Speak Out on Queer Mutual Aid

Ava (they/she) and Charlie (any/all) speak out on queer mutual aid, the origins of mutual aid practices, and how you can get involved in your community not only in the wake of the fires, but year round! They also touch on a secret special guest, eating library books, and more!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Good afternoon. I'm Ava and I use they she pronouns.

(00:05):
I'm Charlie and I use any all pronouns.
And we are the Speak Out podcast.
We are Speak Out with Outright,
UCLA's queer college news magazine.
And we come on here every week,
usually on UCLA radio,
but we are in my apartment right now because of the fires,
to talk about events, topics,

(00:26):
and just anything relevant to the queer community.
So we are co-hosts and this week we're going to be
speaking out about queer mutual aid,
the history of mutual aid,
and how you can get involved in your community.
Yeah.
Yeah. So because this is our first episode of the quarter,
I think we're going to kick it off with a quick intro of

(00:47):
just who we are and maybe talk a little bit more about the org.
Okay. You're going to go first?
Sure. I will go first.
So I'm Ava.
I've been with Outright for I think about three years now.
I'm a first year master of social welfare student and a double Bruin.
I also went here for an undergrad in sociology.

(01:07):
In my free time, I work at the graduate student gym,
Ken Ross Recreation Center.
I do donzonru jiu jitsu at a JoJo in Palms.
And yeah, I write a lot of queer shit and-
I think we can curse on here.
We can curse on here because we're not on UCLA radio.

(01:28):
No dunce caps this time.
Yeah. So my name is Charlie.
It's my first year with Outright,
but I'm a second year at UCLA.
Should be a third year, took a gap year for mental health.
So since I got and did PAW,
which is a Pride acceptance week for this coming up in April,
which is really cool at UCLA.
I wanted to be part of Outright.
And now I help run the podcast of Ava.

(01:49):
I do a lot of queer stuff with the queer community,
like Outright on campus.
I also do a lot of stuff with disabled and disabled rights
and intersection between that and queerness.
I write music through a nonprofit organization
called Spectrum Labs.
And we do stuff also about queerness and autism,

(02:10):
but also just about autism.
And it's really cool.
So yeah, some of the stuff I do.
All right, great.
And then Outright in general is the oldest queer college
publication in the nation.
We publish once a quarter by print.
And about twice a week with online articles.
We also do this awesome podcast.

(02:30):
And we make stickers.
So anytime we have a print, there's going to be stickers.
So if you like stickers and queer things
and getting involved in your community,
we're definitely the news mag for you.
Another quick word on PAW, which Charlie mentioned,
Pride Admit Weekend.
They are currently taking volunteers.
They have meetings every Monday from 5 to 6 PM

(02:53):
in the LGBTQ CRC.
So please drop by if you want to get involved.
I was actually the director of PAW last year.
And it was really, really fun.
We run a big yield weekend for incoming freshmen
to learn more about UCLA and all the resources
they have to offer.

(03:14):
Shout out to the Outright stickers.
Yes, the Outright stickers are great.
I just got a new laptop.
And it's like, it only has one Outright sticker on it.
And we're going to have to change that.
It has the one from the Freaks print.
I don't own any so far.
You don't own any Outright stickers?
No.
We need to change that.
Maybe you need to design one.
Oh, that'd be fun.
I should do that.
You're doing art right now, aren't you?

(03:34):
Yeah.
Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
I'm an illustrator for Outright.
Yeah.
Yeah, do we want to talk about what we're currently
working on at Outright?
Sure.
Other than this right now?
So yeah, I'm currently writing an article for the print that's
going to be about the history of sex worker communities
and community care within sex worker and communities

(03:55):
and how the wider queer community can apply those principles
during times of sociopolitical turmoil.
And I'm doing an illustration for Amber Ireland's article.
And we are still discussing the details of that.
But it should have something to do
with the history of methods of resistance throughout protests

(04:16):
and what that looks like.
Amber can probably explain the article way better than I can.
I'm sorry if I butchered that.
All right.
So now that we've done a little bit of intro,
I think we're going to get into our topic.
So there's a lot of talk right now about mutual aid,
given all of the wildfires.
And I'm seeing people posting about it more and more

(04:38):
that aren't just mutual aid accounts.
So we wanted to give a quick overview of mutual aid
and its history, because there's a lot of content right now
about how you can get involved.
But not a lot about how it started
and how you can continue to be involved year round.
Because mutual aid is not just for crisis and disaster.
It's for all the time.

(04:59):
Yeah.
I mean, we can give a rundown on mutual aid and queer community
too, if we want.
Yes, we totally should.
Yeah.
Do you want to do that, Amber?
I mean, the first things that come to mind are protests.
And mutual aid is different than protests.
But when it comes to queer communities,
I think of Stonewall.

(05:19):
But Stonewall is a protest.
But still, mutual aid throughout the queer community
is like, ah.
So one of the things I study in school is protest work.
And so there's a lot of mutual aid
that goes into that, especially because it
is supporting a community that has been marginalized
and is under crisis.
And so I also think of things like the AIDS movement
and how lesbian and gay communities came together

(05:40):
to support each other during that,
and things in art movements like the big queer quilt,
which quilt history is really frickin' cool.
We should research that.
But yeah, that's just some things
that come to mind when I first start thinking about that.
Yeah, the queer community has always used mutual aid
out of necessity.
Mutual aid is a necessity for marginalized communities

(06:01):
when systems fail them.
The biggest example that comes to mind for me
is during the AIDS epidemic when lesbian activists
in the queer community started taking care
of gay men who had AIDS.
So I think that's really cool.
We have a question.
Don't answer that.
Okay.
I will not answer that.

(06:24):
So I'm gonna give a quick overview
of mutual aid in general.
So mutual aid focuses on solidarity instead of charity
and general community care.
And it comes from indigenous practices
that have been used for centuries
when indigenous communities had to start doing mutual aid

(06:45):
and community care because of colonialism and settlers
undermining the self-sustaining practices
that they'd had for centuries.
So mutual aid to indigenous communities
is a combination of survival as a community
and resistance to kind of force dependence on these systems
that weren't really taking care of them.

