May 16, 2025 • 20 mins
For Shop Talk, we feature portions of Eboo Patel's powerful talk "Could A Potluck Dinner Save Our Democracy?".
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:05):
Everybody, welcome to the shop. What's up?
Speaker 2 (00:10):
I don't know. We just had a fun night last
night in Memphis at Grind City Brewing.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
That was pretty awesome. I encourage everybody listening to this
shop talk to listen to the live interview we did
with fire officer Tim Brown from Manhattan who was twenty
steps from the front door of the tower on nine
(00:34):
to eleven when it fell. He saved lives and lost
lots of people. And we did a live interview in
Memphis with them last night, and we're a little tired
because it went late. But my goodness, what an inspirational story.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Plus, Grind City Brewing has a Rice Crispy Tree beer.
That's amazing.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
I did not have that. Was it good?
Speaker 2 (00:54):
It was good?
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Really?
Speaker 2 (00:55):
You gotta go. It's like across the street from your office. Bro.
You hear like literally admitted drive to that.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
No idea that a Rice Krispy Treat beer.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Yeah, I say that right, Yeah, incredible. Anyway, the interview
will not be out for a few weeks, so just
it's not available yet.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
But where's George? I need somebody ring the bell?
Speaker 2 (01:12):
What's score right now?
Speaker 1 (01:13):
That's ridiculous. I gotta I'm training an official bell ringer.
And what is George for He's five five. I've got
a five year old bell ringer. He's not here, George.
If you're listening, you know this is not cool, not
showing up to bell ringing. Down together, guys, we're going
(01:34):
to talk about a potluck dinner saving our democracy, So
that's coming up next, right after these brief messages from
our general sponsors. All right, everybody, shop Talk number fifty two,
(02:02):
fifty two weeks in a year, fifty two weeks. That
means we've done a year of shop talks. That's true,
that's incredible.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Yeah, where's my present?
Speaker 1 (02:12):
I think I deserve the present. You just sit there
with the earphones on your head and comment occasionally. I
have to do all the work. Where's my present? I
know what I want. I want another cake so I
can eat it with my fingers because that's yummy.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
I think you forgot to say this, and the episode
were just recorded. Well, it's going to come out before
her episode two. But no what the guests won't know
about the cake yet. That episode's not live yet, by
the title talk.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Well, then here's the deal. I just tease.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
We've got a Cake Lady, Cake Lady episode coming out.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
We have a cake Lady episode coming out, and I
make a complete glutton of muscle.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Actually, there's a good transition. We're about to talk about food. Well,
that's what we would bring to a potlucker perfect.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
I didn't plan that, but it just rolled into it.
Could a potluck Save Our Democracy? All right, y'all listen
up to the shop talk. It's inspiring, it's interesting. Ebu
Patel is the founder of an Inner Faith America and
excuse me, the founder of inter Faith America. And he
(03:19):
gave a fascinating talk to NYU titled could a pot
luck Dinner Save Our Democracy? I'm going to read a
portion of it now. I want to begin with something
of a political story, if you will. So, when I
was at junior in high school, this is probably ninety
one ninety two, my mom asked a question that made
my life considerably more delicious by the way. I love
(03:42):
that word.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
And you call your kids there, which is weird and
it's not weird, and a past shop talk that people
can listen to. My kids are delicious.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Savor my children.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Say that you could say that would be a little
more normal.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Well, then this guy, that mister Eubu Pattel, is also
weird because.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
He's calling a meal delicious, not his children. No, he's
not accountable, he said.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
My mom asked a questions that made my life considerably
more delicious via food. But keep going, okay, She said,
would you like to have turkey for Thanksgiving or briyani
this year? I mean, anybody ever had brianni? The answer
to that is obvious, right, And there's a deep logic
(04:30):
to my mom's thinking. So don't get me wrong. The
turkey is a wonderful bird. It's perfectly nice foul if
you will. But as far as the dish goes, I mean,
it can be improved upon. Let us say, my mom's
sticking to herself. We Muslims from South Asia, we have
a feast food, we have a celebration food, and Thanksgiving
(04:51):
is a feast and a celebration, So why wouldn't we
prepare the far tastier celebration of food of our culture
for the feast day of the nation of which which
we live. And we had birani.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
I think it's Biriyani, which I actually had to look
up this morning.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
It's spelled b r Ya A and I, So what
do you think it's called.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
I think it's Brianni. But we're clearly both ignorant and
need to try this dish.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Fine Brianni. This is glenn Ellen, Illinois in the early
nineteen nineties. Can you guess how many people at glen
Bard's South High School. I told that my family was
having biriani for Thanksgiving instead of turkey, and you want
to venture a guess? Zero? So now here's what's interesting.
