March 21, 2025 • 34 mins
In this episode, Karol interviews Salena Zito, a seasoned journalist and author, who shares her unique journey into journalism, her insights on voter sentiment, and the importance of community. Salena recounts her experiences covering national politics, her connection to Pennsylvania, and the assassination attempt of President Trump. The Karol Markowicz Show is part of the Clay Travis & Buck Sexton Podcast Network - new episodes debut every Wednesday & Friday.
Pre-Order Salena's new book HERE
#SalenaZito #journalism #votersentiment #community #Butler #Trump #Pennsylvania #storytelling #lifelessons #worry
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hi, Welcome back, Carol Marcowitz show on iHeartRadio. Clay Travis,
he of the Clay Travis and Buck Sexton podcast network
that this show is on, highlighted a new study about happiness,
and he pointed out that the happiness index has hit
an all time low and that that number is largely
driven by young people.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
The United States overall happiness index, to the extent that
they track, this hit a all time low, and it's
being driven by people under the age of thirty. And
I would bet that it's women under the age of
thirty overwhelmingly who are unhappy. And I think it's hard
not to believe at this point that all of this
(00:46):
isn't directly connected to social media. I mean, if you
go look at the charts overall mental health rates. Now
certainly COVID didn't help, but overall mental health rates just
collapsed about twenty fourteen when social media became prevalent in
everybody's lives. Yeah, and I think we're going to find
out that this is like the nicotine or cigarettes of
(01:08):
our generation, where we allowed these phones and these social
media apps, particularly for young people, to really kind of
lead us astray in terms of our life's pursuit.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Now, he's right that it's the phones. But people who
have been listening to the show for a while know
what I'm going to challenge here. It's not the social media.
There is no social media anymore. It used to be
that teenagers would get depressed because their friends would share
pictures on Facebook or Instagram of the amazing weekend they
(01:38):
had and maybe didn't include them. Or they'd see their
friends living amazing lives, filtered pictures, great vacations, perfect babies,
all of that. That's just not what's happening on the
internet anymore. That's not what the kids are watching. We're
just all watching TV all the time. It might not
be half hour or hour episodes, but these young people
(02:01):
are just scrolling through hours of videos. And I said
this last time, in the last episode about the girl,
the mom wrote in to me about her daughter who
doesn't seem to have a social life, and I said,
you know, we'd recognize depression if I told you someone
watches ten hours of TV a day. But because they
do it in bite size, you know, pieces, and they
(02:22):
carry it around with them on their phone, we don't
see how bad it is. Social media has nothing social
about it, and I think we need to see exactly
what the problem is in order to fix it. We
have to think of it like a little TV we
carry around. We have to understand how damaging it is
to be that distracted all the time. Just imagine when
(02:45):
there were no phones. If every time you were in
an awkward interaction, you just turned your television on. When
you're out, you don't see people taking selfies with their
friends anymore. Instead, you still might see like a full
on photo shoot, hapless man shooting his girlfriend from all
different angles. She's a content creator, fine, but there's nothing
(03:08):
social about that. And look at least her content is
a break from the videos. Instagram, by the way, now
offers bonuses for creator accounts that post photos because so
few of them do that. It would be something else
entirely if young people were still posting pictures of their
lunches or their parties or whatever. But they're not. They're
(03:30):
just zombiefied watching TV all the time. There's no way
happiness levels will increase until we solve that. Thanks for listening.
Coming up next an interview with Selena Zito. Join us
after the break. Welcome back to the Carol Marcowitch Show
on iHeartRadio. My guest today is Selena Zito. Selena is
(03:53):
a Washington Examiner reporter and author of the upcoming book Butler. Hi,
Selena is so nice to talk to you.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
Hi there, how are you?
Speaker 1 (04:02):
We were just talking offline about how insane it is
that we've never met in real life. But I've been
a Selna Zito fan like much of the country for
a long long time now, and I just think you're
fantastic and everything you do is like full of joy
and happiness and you're wonderful. Thank you for coming on.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
Oh, thank you. I'm everybody's grandma.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
No people really, actually everybody's bestie.
Speaker 4 (04:28):
For it's basically the food. Then they maybe read me,
but basically the food. I have to tell your listeners though,
that I thought you gave me a homework assignment and
I obeyed because you told me.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
I don't know how you phrased itel Like I said.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Here are the three questions I ask all my guests,
and my listeners will know that a lot of the time,
the guests won't read the emails, and you'll be able
to tell because they'll just be deer in headlights. When
I ask them kind of, you know, a big question
and like what do you worry about? And they're like
what where did this come from? But Selena sent me
(05:07):
back the answers, which was the cutest thing ever. I said, no, no,
we're going to talk about it on the show and
she said, oh, I thought you gave me a homework assignment,
which she then did. She finished the homework assignment, she
was like, all right, I have homework. What am I
going to do?
Speaker 4 (05:24):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (05:25):
It was late though, Like if it was true homework,
I would have answered it that night, but in my
zeal to be a perfect progressister, I.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Sent it to you the night before.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
It was great. I did not read your answers because
I want to be surprised.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
I on't even remember them.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
So the questions will be brand new either way, right,
brand new? So how did you get into this world?
I know a little bit about your story, but you
really hit the national scene in twenty sixteen writing pieces
that I think nobody else was doing anything close to. You.
Were doing this crazy thing where you went out and
(06:10):
you talked to regular people and ask them what they thought,
and that was really groundbreaking. So tell us about your path.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
So I got into this accidentally, and sort of the
old fashioned way, the way journalists used to be years ago,
at local newspapers where they were members of the community,
and most of them didn't have college degrees, but they
had good writing skills, they had good people instincts, and
they were able to turn a phrase pretty well.
Speaker 4 (06:42):
And that's basically all I had. And I also had
experiences as a hairdresser, as a waitress, and most importantly
as a soccer and football mom and hockey mom. So
you know, I came into the game late. I was
in my mid furies when I went back to work.
(07:04):
I was mostly a stay at a home mom at
that point. And they worked for the local newspaper, the
Pittsburgh Tribune Review. But the owner of the paper's name
was Richard Mellon'scaife. He had a very nationally well known name,
one of the richest men in the country, from a
very old family, the Mellon family, who owned all the
(07:27):
melon banking, and he had a really keen interest in
national news. And I don't know what he saw in me,
but he saw my ability to listen to people and
to be able to tell a decent story. And so
he said, do you want to cover national politics, and
(07:47):
I'm like, all right, and I did, and.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
I learned pretty darn quickly. I was there for twenty years.
