42

ready?

20:44

Yeah, I'm ready.

20:46

So

20:47

for the past few months, a country

20:49

where you're from, where a

20:51

lot of your relatives and friends are Sudan

20:55

has been at war. And Sudan's

20:57

capital Khartoum paramilitary forces

21:00

are increasingly taking over neighborhoods. They've

21:02

seized control of stores and hospitals,

21:05

even as a tenuous ceasefire holds back

21:07

the fighting that began on April 15. Thousands

21:10

of US citizens have yet to be evacuated.

21:12

Many are Sudanese American. But

21:16

even though I've

21:17

been hearing about this in the news,

21:19

I really don't feel like it's been a huge

21:23

story,

21:24

like a huge focus. Sadly,

21:27

that happens a lot with stories

21:29

about Africa. This idea

21:31

that, you know, it's this

21:33

troubled place

21:35

plagued with issues. It's

21:38

people over there are always fighting

21:41

and can't get it right.

21:42

And so when

21:45

war breaks out,

21:47

that narrative takes over.

21:49

Right. And so it becomes like, okay,

21:52

it's just the same old same old. It's

21:55

news for a bit. And then nothing.

21:59

But like when something happens

22:02

in the US that affects

22:05

black people, for example, right?

22:07

With the killing of George Floyd, for example,

22:10

the world's... Right? And

22:12

the entire world rallies

22:15

around. Black lives matter.

22:18

But when it's something like this in Africa, it's

22:20

just...

22:20

it's not the same. Doesn't get the same

22:23

attention at all.

22:31

This militia is staying.

22:34

There's no end in sight to the war. These

22:37

people are in people's bedrooms

22:39

and homes and have stolen

22:41

all their belongings.

22:44

And a lot of people are saying,

22:46

you know, I don't know

22:48

if I want to go back to that house anymore. Yeah.

22:51

If we ever go back. So... Yeah.

22:54

Like people don't have anything there anymore. And that realization

22:56

is just

22:58

crushing.

23:00

And a lot of these people built these

23:02

lives and homes

23:05

through a lot of work, right? And a lot of diasporans

23:08

who've been sending those remittances

23:10

that we talked about in another episode, right?

23:13

Like little by little, the house

23:15

is built. Little by little.

23:18

And now it's all gone.

23:22

Yeah. You're grieving. I mean,

23:24

you've been grieving. I feel that,

23:27

you know, when we're going through things

23:30

and we're going through grief, we throw ourselves

23:33

into work and distraction. And

23:36

that's what you've been doing. And

23:38

when I talk to you sometimes on the phone

23:41

and you're telling me you're

23:43

talking to relatives that are, you

23:45

know, are stuck

23:47

in Egypt or, you know, people

23:50

that are scattered throughout the world and relatives

23:52

that are pooling money together

23:54

to help pay for rents for people to

23:57

relocate. And I mean, it's

23:59

just a lot.

23:59

lot.

24:01

And this

24:02

idea that you might not ever

24:05

be able to go back, I just think it's so

24:07

heartbreaking. So I

24:09

just think we needed to just say

24:12

what is happening, what you're going through.

24:31

I appreciated the chance to talk about

24:33

this. And I also, Lila, appreciated

24:37

you for not

24:40

letting me bear this burden

24:42

on my own, or be like, okay,

24:44

this is your thing, this is your country, this

24:47

is your issue, here, make the episode.

24:49

You actually took that

24:51

from me. And I felt like I

24:53

was more of a guest on that episode. You

24:56

carried it. And I felt like you carried

24:58

me. And like, it felt like you

25:00

were holding me.

25:03

I want to tell you something that

25:05

I don't think

25:07

I've ever shared with you.

25:11

It was a time that you showed up for me. It was

25:13

an episode we did a while back. And this one

25:16

really meant a lot to me. So

25:19

do you remember the episode we did? What's

25:21

in your blood? Do you remember that one? Oh, yes.

25:24

Of course, I can't forget that one. We were discussing

25:27

our DNA tests that we did. And

25:30

we were both so curious

25:33

about what's in our blood.

25:35

It all started with this idea of

25:38

me trying to figure out something that I'd heard my

25:40

entire life, which was that we

25:42

had Native American blood. And

25:44

so I asked my mom about it.

25:46

My grandfather was

25:49

part Indian, Native

25:52

American. And I have

25:54

that in our ancestry.

25:58

But did you ever...

25:59

see any pictures or do you have is

26:02

there anything documented

26:03

about these Native American

26:06

relatives?

26:07

I

26:10

don't but it seems like

26:12

my aunt did. They? Hum.

26:16

Amorous wife?

26:17

Why does this even matter?

26:18

I keep asking myself that over and

26:20

over again.

26:20

Why does this why does it matter? Yeah.

26:23

And really like does your blood

26:26

determine your identity?

26:28

Who you are?

26:31

Girl, I got me a DNA test. Lila,

26:34

you sure you want to do this? I'm ready. I know

26:36

who I am. And

26:40

then you took your DNA test. And

26:43

I got the results.

26:44

I got the results right

26:46

here. Are you ready? Look,

26:49

look at me. Yeah. Are you ready? Yeah.

26:53

Lila Day DNA.

26:54

30% Great Britain, 26% Togo. Hey. 14% Mali. Cameroon, Congo

26:57

and Southern Bantu peoples

27:04

is 27%.

27:09

The other regions

27:12

look Native American. Here it is. 1%.

27:16

What does that mean?

27:21

What does that mean?

