If She Wanted To She Would

Phoebe Berman’s Gonna Lose It out NOW: https://sites.prh.com/phoebe-bermans-gonna-lose-it SUBSCRIBE TO THE BNC CHANNEL: https://bit.ly/45Pspyl Ad Free & Bonus Episodes: https://bit.ly/3OZxwpr This week, Brooke welcomes her long time friend and legend of the pod: Lindsay! Lindsay talks about finding love all over the globe, learning 8 languages, and her crush on high school Spanish teacher. Plus, her and Brooke reminisce on their favorite memories growing up together! Join our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/groups/5356639204457124/ Shop Everyday Cotton, and all of my favorite bras and underwear at http://www.skims.com/BNC #skimspartner Get 40% off select Lola Blankets products at https://Lolablankets.com by using code BNC at checkout. Experience the world’s #1 blanket with Lola Blankets. Download the Poshmark app and use invite code BNC when you sign up to get $10 off your first purchase. Or shop now at https://Poshmark.com/BNC and get $10 off your first purchase. Article is offering our listeners $50 off your first purchase of $100 or more. To claim, visit https://ARTICLE. COM/BNC and the discount will be automatically applied at checkout B+C IG: https://www.instagram.com/bncmap/ B+C Twitter: https://twitter.com/bncmap TMG Studios YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/tinymeatgang TMG Studios IG: https://www.instagram.com/realtmgstudios/ TMG Studios Twitter: https://twitter.com/realtmgstudios BROOKE https://www.instagram.com/brookeaverick https://twitter.com/ladyefron https://www.tiktok.com/@ladyefron CONNOR https://www.instagram.com/fibula/ https://twitter.com/fibulaa https://www.tiktok.com/@fibulaa Hosted by Brooke Averick & Connor Wood, Created by TMG Studios, Brooke Averick & Connor Wood, and Produced by TMG Studios, Brooke Averick & Connor Wood. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

  Ugh, I hate Mondays.

• 0:01Speaker 01

  King's Hawaiian Cinnamon Swirl Bite?

• 0:03Speaker 00

  Uh, Taylor Hansen? Sure, I'll try one. Mmm.

• 0:09Speaker 02

  Hey, let's get back to work, please.

• 0:10Speaker 00

  But Taylor Hansen's making my day way better with these new soft and swirly King's Hawaiian Cinnamon Bites.

• 0:15Speaker 02

  Taylor Hansen? Nice.

• 0:17Speaker 01

  Try one.

• 0:18Speaker 02

  Mmm.

• 0:22Speaker 02

  King's Hawaiian Cinnamon Bites. There's nothing like it.

• 0:30Speaker 03

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• 1:03Brooke Averick?

  Hey, everyone. Welcome back to Brooke and Connor. Connor is not here today, but Brooke is, and we have a very, very special guest, a friend of the podcast. If you've been listening, you've heard me mention my friend Lindsay before, my best friend from growing up. Lindsay's here today. Hey, Lindsay.

• 1:26Speaker 05

  Hi, everyone.

• 1:28Brooke Averick?

  Hey, thanks so much for joining us all the way from across the pond.

• 1:32Speaker 05

  Yep, I'm right, live from my work office in London.

• 1:36Brooke Averick?

  Yeah, thanks for coming. We really are so glad to have you.

• 1:58Brooke Averick?

  I was asking Izzy, like, what have I said about you before? And I think it's pretty bare bones. So we have a lot, we have a lot to go into today. But I think really what I've said is that you are a world traveler.

• 2:12Speaker 05

  Yep.

• 2:13Brooke Averick?

  You speak few, few different languages.

• 2:15Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 2:16Brooke Averick?

  And something special about you is that you... I don't want to say collect because that feels wrong, but like you have like a few different lovers from the areas that you've been to.

• 2:30Speaker 05

  Yeah, I am. I would say I'm monogamous, so I definitely don't typically have more than one at the same time.

• 2:36Brooke Averick?

  You're a what?

• 2:37Speaker 05

  Monogamous.

• 2:38Brooke Averick?

  Oh, okay. Yes, yes. Yes, that's key. No, you're, and I would even say you're, you're a bit of a hopeless romantic.

• 2:45Speaker 05

  Yes, absolutely.

• 2:47Brooke Averick?

  Um, which I really love about you because I think objectively, you are the most brilliant person I know. You know, Columbia grad, you're a lawyer. Um, but you are also able to become mentally incapacitated by love. And I love that.

• 3:06Speaker 05

  Very much so.

• 3:07Brooke Averick?

  Extreme to the point where you also like need to seek help of an outside professional. Um, so I, I love that about you. And I think that is actually what keeps us, so many things keep us connected. So many things keep us connected. But that is the big thing that I think has, has woven our, our thread throughout the years.

• 3:26Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 3:27Brooke Averick?

  Um, so yeah, just want to dive a little bit deeper into a few of those things. I guess, starting with our history, you know?

• 3:34Speaker 05

  Okay.

• 3:35Brooke Averick?

  Uh, we went through K through 12 together.

• 3:38Speaker 05

  We did.

• 3:39Brooke Averick?

  And I've spoken, you know, about our, our school.

• 3:41Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 3:42Brooke Averick?

  You know, a little bit. People know about meeting for worship. People know that, um, a lot of people came out during meeting for worship. I think they know that you were one of those people. So it'll be really interesting. Cause I've only spoken about what it was like to be a receiver of people standing up in meeting for worship. So it'll be cool to hear what it was like to be a giver.

• 4:02Speaker 05

  Okay.

• 4:03Brooke Averick?

  Um.

• 4:04Speaker 05

  Should, should I?

• 4:07Brooke Averick?

  No, sorry. I'm still kind of going through.

• 4:08Speaker 05

  Oh, you're, you're doing a, okay.

• 4:10Brooke Averick?

  I'm doing more of like an intro and then I'm going to really open the floor to you.

• 4:14Speaker 05

  Okay.

• 4:15Brooke Averick?

  Um, just kind of going through our background a little bit. Um, so we've known each other since kindergarten. I think we were in the same first grade class, 1B.

• 4:24Speaker 05

  Mm-hmm. Michelle did.

• 4:26Brooke Averick?

  Not sure if we could, I don't know how much we connected in 1B. I definitely admired you, you know? Um, I feel like we really connected in third grade, right?

• 4:35Speaker 05

  3C, that's right.

• 4:36Brooke Averick?

  In 3C. Um, which looking back was the classroom for the neurodivergent folk, would you say?

• 4:44Speaker 05

  Um, certainly, certainly, we, we would be evidence suggesting that, I would say.

• 4:51Brooke Averick?

  Well, and there was, yeah, I think there was a bigger, it was like the kids who needed a little bit of extra TLC. And I think that's when we started, is that when we started?

• 5:02Speaker 05

  We, well, I think, yes, that, that's the, that was when we started with all the fads, that with the different crazy bones and sponges and all the different fads.

• 5:12Brooke Averick?

  Yeah, we were collectors. We were collectors.

• 5:15Speaker 05

  I think it was when we became very close was in fifth or sixth grade when you moved to my street.

• 5:20Brooke Averick?

  Yes, agreed. Started that connection in third grade when we drew faces on sponges and, you know, they were our family, the sponges and stress balls as well. Those were members of our family.

• 5:32Speaker 05

  Tamagotchis.

• 5:34Brooke Averick?

  Tamagotchis, yeah, the Go-Go's, yeah. Started collecting and then when I moved to your street, it was game over.

• 5:42Speaker 05

  And can, okay, I can share that this was fun, that Brooke would routinely run away from home. Uh, and her parents, her parents would call my house and be like, just checking that Brooke is there. And we'd be like, yeah, she's here. And they're like, okay, great, don't tell her we called.

• 5:58Brooke Averick?

  I didn't know that they did that.

• 5:59Speaker 05

  Yeah, they called.

• 6:00Brooke Averick?

  It's nice to know that they cared because I was always like, they don't care about me. Um, yeah, I would run away, I would say maybe once a week or so, once or twice. Um, but did even apart from running away, spent my entire adolescence at your home.

• 6:15Speaker 05

  Apart from running away.

• 6:16Brooke Averick?

  I would say. And you're also the creative mind behind Grease and Wicked and all of the plays that

• 6:23Speaker 05

  The producer.

• 6:23Brooke Averick?

  We did. You were the producer. And I think that, that also speaks to your character is that you didn't even feel the need to be a main character. You were just fine to, to be the creative mind. Yeah, so I mean, you are really-

• 6:37Speaker 05

  I was Javert. I was, um, actually, I think that was my main role. I was Sweeney Todd.

• 6:45Brooke Averick?

  Oh, I don't remember that.

• 6:47Speaker 05

  You don't remember that I was Sweeney Todd?

• 6:49Brooke Averick?

  I don't really remember Sweeney Todd.

• 6:52Speaker 05

  It's because we never edited it together, but-

• 6:55Brooke Averick?

  We know it's not a final product. We didn't make a final product.

• 6:58Speaker 05

  Yeah, we didn't. There was no execution, but, or no, there was, but I don't think we still have access to it, which is why it faded away.

• 7:06Brooke Averick?

  That's probably for the best because I think Sweeney Todd and Les Mis especially, I was like, it's almost like it's not cute anymore. Like we were like-

• 7:15Speaker 05

  Has Les Mis seen the light of day?

• 7:17Brooke Averick?

  No, I won't. I'm not showing Les Mis. Because that was, I, we're 18, we were 18.

• 7:23Speaker 05

  Yeah, I think we were like juniors or seniors in high school.

