Adela: 0:05

hello, my friends, it's been a minute, oh my goodness, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. I'm not even starting off with telling you who I am right now or anything, but all I'm doing is telling you, thank you. Thank you for the support, thank you for the follows, thank you for downloading the podcast. Thank you for we're almost at 200 downloads. This is for little old me and what we're doing, thank you. Thank you to the subscribers to our YouTube channel. You've been fantastic and the shares just your support and what we're doing and sharing with the community right now is so immensely and greatly appreciated. So let's get into the intro and get this episode going, because I'm so excited for this next guest that I have with me to share with you and welcome.

Adela: 0:47

Welcome to the Artist Within Podcast. My name is Adela Hitel, I am your host and producer of this podcast, and this podcast is produced also by Project Human Think a new way to think about mental and emotional health. It is my nonprofit organization. I founded it in 2017 because I needed a space and place to express my own self. I needed a way to communicate in which words I didn't have, and so I used art. Art became my saving force and it turned into a way of discussions, communications, and this is how we have the artist within.

Adela: 1:16

So let me introduce you to our next guest and her name is Dana Michelle. She is fantastic, she is phenomenal. Let me tell you about her resume that I just had the opportunity to look at. Okay, I have her screen right here because I do not want to mess this up in any shape or form. She is just that great, so let me give you her bio first. Her bio is this Again, you guys, I met her at a event party.

Adela: 1:47

Oh, sorry, I'm going to mess it up right now She'll correct me when she gets on but I met her at a event party up in Collab Cafe. I believe that was the and again, I'm wrong, my brain is losing and moving too fast this morning, but all for good reasons. So I met her and we just had this instant connection and then I got to read her bio, I got to read her experience, I got to really look into her and I just feel so inadequate in so many ways and shapes and forms. But I feel like that with many places I go into, because I look at humans who've accomplished and who've overcome so many things and I'm like, oh, and what am I doing with my life? Right? And so let's introduce Dana Michelle.

Adela: 2:27

Dana Michelle is a two-time Audience Choice Award winner in the Jacksonville 48-Hour Film Project In 2021 and 2023, her short films Entanglements and Chosen Road both garnered recognition for their artistic and technical merit. Her soap opera-inspired film, entanglements also received an award for Best Graphics. Dana produced and directed her first documentary short film, black lock, in 2014. With a ba degree in media productions and africana studies minor. The university of houston graduate has already established herself as a competitive and crowd-pleasing indie filmmaker and she's on her way with producing her new documentary called the monkrieve monkrieief Springs the documentary. She's the executive producer of it and I'm so excited to share with you guys that, because and I can't wait to tell her the story of this too, and she's with that but if you guys remember, one of the reasons why I started Project Human was because I was and I'll say this in the best way and please don't cancel me in the way, whatever you want to do but, um, I was the white girl that survived Moncrief, if you will, the narrative of Moncrief was.

Adela: 3:29

So I moved to Jacksonville. I did all you know in that way and it was such a negative narrative that it was and I had friends there and so I went and it is not the story that's been told. So when I looked at the community centers and when I looked at the parks centers and when I looked at the parks and the schools that they have in the areas and the community that's there and the underdevelopment that is there, but two blocks over it is beautiful and built up it was just such a shock for me, and so one of the missions was to be able to create and create platforms and opportunities and bridge the gaps. Well, through conversations and through educating ourselves, right, and so I'm so excited for this because I can't wait to share. So let me just get into this now, because I'm talking to way too much. So our guest is Dana Michelle, and let me introduce her, and she's on screen right now. Dana, welcome my love. How are you?

Dana Michelle: 4:23

Good morning, Adela. Thank you for that lovely intro.

Adela: 4:27

I feel like I just rambled on too much, but I'm just so excited. Like I said, I get nervous and who would think Adela? Gets intimidated. But when I look at humans who've accomplished so much, have come through so many different ways and backgrounds, and the service that they've provided to community, I get told, hey, you're doing so much, you're doing great.

Adela: 4:46

But when you really look at people's resumes and you look at where they're at, you know it makes you go like man. They're even willing to have conversations with me, willing to even give this opportunity to me. Little me like what. So thank you for really being here and helping me again with one of my missions, which is to bridge that gap that we have. Human humanity is so important and who we are as humans is just to be here together is, you know, is like our primary goal. So why don't you introduce yourself to our community better than I just did and give us your little background about who you are and how you came to be an executive producer now of a documentary called Moncrief Springs, which is going to bring awareness to so much beauty and culture in that area, and I cannot wait to see that.

Dana Michelle: 5:33

Yeah, so my name is Dana Michelle and I am your North side neighbor living right here in Jacksonville, do, and I'm really excited to be on your show. Adela, thank you for the invitation. As it relates to my work, I'm the executive producer of Moncrief Springs, and it's a travel documentary about historic landmarks and cultural sites on Jacksonville's north side which are part of the Gullah Geechee corridor, and so I've been researching and working on this particular project for a year now. It's been exciting, it's been a heavy load, but I have a great team that's working with me on this, and so that's been great. I'm also a member of the Northeast Florida Sierra Club. It's an environmental justice group, and I'm a community organizer. I love bringing people to Jacksonville's North Side for them to see the beauty and to experience the culture, because ain't no better side than the North Side? So I'm always repping the North Side.

Dana Michelle: 6:40

I grew up out here. I grew up off of Dunn Avenue in Biscayne Estates. I went to Garden City Elementary. I grew up out here, grew up off of Dunn Avenue in Biscayne Estates. I went to Garden City Elementary, from there Kirby Smith Middle School, which is now Springfield Middle, and then I graduated from Paxton High School Class of 2004. So that's me, that's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

Adela: 6:58

Oh, my goodness, I love it. Graduate of Class of 2004. I was an 06 graduate, so we're not far. I was an 06 graduate, so we're not far. I was at white. I'm west side, you know, for me it's west side, the best side, because that's what you know, what I said, right, so? But that doesn't mean that, hey, you know, hey, um, before they block me from for my signs, um, that was what we did in our old days. Okay, when we are millennial days, in our club days, leave us alone. So, uh, so I had the. So let's talk just first about our first meeting before we get into some stuff.

Dana Michelle: 7:31

You and I, um, can you correct me what the event was that we met, because my brain spasmed in in the name of it yeah, so we met at the pitch party in june at the lab cafe and you were a little burst of sunshine when I saw you and your personality is so infectious because you're like me, you're a talker and so you know. There was no shyness, we just magnetized to each other and we went from inside the venue talking to the parking lot talking and you're my kind of girl and it was a beautiful first encounter a parking lot talking, and you're my kind of girl and it was.