(07:06):
And that's kind of how we use it today.
It's both resistance to oppression
and resistance to systems that fail marginalized communities
but it's also survival as a community.
And it really is that principle of solidarity, not charity.
It's not someone in a position of power
or wealth giving to someone who's less fortunate

(07:27):
but it's us as a community working to take care
of each other all of the time, not just in times of disaster.
Mutual aid really involves just re-imagining our society
as more collectivist instead of the individualistic society
that we've come to be.
And it rests on the principle that meeting one person's need
is meeting our collective needs as a society.

(07:49):
Which as a former sociology major, I'm a massive fan of this.
Like this is kind of the society type I was searching for
during all those beginning theory classes
where we talked about all the different societies
that had existed over centuries.
And it involves like wealth redistribution,
distribution of resources.
And it really focuses on the fact

(08:11):
that there should be no restrictions
on who is worthy of resources.
So a lot of mutual aid groups give resources
with sort of no questions asked policy.
And there's a lot of principles that like shelters
and other places might reject people based on
like mental illness and drug use status

(08:32):
but mutual aid places don't.
They believe that people, all people, regardless of whether
you're a drug user, a sex worker,
that you're worthy of basic resources that they're offering.
And they focus on the idea that systemic oppression
harms everyone, not just the communities we see being armed

(08:55):
on a day-to-day basis.
Yeah, and I think that's really relevant,
especially considering how there's a lot of infighting
sometimes in the queer community
about who deserve about,
shoot, I lost my train of thought.
But I think there like about,
yeah, I think there's just,
people don't always agree on who needs resources

(09:16):
and who should be getting resources
and being prioritized of resources,
especially considering that there is always,
we get a lot of infighting when it comes to identity.
And I think that's really important to have a society
that is collectivist and not like singling people out
for what they need and why, yeah.

(09:37):
Yeah, so I think we should also run down,
how do we first hear about mutual aid?
Because I think that's very interesting,
because it's just, it's,
I know it's existed for centuries and centuries,
but it feels like people are just starting
to learn more about it.
I feel like my, what I go to is being someone

(09:57):
who grew up during COVID
and how that impacted me mentally as a teenager,
because I was put in lockdown
when I was halfway through high school.
And I feel like mutual aid was something
that really came to mind then,
because we were a world all going through the same crisis
and this horrible thing together.
And I feel like that brought a lot of people together
in a time when people really needed it.
And I think I knew about mutual aid before then,

(10:19):
but that's when it really became super relevant in my life
because I did grow up very privileged
to where I did not need mutual aid as much.
And so this is something that I didn't,
was something that was really important
during that time period.
Yeah, actually, that's amazing
that you heard about it that early.
I didn't start, I mean, I'm sure I knew
about more community care actions before then,

(10:41):
but I really didn't start hearing the terminology
and about all the different groups that used mutual aid
until I came to UCLA and saw a lot of different groups,
just like distributing food.
And until I started volunteering with nonprofits
and getting involved in social work.
Yeah, and I think also part of that was my mom,

(11:02):
it works as a therapist
and also as a art therapy professor at All New.
So I did grow up doing volunteer work
for mutual aid organizations,
because part of it was my high school required you to do that,
but also during COVID and during times
when that needed to be happened, we would go do that.
We'd go donate food to like churches,
even though we're not religious, during COVID,

(11:23):
for people who were hungry and eating food.
We also did things for like,
my mom works with this organization called Wellness,
which is by, well, she works with, she doesn't work for,
but they're by USC and they do a lot of things
with people who are families that need assistance,
often people who are BIPOC
and it's a really cool organization.
And they do a lot of stuff around the holidays,

(11:44):
which I would do as a kid going off.
Yeah, so that actually is a great, oh, we have a comment.
Think there's some hesitancy to blindly provide aid
because people who don't have need
may greedily take advantage.
My view is that it's a hazard,
but it's important to address
because it's a reason people use to deny aid.

(12:08):
Yeah, we can address that.
There always is the possibility
that people may take more than they need,
but if we restrict aid
and we make there be too many barriers,
like a lot of mutual aid companies,
like you don't have to register,
you don't have to fill out any eligibility forms,
you don't have to like sign up
because it takes away those barriers.

(12:30):
I feel like it's much more the case
that people who do really need it won't take it
because they feel a certain sort of shame
and they feel like just there's a lot of barriers
that come to having to sign up for things
and qualify for things.
And I feel like the good really outweighs the harm.
And also who are we to judge
if someone really does need it?

(12:52):
Like, yeah, someone may be pulling up
to get something in a nice car,
but they may have lost everything in a fire
and that car may be the only thing they have left.
Like they may not have food or other resources.
Yeah, and that's something that also comes to mind
as a disabled person is that that's an argument
used against disability checks a lot,
is that people will be on disability

(13:13):
because they don't want to work
and because they're lazy.
And that's something that is so not true.
And if we use that mindset,
we're gonna be denying people aid they actually need.
And also something, another thing that comes up
is that there has been a lot of worry about
ACE recently and wake up the fires
and people being pushed out of their homes.
And that is something where someone's undocumented

(13:34):
you have a mutual aid
where you don't need to put down certain information
is really important because you don't want to uproot
and destroy the entire family's life in the process.
Yeah, and I do want to clarify the person asking this
is asking it more as a devil's advocate sort of scenario,
just wanting us to like address that,
because that is one of the common criticisms of mutual aid
and of things like community fridges

(13:56):
and things that just give aid to everybody
is like, what if people take advantage?
And yeah, my response to that is, yeah, what if they do?
What if so many people who need this feel empowered to do it
because they see everyone doing it
and it doesn't put a label on them as like being low income
or like being some of these requirements,

(14:17):
they just feel like they can take what they need
and give what they need.
And I think that's a really beautiful thing.
Yeah.
Yeah, and if you guys continue to have questions,
please drop them in the comments.
I feel like this is also a good segue for us to talk about
some mutual aid organizations in LA.
Are there ones we've worked with, ones we've heard of,

(14:40):
and especially ones right now
that need volunteers, money and supplies
to help people who've lost their homes in the wildfires?
Yeah, so something my,
well, I feel like something that,
I keep saying something that comes to mind,
but it's not, is that there's a lot of people

(15:03):
who need mental health resources and support right now.
And there are some free mental health resources and support.
I let me, you can go,
I'm gonna get up my resources for this.
Yeah, I'm gonna bounce off of them.
On the mental health thing,
there's this really cool thing
called psychological first aid
that I believe almost anyone
can get a certification in online.

