837. - Alexis Okeowo

25:15Yeah, right. Oh, Lolita, I do quarterly. Lolita, I do quarterly. But that's different. Speaking of, the blueprint. But does it make you, is it comforting? It is comforting. And also, it's so long ago that I forgot some plot points. so then when i see it i'm reminded and it feels good i'm like yeah you bitches yeah it's really nice of you to call it plot points because that is that that's really generous

25:40Jason Stewart:is what you're what you're talking about um okay so i i did not have a chance to fully read the book but i did some skimming i did some some poking around have some broad thoughts um so So grew up in Alabama, then to Princeton. Uh-huh. Have any of the learned WASP tendencies that you picked up in Princeton carried over into your current life? That's interesting. Yeah, I feel like there's a – the thing I learned most from Princeton was like a sense of entitlement, which is very valuable. You never give that up, baby. Never give that up. I have that already, but that's my birthright, so I didn't need to go to Ivy League for that.

26:22Jason Stewart:Well, I think maybe if you're lacking, sorry for cutting you off, I'll let you finish, but if you might be lacking some of that, then having a sense of it that you pick up from that crowd and those people of entitlement could just net you out at zero in a healthy, normal amount, not being too entitled. I'm not saying you're at a deficiency for entitlement, but many of us are. It also let me know what the signifiers in East Coast culture are. I write about growing up in the South, and there are all these certain symbols of status in the South that are completely different when I went to Princeton.

27:03You know, like, oh, it's fancy. You can have a summer at the lake, or you drive a certain kind of truck. And then I get there, and it's like, oh, this is real money. The status signifiers are so different. The boats are a little bigger.

27:18Jason Stewart:The boats are less pontoon. Lake boat versus ocean boat. Yeah, exactly. Okay. Exactly. I think I had that crash course when I moved to New York as well. Because I think I sort of knew or thought I knew. And then you encounter it in a real way. You're like, oh, no, this is different. Exactly. I went to, in my class, Oliver Stone's son was in my class. and like there was like a couple years below me like a descendant of i don't know rockefeller somebody and i was like oh okay y 'all got real money it's it's different it ain't my dad's in construction exactly it's a little bit it's a little bit different it's a little bit yeah but there's i think there's a real renaissance or you know people are are loving the idea of in the near future as all of our coding jobs that we thought were going to be the only way out are starting to fizzle out i think having the dad who has the the modest 20 million dollar roofing industry or hvac repair company that has become much more coveted than you know being like a tech guru person because it's not such a fleeting thing that could could change on a dime you know no and it's also real republican yeah no queer work you know no nerd stuff real america real real america i i don't know i so did you feel like you were really out of sorts or did you kind of just get in step no upon arrival no i thought it starts which was crazy because everyone was like oh crimson is the most conservative preppy of all the schools up north and then i get there and it's like yeah they dress preppy but no one's really like no one's not that i'm conservative but no one was conservative no one's like of that mindset and when i told everyone when i where i was from They were like, looked at me like I was from outer space.

29:10And I was like, y 'all haven't ever been. Well, excuse me. Yeah. If I'm, if I'm from Rhode Island, Montgomery is outer space. I think that's fair. I don't think that's that crazy. They know about Alabama and they've heard of it. But yeah. How upset was your family and your, your kind of school teachers that you didn't go to University of Alabama? Because they need people like you. Extremely. Extremely. And I was supposed to go. But in the end, I couldn't do it. But yeah. I was like one of three people in my high school who left. And I wondered for a while if it was a mistake. I mean, I don't think anyone from my high school made it to an Ivy League college in the history of the school.

29:46So you're doing better than my graduating class.

29:51Jason Stewart:Do you feel like it was less of a mistake now that the time has passed? Yeah, totally. What do you think the chances are percentage-wise that at some point you will stack your bands, make all of your money, do your TED Talks and your book tours? and then eventually retire back home in Alabama. Oh, I love this manifestation of bands to stack. Yeah, I... I mean, you said mortgage. We talk to a lot of writers that live in a damn cardboard box. Yeah, they don't have a mortgage. Their ass on Shimon and Schuster. Yeah, they're buying... Yeah, they're in Bushwick, you know, four bedroom, and they share it.

30:26It's different. It's very different. Well, I thought mortgages, the working man's, you know, the rich people buy it all cash. Okay. You know, every day we buy it. This is a great way to buy the mortgage. Me, I'm working class. I have four properties, but I have to pay more. What an angle. That's really good. I'm using that. I'm using that. Yeah, I could see you making it back to, you make it back down to Alabama. Maybe you're a professor, you know, one of the esteemed universities. I would love to have a country house, like just out in the country. Lots of green, maybe by a broad stream. And Alabama is a lot cheaper than Connecticut.

30:59So this is something you can, this is a real matter, but you have to fly there. So I guess that's like, you know, that adds to it. And then connect in Atlanta. How much time did you spend in my hometown of Atlanta growing up? Oh, my God. Yeah. I mean, Atlanta was like our New York City growing up.

