EP. 215 — Native Alaskan in Anchorage

[00:00:06] CHRIS: [music transition] Quyana to everybody who knows what that means. It’s Beautiful Anonymous. One hour. One phone call. No names, no holds barred.

[00:00:19] THEME MUSIC: I’d rather go one-on-one. I think it will be more fun. And I’ll get to know you, and you’ll get to know me.

[00:00:29] CHRIS: Hi everybody, Chris Gethard here. Welcome to another episode of Beautiful Anonymous. I tell you, if there’s ever been a time in my life where I am lucky to have a creative project that’s just me talking to other human beings, it is now. Love that I get to talk to people. Rare these days. Last week’s episode was quarantine breakup. I was really proud of it. I still am. There’s a couple of comments that came up in the Facebook community. Want to call them out. Every time I mention the Facebook community, I also want to thank the moderators of that community, they do a great job. That community…it’s so laid back. I tell ya, it’s pleasant. And there’s 33,000 people in there. We are an army of individuals who like talking to each other on the phone! Now, I had mentioned a game I played growing up called King of the Hill in the episode. Sid in the group said, “in Connecticut, we had large random boulders in our apartment projects. We played King of the Hill on them, kicking, pushing and throwing each other off these eight foot tall rocks. Oh, to be young again.” Happy to hear that I’m not the only one who played these dangerous games growing up. Now, more importantly, I got to thank Nico in the group. Nico called me out on something and I want to thank them for it. Nico said, “I love this episode so hard, but I’d love it if Chris didn’t say the F-word so casually. It’s a vile, icky word that deserves to be dropped from our communal vocabulary. I don’t know if it’s necessary to say, quote, the ‘F-word’ instead of the word, but maybe it shouldn’t be used by all of us. Like it isn’t a word that people have been beaten to death hearing yelled at them over and over. I know Chris is doing his best. Maybe I’m wrong, but just something to think about.” And then Nico made clear, “I’m not talking about the F-word that we know is the F-word. We’re talking about the homophobic F-word.” And I realize I did in the episode say…I believe what I said was some version of “man, we used to say the word blank growin’ up and didn’t even think about what it actually meant. We just threw it around so casually.” And when Nico posted their comment initially, I got very scared. You know, that anxiety of like, oh, my God, did I say something? Did I say something horrible? And then I got defensive, right? “Well, I was only bringing it up to talk about how awful I think that situation is.” And then I realized, no, Nico’s right. In the course of talking about it and how awful I think it is that it was so casual growing up, I’m throwing it around casually now and it makes me think, well, why is this different than some other sensitive language? And I’m like, man, they used to say that in movies growing up. I used to hear people in my life say it. Music, you used to hear that word. And it’s like, man. Even now when I’m calling out how pervasive that word was, the pervasiveness of it still has this lifelong effect on me where I’m not thinking about it. It was eye opening and I’m humble enough to know when I’m wrong. And I’m really happy to be taught that lesson. And I feel a little bit burned, but I should. So thank you, Nico, in the Facebook community, Beautiful Anonymous community, for pointing it out. It’s good to remember. Now this week’s episode, we talk to someone from a very fascinating place, Alaska. I talk in the episode about how for most of us Americans, Alaska seems like a very sort of mythical place. We don’t know much about it. That was certainly true for me. Not only do we talk to a native Alaskan about Alaska, they are true native Alaskan. They have native blood running through their veins. They tell us what that’s like. That experience…tell us about the remoteness of the village that they have roots in and that they have often spent time in. And we just get into it. It’s a nice laid back chat about all things being Alaskan. It was really pleasant. Thank you, caller, for having it. And I hope you listeners enjoy.

[00:04:15] PHONE ROBOT: Thank you for calling Beautiful Anonymous. A beeping noise will indicate when you are on the show with the host. [Beep]

[00:04:23] CHRIS: Hello?

[00:04:25] CALLER: Hello? 

[00:04:27] CHRIS: Hey, how’s it going? 

[00:04:29] CALLER: Hey, I’m really good. How are you?

[00:04:32] CHRIS: I’m good. I’m good. I’m having a good day. You know, right now you have your good days, you have your bad days. This is one of the good ones.

[00:04:40] CALLER: Yeah, for sure. I know how that goes. Although for, I think for me it’s been like off and on. Good. Bad. Yeah. [laughing] 

[00:04:56] CHRIS: Alright. OK.

[00:04:58] CALLER: So I had shared with your producer that I just got over thyroid cancer a few months ago.

[00:05:07] CHRIS: Whoaaaa.

[00:05:08] CALLER: So, that was kind of a crazy like diagnosis. I had been feeling fine. I had gone for like a second opinion. I had gallbladder issues and so I got a second opinion. And during that second opinion exam, they found the lump. So they were like, you need to get a biopsy. Biopsy was followed with the diagnosis and then surgery. So it was all pretty quick.

[00:05:40] CHRIS: Wow.

[00:05:43] CALLER: Yeah. 

[00:05:44] CHRIS: So when you say pretty quick from…from the first time you went in to that surgery, what’s the timeframe here?

[00:05:52] CALLER: It was like, I want to say a month. So I found out that I had thyroid cancer on Veterans’ Day. And then I had my surgery on December 16th. So, yeah, it was like a month from the diagnosis until my surgery. And so, you know, I have two little boys. And so it was really just kind of nerve wracking to know that, like, I’d have to go into surgery. And you don’t really know whether or not the cancer has spread. I didn’t know what stage it was. So I found out that it was stage two, which is, you know, really lucky. And they say, like, if you’re gonna get some type of cancer, thyroid cancer’s the one to get because it’s so easily operable. And so, yeah, I got the diagnosis and got it taken care of. At the same surgery, I was able to get my gallbladder out. So I said I didn’t mind sharing a couple details. Of course, I wouldn’t ever tell you my name, but I am from Alaska and I am Alaskan Native. So Alaskan Native people are more likely to have gallstones. So I’d been having a lot of pain and so. Yeah.

[00:07:34] CHRIS: Well, now you got the surgery. And I think when you first brought it up, you had phrased it as saying that you got over the cancer, does this mean you’re cancer free, you’re in the clear?

[00:07:45] CALLER: Yeah. So currently…I didn’t have to go through chemo. Luckily, kind of the treatment for thyroid cancer is you’re on a higher level of like thyroid medication to suppress any thyroid cells. It’s called thyroid suppression. You know, the only problem is like I…you know, you’ve talked about your mental issues and I think that’s really brave of you. I also kind of struggle with anxiety. And one of the side effects of being on the suppression is like you can have more anxiety [laughing] So I’m just like, great! 

