Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_03 (00:38):
Uh, I've had a lot
of very intimate experiences
with death.
Uh, it's why I started learningmore about death and dying and
wanting to walk alongside peopleas they go on their journeys of
death and dying.
And that's really what a lot ofthe Moss story was about.
It's about like holding theshame, holding the guilt that
comes with death and dying.
SPEAKER_02 (01:01):
I can't seem to make
them go away.
SPEAKER_00 (01:14):
Hey everybody,
welcome to Bad Idea Social Club
Rewind.
For the next eight weeks, we'rerevisiting eight conversations
that stuck with us for somereason or another.
Now, these these aren'tnecessarily our top eight, but
these are the ones that crawledinto our brains and hearts,
nested, and they just live therenow.
Yeah.
(01:34):
Joey, could you imagine actuallypicking out our top eight?
Maybe.
I don't know.
I'm gonna I'm going with no.
No, I could not.
The reason MySpace shit.
I used to have so I used to havea much easier time ranking.
SPEAKER_01 (01:47):
Bro, top eight was a
nightmare for me.
It was a fucking nightmare.
And then as soon as you saw thatshit switch, you were like, what
the fuck happened?
Dude, that's how you knewsomebody was mad at you.
That's right.
That's right.
That that's that was like thatwas uh showing our emotion back
in the day.
SPEAKER_00 (02:06):
But we're calling
this, uh we're calling this
off-season series rewind, and uhit's gonna take us right up to
season eight and drop us off atthe front door on September
15th.
I'm Aaron McCall.
And I'm Joe Madison.
The first one that I want to getinto is from season five,
episode one, uh Marcel FablePrice, The Poet and the Price.
(02:30):
Marcel is a poet and Death Doulabased here in Grand Rapids, um,
and we'll get into what exactlythat means.
Uh but we we talked about grief,the weight of our words, uh, and
finding uh joy.
No, not joy, finding light, Ithink is better in in
(02:51):
remembrance.
I think that what stuck out tome so much about this one was
his vulnerability and the trusthe just handed me moments after
meeting me for the first time,uh to just uh handle a story.
SPEAKER_01 (03:05):
Yeah, his the way he
speaks to death in general was
like a mind shift for me.
It doesn't take away like howsad death and someone leaving
is, but it just changes it justchanges the quality of that
feeling, how it can bebeautiful, it can be respectful,
and it can be thoughtful andloving.
(03:26):
And that really hit me prettyhard.
SPEAKER_00 (03:29):
Well, and it's the
way it's the way too that like
he filters his experiencesthrough poetry.
Yeah.
Like every every word meanssomething.
Like every line has weight.
Right.
Uh and like every piece is umunapologetic about the space
it's taking up.
Yeah.
Um this dude's been through it,man, and he still moves forward
(03:52):
with more love and compassionthan most people probably carry
in a lifetime.
SPEAKER_01 (03:57):
That's a outstanding
point.
It just kicks me in the gut.
All right, before we dive in,don't forget to follow wherever
you're listening, leave afive-star review, and don't
forget to tell your friends.
SPEAKER_00 (04:08):
Also, this thing
runs off of merch sales,
reviews, and listener support.
So if you could help us out inany way, a little bit is a lot.
Excuse me.
Oh God, I shouldn't, I should Ishould not be drinking bubbles
while I'm doing this.
I'm so sorry.
I'm so sorry.
Uh anyway, September 15th,season eight.
(04:28):
Um here's uh Marcel Fable Price,the poet and the price.
Fable.
Yeah.
Is that a given name?
Is that a moniker you've kind ofadapted?
SPEAKER_03 (04:41):
That's a good
question.
SPEAKER_00 (04:42):
What's the what's
the story there?
SPEAKER_03 (04:43):
Fable is my middle
name.
Uh it's not my birth middlename.
I I changed it in the lastprobably say year and a half.
My government middle name wasBryant.
SPEAKER_00 (04:53):
Okay.
SPEAKER_03 (04:54):
Which comes from a
series of B names.
My biological father, everysingle one of his children had
have B names.
Uh Brittany, Brennan, Brian, uh,Brandon, all B names.
And my mom didn't want to abideby those rules because she
didn't know if he would be in mylife.
So, you know, she gave me an Mname and my middle name was a B
(05:15):
name.
And I've never met my biologicalfather.
So I I don't have some deep,rich connection to my middle
name.
And most people throughout mylife called me Fable.
That was a pen name that wasgiven to me when I went to a
high school creative writingcamp by the Ann Arbor Poetry
Slam team.
SPEAKER_00 (05:34):
I was gonna say,
like, that it's either just the
greatest coincidence in theentire world.
Or or you just got lucky.
SPEAKER_03 (05:44):
Yeah, no, for sure,
for sure.