Adela: 8:07

It was a beautiful first encounter. Oh, I love that too. I felt the energy and I and I didn't when I had come in. I was just coming in because I knew a couple of people there, um, like Monique and Adam, and they had mentioned it and I found out late about it and I always find out late, like literally last minute about stuff.

Adela: 8:20

But I have found that if it's a last minute thing I find out about and I can do it, it's God's way of saying go to and be there, like I'm giving you an opportunity. It's short notice, but it's an opportunity. It's a window. Take it or don't. And so when they sent me the invite, I was like, oh heck, yeah, like I'm going to be there and then everything that you've been doing, the way you set up and then your family and how you have everybody involved. It was just so beautiful to be there and to be in that environment and then to also again, as a community of artists and filmmakers, recognize the power that we share and the talent that we have in one room and what we can do when we're inspired and when we collaborate and when we put our minds together, it really was such an opportunity for me to again look into a different view and, to be honest, there I think I was like maybe one of a very few white girls. I'm going to say that way because I'm just going to be honest, we're not introduced into the culture in that way, we're not bought into that way. Or we don't see, oh, we're not related, and it's just like go to opportunity to have a share with humans. See, oh, we're not related, or, and it's just like go an opportunity to have a share with humans.

Adela: 9:27

But I did look at the dynamic of that um, because I read your, you know one of your uh on our um questionnaires. You know we talked about that race and religion and sexualities, and so part of that conversation is how do we bridge and meld us into that like we're humans, how? I mean that was our conversation. That's literally what you and I connected on. We were like I see a human, I see a human, I see somebody with passion, I see someone with determination, with, with, with goals and so much, so much faith in her community, just as I have in like Jacksonville as a whole.

Adela: 9:55

That I was like okay, the energy, the magnetism. We have to connect, we have to talk. I have to hear her story and then you shared some of it with me and what you're trying to do with Moncrief Springs, which is just fantastic. So let me just get into that really quick and then we'll talk more a bit of that, because I think it's so important to bring that awareness, especially because it's something you're working on right now. And if anybody's willing to or wants to be a part of that or need to, please reach out to Dana Michelle, because she'll. She'll put your work and you me. I'm always about putting people to work for the good stuff, so, you know, please reach out to her. So tell us a little bit about how Moncrief Springs the documentary came about and why you're so passionate about that.

Dana Michelle: 10:31

Yeah, so I was working for an organization called the Clara White Mission and in that organization my job was to market, promote and be the community liaison for the farm that they were relaunching.

Dana Michelle: 10:46

The farm is Earth, is Farm and Market and it's on Moncrete and I felt like as we were doing these various activities having events, doing volunteer drives and raising awareness about our sustainable agricultural programs and food desert initiatives I felt like we needed something stronger, something that was more of an emotional tie to get people to come and support our programs and really take advantage of this farm, this oasis being Oman Creek, literally a food desert.

Dana Michelle: 11:24

And I pitched to the CEO at that time to do a documentary about the farm and I said we need to do like some film marketing. That's like the new wave of marketing right now, where you know you do like a film and tell people the story of your organization and how you want them to get involved in support. They couldn't afford it. They liked the idea but they could not get on board and so some things happened and I transitioned away from that organization. But some of the relationships that I made in that role kept asking me about the film because I was just planting seeds here and there, like would you be interested in a documentary or a film about this farm? And so when I left the organization, people said, well, what about that?

Adela: 12:12

documentary about the farm and.

Dana Michelle: 12:13

I said you know what, if I do it, would you support me? And I got more yeses than I got no's. And so, instead of being in this box to do the documentary about the farm, I said let me tell the story about the whole neighborhood. And I started learning more about Moncrief Park, which was what the neighborhood was called in the early 1900s, and I started learning about everything that happened historically on the Moncrief Myrtle Avenue corridor and that turned into this documentary, moncrief Springs. And I got support from Visit Jacksonville, the tourism bureau for the city. I got support from St John's Riverkeeper, which is an environmental justice group here in Jacksonville. I had some private donors who said you know, michelle, I believe in you. Let me write a check. And that was a year ago.

Dana Michelle: 13:10

And so far, each time we come together my cast and my crew we discover something new about that neighborhood, and it's going even beyond what I thought. Telling a story about Moncrief, we're learning about the Gullah Geechee culture. We're learning about La Villa and how the slaves that were on the plantation La Villa, once they got free, started forming these smaller communities coming more northwest in Jacksonville. Why you have Durkeyville, why you have Newtown, why you have out east, and so it's really morphing into something even more beautiful than I intended and it's been really exciting. I do have to give a shout out to my friend and producer on this documentary with me. Trey Ford Black Films Matter has been a supporter of this project. He's producing the documentary with me and that's how we had the. Matter has been a supporter of this project. He's producing the documentary with me and that's how we had the pitch party.

Dana Michelle: 14:08

That's what we were doing the party was supposed to bring us all together to talk about Montcrie Springs and to fundraise, and when we did that, it was an opportunity to bring Black filmmakers together to synergize and to network. But when I saw you in the room, we were like hey, anybody who's willing to have the conversation, to be an ally to black filmmakers, black writers, black actors? You know we want you to be in the conversation too, so I'm really glad that you came in and that you were able to make it out.

Adela: 14:37

Yeah, I would, I have. So I'm going to be honest. My background is completely different than you know most people that meet me. I come from Europe, I'm from Bosnia, I'm an immigrant, I was a prisoner of war as a child, so I just I grew up for a good decade of my life over a decade of my life a little bit, you know in a whole different world, whole, whole, completely different world. So when I came to the United States, if I'm being completely honest, like I had never seen somebody, I had never seen a black person before. I've never seen, I had never seen one.

Adela: 15:09

So I was curious, I was like, oh my gosh, there's people that don't look like me, you know, that don't look like me. It really was such a, and I was, I think, 11 or 12 when I came here and when we landed in JFK, it in JFK, and again, it's a different cult, it's completely different, it's a melting pot, you know. And then I saw Asians and I was like there's different people that look different than me, you know, and I'm a curious creature and I'm very. I don't have a filter and so if I have a question I ask it and it's with no ill intention, I'm just curious in, in trying to understand what my mind is processing and not, you know, in this reality, this reality. And so when I came I was like, oh my gosh, there's different, there's different humans, like what? Well, let me learn more. So I became really ingrained in Puerto Rican culture and in the black culture with my friends in high school and just in the Asian culture, and learn and not ingrained like, oh, I'm the, you know, I'm the white, like white, like white girl there, like I just wanted to know. So I would go into clubs or I would go into different rooms and just talk to people here and there, and that's how I got into, you know, talking to people from Iraq or from different places that I just I wouldn't even have known existed had I not been. Like, oh, there's different humans here for me.

