Speaker 1: All right, everybody, welcome back to another episode of the
Speaker 1: JPod Bonecasts.
Speaker 2: Episode of season eight, episode nine.
Speaker 1: We're back with reoccurring guest Leah, who's gonna tell us
Speaker 1: all about her book today, which is awesome.
Speaker 2: She's actually going to be a published author.
Speaker 1: And if you guys remember Leah, she's been a couple
Speaker 1: episodes of our seasons. She's the teacher, the high school teacher. Leah,
Speaker 1: what grade do you teach you in?
Speaker 3: Ninth and tenth grade?
Speaker 2: That's right, that's right. The teenagers.
Speaker 1: Oh man, what is the most rewarding part about teaching teenagers?
Speaker 2: Because I feel like.
Speaker 1: I mean, watching them develop and grow, that's obviously a plus.
Speaker 1: But in today's world there's obviously a bunch of unruly teenagers,
Speaker 1: like we've talked about.
Speaker 2: In the past.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's definitely tough, especially now with AI, so like
Speaker 3: correcting essays and stuff is brutal. But I think my
Speaker 3: favorite part about working with teenagers, especially at high school,
Speaker 3: is like I can see them grow from ninth graders
Speaker 3: all the way to I'm seniors, and I can see
Speaker 3: them walk across the stage and get their diploma. So
Speaker 3: it's nice to see like those kids who struggle in
Speaker 3: my class actually accomplish a goal. But AI is also
Speaker 3: like the worst thing in the whole world.
Speaker 1: Oh, I fucking those of you that have It's cool
Speaker 1: that you're actually talking about this because that wasn't even
Speaker 1: one of my questions.
Speaker 2: But I should have totally asked about AI. Wasn't even thinking,
Speaker 2: to be honest with you.
Speaker 1: Previous guests we had in three episodes ago, episode six,
Speaker 1: we just had Miles on the Toymaker and one of
Speaker 1: the things I'd asked him was in a marketing world
Speaker 1: where it's so hard because he does these bootleg toys
Speaker 1: with memes and things like that. I'm like, how does
Speaker 1: AI affect your job? You know, because I'm like, dude,
Speaker 1: it must run that, you know, And he's like, dude,
Speaker 1: it's good and bad.
Speaker 2: It has its pros and cons.
Speaker 1: But you know, I'm always like, I'm blown away obviously
Speaker 1: by technology.
Speaker 2: But you know, I've seen firsthand.
Speaker 1: I've tried out like chat GBT and that shit, and
Speaker 1: I've even seen like errors.
Speaker 2: You know, I'm like, dude, this isn't at all what's
Speaker 2: going on?
Speaker 1: Like right now, if you go to chat GBT, right
Speaker 1: I do a bunch of these mini series in October,
Speaker 1: and they're like, literally about like any type of horror
Speaker 1: TV show, So it's American horror story, Dexter, Hannibal, things
Speaker 1: like that. At one point I got it was Chucky
Speaker 1: was the season I got so lazy and AI was
Speaker 1: brand new, and okay, obviously it might be better now.
Speaker 1: I haven't tried. I haven't even given it a try
Speaker 1: since this, but literally, I pointed out, I was like, yo,
Speaker 1: tell me about like season three, episode one, just so
Speaker 1: I could get the summary down I could talk about
Speaker 1: it on the podcast because I didn't want to rewatch
Speaker 1: all this shit. Chucky was wicked boring to me. I
Speaker 1: was like, dude, why am I even doing this as
Speaker 1: a podcast? You know, that's strict number one. I should
Speaker 1: be talking about something I like. But anyways, I ended
Speaker 1: up reading the summary and I was like, dude, I
Speaker 1: don't remember all fucking seeing this. And I went back
Speaker 1: and actually rewatched the episode and none of that shit happened.