(05:34):
My friends, people I'm still close to today, included a
South Indian Hindu, a Cuban, a Jew, a Mormon, a Catholic,
a Lutheran, and a Nigerian Evangelical. That almost sounds like
the beginning to a joke where they all walked in
a boar. I promise you turkey was not the main
(05:57):
dish at everybody's Thanksgiving. My South Indian Hindi friends family
was vegetarian. None of us talked about the distinctive religious
and ethnic foods we were having on an American feast day.
There's a diversity paradigm that describes this reality. It's called
the melting pot. The idea is that we should all
melt our distinctiveness into the same general goo. Everybody's heard
(06:21):
of this diversity paradigm. I grew up in the eighties
and nineties. This is the paradigm that I grew up with.
For those of you who were born and raised in
the twenty first century, this is ancient history to a
lot of you. In all honesty, you grew up with
a different diversity paradigm. But for those of us who's
formative years when the late twentieth century you had to
(06:43):
have biyani at home, you just didn't talk about it
at school. At school, you just did what everybody else did.
You ate what they ate, You wore what they wore,
You listened to what they listened to. That's the melting Pot.
Let me tell you something. The melting Pot was a
step forward for nineteen seven And I'm being serious when
I say that, right, that's when the term was invented.
(07:06):
It's the title of a play by a guy named
Israel Zangwil, who is a Jewish refugee from Russia and
who witnessed back in Russia very ugly pograms pigrums. What
is that?
Speaker 2 (07:20):
It's I mean, they'd just go around and killing a
bunch of Jews.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Good programs who witness back in Russia very ugly pograms
against minorities. And he comes here and he says, you
know what, we don't bring our conflicts here. It's actually
a really important thing to consider. Conflicts everywhere should not
pattern our relationships here. The problem with that is should
(07:43):
we not bring something of our of our identity, should
we not be proud of our distinctiveness? So the melting
pot is a step forward if the alternative is conflict
between identity groups. And by the way, what happens long
not long after nineteen oh seven World War One in
Europe tens of means people die in e ethnic national conflicts.
(08:08):
The United States has a lot of ugliness in the
twenty first century, but not that level. The melting pot
is a step forward for that period in time. But
for our period, we need a different metaphor. And what
I want to suggest is the way we think about
American democracy is it's a potluck? Could it save our democracy? Well,
(08:29):
let's discuss, but let's talk for a moment about what
a potluck is. This is again extremely familiar, But I
actually think the best metaphor and the best symbols are
extremely familiar. The big idea of a potluck is that
you want to gather a diverse array of people and
invite them to bring a dish that is distinctive to
their identity and household to a common space. And in
(08:52):
that common space, things work best if there are an
interesting creative combinations between those dishes and enriching conversation between
diverse people. So everything I'm describing as super straightforward, super colliloqual, colloquial, colloquial, thanks,
I have the worst time with that word, super familiar,
and totally magic. This is the everyday magic of American
(09:16):
civic life. Let's break this down. Number one, everyone is
a contributor. So as anybody ever said to someone if
you've hosted a potluck, hey, I know that you are
too marginalized to bring a dish. That's a totally serious question.
Has anyone ever said that everyone else can bring a dish,
but you are too oppressed to bring a dish? No,
(09:40):
Holy smokes, that's a great line. Just think about that.
I'm going to repeat that. Everybody listening need to consider
what this man's saying. The everyday magic of American civic life.
Let's break this down. Number one, everyone is a contributor.
So has anybody ever s I said to someone if
(10:01):
you voted a potluck, hey, I know that you are
too marginalized to bring a dish. Has anyone ever said
that everybody else can bring a dish, but you are
too oppressed to bring a dish. No, The assumption is
everybody can bring a dish. Everybody is a contributor. Everybody's
going to enrich the space of the potluck. Now, people
(10:23):
are aware that it's easier for some folks than others.
