Ep. 227: I Met God and Her Name is Barbara "Willy" Mendes

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jason Louv: I'm really glad that Jeff introduced us, and I've been really looking forward to this. (03:57):
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Jason Louv: I read the comics that you sent me, and I was very touched by them. (04:01):
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Jason Louv: I thought they were beautiful. (04:05):
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Jason Louv: I thought particularly the image of angels hovering outside of somebody's life (04:06):
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Jason Louv: experience, particularly during a traumatic time, was very, very touching. (04:11):
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Barbara Mendes: I'm glad you picked up on it when I laid down. (04:16):
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Jason Louv: Thank you. (04:20):
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Barbara Mendes: It's very dense, and they just say, oh, I meant to read it, but I just flipped through it. (04:22):
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Jason Louv: So why don't we start off with maybe just tell the audience, (04:27):
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Jason Louv: just maybe introduce yourself to the audience and tell them about who you are. (04:30):
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Barbara Mendes: Hi, my name is Barbara Willie Mendes. Now, Willie, that's my pen name from the comics. (04:34):
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Barbara Mendes: In the early, about 1968, I began to do underground comics, the era of Robert Crumb. (04:40):
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Barbara Mendes: And my husband had a funny nickname for me, Willie. And I used it as my pen name, Willie Mendes. (04:45):
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Barbara Mendes: But then when guys stopped publishing gals in comics, I went to a 50-year painting (04:51):
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Barbara Mendes: career, which is my real love. (04:56):
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Barbara Mendes: And I'm Barbara Mendez as well. In fact, we're sitting on Barbara Mendez Square. (04:58):
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Barbara Mendes: I'll show you the sign later. (05:02):
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Jason Louv: Thank you so much. (05:04):
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Barbara Mendes: And I think I'm going to allow you to interview me now. Okay, thank you so much. (05:05):
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Barbara Mendes: Thank you. I'll tell you the truth because I just had a comment on Facebook (05:10):
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Barbara Mendes: that it must be so much fun to be me. (05:14):
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Barbara Mendes: It's a tortured experience, but I'm delighted that you liked it. (05:19):
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Jason Louv: Why tortured? (05:23):
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Barbara Mendes: That's too deep to go into. It's just difficult to be such a person putting (05:24):
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Barbara Mendes: out so much, so much, so much. (05:29):
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Barbara Mendes: I couldn't really get enough back to make it worthwhile. (05:30):
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Barbara Mendes: And certainly with the sexism that I've experienced in my lifetime, (05:34):
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Barbara Mendes: I've experienced tremendous, I call it oppression. The word I'm looking for is prejudice. (05:37):
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Barbara Mendes: I'm looking for the word that explains when you're overlooked merely because (05:43):
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Barbara Mendes: of who you are. It's so easy to overlook a woman. (05:48):
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Barbara Mendes: And some 76 years old, in the era (05:51):
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Barbara Mendes: that I grew up, women were very much overlooked. Now every other creator. (05:53):
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Jason Louv: Is a woman. So you think it's changed for the better, that opportunities have (05:58):
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Jason Louv: opened up and society's changed? (06:03):
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Barbara Mendes: Not on the opposite, but the battles that we fought along the way, (06:05):
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Barbara Mendes: it didn't happen by itself. (06:08):
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Barbara Mendes: Trina Robbins was incredibly instrumental in opening comics to women and opening (06:09):
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Barbara Mendes: people's eyes to the prejudice that was happening. (06:13):
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Barbara Mendes: There was that organization friends of lulu that did whole studies of how it (06:15):
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Barbara Mendes: really i'm not making it up but they literally made a deal that they weren't (06:20):
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Barbara Mendes: going to publish women why why was that this. (06:24):
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Jason Louv: Was in underground comics in the 60s or 70s (06:27):
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Barbara Mendes: It was in all comics. At the time, Trina had a straight comic from D.C. (06:31):
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Barbara Mendes: Called Misty. It was about a teenager. (06:35):
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Barbara Mendes: And that was canceled, too. It's just like, girls don't read comics. (06:38):
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Barbara Mendes: We're not going to have women comic makers. (06:41):
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Jason Louv: That's terrible. (06:45):
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Barbara Mendes: It was a real thing that happened. And particularly not just in the comics world, in the fine art world. (06:46):
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Barbara Mendes: I've been tremendously overlooked by the male establishment back in the day to where I gave up. (06:51):
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Barbara Mendes: You know, I'm 76 years old. I'm not going to go trawling around galleries and (06:57):
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Barbara Mendes: have rude 20-year-old receptionists deal with me. You know what I'm saying? (07:00):
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Jason Louv: Yeah, yeah. (07:05):
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Barbara Mendes: So, but I won't complain because I have a powerful agent. (07:07):
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Barbara Mendes: The reason to look at it, I'm 76, I'm still here. I have the use of not only (07:11):
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Barbara Mendes: this apartment I rent, but the gallery I'm down there rent free. (07:14):
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Barbara Mendes: It's a marvelous space and I have marvelous events down there. (07:17):
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Barbara Mendes: And I really have a pretty peachy, awesome life because God is my agent. (07:21):
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Barbara Mendes: I mean, you can't really plan on stuff like that Barber Mendes Square. (07:26):
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Barbara Mendes: God worked that one out, right? (07:30):
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Barbara Mendes: And putting me here with the art gallery and this setting and even being able (07:32):
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Barbara Mendes: to create those three biblical murals was a gift. (07:36):
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Barbara Mendes: So I'm extremely mystical. And I think that everything I do is guided and even (07:39):
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Barbara Mendes: the troubles and the things I complain about a little bit. (07:44):
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Barbara Mendes: Obviously, I learned many, many lessons along the way. (07:47):
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Jason Louv: One of them would (07:51):
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Barbara Mendes: Be that I hope I wouldn't be a complaining person anymore. Okay. (07:52):
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Jason Louv: I definitely want to talk about mysticism and the mystic part of your art. (07:56):
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Jason Louv: And not quite, there's so many threads there that I want to pick up on. (08:01):
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Jason Louv: And I'm not quite sure where to start. Let's see. I think probably where I want (08:06):
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Jason Louv: to start talking about is your own spiritual journey from kind of looking at (08:10):
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Jason Louv: Eastern stuff and African spirituality back to becoming an Orthodox Jew and (08:17):
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Jason Louv: what that was like for you. (08:23):
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Barbara Mendes: What a wild ride. I come from an ancient family of rabbis, rabbis, (08:26):
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Barbara Mendes: rabbis, all the way back. (08:31):
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Barbara Mendes: And I'm the first generation where they rejected all that and they consider (08:32):
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Barbara Mendes: it, for lack of a better word, crap. (08:36):
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Barbara Mendes: But just they're not going to teach the kids anything about that stuff. (08:38):
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Barbara Mendes: In fact, Shureth Israel, the oldest congregation in America, (08:42):
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Barbara Mendes: founded in 1654, that's my family's home synagogue. (08:45):
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Barbara Mendes: And I never even was taken there as a young person because we (08:49):
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Barbara Mendes: don't believe in that stuff it's in the comic it says some people believe in (08:52):
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Barbara Mendes: superstition that's what i was told about religion that it was superstition (08:56):
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Barbara Mendes: but i always had a spiritual yearning and in this 20 when i was 20 years old (09:00):
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Barbara Mendes: in my 20s there were books released in. (09:05):
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Barbara Mendes: In bookstores books about tibetan mysticism very esoteric books the tibetan (09:10):
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Barbara Mendes: book of the dead was one but also this was the whole earth catalog my husband (09:15):
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Barbara Mendes: yeah he was a musician and a songwriter And really, (09:19):
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Barbara Mendes: you get, you know, I knock men a lot, but you get so many riches from men. (09:23):
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Barbara Mendes: I was married twice, and from both of my husbands, I received spiritual riches. (09:26):
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Barbara Mendes: And Rick, in particular, was a songwriter who wrote the most beautiful music, (09:31):
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Barbara Mendes: practically, that I've ever heard. (09:35):
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Barbara Mendes: So he noticed in the Whole Earth Catalog, the 100,000 songs of Milarepa. (09:37):
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Barbara Mendes: This is what started the whole Tibetan thing. And we got that book, (09:43):
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Barbara Mendes: and it was so remarkable and inspired the hell out of me. So a huge influence (09:46):
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Barbara Mendes: of my life was The 100,000 Songs of Milarepa. (09:50):
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Barbara Mendes: There was another book by Dr. Evans Wentz, which was The Life of Milarepa. (09:54):
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Barbara Mendes: So the idea was if and then later hitchhiking in Oregon in the wilds on the (10:00):
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Barbara Mendes: Mackenzie River, we come pick up a hitchhiker and she's got The Life of Milarepa (10:04):
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Barbara Mendes: and we've got The 100,000 Songs. (10:08):
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Jason Louv: That's great. That's great. That's great. (10:10):
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Barbara Mendes: We spent the night in her cabin over the river. We had almonds and coconut and stuff for breakfast. (10:12):
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Barbara Mendes: And later we exchanged books. So actually I have in my home, (10:17):
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Barbara Mendes: the life of Milarepa and she has the a hundred thousand songs. (10:21):
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Barbara Mendes: But so that started. And of course, Tibetan Buddhism leads to Hinduism and interest. (10:24):
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Barbara Mendes: Another funny story is when we lived in the free farm in Oregon, (10:31):
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Barbara Mendes: a 17 acre farm that we were caretaking for free, which was so beautiful with (10:34):
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Barbara Mendes: pastures and a swimming hole. (10:38):
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Barbara Mendes: It was so beautiful that people gave us their horses to board for them. (10:40):
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Barbara Mendes: So we had a champion stallion and a champion mare and a bunch of other stories, (10:44):
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Barbara Mendes: a couple of ponies and our own horses. Yami was my horse. (10:48):
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Barbara Mendes: I mean, Yami was Rick's horse, a black gelding. And my horse was Windy, (10:53):