I did this for twenty years, covering local and national
politics and culture, and I learned pretty quickly. I think
it was the John Kerry campaign or the maybe it
was the Obama campaign. I can't remember. I knew very
(08:13):
quickly that I did not belong on the campaign bus,
like I just didn't not belong there. I remember calling it.
It happened. Maybe it was Carrie. I don't know, I
can't remember.
Speaker 4 (08:24):
I'm old.
Speaker 6 (08:25):
I just remember calling my boss from a pave phone,
yeah in Scranton, Pennsylvania, saying I can't go on this
bus any longer.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
All I am doing is spending time with other reporters,
and they're all like, I have the same mindset. They're
not from Pennsylvania. They don't kind of understand our quirkiness.
And I'm not having any interaction with voters because they
when you're in the press bus.
Speaker 7 (08:59):
You don't get to talk to people. I'm like, I'm
writing crap. So he said, okay, just come home, and
and in typical Selena fashion, I told the bus to
just keep going without me. And then I was like, oh,
wait a minute, I'm I gonna get know. SAT randomly rent.
Speaker 4 (09:17):
A car, and from that moment on, I only drove
to whatever I was covering.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
And I've driven driven to every state. I've even been
to Alaska. And I used to fly to.
Speaker 4 (09:30):
Events, but flying then became ridiculous because I live in
a city where there's no hub, so therefore you had
to make like thirteen different connecting flights, and you would
miss one of them because one was late.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
And so I just started driving. So when I interviewed
Governor DeSantis, I drove to Florida. But in that stretch,
I got seventeen other really good stories, right and and
and I always take back roads, they don't take turnpikes
or interstates, because that's where you can see how places
(10:08):
have changed for the better or for the worse, and
you can understand why people vote the way they do.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
That is so amazing. I had no I did not
know the driving thing. I always felt like your writing
was you were trying to get to the bottom of
what people really thought and where they really lived. And
you always treat every place with such respect, And I
think that that's you know, so beautiful, but I didn't
know you were driving the back roads to get those stories.
(10:36):
That's incredible.
Speaker 4 (10:38):
My first Jeep had four hundred thousand miles. It was
fourteen years old. I'm on my second one and I
just passed two hundred and seventy thousand. So yeah, but
you know that's where the best stories are. I can't
if I take the interstate. That's no different than flying right.
When you pull over to get gas, it's like the
(11:00):
same gas station and the same McDonald's. And there's nothing
wrong with that. There's no depth of perception of understanding
why people vote the way they do. And that's why
I understood in twenty sixteen and Trump was going to win.
But I actually called this this conservative populist coalition that
(11:22):
was forming in two thousand and six during those mid terms,
and interestingly enough, it was when Republicans were losing to Democrats,
and I was like, what's going on here? And it
was this really interesting intersection where and Rob Emanuel, who
(11:43):
was then in charge of the d Triple C and
recruiting candidates, he picked candidates that were pro life, pro gun,
were fiscally responsible. So they picked candidates they Republicans could
be comfortable voting for In because he understood that Republicans
(12:04):
were pissed off at Republican candidates because they were spreending
like drunken sailors, right, and they had lost their way.
So it was showing me that these coalitions were starting
to shift and that the working class was becoming part
of the Republican Party. That was very early inception, but
it was definitely happening.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
What has been the best part of all this, this
whole crazy journey that you've been taking.
Speaker 4 (12:32):
Oh, all the people I get to me, all the
privilege that I have to interview people where they are,
and really getting a profound sense of what place means
to people and having a sense of place being rooted.
You know, people don't realize, but eight out of ten
people in this eight out of ten people in this
(12:54):
country live within one hundred miles of where they grew up.
Seven ten people live within ten miles of where they
grew So roots matter. So when people don't understand take
my take my state for instance, and.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Her state is Pennsylvania. For anyone who doesn't know.
Speaker 4 (13:17):
Yeah, oh Pennsylvania. So if anybody remembers one of the
last best speeches Joe Biden gave was at the State
of the Union dress in twenty twenty four. It was
arguably his best speech, and it was coherent and it
was to the point, and it was something that had
been lacking with him and leading to that date, and
(13:39):
so people were like, okay. But then he said something
in that speech. He said something about snackflation. And he
was talking about how greedy, uh, these these these uh
snack company owners were, and he pointed to Bob Casey,
who was then the US Senator from Pennsylvania Democrat, said
(14:00):
I'm putting you in charge of these evil, bad people.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
I'm honestly paraphrasing a little bit on made yeah.
Speaker 4 (14:07):
But not really in tone. He was like, you're in
charge of snackflation. Get you know, the all this greed,
And he was sort of putting the blame of inflation
on that. And I'm watching it and my mouth is
wide open. I'm like, wait, what do they not realize
that eighty percent of the snacks consumed in this country
(14:30):
are made in six counties in Pennsylvania. Affect someone's vote. Yeah,
the farmers, the manufacturers, the peoples in the people in
the c suites that live in the nice neighborhoods, to
drive the truck drivers. All of these people are a
coalition of people, and you just called them the bad guy.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Right, I had no idea, that's really sure. It's like
such an interesting point.
Speaker 4 (14:56):
As not mean me, But I know you expect this
much Montumbery County or your county c suite, like living
in a half million dollar home, vote for Kamala Harris
or Joe Biden because that's what sort of the stereotype dictates.
But if you're going after my industry, I don't think so.
(15:18):
I know you think my family's going to vote for you,
I don't think so. So it's those sort of intimate,
granular things that that makes me understand like why my
state is it mattered? But also if you didn't know this,
if you weren't on a back road in York Pennsylvania
(15:40):
and you didn't see snyders potato chips, or if you've
never been to Hershey Park and understand sort of all
that happens in our state, you know that that contributes
to snacks, then you know there was just such a
huge disconnect.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
Right, he had no idea. He was just criticizing you.
Know some ceo. Yeah, some ceo somewhere right.
Speaker 4 (16:07):
You literally look it up on Wikipedia. Snack belt Pennsylvania.
It's fascinating, not that hard.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
Wow. So you're such a champion for Pennsylvania. You clearly
love your state so much. And you know, one of
my best friends considers Pittsburgh like, you know, the undiscovered
or not undiscovered but undervalued American city, which he just
thinks is like the greatest city in the country. I've
never been to Pittsburgh. What makes it so amazing?