• 7:26Brooke Averick?

  Possibly a little bit, um, too old to be doing the home videos. No, you know what? You're never too old to be doing that.

• 7:33Speaker 05

  Has Gravity the Musical seen the light of day?

• 7:35Brooke Averick?

  Has what?

• 7:36Speaker 05

  Gravity the Musical?

• 7:37Brooke Averick?

  No. No.

• 7:41Speaker 05

  It's unlisted, so.

• 7:43Brooke Averick?

  Gravity the Musical was, and this is like the kind of school we went to, like you could do anything for your physics final project. So we made a musical called Gravity the Musical. Limited science involved.

• 7:54Speaker 05

  No science involved.

• 7:55Brooke Averick?

  No, I would say no science involved, but we, it was like, um, it was a musical about, about the story. It was a gay story of Copernicus and who's the other one?

• 8:07Speaker 05

  Kepler.

• 8:08Brooke Averick?

  Kepler. Yep, so-

• 8:10Speaker 05

  Got a 97 on it.

• 8:11Brooke Averick?

  Got a 97. I thought we got a 98.

• 8:14Speaker 05

  Might have been.

• 8:16Brooke Averick?

  Um, yeah, so that's a little bit about our history and I'm gonna dive into some hard hitting questions.

• 8:22Speaker 05

  Okay.

• 8:23Brooke Averick?

  Um, how many languages do you speak?

• 8:27Speaker 05

  Um, eight.

• 8:28Brooke Averick?

  Okay.

• 8:28Speaker 05

  Not all fluently, but I, I will say that all but one are connected to, ha- have been at one point or another, connected to at least one, one lady.

• 8:38Brooke Averick?

  Are you comfortable walking us through kind of which languages you speak, um, and how they're romantically tied to your life?

• 8:45Speaker 05

  Yeah, but I'll just, I'll just-

• 8:47Brooke Averick?

  And level of proficiency?

• 8:48Speaker 05

  I'll be very, very brief and then, um-

• 8:52Brooke Averick?

  Don't, you don't have to be brief. Like, this is why we're here.

• 8:54Speaker 05

  Oh, this is why we're here. Well, I was gonna say, I could be, I could do a brief summary and then we could dive, dig more deeply into what you felt was worth digging into, but-

• 9:02Brooke Averick?

  I feel that whatever you are-

• 9:04Speaker 05

  Okay.

• 9:04Brooke Averick?

  You want to speak about is what's worth being said.

• 9:07Speaker 05

  So, I, my first language I learned was Spanish. Um, started learning in middle school, was obsessed, uh, did, whatever, uh, was in love with my high school Spanish teacher.

• 9:19Brooke Averick?

  I was gonna say, like, do you think you would have been in, in love with Spanish if you weren't in love with your teacher?

• 9:25Speaker 05

  Said that in a domain she could hear, but I'm sure she knew, so it's, it's alright.

• 9:29Brooke Averick?

  Wait, you were also in love with the middle school Spanish teacher, but you didn't know you were gay, so you didn't know that that was-

• 9:35Speaker 05

  I find that one more cringe, a little more cringe, but I was unaware, yeah.

• 9:39Brooke Averick?

  Yeah. I would say it's safe to say you've been in love with every Spanish teacher you've had.

• 9:44Speaker 05

  I think it's safe to say.

• 9:45Brooke Averick?

  I think it's safe to say. I really do.

• 9:49Speaker 05

  Like, most language teachers I've had that are female, I'd say. It's hard not to get feelings.

• 9:54Brooke Averick?

  Yeah, because that's what you find attractive, I guess.

• 9:56Speaker 05

  Right. It's just them speaking another language.

• 10:00Brooke Averick?

  Yeah. Yeah. Okay, so that's your, like, that's your big one, is Spanish?

• 10:05Speaker 05

  Yes. Uh, so that, that's the one that I speak, um, that I speak, like, I would say, like, very, very fluently. I also did have my, a relationship of two, uh, two and a half years with a Dominican woman who, we are, the relationship primary language was Spanish.

• 10:22Brooke Averick?

  Yes.

• 10:25Speaker 05

  Then Russian, I-

• 10:26Brooke Averick?

  And you were able to step into more of a stepmother role, is that okay to say?

• 10:30Speaker 05

  Yeah. Well, no, I never acted, I, she has, she had, she still has a son.

• 10:36Brooke Averick?

  Yeah.

• 10:38Speaker 05

  I don't think I ever acted like a stepmother to him. I think I just acted kind of like a friend. But actually, a fun fact, for his birthday, I got him Japanese lessons, because he was like obsessed with like anime. And I was like, okay, but you need to see that Japan is like beyond anime, so I got Japanese lessons for him. Um, and then the next year-

• 10:57Brooke Averick?

  That's a great gift.

• 10:57Speaker 05

  Yeah, then the next year on his birthday, he was like, Lindsay, I was like, oh, I got you a gift. And he was like, is it school? Please tell me it's not school. And I was-

• 11:09Brooke Averick?

  That's a good lesson, like-

• 11:11Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 11:11Brooke Averick?

  Yeah, that's a, yeah. I like that.

• 11:14Speaker 05

  And then, this, this was also- So, so, my, my ex never like told him that we were dating, but she also never like lied to him, uh, while we were dating. And then afterwards, she figured out that he knew, because he was like, should I say it in, I'll say it in Spanish, then English, and he's like, he's like,

• 11:31Brooke Averick?

  Oh, okay, yeah.

• 11:32Speaker 05

  La ex de mi mamá es super inteligente. Like, my mom's ex is very smart.

• 11:37Brooke Averick?

  Oh, that's sweet.

• 11:39Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 11:40Brooke Averick?

  Really sweet, yeah. But that was a more recent relationship.

• 11:43Speaker 05

  That was a really recent one, yeah.

• 11:45Brooke Averick?

  But how old were you when you started dating a woman with a child? Because I remember being jarred.

• 11:50Speaker 05

  I was 25.

• 11:52Brooke Averick?

  Yeah, I mean, I guess that's like, I guess that's fine.

• 11:56Speaker 05

  Yeah, I, it was, it was like, I met her and I only, I thought that it was only ever gonna be a hookup. So like, because otherwise, I don't think I would have gone on a date with a woman who was 10 years older than me and had a child. But then, I really liked her, and so-

• 12:08Brooke Averick?

  Yeah.

• 12:08Speaker 05

  I was just like, well, guess I'm living with her and her child now.

• 12:12Brooke Averick?

  That's fine to do.

• 12:14Speaker 05

  It's fine to do, and it's, and I did.

• 12:16Brooke Averick?

  Yep. And you did.

• 12:19Brooke Averick?

  Okay, Spanish.

• 12:20Speaker 05

  Yeah, that's Spanish. Check the bases. Um, oh, there were also like many, many, like I lived in Chicago for three years in law school and like there are many lovely Spanish speaking ladies there that I had flings with. Um, so that's another wing of Spanish, but, um, Russian, I was an exchange student in Russia when I was 16 and actually, uh, that was how I realized I was gay. Uh, my first kiss with a woman and first having sex with a woman was in Nizhny Novgorod, Russia.

• 12:54Brooke Averick?

  Yeah.

• 12:54Speaker 05

  I still think she'd be, she, she does not speak English, nor does anyone she knows. So I think it's fine to say.

• 13:01Brooke Averick?

  I think it's fine to say. I also do want to flag that, imagine my shock, we're 16, we're sophomores in high school. Our school has no sort of like program or anything like that. And Lindsay is just like, all right, I'm gonna head out for about six months to Nizhny Novgorod. Yup.

• 13:22Speaker 05

  You'll always remember that city.

• 13:24Brooke Averick?

  I would say, I was like, this was not a good time in my life. Like I was really dependent on you.

• 13:31Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 13:31Brooke Averick?

  And so I was like really sad to see you go.

• 13:35Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 13:35Brooke Averick?

  And you also only had access to email, like.

• 13:40Speaker 05

  Yeah, that's right. That's right.

• 13:41Brooke Averick?

  So couldn't even talk to you.

• 13:43Speaker 05

  It was before smartphones, so I didn't have a smartphone and I did not bring a computer because I wanted to be immersed in the experience.

• 13:51Brooke Averick?

  Yeah.

• 13:51Speaker 05

  So I, I was just really accessing the internet when I borrowed my host sister's computer to use email from time to time.

• 13:58Brooke Averick?

  So couldn't really talk to her and, um, I asked her, I don't remember why I asked you this, but I, I think I was joking when I was like, do you think we'll still be friends?

• 14:10Speaker 05

  That was in college?

• 14:12Brooke Averick?

  That was in college? No, because I said something else. I said something.

• 14:16Speaker 05

  I'm conflating two incidents.

• 14:18Brooke Averick?

  I think there was another thing and you were like, or I said something about like, don't forget me or something, or like, something and you were like, I'll, like genuinely, earnestly, like, I'll try not to, like, because you're not capable of lying.

• 14:30Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 14:31Brooke Averick?

  So, I was spiraling a bit when you were in Nizhny. But you came back and it was all good.

• 14:37Speaker 05

  I remember when I came back, I remember the first time that I saw you, you were just like, kind of like hysterically laughing but borderline crying. And I'm like, Brooke, I'm here. And you were like, but you weren't.

• 14:49Brooke Averick?

  You weren't. You had, you had left. But you came back.

• 14:53Speaker 05

  Yep.

• 14:54Brooke Averick?

  Can I ask what compelled you to go to Russia as a sophomore? For six months with no prior Russian, like Russian experience?