Speaker 1: They had fucking season two mixed up with season three,
Speaker 1: and I was like, yo, dude, if I talked about
Speaker 1: this like a bonehead without doing my research, I would
Speaker 1: have looked a fucking idiot.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's not always accurate either, Like it's not my
Speaker 3: kids will come send me an essay and it has
Speaker 3: like all these fluffy words or words they don't even
Speaker 3: know how to pronounce, and you can tell right from
Speaker 3: the get go. There are parts that make it easier,
Speaker 3: Like it gives us good ideas for as teachers, like
Speaker 3: you know, to you know, make our lessons a little
Speaker 3: more fun. But in the end, like technology seems to
Speaker 3: be you know, crushing our students. So I'm hoping that
Speaker 3: as we move forward, we stray a tiny bit away
Speaker 3: from the laptops and stuff.
Speaker 1: Yeah, Like I literally was just gonna ask too, you know,
Speaker 1: like how are you in a world like where a
Speaker 1: students are so engaged with social media and technology, Like,
Speaker 1: you know, how do you even keep up with that?
Speaker 3: It's hard to because with TikTok and other stuff. Yeah,
Speaker 3: they're so used to seeing things so fast, so like
Speaker 3: it's like a thirty second video and next, next, And
Speaker 3: if I have to show like a movie or like
Speaker 3: a ten minute clip of like something we're reading, they
Speaker 3: lose their attention span after like two minutes. And it's
Speaker 3: so brutal. And I actually, uh just voice recorded myself
Speaker 3: teaching one day and within five minutes of just reading
Speaker 3: I think we're reading the Odyssey, I got interrupted six
Speaker 3: times and I couldn't even it was five minutes and
Speaker 3: they were just like, I need to go to the bathroom.
Speaker 3: I don't like this or whatever. And it's rough.
Speaker 2: Yeah, it is rough.
Speaker 1: It's like, I mean, I don't even want to use
Speaker 1: this terminology when we're talking about students, but the students
Speaker 1: say have a lot more balls than the students of
Speaker 1: my day head.
Speaker 2: I feel like.
Speaker 3: Too, that is a percent.
Speaker 1: It's crazy, dude, like the shit that like I see
Speaker 1: online and that's only what I see, you know, like
Speaker 1: you're experience this, so I mean you see it firsthand,
Speaker 1: you know, like, yeah, how do you possibly even go
Speaker 1: back to a parent and say, Yo, your fucking kid
Speaker 1: is being like the biggest brad in my class And
Speaker 1: they're just like, what are you talking about? Like my
Speaker 1: son's like a you know, really well mannered son at
Speaker 1: home and all that.
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, it's hard. I've actually called home once or
Speaker 3: twice in goodness, they have said the parent has said
Speaker 3: to me, like, I know, they give you attitude, what
Speaker 3: do you want me to do? So I'm like Okay,
Speaker 3: what am I supposed to do with that?
Speaker 2: Exactly?
Speaker 3: And you can only go so far because if they
Speaker 3: their parents don't care, then it doesn't even matter what
Speaker 3: the fuck. So it is brutal.
Speaker 2: That Yeah, that sounds very brutal.
Speaker 3: Yeah, and it cuts into like our learning time.
Speaker 1: And stuff too, so oh yeah, yeah, I can imagine
Speaker 1: you know, interruptions with the class and all that shit too,
Speaker 1: you know, and all that ends up like you're saying, yeah,
Speaker 1: so yeah.
Speaker 2: How like throw out all this?
Speaker 1: How do you possibly have time to you know, become
Speaker 1: a published author? Yeah?
Speaker 3: So I'm like I gathered like tons of writings, like
Speaker 3: and I've started writing when I was like seventeen or
Speaker 3: so when I worked at a summer camp. My boss
Speaker 3: at the time inspired me to write. So I started
Speaker 3: writing poems and then it just kept like snowballing from there.
Speaker 3: And then actually recently, maybe a year ago, I just
Speaker 3: got the idea like what am I waiting for? Like
Speaker 3: what does it matter? Like?
Speaker 2: Why? Wait?
Speaker 3: So I, you know, put my stuff out there, got
Speaker 3: a publisher and so it's a compilation of things that
Speaker 3: I wrote when I was younger and then obviously refined
Speaker 3: to who I am is read now and then suffer
Speaker 3: from today. So yeah, it covers I'm adopted from China,
Speaker 3: so it covers like adoption and like you know that
Speaker 3: loss or that like missing piece that goes with it
Speaker 3: on top of just like being a functioning person in
Speaker 3: this world, like you know, battling anxiety and depression and
Speaker 3: everything else, like we all can relate. Yeah, one hundred percent,
Speaker 3: like racism. Stuff that is relatable to the people that
Speaker 3: will either read it or hear about it or something
Speaker 3: like that.
