Storyteller Donte Woods-Spikes

Tim Fulton 0:13Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Confluence Cast presented by Columbus Underground. We are a weekly Columbus-centric podcast focusing on the civics, lifestyle, entertainment, and people of our city. I'm your host, Tim Fulton. This week I sat down with storyteller, speaker and filmmaker Dante Woods-Spikes. We talked about how community moments can happen in Columbus, being a young Black man in Columbus, who should have a seat at the table when addressing the challenges that we face, and the importance of being present with your friends and family. You can get more information on what we discussed today in the show notes for this episode at theconfluencecast.com. Also, the Confluence Cast is on Patreon. Find out how to support this podcast on our website, theconfluencecast.com or at patreon.com/confluence. The Confluence Cast is sponsored this week by Art Makes Columbus, Columbus Makes Art, featuring stories about our city's incredible artists, stories full of inspiration, challenge, passion and success. For videos, articles, an up-to-the-minute calendar of events, and an artist directory, visit columbusmakesart.com, the resource for all things arts and culture in the capital city. Enjoy the interview. Sitting down here with Dante Woods-Spikes, speaker, storyteller and filmmaker. Dante, how are you?

Donte Woods-Spikes 1:43I'm all right. How you doing?

Tim Fulton 1:44I'm good. Uh, full disclosure, if there's any delay in Dante answering a question, he's, uh, messing with his camera, getting everything documented, everything framed up here.

Donte Woods-Spikes 1:53We ready.

Tim Fulton 1:54Good. Dante, we're sitting down here on the occasion of your upcoming documentary, His Last Words. First of all, give me sort of the high level, 10,000 foot view. Who are you? What, and tell us about your work.

Donte Woods-Spikes 2:05Well, to be 100% honest, I feel like a lot of things that happened for me was completely unexpected.

Tim Fulton 2:12Okay.

Donte Woods-Spikes 2:13I just started off as a person that loved to do work in the community and unexpectedly, the right people saw what I was doing. I just started volunteering at a church.

Tim Fulton 2:22Okay.

Donte Woods-Spikes 2:23I went from volunteering at a church to getting a job at the community center.

Tim Fulton 2:26Okay.

Donte Woods-Spikes 2:27I went from working at the community center to also going to college at Columbus State.

Tim Fulton 2:31Mm-hmm.

Donte Woods-Spikes 2:32Then I went from Columbus State to being interviewed in a newspaper. So it was like this domino effect of things that just kept happening back to back to back. And luckily all the right people that saw me said, "You know what? I have something else that I would like you to be a part of."

Tim Fulton 2:46Okay.

Donte Woods-Spikes 2:46And you don't always get to come across people that are invested in your vision-

Tim Fulton 2:50Mm-hmm

Donte Woods-Spikes 2:50... and what it is you wanna do. Sometimes people would like to, to use you, but luckily I have not had that situation happen and I'm, I'm pretty good at protecting myself as well and, and discerning who I should be involved with.

Tim Fulton 3:02Okay.

Donte Woods-Spikes 3:03But it all started-

Tim Fulton 3:04So talk to me about that vision. Like what is it that you're trying to do?

Donte Woods-Spikes 3:07My vision is to connect people.

Tim Fulton 3:09Okay.

Donte Woods-Spikes 3:10Specific- i- in Columbus in particular but all over the world. I want people to come together face to face with each other and have real life community moments. Nothing that's forced, but real community moments that give us a opportunity to engage and get to know each other better on a personal level.

Tim Fulton 3:26Okay. Tell me about some of those projects. I know you did a TEDx talk.

Donte Woods-Spikes 3:30Mm-hmm.

Tim Fulton 3:30You commonly speak at colleges. You've done some work at charter schools around town. Like tell me about just, you know, top project that comes to mind there.

Donte Woods-Spikes 3:39Um, the top project that really comes to mind is it, it all goes back to the very beginning with the community work and people that I knew of from the very beginning that I didn't know, now I'm working with them. Um, like I said, the TEDx.

Tim Fulton 3:54Mm-hmm.

Donte Woods-Spikes 3:54That came along because of me being a student at Columbus State.

Tim Fulton 3:58Okay.

Donte Woods-Spikes 3:59And I didn't even know what a TEDx talk was until somebody said I need to do one. So my very first time submitting to TEDx not knowing what it was, luckily I was selected.

Tim Fulton 4:09Mm-hmm.

Donte Woods-Spikes 4:09And I recognized like, "Whoa, I think I have a gift." "I think I have a gift here." Um, and afterwards I've been invited to multiple schools-

Tim Fulton 4:19Mm-hmm

Donte Woods-Spikes 4:20... uh, different conferences just to speak about my vision and me in particular. It all started off with me talking about growing up as a young African American male in Columbus and how I feel sometimes we have all of these different initiatives and programs and ideas, but we do not include the people that we're attempting to help, which is young African American men.

Tim Fulton 4:40And that's the subject of the TEDx talk.

Donte Woods-Spikes 4:42Yeah. And that's literally exactly what I talked about.

Tim Fulton 4:44Cool. And I'm gonna include, with your permission, a little portion of that TEDx talk.

Donte Woods-Spikes 4:49Yeah. Mm-hmm.

Tim Fulton 4:49I'm gonna drop it in right here-

Donte Woods-Spikes 4:50Yeah, that's cool

Tim Fulton 4:50... uh, for folks to listen to. It is, the full talk is also linked in the show notes for the episode. So here's a quick portion of, uh, Dante Woods-Spikes at TEDx.

