Dear Hank & John - 364: Yourami (w/ Sarah Urist Green!)

Episode Date: March 13, 2023

Why do we put butter in that thing in our fridges? How do I explain memory loss without garnering sympathy? Is mental illness as romanticized as it is stigmatized? Are righties called northpaws? What's the best donut you've ever had? Where is the Pogue's Run Tunnel? How do I make a Dr Pepper cheesecake? John and Sarah Urist Green have answers! If you're in need of dubious advice, email us at [e-mail] us for monthly livestreams and an exclusive weekly podcast at patreon.com/dearhankandjohn.Follow us on Twitter! twitter.com/dearhankandjohn

Hello and welcome to Dear John and Sarah. Or as I like to call it, Dear Sarah and John. It's a podcast where we answer your questions, provide you with dubious advice and bring you all the week's news from AFC Wimbledons men's team and AFC Wimbledons women's team. No Mars News this week. Yep, sorry about that. Thanks getting cut out of the podcast for a week. He's, you know, it's not totally clear to me what he's doing. Well, we just told him that he couldn't come this week, that's all.

Yeah, he's, he, we decided that he's not available. Yeah. So we're going to answer some of your questions, but first, Sarah, usually when we have guests on the pod, for those who don't know, by the way, Sarah is my spouse. Yes, I'm Sarah Eurost Green, and I'm married to you, John Green. That's right.

I'm a... We've been married a long time. Well, I mean, it's all relative, John. Longer than some. Longer than others. Longer than most, I would say. But for those who don't know me, I am a curator and art educator. I used to have a series called The Art Assignment on YouTube,

which is still there, still full of knowledge for you to listen to, glean whenever you like. And I have a course out called How to Appreciate Art with Bright Trip, which you could find by going to BrightTrip.com. That's all true. I don't have anything to promote right now. Oh, except that I'm going to Miami. People of South Florida, I will be in your town.

You're saving me. Miami. I'll tell you a story about Miami. Miami. Well, I'm Floridian, okay? So the way I pronounce it is inherently correct. I'm going to Miami on, I believe March 23rd, you can get more info at booksendbooks.com.

Books and Books is hosting the event. It's the launch event for the Anthropocene Reviewed paperback and I'm really excited and I would love to see you there. So I guess we do both have things to promote. Go to Bright Trip and booksandbooks.com. Now here's my story about Miami. Okay. When I was a kid, my dad worked for the Nature Conservancy. I remember. In Florida. Well, well, I don't remember because I didn't know you then. We weren't we weren't buds, but yeah. But I know this now. So he

had to travel a lot for work. go all over the state of Florida trying to conserve land and convince rich people to turn over their land for conservation. And he would often have to go to South Florida because I don't know if you know this, but that's pretty near the Everglades, which are a significant ecological phenomenon in Florida. Right. And a deeply endangered one. So there's a big focus of my dad's work. And so he would often have to fly to Miami. And when I was about six, what? That's how you say it.

Yeah, okay. He'd often have to fly to Miami. And when I was about seven or eight years old, he said, I'm gonna go, I gotta go to Miami this week. And I said, I don't understand why you keep having to go to your amy. Miami, your amy.

Yeah, I thought it was. I thought it was his amy. That's maybe that's why I pronounce it that way. That's true. It's your amy. Believe we are also in the Miami International Airport, one of my most famous childhood temper tantrums happened when I put my bag on the ground along with my backpack, laid down on the floor of the Miami International Airport, spread my arms and legs out as wide as I could and said, I just can't do it anymore. Yeah, yeah, everybody understands that. I mean, that's how I feel right now. Yeah.

Oh, come on, it's a beautiful day. It is. We're podcasting together. It's true, that part is nice. It's nice to be in your company. Yeah. Let me ask you this question from Butterboy. Okay, let's hear it.

Butterboy writes, do you John and Sarah, why do we put butter in that thing in our fridges? Love Butterboy. Why do we put butter in that thing in our fridges? Now, by that thing. You know that thing. The Butterholder. The Butter Area.