Speaker 2: Well, really that's all. Does this have a name the book?
Speaker 3: Yeah, so it's called Pieces of You, So it's Pieces
Speaker 3: of You with it's called the Yu because my middle
Speaker 3: name is you nice. Yeah, yeah, so play on words.
Speaker 3: But a chapter is just like a little piece of
Speaker 3: like who I am or like the light the things
Speaker 3: that happen in my life.
Speaker 1: Yeah, you talked about a camp counselor do you still
Speaker 1: do the summer camp?
Speaker 2: I remember you used to.
Speaker 3: Oh no, I don't do that. I did that for
Speaker 3: twelve years. I worked my way up from like junior
Speaker 3: counselor counselor all the way to director for two years
Speaker 3: and after working full time teaching, I just need a
Speaker 3: break all right, so, and.
Speaker 2: You probably remember this too.
Speaker 1: When we were kids, Melia and my sister Danielle, we
Speaker 1: always used to hang out and play school and shit
Speaker 1: like that. Like I used to love being a teacher
Speaker 1: and stuff like that. You know, Like I always wanted
Speaker 1: to do the summer camp shit. I'm telling you right now, Like,
Speaker 1: I don't know if it's because I loved like hard
Speaker 1: movies and Jason and that aspect of like cabins and
Speaker 1: in the woods and all that good stuff, but there
Speaker 1: was something I always wanted to be a summer camp consulor.
Speaker 1: And I always wanted to go to summer camp. Never
Speaker 1: went to either, never did either.
Speaker 2: Of that stuff, and I was pissed, you know. I'm like,
Speaker 2: I don't know why my parents didn't send me a
Speaker 2: summer camp. They send me a baseball camp and I
Speaker 2: ended up getting bullied.
Speaker 1: I had to eat some watermelon with some fucking sunflower
Speaker 1: seeds in the dirt.
Speaker 2: Oh I'll never forget that.
Speaker 1: But yeah, it was a good time. It was a
Speaker 1: good Yeah, it was a good time a baseball camp.
Speaker 1: But wow, it's just like, damn dude, summer camp would
Speaker 1: have been so lit and like, you know, my buddy Brad.
Speaker 1: He went to this place in New Hampshire and he
Speaker 1: was like a camp counselor, like all these years.
Speaker 2: And stuff like that. I'll never forget. I thought he
Speaker 2: was like the ship, you know, just like, dude, he
Speaker 2: probably runs this place.
Speaker 3: But yeah, you make new friends from you, like like
Speaker 3: my friends from summer camp. Yeah, at school, this guy
Speaker 3: like knows this cool girl or whatever.
Speaker 2: I did go dog all right, So I didn't go
Speaker 2: to PCC.
Speaker 1: Here we are And when I went to Spelman, Dude,
Speaker 1: it was kind of like, Yo, who the fuck is
Speaker 1: this kid?
Speaker 2: You didn't go to PCZ, you know, like why is
Speaker 2: he in the group?
Speaker 3: And I was like yeah everyone, Yeah.
Speaker 2: It was so clicky. I'm like, damn, dude, I don't
Speaker 2: know why the fuck I didn't go to PCC.
Speaker 3: My dad calls it a cult. It definitely it is.
Speaker 3: Unfortunately they don't have it anymore. I don't know. My
Speaker 3: friend I actually who I used to teach with. She
Speaker 3: was the head person. And after COVID and everything, like
Speaker 3: the numbers are well, they couldn't afford it so and
Speaker 3: it sucks because it was really great for kids who
Speaker 3: just needed to make friends who didn't really fit in and.
Speaker 2: Like you could just get that experience and like.