Speaker 4 (16:34):
And if you asked me five years ago, I would
say everything but the people. Undeniably, it's the people that
make the city amazing. Unfortunately, the politics in the city
has gotten very weird, uh. And there's been a lot
of anti Semitism, there has been, uh, you know, a
(16:57):
defiance to the Ice Org. There has been Its just
been very ugly, ugly politics. A lot of that has
to do with the Democrats Socialist of America sort of
being backing these far left candidates, right, because we are
a closed state and a closed primary state, and because
(17:22):
people generally that vote in primaries tend to be either
the furthest left or the furthest right of their party.
They have become the leaders in the in the city.
So thinks Summerly is our congresswoman. And so the politics
have have sort of hurt the city a little bit. Right.
(17:43):
We have a homeless problem, we have a crime problem.
But outside of that, my city is you know, it's
it's a beautiful city. It's a very old American city.
It was was literally considered the West uh in the
beginning of found things of our of our country. It's funny,
you know, my family has been in Pennsylvania since sixteen
(18:06):
thirty two, the Scottish shide, not the Italians. Yeah, there
wasn't even in Italy in sixteen thirty two. But the
and and have been in pennsylv in Lake, Pittsburgh and Butler.
That's what made That's what made what happened to me
and Butler are all that more. You know, personal have
been there since the seventeen fifties. I love my city.
(18:29):
I just wish that it would clean up as app We're.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Going to take a quick break and be right back
on the Carol Marco It Show. So what happened to
you in Butler? For anybody who doesn't.
Speaker 4 (18:40):
Know, So, yeah, wait, y'all need to buy my book.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
Yeah, the book is called Butler, and when.
Speaker 4 (18:45):
It's coming out, you can pre order it to re
order it now. So I was four feet away from
the President when he was shot at in Butler. It
was an interesting day, as any journalist knows when you go.
When you when you have certain things planned for a day,
including an interview, there's a seventy percent chance it's not
(19:08):
going to happen. Sure right, like your day's just not
going to go the way it planned, and you have
to be ready at cord of it.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (19:17):
I was supposed to interview President Trump that day, July thirteenth,
in Butler, and it was supposed to be five minute
interview right before the rally, and about three hours before
he got there, I get a text saying, Hey, change
of plans, and so I immediately think, I it's not going
to happen, But they said no, can you interview them
(19:38):
for five minutes after the rally? I said bought. And
then about an hour before President Trump gets there, I
get a text saying, so, hey, President Trump really doesn't
want you to be like five minute interview. Want to
fly with him to Bedminster to the interview. On the plane,
I'm like, well, I didn't have out on my bingo card, right,
(20:01):
you know, yeah, I had my daughter with me. She's
a photo journalist, so she was gonna do the photos.
So she you know, has four kids. Her husband was
with her. There's a reason why her husband was with there.
It was one hundred and three degrees that day. We
made him carry everything, so we're like, okay, that's what
(20:23):
we're gonna do. And about two minutes before, no, about
five minutes before President Trump's about to go on stage,
this campaign advance man grab me and said it's go time.
I'm like, oh my god, everything's changed again. Like follow
him through this like narrow little causeway. We go in
(20:45):
the back of the stage, there's President Trump. It's called
a clickroom. A clickroom is where generally the president will
meet with like local people. A couple people grabbed from
the crowd and law enforcement and then their photo taking
with the president. They put me at the end of
the line, the three of us at the end of
the line, and I said, well, where are we doing
(21:07):
this interview? And the poor guys his name was Michelle goes,
I actually don't know. He's let me go ask the president.
He goes, around. There's a big curt and he goes
around and uh, he comes back. It's just like the
very sheepishly says, he just wanted to say, Hi, We're
(21:28):
still going to Bedminster. I'm like, okay, right, so again
things are changed. I go around and and we have
this thing between us. He always is like, say, you know,
best hair in America? Yeah, And I get so embarrassed
because then everybody is staring at me, like, and I'm thinking,
is my hair good? I've been in the amenity for
(21:50):
like five hours. I don't I hear you?
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Girl?
Speaker 4 (21:53):
Yeah, my curly Italian hair, like we can't keep it straight. Yeah.
So he asked about my great children and then set
me on my way. So at this point he can't
get us back to the press riser where the rest
of the press are, because that little causeway that we
were sent through was now closed off. So he goes, okay,
(22:14):
since you're going right after the rally with the President,
let's put you in the buffer. And the buffer is
is sort of a well mostly used by security that
separates the president from the crowd and also by photo
journalists because just going to well follow him around as
he goes out on the stage and then get over
(22:35):
on the far side. Okay, we're all taking photos. My daughter,
my son in Loave became We're what. He comes out,
he waves to the crowd. He then goes up to
the podium. And you know, if you've never been to
a Trump rally, you don't understand. But the relationship between
(22:57):
him and the people that are attending it is very transactional.
He feeds off of them, they feed off of him.
And this is in a positive way. This is a
very sort of aspirational way. People believe they are part
of something bigger than themselves, and Chump intuitively understands that
he is as well. He's part of it. He's part
(23:19):
of them. It's not just about him, it's about everybody there.
So because of that, he never looks away from the crowd.
He'll move his he'll move his body and look at
different size, like turn around and look at crowds around.
Speaker 3 (23:34):
Right.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
It's not like he has notes or anything.
Speaker 4 (23:36):
Yeah, so two things happen simultaneously that never happened. He
brings a chart down, I'm like, what is he? Ross
Perot like, he never has a chart? Amazing, And then
he turns away from the crowd, and he never does that.
And at that moment, I hear pop pop pop pop.
(24:01):
The bullets fly right over. I watch him go down,
but he takes himself down. I note that, like it's
really weird. You know how they always say things happen
in slow motion, They absolutely do. Really, I can see
him go down. I can see him hold his ear.
I see the Secret Service go around him. You remember,
I'm like four feet away from him.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
At this point. And is your daughter snapping pictures?
Speaker 4 (24:25):
My daughter? Yeah, we're We don't stop working until the
second four bullets go by and Michelle takes us down.
The campaign press guy, He's amazing. He's my hero, he
Michelle Picard. I will love him forever. He was so
protective of all of us. And I can I can
(24:48):
hear the whole conversation he is having with the Secret Service,
and you know, like about when to go up, you
know that the shooter is dead, Like you can hear
them talking, you can hear their ray. I can hear
the radio's just because of how close you am, and
(25:08):
I can. It was a little bit funny. It's funnier now.
It was a little bit funny in the moment, and
hear him like they want him to get up and
wanted me to go. But he's like basically saying, I
need to put my damn shoes on right, like his
someone had knocked his shoes off, and and I hear
(25:29):
one agent sigh like okay, all right, like okay, put
your shoes on right.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
But they get his shoes off. That's so weird.