Donte Woods-Spikes 5:02Think of a young Black male whose name has been broadcasted all over the media that is not a musician or athlete. Go ahead. Could you please raise your hand if the young Black male that you thought of has been killed? That's a problem. The problem that we have is the fact that we only discuss young Black males and the problems that they're faced with once they die, which means one of them have to die for the conversation to begin as to how we can help them, which is a contradiction. And sometimes we do have these conversations, but when we have them everybody is present except for one person, the young Black male. What we need to do is create an environment where they're comfortable enough to lend us their voices so we can help them the best way possible. Me personally, I knew for a fact when I was younger that absolutely nobody wanted to hear anything I had to say or deal with me, specifically white women The reason I say that is because in elementary school, in inner cities, it's usually a middle class white woman that's the teacher in a room full of Black kids. And the only time I could interact with her is when everybody would get punished for something a couple of students did, and I couldn't understand why I would get punished for something I didn't do, unless you hated me. So in elementary school is when I developed a serious fear of white women. I remember in recess, I would put myself in time out just so she couldn't do it. I would say to myself, "What's the purpose of trying to have fun if I know it's gonna be ruined for something that I didn't do?" In middle school, I became distant. I would sit way in the back of the class, and I wouldn't talk to anybody, so I couldn't develop any social skills. I was more so concerned about not making a teacher angry. But that still didn't work. So once I got to high school, I became very hateful and disrespectful towards every single white woman that I met. It got so bad that I had to get removed from Columbus Public Schools. Once I got to a charter school, I met this white woman. I used to try to say things to piss her off, but it wouldn't work. I couldn't figure her out. But one day, I got under her skin. And she had said to me, "Dontae, stop bitching and complaining, and get off your ass, and do what you need to do. You can graduate. You just need to apply yourself." I said, "Whoa. If it isn't the queen of evil white women." But I thought about what she had said to me, and I said, "Wait a second. At the end of that, she said I can do it. I just need to apply myself." That was the very first time a white woman ever said I could do anything. So I went back to her and I said, "You know what? I'm ready to graduate." So with her help, I was able to accumulate two years' worth of credits in six months and go on to graduate high school. After that whole experience, I said to myself, "Hey, white women ain't that evil after all." Hmm. So because of her, she unlocked the student that lied dormant inside of me. So I wanted to honor that. I decided to go to college. One of the first college classes I took was Intro to Sociology. I remember walking in my classroom and, um, I looked around. I was the only Black person in there, and I was like, "Oh. Uh-oh." Then I looked at my professor, he was this super professional white guy wearing a tie, and I was like, "Uh... I was like, "Maybe I'm being a little skeptical. Let me see what this man has to say." So he introduces his self, and he was like, "I was a police officer, and I worked in the court system." Now, if you know anything about young Black men, if you are a police officer or you work in the court system, you are not our friend. Okay? So after that, I was... I just shut down. I said to myself, "I hate you. I hate this class. I'm gonna go to the back, and I'm gonna fail. Peace." S- So I was prepared to do that. One day, we were going over slides, and it was talking about how African Americans are affected by poverty more than anybody else, and it was describing a characteristic of robbers. And it said that 90% are male, 65% are under the age 25, and 57% are Black. This is when all the white people in the class did this to me. I said to myself, "Wait a second. So the only time y'all can see me is when statistics say I'm gonna rob you?" Okay. That's fine. So after that, I went up to my professor and I told him, "You know what? I, I really don't like that, and it's other things that are going on in these neighborhoods that they don't know about, and I wish they could see that." So when I told him that, he actually did something about it. Every single time a slide would come up and we would start to discuss African Americans, he would stop and say, "Hey, Dontae, what do you think about that?" And I would say what I thought about it. Little did he know him giving me the opportunity to speak, he was deprogramming me from deciding to be isolated and not speak to anyone, and reprogramming me to feel comfortable to speak in, in environments full of people that I usually wouldn't speak to. So after his class was over with, I said, "Wow, the same exact guy that I perceived to be racist and would probably lock me up for the rest of my life gave me more freedom of speech than anybody else ever has. I guess white guys that are police officers and work with the court system ain't that bad. Huh. Wow. So I liked him so much that I took way too many of his classes and messed my financial aid up. And since I couldn't take any more of his classes, we actually started working together. So one of the people that I actually met through him was a pastor that did a lot of ministry in a high-crime area. He was this tall, white, skinny, old guy. And I remember the very first time we met, we were sitting in a circle, and we were all coming up with ways to connect with the community a lot better than what was already going on. So the pastor stands up and he says, "There was a shooting the other day. We're gonna pass out cold sodas, and we're gonna get to know the people a lot better." I said, "Whoa. You mean to tell me your solution to stopping people from shooting each other is to pass out cold soda? You stupid." And then the news crew shows up, and they're like, "Hey, we're here to follow you guys around." And I was like, "Y'all gonna record us passing out cold sodas to people that could potentially shoot us? Y'all stupid too." So we're walking on the street, and the pastor finds the most dangerous, thuggish group of Black guys you could ever find in your life. He just walks up to them, and he goes, "Hey, you guys wanna cold soda?" And I said to myself, like, "Oh, we about to die." But we didn't die. At that moment, I said, "Wait a second. I see what he's doing. He's not passing out cold soda. This is his way of interacting and breaking the wall down, talking to young Black males in a way nobody else could," 'cause most people fear them. And something else I recognized at that moment as well is the fact that I did not like young Black males. As he was doing exactly what I wanted people to do for me, I had a problem with it. All I could say was, "Hey, they're gonna get theirselves killed anyway. They ain't worth it. They don't respect what you're doing. They just gonna take it and go on about their lives." And then I said to myself, "If I can look at them like that, and I never met them, and I'm so sure about what I'm saying, that means that everybody's right when they look at me the same exact way."

Tim Fulton 13:28So you took that talk, and then it has sort of springboarded you to do talks at schools, to sort of be a voice at the table. I know a lot, in a lot of the volunteer work that I've been doing recently, I've discovered, you know, a lot of folks wanna talk about affordable housing or they wanna talk about the opioid crisis. And the biggest point that I've tried to make is, like, you need a person at the table to, who has experienced this or is experiencing this-

Donte Woods-Spikes 13:59Mm

Tim Fulton 14:00... so that you're getting that perspective. Do you feel like that's why you're being asked to have a seat at the table for these things?

Donte Woods-Spikes 14:06Yes, and I think what really, really helps is I really have not compromised my image or my ideals for anyone either.

Tim Fulton 14:15Okay.

Donte Woods-Spikes 14:16Um, never forced to-

Tim Fulton 14:17What does that look like? I mean, is it, has that gotten you into, not trouble, but, like, caused a little tension in some environments?

Donte Woods-Spikes 14:24I'll, I'll say I, I know what I look like.

Tim Fulton 14:27Okay.

Donte Woods-Spikes 14:27I know what people are thinking-

Tim Fulton 14:29Okay

Donte Woods-Spikes 14:29... as soon as they see me, but usually after I open up my mouth-

Tim Fulton 14:31It's b-

Donte Woods-Spikes 14:31... and I begin to speak.

Tim Fulton 14:33Are you referencing the fact that you're a-

Donte Woods-Spikes 14:34Yeah

Tim Fulton 14:34... you're a Black man?

Donte Woods-Spikes 14:35I'm a Black man.

Tim Fulton 14:36Okay.

Donte Woods-Spikes 14:36I, I dress in urban attire.

Tim Fulton 14:38Okay.

Donte Woods-Spikes 14:38I know that I look like the guy on the news that probably committed a crime. I know that.

Tim Fulton 14:43Okay.

Donte Woods-Spikes 14:43I, I take, I take that with me. But the purpose of me doing that is because this is how I dress. This is how I grew up. This is how the people around me dress. This is how I went to school. This is how, how I went to work.

Tim Fulton 14:55Mm-hmm.

Donte Woods-Spikes 14:56And this is how I obtained success. And if you wanna speak to young Black men, in particular ones that look like I do-

Tim Fulton 15:03Uh-huh

Donte Woods-Spikes 15:03... you have to be able to understand that they have developed their own culture. So you meet them where they are, and then you say, "Hey, I wanna learn about you. What can I help you with? What can we do?" Don't say you wanna help somebody, but they have to change how they talk. They have to change how they dress. They have to change the way they think. They have to move away from the neighborhood where they were born.

Tim Fulton 15:24Right.

