March 26, 2025 • 47 mins
Stephanie, born in Woodland, California on Wintun/Patwin land & raised in a solar community in West Davis w/her twin brother, older brother, mom, dad, & dogs, has always been a creative. Since childhood she’s been drawing, playing instruments, singing, dancing, acting, writing books, poetry & raps. She now works w/children w/special needs & runs a summer art camp for kids. She’s a children’s book author/illustrator, a polyglot, including ASL, & has a BA from UC Davis in Native American Studies.
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It's Your Voice is broadcast live Wednesdays at 8PM ET Music on W4CY Radio (www.w4cy.com) part of Talk 4 Radio (www.talk4radio.com) on the Talk 4 Media Network (www.talk4media.com). It's Your Voice is viewed on Talk 4 TV (www.talk4tv.com).
It's Your Voice Podcast is also available on Talk 4 Media (www.talk4media.com), Talk 4 Podcasting (www.talk4podcasting.com), iHeartRadio, Amazon Music, Pandora, Spotify, Audible, and over 100 other podcast outlets.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
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Speaker 3 (00:30):
Let's Speak Sure.
Speaker 4 (00:35):
In LORI, Let's breech, in Lot's breach, in Lot's Breech, Lot.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Lot.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Hello, and welcome to It's Your Voice, the show that
hosts enrich conversations in diversity. My name is Bihia Jaxon.
I am a diversity educator and a Corelamic coach, which
means I support people and groups in aligning their actions
with what really matters to them, what aligns with their values,
(01:16):
and help people communicate across differences. If you're interested in
looking at any of the programs I offer and Ken Taylor,
you can go to my website, which is Know What
You want coaching dot WordPress dot com. So for the
last week a Women's History month, we have an amazing
woman to honor who's a very creative artist, a very
(01:38):
kind soul, and I'm going to read a little bit
of an introduction before we bring her on. Her name
is Stephanie Thayer and Stephanie was born in Woodland, California,
on Windtune Patwindland, but Dwindland and was raised in a
solar community in wes Davis with her twin brother, older brother, parents,
and dogs. She's always been a creative, drawing since she
(02:01):
was a small child, playing instrument singing, dancing, acting, writing books, poetry,
and raps. She currently works with children with special needs
in the public school setting, rents an art camp for
kids in the summers at a local park, and is
a published children's book author and illustrator. She has a
BA from UC Davis and Native American Studies, is working
(02:23):
towards a master's degree in early childhood education and an
associate's degree an American sign language. She's very productive. She's
also a poly lot, which means she speaks of many
different languages and she loves learning languages and social environmental justice.
To travel to play soccer, basketball, love, She loves love,
(02:44):
compassion and joy. Stephanie, welcome, It's so great to have
you here. Thank you.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
Hi.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
We're going to show some of some of your illustrations
in a bit, but I know you are going to
open with the land acknowledgement, so thank you for doing that.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
I'll do that, okay. So I would like to take
a moment to acknowledge the land on which we are gathered.
For thousands of years, this land has been the home
of put Wind people. Today there are three federally recognized
put Wind tribes Ketchelde Band of Winton, Indians of the
Kelusa Indian Community, Pletzel d he Win to Nation and
Yochi d he Win to Nation. The put Win people
(03:23):
have remained committed to the stewardship of this land over
many centuries. It has been cherished and protected as elders
have instructed the young through generations. We are honored and
grateful to be here today on their traditional lands, and
I personally want to acknowledge the indigenous groups of this
area who are not federally recognized. And it is of
course important to go beyond this symbolic gesture and take action.
(03:45):
So I think there's a way to attach links. There's
a link about land acknowledgments and how you can take action.
And then there are a couple of organizations that are
Native run and Native centered where you can donate, learn more,
and I just wanted to talk about those really quick.
There's a local one called Yolo Soul. Yolo Soul pays
deep attention to the past, presence and futures embedded in
(04:08):
landscapes and waterways of the Yolo bioregion and centers the
voices and stories of marginalized communities, especially put Win Win
Tune culturebearers, youth, and the diverse immigrant communities that make
up the Yolo cultural tapestry. So that's Yolosoul sol dot org.
And then not Our Native Daughters is dedicated a dedicated
(04:29):
force in the fight against the trafficking, exploitation and murder
that disproportionately affects Indigenous persons, with a specific focus on missing,
murdered and Indigenous women and girls. So the murder rate
is ten times higher than the national average for women
living on reservations, and murder is the third leading cause
of death for NEEDI of women. So these cases are
(04:50):
a lot of time neglected by authorities and the media.
So I wanted to bring awareness to this cause and organization.
You're welcome to donate, learn more. That is not our
Native Daughters dot org and May fifth is National Awareness
Day for Missing and Murdered Indigenous women and girls. So
you can wear red that day and solidarity. And you
(05:10):
may have seen people with a red handprint over their mouths,
and according to the Not Our Native Daughter's website, that
symbolizes the connection between the physical world and the spiritual
world and the belief that the dead can see red,
and so by wearing so is invoking the help of
ancestors and spiritual guides. So please check out those websites,
donate if you can, and thank you.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Thank you so much for bringing your attention to that,
and thank you Rebel for streaming the websites across the
screen for those who can see yulosoul dot org and
Not our Native Daughters. Thank you very much again. So Stephanie,
I know that you are like multi talented. It's just
(05:54):
fun knowing you because the next thing I know, I'm learning,
Oh oh, you're in a Latin music band. Oh oh
you have you dance? You you you're a comedian. Like,
what else do you do?
Speaker 3 (06:07):
Well, I do a lot. There are some things I
still want to learn, Like I don't. I was taught
how to play chess once, but I want to I
want to learn more. I'm interested in that game. So yeah,
I do a lot. I don't have kids of my own.
I work, you know, in education, but I have a
bit of free time, and so I fill that with
creative endeavors and endeavors that I not only have fun doing,
(06:30):
but also I feel I can help the community in
different ways.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Well, I would love to maybe start by looking at
some of the they're more than it's more than paint
I was going to say paintings, but illustrations you did
with colored pencils and acrylic paink in the background. Yes,
and I Rebel can open the link to show some
of those portraits you did. Can you talk to us
(06:56):
about the money did? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (06:58):
So during COVID when we were all in quarantine, I
worked as a para professional online, but I only worked
for about two hours a day, so I had I
had so much free time on my hands, and so
I really was feeling creative at the time. So I
did like a dating series on YouTube where I played
(07:18):
every character called Coorra date and like just did different things.
But one day I was on Facebook and I was
just scrolling through and I saw the picture, the profile
picture of my friend's ok and if you could scroll
to the top with the woman with the yellow background,
that would be great. So that's okay right there, Yes,
(07:40):
And I was looking at her profile pick it was gorgeous,
and she was just radiant and so much joy and love.
And she had told me once that she wanted a
portrait of a beautiful black woman and woman in her house.
And I was looking at her and I was like,
my gosh, let me just draw her. So I didn't
tell her about it, and I just started drawing her portrait.
(08:01):
So it's pencil first graphite and then colored pencil for
her face and body and clothing, and then in the
background is acrylic paint. But as I was drawing her,
I was thinking about her and how amazing she is
and how much she gives back to the community. And
she has an organization called Testa, the test Foundation, which
(08:23):
helps give access to education for people in Zimbabwe, where
she's from. And I think Tessa and Shona means together,
so I was thinking about her and everything she does,
and I was like, wow, I could maybe do like
a series about people who give back to the community
in different ways. And so I have all this time
(08:43):
on my hands, you know. So I put an advertisement
on Facebook asking people to nominate people in the community
who give back in different ways or enhance the community
through art, through political activism, health education, various things. So
I started getting all these nominees and the people the
nominees who had the most boats are the people that
(09:06):
I threw and so on this website which is It's
International House Davis, I think I shared it, but you
can read all the bios of everybody and there are
also links to their organizations that if they're part of
an organization. And so this was just a very very
(09:28):
fun and fulfilling portrait series and I got to do
a show at the International House. I'm very thankful for them.
I also got a grant from the City of Davis
Arts Council. I forgot the exact name of it, but
because I got a grant, I was able to give
all of the people in the portrait series, I was
(09:49):
able to give them their portraits at the end, So
that was really special. But it was fun, and I
felt like that was a time when we really needed
to create community. We were all isolated. I personally was
living in like the back quarters of my parents' house,
so I didn't see a lot of people every day,
and this was just a way to connect.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
You know somehow. Wow, that's just so brilliant because it's
like it also fed your soul. It did.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
Yeah, I was very it was very fulfilling. And I
have to say, I did eighteen portraits, and at the end,
I was thinking about continuing this project, and I even
got a business license to start a portrait portrait company,
and I was like, oh no, I can't do it.
I was so burned out. I'm only done like two
portraits since then. I just it was so much energy.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
Yeah, well, let me ask you, like before we scroll,
because I'd like to just look like maybe you could
highlight like four or four or five out of the eighteen.
I know it's hard to choose, but how like this
first one, for example, it's okay, right, right? How long
did it take to like this is just incredible? It's
(10:57):
just so beautiful.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
And I say, I would say like eight hours maybe
or maybe less. I don't know there was as you
can see as I go through sometimes you can see
maybe some are not as precise as they could have been,
and that's because I was doing them so fast. Like Charlie,
who you'll see if you scroll down. I did Charlie
in about four hours, which I think they have a
(11:23):
orange background. Let's see here there's Tapuola. How can we
pause here on Tapua. I just want to give a
shout out to Tapoola. You may know her from Davis.
She is such a sweet soul. She loves dancing at
the farmer's market. I met her when I was in
high school. She is just like love personified. Everybody loves her.