Speaker 4 (25:39):
And then he comes off the stage. He goes right
past me. There is an agent that holds a gun
right in our heads as he's going past, because they
still don't know what. And so I did not go
to Bedminster that day, no, obviously. But he calls me
the next morning, right and early, and before I could
(26:00):
say hello, like I didn't even get my hello out.
So are you okay? Is Shannon and Mike okay? I'm
like and I felt like saying, are you freaking kidding me?
You do you've just been shot?
Speaker 1 (26:14):
Yeah, maybe focus on yourself.
Speaker 4 (26:16):
Yeah. We would ended up talking, I believe seven different
times that day. You called me back a lot of
times because he kept getting interrupted obviously obviously, yeah, but
also just talking about faith, about him making that decision,
like all of that's all details of those conversations are
(26:38):
in the book.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
I cannot wait to read this because he seems like
a changed person after.
Speaker 4 (26:43):
He's probably changed. Yeah, as someone that has interviewed him
nineteen times, he is definitely a changed hersent. And there's
really some poignant moments with him and I after that
at different places. Is they're really powerful. But but the
book also really gets into like everybody was reading things
(27:10):
in other newspapers and thinking one thing might happen, and
I kept writing notes, not you'll need to come to Pennsylvania.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
Right.
Speaker 4 (27:20):
It was clear to me that that that she stood
no chance. Biden definitely didn't stand a chance. Probably, I mean,
I will say this unequivocally, would have lost worse than
she did. Really, it was clear to me that she
was not gonna win. She she had no cultural connection to.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
The voters here and that or any kind of connection
I think to any voters she was impossible to really
get through to.
Speaker 4 (27:46):
Yeah. So, and and you'll find out in the book
the first the forward in the book, not the forwards,
the first chapter, you'll find out that there was another
president that was shot in Butler. And it is really
intense and it's really really.
Speaker 1 (28:07):
Interesting, shocking. I can't wait to read it, Butler, and
when does it come out again?
Speaker 4 (28:12):
That comes out of July eighth.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
But pre order, pre order preorders are important like this, Yeah,
it's the main thing. Everybody pre orders Lena's book. It's
going to be amazing. You could tell by the story
she just told how incredible a storyteller she is. And
I just can't wait to read it. So a question
that I ask all of my guests is what do
(28:34):
you worry about?
Speaker 4 (28:37):
So, as I said in my homework sign, yeah, I
tend not to work really yeah, I mean it doesn't
kind of.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
Italian doesn't worry.
Speaker 4 (28:48):
Well, here's why you don't worry, because it has no power.
Worry has absolutely no power. It drains you. It can't
do Worry can do nothing to change circumstances. It is
just a waste of energy. If you want to, if
you have something that's really sort of concerning you, or
(29:11):
a life struggle that you're trying to work your way through,
or even if it's just an issue with your child
or your parents or your family or your career, the
best thing to do is go outside and take a walk.
And if faith is important to you, prayer is something
that has often gotten me through And by the way,
(29:33):
ever get everything I ask for. When I pray, I
probably only get a tense But prayer is really really
a great way or being reflective is a great way
to uplift that stress, and it helps you understand that
there are some things you just don't have control over,
and it helps you think about better ways to manage it.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
What advice would you give your sixteen year old self?
What does sixteen year old Selena need to know?
Speaker 4 (30:04):
All the things you're going to fail at, don't worry
about it. They end up being the things that make
you successful.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
What do you What have you failed at?
Speaker 4 (30:13):
Oh? I've a fired so many times?
Speaker 1 (30:16):
Really, just I see you as like this beloved writer.
Like I was thinking about this before our interview, Like
the right is very fractured, and there's a lot of
like groups or clicks or whatever, and you just kind
of transcend all of that. And so it's surprising to
me that you failed at anything.
Speaker 4 (30:38):
Oh, that's because I didn't belong there. You have. We
have to recognize failures aren't about not trying hard enough.
Failures about it not being a good fit. It's sort
of like going on a date with the euro Say
you're a woman and you meet the perfect guy, right,
and you like you know you, you get along and
(31:01):
on paper he's great. On paper, you're great. But it
doesn't work out. And it's not because either were bad.
It's because it wasn't a good fit. He's in corporate
America for two jobs and I was terrible at it.
And it was not nothing to do with not working
really hard, right, I was just really really bad. But
(31:24):
where I learned so much, and I think what makes
me a good writer is observation skills. I have always
been a people watcher and it has taught me so much.
But also being a waitress, being a hairdresser, being a
hockey mom, soccer mom, football mom, my kids played every
(31:45):
cross mom, my kids played every sport imaginable.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
Yeah, I have one of those.
Speaker 4 (31:51):
Yeah. And also understanding place in the world where you
are and where you're from. A respect for a place,
no matter where you no matter where you find yourself,
helps you become a better writer.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
I love that. I love everything you do. She's so fantastic.
Selena Zito, leave us here with your best tip for
my listeners on how they can improve their lives. Well,
I'm gonna go one of the three questions, Selena, you
wrote out an answer, I can go find you right out.
Speaker 4 (32:26):
An answer, and I go back to my second answer. Okay,
how do you improve your lives? Take a little care
of yourself. I'm telling you nothing is better than either
a good cup of coffee or glass of water or
whatever your drink of choices shouldn't be alcohol in the morning.
And take a walk. Yeah, a fifteen minute walk you
(32:46):
walk in your house like it gets your endorphins going, right.
As What's your Name famously said in What's the Movie
where she becomes a lawyer.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
I think legally blind. I felt like I knew where
you were going with this reason. With food, your endorphins.
Speaker 4 (33:06):
If you're if you're working, you're endor happy.
Speaker 1 (33:08):
People don't kill people.
Speaker 4 (33:09):
Yeah, And so taking that walk, you know, in the
first thing in the morning, even if your kids are
around the how do circuits around your house, whatever you
need to do, get get those juices flowing. It helps
your mind be clear and had its Exercise is never bad.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
That's right, hear. I wouldn't take the chance myself, but yeah,
that would be my best advice. I love it. She
is Selena Zito. She's amazing. Pre Order her new book, Butler.
It's going to be out in July, but pre order
it right now so you have it the day it
comes out. Thank you so much, Selena Zito.
Speaker 4 (33:50):
Thank you so much for having me. This is fun.
Speaker 1 (33:53):
Thanks so much for joining us on the Carol Markho
would show. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
Hi, Welcome back, Carol Marcowitz show on iHeartRadio. Clay Travis,
he of the Clay Travis and Buck Sexton podcast network
that this show is on, highlighted a new study about happiness,
and he pointed out that the happiness index has hit
an all time low and that that number is largely
driven by young people.
