WEBVTT
00:00:13.710 --> 00:00:19.010
Shall we get into it? Yeah, sure. Hello and salutations.
00:00:19.010 --> 00:00:22.789
This is Caleb, your host, the one, the only.
00:00:22.910 --> 00:00:26.489
But I have a special occasion. This is a special
00:00:26.489 --> 00:00:30.129
episode of Caffeinated Connections. I'm joined
00:00:30.129 --> 00:00:35.729
here by the Liam Sullivan. Hello. Well, what
00:00:35.729 --> 00:00:39.609
did we just get done doing? We were in the studio
00:00:39.609 --> 00:00:43.200
for, what, a few hours? Yeah, a couple hours.
00:00:43.820 --> 00:00:49.859
Doing what? So we started off with a little portrait
00:00:49.859 --> 00:00:53.960
session, and I got some updated headshots, which
00:00:53.960 --> 00:00:59.560
was very kind of you. And then we did some videography
00:00:59.560 --> 00:01:05.230
work for... It was like exercises to really finish
00:01:05.230 --> 00:01:08.450
off the year and finish those projects a little
00:01:08.450 --> 00:01:10.989
bit last minute. But, you know, we all have things
00:01:10.989 --> 00:01:12.489
that we got to do and might as well just get
00:01:12.489 --> 00:01:15.090
them done. But Liam, introduce yourself. Yeah,
00:01:15.170 --> 00:01:16.969
for sure. I mean, you got to give it the old
00:01:16.969 --> 00:01:21.569
college try. Yeah. So my name is Liam Sullivan.
00:01:21.689 --> 00:01:27.030
I am a junior at Pitt. Up the. I don't want to
00:01:27.030 --> 00:01:29.969
say up the street. Up the av, right? Up the av,
00:01:30.049 --> 00:01:35.390
yeah, up Forbes. And yeah, I'm a computer science
00:01:35.390 --> 00:01:39.069
major, but I've been working for the Pitt News
00:01:39.069 --> 00:01:42.950
ever since my sophomore year. You know, it's
00:01:42.950 --> 00:01:46.069
been great to be shooting photojournalism. Part
00:01:46.069 --> 00:01:49.469
of the reason I know Caleb is because we met
00:01:49.469 --> 00:01:52.310
at a concert. We both had our cameras out and
00:01:52.310 --> 00:01:54.969
we were both shooting. I forgot, what was the
00:01:54.969 --> 00:01:58.269
concert that we met at? It was like this, like,
00:01:58.469 --> 00:02:04.069
grunge house concert that I swear we could have
00:02:04.069 --> 00:02:09.270
broken that, like the basement ceiling. In that
00:02:09.270 --> 00:02:11.169
case, the floor could have collapsed. It was
00:02:11.169 --> 00:02:13.389
like... Oh, was it Black Lodge? It was Black
00:02:13.389 --> 00:02:15.550
Lodge. It was Black Lodge. Because I remember
00:02:15.550 --> 00:02:19.009
everyone was like, the whole house is going to
00:02:19.009 --> 00:02:23.509
cave in. No! Right. And people would leave and
00:02:23.509 --> 00:02:26.509
come back. But that was like a literal mosh pit.
00:02:27.189 --> 00:02:30.169
And I'm sitting... I have a video with my camera
00:02:30.169 --> 00:02:32.789
and it's just going everywhere. And I still managed
00:02:32.789 --> 00:02:35.610
to grab a few shots. I mean, it's so different
00:02:35.610 --> 00:02:38.310
from Haven. I mean, you know, the recent episode
00:02:38.310 --> 00:02:42.349
with Dream the Heavy came out, and it was just
00:02:42.349 --> 00:02:46.490
a blast to talk with them. But yeah, you and
00:02:46.490 --> 00:02:49.270
I, we've photographed the concerts for what,
00:02:49.389 --> 00:02:54.210
I mean, I got back into it, but like, what drove
00:02:54.210 --> 00:02:56.150
you? I mean, it was really interesting. How did
00:02:56.150 --> 00:02:59.030
you end up meeting me? What drove you to go to
00:02:59.030 --> 00:03:03.139
that concert? So... That's an interesting question.
00:03:04.520 --> 00:03:09.400
When I was in freshman year, I struggled to find
00:03:09.400 --> 00:03:13.759
places to go on the weekends just because like,
00:03:13.919 --> 00:03:17.759
you know, when you're 18, 19 years old, you can't
00:03:17.759 --> 00:03:21.800
really go to bars. You know, unless you're like
00:03:21.800 --> 00:03:25.000
well -connected, it's hard to find parties and
00:03:25.000 --> 00:03:28.439
all that jazz. So something that I did is I would
00:03:28.439 --> 00:03:30.379
go out with my friends and we would look for
00:03:30.379 --> 00:03:34.159
concert venues. Just look. Just like a tomcat,
00:03:34.300 --> 00:03:37.400
just kind of figuring it out. Exactly, yeah.
00:03:37.580 --> 00:03:40.780
And so we stumbled upon this place called Local
00:03:40.780 --> 00:03:44.939
House, which was an outdoor venue type of place.
00:03:46.080 --> 00:03:49.120
Basically, you would have three bands. Each of
00:03:49.120 --> 00:03:53.590
them would play a set. um it was like this backyard
00:03:53.590 --> 00:03:57.490
in south oakland pretty much and so um i met
00:03:57.490 --> 00:03:59.430
some people there and then they said hey you
00:03:59.430 --> 00:04:01.310
know there's this other place black lodge that
00:04:01.310 --> 00:04:03.629
you should go and check out it's just like one
00:04:03.629 --> 00:04:08.909
small shoe box of a room where you know the players
00:04:08.909 --> 00:04:11.409
are just sitting in the kitchen and you know
00:04:11.409 --> 00:04:15.810
blasting into this room And yeah, so I went over
00:04:15.810 --> 00:04:19.509
there and I took some photos because, you know,
00:04:19.509 --> 00:04:22.050
that's what I do. That's what I've been doing
00:04:22.050 --> 00:04:26.730
since middle school. And I met you there and
00:04:26.730 --> 00:04:29.470
the rest is history. That's really insane because
00:04:29.470 --> 00:04:31.490
like the only reason I went to that is because,
00:04:31.610 --> 00:04:35.029
you know, I used to work for the Globe and there
00:04:35.029 --> 00:04:37.170
was like, oh, yeah, there's, you know, a concert
00:04:37.170 --> 00:04:39.709
happening out there. And I went and figured it
00:04:39.709 --> 00:04:41.850
out and found out and reached out and I was like.
00:04:42.240 --> 00:04:44.879
This is cool. I'm going to figure this out. I
00:04:44.879 --> 00:04:47.459
never ended up doing a story on it, but I mean,
00:04:47.500 --> 00:04:49.959
I had more fun doing the photos. And I think
00:04:49.959 --> 00:04:51.680
it's just, you know, you develop that connection
00:04:51.680 --> 00:04:55.360
and like we get busy with life. But like, I think
00:04:55.360 --> 00:04:58.459
there's always that connection that, you know,
00:04:58.459 --> 00:05:01.579
you foster and it's like, oh, my God, you get
00:05:01.579 --> 00:05:04.620
picked right back up where you left off, especially
00:05:04.620 --> 00:05:06.740
in not even just the music world of Pittsburgh,
00:05:06.819 --> 00:05:08.319
just, you know, in Pittsburgh, when you start
00:05:08.319 --> 00:05:10.759
to meet those familiar faces, it's like. you're
00:05:10.759 --> 00:05:12.759
not going to stop seeing them. Absolutely. Yeah.
00:05:12.879 --> 00:05:15.779
And I mean, Pittsburgh is debatably one of the
00:05:15.779 --> 00:05:18.839
best cities for that, right? Like, you know,
00:05:18.860 --> 00:05:22.199
it's the big city, small town feel that everyone
00:05:22.199 --> 00:05:26.420
talks about where, you know, like you'll meet
00:05:26.420 --> 00:05:29.300
someone in one place and see them in another
00:05:29.300 --> 00:05:34.300
and make that connection. And it's just, it's
00:05:34.300 --> 00:05:38.009
wild. I feel like it's so easy to re -encounter
00:05:38.009 --> 00:05:40.930
people in this city in spite of how big it is.
00:05:41.370 --> 00:05:44.050
And it's specifically like a Pittsburgh thing,
00:05:44.170 --> 00:05:46.529
you know? Like you'll just see someone like you
00:05:46.529 --> 00:05:49.350
just saw yesterday and it's like, I didn't know
00:05:49.350 --> 00:05:51.410
you were going to be here. Yeah, yeah. Like someone
00:05:51.410 --> 00:05:54.990
that you encountered on the street and had like
00:05:54.990 --> 00:05:57.990
a brief little interaction with, you see them
00:05:57.990 --> 00:06:01.089
again at like a house show and you're just like,
00:06:01.310 --> 00:06:06.279
oh, it's you. Yeah. There's these parts, you
00:06:06.279 --> 00:06:08.779
know, it's you will always end up seeing another
00:06:08.779 --> 00:06:10.579
person around Pittsburgh if they're at least
00:06:10.579 --> 00:06:13.399
familiar or near the area. So it's like always
00:06:13.399 --> 00:06:15.879
treat people. I'm I'm very courteous and like
00:06:15.879 --> 00:06:18.240
always be kind to others, especially because
00:06:18.240 --> 00:06:19.839
you never know who you're going to run into again.
00:06:19.939 --> 00:06:24.079
Right. Yeah. No, exactly. Because like. you can't
00:06:24.079 --> 00:06:26.540
just assume that you're never going to see that
00:06:26.540 --> 00:06:28.759
person again you know so like you kind of have
00:06:28.759 --> 00:06:31.399
to be on your best behavior at all times yeah
00:06:31.399 --> 00:06:34.339
right actually like your cashier might end up
00:06:34.339 --> 00:06:37.579
you know being like some guy that you find at
00:06:37.579 --> 00:06:41.680
like a pirates game you know oh my gosh that's
00:06:41.680 --> 00:06:44.300
crazy you meant it was something similar to that
00:06:44.300 --> 00:06:49.199
so i used to work for a uh steelers uh like an
00:06:49.199 --> 00:06:53.680
event stuff for the tailgate. Okay. And so I
00:06:53.680 --> 00:06:56.819
was like doing photojournalism and I ended up
00:06:56.819 --> 00:06:59.540
going to this Trump rally. And what's really
00:06:59.540 --> 00:07:03.019
crazy about it is so the company I worked for,
00:07:03.160 --> 00:07:07.240
I think like the daughter or something, her father
00:07:07.240 --> 00:07:12.060
was the guy we interviewed at the Trump rally.
00:07:12.480 --> 00:07:18.129
Oh. And it was like. holy crap, small world.
00:07:18.430 --> 00:07:22.550
Yeah. And I didn't realize that. But after I
00:07:22.550 --> 00:07:25.610
went and did that, I went back to work and I
00:07:25.610 --> 00:07:27.709
covered the event and they're like, wait a minute,
00:07:27.850 --> 00:07:32.750
you look familiar. And I'm like, oh my gosh.
00:07:34.649 --> 00:07:37.629
That, it was like such a small world. So I'm
00:07:37.629 --> 00:07:39.970
glad I didn't say anything wrong. Yeah. But it's
00:07:39.970 --> 00:07:44.660
like, it was like. oh my god and like you start
00:07:44.660 --> 00:07:48.360
to realize like you know it's such a small world
00:07:48.360 --> 00:07:50.480
that you don't expect to meet people or like
00:07:50.480 --> 00:07:54.360
you know familiar faces but it's like oh my gosh
00:07:54.360 --> 00:07:56.660
like I didn't realize that that's a lot of the
00:07:56.660 --> 00:07:58.100
you know some of the people that I worked with
00:07:58.100 --> 00:08:02.000
were supportive of them and I'm just a journalist
00:08:02.000 --> 00:08:04.660
I'm trying to be as unbiased as I can and it's
00:08:04.660 --> 00:08:08.060
like oh wow and like I'm glad I didn't say anything
00:08:08.060 --> 00:08:12.480
wrong but it's like that that was like the the
00:08:12.480 --> 00:08:16.980
biggest like oh my gosh right i because you you
00:08:16.980 --> 00:08:19.019
know you don't think about that when you're going
00:08:19.019 --> 00:08:21.540
out and like you're working a different job where
00:08:21.540 --> 00:08:23.360
you know you meet these familiar faces that go
00:08:23.360 --> 00:08:26.180
to these tailgates but you don't realize that
00:08:26.180 --> 00:08:27.879
that that you know they have other things that
00:08:27.879 --> 00:08:30.420
they do and you're like but how did you know
00:08:30.420 --> 00:08:33.179
that this is gonna happen like it's like and
00:08:33.179 --> 00:08:35.899
it only occurred to me until after that yeah
00:08:35.899 --> 00:08:40.820
yeah like as a journalist you try to be as unbiased
00:08:40.820 --> 00:08:45.879
as possible and yet you also have a life and
00:08:45.879 --> 00:08:50.559
like you kind of just have to try your hardest
00:08:50.559 --> 00:08:52.659
but like after a certain point it's just like
00:08:52.659 --> 00:08:57.340
you know i'm a human being and like i have feelings
00:08:57.340 --> 00:09:00.659
too you know what i mean yeah it's it's trying
00:09:00.659 --> 00:09:04.559
to like still be genuine and truthful and like
00:09:04.559 --> 00:09:07.159
i have a love for honesty and honesty and telling
00:09:07.159 --> 00:09:10.490
the truth and being real But there's also that
00:09:10.490 --> 00:09:14.309
same sense of like, because everything that I
00:09:14.309 --> 00:09:17.129
do and put out is going to definitely be judged
00:09:17.129 --> 00:09:19.350
because I am also a photojournalist to where
00:09:19.350 --> 00:09:22.169
I will document things. But it's also our biases
00:09:22.169 --> 00:09:25.070
are going to affect other people by other words,
00:09:25.070 --> 00:09:30.049
other people's biases. Right. To where these
00:09:30.049 --> 00:09:34.690
biases that we have, if we're at all, you know,
00:09:34.690 --> 00:09:36.789
an effective changer, you know, someone to change
00:09:36.789 --> 00:09:40.940
and innovate. These biases other people can have
00:09:40.940 --> 00:09:43.860
against us and that can manipulate so many different
00:09:43.860 --> 00:09:52.039
things. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. It's scary because
00:09:52.039 --> 00:09:55.200
it's when like we're allowed to have our opinions,
00:09:55.259 --> 00:09:58.980
but it's like, do you ever feel the need to hold
00:09:58.980 --> 00:10:04.519
back your opinion? Um. Depends on the context.
00:10:04.580 --> 00:10:07.220
Do you mean like in the context of politics?
00:10:07.320 --> 00:10:09.519
I feel like that's what's I mean, that is one
00:10:09.519 --> 00:10:12.080
of the that is very much culturally relevant
00:10:12.080 --> 00:10:15.539
when it's like, you know, just to make everyone
00:10:15.539 --> 00:10:18.600
else happy. You know, you just kind of, you know,
00:10:18.600 --> 00:10:21.000
close your mouth and bite your tongue, you know.
00:10:21.240 --> 00:10:23.639
And it's like, you know, you don't want to cause
00:10:23.639 --> 00:10:25.720
a situation, but it's like, you know, deep down,
00:10:25.759 --> 00:10:30.299
it's like, God damn it. Right. And I I can say
00:10:30.299 --> 00:10:32.889
that I struggle with that. And. I don't know
00:10:32.889 --> 00:10:35.669
if you I think very much our generation does
00:10:35.669 --> 00:10:38.350
where it's like being able to speak out and be
00:10:38.350 --> 00:10:40.970
open and, you know, being a voice of change and
00:10:40.970 --> 00:10:43.389
reason and understanding. And then you encounter
00:10:43.389 --> 00:10:47.690
people in our lives or even family that don't
00:10:47.690 --> 00:10:51.210
meet us halfway or even quarter the way. Yeah.
00:10:51.370 --> 00:10:54.309
How do you figure that out? How do you go about
00:10:54.309 --> 00:11:01.100
that dynamic? I think that. For me personally,
00:11:01.259 --> 00:11:04.700
I've been very lucky when it comes to my political
00:11:04.700 --> 00:11:07.460
engagements. I think that, you know, being in
00:11:07.460 --> 00:11:10.580
Pittsburgh, this area is very progressive. And,
00:11:10.639 --> 00:11:13.559
you know, my family back home in Virginia is
00:11:13.559 --> 00:11:20.000
also like very, very progressive. They're all
00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:23.990
like. very forward thinking when it comes to
00:11:23.990 --> 00:11:27.549
you know like accepting people um of all different
00:11:27.549 --> 00:11:30.970
races and nationalities and you know queer people
00:11:30.970 --> 00:11:35.549
and um i think like i've gotten incredibly lucky
00:11:35.549 --> 00:11:39.769
there um i can give you an anecdote though um
00:11:39.769 --> 00:11:43.909
i went to cover during the 2024 election the
00:11:43.909 --> 00:11:47.850
dave mccormick watch party downtown i covered
00:11:47.850 --> 00:11:52.379
it for the pit news um i was with my writer i
00:11:52.379 --> 00:11:55.200
i don't want to disclose her name here but um
00:11:55.200 --> 00:11:59.299
she was pretty flustered through the entire thing
00:11:59.299 --> 00:12:02.679
because you know some of the talking points that
00:12:02.679 --> 00:12:07.820
people were spouting were you know quite misogynist
00:12:07.820 --> 00:12:14.299
and um yeah i like i i was there and it was weird
00:12:14.299 --> 00:12:18.169
because like she would be you know, stopping
00:12:18.169 --> 00:12:21.649
random people at this party, right? And it was,
00:12:21.690 --> 00:12:23.269
like, an invite -only thing. So, like, a lot
00:12:23.269 --> 00:12:25.409
of these people were, like, high -profile individuals
00:12:25.409 --> 00:12:31.809
in the McCormick campaign. And, yeah, they would
00:12:31.809 --> 00:12:33.830
say, like, the craziest stuff. And then, you
00:12:33.830 --> 00:12:35.590
know, she would be like, mm -hmm, mm -hmm. And
00:12:35.590 --> 00:12:37.230
then she would, like, keep asking follow -up
00:12:37.230 --> 00:12:40.009
questions. And she would go back to me, like,
00:12:40.090 --> 00:12:42.730
after the interview was over and be like, what
00:12:42.730 --> 00:12:46.899
the fuck? You know, like... Oh, yeah, that reminds
00:12:46.899 --> 00:12:49.019
me so much. Sorry, am I allowed to curse? Oh,
00:12:49.019 --> 00:12:51.460
yes, yes, yes, yes. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm
00:12:51.460 --> 00:12:54.860
glad that you said it. I mean, I think that everyone
00:12:54.860 --> 00:12:57.220
can use profanity in their own right, and as
00:12:57.220 --> 00:12:59.279
long as you don't overuse it, there's a reasoning,
00:12:59.480 --> 00:13:01.340
there's an accentuation of it. Okay, I just had
00:13:01.340 --> 00:13:04.220
to make sure. Oh, yeah, yeah, you're good. You
00:13:04.220 --> 00:13:08.179
remind me of like the Trump rally and like going
00:13:08.179 --> 00:13:10.360
and interacting with these individuals to where
00:13:10.360 --> 00:13:13.759
like you're going in and it feels so enclosed.
00:13:13.919 --> 00:13:16.720
It's like walking in a new elevator and you can't
00:13:16.720 --> 00:13:19.259
breathe. It's like claustrophobic. It is truly
00:13:19.259 --> 00:13:21.399
claustrophobic. As someone with claustrophobia,
00:13:21.480 --> 00:13:24.940
it is an interesting, you're outside, but you
00:13:24.940 --> 00:13:29.139
still feel like you're in a walled place. Wait,
00:13:29.179 --> 00:13:30.940
so you're saying that you're claustrophobic and
00:13:30.940 --> 00:13:34.679
you went to Black Lodge? Okay, we don't talk
00:13:34.679 --> 00:13:39.039
about that. Dude, what are you doing? I mean,
00:13:39.059 --> 00:13:42.360
I managed. I cope with it by taking photos. If
00:13:42.360 --> 00:13:44.779
I have my camera, I'm fine. Or at least I tell
00:13:44.779 --> 00:13:49.679
myself I am. Okay. That's an interesting hobby.
00:13:49.879 --> 00:13:51.740
That's an interesting way of processing that.
00:13:52.080 --> 00:13:54.639
I'm not going to say it's wrong. It's just surprising.
00:13:55.480 --> 00:13:57.600
Yeah, if I have my camera on my neck, I can usually
00:13:57.600 --> 00:14:00.340
do most things that I normally wouldn't do without
00:14:00.340 --> 00:14:02.740
it. Or I couldn't. I would normally not be able
00:14:02.740 --> 00:14:04.700
to do that thing if I didn't have that around
00:14:04.700 --> 00:14:07.259
my neck. Just the idea of having the camera is
00:14:07.259 --> 00:14:10.720
this protection. And it's like that coping mechanism.
00:14:10.879 --> 00:14:13.860
That way, it's like I turn invisible. Fascinating.
00:14:14.019 --> 00:14:18.100
And, like, going into that Trump rally and going
00:14:18.100 --> 00:14:21.019
in and, like, being like, I might get stopped.
00:14:21.139 --> 00:14:23.000
I might get stopped. And I just flashed my press
00:14:23.000 --> 00:14:24.860
badge. And they just kind of like, oh, yeah,
00:14:24.899 --> 00:14:26.399
yeah, yeah. Come on. Come on through. I'm just
00:14:26.399 --> 00:14:29.159
like, it was just that easy. They don't care.
00:14:30.189 --> 00:14:34.009
If you have confidence, most of the time they're
00:14:34.009 --> 00:14:37.049
not going to care. That's so true. It is so,
00:14:37.190 --> 00:14:41.830
so, so, so strange. And I was like, there's that
00:14:41.830 --> 00:14:44.730
moment where I sat there after I got through
00:14:44.730 --> 00:14:46.990
security. I was like, there's no way I did that.
00:14:47.129 --> 00:14:49.809
Like that double take where it's like, holy shit.
00:14:50.190 --> 00:14:53.190
What else can I do? You have to pretend that
00:14:53.190 --> 00:14:57.370
you're more important than you are. Yes. There's
00:14:57.370 --> 00:14:59.750
that like weight of everything else where it's
00:14:59.750 --> 00:15:01.009
like, holy shit, I just did something really
00:15:01.009 --> 00:15:03.289
cool. And then you just look. It's like you look
00:15:03.289 --> 00:15:05.190
behind you of how far you've come and you look
00:15:05.190 --> 00:15:07.269
ahead and you're like, oh, God, I have more I
00:15:07.269 --> 00:15:09.889
have to do. And there's a hesitancy that comes
00:15:09.889 --> 00:15:12.309
with it. And there's that weight that when you
00:15:12.309 --> 00:15:14.789
realize it and you kind of have it in the back
00:15:14.789 --> 00:15:16.330
of your head, I'm sure you've experienced it
00:15:16.330 --> 00:15:18.490
whenever you're covering politics or anything
00:15:18.490 --> 00:15:20.669
along the lines of that for the news. Oh, yeah.