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Barbara Mendes: a Pinto mare. And you'll see them all in my paintings. (10:57):
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Barbara Mendes: And on the wall, you see that Pinto mare over and over. So we're on the farm in Oregon. (10:59):
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Barbara Mendes: And there was an abandoned, there was a farm adjacent to our farm where nobody (11:04):
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Barbara Mendes: lived. You could just go in there and see what was going on inside it. (11:08):
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Barbara Mendes: And they had these old Life magazines from the 40s. (11:10):
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Barbara Mendes: Now, evidently, Life magazine ran a series called Religions of the World. Okay. (11:13):
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Barbara Mendes: And the religion of the world in this month's issue was Hinduism. (11:18):
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Barbara Mendes: Oh man, Life Magazine used to really go into things. (11:22):
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Barbara Mendes: And that's where in Tales for the Modern Mystic, that picture of all the gods, (11:24):
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Barbara Mendes: it's basically a copy of the schematic drawing in the Life Magazine of all the Hindu gods. (11:27):
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Barbara Mendes: And so that was possibly my introduction to Hinduism. (11:34):
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Barbara Mendes: But all through that period, I studied. And also, we moved to Staten Island (11:39):
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Barbara Mendes: when my daughter got set. (11:44):
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Barbara Mendes: And would you believe in Staten Island is a Tibetan museum? (11:46):
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Barbara Mendes: It's an amazing, beautiful place up on the mountain. If you're ever, I didn't know that. (11:49):
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Barbara Mendes: Yeah, it's quite remarkable. You really think like you're in Tibet because it's (11:55):
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Barbara Mendes: up a mountain and it's all stone and it's made like a Tibetan monastery. (11:59):
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Barbara Mendes: So we took a class up there in the life of Naropa, who was the teacher of Marpa, (12:03):
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Barbara Mendes: who was the teacher of Milarepa. (12:07):
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Barbara Mendes: And also we would go there to volunteer where my husband would sweep up a bit (12:09):
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Barbara Mendes: and I would study Tibetan iconography in the library there. (12:13):
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Barbara Mendes: So that's when I studied the mudras and the different, you know, (12:16):
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Barbara Mendes: if you add up the elements of a Tibetan piece, you will know what god or goddess (12:20):
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Barbara Mendes: is being portrayed by the number of arms, (12:24):
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Barbara Mendes: the number that they're holding and the seat and the hand movement and all that (12:27):
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Barbara Mendes: tells you in the end who it is. (12:31):
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Barbara Mendes: So that was the Hindu-Tibetan period. What happened next was Bob Marley just rocked my world. (12:33):
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Barbara Mendes: I mean, when Oma was sick, she was sick when she still first had the cancer (12:39):
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Barbara Mendes: and had a lot of treatments in New York. (12:44):
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Barbara Mendes: We went to stay in my dad's apartment on the Upper West Side to be near the (12:46):
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Barbara Mendes: hospital, Columbia Presbyterian. (12:49):
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Barbara Mendes: And my dad had a fantastic stereo. This is 1973. (12:52):
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Barbara Mendes: Rick discovered reggae. and there was a great reggae show where they had Uroy (12:56):
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Barbara Mendes: and they had Bob Marley, Catch a Fire. (13:01):
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Barbara Mendes: We had the first Marley album, Catch a Fire used to come. (13:05):
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Barbara Mendes: It looked like a Zippo lighter and the album opened up just like a Zippo lighter. (13:08):
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Barbara Mendes: That was the original album. (13:12):
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Barbara Mendes: So, and Steer It Up, oh my God, to hear the children, to see the children dance, to steer it up. (13:14):
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Barbara Mendes: It was a beautiful thing. So we were Marley fans. Then one year later in Rialto, (13:19):
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Barbara Mendes: So, you know, I was so secular, we celebrated Christmas. (13:23):
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Barbara Mendes: So for Christmas, I asked for my gifts, all the Bob Marley albums. (13:26):
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Barbara Mendes: And I got them all. And that just completely sent me into Bob Marley land. (13:29):
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Barbara Mendes: Meantime, I decided to go back to college. I had tuned in, turned in and dropped (13:33):
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Barbara Mendes: out as a young person to Hunter College. (13:36):
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Barbara Mendes: And I was in the BFA program and everything, but I just dropped out. (13:39):
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Barbara Mendes: In 1978, I returned to college at UC, University of California, Riverside. (13:43):
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Barbara Mendes: And my senior thesis was Africa Woman. (13:49):
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Barbara Mendes: And taken from, it was a series of six paintings just inspired by the songs (13:53):
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Barbara Mendes: of the Bob and Barley songs. (13:57):
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Barbara Mendes: Oh, I know because I was back in college, there were a lot of things that you (13:59):
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Barbara Mendes: could study. You could, for example, you had to take all the basic English, even though I'd had it. (14:02):
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Barbara Mendes: So write a paper, write a research paper. So all those, (14:07):
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Barbara Mendes: All those times I had to do something on my own, I would choose an African or a Rastafarian theme. (14:11):
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Barbara Mendes: So I did papers on Rastafarianism, and I did papers on Africa, (14:16):
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Barbara Mendes: and I studied African tribes and imagery. (14:20):
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Barbara Mendes: So that was the huge African phase. (14:23):
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Barbara Mendes: And visually, it was quite rich. In fact, in the woman's building in L.A., (14:26):
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Barbara Mendes: that used to be a woman's building, they had me in the colored section at the slide register. (14:32):
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Barbara Mendes: Okay so uh the next (14:37):
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Barbara Mendes: big thing that happened was picture this it was 19 it (14:40):
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Barbara Mendes: was it was November 11th 1992 because get (14:43):
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Barbara Mendes: it 11 11 and 9 and 2 is 11 so on 11 11 11 I was painting a mural my daughter (14:47):
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Barbara Mendes: had moved out for me for the first time into a facility and I was living all (14:52):
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Barbara Mendes: by myself for the first time my other daughter was in college Fairfax is known (14:55):
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Barbara Mendes: as a Jewish part of Los Angeles and I was painting but it was a tropical garden. (15:00):
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Barbara Mendes: It was the relative of Toribio Prado who had the cha-cha-cha restaurants where (15:04):
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Barbara Mendes: my artwork was always in these cha-cha-cha Caribbean restaurants. (15:08):
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Barbara Mendes: So I'm painting the outside of a Caribbean restaurant and a guy comes along (15:12):
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Barbara Mendes: and he says, I want you to paint my synagogue. (15:15):
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Barbara Mendes: And I said, you know what? I'm Jewish. I'll do it because I would take any job. (15:19):
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Barbara Mendes: And I went the next day to meet them and something told me it was a Sephardic synagogue. (15:23):
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Barbara Mendes: Now I'm half Sephardic background. My father comes from the Sephardim Tahar, (15:27):
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Barbara Mendes: pure, from Spain and Portugal. (15:32):
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Barbara Mendes: My mom is a Russian Jew, so all the Sholem Aleichem stuff is with me, right? (15:35):
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Barbara Mendes: So I'm both. I'm a mixture of Ashkenazic and Sephardic Jew. (15:40):
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Barbara Mendes: So I realized my ears perked up that it was Sephardic synagogue, (15:43):
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Barbara Mendes: and I came to meet the congregation at a Malav Amalka, a party after the Shabbat. (15:47):
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Barbara Mendes: Something told me to wear a little hat. I don't know why, but I knew to do that. (15:52):
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Barbara Mendes: And this is when I met the congregation. And this is when I met my future second husband, Nathan. (15:56):
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Barbara Mendes: And all of this came. I was fascinated. I had never seen religious prayers before. (16:00):
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Barbara Mendes: I mean, the Sephardic, this is hardcore. The guys, they face the wall. (16:04):
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Barbara Mendes: They cover their shawls. And they all face the one direction. (16:07):
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Barbara Mendes: And they say the holy prayers. (16:10):
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Barbara Mendes: Meantime, they had a school there. That's why I was hired to paint a mural in (16:13):
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Barbara Mendes: the courtyard for the little prime school that they had going there. See? (16:17):
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Barbara Mendes: So they had preschool students. and the preschool students were being taught (16:21):
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Barbara Mendes: Hebrew by Rabbi Harosh upstairs in the women's gallery. They would be brought (16:24):
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Barbara Mendes: up one-on-one to learn their Hebrew. (16:28):
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Barbara Mendes: And I hear him up there teaching them. (16:30):
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Barbara Mendes: And when they got, he said, very good. Now you get cookie. (16:32):
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Barbara Mendes: Every time they learned they get cookie. And I said to myself, (16:37):
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Barbara Mendes: you know, I could probably learn this Hebrew and I bet I could get a cookie too. (16:41):
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Barbara Mendes: And that was my inspiration in front of them to learn Hebrew. (16:44):
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Barbara Mendes: But all that just grew and grew. (16:48):
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Barbara Mendes: And as I got closer with Nathan, my second husband, and actually when I'm married him. (16:49):
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Barbara Mendes: Then I came into the full strength of the Jewish community. (16:53):
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Barbara Mendes: But even before that, there was a free yeshiva at Los Angeles, (16:56):
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Barbara Mendes: Yeshiva of Los Angeles, Yula. (17:00):
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Barbara Mendes: And I attended about four a week and I was, (17:02):
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Barbara Mendes: I learned so much. This was the real yeshiva. We had real Rebbeim, (17:06):
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Barbara Mendes: real rabbis, and we learned the real deal. (17:11):
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Barbara Mendes: And I learned it very intensely on a high level. (17:14):
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Barbara Mendes: And this was my background and my background in learning Torah. (17:16):
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Barbara Mendes: And I also learned Hebrew from my beloved Hebrew teacher, Dr. (17:20):
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Barbara Mendes: Yehuda Verdugo, inspired us so much. (17:24):
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Barbara Mendes: On the first day of class, he said, class, you're going to learn a language (17:26):
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Barbara Mendes: that is like no other language because Hebrew is the language of God. (17:29):
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Barbara Mendes: He had us hooked right from the beginning. And as he taught us Hebrew, (17:34):
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Barbara Mendes: the goal was to learn to pray with the congregation, to read quickly and to (17:38):
