Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Hello. Hello, everyone, and welcome back to another fabulous episode of Improper Mimi. I am your host, Miss Mimi Jax. And I have a wonderful guest with us today, Jeremy Keith Hunter. He is a fabulous man that I've met with within, like, a few months ago, you know, and he's got this wonderful play. Thank you for sharing that. It just kind of blew me away, and it just even opened up, you know, my mind of thinking about black men and black women. And, you know, we talk a lot about the struggles that women go through, but, you know, it's interesting to hear also what the men are going through and then how we can support them and then how they could support us. And then, you know, that's a topic, too. Like, do we really support each other? Like, what's going on, you know, these days? So, Jeremy, thank you so much for joining me. Please tell us a little more about yourself and, and what it is that you do that you love so much.
[00:01:00] Speaker B: Well, first and foremost, thank you for having me. What a wonderful introduction.
I was flexing, you know what I'm saying? On this side over here. I'm like, you better tell it, better.
[00:01:09] Speaker A: Talk to.
[00:01:13] Speaker B: Actor, artist, you know, awesome guy.
One of the things I really love about theater making is the connection to the audience and the actor on stage, or the director and the actors on stage. You know, having directed now, sitting in the audience and watching what you've put together all the pieces, there's something really special about that.
I didn't discover theater until, like, the end of high school, but once, once you get bitten by the bug, you get bitten.
And it was my first time, like, really feeling seen and liberated and valued individually.
I make theater, and I love making theater because I love the feeling of connection that an actor has with an audience, with, with strangers.
I suppose theater, if you think about it, was social media before social media, you know what I mean? It was the first, you know, it's, it's, it's the storytelling of generations, so.
But there's something about, about the stillness of having to hear words and feel something. As I explained in earlier, it's the difference between, like, going to a concert and, like, listening to music in your headphones.
When you have it in your headphones, you can be still, you can hear what the person is saying, and you can register and digest it a little bit differently. It's what soaks in you, you know what I mean? That makes you want to go see them in concert.
And, yeah, you know, you go to the concert and it's the same music, but you have pageant. Pageantry and spectacle and flashing lights.
[00:02:48] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:02:48] Speaker B: That entertains one portion of your brain, but not necessarily the other portion. You know what I mean? And there's nothing wrong with that. Not. Not knocking one or the other, but there's something about that stillness, man. You're saying something and somebody has to go, mmm. Ooh. When black people are in the theater and they go, I've done a lot of theater, and I love my white folks. They pay good money. They pay good money for theater. And I appreciate you and those big houses. There's something about a community of black folk sitting in a theater and somebody says something or an emotion is felt and it's felt all around. You get that?
Yeah.
Oh, that's good.
That feeds your soul right there. You know?
[00:03:37] Speaker A: Right when I think about. It's something that, you know, you connect in with somebody, like you have something in common, or. I understand what it is you're saying.
[00:03:46] Speaker B: Yes, yes. When I think about how we, as black people, told stories in ancient, ancient times, around the fire with the drum, you know what I mean?
It's that. It's getting back to that. And that's why I love doing what I'm doing.
[00:04:03] Speaker A: Yeah. And, you know, and that's also one of the reasons I love interviewing people and doing this podcast. It's sharing our stories. You know, it's. It's when you hear someone recant something and you can relate to it, whether it's an emotional thing or where. Whether it's informative and you're learning something, it's. It's just reaffirming that everyone, you know, is at their own pace. But we connect. Like, I may be on the right track. I'll be like, oh, okay. I'm not the only one who suffered this, who's achieved this, because sometimes we have problems with achieving things, too. You know, kind of feeling like nobody else knows what it feels like to be at the top or to have surmounted this, you know, mountain, just to know that there's other people out there and you're not the only one.
That community is strong. Yeah. Gotta share those stories.
[00:05:00] Speaker B: Exactly.
And, you know, this is how the play came about. I think there are a lot of things we as men, as black men, just do not talk about.
And it's like, no, we gotta share stories.
