Rod, Justin and Karen discuss dealing with the Coronavirus at work, working from home, shopping, Bernie drops out, Wisconsin primary, Biden, cutting off people over politics, envy, The Thing About Pam, Astronomy Club and listener feedback.
Pre-Game: (Protected Content)
What up Rod and J. Stimulus check. Leave it to this group of flunkies to fuck sending a stimulus check out to people. Good to hear y’all talk about curb. I’ve been watching for years. Take pride in getting my pops to watch too. If I was to recommend episodes to watch I would go with The Seder, The Sky Lift, or Krazzee-Eyez Killa. Also thanks for the After Truth documentary. Man that documentary was wild as hell. Y’all be safe in these covid streets peace
What up Rod , quarantine K & j thrill;
If this show is being taped on Friday, it’s my birthday!!!!!! Definitely blessed to see another year! And I appreciate you guys, last week appreciating me! For my contributions, I enjoy hearing all you guys opinions and jokes! The show truly makes my day and gets me through my shift, while I’m at work! I’ve also learned a lot from you guys about politics, sports, history, and I can’t thank you guys enough for recommendations of shows! I loved astronomy club! It was great!
Shoutout to all the premium family hope you guys are good and safe! Have a great weekend all!!
FYAHWORKS!
Dear Rod, Karen, and Justin,
It’s been great to see y’all over these past few weeks! It’s been great to see y’all are safe and healthy. I just had to write in about the perspective Rod keeps giving Karen about her (relatively) new job. Karen, I very much identify with you on this and I am so grateful that my partner, Craig, has been doing for me what Rod is doing for you.
When we have countless examples of having been done wrong, we develop the mental habit of seeing things through that lens. This recently became shockingly clear to me. I’ve been at Ohio State University for 15 years, and being a Black professor at a major research university comes with a lot of BS. Let’s just say that I understood how Brandon Keith Brown could have the unjust experiences he had.
Well, this year, I received a job offer from an Ivy League institution, and I spent a solid 6 weeks negotiating with both them and OSU. What ended up shocking me was how much of an elaborate, negative story I built around EVERY SINGLE THING that was said or done by any of the officials I had to negotiate with at OSU. Craig kept having to say, “Wait, where are you getting that from? All she said was…”
But what makes me relate so much to Karen is that, even after I saw that this was my pattern during the negotiation, I still couldn’t quite see that it was negative spin until I talked it through with Craig. It got to the point where I wouldn’t even let myself answer anything from OSU until I had gone through it with Craig. It was impossible for me to perceive “good will” in anything they said or did! Now, there’s no real reason to think this other school is any better. They are built on racism and sexism, just like most American universities. In fact, whenever I publicly criticize OSU, I always say that it’s not special–that all PWIs do what I’m talking about. So, if I had spent 15 years at any other place, I’d have the same number of horror stories to tell about that place. AND YET, I could see “good will” from this other institution, but none with my current one. It was stunning.
All of that to say this: Karen, I feel you!!! We have to let an outside perspective help us navigate this stuff so that we don’t play ourselves. Because Craig kept helping me to be less reactive, I stayed calm enough to truly take my time and maximize the opportunities on all sides. I ended up accepting the counteroffer that OSU developed to keep me here, and it includes stuff I never thought this public, state university would do. This outcome would’ve been impossible without viewing things in relatively neutral terms, and that’s something I was shocked to see I could not do without Craig’s outside perspective.
Rod is right that we can write a new story in new circumstances, but it won’t be easy. It will take self-awareness, but even the self-awareness can regularly fail. So, I’m grateful we have supportive partners!
Sending you all lots of love and good energy always,
Koritha
What’s up rod,justin and karen I was wondering if you guys are watching this show on hulu called a million little fires staring kerry Washington and reese Witherspoon
Arte
Hello Rod, Karen and Justin,
As we look for things to occupy our time during this pandemic, I highly recommend Horror Noire: A History of Black Horror. While I know that horror is not your or Karen’s thing (I’m not sure about Justin). It’s on Shudder and Amazon Prime, and it is not about horror as much as it is the historical presence and representation of Black people in the genre and how it reflects society. It’s really well done and actually informative for me as a Black person and horror film lover. At the very least, seeing all those wonderful Black actors and Black directors who you realize should have been bigger in terms of their careers were it not for that cism discussing each other and being discussed by Black scholars is a moment of joy.
Also, Insecure is back and Molly remains a hot as, passive aggressive mess.