This transcript was automatically generated and might contain errors.

[0:42] Grace Aki: Guys, welcome back to Tell Me on a Sunday. Um, to be honest, I don't know if it's Sunday anymore. I don't keep up with days, much like calories, I just don't count them. There's no point. There's just, uh, why? Why? There is no weekend, but today in your heart, hopefully, it is a Tell Me on a Sunday Sunday. Uh, this episode was specifically recorded, uh, before the pandemic, just to be clear, much like all of the other episodes on this season, but um, you have a familiar guest to your ears today. If you know and love her from the Front Row Foxes episode, you remember my dear, dear, dear friend Cara Zelaya. Uh, we talk about politics, and full disclosure, I don't like talking about politics. This is not an episode for that you're probably expecting from me and or just, uh, any kind of pop culture podcast, uh, like this one.

However, we have good stories to tell. We will talk about Hamilton. We will talk to Cara about changing her life in 2016, we will talk about serial cafes. It will be fun. So don't worry. Don't get scared. Don't be like, uh, I just can't do politics anymore because I feel the same way all the time. But I think you will be okay with this episode. If you're not, let me know. Listen to the whole thing, and then write me or call me, beat me if you want to reach me to quote Aristotle, and just say, hey. Hey, I didn't like that. And then I'll be like, okay. Well, it's not for you. But I want to thank specifically, especially on this episode, Abigail, Molly, Carson and Marissa, Priscilla, Rick and Margaret, of course, Normand, Caitlin, and Matt. Just because. Without further ado, here we go. Here she is, my main bitch, Cara.

[2:51] Cara Zelaya: It's me. Kara.

[2:59] Grace Aki: It's a Kara.

[3:03] Cara Zelaya: Luigi.

[3:05] Grace Aki: Oh, see, I was going for a wicked moment and you went for a full.

[3:08] Cara Zelaya: I went full Mario.

[3:09] Grace Aki: This is how I know you're in a relationship.

[3:12] Cara Zelaya: With a straight boy, yes.

[3:14] Grace Aki: Yeah, with a straight.

[3:16] Cara Zelaya: How unfortunate.

[3:17] Grace Aki: Uh no, I love him. He's wonderful. So today we're gonna talk about something that I hate talking about. Um, of course, this is Tell Me on a Sunday. Welcome back. Uh, but we are gonna tell some stories at the same time. We're talking about something I famously hate, which is politics.

[3:33] Cara Zelaya: And you hate politics?

[3:36] Grace Aki: I don't, you know what it is. I think I'm like all, how original. I'm so unique.

[3:42] Cara Zelaya: You're a libertarian. Tell me, I'll let you hate the government.

[3:45] Grace Aki: Oh, you're not like other girls. You hate the government.

[3:50] Cara Zelaya: Just like let me do what I want with my money and stop.

[3:52] Grace Aki: I know. I know. See, this is the fun thing about Cara is that like we talk and then don't talk about things. Like there's things that we may never talk about. Um, but, but, but, but, but I met Cara in a safe space, and by which I mean theater. Uh, where did we meet?

[4:10] Cara Zelaya: American Airlines Theater?

[4:13] Grace Aki: Oh shoot, yeah. Was that where we met? Like the first time?

[4:16] Cara Zelaya: Yeah.

[4:16] Grace Aki: Well, we talked about this, I believe. We went to go see Noises Off.

[4:19] Cara Zelaya: We've talked about this.

[4:20] Grace Aki: Yes, totally. We met in the theater community.

[4:22] Cara Zelaya: Right.

[4:22] Grace Aki: And so I met Cara in a very like happy artistic space. And it was 2015.

[4:29] Cara Zelaya: It was 2019.

[4:30] Grace Aki: We were all wearing leggings. We were all like, have you heard about this show, Hamilton?

[4:37] Cara Zelaya: I just saw it at the public.

[4:38] Grace Aki: Oh, of course you did. First of all, I did not see it at the public. I saw it. I was actually, uh, famously, I was sitting outside of the public trying to get into the lottery of the last show of Hamilton, and I saw, and he can deny it all day long, but I saw Lin-Manuel Miranda eating a lunch bowl outside the steps of the public theater. Set the record straight that it happened, give us a call. Call me on a Sunday. I don't know your website, but you know where to find us. We're on Twitter.com. Tell me on a Sunday podcast.com. And so truly, I don't even know how we got there, but basically, you and I met in theater, and then all of a sudden you weren't doing theater. So can you really, can you just tell me a story about, um, a change in your life like that?

[5:25] Cara Zelaya: Oh, I just like pulled the rug from under you where I was like, surprise, I'm a political organizer. Um, yeah, well, much like Lin-Manuel Miranda, we are secretly political because fun fact, uh, Luis Miranda is a political, like huge consultant in New York City. His father, yeah. And I actually worked in the same building as Luis, um, if at one of my jobs where I was like a political pollster. Um, but yeah, so in 2015, when we met famously, life was good, you know. We were eating cereal.

[5:59] Grace Aki: We were eating cereal.

[6:01] Cara Zelaya: It was the second term of the Obama administration, which means we didn't think about who the president was for weeks on end. Like it was just, it wasn't part of our daily life for sure. So I have been a political person for a long time. My dad is a political scientist and he was a political campaign manager for many years and a political consultant in Honduras, which is where I'm from. My older brother has a bachelor's degree in political science. I was not the most political person in my family. However, in 2000, when Al Gore lost—doing air quotes—she's doing air quotes in denial of the fact that he lost.

[6:49] Grace Aki: Because she's also a Florida resident.

[6:49] Cara Zelaya: Yeah, uh, when Al Gore lost to uh, George W. Bush, um, it was my county, it was Broward County that like caused all the problems. So I was like in, and I was like nine, ten. Um, and I like cried. Like I cried because I was like this little bratty nine, ten-year-old who was like hyper involved. Fast forward, I was just always like political, like, but that wasn't like my thing. I was the artsy person in my family. Um, so I did cry about Al Gore, was at protests against the war in Iraq, was in model UN and ended up being the vice president of model UN of my high school, was in student government. I just like did that shit.

[7:27] Grace Aki: Just a joke, suppose I famously called me on a Sunday. Tell us I, um, I went to a school, a public high school, and just to like give you the law of the land, like we most of the girls and/or my friends, and/or just everyone at my school was like, okay, Bush, okay, um, what was the other one? Uh, oh my gosh, he was so cute. He looks like a little old man with a little gray hat.

[7:59] Cara Zelaya: But he didn't have a gray hat, it was his hair looked like a hat.

[8:03] Grace Aki: He ran against Barack. He had ketchup money. God, what am I saying?

[8:08] Cara Zelaya: John Kerry?

[8:09] Grace Aki: Sure. Yes, John Kerry did not run against Barack.

[8:12] Cara Zelaya: Okay, well.

[8:13] Grace Aki: He ran again. He's a Democrat.

[8:15] Cara Zelaya: Okay, this is where we're at.

