Folks who are like, where's my fifty plus for this week? I was
like, and not do one. I'm so sorry. I got really busy
because I was embroiled in a lot of race talk this week. Hi,
I'm James Junior. Welcome to fifty plus and show for you this week.
Of course, I come on here and talk to you about life. And
I love being my fifties. It's my friend's birthday to day, JPay birthday
to you. He's fifty one, So you end at the fifty plus club.
I love it being here for many reasons. But I want to talk
to you. You know. I as I get older, I always say
the more I get older, the less I know. It's a great thing.
Education continues to flow in my life. I learn all the time.
And this week I woke up Last week, I woke up to a whole
host of fans happy that we spoke out on race on our General Hospital show
last week, which I do all the time. I speak up on race.
I do race talks. I have a show called A Black Guy and
White Guy Can Run. I mean, I do race stuff. I do
gender stuff, sexual orientation and stuff, age stuff all the time. Fat
stuff, you know, I'm always talking about different things, just regularly.
I do it all the time. But I guess, right, once in
a while, you hit when the iron is hot, and it just hits.
I want to think soapub I picked up the story a few others.
I didn't. I didn't expect that. I was just talking from my life.
I had a special show on Friday, connections Are You Are? Race?
Talks about It was mainly about this couple of spring Now it's black,
it's black and white couple, um or interracial coma to say he's he's Latino
in real life, but it's white presenting. I guess, um, But
uh, what important thing was like allowing them to be fully formed? And
and I've been more frankly having sex on screen about everybody else does. And
I just broke down actual storyline as a person, as a writer myself,
what the next steps would naturally be a soap fan first that I was talking
about the kind of what the character goes. And one of the things I
always realized, I've had great reaction, I've had mixed reaction. I've had
people disagree with me, which I expect all that, And I just I
was telling my sister yesterday. You know, when you say things or talking
about uncomfortable subjects or subjects that forces someone to look at something they don't normally
want to look at, that can be tough, totally tough. You can
deflect, comedy, shut it down, whatever, There's always been ways to
do that. But when you bring up something to a group or a group
that's not they feel like it's not affecting them, or it's not really something
that's that's that's their passion. It's like almost disruptive, like how you get
it? I might totally get it. I've had talked to some of my
colleagues who are white, and I can tell how uncomfortable this is for them.
Um, And it should be uncomfortable. It's not. It's not a
fun conversation. Um. But I always think back to myself, people who
look like me are people who are of any kind of marginalized group. I
don't get a break from being black, I don't get a break from being
any anything. I mean, whatever it is that you see on me as
you walk down the street or come into a store and come onto YouTube,
I'm reminded all time what people see the gray hair, they see them older
I'm fat, they see them fat. Whatever, it's like, there's certainly
I'm just like, it's just I don't get a break from it. So
I come from a lens where I always im thinking about it. On some
level. It's not a big burden or something that just like tires me out.
I think anybody who's of a marginalized group just understands it's just part of
your life and you deal with it because you have to. You adapt and
you do a chant to do. But it's for all the other groups who
don't have to really worry about something. There's like, where did they come
from? Why are the entering my life? Why are we talking about this?
I don't want this. It's also a fear of ruining something. I've
heard that several times this week. I just don't want to show ruined.
That's what this is happening. And they're gonna the fans are going to ruin
this again. I completely understand. I see, I see where you're going
from. I told me aympathetic about that. I go, okay, I
can see that. You know you're watching a show for you, you're seeing
which you need to see. Um you don't have you know, you may
not have. You may have like small problems with storyline, but in terms
of representation, you see who you see, and life goes on. You
like the couples you like on the show, like the characters you like on
the show. Um, and life goes on. But there are a lot
of us who go, Wow, I'm Latino, and there are no Latino.
The all Latinos are killed off the show. They're all gone. I'm
Asian and the two Asian characters come on once every every three or four months,
and they're good characters. You want to see more of them because it
looks like us and it's fun. And as we relate to not taking away
from the fact that we still like the soap opera, we like the other
characters too. I love me, Um, you know, I like Carly,
I like Sam, I like you know, I like other characters like
Liz, I mean people. I mean we like these characters. We like
them too. But there's all, you know, a promise to these other
characters. Aren't we seeing them? Um? And that's a hard hard And
as I get older in my fifties, I'm getting more militant and how I
speak out on that and I already know all I don't say anything in the
public universe. It's open to interpretation, open to jabs, open to everything.
So I'm ready for that. I used, I'm used to it.
I've been doing before. UM. I just I try to stay because somebody
ask me, how do you do it? How do you handle the smoke
you get on the jabs you get as you just I just know if I'm
gonna say something, a certain thing is gonna be like No, I don't
do it to automatically. And that's how it is. It's predict three.
It is predictable. It's just how it is. I'm still gonna try to
have the conversations, at least have the conversations, um, because it's still
important to have those. I'm still gonna call things out. It's important.
Is what I do for a living. I'm a sop podcaster. I'm so
pressed. Um. I do shows called after shows where we critique the show.
We don't just we don't just recap it because you can read, you
can really recap anywhere. We also talk about it with the fans live on
Sundays, UM, And that's kind of what I do. And we listen
to fans. I always hear what they have to say. I guess it's
it's it's back and forth and that's what we do on J l J media,
and I just think that's something that's important to remember, and it's something
uncomfortable for you, you know. And if we're have a conversation, I
will do what I can on some level to make it's some uncomfortable. I'm
gonna go back, I'm gonna bend over backwards to make you feel good.
But I'm like, but I want to acknowledge your feelings and validate and say,
okay, where can we go from here and see we can work it
out. I there were conversations to die out, it doesn't help anything here.
A conversation going and see where we and see where it goes, and
you make me disagree, may come into the impast that happens. That's life.
Um. But as long as conversations are had and at least at least
I said I feel heard, or you're gonna see you say you felt heard.
Um, you still walk away and go to day. It's full shit
whatever, That's fine. I'm full shit, right, But I can walk
away and sleep at my knowing that I'm telling my truth. I know what
I see. I'm trying to be as factual as possible. Yes, there
are some emotions involved, just there is, but I try to be as
factual as possible. And Okay, this is what I see, this is
what we've seen on screens, what we've seen over here, and go from
there. But I always know it's a touchy subject. But I'm not gonna
stop talking about it. And one's gonna scare me off, and I tell
I'm gonna stop talking about it. I'm like, keep talking about it and
talking about it and talk about until I'm not here anymore. And us,
if you or I have choices, you can go, James I when you
talk out race, I don't want to see it, and you don't have
to have plenty of the programming you're watch, but if you're interested, I
invite you in and listen. Just here's someone's point of view or someone else's
point of view, and I'm just taking under consideration. That's all. I'm
James Junior. I'm gonna get ready for my week, and all of you
please take care of yourselves again, keep the education going