31:15Jason Stewart:That's right. Especially the black folks. That was like. That's right. Black Hollywood does this. Exactly. So I loved it. Whenever we would drive in for the weekend, I was like, oh, my God, it's so big, the highways. So you would go like as a family or you're saying like in high school, you and the girlies would get in the car to go turn up. Both? Both, yeah. Okay, both. I like that. So were you sneaking into Atlanta nightclubs as an underage student? We try. I mean, the problem is we all looked really young. I did my best. A curse that still curses you to this day. Yeah, I was going to say, you look 24.

31:50Yeah. So I would card you before entering the hookah bar. Yeah. Exactly. So we would go to the mall. We would do what we did in Alabama. We'd go to the mall, hang out. You know, in Alabama, we did everything in the mall. You'd go to the food court, you'd go to the movie theater, you go to the fast two plates that also serves beer it's like all in the mall then you hang out in the parking lot i i look okay i get it but you're saying you you would drive four hours or whatever to atlanta to the same thing two hours oh it's two okay you would drive two hours for a nicer different mall let's say well in atlanta there's different cuter boys hanging out at the

32:26Jason Stewart:bojangles than the ones that you've grown up seeing every damn day right not uh chick-fil-a not the jingle okay chick-fil-a come on jason we're talking about atlanta bro this is chick-fil-a is is that's god's country that's we don't we don't step on that i've been i've been thinking about giving chick-fil-a a second chance i've never i've never understood it or enjoyed it or i didn't i never got the all the fuss alexis what's your chick-fil-a order oh god okay i have two one is like the like what's your drunk order and what's your sober order what's your real name What's your stripper name? You can give us your stud name if you want to.

33:06Nuggets, fries, sauce. Okay.

33:09Jason Stewart:Wait, wait. Say that again. Nuggets, fries. What kind of sauce? Polynesian. Yeah, yeah. Polynesian. Okay. Is that offensive? And then, or the chicken sandwich. If you say so. Chicken sandwich. Pickles or no pickles? No pickles. God, no. Yeah. The pickles are a big part of it. I'm a pickle hater myself, but I always tell Jason that Chick-fil-A, the real appeal is the breakfast. Oh, yes. Eating a chicken biscuit feels pretty aggressive at 8 a.m. Unless you're a fat Chris going to middle school, and then it's perfect, you know? Or anyone at an airport. Yeah, or when I visit my parents, my dad will go pick up chicken biscuits for the family.

33:46I love that. See, that's good parenting right there. That's good parenting right there. Do they still live in Montgomery? They do, yeah. Okay, so do they think you're a freak, or are they proud of you? They're proud. It's funny how Southern they've become. You know, like my dad wore camo. Because you mean they immigrated, so it was like a full, they fully just dove in. Exactly. And I guess they came as college students, so after enough time, you kind of assimilate fully. So your dad's wearing like roll-tied sweatshirts and camo shorts, and you're like, what the fuck is this? Exactly. And then he's like greedy.

34:22Yeah. I mean, but I have camo too.

34:25Jason Stewart:so yeah have uh have your parents picked up any american tendencies that you believe are are positive like you're glad they've been inherited um yeah well what's positive yeah i guess just you know believing in in uh freedom of choice freedom of expression you know they become so tolerant when you know looking at people from different lifestyles and such less sexist even Even in Alabama? Yeah, even in Alabama, exactly. I mean, I would say that my parents have evolved as well, and they credit me to some extent with exposure to things that I make sound very normal and cool that they have never actually encountered maybe, but they've changed their feelings about it because of the way it's presented.

35:19Jason Stewart:Because they read it on GQ. I'm so proud of you, Chris. Yeah, when I heard you. Yeah, yeah. My mom listens to this show, so she should not be proud of me. But I think that maybe some of the reading helps bring her back into the fold. Yes, yes. She's so proud. I mean, but now everyone in Alabama, I'm pretty much supportive of, like, you know, gay folks and all that. But when I was growing up, it was different. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I mean, I think everywhere is pretty – I feel like most major cities, you can – you know, if I'm in Montgomery, I can definitely go find a fucking boy genius barista living their best life.

35:53Like that's not out of the question for there. Exactly. There are lots of they that comes about. I was in Kansas City. It was hella. I was like, it's so interesting that those places that seem like the worst place to be if you're trying to do anything like that. I guess it's like, I guess it's good. I guess it's overall positive.

36:13Jason Stewart:A theme in the book, forced closeness. Something that happens in the South. uh intimacy without equality does new york also have that this episode of how long gone is brought to you by quince jason as you know but some of our listeners might not quince specializes in everyday staples that work harder like their ultra soft organic cotton teas and premium mongolian cashmere sweaters i i like my navy blue v-neck uh cashmere sweater i wear it all the time it's a little hot right now but it's a go-to uh it's versatile timeless and it transitions seamlessly from a casual workday to a big dinner out.

