**** Producer's Note: The following is a general transcript of LCC Connect's weekly radio program. Contents include but may not be limited to podcasts, program imaging, announcements, and PSAs. More detailed and accurate transcripts of the podcast episodes featured in this broadcast can be found at LCCconnect.com or by following the links provided in the show notes of this episode. ****

Crawl out from under your bridges. Cause it's time for Trollin the Mitten, Your favorite local comedy podcast where we bring you the best and brightest from the Great Lakes State. I'm your host, Errol Gribble, a Michigan reconnect student here at Lansing Community College in the digital media, audio and cinema program where just like in nature, stars are forged through exposure to pressure and a lot of hot air. Guten dark Great Lake sirs. My name is Errol Gribble. Of course. Welcome to the show. Today's show is another example of why I started this show. There are so many amazingly talented people and I convinced one of them to be on the show. Today's guest, her name is Angela Dawe. She's a Lansingite local here to the Great Lakes State, to the capital city. Audiobook narrator, star of screen and stage. She's a writer, she's a comedian. She's a winner of several earphones awards from audiophile magazine, narrator of two Audie nominated audiobooks. Most importantly though, she's an accomplished improviser and sketch comedian. She's worked with Second City Chicago, Improv Olympic, the annoyance. She spent a bunch of time out in Chicago. She moved back home. She loves to cook and we both love food. We decided that this would be a food episode. So Angela is playing our special guest, a French chef who we have brought in to do a taste testing for an imaginary food festival on the lawn of the state capitol. There are a lot of festivals that happen on the lawn throughout the year, throughout the summer. Check it out. You should also get a tour of the place. It's amazing place. I love this state. I love this city and I love Angela Dawe. And this entire interview was improvised. Enjoy the chef episode. Hey everybody. Welcome to the show today. I'm super excited. It's bustling out here. There's a lot of things going on. We're having fun. We're trying delicious food. There's so many beautiful smells and aromas. We're outside the state capitol today. It is the capital lawn food festival filled with all of the greatest, most delicious foods from around the state. We've got got some iconic things here from like Detroit coneys to up pasties and everything in between. And so today for your listening pleasure, for their culinary tasting pleasure, we have on our show a special guest here today to give their opinion of the food. We actually brought in an outsider from France, right? Is that right?

I am from Canada.

Oh, French Canadian. That's right. We couldn't afford the plane ticket. My apologies. But please, a professional chef. Introduce yourself for the listeners at home.

Bonjour. My name is Monique dupont, and I am from Quebec.

Monique Dupont?

Oui.

Why, oui? Just like the chemical company.

Okay, well, we don't have to. I mean, sure, yes.

Tell me a little bit about how you got into this. What's your training? What's your background?

Yes, I am very passionate about food. I always have been. I have been eating since I was very small.

Oh, good. And I'm assuming you sort of started with, like, you know, breast milk maybe, or.

Yes, well, with the breast milk and the soft. The soft foods were my first introduction to the world of flavor.

Yeah, I think a lot of us. Sure, sure, sure.

For me, that was very formative. I found some things, I would eat them and it would be pleasure.

Yeah, sure.

Some things, I would eat them and it would be pain.

Oh, oh, you mean like spicy foods?

No, I like the spicy foods.

Oh, there's a pleasure.

No, I mean, like, are you familiar with carob?

Oh, yeah. Like the chocolate for hippies. Oh, it is.

Yes, it is. Like, you take your earwax and turn it into candy and tell a child they have this. It will be delicious.

Your parents fed you carob?

I stopped speaking to. But I have not spoken to my mother since I was four.

When she. When she first served you carib.

It was a betrayal I will never recover from.

I, I. Well, you know what? I hope that you reconcile someday, but I can understand why.

Me, too.

So you formative years, falling in love with food as a child. Except for carob. Are there other foods that cause you pain?

You know, some things it is maybe not pain, but I don't like him.

Yeah. Okay. Mild discomfort.

Mild discomfort or just disgust?

Oh, very good. What disgusts you?

I don't like the mashed potato.

Oh, okay.

This is, to me very. What are we doing here? Am I back in my babyhood? Why would I eat. There are 5,000 ways to make a potato like this one.

So you're saying the flavors, maybe from your childhood, were formative, but not the texture. That, like, baby formula mashed potato thing. You're out. That's.

No, but, you know, it is delicious.

What's that?

Are you familiar with the Kentucky Fried Chicken?

I am indeed. Probably a little too comfortable with it.

They have a dish. I don't know what it is, but they call him the mashed potato. It's not, but it's delicious.

The. So the KFC mashed potato.

So good.

Yeah, you know, I think it's just a Rumor. But, you know, it's. I think everybody's heard the rumor that we call it KFC because you can't legally call it chicken anymore. I have not heard that. Oh, good. It's all lies.

But the potato part is definitely a lie.

Yeah, that's. I'm pretty sure that's what some sort of putting in there.

It is so good.

I believe it's freeze dried powdered potatoes. So think about that next time you maybe buy a box of.

I think about it all the time.

Good to know. So when did you, like learn how to actually do the cooking and stuff yourself? Where did you do your training?

