Adam Cowart, Teacher, Filmmaker, Fixer

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Le Pop-Tart c'est fantastique!

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Welcome to another episode of Chewing the Fat. I am your host, Big Robb. Thank you so much for tuning in, downloading the podcast. I certainly do appreciate that. Thanks for the folks that have bought me a coffee at ChewingTheFatBR.com. And the new friends that are following the podcast on Instagram at ChewingTheFatBR. It's the podcast where we tell beautiful, messy human stories and help you find a way to keep the darkness at bay. My guest today.

00:38
He is an educator for a long long time here in the CSRA Please welcome Adam Cowart Adam welcome. Yeah. Thank you for having me. I appreciate the time. Yeah, this is great I Met Adam probably probably through La Chat Noir Either in either you want to show or I was in a show or you were doing something That was getting filmed there or whatever, but that's kind of how our circles

01:07
and our paths crossed. Unbeknownst to me, you actually taught my youngest son Spanish at North Augusta High School as well. Oh yeah? Yeah, when he would talk of Señor Cowart, I didn't know that at the time when we met, you were said Señor Cowart. So that's pretty cool when you run across folks from other dimensions of your life and all like that. But thank you so much for being here. Yeah, no worries, I'm glad I could make it. Yeah, yeah. So as I said, I'm...

01:36
You're an educator. You're still teaching. Is that right? Yes. When I was 23, I started teaching Spanish at North Augusta High School. And I taught there for 11 years. And then I moved over to Evans High School. And this is my 18th year of teaching. Wow. Yeah. Still teaching Spanish. This year they've got me doing Spanish 1, AP Spanish, and Spanish 4, which has been challenging because I've never done either one of those upper levels before.

02:07
do languages and that stuff kind of come natural to you? I mean, what was the attraction of Spanish? It does. When I was in high school, when I was in 10th grade, I took Spanish I. Nobody on either side of my family speaks any Spanish. I just took it, and it was OK. And then I got good at it. I took Spanish II, and that was very easy. I took Spanish III when I was a senior, and that was pretty easy as well. And then I went to college, and a year went by. I took a placement test.

02:37
and they put me in college level Spanish four. And I said, all right, we'll see if I can do this. And then I got an A in the class and I was thinking I might really be onto something. And the class was completely in Spanish. And then from there, originally my major was journalism because I wanted to be some kind of cartoonist. I spent my whole life drawing. And even in college, I was gonna be a cartoonist. And my minor was Spanish just cause I liked it. And I was talking to my advisor and she said, well, you know, you could do something with Spanish as well. You could be an interpreter, you could be a teacher.

03:06
And I thought, yeah, I really enjoyed my time in high school. So I switched my major to Spanish, my minor to secondary education. And then from there, I took all kinds of upper level classes. I took, um, uh, Hispanic American culture, conversation, grammar, history of Spain. And then I, in 2004, I studied at the university of Salamanca in Spain as part of my undergrad.

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And then years later, I went and got my master's degree from the University of Salamanca in Spain. So I spent 10 weeks over two summers taking 400 hours of classes and writing a 50 page essay in Spanish, and I got all A's. Wow. That's crazy, that's crazy. Is Spanish the only language, Spanish and English is the only languages you speak? Are you a polyglot? Do you have other languages? Well, they're the only two I speak fluently. I did take French one. I had a hole in my schedule. I had not.

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I needed an extra class to maintain my scholarship, so I signed up for French One. And by that point, I just blew it out of the ocean because it's so close to Spanish. And so I took that, and I've stayed in practice with our French teacher at our school. So I speak conversational French fairly well. When I went to Japan, I taught myself some conversational things, like where is, how much does it cost, hello, thank you, that sort of thing. Oh wow. And that was a lot of fun, using that to talk to the cashiers.

04:25
Because in Japan, you don't really engage with the cashier. You give them the money, they say thank you, and you leave. And even though I knew that, I wanted to talk to them anyway. So I would walk up and ask, Ogenki desu ka? Are you doing well? And they would say, every time they would laugh, they would say, Hai, kenki desu? Yeah, I'm doing well, because they thought it was so confusing, here's this random American asking them how they're doing. And if they ask it back, ogenki desu ka? I would say, hai, okagesama de? Which is, yes, because of you.

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but it's way, way over respect. It's like you're talking to the emperor and I'm talking to a cashier and they couldn't get enough. They love that every time. Oh, wow. That's awesome. Yeah, so it's fun. And I tell my students, with all the technology, with Google Translate and all this AI things and everything, when you look someone in the eyes and speak their language, you make such a special connection that you're missing out on if you're using technology instead of bridging the gap yourself. Yeah, yeah. I know I personally sit for hours.