[00:08:20] CHRIS: Also I feel like, I feel like having cancer will give you a lot of anxiety even before the medications come into play. Let’s not forget that. That little recipe in the anxiety cocktail: having cancer. That’ll do it.

[00:08:35] CALLER: Yeah, it’s a big word, you know, to hear. I’m 36. So, you know, I have my oldest son is eight. My youngest is – or he’s 9 I’m sorry. He just turned 9. My youngest is seven. And so, you know, you kind of go through the mental gymnastics like, am I going to be around for them? You know, I’m a nontraditional student. You know, I go to school for criminal justice. And so like I want to finish up some of the things in my life. And it was just kind of like it was out of the blue, you know, like you’re just kind of, like, surprised by the diagnosis, so.

[00:09:23] CHRIS: Yeah, I feel like, you know, since you’re now cancer free, I feel a little more comfortable asking since you brought it up. That’s one of the things that you spend your whole life hoping you never hear it. What’s the experience like when someone sits you down and goes, “I’m so sorry to tell you, you have cancer”?

[00:09:46] CALLER: I mean, yeah, and it’s really rough. I’ve been pretty open with my kids about kind of my diagnosis, and I don’t want them…you know, I have a pretty gnarly like scar on my neck now because I did have to get it surgically removed. And so the thing is, like, I’m not like a huge doctor person. Like, I’m not like, “hey, let’s go to the doctor”. It’s just it…I have like the white coat syndrome really badly. But I took that step to go get a second opinion. And so in that step of taking care of myself, I was able to find, you know, the cancer. And so it’s kind of a good example to set to my kids like, hey, you know, like be healthy, you know, go to the doctor, get your checkup, so yeah.

[00:10:38] CHRIS: And this white coat syndrome. I’ve never heard that phrase. I would imagine that means you don’t like the doctor. You don’t like the people in the white coats. 

[00:10:46] CALLER: Yeah. [laughing] 

[00:10:47] CHRIS: That’s white coat syndrome. 

[00:10:48] CALLER: To put it lightly. 

[00:10:49] CHRIS: Yeah.

[00:10:50] CALLER: You know, I think I…so being Alaskan Native, there are kind of some perks that you get. We kind of negotiated as Native people to get free medical care. And so it’s free but my opinion is that the quality is not great. And so you kind of…a lot of people will really distrust the medical I guess, community.

[00:11:19] CHRIS: Yeah.

[00:11:21] CALLER: And so the thing is, like, I just I wasn’t really happy with what I was hearing about my gallstone surgery, so…my gallbladder surgery. And so I had opted to go to my husband’s doctor, who, by the way, is from New Jersey. [laughing] So it was pretty awesome. Yeah. So he moved here when he was like 9. So I just decided, you know, hey I’m going to go check out his doctor. And he was just really thorough. He’s really knowledgeable. I feel like more knowledgeable than some of the doctors that I’ve seen. And a lot of the medical staff that I see, I really respect them and everything, but they’re like physician aides or like nurses. And so it can be really hard to kind of get the quality you might need for something serious, so.

[00:12:10] CHRIS: Now, can I ask you. OK, tangent. When you talk about this medical care, does that make you go – like when you hear about people want medic- you know, like socialized medicine. Medicare for all. Are you sitting here going, “I have, I have the prototype version. It’s not that good, guys”. Or are you going, “they stick the natives – 

[00:12:33] CALLER: Yes, for sure. Like –

[00:12:35] CHRIS: Oh, it is. It is. Alright.

[00:12:38] CALLER: Yeah, it for sure it’s a concern because the thing is they don’t cover anything really extensive. So you’re kind of getting like the bare bones of, you know, like medical care. Like if I need dental care, they’ll give me a filling, but they’re not going to pay for like crowns or, you know, anything fancy. And so even for me to go and get an appointment, it’s like months out, like a couple months out. So if I have to get something like if there’s an emergency and I’m having pain, you know, it might…I have to show up I think at 7 a.m., wait for someone to possibly cancel their appointment and then be seen. So it’s, it’s overwhelmed, you know, and we’re in Alaska where there’s only 730,000 people?

[00:13:33] CHRIS: Yeah. 

[00:13:34] CALLER: And, you know, it’s, it’s rough. I don’t mind sharing, I live in Anchorage which is the biggest city. It’s a really, you know, small town compared to other parts of the U.S. obviously. They think there’s like a little over 300,000 that live in Anchorage alone. So.

[00:13:57] CHRIS: The cynical part of me also has to wonder when you said, like, the native community was able to negotiate free health care. There is a cynical part of me that’s going well did the government walk away going like, fine, we’ll give you a free health care, but it’s going to be shitty. Like there’s a part of me that has to wonder if that’s a thought too. [laughing]

[00:14:19] CALLER: [laughing] Yeah. And it’s really hard because I feel like in that deal there is a little thing called ANCA (?). And I mean, it’s where we negotiated kind of like our land, you know, their rights to some of our land and things in exchange for free medical care, the ability to make corporations. And there’s 13 reasons. One is kind of now defunct. It was like a catch all for like folks that lived in what we call the lower 48. And so it was for folks that lived outside of Alaska. And so certain regions of Alaska have a corporation. And so we are able to operate business and the revenue and the earnings are spread among shareholders. So if you’re going to be a shareholder you had to be born after 1980 or excuse me, before 1982, and I was born after, I was born in ’84. So I am not…the firm, my regional corporation, they don’t say, “oh, well, you know, we’re gonna put you into a corporation”. That corporation has to allow new members in basically. And so there’s dividends that are paid to those shareholders. And so there are perks to being what’s called a descendant. And so for me, my college scholarship is paid for. I have to apply for it and I have to get good grades, which, you know, I’m doing it. That’s kind of one perk I guess. The shares in those corporations, they can be passed down, but they have to be passed down to someone who is Alaskan Native. They can’t, they can’t be sold, at least from what I can remember. And so I do have like a few shares in one of the largest corporations, but it’s literally like 3, most people have like 100 or so.

[00:16:36] CHRIS: This is a very –

[00:16:37] CALLER: It’s pretty crazy. 

[00:16:38] CHRIS: Well, it’s a very complicated scenario. It’s a very complicated scenario isn’t it?

[00:16:43] CALLER: Well it is – [laughing] It is when you’re not kind of born and raised around it I think. 

[00:16:52] CHRIS: Right.

[00:16:52] CALLER: But, you know, when you’re Alaskan Native you pay attention to what you know, what concerns you, right? So…it’s just something that you learn about. And a lot of people, Alaskan Native people, they work for either the corporation or the Native hospital. And so it’s just something you learn about.

