Maggie Asfahani (Salt + Honey) + Special Guest Appearance by Cynthia Cano

Hey everybody, just got back home from volunteering at the El Paso Food Bank. El Pasoans fighting hunger and so haven't had a chance to read the news or see what's happening. You'll have to fill me in but I will give you a quick update on some things that I've been thinking about and some things that we're working on and would love to answer your questions and would also love for you to meet a really good friend of mine, Maggie Asfahani, who is a local restaurant owner and like restaurant owners all over this country has had to shut her restaurant down. They're not even doing deliveries or pickup orders right now. So want to hear what that means for her and her family, what that means for her former employees and maybe some of her current employees that she's able to keep on the payroll, what she thinks about the stimulus bill that is coming out of our federal government and I think she would probably want to answer your questions as well. Somebody gave me some good feedback. They said there's no music when you do Instagram live so I'd like to hear some music. So this this is the new single from Sparta fronted by Jim Ward of El Paso, Texas, formerly of At the Drive-In, Sleeper Car and the Jim Ward solo experience. Also with his wife Christine, a restaurant owner who's had to shut his restaurant down for in-house service but they're still providing pickup service. So if you're in El Paso and you want to find a great restaurant to pick up some food from on the west side, you can go to Eloisen. Their new single Miracle by Sparta, that's what's playing right now. I'd love to have Jim Ward on to answer your questions and tell us what it's like to be a small business owner, to be quarantined at home or to be keeping social distance at home and then what it's like to release an album and not be able to tour behind that album. So we'll have Jim Ward on before too long but if you have a band whose music has just come out but they're unable to tour and you want hear it on here, let me know. Share it with me or Cynthia and we'll get it out for others. In terms of the little bit of news that I have heard so far, the United States of America now has more COVID-19 cases than does any other country and we probably have many more cases than are being reported right now because we don't have enough testing to know who has COVID-19, who's been exposed to coronavirus and therefore who should remain isolated, whose contacts should be traced and how we track this down and keep it from spreading. In the list of unforgivable actions or lack of action, not having testing, not having personal protective equipment for healthcare workers, not having the other medical equipment and medical beds necessary for what was clearly going to hit the United States. From everything that we've learned that the president was briefed about going all the way back to January through February, certainly by the beginning of March. Be that as it may, it's up to all of us right now to do what we can. First and most important thing that we can do, keep your distance from your fellow human beings. Accepting those with whom you live and in our house it's Amy and me and our three kids. Stay the heck away from everybody else. Don't go out unless you absolutely have to go out. Don't go out unless you're providing some kind of essential service, you're stocking the shelves at the grocery store, you're working the cash register, you're working at one of these restaurants. I mentioned Eloise which is open right now. You're preparing food for takeout so that people can feed themselves. You're a nurse, you're a doctor, you're a janitor at a hospital, you're on the front line of the medical care for those who need it in this country. Certainly you need to be out there and doing your job. If we really care about all those on the front line, the rest of us will stay at home so that we don't otherwise endanger those people who need to be out doing their jobs right now and we control the spread of coronavirus. So want you to do your part as well and also we want to extend our thanks to everyone who's literally putting their lives on the line right now to make sure that the rest of us are okay. We felt in El Paso today, I didn't feel it, but some family members did, some neighbors did, an earthquake that took place 200 miles to the east of us in Loving County. Loving County is one of the 254 counties of Texas. It is the smallest county by population in the state and I believe the second smallest county by population in the United States, but was the epicenter of this 5.0 magnitude earthquake that took place today. So if you're tuning in from Loving, if you're one of the 154 people who live in Loving County, our thoughts are with you. If you know someone who's there, check in on them, make sure that they're okay. We had a chance to visit Loving in the Senate race, got to know some really good people there and just want you to know that you are in our thoughts right now. We hope everyone is okay. Last couple of things before I ask Maggie to join us. This was day four of the O'Rourke Home