[00:05:15] Speaker A: Yeah. So let's not keep people in suspense. Let's tell them a little bit about. Thank you for sharing. You know, so we met, you know, a reading of the play, and. And I was impressed and touched by the stories that were shared, there were different men, different characters. They were each representing something different. So, yeah, I'd love to hear in your own words, like, what is this? Thank you for sharing about, what is this?
[00:05:48] Speaker B: So I want you to imagine going to, like, a yoga class, right? And this yo. This yogi instructor is.
He specializes in clearing chakras, right? So, first off, you're gonna lose a lot of black men just because you said chakras, right? And chakras in the same sentence. I'm already. I'm already going.
However, a lot of men go to, like, AA meetings, right? That's a very common thing with men. So that's what this play is. It's an AA meeting for a black man's soul. We are clearing out the chakras of the body, where we're cleaning out the closets, we're digging up the dirt, where we're putting things to bed is like, we're gonna put a face and a name to these things, and we're gonna talk about them, and you're gonna feel a certain kind of way, and you're going to be upset. Some of you. And some of you are going to be really salty, and that's okay. But the longer we don't talk about it, the worse it's going to get. So this is what that is. This is that hard. Look in the mirror butt naked.
And I'm telling you, as a 36 year old graphic designer who sits at a desk all day, my body is not. It's not the 20 year old body that it was. No more. You know what I mean? And you gotta have that hard conversation. So that's what this is.
[00:07:14] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. A little bit of therapy for the soul, you know, and. And that's hard, you know, whether you're single, whether you're married, whether you have a partner, you know, that could be hard, sharing some of those raw emotions with your partner, much less on stage in front of people, you know, whether it's you or not. You know, some people, they get, you know, you may still remember, you know, mister from the color purple, and you hated him for years, regardless after that. So, you know, separating, you know, the character from who you're seeing on stage, it could be hard, you know, sharing these. These feelings and stories up on stage. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Now, how did you decide, and maybe we can even share one or two, you know, just description. But how did you decide which stories were going to make it? Which ones were going to make that cut up there?
[00:08:16] Speaker B: So. And I'll try to be brief with it, because that's. It was one of my. Your favorite. My favorite questions that you, that you sent to me. So it started with, you know, the commission and the first stage, a wonderful theater out here in Virginia.
They commissioned. During the pandemic, they were trying to keep actors working because, you know, pandemic wiped out all jobs. Great theater. We're trying to keep actors employed. They commissioned us as writers to, like, create something not even for themselves as a theater, but for us as artists, so that we could sell it and, you know, be doing this process that I'm doing.
And I had. I sent them an idea that I had been working on. They were like, oh, this is great. They're like, ten people in this.
We were thinking, like, something solo, like a singular piece. I'm like, okay, all right, let me try something else. And I'm nervous because I didn't. Took their money and paid bills with it. So it's like, I gotta come up with something.
[00:09:12] Speaker A: They gotta do something.
[00:09:13] Speaker B: They gotta do something.
So one night, under the influence of that wonderful Mary Jane, I started writing about myself in a very personal way. But I did it as a joke, because black men only can take things a certain kind of way.
So I kind of made it as much as I could as a joke. And, like, the more I wrote, the better I felt and the better I felt and the better I felt. And then by the time I was done with it, I was like, oh, wow, this. This could be like a five minute stand up. You know what I mean? This is kind of fun. Read it to a few people, got amazing reviews.
[00:09:49] Speaker A: Nice.
[00:09:50] Speaker B: And I was like, wow, this is. This is really cool. I sent it to them, and I was like, hey, here's the piece. They read it. They were like, oh, this is great. Is there more?
[00:09:59] Speaker A: Yeah, sure.
[00:10:02] Speaker B: Yeah, there's more.
[00:10:03] Speaker A: There's more. Of course there's more.
[00:10:07] Speaker B: I just wanted to see how you guys felt about this.
[00:10:10] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:10:10] Speaker B: And sure enough, they wanted more, and then that's how.
That's. So that's how the first part of it started. So that's it in a nutshell.
[00:10:20] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:10:21] Speaker B: Everybody else, all the other characters, they.
And I don't want to get, like, overly deep, but they came to me, you know, it didn't. I didn't plan it. They. They came as themselves, if that makes any sense.