I have done most of my training on YouTube.

Okay. Like from YouTube videos?

Yes.

Okay. Okay.

And I have traveled extensively and studied under some very famous chefs.

Great.

I mean, literally, like under the window of their restaurant.

Oh, so sort of like not. Not an official, like mentorship or like a training program. You just kind of spied on famous chefs.

Okay. If that's how you want to put it, that's fine. But yes. So I have been to many culinary hot spots on the globe.

Okay.

You're familiar with the French Laundry in California.

I know you know, some of us folks here in the Midwest, we simple, maybe less cultured. What's the French?

This is a very famous restaurant run by the very famous chef Thomas Keller.

Oh, very good.

I have not been to the French Laundry. I have not been to California. Actually. I have read several articles and Wikipedia entries about the French Laundry and Thomas Keller.

You obviously want. You watch the bear, so that'll, you know. Yes, Jeff, obviously. So that's. You're probably picking up some stuff from that.

Oh, I think I already knew because I also watched Top Jeff and I watched Chopped.

Okay. What about Cake Boss?

No, I don't care for the Cake Boss. I don't like his vibes.

So I thought. I'm sorry, I really thought that we got like a Michelin star chef in here. Like, did you study it like cordon bleu or like, technically?

No.

Okay.

But again, many Wikipedia articles have been. I have skimmed them.

Okay.

I have looked at a lot of Instagram photos of people who go to fancy see place. Like, someone I know was in Italy recently and they went to a restaurant there where there was a lot of foam.

Okay. And so that you were like, cool. Now I. Now I know foam.

Yeah.

Okay, great.

Sure.

No, hey, look. Lifelong learners. And you know, abl.

That is the. That is the motto.

That's right.

That's what we say. Be learning.

Absolutely.

Nobody Said apple.

So. So tell me about your restaurant. So, like what? Like what? Yeah. What kind of stuff do you cook?

My restaurant is in Quebec, of course. And it is. It is a very small space.

Okay.

It is just to the east of my bed and.

Okay.

It's. So I live where I work. I work where I live. Oh, I'm so dedicated.

Just to the east of your bed, like east side of the street or like. You mean just like in the same room?

Yeah. So it is my studio apartment.

Oh, okay.

Which I believe creates a very.

Cozy, very intimate.

Intimate, because I want to share myself. And also I don't have the money to have a real, you know, space.

Okay. I mean, that is very vulnerable of you, though. So how many tables in this restaurant?

I am waiting to. I have right now a milk crate.

Okay.

It's rustic, you know.

Oh, yeah. It's part of the vibe. So what are the vibes in this place? Like, what's the kind of food and the atmosphere?

The food is. It is all hot plate based.

Hot plate. Okay.

Yeah, that. Because I don't have a full kitchen.

Right, Your studio apartment.

Right.

Yeah, sure.

A lot of pasta, A lot of craft, you know, craft.

Craft. Like macaroni and cheese.

Cheese and macaroni.

Apologies. Are you not the, like, Velveeta cheesy packets? You like the powder?

I prefer the powder.

Okay, so do a lot of three year olds, like you said, you're formidable, ages early on. Do you do anything special to the craft or do you just follow the directions on the box?

I would object to your using the word just, like, just. Do I just follow the direction? I mean, this is. Food is a science. Cooking is a science.

It's like chemistry. Absolutely.

You can't just, you know, I mean, I add my own flair. I add my own flavor. Sometimes, for example, I will cut up a hot dog and put it in the cheese and macaroni.

Okay.

But you have to. Do you have to follow the classic, you know, tradition?

Yeah, sure.

The seven minutes, the, you know, the amount of butter and milk.

1 and a half cups.

I am humble enough to know. I follow the directions.

Oh, okay. She's a rule follower, folks.

No, no, no, no. I am, I am. I am respectful of this tradition.

So it's sort of. You consider like a recipe, like even on the back of a craft box to be like a what, a play? Like a playwright. You know, a playwright figures out the right way to say the lines and they have stage directions and you respect the playwright. You don't change the Words.

Right. I'm not going to come on and do Hamlet and tell you there's no ham. I mean, this is not. I don't think this is what Shakespeare intended.

There's not a lot of ham, actually.

In Hamlet, but I believe it shows up many times. Every time someone says, excuse me, Hamlet. What are you doing? Why are you being so crazy?

No, you're right. I stand correct.

I believe that is act four.

That's a direct quote from Act Four. Absolutely. Okay, well. And what's the name of your restaurant so we can come visit you?

Oh, the name of my restaurant is 24 East 3rd.

Okay. Which is also your studio apartment.

Yes.

Do you have hours that we could come by?

If you are willing to pay me, you can come pretty much anytime.

Oh, wow. I'm assuming, yeah, you're probably there most of the time. What are price ranges for, like, plates?

It depends on what kind of culinary experience you are looking for.

Oh, I see. Okay. So you have a respect for all ranges of culinary delights.

I don't want to be exclusive.

Absolutely.

Nor do we until I have savings.

Oh, okay. So once you can afford exclusivity, then you will embrace it?

Yes.