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Barbara Mendes: pray with the congregation. (17:41):
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Barbara Mendes: So he would introduce us. Most of the prayers are taken from the Psalms. (17:43):
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Barbara Mendes: Many of them are, and from beautiful biblical passages. (17:46):
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Barbara Mendes: And he'd always begin, he'd say, class, this is very beautiful. (17:49):
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Barbara Mendes: So he asked us to memorize the Asherah, which is one of the Psalms of David. It's 145. (17:53):
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Barbara Mendes: And he asked us to memorize first four verses, then eight verses. (17:58):
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Barbara Mendes: And I ran away with that project. I memorized the entire Asherah, (18:02):
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Barbara Mendes: Asherah Yosheveh, Beit Heka, Odi, Halleluja, Selah. (18:05):
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Barbara Mendes: And the teacher was astounded. He just loved so much that he had a student who would do that. (18:09):
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Barbara Mendes: And I just loved that teacher so much. And sadly, he passed away last year. (18:13):
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Barbara Mendes: But all of this was my foundation in the learning of Judaism. (18:17):
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Barbara Mendes: So after I had gone through the whole Torah for a year in synagogue, (18:21):
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Barbara Mendes: because with my second husband, I attended synagogue and Sephardic synagogue. (18:25):
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Barbara Mendes: So we were, the women were upstairs in a balcony and you could overlook the (18:28):
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Barbara Mendes: entire beautiful, The Sephardim are very visual. (18:31):
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Barbara Mendes: They're very sensual. And so everything is very beautiful to look at. (18:34):
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Barbara Mendes: The Torah is draped in scarves and everything is pretty. (18:37):
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Barbara Mendes: And so I got to really view the whole setting from above. (18:40):
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Barbara Mendes: And that was very beautiful and the practice of it. And also I became a real Sephardic housewife. (18:44):
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Barbara Mendes: Oh my gosh, you have to make this Shabbat meals and they have to be made in advance. (18:50):
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Barbara Mendes: And then you have a lot of company for the lunches and the dinners. (18:53):
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Barbara Mendes: And it's a big job, but I took it on. (18:57):
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Barbara Mendes: So I was immersed and my art became filled, not just with the Torah subject (18:59):
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Barbara Mendes: matter that I was studying, but also with the lifestyle matter that I was living. (19:03):
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Barbara Mendes: And I made wonderful friends in the community. And, you know, (19:07):
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Barbara Mendes: there are wonderful women's classes. (19:09):
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Barbara Mendes: I feel rich to have been on the woman's end of Orthodox Judaism. (19:11):
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Barbara Mendes: Which is they never talk about it. (19:15):
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Barbara Mendes: So no one, if you're a man, you're never going to know about it or the depth (19:17):
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Barbara Mendes: of the beauty of the women. (19:21):
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Barbara Mendes: So I think that sums up my outside way that I became involved with it all. (19:23):
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Barbara Mendes: But really, I'm a mystic on my own because there's a fourth, (19:29):
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Barbara Mendes: there's a stage that I have to continue, okay? (19:32):
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Barbara Mendes: After about 20, but I stayed married to Nathan for five years, and then I left him. (19:36):
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Barbara Mendes: So all that time, I've been on my own, a single Orthodox Jewish woman. (19:41):
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Barbara Mendes: The whole period lasted, I would say, 25 to 30 years where I would call myself (19:45):
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Barbara Mendes: an Orthodox Jew and kind of dress that way. (19:49):
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Barbara Mendes: I could no longer take the patriarchy (19:53):
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Barbara Mendes: on the ground because I would go to synagogue, and I'm a single woman. (19:55):
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Barbara Mendes: And I'm an old woman and I'm worth 60, I'm worth 10 shekels, (19:58):
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Barbara Mendes: not that much, kind of worthless. (20:02):
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Barbara Mendes: And I couldn't take my statements, whereas you just saw me, the queen of my (20:05):
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Barbara Mendes: art gallery, the whole corner is named after me. (20:08):
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Barbara Mendes: I'm Willie Mendes. We're doing a podcast because maybe I am somebody. (20:11):
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Barbara Mendes: I just couldn't take being nobody officially and having no voice. (20:16):
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Barbara Mendes: So it just, and also, so I was a bit of a devil because I'd always be speaking (20:21):
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Barbara Mendes: up and also very learned. So I was usually correct. (20:26):
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Barbara Mendes: But that is a pain in the ass person that I'm describing. And finally, I just stopped going. (20:30):
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Barbara Mendes: So I no longer go publicly. I don't go to the synagogue. I don't go to the community events. (20:34):
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Barbara Mendes: But I still at home, I still do many of the rituals on my own. (20:39):
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Barbara Mendes: And I have a big holiday meal for my kids every twice a year, three times a year. (20:42):
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Barbara Mendes: So mystically, where did I go from there? I went to God as a woman. (20:49):
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Barbara Mendes: It happened with that book when God was a woman by Merlin Stone. (20:54):
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Barbara Mendes: In fact, this book rocked my world, When God Was a Woman. (20:56):
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Barbara Mendes: In the Fertile Crescent, in the land of Israel, where first of all, (21:01):
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Barbara Mendes: Judaism arose, then came Christianity, then came Islam, and they're all highly patriarchal setups. (21:04):
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Barbara Mendes: But before any of them were there, it was a matriarchy. It was a goddess-ruled (21:11):
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Barbara Mendes: culture in those very areas where these religions arose. (21:15):
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Barbara Mendes: And then it was the Scandinavians in the north that had this highly patriarchal (21:18):
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Barbara Mendes: fire religion, and they had a war chariot weapon that no one could withstand. (21:23):
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Barbara Mendes: So they conquered all of Europe and they came down and they conquered everyone (21:28):
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Barbara Mendes: in front of them until they got to Israel. (21:31):
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Jason Louv: Scandinavians? They conquered everyone down there. Scandinavians? It was Scandinavians? (21:33):
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Barbara Mendes: They started up there. Wow. (21:38):
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Jason Louv: Okay. (21:40):
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Barbara Mendes: And they came down. It's a deep subject. Now, here's where my biblical expertise (21:41):
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Barbara Mendes: comes in, because the author of that book thinks there's the very exclusiveness (21:46):
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Barbara Mendes: of the laws of the priests, the Levites, (21:50):
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Barbara Mendes: leads her to believe that they could have been a conquering force because they're (21:53):
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Barbara Mendes: not allowed to marry the, you know, it's very careful who they marry, only each other. (21:57):
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Barbara Mendes: And see, nobody knows the book of Leviticus like Barbara Mendez, right? (22:01):
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Barbara Mendes: It because even the rabbis who study it i drew every verse seven over seven (22:06):
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Barbara Mendes: times over i drew the drawing i drew the other i colored it in i did the paint (22:10):
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Barbara Mendes: i did the other seven times seven did i deal with every single verse in the (22:14):
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Barbara Mendes: book of leviticus i really know these rules and laws, (22:18):
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Barbara Mendes: and it gives me an insight into what she's saying about maybe this is an outside force, (22:20):
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Barbara Mendes: so i really believe that the point is i'm an api chorus i am a heretic i do (22:25):
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Barbara Mendes: not believe that every word of the Torah is true. (22:31):
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Barbara Mendes: So I don't belong there anyway, because I'm a heretic. What I believe, (22:35):
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Barbara Mendes: but I'm so guided by spiritual power. (22:39):
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Barbara Mendes: And I even believe that there's one God, a unity. That was my vision. (22:42):
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Barbara Mendes: Now the whole male, female thing, and when you're talking about God, (22:48):
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Barbara Mendes: particularly if you were talking about one guy, it's a metaphor. It's a metaphor. (22:52):
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Barbara Mendes: We need to have a human way to talk about so in (22:56):
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Barbara Mendes: the past the whole universe was ruled by men anyway so (23:00):
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Barbara Mendes: the obvious metaphor was it's a man like i'm a man so (23:03):
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Barbara Mendes: god god's in my image must be a (23:06):
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Barbara Mendes: man right right jason must be a man and him and him and his strong arm and a (23:09):
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Barbara Mendes: lot of the stories are very masculine remember we talked about the blood and (23:16):
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Barbara Mendes: the guts that i don't like before the bible's full of them full of battles and (23:19):
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Barbara Mendes: even hemorrhoids and cutting off foreskins. (23:23):
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Barbara Mendes: And it's really icky. A girl would never write it. Yeah. And I don't even know (23:27):
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Barbara Mendes: from that stuff. From the Bible. (23:32):
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Barbara Mendes: So since I am a woman, and guess what? I'm not the only one. (23:35):
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Barbara Mendes: 50% of the humans on this planet are women. It's 51%. (23:39):
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Jason Louv: It's a little bit more. (23:43):
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Barbara Mendes: Oh, thank you. So I really believe it makes perfect sense for our metaphor to be a female metaphor. (23:44):
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Barbara Mendes: And that's what I've invented with the Queen of Cosmos. I'm not trying to start (23:51):
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Barbara Mendes: a new religion and have people join me and worship this God that I created at all. (23:55):
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Barbara Mendes: I'm just saying there really is, I believe, one God. And a way to think about (24:00):
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Barbara Mendes: it, if you're a woman, is think about it as a woman as well. (24:05):
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Jason Louv: I'm really interested in this because I actually made a note. (24:08):
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Jason Louv: You mentioned earlier, you referred to Judaism, Christianity, (24:11):
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Jason Louv: and Islam as three patriarchal religions. And then you said that there was a (24:16):
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Jason Louv: goddess culture there before those. (24:21):
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Jason Louv: And I'm fascinated by that. And I don't know if you mean maybe Sumeria and so (24:24):
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Jason Louv: forth, but I really want to know about that. (24:30):
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Barbara Mendes: Well, I don't know why it's not taught in the schools in History 101, (24:33):
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Barbara Mendes: but my introduction was this book, but this isn't the only book when God was a woman. (24:37):