Speaker 3: To live in a college dorm, like you got to
Speaker 3: decorate it and stuff and have a roommate. It was
Speaker 3: really cool. But the day we all had to move out,
Speaker 3: I cried and my dad was like, everyone's crying. What
Speaker 3: if the ship is this? He was like, this thing
Speaker 3: is a cult, like you guys, because we would we
Speaker 3: did dances to certain songs, we would like cry it was.
Speaker 1: My friend told me about this ship and I was like,
Speaker 1: I felt so out of place.
Speaker 3: That's how I felt when you first hear about it.
Speaker 3: At first, I was like, OK, it sounds so dumb.
Speaker 2: Nerves.
Speaker 3: Yeah, you guys, are you want to go to class
Speaker 3: in school like during the summer. But I freaking went
Speaker 3: and I loved it.
Speaker 2: Yeah, I don't know what I thought, Like.
Speaker 3: We played four square all day. It just made me
Speaker 3: feel like a little kid when I was sixteen, you know, yeah.
Speaker 2: I really I don't.
Speaker 1: I think I have to have a tug with my
Speaker 1: parents now because I think they generally fucked up. Not
Speaker 1: sending me to PCC that place sounded with for a
Speaker 1: little while.
Speaker 3: I mean, I also didn't go to summer camp either.
Speaker 3: I just worked at once. Yeah that's still I mean
Speaker 3: there was like fun stuff. Obviously we did like color
Speaker 3: wars with the kids and water balloon fights. But then
Speaker 3: we have the kids who cried every time they leave,
Speaker 3: so you have to deal with that. And then when
Speaker 3: you know, a boy comes out of the bathroom stall
Speaker 3: and says, Missle, can you tie my shoe? And I
Speaker 3: go okay, And then I say, Ryan, why is it wet?
Speaker 3: And he says, oh, I just pee. I'm like cool,
Speaker 3: just touching your pee, Like, oh dude, full of pissa.
Speaker 2: These kids here, but what they.
Speaker 3: Were great and I love them. And actually there are
Speaker 3: a lot of the kids that I had a camp
Speaker 3: are graduating and now in college. So it's freaking terrifying.
Speaker 3: So when I like see their I'm like friends with
Speaker 3: their parents on Facebook, or like I see them at
Speaker 3: you know, our hometown is tiny, they're like, oh mis Leah.
Speaker 3: I'm like, holy crap, You're like eighty Oh oh my god,
Speaker 3: don't even Yeah, that's a way up. It's so crazy.
Speaker 2: That is crazy. How to teaching influence your writing? If
Speaker 2: it did it all, I.
Speaker 3: Feel like just meeting like new students with different backgrounds,
Speaker 3: especially when I taught English and Cambodia, like they are
Speaker 3: literally living in shacks and sleeping on like slabs of
Speaker 3: wood or whatever. Like, I think it influenced the way
Speaker 3: I saw myself too, because if I didn't get adopted,
Speaker 3: I'd be growing up in like the farmland of China.
Speaker 3: So I kind of related to like what they did too,
Speaker 3: So I definitely think it sparked my imagination of how
Speaker 3: that would be, because I do write a lot about, like,
Speaker 3: you know, like what my biological mother would be like
Speaker 3: and shit like that, like why she gave me up
Speaker 3: and stuff. So it's always like being adopted is like
Speaker 3: awesome and I'm so grateful, but there's also like this
Speaker 3: void of like the unknown that will come with it.
Speaker 3: And my aunt's adopted. She never wanted to find her
Speaker 3: like bioparents, but I've always wanted to, And I belonged
Speaker 3: to some Facebook groups that this woman actually just posted
Speaker 3: today she did find her biological father, yeah, through DNA,
Speaker 3: and I've done I've done DNA too, Yeah, But it's
Speaker 3: really hard when you think about it, especially in an
Speaker 3: international like it's China's. Yeah, it's so big, and the
Speaker 3: one child policy was so crazy back in the eighties
Speaker 3: and nineties, so tons of us got pushed out, and
Speaker 3: actually all the males that are of like what late twenties, thirties,
Speaker 3: early forties, they have no women to marry because they
Speaker 3: all adopted them out, So they are actually like seeking women.
Speaker 3: They're trying to like pay women to marry them because
Speaker 3: they don't have They need the women in their culture
Speaker 3: to take care of them. And you have stuff and
Speaker 3: have babies and stuff, and they don't have that.
