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Friend of the pod and NDRN alumni Ian Watlington get’s back on his advocacy horse to talk to us about the impact sudden weather events like the recent DC blizzard can have on folks with disabilities.
Full Transcript available at: https://www.ndrn.org/resource/ndr-jan25/
Jack Rosen:
Yeah, I guess we’re just doing this. We don’t know where Michelle is. She has abandoned us.
Stephanie Flynt McEben:
That’s fine. I feel very abandoned right now.
Jack Rosen:
If she’s too cool for us, if this is like John Lennon leaving the Beatles, she’s going to do a new experimental podcast.
Stephanie Flynt McEben:
Oh, I have a song for that. This is the potential breakup song. I don’t think Allie and AJ are going to sue us.
Jack Rosen:
She’s not even here to stop us from getting sued.
Stephanie Flynt McEben:
I know. And she’s supposed to be like fancy, legally something.
Jack Rosen:
I know. So now the hosts of the podcast are me, you and Nala.
Stephanie Flynt McEben:
Hey, you’re now a host since Michelle’s not here to stop it. You are a host.
Jack Rosen:
I’m finally free of Michelle bullying me about not being a host. There is that.
Stephanie Flynt McEben:
Love it.
Should I kick us off? Or I don’t even… Wait, which-
Jack Rosen:
It’s a whole new era of the podcast. I don’t even know if we’re kicking it off or just doing sort of a stream of consciousness thing, and then eventually we get to the interview.
Stephanie Flynt McEben:
Yeah, that sounds great. We’re going to hear from our pal Ian Watlington about all things snow and navigating somebody who uses a wheelchair in the city, and all of the chicken nugget-like things that people will sometimes put on curb cuts. Just a note to folks who may not realize, don’t put snow on curb cuts, because then it turns into ice, and then that could really hurt disabled people. So let’s make that our 2025 resolution to make sure that we protect the lives of all people.
Jack Rosen:
Yes. In fact, I’ll go a step further. Don’t put anything on the curb cuts really.
Stephanie Flynt McEben:
Thank you. Or especially those scooters.
Jack Rosen:
Those should be on them, the little bumps that I’m forgetting the term for, but nothing else.
Stephanie Flynt McEben:
The truncated domes, I think is what they’re called?
Jack Rosen:
Is that… If only we had someone who knew a ton about the ADA, mostly through voting, but she knows the ADA and could tell us what those are called.
Stephanie Flynt McEben:
Right.
Jack Rosen:
Anyway, enjoy our interview with friend of the pod and NDRN alumni, Ian.
Michelle Bishop:
So Ian, thank you so much for joining us for the podcast today. This is our special snowed in episode because of the rather unexpected amount of snow that we’ve gotten in the DC area. This past week has us all shut into our homes. And I’m betting it did the same thing to you.
Ian Watlington:
Exactly. I’ve been home and just hanging out. Well, I’ve been working. Let’s not discredit that, but I’ve been working, but pretty much stuck in my apartment.
Michelle Bishop:
Same here. Honestly, I tried yesterday to go outside for the first time to brush off my car, and in attempting to clean the snow off my car, I fell.
Ian Watlington:
Oh, no.
Michelle Bishop:
I know. Which you know is a very serious issue in the life of a person with a disability. You can’t just go outside in all this.
Stephanie Flynt McEben:
Ian, the only time I’ve gone out is to play Frisbee with my dog because she’s obsessed with playing Frisbee in the snow.
Michelle Bishop:
I mean, she’s a dog. I respect it. But can I tell you, the only response I got from my family about me falling while trying to brush off my car is, “I hope one of your neighbors captured it on their Ring cameras.”
Ian Watlington:
Oh, well that’s not very loving.
Michelle Bishop:
Mom.
Ian Watlington:
Yeah.
Stephanie Flynt McEben:
I was about to say, was that Carol? Because that sounds like a Carol response.
Michelle Bishop:
You know she’s a savage. So yes.
Stephanie Flynt McEben:
Shout out to Carol.
