← The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
Karol Markowicz Show: Salena Zito's Journey into Journalism
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- [00:00]
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- [02:15]
Carol Markowitz
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Unknown Speaker 1
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Carol Markowitz
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- [03:07]
Carol Markowitz
Hi, welcome back to the Carol Markowitz show on iheartradio. Clay Travis, Key of the Clay Travis and Buck Sexton podcast network that this show is on, highlighted a new study about happiness. And he pointed out that the happiness index has hit an all time low and that that number is largely driven by young people.
- [03:28]
Unknown Speaker 1
The United States overall happiness index, to the extent that they track this, hit a all time low and it's being driven by people under the age of 30.
- [03:40]
Selena Zito
And I would bet that it's women.
- [03:42]
Unknown Speaker 1
Under the age of 30 overwhelmingly who are unhappy. And I think it's hard not to believe at this point that all of this isn't directly connected to social media. I mean, if you go look at the charts, overall mental health rates, now certainly Covid didn't help, but overall mental health rates just collapsed about 2014 when social media became prevalent in everybody's lives. Yeah, and I think we're going to find out that this is like the, the nicotine or cigarettes of, of our generation where we allowed these phones and these social media apps, particularly for young people, to really kind of lead us astray in terms of our life's pursuit.
- [04:20]
Carol Markowitz
Now, he's right that it's the phones, but people who have been listening to the show for a while know what I'm going to challenge here. It's not the social media. There is no social media anymore. It used to be that teenagers would get depressed because their friends would share pictures on Facebook or Instagram of the amazing weekend they had and maybe didn't include them. Or they'd see their friends living amazing lives, filtered pictures, great vacations, perfect babies, all of that. That's just not what's happening on the Internet anymore. That's not what the kids are watching. We're just all watching TV all the time. It might not be half hour or hour episodes, but these young people are just scrolling through hours of videos. And I said this last time in the last episode about the girl, the mom wrote in to me about her daughter who doesn't seem to have a social life. And I said, you know, we'd recognize depression if I told you someone watches 10 hours of TV a day, but because they do it in bite sized, you know, pieces and they carry it around with them on their phone. We don't see how bad it is. Social media has nothing social about it, and I think we need to see exactly what the problem is in order to fix it. We have to think of it like a little TV we carry around. We have to understand how damaging it is to be that distracted all the time. Just imagine when there were no phones, if every time you were in an awkward interaction you just turned your television on. When you're out, you don't see people taking selfies with their friends anymore. Instead, you still might see like a full on photo shoot. A hapless man shooting his girlfriend from all different angles. She's a content creator, fine, but there's nothing social about that. And look, at least her content is a break from the videos. Instagram, by the way, now offers bonuses for creator accounts that post photos because so few of them do that. It would be something else entirely if young people were still posting pictures of their lunches or their parties or whatever. But they're not. They're just zombified watching TV all the time. There's no way happiness levels will increase or until we solve that. Thanks for listening. Coming up next, an interview with Selena Zito. Join us after the break.
- [06:48]
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- [08:10]
Carol Markowitz
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- [11:05]
Carol Markowitz
Welcome back to the Carol Markowitz show on IHEARTradio. My guest today is Selena Zito. Selena is a Washington examiner reporter and author of the upcoming book Butler. Hi, Selena. So nice to talk to you.
- [11:19]
Selena Zito
Hi, there. How are you?
- [11:21]
Carol Markowitz
We were just talking offline about how insane it is that we've never met in real life. But I've been a Selena Zito fan, like much of the country for a long, long time now, and I just think you're fantastic and everything you do is, like, full of joy and happiness. And you're wonderful. Thank you for coming on.
- [11:40]
Selena Zito
Oh, thank you. I'm everybody's grandma. No, people, really.
- [11:44]
Carol Markowitz
Actually, you're everybody's bestie.
- [11:48]
Selena Zito
It's basically the food. Then they maybe read me, but basically the food. I have to tell your listeners, though, that I thought you gave me a homework assignment and I obeyed because you told me. I don't know how you phrased it, but like I said, here are the.
- [12:04]
Carol Markowitz
Three questions I ask all my guests, and my listeners will know that a lot of the time the guests won't read the emails. And you'll be able to tell because they'll just be deer in headlights when I ask them kind of a big question like, what do you worry about? And they're like, what? Where did this come from? But Selena sent me back the answers, which was the cutest thing ever. I said, no, no, we're going to talk about it on the show. And she said, oh, I thought you gave me a homework assignment. Which she then did. She finished the homework assignment. She was like, all right, I have homework. What am I going to do?