• 15:03Speaker 05

  I didn't have any prior language, college of Russian at the time I went. Because I think I've always been drawn to like, the other, like controversy and like the other side. So like, to me, like Russia seemed, and I think a lot of languages I've learned, it's like, in, in some ways are like, the, the bad guys. Like, I also learned Persian. I also learned Arabic. I'm not, I don't think they're the bad guys, but they're people who are portrayed in like the US media and like often misunderstood, misportrayed. Like, I'd say like Russian speakers, Persian speakers and Arabic speakers, you could say that. So I think I've always been drawn to like learning more and like, seeing things from all perspectives.

• 15:44Speaker 05

  And that's also why I became a lawyer, because I like seeing things from different perspectives.

• 15:49Brooke Averick?

  Human rights lawyer, no less.

• 15:50Speaker 05

  Human rights lawyer, no less.

• 15:53Brooke Averick?

  And how's your, do you want to talk a little bit more about that romance? And become, and finding out you were gay, or do you want to move on?

• 16:00Speaker 05

  We can move on. It was, it was, I think it was in Russia. Oh, I will, one last thing I'll say is that I did hook up with a Russian police officer. Uh, who I met in Russia. This is separate from my host sister. This was on a subsequent visit to Russia. So I met her on Kontaktio, which is the Russian Facebook. Yeah. Um, and we met and I was talking to her. I'm like, so what do you, what do you do for a living? And she's like, I'm a police officer. And I laughed because I thought she was joking because Russia is like pretty actively like persecutes gay people. And she was like, no, I am. Uh, I'll show you my uniform. And then at that point I was like, I will be hooking up with her because for the rest of my life,

• 16:42Speaker 05

  like I will be able to have this experience of having, having hooked up with a, with a policewoman of, of the Russian Federation. And I have had that.

• 16:52Brooke Averick?

  And now you get to say that on B and C M A P.

• 16:55Speaker 05

  But it's, it's a bless, it's a blessing for everyone involved.

• 16:58Brooke Averick?

  Which is such a blessing.

• 16:59Speaker 05

  Yep.

• 17:00Brooke Averick?

  Um, and would you say like you're still fluent in Russian?

• 17:04Speaker 05

  I would say so. I, I would say definitely I'm more comfortable in Spanish than in Russian. It is a bit rusty, uh, cause I don't practice it that much. But like when I need to use it, I can get back in the groove. Like the, the, in my job, the like woman who covers Russia visited and like we were speaking Russian. It was fun.

• 17:22Brooke Averick?

  Yeah. I will say because of you, like I'm able to recognize what languages are around me. Whereas I don't think that would be the case without you. Like I can distinguish Russian from Arabic.

• 17:36Speaker 05

  Love that.

• 17:37Brooke Averick?

  Or Farsi because I've heard them speak.

• 17:39Speaker 05

  Right.

• 17:40Brooke Averick?

  Them. I can definitely at least do Russian.

• 17:43Speaker 00

  Ugh, I hate Mondays.

• 17:45Speaker 01

  King's Hawaiian cinnamon swirl bite?

• 17:46Speaker 00

  Uh, Taylor Hanson? Sure, I'll try one. Mmm.

• 17:52Speaker 01

  Hey, let's get back to work, please.

• 17:54Speaker 00

  But Taylor Hanson's making my day way better with these new soft and swirly King's Hawaiian cinnamon bites.

• 17:58Speaker 01

  Taylor Hanson? Nice. Try one.

• 18:02Speaker 06

  Hmm.

• 18:05Speaker 02

  King's Hawaiian cinnamon bites. There's nothing like it.

• 18:14Brooke Averick?

  Um, okay. Spanish Russian.

• 18:17Speaker 05

  Yeah, the Spanish Russian. So then, um, I was man down at age 18 when I fell in love for the first time.

• 18:25Brooke Averick?

  This is a big one.

• 18:26Speaker 05

  With a girl who was Persian American.

• 18:30Brooke Averick?

  Yeah.

• 18:30Speaker 05

  But it was out of love for her that I learned Farsi.

• 18:33Brooke Averick?

  Yes.

• 18:34Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 18:35Brooke Averick?

  Fair to do.

• 18:36Speaker 05

  She, yeah, at the time and throughout the entire course of our relationship, identified as straight, uh, asked me to be her girlfriend by saying, uh, if you want, you can tell people that I'm your girlfriend.

• 18:50Brooke Averick?

  She was the greatest.

• 18:51Speaker 05

  She was the greatest. That was my first love. Um, yeah. Then, so, but then I did start taking Persian in undergrad for that reason. But I also, I majored in linguistics so that I could not only take Persian, but also other languages. So I also started studying Mandarin, uh, in undergrad and...

• 19:11Brooke Averick?

  Pause, because I want to go back to the first love real quick.

• 19:14Speaker 05

  Yeah, back.

• 19:14Brooke Averick?

  That was the first time I, like, you really transcended beyond language in terms of morphing, I would say, because, like, becoming, like, more like, not more like her, but like...

• 19:30Speaker 05

  I see.

• 19:31Brooke Averick?

  Changing some other aspects.

• 19:33Speaker 05

  I see.

• 19:33Brooke Averick?

  Like, for example, in high school, you would wear different, unique things.

• 19:39Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 19:39Brooke Averick?

  To school, I'd say, a few times that you were in...

• 19:42Speaker 05

  I, I did dress as the teacher I had a crush on for Dress Like a Teacher Day. But like, she wasn't my teacher and had never been, so it was really weird.

• 19:52Brooke Averick?

  Yeah. I'm thinking more of like when you would show up in like more, like a Tanzanian cloth.

• 19:56Speaker 05

  Oh, yeah, that was just because of my travels.

• 20:00Brooke Averick?

  I know, but I'm saying like you weren't necessarily like doing like high fashion.

• 20:05Speaker 05

  No, never.

• 20:05Brooke Averick?

  And I, I do want to flag that one of our teachers did pull you aside and offer to give you her daughter's hand-me-downs, right?

• 20:13Speaker 05

  No, what I think what you're thinking of is the cafeteria lady. I was walking through to get a cookie after lunch and she just was like, you can go. And I was like, no, like, I'll pay for it. That's fine. And she's like, no, no, just go. Like, because of the way I was dressed, she was assuming that I was not able to afford some snack.

• 20:32Brooke Averick?

  No, I remember, or maybe she told me to tell you. I don't know.

• 20:36Speaker 05

  Maybe, maybe.

• 20:38Brooke Averick?

  Madame, remember Pajot?

• 20:40Speaker 05

  Pajot Pavlat.

• 20:41Brooke Averick?

  I thought she was like, you can have these clothes.

• 20:44Speaker 05

  No, I think you're right. You're right, actually. That's ringing a bell. It wasn't ringing a bell till you said which teacher it was, but now it is.

• 20:50Brooke Averick?

  So basically, not dressed for the night, okay?

• 20:54Speaker 05

  Yeah, never.

• 20:54Brooke Averick?

  Um, but you started shopping at Urban Outfitters when you started dating this woman.

• 20:59Speaker 05

  Cause she was really into that.

• 21:00Brooke Averick?

  And you really became like into fashion, which was shocking.

• 21:03Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 21:03Brooke Averick?

  As someone who presented the way you did.

• 21:06Speaker 05

  Which is over now.

• 21:07Brooke Averick?

  Yeah, which is over. So it's interesting to see what you carry with you.

• 21:11Speaker 05

  True. And then what I don't. But I do usually carry the languages with me, like.

• 21:16Brooke Averick?

  You carry, it's stunning how you carry the languages with you.

• 21:19Speaker 05

  After I broke up with, yeah, after we, actually, I broke up. Well, after we broke up, um, I, yeah, I've continued learning Farsi. And in fact, like, most of the learning Farsi was after that. So, yeah. Should we, should we move to?

• 21:36Brooke Averick?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 21:37Speaker 05

  So then I was learning Mandarin, uh, which is the only language that's never been tied to a woman. So any eligible Mandarin-speaking ladies, extra points. Uh,如果你不会说英文, extra points, uh, cause then I'll learn very quickly.

• 21:55Brooke Averick?

  Uh, do you want to flag, like, you're single? Or are you, it's complicated?

• 22:01Speaker 05

  It's complicated.

• 22:02Brooke Averick?

  She's, it's complicated. I wouldn't.

• 22:04Speaker 05

  And there is a language involved, and there's a language involved.

• 22:08Brooke Averick?

  Which one?

• 22:09Speaker 05

  Bengali.

• 22:10Brooke Averick?

  Of course. Okay, we'll get to Bengali. I have more questions about your current.

• 22:13Speaker 05

  Number nine.

• 22:14Brooke Averick?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 22:17Brooke Averick?

  Okay. Mandarin.

• 22:20Speaker 05

  Um.

• 22:21Brooke Averick?

  How well do you speak that? Like, you could get around.

• 22:23Speaker 05

  I would say it's, I would say my, like, worst ones as of now are Mandarin and Arabic. I would say definitely I have survival. Like, I can definitely get around in the country. I can talk about what I like. I could talk about what I did today. I can ask people how they're doing. I can, like, like, I would say I can do basics, but I wouldn't be comfortable, like, working in that language or, like, like, I would, yeah, definitely, I'd say well enough to get around, but not, like, not comfortably.

• 22:50Brooke Averick?

  Got it. Okay, I'm next.

• 22:54Speaker 05

  Yeah, so, uh, so, no Mandarin. Arabic, uh, was then coming, because then my first serious relationship was with an Arabic-speaking woman.

