Hello! Welcome to episode 45 of I’d Rather Stay In. This week, we’re discussing something we both feel very strongly about: Voting!
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Episode transcript
Welcome to I’d rather stay in the podcast for cozy introverts. We’re your hosts, Megan Myers.
And Stephie Predmore
This week’s episode get out and vote
Hello.
Hello.
What’s new?
Well,
not a whole lot right now. Cuz it’s
just you know, taking a chill relaxing, huh? Your cat had to get an enema today, which is sort of an allegory for 2020 if I ever heard one so ridiculous.
Poor guy. He seems to be feeling better, though. So maybe
you would too. If you backed up and couldn’t poop?
Yes, but I don’t know if I would ever go as far to. To
measure. Yeah. Well, poor guy. He had no choice. The choice was made for him. Yeah, you said that. I was like, yeah, that’s pretty much an allegory for 2020. Really?
The vet tech said that.
Like afterward, or I guess I don’t know. They they were like taking pictures for the records and stuff. And he was giving her like the dirtiest books.
I like
hate you
going, you know, he was like, doing his thing. Like while it was happening and sevens like Excuse me. Oh, man.
You just did this to me. And now you’re taking pictures. You are the rudest person ever, pretty much, just as long as he doesn’t wake me up super early. Again. He woke up.
Yesterday morning, he woke up at like 330 this morning, he woke up at 430 Jesus. And I was like, I am definitely not getting out of this bed and feeding you don’t care. You were going to ignore you. As long as it takes for you to be quiet. Go back to sleep go
away. It’s night time. It did work
for a couple hours. So.
Oh, gosh. Yeah, apps are so delightful. I should also I feel like we should also mention that rune is approximately 100 years old. So there’s some like added senility going on?
Yes, he’s 17 he has diabetes. He is he’s got cataracts. And as I see he’s on a heart medication now no blood pressure not heart medication. blood pressure. he’s a he’s a hot mess. Poor guy. I’m gonna have to like start getting a pill thing for him.
Honestly, you probably are.
Yeah, you get this. In the morning he gets his insulin and his blood pressure and his cosequin for his joints.
Then in the evening, he gets insulin and is
calm the fuck down medicine.
Honestly, we can’t laugh too much though. Cuz I mean, give us like 40 years, and this will be
so now but you know, I was b i we already do the CBD. So like, by the time we’re old, we’ll
need we’ll probably something even harder. Who knows?
Oh, yeah, I’m sure.
Either way, that was my joy of the day, I guess.
Oh, man, you know, I feel like honestly, it get this the theme connects pretty well to today’s topic. Really? I mean,
I guess in a way. Yeah. So I want to talk this week about voting. Because Hello. There’s a big election coming up. But we’re not going to talk about our personal politics, because you guys should know what we’re all about in that arena by now. But we wanted to cover why it is so darn important to vote.
Yeah.
Because here’s the thing, voting statistics, they like suck. They really do. Because even though we think about people like okay, probably the majority of voters vote in presidential elections versus voting in like local elections, which we’ll talk about here in a little bit. Even still, it’s not really that many people that vote in presidential elections.
Yeah. And you think about it, too, because you I’m sure you’re, in my case, for sure. It’s like well, all of my friends vote and I know all of my Family votes. So who are these people who aren’t voting? But it’s like a huge proportion of the population. Mm hmm. So I actually needed to get some statistics on this, of course. And it turns out that in the 2016 election, there was only 56% of the voting age population that actually voted.
That is
disheartening.
It’s really crazy, especially when you hear about other countries that have incredibly high voter turnout rates.
Oh, yeah. Like I’m looking here at like, Belgium. And it’s something like, I don’t know, almost 90% of their percent percentage of voting age population.
Yeah, Australia actually has a little bit over 90%. They’re always like, brought up as one of the highest outcomes for their for their elections. And I mean, I don’t know what it’s like to live in Australia. But the fact that people are that invested in voting, right, would make me think about next to her a little bit better over there. Also, they have assault rifle ban. So you know,
I mean, there is that. Yeah, I mean, meanwhile, the US is sitting here, I’m looking at a graph, and we’re sitting like in the bottom quarter or so of the graph. Countries like Slovenia, Luxembourg. Latvia, like those are, those are countries that have like lower voter turnout, in terms of the age, the voting age, percentage of the voting age population. Hmm. But, yeah, it’s um, it’s not, it’s not a great look for us.
