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THE SUNDAY SANTAN SUN NEWS | OCTOBER 11, 2020
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Chandler podcast aims to ‘cure stupidity’ I think our world is “increasingly curated,
BY KEVIN REAGAN Staff Writer
A Chandler couple has launched a new podcast to explore the complexities of human behavior and teach listeners how to be a little more accepting of other people’s flaws. Eric M. Bailey and his wife Jamie are putting their relationship on public display each week by recording a frank, open conversation between themselves and then posting the audio online for a podcast they’re calling “The Cure for Stupidity.” The cure for someone else’s stupidity is not a simple one and yet the Baileys think their podcast has some good advice for how to be a bit more compassionate and tolerant. The couple delve into their personal lives and share past experiences that tie into topics covered in a book – also titled “The Cure for Stupidity” – written by Eric last year. The self-help book deploys brain science to teach readers why they’re so frustrated by seemingly clueless, apathetic people and Bailey’s new podcast is meant to be an extension of his book’s teachings. “It’s really to continue the conversation and to put into practice the lessons that you learn in the book,” said Jamie. “It kind of puts them into practice and (we’re) calling ourselves out on
everyone is putting out this museum on the best parts of their lives.
”
– Eric M. Bailey
Jamie and Eric M. Bailey of Chandler engage in some fairly touchy subjects, like their arguments at home, in podcasts they call “The Cure for Stupidity.” (Tim Sealy/Sealy Media)
where we fall victim to them.” Each week, the couple take one of the book’s lessons and spend 30 minutes sharing anecdotes from their private lives to demonstrate their relevance. The Baileys are seemingly unafraid to dive into touchy subjects that others may be too fearful to make public.
So far, the podcast has had conversations involving troubles with parenting, their interracial marriage and recapping past arguments. One recent episode covered a fight the Baileys had over Eric’s messy kitchen habits and his inability to observe the chaos he was creating for his wife to later clean up.
“I didn’t really even realize it was a thing,” Eric said. The podcast helped correct his neglectful behavior, Eric said, and allowed him to do so without being too confrontational. That’s the great benefit of starting a podcast, he added: it allows creators to tell relatable narratives that can help listeners make discoveries about themselves. “We want to tell a story in a way that makes people feel something,” Eric said. But being so transparent every week has not always been comfortable for the Baileys. Jamie said she wasn’t so keen at first about the idea of sharing stories of their family’s personal lives in a public format. But transparency has become See
PODCAST on page 45
Chandler photographer brings out masks’ beauty BY KEVIN REAGAN Staff Writer
A Chandler photographer is using her artistic skills to document the COVID-19 pandemic through a more positive perspective. Emily Vance, a digital photography student at Arizona State University, has snapped dozens of portraits over the last few months depicting models showcasing a variety of face masks. She has photographed a mother adjusting her child’s mask, college students displaying their ASU-branded masks and local politicians demonstrating their own mask-mandate policies. The collection of photos has been published online in an album Vance has called “The Masked Portrait Project” and she hopes will exhibit the beauty and kindness that comes with putting on a mask. “We need more positivity in the world right now,” the 28-year-old student said. Vance started the project after assisting her history-student husband Marc take some photos for an archiving assignment he was completing in response to the pandemic. Vance was dispatched to document long lines stretching outside supermar-
Emily Vance has put together a collection of photographs she shot of people wearing masks to convey the beauty and kindness that comes with wearing them. (Courtesy of Emily Vance)
kets and citizens stockpiling shopping carts with toilet paper – familiar scenes that could be seen across the country as the COVID-19 virus first started to proliferate back in March. Vance said taking the disturbing photos every day quickly grew to be too taxing on her mental health and she longed for an escape from the pandemic’s grim reality. “I just started to get really depressed from it,” she recalled. “It was a really scary time back at the beginning.” And the pandemic wasn’t only hurting Vance emotionally. Its economic impacts quickly began to hinder her finances after many of her freelancing
gigs were abruptly canceled due to COVID-19. Despite these setbacks, Vance still wanted to continue taking photographs and wondered how she could utilize her creativity to give back to the community. Vance was in the midst of completing a course on portrait photography and thought she could find a way to snap portraits that could positively reflect society’s current turmoil. The pandemic has sparked anguish and rage across the country, Vance noted, and much of that hostility has been the result of local governments forcing citizens to put on a mask.
If there was an album of portraits that normalized face masks, the photographer thought, some people might change their attitude. “It doesn’t have to all be negative,” Vance said. “I think there was a lot of negativity about wearing masks in the beginning.” Vance began by posting a couple pictures on Instagram and their popularity quickly escalated to a Facebook group, followed by an entire website dedicated to Valley residents modeling their favorite face masks. The pictures have even caught the attention of Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego, who recently agreed to pose for one of Vance’s portraits outside City Hall. “It’s already bigger than I thought it would be,” Vance said about the project. The project’s sudden success has helped to affirm the photographer’s lifelong ambition of becoming a working artist. Vance said she grew up knowing she was never going to follow a traditional career path and instinctively knew she’d pursue some sort of artistic endeavor. Though her family warned she’d never make money in the arts, Vance See
PHOTOGRAPHER on page 47