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Oct. 29, 2024

Ballots & Beliefs: Ballots & Beliefs: Zetty’s Passion for Voting

Ballots & Beliefs: Ballots & Beliefs: Zetty’s Passion for Voting

In this episode, J Smiles talks about Zetty's life before she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Zetty, or better known to her friends as 'T.Y.' was passionate about voting and instilled in J a great sense of responsibility for exercising her civil rights and responsibilities.

From being mentored by Dr. Martin Luther King himself, to meeting her future husband while debating about politics, Zetty was all in when it came to making sure that she was fighting for social justice and for what was right. Though appearing demure, Zetty did not take just anything from candidates who wanted her support. Listen to the episode for more and make sure that like Zetty, you vote - your life depends on it!

Host: @jsmilescomedy
Producer: @MiaHallTV
Editor: @annelise9152  

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#civicengagement 
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#DementiaAwareness
#AlzheimersCare
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"Alzheimer's is heavy but we ain't gotta be!"
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Chapters

00:00 - Passionate Voting Mission in Alabama

15:25 - Intense Family Commitment to Voting

24:59 - Empowering Political Engagement and Progress

Transcript
WEBVTT

00:00:00.681 --> 00:00:14.973
So y'all know good and well my mama was not supposed to be walking up to the polls with a kid who couldn't vote, but she was so about that life and everybody at the polls knew her.

00:00:14.973 --> 00:00:21.772
She took my look behind, grabbed me by the hand and said come on in here.

00:00:21.772 --> 00:00:26.201
You're going to vote, don't talk, but I want you to see and know where it is.

00:00:26.201 --> 00:00:28.987
I want you to watch mama check for my name.

00:00:28.987 --> 00:00:29.789
This is Alabama.

00:00:29.789 --> 00:00:30.891
We have nothing digital.

00:00:30.891 --> 00:00:32.023
We're nothing fancy.

00:00:32.023 --> 00:00:38.365
Ever it was you writing your name or scratching your name off or bubbling something and coloring in something.

00:00:38.365 --> 00:00:40.270
You stand here and don't say nothing.

00:00:40.270 --> 00:00:50.128
Parenting Up caregiving adventures with Comedian Day day smiles is the intense journey of unexpectedly being fully responsible for my mama.

00:00:50.128 --> 00:01:00.340
For over a decade I've been chipping away at the unknown, advocating for her and pushing alzheimer's awareness on anyone and anything with a heartbeat.

00:01:00.340 --> 00:01:06.793
Spoiler alert I started comedy because this shit is so heavy, so be ready for the jokes.

00:01:06.793 --> 00:01:15.400
Caregiver newbies, ogs and village members just willing to prop up a caregiver you are in the right place.

00:01:15.400 --> 00:01:20.567
Hi, this is Zeddy.

00:01:20.567 --> 00:01:26.174
I hope you enjoy my daughter's podcast.

00:01:26.174 --> 00:01:27.715
Is that okay?

00:01:27.715 --> 00:01:38.525
Today's supporter.

00:01:38.525 --> 00:01:47.149
Shout out Tori Lux Quote so real Mom drives from the passenger side.

00:01:47.149 --> 00:01:49.846
Now Dementia sucks.

00:01:49.846 --> 00:01:54.808
Thank you for sharing Emoji heart end quote.

00:01:54.808 --> 00:02:19.093
We appreciate it, tori Lux, and for the rest of you, you too can have your support, a shout out, leave your comment on Apple Podcasts, instagram or YouTube and leave a review on Apple Podcasts, please.

00:02:19.093 --> 00:02:27.000
It really helps us grow and secure sponsorship, thank you, thank you.

00:02:27.000 --> 00:02:34.174
Today's episode Balance and Beliefs Zeddy's Passion for Voting.

00:02:37.600 --> 00:02:40.645
There are so many stories I tell about Zeddy.

00:02:40.645 --> 00:02:48.556
99.9% of them are post Alzheimer's dementia.

00:02:48.556 --> 00:02:50.138
The brain shunt.

