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cover of episode That Damn Spooky Yoga Class

That Damn Spooky Yoga Class

2023/11/1
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Saeed
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Sam
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Sam: 美国住房市场状况堪忧,租金和房价飞涨,许多人难以负担。Airbnb 的兴起加剧了这一问题,导致大量住房被用于短期租赁,减少了长期租赁房源,使得许多人流离失所。 Saeed: 哥伦布市的租金和房价也在上涨,虽然比纽约便宜,但涨幅仍然令人担忧。这反映了美国整体的住房成本上升趋势。 Zach: 大型公司持有大量房产,并通过提高租金来弥补其他方面的损失,导致住房危机加剧,许多中产阶级也面临住房压力。 Sam: 最高法院可能取消租金管制,这将进一步恶化住房市场。Airbnb 的商业化模式也加剧了问题,许多房屋被公司控制,而非个人业主。 Saeed: 俄亥俄州即将举行选举,其中包括关于生育权利和毒品合法化的投票。共和党可能采取操弄手段,影响选举结果。 Zach: 全球范围内对巴以冲突停止暴力的共识,以及媒体报道的片面性。社交媒体上缺乏对个体复杂性的理解和包容。

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The hosts discuss the current state of the housing market, focusing on issues like rent control, Airbnb's impact, and the general affordability crisis.

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Boom! Ladies? Ah! It's our Halloween edition of Vibe Check. We're taping this on Tuesday, October 31st. Happy Day of the Dead to all those who celebrate. Yes, yes. I'm Sam Sanders. I'm Saeed Jones. And I'm Zach Safford, and you're listening to Vibe Check. Vibe Check.

Okay, so we're going to talk about two topics that depending on, you know, how things are going for you are, you know, pretty scary or at least high stakes. First, we're going to talk about the housing market. Girl, what's going on out there? It's bad. It's spooky. It is beyond spooky. It is terrifying. And we're going to talk about that. We're going to talk about rental prices, the housing market.

interest rates and how really Airbnb is maybe one of the main goals that's kind of made a lot of problems for us. And maybe even if you don't use Airbnb, it's not to say that you haven't been impacted by the way Airbnb has impacted housing. And then, you know, listen, if you are a restaurateur of the Instagram demographic,

particularly in the city of Atlanta. Look, you're scared as hell because Keith Lee, the TikTok food influencer is in your zip code wreaking havoc in the nicest way. He's such a nice, polite person. - Yeah, so sweet. Yes. - That's what I think is so interesting. Like if he was more of a showman and more bravado, it'd be a little weird. But the fact that he is nice, calm and reasonable and is reviewing restaurants on TikTok in the city of Atlanta,

Mayhem. Havoc. So that'll be our haunted house portion. I'm ready for that because y'all know I am the least TikToki of the three of us. And I have no idea what any of that is. And it shows because listeners, it's all over TikTok. If y'all haven't seen it, we're going to catch you up. It's all over Twitter too when I run over there to peek.

And Zach made the point that TikTok has become a place of real-time public info. Yeah, real-time food, public info. When you really want to know what's going on, especially in a local place. And Sam was like, no, Wikipedia is the best place for that. I'd be going to Wikipedia. I'd be going to Wikipedia. Listen, don't make me go to GeoCities. I'll go to GeoCities. I don't give a damn. I don't give a damn.

Play with me. Don't be in the old ways. Well, before we get into all of that, let's check in. Girls, how are you doing? Sam, how are you? All right. Let me tell y'all. Oh, God. I woke up this morning with my mind focused on Glory. I was feeling good. I was feeling great. I said, let me go to yoga. I ended up at a 7.30 a.m. power vinyasa class, and I was so excited about it. I was ready. I was so excited.

And it's an instructor that I had seen before. She's great. We're flowing. We're moving. The sweat is beating. And I realized like 10 minutes in, like something's off with this class. The music is off. Then I end up in child's pose halfway through. And I hear, no lie, an EDM remix of Michael Jackson's Thriller. And then I'm like, oh, she's doing a Halloween version of this yoga class. And I was mad. Yeah.

I was mad. Why were you mad about this? Because I don't need to hear an EDM remix of Thriller when I'm in child's pose. You're in a power vinyasa class. Also at like 7.30 in the morning. Yeah, it's too much. So here's my thing. I could see someone wanting to do like a kind of spooky or

But you got to tell me before I show up. You know, like kind of the wind blowing through the forest. It wasn't that. It wasn't that. It was like a Monster Mash cover that was horrible. No. And there was no announcement or proclamation about the spooky yoga class.

Well, girl, it's Halloween day, so everyone's doing their spooky. Like, I was at the gym this morning, and they were playing spooky music. But to the defense of the yoga studio, I don't even know where you go, so I really don't need to be defending them. But isn't Power Finyasa the high cardio, high, like, lift class? Yes. So it's, like, already empty. But I'm already flowing and breathing. I don't need the music to help. It's not like a low-key...

Let me tell you something. I love that Sam is the one person that leaves yoga angrier. Yes. I left yoga angrier. I left yoga angrier. And let me tell you why. Because it got me thinking. It got me thinking. We have now fully entered what I call against my will season. Everything that's going to happen in the culture between now and the new year is going to happen against my will.

The overdoing of spooky Halloween shit all up in my face. I ain't asked for that. I'm about to hear Mariah Carey nonstop starting tomorrow. It's going to be holiday movies everywhere. Did you know that this year even QVC is making Christmas movies? Really? Oh, like the infomercial? Yes. It's going to be all this Christmas consumption crap from now until January. I'm going to have to deal with peppermint for two months everywhere. Do you not like a peppermint mocha? No! Oh!

I don't want that. I don't like any of the pumpkin spice inspired anything. And yeah, and then the peppermint stuff. Gross. And then don't even get me started on how for the next month, everyone's going to act like turkey is fun to eat. Turkey's bad. Turkey's not a good bird.

You're just messing with people who can't cook because I've had some excellent smoked turkey. I have as well. Send them over my way. Send them over my way. I was with you, Sam. Saeed's face really changed. Yeah, Sam the Grinch. To close the loop, I'm not fully a Grinch, but what I don't like about this season is how disingenuous it is. All of the pomp and circumstance around the holidays and the peppermint and the turkey and the trees, it absolutely

It acts like it's asking your community to come into community. It's actually asking you and your community to come into consumption. It's all about spending money. And this is going to be the brokest part of most people's years. As the Christmas lights are up and the songs are playing, we're just pummeled with spending and consumption from now to the end of the year. So my vibe right now is trying to like steal myself against it. Right.

