Activism Unleashed: Advocating for Rights, Civic Engagement, and Democracy with Loren Piretra

Loren Piretra, an inspiring activist and endurance athlete, joins us to unravel the intricate layers of socio-political issues gripping today's society. Her journey, marked by advocacy and athleticism, shines a light on the power of resilience and informed activism. Together, we examine California's Prop 3 and its far-reaching implications for civil rights and marriage equality, particularly in the context of recent Supreme Court decisions. Our conversation also navigates the emotional landscape of the upcoming election, spotlighting the fervor of volunteers rallying behind Kamala Harris and the stark contrasts defining the political arena.

Loren shares her insights on the importance of staying engaged in the political process, underscoring activism's critical role today. Back in Los Angeles, we weave through narratives of socio-political challenges, from the battle for equal access to education and healthcare to local activism efforts in Brentwood. These stories highlight the community's determination to address housing as a fundamental human right and the broader implications of governmental responses to crises.

Navigating the tumultuous waters of political dynamics, we confront the potential threats to democracy and the shadows cast by figures like Donald Trump. The conversation draws parallels with global authoritarian tendencies and the socio-economic divides influencing political landscapes. In a lighter moment, we celebrate the joys of dog ownership and the responsibilities that come with civic engagement. Loren's practical advice on voting logistics and community involvement serves as an empowering call to action, encouraging listeners to participate actively in shaping a better collective future.

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SLAP the Power is written and produced by Rick Barrio Dill (@rickbarriodill) and Aja Nikiya (@compassioncurator). Associate Producer Bri Coorey (@bri_beats). Audio and Video engineering and studio facilities provided by SLAP Studios LA (@SLAPStudiosLA) with distribution through our collective home for progress in art and media, SLAP the Network (@SLAPtheNetwork).

If you have ideas for a show you want to hear or see, or you would like to be a featured guest artist on our show, please email us at [e-mail]

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's kind of mind-blowing that we're here To
give people context with Prop 3,california's taking measure to
codify civil rights, humanrights for marriage, equality of
both gender identity and race,marrying outside of your gender,
clergy, gender standards,whatever they are, and outside
of your race, because what we'veseen with the Supreme Court is

(00:23):
that they're willing to overturnyears, decades of precedent
because they want to push thisultra alt-right agenda.

Speaker 2 (00:47):
All right, the world may not need another podcast,
but it could definitely use aslap.
Welcome to Slap the Power.
I am Rick Barrio-Dill.

Speaker 3 (00:54):
I'm Asia Nakia.

Speaker 2 (00:55):
That's right.
And on the show today, donaldTrump really, really likes
talking about dead golfers'penis sizes.
We have an update on hurricanerelief from our one and only
asia, nikia, who's got a lot ofupdates on from the ground.
They're actually reallyincredible and inspiring.
Our interview today is withlauren puretra.
She's an activist, creator andan endurance athlete that will

(01:18):
blow your mind on what thiswoman does before you probably
get up in the morning, uh, and alittle later we have our series
Adventuros de Aja, and we'regoing to pick it off with a game
called Two Scams and a Slap.
But first, with days until themost important election of our
lives the choices betweenwomen's rights and a

(01:38):
two-times-impeached, convictedfelon who thinks what you need
in your life is to know how bigArnold Palmer's member was.
How do you feel about the stateof the race?

Speaker 3 (01:49):
Asia, oh I mean, you know, with with that lovely
information, it really makes methat's what everybody that's,
that's.
It's in table issues, all rightyeah me, like you know all the
good feels inside.
No sure, absolutely ridiculoussure yeah, heinous crime.

Speaker 2 (02:03):
but to talk about Arnold Palmer's member size, I
mean, you know that's what thepeople want to hear.

Speaker 3 (02:10):
You've got to give them the juice.
Apparently, no one could sleepat night without knowing about
that.
Yeah, apparently.

Speaker 2 (02:17):
But what's interesting is for those that
know, we do have the volunteeroffice for Kamala Harris next
door and the stories areincredible, like just the
send-off on friday, where thestories that where everybody
went around and kind of tellthem why they were there, why
they were going to take a bus,um, from here by the way, two
more fridays left.

(02:37):
Buses leave every friday fromhere and we have the info on our
site and our instagram reachout to us.
But the people that's, thestories about how, what has
brought them here and how manyof them are to tears with, how
important this is to their lives.
It is encouraging.
I mean, I'm encouraged by a lotof the the fact that I do see a

(03:01):
lot of people that feel likethis is con.
Even if Elon Musk is going tooffer a million dollars, you
know, for you to sign up for thefascist sweepstakes or whatever
.
Right, what was that?
Sweepstakes used to be calledwhen we were kids?
The publisher's clearinghouse,oh that one, yeah, man maybe the
fascist clearinghousesweepstakes Something like that.

(03:25):
We'll workshop it, but eitherway you're not really out there
trying to help people withsomething.
I don't think.

Speaker 3 (03:30):
Yeah, and just to piggyback off of what you're
saying, I think everyone that'scome through these doors has had
such a fascinating story, butit's just been the mothers that
are fighting for their daughtersand the, and the grandma that
wants a better life, for I meanher grandchildren.
The reasonings are just sobeautiful and poetic, and for

(03:51):
all the right reasons you know,and it's just such good energy
and warmth and it's been veryjust inspiring and it gives hope
, Like you said, just seeingthem coming through the doors,
you know phone banking, thepeople getting on the buses.

Speaker 2 (04:03):
I mean, what wonderful people To go to two
days in Arizona.
Yeah, and go knock doors andit's fascinating.

Speaker 3 (04:08):
I'm like if I had to be in a world with any people, I
would want to pick those people.

Speaker 2 (04:12):
Hey, hallelujah, they're just awesome.
Speaking of the election, Ifeel like the disaster.
You know, capitalism is alwayskind of one of the things that
is always scary around.
You know, this time of year,just a lot of misinformation and
disinformation, but you haveyour teams on the ground and
tell us how are things going,post both hurricanes Haleen and

(04:34):
Milton.
How are things going from yourend?

Speaker 3 (04:37):
I mean, you know, from our area, the Tampa Bay
area, you know we're coveringmostly.
You know Tarpon Springs to StPete to Tampa, that's sort of
you know we're covering mostly.
You know Tarpon Springs to StPete to Tampa, that's sort of
you know our main area and Ithink that this Milton really
did a number on our area thistime.

Speaker 2 (04:50):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (04:50):
Helene wasn't as detrimental to our area.
We just got the heavy rains andflooding.
But this one, this one camethrough with a punch and I think
the the very the worst part ofit was the tornadoes, probably
that came through.
So it's very like you know, onehouse and one house next to it
will be perfectly fine.
It's been very sporadic withthe tornadoes, so you have like

(05:12):
complete devastation.
Yeah, and then right next doordoing just fine.
You know no issues at all.
So it's very spotty.

Speaker 2 (05:19):
That was my mom's house in Brandon.
It was like their houses werefine, they were kind of tucked
away and then right around thecorner of the park that had all
these great trees and everything, all the trees ripped out from
a tornado and stuff.
It's scary.

Speaker 3 (05:31):
It is scary and I mean you know there was thank
goodness, everyone you know onmy team and my family and you
know friends, Everyone's okay Alot of flood damage and things,
but the main thing that we werefocusing on was doing cleanups.
We helped out with some elderlycommunities that were really
struggling to get help, justclearing things so that they

(05:51):
could hire workers to come in,so they could get the garbage to
the front.
I mean, these little things youdon't think of, especially when
you're by yourself, or you're inan elderly community, and then
we were also just going aroundto some of the hard-hit areas
that had the massive flooding.
We were lucky enough to savenine dogs, hey, and we rescued
three cats, yes, and then we gotsix baby squirrels.