[00:17:17] CHRIS: That’s, there’s so much to talk about. Because you had thyroid cancer, you have this –

[00:17:24] CALLER: [laughing] There is. It’s like where do I start. 

[00:17:26] CHRIS: Yeah. Interesting background raising two kids while going to school. So many things I want to get to. I want to follow this track. So here’s – OK, being a Native in Alaska in particular, now I have some questions about this. I know that the Native communities in the lower 48…some of them are sort of doing their own thing, some of them are working in conjunction with the larger Native community. Is the Alaskan Native community connected to any other Native communities? Is it…are you closer maybe with the Canadian Natives?

[00:18:07] CALLER: So not so much like we kind of consider ourselves like just different. So I’m Inupiat, which is we’re from like the Bering Strait area or from the Barrow area, which is like you can kind of make your hand into the shape of Alaska, your right hand. And if you have your your index finger and your thumb out, but your other three fingers tucked in, that that looks like Alaska. Right?

[00:18:39] CHRIS: OK, trying to do it myself right now. I have a weird thing with –  

[00:18:42] CALLER: Try it. Try it, I promise. It’s an Alaska thing.

[00:18:43] CHRIS: Well I have a weird thing with my knuckles, I have a weird joint thing so I’m trying my best. It’s a very strange looking version of Alaska due to my joint condition. Anyway, okay. So I’m listening. So my thumb and my forefinger are extended. My other three fingers are folded down, OK?

[00:19:01] CALLER: In, folded in. Yup. And so when you’re looking at your hand, you’re looking at Alaska. And so your second finger up to your pinky area, that’s all gonna be like Inupiat, kind of. So we’re like a coastal people. You know, we subsisted on whales, seals, salmon. If you’re more inland you ate a lot of caribou. Reindeer sausage is fucking amazing. You know, smoked salmon is the bomb. I eat seal oil, that is a Native food. It’s amazing. And birds, a lot of birds, ferries, of course. And you got to understand, like up in the top of the state, there’s not a lot of trees, it’s all tundra. So it’s just a very different way of life out there. I don’t think a lot of people realize that, you know, Alaskan Native people, you know, are still alive and thriving. We’re some of the youngest people demographically in the country. And…you know, global warming is a huge thing. My family, my grandpa’s family was from Unalakleet, Shaktoolik area and they’re affected by erosion. And so it’s, I’ve traveled outside of the state quite a bit. It’s hard to travel, it’s expensive, but it’s a very different life and it’s something that, you know, I’m hoping that culturally we can continue and it’s something I’m trying to teach my kids as well.

[00:20:47] CHRIS: And did you…have you always lived in Anchorage or have you lived in the more remote area you’re talking about?

[00:20:53] CALLER: So I have lived in the village of Shaktoolik. My grandfather was – is an artist. Was, he’s passed on now. But I lived Shaktoolik with my grandfather and my grandmother. They were both Inupiat. And I lived there…I was five. So a lot of the memories are just very distant. But I do remember it quite fondly. I always tell a story, I was walking along the beach on what’s called the old site because they moved some of the houses back to the new site, which is further away from the shore. And my grandpa was like, “look”! And I looked out and there was a whale that was like breeching and just splashed on to kind of the bay there. You know? And it was just, it was incredibly beautiful and you’re so close with nature and the ocean is right there. The problem with the ocean being right there, though, is that when the storms hit and when it gets really rough, the houses that were on that old site, the surf comes all the way up to those houses because that erosion and because of the activity in the ocean that’s very different. So they’ve had to move a lot of the houses to what’s called the new site. And so it’s just further away like I said, from the beach there. So.

[00:22:35] CHRIS: That sucks. That’s my basic response to that. That sucks. Old site sounded pretty beautiful, cool. New site sounds like…I mean I’m sure the new site has its charms, but that’s a bummer that you can’t be in the old site anymore. That’s my basic reaction. That sucks.

[00:22:52] CALLER: Yeah, it does. It’s really hard now. I think there’s a lot of the folks that hunt because there are still traditional people that hunt. You know, it’s hard to get food in the villages. I don’t know. People could Google how much milk cost. I mean, it’s like 10 bucks a gallon there. And so they subsist on the native animals, you know? And so with the changing weather, it’s harder to get that whale or it’s harder to get those seals or walrus, you know? And it’s something that, you know, I grew up in Anchorage, but I have lived outside of Anchorage a couple times. I lived in California a couple times. My husband is a sales person, so he kind of has dragged me along to some like working assignments outside of Anchorage. But, you know, living there is really tough. It takes a stern, sturdy person, I’ll tell you that for sure. And even in Anchorage, it’s hard. It’s an isolated place. You know, you’re so far away from the lower 48. And it’s expensive. There’s really high crime here. [laughing] Which is rough because, you know, I think people come up here, they hear about the PFD, I don’t know if you’ve heard of that before. 

[00:24:21] CHRIS: No, what’s that?

[00:24:23] CALLER: Basically we get around $1,000 from oil revenue that’s spread among all the people in Alaska. And so that comes in October. And I think people hear like “oh, free money!” sometimes and they’ll come up to Alaska and think that you know, it’s just easy up here. It is not easy to live here.

[00:24:47] CHRIS: [music transition] I feel that way about New Jersey too, to be fair. So we got that in common. We’ll be right back.

[00:25:04] CHRIS: [music transition] All right, everybody, break is over. Take a deep breath. Close your eyes, and we are once again going to transport you to the most remote areas of Alaska via the magic of intentionally under-produced audio. [laughing] Enjoy.

[00:25:22] CALLER: I think people hear like, “oh, free money!” sometimes and they’ll come up to Alaska and think that you know, it’s just easy up here. It is not easy to live here.

[00:25:33] CHRIS: I feel like if I moved to Anchorage, I’d be a very complain-y pain in the ass. And if and if – 

[00:25:41] CALLER: [laughing] And we can tell. 

[00:25:43] CHRIS: You can tell when it’s a lower 48’er – 

[00:25:45] CALLER: We can tell.

[00:25:46] CHRIS: Right out of the gate. You’d be like this guy didn’t grow up here.

[00:25:48] CALLER: If you’re bitching – listen, if you’re bitching about negative 10 weather in the winter time, it’s time to find a new place to live because that’s normal.

[00:25:58] CHRIS: Yes, I would be. I feel like I would be able to maybe gut it out in Anchorage knowing that they have the trappings of a city and I would complain all the time and I would annoy everybody. If I tried to ever live in the old spot or the new spot in the village that you said the name a few times but I don’t even want to try to pronounce it because I’ll mess it up…I would last maybe eight minutes. I’d be like when’s the next biplane that gets me out of here? When’s the next biplane coming? 

