Book Club: Salt Baby

Falen Johnson's play Salt Baby tackles issues of Indigenous identity, family and inter-racial dating with humor.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hey, this is Annie and Samantha, and welcome to Stephane
never told you protection of iHeart Radio, and welcome to
another edition of Feminist book Club. But before we start,
I just realized, Annie, are you wearing a Lama shirt?

(00:25):
Is that a Lama Mama sweatshirt? Like I just Twitter,
I'm looking at you in our screen. I'm realizing you're
there's an animal, is it? Okay? I want you to know, Listeners.
I'm staring at her Lama sweater very hard right now
because I'm just real Ama sweater. I bought it in Peru.

(00:46):
It is the warmest sweater I have, and people compliment
me on this. It is the goofiest looking fuzzy sweater. Listeners,
it is very goofy, but people compliment me on this
all the time. Nice Twitter. Like the way the angle is.
I almost thought it was a poncho, which is why
I started staring closer, and I was like, there's something.

(01:07):
There's a square on its back. I'm just trying to
figure out what all it is. It's kinda there's a
lot of things happening, Okay, alright, alright, listeners, I hope
you have a picture of what and he's wearing because
I am definitely not as cute as she is right now.
But I'm like, she's got a lama sweater on. But anyway,
that has nothing to do with this, but I just
had to I just had to bring this up, all right.

(01:27):
But yeah, so we are doing a little something different
for our Feminist book Club because you know, we'd like
to switch it up, you know, Um and I decided
we would do a whole play instead instead of just
a book. But we should tell you it is a
very short play. So if you are seeking to do
a Native or indigenous play and you just wanted to,

(01:50):
it's kind of a one act. It's not a complete
one act, but it could be. Again, it's about like
what sixty pages long? Yeah? Yeah? And on the act
did you notice that they have a recipe? Yes, I
want to make this recipe. I feel like I'm building
up this play, but I want to I want to
try this recipe. By the way, also, before we start,

(02:12):
any did you do place? Have you done place? I
know you've acted and you've been in movies. Have you
been in place? I have? I have? And actually, if
you know, we had longer, I have a lot of stories.
I have I have not. I was in drama in
high school, which I know we've talked about, and I
acted in a few plays. Then I was not great.

(02:34):
I was very shy and I couldn't project my voice
very well. Um. And it was the type of thing
where you can tell someone's nervous, so it makes you nervous,
you know, like not comfortable watching them because you can
tell they're so uncomfortable and nervous. And then when I
started to pursue acting, like more seriously, when I got
older and out of high school and college, I took

(02:55):
classes that would culminate in plays and I've done I
did some that would really really jerk. And then my
drama teacher was like, I know, with the challenge for you,
and he gave me a role and I had to
have a Brooklyn accent and it was a comedy and
I was like, you monster. You know, I'm scared of

(03:16):
comedy in accents, and he was like, here we go.
I actually excelled at comedy. So yeah, we talked about drama.
I did drama in high school. That's the only time
I kind of I really missed it. Um. But I'm
also very lazy and don't like to memorize lines. This
is where I'm like, I know, I couldn't do well
because I would flub all of my auditions because I

(03:37):
wouldn't memorize it. I was a great actor, better at memorizing.
But I am a part of the Thespian society. Yo,
who's with me? Who's because my first play I was
a stage manager and that is so much work. She
just really thought my teacher Ms. Miller shout out r
I P. She was an amazing teacher, my favorite teacher.

