Playwright Emilio Rodriguez of Black and Brown Theatre and entertainer Ron "QWNTYM" Ford, Jr. discuss their respective projects "Our Voices New Play" and "Jit the Funk Up and Dance!," and how they use dance and theatre to inspire youth, and elevate the culture and voices of historically marginalized people and groups. The Living X podcast is hosted by Ryan Myers-Johnson, executive director of Sidewalk Detroit, and edited/mixed by Wayne Ramocan of Red Carpet Lounge. This episode features music by Pamela Wise. The Living X podcast is a product of rootoftwo and made possible with support from The Kresge Foundation.
This episode was recorded remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic.
About "Our Voices Festival of New Plays"
Culture, community, and education connect through Black and Brown Theatre’s Our Voices Festival of New Plays in which students write short plays which they direct and cast utilizing Detroit area adult professional actors, from Black and Brown Theatre’s database, drawing attention to the valuable stories of our community.
About Emilio Rodriguez & Black and Brown Theatre
Emilio Rodriguez is a playwright whose works tell the untold stories of underrepresented audiences. Focusing on a Latinx experience, Emilio creates a wide range of characters, from college students and teenagers in coming-of-age stories, to animals like sea lions. Emilio is the artistic director of Black and Brown Theatre.
Black and Brown Theatre is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit theater that celebrates the voices of people of color onstage, backstage, and beyond the stage. Since its formation in 2016, Black and Brown Theatre has produced stage plays, workshops, and special projects for people of all ages. Black and Brown Theatre maintains a free digital database of actors of color in the Detroit area for local directors to cast stage plays, films, and other acting projects.
About "Jit the Funk Up & Dance!"
Jit the Funk Up and Dance! is a mini-concert and showcase that centers on Detroit’s techno sounds and its original urban dances: Jit and Funkateer. Hosted by QWNTYM, this event is packed with original music performances, DJ sets, choreography, and freestyle solos.
About Ron "QWNTYM" Ford, Jr.
Ronald Ford Jr. first began dancing at two years old, when he mimicked James Brown. Little did he know that 10 years later, he would be learning the only two original Detroit dance styles: jit and funkateer. Since then, he has been thrilling audiences in Germany, Korea, at the Palace of Auburn Hills, The Aretha Franklin Amphitheatre, and the Movement Electronic Music Festival’s main stage, to name a few. Along with his dance group, Unstoppables, he has danced for world-renowned acts such as Afrika Bambaataa, Run-DMC, Los Hermanos, and AUX 88. Using the stage name QWNTYM, pronounced “Quantum,” Ronald has also been composing electronic music for 15 years, mainly focusing on the Detroit techno and electro genres. His mission is to continue showcasing unique Detroit dances and music to the world. In addition to his music and dance endeavors, Ronald is also a playwright and director.
Want to know more. Visit artxdetroit.com
https://www.instagram.com/artxdetroit/
https://www.facebook.com/artxdetroit/
https://www.twitter.com/rootoftwo/
INTRO (00:06):
In this episode, Empowering Youth, Preserving Culture, Ryan hosts, Emilio Rodriguez, artistic director of Black and Brown Theater and QWNTYM, an unstoppable choreographer and performer of Jit and Funkateering. Each discusses the way they utilize dance and theater to inspire youth and amplify culturally rooted and produced artforms. This episode was recorded remotely during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ryan Myers-Johnson (00:38):
Hello, everyone. Welcome to Detroit. We are talking to some of Detroit's most amazing artists today. My name is Ryan Myers Johnson. I'm the executive director of sidewalk to Trey, and I have the pleasure of being in dialogue today with Emilio Rodriguez, playwright and founder of black and Brown theater, as well as Ron Ford dancer, choreographer and musician and longtime proponent of Detroit, Jit, and Funkateer dance styles. Welcome Ron and Emilio.