But you often have a butter area in your refrigerator, but you also, many people, including us, have a butter thing inside the butter area. What is that thing called? A Butterholder? We can call it a butter. Well, there's like the butter area. The butter area and the next thing. And the butter holder. I would, yeah, I mean, this is actually a pretty good question. You know, usually like, I mean, I would think that you need that butter container. Yeah.

Because if you just put the butter into the holder, it'll get kind of sticky. It'll get kind of gross. Yeah. And then like you'd have to go in there with a knife. Yeah. And like cut it off of your fridge shelf. So you do need that. I think you benefit from it. I don't know if you need it. Well, you know, you need a ginormous cold box to keep way more cold to eat than we possibly need. Probably not. No. When we lived in the Netherlands, we had one of those refrigerator that's like a college beer fridge.

Oh, it was great. And it was all Sarah was constantly saying, this is it. This is what we should have. Then when we moved back to America and we got a gigantic fridge. Yeah, but there was a market around the corner from where we were living. And you can just get what you needed. And it was just that walkable lifestyle

that we could have if it was a priority, John. That's right. But back to the question. I mean, there's that question. Maybe it creates like a humidity area I recently learned right I recently learned that the crisper has an actual purpose Yeah, and I'd always thought up until I was about 44 that the crisper was just the area of the refrigerator where one Traditionally puts vegetables and fruits Yeah, that was sort of like why do you wear white at a wedding?

You just do. It's just custom. As long as you're a guest. Right. That's awful. I always wear a white tuxedo to any wedding I go to. It's a strict policy of mine. Everyone enjoys it.

It's a great bit. Yeah. But I mean, I do, if we have fresh, fresh baked bread, fresh bread, and I'm going to be using butter a lot, I do like to keep it out on the counter. Oh, yeah, Sarah. I don't know how you feel about it. Sarah does not, does not feel like butter really needs to be that refrigerated. Well, if you follow certain protocol, it doesn't have to be. Let me Google that real quick. According to the USDA, butter is safe at room temperature. But if it's left out for several days at room temperature,

it can turn rancid, causing off flavors. The USDA does not recommend leaving it out for more than one to two days. But you can leave it out for a whole day and nothing bad happens. Unless your house is really hot, you know? Yeah, if your house is like 130 degrees, then you're gonna get melted butter for sure.

Yeah, or rancid butter. Yeah. Yeah. Alright, so we get another question from Melody, who writes, Dear John and Sarah, I'm 22, and last spring I had a stroke, or maybe two. And as a result of this,

I lost a fair amount of memories of names and places. How do I explain this to people without getting all their sympathy? Like, I'm really fine, but I also don't remember your name, even though I know that I know you. Anyways, the whole thing is hard, melody. That does sound hard. That does sound very hard, Mollity. But isn't that a good answer to say, I'm fine, I really am, but I also don't remember your name. Right. Because I had a stroke. Or two. But then if you say I had a stroke or two, I mean, I think Melody's point is that like,

they don't want to have people feel bad for them. Right. They don't want to be like, oh yes, every time I have to like go through this sort of like dance of sympathy. Right. When. Right. Right.

Right. Well, it's like, you know, it's, I'm not suggesting this. I'm just, just throwing out ideas. Sure. You could do the thing where you had a little card. Yeah, I have a buddy who has a card. He just hands out the card and says, if I am struggling with my speech, you don't need to worry, it's just the thing.

Yeah. Right. So you could do that. And that way you could pick exactly what you want to say. What I want to say. And it sounds like you've got a sense of humor, melody. So, you could make it funny or not, and you could communicate that way. But I feel like, I don't know, John's you never remember people. I don't remember a lot of names. I don't remember a lot of names, it's people. I don't remember a lot of names.

I don't remember a lot of names. It's true. You don't really have a good excuse. Well, I certainly don't have a good excuse. So what do you do? Well, the first thing I do is I get a little offended melody if people expect me to remember their name because I don't expect them to remember my name.