I wrote. I wrote this down. Think of it as connecting with the spirit or ghost and ethereal being asked to say these characters presented themselves to me in a raw, dreamlike fashion. And then I was able to whittle themselves into, or I was able to whittle their likeness into reality through my own personal experience, research and ideas. So that's how. That's how all of these characters, I treated them like they were actual people that I was talking to. You know what I mean?
[00:11:08] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah.
[00:11:09] Speaker B: So.
[00:11:10] Speaker A: And then even for them to come to life, they're talking to you. They're talking right back to you.
[00:11:19] Speaker B: I don't know if I should be concerned or not, but, like.
[00:11:23] Speaker A: Well, at least they have different names. I think I have at least three personalities myself, you know?
And they all have different names, too, you know?
[00:11:31] Speaker B: Yeah, for sure.
[00:11:34] Speaker A: Oh, my goodness.
So I do want to mention, like, one of the characters, and I think this was one of the questions, you know, I talk sometimes about some of my life experiences and being, like, a survivor of, like, sexual assault.
[00:11:53] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:11:53] Speaker A: And so you think of the strength, you know, of a woman, of, like, the blame that a woman may put on herself.
Sometimes you think about, okay, justice. But then, you know, sometimes, you know, and there's been cases like, even, you know, I grew up in Boston, and. And one of my classmates was falsely accused. And just seeing the.
From his point of view and what he went through and the burden of proof on him, too, and unfortunately, the system didn't play out in his favor, and. But just seeing how that impacted his life going forward. So, you know, one of the characters was kind of faced with a, you know, as they so often say now, like, a me too moment, and.
And I was. And this was, like, one of the last ones. And I was like, oh, I was getting ready to go, but I was like, wait a minute. Let me. Let me. I want to hear what he has to say. I want to hear, you know, from his point of view, his take on this, and, you know, from his point of view in his life, why do you think that is an important story to share?
Yeah. From his point of view, for sure.
[00:13:14] Speaker B: So I was. This was. This was one of the harder pieces that I had to write.
The character, the chakra that we have to deal with. The name of that chakra is money, power, respect. And it's. It's. It took a really long time for me to get this one out. But essentially, for my perspective in this play, the question I started with was, I've never seen a man say I'm guilty when it comes to me, too.
You know what I mean? Now, like you said, you know, I've seen instances where allegations were false or exaggerated or embellished you know, and, you know, things happened as they happened. And I totally agree, you know what I mean? That those things have happened. But usually the man is proclaiming his innocence throughout that entire process. Right.
[00:14:07] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:14:09] Speaker B: I thought it would be incredibly interesting to hear, especially from a man who other men would look up to, redeem, defend in a heartbeat.
[00:14:20] Speaker A: Right.
[00:14:21] Speaker B: You know what I mean?
[00:14:22] Speaker A: Try to preserve his image.
[00:14:23] Speaker B: Right? Try to preserve his image, his legacy, as it were, to have to hear his experience and then to hear how he got to that experience, which is, again, another thing that men don't talk about, the time from boyhood to manhood, those teenage years of awkwardness and where you're making huge mistakes with the opposite sex. But you, we all kind of sweep that under the rug. And we were, we were like, jesus, twelve to 30, you know what I mean? There's no in between story.
To hear someone like that say, my actions have caused this. I regret this. I'm sorry.
[00:15:07] Speaker A: Right.
[00:15:08] Speaker B: You know, I think that's a story that men should. Should see, should hear, should talk about, be triggered by, you know.
[00:15:18] Speaker A: Absolutely. I mean, because they may not have an example of how to get. Not how to get out of that situation, but how to acknowledge that situation. For a man to say, yeah, I did that, you know, and to own up to it.
They may not know how to own up to that. They'd be like, because society teaches you that. You see what you want, you go get it. You know, like, she knew what she was here for. And in different instances, you know, rape could be definitely physical, but it could be a mental or power control that you have over someone.
You know, a lot of times, you know, it's like, oh, the woman has to say no, the woman may be scared and like, she's using body language or she's using, you know, whatever she can to try, you know, to get away. So, you know, even just for us teaching or exposing our men to different situations, you know, and. And again, how to even visualize, like, oh, if I'm in this situation, what am I going to do? What can I say? Or what can I acknowledge as my part in it as well, you know?