Um, I I do feel lucky beinggiven that name, though, but
it's it's a badass middle name,which is why I changed it.
Yeah.
For sure.
unknown (05:54):
For sure.
SPEAKER_00 (05:55):
Well, hey man, I
want to I want to get to know
you a little bit.
I want to know who you are, Iwant to know where you've been.
Um give me the origin story.
SPEAKER_03 (06:03):
I am a lifelong
Michigander, a proud
Michigander.
I was born in Lansing.
I was raised in Kalamazoo andIpsy.
I spent about 15 years in GrandRapids and about a little over a
decade in Kalamazoo, kind ofbouncing back and forth.
I've gone between Grand Rapidsand Kalamazoo a handful of times
(06:23):
in my life.
When I was in Grand Rapids, Ibecame Poet Laureate.
I was the youngest person incity history to hold the title
of poet laureate, the firstperson of color, period, not
just black person to hold thetitle of poet laureate.
SPEAKER_00 (06:38):
Um, forgive my
ignorance.
Yeah.
Can you define that?
SPEAKER_03 (06:41):
Yeah, it's like
being knighted.
Um it's like being knighted withyour art form.
Um, it's not like you uh are themayor where you have like set
voting duties or something likethat.
Uh, but they give you uh amodest stipend and then you get
to quote do cool projects.
I leveraged the title into a anonprofit organization, which
(07:02):
grew significantly.
SPEAKER_00 (07:04):
Tell me about that.
SPEAKER_03 (07:05):
Yeah, so the
nonprofit organization, the
Diatribe, uh, is where a goodamount of people know me from.
Uh the Diatribe started as acollective of artists,
hooligans, ruffians, uh, poets,singers, songwriters, musicians,
hip-hop artists.
And uh I made the decision afterwe did the first Blind Deaf
(07:25):
friendly art prize exhibit,which I kind of don't like that
that's our origin story, butit's true.
A bunch of teachers reallystarted reaching out and saying
that we should do work withyoung people.
I didn't feel like we should dowork with young people at the
time.
Uh we were all ruffians, we werereally rough around the edges,
closing mulligans and billiesdown every night.
SPEAKER_00 (07:44):
Yeah, we we don't
want any kids around right now.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
SPEAKER_03 (07:47):
We're like, I'm I'm
not I'm not suited to speak to
young people.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
But some teachers were reallyrelentless in their pursuit, one
of which being Rick Jackson, whois a teacher at uh Rocket
Alternative, which isKelloggville's uh alternative
school, and we fell backwardsinto teaching, working with
young people.
(08:07):
We came in for a career day,which again we shouldn't have
done.
We weren't making money doingart.
Um, and while we were reallyused to crowd applause, you
know, snaps, claps, all thosethings, those students, as a
thank you, all wrote us lettersasking us to come back, and I'd
never received anything likethat.
Um, so we came back every singleweek for a year, and before we
(08:27):
knew it, you know, teacherstalk, and one teacher talked to
another teacher, talked toanother teacher, and we were in,
you know, like five schools ayear.
I was broke at the time,probably selling weed to
subsidize income.
Um before I knew it, I'd had tomake the choice to stop selling
weed because you can't be inschools teaching and be caught
selling weed because then yourlife's really gonna be.
(08:51):
Um, but then uh a mentor of mineat the time was like, hey, you
should turn this into anonprofit.
Uh, there's a lot of money outthere to do the work that you're
doing.
And I listened.
Uh, I don't know if I had a timemachine if I would do that
again.
Um, but you know, now it's amulti-million dollar
organization, and there's notmany people, especially young
(09:13):
people like me who aren'tcollege educated, that are
intuitive artists, that start anonprofit and make it a
multi-million dollarorganization and raise$6.5
million during a hard time oftheir life.
Um, so that's something that Iget to be proud of.
Well, I might not necessarilybe, you know, excited about the
future.
(09:33):
It's gonna be something thatoutlives all of us, and that's
beautiful.
SPEAKER_00 (09:36):
God, that's that's
you can just hang your head on
that and you've done it.
Maybe.
Maybe.
No?
No, no.
Well, what's enough?
SPEAKER_03 (09:46):
That's a fantastic
question.
I used to have the answer thatnothing was enough.
Like I had this insatiabledesire to do bigger, shoot
bigger, dream bigger.
Um I'm a non-monogamous humanbeing, so not having enough when
you're a non-monogamous humanbeing creates a different uh
(10:07):
hurdle.
But I I used to think nothingwas enough.
Now I feel like enough is thepeople who love you is enough.
Yeah.
Um, I have a lot less importanceor self-importance when it comes
to work and the things that I doprofessionally.
But as somebody who came fromnothing, I'm really, really
(10:28):
proud of the things that I'vedone because we're not supposed
to, you know, do half the thingsthat I've done.
Right.
So I I am proud of that.
