Interview with Lachrisa Grandberry & Molly Rhode of Door County Amplify

Find Door County Amplify at https://www.facebook.com/DoorCountyAmplify

Lachrisa Grandberry is a Milwaukee born native who has made her home in Chicago. She is an actress and singer who has performed on many stages; as well as a writer with a world premiere production coming this fall. She is beyond grateful for her community of family and friends, and Paonessa Talent Agency for their continued love and support. She aims to continue inspiring and transforming the human mind through the power of story-telling. 

 Molly Rhode is Associate Artistic Director of Northern Sky Theater and has helped bring over 20 world premieres to the stage. She also acts, directs and choreographs at theaters across Milwaukee and in Madison. She grew up in Wisconsin where she is proud to make her artistic home. 

Lachrisa's Top 5 Songs of Encouragement:
1) There's Hope by India Arie
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bClxgPvGqRg
2) Brown Skin Girl by Beyoncé
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vRFS0MYTC1I
3) We Won't Move by Arlissa
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Piun5i_E6-U
4) What The World Needs Now, and Stand Up for Something by Andra Day
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2GhY7qXGx-0
bonus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yNQ3vgKNO1g
5) Mighty River by Mary J Blige
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yd2ht5aF-2E

If you need support now or are struggling, please reach out to one of the following resources: 
Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration:1-800-662-HELP (4357)
National Suicide Prevention Lifeline: 1-800-273-8255
National Alliance on Mental Illness: 1-800-950-NAMI (6264)

Transcript

Unknown: 0:03

Welcome to the sounds of encouragement, the place for musicians and music teachers to find support and encouragement to help you stay motivated, creative, and moving forward in what you do best. I'm Melissa Slocum, your host and number one encourager. I currently live in the Atlanta Georgia area and have my own thriving studio, teaching piano to all ages in person and online. I also help other teachers use student goal based learning and differentiated instruction to increase motivation in their students and increase retention rates in their studios. You can learn more at www dot music lesson pathways.com. Thank you for tuning into sounds of encouragement. Don't forget to subscribe so you get notified of future episodes. Enjoy the following episode. Don't forget to keep listening at the end and be sure to check out all the links in the comments or show notes. As always, I'm here for you. So you can be there for those who need you the most. Reach out to me at sound of encouragement@gmail.com and let me know how I can better support and encourage you. Look, Chrissa Granberry is a Milwaukee born native who has made her home in Chicago. She is an actress and singer who has performed on many stages, as well as a writer with a world premiere production coming this fall. She is beyond grateful for her community of family and friends and Panesar talent agency for their continued love and support. She aims to continue inspiring and transforming the human mind through the power of storytelling. Molly Rody is Associate Artistic Director of northern sky theater and has helped bring over 20 world premieres to the stage. She also acts directs and choreographs at theaters across Milwaukee and in Madison. She grew up in Wisconsin where she is proud to make her artistic home. Please welcome my guests look Chrissa Granberry and Molly Rody. Welcome to sounds of encouragement. My name is Melissa Slocum and I am welcoming two very special guests today. You heard about them in the BIOS Luke Chrissa Granberry and Molly Rody. Thank you both for joining me today. You bet. So my first question is you're both part of Door County amplify and northern sky Theater, which I'm a longtime fan of and supporter of describe for us, where is Door County? If my agent was to answer that question, she would say in the middle of nowhere was and some of us would like to kind of keep it that way. I always call it the some urine, some of the state. I like to put my little Wisconsin hand up and, and. And we're we're at you know, Door County AMPLIFi kind of covers the whole peninsula. When we're when we're uplifting artists, we think about Sturgeon Bay and north. And then sometimes we talk about beyond the county folks and, and we, we love lifting up. We love lifting up people that are across the region. So sometimes we go south of you know, to Green Bay and beyond to talk about folks but when we say dark County we mean that. Yes, yes. And, you know, it is one of the most beautiful places, you know, between the Bay of Green Bay and Lake Michigan, and so many wonderful things to do there including lots of art and all different kinds of art from theater and music to all sorts of great different artists and amazing things to do there. So if you haven't visited Door County, Wisconsin, we invite you Alright, so before we talk a little bit about encouragement, I wanted to ask you both to about Door County amplify because this is a new endeavor. Can you