School for the Gifted. It was kind of an abbreviated school day. We had P.E., reading in Spanish and then we spent the rest of the day volunteering as a family at the El Paso Food Bank, which is called El Pasoans Fighting Hunger. But a really good day. Amy did an amazing job leading the P.E. class. We played some melon ball after we did our calisthenics and our exercises and you are not surprised to learn that Amy and I lost the melon ball match to Molly, Ulysses and Henry. But so far, homeschooling is going well and if you are like us and you're homeschooling your kids right now and you're looking for additional material or instruction, I have a deal for you. Tomorrow on this same channel, we will have Dr. Robert Gunn at 2 p.m. Mountain Standard Time, which is 3 p.m. Central Time, 4 p.m. East Coast Time and 1 p.m. West Coast Time. He's going to be giving us a history lesson in our overall subject that we're covering of Native American history and it will be on the Pueblo Revolt. He's one of the very best. You'll enjoy his presentation. I'll ask him some questions. He'll present some material and then he's going to open the floor to your kids, whatever grades and ages they might happen to be. Ours are in 7th, 6th and 3rd grade to give you an idea of some of the questions or the range of questions that my kids will be asking. But you're welcome to join us. That's 2 p.m. Mountain Standard Time tomorrow. Dr. Robert Gunn talking about the Pueblo Revolt right here on this channel, so please tune in. And then at 4.30 Mountain Standard Time, we're going to have Andy Slavitt, who is one of the best minds when it comes to health care and public health in the country. He'll be joining us and you're going to want to be able to listen to him and ask him questions when he joins us. The very last thing that I want to tell you is the best thing that I've done all week long was volunteering at the local food bank here in El Paso. It's called El Pasoans Fighting Hunger. If you live anywhere near El Paso and you want to volunteer or you want to donate money, you can go to ElPasoansFightingHunger.org and Ulysses made a nice little graphic. I don't know if you can read this. It's at the top of your screen. ElPasoansFightingHunger.org. Give money if you can. If you think about it, El Paso, one of the poorest urban metro counties in the country, our food bank is competing with food banks in Houston and New York and Chicago and in LA for food that's out there on the market that we need here in El Paso to distribute to people who are out of work, who are unable to go to senior centers, who are unable to go to school to get free and reduced breakfast and lunch. We need that food right now. ElPasoansFightingHunger.org needs the dollars to buy that food. They also need volunteers to help distribute that food. So if you're in El Paso, please give and then sign up at ElPasoansFightingHunger.org. If you're not in El Paso, find your local food bank and if you're in Texas, go to Feeding Texas and you'll find the 21 food banks that cover the 254 counties in our state. Please do what you can. We're seeing an unprecedented demand for food right now and whatever federal aid is in the pipeline has yet to reach these individual communities. Cynthia is sending me a message. Yeah, we just realized, thank you Cynthia, that we've got to write the message backwards. Let me see if through the light you see this. No, we've got to write the message backwards so it shows up forwards on yours, but you can spell this out. It's ElPasoansFightingHunger.org. Sign up to volunteer in a shift as we did today, as we will do next week a couple of times as well, and then also sign up to donate money. They really need the help right now. Let me just look at one more thing. I just want to look at my notes from the food bank that I took. Here's something that I learned at the food bank. Grocery stores typically give excess food to their local food bank, right? This bread has got a couple of days shelf life. These canned goods have a couple of months shelf life. We want to make space for new bread, new canned goods, so we're going to donate all this stuff to the local food bank, which then gets distributed through the food pantries to those who are in need, who need the calories and the nutrition. Well, when any of us go to a grocery store and buy more than we need, instead of buying one loaf of bread, we buy five loaves of bread. Instead of buying one can of beans, we buy 10 cans of beans. Instead of buying one pound of rice, we buy 15 pounds of rice. Now that food is no longer able to be distributed to the food bank. If you needed another reason not to hoard right now, not to take more than you need or your family needs to get by, then let me give you this reason. When we don't have that excess capacity in our supermarkets, it doesn't make it to the food banks, which doesn't make it to those vulnerable populations in our communities. If this current trend continues, we're going to run out of food. Please be smart. Please be kind. Please be thoughtful about your fellow human beings who need that food just as much as you do. You don't need 10 times more