Speaker 2 (00:25):
The United States overall happiness index, to the extent that
they track, this hit a all time low, and it's
being driven by people under the age of thirty. And
I would bet that it's women under the age of
thirty overwhelmingly who are unhappy. And I think it's hard
not to believe at this point that all of this
(00:46):
isn't directly connected to social media. I mean, if you
go look at the charts overall mental health rates. Now
certainly COVID didn't help, but overall mental health rates just
collapsed about twenty fourteen when social media became prevalent in
everybody's lives. Yeah, and I think we're going to find
out that this is like the nicotine or cigarettes of
(01:08):
our generation, where we allowed these phones and these social
media apps, particularly for young people, to really kind of
lead us astray in terms of our life's pursuit.
Speaker 1 (01:17):
Now, he's right that it's the phones. But people who
have been listening to the show for a while know
what I'm going to challenge here. It's not the social media.
There is no social media anymore. It used to be
that teenagers would get depressed because their friends would share
pictures on Facebook or Instagram of the amazing weekend they
(01:38):
had and maybe didn't include them. Or they'd see their
friends living amazing lives, filtered pictures, great vacations, perfect babies,
all of that. That's just not what's happening on the
internet anymore. That's not what the kids are watching. We're
just all watching TV all the time. It might not
be half hour or hour episodes, but these young people
(02:01):
are just scrolling through hours of videos. And I said
this last time, in the last episode about the girl,
the mom wrote in to me about her daughter who
doesn't seem to have a social life, and I said,
you know, we'd recognize depression if I told you someone
watches ten hours of TV a day. But because they
do it in bite size, you know, pieces, and they
(02:22):
carry it around with them on their phone, we don't
see how bad it is. Social media has nothing social
about it, and I think we need to see exactly
what the problem is in order to fix it. We
have to think of it like a little TV we
carry around. We have to understand how damaging it is
to be that distracted all the time. Just imagine when
(02:45):
there were no phones. If every time you were in
an awkward interaction, you just turned your television on. When
you're out, you don't see people taking selfies with their
friends anymore. Instead, you still might see like a full
on photo shoot, hapless man shooting his girlfriend from all
different angles. She's a content creator, fine, but there's nothing
(03:08):
social about that. And look at least her content is
a break from the videos. Instagram, by the way, now
offers bonuses for creator accounts that post photos because so
few of them do that. It would be something else
entirely if young people were still posting pictures of their
lunches or their parties or whatever. But they're not. They're
(03:30):
just zombiefied watching TV all the time. There's no way
happiness levels will increase until we solve that. Thanks for listening.
Coming up next an interview with Selena Zito. Join us
after the break. Welcome back to the Carol Marcowitch Show
on iHeartRadio. My guest today is Selena Zito. Selena is
(03:53):
a Washington Examiner reporter and author of the upcoming book Butler. Hi,
Selena is so nice to talk to you.
Speaker 3 (04:01):
Hi there, how are you?
Speaker 1 (04:02):
We were just talking offline about how insane it is
that we've never met in real life. But I've been
a Selna Zito fan like much of the country for
a long long time now, and I just think you're
fantastic and everything you do is like full of joy
and happiness and you're wonderful. Thank you for coming on.
Speaker 3 (04:22):
Oh, thank you. I'm everybody's grandma.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
No people really, actually everybody's bestie.
Speaker 4 (04:28):
For it's basically the food. Then they maybe read me,
but basically the food. I have to tell your listeners though,
that I thought you gave me a homework assignment and
I obeyed because you told me.
Speaker 3 (04:42):
I don't know how you phrased itel Like I said.
Speaker 1 (04:45):
Here are the three questions I ask all my guests,
and my listeners will know that a lot of the time,
the guests won't read the emails, and you'll be able
to tell because they'll just be deer in headlights. When
I ask them kind of, you know, a big question
and like what do you worry about? And they're like
what where did this come from? But Selena sent me
(05:07):
back the answers, which was the cutest thing ever. I said, no, no,
we're going to talk about it on the show and
she said, oh, I thought you gave me a homework assignment,
which she then did. She finished the homework assignment, she
was like, all right, I have homework. What am I
going to do?
Speaker 4 (05:24):
Yeah?
Speaker 5 (05:25):
It was late though, Like if it was true homework,
I would have answered it that night, but in my
zeal to be a perfect progressister, I.
Speaker 3 (05:39):
Sent it to you the night before.
Speaker 1 (05:43):
It was great. I did not read your answers because
I want to be surprised.
Speaker 3 (05:46):
I on't even remember them.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
So the questions will be brand new either way, right,
brand new? So how did you get into this world?
I know a little bit about your story, but you
really hit the national scene in twenty sixteen writing pieces
that I think nobody else was doing anything close to. You.
Were doing this crazy thing where you went out and
(06:10):
you talked to regular people and ask them what they thought,
and that was really groundbreaking. So tell us about your path.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
So I got into this accidentally, and sort of the
old fashioned way, the way journalists used to be years ago,
at local newspapers where they were members of the community,
and most of them didn't have college degrees, but they
had good writing skills, they had good people instincts, and
they were able to turn a phrase pretty well.
Speaker 4 (06:42):
And that's basically all I had. And I also had
experiences as a hairdresser, as a waitress, and most importantly
as a soccer and football mom and hockey mom. So
you know, I came into the game late. I was
in my mid furies when I went back to work.
(07:04):
I was mostly a stay at a home mom at
that point. And they worked for the local newspaper, the
Pittsburgh Tribune Review. But the owner of the paper's name
was Richard Mellon'scaife. He had a very nationally well known name,
one of the richest men in the country, from a
very old family, the Mellon family, who owned all the
(07:27):
melon banking, and he had a really keen interest in
national news. And I don't know what he saw in me,
but he saw my ability to listen to people and
to be able to tell a decent story. And so
he said, do you want to cover national politics, and
(07:47):
I'm like, all right, and I did, and.
Speaker 3 (07:51):
I learned pretty darn quickly. I was there for twenty years.
I did this for twenty years, covering local and national
politics and culture, and I learned pretty quickly. I think
it was the John Kerry campaign or the maybe it
was the Obama campaign. I can't remember. I knew very
(08:13):
quickly that I did not belong on the campaign bus,
like I just didn't not belong there. I remember calling it.
It happened. Maybe it was Carrie. I don't know, I
can't remember.
Speaker 4 (08:24):
I'm old.