talk a little bit about how this got started and what Door County amplify is doing? I take the ring what is Door County amplify I think I'm in the wake of all that was happening in the world. I always describe roadie Molly Rody as someone who wants to fix everything yesterday. She wants to like you know, figure it all out yesterday. And I think in trying to figure out what can we do like what small part can we do to make a difference shift the focus from problems to not necessarily solutions but as solution like how do we begin to shift minds and embrace everybody's story? Right? This little baby was birth. Hmm. I love that. So it's a, it's a social media endeavor. And I can't remember quite, we definitely went through a bunch of iterations of what it what it was what it could be, we brainstormed a lot before we launched it. But what it became was a social media endeavor that supports black artists, Indigenous artists and artists of color that have an affiliation with your county, either as been local residents or being freelance artists that come in for summers or fall to work with the local arts organizations. Sometimes it's somebody visiting for just for just a single concert at the auditorium. But any bipoc artists that that have a Door County affiliation, we are celebrating and lifting up and just spreading the word about their about their work in the county. And celebrate celebration page. So it's encouragement is is sort of the name of the game. Just exactly, exactly. Which is why I wanted you to share about that, because I think that a lot of us out of pandemic life, you know, found that we needed something more. And we could do more, as things started to, you know, open up in terms of technology and opportunities through technology and social media. So I'm really excited about what you all are doing. Can you talk a little bit about encouragement in your own lives in the past? And what has encouragement look like? Because all of us, I feel like, got here somehow. And it took a lot of encouragement. Some of us it took more encouragement than others. But what does encouragement look like in your own lives? Oh, that's such an interesting question. For me, I think because I feel like I'm encouraged by so many things, be it music or artists or just people like sometimes watching people and how they navigate. When when good things happening, like I'll see they're still kind people in the world that's encouraging me a pivotal moment of encouragement in my own personal life. Because we're talking about Door County, give it a Door County answer is my first year working there. Which I I'll say at a pivotal moment of encouragement only because I had my hesitation. My hesitations with going up north and working up north and not knowing what to expect and what that experience would look like and be like, and, and then being in it. I I was I how do I say this some terminology of encouragement, I feel like I was um the place inspired me in ways that I have not been so inspired me to be still to learn how to be in nature, which I feel like I've learned so much about nature and quietness, and, and meditation, which I think that's just came to me be there. But I did not expect that. But it was really encouraging because it was like this beautiful place is there for everybody. And I didn't know that. And because I've been encouraged by that. I've wanted to encourage everybody else to come to their county. So their county has given me a lot of firsts and a lot of very growth moments while I've been there, and I think that's not something that a lot of people think about is their environment. And whether their environment is a place that breeds encouragement, and that breeds or that contributes to their well being or that contributes to that kind of lifestyle. And so I think you're right, I think that's why a lot of us are attracted and drawn there year after year. Yeah. How about five years? So? Yeah, yeah, I won't say how long I've been going there. But it's a little about you, Molly. It's interesting. Like I think it works both ways. I've I've been encouraged by a lot of mentors in my life that have you know, given me the given me the the confidence to pursue an artistic life, I gleaned that encouragement by watching, watching my mentors, build their own artistic lives and and, you know, artists that then became homeowners and got a dog and had a baby, you know, had made a life for themselves while still being artists encouraged me to pursue this path, and made me less scared about it. And then on the flip side, as I've grown older, I'm very encouraged by the fact that look, Chrissa has returned for five years, you know, that brings like one the place that I have kind of I do a lot of work around Wisconsin. I'm not but but my my mainstay job is with Northern states. theater. And so it's, it's become a life's work kind of choice. So when new artists come to the county and and have a profound experience that keeps them coming back, that, in itself is encouraging to me that, that I'm able to share what has become precious to me with others. And there's a ripple effect of, of the encouragement that the place offers. Because I have felt, that's why I keep coming back. I, I, I worked for door Shakespeare