We speak with Dylan Godwin, an Alley Theater resident actor starring in "The Glass Menagerie". We discuss his role and motivations "The Glass Menagerie" is a timeless classic that continues to resonate with audiences today. The podcast episode delves into the depths of this powerful play through the insights of Dylan Godwin, who passionately takes on the role of Tom Wingfield, a character often viewed as the epitome of Tennessee Williams' own struggles. The conversation begins with an exploration of how Godwin became attached to the role, noting his early memories of performing monologues from the play at age eleven. This anecdote reveals a long-standing admiration for Williams and his distinctive voice, which has shaped Godwin's approach to the character.
We speak with Suzanne Senn and Josh Baird of Ajana Therapy. Ajana Therapy & Clinical Services is an affirmative therapeutic space that embraces diversity. People of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer community seeking LGBTQ+ counseling and/or other therapeutic services are welcome to explore all aspects of their overall mental health, identity, and well-being.
Then talk with comic Janan Araujo-Siam, a Houston based comic who recently opened for Kristin Key at the Houston Improv and will be part of "Girls Night Out", a show at The Coronation Theater.
Queer Voices airs in Houston Texas on 90.1FM KPFT and is heard as a podcast here. Queer Voices hopes to entertain as well as illuminate LGBTQ issues in Houston and beyond. Check out our socials at:
https://www.facebook.com/QueerVoicesKPFT/ and
https://www.instagram.com/queervoices90.1kpft/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello everybody, this is Queer Voices, a podcast
version of a broadcast radioshow that's been on the air in
Houston, Texas for severaldecades.
This week, Brett Cullum talkswith Dylan Godwin, one of the
resident company members of theAlley Theater in Houston.
Dylan is in the cast of theGlass Menagerie, running until
(00:23):
March 16th.
Dylan plays the part of Tom inthe play.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
It had always been something that was in my mind
and a role that I've alwayswanted to do, because Tom is
kind of widely known as beingthe most sort of Tennessee
Williams-like character in allof Tennessee Williams' plays.
There's a sort of a looselyautobiographical thing about
this play C.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Williams plays.
There's a sort of a looselyautobiographical thing about
this play.
Davis Mendoza-Duruzman speakswith two mental health
professionals with Houston-basedAjana Therapy.
Then Deborah Moncrief-Bell hasa conversation with a queer cis
woman comedian who has defiedsocietal expectations to forge
her own path towards personalfreedom and enlightenment.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
Since I grew up so religiously, it's taken me a
long time to tease apart thetruths, the deep spiritual
truths that are taught in Islamand other religions, from the
dogma that actually is.
I would predict is a man-madeand meant to control rather than
inspire and help and support.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
And we have news wrap from this way out we're Voices
starts now.
Speaker 4 (01:35):
I am Brett Cullum and today I am joined by Dylan
Godwin, one of the residentcompany members of the Alley
Theater.
Dylan has just opened the GlassMenagerie and it runs at the
Alley through March 16th.
From what I've heard, this isone of his dream roles playing
Tom in the Glass Menagerie solet's just get right into it.
Hey Dylan, welcome to QueerVoices.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Hey Brett, thanks for having me.
Did I get this right?
You're playing Tom.
Yes, that's correct, I'mplaying Tom, so the brother, yes
.
Speaker 4 (02:03):
I's correct, I'm playing Tom, so the brother.
Yes, I'm making sure I'm nottalking to the gentleman caller.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
No, not today, or not You'd have to call Luis for
that.
Speaker 4 (02:12):
Well, what is it about Tom?
I mean the Glass Menagerieclassic by Tennessee Williams.
But what is it about this rolethat you just were like, oh my
gosh, this is a dream.
I really want to do this.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Well, I had a mentor all through my childhood that
ran our community theater in thetown where I grew up.
He introduced me to this playwhen I was, I think, 11 years
old.
He gave me a monologue from itand just asked me to memorize it
.
And so I did and what does an11-year-old know about the
complexities of TennesseeWilliams?
But he sort of planted a seedin my brain and I read the play
(02:48):
and, as with many works of greatliterature, at every juncture
that you read it at your life,you get something new from it,
and it's always been a play thathas been sort of in my
consciousness.
And this mentor that I'mtalking about we lost him in
2020.
It had always been somethingthat was in my mind and a role
(03:08):
that I've always wanted to do,because Tom is kind of widely
known as being the most sort ofTennessee Williams-like
character in all of TennesseeWilliams' plays.
There's a sort of a looselyautobiographical thing about
this play.
It's just always been in myhead and when the opportunity
came up to do it, it just feltlike this wonderfully
synchronistic sort of set ofevents.
(03:30):
Here we are, in the middle ofit and I couldn't be happier.
Speaker 4 (03:33):
I think the Tennessee Williams and particularly the
Glass Menagerie.
It's something that I thinkactors just grow up with, no
matter who you are.
In a weird way, it's one ofthose Hallmark plays that they
make you read.
I remember in school and Ithink I actually chose to read
it.
I think it wasn't like bobbedoff on me or anything, but it's
a very interesting premise andobviously Tennessee Williams
(03:54):
identified later in life as gay,basically, and then Tom is kind
of hiding that in his character.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Some productions you really can latch onto that.
In other productions they don'tquite focus on it so heavily,
but as a gay person myself, itwas one of the things that
really kind of stuck out to meas a younger adult when I first
started reading it.
With that in mind and to meit's such a huge part of Tom's
(04:22):
journey in the play Well, it'sso cloaked.
Speaker 4 (04:25):
I mean, by the time that it was written, it's very
much of its time.
Yeah, 1944,.
Yeah, and this is somethingthat when you play, I mean how
do you approach it from yourmodern eyes and kind of get back
there?
How do you establish thischaracter and bring to life that
, because obviously you and Iwe're in a a different world,
and how do you prepare for thiskind of a role?
Speaker 2 (04:46):
not to go off on too much of a tangent about it, but
I sort of came up.
I mean, I went to school formusical theater and often when
they were training us to sort ofbe able to fit into any role,
you oftentimes heard much of thedetriment of a lot of people
for the gay guys.
You need to learn to butch itup.
You need to butch it up andplay this role or that role.
And for a lot of years and alot of approaches that was
(05:08):
always in the back of my mindand then I kind of had a
revelation five or six years agothat I was like gay people have
always existed, queer peoplehave always existed and some are
better at butching it up thanothers are.
It's not out of the realm ofpossibility to think that in
these great works of literaturethat there are characters like
that at varying degrees ofcloaking it or hiding it or
(05:30):
really not being so good at it.
And kind of realizing that in mywork has sort of freed me up in
a lot of ways to feel likethese characteristics, these
people do exist in thisliterature, particularly in
Tennessee Williams literature,who was sort of an anomaly at
the time for being able to be avery kind of out and proud gay
(05:52):
man at a time where thereweren't very many people in the
zeitgeist that could hold thattitle.
I approach it like any otherplay, like you sort of.
You think about the givencircumstance of who he is and
the world that he's living in,and most of the play takes place
in their apartment with justhis mother and his sister, and a
person can be a little morethemselves in that regard and a
(06:14):
little more free with how theyare.
I think that Tom's journey isone that is sort of about that,
and everyone always talks aboutTom and thinks of Tom as needing
to escape this world.
But when you attach to it theidentity of who he is and how
his identity probably couldn'texist in that world, it really
kind of gives you a realunderstanding of why it was so
(06:35):
important for him to be able toget out and find some air, to be
who he really truly was or is,rather.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
What is it about the glass Menagerie and Tennessee
Williams that makes it stillrelevant today?
I mean because it gets producedagain and again, and again and
it never goes away.
It's always there, it's alwaysat the forefront of theater.
So I was just wondering what isyour take on why it's so
universal?
Speaker 2 (06:59):
It's a story of family.
Family is not always nuclearand perfect, but the thing about
this text, I think, thatendures.
Sally Winger is playing Amanda.
Being on stage with her is likebeing next to a force of nature
.
She is so skilled and so honestand the work is so deep that
(07:21):
even the first time that we readthose mother and son scenes
together you come to understandhow these scenes whether they
take place in the 30s or now hehas written the most honest and
true relationship between amother and a son and I think
it's that kind of quality thatallows this play to sort of
endure the test of time, becauseanybody in the audience gay,
(07:44):
straight, indifferent can lookat that relationship and see
something of their ownrelationships with their parents
or the people that they'reclosest to.
My therapist one time told meyour parents will never give you
the keys to leave the nest.
You have to steal the keys andyou have to sort of leave the
nest on your own because they'llnever agree to it.
And I think there's a core ofthat at the center of this play
(08:05):
is that his mother can't allowhim to leave, so he has to find
some way out of it himself.
That's kind of a littlesentiment that's been going
through my head as we've beenrehearsing this play a lot.
Speaker 4 (08:17):
How long did you guys rehearse this for?
We rehearsed for three weeksand you've been a company member
for the Alley since when?
Because three weeks?
And you've been a companymember for the Alley since when?
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Because it feels like you've always been here.
I have been officially in thecompany for six years.
I've been working at the Alleyfor oh my God, brett, it's
either 15 or 16 years now.
Speaker 4 (08:37):
What is it like being in the company as opposed to
not being in the company?
What is the difference there?
Speaker 2 (08:43):
It's wonderful this mentor that I was speaking about
when I was a kid.
He would always say because somany people that go into theater
get the idea of I need to be inthis place to do theater New
York or LA or whatever and healways instilled in me he was
like the real action of what'shappening in the American
theater is happening at regionaltheaters.
But when you work at regionaltheaters you have the
(09:03):
opportunity to play things thatare not just relegated to your
specific type.
Being in the company at theAlley, we are able to know at
the beginning of the year whatour whole season is for the year
.
So it just has for me and Ican't speak for anybody else.
It's allowed me to reallyrefocus my energies on the work
that I'm doing and not have tobe worried about what the next
(09:26):
thing is, and to divide thatkind of that energetic poise
that you have when you'reworking on a play, when you get
to work with peers that youadmire and that you trust.
It allows your work to kind ofgo a couple pegs higher than it
would when you weren't.
Speaker 4 (09:45):
Do you know the characters that you're going to
play?
Do they make you go through aprocess where you audition for
specific roles, or do they justsay, hey, Dylan, this is yours.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Generally we have a meeting at the beginning of the
year and we have what we callour season track and you find
out then what roles in whatplays that you're doing.
When they do the planningprocess, they're planning the
season around the company andyou find out then what roles in
what plays that you're doing.
When they do the planningprocess they're planning the
season around the company ofactors that are at the center of
our company and our missionstatement.
Now there are of courseexceptions to that.
(10:16):
When we did Little Comedieslast year, which Richard Nelson
came in to adapt and direct forus because he hadn't worked with
the company before, we had kindof a short little process where
we read for him and then theykind of decided how we would
fall out in the roles that wereallocated to us.
But generally we find out asthe season is being announced to
(10:36):
the public what our roles orour tracks are going to be in it
for that year.
Speaker 4 (10:40):
So you get the advantage of if a play is later
in the season.
You can live with that play fora little while and really do
some deep analysis.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
In my view, that only deepens the work.
It only allows you to.
And the other prong of thatwith being in a company is is
that when you're freelancing oryou're coming into a contract
somewhere else, oftentimes youwill meet the company that
you're working with on the firstday of rehearsal.
You have to build that intensetrust and intense connection on
the spot.
(11:09):
The people that I work with atthe Alley we have been working
with each other for years, so wehave a shared vocabulary.
We all are very familiar witheach other's processes.
We know how to kind of pullthose things together and get to
the meat of the play faster,because a lot of that work has
already been done for us becausewe've been together for so long
(11:29):
but do you ever get to thepoint where you're like, hey, I
want to try something different?
Speaker 4 (11:33):
do you actually go to the artistic director or
whoever is the society, and say,hey, could I try this new thing
?
Speaker 2 (11:39):
well, the fact that there's a tangible connection
between the audience and whatwe're doing on stage and a
recognition of that is reallyit's just a really good feeling
to know that people pick up onthat In terms of ever asking or
wanting to do somethingdifferent.
One of the wonderful thingsabout Rob, our artistic director
, is that Rob is one of the mostcollaborative, open-hearted,
(12:02):
kind people that you will evermeet open-hearted, kind people
that you will ever meet.
And when he came in and hetransitioned into the role of
artistic director, he askedeveryone in the company to email
him five roles that we wouldlove to play in our career at
some point, and they could beroles that we feel like are
outside of what we usually playyou know, close to what we
usually play but he gave us thatopportunity to explain to him
(12:25):
and to say to him what things wewould like to do, and Tom was
the top of my list.