Donte Woods-Spikes 15:24They can't even associate with things they're familiar with anymore. So once they change their whole persona and who they are as an individual, now you can say, "Hey, look, we got a Black guy at the table."

Tim Fulton 15:34Well, and that goes a- way back to just cultural appropriation of people.

Donte Woods-Spikes 15:38Right.

Tim Fulton 15:40Do you feel like those conversations ... Do you get to have those conversations with folks and be like, "Hey, all due respect, I don't think you're addressing this the right way."

Donte Woods-Spikes 15:48Mm-mm.

Tim Fulton 15:48"I don't think this is ... You know, folks don't need to be told to stand up straight and pull up their pants."

Donte Woods-Spikes 15:54Mm-hmm.

Tim Fulton 15:54"Folks need to be told, 'Here are opportunities for you.'"

Donte Woods-Spikes 15:57Right. And I, I actually do have a opportunity to do that. And like I said, unexpectedly-

Tim Fulton 16:02Mm-hmm

Donte Woods-Spikes 16:02... a lot of things have happened. And, like, on social media, I have a pretty decent following of people that every single day, they checking in to see what I'm, uh, saying or doing.

Tim Fulton 16:11Yeah.

Donte Woods-Spikes 16:12And to my knowledge, with ... Like I said, I didn't know that I had a lot of people watching me, and when I go out places, people like, "Oh, Dante. You're Dante. Dante." And I'm like, "I am Dante."

Tim Fulton 16:24My reputation precedes me.

Donte Woods-Spikes 16:26But what that does is open up doors for people to say, "You know what? I'm curious as to what it is everyone else sees about this guy-

Tim Fulton 16:35Mm-hmm

Donte Woods-Spikes 16:35... and what it is that he's saying." And opportunities continuously come up where people say, "Hey, can you speak at this event?" Or, "Hey, can you come to this school?" And they don't try to change anything about me. They say, "Dante, just show up and say what you usually say."

Tim Fulton 16:49Mm-hmm.

Donte Woods-Spikes 16:49So I know a lot of people don't have that opportunity to say, "I'm not going to code switch."

Tim Fulton 16:56Right.

Donte Woods-Spikes 16:56"I'm not gonna ..." The, the imposter syndrome, I don't have to worry about that.

Tim Fulton 17:00Yeah.

Donte Woods-Spikes 17:00It took a while for me to get to this point where people were accepting of it, but once again, like I said, as soon as I open up my mouth and I begin to speak, people know that they have to listen. My, what I look like vanishes.

Tim Fulton 17:12Yeah. And let-

Donte Woods-Spikes 17:12You're hearing what I'm saying now.

Tim Fulton 17:14And you used an interesting term, and I want you to define it in your own words. What, for those that don't know, what is code switching?

Donte Woods-Spikes 17:20Code switching is in... Code switching is when you go to a environment where people do not speak the way you speak.

Tim Fulton 17:27Mm-hmm.

Donte Woods-Spikes 17:27People do not talk the way you talk. People don't dress the way you dress. People don't eat the food that you eat. People don't watch the TV shows you watch. People don't listen to the music that you listen to.

Tim Fulton 17:38Mm-hmm.

Donte Woods-Spikes 17:39You have to compromise all of those things just so you can fit in, and some people-

Tim Fulton 17:44And so you switch yourself a l- that's what code switching is-

Donte Woods-Spikes 17:46Yeah

Tim Fulton 17:47... is you switching yourself into the environment that you're a part of.

Donte Woods-Spikes 17:50Yep.

Tim Fulton 17:50Right.

Donte Woods-Spikes 17:50And that's how you feel you fit in, and some people have to do this every single day-

Tim Fulton 17:55Yeah

Donte Woods-Spikes 17:55... when they go to work-

Tim Fulton 17:56Mm-hmm

Donte Woods-Spikes 17:56... or when they, when they, when they are in college, or when they're at a place where there is a majority of people that just are nothing like they are.

Tim Fulton 18:04Mm-hmm.

Donte Woods-Spikes 18:05So being in a position where I don't have to do that often-

Tim Fulton 18:09Right

Donte Woods-Spikes 18:09... is a beautiful thing because I can get my message across clearly and quickly.

Tim Fulton 18:14Do you fault the people who have to do that in order to sort of fit in? Or do you sort of say, like, "That's what they gotta do to keep their job," or, "That's what they gotta do to keep everything sort of- Safe

Donte Woods-Spikes 18:25Some people have to do that-

Tim Fulton 18:27Okay

Donte Woods-Spikes 18:27... because it's a survival tactic.

Tim Fulton 18:29Yeah.

Donte Woods-Spikes 18:30If there is no one around me that I grew up with that has a business, I have to find somebody that has a business that I can work for.

Tim Fulton 18:37Right.

Donte Woods-Spikes 18:37If no one in my family has had a complete education-

Tim Fulton 18:41Mm-hmm

Donte Woods-Spikes 18:42... when I transition from my neighborhood to a place where their education is provided-

Tim Fulton 18:46Mm-hmm

Donte Woods-Spikes 18:47... I have to fit in. So these people are surviving. The people that do it are surviving. Sometimes there's people where you're like, "Dude, it's, it's not that serious. You, you're going overboard." Like, you, you know you don't talk like that. "Hey, good, good morning, everyone." And it's like, "Bro, I know you. Don't, don't, don't, don't put that fake voice on."

Tim Fulton 19:05Right.

Donte Woods-Spikes 19:05But it gives... Some people have absolutely no choice.

Tim Fulton 19:10Mm-hmm.

Donte Woods-Spikes 19:10You know, when you're trying to feed your kids, when you're trying to feed yourself, when you have a dream that you're, you're trying to accomplish, you literally have a conversation with yourself where you say, "For these next four years, I gotta put this act on-

Tim Fulton 19:23Mm-hmm

Donte Woods-Spikes 19:24... so no one will ask where I came from, so no one will question my, my family and the background or the culture that I'm a part of."

Tim Fulton 19:32Mm-hmm.

Donte Woods-Spikes 19:34And that's a horrible feeling. I, it's, it's a, it's a horrible feeling. I, I think I did it for just, like, a brief moment.

Tim Fulton 19:40Okay.

Donte Woods-Spikes 19:41And I was like, "I cannot do this."

Tim Fulton 19:42Okay.

Donte Woods-Spikes 19:43"I can't do it." So those people are not at fault, but I definitely believe those people should share their experiences-

Tim Fulton 19:50Mm-hmm

Donte Woods-Spikes 19:50... with the upcoming generation of people that have to do that-

Tim Fulton 19:53Yeah

Donte Woods-Spikes 19:53... that are familiar with the same culture that they come from.

Tim Fulton 19:56Okay.

Donte Woods-Spikes 19:57And give them a idea of, "This is how I survived, but this is what I also know you don't have to compromise or change at all."

Tim Fulton 20:05Right. So as you're saying all this, I'm sort of thinking about the, you know, the occasion that you're here, that you've got-

Donte Woods-Spikes 20:10Right

Tim Fulton 20:11... this documentary coming up.