as my first county job and had a similar experience to the Chrissa was sort of like, Whoa, what is this place? And the place itself, the environment of of the county and the the dynamic of the community, there is absolutely what's kept me coming back. So I love I love seeing that play out with another generation of artists. As we continue our work up there, I think it's a really magical and special place to be. And that word magical is just something that I was gonna say. And it's not just magical because of the natural beauty. But I think it's magical because of the people. And you're kind of cluing into some of that. Are there people that you want to mention that we're particularly encouraging to either one of you? Oh, my goodness, indoor County. I know. It's like everybody, but it really, I, I feel like I have like family in Door County because they really have truly embraced me. Um, I mean, in my own words, but like, I'll give a shout out, I'll give a shout. So the Feldman's I love Oh, love Holly Feldman and her family and her parents, Joyce and Dan. I, oh, my goodness. Dennis and Eileen, me born are some of my favorite people in Door County. I'm Katie doll is one of my favorite people in Door County, obviously, Molly Rody and her. I, I'm really trying to think like, is there anyone? I feel like I've met everyone through the theater? Yeah. But is there anyone outside of the theater? That I've met in Door County? That sticks? Women? I can't think at the moment, I'm sure it's okay. But there's so many people, yeah. there anybody that you want to shout out to barley, I'm like liquor says, sort of like an avalanche of names come to mind. But, you know, my, my, my colleagues at northern sky are immensely encouraging. And it's a it's some it's a, it's a special community to be a part of, on the staff of, and I think, I think immediately of Nene rock was our production stage manager for for forever, for my whole time there, who we lost last year. But her her steady, her steady manner of, of running the ship was was beyond encouraging. She, she she established a safe space and an equilibrium that just always, always brought everybody back to even keel brought brought us to level brought us perspective. And she was a huge gift to to my time in the county. And it's so wonderful to see, you know, all of you continue to honor her and her legacy and to just, you know, continue. Because it's such an amazing, I mean, northern sky is amazing Door County amplify is going to be just huge. I know and amazing. already is. And I think part of the part of what's so magical about that place is all of the artists and how supportive everyone is and how encouraging everyone is that there's not that sense of competition like oh, you're at door Shakespeare or Oh, you're at Peninsula players or Oh, you're at northern sky. There's room for everyone and there's room for everything. Yeah, and I think that reminds me I should say that in you know, talking about encouragement and individuals in the county. Look, Chris and I have had a lot of encouragement from the Paha organizations the you know Peninsula arts and humanities organizations and the leadership at at those at those organizations have been a big help to us in getting Door County amplify off the ground and circulating and that's been that's been a really big deal to be for, for our idea to be embraced by by so many folks, and it's been a big help been really dear. Yeah. You were smiling lacrosse at a minute ago. It was something you said that just rang with me. I think the concept of there's room for everyone I like that idea, I think is when I think of your county amplify, not everybody knows that there's one for everyone. And when I say not everyone, I think particularly BiPAC artists who comes there is like, I don't think I belong there, or this place isn't for me. And I think a part of our mission and not only sharing with the residents, the community of our county, like, hey, there are these bipoc artists coming into community, but for BiPAC artists who are coming into this community to look around and see hey, you have like a, like other people who's been here. And also you have a slew of people, a whole lot of folks ready to welcome you and celebrate you with welcome arms and race you and say, there is room for you here. We do want you to come here and we want you to be a part of us as well. And then come again. And so I when you said that I was like that's, that's it? Yeah. That's our mission. Yeah. So when you think about encouragement, sometimes there's a fine line between encouragement and expectation. And I know as artists, singers, musicians, actors, sometimes the expectations can be piled on pretty, pretty high. How have you gone about discerning between what is someone's expectation of you versus actual true encouragement? Where do you want to start? It's a deep one, Melissa? Yeah. And, uh, you know, I will, if I will qualify that by I feel like women get more of that. But maybe not. Yeah, I don't I that's a hard question to unpack. But I, I think what I what I know, has allowed us to have success with Door County amplify for a year, we celebrated our first birthday. Yes, January 27. So we're a year old. And, and I think I personally, was