Yeah. And actually, when we get us to, actually, it says that there is a law in Australia, that makes voting compulsory in Australia and Belgium. And so that’s why the numbers are so high. They’re interesting. But it’s weird that with all of the years that we’ve had these efforts to get people to get out and vote that we have never done any, like concentrated. We’re not necessarily law, but like, some sort of policy that like makes people more interested in voting. Mm hmm. It’s weird, because there’s so many issues that are always on the ballot, whether it’s through a referendum, or with the actual person that is running, that affect everyone on a day to day basis. It’s still people are not going out and voting.
Right. And it’s not, you know, getting registered is not hard. So, yeah, you know, it’s there’s, I mean, there are definitely there are absolutely certain barriers to voting. But at the end of the day, a lot of I think a lot of the times, it’s less about the barriers to voting for a lot of people and more about being lazy, if I’m just being really honest.
Well, there’s also the general apathy, where, if you, especially if you’ve been a voter for more than one election, and he, you know, say that you voted for for someone and that person didn’t win, and then it makes you feel like your vote doesn’t matter. Mm hmm. Even though it does, even if your person loses, it still matters. Those turnout numbers are really important in terms of finding out what people are interested in what they care about, so that in the future, those people can come back again and run again, they’re talking about this year is gonna have a record turnout. But 2008 had a record turnout, and that record meant 58%.
So,
so it might be better, but we still have a long way to go. Right?
Yeah, we really do. And so let’s talk about let’s talk a little bit about why we vote particularly when it comes to smaller local elections, because like I said, there are many voters, I think many people who are registered to vote, who only vote in the big elections potentially not even like The presidential primaries, but just the presidential election every four years. But there are elections that happen every year, sometimes multiple times a year, depending on where you live and what the ballot is. So it’s really and I have to be honest, I didn’t really start voting in our local elections until we moved to Bloomington. Prior to that, you know, I was registered to vote, but I really only voted in like the big elections. And I think a lot of it was because I was living in a much more like, urban slash suburban area where I didn’t feel as plugged into the community. And so I didn’t necessarily feel the effects of local lawmakers, local policy, all of that to the same extent that I do that I felt like I did when I moved to Bloomington.
I also
Well, no, I started voting in the local elections before the 2016 presidential election. I was gonna say, I think although I do think that after the 2016 election, a lot of people suddenly kind of started to wake up to the difference that voting on a local or state level can make. But like, even more than with national elections, when you vote in your local elections, like you were voting for change, literally in your backyard.
Yeah, there are always going to be issues on in the local election that are directly going to affect you, whether it’s like the school bond bill, or construction down the street, or how the police department is going to use your taxes. There’s so many things that are voted on and a local level. Yeah. Especially depending on the size of your community. Sometimes it’s even down to like, Are we going to get a streetlight? Yes.
Yeah, so like, you know, if you care about what’s going on, and then again, I think, I think sometimes if you’re a homeowner, sometimes it hits a little differently than if you’re a renter, I think that might also have been a little bit of a difference and why I felt suddenly, like, once we moved, and we were owning our home, that the local election was something that impacted me a little bit more. But whether you’re a homeowner, whether you’re a renter, or like being involved in your local community is important. And, you know, a lot of times you can be voting for people who literally live down the block from you like or around the corner from you. They could literally be your neighbors, that you’re that you’re supporting or you know, anything like that. So it just it’s a much more personal thing. And when you’re voting in local elections, and when you’re voting in state elections, all of those things can have a ripple effect all the way on up.
Yeah. And the fact that
someone that might be living next door to you that is on the city council or something like that, you could literally talk to them. Yeah, about yours problems with the city. And they could take that to the city council. Like, right. It could be your own little like Pawnee city forum.