Adela: 16:24

So when I moved to Jacksonville I had heard we moved here. I was not. I was forced to move here. I'm going to be honest, I was 16 parents forced. They were like you're moving, what am I going to do? And of course you're mad for a while and then you find, you know, your clicks, and that was kind of the experience of that and I was at Ed White and it was just the experience there was was great too.

Adela: 16:45

Because again I, I so naively I'm like I'm just gonna go into places that I not necessarily didn't belong, but it wasn't like I was not necessarily just welcomed, right, because I didn't know how, how things worked, but I'm just gonna go and not that it wasn't welcomed, but again it's. It's that like what, what is she doing here? Why, what's going on? Because there's a lot of, again, bias and prejudgment from both sides of everything. And so I I learned one thing about Jacksonville that just made me fall so deeply in love with it that the thing that we are so divided on our national state or even on just like big national things, just even in our like florida state level, right in our jackson and this I may have the only one with this opinion, but in our jacksonville community we are so segregated in so many different spots but at the same time we're so melted together as a human I like it. We not that we don't see the color, or we don't see the race, or we don't see the, the, the genders, or we don't see sexual, not that we don't see these things that we have, but I think the one thing that makes us so different in Jacksonville and the surrounding areas that we have is that we actually do want to understand about humanity and how that comes off or where we come off and the way we maybe communicate may detract us from our same goals and missions, but I think what I found there was that and that's why I fell in love with Moncrief, because that was like I said, I was the white girl that went into Moncrief.

Adela: 18:20

I was like I've got friends there, I'm going to go say hi. And you know, I did get the looks, because people of my tone don't come apparently there, or didn't, and you know. And I'm like what do you mean? And so the more I exposed myself, the more I understood that there really was a different treatment of humans in different geographies, in different sectors. There really was a prioritization of one group versus another type of human. And so for me became how do we have a human conversation? That we're not sitting here and talking about groups and all these labels and varieties, that, yes, we all are, but at the end of the day, we're human and humans deserve equal treatment. Humans deserve equal opportunities. Humans deserve equal space and place to breathe and raise their children. And I didn't understand how, again how we in America, or especially here, are just not there yet in that conversation. But Jacksonville does have that spirit right, like I feel, like it really does have that spirit and potential for that.

Dana Michelle: 19:30

Yeah, jacksonville is often talked about under these sentiments the tale of two cities and when you look at Jacksonville's history prior to consolidation and after consolidation, you can see where there is what I'll probably refer to as like a reckoning. I think that people who have been marginalized in Jacksonville are trying to fight for a stake in this city, to be seen, to be heard and to feel valuable. Um, you know, you say you was a white girl trying to survive Moncrief you know, that's what they said as a black girl on Moncrief.

Dana Michelle: 20:18

It was a unique experience for me too because, you know, you experience like classism and while my mom was, you know, raising us in a middle-class Black household on Dunn Avenue, I have friends and classmates who lived Moncrief, soutail, edgewood, and my mom would warn me about my safety, warn me about, you know, not being a crowd when it came to those particular neighborhoods. And so, although my grandparents lived in the area, it wasn't my hangout spot. Like my mom, my mom graduated from Reigns, my dad graduated from Rebar. My mom was class of 83, my dad class of 82. And they were not encouraging or interested in me going to Rebought and these are like premier schools for Blacks when it comes to culture and when it comes to sports. But my mom was like no, you're going to the college prep school and I ended up going to Paxton. And I couldn't understand when I was in school why my mom had so much pride and so much love for Reigns but didn't want me to go to Reigns. Right, and it was because the neighborhood had changed. And that stigma that we now know is the reputation the media has given the North side about crime and poverty and things like that that was happening in the 90s and my mom was like, nope, not, you not going um.

Dana Michelle: 21:47

And so when I hear you talk about your own story, being an immigrant and coming from a homogenized society where you did not see a lot of black people and and it's a shock, I think that you know we as Americans, underestimate what it, what it means to be a melting pot. Yes, and we're still trying to figure it out, because in America, you have had the experiences from enslavement, the experiences from Jim Crow, the experiences from the civil rights era, and while it is a melting pot, and you as an immigrant, coming here and saying, oh wow, there's so many people, the people who were born and raised and go back generations in this country, we often feel homogenized too. You could be Black in America and never go to a white neighborhood or never go to a diverse school or never be in a place where you're, in, a place where there's people who are different from you, some people. They live in their little communities and they never leave, they never really interact with white people, asian people, hispanic people, and so I think that you know as a community of folks who are interested in making our neighborhoods better, making our city better. We have to really understand that people are coming from all different walks of life and what you see on face value. You got to go beyond the surface, you got to really ask them. What is your experience? You know what makes you feel valuable, what makes you feel seen and how do you imagine your quality of life being. And that's what Moncrief Springs documentary is about. There's places that we go.

Dana Michelle: 23:25

We were able to secure Martinique Lewis. She's the host of Black Travel Across America. It's a documentary on Disney Plus and we show her. She's a Black travel advocate. We show her all the historical landmarks on the North side. We take her to Holly's Barbecue, where Mr Holly engineered the curlicue machine for the french fries to be curlicues. We take her to the JP Smalls Stadium where Hank Aaron played. We take her to Newtown Success Zone Farm, which is on the campus of Florida's oldest HBCU, at Rewarders University.

Dana Michelle: 23:59

And we're showing her these historical landmarks to show people through this documentary that there are so many different walks of life on the north side and that the black culture is rich, that the black history is rich and that the north side has nice things and that there is a magic and a beauty in this neighborhood that people have discarded and written off, as you know, the zip code with the highest rate of crime, or the zip code with the most poverty, or the zip code with the highest rate of crime, or the zip code with the most poverty or the zip code with the most health issues. No, beyond that, there's beauty, there's culture and there's people who are living with dignity.

Adela: 24:34

And that, right there, what you just said, the last word, dignity. That was the part where it really hit me hard because, like I said, two blocks over you can see the white neighborhood that's living with the dignity that it needs. And this is when, before, again in the early 2000s, when I would just be going through into any in the you know the teens of thousands when we weren't really putting the attention and the value in some of these communities and we have since then, at least attempted to, at least I'd like to believe so and and the one defining moment for me was that there was a and I'm not and I'm going to get it wrong, but there's a community center or a hospice center, I'm not sure. It was a long time. I've driven a couple of times past it, but there was a elderly gentleman sitting in front of a big tree and I could try it out, but I can't remember the names of any of the places but he sat in front of a tree in his wheelchair and it just there was nothing else, like everything. It just looked so torn down, you know, right, like just everything. And then he just sat there and I just pictured, imagine his life Like he grew up in that neighborhood. He's seen it from itty bitty boy time to you know, to be there and I, I and we, we didn't. There was no dignity or value like to me, just didn't feel like we. It should have been a prettier tree, you know, or should have been a mowed lawn.