And, you know, I'm going to shake hands with that Mariah Carey song once and then say, peace, be still. I can't live in the peppermint for two months. I can't do it.

Oh my God. That's all. Oh my God. I'm so conflicted because as a Sagittarius, which is to say the light bringer of this season, if you think about Sagittarius season, it's literally this entire time. I love it. You know, like in Columbus, they have a celebration where a neighborhood goes really all out with Christmas lights and a lot of people gather to go look at them and have house parties. You walk around drinking hot chocolate. Yes, there is a lot of consumerism. A lot of it is branding and marketing for sure. But also...

And in part, because it's a difficult time, because so many people are going through it, and there's so many ways you could context going through it, creating opportunities for people to come together. I don't know. I can't knock that. I can't knock that part of it. But the peppermint coffee drinks, thank you.

Thank you. Zach, how are you doing? I'm good. I am finally back in LA just for a few days before I go back to New York. You were in Atlanta for a second in Georgia. I was in Savannah. I was in Atlanta, which Atlanta does tie into today's episode. And then I was in Mexico City, but now I'm home and then I have to go to New York. So the end of the year feels really busy too for me because I feel like that's when like you're trying to close out the year, finish up some projects, do all this movement. So I'm feeling all of that, but I'm also feeling really...

I don't know. I feel very, this like sense of like pride in my love of Mexico City after coming back because this last trip, which you all were missed, you know, you all came up. They were, I ran into people that know you both and they were like, how's everyone? We listened to the show. And I've gone a lot over my life, but now I feel like I've hit that moment with Mexico City where it's like another home to me. Like I go there and I like have long dinners with a friend. It's not about just doing all the tour stuff, running around. It's a lot of calmness.

which was really wonderful. And also like even this trip, I lost the case to my AirPods and I had to go to the Apple store. So I went to like the super local Mexico city Apple store, which was like a very fun experience of like, Oh, I've never been to this part of Polanco where like people are just, I've actually been there and it's a vibe. It's a vibe. It was beautiful. Just kind of, you might expect that you're like, okay, let me go to the Apple store. And I know what, I know what that's going to be like. And then you're like, Oh no, this is totally different.

What makes it different though, seriously? I think it's nicer. I mean, I like the efficiency of how Apple kind of does everything, but sometimes it can feel a little impersonal to walk into those Apple stores and that store in Polanco is, I mean, it's not inefficient, but...

It's really like, it's like that Mexican hominess, where people are really friendly and wanting to be helpful. So beyond that, I spent an evening with our friend Cecilia, who runs Dos Cuerpos, which I have come to learn that every week, a Vibe Check listener goes to Dos Cuerpos and has a little tasting, buy some mezcal, buy some wine. So that's just really incredible to hear.

Listen, Vibe Check listeners, if you're out there going to taste this alcohol in Mexico City, send us photos. I want to see it. Email us photos of your time there. That'd be great. Please do. And then my last thing I'll say, you know, I know a lot of us have been watching social media this week, which continues to be the

- A hellscape. - For everyone. Just a full hellscape. And going to Mexico City, I had a long dinner with a lot of friends there and we all were having similar conversations that I was having here in LA. And while I was there, there were the protests that were happening there that were about Jewish people coming together, Palestinian people coming together, all different types of people coming together, asking for violence to stop. And that seems to be getting missed, I feel like, online these days. Everything feels like it's the two extremes of this conflict.

But really, a lot of people I'm meeting are in the middle, wanting to lock arms in community and be together for one another. And it just feels like we're missing that online. So being in Mexico to see it echoed to me. I was like, wow, it feels like globally, all of us do want to come together and figure this out.

Yeah, I mean, the photos and video footage I've seen from places like Grand Central Terminal in New York City, where it was like shut down. I mean, it's like look up photos if you haven't seen them. I mean, it's really moving. In London, it was like hundreds of thousands of people. I was trying just now to find, I think it was a Blue Sky post, but it was a post by a Palestinian poet.

And she was just thoughtfully acknowledging her appreciation for the number of Jewish people she has seen out at protests, showing up, arguing for ceasefire. And what she said, I thought was so thoughtful. She was like, these people...

are holding so much grief, right? People with family members in Israel. Very few hostages have been relieved. A lot of people are still going through the immediate days of grief because of the terrorist attack on October 7th. And even still,

Many, many Jewish people are showing up, you know, loudly pushing for ceasefire, pushing for peace. Her expression of gratitude kind of woke up some of the humanity in myself. Well, and this is what I have been noticing, seeing all these images of protests for a ceasefire across the world. If you just follow American news media, they'd have you think it's like 50-50. Do people want this to stop or not?

In actuality, the consensus morally around the globe is stop this. Stop the violence. Stop telling these kids. Girl, did you see the other day Piers Morgan was talking about this? Yes, Piers Morgan was also like that. People like Piers Morgan and who else did I see? Thomas Fletcher.

Oh, wow.

You know, it's really hard for anyone to see what's happening there and not say, hmm, there's got to be a better way. There's got to be a better way. And what I hope is that, like, people see the amount of solidarity that exists across the world to end this violence. I think there are a lot of interests that would have you think that people aren't.

on the good side here, but people want this violence to stop. All three of us included. Anywho, don't get me started. I agree. And I think like what I've really been realizing a lot this past week, just traveling to the South, to Mexico, is that every person I meet is incredibly complicated and they hold multiple truths at once. And I think we just don't see that grace given to people online these days where, you know, you make one statement, people flatten you, flatten your identity, flatten your take. And we're not saying that people are really complicated, especially during complicated issues. So,

That's where I'm at. Thank you all for talking to me about that. Because again, every week, I feel like we're trying to work through a bunch, and I'm glad we have the space to work through it all. Saeed, how are you feeling? Well, so I just had to check to make sure I'm still registered to vote in the state of Ohio. And let me tell you why. Not because of me, to be clear, because Assista stays registered. So it's actually a really exciting time to be a registered voter in the state of Ohio, because in November...

We will have the opportunity to vote in a Senate election. Sherrod Brown is up for reelection. I call him Sherrod because he's the homie. I love that man. Against our Republican Secretary of State. So that's a pretty, obviously, important race. We also have an opportunity to vote on two ballot mandates.

One regarding reproductive justice. I'm very excited to vote in support of reproductive justice. And the other is in support of weed legalization. Like, what a time. Wait, y'all have a legal over there? It's not legal over there? We're trying. We're trying. You know, these are three issues that obviously I care a lot about. But it was so striking because just 24 hours ago, this is reporting I saw from Jezebel.com. As I mentioned, the Secretary of State is also running for that Senate seat.