And like, what is this thing with expecting, like, every time you see someone, you should reintroduce yourself. That's what I do. I say, hi, it's John. Nice to see you again. Well, I think there should be a point after which, like if they're a very close friend, you don't expect that. But yes, I would argue that.

I try to do that when I run into somebody, I'll say, like, hey, Sarah Green, great to see you. But I would argue Melody's very close friends and family probably already don't expect Melody to remember the name necessarily. So it's probably not them, that's the issue. And if it is, that's kind of on them. Like they've had time to get used to it.

So I feel like it's mostly people like, oh yeah, no, I've seen you 30 times in my life or a hundred times in my life. If I haven't seen you in a while, and I don't remember your name. Right. I guess my one approach would be to just talk to them while not just sort of embrace not knowing who they are. Yeah.

And try to have a connection with them without knowing their name. I like to I love to say hey buddy Good to see you bud. How you doing buddy? I feel like that's a little bit patronizing Well, what do you want me to say? I used to say I Do that sometimes this is a nice day. I'll say I'll say hi with up talk sometimes. I'll be like hi Oh, yeah, we haven't seen each other in weeks, months, years. You tell me, yeah, it's good to see you again unless we're meeting for the first time in which it's great to meet you.

Right. I try not to say, I often say it's good to see you again and someone will say it's nice to meet you and I'm like, don't do that. Don't do that. Like, you didn't have to do it. Right. Nobody benefited from you doing it. Well, you're just sensitive.

I am a little sensitive. You're being a little over sensitive. Well, I just don't have, whatever that part of your, I just don't have that. Like, you struggle with facial recognition, period. Oh, I'm fine. So if anyone who's listening to this mod has ever encountered John, in any sort of circumstance.

And they should remember you and he should remember you, but he doesn't. You are not alone. Yeah, very true. John constantly, when we're out, thinks that non-celebrities are celebrities. We just saw Tony Hawk earlier today. He's here in Indianapolis.

It was a shock. He was at Starbucks. And then when you are around someone with any sort of renown, you do not recognize them and can't remember them. Never. Never. No, you're totally right. The classic example of this is that I met an extremely famous actor

at the MTV Movie Awards. You were there. And I met them. Their daughter introduced me to them. I said, hello, it's nice to meet you. And then like 45 seconds later, the same person came up to me. I shook my hand and said, hello, it's so nice to meet you. And I in my role is to be like, dear Lord, not only have you met you just met. Johnny met Meryl Streep 45 seconds ago.

Now you're meeting Meryl Streep for a second time. I'm not a Meryl Streep. But I also have the recognition problem like when we're watching movies. And that is especially difficult to live with because I'll be like, I'll be like, wait a second. Is that the guy from earlier? Do I really need to say that?

Is that still Natasha Leon, the one who knows it if you're lying? You can recognize her. I can recognize the touch of Leon. I have a little bit of a crush on Natasha Leon. Yeah, so do I. I know. Who wouldn't?

But Melody, I think in some, it's also, like I understand you're not wanting to have to say it again and again. But if you do feel like that's the best way, your tone sets the tone. Right. So if you say it with a smile or, you know, I would never ask anyone to smile, but I just mean like whatever your attitude is, I usually other people follow it. Yeah, but also I think it's important to remember that like this isn't your fault. Like this is happening because of who you are and what happened to you and also a bunch of weird social

constructions in our social order about when you're supposed to know someone's and use someone's name. about when you're supposed to know someone's name. So if you have, hopefully anyone who's cool and nice will just be graceful about it. Right. All right, Sarah, we have another question. It's also a little bit of a serious one. I'm sorry, but it's just the vibe. That's okay.

This is from Elissa who writes, John, answer, but mostly John. I'm a second year high school math teacher who's currently completing further study in mental health, and I really enjoy your takes on tuberculosis. Thank you, Alyssa. It's a passion.