Speaker 2 (06:15):
I'm sorry.
We're breaking news.
Here at Slap Studios you havebaby squirrels.

Speaker 3 (06:21):
Oh, we sure do.

Speaker 2 (06:24):
I did not know.
And they're so cute.
Do you have pictures?

Speaker 3 (06:26):
Oh yeah.

Speaker 2 (06:27):
Okay, we're putting them on the.

Speaker 3 (06:28):
we've got to put them on Instagram and most of them
now have moved on to solids.
Yeah, so, and I don't know ifyou know, if anybody knows this,
but after a hurricane ordisaster, you know, we don't
always think about the smallanimals really that suffer these
storms, animals really thatthat suffer these, these storms,
the birds, the nests.
I mean, we just came off of,you know, a season.

(06:48):
There was a ton of baby animalsaround.
So, um, the squirrels really gethit hard.
They fall out of the nest.
But then most of the time,unless they, you know, aspirate
or they're dealing with anotheryou know issue, usually they're
okay.
After a few days you get a niceheating pad you offer them some
food depends on what you knowwhat stage of life they're in,
but but yeah, it's.
It's really really cool to seethem, and then you just get to

(07:09):
release them right back in youryard and they're back to, back
to business.

Speaker 2 (07:13):
So to me.
I, you know, when you thinkabout all the trees that are
down and stuff, like I, you'reright.
I never actually thought aboutall the squirrels that are
displaced.
We, we actually had a squirrelthat was kind of hiding a whole
winter's worth of nutsunderneath our outdoor patio
chair.
I moved it one day and like abunch of nuts just fell out.
I was like, oh my God, how dowe?

Speaker 3 (07:35):
I didn't mean to mess your spot up.

Speaker 2 (07:37):
We were just I didn't know it, and so we left them
out, and I think they came backand slowly picked them up,
picked them up one by one andthat's funny, Like the whole
thing with where they hide theirfood.

Speaker 3 (07:47):
So a lot of them are missing out and a lot of the
trees have come down now.
So if anyone has squirrels intheir yard and a lot of trees
disappeared you should leave thenuts out for them before you
get everything cleared, becausethere's going to be a food
shortage in the squirrel world.
Yeah, for sure, for sure.

Speaker 2 (08:05):
Has had some tremendous, tremendous
adventures this year, and so wedecided to, because she was gone
so long and in such remoteplaces that we weren't able to
actually really catch up,because she's doing all these
incredibly fascinating things,and so it was like, okay, what
we're going to do is you'regoing to save the information
and I'm going to learn aboutthis, you're going to learn
about it in real time thelistener.

(08:25):
But this is to the segment thatwe are now calling Aventuras de
Aja, and in this one, I'mreally interested to know in
what happened in Greece, and youdon't have to get into the
personal side of things, butyour connection to Greece, but
I'm feeling Greece today.
Give me something.
Give me one of the highlightsof your trip through Greece.

Speaker 3 (08:46):
Yeah, I mean, you know Greece is, you know, when
you just go to a place, you knowI've been Greek my whole life,
I was born that way.

Speaker 2 (08:53):
But you know, wait a minute, I can't become one
through some sort of mail orderservice.
No, no, no, I can it.
I don't shop at LL Bean.
Zeus will just strike you down.
Yeah, it would be horrible.

Speaker 3 (09:07):
We're actually all crafted from clay.

Speaker 2 (09:11):
Amazing.

Speaker 3 (09:11):
And Zeus just sits there all day just making us one
by one Out of clay and yogurt,especially the Greek yogurt.
Yes, exactly, that was the onlyyogurt.

Speaker 2 (09:21):
I was thinking so, anyways, yes, exactly.
That was the only yogurt.
I was thinking Exactly, exactly.
Okay, yeah, sure so anyways, Idigress.

Speaker 3 (09:26):
But yeah, greece is just.
It is one of those places withsuch rich history I mean, the
Greeks invented everything incase, anybody didn't know that
no, but I mean, it is just afascinating place.

Speaker 2 (09:38):
I saw my big fat Greek wedding.

Speaker 3 (09:39):
I know everything.

Speaker 2 (09:40):
I need to know, man you got some Windex yeah.
I got some Windex.
It'll fix everything.
All right, cool, if you want toparty, you throw some plates.
It's a party.
Hey, oppa, Oppa everybody.

Speaker 3 (09:50):
But yeah, it really just feels like home.
I get there and it's like allthis, just culture and my family
, and it just reminds me of theway I grew up.
I don't know there's somethingjust so nostalgic about being
there.
The food is just so wonderful,the views.

Speaker 2 (10:04):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (10:05):
The island my family is from is called Galimnos, and
it is I mean, it's becoming morepopular now.
Really no one ever knew aboutit, but apparently in the rock
climbing community.
It's got the most amazingboulder rocks for climbing, so
now there's like a little hikingrock climber community out
there.

Speaker 2 (10:22):
And gorgeous views Any rock rock climber community
out there.
And gorgeous views Any rock.
Oh my God, yeah.

Speaker 3 (10:25):
Black sand beach, pink sand, I mean it's just
absolutely beautiful.
And you know I was there, youknow, honoring my father, and
that was a really beautifulthing and I was just happy that
I was able to take him back hometo where he's from.
But yeah, it was beautiful, theweather was amazing.
I think the biggest takeawayfor me is that anybody that I

(10:46):
meet when I'm in greece whetherit was a taxi driver or someone
at the restaurant there's aconnection point to my family,
so you tell them yeah, you tellthem, you're a cuckoo boss and

Speaker 1 (10:55):
they're like oh, yeah , you gotta go to this place and
that place and my.

Speaker 3 (10:59):
Thing you know, and I love that and I miss that in
this busy, chaotic world.
You, you know where everyoneknows somebody.
The guy at the coffee shop isyour mom's aunt and you know, so
I love that about Greece,besides the amazingly beautiful
beaches and a million otherviews.

Speaker 2 (11:15):
But yeah, that was the highlight, for sure, that's
awesome.
I feel like Greece is kind ofone of those places.
Do you kind of feel like you'regoing to wind up there one day?
Oh yeah.

Speaker 3 (11:27):
I feel like it has to .
You know, in my perfect world,I feel like I would spend my
time in the Caribbean, notduring hurricane season.

Speaker 2 (11:34):
Sure sure.

Speaker 3 (11:34):
And then I'd probably be in Europe and then Africa
when it's not 130 degrees out.

Speaker 2 (11:39):
Yeah, speaking of like 130 degrees, I feel like
activism is definitely on theforefront, because we've got to
meet Lauren Puretra and she isamazing.
She came in with her little dogand we were like both Asia and
I were like, okay, we have totalk to you, what is your deal?
And she had a little dog and aring light and she had the ring
light on the whole time and Iwas like, wait a minute, is she

(12:01):
live this whole thing?
And she was she time.
And I was like, wait a minute,is she live this whole thing?
And she was, she was livethrough the whole thing.
I was like we had to talk toher and come to find out.
She is a beast, she is badass.
You go to her page.
It's going to be on our shownotes.
Um, it's incredible.
If you want to find out if yourvoter registration is good, if
you want to find out you knowwhere, where your polling places
are and things like that, she'sthe one.
So really really lookingforward to getting into that

(12:24):
conversation with her and that'sgoing to be coming up after the
break.
All right, joining us for theinterview today.
She is a chief marketingofficer.
She's a creator, an enduranceathlete and really how she came
to us is because she is a badassactivist.
Welcome to the show, laurenPerretra.
Thank you so much for coming onthe show.