Adela: 26:00

It should have been these moments where the human who has spent his life in the world and I think this isn't just for like one community or that, but in for any human really who've spent their life or who've gone through so much in their life and come to an age, especially our elderly, come to an age where they do get this dignity of of from us, right and service from us, because we, we're capable of that. And that just hit me so hard because it made me think of my grandfather or my grandmother and humans in my life who again are overseas or in places that they don't have what we have or the opportunities we have here. And it just really brought me to a place where, again, the questions of and when we talk about God and faith and again I always talk about to each his own, whatever you believe, but to me when we talk about God and faith. It's those questions of what service are you as a human to this planet?

Adela: 26:54

Um, and for me, again, what you're doing and what we're doing in these, just these conversations, are huge service starters in a huge way to bridge gaps of going like, hey, here's these human beings and the differences of them, don't sure. Yes, there's all these. She's white, she's black, she's from this, she's from that, but there's two humans right now having conversations who are both on the same mission, same on that. How can we get humans involved in that? And I think art is that way of what we're doing. So I wanted to ask you how has art influenced you, in your perspective, in your way of living, in your and the way you're making your decisions today?

Dana Michelle: 27:34

Yeah, I say this, that artists are the prophets of our day.

Dana Michelle: 27:39

I think that artists have a connection to the divine, that when they speak, when they perform, when they make music, when they write poetry, when they write books, when they whatever it is when they create something divine, it's translated from them to us, and I think that's why art is a universal language. Whether you're Bosnian, whether you're African American, no matter where you come from, when we come before an art piece, it's impacting both of us and we can both understand it in our own unique way. And for me, as a filmmaker, that's my art form. I feel like I'm able to use this platform to have conversations and to deliver a message that will otherwise be unheard. And I think that filmmaking is the most emotionally triggering art form because it combines all the art forms. You have music, you have acting, you have lighting, you have all these different aspects of what make a movie so entertaining, and then you can also inspire people, people. You can also educate and inform people through film making. Movies ain't cheap now you know it's girl high level of technical skill.

Dana Michelle: 29:00

Um, and, definitely it requires a lot of financial investment. But I feel like, if you can do it right and and for me as an independent filmmaker, you you know, I'm imagining those days when you know my prayer will be answered and I'll get a bigger budget to do that next level project. But I feel like everybody has their lane and I'm trying to walk my path and deliver the message that I feel like God gave me. And deliver the message that I feel like God gave me. And while this particular project, montcrie Springs, came to me because I wanted to talk about a neighborhood and talk about what I love about my part of town, the Northside, what I love about my city, jacksonville, I think that the message is deeper than this neighborhood, montcrie Springs. It's really about cultural pride. It's really about giving people dignity. I think that so many of the residents on the north side have had such bad labels slapped on them.

Adela: 30:03

I'm here to take those labels off. I'm here to take those labels off. Any way I can help girl.

Dana Michelle: 30:08

I still have a grandmother who lives on Soutail. I remember when my other grandmother grandmother my mom's side lived in Magnolia Gardens, and the things that they say about a neighborhood I never experienced. I remember my grandmother had easter egg hunts in her front yard. I remember playing with the dog in the backyard, climbing trees. Um, so many happy memories, um, on the north side growing up, and so my mission is to expose people to the beauty that I know about and to raise awareness about all the what I call these, these wonderful assets, the parks, the historical landmarks. Like a lot of people don't even know, mount Eric Baptist Church is on Myrtle Avenue. That's the only location where Dr King gave a speech in Jacksonville. Wow, a lot of people talk about the work he did when he went to St Augustine and gave a speech and the demonstrations that they did in St Augustine.

Dana Michelle: 30:59

But he was in Jacksonville too. I didn't know that.

Adela: 31:03

You know what? Can I request a tour before this documentary comes out, so I get to experience it too, and then a tour before this documentary comes out, so I get to experience it too. And then, because there is, I think it would be I'm so again, I'm so intrigued, I'm so intrigued, especially, we have a lunch date we do.

Dana Michelle: 31:21

I will give you a tour and that's that's my, that's my heart, girl, I would love to show you around. Went to Mount Eric Baptist Church and I believe Reverend Dallas Graham was pastoring then and he was hosted by our former city councilwoman, mary Singleton and her husband. Mary Singleton was one of the first black female city council persons for Jacksonville. They hosted Dr King and he delivered a speech called A Great Time to Be Alive. That was in the 60s, right here in Jacksonville on Myrtle Avenue.

Dana Michelle: 31:53

So when you think about civil rights history, you got to make sure you add Jacksonville to the conversation. The Negro Leagues first of all. When you think about baseball, nothing says American culture like baseball. People think apple pie and they think baseball. Right, jacksonville has a rich history when it comes to baseball. So black history Hank Aaron, the top performing baseball player of our time, started in Jacksonville. He played at the JP Smalls Stadium back when it was called the Durkee Stadium. But in addition to that the MLB would have training camps and Babe Ruth came and played at that same stadium. Jackie Robinson played at that stadium. Satchel Paige played at that stadium. So when you think about baseball and you think about all the top MLB players in our country. Jacksonville got to be a part of the conversation, and so I'm working with-.

Adela: 32:52

What a bad rep do we get man for not Girl?

Dana Michelle: 32:56

I Somebody got to tell the story. I'm working with our tourism bureau and I'm also working with Parks and Rec and I'm shouting about and calling about it at the same time, because this history is very obvious, it's documented, there's photographs, there's museums and our city has to do better about amplifying those stories. For some reason, when Jacksonville, when our city talks about its historic neighborhoods, it talks about San Marco, it talks about Riverside, avondale, ortega, as these historic, rich cultural centers Some of Jacksonville's oldest communities are, as these historic, rich cultural centers Some of Jacksonville's oldest communities are the black community.

Adela: 33:34

And they're in the north side. Yes, they're in the north side.

Dana Michelle: 33:38

Moncrief predates Jacksonville.

Dana Michelle: 33:40

When the great fire in 1901 was happening, moncrief was thriving. There was a horse racing track out here, there was this club and this especially Vinsville you call it the two spot. All of that was thriving. When Jacksonville was burning, eartha White had a land that she was leasing out to black farmers so that they could have a life and have a business. Abraham Lincoln, lewis had a golf course out on the north side.

