16. Location Convenience
EPISODE DESCRIPTION: I've realized how drawn I am to things that are 'close by.' It's starting to make me wonder if it's making my world small. Join me today for a post-holiday weekend’s ‘fleeting thought’ about how we use distance to keep us in a box.
Episode theme song credits: Be Bold, Be Brave by To the Valley
SHOW NOTES
Here is the documentary I alluded to at the beginning of the episode. It’s both exciting and frustrating to watch, especially as an LGBTQ+ person, yet it’s an important piece of work.
Kudos to director Sharon “Rocky” Roggio for being willing to step outside her own comfort zone to make this film despite it being in direct opposition to everything her own father stands for. I hope it gains traction to help eradicate the errant inclusion of ‘homosexuality’ in the Bible, and evidence the way in which this term, and those to whom it applies, was wrongly included. Leave it to the Evangelical ilk to make it a campaign against homosexuals despite realizing it was wrongly translated.
Link to 1946 Documentary homepage
Movie Trailer for 1946: The Mistranslation That Shifted Culture
TRANSCRIPT
Hey, happy Monday.
I just watched the IFC movie—1946: The Mistranslation That Shifted a Culture. And to be quite honest, I almost took a break today on this Monday to digest that and just let you know that I needed time to assimilate it.
But instead, I'm going move forward with one of the original thought that brought me to this moment…
Well, first of all, I want to tell a funny story because I think it's adorable and kind of hilarious.
This weekend. Well, so I reconnected with a friend the other day and they were sucking on something and you know, like when certain people chew or suck on a mint or a lozenge, I don't know, it sometimes makes me want to do the same.
This reminds me that personally, it's really hard for me to watch an actor in a movie eating and not also want to eat. Now, that may be because I love eating, but there's just something about witnessing the act of eating that triggers the desire to do the same thing. At least for me.
Anyway, this was the case with my friend. So I inquired, “Hey, what do you have in your mouth?”
And she says, “Oh, it's a mint. You want one?”
And yes, I did want one.
So she hands me one and I put it in my mouth and I guess I made a face and she says, “Oh gosh, do you not like it?”
And I was like, “Well, I don't really know. It's kind of odd. It's kind of like, I don't know, sort of menthol, but it tastes like what I would imagine a urinal puck would taste like.”
And she's like, "What the (bland) is a urinal puck? And what does that taste like?”
And then, you know, of course, I respond without skipping a beat and I'm like, “Oh, I don't know. It tastes like menthol and pee.”
Oh my God, we died laughing. And as I attempted to explain what a urinal puck was—isn’t that what they call those things?
I hope you had a great holiday weekend!
Today's fleeting thought is about how we are so location oriented these days. And I'm not talking just about the use of apps and how you've got a location marker for everywhere you are and everywhere you're going or you're being tracked or whatever. We're location specific, so much so that we build our houses around certain areas of town because it's, I don't know, near a great coffee shop.
Don't get me wrong, I do the same thing. The thing that got me thinking about this was the fact that my little brother was coming into town for Thanksgiving, and I know he likes hard cider these days, and I was like, “I'm going to get him some hard cider and his favorite whiskey” and, and I was thinking, “Oh, well it's so great that I live near Whip In.”
Which is a local iconic Austin beer and wine store where you can purchase wine and also go there and IIB in their outdoor spot. Very popular. Lots of assortments of craft beers, great wines, and things.
And then I was driving home from a walk with my friend Rajé and I saw Wiggy’s which is on Lamar, and I'm like, “Oh! Wiggy’s.”
I don't know why I didn't just stop there. I was out-and-about, but traffic was getting heavy and I just wanted to beat the onslaught of Austin traffic these days.
Anyway, I decided at that moment that I would just walk to Whip In later, which is, like I said, close to my house because you know, Wiggy’s is about three miles from my house versus the few blocks to Whip In.
And this morning I was like thinking it through and I'm like, “Oh, I wish I would've stopped at Wiggy’s.” That's like an iconic been-there-forever.
And I thought, “Well, yeah, but it's so far away.” And then I thought, “It's so far away? It's like 2.9 miles away! That's far away?”
And it started me thinking about how ‘location convenient’ I've become. Why does everything have to be so close to me in order for me to experience it?
So then as one thought leads to another, I start to think about how many of us are driven by location convenience. And then I began to see the path of thought as it is eroding and potentially could erode our life experiences.
Because you know, if we never go out of our hood, our part of town. Like if I never go north of the Colorado River in Austin, then I’m kind of missing out on things north of the Colorado River in Austin.
And I don't know, this is just a generalization because I know not everyone just stays specifically where, well, I don't know, I think some people do, but I think our inclination to do things close to home could potentially be eroding our life experience.
Now, this isn't a big deal, right? This is just a fleeting thought, but I kind of think I want to challenge myself to get away from being ‘close to home.’
Now that's where people that are in the suburbs who aren't necessarily close to the cool hip happening things in urban settings are forced to go out of their comfort zones, forced to go out of their comfort bubble or their convenience bubble.
Or they live in micro city setups where everything is in fact just down the street from them. Then of course, they only experience their hood.
So today I'm saying let's challenge one another to go north of the river, if you will.
Oh, and speaking of—maybe even my Kansas City peers, aren't there some great restaurants north of the Missouri River? Great pizza and breweries up there.
Or you know, like for my Catholic family, go to mass to a parish that's up by Uncle Domenic and Aunt Jeanne's.
Anyway, this is my rando thought this morning about recognizing that location convenience could very well be thwarting our life experiences.
Okay? So if not day to day, try to partition your week and go explore things beyond the boundaries of your own neighborhood.I'm going to.
Go for a hike in the distant hills. Go somewhere outside of your hood. Even take public transit or an Uber, or take a scooter ride. Oh man, I love scooters. Anybody that knows me knows I love a good scooter ride.
Location, convenience. I think it makes our world small.
Okay, I'll be back tomorrow.
I'm admittedly super tired from the long weekend. I'm experiencing one of those “I need a vacation to recover from my vacation” moments.
Here's, to a great week of adventure.
Get out there. Explore. Engage. Express. By the way, that little alliterated tagline is the preface of something very fun in the works.
Okay, I'll see you tomorrow.
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The podcast is hosted, produced, and edited by Jenée Arthur.
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