00:02:50.138 --> 00:02:58.580
When her memory started to fail, when her gait started to be crappy, when she failed, when she had urine running down her leg and didn't know.

00:02:58.580 --> 00:03:09.580
And you know, at this time I said let me say something about this chick, this glorious, fantastic boss, old, bad ass woman.

00:03:09.580 --> 00:03:10.842
That's my mama.

00:03:10.842 --> 00:03:14.252
Before this stupid disease.

00:03:14.252 --> 00:03:21.872
There's so much life and vitality that I know is still in there.

00:03:21.960 --> 00:03:24.549
But listen, let me tell you something about this lady.

00:03:24.549 --> 00:03:28.747
Her friends from back in the day called her TY.

00:03:28.747 --> 00:03:39.587
Her first name is Thelma, middle name Yvette and meant a thing that my mama cared about.

00:03:39.587 --> 00:03:45.634
I don't know that she cared about anything more than voting.

00:03:45.634 --> 00:03:57.308
That's what I'm trying to say, and when I, I know she cares more about me, but I'm a person I said I don't know a thing, right?

00:03:57.308 --> 00:04:07.292
Not a car, not a vacation, not a job, not a concert, not money, voting.

00:04:07.292 --> 00:04:10.816
And growing up I was like you know.

00:04:10.816 --> 00:04:15.127
I mean, why this election?

00:04:15.127 --> 00:04:17.490
Why this candidate?

00:04:17.490 --> 00:04:25.689
And the look on her face you wouldn't think I told her that she was a horrible mom and I was about to run away.

00:04:25.689 --> 00:04:29.170
Don't ever come for me, don't try to find me, I hate you.

00:04:30.519 --> 00:05:12.831
She was so dedicated to the pursuit of equity through our civil liberty of voting, and so I've got to share with you all a little bit about how that impacted me and how it seemed to come to play for her, trying to determine if Alabama Democrats needed to break off and start a whole new Democratic thing.

00:05:12.831 --> 00:05:15.000
You know, it's kind of like in national politics or global politics.

00:05:15.000 --> 00:05:22.454
You always hear do we need a new party, democrats, republicans, they are not doing right by anybody.

00:05:22.454 --> 00:05:25.911
So we want the Green Party, we want the independents, we want the Tea Party, whatever.

00:05:25.911 --> 00:05:33.733
Well, that's where my parents met Talking trash at a political event, talking about voting.

00:05:33.733 --> 00:05:43.774
My mom always told me no, voting is insignificant.

00:05:43.774 --> 00:05:55.144
If it was insignificant and it didn't matter, they would have given us the right to vote from the beginning.

00:05:55.144 --> 00:06:03.355
And so even if you don't understand, jay, why you should vote, understand that the people in the power don't want you to.

00:06:03.355 --> 00:06:09.720
That's why you should do it.

00:06:09.720 --> 00:06:18.817
So think about like when you're a kid and you're growing up and your parents say don't date that guy, don't date that girl, come home by midnight.

00:06:18.817 --> 00:06:19.420
What's the first thing you do?

00:06:19.420 --> 00:06:21.182
You're like forget that.

00:06:21.182 --> 00:06:26.932
If you say, come on by midnight, I'm trying to figure out immediately how at least to stay out to 1 am.

00:06:26.932 --> 00:06:31.601
It's the same psychology for my mom at least.

00:06:31.601 --> 00:06:36.089
If they don't want us to vote, then damn it.

00:06:36.089 --> 00:06:38.553
I'm voting every time.

00:06:39.759 --> 00:06:44.391
Local, state, federal, she was in it.

00:06:44.391 --> 00:06:52.041
Local state, federal, she was in it.

00:06:52.041 --> 00:06:59.415
Now, of course, it does not hurt that she was born and raised in Montgomery, alabama, and Martin Luther King Jr was a personal mentor of hers.

00:06:59.415 --> 00:07:17.863
But I will tell you this all of her contemporaries, all of her cousins, everybody she grew up with, didn't keep that same fire in their belly, and I mean, technically speaking, dr King was there with them too, like I wasn't there.