Good for you. Okay, well, before you do, we found the perfect time to bring you out here. Michigan has a wide array of culinary delights, so we're just gonna. I've assembled in front of us an array of choices. So this first one, this is local here, right? From Lansing. It is the quality dairy. Long John. Chocolate. Chocolate. Long John. So chocolate cream inside the chocolate. Long John. Okay, so help yourself.

Okay. Oh, my God. This is. Is this the best pastry I have ever had? Is it the best. Is it the best pastry on the planet?

You tell me. That's why you're here.

Well, I have looked at pictures of many pastries from France and all over the world, and none of the pictures taste as good as this. What is this, a long gym?

Long John.

Who is John? Who is John? What is Long am I. What is.

Well, the donuts. The long part. I don't. You know what? I haven't done the research. I don't know where the name Long.

John comes from, but going back to school, by which I mean Wikipedia, do look this up later. This is amazing.

Amazing. So how do we want to rate this chef? What's your rating scale?

I use unicorns as my ratings. And it's magical. It's a unicorn if it's okay. It's a bicorn if it's really good, and a tricorn for blowma my socks off.

Okay. And so quality dairy donuts.

A tree, three tricorn.

Wow.

The most magical rare creature whose blood gives you immortality.

There's a lot of lancingites that would agree with you on that. So amazing. Cool. Well, so moving along, this next one here from Detroit originally, there's actually Detroit style pizza, but this one specifically from one of the first folks who had it. And now there's chains all over the state now. And we have one in Lansing, Buddy's pizza. So this is a. A deep dish. Yeah. Pepperoni. Buddy's Pizza.

Okay, Here we go.

There you go. Yeah, yeah. Just get the thing in there. It's real deep.

Very careful.

It's kind of hot.

This is messy.

It is, Yep. The sauce. Yep. Right on top.

I like it. It gets your whole senses involved.

Okay.

Sensory experience.

All right. All right.

Okay.

Thoughts.

It's a little bit sweet. Or maybe I am still tasting the donut.

Oh, the donut. Yeah. I should have given that water in between.

John, I. I love you forever. The sauce is a little sweet.

The sauce is sweet. It is.

I like him.

All right, how many unicorns this is?

This is a bicorn.

A bicorn. Okay, now make sure you get a taste of that crust along the edge. That's the best part right there.

It's all crunchy.

Yeah, that's a crunchy cheese right there.

That is delicious.

So does that knock it up or are we still you holding true to.

Well, I have to tell you, I am a little bit loyal to the Chicago style pizza.

Oh. The original deep dish.

It's. Even though I will admit it gives me the very busy toilet.

Yeah, yeah. I believe we call that diarrhea in the states.

But it tastes so good.

Okay. I can't guarantee that the Buddy's pizza or honestly lots of what will probably try today might we'll give you the. What did you call it?

The busy toilet.

The busy toilets. Yes.

That's okay because I don't mean to brag or make other people feel bad, but I have a toilet in my apartment.

Oh, thank God.

Doing okay.

Good. Okay. So Buddy's Pizza to buy corn.

Buy corn.

Okay. All right, this next one here from Detroit. Again it is. Although you can find it on over the state at any Coney island or diner type restaurant. This is the Detroit Coney Dog.

What is happening?

So you've got a steamed white bun and you got the hot dog. And then this is beanless chili on top. And then onions and mustard.

Oh, this will give me busy Toilet for sure. Oh, my God. I can't. This is. No, it's too much.

Okay.

It's too much. I can't.

All right, good to know. So Coney. Coney dog. Too much. Oh, you got a little dropping down your chin there.

It is attacking me.

Yeah.

Inside and out. This is a very like. Is this how you keep away the people you don't want to come to the state of Michigan?

No.

You say, here, take this sloppy, slobbery toilet food, and this is what we will make you eat the whole time. And people say, no, I go back to Canada. I will live in Ohio. Just kidding. Nobody want to live in Ohio.

Nobody wants to live in Ohio. You know, believe it or not, no. There are people. People who actually really enjoy eating Coney dogs. A lot of Michiganders, in fact. Do you like hot dogs in general? Like, are you a hot dog person?

Well, as I say, I put them in their craft.

Oh, right. Of course.

Yes. This is a simple man's food. The hot dog.

How would you like your hot dog?

Simple.

Just the dog. Just the glizzy.

Just give me the dog.

Okay.

Give me the dog. Sometimes I eat him cold.

Like, frozen or just like.

No, not frozen. I still have teeth, but from the refrigerator.

Okay. All right. Well, good to know.

I am humble. I understand the needs of the common person. We all can eat beautifully, and a winner is the way sometimes, especially when.

All you got is a hot plate in a studio apartment.

It's not all I've got. This is my choice.

Oh, I see. It's like an artist's choice to sort of live simple and connect, even though you've mentioned, like, wanting a lot more money.

Okay, so just because it happens that it is all I can afford does not mean that it is bad. And just because I would like, you know, walls in my apartment and maybe somewhere to make my food and serve my food that is not also, you know, where I sleep and do my shower. This doesn't mean that I am.

Less. Right? Sure, sure. And I didn't mean to insinuate any such thing.

I understand.