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37:30Get free shipping and 365-day returns now available in Canada. Let's go. And the UK, mate. Q-U-I-N-C-E.com slash howlong. You've heard us talk about BetterHelp for a long-ass time, but I don't know that we've ever actually talked about how much people love the service when they actually use it. You can go check it out for yourself. You don't have to believe me and Bozo here. You can go to betterhelp.com slash reviews, and you can read all the amazing reviews in real time. They're updated every day with hundreds of people saying how much they love BetterHelp and how helpful it's been to them.

38:02Jason Stewart:They're going to be great reviews, and you can see like, oh, this person recommended this therapist for this one specific thing, and that's what I'm interested in as well. Let the reviews help you find who you need to look for and with over 6 million people having already used the BetterHelp app globally, this consistent feedback from real users makes it easy to see why so many people continue to use BetterHelp. See the reviews, see what stands out, and see if BetterHelp is right for you. Visit betterhelp.com slash howlong. That's betterhelp.com slash howlong. No cap. This is a service I use all the time, Jason, because I'm not like you.

38:37I'm not super handy. I don't have a toolbox. Thank God there's TaskRabbit. So when I need some of my art hung or something put together, maybe some shelving units or whatever it may be, I always call TaskRabbit and a nice young person with a backpack stocked with tools and other useful items shows up and takes care of any problem I have. And the best part is I can search for them based on cost, skill set, availability, client reviews. So I know who's showing up. I know they're going to do a good job and I know I'm not going to have to, you know, kind of run away when they come inside.

39:12Jason Stewart:But Chris, I know how to do stuff. I'm handy. But then, you know, as you get older, time is money. Money is time. Certain projects, you know, the gate needs a new coat of black paint. You know, it's been hot or whatever. I could do it, but it's starting to look pretty nice to go on TaskRabbit, pay a professional to come over and do it. The cleanup's going to be done. The disposal of the shit's going to be done. It's exactly what you want. And quite frankly, it's worth the money. Never hang another TV as long as you live. Just call TaskRabbit. When life happens, your to-do list grows. Get ahead of it now and get$15 off your first task at TaskRabbit.com on the TaskRabbit app using promo code HOWLONG.

39:49Taskers book out fast, especially for same-day tasks, so book trusted home help today. That's$15 off your first task using promo code HOWLONG with the TaskRabbit app or at TaskRabbit.com. That's interesting. Well, yeah, because my point is that in the South, the races have had to live more closely together than any other part. so for all the talk of like oh oh my god it's so racist in the south yeah i feel like black and white people do know each other better just because we we interact more in a sense as opposed to like a place in new york where allegedly the segregation is even worse and you can don't really have to interact you know with people of other races socialize work with them yeah people say that about as much people say that about atlanta too that it's like this very interesting like everybody has to interact and it's like kind of all good you know at least at least uh outwardly it's all good and i that's what i found at least i mean i i don't i don't know i i'm sure everybody's experience is different as they say but forced closeness is real as hell and it's like i mean i've used this example before but it was really interesting during like covid at lennox the people that didn't give a fuck that wanted to hang out were black people and rich white people and they were at the mall and they were building and it was all everybody was everybody was like i ain't wearing a mask i'm just shopping i don't give a fuck and i was like damn that see shit can bring

41:15Jason Stewart:people together the things the things that would surprise you so dr fauci after he created the novel coronavirus in wuhan he had one thing and one thing only on his mind equality i think maybe this is a good spin for fauci fauci's gonna live another day because of the equality that he sort of forced upon us it's nice thought you said you're welcome not wearing masks and epstein brings us all together honestly those might be the two those really are two of the the best things to bridge a gap i had to go to atlanta during covid to report a story and i was wearing a mask and people were looking at me like i was crazy so i eventually did take it off um but i eventually i eventually was like you know what maybe this is stupid i'm out of here with this you were peer You're pressured by the community.

42:03What were you reporting in Atlanta? Well, what's so funny is I took it off. I was interviewing the then mayor of Atlanta. And it turns out that after the interview, she found out she had COVID. So she had exposed me. I luckily didn't get it. But I was just like, of course, the irony. This wasn't a Zoom meeting, I'm assuming. No, it was in person. Where did you do this interview? We did it in her office. Oh, wow.

42:30Jason Stewart:okay so you were at the you were at ground zero yeah but you did not get it your immune system was able to defeat the mayoral covet yeah strong mayoral covet it was great i yeah i felt very proud i felt very proud yeah i feel like was this during the period where like atlanta was the world stage politically 2020 yeah yeah because i think that was um that was an interesting people were asking me a lot of questions that i had no answer to i'm like bro i don't fucking know like i don't I don't know. I mean, I know some of the ads were crazy. That's what my parents would talk about the most is like this guy's, there was the guy running for mayor that I can't remember his name, who had the ad where he was insinuating that he was going to show his daughter's date a gun to like let her know what time it is.

43:19And I was like, damn, this is the most Georgia shit I have ever seen.