00:15:20.850 --> 00:15:24.350
There's like that weight of responsibility of.
00:15:24.779 --> 00:15:27.080
I have to do this right or at least right to
00:15:27.080 --> 00:15:29.659
your own standards. And it's like, yeah, I can't
00:15:29.659 --> 00:15:33.220
fuck up. Right. Yeah. Like you're surrounded
00:15:33.220 --> 00:15:41.460
by AP news reps and CNN and MSNBC and all of
00:15:41.460 --> 00:15:44.740
these adults in the room. Right. And you're just
00:15:44.740 --> 00:15:48.860
like a college student with a camera and, you
00:15:48.860 --> 00:15:51.889
know, with a hope and a dream, maybe like. best
00:15:51.889 --> 00:15:56.669
case your gear it sums up to three thousand dollars
00:15:56.669 --> 00:15:59.389
you know like and the stuff that they're using
00:15:59.389 --> 00:16:02.669
is like you know probably worth like 10 15k and
00:16:02.669 --> 00:16:05.029
you're like wow like these people are just throwing
00:16:05.029 --> 00:16:07.070
around money like it's nothing it's not even
00:16:07.070 --> 00:16:08.970
that i mean i think it's less about the gear
00:16:08.970 --> 00:16:10.610
and it's more about the people that i meet and
00:16:10.610 --> 00:16:13.370
like that it's like holy crap these people have
00:16:13.370 --> 00:16:16.350
to have it all together And I've had conversations
00:16:16.350 --> 00:16:20.970
with Fox News. I actually talked with Fox, one
00:16:20.970 --> 00:16:23.049
of the Fox camera guys that does stuff for ABC
00:16:23.049 --> 00:16:26.009
News as well. Right. And they take, you know,
00:16:26.009 --> 00:16:28.049
work here and there. And it's not just specific
00:16:28.049 --> 00:16:30.450
camera guys, but I was walking and talking with
00:16:30.450 --> 00:16:32.509
them. And I said, you know, there's this person
00:16:32.509 --> 00:16:34.750
that doesn't really care about, you know, he's
00:16:34.750 --> 00:16:37.570
a political correspondent and he hasn't even
00:16:37.570 --> 00:16:39.889
gone out and done anything. And they're like,
00:16:40.049 --> 00:16:41.730
well, what are you? I'm like, well, I'm just
00:16:41.730 --> 00:16:43.289
a photojournalist. They're like, you're more
00:16:43.289 --> 00:16:45.799
of that than he is. And it's this idea that,
00:16:45.820 --> 00:16:49.039
you know, when you get up, show up, show out
00:16:49.039 --> 00:16:51.539
and showcase your work and who you are, it's
00:16:51.539 --> 00:16:54.100
like they recognize that. And I ended up building
00:16:54.100 --> 00:16:57.460
a bond with ABC News of all, you know, the ABC
00:16:57.460 --> 00:17:01.259
News camera guy. And he, you know, I still text
00:17:01.259 --> 00:17:02.720
them here and there. And it's like, he's like,
00:17:02.799 --> 00:17:05.420
how are you doing? And he'd get pictures of me
00:17:05.420 --> 00:17:08.619
doing stuff. And it was such a cool dynamic where,
00:17:08.700 --> 00:17:10.920
like, they'd start to say hi to me. And, like,
00:17:10.940 --> 00:17:12.220
they're like, we were trying to get your attention.
00:17:12.779 --> 00:17:16.230
Yeah. And it was. And if it wasn't for ABC News
00:17:16.230 --> 00:17:22.410
and the audio tech guy for ABC or what it was,
00:17:22.470 --> 00:17:24.309
if it wasn't for them, we would have passed out
00:17:24.309 --> 00:17:25.990
at the Trump rally because we were standing there
00:17:25.990 --> 00:17:28.349
for eight, nine hours. And there were three,
00:17:28.450 --> 00:17:31.150
four people passed out to where I actually asked
00:17:31.150 --> 00:17:33.910
a woman that was on a gurney passing by, was
00:17:33.910 --> 00:17:36.529
it because of dehydration? She's like, yep. And
00:17:36.529 --> 00:17:39.750
it's like. Oh, God, this is scary because it's
00:17:39.750 --> 00:17:42.630
like when you see the sea of people behind you
00:17:42.630 --> 00:17:45.710
and you're sitting here internally, like I'm
00:17:45.710 --> 00:17:48.289
like, this is as far as I've come. And you're
00:17:48.289 --> 00:17:51.049
looking at the sea of people that is like it
00:17:51.049 --> 00:17:55.029
is just there's a lot of people. So like to go
00:17:55.029 --> 00:17:58.470
and get food or anything to drink, there's no
00:17:58.470 --> 00:18:01.049
way you're getting back. So you just had to like
00:18:01.049 --> 00:18:04.630
hunker down and literally just stick it out.
00:18:04.690 --> 00:18:09.730
And it is it was. it was gruesome like not gruesome
00:18:09.730 --> 00:18:13.329
in a way that is visceral visually but it's like
00:18:13.329 --> 00:18:15.829
you have to sit there you can't turn the television
00:18:15.829 --> 00:18:18.569
off you can't turn the volume down you can't
00:18:18.569 --> 00:18:21.950
just make it go away you can't detach yourself
00:18:21.950 --> 00:18:26.190
oh if anything you're more attached and you become
00:18:26.190 --> 00:18:30.109
this it's such a weird thing where you almost
00:18:30.109 --> 00:18:33.589
close up and you're like I but you can't when
00:18:33.589 --> 00:18:35.049
you're when you're a photojournalist or you're
00:18:35.049 --> 00:18:37.009
a journalist Because it's your responsibility
00:18:37.009 --> 00:18:41.809
to capture the news as it is. Exactly. And it's,
00:18:41.809 --> 00:18:44.569
there's so much fear in that, but it's also like
00:18:44.569 --> 00:18:47.829
with fear comes confidence and courage and all
00:18:47.829 --> 00:18:50.049
these other things that go into play to where,
00:18:50.109 --> 00:18:52.150
you know, we ended up getting kicked out because
00:18:52.150 --> 00:18:57.049
they warned me like 10 times for my camera. 10
00:18:57.049 --> 00:19:00.670
times. For your camera. Like they, that I had
00:19:00.670 --> 00:19:03.299
a DSLR. They warned me 10 times that I had a
00:19:03.299 --> 00:19:07.079
DSLR, like an actual camera. Right. And he's
00:19:07.079 --> 00:19:08.700
like, well, you're not certified or anything.
00:19:09.339 --> 00:19:13.079
Oh. I didn't have that badge thing. And I get
00:19:13.079 --> 00:19:15.380
that. But like, they let me through and they
00:19:15.380 --> 00:19:17.880
warned me once, twice, three times, four times,
00:19:17.900 --> 00:19:19.319
five times. If they had a problem with me and
00:19:19.319 --> 00:19:20.660
Secret Service had a problem with me, I'd be
00:19:20.660 --> 00:19:23.700
gone. Right. And I had Secret Service walk past
00:19:23.700 --> 00:19:27.500
me four or five times. I was no issue. Okay.
00:19:27.539 --> 00:19:33.190
So it's like. I don't know. We got, I got the
00:19:33.190 --> 00:19:36.630
photos of Trump and I got the photos and they
00:19:36.630 --> 00:19:40.130
escorted us out real quietly. And while we were
00:19:40.130 --> 00:19:41.950
getting escorted out, they were like, you're
00:19:41.950 --> 00:19:44.170
fake news, you're fake news. Was the problem
00:19:44.170 --> 00:19:48.529
that you weren't part of an alternative publication?
00:19:49.430 --> 00:19:52.650
Essentially, yeah. We weren't like an accredited
00:19:52.650 --> 00:19:55.750
publication media that was there to cover that
00:19:55.750 --> 00:19:59.079
and actually publish. not one college journalist
00:19:59.079 --> 00:20:01.039
was there that I know of. You weren't vetted.
00:20:01.240 --> 00:20:03.819
We weren't essentially vetted, even though I
00:20:03.819 --> 00:20:06.339
have been vetted, and I can count and say we
00:20:06.339 --> 00:20:10.380
were vetted to go to J .D. Vance's rally out
00:20:10.380 --> 00:20:13.700
in Johnstown. Okay. Even though, like, 50 people
00:20:13.700 --> 00:20:16.559
showed up, most people were, like, old. Okay,
00:20:16.619 --> 00:20:22.799
sure. And it was such a strange display of patriotism,
00:20:22.839 --> 00:20:28.799
or shall we say nationalism. Right. it was but
00:20:28.799 --> 00:20:32.180
like we we were accredited with them and you
00:20:32.180 --> 00:20:35.640
know they they just didn't there were people
00:20:35.640 --> 00:20:40.519
getting a like passes to go into the trump butler
00:20:40.519 --> 00:20:45.279
rally v2 day before like i talked to this woman
00:20:45.279 --> 00:20:46.880
and she's like yeah my friend let me through
00:20:46.880 --> 00:20:50.920
and got me a press pass and i'm like but we were
00:20:50.920 --> 00:20:53.779
denied like twice and we still kind of fought
00:20:53.779 --> 00:20:55.660
against that and we were i think we were the
00:20:55.660 --> 00:20:59.880
only one's the only college paper that publishes
00:20:59.880 --> 00:21:03.339
photo and we had I mean it was my photo and it
00:21:03.339 --> 00:21:06.819
was I mean it's still a memory and it's gonna
00:21:06.819 --> 00:21:12.440
you know stick true to my you know my career
00:21:12.440 --> 00:21:14.720
because it's like you know it's like at least
00:21:14.720 --> 00:21:16.140
I'm doing something right and I got the photos
00:21:16.140 --> 00:21:19.380
and it's not like they took the SD card or anything
00:21:19.380 --> 00:21:21.420
they probably weren't Smart enough, to be honest.
00:21:21.559 --> 00:21:23.779
Well, yeah. And also, I don't think it's worth
00:21:23.779 --> 00:21:26.720
their time, too. Right. And I got like, you're
00:21:26.720 --> 00:21:29.400
just a college student to them. Yeah, they don't.
00:21:29.400 --> 00:21:31.440
Yeah, they're like, oh, you think you're all
00:21:31.440 --> 00:21:33.640
liberal and you know something. And they were
00:21:33.640 --> 00:21:37.619
just it's funny that like the way they the management
00:21:37.619 --> 00:21:39.839
handled us and security handled us. But like
00:21:39.839 --> 00:21:42.579
other people that we interacted with, they were
00:21:42.579 --> 00:21:45.539
open. They were like. We love to see younger
00:21:45.539 --> 00:21:48.200
people in this and and asking these questions.
00:21:48.240 --> 00:21:51.839
And they were I don't think we had any issues.
00:21:51.940 --> 00:21:54.740
No, that's OK. It's so funny you mentioned that
00:21:54.740 --> 00:21:57.579
because we got the exact same reaction at the
00:21:57.579 --> 00:22:00.619
Dave McCormick rally where, you know, like my
00:22:00.619 --> 00:22:03.400
writer would be like trying to like lead people
00:22:03.400 --> 00:22:06.000
on. Right. And be like, oh, that's so interesting.
00:22:06.039 --> 00:22:09.740
Like. Tell me more about the border crisis, you
00:22:09.740 --> 00:22:13.400
know, for example. And they would always come
00:22:13.400 --> 00:22:17.039
back to it's so cool to see young people engaged
00:22:17.039 --> 00:22:19.759
in politics. Exactly. You know, and it's like,
00:22:19.859 --> 00:22:22.240
well, of course they are. It's just that usually
00:22:22.240 --> 00:22:26.400
they're not conservative. Right. Yeah. I mean,
00:22:26.400 --> 00:22:29.700
it's the polls have already showed. I mean, right
00:22:29.700 --> 00:22:33.829
now, what is he? He's 45 percent liked. I think
00:22:33.829 --> 00:22:36.650
the right now the they published like the the
00:22:36.650 --> 00:22:40.369
numbers he don't wait you said like you mean
00:22:40.369 --> 00:22:42.309
like approval rating yeah approval rating yeah
00:22:42.309 --> 00:22:47.410
right now he's at like 45 which essentially the
00:22:47.410 --> 00:22:50.990
worst like the second worst person that got anywhere
00:22:50.990 --> 00:22:55.569
near him was his last term oh okay and like definitely
00:22:55.569 --> 00:23:00.750
check that but it's you know this the way people
00:23:00.750 --> 00:23:03.940
would react to us It's like, yeah, no. It's like
00:23:03.940 --> 00:23:06.680
they would not get mad at us at all. They were
00:23:06.680 --> 00:23:09.859
like, this is awesome. And it's just like deep,
00:23:09.940 --> 00:23:12.299
burrowed in the back of my mind. It's like, oh,
00:23:12.440 --> 00:23:14.299
if they knew that we just kind of got in here
00:23:14.299 --> 00:23:16.539
and just kind of started just asking questions.
00:23:16.920 --> 00:23:19.420
When you run with confidence, they are supportive
00:23:19.420 --> 00:23:22.259
as hell. Again, it's pretending to be important.
00:23:23.069 --> 00:23:26.329
No, we were literally told by, I forget the woman,
00:23:26.569 --> 00:23:29.910
don't know her name, but she was like, if you
00:23:29.910 --> 00:23:34.069
just scream three letters in a crowd, ABD4 or
00:23:34.069 --> 00:23:37.789
ABDC, they will literally split like the sea.
00:23:39.170 --> 00:23:42.829
Really? If you shout three letters out loud,
00:23:43.049 --> 00:23:46.329
like I was saying like, press, press, press.
00:23:47.359 --> 00:23:49.740
It's crazy what you could like. The power you...
00:23:49.740 --> 00:23:55.299
Or literally like CAB. CAB coming through. CAB
00:23:55.299 --> 00:23:57.819
coming through. They're not going to care. They're
00:23:57.819 --> 00:24:01.539
going to just separate like the sea. It is absurd
00:24:01.539 --> 00:24:04.660
how much power... When you realize that you can
00:24:04.660 --> 00:24:07.660
do that, it's like, oh my god. I have power.
00:24:07.900 --> 00:24:09.650
But it's like... With power comes responsibility.
00:24:10.009 --> 00:24:12.109
There's no way it's that easy, though. Like,
00:24:12.109 --> 00:24:14.150
it has to be something that people know about,
00:24:14.309 --> 00:24:19.309
right? No. It is truly. No, it is truly. You
00:24:19.309 --> 00:24:23.130
can say anything within reason, and they will
00:24:23.130 --> 00:24:26.109
just. It's. I mean, you can't shout fire. Okay.
00:24:26.630 --> 00:24:32.069
Yeah. Like, yeah. That is a very curious matter.
00:24:32.170 --> 00:24:38.769
Like, F -I -R -E. F -I -R -E. Yikes. But. It's
00:24:38.769 --> 00:24:41.690
strange. Like, I mean, given the fact I shouldn't
00:24:41.690 --> 00:24:44.509
have been able to get in as easily as I did,
00:24:44.569 --> 00:24:47.650
but I did. And I got the photos that I needed,
00:24:47.750 --> 00:24:50.269
and I got out, and they didn't let us back in,
00:24:50.309 --> 00:24:52.970
even though we weren't harming anyone. A writer
00:24:52.970 --> 00:24:55.490
wasn't allowed in, even though she wasn't even
00:24:55.490 --> 00:24:58.109
taking photos. And they said that she doesn't
00:24:58.109 --> 00:25:02.170
have a right to document it. Yeah, unfortunately,
00:25:02.450 --> 00:25:06.789
if it's their event... It was a private, essentially
00:25:06.789 --> 00:25:10.250
a private event in that case with the Butler
00:25:10.250 --> 00:25:12.670
Fairgrounds. I did look into that, unfortunately.
00:25:12.950 --> 00:25:15.710
Yeah, if it's private, then they get to control
00:25:15.710 --> 00:25:19.009
the flow of press. And, you know, that's unfortunate.
00:25:19.230 --> 00:25:22.150
But, you know, that's just how it works. I mean,
00:25:22.170 --> 00:25:29.420
now, like in the White House, it's crazy. The
00:25:29.420 --> 00:25:32.039
press box is much, much smaller than it used
00:25:32.039 --> 00:25:34.279
to be. Have you heard about the thing on the
00:25:34.279 --> 00:25:38.700
different sides, the people that they give a
00:25:38.700 --> 00:25:41.539
job to to ask the questions that are in favor
00:25:41.539 --> 00:25:45.539
of them? I haven't heard that, but I've heard
00:25:45.539 --> 00:25:48.539
about the White House controlling the press box,
00:25:48.660 --> 00:25:51.900
which is unprecedented in and of itself. Yeah,
00:25:51.900 --> 00:25:54.400
it's the concerning factor of like, you know,
00:25:54.420 --> 00:25:57.880
AP can't cover them anymore because or to my
00:25:57.880 --> 00:26:00.440
knowledge, because they're barred from from that,
00:26:00.519 --> 00:26:03.339
you know, responsibility or that authority because
00:26:03.339 --> 00:26:05.099
they didn't. Of course, because AP is biased,
00:26:05.299 --> 00:26:08.380
obviously. Oh, yes. The most biased, the most
00:26:08.380 --> 00:26:11.660
biased. But it's like it's concerning because
00:26:11.660 --> 00:26:14.980
we're getting to a point in our, you know, world
00:26:14.980 --> 00:26:19.660
where. It's scary because it's, you know, we're
00:26:19.660 --> 00:26:23.599
both. journalists and like we want to be able
00:26:23.599 --> 00:26:26.160
to put out the right information and to have
00:26:26.160 --> 00:26:29.319
it properly fact -checked and and that due diligence
00:26:29.319 --> 00:26:33.559
done but we're leaning towards this anti -intellectual
00:26:33.559 --> 00:26:36.599
world to where it's like it's so much easier
00:26:36.599 --> 00:26:43.319
to not know any better yeah no ignorance is easier
00:26:43.319 --> 00:26:48.960
than ever now i think you know it's fascinating
00:26:48.960 --> 00:26:54.130
because We live in a world where any information
00:26:54.130 --> 00:26:57.049
you could possibly want is available at your
00:26:57.049 --> 00:27:02.210
fingertips. We have 5G on our phones and we can,
00:27:02.210 --> 00:27:06.569
you know, download like 4K movies anywhere in
00:27:06.569 --> 00:27:09.329
America, pretty much, with the exception of some
00:27:09.329 --> 00:27:13.309
areas, right? And it's like, yet still people
00:27:13.309 --> 00:27:15.569
don't know how to properly educate themselves
00:27:15.569 --> 00:27:19.730
because they're just not willing. Uh, we had,
00:27:19.910 --> 00:27:27.069
um, uh, there's this idea that, you know, soap
00:27:27.069 --> 00:27:30.789
bottles, like shampoo bottles, right? Yeah. Of
00:27:30.789 --> 00:27:33.210
course I do. What do you mean? What kind of question
00:27:33.210 --> 00:27:38.549
is that? Have you read the back of them? Maybe?
00:27:39.130 --> 00:27:41.329
So you've never gotten bored and read the back
00:27:41.329 --> 00:27:45.150
of a shampoo bottle? I mean, like, I read nutrition
00:27:45.150 --> 00:27:48.750
labels. I wouldn't say I've read a shampoo label
00:27:48.750 --> 00:27:52.329
before, but go on. The point is that instructions
00:27:52.329 --> 00:27:55.670
exist for how to wash your hair on the back of
00:27:55.670 --> 00:27:59.130
shampoo bottles for a reason. On every single
00:27:59.130 --> 00:28:04.430
shampoo bottle? A majority of them have instructions
00:28:04.430 --> 00:28:08.529
how to wash your hair. Do you know what agency
00:28:08.529 --> 00:28:12.690
requires this? Because I'm so curious. I don't
00:28:12.690 --> 00:28:14.250
even think it's a requirement, but I just think
00:28:14.250 --> 00:28:17.250
it's like, what if they use it wrong? Like, you
00:28:17.250 --> 00:28:21.329
know, toaster end up in bathtub. Didn't follow
00:28:21.329 --> 00:28:25.789
the instructions. There's no way. But there is.
00:28:25.910 --> 00:28:28.309
There's instructions for shampoo. The way I look
00:28:28.309 --> 00:28:31.369
at it, the context behind that, they had to put
00:28:31.369 --> 00:28:33.130
instructions because someone didn't follow them.
00:28:34.230 --> 00:28:37.470
So you're telling me that video games don't have
00:28:37.470 --> 00:28:41.589
manuals anymore. Yet. shampoo bottles still have
00:28:41.589 --> 00:28:45.369
instructions on them yes are you kidding me no
00:28:45.369 --> 00:28:50.490
i am not kidding you this world is insane dude
00:28:50.490 --> 00:28:55.849
i i can't believe oh america we have less instructions
00:28:55.849 --> 00:28:58.670
on the meat that that is processed and how to
00:28:58.670 --> 00:29:01.849
cook it than we do on shampoo and how to use
00:29:01.849 --> 00:29:06.049
it and also like with meat there's debatably
00:29:06.049 --> 00:29:10.240
more risk there right i mean like I'd imagine
00:29:10.240 --> 00:29:14.500
it depends on the type of meat, but for chicken,
00:29:14.700 --> 00:29:19.359
for example, you have to cook that through because
00:29:19.359 --> 00:29:22.180
if you don't, then you're going to get salmonella.
00:29:22.500 --> 00:29:27.200
Oh, it's fine. If people are at the point where
00:29:27.200 --> 00:29:29.059
they don't understand how to wash their hair,
00:29:29.180 --> 00:29:33.440
how can you trust them to figure out how to see
00:29:33.440 --> 00:29:39.009
if meat is raw? Use a meat thermometer. Most
00:29:39.009 --> 00:29:41.809
people don't even know what that is, what a meat
00:29:41.809 --> 00:29:46.930
thermometer is. I would say that I don't think
00:29:46.930 --> 00:29:50.869
most people use one. Or, like, maybe I'm underestimating
00:29:50.869 --> 00:29:54.809
the ability of others, or at least with meat.
00:29:57.410 --> 00:30:02.410
I use one. That's good. I have a thermometer
00:30:02.410 --> 00:30:07.799
in my oven. Okay. I'm one of those that... Haven't
00:30:07.799 --> 00:30:09.660
gotten around to getting a meat thermometer,
00:30:09.920 --> 00:30:13.339
so I stick a knife in and hope for the best.
00:30:13.460 --> 00:30:16.359
But I also don't cook a lot of... I haven't...
00:30:16.359 --> 00:30:19.900
I've survived long enough. Well, you've survived.
00:30:19.980 --> 00:30:22.799
I think, like, it's not about survival. Like,
00:30:22.799 --> 00:30:26.539
you'll be fine. It's just gonna suck, you know?
00:30:26.680 --> 00:30:30.079
I mean, I'd like to... Oh, I would like to say
00:30:30.079 --> 00:30:36.069
that when it comes to... Cooking meat, I am pretty
00:30:36.069 --> 00:30:38.950
good at cooking, although I still wash my hair
00:30:38.950 --> 00:30:43.369
and I don't need those instructions. Okay, sure.