[8:16] Grace Aki: See, this is what, but this is okay. But what I'm trying to say is that we didn't talk about politics.

[8:20] Cara Zelaya: Yeah, sure.

[8:21] Grace Aki: And like this is, but what I just said to you is what I remember. Like, yeah, I grew up like, which is fine. Like I grew up in a, in one of one of the houses that I grew up in, constantly played Rush Limbaugh, constantly, and I just like always thought like, oh, he's the Bible. And then when people would use the word Democrat, again, by the way, I'm not a Democrat, like not, not like universally. Um, when people would use the word Democrat, like in spaces that I was in, it was like a curse word. Like that was a terrible person. And I remember one of my dearest friends, Tanner, we did like a fake class election, and then like you would stand on one side of the room for Bush, and then you stood on the other side for Al Gore, I guess. And she was on the side of Al Gore.

[9:06] Cara Zelaya: And Tanner, shout out.

[9:09] Grace Aki: Because I wanna, I wanna say exactly what I said to her, which was terrible.

[9:13] Cara Zelaya: Okay.

[9:14] Grace Aki: Which was that I stood on, obviously all the cool kids are on the Bush side in our classroom because we, I had gotten out of school that day to like see Bush speak.

[9:21] Cara Zelaya: You can't hear me, but I'm rolling my eyes.

[9:24] Grace Aki: Yeah, she's, it's hard, it's hard. And I said to my friend Tanner, oh my gosh, you're on the Gore side. Guess we can't be friends. And you know what her response to me was? I don't know if this is true, but this is how I choose to remember it, Tanner.

[9:38] Cara Zelaya: Get over it.

[9:39] Grace Aki: You said, my moms are lesbians or whatever it was. And I was like, yeah, okay, like so like I didn't understand. I was young, I was so young, and um, so basically I come from a community that I wouldn't hear every side of everything, and I didn't form my own opinions until like later when my mom would explain to me like her views and then how that didn't go either way. So I've constantly avoided people in politics.

[10:02] Cara Zelaya: Yeah.

[10:02] Grace Aki: Because I'm like, well, that's an upsetting thing, and I like to be happy. So I didn't know this about you at all that you came from this like political, of this, yeah.

[10:13] Cara Zelaya: So imagine moi falling in love with Cara, falling in love with our friendship, falling in love with the fact that every time we go see a show, we're going to like the Kellogg's cereal place, which you guys don't remember.

[10:25] Cara Zelaya: Can you describe the Kellogg's place?

[10:27] Grace Aki: So was it where was it?

[10:29] Cara Zelaya: It was in Times Square.

[10:30] Grace Aki: It was in Times Square.

[10:31] Cara Zelaya: There was a Kellogg's, it seemed like it always was a pop-up, but it was actually like permanent.

[10:36] Grace Aki: And it was, look, we're on a budget, okay?

[10:39] Cara Zelaya: You Tell Me on a Sunday is on a budget.

[10:42] Grace Aki: Historically.

[10:43] Cara Zelaya: Yeah, I'm not, we're not paying for these shows.

[10:46] Grace Aki: I worked at the Roundabout.

[10:47] Cara Zelaya: And I can say this now because I have no affiliation there. I got comps for days.

[10:51] Grace Aki: And so Grace was always my plus one.

[10:54] Cara Zelaya: Um, and we would just get cereal because it was like eight bucks.

[10:57] Grace Aki: Okay.

[10:57] Cara Zelaya: And like in, yeah, that's expensive anywhere else. If you're not in New York and you're like, I'm spending eight dollars on cereal, they look at you like you're insane.

[11:03] Grace Aki: But we had a full meal for eight dollars each.

[11:05] Cara Zelaya: Yeah.

[11:06] Grace Aki: Which is very important when you're making new money in, uh, New York.

[11:10] Cara Zelaya: But yeah, no, I came from this, this political background. And then I get to, I went to a women's college first, Agnes Scott College.

[11:18] Grace Aki: Um, that was the first like four-year university that I went to, and then I didn't graduate from there.

[11:22] Cara Zelaya: Um, I graduated from the University of Central Florida, but I go to women's college and all of a sudden, like I said, I've never not been political. And then I went from model UN vice president, women's college and I was like, oh my god, radical feminist theory, what?

[11:37] Grace Aki: Like I literally, I literally had no idea.

[11:40] Cara Zelaya: But the thing is like I went to a very uptight, actually pretty conservative Catholic school.

[11:44] Grace Aki: So even though I was in Florida, which is a swing state and I was very progressive, my family was mostly like pretty liberal, um, I, I never had been to a space that was even more liberal than I thought, and then I went to women's college and I was like, what?

[12:00] Cara Zelaya: Um, and I, it actually was a huge culture crash for me and it's, uh, it's one of those classroom, which is one of those things that's like I am, you know, because I come from the South and from Florida, I'm never someone to be like fully alienated by someone's political beliefs.

[12:15] Cara Zelaya: Which is great.

[12:16] Grace Aki: Yeah.

[12:16] Cara Zelaya: And it's uh that nuance is getting harder and harder, I think. But um when I finished there, I went to UCF, worked the Obama campaign just because it was like the thing that was happening, and I loved Barack Obama, the re-election campaign. In 2008, I had made calls for Obama because I loved him and was so excited about it. Then became like a political organizer for years in Florida and then all over the Southeast. And then I was like, just by nature. Just my j it was literally just like, you know, when you like fall into a rhythm and then all of a sudden you're like, this is my job. And I had never I had never intended it to be that way. I had got I got a degree in business, you know. Like I was I don't have I didn't have a political science degree at the time. So I had been doing that organizing and I was like, you know what? It's the Obama era. I fucking can we first. I fucking hate politics.

[13:04] Grace Aki: Yeah.

[13:04] Cara Zelaya: I'm getting out of here. I'm gonna pursue my dream. I'm gonna go to New York City, I'm gonna be a theater arts writer person. Start an MBA program that focuses on arts administration, you and I meet. What a time.

[13:18] Grace Aki: What a time.

[13:18] Cara Zelaya: Uh we're all such happy girls. 2015, the fall.

[13:24] Grace Aki: Oh, the fall of the fall 2015.

[13:28] Cara Zelaya: So yeah, like we're super happy people. Um, and then and then things things changed.

[13:33] Grace Aki: Yeah, and then it's like 2016.

[13:37] Cara Zelaya: Right.

[13:38] Grace Aki: And we're both like, wait, what's happening? And by the way, again, me, not a politics person, saw a shift. You're seeing shift so much more, like because you kind of live in a an internet space, which we'll get into later, um, where you're seeing a lot more like uh red flag stuff, you know, than I am. But even like a just a walking around New Yorker, you guys, if you live in New York, you'll know what I'm talking about. If you don't, like, let me be very clear, there was a huge cultural shift that I've never seen in my whole life. Which I wouldn't have never noticed, but it's like it was so apparent that like there was like more anxiety, more intense, like there was verbiage that I'd never heard shouted at people before. And I'm not saying it didn't exist, and of course I didn't live through the 70s of New York.