Speaker 1 (12:43):
Thank you.

Speaker 2 (12:45):
Exc to the show.
Lauren peretra, thank you somuch for coming on the show.
Thank you excited to be here.
So you know one of the we youcame in and anyone that comes in
with their own uh, with theirown sort of theme music, like
you did to the vice presidentialdebate with your dog and
everything.
I I think it was awesomebecause you, right away, it was
like what is what is that personabout?
And uh, come to find out youare a beast of an activist and

(13:06):
so for the people that don'tknow on the show, please talk
about yourself a little bit andtell us how you got here and why
we're sitting across from you?

Speaker 1 (13:15):
Yeah.
So over the last 15 years I'vereally worked in the creator
economy and I say I do a lot ofthings.
I am many things like manywomen so I run marathons.
Um, that's a really powerfulway for me to kind of find
grounding.

Speaker 2 (13:30):
All right, I'm gonna stop you there too, but only
because you've you've run 21marathons.
Let's see, I, yeah, I gotta getup earlier in the morning.
I really, I really gotta get upearlier.

Speaker 1 (13:39):
I've actually like pushed I'm, I run, I'm still
running but, in this moment.
I told my coach I like I willsee you after the election.
And they were fully supportivebecause I was like another
movement is calling me in rightnow and I've got to contribute
all I've got to it.

Speaker 2 (13:54):
And that's another thing is you're fiercely
unapologetic.
As for us, the whole reason this, the whole reason this is here
for me as a, as an artist, is Iwe hit a point where it was
somehow bad to talk about thingsthat seemed like everywhere we

(14:15):
went on tour in the UnitedStates, people were agreeing on
a lot of things, you know, andSandy Hook, when we had 92%, you
know that wanted just simplebackground checks and Barack
Obama couldn't get that done, itwas.
It started to become apparent tome that oh yeah, this is, this
is systemic, driven, driven by apropaganda apparatus largely on
the other side.

(14:36):
And so when we, when we got tomeet you at the vice president
uh, the vice presidentpresidential debate watch party,
uh, one of the things that youyou said was that that you said
was that it was almost like acalling where we're at right now
in time, and what of all thethings, because you've done so
much, let's help our listenerswith the down ballot races first

(14:59):
, because I know you've beendoing some real roll up your
sleeves type work there.
And yeah, yeah, tell us aboutthat I mean.

Speaker 1 (15:07):
I think, like we're.
It's an incredible moment intime and I've been just trying
to find whatever ways I can tolike use my gifts to contribute
to this very important moment oftime.

Speaker 3 (15:19):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (15:20):
And I think what people don't realize about
California is like yeah, we're ablue state, but your vote
matters, because there's a lotlike the race for us Democrats
to regain the House runs throughSouthern California which is
incredible.
We have about four seats inSouthern California alone where,
if we gain those, we can flipthe House from Republican

(15:42):
majority to Democrat.
And then we have to maintainthe Senate.
Sure, sure, because it helpswhen we talk out the side from
Republican majority to Democrat,and then we have to maintain
the Senate, sure, sure, because.

Speaker 2 (15:46):
It helps when we talk out the side of our mouth.
Yeah, I like it.
My wife and I say that all thetime.
It really does.
It's good luck to talk out theside of our mouth, you know and
you might hear some differentaccents from me, I just you know
I love it.

Speaker 1 (15:59):
I love it.
I have really importantpropositions.
And like one of my recentInstagram reels.
Tiktoks that I was talkingabout was around Prop 3.
And I was so deep inpresidential and state and it
wasn't until I finally sat downto go through each and every
ballot measure and check myvoter resource guides and really
go line by line that I realized, holy fuck, indentured

(16:20):
servitude is on the ballot that.
I realized holy fuck yeah,Indentured servitude is on the
ballot yeah.
Equal marriage and granted in agood way, yeah, but it's kind of
mind-blowing that we're here,yeah, and to give people context
, with Prop 3, california'staking measure to codify civil
rights, human rights formarriage, equality of both

(16:44):
gender identity and race,marrying outside of your gender,
clergy, gender standards,whatever they are, and outside
of your race, because what we'veseen with the Supreme Court is
that they're willing to overturnyears, decades of precedent
because they want to push thisultra alt-right agenda.

(17:04):
So California is just takingsteps to codify that.
But then we're also Prop 6,we're looking to also finally
get rid of the last remainingbits of slavery with indentured
servitude.
Slavery is not rehabilitation,so your vote matters in
California and it enormousweight this election, more than

(17:26):
ever before.

Speaker 2 (17:28):
And that you actually that segues into how, how we
met and where our sort ofmissions converge, because I'd
done some work with Obama andthe call banks back in 12.
And you know all the peoplethat I got to meet there and
kept in touch.
And when the compressedtimeline became a reality, when
Joe dropped out and it was like,oh wow, she's got 100 days

(17:49):
every, a lot of, because so allthe resources went into
primarily the seven keybattleground states in a country
that that decides power throughthe Electoral College.
You know, for all its flaws, uh, it isn't still the way that
power is sort of decided, or, um, you know, taken from a side,

(18:10):
if that, if you can put it thatway.
But uh, one when, when we, whenit came time to get an office
next door, uh, brandon Keating,shout out to Brandon Keating she
called me up and she was like,hey, do you know anything?
We were like, yes, weabsolutely do know something.
So we were able to put in thevolunteer office help sort of
broker, that deal and bring themin under the auspices of Obama

(18:32):
for America, kind of likearchitecture, just because we
are California right Now.
What I've learned from thiswhole process is like last week.
It was 2.5 million calls calledlast week to battleground
states from California, right,hey.
And then you know, we have the.
We have bus trips now that areleaving every Friday and one of
the reasons why we're in here ona Sunday afternoon.

(18:54):
As a matter of fact, you justcame from doing a killer call
bank and for our listeners.
She came in and she was like Ijust crushed this call bank, I
want to talk about it.

Speaker 1 (19:02):
So, yeah, I was like you found my calling and she was
like I just crushed thiscallback, I want to talk about
it.
So, yeah, I was like you foundmy calling.
Yeah, no, no, tell it, tell it,tell it.
This is the role I was born toplay, so I've always wanted to
phone bank.
You know, you don't really knowhow simple it is until you get
into it, and there's obviouslyso many different ways to
contribute to the movement.
I talked recently about how Ifound, of of all the things that
I'm doing, one of the mostrewarding things I've been doing
is just like helping out myfriends get their shit together.

(19:25):
Where I have some friends whohave moved abroad but they're
still residents of CaliforniaTechnically, they're living
abroad temporarily and I'vehelped them with their absentee
abroad ballots or internationalvoter ballots.
Some of my friends have justgiven birth to their third
children like child.
So, helping people out andmaking sure that they have a
plan and then also checking in.

(19:46):
I before I lived in California,I lived in Florida.

Speaker 2 (19:48):
Hey, so did I.
So this, our whole office is aFlorida office.

Speaker 1 (19:51):
I went to college in Tampa.

Speaker 2 (19:53):
Same Tampa.
I went to USF.
Okay, I went to UT.
All right, all right, my exwent to UT.
Yeah, yeah, wow, okay, yeah,that's crazy.