(15:24):
And as a case manager,
I think it's very similar to case management,
but it teaches you how to give psychological first aid
to people who've experienced a crisis.
And this won't just be relevant for right now with the fires.
This is going to be relevant
for people who've gone through shootings,
terrorist attacks, any type of natural disasters.

(15:47):
And it kind of allows you to address their needs,
provide them with coping skills,
assess what kind of resources
and other linkages they may need.
So I highly recommend getting certified in that.
If you look up psychological first aid free certification,
I believe it's like with the National Child Trauma Network,
but it goes for children and adults.

(16:09):
So highly recommend doing
that five hour certification course.
Go ahead with your words.
Yeah, so some words that I have listed
as the LA LGBT Center actually has emergency resources
that you can access.
And for queer people, that's something that
I think a lot of the times,
I was looking into LGBT resources
for queer people during the fire.
And not a lot came up because I think right now,

(16:30):
people aren't thinking about the LGBT community
being especially impacted
because this is something that's impacting everybody,
not specifically our community.
But when we are going through times of crisis,
having community is really important.
I've been really sad this week
that our LGBT Center on campus is closed,
but also it needs to be closed for safety.
But that's somewhere that's been
a really important place of community.
And having, I think,

(16:52):
I don't know if the DSU did this or not,
but we were gonna have a meet,
the Disabled Student Union at UCLA,
we were gonna have a meeting just for solidarity
because when you are in times that are really stressful,
you need community and that's really important.
And then UCLA actually has an Arts and Healing Initiative,
which offers creative arts workshops on Fridays,
which will focus on resilience and wildfires,

(17:12):
which is really cool.
And I think that there is a lot of,
UCLA does some stuff that partner,
that I think my mom knows about for her job
as an art therapist at LMU that works of art therapy
at UCLA.
And I don't think there's a lot of people
who know about UCLA, like arts resources and stuff.
So that's really cool.
Arts is a great form of resistance
and a great form of healing when you need it.

(17:32):
And then also there's just been a lot of groups
of people who have been bonding together
to offer free therapy to people
and going out and working with the community
at shell pairs and stuff.
I think that's really awesome.
And there's lots of orgs that are offering free therapy
right now that I don't like.

(17:54):
Take Root Therapy is one that is offering that
and Neuro Arts Therapy and Counseling,
which Neuro Arts is cool because it combines art
and neurodivergence.
And I think, wait, no, that's a different word.
Whatever, I'm gonna just organize today,
but ADHD has been going crazy.
But yeah, there's a lot of really cool arts orgs
who are doing stuff and also orgs
that are just offering mental health supports.

(18:17):
Yeah, there's a lot of free therapy going around.
There's like a spreadsheet that I think is going around,
which I think that's really nice.
Every time there's a crisis,
I know it happened during the hurricanes too,
therapists offer like a certain number of pro bono slots,
which if I ever become a therapist,
I hope to be able to do that.
Yeah, I'm gonna go through a couple more orgs
that are just in the LA area.

(18:40):
But yeah, the LA LGBT Center,
I wanna second that being like a fantastic nonprofit.
I did an internship there in the education center,
and they do a lot of great work to help queer youth.
And also queer people are really affected by this
because queer people are often a population
that's already been displaced.
Whether it be due to being kicked out of your home,

(19:00):
having an unsupportive family.
Also queer people are more likely to have been
in foster care and they're more likely to go through
more foster homes and be displaced more.
So I think all marginalized communities
really are disproportionately impacted by the fires.
And there needs to be mutual aid orgs
that are addressing their needs specifically.
One of those that I don't think I wrote down

(19:20):
is actually the Lavender Collective in Los Angeles.
They do a lot of great work.
They raise money for Palestine.
They help unhoused people and they're doing some,
I don't remember what they're doing,
but they are doing something right now for fire relief.
But yeah, a few orgs I wanna go down are Food Not Bombs,
which is a relief organization that collects food

(19:42):
that would otherwise go to waste
from grocery stores and restaurants and redistributes it
to unhoused communities and communities
that are food insecure.
Food Not Bombs is a national organization.
They do have a chapter in LA,
but they also have chapters in Long Beach
and I believe all across the country.
SJP, Students for Justice in Palestine at UCLA

(20:03):
is doing mutual aid in Westwood.
They're continuing to do mutual aid in Westwood.
They've done it twice a week.
Since I believe the beginning of the school year
and will continue to do that through the rest of the year
where they offer food and supplies
and they have regular residents of Westwood
who come to them for supplies

(20:24):
and they sometimes post like specific items they need.
Like I think right now they need size 13 shoes
and a couple of other things.
I can double check that on their Instagram though.
K-Town for All is a really good organization.
In Koreatown that does emergency distribution
for unhoused communities.

(20:46):
They've been doing a lot of work right now
with distribution of donations.
I actually volunteered on,
oh days don't have any meaning.
A couple of days ago with It's Bigger Than Us,
which is a nonprofit in Crenshaw.
They do a lot of amazing work year round.
They do back to school drives, Christmas holiday drives

(21:06):
and a lot of events for the local community.
But they've been working as a distribution center
which is really important work right now.
Because as you may have seen on social media,
places have gotten just an overwhelming amount of donations
that they don't know what to do with or how to distribute.
So It's Bigger Than Us has a big warehouse
where they collect donations
and they also have a big pool of drivers

(21:30):
who pull up in a big line
and they load all of their cars with items.
And then they send those drivers to different shelters
and locations across Pasadena and West LA who need them.
And they're taking volunteers right now.
Every night they have a sign up on their Instagram,
It's Bigger Than Us,
where you can sign up to either be a driver,

(21:52):
help load the cars of drivers
or just help organize their inventory.
If you wanna find out generally
about more mutual aid opportunities,
Mutual Aid LA is a great Instagram to follow.
They post just like a database of mutual aid networks
in your local neighborhood where you can search by zip code.