Ryan Myers-Johnson (01:21):
Great to have you here. So your projects for Art X, Detroit were amazing and you're really exploring the Detroit landscape and really unique ways in your work in general. I'm just an avid, avid fan. So if we could start with Emilio, could you just tell us a bit more about your practice about Black and Brown Theater and what has brought you to make art in Detroit?
Emilio Rodriguez (01:47):
Yeah, so I actually moved to Detroit about eight years ago for a teaching position and I identify as a playwright, but also director and theater maker at large. And I started black and Brown theater about four years ago. And the goal was to, to see more diversity in Detroit stages and also more cross cultural connections happening on Detroit stages. And it's just continued to sort of expand from there. With the more now more broad statement of creating opportunities for theater, artists of color and the communities they are already a part of
Ryan Myers-Johnson (02:28):
Ron. Tell us about your practice and your history of making work.
QWNTYM (Ron Ford) (02:34):
Okay. The short version. So I've been dancing and choreographing dance here in Detroit for over 35 years. I started with basic Jit, which is what we all kind of did and a more specialized dance called Detroit funk. So I started pretty much before high school through a group called with different groups, constantly crew to Unstoppables of, I perform know different places for Detroit Tech Fest, The Palace, overseas right now. I'm just trying to showcase to Detroit first and foremost, their own culture because older people know about it, but the younger ones don't quite know everything about it. So I'm utilizing my music, production, performances, choreography, and just being a part of the Jit community to showcase their dances, their own native dances.
Ryan Myers-Johnson (03:51):
Wow. The native dances of Detroit, I grew up knowing about Jit for sure and admiring I guess jitters, but the knowledge that it's a native dance of Detroit I think was lost on me. It's such an intricate and specialized dance form. Is there a way that we could put it into words for listening audience? What is Jed and font in Detroit funk?
QWNTYM (Ron Ford) (04:17):
Okay. So Jay and funk are closely related by way of the shuffle, which is all footwork. I can't really explain how this, the shuffle works, but it's all footwork, whereas it's not arm work or upper bodies, mostly footwork. Okay. The Jit is mostly a in utilizes lays and feet, whereas funker tear utilizes the whole body from the interior has more of a what we would call a pop to it. And it utilizes all parts of the body. Whereas G again is more so laid work, although they have some arm work involved, they're both based off a phone use it, which has turned to in Detroit over the ears, Detroit techno, which is a Detroit techno is electronic funk music, but the phone doesn't leave. It's still here. It's just fast.
Ryan Myers-Johnson (05:24):
That's awesome. Yeah. Fast, I think is a big part of the story. This, the speed at which the movement happens is can be quite astonishing and improvisation, and also that re strong relationship to Detroit music very powerful stuff. And you talked about reaching young people and telling the stories of young people sell that. Leads me to just want to dive a little bit more into your work Emilio for ASD Detroit and I'm with young people. Can you give us an overview of what your work was and how you involved young people?
Emilio Rodriguez (06:05):
Yes. So the project we created was called our voices. And essentially a lot of us had in the company had had experience in teaching and being theater, teaching artists and working with youth, but typically those who are familiar with theater for young, for young people, the model is typically that an adult is in charge or young people are performing a script written by an adult and directed by an adult. So we wanted to flip that around and see what it would be like if young people were writing the scripts and directing the scripts and they were writing for and directing adults. And so we had adult professional actors from our company perform the scripts that were written by these middle and high school students. And in the middle and high school students, we're giving the direction to the adults and sort of seeing in real time how direction works and how leadership works and how a scene can change and evolve by the direction that you give
Ryan Myers-Johnson (07:08):
That sounds illuminating and empowering and scary at the same time. So what's what sort of differences did you encounter as an artist? Letting young people take the lead.