• 23:06Brooke Averick?

  Yes.

• 23:06Speaker 05

  Though she was also a fluent English speaker, so I never really learned from her, but it was learned out of love for her.

• 23:12Brooke Averick?

  Exactly.

• 23:13Speaker 05

  Um, and, yeah, uh, that was, that was, again, though, like, we broke up, like, not too long after I started, and I did continue learning despite that, so, we love that. Then, um, most recently, I think that's every, I think that's, then there's most-

• 23:32Brooke Averick?

  French.

• 23:33Speaker 05

  French. Oh, French. Okay, so, so I'll say, then, French, I've never, like, I haven't taken, I think I took one year in high school of French.

• 23:43Brooke Averick?

  Yeah, I took six, and you surpassed me, like, fairly immediately, in skill level.

• 23:49Speaker 05

  Um, but I, it's quite similar to Spanish, and so I just went to France for a few months, and then I was able to learn from that. Uh, and I have had French romances, because both the Persian-American girl and the Arabic-speaking girl that I dated also were French speakers, and actually spoke, like, French to me sometimes, so, that, like, that's how I can say French was also a love language.

• 24:19Brooke Averick?

  Do you think like you could get around in France?

• 24:22Speaker 05

  Oh, absolutely, without a doubt. I speak French a lot better than Arabic and Chinese.

• 24:27Brooke Averick?

  It's ridiculous.

• 24:28Speaker 05

  Like, French, because it's so similar to Spanish. I would say French, I understand 100%. And like my-

• 24:35Brooke Averick?

  100%, you could watch a movie in French and fully understand the film?

• 24:39Speaker 05

  Yeah. I wouldn't understand every word, but like I would absolutely be able to follow it. Like, follow what's happening.

• 24:47Brooke Averick?

  Wow. Can you start talking to me in French and I want to see if I understand it?

• 24:51Speaker 05

  Okay. Okay. Maintenant, j'ai dit que je parle français alors je suis un peu nerveuse parce que si je dis quelque chose d'incorrect, tout le monde va commenter que je parle pas bon, mais je parle normal. Excellent!

• 25:12Brooke Averick?

  You were saying that, right now you're saying that you speak French, but you're getting a little bit nervous because if you make a mistake, someone will say something.

• 25:21Speaker 05

  Yeah, exactement.

• 25:23Brooke Averick?

  Yeah. So I could probably get around.

• 25:26Speaker 05

  I think you speak better than you think you do and you're just like, you're just nervous. Like, wasn't there a time when you did an exchange in France and you like had to speak?

• 25:37Brooke Averick?

  There was, but I didn't because, as you know, our French teacher spoke with a very unique accent.

• 25:44Speaker 05

  Yeah. And- That's probably.

• 25:48Brooke Averick?

  Which she still does. And it bled into all of our accents. And so everyone was like pretty made fun of by the French students for the way that we spoke. And so I really didn't want to speak. And so I didn't say a French word until the last day of our French exchange, which was over two weeks in France.

• 26:10Brooke Averick?

  But yeah, I don't, I think, like you spoke slowly enough for me to understand and usually French is really fast.

• 26:16Speaker 05

  And like

• 26:17Brooke Averick?

  And all the words

• 26:18Speaker 05

  Des fois, je crois que des fois c'est plus facile pour les gens comprendre quelqu'un qui like leur langue maternelle, c'est la même langue. Like, je parle anglais, je suis suisse-américaine. Alors peut-être mon, like mon français, c'est plus facile pour toi que le français de quelqu'un de la France.

• 26:36Brooke Averick?

  Exactly. Your French, um, yours is easier to understand because you're, you're American, you speak English, so.

• 26:44Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 26:45Brooke Averick?

  That's what you were saying.

• 26:46Speaker 05

  Exactly.

• 26:47Brooke Averick?

  I'm just translating for those who might not understand.

• 26:48Speaker 05

  Yeah, yeah, for, for the public.

• 26:49Brooke Averick?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 26:50Speaker 05

  But I think you're, I think you're better than you have yourself credit for. Um, like you used to read books in French.

• 26:56Brooke Averick?

  I could not read a book in French.

• 26:59Speaker 05

  You tried, like yours.

• 27:01Brooke Averick?

  I used to be able to.

• 27:02Speaker 05

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's what I'm saying.

• 27:03Brooke Averick?

  Oh, yeah, yeah. Um, for sure. But I did go to Paris recently and I could, there was not one thing I understood. I was trying to like read the streets.

• 27:13Speaker 05

  No, I think it's, it's, it's easier, what I was saying for the, the public is, like, I speak French with an American accent and my first language is English, so my syntax is also kind of English-esque. So I think it's actually easier for Brooke to understand me than it would be for Brooke to understand a native French speaker.

• 27:30Brooke Averick?

  Yeah, for surely.

• 27:31Speaker 05

  Yeah. But it's not my, it's not my best. My, yeah, my best is Spanish followed by Russian. Um, and then I would say, I, I would say if we're ranking, Spanish, Spanish is the best, then Russian. I would say the ones where I'm good, but not fluent are like French, Hindi and, um...

• 27:55Brooke Averick?

  You didn't touch on Hindi.

• 27:56Speaker 05

  We're getting there. French, Hindi and, um, what, what, Farsi. And then the ones where I'm just conversational are Arabic and Chinese.

• 28:05Brooke Averick?

  Got it.

• 28:06Speaker 05

  Um, Hindi was the most recent one. Uh, well, aside from Bengali, which I just started, but, uh, it was the most recent one. Um, due to, so I lived in India for about a year. There have been many wonderful Indian, Indian ladies in my life. Um, but the one who I learned Hindi from was, uh, she actually didn't speak English and still doesn't. So that was the lingua franca of our relationship, which lasted four months. It was, it was a Hindi only relationship and that, that was a jumpstart. That was actually the first time I've ever had a relationship with someone who like, actually that's not true. I was gonna say who didn't speak any

• 28:51Speaker 05

  English, but like Yulia, my, her sister also doesn't speak any English. But I would say it was, I would say it was the first time I had had a relationship in a language that I like really wasn't fluent in, uh, or wasn't comfortable in. Cause like I'd done it in Spanish and Russian, but like I speak those a lot better. But when I, when I met this girl, like my Hindi was not, not good enough to have a relationship. And it got there quickly.

• 29:17Brooke Averick?

  How do you start a relationship with someone that, where you don't speak the same language? Like, how did you and her even begin to like, understand that you were romantically interested in each other?

• 29:29Speaker 05

  Um, I kind of had a crush on her from afar and how I initiated it was, we were having a conver, like I had to, I basically, I was, I was, in order to, I like to put myself in like extreme immersion situations. So in order to learn Hindi, I went to an extremely rural part of India, which is Kandwa district, Madhya Pradesh.

• 29:49Brooke Averick?

  Yeah.

• 29:50Speaker 05

  And I was volunteering for like a grassroots NGO there. And she was one of the people that worked for the NGO. Um, so I had a crush on her and I think how I first broached it was like, I said to her, but I'm gonna frame it like probably how it sounded to her. I was like,

• 30:10Speaker 05

  My country, marriage, girl-girl marriage, boy-boy marriage, my country. You in my country, you like girl-girl marriage, you like boy-boy marriage. And she was like-

• 30:23Brooke Averick?

  And that was a question you were asking?

• 30:24Speaker 05

  Yeah, yeah.

• 30:25Brooke Averick?

  Okay.

• 30:26Speaker 05

  Yeah. I was trying to say, in my very limited Hindi, would you prefer to marry a man or a woman if you had this choice?

• 30:32Brooke Averick?

  Good question.

• 30:33Speaker 05

  Yeah. And she said, without hesitation, a girl. And I was like, oh, that's, that's, that's really, that's really interesting. But part of me just thought that-

• 30:44Brooke Averick?

  That's really interesting to me.

• 30:47Speaker 05

  Part of me thought it's just because, like, in her society, women don't have a lot of freedom. And I, by her society, I mean, like, rural, central, Indian, the specific place, not all of India, obviously.

• 30:58Brooke Averick?

  And I can't stress this enough, like, do you mind me saying her occupation?

• 31:03Speaker 05

  Yes, and I will, I will provide an addendum.

• 31:06Brooke Averick?

  She was like the, um, and this isn't an amazing thing to be, like, this is no judgment at all. It's just more of a comment on, like, the different, uh, structures in which our societies operate. Like, her occupation was the village basket weaver. Yes.

• 31:22Speaker 05

  Um, and the addendum to that is that, in India, there is a caste system, which is, uh, you could Google it. But basically, that was her family's, it's too complicated and, like, loaded and for me to explain. And I'm not even Indian, so I won't do it justice. That's why I said, "Google it." Um, but her, her caste, which is basically her family's occupation, going back generations, was to weave bamboo, like, handicrafts. Um, and so that is what she grew up doing. And she had, she had to drop out of school, uh, when she was 12 years old, in order to, like, weave baskets and stuff for her family. But she was really smart and really, uh, like, ambitious, which is what I liked about her.

• 32:04Speaker 05

  And she, despite that, she was able to eventually, like, pursue her education and start working for an NGO.

• 32:12Brooke Averick?

  I love that, Lindsay. And I think it's remarkable, your ability to find the lesbian in any small rural area.

• 32:20Speaker 05

  Absolutely, absolutely. And Nishinovgad, and I mean, Nishinovgad is not rural, but still, it's surprising.

• 32:28Brooke Averick?

  I wouldn't say it's a high-focus lesbian area.