Dana Michelle: 34:08

So all these communities that weren't properly a part of the city limits, they were a part of Jacksonville, but when the city was burning down in 1901, montcrieff Park was thriving. And so we have to identify and acknowledge the contributions of Black people who were starting communities on the north side, even the porters, the Black men who worked on the train that started Newtown durkyville, which was like the black middle class, where you had pastors, doctors, teachers living there. Um, ducote bank was the first black credit union on myrtle avenue, because black folks were getting discriminated against, that banks couldn't get loans, couldn't get banking accounts because it was Jim Crow, and so Mr Kirkland opened up Dakota Bank, him and his wife, so that black folks can have bank accounts and get financial services. So this is all documented. This is a very well-known history, but our city has to do a better job about amplifying that and showing both sides of Jacksonville. They show the white side. They show the beaches. City has to do a better job about amplifying that and showing both sides of Jacksonville. They show the white side.

Adela: 35:11

They show the beaches.

Dana Michelle: 35:12

Yes, they show downtown, but they need to come to the north side and really understand what makes Jacksonville unique and that's the black history.

Adela: 35:20

It is because the, it is because the and here's what just hit me the lack of education, the lack of proper education in our system. Uh, that includes black, the true black history, right, not what, what we decided was for that, but the true black history and and it just hit me that we've had so much representation of all of our accomplishments is our, you know, white folks, light folks, whatever you want to call it. We've had our Neil Armstrong's and all these big old names, right, but when you just talk about what you just said, well, and again, I'm not from here, you guys, I'm learning about everything. So this is me taking a history lesson and coming to conclusions. So, if you know more than me, educate me and educate yourself. But this is part of the conversation. It made me realize that, again, when I came here, I didn't have the education, I didn't have the knowledge right, and so everything that was given to me and my perception was that these were the parts of that. That's why you know, you don't go to Northside. But again, I'm a curious being, I go, and so me, having the experience that I've already had in life, like a human, has already tried to take my life and try to paint my perception of what I should be, should think and how I should live and what I should do, and all that stuff for anybody else to do that for me, even here in America. This is the part of our free will and thinking and the privilege we truly have in America is to have these conversations and to have this level of ability to change our mind.

Adela: 36:43

However, if we don't give the equal, when we're talking about equity, true equity it comes in educational form, because the lack of education and the lack of knowledge like even for me again, the lack of what you just said, the, the how Moncrief was thriving, how in, while we're burning, right while Jacksonville things we're not having, but yet no, again, I'm not saying no one knows about that, don't you know? Correct me if I'm wrong, but no one knows about that. Like we're not amplifying that in the conversation to say hey, because then it also doesn't give our young children an opportunity to have someone to look up to. We take away that opportunity from having someone to look up to.

Adela: 37:23

It's not hand me out anything, it's let me show you also while all this was happening, while we were pitted against everything, there were people and humans who were thriving, you know, so that the people, young black children, had somebody to look up to, right Like. This is just really the truth of what was. When we talk about education and again correct me if I'm completely wrong in my thinking, but I think when we talk about what, the equity part of life, it's the education mostly that we're lacking and we don't get that.

Dana Michelle: 37:56

They don't get the fair play of knowing who the true humans were, who made when it comes to education, the material and the textbook is not where it stops, right, you have, you have to give children, and I'm a mom of three. I have three boys 15, eight and four. You have to give them something that they can relate to and that they can connect with, and I always say you have to give them. You know, real world history, what's happening in their backyards, and so, while we could sit our kids down and talk to them about American history, talk to them about the founding fathers talk to them about all the things that happened in America.

Dana Michelle: 38:36

we have to make a connection to say how was that influenced by what's happening in your own city? Yes, a minute ago you just mentioned that part of American history is Neil Armstrong. We think about NASA. We have history about space and NASA right here in Jacksonville.

Dana Michelle: 38:55

Yes, alton Yates lives on the north side in the Rewald Scenic Area. He was in the Air Force and he was a part of a study in the 50s to test out G-Force. Now you can learn about this history by visiting the durkyville historical society on moncrieff road. But I'm gonna give you a little snippet of this black history right here. So the, the small group of air force volunteers, were um in a test to determine the effects of high speeds on the body, and there's a picture at the Durkheville Museum where Mr Yates is in what looks like a sled and he's strapped in and his hands across his chest like this and what he's doing is different trials at 600 miles per hour to test G-force. And he does that like hundreds of times, testing the G-force on his body to determine if space travel was safe for humans.

Dana Michelle: 39:55

Alton Yates from Jacksonville, florida, still living here today and he was also featured on StoryCorps. His daughter submitted this story to StoryCorps. But he's from Jacksonville and his wife, gwendolyn Yates, was a part of city council. From Jacksonville and his wife, gwendolyn Yates, was a part of city council. And so when you think about again, yes, what kind of education we're giving our children, yes, you gotta tell them the history that's in their own backyard. So when you think about NASA, when you think about space science and space travel, I think Kirby Smith, formerly Kirby Smith of Springfield Middle School, now had the Space Center Alton Yates. That's the connection to the history. Alton Yates tested, uh, volunteered for nasa to test g-force.

Adela: 40:42

there you go that's beautiful and see, those are the things that we don't know, like we really don't know those things. Those are not part of our education. Part of that because, again, either we're not willing to which is really part of the truth we're not, on an independent, individual level, willing to go out of our own comfort zones to have conversations that may make us uncomfortable or may we may not understand, because we don't want to be perceived as coming off in some type of way. But if you're coming in with genuine curiosity, me girl that's me too.

Adela: 41:08

I'm like you can. I said. That's why I was like perceived I don't know, I'm I. I would rather say I don't know. And and then to think I know and think again who am I not judge, jury executioner? There's only one, and it's not me. And who am I to question?

Dana Michelle: 41:25

that's why I'm really impressed by your platform and what you created here. And since we met in June, I've been watching you and and looking, you know, at your, your, your social account, and I'm just really impressed that you're you're sharing this space with people like myself, because I think you have the bravery and the courageousness to go out and tell the story unapologetically. And when I think of you, I think of Congressman John Lewis. He says you know, it's okay to get into good trouble. The good trouble is what we're looking for. And if somebody you know want to hate on us, don't like us, want to, you know, don't give us a seat at the table, that's all right, because we make our own table and bring a folding chair and number two, when you think about who's not doing these things, that's the wrong mindset to have. We can't wait on somebody to save us. We can't wait on somebody to feed us. We can't wait on somebody to teach us. We can't wait on somebody to give us a job. We have wait on somebody to teach us. We can't wait on somebody to give us a job. We have to create the space ourselves. And I think that's what you're doing on this platform, because there are people who know, there are people who are telling the story.