Speaker 1 (20:06):
A very blue city In a very red state, red state, sure
.
So I've been helping my friendsand family who are still in
Florida.

Speaker 2 (20:11):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (20:11):
Get their voting plans in order and then
literally Providing them Voterguides.

Speaker 2 (20:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (20:16):
Like doing my research and then putting it In
front of them and making itreally easy.

Speaker 2 (20:21):
I want to give you A plug there too, Because we'll
have your link tree, um, youknow, for the show notes and
everything, and her link tree isincredible.
If you want to know if yourvoter registration is is set, if
you want to know where yournearest polling office is, you
know, if you want to know howyou can help, how you can call
back.
Uh, so much stuff is on is onyour page.
So, yeah, shout out to youthere and, um, hey, Bree, I'm

(20:44):
going to put this segment, uh,we're going to put this at the
front real quick so I can dokind of a setup for Lauren and I
.
Um, so, for those of ourlisteners that don't know, talk
about your.
You know your storya little bittoo, as far as how did you get
into activism?
You?
You know, as a, as a, as anendurance athlete, I feel like
it's perfectly apt to be anactivist, because one out of 100

(21:08):
is a success on a door knock ora call bank.

Speaker 1 (21:12):
Yeah, and I think that activism came first.
I think that there's alwaysbeen something in me that's been
a little bit anti-authoritarian.
Hey, give me some.
I grew up in New Jersey, so thesoftest people don't generally
come from New Jersey.
We're a little bit, you know.

Speaker 2 (21:29):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, we bring the cock-a-punch.
No, no, no, my wife's Indian,but they live in Jersey, the
East Coast side.
Yeah, yeah, no, it gives you acertain sort of like you can't
be pushed.

Speaker 1 (21:40):
And my first.
The first election that I waseligible to vote in was 2008
Obama in Tampa which is where Iwas able to cast my ballot and I
was able to vote in Florida,which was very exciting and
important and the more I kind oflike dug into the way things
worked with politics, I was like, oh like, of course I stand for
human rights, of course I standfor people to have access.

(22:00):
I don't think your socialstatus should determine your
eligibility to live.
So these things felt very likematter of fact to me.
And then, as I kind of got intomy career, I've, you know,
often been the only woman in theroom, especially in an
executive environment.
So I've also felt a big callingto, you know, support other
people and they're, you know,making sure everyone has a fair

(22:24):
chance at going to college, ifthat's their path, or getting
the access to healthcare thatthey need.
Um, so it always just felt verylike duh to me and, um, I think,
as things have shifted todefinitely in 2008, when I voted
in that presidential election,it wasn't quite as polarizing or
radical as it.
No sure, this isn't capitalgains tax and Mitt Romney, now

(22:47):
it's like people have gonecompletely off the rails and so
I think also a lot of myactivism on a local level was
really reinvigorated.
I went through like a traumaticexperience last year where I
experienced the total loss of myhome and all of my personal
property.

Speaker 2 (23:08):
And it was from a toxic mold.

Speaker 1 (23:09):
Oh my God.
So it culminated.
It was five years of me justabsolute chronic health hell and
towards the end I was ondisability and I was like I'm
fucking dying and we can'tfigure it out.
I'm in and out of doctor'soffices and navigating that
process.
For me, once I had made thediscovery, was just a reminder

(23:30):
of how privileged I am.
But beyond, just on the surfacelevel, as like a white woman,
the access to resources that Ihad, with community places to
stay while I was figuring outlike where do I go?
Having to gut my house, allthose things and it, I've always
felt that people deserve likepeople.

(23:51):
Housing is a human right yeahand that was definitely
re-inspired for me going throughthat where I was like fuck if I
was undocumented, if I wasqueer, transgender, suffering
from the disease of addiction.
Black or brown, I might not bein the same.
I might not be able to bounceback, quite the way I was and,
and I was so fortunate to knowthat I was like on a path to

(24:13):
restored health.
But thinking about that andthen also that kind of projected
me more into the local sceneand I had supported a number of
progressive candidates prior tothat, so I already had a bunch
of contacts and just navigatingthat crisis was a lot and then,
um I?

(24:33):
I was fortunate to buy a homein March in Brentwood where
Kamala Harris is based.
Um and I attended my firstBrentwood HOA meeting and this
was in March of this year and umMayor Karen Bass was there.
I attended her inauguration.

Speaker 3 (24:51):
I was very proud to Whatever.

Speaker 1 (24:53):
Yeah, and you know I was very disappointed in the
general sentiment of my fellowconstituents at this meeting
where everyone not everyone, butfor the most part the overall
complaints voices were.
They were talking about howhomeless people or unhoused

(25:16):
people were an inconvenience totheir quality of life, and that
was so upsetting to me assomebody who had recently lost
their home and I had gone therewith a different agenda.
I was like there's recentunprecedented heavy rainfall it
only takes toxic mold 24 hoursto form and colonize and like
wreak absolute havoc on people'ssystems and homes and personal
belongings.
So like, what are we doing aboutthat to make sure that

(25:37):
landlords if we are landlords orhomeowners and renters are
protected in this environment?
And just seeing that sentimentaround me was pretty upsetting.
From there, the mayor's teamhad asked me to stick behind
after that because it's quitevocal, and they were like we
would love to invite you to cityhall.
We need your voice to be heard,um and and once you go to the

(25:59):
chamber floors and like yell ata bunch of people.
It's very cathartic and, um,something kind of hooks you
where you just want to continuecoming back and I think also for
me, like it.
People were saying like Iunleashed.
I was quite upset when I wentthere because at the time we
were debating whether or not toprovide additional resources to

(26:21):
unhouse and on.
On that note, what a lot ofpeople don't realize about the
housing crisis in LA is like Isaw something where, around the
hurricanes, they were talkingabout how there's 20,000 people
living in house in Florida.
There's about estimated 60,000living in Los Angeles alone.

Speaker 2 (26:41):
Now I will jump in there, and only because you know
, for those that don't know meas a, as a musician, uh, from,
from your audience.
You know, as a musician I'vetraveled the world and when you
get to see other governments andhow they deal with just basic
municipalities and things likethat, you start to understand

(27:04):
also when things break down andhow quickly they can break down,
especially in smaller countriesand places.
I'd say we had one tour severalyears ago.
We had three shows canceled forterrorism in one tour and you
can just see how fast things canturn on a dime Now with the
unhoused, in fairness, skid Row,when you're talking about we

(27:26):
have two of the largest ports onplanet Earth right next to each
other and we have, you know,Los Angeles as a city is kind of
the third ports on planet earthright next to each other, and
we have, you know, los angelesas a city is kind of the third
largest city economy on planetearth on most days, and then the
weather is amazing and thenthere's also a sense of
community down there.
And so our numbers, because youknow what do we do?
We're, I don't even eight, tenmillion when you spread it

(27:49):
across the the county.
You know it's not like new yorkwhere it's all on top of each
other.
Now, I'm not in no way is thisin any way anything other than
we had this.
We had this discussion one tourwhere we had somebody that tried
to get on when we were catchingthe ferry to get over from
England to France and somebodyhad jumped on the back of our
trailer to a couple of peoplethat jumped on the back of our

(28:12):
trailer to get inside the, thethe ferry, to kind of take it
over.
And for me it was weird becauseon one level you want to, you,
you, you, you kind of want tohelp and you're like, but you
can also see the systemic partof it that's really really
broken down and and some of itis just sheer like.
You know, it's like when youhave nothing else, you're gonna

(28:35):
go to the best of the what arethe nothing choices around, and
I think that's where compassionis so much more, I think, on the
ballot this this year thananything else.

