Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Foreign.
Welcome to Hot or Iced. I'm Laura Beth Buckleiter.
[00:00:08] Speaker B: And I'm Allison Bringer. Here on Hot or Iced, we get together in local coffee shops to have conversations with fascinating people looking to make an impact, big or small, on the world and the people around them.
[00:00:20] Speaker A: We do that in three segments. First, we will brew it up. This is our chance to promote independent coffee shops and introduce the wonderful people who work in them. We get to meet our guests and catch up on the latest and greatest of, well, whatever.
[00:00:35] Speaker B: Next, we serve it up as we dive into the stories and lives of our guests, learning more about their lives and passions.
[00:00:42] Speaker A: Finally, we savor it, letting the aroma of the coffee settle as we contemplate some deeper thoughts of life.
[00:00:50] Speaker B: However or wherever you found us, we're glad you did. Now grab yourself a cup and pull up a chair.
[00:01:03] Speaker A: Here we are.
And I just was distracted by a guy walking by in a cleric collar. It's kind of like not. You're not really in a coffee shop until somebody walks by in a clergy collar.
[00:01:19] Speaker B: I also was focusing on that man just, like, looking at us.
[00:01:25] Speaker A: Yeah.
Well, welcome back to Hotter Iced.
We are here at Illumina Copy, which we have been having long discussions exactly how to pronounce.
[00:01:41] Speaker B: We got the official.
[00:01:43] Speaker A: We did. We got the official take on it. And it is illumin. Like, illuminated without the 8.
So not alumin. 7. Not alumin. 6.
Nor. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. Just alumin.
Nor is it alumino. That would be a thing.
[00:02:05] Speaker C: I think of aluminum this whole time.
[00:02:09] Speaker A: Yeah. So it's not. It's not the tin coffee shop, idiot. It's not the plastic coffee shop.
And we're in America, so it's not the aluminium coffee shop.
[00:02:22] Speaker C: What about the Illuminati? It's not that. Right. Oh, wow.
[00:02:27] Speaker A: That took a turn.
[00:02:28] Speaker C: Sorry.
[00:02:30] Speaker A: A little too close to home right now.
[00:02:33] Speaker C: Right.
[00:02:36] Speaker A: All right, so we are in our bruit section of the podcast, where we just get things started. We like the coffee brew, and we. We talk about it.
So we're introducing our guest, Austin Terry.
[00:02:49] Speaker B: Welcome.
[00:02:50] Speaker A: Yeah, Austin is a guest on the podcast, but he's kind of like one of us when it comes to the queer coffee club. And so it's. It's kind of like an insider guest.
[00:03:00] Speaker B: That's right.
[00:03:01] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:03:02] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:03:03] Speaker C: Happy to be here.
[00:03:03] Speaker A: Thanks.
[00:03:04] Speaker C: Excited to have you.
[00:03:05] Speaker A: Yeah.
The.
Yeah. Allison can tell us a little bit more about the coffee shop where we are. Yes, we're in Nora.
[00:03:19] Speaker B: Yes, Nora.
[00:03:20] Speaker A: We're.
[00:03:20] Speaker B: It's right next to North Central High School, if you're familiar with North Central High School.
[00:03:26] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:03:29] Speaker B: All right. So, yes. Aluminum coffee company owned by Kent and Anna Phillips. They actually were roasting for over a decade before opening the coffee shop. So they know their stuff.
[00:03:44] Speaker A: That's what we're going to do to Austin here before too long.
So.
[00:03:54] Speaker B: Yeah. Illumined.
So they talk a lot about wanting to bring light and hope to others. Their Internet password is BA Light. We were commenting that. That's fun.
[00:04:07] Speaker A: Yeah. And it's in a bright light on the wall.
[00:04:10] Speaker B: Yes. Yeah.
So they just opened a second shop downtown. I think it's maybe is on Meridian. But anyway, so there's two locations.
They sell their beans. And we've hosted a coffee group here.
So check them out if you're not familiar.
[00:04:31] Speaker A: Yeah, it's a place. And this has been one of my go to meeting and study places up here. And I didn't know until you told me yesterday. I think that they had opened the one downtown, which is probably closer to me and where I live. So I have to check that out.
Yeah. And if you run into me there, say hi.
Great. Okay. We've introduced our. Our guest.
Oh, Hotter Iced.
It's time. Ask question. All right. We know where Allison and I stand because those teams don't change.
There's just some things about your life that are immutable.
Okay. That's not one of them. I just, you know, I. I was trying to make a thing there, and it's not. Yeah. Okay. You cannot change your sexual orientation. You cannot change your gender identity. You can absolutely switch teens on Hotter Iced. And we won't judge you.
[00:05:30] Speaker B: It's true for that.
[00:05:32] Speaker A: Not really. Not really. Maybe a little.
[00:05:35] Speaker B: Maybe a little.
[00:05:36] Speaker A: I won't judge you. I'll be sad.
Why, Austin?
[00:05:40] Speaker B: So what team are you on?
[00:05:42] Speaker C: I am Hot and ice.
[00:05:46] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:05:47] Speaker C: Hot in the morning. My first cup of coffee for the day has to be hot coffee.
[00:05:51] Speaker A: Has to be hot coffee. Okay.
[00:05:52] Speaker C: I love getting up in the morning. Whether it is sunny and hot outside or cold and frigid. I want a hot cup of coffee in the morning.
[00:06:02] Speaker A: Okay. That's fair. Yeah.
[00:06:05] Speaker C: But after that, if I want like a 2:00, 3:00, 4, 5:00.
[00:06:11] Speaker B: That's why you don't sleep well.
[00:06:13] Speaker A: Yeah, we might be. We might be onto something.
[00:06:16] Speaker C: A five o'clock cup of coffee. It's always got to be iced. I can't do. Even if it's like super cold outside, like freezing cold. Like. No, I want an iced coffee in the Afternoon.
[00:06:25] Speaker A: The late. The late day iced coffee doesn't explain the mysterious burning sensation. So that's.
[00:06:32] Speaker C: And as a gay man, I got to hear the.
[00:06:34] Speaker B: Oh, the ice.
[00:06:35] Speaker C: My ice is melted, but I jiggle.
[00:06:41] Speaker A: How is that a gay man thing? I mean, I.
[00:06:43] Speaker C: It's a thing. I don't know. It's been like a social media thing where like all gay men, like, get in the car with their little iced coffee. Swish, swish, swish.
[00:06:51] Speaker A: Okay, all right.
The things you didn't know. All right, so what's some of our other dichotomies?
Peanut butter chunky or smooth?
[00:07:03] Speaker C: Chunky.
[00:07:04] Speaker A: Chunky.
[00:07:05] Speaker B: Okay, So I thought we were besties.
[00:07:07] Speaker C: I'm sorry.
[00:07:13] Speaker A: I mean, we're evidence. I mean, we compliment each other immensely.
[00:07:19] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:07:19] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah.
Oh, Coke.
[00:07:26] Speaker C: Oh, Coke.
[00:07:27] Speaker B: Okay, same. But I heard that we're not supposed to be supporting.
[00:07:33] Speaker C: Yeah, I don't, I don't support Coke right now.