Emilio Rodriguez (07:20):
I think exactly what you said. It was both empowering and scary at the same time, but also so so much fun. I think we learned so much about what young people have to say and what is important to them. Oftentimes we label what is important to them or what is an interest to them. So having the young people, the students step up and say, this is what I want to write about, and this is what's important to me. And then also sometimes the way that adults, we can act as teenagers based on our perception of what it was to be a teenager. And then when we get notes from them, you realize that to a teenager, their experience experiences just as important as our experiences as adults. And so sometimes when we play teenagers, we downplay it like, Oh, Prom, this is the end of the world. Yeah. But, but to them, it, you know, canceling prom can feel just as exactly the same way we feel with our gigs getting canceled and our work getting canceled. And so just that really teaches empathy in a way that was interesting for both sides that young people could have a better understanding of the connections that they have to, to adults as mentors and resources. And then for those older adult actors have a better understanding of what it is to be a teenager and that they have real valid experiences and real valid emotions just like adults do.
Ryan Myers-Johnson (08:45):
And what type of topics were the kids exploring in their place?
Emilio Rodriguez (08:49):
It was such a range, especially because we had middle school through high school. And the high school class we were working with was all grades and the middle school was also six through eight. So we had everything from a lost, a lost dog to teenage pregnancy and everything in between. So it really showed a variety of what teenagers are writing about and what's on their mind. And that teenagers just like any human being, it's not a monolithic experience. And there's such a variety of what is and is not important.
Ryan Myers-Johnson (09:25):
Yeah. Ron, I know that you have a decent amount of experience with young people as an educator and as a father. Could you talk a bit about working with the different types of crowds that you work with? I know that there tends to be, or at least I've observed, you know, an educational component in your, in your way of performing.
QWNTYM (Ron Ford) (09:49):
Yeah. So I deal with all ages as far as dance goes. So I dance with my children. I taught them how to dance first as far as phone, more so than Jit, I think because they been around me longer. So they see me dance more than G. So it came to them easier. Once I did that, I figured out that it can be taught, but it has to be taught at very, very basic level. So right now what I'm doing is coming up with a way to teach high school students, funk, and a little Jit by way of a grant that I received. So we're going to start off with slow music, slow funk music, like the seventies, fight music, how it first came out, you know, which would be a little different for them. Cause they're not used to old music, but they, they, they, they can work on rhythm, you know, they can work on rhythm first and then we can speed the music up a little bit and get into more intricate thing as parcel of the the styles.
Ryan Myers-Johnson (11:16):
Wow. So it's, it's interesting, like thinking about my experience growing up as a, as a kid in Detroit, I'm not that young. So I definitely remember when everybody knew about Jenny and shit. So I'm curious, and what do the young people know about Jit and funkateer now, or is it a new form for them?
QWNTYM (Ron Ford) (11:39):
It's a new form for them. They seen it. Some, some kids have seen it by way of their parents is what I'm learning. But once they find out that this is their dance, it empowers them because right now our kids are just following each other on, you know, social media. They, they repeat what they see. They don't really know who they are or what their city has contributed to dance. They don't know that we're at MC a center for arts. So this dance and power is that once they find out, Hey, we have a dance, you know, we don't have to do the same little tick tock things that we see. And in video answers that last for maybe a summer, this is a, this is a culture. So once they get hold of it, you know, the, the beauty for me is for them to learn a little of it and then take it where they want to, you know, I try to teach basics and fundamentals and tradition, but I like for them to experiment and take it places where we wouldn't have thought of, cause we're, you know, I'm older, I'm older. So that's what I want to see. You know, I just want them to have the basics first.
Ryan Myers-Johnson (13:00):
You both are doing amazing work in the community creating opportunities to empower young people, to embrace the arts. And Ron, you mentioned social media. So, you know, we're living in a time of a pandemic and sell so much of our lives are online now. So how are you adapting your work and how are you experiencing these quarantined situations as an artist in Detroit?