than you can consume in your house. We're not under nuclear attack. We're not in bomb shelters. We're in a real struggle right now in confronting and stopping coronavirus and taking care of those who have been infected. But at some point, this will pass. You do not need to hoard food and supplies. I think that is the update that I've got. I think our friend Maggie Asfahani is... Maggie. Hey, how's it going? It's good. I haven't seen you in a long time. How are you? I'm pretty good. Pretty good. Sorry for the hat. It's quarantine hair right now, so we've got to do what we can. That's right. What does it say on your T-shirt? On my T-shirt? Can I stand up a little? I love you, El Paso. Yeah. I love you, El Paso. So you get to either see the T-shirt or my face, so I'll keep it on my face for right now. Yeah. Good to see you. It's good to see you too. So Maggie and I have been friends since high school when she was at Coronado High School, and I was at a boarding school in Virginia after having attended El Paso High for a couple of years. We became pen pals back in the day when people still wrote letters prior to email and access to cell phones, and have just stayed friends over the years. My family are big fans of the Asfahani family, but also of the restaurant that you started called Salt and Honey in the Five Points part of El Paso, kind of a historic neighborhood. You and your brother Rita took this kind of old classical El Paso building and rehabilitated it, and made it this thriving, energetic place for people to eat and come together and drink coffee and share meals and maybe have an adult beverage at the end of the day. At the beginning of the day too, right? There's no judgment at Salt and Honey. And it was a place that I would take friends who are visiting from out of town to have a great meal. All restaurants and bars in the state of Texas have been ordered to close their doors to patrons who are eating in the restaurants. Those restaurants are still able, should they choose, to provide food for pickup. So tell us what decision you made at Salt and Honey, and then what that's been like for you. Well, it was a very difficult decision, and so we've just decided to close completely for now. A lot of our items, because we're mostly breakfast and brunch, we do also serve lunch, but it's all day breakfast and brunch, and so a lot of our items just really aren't, I don't think, the best for pickup anyway. And even though we were getting some orders to go, it wasn't enough really to keep it going, and so I just made the decision that it would be better for us to close. And it's just been heartbreaking. It's very hard for me. It's very hard for employees, which are like family, which are family. And we have so many regulars and so many people who are so disappointed by this, but my focus is on staying strong, getting through this, and being in a good position to open once we're able to again. Tell us a little bit about Salt and Honey. What kind of food did you all make? What were you known for? What was different about Salt and Honey from other things that we found in El Paso? So all day breakfast, lunch, and brunch, all day breakfast, brunch, lunch, beer, wine, and coffee. A little bit different in that we serve breakfast all day, which people really, really responded to. I guess some of our most popular items, we do these baklava pancakes, so just a big stack of pancakes with ice cream on them and homemade baklava. We do in-house pastries, all kinds of stuff, scones, brownies, muffins, gluten-free items. We started carrying some vegan options also, salads, whatever you want, and just a place where people can come and hang out and feel like they're at home. Something a little bit different than what you can get other places in town. I'm not an expert on food and probably I'm not going to do a good job of describing this, but there was a kind of English, London, Mediterranean, and Lebanese influence. It was eclectic, and yet it all came together in a really nice way. You're also a baker, so there's amazing baked goods that you could pick up, chocolate chip cookies and scones. Probably not as good as the scones I make, which I've offered to come in to make scones for you. Tell us a little bit about some of the influences. Your mom and dad immigrated here from Lebanon. Was that an influence in the kind of food that you all made? Well, for sure. It's the food that I grew up on. Of course, growing up with that kind of food in the 70s and the 80s, it was just very weird to me. I just wanted to go to school with a peanut butter sandwich on Wonder Bread and some Oreos, but instead I was getting health bread and all these healthy things. I didn't understand it then. I wanted all the processed food that my friends were getting, but as I got older and I appreciated it more than that, obviously I wanted to do something to pay tribute to that. And so living all my life basically in El Paso, because I was not born in El Paso, but we moved to El Paso from California when I was about three or four years old, just kind of paid tribute to my roots, paid tribute to my community that I've lived in my whole life. So