If you think it's fun on TikTok, imagine living with me, especially the observation that stigma and romanticization are not mutually exclusive or opposites. Do you think that's currently happening with mental illness? Like, we see the tortured artist and teenager trope everywhere, but we often don't want to discuss the genuine issues with mental health. Not a Mona, just Olysa. Maybe I was pronouncing a list's name incorrectly the first time, but I do see this, and that's part of the reason I wanted to make those videos about our historical responses to TB is that I think we

see it not just with mental illness, but we certainly do see it with mental illness, right? Like Sarah's made work about the idea of the tortured artist, so I'd be really interested to hear her speak to that. But as far as my personal experience goes, there is an expectation that writers will be a little crazy, or else that they'll abuse substances substances or that they'll be really tortured and miserable and coincidentally, in the same way that like, you know, a lot of artists in the 19th century had tuberculosis, but being an artist didn't cause tuberculosis. I have mental health problems, but being a writer didn't cause them. I know that because I had them before I was a writer and I don't think it

makes me particularly creative, which I know because when I'm really sick, I can't make anything. So I have experienced some of that up close and I think in some ways I've probably maybe played with it, maybe taken advantage of it at times and so I'm conscious of that now. And I look back on those earlier times in my career. And I think, well, was I using this romanticization? And as a result, did I experience a different level or a different kind of stigma? And yeah, it is something I think a lot about. And it's really important, I think, to internalize

that if an illness is romanticized, that doesn't mean that it's fun to have or good to have, and illnesses that a romanticized can simultaneously be highly, highly stigmatized. That was certainly the case with TB. It still is. I mean, insofar as TB is still romanticized. It's still the case with TV. It's the case with poverty.

We often hear about the happy poor person who has an uncomplicated life who just happily works in agriculture or whatever. And that idea is as essentializing and as dehumanizing as any other form of othering people. Well, I've made two art assignment videos that you can watch if you want. One is called the myth of the tortured artist and the other one is called the truth of the true artist. You had to backtrack a little. Well, but it's also true there are some artists who are, quote, unquote, tortured, you know, like mental illness intersects with other identities. Right. So, you know, I think, I think that it's also highly contextual.

So I feel like in my world right now, mental illness is not that stigmatized, but that's because of where I am in my life and who I intersect with and where I live. But don't you think illnesses like bipolar disorder and schizophrenia disorder are still pretty heavily stigmatized? I'm not saying that they're not. I'm just, I feel, but I thought this is precisely what I'm saying. Like, I feel like, personally, in my lived experience, they're less stigmatized, even some of those disorders.

Then they were, certainly then they were when we were younger. When they were younger, and you would use those terms as insults. Right. But I also think that it's just tough. And people are many things. So yes, I think that you can definitely make that comparison.

I think that there are some artists who are highly organized and functional and happy or not happy, fulfilled, or I guess just like not depressed, let's say, or not suffering. Any sort of mental health disorder, I think everyone does. To some extent, right. It's very much a spectrum. But yeah.

Yeah, I also think that- But there are some artists who suffer from mental health disorders and their art is an outlet for that. Right, or is a response to it in some ways because it's dangerous to say that in some ways, but I think it is true for some people. And you never want to oversimplify, right? Like, people's experiences are multitudinous and contradictory. And, you know, I was thinking about that in the context of this book that we both love tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow that, you know, a lot of the characters in that book. But I can't breathe, Evan. Yeah.

They act, interact with each other in ways that are paradoxical or that are confusing at times like their motivations aren't always entirely clear, which is part of what I love so much about the book because that is so human. It's so like life. And often in stories, especially in action-pack action-packed kind of plotty stories, the characters' motivations have to be so clearly mapped every single step of the way that maybe that makes for good storytelling or like compelling Marvel movies, but it doesn't really, it's not really true. We all contain all those like paradoxes and complexities, but I think to get back to your

point about the myth of the tortured artist and the truth of the tortured artist, you could just as easily make a video series that's called the myth of the artistic consumptive and the truth of the artistic consumptive, right? Because there were lots of artists and poets who felt like artists and poets who felt like their illness, their proximity to mortality, their... Impending death. Yeah, those feelings heightened their work in some ways. And there were artists who felt like, well, now I can't do anything else. The things that I could do that were physical and active, I can't do as much right now. And so my life is more interior, it's more about writing, it's more about painting, whatever.