• 32:31Speaker 05

  No, certainly not, certainly not.

• 32:33Brooke Averick?

  Yeah, so it really is a remarkable thing, a talent that you have.

• 32:38Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 32:38Brooke Averick?

  Didn't like she not know that, like, it was an option for, like, to be with a woman?

• 32:44Speaker 05

  No, she was actually pretty woke about that. Something that, like, to give an idea of, like, what a rural environment she came from. Like, I went to Delhi with her at some point in our relationship, and I, like, put, we got some, like, rice, and when we got home, I put the rice in the microwave to heat it up for her, and she was like, "Is that, is that heating?" Like, she didn't know what the microwave was doing. So, like, that is the level. Or I was like, Lakshmi, yeah, whatever her name is, Lakshmi. I was like, Lakshmi, you've never seen my country before. Um, and she was like, I was like, "You've probably only seen my country in movies." And she's like, "I've never seen your country in movies." And I was like, "You never saw an American movie?" And she's like, "No, I've only seen Indian movies."

• 33:28Speaker 05

  So, like, it was very wide gap.

• 33:30Brooke Averick?

  Yeah, definitely a wide gap. Would you say that was, like, why it didn't work out?

• 33:35Speaker 05

  Oh, I would say, I would say, like, in a roundabout way, yes. I think, I think it was one of those, like, you fell in love with, like, the potential, not the person. And I think that, like, I deeply admire her, and, like, her dreams, and, like, all the amazing things she has and will achieve. But I think that, like, we're better as, as friends than as-

• 34:00Brooke Averick?

  And you still are friends, right?

• 34:01Speaker 05

  And we still are friends. Actually, there's some sad news, though, but that's a downer.

• 34:06Brooke Averick?

  Oh.

• 34:07Speaker 05

  Her, her parents are forcing her to get married.

• 34:09Brooke Averick?

  Oh, my God.

• 34:11Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 34:12Brooke Averick?

  That's horrible.

• 34:13Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 34:14Brooke Averick?

  To a man, I would assume.

• 34:16Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 34:17Brooke Averick?

  Oh, that's really sad.

• 34:18Speaker 05

  It is not great, yeah.

• 34:20Brooke Averick?

  Oh, how's she doing?

• 34:21Speaker 05

  She's not happy.

• 34:23Brooke Averick?

  Yeah.

• 34:24Speaker 05

  Yeah, she, she was, I mean, I like, she was, she was trying, she has been, she's thirty, she has been since she was a teenager, denying potential prospects, but then, um, basically, there was like someone in her family had an un, like, had an unmarried pregnancy and her family like freaked out and they're like, all the unmarried women have to get married. And I was like, you, they can't force you, like, you're financially independent, you do your own thing, like, just, just, just don't do it. And she's like, they, they'll cut me out of life forever. It's like, and then, speaking to like, some friends who are more familiar with the context, I've realized that it's like, quite complicated and like, there are sometimes even like violent repercussions for like, women who would refuse marriage in a community like this. And it's just

• 35:07Speaker 05

  like, it's tough. Fortunately, she, they were gonna marry her to this guy who wouldn't even let her work, but then, um, she convinced them to let her marry this other guy instead. And they also convinced them to wait a few months. So like, as of now, she's like, promised to this guy, but, but, um, might not get married. And I just want to say also, like, for the, for the, like, fear, like, whatever I'm talking about, like, only, I'm only speaking about, like, Kalwa Block, Khandwa District, Madhya Pradesh. I'm not speaking about all of India. Like, no one should take this to mean that this is what India's like. This is what one specific community in India's

• 35:49Speaker 05

  like, but India is an incredibly diverse country. So I just wanted to put that out there.

• 35:54Brooke Averick?

  Thank you. That's pretty devastating.

• 35:56Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 35:57Brooke Averick?

  Poor Lakshmi.

• 35:58Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 35:59Brooke Averick?

  Well, I'll, I'll ask you about that more offline.

• 36:02Speaker 05

  Offline. We can take that offline.

• 36:05Speaker 00

  I hate Mondays.

• 36:06Speaker 01

  King's Hawaiian cinnamon swirl bite?

• 36:08Speaker 00

  Taylor Hanson? Sure, I'll try one. Mmm.

• 36:14Speaker 01

  Hey, let's get back to work, please.

• 36:15Speaker 00

  But Taylor Hanson's making my day way better with these new soft and swirly King's Hawaiian cinnamon bites.

• 36:20Speaker 01

  Taylor Hanson? Nice. Try one. Mmm.

• 36:27Speaker 02

  King's Hawaiian cinnamon bites. There's nothing like it.

• 36:35Speaker 02

  Ally here with cash when you need it. You know, for the taxi that saved you, the guy who helped you move.

• 36:40Brooke Averick?

  Are you supposed to tip at the car wash? Don't be in Ally's 75,000 fee-free ATMs. Mean you always have cash when you need it. Ally Bank member FDIC.

• 36:52Brooke Averick?

  Okay, is that a wrap on the languages you'd say?

• 36:55Speaker 05

  Um, yeah, and then, I mean, the most recent is just Bengali. Like, well, I've been dating, and actually, it's interesting. I met this girl a few months. I'd say it's been almost two months. Oh, it's been two months.

• 37:09Brooke Averick?

  Happy two months.

• 37:11Speaker 05

  Thanks.

• 37:14Speaker 05

  Yeah, two months ago was our first date. Yeah, but what's cool about her is she also loves languages. And it's the first time that I've ever, like, dated someone who also likes languages. But we're still, we're getting to know each other. So we'll see how far it goes. But I'm trying to teach her Spanish, and she's trying to teach me Bengali. So that's fun.

• 37:33Brooke Averick?

  Is Bengali her native language?

• 37:36Speaker 05

  That is her native language. Yeah, she's from Calcutta, so that's her native language.

• 37:40Brooke Averick?

  And, or do you guys, does she speak English?

• 37:43Speaker 05

  She does, she does.

• 37:45Brooke Averick?

  Okay.

• 37:45Speaker 05

  Yeah, she speaks English.

• 37:47Brooke Averick?

  Okay, that way.

• 37:48Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 37:49Brooke Averick?

  That's nice, that's nice.

• 37:51Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 37:51Brooke Averick?

  Um, how's your Bengali?

• 37:56Speaker 05

  Palona.

• 37:57Brooke Averick?

  I knew that was coming. I knew I wasn't getting an answer in English.

• 38:04Brooke Averick?

  Very good, Linz.

• 38:05Speaker 05

  Palona means not good, but.

• 38:08Brooke Averick?

  Okay. Hey, but at least you have that.

• 38:11Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 38:12Brooke Averick?

  How many countries have you been to if you know?

• 38:17Speaker 05

  Oh, I, um, I actually do know, I believe. Wait, I actually have an app on my phone, so let me check. But the app is, um, so I have been to, um, 66 UN countries, but that doesn't include Taiwan or Palestine, so I'd say 68.

• 38:38Brooke Averick?

  Why not Taiwan?

• 38:40Speaker 05

  Uh, it's not recognized by a lot of countries.

• 38:43Brooke Averick?

  I had no idea.

• 38:44Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 38:46Speaker 05

  Because China-

• 38:46Brooke Averick?

  When were you in Taiwan?

• 38:48Speaker 05

  I did, I did a summer language program there in undergrad.

• 38:53Brooke Averick?

  Okay, you know, I get confused sometimes, a little bit all over the place.

• 38:56Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 38:56Brooke Averick?

  There are times where I'll like just open my Find My Friends and it's like Lindsay is in Tajikistan. Okay?

• 39:02Speaker 05

  I'm waiting, I'm hoping to go to Pakistan. I'm actually waiting for my visa.

• 39:06Brooke Averick?

  Have you not been there yet?

• 39:07Speaker 05

  No, so that'll be new.

• 39:09Brooke Averick?

  That will be fun and exciting.

• 39:11Speaker 05

  It will.

• 39:12Brooke Averick?

  Um, you have opened, like, there have been so many countries I didn't know existed until-

• 39:18Speaker 05

  Like Tajikistan?

• 39:20Brooke Averick?

  Tajikistan, and there's anotheristan that was completely like-

• 39:24Speaker 05

  Kyrgyzstan?

• 39:25Brooke Averick?

  Uh huh.

• 39:26Speaker 05

  I actually haven't been to Kyrgyzstan, but Kyrgyzstan maybe.

• 39:29Brooke Averick?

  I don't, I actually, I think that's the first time I'm hearing of that right now.

• 39:32Speaker 05

  Okay.

• 39:33Brooke Averick?

  So I do think it was a different one.

• 39:34Speaker 05

  Uzbekistan?

• 39:35Brooke Averick?

  Mm-hmm.

• 39:36Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 39:37Brooke Averick?

  And you've been there?

• 39:38Speaker 05

  I have, and Kazakhstan, where I, I've, I've been to, I've been to Turkmenistan as well. I've been to all the stans except Kyrgyzstan.

• 39:45Brooke Averick?

  And Pakistan.

• 39:46Speaker 05

  And Pakistan and Afghanistan, but they're usually not considered part of the stans.

• 39:50Brooke Averick?

  Can I ask, what is it that draws you to the stans? Because I feel like that most people, if it's fair for me to say, like, wouldn't be like, that's where I want to go.

• 39:59Speaker 05

  Yeah, it wasn't really, it wasn't really, I wasn't really drawn to them. I went to Tajikistan for the first time, because I have been twice. I've spent probably a cumulative six months in Tajikistan in my lifetime.

• 40:11Brooke Averick?

  Why?