- [12:43]
Selena Zito
Yeah, it was late, though. If it was true homework, I would have answered it that night. But in my. In my zeal to be a perfect procrastinator, I sent it to you the night before.
- [13:01]
Carol Markowitz
It was great. I did not read your answers because I want to be surprised.
- [13:04]
Selena Zito
I don't even remember them.
- [13:07]
Carol Markowitz
So the questions will be brand new either way, right?
- [13:09]
Selena Zito
Brand new.
- [13:11]
Carol Markowitz
So how did you get into this world? I know a little bit about your story, but you really hit the national scene in 2016, writing pieces that I think nobody else was doing anything close to. You were doing this crazy thing where you went out and you talked to regular people and asked them what they thought, and that was really groundbreaking. So tell me, tell us about your path.
- [13:39]
Selena Zito
So I got into this accidentally and sort of the old fashioned way, the way journalists used to be years ago at local newspapers where they were members of the community and most of them didn't have college degrees, but they had good writing skills, they had good people instincts, and they were able to turn a phrase pretty well. And that's basically all I had. And I also had experiences as a hairdresser, as a waitress, and most importantly, as a soccer and football mom and hockey mom. So, you know, I came into the game late. I was in my mid-40s when I went back to work. I was mostly a stay at home mom at that point. And they worked for the local newspaper, the Pittsburgh Tribune Review. But the owner of the paper's name was Richard Mellenscape. He had a very nationally well known name, One of the richest men in the country from a very old family, the Mellon family, who owned all the Mellon banking. And he had a really keen interest in national news. And I don't know what he saw in me, but he saw my ability to listen to people and to be able to tell a decent story. And so he said, do you want to cover national politics? And I'm like, all right. And I did. And I learned pretty darn quickly. I was there for 20 years. I did this for 20 years covering local and national politics and culture. And I learned pretty quickly. I think it was the John Kerry campaign or the. Maybe it was the Obama campaign. I can't remember. I knew very quickly that I did not belong on the campaign bus. Like, I just didn't not belong there. I remember call it. Maybe it was Carrie. I don't know. I can't remember. I mowed. I just remember calling my boss from a pay phone in Scranton, Pennsylvania, saying, I can't go on this bus any longer. All I am doing is spending time with other reporters. And they're all like, have the same mindset. They're not from Pennsylvania. They don't kind of understand our quirkiness. And I'm not having any interaction with voters because when you're in the press bus, you don't get to talk to people. So I'm like, I'm writing crap. So he said, okay, just come home. And in typical Selena fashion, I told the bus to just keep going without me. And then I was like, oh, wait a minute, how am I going to get home? So I randomly rent A car. And from that moment on, I only drove to whatever I was covering. And I've driven to every state. I've even been to Alaska. Wow. And I used to fly to events, but flying then became ridiculous because I live in a city where there's no hub. So therefore, you had to make, like, 13 different connecting flights, and you would miss one of them because one was late. And so I just started driving. So when I interviewed Governor DeSantis, I drove to Florida. But in that stretch, I got 17 other really good stories. Right. And I always take back roads. I don't take turnpikes or interstates, because that's where you can see how places have changed for the better or for the worse. And you can understand why people vote the way they do.
- [17:33]
Carol Markowitz
That is so amazing. I did not know the driving thing. I always felt like your writing was you were trying to get to the bottom of what people really thought and where they really lived. And you always treat every place with such respect, and I think that that's so beautiful. But I didn't know you were driving the back roads to get these stories. That's incredible.
- [17:56]
Selena Zito
My First Jeep had 400,000 miles. It was 14 years old. I'm on my second one, and I just passed 270,000. So. Yeah, but, you know, that's where the best stories are. I can't. If I take the interstate, that's no different than flying.
- [18:15]
Carol Markowitz
Right.
- [18:16]
Selena Zito
When you pull over to get. Get gas, it's like the same gas station and the same McDonald's. And there's nothing wrong with that.
- [18:23]
Carol Markowitz
Sure.