yeah, those are the influences, kind of Lebanese, Mexican, American. And then also I've been lucky. I've had the opportunity to travel a lot. And so just take inspiration from places that I've been as well. Okay. So tell us a little bit about those with whom you worked. How many employees did you have? How many employees do you still have, if you can say? And how are they doing right now? I have 21 employees. They're all basically just on standby right now. I don't want to say that they're unemployed, even though they're for all intents and purposes unemployed at the moment. And so it's just, it's been rough for them, but I've been trying to support them as much as I can during this time when I decided to close, anything that was immediately perishable in the walk-in, I gave to my employees, any kind of milk or meats or things that were already in the walk-in that we couldn't hold on to. I was able to pay them myself for a couple of weeks after, you know, just to keep them kind of going at a reduced rate of pay, but still it was something that I was able to do and working with my accountant and working with, just trying to figure out what all these, what the stimulus package is going to be so we can figure out how to support them going forward. That was going to be my next question. So there's a $2.2 trillion stimulus package coming through. Do you know, I guess you mentioned talking to your accountant, what that means to you in terms of forgivable loans, in terms of bridge financing so that you can continue to pay those employees? My understanding is that the assistance is contingent on keeping your employees through at least September. What can you tell us about what the stimulus bill means for your business? I'm still looking through it and seeing what it's going to offer. It's very difficult to sort through, you know, for a person who isn't in politics or doesn't have experience with going through those kinds of things or kind of picking apart that language, kind of seeing what it's going to really mean for us. And I'm hoping that there'll be some guidance on sort of the average lay person or the business person that maybe isn't good at picking apart those things, what it really means and how we can access those things. I applied myself for the SBA disaster loan last week once it opened up. And so that's an avenue that I'm exploring. But my focus is really on opening after this is all over and still being there for the community and for my employees and for everybody else. It's just, it is a very difficult time. I'm sorry you're going through it and I'm sorry your employees have to go through it. And I'm very hopeful. I also don't totally understand the stimulus package that I guess the house is going to vote on tomorrow that the Senate passed last night. And then I assume the president will sign. I don't understand the particulars of how it's going to work for a small business like yours or for the employees who are right now out of work and filing unemployment and really having a hard time making ends meet. I mentioned I was at the food bank earlier today in the lower valley and there was a line literally two miles long of people in their cars waiting to pick up food. And some of the people were in scrubs. So they're frontline healthcare workers who may have someone else in the family who was earning and no longer is earning and they don't have enough to make ends meet. There were others who had previously worked in restaurants. Folks would tell me what they had been doing or what they were up to and just made it very clear to me how hard this is for the people who have borne the brunt of the shutdown that we're seeing. In El Paso we have shelter in place. In Texas we have a statewide ban on restaurants and bars being open. I think those are the right moves to make for public health but they certainly hurt you and others in the short term. There is a little question button at the bottom of our screens. And for those who want to ask Maggie Asfahani, proprietor of Salt and Honey, a question for restaurant about the stimulus bill in so far as we understand it. About anything that you want Maggie to answer. I'm going to click on this and see if I can come up with some questions. So Maggie. I do have one thing. Oh sorry I wanted to talk about the fund as well. I don't remember the link offhand. You about a week ago started the fund for unemployed hospitality, food, beverage, bar restaurant workers. What is the name of that fund? So it's the El Paso Food and Beverage Workers Fund and it was started with the Paso Foundation. And we just had a donation of $10,000 yesterday from LNF which is our local beer and wine distributor here in El Paso. The Lamantia family. Yes. So we're really excited about it and so what the purpose of the fund is is for folks who are in the service industry, you just fill out a very short, there's a very short application but it's to give micro grants of $50 just to help tide people over just a little bit to help them buy groceries or gas or whatever they may need. And so there's just an application. I don't have the, if you go to the Paso del Norte website there should be a link on there but if you, I don't want to navigate away and then ruin our chat. That's okay. So tell us the name of the fund and then just generally tell us what we need to Google in order to get the details. It's, yeah, it's the Paso, it's, you need to Google Paso del Norte and it's the El Paso Food and Beverage Workers Fund. Okay. And so if you're someone who wants to donate to that or if you're someone who needs the help, that's, that's the way that you find it. Exactly. All right. Cool. Let me, okay. Our friend, Tim, who is a healthcare worker, a great volunteer and has become a really good friend asks, Maggie, what made you want to go the restaurant route? I don't know, madness, I guess, now that I think about it. So my, my background is, my degrees are, my undergrad is in political science and, and journalism and then my master's is in communication. But my family in Lebanon has had a restaurant for generations. All of my family loves to cook. They're all very good cooks and it's just something that's been in my heart since I was about 10 or 11 years old. So a few years ago, I got the opportunity to kind of follow my dream and long story short, just decided to do it. So here I am now living the dream. Living the dream. Who knew it would turn out this way? No, no. Okay. Here's, here's a question. So what's your favorite dish from the cafe? And I'll tell you what, what mine is. I think I already know what yours is, but mine is, I go back and forth. I really like the hummus avocado poached egg on it. If I want something for, for breakfast, that's sort of light. Maggie, I think they cut off your internet service. Oh, Maggie. Well, maybe we'll get, um, which, um, which is my favorite when I go there. So hope we get Maggie back on. And we certainly want to see salt and honey and all of these restaurants that have had to close their doors in the short term. And we hope it's not for the longterm. I want to see them back open. We want to see their employees back to work. I want to see them continue to make, um, great food. Um, I'll answer a couple of questions. Uh, and if we get, uh, you know, there, there are some really funny questions that I'm not going to read because they're inappropriate. There's some really obnoxious, um, dickish questions that I'm not going to read because they're obnoxious and dickish. Um, thinking about you, uh, Parham. Um, but you know, God bless you and, and happy that this makes you happy. Um, so here, here's a question that I actually like to ask of you, um, that, um, here we go. Just popped up. Uh, what stuff have you been doing to keep everyone in your house busy in quarantine? You know, I've been giving you updates on the O'Rourke school for the gifted. Um, that's, uh, what is taking most of our time. I've been on the phone with, um, our powered by people team, um, trying to figure out how we can be effective in what we're trying to do, given what's happening right now, where direct voter engagement does not make as much sense. And then really looking to find ways that we can plug volunteers in to opportunities in the different communities across Texas. They're going to help people in the midst of this Corona virus pandemic. And so, um, that's really what I've been focused on. Um, the kids, uh, have been learning and then playing video games and playing basketball. Um, and then we've been volunteering at the food bank. So, um, would love, uh, would love to turn the cap, the, the, the question around to you all and find out what you all are doing right now. Um, tell me what you guys are up to and I'll read some of the comments that come through. Um, someone asks, uh, what can Texas do to help those who have Corona virus? Um, a nice thing would be for the governor to order a statewide shelter in place, uh, which would do a lot to save lives and slow the spread. Um, you can find your local food bank. If you live in Texas at feeding Texas, go to that website, feeding Texas, find your local food bank. There's 21 of them. They cover all 254 counties sign up for a shift to volunteer. They still need volunteers. You will be kept, um, six feet plus apart from other people. And, uh, you'll be required to wash your hands, wear gloves. Um, in other words, you'll be safe and you'll be, uh, keeping those, uh, whom you're helping safe by, um, keeping that social distance. Uh, somebody says they're playing a world of Warcraft, um, nonstop. That's great. Uh, watching Tik TOKs all day, uh, is what M is doing. Um, watching star Trek, the card. Um, uh, someone asked, Hey Beto, how are you staying sane? I'll tell you what makes me, uh, more sane than anything else I've done. Um, since we've been on this kind of lockdown is, is volunteering one, because we know that we're helping people too, because you're physically active. You're, you're packing these boxes or you're placing boxes in the trunks of people's cars as, as they drive up, uh, needing food and calories at a distance, interacting with people. Uh, so the people who are driving up or the people who are helping you to prepare the boxes. And when you've been in isolation with your family, as much as I love my family, it is so nice to see other human beings and interact with them. So the guy who was working at my same station, six feet away from me, uh, his name's Carlos. He's got a new 10 month old son named Dominic. Um, and I kind of kidded him. I said, I know why you're volunteering right now. You want to get out of the house. I know what that's like to have a 10 month old in the house. Um, but he works for Sprint. The store that he works at is of course closed down, um, because it's a non-essential service. And we're in a city that has a shelter in place order. And we want to thank the mayor of El Paso DeMarco for, for implementing that. Um, and, um, and he just wants to help out. I said, how did you find out about this? And he said, well, I Googled it and, um, and found out that there was a need for volunteers. And I came down. So that's how I stayed sane. That's how Carlos, uh, stayed sane. Um, and then every morning I go for a run and I try to run in the mountains and I take my dog Artemis. And that way I can let her off the leash. And both of us are just out there and free. And this morning in El Paso, it was 64 degrees. Um, the sun was just coming up at about 6 30 AM. Uh, birds are, are chirping, chirping. Uh, the Spanish daggers are in bloom. Uh, and it's just ******* beautiful. Um, so that, that keeps me sane. Um, and then we're making meals every night. And so Amy takes a turn cooking. I take a turn cooking. Um, we're going to start picking up from some of these restaurants, local businesses that have stayed open. Uh, we picked up a pizza from Artavino's, um, the other night we'll continue to do that, but, um, that all keeps us sane. And then we're, we're watching Arrow together as a family, um, that keeps us sane as well. Uh, Diego says, saw you on my run today, Diego. I'm glad that you're getting out there. Um, let me see if I can pull Maggie back in. Um, Maggie, where are you? Um, shoot, I can't see Maggie, Maggie, or your connection must've dropped. Um, but, uh, as an added bonus, we're going to bring Cynthia in for five minutes. Um, and then we'll all get back to the, to the rest of our day. Um, but thank you all. Everyone is doing the right thing. Who's keeping social distance. Uh, everyone is on the front lines, the medical professionals out there, and those who work in hospitals, whether you're cleaning the floors, um, or, um, taking direct care of those who have COVID-19. Very grateful to you. I saw a picture, uh, yesterday of a doctor, ER doctor in New York, who is, um, wearing a patient's hospital gown. So not the protective scrubs that he should be wearing that would protect him and his patients, but wearing a gown intended for, um, you know, a patient. Um, and then we saw the picture of two, I don't know if they were doctors, uh, but two healthcare professionals in New York who were wearing garbage bags, um, yesterday, which is an insult to them, uh, and to the courage they show by showing up to work. Um, but we're grateful that nonetheless, um, they stuck with it and they may do with a very terrible situation. So, um, you know, president Trump used the defense protection production act to ensure that manufacturers are producing the personal protective equipment that we need, uh, producing the ventilators that we need, make sure that we have surge capacity in our hospitals and take care of those healthcare workers. Cynthia Kano. What's the word? Hey, how is everybody? It is so good to see you. So good to see you Beto and all of the great people on the live stream. So the question is how are you staying sane right now? And I just gave my answer about volunteering at the food bank, uh, running in the mountains, working with Amy on the homeschool, making meals and watching arrow, which is our new favorite family show. Um, what, what are you doing? So, um, a lot of work and, and so that has kept me really busy, but I think what we've also tried to do is make sure we're outside very lucky to have the beautiful mountains right behind where I live. And so I've been spending time walking my dogs out there as well. We turned our garage into a home gym. And so my kids and everybody, we've been working out there, uh, trying to do that once a day and cooking. I've been doing more cooking than I normally do. And so, yeah, it's been great. It's been great to be home, to be home and spend time with them. I've not done that in a while. Okay. Um, Cynthia, are you ready to, um, take some questions? Totally. Can I tell you something really quick that we did today? Yeah. You, you do that while I'm reading. So we did some live stream with Robert gun getting ready for tomorrow. And so he is ready. Good to go. He picked up, he got the Instagram and a lot of folks that are going to be doing Instagram with us, they are asking their kids to help them. I needed to do that too, because I wasn't as familiar with how to go live, but I know how to do that now. Cynthia, do you want to take a political question? I'll try. Um, and this, this is, um, this is from Billy. What do you like about Bernie? And, and I, I put this one up because there are a lot of Bernie supporters, uh, on here, um, sometimes referred to as Bernie bros, which if I were a Bernie support, I probably would not want to be called that. Um, but I think, and I can see some examples of why some Bernie supporters are called Bernie bros because there are some super obnoxious, um, dickish comments, but I want to, um, try to provide some positive reinforcement for those Bernie supporters who have some tack and want to ask, uh, a nice thoughtful question. What do you like about Bernie? And so I'll, I'll let you start Cynthia and I'm happy to follow up. Yeah. And first I just want to say thank you to everybody that's keeping it positive. We're all on the same team. We're all in this together. And, you know, I think, um, it just need to be, you know, respectful of one of one another. So those of you that are on here that are not doing that, you know, please, you know, be respectful of each other. I think just the way that, you know, I have things about, uh, vice president Biden that I like, I feel the same way about Bernie. I think, um, you know, Senator Sanders has done a lot for the community. Clearly there are people that really respect him. And, um, I know myself, for example, I really appreciate his focus on climate, on healthcare, on people that that's what it's all about. We're all in this together. And I think that the only way we're going to accomplish anything and make sure that at the end that we try, you know, that we have to get Trump out is for all of us to work together. We're in this together. Yeah. Look, I, um, I appreciate you saying that Cynthia. And let me say this to the, to the Bernie fans out there. Um, there's a chance, um, a small one, but there is a chance that Bernie Sanders will be the nominee of the against Donald Trump. And if he is, I'm going to kill myself to work for him and make sure that he defeats Donald. I mean, in other words, I'm gonna do everything I can to make Bernie Sanders successful against Donald Trump and everything I can to ensure that he is the most successful president in United States history. So my word of advice, um, and who am I to be but, um, if he is the nominee, uh, you're going to want all of our help to make sure that he's successful. So don't be a dick. Um, don't say ugly ---- on Instagram or on Twitter. I mean, make your case. That's fine. Uh, talk about how passionate you are. That's wonderful. Um, you know, extol the virtues of, of your candidate. That's what democracy is all about, but, but don't be an asshole. Um, because at some point we're all going to have to come back together and be on the same team. And that may be in service of Bernie Sanders as a nominee. Maybe it's in service of Joe Biden as a nominee. We just don't know yet that that has not been decided yet. I mean, it's, it's, um, trending towards Joe Biden just based on the delegate lead he has, but it is not impossible that Bernie Sanders becomes our nominee. And so the question that the person asked was, what do you like about Bernie Sanders? Um, he has moved the democratic party and the country, um, so far forward on fundamentally important issues around healthcare, around our economy. And Cynthia, you mentioned climate. Um, and, and I don't know that we would be having the robust conversation on these issues that we are now without Bernie Sanders leadership in the Senate and without his leadership as a presidential candidate. These are issues on which he has been extraordinarily consistent issues where he has offered ideas that have radically challenged the status quo for the better and caused anyone who is running for any level of public service to consider. They may agree or not agree with his views, but they've certainly changed the conversation for the better. And when we truly do have universal healthcare in this country, which we do not yet, there are many different competing proposals, including his Medicare for America. When we finally achieve that, whether whatever form it takes, it will be in large part, thanks to Bernie Sanders, whether he's president or not for bringing this into the national consciousness and making it the number one priority issue in the minds of so many people, even those who already have health insurance or healthcare, or the ability to see a doctor, they now understand the cost and consequence to those who don't have it in large part, thanks to Bernie Sanders. So to the question, why do I like Bernie Sanders? And what do I like about him? I love how bold he's been, how consistent he's been, the kind of ideas that he's brought forward. And again, whether he's a nominee or not, he will have influenced the agenda of the next president of the United States. And I think there's a lot to commend in that. So that's my answer to a nice, thoughtful question. Cynthia, do you want to take this one? How do I make my arm stop hurting after I get a shot? Wow. Well, from my experience, the only shots that hurt after you get them for a long time is a steroid shot. So you might want to put a little bit of ice on it, and hopefully it goes away. Cynthia, what have you been listening to while you're keeping your social distance? Oh my goodness, another music question. Remember the last time I did this, I said, new kids on the block, really, really bad choice. So I have been listening to books on tape, and that is something that I really like. Beto, you would be proud of me. I'm listening to the Odyssey. Get out. Yep, I sure am. Yeah, it's been a very, very long time since I heard it. What is happening right now in the Odyssey? It's just the beginning. It's just the very beginning. I just got it. So I have Audible books. So what's happening right now? They're just introducing the characters. It's at the very beginning. I just got it. Who? Who? Beto, don't quiz me. Please don't quiz me. You don't trust me. You don't believe me. I'm listening I'm just giving you a hard time. Yeah. I like it. The Prophet. I listened to The Prophet by Khalid Jabbar. I don't know if I'm saying his name right, but that was really good too. Yeah. You know, at some point, I know there are a lot of political comments on here. At some point, we'll have more of a robust political conversation. I think right now, so much of our focus is on what's happening to this country. We now have more COVID-19 cases than does any other country on the face of the planet. We have hospitals that have exceeded their capacity. We have frontline medical staff who don't have personal protective equipment. We have people who need ventilators in order to stay alive, and we're running out of ventilators that are available in this country. And then there are people who are trying to figure out how to make ends meet now that they don't have a job, or just keep their sanity now that they're at home. So again, want to give our love to all the Biden, the Bernie, the Trump supporters who are out there, many of whom are posting right now, and let you know that we'd love to have a robust political conversation at some point, but now just does not seem to be the time. So we appreciate those comments and questions coming through. So Cynthia, any parting words of wisdom before you answer this question actually first? My workout routine from Rocio, who I miss a lot, and I really enjoyed getting to know her and spending time when she came out and helped us canvas. So right now, for me, what I'm trying to do is get outside, really take long walks, and have the opportunity to be in the mountains. And so that's something I really enjoy doing. I'm doing that. And then have you guys seen this push-up challenge? I don't know if you've seen it, Beto. It's trending on Instagram. Tell us what the challenge is, and then would you do the challenge for us, and then we'll sign off. Totally. So it's the push-up challenge. So you, everybody is being challenged to do 10 to 15 push-ups, and to post a video of yourself doing it. So I'm going to do that tonight. Do you want to do it right now? We'll both do the push-ups where we are? Yeah, yes, yes. Okay, let's do this. What is it? Are we doing 10? Yeah, 10 push-ups. Okay. All right. Oh, the things I do, Beto. All right. Okay. You ready? How many are we doing? We're going to do 10 push-ups. Okay, here we go. Ready? One, two, three, go. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11. All right. There we go. All right. We have successfully completed the push-up challenge. Everyone who tuned in, good to see you all. Good to be with you all. Walker, we just saw your comment. Thank you for everything that you're doing out there. All of our frontline healthcare workers, you have our eternal gratitude. Everyone stocking shelves at the stores, working the cash register. Every restaurant employee who's still filling orders so that we can feed ourselves. Everyone at these food banks who's either a full-time staff member or volunteer, you're doing the most important work that we can think of in the country right now. We are super grateful to you. This is a really tough time, but I'm absolutely convinced that we're going to get through it. There are too many good people for the result to be otherwise. So be good to one another, be kind to one another, help one another out, and continue to tune in and meet the people that we want to hear from who can help us understand what's happening in the country right now. Tomorrow, our guest 430 Mountain Standard Time is Andy Slavitt, one of the most thoughtful, intelligent, informed people on healthcare and public health in this country. And at 2 p.m. Mountain Standard Time tomorrow, for your kids who are being homeschooled, we're going to have a history of the Pueblo Revolt in the larger course of Native American history that we're teaching here at the O'Rourke Home School for the Gifted. And you're welcome to join us. That's going to be taught by Robert Gunn. 2 p.m. tomorrow, Instagram Live. Last thing, please donate to your food bank. Look them up online. Make a $25 contribution right now if you can. And if you have the time and you don't have an underlying medical condition and you're not over the age of 70, ask them if you can come in and fill a shift making boxes or distributing those boxes of food to people who are in need. All right. Cynthia, good to see you. And we'll see you all again tomorrow, 2 p.m. Robert Gunn, Pueblo Revolt, 4.30 p.m. Andy Slavitt, All Times Mountain Standard. Adios.