SPEAKER_00 (10:35):
But there's still a
lot more to be done.
I love that.
So, so at what point in yourstory did you really lean into
your creativity and kind of letit take over?
SPEAKER_03 (10:44):
Yeah, so I think I
was in high school actually.
So I was failing out of highschool.
I was a kid that was not good inschool.
I got suspended a lot, spent alot of time in ISS, spent a good
amount of time in OSS, uh, and ateacher didn't want me to fail.
And she sent me to this collegereadiness camp, which I thought
was ridiculous because I wasn'tgoing to college.
(11:05):
I couldn't afford college.
Yeah, yeah.
But there was this the Ann ArborPoetry Slam team.
They were doing workshops withpoetry and writing.
And a guy named Slayman was theguy who ran the team at the
time.
And during this collegereadiness camp, I got to do this
creative writing exercise, andit showed me poetry could be
whatever I wanted it to be.
(11:26):
It could sound however I wantedit to sound.
And afterwards, you know, I didthe school talent show with
poetry, and people were yellingand screaming and snapping and
clapping.
And uh, I'm somebody who grew uppretty, you know, rough around
the edges.
Um, in the home life was prettyuncomfortable.
And to see so many peopleappreciate me to to feel
(11:48):
valuable, like that was like thethe catalyst, which then
spiraled into me doing openmics, you know, for years.
Um here we are today.
SPEAKER_00 (11:58):
Man, so what's that
like getting up in front of a
crowd, yeah, in front of a roomfull of people that are hanging
on to your every word, um, andyou're just reciting words that
you've written and to like seethe reaction, what is that like?
What is that feeling?
SPEAKER_03 (12:11):
That's a good
question.
I I don't know if even amajority of my life I even took
the time to process that.
I would say for like a decade,you know, we were hosting this
show in Grand Rapids called theDrunken Retort, which like
became this like nightlifestaple.
Grand Rapids magazine was liketop ten things you must
experience in Grand Rapids.
And during that decade in mylife, I was so drunk hosting a
(12:33):
show that I don't even know if Iappreciated that so many people
beloved this space.
Uh that people like treated itlike church, like people went
every single Monday religiously.
Now I feel like for the firsttime I'm creating, I'm creating
sober, I'm gigging again for thefirst time since the pandemic.
(12:56):
I'm truly leaning into giggingfor the first time since I
started the nonprofit.
And I I just feel fortunate tobe able to have the opportunity
more than anything.
I feel fortunate that peoplecare.
Um, I'm somebody who is eitherbeloved by some people or
absolutely hated by otherpeople, and for opportunities to
(13:19):
share my truth and to be honestand people not throw me away,
and people be able to, you know,deconstruct it and find
themselves in it feelsinvaluable.
SPEAKER_00 (13:30):
Man, do you get a
lot of self-worth from your from
your work?
Uh because that's kind of thevibe I'm getting.
SPEAKER_03 (13:37):
I would say that I
get too much of my individual
worth from the things that I do,whether that's being the
executive director, being thefounder, being the the artist,
being the the doer, I I dounfortunately get a lot of worth
from what I do.
SPEAKER_00 (13:56):
So, what space were
you in when you did the moth?
SPEAKER_03 (13:59):
Oh man, that's a
that's a wild question.
So for those that don't know, umI've done the moth twice.
Uh one of the times that I didthe moth, my wife was still
alive, and I went to um AnnArbor.
They were doing a story slam.
She loved the moth.
(14:21):
And she was like, she alwayswanted to tell a moth story.
And me being a storyteller, Iwas like, well, let's go to Ann
Arbor and I'll win you the moth.
Um, so the first time we went,it was like maybe 2016 or
something like that.
And I won a moth story slam forher birthday.
And that's how you know the thefolks at the moth like knew who
(14:43):
I was.
In the last like year, they werecultivating a moth mainstage
event.
And that event was at theDetroit music hall, which is a
huge space.
It's like 1,600, 1,700 people,and this show sold out.
I was one of five storytellers,one of five speakers.
SPEAKER_00 (15:03):
So many people.
SPEAKER_03 (15:04):
It was wild.
It's like you could feel the thethe exhales of 1600 people
turning into like wind that likecradled you throughout the
event.
Um, but it was also powerfulbecause I could literally feel
hundreds of the people crying, Icould hear them sniffling, I
could, I could I could feel thesobbing, and I got to be raw and
(15:26):
vulnerable and honest and tell astory.
And that was unlike any otherexperience I've ever had.
And it also made me reallyrealize that I want to continue
to lean into storytelling.
Yeah.
Um, like that is what I want tobe a huge part of what I do.
SPEAKER_00 (15:42):
I feel like
listening to a lot of your stuff
too.
Um I mean, it's just it's justbaked in.
I appreciate that.