Ian Watlington:
She’s spicy.
Michelle Bishop:
So let’s talk about it, Ian. We wanted to pull you in on this episode as our resident expert on being snowed in as a person with a disability. Because you’ve been in the DMV for years now. You have gone through many… Also people don’t know in the DC area, we like to give ridiculous names anytime a single snowflake falls from the sky, Snowmageddon, Snowpocalypse, it’s very dramatic around here. And you’ve weathered a bunch of those.
Ian Watlington:
Right.
Michelle Bishop:
And talk a little bit about what it’s like as a person with a disability, especially the preparedness and response measures that we see from not just DC, we’re not here picking necessarily on the District of Columbia, from a lot of local governments in terms of their snow maintenance.
Ian Watlington:
Well, yeah. I wasn’t here for Snowmageddon, I don’t think, but I was here for Snow Apocalypse or however we called it. You’re exactly right. We come up with ridiculous names. But no matter… I mean, if a significant amount of snow falls, the lack of planning becomes very obvious rather quickly because then you have lovely, and I support my fellow drivers as much as I can, but when they start doing the streets, it brushes all of that snow debris, which is now a combination of snow and ice, can’t just have snow anymore. We have to have ice because they wait a while, and it goes right up on the curb cut. It’s like perfectly placed to do that. And I have made a big stink about this for many years because…
This one’s a little bit different because there’s a lot of ice. And I don’t know how my new motorized chair does with that, but I’m assuming not so well, so I’m being very careful. But when it’s time to get out of the house, you shouldn’t still have an ice block of slush and ice and dirt and whatever at the curb. And it’s just like nobody thinks about it. It’s just like, “Well, I guess they think I’ll just go around it somehow,” but I’m not sure.
Stephanie Flynt McEben:
Well, also… Oh, I’m sorry, Ian.
Ian Watlington:
No, it’s okay, Stephanie. I’m just not sure what their logic is or what they think or if they’re even thinking of us at all.
Stephanie Flynt McEben:
Well, that’s what I want to know. Isn’t it common… Because I know that I’ve seen it done where they will literally shovel the snow onto the curb cuts. There’s snow already there, of course. But I’ve heard about different folks having to deal with snow that is being shoveled even more onto the curb cuts. Is that something that you’ve experienced?
Ian Watlington:
I’ve mainly experienced the snow shovels on the street clearings covering the curb cuts. But I know a lot of times I have friends that live in suburbia, and a lot of times a neighbor will be so kind to put their snow on a ramp or a curb cut. So it’s an issue that people think it’s just a lovely place to put the snow. And what bothers me is nobody seems to care. And what I don’t understand further is that they’re creating more of a problem for themselves in the future. So for example, if I were to go outside and I were to try to get around the massive curb cut snow ice ball thingy, I’d most likely get stuck. And then who do I call? Except when I’ve gotten stuck before in other instances, which thankfully hasn’t been a lot, you call the fire department. The fire department can just get you out of that one little situation, it can’t take care of the weather. But again, the first responders even aren’t prepared.
Michelle Bishop:
Nor do we need to give our first responders more work to do in the middle of a weather emergency.
Stephanie Flynt McEben:
Right.
Ian Watlington:
Exactly.
Michelle Bishop:
Those things that are preventable, we should probably try to prevent, because they’ve got a lot on their plates when the weather goes wrong.
Ian Watlington:
Right, that’s why I’m hanging out at home. Exactly. I’m not trying to give anybody any extra work. I just wish I felt relevant. Does that make sense?
Michelle Bishop:
It does. Because I think something you said in the beginning to me is true. I think they’re not thinking about us at all. I think people are thinking they see a convenient place to pile the snow and they’re not thinking, “There’s probably a reason we built the curb that way. Why would you take the extra step of making it cut away if someone didn’t need it?” I think they’re not thinking about us.