She's a very well known Davia site, So shout out
(11:44):
to her. Keep going, you can keep scrolling.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
There's Charlie so okay.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
Yeah, and then so this one Charlie took about four hours.
The ones that took longer were those who were wearing
like really trick clothing, so that took a little bit longer.
But they were so fun. I mean, one of the
pleasures of this of doing the series was like really
thinking about everybody I was as I was doing it,
(12:12):
and it was just all positive. There weren't any negative feelings.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
When I was doing this project, So I bet, bet.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
Let's see. Do you want to keep scrolling down?
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (12:23):
See if we can see other folks. Oh my gosh,
these people are so amazing. Stephen and Grace they work
at the Davis Community Church and on Saturdays they do
there's this program there called Mosaics where there are free
language classes. There's all. I've taken Portuguese. There, I've taken Spanish.
I think they have Japanese and some other languages. But
(12:46):
they have a meal, a community meal. I don't know
if it's every Saturday, but they have like an open
mic night and then they provide a feast for the
community and it's really beautiful. And they're so loving and
open to everyone from every walk of life, from every
religious background, nationality. So they're amazing. Okay, you can keep scrolling.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
What is it we scroll down? How does that works?
It's so many different Like it's in order of to
like learn another language or practice a language. Are there
people you just find someone who's speaking the language that
you want to learn, or their actual lessons there are
actual classes.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
Yeah, so these these people are donating their time, the
teachers that's amazing.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
Okay, So Gloria, Gloria amazing. Many of you know about her,
but she's just a powerhouse. She's a political activist, she's
a mother, she's a retired scientist. She was our mayor,
and she's just awesome. She's head of the Phoenix Coalition
(13:51):
in a. Davis, which is an organization that was founded
for people with disabilities but promotes inclusion and prevents hate crimes.
And it's a wonderful organization. By the way, if you
go to this website, you'll see links, you know, to
all the organizations that the people are associated with.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
That's an amazing project. So thoroughly deny.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
This is one of my besties. Deni is a friend
of mine. She grew up in Guatemala. Her mama's is
a Chuffina. She's a from Guatemala. And Denise went to
UCLA and then she came to UC Davis for her
graduate program in neurobiology. And she's a dancer and she
started a dance studio in Davis and so she actually
(14:36):
it was dance and music and I think martial arts
and some other things. But it was such a hub
when I was in college. So it was like the
early mid two thousands, and she just brought so many
people together from all over the world and with all
these different interests and so that's her. Wow, she has
a long bio there in yeah tech stuff or deftly sure.
(15:03):
Christina she's a nurse and she's one of my good
friends as well.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
She's from bau.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
Brecio and she's been also part of associated with the
Davis Phoenix Coalition and you know, she's a nurse and
also very well known in the community. Rob Davis, many
of you know him. He's one thing I love about
him is that he bites everywhere. So he I don't
even know if he owns a car, but I see
(15:31):
him biking all over town. I bike myself, so I
really admire that.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
And he's one of our former mayors as well.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
Yeah, here's Kate. She has two sons or now she
has three. Sorry, I had two sons here, Samar and Salim,
and then she has Sahem for Newest and she's been
an activist for social justice and she has done a
lot for social justice and the arts as well. And
(15:58):
she created a place in Central Park where the Solidarity
Space to you know, display art and to meet and
gather and have uh you know, rallies and stuff like that.
And education different educational. I also I don't know why
or just get together. So Deema is an activist. She's
(16:22):
a very peaceful, amazing, lovely person. Social justice. She's involved
in food, so talking to people about food. Unfortunately I
didn't read all these bios before this though. I don't
remember off the top of my head her organization. But
she's an entrepreneur, creative maker and sustainable and communal food advocate. Yeah,
(16:45):
wonderful person.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
She had a tech career already, she did. And Dylan,
I love Dylan.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
Dylan is one of my favorite local politicians.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Yes he has oh I don't even know.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
His resume must be like ten pages long. She does
so much the community. Dean. So she was in in college.
I took but at the Nutchem which is a class
classical South Indian dance form. And she was a kid
in the class, like a tiny maybe like five, I
want to say, she was just tiny and there were
(17:19):
a couple of kids in the class. But she went
on to get her do her arm engage room, which
is learning and becoming becoming a professional dancer and so ironically.
So she was in my class when I was in
college and then during right before COVID hit, I wanted
to get back into bed at Nutyum and I saw
her UH teaching a class as an adult, like a
(17:42):
legal adult, you know. I was like, oh my gosh,
this is crazy. So I got from her. She's amazing.
She still dances beautiful. And then there's Venita. She was
my actual but at nottym teacher and so she knows
Deviani as well. She is also just such a powerhouse.
She has a BS, she has an m b A,
she has I think a teaching credential. I mean, she's incredible.
(18:06):
And she's the CEO of a company as well, so
a startup for skincare I believe.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Wow, amazing.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
So she is a professor of ethnic studies. She is
a community culture beearer and just brings people together. She
has she offers different concerts Center House with the music
from different parts of the world. And like Sono, she
has a lot of UH concerts with with son Harocho,
(18:38):
which is a form of music from from Vera Cruz and.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
The Yeah.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
So she's amazing. I'm sorry, I'm kind of losing my
words because I didn't prepare for this part. Yay. So Fernando, Yeah,
he's really Louise Fernando. He's really awesome as well. I
haven't seen him in a long time, but he was
a community activist and organizer as well and really good person.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
So wow, And how long how much time did you spend?
Like what period of time did you spend making these
eighteen portraits and gathering all the information?
Speaker 3 (19:13):
I think the total was about two months when I
started to finish. Yeah, I just kinda I was going
to stop at ten, and then I was like, oh wait,
there's another nominee. I should do this person. And then
finally at eighteen, I was like, okay, I'm done. I'm
done now. But I like, I wish I could keep.
If I had the energy for it, I would do
a portrait a week of a new community member.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Wow, we need to These should be on a wall
in the gallery like permanently in Davis. Oh thank you
adding to them.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
Well, there is a website, so that's good.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
That's yeah, that's the way to do it. It's on
the International House website.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
Is that right? Yes? And the link is their International
House Davis dot org. Slash program Slash seasonal and monthly program.
Second Friday art Aboutkomuni Dada Project by Stephanie Theair.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
That's a long WHI wow beautiful. Thanks thanks for walking
us through that.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
Now.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
I think we also get to hear a couple of
your poems. Is that what you'd like to talk about next?
Speaker 3 (20:12):
Sure? Yes, I love poetry. I've been writing poems since
I was a kid. My grandma really liked poetry and
I she did a book, she published a book of
poems at one point. But I always love poetry, and
I think for me poems a lot of times they
just come into my mind and then I start writing.
I write them out, and also songs. So I was
(20:35):
going to share a poem and a song. These are
both in lieu of Women's History months, so they're both
related to topics that are affecting women. So the first
poem I wanted to share, I usually share it with
music in the background, but because it's copyrighted music, I'm
not going to share it. This was a poem I
(20:56):
wrote when I was in the car and I was
toggling back between two corporate radio stations. One was a
hip hop and one was was a Spanish channel and pop,
you know, mainstream music, and each station was playing songs
about that were kind of objectifying to women. And so
(21:17):
I was like, okay, you know, is this all that
we are like to mainstream music and mainstream music? So
I wrote a poem called song Lyrics and oversight it so,
and it does have some curse words in it, so
I will substitute those with other words or beets.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
Oh, thank you, thank you for it.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
So oftentimes when I hear song lines with a female
as the subject, they seem as nine. A male singer
says she's duels or sweet, or that he wants to
eat her like she's a piece of meat. And maybe
she's fine with a big beep behind, But what about
her mind or her energy sublime? Maybe she's an artist
(21:57):
or a lawyer or a queen. Maybe she's the fast
runner you have ever seen. See, there's more to her
than meets the eyes. She's more than a bee for
some lucky guy. Maybe she cares about future generations. Maybe
she's more than just a hole for penetration. Maybe she's funny,
quick witted, and strong, And maybe she doesn't care that
your bee is super long. I'm tired of hearing songs
(22:19):
about a woman on the surface. I want to hear
a song about a woman with a purpose, and not
the purpose of giving a man a beef and ball hug.
A song about a woman with compassion, strength and love,
A woman who has been through much but keeps an
open mind, a woman who is fearless in the face
of what she finds. I want to hear a song
about a woman that is true. A woman is more
(22:41):
than what we hear on the radio see, and without
her there'd be no use.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
Yeah, I love that.
Speaker 4 (22:49):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
That is so powerful. I mean, I mean I wish
every woman in the world could hear that, and every
girl and every boy and every man that's and everybody.
Speaker 3 (23:00):
Binary, everybody. Yeah, I'm used to signing that because I
have music in the background and then I record my
I recorded my voice over alic one of Alice Coultrane's songs,
and then I sign it so like yeah oftentimes yeah,
So anyway.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Uh, like how long did it take you, Like did
you work on that while you were in the car?
Like the words coming to you right away?
Speaker 3 (23:23):
The words literally just came, like almost all the words
came to me in the car. And then as soon
as that happens, I just go right right, go home
and write so like.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
The whole stream.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
You didn't have to It was just almost pretty much
the whole stream. Sometimes I'll start with part of it
and then like think about it and finish it up. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
So wow that was fun and then and powerful.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
Yeah, thank you. Yeah, so I like that one believe
it or not. Well, actually I was really nervous to
do this podcast. I am. I feel fine performing musically
on stage like an instrument in my the band I
played in and stuff, but public speaking performing when I
performed this at this the Love for Social Justice event
(24:07):
at Delta Venus, I was really nervous. So I've always been.