(03:58):
She was like, you're so organized and detail. Let me
put you as a stage manager. Having no experience in theater.
That was my first play, and I was like, what
is happening? And it happened to be a competition play.
I think we actually scored third on that one though,
But yeah, so it was rough. It was rough, but
I was in Noises Off and that was probably one

(04:18):
of my favorite players to do. And it's really complicated
with a lot of like meta types of things. Um,
and my character was quite funny, I thought, and then
even to the point that people complimented me and said,
you know, it was at this moment that saw you
get into your character. You became that character, and I
was like what. I was a little confused because I

(04:42):
was like, oh, if you say so, sure, Um, but
I loved it. Shout out to all my drama people
from my high school, Filmore High School. You know who
you are. They don't listen to this. Why am I
saying this? Um? Shout out to my niece. She's my
youngest niece who is a part of that same theater program,
and she's working on trying to get into the Thespian
Society as well. Very proud of her. So yes, not

(05:06):
to get myself airs, oh you should, but I do
have my name on the plaque in my high school.
No one else knows there you go. But you know,
I love plays. I love the setups. I love reading
the books and reading the place because it felt like
real life. It made more sense to me sometimes than

(05:27):
books do with all the descriptures, because it kind of
gives you direction and then you you fill it into
it yourself. And and I love that build up, which
is a great thing to this play. And I won't lie.
So y'all, we are doing a short play called Salt Baby,
which was written by Phelan Johnson, who is a part
of the Mohawk and Tuscarora from Six Nations, Grand River Territory,

(05:50):
and it's a beautiful play. But it kind of felt
like like if I was to write a play, I
feel like it would be similar to this, you know
what I mean. I'mre gonna talk about themes about it
at all, but just like her expressions and her her
immediate like reactions to things and the defensiveness was like, yeah, okay,
that's too real. This is too real. But I really

(06:11):
loved this whole aspect, and it felt really nice to
read it in this format because it's been so long,
and I do again, I miss that kind of uh
read throughs mm hmmm, I miss it? Do you miss it?
I do miss it? I do. I think it was
something that really I actually feel this way about podcasting too,

(06:32):
though performance in general. Anytime I would read a play,
I've had so much stress about it and I'd be
so worried about it, but then when I would do it,
I'd be like, I love this thought. Yes, yes, I
don't feel that way about podcasting because I can't hide
behind a character. I really wish we could. We need
to try that sometime. Let's be completely let's press find
each other. Oh no, ter, oh my god. But yeah,

(06:57):
so we are doing a play today again. It is
by Phelan Johnson UM who was from the Six Stations
Grand River Territory believe in Canada, but you know, territories
are a little different. And as we talked about what
she has done in this play, yes, she explores her identity,
how as a white presenting First Nations woman, she tries
to dig deeper into her family history and her connection

(07:19):
to her heritage. And it is it is a beautiful
till it is. Um. It's also funny. Yes, it's very
very funny. I think it's spot on with a lot
of uh when you're that age, which was like young
college age, kind of the the dialogue that you have. UM,
I thought nailed it. There were certain it was great
in describing things and painting pictures, and there were certain

(07:42):
parts where it's like I wish I could have seen
this play because I could tell like, I bet that's
a really cool, simple but really cool visual cue. Right, So,
if any listeners have seen it, it's been staged a
few times. I did get to see a couple of
clips by one school that performed it, and it was
super interesting to see. Yeah, yeah, And like we said,

(08:02):
it's really short, so this one's gonna be probably a
shorter episode, but there is a lot of ground covered
um in it for sure. So Johnson studied at George
Brown Theater School and it has been in the theater
world for a while with several plays and protections under
her name. When she was interviewed about her play Salt Baby,
she said, storytelling is storytelling. It's part of us. Six
Nations for instance, has a long history of pageant theater, right,

(08:26):
And this was in reference to like them talking about
theater versus storytelling and what this looked like, and then
kind of a European standard of theater as she's like, well,
we've been around a lot longer, and of course they have,
right exactly. And when she was asked about why she
wrote Salt Baby, she said, I couldn't afford therapy. It's
not it's just me that I wrote it. I'm grateful

(08:46):
to my younger self. It's harsh in some ways when
you're at twenty you have stuff to process. I'm thinking'
more over my now, But it's strange looking back and
seeing herself and I totally totally agree it is when
you go back and read something, which is kind of
what we're doing on spenty fiction, but like when you
it's such a snapshot of what you were going through
at the time and you don't realize it maybe or
you didn't know how to deal with it back then,