43:22Jason Stewart:If you touch your girlfriend, I will kill you. I loved it. I loved it. Is it true the kind of overarching theme of the book is that if we want to, we're able to sort of get a petri dish sample of America as a whole just by examining the state of Alabama, or maybe it's the perfect place to begin the discussion or the observation. so it seems like that is true my question is could one say that most states fit that role or is what is specific about alabama well alabama compared to other places yeah that's a question i mean it's it's where all the extremes have happened because it was like the home place the birth of the confederacy and also the home of the civil rights movement it's like the home of one of the homes of the far-right political movement and also uh you know repression against latinos but then a bunch of latino immigrants have come in and revitalized rural areas it's also the home of like this tiny native american tribe that managed to stick around and now they're all billionaires casino billionaires so it's like a lot of extreme bad and good things have resulted there from the American experiment.

44:40You could sort of see it in a really obvious way. You can see all of these groups claiming Alabama as home. Even though we think of the South and Alabama as just black and white, it's Native American. It's immigrant, Latino. How do you think people view Alabama from the outside? Do they just think it's redneck, right-wing shit? No one's really thinking about what you're talking about, basically. No, totally. And I can tell in the way people respond because they will ask me as if like, oh, my God, you grew up in Alabama as if I just, you know, escaped a fire hose in the street during the Civil Rights March.

45:18And I'm like, guys, it's all good. It's fine. They like football too much, but otherwise it was fine.

45:23Jason Stewart:We have electricity and all kinds of stuff there. You got to come check it out. I mean, I guess when the history of a place is, at least how it's viewed, is so bad, you know, for most people that haven't thought about it again since they've learned about it, you know, in high school or whatever, I kind of, I see where they're coming from, even though they're wrong. Exactly. And so this book is an effort to sort of bring us to the present and talk about the sort of, like, more little-known, modern, interesting parts of this story state. Yeah, I mean, this genre of book is interesting to me because I feel like there's a fine line between sort of memoir and history lesson.

46:02Me personally, if it gets to history lesson, I'm out. I just don't care. But I think other people -

46:10Jason Stewart:Unless it's the history of something that you're interested in. Yeah, but you know what I'm saying. I get why that needs to happen to give everyone context for why you had the experience that you had. And I think it's a very fine line to walk. But I also imagine that that helps sell the book to the publisher a little bit. Because it means a more mass audience can understand it. Definitely. But when I'm working on it, I'm very aware of that. So I'm like, how do I keep this? I'm including what I need to include, but I'm keeping it as swift as possible. I'm like, this is technically a history of sorts, but how do we keep it moving?

46:47Got to keep it moving. To anyone listening, keep it moving. That's the greatest advice that you could ever receive in these. I mean, I just think that I get that it's necessary, and I know that that's part of it. I know that I'm not always the intended audience, so I try to remember that. But I also know that a book like this, it could seem very, very specific and targeted without some of that stuff from a marketing standpoint. Sure, sure. Um, but yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm like you, I'm, I like, you know, let's, let's keep it shorter if we can. And also just keep it moving. I don't want it to drag anywhere.

47:22I want it to, yeah, just keep it. Cause that's how I am as a reader. So I want to write what I like to read. Yeah. I mean, that's, that's how we feel about this show as well. It's like, let's just keep it. There's no, you know what I mean? It's like, that's what people, people want it to move faster than they realize.

47:37Jason Stewart:I think are you, when, when you come to that realization, you read a chapter, it's not up to speed for you or an editor says you know this is the ugly duckling in the bunch is it easy for you to cut a chapter off or is it more of a pained process for you or can you just take that chapter and be like now we got a little new yorker 1500 we got we got i got i got a quota so i gotta hit that anyway i don't i don't really care where this goes to be honest with you um i am when i'm editing i can be pretty ruthless because that's the fun part when you can sort of hack and shape unless i feel like i've got some good line because you know when you've written some good line i think it's more fun when you're editing when you're hacking someone else's work not just like because when you wrote something at the time you're like by golly i've done it again and then three months later you're like delete like that i feel like that would hurt me a little bit it would hurt a little bit but you also know where maybe your writing is shining in more places than other like if it's a place where i'm like oh i've got some good lines here then yeah let's let's see if we can save some of this or but if it's more sort of yeah like history or context that i feel like i've been repeating myself or it's not needed i'm happy to let it go yeah do you feel like it do you feel like it moves the same way like i mean you know like with tv seasons for example people will be like well those three episodes weren't good but they had to happen for this to have, for the fifth episode to be amazing.

49:05Do you feel that that's a similar, do you think that's a similar thing in a book? Can it work the same way? Yeah, I mean, hopefully not three seasons. Hopefully. Sure, no, three episodes, three episodes. I'm saying, you know, cause it's like that you always hear that where you're like, we got to get through the first two because it really delivers. It's worth it. You know, I think books can have a similar. They can. I mean, and then ideally though, not the first episode cause you want to get them in that first episode. Sure, sure. But there's, I guess what I'm saying is everything like this that goes on for you know 12 episodes or 300 pages there's going to be like an

49:37Jason Stewart:ebb and flow to it naturally but i think there's some people out there i've noticed a little bit where they like the long payoff like they're they all it's almost like a kink to be like they didn't even introduce the main character until page 178 i'm about to nut like that type of reaction people people like bad shit because they think it makes them seem smarter and cooler That's a problem that we face. I don't want to call it bad or good. I think it's just like some people like to edge more than not. And also, if it's still a pleasure to read this person's writing and you do love it, might as well make a meal out of it.