Ian Watlington:
No. No, I don’t think so either. And I’ve tried calling the city council. I don’t know how many years ago. If you can believe this, I’ve been in DC now for 13 years, and so I can’t remember exactly when this was, but I was on the local news about the curb cut issue. So this is an issue near and dear to my heart, but I feel like I’m out of… I’m a professional advocate, but I feel like I’m out of strategies because I don’t know how to make it seem important to really focus on this issue.
Michelle Bishop:
Yeah, that makes sense to me. And I think it’s not even just the inconvenience of it, right? It’s really inconvenient if you can’t get out of your house. It’s inconvenient if you get stuck somewhere trying to get over some snow and the fire department has to get you out and all of that. But it’s also dangerous.
Ian Watlington:
Right.
Michelle Bishop:
In a number of ways, it’s incredibly dangerous. Wheelchairs and scooters that go sliding on ice can have serious consequences. A wheelchair that gets stuck in the snow could tip, and the person who relies on it could fall out and get injured. And in my experience, a lot of people who use wheelchairs and scooters end up rolling in the street, which is dangerous enough at any time, but especially in snow conditions where the roads are already going to be narrower, because snow piled up on the side of the roads, and the roads are slick, and cars don’t necessarily have the same level of control, and they can’t stop as fast. It’s dangerous. People could get hurt. And there are people who get hit in the street in their wheelchairs and die. It’s such a serious issue, and I agree, it’s really frustrating that we can’t get a spotlight put on it.
Ian Watlington:
There’s an acquaintance of mine in the Denver area, which is another area that experiences snow a little bit more often, but they’re not as on top of it as you might think either. And I have an acquaintance that did decide to go in the street and was unfortunately killed, because nobody could see him or people stopped but slipped and hit him. So I mean, that’s the thing about it, is it’s more than an inconvenience. It’s a issue of public safety. Because everybody’s inconvenienced during a blizzard or a big snow event, I should say, because this isn’t a blizzard I would call, but it’s significant enough to disrupt lives and people still need to get to doctors and to grocery stores. I was lucky this time, I really, really planned ahead and got my fridge stocked and all of that, so I would be able to be in the apartment comfortably at least.
Michelle Bishop:
That’s true. Although we’re also fortunate that when the weather takes a turn, we get to work from home. And not everyone can do that. There are disabled people who are essential workers that have to go into the workplace even when it snows.
Ian Watlington:
Yep, that is exactly right. And yeah, maybe I’ll get back on… This is kind of inspiring me to get back on my advocacy horse about this. I just said the word advocacy horse. Wow.
Michelle Bishop:
You did.
Stephanie Flynt McEben:
I love it though.
Ian Watlington:
Yeah.
Michelle Bishop:
It’s complicated with the wheelchair and the horse, it’s becoming very complicated metaphor.
Ian Watlington:
Yeah, it is. I did kind of muddle things and complicate things all with one metaphor. But maybe I’ll get on it again because it’s just frustrating. And one thing, people with disabilities share a lot of things in common because of what it’s like to live with a disability regardless of what the disability is. But one of the things that I think a lot of us share is the feeling of not being in control, because someone else is in charge of whether you get out of your apartment, whether you have medical supplies. We’re used to having to rely on others to get our basic needs met because we don’t have a choice. But I think it’s really when we can, we should help folks with disabilities out so they don’t have to feel out a control or trapped. That’s what you all do at NDRN is help people get their agency back and their control back.
But that’s something I think that people with disabilities often share is just that lack of control of your own destiny or your own future, or whether you’re going to get to go to the grocery store. It can be as big or as little of a thing as you want, whether it’s the grocery store, your own destiny, or whatever. But it’s that lack of control that I think is particularly what gives me the anxiety and what makes me feel less than comfortable in my own home or in my own apartment, is just that anxiety of, well, I have to be here because of circumstances and what if something happens? So I try to push some of those thoughts in the back of my mind because I think I have to keep moving forward. But it would be nice to have a little bit more empathy and a little bit more action on the city’s part to eliminate some of the problems and have an idea of what it really causes as far as stress and anxiety.