QWNTYM (Ron Ford) (13:34):
First of all, as an artist is totally different from me as a parent and husband here in the household, obviously because I have four children here and their younger children, they're 13 and younger, and I have a college student that comes here every now and then from, from grand Valley state. So that's different from how I am as an artist here as an artist, boy, I am finding lots of time to do things I wanted to do, to be honest jumping on my treadmill, getting more in shape. So when this thing passes over, I will be ready, you know, more than ready also I'm in the studio, in my, you know, in my own personal studio, creating music for the funk up in dance part two because I had a great turnout and I can't wait to do it again. So I'm working on music for that. Also I'm choreographing steps to go with new songs and just refreshing myself with older songs. I have so many ideas I'm sure Emilio can attest to that, but I have so many ideas and now is the time to actually sit down and work on it, at least jot them down, you know, that's what I've been doing as an artist.
Ryan Myers-Johnson (15:05):
So it's, it's amazing the amount of resiliency that artists are showing and kind of utilize some of this time to go deeper into their practice. I can only just see, you know, what did the phone call now shut up and just to see part two of your work and what comes out of it as you're able to kind of go deeper into your practice. Yeah. Emilio what's going on with you and black and Brown theater.
Emilio Rodriguez (15:34):
Yeah. As Ron mentioned, part of it is the personal stuff I'm going for jogs social distancing, jogs by myself. But trying to stay in shape physically and mentally in that aspect. And then as far as black and Brown theater where we're sort of throwing spaghetti at the wall and seeing what people are most interested in, and one of the most successful things was something we had never even thought of, which was sort of an expansion of, of this series we have for, for our younger audiences and for families. And so we saw some people reading stories, some celebrities were reading stories on Instagram. And so we thought, what if we have one of our company members who usually dresses up as a princess anyways, for some of the shows, if she were to do that and then read the stories, but instead of reading a traditional story, we would kind of mix it up and take suggestions from the audience and plugin the words that the audience says into this story. So that it became something that the, that the audience had investment in. It's kind of a route that we do with our really young ones when we're teaching playwriting for like kindergarteners because a lot of kindergartners are still learning how to, to write. So that's sort of one of our foundational practices. So it's just been able to move that online and then hopefully see what else we can create online, depending on what people are excited about.
Ryan Myers-Johnson (17:05):
Okay. You said a play writing for kindergartners. I know I asked the pen different question, but this one is actually really interesting. How does that work, play writing for kindergartners?
Emilio Rodriguez (17:18):
So actually our first time was going to be this, it was March through may, was our session. And so it was cut off. We were about four weeks in and we started with the, that process of getting suggestions and plugging them into an already solidified story. And then we switched into the storyboard where they were telling us their ideas. And then we switched into drawing and we were just about to step into the part of transforming all of those into a physical script when COVID hits. So unfortunately we weren't able to finish that, but it was really fun to get to S to see their ideas come to life. And I'm excited to see if there's a way we can transfer that digitally. And it's just a matter of getting connected with those families
Ryan Myers-Johnson (18:07):
That is super exciting and it's super innovative. I've never imagined you know, of course we have like programs for kids to do theater, but to do play writing is I think taking it to a whole nother level. And what an expectation you seem to have of young people and their ability to create work. Where does that come from?
Emilio Rodriguez (18:29):
I think I would have to give all the credit in the world to my mother because she was a preschool teacher and she taught at a Montessori and she never like talked down to us growing up. And she always encouraged us to think big. And, and even as a kid, because of her, I learned to read pretty early. So when she would try to read me bedtime stories and I was in preschool, I would say, I already know this one. What if it went like this instead? And so that's how I started getting the writing bug was just like, I don't want to hear this bedtime story again. I, I want it to end like this. And she would encourage that instead of saying like, no, no, no, just listen to the story she picked. Okay. So what, then, then what happens? And then what happens? And so I noticed myself using phrases like that when I was teaching the kindergarten. Okay. And then what happens? And then what happens? And so I think I definitely have to give all the credit in the world to my mother. And I know everyone here probably has someone who started their artistic career, but I think if I were to trace it back to one specific person would probably be her
Ryan Myers-Johnson (19:30):
All hail to the moms. So interesting in thinking about like, who are those people that we kinda owe something to, and who's in the lineage of our practice. Ron, are there other folks in the Jit and Funkateer world that have been impactful for your work?