Exactly. It’s exactly what I always think of I always think of Parks and Rec, and they think of Leslie Knope and Pawnee and like, it could be someone that you have barbecues with regularly, or, you know, just it hang out with at the neighborhood block party or out whatever it is, it could be someone that you really know, well, and so if it is someone that you know, well, and they’re running for city council, for example, or Hell, even for something like mayor, you have the opportunity to, like, you know, that person, you, you know, what kind of person they are, you know, it’s like when you when people are running on a on a national level, like, oh, but he’s a really like, good person. How do you know that like, okay, like, 15 people know what he’s like, in real life, the rest of us don’t, but on a local level, like, most of the a lot of the people voting have the potential to actually know what this person is like, on a personal level. Mm hmm. Are they the type of person that is going to keep their promises are they the type of person that is gonna make a promise and then do something else that benefits them like you You have a little bit of a inside view and to some of that to some extent, so just don’t write off local elections. They can be really Really important. And so even if you’re feeling very apathetic about what might be happening on a presidential level, or even on a on a congressional level, look at your local stuff.
Yeah. So Stephie How do you decide who to vote for?
Well, I don’t pay attention to the ads that
real and touched my soul. Oh, my God, like, just do
I on I like, want to know, do these ads ever work? They do. I mean,
do you remember? I guess you might be too young. I can’t I always forget that you’re, like, elections, like two, two presidential election cycles.
younger than I am.
The when john mccain
and john kerry were running against each other.
Oh, uh huh.
Are we Oh, no, that’s
that’s not right.
When I don’t know what it was, it was john kerry was involved. And
oh, was it a bush carry?
Yeah. But then it was like, but it was McCain in the primary. I think that’s what it was. Oh, probably the there was like this whole Swift Boat campaign.
You remember that? No,
it was it was some ad that came out and it went insane. Like now we have Twitter where everything goes crazy, like just on TV. And it like blew up all over. It was just madness. So
So I guess sometimes the president, there’s precedent for them to work, but I personally, I don’t pay attention to ads. Um, I actually have a really hard time with ads, because they just get so nasty. And I hate that. This time of year, I just hate watching live TV, because it’s ad after ad after ad
so terrible. Especially if you live in a like a battleground state. It’s just
the worst is so weird. So I always get I get candidate overwhelm. Particularly like not for, you know, the final elections, usually. But when you’re looking at like the primaries, I have a tendency to get candidates overwhelmed, because I feel like there are so many people, and there’s so many options, and they’re all saying all of these things. And so I find it really helpful when sometimes local newspapers put these out, sometimes larger news publications, put them out. There will be like guides to the candidates. Yeah. And it’ll do sort of like bullet points summarize, and lay out where they stand on certain policies. And I find summaries like that to be really helpful. So I can kind of side by side, look at the candidates, and see where they stand on issues that are important to me. Because it gives me a place to start, because otherwise I’m like,
yeah, our paper does the same thing. They send out a survey to all of the campaign’s and there’s, you know, like, I don’t know, five questions that they could choose from to answer and then they, they don’t print to all of the answers for each candidate, but they kind of pick like one or two of the best ones, I guess. Yeah. And then they compile all that into like, a really huge section, though, you know, depending on which election cycle it is. Yeah. And put that in the paper. And I always find that really helpful, too.
Yeah, I The other thing I find it helpful, is that the last couple of elections, there have been like websites that have a you can go in, and you sort of answer this questionnaire about how you feel about certain topics. And then it tells you, which candidates align sort of the best with what you tend to vote towards. And so again, like the I don’t think that they should be cut and dry, like, Okay, I’m going to take a quiz to find out who to vote for. If it was that easy. This is not Cosmo quiz, guys. But it can give you a starting place. Like if you’re like just not sure, and you have a little bit of voter overwhelm. Sometimes using resources like that can put you on on the path to figuring out like, Okay, this is interesting. I want to look more into, you know, these candidates and then look a little bit deeper. So, Megan, when we’re looking deeper at candidates, where should we look?
So I sometimes I actually Look at like the the candidates website themselves. Because they usually layout least with the candidates platform is layout their history, like a little bit of a resume kind of thing. And that’s a good jumping off point for doing research. Yes, you do have to do with like then being served programmatic ads until the end of time, but
you can do it incognito.
So that’s a good place to start. I also really like the League of Women Voters website, they usually put out a guide around election time to kind of break down the candidates. There’s also like your local chapters, depending on what party you’re in, that they’ll do guides the same way to where they’ll be like this, you know, this candidate does this blah, blah, blah, especially during the primaries where, like you said, they’re usually a lot of people in the field. And since you’re voting, generally, for someone already in your party, it’s really it is get does get really confusing, because you’re like, well, they’re in my party. So I agree.