[14:27] Cara Zelaya: Right.

[14:27] Grace Aki: But Jesus Christ.

[14:29] Cara Zelaya: Yeah, I mean, and like it was also this thing where in New York, because it is such a liberal bubble, no one thought. I mean, most people didn't think. I won't say no one. In the bubble that we were living in, just to be clear.

[14:43] Grace Aki: Yeah, yeah.

[14:44] Cara Zelaya: There was not a single person that we were in our in our bubble. Thought that this it was gonna turn out.

[14:54] Grace Aki: So I will let's let's fast forward to that night.

[14:57] Cara Zelaya: Yeah, sure. What n what night in 2016? What was it November 3rd?

[15:02] Grace Aki: Tell me on a Tuesday. The spin-off podcast that I'm hosting.

[15:07] Cara Zelaya: It's starting now. Go to her Patreon. So literally it. Literally, that night I'll never forget it because I was in a Washington Heights sublet with Dana.

[15:19] Grace Aki: Sure.

[15:20] Cara Zelaya: Sure. Is that where we had Thanksgiving? Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful. Um, yeah, where I first made a banana pudding for you.

[15:26] Grace Aki: Ugh.

[15:27] Cara Zelaya: Hi guys, this is Cara Zelaya. I am one of Grace's best friends. I've been on the wedding episode. I on the dominant uterus episode, I'm on the politics episode. And just thank you so much for supporting my friend and her endeavors. I think that you all deserve something. So at this spot right now, this is a special perk that if you donate two dollars this month, you will have access to the digital file of Grace's incredible banana pudding recipe. Now let me tell you, this banana pudding will fuck you up. So yeah, thank you so much for all your support. We love you. And back to the pod.

[16:14] Grace Aki: You mentioned uh should I price it higher?

[16:17] Cara Zelaya: Anyway. Oh my god, she has so famously that night, I go to sleep because that day we had either, and I can't remember which, but I think we had filmed Damon's self tape, or he had gone in for his, he was called in for a starsborn the film, the famous film of Star.

[16:33] Grace Aki: With Lady Gaga.

[16:34] Cara Zelaya: With Lady Gaga to play her gay friend, which was then portrayed by you guessed it, Anthony Ramos. Is it wonderful? We love it.

[16:41] Grace Aki: We love it.

[16:42] Cara Zelaya: We stand. We love his work. The music video did she do music.

[16:45] Grace Aki: I know.

[16:46] Cara Zelaya: Well, I'll pull it up for you.

[16:47] Grace Aki: Okay, we're gonna pause and then come back.

[16:49] Cara Zelaya: Yes, anyways. So that night, I remember the day we were all like, I we didn't even care about the election at that point that day. Because I was like, oh yeah, she won. And we went to bed early, didn't give a shit. You I knew had other plans. So tell us what happened that night.

[17:07] Cara Zelaya: I'm gonna fast forward to like that Saturday. I don't know if you remember this. That was the first major party that me and my former roommate Mackie threw, which was the Halloween party where we all dressed up like Gilmore girls.

[17:18] Grace Aki: That was the week before.

[17:20] Cara Zelaya: And we threw this Halloween party, we love a theme party. We've mentioned this in the past. And we all partied that night like it was like the roaring 20s.

[17:28] Grace Aki: We fucking did.

[17:29] Cara Zelaya: We really did. We thought it was like the height of our lives. Like it kind of was like this that night was one of the most fun nights of my life. And like you were Rory.

[17:37] Grace Aki: I will I was a Laura live.

[17:39] Cara Zelaya: Yeah. Very pointed.

[17:40] Grace Aki: Yeah, my my my roommate Mackie was was Paris. We had another friend who was Lane. Like it was a whole thing. And I remember that night, like my my roommate Mackie and I were both political. We had a giant Hillary poster, which should have been like the red flag for Grace of I did have to get over.

[17:59] Cara Zelaya: I was like, you know what? I respect that she is sporting a woman.

[18:04] Grace Aki: But it was it was one of those things where she Mackie and I were always like very politically emotionally involved, and we listened to all these podcasts, and we were like, she finally a woman's gonna be present. We literally partied like it was like the roaring twenties.

[18:17] Cara Zelaya: It was our great gatsby at the height of it, but like I don't know if you've read the end of the great catsby. But we all were shut down.

[18:25] Grace Aki: Like within days, and so on election night, I was working at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting because again I had a lot of theater jobs, and my friend had called me and she's like, I have a ticket to the Jabbit Center, which is where Hillary Clinton is going to be giving her victory speech.

[18:42] Cara Zelaya: Yeah, just to be clear, not she'll be there.

[18:44] Grace Aki: No, no, no.

[18:45] Cara Zelaya: She's doing her speech, her victory. It was just like understood. I go into the Jabit Center. I mean, we have to go through so many lines of like security, and like my friend had diabetes. I remember this, and so she had like she she does, and she had to like carry she carries food with her, so like her insulin and like stuff doesn't drop. God, I'm probably being very insensitive to how this specific uh ailment that she has works, but she like we literally had to talk to a bunch of security people being like, No, she needs this granola bar with her because otherwise she might faint kind of thing.

[19:17] Cara Zelaya: Um so was there, and because I have this political background, I'm looking at the numbers in real time, and I'm like, oh god, everyone around me is partying and doesn't know that the end of the world is coming.

[19:28] Grace Aki: Oh.

[19:28] Cara Zelaya: What what felt like the end of the world? And if you're a numbers person. That's the thing about Kara's that like I don't know if you really touched on earlier, is that you're so brilliant with like analytics and numbers and stuff.

[19:37] Grace Aki: That's that's your like hot hot point.

[19:39] Cara Zelaya: It's the total opposite of me. And well, but that's why I think that we have this yin and yang, right? So you are able to do that. You did the same thing, by the way, the day before I got married with the Stacy Averns campaign.

[19:51] Grace Aki: Oh my god, I did, didn't I?

[19:53] Cara Zelaya: Oh, that's so crazy. Yeah, yeah. Um, so I'm looking in real time. I run out of the Javit Center because I don't have like telephone signal. And I have this past, thankfully, that would let me come back inside if you know, whatever. I look at my phone and I'm starting to put all these New York Times articles. I call my older brother who's a political scientist, and I'm like, and that like he breaks the news to me. I don't go back to the Javit Center. I distinctly remember throwing up in a garbage can in the middle of outside the Java Center, just from the sheer anxiety, run to my friend Johnny's apartment in the Upper East, and we just sit there. And it was like for me it was like an existential threat to everything that I knew.

[20:31] Cara Zelaya: And like this sounds so dramatic, and like to my to my parents back home, like they fully didn't understand it because they live in Florida and like Florida went, you know, to Trump, and there's so many people who have so many different opinions there. Sure, that it's like, you know, to them it was a Wednesday the next day. And to me it was like me sobbing in a Starbucks line as I look at the New York Times like headline. Like it's just and it and it felt that way in New York.