00:30:44.210 --> 00:30:49.170
But, like, it is nice to be able to know exactly
00:30:49.170 --> 00:30:53.210
when to take the heat off, you know? Like, especially
00:30:53.210 --> 00:30:56.869
if you're cooking chicken breast, like, you have
00:30:56.869 --> 00:30:59.789
to take it off, like, right when it gets to 165.
00:31:00.509 --> 00:31:02.430
You know more about this than I do, although
00:31:02.430 --> 00:31:05.299
I don't cook chicken often. So in hindsight,
00:31:05.579 --> 00:31:09.799
it's not. I will go now and further myself into
00:31:09.799 --> 00:31:13.500
this education and use a meat thermometer. I
00:31:13.500 --> 00:31:15.619
mean, I do cook it all the way through. I don't
00:31:15.619 --> 00:31:19.599
cook raw chicken. Well, right. Yeah. The thing
00:31:19.599 --> 00:31:23.299
is, you're supposed to cook it right up to that
00:31:23.299 --> 00:31:26.559
magic temperature and then take it off right
00:31:26.559 --> 00:31:29.319
away. Because if you cook it any more, then it
00:31:29.319 --> 00:31:37.240
gets all dry. Yeah, exactly. So you can cook
00:31:37.240 --> 00:31:39.539
it until it's white all the way through, but
00:31:39.539 --> 00:31:43.359
you probably overcooked it at that point. Well,
00:31:43.519 --> 00:31:47.259
that explains for some of my issues. Yeah, yeah,
00:31:47.299 --> 00:31:50.220
exactly. Okay, in hindsight, or not even hindsight,
00:31:50.519 --> 00:31:53.220
I will admit I'm lazy when it comes to sometimes
00:31:53.220 --> 00:31:55.119
cooking. I mean, I'm a college student, let's
00:31:55.119 --> 00:31:57.099
be real. I'm more focused on the photos that
00:31:57.099 --> 00:31:59.599
I take than if I'm using a meat thermometer or
00:31:59.599 --> 00:32:04.099
not. Yeah. I guess there's some good and bad
00:32:04.099 --> 00:32:06.559
there. I mean, at least I'm making good money
00:32:06.559 --> 00:32:09.220
with the photos. It's not like I'm a cook. Well,
00:32:09.400 --> 00:32:13.180
I cook for others. Making good money might be
00:32:13.180 --> 00:32:17.380
stretching it, but you are making money. But,
00:32:17.440 --> 00:32:20.880
like, going back to the idea, we have instructions
00:32:20.880 --> 00:32:25.160
not just on shampoo. We have instructions that
00:32:25.160 --> 00:32:28.410
our cars come with. that I don't think many people
00:32:28.410 --> 00:32:32.529
have. You know, your car manual? You know, like,
00:32:32.549 --> 00:32:35.650
your car manual? Yeah. I don't think most people
00:32:35.650 --> 00:32:41.190
open that up. Like, let's be real. Like, more
00:32:41.190 --> 00:32:43.509
people are probably going to not follow the directions
00:32:43.509 --> 00:32:50.650
for their car than shampoo, I'd hope. I don't
00:32:50.650 --> 00:32:53.049
know if I want to hedge my bets on that. Well,
00:32:53.069 --> 00:32:56.559
it's about the length and the density. of the
00:32:56.559 --> 00:33:00.640
read if you're looking at instructions on the
00:33:00.640 --> 00:33:03.359
back of a shampoo bottle that'll take you max
00:33:03.359 --> 00:33:07.200
like 20 seconds to read through reading through
00:33:07.200 --> 00:33:10.059
a car manual is a lot more dense and complicated
00:33:10.059 --> 00:33:13.539
and i think a lot of people have the cognitive
00:33:13.539 --> 00:33:17.559
familiarity of what driving a car is like you
00:33:17.559 --> 00:33:21.880
know like there are enough standards in place
00:33:21.880 --> 00:33:26.319
that you can you know, start driving a Prius,
00:33:26.319 --> 00:33:29.799
and you probably know how to drive anything that
00:33:29.799 --> 00:33:34.940
isn't a stick shift. Yeah, I'm with you on that.
00:33:35.099 --> 00:33:37.380
My only concern is those that don't know how
00:33:37.380 --> 00:33:40.339
to put on their turn signal. There are a few
00:33:40.339 --> 00:33:42.680
of those, yeah. Especially in Pittsburgh, I'm
00:33:42.680 --> 00:33:46.779
sure we've all come across them. Maybe not in
00:33:46.779 --> 00:33:49.680
Pittsburgh, but, you know, I've seen them in
00:33:49.680 --> 00:33:53.019
the South. Yeah, the turn signal, nonexistent.
00:33:53.630 --> 00:33:56.829
But, I mean, the point that I'm trying to make
00:33:56.829 --> 00:33:59.670
here is that if we have instructions on shampoo
00:33:59.670 --> 00:34:03.470
bottles, what do we need instructions on as to,
00:34:03.589 --> 00:34:06.630
you know, we have to be afraid that someone's
00:34:06.630 --> 00:34:08.550
going to buy shampoo and use it to cook with.
00:34:10.050 --> 00:34:15.650
What do we have no instructions for that we should?
00:34:17.449 --> 00:34:20.409
If they'd even be read, like, you know, that's
00:34:20.409 --> 00:34:22.730
another completely, you know, visual instructions.
00:34:22.869 --> 00:34:24.730
Because actually, the matter of fact, I read
00:34:24.730 --> 00:34:27.389
the shampoo bottle instructions recently, and
00:34:27.389 --> 00:34:30.070
they are visual. Oh, you did? Yes. Yes, they're
00:34:30.070 --> 00:34:32.969
visual, at least on Old Spice. They're visual.
00:34:33.769 --> 00:34:36.650
So you've got your little IKEA instructions on
00:34:36.650 --> 00:34:39.070
the back, I'm sure. No, literally, it's a hand
00:34:39.070 --> 00:34:41.849
that shows you how to scrub and where to scrub,
00:34:42.010 --> 00:34:44.070
and it's like a small little, it's like a guide,
00:34:44.170 --> 00:34:47.739
so if you can't read, you can see. Okay. But,
00:34:47.780 --> 00:34:51.320
like, do they just, like, what's the hairstyle
00:34:51.320 --> 00:34:54.880
in the photo? I never looked at it. I think it's
00:34:54.880 --> 00:34:57.619
actually a guy. It's a guy? Yeah, it's a guy.
00:34:57.900 --> 00:35:00.119
Well, you'd imagine they would tailor it based
00:35:00.119 --> 00:35:03.860
off of, like, what gender the shampoo is marketed
00:35:03.860 --> 00:35:07.719
for, right? I wonder if on women's shampoo or,
00:35:07.739 --> 00:35:11.179
like, women's body wash, it shows a woman. Probably
00:35:11.179 --> 00:35:13.860
does. That's an interesting perspective, like,
00:35:13.860 --> 00:35:16.929
in terms of a marketing aspect. Like if there's
00:35:16.929 --> 00:35:19.289
like a non -binary body wash where it's just
00:35:19.289 --> 00:35:21.650
a person, you know, not feminine, not masculine,
00:35:21.710 --> 00:35:23.670
just a person. I actually didn't really think
00:35:23.670 --> 00:35:25.269
about it like that, but that's a good point.
00:35:26.130 --> 00:35:29.710
It's just concerning. You know, I thought of
00:35:29.710 --> 00:35:31.349
it like a few days ago and I was like, this is
00:35:31.349 --> 00:35:34.489
just unfortunate that we have to put instructions
00:35:34.489 --> 00:35:40.349
on shampoo. And it's like, what? I mean, I don't
00:35:40.349 --> 00:35:43.570
know if you had issue with your high school,
00:35:43.670 --> 00:35:47.400
but with my high school, like. I asked way too
00:35:47.400 --> 00:35:50.840
many questions, maybe too many, but I mean, never,
00:35:50.900 --> 00:35:53.079
there's never too many questions to ask, but
00:35:53.079 --> 00:35:55.719
it's like at a certain point they couldn't answer
00:35:55.719 --> 00:35:58.880
my questions to where I often had to like look
00:35:58.880 --> 00:36:02.559
up and find that information myself. I don't
00:36:02.559 --> 00:36:04.820
think there's such a thing as too many questions.
00:36:05.880 --> 00:36:08.900
I think it's about asking the right questions.
00:36:09.539 --> 00:36:12.000
I think as long as you're asking the right questions,
00:36:12.019 --> 00:36:17.050
there isn't any. such thing is asking too many
00:36:17.050 --> 00:36:24.130
I think it's more like is this something that
00:36:24.130 --> 00:36:27.469
you could reasonably suss out on your own or
00:36:27.469 --> 00:36:38.079
not right I mean when it comes to I mean I I
00:36:38.079 --> 00:36:39.800
think that that quote, I'm going to use that
00:36:39.800 --> 00:36:42.179
if people tell me to stop talking and ask questions,
00:36:42.199 --> 00:36:43.960
because that's a wonderful quote, and I thank
00:36:43.960 --> 00:36:46.380
you for that. There's never too many questions.
00:36:46.420 --> 00:36:48.059
It's going to put it on a shirt and everything.
00:36:48.139 --> 00:36:50.840
We're going to have merch, you know, everything.
00:36:51.440 --> 00:36:55.880
Nice, nice. I mean, I agree that it's the right
00:36:55.880 --> 00:36:57.559
question to ask, but I mean, obviously, when
00:36:57.559 --> 00:37:00.380
I was younger, I was a little bit more naive
00:37:00.380 --> 00:37:03.500
and curious. I mean, just as curious, but it's
00:37:03.500 --> 00:37:06.710
like, you know, when, I mean, I was at... I was
00:37:06.710 --> 00:37:10.469
not a liberal my whole life. I was, that was
00:37:10.469 --> 00:37:15.670
a conservative. Yeah. I think like a lot of political
00:37:15.670 --> 00:37:19.570
leanings, political leanings have a lot to do
00:37:19.570 --> 00:37:22.690
with how you were raised and your upbringing.
00:37:23.329 --> 00:37:27.250
And I think that our upbringings influence us
00:37:27.250 --> 00:37:31.389
more than we'd like to admit. It is like an RNG
00:37:31.389 --> 00:37:34.130
kind of thing. It's kind of, yeah, it's based
00:37:34.130 --> 00:37:37.260
on your spawn point, right? It really is. And
00:37:37.260 --> 00:37:39.579
it's like you get lucky or you don't get lucky
00:37:39.579 --> 00:37:41.639
and you still somehow fucking make it. Or like
00:37:41.639 --> 00:37:44.519
your financial situation, too. Like, you know,
00:37:44.519 --> 00:37:47.039
it's based on your spawn point. It's based off
00:37:47.039 --> 00:37:50.860
your parents. Right. Or, you know, your familial
00:37:50.860 --> 00:37:55.840
familial familial familial familial familial
00:37:55.840 --> 00:38:01.300
wealth. Like that, that will determine like.
00:38:01.929 --> 00:38:04.969
the course that is set for you in life. It doesn't
00:38:04.969 --> 00:38:07.090
mean that you can't break free from it. It just
00:38:07.090 --> 00:38:11.650
is really, really hard. And I think that I kind
00:38:11.650 --> 00:38:15.110
of just lucked into the right policy positions
00:38:15.110 --> 00:38:18.909
because my parents were liberal and I learned
00:38:18.909 --> 00:38:22.690
a lot from them. That's interesting because I
00:38:22.690 --> 00:38:27.070
still am coming to terms with how I've shifted
00:38:27.070 --> 00:38:31.929
to where it's like I've just become aware. I
00:38:31.929 --> 00:38:35.650
don't know at what point it was between graduating
00:38:35.650 --> 00:38:38.750
high school and graduating college that I somehow
00:38:38.750 --> 00:38:43.429
shifted and looked at things differently. Yeah.
00:38:43.889 --> 00:38:47.769
And I think like knowledge is power, right? Like
00:38:47.769 --> 00:38:51.389
being a journalist forces you to really understand
00:38:51.389 --> 00:38:55.010
what's going on in the world. And whenever there's
00:38:55.010 --> 00:38:58.119
like that belief or that thought of like. well,
00:38:58.199 --> 00:39:00.300
this is probably bad. It's like, well, why do
00:39:00.300 --> 00:39:02.539
I think that? And it's like that question, those
00:39:02.539 --> 00:39:05.800
questions start rolling even in ourselves to
00:39:05.800 --> 00:39:08.559
where it's like, we're asking ourself when we
00:39:08.559 --> 00:39:10.820
encounter new information or even just we see
00:39:10.820 --> 00:39:13.079
something and it's like, what would be the best
00:39:13.079 --> 00:39:15.400
cause of action or documentation or whatever
00:39:15.400 --> 00:39:18.239
the case is? And it's like, you can't necessarily
00:39:18.239 --> 00:39:22.639
prepare any more than we already are. You can't
00:39:22.639 --> 00:39:25.599
over explain or estimate a situation. You just
00:39:25.599 --> 00:39:27.909
have to go into it and just Be the authentic
00:39:27.909 --> 00:39:35.130
self. Yeah, it's kind of your duty as a journalist
00:39:35.130 --> 00:39:39.650
to be able to look at things objectively. And
00:39:39.650 --> 00:39:42.670
sometimes you look at things objectively and
00:39:42.670 --> 00:39:47.329
it's hard to not come to certain conclusions,
00:39:47.489 --> 00:39:52.150
right? Yeah, kind of like be willing to foster
00:39:52.150 --> 00:39:54.800
that dialogue, but not... completely tear it
00:39:54.800 --> 00:39:57.199
down foster that dialogue within yourself too
00:39:57.199 --> 00:40:00.900
where you know you can examine your own cognitive
00:40:00.900 --> 00:40:04.840
dissonance and say yeah you know like you you
00:40:04.840 --> 00:40:07.179
know exactly what that feels like like you have
00:40:07.179 --> 00:40:10.260
like this preconceived notion of how the world
00:40:10.260 --> 00:40:14.039
works and then you know some inconvenient truth
00:40:14.039 --> 00:40:16.960
will challenge it and then you'll take a step
00:40:16.960 --> 00:40:20.539
back and be like what like that shouldn't that
00:40:20.539 --> 00:40:23.179
shouldn't happen and then there's that like mind
00:40:23.179 --> 00:40:29.940
over heart mind over um over soul like there's
00:40:29.940 --> 00:40:33.199
like that mind like there's that heart in things
00:40:33.199 --> 00:40:35.099
that emotional feel but then there's that mind
00:40:35.099 --> 00:40:37.039
thing where that cognitive distance happens where
00:40:37.039 --> 00:40:39.880
mind over body mind over body yes yeah and it's
00:40:39.880 --> 00:40:42.760
that dissonance between the two where we have
00:40:42.760 --> 00:40:46.280
to come to terms and like realize it or don't
00:40:46.280 --> 00:40:50.389
realize it and yeah There are people that never
00:40:50.389 --> 00:40:55.369
actually come to terms with these things. Like,
00:40:55.369 --> 00:40:59.849
they'll keep rationalizing it. But, like, especially
00:40:59.849 --> 00:41:04.610
if your career is in telling truth as it is,
00:41:04.730 --> 00:41:10.389
it's hard to bury that lead forever. It's really
00:41:10.389 --> 00:41:15.130
hard. Yeah, put something to rest. You know,
00:41:15.150 --> 00:41:18.610
not to, like... make it religious, but it's like,
00:41:18.670 --> 00:41:22.030
you know, let the dead bury the dead. Have you
00:41:22.030 --> 00:41:24.789
heard that? I haven't heard that. It's, you know,
00:41:24.829 --> 00:41:29.210
it's the idea of let those that are already on
00:41:29.210 --> 00:41:32.929
their way out worry about those that they're
00:41:32.929 --> 00:41:36.230
worrying about. Don't worry about them, because
00:41:36.230 --> 00:41:39.449
if they're, you know, on their way out, let the
00:41:39.449 --> 00:41:41.909
dead bury the dead. Let them take care of their
00:41:41.909 --> 00:41:44.710
things, and they're focused on the past, not
00:41:44.710 --> 00:41:48.750
the present or the future. Okay. If that makes
00:41:48.750 --> 00:41:50.389
sense. I'm probably not doing a good job at describing
00:41:50.389 --> 00:41:54.250
that. No, no. I understand that. Yeah. Like,
00:41:54.250 --> 00:42:00.949
don't dredge up... Don't dredge up, like, old...
00:42:00.949 --> 00:42:07.670
I'm not sure exactly where I'm going with this.
00:42:09.130 --> 00:42:13.250
Like... I don't want to say old memories. Like,
00:42:13.250 --> 00:42:19.530
old feelings? Yeah, it's kind of let people that
00:42:19.530 --> 00:42:21.769
are already on their way out of your life or
00:42:21.769 --> 00:42:25.090
even just situations that are kind of painful,
00:42:25.230 --> 00:42:28.309
painful or even people that are painful. And
00:42:28.309 --> 00:42:31.969
we can't keep them in our life. We have to just
00:42:31.969 --> 00:42:35.550
let the dead bury the dead. Let them take care
00:42:35.550 --> 00:42:38.869
of their things because we have to be alive.
00:42:39.269 --> 00:42:44.070
We can't focus on the dead all the time. You
00:42:44.070 --> 00:42:46.860
have to move on. Yeah, it's essentially just
00:42:46.860 --> 00:42:50.980
saying move on, go do more, be better, be healthy
00:42:50.980 --> 00:42:55.820
in body and in mind. Right. And it's like, that's
00:42:55.820 --> 00:42:59.260
just a personal philosophy. Like, you know, and
00:42:59.260 --> 00:43:01.519
then let's definitely, I think we've actually
00:43:01.519 --> 00:43:03.380
been doing this for longer than 30 minutes, but.
00:43:03.480 --> 00:43:07.179
It's been quite a bit longer. Yeah, but let's
00:43:07.179 --> 00:43:11.550
definitely wind this down. Yeah. So. One question
00:43:11.550 --> 00:43:13.789
I have for you is what is your philosophy? How
00:43:13.789 --> 00:43:18.929
do you go about things? Like, what is your, like,
00:43:19.110 --> 00:43:23.250
conviction or, like, as all that you've learned
00:43:23.250 --> 00:43:26.150
from college and continue to learn, what is something
00:43:26.150 --> 00:43:28.809
that you've taken and it has informed a new perspective
00:43:28.809 --> 00:43:32.250
or just how have you lived your life? I think
00:43:32.250 --> 00:43:37.289
I've always, I've always led with curiosity.
00:43:38.539 --> 00:43:44.940
for the world I think that curiosity is a purely
00:43:44.940 --> 00:43:50.179
positive emotion it's something where you know
00:43:50.179 --> 00:43:54.980
as soon as you stop being curious about how the
00:43:54.980 --> 00:43:59.380
world works and how it functions you're stagnating
00:43:59.380 --> 00:44:02.940
right and so the best thing that you can do for
00:44:02.940 --> 00:44:07.820
yourself is to constantly be learning and You
00:44:07.820 --> 00:44:11.159
know, I'm a programmer. I'm a computer science
00:44:11.159 --> 00:44:13.480
major. And, you know, that's something that I
00:44:13.480 --> 00:44:15.800
really take to heart where, you know, like I
00:44:15.800 --> 00:44:18.719
always need to be learning a new language or
00:44:18.719 --> 00:44:22.679
a new framework or, you know, a new hobby. Like
00:44:22.679 --> 00:44:26.960
photography was that learning outlet, the artistic
00:44:26.960 --> 00:44:31.619
learning outlet for me for a while and still
00:44:31.619 --> 00:44:36.099
continues to be. But I've been learning quite
00:44:36.099 --> 00:44:43.500
a bit about typography and graphic design. There's
00:44:43.500 --> 00:44:47.820
more information in the world than you can consume
00:44:47.820 --> 00:44:52.619
in one lifetime. But you want to get as close
00:44:52.619 --> 00:44:59.179
to understanding everything as you can. It's
00:44:59.179 --> 00:45:03.980
not easy. You're never going to make it. Like,
00:45:03.980 --> 00:45:07.099
it's futile. Like, you're just never, you're
00:45:07.099 --> 00:45:12.340
simply never going to even get, like, a tenth
00:45:12.340 --> 00:45:15.519
of a percent of the information that's out there.
00:45:15.860 --> 00:45:18.219
But, like, if you can get a hundredth, then,
00:45:18.260 --> 00:45:21.300
like, that's remarkable. And if you can contribute
00:45:21.300 --> 00:45:23.739
to the more information that's out there as well.
00:45:23.940 --> 00:45:26.440
And, like, help other people up with you, right?
00:45:26.539 --> 00:45:28.679
Like, lift other people up. To where you're a
00:45:28.679 --> 00:45:30.719
part of that information and other people can
00:45:30.719 --> 00:45:34.260
take from that. Yeah, well, and like you don't
00:45:34.260 --> 00:45:36.400
even have to use the word take like, you know,
00:45:36.400 --> 00:45:39.239
just like try and lift other people up to your
00:45:39.239 --> 00:45:41.320
level, you know, where it's like, you know, other
00:45:41.320 --> 00:45:46.460
people can derive things from you and they can
00:45:46.460 --> 00:45:49.139
come to their own conclusions and they can possibly
00:45:49.139 --> 00:45:53.380
figure out things that you never even considered.