piling on the expectation for myself, you know, even more so than than other folks, my expectations were a little out of whack. And it took some recalibrating to, to make it a manageable task, and to keep it simple enough and streamlined and but we got there. And by, by kind of putting boundaries on what is what, what, what can't. What are you able to What are you What do you have space for really, and some and some days, it's different than other days, you know, what? What you can sort of add to your plate and say, Okay, I'm going to take this on. And I think I, I have the pandemic inspired me to sort of learn about myself and to continue to take stock more regularly than I used to, about what do I have capacity for, and it's in, it's going to change day to day and week to week, but trying to sort of assess that and, and then create my own expectations accordingly. So that I'm not, I'm not so hard on myself, and not creating more work than I can achieve writing feel good about, you know, so, so you've developed that inner yardstick for lack of better word I'm trying. Yeah, um, but I but I think the the success of our page this year is a is a lot because, you know, look, Chris and I talked, talked quite a bit early on about what can we what can we expect from ourselves what is really what's what's realistic, and we, we kept our goals pretty basic. And, and because of that, I, I feel like I'm very, very excited and satisfied with with how we're doing and how many people have become involved and the visibility of the page and the ripple effect of the you know, trying to be the Welcome Wagon and I'm, we've seen a lot of I think we've seen a lot of good residual effects of having started this project. It feels very, very positive from the community and when I think back Larissa tiss you know, some of the my ideas early on that were just so to way too big I'm it's it's funny but I think yeah, that's that's that's the best I can do on that part. Good. That's good. Dare I add please do Oh, I mean, I think I agree with everything. Brody, some I think the thing that sticks out to me the most is being realistic with yourself and your expectations for yourself. Because I think I think I think when you're not realistic, it's no longer fun to do when you feel like you have to do a whole lot, and it's no longer encouraging yourself. And if you can't encourage yourself in the process, like, if you can't be, you can't get other people on board to do that. And so that's I don't know that I offered anything more except for it, you know, but I think that that also is, is one of the things that a lot of us who are creatives I know, I struggle with, I'm always the one who in my family will just, they always I always go to them. And I say, I have this idea. And they're always like, Oh, no, she has another idea. Because I'm always coming up with something amazing, you know, that I think should be done. And that could be done and maybe why not me, you know, but I have so much else going on. And so I think having those people around you not only your own inner, you know, barometer or your own inner yardstick to measure like, what what's realistic, but then having those people, right to sort of be able to talk with and say now, you know, let's edit, let's let's simplify, let's clarify. Right, it helps. I think we have a good balance in relationship, especially working with your county amplify of expectation and encouragement, like we have a really good balance here rather than level. Yeah. And that's a very special relationship to have. That's great. So during pandemic life, everything got shut down. No theater, right? No live music. Everything got shut down. And it's been a long haul, we everybody had to kind of flip online and kind of figure things out and pursue other things, including learn technology, like zoom. And how did you both stay encouraged and hopeful and creative? And how did you move through? encouraged? What was the second word? hopeful? Creative? Yeah. Oh, encouraged, helpful and creative. All three of those, well pick one or whatever, you know, how did it but how did you get through pandemic life because I personally know a lot of creatives who just gave up, you know, they, they just when things were done, they were done, too. We didn't stop. Yeah. I mean, not knowing scale, as an organization didn't stop, right, just pivoted and, and reinvented ourselves for that for that year and a half before, you know, in between being able to have audiences, right. And as a staff member of northern sky, I roped in all kinds of artists into our online activities, and Larissa was one of those people. We had all kinds of folks that, you know, had to be laid off from what was going to be our 50th anniversary season. Right. And instead, you know, we weren't, we weren't able to, to provide those, those long term jobs. But we tried to do as much as much little stopgap time type of stuff as we could and provide some level of income to a lot of a lot of our freelance artists with online projects. So Chris was incredibly gracious to provide quite a lot of media content for our online endeavors. And we also did a workshop of her new musical during the pandemic. So she was writing a whole play there. I, I think