[00:26:28] CALLER: [laughing] Yeah. 

[00:26:29] CHRIS: Is that –

[00:26:30] CALLER: And by the way, it’s going to be a tiny plane. Those are scary.

[00:26:35] CHRIS: Oh boy. It is the type of place you have to fly in a tiny plane or can you drive there? Is it –

[00:26:40] CALLER: Yeah. No, no, no, no, no. Yeah. There’s no, I mean that’s the other thing is like when you go to the villages, it’s…you have to fly in. In the wintertime, there are, there’s like a highway. That’s what that whole ice truckers show is about, you know? I don’t know if you’ve seen that one. 

[00:26:56] CHRIS: Yeah. 

[00:26:58] CALLER: Once that road is frozen, you can drive to some of the villages. But mostly it’s like a fly-in only and then they barge a lot of stuff, too. But that’s rough. I think you can only do that in like the summertime.

[00:27:10] CHRIS: So it’s actually its own world. It’s actually – I think those of us in the lower 48, we think of Alaska as this disconnected world unto itself. And then you’re describing an area that I bet most Alaskans are like, yeah, they’re doing their own thing there.

[00:27:24] CALLER: Yeah, you have no idea. Like, it is so different. Like I lived in California and when we first got there, people were driving like 90 miles an hour. And I’m like in such culture shock. [laughing] I was just like, our speed limit here is like 65. And you gotta be careful, like a big old moose could like jump out in front of your car, you know. We don’t have deer, but we do in like Sitka, which is more like southeast. But here in Anchorage, you know, like we have moose like where I live, we have black bears that like, you better watch yourself because they’ll come out, you know. Moose are really tough to like –

[00:28:07] CHRIS: Yeah, moose are terrifying. Terrifying, huge animals. Even before you said, even before you said like, “yeah, you know, milk’s $10 a gallon. So, you know, a lot of people – “. I’m sitting here and hunting…I’m from New Jersey. I’m thinking, all right, yeah you hunt for deer and then you follow it up, you go, “Yeah, but global warming is making it hard to track down walruses to hunt”. Which to me sounds like a sentence that people don’t say.

[00:28:35] CALLER: Yeah. And I think it’s very off putting to a lot of people because they’re like a walrus? Like, you eat a walrus? You know, you eat seals? I’m like, yeah. Like, that was life, you know you use the resources around you, you know? We don’t waste, that’s another thing. That’s like a huge Native thing like you don’t waste at all.

[00:28:55] CHRIS: That’s beautiful. I like that.

[00:28:58] CALLER: Yeah, me too. And so, you know, I’m fairly liberal in a really conservative state. And so for me, you know, this whole reduce, reuse, recycle is just second nature, you know?

[00:29:13] CHRIS: Yeah. What does walrus taste like?

[00:29:16] CALLER: And there’s – you know I don’t know. I’ve not had walrus. I have had seal meat. I’m city Native is what you call me. [laughing]

[00:29:26] CHRIS: Got it. Got it. OK. 

[00:29:28] CALLER: I’m actually not full. I’m actually have Inupiat and then I’m half German. My dad was in the Air Force and he got stationed up here, which is very common. A lot of dudes come up in the Air Force or in the Army. There’s an Air Force base here in Anchorage and then there’s a Air Force base in Fairbanks, which is kind of like the middle of the state. But yeah, back to seal meat, it’s delicious.

[00:29:59] CHRIS: Really?

[00:30:00] CALLER: It’s really good. It’s kind of like a mixture of fish and beef if I had to explain what it tastes like. And so what they do with the seal oil is they ferment the meat. Now, you’ve got to understand, back in the days there wasn’t ways to keep food unless you salted it or unless you like fermented it right? So I know it sounds disgusting, but there was…[laughing] they would ferment the meat and the fat and the oil would render from that. And you dip that with like carrots, you dip it with boiled potatoes, boiled steak meat. That’s what our family does. Cabbage, you know whatever veggies – there’s a lot of root veggies – whatever veggies you want to eat, you know with it. [Chris laughing] And I’m kind of weird about it. I like to put a little soy sauce in that seal oil and dip that in there. 

[00:31:05] CHRIS: That’s the city Native in you, right? That’s when people look at you and go “city Native”.

[00:31:11] CALLER: Yeah, uh-huh. They, my family knows like I’m like, where’s the soy sauce? When Eskimo dinner goes down, dude I’m like, where’s the soy sauce? [Chris and caller laughing] And then, you know, you eat that together. You boil or bake a little salmon, dip that in there. Some caribou meat. It’s so good. And the way that I think seal oil tastes is it’s very similar to like olive oil. And it when I…if I don’t have seal oil, I do, I have a little in my freezer, you gotta keep it frozen. 

[00:31:42] CHRIS: Okay. 

[00:31:43] CALLER: If I don’t have any, then I’ll dip a little bread in some olive oil you know, and it just gives you that…just that taste, it’s delicious.

[00:31:55] CHRIS: Yeah. But have you ever had an Italian hotdog, which is a New Jersey delicacy? 

[00:32:01] CALLER: [laughing] Does Costco count? 

[00:32:03] CHRIS: No, this is you deep fry a hotdog, you deep fry some potatoes, onions, peppers. You put it on a slice of pizza bread. It’s delicious. You get it at Jimmy Buff’s, it’s the best. Now, you said a phrase in there…you said a phrase and I was nervous to ask a question about it. But you did say, you used the phrase Eskimo dinner. You were like, “when Eskimo dinner goes down, and I use the soy sauce.” 

[00:32:25] CALLER: Yeah, I knew you were gonna say something about that.

[00:32:27] CHRIS: Well I wasn’t sure if that was like an offensive word at this point.

[00:32:30] CALLER: So it’s weird because like I still use the word Eskimo. And I know that some people, they find it offensive. And I totally respect that. And I guess…I think a lot of the stuff is like sometimes you got to figure out what is offensive to someone. And so for me, it’s not offensive because growing up, you really wanted to like differentiate yourself from being Eskimo or Indian. And so, you know, I was like, “I’m Eskimo, bros. Like, I’m not Indian”. You know, I don’t have a tribe. You know? [laughing] We have a village. It’s not offensive to me but to some people, it is offensive. And I you know, once you kind of say, like, if it comes up, you just, “OK, cool. Your Alaskan Native then” whatever.

[00:33:26] CHRIS: Yeah, I would have to imagine the issue is that you get like the cartoon depiction of like a grinning person in a fur-lined hood rubbing their nose with another person and that must get old. 