So that’s weird.
But then also, you should research the party platforms. Side note that I actually really hate the idea of the two party system.
Yes, that’s a whole rabbit trail.
It’s totally broken, and it doesn’t work. And it’s awful, but it’s what we have. So that’s what it is. So if you don’t know what a platform is, the platform is the values that get voted on during the primary season and will be carried forward as action items that each party will try to put forth into society, like climate change, or the economy or
education reform, things like that.
So those are usually on your primary ballot. They’re always worded really weirdly, because they’re like, they want you to say yes, usually to them. They’re written in, like, if you’ve ever had to do a phone survey, where it’s very clear how they want you to answer Sure. They’re like, son, Tommy, so and so is a socialist, how do you think you feel about that? You’re like, Well, that sounds scary, right? It’s like,
it’s like being like, This man loves puppies.
And, and this other guy likes to kick puppies, exactly.
Like that. But I mean, it’s, it’s basically a description of what they’re playing do like, you know, they plan to reduce reduce coal factories or something like that. So there’s all in the primary ballots. And so you can you can say yes or no during that. And then they take all those from the primaries, and they bring them to the local convention. And then the state convention, and then the national convention, where they vote on them again, right each each time and then they finally decide on like the final play a final platform, even though it doesn’t usually change that much from election to election, because the parties are what they are, right. But they usually get updated a little bit based on what’s going on in the world. Any like, general social outcry that’s happening? There are some really weird ones that I saw there republican one in Texas this year, that I was just really confused by
what they read them.
But also they made sense that they would put them on there but
said, usually a lot of stuff doesn’t actually happen with them. But that is usually what they’re like, this is what I stand for kind of thing.
begging you. You’ve a fun fact about yourself. Would you like to share it? I would
laughed at me earlier. But it was really cool and fun. So there. Um, so speaking of the primaries when it was the primaries in 2008 it was our first presidential election here when we live in Texas. And we found out that they do caucusing. Like after the polls close on election day. Mm hmm. And I was like caucusing Hmm. And I was kind of like, sort of involved, not involved, but like, had been listening to the politics situation at that time and everything. It was like, Well, that sounds interesting. I’ll do it now. Like, can
you describe like, Can you explain what that means?
So it’s really confusing.
So no, I just I will,
I will describe my experience.
So 2008 obviously the primary I’m different. Democrat. So the caucus was your caucus seen for either Hillary or Obama. And so they needed a basically, you go to each precinct and you need a whole bunch of people to sign up to be part of the caucus. And but they only need a certain number of people. So they kind of have to choose who is going to represent the your precinct. Mm hmm. And so somehow, I got chosen, there were tons of people there. And there was one guy who was like, I have the precinct rules on compensate. rar. And then there was someone else arguing with them. And it was like a whole thing. Um, and it lasted hours and hours. But in the end, I got selected to go from our precincts with like, five other people maybe, and or 10. I don’t know how many was, and then we got to go to the Travis County. convention. Which was also fun. And weird, because I had my baby. Yes, I just brought on my sling.
This is why we babywear
sorry, um, and then I ended up so from the, from that one out of the people that you brought, you only get to select, like three people to go to the state. Mm hmm. So you have like two and then an alternate, and I got to be the alternate for the state convention. But, but because it was an alternate, that only meant I went if the other person didn’t go, and they both went. So I didn’t get to actually go to the state convention. But it was all very exciting. I feel like everyone in the room like how’s that energy? Yeah, like when you go to a conference, and you’re like, hyped up about seeing Bernie brown or something. And like, the whole energy for the whole day was like that, because everyone is very invested in the future and right, it’s coming down down the line. And that year, especially was like a crazy year. Right? Um, so I feel like it was really exciting. Yeah, I just I like, like being a delegate. A certain, like, sort of being a delegate for Obama was like,
Ah, yeah, that’s really cool. To be clear, I made fun of her because in our notes, document, she was like, side note, I did this exciting exclamation point. That’s what I was making fun of her for more for exciting exclamation point,
not how nerdy it is to caucus.