QWNTYM (Ron Ford) (20:00):
Yeah. well, first of all, from the music standpoint, it was my stepdad. I started listening to music. I think he bought me a record player at maybe seven years old. Yeah. So between seven and 10, I will listen to music on my little record player which turned into earth, wind and fire. And once that came out, the stuff, the artistry of the album itself, do you remember the artwork? And then the group switch the artwork and the funk music behind it. That set me up for dance, that funk music, that one two which turned into Jit and wave and robot and things like that. As far as dancers who influenced me of course I would have to say James Brown when I was very young and everything points to funk with me, you know, James Brown then later on was a Funkadelics, Parliament, which is what they used to Jit and Earl Flynn too. When I was a young guy, was 12 looking up to these older guys at the basement parties, doing these funny dances, the funk music then of course it was Michael Jackson who we looked at in Detroit, my age, we looked at Michael Jackson as not really someone that was so he was creative, but he didn't originate dances. We looked at somebody that mastered dances because we knew moonwalk. We knew waving, we knew robotics. He was a person. I looked up as the person that masters, the masters dancers. So that's something I try to do. I try to master dancer so I can pass that on to others.
Ryan Myers-Johnson (22:03):
Wow. Yeah. You mentioned that the basement party, and you talk about your early history, your early education as a week. Did you have a teacher or how, or was this more of a collective sort of community learning process? Like when it comes to jitting? I think about like when I was a kid learning to dance, I can't think about like learning a specific dance from a teacher, but more so you learn it from seeing people doing it. Could you talk a bit more about how, how did you learn how to Jit? Did someone sit you down and teach you?
QWNTYM (Ron Ford) (22:37):
Yeah, for me, somebody actually taught me basic shuffles. And so I grew up, a lot of people do learn like that. They learn by just watching. And I learned some things like that, but for me personally, I appreciate it learning from a person because it ended up feeling like it was more part of a bloodline in dance. So when it came to Jit, I had a guy who taught me basic steps in Detroit, I would watch and learn, but I would always try to get with somebody later on in a corner maybe, and have me go over the techniques of the dance so that I know I'm doing it right. When it came to funk, there was a group of guys who were doing it before me, and they pulled me into the dance group and taught me. So I learned, I learned that style of what they call it, pop locking, but it was basically functional tiering. And then eventually what I do now mostly is Detroit funk, which is it's an evolution of here. Yeah.
Ryan Myers-Johnson (23:56):
Wow. That's amazing that referring to like receiving that dance moves and receiving this education as a bloodline, that really that's powerful. That's a powerful way to talk about your practice. And so I'm wondering, I'm curious about what's on the horizon for you. All, of course, we are facing a lot of unknowns in the arts community. What are the type of things that are on your mind that you want to explore creatively in your art practice?
QWNTYM (Ron Ford) (24:27):
Well, me personally, what I want to jump into is, so I have a play that I wrote maybe two years ago, it's a play that built around, of course, the native dances. So it tells the story of Jit and funk in Detroit for the community, by the community, with the community, actually performing the dances, their own specific groups, showing you where they sit in this heritage of our dancers. So that's something I'm really excited about exploring and getting the finances for that. I also mentioned the Jetta from up and dance part two, which I'm looking forward to doing also the teaching high schools. Like you said, we don't know what the future really holds, but when high schools do open up, I'm jumping right into that to pass this on to the high schoolers. Those are my three,
Ryan Myers-Johnson (25:36):
That's a, that's a lot of it is a play a musical.
QWNTYM (Ron Ford) (25:43):
I wouldn't call it a musical. I wouldn't call the musical. Although of course music is throughout the whole play is more of a I want to give a fuck, but it's it it's of course dance music. Detroit music is throughout the whole plate, but there are, say three actors, three main actors who are going through a situation, a dilemma. And by way of this dilemma, you're seeing the story of Jit unfold. One group at a time from its very beginning in the seventies to the future with the kids taking note.