• 40:11Speaker 05

  So the first, first four months was a study abroad program because I wanted to study Persian. And you can't, as an American, study Persian in Iran or Afghanistan. So that's why. It was the only place I could study Persian. And then subsequently after that, I got a job working for this, like, scholarship program, which gave scholarships to students from former Soviet countries to study as exchange students in the United States. And they sent you to where you had language skills. So because I spoke Russian and Persian, they sent me to a lot of those countries because they speak Russian.

• 40:47Brooke Averick?

  I remember that program. You had a romance with one of your coworkers, right?

• 40:51Speaker 05

  Uh, I had a crush unrequited on one of my coworkers. She just recently got married in Canada to a man.

• 40:58Brooke Averick?

  Yes, damn.

• 41:00Speaker 05

  That's okay.

• 41:00Brooke Averick?

  Lost a good one.

• 41:01Speaker 05

  I did, I did though, I did travel through four countries and I did want to, like, find a woman in every country during that job. That was part of my deal. Remember, there was also Svetta, the Ukrainian, who you love?

• 41:14Brooke Averick?

  With with the

• 41:16Speaker 05

  Mm hmm.

• 41:16Brooke Averick?

  Brain.

• 41:17Speaker 05

  Mm hmm.

• 41:17Brooke Averick?

  Okay, yeah.

• 41:18Speaker 05

  Hope she's okay.

• 41:20Brooke Averick?

  I do. I genuinely do, too.

• 41:21Speaker 05

  We we fell out of touch, but yeah.

• 41:23Brooke Averick?

  I'm sad to hear that about you and Svetta.

• 41:26Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 41:28Brooke Averick?

  Are there any of the countries that you've been to that you're like, I have no desire to return?

• 41:34Speaker 05

  Um. I mean, I think this is what I always say, like, I don't think there's anywhere in the world that like, if someone gave me a plane ticket, I wouldn't go because I just love traveling so much like I would go anywhere. I think there are definitely places that like, I would definitely wouldn't go unless there was like, I actually recently went to Budapest with my friend and was very over underwhelmed. Uh, I feel like Tajikistan and Uzbekistan, I've been to both of those countries twice. And like, I think I've I've spent more time in them than like anyone, I mean, than I I think I've I think it's enough. I I wouldn't really wouldn't go out of my way to go again to Tajikistan or Uzbekistan. I was very underwhelmed by Costa Rica as well.

• 42:19Speaker 05

  Um, some of my favorites have been Mexico, India. Those are those I could go back again and again and again and again because I just think there's so much, there's so much cool stuff there. Um, also was a huge fan of Iran when I went there.

• 42:34Brooke Averick?

  Yeah. Do you want to talk about that?

• 42:37Speaker 05

  I can talk about that. Yeah, I I I, um, my family was not super excited about. Well, I knew they wouldn't be excited about me going to Iran. So I just told them I was going to Costa Rica.

• 42:50Brooke Averick?

  Uh, and you put someone in a in a difficult position by telling them you were going to Iran and not to tell anyone.

• 42:57Speaker 05

  Yeah, yeah, yeah. I, yeah.

• 43:00Brooke Averick?

  Hello.

• 43:00Speaker 05

  But you were, I had, no, I had a group chat that you were in, Brooke, of like, my siblings and like, my close friends who was aware that I was in Iran and I would text them updates. But, um, my parents, most notably, were not aware until after.

• 43:18Brooke Averick?

  That was genuinely scary for for me. As you are a gay Jewish person.

• 43:25Speaker 05

  Yep, yeah, American as well.

• 43:28Brooke Averick?

  A gay Jewish American.

• 43:30Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 43:30Brooke Averick?

  Um, but that I my understanding is that was one of your most positive travel experiences.

• 43:36Speaker 05

  That was one of my best travel experiences. I have no end, like, obviously, government of Iran.

• 43:42Speaker 05

  Is very bad to its people, but the people of Iran, I like have no shortage of amazing things to say. The sights there, the food there, it was amazing.

• 43:54Brooke Averick?

  It's great lens. You kind of already said this, but I was just gonna ask like where next? Pakistan?

• 44:01Speaker 05

  Pakistan, yeah, most immediately. And I think, I think, well, I do want to visit every country in the world before I die. So...

• 44:11Brooke Averick?

  Is that possible?

• 44:13Speaker 05

  Uh, probably. Like technically, people with like American passports aren't allowed to go to North Korea right now, but like I think in my lifetime that will probably change, or maybe I'll get another passport. Like I, I, I think it's, it's something.

• 44:27Brooke Averick?

  What passport will you get?

• 44:29Speaker 05

  I don't know. I mean, I live in London now. Like I could get a UK passport if I stayed here long enough.

• 44:33Brooke Averick?

  Can you go to North Korea with a UK passport?

• 44:37Speaker 05

  UK passport? Haven't looked into that.

• 44:39Brooke Averick?

  Okay.

• 44:40Speaker 05

  I'm not super pressed about it. Like I, I kind of think that in my lifetime, I'll see some sort of change, whether it's to the government in North Korea or to their policy of not allowing US citizens. I've never been denied a visa.

• 44:54Brooke Averick?

  Okay.

• 44:55Speaker 05

  And I've gotten some really hard ones. Like for those who know Turkmenistan is really hard. Russia's not easy. I've gotten it several times. China, Cuba. Cuba's, Cuba's not hard, but yeah.

• 45:08Brooke Averick?

  Is there anywhere you like haven't been besides Pakistan that you really want to go?

• 45:12Speaker 05

  Um, I mean, anywhere. Like I would go anywhere. I think I, I haven't, I haven't traveled too much. I've traveled a decent amount in East Africa, but I haven't been to West Africa at all. So that would be nice. I have been, I have not been to like certain countries in South America. I'd really like to go to Venezuela. And I have a Venezuelan friend, so maybe I'll go with her one day.

• 45:34Brooke Averick?

  I'm kind of shocked you haven't been there.

• 45:36Speaker 05

  Yeah. I, I, I think I, I would like to go with a local person. And it was only like in the last few years that I'd have a close enough friend that I could go with her.

• 45:46Brooke Averick?

  Love.

• 45:47Speaker 05

  Yep.

• 45:48Brooke Averick?

  Okay, well, that ends the travel portion of my notes. Um, so moving on to just kind of like our shared experience. At school. Um, I have, I've spoken a lot about meeting for worship. And I've told the story of Miguel, Michelle coming out as Mike. Um, but you know, a lot of people like came out as, as gay, including you. And do you want to like speak to that experience, like what it was like? For you and like I've, when you, you're supposed to stand up at meeting for worship if you're moved by the light to do so. And I guess I'm kind of just wondering, one, were you moved by the light? Two, like, how did it feel being on the, on the coming out?

• 46:34Brooke Averick?

  And three, how do you look back at the experience? Whatever you really want to say about it.

• 46:39Speaker 05

  Okay, well, I have a lot of things to say.

• 46:40Brooke Averick?

  I will say that I didn't know it was coming. I didn't know you were gonna do it.

• 46:44Brooke Averick?

  And I was sitting on the facing bench. Which means there's like all these benches in our auditorium that just like are normal seats that face the stage. And then there's the facing bench where there's one bench in front of the stage that looks out at the audience. So I was kind of looking out at, at Lindsay when she stood up. And then take it away.

• 47:04Speaker 05

  Yeah, well, I, I, I remember there weren't very many. I, I think what is hard for people to understand when I tell this, when we talk about this is like how much things have changed since, um, 2012, when this happened. Like at the time that I came out, gay marriage was not legal in Pennsylvania. Like, and now it's like hard to imagine, but yeah, in our, in our high school, there were, there weren't that many people that were out. I remember like it was one of the most progressive high schools in the area. And they wanted to do a presentation to the middle schoolers about LGBT. And everyone was like, it's too soon. Like, so.

• 47:47Brooke Averick?

  Yeah. It is wild to think that.

• 47:50Speaker 05

  How much it's changed. And like, we had the Gay Straight Alliance, like that's what it was called.

• 47:55Brooke Averick?

  Yeah.

• 47:57Speaker 05

  So yeah, it had and but I remember there was there was a boy who was out. I think I was no one was out in our grade as lesbian. There were some girls who were out as bi. There was at least one that I can think of who who was in a relationship with a woman. So like, street cred.

• 48:15Brooke Averick?

  Why do I remember everyone coming out at Meaning for Worship? But like, I can't actually think of like, who did? Am I, is it, am I constructing memories?

• 48:24Speaker 05

  I feel like the people who came out just came out of Meaning for Worship. And maybe that's why I did too, because I was like, you have to. I'm not sure.

• 48:31Brooke Averick?

  Yeah, it was kind of like the right, like, you weren't gay until you came out of Meaning for Worship.

• 48:36Speaker 05

  Right, right. Because like, when I think about it, I'm like, I don't know even why I did that. Like, it's not really like me, my personality, to do that, but maybe.

• 48:43Brooke Averick?

  But maybe you weren't moved by the light. Maybe you were just like, guys, this is something I have to do.

• 48:48Speaker 05

  Yeah. And and my, but then there's also my brother who did come out as gay, as 12, at age 12, and has has only dated women subsequently.

• 48:57Brooke Averick?

  Right. Did he make a formal retractment? I don't remember.

• 49:00Speaker 05

  No, he never did. He's only, he's only dated women. If you ask him about it, he still is like, yes, I'm still gay. And I'm like, make it make sense.

• 49:08Brooke Averick?

  Um, yeah, no, you have an amazing collection of LGBT siblings.