[00:16:33] Speaker B: Yeah, but, yeah, I would be. I'm intrigued.
We did a beta test, and we focused on two characters because they involve a very divert, not diverse, dynamic way of audience interaction. And those characters are chain and history and money, power, respect, who we're talking about now. And unintentionally, I think we triggered one of our audience members because of a, you know, the subject matter and be hearing a man confess and say, I did this, you know, or as. As it's put in. In the context of the play, my actions helped contribute to this. You know what I mean?
I think if I would have. If I would have written, I did. I did this, and I feel bad. The men would all ride. There'd be, you know, I'd never get anywhere with it, so I'd be a bit more nuanced than I think maybe been called for, but, yeah.
[00:17:37] Speaker A: And, you know, and that's, you know, a skill in itself of being able to get to know the character. I mean, this is not a long period of time. This is not your best friend from 20 years ago. You know, you. You may relate this character to someone, you know, but the ability to create a character that you could get to know in a short amount of time and then get into his story, like you say, you can't just jump right to the end and be like, yeah, yeah, I did it. But, yeah, to understand his situation, where he's coming from, his feelings, and then you kind of connect with the character, and then you hear what he's saying, I think, time and time over again, you get that, and thanks for sharing there. And there are. How many we said were there, like, ten.
[00:18:26] Speaker B: So there are seven.
[00:18:27] Speaker A: Seven.
[00:18:28] Speaker B: There's one for each chakra.
[00:18:30] Speaker A: Okay. Yeah.
[00:18:31] Speaker B: And start from. From. Start from your balls all the way up to the top of your head. There's one for each chakra.
[00:18:38] Speaker A: Yeah, one for each chakra, man. And I really. I really would encourage, you know, if you guys are able to. To definitely get out, to get to see and experience the play for yourself.
And I think even as we talk about, like, sharing their stories, it also brings back, you know, to me, the interaction or the connection between men and women, you know? Yes, it's all men, and it's, you know, telling their stories, but, you know, I think there's something not just for the healing of men, but for healing of women also to engage in that exchange of stories, you know, being. Being witness or bearing witness to it. Also. How do you. How do you think, like, your women audience or, you know, that. That they may. What do you. What do you hope that they may take away from. From. Thank you for sharing.
So are they or are they a target audience? Because it could. I mean, yeah, your audience may be purely, you know, brothers. This is true.
[00:19:47] Speaker B: This is true. The intention was a sausage party. You know what I mean?
[00:19:53] Speaker A: No DMP ratio here, you know, because it's.
[00:19:57] Speaker B: Honest to God, the intention is it's things that, you know, I've experienced that I think other men have experienced. And it's like, guys, it's not that women can't come, but it's not about women. It's about you doing your homework to being a better person.
And I fear that by trying to open ourselves up to it being other than what I set it out to be, things can get lost in translation to that point.
You had an amazing question about whether or not we can support each other. And I sent you a clip that's from Denzel Washington and Spike Lee and Malcolm X. And just to give a brief description, Malcolm is traveling to a university with the other men of Islam, and he's going to give a lecture. And a student, young white woman, approaches Malcolm and asks what she can do to help further his cause. As someone who wants to support, as an ally who, you know, doesn't believe in what her ancestors may have been in those that were a part of it. And she just wants to know what she can do to help. And Malcolm has a very cool, calm, cold, but direct response. And he looks at her and he goes, nothing. And he just keeps on walking.
And to me, that resonates so much because black women need healing. Black men need healing. This we can agree on. Can we support each other and be there as an ally, as another figure to bounce off of? Absolutely. But that does not negate you doing your work and me doing my work.
To me, the best way. The best way I can support my woman, you know, is to be the best I can be. That's the best communicator. You know what I mean? To be the most patient, to give her as many chances as I feel I can. You know what I mean?
So, yeah, that's. It's not that women aren't allowed. I want women to come and see the.
The humanity in men again.
Yeah. Yeah. I want you to come and see that we are more than just anger or, you know.
[00:22:33] Speaker A: You know, that y'all ain't shit, you know?
