The unedited and unapologetic stream of thoughts on all things important from parenting and penny pinching to podcasting about people from the 'hood. While societal norms keep most tight-lipped on their own ideas, opinions, and mistakes, Stacy Snyder brings you straight talk with ParentUnplugged, I Am Your Neighbor, Living Large, and Y'all Are Gay?
When my friend Kim of Kim's Welcoming Kitchen first told me about feral cats as a potential solution for rat control in outdoor residential areas a few years ago, I laughed at her.
Photo courtesy of Steve Dale Pet World
"Only you would consider such an insane idea to adopt wild cats that live in your back yard!" I scoffed at her, convinced that her modern hippy way of life was behind such a preposterous thought. "You couldn't use your yard because of the cats, the'd jack up the surroundings with their refuse, and it would be expensive as hell to feed them," I taunted. She silently let me grandstand that day while targeting her as the butt of my joke.
A year later, after having tried everything in the book to try and rid our back yard of rats, Paul Nickerson of TreeHouse Humane Society stood in my back yard and corroborated the benefits of feral cat colonies as a solution to Chicago's residential rat population. Poison, traps, exterminators, steel wool, bait, bb guns, bombs, nor wire mesh worked. The idea of stripping the lush yard of all vegetation and cementing the ground into a patio did not appeal to us, so instead, tail between my legs, our family adopted 3 feral cats to man our abode.
Check out Episode 6 of I Am Your Neighbor to learn about the ins and outs of city cat colonies as a means to rid your neighborhood of rodents.
On a side note, I am so pumped with the new intro of I Am Your Neighbor, created by Mike Coleman! I need more faces on this collage, though. Who should be next? I'd love your input for interesting neighbors to feature. Please post your ideas here or send me your connections via email at stacylsnyder@gmail.com.
Episode 1 is ripe for the plucking. Matt Roben lives the life we all fantasize about...the one that actually feeds his passions. Check out his anything-but-vanilla world by clicking the arrow above.
Please let me know your thoughts on the show and ideas for upcoming shows or offer to help if you're so inclined (Tammy Azzarello and I currently need someone to help with filming and editing). Get new shows delivered to you when they come out by following my StacySaysIt blog or typing in your email address to the right under 'subscribe by email,' or by subscribing to my YouTube channel. Or just follow me on Facebook or Twitter and check in when you want.
Whatever you do, do it because you love the show, not because someone told you to do so, including me. As maid Aibileen told baby-girl Mae Mobley each morning in The Help, "You are kind. You are smart. You are important." Take that and run with it and live life the way you want to live it, as you don't need to fit into any mold, blend in with any group, or seek accolades from any society.
Be bold. Be strong. Believe in yourself. It's enough.
On the 4th of July in 2016, I met a new neighbor in my 'hood and instantly thought, 'we should create a talk show together.' Over cocktails and fireworks, a loose idea was born for I Am Your Neighbor. Tammy Azzarello and I crafted the concept of tracking down and chatting with people that live authentically, without trying to do so, as we feel that completely represents who we are. We realized that between the two of us, the only similarities we share are natural curiosity, loud mouths, and thick black books overflowing with acquaintances that would qualify for our Chicago-based show. We are your neighbors.
Having worked in radio as a producer and talk show host 20-some years ago in Chicago and Indianapolis, I know how to put a show together. I've tried over the years to do my own gig, partner with old co-hosts, and even sent a Stacy Snyder demo into the OWN network, hoping for my big break into television.
None of those things worked, but they all taught me loads of lessons.
I don't need a job that pays me to be a talk show host. I can simply do it if I want to.
I don't need credit after credit under my belt to be taken seriously. I love what I do and I will be taken into account by those whom I affect, byline or not.
Every thing I've done up until now has led me here and this place will lead me to the next, such as:
watching Oprah haul the 67 lbs of fat onstage in a wagon on The Oprah Winfrey Show
getting fired from the only job I ever LOVED, LesBiGay Radio
moving to Dallas to be close to family
losing a baby boy mid-pregnancy and processing the grief with a lack of financial stewardship
fleeing Dallas in an attempt to avoid becoming that which I despised
actively choosing a life that matters to me instead of chasing the one I think others think I should live, which only resides in my jacked up brain
trying and failing at getting my book published, Y'all are Gay? How I Made it Out of Texas Alive
keeping track of, i.e. sometimes stalking, every friend that has ever means something to me in my life and not giving up till they tell me to back the freak off
Today I'm happy as a lark. I don't need anything from this show, I just want to do it and it matters to me: simple as that.
This is the introduction. Stay tuned for regularly updated shows, each featuring at least one Chicagoan living life to the fullest by doing what comes naturally, pursuing a passion that may or may not have relevance to any other human being!
Please let me know your thoughts on the show and ideas for upcoming shows. Offer to help if you're so inclined (do you know it took over 20 hours of video editing for me to come up with 5 minutes of airtime?). Follow my ParentUnplugged blog where I write when I cannot speak effectively one-on-one, subscribe to my YouTube channel and/or follow me on Facebook or Twitter.
Whatever you do, do it because you love it, not because someone told you to do so, including me. Know that you are worthwhile just as you are. You don't need to fit into any mold, blend in with any group, or seek accolades from any society.
Be bold. Be strong. Believe in yourself. It's enough.