Speaker 1 (28:45):
I like try to reframe the housing crisis to people as
like this is a humanitariancrisis.
Yeah, and what I think a lot ofpeople don't realize is like
during COVID.
Um, I worked in tech.
I was very fortunate to work ina thriving.
I worked for a company that wasowned by Amazon.
During the pandemic, I workedfrom home.
It was, all things considered,a breeze.
A lot of people were losingtheir jobs and livelihoods in LA

(29:06):
alone.
Um, we, we jumped up about20,000 in people living unhoused
and granted maybe the mostvisible people living Mortgage
or the eviction moratorium right, which held for a second.
So the number one reasons peopleare living unhoused in Los
Angeles is an unforeseencircumstance, a medical bill,

(29:26):
crisis, health, losing theirjobs.
It's not like this illusionthat people think of.
It's just people who can't quitthe bottle.
And yeah, and no, no, no, no, no, yeah, sorry, yeah, and one
other thing that I also reallylike to tell people, and I think
it's surprising, is that morethan half well, two stats, one

(29:46):
more than half of the peopleliving without housing in LA are
women.
Most of those women aresurvivors of domestic assault
and sexual assault and violence,and then one third of them are
under the age of 18, theirchildren.
So it's like when when I hearpeople talking about how they
feel entitled to live in anenvironment free from poor

(30:08):
people it's um, and that's not.
That's not what you're saying,but I hear that a lot in casual
conversation.

Speaker 2 (30:13):
No, no, no, I would-.

Speaker 1 (30:15):
I think it's been conditioned into people's minds
that, like because I have more,my life is more valuable or
whatnot.
And we see this play out a lotLike all these issues are so
intersectional.
So we see this play out withlike wildfires, like my first
wildfire in California, in LA,when it at a weird time of year,

(30:37):
maybe fall, and it was rainingash and I was like I'm a 9-11
teen, I do not like this likeI'm getting the fuck out yeah
and what I saw unfold from thereis that so many people who lost
their homes went through hell,but then there was a lot of
people who had access to privatefire private estate.
No, sure, sure, sure, so it'slike survival of the richest and
I'm like that's kind of brokenfor the richest.

Speaker 2 (30:58):
It's the health care, though I mean, it's just the
natural evolution when you tearthe system down from the inside.
I think you know, and I justlike, for the record, what I was
kind of alluding to was I thinkwe have more of a
responsibility than any othercity to take care of it, because
we should be we should, youknow, be be leading out of this
by example, and we can and we dohave and turn that reach

(31:20):
towards your politicians.

Speaker 1 (31:21):
Yes, those are the people correct, correct, correct
.

Speaker 2 (31:24):
And I think you hit.
You hit something because weused to work out with our studio
, used to be in the hollywoodmedia district and then, and
then we got the opportunity tocome here and I didn't really
realize it until we had done thebuild-out.
And then I kind of realized ifyou look at a map of Los Angeles
, it's blue, except for reallyright here, which is interesting
, and I was like, okay, cool, Iactually want to take this as an

(31:45):
opportunity to try.
And you know, because you beingin your first homeowners
association meeting in Brentwood, right, and hearing you know,
because you being in a, in a,you know your first homeowners
association meeting in brentwood, right, and and hearing you
know stuff like that, I think alot of those people have just
been picked their.
The brains have been pickled insome ways because I'll tell you,
like federal, any kind offederal building, post office,

(32:07):
federal worker, building fox isrunning 24 hours a day on loop,
right, this sort of top onepercent agenda is filtered and
then it's disseminated into lies.
We know this from the january6th hearing and the release of
the text messages.
It's filtered into lies thatthen to get poor people of all
kinds to vote against their ownself-interest, right, and that

(32:28):
that's the place where I feellike we as a, as a, as a state,
I love it, I love it, itinspires me not whereas because
you can't we can't get there inflorida, right, we can't get
there, no matter how much youknow.
We maybe, maybe, but it's notlike here.
We have a super majority andyou also have just a.
You have a way of life where,where there's a, there's a
tolerance here and there's asort of an animal, the thing I
loved about it, which is why Iwas born in Florida.

(32:51):
But but when you, when youreally understand LA is like,
like planet earth, it's like noother, it's got, it's got, it's
got all of planet earth.
Whatever you want, it's righthere and I love that.
It says, and here especially,we have a lot of chance to talk
to conservatives and things likethat, and I'm I'm looking
forward to no matter whathappens on November 5th, we're

(33:12):
going to need to talk to eachother and we're going to need,
you know, to find some kind ofways.
The problem is, I do not thinkwe are speaking the same
language.

Speaker 1 (33:21):
We're not yeah, and like a couple of different
directions, we can go with this,but like we have a lot of
really important local elections, and campaigns happening here,
really important local electionsand campaigns happening here.
You know, if you think thestuff that's happening, the
shenanigans happening in thepresidential race, are something
.
They all start here and there'sa whole lot of it and what I
will say is like right now it'sdefinitely easy to doom, scroll

(33:44):
and get into this like pit ofhopelessness and despair and I
know I experienced it.
This is not like a sad song forme, but people say really
violent things oh, tell me andlike it's really bad yeah so
today I was like kind of likebracing myself going into phone
banking and I was like this ismy first time phone banking,
believe it or not.
I've done the trainings butI've never like dove in and I

(34:06):
was like really hoping to mobout to a swing state this
weekend.
I I unfortunately wasn't ableto, so I was like this is the
next best thing, I'll just callthem.
And it gave me a lot of hope.
And, um, I found that like Ijust got to use who I am to get
them on the line and then tellthem just in the most layman's
terms possible that like, hey,this is why I'm voting for

(34:29):
Kamala Harris.
Can I count on you to vote forher too?
And there was one person that Iwas able to get on the phone
and stay on the phone undecided.
But they stayed on the phonewith me for over eight minutes
and I was like, okay, let mejust tell me, tell you about why
I'm voting for her.
What are the things that matterto you?
And he would give me likelittle nuggets.
He gave away that he had, atone point in time, lived in san

(34:52):
francisco.
So I hit him with a like I usedto work in tech out of san
francisco and, like, gave himsome factual information about
kamala harris and her time as aprosecutor, because what I've
come to learn, too, is thatthere's a lot of misinformation
meant to contribute to thedivisiveness oh, democratic
party on purpose.
Elon musk is doing it every day,we're our own worst enemy, like

(35:15):
historically, when you lookback at like yeah fumbled
democratic races yeah it'sbecause we cannot rally behind
the candidate, and I see this alot with my own audiences and my
own friends, where it's likeyou're looking for the stars to
align and you're looking foryour presidential candidate to
share all the same values as you, and the reality is it's
unfortunately.
You can vote any party and thelocal level, but in the

(35:37):
presidential election at thisstage, 17 days out, it's a
binary choice and it's a votefor Kamala or any other vote
goes towards Trump and I seesome people who are like really
trying to like give it to thedemocratic party and like give,
teach them a lesson, but reallythe only person that's going to
be impacted by that lesson islike you and anyone who's not a?

(35:58):
White billionaire man.