If you have a really nice house with a nice
kitchen and plenty of money, it's going to be easier.
If you have a nice car that you can bring
that food in, it's going to be easier. There are
barriers to some people's contributions. We realize that. But the
barriers don't define people. The contributions to find the people.
(10:43):
So that's the first thing. The assumption of a potluck
is that everybody is a contributor. By the way, if
you don't have a kitchen, you show up early and
you help clean the space before the other people come.
Everybody knows they have to contribute. Part one, Part two.
As much as I like Brianni and for whoever has
(11:05):
not had it, I highly suggest it. I don't want
to potluck all of Brianni. And as much as you
might like hummus or falafol or hamburgers or whatever, you
don't want a potluck with just that kind of food.
A potluck is the most delicious, most wonderful, most beautiful
if there's a diverse array of food that shows up,
(11:28):
and if you have a wide variety of contributors. Everyone
knows that, right. So here's the thing. The third thing.
You don't actually just want there to be an a
ray of food. You want people to kind of mix
the food together on their plates. There's nothing better to
potluck than here's somebody say, oh my gosh, I never
(11:48):
knew how awesome this crusty bread recipe from Eastern Europe
would go with this spicy dip from the Middle East.
And you know what we call that America. We call
that a space where people from the four corners of
the earth, praying in different ways, speaking in different tongues,
bringing their dishes from their identities, come to a single
(12:09):
space and build out of it a community that's called America.
Where else do you get this very interesting combination of
people each invited to bring their dish to the table.
Where else do you get those cool combinations? There are
kosher Chinese restaurants in New York. How cool is that?
(12:30):
They just think it's normal. Right. There are Korean tacos
in Chicago. They don't even know it's magical. That's just normal.
People come here and they bring their dishes to the table,
and those dishes are beautiful and creative. What do you
do at a potluck? That's living and talking together? What
(12:50):
else makes a potluck spatial? No mayor, no general, no president,
no governor can command you to do it. It's the ultimate
civic form. Citizen by and by citizens, I mean anybody
who participates in public life can put together their own potlucks.
They create their own spaces. It's a form that we
generate and create for ourselves. And when I ask people
(13:14):
how many of you participated a potluck, virtually every hand
of the room went up. We do this ourselves. We
are the generators of this civil society. So for about
fifteen months after college, every Tuesday night I hosted a potluck.
It started with five to seven people in a group
to like sixty people in this little one and a
(13:35):
half bedroom apartment, this neighborhood between Lincoln Park and Logan
Square in Chicago. And so I have lived this, and
I have to tell you something. The first few potlucks,
I like lost sleep on Monday nights. The put likes
for it was Tuesday nights. I lost sleep on Monday nights.
You want to know why, be like, are the vague
(13:56):
vegans going to be mad? Seriously? Like something could go wrong?
Just think about the million things that could go wrong
in a potluck. And you know what's kind of wild.
It never did. It's possible someone could bring poison, it's true,
but it almost never happens. That's awesome. The entire speech, obviously,
(14:22):
is using potluck and a food as a metaphor that we,
as normal folks, have to not worry about what you
look like, who you pray to, who you love, how
you vote. But the beauty of our democracy, the beauty
of our America, is a melting pot. And mister Patel
(14:45):
here suggests that we quit using the nineteen oh seven
term melting pot and go to a nineteen twenty five
or a twenty twenty five version of that and call
it a potluck. Because everybody enjoys a potlin It's a
combining of cultures in a delicious way that you can
(15:08):
both appreciate and celebrate one another. And over that pot
luck invariably becomes conversation, where when you leave with your
bellies full, you also leave with your soul full, understanding
that our distinctiveness is beautiful and our ability to bring
(15:32):
that distinctiveness together around a meal and conversation to learn
about one another is even more fulfilling than the food itself.
Could a pot luck dinner save our democracy? I would
say it could, Alex.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
I think it could reduce a lot of our tribals,
and that's for sure if we actually had these potluck dinners.
I love his example too, like he actually did this.