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Barbara Mendes: You just have to Google the ancient matriarchy and the goddess culture, (24:42):
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Barbara Mendes: and they're all woven together. (24:46):
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Barbara Mendes: Anana is one game, one name, but I am not at all for going back to the past. (24:48):
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Barbara Mendes: I'm not saying pick one of these goddesses and worship her the way they did in the past. (24:53):
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Barbara Mendes: I'm not so interested in the past, Jason. I'm interested in the future. (24:58):
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Barbara Mendes: Okay. And where I'm coming from, me and other little girls and old women are (25:02):
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Barbara Mendes: surviving in this patriarchal planet. And it's difficult and it's uncalled for. (25:08):
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Barbara Mendes: And you guys have nothing over us. And there is no mystical, (25:12):
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Barbara Mendes: religious, only a physical power trip reason why you should rule us. (25:16):
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Barbara Mendes: I think we've got everything going on over the men. We should certainly be respected (25:21):
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Barbara Mendes: tremendously and honored tremendously. And if there's gold and silver in spirituality, (25:25):
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Barbara Mendes: we should be regaled in it. (25:32):
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Jason Louv: Yes, I agree. (25:35):
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Barbara Mendes: And not in any way inferior. That's not the way the world looks right now. (25:37):
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Barbara Mendes: But as I said, I've been one of the people hopefully helping to mold it that way. (25:40):
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Jason Louv: What do you think a vision of the future that would be ideal would be? (25:45):
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Jason Louv: Or where you think we could go that would be more positive? (25:51):
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Barbara Mendes: It's already happened because I didn't make it happen. Look, (25:55):
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Barbara Mendes: I didn't invent birth control where women could have just fewer babies. (25:58):
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Barbara Mendes: I didn't invent the Haskalah when Jewish people threw away where everybody had (26:02):
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Barbara Mendes: to be card-carrying Orthodox Jew or you were nothing. (26:07):
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Barbara Mendes: They invented this, what we have now, Jews. We're Jews. Like, (26:10):
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Barbara Mendes: oh, we don't do all that stuff, but come on, we're Jewish, right? (26:13):
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Barbara Mendes: So I didn't invent that where there were Jewish people who were not ultra-religious (26:16):
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Barbara Mendes: at the same time. So many of these threads that led to the suffragette movement, (26:20):
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Barbara Mendes: the women have the right to vote. (26:26):
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Barbara Mendes: I didn't invent that or freedom from emancipation from slavery either. (26:29):
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Barbara Mendes: All those things are currents I inherited, right? That came along with me. (26:33):
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Barbara Mendes: For the future is now. Like, look at the prime minister of New Zealand, (26:38):
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Barbara Mendes: the former prime minister of New Zealand. That's my idea of the future, baby. (26:42):
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Barbara Mendes: A fantastic young woman. She's bright. She's intelligent. She's compassionate. (26:46):
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Barbara Mendes: She's got a baby in her breast. No big deal. (26:50):
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Barbara Mendes: These comics, I'm on this podcast because I made comics. (26:53):
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Barbara Mendes: Well, I made some of those comics with the baby hanging off of my breast all those years ago. (26:57):
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Barbara Mendes: In fact, the very one that went into the history book, I made it when I was (27:02):
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Barbara Mendes: nursing at the same time. (27:05):
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Barbara Mendes: Okay but you know when i was a girl in (27:06):
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Barbara Mendes: school in the 1950s do you know what they told women and (27:09):
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Barbara Mendes: they told them all that it was because of hans hoffman this (27:12):
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Barbara Mendes: male teacher in manhattan at the time who had generation of (27:15):
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Barbara Mendes: women he says you have to pick you can be an artist or you can be a mother you (27:18):
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Barbara Mendes: cannot be both you make your choice and many women did like my art teacher in (27:23):
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Barbara Mendes: junior high school said so i just chose i wanted to have a family right so i've (27:28):
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Barbara Mendes: got a husband and kids and I'm an art teacher, (27:33):
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Barbara Mendes: but I'm not like an artist like I want it to be. (27:35):
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Barbara Mendes: So I would say the future is now. And please, God, I hope we have a woman president (27:39):
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Barbara Mendes: in America soon because many other countries have had it. And look at the history of Israel. (27:43):
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Barbara Mendes: I mean, Golda Meir was just a towering figure. I think if I was making the playlist (27:49):
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Barbara Mendes: of school, it would be read when God was a woman and read the biography of Golda Meir. (27:55):
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Barbara Mendes: Because this woman was remarkable and we can all learn a lot from her. (27:59):
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Jason Louv: Do you want to, for people in the audience who don't know who Golda Meir was, (28:02):
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Jason Louv: do you maybe just want to say a little bit? (28:06):
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Barbara Mendes: Golda Meir was one of the early premiers of Israel, prime minister of Israel, (28:08):
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Barbara Mendes: back in the formative days. (28:14):
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Barbara Mendes: And, you know, being a woman, her tremendous, she focused on housing, (28:16):
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Barbara Mendes: make everybody make a house for everybody. (28:21):
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Barbara Mendes: Now, what kind of a great focus is that when you're founding a country? Makes sense. (28:23):
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Barbara Mendes: So Golda Meir was a tremendous woman and I don't know about what's going on (28:29):
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Barbara Mendes: now I've been kind of developing myself, (28:36):
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Barbara Mendes: and not being tremendously involved in the outside political world it's. (28:39):
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Jason Louv: Probably a good choice (28:45):
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Barbara Mendes: But growing up all around me like for example this cafe that I have next door (28:47):
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Barbara Mendes: to me it's black owned I mean oh my god these people are it's a new generation (28:51):
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Barbara Mendes: it's just incredibly beautiful, gorgeous black people and proud. (28:56):
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Barbara Mendes: And they got a lot of pride. They have beauty. They know who they are. (29:00):
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Barbara Mendes: So, you know, Black Lives Matter changed a lot like that. (29:05):
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Barbara Mendes: Everything became very pro-African American. (29:08):
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Barbara Mendes: And I'm waiting for that, the woman's (29:12):
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Barbara Mendes: moment to come where if you're not pro-woman, you're just not cool. (29:14):
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Barbara Mendes: And I think it will come any minute, but I pray to God it doesn't come through (29:17):
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Barbara Mendes: any kind of tragedy at all. (29:21):
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Barbara Mendes: May it come through a happy event like woman president, that would be fine with (29:22):
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Barbara Mendes: me as a way to usher in the rule. (29:26):
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Barbara Mendes: But it just has to be more equality. And one thing that really still burns my (29:29):
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Barbara Mendes: tail and is very acceptable. (29:33):
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Barbara Mendes: Jason, if you had a movie now and you showed, let's look at Amos and Andy. (29:35):
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Barbara Mendes: It's not acceptable. It's too racist. We can only look at it in a film history program, right? (29:40):
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Barbara Mendes: To show how films used to be quite racist. (29:45):
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Barbara Mendes: And that's why there was Amos and Andy. And we can study it to learn from the past. (29:48):
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Barbara Mendes: But if you're just going to show it as entertainment and laugh about these funky black people, (29:54):
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Barbara Mendes: that's not cool that's not politically correct it's (29:58):
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Barbara Mendes: racist okay right oh but object objectification of (30:02):
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Barbara Mendes: women is still open game right every other commercial every other vision in (30:06):
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Barbara Mendes: fact everyone is just filled with exploiting of women women for their sex appeal (30:12):
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Barbara Mendes: women because they make men's dicks get hard most of the art and the imagery (30:16):
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Barbara Mendes: in fact the entire art history of the western world It's like, (30:20):
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Barbara Mendes: what makes a man's dick hard? (30:23):
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Barbara Mendes: What makes a man excited? What do men like? (30:24):
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Barbara Mendes: Men like to get excited. They like to get excited sexually, and they also like (30:27):
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Barbara Mendes: to eat. And that's the world we live in. (30:31):
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Jason Louv: You talk a lot about the Pleiades, and I'm curious why that became an important symbol for you. (30:34):
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Barbara Mendes: So that's one of my greatest mystic stories. So the Pleiades. (30:39):
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Barbara Mendes: It started as a little gimmick for my comic book. Remember I told you I thought (30:44):
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Barbara Mendes: it was very cute the way Seven Sons would set? (30:48):
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Barbara Mendes: Somehow that idea just came to me. It would be cute to be on a planet where (30:51):
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Barbara Mendes: Seven Sons are going to set. (30:54):
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Barbara Mendes: And I was writing the comic and I just said, so they go to the Pleiades, (30:56):
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Barbara Mendes: the Pleiades Harpathon. So I made a funny story for my funny comic. (30:59):
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Barbara Mendes: And before I had that, it took a long time to find a publisher. (31:04):
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Barbara Mendes: In the meantime, I had sample pages where it was a Kinko's thing, (31:07):
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Barbara Mendes: where it was the book bound together with the coil and a little clear page on the top. (31:10):
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Barbara Mendes: Queen of Cosmos Comics. So if you came into my gallery at that time, (31:15):
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Barbara Mendes: I might show you, I say, oh, I also made a comic, right? (31:18):
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Barbara Mendes: Let me show you my comic. And just like I leaf through it, I would leaf through (31:21):
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Barbara Mendes: this Queen of Cosmos Comics. (31:24):
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Barbara Mendes: So I did for a young woman once. And then we get to the Pleiades and she goes, (31:26):
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Barbara Mendes: oh, so you know about the Pleiades, right? (31:30):
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Barbara Mendes: And I go, no, I don't know about the Pleiades. I just made it up for my comic. (31:34):
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Barbara Mendes: She goes, well, find out. you'll see. (31:39):
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Barbara Mendes: So as soon as she left, I Googled the cult of the Pleiades. (31:41):