[20:56] Grace Aki: Like I I'd never been in subways quieter in my life.

[21:01] Cara Zelaya: Subways that were so ridiculously quiet. I had to go to the uh Columbus Circle area that day.

[21:10] Grace Aki: I had to for some reason.

[21:12] Cara Zelaya: And because I went up, that's near the Trump Tower, one of the Trump Towers. Um the things that I was hearing people yell at each other were the most obscene and hurtful things that I've ever heard people that don't know each other yelling at each other. And I was like I don't feel safe or comfortable here because I people are acting like they've their chains have been ripped off and now they're allowed to be crazy.

[21:36] Grace Aki: And like it was it was cuckoo bananas, but then you're right, there was also a like a very creepy calm.

[21:41] Cara Zelaya: Yeah.

[21:42] Grace Aki: As if something had happened.

[21:44] Cara Zelaya: Like if a bomb had gone off.

[21:45] Grace Aki: It was very so I I was working at Stella Adler which is like a acting school and a lot of the it's also like an NYU acting program kind of so some NYU students train at Stella Adler and I had teachers tell me that like they'd been teaching at NYU for decades and that this was second only to nine eleven in the level of distraught students who were just like I cannot teach.

[22:10] Cara Zelaya: 'Cause there's a NYU has a very huge immigrant ap uh student population.

[22:15] Grace Aki: And they were like, you know

[22:19] Cara Zelaya: Yeah.

[22:20] Grace Aki: Yeah, so that's super bummer. Um but that's what got me back into politics. I immediately kinda dropped my entire career and by January I had switched my program and I didn't get an MBA and I got a master's in elections and campaign management.

[22:35] Cara Zelaya: Um from my same program which was at Fordham.

[22:37] Grace Aki: And I've been I stayed doing theater work just as long as I could until I was transitioning into campaigns. I've been a pollster. I work for a news media political and liberal news media organization now.

[22:51] Cara Zelaya: Um and I just I don't I know that this is a story and this is a storytelling podcast, but like in many ways like my restart into politics was because of a bad situation and um I love my career so much now and it's uh I don't want to say like it's a good thing that happened because maybe I would be a Broadway producer now or something. You know what I mean? But like I definitely it was a shift in my life that I like recognize and it's hard to explain it to um people who are just not as involved because they're like so you just dropped everything.

[23:30] Grace Aki: I'm like, yeah.

[23:31] Cara Zelaya: And they're like, but wh why? And I'm like, I just did you hate your job. I'm like, no I love my jobs. I just felt like this kind of moral responsibility.

[23:38] Grace Aki: I gotta take a second and tell y'all about my personal training coaches Steve and Rachel Payne at House of Pain. I've been doing their workout programs let's say three years and they shape bodies and yes they prepare people to compete in bodybuilding shows which some of it's your jam. It's not my jam. What I love about them is that they understand the look that I want. Tone, fit, something that's sustainable for my lifestyle. They create a custom individual plan that includes my workouts, my cardio, and my nutrition.

[24:07] Cara Zelaya: I do their online program, but when I'm in Atlanta I do one on one training with them at their facility and it kicks my ass. They FaceTime me whenever I have questions, alter my plan when needed and no matter what stage you want to step on, competition, career, lifestyle, a red carpet, wedding, whatever it is, House of Pain personal training is the most personal training you can get.

[24:37] Cara Zelaya: But as a result, I've now accumulated three stories post twenty sixteen. So these are not Obama stories, these are that I would love to share with you. Tell me a little story. Oh, will you tell me a little story about how you can sometimes be that person to be like, hey That's how I describe you.

[24:57] Cara Zelaya: Hey. Yeah, so um my first campaign I I've worked a lot of campaigns before my graduate program but my first campaign after 2016 I was working a quasi local race um and I was a field organizer for it. For people who don't know field organizers the people who um handle all of the people who are knocking on doors who are doing the telephone calls yeah canvassing the texts um it is like the job that a lot of people really hate because it's the job where you're most interacting with a lot of working working. There's a saying in politics which is like elections are won in the field and it's like as much as people hate being called and as much as people hate having their doors knocked and I learned this in theater too with like fundraising and stuff the fact of the matter is when you knock on people's doors and when you call them they do donate and they do change their minds.

[25:57] Cara Zelaya: So but also like people you I think people just always want that real sense of like what is this person about? I mean so much of how I feel about politics has been shaped by in-person conversations that I've had with people. And so in Florida I mean it was fascinating because this race was not in Florida. It was in a place where usually they don't get a lot of canvassing because it wasn't in like a swing area, you know? And all of a sudden me and my group of you know people that I'm working with are knocking on doors, and they're like, no one ever knocks on our doors because these races are pretty much determined way ahead of time because it's a specific area of the country.

[26:34] Cara Zelaya: So I'm doing all this organizing. I'm literally trying to convince volunteers to go knock on neighbors' doors that have been knocked a hundred times at this point because it's like the day before the election. And my candidate, you know, God bless them, was like sitting in our field office, and they're no dummy, and they're you know, looking through the numbers and we're like gonna lose. Like we're gonna lose. Everyone working the campaign kinda knows that, you know. There was a narrative that people were like, No, this is a win, and I was getting all these texts from people, and I'm like, that's not gonna happen. Like, I don't know where y'all are seeing this.

[27:12] Cara Zelaya: And that's the reality of like being on the ground doing these campaigns. Um and they're going through the numbers and it's just evident that they're really down. Like they are down emotionally. And my job is to make sure that the doors get knocked. You know, my job is to make sure that everyone on my team is like happy doing the work. Not like we're gonna fight to the last moment kind of thing.

[27:35] Cara Zelaya: So I go up to them and I'm like, hey, hey, hey, buddy. This is my boss, mind you. I'm like, hey, um, you're kind of bumming us all out. Like you're being like a real bummer. I'm trying. It was pouring rain. I'm like trying to get volunteers to knock on doors and pouring rain. There's like a kind of flash flood. And I'm like, Can you go home? Okay, can you get the fuck out of my office? I'm trying to work. Um, and you know, it's just the exhaustion of being on a campaign for so long. And he's like, Yeah, I'm gonna go home. I was like, Yeah, please do that.

[28:17] Cara Zelaya: And the next day, you know, they lost. Like, we lost we lost. And when they were doing their um like thank you to the whole team or whatever, and it was like a super happy like loss because we all knew it was coming in and we were all fighting the good fight kind of thing. Yeah, we were proud, and we had shifted the vote to be much more liberal than it had been and actually that election the next time it ran, uh did go to a Democrat. So we did the work, you know, like we were able to flip enough people that when it came the next time around, it was a Democrat who was elected.

[28:51] Cara Zelaya: And uh on that, like I'll never fucking forget this, on that like election night backstage, um, they were saying like their thank yous and this, that and the other, and at the and like towards the end they're like, and to Cara for telling me that I was being quote kind of a bummer So You know, if I'm telling you being kind of a bummer, like leave. So also like really freaking helpful, like just like having the like the wherewithal because I think that sometimes and again I'm not in that political spectrum.

