June 27, 2026

In the Company of a Writer; Jenna Stocker on America, Memory, and the Craft of Words

In the Company of a Writer; Jenna Stocker on America, Memory, and the Craft of Words

Every so often, a conversation develops a life of its own. This was one of those occasions. My guest is https://jennastocker.substack.com—writer, wife, mother, Marine Corps veteran, and a thoughtful observer of American life whose work has appeared...

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InterviewsVeterans

Every so often, a conversation develops a life of its own. This was one of those occasions.

My guest is Jenna Stocker—writer, wife, mother, Marine Corps veteran, and a thoughtful observer of American life whose work has appeared in the Daily Wire, National Review, The Federalist, and elsewhere. We begin with her recent Daily Wire essay on iconic Americana and ask whether the independent, adventurous spirit that once defined this country can still be recovered. Along the way, we explore memory, gratitude, optimism, and what it means to preserve the best of a civilization without merely living in nostalgia.

From there, the conversation turns to the craft of writing itself. Why do writers continue answering the call of the page despite rejection, obscurity, and the suspicion that their words may vanish into the wind? And then, after the interview was supposedly over, two writers simply kept talking. We compared influences, shared the books and ideas that have shaped us, and reflected on the curious vocation of putting thoughts into words. The microphones, as it turned out, were still recording. I think you'll be glad they were.

WEBVTT

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No safe spaces, no sacred cows, just straight talk and

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savage laughs. Welcome to the Dave Carter Show.

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All right, now, we're gonna spend some time in a

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writer's world with one of the most graceful writers of

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her generation. Jenna Stocker coming up.

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Come on on, stars and Stridsones hit the jackpot. Feeding

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under these freedom scaes, No seal spoon, just blood, sweat

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and fire in my face. This land and dream has

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caused a name through the pooring ring. You want to

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let to read the day you became in a merchant

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Now like the fuse, boy, this is your master plan aspation.

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Here as the poll help, I'm on the posit. Here

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the funny, the dream, the fight, whatever you're calling burn

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through the night now stop at the dreams, make the whole.

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I am Dere Carter and it's a pleasure and a

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privilege to be with you today. I got a question

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for you. Have you ever picked up an article or

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a book for that matter, and maybe you didn't start

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the article at the at the first paragraph, you know,

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maybe you flip to a random page in the book

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all like I've done, and just started reading a section

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in the middle to get a sense of how the

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writer thinks and expresses the story of the thought in question.

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And then every now and then you come across a

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particular turn of phrase or a particular sentence that stops

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you dead in your tracks. It makes you go back

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and read it again from the beginning, because the prose

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is so so graceful and evocative that you can see

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with your mind's eye exactly what the authors is seeing

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in his or her mind, and it's so very compelling.

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When that happens, you buy the book or you buy

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the magazine or whatever it takes, because you want to

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read the author's work from start to finish, because every

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now and then you stumble across someone whose sentences have

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so much life in them that when you stop reading

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the article and start reading that writer, that's what counts.

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So we have just such a writer with us today.

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So let's get to it, shall we, Contra Day Carter Show,

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there we go. My friend Jenna Stalker has been a

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friend of this program for several years now. She's a

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former Marine Corps officer or researcher at the Center for

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Strategic Strategic Policy think tank, where she specialized in Islamists

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and military Weapons Centers, sypstoms, I need more coffee either way.

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She's an exquisite writer. She's the editor and publisher at

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Thinking Minnesota, for the Center for American for the American Experiment.

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Her work has been featured in National Review, The Federalist Spectator,

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the Daily Wire, and she has her own substack page

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called the Pilgrim's Progress. But if you ask me, all

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of those publications tell you where she's been published. They

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don't tell you why I keep inviting her back on

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the program. I invite her because she's one of those

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rare writers who can make you see things. Jennet's a

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treat to have you on the program. How and the

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world have you been.

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Great? Busy? But I wish I could live up to

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your introduction. You're always much too kind to me, So

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maybe that's why I keep coming back. It's the only

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time I can hear some.

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Well, that's unfortunate because your work is just so evocative.

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You know, you had a recent piece over the Daily

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Wire called the American Ethos and the Ghosts of the West.

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One of the things that struck me about the article

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wasn't simply the images that you chose, but the affection

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with which you described them. You made them feel inhabited.

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If you will, you put the reader right in the

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middle of various iconic scenes in three D relief. So

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when you look at these old advertisements, movie clips from

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days gone by, magazine covers, what are you seeing that

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many younger readers might otherwise miss if not for your

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the way that you're describing these things.

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Well, I think, first of all, when you have something

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that's physical medium, I feel like you have a better

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connection with that. What I mean is everyone gets their

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news or they're reading reading things online or a computer

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screen or on their phone, and I think you're really

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missing something when you're when you're not picking up a

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magazine or a book and looking at pictures that go

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along with it, or an album cover, when you're listening

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to music, you know. I mean you used to sit

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in my room and read the liner notes, you know,

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And it all is one package that an artist or

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a writer or you know, whatever medium you want, a

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novelist puts together. And I think visuals are part of that.

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And I know it's just a chance to get lost

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in someone's work, and a lot of that is, you know,

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I'm really fascinated with Americana and you know, mid century

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mid I guess mid midnight twentieth century America. Ah, And

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it's just you know, things were maybe easier, but I

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think they were simpler, maybe less complicated. And I think,

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you know, for all technologies promises and my life is

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not easier or simpler, and a lot of times technology

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has made things more complicated than they need to be.

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So yes, I think I think we're missing a little

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bit of that.

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That's one of the things I tell folks where I

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work now is at the outset, they told us they

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couldvince me at least for a little while that computers

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have worked for us rather than be all the way around.

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But it seems to have switched completely. This is so

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sterile basically. But yeah, do you think the images that

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you discussed that reflected the America that actually existed for

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the American people at that time, or or are the

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things that the American people aspired to become or maybe

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both these things could be true at the same time.

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They're not necessarily mutually exclusive.

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No, I think I think both can be true. I

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think it was a time when America is more confident

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in in in ourselves as a people, and what and

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what we could do. I think now things are just

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kind of flattened out, and people are just sort of

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okay with somewhere, you know, and kind of just being

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not even content, but just just sort of this.

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You think we're going through the motions.

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Yeah, I mean you just see it. I mean it's

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so I have a big problem with achromatic things. And

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you go to any parking lot or look down any

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freeway and every car is black, white, or gray. All

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the appliance options a black, white, and gray. There's no

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in between. Furniture, everything's beige or gray. And it's really depressing.

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And I just think we're in a world of beige

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and gray, you know. And people say to me, oh,

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but it's more expensive to do all these different colors

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and cars, and well they used to do this. They

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used to have all two tone colored cars in the

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nineteen fifties. You used to have you know, candy apple red,

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you used to have turquois. I mean, you could get

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a refrigerator in yellow. Like I just don't I don't

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understand it. So I just think we're just in this

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world of gray, and people are have learned, have been

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conditioned to be okay with that, Just I don't know.

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I think we're just we're destined for so much more

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and there's so much more there, And I don't know,

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I think we had that at one time, and I

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don't know where the switch came. I can't really put

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my finger on it, but I don't know. It Just

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it's just different to me.

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Yeah, it's been a gradual thing to me. The brightest

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color cars anymore are the muscle cars that people are

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customizing and fixing up the way that they want, you know.

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Yeah, that's the thing. You can't. They don't. They don't

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offer the colors you know, we had we had to

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get a new car after a third kid was born,

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and yeah, I mean they don't. They just don't offer

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cars and any any kind of color except black, white, gray.

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Yeah. Okay, So here's a weird, weird question because that's

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my specialty sometimes. But suppose someone finds your article one

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hundred years from now, what do you hope that they

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will conclude about the America that we were trying to

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preserve or in this case, even revive.