[00:07:36] Speaker A: Right.
[00:07:37] Speaker C: Because I feel like the last two years, I like Walmart brand Coca Cola.
[00:07:43] Speaker B: Oh, okay.
[00:07:44] Speaker A: So I. I go for the. The Walmart brand doesn't. But the big K Coke, which is a brand. Yeah, the big K stubs actually is pretty good. Which. We're not supposed to be supporting code right now either.
They still want to DNA. Okay. And you know what I mean, I am not okay. I.
I can't. Yeah. There's enough of life that is being disrupted right now. I'm not going to get too anxious over disrupting my life over every corporate decision in America. Yeah, they're not going to have that much control over me.
[00:08:21] Speaker C: I got to defend myself here, though, because the whole Walmart brand Coke, I don't know what it is. I feel like Coca Cola has changed the recipe or something like that. But canned Coke through Coca Cola is like, not crispy enough. It's not sweet enough. And I think that Walmart brand Coca Cola has a lot of fizz to it. It tastes like it's sweet enough. Also, it tastes like a fountain Coke.
[00:08:44] Speaker A: Oh.
[00:08:45] Speaker C: For some reason.
[00:08:46] Speaker A: Yeah. How about Mexican Coke?
[00:08:49] Speaker C: I love a good Mexican Coke.
[00:08:50] Speaker A: Mexican Coke in the glass bottle.
[00:08:52] Speaker C: Yes.
[00:08:52] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:08:53] Speaker B: Never actually had one and I ate two.
[00:08:55] Speaker C: Really?
[00:08:56] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:08:56] Speaker C: You have to eat it with some tacos, though.
[00:08:58] Speaker B: Oh, okay. Good to know.
[00:09:01] Speaker A: Yeah, you have to eat the. Well, yeah, you have to eat. Eat the Coke as you drink your tacos.
[00:09:06] Speaker C: Okay, you said that backwards.
[00:09:09] Speaker A: No, you did. And I was mocking.
[00:09:11] Speaker C: Did I?
[00:09:12] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:09:17] Speaker C: I guess coffee hasn't kicked in today. Sorry.
[00:09:20] Speaker A: Clearly. Yeah. Or maybe mine has extra.
[00:09:23] Speaker C: I don't know.
[00:09:24] Speaker A: This is round two. Well, no, that's not fair, because I had my morning wake up coffee before I even came out for coffee. I have to have coffee so I can go have coffee.
[00:09:33] Speaker C: Yeah, yeah, I get that. I had my first cup this morning, too, so that's why I'm on my iced coffee now.
[00:09:42] Speaker A: There you go. Okay.
So what type of coffee. Go. Yeah. You have something to say?
[00:09:47] Speaker C: I do, because I want to go back to last month's question about the Reese cup because I was very opinionated.
[00:09:53] Speaker A: Yes. Okay. Please do. Yeah.
[00:09:55] Speaker C: There's only one right answer, and that is the Reese's eggs.
[00:09:59] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:10:00] Speaker A: Kate would have. Kate would agree with you. He would.
[00:10:03] Speaker B: There's more peanut butter. Is that. Are you the safest?
[00:10:06] Speaker C: Yeah, I love the peanut butter.
[00:10:07] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:10:08] Speaker A: Yeah. So the chocolate to peanut butter ratio has to be.
[00:10:10] Speaker C: I get what you're saying about the ridges.
I like the little, like, crunch to it.
[00:10:15] Speaker B: Yikes.
[00:10:16] Speaker C: But, I don't know. The peanut butter wins.
[00:10:18] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:10:19] Speaker B: Okay, Fair.
[00:10:21] Speaker A: Okay. So when it comes to ridges, I didn't even think about this last week until you said it right now. Do you need ridges on your potato chips?
[00:10:29] Speaker B: No, I prefer to not have them on my potato chips.
[00:10:32] Speaker A: So ridges on your chocolate, but not on your potato chip.
[00:10:35] Speaker B: Correct. I mean, I will eat a ridge potato chip, but wouldn't be my first choice.
[00:10:39] Speaker A: Okay. All right.
[00:10:45] Speaker C: Potato chips. I don't care. I'll eat both. I am a potato chip fiend. You put any bag in front of me, as long as it's not spicy or vinegary. Like sea salt vinegar. I hate that. Or the pickle one anyway. Yeah, no, I'll eat it either way.
[00:11:01] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, no, I like the pickle ones.
I'll eat the pickle ones when we're. Yeah, you can send them over to me.
Yeah. What was this. What was the not so spicy one that we had at the Super Bowl?
[00:11:15] Speaker B: The golden.
[00:11:16] Speaker A: Oh, the golden Sriracha.
[00:11:18] Speaker B: Golden Sriracha.
[00:11:19] Speaker A: Doritos. Doritos.
So, yeah, I'd be curious what you think not liking the spicy ones because Doesn't. It's not so strong that it, like, hangs with you.
[00:11:32] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:11:33] Speaker A: You know, so, like, the more you eat, the hotter your mouth gets. And it just.
[00:11:39] Speaker C: You know, I'm weird with spice because I do not like spicy. Like, Taco Bell's nacho cheese sometimes is a little too spicy for me.
[00:11:46] Speaker A: You struck me as the spicy type.
[00:11:48] Speaker C: But at the same time, I love St. Elmo's cocktail sauce.
[00:11:52] Speaker B: Oh, well, that's it. Because it doesn't linger.
[00:11:54] Speaker C: It doesn't linger. Exactly.
[00:11:56] Speaker B: I agree. I do love. I don't like spice either, but I love the horseradish spice. It's.
[00:12:01] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:12:01] Speaker C: So good.
[00:12:03] Speaker B: Wait, Ridge or no ridge for your potato chips?
[00:12:07] Speaker A: I'm with Austin. I can go either way. I mean, I like. It depends. So for dipping, I like a ridge because it has some more rigidity to it. It's physics.
[00:12:16] Speaker C: You get that.
[00:12:17] Speaker A: I don't actually know if that's physics. I'm not smart enough. Everything I know about physics I learned from the big bang theory, so.
But, yeah, it just makes. It makes structural sense that it has some heft to it. But I'm also a huge Pringles fan, so.
[00:12:32] Speaker B: Oh, okay.
[00:12:33] Speaker C: See, I'm not a big Pringle fan.
[00:12:35] Speaker A: You're not a what?
[00:12:36] Speaker C: Pringles fan.
[00:12:37] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:12:38] Speaker C: Yeah, I know. I thought you said it tastes like a potato.
[00:12:41] Speaker A: I thought you said I'm not a big spring girl fan. And I'm like. Okay, we can change. We can change the subject if you.
[00:12:47] Speaker C: Want, but you can't have said that.
Not a big Pringles fan.
[00:12:52] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:12:56] Speaker C: All right.
[00:12:57] Speaker B: Well, shall we get to our new snack of the month?
[00:13:00] Speaker A: We have. I do. We have. I forgot to ask when you walked in. We do. Okay. We have a snack.
[00:13:05] Speaker B: Okay, so these are cinnamon roll grahams. Goldfish.
[00:13:13] Speaker C: Ooh, interesting recipe.