Ryan Myers-Johnson (26:28):
Nice. Wow. Historian of native Detroit dances run for you continued to amaze. What about you Emilio? What are you thinking what's, what's interesting to you, what do you want to explore next?
Emilio Rodriguez (26:44):
So there were two projects we were supposed to be working on this summer. So it's just a matter of us talking to those grants. They were grant funded projects talking to those grant funders and seeing if they would be okay with us moving to digital platforms for these. I've actually been teaching a lot that all of my classes for adults have been moved online. Unfortunately, all of my classes with youth have been just canceled for now or postponed indefinitely. But the adult classes all been, have all been moved online. And so I'm getting really comfortable at zoom and Microsoft teams and different platforms to teach. And so I'm wondering if this we had had another, our voices plan, but it was specifically for seniors in to write stories and then we would perform their stories.
Emilio Rodriguez (27:33):
And so we're trying to see if that could be something we could switch online, teaching the classes, losing them. And then maybe once restrictions get a little bit looser, we can have small groups of maybe like four actors in one room recording those scenes together and then putting them on YouTube or some other platform. And then the other one was our fairytale series that we bring to the schools and to the libraries. And so we're going to ask the grant funders, if we can record that in, make it more, a little bit more cinematic and, and seeing if that's something that would still work and it would definitely be a new venture for us, but something that I'm excited to see if it's, if it's possible and as exciting for people record is as it is live.
Ryan Myers-Johnson (28:24):
Wow. You're really venturing into some unique territory and they're important territory. We talked about your work with kids, but you also have an iteration of this that is reaching out to seniors. So black and Brown theater is really going you're not just uplifting the voices of black and Brown people, but you're specifically looking at I guess maybe creatively underserved populations within the black and Brown community looks like. So how would you,
Emilio Rodriguez (28:55):
Yeah, absolutely. I think you, you hit it there with like, getting really specific about who it's for. And I think the beauty of getting really specific is that it then becomes ironically even more general, for example, like this fairy tale series we were like, okay, we're targeting three to seven year old children and then their families can come along with them. And what we found was when we started taking this to libraries and different public arenas, there was oftentimes people in their thirties and twenties, thirties, and forties that didn't have kids with them. And we were kind of caught off guard like, wait, where's their kid, this, if they're bringing their kid to the show. But then we realized like for a lot of us, even myself as a year old growing up, we didn't have a lot of representation of people of color in this, in the fairytale world and in the stories for young people. And so this is like for some people, it kind of feels like they're living vicariously through the, this next wave. And so they're getting to like revisit their childhood and allow themselves to be a child again and see what they should have been able to see if the media had gotten the representation correctly back when we were younger.
Ryan Myers-Johnson (30:08):
Hm. How will nominating, I mean, I imagine that that opens up an incredible amount of possibilities within the mind of a young person to see themselves represented in fairytales. You know, when you think about I guess your stories that come from a Eurocentric perspective anyway, thinking about like Rapunzel or you know, Hansel and Gretel, like these kinds of things, or Jack and the Beanstalk, you don't see yourself in those stories. So are you taking stories from different black and Brown, I guess diaspora, or are you focusing on sort of the traditional stories that come through the American sort of fairytale pipeline? Is that clear?
Emilio Rodriguez (30:52):
Yeah, I'm a mix of all of the above. So I'm currently working on and, and also when we take out the European stories, we also want to have creative license to do whatever we want with them and change them. So like an example of the one we were working on with was beauty and the beast, and thinking about why does the beast have to transform? Like, why can't we just accept someone the way that they are, why, what is this whole obsession with? Like, I will change you and I will fix you back to how I am. Rather than saying you are what you are. I am what I am and both are valid experiences. So in that sense, we do like kind of take traditional material. But we play with it and make it whatever we want it to be and whatever we feel speaks with our audience.