00:45:54.010 --> 00:45:56.469
And then it can be a well -informed dialogue
00:45:56.469 --> 00:45:59.230
there as well. It's a symbiotic relationship,
00:45:59.409 --> 00:46:03.050
basically, where you hope that other people can
00:46:03.050 --> 00:46:06.510
rise to your level and challenge you. That is
00:46:06.510 --> 00:46:09.010
very refreshing to hear because I wish I could
00:46:09.010 --> 00:46:11.889
hear that more because it's very either Tao or
00:46:11.889 --> 00:46:16.409
Tao. I had a world religions class, and I think
00:46:16.409 --> 00:46:19.730
it's Taoism. You can choose to live your own
00:46:19.730 --> 00:46:24.860
experience and kind of pursue this. like your
00:46:24.860 --> 00:46:30.480
own personal thing. I forget what it's called,
00:46:30.539 --> 00:46:34.239
but it's like going and pursuing this like ultra
00:46:34.239 --> 00:46:37.960
somewhere or something. And or you can help someone
00:46:37.960 --> 00:46:40.639
else achieve that as well. So you get to like,
00:46:40.699 --> 00:46:43.300
you know, take a like a little road over and
00:46:43.300 --> 00:46:45.260
it's like, hey, I'm going to help you get to
00:46:45.260 --> 00:46:47.679
where you want to get to. Right. And it's such
00:46:47.679 --> 00:46:50.860
a it's a very it's like a fostered growth or
00:46:50.860 --> 00:46:53.230
a brotherly growth or even just a. you know,
00:46:53.230 --> 00:46:57.650
a friendly person or a companionship. And I think
00:46:57.650 --> 00:46:59.369
that we need to do that more, especially not
00:46:59.369 --> 00:47:03.210
even just as younger people, but as like younger
00:47:03.210 --> 00:47:06.349
professionals, because we, I think we get very
00:47:06.349 --> 00:47:10.630
lonely. You're also putting less focus on the
00:47:10.630 --> 00:47:13.429
self, right? You know, like we live in a world
00:47:13.429 --> 00:47:17.269
where, you know, everybody is self -centered,
00:47:17.349 --> 00:47:21.340
you know, like social media. is you know a really
00:47:21.340 --> 00:47:23.500
big driving force of that where it's all about
00:47:23.500 --> 00:47:25.519
like me me me and like you know like what am
00:47:25.519 --> 00:47:27.900
i missing out on and like what could i be doing
00:47:27.900 --> 00:47:33.460
and um you know i think if you're trying to teach
00:47:33.460 --> 00:47:37.880
other people you're you know in essence forced
00:47:37.880 --> 00:47:40.880
to put yourself in their shoes and understand
00:47:40.880 --> 00:47:46.699
their perspective because that's how you teach
00:47:46.699 --> 00:47:52.739
effectively right You have to really understand
00:47:52.739 --> 00:47:56.820
someone and where they're at to be able to bring
00:47:56.820 --> 00:48:00.820
them up to your level of understanding. Assuming
00:48:00.820 --> 00:48:03.960
that, you know, like you know something that
00:48:03.960 --> 00:48:08.219
they don't and, you know, they're trying to learn
00:48:08.219 --> 00:48:12.380
a new skill or whatever, right? You can't, like,
00:48:12.519 --> 00:48:18.289
I'm trying to think of a good example. You know,
00:48:18.329 --> 00:48:24.889
like, you can't teach a man how to fish if he
00:48:24.889 --> 00:48:28.489
doesn't know what a fishing pole is. You can
00:48:28.489 --> 00:48:33.349
give him a stick and a string. Yeah, sure. But,
00:48:33.429 --> 00:48:37.530
like, you can't expect him to fish if he doesn't
00:48:37.530 --> 00:48:42.829
know how to use the tool. Exactly, yeah. It's
00:48:42.829 --> 00:48:46.230
one of those things where, like... You have to
00:48:46.230 --> 00:48:49.530
know where the other person is at to understand
00:48:49.530 --> 00:48:54.409
how to move forward. And that requires focusing
00:48:54.409 --> 00:48:57.429
on other people other than yourself. And I think
00:48:57.429 --> 00:48:59.650
that that's really important. This world, I mean,
00:48:59.650 --> 00:49:02.110
you talk on that this world is a selfish world.
00:49:02.449 --> 00:49:05.679
And it's so hard to get out of that. that echo
00:49:05.679 --> 00:49:07.960
chamber of the selfishness. I wouldn't say this
00:49:07.960 --> 00:49:11.219
world, I would say America in particular is very
00:49:11.219 --> 00:49:14.579
individualistic and that can contribute to those
00:49:14.579 --> 00:49:17.300
feelings, but yeah, carry on. And when it comes
00:49:17.300 --> 00:49:20.500
to this, you know, selfishness, when we look
00:49:20.500 --> 00:49:23.199
outside of ourselves and encourage, encourage
00:49:23.199 --> 00:49:25.179
others, but encourage ourselves to interact,
00:49:25.179 --> 00:49:29.000
interact with new mind, you know, new dialogues,
00:49:29.059 --> 00:49:33.699
new things that may make us uncomfortable, you
00:49:33.699 --> 00:49:36.530
start to grow. And I mean, just by knowing you
00:49:36.530 --> 00:49:38.570
and talking to you on the, you know, here and
00:49:38.570 --> 00:49:41.289
there. Right. I have learned so much about me
00:49:41.289 --> 00:49:45.170
and about you. And it's such a grateful thing
00:49:45.170 --> 00:49:48.710
that I can be grateful for. And I'm sure that
00:49:48.710 --> 00:49:51.610
I've helped something or I helped you with something
00:49:51.610 --> 00:49:53.809
or taught you something. Yeah, no, absolutely.
00:49:53.949 --> 00:50:00.690
I mean, like literally today, I came in not knowing
00:50:00.690 --> 00:50:03.500
a single thing about video. And, you know, you
00:50:03.500 --> 00:50:06.619
opening up Premiere and, you know, shuffling
00:50:06.619 --> 00:50:08.800
things around, I was just like, wow, like, you
00:50:08.800 --> 00:50:11.320
know, I feel like even just passively watching
00:50:11.320 --> 00:50:13.619
that, I was like, okay, you know, like I can
00:50:13.619 --> 00:50:15.940
sort of follow what he's doing, you know, like
00:50:15.940 --> 00:50:18.699
he's splicing different clips together. And I
00:50:18.699 --> 00:50:21.820
think people definitely underrate that passive
00:50:21.820 --> 00:50:24.320
learning that comes from just, you know, like.
00:50:25.329 --> 00:50:28.210
watching a master at his craft. I wouldn't call
00:50:28.210 --> 00:50:33.349
myself a master. I'm playing it up, but I feel
00:50:33.349 --> 00:50:39.590
like it's important to be curious because you
00:50:39.590 --> 00:50:44.070
can always find a way to learn no matter what.
00:50:45.369 --> 00:50:47.789
Obviously, it's good to find mentors, but if
00:50:47.789 --> 00:50:49.929
you can't find them, then just go on Google.
00:50:52.460 --> 00:50:54.980
You can get so much out of a good Google search
00:50:54.980 --> 00:50:58.059
or even, you know, now in the era of LLMs, like,
00:50:58.139 --> 00:51:01.480
you know, a good chat GPT query. Right. Although
00:51:01.480 --> 00:51:03.679
you have to be careful with what it spits out.
00:51:03.739 --> 00:51:07.199
But, you know, like when it comes to a Google
00:51:07.199 --> 00:51:09.300
search, I think that or even just a Wikipedia
00:51:09.300 --> 00:51:12.519
search, you can do an entire loop. I mean, find
00:51:12.519 --> 00:51:15.219
a Wikipedia thing on like paradoxes. You can
00:51:15.219 --> 00:51:19.159
spend hours at that. Right. And it's, you know,
00:51:19.179 --> 00:51:21.829
the world is your oyster. But you don't have
00:51:21.829 --> 00:51:24.570
to pick them all up. You can be a little bit
00:51:24.570 --> 00:51:27.690
selective. Because, I mean, that's kind of friends
00:51:27.690 --> 00:51:31.210
are like that and people are like that. Not only
00:51:31.210 --> 00:51:35.250
can you be selective, you should be selective.
00:51:35.769 --> 00:51:39.269
Because there's a lot of crap out there. Yeah,
00:51:39.269 --> 00:51:44.610
a lot of expired oysters. Uh -huh, yeah. I like
00:51:44.610 --> 00:51:47.210
that analogy a lot. Yeah, the expired oysters
00:51:47.210 --> 00:51:49.039
that you shouldn't... You know, the world is
00:51:49.039 --> 00:51:50.519
your oyster, but you got to be very selective.
00:51:50.780 --> 00:51:54.079
I guess it's more of a metaphor. Metaphor, analogy,
00:51:54.519 --> 00:51:56.239
what is it? It doesn't have to be. We're not
00:51:56.239 --> 00:51:58.579
in English class. I don't want to hear an English
00:51:58.579 --> 00:52:00.760
teacher barking up my tree. I'm going to be graduating
00:52:00.760 --> 00:52:03.179
tomorrow, so. I mean, hey. Or today, actually.
00:52:03.800 --> 00:52:08.340
Today? Well, yeah. It is past midnight, so. Yeah,
00:52:08.400 --> 00:52:11.340
yeah, we're just in the studio at like 1 a .m.
00:52:11.579 --> 00:52:15.059
1 in the morning, yep. Yeah. I mean, hey, look,
00:52:15.139 --> 00:52:19.050
man. I am. part English major. Oh. The title
00:52:19.050 --> 00:52:22.190
narrative and interactive design. My second major.
00:52:22.730 --> 00:52:27.269
You're a double major? Yes. So you're both English
00:52:27.269 --> 00:52:30.550
competent in English and you're also language
00:52:30.550 --> 00:52:36.010
competent in code. In theory, yes. In theory,
00:52:36.210 --> 00:52:40.010
yes. Interesting. That's definitely a conversation
00:52:40.010 --> 00:52:42.570
for later. But I did want to ask, how do you
00:52:42.570 --> 00:52:47.530
stay caffeinated? Oh, God. Okay. This is so bad.
00:52:48.110 --> 00:52:52.389
I have a Celsius addiction. Celsius? Like the
00:52:52.389 --> 00:52:57.670
water carbonated black drink? The energy drink,
00:52:57.789 --> 00:53:00.110
yes. Oh, it's an energy drink. I've never had
00:53:00.110 --> 00:53:04.730
it. I've heard a rumor and I've seen it everywhere.
00:53:06.130 --> 00:53:11.769
What does it do for you? So it has 200 milligrams
00:53:11.769 --> 00:53:14.630
of caffeine. Yeah, do you tell me you drink one?
00:53:14.909 --> 00:53:19.840
Yes. I can't do more than one. If I do two, I
00:53:19.840 --> 00:53:24.380
have done two before. I did last year around
00:53:24.380 --> 00:53:29.099
final season, like last spring, and I felt like
00:53:29.099 --> 00:53:31.579
I was going to die. It felt like my heart was
00:53:31.579 --> 00:53:33.519
going to pop out of my chest. With no Adderall?
00:53:34.019 --> 00:53:36.480
No Adderall. I've never taken Adderall in my
00:53:36.480 --> 00:53:41.159
life. Thank God. Anyway. Yeah, it's an energy
00:53:41.159 --> 00:53:44.559
drink. It has a bunch of caffeine in it. Two
00:53:44.559 --> 00:53:49.420
of them gets you to the FDA limit. It has taurine
00:53:49.420 --> 00:53:52.320
in it, which is something that's present in Red
00:53:52.320 --> 00:53:54.920
Bull and Monster and a lot of other energy drinks.
00:53:55.039 --> 00:53:57.559
It's apparently good for your circulation, but
00:53:57.559 --> 00:54:02.719
I don't know how true those claims are. It also
00:54:02.719 --> 00:54:08.809
usually... comes in like fruity flavors and the
00:54:08.809 --> 00:54:11.510
way i would describe celsius in particular is
00:54:11.510 --> 00:54:17.250
it's like a clean flavor like like tastes very
00:54:17.250 --> 00:54:24.690
like sprightly i know like it just isn't very
00:54:24.690 --> 00:54:29.170
syrupy in the way that a lot of other soft drinks
00:54:29.170 --> 00:54:32.789
are so it's more like water based than it is
00:54:32.789 --> 00:54:35.679
syrup based It tastes like a seltzer, but they
00:54:35.679 --> 00:54:42.940
gave it more sugar. Yeah, I mean, I think I've,
00:54:42.940 --> 00:54:46.480
like, after dropping, like, sugar stuff and,
00:54:46.519 --> 00:54:49.719
like, being overpowered by things, I've actually
00:54:49.719 --> 00:54:52.860
started, like, getting high C. Like, not high
00:54:52.860 --> 00:54:57.119
C, but, like, a juice that doesn't have fructose
00:54:57.119 --> 00:55:00.219
corn syrup. High fructose corn syrup? Yeah, high
00:55:00.219 --> 00:55:03.570
fructose corn syrup. Taking that. watering it
00:55:03.570 --> 00:55:06.469
down. That way I can consume it and not feel
00:55:06.469 --> 00:55:09.489
like my teeth are going to fall out. Right. So,
00:55:09.510 --> 00:55:17.010
I mean, Celsius, I dropped Monsters a while ago
00:55:17.010 --> 00:55:18.829
and I think I had one today because I was like,
00:55:18.929 --> 00:55:21.090
I'm going to finish these finals and get everything
00:55:21.090 --> 00:55:25.230
done. That way I can get out and go and do. So,
00:55:25.250 --> 00:55:28.889
where are you off to after this? And when do
00:55:28.889 --> 00:55:31.289
you plan on coming back so we can have you on
00:55:31.289 --> 00:55:35.900
again? So after this, I'm going home and going
00:55:35.900 --> 00:55:40.139
to bed because I'm old. I'm just kidding. I'm
00:55:40.139 --> 00:55:44.679
only 21. You're younger than me. I am younger
00:55:44.679 --> 00:55:46.420
than you, yeah. I don't think you have room.
00:55:46.519 --> 00:55:51.099
You made me feel older. I feel like an old man
00:55:51.099 --> 00:55:56.300
sometimes because I'm the kind of guy that goes
00:55:56.300 --> 00:56:00.980
home on a Saturday night and passes out at 10
00:56:00.980 --> 00:56:08.309
p .m. and does not give any fucks about it. But,
00:56:08.449 --> 00:56:15.909
yeah, like, I don't know. I... I... I don't know.
00:56:16.230 --> 00:56:20.590
Like, I feel like an old man. I feel like that's
00:56:20.590 --> 00:56:22.610
valid, because sometimes I've been called an
00:56:22.610 --> 00:56:25.329
old man since I was 16. I started dressing like
00:56:25.329 --> 00:56:27.949
one, I guess. You know what? That might be it.
00:56:27.989 --> 00:56:31.110
Because, like, I show up to campus every other
00:56:31.110 --> 00:56:34.250
day in my leather jacket. And I think it probably
00:56:34.250 --> 00:56:37.949
ages me by five years. Mine, I have to find a
00:56:37.949 --> 00:56:41.150
new leather jacket. But no, it truly, like, there's,
00:56:41.150 --> 00:56:44.050
I mean, maybe it's just our old souls. But it's
00:56:44.050 --> 00:56:46.690
like, you know, sometimes I like being an old
00:56:46.690 --> 00:56:49.449
man and going to bed at 8 p .m., 10 p .m. And,
00:56:49.510 --> 00:56:51.650
you know, like, I'll have a little piece of toast
00:56:51.650 --> 00:56:55.780
and coffee and go to bed and be all happy. Yeah.
00:56:56.760 --> 00:57:01.519
I'll stop at one beer. Crazy. Whoa. I'm a college
00:57:01.519 --> 00:57:04.360
student. I've actually stopped at one beer. I
00:57:04.360 --> 00:57:08.079
had one beer. I think I had, no, I had two beers.
00:57:08.099 --> 00:57:10.360
Never mind. I stopped at two beers. Two beers.
00:57:10.500 --> 00:57:12.300
And it wasn't beer. It was really breaking new
00:57:12.300 --> 00:57:14.719
grounds with that one. Well, given the fact that
00:57:14.719 --> 00:57:18.039
I had it, it was an ale, but yeah, that's neither
00:57:18.039 --> 00:57:21.619
here nor there. Pale ale? No, no, no, no. It
00:57:21.619 --> 00:57:24.219
was like an apple something. I don't know what
00:57:24.219 --> 00:57:28.039
it was. Apple? Apple beer? Dude, what are you
00:57:28.039 --> 00:57:32.260
drinking? It wasn't that bad. I don't think so.
00:57:32.320 --> 00:57:34.920
Maybe I was just really hungry and really desperate
00:57:34.920 --> 00:57:39.280
for something. Hungry? You don't drink when you're
00:57:39.280 --> 00:57:43.559
hungry. That's not right. You're going to feel
00:57:43.559 --> 00:57:47.320
like crap. I was fine. Sort of fine afterwards.
00:57:48.000 --> 00:57:53.380
Okay. It was fine. I just did a really bad golf
00:57:53.380 --> 00:57:59.380
game. Well, putt -putt game. Okay. That's the
00:57:59.380 --> 00:58:06.340
only effects it has. Cool. Coordination could
00:58:06.340 --> 00:58:10.880
be better, yeah. That's the only caveat. The
00:58:10.880 --> 00:58:14.500
food was good after that, but yeah. Beer, not
00:58:14.500 --> 00:58:18.679
my thing. Not the biggest thing, but as long
00:58:18.679 --> 00:58:20.880
as you're staying caffeinated, that's a good
00:58:20.880 --> 00:58:23.619
thing. Well, within reason. Not the FDA limit.
00:58:23.699 --> 00:58:27.889
Don't. don't go yeah no i mean like i'm well
00:58:27.889 --> 00:58:31.409
aware that my caffeine addiction could be tempered
00:58:31.409 --> 00:58:35.849
a little bit and um it's not that i dislike coffee
00:58:35.849 --> 00:58:40.449
it's just that he hates coffee i no i really
00:58:40.449 --> 00:58:44.690
don't like you know i i do like me a good espresso
00:58:44.690 --> 00:58:49.949
shot um i think if i'm Like, hanging out with
00:58:49.949 --> 00:58:52.190
a couple friends in a coffee shop and I'm trying
00:58:52.190 --> 00:58:55.030
to chill, I'll get a cappuccino, you know? Like,
00:58:55.030 --> 00:58:59.269
I... I don't think that the bitterness is, like,
00:58:59.269 --> 00:59:02.869
the problem. It's just that I like sugar too
00:59:02.869 --> 00:59:06.949
much. I like sugary things. And I can't wean
00:59:06.949 --> 00:59:10.269
off of it. You should. It's so... I mean, you
00:59:10.269 --> 00:59:13.949
start to appreciate water. Okay, Mr. Just -Had
00:59:13.949 --> 00:59:17.110
-A -Gatorade, sure. Okay, there's electrolytes.
00:59:17.960 --> 00:59:20.960
That is not a good excuse. It has plenty of sugar.
00:59:21.300 --> 00:59:24.760
It's meant for people that are working out. I'd
00:59:24.760 --> 00:59:29.920
like to say that shoot was a workout. I mean,
00:59:29.960 --> 00:59:33.280
you were lifting some stuff, for sure. And, like,
00:59:33.280 --> 00:59:36.599
you were sweating it out, for sure. But, like,
00:59:36.679 --> 00:59:42.199
you're not, like, playing a sport. I'd like to
00:59:42.199 --> 00:59:46.360
say photography is a sport for the cool people.
00:59:47.840 --> 00:59:50.539
Okay. If it works for you, you can go along with
00:59:50.539 --> 00:59:53.539
it. It's not going to kill you, but I usually
00:59:53.539 --> 00:59:56.000
stick to zero -calorie drinks nowadays because
00:59:56.000 --> 01:00:01.360
I just can't. I much prefer the artificial sweeteners,
01:00:01.360 --> 01:00:04.599
honestly, and people give me flack for it, but
01:00:04.599 --> 01:00:09.800
I think aspartame, sucralose, malitol, I think
01:00:09.800 --> 01:00:11.800
that's how you pronounce it, all these sugar
01:00:11.800 --> 01:00:15.400
substitutes. They're getting better, and aspartame
01:00:15.400 --> 01:00:18.079
is like, no, no, no, no, no. Everyone says that
01:00:18.079 --> 01:00:21.139
aspartame is horrible and causes cancer, but
01:00:21.139 --> 01:00:24.260
the studies that came out that linked aspartame
01:00:24.260 --> 01:00:29.159
to cancer got debunked. So, I mean, I don't know,
01:00:29.199 --> 01:00:32.139
man. That's an interesting... I'm going to have
01:00:32.139 --> 01:00:33.619
to look that up. I'm going to have to figure
01:00:33.619 --> 01:00:35.739
that out. I hope everyone else at home figures
01:00:35.739 --> 01:00:40.039
that out, too. I mean... Yeah, no, like... We
01:00:40.039 --> 01:00:43.019
don't really know anything about artificial sweeteners,
01:00:43.019 --> 01:00:47.380
and that means that they could be totally fine
01:00:47.380 --> 01:00:51.559
and harmless, or they could be horrible. We don't
01:00:51.559 --> 01:00:55.639
know. We're thinking they're probably fine because
01:00:55.639 --> 01:00:59.679
we haven't found anything really bad yet. Really
01:00:59.679 --> 01:01:03.500
bad, but it's bad. But, like, it is artificial,
01:01:03.719 --> 01:01:08.980
so, you know, we don't know. A little bit more
01:01:08.980 --> 01:01:14.260
plastic. It's like you could drop acid and maybe
01:01:14.260 --> 01:01:24.340
be fine. Maybe. Yeah. It's the same vibe. Yeah.
01:01:24.380 --> 01:01:30.639
So where can people find you? You can find me
01:01:30.639 --> 01:01:35.000
on Instagram at Liam Sullivan Photo. That's where
01:01:35.000 --> 01:01:38.059
I post my photography work. some of the work
01:01:38.059 --> 01:01:42.019
that I've done with The Pit News, and also just
01:01:42.019 --> 01:01:46.320
some random portrait shoots that I have. He's
01:01:46.320 --> 01:01:48.820
pretty good. I would say I'm pretty good at portraits,
01:01:49.000 --> 01:01:51.900
yeah. Need some more studio work, but... Yeah,
01:01:52.059 --> 01:01:54.880
I... God, I wish. My studio equipment's back
01:01:54.880 --> 01:01:58.079
in Virginia, but I will be home in a couple weeks,
01:01:58.320 --> 01:02:02.840
so very excited for that. Yeah, I'm on Instagram
01:02:02.840 --> 01:02:07.150
at Liam Sullivan Photo. I'm also... If you want
01:02:07.150 --> 01:02:11.670
to look at my programming stuff, I'm on GitHub
01:02:11.670 --> 01:02:15.989
at Liam B. Sullivan. You might want to spell
01:02:15.989 --> 01:02:20.429
that out for everyone. L -I -A -M -B, as in Benjamin.
01:02:20.590 --> 01:02:24.289
That is my middle name. Sullivan, which is S
01:02:24.289 --> 01:02:30.250
-U -L -L -I -V -A, no N. Yeah, that's where I
01:02:30.250 --> 01:02:37.980
post my posts. commit my my code um i i have
01:02:37.980 --> 01:02:41.539
a little pokemon team builder that i made over
01:02:41.539 --> 01:02:45.599
last summer that i'm pretty proud of um i also
01:02:45.599 --> 01:02:48.659
have a couple of other little toy projects i
01:02:48.659 --> 01:02:54.940
have like a calculator app on there um i oh another
01:02:54.940 --> 01:02:59.860
thing um i homebrewed my switch and made a switch
01:02:59.860 --> 01:03:03.780
app launcher That was a really cool project.
01:03:03.880 --> 01:03:06.380
That one I'm also pretty proud of. So you built
01:03:06.380 --> 01:03:11.139
the homebrew? No, no. I built a home screen where
01:03:11.139 --> 01:03:14.519
you can click on apps and you can launch them.
01:03:15.780 --> 01:03:19.840
That's pretty cool. Yeah. We're going to have
01:03:19.840 --> 01:03:22.699
to deep dive into that another time. But is there
01:03:22.699 --> 01:03:25.639
anything else that you'd like to share with the
01:03:25.639 --> 01:03:30.780
class? No. I feel like I've shared more than
01:03:30.780 --> 01:03:35.139
enough today. Yep, we have learned enough. We
01:03:35.139 --> 01:03:39.719
have learned something we can take and have a
01:03:39.719 --> 01:03:43.599
coffee with. Or, you know, go to bed. If it's
01:03:43.599 --> 01:03:46.460
late, go to bed. If you're awake, go do something.
01:03:47.519 --> 01:03:54.079
Or go drink a Celsius. No, no. I guess go drink
01:03:54.079 --> 01:03:56.480
a Celsius if you like Celsius. I say stay with
01:03:56.480 --> 01:04:00.260
coffee or tea. Whatever floats your boat. He's
01:04:00.260 --> 01:04:06.469
right. Take it easy, guys. And remember, stay
01:04:06.469 --> 01:04:07.170
caffeinated.