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Oh gosh, I think that we were a nation of

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independent thinkers and a nation of bold men with bold

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ideas that did hard things but did them because they

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had to be done, and there's no no just you know,

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it's funny because I think America is very much rooted

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in place, but we're always sort of restless, always looking

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for something beyond the horizon, whether it's space or exploring

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the West. And I really hope that that's the takeaway,

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that we're just a nation of adventure seekers and people

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that are looking for a challenge and are optimistic about

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the future. And I think people that are optimistic about

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the future are people that have families and set forth

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to find their own stake in the world and in

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the country, and are just ready to prosper and take

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that opportunity for themselves.

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I suspect, maybe maybe I'm hoping against the evidence, but

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I suspect that there's still a remnant of that year now.

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But oh him, sorry, that's my my son is making

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an appearance. I'm sorry.

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Well he's he's uh or she's expressed he is it?

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He or she he? Okay, he's a boy. He's editorializing

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and expressing opinion, and every opinion is valuable, right, So

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I guess there's a remnant like that now. But that's

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basically all that that is. It seems to me if

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that much, and I'm hoping we can encourage that, you know, Yeah.

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I think I think the pendulum swings back and forth.

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I'm a strong believer in that theory. And I think

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the younger generations are probably just sick of just being

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held back and thinking that there was a time when

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these things were true, and how come it isn't true

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for us anymore? And I really think it's still is there.

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There's an opportunity and possibility there, but you have to

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be proactive. So I think all these you know, older

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generation people saying that America is terrible and they would

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never do anything good and we're just we're not any

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sort of cause for good in the world. And people

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are thinking, no, no, that's not true when you look

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back at the things that we've accomplished, not just for

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the country but for the world. I mean you look

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at the people's you know, you know, just space exploration alone,

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the things that came out of it, which I talk

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about an article a little bit, but it's just, uh,

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I think people are just they can sense that they're

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they're missing something.

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Well that's good. Yeah, at least I realized that there's

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something too miss and there's something you try to get

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back to, so that.

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It's funny. It's sort of like a nostalgia for something

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that they don't they've never lived.

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Yeah, but they've seen the pictures.

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Yes, Yes, they've seen the pictures.

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Yeah.

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Yeah.

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And then your case, I saw the pictures when every

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whenever you wrote about them too. Now, let's talk about writing.

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Just just just a couple of writers here commiserating, if

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you will. Bill Buckley called it dirty, sweaty work. I

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always love that description because people imagine writers sitting under

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a tree with birds tirping and they're waiting for inspiration

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and life is so good and here's my coffee and

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I'm just tapping along. But they don't see is a

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Tuesday afternoon when you've been working for three hours on

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the same damn paragraph and you're fighting it every inch

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of the way. Can you identify with that?

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Oh?

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Absolutely? And I usually have a couple of kids fighting

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in the background and another kid baby spitting up on me,

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trying to type away with one hand. Yes, and it's

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in it. I am a a painfully slow writer, and

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it's frustrating to me, you know, I had heard stories

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that Bill Buckley could bang out a column in you know,

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a matter.

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Of minutes, average twenty minutes.

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So, and I am just in awe and very jealous

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of writers who can write that way, because I am

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the complete opposite. And it is it is painful, you know,

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and it for me. I usually have a vision of

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what I want to say or convey in my head,

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and it's the matter of translating it to the page

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is the difficulty. Yeah, I don't know if you can

230
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relate to no.

231
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Yeah, And sometimes I feel like I hear somebody in

232
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my ear saying, u's the force gave, because sometimes where

233
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I thought the article is going to go, it'll just

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take off in a completely different different direction. In my

235
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initial impulse sys to no, no, just steer this thing

236
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back where I wanted it. But then I'm like, wait,

237
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I kind of like this, let's just see where it goes.

238
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But even then it's it's for me, it's feast or famine.

239
00:14:02.120 --> 00:14:05.320
Either I can tap it out fairly quickly and make

240
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it work, or oh my god, it is going along

241
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at the speed of evolution.

242
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Yeah. And do you ever get a sense of one

243
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that's which path that's going to take do you do

244
00:14:17.320 --> 00:14:21.480
you get struck by lightning sometimes and you just have

245
00:14:21.559 --> 00:14:24.000
to just bang it out? Or or is it always

246
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just sort of do an outline and kind of this

247
00:14:27.919 --> 00:14:29.279
is kind of the thing you want to do.

248
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It depends on what is moving me to right. If

249
00:14:33.080 --> 00:14:36.720
I'm thoroughly honked off with something and I need to

250
00:14:36.720 --> 00:14:42.759
make some points and I walk into it, you know,

251
00:14:42.799 --> 00:14:45.039
hoist the black flag and off you go, I will

252
00:14:45.080 --> 00:14:47.600
do that and it'll come out quickly, but I've got

253
00:14:47.600 --> 00:14:50.200
to rein it back I look back. You really can't

254
00:14:50.240 --> 00:14:53.360
say that in print, Dave, She'll take a chill pill

255
00:14:53.519 --> 00:14:55.279
just a little bit. But if, yeah, if I have

256
00:14:55.320 --> 00:14:58.200
something that's just righteously pissed me off, then yeah I can.

257
00:14:58.279 --> 00:15:01.159
I can bang that out pretty quick. Otherwise, Yeah, it's

258
00:15:01.240 --> 00:15:04.759
it's it's a painstaking progress. Has has your writing become

259
00:15:04.919 --> 00:15:10.080
easier over the years, or in my case, more difficult.

260
00:15:10.879 --> 00:15:13.759
Sometimes we become more exacting in our standards as time

261
00:15:13.840 --> 00:15:17.720
goes and that can slow things down as well. That

262
00:15:17.840 --> 00:15:21.039
does that happen to you? Or process has been about

263
00:15:21.080 --> 00:15:22.039
what it's always has been?

264
00:15:23.240 --> 00:15:25.840
Well, I think it's it's the same. I just think

265
00:15:26.480 --> 00:15:32.000
maybe what interests me or the voice or what I

266
00:15:32.639 --> 00:15:35.720
enjoy writing about has changed. You know, I think you

267
00:15:35.720 --> 00:15:37.679
know I was younger, it was just strictly a lot

268
00:15:37.720 --> 00:15:45.559
of you know, politics and sort of I don't want

269
00:15:45.559 --> 00:15:48.480
to say, complaining about things, but kind of complaining about things,

270
00:15:48.799 --> 00:15:50.919
you know, this is the problem, and not offering a

271
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whole lot of solutions. And I'm just more interested in,

272
00:15:56.200 --> 00:15:58.759
you know, trying to take a picture of the world

273
00:15:58.879 --> 00:16:01.120
as I see it, I guess, or maybe how I

274
00:16:01.159 --> 00:16:03.840
want to see it, which isn't always accurate, which I've

275
00:16:03.840 --> 00:16:06.480
been pointed as it has been pointed out to me

276
00:16:06.600 --> 00:16:11.159
many times, which is fine because everyone, just everyone does

277
00:16:11.200 --> 00:16:15.519
have a different experience and you know, what my childhood

278
00:16:15.559 --> 00:16:19.159
is like is definitely different than other people's. And how

279
00:16:19.480 --> 00:16:23.240
you know, I wrote this last one about American ethos basically,

280
00:16:23.240 --> 00:16:26.279
you know, my family, we didn't have very much money,

281
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and we drove everywhere, and especially the American Southwest, and

282
00:16:31.720 --> 00:16:36.399
that's where my really formative years were. And I recommend

283
00:16:36.440 --> 00:16:39.879
everyone take a road trip see this country. Don't just fly.