05:25
I shouldn't sit for hours, but watching like, Xiaoma on YouTube, where he like, is going to go somewhere and wants to learn the language and will like, try to get conversational enough to go visit a place like, so I mean, he's got videos where he's gone to, you know, speaking Gaelic and, you know, Italian and Japanese and Chinese and, you know, Mandarin and all of the different dialects and different areas as well as like, different dialects in Africa.

05:55
Stuff like that. I just think that's amazing, first of all, to have the mindset to be able to do that. But as you said, when you can speak to somebody in their own language and watching these videos, they do. They kind of chuckle, they laugh. They're like, oh, how are you? How are you this, you know, white kid? Because he's a white kid. How are you this white kid, you know, speaking in my own language? That is so cool. Yeah. There's a saying that says, if you speak to a man, you touch his head. If you speak to him in his own language, you touch his heart. Oh, wow.

06:23
And I have actually a student at my school who speaks Mandarin, particularly Fuzhounese, which is where a lot of the people from the restaurants in the area are from, from a place called Fuzhoun. And he said, I said, you ever talk to them in Mandarin? And he said, oh, yeah, I talked to them. And they gave it like they threw it a bunch of dumplings last time because they were just so it was just so great to speak to this young man. That is so cool. Yeah. And it is so cool to see your face as you're talking about this and talking about speaking to the cash.

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cashiers and things like that. Just to me, the excitement on your face, it knows that you're excited because you're doing something for someone else too, you know what I mean? It's not just you. It's not just you to show off, hey, look, I can speak your language. You're connecting, you're wanting to connect. It's kind of bringing a little bit of like Southern hospitality around the world. Yeah, absolutely. And what I tell my students is not to be afraid to speak Spanish with someone if they get the chance.

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because I said, imagine that you had to move to China and all day long, all you hear is Chinese. Ni hao, jià jiàn, ni hao ma, and you have to speak Chinese, you're hearing Chinese, and it's such this effort. I said, imagine some guy comes in and says, hey man, what's going on? Hey, you remember Burger King? And you would be like, oh yes, Burger King, I remember. And for that moment, you get to speak your own language, it's like coming up for air. And I said, there's a lot of people in our country that are surrounded by English.

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And when you make that effort, even as small or broken as it may be, they really appreciate it that you've taken the time to speak their language, and they are very appreciative, and they're not going to be offended or embarrassed or anything like that because you're trying. Yeah, I love that. I mentioned about bringing Southern hospitality around the world because I was making an assumption, but are you from the Augusta area? I am. I grew up in Aiken. OK. Lived in Aiken my whole life as a child.

08:15
middle school we moved to st. Simon's Island, Georgia and then high school we moved back here to the local area and I went to Lakeside and I've been in Augusta ever since That's awesome in the propensity for picking up the language languages and especially Spanish and going that route You say just kind of came naturally. Did you ever did you have any other like? skills that you felt that

08:45
that you wanted to dive more into? I know you mentioned something about being a cartoonist. Do you still dabble in drawing and things like that, even just for as a hobby? Well, I don't draw so much anymore, except when I make storyboards for my movies. I used to paint a lot, because I used to draw pictures, and then I realized when I would make paintings for people or for myself, it was more of a product. It's this colorful, it's big, it's finished, you put a lot of time into it.

09:13
And then after that, I got friends with Kenny Perkins. We started teaching the same year together at Evans High School, and he invited me to the Southeastern Filmmakers. So I came and I was like, oh, this is a fun place, great energy. There was a monthly filmmaking challenge. So you'd see, you know, good movies, you'd see maybe rougher movies. And I loved that energy of that place. And then I bought my own little camera. It's the DJI Pocket 2. It's like a little $300 camera.

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fits in your pocket, films in 4K, 60 FPS. And I started writing stories about this little character named Itty Bitty Bob. And Itty Bitty Bob is a tiny character I've made who is three inches tall. And I went on YouTube, I taught myself green screen, I taught myself DaVinci Pro, and I started making these little movies and it became this hit at my filmmaking club to where everybody would look forward to it. It was like the little cartoon, it was like the dessert after all of the other things were presented. And...

10:11
And it's been fun because it's always been very rough. There's no high standard I put on myself. Plus I don't have a lot of time to do it. And that's why I called my production, Small Potatoes Pictures, because my big aspiration is to show it at the meeting and get some laughs. And so since then, I became one of our club's major contributors, and then I'm now the club secretary. So I've really found a home with those people. We've worked on so many different projects together, whether it be my projects or Kenny's projects.

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So filmmaking has been such a wonderful creative outlet to me, just because the best part to me is you make a product and you get to show it to people. And they laugh at the funny things. And they think that the moral lessons that I build in are very sweet. And it's just been a big hit. It has kind of become its own thing. And I think I've worked with maybe around 12 to 15 different actors beside myself. So it's been really fun. That's awesome.