Anti-abortion Secretary of State Frank LaRose ordered the purge of 27,000 voter registrations before voters get to decide on those three issues, including his own election race, but not in time to vote on the ballot measure. The deadline was October 10th. So I checked this morning. I'm registered. I'll be there. I'll be present. But it's so sneaky because imagine if you saw that headline and went and checked yourself.

You wouldn't be able to correct it in time to vote on those two ballot measures. And this is the thing. This speaks to the reality that the abortion issue has presented for Republicans. Since Roe was overturned, every special election on abortion across the country has leaned heavily in favor of abortion rights, even in the Midwest, even in conservative states. People across the country are saying, don't fuck with our abortion rights. And so they're scared.

What I see you saying right here is that these Republicans are scared and they should. They're scared. So we're going to keep an eye on it because, you know, it could be pretty close. And the difference in the outcome is around twenty seven thousand. Well, that will be of note. But listeners, this is what I would tell you if you are in Ohio. But even if you aren't, because everyone I know knows somebody in Ohio. Check in with your people. Ask them to see, hey, are you registered to vote? Got an election coming up in November. It sounds pretty important. Just check in. Send a text.

Send a cute little voice memo that can go a long way. So that's my vibe. We're paying attention. We're getting ready because we see that the GOP fascists love to play games. They're going to pull every trick out of their little fascist bag. They can because, as Sam says, they know that when elections are done legitimately, they lose. And listen, you are not a real supporter of Vibe Check if you are not registered to vote. I'm saying it. Register yourself. Wow. Okay.

Okay. No, ain't no games over here. Ain't no games over here. You can't register.

I love that. That yoga got me heated up, y'all. That yoga got me heated up. See? You're going to send that lady a thank you email. She's ready for today. Oh, God. Well, listeners, we just want to remind you that, yes, we are still having that book club. Our episode is going to come out really soon. And as a reminder, we are reading Poverty by America by Matthew Desmond. We'll be having a conversation with him. So join us, read the book, and send in your questions for the author by November 6th, the latest, which is next week.

So do it now. Get back to us. Let us know. Yeah. Vibecheckatstitcher.com. Vibecheckatstitcher.com. I know y'all are smart listeners. Send us some good questions. We want them. All right. Also, before we get into the episode, I want to thank all of you who send us fan mail. Reach out on social media. We love hearing from you. We read every message. We text about the notes you send us. We read it all. We love it. Vibecheckatstitcher.com. All right. With that, let's jump in, shall we? Let's do it.

I'm going to call this segment, The Rent is Too Damn High and the Mortgage is Too.

That's perfect because today is the first of the month. So I want to talk about the housing market, and I want to do it this week because there are two stories that have kind of been bubbling up in the news over the last few weeks that I think can open up a really good conversation about the state of housing in America, specifically America's current housing crisis. And it is a crisis. First story, you might have seen this. The Supreme Court may take up a case concerning rent control.

New York landlords have asked SCOTUS to take up three cases that could end rent control as we know it. Rent control basically says once you get into an apartment, your rent can only go up so much a year, something like 3%. It can't go up drastically. New York landlords want that protection for renters taken away.

The Supreme Court has already said that it won't take up one of those cases, but they haven't said yet if they'll take up the other two or not. If they take up one of those cases and rule against rent control in New York, it affects the entire country and it could change drastically overnight what housing looks like all over this country. It's a big deal. Listeners, watch on it. Yeah. And given the makeup of the Supreme Court, I

Yeah, there's a good chance they'd overturn it. I tend to assume the worst. Yeah. I tend to assume the worst. That's the first story that has me thinking about housing. The second, and you've probably felt this or talked to folks that have felt it. A few weeks ago, New York City, one of the largest markets for Airbnb in the world, was

It effectively banned almost all Airbnbs in the city. And under new local laws now, most Airbnbs are no longer legal in New York. And by some counts, less than 100 Airbnb listings are left in the entirety of New York City. Wow.

And this is happening because, as people have seen across the country, the rise of Airbnb has hurt the housing market. By some measures, Airbnb has displaced 100,000 New Yorkers, give or take. And as of last year, there were more apartments available to rent on Airbnb than there were available to rent long term.

It's wild. In New York City. In New York City. Where it's already been a mess forever. So all this sets up, these two stories set up a conversation that I want to have right now about housing. And the question I want to start out with is how effed up does our housing market feel to y'all right now? Because here in L.A. where I am, it feels wild and crazy and out of pocket. Yeah.

I agree. So as someone also living in L.A., I look at Zillow a lot and I am stunned. That'll run your pressure up. Oh, yeah. I'm just stunned at like how just in the past few years, how housing prices have just risen astronomically. You know, they were already pretty inaccessible in 2019, but there was some hope, you know, we're like, OK, maybe you can live in this part of town, maybe live in that part of town.

But through, you know, when COVID hit and we saw the rise of people buying homes, moving, all that stuff, it just now feels impossible to get a house. And, you know, this dream you have as a kid of wanting to get a house feels like harder and harder to reach for all of my friends. You know, some people are still making it and getting there. But, you know, it just doesn't feel like it did or how we imagine the 50s feeling where, like, my grandparents all had homes.

Everyone had a home. And it feels like we've moved away from that belief in America that everyone deserves a place to sleep at night. It feels like, you know, just kind of, you know, better hope for the best here. Maybe you'll have a bed. It just feels really, yeah, really fraught. Yeah. Saeed, what's Columbus feel like for you? Yeah, it's a pretty illuminating question because, you know, I moved here from New York City in 2019. And my last apartment in New York City was in the Lower East Side neighborhood in Manhattan. Obviously, it's

pretty expensive. I need to be close to work. My apartment was a one bedroom and I was paying a little over $4,000 a month for that apartment. Wow.

Not including everything else you pay with an apartment. And when I moved to Columbus in fall of 2019, I got an apartment that was actually fairly similar in terms of neighborhood, makeup, the vibe, the type of building, even the layout of my apartments at the time. One bedroom were fairly similar in appearance. $1,400 a month. $1,400 a month. So that's quite a contrast. But that being said...

Relative to Columbus, relative to Ohio, it is still a pretty alarming increase in prices. So as of 2023, for rent, there has been a 29% increase in rent prices in Columbus, Ohio, compared to just the previous year.