00:00:13.710 --> 00:00:19.010
Shall we get into it? Yeah, sure. Hello and salutations.
00:00:19.010 --> 00:00:22.789
This is Caleb, your host, the one, the only.
00:00:22.910 --> 00:00:26.489
But I have a special occasion. This is a special
00:00:26.489 --> 00:00:30.129
episode of Caffeinated Connections. I'm joined
00:00:30.129 --> 00:00:35.729
here by the Liam Sullivan. Hello. Well, what
00:00:35.729 --> 00:00:39.609
did we just get done doing? We were in the studio
00:00:39.609 --> 00:00:43.200
for, what, a few hours? Yeah, a couple hours.
00:00:43.820 --> 00:00:49.859
Doing what? So we started off with a little portrait
00:00:49.859 --> 00:00:53.960
session, and I got some updated headshots, which
00:00:53.960 --> 00:00:59.560
was very kind of you. And then we did some videography
00:00:59.560 --> 00:01:05.230
work for... It was like exercises to really finish
00:01:05.230 --> 00:01:08.450
off the year and finish those projects a little
00:01:08.450 --> 00:01:10.989
bit last minute. But, you know, we all have things
00:01:10.989 --> 00:01:12.489
that we got to do and might as well just get
00:01:12.489 --> 00:01:15.090
them done. But Liam, introduce yourself. Yeah,
00:01:15.170 --> 00:01:16.969
for sure. I mean, you got to give it the old
00:01:16.969 --> 00:01:21.569
college try. Yeah. So my name is Liam Sullivan.
00:01:21.689 --> 00:01:27.030
I am a junior at Pitt. Up the. I don't want to
00:01:27.030 --> 00:01:29.969
say up the street. Up the av, right? Up the av,
00:01:30.049 --> 00:01:35.390
yeah, up Forbes. And yeah, I'm a computer science
00:01:35.390 --> 00:01:39.069
major, but I've been working for the Pitt News
00:01:39.069 --> 00:01:42.950
ever since my sophomore year. You know, it's
00:01:42.950 --> 00:01:46.069
been great to be shooting photojournalism. Part
00:01:46.069 --> 00:01:49.469
of the reason I know Caleb is because we met
00:01:49.469 --> 00:01:52.310
at a concert. We both had our cameras out and
00:01:52.310 --> 00:01:54.969
we were both shooting. I forgot, what was the
00:01:54.969 --> 00:01:58.269
concert that we met at? It was like this, like,
00:01:58.469 --> 00:02:04.069
grunge house concert that I swear we could have
00:02:04.069 --> 00:02:09.270
broken that, like the basement ceiling. In that
00:02:09.270 --> 00:02:11.169
case, the floor could have collapsed. It was
00:02:11.169 --> 00:02:13.389
like... Oh, was it Black Lodge? It was Black
00:02:13.389 --> 00:02:15.550
Lodge. It was Black Lodge. Because I remember
00:02:15.550 --> 00:02:19.009
everyone was like, the whole house is going to
00:02:19.009 --> 00:02:23.509
cave in. No! Right. And people would leave and
00:02:23.509 --> 00:02:26.509
come back. But that was like a literal mosh pit.
00:02:27.189 --> 00:02:30.169
And I'm sitting... I have a video with my camera
00:02:30.169 --> 00:02:32.789
and it's just going everywhere. And I still managed
00:02:32.789 --> 00:02:35.610
to grab a few shots. I mean, it's so different
00:02:35.610 --> 00:02:38.310
from Haven. I mean, you know, the recent episode
00:02:38.310 --> 00:02:42.349
with Dream the Heavy came out, and it was just
00:02:42.349 --> 00:02:46.490
a blast to talk with them. But yeah, you and
00:02:46.490 --> 00:02:49.270
I, we've photographed the concerts for what,
00:02:49.389 --> 00:02:54.210
I mean, I got back into it, but like, what drove
00:02:54.210 --> 00:02:56.150
you? I mean, it was really interesting. How did
00:02:56.150 --> 00:02:59.030
you end up meeting me? What drove you to go to
00:02:59.030 --> 00:03:03.139
that concert? So... That's an interesting question.
00:03:04.520 --> 00:03:09.400
When I was in freshman year, I struggled to find
00:03:09.400 --> 00:03:13.759
places to go on the weekends just because like,
00:03:13.919 --> 00:03:17.759
you know, when you're 18, 19 years old, you can't
00:03:17.759 --> 00:03:21.800
really go to bars. You know, unless you're like
00:03:21.800 --> 00:03:25.000
well -connected, it's hard to find parties and
00:03:25.000 --> 00:03:28.439
all that jazz. So something that I did is I would
00:03:28.439 --> 00:03:30.379
go out with my friends and we would look for
00:03:30.379 --> 00:03:34.159
concert venues. Just look. Just like a tomcat,
00:03:34.300 --> 00:03:37.400
just kind of figuring it out. Exactly, yeah.
00:03:37.580 --> 00:03:40.780
And so we stumbled upon this place called Local
00:03:40.780 --> 00:03:44.939
House, which was an outdoor venue type of place.
00:03:46.080 --> 00:03:49.120
Basically, you would have three bands. Each of
00:03:49.120 --> 00:03:53.590
them would play a set. um it was like this backyard
00:03:53.590 --> 00:03:57.490
in south oakland pretty much and so um i met
00:03:57.490 --> 00:03:59.430
some people there and then they said hey you
00:03:59.430 --> 00:04:01.310
know there's this other place black lodge that
00:04:01.310 --> 00:04:03.629
you should go and check out it's just like one
00:04:03.629 --> 00:04:08.909
small shoe box of a room where you know the players
00:04:08.909 --> 00:04:11.409
are just sitting in the kitchen and you know
00:04:11.409 --> 00:04:15.810
blasting into this room And yeah, so I went over
00:04:15.810 --> 00:04:19.509
there and I took some photos because, you know,
00:04:19.509 --> 00:04:22.050
that's what I do. That's what I've been doing
00:04:22.050 --> 00:04:26.730
since middle school. And I met you there and
00:04:26.730 --> 00:04:29.470
the rest is history. That's really insane because
00:04:29.470 --> 00:04:31.490
like the only reason I went to that is because,
00:04:31.610 --> 00:04:35.029
you know, I used to work for the Globe and there
00:04:35.029 --> 00:04:37.170
was like, oh, yeah, there's, you know, a concert
00:04:37.170 --> 00:04:39.709
happening out there. And I went and figured it
00:04:39.709 --> 00:04:41.850
out and found out and reached out and I was like.
00:04:42.240 --> 00:04:44.879
This is cool. I'm going to figure this out. I
00:04:44.879 --> 00:04:47.459
never ended up doing a story on it, but I mean,
00:04:47.500 --> 00:04:49.959
I had more fun doing the photos. And I think
00:04:49.959 --> 00:04:51.680
it's just, you know, you develop that connection
00:04:51.680 --> 00:04:55.360
and like we get busy with life. But like, I think
00:04:55.360 --> 00:04:58.459
there's always that connection that, you know,
00:04:58.459 --> 00:05:01.579
you foster and it's like, oh, my God, you get
00:05:01.579 --> 00:05:04.620
picked right back up where you left off, especially
00:05:04.620 --> 00:05:06.740
in not even just the music world of Pittsburgh,
00:05:06.819 --> 00:05:08.319
just, you know, in Pittsburgh, when you start
00:05:08.319 --> 00:05:10.759
to meet those familiar faces, it's like. you're
00:05:10.759 --> 00:05:12.759
not going to stop seeing them. Absolutely. Yeah.
00:05:12.879 --> 00:05:15.779
And I mean, Pittsburgh is debatably one of the
00:05:15.779 --> 00:05:18.839
best cities for that, right? Like, you know,
00:05:18.860 --> 00:05:22.199
it's the big city, small town feel that everyone
00:05:22.199 --> 00:05:26.420
talks about where, you know, like you'll meet
00:05:26.420 --> 00:05:29.300
someone in one place and see them in another
00:05:29.300 --> 00:05:34.300
and make that connection. And it's just, it's
00:05:34.300 --> 00:05:38.009
wild. I feel like it's so easy to re -encounter
00:05:38.009 --> 00:05:40.930
people in this city in spite of how big it is.
00:05:41.370 --> 00:05:44.050
And it's specifically like a Pittsburgh thing,
00:05:44.170 --> 00:05:46.529
you know? Like you'll just see someone like you
00:05:46.529 --> 00:05:49.350
just saw yesterday and it's like, I didn't know
00:05:49.350 --> 00:05:51.410
you were going to be here. Yeah, yeah. Like someone
00:05:51.410 --> 00:05:54.990
that you encountered on the street and had like
00:05:54.990 --> 00:05:57.990
a brief little interaction with, you see them
00:05:57.990 --> 00:06:01.089
again at like a house show and you're just like,
00:06:01.310 --> 00:06:06.279
oh, it's you. Yeah. There's these parts, you
00:06:06.279 --> 00:06:08.779
know, it's you will always end up seeing another
00:06:08.779 --> 00:06:10.579
person around Pittsburgh if they're at least
00:06:10.579 --> 00:06:13.399
familiar or near the area. So it's like always
00:06:13.399 --> 00:06:15.879
treat people. I'm I'm very courteous and like
00:06:15.879 --> 00:06:18.240
always be kind to others, especially because
00:06:18.240 --> 00:06:19.839
you never know who you're going to run into again.
00:06:19.939 --> 00:06:24.079
Right. Yeah. No, exactly. Because like. you can't
00:06:24.079 --> 00:06:26.540
just assume that you're never going to see that
00:06:26.540 --> 00:06:28.759
person again you know so like you kind of have
00:06:28.759 --> 00:06:31.399
to be on your best behavior at all times yeah
00:06:31.399 --> 00:06:34.339
right actually like your cashier might end up
00:06:34.339 --> 00:06:37.579
you know being like some guy that you find at
00:06:37.579 --> 00:06:41.680
like a pirates game you know oh my gosh that's
00:06:41.680 --> 00:06:44.300
crazy you meant it was something similar to that
00:06:44.300 --> 00:06:49.199
so i used to work for a uh steelers uh like an
00:06:49.199 --> 00:06:53.680
event stuff for the tailgate. Okay. And so I
00:06:53.680 --> 00:06:56.819
was like doing photojournalism and I ended up
00:06:56.819 --> 00:06:59.540
going to this Trump rally. And what's really
00:06:59.540 --> 00:07:03.019
crazy about it is so the company I worked for,
00:07:03.160 --> 00:07:07.240
I think like the daughter or something, her father
00:07:07.240 --> 00:07:12.060
was the guy we interviewed at the Trump rally.
00:07:12.480 --> 00:07:18.129
Oh. And it was like. holy crap, small world.
00:07:18.430 --> 00:07:22.550
Yeah. And I didn't realize that. But after I
00:07:22.550 --> 00:07:25.610
went and did that, I went back to work and I
00:07:25.610 --> 00:07:27.709
covered the event and they're like, wait a minute,
00:07:27.850 --> 00:07:32.750
you look familiar. And I'm like, oh my gosh.
00:07:34.649 --> 00:07:37.629
That, it was like such a small world. So I'm
00:07:37.629 --> 00:07:39.970
glad I didn't say anything wrong. Yeah. But it's
00:07:39.970 --> 00:07:44.660
like, it was like. oh my god and like you start
00:07:44.660 --> 00:07:48.360
to realize like you know it's such a small world
00:07:48.360 --> 00:07:50.480
that you don't expect to meet people or like
00:07:50.480 --> 00:07:54.360
you know familiar faces but it's like oh my gosh
00:07:54.360 --> 00:07:56.660
like I didn't realize that that's a lot of the
00:07:56.660 --> 00:07:58.100
you know some of the people that I worked with
00:07:58.100 --> 00:08:02.000
were supportive of them and I'm just a journalist
00:08:02.000 --> 00:08:04.660
I'm trying to be as unbiased as I can and it's
00:08:04.660 --> 00:08:08.060
like oh wow and like I'm glad I didn't say anything
00:08:08.060 --> 00:08:12.480
wrong but it's like that that was like the the
00:08:12.480 --> 00:08:16.980
biggest like oh my gosh right i because you you
00:08:16.980 --> 00:08:19.019
know you don't think about that when you're going
00:08:19.019 --> 00:08:21.540
out and like you're working a different job where
00:08:21.540 --> 00:08:23.360
you know you meet these familiar faces that go
00:08:23.360 --> 00:08:26.180
to these tailgates but you don't realize that
00:08:26.180 --> 00:08:27.879
that that you know they have other things that
00:08:27.879 --> 00:08:30.420
they do and you're like but how did you know
00:08:30.420 --> 00:08:33.179
that this is gonna happen like it's like and
00:08:33.179 --> 00:08:35.899
it only occurred to me until after that yeah
00:08:35.899 --> 00:08:40.820
yeah like as a journalist you try to be as unbiased
00:08:40.820 --> 00:08:45.879
as possible and yet you also have a life and
00:08:45.879 --> 00:08:50.559
like you kind of just have to try your hardest
00:08:50.559 --> 00:08:52.659
but like after a certain point it's just like
00:08:52.659 --> 00:08:57.340
you know i'm a human being and like i have feelings
00:08:57.340 --> 00:09:00.659
too you know what i mean yeah it's it's trying
00:09:00.659 --> 00:09:04.559
to like still be genuine and truthful and like
00:09:04.559 --> 00:09:07.159
i have a love for honesty and honesty and telling
00:09:07.159 --> 00:09:10.490
the truth and being real But there's also that
00:09:10.490 --> 00:09:14.309
same sense of like, because everything that I
00:09:14.309 --> 00:09:17.129
do and put out is going to definitely be judged
00:09:17.129 --> 00:09:19.350
because I am also a photojournalist to where
00:09:19.350 --> 00:09:22.169
I will document things. But it's also our biases
00:09:22.169 --> 00:09:25.070
are going to affect other people by other words,
00:09:25.070 --> 00:09:30.049
other people's biases. Right. To where these
00:09:30.049 --> 00:09:34.690
biases that we have, if we're at all, you know,
00:09:34.690 --> 00:09:36.789
an effective changer, you know, someone to change
00:09:36.789 --> 00:09:40.940
and innovate. These biases other people can have
00:09:40.940 --> 00:09:43.860
against us and that can manipulate so many different
00:09:43.860 --> 00:09:52.039
things. Yeah. Absolutely. Yeah. It's scary because
00:09:52.039 --> 00:09:55.200
it's when like we're allowed to have our opinions,
00:09:55.259 --> 00:09:58.980
but it's like, do you ever feel the need to hold
00:09:58.980 --> 00:10:04.519
back your opinion? Um. Depends on the context.
00:10:04.580 --> 00:10:07.220
Do you mean like in the context of politics?
00:10:07.320 --> 00:10:09.519
I feel like that's what's I mean, that is one
00:10:09.519 --> 00:10:12.080
of the that is very much culturally relevant
00:10:12.080 --> 00:10:15.539
when it's like, you know, just to make everyone
00:10:15.539 --> 00:10:18.600
else happy. You know, you just kind of, you know,
00:10:18.600 --> 00:10:21.000
close your mouth and bite your tongue, you know.
00:10:21.240 --> 00:10:23.639
And it's like, you know, you don't want to cause
00:10:23.639 --> 00:10:25.720
a situation, but it's like, you know, deep down,
00:10:25.759 --> 00:10:30.299
it's like, God damn it. Right. And I I can say
00:10:30.299 --> 00:10:32.889
that I struggle with that. And. I don't know
00:10:32.889 --> 00:10:35.669
if you I think very much our generation does
00:10:35.669 --> 00:10:38.350
where it's like being able to speak out and be
00:10:38.350 --> 00:10:40.970
open and, you know, being a voice of change and
00:10:40.970 --> 00:10:43.389
reason and understanding. And then you encounter
00:10:43.389 --> 00:10:47.690
people in our lives or even family that don't
00:10:47.690 --> 00:10:51.210
meet us halfway or even quarter the way. Yeah.
00:10:51.370 --> 00:10:54.309
How do you figure that out? How do you go about
00:10:54.309 --> 00:11:01.100
that dynamic? I think that. For me personally,
00:11:01.259 --> 00:11:04.700
I've been very lucky when it comes to my political
00:11:04.700 --> 00:11:07.460
engagements. I think that, you know, being in
00:11:07.460 --> 00:11:10.580
Pittsburgh, this area is very progressive. And,
00:11:10.639 --> 00:11:13.559
you know, my family back home in Virginia is
00:11:13.559 --> 00:11:20.000
also like very, very progressive. They're all
00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:23.990
like. very forward thinking when it comes to
00:11:23.990 --> 00:11:27.549
you know like accepting people um of all different
00:11:27.549 --> 00:11:30.970
races and nationalities and you know queer people
00:11:30.970 --> 00:11:35.549
and um i think like i've gotten incredibly lucky
00:11:35.549 --> 00:11:39.769
there um i can give you an anecdote though um
00:11:39.769 --> 00:11:43.909
i went to cover during the 2024 election the
00:11:43.909 --> 00:11:47.850
dave mccormick watch party downtown i covered
00:11:47.850 --> 00:11:52.379
it for the pit news um i was with my writer i
00:11:52.379 --> 00:11:55.200
i don't want to disclose her name here but um
00:11:55.200 --> 00:11:59.299
she was pretty flustered through the entire thing
00:11:59.299 --> 00:12:02.679
because you know some of the talking points that
00:12:02.679 --> 00:12:07.820
people were spouting were you know quite misogynist
00:12:07.820 --> 00:12:14.299
and um yeah i like i i was there and it was weird
00:12:14.299 --> 00:12:18.169
because like she would be you know, stopping
00:12:18.169 --> 00:12:21.649
random people at this party, right? And it was,
00:12:21.690 --> 00:12:23.269
like, an invite -only thing. So, like, a lot
00:12:23.269 --> 00:12:25.409
of these people were, like, high -profile individuals
00:12:25.409 --> 00:12:31.809
in the McCormick campaign. And, yeah, they would
00:12:31.809 --> 00:12:33.830
say, like, the craziest stuff. And then, you
00:12:33.830 --> 00:12:35.590
know, she would be like, mm -hmm, mm -hmm. And
00:12:35.590 --> 00:12:37.230
then she would, like, keep asking follow -up
00:12:37.230 --> 00:12:40.009
questions. And she would go back to me, like,
00:12:40.090 --> 00:12:42.730
after the interview was over and be like, what
00:12:42.730 --> 00:12:46.899
the fuck? You know, like... Oh, yeah, that reminds
00:12:46.899 --> 00:12:49.019
me so much. Sorry, am I allowed to curse? Oh,
00:12:49.019 --> 00:12:51.460
yes, yes, yes, yes. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm
00:12:51.460 --> 00:12:54.860
glad that you said it. I mean, I think that everyone
00:12:54.860 --> 00:12:57.220
can use profanity in their own right, and as
00:12:57.220 --> 00:12:59.279
long as you don't overuse it, there's a reasoning,
00:12:59.480 --> 00:13:01.340
there's an accentuation of it. Okay, I just had
00:13:01.340 --> 00:13:04.220
to make sure. Oh, yeah, yeah, you're good. You
00:13:04.220 --> 00:13:08.179
remind me of like the Trump rally and like going
00:13:08.179 --> 00:13:10.360
and interacting with these individuals to where
00:13:10.360 --> 00:13:13.759
like you're going in and it feels so enclosed.
00:13:13.919 --> 00:13:16.720
It's like walking in a new elevator and you can't
00:13:16.720 --> 00:13:19.259
breathe. It's like claustrophobic. It is truly
00:13:19.259 --> 00:13:21.399
claustrophobic. As someone with claustrophobia,
00:13:21.480 --> 00:13:24.940
it is an interesting, you're outside, but you
00:13:24.940 --> 00:13:29.139
still feel like you're in a walled place. Wait,
00:13:29.179 --> 00:13:30.940
so you're saying that you're claustrophobic and
00:13:30.940 --> 00:13:34.679
you went to Black Lodge? Okay, we don't talk
00:13:34.679 --> 00:13:39.039
about that. Dude, what are you doing? I mean,
00:13:39.059 --> 00:13:42.360
I managed. I cope with it by taking photos. If
00:13:42.360 --> 00:13:44.779
I have my camera, I'm fine. Or at least I tell
00:13:44.779 --> 00:13:49.679
myself I am. Okay. That's an interesting hobby.
00:13:49.879 --> 00:13:51.740
That's an interesting way of processing that.
00:13:52.080 --> 00:13:54.639
I'm not going to say it's wrong. It's just surprising.
00:13:55.480 --> 00:13:57.600
Yeah, if I have my camera on my neck, I can usually
00:13:57.600 --> 00:14:00.340
do most things that I normally wouldn't do without
00:14:00.340 --> 00:14:02.740
it. Or I couldn't. I would normally not be able
00:14:02.740 --> 00:14:04.700
to do that thing if I didn't have that around
00:14:04.700 --> 00:14:07.259
my neck. Just the idea of having the camera is
00:14:07.259 --> 00:14:10.720
this protection. And it's like that coping mechanism.
00:14:10.879 --> 00:14:13.860
That way, it's like I turn invisible. Fascinating.
00:14:14.019 --> 00:14:18.100
And, like, going into that Trump rally and going
00:14:18.100 --> 00:14:21.019
in and, like, being like, I might get stopped.
00:14:21.139 --> 00:14:23.000
I might get stopped. And I just flashed my press
00:14:23.000 --> 00:14:24.860
badge. And they just kind of like, oh, yeah,
00:14:24.899 --> 00:14:26.399
yeah, yeah. Come on. Come on through. I'm just
00:14:26.399 --> 00:14:29.159
like, it was just that easy. They don't care.
00:14:30.189 --> 00:14:34.009
If you have confidence, most of the time they're
00:14:34.009 --> 00:14:37.049
not going to care. That's so true. It is so,
00:14:37.190 --> 00:14:41.830
so, so, so strange. And I was like, there's that
00:14:41.830 --> 00:14:44.730
moment where I sat there after I got through
00:14:44.730 --> 00:14:46.990
security. I was like, there's no way I did that.
00:14:47.129 --> 00:14:49.809
Like that double take where it's like, holy shit.
00:14:50.190 --> 00:14:53.190
What else can I do? You have to pretend that
00:14:53.190 --> 00:14:57.370
you're more important than you are. Yes. There's
00:14:57.370 --> 00:14:59.750
that like weight of everything else where it's
00:14:59.750 --> 00:15:01.009
like, holy shit, I just did something really
00:15:01.009 --> 00:15:03.289
cool. And then you just look. It's like you look
00:15:03.289 --> 00:15:05.190
behind you of how far you've come and you look
00:15:05.190 --> 00:15:07.269
ahead and you're like, oh, God, I have more I
00:15:07.269 --> 00:15:09.889
have to do. And there's a hesitancy that comes
00:15:09.889 --> 00:15:12.309
with it. And there's that weight that when you
00:15:12.309 --> 00:15:14.789
realize it and you kind of have it in the back
00:15:14.789 --> 00:15:16.330
of your head, I'm sure you've experienced it
00:15:16.330 --> 00:15:18.490
whenever you're covering politics or anything
00:15:18.490 --> 00:15:20.669
along the lines of that for the news. Oh, yeah.