• 49:13Speaker 05

  Yeah, three out of four.

• 49:14Brooke Averick?

  Mm hmm, three for four.

• 49:16Speaker 05

  Three for four. And the other, he's straight, but it's funny because the one straight brother is like, well, okay, to be fair, like, one of my brothers has only dated women. But because he did come out as gay in middle school, I do treat him as part of the LGBT community.

• 49:32Brooke Averick?

  I think that treating him as part of the LGBT is more than fair.

• 49:37Speaker 05

  Um, and then, yeah, my my sister is, did you know that my sister's now doing, doing lesbian?

• 49:45Brooke Averick?

  Oh, absolutely.

• 49:46Speaker 05

  Yeah, yeah.

• 49:47Brooke Averick?

  I'm on close friends.

• 49:48Speaker 05

  Because, oh, oh, okay, okay. Yeah, she was doing bi for a while, but then she realized that she's lesbian. So now she's doing lesbian. Um, yep. And Daniel, my brother, the youngest, is straight, but his type is like, very like, alt, like, armpit hair, green hair, short hair, kind of androgynous. So like, I hope that he'll go for a she day, and thus, we can be four for four.

• 50:15Brooke Averick?

  Yeah.

• 50:16Speaker 05

  If that's how it works.

• 50:17Brooke Averick?

  But like, if he's dating a non-binary person, does that make him? Part of the LGBT community.

• 50:24Speaker 05

  That's a, that's a hot topic. Uh, I have spoken to him about it and he said that he doesn't think it does. Uh, cause he, he's like, I don't wanna like, he's like, at the end of the day, like, even though I am attracted to some people who identify as non-binary, like, I think, like, I'm attracted perhaps to the pieces of them that I perceive as feminine. And, and he's like, to say that I was queer feels like I'm like adopting a label that like, isn't making sense for me. And like, for example, he, like, I couldn't see him being into someone who was not binary assigned male at birth.

• 50:56Brooke Averick?

  Got it. Okay. That makes sense.

• 51:00Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 51:01Brooke Averick?

  Okay. Back to Meeting for Worship.

• 51:04Speaker 05

  Back to Meeting for Worship. So I remember there was a boy who was out, who I was friends with, who we were all friends with. Uh, I called him the night before, Matt.

• 51:11Brooke Averick?

  Oh, and he had come, I forgot, he came out at our beach meeting for worship.

• 51:15Speaker 05

  Mm, yeah.

• 51:16Brooke Averick?

  That was really, yeah, yeah.

• 51:18Speaker 05

  So I called-

• 51:19Brooke Averick?

  I remember my heart was beating so fast, cause he didn't tell anyone. Yeah, this was the first time he was saying it.

• 51:25Speaker 05

  And didn't he come out as bi?

• 51:26Brooke Averick?

  Yes.

• 51:28Speaker 05

  Yes.

• 51:29Brooke Averick?

  I remember he said that and I was like, ooh, so close. So close.

• 51:36Speaker 05

  Okay, I think he's very sure-

• 51:37Brooke Averick?

  Close only counts in horseshoes, though.

• 51:40Speaker 05

  Right, let's, let's not make, let's not make mountains out of molehills.

• 51:47Speaker 05

  That's so close.

• 51:48Brooke Averick?

  Ooh, almost right on the snake eyes.

• 51:53Speaker 05

  Uh, but I called him the night before and I was like, Matt, I was, cause I had, uh, though I had not come out publicly, I could come out to you, Brooke. And like, I had come out to my close friends prior to Meeting for Worship.

• 52:04Brooke Averick?

  Right.

• 52:04Speaker 05

  But I called Matt and I was like, I, I'm thinking of it, but I'm not sure if I'm ready. And he's like, I don't think anyone's ever ready. I think you just have to, have to dive in. And so I just dove in. And another thing that I'll say is like, it has been, uh, like, both beautiful. It has been beautiful to see, like, how many people from our high school have subsequently come out. But I'm like, also like, wish you guys had come out when there was like, three of us, like, that would have, like, it would have been nice, you know? But I, everyone's on their own journey.

• 52:37Brooke Averick?

  For Worship? Or if it's just like, a given? Like, a need?

• 52:42Speaker 05

  Right.

• 52:44Brooke Averick?

  How did you feel when you did it?

• 52:48Speaker 05

  Um, I think I felt embarrassed. I think I like had some internalized homophobia. Like, I was like, does everyone need to know that? And like, I remember, I did have some internalized homophobia. Cause like, there was a teacher at our school who was lesbian and who was married to women. And I remember like, I was like, oh, well, like every time someone looks at her, they're gonna think of her having sex with a woman. And like, now that's what people are gonna think when they look at me. But whatever, that was internalized homophobia. Like, I don't care now. If people think that, that's great.

• 53:14Brooke Averick?

  Yeah. If people think that, hell yeah.

• 53:17Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 53:17Brooke Averick?

  Absolutely.

• 53:18Speaker 05

  You want me to send a video? I will.

• 53:20Brooke Averick?

  Nice.

• 53:22Brooke Averick?

  I like, I really hate to think about,

• 53:26Brooke Averick?

  like, as much as our school had its problems, like, I'd hate to think about us going anywhere else, truly.

• 53:31Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 53:32Brooke Averick?

  Our neurodivergent selves.

• 53:34Speaker 05

  I think I wouldn't have been, I say that all the time. I say like, I wasn't bullied, but like, I would have been at any other school.

• 53:42Brooke Averick?

  I, right. And I just, I don't even, like, I, yeah, it really, I don't like to think about it. What?

• 53:50Speaker 05

  This is a bit of a non sequitur, but I guess, I, there is an important part of our early connection was, and it is touching on neurodivergence, was when I would have genuine sicknesses in third grade and you would go home.

• 54:07Brooke Averick?

  And I think that speaks to the link.

• 54:10Speaker 05

  Yeah, the bond.

• 54:11Brooke Averick?

  You have to understand.

• 54:12Speaker 05

  To clarify, breaking my arm. Like, I broke my arm and Brooke went home because her arm hurt.

• 54:23Brooke Averick?

  I had to. I was sick. I did go home. This was like, this makes more sense, but like, you had thrown up.

• 54:30Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 54:31Brooke Averick?

  And then I was like, I can't be here. Cannot be here. You stayed, which was shocking, but yeah, I went home. You threw up, I went home and you broke your arm and I went home.

• 54:40Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 54:41Brooke Averick?

  And I would assume you went home when you broke your arm.

• 54:46Speaker 05

  Um, I don't actually remember if I went home, but I do remember, like, we did not go to the emergency room immediately. Cause I remember I came downstairs for dinner that night and I was like, cradling my arm. And my mom was like, Lindsay, does your arm still hurt from when you fell? And I was like, yes. And she was like, oh, that's not okay.

• 55:02Brooke Averick?

  Yeah.

• 55:03Speaker 05

  We went to the doctor and it was broken.

• 55:04Brooke Averick?

  I was so jealous of your cast.

• 55:07Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 55:08Brooke Averick?

  Um, they're also, people did think we were gay together.

• 55:14Speaker 05

  Yeah, they did.

• 55:15Brooke Averick?

  Yeah. Um, I'm never beating the gay allegations.

• 55:19Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 55:19Brooke Averick?

  It's not like, of course they did.

• 55:22Speaker 05

  Didn't your dad, wasn't he like, if you and Lindsay are partners, like, I would, that's okay with me?

• 55:28Brooke Averick?

  Well, he, I mean, my dad is always like, he can tell me anything, like, it's okay to be gay. And there was a time in high school when, I think I was really depressed and my mom was like, "Let me know if, if you're gay."

• 55:42Speaker 05

  If you're gay.

• 55:42Brooke Averick?

  And it's okay. Um, but my dad recently confessed that he thought I was gay because we would all take naps together. And I was like, we were just sleeping.

• 55:54Speaker 05

  Yeah, yeah.

• 55:55Brooke Averick?

  Yeah. Um, but yeah, I think like, as like an, uh, older man in the early 2000s, he assumed like, since you were a lesbian and my best, and my best friend, I was a lesbian. Which is totally fair.

• 56:08Speaker 05

  I mean, I, yeah, I think it's, in a way, it's surprising that those rumors weren't, weren't stronger.

• 56:15Brooke Averick?

  I agree. The, the key piece of the puzzle here is there's a photo of us.

• 56:19Speaker 05

  Oh, are you gonna tell about the flowers?

• 56:22Brooke Averick?

  I was gonna speak about, how about you start? How about you start?

• 56:24Speaker 05

  Okay.

• 56:25Brooke Averick?

  I love this story.

• 56:26Speaker 05

  I had a, oh, this is probably revealed too, if she sees this.

• 56:30Brooke Averick?

  Um, something tells me she won't, but.

• 56:33Speaker 05

  Who knows?

• 56:34Brooke Averick?

  Tells me she's not tuning in, but you never know.

• 56:36Speaker 05

  Reach out if you're tuning in, I will, I don't even care. Um, so there was a girl in the grade above us who I had a crush on, and, uh, she was dating a boy, uh, so I did make a card with her entire name in the Superman S's. Uh, a never-ending chain of Superman S's. Uh, wrote all the reasons why I thought she was special, cut some fresh flowers for my garden, and I had...

• 57:00Brooke Averick?

  Had you had a conversation with her at this point?

• 57:02Speaker 05

  I don't think so. We were in a club together, so like we had interacted peripherally through that.

• 57:08Brooke Averick?

  Totally.