Speaker 2: No Jesus Christ. Yeah, that's crazy.
Speaker 3: It is crazy.
Speaker 1: That is Oh my god. So obviously this like did
Speaker 1: was this hard? Like writing it all? Like did it
Speaker 1: bring up anything?
Speaker 3: When I write? It's kind of funny, like I could
Speaker 3: write a poem in twenty minutes and like I feel
Speaker 3: like it's good. Like so like Taylor Swift recently wrote
Speaker 3: a story for five and she said that she wrote
Speaker 3: in eight minutes, and I was like, Okay, I was like,
Speaker 3: I can write a poem in like eight minutes, but
Speaker 3: I really ti hard. Yeah, living the dream. But anyway
Speaker 3: it did, I think my imagination kind of like emotion
Speaker 3: comes up like what if I did live that way?
Speaker 3: Or I write a lot about like what my mother
Speaker 3: looks like my biological mother, because I don't know what
Speaker 3: she looks like. So I could look at myself in
Speaker 3: the mirror and be like, oh I have this nose
Speaker 3: and this whatever, but what does what did she give me?
Speaker 3: So it definitely provokes emotion for sure.
Speaker 1: Definitely, No, that's totally understand Yeah, any coffee or tea,
Speaker 1: old writing or he got a preference.
Speaker 3: Funny, I didn't drink coffee forever, and then I became
Speaker 3: a teacher.
Speaker 2: No ship, no way, that's what made you drink.
Speaker 3: Cof Yes, I was like I can't. My first few
Speaker 3: months being a full time teacher, I was like, I
Speaker 3: cannot do this without caffeine.
Speaker 2: Caffeine. Yeah, you're probably like, how did they even do that?
Speaker 1: Yeah?
Speaker 3: Right, I don't know how. I like went to school
Speaker 3: for it. I went to camp like I ran summer camp.
Speaker 2: One before school was get a coffee.
Speaker 3: Yeah, it's crazy. So now I have to hit up
Speaker 3: Mary Louise. Yeah, oh yeah, all the time. They know
Speaker 3: my order.
Speaker 2: Oh man, you have to go to the new one
Speaker 2: in Rockland now.
Speaker 3: Yeah, I went once. I go the other way to
Speaker 3: go to work, so ibviously for one office drive there.
Speaker 3: So it's like easier, but honestly, without coffee, I don't.
Speaker 2: Know coffee the best.
Speaker 3: Yeah it is, and it gets me through.
Speaker 1: It is shut Out holding one Donuts in Rockland. They're
Speaker 1: going to be providing the treats for this year's Kicks
Speaker 1: and Tricks. It's going to take place on July twenty
Speaker 1: fifth at was it twelve twelve to six pm?
Speaker 2: So you guys can come out.
Speaker 1: We're gonna do a live finale at Kicks and Tricks.
Speaker 1: Come check us out and yeah, I'll have donuts and
Speaker 1: coffee from home in on.
Speaker 2: So that was a cool little plug.
Speaker 1: Right, if you weren't a teacher or writer, what do
Speaker 1: you think you'd be doing.
Speaker 2: With your career?
Speaker 3: So sounds like really hard. So I work at a
Speaker 3: tech school. So all my kids are like visibly like
Speaker 3: if you if you went here, what shop.
Speaker 2: Would you pick? Yeah?
Speaker 3: Right, And part of me is like, oh, nursing, like
Speaker 3: that seems fit. I went to school for nursing on first,
Speaker 3: but then I'm like plumbing, Like I just feel like
Speaker 3: females and plumbing, like I could have my own business.
Speaker 3: Oh yeah, once you get in you go from there.
Speaker 3: One of my students, Maddie, is a junior. She's in plumbing,
Speaker 3: and I'm just so proud of her because she's like
Speaker 3: one of the only girls and her dad owns a
Speaker 3: plumbing business. Yeah, and she's like, I'm taking over, Like
Speaker 3: I don't care if I'm not like the male like whatever,
Speaker 3: my dad wants me to do it. So she's awesome.