Rob is just that kind of givingperson that really is invested
in what the people that arecollaborating with him want to
do and what makes thempassionate, because he knows
that that kind of passion onlybreeds better work.
So I know that if there wereever something that I would want
(12:46):
to try differently.
I feel completely comfortableenough with Rob to sit down and
have a meeting with him and belike, hey, could you see me
doing this?
And not just could you see medoing this, but could you help
me figure out how to do this.
And that's the kind oforganization that we are.
It's about figuring out whatpeople want to do and what
places they would fit best inand really kind of coming all
(13:07):
hands to the pump and makingthat happen for them.
Speaker 4 (13:10):
That's amazing to hear and Rob Melrose definitely
is an artistic director Justincredible.
I really like the way that hebalances popular material along
with world premieres, becausethe Glass Menagerie, it's well
known.
It's really neat to kind oftrack the company and the
development of all of that.
And I wanted to ask, justbecause I'm curious okay, so Tom
, obviously at the top of yourlist of roles, are there any
(13:32):
others that are on there thatyou haven't done yet?
Speaker 2 (13:35):
I'm trying to even remember what was on that five
list because it was, I mean,that was pre-pandemic, and one
of them was I was a musicaltheater guy for a long time.
I guess I still am.
I've always wanted to play theemcee in Cabaret.
That would be a dream to dothat.
To me that's a real kind ofactor's musical that you can
kind of dig into.
There are roles that I haveplayed while Rob has been in his
(13:58):
tenure that I never thought Iwould.
When we did Sweat I playedJason, which is he's a sort of a
steel worker turned skinhead,and that couldn't be further
outside of what most peoplewould think the roles or the
range of things that I wouldplay is.
But because Rob put that on meand gave me the confidence to do
(14:19):
it, I learned something aboutmyself that this thing, that
sometimes the things that youfear the most playing and doing
are the ones that kind of openyou up the most and make space
for other things to starthappening.
And especially when it'ssomething like Tennessee
Williams, where everyone,everyone has a conception
whether they realize it or not,if they're at all familiar with
the play of what the play shouldbe or how the play should sound
(14:41):
or how the play should look,and so it's like taking all that
into consideration, honoring itand then figuring out how to
leave it at home so you can goand do work that you're proud of
.
Speaker 4 (14:53):
You brought up the MCN Cabaret.
It is so hard to do that showwithout being haunted by Joel
Grey or Alan Cumming.
You have to approach that role.
You have to figure out oh mygosh, I can't compete with these
two gentlemen that stamped thisthing.
I have to figure out thisunique way to stamp it with
Dylan Godwin.
The good news is I'm notreviewing it.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
Oh good, Then we can really be honest and be nice
with each other right now then.
Yeah, I know.
Speaker 4 (15:19):
I mean absolutely.
I always have this policy of ifI talk to somebody and I
interview them, I don't want toreview them in a show, because
then I have an insight into youalready and sometimes I go in
with preconceived bias towardsyou maybe.
And I'm such a fan, I mean I'veloved your work, so it'll be
really fun to see oh, you're sokind.
And I appreciate you taking thistime with me today to talk
(15:40):
about all of it.
Certainly, glass Menagerierunning at the alley through
March 16th, so we've got apretty good run here.
Do we know what night the outnight is for that?
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Caroline, do you know March 6th.
Speaker 4 (15:52):
March 6th, that's a Thursday right, always Thursdays
for that.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Those are my favorite nights of our run.
Truly, I mean it really is.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
I mean it feels like a theater full of family on
those nights it does, and I getto see a lot of people that I
don't get to see a lot.
Rick leg, and we'll talk to youagain soon, wonderful lovely
speaking with you did you knowthat kpft is completely listener
funded.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
There are no underwriters, so it's up to all
of us to pay for the freedom tosay what you hear here on queer
voices and on this station ingeneral.
That means you participate inour programming just by
listening and also by pledgingyour support.
Please do that now by going tothe KPFT website and clicking on
(16:39):
the red Donate Now button, andplease mention Queer Voices when
you do do.
Speaker 7 (16:45):
Thank you I'm davis mendoza de ruzman he him
pronouns and today I'm speakingwith two mental health
professionals, with houston'sown ajana therapy, including
suzanne sen.
She holds a master's of sciencedegree in clinical psychology.
We're also joined by josh baird, a, a Houston native currently
pursuing his Master of Educationdegree in Clinical Mental
(17:07):
Health Counseling from theUniversity of Houston.
Susanna, I'll start with you.
Why is it so important forLGBTQ plus individuals to speak
with mental health professionalslike yourselves?
Speaker 6 (17:19):
Well, because mental health does not discriminate
against or for any particulargroup and I think there are some
unique challenges in the LGBTQplus community, things that have
to be dealt with.
I do a lot of family therapy soI find that I'm often called on
(17:40):
to assist with that componentof being LGBTQ coming out or
transitioning with family ormaybe creating healthy
boundaries with an affirmingfamily.
Speaker 7 (17:56):
How about you, josh?
Do you experience similar kindof patterns or trends?
Speaker 8 (18:01):
subject matters we offer a safe and protected space
where any individual can speakfreely without fear of judgment
or consequence.
So for so many in thiscommunity it can be difficult to
find a safe and accepting placeto let the raw emotions be
fleshed out.
So to offer that space wherevulnerability can exist is very
(18:22):
important.
Speaker 6 (18:23):
I would like to destigmatize the whole
conversation around therapy andI might have already turned some
people off by saying mentalhealth.
But working on your mentalhealth doesn't have to mean that
you're a mess.
It can just mean that you wantto do better, you want to
function better, you want tothrive more.
Sometimes people just need atune-up.
It's not that there's somethingpathologically wrong with them.
Speaker 8 (18:46):
Yeah, I completely agree with that.
You know, I I like to think inanalogies, and in this one I'm
thinking about someone who isnot overweight but they want to
work on their body a little bitand in doing so they decide to
go to the gym or take some extrawalks around the park.
Doesn't mean that they'reunhealthy because they want to
go do that.
It just means that they want totake a little bit of extra time
(19:09):
to, like Suzanne said, get alittle tune up and find that
extra balance.
Speaker 7 (19:15):
Whenever you speak with queer clients, are there
any patterns that seem to comeup often when speaking with them
that might speak to what ourcommunity is experiencing,
either locally or evennationally?
Suzanne.
Speaker 6 (19:30):
Well, I mean obviously the political climate
has been very tenacious eversince the orange cheetah got
elected the first time.
Speaker 7 (19:41):
Are you seeing the same thing, Josh?
Speaker 8 (19:46):
the first time.
Are you seeing the same thing,josh?
I am and I'm seeing, with acontinuation of the polarizing
nature that politics has, aswell as the divisiveness it
really can create, feelings ofisolation or a lack of strong
support for the LGBTQ pluscommunity Really goes back to
kind of my first statement andsaying that's why I pride myself
in working with all communities, but especially the LGBTQ plus
(20:08):
community, and providing a spacethat they feel comfortable and
secure in sharing their truefeelings and knowing that
they'll be listened to and justpassionately cared for Josh.
Speaker 7 (20:21):
I'm wondering how can LGBTQ plus individuals preserve
and protect our mentalwell-being in the face of hate
in seemingly almost every corner?
Speaker 8 (20:31):
troubling time such as this one is just having the
necessary support and findingthe systems in which you can
find empowerment and beempowered by others who can
(20:52):
support and care for you in atime of loneliness or feeling
isolated Because havingempowered individuals around
them to assist in nurturingthose hurt by dangerous rhetoric
, by employing yourself withtruthful statements rather than
latching on to untrue storiesthat you may see online and
(21:13):
headlines that may bring pain ordefeating thoughts.
Speaker 7 (21:16):
Suzanne, how about you?
What do you think that queerindividuals can do to preserve
and protect our mentalwell-being?
Speaker 6 (21:24):
I absolutely agree with Josh that the support
system is vital and if you don'thave a healthy support system,
working on seeking one out.
And then also I encourage a lotof my clients to do kind of a
reality check on what isactually directly affecting
their day-to-day life and whatdo they actually have control
(21:47):
over.
Of course, we all have controlover going out to vote, but we
aren't in office actually makingand passing these laws.
We can all make phone calls andwrite letters trying to
differentiate what is a futileconcern because it's out of our
control and what is a real thingthat you can take action on.
So I like to encourage myclients to have affirmations
(22:11):
about themselves so they canremind themselves of their own
value in the face of anyalienation that's coming from
society.
Speaker 7 (22:19):
Could you speak a bit more about affirmations Like
what could that look like?
Speaker 6 (22:23):
Affirmations are statements.
I mean, it's probably out ofyour generation.
There used to be this guy onSNL called Stuart Smalley or
something, and he would say inthe mirror like I'm good enough,
I'm smart enough and gosh darnit, people like me.
Real affirmations would bethings that you create for
yourself I'm a good person, I'ma good friend, I caring.
(22:45):
Things that you create foryourself I'm a good person, I'm
a good friend, I'm caring likepersonality traits generally,
and that you're willing toactually say these things to
yourself multiple times a day toremind yourself of your own
value, even if other people seemto be trying to tear you down.
Speaker 7 (22:59):
That component that you mentioned of other people
trying to tear you down, I thinkis very prevalent, especially
on social media, formerly knownas Twitter, josh, doom scrolling
.
Doom scrolling is somethingthat I call the self-inflicted
mental anguish of scrollingthrough the dark corners of
social media and depressing newsstories.
Do you have any advice on howto combat doom scrolling, josh?
Speaker 8 (23:22):
Young.
So it's difficult, right?
Because we, for the most part,love to be online.
That's where we get ourinformation, that's where we get
our entertainment, that's wherewe get our dopamine hits,
that's how we are stimulated forthe most part, and it can be
hard to get away from.
It can really be viewed as anaddiction way to label it, but
(23:49):
in reality, having a hard timegetting away from your phone,
even though you realize,especially with social media, it
can be bringing down youremotions and putting you in a
negative space.
A few things that I'vepersonally equipped in my own
life that might be beneficialfor others to hear really
setting boundaries for myselfand how I use my phone,
utilizing the clock app on myphone and setting timers and
(24:09):
holding myself accountable towhen that timer goes off, saying
, okay, I told myself that thiswas the plan that I was going to
go by and I'm going to followthat and set my phone down even
for a little bit to try to getback to what's in front of me
rather than looking down ontowhat is out there.
Another thing that I reallyappreciate personally and I
(24:31):
think would be beneficial isgetting outside, taking a break
from being on the phone andtrying to go for a walk, or
sitting outside and sipping anice cold glass of iced tea and
trying to stay in the shade andtrying to get back to the roots
of maybe finding a good book orreaching out to a friend to see
(24:53):
if they'd like to do somethingthat's not technology related.
Let's go for a walk together,let's get dinner and just catch
up, because sometimes gettingback to your roots when it comes
to just normal face-to-facehuman interaction can provide
very beneficial results andreally bring you back to a sense
(25:14):
of stability rather thaneverything is crashing down
around us online.
Speaker 7 (25:20):
Dan, I'm curious do you also have clients that
experience doom-scrolling orcell phone social media
addiction, and do you also haveany tips on how to combat that?
Speaker 6 (25:29):
Absolutely.
I want to piggyback on whatJosh said.
I mean, I liken it to pickingat a scab, like why are we doing
that?
You're getting some kind ofchemical reaction in your brain,
some kind of dopamine hit, andyou have to counteract that with
other things that provide thesame stimulation in a different
way.
(25:49):
It's important to, just likeJosh said, engage in other
activities.
I also have clients that willset an alarm for themselves.
They'll use the phone apps, butalso maybe, if they tend to do
it at night, they'll set analarm that like okay, at 1030,
it's time to put the phone downand go to bed.
And also, I asked them to makesure are you looking at an equal
(26:11):
number of positive thingsonline as you are negative
things online?
You can find inspirationalmaterial online and supportive
material online If you make aneffort.
I like to validate that it'sserving a purpose.
But what purpose is it servingand how could you serve that
purpose for yourself in ahealthier way?
Speaker 7 (26:33):
I really appreciate both of y'all's time and, lastly
, I don't think this is aquestion that's ever asked
enough of mental healthprofessionals, but I just wanted
to check in with y'all to seehow are you doing?
Are y'all doing all right, joshAre you okay.
Speaker 8 (26:46):
Yes, thank you so much for asking.
I really appreciate that I'mdoing well.
Speaker 7 (26:52):
And how about you, Susanne?