(22:12):
And they also shout out a lot of volunteer opportunities
and organizations who need donations.
The one that you might've seen on the outright story earlier
is LA Community Fridges.
They operate 15 fridges across Los Angeles
and they're always looking to expand.
They have fridges that are like outdoors

(22:32):
and in various businesses and pantries
where anyone can go and take food.
And they have a network of volunteers
who come and clean the fridges and we stop them
and post sort of like status updates
on how the fridges are doing.
There's also one that's doing a lot of work right now
is the Sidewalk Project in LA.

(22:55):
They do peer empowerment.
They do a lot of stuff with the arts too.
And they do a lot of harm reduction work year round.
But right now they're distributing resources
to unhoused communities.
And they come at it from a really non-judgmental lens,
which I appreciate.
They offer a lot of unique resources too,
like self-defense workshops.
Anyone who's here from Pride Admit Weekend,

(23:17):
they work with our self-defense instructor
for Pride Admit Weekend, Vanessa Carlisle.
But yeah, they do some great work.
And if you guys know any more mutual aid organizations
you want me to shout out, just drop them in the comments.
We do have a question that I want to scroll back to.
Oh, the argument people are using against welfare

(23:39):
is how do we convince the opposition
that all people are worthy of their money
because they're highly skeptical?
I think honestly, that's an argument you can't win.
Yeah.
I think the right is always gonna be thinking about money,
which they don't like to say that that's the main priority,
but often it is.
And I think that people,

(23:59):
it's very hard to change people's minds
when it comes to money.
I feel like a lot of people asking that question
don't want your answer.
They just want, they want to feel like they're right.
So yeah, I think nothing you're gonna say
is gonna change them.
But for people who are, I'm gonna,
for the benefit of the doubt,
for people who are genuinely asking that,

(24:20):
I want to say put yourself in someone else's shoes.
Like imagine that you're someone
who's coming to a mutual aid organization.
Do you want to have to prove that you're worthy of money?
Like you're already going through some hardship
that's bringing you to this organization.
Yeah, I don't know.

(24:41):
I think that's just a really negative way to come at it,
to think about are people worthy of money?
Like I think we need to come at life
with the baseline perspective
of everyone is worthy of food and housing
and hygiene and happiness.
Yeah, because those are just basic needs for survival.
Those are basic survival needs.
Like no one is worthy of like food.

(25:03):
No one is worthy of housing.
Yeah, like we're not talking about
like distributing Mercedes G-Wagons to people here.
Yeah, like.
We're not Oprah giving everyone cars.
Yeah, we're not like you, what does she give out?
Cars.
Did she give out cars?
She got cars?
Yeah, that's why that scene blew up.
There's also a parody where she gives out a bunch of bees

(25:24):
and they like attack the audience.
Wait, she gives out bees?
No, that was a parody.
Okay, yeah.
I don't know, bees are like the world's greatest pollinator,
but I don't want any.
I'm allergic, so I don't.
You're allergic to bees.
How do you find out that you're allergic to bees?
Because I was a, this is a tangent,
but I was abandoned by my nurse when I got stung
because she went on lunch break
and then I had a severe reaction

(25:46):
and then they had to take me home, so.
Oh, so you have to get stung to find out.
Yeah.
Oh, that's terrifying.
Okay.
Wow.
Good answer.
Oh yeah, thanks.
Let's see, give it a time check
because I've conveniently blocked our, there we go.

(26:06):
Good point on basic survival needs.
Yeah, a lot of mutual aid organizations
are targeting basic survival needs, housing, food.
There are a lot of really cool ones
that also do just things that make people
feel more like themselves.
Like they distribute like makeup to trans people.
Another really cool one in the queer community

(26:26):
that's been going on like forever is clothing swaps
where a bunch of trans people will bring clothing
that no longer feels like comfortable for them to wear
and then just swap it.
Yeah, we have TransUp, which is a trans organization
that UCLA actually does those.
I think that we, I'm not sure if it's quarterly,
but they do them pretty often, so it might be quarterly.
I've heard of that, yeah.

(26:48):
Yeah, they do them everywhere.
I don't know, I keep seeing them on social media.
If you know of any, let us know.
But yeah, the queer community has been practicing mutual aid
since the dawn of time because they've had to.
And that's part of something I'll talk about in my article.
So you should read it.
Yeah, our subject matter is deja vu,

(27:11):
which is a theme that is a little confusing.
Sorry to people who approved that theme, but it is at first.
But basically, it's the idea of systems of oppression
reoccurring throughout history
and how people fight back against that
and deja vu of oppression.
And so a lot of our articles are talking about resistance
and things like mutual aid,

(27:32):
and I think that's really relevant right now,
which we did not expect in terms of the fire,
but also in terms of Trump's presidency
was one of the things we were thinking
and think is a really good subject matter
for us to be addressing.
Yeah, mine's also gonna be kind of the deja vu
of how communities take care of each other
and how marginalized communities have always kind of stepped
up to take care of their own
and to take care of the wider community

(27:54):
during times of oppression.
Yeah, and I'm really interested in learning more
about mutual aid in indigenous communities.
So I may have to find some people to interview.
Yeah, that's really cool.
And so I'm a world arts and culture major
and we studied the intersection
between art and human rights crises
and also marginalized communities

(28:17):
and how we represent marginalized communities,
how we look at things like colonization and the history.
So a lot of what we talk about is how basically
most things come back to capitalism, colonization,
and indigenous people.
And a lot of stuff and a lot of things like,
for example, climate change can be helped
by indigenous practices and methods.
And I think that's also really relevant right now

(28:38):
with the fire, but also it's just like,
there's so many cool things that indigenous people do
and we need to pay more attention to indigenous people.
Yeah, we need to give a lot more voice
and a lot more power to indigenous people.
I've especially been hearing that the indigenous caretakers
of the Tongva-Gabrielino lands used to do

(29:00):
prescribed burns or they used to do controlled wildfires
to prevent massive catastrophes
like we're going through right now.
That was banned at some point so that more housing
could be built in those places
so they could just be made more dense
because you can't really do that in areas
of like the palaces where it's really, really dense.

(29:23):
So yeah, that's another way that just capitalism
and needing to have more housing on top of each other
has kind of bit us in the ass.
Yeah, that's something that's been really devastating
I feel like with fires.
You see, not you still, I will.
But that LA is very, very dense

(29:43):
and that it has just taken away so many people's homes
and it's been really devastating because it's like,
I went to the palaces a few weeks ago and it was fine.
I know it's completely gone and it's absolutely horrible.
And I guess that kind of segues into like what,
I guess this, like what things can people do
on like a personal level to just help them cope
with all of this disaster.