I mean, it is pretty nerdy. But also, it’s very you. So it makes sense
to say that if you, if you if you are at all interested in politics, or anything like that, and you your primaries, where you live, they do this open caucus in such a system, I would totally recommend it, because I felt like you learn a lot about the way elections work. Right. And I just thought it was like, super fascinating. I was on mailing list till the end of time, but
it’s fine, you’re moving, they can get you any more. Um, well, I think that actually brings up a really good point that I think that when we think of like, Oh, I’m really interested in politics, like that means that you want to, like run for office someday, you know, and that’s not that’s not the case. Like, you can be really interested in your local politics, you could go to city council meetings, you could be interested in learning more about how the election works. And you know, do this open caucus scene, if that’s something that they do where you live? Like, there’s, it’s more than just like, Oh, I’m gonna run for mayor, and then I’m going to be governor, and then I’m going to be president. Like, there’s lots of ways that you can be involved in politics on a number of levels without ever running.
Yeah, and I think politics is like a dirty word. Mm hmm.
Yeah. So I feel dirty politics are like a government’s
you’re like,
oh, ha,
but
it’s, I don’t know how to explain it. But it’s more about like, you know, it’s about your community. Yes. It’s about being invested in where you live and the people that you live with and that you share the planet with? Yes, that’s really it.
Yes. Yeah. Yeah. For me, it’s about it is it’s definitely like about caring about what happens to me and my family, but also my loved ones. Yeah. So you know, there are there are things that I consider to be important issues that I that I take into consideration when I’m looking at, you know what candidate to vote for that don’t affect me directly. But I know that they direct they directly affect somebody that I love a lot. And so, you know, I consider those issues, even though it’s not necessarily going to make a difference for me, and my direct life personally, that makes sense.
It does absolutely believe that children are the future.
Yes, we do. So, okay, let’s talk about registering to vote. Because there’s still there’s still time to register to vote, there is
still time to register to vote.
You’re gonna have to check it out state by state, because like all things in this delightful nation, everything differs between the states. Yeah. So every state is going to be a little bit different with their registration deadlines. And you know, how you register and all of that stuff. And you’re encountering that with the move, right?
Yeah. So I,
we had thought we were gonna stay here long enough that I would be able to vote in Texas, but that’s not the case. And so, in order to make sure that I can definitely vote in the election, I’ve been looking at all the things to register to vote in Illinois. And it is crazy confusing, because there’s a deadline. But you have to like I, there’s a deadline, and it’s an October, but you have to have lived in the state for a month before you register. So I don’t qualify for that. But then there’s a grace period, this period that lasts from that until voting day, but then also, you can register on voting day.
And then you’re like, why was there a deadline? I don’t understand.
I don’t it doesn’t make any sense. Um, so there’s basically the deadlines are for like different methods of registering. So like, there’s an online registration. Yeah. And then during the grace period, it has to be in person and then on voting day, you have to vote at the registrar’s office or something like that. It’s a lot to try and keep up with with Illinois, but it’s I
was gonna say, and this is very specific to Illinois, like not all states are this complicated because we’re special here.
It is definitely not that complicated. When I registered to vote in Minnesota, I showed up on election day. The dude next to me vouched for me as a person who lived in the precinct, and then that was registered.
Bless.
So, yeah, definitely. It is not always that hard.
Yeah. And some of these dates on here. It’s like,
here’s the deadline.
That’s literally it.
Yeah, do it by this date. So yeah, definitely check it out. And if you are confused, you should go ahead and just call your local election office because they can help you. They’re a real person, and they can actually tell you like, here’s what to do.
Yeah. And I know a lot of people are looking to vote by mail right now because of Coronavirus and various concerns. Not all the states are expanding their vote by mail. There’s always the absentee ballot situation. But not everyone qualifies for absentee ballot is usually reserved for the elderly or disabled people. Mm hmm. But there are a few states that actually already do 100% vote by mail and they have for a few years.