So I think you have to make room for all of that. But the important thing is that it is neither true that mental illness causes creativity or that creativity causes mental illness, just as it's not true that TB causes creativity or creativity causes TB. It's way more complicated. Yeah, agree. All right, Sarah. Here's a boxing question for you since you're a retired boxer. Robin asked, dear John and Sarah, if South Paul in fighting is when you fight left-handed,

our right-handed fighters called North Paws, keep you away from the bank, Robin. So they're robbing the bank. I get it. It's good. I get it, it's good. So what, in your opinion, first off, are you a South Paul?

No, I'm not, but you have to train both. Did you ever just to keep it even? Oh. You train both ways, or I'm not. But you have to train both. Did you ever... Just to keep it even. Oh! You train both ways. Or I always did. But when you're... when you're... we're actually sparring with someone. Yeah. Did you ever spar with a southpaw? And experience like how weird and different it is because they don't...

They aren't like a mirror of you. They're like a... Yeah. Continuation of you? No. It's very weird. Did you do that? I have before. OK. Yeah, I was attacked by a young South Paw when I was boxing during 100 days.

This nice young woman came into the gym and my trainer was like, well, this nice young woman is going to box you now. Yeah. And I'll tell you what, my heart rate went to 170 instantly. Wait, but what is the answer to the question? I don't remember. It's for me it's just like regular. It is. It's like a regular stance or standard stance. Standard? Yeah, or right-handed. There is a word, it's orthodox. Right. Are you an orthodox fighter? I'm an orthodox fighter.

And that's where you keep your right hand back, because that's where all your strength is. And yes, and your stance, your left foot is forward. If Sarah sounds further from the mic, it's because she's just taken up the stance. I just... She couldn't resist the urge to go full. Your shoulder is also skewed, so your left shoulder is more forward. So you jab with your left.

Jab with your left and then you have, you can use your whole torso to kind of torque around so that your rear right arm has more power as you use your body to punch. It also has more distance to travel, which allows it to accelerate a little more, but mostly it's that you get to use way more muscles in that sort of whatever your power punch is. But once you get to a certain level of boxing, and it sounds like you're there, Robin, you can do a lot of damage with either of your hands. That's right. That's why I had to actually register both of my fists

as weapons. When I enter a foreign country. Yeah. Everybody knows that about John. Yeah, people say that about me that I've got a good left hook and a good right hook. Scary. Ali asks, do you're John and Sarah,

what's the best donut you've ever had? James and Jimmy's, Ali, I don't know what a Jimmy is, or a jam for that matter. What is the best donut you've ever had, Sarah? Ooh, well, I remember as a kid having a crispy cream for the first time. And I like that they kind of sort of disappear in your mouth. Yeah, those are really warm crispy creams.

They're warm and they just sort of melt away. Yeah. They're very airy, sweet, good. Yeah. Yeah, I tend to like more simple donuts. Mm-hmm. Like a cake donut. You like a blueberry cake.

They're also, I've had a potato flour. Of course you have. Yeah. That was very good. And then, you know, I don't tend to go for like the real fancy ones. I had a mochi donut recently. That was right. And I like that gummy mochi texture.

Mm-hmm. But I didn't love it in this form. Well, this is a common problem we see in both Donuts and the technology sector, which is that there is no need to disrupt something that is working perfectly. Yeah, keep it simple. Right, like I totally understand why like food delivery needed to be disrupted and I understand why like bad email needed to be disrupted by Gmail and whatnot. There are some things

that just don't need to be heavily disrupted. Yeah. And one of them is donuts. My favorite donut in the Indianapolis area is long. Long. Long. Not only is it my favorite donut in the Indianapolis area is long. Long. Long not only is it my favorite donut in Indianapolis it's also by far the cheapest donut in Indianapolis. Yeah and it's been around for a long time there's nothing there's no bacon yeah there's no lavender no but John I, I happen to know that you really like Dunkin' Donuts, Blueberry Donut holes. I do. I love any cake-based donut. Like, I don't want it glazed. I don't want it to be crispy cream melt in your mouth. Well, it could be cake, but glazed cake.