that, you know, the world was sort of on pause. But I didn't feel like we had a big artistic break. I feel like we were forging ahead and just doing it in new ways. You know, the workshop was on Zoom, you know, instead of right bat person, but it was still the same amount of work. Yeah, you know, I, I agree with what you just said, I think both as a member of northern sky, a company member of northern sky, and also as an individual artist, I was still doing things. And like, even when I wasn't doing anything for particular theater, or like, I was making tic tock YouTube videos just for fun, like I was I, I think I entertained myself, I threw a whole, like, virtual birthday party for my Facebook Live. And I was I was doing the most, um, it's awesome, because I was also like, in Chicago, in my apartment by myself. And so I was writing everything. I was writing a play working on the musical. I'm working on a book and like I was doing all the right and I could possibly do, creating all the virtual content I could create did a virtual play with Renaissance theater works and did a lot a lot, a lot of virtual stuff with northern sky healing session. And in the summer, which was it came, I mean, it was birthed out of northern sky. So anything ended up being something that are their patrons, and everybody was invited to the whole one woman show you did a whole one woman show in my apartment by myself. Um, so I, you know, I think that was, that's, that's how I made it through. And also, I gotta say, over and over again, my community like my peoples, because I think my creative mind my creative desire only, um, it only stay lit because of them. And, you know? Yeah. So, yeah, I would have to agree that I think the just keeping on and keeping going, and just learning all the new stuff and doing and just trying things, just trying with, like, just try it. And see what happens is a lot of what kept me going and kept me creative and kept me moving through and always trying new things, whether it was with my private students, or with my studio as a whole, or whatever else I was doing, you know, let's just try it and see what happens. And it actually, you know, created so much more, and so much more opportunity, and so many more ideas, that now I feel like people who were able to pivot and stay creative and move through now are doing incredible work. And it's like, you know, I'm not gonna say that. It's maybe made anybody a millionaire, but a lot of businesses have come out the other side a lot better off. I agree with that. Yeah. So for those who are still discouraged, who might not be as encouraged as we are, as hopeful as we are, who may or may be still kind of dealing with pandemic, I don't know that I want to say depression, but who are dealing with things about the pandemic, and who are still working through a lot of things? What encouragement would you like to offer those people? Oh, give yourself grace. Just had a conversation with someone yesterday, like give yourself some grace, and tap back in one step at a time. You know, you don't have to take the whole stairwell down just one step at a time, do what you can give yourself grace. And this wasn't easy, even for you know, I think even for those of us who tumbled through it, it wasn't an easy tumble through I can only like, I think back to the number of phone calls and conversations and the the seesaw moments of just just Rody and I alone, you know, conversations and phone calls, like, Okay, pick yourself up today, you got this, you're not you know, and then I feel like, a couple days later, you're telling me um, so we've stumbled through, it wasn't easy. So, like that, I think that's real. And it's okay, if you're in a hard place, give yourself some grace. And I think it's gonna be a long time before any of us feel truly like I don't back back to balance or whatever, I don't know, fully re energized to take on the industry because even now that it's open again. It's still it's still scary. Um, you know, it's still hard. Like, nothing is as was and it probably won't be again, so trying to find the readjustment for everything. And getting to a place where where steady flowing again, and take some time. So give yourself do what you can and know that you're doing all you can. That's my only encouragement. I love that I love how you say tumbled through. Because I think that's so accurate because I don't think any of us gracefully managed Oh, no, it was It was messy. What were you gonna say Molly about what kept you or what you want to share? I was just gonna say what she said. Yeah, what she said is my answer. Yeah, I agree. You know, and for anyone who does not have those close relationships where you know, you have people that you can connect to that you can reach out to to give you that kind of like, you're gonna be okay you're gonna make it you know, and have that sense of support and encouragement. There are lots of places and I will link some resources in the show notes. There are lots of places including Door County amplify including a lots of other mental health resources, and places and people that you can connect to and always reach out to me at sound of encouragement at Gmail if you are feeling that and if you just need one person to