(09:08):
and it's like, oh, I didn't. I wasn't dealing with
this correctly. I didn't. I was trying to work my
way through this. It is really interesting and this this play,
you can feel it like you can feel how honest
it is um. And like I said, from that time
of her life, right, I'm not gonna lie again. I
really wish I could get it back into my zanga
site so I can see my own to cement this

(09:34):
so desperately. All right, so let's get into the play.
We're introduced to Salt Baby, an alligator, a white boy

(09:54):
um on their first date, and it goes as expected,
a white boy asking a native person and about her
history for a lesson in the Mohawk language and awkwardly
joking about being just white. Of course we're going to
dig they burn into that in a bed, but I've
definitely been there, been there, um not native, being Korean.
We cut to seeing her grandfather during the state in

(10:16):
the background, so it's like kind of like the ancestral
voice talking, uh, talking to her and sometimes with her,
so they're kind of say the same thing. He continues
to be a background voice again in an ancestral voice
that comes back, yeah, which is one of the things
I was talking to you about when I'm saying, like,
I bet visually this is really interesting and like vocally
but yeah, it's it's very clear and very interesting. So

(10:37):
we later meet her father, who still lives on the
reservation and is an avid hunter, a proud Native man.
Their relationship is loving and nurturing, but still a bit tense,
as her looking deeper into her own DNA and identity
makes him uncomfortable. UM. Later we see that her an
Alligator have moved forward in their relationship, and a part

(10:58):
of their relationship is conversation of him not understanding her
crisis and identity. UM. She soon decides to seek out
more information on her ancestry and her own genetic makeup.
She's always said that she was three fours or over
half Native, but her physical appearance, which is white presenting,
makes her wonder about that UM, and we see Salt
Baby continuing her journey through meditation, a psychic, and finally

(11:22):
an actual DNA test. I don't think we actually ever
get results though. Um. Throughout this time she's struggling in
her relationship with Alligator and how she wants to make
sure that she can hold onto her native identity and
again it passed it on to her children. Also, he's
very wide so making problematic comments and a little bit
of micro aggression towards her as well. Um, And here
we see some awkward interactions with the partner's parents. It's

(11:46):
really yeah, we have drunkenness and fighting and again uncomfortable
micro aggressions from the white parents, which is like who
wants to be around a couple of fighting um, and
then the macho nous from the Salt Baby's father literally
comes out with bloody hands from cutting up a d are.
So yeah, you know, interesting and interesting reactions. Unfortunately, they

(12:07):
soon break up and she tries to dig more into
her native traditions. They talk about different things and on
dates with native men. One specific date doesn't go so well. Oh,
she runs into the white boyfriend, has a conversation with
her and the grandfather, the ancestral grandfather talking about Oh
he wasn't that bad, was he? The end? Yeah, yeah,

(12:28):
and I think that's she has. That's when she talks
with her father about which, by the way, the white
boyfriend alligator, I stole her father's toothbrush, yes, so she
could get DNA from it from the test, and and
then and end she decides not to go through with
the DNA test because her father she just realized it's like, oh, no,

(12:49):
you've told me this, You've told me this stories and
he tells her the story of why she's called salt baby.
And so it does have a lot of awkward social
interactions in it, right, I think, Um, again, there's still
several things to this. Again she does finally, the father
does finally relent and this is something you need, I'm

(13:12):
here for you whatever whatnot. We know that the mother
is not present. She left, and she says that she
went on to be more white. Um. So it was
very interesting conversation. Yeah, And again this is part of
her like identity crisis and trying to figure this out,
but still very uh serious about clinging to her ancestry
and her and her native background, which was really interesting. Again,

(13:37):
if you have time it's literally like a fatherly what
a thirty minute read if that? Yeah, oh yeah, yeah,
it's it's quick. It's kind of hard to get a
hold of. We had a bit of a trouble finding
it tracking it down, but we did it. We did it.
It was important that we read this because it was like,
this is something that's interesting, and yeah, so there are
there are some themes, uh, And of course we want