00:07:17.863 --> 00:07:28.910
So I ain't trying to start nothing and I ain't trying to say who did this, who robbed Peter to pay Paul, but I grew up with him and I know some people didn't quite make it.

00:07:30.160 --> 00:07:38.204
Y'all, zeddy gave her employees the day off to go vote.

00:07:38.204 --> 00:07:45.997
She's a private employer, a consultant, and let me tell you why.

00:07:45.997 --> 00:07:51.031
That's a big deal they had to negotiate.

00:07:51.031 --> 00:07:55.646
They asked off to get regular vacation because my mama believed that you should work.

00:07:55.646 --> 00:08:01.086
You got sick days and then you should come to work because if you ain't sick you should be at work.

00:08:01.086 --> 00:08:02.571
Vacation from what?

00:08:02.571 --> 00:08:03.632
What?

00:08:03.632 --> 00:08:04.815
You vacationing from?

00:08:04.815 --> 00:08:08.353
You should be happy to have a job and if you ain't sick you should come to work.

00:08:08.353 --> 00:08:20.927
But for voting she gave him the day off, hey, and all she was waiting for them to do was to come back into work with a little sticker on that said I voted.

00:08:20.927 --> 00:08:28.639
That's how serious my mama was from day one about voting.

00:08:31.865 --> 00:08:36.495
Funny story about voting with my mom, okay.

00:08:36.495 --> 00:08:54.345
So back in the day, especially Montgomery, alabama, you got to realize when I was growing up we were still under all kind of federal jurisdiction because of the crap that happened back in the 1940s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, you know what?

00:08:54.345 --> 00:09:06.360
For the crap that happened from Jesus and Moses up till about 1997, we were still under federal rule.

00:09:06.360 --> 00:09:13.716
So how we voted and when we voted and gerrymandering and red displeasing all of that.

00:09:13.716 --> 00:09:16.580
We had a lot of federal oversight.

00:09:16.580 --> 00:09:34.238
So you know good and well my mama was not supposed to be walking up to the polls with a kid who couldn't vote, but she was so about that life and everybody at the polls knew her.

00:09:35.404 --> 00:09:41.038
She took my look behind, grabbed me by the hand and said come on in here.

00:09:41.038 --> 00:09:42.528
You're going to vote, don't talk.

00:09:42.528 --> 00:09:45.437
But I want you to see and know where it is.

00:09:45.437 --> 00:09:46.349
I want you to watch.

00:09:46.349 --> 00:09:46.770
Mama.

00:09:46.770 --> 00:09:48.250
Check for my name.

00:09:48.250 --> 00:09:49.013
This is Alabama.

00:09:49.013 --> 00:09:50.250
We have nothing digital.

00:09:50.250 --> 00:09:51.544
We're nothing fancy ever.

00:09:51.544 --> 00:09:57.618
You were writing your name or scratching your name off or bubbling something and coloring in something.

00:09:57.618 --> 00:09:59.570
You stand here and don't say nothing.

00:09:59.570 --> 00:10:16.500
And she walked in and hilarious was to watch Zeddy go from badass I will negotiate with a drug kingpin and the devil to sweet and demure like she's about to hand somebody a piece of cake.

00:10:16.500 --> 00:10:18.928
So she was talking all this trash with me in the car.

00:10:18.928 --> 00:10:22.193
You're not supposed to be in here, but don't say nothing.

00:10:22.193 --> 00:10:32.547
If you just don't talk and don't do nothing, don't touch nothing, you can't bring no toy in here and don't look at nobody, you just hold my hand.

00:10:33.488 --> 00:10:36.011
She gets in Hi, how are you?

00:10:36.011 --> 00:10:38.876
Ooh, how's your mama?

00:10:38.876 --> 00:10:42.471
Yeah, oh, my God, it is hot outside, isn't it?

00:10:42.471 --> 00:10:46.110
I barely made it here, yeah, yeah, oh, my God, it is hot outside, isn't it?