connect to. There are so many in the creative communities who have inspired one another and who have supported one another and lifted one another up, which is part of why I am so excited to see Door County amplify, just be born and achieve such great success already in a short time. I want to get to the music I always ask for a top five songs of encouragement. And this is one of my favorites. And unfortunately, I can only play about 10 seconds of each song and Lucretia, you were generous enough to share your top five and have you Did you see any of these Molly? Do you know what we're going to play? No, I'm excited. Oh, good. Okay, cuz this will be a, this will be a fun surprise. So I'm going to share screen. I'm gonna play the first clip here. Here we go. And then the Chris, I'm gonna ask you to talk a little bit about each one after I play. So this is a song called there's hope by India. Is that Ari did I get that right, Andy? All right. All right, here we go. Oh, I hate to stop talking about that one. That is one of my favorite songs. Honestly, I have been listening to Dre most over half of my life for a long time. Okay, um, I've been listening to her. And I remember being in high school, like, jamming out to India. I mean, I think the song says that all. We talk about encouragement and hope. One of the best things that she said it doesn't cost the thing to smile. You don't have to pay to laugh. Yeah, right. Oh, we are in search for so much in the world that in stuff that we think you know, we need all costs, you think you need to be rich and have 1000s of dollars. But like, the thing that actually counts, the thing that matters, the thing that keeps us sane. And Kenya is smiling and laughing and and being kind. It doesn't hurt and it doesn't cost anything and what would the world look like if we did more of that. So that gives me hope. That's it. I love India. I love that. I love that. So this next song that you chose is Beyonce, and brown skinned girl, holy cow, what a great and again, go. All these links are in the show notes. So go listen to the whole thing again, because I'm sure you've heard this. I'm sure everybody's familiar with it. But wow. Brown Skin. Skin just like anybody else? I want to listen to the whole thing. Yes. Oh, okay. I am a super huge Beyonce fan. But beyond that this song. Really? Oh, I remember when it first came out, which is not that long, though. Yeah. And media, social media. Everybody was posting throughout their timelines, videos of little brown skinned girls jamming out to this. And I was like, Oh, this is a game changer. Because what you are putting on the inside of you, what you are receiving on the inside about you is something that lifts you like, it teaches you how to embrace yourself and love yourself. And I just I love that. And I think that that's yeah, that's everything. Learned how to love yourself. And one of my favorite authors. Black History moment for everybody. Okay, well, my favorite authors is James Baldwin. Oh, and, um, and he has, I won't quote him because I would butcher it. But I think he teaches a lot about what the world would look like, if everybody and when I say everybody, he talks particularly about why people but if everybody would learn to love themselves, yeah. What would they do for us? And I think the song teaches that learn how to love yourself in a world that tries to hate everything. Learn how to love yourself, and especially in a world that tries to hate based on skin color. Oh, goodness. Yeah. Yeah. And I love you know, the whole if you haven't seen the video in a while, it's so cinematic, and it's so gorgeously done and it's just like, I just want to you know, soak it all up and everyone is so beautiful in that whole video. It's just like, Ah, I just want to go hug everybody because they're gorgeous. So yeah, I agree. I Oh, yeah. So lovely. It's a lovely it's a it's just a uplifting song for anybody no matter what, where you come from who you are, it's a great song. This next one is very, very powerful. And I love this. The video too, is just really striking. So this is our Lissa, we won't move her vocals are just to die for and so we're just going to hear a tiny bit of the chorus if you haven't seen or heard the song, go listen to the whole thing. It's incredible. Yeah, talking about resilience. He talked about standing, you know, steadfast and fighting the good fight or being on the right side of history or, you know, just making a proclamation that you won't get us this time, nothing will tear us down. We will keep fighting, we will keep going. Yeah, that's I think all of these songs speak for themselves. What they mean to me is it's just, I guess those are my, it's my I have I think I told you this, I have a whole playlist called Song. Yes, I have a whole playlist called Songs of hope. And these are all pulled from that playlist, which was hard to do. I was like, Wait, which songs do I choose? Yeah. But they, they all keep me lifted in different ways. And what I loved about the songs that you chose, is all of them tell a story. And they're all great storytelling, they all have incredible lyrics. And then a lot of them have videos that also are just incredible storytelling as just the video matches up with the