(13:58):
to get into that and have a little bit of
discussion because as much of her the play it is,
it is a conversation about her going through a lot
of changes to where she is today, when she has
talked about how she is happy who she is and
learned so much, but it took a while to get there. Um.
And of course one of the big things identity. She's
trying to seek who she is and is she truly

(14:22):
a native and how much of a native? Because that
was a conversation that's Ben had and we'll talk about
that in a minute. But but you know, just on
a personal note, of course, you know, I know this
feeling of trying to figure myself out, being told I
act more white has recently been a problem to me,
as when I was younger that's where I wanted to
identify as because that seemed like the better choice, you know,

(14:44):
in the world. UM, and then realizing, oh no, I'm
losing everything about myself. I've lost so much. There's part
of my identity that's been cut from me coming to
this trying to figure out what this looks like. And
for her, her conversation was being white presenting UM, even
to the point that the boyfriend actually says, don't you
wouldn't you rather have that? Isn't that better to seem

(15:06):
like you're white and you can choose to be that?
And I was like, oh yeah, it was gross. I
mean a lot of their conversations were pretty pretty gross
and like. And she describes that sense of unblogging and
having this like panic around it of like what if

(15:27):
I discover if I take this DNA test and I
discover something, um, And you know, she goes to the
psychic and she goes to she does all these things
that we talked about because she's like trying to find
her identity and trying to find meaning and she's very
like got a lot of tension around it. UM. And
it opens with her talking about her kind of like

(15:49):
indigenous card that's gonna inspire in Canada, UM, which comes
up a lot. So there was a lot of discussion
around like particularly Canadian policies and attitude around Indigenous people
right um. And actually, one of the things that we
do want to mention because it was brought up when
we were searching things, was the controversial idea of blood quantum.

(16:13):
And we're not going to go too deep into it
because again it is controversial. But if just in case
you didn't know, it's a according to the MPR, highly
controversial measurement of the amount of native blood you have.
It can affect your identity, your relationships, or whether or
not your your children may become a citizen of your tribe. Um.
So it's a big conversation as in fact, I know

(16:35):
recently on TikTok, a big creator who has come out
as being problematic who is native um had brought up
the fact that if literally just saying if you look white,
then you're white, And it rubbed a lot of people
the wrong way because it was that blood quantum conversation
for Native individuals and specifically who understand that there's problematic

(16:58):
conversations when you have white people saying I'm one so,
and so you're like, what the what the heil like
you really want to punch somebody. But the truth is
there are people who are white presenting who already struggled
not being identified as one way UM and being dismissed
another way. So it's kind of this whole big conversation

(17:19):
and this is one of our things that it's not
looking native enough to come through and then having people
come to them be like, oh yeah, I am also
one eighth something something and then feeling like, okay, this
is a problem in itself. And of course it seems
to me this may be white supremacy in itself to
measure you and push you against your own community. So

(17:42):
that's that's a deeper conversation we're not going to have.
But it is interesting to see, and I know when
it comes to people that are multi race have the
need to prove themselves one way or another, and it's
really disheartening for that individual. I could only imagine because
it feels bad enough as actual according to my twenty

(18:04):
three and me DNA that says I am Korean and
nothing else. Don't ask or look, don't don't don't go
anywhere else um to try to figure out trying to
be that in a community that oftentimes won't accept me
as that. So there's just this level of balance in
having this type of controversial term floating about. I couldn't

(18:26):
imagine what that looks like. Yeah, yeah, And we see
that throughout the play of her of Salt Baby. Um,
like the date at the end with the guy she
found through like indigenous dating site and him making her
feel like she's not Native enough, and then seeing you know,

(18:48):
her mom going this way and kind of being like, no,
I'd rather I'd rather be white passing more white, um,
and hearing it from her boyfriend, and then feeling this
pressure uh internally, but you know also from her family
of like you know, you need to have a native baby,
and it's like your responsibility because that's just how this