(30:05):
Yeah, yeah, we should talk about coping
and like what can you do for your community?
Because I think those are equally important right now.
Yeah, I think having community,
keeping community in the ways that you can.
I mean, for some ways this for me goes back to the pandemic
and stuff we learned during the pandemic
because thankfully the fires are not gonna last two years.
I have really hoped that,

(30:26):
but I don't think it's gonna happen.
So we're not gonna be isolated for two years.
But I think just finding ways
that we can still be with each other,
like right now UCLA is going back to remote
and we learned how to do remote during the pandemic
and we're using these old skills.
And I think that's something that's really important
is to remember we don't want crises to happen,
but we do learn stuff from crises
and to keep those skills and not just throw them out.

(30:48):
Because honestly, from a disabled perspective,
we have talked about a lot in the HSU,
how UCLA is not always the best
when it comes to remote learning options,
when it's not in a time of crisis
and providing those for people
who need them who are disabled.
So I think that remembering these methods, keeping them,
thinking about how we can keep everything accessible
outside of crises,

(31:08):
but also especially during them is really important.
Yeah, having community and building community
is really great.
I do, building off of that,
I wanna spotlight the fact that mutual aid
doesn't have to be with an organization.
You're like friend group, you're like big ass family.
Like any group that you can think of in your life

(31:28):
can be a mutual aid organization.
It really just means like the scaring of skills
and resources.
So if you have a unique skill, maybe you bake,
maybe you sew, maybe you like driving people
from the airport.
I think you're insane if you like driving people
home from the airport.
You are very necessary in every like small mutual aid.

(31:49):
Yeah, in every small mutual aid organization.
But yeah, form groups with your friends,
figure out what all of you need
and what all of you have to offer.
Because it brings you closer, it gives you that community.
And we really have to prepare our communities
for times of crisis.
We need to do the community building
when things are a bit more chill,
which are they ever?
I don't know.

(32:09):
But if there were theoretically times
where things were more chill and there were not crises,
that would be when you would do community building
so that you would get ready to have all of those resources
and all of those networks to fall back on
in times of crisis.
I think the reason so many crises hit
LA so hard is because it's becoming better.

(32:31):
And I think LA is a city that it's easy
to get really isolated in.
Like it's huge.
And UCLA is too.
UCLA is a huge school.
Like you're part of so many things in LA
that are just massive.
So it's easy to get like lost in the, lost in the,
there's a word I'm thinking of.
It's not kerfuffle, but it's a word like that.
You're a small fish in a humongous pond

(32:51):
and it's really hard.
That's the thing too, when I first came to college,
I was like, how the heck do I make friends here?
Because that's the thing is like joining orgs
and finding groups that are focused on often
a like main subject matter that's really political
and nice circumstance, but also in general,
like finding places where you can come together
with people is really important and not isolating yourself.

(33:14):
And it's just way better for your mental health in general.
Yeah.
Oh, it always happens during the crisis.
Yes, that's true.
People do always come together in these groups
and get a lot closer during a crisis,
but ideally we should be trying to build these networks
before crises occur.
But it has been really amazing
how all of LA has come together.

(33:35):
I've heard about so many people starting to volunteer,
signing up for all these different organizations
and donating a bunch of stuff.
So yeah, there's beauty in both and there's worth in both.
Yeah.
And I think also we need to think about the fires,
not just as a one-time instance,
but the fact that we knew this was gonna happen in some ways

(33:58):
because I remember as a kid, I was a kid, I'm autistic
and I have very, very strong sense of justice.
And I remember as a kid watching,
my dad was aerospace,
so I grew up watching Neil deGrasse Tyson
and watching something that's like,
there's gonna be huge fires when you are in 10 years
and things are gonna get really bad
and it's gonna be like hurricane level winds
and now it's happening.
And I'm like, oh shoot, this is actually happening.

(34:20):
And so it's like, this is climate change.
Like part of this is climate change
and the fact that we have these very, very dry season
compounding with these really insane winds
is like kind of the telltale that like,
something's going on in a foreign environment.
Yeah.
Yeah, this has just proved me
to keep a better eye on climate change,

(34:42):
which I mean, climate activists have been saying forever.
I actually, Al Gore wrote a book for children
about climate change and I was very, very enamored
with this book by Al Gore.
I love that.
Yeah, I don't know.
And I was like seven.
Yeah, I don't know.
But yeah, other things you can do to cope.

(35:03):
Be with your communities,
make sure you're like doing stuff every day.
I feel like it's very easy when we're not in school.
A lot of people are working from home.
Some people aren't, like I'm not working at all
because my workplace was like, it's the gym.
They shut down because the air quality is terrible
and patrons wanna lift outside no matter what.

(35:25):
There could be a fire like in the courtyard
and they'd still be like.
Um.
Which by the way, this is a tangent,
but when I posted that little running clip earlier,
I did also do a little bit of lifting.
I tried to get a good picture.
I looked like I was about to shit.
So I did not post that for your own good.

(35:49):
Okay, back to things you can do to cope.
I think for me also,
something I've been doing to cope is focus.
Like I think I'm gonna go on like a little bit
of like a nerdy tangent,
but like knowing your neuro type
and what your brain needs is really important
because our brains need different things
depending on the person
and knowing that I'm having ADHD and autism

(36:10):
during this time of break.
So this is really helpful
because when I was like what like 15, 16
and the pandemic was happening,
I had no idea what was going on with my brain
and the results was horrible.
And so now that I know that,
I mean it's not the same,
but I've been zoning in on my special interests.
I've been building lots of Legos.
I've been going and getting exercise
and I need exercise in ways that I can.

(36:31):
Like me, my family has just been taking me to the mall
and like letting me just walk around, build a bear
and then walk around the mall.
And that's just really helpful for me
even if I don't buy anything.
Because it's just.
Do you not buy anything?
Well, we can talk about that later.
But I'm good with the bill of the bear purchases lately.
But what about the one that was like this big?
It was like $20.