Are you doing all right?
Speaker 6 (26:54):
Thank you, davis.
Yeah, we don't get asked thatenough, but that's okay because
that's not our client's job.
Some of us have our owntherapists, which I highly
encourage, and there's jokesabout that with our clients that
they have a grand therapistJust the government overall.
I know it's going to takeprobably decades to undo some of
this damage, but I just need toknow that it's going to be
(27:16):
undone.
Speaker 7 (27:17):
And I'm just really thankful that we have people
like y'all to speak with.
Whenever everything around usis just too overwhelming and
depressing, we have y'all tohelp process and guide us
through it.
Speaker 6 (27:30):
We're honored when people invite us into their
lives as facilitators.
Speaker 7 (27:34):
Thank you so much, Suzanne Senn and Josh Baird with
Ajana Therapy.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
This is KPFT 90.1 FM Houston, 89.5 FM Galveston, 91.9
FM Huntsville, and worldwide onthe internet at kpftorg.
Speaker 9 (27:56):
This is Deborah Moncrief-Bell and I'm delighted
today to be talking to Janan.
Janan is a comic based inHouston and has quite an
interesting background from herearly beginnings.
She is a native born Texas,born in Austin, spent a lot of
time in Dallas and then ended upin Houston.
(28:18):
Janan, I caught your act whenyou opened for Christian Key at
the Houston Improv and I wasreally tickled by your set
because you do have a veryinteresting background,
especially for someone, I think,who has gone into comedy.
So talk a little bit about whatyour background is.
Speaker 3 (28:41):
My name is Janan.
That is an Arabic name.
It's actually mispronouncedArabic because I'm'm half white,
so Jinan is how you would sayit, with an Arabic accent.
And, as you mentioned, I wasborn in Austin, lived all over
Texas.
I'm half Palestinian, halfwhite.
The white side of me is prettysouthern, if you can't tell by
(29:03):
the little bit of twang in myaccent.
And and even though I grew uphere in the South in Texas, I
mostly went to Islamic schoolfor most of my life as a kid,
really kind of dancing betweentwo worlds the Islamic community
here in Texas and then justgeneral American society.
(29:24):
I spent my teenage years inDallas, which doesn't hold the
best memories for me, so I'm nota huge Dallas fan.
And when I moved to Houston Iwas like, wow, I really love
Houston, but if you're in Dallas, no offense.
I was in Islamic high school inDallas.
I ended up getting expelled.
It was a very religious.
(29:48):
There's so many Muslims on theplanet.
Of course, not all Muslims arethe same, so anything I say is
not like I'm speaking for theentire population, of anyone
who's Muslim.
But the community that I was inat the time was very, very,
very conservative.
You know how any community cango.
There's gossip, there's thisclique versus that clique.
(30:09):
So I ended up getting expelledfor seeming gay, but then also
for passing a note to a boyasking him to the mall.
So, yeah, I just was notallowed back in the school after
the freshman year, so I startedcollege early.
I started college at 15 and umdid dual credit, my um regular
(30:33):
high school courses.
I did um self-taught, so Itaught myself high school.
Uh, yeah, I had a kind of atroubled teenage years then.
You know I I for a time was, uh, using all kinds of drugs and
luckily never got in that muchtrouble other than damaging my
(30:53):
mental health.
I ended up in Austin in myearly 20s and I was an unhoused
person.
I did not have a place to stayfor a while.
So I had that experience undermy belt.
So I had that experience undermy belt and then I ended up back
in Dallas to come back home andjust put my head down and get
(31:14):
through college.
I ended up meeting my wife inDallas.
I ended up beginning a yogapractice then as well, and I
attribute that to one of thethings that's really helped save
my life, and I attribute thatto one of the things that's
really helped save my life, asstereotypical as it sounds.
I immediately started doingyoga teacher training and became
(31:36):
a yoga teacher.
My wife and I ended up movingto Houston.
I have been teaching yoga heresince, so I've been teaching
yoga for about 11 years now.
I started stand-up comedy aboutseven years ago because I could
not stop from making jokes allthe time while I taught yoga and
it seemed like a naturalextension of something I wanted
(31:57):
to do.
And I perform comedy, I teachyoga, I own a business and I
have a daughter now.
Speaker 9 (32:06):
I was listening to your guest spot on 10 Years Out
podcast.
You are very serious and I havefound that to be true of many
of the comedians that I've knownover the years.
Anybody that is interested inlearning more can go to 10 Years
Out podcast and the episode six, heaven on Earth.
(32:31):
Explain a little bit about whatyou mean by heaven on earth.
Speaker 3 (32:36):
One of my teachers says this, and we live by it is
you got to be light enough to gothe distance, because existence
is kind of a wild ride and alot of stuff happens to a human
a lot of it not that great.
When I'm off stage, I mean,maybe I'm, maybe serious is not
the right word, but definitely,uh, I think a lot.
I, I, I would love um to helpbe someone who uplifts the world
(33:01):
, uh, from some of thedefinitely like the serious
issues that we have.
So, so, heaven on earth, I have, over my life, which is now 37
years, discovered that, as muchas I wanted to run from it and
not think about it and livewithout it, that spirituality is
a very important part of whatit is to be human and a very
(33:24):
essential part of someone'shealing journey.
And that can look different foreverybody.
I'm not saying any specific kindof religion or belief system.
We have such I keep saying theword journey, and that's really
what it is such an immensejourney on this planet as humans
and given that there's so manyof us, so many different lives,
(33:45):
so much going on and the humanrace has such a big past.
I mean the cycles of violenceare present and happening and as
someone who's experienced agood amount of trauma and then
known others who have, andespecially being a part of the
queer community and the Muslimcommunity and everything in
between that some days it canreally feel like there's hell on
(34:05):
earth, like walking throughhell has been my experience some
years and I could just have letit be that way and live my life
and just did some things in themiddle and then died.
But I one day realized that ifthere is any purpose to this
life, if there is any point, itis to do my best in whatever
(34:30):
smaller big ways that I can tohelp bring more heaven on earth,
because I think that's wherethose dogmatic religions miss,
as they talk about it like it'ssomething far away that you'll
get to eventually.
It's things that apply now, notlater.
And in a roundabout way I thinkI'm answering your question,
but it is a very deep topic thatwe could probably talk about
(34:52):
for hours.
Speaker 9 (34:53):
It seems like you developed this philosophy about
life that has served you because, like you said, you could have
gone in many differentdirections.
It could have gotten very, verydark, dark and the fact that
you have moved on to have thisvery special kind of life where
you are doing things that youlove doing and that you bring
(35:16):
that heaven on earth into yourdaily practice, and that's not
just from the yoga.
I believe I heard somewhere yousaid that in some aspects
people look at yoga as areligious thing and it can be
and is, and I know a lot ofpeople get a spiritual component
to it.
But are there elements frombeing brought up Muslim that
(35:38):
also inform?
Speaker 3 (35:39):
you Totally.
I'm in such an explorationright now.
Actually, now that I have mydaughter and she's still a
little baby, you know I wentthrough a whole existential
crisis of, oh my gosh, like whatis the purpose of life?
What will I teach my daughter?
What is the best way?
Since I grew up so religiously,it's taken me a long time to
(35:59):
tease apart the truths, the deepspiritual truths that are
taught in Islam and otherreligions, from the dogma that
actually is, I would predict, isa man-made and meant to control
rather than inspire and helpand support.
I grew up praying five times aday in the.
I wouldn't even say it'straditional.
(36:20):
That's just like a main part ofthe religion to pray five times
a day.
I grew up fasting during themonth of Ramadan and a lot, a
lot of other different religiouspractices, and for a long time
I just went a 180.
I was like I'm not going to doanything that looks like
anything religious at all.
Yoga is an exercise and it's.
I was kind of lying to myself,not thinking it was spiritual.
(36:42):
It was deeply spiritual.
So now in this part of my lifewhere I'm bringing various
things that I've grown up withto like what I practice now,
like the praying five times aday.
I don't necessarily do that inthe typical way.
You would see a Muslim doing it.
I've seen that it's helpful toground myself multiple times a
(37:02):
day in a quiet moment toregulate my breath and remember
to be thankful, like to havegratitude, and to remember that,
like, I'm not alone.
Speaker 9 (37:12):
As you said, you went to Islamic school.
You wore a hijab, you had avery conservative surroundings,
your mother from the deep Southand your dad, who was actually a
Palestinian refugee.
He ended up being born inKuwait, not Palestine, because
of the conflicts over there.
Something kind of interestinghappened when you came out to
(37:35):
your mom.
Speaker 3 (37:37):
Yeah, so my parents are.
They're divorced and my mom isqueer.
And that all happened when Iwas man.
I don't even remember the exactage I was.
I know I was maybe 20, so, likealmost an adult, I have a queer
mom, my dad.
He's very religious and it wasa big shock.
(38:01):
So they divorced.
And it's so interesting howthings end up working out,
because I didn't talk to my dadfor like a little while after
the divorce happened and I wasreally in my survival mode too.
This was like when I was stillusing drugs and really not very
present and living a fairlyunhealthy lifestyle.
So it's a little foggy to me,honestly.
(38:23):
But after a while my dadreached out to me and my
siblings and asked if we wouldtake a yoga class with him,
which I was like I didn't evenknow what it was.
I had no idea what yoga was.
I honestly thought it was goingto be like Taibo or some sort
of Jane Fonda, like jazzercisebusiness or maybe martial arts.
(38:46):
So he eventually got me to go toa yoga class with him and I
didn't know what the heck washappening, but I just really
liked it and I just kept goingto yoga with my dad.
We did yoga teacher trainingtogether and then I came out to
my dad because it was in thatenvironment where there was a
community support to be able todo it, but then also the most
connection I had with my dad upuntil that moment and he was
(39:10):
great at the time.
We've gone through kind of anup and down journey of him being
religious and accepting thelifestyle that he's not used to
accepting.
And that was 10, that was, ohmy gosh, like 12, 13 years ago
now.
And so, yeah, my mom has a longtime partner that she's with.
Speaker 9 (39:31):
I tell you this should be a sitcom.
I don't think my family wouldlike that very much.
Well, speaking of that, one ofthe people that you've opened
for is Houston's own Mo Amir.
You share the Palestinianheritage.
What has it been like knowinghim and being around him?
Speaker 3 (39:51):
Oh, mo's a great, great guy.
I got to work closely with himWas it late last year or
something like that, as he wasbeginning to film season two of
his show and I'm just so proudto have a fellow Palestinian
especially here in the South,not in LA like a person I know
(40:11):
that has just done so much forthe cause and bringing awareness
and doing it in a way that's asa fellow comedian is really
inspiring for me.
I didn't know that being acomedian was a form of being an
activist until I've met folkslike Mo.
So, yeah, he's been great andhe's a really good guy.
Speaker 9 (40:30):
That second season is just wonderful.
I mean, there's so manymessages in there and so many
truths and I just highlyrecommend it.
It's called Mo.
He grew up in A-Leaf.
It's really a great show and heseems like a really great
person and it's filmed inHouston.
Oh yeah, it was great seeingall those Houston landmarks and
(40:51):
things Say a little bit aboutyour mother's.
I guess it's your mother'smother, your grandmother.
Speaker 3 (40:58):
I miss my grandma.
She passed away gosh three,four years ago and lived to an
old age of 90.
We weren't really too sureactually how old, but 92, 93,
something like that.
Grandma is just how I know herFirst name, vera, and that is my
daughter's middle name, so shepassed along that name.
(41:20):
When I was growing up, mygrandma lived with us most of
the time and so she helped raiseme.
She was born in Weatherford,texas, so my grandma had the
thickest country accent you didever hear.
She just was like a thirdparent for me.
Honestly, anyone out there whohas a grandparent that you love
you just know exactly what I'mtalking about.
(41:42):
And my grandma was just sogreat Like.
She had her quirkiness, she wasso silly and weird and she
loved like.
Her favorite person on theplanet was Ellen DeGeneres,
which you know.
She just was like such an allyfrom the beginning, never had a
prejudiced bone in her body Like.
I've had friends of all colors,sizes and shapes and I'd just
(42:03):
come over to Grandma's house andshe'd make us some iced tea and
hang out and it was a highlight, a big highlight of my
childhood to have my grandma inmy life.
Speaker 9 (42:16):
Yeah, it sounds like she was a very impactful
influence on you.
Speaker 3 (42:20):
Yeah, and the interesting thing was my grandma
was quiet and shy and didn'tstir the pot.
She would probably not say thatshe thinks she was significant
in any way, shape or form andshe's kind of a homebody, stayed
home a lot.