00:10:46.110 --> 00:10:46.610
I barely made it here.

00:10:46.610 --> 00:10:48.453
Yeah, yeah, uh-huh, oh, should I get in this line off here?

00:10:48.453 --> 00:10:49.615
Oh well, thank you so much.

00:10:49.615 --> 00:10:58.307
Yeah, yeah, well, you know, I had to go pick my child up.

00:10:58.307 --> 00:11:02.437
I just I didn't have anybody else to go and get, so is it okay if she just she's just going to be just right over, she's not going to make up?

00:11:02.437 --> 00:11:02.778
Oh, is that okay?

00:11:02.778 --> 00:11:04.802
Oh, thank you so much, because I understand Y'all.

00:11:04.802 --> 00:11:04.903
Okay.

00:11:06.326 --> 00:11:19.309
By the time she has cotton air, talked these people into talking about the weather and their kids and a piece of cake.

00:11:19.309 --> 00:11:27.272
I'm at 9, 11, 12, 13, all standing with her watching the whole process.

00:11:27.272 --> 00:11:29.378
That's my mama.

00:11:29.378 --> 00:11:33.192
And then she walks back out and she said did you see what I just did?

00:11:33.192 --> 00:11:35.304
You don't take no for an answer.

00:11:35.304 --> 00:11:41.952
If you not trying to shoot nobody or kill nobody or steal nothing, you better not stand down.

00:11:41.952 --> 00:11:50.368
And then I was thinking to myself I don don't even know, but I wasn't supposed to be here.

00:11:50.368 --> 00:11:52.532
But I wasn't supposed to be here.

00:11:52.932 --> 00:12:09.971
But what I didn't do was talk back to her, because there were two times during the year that my mama got riled up and got like big like a grizzly bear, that my mama got riled up and got like big like a grizzly bear Tax time and voting.

00:12:09.971 --> 00:12:10.615
And you let her be right.

00:12:10.615 --> 00:12:11.417
It didn't matter what she said.

00:12:11.417 --> 00:12:18.269
If she told me that I was not her daughter and that I was a tree, the answer is like right, yes.

00:12:18.269 --> 00:12:27.660
And I couldn't say yes, ma'am, because if you say yes, ma'am, because if you say yes ma'am to Zeddy, you are in immediate trouble.

00:12:27.660 --> 00:12:31.048
That is, that is like a suspension from the family.

00:12:31.048 --> 00:12:37.658
I could say okay, mama, I heard you.

00:12:37.658 --> 00:12:42.486
Okay, zeddy, I got you, I understand.

00:12:42.486 --> 00:12:45.190
She said yes, ma'am, you listen?

00:12:45.190 --> 00:12:58.981
That's what white people made us say to them after they had either whipped us or beat us or treated us poorly, even after slavery was over.

00:12:58.981 --> 00:13:06.793
Don't you tell me, yes, ma'am, we weren't even supposed to be voting.

00:13:06.793 --> 00:13:08.269
Okay, I wasn't supposed to.

00:13:08.269 --> 00:13:23.797
Okay, all right, whatever, mama, the reason I can approach strangers to this very day, I owe a lot of credit to my mom making me go canvassing.

00:13:23.797 --> 00:13:26.085
I ain't have a choice.

00:13:26.605 --> 00:13:35.779
I actually had to go door to door, knocking, passing out leaflets and stuff for candidates.

00:13:35.779 --> 00:13:41.496
Now, these are candidates, clearly I'm not learning about, I can't vote.

00:13:41.496 --> 00:13:52.780
But she would give me the pamphlets and the papers and I either had to go, put it in their mailbox, knock on the door like if we were at a football game or basketball game.

00:13:52.780 --> 00:13:55.610
Sometimes we were doing it at the mall and we just handed it to people.

00:13:55.610 --> 00:13:58.316
I'm just supposed to smile Hi, how you doing?

00:13:58.316 --> 00:13:59.399
Have a good day.