[29:25] Cara Zelaya: Like I'm sure that you get a lot of people that are all or nothing gung ho like, it's okay. We can't like you have such a good sense of reality to be like, here's what we can do. Yeah. And and we're gonna fight. This is what we can do. Right. And like let's not be grace. I also just am like a big believer in that, like I've been lucky to work for candidates that are smart.

[29:46] Grace Aki: Yeah.

[29:47] Cara Zelaya: I I don't I don't I personally like don't think I could work for someone that I don't think is like smart. It's funny because I know for a fact you got an offer.

[29:55] Grace Aki: Oh dude!

[29:57] Cara Zelaya: I sure did just recently got an offer to work on a campaign that you would not be behind, but I respect it. A certain billionaire. Anyway, um We're like ha ha ha ha ha stupid boy. You can't have her intellect, you dumb bull.

[30:12] Grace Aki: Oh god.

[30:13] Cara Zelaya: No.

[30:13] Grace Aki: Yeah, and but um yeah, I I I really believe in that. And and the thing too that is been so fascinating about this work, especially as I move on and have more access to more uh people who are really up the chain, you know, and and like that's the other thing I want people to take away with this, which is sort of like I did not study politics until January 2017.

[30:34] Cara Zelaya: Like I l it is it is February 2020 and I have an awesome political job and have worked a lot of political campaigns. Granted, I didn't have a formal study and I had been doing it for a long, long time.

[30:47] Grace Aki: Oh, shut up.

[30:49] Cara Zelaya: But I I really fundamentally think that it's just this thing where it's like if you really want to make a difference, you can get high up there pretty fast if you And then that's that's with anything. It doesn't have to be political.

[31:00] Grace Aki: It's true.

[31:02] Cara Zelaya: You can it it's 2020. You can and then also that's the other thing with like the election of tr of of Trump. Like truly, not to like alienate anyone who is a supportive or this, that and the other, but I think this is a lesson on both sides that we've learned, which is you can do anything. There are no rules.

[31:19] Grace Aki: Like you can be this guy who has never had a uh and like for better or for worse, which I think is for worse, like you can be this person who's just like a celebrity, what is it, the apprentice stuff, and then you're president of the United States.

[31:33] Cara Zelaya: So like why not why not you?

[31:35] Grace Aki: Like why not you?

[31:36] Cara Zelaya: I it's funny because I sometimes people, and by people I mean probably like one or two, um have said to me like, Well, how do you do like blanket blank? Like I just can't do that. And I go, Do you think that I was born with an extra cell that equips me to know how to do blankety blank blank.

[31:54] Cara Zelaya: I didn't fucking finish college. I went for a year. Like I didn't I don't have anything more than you do. Why just figure it out. Do the work. Google it.

[32:02] Grace Aki: Yeah. Famously on Google.

[32:06] Cara Zelaya: I'll say it.

[32:07] Grace Aki: You are controversial and brave.

[32:11] Cara Zelaya: I'll say it, I'll say it right now.

[32:13] Grace Aki: It's mainly men.

[32:14] Cara Zelaya: Yeah.

[32:15] Grace Aki: Just Google please Google the phrase, let me Google that for you.

[32:15] Cara Zelaya: Let me Google that for you.

[32:21] Grace Aki: But also like I know you guys know how to Google stuff when you want to see stuff.

[32:25] Cara Zelaya: So tell me why you can't Google how to blank. That's fascinating.

[32:30] Cara Zelaya: So anyways back to this. Um I I just I guess I say all that to say like it's very inspiring that you can just like do that and to just do that. If you want to know about a thing or you want to be good at the thing, yeah. Figure it out.

[32:40] Grace Aki: Because that's all you've done forever.

[32:43] Cara Zelaya: Yeah. Like even though you've gone to like institutions in school, like that's important.

[32:46] Grace Aki: Yeah.

[32:47] Cara Zelaya: Like you figured it out.

[32:48] Grace Aki: Yeah.

[32:48] Cara Zelaya: And like all of these look I'm the biggest proponent for for education, formal education, but I'm also the person that's like, you know what I got from formal education? I learned how to Google and I mean that like not just on like Google dot com but I mean like researching and being like Wait, how would I find the person that would connect me to this?

[33:06] Cara Zelaya: How would I and then the good thing that like formal education gives you is that it gives you a network. But you can find that network.

[33:12] Grace Aki: Like when I was like I'm gonna work in the arts I'm like well I gotta move to New York 'cause I'm not gonna find my network in you know wherever wherever.

[33:20] Cara Zelaya: You know, like for me specifically, I need to move to New York. But there's there's everything has different levels of stuff. But the number one thing I've learned is that we're all people, and when I meet these like senators, governors, presidential candidates that I've had the opportunity to like not only talk to.

[33:34] Cara Zelaya: Yeah, like talk to for like a while. I'm like, oh, you're like a person. You're just a person. And how wonderful that you're a person, because so often our narrative is that like this person's a demon, and it's like they're a they're a career politician.

[33:49] Grace Aki: Yeah, Christ.

[33:50] Cara Zelaya: And I'm like, well, that is their career. You're a career blank.

[33:55] Grace Aki: Right, right.

[33:56] Cara Zelaya: And it's like the But I understand I I can you you too understand like why people feel that way.

[34:03] Grace Aki: Right.

[34:03] Cara Zelaya: And like why I I also understand, you know, like I said, I'm from Florida, so I understand a lot of conservative viewpoints, and I understand uh anti-government sentiments totally, right? Um but I also think that like for me personally, I I believe in structures and I believe that the way we achieve change is by getting good people in those structures.

[34:24] Grace Aki: Right.

[34:24] Cara Zelaya: Like I it's weird because like when right before I was getting married, Stacy Abrams was running and it was a huge deal and like you watch her speak, it's like freaking watching Oprah Miantelou, not to be like pointed, but like yeah, literally you get so excited and inspired.

[34:40] Grace Aki: She's lovely.

[34:42] Cara Zelaya: And I took I love taking online quizzes because I'm a girl and I took several about my viewpoints because I was like, okay, okay, I like her, right, but what do I feel? And I didn't agree with it almost any of her policies, and that freaked me out.

[34:56] Cara Zelaya: But I was like, okay. So then I started to read more, and most of them I agreed with her um the guy running against her.

[35:04] Grace Aki: Yeah, which made me sad.

[35:05] Cara Zelaya: But I was able to go, okay, like this is important for me to do all the time. Like to read someone's policies and like not just be excited by how someone sounds, because I can like them all day long but I also need to care about their policy which you've instilled in me.

[35:18] Grace Aki: Yeah because what was it the first time I'm sorry we're gonna endorse somebody on the pod right now it's so funny that you just went from being like you know I love her and I think she's great but some of her policies I didn't agree with but I know for a fact some of the policies of the person you're about to name you don't agree with who are you endorsing tell me we're gonna endorse Miss Lizzie Warren for a second.

