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Speaker 1: It's an amazing place to hang out. Aero dot net

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a r r oe dot net because it's all about

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having a podcasting choice. It's not just one, it's twenty

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different podcasts. All Level Sports is one of them. In fact,

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just the other day I spend time with the writers

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and producers of professional wrestling. That is a story because

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we can all relate every generation. Where is it All

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Level Sports on Aero dot net a r r oe

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dot net. Enjoy your exploration missed Opportunity. I love sharing conversations.

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Hosting them, though requires a lot of show prep. My

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podcasting platform features thousands of guests. What you don't have

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access to are my missed opportunities. The show prep was

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one hundred percent done. The conversation it didn't happen. I

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keep all of my notes because I believe paths will

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one day cross again. Let me explain missed opportunity. It's

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my questions and statements without their answers. I'm leaving open

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enough space at the end of every single question, hoping

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they'll download the talk and insert their answers. Missed opportunity

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is seen as a lost piece of history. It is

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a message in a bottle that's been tossed out to see.

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I hope to locate a destination. This week, we're putting

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focus on my missed opportunity with Michelle Stevenson. Okay, so,

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who is Michelle Stevenson? A filmmaker, artist, author who openly

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admits to pulling their vision from within their Haitian and

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Panamanian roots. Her experiences include being nominated for three Emmys

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and winning the Jury Prize at Sundance. So we're talking

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big stuff here. ESPN was backing up the short film

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Black Girls Play, which by the way, won Best of

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the Show at Tribeca. The short film puts focus on

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all the handgames that young girls play with their hands.

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It's influence music and dance across America and around the world,

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and the goal is to trace the entire story of

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those handgames dating back to the slave era. Wow. The

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invitation to share a conversation with Michelle Stevenson came on

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January eighteenth, twenty twenty four. They needed a reserve date,

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which was going to be the twenty fifth Thursday, which,

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according to everything that I've ever experienced in all my

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years of podcasting, that is the most sought after day

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for conversations. My reply, as always, was yeah, let's do this,

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and they said, okay, how about nine to twenty Eastern time?

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And I gave them my answer, which is always in fact,

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it's an aroism. It's perfect, nothing else, just perfect. Two

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days before the nine to twenty arrival of that conversation,

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I received an email that said, Hey, look, don't want

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to inconvenience you, but we need to move Michelle's conversation.

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Can you please do February second, twenty twenty four? And

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I said absolutely, and we'll still do nine twenty correct, correct, Well,

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the conversation didn't happen. Coming up next, my questions my

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statements with Michelle Stevenson without her answers. Hey, welcome back

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to Missed Opportunity. This week, our focus is on filmmaker

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Michelle Stevenson. ESPN gave her the opportunity to create this

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unbelievable documentary called Black Girls Play. This is such a

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true connection to history in the modern world. It's like,

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we know what we're doing with dance moves, we just

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don't know the story. And you dove into that. What

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was that experience? Like how important is TikTok in keeping

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this journey growing forward. I gotta ask you, do hand

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games change between the different regions of this country and

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around the world. So how many people are featured in

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this story? I mean you went all out, I mean

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you went everywhere with this. We've got to learn how

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to preserve these amazing connections. Does this inspire you to

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want to grow in other areas so that we can

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really get to the root of who we are today. Hey,

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I live in the South. I have fallen witness to

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a lot of these games. I know this story all

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too well. Handgames. Generations have played these handgames, not only

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here in the States, but around the world. What is

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the actual reaction as you travel and just listen to

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their stories. I think one of the things that inspires

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me the most about handgames is the style of individualism.

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Could it be that this was a connection to outreach

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in the way of saying, this is us, this is

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how we do it. Let's grow together, bring your style

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and our style, and let's have some sort of big

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connection here with fighting. Why don't we know this story

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and exploration? Why has it taken a documentary to kind

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of remind us? But then again, I'm not knocking you.

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I'm just saying why aren't we speaking it on the

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everyday street. This has helped shape so many genres of music.

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Can you imagine if we didn't have these handgames? And

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there you have it, another missed opportunity. It is a

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lost piece of history. You now know the questions, so

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let's locate the answers. The door is always going to

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be open. If you know Michelle Stevenson, please reach out

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to me at ARROWC at gmail dot com. That's a R.

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R Oe C at gmail dot com. As always, be brilliant,