It's almost 30%. That's huge. And then for like if you wanted to own a home, which, you know, I mean, but obviously these two things are connected. I saw this morning in Axios, there has been a 70% increase in the price of the typical home in the Columbus area in the last two years. I mean-

It's wild. So even here, obviously, it's more affordable than Manhattan, New York. But I'm still pretty alarmed. And this is the thing. By all data points, it is just more expensive to live in America than it has been for many years. Rents have been going down in America the last few months. But overall, over the last three years, according to the Government Accountability Office, rents have increased by 24%.

And on the home ownership side, high interest rates have kept folks from buying. And even as rates have gone up, the price of houses haven't gone down. And what we're seeing is that a lot of corporations that own office buildings and rent them out to other companies, they also own residential buildings. And as these office buildings haven't refilled post-pandemic –

That loss of money for these big corporations, they're making up for that by raising rents in their other buildings that have tenants, like personal tenants. It's wild. So all over, you see owners and renters being stretched thin. And it's really bad here in L.A. We talk a lot about the L.A. homelessness crisis.

But there's a whole class of people who are unhoused that we don't see because they sleep in their cars. The amount of Angelenos who sleep in their cars now and live in their cars is up double digits. And those are folks that we don't think about because they aren't on the street. But they're unhoused too. It's wild out here. It's wild. It's wild.

yeah the new york times did a recent article on that where it was like people who have jobs like are making for example like one woman i remember was like making seventy thousand dollars but she lives in the seattle area seattle washington and could not afford a home and so she was living out of her car and i just felt the article wasn't framed very well it was like look at these people look at how innovative and clever they're being and i'm like no no no that's not that's not

the takeaway. They're in crisis. And that to me is the really scary part of this moment in the housing crisis. You have people living in what they're calling mobile homelessness was like the term New York Times was using. But these people are making $70,000, $80,000, $90,000 a year and because of the

the cost of living, the fact that like most of their paycheck will have to go to rent. They can't afford other things. They can't afford the gas to get to their jobs to keep living that way. And they're not, you know, low income enough to get government housing. They're like in this gray zone and it feels like more and more that's the middle class, that gray zone of like, I'm living paycheck to paycheck and it just one bad thing happened to me and I'm going to be on my car and that my whole life is over. And that's very frightening for people. Yeah. Yeah. I want to pull it back to Airbnb to open up a part of the conversation about

How all of us can sometimes be part of the problem. You know, I'm reading all this data around Airbnb and how it's hurt cities like New York, hurt the entire country. But I think back on how much I have used Airbnb, especially during the pandemic. I was all over these highways and byways in Airbnbs across the country for a long time.

And I think what's happening with Airbnb and how we've all been a part of that system, it represents a larger picture what has happened to housing, period. You know, when Airbnb started…

It was a lot more DIY. The idea at first was that when you were in Airbnbs, the homeowner was there and you stayed with them and you built community with them and you shared a common space with them. That has changed. And now we're in this moment where Airbnb is extremely corporatized. You all have experienced this. You rent an Airbnb. It's not owned by a person. It's owned by a company.

And it's basically a short-term hotel that you just get through Airbnb. And that corporatization that we've seen happen in Airbnb, it's also happened in the rental market. It's also happened in the housing market. And I think that's a big part of the problem as well. So much of housing has stopped being personal and it's become corporate.

And it's become big business, and that hurts real people. Yeah, and the big business aspect. I mean, I think about when I'm in New Orleans and my friend's there, and they'll walk me through different neighborhoods, I don't know, like the Marigny. And it'll be like seemingly like six or seven homes in a row. You think, oh, look at this cute neighborhood. And it's like, nope, that's Airbnb, that's Airbnb, that's Airbnb. Yeah, so it's, I mean, one, it impacts...

housing in terms of what's available. Like you said, 100,000 people in the city of New York being displaced because there literally aren't available spaces for long-term rent. But also, if you think about a block that has 10 houses and half of those houses are people that are just coming in for two or three days, you know what I mean? It also impacts, I would imagine, a sense of community. Exactly. Yeah, you don't have real names. It's like a mall. It's like a mall. Yeah, you're kind of living in a half-empty

mall most of the time. Yeah. And what's also, what I've been thinking a lot about is, you know, in L.A., we've been seeing a tremendous amount of striking from the hotel unions because they're not getting paid well, they're not getting support. We're seeing this across the country, but L.A.'s become like the hot spot for the strikes around hotels. And,

And as someone that used to Airbnb my apartment when I was out of town, the reason why we all do it is because you're able to create like a hotel system for yourself, make extra money, and it helps you as the landlord in the situation. But in terms of like your customer, I don't have a front desk. I don't help.

them in a real way. I'm not there to help deal with issues. Kind of like it's very hands-off. And also, you know, my Airbnb, while it worked for me, wasn't supporting a large economic structure like a hotel does, where there's unions, there's protections, there's consistency in work. There's all this stuff happening around. And with what I've seen in LA, with the boom of Airbnb, hotels have really taken a hit, which then they've

turn that on to workers and workers are now bearing the brunt of that. So I do think these kind of the rise of these tech economies have really destabilized consistent work for people. And it's really created this kind of fissure in money for people. Yeah. Yeah. I want to, in this conversation on a note of optimism, kind of forward looking and like ask what we can do to be good neighbors or just to help as much as we can, as we see so many Americans suffer in this housing market. Um,

What can you do and what are y'all thinking about doing to help when you can? I know for me personally, as a homeowner, I don't think I ever want to Airbnb my home. I don't think it's good for my neighborhood. I don't think it's good for my neighbors. I don't plan on doing it. I'm just like, that's not going to be what I do. But it's easy to feel powerless when you see these numbers and these stats. But I wonder, Zach and Saeed, what do y'all want to try to do to help where you are?

I mean, you know, I think certainly while traveling, taking the extra step to look at options in hotels. Because sometimes it's like, maybe you don't want to say any big change. Like little boutique family-owned hotels, especially internationally, certainly in Mexico. A lot of great options. Yeah, I mean, I think...

More broadly, we have to have this conversation over and over again because it's a generational issue. A lot of the ways in which we enter transformation with the internet was this assumption that the internet was just going to make everything better. And you just kind of didn't have to think about it. Just because it was suddenly like this new internet innovation, it was going to make things easier. You could get a taxi on your phone. You could get an Airbnb on your phone. You could connect with your friends on social media. And we're seeing, wait a minute,

Disruption literally means disruption, you know? So I think, you know, it's not easy. You know, you make the choices you make with the information you have at the time. But I think taking a couple of extra steps, certainly when planning travel, to think about...