[35:45] Cara Zelaya: Oh yeah we're I thought we were talking about okay I'm sorry we're saving we're saving we're saving uh because he's the best for last um also we're endorsing just her life because when this air is so we're okay so the reason I say I bring up Lizzie is because early on early on just I think I and along with a lot of Americans this is how I view with Elizabeth Warren.

[36:06] Grace Aki: Are you ready?

[36:07] Cara Zelaya: I'm ready.

[36:08] Grace Aki: I know she's that lady that lied about being Native American but she's loud and so I was like ew that's gross next thank you next and then you were like okay just so you know she's the only one that's come out with policies and I went but I'm like what she's also been very heavily endorsed by the like Native American community as of late.

[36:33] Cara Zelaya: And is one of the candidates who has most like super apologized and owned their stuff and gone to talk to the people that she's offended and hurt, you know.

[36:41] Cara Zelaya: But like you using that verbiage again to be like Grace, look at the policy. And then I went, motherfucker. I was like, you got me. Yeah. Um, yeah, I just I guess I'd like talking about it. I would also like to take it a step further because I feel like so much of my like political stuff is that I'm always canvassing is that I you know, people I I support these quizzes because I think it's like a step further than most people go. Because most people go with their gut, you know, and they're like, I like I mean, I see so many people, and this is not to alienate like any of these supporters, but I see so many people who like lean conservative who like love Bernie Sanders. And I'm like, what are you talking?

Like, and and I I am someone who agrees with a lot of Bernie Sanders' policies, but I'm as far left as you really kind of get, you know. I'm very to the left. And I'm like, why? To quote Rick Rick, a bleeding heart liberal. Thank you, thank you, Rick. Thank you. I sure am. Um, but like I'm like, what is this, you know, because people kind of go with like, oh, I like someone who tells it like it is, and I'm like, great, what are they telling you? And what is this is that like it is? And the thing that I would add to like, so I encourage these quizzes. There's some really great ones. The Washington Post comes out with them. Like, there's a bunch of really good ones. Um, the thing that I would um encourage you to go into further is that like I think there's a lot of buzzwords that people use.

So it's like, what do you feel about Medicare for all? And so great. A lot of conservatives are like, absolutely not. And then it's like you ask, because I was a pollster for a while, then you ask someone like, How do you feel about a government subsidized healthcare option? And then people are like, That sounds great. And it's like you're talking about the same thing. So it's like these things will use these quizzes. That's why I will encourage people to go like a step forward, where it's like, it's the same thing that's like, how do you feel about the Affordable Care Act versus how do you feel about Obamacare? Yeah. And the Affordable Care Act pulls way higher than Obamacare. They're the same thing.

[38:36] Grace Aki: Well, you know who I'm gonna shout her out. My mom, God bless her, who is a self-proclaimed libertarian, always has been, grew up yeah, I mean we we've talked about her. But my point is that like she always, every time there's a new that kind of like Washington whatever quiz, she sends it on our family group chat. She's like, where do we all stand? How do we feel? Without like getting into like the mean meatiness of politics, she's like, I just always want us to be like informed and we wanna like if you're gonna say that you like somebody, like actually like what they're behind instead of being like, he's hot. Yeah. So like let's talk about Cory Booker. Also, I don't need any of you guys to come for me that's saying I have a type about Cory Booker and Damon.

Like, I don't need that in my library now. I will I I have uh met Corey and I've been in his presence a few times now. I've met and got to talk to him for a while once. Um I have hung out with Damon several times. We are very close friends. And let me say that physically they are very different. Well, they stood next to each other in line at an airport once, and I was like, these two could not be more different. Yeah. Um, but Cory, I mean, okay, this is literally So tell me a story about Corey. I was gonna say, like, I don't have a super mesmerizing story about Corey, but I know you just wanna know every second of my interaction with the with him, and I will gladly give it to you. So I went to this uh summit that was called She the People.

Um it was actually probably my first like major event that I went to as like a media person, um, in politics. 'Cause I'd done stuff for candidates, but never like as a media person. And this was all the presidential candidates at the time. This was early twenty nineteen. Um and Cory Booker was speaking at it. So we were trying to get interviews with people after their like kind of town hall. Yeah. And my co-worker is in love with Cory Booker as well. Wow. So um and she's literally like, I've written songs about Cory Booker. Um she's like, she's like, Cory Booker, Cory Booker, Booker, Booker, Cory, like she had this whole thing. It was so funny. And then my other coworker who I was there with was super thirsty for Kamala Harris, and she's like, ugh, Kamala Harris.

Like she's I mean, yeah. And she like my my friend that's in love with Kamala Harris, like to the extent that she was like, uh, she's daddy. And now like Kamala Harris is like daddy. Um, so this was the event. This was a women of color uh conference. Everyone who was there was a woman of color, so I'm Latina. Wasn't there? There was one candidate. One Peter to go. Peter? Anyway, um I'll drop names. I'm never working for Peter, it's fine. Um Pete Boo to judge. Uh he was mysteriously absent. Um, but Cory comes out after his town hall, and he is so tall. Grace. Like, I'm six feet tall. Like I'm a woman. Like I'm just I am, you know, I'm an Amazon of a person. And I just to have some like I never realize people's heights unless they're at my eye level, in which case I'm like, oh, you're six feet tall.

Yeah. Or they're like shorter than me, which is everyone. And then I meet Corey Booker. Someone has to put on my kneecaps. My uh my little knee braces for whatever Yeah. Um so I meet Corey, he's enormous, he's got these like super striking eyes, and he looks at you like you're the last person he's ever gonna see, like in a very loving way. Like he's come to at peace with his mortality. And he's so sweet, and we're like, hey, can we have a a quick interview? And he's like, Of course, I love you guys. And when like someone asks him a question, almost to an unnerving degree, he's like staring at you. It's really, really beautiful.

[42:40] Cara Zelaya: Oh, he's got that pastor energy. He has that youth pastor and her energy. And he's just like a sweetie and I and I always judge people also by like their team, and that's maybe because I've just been a political like operative and team, like on a political campaign team before. And I'm like, I judge you by the company you keep and like his team was always so sweet and so kind to us. But what I loved about Corey, that I will say no other candidate did at this thing, and including, you know, candidates that I love like Elizabeth Warren, is that this w uh summit was held at a historically black college, and there were student activists who came to the summit, obviously, because it was held at their college, and they were kind of waiting outside, and Corey like went rogue, fully left his security detail behind, which is not great because he is a US senator.

He shouldn't do that, and just talk to student activists for like hours. Like literally was just I mean, I'm sure it's a nightmare to be his campaign person, but I mean maybe not hours, but for definitely like at least half an hour, 45 minutes, just talking to students who were voicing their concerns that they had. And he just really he really loves pe he's the real deal. Like there are there are a few people that I will say like Corey like this person's the real deal, and Corey Booker's one of them, Elizabeth Warren's Yeah, Julian Castro. And that but those are the it's funny because like those probably, you know, for whatever reason are the people that we always wanted to be on the same ticket.