Michelle Bishop:
The whole time that you’re talking about this, the only thing I can keep seeing in my mind is… I think people know I grew up in upstate New York, and when I say upstate New York, I mean up upstate, like not that far from Canada upstate New York.
Ian Watlington:
Right.
Michelle Bishop:
The very snowy part of New York, where snowstorms are a real regular part of your life, which is part of the reason I don’t go out that much when it snows here because I don’t trust drivers who didn’t grow up in snowy areas to be on the road with me. Because you learn and you unfortunately learn some of it through trial and error, and I have been behind the wheel before and lost control of my vehicle on ice. And it is the single most terrifying experience. You’re in a car, you can’t control where it’s going, you can’t stop it from moving. You just really essentially have to wait it out. I spun out on a bridge once. I, actually in the same snowstorm, got on the highway and my car had turned around backwards. It’s terrifying. And no one should feel that feeling, that loss of control in their own lives.
Ian Watlington:
That’s how I feel. That’s certainly my feeling. Again, not all of us get to have control all the time, but this is a chronic thing that people with disability experience for a variety of reasons. So some of the issues that we can control and mitigate some of that feeling of lack of control, we ought to do it. And again, it’s how do we make this important enough to be heard? That’s my big question.
Stephanie Flynt McEben:
Yeah. And I want to go back to your point about control, right? Because while I understand that we can’t have control of all the things, there’s of course a lot of attention paid to the roads in order to ensure that they are clear. And the fact that, I’m not saying don’t clear the roads, don’t come at me transportation driver enforcers or whatever they call them. But what I am saying is that it’s important for us to ensure equal access for disabled people who utilize those curb cuts. And I think even looking at different things of what can we do? I mean, of course we work to educate and those types of things, but I think that even hearing you talk about writing to your city, to the city council members and trying to continue to hit those points home, I think that, while different things like that may not seem like they’re working the first time or even the second time, I think that sometimes what it comes down to is trying to figure out where to educate the people that need that education.
Ian Watlington:
Exactly. I couldn’t agree more.
Michelle Bishop:
I got to say advocacy horse, Ian, is my favorite version.
Stephanie Flynt McEben:
I’m here for that term.
Jack Rosen:
We will be generating that in chatGPT and using it as the promotional art for this episode.
Ian Watlington:
The advocacy horse.
Michelle Bishop:
With Ian. I think it needs to be Ian and the advocacy horse in the image.
Stephanie Flynt McEben:
Yes.
Michelle Bishop:
This is what AI was created for, honestly.
Ian Watlington:
Right.
Michelle Bishop:
This is how AI makes our lives better.
Stephanie Flynt McEben:
For this specific moment.
Ian Watlington:
I’m so glad that I’ve provided this additional fodder for you all. I think it’s hilarious. I appreciate you going forward with the advocacy horse.
Stephanie Flynt McEben:
Yes.
Michelle Bishop:
I remember you being on the news back in the day, Ian. I do remember that.
Ian Watlington:
Do you remember that? Yeah.
Michelle Bishop:
I do remember that news story. It was a good story. It was a good story. It takes so much to get people to stop and think about disability when they go about doing the things that they do. I don’t know if you guys feel this way. I often feel like if we’re not at the table reminding people about disability, and sometimes I say 90% of my job is showing up to meetings and saying, “You can’t do that because it’s not accessible.”
Stephanie Flynt McEben:
Retweet.
Michelle Bishop:
Right? Because people, they don’t think about it when we’re out there.
Stephanie Flynt McEben:
No.
Michelle Bishop:
I feel we have to go around behind the people who clear the sidewalks in the streets and be like, “You can’t put it there.”
Stephanie Flynt McEben:
It’s like if you’re not at the table, you’re on the menu at that point, or even off the menu in some of these circumstances.
Michelle Bishop:
The accuracy. And we have to figure something out because we don’t necessarily have the capacity to have… Although it would be fun to stage an action where a disabled person follows every city worker in cities across the country as they clear snow and reminds them not to put it on the curb cut.