[00:13:15] Speaker B: Different than traditional goldfish crackers. They're not. You know, they have the. The cheddar cracker ones, but they also have this line of gramlins. I think there's more and maybe something else, but.
[00:13:27] Speaker A: Okay. This is, like, classy preschool.
[00:13:35] Speaker B: I do eat like a child, so.
[00:13:38] Speaker A: No, I'm. Yeah, this makes sense.
I mean, at one point, you just. You stop, you start. You just call it koi and. Not goldfish anymore. Yeah.
[00:13:48] Speaker B: It's not more than that.
[00:13:51] Speaker C: Oh, there's a lot of spice on it. But then that one, like, has none on it.
[00:13:56] Speaker B: All right, here we go. Try it. Oh, they are kind of, like, powdery.
[00:14:00] Speaker A: Yeah.
Oh, some nice crunch.
[00:14:06] Speaker C: Good crunch.
[00:14:07] Speaker A: Getting a little. Getting a little ASMR thing going here with our.
[00:14:10] Speaker C: Oh, Lordy.
[00:14:14] Speaker B: No, they have the elf maple ones around Christmas. That's like, a gram, too.
[00:14:20] Speaker A: Yeah, I like these. These are good.
[00:14:22] Speaker C: They're good. No, they remind me of cinnamon crust. Cinnamon Toast Crunch has, like, a little snack pack, and it has, like, cream filled in the middle.
[00:14:36] Speaker B: Oh.
[00:14:36] Speaker C: So you get, like, that milky flavor, but it's like a sweet milk, like, custard almost.
[00:14:42] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. I was just thinking I would. I would. I would dip these in frosting.
[00:14:47] Speaker C: Oh, that would Be good.
[00:14:48] Speaker A: These are nice things, mostly because they're really small and I would get my fingers in it, and then I'd have to eat the icing off my fingers.
[00:14:54] Speaker B: There you go.
[00:14:55] Speaker A: Yeah.
They would have to be like my own little private cup so I could get my fingers in it, but remind.
[00:15:02] Speaker C: Me of Teddy Graham's. That's what these are.
[00:15:04] Speaker A: Oh, yeah, Yeah.
[00:15:06] Speaker C: I love goldfish.
I see what you did. Goldfish.
[00:15:14] Speaker A: Okay. Yeah.
[00:15:14] Speaker C: Like they're trying to mimic a Teddy Graham.
[00:15:17] Speaker A: Yeah, they're good.
[00:15:18] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:15:18] Speaker B: But these get your hands a little bit messy, whereas Teddy Grahams get your hands a little bit sticky.
You know that Teddy Grahams are sh.
[00:15:29] Speaker C: Little shiny Teddy Graham.
[00:15:31] Speaker B: I'm a Teddy Graham connoisseur. Chocolate chip ones are the best.
[00:15:35] Speaker C: I love it.
[00:15:37] Speaker B: Okay. Yeah. Well, if you guys are a fan of goldfish grams, check out these cinnamon roll ones.
[00:15:47] Speaker A: Yeah. How am I gonna. How are we gonna. Gonna.
On a scale of 1:1 to 10 cinnamon sticks, how many cinnamon sticks are we giving us?
[00:16:03] Speaker C: I'd give it a one. Sorry.
[00:16:07] Speaker B: Wow.
[00:16:08] Speaker A: That's a turn an eight.
[00:16:11] Speaker C: I don't know where I got one. Out of there. I meant to say eight.
[00:16:14] Speaker A: Eight. You give it a one, but you'll do it eight times.
[00:16:17] Speaker C: Exactly.
[00:16:18] Speaker A: There you go.
Dan, how about you? How many centimeters?
[00:16:22] Speaker B: Say eight or nine.
[00:16:23] Speaker A: Yeah. Okay.
[00:16:24] Speaker B: For you?
[00:16:25] Speaker A: Yeah, about the same. Yeah. I think the only. I think the text, the, like, the finger residue is the only thing really keeping it out of a 10.
[00:16:33] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:16:34] Speaker A: And I would like it. I think I would love these. Like, a little bit more cracker Cheez. It size.
I'm just kind of obsessed with the dipping thing, and I want a little bit more dipping surface.
[00:16:47] Speaker C: That's fair.
[00:16:48] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's not what they're for, so, I mean, that's. I'm asking them to be something they're not, which is something that we shouldn't do with people or snacks.
[00:16:57] Speaker B: But it was born this way.
[00:17:13] Speaker C: This would be really good with a hot coffee.
[00:17:15] Speaker B: Yeah, I agree. I don't like hot coffee, but it would be.
[00:17:22] Speaker A: Oh, speaking of dipping, maybe I should just dip one in my coffee.
[00:17:25] Speaker B: Oh, there you go.
[00:17:28] Speaker A: This is my blueberry. Is it blueberry brown sugar? Yeah.
[00:17:31] Speaker B: No. BlackBerry brown sugar. It's delicious.
[00:17:34] Speaker A: BlackBerry brown sugar. It's delicious because you got the same thing iced, right?
[00:17:37] Speaker B: I did. Yes. Yeah, Check that out. If you're here because it's delicious, then.
[00:17:42] Speaker C: I got the cookie butter.
[00:17:43] Speaker B: Yeah. You liked it?
[00:17:45] Speaker C: It was really good iced.
[00:17:47] Speaker A: Yeah, I had that hot round one. It was Very sweet.
[00:17:51] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:17:52] Speaker A: Which I'm also very sweet, so it was fine.
[00:17:54] Speaker C: Yeah, that's how I am. I like mine like super sweet.
[00:17:58] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:17:59] Speaker C: Like. Oh.
[00:18:00] Speaker A: It is noted that none of you neither denied nor affirmed my sweetness.
[00:18:04] Speaker B: But okay, I'm just go back and listen. I did.
[00:18:11] Speaker C: You're very sweet.
[00:18:13] Speaker A: Thank you.
What's a girl got to do to get a couple around? You got to ask for subtle hints are not going to get you anywhere in this crowd.
All right, well, we've got some fun stuff to talk about today. We're going to get to know Austin a little bit better and talk about the coffee club and how you all came, how you came to join us here. And we have our question.
[00:18:42] Speaker B: That's right.
[00:18:44] Speaker A: What is your voice?
So stick around. It's gonna be a good time.
[00:18:54] Speaker B: Hotter Ice is produced by the Indie Queer Coffee Club, which you can find and follow on Facebook or Instagram. There you can learn about our in person gatherings and other ways to be part of this community. We really like coffee, but we love people and would love to meet you. For now, stick around. It's time to serve it up.
[00:19:15] Speaker A: We originally were calling this segment Pour it Out, but every time I said it, I felt like I was getting rid of the coffee.
It's like we made that but it really wasn't very good. So we're just going to pour it out.
So serve it up.
[00:19:31] Speaker C: Serve it up.
[00:19:32] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, it almost kind of feels like I'm offering my guests on the silver platter, but.
[00:19:38] Speaker C: And see, my queer brain is thinking you're serving it up, Queen. Like, yes, it is very queer coded, so I love it.
[00:19:45] Speaker A: Okay, we're going to go with your brain and not mine.