(36:51):
He was really cheap
and like 20,000 inches of space taken up.
But I think just knowing what your own needs are
is really helpful.
And not everyone does and that's understandable
because sometimes it's hard to get in touch with yourself.
But I think that, yeah, just like also
it's hard right now too

(37:12):
because like exercise is a really big thing for me.
Like I love going on walks.
I need that for my ADHD.
And so like not being able to exercise
as much has been awful.
So like finding compromises has been nice.
Yeah.
That's yeah, definitely.
Just do the things that make you happy.
Do things for other people
but also make sure you're taking care of yourself for sure.

(37:34):
Not trying not to do scroll too much.
Like I know there was one night
where I was just like on the watch duty app.
Which by the way, the watch duty app is great.
You should totally do that.
Keep watch of things.
But I was just like on it forever.
And I was like, no, you don't need to be on this
like 24 seven.
I know I kept looking at like that stuff last night

(37:55):
and I was like, I need to go to bed.
Yeah.
But also yeah, get involved with your community
because it's very hard to feel like all these things
especially if you're in an area
that hasn't had to evacuate.
It's very hard to watch all of these people
losing their homes and going through this really tough time
and just feeling separate

(38:16):
and feeling like there's not much you can do
because it is, I mean, we call it a natural disaster.
It's kind of a manmade disaster because of climate change.
But I mean, like it's,
it feels like there's not a lot you can do about it.
So getting involved in your community is really great.
So if you can join one of those mutual aid efforts
sign up to volunteer with it's bigger than us

(38:36):
or one of the other ones.
That's really great, but also do that year round.
Like I know a lot of places
are turning away volunteers right now.
Like there was another place I was gonna go to
in Korea town and do like a drop-off I think.
Like take stuff from their center and drop it at a shelter.
But they actually were full on volunteers.
So if places are full on volunteers, don't overwhelm them

(38:58):
but come back.
This is gonna be like a year to years long rebuilding effort
and places and people are gonna need your support
over the next year.
Yeah, and I think also
if you're not directly threatened by the fire
it's easy when the fires are no longer like blazing
and like filling the sky with smoke and ash to be like,
oh, we don't need to really be paying.

(39:20):
Like people can forget that something happened
and people are still rebuilding their lives
when it's not impacting them anymore
because they're not seeing it every day.
Yeah, I got some word
we may be experiencing technical difficulties.
So yeah, if the live kicks you out
just maybe restart your Instagram app and come back on.

(39:42):
Not sure what's up with that, but yeah,
keep getting involved.
UCLA specifically has a volunteer area, like a volunteer.
It's like an Instagram called UCLA volunteer
and they have their own database of volunteer stuff
but mutual aid Los Angeles also has their own.

(40:03):
And yeah, there's stuff of every level of time commitment.
And there's a lot of stuff that's really local.
Like I know student justice in Palestine
does it down in Westwood.
So if you don't have a car, that's a great option.
Yeah, and also something I just remembered
that I've been wanting to get involved with for a while
is that we have a Habitat for Humanity chapter at UCLA.

(40:24):
And that probably is gonna become very much more active
after once the fires die down
because the palaces are right there
and people are gonna need help rebuilding their homes.
Is that, do you wanna give a quick rundown
of what that does?
Because I hear a lot about them and I need...
I have never gone to a meeting
but Habitats for Humanities is basically
our organization that helps rebuild homes during disasters.

(40:47):
And I'm not sure who exactly they'll be helping
because some people are privileged and won't need it.
I think usually it's people who are more impoverished.
So maybe not as much in the palaces
but they will be doing probably more rebuilding
after this stuff dies down a little bit
and it's safe to go in areas that have been burned.
I'm sure they'll be helping a lot in Altadena.
There's been a lot more media coverage
of the palaces than of Altadena.

(41:09):
Altadena is a historically black neighborhood
and they will need a lot more help with rebuilding
because if the people have owned those houses
for generations and if those same people
were to try to buy a house in Pasadena or nearby today,
they would be priced out, which is really sad.
So in order to keep that historically black neighborhood

(41:30):
from being gentrified when it's rebuilt,
there needs to be a lot of care
toward making sure it's affordable
and making sure the people who lived there
before these fires are able to go back home.
Yeah, that's a good point.
Yeah, oh, another shout out.
They've been doing a lot of cool work.
They're not a mutual aid organization
but they've been doing a lot for the community
is Shopkeke.
They're a queer owned earring business

(41:53):
whose home was only a couple streets away
from the fires in Altadena.
They're gonna be going through a long process
of getting the smoke damage out of their home
over the next year.
And they just launched a new earring launch.
You guys, on the podcast, I think I'm often wearing
these little clown earrings, but these came from them.
And they make a lot of other,

(42:13):
they actually just made a set of earrings
that's an iridescent heart that says queer.
Oh, that's great.
Which is really cool.
They make some cool stuff.
They have like broccolis.
They make, I'm trying to think,
they've done vibrators.
They've done everything.
I feel like if you can name something,
they've made it into an earring.
And they have four cats, which is a reason enough

(42:33):
to go follow their Instagram
because their cats are really cute.
I love cats when there's like a screen between me and mom.
Except my cat.
I love her, but like other cats.
I don't know.
I feel like it's like children.
Like you love your child, but other people's kids are like,
I'm not with cats.

(42:55):
I'm not a big cat fan either,
but like I like he want to serve as cat
because it will be easier for me to maintain.
Also subscribe to Benji Plant on YouTube.
Yes, subscribe to Benji Plant.
He is a creator who has recently lost his house.
He's queer.
And they post their home,

(43:17):
our queen, like a drag queen, an actual queen,
just like slay their queen.
I, who, we specify.
Okay.
Yeah.
But yeah, support artists during that time, this time too.
There are a lot of artists who've lost their homes
and lost their supplies they use to make art.
Oh, query.