Speaker 3: I'm in a powerhouse and I feel like I do
Speaker 3: something like that. I'm also a super visual learner, hands on,
Speaker 3: which is funny because I read all the time too,
Speaker 3: But I just like I suck a math Like if
Speaker 3: I can't figure, if I can't like literally hold on
Speaker 3: to something, speah, So I'd rather do something I can
Speaker 3: actually like build or some shit like that.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Yeah, the plumbing, like you said, that's insane because
Speaker 1: I've seen, like, you know, I follow a lot of
Speaker 1: h VAC accounts and stuff like that, and a lot
Speaker 1: of the women are really coming up in the workforce.
Speaker 2: It's amazing. But there's such a huge demand for any type.
Speaker 1: Of that trade, whether it's plumbing, electrical, you know, h
Speaker 1: fact things like that, because so many people are retiring
Speaker 1: right now and all these young people they're not doing
Speaker 1: any of that. They're literally all going to the computers
Speaker 1: and things like that, and these people are going to
Speaker 1: the computers and like it.
Speaker 2: Is going to take over the job.
Speaker 3: It's crazy.
Speaker 2: Same.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So we need more people in the trade automotive.
Speaker 3: It's going down like there's not many. It's like rough
Speaker 3: to find that.
Speaker 1: Dude. Don't even get me started about the automotive police
Speaker 1: because again, if anyone wants to help me out on
Speaker 1: the podcast too, looking for a diesel mechanic just in
Speaker 1: case anything happens to the one I've had now because
Speaker 1: the guy is getting up there in age and like
Speaker 1: it's only a matter of time until he retires and
Speaker 1: he's not giving it up to his kid or anything
Speaker 1: like that. So it's something I need to definitely think
Speaker 1: about in the future.
Speaker 2: And like I'll tell you.
Speaker 1: I never really yeah, I mean I respected those people obviously,
Speaker 1: but in like the craziest jams I've ever gotten, they've.
Speaker 2: Gotten me out of, like the craziest ones.
Speaker 1: So diesel mechanics are so important and I can't believe
Speaker 1: the short room, Like it's literally there's not a lot
Speaker 1: of them out there.
Speaker 2: It's fucking scared.
Speaker 3: I should have my students come hanging you up because
Speaker 3: one of my freshmen. She's a girl, she's going into diesel.
Speaker 3: She's like, my uncle owns a shop, tells me all.
Speaker 2: The time because I wish you were a fucking diesel mechanics.
Speaker 1: I know.
Speaker 3: It was so helpful.
Speaker 1: Sorry, I'm sorry, dude, right now, decide what we want
Speaker 1: to do too young, they really do. That's another thing
Speaker 1: that I think too, you know, because like I was
Speaker 1: telling people, like, you know, when I dropped out of college,
Speaker 1: it really was with the Gatins counselor you know, you
Speaker 1: really just had to be like, Okay, what path are
Speaker 1: you on now? Because we're about to come up to
Speaker 1: like the end of the year. You know, you got
Speaker 1: to decide, And I'm like, damn, dude, I don't know yet.
Speaker 1: You know.
Speaker 3: That's why, like shops, I could decide kind of freshman year.
Speaker 2: If they don't like it, yeah that's so cool.
Speaker 1: But like exploratory and shit, you know, you try everything
Speaker 1: super fast, dude, you know, and it seems like it's
Speaker 1: a lot like at the moment, but then you're like, no, dude,
Speaker 1: you know I can like kind of build off of that,
Speaker 1: you know, I can see what that's about, right, and
Speaker 1: uh yeah, we'll finish up here.
Speaker 2: What type of us?
Speaker 1: What does pretty much success mean to you in terms
Speaker 1: of everything your overall happiness in life.
Speaker 3: This is a really good question. I feel like my students,
Speaker 3: I feel yeah, my students are like fifteen sixteen, and
Speaker 3: they always say like when I graduate, I'm going to
Speaker 3: own a big house. I'm doing this, and like I'm done,
Speaker 3: Like I want to actually get out of high school early.