That’s interesting. Like they don’t even have polling places or
I’m not they might have I’m not sure about the the full research on where if they do still have like some in person places, but it’s not like they just automatically mail out ballots. Oh,
that’s interesting. Yeah, here. So here in Illinois, they didn’t, they’re not automatically mailing our ballots, but they automatically mailed a ballot request to all the registered voters. So we already so yeah, so we already got that. And then we both just had to say yes, I want you to send me my ballot by mail. So it’s not like I would have preferred them just to send us our ballot by mail. But they did at least make it really easy for us as registered voters here in Illinois to request a mail in ballot, because they just sent it to us. I believe
that they do it by request, because they want to make sure that whoever they’re sending it to is, you know, a registered voter, probably, you know, because there’s, you know, people die or the mail doesn’t get forwarded or things like that. So they want to make sure it’s actually going to the right person. Yeah,
yeah, that’s probably true. Yeah. Um, although it would have been, truthfully, I think pretty easy to I’m trying to remember. I don’t know. It was it was not it was a really easy thing to do. So check it out for your state is the point.
Yes. But if you do vote by mail, make sure that you nail it. Like if you can mail it the day after you get it.
No, yeah. Don’t
make sure that you post are postmarket far in advance, because as
we know, actually right now,
yeah, there’s there’s lots of going on with the postal service. And you don’t want to risk having your ballot not being counted if they decided to come too late.
Yes, yes, absolutely. So usually, I vote early. Megan, I think we’re the same. I love early it’s the best, because there’s no line.
Well, the funny thing is, is that
every time we have gotten to vote early, there has been a line.
Oh, that’s funny. Well, maybe it’s the line isn’t as long I usually go. I will usually go the day of for you know, like, when it’s the little local local elections or whatever. It’s down the street from my house, and I just pop in and it takes like 13 seconds. And I went on, you know, the day of for the primaries and all that stuff. But for the big elections. The presidential elections, I always go early. And they it’s usually set up. Like there’s lots of options for voting early. It’s not like, Oh, you have to go this one day. Like there’s lots of time for you to get fit early. Because it just it’s it’s so much easier than waiting for a bar.
Yeah. So we in? I don’t know if it’s all I think it must be all of Texas. I don’t know if it’s all of Texas, or just Travis County, but you can if you’re voting early, you can vote in any voting location. Mm hmm. And all the voting early locations are usually, you know, much more plentiful, like the grocery store. Yeah, they’re doing one at the courtyard Marriott this time, like you’re voting locations, everywhere during early voting. And so you can go to any of those that are convenient to you. And in Texas, it’s normally I think, a two week period. But they extended it by another week this year. So you have even more time to really vote. Yeah. But it’s it’s amazing and convenient. And if you can vote early, I highly, highly recommend it.
Yeah, it’s, it’s definitely worth it. Because going on first of all, going on election day, it could be really busy. Some states have made Election Day holiday, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that your employer is going to recognize it. For most full time employers, you are required to get two hours off to go vote. They’re not allowed to ding you for like needing to go vote. But you know, depending on the line, depending on how long it takes you to get there, like all of that stuff. You could be really eating up that two hours. So just if you can go early.
Yeah. And the other thing, if you are voting on the day of important thing to remember is that if you are if it’s if it’s toward the end of the day, if you aren’t in line, at the time that the poll is closed, don’t walk away, you are 100% still allowed to vote. If you are in line, when the polls technically close, they’re required to have everybody who’s in line go through the polling system. That’s an
excellent note.
So
it always happens in because we have we have a pretty good voter turnout in Travis County, and especially at certain polling places. It’s there’s always long lines at certain locations, especially, you know, by UT. And some other locations. There’s always people there after voting hours. And I think the year that I did the primary caucus, the caucus is supposed to start right after the polls closed, but because the lines were so long for people to vote in the primary that I think the polls and closed for like how like two and a half, like, like a click close at seven I think and then I think we didn’t actually start the caucus until like nine or 930 Oh, wow. Because they had to get everyone through the line.
Well, so let’s go back. Yeah, stay where you are. Use your voice count your vote. Yes, this is I mean, that’s really what it’s about. So um, You know, and I know that I know that people have a really hard time, I think, especially with presidential elections because of the electoral college. And I think there’s only five people in the universe that actually fully understand how that functions. And Megan is probably one of them. She’s probably researched. She actually understands it. I am not I still it’s still confuses me, like, understand that it’s stupid. I understand that it is stupid. What I understand. And so I know, it’s really hard to feel like, okay, I live in Texas, and I’m a Democrat, and Texas is going to vote republican or vice versa, maybe for Illinois or whatever. But that doesn’t mean that we can just sit on our butts and not vote.
That’s right. As my parents always said, if you don’t vote, you can’t complain.