If you love someone and justshow them love, that is one of
the biggest transformationalexperiences that we can do as
(42:41):
humans.
So, like I don't need to be abig, loud, famous person to make
a change, my grandma showed meit just happens in the small
moments of your relationships.
Speaker 9 (42:49):
What has been a special moment for you in your
career?
Speaker 3 (42:53):
I've been doing comedy almost eight years now
and I still feel in thebeginning stages of it, which I
guess is a good thing.
It means I'm not arrogant yet,I guess and it's every day still
feels pretty special.
I do a lot of local shows,anywhere from like one person in
the audience to when I did theimprov with either Maria Bamford
(43:14):
or Kristen it was sold out.
So I think it's like 500 orsomething.
I mean, those moments reallystand out is when I get to work
with someone I really, reallyadmire.
So working with Kristen wasjust fantastic A few months ago.
Maria Bamford is someone who'sinspired me to be a comedian
because I got introduced to hercomedy by my now late cousin.
(43:38):
I had the opportunity tofeature for her last year and
that was like wow, I could neverdo comedy again and I've made
it.
This is it.
So I got to meet her and it wasone of the situations where you
do want to meet your heroesbecause Maria Bamford is awesome
.
So those are big highlights iswhen I've gotten to work with
folks that I've seen from afarfor so long and then I meet them
(43:59):
in the flesh and I saysomething that makes them laugh.
That's heaven on earth.
Right there you have your ownpodcast.
Yeah, I have taken a hugehiatus from my wife being
pregnant to my daughter beingborn.
There has been, like oh my gosh, over a year since I put out an
episode and I do intend tocontinue it.
It's called See Paradox.
(44:20):
That's see, like seeing withyour eyes and then a colon, and
then paradox, and it definitelyis.
On the more serious side youmentioned earlier about
comedians being serious it's aphilosophy podcast.
It's just little bite-sizedepisodes, like about 10
minutes-ish each, becausesomething that I have really
looked toward for a lot ofwisdom has been Taoism, which is
(44:43):
an Eastern religion andphilosophy.
It's spelled T-A-O the Tao.
You've probably seen it written.
The philosophy is all aboutparadoxes and how we can hold
two opposite truths at once.
That is like an ultimate truth.
So every episode I go over howliving from the principle of
paradox can help up, level andsupport your life.
Speaker 9 (45:05):
You do have material on YouTube, and where else can
people catch you?
Speaker 3 (45:09):
I'm working on a small tour later this year
likely it'll be'll be local,like all the Texas cities, maybe
go over to Louisiana and I'llbe putting that on my website.
That is still underconstruction, but you could go
and favorite it if you want.
And it's JananSiamcomJ-A-N-A-N-S-I-A-M.
(45:29):
I've been putting a lot of myenergy in the past few months on
teaching yoga at a yoga studiothat I own in the East End and
we just opened three weeks ago,so that's been a lot of my focus
now, and so folks could take myclasses online if you want,
because we do live stream theclasses.
And the other place where youmight find my content is just
(45:50):
simply following me on Instagram.
I plan to maybe do stuff onTikTok that whole thing where
they were going to take it awayand then brought it back.
I kind of like put a pause onTikTok, but my Instagram is my
first name and my maiden name,so same as my website, janan
Siam J-A-N-A-N-S-I-A-M, andthat's where most folks can
(46:13):
catch me.
Oh, and if you wanted to takemy online class, you can see.
I post about it on my Instagramas well.
Speaker 9 (46:20):
Well, thanks for being with us today on Queer
Voices.
Speaker 10 (46:26):
I'm Ava Davis and I'm Joe Bainline With News Wrap,
a summary of some of the newsin or affecting LGBTQ
communities around the world forthe week ending March 1st 2025.
Two young men in the Indonesianprovince of Aceh are to be
publicly beaten with a cane forhaving gay sex.
(46:48):
They were arrested on November7th after anti-queer vigilantes
broke into their rented room anddiscovered them naked and
hugging each other.
Under Islamic law, they weretried for morality offenses.
The 18 and 24-year-old collegestudents were sentenced to 80
and 85 lashes respectively.
(47:08):
Sakawana is the single name ofthe judge overseeing the trial.
That's a custom for manyIndonesians Is the single name
of the judge overseeing thetrial.
That's a custom for manyIndonesians.
Her ruling found During thetrial it was proven that the
defendants committed illicitacts, including kissing and
having sex, while the maximumpenalty is 100 lashings in
public and up to 8 years inprison.
(47:31):
Sakawana lessened the sentencesbecause neither had a police
record.
Both were polite in court andthey are otherwise considered to
be outstanding students.
The older of the two will beflogged the most.
The pair accepted theirsentences without appeal.
Sharia has been the law in Acehprovince since a 2006 dispute
(47:55):
with federal authorities allowedit to adopt Islamic legal
practice.
The rest of Indonesia isgoverned by secular laws.
More than 100 people each yearin the province have been
publicly caned for variousmorality offenses.
The scheduled public caning inAceh comes on the heels of last
week's raid on what authoritiescalled a gay sex party in
(48:15):
Jakarta, 56 men were arrested ina private hotel room and
charged with violating thecountry's secular laws against
obscenity and pornography.
Speaker 11 (48:27):
British law does not recognize non-binary as a
gender, according to the UnitedKingdom Court of Appeal.
Cybersecurity expert RyanCastellucci moved from Los
Angeles in 2019.
They obtained legal recognitionas non-binary in California in
2021 and were issued a USpassport listing their gender as
(48:47):
X.
The following year they triedto have their gender recorded as
non-binary on a UK UK genderrecognition certificate, a
document which changes someone'slegal sex.
They lost the bid in an earlierHigh Court challenge.
Meanwhile, a Trumpadministration executive order
has eliminated the ex-genderpassport option.
Lord Justice Singh deferred toParliament in dismissing the
(49:11):
appeal, saying that the UK'stwo-gender policy was up to
lawmakers to address, not thejudiciary.
Castellucci called theirefforts to be legally recognized
as non-binary an ordeal, buttheir lawyers say they are
considering a further appeal At30-something.
They're looking ahead saying Iplan to live the rest of my life
(49:33):
here and eventually die here.
Something.
They're looking ahead saying Iplan to live the rest of my life
here and eventually die here.
Being denied the dignity ofknowing my death certificate
will be correct makes my stomachturn.
Speaker 10 (49:43):
Iowa's transgender people are no longer protected
from discrimination.
Republican Governor KimReynolds has signed a bill that
revokes the addition of genderidentity to the Iowa Civil
Rights Act in 2007.
Thus, the currentRepublican-dominated state
legislature has undone thestatute by the previous
Democratic administration andaffirmed by the state Supreme
(50:06):
Court in 2022.
Hundreds of people rallied atthe state capitol building to
protest the bill's imminentpassage.
Speaker 2 (50:14):
We are trans-Live here together.
State.
Speaker 4 (50:18):
Capitol building to protest the voices of the people
.
Speaker 10 (50:45):
The Republicans argued that revoking gender
identity protections in civilrights laws will make it easier
for the state to defend itsother anti-trans laws, such as
the ban on trans studentcompetitors in female sports.
That's already being challengedin court.
Iowa is now the first state inUS history to excise a class
(51:08):
originally granted civil rightsprotection.
Max Mowitz of Queer AdvocacyGroup 1 Iowa told the Des Moines
Register this law will causereal harm, making daily life
harder and more uncertain forcountless Iowans who simply want
to live openly andauthentically.
Speaker 11 (51:29):
History will not look kindly on this moment.
Two executive orders by USPresident Donald Trump that
threatened the civil rights ofLGBTQ people and other US
citizens are already beingroadblocked in court, and
(51:57):
inclusion programs in highereducation and the private sector
were impermissibly vague andthreatened to chill
constitutionally protectedspeech and activity.
Abelson issued a preliminaryinjunction this week blocking
their enforcement.
The ruling noted that theadministration's effort to
uproot DEI programs failed todefine key terms such as
equity-related and illegal DEI.
Abelson was not convinced thatthe order was necessary to root
(52:21):
out illegal discrimination.
This challenge is being led bynational education groups and
the City of Baltimore.
At least one other lawsuitagainst the anti-diversity order
has been filed by Lambda Legaland the Legal Defense Fund on
behalf of the National UrbanLeague, the National Fair
Housing Alliance and AIDSFoundation Chicago.
Speaker 10 (52:43):
The block on a second Trump order is keeping
transgender women in US women'sprisons from being transferred
to men's prisons.
That action was to comply withthe Trump decree that US law
recognizes only two genders maleand female.
Washington DC-based US DistrictJudge Royce Lamberth ruled that
(53:05):
the move would violate transwomen's constitutional rights
and put them in jeopardy ofserious harm.
Lamberth had previously issuedan order to protect three trans
women inmates from imminenttransfer.
The latest ruling expands thatprotection to nine additional
plaintiffs who were rounded upby Bureau of Prison Officials
(53:28):
and told they would beimmediately transferred to men's
prisons.
According to court filings, theTrump order also terminates
current gender-affirming healthcare for trans inmates.
The judge believes the lawsuitchallenging the Trump anti-trans
order is likely to beoverturned.
On Eighth Amendment protectionsagainst imposing excessive bail
(53:49):
, excessive fines or cruel andunusual punishments, Judge
Lamberth questioned the Trumpadministration's motives.
He wrote that the order wouldexacerbate the symptoms of their
gender dysphoria, even if theyare not subject to physical or
sexual violence in their newfacility, whether because they
will be subject to searches bymale correctional officers, made
(54:13):
to shower in the company of menreferred to as men.
Speaker 11 (54:18):
The US Supreme Court is letting Tennessee's virtual
ban on drag performances stand.
On February 24th, it decidednot to hear a case challenging
the law.
The legislation was enacted bythe Republican-controlled state
in 2023.
It was ruled unconstitutionally, vague and substantially
overbroad by a judge on the USDistrict Court for the Western
(54:40):
District of Tennessee.
However, last July the 6th USCircuit Court of Appeals
reversed the decision on atechnicality.
The top court has now let standits finding that the
complainant, friends of GeorgeIncorporated Drag Theater
Company of Memphis.
Friends of George IncorporatedDrag Theater Company of Memphis,
lacked the legal standing tosue.
Another lawsuit challengingTennessee's drag ban is still
(55:01):
working its way through the USjudicial system.
The American Civil LibertiesUnion filed suit on behalf of
Blount County Pride organizersbecause the law threatened
prosecution of any violatorsduring its 2023 Pride Festival.
Prosecution of any violatorsduring its 2023.
Speaker 10 (55:16):
Pride Festival.
Finally, however, there was onehearing the US High Court did
hold this week the reversediscrimination case of a
straight, white, cisgender womanwho claims that she was denied
a promotion and demoted afterallegedly less qualified queer
colleagues gained positionsahead of her.
60-year-old Marlene Ames workedfor years for the Ohio
(55:40):
Department of Youth Services,the state's juvenile justice
system.
A lower appeals court ruled inher case that a so-called
majority group plaintiff mustmeet a higher evidentiary
standard than plaintiffs inother biased cases, must meet a
higher evidentiary standard thanplaintiffs in other bias cases.
In other words, it's harder forheterosexual workers to prove
(56:05):
discrimination based on sexualorientation or for white
employees claiming racial bias.
The Supreme Court is expectedto issue its ruling before the
current term ends, in late June.
Ruling before the current termends in late June.
A number of civil rights groupsare deeply concerned that a win
for Ames could open a Pandora'sbox of countless reverse
discrimination cases, and thatcould be especially dangerous in
(56:27):
the current climate againstdiversity, equity and inclusion.
Speaker 11 (56:32):
That's News Wrap, global Queer News news with
attitude for the week endingMarch 1st 2025.
Follow the news in your areaand around the world.
An informed community is astrong community.
Speaker 10 (56:44):
News Wrap is written by Greg Gordon and Lucia
Chappell, produced by BrianShazor and brought to you by you
.
Speaker 11 (56:52):
Thank you.
Help keep us in ears around theworld at thiswayoutorg, where
you can also read the text ofthis newscast and much more.
For this Way Out, I'm JoeBainline.
Stay healthy.
Speaker 10 (57:03):
And I'm Ava Davis.
Stay safe.
Speaker 1 (57:13):
This has been Queer Voices, heard on KPFT Houston
and as a podcast available fromseveral podcasting sources.
Check our webpageQueerVoicesorg for more
information.