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Barbara Mendes: Now the philosophy of the cult of the Pleiades, I would say was pretty much (31:44):
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Barbara Mendes: the plot of Queen of Cosmos comics. (31:48):
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Barbara Mendes: Seeds of spirituality were planted on a planet and they kind of made a mistake with the males. (31:52):
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Barbara Mendes: They just overdid it a little bit, just a little tad too much testosterone in the mix. (31:59):
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Barbara Mendes: I mean, the idea was good that there'll be sex is a good way to create new beings. (32:03):
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Barbara Mendes: It was a good idea, but they went a little tad heavy (32:08):
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Barbara Mendes: on the testosterone we have a lot of problems in (32:11):
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Barbara Mendes: our planet which again i believe are testosterone induced (32:14):
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Barbara Mendes: problems too much violence and too much chauvinism and too much exploitation (32:17):
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Barbara Mendes: and all those things the men are the kings of those things women yeah we may (32:23):
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Barbara Mendes: do them but not so much women are (32:28):
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Barbara Mendes: much more nurturing based in my opinion especially if you've had a child. (32:30):
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Barbara Mendes: And even in general, I think we're hardwired for nurturing and hardwired to (32:35):
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Barbara Mendes: care and hardwired to make things nice. (32:39):
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Barbara Mendes: For example, I did not write, what do girls like? Sugar and spice and everything's nice. (32:42):
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Barbara Mendes: What do little boys like? Snakes and snails and puppy dogs' tails. (32:48):
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Barbara Mendes: I did not write those words, but they remain true. (32:52):
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Barbara Mendes: So again, I've lost my exact train of thought oh. (32:56):
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Jason Louv: You were we were talking about the pleiades (33:00):
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Barbara Mendes: Well that's the idea of the pleiades cult that they had they did come back and (33:01):
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Barbara Mendes: they did they did come here and help initiate humanity which does make sense (33:06):
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Barbara Mendes: with the leap and the chain and everything from from the apes to us, (33:11):
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Barbara Mendes: but now they're involved in trying to fix the problem so that could have been (33:15):
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Barbara Mendes: why they put these ideas in the head of like little willie mendes to make a (33:19):
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Barbara Mendes: comic book and end up talking on a podcast. (33:24):
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Jason Louv: You think that's how it works? It gets kind of beamed in? (33:27):
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Jason Louv: So you think that's how it works? It kind of gets spiritual influences kind (33:31):
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Jason Louv: of beam their vibes into us. (33:35):
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Barbara Mendes: It could. It doesn't hurt to think that way. Sure. Because if you think about (33:38):
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Barbara Mendes: it, when you believe something a lot, it can work for you. (33:42):
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Barbara Mendes: For example, look at all the Christian people who have gone into donneries or (33:46):
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Barbara Mendes: monasteries and they pray, pray, pray. (33:50):
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Barbara Mendes: If you read any Christian literature, oh, the miracles, right? Jesus saved me, right? (33:53):
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Barbara Mendes: I mean, there's hundreds and millions of stories of Jesus saved somebody. (33:58):
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Barbara Mendes: Because they believe in it so hard. It's a real thing. Jesus saved them. (34:02):
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Barbara Mendes: And it's the same with Judaism. Do we have miracle stories? (34:06):
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Barbara Mendes: There are just books and books and books and full of these wonderful stories, (34:11):
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Barbara Mendes: the miracle. And it happened and they were saved. (34:13):
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Barbara Mendes: I have a million in my own life. And the Jewish people have a million more of miracle stories. (34:16):
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Barbara Mendes: And I'm sure that other cultures also have their share. (34:22):
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Barbara Mendes: Of miraculous saving. So in my case, I've chosen to just kind of believe what (34:26):
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Barbara Mendes: I believe, which I just told you. (34:30):
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Barbara Mendes: So it can't hurt. It can't hurt. And all of those other religions I mentioned, (34:33):
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Barbara Mendes: they can't each be simultaneously true. (34:38):
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Barbara Mendes: Like there's only Allah and everybody else is going to burn in hell. (34:40):
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Barbara Mendes: It cannot be true at the same time as you have to believe in every word of the, (34:44):
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Barbara Mendes: And it cannot be true at the same time as Jesus is everything. (34:49):
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Barbara Mendes: So some of these things are a little bit mutually exclusive and also the other (34:55):
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Barbara Mendes: fantastic cultures of the world, which I'm chauvinistically not as educated (34:59):
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Barbara Mendes: about as most people are not. (35:03):
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Barbara Mendes: Everything is sort of mutually exclusive. It can't be that everything is true (35:06):
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Barbara Mendes: all at once. And yet religions work for people. (35:10):
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Barbara Mendes: So if I have my own womanistic way of thinking about spirituality and mysticism, (35:13):
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Barbara Mendes: it works for me. Oh, I see. (35:19):
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Jason Louv: Okay. How do you reconcile that attitude or that outlook with Orthodox Judaism, (35:21):
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Jason Louv: which I imagine is very rules-based? (35:28):
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Barbara Mendes: Only that they have some great... Look, you can travel the world, (35:31):
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Barbara Mendes: but we got the best prayers. (35:36):
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Barbara Mendes: I learned Hebrew. I learned to pray in Hebrew with the Israelis in the congregation, rapid fire. (35:40):
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Barbara Mendes: We have the Torah is an ocean. It's a deep, deep Pacific Atlantic Ocean role. (35:46):
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Barbara Mendes: You'll never get to the end of it. I think you know that Jewish learning is (35:51):
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Barbara Mendes: just oceanic and it's beautiful. (35:54):
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Barbara Mendes: Not to mention the holidays. It's chock full of so much beauty. (35:57):
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Barbara Mendes: People thought I would walk away when I left my second husband. (36:00):
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Barbara Mendes: They figured I was so secular before. I'd just throw the whole thing away, but I didn't. (36:03):
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Barbara Mendes: So I just walk in an uneasy relationship to Orthodox Judaism. (36:07):
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Barbara Mendes: For example, I still have some wonderful friends in the community. (36:14):
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Barbara Mendes: And so there's one synagogue, the one that I don't, the shul I never go to the most often. (36:17):
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Barbara Mendes: Because my friends will have affairs there and I will go. And I will go to the (36:24):
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Barbara Mendes: parties of my dear friends. (36:27):
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Barbara Mendes: But I won't go to the religious meals so much because it makes me uncomfortable the men take over, (36:29):
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Barbara Mendes: there's always some guy who's a chauvinist and I can't take having to be polite about the whole thing, (36:36):
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Barbara Mendes: so I'd say it's just an uneasy walk but again look who doesn't have a Christmas (36:42):
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Barbara Mendes: tree me I don't anymore but what's to stop me I'm making the Rosh Hashanah meal (36:47):
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Barbara Mendes: for my kids just the way I used to have a Christmas tree and the same thing (36:51):
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Barbara Mendes: on Pesach I do the nine yards I clean out my kitchen I put aluminum foil on (36:55):
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Barbara Mendes: the countertops. I bring down my pacific dishes. (36:58):
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Barbara Mendes: There are several things that I do that are dyed in the wool orthodox Jew. (37:01):
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Barbara Mendes: And I never do work on Shabbat. (37:05):
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Barbara Mendes: What I do on Shabbat is between me and God. And I am on good terms with God, I believe. (37:06):
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Barbara Mendes: However, in terms of the public, I am not available on the Sabbath. (37:12):
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Barbara Mendes: You can't call me and have a business appointment or come by the gallery or drop something off. (37:16):
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Barbara Mendes: So I keep the Shabbat in that sense. (37:20):
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Jason Louv: I'm really interested what it was like coming to Orthodox Judaism as an adult, (37:23):
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Jason Louv: and not just as an adult, but very psychedelicized, coming from, you know, (37:29):
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Jason Louv: the underground comics world, but also, you know, Buddhism and Hinduism and (37:34):
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Jason Louv: being really tripped out. (37:39):
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Jason Louv: I've talked to maybe three or four Jewish people who've come back to Judaism (37:40):
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Jason Louv: after having somewhat similar trips. (37:45):
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Jason Louv: And I'm really fascinated what that was like as an adult and what looking at (37:48):
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Jason Louv: Torah and the rituals was like when it was not kind of just like something you (37:54):
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Jason Louv: had to do, but it was something that you can't. (38:00):
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Barbara Mendes: Well, one thing, first of all, there's a tremendous difference between what (38:01):
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Barbara Mendes: you have to do and what you want to do. (38:05):
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Barbara Mendes: Remember, I also returned to college as an adult. It's exactly the same thing (38:07):
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Barbara Mendes: as an adult. You're there because you want to be. (38:10):
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Jason Louv: Yeah. And the Bible is awesome. (38:12):
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Barbara Mendes: Like Anthropology 101, give it to me on a spoon, please. It's delicious. (38:14):
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Jason Louv: I'm having a totally different experience as an adult. And I'm really curious about that. Yeah, yeah. (38:18):
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Barbara Mendes: So Judaism was the same. I was there because I loved it and I wanted it. (38:23):
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Barbara Mendes: And you're forgetting another thing. It was so difficult to achieve. (38:27):
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Barbara Mendes: Learning Hebrew is not a picnic. And you go to the synagogue and it's all in Hebrew. (38:30):
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Barbara Mendes: And a lot of the Sephardic people, they're not all like so helpful. They're just like rude. (38:35):
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Barbara Mendes: A lot of Israelis are rude. And you have to fight a lot of rudeness. (38:40):
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Barbara Mendes: And the knowledge is hard won. It's hard won. So when you get to that point (38:44):
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Barbara Mendes: where you can follow the prayers in Hebrew and you know what's going on, (38:48):
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Barbara Mendes: then already you're like, you feel good about it and you feel part of it. (38:51):
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Barbara Mendes: But I do say that some of the people were rude, but most of the people were extremely welcoming. (38:55):