Speaker 6 (08:25):
I just remember calling my boss from a pave phone,
yeah in Scranton, Pennsylvania, saying I can't go on this
bus any longer.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
All I am doing is spending time with other reporters,
and they're all like, I have the same mindset. They're
not from Pennsylvania. They don't kind of understand our quirkiness.
And I'm not having any interaction with voters because they
when you're in the press bus.
Speaker 7 (08:59):
You don't get to talk to people. I'm like, I'm
writing crap. So he said, okay, just come home, and
and in typical Selena fashion, I told the bus to
just keep going without me. And then I was like, oh,
wait a minute, I'm I gonna get know. SAT randomly rent.
Speaker 4 (09:17):
A car, and from that moment on, I only drove
to whatever I was covering.
Speaker 3 (09:22):
And I've driven driven to every state. I've even been
to Alaska. And I used to fly to.
Speaker 4 (09:30):
Events, but flying then became ridiculous because I live in
a city where there's no hub, so therefore you had
to make like thirteen different connecting flights, and you would
miss one of them because one was late.
Speaker 3 (09:44):
And so I just started driving. So when I interviewed
Governor DeSantis, I drove to Florida. But in that stretch,
I got seventeen other really good stories, right and and
and I always take back roads, they don't take turnpikes
or interstates, because that's where you can see how places
(10:08):
have changed for the better or for the worse, and
you can understand why people vote the way they do.
Speaker 1 (10:14):
That is so amazing. I had no I did not
know the driving thing. I always felt like your writing
was you were trying to get to the bottom of
what people really thought and where they really lived. And
you always treat every place with such respect, And I
think that that's you know, so beautiful, but I didn't
know you were driving the back roads to get those stories.
(10:36):
That's incredible.
Speaker 4 (10:38):
My first Jeep had four hundred thousand miles. It was
fourteen years old. I'm on my second one and I
just passed two hundred and seventy thousand. So yeah, but
you know that's where the best stories are. I can't
if I take the interstate. That's no different than flying right.
When you pull over to get gas, it's like the
(11:00):
same gas station and the same McDonald's. And there's nothing
wrong with that. There's no depth of perception of understanding
why people vote the way they do. And that's why
I understood in twenty sixteen and Trump was going to win.
But I actually called this this conservative populist coalition that
(11:22):
was forming in two thousand and six during those mid terms,
and interestingly enough, it was when Republicans were losing to Democrats,
and I was like, what's going on here? And it
was this really interesting intersection where and Rob Emanuel, who
(11:43):
was then in charge of the d Triple C and
recruiting candidates, he picked candidates that were pro life, pro gun,
were fiscally responsible. So they picked candidates they Republicans could
be comfortable voting for In because he understood that Republicans
(12:04):
were pissed off at Republican candidates because they were spreending
like drunken sailors, right, and they had lost their way.
So it was showing me that these coalitions were starting
to shift and that the working class was becoming part
of the Republican Party. That was very early inception, but
it was definitely happening.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
What has been the best part of all this, this
whole crazy journey that you've been taking.
Speaker 4 (12:32):
Oh, all the people I get to me, all the
privilege that I have to interview people where they are,
and really getting a profound sense of what place means
to people and having a sense of place being rooted.
You know, people don't realize, but eight out of ten
people in this eight out of ten people in this
(12:54):
country live within one hundred miles of where they grew up.
Seven ten people live within ten miles of where they
grew So roots matter. So when people don't understand take
my take my state for instance, and.
Speaker 1 (13:14):
Her state is Pennsylvania. For anyone who doesn't know.
Speaker 4 (13:17):
Yeah, oh Pennsylvania. So if anybody remembers one of the
last best speeches Joe Biden gave was at the State
of the Union dress in twenty twenty four. It was
arguably his best speech, and it was coherent and it
was to the point, and it was something that had
been lacking with him and leading to that date, and
(13:39):
so people were like, okay. But then he said something
in that speech. He said something about snackflation. And he
was talking about how greedy, uh, these these these uh
snack company owners were, and he pointed to Bob Casey,
who was then the US Senator from Pennsylvania Democrat, said
(14:00):
I'm putting you in charge of these evil, bad people.
Speaker 1 (14:03):
I'm honestly paraphrasing a little bit on made yeah.
Speaker 4 (14:07):
But not really in tone. He was like, you're in
charge of snackflation. Get you know, the all this greed,
And he was sort of putting the blame of inflation
on that. And I'm watching it and my mouth is
wide open. I'm like, wait, what do they not realize
that eighty percent of the snacks consumed in this country
(14:30):
are made in six counties in Pennsylvania. Affect someone's vote. Yeah,
the farmers, the manufacturers, the peoples in the people in
the c suites that live in the nice neighborhoods, to
drive the truck drivers. All of these people are a
coalition of people, and you just called them the bad guy.
Speaker 1 (14:51):
Right, I had no idea, that's really sure. It's like
such an interesting point.
Speaker 4 (14:56):
As not mean me, But I know you expect this
much Montumbery County or your county c suite, like living
in a half million dollar home, vote for Kamala Harris
or Joe Biden because that's what sort of the stereotype dictates.
But if you're going after my industry, I don't think so.
(15:18):
I know you think my family's going to vote for you,
I don't think so. So it's those sort of intimate,
granular things that that makes me understand like why my
state is it mattered? But also if you didn't know this,
if you weren't on a back road in York Pennsylvania
(15:40):
and you didn't see snyders potato chips, or if you've
never been to Hershey Park and understand sort of all
that happens in our state, you know that that contributes
to snacks, then you know there was just such a
huge disconnect.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
Right, he had no idea. He was just criticizing you.
Know some ceo. Yeah, some ceo somewhere right.
Speaker 4 (16:07):
You literally look it up on Wikipedia. Snack belt Pennsylvania.
It's fascinating, not that hard.
Speaker 1 (16:13):
Wow. So you're such a champion for Pennsylvania. You clearly
love your state so much. And you know, one of
my best friends considers Pittsburgh like, you know, the undiscovered
or not undiscovered but undervalued American city, which he just
thinks is like the greatest city in the country. I've
never been to Pittsburgh. What makes it so amazing?
Speaker 4 (16:34):
And if you asked me five years ago, I would
say everything but the people. Undeniably, it's the people that
make the city amazing. Unfortunately, the politics in the city
has gotten very weird, uh. And there's been a lot
of anti Semitism, there has been, uh, you know, a
(16:57):
defiance to the Ice Org. There has been Its just
been very ugly, ugly politics. A lot of that has
to do with the Democrats Socialist of America sort of
being backing these far left candidates, right, because we are
a closed state and a closed primary state, and because
(17:22):
people generally that vote in primaries tend to be either
the furthest left or the furthest right of their party.