Yeah, mine will overthink this until the day is done. So.
So it's going to be Serve it Up and that's going to be what we're going to stick with for a while. As per Austin. If I question it again, remind me of the Austin principle. Oh, I will.
[00:20:04] Speaker C: Oh, great Lord.
[00:20:08] Speaker A: Okay, our. Yeah, our guest today is Austin Terry.
Austin is one of our co conspirators in the Indie Queer Coffee Club. Absolutely. And yeah, we're just going to talk about what brought you to the coffee club and what you're doing with us now. Austin, just for context, is our social media guru and is. Has brilliantly taken over the process and filling in a gap.
Yes, much, much left by Alison and I's other vast skill sets. So it's been great to have you. So, yeah, tell us how long you. How long have you been?
[00:20:47] Speaker C: My first coffee group was October of 2023.
[00:20:52] Speaker A: Yeah, that's about right.
[00:20:53] Speaker C: October 23rd. I had just found you guys on Instagram. I live in Winchester, Indiana, so that's about an hour and a half away from the Indy area.
I work from home, and I just moved back to Indiana from living in Texas for 9ish years. So I don't have a social life.
Friends work. My friends from work are my dogs.
So I was looking for something to get me out of the house that.
[00:21:25] Speaker A: Often works out so much better.
[00:21:27] Speaker C: Right.
And so I had always worked Saturdays as well, so I just found a new schedule. I was off on Saturdays, wanted to find something for me to do. And I love coffee, and I'm gay, so this was perfect.
[00:21:47] Speaker A: That's. That's pretty much the.
Pretty much the requirement.
[00:21:51] Speaker B: Crazy.
[00:21:52] Speaker A: And loving coffee is kind of optional.
[00:21:55] Speaker B: True. I mean, you can get tea if.
[00:21:56] Speaker C: You want, I guess, as Summer says. I guess. But who wants tea?
[00:22:01] Speaker A: Yeah, we've actually scheduled one of our future recordings at a tea shop.
[00:22:07] Speaker C: Oh, nice.
[00:22:08] Speaker A: Yeah, so we're not gonna. We're gonna be careful how we set ourselves up on slamming the teeth. Tea. Tea game.
The.
Yeah. So you came here where in Texas, by the way?
[00:22:24] Speaker C: I was all over the place. So I lived in Dallas for about a year. I was then in Houston for, like, six months, and then I was suburbs of San Antonio, suburbs of Austin. So I had the main four.
[00:22:39] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:22:39] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:22:40] Speaker A: Yeah.
Did you change your name for every city that you were in?
[00:22:48] Speaker C: Well, I had to burn off my fingertips, so, you know, run away from the law, but.
[00:22:51] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:22:54] Speaker C: No, but my nickname was atx.
My nickname from, like, a lot of the kitchen people, because I worked in restaurants.
[00:23:04] Speaker A: Gotcha. Okay.
[00:23:06] Speaker C: Uh, yeah, it's kind of stuck.
Yeah, I hate that.
[00:23:11] Speaker A: That's true. That makes sense. Um, yeah. And if you followed the theme, we'd have to start calling you Winchester now. And that just doesn't fit that.
[00:23:20] Speaker B: Okay, so you bring up a good point, though. Coming from Winchester. That's dedication. Coming to Indianapolis.
So tell us more about that.
[00:23:28] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:23:28] Speaker A: So, I mean, and be fair, we know us, so we're like, really? You're gonna make the drive? Okay. That's a choice.
[00:23:35] Speaker C: Well, first off, I did fall in love with the people that are part of the community here at IndyCare Coffee Club.
But it doesn't seem that crazy because my mom lives in Noblesville, and so I'm really only commuting from Noblesville, technically.
[00:23:53] Speaker A: Right. Yeah. So for those outside of our area, Noblesville is 30 minutes, 25. Most of the coffee shops we go to. Yeah.
[00:24:02] Speaker C: So it only took me 15 minutes to get to here and we're fourth compared to our normal area, so.
[00:24:10] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah. And the. So you make a good drive. But what, what was your first impression?
Where was your first coffee shop?
[00:24:23] Speaker C: Do you remember our first. My first club event was at the Avenue in Broad Ripple. I am a very extroverted person when I know you.
[00:24:35] Speaker A: Okay, okay.
[00:24:37] Speaker C: I'm also very introverted. When I meet you for the first time until I get comfortable and then it's all out on the table, I don't give a crap.
So I was like, I'm not going to show up right at 9:00. Like, I don't know what this is. Like, I don't know anybody. So I was like. I showed up at like 10 o'clock and I was really upset because I was, like, having such a good time and, like, the conversation was just flowing. The coffee was delicious. And so I was like, damn it, why did I do this? Why was I not here at 9:00?
[00:25:12] Speaker B: Well, you had messaged and said, like, I'm finally able to make it. I think so. I knew.
I think I put two and two together once you got there.
So. Yeah.
[00:25:25] Speaker A: Yeah. I mean, it was kind of hard to pick you out of all of the other gay men that are always. So.
[00:25:31] Speaker B: We're trying.
[00:25:32] Speaker A: We're trying. Yeah. That was an invitation. That was a backside backdoor.
[00:25:39] Speaker C: Nope, that was a little bit of a shade of an invitation.
Let me. Let me help you out there.
[00:25:48] Speaker A: We are trying to encourage a little bit more diversity from within our immensely diverse community.
[00:25:55] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:25:56] Speaker A: To come join us at the golf club. Because we love everybody. We love. We've had a. We've had a pretty good trans.
[00:26:00] Speaker C: I was just about to say that.
[00:26:02] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:26:02] Speaker C: Especially this last month, I felt like there was a lot of trans representation and there's a lot of lesbian representation.
[00:26:12] Speaker A: And then there's me and a few others.
[00:26:15] Speaker C: There's a couple of it. There's a couple. Yeah.
[00:26:18] Speaker A: But, yeah, no, we just. We want to make sure that we're giving them the image that this is open to everybody.
[00:26:24] Speaker C: Oh, yeah, for sure.
[00:26:26] Speaker A: Yeah. This isn't a. This isn't a lesbian queer coffee club. This is a really queer coffee club. Yeah.
[00:26:31] Speaker C: All are welcome. All levels of the rainbow. And not the rainbow, but the pride flag.
[00:26:39] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely.
The.
So talk just a little bit about this, this whole community and the changing political environment that we're in.
Keeping in mind that we're trying not to put an explicit tag on this.
[00:27:03] Speaker C: Very hard for me.
[00:27:04] Speaker A: Yeah.
I remind myself frequently of that, especially when we bring this up. But, yeah. And that, I mean, we don't need a commentary on the politics, because that's depressing and sad right now, and there's plenty of spaces to do that. But the importance of community.
[00:27:21] Speaker C: It's idle at this point.
[00:27:24] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:27:27] Speaker C: The world that we're living in is very mindful of our past, and I'm very afraid for the incoming year or the upcoming years of what it's going to look like. And it's vital that we, as a community find each other, because we live in a red state. We live in a space that we're not fully welcomed. And so we have to stick together. We have to find our people, because that is a major part of the queer identity, is finding family that's not your blood, and choosing family. And I'm not saying that we are. You know, you have to use. I feel like sometimes using the word family can be overused when I think of, like, work. You know what I mean? Like, it can be, like a toxic way to be, like. Oh, anyway, sorry, I'm getting off topic here.