50:17Jason Stewart:Some people like a four-hour tasting menu and some people like nuggets in the drive-thru. Exactly. No, no, no, no. I'm totally the latter. No, give me the nuggets. I started a book recently that was the first 50 pages. I was so confused at who the characters were and sort of what their even relationship was that I was like, I felt dumb. I was like, am I not getting this? Am I stupid? And I'd actually ordered the large print version from Amazon so it made me feel extra stupid. You know what I mean? So I'm laying by the pool being like, I look like I can't fucking see and I don't understand what the fuck is going on.

50:55Jason Stewart:I'm walking by, Grandpa's got the book upside down. Poor guy. But I do, I think it was meant to, it felt like as I got further into it, it did feel like a device to sort of place you somewhere. But to me, it wasn't super successful from an entertainment perspective, I guess. Totally. It's tricky. It's risky. Especially at a time where, you know, the margins of success are so thin, we can't really afford to take those experimental swings and be like, all right, you made it to the 75th page. All right, those losers are all gone. Now we're going to get into the real shit. How many, you said it's, you don't have a problem cutting chapters or paragraphs or pages from your work.

51:43Jason Stewart:how many pages into a book that you're reading somebody else wrote do you go uh do you until you abandon reading and do you have a ceremonial process of what you do with the spent book after you realize i ain't ever gonna read this motherfucker well um i i give it well i give it a couple chapters and then you know what i'll close it i'll put on the nightstand with the idea but I'll pick it up again. It's not picked up again. And then I put it in the bookcase and treat it as if I've already read it. Nice. This is very smart. I like this a lot. I like that you mentioned that you closed it because that is an important part of putting a book down.

52:27And I'm glad you didn't kind of glaze over that.

52:29Jason Stewart:Okay. Well, in the intro, Chris and I were discussing, he read in a friend's newsletter the top five trending Google searches why do millennials do blank and one of them was keep boxes so you, I'm assuming you're some sort of millennial why do you have to then take this book that you know you're never going to read and put it on the shelf to sit there until you die why can't you just get rid of the book why do you have to put it in a box well i mean but it helps the bookcase look good you know you're filling out the case you're filling out the case you're like you're like oprah and montecito you've hired someone to kind of make it make you look smart you got to fill that you got to fill the bookshelf okay but i feel like you as a as an author and an educated person who probably is very discerning with their tastes and knows that what books are being read says a lot about the per you know the andy warhol don't fuck somebody who doesn't have a shelf of books what if all the books are books that you don't like and you didn't even you couldn't even finish two chapters is that a you don't care if it's a representation of of your reading likes or is it just like most of them are ones you like so it's not a big deal yeah i mean so this move i had i had to unpack a lot of boxes for my storage space and i will say there were some i did get rid of that I didn't feel represented me in the best, my taste in the best way.

54:02But mostly, I mean, even if I don't finish it, I feel like I admire the effort or I admire the person. Okay. That's where it's sort of displaying. I wish I admired the effort of people more. I'm not really, I have a tough time admiring the effort.

54:16Jason Stewart:Could it be that maybe some of these books are written by your peers and you enjoy that they did a bad job and you like to sort of... Wow. In a taxidermied skull on the shelf to remind yourself. You're still number one. Shit it on them. Shit it on them. Wow. I mean, that's an experimental idea I just came up with right now. Not accusing you of that. Well, no. I mean, I think my peers have done incredible work over the last. For the most part. We got some stinkers in the bunch, though. We always got stinkers. I hate my peers. And I think they all suck. If you ask me. If you ask me. No, I think that Jason and I, at least I almost always, if I'm traveling with two or three books and I finish one, I leave it wherever I finish it for the next person.

55:02Wow. So in the seat back in front of me on the plane, in the hotel. It's so hot. It's so romantic. It's so nice. On top of a trash can, but not in the trash can, so you can still grab it. I find that there's just some stuff I don't need to keep. Even if I loved it, I don't need to keep it.

55:19Jason Stewart:Because like you said, you're never going to watch a movie twice. You're never going to read a book. I'm never going to come back to it. So pass it on. Yeah. Give Marie Kondo that hoe. I've only thrown away two books, and it's because one was written by a guy I dated who got really upset with him, so I threw away his book. That's nice. Was it inscribed to you, or was it just a regular reader's advanced copy? What's the title on that one? I'm just going to. Just check it out on Goodreads I'm going to hit bookshop.org Right now and take a shot Don't tell me his name Just the name of the book The publisher in the year of release Okay so you threw a book away out of spite From an ex-boyfriend What's number two?