11:09
And where do you get your inspiration from? Many times it'll come from a song. Oh, OK. I love, love, love music. I fell in love with music when I first went to Spain. And we would go out to the dance clubs, and they would have this techno music. And I got into this whole techno scene. Oh, wow. And also, there are a lot of international music is there. So then in college, I was really into music from India and Africa and Australia and just seeing what I could get into. So whenever I.

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my whole life, even back when I was playing Super Nintendo, I was playing Street Fighter II, and I was looking through that you could play the songs in the options menu, and I was thinking, man, I could imagine such a cool scene for this, like a fight scene or a car chase or things like that. And so even nowadays, if I hear something and it sounds like, man, that would be really cool, I'll save it to my playlist and then see if something comes up. And also maybe I will think,

12:04
I'll just hear a song and I'll just, I'll see a scene. You know, maybe it's a scene of two people in love or maybe it's a scene of something sad or things like that. And through my Itty Bitty Bob series, I've explored very serious things. Like one where it's usually a funny thing. It's usually me, you know, like my latest when I'm on a golf course and when I jump in the sand trap, all of a sudden I'm a Legionnaire in the desert. And that's very silly.

12:31
And I've touched on some more serious things. One was where there is my friend Sarah, I got her to play a homeless person. She's covered up and lying on the ground and people are passing her by. And what inspired this one was there's this short and there's a blind man and he has a sign that says, I'm blind, please help. And people are passing by and not doing anything. And then someone changes the sign and...

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Now the sign says, it's a beautiful day, but I can't see it. And people are just putting all this kinds of money. And he asked the woman, what did you do to my sign? And she said, I just changed the words. And so this one, I think it said something like, please help or something like that. And then I find a pencil, I go on this whole little adventure and I find a pencil and change her sign.

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And now it says, I think it says, I'm hungry, or something along the line, it was something like that. But my movies always have a lot of music. So anything that can convey a message, teach a lesson, which is what's really good about the My Little Pony. There's this My Little Pony friendship, it's magic, it's this cartoon that got really popular, really popular among adult men, became this whole brony craze.

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But one thing that the show is lauded for is that it has a moral lesson. It teaches you about kindness or friendship. And I've always said the most important thing you can teach someone is kindness. Yeah. Yeah. That's one of those, you see it a lot. And I mean, and I believe it too. I try to move through life with kindness. It's like, if you can be anything, be kind, or it doesn't cost anything to be kind. And then I have...

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friends are like, well, it doesn't cost anything to be an a-hole either. It's like, yes, at that moment, but you don't know what that could cost down the line if you're an a-hole because you could either cost you, maybe you were an a-hole to the wrong person and that was the person that you were going to have the interview with or something. So you're now like, okay, maybe it did cost me something to be an a-hole. Or what it cost the other person. Right. Maybe they were already down and you kicked them by being an a-hole.

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that caused them to go into an even darker place or something like that. Yeah, so I think kindness is always, we should always lead with kindness. Yeah, I think it was an expression that says something like don't look down on someone unless you're reaching to pick them up. I love that, I love that. So being in the filmmaking community here in Augusta, how has that changed from when you first got in it to where you're at now? You've been doing films in this community for a

15:17
for about how long? I'd say a few years. Like I said, it just started with me coming to the meetings. Our president was Nick Law, a super great guy. Yeah, I love Nick. And I would live for the next film challenge. I would be hanging on it, you know, waiting what was the next challenge. And one month it was dancing, one month it was slow motion. And I was always just on the edge of my seat to see that.

15:40
And since then, we have, Kenny and I have worked with so many different people. I mean, I couldn't even, it would take me forever to list them all because we've worked with so many different sound guys, lighting technicians, producers, cinematographers, his equipment has grown. Mine is exactly the same. I have the same, I've added one light. So now I have my pocket camera and one light that I need to find. But his equipment has grown. Our connections have grown.

16:08
to the point where we have made friends. You know, he calls his company, it's Fail Safe Productions, and we call it the Fail Safe Family, because we've spent a lot of time with these people. I mean, we've had 10, 12-hour shoots. And, you know, I was telling my dad the other day, it's like being a crew on a ship. You have victories together, you suffer together, you contribute together, and there's a lot of bonds that you form. You know, when you spend so much time with someone and in between takes, you get to know them and you exchange phone numbers and...

16:38
You know, you become friends and it's been a wonderful experience. I was telling my family that being on his film sets is invaluable to me because I can be 100% my actual self and I am loved and appreciated and not judged. And I don't even for a moment second think it. Should I tone it down? Should I act, you know, a little bit extra whatever to fit in? Because they just love me for how I am.

17:08
And it's great to be in that environment for so long where, you know, I'm just a hundred percent myself and that's that's what they like. Yeah. Yeah. I had the opportunity to work with Kenny a couple of weekends ago on one of his latest films. Granted, and it was because you put something, hey, we're looking for a guy. And I was like, well, I got some time. Yeah. You know, right. And it was basically just I had to act like I was passed out on a couch and then.