[00:33:39] CALLER: That’s Eskimo kisses dude! That’s Eskimo kisses, we do that in my family.

[00:33:42] CHRIS: Is that a real thing?

[00:33:45] CALLER: Yeah, it is. I mean, it’s not like a – it’s like something silly that will you know, we kind of do. It’s not like a “oh, hey, give me an Eskimo kiss.” You know, it’s just kind of a tongue in cheek, I guess. 

[00:33:58] CHRIS: Alright. Alright.

[00:34:03] CALLER: But I do want to venture out to New Jersey. My husband and I have been together for 18 years, and so we’ve been together since high school. We were, I guess, technically high school sweethearts. And so we want to make it out to New Jersey, I’ve never been. I’ve been to Virginia. That’s about as far east as I’ve been.

[00:34:26] CHRIS: How did a guy from New Jersey wind up in Alaska at the age of nine?

[00:34:31] CALLER: Oh God. My husband…so my mother-in-law obviously was from New Jersey. And we make fun of her because she says, you know, [in New Jersey accent] “about”.

[00:34:44] CHRIS: [in New Jersey accent] “Horrible”.

[00:34:45] CALLER: And she says [in New Jersey accent] “Orange”.

[00:34:46] CHRIS: Yeah, I’m from West Orange. She’s from North Jersey. You just let me know because I’m from West Orange and then people –

[00:34:53] CALLER: He’s from, he’s from – no, I’m sorry I have to correct you. He’s from South Jersey is where he’s from, so.

[00:34:59] CHRIS: What?? What?

[00:35:00] CALLER: Yeah they’re – if I remember correctly and so I don’t know, like the boroughs and stuff in all the counties. But I always get this wrong. He’s from Pittman area.

[00:35:11] CHRIS: Oh yeah that’s South Jersey. All right.

[00:35:14] CALLER: Yeah. He’s lost a lot of whatever accent he came up here with. But I’ll be like, “we’re gonna go. You know what color is that orange over there?” You know, and he’ll say [in New Jersey accent] “it’s orange”. And so it’s just the funniest thing. Like the one thing I make fun of him about.

[00:35:31] CHRIS: Yeah. That’s where I’m from West Orange, New Jersey. Don’t correct me on it, baby.

[00:35:35] CALLER: I may. [laughing] 

[00:35:37] CHRIS: Does his mom say wooder [instead of ‘water’] ’cause that they’re down near Philly. Does she say wooder? 

[00:35:44] CALLER: No, she says [in New Jersey accent] “How so” You know, she has a little…yeah, they have a little accent. They’re huge Eagles fans. My husband is a huge diehard Eagles fan. So by marriage I’m a huge fan.

[00:36:01] CHRIS: And that and I keep distracting you. So how do they…so he came out with his mother-in-law. How did they wind up out there?

[00:36:07] CALLER: Yeah. So my mother-in-law, you know, her dad had always talked about wanting to come to Alaska. And my husband’s parents were not married when they had him. So she decided that it was time for her to move on. And they sold everything they had and they moved up to Alaska. And like, it’s…I’m always curious why people say they come here, because I want to know, like, what the hell is wrong with you? [laughing] And you know, that was just her dream. She just wanted to come up here and they made their life here. And luckily for me, they did, you know?

[00:36:51] CHRIS: Yeah. I’m glad it worked out. 

[00:36:52] CALLER: So they’ve been here ever since.

[00:36:54] CHRIS: I mean, look. Moving to a new school at the age of nine is always gonna be tough even if you move across town. Those first few years your husband had, he must have been like, what is going on right now?

[00:37:08] CALLER: Yeah. And it’s something that we’ve talked about. You know, my husband, he was really mad at his mom when they moved. Because, you know, he’s…and it’s kind of cruel to me, it seems sometimes, because that’s just ripping your kid right out of their community, you know, and their safety net and taking them someplace like this kid has no clue about. Not only does he not have a clue, but it’s so damn different. And, you know, it just always was really odd to me, and so it’s something we’ve talked about. I think his mom, you know, I love her to death. But I think it kind of felt vindictive to me, to his dad. And there’s some issues there. You know, his dad maybe wasn’t around as much as he could have been. But, you know, at the same time, it’s like I just I could never imagine picking up and moving all the way across the country if for some reason my husband and I didn’t work out. 

[00:38:09] CHRIS: Yeah, you’re not moving to New Jersey if that goes down.

[00:38:13] CALLER: Hell, no. Like maybe Wasilla, which you know, is 45 minutes away. But, that’s where, that’s Palin land over there.

[00:38:24] CHRIS: Now when people come up from the lower 48 and I don’t – it sounds like maybe your mother-in-law had some elements of this, when people come up from the lower 48 because they want to hang out in Alaska and find themselves and do this soul-searching. Is that a very annoying thing that the lower 48 people do?

[00:38:44] CALLER: It’s not…I mean no, because I get it. It’s absolutely beautiful here. You know, it’s just it’s so different. I’ve not been to Colorado or something, but the mountains are such a grounding thing. Where I live in Anchorage the mountains are like, I can look out my window and see them. And so I get it. You know, you want to come someplace beautiful. I think what’s more annoying is there’s a certain understanding when you live here, and that is to be giving, to be courteous, to be nice to everybody. Alaskans are like some of the nicest people that you’ll ever meet. When you get people that come up here that are assholes or they have that privilege, you know? You can tell it’s like you’re not from here. I can look at you and be like, you’re not from here. If you’re down to earth and you’re just giving, you know, and you’re just concerned about your neighbors, it’s pretty obvious you were either like born and raised or damn near close, you know. You got to be able to share with your neighbors. I mean, especially now like with this whole COVID bullshit going on. You got to look out for one another. The elements here, like nature does not care and you got to make sure that everybody’s OK.

[00:40:13] CHRIS: Yeah. I remember when I saw the movie Into the Wild. It presents it as this very romantic vision. And then I read the book and the book has a much more pointed edge of like this kid, God bless him, he’s kind of a dumbass going into the Alaskan wilderness to find himself and not really knowing how it works.

[00:40:33] CALLER: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, you got to be really careful. You know, Native people know what plants to eat and what you can eat, what you can’t eat. I don’t know. I’ve not seen the movie and I just know briefly about what the story’s about. But you gotta be really careful because a lot of that shit’s poisonous. And my understanding, I think that’s how he died, right? He ate like some berries or something that were like poisonous?

[00:41:00] CHRIS: Yeah I’ve read up on it. And I think in the book they say this and I’ve read further that apparently they think…now they think that kid thought he was eating one type of plant and he ate another that is similar that will actually cause paralysis in humans –

[00:41:19] CALLER: Yeah, you gotta be really careful. 