Who are you supporting? What's the system that I'm participating in? I think it can go a long way. Yeah. I feel very similar. I'm seeing myself being more interested in local hotels, local housing options that aren't tied to these big tech companies like Airbnb. And just also while I'm there, shopping local, eating local, really supporting local economies the best I can. And I feel like that's what I can begin to do because these are huge challenges.

structures that are around us that, you know, it takes more than one person to really change them. And I think like, you know, you can begin changing habits a little bit to kind of help make change there. But I also have to ask for renters because I mean, far more of us do not own property, do not kind of get to do the travel. Far many of us are like, well, what am I supposed to do about rent in the housing market? I would say two big things.

One, if you're a renter in a building, get to know your neighbors and what they're going through because a lot of times renters can organize together against shitty landlords. So know that and know what your other tenants are dealing with. And two, whatever major city you're living in, if you're living in one of the even smaller towns, there are zoning laws that directly affect housing affordability. Right.

A lot of zoning laws prioritize single-family home neighborhoods, and that keeps a density from being reached in urban housing that could make rents more affordable. If you are at all involved in local politics or go to city council meetings or vote on local referendums, if there's anything concerning zoning, you want to vote for zoning laws that make it possible for there to be denser housing stock. That will change the cost of everyone's rents and mortgages across the board.

So I would say those two things. That's helpful. It's funny talking to neighbors about rent kind of reminds me of how initially, you know, first entering the job market, you're made to feel sometimes you're directly told by managers not to talk about salary. You'll get in trouble. It's like, no, no, no, no. We're going to compare notes. Yeah. Yeah. You got to compare notes. Yeah. You got to compare notes.

Listeners, let us know how you're dealing with this crazy housing market. What are your stories? How are you getting through? How are you helping? We're going to keep watching this issue because it affects all of us. But I sure hope it gets better. That's all I got to say. Yeah. And let us know what's the housing market like where you are. I always think it's so cool when listeners kind of let us know what's going on in their specific community. That's helpful. All right. Time for a quick break. When we come back, we're switching gears and talking about food.

I'm so excited. Let's see what happens. You're listening to Vibe Check. Stay tuned. Bye. Bye. Bye.

This message is brought to you by McDonald's. Did you know only 7.3% of American fashion designers are Black? Well, McDonald's 2024 Change Leaders Program is ready to change the face of fashion. The innovative program awards a monetary grant to five emerging Black American designers and pairs each with an industry professional to help them elevate their brands.

I know specifically and distinctly how McDonald's can support and empower not just black Gen Z, but black people. My first job was McDonald's. I learned a lot there about customer service and how to relate to people. I still love that place and go there very often. Look out for the change of fashion designers and mentors.

at events like the BET Awards and the Essence Festival of Culture. And follow the journey of the 2024 McDonald's Change Leaders on their Instagram page, We Are Golden.

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All right, we are back and we are switching gears to a food fight we've been watching with a lot of glee online. Y'all have been watching it. I don't know what we've been talking about yet. It's pretty great. All right, some context before we begin. Last week, the famous Michelin Guide arrived in the city of Atlanta and gave out their first ever series of Michelin stars, which are highly sought after awards that signify some of the best food in the world. And we're going to talk about that.

And we can just pause here to note the racism of Michelin. Y'all just got to Atlanta. That's what he's going to talk about. I'm just saying, like, I just felt it when he said it. Yes. Wow. Come on. It's a really problematic guide. Like, the disrespect. Like, Southern culture.

cuisine yeah and to sam's point because we may not get to this part of it but the michelin guide is tied to michelin tires the french company and they created it as a way to sell tires years ago and where you should drive and that that guide itself was racist because you shouldn't drive to black areas so anyway that's the history of this very i knew the michelin guy was racist when i saw the michelin man he's white as a driven snow white as a driven snow that sam

I'm just saying. All right. Anyway. It's the yoga class. It's the yoga.

Oh, God. Well, before last week, Atlanta had never received any Michelin stars ever in the history of the city. Wow. Which is absurd. Which is wild. But by Friday, they were given five different Michelin stars for five different restaurants, and 10 others were awarded the Bib Gourmand Award, which is not a less than prize. It just signifies that the restaurant is more moderately priced. So it's more accessible to eat at. Got you.

However, as fate would have it for the city of Atlanta, which I guess has some karma coming back to it, as they were being celebrated globally for having their first ever Michelin star reviews, a big star came to town. His name is Keith Lee. And if you aren't familiar with this man, he is a 27-year-old who lives in Las Vegas with his family. He, over the past few years, especially during lockdown, became a superstar for his heartwarming TikTok reviews of restaurants.

that were specifically struggling around business. So he focuses on restaurants that are currently not seeing any business come in or are about to close. And he helps bring a lot of attention if the food is really good. And he's always really, really nice. He's like famously nice. So it was like a TikTok diners, drive-ins and dives. 1000%.

Yes, very there. Like he would go to a lot of like when I was introduced to his videos on TikTok, you know, earlier in the pandemic, it would be like him going to like a mom and pop hot wings place, you know, like in a strip mall, a place that you might drive by and not really. And he'd be like, I heard some good things about it. And he sits in the car and he would give a review. And then the next thing you know, honey, there's a line around. Oh, I have seen him because he eats it in the car.

He's really sweet. Okay, I saw him on Instagram when they posted TikToks on the Instagram Reels. Yes, weeks later when it hits Instagram. You're like more of a Gen Xer than an elder. I get it when I get it. I get it when it gets to Facebook.

But I don't do Facebook. Anywho. So many of you know who Keith Lee is. And his videos are typically really positive. But when he arrived in Atlanta, he began going to some really famous restaurants. Specifically, restaurants like Old Lady Gang, which is owned by Real Housewives star Kandi Burris. And his reviews weren't the nicest because...

these restaurants weren't very nice to his family. His hot take for the city of Atlanta is that they have terrible customer service, they have confusing rules around ordering, and they only help people when they are famous.

To aid in his take on this, Cardi B even released a statement on her social media confirming what he said and saying she only gets service typically when her team drops her name for Atlanta restaurants. This has sent Atlanta into a full tailspin around the food scene. What was striking to me was that one of the restaurants he reviewed that he was like, yeah, the service wasn't great. And to be clear, he explains in detail and he always says...

don't use this as an opportunity to go and give bad reviews because of what I said. He says, you please go yourself, have your own experience. This is my opinion, which I think is pretty fair. But he pointed out this restaurant, Milk and Honey, had like 10 rules. And it made me think of like, if you've ever tried to find a lock

or a hairstylist and you go and they have like the 10 or 15 rules. Like, don't even come in here if you haven't made da da da. And you're just like, damn. I mean, one of the rules for this restaurant was we do not serve parties for people of more on days that end in Y. Days that end in Y? That's every day. That's every day. That's every day. No, I just can't watch our thing. Like, listen, we can't serve parties of 30 people without advance notice. That's a different kind of, but four people?