That’s honestly, sometimes the reason that gets me out to vote. Like, I can be very, like, feeling very mad about any given candidate selection. But I’m like, Well, if I don’t vote, I don’t get to bitch about it later.
That’s right. So your future that is in your hand?
It is it really is your future, this in your hand also, like, Okay, let’s go back to the beginning of the episode, when we were talking about how few people actually a voting age that actually go vote, you know, 56% of the voting age population, voted in the 2016 presidential election. Imagine if more people had gone to vote, imagine if even like 70 or 75%.
That’s an incredible number, I would fall out of my chair, if we got that for real.
Like that’s the kind of like that is the kind of increase that actually could move the needle. That’s right. So yes, you are one person you are one vote. But it only like it takes.
It takes every person bringing their
vote. Exactly. So just go do it. That’s right. It’s your civic duty. Go. That’s right. It’s your civic duty. Go do it. You know, for him. Yeah. Make it like a
fake chat with your neighbors. It’s fun.
Yeah, go get yourself like, you know, a pastry afterwards, or I don’t know what I give you free stickers. Can I give you a salad? Alex still has his I voted sticker from the primary on his hat.
Still there from like, six months ago.
So you know, it’s, it’s if you need to, like make it be a thing. Like, I’m gonna go reward myself by going to get like a coffee. Go do it. Whatever, whatever it takes just go vote.
That’s right. And if you have already voted, you vote
early, and you can give other people rides so that they can go home? Because I know a lot of times polling places are not in places that people can get to with public transportation. Be a helper?
Yes, absolutely. And I know a lot of people that are volunteering to be poll workers.
Yeah, my dad’s a poll worker. Yeah.
So I’ve got a couple friends that are doing it this year. So that’s still an option, you can still sign up to do that. So and obviously, that’s not something that everyone is going to necessarily be able to do if you’ve got, you know, little tiny babies at home or whatever. But if you’re able, like we need to make sure this election in particular, that voting is as accessible as possible. And that means having as many polling places open as possible, and when that means that they need the extra workers to be able to have that happen. Exactly. So definitely, definitely consider that because that could make a difference. That’s all again, ways that you can be involved and you can feel like you’re making a difference besides just voting
in your community.
Hooray, hey.
What’s bringing us joy?
So all right, what’s bringing us joy this week, Megan? Well.
I am drinking a cherry lime aid. And that is a pretty happy
that sounds delicious.
I have not had one in a really long
time. Was it from
Sonic? Oh nice. Have you not had a cherry lime made from Sonic
the pan? Not I don’t think I’ve ever eaten it Sonic.
We have them. There fits fine but they really like there. They really excel at the drink factor.
Okay, so what I’m hearing is that when you get here, our fans are going to have to go get some Sonic so that the kids can have some burgers and we can have some cherry lemonade. I
mean, the kids don’t have to come.
I think it’s just to shake it. I mean, it’s just like, I think it’s basically just like a sprite with cherry syrup, and then some lime syrup. or lime juice, maybe so it’s delicious.
It’s pretty good. That sounds a little sweet, but it’s a soda. So
it sounds like that would be delicious. If you brought it home and spiked it.
Oh, yeah. Huh. There must be that. But the other thing that I’m actually going to talk about.
It wasn’t actually your joy.
It is making me really happy right now. But slightly semi related. It’s in the food spectrum. Okay. Um, I made rice krispie treats.
Oh, man, it is. So never. I’ve never
make rice krispie treats because they annoy me because they make everything sticky.
Yeah.
And I don’t know, I just think they’re annoying. And the ones that I usually like, have are too much. Like if I if someone else makes them, or if I get it from like, a bakery or whatever. It’s like a ridiculous Rice Krispie treat and yeah, it’s just sugar.
Yes, but
since I’m trying to use the pantry, we have all these Rice Krispies and my child claimed he was going to eat for breakfast. And then for some reason, we had a bag into half of marshmallows in the pantry. And then, and I had like a quarter bag of mini chocolate chips.