Emilio Rodriguez (31:40):
And then also at the same time, we're also looking into stories that are, are not from that cannon. We're really inspired and, and currently work on it's, it's a longer process than we anticipated. But as a true story, about a young lady who is black Cuban and Asian descent, and in Cuba, she was the first girl to play drums in public. And so that we're like really interested in that story. And so the, I guess the answer is yes. And we say whatever, whatever feels like an important story to tell at that time.
Ryan Myers-Johnson (32:17):
Wow. This is actually, that's such a inspiring story to think about, you know, this person who has this really broad cultural background they're coming from that also breaks barriers. It reminded me Ron, of one of the names you go by just mr. Impossible. Right. Am I right about that? Mr. Unstoppable. Yeah. Yeah. Where does that come from? And what are you trying to tell people by calling yourself mr. Unstoppable?
QWNTYM (Ron Ford) (32:49):
You know, that's a good question. And I wish more in the community would ask that question. Cause it's kinda going over their head. They just kind of missing the point because my group is called Unstoppables. So they think that a lot of my things are just dealing with my dance group, the song we are unstoppable, mr. Onstar unstoppable, they think I'm just, you know, it's an old to my vans group, but it's really for everyone in the community and outside of the community, we should stop was just a song that says, no one can stop me. It's that simple? No one can stop me. Not the closest people to me. I mean, family wise, children, no one can stop me. You know, it's in my heart to do certain things with art and that's what I would do. That's what the song was about missional stuff. I won't stop.
Ryan Myers-Johnson (33:48):
Amen. I receive that. I think that this is a message that is in the heart of Detroit and deeply embedded within Detroit artists. You all are just representing I would say like the finest spirit that we have here, which is keep hustling harder. So I'm just so excited about the work that you're doing as you translate it to online. And I can't wait to see what comes out of the next phase. What's up Ron?
QWNTYM (Ron Ford) (34:14):
One more thing I wanted to say with that unstoppable message. Was it really kicked in with me when my son passed away several years ago, my oldest son named after me, Ronald Ford, third, and somethings that he, he would teach me things. I called him so much. He was the type of person that could turn it around, was able to teach me the, the, the older guy, the parent, the dad, and something he said to me was that if you're going to be unstoppable, you have to show that you're unstoppable. It's not enough to say it and believe it, you have to have action. So my whole thing has been action without explaining. I don't have to explain it to no one. You understand, I don't have to verify things with others. This is why I do this. This is why I do that. My actions will speak for itself. I don't stop. I keep it moving. I keep it going, whatever my belief is, that's what it is. And you will see it. I just hear it.
Ryan Myers-Johnson (35:23):
Hmm. That's amazing. That's really powerful. Thank you for sharing that. And I think as you know, we kind of face, you know, family and friends and, you know, loss of loved ones and loss of community here. A really important message. And thank you for just bringing the words of your son into the, into this space and into the room and sharing that with us. So with that, I want to encourage us all, everyone listening to be unstoppable, to keep looking forward and to keep giving back to our community, no matter what we're facing. So thank you so much, Ron and Emilio, you all are keepers of the flame and just really trailblazing new pathways for yourselves and for other people in the city of Detroit, I'm Ryan Myers Johnson recording from Detroit, Michigan.
QWNTYM (Ron Ford) (36:21):
Thank you for having me here this is QWNTYM out of Detroit, Michigan. Stay Unstoppable.
Emilio Rodriguez (36:29):
Bye everyone. This is Emilio Rodriguez, stay positive, stay hopeful. Thanks for having me.
Ryan Myers-Johnson (36:34):
That's it y'all.
OUTRO (36:42):
AXD Living X podcast is a production of rootoftwo and made possible with support from the Kresge foundation mixed in edited by Red Carpet Lounge. Music for the series is by Pamela Wise. To find out more about the projects and visit artxdetroit.com and download the companion Living X catalog, featuring all 22 commissioned AXD works.