- [18:24]
Selena Zito
There's no depth of perception of understanding why people vote the way they do. And that's why I understood in 2016 that Trump was going to. But I actually called this. This conservative populist coalition that was forming in 2006 during those midterms.
- [18:46]
Carol Markowitz
Really?
- [18:46]
Selena Zito
And interestingly enough, it was when Republicans were losing to Democrats. And I was like, what's going on here? And it was this really interesting intersection where the Democrats and Rahm Emanuel, who was then in charge of the DCCC and recruiting candidates, he picked candidates that were pro life, pro gun, were fiscally responsible. So they picked candidates that Republicans could be comfortable voting for.
- [19:17]
Carol Markowitz
Right.
- [19:18]
Selena Zito
In. Because he understood that Republicans were pissed off at Republican candidates because they were spending like drunken sailors. Right. And they had lost their way. So it was showing me that these coalitions were starting to shift and that the working class was becoming part of the Republican Party. It was very early inception, but it was definitely happening.
- [19:45]
Carol Markowitz
What has been the best Part of all this, this whole crazy journey that you've been taking.
- [19:50]
Selena Zito
Oh, all the people I get to meet, all the privilege that I have to interview people where they are and really getting a Prof. Sense of what place means to people, having a sense of place, being rooted. You know, people don't realize, but 8 out of 10 people in this. 8 out of 10 people in this country live within 100 miles of where they grew up, and 7 out of 10 people live within 10 miles of where they grew up. So roots matter. So when people don't understand, take my, take my state, for instance.
- [20:31]
Carol Markowitz
And her state is Pennsylvania, for anyone who doesn't know.
- [20:35]
Selena Zito
Yeah. Oh, Pennsylvania. So if anybody remembers, one of the last best speeches Joe Biden gave was at the State of the Union address in 2024. It was arguably his best speech, and it was coherent and it was to the point. And it was something that had been lacking with him and leading to that date. And so people were like, okay. But then he said something in that speech. He said something about Snackflation, and he was talking about how greedy these, these, these snack company owners were. And he pointed to Bob Casey, who was then the US Senator from Pennsylvania, Democrat, and said, I'm putting you in charge of these evil, bad people.
- [21:21]
Carol Markowitz
I'm honestly paraphrasing a little bit, only. Yeah.
- [21:25]
Selena Zito
But not really in tone. He was like, you're in charge of Snackflation. Get, you know, all this greed. And he was sort of putting the blame of inflation on that. And I'm watching it, and my mouth is wide open. I'm like, wait, what? Yeah. Do they not realize that 80% of the snacks consumed in this country are made in six counties in Pennsylvania that affects someone's vote?
- [21:54]
Carol Markowitz
Yeah.
- [21:55]
Selena Zito
The farmers, the manufacturers, the peoples, people in the C suites that live in the nice neighborhoods to drive, the truck drivers. All of these people are a coalition of people. And you just called them the bad guy.
- [22:10]
Carol Markowitz
Right. I had no idea. That's really like such an interesting point.
- [22:15]
Selena Zito
As not me me, but I know you expect this Montgomery county or York County C suite, like living in a half million dollar home, vote for Kamala Harris or Joe Biden, because that's what sort of the stereotype dictates. But if you're going after my industry.
- [22:35]
Carol Markowitz
Right.
- [22:36]
Selena Zito
I don't think so. And you think my family's gonna vote for you? I don't think so. Yeah. So it's those sort of intimate, granular things that makes me understand, like, why my state is. It mattered. But also, if you didn't know this. If you weren't on a back road in York, Pennsylvania, and you didn't see Snyder's potato chips or if you never been to Hershey park and understand sort of all that happens in our state, you know, that that contributes to snacks, then, you know, there was just such a huge disconnect.
- [23:18]
Carol Markowitz
Right. He had no idea. He was just criticizing, you know, some CEO. Yeah, some CEO somewhere.
- [23:25]
Selena Zito
Right? You literally look it up on Wikipedia. Snack belt, Pennsylvania.
- [23:30]
Carol Markowitz
Fascinating.
- [23:31]
Selena Zito
Not that hard.
- [23:32]
Carol Markowitz
Wow. So you're such a champion for Pennsylvania. You clearly love your state so much. And you know, one of my best friends considers Pittsburgh like, you know, the undiscovered or not undiscovered but undervalued American city, which he just thinks is like the greatest city in the country. I've never been to Pittsburgh. What makes it so amazing?