So you made some chocolate. Yeah, I made a like chocolate
swirl or it’s crispy tree. And it was there really good. And I was like, dang. No wonder people like
it is so long since I have had or made rice krispie treats but I have very, very clear memories of like probably some of my first memories on the kitchen of making rice krispie treats with my mom. So I my mom actually couldn’t make rice krispie treats. I don’t know why I’ve got questions,
but it never worked out. My best friend’s mom, they would make rice krispie treats and they would melt chocolate chips over the top like a low like frosting. But like a you know, I guess like frosting, but then it hardens like a poor man’s skin ash. Yes. And it was so good. Love that. Yeah, I love that. I’m sure I’ll be sat on rice krispie treats for like the next five years again, because that’s probably the last time I made them was five years ago, that’s fine.
By the time you’re ready to make them again, my child will be old enough to like actually help make them and you know, that’ll be like, that’ll be that’ll be the fun thing. We’ll go to Megan’s house and get her kitchen sticky and stuff.
I really appreciate you looking out for me.
You know, what friends are for?
Well, what is bringing you joy. So I listened to so my friends have a podcast is called trauma informed everything. One of the hosts is Andie who is our guest on our latest enneagram episode. And they are both on getting their master’s in social work and have done a lot of reading and stuff about trauma and their own trauma therapy and all that stuff. And they are leading a book club for going through the book, the body keeps the score, which is sort of the like the Bible on trauma. And it’s a book that I’ve been intending to read for a while now because it’s sort of a recommended adoptive parent read because all adopted children have trauma even if you adopted them from birth. So it’s been on my reading list, but I knew it’s gonna be kind of heavy and didn’t really want to go through it by myself. And then my friends started this book club and so that started last week, I think. And I went and I got myself some highlighters. And I got myself some post it flags and I’ve been like very much channeling my old like nerdy school self of like, Okay, I’ve got my homework, I need to read my chapters getting my highlighter out. I’m getting super nerdy with it, but honestly, I kind of love it. So that’s fun. And then you know, you’re learning stuff. I mean, it’s a it’s definitely like a heavy book and I am sort of just getting to the point where I can articulate that some of the things that I have experienced in my own life in the last few years are trauma. Like it took me a while to be like, I was like, Oh, well, I wasn’t like a soldier in war. Like, that’s not trauma like, so I’m finally able to sort of articulate that for myself. So it’s helping me process some of my own trauma. It’s helping me like be better equipped to help Eden process hers as she gets older. And so like that stuff is not it’s not like a light and fluffy. Like, we’re not reading Sex in the City over here. But like, I still feel very, like, I’m learning things. And I’m, this is why I this is why I love school, I don’t wish to go back and get my masters because I don’t want to actually do papers and tests and shit. But I do very much enjoy learning and that kind of thing. So just been like, Okay, I got my assignment. And my little my little like, group I can chat with about it. The whole thing. That’s cool. Yeah, I’m a nerd.
I like that you guys are like taking it in chunks, I’m assuming.
Yeah, so we had like an inch, we had like a zoom call, as an intro to kind of talk through it. And then Andie and Allison, they put together a workbook. And so there’s actually for each chapter, there’s sort of a summary. So if you get too bogged down, you can kind of read through the summary of it, there’s additional resources that they list out that you can look at for each chapter. They have like, sort of like journal prompt type things for each one for you to kind of think about if you want and then we will get together on zoom every couple weeks to kind of digest the pieces together. And then they also have they made like a Facebook group. So if anyone wants to, like get in there and like chat about stuff as you’re reading it, so it’s really nice. There’s like lots of different ways that they’ve set it up to, for you to be able to kind of process the book and talk about it with them or talk about it with the group, which is, you know, a very trauma informed way of doing things. But yeah, it’s really it’s really interesting so far, so I’m liking it. Cool. So anyway, also, I recommend that podcast for anyone that wants to learn more about trauma, because I think that that is a big piece of mental health that has not always been looked at very closely. So absolutely. Yeah. So anyway, that’s, that’s what I’m doing.
Next week’s episode
Well, speaking of health, yes. Next week, we’re going to revisit a topic that we explored earlier this year healthcare advocacy.
So we know that a lot has changed with COVID in all aspects of life, but particularly with health care. So meet us back here next week, we’re going to have Erin Howes back to talk about how his back to talk about what we can expect in this new normal Apple podcasts and listen to us on your favorite platform. You can also follow us on social media at irsipodcast or send us an email idratherstayinpodcast@gmail.com. We’d love to hear from our listeners. Talk to you soon.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai