Cadre Community Live

Hello, Cadresphere. Hi. Hi. Welcome. Just backwards or forwards? See? So confusing. That looks forward to me. See with the little play arrow for Cadre's logo, this is actually a candle. Come on in to tonight's nightly Community Lives. I'm gonna be lighting a candle. That's why it's so dark. Oh, isn't that sweet? Isn't that sweet? I love it. Should do this more often. Hi, Anna. Hi, Davis. Speak wonder. And I'm always going to have this reflection from my glasses. There's not much I can do about it.

Otherwise I can't see you. Welcome in. Welcome in. Thank you for being here. Thank you. Jen Varale, one of the Cadre contributors who is going to hold space for Community for a half an hour or so this evening. I'm usually on earlier in the day. I do a sober, not Somber hour at 4 o' clock on Tuesdays. Actually had an event today. So this is a unique time to be coming at you and logging into the app. Got my candle. Do you guys have your candles? Please light them. My apartment. I'm in my apartment.

It's a little dark in here, but I like the idea of just holding space for everyone and it feels like a very dark time. I'm in Minneapolis. I know people chiming in are from all over. It's very dark. It's winter. And this is just to remind us that we all have a source of light within us and we need to bring light into the darkest corners of what we're experiencing and in our communities right now. Yeah. Welcome in. Welcome in. Take a few deep breaths here as we kind of come together for a little support and conversation tonight.

How's everyone feeling? Drop it in in the chat as you enter. Thanks, everyone for chiming in. Shannon's here, has her candle. Ah. Anna's got her candle lit. That's awesome. Yeah. I have a. A couple things I want to share with you guys tonight. And also just in the spirit of holding space, to first ask, you know, where everyone's at. What's your dark to lightness mode? Are you. Where are you at on that spectrum are things feeling. Like last night when I chimed in, I was feeling a little hopeless, a sense of hopelessness after talking with my daughter.

And we've just been doing a lot protesting, staying engaged, taking in all kinds of media and just trying to take the night off from that. We were talking about it and it. It actually felt kind of hard, like, oh, we're not being productive. We're not doing enough. How do we Rest, like a reminder to rest. But then when you're told to, your body is just like overly anxious about even resting right now. It's like a hyper. Vigilance was a word that was used to sort of describe how we're feeling right now in Minneapolis with all that's happening in our community.

I'm watching vehicles, I'm in my apartment looking out on our neighborhood, feeling like just a hyper, like, watch. Is everyone safe? Does anyone, you know, need help? Hi, Luke. Welcome in. Yeah, so just the idea that we're all here together and last night we talked about this as well. The idea of just the heavy suffering and things that were experienced daily, like, we need to be in community. We just. We just do. So. Yeah. How's everyone feeling? One topic that I wanted to sort of start our conversation with was, you know, this idea of what I'll call an adaptive normalcy.

The idea of, you know, having to still do some things in life while all of the heaviness is going on. And it's a term I'd not heard before, but when you take in a lot of media and you're reading things, some terms just resonate. So my question to you all, in addition to how are you feeling? Check in with us, is how are you sort of adapting and doing the things that you need to do and then also making some choices that you're kind of stepping out of your normal daily habits to just take a break as needed?

Oh, my gosh. Shannon. Yeah. Met a friend today who told me that he's been in hiding and it made my heart hurt. Yeah, I had someone. So I hosted an event today. Luke, Shannon, were both there and people showed up and, you know, as I sent out the email communications that the event was going forward and we would fully understand, you know, if people just needed to not be there for whatever reason. And I had one person share that she's just doing the bare minimum right now. Staying home, only maybe going out to get groceries.

Otherwise just working from home because she feels she's in fear, experiencing fear of being out. So this is all real and it's all very close and, you know, being mindful that people in our community are experiencing this and needing to make decisions on a day by day, hourly basis about what you feel like or don't feel like doing. It's heavy. How are your days feeling lately? What's your. What's your normal and what, what. What calls are you making about just opting out of things? It's another term we've used a Lot too.

Just opt out if you need to. You can probably hear me just deep breathing. I felt like today going into this event so having to sort of be on and hold space for others. I was feeling just, just some anxiety around that I just wasn't. No matter how many self care things that I did today to sort of make sure I was ready to be in community, it still didn't quite feel like enough. But I will say that when I arrived in that space, I felt supported and I felt like I didn't have to be perfect and I could show up authentically.

So I feel like that's a huge part of again, you know, when, you know, thinking back to early covet. It's like we've had some training and learning to ask each other are you okay? And not just, you know, bypassing by answering I'm fine, but giving an honest answer and having that be okay right now. Yeah, yeah. And there's certain people I trust that I can answer that sort of small talk question too. If it comes up in, in business or just out and about being able to just be like re read the room a little bit and sometimes they'll say, you know, I'm okay and other, other folks or people I know that trust to kind of hold a deeper conversation.

I might say, yeah, I'm struggling a little bit. And then it evolves into something beautiful and supported. Then I get a couple. I mean this can happen in the elevator in my apartment building, just in a short conversation. It's amazing what little amount it really takes to be seen and heard. Oh yeah. Shannon says my life is adjusted in knowing big emotions might come at any time. Right. And then the, the space to like let them come through. We were talking with a friend tonight who was saying, well, I might need to like pull over and just cry in the car and let those emotions come up and then move through them.

If you feel like you're in a safe space to do that or creating time away, stepping away from, you know, your, your office, your desk, whatever you're obligated to do in your normal day. If those emotions come up, can you, you know, have them and let them move through you? It's sort of like armoring up. It's another term. I have a whole new vocabulary of over, you know, just recent years, right. Of managing our mental health and well being. And second, Shannon adds to her comment, yeah, being ready to accept it and slow down.

So yeah, you might have to process those big emotions. And I like to hear from everyone, what are the Big emotions. What are the big emotions for you right now? Today. It's again, day by day, hour to hour. For me, last night, it was hopelessness and despair. I sort of, you know, with my daughter, we were like, nothing feels exciting or meaningful to do right now. We literally went through a list. I'm like, you could journal. You could use your, you know, journalistic student skills that you're learning in college and write about what you're experiencing because you live, you know, just blocks from both Renee and Alex's murders.

Like, what. What can you express through writing? I also was like, take a break and do something mindless. Do laundry. Nothing seemed. She's like, no, nothing seemed like meaningful or worthwhile to do. And I haven't checked in with her yet today one on one, but we do check in daily. And today could be a totally different story. But in talking with her, I also could feel that sort of sense of hopelessness. So that was a big emotion. And she just said to me, you know what I think when I get off the phone with you, mom?

I'm just gonna, like, stare at the wall until 8 o'. Clock. And that was like 12 minutes away, because then she felt like that was an acceptable time to go to sleep. Yeah. So that. I don't know, that was a feat. That was a big, huge emotion last night. Which, you know, I think if you feel anger or you need to cry, like, those feel like you could physically shout or you could cry to, like, have that move through you. But how do you let hopelessness move through you? I don't know. I don't know. Speak Wonder says, I'm not a foodie, but I've been trying new recipes.

This feels therapeutic. God bless. God bless. I love that. Food is so nourishing. In fact, she, Shannon and I got off just texting last night after that, and I said, you know what? I think I'm gonna go not make, but buy myself a nourishing meal. It was probably, you know, 8:45 last night. I realized I really hadn't eaten dinner. And I live right above a grocery store that has, you know, a lovely selection of, like, easy food for singles. So I did, I did. I went and I bought something, prepared it, put it on a fancy plate, and just made some time to slow down and, like, nourish and eat something that I would not prepare for myself.

And it feels therapeutic. I love that. I love that. You don't have to be a foodie to try new recipes, right? Speak Wonder. Let us know what you made. Yeah, Sometimes like comfort food I buy, I've been buying a lot of soup and I just heat it up. And you know, like, sometimes that can feel supportive. Yeah. Anna says, I think it's helpful to hear that other people are experiencing similar feelings. Last night in our community live, I had mentioned just about not feeling seen or heard or family from family.

Family just hadn't reached out to me, didn't know what to say. And a few chimed in to say, yeah, there's a certain family member or some dynamics there that make it hard for me to either have a conversation with them or engage with them. And oftentimes this for me at least has been from not even what's happening right now in Minneapolis with like, yeah, I wish my family would check on me because they know where I live and how close. But more so going back to experiences through Covid and just other issues that have come up in general.

And you just kind of have a sense of who's in your community and your, in your world, friends and family that you can trust to hold space. And I know like, I do not, I, I don't need answers a lot from the people in, you know, my close network that I look to. It's really just more about holding space and saying, yeah, I hear you. It just seems so easy, but it's so true. And also, like I was saying earlier, just sort of having a gauge for and knowing, you know, who those people are and where, where they're at in their capacity.

Oh, Speak Wonder. Thank you so much for bringing some light to this conversation. I hope you've all eaten dinner. Because she says her favorite is no fail pesto chicken. Easy recipe paired with yellow rice. My favorite. I love yellow rice. Last night I had like brown red rice, red rice and beans with a chicken enchilada. And I was like, huh, rice. I don't know comfort food well. And no fail pesto chicken. I'm also a huge fan of pesto and that sounds amazing. Good for you. How else are we adapting right now?

I heard someone say, or I saw a post and I reposted it today on Instagram that sometimes, like no amount of self care can really regulate our nervous systems right now, depending on what we're experiencing in a given day. I felt that to be true. Like I do, I do the yoga. I get on my mat. I've been doing yoga for 22 years. I was just thinking about that the other day. And those practices, while they are coming in huge right now, because my body just knows from being on the Mat being in uncomfortable spaces, staying in a pose like knowing that it will end and staying resilient.

Yoga has taught me that and I apply it just naturally in daily life. So yeah, self care tools. I have the sauna. That's also another place that I just find the ability to recharge and I have not had a chance to go. Oh gosh. When was the last time I was at sauna? Friday maybe four days ago. So I can tell I'm going tomorrow, going with a friend and that I'm so looking forward to it because I know that's another practice I can rely on to at least try to get some sort of reset. Yeah, I just love this candle.

This is the Cadre candle. You guys all need to get them. I don't know. I can find out how much. How much? Our merch store. We need a Cadre merch store store. I see Luke always wearing all the gear. He has an awesome hat and he. Oh and he has a like a. A hoodie and shoes. We all need it. We all need all the gear. Look at how fun that is. Speak Wonder says music. Oh shoot. What we were talking about. Oh you mean music as your self care. Absolutely. Oh my gosh. You guys. I should share in the the feed after you know.

Anyone know Nurd N u R D? He's a local artist, black man, soulful voice and has amazing hope and joy and Minneapolis references all in his lyrics and he sings a song called Glorious I'm gonna share it with you and if I was JC Lel I would just pull up my stuff speaker device and have it start playing. But I've been listening to that over and over because he was arrested and detained recently and is fine. Him and his family are fine. I don't know how long he was detained but recently over the last week and he's been posting about it.

I think they took his phone. He doesn't have his phone back but he's. He's safe and he's okay. But I just, I look to him and his lyrics and yeah and the hope that he is inspired even even just over years of like listening to different music. Coming from Minneapolis artists sense of place. Right. Speak Wonder, what's your music of choice? Oh I see you're commenting this morning he went to Cadre and he was talking about his feel good playlist. Ah Ro did okay. Feel good playlist on Spotify. We need to have that all shared.

Yeah, playlists are huge. I love that. That's a great idea. I feel like there's a couple. Chastity Brown is another local Minneapolis artist who. Who is again, just like woke lyrics. Words like things about places in Minneapolis that just feel comforting right now. Of course, there's always Prince, who everyone is currently saying, you know, princes said the revolution would start here. So certainly his music and his presence, even during the protest downtown on the 23rd, like the mural, you know, walking on the streets of downtown and just feeling the presence of community leaders, artists, and what it.

What do I want to say? A Minneapolis culture, like, the richness of the culture here. I also posted a video because my friends that I was marketing with, we got toward the front where, you know, it's a massive protest of 50,000, and somehow we got toward the front by walking a little bit on the side sidewalk. And the large truck pulling like that held speakers and loudspeaker equipment and had all the speakers for the day on the truck. And they were all taking turns. They had one of the leaders of the Latin community get up and speak.

And it was so incredible to hear just like that language, a foreign language spoken here in the streets of Minneapolis, just the message about, you know, immigration and hitting home in terms of, like, this is actually, you know, this is what our community is made up of. Immigrants are the fabric and what we celebrate here in Minneapolis. And just to hear all the voices feel totally comfortable hearing that language and feeling connected in a bigger and broader way was so inspiring. There's another march coming up Friday, January 30th, here in Minneapolis.

So lots of ways to get engaged. Speak Wonder. Thank you so much for sharing. She said. So that inspired me to ask my device to play Feel Good playlist and suddenly my living room is filled with country music. Oh, I laughed and laughed because that's not usually my go to genre. But the lyrics, the stories, and the songs are real blessing. Look at it. See how that just opens you up to a new completely musical experience. That's really sweet. Music has a way of doing that. So, yeah. So music. I mentioned yoga.

What are some other practices? And that's sauna that you all are leaning into right now to kind of get your needs met, get your cup filled. Maybe it's something in community. I literally feel like I can breathe better tonight. As I mentioned this event today, just trying to hold space for others and be present can be a lot right now. I, along with the organizers, decided to move forward with it. This was Friday before we learned of Alex Preddy's shooting murder here in Minneapolis. And we decided we are still going to go forward with the event but also make space to address what's happening.

We did some break breath work at the end of the event. Some people needed to leave which was fine. And then really we just ended up sharing about Cadre and is one example in one, you know, light of how we're adapting and you know, we don't have the answer. So many people said, you know, there's no prior script for individuals show up in this. Um, and also how corporate, how should corporations show up? And the biggest, you know, seen so much on LinkedIn whereas people maybe in the past would have never posted anything with such conviction and really taking a stance on, on humanity and their views and posting about what they believe in, knowing that there may be backlash, there may be others that don't agree and they may be professional connections that they lose.

So I've seen that on LinkedIn, people acknowledging that, saying they're, they're fearless about it. If they lose business because they are taking a stand for what they believe in, they're okay with that. I've seen that heavily on Instagram and influencers who have thousands of followers saying I just, you know, I posted this content that I believe in and I lost 500 followers instantly. And also just being okay with that, they're like, that's fine. So it's just such an interesting, it's a really interesting space to be in and maybe some of you are navigating that too.

What do I say? What do I say? Say, do I need to say something? Most would agree that being silent on, you know, human rights issues feels like being complicit. So it can be tough, it can be really hard. I just want to acknowledge that. Speak wonder. I recommend spending some time with a child if you can. I had a conversation with my four year old granddaughter. That's a refreshing simplicity from the kids point of view. They are curious and filled with wonder. And we all need this as grown ups. Our sense of wonder conveyed, especially now.

Yes. How, how special is that? I love, love, love that curiosity that 4 year old your granddaughter. Absolutely just unapologetically curious and asking why. And not enough people maybe do that today. There's a lot of, you know, either jumping on different sides or making some assumptions. We're all assuming it. We look at something about it, we look at someone's content and maybe we're making some assumptions of where they stand politically, making some assumptions about a lot of things. So I think that is a wonderful note to end on.

Speak wonder. The note of curiosity staying in that because that's how real conversations that can impact change and understanding can happen. I know that's a lot to ask right now for many. I'm going to take that lesson away, though, in terms of, you know, connecting with some of those friends and family members that maybe have been a little challenging. Just remain open and curious about where they're at, what's happening in their life. Oh, you may be surprised. You may be surprised. Okay. And then the last revelation of the evening comes from Speak Wonder's granddaughter.

Guess what? French fries come from. Potatoes. She's brilliant. She's brilliant. Brilliant. I love that. All right, signing off. Thank you all for tuning in. These will be nightly at 8pm Central Time for at least the next couple weeks or as long as we need to hold space for community. Be well friends and know that the Cadre hotline and we are all available to help get immediate resources for people in need. And my dog says hi. This is my dog. Good night.