[00:41:19] CHRIS: – which is brutal and I’m not judging, I feel like I judged the guy. I’m just trying to point out the difference in the book and the movie. I’m not judging it. That’s really brutal and scary. But, yeah he ate a plant that apparently paralyzes humans.

[00:41:32] CALLER: That’s what I, that’s what I recall. Yeah, you’ve got to be really careful. Like you can’t just go be like, “oh, you know, this is chill to eat”. And I mean, I kind of know what berries, but I really relied on like my grandma for that to be like, you know, you can eat this. You can eat that. My, now I – she’s passed. She passed in 2017. That was incredibly hard. Whenever a Native elder dies, you know, all of that knowledge goes with them. And whether it’s knowledge of the plant or cultural knowledge or knowledge of you know, art. My grandmother made dolls her whole life and my grandfather carved, he made soapstone artwork. And so it’s just it’s really hard when they go. But, yeah, I’d rely on her to tell me, you know, “you can eat that. Don’t touch that.” And so now I have my mom. My mom is still around. But it’s you know, she was kind of raised here in the 60’s and 70’s. So she wasn’t raised in the village and so you really lose a lot of that when you move to Anchorage. Wasn’t really their choice. Anchorage was really touched by the TB outbreak, which, you know, the Iditarod is all about diptheria. We’ve had a lot of illness here. And so for a lot of those folks you know, a lot of kids were orphaned. A lot of parents died, which was the circumstance I think, in both my grandparents. Until they moved to Anchorage to get a better chance. So.

[00:43:32] CHRIS: Now, you say you’re, you’re half Native. This means your kids are a quarter Native.

[00:43:41] CALLER: Correct, yeah.

[00:43:42] CHRIS: Do you feel like that connection is still very strong with them, or do you see it – as you say, like it’s harder with each generation, especially with movement to cities to retain stuff. Do you, is it a priority for you to make sure they stay in touch with it or do you see it kind of waning with their generation as well?

[00:43:59] CALLER: Yeah. It’s as much as I can.

[00:44:03] CHRIS: [music transition] We all got to pass stuff along to our kids, right? I just became a parent. I already think about that every day and I don’t even have the responsibility of maintaining the traditions, the native culture. Don’t go away.

[00:44:20] CHRIS: [music transition] OK everybody, break’s over. Let’s finish this one off. 

[00:44:28] CHRIS: Is it a priority for you to make sure they stay in touch with it or do you see it kind of waning with their generation as well?

[00:44:34] CALLER: Yeah, it’s as much as I can. Yeah, no, like I try to get them to experience the culture as much as I can. You know, it’s hard ’cause I don’t have all of that knowledge, but I really try to spend time with my family and, you know, teach them our native culture. Whether that’s through little things like food, art or just spending time with my elders. You know, it’s something that I try to get them to do. They had the benefit of going to a Head Start that was culturally focused on Alaskan Native culture so they learned some of that. And that’s another free service that I will say was very good. But they got to spend time with people who were elders, people who really knew the culture and could translate to them you know, in their little words how culture works for us. And there’s Yupik, there’s Yupik Eskimos. They’re kind of from Bethel area, which is kind of on the middle finger if you’re looking on your hand there. They’re kind of at the tip of the middle finger, kind of in that area. And there’s Tlingit people that, you know, he went to school with, and they’re Indian folks that are from the southeast. And then, of course, Inupiat people, so. They have salmon for lunch and, you know, they learn little N`ative dances. And it was really, I think, enriching as a parent to have them go there.

[00:46:35] CHRIS: That’s really cool. I am not familiar with Head Start. I don’t know what a Head Start is, but it sounds like a pretty great thing. 

[00:46:44] CALLER: You don’t know what a Head Start is? That’s like a big thing. They wanted to get Head Start’s all around the country.

[00:46:50] CHRIS: What’s a Head Start? 

[00:46:51] CALLER: It just like you know, preschool.

[00:46:55] CHRIS: Oh, yeah, I just call that preschool. 

[00:46:58] CALLER: Yes. 

[00:46:59] CHRIS: Oh, OK.

[00:47:01] CALLER: [laughing] See, my husband, he calls things differently. So he’ll say, you know, the tennis shoes? Or I’ll say shoes or tennis shoes. He says sneakers.

[00:47:10] CHRIS: Yes, I say sneakers. Yeah. All right. Me and your husband, me and your husband quite similar, quite similar culturally. In New Jersey, we don’t really – like, it makes me sad when I hear you say that like, you make a point to check in with the elders for the old traditions. Makes me realize that like we move a little too fast out here for that and I had Nintendo and shit growing up and that was my priority and then you know, my grandparents – 

[00:47:43] CALLER: Hey, I did too.

[00:47:44] CHRIS: Yeah no, I mean of course people have Nintendo, but to me like especially the northeast, we don’t slow down is my point. We don’t slow down. And I’m so sad –

[00:47:53] CALLER: Yes, you guys give me anxiety.

[00:47:56] CHRIS: Oh, yeah we give ourselves anxiety. I would freak you out hanging out with you. I would stress you out, I’m sure. But I’ve never, I’ve realized both my grandparents passed away and I never sat down with either them and asked them what Ireland was like. I just never did it. And now I don’t get to. 

[00:48:10] CALLER: Oh, my gosh. 

[00:48:11] CHRIS: What a bummer.

[00:48:12] CALLER: You know, I missed that opportunity with my grandmother. You know, there’s a lot of controversy with my grandmother. I’m pretty sure that I’m not fully half Inupiat. I’m pretty sure we’re part Japanese. So if you look at my grandma, she’s lighter skinned, which Inupiat people are just because I think we’re so far at the top of the state, that’s just how we came out. But if you look at her, you know, she just looks a little different. And so I wanted, I’ve asked her, I had asked her a couple of times because her maiden name sounded very Japanese as well. So I was like “grandma, you know, I’m pretty sure your name is not Native”, you know I tried to say it as respectfully as I could. And she had said to me, “you know, there was talk that my grandmother was Japanese” or something like that. And I just you know, you have to be, we’re very respectful with our elders. And so I didn’t ever want to push her. And you kind of have to be very respectful with Native people. It’s just how we operate. And so I kind of had questioned her about certain things. But I wanted to get her on video and just talk to her about life and just talk to her about how things were for her. You know, my mom was an alcoholic for all my life. And unfortunately, that’s kind of a problem that some Native people struggle with. And so I spent a lot of time with her. So while I didn’t you know, get that chance to record her or get that conversation, I did get a lot of time with her. She was almost like a second mom to me. And I’m incredibly grateful for that. She was so like loving. She was just an amazing teacher. She was patient. And gosh if there – you know, they always, you always get that question like when you’re meeting new people like, you know, if there was one person dead or alive that you would like spend time with…it would be her and my grandfather, of course, they just were amazing people.