My serious apologies, Chef. Let's move on to the next item here. Right next to you, this next thing is a cup of Vernors. So you can use that to wash off some of that.

Okay, thanks.

Yeah. So that there is Vernors. It is a Michigan staple. It's our version of ginger ale. What you call Canada Dry, of course.

It's so spicy.

It is very spicy.

Excuse me.

To make me burp.

Apologies, Shaq.

This is delicious.

Yay. All right. Okay. Now, a lot of folks in Michigan, maybe they're growing up their families. And this is for ginger alien general. But definitely here in Michigan, we use Vernors as sometimes to like for colds or whatever, but we serve it warm or sometimes just in the holiday season. So right next to that is some warm Vernors. Go ahead and give that a try too.

Yes.

This tastes like medicine.

All right.

But I like him.

Hey.

All right. Okay. So how many unicorns do you have?

I give this a one.

No, we could.

The two horns here. This is a Two horns. Yeah, it would help with the whole nasty.

Yeah, yeah. It probably tastes really good with the Coney Islands. Okay, so we're gonna move up to the up. Now, the famous pasty. This is a delicious handheld food. Actually comes from the Cornish copper and iron miners.

I do like corn in.

Well, okay. In the 19th century, they were, you know, they needed things for their lunches. And so it's an easy, portable little pocket, kind of like a fancy hot pocket.

Every cuisine has a little pocket food.

That's right.

Everybody. Every culture.

That's right. And this is ours. It's stuffed with this one specifically beef, pork, carrot, onion and rutabaga. Yeah. And these ones actually come up from Houghton. Not Houghton Lake, but Houghton, Michigan. Up in the up.

How do you say Houghton?

That's right. Yay. That you're gonna get a Michigan accent before we're. Before you're done. Yeah. So.

Okay.

Yeah, just like this shows trolling the mitten mitt. There you go.

Okay.

Okay. So there's gravy and ketchup on the side there. Those are two dipping options. Different folks, different strokes. Okay, Go ahead and give the pasty a try.

I'm going to use my hands because I am a sensory.

Oh, sure. You want to dive totally into that. All right. Careful. It does kind of fall apart.

Okay, I get it. I like. Thank you. O for your. For your boob cover food. This is very fun. I like this a lot. Yeah, I like the little pocket. It's a little. What is in here? I don't know. And then I bite it open and it spill all over, but it kind of fun. Like confetti. Only the confetti is beef.

That's right. That's right. A meaty confetti.

And this is how you know food can be more than just what is in your mouth.

Right.

It is a multi sensory experience.

Experience. That's right.

And this to me, the. The pasty. Pasty.

The pasty, not pasty. Yeah. Make sure you get those right.

Okay. So this is the dessert of Michigan.

Oh, I see.

It's thick.

So thank you again for being on the show. We're going to wrap this up, folks. Thank you for listening. Go out in your town and around the state and enjoy these delicious culinary treats. Chef, thank you again for being on the show.

Thank you for the longest of the johns. I love the mi N. Oh, and.

I come back when we get. When we wrap this up, I'm going to take you to a quality dairy. I'm going to fill you up with donuts.

This is wonderful because I don't have anything in my pantry, so.

Sure. Before you go, what are some words of advice you might give for some students at LCC who might be, you know, studying, going into the culinary arts, or anybody out there who wants to be a chef and learn how to cook and get out there and. Or anything about, like, cooking in general or life?

Smell. Smell as much as you can because you can't always afford to go actually eat the food, but you can smell so much food. I like free smells.

Just like Jimmy John's.

Jimmy John's. I. I did study there for two weeks.

All right.

But I was let go for taking too much of the bread home.

Oh, okay. But smell. So, like, I shouldn't be a smelly.

Person, but yet you eat this coney dog and you say you should not be. I don't know how to.

Well, no, I am a smelly person, but that's not like, to be a chef, I should use my olfactory senses is what you're saying. Yes. Okay. Anything else?

Listen to everything Padma Lakshmi say.

Brilliant. And she's where?

On the YouTube.

On the YouTubes. All right. Google it on YouTube, folks. And also while you're on there, you can find our podcast out on YouTube. Check it out.

Yes. Trolling the mitten.

That's right, Chef. Thank you again for being on the show.

Thank you for having me. I love them and we love you.

That's all for today. You for scoopers. Remember, you can listen to this in every one of our episodes on LCC connect.org plus all your major streaming platforms. Thank you so much for tuning in. We hope you had as much fun as we did. And until next time, if you seek a pleasant peninsula look about you.

Featuring the faculty, staff, students, and others that help to make Lansing's premier college what it is today. LCC Connect MidMichigan's connection to Lansing Community College. To find out more about our featured programs or to Listen on demand. Visit us at LC LCC Connect.org LCC.

Connect Voices vibes Vision. Academic success is a priority at Lansing Community College and when assistance is needed, tutoring is available to all students. The LCC Tutoring Services at LCC has developed several options to work with students in their busy schedules including WebEx tutoring sessions, math exam prep parties and the writing center. Resources include quick print stations, chemistry and anatomy models, microscopes, and several other tools to help students. Tutors may also be available for pre scheduled after hours appointments. To find out more about tutoring services, visit lcc Edu Tutoring.