That's always been. I've always had anxiety with with public
speaking and presenting. But dancing music no problem. I could
do comedy skits at home with my phone and post
them and that's not a problem for me. But speaking
live and yeah, I don't know why. So the next
(24:29):
song is in Spanish and I will read an interpretation
or a translation of it in English after okay, and
this is about a woman's time of the month.
Speaker 5 (24:56):
Le mon no kieroconadi pero k.
Speaker 3 (25:11):
Tiempo.
Speaker 5 (25:12):
Then maceraves ai ai andre bet lace this gimpo then
ma I know manchezmos baleques.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
So Spanish is not my first language, it's my third,
but it uh, I love it. And I'm gonna translate
that for you. So it says my head hurts a little.
I also have abdominal pain. My chest is sore and sensitive,
and I feel irritable and bad. I don't want to
talk to anyone, but I want to sleep a lot
and cry. If you come hear me, please be careful
(25:57):
and never say I'm hormonal. Time the month? Why do
you come again? Ayayi andres Andres is like a nickname
for time of the month in at least some parts
of Mexico. And then leave on the count of three,
time of the month. Go away with the bloating, with
the swelling time of the month. No way. But we'll
see each other, all right. So that's it. That was
(26:21):
a fun one. I want to do. I want to
find someone who can back me up with instrument. With instruments,
it's kind of like a thongo. It sounds like a
thongo to me, like a tango.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
That is awesome, Okay, it's so underrated. It's so underdescribed,
under understood.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
Yes, what people who go through menstruation deal with every
month is really can be really intense, really intense, and
I think a lot of people aren't even sure what's happening.
But I like to do poetry about women's issues. I
also have a rap about my period, but I am
(27:01):
not going to share that here. It's no, it's too much.
It's a little more graphic, so no, no, no, no.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
Oh okay, sorry, I'll have on that.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
Yeah, so it would be like Mebee Bobby me, maybe.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
You get to the to the heart of expression. Do
you have a YouTube channel where people can go in
your stuff?
Speaker 3 (27:25):
I do. I believe it's called Prima Fani. Prima Fani
is my nickname. So my cousin who I'm really close with,
her husband is from Havana, Kuba. He's from Cuba, so
when I I have had the opportunity to visit Kuba
with them and his his family calls me Prima Fani
because or Prima. Yeah, so that's been a nickname. Some
(27:45):
of my friends have taken up as well, and it's
I think it's my Instagram name. I'm not sure. So
my YouTube, I believe would be prima fani e r
I m A f A n I, and Fani is
a nickname for Stephanie, So it's Fanny Fani m hm.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
So you're a multi instrumentalist correct.
Speaker 3 (28:06):
Yeah, mainly percussionist, which you know, there's lots of different
types of percussion instruments. I played guitar, a little bit
acoustic guitar, and my parents taught me that they growing up.
I came from a very musical family. My great grandmother
was a famous cellist in She was Czech, but her
(28:29):
name was Jenka Chierney.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
She grew up, I.
Speaker 3 (28:32):
Believe in Chicago, I want to say. But she did
like tours all over Europe and stuff like that, and
she her family was friends with Muca. I don't know
if you know Alphonse Muca, the artist. It's like that's okay,
So it's like art nouveau. And so one one time,
so Muca did her advertisement which is a huge poster
(28:56):
of her for a world tour that she was going
to do, and so I have a copy of it.
My parents and my relatives have copies. And my friend
went to the Muca museum in Prague there and then
her portrait was right there. The poster was there, like
one of the first pictures in the museum. I was
like wow. So she was very musical. Her father, Albert Cherney,
(29:20):
was a pianist and he was a piano teacher and
his daughters, Malaga and Jenka, both played music. So Jenka,
my great grandma, was a cellist and then Malaga was
a Honestly, I don't even know if that's her name,
it's Malaga or something like that. I feel bad. It's
(29:43):
arts with an M though and an a mom. So anyway,
she was a prodigy of piano prodigy. So one day
her dad had given a lesson, he left the room
and then he heard the piece that that student had
been playing on the piano, someone playing. He's like, oh,
I thought the student left. He came out and his daughter,
who was like four years old, was playing it by ear.
(30:05):
So she had it in her and so she became
a prodigy. She played for like the Queen of England
at the age of eight or something like that. So
outside of the family, it came with a price though,
like the way that they were, I mean, their dad
made them practice like six hours a day and stuff
like that. So I think when Jenka after a while
(30:28):
she did stop playing. But but anyway, my parents both
play guitar and sing and they were in a do
wop group when I was a kid. Oh, so they were.
They liked that. I grew up with music all the time.
Jimmy Cliff, like just Jimmy Cliff, a lot of classic rock,
uh Stevie Wonder, just a lot of different types of music.
(30:51):
And my parents every night when I was a kid,
would play the guitar and sing us to sleep my
brothers and I so like was grew up with that,
and like I really felt the music when I was
a kid. Sometimes I would even cry when they were singing.
It was just killed me with emotion, you know what
I mean. I love so I love music. I've always
(31:15):
been attracted to it, and I play. I'm a percussionist,
so I started well, I first started with violin when
I was in third grade and I did it for
a couple of years. Bob Brenn, who's a Davis fiddler,
was my teacher, and then in elementary school, I had
the option of doing a band instrument in fourth grade,
(31:37):
so I decided I was between saxophone and percussion, and
I decided to do percussion, and I absolutely loved it.
It was so fun I mean, we did like the
concert band, so I played snare bass, suspended symbol. We
didn't have timpany at that age, but you know, we
learned rudimentary stuff. And I had my best friend at
(31:58):
the time. She was so funny. She also signed up
for drumming with me or percussion with me, but she
didn't really want to go to practices and stuff. So
here I was like, you know, wanting to learn so much.
And we had these drum pads that you practice on.
Mine was like a plastic rim with a probably a
plastic head, and hers was more like a rubbery Her
(32:18):
was smaller, so she would literally hide it in her jacket,
and so when it was time to play, the teacher
would like, okay, get out, She's like, oh, I forgot it, sorry,
I can't play today. It was so it was so funny.
She cracked me up.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
But I did.
Speaker 3 (32:33):
Percussion in school through tenth grade, and I decided to
stop after tenth grade. I really wasn't having as much
fun in the school band. In junior high, I had
a a music teacher named missus new and I was
first chair in the percussion section. We got ranked based
on making a tape back in the day when we
(32:53):
made tapes, so I had to read sheet music and
play it and stuff like that. So I was first.
She had so much faith in me. She gave me
so much confidence. But once I got to high school.
I'm not going to say who my teacher was, but
my confidence was shook a little bit. Not my confidence,
but I didn't like how I was being treated. I
felt like there was some gender discrimination. There was a
(33:16):
guy who got to play first, like all the snare parts,
and I'm not going to say I was better than him,
but I feel like I was a little marketing, like
I played a little more clear. But anyway, my teacher
put me on timpany for every single song and I
just lost interest. So I stopped after that. But I
was also doing so much in high school, like I
(33:37):
was a pure helper to you know, as a competitive
soccer player. I did health advocacy. I was an artist
and did a lot of art for uh like different
organizations and stuff like that. So it was good that
I took a break. But then when I got to college,
I really wanted to do hand drumming, specifically West African
(33:57):
and I was taking an intro to Ethnic musicology class
and my teacher, Scott Marcus, who is a legend who
I love at UC Santa Barbara, he said, no, we
don't have West African drumming, but we do have the
Middle Eastern Music Ensemble, and so I was like, oh okay.
And so in that ensemble there's one night of the
week where I would get private drum classes. So I
(34:20):
played Darbuka and that so you may have also heard
of Dabuka's Duombek. It's named different things all over the
Middle East. But we played Arab, Turkish, Persian, Armenian, Greek, Jewish, Uzbek,
Kurdish and Assyrian music and it was really fun. I
hadn't listened to a lot of Middle Eastern music before
(34:40):
the Middle Eastern Music Ensemble and so it was really
it was such a learning experience, so much fun. And
I ended up going to Middle Eastern Music and Dance
camp in the summers in Mendocino, and like it was
such a cool community, like it was it was really
full of love. It was really fun, and I liked
a lot of the odd numbered rhythms. I hadn't really
played as much of those in the school band. So
(35:01):
there were five beat rhythms, seven beat rhythms, nine beat rhythms. Yeah,
so that was really fun. So I played in that
for a couple of years. I transferred back to David
and then I played I played soccer at UC Santa
Barbara for one year at Division one, and then I
got double bunyion surgery summer after my freshman year. So
(35:22):
some people think of bunions as like old lady, you
know feet, it's like the bump on your It's like,
you know, this thing right here. But I had them
since I was five. I they're genetic, and I got
them from both sides of my family, so my mom
and my dad, and you know, sometimes women get them
when they're cramming their feet or whoever wears heels, But
(35:45):
if they're really going to heels, when you cram your
foot in there, it makes the bunion bigger. Your toes
are like going like this instead of like this. So yeah,
I had I had big onions, big bunions, And so
I got surgery that summer and in a wheelchair for
a little bit, and I ended up transferring back to
Davis after that freshman year, and I played a little
(36:09):
bit of Drbuca, but I didn't know a lot of
people in the community who played midlis your music, particularly
I There were a couple of people that I played
with here and there. But I did get to play
in a Greek band really briefly, well Greek music. I'm
part Greek. But it was called Fasoli, which means bean.