lyric and the beat and the how the song is constructed. And so I really appreciated the strong sense of storytelling. And it just made so much sense to me to you know, as an actor, that you would have songs that encourage you that are all about storytelling. And that were the lyrics are so strong. Mm hmm. Yeah. Oh, my goodness. I could say a lot more. But I'm going to leave that one there. We're going to move over to Andrea day. Oh, one of my favorites. Actually. I keep a lot of music at my piano just to play through when I'm feeling down. This is stand up for something again, another incredibly powerful song. I'm going to play just about 10 seconds and then I'll let you talk about it you got to watch that. Oh, and her vocals Wow. Yeah. Oh, this. That's that song is truly a message for everybody. You know that the last line? Right before the video cuts out? She says So I stand up for you. Yeah, I stand up for you. And, and really, you know, in thinking about the question of your life, what is my purpose? What is my life? What am I doing? In that? I'm like, what? Yeah. What does it mean? What does it mean to stand up for somebody? What does it mean to be all together in it? You know? Yeah. And, you know, it was so interesting that you chose the song. And if you go, click on the show notes, and the link to this video, go watch the video, because this is capturing also a moment in history, and telling quite the story. But you know, it's while it's uplifting, it's also just a tiny bit heartbreaking for me, because here I am in the Atlanta area. And we have just, you know, we've had far too long, have so much conflict, and so much heartbreak. And finally, there are some families that are seeing justice, we've just gone through a mod arbory. And we have seen that very, I mean, Brunswick is our neighbor. And it has been very hard to watch. And I remember when the verdicts were passed down locally, my daughter and I stopped what we were doing and we just the tears, we cried, because we felt just finally like maybe something is about to change. Maybe something is about to break. But while that's wonderful, it's also a bit heartbreaking that we're still we're still fighting so hard. And and why, you know, it's so important that you all are doing the work that you're doing with Door County amplify. And I've said in other interviews too, that I've done with other people, as long as I have this platform As long as I have a space, I'm going to use it to uplift the voices that get denied elsewhere. And that's what I'm about here to add sounds of encouragement. It's not just being fun and uplifting, but it's about giving voice where voices have been denied in the past. So I really appreciate you sharing this particular Andre De song because very, very powerful. Go listen to the whole thing. Go watch the video. All right. You had also sent another one to buy under day. Go ahead. No, I'm listening. Oh, and I chose to leave that one out of this. But it'll be in the show notes. So there'll be a little bonus for you in the show notes. Another Ondra day, we're gonna go to this last one. This last one is Mary J. Blige. And hopefully this will work here. Okay. Again, powerful storytelling, this is mighty river from the movie mudbound, which I have to confess I have not seen this movie. But now after listening to this this morning, I'm gonna go find this movie this weekend if I can. And this is just a short clip of Mighty River Take a listen to the whole thing. gotta listen to the whole thing. Definitely one where you got to listen to the whole thing. And I think um, and listen, particularly to her lyrics and that song, especially in the beginning. Get her I remember my first time listen to the song and I was like, Oh my It Like It moves my insides because it really is about the collective. Yeah, I think that that visual just showed you that too. But the collective as in all of us. And I think we operate sometimes not operate. Sometimes we operate majority of the time on a very divided basis. And it's really hard when operating like that. And when being set up in such a when our when our society is set up like that, to figure out how to operate as a collective, I guess, is a very hard thing. And so I feel like that's what that song is for me is it's what does it mean to operate as collective? What does it look like to get to that point? I think the video shows some of that. But also, the song is, yeah, go listen to it. And you know, it is hopeful. And it does end as a very hopeful, uplifting, inspiring piece of music. And that's also why I'm like, Oh, I have to go find this movie now because I want to go see the whole thing. What can I ask a follow up to for both of you, when you are looking to be uplifted in terms of your mood? Is there a certain type of music that you go to? Or is it just whatever? Depends on what has me down? Ah, yeah, um, last week in my in my apartment, I played a lot of soulful jazz. Um, and I was just living for it like jammin completely out with that. And I don't remember what I think I was just overwhelmed. And I was like, I just need something light and easy to feed or whatever. And then there are other times where I will go. Like, if I'm frustrated, or I don't know, I will play some