Hi, I'm Melissa Caplan and I host a show called Galaxy Forum on LCC Connect. It's all about the creativity in our classrooms and on campus here at LCC and the connections we have with the community. You can catch Galaxy Forum here on LCC Connect or listen anytime@lccconnect.org.

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Michigan residents age age 25 or older may qualify for Michigan Reconnect, a program providing free or reduced tuition to students.

Who have not earned a prior college degree.

Reconnect students are responsible for books and fees. Visit LCC.edu Reconnect for more information.

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Bob Myers from the Historical Society of Michigan with a Michigan history moment. She was daring and fearless, a writer, actress and aviatrix with a thirst for fame. Harriet Quimby exemplified the new woman of the early 20th century and led a life of adventure. Harriet Quimby was born near Arcadia, near Frankfort, Michigan in 1875, the daughter of William and Ursula Quimby. Her parents farm failed to thrive, so they started a patent medicine business. Ursula mixed up batches of an herbal remedy, Quimby's liver Invigorator, that Williams sold around the country. The Quimby family moved to California in the mid-1880s. There, Harriet Quimby began writing for newspapers, becoming a drama critic and feature writer for Leslie's Illustrated Weekly. Quimby moved to New York City in the early 20th century. She decided that her true Persona was too mundane for her dashing image. So she dropped 10 years from her age and changed her birthplace to Arroyo Grande, California. Not content to merely write about theater, Quimby took to the stage herself and wrote scripts for silent movies. In October 1910, Quimby attended the Belmont Park International Aviation Tournament in Long Island, New York to write on own her about the event. There she met aviator John Moissant and began taking flying lessons from the Moissant aviation School. On August 1, 1911, Harriet Quimby became the first American woman to earn a pilot's license. The new aviatrix won fame as a pilot. She competed in flying meets and became the first female pilot to make a night flight. She sailed to England, borrowed an airplane and in 1912 became the first woman to fly across the English Channel. Always flamboyant, Quimby dressed in a plum colored satin flying suit. The hooded blouse with riding breeches style pants became her trademark. Quimby bought a two seat Bleriot 11 airplane and entered the Boston Aviation meet. On July 1, 1912. She took event organizer William Willard for a ride over Boston Harbor. Near the field. At an altitude of of about 1,000ft, the bleriot suddenly pitched nose down. Horrified spectators saw both pilot and passenger plummet from the airplane and strike the water near shore. They died instantly. In 1991, the United States Postal Service issued an airmail stamp bearing Quimby's image. She was inducted into the National Aviation hall of Fame in 2004 and the Michigan Women's hall of Fame in 2013. In death, Harriet Quimby has achieved the fame she craved in life. This Michigan history moment was brought to you by michiganhistorymagazine.org.

Examining the issues and topics that affect our lives from the local level to the world stage. Listen to the programs of LCC Connect anytime at lccconnect.org.

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The stage is alive and well at Lansing Community College. Each year the downtown campus comes to life with more than 30 performances at Dart Auditorium, the Black Box Theater and LCC's outdoor amphitheater. These productions are more than entertainment, they're part of the learning experience. Students in LCC's performing arts program gain hands on experience both on stage and behind the scenes, developing confidence, creativity and collaboration. From powerful plays to lively concerts, LCC's performances celebrate local talent and the vibrant spirit of the arts in our community. All performances are free. Find out what's next at LCC. Edu ShowInfo.

I'm Steven Cutter and I host a show called Coach Cutts Corner here on LCC Connect. Coach Cut's Corner is about Lansing Stars, baseball program, mental performance and just getting better in everyday life. You can always find more about LCC Connect Shows and listen on demand@lccconnect.org. Are you among the millions of Americans living with chronic pain? If so, you may think prescription opioids are the solution. The truth is the benefits of opioids are limited. Opioids only mask the pain. Opioids also come with serious side effects ranging from nausea to withdrawal symptoms to overdose. As many as 25% of people who are prescribed opioids struggle with addiction, and those who are addicted to opioids are 40 times more likely to move on to heroin. No one wants to live in pain, but no one should put their health at risk to be pain free. There is another physical therapy. Physical therapists treat pain through movement and exercise. No warning labels required and you get to be an active participant in your care. Choose to treat your pain safely. Choose physical therapy. Visit moveforwardpt.com to find a physical therapist near you. This public service announcement is brought to you by the American Physical Therapy Association.

The Lansing Community College foundation provides scholarships that make education possible, change students lives and uplift our community. Students may apply for scholarships November 1st through January 31st. Learn more at LCC.edu scholarships.

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Hello there. This is Terri Denise, a Lansing Community College student and your host of Ripper, an LCC Connect podcast where I interview others and ask about their unique efforts and connections in around and beyond the community of Michigan's capital city.

Hello.

How are we doing today?

Really good.

All right, who am I speaking with?

My name is Emily Walensky and Emily where you can call me Goblin.

Goblin. I love it. Goblin is also a great band. They do the themes for the old horror movies.

Oh nice back in the day.