I don't know why. I hate the guy who the
(36:31):
head of the band named it that, but maybe he
likes beans.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (36:34):
I love beans. That was and then I've also played
in a band called Vitra Mundo, which is led by
Scarlett Shoe Oh my god, Schubert I think is her
last name. She's from brocil as well Rio and she
has like a plethora of music, not just a Brizilian music,
(36:55):
but also music from Portugal, and that was really fun
to play with her. And then I play have played
with the band Raisis, which is means roots in Spanish,
and that is an all It was an all women
band and we play a variety of music like why
nos from the andes tons of Cumbias, we play boleros,
(37:16):
we play Papa Espanol. So that has that was really
fun now I'm in school, so I don't have as
much time as I'm a sub and there is a
guy subbing for me on the drums, but that has
been Oh we played Colombian music as well because we
got a percussionist from Colombia named Andrea who's so amazing,
and bayanatos and other stuff which is.
Speaker 2 (37:38):
Really cool and it's really fun to dance too.
Speaker 3 (37:41):
Yeah. Yeah, sometimes I wish I wasn't playing. I wish
I was just listening and dancing.
Speaker 2 (37:47):
Well, I didn't keep track, but that's a lot of
instruments that you can play.
Speaker 3 (37:53):
Well, yeah, I'm mostly percussions. So then the rasis I
played the set. In Bira Mundo, I played the set.
I also played cajon, which is the box drum. It's
originally from Peru and it was invented by enslaved Africans
in Peru and it's wooden and you sit on top
and stuff like that. It has I think Spanish people
(38:14):
took the concept back to Spain and like added guitar
strings in it, so it has like a snare sound
in Spain most of the time, but Peru usually there's
I don't I think it's more just the box, the
box sound, and then Bombo is a drum from the Andes.
And two of the members of Raissas are from Argentina,
(38:35):
and so one of them is from a city called
Buhui or a town maybe I'm not sure how big
it is, but there's a lot of indigenous peoples there
and they play this instrument. So it's really cool. She
brought it, introduced it to the band and it's been
fun to learn some of the winos that from her city,
(38:55):
from her town.
Speaker 2 (38:58):
And when you teach art can in the summer to kids,
is that what kind of medium do you use for that?
Speaker 3 (39:05):
For the art camps, I have five days, I five
different mediums. So I do pen and ink, I do
a paper project, I do oil, pestels, watercolor and painting.
Speaker 2 (39:17):
Yeah, I knew it would be and arranged.
Speaker 3 (39:18):
And then Ray use them to many things. But also
I like, you know, there are so many media mediums
out there. There's a you know, but I like to
do things that I can set up and clean have
been relatively easily, Like you know, sculpture is a little
bit more difficult, especially for an outdoor camp where you're
just I don't know, and it's more expensive sometimes, but
(39:41):
the camp is really amazing. It's called ARTI Party Art Camp.
It's my dream job, besides playing music and dancing and
doing skits and stuff like that. But the kids come
and they have free draw for like twenty minutes, and
then we do an art lesson. Then they have snack.
Then we choreograph a dance that we perform for the
parents on Fridays that pick up, and then they have
(40:03):
free play which includes you know, kinetic stands station. There's
the huge park there, there's basketball, there's the soccer field there,
there's trees and bushes they can explore. It's really wonderful.
There's a public park there as well, so it's just
so much fun. It's so joyful. We get to goof around.
Oh there's also beating and rubber band bracelet making, so
(40:27):
it's really a good time. And there's these hawks that
swoop all up in the trees like where we are,
so which is really cool.
Speaker 2 (40:33):
Oh my gosh, that sounds awesome. I wish that for
every child.
Speaker 3 (40:37):
Yeah, it's awesome. Thank you.
Speaker 2 (40:39):
I love it. Well, if you don't mind, we have
a few more minutes. And I was just the other
day you shared with me I saw a photo of
you as a bride, and I was like, oh, my goodness,
I didn't know you're married.
Speaker 3 (40:53):
Are you married? I wonder if you can see that
picture up there? Can you see that?
Speaker 2 (40:58):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (40:59):
Okay, yes, that's a funny story.
Speaker 2 (41:01):
And you showed me another aspect of your unique creativity,
which is very resourceful and also very practical and fun
and brilliant. So I'd love for you to share about
your wedding my wedding.
Speaker 3 (41:16):
Okay. So when I was thirty eight, I was single
and I hadn't met my life partner yet. I had
hoped that I would by that point. And I don't
necessarily feel the need to get legally married to anybody.
But I don't need to involve the government in my
love life. I mean, if it was beneficial for tax
(41:36):
purposes or whatever. But I had always wanted a wedding,
so I all thought that was something that I would
have in my life. And so I decided, you know what,
I had just moved into a townhouse, and I was like, gosh,
I need a registry. Why do only married people get registries?
It's not fair. I need single people need stuff too, Right,
(42:00):
I'm in a registry so, but more than anything, I
wanted to have a celebration. And so here, let's see
if I can pull up this picture.
Speaker 2 (42:12):
I love it, And can you describe that for people
who are hearing but not seeing this episode. Yes.
Speaker 3 (42:19):
So the picture is me in a white dress, which
I really love, holding a bouquet of flowers. I'm kneeling down.
I'm wearing white sunglasses that have or white heart sunglasses
and a veil and beaded white earrings. I have a
bunch of my friends in yellow wearing dresses behind me
and yellow heart sunglasses, holding up their flowers and celebrating.
(42:43):
We're on a grassy field with flowers in the background
and a big tree in the back. It's sunny out,
blue sky. Everyone's having fun. So basically, I just decided
to throw myself a wedding. And I just want to
be clear, I didn't marry myself. I got married myself. Okay,
so I'm still single technically. But what we did the
(43:07):
bridesmaid walked down the aisle. I walked down the aisle
to Alicia Keysbong, Superwoman, and then my friend Christina was
the officiant, and it was she was so hilarious, but
I did my vows. I promised never to settle for
less than what I deserve and blah blah blah, and
then she at the end she pronounced me still single.
So it was really fun. It was like such a
(43:30):
fun day. I did the first dance by myself, so
I did a medley of songs in different styles, and
then I threw the bouquet. My friend La Lais caught it,
so she needs to get married by herself next or
was someone if she wants. And then my friend decked
out her being w vertible. She wrote still single on
the windows in white, and then she put like toilet
(43:52):
paper coming off the back bumper and I sat on
the back and we drove around the neighborhood and I
was waiting and it was so much fun.
Speaker 2 (44:02):
It was so fun.
Speaker 3 (44:03):
And then I bought a couple of cakes from Save mart.
I think I had a raffle win a date.
Speaker 2 (44:08):
With the bride, and you're such a beautiful bride.
Speaker 3 (44:16):
I wonder if here let me show you another picture.
Speaker 2 (44:18):
This is It looked like a perfect wedding.
Speaker 3 (44:21):
It was really just fun. And the thing is, it
was so it was so cheap, so I didn't even
I didn't even reserve the venue. That's the flower girl
Maya throwing a rose petal and it looks like it's
going in my mouth. It was really really fun. It
was a great day, and I really I did. I
(44:43):
did to get a lot of nice gifts. So my
registry was.
Speaker 2 (44:46):
Just my Venmo account, So what a great idea money,
which is so nice.
Speaker 3 (44:50):
And it was during COVID, so it was picked bought
their own food. Everyone brought their own food, which.
Speaker 2 (44:56):
Was like wow, so creative and so fun and also
so smart. And you're right, why don't single people get
to have registries? So I don't know something about that.
Speaker 3 (45:07):
Is just that part. Definitely, we just serve it.
Speaker 2 (45:10):
We deserve it so very inspiring. So we just have
like two minutes left. So I wanted to just give
you a chance for any closing thought or your message
to the world before I think everybody.
Speaker 3 (45:22):
My message to the world. Oh Like when you just
said that, I almost wanted to cry because there's so
much going on in the world and so much harm
and suffering and it makes me sad, and I've cried
so much in the last year and a half, and
I just want people to have compassion and kindness and
I want people to be accepting of others, diversity and
(45:48):
more joy and love in the world, honestly, And we
need to think about our earth and our environment, and
we need to listen to indigenous peoples because they have
the answers and they've been living here on this land
and a lot of you know, with colonialism, there is
a lot of mistreatment of the land and the industrial revolution,
of course, it's just it's it's work that's going in
(46:11):
the wrong direction. And we need to get back in
touch with with our connection to the earth and the
land and plants and animals and everything. So kind of
I love This is the sign for I love you and.
Speaker 2 (46:27):
Thign language nice love and.
Speaker 3 (46:30):
Also holding people accountable.
Speaker 2 (46:33):
Yeah, so gosh, Stephanie Thayer, it was really fun having
you on today. Thank you for helping us honor women
all live with the world by your sharing, your your
brilliance and your creativity and inspiring all of us. Thank
you for having me my pleasure, and thank you to
our engineer Rebel and to our producer Dean, and to
(46:53):
all the listeners and viewers. And be sure to tune
in next Wednesday a pm Eastern time. I talk for
TV or W four cy dot com and maybe all
have enriching conversations and diversity this week. Thanks again Andred
Yes logic.
Speaker 4 (47:09):
Let's beech logic, let's speech of in logic, Yellow, let's
speech in logic.
Speaker 2 (47:21):
Yell, Let's beach all the.
Speaker 3 (47:26):
In logic. Let's pitch in logic. Let's preach all the
The topics and opinions expressed in the following show are
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It's employees are affiliates.
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We make no recommendations or endorsements for radio show programs, services,
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Speaker 3 (00:30):
Let's Speak Sure.
Speaker 4 (00:35):
In LORI, Let's breech, in Lot's breach, in Lot's Breech, Lot.