(19:11):
system works. Um. It's just so just all these like
forces kind of like she's at sea and just on
a really rocky sea just buffing her about. Of like
when she's trying to figure out who she is and
she's got all of these things, she's constantly confronting her right,
and of course there's also the small fear that she's

(19:32):
not what she claims and she kind of talks about
that in this conversation of like, you will always be this,
you'll no matter what you are, and the grandfather saying
you're a fighter, this is this is who you are,
so don't let that pass. This is a part of
my blood in you. Essentially was that conversation, and it
was interesting speaking of the grandfather. Of course, we have
a theme around family, whether it's the really obnoxious wife

(19:55):
family who be called normal and then they're like more disrupted,
Like immediately imagine that dinner party where it goes from
zero to one seventy in like one minute. Literally all
they're doing is bickering, and it's so uncomfortable. I've definitely
been around people where you're like, well that was awkward,

(20:16):
and everybody was abruptly and you sit in silence. Yeah,
and then they just ran off with the wine. We're
like we're leaving, you know, I'm gonna say goodbye. This
is the first time they met her, right, and she's like, well, well,
bye by. But then you have her father, who she's
obviously very close to, and then her I believe cousin Clara,
who is like telling her dog in the DNA they're

(20:37):
going to have your information. Don't do this to yourself,
which you know it's not. She's not wrong, and then
also like whether or not they use it against indigenous people,
which also she's probably not wrong, um, but also has
the famous recipe that we're talking about, the grandmother's recipe
that she cooks for her. It's quite delightful and I
really do want to make these cookies. Um. But it's

(20:58):
a sweet interaction. But obviously all the things aren't important
to Clara is the one that is the one that
knows the oral history of the family. Her father's like,
go talk to Clara, she knows, though she goes to
visit to get more information, um, which we don't get
too much more information purposeful, but uh, they talk about
the importance of oral history and why they do this,

(21:20):
and then they do have this big conversation of the
lack of history for Indigenous people and First nations because
the government we're cruel and wanted to decimate the whole
community of people and whole culture because colonization. And it
was an interesting taken like look at what they were
talking about, how they do look at like ancestral histories

(21:43):
and what they have to do to make sure that
it remains alive. Yeah, yeah, and I think that's especially
interesting given we're reading this play right, um. But also
as we said, as you said, there's this ancestral voice
of her grandfather throughout, and there's even part like a
ghostly voice of her father or the grandfather speaking through

(22:04):
her father, And I thought that was a really interesting
take on sort of that oral history. And there's one
part that's really funny where the grandfather is observing her
on this date with alligator, and he's kind of like
making comments and she's almost having a conversation with him,
but makes it look normal. I guess, Um, it's really

(22:24):
really interesting, like like the boyfriend's not like who are
you talking to? Is what I'm trying to say, but um,
kind of that dialogue of the past of someone who's
not with you anymore but you still carry. And then
that was one of my favorite things at the end
is when she looks at her hands and she says,
I used to think my hands were so ugly, um
like man manly hands, but they're my grandfather's hands, um,

(22:46):
and so that's like a piece of him is with me.
So yeah, I think that's it was really eloquent and
beautiful way to kind of demonstrate that oral history but
also just that ancestral history, right um, and yeah, it's
a good connection. Again, I think is interesting to see
how they talk about the different nations coming through and
um and what that seems like. And they were talking
about the switching and that wasn't interesting. I don't know

(23:08):
much about that. Again, I know your listeners like what
and essentially, UM, people trying to continue the community specifically
that whether it's Mohawk or whether it was Tuscarora, like
making sure that children were born within those communities to
continue on their heritage. And I thought that was interesting,

(23:28):
um in this conversation and self wish I don't know
much about that history, which we should probably and we'll
come back to um. But yeah, there's a like the
lineage and and continuing a community are continuing a group
of people, which is uh something that important, especially when
you have colonizers trying to wipe you out. You know