Speaker 2 (36:00):
Yeah, my mom, you know, I grew up my dad poor, my
mom Cuban, and I grew up withonly knowing immigrant relatives
and only this sort of just kindof an immigrant sort of hustle
culture.
But you, you know, I justalways ran around thinking, okay
, this is, I know America is ademocratic experiment, but it's

(36:22):
a multicultural, multiracialdemocracy, right?
Which is what makes it great,right, what makes it great?
Exactly that's what.
And yet, uh, what give what?
What?
Because that's what gives youhope.
I don't feel like people aretalking loudly enough about the

(36:43):
con that is in which is the likeyou said people are to stick it
to the Democrats and stuff likethat, that this is not
something where he's not goingto leave at a presidential level
.
He's not going to leave.
You know, we were talking aboutit off before, before we
started.
Mike Flynn and his comments ofwhat would happen on day one

(37:03):
taking over right.
These people are telling usoutright and successfully tried
to overturn an election from theinside, and we're not punished
Violently and there was nopunishment.
So what?
This really is happening rightnow, with two weeks out.
This is a coup and this is afascist coup and I understand

(37:23):
where you know.
That's why I love Charlemagneputting Vice President on the
spot the other day, because whycan't we just call it what it is
?
It is a fascist coup and itsounds extreme because it's
coming to the left.
And if I'm wrong, perfect.
I'd love to be wrong on this,love to be wrong, okay.
But if we're right, this is.

(37:45):
You know, there's a reason,vladimir Putin, they have two
term limits in Russia too, right?
He's been there for 35 years.

Speaker 1 (37:52):
Well, that's like a perfect example, like a couple
of years back I was in Irelandat this literary festival and it
was a international forum andthey were talking about the
future of American politics.
And this was a couple of yearsback now, so we weren't this
close to the election as we arenow, and they were referencing
so many examples of like secondterm dictator leadership.

Speaker 2 (38:12):
It's no holding back like no fucks given and the
Supreme Court gave him the wordabsolute, essentially right,
Because if you put that in frontof an official act you can do
anything.
Which is the scariest part,because then you can't be tried
for an official act because youcan obstruct you getting the
information.
So ostensibly we're giving agreen light to that.

Speaker 1 (38:35):
That ain't happening that ain't happening and like
zooming out.
I think, like the reason somany people are not as vocal or
alarmed or as involved as we maybe is because ignorance is
bliss and voting is veryconfusing by design.
Politics are very confusing bydesign.
Well, there's the lies too, andthat.

Speaker 2 (38:53):
How does Elon Musk get on a pedestal, on a podium,
and said the only savior todemocracy is Donald Trump.
The only person that can savethe Constitution I believe was
another quote of his is DonaldTrump.
How does Dennis Quaid get onthe mic talking about democracy
and Donald Trump?

Speaker 1 (39:08):
This man does not believe in democracy and so this
is like a it's just narcissistssoup and I think like I love
that I think we got the episodetitle and I think about it like
I think about growing up and Igrew up in a very upper class
community outside New York citysuburb and at that time it was

(39:28):
like Republican and Democrat wasmore of like a badge of social
status.
And it's like I'm a Republicanbecause I am so rich that like
cute little Democrat.
And now it's.
I think there's still a littlebit a hint of that amongst our
culture where some people justalign themselves unknowingly

(39:48):
with a really problematic.
I can't even use the word leader, whatever he is number 45.

Speaker 2 (39:56):
He's a weak man's idea of a strong man.

Speaker 1 (39:58):
That's what's so funny, and it's like I mean
you've insulted and wrongedvirtually every community, every
population.

Speaker 2 (40:05):
You're not trying to.
Yeah, it's all division, it'sall negativity, it's all just
shit talking.
And if you want to vote for ashit talker, you know, then call
it that, but don't try and actlike this man is saving
democracy.

Speaker 1 (40:15):
Get the fuck out of here, like they're righteous.
And like even in a hypotheticalworld where Donald Trump was
protecting the middle class,upper class and just leaving the
lower like to suffer, your bagis nothing without half of the
population's access tohealthcare and reproductive
rights.

Speaker 2 (40:35):
Right, where do you?

Speaker 1 (40:35):
think like people like where do you think you came
from?

Speaker 2 (40:38):
Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (40:39):
A mother.

Speaker 2 (40:40):
Yep, yep, I think you know, and with where we are at,
it is a power grab.
It's been a power grab, thething about it I've.
I said this.
I said this from when October7th happened.
I was like, okay, well, bibiNetanyahu appeased the far right
in his party.

(41:00):
That makes a lot of our, someof our far rights look actually
kind of tame, which is scary.
But at the same time, bibineeded the war to stay out of
jail, trump needs this to stayout of jail, and that, in and of
itself, should be adisqualifier.
A convicted felon should be adisqualifier.
There's so many things thatshould be a disqualifier that I
think.

(41:21):
A rip-ass for example yeah, sure, yeah, no, serial, yeah, you
name it Serial essay, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (41:26):
Tax evader I.

Speaker 2 (41:28):
I think one of the smartest things that I saw
Charlemagne do as well, whichwas just on the economic tip we,
on all metrics I think MarkCuban did this last night too,
on Bill Maher on all metrics, wehave the best recovery of any
modernized nation on the economypost-COVID Some metrics by
three times.

(41:48):
And yet you know he's runningon the other side.
It's just so horrible and it'sdystopian.
And's dystopian and it's allthis stuff and it's not.
What I worry about is thepeople behind him, the people
under him, the Project 2025people, and so thank God for the
fact that let's do what we canBefore we kind of let you go.

(42:09):
I know you've come off of agood high and I don't want to
get down this rabbit hole.
So I want to, but before we kindof let you go.
I know you've come off of agood high and I don't want to
get down this rabbit hole, so Iwant to.
I want to do a little palatecleanser on our way back up.
So what is your biggest joyright now?
Coming up, say, between now andthe end of the year, what do
you think is your biggest joy?

Speaker 1 (42:27):
I mean, I think and finding community in this chaos
has been really like the nuggetof hope I've been able to hold
on to, and also in many wayssimilar to like running
marathons or whatever kind ofmusic your thing is 21 of them.
It's you know you find communityand it restores your faith in
humanity a little bit, becausepeople are coming together over

(42:48):
a shared mission and purposewhich is like human rights and
like our responsibility, likewe're here on this planet not to
like make money and be powerful, but like to help each other
out at the end of the day, likewe're tribal beings, um, so I
found a lot of hope andcommunity in that.
I feel that the more that Ispeak out, the more I'm finding
my own voice and also inspiringothers to like you don't have to

(43:11):
overthink it.
Like, say what you feel, speakfrom your heart.
Um, I was able to, as a firsttime phone maker, coach somebody
through kind of phone banking,um, and do a few of them
together and it's just like youdon't need to follow this
perfect script.
Just act like you're going upto somebody and like telling
them they have lipstick on theirteeth.
Like how would you approachthem in a way that's not going
to be like, if you're nervous,they're going to be nervous, and

(43:33):
that is just how do you matchtheir energy.

Speaker 2 (43:35):
How do?

Speaker 1 (43:36):
you like insert yourself delicately, and that's
how I was able to like get somany people in Arizona on the
phone for like eight, 10 minutesat a time and be able to like
hit undecided voters with hey,you know, like abortion
conversation light, where it'slike hey, in case you didn't

(43:57):
know it like one in four womenwho are experience a pregnancy
experience a miscarriage.
20 to 25% of pregnancies resultin a miscarriage.
The medical term for amiscarriage is spontaneous
abortion the medical term for amiscarriage is spontaneous
abortion.
Yeah, Not all of thesemiscarriages mean that the fetus
is gone but it means that it'snot viable and that there's no

(44:22):
chance.