They have become the leaders in the in the city.
So thinks Summerly is our congresswoman. And so the politics
have have sort of hurt the city a little bit. Right.
(17:43):
We have a homeless problem, we have a crime problem.
But outside of that, my city is you know, it's
it's a beautiful city. It's a very old American city.
It was was literally considered the West uh in the
beginning of found things of our of our country. It's funny,
you know, my family has been in Pennsylvania since sixteen
(18:06):
thirty two, the Scottish shide, not the Italians. Yeah, there
wasn't even in Italy in sixteen thirty two. But the
and and have been in pennsylv in Lake, Pittsburgh and Butler.
That's what made That's what made what happened to me
and Butler are all that more. You know, personal have
been there since the seventeen fifties. I love my city.
(18:29):
I just wish that it would clean up as app We're.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
Going to take a quick break and be right back
on the Carol Marco It Show. So what happened to
you in Butler? For anybody who doesn't.
Speaker 4 (18:40):
Know, So, yeah, wait, y'all need to buy my book.
Speaker 1 (18:43):
Yeah, the book is called Butler, and when.
Speaker 4 (18:45):
It's coming out, you can pre order it to re
order it now. So I was four feet away from
the President when he was shot at in Butler. It
was an interesting day, as any journalist knows when you go.
When you when you have certain things planned for a day,
including an interview, there's a seventy percent chance it's not
(19:08):
going to happen. Sure right, like your day's just not
going to go the way it planned, and you have
to be ready at cord of it.
Speaker 1 (19:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (19:17):
I was supposed to interview President Trump that day, July thirteenth,
in Butler, and it was supposed to be five minute
interview right before the rally, and about three hours before
he got there, I get a text saying, Hey, change
of plans, and so I immediately think, I it's not going
to happen, But they said no, can you interview them
(19:38):
for five minutes after the rally? I said bought. And
then about an hour before President Trump gets there, I
get a text saying, so, hey, President Trump really doesn't
want you to be like five minute interview. Want to
fly with him to Bedminster to the interview. On the plane,
I'm like, well, I didn't have out on my bingo card, right,
(20:01):
you know, yeah, I had my daughter with me. She's
a photo journalist, so she was gonna do the photos.
So she you know, has four kids. Her husband was
with her. There's a reason why her husband was with there.
It was one hundred and three degrees that day. We
made him carry everything, so we're like, okay, that's what
(20:23):
we're gonna do. And about two minutes before, no, about
five minutes before President Trump's about to go on stage,
this campaign advance man grab me and said it's go time.
I'm like, oh my god, everything's changed again. Like follow
him through this like narrow little causeway. We go in
(20:45):
the back of the stage, there's President Trump. It's called
a clickroom. A clickroom is where generally the president will
meet with like local people. A couple people grabbed from
the crowd and law enforcement and then their photo taking
with the president. They put me at the end of
the line, the three of us at the end of
the line, and I said, well, where are we doing
(21:07):
this interview? And the poor guys his name was Michelle goes,
I actually don't know. He's let me go ask the president.
He goes, around. There's a big curt and he goes
around and uh, he comes back. It's just like the
very sheepishly says, he just wanted to say, Hi, We're
(21:28):
still going to Bedminster. I'm like, okay, right, so again
things are changed. I go around and and we have
this thing between us. He always is like, say, you know,
best hair in America? Yeah, And I get so embarrassed
because then everybody is staring at me, like, and I'm thinking,
is my hair good? I've been in the amenity for
(21:50):
like five hours. I don't I hear you?
Speaker 1 (21:52):
Girl?
Speaker 4 (21:53):
Yeah, my curly Italian hair, like we can't keep it straight. Yeah.
So he asked about my great children and then set
me on my way. So at this point he can't
get us back to the press riser where the rest
of the press are, because that little causeway that we
were sent through was now closed off. So he goes, okay,
(22:14):
since you're going right after the rally with the President,
let's put you in the buffer. And the buffer is
is sort of a well mostly used by security that
separates the president from the crowd and also by photo
journalists because just going to well follow him around as
he goes out on the stage and then get over
(22:35):
on the far side. Okay, we're all taking photos. My daughter,
my son in Loave became We're what. He comes out,
he waves to the crowd. He then goes up to
the podium. And you know, if you've never been to
a Trump rally, you don't understand. But the relationship between
(22:57):
him and the people that are attending it is very transactional.
He feeds off of them, they feed off of him.
And this is in a positive way. This is a
very sort of aspirational way. People believe they are part
of something bigger than themselves, and Chump intuitively understands that
he is as well. He's part of it. He's part
(23:19):
of them. It's not just about him, it's about everybody there.
So because of that, he never looks away from the crowd.
He'll move his he'll move his body and look at
different size, like turn around and look at crowds around.
Speaker 3 (23:34):
Right.
Speaker 1 (23:34):
It's not like he has notes or anything.
Speaker 4 (23:36):
Yeah, so two things happen simultaneously that never happened. He
brings a chart down, I'm like, what is he? Ross
Perot like, he never has a chart? Amazing, And then
he turns away from the crowd, and he never does that.
And at that moment, I hear pop pop pop pop.
(24:01):
The bullets fly right over. I watch him go down,
but he takes himself down. I note that, like it's
really weird. You know how they always say things happen
in slow motion, They absolutely do. Really, I can see
him go down. I can see him hold his ear.
I see the Secret Service go around him. You remember,
I'm like four feet away from him.
Speaker 1 (24:21):
At this point. And is your daughter snapping pictures?
Speaker 4 (24:25):
My daughter? Yeah, we're We don't stop working until the
second four bullets go by and Michelle takes us down.
The campaign press guy, He's amazing. He's my hero, he
Michelle Picard. I will love him forever. He was so
protective of all of us. And I can I can
(24:48):
hear the whole conversation he is having with the Secret Service,
and you know, like about when to go up, you
know that the shooter is dead, Like you can hear
them talking, you can hear their ray. I can hear
the radio's just because of how close you am, and
(25:08):
I can. It was a little bit funny. It's funnier now.
It was a little bit funny in the moment, and
hear him like they want him to get up and
wanted me to go. But he's like basically saying, I
need to put my damn shoes on right, like his
someone had knocked his shoes off, and and I hear
(25:29):
one agent sigh like okay, all right, like okay, put
your shoes on right.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
But they get his shoes off. That's so weird.
Speaker 4 (25:39):
And then he comes off the stage. He goes right
past me. There is an agent that holds a gun
right in our heads as he's going past, because they
still don't know what. And so I did not go
to Bedminster that day, no, obviously. But he calls me
the next morning, right and early, and before I could
(26:00):
say hello, like I didn't even get my hello out.