Huh? Yeah. Also, as someone who used to get to Atlanta a lot for work, y'all really shouldn't be so precious about your food because I've eaten it. Yeah. Like, it's not as if... I'm sorry. Look us back. I'm sorry. Some of these restaurants in Atlanta, they really be highfalutin. And I'm like, girl, you can't even fry chicken. They're... Okay, so...

So actually, let's go that route. Because the big issue we're seeing in Atlanta, let's go there. Because this is a problem in Atlanta, in Los Angeles, in New York, is that with the rise of social media and the rise of this new type of celebrity, we're seeing more restaurants open by celebrities. Like, Donald Glover has a boba shop in Silver Lake, California. What?

Yeah, you know, Kevin Hart has a vegan restaurant in LA. In Atlanta, Juicy J has a restaurant. You know, Candy Burris always has a restaurant. No, I would go to Juicy J's restaurant. I mean, I would too. But, you know, celebrities are really driving kind of the restaurant scene. But these restaurants seem to be just facades of a restaurant. They're just like kind of their own Instagram ads and there's no substance there.

Well, and so much of the food preparation right now in these restaurants is made for Instagram and not for your mouth. It's made to look good and flashy on Instagram, but the food might not be great. Perfect description.

They do always have the grass wall. If I walk in and I see a restaurant with a grass wall and the neon sign, I walk out. And this is what's interesting to me with Keith Lee. And the only reason he's in Atlanta, he was like, I'm on vacation and I had some time with my family. So I figured I'd make some videos here. As I mentioned, he's usually going to kind of like mom and

You know, places, not necessarily like these kind of seen and be seen restaurants. And so I think it's interesting, the striking between like a hot wing mom and pop shop that might be in a strip mall. It's not the classiest place, but baby, they can cook too.

down. You're going to get a great meal. You're going to take it home probably and have a wonderful time. And often that food will surprise you. In contrast to like Candy Burr's place or Milk and Honey, which are definitely, because I was like looking at pictures and video, they're places you go to dress up, take your cute Instagram photos, make your little TikToks. Maybe you have a couple of overpriced drinks and then you leave. You're not going there for the food, which...

Also, can y'all catch me up on this? Milk and Honey got in some drama with this guy, Keith Lee, after he was there. Yes. What happened? Yes. So, all right. So this is the other great part of this. Also, what is Milk and Honey? Who were they? So Milk and Honey. It's a different restaurant. It's a different restaurant. It's not led by famous people like Old Lady Gang, which is one of Candy. She has a few restaurants. But the other restaurant, Milk and Honey, posted a TikTok of the owner sitting in the restaurant asking, who is Keith Lee? As a way of like kind of,

shrugging off the bad review. And he's like pretending to smoke a like a... Yeah, like a pipe or something. It's like wearing sunglasses inside, by the way. No, no. That's another... That is so Atlanta. Yeah, it's so Atlanta. The people of Atlanta are about to light our inbox. Come on at me. Come on at me. And frankly, it's all Sam. It's all Sam. I used to live there. It's all Sam. It's all Sam. But, you know, Keith's big take around

around all of this was that his family was going in to get the reservation or to get the food and they were treating them not super well. They were like kind of shrugging them off, didn't care. But when he would walk in, everything shifted. And Keith is very much about like accessible food. And that's what makes his food reviews different is that the food's never that expensive. It's somewhere you can go. Most people can afford. And it's going to be some really delicious food that's really accessible even in taste. So if there are restaurants that become too mean or too,

like whatever about someone, if they're not famous, he immediately shuts them down. So to have them respond with a video that only kind of exasperated that feeling of like, we're better than you just was a really bad move on their end.

Yeah. And I saw, you know, some people, I think, associated with these different restaurants that had gotten, I would say, fairly negative reviews, rightfully so. They were, like, making fun of... And I don't know his health status, and frankly, it doesn't matter. But some of them were like, who is this autistic guy? And I was like, well, what's that got to do with it? Like, okay. To me...

That says something about you. Someone gives you a valid criticism, thoroughly walks it through. His videos are kind of long, right? They're not like 20-second long TikToks. He really kind of walks through. And I was like, so you're coming back and being ableist in response? That's saying a lot about you. And setting Keith Lee's opinion aside, I don't want to go to a place that...

Those are the people. You know what I mean? That's how they act. How do you treat random patrons, which is Zach's point. So much of Atlanta's energy when I am there, and this is not all of Atlanta, but what I've felt and experienced, there are people perpetuating snobbery that have no reason to be snobs. And it sounds like these restaurants are snobs just because they want to be, but there's no reason to be.

And I don't know. It feels very specific to that there city. I'm telling you. Would y'all mind if I intervened with a bit of a read? Oh, go for it. Would you mind? Do it. We have a moment. Do it. We have a moment. Because I'm inclined to agree with a lot of your observations, Sam. Thank you. You know what the thing about Atlanta is, right? What? No. What? It's become the second Los Angeles. Oh. It's become the second Hollywood. Oh.

It's become a huge market. That's not wrong. Not wrong. Not wrong. And so, yeah, I think a lot of what you're saying has indeed a lot in common with the city of Los Angeles. I love that you say, seen and be seen, honey. No, see, but let me say what I'm going to say about Los Angeles. The beauty of Los Angeles. Weren't you just dead horses the other day? Shut your mouth! Don't you say it! In the name, I rebuke! Boo!

Leave it in, Chantel. The tea is hot today. I almost fell out of my chair. What I love about Los Angeles, there are some pockets of the city that can have snobby food culture, but because L.A. is so massive, sprawled out and diverse-

You can find every kind of food under the sun somewhere in L.A. County. And a lot of the food that you're going to find that is wonderful and like is made from folks who brought it from their home country and kept it as it is. It's in a strip mall and they're not making the food for Instagram. They're not making the food for white people. They're making the food that they grew up with back home. And I find that the diversity of Los Angeles's food culture is unparalleled.