Stephanie Flynt McEben:
Oh my gosh. Kind of like Live PD, but let’s make it snow insured, disabled rights edition, and then we’re going back and forth from one city feed. Let’s go to Denver where so-and-so is following this around, and let’s go to Washington DC where so-and-so is following these city workers around. Oh my gosh. I think we just came up with a million dollar show idea. Live Snow.
Michelle Bishop:
Can you imagine [inaudible 00:19:35].
Jack Rosen:
I might have to pitch this as my next video project.
Michelle Bishop:
Yes.
Stephanie Flynt McEben:
Oh, wait. You can call it The More You Snow. Get it? Like know.
Michelle Bishop:
Stephanie, I’m not going to lie, that one was pretty good.
Stephanie Flynt McEben:
Thank you.
Jack Rosen:
Yeah. That one got a chuckle out of me.
Michelle Bishop:
I like it. The more you know, like those things they used to do on TV with the shooting… Yes.
Stephanie Flynt McEben:
Yes, The More You Snow.
Michelle Bishop:
I like it. I dig it. Actually, Ian and I have done something similar before. Ian and I did a great piece with NPR on All Things Considered years ago where we went around with a reporter to polling places and literally showed her how they were inaccessible. And it was fascinating. There was a ramp that Ian went up, and then when he opened the door, it basically closes off the ramp so he can’t get inside.
Ian Watlington:
Yes
Stephanie Flynt McEben:
What?
Michelle Bishop:
Yeah. Some of the biggest design fails you can imagine that people just don’t-
Ian Watlington:
Right. Yeah. You opened up the door and it hit the chair and block the ramp and you really couldn’t get in because it opened outward. That was… Yeah. I work at Amtrak now, and so I work with engineers like crazy and you just… And architects, and you just see some of the failures of engineering. I mean, I love these folks, but it’s just like, “What were you thinking?” And they probably weren’t, but yeah, there’s just, again, it’s that lack of thought that is frustrating.
Michelle Bishop:
I think that’s really true. I have a friend who’s an engineer who makes voting systems, and he told me one time in conversation, he said, “Michelle, a solution that works for 75 to 80% of the population is a huge success as an engineer.” And I was like, “But in civil rights, that’s a failure.”
Ian Watlington:
Right, exactly.
Michelle Bishop:
It’s not everybody. It’s just completely different worlds. So I can imagine an engineering solution to snow removal that works for 80% of the people would seem great to an engineer except to the 25% of the population that have disabilities that can’t use it.
Ian Watlington:
Right.
Stephanie Flynt McEben:
And still growing.
Ian Watlington:
I mean, it’s just like it crosses… People with disabilities aren’t on the train as much as people without disability, duh. That would be the case. So sometimes the answer I get is, “Well, we have low ridership with people with disabilities,” and it’s my job to say, “So that ridership doesn’t count?” And I think that’s what we’re all getting at here, is we want to be counted and among the people that you consider when you make these key decisions. I don’t think that’s too much to ask either.
Michelle Bishop:
Oh, see, now I’m going to get on my advocacy horse. Because what I feel like I hear from that is also that people with disabilities should run for local offices and be the decision makers.
Ian Watlington:
Yes.
Michelle Bishop:
These things are hyper local. You could run for your city council or something like that and have a real impact. And like Stephanie said, be at the table instead of on the menu. So a little food for thought for some of our disabled listeners around the country.
Ian Watlington:
Yeah, I think you’re exactly right. Because what do we need? We need power. I mean, I hate to put it that way, that basically, but it is about who has power to make these decisions. And so we do need to run for office and become journalists and do the things that can really shed light and give people power to make better decisions.
Michelle Bishop:
Y’all, did we talk about all the things?
Stephanie Flynt McEben:
I think so.
Michelle Bishop:
Let’s talk about personal… Before we let go, Ian, let’s talk about personal snow day preparations. I want to hear what y’all bought at the grocery store before the snow came.