27:24

It makes me a little sad, but

27:27

only sad because it's like

27:30

I really do feel that the

27:32

intention of the family was to connect

27:34

to another group of people that might have

27:37

had the same sort of experience of oppression

27:39

in this country or a similar feeling

27:41

of oppression of not being seen as whole. Bantu

27:45

people. That's kind of nice to

27:47

know. Mali.

27:50

Yeah. Maybe

27:56

to digest this.

27:57

Yeah. Mm hmm.

27:59

What does this 1% do for you?

28:03

The 1%

28:06

feels the same as the

28:09

other percentages actually. Maybe

28:11

because I don't really have a connection to any of

28:14

these really.

28:16

Camera room, Congo. I'm getting

28:18

a little emotional. Yeah. It's

28:21

pretty powerful.

28:22

Yeah. That's

28:25

where you're from, Leela. Oh, it's great.

28:30

I think it's just part of, like, you

28:32

know, it's just this history of our country wanting

28:34

to connect to something. So,

28:38

feels good. I didn't

28:40

realize this would be like an emotional episode.

28:44

Now I get it.

28:48

What is it?

28:50

It's just knowing you come from somewhere, you

28:52

know? I mean, people won't think about

28:54

that. There's a huge population

28:56

in this country that just doesn't know where they

28:58

came from. They

29:01

know how they feel.

29:04

So, you know,

29:06

actually, I feel like I've had, like, some resentment

29:08

towards family members who have,

29:10

like, been claiming the Native American thing for

29:12

so long because I've just been like, just claim your blackness

29:15

and be proud of it.

29:16

But this makes me think, like,

29:19

just claim what –

29:22

just claim it all, you know? Claim

29:24

what you feel is right.

29:29

Because even seeing all this, you know, and all

29:31

these countries listed here, I can

29:34

travel to all these countries and I could still not feel

29:36

a connection to it, you know? But

29:41

you're from them all. Yeah. That's

29:43

beautiful. A lot of places to be from.

29:45

Mm-hmm. Ooh.

29:50

Girl, is that the stoop?

29:53

So, Lela, yeah.

29:56

Does it matter to know where you come from?

30:00

Judging from my response to this, yes.

30:05

You're lucky. That's what it is. You've known.

30:10

And now you do. Welcome

30:12

to the club. Yup.

30:15

Oh boy, you know. I'm

30:18

gonna cry. I think you're gonna

30:20

cry. I'm gonna cry. Congratulations.

30:24

I'm so happy for

30:26

you.

30:34

Is this sounding like a final episode? No, it

30:36

is not. Okay. I wanted

30:39

to share this with you

30:41

because this

30:43

is a

30:44

moment

30:46

that I thought for me, I felt so

30:48

connected to you. I just felt so much

30:51

love and compassion from

30:52

you. And

30:54

it

30:56

just felt

30:58

like this is why I

31:01

wanted to do the stoop, you know? Because

31:03

I think that our relationship has definitely

31:06

grown, definitely evolved. I

31:09

just knew you were there for me, you know? And I

31:11

knew we were there for each other.

31:14

And it was just this moment that I felt

31:17

very held. I was just happy to welcome

31:20

you to Africa, girl. I mean, we

31:22

did go to Africa together. Yeah,

31:25

but no, I mean,

31:26

I think I really wanted to think

31:28

about these moments because this

31:31

is the last episode of this

31:32

season. This is not a final episode.

31:35

Are you kidding me? This episode

31:37

got me so fired up for what's to come. Absolutely.

31:40

And what's in our future. The fact

31:42

that we will soon be at 100 episodes. Season 9

31:47

is wrapping up. We're going to take a little

31:49

break to make some more shows.

31:52

Yep. And we'll be back in

31:54

the beginning of the next year

31:57

with lots more on the stoop.

31:59

We sure will. And while we're

32:02

on that break, we wanna ask you to support

32:05

the Stoop and support independent

32:07

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yes. We make the Stoop

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So subscribe, tell your mama, tell your cousin,

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32:42

appreciate the listeners we already

32:45

have. Thank you so

32:46

much for being a part of

32:48

this podcast for

32:51

nine seasons. And

32:53

so thank you. Thank you. And

32:56

next, The Stoop. The

32:58

Stoop is a proud member of Radiotopia

33:01

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33:07

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Bye, see y'all next

33:36

season. See you

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soon. Season 10.

33:42

See you for season 10, our radio

33:44

friends.

33:45

As-salamu. See

33:53

you next season. The

33:59

people. who make our fellow Radiotopia

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show, Everything is Alive, the interview

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show in which all the subjects are inanimate

34:06

objects are bringing you something different

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this year. Right now, in the Everything

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34:12

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all sharing the trials and tribulations of what it's

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Everything is Alive, it's funny, informative,

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and poignant. Here's a sample.

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My name is Jirajah, and you

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can see me okay? Mm-hmm. Okay, good.

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I'm a jellyfish, so that's why I always

34:40

check

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with people. We're celebrities in the natural

34:43

world. You know, that's the thing about being a butterfly

34:45

that I don't think people understand, is the pressure.

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This is my son Joseph, and we

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are kangaroos. Joseph, we should

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say you are currently still

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in the pouch. Yeah, I live in the pouch

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still. Okay. It's awesome. It's

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like nature's pocket. Humans have a phrase,

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uh, eager beaver. Mm-hmm.

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Are you- are you- Is that a slur? I never know if

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that's a slur. When I look at a peacock, I don't see the king

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of birds. I see a woefully

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inconvenient animal. Imagine you-

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Find the animals in the Everything

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