Queer Voices executive produceris Brian Levinka, Deborah
Moncrief-Bell is co-producer,Brett Cullum and David
(57:37):
Mendoza-Druzman are contributors.
The News Wrap segment is partof another podcast called this
Way Out, which is produced inLos Angeles.
Speaker 5 (57:47):
Some of the material in this program has been edited
to improve clarity and runtime.
This program does not endorseany political views or animal
species.
Views, opinions andendorsements are those of the
participants and theorganizations they represent.
In case of death, pleasediscontinue use and discard
remaining product.
Speaker 1 (58:00):
For Queer Voices.
I'm Glenn Holt, Thank you.
Hello everybody, this is Queer Voices, a podcast
version of a broadcast radioshow that's been on the air in
Houston, Texas for severaldecades.
This week, Brett Cullum talkswith Dylan Godwin, one of the
resident company members of theAlley Theater in Houston.
Dylan is in the cast of theGlass Menagerie, running until
(00:23):
March 16th.
Dylan plays the part of Tom inthe play.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
It had always been something that was in my mind
and a role that I've alwayswanted to do, because Tom is
kind of widely known as beingthe most sort of Tennessee
Williams-like character in allof Tennessee Williams' plays.
There's a sort of a looselyautobiographical thing about
this play C.
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Williams plays.
There's a sort of a looselyautobiographical thing about
this play.
Davis Mendoza-Duruzman speakswith two mental health
professionals with Houston-basedAjana Therapy.
Then Deborah Moncrief-Bell hasa conversation with a queer cis
woman comedian who has defiedsocietal expectations to forge
her own path towards personalfreedom and enlightenment.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
Since I grew up so religiously, it's taken me a
long time to tease apart thetruths, the deep spiritual
truths that are taught in Islamand other religions, from the
dogma that actually is.
I would predict is a man-madeand meant to control rather than
inspire and help and support.
Speaker 1 (01:27):
And we have news wrap from this way out we're Voices
starts now.
Speaker 4 (01:35):
I am Brett Cullum and today I am joined by Dylan
Godwin, one of the residentcompany members of the Alley
Theater.
Dylan has just opened the GlassMenagerie and it runs at the
Alley through March 16th.
From what I've heard, this isone of his dream roles playing
Tom in the Glass Menagerie solet's just get right into it.
Hey Dylan, welcome to QueerVoices.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
Hey Brett, thanks for having me.
Did I get this right?
You're playing Tom.
Yes, that's correct, I'mplaying Tom, so the brother, yes
.
Speaker 4 (02:03):
I's correct, I'm playing Tom, so the brother.
Yes, I'm making sure I'm nottalking to the gentleman caller.
Speaker 2 (02:08):
No, not today, or not You'd have to call Luis for
that.
Speaker 4 (02:12):
Well, what is it about Tom?
I mean the Glass Menagerieclassic by Tennessee Williams.
But what is it about this rolethat you just were like, oh my
gosh, this is a dream.
I really want to do this.
Speaker 2 (02:26):
Well, I had a mentor all through my childhood that
ran our community theater in thetown where I grew up.
He introduced me to this playwhen I was, I think, 11 years
old.
He gave me a monologue from itand just asked me to memorize it
.
And so I did and what does an11-year-old know about the
complexities of TennesseeWilliams?
But he sort of planted a seedin my brain and I read the play
(02:48):
and, as with many works of greatliterature, at every juncture
that you read it at your life,you get something new from it,
and it's always been a play thathas been sort of in my
consciousness.
And this mentor that I'mtalking about we lost him in
2020.
It had always been somethingthat was in my mind and a role
(03:08):
that I've always wanted to do,because Tom is kind of widely
known as being the most sort ofTennessee Williams-like
character in all of TennesseeWilliams' plays.
There's a sort of a looselyautobiographical thing about
this play.
It's just always been in myhead and when the opportunity
came up to do it, it just feltlike this wonderfully
synchronistic sort of set ofevents.
(03:30):
Here we are, in the middle ofit and I couldn't be happier.
Speaker 4 (03:33):
I think the Tennessee Williams and particularly the
Glass Menagerie.
It's something that I thinkactors just grow up with, no
matter who you are.
In a weird way, it's one ofthose Hallmark plays that they
make you read.
I remember in school and Ithink I actually chose to read
it.
I think it wasn't like bobbedoff on me or anything, but it's
a very interesting premise andobviously Tennessee Williams
(03:54):
identified later in life as gay,basically, and then Tom is kind
of hiding that in his character.
Speaker 2 (04:02):
Some productions you really can latch onto that.
In other productions they don'tquite focus on it so heavily,
but as a gay person myself, itwas one of the things that
really kind of stuck out to meas a younger adult when I first
started reading it.
With that in mind and to meit's such a huge part of Tom's
(04:22):
journey in the play Well, it'sso cloaked.
Speaker 4 (04:25):
I mean, by the time that it was written, it's very
much of its time.
Yeah, 1944,.
Yeah, and this is somethingthat when you play, I mean how
do you approach it from yourmodern eyes and kind of get back
there?
How do you establish thischaracter and bring to life that
, because obviously you and Iwe're in a a different world,
and how do you prepare for thiskind of a role?
Speaker 2 (04:46):
not to go off on too much of a tangent about it, but
I sort of came up.
I mean, I went to school formusical theater and often when
they were training us to sort ofbe able to fit into any role,
you oftentimes heard much of thedetriment of a lot of people
for the gay guys.
You need to learn to butch itup.
You need to butch it up andplay this role or that role.
And for a lot of years and alot of approaches that was
(05:08):
always in the back of my mindand then I kind of had a
revelation five or six years agothat I was like gay people have
always existed, queer peoplehave always existed and some are
better at butching it up thanothers are.
It's not out of the realm ofpossibility to think that in
these great works of literaturethat there are characters like
that at varying degrees ofcloaking it or hiding it or
(05:30):
really not being so good at it.
And kind of realizing that in mywork has sort of freed me up in
a lot of ways to feel likethese characteristics, these
people do exist in thisliterature, particularly in
Tennessee Williams literature,who was sort of an anomaly at
the time for being able to be avery kind of out and proud gay
(05:52):
man at a time where thereweren't very many people in the
zeitgeist that could hold thattitle.
I approach it like any otherplay, like you sort of.
You think about the givencircumstance of who he is and
the world that he's living in,and most of the play takes place
in their apartment with justhis mother and his sister, and a
person can be a little morethemselves in that regard and a
(06:14):
little more free with how theyare.
I think that Tom's journey isone that is sort of about that,
and everyone always talks aboutTom and thinks of Tom as needing
to escape this world.
But when you attach to it theidentity of who he is and how
his identity probably couldn'texist in that world, it really
kind of gives you a realunderstanding of why it was so
(06:35):
important for him to be able toget out and find some air, to be
who he really truly was or is,rather.
Speaker 4 (06:43):
What is it about the glass Menagerie and Tennessee
Williams that makes it stillrelevant today?
I mean because it gets producedagain and again, and again and
it never goes away.
It's always there, it's alwaysat the forefront of theater.
So I was just wondering what isyour take on why it's so
universal?
Speaker 2 (06:59):
It's a story of family.
Family is not always nuclearand perfect, but the thing about
this text, I think, thatendures.
Sally Winger is playing Amanda.
Being on stage with her is likebeing next to a force of nature
.
She is so skilled and so honestand the work is so deep that
(07:21):
even the first time that we readthose mother and son scenes
together you come to understandhow these scenes whether they
take place in the 30s or now hehas written the most honest and
true relationship between amother and a son and I think
it's that kind of quality thatallows this play to sort of
endure the test of time, becauseanybody in the audience gay,
(07:44):
straight, indifferent can lookat that relationship and see
something of their ownrelationships with their parents
or the people that they'reclosest to.
My therapist one time told meyour parents will never give you
the keys to leave the nest.
You have to steal the keys andyou have to sort of leave the
nest on your own because they'llnever agree to it.
And I think there's a core ofthat at the center of this play
(08:05):
is that his mother can't allowhim to leave, so he has to find
some way out of it himself.
That's kind of a littlesentiment that's been going
through my head as we've beenrehearsing this play a lot.
Speaker 4 (08:17):
How long did you guys rehearse this for?
We rehearsed for three weeksand you've been a company member
for the Alley since when?
Because three weeks?
And you've been a companymember for the Alley since when?
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Because it feels like you've always been here.
I have been officially in thecompany for six years.
I've been working at the Alleyfor oh my God, brett, it's
either 15 or 16 years now.
Speaker 4 (08:37):
What is it like being in the company as opposed to
not being in the company?
What is the difference there?
Speaker 2 (08:43):
It's wonderful this mentor that I was speaking about
when I was a kid.
He would always say because somany people that go into theater
get the idea of I need to be inthis place to do theater New
York or LA or whatever and healways instilled in me he was
like the real action of what'shappening in the American
theater is happening at regionaltheaters.
But when you work at regionaltheaters you have the
(09:03):
opportunity to play things thatare not just relegated to your
specific type.
Being in the company at theAlley, we are able to know at
the beginning of the year whatour whole season is for the year
.
So it just has for me and Ican't speak for anybody else.
It's allowed me to reallyrefocus my energies on the work
that I'm doing and not have tobe worried about what the next
(09:26):
thing is, and to divide thatkind of that energetic poise
that you have when you'reworking on a play, when you get
to work with peers that youadmire and that you trust.
It allows your work to kind ofgo a couple pegs higher than it
would when you weren't.
Speaker 4 (09:45):
Do you know the characters that you're going to
play?
Do they make you go through aprocess where you audition for
specific roles, or do they justsay, hey, Dylan, this is yours.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Generally we have a meeting at the beginning of the
year and we have what we callour season track and you find
out then what roles in whatplays that you're doing.
When they do the planningprocess, they're planning the
season around the company andyou find out then what roles in
what plays that you're doing.
When they do the planningprocess they're planning the
season around the company ofactors that are at the center of
our company and our missionstatement.
Now there are of courseexceptions to that.
(10:16):
When we did Little Comedieslast year, which Richard Nelson
came in to adapt and direct forus because he hadn't worked with
the company before, we had kindof a short little process where
we read for him and then theykind of decided how we would
fall out in the roles that wereallocated to us.
But generally we find out asthe season is being announced to
(10:36):
the public what our roles orour tracks are going to be in it
for that year.
Speaker 4 (10:40):
So you get the advantage of if a play is later
in the season.
You can live with that play fora little while and really do
some deep analysis.
Speaker 2 (10:49):
In my view, that only deepens the work.
It only allows you to.
And the other prong of thatwith being in a company is is
that when you're freelancing oryou're coming into a contract
somewhere else, oftentimes youwill meet the company that
you're working with on the firstday of rehearsal.
You have to build that intensetrust and intense connection on
the spot.
(11:09):
The people that I work with atthe Alley we have been working
with each other for years, so wehave a shared vocabulary.
We all are very familiar witheach other's processes.
We know how to kind of pullthose things together and get to
the meat of the play faster,because a lot of that work has
already been done for us becausewe've been together for so long
(11:29):
but do you ever get to thepoint where you're like, hey, I
want to try something different?
Speaker 4 (11:33):
do you actually go to the artistic director or
whoever is the society, and say,hey, could I try this new thing
?
Speaker 2 (11:39):
well, the fact that there's a tangible connection
between the audience and whatwe're doing on stage and a
recognition of that is reallyit's just a really good feeling
to know that people pick up onthat In terms of ever asking or
wanting to do somethingdifferent.
One of the wonderful thingsabout Rob, our artistic director
, is that Rob is one of the mostcollaborative, open-hearted,
(12:02):
kind people that you will evermeet open-hearted, kind people
that you will ever meet.
And when he came in and hetransitioned into the role of
artistic director, he askedeveryone in the company to email
him five roles that we wouldlove to play in our career at
some point, and they could beroles that we feel like are
outside of what we usually playyou know, close to what we
usually play but he gave us thatopportunity to explain to him
(12:25):
and to say to him what things wewould like to do, and Tom was
the top of my list.
Rob is just that kind of givingperson that really is invested
in what the people that arecollaborating with him want to
do and what makes thempassionate, because he knows
that that kind of passion onlybreeds better work.
So I know that if there wereever something that I would want
(12:46):
to try differently.
I feel completely comfortableenough with Rob to sit down and
have a meeting with him and belike, hey, could you see me
doing this?
And not just could you see medoing this, but could you help
me figure out how to do this.
And that's the kind oforganization that we are.
It's about figuring out whatpeople want to do and what
places they would fit best inand really kind of coming all
(13:07):
hands to the pump and makingthat happen for them.