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act like I was passed out on a couch with blood all over me. So it was great. But yeah, and I told Kenny then, they did this little rap video promo thing that they did. I was like, you know, even just being Mr. Body on the couch, it was so cool just to be in that creative environment, to be around, I mean, there was at least probably 10, 12 folks that were there. Nick was there.

18:05
Kenny Denton was there. Just a great collaborative environment to be in where there is a vision and we're all pushing towards that same vision and we all want excellence for that vision. It was just that common goal. It was just such a great, again, I was just laying on the couch, but it was still just great to be in that atmosphere. Great bunch of people there. It is, I absolutely take my hat off to Kenny. One natural talent of his,

18:35
is keeping a large number of people happy for a long period of time. They're fed, they're hanging out, everybody's in a good mood. Even some of our really late night shoots, people are still hanging in there. And it's just a great energy. I actually had to kind of teach him how to perceive it correctly because he would have this production going and this was earlier on and he would be like, you know, I think everybody's just ready to go.

19:02
And one time I stopped him, I said, Keeney, I want you to look around. I said, there are 20 people in this room. I said, that guy is talking to somebody. That one's eating. These people are hanging out. These people are looking at pictures on their phone together. I said, nobody here is in a hurry to leave. This is what they plan to do tonight, and they want to be here. And that kind of got him over that hump. And now, he does it more effortlessly with, he provides the food, he provides...

19:28
you know, everybody a comfortable space and all that sort of thing. And, you know, we we everybody feels comfortable. We got women who feel very comfortable around a bunch of men because we make sure to give them their space, you know, for whatever changing or whatever. So it's just it's just it's just a great energy and I love being honored to be a part of it. That's awesome. What's what's the next itty bitty

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Bob that you might be working on or or is there a challenge that SCFM has going on that you're working on or anything like that? The monthly challenge for this month, if anyone out there is interested, is to take something ordinary and really make it look extraordinary, like incredible. It are, I can't remember if it was Brendan or Ben that was inspired to do this challenge, but there's a video.

20:15
where they take Waffle House and make it look like a five-star dining experience. Oh yeah, I've seen that. Yeah, everything's painted gold, there's this WH logo, and then at the end it goes Waffle House, and it's like spelled like it's German. Yeah. So if I get the time, because I'm super busy at work this year, if I get the time, I would love to do one for Pop Tarts, where it shows this chef in the kitchen, and a super macro close-up of the sprinkles falling, and then at the end it would be a French chef, and he goes,

20:45
It's fantastic. That's awesome. That would be fun if I get the time. Well, maybe maybe something will come together. That's awesome. Have you speaking of Pop Tarts, have you seen the the unfrosted movie that's on Netflix? So it's it's the origin story, quote unquote, origin story of the Pop Tarts. Oh, wow. It was great. It was it was a lot of fun. It's a it's a bit tongue in cheek, but it was I thought I thought it was.

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done very well and it was very entertaining. And I feel like it's probably, you know, probably like 90% fact of how things went down. Just, you know, some of the names and dialogues change and protect the innocent, I guess. Right. It sounds like a good ride. Yeah, it's very good. It's very good if you have a chance to check that out. I liked the collaboration that Lifetime Movies did with KFC and I think it was called something like Flavor of Temptation or something like that. But they had...

21:41
Mario Lopez played Colonel Sanders. And it was also very tongue in cheek. It was like an actual lifetime movie, making fun of lifetime movies. And it was just, it was so, it was like this yuppie guy who had this really long sweater on. And that was very fun. That's awesome. I'm a big fan of like the mockumentary style, you've got like the mighty wind and...

22:07
Of course, you know, this is spying on tap in those type of movies where they're a little bit self-aware and don't take themselves too seriously even What was it? Was it flaming hot the hot one? Yeah flaming hot that they did on the flaming hot Cheetos This is on like Hulu or whatever little short series. I thought that was great, too Is there like a dream project that you'd like to work on? I mean, I know like Santa you're your your longtime educator your

22:36
You're kind of in it to win it as a teacher. But is there something outside of that that's a dream of yours that you'd like to do? I would love to be a voice actor for either cartoons or video games. I've met multiple voice actors. I would love to be the guy who I'm at the table and people are lined up for autographs. And they're geeking out. They want me to sign their figure or their picture or whatever.

23:07
I would love to be the guy who, you know, is, you know, they're just so excited to meet. You know, I've been successful and I've done fun characters they've fallen in love with. For example, I met John St. John, who is the voice of Duke Nukem, who's one of my, he's this macho video game character. And I got to meet him and he spent a lot of time with me. It was just us for a little bit and we took a picture and I got an autograph from him. And since I was in middle school, I was probably

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38 at this point. Since I was in middle school, I've been playing the Duke Nukem games. And sometimes you even have to pay these voice actors just, you know, say a voice line, $20 or something like that. But he just did all this on his own. And it was the most surreal moment in my life because he was right next to me and he was like, he's like, my name's Duke Nukem and I'm ready to kick ass. You know, things like that. And I was just, it was just, I couldn't believe it. It was just, it was just, I had been hearing his voice for so many years and then he's just right there with me.