284
00:16:40.039 --> 00:16:45.120
I hate flying, and work either a serve serving job

285
00:16:45.320 --> 00:16:48.039
or cleaning toilets somewhere. You get a very different perspective

286
00:16:48.080 --> 00:16:53.480
on the world and how to people. Yeah, and what

287
00:16:55.120 --> 00:16:57.919
kind of the nitty gritty of what built this country

288
00:16:58.120 --> 00:17:00.960
and all the different so many beautiful places in this

289
00:17:01.000 --> 00:17:04.720
country and so many beautiful people on communities that you

290
00:17:04.839 --> 00:17:10.160
just can't see if you fly to your destination and.

291
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The entire time.

292
00:17:11.839 --> 00:17:13.599
Yeah, you know, and it's great, you know. I think

293
00:17:13.640 --> 00:17:16.960
it was one hundred year Anniversity of Route sixty six

294
00:17:17.720 --> 00:17:20.920
this year, and it's so it brings me so much

295
00:17:20.960 --> 00:17:25.799
joy to see people exploring that. And it's a really

296
00:17:26.160 --> 00:17:28.279
very unique to America. I think we take it for

297
00:17:28.359 --> 00:17:32.720
granted just how diverse the country is if you go

298
00:17:32.759 --> 00:17:38.160
from one end to the other. So yeah, I mean

299
00:17:38.359 --> 00:17:46.799
that's I guess that's a very long, windy, well terrible

300
00:17:46.839 --> 00:17:51.839
answer to. Yes, my writing has changed, but not any faster,

301
00:17:51.960 --> 00:17:56.079
which pains me. I was hoping, you know, maybe someday

302
00:17:56.240 --> 00:17:58.359
that I would get faster about it. But you know,

303
00:17:58.359 --> 00:18:00.599
when if you're trying to be thoughtful about that, sometimes

304
00:18:00.599 --> 00:18:04.200
you just have to let ideas come to you as

305
00:18:04.240 --> 00:18:04.559
they do.

306
00:18:04.799 --> 00:18:06.839
So I want to find out what kind of coffee

307
00:18:06.880 --> 00:18:09.519
Bill Buckley was drinking, you see, if that can, yes, yes,

308
00:18:10.400 --> 00:18:12.559
make me maybe a little bit more caffeination in my case.

309
00:18:12.599 --> 00:18:14.920
But that's why one of the things I enjoyed about

310
00:18:15.000 --> 00:18:18.640
driving the eighteen wheeler, Yes, yes, because you get to

311
00:18:18.680 --> 00:18:21.880
see quote unquote fly over country and meet some amazing

312
00:18:21.920 --> 00:18:25.400
people and some hysterically funny people and not all of

313
00:18:25.400 --> 00:18:28.200
them in tend to be funny, you know, And that's

314
00:18:28.200 --> 00:18:28.960
some of the basketball.

315
00:18:29.000 --> 00:18:30.960
I can tell some stories. I know. I want you

316
00:18:31.000 --> 00:18:33.880
to write a book about when you of your travels.

317
00:18:34.000 --> 00:18:36.960
That's my If there's one wish that I could get

318
00:18:36.960 --> 00:18:39.400
granted from you, it would be that, because that would

319
00:18:39.400 --> 00:18:41.039
be I would read that.

320
00:18:42.359 --> 00:18:44.240
I've got I've kind of worked over the years on

321
00:18:44.279 --> 00:18:47.440
an anthology and I hope complete that at some points.

322
00:18:47.480 --> 00:18:50.319
And but yeah, it's called America's My Office.

323
00:18:50.279 --> 00:18:53.880
And well, you're such a fantastic storyteller day, you really are.

324
00:18:54.240 --> 00:18:56.440
My mom would agree, because I told some whoppers to her.

325
00:18:58.759 --> 00:19:01.079
You know, there are a lot of talent writers literally

326
00:19:01.160 --> 00:19:04.319
all over the country. They produced extraordinary work with without

327
00:19:04.359 --> 00:19:09.319
the institutional pedigree or connections or prestigious zip codes. And

328
00:19:09.640 --> 00:19:12.440
I suppose every writer has had that sort of experience

329
00:19:12.480 --> 00:19:16.400
over time. But for for a lot of folks. Years ago,

330
00:19:16.720 --> 00:19:18.839
for example, Peter Robinson noticed something that I had written,

331
00:19:19.440 --> 00:19:22.160
and it opens a few doors that otherwise would not

332
00:19:22.200 --> 00:19:25.359
have opened. But even then I discovered something I suspect

333
00:19:25.440 --> 00:19:28.480
you've discovered too, that recognition has a funny way of

334
00:19:28.559 --> 00:19:31.640
arriving in small doses that are just large enough to

335
00:19:31.720 --> 00:19:35.200
keep you working and just small enough to keep you humble.

336
00:19:35.480 --> 00:19:38.279
But the folks out there, you know, laboring in the

337
00:19:38.279 --> 00:19:40.000
salt mines, can you hear me?

338
00:19:40.759 --> 00:19:46.119
Yeahs okay, I like.

339
00:19:46.039 --> 00:19:48.079
A bourbon while you're over there too, if you don't mine.

340
00:19:50.039 --> 00:19:53.079
But has it been your experience along with other folks,

341
00:19:53.079 --> 00:19:54.440
that you just work and work and work at this

342
00:19:54.839 --> 00:19:57.960
like a point beyond which you can't go to me?

343
00:19:58.039 --> 00:20:01.519
It's it's it's Is it fair to say that recognition

344
00:20:01.839 --> 00:20:05.200
and calling aren't necessarily the same thing? You're right, because

345
00:20:05.240 --> 00:20:07.519
that's what you do. Not because it's necessarily going to

346
00:20:07.640 --> 00:20:08.400
pay all the bills.

347
00:20:09.920 --> 00:20:13.000
No, And in fact it doesn't. I mean, I so

348
00:20:13.200 --> 00:20:18.000
I was working at a pet store just a few

349
00:20:18.039 --> 00:20:22.079
years ago, after I was laid off at one of

350
00:20:22.160 --> 00:20:26.119
my at a job, and you know, I was just

351
00:20:26.319 --> 00:20:31.519
writing kind of randomly and submitted a story to federalists

352
00:20:31.519 --> 00:20:33.960
that got picked up. And I mean, I don't, I

353
00:20:33.960 --> 00:20:36.400
don't I still don't. I don't make money out of

354
00:20:36.920 --> 00:20:39.440
I've never been to school for writing. I have an

355
00:20:39.480 --> 00:20:45.559
accounting degree. It's been a really long, painful journey with

356
00:20:45.759 --> 00:20:49.079
many steps back to even where I'm doing something writing

357
00:20:49.119 --> 00:20:52.000
adjacent and I'm able and I just do my writing

358
00:20:52.079 --> 00:20:55.160
for sub stack and other outlets in my spare time.

359
00:20:55.279 --> 00:21:06.880
So yeah, I mean, I but you, it's as hard

360
00:21:06.920 --> 00:21:09.960
as it is in the process. It is something that

361
00:21:10.079 --> 00:21:12.720
I feel like I just need to do for my

362
00:21:12.799 --> 00:21:18.039
own I don't know self. I guess it's a selfish

363
00:21:18.039 --> 00:21:18.480
part of it.

364
00:21:18.960 --> 00:21:20.599
I don't think it's selfish, and I hope.

365
00:21:20.400 --> 00:21:22.359
That someone else connects with it.

366
00:21:22.519 --> 00:21:25.640
I guess I think it's a calling. There was a

367
00:21:25.680 --> 00:21:27.759
coworker of my son's many years ago when I was

368
00:21:28.279 --> 00:21:30.279
writing stuff in Ricochet, you know, a couple of times

369
00:21:30.319 --> 00:21:32.680
a week, and he said, man, your dad must enjoy writing.

370
00:21:32.720 --> 00:21:35.079
And my son said, that's like saying my dad enjoys breathing.