[00:22:35] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:22:36] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
[00:22:37] Speaker B: That's not. That's not it. That's not good look. That's not a good look.
[00:22:41] Speaker A: That's not what we're going for. Right.
Right. Yeah. It's funny. There's like two things. So, one, with the clip you sent, you know, I was like, yeah, there's nothing the white woman can do to help the black man in his play. But then I was like, that don't mean that's not talking to me. That's fact. But, but, but you're right. You know, like, there are.
There are limitations. This is not a mother son, you know, dynamic that we're talking about. We're not, you know, sometimes women will say they're not trying to teach a man or raise a man or anything. It's the work we need to do for ourselves, to heal ourselves is what we have to do for ourselves.
We don't want to enable or to become a crutch for our partners.
And it's a hard balance, you know, because I know a lot of women are nurturing, and they may want to help and may want to tell you what to do or what they think you should do or. Which is equally coming back at me, myself, too, partner will be like, you know, you may want to work on this, so you need to work on that. And, you know, instant a wall may go up, our defensiveness goes up. But I think as we. As we mature and we get to, you know, a certain point in our lives, we realize that, okay, I'm not perfect. You know, I have been hurt, and maybe there are some things that I do consistently as a result of that.
Okay, I can work on that myself. You can't tell me what to do. I can remember when my mom would tell me to clean my room. I'm not cleaning my room. I clean it when I want to clean my room.
I may not say that to her face, but I did. I never liked being told what to do. I wanted to do it myself, you know? So definitely the support can be there, but not.
I can't do it for you, you know? Right. You can't do it for somebody else.
[00:24:41] Speaker B: You can't do it for somebody else.
[00:24:42] Speaker A: That's right.
Yeah. And it did at times even feel like I was eavesdropping, you know?
I'm like, am I in the barbershop? You are.
[00:24:55] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:24:55] Speaker A: I'm like, I don't think I'm supposed to hear all of these things.
Just like when I would watch Mary Jane, I'm like, what the hell is this girl doing? She's telling everybody our business, letting them into our thoughts and our. And our, like, worries and concerns. And I'm like, you planning out there for everybody?
But, yeah. Yeah, it was really.
I loved it. You guys could clearly see that I enjoyed myself.
[00:25:23] Speaker B: Yeah, you hit the nail on the head, and I appreciate you for saying it, but it should feel like you're sitting in the barber shop.
It should feel like you're in the gym.
It should feel like you're at a strip club. You know what I mean? It's got that feel. There is something in this play for almost every facet of black masculinity.
[00:25:49] Speaker A: Yes. Yeah. Healthy, struggling, achieving, dangerous, all those different chakras, like you said, from top to bottom, it's digging deep. Yeah, absolutely.
And even outside of the work that we must do for ourselves, you know, the healing that we do for ourselves, the, you know, partnership, you know, that. Okay, you want to do this? You know, I'll maybe stay home, watch the kids or maybe even watch the parents, you know, because sometimes, you know, we have childless relationships, and, you know, we've got elders that we're taking care of, you know, so, you know, and all of that and helping and supporting each other.
I often talk about, um, empowering women, you know, whether it's, you know, other episodes we've talked about, it could be salary inequities, or it could be, um, you know, the freedom to. Maybe you want to dance burlesque, you know, or maybe you're a sex worker, you know, and sex work is work, and. But that doesn't mean that our rights need to be stomped on or that we need to be oppressed. So we want to empower women to encourage them to, you know, be the most that they could be in all things, you know? Right. Is there a way that you think that. That men also, in this struggle, can help to empower the women that are in their lives?
[00:27:25] Speaker B: I think to better support women, you have to have the ability to listen.
And this goes back to the allyship conversation. I see a lot of. And it's my fault, because the algorithm has gotten me attuned to it.
You know, my YouTube has, you know, the relationship advice, and I realized that I don't. I don't like the relationship advice. I just like the reactions that people are having to the bad relationship advice.
[00:27:57] Speaker A: Straight to the comments.
[00:27:58] Speaker B: Right, right.
I skip through a lot of what they're saying just so I can get to the reaction of, oh, wow. You know, the spectacle of that.