24:06
So I would love to be the person who, you know, it would just be really fun. Like I've watched background footage of like anime voice actors. And there's this one, his name is Ryuk and he's a death god. And he's, you know, he showed him in the booth and he's like, humans are so interesting. And I can do a lot of voices and accents. And I've always said somebody could save a lot of money if they hire me, because I can voice like at least 10 different characters, you know, stuff like that. I think it would be really fun. Yeah, yeah.

24:36
It's funny as I'm now full time into voice acting and doing commercial work and things like that and animation and video games. I audition for those every so often. But in the community, when you're talking about how the voice actors that I've met, they are just so giving of their time. They're so welcoming to a newbie in this community that wants to take part. They're like, yeah, you should do this and you should talk to this person.

25:03
This person would be a great coach if you want to do animation. This person would be, you know, avoid this. It is so welcoming and they are very giving of their time of that. But what I have learned, you're talking about being being a mimic. You define your own voice. Oh, yeah. Oh, no, those were just examples. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, it's like it's it's like the voice match is what that would be called. Yeah. The voice match stuff doesn't come around a whole lot.

25:28
Especially if you're remote and you're living in, you know, Hickens, South Carolina in Augusta area and that type of stuff But when they can find you and they can find Adam and they can get you know Those still type of performances from the voice that Adam has that's when the magic happens. So I think you should You can definitely pursue it while you're still an educator and there's Ways to find that I'd be glad to you know, show you some of the stuff that I've been learning You know once we once we could record a podcast

25:57
But yeah, you definitely could do that even now as just dipping your toe in it if that's a goal that you have. Yeah. I love that. That's great. That's great. Adam, what's bringing you joy right now?

26:16
Um, I would say.

26:21
The truth is I've been really tired lately. This is good sleeps and naps. Right. This is our fifth week back at school with the kids, six weeks without. I would say, I mean, one of my favorite things to do, I have these two friends on the computer on Discord. Reagan is my friend who lives in Colorado and Liam lives in Canada. So I love spending time with them. Like it's the end of the day. Maybe my wife is chilling out in bed. All my work is done.

26:51
And when I get to just hang out with them, I love to play games together. Sometimes we'll play different games and just talk to each other while we play games. So for me, video games have always been a great outlet. Yeah. It's just, it's something that you can get into and lose track of and just kind of be somewhere else for a little bit. I have my gaming room, which is covered, all four walls are covered ceiling to floor with different artworks.

27:19
I've got my computer, I've got a ton of different anime figures and things. One of which that just came in the mail is a little statue of Japanese comedian, Kenny-kun. He's like a muscle man. So it's like a little muscle man figure of him shouting and it's hilarious to look at. But I don't know, video games are always very relaxing and very fun. I love to watch shows on the couch with my wife. The best part of my day is always when I come home.

27:48
and we eat dinner on the couch and we watch something together with my wife and my dog. And aside from that, I love being on film sets. You know, my favorite role on the film set is fixer. And a fixer is I help with scouting locations, fostering communication, going to get coffee, cooking macaroni, anything. I fix it. If something comes up, I help fix it. That's how I found you is I was I reached out to so many people. All I said, I said, we need someone.

28:18
to lay on this couch, you know, and you were the only person after like two days of trying who reached out. So you really saved our butts. So, you know, we owe you one. But yeah, I just, so anyway, so my favorite role in the film set, as much as I like acting, is just to be there. I just love to be there, being around that energy, being part of what's being done. And yeah, and just any little thing.

28:45
I've always told people my default mood is excited. I'm always excited. And to the point where sometimes I have trouble sleeping, especially if I have something I'm excited about. Like if we've got a big film shoot coming up, or if I'm about to go to a convention the next day, I'm just so jazzed I can't even sleep. So I'm very thankful that that is my natural way of being, is that I'm just always excited. That's awesome. And...

29:11
So yeah, that's a big thing. Just, I love life. I love being alive. I love eating. I love participating in everything. So I try to find joy in everything, even at work. I've always said that my favorite part of my job is, I tell the students, I say, I hate grading. I hate lesson plannings. I hate trainings. I hate meetings. I hate workshops. I hate everything about my job, except the time that I spend with you guys.

29:37
And I don't have any children of my own, and I don't really plan to, but it is such an honor and a privilege to be a part of their life and have them be a part of mine, even for that short time. And I've been at it for so long. I've been to two of my students' weddings. I've seen them get master's degrees, have children, and people say, doesn't that make you feel old? And I said, no, it makes me feel excited for them. I'm so proud of them to see what they do. That's awesome. Yeah, and I've always said, the biggest gratification in my job

30:07
is when I see my students doing something on their own that I taught them how to do.