Maybe slightly glazed. Yeah. But speaking of Long's Donuts, I'm reminded. I think you were gonna bring this up. Of Indianapolis. Indianapolis rapper, Tevin Stuttered has this song about Long's bakery that is one of the greatest, I don't want to over-hype it, but it's one of the greatest rap songs about Donuts ever made. He made it in the middle of the pandemic, and he made the song as a way of letting people know that

Long's was open again that like the lockdown had ended and Long's was back on the menu. You have to you have to look it up. There's a wonderful music video on YouTube. You know I'm many times the yeast bless my body. Probably had me back in Eskynos. It's really great. Eskynos is a hospital in Indianapolis. Yeah. I just always love that rhyme so much. You know how much the yeast touched my body?

Probably have me back at Eskynos. It's so good. The whole song is great, though. So Long's Donuts is the best Donuts place in Indianapolis. It's bakery. And Tevin Stuttered is a really great Indianapolis-based rapper, which reminds me, Sarah, that today's podcast is actually brought to us by Long's Donuts. What do you know?

Yeah, Long's Donuts. They'd like us to know that their name is Long's Bakery and that I should stop saying the name wrong. Today's episode is also brought to us by Butter, which can be left out for one to two days. It's good. That's good. You have a very good announcing the sponsor's voice. Do you want to do our ads? I don't think I think Deer John and Hank needs Hank or John. No, I really like the idea that there is a third person who just reads the ads and that like lovely voice. I think you're biased. I don't think I am. I think that you like me and I'm glad you like

me. I do like you. Do you want to read the new policy genius out? It's hilarious. I can try, but you're the policy genius genius. There is nothing in my life that I work harder on than those policy geniuses. I like it. I love that. Today's podcast is, of course, also brought to you by the idea that stigmatization and romanticization are not opposites, but complementary strategies for othering people. I don't have a tagline for that one. That one.

That one. Today's podcast is also brought to us by John's left hook. It's a banger. We also have a project for awesome message from Karen to Rob. Dear Rob, I'm so glad I've successfully inaugurated you into the world of Nerdfighteria. I love listening to the pod with you in the car, catching up on the latest vlog brothers

or crash course at lunch, now that you're my stay-at-home coworker too, and just being silly together. I love you and can't wait to be your wife. PS, you're the stinky one. Love, Karen. Guys, soon that's a sweet inside joke, but if it's mean, PS, you're the stinky one. Love, Karen. Guys, assume that's a sweet inside joke, but if it's mean, Rob, I think you're great. It's not mean. It's very sweet.

It's a term of endearment. That's so cute. Thank you all. All right, Karen, we've got an Indianapolis specific question before we get to the all important news from AFC Wimbledon and AFC Wimbledon's women's team. From Yasmeen, who writes, dear John and Hank, for my last birthday, my husband's surprised me with the trip to Indianapolis. So we could do a book tour of my two favorite books, The Fault in Our Stars and Turtles,

all the way down, available everywhere books are sold. Yasmeen, that's great work. Really critical work. It was such a cool experience to explore Indianapolis through the eyes of Hazel and Aiza. We ate where Aiza ate at the Apple Bees. We got slushies from the speedway of Augustus' medical emergency and visited Crown Hill. We discovered the beauty of the White River while trying and failing to get to wallet island. That's a dangerous trip. Yes, me. That should only be done on

certain days of the year. Yeah, and if you don't have any open wounds. But, John, where on earth is the Pogs Run Tunnel? My husband and I drove all over Indianapolis and tried many different addresses and couldn't find it. Yeah. Birthdays in books, Yasmeen, the birthday queen. PS, we gave our birthday book to our Indianapolis 4 and a half stars. That's so great.