Um, I'm curious, I if if youdon't mind me asking, what was
your wife like?
SPEAKER_03 (15:52):
What was my wife
like?
Yeah.
Man.
Um she she was, you know, she'slike all that was good in the
world.
Um she had this laugh, thisiconic distinct laugh.
(16:17):
Um she was so caring, she was sogood, you know.
There's there's people who saythings like, you know, when I
lost my kid, when I lost mywife, it made it hard for me to
be a spiritual person becauseit's like, how can, you know,
somebody so good or somebody soinnocent uh be taken so
untimely?
And and that is how I felt withher for a long time.
(16:38):
You know, between the two of us,she was absolutely the good one.
Uh she she was somebody who didright by all of the people in
her life.
She's somebody that really heldmy hand in becoming a man.
Like, one thing I tell a lot ofwomen that I come across is like
men really aren't shit untilthey turn 30.
Uh like like there's we're justnot.
(16:59):
We're not shit.
Um, and she started walkingalongside this journey with me
when I was like 26.
I was definitely like not shit.
And she held my hand intobecoming a man, like she guided
me along the way.
She taught me so much.
Uh, in the first time peoplestarted calling me out from my
past, like she was like, hey,you know, you have to you have
(17:22):
to do whatever makes it right,you know, you have to you have
to own up to it, you have totalk about it, like it has to be
uh a part of you.
Um and she didn't throw me away,you know.
Um but she was somebody who wasresilient and fearless and and I
won't say fearless because shewas scared to death at the end,
but she just handled thediagnosis with so much grace, uh
(17:47):
so much poise.
She was a beautiful, queer blackwoman.
Uh yeah, she's just she'siconic, as is is how I would
describe my late wife.
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (17:59):
I love that.
Did she get a chance to see uhthe big one?
SPEAKER_03 (18:03):
The no, no, no, no,
she didn't.
So she she passed away in 2023.
Um so she didn't get to see thethe huge storytelling event at
the moth.
And part of the event that I didat the Moth was talking about
her as well.
Uh talking about the passing ofmy grandfather.
Death has been something that'sbeen really prelevant in my
(18:25):
life.
Uh, I've had a lot of veryintimate experiences with death.
Uh, my grandfather, I got to bethere while he transitioned.
Um, Nate Libra, a longtimefriend of mine and one of the
longest roommates I ever had.
He went through a very violentbout with cancer.
Uh, and my wife, you know, I gotto walk alongside her being her
(18:45):
primary caregiver for fouryears.
And that journey, all of thosethings, you know, is why I
became a death doula.
Uh, it's why I started learningmore about death and dying and
wanting to walk alongside peopleas they go on their journeys of
death and dying.
And that's really what a lot ofthe Moss story was about.
(19:06):
It's about like holding theshame, holding the guilt that
comes with death and dying.
Because we all have, you know,these wishes, these things that
we would do differently.
And um, yeah, that's really whatthe story is about.
But what but she wasunfortunately not able to be
there for for that show.
SPEAKER_00 (19:22):
What is your role as
a death doula?
SPEAKER_03 (19:24):
Yeah, so different,
you know, you can do different
things as a death doula.
It really depends on who you'resupporting.
If you're walking alongside theperson who's on the journey to
to transition, that might looklike asking them, what
fragrances do you want aroundwhen you're dying?
You know, what music do you wantto be played?
Uh do you want people to touchyou when you can't be
(19:46):
responsive?
Like, do you want people to washtheir hands?
You know, the things that youdon't think about when somebody
is is going, where do you wantto die?
Like, is this is this where youwant to go?
Is is there somewhere else whereyou want to be when you're
transitioning?
What what are things?
Is there people that you don'twant around?
Are there people that you dowant around?
Um, and things that, you know,oftentimes fall on the family to
(20:10):
know, which we don't knowbecause we're so we have such an
unhealthy relationship withdeath in America.
But also the things thatshouldn't fall on family
members, you know, if if youryou know parent passes away, god
forbid if they're alive, youknow, you don't want it to all
fall on your mom telling youraunt Cindy that she's not wanted
around, so then they have somehuge fallout.
(20:32):
Like that that's not fair toher, you know, and and that's
the role that a doula can play.
But also you can walk a song,you can walk alongside the loved
ones, and and that's the role ofa doula, you know, to to guide
people.
SPEAKER_00 (20:45):
It's comfort, it's
it's it's dignity.
Yeah, a hundred percent.
Man, so okay, I want to take alittle bit of a turn here,
right?
You've described yourself as alet me get this right, walking
kaleidoscope of humanexperience.
Um I know this is gonna be akind of a broad question, but
what does that mean when you saythat?
SPEAKER_03 (21:04):
Yeah, that's a it
sounds good.
What does that encompass?