30:17
This is the second segment of the show. This is where we talk more a little about your mental health journey. As someone who deals with anxiety and depression, I feel everybody kind of goes through those days, even if it's not diagnosed, if you just have those days where you feel like you don't want to get out of bed, or you just don't feel like doing things. I think one of the things depression tries to tell you is that you're alone, and that's how it tries to control you.

30:46
The more that we talk about it, the more we take that power away from depression. So for you, how do you keep the darkness at bay?

30:59
For me, I think when I've been in my hardest times, I try to remind myself of who's on my team. I've been through some really tough times or really tough situations. And the only thing that got me through them was physically imagining my friends standing behind me with, you know, whether it's just me picturing them with me.

31:26
I had that validation that there's nothing wrong with me. I'm good enough. So for me, it's just anything that's positive. I try to keep everything positive. I love happy music. I like games that are not that heavy or dark. I like TV shows that are light. Like recently, I've been watching Brooklyn Nine-Nine, which has been so funny. It's very much like The Office. It's very lighthearted. And...

31:56
You know, I think really having that community to lean on, whether it's your family, whether it's your friends, whether it's a coworker, someone you play games with, I've never met any of them in person. And they were my strongest allies, because I told them what I was going through, and they were absolutely there for me. And so I think that having your community and your safety net is a good reassuring presence that

32:24
you know, you're going to be all right and we're in this with you. And, you know, I was trying to think of what I was going to say. One thing that I've told my students, because there's been so many students I will take out in the hallway and say, what's going on? Is there anything I can help you with? And I say, whatever it is, you are not alone. And I say anything, whether you have this heavy depression.

32:51
whether you're losing a grandparent, whether you have some obsessive thoughts, whether it's something inconsequential, like a grown man who watches My Little Pony. I said, you are not alone in anything. You could be somebody who likes to sew hats for dogs. You're not the only one. You are never the only one. And one of my real sweet girls last year, she graduated, and we took a picture together.

33:21
And at graduation, and she didn't have her phone, so I sent it to her, I found her Instagram. And I said, I said, hey, here's the picture you wanted. And I said, my thought for you today is, I said, you are enough today, and you always will be, and you don't need anyone else to validate that. And she texted back and she said, you have no idea how much I needed to hear that today. You spoke to my soul, thank you. And I'm so glad you've been in my life.

33:51
And that's a huge thing. And so that was really nice because you see situations where there's someone who is kind or sweet and somewhere along the line that maybe they have a husband or boyfriend who makes them feel less than or a girlfriend or whoever, right? And I'm very protective of my students. And so I try to head that off like I think...

34:16
you know, if someday this person is with somebody who makes them feel like they are not beautiful or they're not important or they're not smart, I would love for them to be able to think back and picture me behind them saying, yes, you are. Yeah. I love that. And I love that you're, your, your passion for...

34:38
for your students is not staying internal. You know what I mean? Did you say those things? Because sometimes that's scary to say those things. In the world we live in now, it's like, don't say the wrong thing, or miss something misconstrued or whatever. But the fact that, I think you, the little time that I've known you, you're the same person every time I've seen you, you live your truth. You're not saying one thing and doing another.

35:08
You know, and that's the important part of that. It's like, hey, I'm saying this now because I've always, I always would have said this. I will always continue to say this or to encourage you. You know, and I think, you know, for me, I try to live that way because I have been in those, those situations where I've felt less than, you know, and I've mentioned it before, you know, being the fat kid, it's the low hanging fruit, it's in, in...

35:37
Kids are cruel in school. They are. Middle school was brutal to me. Yeah. And so you have to be able to own that and understand how you felt so that you can then make sure that other people don't feel that way. Right. Yeah, the way I see it is, you know, sometimes life kind of beats you up and you have to choose how to react to it. Are you gonna become hard and cold like the people who beat you up or are you going to

36:07
use that as perspective so that you can be kind to others and maybe teach those people that they don't have to act that way or that it doesn't have to be a cycle. If you are abused in some way, you don't have to become the bigger, meaner person. You can become someone who is understanding of someone else and you can show them that you don't have to turn that way. You don't have to let the world make you ugly.

36:35
you can become the good you want to see in the world. And that's something no one can take away or affect, because I'm in control of it. And I think a lot of times, you know, the world wants to look at kind people as weak. But some of the nicest, kindest people I know are some of the hardest, strongest people I've ever met, because they have gone through that, and they've survived it. And they found a way to not let it...

37:05
seep in and take root and affect them. Right. And so that again, the fruit that they're bearing is kindness for someone else. Yeah, I agree. I'm about 50 pounds overweight. I'm not the biggest, toughest guy. But I've always pictured myself with a t-shirt. And what would it say? And it would say stronger than I look. Because I have a very quiet strength.