So Emily, I am so glad to see you. I have known you for many years and I was actually inspired to bring you on as a guest onto Ripper today because I missed one of your events that were going on and I was very disappointed. But I wanted you to get the information of your event out. So what is it that you are doing right now? Local events around Lansing area. What's the name of the event that I missed?

First of all, so the name of the event changes slightly per event because it's a lunar based dance circle. So that is the gist of what I'm putting on. Co hosting with a good friend who's a dj, he goes by Lil Rock. So we've been jokingly referring to ourselves as Big M and Little Rock. I love it. If you saw us in person, this would be hopefully exceptionally charming to you because I am small in stature and he is large in stature. And so we are co creating kind of a hybrid event of a little bit of meditation on the astrology as well as if you've heard of ecstatic dance, that would be kind of the genre or the style of event dance wise that we're emulating or you know, kind of drawing from.

Okay.

As a person who's been a dancer for a long time, I came up like in the rave scene in the late 90s. And dance and movement has always been just a very healing, therapeutic experience for me. And when I started studying astrology there was a lot of interest in like working with some of these different healing modalities, kind of bringing them together. So this has been kind of a vision I've had for a few years and I would say it's still being honed a little bit because this upcoming event will be our third one. We started out with the Aquarius New Moon at the end of January. That was called the Dance of the Water Bearer.

Ooh.

And the second event was the Dance of the Two Fishes for the Pisces New Moon. And this next event will be called Balancing Fire, A Dance for the Full Moon in Libra at Love Light Collective, which is a yoga studio in Old Town and a really beautiful, like very magical space. So we're kind of leading like a meditation circle, introducing ourselves, offering the opportunity to share what brought you there, what your interest in the event is. And then I share a little bit about some of the archetypes of the current lunation and the transits that are kind of like playing into that. I try to keep it very inclusive for kind of like you could know a lot about astrology. You could know nothing about astrology. Astrology is one of those topics that can make people's eyes roll into the back of their head when you're speaking to them about it. So my goal is to draw people in, meet them where they are, offer some invitations for working with the lunation. This upcoming one, being a full moon, will be kind of our first experience working with that. I work with the New moon and the full moon a little bit differently. When I'm throwing an event on the full moon, it's a party moon. Okay. And it's kind of a little bit of a party either way. But I think a full moon with the energy being a culmination of the lunar energy and just sort of a little bit more of a release kind of dynamic.

Okay, yeah, that makes sense. New Moon, it's usually pretty dark out. So is a new Moon get together or event much more kind of subdued?

I mean, I think that it sort of depends on the sign that the moon is in. I like to kind of speak to the quality of the moon in each sign design, sort of the approach to it, just very energetically, either my personal association with the archetype because I'm an Aquarius rising. So throwing my first event on the Aquarius new Moon was very symbolic of this long standing desire I have to bring people together in community. Just a bit of an Aquarian kind of humanitarian sort of inclination. And it was a very cool experience. We basically didn't know who was going to come or if anyone was going to come. And it was a pretty small, like intimate group. But there were like certain intentions that I put into it and one of them was like trying to not be too perfectionistic or too expectational with it and just to meet it wherever it was. And so I think for me that was a really great exercise and just like releasing control or expectation around things. So I think with the new Moon for me, I generally work with it in a way that I'm like planting seeds sometimes it's manifesting something I want to release, which can be sort of a little bit more of like a full moon kind of a. A practice. I just try to let each lunation like sort of speak to how I work with it. Does that make sense?

Okay, so let's put a pause for one moment because you have said a lot of things. So we're in a certain point in your personal life where looking at the stars, looking at the moon, looking at the sun is a thing, a heavy thing, an important thing. For you, for me, personally, I love celestial everything. I love space. I love our venture into the yonder and where we're going from that and how we correlate with everything just in the universe and how we are all just, you know, whatever Moby said. We're all just. What was it, space dust or something? We're all just stars. Yes, we're all just stars.

Right.

So with that going into that area, there are a lot of individuals that are just like, I'm just here because I found an interest. Somebody brought me into looking at a book. I'm just. I saw something that had my birthday in there, and I was like, oh, what is this? Why is there a little animal attached to it or anything like that? So I was just wondering personally where in your life we are right now on your astrological venture and what got you into anything and an interest of anything at all and how you became so depthful in this art. I consider it an art of life.

Yeah. I definitely think astrology is, like, well, it's the oldest science. It's also definitely an art and a science. It's a language. So I have studied the language, and I speak it fairly fluently now. But that was not always the case. I've always been interested. Like, I always would read, like, my star sign horoscope in, like, Teen magazine or Seventeen magazine. So you can maybe date me a little bit from that. But I would always be like, that's not me. Like, my room's a mess. Like, I'm not a Virgo. And so I was like, very. Like, I think that was, like, very Aquarian of me. I'd be like, don't label me. I'm not what you think I am. But I was always sort of, like, interested, even though I didn't like what it was saying about it.

I often found myself doing this as going through all of those kinds of horoscopes that are just printed in magazines and newspapers and going peeking through.

I wish I would have. I actually wish I would have because I think it might have connected me more toward the fact that we all have every sign of the zodiac in our chart. It is a composite of all of these different archetypes. And so, yeah, it's easy to get fixated on sun sign, but when I learned about my moon sign, that was, like, world shattering for me in a useful way.