Ian Watlington:
Since going sober, I’ve become addicted to soda. It’s got to be addicted to something.
Michelle Bishop:
That’s hilarious. So you just have a fridge full of soda?
Ian Watlington:
So I have a fridge full of soda, and I have microwave dinners and lots of peanut butter and jelly.
Michelle Bishop:
I have so much respect for that. The last time I was in line at the grocery store before a snow storm came, I was like, “Man, I love DC, because everybody in line has nothing but beer and ice cream in their cart.”
Ian Watlington:
Yes.
Michelle Bishop:
No practical items whatsoever. And I’m going to say 20 bucks says Jack has pizza.
Jack Rosen:
Would you like me to Venmo it to you or?
Stephanie Flynt McEben:
Wow. Yo, pizza is essential, okay? The way that I prepped, so I got some sparkling water, because we ended up going to Wegmans, and Wegmans has the best sparkling water, so I got sparkling water-
Michelle Bishop:
You know I’m from upstate New York, right? I already told you I’m from upstate New York. So yes, shout out to Wegmans.
Stephanie Flynt McEben:
Yes. Their sparkling water is like the bomb.com double click.
Michelle Bishop:
Wegmans is amazing.
Stephanie Flynt McEben:
And so I got a lot of sparkling water. I got some Ben and Jerry’s Boston Cream ice cream topped, so there’s a huge top of chocolate coating on the top. I got some frozen pizzas, and then I got a veggie tray as well as some vegan mayonnaise. Follow Your Heart vegan mayonnaise is my favorite, so that I could make carrot tuna. And let me tell y’all, after this, I’m probably going to get some carrot tuna because that sounds so good right now.
Michelle Bishop:
The way y’all have, just Stephanie and Jack alone, have such different shopping priorities.
Ian Watlington:
Really.
Michelle Bishop:
I got mint chocolate chip ice cream sandwiches.
Stephanie Flynt McEben:
Ooh.
Ian Watlington:
Oh.
Michelle Bishop:
Cold weather makes me crave ice cream, which I realize is weird.
Stephanie Flynt McEben:
No, it’s not weird. I have to have something. Oh, and we got a fruit tray because I was trying to be healthy. Well, I also got the veggie tray, so I don’t know why I’m defending myself over here.
Michelle Bishop:
And vegan mayo. I don’t think you actually need to defend your healthy choices at all, Stephanie.
Stephanie Flynt McEben:
Oh my god. Vegan mayo is so good. You can make a quick garlic aioli or you can put some… Here’s my Maryland coming out. I like to put some Old Bay in my vegan mayo, and I will dip carrots in that all day long.
Michelle Bishop:
Not Old Bay vegan mayo. Okay, well, now we’re going to have to do some sort of weird Stephanie vegan cooking show.
Stephanie Flynt McEben:
Okay. I’m here for it. I’ve been trying to master a vegan mac and cheese recipe for like ever, and I cannot get it perfect, and it’s driving me bananas. I mean, I make pretty decent vegan mac and cheese, but I want to make perfect vegan mac and cheese.
Michelle Bishop:
I suspect it’s probably the lack of cheese.
Stephanie Flynt McEben:
Well, no. There’s like… No.
Ian Watlington:
Sorry that was funny.
Stephanie Flynt McEben:
That is pretty funny. I will give Michelle that.
Michelle Bishop:
I used to be vegan so I can pick on it.
Stephanie Flynt McEben:
I mean, look, vegan mac and cheese if done right is really good. It’s obviously different from actual regular macaroni cheese, but it’s pretty good. I’ve figured out a college kid type of vegan mac and cheese that I like, which is garlic powder with, you get some ramen noodles, right? And then you make the ramen noodles in the microwave or whatever, whatever. Don’t pour the sodium seasoning on there, but go ahead and stir in some vegan butter, some salt, some garlic powder, and some nutritional yeast. The nutritional yeast will thicken it up and it tastes like cheap college kid vegan mac and cheese.