- [23:52]
Selena Zito
If you asked me five years ago, I would say everything but the people. Undeniably, it's the people that make the city amazing. Unfortunately, the politics in the city has gotten very weird and there's been a lot of anti Semitism. There has been a, you know, a defiance to the ICE orders. There has been, it's just been very ugly, ugly politics. A lot of that has to do with the Democrat Socialist of America sort of being backing these far left candidates. Right. And because we are a closed state and a closed primary state and because people generally that vote in primaries tend to be either the furthest left or the furthest right of their party, they have become the leaders in the city. So think Summer Lee is our congresswoman. And so the politics have sort of hurt the city a little bit.
- [25:00]
Carol Markowitz
Right.
- [25:01]
Selena Zito
We have a homeless problem, we have a crime problem. But outside of that, my city is, you know, it's a beautiful city. It's a very old American city. It was. Was literally considered the west in the beginning foundings of our, of our country. It's funny, you know, my family has been in Pennsylvania since 1632. The Scottish side, not the Italians. Yeah, there wasn't even an Italy in 1632. But the and have been in Pennsylvania in like Pittsburgh and Butler. That's what made, that's what made what happened to me in Butler all that more, you know, personal. Have been there since the 1750s. I love my city. I just wish that it would clean up its act.
- [25:50]
Carol Markowitz
We're going to take a quick break and be right back on the Carol Markowitz show.
- [25:55]
Unknown Speaker 1
Stop hitting snooze on new tech upgrade the whole team@lenovo.com Unlock AI experiences with the ThinkPad X1 Carbon powered by Intel Core Ultra processors so you can work, create and boost productivity all on one device. Win the tech search for business PCs at lenovo.com homeowners if you want to sell your house fast for all cash, stop what you are doing and listen to this because Osborne Homes wants to buy your house right now. I'm Alec from Osborne Homes and we want to buy your house. Nobody buys more homes in California than Osborne. Whether it's a total fixer upper or in perfect condition, Osborne Homes is the easiest way to sell your house fast. All cash. Best of all, when you sell your house to Osborne Homes, there are zero commissions, zero fees, plus no banks, no realtors, no repairs and no waiting to close. We buy your house as is. All cash. Just go to OsborneHomes.com right now to get your free no obligation all cash offer. We are here and ready to buy your house 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Just go to OsborneHomes.com go to OsborneHomes.com right now. Don't wait. Sell your house to Osborne Homes and put the cash in your pocket right away. Just go to OsborneHomes.com that's Osborne Homes.com OsborneHomes.com OsborneHomes.com does this podcast make you happy? Of course it does. That's why you're here. But it only comes out once a week for happiness, every night. You need Adam and Eve. Yes. I'm talking about sex toys. It's cool. It's cool. You have earbuds in, right? Adam and Eve, America's most trusted source for adult products, has been making people very happy for over 50 years with thousands of toys for both men and women. Just go to AdamAndEve.com now and enter code IHEART for 50% off. Almost any one item, plus free discreet shipping. That's AdamAndEve.com code IHEART for 50% OFF. Asking the right questions can greatly impact your future, especially when it comes to your finances. So if you're looking for a financial advisor you can trust, certified financial planner professionals are committed to acting in your best interest. That's why it's gotta be a CFP. Find your CFP professional at letsmakeaplan.org at. And T has a new guarantee. Because most things in life are not guaranteed. Like actually getting the rental car you require. Question. Or your wedding turning out just like you dreamed it would. And someone making another pot of coffee in the break room after drinking the last drop of the last one. Yeah, don't get me started. Not guaranteed. In a world where Nothing is guaranteed, AT&T is bringing something new to the table. AT&T is introducing a guarantee with connectivity you depend on, deals you want and service you deserve, or they'll make it right life. So if you want to know more about the ATT guarantee, head to att.comguarantee@t connecting changes everything. Terms and conditions apply. Visit att.comguaranty for details.
- [29:10]
Carol Markowitz
So what happened to you in Butler? For anybody who doesn't know?
- [29:13]
Selena Zito
So, yeah, wait, y'all need to buy my book.
- [29:15]
Carol Markowitz
Yeah, the book is called Butler and when is it coming out?