• 57:08Speaker 05

  But I cut some fresh flowers from the garden, had a friend give it to her. She tweeted, "This is so nice, thanks so much." So that was sweet. But then as my way of secretly revealing this to her, we haven't even gone into my stalker, but that's okay, for next time.

• 57:25Brooke Averick?

  For next time.

• 57:25Speaker 05

  As my way of revealing this to her, I posted a prom picture with Brooke in front of the flowers. No, I didn't post it, because that would have been too obvious. I made Brooke post the picture of us standing in front of the flowers that I had cut and given to her.

• 57:41Brooke Averick?

  Am I making this up, or were you actually holding me like a baby in the photo? Or were we just standing there?

• 57:47Speaker 05

  I think we're just standing there, but I do think there might be another photo where I'm holding you like a baby.

• 57:52Brooke Averick?

  Okay. Yeah, so you were hoping that she would make the connection, the flowers behind you were the same flowers in the bouquet?

• 57:58Speaker 05

  Yeah, hoping.

• 57:59Brooke Averick?

  Which like, yeah, that's pretty amazing, Lindsay. It's pretty damn amazing.

• 58:06Brooke Averick?

  Any other, and I don't know if you're comfortable speaking about this, but any other grand gestures you would like to speak on?

• 58:14Speaker 05

  I mean, yeah, like, what other, what would I, I mean, like, are we talking about wheels, or are we talking about, like, romantic gestures?

• 58:24Brooke Averick?

  I was thinking about curtains.

• 58:27Speaker 05

  Oh, yeah, I can, why not?

• 58:29Brooke Averick?

  Yeah.

• 58:31Speaker 05

  Take off the reins. So, I did, um, I did, as we know, I was in love with my Spanish teacher. And I did, we did a school-wide, so entire school, students, teachers, secret Santa, secret snow person. And I was like, I need to get my Spanish teacher for that. So I spoke to my-

• 58:56Brooke Averick?

  I thought she wasn't even your teacher at this point.

• 58:58Speaker 05

  No, I, no, I, this is the crazy thing, Brooke. In ninth grade, I got her organically.

• 59:06Speaker 05

  Like picked her name organically.

• 59:10Brooke Averick?

  But this wasn't.

• 59:11Speaker 05

  And then in eleventh grade, I ranked it.

• 59:15Brooke Averick?

  And in eleventh grade, she was your teacher?

• 59:17Speaker 05

  Twelve, twelve. In twelve, she was, yeah.

• 59:19Brooke Averick?

  Okay. So what did you get her in ninth grade?

• 59:22Speaker 05

  Organically. What did I get her?

• 59:24Brooke Averick?

  Yeah, what was your gift?

• 59:25Speaker 05

  I think like races and I made her a card.

• 59:27Brooke Averick?

  And you weren't in love with her yet?

• 59:29Speaker 05

  No, not yet. She was just like the hot mill from the oatmeal video.

• 59:32Brooke Averick?

  Yeah, okay.

• 59:34Speaker 05

  Um, so then when I was in love with her, uh, yeah, so I did go to my friend who was the student council president and say, I'm gonna need to pick her name. Is there anything you can do? And he said, well, we give envelopes out to every homeroom, so I can make sure she's in your envelope, but I can't make sure you pick her name because no one can do that. And I was like, that's fine. Put her in my envelope. I'll take, I'll take it from there.

• 59:57Brooke Averick?

  I will take it from there.

• 59:59Speaker 05

  So in my homeroom, I announce if anyone has teacher beep and teacher beep, they wrote my college recommendations, so I'd love to do something nice for them. Let me know and we can trade, knowing fully well that only one of those two is going to be in the envelope.

• 1:00:15Brooke Averick?

  Great, damn brilliant.

• 1:00:17Speaker 05

  Yep, pretty, that's how I, how I used my intelligence at that age. Um, got, so got her. I did devise, um, a very detailed scavenger hunt, uh, which involved like a secret alphabet and decoding messages.

• 1:00:33Brooke Averick?

  Yep.

• 1:00:34Speaker 05

  Uh, and once you, and it was like clues over 10 days. And once you finally decoded, and they were like references from all the books that she had taught. And like, once you finally, um.

• 1:00:47Brooke Averick?

  Pretty, pretty in-depth, I'd say.

• 1:00:50Speaker 05

  Yeah. And she knew it was me too. Like, there was, there was a moment when we were in the school cafeteria. Brooke, do you remember this, right?

• 1:00:58Brooke Averick?

  I don't know.

• 1:01:00Speaker 05

  Well, I was in the school cafeteria and she came up right behind me and was like, what are you doing?

• 1:01:06Brooke Averick?

  Yes, I remember that.

• 1:01:08Speaker 05

  She was like, I know that it's you, but I don't know what you're doing. And I was like.

• 1:01:14Brooke Averick?

  And you were giddy giddy?

• 1:01:17Speaker 05

  Yeah. Fun fact, we are still in touch. We're still friends.

• 1:01:21Brooke Averick?

  Oh, I mean, the way that you weaseled yourself into her life was incredible.

• 1:01:26Speaker 05

  And I haven't had feelings for her to clarify since high school, but I did do a masterclass. So I, but by the end of decoding everything, the final word was cortinas, which means curtains in Spanish. And then I, as she discovered cortinas on the final day, she also walked into her classroom where I had pre-installed custom-made curtains on all of her windows, which had iron-on patches from all of her favorite pieces of film and literature.

• 1:01:57Brooke Averick?

  And the curtains, she was like, she had been kind of like complaining about the light at one point, right?

• 1:02:05Speaker 05

  Yeah, something like that.

• 1:02:06Brooke Averick?

  Like just like the glare and like needing a curtain or something. And so you had actually fashioned her a custom pair, pre-installed.

• 1:02:14Speaker 05

  Yep. Yep. Yep. So, so, and then, yeah, there were, we also weaseled, Brooke was actually a babysitter of teachers' children. And so I weaseled my way into babysitting her, her, her child as well, because I told Brooke that she had to pretend to be sick so that I could babysit. And then, once I weaseled my way in, I was just a standing babysitter, basically.

• 1:02:40Brooke Averick?

  Yeah, you did some amazing work.

• 1:02:42Speaker 05

  Yep. We still, we're still, still in good touch.

• 1:02:46Brooke Averick?

  No, and the, the great thing about her is that like she would love all of this.

• 1:02:51Speaker 05

  Yeah, I think she's kind of funny. We've never talked about it. And I always wonder, like, when is it, like, when should I tell her?

• 1:02:57Brooke Averick?

  Oh, she knows, baby. Oh, she knows.

• 1:03:00Speaker 05

  I think she knows, but like, I would be, I don't know. Well, yeah.

• 1:03:05Brooke Averick?

  She definitely knows. I loved, like, obviously, I walked over to Lindsay's house all the time, just like unannounced. And one time I went and just walked like through the back at, and at Lindsay's pool, our teacher was just laying there sunbathing. And I was like, hey, Miss, Miss Bleep, what, what are you doing here?

• 1:03:24Speaker 05

  Just hanging out.

• 1:03:25Brooke Averick?

  Okay. Good to see you.

• 1:03:31Brooke Averick?

  All right, Lyns, I think that's really all I have for you.

• 1:03:35Speaker 05

  All right.

• 1:03:36Brooke Averick?

  Do you have any last words that you want to share?

• 1:03:38Speaker 05

  Hmm, what last words? Um, no, I think no.

• 1:03:45Brooke Averick?

  Do you have anything about like work that's important that you like want to say or not at all?

• 1:03:52Speaker 05

  Okay, so basically I do, uh, I work, yeah, I work for Human Rights Watch and I do advocacy, which basically means they put out a lot of human rights reports. And so we try to make those human rights reports have an impact in the real world. And I'm based in London, so we do that mostly with the UK government, but in all sorts of areas. And I will say one area that I have been very disheartened to see, like, lack of interest in, both from governments and from the public, is the war in Sudan. So if anyone is interested in like becoming politically active around a cause that doesn't get enough attention, I would say read our recent reporting on Sudan.

• 1:04:34Brooke Averick?

  Hey, send me that link, Lyns, and we can blast it out in the bio.

• 1:04:39Speaker 05

  Yay, it's like.

• 1:04:41Brooke Averick?

  Yeah. Okay, well, I love you and thanks for coming and thanks for.

• 1:04:45Speaker 05

  Thanks for having me.

• 1:04:46Brooke Averick?

  And next time you come back, we can dive more into some other interests that you've had.

• 1:04:53Speaker 05

  Yep. And I think we haven't dived at all into, um, yeah, into some of my detective work. So that's maybe.

• 1:05:02Brooke Averick?

  Yeah, I think we can do detective work for the next episode.

• 1:05:07Speaker 05

  Okay.

• 1:05:08Brooke Averick?

  All right. Thank you, everyone. Love you.

• 1:05:11Speaker 05

  Bye bye.

• 1:05:12Brooke Averick?

  Bye.

• 1:05:21Speaker 00

  I hate Mondays.

• 1:05:22Speaker 01

  King's Hawaiian cinnamon swirl bite?

• 1:05:24Speaker 00

  Taylor Hanson? Sure, I'll try one.

• 1:05:27Speaker 01

  Mmm.

• 1:05:30Speaker 01

  Hey, let's get back to work, please.

• 1:05:31Speaker 00

  But Taylor Hanson's making my day way better with these new soft and swirly King's Hawaiian cinnamon bites.

• 1:05:36Speaker 01

  Taylor Hanson? Nice. Try one. Mmm.

• 1:05:43Speaker 02

  King's Hawaiian cinnamon bites. There's nothing like it.