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Barbara Mendes: So people make it easy and they make it pleasant and they make it nice for you. (39:00):
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Barbara Mendes: So I think coming to it from that, it's just fun. You're doing it because you want to. (39:05):
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Barbara Mendes: But then it does take over. I mean, you do get to believe the rules. (39:10):
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Barbara Mendes: And what you don't need is a husband, like somebody over you. (39:13):
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Barbara Mendes: Just like my second husband was always telling me, you didn't do this, you didn't do that. (39:15):
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Barbara Mendes: And some stuff I was just learning, I didn't even know. I'd make a mistake. (39:19):
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Barbara Mendes: He'd become angry because he was a bully. (39:22):
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Barbara Mendes: But there's a lot of bullying in the community too. There's the beautiful, (39:24):
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Barbara Mendes: the good, and there's the bad and the ugly. (39:28):
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Barbara Mendes: Like every human community. (39:31):
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Barbara Mendes: Tremendous exploitation of the women in the Sephardic community. (39:34):
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Barbara Mendes: But also tremendous strength and beauty in the women. (39:38):
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Barbara Mendes: As I said, I prize my knowledge of the Jewish women because they are some really amazing individuals. (39:41):
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Barbara Mendes: There's one family I've kept up with, the Eliassi family, on a weekly basis. (39:47):
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Barbara Mendes: And the wife is Moroccan. Her name is Batya. And the husband is Persian. His name is Eliyahu. (39:52):
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Barbara Mendes: So they had five kids. What stellar kids. And they raised them in a little two-bedroom, (39:57):
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Barbara Mendes: one-bath apartment, which is spotless. (40:02):
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Barbara Mendes: And everything de rigueur, everything Camille Fault, everything Leifold Shabbat, (40:04):
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Barbara Mendes: you know, they're just a remarkable family. (40:09):
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Barbara Mendes: And I keep up with them. By now, the children were like six and born when I (40:12):
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Barbara Mendes: met them. Now that they all have kids, their own kids, except two daughters. (40:16):
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Barbara Mendes: And one daughter just completed Toro College, Nava. I'm so proud of her that (40:20):
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Barbara Mendes: she had coming from such a traditional background where the older daughters (40:24):
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Barbara Mendes: are married with kids and the son has a kid. (40:28):
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Barbara Mendes: And she worked so hard to get through college and graduate. (40:31):
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Barbara Mendes: So I think that's a remarkable accomplishment. (40:36):
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Barbara Mendes: And in a way, I'm a beacon to some of the young girls. (40:39):
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Barbara Mendes: A woman can be powerful in her own right. (40:43):
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Barbara Mendes: What you haven't mentioned is what is my relationship to the reform and the (40:47):
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Barbara Mendes: conservative? That's much more problematic. (40:51):
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Jason Louv: What is your relationship to the reform and the conservative? (40:53):
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Barbara Mendes: I don't have one. I consider it to be, I do a little, like there's a shul, (40:55):
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Barbara Mendes: Sharon Brouse's shul is in the neighborhood. And I went to a lovely, (41:00):
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Barbara Mendes: lovely affair where I took my Bicra mural and we hung it up there. (41:03):
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Barbara Mendes: And that was beautiful. So I'm not down on any of them. I support them. (41:07):
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Barbara Mendes: However, for my own self, once you've learned the orthodox, it seems like very foolish. (41:11):
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Barbara Mendes: It's like you went to kindergarten, right? And then you went to high school and college, perhaps. (41:16):
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Barbara Mendes: So why would you sit around going A, B, C, D, E, F, G, D, right? (41:21):
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Barbara Mendes: You're already studying Nietzsche. It seems very dumbed down. (41:25):
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Barbara Mendes: Okay, okay. And as if we adults were too stupid to learn the real stuff. (41:29):
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Barbara Mendes: Okay. That's just my take on it. (41:34):
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Jason Louv: Got it. I'm really curious that experience of not just studying Torah so deeply (41:36):
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Jason Louv: and learning Hebrew, but making those murals. and you said you went over those seven by seven. (41:42):
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Jason Louv: I'm curious like how your view of those scriptures changed through that artistic (41:47):
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Jason Louv: process. And I imagine all kinds of things unlocked and connections and it must've (41:52):
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Jason Louv: been a phenomenally deep experience for you to make those things. (41:57):
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Barbara Mendes: One of the main things you have to approach Judaism with is awe, (42:01):
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Barbara Mendes: A-W-E, Yomim Nareem, days of awe. It's awe-inspiring. (42:05):
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Barbara Mendes: Ooh, even if it was numerous people in one culture that compiled this amazing (42:12):
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Barbara Mendes: book, the Bible, it's just so deep and so resonating. (42:16):
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Barbara Mendes: And the fact that it's lasted so many years and these stories are just as fresh as they were. (42:20):
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Barbara Mendes: The remarkable stories and remarkable details and just a remarkable... (42:25):
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Barbara Mendes: Bunch of learning and with spiritual, because the great thing about the Bible (42:32):
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Barbara Mendes: is it's not just a history and it's not just a novel. (42:36):
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Barbara Mendes: It comes with a purpose to teach us to be better people, which is phenomenal. (42:40):
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Barbara Mendes: Again, only through the male lens, which annoys the heck out of me. (42:45):
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Barbara Mendes: So I want to blend, I want to take the idea of oceanic spirituality and have (42:48):
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Barbara Mendes: it female inclusive. You. (42:54):
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Jason Louv: Mentioned that you're a heretic and you don't believe that everything in the (42:57):
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Jason Louv: Torah is automatically true maybe say more about that (43:00):
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Barbara Mendes: Well god created man but (43:03):
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Barbara Mendes: before that in the bible there's two versions god created humans male and female (43:07):
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Barbara Mendes: created he them why we couldn't just stop with that version i would be perfectly (43:12):
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Barbara Mendes: satisfied but no it goes on to the second version where a woman was created (43:15):
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Barbara Mendes: from a rib and told to be man's help me so that's the part i don't believe okay, (43:19):
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Barbara Mendes: No, I do not believe that a woman was put on this earth to be the help meat of the man. Right. (43:25):
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Barbara Mendes: I believe woman was put on this (43:31):
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Barbara Mendes: earth to be a powerful human being with creative and generative powers. (43:33):
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Jason Louv: And were you able to unlock more threads of that? (43:39):
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Jason Louv: Were you able to find more, particularly hints of, you talk about the earlier (43:42):
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Jason Louv: goddess culture, were you able to find hints of that in scripture as you were studying it? (43:47):
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Barbara Mendes: Yes. In the book of Samuel, which I studied with Rabbi Greenspan because I wanted (43:52):
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Barbara Mendes: to study the life of David and the life of David, (43:56):
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Barbara Mendes: the king is told in the book of Samuel one or the book of Shmuel Aleph in the, (43:59):
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Barbara Mendes: in the, what do they call it? (44:05):
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Barbara Mendes: The Tanakh, the scriptures of the Jewish people, which is like the old Testament. (44:07):
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Barbara Mendes: So anyway, this is what it says a lot in the book of Samuel. (44:12):
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Barbara Mendes: Tear down their pillars. Go up into the high places and tear down their pillars (44:16):
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Barbara Mendes: and tear down their Asherah trees. (44:20):
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Barbara Mendes: These are the goddess cult. These are the trimmings of the goddess culture that (44:23):
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Barbara Mendes: people in the Bible are told to viciously tear them down. (44:28):
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Barbara Mendes: And also, I was in error all through my painting career and all the biblical (44:31):
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Barbara Mendes: murals. You know, God in the Bible says a lot, don't worship idols. (44:35):
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Barbara Mendes: That's the worst thing you can do. It's in the Ten Commandments, (44:39):
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Barbara Mendes: like, stay away from idols, please. (44:41):
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Barbara Mendes: And when I'm drawing and painting the idols, I'm showing either Hindu statues (44:44):
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Barbara Mendes: or Tibetan statues of Thoth or something like that. (44:49):
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Barbara Mendes: But I'm wrong, because the idols that they were telling people not to worship were the goddess idols. (44:54):
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Jason Louv: The goddess sculptures. Really? Okay, this is super interesting, (45:00):
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Jason Louv: because I've always been curious about that part and what they really meant (45:04):
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Jason Louv: by that, but that was specifically... (45:08):
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Barbara Mendes: Well, they mean the women culture. They just don't say it, but that's what it (45:10):
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Barbara Mendes: means. And the dead giveaways are what I just told you. The pillars, (45:13):
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Barbara Mendes: the high place, the Ashera trees. (45:16):
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Barbara Mendes: That's all flat-out trimmings of the goddess culture. (45:18):
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Jason Louv: Whoa, that's totally new info for me. This is a... Wow, okay. (45:20):
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Jason Louv: Do you have a sense of what time period that would have been? (45:25):
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Barbara Mendes: I don't know, maybe 3000 BC. Wow, okay. (45:28):
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Jason Louv: That's pretty early. (45:31):
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Barbara Mendes: I don't really know, but there are timelines. I just don't have them in front (45:33):
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Barbara Mendes: of me. of if I ran into the next room, I have this book, Ancient Bible, (45:37):
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Barbara Mendes: and it has like the timelines of some of these things, but you can, (45:41):
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Barbara Mendes: you're a smart guy. You can Google a lot of these informations. (45:44):
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Jason Louv: So do we let (45:47):
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Barbara Mendes: The book of Samuel be, be a guide? When was the book of Samuel written? (45:48):
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Jason Louv: Okay. Okay. How much do we know about that culture that they were trying to tear down and destroy? (45:53):
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Barbara Mendes: Again, you have to research. There's several authors besides Merlin Stone wrote (46:01):
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Barbara Mendes: the book When God Was a Woman. It was written in 1976. (46:06):
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Barbara Mendes: And people always say, oh, did you read this one? You read that one. (46:10):