56:02Number two It was also someone I dated It wasn't a book he wrote But it was his favorite book Damn So you threw away the book of your ex You threw away his copy of On the Road Because it meant Damn that's brave Get this infinite jest out of here I was checking at the airport My suitcase was too heavy So I was like, oh, maybe this hardback book is weighing it down And I don't want it anyway So I threw it in the airport

56:27Jason Stewart:How good does that feel? How good does that feel? It's so good Okay, so this is why Okay, I'm glad that you believe that it feels so good So I want you to get in the habit As soon as you finish a book Throw that bitch away Don't donate it It's rare that we enjoy a book enough to make it to the end Most books are bad You know what I mean? most movies are bad. Most albums are bad. It is what it is. So when I hit the end of a book, I say, wow, I'm proud of myself. I read the shit out of this book. I often read it in the sauna, so the pages have been a bit warped and destroyed. Yeah, Jason's book looks like they've been through the war when he finishes.

57:04I leave a pristine - Which is the way it should be.

57:06Jason Stewart:It should have blood, sweat, and tears on it. Slightly dog-eared, but not, you know, it looks like it has life left in it. You got an OCD-ass book left for somebody else. I want mine to, like you said, I want it to look like somebody pulled it from the rubble of an explosion and then the ceremonial throwing of it away. Feels so good. Into the recycled bin. Oh, yeah. Of course. Of course. You got to recycle. I mean, I can't let another human enjoy this literature at all, but I would like it to be recycled and turned into more books. I have a hope that by leaving a book that I finished in plain view in good condition, that another curious human will pick that up.

57:46Like, oh, I've been wanting to read A Little Life.

57:49Jason Stewart:Yeah, so pristine. I love Gwyneth Paltrow. This looks amazing. Yeah, I've done that before where I was at a hotel and I left it. It was with Patrick Raddenkief's book. Oh. Say nothing. Say nothing. Say nothing. Say nothing. I close it up. Wow. So good. put it on the it was at the Nobu Hotel in Cabo put it on the little table nobody's reading it the Nobu in Cabo you're the last man standing there was a lot of people in the entertainment industry why does this guy have three names I ain't reading this shit somebody staying there was going to option it into a Hulu series I'm not taking credit for the whole thing but I played a small part in it but all that is to say I'm going up to the hotel room and there's a guy at the hotel sprinting after me wait wait wait It's like in a Jim Carrey movie.

58:38Jason Stewart:You throw something away, it's sitting on your desk the next morning, I can't shake it. That's annoying. So just be careful where you leave the book, Chris, is all I'm saying. Fair. Do not do it at the Nobu Hotel in Cabo. Don't. I hope to never go there. Alexis, what is your thought on the Kindle? Because the Kindle, for real readers, not real eaters, real readers, it feels like... You said Kindle. It sounded like you said Kindle, like the Jenner. I just want to be clear. Well, usually when I say Kendall, it is talking about my good friend Kenny. But no, I'm saying that - Your southern accent was coming out.

59:10Jason Stewart:The Amazon Kindle reader. The Amazon Kindle. The Amazon Kindle is a - He got the big font on that thing too, doesn't he? That shit, I got my magnifying glass out of the pool. Start a fire. Got 17 words a page on that house. Sorry, carry on. But the Amazon Kindle is something that is not sexy and not cool, but man, does it work. And it's very cheap. It's very light. And I just wanted to know how you feel about it. This is not sponsored. I didn't go to the Bezos wedding. I'm straight up wondering what you think about it. If you do want a Kindle, just send us a message and we'll get one over to the house.

59:46Jason Stewart:Go ahead. Okay, great. I mean, I used to like it, but I'm not crazy about it anymore. I need to be able to turn a page, doggie on a page. I agree with you. I agree with you. I just know people that they read so much, especially if they're out of town, that it's like this is the only way that makes physical sense. But if I only read at the beach, I need paper. No, but I think it's if you commute. I get it. It's one of the best devices that we have that seems very underutilized because it's so different than the product that it's meant to replace. If that makes sense. If you lose it, it's$100. You just buy another one.

1:00:22It doesn't matter. it's not like an ipad that costs twelve hundred dollars it's like a cheap easy thing but it's just i feel like it was embraced heavily when it was released and now i rarely see them in the wild

1:00:33Jason Stewart:i think our parents who really use them right yeah but but um so does that mean i mean people are always talking about how the attention deficit that our young people are facing they're not able to you know read a book let alone you know a thousand word article on the new yorker they can't do that so what what are some reasons or things or ways you believe we can get young people just straight up reading a book nowadays with all the distractions in the world god i mean i think we have to like make it sort of sexy to have um dumb phones and sort of to like walk away your phones or electronic devices for periods of time like even me i only fuck guys who brick their phone type shit yeah okay exactly yeah yeah 100 % do you what is your way what is your method to being bricked up as far as content goes yeah okay listen have you guys heard of the pomodoro method yeah i i have it on my uh my my chrome desktop bar i have a pomodoro can you explain it let's explain it though let please please explain it in layman's terms well it's funny yeah i didn't realize i was doing this but i like when i write or when i read i'll focus on it for anywhere from 20 minutes to an hour, and then I give myself a gift.

1:01:54A little matcha latte or something? A little banana muffin?