And there's a wonderful picture too. That's great. P.S. We gave our birthday book to our Vending App was four and a half stars. Oh, that's so great. And there's a wonderful picture too. That's great. Pictures. Multiple pictures of multiple pizza john shirts and multiple locations. Pretty great. So it's pretty good. Yes, me and that you didn't find the entrance to the folks' run tunnel. The first, I would say like the first 500 yards of that tunnel are not that, not super safe. So for the wider audience who doesn't know what you're talking about, what is Pogs

run? So there used to be this creek that ran through much of the near north side of Indianapolis and then dumped into the White River right downtown. And then they were like, oh, we'd like to use this for housing. So we're going to put this creek underground. And that's what the Pogs Run tunnel is. It's a way for this creek called Pogs Run to run underneath the city and then dump out right by the football stadium.

You can see the place where it dumps out by the football stadium, which is actually cooler to see. But I almost, I feel like I shouldn't tell people where the entrance to the tunnel with selfies because one, I don't think it's super safe. And two, I don't really want it getting like overrun. Yeah, I think. You can ask around.

It's, I haven't been there. No, no, it's only I'm content to just read about it in your book. Yeah, and I definitely made it more interesting in the book than it is in real life. Like in real life, it's just a tunnel. There's no side tunnels. It just pretty much goes straight for about a mile in total darkness. Yeah. And yeah, it's a yeah. So I think you did all the fun stuff. Yeah, you really did. You did it. You did it. You did it. You did it. You got that slurpy.

You had the dream. Sarah, would you. I'm so glad you had a good time. Me too. We're sorry if you can hear that beeping by the way. It's also annoying for us. We're planting trees here at the house. Alright, Sarah, one last question from Jasmine who writes, dear, John and Sarah, how could I make a Dr. Pepper Cheesecake and would you eat a Dr. Pepper Cheesecake? Yes. You totally could make one. You could totally make one. What I would do, what I would do is make a syrup. I would boil down some doctor pepper and concentrate it into a syrup.

And then I would probably swirl that syrup into the cheesecake. And then maybe put a little bit on top or something. Mm-hmm. I would try that. I would try that. I'd probably eat it. Like I have a lot of the weird cheesecake set the cheesecake factory over the years.

And I'm always like, that's a good cheesecake. It's still pretty good. Yeah, I mean, you know, it's hard to mess it up. Like it's sweet. good. Yeah, I mean, you know, it's hard to mess it up. Like it's sweet. Yeah. Got some. But what I'm guessing the question comes from is that since it's not derived from many flavors

in the real world. Oh, yeah. No, I think you have to use Dr. Pepper Serra. Right, you can't try to recreate the taste. You would have to use Dr. Pepper. Totally. You might sort of incorporate it in different ways. Yeah, but you'd have to use Dr. Pepper. Totally. You might, you might sort of incorporate it in different ways. Yeah, but you'd have to use Dr. Pepper syrup.

Like, even when we make soda water with our soda stream and then try to put the fake Dr. Pepper stuff into it, it's so bad. Because only Dr. Pepper is Dr. Pepper. Right. That's one of the, actually that's one of the sort of axiomatic facts of the universe. Actually, you know what I think I would do. I make like a, a cheat, cheesecake bars so that they were in like a nine by 13 pan. And then I just, I just put the syrup on top and let it sort of be a Dr. Pepper syrup layer on top.

Okay, well, you're the expert. I don't think it's going to be like the next big thing. I mean, Dr. Pepper's trying to get it out there with Dr. Pepper peeps. They're so bad, unfortunately, and I'll have a doctor pepper anything, so I was shocked. So Sarah, let's move on to the news from AFC Wimbledon. You'll recall that one thing about AFC Wimbledon is that over the last three seasons, even though we've had three different managers and many different players, so many players coming and going, very few of the same players over these three seasons.