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Barbara Mendes: Because it's not, again, my focus is not in the past. (46:13):
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Barbara Mendes: I'm not interested in throwing myself into the study of these ancient goddesses (46:15):
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Barbara Mendes: the way I threw myself into the study of Torah. (46:19):
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Barbara Mendes: Because don't forget, I believed in the Torah when I studied it. And I am a Jew. (46:22):
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Barbara Mendes: And it's my culture. It's what I was, my birthright. whereas to (46:26):
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Barbara Mendes: go and study these goddesses would be a side thing i haven't i haven't just (46:30):
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Barbara Mendes: looked into it that much again i'm i'm more into crafting a future okay but (46:36):
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Barbara Mendes: it's certainly there and if you want to look it's certainly there begging trying (46:42):
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Barbara Mendes: pleading to be more known about yeah. (46:46):
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Jason Louv: Super interesting super interesting what do you think that angels are (46:48):
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Barbara Mendes: Well, in the Torah, they're created, they're perfect beings created by God to perform one mission. (46:54):
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Barbara Mendes: And when they perform their mission, they're done. (47:01):
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Barbara Mendes: So I like the guy who came along and said, on 11, 11, 11, and said, (47:04):
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Barbara Mendes: I want you to paint my synagogue, Gabriel, his name was. (47:10):
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Barbara Mendes: So I figured he was an angel, Gabriel, he did his one mission, that was it. (47:14):
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Barbara Mendes: Okay. But again, I use my imagination. (47:19):
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Barbara Mendes: Jason, let me ask you something. How much do you know about Batman and Superman? (47:23):
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Jason Louv: A whole lot. (47:28):
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Barbara Mendes: Yeah, you know about Krypton and Batcave and Alfred and Robin. (47:30):
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Barbara Mendes: So why do you know that stuff? It's not real. (47:37):
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Jason Louv: Right. Because it was... (47:42):
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Barbara Mendes: No Batman. Sorry to tell you. It's fictional. Same with Superman. (47:43):
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Jason Louv: Because I grew up with it and I love that stuff. (47:48):
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Barbara Mendes: Well, it's the same reason why I like what I like. Okay. (47:52):
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Barbara Mendes: And whether it's true or not, or whether it's real or not, or does it come to (47:55):
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Barbara Mendes: make you a better person? I think that superheroes do try to have an element (48:00):
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Barbara Mendes: of good issues about them, right? (48:03):
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Barbara Mendes: That they're always coming the good to conquer the evil. (48:05):
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Jason Louv: Should be. (48:08):
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Barbara Mendes: I just disagree with their approach and their definition of those things, good and evil. (48:08):
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Barbara Mendes: But why does the goddess belief or (48:16):
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Barbara Mendes: any of my beliefs have to be justified when so much (48:19):
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Barbara Mendes: energy is is put into the marvel universe which there's (48:21):
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Barbara Mendes: no justification at all except dollars it's popular that's that's the magteca (48:25):
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Barbara Mendes: that's the culture mill like marvels were popular but now it's just like they're (48:29):
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Barbara Mendes: fed to you on a giant spoon and you can't even resist having it shoved in your mouth right. (48:36):
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Jason Louv: No i'm curious because i'm also you know i i believe in angels and everyone (48:43):
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Jason Louv: has their own take on them and it's a fascinating topic (48:49):
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Barbara Mendes: Do you believe sometimes angels are like people that come in your life i. (48:52):
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Jason Louv: Do i do believe that yeah (48:56):
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Barbara Mendes: And they just have such a helping and then maybe there's angels i just think (48:58):
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Barbara Mendes: it's fun to think about angels in the sky the way it's fun for you to take your (49:03):
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Barbara Mendes: time learning about these superheroes lore and knowing all about them. It's fun. (49:07):
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Barbara Mendes: It's just fun. It's fun to think about angels. (49:12):
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Barbara Mendes: I think there's a lot more chance that angels are real than there is a chance that Superman is real. (49:16):
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Jason Louv: I think so. (49:22):
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Jason Louv: There's probably a lot more written about angels, too, even though there's a (49:24):
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Jason Louv: whole lot of Superman comics. (49:26):
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Barbara Mendes: Yeah, look at the aliens. They could be supernatural beings. (49:28):
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Barbara Mendes: We don't know what the supernatural world is like. (49:31):
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Barbara Mendes: But as you know, the closer the scientists are getting, they come up against (49:35):
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Barbara Mendes: spirituality very close lately. (49:40):
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Barbara Mendes: Quantum this, quantum that. How about the quantum stuff? How about the quantum entanglement? (49:42):
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Barbara Mendes: That's the name of the story in Queen of Cosmos Comics Volume 3 with the brain. (49:47):
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Barbara Mendes: It's quantum entanglement. (49:51):
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Barbara Mendes: And the plot is there's a problem. I always make very minor, (49:54):
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Barbara Mendes: not so bad problems. And if you have to have a problem in a story, (49:57):
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Barbara Mendes: their problem is they're not getting the divine fruits from these tubes, they're blocked up. (50:01):
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Barbara Mendes: And the reason is there's a blockage somewhere in the universe, (50:05):
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Barbara Mendes: a tiny, tiny blockage that's being reflected in this larger blockage. (50:08):
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Barbara Mendes: So they travel through time and space and they get to my brain where I had a little blockage. (50:12):
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Barbara Mendes: And once it's fixed, everything is able to flow again. (50:17):
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Barbara Mendes: Why? Because of quantum entanglement. go figure it's it's hard so. (50:21):
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Jason Louv: You mentioned in queen of cosmos (50:27):
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Jason Louv: comics though you mentioned a bit about a micro and macrocosmic brain (50:29):
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Barbara Mendes: The world is too big for either your (50:33):
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Barbara Mendes: brain or my brain to take in more than a teeny fraction (50:36):
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Barbara Mendes: of what the hell's going on in the universe as you and (50:39):
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Barbara Mendes: i sit here talking the entire continents of (50:42):
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Barbara Mendes: asia are teeming with billions and billions of people living their (50:45):
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Barbara Mendes: lives around the others and maybe they're sleeping now because we're awake (50:48):
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Barbara Mendes: all around you're in a city i'm in a city in between is america there's canada (50:51):
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Barbara Mendes: we got mexico we got south america we got the divers in the sea everything is (50:56):
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Barbara Mendes: going on and what about all the art and culture and everybody promoting and (51:00):
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Barbara Mendes: creating their music and their (51:04):
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Barbara Mendes: art and their plays and their movies that's the macro there is so much. (51:06):
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Barbara Mendes: And yet let's go micro for a minute. Let's go inside just one brain. (51:11):
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Barbara Mendes: Let's say Jason's brain. Okay. (51:16):
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Barbara Mendes: Inside your brain, it's a hierarchical order of things. For example, (51:18):
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Barbara Mendes: the car that went by on the street and the noise that we edited out, it happened. (51:23):
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Barbara Mendes: You saw it, but it's very small. You forgot it already. (51:29):
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Barbara Mendes: It's very tiny. Now, what about Jason's mom? (51:32):
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Barbara Mendes: Whoa, that's a big in your brain. This is a big thing in your brain. (51:35):
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Barbara Mendes: Mom is big, right? She may be a petite woman. (51:39):
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Barbara Mendes: She may be, I'm sure that she's under six feet, that's for sure. (51:42):
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Barbara Mendes: So let's say just, I'm guessing she could be five, five and compare it to a (51:46):
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Barbara Mendes: truck that you saw yesterday on the street. (51:51):
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Barbara Mendes: Well, the truck is tons and tons. It's big and mom's tiny compared, (51:53):
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Barbara Mendes: but you're never even going to, you can't even remember the truck because it (51:57):
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Barbara Mendes: wasn't important and you didn't remember it. (52:00):
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Barbara Mendes: So it's hierarchical. And after that come, you know, your kids. (52:02):
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Barbara Mendes: And what about everything you ever read? What about everything you ever learned? (52:06):
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Barbara Mendes: And remember, what about all the places that you've traveled in your life? (52:09):
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Barbara Mendes: And you mentioned to me that you've lived in several different places in your (52:13):
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Barbara Mendes: life. Look at all the details messed up. (52:16):
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Barbara Mendes: Well, I've just made like about a million page book already about just the little (52:19):
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Barbara Mendes: things, all the things we could think of that could possibly be in your brain. (52:24):
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Barbara Mendes: Not to mention, look around everything you see with your eyes right now. just there's. (52:29):
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Barbara Mendes: The multiplicity of the brain is big with me, that in everybody's brain. (52:34):
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Barbara Mendes: And art has always mostly gone by the eye. (52:39):
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Barbara Mendes: So the whole triumph of Western art with perspective was to achieve how it looks from the eye. (52:43):
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Barbara Mendes: How does our eye see things? Now, in the eye, you put your mom up against that (52:50):
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Barbara Mendes: truck in real life, and she's small, the truck's big. That's perspective. (52:54):
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Barbara Mendes: And if you're closer, you're bigger. If you're farther away, you're smaller. (52:58):
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Barbara Mendes: That's the scientific laws of perspective. but the (53:01):
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Barbara Mendes: laws of the brain are different so my art (53:04):
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Barbara Mendes: doesn't come from the eye and not only that but (53:08):
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Barbara Mendes: let's take the shading let's look for a minute at my face (53:11):
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Barbara Mendes: or jason's face the shadows are sort of blackish right if we were using paint (53:14):
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Barbara Mendes: to paint these faces we'd have to take black black black shadows figure out (53:19):
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Barbara Mendes: the black who needs black i don't even use about black in my palette that often (53:24):