Jazmine Sullivan or Toby artists and he's like, a lot of his music is you can find it in different ways he does. I don't know he has a lot of music, but a lot of it is it speaks to the heart it speaks to it speaks to our human experience. Sure. And sometimes it's just it's not rap. Yeah, but it is. It is swag. That's awesome. But the band is on the move. Yeah, yeah, I agree. How about you, Molly. I have a 10 year old daughter and we've been on a Sesame Street kick. But watching the they're all available on HBO Max back to 1969. Wow. Not every episode, but select episodes from every season all the way back. And so we've been we've been watching the old old classic ones. And there is so much beautiful Muppets music. Yes. I mean, it's, it's it's it's not. I mean, really, really famous, really famous musicians like Buffy Sainte Marie and like really, really diverse musicians that were featured on that show back in the 70s right out of the gate. And and that that that that palette of music has been super uplifting to me while we've been doing that, because it's stuff that I forgot about things that when I was a child really sat with me and I remember it, and I would sing around the house and, and but you forget, you know, your brain gets piled up with new memories and other things, unless something is right right at the forefront, sometimes those things stay locked away. So I've had this weird moment in the past month, where I've just been really enjoying revisiting songs that I loved from childhood, because of watching old episodes with her. So that's I love that because I think we all have different points in our lives where we connect so powerfully with different art, whether it's music or theater, or something else, or you know, some other medium. And, you know, those memories from childhood are so powerful, and from adolescence are so powerful. So sometimes reconnecting to those I think is totally uplifting and encouraging and hopeful and life giving. So and of course, most of the content from that show is all about how to be a good human Yeah, and how, you know, if they were they were working toward inclusion, way before it became sort of a national buzzword and goal. And so all of all of that, all of that content that is being is being taught to that really early, you know, pre K kind of age is so important to adults, so important to everybody. So, um, yeah, it feels onpoint for the stuff that we're all working through together. I feel like we could all like, sit and you know, go back to Sesame Street and electric company and Reading Rainbow LeVar Burton, I just want to sit and listen to LeVar Burton, right, you know, read. And like that would be just so good for us, you know, so good for our souls. Oh, my goodness, where can people find out more about Door County amplify and all your great work on our Facebook page. If you are a Facebook user, you can find us at Door County amplify on Facebook. And the best way to participate in what we're all about is to follow us or like us, so that our posts show up in your newsfeed. And then the amplification process is all about sharing the content, liking the content, commenting on the content, as the more folks engage with the posts that we that we put out, the more the more people see them, the more visibility happens with the social media algorithm. And that's how the amplification ripple effect. Benefits the artists that we are celebrating and go see those artists because a lot of times you're not only highlighting artists, but the shows and where they're playing or where they're appearing. Go see go support them. Yes, that's exactly right. Yeah. Oh, thank you both so so much for spending this time with me today and for sharing about Door County amplify and sharing about encouragement. I know that a lot of people, whether they're listening or watching are going to be excited and uplifted and encouraged by your energy and all the great work that you're doing. Is there anything else that either of you would like to share before I let you go? I know. All right, so we're gonna call it a day here. Thank you all so much for listening and watching to this episode of sounds of encouragement. As always, I am here for you and if you need any kind of encouragement reached out to me at sound of encouragement@gmail.com Thanks again for tuning in. Thank you for listening. Please click on the show notes to learn more about my guest and to listen to their top songs of encouragement. If you have found value in these podcasts, please share the podcast with those you know, leave a positive review or support the show at buy me a coffee.com Sounds of encouragement is a podcast production of music grow LLC, part of growing musicians and teachers everywhere. Sounds of encouragement is hosted produced and edited by Melissa Slocum. To get in touch contact sound of encouragement@gmail.com you can also find sounds of encouragement on clubhouse drop in weekly for a dose of personal encouragement theme music by Melissa Slocum and Steve trusler music mixed and mastered by Steve trusler. thank you to Steve Tressler and Christina Lowe priori who encouraged me to do this in the first place. And remember, I'm here for you, so you can be there for those who need you. The most