[00:50:46] CHRIS: That’s so cool. That’s so cool. A cool thing to be able to say. I have another thing that you brought up earlier. We have less than 15 minutes left. This one’s flying. I do want to ask, what are your plans with your criminal justice schooling? Because I’m hoping you’re gonna become a badass Native Alaskan private detective with a cool scar on your neck, that’s my hope.

[00:51:15] CALLER: [laughing] Oh, man. You and me both. You know, when I was younger, like just out of high school, I thought, you know, maybe I’ll be like a CSI or like I’ll be a cop or I was really interested in both. But I think what I lost interest in was the way that the justice system worked. So it’s retributive justice, which is, you know, kind of lock them up, throw away the key. And what I really have loved learning about is more restorative justice. And so that’s really helping people you know, to reduce recidivism, to reduce crime and really helping them get back on their feet and kind of more focus on fixing the problem rather than, OK, cool, this person is mentally ill let’s lock him up. You know, this person didn’t have the money to pay for their groceries here in Alaska because milk is $10 in the village and we’re going to throw him in jail. Like that doesn’t do anything. And we’re not – this person has an addiction issue, so they stole from their family and, you know we’re going to just lock him up. That doesn’t do anything and it continues recidivism. It’s not fixing the problem, you know. I think what I would really like to do with that degree is focus on that as just restorative justice. There’s so much more that can be done and it saves money. You know, people bitch about crime, you know, just doing the same old thing and the status quo, it’s not doing anything. So my dad actually went to prison. And he had a drug problem and I visited him while pregnant with my oldest and I had to drive to Kenai, which is a couple hours away from Anchorage. And, you know, I, that was kind of my first…I had been disinterested in the criminal justice field. And I went to go visit him and I said, you know, we can do better. My dad was a veteran, you know. And I just decided pretty much shortly after I’m going to pursue getting the degree. I think we can do better. So that’s just what I want to do. You know?

[00:53:53] CHRIS: You’re real cool.

[00:53:57] CALLER: [laughing] Thanks! 

[00:53:57] CHRIS: And everything you talk about, you talk about in this very measured, calm tone of voice. But then the things you’re actually saying are like the coolest things where you’re telling me about what it’s like to spend time in your home village where people hunt seals and know how to live off the land in this sort of very harsh life that’s also kind of beautiful in the way that humans are meant to be, or you talk to me about how you want to dedicate your time to restorative justice because your own dad. But you just say it all so calmly but then I’m listening to it and I’m like, this is badass. Everything about this is badass.

[00:54:40] CALLER: I’ve been told a lot that I have a very calming vibe.

[00:54:45] CHRIS: Yeah, I haven’t felt this relaxed in weeks.

[00:54:51] CALLER: I mean, that’s something with my anxiety, I try to keep that calm you know? It’s not a great feeling to be stressed out and not take your time. So it’s just something I try to be in life, you know, just calm.

[00:55:14] CHRIS: I feel like there’s probably a lot of people listening going, yeah. I keep taking these very satisfying deep breaths that are chilling me out. 

[00:55:24] CALLER: You gotta come for a vacation to Alaska, dude. Like, there’s nothing to do here!

[00:55:28] CHRIS: Well I tell you, I counted it up. And there’s only I think it was six of the United States that I haven’t been to. And my agent who organizes all my touring dates whenever we’re allowed to go out in public again. I told him, I said, “look, I don’t need to make much money and I don’t need them to be like rock star gigs. But I want to visit these six states”. I want to visit these six states and Alaska is one.

[00:55:58] CALLER: I would love to see you. 

[00:56:00] CHRIS: Are there comedy clubs in Anchorage?

[00:56:03] CALLER: There’s not a lot there’s like one venue. It’s called Cootes.

[00:56:10] CHRIS: It’s called Cootes? I got to come up and perform at Cootes?

[00:56:13] CALLER: Yeah. Yeah, it’s called Chillcoot Charlie’s but if you’re from Anchorage you know it as just Cootes. I actually saw Chris Kattan there not too long ago and I was so stoked! He was so funny and he had such control of the audience. It was great. So that might be a good venue. There’s other little like convention centers I guess. That’s what we would call them, I don’t know what you guys call them. But there’s some venues, you know.

[00:56:46] CHRIS: You’re telling me though, most likely, if I come to Anchorage, I got to reach out to a place called Chillcoot Charlie’s?

[00:56:55] CALLER: [laughing] Yes. 

[00:56:56] CHRIS: I’m going to make it happen someday. 

[00:56:56] CALLER: Oh my God, it’s just the funniest thing to hear you say it.

[00:56:59] CHRIS: Cootes?

[00:57:01] CALLER: It’s called Cootes, Chris. It’s Cootes. [laughing] 

[00:57:03] CHRIS: I’m doing two shows at Cootes, 7:30 and 10. Get your tickets. But yeah, those are the states. I haven’t been to Alaska, either of the Dakotas, Montana, Wyoming, and then very strangely enough, Wisconsin. Those are the only ones I’ve missed.

[00:57:24] CALLER: Yeah. Like literally those are like some of the least populated states, I mean it makes sense.

[00:57:30] CHRIS: Well, the first five makes sense, but Wisconsin has like Madison and Milwaukee. How have I never performed there? How have I never gone to Wisconsin? 

[00:57:38] CALLER: Yeah, I guess that’s true.

[00:57:39] CHRIS: Of course, I’ve never been to Wyoming. No offense to our Wyoming listeners out there. But of course, that’s one that most people don’t pass through. No offense, but yeah Alaska is on – it’s separated from me by another country, of course. But Wisconsin? Somebody get me a gig in Madison. Comedy on States, one of the best comedy clubs. How have I never done it? 

[00:58:02] CALLER: It’s so funny because we don’t get a lot of people here that either come up or perform. So like the last really cool concert…I did see Diplo. He came up, I think a couple years back. And I was a really big fan until he put on like a headdress and I was like, yeah, that’s not cool, that’s disrespectful.

[00:58:30] CHRIS: Oops. Took a big swing there Diplo.

[00:58:33] CALLER: Yeah. I was not happy about that. You just don’t do that. And then right before that was the Chili Peppers. And that was amazing. And it was funny because they were supposed to come up in the 90s and they never did. Like they canceled their shows, I don’t think they got enough sales. But yeah, they came up and my husband and I caught the show. We were pretty close to like the front. We weren’t you know, we could see them really well. It was really good.