371
00:21:36.400 --> 00:21:40.599
It's what does you know? So if every publication disappeared tomorrow,

372
00:21:41.039 --> 00:21:42.559
would you still write?

373
00:21:42.920 --> 00:21:43.960
Yeah?

374
00:21:44.000 --> 00:21:44.400
There we go?

375
00:21:44.720 --> 00:21:45.720
I would there you go?

376
00:21:45.880 --> 00:21:47.039
Yes? Would you yeah?

377
00:21:47.319 --> 00:21:47.519
Yeah?

378
00:21:47.599 --> 00:21:51.279
Yeah, yeah yeah, Because I'm writing well as a military historian.

379
00:21:51.359 --> 00:21:54.799
Years ago, the work that I did the research and

380
00:21:54.839 --> 00:21:57.759
the things that I wrote about were not for anyone,

381
00:21:57.839 --> 00:21:59.920
even in the present tense, their future generation.

382
00:22:02.279 --> 00:22:05.799
Yeah, I mean, and you really have just a special gift, Dave,

383
00:22:06.039 --> 00:22:11.880
and you have such an interesting perspective, and I think

384
00:22:11.920 --> 00:22:15.599
that really lends itself well to how you write and

385
00:22:15.640 --> 00:22:19.720
what you write, so and you do you never know,

386
00:22:19.799 --> 00:22:22.200
like it's you write something you think no one's going

387
00:22:22.279 --> 00:22:23.519
to like it or no one's going to read it,

388
00:22:23.519 --> 00:22:27.640
and you're just putting it out there. I'm always amazed

389
00:22:27.680 --> 00:22:30.640
at the feedback I get. I'm surprised, and I learned

390
00:22:30.680 --> 00:22:34.839
so much from the people that that offer their feedback

391
00:22:35.920 --> 00:22:39.039
that's about my writing, but their own stories. And it's amazing,

392
00:22:39.119 --> 00:22:41.319
Like there's so many wonderful people out there that have

393
00:22:41.400 --> 00:22:43.880
their own stories and you never know what the one

394
00:22:43.880 --> 00:22:46.880
thing you write touches them and they email or write

395
00:22:46.880 --> 00:22:50.759
to you, and it's really it's That's what I really love, too,

396
00:22:50.839 --> 00:22:52.640
is the conversations that start.

397
00:22:52.880 --> 00:22:55.720
Yeah, well, that's one of the things that I love

398
00:22:55.759 --> 00:22:58.599
about your writing, and particularly now that you've kind of

399
00:22:58.640 --> 00:23:01.599
backed away from the outrage of the day kind of writing,

400
00:23:02.880 --> 00:23:05.359
which is a limitless list of things you could do

401
00:23:05.440 --> 00:23:07.079
to write about, but you choose to write about other

402
00:23:07.119 --> 00:23:11.319
things and beautifully and it's very, very inspiring. What would

403
00:23:11.359 --> 00:23:13.559
you tell someone who's been listening to us right now,

404
00:23:13.559 --> 00:23:16.839
who's been collecting rejection letters for years and wondering if

405
00:23:16.880 --> 00:23:19.519
anyone will ever read what they have to say? Do

406
00:23:19.559 --> 00:23:21.200
you have any counsel for someone like that?

407
00:23:23.079 --> 00:23:26.079
I just don't get discouraged. I still do. I mean,

408
00:23:26.119 --> 00:23:28.160
I don't know. I don't think I have any great

409
00:23:28.559 --> 00:23:33.200
thing to model be a model for. But I think

410
00:23:33.240 --> 00:23:35.559
if if you find that thing that you really love

411
00:23:35.640 --> 00:23:40.960
and just do it, you know, and you'll have to

412
00:23:41.079 --> 00:23:43.880
enjoy the doing of the thing. You have to love

413
00:23:43.920 --> 00:23:46.960
the doing, because life is really about doing of life

414
00:23:47.640 --> 00:23:51.680
and not necessarily collecting the prizes after.

415
00:23:51.480 --> 00:23:52.839
All, yeah, the accolades and such.

416
00:23:53.079 --> 00:23:56.559
Yeah yeah, And it's so And I really sim because

417
00:23:56.599 --> 00:23:59.480
it is frustrating because you put so much work and

418
00:23:59.519 --> 00:24:03.759
effort and maybe you're above this day, but I'm a

419
00:24:03.759 --> 00:24:06.279
petty person, and sometimes you put a lot of work

420
00:24:06.319 --> 00:24:09.039
and effort into something you think, gosh, man, this might

421
00:24:09.079 --> 00:24:12.759
be actually not so terrible of what I just wrote,

422
00:24:13.519 --> 00:24:15.759
and then you know, it just kind of falls flat

423
00:24:15.799 --> 00:24:18.440
and you feel bad about it, and and or you

424
00:24:18.480 --> 00:24:21.359
don't think it gets the attention that it deserves. And

425
00:24:22.000 --> 00:24:26.519
I'm not gonna lie. It doesn't feel great. But then

426
00:24:26.559 --> 00:24:28.559
you just move on and you find the next thing,

427
00:24:28.599 --> 00:24:31.519
and you find your voice, and you find a way

428
00:24:31.559 --> 00:24:34.359
to write, and it gets a little easier. And then

429
00:24:34.400 --> 00:24:37.359
eventually it's like you know, you just you're happy with

430
00:24:37.400 --> 00:24:39.960
it what you wrote, because you wrote it and you

431
00:24:40.039 --> 00:24:40.920
put it out in the world.

432
00:24:41.720 --> 00:24:44.960
I've tried to develop a thick skin and say, okay, fine,

433
00:24:45.559 --> 00:24:48.079
but I'm going to keep doing what I do. I

434
00:24:48.400 --> 00:24:50.319
would do something than not.

435
00:24:52.000 --> 00:24:55.599
No, And I mean, if it wasn't you know, I've

436
00:24:55.680 --> 00:24:58.240
learned so much from you, Dave, and and you know,

437
00:24:58.319 --> 00:25:00.440
listening to you over the years and what you written,

438
00:25:00.599 --> 00:25:06.640
and I don't know, it's just it's uh, it's it's

439
00:25:06.640 --> 00:25:09.319
about you know, I know, it's kind of a joke

440
00:25:09.359 --> 00:25:10.640
with the friends you meet along the way.

441
00:25:10.759 --> 00:25:12.799
Yeah, well yeah, you.

442
00:25:12.799 --> 00:25:16.200
Know, so it's it's you know, and we probably never

443
00:25:16.240 --> 00:25:18.759
would have cross cross paths, and what a what a

444
00:25:18.839 --> 00:25:21.759
terrible thing that would be. So my life is richer

445
00:25:21.920 --> 00:25:22.279
for it.

446
00:25:22.519 --> 00:25:24.799
Well, thank you so much. And now we want this

447
00:25:24.920 --> 00:25:27.079
a small landmark bills or how to help.

448
00:25:29.880 --> 00:25:32.640
Well, I just Uh, you know, I I've I've learned

449
00:25:32.680 --> 00:25:39.200
a lot about about New Orleans and and gumbo. Yeah

450
00:25:39.240 --> 00:25:41.880
that's right. So and how to be fun and and

451
00:25:41.920 --> 00:25:44.960
not take yourself too seriously. And I think that's it too.

452
00:25:45.039 --> 00:25:47.440
I think people, uh I just.

453
00:25:47.359 --> 00:25:50.720
Need to relax a little bit and and and not

454
00:25:50.799 --> 00:25:53.680
take themselves so seriously and not be caught up in

455
00:25:53.720 --> 00:25:57.519
the outrage machine and just take a breath and really

456
00:25:57.599 --> 00:25:58.359
look at the world.

457
00:25:59.480 --> 00:26:00.759
You might be so prize bowl, you.