Speaker 1 (00:54):
Lot.
Speaker 2 (00:56):
Hello, and welcome to It's Your Voice, the show that
hosts enrich conversations in diversity. My name is Bihia Jaxon.
I am a diversity educator and a Corelamic coach, which
means I support people and groups in aligning their actions
with what really matters to them, what aligns with their values,
(01:16):
and help people communicate across differences. If you're interested in
looking at any of the programs I offer and Ken Taylor,
you can go to my website, which is Know What
You want coaching dot WordPress dot com. So for the
last week a Women's History month, we have an amazing
woman to honor who's a very creative artist, a very
(01:38):
kind soul, and I'm going to read a little bit
of an introduction before we bring her on. Her name
is Stephanie Thayer and Stephanie was born in Woodland, California,
on Windtune Patwindland, but Dwindland and was raised in a
solar community in wes Davis with her twin brother, older brother, parents,
and dogs. She's always been a creative, drawing since she
(02:01):
was a small child, playing instrument singing, dancing, acting, writing books, poetry,
and raps. She currently works with children with special needs
in the public school setting, rents an art camp for
kids in the summers at a local park, and is
a published children's book author and illustrator. She has a
BA from UC Davis and Native American Studies, is working
(02:23):
towards a master's degree in early childhood education and an
associate's degree an American sign language. She's very productive. She's
also a poly lot, which means she speaks of many
different languages and she loves learning languages and social environmental justice.
To travel to play soccer, basketball, love, She loves love,
(02:44):
compassion and joy. Stephanie, welcome, It's so great to have
you here. Thank you.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
Hi.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
We're going to show some of some of your illustrations
in a bit, but I know you are going to
open with the land acknowledgement, so thank you for doing that.
Speaker 3 (03:02):
I'll do that, okay. So I would like to take
a moment to acknowledge the land on which we are gathered.
For thousands of years, this land has been the home
of put Wind people. Today there are three federally recognized
put Wind tribes Ketchelde Band of Winton, Indians of the
Kelusa Indian Community, Pletzel d he Win to Nation and
Yochi d he Win to Nation. The put Win people
(03:23):
have remained committed to the stewardship of this land over
many centuries. It has been cherished and protected as elders
have instructed the young through generations. We are honored and
grateful to be here today on their traditional lands, and
I personally want to acknowledge the indigenous groups of this
area who are not federally recognized. And it is of
course important to go beyond this symbolic gesture and take action.
(03:45):
So I think there's a way to attach links. There's
a link about land acknowledgments and how you can take action.
And then there are a couple of organizations that are
Native run and Native centered where you can donate, learn more,
and I just wanted to talk about those really quick.
There's a local one called Yolo Soul. Yolo Soul pays
deep attention to the past, presence and futures embedded in
(04:08):
landscapes and waterways of the Yolo bioregion and centers the
voices and stories of marginalized communities, especially put Win Win
Tune culturebearers, youth, and the diverse immigrant communities that make
up the Yolo cultural tapestry. So that's Yolosoul sol dot org.
And then not Our Native Daughters is dedicated a dedicated
(04:29):
force in the fight against the trafficking, exploitation and murder
that disproportionately affects Indigenous persons, with a specific focus on missing,
murdered and Indigenous women and girls. So the murder rate
is ten times higher than the national average for women
living on reservations, and murder is the third leading cause
of death for NEEDI of women. So these cases are
(04:50):
a lot of time neglected by authorities and the media.
So I wanted to bring awareness to this cause and organization.
You're welcome to donate, learn more. That is not our
Native Daughters dot org and May fifth is National Awareness
Day for Missing and Murdered Indigenous women and girls. So
you can wear red that day and solidarity. And you
(05:10):
may have seen people with a red handprint over their mouths,
and according to the Not Our Native Daughter's website, that
symbolizes the connection between the physical world and the spiritual
world and the belief that the dead can see red,
and so by wearing so is invoking the help of
ancestors and spiritual guides. So please check out those websites,
donate if you can, and thank you.
Speaker 2 (05:34):
Thank you so much for bringing your attention to that,
and thank you Rebel for streaming the websites across the
screen for those who can see yulosoul dot org and
Not our Native Daughters. Thank you very much again. So Stephanie,
I know that you are like multi talented. It's just
(05:54):
fun knowing you because the next thing I know, I'm learning,
Oh oh, you're in a Latin music band. Oh oh
you have you dance? You you you're a comedian. Like,
what else do you do?
Speaker 3 (06:07):
Well, I do a lot. There are some things I
still want to learn, Like I don't. I was taught
how to play chess once, but I want to I
want to learn more. I'm interested in that game. So yeah,
I do a lot. I don't have kids of my own.
I work, you know, in education, but I have a
bit of free time, and so I fill that with
creative endeavors and endeavors that I not only have fun doing,
(06:30):
but also I feel I can help the community in
different ways.
Speaker 2 (06:35):
Well, I would love to maybe start by looking at
some of the they're more than it's more than paint
I was going to say paintings, but illustrations you did
with colored pencils and acrylic paink in the background. Yes,
and I Rebel can open the link to show some
of those portraits you did. Can you talk to us
(06:56):
about the money did? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (06:58):
So during COVID when we were all in quarantine, I
worked as a para professional online, but I only worked
for about two hours a day, so I had I
had so much free time on my hands, and so
I really was feeling creative at the time. So I
did like a dating series on YouTube where I played
(07:18):
every character called Coorra date and like just did different things.
But one day I was on Facebook and I was
just scrolling through and I saw the picture, the profile
picture of my friend's ok and if you could scroll
to the top with the woman with the yellow background,
that would be great. So that's okay right there, Yes,
(07:40):
And I was looking at her profile pick it was gorgeous,
and she was just radiant and so much joy and love.
And she had told me once that she wanted a
portrait of a beautiful black woman and woman in her house.
And I was looking at her and I was like,
my gosh, let me just draw her. So I didn't
tell her about it, and I just started drawing her portrait.
(08:01):
So it's pencil first graphite and then colored pencil for
her face and body and clothing, and then in the
background is acrylic paint. But as I was drawing her,
I was thinking about her and how amazing she is
and how much she gives back to the community. And
she has an organization called Testa, the test Foundation, which
(08:23):
helps give access to education for people in Zimbabwe, where
she's from. And I think Tessa and Shona means together,
so I was thinking about her and everything she does,
and I was like, wow, I could maybe do like
a series about people who give back to the community
in different ways. And so I have all this time
(08:43):
on my hands, you know. So I put an advertisement
on Facebook asking people to nominate people in the community
who give back in different ways or enhance the community
through art, through political activism, health education, various things. So
I started getting all these nominees and the people the
nominees who had the most boats are the people that
(09:06):
I threw and so on this website which is It's
International House Davis, I think I shared it, but you
can read all the bios of everybody and there are
also links to their organizations that if they're part of
an organization. And so this was just a very very
(09:28):
fun and fulfilling portrait series and I got to do
a show at the International House. I'm very thankful for them.
I also got a grant from the City of Davis
Arts Council. I forgot the exact name of it, but
because I got a grant, I was able to give
all of the people in the portrait series, I was
(09:49):
able to give them their portraits at the end, So
that was really special. But it was fun, and I
felt like that was a time when we really needed
to create community. We were all isolated. I personally was
living in like the back quarters of my parents' house,
so I didn't see a lot of people every day,
and this was just a way to connect.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
You know somehow. Wow, that's just so brilliant because it's
like it also fed your soul. It did.
Speaker 3 (10:15):
Yeah, I was very it was very fulfilling. And I
have to say, I did eighteen portraits, and at the end,
I was thinking about continuing this project, and I even
got a business license to start a portrait portrait company,
and I was like, oh no, I can't do it.
I was so burned out. I'm only done like two
portraits since then. I just it was so much energy.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
Yeah, well, let me ask you, like before we scroll,
because I'd like to just look like maybe you could
highlight like four or four or five out of the eighteen.
I know it's hard to choose, but how like this
first one, for example, it's okay, right, right? How long
did it take to like this is just incredible? It's
(10:57):
just so beautiful.
Speaker 3 (10:59):
And I say, I would say like eight hours maybe
or maybe less. I don't know there was as you
can see as I go through sometimes you can see
maybe some are not as precise as they could have been,
and that's because I was doing them so fast. Like Charlie,
who you'll see if you scroll down. I did Charlie
in about four hours, which I think they have a
(11:23):
orange background. Let's see here there's Tapuola. How can we
pause here on Tapua. I just want to give a
shout out to Tapoola. You may know her from Davis.
She is such a sweet soul. She loves dancing at
the farmer's market. I met her when I was in
high school. She is just like love personified. Everybody loves her.
She's a very well known Davia site, So shout out
(11:44):
to her. Keep going, you can keep scrolling.
Speaker 2 (11:48):
There's Charlie so okay.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
Yeah, and then so this one Charlie took about four hours.
The ones that took longer were those who were wearing
like really trick clothing, so that took a little bit longer.
But they were so fun. I mean, one of the
pleasures of this of doing the series was like really
thinking about everybody I was as I was doing it,
(12:12):
and it was just all positive. There weren't any negative feelings.
Speaker 2 (12:16):
When I was doing this project, So I bet, bet.
Speaker 3 (12:20):
Let's see. Do you want to keep scrolling down?
Speaker 2 (12:23):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (12:23):
See if we can see other folks. Oh my gosh,
these people are so amazing. Stephen and Grace they work
at the Davis Community Church and on Saturdays they do
there's this program there called Mosaics where there are free
language classes. There's all. I've taken Portuguese. There, I've taken Spanish.