1:01:58Jason Stewart:A collection of wheat thins and hummus? Let's go. Or maybe a little Bravo for like 20 minutes, and then I'll go back. That seems too jarring. Jason, she's on another level than us, bro. She's operating on a higher plane. She wrote a book. I didn't, so I shan't talk. No, but honestly, that is a whiplash-causing maneuver on your part, head on swivel. Yeah, for me, I'm like, all right, I'm going to take my short Pomodoro break. I'm going to eat a few pieces of expensive cheddar cheese and do the dishes. And you're like, only on Bravo. And I feel like when those five minutes are over and it's time to go back to your pros, I'm going to be like, ugh.

1:02:41Yeah, going from Real Housewives of New York to segregation is a pretty big valley there. You know what I mean?

1:02:48Jason Stewart:Anyways, back to the Jim Crow South after seeing Dorit throw a Cosmo at someone's face. Yeah, you're able to really compartmentalize. It's cool. It's impressive. So you're saying you do the Pomodoro method, but you did it by accident. Yes, and it keeps the energy high. I'm watching the fight between the girlies on Real Housewives. I'm still energized as I'm going back to writing about - Get you an author who can do both. Southern history. You know, it's funny you say that because most people we know who are proficient writers, you know, the know-me-fries of the world or whatever, I think they unintentionally or subconsciously do the same thing.

1:03:26Jason Stewart:They really watch that Bravo. Maybe it's, you know, they say you have to write about your life and you have to live a life in order to be able to write. We can also just watch some crazy bitches' life. Exactly. And we get there. We get the job done, right? I do want to understand what the through line is for people like you who are productive, upstanding members of society, smart, successful. But the need to watch fucking losers fight is so great. And look, I'm not successful and have no accolades, but I love that shit too. So I can relate in that way. But I think the study needs to be done. because i think when when chris i think it's it's an issue of like how pure are your intentions for watching this like is it pure entertainment and joy that i am getting from this or is there something even subconscious or or not where you're like i'm gonna compare my life to these people and if i believe that i'm better than them then at least i can go on another day yeah i definitely feel like I'm laughing with them.

1:04:32Jason Stewart:Okay. The problem is, and Alexa, some of you agree with me, they used to be rich, rich. Now it doesn't feel like they're that rich. So at least at one point, I'm like, these people act crazy, but they're aspirationally wealthy at least. I don't know how they got there. I'm not. There's only so many people, Chris. It's like booking Coachella. Yeah. There's only so many headliners. After a while, we started, we got to start getting our role models in there. No. Hey, don't do that. Not to my man. But yeah, I think that, I think that, I understand that the landscape has changed, but the entertainment product is still valuable and good, and that's fine.

1:05:09Sure, but as you said, less good, right? Because it hits different when you're watching a housewife in a studio apartment as opposed to the mansions of yours. Yeah. I prefer a mansion of yours. That's for fucking sure.

1:05:22Jason Stewart:So, yeah, we're all agreeing we prefer the gilded age of the real housewives. Yeah. So do you brick up your phone, though, for real talk? I mean, unofficial airplane mode or do not disturb, let's say. Do you put it, but is it sitting next to your MacBook Air, or do you have to put it under a pillow on the dog bed in the other room? No dog bed. It's in the crawl space. But on the couch, yeah, like under a pillow. I knew you didn't have a dog. You're cool. That is, okay, so you have to physically, you put it on airplane mode, obviously, so the alerts aren't coming through, but you also have to physically remove it from your work area.

1:05:57exactly yeah it's not enough to just turn it over how long did it take you to realize like how long did it take you to get there did you were you trying other band-aids you realize like the full-on is the only way i'm going to be able to do it absolutely yeah because all these apps where it's like oh it'll block it for a time or you know that those apps they don't work easy to work around exactly i've never tried one so i don't know but i've i've got ads for them because

1:06:20Jason Stewart:they know i have a problem chris is too afraid to stare that into stare that void into the face exactly exactly so you but the physical removal feels like i mean at a certain point i'm like do i have to throw this shit in the woods you know yeah i mean yeah so what are you doing oh i ain't doing shit i mean i cannot use my phone he's waiting to hear back if he can get a extension on his deadline is what he's yeah yeah yeah yeah no i've already asked don't worry i mean listen we all did we have the right of passage i just think that and maybe this isn't true for you and And this is probably, you know, this is a very dividing line, but I think it's like, if you're not going to pay me enough money to not work, to maintain my lifestyle, then it's very difficult for me to put my phone under the dog bed and not respond to emails from people that are saying, we want to pay you so you can continue to live the lifestyle that you've created for yourself.

1:07:11It's a very, you know, it's difficult. And that's the thing. I think that like, it's going to take longer and be harder. Money calling. Because you can't. Yeah. I mean, what are you supposed to do? And I think this is true for a lot of people. And I'm not, I mean, I'll be fine. Like, I'll figure it out. It's not that big of a deal. And I think I'm getting better every day. But it is like a weird.