- [29:18]
Selena Zito
You can pre order it. Pre order it now. No, I was four feet away from the President when he was shot at in Butler. Oh, it was an interesting day. As any journalist knows, when you go, when you, when you have certain things planned for a day, including an interview, there's a 70% chance it's not going to happen. Sure, right? Like your day's just not going to go the way it planned and you have to be ready. According. Yeah, I was supposed to interview President Trump that day, July 13, in Butler, and it was supposed to be five minute interview right before the rally. And about three hours before he got there, I got a text saying, hey, change of plans. And so I immediately think, oh, it's not going to happen. But they said, no, can you interview him for five minutes after the rally? I said, fine. And then about an hour before President Trump gets there, I get a text saying, so, hey, hi. President Trump really doesn't want you to be like, five minute interview. Want to fly with him to Bedminster and do the interview on the plane? I'm like, well, I didn't have that on my bingo card. Right?
- [30:34]
Carol Markowitz
Yeah.
- [30:35]
Selena Zito
I had my daughter with me. She's a photojournalist, so she was going to do the photos. So she has four kids. Her husband was with her. There's a reason why her husband was with her. It was 103 degrees that day, and we made him carry everything. So we're like, okay, that's what, what we're gonna do. And about two minutes before, no, about five minutes before, President Trump's about to go on stage, this campaign advance man grabbed me and said, it's go time. I'm like, oh, my God, everything's changed again.
- [31:13]
Carol Markowitz
Right?
- [31:13]
Selena Zito
Like, follow him through this, like, narrow little causeway. We go in the back of the stage, there's President Trump. It's, it's called a CL room, a click room is where generally the President will meet with, like, Local people, a couple people grab from the crowd and law enforcement and they'll get their photo taken with the President. They put me at the end of the line, the three of us at the end of the line. And, and I said, well, where are we doing this interview? And the poor guy, his name was Michelle, he goes, I actually don't know. He was, Let me go ask the President. So he goes around, there's a big curtain, he goes around and he comes back, he's just like very sheepishly says, you just wanted to say hi, we're still going to Bedminster. I'm like, okay, right. So again, things are changed. I go around and we have this thing between us. He always is like, Selena, best hair in America.
- [32:14]
Carol Markowitz
Yeah.
- [32:15]
Selena Zito
And, and I get so embarrassed because then everybody is staring at me like, and I'm thinking, is my hair good? I've been in the humidity for like five hours. I don't.
- [32:24]
Carol Markowitz
I hear you, girl. Yeah, like curly Italian hair.
- [32:28]
Selena Zito
Like we can't keep it straight.
- [32:29]
Carol Markowitz
Yeah.
- [32:31]
Selena Zito
So he asked about my grandchildren and then sent me on my way. So at this point, he can't get us back to the press riser where the rest of the press are, because that little causeway that he, we were sent through was now closed off. So he goes, okay, since you're going right after the rally with the President, let's put you in the buffer. And the buffer is sort of a well, mostly used by security that separates the President from the crowd and also by photojournalists because just go in the well, follow him around as he goes out on the stage and then get over on the far side, like, okay, we're all taking photos. My daughter, my son in law, he comes out, he waves to the crowd, he then goes up to the podium and you know, if you've never been to a Trump rally, you don't understand. But the relationship between him and the people that are attending it is very transactional. He feeds off of them, they feed off of him. And this is in a positive way. This is in a very sort of aspirational way. People believe they are part of something bigger than themselves. And Chump intuitively understands that he is as well. He's part of it, he's part of them. It's not just about him, it's about everybody there. So because of that, he never looks away from the crowd. He'll move his, he'll move his body and look at different sides. Yeah, like turn around and look at crowds around.
- [34:06]
Carol Markowitz
Right. It's not like he has notes or anything. Yeah.
- [34:09]
Selena Zito
So two things happen simultaneously that never happen. He brings a chart down. I'm like, what is he, Ross Perot? Like, he never has a chart.
- [34:20]
Carol Markowitz
Amazing, huh?
- [34:22]
Selena Zito
And then he turns away from the chrono, and he never does that. And at that moment, I hear, pop, pop, pop, pop. The bullets fly right over. I watch him go down, but he takes himself down. I note that, like, it's really weird. You know how they always say things happen in slow motion? They absolutely do.
- [34:45]
Carol Markowitz
Really?
- [34:45]
Selena Zito
I can see him go down. I can see him hold his ear. I see the Secret Service go around him. You remember? I'm, like, four feet away from him at this point and.