Speaker 3: I want to quit now or drop out. And I
Speaker 3: think they're exactly They think, like, oh and I can
Speaker 3: just you know, make money whatever. But this world is
Speaker 3: so hard on us. I think, yeah, And like with
Speaker 3: the economy, man, it's brutal, Like the thought of trying
Speaker 3: to like afford a house on my own, it's it's
Speaker 3: so crazy. But I feel like success to me is
Speaker 3: kind of like who you surround yourself with. My friends,
Speaker 3: especially my family, who sup me. But like my coworkers
Speaker 3: my friends, if I didn't have them, I would not
Speaker 3: get there today.
Speaker 2: No, I totally yeah, yeah I get that one. Sound
Speaker 2: the same way, dude.
Speaker 1: I think honestly, all the motivation comes from my friends
Speaker 1: and family, because without.
Speaker 2: Them, I'd be like, holy fuck, like how could I
Speaker 2: possibly do this on my own? You know?
Speaker 3: Yeah, and it's not even like you need a million friends,
Speaker 3: just like, yeah, people that actually like believe in you,
Speaker 3: so you kind of like are like, okay, holy shit,
Speaker 3: I can do that.
Speaker 2: Definitely, always want to surround yourself with positive people.
Speaker 1: You know. If anyone's like bringing down your type of workforce,
Speaker 1: you know, or they jealous or something like that, you know,
Speaker 1: or you see them hating on your success, it's obviously
Speaker 1: not really a true friend.
Speaker 2: Yeah, not unfortunately to say, but it happens all the time.
Speaker 1: I see it, you know, and I'm like Jesus, Like
Speaker 1: I see a lot of people in the age frac industry,
Speaker 1: like they get taken advantage of all the time, like
Speaker 1: buddy buddy with each other and then backstab each other
Speaker 1: the man they get a chance, and like, oh my god,
Speaker 1: it really is.
Speaker 2: It's so cutthroat and sad and this world is crazy, you.
Speaker 3: Know, and it's just getting crazier.
Speaker 1: I know. It's like one of the most beautiful things
Speaker 1: about you, dude, is like, I know you're a good
Speaker 1: teacher and shit out there. So like I'm really glad
Speaker 1: that these people are actually out there learning from good people,
Speaker 1: because yeah, I know some of the people that i've
Speaker 1: had for teachers over the years, and I've loved all
Speaker 1: my teachers, but it's so scary in a world today
Speaker 1: where I've seen videos of like these kids and I'm like, yo, honestly,
Speaker 1: like I can't even blame some of these teachers for
Speaker 1: crashing out and being like yo, like you know, sit
Speaker 1: the fuck down, or just like yelling at them like crazy,
Speaker 1: you know, like sometimes these people just need to be
Speaker 1: yelled at, like or I don't know, like I really don't.
Speaker 3: It is hard. Yeah. My sisters, Yeah, my sisters say
Speaker 3: the same thing. They always say, I don't know how
Speaker 3: you can take care of other people's kids.
Speaker 2: It's so different exactly.
Speaker 3: And I get that one hundred percent. I mean just
Speaker 3: this year, I had I think one hundred and thirty
Speaker 3: eight students, so I've taught for seven years, so like
Speaker 3: it's adding up. Yeah, it's like crazy. So like I
Speaker 3: try to remember everybody and stuff like that, but it's
Speaker 3: definitely it's really hard.
Speaker 1: Man.
Speaker 3: They come back, they're like, oh, what's up. I'm like,
Speaker 3: oh my god, I like remember your face, but just
Speaker 3: trying to like yeah, sometimes, yeah, I.
Speaker 1: Definitely feel Yeah, it's like but.
Speaker 3: Like with my writing and with teaching. I just like,
Speaker 3: it's not like I'm sharing my writing to make people
Speaker 3: love writing. And like I say that to my students,
Speaker 3: like I'm not here to make you love writing and
Speaker 3: love reading. I'm here to make sure you can do it.