[00:28:06] Speaker A: It's.
[00:28:06] Speaker B: It's. It's my, um.
My wife Ashley, she watches, uh, the real housewives, and I'm like, why do you watch this garbage? This is. This is such trash. And the other day, she was like, why do you watch nTR or. Or, uh, Kevin Samuels? I was like, that's not. That's not the same thing. And she just looked at me. She's like, so, um, I think having an honest heart to listen to someone, and. And, of course, this goes both ways, but for men, to women. You need to be able to hear a woman's experience say, I understand. I hear you. I understand what you're saying. And despite the fact that I may disagree, I respect that this is your opinion on things.
You know what I mean? Now, that may be. That may, for you as a man, depending on where you are, you know, that may have to be the end of the conversation because, you know, you have to set a boundary, you know what I mean? Or whatever. I don't know. I don't know what the situation is.
[00:29:13] Speaker A: Right. Yeah.
[00:29:14] Speaker B: But it all begins. Everything begins with communication and talking and listening.
This play is about talking.
In our relationships, we have to talk. Lack of communication is what kills relationships, you know?
And then you start assuming things, and so now you're creating a narrative in your own head, which not. May not even be right.
[00:29:44] Speaker A: I'm like, I've had a whole conversation in my head. And so by the time that we speak, I'm like, well, there's nothing to be said because ain't gonna matter anyway. I already know how this is going to play out.
[00:29:54] Speaker B: I already know how this goes.
I just got, I just got to the debate, and you're at the closing arguments.
So I think for men, especially, especially now in this YouTube era where you have these Andrew tate, these fresh and fits all these guys who are, who are telling you you need to have ABCDe and f going into this conversation, and it's like, where, where's the room for another person's perspective? If you have all of this stuff that you have to have or you. That you already have listed out, it's like, you have to be able to talk and communicate.
[00:30:39] Speaker A: Communication is. Yeah, I absolutely agree. When you said, listen, I'm like, that is, that is such a strong, sexy, you know, attribute, you know, because.
And probably for both of men and women, because it's whatever we go through during the day, you want to come home to your sanctuary, be safe. You may want to get off your chest what happened to the day? Or maybe, I know for me, sometimes I have to process words before I get into it.
And so if I'm processing words and you're like, what's wrong? What's going on? I'm like, I was like, you know, sometimes I'm maybe overcompensating and trying to be too nice and not to hurt your feelings, but other times it. It's, what do I want to say? How do I feel about what it is that's bothering me? I just may knows.
What did they say now? I got the x. So you give me the. You know, like, I may just know that there's something that just doesn't sit right. But to put those words into formation, because I am a very literal person and not all women are like that, you know, so it could be a good thing or a bad thing. It's thinking like a man, you know, because you guys are trying to be more logical and everything, but I'm very literal. So if I say something, I want it to be true to what I'm intending to relate to you, you know. So listening is to me, I think listening is a really strong component to communication. Absolutely.
And, you know, being able to have, you know, someone and these relationships we're talking about, it's. It could be brothers, it could be sisters, it could be partners, it could be co workers, could be on your softball team, you know, but it's having that comfortableness to be able to communicate. Yeah. Some of the women I talk to, they know what they're capable of and they may just be shy about it or they may not just have that push to go forward and do it. So empowerment can come in all kind of different forms. It could be listening, it could be encouraging.
You know, once you listen, you hear what she's saying. Be like, okay, well, what I hear you say is that you want to do this, but you haven't found a way to do it yet. Maybe this or maybe that, or maybe. Do you just want me to listen as you think about it? Yeah, sometimes they don't want.
[00:33:32] Speaker B: Right.
[00:33:34] Speaker A: They don't want that. You know, problem solving. Yeah.
Contribute to.
Sometimes it's just event. You know, I just want to let you.
[00:33:47] Speaker B: I just want to tell you what happened today and just. That's it. I don't. I don't want you to fix that. Just want to talk about it.
[00:33:52] Speaker A: Right, right. Tell me this and tell me that and tell me this. Well, maybe I didn't tell you the whole story, so how you gonna tell me, you know, which then, of course, it's like, well, you didn't tell me the whole story, so how was I supposed to know that wasn't a good suggestion?