(23:48):
this whole thing. Um, here's something that I found interesting
and I was felt very relatable in this theme the
interracial dating or the uh. Yeah, like it's it's a

(24:11):
whole other conversation. And I say this as again, I'm adopted,
so of course it's not foreign to me. It's not
like I am actually coming from an Asian family with
Asian disapproval for being with a white man um in general.
But when trying to get trying to express what is
happening in my life and why it is important or
what it looks like when people are being racist or

(24:32):
precious towards me, and the fact that I get looks
that he doesn't understand um. Same thing that happened with
my parents, who would say they just they're just looking
at you because they're jealous or whatever, or they think
you're pretty. I was like, none of us, that's not
what's happening. And you are dismissing how I'm feeling, which
he does often in this relationship, and it gets into
the way, especially when she's trying to hone in on

(24:55):
her identity, but then him feeling like that she is
a using him for the mistakes. Again, we're not going
to go too deep into it, because I think uh
Johnson had a lot more grace to the idea that
she may have so many emotional ties and emotional reactions
because she was in the middle of trying to find

(25:16):
our identity and finding him, um, so insensitive to what
she was going through. Uh that she comes back, it's laughing.
He's like, I might I could have handled this differently,
so kind of bad. But at the same time, I'm like, nah,
it's a problem. He's a problem. Yeah. Yeah. I think
one of the clearest examples is when she comes back,

(25:37):
he's like playing video games and she's struggling with this
like identity crisis, and the first thing he thinks is
this means we can go get drinks, right, because she
had to wait four days to get drinks based on
this ritual she went through. Um that was his first like,
you could go get drinks now, right, Um, just thinking
about himself and clearly not listening to her, trying to

(26:00):
understand at all what she was going through. You're right.
I mean they did have a conversation about having children,
as we mentioned earlier, and she was like, I don't
want to have children with you. I would have children
with a native person. And he was very offended, and
I get that, like to the point like wait, what then,
what are we doing here? Are we long term? And
are we not? And the fact that like, is this

(26:22):
going to make it to the future, what is happening?
What was the point of this relationship? Um? And a
lot of the conflicts are the fact that he isn't
native UM, so he can't understand and that seems understandable
to me. Like if a thing doesn't work, because it's
that's not where you are. Again, like I said, she
has a pushing pull of being a little self effacing,

(26:43):
and so she's like, you know, I did these things
and it's not She's not wrong on that, but again,
like the bigger picture, when we come back to why,
what is important to you? And if it isn't and
it doesn't align, then yeah, it won't work. Yeah, Yeah,
I did like how and I can see they're definitely

(27:04):
problematic aspects to this too. But I liked how her
father and her grandfather were kind of like, yeah, he's skinny,
but are you happy? They're always kind of like happy. Alright,
that's good enough. Right Again, So he's a vegetarian too,
is always a white vegetarian dude coming to the home
of a man who hunts and eats his own hunt
like he cares for himselves and lives off the lands

(27:26):
kind of but like and loves UFC fighting. So all
the things that he would hate. It was quite funny.
Um to see that interaction as well. But I think
it's interesting. Then. Yeah, they were very accepting. Even again
at the end when the grandfather was like, yeah, he
wasn't that bad. It was kind of again, this is
a funny place. It was kind of just like, yeah,

(27:48):
we're happy, all right, all right, if he makes you happy, Okay,
you do you. I'm not gonna last. They didn't say
that a couple of times. I'm not gonna lask, but okay. Um. Yes,
And and it's not a theme, but I think is
important that we talked about it, because Johnson felt that
it was important. Uh, the humor in this play, as
in the factually talked about it, uh in another interview.