00:14:08.125 --> 00:14:27.525
How many of you had to go ring a doorbell, wait for people to come outside, like my zeddy didn't allow me to just leave the pamphlet or the little piece of paper under the doormat, I had to ring the doorbell first and try to say please vote for so-and-so for the board of education, please vote for so-and-so for county commissioner.

00:14:27.525 --> 00:14:29.370
You know what?

00:14:29.370 --> 00:14:38.037
To this day, most Americans, most of my friends who call themselves engaged and informed, they don't have no damn idea who their county commissioner is.

00:14:38.037 --> 00:14:41.629
I was before I could drive a car.

00:14:41.629 --> 00:14:50.076
I'm canvassing because daddy said I had to and she's sitting in the car watching me do it.

00:14:50.076 --> 00:14:52.692
Why aren't you canvassing?

00:14:52.692 --> 00:14:55.953
Why do I have to go do it?

00:14:55.953 --> 00:14:56.956
I want to go play.

00:14:56.956 --> 00:15:03.274
I want to go outside and play, because if these people ask me a question about the candidate, I don't even have anything to say.

00:15:03.274 --> 00:15:04.669
She said don't you worry about that.

00:15:04.669 --> 00:15:24.393
You read these top three bullets on the back of this little card, hand it to whoever answers the door and come back to the car, and then she would blow and wave at him and they say all right, how you doing what you talk about not having a choice?

00:15:25.565 --> 00:15:42.822
Yeah yeah, zeddy's reputation was so solid and so pure that many candidates came to her and went looking for an endorsement.

00:15:42.822 --> 00:15:45.327
Looking for an endorsement.

00:15:45.327 --> 00:15:55.600
She didn't care where they stood in the polls if they were an incumbent, black, white, conservative, liberal, moderate.

00:15:55.600 --> 00:15:58.746
What are your issues?

00:15:58.746 --> 00:16:00.129
What's your voting record?

00:16:00.129 --> 00:16:03.996
Zetty actually went and found people's voting records.

00:16:03.996 --> 00:16:05.198
I don't even know how you did it.

00:16:05.198 --> 00:16:11.847
How did she do that shit?

00:16:11.847 --> 00:16:12.490
This was before the internet.

00:16:12.490 --> 00:16:12.952
I literally don't know.

00:16:12.952 --> 00:16:13.355
But I don't know.

00:16:13.355 --> 00:16:14.099
Did you go to the library, mama?

00:16:14.099 --> 00:16:14.922
Like, did you go to the library?

00:16:14.922 --> 00:16:18.708
Did you go down to the state Capitol and ask somebody to like, print it off?

00:16:18.708 --> 00:16:20.610
I don't even know what you do.

00:16:20.610 --> 00:16:22.972
And then she would ask him.

00:16:22.972 --> 00:16:28.578
Well, you told us last election you were going to vote for extra.

00:16:28.578 --> 00:16:32.927
You know garbage and recycling and you didn't.

00:16:32.927 --> 00:16:35.091
So why would I trust you now?

00:16:35.091 --> 00:16:41.846
That's how she would come at people when they asked for her endorsement, sweetly.

00:16:42.126 --> 00:16:51.837
Now my dad, on the other hand, is cussing and dropping F-bombs because he's from New York, but they could win him over with a martini or hey man.

00:16:51.837 --> 00:16:54.226
You know, I got caught out there.

00:16:54.226 --> 00:16:56.091
I was caught between a rock and a hard place.

00:16:56.091 --> 00:16:57.394
I had to negotiate.

00:16:57.394 --> 00:16:58.136
He's a lawyer.

00:16:58.136 --> 00:17:06.299
My mama said you don't ever negotiate with your word for your constituents, period.

00:17:06.299 --> 00:17:07.387
So she wouldn't.

00:17:07.387 --> 00:17:08.593
She wouldn't rock with him, no more.

00:17:08.593 --> 00:17:19.311
When they did decide to back a candidate, my parents would host political, end up being the babysitter.

00:17:19.311 --> 00:17:37.297
My parents didn't hire no babysitter to be taking care of these folks' kids.