00:15:20.850 --> 00:15:24.350
There's like that weight of responsibility of.
00:15:24.779 --> 00:15:27.080
I have to do this right or at least right to
00:15:27.080 --> 00:15:29.659
your own standards. And it's like, yeah, I can't
00:15:29.659 --> 00:15:33.220
fuck up. Right. Yeah. Like you're surrounded
00:15:33.220 --> 00:15:41.460
by AP news reps and CNN and MSNBC and all of
00:15:41.460 --> 00:15:44.740
these adults in the room. Right. And you're just
00:15:44.740 --> 00:15:48.860
like a college student with a camera and, you
00:15:48.860 --> 00:15:51.889
know, with a hope and a dream, maybe like. best
00:15:51.889 --> 00:15:56.669
case your gear it sums up to three thousand dollars
00:15:56.669 --> 00:15:59.389
you know like and the stuff that they're using
00:15:59.389 --> 00:16:02.669
is like you know probably worth like 10 15k and
00:16:02.669 --> 00:16:05.029
you're like wow like these people are just throwing
00:16:05.029 --> 00:16:07.070
around money like it's nothing it's not even
00:16:07.070 --> 00:16:08.970
that i mean i think it's less about the gear
00:16:08.970 --> 00:16:10.610
and it's more about the people that i meet and
00:16:10.610 --> 00:16:13.370
like that it's like holy crap these people have
00:16:13.370 --> 00:16:16.350
to have it all together And I've had conversations
00:16:16.350 --> 00:16:20.970
with Fox News. I actually talked with Fox, one
00:16:20.970 --> 00:16:23.049
of the Fox camera guys that does stuff for ABC
00:16:23.049 --> 00:16:26.009
News as well. Right. And they take, you know,
00:16:26.009 --> 00:16:28.049
work here and there. And it's not just specific
00:16:28.049 --> 00:16:30.450
camera guys, but I was walking and talking with
00:16:30.450 --> 00:16:32.509
them. And I said, you know, there's this person
00:16:32.509 --> 00:16:34.750
that doesn't really care about, you know, he's
00:16:34.750 --> 00:16:37.570
a political correspondent and he hasn't even
00:16:37.570 --> 00:16:39.889
gone out and done anything. And they're like,
00:16:40.049 --> 00:16:41.730
well, what are you? I'm like, well, I'm just
00:16:41.730 --> 00:16:43.289
a photojournalist. They're like, you're more
00:16:43.289 --> 00:16:45.799
of that than he is. And it's this idea that,
00:16:45.820 --> 00:16:49.039
you know, when you get up, show up, show out
00:16:49.039 --> 00:16:51.539
and showcase your work and who you are, it's
00:16:51.539 --> 00:16:54.100
like they recognize that. And I ended up building
00:16:54.100 --> 00:16:57.460
a bond with ABC News of all, you know, the ABC
00:16:57.460 --> 00:17:01.259
News camera guy. And he, you know, I still text
00:17:01.259 --> 00:17:02.720
them here and there. And it's like, he's like,
00:17:02.799 --> 00:17:05.420
how are you doing? And he'd get pictures of me
00:17:05.420 --> 00:17:08.619
doing stuff. And it was such a cool dynamic where,
00:17:08.700 --> 00:17:10.920
like, they'd start to say hi to me. And, like,
00:17:10.940 --> 00:17:12.220
they're like, we were trying to get your attention.
00:17:12.779 --> 00:17:16.230
Yeah. And it was. And if it wasn't for ABC News
00:17:16.230 --> 00:17:22.410
and the audio tech guy for ABC or what it was,
00:17:22.470 --> 00:17:24.309
if it wasn't for them, we would have passed out
00:17:24.309 --> 00:17:25.990
at the Trump rally because we were standing there
00:17:25.990 --> 00:17:28.349
for eight, nine hours. And there were three,
00:17:28.450 --> 00:17:31.150
four people passed out to where I actually asked
00:17:31.150 --> 00:17:33.910
a woman that was on a gurney passing by, was
00:17:33.910 --> 00:17:36.529
it because of dehydration? She's like, yep. And
00:17:36.529 --> 00:17:39.750
it's like. Oh, God, this is scary because it's
00:17:39.750 --> 00:17:42.630
like when you see the sea of people behind you
00:17:42.630 --> 00:17:45.710
and you're sitting here internally, like I'm
00:17:45.710 --> 00:17:48.289
like, this is as far as I've come. And you're
00:17:48.289 --> 00:17:51.049
looking at the sea of people that is like it
00:17:51.049 --> 00:17:55.029
is just there's a lot of people. So like to go
00:17:55.029 --> 00:17:58.470
and get food or anything to drink, there's no
00:17:58.470 --> 00:18:01.049
way you're getting back. So you just had to like
00:18:01.049 --> 00:18:04.630
hunker down and literally just stick it out.
00:18:04.690 --> 00:18:09.730
And it is it was. it was gruesome like not gruesome
00:18:09.730 --> 00:18:13.329
in a way that is visceral visually but it's like
00:18:13.329 --> 00:18:15.829
you have to sit there you can't turn the television
00:18:15.829 --> 00:18:18.569
off you can't turn the volume down you can't
00:18:18.569 --> 00:18:21.950
just make it go away you can't detach yourself
00:18:21.950 --> 00:18:26.190
oh if anything you're more attached and you become
00:18:26.190 --> 00:18:30.109
this it's such a weird thing where you almost
00:18:30.109 --> 00:18:33.589
close up and you're like I but you can't when
00:18:33.589 --> 00:18:35.049
you're when you're a photojournalist or you're
00:18:35.049 --> 00:18:37.009
a journalist Because it's your responsibility
00:18:37.009 --> 00:18:41.809
to capture the news as it is. Exactly. And it's,
00:18:41.809 --> 00:18:44.569
there's so much fear in that, but it's also like
00:18:44.569 --> 00:18:47.829
with fear comes confidence and courage and all
00:18:47.829 --> 00:18:50.049
these other things that go into play to where,
00:18:50.109 --> 00:18:52.150
you know, we ended up getting kicked out because
00:18:52.150 --> 00:18:57.049
they warned me like 10 times for my camera. 10
00:18:57.049 --> 00:19:00.670
times. For your camera. Like they, that I had
00:19:00.670 --> 00:19:03.299
a DSLR. They warned me 10 times that I had a
00:19:03.299 --> 00:19:07.079
DSLR, like an actual camera. Right. And he's
00:19:07.079 --> 00:19:08.700
like, well, you're not certified or anything.
00:19:09.339 --> 00:19:13.079
Oh. I didn't have that badge thing. And I get
00:19:13.079 --> 00:19:15.380
that. But like, they let me through and they
00:19:15.380 --> 00:19:17.880
warned me once, twice, three times, four times,
00:19:17.900 --> 00:19:19.319
five times. If they had a problem with me and
00:19:19.319 --> 00:19:20.660
Secret Service had a problem with me, I'd be
00:19:20.660 --> 00:19:23.700
gone. Right. And I had Secret Service walk past
00:19:23.700 --> 00:19:27.500
me four or five times. I was no issue. Okay.
00:19:27.539 --> 00:19:33.190
So it's like. I don't know. We got, I got the
00:19:33.190 --> 00:19:36.630
photos of Trump and I got the photos and they
00:19:36.630 --> 00:19:40.130
escorted us out real quietly. And while we were
00:19:40.130 --> 00:19:41.950
getting escorted out, they were like, you're
00:19:41.950 --> 00:19:44.170
fake news, you're fake news. Was the problem
00:19:44.170 --> 00:19:48.529
that you weren't part of an alternative publication?
00:19:49.430 --> 00:19:52.650
Essentially, yeah. We weren't like an accredited
00:19:52.650 --> 00:19:55.750
publication media that was there to cover that
00:19:55.750 --> 00:19:59.079
and actually publish. not one college journalist
00:19:59.079 --> 00:20:01.039
was there that I know of. You weren't vetted.
00:20:01.240 --> 00:20:03.819
We weren't essentially vetted, even though I
00:20:03.819 --> 00:20:06.339
have been vetted, and I can count and say we
00:20:06.339 --> 00:20:10.380
were vetted to go to J .D. Vance's rally out
00:20:10.380 --> 00:20:13.700
in Johnstown. Okay. Even though, like, 50 people
00:20:13.700 --> 00:20:16.559
showed up, most people were, like, old. Okay,
00:20:16.619 --> 00:20:22.799
sure. And it was such a strange display of patriotism,
00:20:22.839 --> 00:20:28.799
or shall we say nationalism. Right. it was but
00:20:28.799 --> 00:20:32.180
like we we were accredited with them and you
00:20:32.180 --> 00:20:35.640
know they they just didn't there were people
00:20:35.640 --> 00:20:40.519
getting a like passes to go into the trump butler
00:20:40.519 --> 00:20:45.279
rally v2 day before like i talked to this woman
00:20:45.279 --> 00:20:46.880
and she's like yeah my friend let me through
00:20:46.880 --> 00:20:50.920
and got me a press pass and i'm like but we were
00:20:50.920 --> 00:20:53.779
denied like twice and we still kind of fought
00:20:53.779 --> 00:20:55.660
against that and we were i think we were the
00:20:55.660 --> 00:20:59.880
only one's the only college paper that publishes
00:20:59.880 --> 00:21:03.339
photo and we had I mean it was my photo and it
00:21:03.339 --> 00:21:06.819
was I mean it's still a memory and it's gonna
00:21:06.819 --> 00:21:12.440
you know stick true to my you know my career
00:21:12.440 --> 00:21:14.720
because it's like you know it's like at least
00:21:14.720 --> 00:21:16.140
I'm doing something right and I got the photos
00:21:16.140 --> 00:21:19.380
and it's not like they took the SD card or anything
00:21:19.380 --> 00:21:21.420
they probably weren't Smart enough, to be honest.
00:21:21.559 --> 00:21:23.779
Well, yeah. And also, I don't think it's worth
00:21:23.779 --> 00:21:26.720
their time, too. Right. And I got like, you're
00:21:26.720 --> 00:21:29.400
just a college student to them. Yeah, they don't.
00:21:29.400 --> 00:21:31.440
Yeah, they're like, oh, you think you're all
00:21:31.440 --> 00:21:33.640
liberal and you know something. And they were
00:21:33.640 --> 00:21:37.619
just it's funny that like the way they the management
00:21:37.619 --> 00:21:39.839
handled us and security handled us. But like
00:21:39.839 --> 00:21:42.579
other people that we interacted with, they were
00:21:42.579 --> 00:21:45.539
open. They were like. We love to see younger
00:21:45.539 --> 00:21:48.200
people in this and and asking these questions.
00:21:48.240 --> 00:21:51.839
And they were I don't think we had any issues.
00:21:51.940 --> 00:21:54.740
No, that's OK. It's so funny you mentioned that
00:21:54.740 --> 00:21:57.579
because we got the exact same reaction at the
00:21:57.579 --> 00:22:00.619
Dave McCormick rally where, you know, like my
00:22:00.619 --> 00:22:03.400
writer would be like trying to like lead people
00:22:03.400 --> 00:22:06.000
on. Right. And be like, oh, that's so interesting.
00:22:06.039 --> 00:22:09.740
Like. Tell me more about the border crisis, you
00:22:09.740 --> 00:22:13.400
know, for example. And they would always come
00:22:13.400 --> 00:22:17.039
back to it's so cool to see young people engaged
00:22:17.039 --> 00:22:19.759
in politics. Exactly. You know, and it's like,
00:22:19.859 --> 00:22:22.240
well, of course they are. It's just that usually
00:22:22.240 --> 00:22:26.400
they're not conservative. Right. Yeah. I mean,
00:22:26.400 --> 00:22:29.700
it's the polls have already showed. I mean, right
00:22:29.700 --> 00:22:33.829
now, what is he? He's 45 percent liked. I think
00:22:33.829 --> 00:22:36.650
the right now the they published like the the
00:22:36.650 --> 00:22:40.369
numbers he don't wait you said like you mean
00:22:40.369 --> 00:22:42.309
like approval rating yeah approval rating yeah
00:22:42.309 --> 00:22:47.410
right now he's at like 45 which essentially the
00:22:47.410 --> 00:22:50.990
worst like the second worst person that got anywhere
00:22:50.990 --> 00:22:55.569
near him was his last term oh okay and like definitely
00:22:55.569 --> 00:23:00.750
check that but it's you know this the way people
00:23:00.750 --> 00:23:03.940
would react to us It's like, yeah, no. It's like
00:23:03.940 --> 00:23:06.680
they would not get mad at us at all. They were
00:23:06.680 --> 00:23:09.859
like, this is awesome. And it's just like deep,
00:23:09.940 --> 00:23:12.299
burrowed in the back of my mind. It's like, oh,
00:23:12.440 --> 00:23:14.299
if they knew that we just kind of got in here
00:23:14.299 --> 00:23:16.539
and just kind of started just asking questions.
00:23:16.920 --> 00:23:19.420
When you run with confidence, they are supportive
00:23:19.420 --> 00:23:22.259
as hell. Again, it's pretending to be important.
00:23:23.069 --> 00:23:26.329
No, we were literally told by, I forget the woman,
00:23:26.569 --> 00:23:29.910
don't know her name, but she was like, if you
00:23:29.910 --> 00:23:34.069
just scream three letters in a crowd, ABD4 or
00:23:34.069 --> 00:23:37.789
ABDC, they will literally split like the sea.
00:23:39.170 --> 00:23:42.829
Really? If you shout three letters out loud,
00:23:43.049 --> 00:23:46.329
like I was saying like, press, press, press.
00:23:47.359 --> 00:23:49.740
It's crazy what you could like. The power you...
00:23:49.740 --> 00:23:55.299
Or literally like CAB. CAB coming through. CAB
00:23:55.299 --> 00:23:57.819
coming through. They're not going to care. They're
00:23:57.819 --> 00:24:01.539
going to just separate like the sea. It is absurd
00:24:01.539 --> 00:24:04.660
how much power... When you realize that you can
00:24:04.660 --> 00:24:07.660
do that, it's like, oh my god. I have power.
00:24:07.900 --> 00:24:09.650
But it's like... With power comes responsibility.
00:24:10.009 --> 00:24:12.109
There's no way it's that easy, though. Like,
00:24:12.109 --> 00:24:14.150
it has to be something that people know about,
00:24:14.309 --> 00:24:19.309
right? No. It is truly. No, it is truly. You
00:24:19.309 --> 00:24:23.130
can say anything within reason, and they will
00:24:23.130 --> 00:24:26.109
just. It's. I mean, you can't shout fire. Okay.
00:24:26.630 --> 00:24:32.069
Yeah. Like, yeah. That is a very curious matter.
00:24:32.170 --> 00:24:38.769
Like, F -I -R -E. F -I -R -E. Yikes. But. It's
00:24:38.769 --> 00:24:41.690
strange. Like, I mean, given the fact I shouldn't
00:24:41.690 --> 00:24:44.509
have been able to get in as easily as I did,
00:24:44.569 --> 00:24:47.650
but I did. And I got the photos that I needed,
00:24:47.750 --> 00:24:50.269
and I got out, and they didn't let us back in,
00:24:50.309 --> 00:24:52.970
even though we weren't harming anyone. A writer
00:24:52.970 --> 00:24:55.490
wasn't allowed in, even though she wasn't even
00:24:55.490 --> 00:24:58.109
taking photos. And they said that she doesn't
00:24:58.109 --> 00:25:02.170
have a right to document it. Yeah, unfortunately,
00:25:02.450 --> 00:25:06.789
if it's their event... It was a private, essentially
00:25:06.789 --> 00:25:10.250
a private event in that case with the Butler
00:25:10.250 --> 00:25:12.670
Fairgrounds. I did look into that, unfortunately.
00:25:12.950 --> 00:25:15.710
Yeah, if it's private, then they get to control
00:25:15.710 --> 00:25:19.009
the flow of press. And, you know, that's unfortunate.
00:25:19.230 --> 00:25:22.150
But, you know, that's just how it works. I mean,
00:25:22.170 --> 00:25:29.420
now, like in the White House, it's crazy. The
00:25:29.420 --> 00:25:32.039
press box is much, much smaller than it used
00:25:32.039 --> 00:25:34.279
to be. Have you heard about the thing on the
00:25:34.279 --> 00:25:38.700
different sides, the people that they give a
00:25:38.700 --> 00:25:41.539
job to to ask the questions that are in favor
00:25:41.539 --> 00:25:45.539
of them? I haven't heard that, but I've heard
00:25:45.539 --> 00:25:48.539
about the White House controlling the press box,
00:25:48.660 --> 00:25:51.900
which is unprecedented in and of itself. Yeah,
00:25:51.900 --> 00:25:54.400
it's the concerning factor of like, you know,
00:25:54.420 --> 00:25:57.880
AP can't cover them anymore because or to my
00:25:57.880 --> 00:26:00.440
knowledge, because they're barred from from that,
00:26:00.519 --> 00:26:03.339
you know, responsibility or that authority because
00:26:03.339 --> 00:26:05.099
they didn't. Of course, because AP is biased,
00:26:05.299 --> 00:26:08.380
obviously. Oh, yes. The most biased, the most
00:26:08.380 --> 00:26:11.660
biased. But it's like it's concerning because
00:26:11.660 --> 00:26:14.980
we're getting to a point in our, you know, world
00:26:14.980 --> 00:26:19.660
where. It's scary because it's, you know, we're
00:26:19.660 --> 00:26:23.599
both. journalists and like we want to be able
00:26:23.599 --> 00:26:26.160
to put out the right information and to have
00:26:26.160 --> 00:26:29.319
it properly fact -checked and and that due diligence
00:26:29.319 --> 00:26:33.559
done but we're leaning towards this anti -intellectual
00:26:33.559 --> 00:26:36.599
world to where it's like it's so much easier
00:26:36.599 --> 00:26:43.319
to not know any better yeah no ignorance is easier
00:26:43.319 --> 00:26:48.960
than ever now i think you know it's fascinating
00:26:48.960 --> 00:26:54.130
because We live in a world where any information
00:26:54.130 --> 00:26:57.049
you could possibly want is available at your
00:26:57.049 --> 00:27:02.210
fingertips. We have 5G on our phones and we can,
00:27:02.210 --> 00:27:06.569
you know, download like 4K movies anywhere in
00:27:06.569 --> 00:27:09.329
America, pretty much, with the exception of some
00:27:09.329 --> 00:27:13.309
areas, right? And it's like, yet still people
00:27:13.309 --> 00:27:15.569
don't know how to properly educate themselves
00:27:15.569 --> 00:27:19.730
because they're just not willing. Uh, we had,
00:27:19.910 --> 00:27:27.069
um, uh, there's this idea that, you know, soap
00:27:27.069 --> 00:27:30.789
bottles, like shampoo bottles, right? Yeah. Of
00:27:30.789 --> 00:27:33.210
course I do. What do you mean? What kind of question
00:27:33.210 --> 00:27:38.549
is that? Have you read the back of them? Maybe?
00:27:39.130 --> 00:27:41.329
So you've never gotten bored and read the back
00:27:41.329 --> 00:27:45.150
of a shampoo bottle? I mean, like, I read nutrition
00:27:45.150 --> 00:27:48.750
labels. I wouldn't say I've read a shampoo label
00:27:48.750 --> 00:27:52.329
before, but go on. The point is that instructions
00:27:52.329 --> 00:27:55.670
exist for how to wash your hair on the back of
00:27:55.670 --> 00:27:59.130
shampoo bottles for a reason. On every single
00:27:59.130 --> 00:28:04.430
shampoo bottle? A majority of them have instructions
00:28:04.430 --> 00:28:08.529
how to wash your hair. Do you know what agency
00:28:08.529 --> 00:28:12.690
requires this? Because I'm so curious. I don't
00:28:12.690 --> 00:28:14.250
even think it's a requirement, but I just think
00:28:14.250 --> 00:28:17.250
it's like, what if they use it wrong? Like, you
00:28:17.250 --> 00:28:21.329
know, toaster end up in bathtub. Didn't follow
00:28:21.329 --> 00:28:25.789
the instructions. There's no way. But there is.
00:28:25.910 --> 00:28:28.309
There's instructions for shampoo. The way I look
00:28:28.309 --> 00:28:31.369
at it, the context behind that, they had to put
00:28:31.369 --> 00:28:33.130
instructions because someone didn't follow them.
00:28:34.230 --> 00:28:37.470
So you're telling me that video games don't have
00:28:37.470 --> 00:28:41.589
manuals anymore. Yet. shampoo bottles still have
00:28:41.589 --> 00:28:45.369
instructions on them yes are you kidding me no
00:28:45.369 --> 00:28:50.490
i am not kidding you this world is insane dude
00:28:50.490 --> 00:28:55.849
i i can't believe oh america we have less instructions
00:28:55.849 --> 00:28:58.670
on the meat that that is processed and how to
00:28:58.670 --> 00:29:01.849
cook it than we do on shampoo and how to use
00:29:01.849 --> 00:29:06.049
it and also like with meat there's debatably
00:29:06.049 --> 00:29:10.240
more risk there right i mean like I'd imagine
00:29:10.240 --> 00:29:14.500
it depends on the type of meat, but for chicken,
00:29:14.700 --> 00:29:19.359
for example, you have to cook that through because
00:29:19.359 --> 00:29:22.180
if you don't, then you're going to get salmonella.
00:29:22.500 --> 00:29:27.200
Oh, it's fine. If people are at the point where
00:29:27.200 --> 00:29:29.059
they don't understand how to wash their hair,
00:29:29.180 --> 00:29:33.440
how can you trust them to figure out how to see
00:29:33.440 --> 00:29:39.009
if meat is raw? Use a meat thermometer. Most
00:29:39.009 --> 00:29:41.809
people don't even know what that is, what a meat
00:29:41.809 --> 00:29:46.930
thermometer is. I would say that I don't think
00:29:46.930 --> 00:29:50.869
most people use one. Or, like, maybe I'm underestimating
00:29:50.869 --> 00:29:54.809
the ability of others, or at least with meat.
00:29:57.410 --> 00:30:02.410
I use one. That's good. I have a thermometer
00:30:02.410 --> 00:30:07.799
in my oven. Okay. I'm one of those that... Haven't
00:30:07.799 --> 00:30:09.660
gotten around to getting a meat thermometer,
00:30:09.920 --> 00:30:13.339
so I stick a knife in and hope for the best.
00:30:13.460 --> 00:30:16.359
But I also don't cook a lot of... I haven't...
00:30:16.359 --> 00:30:19.900
I've survived long enough. Well, you've survived.
00:30:19.980 --> 00:30:22.799
I think, like, it's not about survival. Like,
00:30:22.799 --> 00:30:26.539
you'll be fine. It's just gonna suck, you know?
00:30:26.680 --> 00:30:30.079
I mean, I'd like to... Oh, I would like to say
00:30:30.079 --> 00:30:36.069
that when it comes to... Cooking meat, I am pretty
00:30:36.069 --> 00:30:38.950
good at cooking, although I still wash my hair
00:30:38.950 --> 00:30:43.369
and I don't need those instructions. Okay, sure.