Speaker 4 (13:10):
That's amazing to hear and Rob Melrose definitely
is an artistic director Justincredible.
I really like the way that hebalances popular material along
with world premieres, becausethe Glass Menagerie, it's well
known.
It's really neat to kind oftrack the company and the
development of all of that.
And I wanted to ask, justbecause I'm curious okay, so Tom
, obviously at the top of yourlist of roles, are there any
(13:32):
others that are on there thatyou haven't done yet?
Speaker 2 (13:35):
I'm trying to even remember what was on that five
list because it was, I mean,that was pre-pandemic, and one
of them was I was a musicaltheater guy for a long time.
I guess I still am.
I've always wanted to play theemcee in Cabaret.
That would be a dream to dothat.
To me that's a real kind ofactor's musical that you can
kind of dig into.
There are roles that I haveplayed while Rob has been in his
(13:58):
tenure that I never thought Iwould.
When we did Sweat I playedJason, which is he's a sort of a
steel worker turned skinhead,and that couldn't be further
outside of what most peoplewould think the roles or the
range of things that I wouldplay is.
But because Rob put that on meand gave me the confidence to do
(14:19):
it, I learned something aboutmyself that this thing, that
sometimes the things that youfear the most playing and doing
are the ones that kind of openyou up the most and make space
for other things to starthappening.
And especially when it'ssomething like Tennessee
Williams, where everyone,everyone has a conception
whether they realize it or not,if they're at all familiar with
the play of what the play shouldbe or how the play should sound
(14:41):
or how the play should look,and so it's like taking all that
into consideration, honoring itand then figuring out how to
leave it at home so you can goand do work that you're proud of
.
Speaker 4 (14:53):
You brought up the MCN Cabaret.
It is so hard to do that showwithout being haunted by Joel
Grey or Alan Cumming.
You have to approach that role.
You have to figure out oh mygosh, I can't compete with these
two gentlemen that stamped thisthing.
I have to figure out thisunique way to stamp it with
Dylan Godwin.
The good news is I'm notreviewing it.
Speaker 2 (15:14):
Oh good, Then we can really be honest and be nice
with each other right now then.
Yeah, I know.
Speaker 4 (15:19):
I mean absolutely.
I always have this policy of ifI talk to somebody and I
interview them, I don't want toreview them in a show, because
then I have an insight into youalready and sometimes I go in
with preconceived bias towardsyou maybe.
And I'm such a fan, I mean I'veloved your work, so it'll be
really fun to see oh, you're sokind.
And I appreciate you taking thistime with me today to talk
(15:40):
about all of it.
Certainly, glass Menagerierunning at the alley through
March 16th, so we've got apretty good run here.
Do we know what night the outnight is for that?
Speaker 2 (15:50):
Caroline, do you know March 6th.
Speaker 4 (15:52):
March 6th, that's a Thursday right, always Thursdays
for that.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
Those are my favorite nights of our run.
Truly, I mean it really is.
Speaker 4 (16:00):
I mean it feels like a theater full of family on
those nights it does, and I getto see a lot of people that I
don't get to see a lot.
Rick leg, and we'll talk to youagain soon, wonderful lovely
speaking with you did you knowthat kpft is completely listener
funded.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
There are no underwriters, so it's up to all
of us to pay for the freedom tosay what you hear here on queer
voices and on this station ingeneral.
That means you participate inour programming just by
listening and also by pledgingyour support.
Please do that now by going tothe KPFT website and clicking on
(16:39):
the red Donate Now button, andplease mention Queer Voices when
you do do.
Speaker 7 (16:45):
Thank you I'm davis mendoza de ruzman he him
pronouns and today I'm speakingwith two mental health
professionals, with houston'sown ajana therapy, including
suzanne sen.
She holds a master's of sciencedegree in clinical psychology.
We're also joined by josh baird, a, a Houston native currently
pursuing his Master of Educationdegree in Clinical Mental
(17:07):
Health Counseling from theUniversity of Houston.
Susanna, I'll start with you.
Why is it so important forLGBTQ plus individuals to speak
with mental health professionalslike yourselves?
Speaker 6 (17:19):
Well, because mental health does not discriminate
against or for any particulargroup and I think there are some
unique challenges in the LGBTQplus community, things that have
to be dealt with.
I do a lot of family therapy soI find that I'm often called on
(17:40):
to assist with that componentof being LGBTQ coming out or
transitioning with family ormaybe creating healthy
boundaries with an affirmingfamily.
Speaker 7 (17:56):
How about you, josh?
Do you experience similar kindof patterns or trends?
Speaker 8 (18:01):
subject matters we offer a safe and protected space
where any individual can speakfreely without fear of judgment
or consequence.
So for so many in thiscommunity it can be difficult to
find a safe and accepting placeto let the raw emotions be
fleshed out.
So to offer that space wherevulnerability can exist is very
(18:22):
important.
Speaker 6 (18:23):
I would like to destigmatize the whole
conversation around therapy andI might have already turned some
people off by saying mentalhealth.
But working on your mentalhealth doesn't have to mean that
you're a mess.
It can just mean that you wantto do better, you want to
function better, you want tothrive more.
Sometimes people just need atune-up.
It's not that there's somethingpathologically wrong with them.
Speaker 8 (18:46):
Yeah, I completely agree with that.
You know, I I like to think inanalogies, and in this one I'm
thinking about someone who isnot overweight but they want to
work on their body a little bitand in doing so they decide to
go to the gym or take some extrawalks around the park.
Doesn't mean that they'reunhealthy because they want to
go do that.
It just means that they want totake a little bit of extra time
(19:09):
to, like Suzanne said, get alittle tune up and find that
extra balance.
Speaker 7 (19:15):
Whenever you speak with queer clients, are there
any patterns that seem to comeup often when speaking with them
that might speak to what ourcommunity is experiencing,
either locally or evennationally?
Suzanne.
Speaker 6 (19:30):
Well, I mean obviously the political climate
has been very tenacious eversince the orange cheetah got
elected the first time.
Speaker 7 (19:41):
Are you seeing the same thing, Josh?
Speaker 8 (19:46):
the first time.
Are you seeing the same thing,josh?
I am and I'm seeing, with acontinuation of the polarizing
nature that politics has, aswell as the divisiveness it
really can create, feelings ofisolation or a lack of strong
support for the LGBTQ pluscommunity Really goes back to
kind of my first statement andsaying that's why I pride myself
in working with all communities, but especially the LGBTQ plus
(20:08):
community, and providing a spacethat they feel comfortable and
secure in sharing their truefeelings and knowing that
they'll be listened to and justpassionately cared for Josh.
Speaker 7 (20:21):
I'm wondering how can LGBTQ plus individuals preserve
and protect our mentalwell-being in the face of hate
in seemingly almost every corner?
Speaker 8 (20:31):
troubling time such as this one is just having the
necessary support and findingthe systems in which you can
find empowerment and beempowered by others who can
(20:52):
support and care for you in atime of loneliness or feeling
isolated Because havingempowered individuals around
them to assist in nurturingthose hurt by dangerous rhetoric
, by employing yourself withtruthful statements rather than
latching on to untrue storiesthat you may see online and
(21:13):
headlines that may bring pain ordefeating thoughts.
Speaker 7 (21:16):
Suzanne, how about you?
What do you think that queerindividuals can do to preserve
and protect our mentalwell-being?
Speaker 6 (21:24):
I absolutely agree with Josh that the support
system is vital and if you don'thave a healthy support system,
working on seeking one out.
And then also I encourage a lotof my clients to do kind of a
reality check on what isactually directly affecting
their day-to-day life and whatdo they actually have control
(21:47):
over.
Of course, we all have controlover going out to vote, but we
aren't in office actually makingand passing these laws.
We can all make phone calls andwrite letters trying to
differentiate what is a futileconcern because it's out of our
control and what is a real thingthat you can take action on.
So I like to encourage myclients to have affirmations
(22:11):
about themselves so they canremind themselves of their own
value in the face of anyalienation that's coming from
society.
Speaker 7 (22:19):
Could you speak a bit more about affirmations Like
what could that look like?
Speaker 6 (22:23):
Affirmations are statements.
I mean, it's probably out ofyour generation.
There used to be this guy onSNL called Stuart Smalley or
something, and he would say inthe mirror like I'm good enough,
I'm smart enough and gosh darnit, people like me.
Real affirmations would bethings that you create for
yourself I'm a good person, I'ma good friend, I caring.
(22:45):
Things that you create foryourself I'm a good person, I'm
a good friend, I'm caring likepersonality traits generally,
and that you're willing toactually say these things to
yourself multiple times a day toremind yourself of your own
value, even if other people seemto be trying to tear you down.
Speaker 7 (22:59):
That component that you mentioned of other people
trying to tear you down, I thinkis very prevalent, especially
on social media, formerly knownas Twitter, josh, doom scrolling
.
Doom scrolling is somethingthat I call the self-inflicted
mental anguish of scrollingthrough the dark corners of
social media and depressing newsstories.
Do you have any advice on howto combat doom scrolling, josh?
Speaker 8 (23:22):
Young.
So it's difficult, right?
Because we, for the most part,love to be online.
That's where we get ourinformation, that's where we get
our entertainment, that's wherewe get our dopamine hits,
that's how we are stimulated forthe most part, and it can be
hard to get away from.
It can really be viewed as anaddiction way to label it, but
(23:49):
in reality, having a hard timegetting away from your phone,
even though you realize,especially with social media, it
can be bringing down youremotions and putting you in a
negative space.
A few things that I'vepersonally equipped in my own
life that might be beneficialfor others to hear really
setting boundaries for myselfand how I use my phone,
utilizing the clock app on myphone and setting timers and
(24:09):
holding myself accountable towhen that timer goes off, saying
, okay, I told myself that thiswas the plan that I was going to
go by and I'm going to followthat and set my phone down even
for a little bit to try to getback to what's in front of me
rather than looking down ontowhat is out there.
Another thing that I reallyappreciate personally and I
(24:31):
think would be beneficial isgetting outside, taking a break
from being on the phone andtrying to go for a walk, or
sitting outside and sipping anice cold glass of iced tea and
trying to stay in the shade andtrying to get back to the roots
of maybe finding a good book orreaching out to a friend to see
(24:53):
if they'd like to do somethingthat's not technology related.
Let's go for a walk together,let's get dinner and just catch
up, because sometimes gettingback to your roots when it comes
to just normal face-to-facehuman interaction can provide
very beneficial results andreally bring you back to a sense
(25:14):
of stability rather thaneverything is crashing down
around us online.
Speaker 7 (25:20):
Dan, I'm curious do you also have clients that
experience doom-scrolling orcell phone social media
addiction, and do you also haveany tips on how to combat that?
Speaker 6 (25:29):
Absolutely.
I want to piggyback on whatJosh said.
I mean, I liken it to pickingat a scab, like why are we doing
that?
You're getting some kind ofchemical reaction in your brain,
some kind of dopamine hit, andyou have to counteract that with
other things that provide thesame stimulation in a different
way.
(25:49):
It's important to, just likeJosh said, engage in other
activities.
I also have clients that willset an alarm for themselves.
They'll use the phone apps, butalso maybe, if they tend to do
it at night, they'll set analarm that like okay, at 1030,
it's time to put the phone downand go to bed.
And also, I asked them to makesure are you looking at an equal
(26:11):
number of positive thingsonline as you are negative
things online?
You can find inspirationalmaterial online and supportive
material online If you make aneffort.
I like to validate that it'sserving a purpose.
But what purpose is it servingand how could you serve that
purpose for yourself in ahealthier way?
Speaker 7 (26:33):
I really appreciate both of y'all's time and, lastly
, I don't think this is aquestion that's ever asked
enough of mental healthprofessionals, but I just wanted
to check in with y'all to seehow are you doing?
Are y'all doing all right, joshAre you okay.
Speaker 8 (26:46):
Yes, thank you so much for asking.
I really appreciate that I'mdoing well.
Speaker 7 (26:52):
And how about you, Susanne?
Are you doing all right?
Speaker 6 (26:54):
Thank you, davis.
Yeah, we don't get asked thatenough, but that's okay because
that's not our client's job.
Some of us have our owntherapists, which I highly
encourage, and there's jokesabout that with our clients that
they have a grand therapistJust the government overall.
I know it's going to takeprobably decades to undo some of
this damage, but I just need toknow that it's going to be
(27:16):
undone.
Speaker 7 (27:17):
And I'm just really thankful that we have people
like y'all to speak with.
Whenever everything around usis just too overwhelming and
depressing, we have y'all tohelp process and guide us
through it.