- [34:55]
Carol Markowitz
Is your daughter snapping pictures?
- [34:57]
Selena Zito
My daughter? Yeah. We're. We don't stop working until the second four bullets go by and Michelle takes us down. The campaign press guy. He's amazing. He's my hero. Michelle Picard. I will love him forever. He was so protective of all of us. And I can hear the whole conversation he is having with the Secret Service. And, you know, like, about when to go up. Like, you know that the. The shooter is dead. Like, you can hear them talking. You can hear their ra. I can hear the radios just because of how close I am. And I can. It was a little bit funny. It's funnier now. It was a little bit funny in the moment. I can hear him, like, they want him to get up and want him to grab. And he's, like, basically saying, I need to put my damn shoes on. Right. Like, his. Someone had knocked his shoes off. And. And. And I hear one agent sigh, like, okay, all right. Like, okay, put your shoes on. Right?
- [36:09]
Carol Markowitz
How'd they get his shoes off? That's so weird.
- [36:11]
Selena Zito
And then he comes off the stage. He goes right past me. There is an agent that holds a gun right in our heads as he's going past. Because they still don't know what else. Sure.
- [36:21]
Carol Markowitz
They don't know. Right.
- [36:23]
Selena Zito
So I did not go to Bedminster that day.
- [36:26]
Carol Markowitz
No, obviously. Right.
- [36:28]
Selena Zito
But he calls me the next morning bright and early, and before I could say hello, like, I didn't even get my hello out, he's like, are you okay? Is Shannon and Mike okay? I'm like. And I felt like saying, are you freaking kidding me? Like, you. Dude, you just been shot.
- [36:46]
Carol Markowitz
Yeah. Maybe focus on yourself. Yeah.
- [36:50]
Selena Zito
We ended up talking, I believe, seven different times that day. He called me back a lot of times because he kept getting interrupted, obviously.
- [36:59]
Carol Markowitz
Obviously. Yeah.
- [37:01]
Selena Zito
But also just talking about Faith, about him making that decision. Like, all of that. All the details of those conversations are in the book.
- [37:12]
Carol Markowitz
I cannot wait to read this because he seems like a changed person after a while.
- [37:16]
Selena Zito
He's totally changed person.
- [37:18]
Carol Markowitz
Yeah.
- [37:18]
Selena Zito
As someone that has interviewed him 19 times, he is definitely a changed person. And there's really some poignant moments with him and I after that at different places that are really powerful. But the book also really gets into, like, everybody was reading things in other newspapers and thinking one thing might happen. And I kept writing, no, it's not. You don't need to come to Pennsylvania. Right. It was clear to me that she stood no chance. Biden definitely didn't stand a chance. Probably. I mean, I will say this unequivocally would have lost worse than she did, really. It was clear to me that she was not going to win. She had no cultural connection to the voters here or any kind of connection.
- [38:14]
Carol Markowitz
I think, to any voters. She was impossible to get through to. Yeah.
- [38:19]
Selena Zito
Yeah. So. And. And you'll find out in the book the first. The. The forward. In the book. Not the forward. The first chapter, you'll find out that there was another president that was shot in Butler. And. And it is really intense and it's really, really interesting.
- [38:40]
Carol Markowitz
Shocking. I can't wait to read it. Butler and when does it come out again?
- [38:44]
Selena Zito
It comes out July 8th. But pre order.
- [38:47]
Carol Markowitz
Pre order.
- [38:48]
Selena Zito
Pre orders are important.
- [38:50]
Carol Markowitz
It's the main thing. Everybody pre orders. Selena's book. It's going to be amazing. You could tell by the story she just told how incredible a storyteller she is. And I just can't wait to read it. So a question that I ask all of my guests is, what do you worry about?
- [39:09]
Selena Zito
So, as I said in my homework assignment, I tend not to work.
- [39:15]
Carol Markowitz
Really?
- [39:16]
Selena Zito
Yeah. I mean, it doesn't mean kind of Italian doesn't worry. Well, here's why you don't worry, because it has no power. Worry has absolutely no power. It drains you. It can't do. Worry can do nothing to change circumstances. It is just a waste of energy. If you. If you want to. If you have something that's really sort of concerning you or a life struggle that you're. You're trying to work your way through or. Or even if it's just an issue with your child or your parents or your family or your career, the best thing to do is go outside and take a walk. And if faith is important to you, prayer is something that is often gotten me through. And by the way, ever get everything I ask for when I pray? I probably only get a tense but Prayer is really, really a great way, or being reflective is a great way to uplift that stress. And it helps you understand that there are some things you just don't have control over. And it helps you think about better ways to manage it.