[00:34:04] Speaker B: If you would just listen. Let me get it out.
[00:34:07] Speaker A: Let me finish.
[00:34:09] Speaker B: Let me finish.
[00:34:11] Speaker A: Yeah, man. Absolutely. Let's see.
And, you know, I think I'm thinking about one of the other questions about, like. And I don't even know. And we may cut that out. We may or may not even keep it, but, you know, like, occasionally women from, you know, other countries, maybe the Caribbean or african or hispanic, you know, they may say, you know, oh, I would never date, you know, a man from my country. Or, you know, maybe it's just that they've seen so much, and they're like, oh, I wouldn't do that. Or I wouldn't do this.
[00:34:52] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:34:53] Speaker A: And as we've, you know, kind of been touching on all day, like, everyone has a different story and is in a different place of connecting with themselves.
I don't know if you've ever come across that, you know, where people may just be like, oh, I'm not gonna, you know, date with, you know, a similar person to my background. I'm going to go to a totally different one.
[00:35:13] Speaker B: I hear that a lot in the men's community. You hear about, like, passport bros and how, you know, guys are going to eastern countries because women are more, quote unquote traditional and, you know, so forth and so on.
And to me, in that same notion, you also hear about guys who are getting robbed and, like, killed because they're going to countries that they don't know nothing about and getting caught up with these women, the grass is always greener when you're not watering yours. You know what I mean? So.
[00:35:48] Speaker A: We say we got to take care of our own grass.
[00:35:50] Speaker B: Look, you're having a hard time finding a woman with traditional values. Where are you looking in America for these women? Because it can't be all of America. And to put. To put more emphasis on that, what type of person are you?
[00:36:07] Speaker A: Right.
[00:36:08] Speaker B: Which traditional type of man? Because if you do traditional type things, you will find women who are in that. In that area, bro.
[00:36:17] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:36:18] Speaker B: And. And for women, I'm sure it's the. It's the same thing. You attract who you are, you know?
Yeah. So, you know, I wouldn't dated so and so, man.
Okay.
You say that until you find one and fall head over heels, and then now you. You know, I never thought. I would.
[00:36:42] Speaker A: Never thought, right? Never would have thought, right? But if you're a country girl at heart and then you dating everybody else, but then you find you're a nice little country boy, you'd be like, I never would have thought. I would have settled down.
[00:36:54] Speaker B: Who would have thought? Who would have thought what? Focus.
My dad told me when I was little, and I didn't, you know, especially when I was teenage, I want to hear it. But he was like, man, be yourself. And I was. And when guys hear that when you're young, oh, my God, it's like. It's like.
It's like nails on a chalkboard. It's like, what does that mean? Myself isn't getting the results that I'm looking for. But at the same time, that's a good thing. You shouldn't be trying to get this perceived image of what a relationship should be. You should be finding something that works for you. The only way to do that is to be yourself, because someone wants to support you and support the person that you are, is going to be naturally attracted to natural self. So the thing you're chasing is superficial.
You know what I mean?
[00:37:53] Speaker A: Right? Yeah.
[00:37:54] Speaker B: You want you a baddie, instagram, you know, big, you know, big breast, you know, big booty, bbl you. That's what you want. You have. That's, that's not who you are. You know, that's not who you were raised to be. Why are you chasing that? What makes you think that's good? It's because society is telling you that, you know, Andrew Tate is telling you that. You know what I mean?
[00:38:17] Speaker A: So how do you know that you can hold on to that or keep it? You know, like, how you gonna, that's not you.
[00:38:25] Speaker B: How you gonna maintain that, bro?
How insecure are you gonna be when she's texting other, other dudes constantly? Constantly because she's getting shot at all the time. Are you comfortable with that? You know what I mean?
[00:38:40] Speaker A: Mm hmm. You have to be really secure with yourself depending on what you're looking for.
[00:38:45] Speaker B: Right.
[00:38:46] Speaker A: I know one person who's like, where are we going? Who's gonna be there? Are they gonna be men there? And I'm like, we're going to have fun. And if you have fun, then someone will see you having fun, and they'll want to have fun with you.