00:30:44.210 --> 00:30:49.170
But, like, it is nice to be able to know exactly
00:30:49.170 --> 00:30:53.210
when to take the heat off, you know? Like, especially
00:30:53.210 --> 00:30:56.869
if you're cooking chicken breast, like, you have
00:30:56.869 --> 00:30:59.789
to take it off, like, right when it gets to 165.
00:31:00.509 --> 00:31:02.430
You know more about this than I do, although
00:31:02.430 --> 00:31:05.299
I don't cook chicken often. So in hindsight,
00:31:05.579 --> 00:31:09.799
it's not. I will go now and further myself into
00:31:09.799 --> 00:31:13.500
this education and use a meat thermometer. I
00:31:13.500 --> 00:31:15.619
mean, I do cook it all the way through. I don't
00:31:15.619 --> 00:31:19.599
cook raw chicken. Well, right. Yeah. The thing
00:31:19.599 --> 00:31:23.299
is, you're supposed to cook it right up to that
00:31:23.299 --> 00:31:26.559
magic temperature and then take it off right
00:31:26.559 --> 00:31:29.319
away. Because if you cook it any more, then it
00:31:29.319 --> 00:31:37.240
gets all dry. Yeah, exactly. So you can cook
00:31:37.240 --> 00:31:39.539
it until it's white all the way through, but
00:31:39.539 --> 00:31:43.359
you probably overcooked it at that point. Well,
00:31:43.519 --> 00:31:47.259
that explains for some of my issues. Yeah, yeah,
00:31:47.299 --> 00:31:50.220
exactly. Okay, in hindsight, or not even hindsight,
00:31:50.519 --> 00:31:53.220
I will admit I'm lazy when it comes to sometimes
00:31:53.220 --> 00:31:55.119
cooking. I mean, I'm a college student, let's
00:31:55.119 --> 00:31:57.099
be real. I'm more focused on the photos that
00:31:57.099 --> 00:31:59.599
I take than if I'm using a meat thermometer or
00:31:59.599 --> 00:32:04.099
not. Yeah. I guess there's some good and bad
00:32:04.099 --> 00:32:06.559
there. I mean, at least I'm making good money
00:32:06.559 --> 00:32:09.220
with the photos. It's not like I'm a cook. Well,
00:32:09.400 --> 00:32:13.180
I cook for others. Making good money might be
00:32:13.180 --> 00:32:17.380
stretching it, but you are making money. But,
00:32:17.440 --> 00:32:20.880
like, going back to the idea, we have instructions
00:32:20.880 --> 00:32:25.160
not just on shampoo. We have instructions that
00:32:25.160 --> 00:32:28.410
our cars come with. that I don't think many people
00:32:28.410 --> 00:32:32.529
have. You know, your car manual? You know, like,
00:32:32.549 --> 00:32:35.650
your car manual? Yeah. I don't think most people
00:32:35.650 --> 00:32:41.190
open that up. Like, let's be real. Like, more
00:32:41.190 --> 00:32:43.509
people are probably going to not follow the directions
00:32:43.509 --> 00:32:50.650
for their car than shampoo, I'd hope. I don't
00:32:50.650 --> 00:32:53.049
know if I want to hedge my bets on that. Well,
00:32:53.069 --> 00:32:56.559
it's about the length and the density. of the
00:32:56.559 --> 00:33:00.640
read if you're looking at instructions on the
00:33:00.640 --> 00:33:03.359
back of a shampoo bottle that'll take you max
00:33:03.359 --> 00:33:07.200
like 20 seconds to read through reading through
00:33:07.200 --> 00:33:10.059
a car manual is a lot more dense and complicated
00:33:10.059 --> 00:33:13.539
and i think a lot of people have the cognitive
00:33:13.539 --> 00:33:17.559
familiarity of what driving a car is like you
00:33:17.559 --> 00:33:21.880
know like there are enough standards in place
00:33:21.880 --> 00:33:26.319
that you can you know, start driving a Prius,
00:33:26.319 --> 00:33:29.799
and you probably know how to drive anything that
00:33:29.799 --> 00:33:34.940
isn't a stick shift. Yeah, I'm with you on that.
00:33:35.099 --> 00:33:37.380
My only concern is those that don't know how
00:33:37.380 --> 00:33:40.339
to put on their turn signal. There are a few
00:33:40.339 --> 00:33:42.680
of those, yeah. Especially in Pittsburgh, I'm
00:33:42.680 --> 00:33:46.779
sure we've all come across them. Maybe not in
00:33:46.779 --> 00:33:49.680
Pittsburgh, but, you know, I've seen them in
00:33:49.680 --> 00:33:53.019
the South. Yeah, the turn signal, nonexistent.
00:33:53.630 --> 00:33:56.829
But, I mean, the point that I'm trying to make
00:33:56.829 --> 00:33:59.670
here is that if we have instructions on shampoo
00:33:59.670 --> 00:34:03.470
bottles, what do we need instructions on as to,
00:34:03.589 --> 00:34:06.630
you know, we have to be afraid that someone's
00:34:06.630 --> 00:34:08.550
going to buy shampoo and use it to cook with.
00:34:10.050 --> 00:34:15.650
What do we have no instructions for that we should?
00:34:17.449 --> 00:34:20.409
If they'd even be read, like, you know, that's
00:34:20.409 --> 00:34:22.730
another completely, you know, visual instructions.
00:34:22.869 --> 00:34:24.730
Because actually, the matter of fact, I read
00:34:24.730 --> 00:34:27.389
the shampoo bottle instructions recently, and
00:34:27.389 --> 00:34:30.070
they are visual. Oh, you did? Yes. Yes, they're
00:34:30.070 --> 00:34:32.969
visual, at least on Old Spice. They're visual.
00:34:33.769 --> 00:34:36.650
So you've got your little IKEA instructions on
00:34:36.650 --> 00:34:39.070
the back, I'm sure. No, literally, it's a hand
00:34:39.070 --> 00:34:41.849
that shows you how to scrub and where to scrub,
00:34:42.010 --> 00:34:44.070
and it's like a small little, it's like a guide,
00:34:44.170 --> 00:34:47.739
so if you can't read, you can see. Okay. But,
00:34:47.780 --> 00:34:51.320
like, do they just, like, what's the hairstyle
00:34:51.320 --> 00:34:54.880
in the photo? I never looked at it. I think it's
00:34:54.880 --> 00:34:57.619
actually a guy. It's a guy? Yeah, it's a guy.
00:34:57.900 --> 00:35:00.119
Well, you'd imagine they would tailor it based
00:35:00.119 --> 00:35:03.860
off of, like, what gender the shampoo is marketed
00:35:03.860 --> 00:35:07.719
for, right? I wonder if on women's shampoo or,
00:35:07.739 --> 00:35:11.179
like, women's body wash, it shows a woman. Probably
00:35:11.179 --> 00:35:13.860
does. That's an interesting perspective, like,
00:35:13.860 --> 00:35:16.929
in terms of a marketing aspect. Like if there's
00:35:16.929 --> 00:35:19.289
like a non -binary body wash where it's just
00:35:19.289 --> 00:35:21.650
a person, you know, not feminine, not masculine,
00:35:21.710 --> 00:35:23.670
just a person. I actually didn't really think
00:35:23.670 --> 00:35:25.269
about it like that, but that's a good point.
00:35:26.130 --> 00:35:29.710
It's just concerning. You know, I thought of
00:35:29.710 --> 00:35:31.349
it like a few days ago and I was like, this is
00:35:31.349 --> 00:35:34.489
just unfortunate that we have to put instructions
00:35:34.489 --> 00:35:40.349
on shampoo. And it's like, what? I mean, I don't
00:35:40.349 --> 00:35:43.570
know if you had issue with your high school,
00:35:43.670 --> 00:35:47.400
but with my high school, like. I asked way too
00:35:47.400 --> 00:35:50.840
many questions, maybe too many, but I mean, never,
00:35:50.900 --> 00:35:53.079
there's never too many questions to ask, but
00:35:53.079 --> 00:35:55.719
it's like at a certain point they couldn't answer
00:35:55.719 --> 00:35:58.880
my questions to where I often had to like look
00:35:58.880 --> 00:36:02.559
up and find that information myself. I don't
00:36:02.559 --> 00:36:04.820
think there's such a thing as too many questions.
00:36:05.880 --> 00:36:08.900
I think it's about asking the right questions.
00:36:09.539 --> 00:36:12.000
I think as long as you're asking the right questions,
00:36:12.019 --> 00:36:17.050
there isn't any. such thing is asking too many
00:36:17.050 --> 00:36:24.130
I think it's more like is this something that
00:36:24.130 --> 00:36:27.469
you could reasonably suss out on your own or
00:36:27.469 --> 00:36:38.079
not right I mean when it comes to I mean I I
00:36:38.079 --> 00:36:39.800
think that that quote, I'm going to use that
00:36:39.800 --> 00:36:42.179
if people tell me to stop talking and ask questions,
00:36:42.199 --> 00:36:43.960
because that's a wonderful quote, and I thank
00:36:43.960 --> 00:36:46.380
you for that. There's never too many questions.
00:36:46.420 --> 00:36:48.059
It's going to put it on a shirt and everything.
00:36:48.139 --> 00:36:50.840
We're going to have merch, you know, everything.
00:36:51.440 --> 00:36:55.880
Nice, nice. I mean, I agree that it's the right
00:36:55.880 --> 00:36:57.559
question to ask, but I mean, obviously, when
00:36:57.559 --> 00:37:00.380
I was younger, I was a little bit more naive
00:37:00.380 --> 00:37:03.500
and curious. I mean, just as curious, but it's
00:37:03.500 --> 00:37:06.710
like, you know, when, I mean, I was at... I was
00:37:06.710 --> 00:37:10.469
not a liberal my whole life. I was, that was
00:37:10.469 --> 00:37:15.670
a conservative. Yeah. I think like a lot of political
00:37:15.670 --> 00:37:19.570
leanings, political leanings have a lot to do
00:37:19.570 --> 00:37:22.690
with how you were raised and your upbringing.
00:37:23.329 --> 00:37:27.250
And I think that our upbringings influence us
00:37:27.250 --> 00:37:31.389
more than we'd like to admit. It is like an RNG
00:37:31.389 --> 00:37:34.130
kind of thing. It's kind of, yeah, it's based
00:37:34.130 --> 00:37:37.260
on your spawn point, right? It really is. And
00:37:37.260 --> 00:37:39.579
it's like you get lucky or you don't get lucky
00:37:39.579 --> 00:37:41.639
and you still somehow fucking make it. Or like
00:37:41.639 --> 00:37:44.519
your financial situation, too. Like, you know,
00:37:44.519 --> 00:37:47.039
it's based on your spawn point. It's based off
00:37:47.039 --> 00:37:50.860
your parents. Right. Or, you know, your familial
00:37:50.860 --> 00:37:55.840
familial familial familial familial familial
00:37:55.840 --> 00:38:01.300
wealth. Like that, that will determine like.
00:38:01.929 --> 00:38:04.969
the course that is set for you in life. It doesn't
00:38:04.969 --> 00:38:07.090
mean that you can't break free from it. It just
00:38:07.090 --> 00:38:11.650
is really, really hard. And I think that I kind
00:38:11.650 --> 00:38:15.110
of just lucked into the right policy positions
00:38:15.110 --> 00:38:18.909
because my parents were liberal and I learned
00:38:18.909 --> 00:38:22.690
a lot from them. That's interesting because I
00:38:22.690 --> 00:38:27.070
still am coming to terms with how I've shifted
00:38:27.070 --> 00:38:31.929
to where it's like I've just become aware. I
00:38:31.929 --> 00:38:35.650
don't know at what point it was between graduating
00:38:35.650 --> 00:38:38.750
high school and graduating college that I somehow
00:38:38.750 --> 00:38:43.429
shifted and looked at things differently. Yeah.
00:38:43.889 --> 00:38:47.769
And I think like knowledge is power, right? Like
00:38:47.769 --> 00:38:51.389
being a journalist forces you to really understand
00:38:51.389 --> 00:38:55.010
what's going on in the world. And whenever there's
00:38:55.010 --> 00:38:58.119
like that belief or that thought of like. well,
00:38:58.199 --> 00:39:00.300
this is probably bad. It's like, well, why do
00:39:00.300 --> 00:39:02.539
I think that? And it's like that question, those
00:39:02.539 --> 00:39:05.800
questions start rolling even in ourselves to
00:39:05.800 --> 00:39:08.559
where it's like, we're asking ourself when we
00:39:08.559 --> 00:39:10.820
encounter new information or even just we see
00:39:10.820 --> 00:39:13.079
something and it's like, what would be the best
00:39:13.079 --> 00:39:15.400
cause of action or documentation or whatever
00:39:15.400 --> 00:39:18.239
the case is? And it's like, you can't necessarily
00:39:18.239 --> 00:39:22.639
prepare any more than we already are. You can't
00:39:22.639 --> 00:39:25.599
over explain or estimate a situation. You just
00:39:25.599 --> 00:39:27.909
have to go into it and just Be the authentic
00:39:27.909 --> 00:39:35.130
self. Yeah, it's kind of your duty as a journalist
00:39:35.130 --> 00:39:39.650
to be able to look at things objectively. And
00:39:39.650 --> 00:39:42.670
sometimes you look at things objectively and
00:39:42.670 --> 00:39:47.329
it's hard to not come to certain conclusions,
00:39:47.489 --> 00:39:52.150
right? Yeah, kind of like be willing to foster
00:39:52.150 --> 00:39:54.800
that dialogue, but not... completely tear it
00:39:54.800 --> 00:39:57.199
down foster that dialogue within yourself too
00:39:57.199 --> 00:40:00.900
where you know you can examine your own cognitive
00:40:00.900 --> 00:40:04.840
dissonance and say yeah you know like you you
00:40:04.840 --> 00:40:07.179
know exactly what that feels like like you have
00:40:07.179 --> 00:40:10.260
like this preconceived notion of how the world
00:40:10.260 --> 00:40:14.039
works and then you know some inconvenient truth
00:40:14.039 --> 00:40:16.960
will challenge it and then you'll take a step
00:40:16.960 --> 00:40:20.539
back and be like what like that shouldn't that
00:40:20.539 --> 00:40:23.179
shouldn't happen and then there's that like mind
00:40:23.179 --> 00:40:29.940
over heart mind over um over soul like there's
00:40:29.940 --> 00:40:33.199
like that mind like there's that heart in things
00:40:33.199 --> 00:40:35.099
that emotional feel but then there's that mind
00:40:35.099 --> 00:40:37.039
thing where that cognitive distance happens where
00:40:37.039 --> 00:40:39.880
mind over body mind over body yes yeah and it's
00:40:39.880 --> 00:40:42.760
that dissonance between the two where we have
00:40:42.760 --> 00:40:46.280
to come to terms and like realize it or don't
00:40:46.280 --> 00:40:50.389
realize it and yeah There are people that never
00:40:50.389 --> 00:40:55.369
actually come to terms with these things. Like,
00:40:55.369 --> 00:40:59.849
they'll keep rationalizing it. But, like, especially
00:40:59.849 --> 00:41:04.610
if your career is in telling truth as it is,
00:41:04.730 --> 00:41:10.389
it's hard to bury that lead forever. It's really
00:41:10.389 --> 00:41:15.130
hard. Yeah, put something to rest. You know,
00:41:15.150 --> 00:41:18.610
not to, like... make it religious, but it's like,
00:41:18.670 --> 00:41:22.030
you know, let the dead bury the dead. Have you
00:41:22.030 --> 00:41:24.789
heard that? I haven't heard that. It's, you know,
00:41:24.829 --> 00:41:29.210
it's the idea of let those that are already on
00:41:29.210 --> 00:41:32.929
their way out worry about those that they're
00:41:32.929 --> 00:41:36.230
worrying about. Don't worry about them, because
00:41:36.230 --> 00:41:39.449
if they're, you know, on their way out, let the
00:41:39.449 --> 00:41:41.909
dead bury the dead. Let them take care of their
00:41:41.909 --> 00:41:44.710
things, and they're focused on the past, not
00:41:44.710 --> 00:41:48.750
the present or the future. Okay. If that makes
00:41:48.750 --> 00:41:50.389
sense. I'm probably not doing a good job at describing
00:41:50.389 --> 00:41:54.250
that. No, no. I understand that. Yeah. Like,
00:41:54.250 --> 00:42:00.949
don't dredge up... Don't dredge up, like, old...
00:42:00.949 --> 00:42:07.670
I'm not sure exactly where I'm going with this.
00:42:09.130 --> 00:42:13.250
Like... I don't want to say old memories. Like,
00:42:13.250 --> 00:42:19.530
old feelings? Yeah, it's kind of let people that
00:42:19.530 --> 00:42:21.769
are already on their way out of your life or
00:42:21.769 --> 00:42:25.090
even just situations that are kind of painful,
00:42:25.230 --> 00:42:28.309
painful or even people that are painful. And
00:42:28.309 --> 00:42:31.969
we can't keep them in our life. We have to just
00:42:31.969 --> 00:42:35.550
let the dead bury the dead. Let them take care
00:42:35.550 --> 00:42:38.869
of their things because we have to be alive.
00:42:39.269 --> 00:42:44.070
We can't focus on the dead all the time. You
00:42:44.070 --> 00:42:46.860
have to move on. Yeah, it's essentially just
00:42:46.860 --> 00:42:50.980
saying move on, go do more, be better, be healthy
00:42:50.980 --> 00:42:55.820
in body and in mind. Right. And it's like, that's
00:42:55.820 --> 00:42:59.260
just a personal philosophy. Like, you know, and
00:42:59.260 --> 00:43:01.519
then let's definitely, I think we've actually
00:43:01.519 --> 00:43:03.380
been doing this for longer than 30 minutes, but.
00:43:03.480 --> 00:43:07.179
It's been quite a bit longer. Yeah, but let's
00:43:07.179 --> 00:43:11.550
definitely wind this down. Yeah. So. One question
00:43:11.550 --> 00:43:13.789
I have for you is what is your philosophy? How
00:43:13.789 --> 00:43:18.929
do you go about things? Like, what is your, like,
00:43:19.110 --> 00:43:23.250
conviction or, like, as all that you've learned
00:43:23.250 --> 00:43:26.150
from college and continue to learn, what is something
00:43:26.150 --> 00:43:28.809
that you've taken and it has informed a new perspective
00:43:28.809 --> 00:43:32.250
or just how have you lived your life? I think
00:43:32.250 --> 00:43:37.289
I've always, I've always led with curiosity.
00:43:38.539 --> 00:43:44.940
for the world I think that curiosity is a purely
00:43:44.940 --> 00:43:50.179
positive emotion it's something where you know
00:43:50.179 --> 00:43:54.980
as soon as you stop being curious about how the
00:43:54.980 --> 00:43:59.380
world works and how it functions you're stagnating
00:43:59.380 --> 00:44:02.940
right and so the best thing that you can do for
00:44:02.940 --> 00:44:07.820
yourself is to constantly be learning and You
00:44:07.820 --> 00:44:11.159
know, I'm a programmer. I'm a computer science
00:44:11.159 --> 00:44:13.480
major. And, you know, that's something that I
00:44:13.480 --> 00:44:15.800
really take to heart where, you know, like I
00:44:15.800 --> 00:44:18.719
always need to be learning a new language or
00:44:18.719 --> 00:44:22.679
a new framework or, you know, a new hobby. Like
00:44:22.679 --> 00:44:26.960
photography was that learning outlet, the artistic
00:44:26.960 --> 00:44:31.619
learning outlet for me for a while and still
00:44:31.619 --> 00:44:36.099
continues to be. But I've been learning quite
00:44:36.099 --> 00:44:43.500
a bit about typography and graphic design. There's
00:44:43.500 --> 00:44:47.820
more information in the world than you can consume
00:44:47.820 --> 00:44:52.619
in one lifetime. But you want to get as close
00:44:52.619 --> 00:44:59.179
to understanding everything as you can. It's
00:44:59.179 --> 00:45:03.980
not easy. You're never going to make it. Like,
00:45:03.980 --> 00:45:07.099
it's futile. Like, you're just never, you're
00:45:07.099 --> 00:45:12.340
simply never going to even get, like, a tenth
00:45:12.340 --> 00:45:15.519
of a percent of the information that's out there.
00:45:15.860 --> 00:45:18.219
But, like, if you can get a hundredth, then,
00:45:18.260 --> 00:45:21.300
like, that's remarkable. And if you can contribute
00:45:21.300 --> 00:45:23.739
to the more information that's out there as well.
00:45:23.940 --> 00:45:26.440
And, like, help other people up with you, right?
00:45:26.539 --> 00:45:28.679
Like, lift other people up. To where you're a
00:45:28.679 --> 00:45:30.719
part of that information and other people can
00:45:30.719 --> 00:45:34.260
take from that. Yeah, well, and like you don't
00:45:34.260 --> 00:45:36.400
even have to use the word take like, you know,
00:45:36.400 --> 00:45:39.239
just like try and lift other people up to your
00:45:39.239 --> 00:45:41.320
level, you know, where it's like, you know, other
00:45:41.320 --> 00:45:46.460
people can derive things from you and they can
00:45:46.460 --> 00:45:49.139
come to their own conclusions and they can possibly
00:45:49.139 --> 00:45:53.380
figure out things that you never even considered.