I think they have Japanese and some other languages. But
(12:46):
they have a meal, a community meal. I don't know
if it's every Saturday, but they have like an open
mic night and then they provide a feast for the
community and it's really beautiful. And they're so loving and
open to everyone from every walk of life, from every
religious background, nationality. So they're amazing. Okay, you can keep scrolling.
Speaker 2 (13:04):
What is it we scroll down? How does that works?
It's so many different Like it's in order of to
like learn another language or practice a language. Are there
people you just find someone who's speaking the language that
you want to learn, or their actual lessons there are
actual classes.
Speaker 3 (13:23):
Yeah, so these these people are donating their time, the
teachers that's amazing.
Speaker 2 (13:28):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (13:29):
Okay, So Gloria, Gloria amazing. Many of you know about her,
but she's just a powerhouse. She's a political activist, she's
a mother, she's a retired scientist. She was our mayor,
and she's just awesome. She's head of the Phoenix Coalition
(13:51):
in a. Davis, which is an organization that was founded
for people with disabilities but promotes inclusion and prevents hate crimes.
And it's a wonderful organization. By the way, if you
go to this website, you'll see links, you know, to
all the organizations that the people are associated with.
Speaker 2 (14:10):
That's an amazing project. So thoroughly deny.
Speaker 3 (14:13):
This is one of my besties. Deni is a friend
of mine. She grew up in Guatemala. Her mama's is
a Chuffina. She's a from Guatemala. And Denise went to
UCLA and then she came to UC Davis for her
graduate program in neurobiology. And she's a dancer and she
started a dance studio in Davis and so she actually
(14:36):
it was dance and music and I think martial arts
and some other things. But it was such a hub
when I was in college. So it was like the
early mid two thousands, and she just brought so many
people together from all over the world and with all
these different interests and so that's her. Wow, she has
a long bio there in yeah tech stuff or deftly sure.
(15:03):
Christina she's a nurse and she's one of my good
friends as well.
Speaker 2 (15:08):
She's from bau.
Speaker 3 (15:11):
Brecio and she's been also part of associated with the
Davis Phoenix Coalition and you know, she's a nurse and
also very well known in the community. Rob Davis, many
of you know him. He's one thing I love about
him is that he bites everywhere. So he I don't
even know if he owns a car, but I see
(15:31):
him biking all over town. I bike myself, so I
really admire that.
Speaker 2 (15:35):
And he's one of our former mayors as well.
Speaker 3 (15:38):
Yeah, here's Kate. She has two sons or now she
has three. Sorry, I had two sons here, Samar and Salim,
and then she has Sahem for Newest and she's been
an activist for social justice and she has done a
lot for social justice and the arts as well. And
(15:58):
she created a place in Central Park where the Solidarity
Space to you know, display art and to meet and
gather and have uh you know, rallies and stuff like that.
And education different educational. I also I don't know why
or just get together. So Deema is an activist. She's
(16:22):
a very peaceful, amazing, lovely person. Social justice. She's involved
in food, so talking to people about food. Unfortunately I
didn't read all these bios before this though. I don't
remember off the top of my head her organization. But
she's an entrepreneur, creative maker and sustainable and communal food advocate. Yeah,
(16:45):
wonderful person.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
She had a tech career already, she did. And Dylan,
I love Dylan.
Speaker 3 (16:53):
Dylan is one of my favorite local politicians.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
Yes he has oh I don't even know.
Speaker 3 (16:58):
His resume must be like ten pages long. She does
so much the community. Dean. So she was in in college.
I took but at the Nutchem which is a class
classical South Indian dance form. And she was a kid
in the class, like a tiny maybe like five, I
want to say, she was just tiny and there were
(17:19):
a couple of kids in the class. But she went
on to get her do her arm engage room, which
is learning and becoming becoming a professional dancer and so ironically.
So she was in my class when I was in
college and then during right before COVID hit, I wanted
to get back into bed at Nutyum and I saw
her UH teaching a class as an adult, like a
(17:42):
legal adult, you know. I was like, oh my gosh,
this is crazy. So I got from her. She's amazing.
She still dances beautiful. And then there's Venita. She was
my actual but at nottym teacher and so she knows
Deviani as well. She is also just such a powerhouse.
She has a BS, she has an m b A,
she has I think a teaching credential. I mean, she's incredible.
(18:06):
And she's the CEO of a company as well, so
a startup for skincare I believe.
Speaker 2 (18:10):
Wow, amazing.
Speaker 3 (18:16):
So she is a professor of ethnic studies. She is
a community culture beearer and just brings people together. She
has she offers different concerts Center House with the music
from different parts of the world. And like Sono, she
has a lot of UH concerts with with son Harocho,
(18:38):
which is a form of music from from Vera Cruz and.
Speaker 2 (18:44):
The Yeah.
Speaker 3 (18:45):
So she's amazing. I'm sorry, I'm kind of losing my
words because I didn't prepare for this part. Yay. So Fernando, Yeah,
he's really Louise Fernando. He's really awesome as well. I
haven't seen him in a long time, but he was
a community activist and organizer as well and really good person.
Speaker 2 (19:01):
So wow, And how long how much time did you spend?
Like what period of time did you spend making these
eighteen portraits and gathering all the information?
Speaker 3 (19:13):
I think the total was about two months when I
started to finish. Yeah, I just kinda I was going
to stop at ten, and then I was like, oh wait,
there's another nominee. I should do this person. And then
finally at eighteen, I was like, okay, I'm done. I'm
done now. But I like, I wish I could keep.
If I had the energy for it, I would do
a portrait a week of a new community member.
Speaker 2 (19:34):
Wow, we need to These should be on a wall
in the gallery like permanently in Davis. Oh thank you
adding to them.
Speaker 3 (19:42):
Well, there is a website, so that's good.
Speaker 2 (19:45):
That's yeah, that's the way to do it. It's on
the International House website.
Speaker 3 (19:49):
Is that right? Yes? And the link is their International
House Davis dot org. Slash program Slash seasonal and monthly program.
Second Friday art Aboutkomuni Dada Project by Stephanie Theair.
Speaker 2 (19:59):
That's a long WHI wow beautiful. Thanks thanks for walking
us through that.
Speaker 3 (20:05):
Now.
Speaker 2 (20:05):
I think we also get to hear a couple of
your poems. Is that what you'd like to talk about next?
Speaker 3 (20:12):
Sure? Yes, I love poetry. I've been writing poems since
I was a kid. My grandma really liked poetry and
I she did a book, she published a book of
poems at one point. But I always love poetry, and
I think for me poems a lot of times they
just come into my mind and then I start writing.
I write them out, and also songs. So I was
(20:35):
going to share a poem and a song. These are
both in lieu of Women's History months, so they're both
related to topics that are affecting women. So the first
poem I wanted to share, I usually share it with
music in the background, but because it's copyrighted music, I'm
not going to share it. This was a poem I
(20:56):
wrote when I was in the car and I was
toggling back between two corporate radio stations. One was a
hip hop and one was was a Spanish channel and pop,
you know, mainstream music, and each station was playing songs
about that were kind of objectifying to women. And so
(21:17):
I was like, okay, you know, is this all that
we are like to mainstream music and mainstream music? So
I wrote a poem called song Lyrics and oversight it so,
and it does have some curse words in it, so
I will substitute those with other words or beets.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
Oh, thank you, thank you for it.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
So oftentimes when I hear song lines with a female
as the subject, they seem as nine. A male singer
says she's duels or sweet, or that he wants to
eat her like she's a piece of meat. And maybe
she's fine with a big beep behind, But what about
her mind or her energy sublime? Maybe she's an artist
(21:57):
or a lawyer or a queen. Maybe she's the fast
runner you have ever seen. See, there's more to her
than meets the eyes. She's more than a bee for
some lucky guy. Maybe she cares about future generations. Maybe
she's more than just a hole for penetration. Maybe she's funny,
quick witted, and strong, And maybe she doesn't care that
your bee is super long. I'm tired of hearing songs
(22:19):
about a woman on the surface. I want to hear
a song about a woman with a purpose, and not
the purpose of giving a man a beef and ball hug.
A song about a woman with compassion, strength and love,
A woman who has been through much but keeps an
open mind, a woman who is fearless in the face
of what she finds. I want to hear a song
about a woman that is true. A woman is more
(22:41):
than what we hear on the radio see, and without
her there'd be no use.
Speaker 2 (22:47):
Yeah, I love that.
Speaker 4 (22:49):
Thank you.
Speaker 2 (22:50):
That is so powerful. I mean, I mean I wish
every woman in the world could hear that, and every
girl and every boy and every man that's and everybody.
Speaker 3 (23:00):
Binary, everybody. Yeah, I'm used to signing that because I
have music in the background and then I record my
I recorded my voice over alic one of Alice Coultrane's songs,
and then I sign it so like yeah oftentimes yeah,
So anyway.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Uh, like how long did it take you, Like did
you work on that while you were in the car?
Like the words coming to you right away?
Speaker 3 (23:23):
The words literally just came, like almost all the words
came to me in the car. And then as soon
as that happens, I just go right right, go home
and write so like.
Speaker 2 (23:31):
The whole stream.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
You didn't have to It was just almost pretty much
the whole stream. Sometimes I'll start with part of it
and then like think about it and finish it up. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:42):
So wow that was fun and then and powerful.
Speaker 3 (23:47):
Yeah, thank you. Yeah, so I like that one believe
it or not. Well, actually I was really nervous to
do this podcast. I am. I feel fine performing musically
on stage like an instrument in my the band I
played in and stuff, but public speaking performing when I
performed this at this the Love for Social Justice event
(24:07):
at Delta Venus, I was really nervous. So I've always been.