Speaker 3: And I'm here to make sure you you just leave
Speaker 3: my classroom a little better, Like I don't need you
Speaker 3: to be a butt heead, like I just need to
Speaker 3: respect someone else or whatever. And like you said, you've
Speaker 3: seen on TikTok or wherever. And I will hand out
Speaker 3: paper and my students will look at me and say like, oh,
Speaker 3: I'm never doing this or why are you giving it
Speaker 3: to me on paper? And I'm like, because you guys
Speaker 3: don't even know how to write. They don't even know
Speaker 3: how to write their signature. It's terrifying this like that, yeah, man,
Speaker 3: But I mean I'm thinking after like the kids who
Speaker 3: move up, like after the COVID year or whatever, and
Speaker 3: might be different. The one thing that they do have
Speaker 3: is they love each other, which is huge. They always
Speaker 3: have to hug each other outside of the class It's
Speaker 3: so weird. I don't know they d each other out,
Speaker 3: but the girls hug each other like all the time.
Speaker 3: And I never did that. I never went from one
Speaker 3: class in the class seeing my girl and be like, hey,
Speaker 3: give her a hug, Like it's weird. Yeah, but my
Speaker 3: friends are like my other coworkers, Like I feel like
Speaker 3: it's just because, like COVID, they went through COVID at
Speaker 3: a young age and they couldn't touch each other. So
Speaker 3: now they just want to like dab each other up
Speaker 3: constantly and hug each other constantly. And it's more than
Speaker 3: like a dab. It's like, oh, bring it in, let
Speaker 3: me hold it. It's so and so me and my
Speaker 3: friends in the holloway like that's a little weird, but
Speaker 3: you know, you guys love each other. We need more
Speaker 3: love in the world, so that's funny.
Speaker 1: We gotta plug your poem on Instagram to the poem
Speaker 1: account is.
Speaker 3: Leo Poems, right Leah yeah, yeah, okay, all right, l
Speaker 3: Yo Poems.
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay, perfect.
Speaker 1: And where can everybody find your book when it's available?
Speaker 3: So it should be Oh, they're gonna hopefully get it
Speaker 3: into Walmart and Amazon. So once I get it out there,
Speaker 3: I'll send you the link and then you can go
Speaker 3: from there.
Speaker 2: That's dope. I'm gonna try.
Speaker 1: I love Walmart, but I'm gonna try and scoop it
Speaker 1: and then get that signed because.
Speaker 2: That would be dope.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is awesome too.
Speaker 1: The toy maker that we were talking to is also
Speaker 1: a children He's a children's author. He wrote a children's
Speaker 1: book about toys and his son. He just sent one
Speaker 1: over to me for Danielle's little girl Gabby. So but
Speaker 1: yeah again, Kicks and Tricks July twenty fifth, Guys, come
Speaker 1: check us out.
Speaker 2: We have the season eight finale. I'm gonna have it
Speaker 2: table there so.
Speaker 1: We will be recording, but I'll have most of our
Speaker 1: guests this season all of like, you know, these awesome
Speaker 1: facts on our table, and you know, great promotions and
Speaker 1: things like that.
Speaker 2: So I will be definitely talking about Lea's books. So
Speaker 2: that's tight.
Speaker 1: Leah, I can't thank you enough for coming on here.
Speaker 1: I know his short notice and everything like that, so
Speaker 1: I appreciate that. Is there anything else that we should
Speaker 1: definitely plug before you go?
Speaker 3: I don't think so. I think everything's covered. Just teacher kids,
Speaker 3: be good to your teachers.
Speaker 2: Love it. Did you ever see the movie Centers?
Speaker 3: No, but my friends love it.
Speaker 2: Highly recommend pretty good horror movie. Yeah yeah. Michael B.
Speaker 3: Jordan.
Speaker 2: Yes, I love that dude. Well he's hot too, but yeah,
Speaker 2: all right, I.
Speaker 1: Know what can I say about that dude? He was
Speaker 1: great in The Black Panther as well. All you guys
Speaker 1: need to do is go to WB dot com, Backslash
Speaker 1: or d movie and type in this code. That's seven
Speaker 1: q F two six W seven fa zero zero p
Speaker 1: y M eight three. That's seven q F two six
Speaker 1: W seven fa zero zero.
Speaker 2: P y m eight.
Speaker 1: All right, guys, I'll see you in the finale. Come
Speaker 1: out to the kicks and tricks going on everybody. Jbone
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Speaker 2: Thank you for listening. There didn't act the public