Yeah, I think the idea is thatwhen you know somebody's on
stage and they're describing youand they're like, oh, this
person's a kaleidoscope, peopleare like, you know, it gets the
brain going, it's provocative.
Um, but I guess what it meansmore than anything, if I'm being
honest, is I'm made of so manylittle pieces.
And one thing that I've realizedat this point in my life as
(21:27):
somebody that's worn so manydifferent hats and has played so
many different roles in thelives of so many unique people,
is regardless of what ourbeliefs are as humans, when it
comes to politics, when it comesto you know societal views,
there's little bits of piecesthat we can find ourselves in
people, even if we have or wethink that we don't have
(21:47):
anything in common with them.
And I like to to reallyhighlight all of those tiny
little fragments within myselfand the fact that something
beautiful can come out of all ofthese little pieces.
And I guess that's what I thinkof when I think of a
kaleidoscope.
SPEAKER_00 (22:03):
Stepping back and
kind of taking stock of all of
these little pieces, all ofthese experiences that make you
uh what experiences kind ofinfluence your work the most?
And what kind of uh what kind ofexperiences do you just keep for
yourself?
SPEAKER_03 (22:19):
I I need to get
better at the keeping for
yourself stuff.
And that's also stuff thatthat's also something that my
wife and I reflected a lot onbefore she passed away because
we were so public with so muchof our life that people almost
felt like a sense of likeownership or entitlement to our
lives.
And I think that I do that.
Probably too much as somebodywho lives or spent so much of
(22:41):
their life in Grand Rapidsgiving people too much, giving
uh putting too much out there.
I would say now there's a lotthat I keep to myself.
I have an incredible girlfriend,and you know, she's somebody
that doesn't even have socialmedia.
Like she's so I she that's socool to me.
Uh like not having social media.
(23:02):
And like that relationship isours, you know, it's it's for
us.
Um, like that's something that Ikeep for me.
Uh I know me too.
And it's like something I'm notused to, you know.
Um, but also her family, I'm notsomebody that has, you know,
much family.
And her family treats me likefamily, and I've never received
(23:25):
that before.
You know, people always have thesaying that like, you know, when
you marry somebody, you marrytheir family.
I don't know if we consider thatenough, which is why so many
people like hate their in-laws.
They're like, damn, I don'treally even think about that.
That person was just worth, youknow.
Um, but like the way that herfamily loves on me, like I keep
that for me.
Like that's that's not somethingthat gets, you know, put out and
in some newsletter on socialmedia, you know.
(23:49):
Um, those things are the thingsI've I've started to keep from
myself.
SPEAKER_00 (23:53):
What are you putting
in the work?
SPEAKER_03 (23:55):
So I just released
this book, New American Monarch,
and it came out on my birthday,October 8th.
And it's a really uniquecollection in the sense that the
work is made to look like arough draft because we're all
rough drafts.
So as you flip through thebooklet, the pages are made to
look distressed.
(24:15):
It has notes written on thebook, you know, the way that
people write notes on theirbook.
Um, it has QR codes at thecorner of the start of every
page, which brings people to theaudio version of the piece.
So if you're somebody that likelikes to read and dive in, you
can.
But if you're somebody that wholikes to be read too, then you
can, you know, be able to scanit and do that, you know.
(24:36):
Um, so it's really like amultimedium experience for
people.
And I got to work with a ton ofreally dynamic creatives, some
of my favorite creatives inbringing that work to life.
And shout out to uh New MichiganPress Diagram, Andre Monson, who
runs that, who decided to pickthe book up because it is a
really vulnerable, honest bodyof work.
(24:57):
And, you know, I had to reachout to a whole lot of publishers
before I found somebody whotruly believed in it and would
let it be everything that it is.
So to answer the question ofwhat am I putting in the work,
I'm trying to put all of myself,you know, but also as a writer,
it's a lot different than youknow, with hip hop, you know,
you're constantly releasingmusic, you know, that if it
(25:18):
hits, if it picks up, that mightbe a single, you know, and then
you're like you can turn thatinto a larger body of work with
all of the other things thatyou've been working on with
writing.
You know, you are working andcreating on this this body of
work for a long time.
And then shopping it around isalso a very timely process.
Like I just finished acollection of nonfiction work,
(25:40):
um, and I'm like 50,000 pages or50,000 words into it.
SPEAKER_00 (25:44):
And I was like, holy
shit, 50,000 pages.
SPEAKER_03 (25:47):
Yeah, no, I was
getting crazy.
SPEAKER_00 (25:48):
Well, I think about
editing that bad boy.
Yeah, for sure.
SPEAKER_03 (25:51):
Yeah, it's like
50,000 words.
Um, and it's amazing, but like Idon't know how long it'll take
to get picked up.
Like, I might start working onthe next thing, you know, before
that ever gets picked up, if itgets picked up, hopefully.