[00:59:06] CHRIS: I’m gonna be the next step in that proud lineage of performers.

[00:59:10] CALLER: Yes!

[00:59:12] CHRIS: Now, I also heard a story. Did you hear that one that, I think it was Wal-Mart once did a contest where Pitbull was going to do a show at a Wal-Mart and people could go vote on which one? The Internet team made him go to the most remote one in the world which is in Alaska?

[00:59:25] CALLER: Yes, it was so hilarious. He had to go to Kodiak. [laughing]

[00:59:29] CHRIS: Did you check out that show or no?

[00:59:32] CALLER: No! Hell, no. Number one, I’m not a big Pitbull fan, but number two, Kodiak is oh my gosh like it’s so far away. That’s where the Coast Guard base is.

[00:59:43] CHRIS: And he did it to his credit. He committed to it.

[00:59:46] CALLER: Listen, yes. I will give him credit like, that was hilarious. And it was just funny because they were really trying to get people to, like, vote for the Miami one I think was what it was. And everybody was like, nope, you’re going to Kodiak.

[01:00:01] CHRIS: Now, I have to say, this is the first time, we have less than five minutes left. The laugh that came out when you heard that incident reflected sort of a dark sense of humor, almost a cruelty in it that did show very briefly a different side of you. 

[01:00:15] CALLER: I think the thing is, is like Alaska is always the last for anything. It’s just it’s, it was just so funny to have someone come up here that is fairly well known was like it just was really funny, I guess. And I don’t know if you saw, Taco Bell, they had done the thing where they went to a village and they gave people tacos. I don’t know if you’ve seen that.

[01:00:43] CHRIS: I haven’t.

[01:00:46] CALLER: It’s a pretty funny thing to Google. It’s just for us, we know, we know we’re not getting anybody, you know, really famous. We just know. And so for it to be Pitbull was just really funny because it wasn’t because he wanted to come here. I mean, he was bitching and complaining you know. It was because he had to come up here. Nobody wants to come up here. It’s expensive. There’s not a lot of people here. It makes sense.

[01:01:17] CHRIS: You have not sounded more excited or talked at a faster pace than you have during this Pitbull road we’ve gone down.

[01:01:27] CALLER: [laughing] Well, shoutout to Pitbull. Like it was, I will say for him to live up to his word, that was pretty rad. I will say.

[01:01:37] CHRIS: Now I got to say something because we got three minutes left and we went down so many really fascinating roads. I thank you for all of them. But I do want to just one more time say I’m very, very glad that that diagnosis, terrifying. I’m glad that it’s gone away. I’m glad that it was solved relatively quickly because. 

[01:02:03] CALLER: Thanks. Me too, dude. 

[01:02:05] CHRIS: Yeah. I mean, you have so many interesting things to talk about. And you’re aiming to do so much good. And I’m so, so happy that you got past that one.

[01:02:17] CALLER: Well, maybe I’ll call back and I’ll give you an update. Before we go, I do want to teach you one word. It is quyana.

[01:02:28] CHRIS: Quyana.

[01:02:30] CALLER: Yes. That means…quyana. That means thank you. So I just want to say, quyana for having me on the show. I tried to call in a few times. Do more late night because Alaska it’s only noon here dude!

[01:02:48] CHRIS: OK, OK. 

[01:02:50] CALLER: Yeah, so I’m glad that I was able to get through and hey congrats on being a dad! I know I’m a little late, but it’s the best rollercoaster ride. And they’re so amazing and so worth just being a parent for. And it’s something that has given me like the most things to be grateful for, is my boys. They’re amazing. My husband, Brad, too. Don’t get me wrong.

[01:03:16] CHRIS: It’s a different ball of wax though. Now, I’ll tell you. You know, I’m no longer in the studio and I’m recording this in the house where I’m hiding out during all the COVID stuff. And when I look to my right, right now I’m looking out a window. My wife has our one year old in a giant old rusty wheelbarrow and is sprinting him in a wheelbarrow. It’s very cute. Not particularly safe, but really cute.

[01:03:45] CALLER: [laughing] Keep up on them shots. 

[01:03:47] CHRIS: Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Well we got one minute left quyana for calling in. Quyana for sharing your stories. Quyana for being so open and honest and Quyana for everything.

[01:04:02] CALLER: Yeah same. Quyana yupik, like the thank you very much.

[01:04:07] CHRIS: And is that something – now when I come up and do Cootes, is that something that like everyone in Alaska says that, like aloha? Or is that just a –

[01:04:17] CALLER: The Native people will have your back. If you say quyana, yeah. They’re gonna be like “woo! He knows a word”.

[01:04:28] CHRIS: If I get onstage at Cootes and I’m like quyana to all my lovely Native people for coming out tonight, I got them where I want them at that point.

[01:04:36] CALLER: Yeah! We’re gonna be like yes, yes. 

[01:04:39] CHRIS: All right. I guess I’ll, I’ll see you at Cootes someday.

[01:04:45] CALLER: I hope so. I hope so.

[01:04:47] CHRIS: Thank you so much for talking to me.

[01:04:49] CALLER: Yeah. Thanks, Chris. I appreciate it.

[01:04:56] CHRIS: [music transition] Caller thank you so much, or should I say quyana so much. It was really a pleasure to talk to you. I’m so happy that you’re healthy and I hope that remains the case. And I think you were really cool. I said it during the call, but I’ll reiterate. That was cool. You’re cool. See ya at Cootes. Thank you to Jared O’Connell. Thank you to Anita Flores. Thank you to Shellshag for the music. If you like the show, go to Apple podcasts. Rate, review, subscribe. And if you want to check out the entire Beautiful Anonymous back catalog go to Stitcher Premium at stitcherpremium.com/stories. All the details are there. Thanks so much for listening.

[NEXT EPISODE PREVIEW]

[01:05:46] CHRIS: Next time on Beautiful Anonymous, our caller has an ailment. And what are they using to deal with that pain? Weed, marijuana. Medicinal…sometimes.

[01:05:58] CALLER: One of my biggest coping mechanisms…I have stomach issues. The biggest coping mechanism is smoking weed all the time.

[01:06:05] CHRIS: OK. 

[01:06:06] CALLER: Because it helps me, you know, it helps with the stomach. So… but then my doctor just decided to tell me that it’s possible the weed might be somehow contributing or stopping me from healing. The fact that it’s been something that I’ve been relying on so much where no actual medications have been helping. And now I’m being told that I might have to stop. And now, like, it could be the solution. Like, if I stop smoking weed, maybe I’ll get better. 

[01:06:35] CHRIS: That’s next time on Beautiful Anonymous.