Michelle Bishop:
I just didn’t wake up this morning thinking I’d hear someone say nutritional yeast in a sentence.
Stephanie Flynt McEben:
I love Noocho. It’s so good.
Jack Rosen:
I did not know that was a thing.
Stephanie Flynt McEben:
What?
Michelle Bishop:
How does that shock you?
Ian Watlington:
I didn’t really know that either.
Michelle Bishop:
You’ve met Jack. That should not be shocking.
Stephanie Flynt McEben:
Noocho is so good. Okay? I will have to make some Noocho stuff and bring it up. Like Noocho on kale chips is chef’s kiss.
Michelle Bishop:
I feel like it’s settled the next time it snows, we’re all camping out at Stephanie and Quinn’s, and they’re just going to make us some weird vegan recipes.
Stephanie Flynt McEben:
Quinn will be out because Quinn is like, “Nope, don’t want to eat the vegan stuff.” But Quinn will eat the vegetarian stuff.
Michelle Bishop:
I will bring the nutritional yeast.
Stephanie Flynt McEben:
Yes.
Ian Watlington:
Wow.
Michelle Bishop:
Oh my gosh. Look, this conversation has gone away off the rails. Okay, but-
Stephanie Flynt McEben:
The rails, and Ian works for Amtrak. It’s gone off the rails.
Michelle Bishop:
Oh, no did I do a Stephanie Pun by accident? Oh, no,
Stephanie Flynt McEben:
No. You did one earlier. You said weather, like weathering the storm.
Michelle Bishop:
I heard that one when it came out of my mouth. I was so proud of you for not pointing it out.
Stephanie Flynt McEben:
I had to laugh though. I was like, “Oh my gosh. I hope nobody thinks that I’m laughing at Ian.”
Michelle Bishop:
Ian, lots of bad railway puns in your business?
Ian Watlington:
Oh my God, there’s so many. Of course, I’m not going to be able to think of…
Stephanie Flynt McEben:
You also have lots of training.
Ian Watlington:
Oh God, training, off track, off the rails. Those are the big ones.
Michelle Bishop:
Speaking of bad jokes… Well, first I’ll say, Ian, thank you so much for joining us. This was amazing.
Ian Watlington:
Thank you.
Stephanie Flynt McEben:
It was, thank you.
Ian Watlington:
I so enjoy working with you guys. I really do. So keep up the good work and I’ll let you know about if I get up on my advocacy horse.
Stephanie Flynt McEben:
Yes, please.
Michelle Bishop:
So Stephanie usually ends the episodes with, I almost said a bad joke. I’ll just say a joke. If you want to hang out and hear Stephanie’s joke of the month.
Stephanie Flynt McEben:
Okay. I don’t know what my joke is yet because I didn’t know we were doing intros and outros today.
Michelle Bishop:
We’re not really, I just was-
Stephanie Flynt McEben:
I didn’t come prepared. I mean I they could do an encore joke.
Michelle Bishop:
[inaudible 00:29:10] you’ve been very punny today. You what?
Stephanie Flynt McEben:
I can do an encore joke from two years ago. What do you call someone who steals a bunch of fruits?
Jack Rosen:
What?
Stephanie Flynt McEben:
A smoothie criminal.
Jack Rosen:
Okay. And Stephanie, who did the song you’re thinking of?
Stephanie Flynt McEben:
Michael Jackson.
Jack Rosen:
There we go, okay.
Michelle Bishop:
Oh, no. I blocked that out.
Jack Rosen:
I’ll never forget. Ian, two years ago, Stephanie told this joke and then said, “You know, Smoothie Criminal, like the song by Santana.”
Ian Watlington:
Right. Oh, wow.
Jack Rosen:
Yeah.
Michelle Bishop:
Yeah. It was a whole thing. I clearly blocked it out.
Ian Watlington:
That happened.
Michelle Bishop:
It did.
Stephanie Flynt McEben:
What can I say? It was a thriller.
Ian Watlington:
Oh man, I got to go.
*Outro Music Plays*