458
00:26:00.720 --> 00:26:03.640
See, absolutely. Okay, So that concludes the formal part of

459
00:26:03.640 --> 00:26:07.799
the interview. Uh, let's pretend that the rent of recording

460
00:26:07.880 --> 00:26:11.000
light I have here is gone off. Okay, and it's

461
00:26:11.039 --> 00:26:13.720
just you and I. It's just us and the coffee.

462
00:26:14.000 --> 00:26:20.880
Here we go. I like it now, okay, just the

463
00:26:20.920 --> 00:26:24.480
two of us. If you could spend one evening with

464
00:26:24.640 --> 00:26:28.240
two or three writers from any century, I know I

465
00:26:28.559 --> 00:26:34.000
can see your eyes roll like a like a but

466
00:26:34.759 --> 00:26:38.079
who's listening, right, So let's just pretend. But you know

467
00:26:38.119 --> 00:26:42.079
three writers are two writers, however many from any century

468
00:26:42.279 --> 00:26:44.359
to be sitting sitting at the table with you. Who

469
00:26:44.400 --> 00:26:45.519
gets those invitations?

470
00:26:49.440 --> 00:26:54.759
Well, I think Walker Percy. I really enjoy his writing,

471
00:26:55.720 --> 00:26:59.920
and I think he's I could I have one of

472
00:27:00.079 --> 00:27:05.799
a lot about the world and about writing from him? Gosh?

473
00:27:06.039 --> 00:27:08.119
Another one? I mean, I kind of want to see

474
00:27:08.119 --> 00:27:09.720
Earnest having way, but man, I don't really want to

475
00:27:09.720 --> 00:27:14.079
get into a brawl or you know, I mean dishes

476
00:27:14.200 --> 00:27:17.240
thrown and this kind of thing. But I think you'd

477
00:27:17.279 --> 00:27:20.559
be fascinating. I would love to mind is listen. I'm

478
00:27:20.559 --> 00:27:22.839
sure you want to hear about stories. I'm sure to

479
00:27:22.880 --> 00:27:26.640
hear you could just sit there all day. So I

480
00:27:26.680 --> 00:27:28.640
mean those those would be a two. Those would be

481
00:27:28.680 --> 00:27:29.839
two at the top of.

482
00:27:29.759 --> 00:27:32.039
All this, what would you ask them? What? What? What

483
00:27:32.200 --> 00:27:35.200
inspired you? Or what what? What? What did you want

484
00:27:35.240 --> 00:27:37.279
people to think about your work after you were gone?

485
00:27:37.519 --> 00:27:44.359
Or you know, I think I would I would ask them,

486
00:27:44.359 --> 00:27:46.319
oh gosh, I don't know, just have to be like

487
00:27:46.519 --> 00:27:47.720
a writing related question.

488
00:27:48.799 --> 00:27:53.039
They're interesting people in themselves.

489
00:27:50.559 --> 00:27:56.119
You know. I think I would ask them if if

490
00:27:58.599 --> 00:28:02.160
the world as it is, you know now, if it

491
00:28:02.359 --> 00:28:05.200
if they saw it, if it would surprise them, and

492
00:28:05.240 --> 00:28:10.839
what would surprise them about it, you know, and just

493
00:28:10.920 --> 00:28:15.880
about the how they see things now versus when they

494
00:28:15.880 --> 00:28:16.400
were alive.

495
00:28:16.920 --> 00:28:19.799
I think, did things turn out they thought they would

496
00:28:19.799 --> 00:28:20.799
in the future? Maybe?

497
00:28:21.440 --> 00:28:24.759
Yeah? Yeah? And what what because I think you know,

498
00:28:25.000 --> 00:28:29.359
when you're living in it, it's sort of hard to

499
00:28:29.519 --> 00:28:33.559
have an open mind about what's going on sometimes or

500
00:28:33.599 --> 00:28:36.039
you don't quite know the whole story, and sometimes it

501
00:28:36.039 --> 00:28:39.680
it'd be interesting to have someone from the past kind

502
00:28:39.720 --> 00:28:46.559
of that's lived through things that I haven't offer their perspective. Okay,

503
00:28:49.000 --> 00:28:51.000
but then ask me in a couple hours. I'm sure

504
00:28:51.599 --> 00:28:54.279
now I'm going to be thinking about the question for

505
00:28:54.400 --> 00:28:55.839
weeks and saying, gosh, darn it.

506
00:28:55.880 --> 00:29:00.519
Day, Well, of course you can have any time. Maybe

507
00:29:00.519 --> 00:29:03.480
that could be a be a article unto itself.

508
00:29:04.160 --> 00:29:06.759
Yes, oh my gosh.

509
00:29:06.599 --> 00:29:10.799
You just never know about the things. Yeah, by three

510
00:29:10.839 --> 00:29:13.880
o'clock tomorrow. Now, So last question, But can I ask

511
00:29:13.920 --> 00:29:14.160
you what?

512
00:29:14.160 --> 00:29:16.519
What do you do? You have an answer? Because I

513
00:29:16.920 --> 00:29:19.519
would love to hear what you would say to this question.

514
00:29:20.559 --> 00:29:21.920
That's not fair because.

515
00:29:21.640 --> 00:29:23.759
We're just two friends chatting.

516
00:29:23.920 --> 00:29:30.480
Yeah, okay, all right, uh copy here, coffy. I think

517
00:29:30.519 --> 00:29:31.680
it would be Mark Twain.

518
00:29:32.839 --> 00:29:34.000
Oh, that's a great one.

519
00:29:34.119 --> 00:29:40.000
And Bill Buckley's an easy one. But he was so

520
00:29:42.319 --> 00:29:44.880
expositive in general. He wrote books about a week in

521
00:29:44.920 --> 00:29:48.359
his life. I'm like, what is left to ask except

522
00:29:48.359 --> 00:29:50.359
maybe are things turning out the way? That you thought

523
00:29:50.359 --> 00:29:53.480
they would, but I think just for pure interest, I

524
00:29:53.480 --> 00:29:54.079
think Mark.

525
00:29:53.920 --> 00:29:57.759
Twain, that's that would be fantastic.

526
00:29:57.839 --> 00:30:00.119
I read somewhere that his love of language started with

527
00:30:00.160 --> 00:30:03.680
him working in a printing press. You physically got to maneuver,

528
00:30:04.240 --> 00:30:06.119
set the type, and find to make it all make

529
00:30:06.359 --> 00:30:07.960
the way that they did books back then. You have

530
00:30:08.000 --> 00:30:11.200
to literally spell things out and know what works. And

531
00:30:11.599 --> 00:30:14.920
it was that tactile experience with words that led him

532
00:30:14.920 --> 00:30:16.720
to have a love of the English language and use

533
00:30:16.759 --> 00:30:18.599
it so beautifully. Hold on, is that true?

534
00:30:19.880 --> 00:30:20.079
You know?

535
00:30:21.319 --> 00:30:23.559
Yeah? And my favorite descinating.

536
00:30:23.200 --> 00:30:25.240
My favorite quote attributed to him, I like, did you

537
00:30:25.279 --> 00:30:28.039
really say this? Because it's so I adore you even more.

538
00:30:28.400 --> 00:30:30.960
But it's not that there are too many. It's not

539
00:30:30.960 --> 00:30:32.440
that the world is full of idiots. It's just that

540
00:30:32.559 --> 00:30:37.000
lightning isn't distributed, right, that's a you know, that's right

541
00:30:37.079 --> 00:30:39.000
up there when it whenever you said some days, it's

542
00:30:39.000 --> 00:30:41.759
a pity. No it didn't miss the boat. Yeah, he

543
00:30:41.920 --> 00:30:42.599
was soheaded.

544
00:30:43.039 --> 00:30:44.799
He was so funny. He was very funny.