The one constant is that no team in professional football literally is more likely to give up a lead than AFC Wimbledon. Ooh, that hurts. And we have given up leads in each of our last three games. And we have gone on to lose two of those games, which has just been infuriating for me. So over the last three games,

our new January signing, Ali Al-Hamedi, who moved from Iraq, he has an incredible life story. His father was imprisoned as a political prisoner by Saddam Hussein, his family escaped to Britain, and then eventually his father was able to get to Britain as well. And he became a professional footballer. He plays for AFC Wimbledon. He's been incredible.

Over the last three games, I think over the last four games, he scored five goals. All of them beautiful. Wow. And I'm just a... That's very exciting. I know. He's great. He's only 21 years old.

He's also from Liverpool. So he has an extremely thick scous accent, which makes me feel right at home listening to a footballer interview. Can we keep him? Great question. Not me not long-term, but he did sign a two-year contract. So we can keep him for at least a year, hopefully. Great.

I'd love to have him next season. Yeah. Because hopefully we won't be quite as bad. So we lost to Steve and Edge after going one no-0 up, both goals, we lost 3-2, and then we lost a man's field town over the weekend, 3-1 after going 1-0 up from a goal by Aaliyah Alhammadi, and it's getting very frustrating. I don't know what else to say about it. We're in 16th place.

We're probably not going to get relegated. It's just super annoying. I think you need to go to a match. Well, so the last time I went to a match was our last win. Yeah. And since then, we've been on a terrible run. So I think I need to go to another match to flip the script again. Yeah, I think so.

I think it's about me. Get in here, John. I will. I will. I'm actually I'm going to a match as you know in a couple weeks. The news from the AFC Wimbledon Women's team, which I'm not sure if you know this, but is sponsored by Rosiana and me. I know. Partners in health on the back of their shorts. They have been undefeated since Rosiana and I started sponsoring them. And they beat the best team in the league,

Hashtag United, four nil. And then, earlier this week, they beat Cheshom United for one, and frankly, looked excellent. Now, only two points off first place in their division, which is the fourth tier of professional women's soccer, and a real opportunity to win the league and get promoted in next season, Rosiana and I could sponsor a third tier women's soccer team.

How outstanding. Very exciting stuff. So, the good news waxes and wanes in football. My other team Liverpool did beat Manchester United 7-0 over the weekend. Yes, I witnessed it. Oh, that was fun. God, that was fun. I love football.

I know. I have to, I will admit to you that I really have to focus when you start talking about football. It's easier to just like, come on, I like start to think about what I'm doing after this. Yeah, you're like, I can't wait to go for a walk. And I'm like, come on, Cheryl. Lock it in. Lock it in focus. What is John cares about?

What is it? I don't think you have anything like that that I struggled to pay attention to, but you probably, I don't know, at the beginning when you were really into pottery and I didn't know anything about it, but then I did the work to get into pottery. I haven't not done the work, John.

To get into soccer. Yeah. Well, I'm not sure you could name an AFC Wimbledon player, and that's okay. That's okay But I didn't used to know a lot of the pottery turn when we were at a game. Yeah a match. Yeah, no, it's all good I know to say match. Yeah, no, you know a lot. There's a lot you know I know it's not a field. It's a pitch. It's everything. It's that old thing where everything you've learned about soccer

You've learned against your will but I did actually play soccer. I know. You understand it tactically very well. I understand the rules. Yeah. You enjoyed the World Cup final. I did. I mean, I did. It was impossible not to enjoy.

It was one of the greatest events in human history. I was shocked how much I enjoyed. It was a really good football game. I mean, this is not quite the same as playing Man's Field Town on a Saturday at 10 a.m. Right. So I think that's the difference. Yeah.

Well, thank you for ponding with me. Thanks to everybody out there for listening. Thanks for having me. Thank you again for listening to Dear Hank and John. You can email us at Hank and John at gmail.com. This podcast is edited by Joseph Tunehmetish. It's produced by Rosia on a Hals Roas. Our head of communications is Brooke Shotwell. The music that you're hearing now and at the beginning of the episode is by the great Gunnarola and as they say in our hometown,

don't forget to be awesome.