(43:38):
What?
Queer?
Query, queer.
I think that's, I think that means to say queer.
Yeah, queer.
Okay.
Perfect.
We got there.
It was a process, but we got there.
But,
yeah. And I think just art is a great way.
I mean, that's what I study in school.
So I'm always going to say, let's ever to,
like they didn't get on the podcast,

(43:59):
but art is a really great way to heal
and to provide community and provide comfort.
And you, there's always this misconception
that I have to be an amazing artist to do art.
And that's so not true.
So I recommend that.
That's true.
Yeah. This is as good as time as ever
to normalize doing things you're bad at.
Like I would not bad at,
but like things that you don't think you're the best at
or like, you know,

(44:20):
you're not the best at,
you're not the best at,
you don't think you're the best at or like,
you don't think it might end up in a museum.
Yeah. Practice art.
Practice the things you like to do
just because they make you happy
and bring you fulfillment.
I think, yeah,
the thing I've found most freeing
is just like doing all of my hobbies
and doing it because I have a bunch of hobbies.
Like I've had people say like,
oh, if you have to do so many things,

(44:40):
you're never going to gain mastery.
And I'm like, I do gain mastery,
maybe just slower.
And also I don't need to be a master of all of my hobbies.
I can be just okay at like racquetball.
I can be just okay at running.
And I'm perfectly over those,
still make me happy even if I'm just okay at them.
Yeah. Like I can learn guitar

(45:01):
and I can barely play anything,
but it makes me very happy.
Yeah. We will be playing our instruments
on an episode in the future.
We need to do that, yeah.
We're going to do it.
It didn't feel like the vibe for this episode,
although I did think about bringing my clarinet on,
but we will.
We're going to do a queer music episode
and we're going to jam out.
I can play hot to go on the clarinet
when we have our celebrity guest.

(45:23):
Oh my God, yes.
YouTube link, YouTube link.
Do we explain the celebrity guest
or do we keep that a secret?
It's so good.
Like let's keep it a secret.
Okay. So stay tuned for our celebrity guest
plus clarinets.
The only thing better than a celebrity guest
is a clarinet.
Come on.
Come on.
You don't own the banjo, right?
I don't own the banjo.
It's so sad.

(45:44):
I may be able to procure the banjo,
but I procured the banjo through a long favor train.
So I may, that just may be difficult.
But if any banjo companies want to sponsor us,
I will play the banjo every podcast.
I will like learn legitimate songs.
I will shout you out on every podcast.

(46:04):
I will shout you out at the end of my article
that is completely not related to banjos at all.
Or if anyone wants to gift us or lend us a banjo for like,
all I need is like three days to figure out a little bit
a little bit of banjoing.
But yeah, we do have an episode on our YouTube
where I play the banjo.

(46:26):
Banjo lore.
Our amazing editor in chief, JQ, had said once when I
when we joked about banjos
and it just kept coming up in episodes
and Emma and I would just like come up with an excuse
to bring up the banjo just to annoy JQ.
And I said, I'm gonna bring a banjo next week.
And JQ said, no, you won't.

(46:47):
And I said, okay.
So through this long favor train,
I like got it from a friend who got it
from her friend's boyfriend
who got it from the school of music
through a long favor train.
And I walked down that hall.
We filmed it in our Newsmag office,
which is a literal closet.

(47:08):
We are the queers in the literal closet.
I didn't think about it that way.
It kind of is. No, it is.
It was a closet at some point, I'm sure of it.
It's tiny and it has no windows.
It has no windows and it used to be really dank
until they like fixed the ceiling.
But anyway, I walked down that office,
strumming the banjo, kicked open the door
and JQ was like,

(47:30):
we love you, JQ.
But yeah, no, yeah, YouTube link to his YouTube.
We will link that.
We will link that.
I'm gonna link like a ton of stuff
in our Spotify description
and I'm gonna try to get this on YouTube.
Maybe, we'll see.
But yeah, unlike usual,
this episode will be tape delayed tonight.

(47:52):
Usually I say they're tape delayed the next week
because of the relevance of this one
and due to me not really having anything else to do
because my house is full of cookies.
I can't possibly bake anymore.
So we're-
Oh, is that why you have so little cookies?
Have you been bored?
Yeah, I've been bored.
I've been bored and also I did the Toll House cookie recipe
and they were bad.
And so I was like, I need redemption.

(48:13):
I need to fix this.
So I modified the recipe a bit.
I did half the chocolate chips, full wheat flour,
chilled them in the fridge and oil instead of butter
and they are delectable.
But I'm now losing my train of thought.
I don't have ADHD.
I have no excuses.
You have ADHD.
No, what do you mean?
No, I don't.
What if an occupational therapist thinks Ava has ADHD?

(48:36):
How would your occupational therapist
doesn't know that?
She listens to the podcast.
She listens to the podcast.
Which is also really weird.
I mean, I love her, but it's not her fault.
That's lonely weird.
Has she been on?
Have you seen her username probably?
No.
Okay, okay.
Yeah, that's interesting.

(48:56):
Probably don't.
My train of thought is like if the trolley problem
went wrong, which it always does.
Like there's no right in the trolley problem,
but it's like-
And that's a lot about running over five people.
It's five people versus like one person,
but it's one person you know,
but there's a lot of variations of it.
See if I could pick who I knew
and it could be anybody.

(49:17):
You can't.
You can't though.
That's the essence of the trolley problem.
And by that I mean like a really, really horrible person
who I don't know personally, like Hitler or something.
I'm not being like-
He's already dead.
Yeah, but this is still alive.
I'm not saying this like,
oh, I'm gonna murder someone I know right now.
Oh my God.
There's variations to the trolley problem.

(49:40):
It's two C chips in the-
I have no idea what you're saying.
Okay, please clarify.
But what were we saying?
We are getting close to the end.
We'll do a little wrap up where we talk about

(50:00):
just like sum up the ways you can get involved
in your community.
But I did mean to do this earlier to do a fit tour.
Okay, we have time.
Yeah, since we have time we're gonna do a fit tour.
They do these on like Instagram and stuff.
This is gonna suck if you're listening to the audio version
but I'll post a picture of our fits
so that you can go reference them.

(50:22):
So yeah, my earrings are from Shop Cacay.
This necklace is from Charming Charlies
in like the early 2000s
when that was like actually a thing that people bought.
This shirt is from a dumpster at UCLA.
Okay.
We need to do that done this year.
Like, we need to do the podcast from a dumpster.
And we're just pulling things out

(50:44):
and we're like, here's these shoes, here's this stuff.
Yeah, I mean, that's mutual aid.
I get a ton of stuff from dumpsters
and I donate all the stuff and like give it to friends
that I don't end up wanting
because I don't like having a lot of stuff.
I literally like tried to fill this couch with stuff
so it would look like stuff
because queer people love to have lots of stuff

(51:04):
in the background.
But anyway, finishing the fit tour.
This skirt is from Buffalo Exchange
and I am not wearing shoes
and I don't need to show the creaks in my feet.
Okay.
So this shirt I got for free from Hot Topic yesterday.
What?
Did you see it?
No, they were doing a buy one get two free sale
which was insane.
And so I was like, yes.