[00:28:19] Speaker A: Artificially bond with people. We.
[00:28:21] Speaker C: Yes, exactly. And so it's important we all have something in common, and that is that we have lived the queer life within a red state.
[00:28:33] Speaker A: In the closet or out. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:28:35] Speaker C: No matter what.
[00:28:36] Speaker A: Yeah. When. When you embraced that identity, it was part of your experience.
Yeah, yeah.
[00:28:46] Speaker C: And whether it was a truly positive experience or if it was a very rough experience, all experience is still important to learning, to grow, and to empathize with.
And it's just. It's part of your history and to.
[00:29:01] Speaker A: Bring into the collective voice of the community.
[00:29:03] Speaker C: Exactly.
[00:29:04] Speaker A: Yeah. We need every experience to round out the whole story of who we are as a people and how we show up space.
[00:29:16] Speaker C: And I feel like it's very important within the past couple years and going into the future, you know, we can't ignore other people that are in our community, such as the trans community. We are not LGBT without that T, no matter what our government tries to do. And.
[00:29:37] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:29:38] Speaker C: Reiterize the.
[00:29:39] Speaker A: The.
[00:29:40] Speaker C: Those letters and drop them however they see fit. That's not their right. That's our right.
[00:29:48] Speaker A: Well, and, you know, they're going to drop those letters one at a time.
[00:29:52] Speaker C: Exactly.
[00:29:53] Speaker A: They. They came into our community one at a time as we. We grew as a community and our awareness of each other and our own history and. And they're Going to try and drop them the same way. So talk a little bit about being as remote as you are out in Winchester. And, you know, the isolation that you might feel.
[00:30:18] Speaker C: You're going to turn this into a therapy session. I'm just kidding.
Not really unfamiliar, but Winchester is up by Muncie, but over by Ohio border. So it's in the middle of nowhere. Ish.
Yeah, it's a little bit rough. There will be days that I don't talk to a single soul.
It might be another day and another day.
[00:30:42] Speaker A: Right.
[00:30:44] Speaker C: And that can be hard on your mental health. You know, something about me is that I think my journey with mental health is very long and troublesome, and one day it'll be a story to tell. I'm still living it.
[00:31:00] Speaker A: Sure.
[00:31:02] Speaker C: Um, and so the isolation can be very hard. And finding ways to calm your brain, entertain your brain is very important. Um, and one of the ways that I do that is by making sure I am here at every indie queer coffee event that I can or any other event that I can be at, whether it's any queer coffee event or family events or. You know what I mean? I.
You have to make sure that you are actively trying to get out of the house because. Yeah, it started for me. It started. The isolation started at Covid.
[00:31:43] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:31:44] Speaker C: I went home May of 2020 and was. I've been pretty much home ever since.
[00:31:54] Speaker A: Almost. Almost. Almost five years of home. Yeah.
[00:31:56] Speaker C: And I used to. I used to hate being at home. I was like, why do I pay for a freaking apartment?
Like, that's how it used to be.
[00:32:03] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:32:04] Speaker C: Just because in the food industry, I used to work, like, 60 hours a week. And then once I was out of work, I wanted to go. I was in my early 20s. I want to go drinking. I want. You know, I did not want to be at home.
I wanted to blow off steam. And so that was. It's weird now because I'll go out and I'll have days where I'm very active outside the house. And I'm like, all right, it's time to go home. I'm ready to go to the couch. I'm ready for my sweat brain.
[00:32:31] Speaker B: So. But, like, what is the comfort level being in Winchester versus maybe being out in the community in Indianapolis? Is there a difference in your comfort level as a gay man?
[00:32:45] Speaker C: I mean, I know.
[00:32:46] Speaker B: Like, go ahead.
[00:32:48] Speaker C: No, go ahead.
[00:32:49] Speaker B: I mean, like, I. I guess keep going.
[00:32:58] Speaker C: I don't know. It's very weird because I grew up in Winchester. This is. I mean, I went to Element, like, I was born and in Winchester and lived there until I was 1918 and then I moved to Indianapolis area and I, I feel safe in my community because that's my home. But at the same time, I mean, I was having this conversation with my best friend recently. I want to wear.
I'm very political. I feel like that is ingrained in me as a person.
But I want to wear T shirts that say like I voted for her. This is not my problem. This is what you guys. You know, there's so many awesome T shirts that are out there right now, including wearing a pride flag on a T shirt or a hat. I am very aware of what I wear outside of my house.
When I was living in Texas, I was suburbs of Austin.
[00:33:59] Speaker A: If anyone doesn't know safest place to be in Texas.
[00:34:02] Speaker C: Yeah, Keep it weird.
You drove by my house in June and there was a fire, was a standing surface, there was a bride flying on.
So I don't do that anymore. I don't feel comfortable living where I do, being as out and loud as I am. And that's where I struggle with. Because it's like that's what the pride flag is all about. It is about being proud of who I am. And I am proud of who I am. I'm comfortable who I am as a gay man. But at the same time, it's that balance of safety. It's not about that I'm not proud and that I'm not willing to put my name out there and express who I am. But it also relies to my safety. And I have to continue on to be a voice against the negative.
And I can't do that if something bad happens to me. So you got to pick your battles.
[00:35:07] Speaker A: So on that, that track of safety and the coffee club, we're sitting in a coffee club, recording this, having a very open conversation about who we are and what we do.
How, how did you feel your first few times coming to Indy, to an open space where we're very public about the fact we put a flag on the table? Would we? Yeah, yeah. I mean, mostly so people can find us. I mean, we're not trying to make a, a huge statement or it's not a sit in, but yet.
Don't, don't put it past me.
But there's. Yeah. How did you feel about coming to a public place with a group of queer people in Indiana?
[00:35:58] Speaker C: That's the key, right? There is a group of people. When I'm with people, I don't feel as afraid because the likelihood of somebody approaching Us as a group is going to be more slim than if it was just me. I have the people around me that are in the same boat to essentially protect me. And I would do the same for them. You know what I mean? Like, I'm not saying, oh, you got to protect me. No, no, it's.
We are together and we're stronger together. And I think that's just the whole essence of what we're living right now is that we are stronger together. And that can be seen just into the small communities that we have, all the way down to Indie Queer Coffee Club. You know, we are a safe space and I feel that. And I've never felt uncomfortable in any space that we've been, but I feel like Allison and Summer has always been. Has always been good at picking spaces that we are welcome in coffee shops that are queer friendly and.
[00:37:05] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. And we do vet that. I mean, yeah, we, we will occasionally when we post a link or post an announcement, get a, get a message, hey, I'm worried about that place. And we'll go talk to them and figure it out. But, but I love that you use the term a safe space as something that the community does for itself.
So often when you see a safe space sticker or somebody says, hey, this is a safe space, it's like, I'm an ally and I'm going to make this safe space for you.