Donte Woods-Spikes 20:12Right.

Tim Fulton 20:12And that you are... You're trying to make pe- you're almost an activist more... In my head, you're almost an activist more than you are an artist.

Donte Woods-Spikes 20:20Mm-hmm.

Tim Fulton 20:21Like, you are a Columbus Makes Art-

Donte Woods-Spikes 20:22Right

Tim Fulton 20:22... artist, but this is a, um... You're trying to bring awareness to people.

Donte Woods-Spikes 20:27Yeah.

Tim Fulton 20:28And that's through speaking, that's through filmmaking to an extent-

Donte Woods-Spikes 20:32Mm-hmm

Tim Fulton 20:32... which is certainly an art form.

Donte Woods-Spikes 20:33Yeah.

Tim Fulton 20:33Speaking is certainly an art form. But you're... I've talked to, um, you know, uh, performance poets and, uh, actors and, on this podcast in the past. You're not doing open mics every Tuesday-

Donte Woods-Spikes 20:48No

Tim Fulton 20:48... right? Like, you're-

Donte Woods-Spikes 20:49No way.

Tim Fulton 20:49That's, that's not... You are-

Donte Woods-Spikes 20:51Nah

Tim Fulton 20:51... much more likely to be sitting on a panel at a lunch and learn-

Donte Woods-Spikes 20:55Yep

Tim Fulton 20:55... at a co-working space-

Donte Woods-Spikes 20:57Yeah

Tim Fulton 20:57... in Dublin-

Donte Woods-Spikes 20:58Right

Tim Fulton 20:58... than you are to be sitting in the back of a bar doing that kind of thing.

Donte Woods-Spikes 21:03Right.

Tim Fulton 21:04How do you... Why do you position yourself as an artist? Or is it just an opportunity that came along and you were like, "Sure, you can use me for this"?

Donte Woods-Spikes 21:14What happened is I am very, very lucky to start off around established artist.

Tim Fulton 21:22Okay.

Donte Woods-Spikes 21:23Um, like some of the artists that I know, um, that are also part, like GCAC.

Tim Fulton 21:29Mm-hmm.

Donte Woods-Spikes 21:29Uh, all over Columbus, you got, uh, Richard Duarte Brown.

Tim Fulton 21:33Mm-hmm.

Donte Woods-Spikes 21:34You got Scott Woods.

Tim Fulton 21:35Mm-hmm.

Donte Woods-Spikes 21:36You got Brian Moss.

Tim Fulton 21:37Mm-hmm.

Donte Woods-Spikes 21:38You have Hakeem Collingwood.

Tim Fulton 21:40Mm-hmm.

Donte Woods-Spikes 21:41Collingwood. I think it's Collingwood. But I liter- these people were my friends-

Tim Fulton 21:47Yeah

Donte Woods-Spikes 21:47... before I even knew what was going on.

Tim Fulton 21:49Yeah.

Donte Woods-Spikes 21:50And I remember having conversations with each and every person like, "Dude, you're doing art. You're a artist. Stop saying you're not a artist." I'm like, "Nah, I ain't no artist. I, you know, I just write stuff every now and then or, yeah, I just record stuff every now and then."

Tim Fulton 22:02Mm-hmm.

Donte Woods-Spikes 22:03They're like, "No, you're an artist." And once again, like I said, opportunities just come up and I was-

Tim Fulton 22:09And do you feel like you're embracing that or-

Donte Woods-Spikes 22:11I, I am now.

Tim Fulton 22:12Okay.

Donte Woods-Spikes 22:12I am. With this docu... This is the very first public documentary that I've done.

Tim Fulton 22:18Okay.

Donte Woods-Spikes 22:19A lot of-

Tim Fulton 22:19And you've done other film wor- like other-

Donte Woods-Spikes 22:22Yeah

Tim Fulton 22:22... video work.

Donte Woods-Spikes 22:23Yes, I have.

Tim Fulton 22:23Okay.

Donte Woods-Spikes 22:24But this is the first time I said, "Hey, everybody, I got a documentary."

Tim Fulton 22:29Come and see it.

Donte Woods-Spikes 22:29Come and see what I'm doing.

Tim Fulton 22:31And so what's the night of it that it-

Donte Woods-Spikes 22:33It is June 26th-

Tim Fulton 22:35Okay

Donte Woods-Spikes 22:35... from 5:30 to 7:30 at Driving Park Library.

Tim Fulton 22:39Okay. And that's His Last Words. Talk about the documentary and talk about the, the impetus for it and how it came together.

Donte Woods-Spikes 22:46What's very interesting about this documentary is I've actually had this footage for about three to four years.

Tim Fulton 22:52Okay.

Donte Woods-Spikes 22:53Just sitting on it, and I really didn't know what to do with it because, one, it was, it's very personal and it's powerful, and it's not easy to look at.

Tim Fulton 23:02Okay.

Donte Woods-Spikes 23:03But the whole concept of the documentary, His Last Words, was a moment that I shared with my great uncle that was in his final moments of life. And I thought, "You know, it'll be pretty cool to document this and look back on it-

Tim Fulton 23:16Mm-hmm

Donte Woods-Spikes 23:17... and see that this person that is no longer alive had a presence on this earth-

Tim Fulton 23:23Mm-hmm

Donte Woods-Spikes 23:23... had words to say, shared moments with us." And I'm just thinking about the younger kids in the family once they grow up, if they have any questions or, or we talking, we sitting around-

Tim Fulton 23:32What were things like? What-

Donte Woods-Spikes 23:33We're sitting around talking about, "Oh, Uncle Jimmy, Uncle Charles, Uncle Jay," all of this stuff.

Tim Fulton 23:38Right.

Donte Woods-Spikes 23:38I can actually show them a video of that person. But, um-

Tim Fulton 23:43And so is this y- I've seen the trailer for it. I- is this you sitting down with him and saying, "Tell me everything," or is it just, like, you sitting down with him, turning the camera on and letting him go?

Donte Woods-Spikes 23:54It's a combination.

Tim Fulton 23:55Okay.

Donte Woods-Spikes 23:55It's a combination of, um, just sitting down talking to him.

Tim Fulton 23:59Mm-hmm.

Donte Woods-Spikes 23:59Letting him say what he, what he's thinking, how he's feeling, and it's also me connecting with my family-

Tim Fulton 24:05Yeah

Donte Woods-Spikes 24:06... as well. You know, moments that are precious with them, just sharing about how they grew up, because they all lived in New York.

Tim Fulton 24:12Okay.

Donte Woods-Spikes 24:13So they lived where my Uncle Jimmy was, but we're in Ohio, so he had to travel.

Tim Fulton 24:19Right.

Donte Woods-Spikes 24:19So it's really interesting.

Tim Fulton 24:20So was it filmed in New York?

Donte Woods-Spikes 24:21What's that?

Tim Fulton 24:22Is it mostly-

Donte Woods-Spikes 24:22It was filmed in N- all of it was filmed in New York.