Dana Michelle: 42:30

I think about Rodney Hurst. He's a local author, civil rights activist, former city councilman, and he has several books that talks about Jacksonville's Black history and one quote that I love from him. He said if we don't tell it, nobody will. And so he has empowered me, and I think he's empowered a lot of black folks, a lot of white folks, to say, hey, we cannot wait for somebody to give us permission to tell our story, because I'm not telling my story, I'm telling the story of a whole city, of a whole neighborhood, of a whole community of people. And when we speak together, our voices are louder, and so we have to have one over here, one over here in unison, telling these stories, spreading these messages about how great contributions Black folks have given in Jacksonville.

Adela: 43:22

I look at it as I tell people all the time. I still use the word people because I'm redefining my narrative, just because it's easier for the whole social construct. My goal is to redefine it into human. If we're not having a human conversation, I don't want to have the conversation. That's literally my motto. That's literally the rule. If it's not a human conversation, I don't want to have it.

Adela: 43:45

Because the moment the attacks start coming on anything other than the human, which the human struggles, the human feels, the human lives, the human loves, the human makes mistakes. The human is here to learn, the human is all. The human is that. And the moment you start saying this one particular group or this one particular type or this one typical thing, you start judging and becoming something holier-than-thou than you are and you're not. And once I realized that that's how we were judging ourselves, like the, the dysfunctions that we were creating, I was like no, I literally on my resumes, put humans. I work with humans and you know, people around me will tell me, even my husband people, because they're still in this character and I love them dearly. But they're still in this character. And people is derived from persona, from characters, and it's for us to be able to put on this mask and say, well, hello, I'm going to be good. So you perceive me good, not that I'm actually good and I don't want that my whole life is about.

Adela: 44:48

I want to challenge the narrative because where I come from, we aren't allowed to have a narrative of conversation in any shape or form, and me being in America gives me that privilege. It's not my white privilege, it's not the black privilege, it's not the Hispanic Asian, it's the privilege to have a conversation and not get shot for it. It's the privilege to come into this and say I'm going to host something that we all disagree with or we all agree with or we all like or dislike, whatever it is that you want to do as an individual here in the United States of America, and we're going to fight about what we look like and what we wear. And you know I don't, and to me that concept is so I don't understand it. So I think I'm trying to figure that out, because what I know, you know the deeper levels of humans, actions and what they're trying to do, and how, how malicious people can actually be, you know, versus also how good and kind humans can be. I mean, I look at it this way who am I to judge a human period, whether they're malicious or good or not? Because the same man who put a gun to my head, the same man who put me in prison, the same man who tortured me, is the same man who saved my life, literally. So who am I to judge who they are in their soul and conscious? But I'm also here to have these conversations of truth, which is what saved my life, right? So how can we not like what is so afraid of us to come sit and have these conversations and to learn about each other and to understand where we come from and to go wow, you've had a rough, like holy shit. Maybe we should have a conversation. How about? Maybe we can make it easier for our kids, because we know it's not going to change overnight. We know we can't, but we can at least have a conversation. How we can start?

Adela: 46:33

Well, it starts with acting right every day. It starts with with taking responsibility and accountability of the self every day. And are you acting right? You know, when you go out today, are you and this isn't about checking yourself in some form or way for biases, for anything, it's just are you being a good human being? Are you being in service to humanity? Are you treating people? You know and not. Again, I'm working on my people, but are you treating humans? If you're a human, you won't see people. You will see a human and you're treating human as a human and seeing them for all they are and what all they could be, and what are you doing to help right?

Adela: 47:07

Um and so for me, I've had those conversations with myself and with god plenty of times and it's just always comes back into you are here to serve my children and my children are humans and that's it, period. And so if you're not serving my children, you're not serving me. And to me again, when we have this disconnection of, especially with race, which I think is just, I understand again, I understand the history of why and where and all that, but here now we need to have a conversation of it's part of our history. We're part of this conversation and Black people need to be a part of the conversation in their culture on the same scale as all of the other history, and we shouldn't be, we shouldn't be devaluing the accomplishments again of humans.

Adela: 47:58

We've had to like face against, like jim, again, I wasn't here. I don't know. All I know is the stories. So I can't personally even speak on any experience. But how could again the stories when I hear them, how can you still, even with that, be going I'm going to succeed and I'm going to make my family say, and I'm going to do this, and I'm going to be that like these humans put that in, just like those who were in prison going like I'm going to fight for your life.

Dana Michelle: 48:22

So well you. You are bringing up a really interesting concept, because, as a black woman, there's this dichotomy that you know you show up in the world and you want to be embraced and embrace others, but I can't mute my blackness for the sake of achieving that right. And I wasn't here during Jim Crow either, but my grandparents were yeah, they're 86, 87, and my other grandmother 77, and so those stories have been passed down, just like, I'm sure, in your family. They have passed down their lived experiences to you and while you didn't live them in real time, when you're in your household and they warn you about you know certain places, or they tell you to behave a certain kind of way, that instruction is informed by their lived experiences. Right, and so I think about you know, my mom raised me and always taught me that you know, when you go into a room you have to be two times better, because people will see your blackness before they see how smart you are. They will see your blackness before they hear how creative you are and how well you articulate and communicate with others. They see a black face first. And so, while I learned that lesson, I also have to know when and when, not to kind of disarm that, because it's not always about my blackness, right, and I also use principles from my faith.

Dana Michelle: 49:55

I grew up in a non-denominational evangelical church and it teaches that you want to live harmonious with people. You want to, you know, take care of the orphan, take care of the widow, visit the prison. It don't say visit a black prison. It don't say take care of the black widow, take care of the black orphan. It say take care of the widow, take care of the orphan. And so there are.

Dana Michelle: 50:18

It's a duality for me that when I engage people that I do show up with my blackness and I'm always gonna go anything black, I'm trying to support it.

Dana Michelle: 50:32

Anything that's going to elevate and and improve the black community I'm here for.

Dana Michelle: 50:36

But at the same time, look at alliances for people who are outside of the black community Hispanic, latino, latino, asian, whatever because we are stronger together than we are apart.

