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It's an amazing place to hang out. Arrow.net, ARROE.net because it's all about having a podcasting
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choice. It's not just one. It's 20 different podcasts. All level sports is one of them. In
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fact, just the other day, I spent time with the writers and producers of professional wrestling.
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That is a story because we can all relate every generation. Where is it? All level sports on
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arrow.net, ARROE.net. Enjoy your exploration. Mist opportunity. I love sharing conversations.
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Hosting them, though, requires a lot of show prep. My podcasting platform features thousands
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of guests. What you don't have access to are my missed opportunities. The show prep was 100% done.
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The conversation. It didn't happen. I keep all of my notes because I believe paths will one day
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cross again. Let me explain missed opportunity. It's my questions and statements without their answers.
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I'm leaving open enough space at the end of every single question, hoping they'll download the
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talk and insert their answers. Mist opportunity is seen as a lost piece of history. It is a message
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in a bottle that's been tossed out to sea. I hope to locate a destination. This week we're putting
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focus on my missed opportunity with Michelle Stevenson. Okay, so who is Michelle Stevenson,
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a filmmaker, artist, author who openly admits to pulling their vision from within their Haitian
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and Panamanian roots? Her experiences include being nominated for three Emmys and winning the jury
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prize at Sundance. There's talking big stuff here. ESPN was backing up the short film Black Girls
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Play, which by the way won best of the show at Tribeca. The short film puts focus on all the
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handgames that young girls play with their hands. It's influenced music and dance across America
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and around the world. And the goal is to trace the entire story of those handgames dating back
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to the slave era. Wow. The invitation to share a conversation with Michelle Stevenson came on
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January 18th, 2024. They needed a reserve date, which was going to be the 25th of Thursday,
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which according to everything that I've ever experienced in all my years of podcasting,
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that is the most sought after day for conversations. My reply as always was, yeah, let's do this.
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And they said, okay, how about 920 Eastern time? And I gave them my my answer, which is always,
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in fact, it's an heroism. It's perfect. Nothing else. Just perfect. Two days before the 920
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arrival of that conversation, I received an email that said, hey, look, don't want to inconvenience
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you, but we need to move Michelle's conversation. Can you please do February 2nd, 2024? And I said
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absolutely. And we'll still do 920. Correct. Correct. Well, the conversation didn't happen.
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Coming up next, my questions, my statements with Michelle Stevenson without her answers.
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Hey, welcome back to Missed Opportunity. This week, our focus is on filmmaker Michelle Stevenson,
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ESPN gave her the opportunity to create this unbelievable documentary called Black Girls Play.
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This is such a true connection to history in the modern world. It's like, we know what we're
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doing with dance moves. We just don't know the story and you dove into that. What was that experience
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like? How important is TikTok in keeping this journey growing forward? I gotta ask you, do
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hand games change between the different regions of this country and around the world?
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So how many people are featured in this story? I mean, you went all out. I mean, you went
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everywhere with this. We've got to learn how to preserve these amazing connections. Does this
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inspire you to want to grow in other areas so that we can really get to the root of who we are
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today? Hey, I live in the South. I have fallen witness to a lot of these games. I know this story
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all too well. Hand games, generations have played these hand games, not only here in the states,
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but around the world. What is the actual reaction as you travel and just listen to their stories?
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I think one of the things that inspires me the most about hand games is the style of individualism.
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Could it be that this was a connection to outreach in the way of saying this is us. This is how we
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do it. Let's grow together, bring your style and our style and let's have some sort of big connection
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here without fighting. Why don't we know this story and exploration? Why has it taken a documentary
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to kind of remind us? But then again, I'm not knocking you. I'm just saying why aren't we speaking
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on the everyday street? This has helped shape so many genres of music. Can you imagine if we didn't
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have these hand games? And there you have it. Another missed opportunity. It is a lost piece of
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history. You now know the questions. So let's locate the answers. The door is always going to be
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open. If you know Michelle Stevenson, please reach out to me at arrowcgmail.com. That's
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ARROEC at gmail.com. As always, be brilliant.