He's not just preaching it. But you did this thing
with a couple of friends, and it grew to sixty
people in this smaller part. And imagine if you had
an arby of normal folks doing that too.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
I love that he said, here's what's interesting. My friends,
people I'm still close to today include a South Indian Hindu,
a Cuban, a Jew, a Mormon, a Catholic, a Lutheran,
and a Nigerian evangelical. Assuming that these are some of
his closest friends, I would imagine that group of people
(16:26):
are also close with one another as a group. You
can't get any more diverse than that.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
It's beautiful and way more interesting if we just say
barbecue every day. How boring is that?
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Is that on the potluck thing? There's a place in
Memphis that has barbecue egg rolls and uh.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
And barbicue spaghetti and barbecue spaghetti Italian and yeah, Chinese
Italian and barbecue, good old Southern stuff.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
And I promise you I don't care how you vote,
or how you worship or who you love. If you
and I are sitting around some barbecue spaghetti and barbecue aggrolls,
we can all agree that's pretty damn good. That's shop
talk number fifty two, y'all.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
I'm going to include a plug our next lunch and listen,
hold on, do.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
It just second?
Speaker 2 (17:16):
All right?
Speaker 1 (17:16):
That's that's that's that's number fifty two. Can a pot
luck dinner save our democracy? And I would suggest, both
literally and metaphorically, Ebo Hotels onto something. A pot lug
dinner can save our democracy? Now, Alex, what you got well?
Speaker 2 (17:34):
And you're saying that reminds me of people actually do this,
and you host a potluck dinner that's this interesting and
diverse email us about it.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
You know what, Thanksgiving pot luck dinner would be kind
of cool. That would be Wait, which is where this
generated from?
Speaker 2 (17:47):
And He's right, turkey's good, But it's not like it's
the best food in the world. I mean, there's better
dishes out there.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
I don't know, at least as turkey gravy. When you
put it on turkey and mashed potatoes. I actually look
for it. Really Ah, it's good stuff. Yeah, yeah, all right.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
So the plug is our next live interview in Memphis
our luncheon. Listen June twelfth, Father Mark Hannah, He and
four other civilians helped save fifty people's lives on nine
to eleven. To RSVPN learn more. It is Fathermark dot
Eventwright dot com. And one thing I was actually thinking
to driving up to your office today to do this
is it could be interesting to explain, not explained, but
(18:24):
justify ourselves. We're doing a lot of this stuff in
Memphis because you are here, but if people are interested
in doing this in their cities around the country too.
Some of these live events. Make sure to email me
and we could talk about it and see what's possible.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
But obviously I am more than happy to take a
day and to fly to any city in this country.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Oh, don't make some commitment that you're not prepared to keep.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
I didn't commit. What I said was I am more
than happy to fly to any city in this country
for any Army member to do a live recorded an interview.
If they can get three hundred people or more there
so that we can actually have an event, I will
do it. I will absolutely go to It's.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
A good challenge. We didn't plan this. You just threw
down the gauntlet.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
Well, I'll do it. If any of you can get
three hundred people to an event for a live recording
of a podcast for someone in your community that is
worthy of being on this show because of the work
that they're doing, and you can put together an event
place with three hundred people more in it, I'll come
and you'll have to do all the audio and video
(19:29):
and everything else, but I'll do it. I will absolutely
do that.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
That's awesome. So email us Bill a normal Folks out
Us or me at Army and Normal Focus out Us.
We need more shop talk ideas too.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
Yeah, what else you got, They'll send a shop talk
I mean I gotta go.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
To work, so yeah, that's funny.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
All right, after you shop Talk number fifty two, let's
put together some potlucks. Hey, I got an idea. Let's
do remote events in other cities with three hundred people
and everybody bring a small dish. Let's do national potlucks.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
That would be a big potluck.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
I don't care. It would be awesome, and my fingers
if someone brings cake.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
It's really respectful if we're going to be sharing these
dishes whatever.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
If y'all are interested, it's open to you. You just
gotta gotta meet us halfway and help us pull it off.
And we'll be there at chop Talk number fifty two.
We'll see you next week.
Everybody, welcome to the shop. What's up?
Speaker 2 (00:10):
I don't know. We just had a fun night last
night in Memphis at Grind City Brewing.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
That was pretty awesome. I encourage everybody listening to this
shop talk to listen to the live interview we did
with fire officer Tim Brown from Manhattan who was twenty
steps from the front door of the tower on nine
(00:34):
to eleven when it fell. He saved lives and lost
lots of people. And we did a live interview in
Memphis with them last night, and we're a little tired
because it went late. But my goodness, what an inspirational story.