00:17:37.297 --> 00:17:42.013
That was me or the valet.

00:17:42.013 --> 00:17:44.051
Yes, here I am.

00:17:44.051 --> 00:17:44.640
This is about the valet.

00:17:44.640 --> 00:17:45.005
Yes, here I am.

00:17:45.005 --> 00:17:46.750
This is about the deep south.

00:17:46.750 --> 00:18:01.487
Here I am, with no license, getting people's keys and parking the cars all over the neighborhood and then putting some kind of little tape or garbage bag, twisty tie and putting their name on it.

00:18:01.487 --> 00:18:03.308
Twisty tie and putting their name on it.

00:18:05.291 --> 00:18:12.480
Zetty knew election day, like her birthday.

00:18:12.480 --> 00:18:33.614
If it moved up, if it was a special election, she knew it and she refused to go on vacation or have any kind of civil litigation because there was an expert witness happening on election day.

00:18:33.614 --> 00:18:35.478
Do y'all hear me?

00:18:35.478 --> 00:18:45.936
I mean, she was going to the poll, walking in that brick and mortar building with her pencil or pen or punching whatever thing in the box.

00:18:45.936 --> 00:18:51.990
She had no love for absentee ballots.

00:18:51.990 --> 00:19:02.412
I'm pausing right now to say this is not the parenting up community opinion about absentee ballots.

00:19:02.412 --> 00:19:05.858
If you need an absentee ballot, please use one.

00:19:05.858 --> 00:19:10.295
All of my brothers and sisters in the military, most of you have to do it.

00:19:10.295 --> 00:19:12.404
Often you don't have a choice.

00:19:12.404 --> 00:19:17.868
I'm just letting y'all know about the girl she said so.

00:19:17.909 --> 00:19:36.022
You telling me the same people that chased me with dogs and put a fire hose on me with enough water pressure to rip my skin off my knees.

00:19:36.022 --> 00:19:44.474
They gonna open some mail I send and count it.

00:19:44.474 --> 00:19:52.811
Oh okay, yeah, I tell you what you wait on that.

00:19:52.811 --> 00:20:08.288
My daddy would be mad as hell at first when she would reshift all the damn holiday plans or vacation plans, or it didn't matter what I had going on at school.

00:20:08.288 --> 00:20:13.551
It was oh my, it's my play, it's my team.

00:20:13.551 --> 00:20:14.911
We made it to the playoffs.

00:20:14.911 --> 00:20:16.450
Baby, I can't make it.

00:20:16.450 --> 00:20:19.251
Y'all traveling to Florida.

00:20:19.251 --> 00:20:26.249
Good, mama's gonna give you some extra spending money and do the best you can with y'all going.

00:20:26.308 --> 00:20:43.186
On voting day I got to walk in the building and punch my ticket and watch them punching and watch the thing fall down into whatever or go into the lock box that had somebody standing there with a gun.

00:20:43.186 --> 00:20:48.914
That's the mentality that Zeddy carried around voting.

00:20:48.914 --> 00:21:06.116
And when I tell you she gave it to me voting, and when I tell you she gave it to me, I can't lie and say I have been as judicious as she is.

00:21:06.116 --> 00:21:20.951
But there have been times when I lived in Europe or I lived in other states and I said I got to get my ass back to where I live to go vote.

00:21:20.951 --> 00:21:33.859
There are times where I have driven eight hours one way to turn around and go back because I needed to vote the way.

00:21:33.900 --> 00:21:34.762
My mama said vote.

00:21:34.762 --> 00:21:35.035
Now.

00:21:35.035 --> 00:21:36.198
I'm not saying it makes sense.

00:21:36.198 --> 00:21:41.137
I'm just sharing with y'all what I did because she made me scared.

00:21:41.137 --> 00:21:42.462
I was like, well, I can't come.

00:21:42.462 --> 00:21:44.491
This was before she had Alzheimer's.

00:21:44.491 --> 00:21:47.200
Now I can vote absentee and I don't feel bad about it.