Tim Fulton 24:24Got it. Okay.

Donte Woods-Spikes 24:25All of it was filmed in New York.

Tim Fulton 24:26When there's a difficult moment in the trailer where you're listening to your uncle, your great uncle talk-

Donte Woods-Spikes 24:31Mm-hmm

Tim Fulton 24:31... um, he's at a point where-

Donte Woods-Spikes 24:33Mm-hmm

Tim Fulton 24:33... you almo-, you have to put subtitles on the screen because he's difficult to understand.

Donte Woods-Spikes 24:38Yes.

Tim Fulton 24:39Which I, it seems as though you're treating that pretty respectfully, but then quickly you talk to, I thi- I assume it's your uncle or cousin or brother.

Donte Woods-Spikes 24:46Mm-hmm.

Tim Fulton 24:47Somebody a little bit older than you, and you say, "Tell me about your dad and what he did for you."

Donte Woods-Spikes 24:51Mm-hmm, yes.

Tim Fulton 24:51And his response was, "Well, it's not really about what he did for me, it's about what he didn't do for me." And I was just like-

Donte Woods-Spikes 24:57Y-

Tim Fulton 24:57... okay.

Donte Woods-Spikes 24:57Yeah

Tim Fulton 24:57... that's the kind of film this is gonna be.

Donte Woods-Spikes 24:59That's, that's my cousin, uh, Peanut. Kareem, he named Kareem-

Tim Fulton 25:03Okay

Donte Woods-Spikes 25:03... nickname Peanut. You know-

Tim Fulton 25:04Call him whatever

Donte Woods-Spikes 25:04... you can call him Peanut, too. Shout out to Peanut. What's good, cousin? But, um, it's kinda like a back and forth of visiting my great uncle Jimmy, who was sick.

Tim Fulton 25:13Uh-huh.

Donte Woods-Spikes 25:14And my great uncle Charles is his brother.

Tim Fulton 25:16Okay.

Donte Woods-Spikes 25:17So he was taking care of my great uncle Jimmy, but he would also transition to going back home.

Tim Fulton 25:23Okay.

Donte Woods-Spikes 25:23And where he stays, my, um, his children, his family.

Tim Fulton 25:27Mm-hmm.

Donte Woods-Spikes 25:27So my cousin Kareem, Peanut, is his grandson.

Tim Fulton 25:32Okay.

Donte Woods-Spikes 25:32So I was talking to him about, you know, "Tell me about what's going on here in New York with the family."

Tim Fulton 25:38Right.

Donte Woods-Spikes 25:38"Tell me about your father. Tell me about the family. What have I missed out on?"

Tim Fulton 25:43Right.

Donte Woods-Spikes 25:44"What do I not know?" Because I'm here-

Tim Fulton 25:46'Cause you were semi-estranged from them-

Donte Woods-Spikes 25:48Yes

Tim Fulton 25:48... before he, before you knew he was sick.

Donte Woods-Spikes 25:51Yeah.

Tim Fulton 25:51And so what was the... You just sort of, you heard that he was sick, and you were like, "Okay, this is the last opportunity, so I should go."

Donte Woods-Spikes 25:59Pretty mu- yeah.

Tim Fulton 25:59Okay.

Donte Woods-Spikes 26:00I ho- to be 100% honest-

Tim Fulton 26:02Yeah

Donte Woods-Spikes 26:02... that's exactly what it was.

Tim Fulton 26:03Okay.

Donte Woods-Spikes 26:04Because I've had multiple opportunities to visit my great uncle.

Tim Fulton 26:08Mm-hmm.

Donte Woods-Spikes 26:09I did not do it. I had multiple chances to call my great uncle. I did not do it.

Tim Fulton 26:14What was the reason for that estrangement? Or was it just, it's inconvenient, or it's difficult, or they're subject matter I don't wanna get into?

Donte Woods-Spikes 26:25I think ho- to be 100% honest, it was just me.

Tim Fulton 26:28Okay.

Donte Woods-Spikes 26:29It was 100% me, of not taking the initiative to say, "People are not gonna be alive forever."

Tim Fulton 26:36Mm-hmm.

Donte Woods-Spikes 26:37And I've all of a sudden had this urge to love, to care, to embrace my great uncle when I know that he's in his last moments.

Tim Fulton 26:47Mm-hmm.

Donte Woods-Spikes 26:47You know, that's, that's unfair.

Tim Fulton 26:50Mm-hmm.

Donte Woods-Spikes 26:50That's unrealistic. And it's, like I said, this documentary is also, like, me just slapping myself in the face with my guilt.

Tim Fulton 26:57Okay.

Donte Woods-Spikes 26:58I have to recognize-

Tim Fulton 26:58Do you address that in the film? Like, do you insert yourself and say, "Here's how I feel about this," or do you do it through-

Donte Woods-Spikes 27:03I, I really didn't get to do that.

Tim Fulton 27:05Okay.

Donte Woods-Spikes 27:06Um, and like I s- like, when I recorded this, I really had no blueprint of how it was gonna go.

Tim Fulton 27:12Right.

Donte Woods-Spikes 27:13I was just shooting stuff.

Tim Fulton 27:14Well, that's the magic of editing, right?

Donte Woods-Spikes 27:15So yeah, the ma- but I was like, "I, I have to do something with this."

Tim Fulton 27:19Okay.

Donte Woods-Spikes 27:20And unexpectedly, um, like, the I, I made the event for it, and a lot of people are supposed to show up.

Tim Fulton 27:28Okay.

Donte Woods-Spikes 27:28More than I thought. I'm thinking like, "Oh, it's gonna be about 15 people. Hey, friends, family."

Tim Fulton 27:33Yeah.

Donte Woods-Spikes 27:33But it, it looks like seats are pretty much sold out.

Tim Fulton 27:36Okay. Well, and will you put it online after you have the premiere?

Donte Woods-Spikes 27:41Definitely. It, it-

Tim Fulton 27:41Okay

Donte Woods-Spikes 27:41... it's definitely gonna go up online. I may actually also put this into a film festival.

Tim Fulton 27:47Okay.

Donte Woods-Spikes 27:47Um, last year I put a documentary into a film festival, and unexpectedly it won.

Tim Fulton 27:52Okay.

Donte Woods-Spikes 27:53And it, it wasn't even completely finished yet.

Tim Fulton 27:55Okay.

Donte Woods-Spikes 27:55So-

Tim Fulton 27:56What was that documentary?

Donte Woods-Spikes 27:57That documentary is called Dante and Daymariah.

Tim Fulton 28:00Okay.

Donte Woods-Spikes 28:01Me being Dante, Daymariah being a young girl that I mentor.

Tim Fulton 28:05Okay.

Donte Woods-Spikes 28:05And as a male, I don't know too much about young girls, and this was a opportunity for me to show everyone, like, hey, men can mentor young girls, but also show, hey, I need some help.

Tim Fulton 28:17Right. Okay.

Donte Woods-Spikes 28:18Because she's about to transition into middle school.