545
00:30:45.039 --> 00:30:49.119
Yeah, yes, yeah, I think that's that's the question. I

546
00:30:49.160 --> 00:30:51.559
would ask one last question. Whenever you write, do you

547
00:30:51.640 --> 00:30:57.680
hear voices in your head? I mean, well, yeah, I'll

548
00:30:57.720 --> 00:30:58.839
just let that question stand.

549
00:30:59.440 --> 00:31:02.240
Yeah, No, I think that's when it's the voices are

550
00:31:02.319 --> 00:31:04.079
quietest tell you the truth.

551
00:31:04.279 --> 00:31:04.640
Really.

552
00:31:05.319 --> 00:31:10.480
Yeah, I think I spent a lot of time listening

553
00:31:11.960 --> 00:31:16.559
when I'm not writing, and then when I'm writing, it's

554
00:31:16.640 --> 00:31:20.359
more of I don't know, So it's weird. It probably

555
00:31:20.359 --> 00:31:24.279
sounds makes me sound even nonelier than I am anyways,

556
00:31:24.319 --> 00:31:26.839
because I fully knowledge that I am. But it's sort

557
00:31:26.839 --> 00:31:31.880
of I have thinking sort of pictures and images, okay,

558
00:31:32.519 --> 00:31:36.680
And but the trick is trying to figure out how

559
00:31:36.680 --> 00:31:40.799
to translate the thoughts and the voices into an image

560
00:31:40.920 --> 00:31:45.000
that I can then put on paper. Yeah, I told

561
00:31:45.039 --> 00:31:46.640
you it doesn't make any sense, and that's how.

562
00:31:47.839 --> 00:31:50.119
But we all have our methods, right with me when

563
00:31:50.160 --> 00:31:52.720
I was on the road in the truck and even

564
00:31:52.759 --> 00:31:56.640
here at home now. Music to me is the conduit

565
00:31:57.039 --> 00:32:01.880
in my mind to developing whatever I'm trying an image

566
00:32:01.880 --> 00:32:04.480
of someone's mind. And different types of writing for me

567
00:32:04.559 --> 00:32:05.880
require different kinds of music.

568
00:32:06.599 --> 00:32:09.480
Yeah, music is a big thing. And eventually what kind

569
00:32:09.480 --> 00:32:11.680
of music you and know you're a lover of music,

570
00:32:11.759 --> 00:32:14.000
you have a whole spectrum of.

571
00:32:14.200 --> 00:32:16.759
I love it. I love it. I even like opera,

572
00:32:16.880 --> 00:32:21.400
although I measured doses after a while, I after a while,

573
00:32:21.440 --> 00:32:22.799
I want that. I think they need a new starter.

574
00:32:23.200 --> 00:32:24.960
When you have a vibrato that you could you know,

575
00:32:25.000 --> 00:32:27.359
parallel park a semi and and all right, that could

576
00:32:27.359 --> 00:32:31.319
be a problem. But when I'm making when i'm doing

577
00:32:31.400 --> 00:32:36.160
a a polemical piece, I'm making a political point, uh,

578
00:32:36.599 --> 00:32:40.480
or and or lacerating someone else's point, it's gonna be Bach.

579
00:32:40.799 --> 00:32:43.279
It's gonna be the Brandon Burke and chertoes because the

580
00:32:43.319 --> 00:32:48.359
point counterpoint, the symmetry, the intertwining melodies. Oh sure, I can,

581
00:32:48.400 --> 00:32:51.480
and I can develop a theme, you know. And the

582
00:32:51.519 --> 00:32:53.759
first time I read anything by Bill Buckley it was

583
00:32:53.799 --> 00:32:56.160
I picked up a book. It was The Jeweler's Eye

584
00:32:56.599 --> 00:32:59.039
and uh, and I've read it in a library, just

585
00:32:59.039 --> 00:33:00.480
picked it up and I went to the little the book.

586
00:33:00.480 --> 00:33:02.920
Who is this guy? I'm like, I didn't know this

587
00:33:03.119 --> 00:33:07.400
was possible. This prose is symphonic, this is a symphony

588
00:33:07.559 --> 00:33:10.480
put to writing. How do you do that? And so

589
00:33:10.720 --> 00:33:12.440
when it's when I have a point to make a

590
00:33:12.519 --> 00:33:15.799
very important point, I'm going to use that. If I'm

591
00:33:15.799 --> 00:33:17.400
just in the giddy mood and I'm trying to write

592
00:33:17.440 --> 00:33:20.359
something evocative. It could be Mozart, it could be Yanni.

593
00:33:21.160 --> 00:33:24.839
You know, it depends. It depends on what I'm trying

594
00:33:24.880 --> 00:33:26.839
to do, you know. And then there are other other

595
00:33:26.880 --> 00:33:29.240
pieces where it's going to be you remember, you've ever

596
00:33:29.240 --> 00:33:32.839
heard of Spike Jones. Yeah, okay, the first album that

597
00:33:32.839 --> 00:33:34.799
my dad has had was Spike Jones.

598
00:33:35.440 --> 00:33:35.759
Wow.

599
00:33:35.799 --> 00:33:38.200
Doing parody of classical music. Sometimes that kind of stuff

600
00:33:38.200 --> 00:33:39.960
will work depending on what I'm writing about it, So

601
00:33:40.720 --> 00:33:43.319
the music will start. The formation in my mind is

602
00:33:43.400 --> 00:33:45.519
it's almost amorphous, but it's there. I've just got to

603
00:33:45.519 --> 00:33:48.160
bring it out of the of the ether. And then

604
00:33:48.200 --> 00:33:50.279
there are times when a when a voice will just

605
00:33:50.440 --> 00:33:52.319
kick in, and again the voice depends on what I'm

606
00:33:52.319 --> 00:33:54.720
writing about. A voice of kick in and it's no

607
00:33:54.759 --> 00:33:57.480
longer me. I'm channeling whatever it is happening in my head.

608
00:33:57.799 --> 00:33:59.920
I saw this guy wearing a baseball cap and a

609
00:34:00.480 --> 00:34:03.359
truck stop in Fort Wayne, Indiana. One time, is said,

610
00:34:03.359 --> 00:34:05.400
I do what the voices in my wife's head tell

611
00:34:05.440 --> 00:34:09.320
me to do. Well, there's a there's a certain there's

612
00:34:09.320 --> 00:34:11.840
a certain stage in my writing where the voices are

613
00:34:11.840 --> 00:34:13.960
telling me, Okay, this is where this is where we're

614
00:34:13.960 --> 00:34:17.159
going with this. Yeah, and I don't argue with him,

615
00:34:17.199 --> 00:34:20.039
because that's that's the that's the muse, I tell myself, Yeah,

616
00:34:20.079 --> 00:34:22.960
not just the voices. Roll with it.

617
00:34:23.760 --> 00:34:27.159
No, that's I that makes perfect sense to me. Yes,

618
00:34:28.199 --> 00:34:29.159
that's great.

619
00:34:29.960 --> 00:34:31.519
Well it keeps me entertaining at least.

620
00:34:32.039 --> 00:34:34.320
Yeah, it's just keeping them all straight.

621
00:34:34.519 --> 00:34:38.840
Yeah, yeah, yeah, Jenna, this has been great. Thank you

622
00:34:38.880 --> 00:34:41.320
so much, and not only for being here today, but

623
00:34:41.440 --> 00:34:43.559
thank you for continuing to do the work, because I

624
00:34:43.599 --> 00:34:45.280
know there are days when it seems like you're just

625
00:34:45.840 --> 00:34:49.440
sending words into the wind, but you keep doing it

626
00:34:49.559 --> 00:34:52.199
and I absolutely love reading the work, so thank you

627
00:34:52.280 --> 00:34:52.480
for that.