Speaker 6 (27:30):
We're honored when people invite us into their
lives as facilitators.
Speaker 7 (27:34):
Thank you so much, Suzanne Senn and Josh Baird with
Ajana Therapy.
Speaker 1 (27:39):
This is KPFT 90.1 FM Houston, 89.5 FM Galveston, 91.9
FM Huntsville, and worldwide onthe internet at kpftorg.
Speaker 9 (27:56):
This is Deborah Moncrief-Bell and I'm delighted
today to be talking to Janan.
Janan is a comic based inHouston and has quite an
interesting background from herearly beginnings.
She is a native born Texas,born in Austin, spent a lot of
time in Dallas and then ended upin Houston.
(28:18):
Janan, I caught your act whenyou opened for Christian Key at
the Houston Improv and I wasreally tickled by your set
because you do have a veryinteresting background,
especially for someone, I think,who has gone into comedy.
So talk a little bit about whatyour background is.
Speaker 3 (28:41):
My name is Janan.
That is an Arabic name.
It's actually mispronouncedArabic because I'm'm half white,
so Jinan is how you would sayit, with an Arabic accent.
And, as you mentioned, I wasborn in Austin, lived all over
Texas.
I'm half Palestinian, halfwhite.
The white side of me is prettysouthern, if you can't tell by
(29:03):
the little bit of twang in myaccent.
And and even though I grew uphere in the South in Texas, I
mostly went to Islamic schoolfor most of my life as a kid,
really kind of dancing betweentwo worlds the Islamic community
here in Texas and then justgeneral American society.
(29:24):
I spent my teenage years inDallas, which doesn't hold the
best memories for me, so I'm nota huge Dallas fan.
And when I moved to Houston Iwas like, wow, I really love
Houston, but if you're in Dallas, no offense.
I was in Islamic high school inDallas.
I ended up getting expelled.
It was a very religious.
(29:48):
There's so many Muslims on theplanet.
Of course, not all Muslims arethe same, so anything I say is
not like I'm speaking for theentire population, of anyone
who's Muslim.
But the community that I was inat the time was very, very,
very conservative.
You know how any community cango.
There's gossip, there's thisclique versus that clique.
(30:09):
So I ended up getting expelledfor seeming gay, but then also
for passing a note to a boyasking him to the mall.
So, yeah, I just was notallowed back in the school after
the freshman year, so I startedcollege early.
I started college at 15 and umdid dual credit, my um regular
(30:33):
high school courses.
I did um self-taught, so Itaught myself high school.
Uh, yeah, I had a kind of atroubled teenage years then.
You know I I for a time was, uh, using all kinds of drugs and
luckily never got in that muchtrouble other than damaging my
(30:53):
mental health.
I ended up in Austin in myearly 20s and I was an unhoused
person.
I did not have a place to stayfor a while.
So I had that experience undermy belt.
So I had that experience undermy belt and then I ended up back
in Dallas to come back home andjust put my head down and get
(31:14):
through college.
I ended up meeting my wife inDallas.
I ended up beginning a yogapractice then as well, and I
attribute that to one of thethings that's really helped save
my life, and I attribute thatto one of the things that's
really helped save my life, asstereotypical as it sounds.
I immediately started doingyoga teacher training and became
(31:36):
a yoga teacher.
My wife and I ended up movingto Houston.
I have been teaching yoga heresince, so I've been teaching
yoga for about 11 years now.
I started stand-up comedy aboutseven years ago because I could
not stop from making jokes allthe time while I taught yoga and
it seemed like a naturalextension of something I wanted
(31:57):
to do.
And I perform comedy, I teachyoga, I own a business and I
have a daughter now.
Speaker 9 (32:06):
I was listening to your guest spot on 10 Years Out
podcast.
You are very serious and I havefound that to be true of many
of the comedians that I've knownover the years.
Anybody that is interested inlearning more can go to 10 Years
Out podcast and the episode six, heaven on Earth.
(32:31):
Explain a little bit about whatyou mean by heaven on earth.
Speaker 3 (32:36):
One of my teachers says this, and we live by it is
you got to be light enough to gothe distance, because existence
is kind of a wild ride and alot of stuff happens to a human
a lot of it not that great.
When I'm off stage, I mean,maybe I'm, maybe serious is not
the right word, but definitely,uh, I think a lot.
I, I, I would love um to helpbe someone who uplifts the world
(33:01):
, uh, from some of thedefinitely like the serious
issues that we have.
So, so, heaven on earth, I have, over my life, which is now 37
years, discovered that, as muchas I wanted to run from it and
not think about it and livewithout it, that spirituality is
a very important part of whatit is to be human and a very
(33:24):
essential part of someone'shealing journey.
And that can look different foreverybody.
I'm not saying any specific kindof religion or belief system.
We have such I keep saying theword journey, and that's really
what it is such an immensejourney on this planet as humans
and given that there's so manyof us, so many different lives,
(33:45):
so much going on and the humanrace has such a big past.
I mean the cycles of violenceare present and happening and as
someone who's experienced agood amount of trauma and then
known others who have, andespecially being a part of the
queer community and the Muslimcommunity and everything in
between that some days it canreally feel like there's hell on
(34:05):
earth, like walking throughhell has been my experience some
years and I could just have letit be that way and live my life
and just did some things in themiddle and then died.
But I one day realized that ifthere is any purpose to this
life, if there is any point, itis to do my best in whatever
(34:30):
smaller big ways that I can tohelp bring more heaven on earth,
because I think that's wherethose dogmatic religions miss,
as they talk about it like it'ssomething far away that you'll
get to eventually.
It's things that apply now, notlater.
And in a roundabout way I thinkI'm answering your question,
but it is a very deep topic thatwe could probably talk about
(34:52):
for hours.
Speaker 9 (34:53):
It seems like you developed this philosophy about
life that has served you because, like you said, you could have
gone in many differentdirections.
It could have gotten very, verydark, dark and the fact that
you have moved on to have thisvery special kind of life where
you are doing things that youlove doing and that you bring
(35:16):
that heaven on earth into yourdaily practice, and that's not
just from the yoga.
I believe I heard somewhere yousaid that in some aspects
people look at yoga as areligious thing and it can be
and is, and I know a lot ofpeople get a spiritual component
to it.
But are there elements frombeing brought up Muslim that
(35:38):
also inform?
Speaker 3 (35:39):
you Totally.
I'm in such an explorationright now.
Actually, now that I have mydaughter and she's still a
little baby, you know I wentthrough a whole existential
crisis of, oh my gosh, like whatis the purpose of life?
What will I teach my daughter?
What is the best way?
Since I grew up so religiously,it's taken me a long time to
(35:59):
tease apart the truths, the deepspiritual truths that are
taught in Islam and otherreligions, from the dogma that
actually is, I would predict, isa man-made and meant to control
rather than inspire and helpand support.
I grew up praying five times aday in the.
I wouldn't even say it'straditional.
(36:20):
That's just like a main part ofthe religion to pray five times
a day.
I grew up fasting during themonth of Ramadan and a lot, a
lot of other different religiouspractices, and for a long time
I just went a 180.
I was like I'm not going to doanything that looks like
anything religious at all.
Yoga is an exercise and it's.
I was kind of lying to myself,not thinking it was spiritual.
(36:42):
It was deeply spiritual.
So now in this part of my lifewhere I'm bringing various
things that I've grown up withto like what I practice now,
like the praying five times aday.
I don't necessarily do that inthe typical way.
You would see a Muslim doing it.
I've seen that it's helpful toground myself multiple times a
(37:02):
day in a quiet moment toregulate my breath and remember
to be thankful, like to havegratitude, and to remember that,
like, I'm not alone.
Speaker 9 (37:12):
As you said, you went to Islamic school.
You wore a hijab, you had avery conservative surroundings,
your mother from the deep Southand your dad, who was actually a
Palestinian refugee.
He ended up being born inKuwait, not Palestine, because
of the conflicts over there.
Something kind of interestinghappened when you came out to
(37:35):
your mom.
Speaker 3 (37:37):
Yeah, so my parents are.
They're divorced and my mom isqueer.
And that all happened when Iwas man.
I don't even remember the exactage I was.
I know I was maybe 20, so, likealmost an adult, I have a queer
mom, my dad.
He's very religious and it wasa big shock.
(38:01):
So they divorced.
And it's so interesting howthings end up working out,
because I didn't talk to my dadfor like a little while after
the divorce happened and I wasreally in my survival mode too.
This was like when I was stillusing drugs and really not very
present and living a fairlyunhealthy lifestyle.
So it's a little foggy to me,honestly.
(38:23):
But after a while my dadreached out to me and my
siblings and asked if we wouldtake a yoga class with him,
which I was like I didn't evenknow what it was.
I had no idea what yoga was.
I honestly thought it was goingto be like Taibo or some sort
of Jane Fonda, like jazzercisebusiness or maybe martial arts.
(38:46):
So he eventually got me to go toa yoga class with him and I
didn't know what the heck washappening, but I just really
liked it and I just kept goingto yoga with my dad.
We did yoga teacher trainingtogether and then I came out to
my dad because it was in thatenvironment where there was a
community support to be able todo it, but then also the most
connection I had with my dad upuntil that moment and he was
(39:10):
great at the time.
We've gone through kind of anup and down journey of him being
religious and accepting thelifestyle that he's not used to
accepting.
And that was 10, that was, ohmy gosh, like 12, 13 years ago
now.
And so, yeah, my mom has a longtime partner that she's with.
Speaker 9 (39:31):
I tell you this should be a sitcom.
I don't think my family wouldlike that very much.
Well, speaking of that, one ofthe people that you've opened
for is Houston's own Mo Amir.
You share the Palestinianheritage.
What has it been like knowinghim and being around him?
Speaker 3 (39:51):
Oh, mo's a great, great guy.
I got to work closely with himWas it late last year or
something like that, as he wasbeginning to film season two of
his show and I'm just so proudto have a fellow Palestinian
especially here in the South,not in LA like a person I know
(40:11):
that has just done so much forthe cause and bringing awareness
and doing it in a way that's asa fellow comedian is really
inspiring for me.
I didn't know that being acomedian was a form of being an
activist until I've met folkslike Mo.
So, yeah, he's been great andhe's a really good guy.
Speaker 9 (40:30):
That second season is just wonderful.
I mean, there's so manymessages in there and so many
truths and I just highlyrecommend it.
It's called Mo.
He grew up in A-Leaf.
It's really a great show and heseems like a really great
person and it's filmed inHouston.
Oh yeah, it was great seeingall those Houston landmarks and
(40:51):
things Say a little bit aboutyour mother's.
I guess it's your mother'smother, your grandmother.
Speaker 3 (40:58):
I miss my grandma.
She passed away gosh three,four years ago and lived to an
old age of 90.
We weren't really too sureactually how old, but 92, 93,
something like that.
Grandma is just how I know herFirst name, vera, and that is my
daughter's middle name, so shepassed along that name.
(41:20):
When I was growing up, mygrandma lived with us most of
the time and so she helped raiseme.
She was born in Weatherford,texas, so my grandma had the
thickest country accent you didever hear.
She just was like a thirdparent for me.
Honestly, anyone out there whohas a grandparent that you love
you just know exactly what I'mtalking about.
(41:42):
And my grandma was just sogreat Like.
She had her quirkiness, she wasso silly and weird and she
loved like.
Her favorite person on theplanet was Ellen DeGeneres,
which you know.
She just was like such an allyfrom the beginning, never had a
prejudiced bone in her body Like.
I've had friends of all colors,sizes and shapes and I'd just
(42:03):
come over to Grandma's house andshe'd make us some iced tea and
hang out and it was a highlight, a big highlight of my
childhood to have my grandma inmy life.
Speaker 9 (42:16):
Yeah, it sounds like she was a very impactful
influence on you.
Speaker 3 (42:20):
Yeah, and the interesting thing was my grandma
was quiet and shy and didn'tstir the pot.
She would probably not say thatshe thinks she was significant
in any way, shape or form andshe's kind of a homebody, stayed
home a lot.
If you love someone and justshow them love, that is one of
the biggest transformationalexperiences that we can do as
(42:41):
humans.
So, like I don't need to be abig, loud, famous person to make
a change, my grandma showed meit just happens in the small
moments of your relationships.
Speaker 9 (42:49):
What has been a special moment for you in your
career?
Speaker 3 (42:53):
I've been doing comedy almost eight years now
and I still feel in thebeginning stages of it, which I
guess is a good thing.
It means I'm not arrogant yet,I guess and it's every day still
feels pretty special.