So sun sign, by the way, is.

Legitimately the place in the zodiacal wheel where the sun was at the time of your birth. Okay. So every time you celebrate a birthday It's a solar return. The sun takes about a year to transit all 12 signs, whereas the Moon takes a moonth about a month to go all through the signs. So that's why the Moon is actually very great to work with.

Right. It's very telling because it's going at a faster pace through our personal.

Yeah. Every few days, every two and a half days or so, you get into a new sign. The Moon is in Virgo right now, and then it'll do its eclipse there, and then it'll move into Libra and through the wheel. But originally. So I would read my magazines and whatever, fight with them, but it was about 2012 when I feel like I really actually had, like, an initiation into astrology. I was living in Minneapolis at the time, and I was sitting on my front porch of a place I had just moved into. And my neighbor actually came over, a woman who was a very lovely person. She pointed up at the sky and she was like, oh, there's Venus. Do you see Venus? And I was like, oh, yeah, I see Venus. She's looking good. She is beautiful. And she was at her. Basically the closest, this point in her transit that she gets to Earth. So it was called an interior conjunction.

And she means Venus.

Okay.

I love it.

Yeah. I apologize if any pronoun. I could use they for all of them. But there are sort of yin and yang qualities that are spoken to in it.

Feels good.

Yeah. She's very, very lovely. You know, there's a lot of mythology like Aphrodite, Inanna. There's a lot of different ways you can refer to Venus. Yeah. So I had a cool experience where a female neighbor sort of introduced me to this planet. I would look at the stars or whatever, but it's a different thing to really connect, to know the planets, to know their archetypes and their energies. And from that point, I just started learning my chart. I just would break my chart down into a graph. It was the most Virgo thing to do. Okay, what are all the qualities? How do these all relate?

Very micro organizing and getting into depth on that is what you mean by that?

Yeah. Very analytical. Analytical. Okay. Life for Virgo, being the virgin or the maiden is actually the harvest goddess. And sort of the analysis of Virgo or sort of the time of year. And what that sign evokes is like separating the wheat from the chaff. So I'm like, wheat, chaff, Wheat chaff, Wheat chaff. It's just like, in my nature to be like, this, this, not this, this, this, not this. So it's very good for like data processing and not great for like decision making is like very. When you get into like really fine details of things, it can be hard to pull back and see the larger picture.

So is that an area then when you read things like that and you figure that out and you correspond with that personally, are those areas that you seek to improve upon?

I mean, I think there are positive and negative ways to work with any particular placement in the chart. I think there are definitely areas that, yeah, like the more you learn and the more you're like, oh yeah, I am like this. There's always opportunities to adjust or recalibrate. I think being aware of tendencies is the first step in rewiring circuitry. And I certainly had plenty of circuitry that was not operating in the most supportive way.

So this is definitely an art in a science and a language. That is why a lot of people look to. For helpful modes and means of ways to. For self improvement. For even, like you said, being self aware of certain areas that they might not have ever thought about and relating to.

You know, it's like if I know what my tendencies are and then if I understand like what your mode of communication is or your emotional sort of processing tendencies are, like, we see each other more clearly and then we're able to relate more smoothly in theory. So I think that underlies a lot of maybe not initial interests that people have in astrology, but I would say that sort of second layer, you have to kind of understand yourself and then you can start looking at other people's charts or composite charts or synastry charts, which are like how my chart works with your chart. Basically. Like a composite chart is like an amalgam of the two charts. It takes the charts and combines the placements for midpoints. So it's a little bit more of a hybrid. Whereas synastry is just like an overlay. I can see how my placements line up to your placements.

Okay, man. There's a lot of charts.

There are, yes. It's a little bit of a endless. I mean, it's the type of study that, you know, if you, if you have a humble approach to it, it is a lifelong practice and there's always more to be learned or applied. I think like most things, the more you think you know about a thing, the. The more hubris there is potentially, you know, to lead yourself down like arrogant paths. This has been a really humbling process putting together these events because not only am I having to assess my own knowledge and familiarity with a particular sign or archetype, but meet other people where they are with that. And I had this kind of strong tendency with the Pisces dance to want to. I just had all these notes. I was like, there's so much I want to talk about. And I was like over intellectualizing it.

So I did have a question about when your neighbor pointed out Venus to you. You said specifically 2012. And I was wondering if there were any other things about the world going on at that point that might have also opened up your, I guess, spans into that. I was just thinking about the Mayan calendar or was it the Aztec calendar that people were kind of freaking out about.

Yeah, I feel like I remember, I personally generally, if there's a lot of people gravitating toward a thing, I'm like, I'm gonna go over here and like ignore that because it's like, there's just something about. It's like the, like, there's like a polarizing quality when people like jump on a bandwagon, mass hysteria kind of thing. Yeah, I just, it's like let, let me observe and see what, what happens. But personally, astrology wise, I was just going into my Saturn return at that point and had some pretty wild personal experiences that were very life changing.

And Saturn return, that is when Saturn makes its way around Earth.