But I'm just trying to be reallyvulnerable and honest in my
work.
And I think a lot of it isrevolving around masculinity and
(26:13):
shame and harm and regret, andhow do we grow past these things
that we've done and how do webecome more than the worst
things that we've ever done?
And that's what a lot of thework is about.
Because also, when I was workingwith young people, those are the
stories that got a lot of youngpeople challenging themselves.
SPEAKER_00 (26:31):
Yeah.
Can I uh put you on the spot?
Sure.
Can I get you to read or recitesomething from the book?
SPEAKER_03 (26:38):
Oh dear, yeah, hand
me that bad boy.
Let me find a short ditty.
I'm trying to think of okay,what is this okay?
Um it's called terrifyingtruths.
(26:59):
Today, I'm meditating on aterrifying truth.
There are more suicides at theGolden Gate Bridge than any
other single place in ourcountry.
More people travel there to endtheir story, flesh-coated iron
in someone's favorite heartbeat,adventure to this location from
(27:21):
all across this trauma-riddensphere, to crash into one of the
world's largest mirrors.
The bay.
This structure, an undeniablemagnet.
It pulls matter from all cornersof the globe, drags blood out of
its home, attracts with thepromise of wind rushing around
(27:42):
you, cradling you vigorously, asevery frantic last breath pushes
back in nature like a nonviolentprotest, like a coin toss,
enticing you with one final lookat yourself in the reflective
face of the ocean.
In fact, I've contemplatedtaking my own life a thousand
(28:03):
times.
But there are two reasons whyI've never considered this
route.
One, because I am terrified todeath at heights.
Even the thought of crossingbridges makes my palms secrete
fear.
If I was to stand at the edge oflife and had a heart attack
before I closed that lastchapter, that'd be one more
thing I couldn't do right.
And two, because I am sureduring that final gaze into the
(28:27):
water's truth, I would see allof my abusers reflecting off the
surface.
I'd be reminded of not only howI got there, but of my own
terrifying truth.
That my face too may appear insomeone else's final moments.
And that's something I deserveto live with.
SPEAKER_00 (28:49):
What are you
feeling?
SPEAKER_03 (28:51):
I think a different
I think of different things
whenever I, you know, dive intothis piece.
Um in like 2018, I was workingwith a a huge mental health
organization.
Uh I think it was like mentalhealth America, Sacramento, and
I was doing this mental healthfestival at their state capitol.
(29:12):
And there was a gentleman there,uh, a black man who was probably
in his early 40s, and he wastelling the story of when he was
gonna jump off the Golden GateBridge.
And there's this gentleman, thiswhite man, and he described it,
you know, this is again, this islike 2018.
He was like, There's this whiteman, you know, and and he he
(29:33):
didn't look anything like me,you know.
He looks like somebody I wouldhave thought might have pushed
me off the bridge, you know.
Like, and he jumped out of hispickup truck, you know, and he
ran up to me, you know, and hegrabbed me and he's like, Man,
today isn't the day you shouldjump, man.
And he started talking to meabout my daughter and his
daughter, you know, and and itmade me, you know, decide to to
not take that leap.
(29:54):
And I think that sometimes Ijust forget, you know, how much
we have in common with peopleand how many of us feel like we
get to the point of wanting toleave, and how so many people
want to be here and get thattime taken away from them, and
(30:15):
how fragile so much of it is,but how we live like we got so
much of it.
And I think that's the thingthat I'm I'm thinking about in
this moment.
SPEAKER_00 (30:24):
It's it's it's one
thing to to read your work, but
you know, the QR codes on thepage make perfect sense to me
because it is a whole otherexperience to hear you speak the
words.
SPEAKER_03 (30:35):
Thank you.
Thank you, thank you, thank you.
And and that is something that Ifeel like is also uh an
interesting hurdle.
You know, a lot of poetry, a lotof creative writing, a lot of
you know, creative nonfiction isrooted in academia.
You know, it's it's rooted inspecific voices and specific
styles.
And as somebody that is notcollege educated, is somebody
(30:57):
who does very much care aboutnot only how the words are
placed and in what order they'replaced, but how they're set and
in and how they feel.
Like that is something I take alot of pride and intentionality
in that goes, you know, is isvery important to my editing
process before something comesto fruition.
I'm just trying I'm just tryingto, you know, share the things
(31:18):
that I have to share with thetime that I have to share it,
you know.
SPEAKER_00 (31:21):
God, I love that.
Yeah.
Anything we should talk aboutbefore we go topic hopping?
SPEAKER_03 (31:25):
Shoo, I did we can
topic hop.
SPEAKER_00 (31:28):
When you're gone,
what do you hope people say
about you?
SPEAKER_03 (31:33):
Hopefully they just
they're trying to not to say as
much of the bad stuff, you know.