00:45:54.010 --> 00:45:56.469
And then it can be a well -informed dialogue
00:45:56.469 --> 00:45:59.230
there as well. It's a symbiotic relationship,
00:45:59.409 --> 00:46:03.050
basically, where you hope that other people can
00:46:03.050 --> 00:46:06.510
rise to your level and challenge you. That is
00:46:06.510 --> 00:46:09.010
very refreshing to hear because I wish I could
00:46:09.010 --> 00:46:11.889
hear that more because it's very either Tao or
00:46:11.889 --> 00:46:16.409
Tao. I had a world religions class, and I think
00:46:16.409 --> 00:46:19.730
it's Taoism. You can choose to live your own
00:46:19.730 --> 00:46:24.860
experience and kind of pursue this. like your
00:46:24.860 --> 00:46:30.480
own personal thing. I forget what it's called,
00:46:30.539 --> 00:46:34.239
but it's like going and pursuing this like ultra
00:46:34.239 --> 00:46:37.960
somewhere or something. And or you can help someone
00:46:37.960 --> 00:46:40.639
else achieve that as well. So you get to like,
00:46:40.699 --> 00:46:43.300
you know, take a like a little road over and
00:46:43.300 --> 00:46:45.260
it's like, hey, I'm going to help you get to
00:46:45.260 --> 00:46:47.679
where you want to get to. Right. And it's such
00:46:47.679 --> 00:46:50.860
a it's a very it's like a fostered growth or
00:46:50.860 --> 00:46:53.230
a brotherly growth or even just a. you know,
00:46:53.230 --> 00:46:57.650
a friendly person or a companionship. And I think
00:46:57.650 --> 00:46:59.369
that we need to do that more, especially not
00:46:59.369 --> 00:47:03.210
even just as younger people, but as like younger
00:47:03.210 --> 00:47:06.349
professionals, because we, I think we get very
00:47:06.349 --> 00:47:10.630
lonely. You're also putting less focus on the
00:47:10.630 --> 00:47:13.429
self, right? You know, like we live in a world
00:47:13.429 --> 00:47:17.269
where, you know, everybody is self -centered,
00:47:17.349 --> 00:47:21.340
you know, like social media. is you know a really
00:47:21.340 --> 00:47:23.500
big driving force of that where it's all about
00:47:23.500 --> 00:47:25.519
like me me me and like you know like what am
00:47:25.519 --> 00:47:27.900
i missing out on and like what could i be doing
00:47:27.900 --> 00:47:33.460
and um you know i think if you're trying to teach
00:47:33.460 --> 00:47:37.880
other people you're you know in essence forced
00:47:37.880 --> 00:47:40.880
to put yourself in their shoes and understand
00:47:40.880 --> 00:47:46.699
their perspective because that's how you teach
00:47:46.699 --> 00:47:52.739
effectively right You have to really understand
00:47:52.739 --> 00:47:56.820
someone and where they're at to be able to bring
00:47:56.820 --> 00:48:00.820
them up to your level of understanding. Assuming
00:48:00.820 --> 00:48:03.960
that, you know, like you know something that
00:48:03.960 --> 00:48:08.219
they don't and, you know, they're trying to learn
00:48:08.219 --> 00:48:12.380
a new skill or whatever, right? You can't, like,
00:48:12.519 --> 00:48:18.289
I'm trying to think of a good example. You know,
00:48:18.329 --> 00:48:24.889
like, you can't teach a man how to fish if he
00:48:24.889 --> 00:48:28.489
doesn't know what a fishing pole is. You can
00:48:28.489 --> 00:48:33.349
give him a stick and a string. Yeah, sure. But,
00:48:33.429 --> 00:48:37.530
like, you can't expect him to fish if he doesn't
00:48:37.530 --> 00:48:42.829
know how to use the tool. Exactly, yeah. It's
00:48:42.829 --> 00:48:46.230
one of those things where, like... You have to
00:48:46.230 --> 00:48:49.530
know where the other person is at to understand
00:48:49.530 --> 00:48:54.409
how to move forward. And that requires focusing
00:48:54.409 --> 00:48:57.429
on other people other than yourself. And I think
00:48:57.429 --> 00:48:59.650
that that's really important. This world, I mean,
00:48:59.650 --> 00:49:02.110
you talk on that this world is a selfish world.
00:49:02.449 --> 00:49:05.679
And it's so hard to get out of that. that echo
00:49:05.679 --> 00:49:07.960
chamber of the selfishness. I wouldn't say this
00:49:07.960 --> 00:49:11.219
world, I would say America in particular is very
00:49:11.219 --> 00:49:14.579
individualistic and that can contribute to those
00:49:14.579 --> 00:49:17.300
feelings, but yeah, carry on. And when it comes
00:49:17.300 --> 00:49:20.500
to this, you know, selfishness, when we look
00:49:20.500 --> 00:49:23.199
outside of ourselves and encourage, encourage
00:49:23.199 --> 00:49:25.179
others, but encourage ourselves to interact,
00:49:25.179 --> 00:49:29.000
interact with new mind, you know, new dialogues,
00:49:29.059 --> 00:49:33.699
new things that may make us uncomfortable, you
00:49:33.699 --> 00:49:36.530
start to grow. And I mean, just by knowing you
00:49:36.530 --> 00:49:38.570
and talking to you on the, you know, here and
00:49:38.570 --> 00:49:41.289
there. Right. I have learned so much about me
00:49:41.289 --> 00:49:45.170
and about you. And it's such a grateful thing
00:49:45.170 --> 00:49:48.710
that I can be grateful for. And I'm sure that
00:49:48.710 --> 00:49:51.610
I've helped something or I helped you with something
00:49:51.610 --> 00:49:53.809
or taught you something. Yeah, no, absolutely.
00:49:53.949 --> 00:50:00.690
I mean, like literally today, I came in not knowing
00:50:00.690 --> 00:50:03.500
a single thing about video. And, you know, you
00:50:03.500 --> 00:50:06.619
opening up Premiere and, you know, shuffling
00:50:06.619 --> 00:50:08.800
things around, I was just like, wow, like, you
00:50:08.800 --> 00:50:11.320
know, I feel like even just passively watching
00:50:11.320 --> 00:50:13.619
that, I was like, okay, you know, like I can
00:50:13.619 --> 00:50:15.940
sort of follow what he's doing, you know, like
00:50:15.940 --> 00:50:18.699
he's splicing different clips together. And I
00:50:18.699 --> 00:50:21.820
think people definitely underrate that passive
00:50:21.820 --> 00:50:24.320
learning that comes from just, you know, like.
00:50:25.329 --> 00:50:28.210
watching a master at his craft. I wouldn't call
00:50:28.210 --> 00:50:33.349
myself a master. I'm playing it up, but I feel
00:50:33.349 --> 00:50:39.590
like it's important to be curious because you
00:50:39.590 --> 00:50:44.070
can always find a way to learn no matter what.
00:50:45.369 --> 00:50:47.789
Obviously, it's good to find mentors, but if
00:50:47.789 --> 00:50:49.929
you can't find them, then just go on Google.
00:50:52.460 --> 00:50:54.980
You can get so much out of a good Google search
00:50:54.980 --> 00:50:58.059
or even, you know, now in the era of LLMs, like,
00:50:58.139 --> 00:51:01.480
you know, a good chat GPT query. Right. Although
00:51:01.480 --> 00:51:03.679
you have to be careful with what it spits out.
00:51:03.739 --> 00:51:07.199
But, you know, like when it comes to a Google
00:51:07.199 --> 00:51:09.300
search, I think that or even just a Wikipedia
00:51:09.300 --> 00:51:12.519
search, you can do an entire loop. I mean, find
00:51:12.519 --> 00:51:15.219
a Wikipedia thing on like paradoxes. You can
00:51:15.219 --> 00:51:19.159
spend hours at that. Right. And it's, you know,
00:51:19.179 --> 00:51:21.829
the world is your oyster. But you don't have
00:51:21.829 --> 00:51:24.570
to pick them all up. You can be a little bit
00:51:24.570 --> 00:51:27.690
selective. Because, I mean, that's kind of friends
00:51:27.690 --> 00:51:31.210
are like that and people are like that. Not only
00:51:31.210 --> 00:51:35.250
can you be selective, you should be selective.
00:51:35.769 --> 00:51:39.269
Because there's a lot of crap out there. Yeah,
00:51:39.269 --> 00:51:44.610
a lot of expired oysters. Uh -huh, yeah. I like
00:51:44.610 --> 00:51:47.210
that analogy a lot. Yeah, the expired oysters
00:51:47.210 --> 00:51:49.039
that you shouldn't... You know, the world is
00:51:49.039 --> 00:51:50.519
your oyster, but you got to be very selective.
00:51:50.780 --> 00:51:54.079
I guess it's more of a metaphor. Metaphor, analogy,
00:51:54.519 --> 00:51:56.239
what is it? It doesn't have to be. We're not
00:51:56.239 --> 00:51:58.579
in English class. I don't want to hear an English
00:51:58.579 --> 00:52:00.760
teacher barking up my tree. I'm going to be graduating
00:52:00.760 --> 00:52:03.179
tomorrow, so. I mean, hey. Or today, actually.
00:52:03.800 --> 00:52:08.340
Today? Well, yeah. It is past midnight, so. Yeah,
00:52:08.400 --> 00:52:11.340
yeah, we're just in the studio at like 1 a .m.
00:52:11.579 --> 00:52:15.059
1 in the morning, yep. Yeah. I mean, hey, look,
00:52:15.139 --> 00:52:19.050
man. I am. part English major. Oh. The title
00:52:19.050 --> 00:52:22.190
narrative and interactive design. My second major.
00:52:22.730 --> 00:52:27.269
You're a double major? Yes. So you're both English
00:52:27.269 --> 00:52:30.550
competent in English and you're also language
00:52:30.550 --> 00:52:36.010
competent in code. In theory, yes. In theory,
00:52:36.210 --> 00:52:40.010
yes. Interesting. That's definitely a conversation
00:52:40.010 --> 00:52:42.570
for later. But I did want to ask, how do you
00:52:42.570 --> 00:52:47.530
stay caffeinated? Oh, God. Okay. This is so bad.
00:52:48.110 --> 00:52:52.389
I have a Celsius addiction. Celsius? Like the
00:52:52.389 --> 00:52:57.670
water carbonated black drink? The energy drink,
00:52:57.789 --> 00:53:00.110
yes. Oh, it's an energy drink. I've never had
00:53:00.110 --> 00:53:04.730
it. I've heard a rumor and I've seen it everywhere.
00:53:06.130 --> 00:53:11.769
What does it do for you? So it has 200 milligrams
00:53:11.769 --> 00:53:14.630
of caffeine. Yeah, do you tell me you drink one?
00:53:14.909 --> 00:53:19.840
Yes. I can't do more than one. If I do two, I
00:53:19.840 --> 00:53:24.380
have done two before. I did last year around
00:53:24.380 --> 00:53:29.099
final season, like last spring, and I felt like
00:53:29.099 --> 00:53:31.579
I was going to die. It felt like my heart was
00:53:31.579 --> 00:53:33.519
going to pop out of my chest. With no Adderall?
00:53:34.019 --> 00:53:36.480
No Adderall. I've never taken Adderall in my
00:53:36.480 --> 00:53:41.159
life. Thank God. Anyway. Yeah, it's an energy
00:53:41.159 --> 00:53:44.559
drink. It has a bunch of caffeine in it. Two
00:53:44.559 --> 00:53:49.420
of them gets you to the FDA limit. It has taurine
00:53:49.420 --> 00:53:52.320
in it, which is something that's present in Red
00:53:52.320 --> 00:53:54.920
Bull and Monster and a lot of other energy drinks.
00:53:55.039 --> 00:53:57.559
It's apparently good for your circulation, but
00:53:57.559 --> 00:54:02.719
I don't know how true those claims are. It also
00:54:02.719 --> 00:54:08.809
usually... comes in like fruity flavors and the
00:54:08.809 --> 00:54:11.510
way i would describe celsius in particular is
00:54:11.510 --> 00:54:17.250
it's like a clean flavor like like tastes very
00:54:17.250 --> 00:54:24.690
like sprightly i know like it just isn't very
00:54:24.690 --> 00:54:29.170
syrupy in the way that a lot of other soft drinks
00:54:29.170 --> 00:54:32.789
are so it's more like water based than it is
00:54:32.789 --> 00:54:35.679
syrup based It tastes like a seltzer, but they
00:54:35.679 --> 00:54:42.940
gave it more sugar. Yeah, I mean, I think I've,
00:54:42.940 --> 00:54:46.480
like, after dropping, like, sugar stuff and,
00:54:46.519 --> 00:54:49.719
like, being overpowered by things, I've actually
00:54:49.719 --> 00:54:52.860
started, like, getting high C. Like, not high
00:54:52.860 --> 00:54:57.119
C, but, like, a juice that doesn't have fructose
00:54:57.119 --> 00:55:00.219
corn syrup. High fructose corn syrup? Yeah, high
00:55:00.219 --> 00:55:03.570
fructose corn syrup. Taking that. watering it
00:55:03.570 --> 00:55:06.469
down. That way I can consume it and not feel
00:55:06.469 --> 00:55:09.489
like my teeth are going to fall out. Right. So,
00:55:09.510 --> 00:55:17.010
I mean, Celsius, I dropped Monsters a while ago
00:55:17.010 --> 00:55:18.829
and I think I had one today because I was like,
00:55:18.929 --> 00:55:21.090
I'm going to finish these finals and get everything
00:55:21.090 --> 00:55:25.230
done. That way I can get out and go and do. So,
00:55:25.250 --> 00:55:28.889
where are you off to after this? And when do
00:55:28.889 --> 00:55:31.289
you plan on coming back so we can have you on
00:55:31.289 --> 00:55:35.900
again? So after this, I'm going home and going
00:55:35.900 --> 00:55:40.139
to bed because I'm old. I'm just kidding. I'm
00:55:40.139 --> 00:55:44.679
only 21. You're younger than me. I am younger
00:55:44.679 --> 00:55:46.420
than you, yeah. I don't think you have room.
00:55:46.519 --> 00:55:51.099
You made me feel older. I feel like an old man
00:55:51.099 --> 00:55:56.300
sometimes because I'm the kind of guy that goes
00:55:56.300 --> 00:56:00.980
home on a Saturday night and passes out at 10
00:56:00.980 --> 00:56:08.309
p .m. and does not give any fucks about it. But,
00:56:08.449 --> 00:56:15.909
yeah, like, I don't know. I... I... I don't know.
00:56:16.230 --> 00:56:20.590
Like, I feel like an old man. I feel like that's
00:56:20.590 --> 00:56:22.610
valid, because sometimes I've been called an
00:56:22.610 --> 00:56:25.329
old man since I was 16. I started dressing like
00:56:25.329 --> 00:56:27.949
one, I guess. You know what? That might be it.
00:56:27.989 --> 00:56:31.110
Because, like, I show up to campus every other
00:56:31.110 --> 00:56:34.250
day in my leather jacket. And I think it probably
00:56:34.250 --> 00:56:37.949
ages me by five years. Mine, I have to find a
00:56:37.949 --> 00:56:41.150
new leather jacket. But no, it truly, like, there's,
00:56:41.150 --> 00:56:44.050
I mean, maybe it's just our old souls. But it's
00:56:44.050 --> 00:56:46.690
like, you know, sometimes I like being an old
00:56:46.690 --> 00:56:49.449
man and going to bed at 8 p .m., 10 p .m. And,
00:56:49.510 --> 00:56:51.650
you know, like, I'll have a little piece of toast
00:56:51.650 --> 00:56:55.780
and coffee and go to bed and be all happy. Yeah.
00:56:56.760 --> 00:57:01.519
I'll stop at one beer. Crazy. Whoa. I'm a college
00:57:01.519 --> 00:57:04.360
student. I've actually stopped at one beer. I
00:57:04.360 --> 00:57:08.079
had one beer. I think I had, no, I had two beers.
00:57:08.099 --> 00:57:10.360
Never mind. I stopped at two beers. Two beers.
00:57:10.500 --> 00:57:12.300
And it wasn't beer. It was really breaking new
00:57:12.300 --> 00:57:14.719
grounds with that one. Well, given the fact that
00:57:14.719 --> 00:57:18.039
I had it, it was an ale, but yeah, that's neither
00:57:18.039 --> 00:57:21.619
here nor there. Pale ale? No, no, no, no. It
00:57:21.619 --> 00:57:24.219
was like an apple something. I don't know what
00:57:24.219 --> 00:57:28.039
it was. Apple? Apple beer? Dude, what are you
00:57:28.039 --> 00:57:32.260
drinking? It wasn't that bad. I don't think so.
00:57:32.320 --> 00:57:34.920
Maybe I was just really hungry and really desperate
00:57:34.920 --> 00:57:39.280
for something. Hungry? You don't drink when you're
00:57:39.280 --> 00:57:43.559
hungry. That's not right. You're going to feel
00:57:43.559 --> 00:57:47.320
like crap. I was fine. Sort of fine afterwards.
00:57:48.000 --> 00:57:53.380
Okay. It was fine. I just did a really bad golf
00:57:53.380 --> 00:57:59.380
game. Well, putt -putt game. Okay. That's the
00:57:59.380 --> 00:58:06.340
only effects it has. Cool. Coordination could
00:58:06.340 --> 00:58:10.880
be better, yeah. That's the only caveat. The
00:58:10.880 --> 00:58:14.500
food was good after that, but yeah. Beer, not
00:58:14.500 --> 00:58:18.679
my thing. Not the biggest thing, but as long
00:58:18.679 --> 00:58:20.880
as you're staying caffeinated, that's a good
00:58:20.880 --> 00:58:23.619
thing. Well, within reason. Not the FDA limit.
00:58:23.699 --> 00:58:27.889
Don't. don't go yeah no i mean like i'm well
00:58:27.889 --> 00:58:31.409
aware that my caffeine addiction could be tempered
00:58:31.409 --> 00:58:35.849
a little bit and um it's not that i dislike coffee
00:58:35.849 --> 00:58:40.449
it's just that he hates coffee i no i really
00:58:40.449 --> 00:58:44.690
don't like you know i i do like me a good espresso
00:58:44.690 --> 00:58:49.949
shot um i think if i'm Like, hanging out with
00:58:49.949 --> 00:58:52.190
a couple friends in a coffee shop and I'm trying
00:58:52.190 --> 00:58:55.030
to chill, I'll get a cappuccino, you know? Like,
00:58:55.030 --> 00:58:59.269
I... I don't think that the bitterness is, like,
00:58:59.269 --> 00:59:02.869
the problem. It's just that I like sugar too
00:59:02.869 --> 00:59:06.949
much. I like sugary things. And I can't wean
00:59:06.949 --> 00:59:10.269
off of it. You should. It's so... I mean, you
00:59:10.269 --> 00:59:13.949
start to appreciate water. Okay, Mr. Just -Had
00:59:13.949 --> 00:59:17.110
-A -Gatorade, sure. Okay, there's electrolytes.
00:59:17.960 --> 00:59:20.960
That is not a good excuse. It has plenty of sugar.
00:59:21.300 --> 00:59:24.760
It's meant for people that are working out. I'd
00:59:24.760 --> 00:59:29.920
like to say that shoot was a workout. I mean,
00:59:29.960 --> 00:59:33.280
you were lifting some stuff, for sure. And, like,
00:59:33.280 --> 00:59:36.599
you were sweating it out, for sure. But, like,
00:59:36.679 --> 00:59:42.199
you're not, like, playing a sport. I'd like to
00:59:42.199 --> 00:59:46.360
say photography is a sport for the cool people.
00:59:47.840 --> 00:59:50.539
Okay. If it works for you, you can go along with
00:59:50.539 --> 00:59:53.539
it. It's not going to kill you, but I usually
00:59:53.539 --> 00:59:56.000
stick to zero -calorie drinks nowadays because
00:59:56.000 --> 01:00:01.360
I just can't. I much prefer the artificial sweeteners,
01:00:01.360 --> 01:00:04.599
honestly, and people give me flack for it, but
01:00:04.599 --> 01:00:09.800
I think aspartame, sucralose, malitol, I think
01:00:09.800 --> 01:00:11.800
that's how you pronounce it, all these sugar
01:00:11.800 --> 01:00:15.400
substitutes. They're getting better, and aspartame
01:00:15.400 --> 01:00:18.079
is like, no, no, no, no, no. Everyone says that
01:00:18.079 --> 01:00:21.139
aspartame is horrible and causes cancer, but
01:00:21.139 --> 01:00:24.260
the studies that came out that linked aspartame
01:00:24.260 --> 01:00:29.159
to cancer got debunked. So, I mean, I don't know,
01:00:29.199 --> 01:00:32.139
man. That's an interesting... I'm going to have
01:00:32.139 --> 01:00:33.619
to look that up. I'm going to have to figure
01:00:33.619 --> 01:00:35.739
that out. I hope everyone else at home figures
01:00:35.739 --> 01:00:40.039
that out, too. I mean... Yeah, no, like... We
01:00:40.039 --> 01:00:43.019
don't really know anything about artificial sweeteners,
01:00:43.019 --> 01:00:47.380
and that means that they could be totally fine
01:00:47.380 --> 01:00:51.559
and harmless, or they could be horrible. We don't
01:00:51.559 --> 01:00:55.639
know. We're thinking they're probably fine because
01:00:55.639 --> 01:00:59.679
we haven't found anything really bad yet. Really
01:00:59.679 --> 01:01:03.500
bad, but it's bad. But, like, it is artificial,
01:01:03.719 --> 01:01:08.980
so, you know, we don't know. A little bit more
01:01:08.980 --> 01:01:14.260
plastic. It's like you could drop acid and maybe
01:01:14.260 --> 01:01:24.340
be fine. Maybe. Yeah. It's the same vibe. Yeah.
01:01:24.380 --> 01:01:30.639
So where can people find you? You can find me
01:01:30.639 --> 01:01:35.000
on Instagram at Liam Sullivan Photo. That's where
01:01:35.000 --> 01:01:38.059
I post my photography work. some of the work
01:01:38.059 --> 01:01:42.019
that I've done with The Pit News, and also just
01:01:42.019 --> 01:01:46.320
some random portrait shoots that I have. He's
01:01:46.320 --> 01:01:48.820
pretty good. I would say I'm pretty good at portraits,
01:01:49.000 --> 01:01:51.900
yeah. Need some more studio work, but... Yeah,
01:01:52.059 --> 01:01:54.880
I... God, I wish. My studio equipment's back
01:01:54.880 --> 01:01:58.079
in Virginia, but I will be home in a couple weeks,
01:01:58.320 --> 01:02:02.840
so very excited for that. Yeah, I'm on Instagram
01:02:02.840 --> 01:02:07.150
at Liam Sullivan Photo. I'm also... If you want
01:02:07.150 --> 01:02:11.670
to look at my programming stuff, I'm on GitHub
01:02:11.670 --> 01:02:15.989
at Liam B. Sullivan. You might want to spell
01:02:15.989 --> 01:02:20.429
that out for everyone. L -I -A -M -B, as in Benjamin.
01:02:20.590 --> 01:02:24.289
That is my middle name. Sullivan, which is S
01:02:24.289 --> 01:02:30.250
-U -L -L -I -V -A, no N. Yeah, that's where I
01:02:30.250 --> 01:02:37.980
post my posts. commit my my code um i i have
01:02:37.980 --> 01:02:41.539
a little pokemon team builder that i made over
01:02:41.539 --> 01:02:45.599
last summer that i'm pretty proud of um i also
01:02:45.599 --> 01:02:48.659
have a couple of other little toy projects i
01:02:48.659 --> 01:02:54.940
have like a calculator app on there um i oh another
01:02:54.940 --> 01:02:59.860
thing um i homebrewed my switch and made a switch
01:02:59.860 --> 01:03:03.780
app launcher That was a really cool project.
01:03:03.880 --> 01:03:06.380
That one I'm also pretty proud of. So you built
01:03:06.380 --> 01:03:11.139
the homebrew? No, no. I built a home screen where
01:03:11.139 --> 01:03:14.519
you can click on apps and you can launch them.
01:03:15.780 --> 01:03:19.840
That's pretty cool. Yeah. We're going to have
01:03:19.840 --> 01:03:22.699
to deep dive into that another time. But is there
01:03:22.699 --> 01:03:25.639
anything else that you'd like to share with the
01:03:25.639 --> 01:03:30.780
class? No. I feel like I've shared more than
01:03:30.780 --> 01:03:35.139
enough today. Yep, we have learned enough. We
01:03:35.139 --> 01:03:39.719
have learned something we can take and have a
01:03:39.719 --> 01:03:43.599
coffee with. Or, you know, go to bed. If it's
01:03:43.599 --> 01:03:46.460
late, go to bed. If you're awake, go do something.
01:03:47.519 --> 01:03:54.079
Or go drink a Celsius. No, no. I guess go drink
01:03:54.079 --> 01:03:56.480
a Celsius if you like Celsius. I say stay with
01:03:56.480 --> 01:04:00.260
coffee or tea. Whatever floats your boat. He's
01:04:00.260 --> 01:04:06.469
right. Take it easy, guys. And remember, stay
01:04:06.469 --> 01:04:07.170
caffeinated.