This is something we do for ourselves. This is something we as a community are empowered to do and needs to be actively practicing that in order to maintain that empowerment in our culture right now. So that was.
[00:37:58] Speaker C: I appreciate that it's not just about us creating that safe space, but my heart just fills up when I see a place of business with a pride flag or a safe space sticker or something of that sort. And they are not part of the queer community. They are just an ally. It's like, yeah, I'm not the only one fighting this fight. There are people that are hetero. CIS humans.
[00:38:28] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:38:29] Speaker C: That are here to protect a community they're not a part of. And I think that's what's very special, especially in Indiana.
[00:38:38] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. It is definitely a. Both and yeah. Yeah. So we're getting down to our, our last few minutes and this is my practice. My. My well taught practice.
Not that I've taught it. I've been well taught. I've learned. I done learned, done learned. I done learned.
[00:38:59] Speaker C: That's some Indiana right there.
[00:39:01] Speaker B: I know.
[00:39:05] Speaker A: Is there anything that, as you were thinking about coming and talking to us today, that you thought, oh, I hope they asked me about this or I hope we get to talk about this. Anything that we have left on the table that should be picked up?
[00:39:21] Speaker C: No.
[00:39:22] Speaker B: Well, maybe quickly tell us about your knowledge of social media and how you're able to help us, you know, with that.
[00:39:30] Speaker C: I.
[00:39:30] Speaker A: That's, that's for the record. That's things that Allison thought was left on the table. That doesn't get you off the hook.
[00:39:35] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, sorry.
[00:39:38] Speaker A: Fair. I mean, it's a reason you absolutely should not have things left on the table either, so.
[00:39:42] Speaker B: That's right.
[00:39:42] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:39:43] Speaker C: Take up for your rights, your opinions. I love it.
[00:39:46] Speaker A: That's right.
See what I deal with, people.
[00:39:51] Speaker C: Oh. I actually, oddly enough, found a. I'm switching gears here completely. But it's at the same time, at the core, it's the same message here.
I found a really accepting and loving church in Texas, and I was a part of that church for about five years.
Six years. Five years. I remember. Anyhow, they. I had a very troubling relationship and journey with religion, as most people do in the queer community.
My family's Catholic, so it was very hard journey and I did not want to like these people. They were, they came into the. Where I worked. I worked at a movie theater and they came in and was doing church there and they were so freaking nice. And I was like, oh, religious people, I'm gay.
Can I be like just to make them mad? And it never worked.
And they just kind of picked away and like, we're here. We love you. It's all good. And some of those people still to this day are the most amazing, lovable people I've ever met.
And so I started restarted my journey with God and Jesus and following that path. So at the time of 2020, I was in a space of I need something to do, I'm bored. And so I started serving on their marketing team and slowly get more like quickly ended up being their social media director. And so I learned a lot about content creation and analytics and planning and looking at the big picture and keeping everything on brand, creating that brand.
And I think more of, especially in a world of Christians that use the Bible for their own initiatives and their own hate.
It's very important that we showed the world that we are not that. That we stand out differently, that our love, our culture really shows through our posts and the content that we put out to the world to let people know we are a safe space for no matter who you are, where you are.
And so I feel like I learned so much in how words matter and how what we do and what we put out into the world can really hopefully make a lasting effect on somebody. Save somebody from depression, save somebody from suicide, save somebody from feeling alone.
And so that's where I learned. It kind of came into my passion of marketing and content creating.
See, I'm really excited to help out Indie Queer Coffee Group because I'm now the church is unfortunately no longer with.
[00:43:32] Speaker A: Us as as many of them have.
[00:43:35] Speaker C: Yeah. So I've been a little bored. So I'm really excited to kind of get back into it and I've got some really great ideas that, you know, as the leadership team of any choreography group, we hope to expand and to grow and see what 2025 has for us. And I'm excited to be a part of that growth.
[00:44:01] Speaker A: Buckle up. Yeah, we're excited.
[00:44:04] Speaker C: Woohoo.
[00:44:06] Speaker A: You mentioned words matter and I'm going to take a second to plug our upcoming episode and we're going to be talking with a communication special, an interpersonal communication specialist around words and how they fit into our culture and into this climate that we're in right now. So excited about that.
That'll be our next episode. Yes.
[00:44:26] Speaker C: Awesome.
[00:44:30] Speaker A: Yeah. So I will give you an out if that was a good pickup and if that answered the question for you. If there. Unless there's something else burning. I just don't want to. I don't want to.
[00:44:39] Speaker C: No, I don't feel like there's anything burning.
[00:44:43] Speaker A: Good. Because I was going to say unless I smell.
That's. That's out of my expertise.
[00:44:55] Speaker C: No, I don't think there's anything.
[00:44:56] Speaker A: All right.
[00:44:57] Speaker C: All right.
[00:44:58] Speaker A: We're going to take a break and come back to savor.
[00:45:02] Speaker C: Awesome.
[00:45:07] Speaker A: We want to invite you to be part of our community, even if gathering in person isn't really your thing. Hot or Iced and the Indie Core Coffee Club are partnering with the Indianapolis Recovery Cafe to provide coffee mugs for their new space case. A gift of $20 buys a pair of mugs and supports their other coffee resources. Because recovery, like coffee, is best. When you have someone join you, find a link in the show notes or comments or visit my webpage at www.laura-bethany.com. that's L-A U R-A hyphen B E T-H-A-N-Y.com now take a sip of whatever you're sipping, take a deep breath and get ready to savor the moment.
[00:45:55] Speaker B: Welcome back. We are ready to savor it. So Laura Beth is going to get us started on our question of the month.
[00:46:06] Speaker A: Yeah, I mean, are you excited about that or is this.
[00:46:09] Speaker B: No, I am not. I. This. This part makes me the most anxious.
[00:46:16] Speaker C: Right there with you.
[00:46:18] Speaker A: My work here is done.
Mission accomplished. No, just kidding.
Yeah. So the question that we put out, and we did get some responses, and I'm going to share those in a minute from our social media spaces.
And in case you weren't aware, we are going to be putting these questions out earlier so within a couple days of recording so that we. You have chances as our listening audience to. To weigh in and tell us what you think. So the question right now, and I think this was somewhat motivated by Austin's presence as our social media person and us as a community claiming our space in the world.
But the question is, what is your voice?
And that's a very ambiguous question. And so I did add a secondary kind of defining question is where do you feel the most heard?
So some of our online responses.
Co Creator Studios is an Instagram account that is a friend of mine. And she's like her art. Her art is her way to express herself when words won't do it.
Another friend commented that when somebody listens to her enough to quote her, and I feel that, I mean, there is something. Something powerful about saying something that.
That makes sense.
I just watched the Broadway musical version of Waitress.
[00:47:53] Speaker C: Haven't done it yet. It's on my. It's on my list. Sorry.
[00:47:56] Speaker A: Okay. Yeah. No, highly. 10 out of. Yeah, 10. 10 out of 10 out of 10 pies recommend.
If you haven't seen it, you won't get that reference. But go watch it and you will.
But there's a line in one of my favorite songs there where she says, and I'm gonna get misquoted a little bit, but it's. It's addictive to think that my words might matter to someone.