That's always been. I've always had anxiety with with public
speaking and presenting. But dancing music no problem. I could
do comedy skits at home with my phone and post
them and that's not a problem for me. But speaking
live and yeah, I don't know why. So the next
(24:29):
song is in Spanish and I will read an interpretation
or a translation of it in English after okay, and
this is about a woman's time of the month.
Speaker 5 (24:56):
Le mon no kieroconadi pero k.
Speaker 3 (25:11):
Tiempo.
Speaker 5 (25:12):
Then maceraves ai ai andre bet lace this gimpo then
ma I know manchezmos baleques.
Speaker 3 (25:35):
So Spanish is not my first language, it's my third,
but it uh, I love it. And I'm gonna translate
that for you. So it says my head hurts a little.
I also have abdominal pain. My chest is sore and sensitive,
and I feel irritable and bad. I don't want to
talk to anyone, but I want to sleep a lot
and cry. If you come hear me, please be careful
(25:57):
and never say I'm hormonal. Time the month? Why do
you come again? Ayayi andres Andres is like a nickname
for time of the month in at least some parts
of Mexico. And then leave on the count of three,
time of the month. Go away with the bloating, with
the swelling time of the month. No way. But we'll
see each other, all right. So that's it. That was
(26:21):
a fun one. I want to do. I want to
find someone who can back me up with instrument. With instruments,
it's kind of like a thongo. It sounds like a
thongo to me, like a tango.
Speaker 2 (26:30):
That is awesome, Okay, it's so underrated. It's so underdescribed,
under understood.
Speaker 3 (26:40):
Yes, what people who go through menstruation deal with every
month is really can be really intense, really intense, and
I think a lot of people aren't even sure what's happening.
But I like to do poetry about women's issues. I
also have a rap about my period, but I am
(27:01):
not going to share that here. It's no, it's too much.
It's a little more graphic, so no, no, no, no.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
Oh okay, sorry, I'll have on that.
Speaker 3 (27:12):
Yeah, so it would be like Mebee Bobby me, maybe.
Speaker 2 (27:18):
You get to the to the heart of expression. Do
you have a YouTube channel where people can go in
your stuff?
Speaker 3 (27:25):
I do. I believe it's called Prima Fani. Prima Fani
is my nickname. So my cousin who I'm really close with,
her husband is from Havana, Kuba. He's from Cuba, so
when I I have had the opportunity to visit Kuba
with them and his his family calls me Prima Fani
because or Prima. Yeah, so that's been a nickname. Some
(27:45):
of my friends have taken up as well, and it's
I think it's my Instagram name. I'm not sure. So
my YouTube, I believe would be prima fani e r
I m A f A n I, and Fani is
a nickname for Stephanie, So it's Fanny Fani m hm.
Speaker 2 (28:02):
So you're a multi instrumentalist correct.
Speaker 3 (28:06):
Yeah, mainly percussionist, which you know, there's lots of different
types of percussion instruments. I played guitar, a little bit
acoustic guitar, and my parents taught me that they growing up.
I came from a very musical family. My great grandmother
was a famous cellist in She was Czech, but her
(28:29):
name was Jenka Chierney.
Speaker 2 (28:31):
She grew up, I.
Speaker 3 (28:32):
Believe in Chicago, I want to say. But she did
like tours all over Europe and stuff like that, and
she her family was friends with Muca. I don't know
if you know Alphonse Muca, the artist. It's like that's okay,
So it's like art nouveau. And so one one time,
so Muca did her advertisement which is a huge poster
(28:56):
of her for a world tour that she was going
to do, and so I have a copy of it.
My parents and my relatives have copies. And my friend
went to the Muca museum in Prague there and then
her portrait was right there. The poster was there, like
one of the first pictures in the museum. I was
like wow. So she was very musical. Her father, Albert Cherney,
(29:20):
was a pianist and he was a piano teacher and
his daughters, Malaga and Jenka, both played music. So Jenka,
my great grandma, was a cellist and then Malaga was
a Honestly, I don't even know if that's her name,
it's Malaga or something like that. I feel bad. It's
(29:43):
arts with an M though and an a mom. So anyway,
she was a prodigy of piano prodigy. So one day
her dad had given a lesson, he left the room
and then he heard the piece that that student had
been playing on the piano, someone playing. He's like, oh,
I thought the student left. He came out and his daughter,
who was like four years old, was playing it by ear.
(30:05):
So she had it in her and so she became
a prodigy. She played for like the Queen of England
at the age of eight or something like that. So
outside of the family, it came with a price though,
like the way that they were, I mean, their dad
made them practice like six hours a day and stuff
like that. So I think when Jenka after a while
(30:28):
she did stop playing. But but anyway, my parents both
play guitar and sing and they were in a do
wop group when I was a kid. Oh, so they were.
They liked that. I grew up with music all the time.
Jimmy Cliff, like just Jimmy Cliff, a lot of classic rock,
uh Stevie Wonder, just a lot of different types of music.
(30:51):
And my parents every night when I was a kid,
would play the guitar and sing us to sleep my
brothers and I so like was grew up with that,
and like I really felt the music when I was
a kid. Sometimes I would even cry when they were singing.
It was just killed me with emotion, you know what
I mean. I love so I love music. I've always
(31:15):
been attracted to it, and I play. I'm a percussionist,
so I started well, I first started with violin when
I was in third grade and I did it for
a couple of years. Bob Brenn, who's a Davis fiddler,
was my teacher, and then in elementary school, I had
the option of doing a band instrument in fourth grade,
(31:37):
so I decided I was between saxophone and percussion, and
I decided to do percussion, and I absolutely loved it.
It was so fun I mean, we did like the
concert band, so I played snare bass, suspended symbol. We
didn't have timpany at that age, but you know, we
learned rudimentary stuff. And I had my best friend at
(31:58):
the time. She was so funny. She also signed up
for drumming with me or percussion with me, but she
didn't really want to go to practices and stuff. So
here I was like, you know, wanting to learn so much.
And we had these drum pads that you practice on.
Mine was like a plastic rim with a probably a
plastic head, and hers was more like a rubbery Her
(32:18):
was smaller, so she would literally hide it in her jacket,
and so when it was time to play, the teacher
would like, okay, get out, She's like, oh, I forgot it, sorry,
I can't play today. It was so it was so funny.
She cracked me up.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
But I did.
Speaker 3 (32:33):
Percussion in school through tenth grade, and I decided to
stop after tenth grade. I really wasn't having as much
fun in the school band. In junior high, I had
a a music teacher named missus new and I was
first chair in the percussion section. We got ranked based
on making a tape back in the day when we
(32:53):
made tapes, so I had to read sheet music and
play it and stuff like that. So I was first.
She had so much faith in me. She gave me
so much confidence. But once I got to high school.
I'm not going to say who my teacher was, but
my confidence was shook a little bit. Not my confidence,
but I didn't like how I was being treated. I
felt like there was some gender discrimination. There was a
(33:16):
guy who got to play first, like all the snare parts,
and I'm not going to say I was better than him,
but I feel like I was a little marketing, like
I played a little more clear. But anyway, my teacher
put me on timpany for every single song and I
just lost interest. So I stopped after that. But I
was also doing so much in high school, like I
(33:37):
was a pure helper to you know, as a competitive
soccer player. I did health advocacy. I was an artist
and did a lot of art for uh like different
organizations and stuff like that. So it was good that
I took a break. But then when I got to college,
I really wanted to do hand drumming, specifically West African
(33:57):
and I was taking an intro to Ethnic musicology class
and my teacher, Scott Marcus, who is a legend who
I love at UC Santa Barbara, he said, no, we
don't have West African drumming, but we do have the
Middle Eastern Music Ensemble, and so I was like, oh okay.
And so in that ensemble there's one night of the
week where I would get private drum classes. So I
(34:20):
played Darbuka and that so you may have also heard
of Dabuka's Duombek. It's named different things all over the
Middle East. But we played Arab, Turkish, Persian, Armenian, Greek, Jewish, Uzbek,
Kurdish and Assyrian music and it was really fun. I
hadn't listened to a lot of Middle Eastern music before
(34:40):
the Middle Eastern Music Ensemble and so it was really
it was such a learning experience, so much fun. And
I ended up going to Middle Eastern Music and Dance
camp in the summers in Mendocino, and like it was
such a cool community, like it was it was really
full of love. It was really fun, and I liked
a lot of the odd numbered rhythms. I hadn't really
played as much of those in the school band. So
(35:01):
there were five beat rhythms, seven beat rhythms, nine beat rhythms. Yeah,
so that was really fun. So I played in that
for a couple of years. I transferred back to David
and then I played I played soccer at UC Santa
Barbara for one year at Division one, and then I
got double bunyion surgery summer after my freshman year. So
(35:22):
some people think of bunions as like old lady, you
know feet, it's like the bump on your It's like,
you know, this thing right here. But I had them
since I was five. I they're genetic, and I got
them from both sides of my family, so my mom
and my dad, and you know, sometimes women get them
when they're cramming their feet or whoever wears heels, But
(35:45):
if they're really going to heels, when you cram your
foot in there, it makes the bunion bigger. Your toes
are like going like this instead of like this. So yeah,
I had I had big onions, big bunions, And so
I got surgery that summer and in a wheelchair for
a little bit, and I ended up transferring back to
Davis after that freshman year, and I played a little
(36:09):
bit of Drbuca, but I didn't know a lot of
people in the community who played midlis your music, particularly
I There were a couple of people that I played
with here and there. But I did get to play
in a Greek band really briefly, well Greek music. I'm
part Greek. But it was called Fasoli, which means bean.