37:30
My dad many times has told me that out of all of the men in our family, I'm the strongest one. And I do it kindly and quietly and politely. But if there's something important, I will not budge. And if there's something that needs to happen, it will happen. You know, so there are many different ways to be strong. And in many situations, I'm strong for others, you know, and that involves some sacrifice sometimes of your own peace or your own time. But you know, it's the right thing to do.

38:00
Yeah, I think you just have to be, like you said, aware. You have to be self-aware and be guided by that. Be guided by that inner truth, that kindness can be easy in spite of the things that happen to you. Yeah. Yeah, I mean, that's my natural way to be, is just kind.

38:29
Just as much as it is to be excited, it is to be nice to people. You're kind of like, you're like the pink Hulk. If there were a pink Hulk. So, you know, or you know, or was it Bruce Banner says, he's like, the key is I'm always angry or whatever. It's like you're the pink Bruce Banner. You're, you know, when you let it go. It's a great image. It's all kindness and happiness. And but it's strength and power. Yeah.

38:57
Yeah, the biggest compliment I ever got, I was in one of my classes over in Spain. So we're over across the ocean, nobody speaks any English, we're taking our classes. And there were a few people like me, there were probably about seven, eight Americans who learned how to speak Spanish. And the rest of our classmates was probably like 20 something Latinos who were from Guatemala and Cuba and places like that. And one day it was just a spur of the moment thing, they're like, all right, we're gonna teach you this dance, who wants to come up and dance? And I was like, I'll go up.

39:26
And we did a little dance in front of the class and it was no big deal. And my friend Paul, who is in the class, he said, he said, you are fearless. And I just, I loved that. You know, I, I've fearless is such a strong word to be called. I mean, I've spoken, I read names of graduation in our school. So I've read names in front of 3000 people. Um, I'm our school soccer announcer, which is always a great time. And so it's been, Andre's Cantor on them.

39:53
Every so often. Well, I tell you, here's my favorite, one of my favorite pitches. I say, tonight's game sponsored by Chick-fil-A Mullins Crossing, known far and wide for their delicious chicken sandwiches and crispy waffle fries. Come on in and get a number one combo today. It's so good you'll say, mmm, ba-ba-ba-ba-ba-ba. And so that that sounds really funny, you know, coming through the big speaker. It sounds even that much more ridiculous if people look up and they laugh and...

40:20
That's awesome. So that's been a family as well. I remember I started doing that. Kenny was coaching soccer. And I said, do y'all need an announcer? Because I just want to do it because it would be fun. So I started doing it. And I found my, I'd already done a little bit of announcing online, just being silly. But I got this announcer voice that I cultivated. I read our sponsors, who many times are not actually sponsors. There's maybe a sign nearby. And I'll make up these pitches. And one year, he got, Kenny got me a.

40:49
Evans High School soccer jacket. And I said, oh man, this makes me feel like part of the crew. He said, you are part of the crew. You are our announcer. And from that moment, I realized how, you know, I'm part of this whole thing. Everybody has their role. And that's been really cool. Cause you know, I look down at the players on the field, they've trained to do what they're doing. I look at the coach, he's presiding over them. The referees have their little niche. Our girls are up top filming the game and I'm in the announcer's box. And it's such a, such a cool little.

41:18
you know, microcosm that's going on just at a soccer game.

41:25
All right, Adam, it's time now for the third segment of the show. It's time now for the Fast Five. Fast Five. The Fast Five. It's time now for the Fast Five. Meow. Fast Five. Thank you. I appreciate you singing along with it. Fast Five is powered by Poddex. It's an app created by my friend Travis Brown. If you go to chewingthefatbr.com slash poddex, you can get the link to get the app wherever you get your apps at. But it's five random questions.

41:55
No wrong answers. Just first thing comes to the top of your head. You good? You ready? I'm ready. Here we go. Question number one.

42:05
If you could go on an adventure tomorrow, what adventure would you choose? Oh man, the adventure I most want to do is to go back to Japan. There is nothing like being over there, having free time to shop around the video games, the anime figures, the motherland of all nerditude, surrounded by amazing food, and just being out there. Just being there. You're on the other side of the world. I would go to Tokyo again in a heartbeat.

42:35
Awesome. I love that. All right. Question number two.

42:41
Do you consider yourself superstitious? Actually, I don't. My mom is superstitious. She'll have a fit. You open an umbrella in the house and she will tell you, put that down. She don't want you to rock a rocking chair if there's nobody in it. That's bad luck. Her mother was very superstitious. I'm not particularly superstitious. I like to even kind of tempt fate. Like I would play this online game with my friend. I say, hey, I think we're gonna get this. We're doing really well.