Speaker 2 (00:47):
Plus, Grind City Brewing has a Rice Crispy Tree beer.
That's amazing.
Speaker 1 (00:52):
I did not have that. Was it good?
Speaker 2 (00:54):
It was good?
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Really?
Speaker 2 (00:55):
You gotta go. It's like across the street from your office. Bro.
You hear like literally admitted drive to that.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
No idea that a Rice Krispy Treat beer.
Speaker 2 (01:03):
Yeah, I say that right, Yeah, incredible. Anyway, the interview
will not be out for a few weeks, so just
it's not available yet.
Speaker 1 (01:09):
But where's George? I need somebody ring the bell?
Speaker 2 (01:12):
What's score right now?
Speaker 1 (01:13):
That's ridiculous. I gotta I'm training an official bell ringer.
And what is George for He's five five. I've got
a five year old bell ringer. He's not here, George.
If you're listening, you know this is not cool, not
showing up to bell ringing. Down together, guys, we're going
(01:34):
to talk about a potluck dinner saving our democracy, So
that's coming up next, right after these brief messages from
our general sponsors. All right, everybody, shop Talk number fifty two,
(02:02):
fifty two weeks in a year, fifty two weeks. That
means we've done a year of shop talks. That's true,
that's incredible.
Speaker 2 (02:10):
Yeah, where's my present?
Speaker 1 (02:12):
I think I deserve the present. You just sit there
with the earphones on your head and comment occasionally. I
have to do all the work. Where's my present? I
know what I want. I want another cake so I
can eat it with my fingers because that's yummy.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
I think you forgot to say this, and the episode
were just recorded. Well, it's going to come out before
her episode two. But no what the guests won't know
about the cake yet. That episode's not live yet, by
the title talk.
Speaker 1 (02:39):
Well, then here's the deal. I just tease.
Speaker 2 (02:41):
We've got a Cake Lady, Cake Lady episode coming out.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
We have a cake Lady episode coming out, and I
make a complete glutton of muscle.
Speaker 2 (02:50):
Actually, there's a good transition. We're about to talk about food. Well,
that's what we would bring to a potlucker perfect.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
I didn't plan that, but it just rolled into it.
Could a potluck Save Our Democracy? All right, y'all listen
up to the shop talk. It's inspiring, it's interesting. Ebu
Patel is the founder of an Inner Faith America and
excuse me, the founder of inter Faith America. And he
(03:19):
gave a fascinating talk to NYU titled could a pot
luck Dinner Save Our Democracy? I'm going to read a
portion of it now. I want to begin with something
of a political story, if you will. So, when I
was at junior in high school, this is probably ninety
one ninety two, my mom asked a question that made
my life considerably more delicious by the way. I love
(03:42):
that word.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
And you call your kids there, which is weird and
it's not weird, and a past shop talk that people
can listen to. My kids are delicious.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Savor my children.
Speaker 2 (03:56):
Say that you could say that would be a little
more normal.
Speaker 1 (03:59):
Well, then this guy, that mister Eubu Pattel, is also
weird because.
Speaker 2 (04:04):
He's calling a meal delicious, not his children. No, he's
not accountable, he said.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
My mom asked a questions that made my life considerably
more delicious via food. But keep going, okay, She said,
would you like to have turkey for Thanksgiving or briyani
this year? I mean, anybody ever had brianni? The answer
to that is obvious, right, And there's a deep logic
(04:30):
to my mom's thinking. So don't get me wrong. The
turkey is a wonderful bird. It's perfectly nice foul if
you will. But as far as the dish goes, I mean,
it can be improved upon. Let us say, my mom's
sticking to herself. We Muslims from South Asia, we have
a feast food, we have a celebration food, and Thanksgiving
(04:51):
is a feast and a celebration, So why wouldn't we
prepare the far tastier celebration of food of our culture
for the feast day of the nation of which which
we live. And we had birani.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
I think it's Biriyani, which I actually had to look
up this morning.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
It's spelled b r Ya A and I, So what
do you think it's called.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
I think it's Brianni. But we're clearly both ignorant and
need to try this dish.