Tim Fulton 28:21Yeah.

Donte Woods-Spikes 28:22And-

Tim Fulton 28:22Which is quite a time

Donte Woods-Spikes 28:24... I don't know much about young girls.

Tim Fulton 28:28No.

Donte Woods-Spikes 28:28I understand-

Tim Fulton 28:30Yeah

Donte Woods-Spikes 28:30... we, you know, me and her, we eat food together, we laugh and joke.

Tim Fulton 28:33Right.

Donte Woods-Spikes 28:34But she's about to be at that age where she may have questions. Her feelings are gonna change.

Tim Fulton 28:40Mm-hmm.

Donte Woods-Spikes 28:40No telling what is gonna happen in her life, and I have never been in a position where I had to watch over a young girl-

Tim Fulton 28:47Mm-hmm

Donte Woods-Spikes 28:48... and help navigate her to the next stage in life. And-

Tim Fulton 28:51What was that mentoring relationship like? What, how did it get started?

Donte Woods-Spikes 28:55It started at, like I said, just unexpectedly when I started volunteering at the church.

Tim Fulton 29:00Okay.

Donte Woods-Spikes 29:01She was the first kid I developed a relationship with.

Tim Fulton 29:03Okay.

Donte Woods-Spikes 29:04And throughout the years it was kinda off and on, but it was always there. And as time went on, I recognized, hey, this little girl has been a part of my life for years.

Tim Fulton 29:16Mm-hmm.

Donte Woods-Spikes 29:16For years. This is something serious. And now that she's about to go to middle school, I think I really need to take myself serious as a mentor and say, "Hey, Dante, you gotta kick it up a notch."

Tim Fulton 29:29Mm-hmm.

Donte Woods-Spikes 29:29Her environment is gonna change. The people she's around is gonna change. You also have to be prepared to be a real-life mentor, not somebody that just says they're doing it.

Tim Fulton 29:38Right.

Donte Woods-Spikes 29:39I can f- I can-

Tim Fulton 29:39So was this an active... 'Cause, like, th- there's adults, there are certainly adults that were in my life when I was, you know, in middle school-

Donte Woods-Spikes 29:49Yeah

Tim Fulton 29:49... and high school, um, who I consider mentors-

Donte Woods-Spikes 29:51Right

Tim Fulton 29:51... but it wasn't an active mentoring relationship, right?

Donte Woods-Spikes 29:54Right. I hate that.

Tim Fulton 29:55Like, they weren't, they weren't taking me to coffee every, like-

Donte Woods-Spikes 29:57I hate that

Tim Fulton 29:57... you know, two weeks or something and saying, "How you doing?"

Donte Woods-Spikes 29:59I d- I, I personally despise that.

Tim Fulton 30:02How do you mean?

Donte Woods-Spikes 30:03I, I, well, let me, let me... I, I despise- Someone taking the role-

Tim Fulton 30:09Okay

Donte Woods-Spikes 30:09... and saying, "This is my position. This is who I am." Take a selfie with you, say, "Oh yeah, we- I'm mentoring this kid."

Tim Fulton 30:17Okay.

Donte Woods-Spikes 30:17"This is my mentor. This is the person I'm playing basketball."

Tim Fulton 30:19Well, these, the people that I'm talking about, they didn't say, "I'm Tim's mentor."

Donte Woods-Spikes 30:23Okay.

Tim Fulton 30:24They... It was sort of like in hindsight, I'm like, that person was a mentor to me.

Donte Woods-Spikes 30:28Gotcha. Okay, okay.

Tim Fulton 30:29Yeah.

Donte Woods-Spikes 30:29Okay, okay. I'm, I'm, I'm think- I'm, I was somewhere else.

Tim Fulton 30:31Like people in my church-

Donte Woods-Spikes 30:32Okay, gotcha

Tim Fulton 30:32... or people that-

Donte Woods-Spikes 30:33Gotcha, gotcha

Tim Fulton 30:33... you know, I would be doing community theater with that I'm like, I learned a lot from them.

Donte Woods-Spikes 30:38Gotcha.

Tim Fulton 30:38And it was simply from being around them.

Donte Woods-Spikes 30:40Okay.

Tim Fulton 30:41So with, and I'm sorry, what's the young woman's name again?

Donte Woods-Spikes 30:43Day Mariah.

Tim Fulton 30:44Day Mariah. With Day Mariah, was this something where you were, like, blocking out time, you sit down and say, "What's going on with you?"

Donte Woods-Spikes 30:51Mm-hmm.

Tim Fulton 30:51"How can I help?"

Donte Woods-Spikes 30:52In the beginning, I was not.

Tim Fulton 30:54Okay.

Donte Woods-Spikes 30:54It was just on a, a weekly basis because she would show up to the summer camp.

Tim Fulton 30:58Okay.

Donte Woods-Spikes 30:59And, uh, you know, Thursday nights at the church.

Tim Fulton 31:01Mm-hmm.

Donte Woods-Spikes 31:01That's when I would see her. But eventually, it got to a point where I was like, "You know what? Today, I wanna have lunch with Day Mariah just because."

Tim Fulton 31:09Okay. Yeah.

Donte Woods-Spikes 31:09And before you knew it, I was having lunch with her every other week.

Tim Fulton 31:12Mm-hmm.

Donte Woods-Spikes 31:13And then before you knew it, I was just in the classroom helping her with her schoolwork. And then after that, before you knew it, I was picking her up, taking her to different events-

Tim Fulton 31:20Right

Donte Woods-Spikes 31:20... throughout the city. So it just slowly developed into something more than I imagined it would be.

Tim Fulton 31:26Mm-hmm.

Donte Woods-Spikes 31:26And as of now, I say, "Okay, I've established the relationship."

Tim Fulton 31:30Right.

Donte Woods-Spikes 31:31Now it's time to really dive into the mentorship.

Tim Fulton 31:34Okay.

Donte Woods-Spikes 31:34Because as I was just saying, I despise these people. If I'm not careful, I'm gonna be just like the people I despise.

Tim Fulton 31:40Okay.

Donte Woods-Spikes 31:41By saying, "I'm her mentor, I'm her mentor," but what am I giving this little girl?

Tim Fulton 31:45Yeah.

Donte Woods-Spikes 31:45What information am I giving her that she can take with her throughout life? How can I prepare her to be okay without me?

Tim Fulton 31:55Mm-hmm. Back to His Last Words, the documentary that's coming out, what... Y- you talked about how you had documented it for sort of maybe other family members-

Donte Woods-Spikes 32:07Mm-hmm

Tim Fulton 32:07... or future family members that are like, "I wanna learn about my history or my family-"

Donte Woods-Spikes 32:13That's right

Tim Fulton 32:13... larger. Why is the film, do you think, uh... What's the message in it for those that aren't part of your family?

Donte Woods-Spikes 32:21The message in it is I know I'm not the only person that has experienced this-

Tim Fulton 32:28Okay

Donte Woods-Spikes 32:28... or have gone through this. So one, if there is somebody that you care about, that you love, you can reach out to 'em.