It's unfair. It is pretty good. And if you're willing to get out of your boxes, you can end up in a strip mall in the Valley and have the best whatever of your life. Yeah. Atlanta's not doing that. Atlanta's not doing that. It's also striking because like running a restaurant is so difficult. I would argue it's probably, I mean, you know, running any business is hard, but I would say it's, you know, deciding to open a restaurant is like, yeah. And the margins are low, even if you're winning. And so it's interesting because most,

Marketing, having a social media presence is important. It's definitely something you want to think about if you want to have a successful restaurant. But if you overemphasize it, if it becomes the main concern, how does the restaurant look? Who are the kind of people we're letting in? Also, mind you, I find there's often a correlation between this kind of emphasis and respectability.

Suddenly we get into dress codes. Suddenly we get into a certain kind of person being made to feel welcome and a certain other kind of person being made to feel unwelcome. And that gets ugly really quickly. And other considerations like customer service or just the quality of the food, you know, become less valued. Yeah. I will say L.A. has no dress code.

Because no one here can dress. You can wear whatever the hell you want. That is so true. Y'all walk right out of there from Halloween yoga. Oh my God. I want to ask you both about what I think is just poetic in kind of the universe jumping in here. The fact that the Michelin Guide arrives the same weekend that Keith does. So in this moment, it's so bright for Atlanta. They get taken down a bunch of

And for me, it feels like that's pointing to a cultural trend that things like the Michelin Guide are no longer of interest to most people. They're looking to TikTokers. They're looking to Instagram people to review food. And that food itself, to your point, Zaid, isn't very, you know, fancy. It is like the chicken shack down the street that's getting empowered now. What do y'all think about this trend? Is this good for food? Is this good for restaurants moving forward? Yeah, I mean, it's an interesting shift when you think of it that way. Because I was thinking of there was a time when...

I would say if you don't know the name Keith Lee, but you're interested in this, get on TikTok, get on Twitter, just Google, check it out. You will be amazed by the conversations that have like the volume because it feels like a decade or maybe even longer ago, like a really fiery Guy Fieri, Pete Wells review.

- Yeah. - The way that could kind of blow up a conversation and everyone would have an opinion. You don't really, you don't quite see that anymore. Like that kind of food restaurant culture discourse doesn't happen. But here it is from this like 20 something Vegas guy, you know, eating food in his car, giving it on TikTok. So many people love to devalue cultural criticism because it doesn't take place in the confines of a prestige magazine, but hey, he's having impact.

Well, what I love about Keith Lee, now that I know who he is, I like how he takes all the stuffiness, the Michelin energy out of food. He eats the food in his car.

He eats the food in the way a lot of Americans actually eat their food. And he takes the pomp and circumstance out of it. And it's just about, is this food good or not? And if that's what we have more of, I like it. Because I think a lot of times the Michelin guide isn't awarding the food. It's awarding the stuffiness. It's awarding the presentation. It's awarding the vibe and the ambiance. And who cares? Right.

Life is hard. I want some good food. In addition to the Michelin guy being, you know, like Sam said, embarrassingly late in terms of even reviewing restaurants in Atlanta at all, I don't think they gave any Michelin stars to Black-owned restaurants. No, they didn't. One of the Blackest major cities in the world who has a ton of Black-owned restaurants there. And the fact that none of them got the stars shows you

The problematicness. That said, best meal I've ever had in Atlanta was at the airport. Not even lying. Where? In the Atlanta airport called One Flew South.

And it is ranked as the best food in the world. It's amazing. I wasn't going off. No, it was actually a really good experience. If you're in the Atlanta airport, go eat at One Flue South. It's the best airport food in the world. Might as well eat there because Lord knows if you're at Atlanta Hartsville, you're going to be there for a while. I think it is the world's busiest airport. Like it is actually the busiest. So they need some food there.

All right, listeners, we're going to take another quick break, but don't go anywhere. We'll be right back. We'll be right back.

This message is brought to you by McDonald's. Did you know only 7.3% of American fashion designers are Black? Well, McDonald's 2024 Change Leaders Program is ready to change the face of fashion. The innovative program awards a monetary grant to five emerging Black American designers and pairs each with an industry professional to help them elevate their brands.

I know specifically and distinctly how McDonald's can support and empower not just black Gen Z, but black people. My first job was McDonald's. I learned a lot there about customer service and how to relate to people. I still love that place and go there very often. Look out for the change of fashion designers and mentors

at events like the BET Awards and the Essence Festival of Culture. And follow the journey of the 2024 McDonald's Change Leaders on their Instagram page, We Are Golden. Every day, our world gets a little more connected, but a little further apart. But then there are moments that remind us to be more human.

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All right. We are back. And listeners from the Atlanta metro area, thank you if you're still with us. I appreciate it. I am so excited to get the listener feedback this week. It's going to be wild. Okay. We, of course, love to end every episode by sharing something with all of you that helps us keep our vibes right. I'm going to start with Zach because I think I know what he's going to talk about and I want to know more. Okay.

Okay. So I finally start, not finally, the show just came out on Sunday and I turned it on immediately. And the show I'm talking about is called Fellow Travelers on Showtime. It's starring Matt Bomer and Jonathan Bailey. Jonathan Bailey is going to be in the new Wicked if you're not familiar with him. Wasn't he in Bridgerton? Yes, he was in Bridgerton as well. Good memory. Yeah, he's been popping off. I remember my gays. But, you know, the series is a mini series that's based off the book.

by the same name written by Thomas Mallon. And it is a show that begins in the 1950s at the start of McCarthyism. And it tracks this love story over four decades going through McCarthyism, the Vietnam War, disco, and then the AIDS crisis. But it's showing you the queer, you know, community development, movement, rights through the lens of this romance over the years. That's very complicated. And let me tell you,

I love Showtime because Showtime for years when I was a young, young gay gave me the sex that I could not Google and watch it. It gave us queerest folk. It gave you queerest folk. It gave you queerest folk. It gave you the L word. I learned what it meant to be gay through watching these shows. And they were so explicit back then, 1990 to 2005. This show is a return to the raunchy, very sexy content. Can I tell you?

After you mentioned it, I began watching it yesterday. I had a low in my day. So around 1 or 2 p.m., I turned it on. 15 minutes in, they are pile driving. And I was like, I'm going to have to revisit this after dark. Oh, you said, this is not lunchtime viewing. This is not lunchtime viewing. They got in. Matt Bomer, more like Matt Boner. Okay. It was happening. It was happening. Oh, my God. I'm going to revisit it after nightfall. You should. You should.