Like I like maybe like keep itlike 30% bad, you know, 30%,
30%, 70%, you know.
I think more importantly, I hopepeople talk to like the kids
that I worked with.
I hope people talk to the thepeople that I poured into.
(31:54):
I hope people remember what Igave so much of my life to in
the things that feel valuable ormade somebody grateful to be
here.
But also I hope people arehonest, you know.
I hope people are honest withhow they feel, I hope people are
honest with the stories thatthey have, whether that's good,
(32:14):
bad, or indifferent.
I hope people, you know, writeabout it.
Uh I hope they create somethingabout it.
I hope that they are inspired tobe raw and honest and unfiltered
and brave when it'suncomfortable.
Um Yeah.
I hope they do that.
SPEAKER_00 (32:32):
I don't I don't know
that people are born brave and
vulnerable, but like I feel likeyou've got a really good grasp
on it.
SPEAKER_03 (32:39):
Yeah, I would
definitely say we're not born
brave and vulnerable.
I mean, like again, when I wasgrowing up, mm one of my
parental figures, you know,struggled with alcoholism and
drugging, and when they wouldpartake would get really violent
with me.
And I wasn't I wasn't brave.
Like when I was gettingsuspended from school, I wasn't
(33:00):
doing so because I was brave.
I was doing so because I wantedto feel stronger than I felt at
home, you know.
Um when I was getting in fightsat bars, you know, I wasn't I
wasn't doing so because I wasbrave.
Um I was doing so because Iwanted to prove something,
because I wanted to take upspace, because I wanted to to
not feel small.
(33:21):
Um And you know, I think as youyou know grow and mature as a
human being, you kind of likerefine what is ego, you know,
and and what is needed and whatgoes into you know this gumbo,
which is your experience.
And and I would say that I Idon't even know if I consider
myself brave now, you know, asmuch as I'm just willing to, you
(33:44):
know, make mistakes along theway and learn from them the best
that I can is not to repeatthem.
SPEAKER_00 (33:49):
Finish the thought.
Creativity requires courage, awillingness to mess up.
SPEAKER_03 (33:56):
Like some people get
so stuck in the mud that they
never start.
Like people are like, oh man, Iwanted to write this poem, but
you know, it just it just keptsucking.
Or like I'll talk to some of mystudents who reach out even now
and they're like, you know, Itried to write, you know, but
it's just not good.
And it's like I try to comparewriting and creativity to going
to the gym.
Like if you haven't gone to thegym in years and you go to the
(34:16):
gym, it's gonna suck.
Like you're probably also gonnahurt for like a week.
Like it's it's not a goodexperience.
But like the more you go, themore regularly you go, the
easier the process becomes, thethe more likely you are to see
results.
And that's the same thing withcreativity.
It's like you have to get in thereps, like you have to push
through the clunkiness, you haveto build a routine out of it.
(34:37):
Like you have to if you reallywant like the muse to pour into
you.
Like that's that's what you needto do.
SPEAKER_00 (34:44):
Uh, what would your
last meal be?
SPEAKER_03 (34:46):
I'm not somebody
that has favorites, so if you
ask me this a different time,like every month, I'll give you
different answers.
But today, I'll say that my lastmeal would be the curry tofu
from Shea Olga with a side ofspicy slaw.
SPEAKER_00 (35:03):
What's the best or
worst advice that you've ever
received?
SPEAKER_03 (35:06):
I think it was
something along the lines of
being careful about helpingpeople because people won't
always return it.
I would say is probably some ofthe worst advice.
SPEAKER_00 (35:19):
What's a small
everyday thing that brings you
joy?
My dogs.
Alright, I'm a dog guy.
Give me it.
Give me.
SPEAKER_03 (35:26):
I have I have two
dogs.
Uh one's named Baldwin.
He's like a three-year-oldDoberman.
Uh, he's a goofy, he's a goofyboy.
Um, and Zora uh is afive-year-old uh Shepherd mix
that we got from the HumaneSociety.
She's a tiny little girl, she'slike 35 pounds, but she's mouthy
(35:48):
and snippy and always gotsomething to say.
Um, and the thing that I lovetoo is like there's some people
that like train dogs to thepoint of where they don't have
personalities, like they'realmost like so obedient and like
cookie cutter, and like ifyou're a service animal, I
understand that, you know.
But I love when pets havepersonalities.
Yeah, you know, when they havejust like so much of their
(36:09):
identity that pours through themand like you can see who they
are.
Uh, and that's one thing thatbrings me joy is like my pets'
personalities.
SPEAKER_00 (36:17):
Uh, what are you
listening to right now?
SPEAKER_03 (36:19):
What am I listening
to right now?
Uh I'm I I constantly am hoppingaround uh different things.
I think that the things that getthe most play in all of my
libraries.