Speaker 2 (44:22):
I heard someone say the other day it was a great way
to think about it that when youleave anything to the, what is
it?

Speaker 1 (44:31):
Your zip code shouldn't determine your
eligibility to live, determinelife like with the life of the
mother?

Speaker 2 (44:35):
yeah, so who is determining when and you can get
care if you're bleeding outsomewhere I mean, and that was
the same this is absurd.
It was toxic, right?
It was the same argument thatthey used to defend slavery too
that let's leave it up to thestates.

Speaker 1 (44:51):
states, and I don't know about you, but like I can't
even see my dentist tillFebruary 2025.
So imagine if you're in amedical crisis, trying to get
access to care.
Calling UCLA Health is likecalling the DMV like good luck.
So, watching all these women dieout, or people not want to even
go on to like people who canexperience pregnancies, not even

(45:12):
want even go on to like peoplewho can experience pregnancies,
not even want to go on to starta family because their
healthcare is determined bytheir zip code or state Like.
None of these fools should havea right.
It's me and my doctor periodfull stop.
So, very, very interesting time, but yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2 (45:29):
Well, and the last question I'm going to ask you
because you brought in yourlittle fur baby today and we're
definitely a studio of furbabies.
But aside from her, what isyour favorite type of dog and
why?

Speaker 1 (45:44):
I love squishy dogs and I love seniors.

Speaker 3 (45:47):
So Will is my first dog and.

Speaker 1 (45:50):
I grew up with Boston Terriers.
I love them, I'm partial tothem.
So she came to me through arehoming situation.
So as soon as she came up onthe scene I was like give me the
damn dog.
She's mine, and I always knewthat I wanted my first dog to be
an elder.
So she was seven and a halfwhen I got her.

Speaker 2 (46:07):
She's already body trained.
That's the nice thing about it.

Speaker 1 (46:12):
She'll never eat my shoes or anything, and she's
just like the best part of mylife, sincerely so.
I can't.
I can't like.
Dogs are the freaking best.

Speaker 2 (46:20):
Tell me about it.
Tell me about it.
Yeah, they are, they can solveanything.
Well, lauren Peretra, is thatit, peretra?

Speaker 1 (46:28):
Peretra.

Speaker 2 (46:30):
Peretra.
Okay, let me try that one.
All right, lauren Puritra,thank you, you are a beast in
the best way, and so much of theactivist side and what you do.
And, uh, you know, please, keepin touch what we're going to do
.
We'll make sure to have yourinformation on our uh show notes
and everything like that.
And, most importantly, uh,you've you've told everyone here
that, no matter where you're at, you can help right now and you

(46:53):
don't need to be.
It's okay if you're inCalifornia, it's okay if you're
somewhere else, it's okay ifyou're in another country.
There's lots of help that'sneeded now.
And both on the link tree thatwe have on our site as well as
you can go to votesaveamericacom, put in your information, show
up.
Yeah, we have it right nextdoor to us.
Every friday, there's going tobe buses that are that are

(47:13):
taking two nights, hotels, food,everything, but you can go
knock doors in the criticalbattleground state of arizona.
So that's fridays at uh, Ithink 11, 30 and noon is where.
And phone banking, yeah,multiple, multiple times a week.
All of it on our site andeverything.
Again, lauren, thank you somuch, appreciate all of all that
you're and everything.
Again, lauren, thank you somuch, thank you.

Speaker 1 (47:32):
Appreciate all that you're doing.

Speaker 2 (47:33):
Thank, you yeah.

Speaker 1 (47:34):
If you want, I can plug some direct actions.
I don't know how you splice itup.

Speaker 2 (47:39):
Let's talk, yeah, yeah.

Speaker 1 (47:41):
So some of the things I'm telling everyone to do
checking in on your people.
California is a vote-by-mail,by-default state.
Okay.
So, fault state.
So that's the other thing thatwe didn't talk about, but I can
kind of plug really quick isthat?
we're still rolling, so we cansub it in, right, or did you
stop it?
Okay, great, so I'm going to bean election worker this

(48:01):
election.
I have long felt called tolearn more about the democratic
process and the ins and outs,and I don't think it's fair that
we leave it up to our seniorsto be, working like 13 hour, 14
hour shifts.

Speaker 2 (48:11):
What a great point.

Speaker 1 (48:11):
Yeah, yeah yeah so, and I've always known voting is
confusing, Like it's not assimple as like you just pick
your choices and you drop it off.
Like every state is different.

Speaker 3 (48:20):
All the deadlines.

Speaker 1 (48:21):
But, speaking about California specifically, you can
vote.
You can register same day andvote in California.
There's hotlines that will helpsupport you to know your voter
rights.
But I'm going to be a votecenter clerk.
I'm going.
I've gone through my training.

Speaker 2 (48:34):
Now, is it going to be in Brentwood or somewhere
else?
Bel Air?
Okay cool, it's the closestpolling location that needed
help.

Speaker 1 (48:40):
It opens on Saturday, which I believe is November 2nd
.
There's different hours, butpeople can come cast their vote.
I've learned how to registerpeople who are unhoused.
So, even if you don't have aphysical address it's a myth you
can still vote.
You can register on site.
That's so important you canbring your cross streets of
where you most regularly sleepat night.

(49:01):
That matters because there'sdifferent districts, that you
different races for differentdistricts and then for all the
other states.
Like voteorg great resource, sothat way you can check if
there's same day voterregistration, being that
California is a vote by mail bydefault.
What I'm telling everyone use avoter guide.
Don't guess on anything.

(49:21):
Don't go off of last names orgender assumptions.
Use a voter guide.
Find an organization thataligns with your values, whether
it's Swing Left or PlannedParenthood.
Almost every organizationthat's involved in civics is
putting out some sort ofendorsements or voter guide.
Use that.
Make sure you don't leaveanything blank.

(49:41):
Vote up and down, and then mynext thing is drop it off in a
valid ballot drop box.
So USPS, cornerstone of ourdemocracy.
They make sure that people areeligible to vote.
They receive their ballots bymail, but there's a lot of
election deniers out thereworking really hard to
disqualify votes and just pullsome shenanigans.
So the best thing for voters todo is drop it off in a valid

(50:04):
ballot drop box, which are mostoften at a library, public
school rec center.
Mine was at a rec center.

Speaker 3 (50:11):
In.

Speaker 1 (50:11):
California.
Your ballot will come with yourlocations that are closest to
you.
And then my other favoriteresource is ballot trackscom
tracks with it or dot orgt-r-a-x yeah so I like to know
when my ballot's on my way, onits way to me, when she's like
on her little journey and gottencounted.
So I dropped my ballot off lastsunday.

(50:31):
She's giving much democracy,lots of, and I got a text, or I
got a voice note or voicemail acouple of days later and an
email confirming that my votehad been counted.
So I can sleep at peace,knowing that I did everything I
can there.
But now it's on to helping allmy friends and calling swing
states.
And there's a lot of differentways to use your gifts, whether

(50:52):
you're talking on social hostinglives, bringing community
members together, but the mostimpactful, like I shared with
you earlier, is just helpingyour immediate circle checking
in on your people, getting themregistered, making sure that
they have a plan.
Yeah, I've been surprised withnot in a judgmental way, but
like the demands of life aredemanding for a lot of people
and I know that like last year Iwas in survival mode this time

(51:14):
of year, so it wouldn't havebeen as easy for me if I had
just moved and needed to find myballot and register and all
that.
Thank God, california is youcan register same day.
But, um, making sure that yourpeople are set up and good to go
and that you can even ask themlike if they're your friends,
like ask them for receipts, belike okay, check your status and
show me, because a lot of myfriends have moved around,

(51:34):
shuffled around over the lastcouple years and maybe only vote
in the presidential.
I'm an every race voter.
But, you know we love a firsttime voter, However long it
takes you to get here.