Speaker 1 (05:14):
Fine Brianni. This is glenn Ellen, Illinois in the early
nineteen nineties. Can you guess how many people at glen
Bard's South High School. I told that my family was
having biriani for Thanksgiving instead of turkey, and you want
to venture a guess? Zero? So now here's what's interesting.
(05:34):
My friends, people I'm still close to today, included a
South Indian Hindu, a Cuban, a Jew, a Mormon, a Catholic,
a Lutheran, and a Nigerian Evangelical. That almost sounds like
the beginning to a joke where they all walked in
a boar. I promise you turkey was not the main
(05:57):
dish at everybody's Thanksgiving. My South Indian Hindi friends family
was vegetarian. None of us talked about the distinctive religious
and ethnic foods we were having on an American feast day.
There's a diversity paradigm that describes this reality. It's called
the melting pot. The idea is that we should all
melt our distinctiveness into the same general goo. Everybody's heard
(06:21):
of this diversity paradigm. I grew up in the eighties
and nineties. This is the paradigm that I grew up with.
For those of you who were born and raised in
the twenty first century, this is ancient history to a
lot of you. In all honesty, you grew up with
a different diversity paradigm. But for those of us who's
formative years when the late twentieth century you had to
(06:43):
have biyani at home, you just didn't talk about it
at school. At school, you just did what everybody else did.
You ate what they ate, You wore what they wore,
You listened to what they listened to. That's the melting Pot.
Let me tell you something. The melting Pot was a
step forward for nineteen seven And I'm being serious when
I say that, right, that's when the term was invented.
(07:06):
It's the title of a play by a guy named
Israel Zangwil, who is a Jewish refugee from Russia and
who witnessed back in Russia very ugly pograms pigrums. What
is that?
Speaker 2 (07:20):
It's I mean, they'd just go around and killing a
bunch of Jews.
Speaker 1 (07:23):
Good programs who witness back in Russia very ugly pograms
against minorities. And he comes here and he says, you
know what, we don't bring our conflicts here. It's actually
a really important thing to consider. Conflicts everywhere should not
pattern our relationships here. The problem with that is should
(07:43):
we not bring something of our of our identity, should
we not be proud of our distinctiveness? So the melting
pot is a step forward if the alternative is conflict
between identity groups. And by the way, what happens long
not long after nineteen oh seven World War One in
Europe tens of means people die in e ethnic national conflicts.
(08:08):
The United States has a lot of ugliness in the
twenty first century, but not that level. The melting pot
is a step forward for that period in time. But
for our period, we need a different metaphor. And what
I want to suggest is the way we think about
American democracy is it's a potluck? Could it save our democracy? Well,
(08:29):
let's discuss, but let's talk for a moment about what
a potluck is. This is again extremely familiar, But I
actually think the best metaphor and the best symbols are
extremely familiar. The big idea of a potluck is that
you want to gather a diverse array of people and
invite them to bring a dish that is distinctive to
their identity and household to a common space. And in
(08:52):
that common space, things work best if there are an
interesting creative combinations between those dishes and enriching conversation between
diverse people. So everything I'm describing as super straightforward, super colliloqual, colloquial, colloquial, thanks,
I have the worst time with that word, super familiar,
and totally magic. This is the everyday magic of American
(09:16):
civic life. Let's break this down. Number one, everyone is
a contributor. So as anybody ever said to someone if
you've hosted a potluck, hey, I know that you are
too marginalized to bring a dish. That's a totally serious question.
Has anyone ever said that everyone else can bring a dish,
but you are too oppressed to bring a dish? No,
(09:40):
Holy smokes, that's a great line. Just think about that.
I'm going to repeat that. Everybody listening need to consider
what this man's saying. The everyday magic of American civic life.
Let's break this down. Number one, everyone is a contributor.
So has anybody ever s I said to someone if
(10:01):
you voted a potluck, hey, I know that you are
too marginalized to bring a dish. Has anyone ever said
that everybody else can bring a dish, but you are
too oppressed to bring a dish. No, The assumption is
everybody can bring a dish. Everybody is a contributor. Everybody's
going to enrich the space of the potluck. Now, people
(10:23):
are aware that it's easier for some folks than others.
If you have a really nice house with a nice
kitchen and plenty of money, it's going to be easier.
If you have a nice car that you can bring
that food in, it's going to be easier. There are
barriers to some people's contributions. We realize that. But the
barriers don't define people. The contributions to find the people.