And this ruins nothing, but something that I think a lot of us here on the show know is that a lot of our most vehemently homophobic politicians and leaders in the 50s and 60s were themselves closeted or having same-sex interaction. And specifically Roy Cohn and Joseph McCarthy. And this show gets into that part of it and showing you that these people had a lot of self-hate that they were trying to cover up by...

hurting all of us and how that has played out even till today in the government. So it's a really good show. Watch it, everybody. All right. Sam, what about you? I want to recommend...

a movie that is on Amazon Prime Video right now starring Jamie Foxx and Jurnee Smollett and Tommy Lee Jones. It is called The Burial, and it's amazing. And no one's talking about this film, and everyone should be talking about this film. So it's so amazing. So here's the premise, and this is no spoiler. Tommy Lee Jones plays an old funeral home director from the South who is about to retire.

A large funeral home conglomerate gives him an oral agreement to buy his funeral home chain to save him from some fines from the government. They try to pull out. He wants to sue them. The star lawyer he hires is a celebrity black attorney played by Jamie Foxx. Jamie Foxx faces off in the courtroom by the other side's lawyer who was played by Journey Smollett.

These are three amazing actors giving you courtroom sass for two hours. It is so good. That's a fun head-to-head pairing. Yes, it's so good.

The movie starts with Jamie Foxx's character giving a sermon in a Southern black church. That's where it starts. It's so good. The burial. Yeah. It's called The Burial. It's on Amazon Prime Video. People have forgotten how much of a national treasure Jamie Foxx is. And he does the work in this movie. People have forgotten how great Jurnee Smollett is. She does the work in this movie. If you want a fun two hours, go watch The Burial. It was so good.

It was so good. And something you mentioned at the beginning, but you were like, I haven't heard of this and I hadn't either. And that's because the SAG-AFTRA strike is continuing still to this day. And the actors can't even talk about it. So there's so many movies that have come out lately that no one knows are out because of the strike. So if you want to be like, I haven't noticed the strike. Oh, you're going to notice it in January when these actors are like, oh, I had a movie come out last year. I had this thing. And you didn't know. Yeah. Wow.

And I knew the burial was great because I was talking to my Aunt Betty this weekend and I was like, girl, you got to watch this movie, The Burial. She goes, I already watched it and I already shared my Amazon password with my best friend so she could watch it too. Okay. Is that good? Is that good? That's the review. That's the review. I love that. So yeah, The Burial. Saeed, what's your recommendation this week?

So my poem this week, since I figured we are bussy deep in Scorpio season. My God. I wanted to find a poem that could embrace like, to me, when I think about, you know, Scorpio season, it's about, it's about us.

honesty, like getting to the real, real, tell me the truth, no, tell me the real truth. Of course, sex, desire, carnal knowledge, all of that's part of it. And so I found one of my favorite poems by Jericho Brown. He won the Pulitzer Prize for

a couple of years ago for his book, The Tradition, which is wonderful. But this is from his first book, Please. And this is the first poem in the book. It is, if you are into jazz and the history of RBB, you'll recognize the song, but this is a song title, Lush Life. So the poem is titled Track One, Lush Life by Jericho Brown. The woman with the microphone sings to hurt you, to see you shake your head.

The mic may as well be a leather belt. You drive to the center of town to be whipped by a woman's voice. You can't tell the difference between a leather belt and a lover's tongue. A lover's tongue might call you bitch, a term of endearment where you come from, a kind of compliment preceded by the word sing in certain nightclubs. A lush little tongue you have.

You can yell, sing, bitch! And I love you with a shot of Patron at the end of each phrase from the same barstool every Saturday night. But you can't remember your father's leather belt without shaking your head. That's what satisfies her, the woman with the microphone. She does not mean to entertain you, and neither do I. Speak to me in a lover's tongue.

Call me your bitch and I'll sing the whole night long.

That is a Scorpio poem.

And as he says, she does not sing. She does not mean to entertain you. It transcends mere entertainment. And sometimes it can feel spiritual, sexual, sometimes deeply hurtful. Now you're crying. And it's not always. Sometimes it's fun. Sometimes it's...

Memories are like, you know, the memory of the father's leather belt, like, you know, unexpectedly intense memories can be lit up. I love that. And just the fact that he's like, you know, you're also throwing back your Patron on the barstool. So there's like a messy honesty. And I love poems that can take settings that maybe do not sound literary or that they belong in the ivory tower, but with the rigor of craft, you know.

I love that Jericho wrote a poem about this sexually charged and mentioning taking a shot of Patron and then when it pulled. So right after it. That to me is excellence. And Jericho is from Louisiana. I think he's from Shreveport in particular. If you've been in Louisiana, if you've gone to a dive bar and randomly caught the spirit watching someone sing or perform, you know what he's talking about. I love it. I love it.

All right, my friends, listeners, what are you feeling or not feeling this week? What's your vibe? You can always check in with us at vibecheckatstitcher.com. You know, let us know your favorite Jericho Brown poem, your favorite sex scene on Fellow Trafflers. Sounds like there's a lot of options to choose from there. Five minutes in, they are at it. Woo, I love that. Let's get to the real meat.

Thank you for tuning in to this week's episode of Vibe Check. If you love the show and want to support us, please make sure to follow the show on your favorite podcast listening app and tell a friend. Huge thank you to our producer Shanta Holder, engineer Sam Kiefer and Brendan Burns, and Marcus Hom for our theme music and sound design. And a special thanks to this week's engineer, Jared O'Connell. Also, special thanks to our executive producers, Nora Ritchie at Stitcher and Brandon Sharp from Agenda Management and Production. I'm going to read the last of the credits, but I just had this like...

image in my mind you know how I was railing against peppermint and how much I just hate peppermint season I imagined a peppermint goblin sneaking around my house pouring peppermint and everything it made me mad it made me mad that's awful

On that note, listeners, we want to hear from you. What are your thoughts on Peppermint? Tell me. You can email us whenever you want. Vibecheck at Stitcher.com. Vibecheck at Stitcher.com. And keep in touch with us on Instagram at Sam Sanders, at The Ferocity, and at Zach Staff. Zach with a C-H. If you post about the show, use the hashtag VibecheckPod and keep your peppermint away from me.

Stay tuned for another episode next week. No peppermint patty for Sam. Not peppermint patty. I hate it. You don't like Thin Mints? No. No. They are so good. Girl Scout cookies. We got to end this show. Goodbye, everybody. Goodbye. Stitcher. At Amica Insurance, we know it's more than just a car.

It's the two-door coupe that was there for your first drive, the hatchback that took you cross-country and back, and the minivan that tackles the weekly carpool. For the cars you couldn't live without, trust Amica Auto Insurance. Amica. Empathy is our best policy. What kind of day is it? It's a White Claw Day.

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