(51:25):
And then there's little frogs on it
and gay people like frogs.
These benders are unfortunate.
Both of these are unfortunately from Amazon
but I feel bad when I shop on Amazon
when I actually say it, but it's hard.
It's hard to not shop online
because there's so many places that are expensive
when you shop online that are not the easiest to shop at

(51:46):
and it's just you get stuff easier, but whatever.
But these are 18th century button-up pants with suspenders
and I'm gonna wear them for unfair.
Nice.
Are you doing shoe tour or no?
No, these are just shoes I got from Walmart
because I need walking shoes.
Nice.
And we do it, you need to do a hair tour.
Your hair is too cool to not do the side.

(52:07):
Okay, there we go.
It's a mullet from, I don't know.
From my great harbor I've had for years
since I was four at Fantastic Sam's and El Segundo.
Yeah.
That's awesome.
My hair is, I did it in my bathroom here.
Send help, the shower is green.
It's not really anymore.

(52:27):
I just haven't bleached it yet
because I can't open the window because of the ash.
So I don't wanna smell the bleach, but yeah.
I still don't know what the chips comment is.
If you wanna clarify what chips, I don't know.

(52:47):
We're confused, but yeah.
Get involved in your community.
Check out Mutual Aid LA.
If you wanna see what groups you can get involved in.
And yeah, continue supporting each other.
Support your friends.
Check in on people.
Just send them a text.
Send everyone you know in LA a text.

(53:10):
Oh, he wants me to use two times the chocolate chips
in the cookies?
No, that's not happening.
I don't like chocolate that much.
And then it's, what's the point?
Just eat them out of the bag at that point.
No.
I used to eat raw pasta as a kid.
Like as a kid. What?
Yeah. Why?
Like the like the angel hair is just like fun to not.

(53:31):
But can you even, is that like safe?
I don't know.
My mom would just be like,
here, your board here, just turn the fuck up.
This is like, here it's safe, shouldn't stop sweating.
Yeah.
Oh my God. Okay.
We should do an episode.
This won't happen, but we should have a summer
just talk about how interesting our lives were
as children of our families.
Cause we both have very interesting personalities.

(53:53):
Yeah, we do.
I could talk about all the weird things
I've eaten as a kid.
I was, oh, my parents are watching this
and they probably don't know that.
It's sixth grade.
I was in like this secret club in my math class
where we would secretly eat pieces of our workbooks.
But then we took a test to move up like in math classes
and I moved up to an accelerated math class

(54:15):
and the rest of the secret paper club did not.
So the secret paper club was disbanded.
Very sad.
I would love to know where the rest of them are now.
Probably also making like wild queer podcasts.
My dad recently talked to his sister
and he was like, he's like,
oh, your cousins are gay now, I should send them a podcast.

(54:36):
I'm like, I don't want to listen
to every single episode of this podcast.
Yeah, I know the podcast, it's like interesting.
You want to promote it a lot, but then you're also like,
do I need like the people in my life here
who like I just generally work with,
like knowing this much garbage donut.
Yeah, I did eat a donut out of the garbage.
I mean, I say donut singular, yeah.

(54:58):
No to pica.
What is pica?
Pica, I think it's a mental illness
where you basically eat things
that aren't supposed to be eaten.
Okay, yeah.
Probably a lot of people
in my strange addiction have pica, but.
Okay, I guess like no to that, but we support you.
We support everyone suffering

(55:19):
from all types of mental illness.
But also maybe don't eat paper.
I see library books.
Why, no.
I don't want to have to pay fines
because we couldn't return the library books.
Like you'd swallow it or you'd just chew it.
I have so many, this will need to be an episode.
Yeah.

(55:40):
Stay tuned.
Stay tuned, I guess, eating paper.
Just be like chaotic gay people can just be our subject.
Chaotic, chaotic gay people, but that's every episode.
Yeah, so you can be more odd.
It doesn't have to be crazy.
Well, it has to be in the format speak out on
because when I title the episodes, I do it like,
so it's gotta be like speak out on chaos.

(56:00):
Yeah.
And then, yeah, okay.
We should start filming more things on location.
This is kind of fun.
This is fun.
This is fun, we should film one like on the beach.
No, the audio.
I'm not doing anything for a week.
We're not.
The audio is gonna be, no, we need to film it
in places that are kind to the editor.
Yeah, which is me.

(56:22):
But yeah, we are unfortunately getting close to the end.
You should show the goose.
Oh my God, I have to show Mayhem.
Okay, this is Mayhem.
This is Mayhem, my goose puppet.
This was, shout out to Sarah from Outright
who gifted me this goose.

(56:44):
Yeah, this is a fantastic goose.
Very into geese, very concerned about geese
who may have been affected by the fires.
If you know of any aid organizations that are helping geese
and other like waterfowl, please let me know.
I would volunteer all of my time.
Geese can have all of my money.
They're fantastic.

(57:05):
But yeah, hope their quality is good
so that I can get back to seeing geese.
Those of you who follow my personal Instagram,
I'm always just out there feeding them peas.
In a world full of garbage donuts paper.
Okay, but garbage donuts aren't available all the time.
And I think I'm too paranoid about food poisoning now
to eat a garbage donut.

(57:26):
I know too.
Yeah, I'm like too scared of that now.
I won't even eat like a fridge donut
that sat there too long.
Damn, I don't want donuts.
Okay.
But anyway, I've tried to wrap this up like six times now.
Get out there, help your communities,
take care of yourselves in all these fires

(57:48):
and just general mayhem of the world.
Mayhem.
We love you guys.
We will see you next week on Speak Out with Outright.
Don't forget to follow us right here on at Outright Newsmag.
Tune into our show every Sunday at UCLA radio
from one to 2 p.m.
Unless otherwise announced due to fires.

(58:09):
We might be switching times and I've been Ava.
I've been Charlie.
And we have been Speak Out.
Bye. Bye.