And I think so many of us in the queer community have had our voices silenced because we haven't fit. We haven't.
We haven't matched the norm of what voices are supposed to be. So it is powerful when people listen to us, when people hear us. So I really appreciated that perspective.
There was one. Another one that. That really struck me.
Another friend of mine says I. I feel most heard when I'm with my partner. She always listens.
Really. Other than that, I don't feel heard at all.
And so, yeah, it's those intimate, personal relationships, and it's those intimate, personal relationships that are under attack right now. And so our voices are being challenged. And so I Think it's very, very important right now to highlight in conversation what our voice is.
One of the questions I always ask people when they are offended by me is what are you defending?
If you're offended, what are you defending? And right now what we are defending, the reason we are offended by this government is that we are defending our voice.
[00:49:44] Speaker C: Yeah.
[00:49:45] Speaker A: We are defending our presence and our existence.
[00:49:47] Speaker C: So the right to exist and live.
[00:49:50] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:49:51] Speaker C: A peaceful, prosperous life.
[00:49:54] Speaker A: Yeah. So with that light hearted setup, what, what is your voice?
[00:50:03] Speaker C: I feel like my voice as is a queer voice, first off.
[00:50:13] Speaker A: But we know.
[00:50:18] Speaker C: I feel like I know what my voice is as a gay man, as a child of God, gay man. Like that is who I am and it is okay to be that and it is okay to live my life as openly as I can, especially in today's world.
[00:50:44] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:50:46] Speaker C: I feel like the subtext of that, where I feel most heard is social media.
I feel like that's also the way that I express my activism.
You follow me on socials?
[00:51:04] Speaker A: Socials, yeah.
[00:51:05] Speaker C: Right now that is the only thing I am posting about is what is going on in this world and specifically our country.
Our voice is under attack. They're trying to silence us. They're trying to slowly take away our liberties as American citizens.
That is a scary space to be in. I talked about it in our last segment.
We've all seen this happen before. It's all happened already. And they're just trying it again because an orange man was voted into office and gave them the right to go back to the way that they used to act, to normalize that behavior is what I'm trying to say. You know, and it's scary. It's a scary space to be in. But our voice can't be diminished because if we let that happen, then we won't be successful in being able to live our lives. And so for me, my voice is most heard. I feel like when I'm on social media, my activism I follow especially on Instagram or on Facebook. My.
I've said I live in a very red state. I live in a very red town. So a lot of people that are on Facebook are from my childhood, which are Republicans and it pisses them off. But it is a way for hopefully one day some way they are going to open their eyes with an open heart and be like, oh, I see that in a different perspective. So that's the way that I pull in my activism into my voice, which is through social media.
[00:52:53] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:52:56] Speaker A: Yeah, it makes a lot of sense. I want to hear From Allison. And I kind of have a follow up question that too, because that's a great, great track down there. But yeah.
What's your thoughts? What is your voice?
[00:53:12] Speaker B: I think for me, in order to be heard, you have to have a voice and you have to speak or communicate.
And that's where I struggle because I think I still am a little bit uncomfortable with being gay. You know, I have that internalized homophobia sometimes.
I have become so much more comfortable, you know, with my identity and feel like I can use my voice more than I ever used to, but it's still hard.
It's so important, though. So I feel like I'm doing my best to change that, speak out more, you know, But I think for me, it's always been.
Been hard because I think I'm so afraid if I speak out, then someone will judge me and then they won't like me or, you know, I don't know. I'm a very people pleaser, conflict avoidant person. And so I've always been a little bit afraid.
[00:54:24] Speaker A: Yeah.
Complete side note, I heard you say, you said voice, but I. What I heard was force.
[00:54:32] Speaker C: Horse.
[00:54:33] Speaker A: I heard horse, so I thought that's like a voice the size of a horse.
And I like that there's some presence to that. I like that. Okay.
Yeah. What's the, what's the horse? Man creature.
[00:54:51] Speaker B: Oh, the one that's like a horse and a man.
[00:54:53] Speaker A: Yeah. Why am I blanking on this?
[00:54:56] Speaker C: I want to say centaur.
[00:54:57] Speaker A: A centaur.
[00:54:58] Speaker C: I was thinking centipede. That's how I got the centaur.
Not right.
[00:55:04] Speaker A: Not right. No, it's a different thing. But yeah, there was just another something. Just kind of a force is kind of a. Yeah, I think you meant use the word internalized homophobia.
And that is, that is your.
So I, I even like to call that what you're referring to as conditioned homophobia. We are so conditioned to believe that everyone around us is going to look down on us or think poorly of us or whatever. We have a hard time creating space.
The default is not acceptance when we go into a place. And that's something that our voices have the opportunity to speak into and change. I've seen that grow in you, I mean, through the coffee club and through what we do here, that you are more and more comfortable in these spaces. But it's real. I mean, it's not something that you just turn off and say, oh, it's, it's okay. It's just. Yeah.
So. So to that end, your voice, there's A great quote about a priest who is standing on alone on a corner in Washington D.C. near the White House during the Vietnam War, holding an anti war sign and by himself, not processing. And somebody came up and asked him, and I might be getting the story, not exactly right, but that's the essence of it. Somebody came up and asked him, he's like, well, you're not going to change the world, you know, sitting here alone with your sign, you're not going to change the world. And his response was, no, but if I sit here with my sign, the world won't change me.
And so often we think about our voice as a, as a source of activism and a source of, you know, I have to get out there so I can change people's mind and I can change who, you know, how the world responds and how the world shifts.
So much of our voice is really invested, should be and primarily be invested in making sure that we remember who we are and that as we show up in a space, we are showing up as ourselves. So the first, the first audience of our voice itself in that context and then it moves on from there. And so my follow up question to you, Austin, I appreciate the social media presence and that is a huge part of what we do. It's where a lot of my activism comes out. When I was like, okay, it's time to ramp it up. I've been posting on my social media. If you write, write. If you play, play. If you sing, sing, if you preach, don't pull any punches. If you, if you march, lace up your boots. I mean, whatever you do to have a voice, this is the time to do it.
In a scenario where social media, social media is famously controlled by people in this opposition to us right now.
[00:58:13] Speaker C: You.
[00:58:14] Speaker A: Said you feel most hurt in social media. The question I guess that comes to that is if you're playing, if it's a numbers game and most of our presence is in social media, most of our engagement is in social media, which makes a lot of sense, being remote and where you are. This isn't a judgment. So this is, no, not calling you out on anything, but playing the numbers game.
Where else can we be heard?
Where else do we get our voices out?
[00:58:40] Speaker C: So I'm gonna come back to your question.
[00:58:42] Speaker A: Yeah, Completely up to you.
[00:58:48] Speaker C: Yeah.
Going back to your story, when the guy said you're not gonna change the world, my immediate response thought was, at least I can. No, I tried.
[00:58:59] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:59:00] Speaker C: And I feel like that's where I'm at with my social media. You're right. It might sit on deaf ears. It might. You know that skip button is very easy to do. You know, I understand that, but I know I can sleep at night poorly because I just am a bad sleeper. But I can sleep at night knowing I tried and I was not innocent bystander and that when this is all said and done, I was on the right set of history. So I know I am. What is going on? If you've got, I'm going to take a page out of the Republicans books right now. You've got any common sense? You know what's happening right now is not right.