43:11
He's like, no, man, you're going to put a hex on the whole thing. And I would lean in the mic. I would say, we will never lose again. So I like the tempt fate of it. I'm not too superstitious. I love that. Question number three.

43:28
You can choose anyone in the world to become friends with. Who would you choose? Oh, man. I would say probably... Probably Dwayne Johnson. Dwayne the Rock Johnson. Oh, okay. He's one of my favorite actors. I think he would be super fun to spend time with.

43:49
Yeah, I love his voice. I love his personality. He's he's got the whole, you know, Hawaiian thing. He's very friendly. I would love to be a personal friend of Dwayne The Rock Johnson. Yeah, yeah. And he's like, I follow him on on Instagram. And he's so like motivational to not and not in like a lunghead, you know, bolted up guy, which he absolutely is. I mean, you know, like you could punch a hole through a mountain. Right.

44:17
But it's that kindness. He just approaches it with that type of attitude. Yeah, I love following one there. He has one of the things that he said on one of his reels or whatever when you're challenged with something or there's something that you want to do. Is it going to be one day or day one? That's how you approach it. It's like, okay.

44:44
Today's the day I start. Today's day one of this dream coming true. Or is that dream still always going to be, oh, well, one day I'll do that? Yeah, you're exactly right. Question number four.

44:57
If humans came with warning labels, what would yours say? What would my warning label say? Yeah. Buckle up. I've always said, I would understand if someone were to not like me, I would understand why. I'm very corny, I'm very cheesy, I'm very energetic. So if someone were to dislike me for that reason, I 100% would get it. So I would say this person,

45:26
is energetic. Buckle up. I love it. Love it. And question number five.

45:34
What's the last thing you've done that you are really, really proud of?

45:40
I would say we just wrapped filming on our film, Velvicide, which is a thriller about a girl who gets kidnapped. And I have been so proud of myself for the effort I've put forth in that. Again, I have done everything from pick up coffee to put a pillow under our starlet's head when we were filming a scene, because I didn't want her neck to be sore. And my biggest achievement as a fixer on a film set.

46:10
was we had an arrangement with one place in town and it was our best deal because we had to film at a bar on a Friday night, which is a huge ask. And the offer we had was $400 and we can't get in until 11 p.m. It was gonna be an all-nighter. And I was thinking, I can do better than this because I didn't want Kenny to have to pay all that money for such a terrible timeframe. And I said, I know I can do better than this. So I spent a week

46:39
day in, day out, reaching out to everybody. I posted on Facebook groups, I spoke with bar owners on the phone, and we would have a lead, lead would fall through, have a lead, lead would fall through, and we persisted and persisted and persisted until we were able to shoot at a place called the Fox's Den, which is a super cool underground bar, and the Lady Melinda couldn't have been any nicer, and...

47:03
We got a deal. We got a better price. They were able to come in in the morning and have the whole day to shoot it. Oh, great. And that's been a really big accomplishment, probably my biggest accomplishment. And I was so proud of myself because I am tenacious. I will pursue and bother anybody who I need to to get things done. And I did it. We had all of our extras were able to come. We had a whole bar full of extras. And some of them were a bit older. So they wouldn't have been able to stay.

47:32
till 5 a.m. Yeah, and being underground, there's no light coming in. So it doesn't matter if it's day or night, yeah. Exactly. That's awesome. I would say my contribution on this film has been something I'm really, really proud of. And in my professional life, this is my first year teaching Spanish for and teaching Spanish AP, which is a huge adjustment and a huge responsibility. Because if my students score well on the AP exam, which they have to pay $100 to take, then they can get college credit.

48:01
and it's on me to train them up. And so far, we're five weeks in, I've been doing a really great job. And I'm very proud of myself for adapting and really reaching those higher level things that they have to do. I love that.

48:16
Thank you so much, Adam. Well, that was question number five. And that's the show. Thank you so much for being here, man. Thank you for having me. It was a blast. Oh, this is great. If folks want to keep up with you and small potatoes, it'd be Bob. And all the stuff you got going on was the best way they can do that. I occasionally post on Instagram. My Instagram is one word, Senor Cow Cow, which is a little play on my last name, Cowart. And my YouTube channel is called Itty Bitty Bob. And I'm currently at 94 subscribers. So we're getting there.

48:46
six more. Come on, let's get six more and get you into a hundred. Yeah, please do. Get you triple digits. Yeah, itty bitty bob on YouTube. That's awesome. I'll make sure to put those links in the show notes as well. But Adam, again, thank you so much for being here, for your friendship. I love you. I love everything that you got going on. I know we're doing nothing but success for the school year and all the film lurking stuff. I'm sure we will cross lines and paths again on. And also, let's get you going on some voice acting stuff as well. All right. I look forward to it.

49:16
and if you would like to support this podcast I'd appreciate it if you bought me a coffee at chewingthefatbr.com, but until next time I look forward to our next chance to sit a spell and chew the fat.