- [40:29]
Carol Markowitz
What advice would you give your 16 year old self? What does 16 year old Selena need to know?
- [40:36]
Selena Zito
All the things you're gonna fail at. Don't worry about it. They end up being the things that make you successful.
- [40:43]
Carol Markowitz
What have you failed at?
- [40:45]
Selena Zito
I've been admired so many times, really.
- [40:51]
Carol Markowitz
I see you as like this beloved writer. Like, I was thinking about this before our interview. Like, the right is very fractured and there's a lot of, like, groups or cliques or whatever, and you just kind of transcend all of that. And so it's surprising to me that you failed at anything.
- [41:10]
Selena Zito
Oh, that's because I didn't belong there.
- [41:13]
Carol Markowitz
Yeah.
- [41:13]
Selena Zito
We have to recognize failures aren't about not trying hard enough. Failures about it not being a good fit. It's sort of like going on a date with your. Say you're a woman and you meet the perfect guy. Right. And you like, you know, you. You get along. And on paper, he's great. On paper you're great. But it doesn't work out like, and it's not because either were bad. It's because it wasn't a good fit.
- [41:43]
Carol Markowitz
Right.
- [41:43]
Selena Zito
I was in corporate America for two jobs and I was terrible at it. And it was not nothing to do with not working really hard.
- [41:51]
Carol Markowitz
Right.
- [41:52]
Selena Zito
I was just really, really bad. But where I learned so much and I think what makes me a good writer is observation skills. I have always been a people watcher and it has taught me so much. But also being a waitress, being a hairdresser, being a hockey mom, soccer mom, football mom, My kids played every lacrosse mom. My kids played every sport imaginable.
- [42:20]
Carol Markowitz
Yeah, I have one of those.
- [42:23]
Selena Zito
Yeah. And also understanding place in the world, where you are and where you're from. A respect for place, no matter where you. No matter where you find yourself, helps you become a better writer.
- [42:41]
Carol Markowitz
I love that. I love everything you do. She's so fantastic. Selena, Zito, leave us here with your best tip for my listeners on how they can improve their lives.
- [42:53]
Selena Zito
Well, I'm gonna go.
- [42:54]
Carol Markowitz
It's one of the three questions. Selena, you wrote out an answer. I can go find it.
- [42:57]
Selena Zito
I wrote out an answer, and I go back to my second answer.
- [43:01]
Carol Markowitz
Okay.
- [43:02]
Selena Zito
How do you improve your lives? Take a little care of yourself. I'm telling you, nothing is better than either A good cup of coffee or a glass of water or whatever you're choices shouldn't be alcohol in the morning. And take a walk. Yeah, a 15 minute walk. Walk in your house. Like it gets your endorphins going, right?
- [43:23]
Carol Markowitz
Definitely.
- [43:24]
Selena Zito
As what's her name famously said in what's the movie where she becomes a lawyer?
- [43:32]
Carol Markowitz
I think Legally Blonde. I felt like I knew where you were going with this. Reese Witherspoon.
- [43:37]
Selena Zito
You're endorphins if you're working. If you're working, you're indoors.
- [43:40]
Carol Markowitz
Happy people don't kill people. Yeah.
- [43:44]
Selena Zito
And so taking that walk, you know, in the first thing in the morning, even if your kids are around the house, do circuits around your house, whatever you need to do, get those juices flowing. It helps your mind be clearer. Exercise is never bad.
- [44:03]
Carol Markowitz
That's what I hear. I wouldn't take the chance myself, but yeah.
- [44:08]
Selena Zito
That would be my best advice.
- [44:10]
Carol Markowitz
I love it. She is Selena Zito. She's amazing. Pre order her new book Butler. It's gonna be out in July, but pre order it right now so you have it the day it comes out. Thank you so much, Selena Zito.
- [44:22]
Selena Zito
Thank you so much for having me. This was fun.
- [44:25]
Carol Markowitz
Thanks so much for joining us on the Carol Markowitz Show. Subscribe wherever you get your podcast.
- [44:33]
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