I do a lot of local shows,anywhere from like one person in
the audience to when I did theimprov with either Maria Bamford
(43:14):
or Kristen it was sold out.
So I think it's like 500 orsomething.
I mean, those moments reallystand out is when I get to work
with someone I really, reallyadmire.
So working with Kristen wasjust fantastic A few months ago.
Maria Bamford is someone who'sinspired me to be a comedian
because I got introduced to hercomedy by my now late cousin.
(43:38):
I had the opportunity tofeature for her last year and
that was like wow, I could neverdo comedy again and I've made
it.
This is it.
So I got to meet her and it wasone of the situations where you
do want to meet your heroesbecause Maria Bamford is awesome
.
So those are big highlights iswhen I've gotten to work with
folks that I've seen from afarfor so long and then I meet them
(43:59):
in the flesh and I saysomething that makes them laugh.
That's heaven on earth.
Right there you have your ownpodcast.
Yeah, I have taken a hugehiatus from my wife being
pregnant to my daughter beingborn.
There has been, like oh my gosh, over a year since I put out an
episode and I do intend tocontinue it.
It's called See Paradox.
(44:20):
That's see, like seeing withyour eyes and then a colon, and
then paradox, and it definitelyis.
On the more serious side youmentioned earlier about
comedians being serious it's aphilosophy podcast.
It's just little bite-sizedepisodes, like about 10
minutes-ish each, becausesomething that I have really
looked toward for a lot ofwisdom has been Taoism, which is
(44:43):
an Eastern religion andphilosophy.
It's spelled T-A-O the Tao.
You've probably seen it written.
The philosophy is all aboutparadoxes and how we can hold
two opposite truths at once.
That is like an ultimate truth.
So every episode I go over howliving from the principle of
paradox can help up, level andsupport your life.
Speaker 9 (45:05):
You do have material on YouTube, and where else can
people catch you?
Speaker 3 (45:09):
I'm working on a small tour later this year
likely it'll be'll be local,like all the Texas cities, maybe
go over to Louisiana and I'llbe putting that on my website.
That is still underconstruction, but you could go
and favorite it if you want.
And it's JananSiamcomJ-A-N-A-N-S-I-A-M.
(45:29):
I've been putting a lot of myenergy in the past few months on
teaching yoga at a yoga studiothat I own in the East End and
we just opened three weeks ago,so that's been a lot of my focus
now, and so folks could take myclasses online if you want,
because we do live stream theclasses.
And the other place where youmight find my content is just
(45:50):
simply following me on Instagram.
I plan to maybe do stuff onTikTok that whole thing where
they were going to take it awayand then brought it back.
I kind of like put a pause onTikTok, but my Instagram is my
first name and my maiden name,so same as my website, janan
Siam J-A-N-A-N-S-I-A-M, andthat's where most folks can
(46:13):
catch me.
Oh, and if you wanted to takemy online class, you can see.
I post about it on my Instagramas well.
Speaker 9 (46:20):
Well, thanks for being with us today on Queer
Voices.
Speaker 10 (46:26):
I'm Ava Davis and I'm Joe Bainline With News Wrap,
a summary of some of the newsin or affecting LGBTQ
communities around the world forthe week ending March 1st 2025.
Two young men in the Indonesianprovince of Aceh are to be
publicly beaten with a cane forhaving gay sex.
(46:48):
They were arrested on November7th after anti-queer vigilantes
broke into their rented room anddiscovered them naked and
hugging each other.
Under Islamic law, they weretried for morality offenses.
The 18 and 24-year-old collegestudents were sentenced to 80
and 85 lashes respectively.
(47:08):
Sakawana is the single name ofthe judge overseeing the trial.
That's a custom for manyIndonesians Is the single name
of the judge overseeing thetrial.
That's a custom for manyIndonesians.
Her ruling found During thetrial it was proven that the
defendants committed illicitacts, including kissing and
having sex, while the maximumpenalty is 100 lashings in
public and up to 8 years inprison.
(47:31):
Sakawana lessened the sentencesbecause neither had a police
record.
Both were polite in court andthey are otherwise considered to
be outstanding students.
The older of the two will beflogged the most.
The pair accepted theirsentences without appeal.
Sharia has been the law in Acehprovince since a 2006 dispute
(47:55):
with federal authorities allowedit to adopt Islamic legal
practice.
The rest of Indonesia isgoverned by secular laws.
More than 100 people each yearin the province have been
publicly caned for variousmorality offenses.
The scheduled public caning inAceh comes on the heels of last
week's raid on what authoritiescalled a gay sex party in
(48:15):
Jakarta, 56 men were arrested ina private hotel room and
charged with violating thecountry's secular laws against
obscenity and pornography.
Speaker 11 (48:27):
British law does not recognize non-binary as a
gender, according to the UnitedKingdom Court of Appeal.
Cybersecurity expert RyanCastellucci moved from Los
Angeles in 2019.
They obtained legal recognitionas non-binary in California in
2021 and were issued a USpassport listing their gender as
(48:47):
X.
The following year they triedto have their gender recorded as
non-binary on a UK UK genderrecognition certificate, a
document which changes someone'slegal sex.
They lost the bid in an earlierHigh Court challenge.
Meanwhile, a Trumpadministration executive order
has eliminated the ex-genderpassport option.
Lord Justice Singh deferred toParliament in dismissing the
(49:11):
appeal, saying that the UK'stwo-gender policy was up to
lawmakers to address, not thejudiciary.
Castellucci called theirefforts to be legally recognized
as non-binary an ordeal, buttheir lawyers say they are
considering a further appeal At30-something.
They're looking ahead saying Iplan to live the rest of my life
(49:33):
here and eventually die here.
Something.
They're looking ahead saying Iplan to live the rest of my life
here and eventually die here.
Being denied the dignity ofknowing my death certificate
will be correct makes my stomachturn.
Speaker 10 (49:43):
Iowa's transgender people are no longer protected
from discrimination.
Republican Governor KimReynolds has signed a bill that
revokes the addition of genderidentity to the Iowa Civil
Rights Act in 2007.
Thus, the currentRepublican-dominated state
legislature has undone thestatute by the previous
Democratic administration andaffirmed by the state Supreme
(50:06):
Court in 2022.
Hundreds of people rallied atthe state capitol building to
protest the bill's imminentpassage.
Speaker 2 (50:14):
We are trans-Live here together.
State.
Speaker 4 (50:18):
Capitol building to protest the voices of the people
.
Speaker 10 (50:45):
The Republicans argued that revoking gender
identity protections in civilrights laws will make it easier
for the state to defend itsother anti-trans laws, such as
the ban on trans studentcompetitors in female sports.
That's already being challengedin court.
Iowa is now the first state inUS history to excise a class
(51:08):
originally granted civil rightsprotection.
Max Mowitz of Queer AdvocacyGroup 1 Iowa told the Des Moines
Register this law will causereal harm, making daily life
harder and more uncertain forcountless Iowans who simply want
to live openly andauthentically.
Speaker 11 (51:29):
History will not look kindly on this moment.
Two executive orders by USPresident Donald Trump that
threatened the civil rights ofLGBTQ people and other US
citizens are already beingroadblocked in court, and
(51:57):
inclusion programs in highereducation and the private sector
were impermissibly vague andthreatened to chill
constitutionally protectedspeech and activity.
Abelson issued a preliminaryinjunction this week blocking
their enforcement.
The ruling noted that theadministration's effort to
uproot DEI programs failed todefine key terms such as
equity-related and illegal DEI.
Abelson was not convinced thatthe order was necessary to root
(52:21):
out illegal discrimination.
This challenge is being led bynational education groups and
the City of Baltimore.
At least one other lawsuitagainst the anti-diversity order
has been filed by Lambda Legaland the Legal Defense Fund on
behalf of the National UrbanLeague, the National Fair
Housing Alliance and AIDSFoundation Chicago.
Speaker 10 (52:43):
The block on a second Trump order is keeping
transgender women in US women'sprisons from being transferred
to men's prisons.
That action was to comply withthe Trump decree that US law
recognizes only two genders maleand female.
Washington DC-based US DistrictJudge Royce Lamberth ruled that
(53:05):
the move would violate transwomen's constitutional rights
and put them in jeopardy ofserious harm.
Lamberth had previously issuedan order to protect three trans
women inmates from imminenttransfer.
The latest ruling expands thatprotection to nine additional
plaintiffs who were rounded upby Bureau of Prison Officials
(53:28):
and told they would beimmediately transferred to men's
prisons.
According to court filings, theTrump order also terminates
current gender-affirming healthcare for trans inmates.
The judge believes the lawsuitchallenging the Trump anti-trans
order is likely to beoverturned.
On Eighth Amendment protectionsagainst imposing excessive bail
(53:49):
, excessive fines or cruel andunusual punishments, Judge
Lamberth questioned the Trumpadministration's motives.
He wrote that the order wouldexacerbate the symptoms of their
gender dysphoria, even if theyare not subject to physical or
sexual violence in their newfacility, whether because they
will be subject to searches bymale correctional officers, made
(54:13):
to shower in the company of menreferred to as men.
Speaker 11 (54:18):
The US Supreme Court is letting Tennessee's virtual
ban on drag performances stand.
On February 24th, it decidednot to hear a case challenging
the law.
The legislation was enacted bythe Republican-controlled state
in 2023.
It was ruled unconstitutionally, vague and substantially
overbroad by a judge on the USDistrict Court for the Western
(54:40):
District of Tennessee.
However, last July the 6th USCircuit Court of Appeals
reversed the decision on atechnicality.
The top court has now let standits finding that the
complainant, friends of GeorgeIncorporated Drag Theater
Company of Memphis.
Friends of George IncorporatedDrag Theater Company of Memphis,
lacked the legal standing tosue.
Another lawsuit challengingTennessee's drag ban is still
(55:01):
working its way through the USjudicial system.
The American Civil LibertiesUnion filed suit on behalf of
Blount County Pride organizersbecause the law threatened
prosecution of any violatorsduring its 2023 Pride Festival.
Prosecution of any violatorsduring its 2023.
Speaker 10 (55:16):
Pride Festival.
Finally, however, there was onehearing the US High Court did
hold this week the reversediscrimination case of a
straight, white, cisgender womanwho claims that she was denied
a promotion and demoted afterallegedly less qualified queer
colleagues gained positionsahead of her.
60-year-old Marlene Ames workedfor years for the Ohio
(55:40):
Department of Youth Services,the state's juvenile justice
system.
A lower appeals court ruled inher case that a so-called
majority group plaintiff mustmeet a higher evidentiary
standard than plaintiffs inother biased cases, must meet a
higher evidentiary standard thanplaintiffs in other bias cases.
In other words, it's harder forheterosexual workers to prove
(56:05):
discrimination based on sexualorientation or for white
employees claiming racial bias.
The Supreme Court is expectedto issue its ruling before the
current term ends, in late June.
Ruling before the current termends in late June.
A number of civil rights groupsare deeply concerned that a win
for Ames could open a Pandora'sbox of countless reverse
discrimination cases, and thatcould be especially dangerous in
(56:27):
the current climate againstdiversity, equity and inclusion.
Speaker 11 (56:32):
That's News Wrap, global Queer News news with
attitude for the week endingMarch 1st 2025.
Follow the news in your areaand around the world.
An informed community is astrong community.
Speaker 10 (56:44):
News Wrap is written by Greg Gordon and Lucia
Chappell, produced by BrianShazor and brought to you by you
.
Speaker 11 (56:52):
Thank you.
Help keep us in ears around theworld at thiswayoutorg, where
you can also read the text ofthis newscast and much more.
For this Way Out, I'm JoeBainline.
Stay healthy.
Speaker 10 (57:03):
And I'm Ava Davis.
Stay safe.
Speaker 1 (57:13):
This has been Queer Voices, heard on KPFT Houston
and as a podcast available fromseveral podcasting sources.
Check our webpageQueerVoicesorg for more
information.
Queer Voices executive produceris Brian Levinka, Deborah
Moncrief-Bell is co-producer,Brett Cullum and David
(57:37):
Mendoza-Druzman are contributors.
The News Wrap segment is partof another podcast called this
Way Out, which is produced inLos Angeles.
Speaker 5 (57:47):
Some of the material in this program has been edited
to improve clarity and runtime.
This program does not endorseany political views or animal
species.
Views, opinions andendorsements are those of the
participants and theorganizations they represent.
In case of death, pleasediscontinue use and discard
remaining product.
Speaker 1 (58:00):
For Queer Voices.
I'm Glenn Holt, Thank you.
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