00:21:47.200 --> 00:21:48.242
Now is that trippy y'all?

00:21:48.242 --> 00:21:49.184
That's trippy huh.

00:21:49.184 --> 00:21:55.640
Right Now I feel like I can vote absentee because if she she's not gonna ask me.

00:21:55.640 --> 00:21:56.883
But before, if she said, well, jay, did you go vote?

00:21:56.883 --> 00:21:57.845
Well, where did you vote?

00:21:57.845 --> 00:21:58.727
I couldn't tell her.

00:21:58.727 --> 00:22:00.759
I sent in no damn absentee ballot.

00:22:00.759 --> 00:22:02.041
You know what I mean.

00:22:02.041 --> 00:22:06.076
Now she gonna make it sound like I put us all back in slavery.

00:22:06.076 --> 00:22:07.798
Can't about take that from her.

00:22:07.798 --> 00:22:09.862
Can't about take that from her.

00:22:10.923 --> 00:22:15.651
My mama hazed me and didn't believe in child work, labor laws.

00:22:15.651 --> 00:22:24.482
Countless times we would get to the polls.

00:22:24.482 --> 00:22:26.459
The line was long.

00:22:26.459 --> 00:22:31.099
It's raining Off and on.

00:22:31.099 --> 00:22:43.462
She sent me to stand in her place, umbrella or not, while she was in the car finishing her work.

00:22:43.462 --> 00:22:45.007
Whatever, zed was always working.

00:22:45.007 --> 00:22:46.320
If she was awake, she was working.

00:22:46.320 --> 00:23:04.685
So if she was reading on something or taking notes to prepare herself for the case, or because after she voted she was going back to her office, and if she thought the line was longer than about 10 to 15 minutes, uh, jg, go stand in line for mama and hold my place, ma'am.

00:23:04.685 --> 00:23:08.272
Uh, there's a newspaper.

00:23:08.272 --> 00:23:10.458
Put the newspaper over your head.

00:23:10.458 --> 00:23:12.240
Go stand in line.

00:23:12.240 --> 00:23:14.786
Just tell the person in front of you or behind you.

00:23:14.786 --> 00:23:15.909
Your mama's in the car.

00:23:15.909 --> 00:23:17.636
I'm finishing my work.

00:23:17.636 --> 00:23:21.123
I'm two.

00:23:21.123 --> 00:23:27.923
I might not have been two, but I'm a kid.

00:23:29.315 --> 00:23:30.578
What about food?

00:23:30.578 --> 00:23:32.965
Or getting the flu?

00:23:32.965 --> 00:23:38.659
My granddad would say the pinuu manya catch a cold shit.

00:23:38.659 --> 00:23:51.265
I didn't care about that and then I mentioned it now, at the end, I would say this she would be very excited about the fact that we voted and we got to go get some ice cream or a hamburger or something.

00:23:51.265 --> 00:24:03.249
Clearly, I didn't vote, but she created such a celebration around the process that I don't know how to not vote to this day.

00:24:04.914 --> 00:24:12.343
Like if I go to a fast food restaurant and they're like hey, punch on our app if you want us to keep the strawberry lemonade or replace it with the raspberry lemonade.

00:24:12.343 --> 00:24:14.755
I'm like, hey, punch on our app if you want us to keep the strawberry lemonade or replace it with the raspberry lemonade.

00:24:14.755 --> 00:24:21.388
I'm like I got to vote on one of these because you let me.

00:24:21.388 --> 00:24:24.079
That's how deep it is.

00:24:24.079 --> 00:24:28.401
If I go to an NBA game and they're like raise your hand if you.

00:24:28.401 --> 00:24:33.227
You know if you went to East Coast or West Coast?

00:24:33.227 --> 00:24:36.171
Or do you want a hot dog or you want a pretzel?

00:24:36.171 --> 00:24:38.401
And people on their phones.

00:24:38.401 --> 00:24:39.223
I'm just jumping up.

00:24:39.223 --> 00:24:40.701
I'm like a pretzel.