You could be on a mission, you know? So maybe we don't go to the shooting range to have fun. Maybe we go to karaoke to have fun. But be yourself. Go to where you want to be, right? I mean, for me, it's always worked, you know, when you attract, you know, similar. Who's. I mean, because they're there too.
[00:39:24] Speaker B: Exactly. Exactly. Exactly.
[00:39:28] Speaker A: You know? Exactly. They're here. They must do this for fun, or they know someone who's here, and let's chop it up, you know, take it from there.
[00:39:38] Speaker B: There's nothing more exhausting than trying to be something you're not, trying to be something you're not.
[00:39:44] Speaker A: Who's for you is for you. If you force, you might get stuck in a situation you don't really need to be in.
[00:39:51] Speaker B: So.
[00:39:54] Speaker A: Breezy out there, people you know, keep it, you know, easy breezy, be yourself.
[00:39:59] Speaker B: Exactly. Exactly.
[00:40:01] Speaker A: Yeah. Oh, my gosh. Now, is there anything that, you know, any questions you have or anything you want to share that's on your mind?
[00:40:12] Speaker B: I really, really hope everybody comes out and experiences this new level of theater.
As I said in the intro, intro, intro.
This play does something really unique in that it engages you on. On so many levels.
We're going to be live in person. We're going to be streaming, and we're going to be communicating with the audience all at one time. And it's something that theater is slowly evolving into. But I think this is the first production where you're going to see it flow so seamlessly and so well that it's just going to completely engage your senses. So, yeah, please.
[00:40:53] Speaker A: I know a lot of people that I think are going to enjoy this, and I can't wait to share it with them.
Please let us know. How can we find you? How can we find out more information about the play and when is it so play?
[00:41:08] Speaker B: Thank you for sharing. It's going up June 7. We have. It's the workshop for it, so we're hoping that this leads to a much bigger production up at the Lincoln center.
Give us a shout. It's June 7 at 02:00 p.m. we're going to be streaming live from the Kennedy center, from the reach center at the Kennedy center.
And, yeah, it's amazing. You can follow me on Facebook or not Facebook. I'm old. You can follow me on Instagram, Mercury 28 nine.
And yeah, I'll be posting stuff all the way up until the day of arrival. So. June 7, 02:00 p.m. thank you for sharing. Check out my iG.
[00:41:52] Speaker A: Awesome. Yes, but we'll definitely have your ig and information here in the show notes.
I'll definitely be sharing on my Instagram and Twitter as well so that we can make sure that the people know where to go, how to find you. And I would love to have, like, even feedback from, like, if you go to the show, if you go to the play, drop us a note, let us know how it was, you know, whether, you know, the brothers, the sisters, you know, the allies that come out and are sitting in the back corner and just listening to hear what we're talking about.
You know, we want to hear. We want to hear what you thought about it, how it impacted you, and we want to know how many people you're going to share the information with so they could go see it, too.
Yes.
[00:42:39] Speaker B: Thank you.
[00:42:40] Speaker A: Yes. Absolutely. Jeremy, thank you so much. I really appreciate you coming on today. I can't wait to share this with everyone.
And like I said, and especially even with the streaming, too, so it's possible for, for people, you know, my dad in Ohio, I would love for him to see this, too and share with some of his brothers.
[00:43:00] Speaker B: Yes, please.
Thank you for having me. This was such a wonderful experience and so much fun.
Yeah. I look forward to hearing your feedback for this official workshop, and I look forward to hearing all of your fans feedback as well. So thank you for this wonderful opportunity.
[00:43:17] Speaker A: Absolutely. No problem. Well, that's it for now, everyone. This is Mimi Jacks, your host for the improper mimi show, sharing our platform here with some of our friends. And I hope you guys like the new, you know, kind of take on it, because usually we just have women, and I definitely, you know, put black women up on the platform. But I think this season, we, we are really going to dabble and, you know, chat with some brothers and, you know, some other friends as well so that we can get different takes on what's going on out there and also how we can lend a hand or how we can learn ourselves and how we can continue to share our stories. So thank you, everyone. Chat with you soon. Bye.