Dana Michelle: 50:47

And even in our unique experiences. I really struggle when sometimes people want me to abandon my race for the sake of commonality, when my race allows me to bring unique perspective right and so my unique perspective as a Black woman actually adds to the conversation and so I try to make sure that I balance that and it can be challenging when I come into a conversation, when I come into an organization, when I come into a project that I don't mute my blackness, that I do understand that, hey, we could come and form an alliance, we could come and form a coalition of a diverse group of people, but we don't have to mute our unique experiences. To work together, you bring everything that makes you whether you gay, straight, black, white, jew, muslim, christian, female, male, trans, whatever bring all that to the table, because that unique perspective you have is what's going to help us achieve harmony and help us make our communities better.

Adela: 51:53

I was going to say you just reminded me of another lesson I learned. I know we only have a few more minutes left, but I wanted to share it with you because I think what you just said is so important it leads back into again. Go back to all of those unique things you just listed and adjectives you've listed for humans. That's what makes you unique as a human being. But, as you said, when we come to the table, we come to the table as humans first, and, coming in and going, let's see each other as humans and then let's see each other as these diverse humans who have these amazing skills and different perspectives and different experiences, because every single human being is different in their experience. Because and I say this, this um I'm going to talk about this on another podcast, but I uh, you may not be able to see it here, but I had a tattoo and I think I showed it to you a little bit when we were there.

Adela: 52:44

It's an, it's an eye, and when I started the nonprofit, it was I. Again, I said I didn't have words to speak, I was so confused, I was so lost about everything and I just, I really just wanted people to see the world through my eyes. That's what it started as right. So I got the eye tattoo, started the whole eye project, everything. And two years later, what made me really really again going into experiences, going into experience different places and different spaces, what made me realize is that, again, no one will ever experience the world through your eyes. No one can ever experience it through my eyes.

Adela: 53:18

But what makes it even more unique is when we come into where we really have to have the honest conversation is that, like you mentioned, you can't take away who you are and what your skin color is. You are a black human being and you are a beautiful human being. Um, part of that is that I, as a human being who's white, who's lived in that life and who's understood just that part of her culture, her whole way through, whatever that is, from one end of the sea to another, it's that blanket of that, whether that's different experience, it's just that blanket. I'll never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever be able to understand. No matter how much I can say I'm a female and I support everything female, I will never understand what it's like to be a woman of color and to see through her eyes of any color shades. I will never, because the experiences and the conversations would have never been the same, and I think that's good to understand and acknowledge for yourself.

Dana Michelle: 54:18

It is Because I don't think any particular individual is asking you to understand them, right, they need knowledge. Thank you, and that's it. Sometimes it gets complicated when you're trying to understand me. I can't and I can't keep sending energy trying to explain it to you Trying to make me Right.

Dana Michelle: 54:38

Just support, that's right. That's what and I'm thinking about in my devotion time this morning I was reading and just kind of meditating within myself and God was like stop looking at your neighbor when I'm trying to give you greater, because if you look at your neighbor and say, oh, I want what they got, they may be the cap on what God trying to give you. That's more than that. And so I always look at you know the work I do, you know is many different ways to do it. I'm talking about, you know, community organizing and coordinating events and different programs, and there's a lot of ways to do it. And I think about some people I really admire, like Yaya and I saw a post of her kicking off Hispanic Heritage Month and I love what she's doing.

Adela: 55:25

I've met her a couple of times and I can't wait to have a conversation with her either.

Dana Michelle: 55:29

She's good she got to be next on your podcast, but she shows up and she gives you both. She gives you all the Latino flavor. She's a proud Puerto Rican mama.

Dana Michelle: 55:39

She's giving you all the Latino flavor and I've never seen in Jackson where somebody will come at you in dos idiomas give you both languages and when she posts and when she's out in the community, she's giving it to you in Spanish and she's giving it to you in English. And I was admiring that. I was like, oh my God, I just love her and I'm clapping for her. But then I saw in my own heart, like don't do that comparison thing. No, yeah, and it's like god gives you your lane, your unique quality, your unique ability, your assignment and so clap for people in their unique assignment and then embrace and clap for yourself for your own unique assignment.

Dana Michelle: 56:13

It's not gonna look the same, nope, it's not gonna get the same results, but just know that it was uniquely and divinely given to you by god to do it in your own way. And as you were preparing me this morning and you started your podcast, you was like it's just me. I'm producing, I'm hosting, I'm doing sound, I'm doing all this. I'm like that's your unique assignment. Nobody else can do it like you. And so I'm just clapping for you too, because I'm like look at what this girl got going on with this whole platform, with this whole nonprofit, with this whole. You know creative expression with you know how you speak about others and speak about your own journey and I'm like that's awesome and I'm so glad that you own it as it is for you, it can't be like nobody else and in the season that you're in, it's going to continue to serve the way it's serving. And then, when God bless, and you level up and you get that second, third and fourth team member girl, who's going to be able to stop you? Who's going to?

Adela: 57:04

stop you, boo. And to me you just pointed out and that's where I go. That was the lesson that I learned. It was like when I had that conversation with another human that told me that and I really was trying to understand and I looked her dead in the face. I was like I'll never understand it. That in the face, I was like I'll never understand it.

Adela: 57:24

And it made me just realize that that's okay, because then I'm not me, I'm not forcing you to try to convince me of something and I'm not trying to convince myself of something. All I'm doing is asking questions and getting information and then processing it and then putting it into where it needs to be. And it doesn't feel so uncomfortable then or feel so forced or feel so like just to have conversation. I'm like I don't know and I will never know, and that's okay. I'm not supposed to know. That's not where I'm here for, that's not what we were made for. But that's literally the point. But you're creating space, but that's literally the point that we get to. What are we doing? Right, and it's, but what are we doing for?

Adela: 57:57

Again, it goes back to my mission is to create space for all humans of all types of shapes and forms.

Adela: 58:02

And but again, what interests me more are the stories of humans that touch me personally and the way that they see and the way that they expand their energies and and the way that they love and have compassion and kindness and are willing to stand for what they believe, regardless of what anybody else says.

Adela: 58:21

And then that gives me courage again to do this and to share and to stand on what I believe and to push forward and to support again and create these platforms where we support and have. These conversations are so important. And I look at again I have got children who are black, I have family members and nieces and all of this, and so when I go to places and I wonder I don't have to have these conversations or thoughts, and then yet they do, or I don't have, or Hispanics, you know, or even Asian, like if you don't look like me, you have different conversations that you're having to think about in your conferences, and so for me it was just like, well, if I didn't have to, I might as well learn about it and I might as well create platforms where we learn about different humans in different ways and you know what really pressed about connecting with you.