1:07:29Jason Stewart:Writing a book is an elective process. And you knew what you got. Yeah. Yeah. It's not. Yeah. It's like, yeah. And it's also like, I think it is just everybody has to figure out how to do it in their own way. It's probably what I have been told. Chris is going to sequester himself in North Florida for a month and just get it done. I mean I'm actually I've come to terms With the fact That I have to do that And now I'm excited To do it At first I felt like I was really Forcing myself And now that I've Started like Doing all these Interviews And like Actually thinking About it more I'm like This is the only way And the best way Yeah For you And always You gotta pomodoro Your whole life Yeah Do you go out To eat and shit though Like you're You're like Having a normal Social life When you're in the process You're not like A lunatic Oh Oh absolutely Yeah Go out to eat Of course When I do my writing, it's just me and a large pot of broth that I just perpetually drink throughout the days and weeks until it's done.

1:08:29I don't need food. He's just got broth and zen, and he's able to just power through. The two food groups, really. The two food groups. Do you smoke cigs? Only when I'm on certain occasions. Okay, so you're not stepping out every hour to blow one down. No, no, no.

1:08:44Jason Stewart:If you could keep a cig away when you're on Molly, Chris. Yeah. I got to hand it to you because that is one of life's most difficult. It'd be nice to brick that up, wouldn't it? God hands his hardest raves to his bravest soldiers. Alexis, you said something earlier when you were describing the sort of ingredients of Alabama and something caught my ear. You mentioned the sect of Native Americans who were there originally, had their land taken away from them. And now you said that there are billionaires with the casinos. And when you said the word billionaires, I feel like it had a little sting to it.

1:09:25Jason Stewart:Do you feel as if other people may deserve some reparations of that sort? Yeah, I mean, that's... Maybe not on the level of a B, but maybe an M at least. Yeah, I think so. But you know what? I can't fault them for it because they've had everything taken away. it's still not easy for them to be in Alabama. And they're like, we're going to get what's ours in the most traditional way possible, which is a casino. I mean, what's better than a casino to make that money? Prostitution. Yeah, I mean, it's prostitution, then gambling are the first two kind of sources of income. How much time did you spend in these casinos during your quote-unquote research?

1:10:08Jason Stewart:Did you take in a show, SWV performing on Thursday? Speaking of having a balanced life while writing, um you know it's important it's important to be out among the people living life i agree i would love to i would love to lose the house in alabama while i'm working on a book that sounds that sounds really fun that sounds super cool uh so as a as a homeowner what where are you at with your furnishings yeah let us know about the blessings and disasters of homeownership alexis I mean, I'm in New York, so there are more disasters probably than the West. Did we renovate? Did we renovate? No, we're just doing like a few touch-ups.

1:10:50I mean, I'm in a co-op, so you know that's a struggle.

1:10:52Jason Stewart:When you say we, who are your roommates? No, I mean, I and my contractor. Your team. You and your team. Okay, okay, okay. Are retiling something. I wasn't sure if you were a partner, that's all. Yeah, no, me and my contractor, just doing a few touch-ups, nothing too major. Because actually, the guy who used to own the place was an architect from Alabama, and he had it quite nice. Wow, that's amazing. I know. Do you think that's a reason why you got this place? No, I think I was just the first person to make an offer, but I think... Okay, you didn't have to write him a letter? No, no, I just paid.

1:11:28I kind of went the traditional route. I just made no... So wait, and not to dox you, but what neighborhood... I'm really hoping you say Manhattan, but I'm worried that you're not going to. Yeah, the East Village. Oh, wow. This is great news. Are you lying? You look like you're lying. You're fucking lying. Shitted on them. No, I'm laughing because I did... My first choice was Brooklyn. First choice? What's wrong with you? Well, Brooklyn, you get more space. It's like, you know, it's where a lot of hot spots are. No, of course, of course, of course, of course. Yeah. But did you live in Brooklyn before?

1:11:56I did. I lived in Clinton Hill for like five years. Wow, this is an amazing, this is a very rare reverse bridge cross.

1:12:03Jason Stewart:Somebody taking the step down to Manhattan from their Brooklyn high horse. I got priced out from Brooklyn. Times are a-changing. Got priced out from Brooklyn. I tell people this all the time. You can live in Clinton Hill or you can live in Boston. It's still cheaper to live in New York City. Damn, bro. Like, it's crazy. It makes no sense. Well, I'm happy, proud of you for being a homeowner. That's a big step. Yeah, I'm trying. Very impressive. You know, we all got to start somewhere. we are gonna start somewhere um okay well thank you for for taking the time to chat with us Alexis the book is out now or soon now okay yeah blessings and disasters she doesn't even mind if you buy it on Amazon it's as long as you buy it it's not really we're not gonna order yeah just order it and do you do you read the audiobook I read part of it I read the beginning okay it's a little preview couldn't be uh couldn't be arsed to finish it up okay She's like, I have jobs to do Reading, I did the dedication Alright, thank you Alexis It was a pleasure And you guys go get the book And hopefully we see you soon Thanks for having me Bye

1:13:22But I'm coming home to you