Yeah. You know, because we're like, oh, I there's just so much authenticity there, regardless of how you feel about like anybody's political whatever. Yeah, you know, and I'll talk about my mom because like she, you know, grew up in, you know, conservative area anyways and um but even had her own like opinions about like libertarianism, blah blah blah. Because she's a very independent person. Yeah. But she has worked for United Way for over thirty years. I didn't realize this. The reason she knew who Cory Booker was was because she went to a United Way conference.

[44:37] Grace Aki: Oh, that's awesome. Was being honored and he was the keynote speaker. Wait, she it was the conference she was being honored at? I I don't know if she was being honored to this one, but I know she was honored at one of them. I think it this was before because it was before like how many years of service, whatever. Yeah. Um, and she she met him at the thing and she like saw him speak and she came home. This was years ago and was like, that man is going to be president. This was before Obama, like she was like, That guy, he is everything. I mean, people forget before Obama it was Cory Booker. Like the person that Barack Obama was being compared to was Cory Booker. It's not the other way around.

Yeah, now people weren't like, well, he wants to be and like this guy's the first time. Corey Booker's been doing it. Yeah, like he's he's also and you know, I say this, I the most like viral tweet that I've done from my company's website or p Twitter page was that like during the debate, like Pete Buttigieg would talk about how he's a road scholar and the media loves to talk about how certain people are road scholars, and then Cory Booker's out here being like, You're not the only road scholar. Like I've been a road scholar, like while you were, you know.

[45:44] Cara Zelaya: Yeah, he's like I was a standard. Go along with and like blah blah blah and uh I also just think and I've been talking a lot about this with people who are very gung-ho about one candidate, especially this like election cycle where there's so many options. Like I, you know, have been a Warren supporter from the start. Um at the summit actually is when I was like, oh my god. I thought I was a Warren supporter, but she's now my candidate. And I don't know when this errors, she might not even be running for president anymore. I my point that I'm about to make though is that like maybe she is the nominee. Who's to say? It's 2020. Um, but for me, what I've learned through this election cycle and what I've learned i in working in this world is that like you can't just like one person.

It's not healthy where you're like, it's this or nothing. Because I'm like, what if that person dies? I'm like, what if they don't get there? Yeah. What do you believe in as a human? Yeah, and I just I I love believing in people, but ultimately I believe in ideals and I also believe in things that are actually gonna happen. And I am someone who believes in in compromise. I don't know if we n should necessarily start at compromise. That's a whole other thing, right? That's a broad that's a whole other podcast. But like I don't I I love Elizabeth Warren, I love Corey Booker, I, you know, I love Julian Castro, I love Joaquin Castro. Like, there's a lot of people that I can name that I'm like, y'all get me excited and cool.

I lo I love Alexandro Ocasio-Cortez on the more far left spectrum of things, you know. Which, like, yeah. And like, you know what? Like, especially I, you know, I think I I don't necessarily agree with him on a lot of things. I think Mitt Romney's an honorable man. You know, and I I I think that it's okay for us to believe in people again, but believe in ideas and believe in things that we do. Anyway, I got off my whole high horse and I whole have a whole funny story left that I need to tell you.

[47:54] Cara Zelaya: So this one is I won't say names because it's off the record, and this person is. Uh tell me a story that you can't really be descriptive of. I was interviewing a member of Congress. There we go. Who was a potential. Continue. It's interviewing a member of Congress, and um we were asking questions for people who don't know Mitch McConnell is this everyone knows Mitch McConnell is. You can Google it. We talked about it. He's a turtle boy. Mitch McConnell is the Senate majority leader and is a conservative person. Yes, he's the senator from um Kentucky. Right. And he's like He's either loved or hated. Yeah, I mean, I don't super know people who love Mitch McConnell.

[48:51] Cara Zelaya: Right, but there may be. I mean, I'm sure people in Kentucky love him because he keeps getting re-elected. Um, so Mitch tends to be the person that like, because he's so good at his job, you know, let's like he is. He's very good at kind of killing bills. Like he's kind of famous for that, especially bills that are progressive. It's his shit. And so this congressional person that we were interviewing, we asked him the question. We asked them the question of, you know, what bill or what thing that you're trying to accomplish has Mitch McConnell really gotten in the way of? Not necessarily killed, but like gotten in the way of, and you know, what would you, if he wasn't in the way, would you like want to pass right away?

And this was a while ago, like this is like a year ago, and the person was like the 911 respondent bill, which is one that Jon Stewart is very famous for fighting for, which is, you know, basically to expand healthcare to 9-11 respondents because, you know, the people we should give a shit about.

[49:54] Grace Aki: Yeah, and I will say this is a pretty nonpartisan.

[49:56] Cara Zelaya: That's what I was gonna say. Yeah, it's literally one of the most nonpartisan bills that's ever come up. Yeah, and it just needs to be renewed every X number of years, and every X number of years, for whatever reason, some conservatives like try to kill it. And like, this is one of those things where it's like, it's unbelievably nonpartisan. This is an easy yes. Yeah, we have the money for this. These are American heroes. And if we don't have the money for this, as a country, we need to change something else. This is wrong, you know.

[50:21] Grace Aki: Right, right. Um, and so they said that, and they were saying that, you know, every day, you know, like this is how they started the quote, like every day 9-11 respondents are like dying because they're not getting the access to the healthcare they want. And we were like, great, thank you so much. Then the congressional person's aide comes to talk to their ear and is like, you need to, you need to retape that. Because, um, technically, not every day a 9-11 respondent was dying, but that like in the past couple weeks a couple had, right? And so they're like adjusting their mic, and they come talk to me and my editor, and they're like, hey, can we retape that? Um, because you know, that's factually incorrect. And then the congressional person goes, and that fucker Mitch is gonna try to pin me on that.

[51:22] Cara Zelaya: Yeah, and this is like a very, this is not like your AOC, okay? It was not AOC. Let me just go, like, this is not your like young congressional. This is a person that if anything, people are like, oh, they're too uptight. They hold too much close to the chest. This person reminds me of talents. And I, it was just this moment, and I remember I’ve told people this story close to my, you know, to my circle, and I've always been like, I've never liked this person more than in that moment. And I wish that everyone's, I wish everyone could see it, yeah.

[51:58] Grace Aki: And I, there are some people, and I understand that like because of gender, race, financial situations, some people are just can get away with more, or even just like personality, like some people can say like Beto goes out and curses on TV.

[52:17] Cara Zelaya: Yeah, huh?

[52:17] Grace Aki: Forgot about it, like goes out and curses on national TV, and we're like, Beto, you know, and then like other people, like obviously this was not, um, you know, who would be obviously this wasn't Nancy Pelosi that I'm talking about, you know.

[52:31] Cara Zelaya: She went out and said that in public.

[52:35] Grace Aki: Yeah, exactly, exactly.