(10:43):
So that's the first thing. The assumption of a potluck
is that everybody is a contributor. By the way, if
you don't have a kitchen, you show up early and
you help clean the space before the other people come.
Everybody knows they have to contribute. Part one, Part two.
As much as I like Brianni and for whoever has
(11:05):
not had it, I highly suggest it. I don't want
to potluck all of Brianni. And as much as you
might like hummus or falafol or hamburgers or whatever, you
don't want a potluck with just that kind of food.
A potluck is the most delicious, most wonderful, most beautiful
if there's a diverse array of food that shows up,
(11:28):
and if you have a wide variety of contributors. Everyone
knows that, right. So here's the thing. The third thing.
You don't actually just want there to be an a
ray of food. You want people to kind of mix
the food together on their plates. There's nothing better to
potluck than here's somebody say, oh my gosh, I never
(11:48):
knew how awesome this crusty bread recipe from Eastern Europe
would go with this spicy dip from the Middle East.
And you know what we call that America. We call
that a space where people from the four corners of
the earth, praying in different ways, speaking in different tongues,
bringing their dishes from their identities, come to a single
(12:09):
space and build out of it a community that's called America.
Where else do you get this very interesting combination of
people each invited to bring their dish to the table.
Where else do you get those cool combinations? There are
kosher Chinese restaurants in New York. How cool is that?
(12:30):
They just think it's normal. Right. There are Korean tacos
in Chicago. They don't even know it's magical. That's just normal.
People come here and they bring their dishes to the table,
and those dishes are beautiful and creative. What do you
do at a potluck? That's living and talking together? What
(12:50):
else makes a potluck spatial? No mayor, no general, no president,
no governor can command you to do it. It's the ultimate
civic form. Citizen by and by citizens, I mean anybody
who participates in public life can put together their own potlucks.
They create their own spaces. It's a form that we
generate and create for ourselves. And when I ask people
(13:14):
how many of you participated a potluck, virtually every hand
of the room went up. We do this ourselves. We
are the generators of this civil society. So for about
fifteen months after college, every Tuesday night I hosted a potluck.
It started with five to seven people in a group
to like sixty people in this little one and a
(13:35):
half bedroom apartment, this neighborhood between Lincoln Park and Logan
Square in Chicago. And so I have lived this, and
I have to tell you something. The first few potlucks,
I like lost sleep on Monday nights. The put likes
for it was Tuesday nights. I lost sleep on Monday nights.
You want to know why, be like, are the vague
(13:56):
vegans going to be mad? Seriously? Like something could go wrong?
Just think about the million things that could go wrong
in a potluck. And you know what's kind of wild.
It never did. It's possible someone could bring poison, it's true,
but it almost never happens. That's awesome. The entire speech, obviously,
(14:22):
is using potluck and a food as a metaphor that we,
as normal folks, have to not worry about what you
look like, who you pray to, who you love, how
you vote. But the beauty of our democracy, the beauty
of our America, is a melting pot. And mister Patel
(14:45):
here suggests that we quit using the nineteen oh seven
term melting pot and go to a nineteen twenty five
or a twenty twenty five version of that and call
it a potluck. Because everybody enjoys a potlin It's a
combining of cultures in a delicious way that you can
(15:08):
both appreciate and celebrate one another. And over that pot
luck invariably becomes conversation, where when you leave with your
bellies full, you also leave with your soul full, understanding
that our distinctiveness is beautiful and our ability to bring
(15:32):
that distinctiveness together around a meal and conversation to learn
about one another is even more fulfilling than the food itself.
Could a pot luck dinner save our democracy? I would
say it could, Alex.
Speaker 2 (15:48):
I think it could reduce a lot of our tribals,
and that's for sure if we actually had these potluck dinners.
I love his example too, like he actually did this.
He's not just preaching it. But you did this thing
with a couple of friends, and it grew to sixty
people in this smaller part. And imagine if you had
an arby of normal folks doing that too.
Speaker 1 (16:04):
I love that he said, here's what's interesting. My friends,
people I'm still close to today include a South Indian Hindu,
a Cuban, a Jew, a Mormon, a Catholic, a Lutheran,
and a Nigerian evangelical. Assuming that these are some of
his closest friends, I would imagine that group of people
(16:26):
are also close with one another as a group. You
can't get any more diverse than that.
Speaker 2 (16:32):
It's beautiful and way more interesting if we just say
barbecue every day. How boring is that?
Speaker 1 (16:38):
Is that on the potluck thing? There's a place in
Memphis that has barbecue egg rolls and uh.
Speaker 2 (16:45):
And barbicue spaghetti and barbecue spaghetti Italian and yeah, Chinese
Italian and barbecue, good old Southern stuff.
Speaker 1 (16:55):
And I promise you I don't care how you vote,
or how you worship or who you love. If you
and I are sitting around some barbecue spaghetti and barbecue aggrolls,
we can all agree that's pretty damn good. That's shop
talk number fifty two, y'all.
Speaker 2 (17:11):
I'm going to include a plug our next lunch and listen,
hold on, do.
Speaker 1 (17:15):
It just second?
Speaker 2 (17:16):
All right?
Speaker 1 (17:16):
That's that's that's that's number fifty two. Can a pot
luck dinner save our democracy? And I would suggest, both
literally and metaphorically, Ebo Hotels onto something. A pot lug
dinner can save our democracy? Now, Alex, what you got well?
Speaker 2 (17:34):
And you're saying that reminds me of people actually do this,
and you host a potluck dinner that's this interesting and
diverse email us about it.
Speaker 1 (17:41):
You know what, Thanksgiving pot luck dinner would be kind
of cool. That would be Wait, which is where this
generated from?
Speaker 2 (17:47):
And He's right, turkey's good, But it's not like it's
the best food in the world. I mean, there's better
dishes out there.
Speaker 1 (17:52):
I don't know, at least as turkey gravy. When you
put it on turkey and mashed potatoes. I actually look
for it. Really Ah, it's good stuff. Yeah, yeah, all right.
Speaker 2 (18:00):
So the plug is our next live interview in Memphis
our luncheon. Listen June twelfth, Father Mark Hannah, He and
four other civilians helped save fifty people's lives on nine
to eleven. To RSVPN learn more. It is Fathermark dot
Eventwright dot com. And one thing I was actually thinking
to driving up to your office today to do this
is it could be interesting to explain, not explained, but
(18:24):
justify ourselves. We're doing a lot of this stuff in
Memphis because you are here, but if people are interested
in doing this in their cities around the country too.
Some of these live events. Make sure to email me
and we could talk about it and see what's possible.
Speaker 1 (18:37):
But obviously I am more than happy to take a
day and to fly to any city in this country.
Speaker 2 (18:42):
Oh, don't make some commitment that you're not prepared to keep.
Speaker 1 (18:45):
I didn't commit. What I said was I am more
than happy to fly to any city in this country
for any Army member to do a live recorded an interview.
If they can get three hundred people or more there
so that we can actually have an event, I will
do it. I will absolutely go to It's.
Speaker 2 (19:04):
A good challenge. We didn't plan this. You just threw
down the gauntlet.
Speaker 1 (19:07):
Well, I'll do it. If any of you can get
three hundred people to an event for a live recording
of a podcast for someone in your community that is
worthy of being on this show because of the work
that they're doing, and you can put together an event
place with three hundred people more in it, I'll come
and you'll have to do all the audio and video
(19:29):
and everything else, but I'll do it. I will absolutely
do that.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
That's awesome. So email us Bill a normal Folks out
Us or me at Army and Normal Focus out Us.
We need more shop talk ideas too.
Speaker 1 (19:41):
Yeah, what else you got, They'll send a shop talk
I mean I gotta go.
Speaker 2 (19:44):
To work, so yeah, that's funny.
Speaker 1 (19:46):
All right, after you shop Talk number fifty two, let's
put together some potlucks. Hey, I got an idea. Let's
do remote events in other cities with three hundred people
and everybody bring a small dish. Let's do national potlucks.
Speaker 2 (20:02):
That would be a big potluck.
Speaker 1 (20:04):
I don't care. It would be awesome, and my fingers
if someone brings cake.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
It's really respectful if we're going to be sharing these
dishes whatever.
Speaker 1 (20:13):
If y'all are interested, it's open to you. You just
gotta gotta meet us halfway and help us pull it off.
And we'll be there at chop Talk number fifty two.
We'll see you next week.
Host
Bill Courtney
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