Dana Michelle: 59:00

Sometimes you don't have to say a word, it's just your presence, and when you showed up at my event, your presence spoke before you ever opened your mouth, and I think that that allows us to tap into our divine abilities to connect with people Before you even say a word. They feel you, they sense you, they discern that you're there for a good intention, and that's what I think kind of magnetized us and drew us to each other. Your presence alone was very powerful. And so I think, for people who do the work that you do connecting people, being a bridge that just showing up is supporting, just showing up is advocating for people, and while you may not have the words to articulate why you support, how you support your presence, yes is a support, and that's what again, when we talk about getting into these conversations of just that humanity level, the presence of human beings, we need to understand, we need to support each other, period and a discussion, and we need to be there for that.

Dana Michelle: 1:00:05

Um, we could go on forever, but I know I'm gonna need you to be there for the montcree springs premiere.

Adela: 1:00:09

Of course, just give me girl give me the, give me the details as soon as possible. You, as soon as you find them out, I will be there and now and then we're gonna have to do another one after that too, after the premiere, and even through this process.

Dana Michelle: 1:00:21

Like I said, after we'll do a couple of them, because you want to do a live remote girl, we're gonna do a live girl, we're already.

Adela: 1:00:30

I'm already. I've already been planning stuff. I'm like my whole next step, like my whole episode, has been planned on when we do our thing together.

Adela: 1:00:37

I'm already on it yes, ma'am, because we're gonna make it. This bit again, we're gonna make it. I'm learning, and to me, as adela is going through this process of learning, just how to be human. It's, that's what it is for me, and we can't uh, we can't. We can't do anything unless we show up, like you said, and 99% of the the actual effort is showing up is actually showing up for anything. Um, so let's end this off, because I know you have to go. So please let everybody know where they can find you, where they can find information among green spritz, the documentary, and what they can do to support you in creating this. And and then, if there's a message of inspiration or motivation, I hope you want to leave our listeners with. That would be great.

Dana Michelle: 1:01:21

So I want y'all to help me reach a thousand followers on Facebook and Instagram. That is my mission right now. You could find Moncrief Springs underscore the movie on Instagram and you could find Moncrief Springs on Facebook, just like that. Moncrief Springs underscore the movie on Instagram. Moncrief Springs on Facebook Like, follow, share. We are still fundraising to help us finish the film. So if you can give $20, $50, those of y'all who got rich uncles or work for these big corporations $5,000, $10,000, $20,000. We want to get this money so that we can finish the film. And when you give to Moncrief Springs, you're supporting local artists. Everybody on my crew is local.

Dana Michelle: 1:02:08

Shout out to Jack's Film Lab, moncrief Springs Production Company, kyle and Marquita Doral. Shout out to Trey Ford with Black Films Matter. Shout out to Travel Light Travel Light Productions. He is our composer. This is the first time I announced that. I didn't announce yet that he was going to be the composer for the film. Travelite is working on it and I'm just really thankful for our host, martinique Lewis, who is the creator of ABC Travel Green Book, and Yoli of Explore Jack's Core, the only black tourism company in Jacksonville, and so I want you to help us tell this story. It's an incredible, beautiful story about the Kigalagichi culture in Jacksonville and all the wonderful historical cultural landmarks on the North side.

Dana Michelle: 1:02:59

I will be at Art Walk in October, so if you are going to come find my table and get you a Montcrie Springs t-shirt, I'm also going to be dropping the Northside Pride t-shirts, and so I want y'all, whether you live on the Northside or not, I need y'all to help me raise awareness about all the things we love about the Northside by getting the Northside Pride t-shirt. And then I am also going to be supporting the Simon Johnson Community Association, and so they will be having an event as well. So you can find me on social media to connect at any of those events and come find me across the city, but specifically on the Northside. And the last thing I'll say is I did a hike in Durkeyville. It was an urban hike, and I partnered with the Northeast Florida Sierra Club, and I'm going to continue to do activations on North side parks and in Durkeyville, and so I would love y'all just ask me questions about what can we do on the North side.

Dana Michelle: 1:04:01

Things to do, places to eat, places to explore, eat shop, explore the North side every weekend, every day, anytime you have a spare moment. There's amazing destinations and places where you can really find some interesting hangout spots in Jacksonville, on the North side, so that's where you can find me. That's what I'm doing. Thank you, adela, for giving me space to share that, and I hope that we can reach that 1000 followers.

Adela: 1:04:34

I'm relying on y'all to help us get to our goal. Awesome, and what would you like to leave our listeners with? What kind of message of inspiration?

Dana Michelle: 1:04:43

or hope, or motivation, or just a Dana saying motivation, or just a dana saying north side pride baby north side pride all day.

Adela: 1:04:50

Yes, ma'am, do well, west side, north side, all day long, let's go see collaborating, bridging the gaps, putting it together. We're neighbors, girl, we're neighbors like. Yeah right, we're literally, we're neighbors.

Dana Michelle: 1:05:02

Yes, right, we're literally next door. Yes, and we're going to do a tour. I'm going to give you a VIP tour, okay.

Adela: 1:05:08

I can't wait, I can't wait and I can't wait to share it Experience. I can't wait to share it and we're going to go eat at Holly's.

Dana Michelle: 1:05:15

I don't know if you're vegan or something like that, but we got to get wings that.

Adela: 1:05:25

But we got to get wings and I like food. I like food. Okay, I mean, I am picky, but like I like food.

Dana Michelle: 1:05:28

I am picky but I like food. So you know it's good for the body, but I'm not right, I'm not, I'm not.

Adela: 1:05:31

You know, to each his own, but I'm not so you'll be fine.

Dana Michelle: 1:05:35

It's good for the body. Oh yeah, oh, I will and then, yes, we probably uh stop into cafe resistance and go check out some band books and just have a good time. Just a good time on the North.

Adela: 1:05:45

Side. I can't wait. I can't wait. Thank you so much, dana. I so appreciate you. I appreciate your time, I appreciate your energy, I appreciate your education and I appreciate your sincerity in just accepting this conversation. And again, we're here to bridge the gap conversation. And again we're here to bridge the gap. We're here to communicate and educate and inform and advocate for human beings and for their independent living and for their dignity as well, because I think that's an extremely important I'm going to use that word quite a bit now because it really reminded me of that and that's part of something we've lost is the dignity of ourselves and the dignity for others, and so, and so let's work on that. Let's enjoy that.

Adela: 1:06:24

Please follow us all, please follow Project Human, follow Dana, michelle and all of her endeavors, and we'll have everything linked under our description on our YouTube channel. If you're not a subscriber, please hit that subscribe button. We would love to have you. We're reaching over 120 now. We're getting there. I'm so excited. So please subscribe to the channel, please like and follow the podcast, and you can listen to this on any of your streaming platforms. We appreciate you and until next time, my loves. We will see you later.