[00:59:38] Speaker A: If you're paying attention.
[00:59:39] Speaker C: If you're paying attention. Yes.
[00:59:41] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:59:42] Speaker C: What was your question again?
I'm sorry.
[00:59:47] Speaker A: No, but that is a good point. It is. I mean it's not that we are not going to change the world, but if changing the world is our primary motivation for getting our voice out there, it's going to get very easy to get discouraged. It's going to be very easy to say I don't see it.
Most of the activists that have changed the world didn't survive to see the change they made right in the world. So. So if the purpose of your voice is to convince everybody else that they're wrong, it's going to be a long road, it's going to be a hard to sustain that.
Absolutely do it. You can change the world.
The world has never changed by, been changed by people who didn't exercise their voice.
[01:00:38] Speaker C: Right.
[01:00:38] Speaker A: That's history. That's history 101.
So absolutely 100% agree. Yes.
Doing, do what you can, do what you need to do to sleep well at night.
And in that process, my question is in a Numbers game, if 90% of what I'm doing to be heard is on social media, at least 90% of where I'm heard is going to be on social media. And I think that's our default.
And again, calling my, if I'm calling anyone out, it's me right now.
So what are, what are our options? Where else do we go to be heard? How do we, yeah, how do we engage the world in, in a worst case scenario where we are censored and blocked off of social media? What's plan B?
[01:01:38] Speaker C: Yeah, doing kind of what we're doing right now, having conversations with.
And that's hard, I feel like, especially if you are on two polar opposites of this debate.
[01:01:56] Speaker A: Back to, back to Allison's. Yeah, about that.
[01:01:58] Speaker C: You know what I mean? Like we, it's going to be hard for people to listen.
But I feel like conversations with one another is kind of the key to the next step.
And I've had conversations with. I love it. Like I said, I live in a red state. My mother is a Republican.
[01:02:24] Speaker A: Can we say, bless her heart, I'm from the South? I can say it.
[01:02:31] Speaker C: My political, my political standpoint and hers are completely different. And so a lot of times we try to keep politics completely separate because it's not healthy for a relationship.
But then there are some points where I can't keep my mouth shut and those are hard conversations to have and they usually end up in a lot of arguments.
But again, I can't be an innocent bystander. I can't sit here and hear you talk poorly about a marginalized group of individuals, you know what I mean, and not say something.
[01:03:23] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, that's right. No, I think the art of conversation is one that we need to revive.
And not in a.
There's a, there's a, there's only one way to do it kind of sense, but we need to, we need to be able to articulate ourselves more than in a comment thread or more than the one liners, one sided, asynchronous communication that is social media.
The great, great thought and appreciate your, your redirects and your, your insight there. Anything else coming to mind, coming to heart that's just like. I don't know if I should say it or if I. Yeah.
[01:04:17] Speaker B: Well, I guess when you mentioned what are the other ways we can use our voice outside of social media? I think, you know, gatherings, marches.
[01:04:34] Speaker A: I.
[01:04:35] Speaker B: Guess volunteering with activism groups I think is important.
But I would welcome your thoughts on that same question.
[01:04:46] Speaker A: Yeah, I forget about that part every time, don't I? You do, yeah. That, that you are also a part of this. I am also part of the conversation. I have to answer my own question.
Yes. I mean, my voice is this. I mean, it's having conversations, it's asking questions, it's engaging questions. In coffee shops. I mean, the coffee shop, that's part of why the coffee club resonates with me so deeply, is this is where I do most of my work as an activist, as a queer pastor, as the spaces that I function in happen best here and not in a sanctuary or a Sunday school classroom or a platform.
You know, it's fear over a casual cup of coffee. But we can be real and have those harder conversations sometimes.
My music is a voice, you know, my music is mostly for me. It's. There's recordings and stuff out there, but I'm not Yeah.
I went down that path of wanting to be the rock star and the great, great next great worship guy and that whole, that whole world. But yeah, but now music is really my ally. It's a way for me to put emotions into. Into the world and get. Get them out of my soul.
So again, that's more of that self protective, that guarding who I am as the world melts down around us in that space. And so another voice that I have is hospitality.
You know, I am, I'd liking. I like engaging people even it's not in my own space. So that's part of what the coffee shop is. It's a, it's a third space that we bought that we borrow to be hospitable to one another.
And so opening the door to people that are different than me, which is pretty much everybody but the. But opening the door to people that feel unlikely to have a conversation, that feel unlikely to be for whatever reason, for that. Whatever self described reason that might be or whatever comfort zone I might. Comfort level I might have.
Hospitality is the. The exercise of unexpected kindness.
And the expectations and the lines are so clearly drawn right now that unexpected kindness is gonna. I think it's gonna be the part of our voices that makes. That stands out, that makes the difference. It makes a change. So yeah, I'd say those, those three things. My. My words. You know, like you've already said words matter.
My music and hospitality as a voice.
I like that.
I think how I show. Show up in that question. But I appreciate the comments online.
Yeah. Our creativity, our. Our partnerships, the. The friendships and relationships, our reflections of our voices.
Yeah.
One thing I've been saying is however you have been showing up, show up there, but louder.
And whatever is practiced and comfortable to you, keep doing it, but do it more, do it bigger, do it louder and we'll get through it one way or another. So great. Well, that is a wrap on another episode. So we've been great.
[01:08:38] Speaker B: Thank you.
[01:08:38] Speaker A: As always.
[01:08:39] Speaker C: Thank you. I'm so glad to be here.
[01:08:41] Speaker A: I really appreciate your presence and your work with us in the coffee club.
[01:08:45] Speaker B: That's so important.
[01:08:47] Speaker A: I shouldn't. And I heard myself say that you work with us as if you're on the outside working. You're working as us, as a part of us. And it's great to have that sense of community and teamwork that makes this, makes this tick. And as a fairly recent addition.
Yeah, so totally great. Well, we will be back with another episode in a few weeks. Actually. We have guest books. I'm kind of excited about this. We have guest books through mid April.
[01:09:18] Speaker B: Yeah.
[01:09:19] Speaker A: Yeah. Every other week and. Awesome. Yeah. So if you have. If you're listening or, I mean, YouTube, obviously. But if you're listening and you. You want to come talk to us or, you know, somebody that we should talk to, especially here in the Indiana area, we're not limited to that because we can do remote conversations as well. But we like to have you in the coffee shop face to face, have that space. So let us know.
We will see you again soon.
All right.
[01:09:50] Speaker B: Well, the conversation may be over, but the coffee's still brewing. We hope you enjoyed the time as much as we always do.
[01:09:57] Speaker A: Be sure to like and follow us on Facebook or Instagram. And if you really enjoyed this episode, be sure to pass it along to a friend.
[01:10:04] Speaker B: If you or someone you know has a story you want to share, drop us a DM on one of our social sites. We are constantly on the lookout for our next conversation.
[01:10:12] Speaker A: And let us hear about your favorite coffee shop here in Indiana. We are also always looking for another great cup. Until next time, keep it hot, Christmas.