So are you okay? Is Shannon and Mike okay? I'm
like and I felt like saying, are you freaking kidding me?
You do you've just been shot?
Speaker 1 (26:14):
Yeah, maybe focus on yourself.
Speaker 4 (26:16):
Yeah. We would ended up talking, I believe seven different
times that day. You called me back a lot of
times because he kept getting interrupted obviously obviously, yeah, but
also just talking about faith, about him making that decision,
like all of that's all details of those conversations are
(26:38):
in the book.
Speaker 1 (26:40):
I cannot wait to read this because he seems like
a changed person after.
Speaker 4 (26:43):
He's probably changed. Yeah, as someone that has interviewed him
nineteen times, he is definitely a changed hersent. And there's
really some poignant moments with him and I after that
at different places. Is they're really powerful. But but the
book also really gets into like everybody was reading things
(27:10):
in other newspapers and thinking one thing might happen, and
I kept writing notes, not you'll need to come to Pennsylvania.
Speaker 1 (27:19):
Right.
Speaker 4 (27:20):
It was clear to me that that that she stood
no chance. Biden definitely didn't stand a chance. Probably, I mean,
I will say this unequivocally, would have lost worse than
she did. Really, it was clear to me that she
was not gonna win. She she had no cultural connection to.
Speaker 1 (27:38):
The voters here and that or any kind of connection
I think to any voters she was impossible to really
get through to.
Speaker 4 (27:46):
Yeah. So, and and you'll find out in the book
the first the forward in the book, not the forwards,
the first chapter, you'll find out that there was another
president that was shot in Butler. And it is really
intense and it's really really.
Speaker 1 (28:07):
Interesting, shocking. I can't wait to read it, Butler, and
when does it come out again?
Speaker 4 (28:12):
That comes out of July eighth.
Speaker 1 (28:14):
But pre order, pre order preorders are important like this, Yeah,
it's the main thing. Everybody pre orders Lena's book. It's
going to be amazing. You could tell by the story
she just told how incredible a storyteller she is. And
I just can't wait to read it. So a question
that I ask all of my guests is what do
(28:34):
you worry about?
Speaker 4 (28:37):
So, as I said in my homework sign, yeah, I
tend not to work really yeah, I mean it doesn't
kind of.
Speaker 1 (28:46):
Italian doesn't worry.
Speaker 4 (28:48):
Well, here's why you don't worry, because it has no power.
Worry has absolutely no power. It drains you. It can't
do Worry can do nothing to change circumstances. It is
just a waste of energy. If you want to, if
you have something that's really sort of concerning you, or
(29:11):
a life struggle that you're trying to work your way through,
or even if it's just an issue with your child
or your parents or your family or your career, the
best thing to do is go outside and take a walk.
And if faith is important to you, prayer is something
that has often gotten me through And by the way,
(29:33):
ever get everything I ask for. When I pray, I
probably only get a tense But prayer is really really
a great way or being reflective is a great way
to uplift that stress, and it helps you understand that
there are some things you just don't have control over,
and it helps you think about better ways to manage it.
Speaker 1 (29:57):
What advice would you give your sixteen year old self?
What does sixteen year old Selena need to know?
Speaker 4 (30:04):
All the things you're going to fail at, don't worry
about it. They end up being the things that make
you successful.
Speaker 1 (30:10):
What do you What have you failed at?
Speaker 4 (30:13):
Oh? I've a fired so many times?
Speaker 1 (30:16):
Really, just I see you as like this beloved writer.
Like I was thinking about this before our interview, Like
the right is very fractured, and there's a lot of
like groups or clicks or whatever, and you just kind
of transcend all of that. And so it's surprising to
me that you failed at anything.
Speaker 4 (30:38):
Oh, that's because I didn't belong there. You have. We
have to recognize failures aren't about not trying hard enough.
Failures about it not being a good fit. It's sort
of like going on a date with the euro Say
you're a woman and you meet the perfect guy, right,
and you like you know you, you get along and
(31:01):
on paper he's great. On paper, you're great. But it
doesn't work out. And it's not because either were bad.
It's because it wasn't a good fit. He's in corporate
America for two jobs and I was terrible at it.
And it was not nothing to do with not working
really hard, right, I was just really really bad. But
(31:24):
where I learned so much, and I think what makes
me a good writer is observation skills. I have always
been a people watcher and it has taught me so much.
But also being a waitress, being a hairdresser, being a
hockey mom, soccer mom, football mom, my kids played every
(31:45):
cross mom, my kids played every sport imaginable.
Speaker 1 (31:48):
Yeah, I have one of those.
Speaker 4 (31:51):
Yeah. And also understanding place in the world where you
are and where you're from. A respect for a place,
no matter where you no matter where you find yourself,
helps you become a better writer.
Speaker 1 (32:09):
I love that. I love everything you do. She's so fantastic.
Selena Zito, leave us here with your best tip for
my listeners on how they can improve their lives. Well,
I'm gonna go one of the three questions, Selena, you
wrote out an answer, I can go find you right out.
Speaker 4 (32:26):
An answer, and I go back to my second answer. Okay,
how do you improve your lives? Take a little care
of yourself. I'm telling you nothing is better than either
a good cup of coffee or glass of water or
whatever your drink of choices shouldn't be alcohol in the morning.
And take a walk. Yeah, a fifteen minute walk you
(32:46):
walk in your house like it gets your endorphins going, right.
As What's your Name famously said in What's the Movie
where she becomes a lawyer.
Speaker 1 (33:00):
I think legally blind. I felt like I knew where
you were going with this reason. With food, your endorphins.
Speaker 4 (33:06):
If you're if you're working, you're endor happy.
Speaker 1 (33:08):
People don't kill people.
Speaker 4 (33:09):
Yeah, And so taking that walk, you know, in the
first thing in the morning, even if your kids are
around the how do circuits around your house, whatever you
need to do, get get those juices flowing. It helps
your mind be clear and had its Exercise is never bad.
Speaker 1 (33:30):
That's right, hear. I wouldn't take the chance myself, but yeah,
that would be my best advice. I love it. She
is Selena Zito. She's amazing. Pre Order her new book, Butler.
It's going to be out in July, but pre order
it right now so you have it the day it
comes out. Thank you so much, Selena Zito.
Speaker 4 (33:50):
Thank you so much for having me. This is fun.
Speaker 1 (33:53):
Thanks so much for joining us on the Carol Markho
would show. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
Host
Karol Markowicz
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