00:24:40.701 --> 00:24:53.221
I don't know if I'm going to get a damn pretzel, but what you're going to do is hear my opinion Because, at the end of the day, all I am is Eddie Jr and I'm fucking voting.

00:24:53.221 --> 00:24:55.960
Let's snuggle up.

00:24:59.336 --> 00:25:03.046
Number one voting is a verb.

00:25:03.046 --> 00:25:05.180
That's what Zeddy taught me.

00:25:05.180 --> 00:25:07.694
It's an action, it's an execution.

00:25:07.694 --> 00:25:13.586
It is telling the whole world I am here, this is what matters.

00:25:13.586 --> 00:25:26.490
This is what matters, this is what I stand for, what I think, what I value, my community is this.

00:25:26.490 --> 00:25:38.451
And when you don't vote, you are laying down and you're letting other people decide your life for you.

00:25:38.451 --> 00:25:51.980
It's almost like deciding never to eat, and whatever somebody else choose is what your stomach is going to digest.

00:25:51.980 --> 00:25:57.201
And then you're looking around and wondering ugh, why am I sick?

00:25:57.201 --> 00:25:59.101
Why do I have acne?

00:25:59.101 --> 00:26:01.502
Why did I gain 100 pounds?

00:26:01.502 --> 00:26:03.963
Or why am I losing weight?

00:26:03.963 --> 00:26:06.622
Ugh, I wonder why.

00:26:06.622 --> 00:26:08.520
I wonder why.

00:26:13.516 --> 00:26:27.096
Number two what passion of your LO can you continue to live out to further, to contribute to society with?

00:26:27.096 --> 00:26:48.803
For me, actually voting and being engaged politically is likely the best thing I can do to honor Zay, think about it or not.

00:26:48.803 --> 00:27:04.183
What is something that you can stand behind and actually, with joy and pride, honor your LO and not really lose yourself?

00:27:04.183 --> 00:27:11.082
Put some thought into it, put that in a review and let me know.

00:27:11.082 --> 00:27:24.980
Maybe DM me Can't wait to hear Number three Parenting up family.

00:27:25.299 --> 00:27:28.202
Lean into optimism, pound for pound.

00:27:28.202 --> 00:27:55.926
We're living in the best time since recorded history Electricity, indoor plumbing, the internet, the whole digital world Products, cars, airplanes, vaccinations, longevity of life, medicine, world wars no longer pop off every 10 years.

00:27:55.926 --> 00:28:15.785
Whether at the dinner table, at work, in the neighborhood, in class, research laboratories, in government, voicing your opinions, healthy sparring debate, it's really just verbal voting.

00:28:15.785 --> 00:28:18.068
It happens everywhere.

00:28:18.068 --> 00:28:23.244
Long live progress.

00:28:23.265 --> 00:28:23.726
What's up y'all?

00:28:23.726 --> 00:28:32.561
I'm over here just mixing and scratching up stuff and reminding y'all Patreon is open.

00:28:32.561 --> 00:28:38.907
It is open and ready for you, you, you, you and your mama too.

00:28:38.907 --> 00:28:48.903
We are loading up things, all things Zetty, all things caregiving Behind the scenes, extra stuff.

00:28:48.903 --> 00:28:56.352
J Smiles comedy is dropping with her own little collection within the Jace Mouse Studio.

00:28:56.352 --> 00:28:58.321
Patreon very, very soon.

00:28:58.321 --> 00:29:03.001
It'll be less than a month, but you want to go on and get in there because there's exclusives.

00:29:03.001 --> 00:29:06.903
That's kind of time sensitive to whoever is in there first.

00:29:06.903 --> 00:29:19.336
We've already had live broadcasts for people who are already in and I'm going gonna be honest because of, you know, branding matters.

00:29:19.336 --> 00:29:32.403
So there's some stuff that I just can't say and do on the world wide web that I can do in the patreon Pantry.

00:29:32.403 --> 00:29:45.906
So if you want to see and know and hear and experience more of what's happening between my ears, come to the J Smile Studio, my Patreon pantry.