[52:37] Cara Zelaya: Yeah. And so it was so wonderful though, and so refreshing. And I just, I live for those moments of vulnerability. And maybe I'm just a sapby, bleeding heart liberal, Rick. But I just like I have to believe in these moments, and I have to believe in the fact that some of that authenticity matters and that it will shape good people to run for office.

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[53:59] Cara Zelaya: Anyway, that's the I think that's it. I feel like now we should just like because this was a shorty, but a goodie. Let's go into short story.

[54:05] Grace Aki: Short story?

[54:08] Cara Zelaya: Oh, what's the short story?

[54:09] Grace Aki: Short story is the game that we play the other two times you've been on this fucking podcast. Don't act like you don't listen every week. You subscribe. By the way, my friend subscribed today. After I have launched, after all these things, she just out of subscribed, so don't be like Excuse me. I was one of the first followers on Instagram.com. I've been boosting that algorithm. I've been doing the tweets. I had not subscribed until she literally sat on my couch. I was like we love, and we also am watching.

[54:42] Cara Zelaya: Um, so we're gonna play short story, which is when I give you a one-word suggestion, you tell me a two-minute story about that reminds you of that thing, maybe. And then I pick a different word. So I'm gonna give you a word first.

[54:53] Grace Aki: Okay. A two-minute story. Is there like a timer?

[54:57] Cara Zelaya: We time it.

[54:58] Grace Aki: I'll time it. Let's see. Siri timer.

[55:03] Cara Zelaya: Okay. Here's the timer.

[55:05] Grace Aki: Oh, it's going for 15 minutes. Who asked for that?

[55:11] Cara Zelaya: Okay.

[55:11] Grace Aki: Tell me when.

[55:12] Cara Zelaya: Okay. Um, your word is pony, and your time starts now.

[55:21] Grace Aki: Pony? Okay. Oh shit. Okay. Uh, so there I was, Cara. And I was walking down the streets of Chicago. Okay. And doesn't have to be a real story, right?

[55:33] Cara Zelaya: Okay.

[55:33] Grace Aki: I was walking down the streets of Chicago in a pink dress, holding a parasol. And I was, you know, I was doing the walking tour of Barack and Michelle Obama. Because famous Chicago people. And I was like, this is the ice cream shop where they had their kiss. This is a place where other things happened. And there I was thinking to myself, my political heroes, the Obamas. Becoming by Michelle Obama, a New York Times bestseller sits on my nightstand. I read it all the time. Um, what a wonderful time. And then who do I see walking down the street? But Barack Obama. Famously, I have not met him, but this is my biggest gripe in life. He sure does. And so I have a conversation with him, and I was like, honestly, your election meant so much to me. This is why I do the work that I do this and the other. And he turns to me and he goes, You're doing great. Stay golden pony boy.

[56:49] Cara Zelaya: Did you know I was gonna go with Stay Golden Pony Boy?

[56:55] Grace Aki: Um, that famous film is and book is becoming a Broadway musical right now. Christ. Anyway, so that's the time. And and no, I still have 17 seconds. Then Barack gave me his phone number and he is saved as pony on my phone. And when he calls you Pony by January. That's my time. Sometimes short story can really take a turn. Jeez, I fully do not remember what my other stories were. I might feel like I made them up on the sponsor.

[57:21] Cara Zelaya: Okay, well, you'll hear them when the episode plays, and you'll go, oh yeah. And if I don't, you'll call me and be like, I saw you didn't download the episode.

[57:31] Grace Aki: No, I'm listening. I'm a loyal, I'm a little fan.

[57:32] Cara Zelaya: Alright, ready?

[57:33] Grace Aki: I'm a loyal fan.

[57:33] Cara Zelaya: Okay. Um, you have a word for me.

[57:44] Grace Aki: Yes.

[57:44] Cara Zelaya: Okay.

[57:44] Grace Aki: Need to say it, huh?

[57:45] Cara Zelaya: Um, three.

[57:50] Grace Aki: Okay, I should say the word.

[57:51] Cara Zelaya: Say the word.

[57:56] Grace Aki: Spider Web.

[57:58] Cara Zelaya: Oh god. Okay, so okay. I'm gonna tell a story from high school shocker. Okay, so we have this thing every year called Coffee House. And Coffee House is like a cool thing. Some of you guys that went to my high school are gonna be a good one. Is this like the talent show?

[58:12] Grace Aki: This is like the talent show, but it's cool because it's not judged. It's just like where it's like an open mic.

[58:15] Cara Zelaya: It's like an open mic, but like, you know, you had to apply and you had to like you had to, you know, submit audition, whatever. And then but it was run by the drama club as a drama club fundraiser. But the kicker is that everybody that would perform was like a cool kid that like didn't do drama, and they were always like like smoking weed, listening to Humphrey's Vicky. The cool kids that like never would have performed except for like at Coffee House. So, like my freshman year, they were like, Oh, we need a host, like who should we get? And I am a cuckoo. And I was like, me! I'm the one, I'm the Kathy Griffin of my high school.

[58:49] Grace Aki: Wow, Caffi Griffin'd never forget.

[58:51] Cara Zelaya: Well, anyways, on this episode, God. Um, so I was like, let me do it. And then they were like, We don't know you yet, so we don't hate you yet, sure. And I was like, I love comedy, like, let me do it. But then I didn't realize the cool factor of the situation. So then I like dumbed it down, I asked some of the other cool kids to do it. I got in with, uh, point is that this beautiful girl named Lauriane Urbane, who Lorian, where are you? She's in Europe living her life because she's gorgeous and amazing. I think she just got married. Anyway, she's Amy from the limits. Sorry, sorry, sorry. Florence Cube. Um and so anyways, okay, uh 33 seconds.

[59:24] Grace Aki: Okay, so basically, Lori Ann got up there and like she sang Spider Web by no doubt. So sexily that I was like, I goddamn want to be you, Lorian Urbane. So today's short story goes to Lorian Urbane, who I think is the Lord's gift, and you I hope still sing that song, and it was super hot when you did it, and like God bless you, the end.

[59:44] Cara Zelaya: This podcast today is brought to you by Lori. She definitely does not listen to this podcast and probably does not remember me at all.

[59:57] Grace Aki: I did dance with her though when I was younger I think I bet you did.

[1:00:00] Cara Zelaya: No she's she was Oh you like were on the dance team with her I was like no ballet oh I was like a cultured dancer.

[1:00:07] Grace Aki: I thought you guys like slow danced at a party and I was like Lori.

[1:00:07] Cara Zelaya: Oh my god I wish I was no I'm like sexualizing her way too much she's lovely and smart she was one of those girls that like I believe her mom was French or her dad was Dutch or something and like she had just a very like European family and like sense of herself and so she was the girl in like French class not that I had French but I knew she took French like who like spoke it like Amadine. Amalie I am Amalie I am Amaline for those fans of um my brother my brother my brother that's what that's for anyway deep cut well thank you for having me as always coming back.