Tim Fulton 32:36Mm-hmm.

Donte Woods-Spikes 32:36You can say hi. You can have a moment together. Also, sometimes you can be the person that did not take the opportunity-

Tim Fulton 32:45Mm-hmm

Donte Woods-Spikes 32:45... to reach out to someone, and I want people to think about that part, too.

Tim Fulton 32:49Yeah.

Donte Woods-Spikes 32:49Because it's easy to say, "Oh, this person didn't reach out. This person didn't really care." Sometimes that person is you. I was the person-

Tim Fulton 32:57Right

Donte Woods-Spikes 32:57... in this situation, and if somebody else is that person right now, it's like put whatever to the side that you have that's going on, any frustration or anger or misunderstandings, and reach out. Because you do not know when that moment will no longer exist.

Tim Fulton 33:16Mm-hmm.

Donte Woods-Spikes 33:16Even with people that are still alive, some of your friends or family, you can reach out to 'em if you want to. Sometimes we're stubborn. Sometimes we just put it off like, "Ah, next week."

Tim Fulton 33:27Yeah.

Donte Woods-Spikes 33:27"Next week." But all the-

Tim Fulton 33:28And sometimes somebody's not gonna respond and-

Donte Woods-Spikes 33:30And, right, exact-

Tim Fulton 33:31You also gotta be careful about the stories that you tell yourself about why that is.

Donte Woods-Spikes 33:34Exactly.

Tim Fulton 33:35Yeah.

Donte Woods-Spikes 33:36Exactly.

Tim Fulton 33:37What else do you, what else are you working on right now? What else is coming up?

Donte Woods-Spikes 33:41Honestly, I'm devoting a lot of time to documenting. So I have some different ideas-

Tim Fulton 33:47Okay

Donte Woods-Spikes 33:47... that I would like to do with, uh, documentaries. I, I definitely wanna document artists in the city.

Tim Fulton 33:53Okay.

Donte Woods-Spikes 33:54And I also have a, a, a big idea that I'm, I'm thinking about where I could get everybody in Columbus involved, because I use my social media as a vehicle-

Tim Fulton 34:03Mm-hmm

Donte Woods-Spikes 34:04... for people to talk to each other and come together.

Tim Fulton 34:06Yeah, I was gonna say, when you mentioned it earlier, it's, I've only been connected with you on social media for 24 hours.

Donte Woods-Spikes 34:12Yeah.

Tim Fulton 34:12But seeing the, the sort of conversations that you're curating there is-

Donte Woods-Spikes 34:15Oh, you, you saw that?

Tim Fulton 34:16... is interesting, yeah.

Donte Woods-Spikes 34:16Okay. And this is for my Facebook friends, 'cause they always be like, "Why you asking all these questions? Why you asking all these questions?"

Tim Fulton 34:22I'm curating a conversation. Right.

Donte Woods-Spikes 34:24But I'm looking to take these conversations and transition it into events-

Tim Fulton 34:31Okay

Donte Woods-Spikes 34:31... and video.

Tim Fulton 34:32Okay.

Donte Woods-Spikes 34:32So giving people a video library and events that they could come to, to actually talk about these things.

Tim Fulton 34:39Mm-hmm.

Donte Woods-Spikes 34:39And you know, a lot of people like, "Man, your questions so deep." I'm like, "They ain't deep." It's just I'm taking a moment to actually say it out loud.

Tim Fulton 34:47Right.

Donte Woods-Spikes 34:47'Cause everyone can comprehend what I'm asking.

Tim Fulton 34:49Yeah.

Donte Woods-Spikes 34:50And everyone has their own perceptions and thoughts about it. But I just take the opportunity to say it out loud, and people are, "Oh, man, you so deep." I'm like, "No, it's not that serious, y'all." But I, I, I do believe that I, I have perception.

Tim Fulton 35:04Yeah.

Donte Woods-Spikes 35:04And I, I do know how to ask a question that'll get different perceptions, the, um, people to share their perception and how they feel in their experiences.

Tim Fulton 35:12Mm-hmm.

Donte Woods-Spikes 35:12And also creating a safe space for that.

Tim Fulton 35:14Okay.

Donte Woods-Spikes 35:15You cannot do this if you do not create a safe space.

Tim Fulton 35:18Okay.

Donte Woods-Spikes 35:18That's, it's a thin line between that being eye-opening and somebody revealing something very personal-

Tim Fulton 35:25Mm-hmm

Donte Woods-Spikes 35:25... and having a life-changing moment, and a person shutting down and saying, "I'm never opening up again."

Tim Fulton 35:31Right.

Donte Woods-Spikes 35:31So-

Tim Fulton 35:31It's dan- I mean, it's, uh, it is the definition of vulnerability, right?

Donte Woods-Spikes 35:36Exa- literally.

Tim Fulton 35:37To open up-

Donte Woods-Spikes 35:37Literally

Tim Fulton 35:38... and, and share those things. How focused do you think those conversat- how focus, how much do you wanna curate that? Because you can sort of say, "Hey, we're gonna have a..." Like the Big Table that-

Donte Woods-Spikes 35:51Right

Tim Fulton 35:51... the Columbus Foundation does.

Donte Woods-Spikes 35:52Right.

Tim Fulton 35:52They don't really prescribe, "Here's what you're supposed to be talking about."

Donte Woods-Spikes 35:57Mm-hmm.

Tim Fulton 35:58And I think that that's good and that's bad, right?

Donte Woods-Spikes 36:00Right.

Tim Fulton 36:00Because there's, it's good to have people at a table that may not be at a table before-

Donte Woods-Spikes 36:05Right

Tim Fulton 36:05... and to bring up issues, but- Unless you've sort of got someone curating the conversation, where's that gonna go?

Donte Woods-Spikes 36:13Right.

Tim Fulton 36:13And also there's a risk there of like-

Donte Woods-Spikes 36:16Definitely

Tim Fulton 36:16... sort of competing ideals about here's how to solve large problems in our community.

Donte Woods-Spikes 36:20Got you. And I purposely, like the questions that I ask are-

Tim Fulton 36:25Uh-huh

Donte Woods-Spikes 36:25... pure, like-

Tim Fulton 36:26And they are pretty broad

Donte Woods-Spikes 36:27... pretty philosophical and-

Tim Fulton 36:29Yeah

Donte Woods-Spikes 36:29... gives you a opportunity to say what you wanna say.

Tim Fulton 36:32Mm-hmm.

Donte Woods-Spikes 36:32There's really not a correct answer. It's more so emotionally driven or-

Tim Fulton 36:37Mm-hmm

Donte Woods-Spikes 36:37... experience driven.

Tim Fulton 36:38Mm-hmm.

Donte Woods-Spikes 36:38I stay away from like definite answers or, or questions that, you know, somebody can go to Google and say, "This is the answer."

Tim Fulton 36:45Right.

Donte Woods-Spikes 36:46No.

Tim Fulton 36:46It's not Twitter.