I listen to a lot of Mac Miller,I listen to a lot of Black
Pumas, uh, I listen to a lot ofAbsol, Kendrick, um, I listen to
(36:44):
a lot of J.
Cole.
I would say a majority of what Iconsume is probably rap and hip
hop.
SPEAKER_00 (36:48):
Love that.
We're gonna make a playlist.
Give me a song.
SPEAKER_03 (36:50):
Black Moon Rising by
the Black Pumas.
SPEAKER_00 (36:53):
Awesome.
Do you have any regrets?
So many.
Anything you want to talk about?
SPEAKER_03 (36:59):
The the end of my
wife's life, you know, is
probably the thing that I holdthe most regret around.
We were a non-monogamous couple.
Um and I and I and it was joyfulin the sense that, you know, she
got to experience parts ofherself that she might not have
been able to if we weren'tnon-monogamous.
(37:20):
Um but at the end of her life,you know, when you're
navigating, you're alreadyplaying the dip you're the game
on difficulty ten with death anddying.
You're watching somebodytransition.
Navigating non monogamy on topof that shouldn't have been
something that we were doing.
There was one moment, um, oneargument that we got in where I
(37:40):
got jealous and I wanted to goafter one of her partners.
Um somebody I had partner overexaggerates, somebody that she
romantically was very investedin.
And I feel like if I had a timemachine, I just would have
ignored it.
You know?
The whole point in her beingable to experience parts of
(38:02):
herself was because the timewasn't promised.
But at the time I was stilljealous, I was still angry, I
still felt like I'm losing mysignificant other and still
holding the the common thoughtsof what if this person leaves
me?
What if this person falls forsomebody else?
Like, no, this person's dying,like shut up.
(38:24):
That is why I ended up you know,walking away from the diatribe.
That's something that a bunch oflocal activists and change
makers latched on to becausethey were like, you know, he's
not somebody who's worthsupporting.
Like, look at he's not a goodperson.
And for a long time I just kindof like was really, really quiet
about it and took it because Ifelt like I deserved it.
(38:45):
Um there's probably part of methat also still does.
But more than anything, I don'teven regret it because of the
things that people say.
I just regret it becausewhenever people think of our
relationship, they just think ofthe beauty, you know.
They think of like the thingsthat they saw on Facebook, they
think of like this couple thatwas so resilient and walked with
each other to the end.
(39:06):
And I hate that I made thatmistake because like it it
tarnished this legacy of lovethat we built.
And I felt like she deserves,you know, more stories than
that, more stories than the timethat I failed.
SPEAKER_00 (39:19):
Last question.
Are you okay?
SPEAKER_03 (39:22):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
I would I would say that I'm I'mway better than I've been.
You know, if you if you asked methat question two years ago,
right after my wife died, man, Iwas really not okay.
Yeah.
If you asked me that right aftereverything happened with the
diatribe and I got like pushedout of this organization that I
loved and founded and gave mylife to and gave way too much of
(39:45):
my time to while my wife wasdying, I was not okay.
Um, if you would have asked methis, you know, six, seven
months ago when I lost my jobbecause people were gossiping
about my life at my job, I was Iwas not okay.
But today I I feel okay.
You know, today I I have time, Ihave breath in my lungs, you
(40:07):
know, I I'm creating, I'm doingshows, you know, I'm I'm I'm
trying to get better, I'm tryingto do the things that I can do.
Um I have a house, you know, Ihave really nice shoes on, you
know.
You do have nice shoes on.
But it's just like I like I likeI'm I'm grateful, you know.
I have so much more than I'vehad at certain times in my life,
(40:28):
you know.
I I have so much more, I am somuch more.
Um so yeah, I I am okay.
Uh I feel really, really, reallygrateful.
SPEAKER_00 (40:36):
Man, I can't thank
you enough for coming out here
today and helping us kick offthe new season of this thing.
And uh thank you for yourvulnerability.
Thank you for coming in justopen.
Um before we go, where canpeople find you?
SPEAKER_03 (40:51):
Yeah, Marcel
FablePrice.com.
Uh M-A-R-C-E-L Fable F-A-B-L-Epricepr I C E dot com.
You can go there and my linktree is there.
Uh all of my everything isthere, or you can just, you
know, search Marcel Fable Pricein Google or Instagram or
Facebook.
Um, just yeah, anywhere.
SPEAKER_00 (41:13):
I love it.
All right, you want to get outof here?
Let's do it.
SPEAKER_02 (41:16):
Getting tired of
healing all these noises in my
head.
I can't make them go away.
SPEAKER_00 (41:24):
Bad Idea Social Club
is an independent podcast made
possible by merch sales,reviews, and listener support.
And it's created and hosted byme, graphic designer and McCall,
and co-hosted by photographerJoe Madison.
Music is noises by Mike Matesand the branches, get Bad Idea
Social Club wherever you didyour podcast.