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Barbara Mendes: okay the point is if i want to capture how it looks hello we have cameras that's (53:28):
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Barbara Mendes: why nobody's messing with these shadows. (53:32):
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Barbara Mendes: The camera's picking up everyone perfectly where it needs to be on both of our faces. (53:34):
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Barbara Mendes: So since the invention of a camera, we use them so much today, (53:39):
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Barbara Mendes: I don't believe we need to replicate realism, what we see with our eye. (53:43):
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Barbara Mendes: We have cameras for that. (53:48):
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Barbara Mendes: So you can see in the painting behind me how fun I just play with imagery and (53:49):
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Barbara Mendes: color, the color that they sell in the art store. (53:54):
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Barbara Mendes: They sell these brilliant colors in every art store, red, yellow, (53:57):
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Barbara Mendes: blue, you mix of green and I add white make pastels from (54:01):
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Barbara Mendes: them and you get something like the painting behind me (54:04):
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Barbara Mendes: as a matter of fact let me just (54:07):
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Barbara Mendes: show you my prophecy and this painting behind (54:10):
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Barbara Mendes: me so it's called restless it's called (54:13):
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Barbara Mendes: restless ride to rialto and it's allegorical scenes (54:16):
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Barbara Mendes: in allegorical animals this is in (54:20):
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Barbara Mendes: New York and it symbolizes when my daughter got the cancer so (54:23):
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Barbara Mendes: you see New york harbor and the statue of liberty and a (54:27):
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Barbara Mendes: traumatized dragon what's this in the (54:29):
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Barbara Mendes: background it's the new york skyline i see the twin towers i see the airplane (54:32):
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Barbara Mendes: going into the two twin towers but the date of the painting is 1977 wow so i'm (54:38):
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Barbara Mendes: into mysticism and prophecy, (54:47):
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Barbara Mendes: and colors, (54:52):
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Barbara Mendes: which I think art is great for all that stuff. Does that happen. (54:54):
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Jason Louv: A lot with you where you'll paint something and then it will come true later? (54:59):
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Barbara Mendes: Oh, yeah. Okay. The one behind me, some Israeli rabbis who don't even speak (55:04):
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Barbara Mendes: English, they saw that plane going in those two twin towers and they said, (55:08):
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Barbara Mendes: Atnavia, you are a prophetess. So that's when I first came to it. (55:12):
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Barbara Mendes: Yeah, it happens a lot. (55:17):
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Jason Louv: Why do you think that is? I mean, I feel, do you think that artists tap into the future? (55:19):
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Barbara Mendes: I think I'm a mystic and I'm a mystic person in tune with other mystic beings. (55:26):
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Barbara Mendes: And I'm leading a mystic life here. It's not just a prosaic, normal life. (55:32):
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Barbara Mendes: And, you know, remember the Don Juan books, the Carlos Castaneda books, (55:39):
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Barbara Mendes: The Way of the Warrior and everything? (55:45):
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Barbara Mendes: I've crafted myself into a mystic warrior all by myself without a religious (55:47):
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Barbara Mendes: rabbi or priest to tell me where to go. (55:52):
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Barbara Mendes: Like, I think you have to get up super early in the morning and walk super long (55:55):
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Barbara Mendes: walks in the morning. And I had this special, I call it my spot. (55:59):
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Barbara Mendes: It happens to be next to a freeway embankment, but it's completely private. No human can see you. (56:02):
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Barbara Mendes: And on the embankment are beautiful plant life. It's like a park. (56:07):
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Barbara Mendes: Behind me is an apartment house with a razor wire, but (56:10):
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Barbara Mendes: that's my spot and that's where I go and I can see and I talk to God and I talk (56:14):
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Barbara Mendes: to the beings and it's just I work a little harder at being a spiritual being (56:20):
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Barbara Mendes: and I'm very into karma I try to do karma cleanup like you know you can deliberately (56:25):
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Barbara Mendes: make good things happen to you by doing good. (56:31):
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Jason Louv: Things I think so yeah (56:33):
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Barbara Mendes: Even in Judaism since you you may not know this one there's a Jewish law that says, (56:35):
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Barbara Mendes: financially, if you give to God 10% of the money that you receive, (56:42):
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Barbara Mendes: God has to pay you back and even more. (56:48):
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Barbara Mendes: So that's a pretty, it's not because look, when you pray, God doesn't have to answer you, right? (56:53):
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Barbara Mendes: We all pray and we pray very hard. Many is the time when God's answer is no, (56:58):
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Barbara Mendes: we don't not get our prayers answered. (57:04):
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Barbara Mendes: So just to pray to God is not to automatically receive of what you're praying for. (57:06):
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Barbara Mendes: However, in this instance, if you actually give 10% of the money you received (57:10):
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Barbara Mendes: and dedicate it to something for God, some charity, some good cause, (57:14):
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Barbara Mendes: God really has to pay you back. (57:19):
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Barbara Mendes: So I've tried that and it has worked. (57:21):
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Jason Louv: It works. (57:24):
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Barbara Mendes: This time I was too chicken. I made a really big sale, but I was too chicken (57:25):
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Barbara Mendes: to really give 10% of it away. (57:29):
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Barbara Mendes: But in the past, it's worked pretty well. (57:32):
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Jason Louv: So what are your, do you have other tips for karmic cleanup? I might need some. (57:34):
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Barbara Mendes: Well, just think if somebody's upset with you, there must be a reason and try to work it out. (57:40):
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Barbara Mendes: One thing that I do want to, since we're talking and I'm shooting my mouth off (57:45):
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Barbara Mendes: a lot, I want to talk about how wonderful my relationship is with my living daughter, Kirby. Okay. (57:49):
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Barbara Mendes: Kirby's 52 years old now, and she lives near me in Culver City. It's 10 minutes away. (57:55):
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Barbara Mendes: Now, Kirby was Fertility Challenge. She and her wonderful husband, (58:00):
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Barbara Mendes: Jeff, who's a graphic artist and a musician. (58:03):
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Barbara Mendes: So with IVF, they created Melody, my granddaughter, 20 years ago. (58:05):
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Barbara Mendes: And she's a remarkable person. She's now at UC Santa Cruz, where she's an A (58:13):
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Barbara Mendes: student, and she's a singer-songwriter. (58:17):
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Barbara Mendes: Her handle is Career Woman. So she is Career Woman. She has a three-piece boy (58:20):
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Barbara Mendes: backup band that backs up. (58:25):
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Barbara Mendes: And I'm on X too, Art by Mendes. Okay. (01:00:02):
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Barbara Mendes: Wonderful. Because now I'm back to painting and I'm doing a lot of painting lately. Follow me. (01:00:07):
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Barbara Mendes: So when you finish new paintings, you put them up on your social media? (01:00:13):
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Barbara Mendes: All the time. Wonderful. It's practically why I do them. (01:00:16):
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Barbara Mendes: But I also make my living selling them. Wonderful. This is how I make my living. (01:00:21):
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Barbara Mendes: You know that mural that I showed you outside? It's like a gigantic billboard. (01:00:25):
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Barbara Mendes: And not that often, but often enough, people actually stop their cars and pull (01:00:30):
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Barbara Mendes: over like Moses with the burning bush and say, What is this? What is going on here? (01:00:34):
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Barbara Mendes: And they discover me and I make some interesting sales that way, (01:00:38):
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Barbara Mendes: as well as the people who just wander in from the street in the coffee shop. (01:00:41):
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Barbara Mendes: So if people want to buy your art, where would they go? They'd have to contact (01:00:46):
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Barbara Mendes: me through social media. Okay. (01:00:50):
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Barbara Mendes: Or else, you know, if anybody is in the Los Angeles area, please come visit Ivan Gallery. (01:00:52):
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Jason Louv: I keep regular gallery hours, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Sunday, (01:00:57):
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Jason Louv: 12 to 5. And you can find out how to contact (01:01:01):
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Barbara Mendes: Me on social media through direct messaging and i am available to meet the public (01:01:04):
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Barbara Mendes: any day but saturday since i live upstairs i can make an appointment to meet anybody anytime in. (01:01:10):
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Jason Louv: The los angeles area and show them (01:01:16):
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Jason Louv: the art gallery and show them my work wonderful do you sell prints also (01:01:18):
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Barbara Mendes: I do have some prints for sale in that in that back. (01:01:22):
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Jason Louv: Room okay yes (01:01:26):
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Barbara Mendes: And can people find those online or they need to contact you no I don't have an online store. (01:01:27):
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Barbara Mendes: If you go on my website, barbarmendis.org, you'll see a lot of the terrific Judaic art. (01:01:33):
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Barbara Mendes: And there used to be an online store, but trust me, it's defunct. (01:01:39):
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Jason Louv: But I do have (01:01:42):
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Barbara Mendes: The merchandise that's on that online store. So if you see something on barbarmendis.org. (01:01:43):
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Jason Louv: That you want to purchase, (01:01:48):
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Barbara Mendes: You can definitely DM. (01:01:50):
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Jason Louv: Me and I can find out about how to get it to you. Wonderful. (01:01:51):
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Barbara Mendes: Well, I feel very lucky to have... Thank you for showing me all of this. (01:01:55):
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Barbara Mendes: I feel very lucky. I feel very lucky to have this conversation and I really enjoyed it. (01:01:59):
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Barbara Mendes: Jason, thank you so much for inviting me. It's been a pleasure talking with (01:02:04):
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Barbara Mendes: you. Thank you. Absolutely. (01:02:08):
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Barbara Mendes: And thank you again. And yeah, it was a, it was a, it was very touching interview. Thank you. Thank you. (01:02:10):
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Barbara Mendes: All right. Take care. Bye-bye. (01:02:16):
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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Ep. 227: I Met God and Her Name is Barbara "Willy" Mendes

Episode Transcript

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Ep. 227: I Met God and Her Name is Barbara "Willy" Mendes

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