(28:09):
And in the interview they said Johnson is a great
believer in humor as a conduit to a place in
her language and content. She's quoted in saying it's a
tool it allows us access. People may approach our indigenous
content as scary, but they feel safe when they can laugh.
It's a way in a way for people to relate. Um. Again,
she is much kinder than she has to be. Then,

(28:31):
for those of us that are not Indigenous, and trying
to make people feel comfortable to understand the where she's
coming from or what she saw or just it's just
understanding a little more of the indigenous culture. Uh. But yeah,
that she felt that it was important that for her
to use this play in this way, and I think
that's something that important that we need to talk about.

(28:52):
For her doing this for us, I feel like she
does that for the audience also. I have a feeling
she is, as I was saying, self efacing jokes about
herself enough to like not take ourselves too seriously, but
in understanding this is something that happened and this is
something that needs to be talked about, so trying to
find that balance for her own personality as well. Yeah,

(29:14):
I mean I feel like the human really does shine
through in this, and her personality and her humor relady
shines through in this because it is it's a lot
of it is very serious subject material. But I was
laughing quite a few times. YEA. Yeah, yeah, just whether
it's just dating in general and having like the moment
of like what I just say type of thing, like

(29:35):
you know, like being aware, very aware of like oh
that did not make sense. I'm gonna move on with it,
or this doesn't make sense. I'm gonna move on with it,
which I do often like okay, keep going. Um. And
also again white people asking the typical like say this
for me, what does this say? What do you sound like?
You know? All of those things? Um, which happens off

(30:00):
and um, which again yeah, we laugh. We laugh about
it to a point that to make people more comfortable,
which is not necessarily something that she should have to
do or we should have to do in general, but
we did. That's what happens, that's what we learned to
make outsiders feel comfortable and or us as the outsiders,
feel more accepted, which is in itself a conversation. But

(30:23):
I think it's interesting because you and I had this
conversation that the atrocities that the Native community has gone through,
it does feel like a lot of deep serious content um,
and waiting through and trying to make sure we do
it appropriately and giving it all the respect that they
deserve it deserves because it is a serious conversation. We

(30:46):
know what's happening with the Indian Child Welfare Act right now,
and it is I hate it. And these are things
that are an attack on the Native people, the Native community,
and the Indigenous people that continues to suppress and oppress
them as culture and as a society a whole. And
I think that's part of the thing that she was
talking about, was like we we we don't have to

(31:08):
always be this serious, and that was that other part
is it's tragedy porn in that people watch for the
instead of appreciating that it's not always this way and
that they are human and that they have experienced several
motions that it doesn't have to be. I think reservation

(31:28):
dogs have a great uh concept of this as well.
I know there's a conversation of it being problematic in itself,
but the content that they give is through a humorous
lens trying because it's not it's people are happy. Indigenous
people for most of our are happy in their community, um.
And if they're in a good community and feel safe

(31:49):
with their family. It's not that it's not this whole
welfare level of like everybody's so miserable and dismay um.
And to pretend that's the entire party of its culture
is offensive to Yeah, which we've talked about that a lot,
kind of a racing the joy and fullness that marginalized

(32:10):
people's lives have. Um. So I am very glad that
we read this. I'm glad that we were able to
find it. Um and I very very much enjoyed it
and recommend it. Yes. So if you have time it is.
If you can find it in your local bookstore, do that.
But if you can't, Amazon does have it for a

(32:32):
marginal amount. The money does go still to high a
part of the money anyway, and we should we should
celebrate it. Uh plays like this and hope for more
because there's not enough Native Indigenous contents when it comes
to plays, and I'm being on stage and I would
love to see more. Yes, yes, yes, yes, And as always, listeners,
if you have any suggestions for what we should cover next,

(32:52):
be it's play, our book or comic, yes, please let
us know. You can email us at Stephane your Mom,
Stuff I hurt me dot com. You can find us
on Twitter at mons of podcast or on Instagram and
stuff we Never told you. Thanks as always to our
super producer Christina, Thank you Christina, and thanks to you
for listening. Stuff Whenever told Me his production of by
Higher Radio. For more podcast in My Heart Radio, you
can check out the hier Radio Appackle podcast. Where do

(33:14):
you listen to your favorite shows?