628
00:34:53.679 --> 00:34:57.000
Well, I just I'm just grateful for your friendship, Dave,

629
00:34:57.039 --> 00:34:59.559
and that you care enough to have me on. So

630
00:34:59.599 --> 00:35:00.800
I'm overstations.

631
00:35:01.320 --> 00:35:03.679
This is fun. Yeah, and a little one seems to

632
00:35:03.719 --> 00:35:04.639
be having a good time.

633
00:35:05.199 --> 00:35:07.599
Yeah, I do. I apologize to you and your listeners

634
00:35:07.800 --> 00:35:12.960
for the dog and the and the kid and I am.

635
00:35:13.880 --> 00:35:17.280
We just moved so it's just a total total chaos

636
00:35:17.320 --> 00:35:20.840
at the house, so I understand. I really do apologize.

637
00:35:20.840 --> 00:35:22.960
My wife and I moved into it into our place,

638
00:35:23.039 --> 00:35:28.280
our current place, beginning last February January February, a lot

639
00:35:28.320 --> 00:35:32.360
more space my little layer is now as sanctuary. Yeah,

640
00:35:32.559 --> 00:35:36.079
you know. So it's lovely. It's fun, you know, but

641
00:35:36.199 --> 00:35:39.840
oh my god, talk about being uprooted and feeling unmoored.

642
00:35:39.880 --> 00:35:41.920
But you know, we finally we're finally pretty much settled

643
00:35:41.920 --> 00:35:43.800
in now so it happens. It takes a while. In

644
00:35:43.840 --> 00:35:46.119
our case, took months, but we're pretty much there.

645
00:35:47.239 --> 00:35:49.480
Well, good, I'm glad to hear it. No, it looks

646
00:35:49.559 --> 00:35:50.480
it looks fantastic.

647
00:35:50.599 --> 00:35:53.400
Thank you, thank you. I'm this is this is well anyway,

648
00:35:54.519 --> 00:35:58.280
that's where the sausage is made. Well, let's do this again,

649
00:35:58.360 --> 00:35:59.320
sooner rather than later.

650
00:35:59.360 --> 00:36:03.480
Okay, yes, please, any anytime. I'll drop everything. Yes, you

651
00:36:03.519 --> 00:36:04.079
say the word.

652
00:36:04.199 --> 00:36:05.880
Well, thank you so much. This has been great. We'll

653
00:36:05.920 --> 00:36:08.840
do it again, folks. That's my friend and writer, extraordinary

654
00:36:08.920 --> 00:36:12.320
Jenna Stocker on the Day of Carter Program.

655
00:36:11.719 --> 00:36:12.920
Talking loved.

656
00:36:14.639 --> 00:36:16.760
Day kinda.

657
00:36:19.320 --> 00:36:22.000
At this time. The Dave Carter Show presents the inaugural

658
00:36:22.000 --> 00:36:26.519
installment of a continuing series of Cajun cultural enrichment segments,

659
00:36:26.920 --> 00:36:32.320
regrettably titled Buy You Bull and Gumbo Wisdom Tonight, a

660
00:36:32.440 --> 00:36:37.079
lullaby designed to quiet the little fartlings. Future offerings may

661
00:36:37.079 --> 00:36:42.199
include instruction on how to spoke good English, you and

662
00:36:42.400 --> 00:36:45.960
recipes capable of propelling one all the way to Pittsburgh.

663
00:36:46.239 --> 00:36:50.800
Best enjoyed downwind, one shudders to imagine.

664
00:36:51.480 --> 00:36:52.039
Off we go.

665
00:36:52.079 --> 00:36:55.440
Then do try to enjoy it, or at least stay

666
00:36:55.559 --> 00:36:56.679
quiet while it is.

667
00:36:56.639 --> 00:37:04.000
On ado, do, you, little fartling. The gators are snoozing

668
00:37:04.159 --> 00:37:07.920
down on to bayou. The fireflies dim in their light

669
00:37:08.400 --> 00:37:12.239
just for you. You had all damn day to raise

670
00:37:12.280 --> 00:37:16.480
Holy hell. Now hush that mouth up, chat go rest

671
00:37:16.559 --> 00:37:21.320
for a spell. The moon's hanging low over them cypress trees.

672
00:37:22.280 --> 00:37:22.360
Me.

673
00:37:22.480 --> 00:37:26.320
I'm worn out. I need rest, if you please. You

674
00:37:26.480 --> 00:37:31.480
dispensed more chaos than a hurricane brew. Now dispense some quiet,

675
00:37:32.159 --> 00:37:36.400
like a good little h fato dough, you little fartling.

676
00:37:37.440 --> 00:37:39.960
Night time's the right time to shut the hell up.

677
00:37:40.920 --> 00:37:42.519
How am I supposed to wake up and feed that

678
00:37:42.599 --> 00:37:45.760
sweet face? If I'm up all night asking for some

679
00:37:45.880 --> 00:37:50.320
quiet in this place. I'll read you one story, then too,

680
00:37:50.880 --> 00:37:55.400
then three more about piros and crawfish and old folklore.

681
00:37:56.360 --> 00:37:58.679
But you just wiggle and giggle and kick at the

682
00:37:58.719 --> 00:38:02.039
sheet like English ain't a language you care to repeat.

683
00:38:03.280 --> 00:38:07.400
The whole neighborhood sleeping, not even a peep while you

684
00:38:07.519 --> 00:38:11.760
calls all this chaos like a tiny little creep. Don't

685
00:38:11.760 --> 00:38:15.719
you understood? Good English? Mom? Petit time for feto do

686
00:38:16.280 --> 00:38:20.840
that means go to freak and sleep? Fato do you

687
00:38:20.920 --> 00:38:23.920
little fartling? Night time is the right time. Just shut

688
00:38:23.920 --> 00:38:25.920
the hell up. How am I supposed to wake up

689
00:38:25.920 --> 00:38:29.559
and feed that sweet face if I'm up all night

690
00:38:29.639 --> 00:38:33.559
begging for some quiet in this place? Oh yeah, y.

691
00:38:35.679 --> 00:38:38.639
I love you more than budain and twice as much

692
00:38:38.679 --> 00:38:42.239
as my coffee. But Lord, have mercy, child, give it

693
00:38:42.320 --> 00:38:46.360
a rest already. The sun will be up soon and

694
00:38:46.400 --> 00:38:49.400
you'll be wide awake, running circles around me like a

695
00:38:49.440 --> 00:38:54.360
wild coon ass snake. I closed in eyeshat before I

696
00:38:54.400 --> 00:38:57.920
lose what's left of my mind, before I stop speaking

697
00:38:57.960 --> 00:39:00.239
English and swap that little behind.

698
00:39:01.360 --> 00:39:01.480
Ray.

699
00:39:01.559 --> 00:39:05.159
Don't don't damn it, for the love of all that's holy,

700
00:39:06.119 --> 00:39:08.119
go to freaking.

701
00:39:07.880 --> 00:39:21.440
Sleep for the person who has everything. It's antibiotics. No wait,

702
00:39:22.159 --> 00:39:27.119
it's Dave Carter on Ricochet fiber.

703
00:39:30.280 --> 00:39:34.440
We're all trying to change, but I stole the show.

704
00:39:36.559 --> 00:39:43.159
By your god mothers, thunder in my face. Ain't no

705
00:39:43.480 --> 00:39:48.079
cave big enough to hold these flames.

706
00:39:48.920 --> 00:39:50.320
I walked through the Man.

707
00:39:50.599 --> 00:39:54.639
Stood in the Fire, down with the Devil's Alone, the Live,

708
00:39:55.519 --> 00:40:08.679
no Friend, no refreet Here, the Indians, the Times, face

709
00:40:09.480 --> 00:40:19.079
to the word freedom, the car same time till the dam.