Speaker 2 (51:48):
As long as you get here, we're all in.
Yes, yes, we're all in, yes,yes, oh, and then the last thing
is election workers reallyimportant?

Speaker 1 (51:54):
Because when we don't have enough election workers,
poll workers, polling locationsclose and most often they're
pretty strategic in how thesepolling locations close.
There's data that shows over50% of polling locations have
closed since like 2020.
And they most oftendisproportionately impact black

(52:15):
and brown communities.
So they'll strategically closevoting centers.
And then anyone who's disabled,low income, not able to get out
of work and get there in time,it creates further barriers,
longer wait time.
So it's a nonpartisan role.
But election workers reallyhelp power our democratic
process and ensure that everyonehas a safe, fair, accessible,

(52:37):
equitable chance at voting.
I signed up this year to be avote center clerk or I got an
assignment through LA CountyRegistrar, but I applied with
PowerThePollsorg and we'realways looking for new people to
vote.
California actually pays, so ifpeople are motivated by that, I
think it's like $100 a day foryour voting assignment.

Speaker 2 (52:59):
Power to the polls.
Powerthepollsorg,powerthepollscom and we still
need org.

Speaker 1 (53:06):
And we still need backups in case people call out
sick.
So there's a lot of key callouts for the states that are
remaining that need moreelection workers and now that
I've learned it it's so complexI'm like OK, I'm like I'm in it
for life and it's going to bereally rewarding and exciting to
help the people.

Speaker 2 (53:24):
Yeah, hell yeah, and come on, we owe it.
We can't have it.
Turn this on to our seniors.
Come on, so we owe it.
We can't turn this on to ourseniors, come on.
So.
Thank you again for the workthat you're doing there and for
anybody that wants to find outinformation on how they can be a
poll worker again.

Speaker 1 (53:42):
I love polls.
Yeah Dot org.

Speaker 2 (53:44):
Yeah, we'll see you after the break.
All right, before we go, wasn'tLauren?
I mean, she's a gem.
She makes me want to get upearlier in the morning and do
more.

Speaker 3 (53:57):
Yeah, I feel like I need to backtrack and be up at 5
to accomplish.
I thought I did a lot.

Speaker 2 (54:02):
I thought we did a lot too.
I thought we were doing a lotyeah.

Speaker 3 (54:04):
But she is like a walking resource.

Speaker 2 (54:07):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (54:08):
Like a walking tool box of knowledge and just action
.

Speaker 2 (54:13):
She knows about the down ballot races.
She's doing the work she's doing, the work, helping us out too,
kind of keeping us informed.
But before we go, as promised,we've got this fun game that we
have here.
We've titled Two Scams and aSlap.
We don't know what is real inthe news anymore and what is not

(54:33):
.
The Onion used to be a funnynewspaper.
It used to be this funny thing.
It was like, well, look atthese, wouldn't these headlines
be funny?
And then the Simpsons did somecrazy shit and we were like, ah,
that'll never happen.
And then it started happening.
And then the Onion just doesn'teven look any funny anymore,

(54:56):
and so we were like we have tocontinue with this, with two
scams and a slap.
And so I'm going to list downthree things.
All of them are pretty batshitcrazy, but one of them is
actually real.
Can you tell which ones are thescams and which one is a slap
in the face Because it's real?
So here we go, you ready?

Speaker 3 (55:04):
I'm ready.

Speaker 2 (55:04):
Number one the world's oldest person revealed
to be 128 year old ninja fromJapan 128 years old ninja from
Japan.
Researchers have developed icecream that does not melt.
It's called the Endless SummerTreat.
And the third is a guy makessoap from his own body fat.

Speaker 3 (55:27):
Okay, which one?

Speaker 2 (55:29):
do you think is actually real Two scams and a
slap.

Speaker 3 (55:34):
The ice cream one kind of just gets to me, because
then I'm like is it even icecream?

Speaker 2 (55:40):
then it's a fair point.
What's the consistency?
I struggle with the consistency.
Ice cream should not be chewyright.

Speaker 3 (55:50):
And, oddly enough, I believe that the man is making
soap with his body fat.

Speaker 2 (55:54):
You think that's a slap.
That's what that's a slap ofreality, right there.

Speaker 3 (55:58):
I want to say that's.
That's the one I mean.
You'd have to be either eatingan absorbent amount of food to
keep up with the production line.

Speaker 2 (56:09):
Sure, it depends on how popular your logos are, who
your influencers are.
I suppose, right?
I?

Speaker 3 (56:14):
mean because, you know, I don't know how much he
can put into soap after he goesthrough his body once or twice,
but you know yeah, I saw FightClub.

Speaker 2 (56:21):
Yeah, you gotta get it from other places.
You can get this all fromyourself.
No, no, no, no.

Speaker 3 (56:28):
I'm gonna go with that one.

Speaker 2 (56:30):
Okay, the slap of reality is indeed Guy makes his
own soap from his own body fat.
It's an incredible story, it's.
You know, some call itdisgusting, but this is
definitely next-level recycling.
We're at this place where aConnecticut man is drawing
comparisons to Brad Pitt'scharacter in Fight Club after
converting his own body fat intosoap.

(56:52):
He also posted some TikTokvideos detailing the entire
Grizzly process from body to bar.
Yeah, you know, I mean, youknow what's funny?
When I saw it, I was trying to.
I was trying to because ourproducer, bree, put this
together, so I was, you werelearning it in real time.
But I actually didn't know.
On this one as well, I thoughtthat the 128-year-old ninja, I

(57:13):
feel like that's coming.
I feel like that, with all thelongevity stuff and everything,
I think that's coming, andespecially Japan.

Speaker 3 (57:20):
So it's like I went, you know.
I was struggling a bit becauseit would not surprise me that
there's someone over 120 inJapan.
That's what I'm saying, andthere's also a ninja.
And there's also a ninja.
Sure it just goes hand in hand,it goes hand in hand.

Speaker 2 (57:33):
Alright, that's going to be our show today.
Make sure to check all of ourdescriptions, the website, the
Instagram, all that stuff.
If you care about discourse inthis game like we do, please
make sure to put some commentsout there and we'll do our best
to respond.
But, most importantly, getinvolved.
With two weeks left, no matterwhat, you can go to

(57:55):
votesaveamericacom.
You can find out how, no matterwhere you are on the planet,
you can get involved.
Phone banking makes a hugedifference.
Even though we're in California, we are technically.
We have the potential and thepower to be a battleground state
because we can make calls toother states.
Last week, we made over two anda half million on the volunteer
offices that we have here inthe state, collectively together

(58:16):
.
So make sure to get involvedthere.
You can find the Obama forAmerica, ca for Harris links,
which are on our site as well.
And yeah, love yourself andsomeone else and we will see you
next week.
Bye.
Slap the Power is a Slap Networkproduction.
It's written and produced byRick Barriodil and Asia Nakia.
Our senior producer is BreeCorey, audio and video editing

(58:38):
by Asher Freidberg and BreeCorey, and studio facilities
provided by Slap Studios LA and360Pod Studios.
If you're into online powerscrolling, like we are, don't
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And if you're as full of hottakes and crazy ideas as we are,

(58:59):
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