I don't know why. I hate the guy who the
(36:31):
head of the band named it that, but maybe he
likes beans.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
I don't know.
Speaker 3 (36:34):
I love beans. That was and then I've also played
in a band called Vitra Mundo, which is led by
Scarlett Shoe Oh my god, Schubert I think is her
last name. She's from brocil as well Rio and she
has like a plethora of music, not just a Brizilian music,
(36:55):
but also music from Portugal, and that was really fun
to play with her. And then I play have played
with the band Raisis, which is means roots in Spanish,
and that is an all It was an all women
band and we play a variety of music like why
nos from the andes tons of Cumbias, we play boleros,
(37:16):
we play Papa Espanol. So that has that was really
fun now I'm in school, so I don't have as
much time as I'm a sub and there is a
guy subbing for me on the drums, but that has
been Oh we played Colombian music as well because we
got a percussionist from Colombia named Andrea who's so amazing,
and bayanatos and other stuff which is.
Speaker 2 (37:38):
Really cool and it's really fun to dance too.
Speaker 3 (37:41):
Yeah. Yeah, sometimes I wish I wasn't playing. I wish
I was just listening and dancing.
Speaker 2 (37:47):
Well, I didn't keep track, but that's a lot of
instruments that you can play.
Speaker 3 (37:53):
Well, yeah, I'm mostly percussions. So then the rasis I
played the set. In Bira Mundo, I played the set.
I also played cajon, which is the box drum. It's
originally from Peru and it was invented by enslaved Africans
in Peru and it's wooden and you sit on top
and stuff like that. It has I think Spanish people
(38:14):
took the concept back to Spain and like added guitar
strings in it, so it has like a snare sound
in Spain most of the time, but Peru usually there's
I don't I think it's more just the box, the
box sound, and then Bombo is a drum from the Andes.
And two of the members of Raissas are from Argentina,
(38:35):
and so one of them is from a city called
Buhui or a town maybe I'm not sure how big
it is, but there's a lot of indigenous peoples there
and they play this instrument. So it's really cool. She
brought it, introduced it to the band and it's been
fun to learn some of the winos that from her city,
(38:55):
from her town.
Speaker 2 (38:58):
And when you teach art can in the summer to kids,
is that what kind of medium do you use for that?
Speaker 3 (39:05):
For the art camps, I have five days, I five
different mediums. So I do pen and ink, I do
a paper project, I do oil, pestels, watercolor and painting.
Speaker 2 (39:17):
Yeah, I knew it would be and arranged.
Speaker 3 (39:18):
And then Ray use them to many things. But also
I like, you know, there are so many media mediums
out there. There's a you know, but I like to
do things that I can set up and clean have
been relatively easily, Like you know, sculpture is a little
bit more difficult, especially for an outdoor camp where you're
just I don't know, and it's more expensive sometimes, but
(39:41):
the camp is really amazing. It's called ARTI Party Art Camp.
It's my dream job, besides playing music and dancing and
doing skits and stuff like that. But the kids come
and they have free draw for like twenty minutes, and
then we do an art lesson. Then they have snack.
Then we choreograph a dance that we perform for the
parents on Fridays that pick up, and then they have
(40:03):
free play which includes you know, kinetic stands station. There's
the huge park there, there's basketball, there's the soccer field there,
there's trees and bushes they can explore. It's really wonderful.
There's a public park there as well, so it's just
so much fun. It's so joyful. We get to goof around.
Oh there's also beating and rubber band bracelet making, so
(40:27):
it's really a good time. And there's these hawks that
swoop all up in the trees like where we are,
so which is really cool.
Speaker 2 (40:33):
Oh my gosh, that sounds awesome. I wish that for
every child.
Speaker 3 (40:37):
Yeah, it's awesome. Thank you.
Speaker 2 (40:39):
I love it. Well, if you don't mind, we have
a few more minutes. And I was just the other
day you shared with me I saw a photo of
you as a bride, and I was like, oh, my goodness,
I didn't know you're married.
Speaker 3 (40:53):
Are you married? I wonder if you can see that
picture up there? Can you see that?
Speaker 2 (40:58):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (40:59):
Okay, yes, that's a funny story.
Speaker 2 (41:01):
And you showed me another aspect of your unique creativity,
which is very resourceful and also very practical and fun
and brilliant. So I'd love for you to share about
your wedding my wedding.
Speaker 3 (41:16):
Okay. So when I was thirty eight, I was single
and I hadn't met my life partner yet. I had
hoped that I would by that point. And I don't
necessarily feel the need to get legally married to anybody.
But I don't need to involve the government in my
love life. I mean, if it was beneficial for tax
(41:36):
purposes or whatever. But I had always wanted a wedding,
so I all thought that was something that I would
have in my life. And so I decided, you know what,
I had just moved into a townhouse, and I was like, gosh,
I need a registry. Why do only married people get registries?
It's not fair. I need single people need stuff too, Right,
(42:00):
I'm in a registry so, but more than anything, I
wanted to have a celebration. And so here, let's see
if I can pull up this picture.
Speaker 2 (42:12):
I love it, And can you describe that for people
who are hearing but not seeing this episode. Yes.
Speaker 3 (42:19):
So the picture is me in a white dress, which
I really love, holding a bouquet of flowers. I'm kneeling down.
I'm wearing white sunglasses that have or white heart sunglasses
and a veil and beaded white earrings. I have a
bunch of my friends in yellow wearing dresses behind me
and yellow heart sunglasses, holding up their flowers and celebrating.
(42:43):
We're on a grassy field with flowers in the background
and a big tree in the back. It's sunny out,
blue sky. Everyone's having fun. So basically, I just decided
to throw myself a wedding. And I just want to
be clear, I didn't marry myself. I got married myself. Okay,
so I'm still single technically. But what we did the
(43:07):
bridesmaid walked down the aisle. I walked down the aisle
to Alicia Keysbong, Superwoman, and then my friend Christina was
the officiant, and it was she was so hilarious, but
I did my vows. I promised never to settle for
less than what I deserve and blah blah blah, and
then she at the end she pronounced me still single.
So it was really fun. It was like such a
(43:30):
fun day. I did the first dance by myself, so
I did a medley of songs in different styles, and
then I threw the bouquet. My friend La Lais caught it,
so she needs to get married by herself next or
was someone if she wants. And then my friend decked
out her being w vertible. She wrote still single on
the windows in white, and then she put like toilet
(43:52):
paper coming off the back bumper and I sat on
the back and we drove around the neighborhood and I
was waiting and it was so much fun.
Speaker 2 (44:02):
It was so fun.
Speaker 3 (44:03):
And then I bought a couple of cakes from Save mart.
I think I had a raffle win a date.
Speaker 2 (44:08):
With the bride, and you're such a beautiful bride.
Speaker 3 (44:16):
I wonder if here let me show you another picture.
Speaker 2 (44:18):
This is It looked like a perfect wedding.
Speaker 3 (44:21):
It was really just fun. And the thing is, it
was so it was so cheap, so I didn't even
I didn't even reserve the venue. That's the flower girl
Maya throwing a rose petal and it looks like it's
going in my mouth. It was really really fun. It
was a great day, and I really I did. I
(44:43):
did to get a lot of nice gifts. So my
registry was.
Speaker 2 (44:46):
Just my Venmo account, So what a great idea money,
which is so nice.
Speaker 3 (44:50):
And it was during COVID, so it was picked bought
their own food. Everyone brought their own food, which.
Speaker 2 (44:56):
Was like wow, so creative and so fun and also
so smart. And you're right, why don't single people get
to have registries? So I don't know something about that.
Speaker 3 (45:07):
Is just that part. Definitely, we just serve it.
Speaker 2 (45:10):
We deserve it so very inspiring. So we just have
like two minutes left. So I wanted to just give
you a chance for any closing thought or your message
to the world before I think everybody.
Speaker 3 (45:22):
My message to the world. Oh Like when you just
said that, I almost wanted to cry because there's so
much going on in the world and so much harm
and suffering and it makes me sad, and I've cried
so much in the last year and a half, and
I just want people to have compassion and kindness and
I want people to be accepting of others, diversity and
(45:48):
more joy and love in the world, honestly, And we
need to think about our earth and our environment, and
we need to listen to indigenous peoples because they have
the answers and they've been living here on this land
and a lot of you know, with colonialism, there is
a lot of mistreatment of the land and the industrial revolution,
of course, it's just it's it's work that's going in
(46:11):
the wrong direction. And we need to get back in
touch with with our connection to the earth and the
land and plants and animals and everything. So kind of
I love This is the sign for I love you and.
Speaker 2 (46:27):
Thign language nice love and.
Speaker 3 (46:30):
Also holding people accountable.
Speaker 2 (46:33):
Yeah, so gosh, Stephanie Thayer, it was really fun having
you on today. Thank you for helping us honor women
all live with the world by your sharing, your your
brilliance and your creativity and inspiring all of us. Thank
you for having me my pleasure, and thank you to
our engineer Rebel and to our producer Dean, and to
(46:53):
all the listeners and viewers. And be sure to tune
in next Wednesday a pm Eastern time. I talk for
TV or W four cy dot com and maybe all
have enriching conversations and diversity this week. Thanks again Andred
Yes logic.
Speaker 4 (47:09):
Let's beech logic, let's speech of in logic, Yellow, let's
speech in logic.
Speaker 2 (47:21):
Yell, Let's beach all the.
Speaker 3 (47:26):
In logic. Let's pitch in logic. Let's preach all the
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