Saturn has a 27 to 29 year cycle. And so the 27 club, like that's often associated with the Saturn return for people who are maybe going through some challenging things that can put a lot of pressure on a person. Personally, there was an experience that I had. My husband actually survived a workplace shooting.

Oh my goodness.

In Minneapolis at the place he worked in. A relative of mine was actually killed in the shooting.

Oh my gosh.

So there was like a lot of loss and grief and like just being very like, like wayward for, for a while.

I'm so sorry.

Thank you. Yeah, it was a. Not a time I would like to revisit or would wish upon anyone ever. But I have tried to, in the wake of that, just be more generative. Like I feel like you can choose to let things affect you in a way that is like closing off from the world. I, I think I made a pretty concerted effort in the processing of that experience to try to remain open and to try to use my talents and my gifts toward building connectivity and beauty.

Very much what it sounds like this class is absolutely doing. And these events that you're putting together along with that, these are of course a lot of challenging things. Are going on at that time in your life. It does sound like this was a very helpful venturing into an enterprise for you to get into. That was not only just surface level. I guess some people see it as, you know, what we were speaking of. Just looking at your sun sign, moon sign, and everything like that is like, a deeply, deeply helpful area of art in practice for you to get into, and seems like it's a very. As our universe changes, so do we. It sounds like what you try to do is adapt to others to help people get through whatever they need to get through as well.

Yeah, I think healing. Healing, yeah.

Learning, listening, healing, dancing. All right. What else? Speaking to the classes.

So we sort of settle into, like, a little circle. We have a. A little hula hoop that we've put in the middle. And this is kind of like our little circle to gather around. And then I'll just usually have, like, something fairly short prepared because we want to be able to dance, you know, for as long as we're able to. But just having that nice, like, bookend of opening up the circle, kind of sharing whatever we feel called to share. I feel like everyone brings something so interesting to the table that, like, lends itself to the larger. It's like, I only need to present so much because the way that as a group, we all come together, it's like anything, like, I miss or I feel like, oh, I should have said that, or whatever. It's like, it doesn't matter because the group dynamic provides. It was a deep learning experience for me in that a vision of something versus, like, what it becomes when it manifests physically in the real world. I had a very hard time letting go of my vision and being a little bit type A about it, just in terms of audience or the population of people that was coming to enjoy my thing wasn't always quite at that same level of concern. I carry that with me now in all the things that I pursue, because it's like, I know that my vision is going to be crystal clear, so perfect. And then, like, the physical reality of things is just imperfect. And that's great. It's beautiful. Like, we wouldn't. We need imperfection to experience joy and beauty? Like the first dance that we did with the dance of the Water bear, I was like, my partner, he was like, I hope it's successful or whatever. And I was like, it's already successful. Like, just the fact that I'm doing it is what matters, you know? And so, like, that's been really healing as well. Well, is Just to allow myself that trust in the vision. Like it doesn't really matter what it looks like on the physical plane. The intention is there. So as long as I stay true to the impetus or the overall urge to bring people together and motivation, the drive and everything.

Yeah, yeah.

So it's like everything will. Will flow from that. So that's been a really good experience for me.

And you had mentioned the overall encompassing big picture of things being kind of difficult for the Virgo to have. And everything that you've said is everything that you have layered into what are some kind of, you could say misconceptions or areas to work on that some people might see as negative, but I as well see. See them as places that maybe one just needs to be more aware about of themselves. And then that helps other people, like you said, connect to others in that particular way to find out what it is about all of these signs that we all encompass, that just because we're here doesn't mean that we're more strengthened in a particular way because a word says it, because they're written on a piece of paper or anything like that. All these strengths that we can find with each other. Emily, I actually want to ask if you would like to come back on after some time in the future to see where you're at with the events that you have going on.

That'd be cool. Yeah.

Because there's a lot that we've unpacked, but a lot that I would love to get deeper in with you about. And there's a lot of areas of astrology and everything like that that I would see as fitting and serving to know a little bit better about. And you definitely seem to know the language a lot.

Thank you. I appreciate that. My hope is to do at least one dance for every sign of the zodiac. So it'll depend kind of on the month and, like, what's going on and timing and things like that. But that is my goal. But I also do want to put on some other events, like, art wise. I'm looking to curate a collective art show in the area. Still kind of trying to narrow down my venue options, but my hope is to kind of, like, expand out a little bit in some different.

So we're looking for venues. Yes, just putting that out there. All right, well, thank you once again. I would love to have you back on Ripper in the very near future. And we will revisit the event of the Balancing Fire. And I will have more information in the show notes below and attached to the link here. On Ripper and LCC Connect. All right. Anything else?

Yeah, thanks for having me. It was a blast.

Definitely a blast.

You ripped.

You ripped. All right. Have a good day. Thanks.

You, too.

Thanks for tuning in to Ripper. You can find more about this and other LCC connect podcasts@lccconnect.com.

This is WLNC Lansing. You're listening to LCC Connect, a weekly program that features the voices, vibes and vision of Lansing Community College. To find out more about LCC Connect programs or to listen on demand, Visit us@lccconnect.org LCC Connect, voices, vibes, Vision.