710
00:40:23.320 --> 00:40:23.760
Let me?

711
00:40:47.519 --> 00:40:50.679
So, how you liking this, uh little extravaganza so far?

712
00:40:52.280 --> 00:40:55.320
One thing I'd like to point out is that all

713
00:40:55.360 --> 00:40:57.920
of the music you've heard on the show today his

714
00:40:58.039 --> 00:41:02.840
original stuff. Okay, As Jenna mentioned, music runs through my veins,

715
00:41:03.559 --> 00:41:06.440
which every moment of every day, and I've been fortunate

716
00:41:07.320 --> 00:41:09.679
to have so many great influences and styles that I've

717
00:41:09.679 --> 00:41:12.280
fallen in love with over the years. So I've said

718
00:41:12.280 --> 00:41:18.280
about composing upwards of fifty pieces of music to this point,

719
00:41:18.320 --> 00:41:20.360
fifty five or so, with the help of some remarkable

720
00:41:20.400 --> 00:41:25.119
of a remarkable music service. It's all original stuff. Some

721
00:41:25.199 --> 00:41:29.440
has lyrics as you've heard today. In fact, most or

722
00:41:29.440 --> 00:41:32.440
instrumental pieces that run the gamut from classical and orchestral

723
00:41:32.519 --> 00:41:38.000
to New Orleans jazz, why zydeco, blues, even a collection

724
00:41:38.039 --> 00:41:41.239
that I call beast Mode, which is what I listened

725
00:41:41.239 --> 00:41:44.559
to when I'm at the gym, and that mixes metal

726
00:41:44.599 --> 00:41:46.800
and rap and some other things. So it's just fun.

727
00:41:47.519 --> 00:41:49.440
It says a little bit of everything there, and that's

728
00:41:49.440 --> 00:41:52.840
what I'll be using in this program going forward. So

729
00:41:52.880 --> 00:41:55.639
with the exception of commercials, what you hear is the

730
00:41:55.639 --> 00:41:58.719
result of the voices in my head getting free rain

731
00:41:58.920 --> 00:41:59.320
for a bit.

732
00:42:00.039 --> 00:42:01.440
Ah.

733
00:42:01.559 --> 00:42:04.400
Now, let me ask you a question. It wasn't Jenna great?

734
00:42:05.559 --> 00:42:08.159
Do yourself a favor. Heading over to her substack page

735
00:42:08.559 --> 00:42:12.239
Pilgrim's Progress, or go over to the Daily Wire. You'll

736
00:42:12.239 --> 00:42:15.519
see a list of article after articles springing from the

737
00:42:15.559 --> 00:42:18.000
wonderful mind and the gracious spirit of one of the

738
00:42:18.000 --> 00:42:21.039
best writers to put the thought to paper in a

739
00:42:21.119 --> 00:42:24.559
very long time. Now, if you've enjoyed the show today,

740
00:42:25.039 --> 00:42:28.519
head on over to Dave cartershow dot com. It's Dave

741
00:42:28.639 --> 00:42:31.840
cartershow dot com. Leave us a review there you like,

742
00:42:32.000 --> 00:42:34.039
five star review, that'd be even better. But whatever you like,

743
00:42:34.519 --> 00:42:37.519
seep it and just do a review. You can write

744
00:42:37.519 --> 00:42:39.599
something out. Hell, you can even funch a little button

745
00:42:39.639 --> 00:42:42.519
over there and leave a voicemail for me. Other folks

746
00:42:42.559 --> 00:42:44.039
have done that. We play some of them on this

747
00:42:44.079 --> 00:42:46.840
show every now. Then we'll be getting another collection together

748
00:42:46.880 --> 00:42:50.000
here soon. This good stuff. But tell us what you think.

749
00:42:50.199 --> 00:42:52.199
I listen to everyone, I read every one of them,

750
00:42:52.679 --> 00:43:00.440
and we'll go from there. You know, whenever you go

751
00:43:00.440 --> 00:43:02.280
to the website can see a pop up screen asking

752
00:43:02.320 --> 00:43:04.880
for your email if you like a free subscription to

753
00:43:04.920 --> 00:43:07.840
the forthcoming newsletter. And I sat down with the folks

754
00:43:07.840 --> 00:43:10.239
that are helping me actually integrate the email list with

755
00:43:10.280 --> 00:43:12.920
the newsletter so that when a newsletter comes out, it

756
00:43:12.960 --> 00:43:16.440
will automatically send out to the growing list of subscribers.

757
00:43:17.320 --> 00:43:20.880
I should confess that my patient's when bogged down in

758
00:43:20.960 --> 00:43:25.199
this digital moras is it's not great. I'm trying to

759
00:43:25.199 --> 00:43:27.519
decipher and understand what needs to happen. I struggle with

760
00:43:27.519 --> 00:43:29.760
the urge to pick up a hammer, you know, and

761
00:43:29.840 --> 00:43:33.679
make a few slight adjustments to the program. God may

762
00:43:33.679 --> 00:43:35.559
have made the world in a week, but he wasn't

763
00:43:35.599 --> 00:43:39.159
negotiating this digital quicksand in the process. If he had,

764
00:43:39.199 --> 00:43:40.599
we I might not have had a light in the

765
00:43:40.599 --> 00:43:43.079
first place. Maybe I'll leave the mic hot one day

766
00:43:43.119 --> 00:43:45.559
as I'm trying to figure this crap out, and because

767
00:43:45.599 --> 00:43:47.559
the folks that are helping are enjoying my little running

768
00:43:47.559 --> 00:43:50.599
stream of commentary a bit too much. But we'll get

769
00:43:50.679 --> 00:43:57.440
hammered out eventually and we'll go from there. And they

770
00:43:57.519 --> 00:44:01.719
need to pick out a let's see that's better. Goodness, gracious,

771
00:44:01.719 --> 00:44:04.440
he was trying to tune the instrument. Any rate, we'll

772
00:44:04.480 --> 00:44:09.400
be churning out some newsletters pretty soon. Meanwhile, we'll keep

773
00:44:09.400 --> 00:44:12.159
having fun on this program with compelling conversation and my

774
00:44:12.239 --> 00:44:15.719
own conviction that politics is downstream from culture, and culture

775
00:44:16.280 --> 00:44:21.760
is downstream from what makes people laugh. That is our guide.

776
00:44:21.760 --> 00:44:26.079
There'll be no shortage of interesting exchanges and crazy stuff

777
00:44:26.079 --> 00:44:28.880
to laugh at. I do hope that you've enjoyed the

778
00:44:28.920 --> 00:44:32.239
proceedings today and look forward very much to doing more

779
00:44:32.280 --> 00:44:35.960
of these very soon. My thanks to Jenna Stocker. My

780
00:44:36.079 --> 00:44:38.079
sincere thanks to you for spending part of your day

781
00:44:38.119 --> 00:44:40.719
with us. Until next time, keep looking for the good,

782
00:44:40.960 --> 00:44:46.400
keep laughing when you can, and never surrender your curiosity.

783
00:44:46.599 --> 00:44:49.519
I'm Dave Carter. Thank you for listening to the Dave

784
00:44:49.639 --> 00:44:54.000
Carter Show. This concludes the funniest and most compelling broadcast

785
00:44:54.119 --> 00:44:54.679
of your day.

786
00:44:55.599 --> 00:44:56.280
You're welcome.

787
00:44:57.119 --> 00:44:59.800
If you enjoyed today's conversation, please take a moment to

788
00:45:00.039 --> 00:45:03.280
of a five star review and a comment at davecartershow

789
00:45:03.320 --> 00:45:07.239
dot com. It truly helps the show and we appreciate it.

790
00:45:07.880 --> 00:45:10.719
Until next time. We now return you to your normal world.

791
00:45:11.239 --> 00:45:12.079
Good luck, out there,