Donte Woods-Spikes 36:48That... But, um, I did six big tables in one day.

Tim Fulton 36:51Okay.

Donte Woods-Spikes 36:52Uh, for the, with the Columbus Foundation. And I actually, I did a documentary that I'm gonna release soon.

Tim Fulton 36:58Oh.

Donte Woods-Spikes 36:58For now, like after I do this.

Tim Fulton 37:00Glad we came across that. All right.

Donte Woods-Spikes 37:02I did a documentary, I actually document all the conversations we had.

Tim Fulton 37:05Mm-hmm.

Donte Woods-Spikes 37:05So I think it's important that depending on who is curating kind of gives the atmosphere a, a vibe and a feeling-

Tim Fulton 37:13Mm-hmm

Donte Woods-Spikes 37:14... where they can say, "I trust this person, so I know whatever happens or whatever the conversation will be, I can more so direct it towards them."

Tim Fulton 37:23Okay.

Donte Woods-Spikes 37:23And it's really not about this other person that's next to me that may have a different idea or vision.

Tim Fulton 37:29Right.

Donte Woods-Spikes 37:30I know that we all trust Donte, so obviously I can trust you.

Tim Fulton 37:35Right.

Donte Woods-Spikes 37:35But you also have to be good at curating and directing and, and not silencing people.

Tim Fulton 37:40Right.

Donte Woods-Spikes 37:41But also directing the conversation and saying, "Okay, this is what you said."

Tim Fulton 37:45So you did those six big tables all in one day.

Donte Woods-Spikes 37:48Right.

Tim Fulton 37:48And there's a link. We won't get into what the big table is. I think we've ti- It's, it's in the, the Columbus Foundation episode. We'll also link to information in, on it in the show notes. But were those six completely different conversations in terms of subject matter, or because you were participating in it, do you feel like it was, "Oh, we're having six different conversations about race."

Donte Woods-Spikes 38:12Mm-hmm.

Tim Fulton 38:12And there's gonna be different results.

Donte Woods-Spikes 38:14Right.

Tim Fulton 38:14But, and I don't wanna pigeonhole you obviously.

Donte Woods-Spikes 38:17Right, right, right, right.

Tim Fulton 38:18That, you know, your art is not storytelling about race.

Donte Woods-Spikes 38:20Right.

Tim Fulton 38:20But that is a big part of what you do.

Donte Woods-Spikes 38:22Right, right.

Tim Fulton 38:23Um, was it six different conversations around race?

Donte Woods-Spikes 38:27No.

Tim Fulton 38:27Okay.

Donte Woods-Spikes 38:28It was six completely-

Tim Fulton 38:29It was organic and-

Donte Woods-Spikes 38:29... different conversations.

Tim Fulton 38:31Okay.

Donte Woods-Spikes 38:31Um, one was about community in general.

Tim Fulton 38:35Okay.

Donte Woods-Spikes 38:35As we speak about community, what does that really mean?

Tim Fulton 38:39Mm-hmm.

Donte Woods-Spikes 38:40The second conversation was about gentrification.

Tim Fulton 38:43Mm-hmm.

Donte Woods-Spikes 38:43The third conversation was about mental health.

Tim Fulton 38:46Okay.

Donte Woods-Spikes 38:46The fourth conversation was about young Black men in Columbus 'cause w- aft- when I had the big table, the homicide rate r- record was broken.

Tim Fulton 38:55Yeah. It was that year.

Donte Woods-Spikes 38:56And a large portion of them were young African American men.

Tim Fulton 39:00Mm-hmm.

Donte Woods-Spikes 39:00The fifth conversation was about the community, um, the, the future of the youth.

Tim Fulton 39:06Okay.

Donte Woods-Spikes 39:06The future of the youth in Columbus. And the sixth one was, uh, actually a social media-

Tim Fulton 39:11Okay

Donte Woods-Spikes 39:12... big table for people that really couldn't go out and pro- um-

Tim Fulton 39:16It was virtual

Donte Woods-Spikes 39:16... be a part of the... It was a virtual big table conversation.

Tim Fulton 39:19Okay.

Donte Woods-Spikes 39:19So that's, that was all of the different ones that I did.

Tim Fulton 39:21Well, props to you to be able to just count those off off the top of your head.

Donte Woods-Spikes 39:24Oh yeah.

Tim Fulton 39:25It's a-

Donte Woods-Spikes 39:25I take my stuff serious, man.

Tim Fulton 39:26That's good. That's good. So just to wrap up, tell me about what the other good things you see going on in Columbus. You did a, a little list earlier of some of the artists-

Donte Woods-Spikes 39:36Mm-hmm

Tim Fulton 39:36... uh, that you know and respect.

Donte Woods-Spikes 39:37Right.

Tim Fulton 39:37Any other things that you believe that folks should check out-

Donte Woods-Spikes 39:40Mm-hmm

Tim Fulton 39:41... and good stuff going on in Columbus?

Donte Woods-Spikes 39:43Uh, it's, I, what I will say is if you see someone that is a artist in Columbus that is a friend of yours, dive a little bit deeper because you'll find out that they have so much other things that you could support or be a part of. Because I know I have years' worth of content that I'm about to start sharing right now.

Tim Fulton 40:06Mm-hmm.

Donte Woods-Spikes 40:07So if you live in Columbus and you have a friend that does art, you know what? Just ask them like, "Hey, how much art do you really have?" Or, "How many videos do you have? Would you be interested in showing them? Can I learn more about what you're doing?"

Tim Fulton 40:21Encourage them.

Donte Woods-Spikes 40:21So yeah, definitely encourage. It's, that, the life of a artist is depressing sometimes.

Tim Fulton 40:26Yeah. You're working alone, right?

Donte Woods-Spikes 40:27It's depressing sometimes.

Tim Fulton 40:29Yeah.

Donte Woods-Spikes 40:29So I would, I would, anybody that lives in Columbus, if you have a friend, family member, whoever, just ask, "How can I support your art?" Or, "What art are you doing right now?" And that's like, that's the best thing I can think of right now.

Tim Fulton 40:42Cool.

Donte Woods-Spikes 40:42There's so much stuff going on and sometimes you don't even know.

Tim Fulton 40:45Yeah, absolutely.

Donte Woods-Spikes 40:46You don't even know that people are doing the art. So definitely ask, "How can I support?"

Tim Fulton 40:50Donte, thank you so much for sitting down today.

Donte Woods-Spikes 40:52Oh, thank you for having me.

Tim Fulton 41:02Thank you for listening to the Confluence Cast presented by Columbus Underground. Again, you can get more information on what we discussed today in the show notes for this episode at theconfluencecast.com. Please rate, subscribe, share this episode of the Confluence Cast with your friends, family, contacts, enemies, your favorite speaker. If you're interested in sponsoring the Confluence Cast, get in touch with us. We can be reached by email at info@theconfluencecast.com. Our theme music was composed by Benji Robinson. Our producer is Philip Cogley. I'm your host, Tim Fulton. Have a great week.