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All right. So this is Ken Rose. We are at Petworth, Porchfest, May 30th, 2026. Do I have permission to record this interview? You do, you do. Can you state your name for the camera? Uh, Alex Booker all right.

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And, uh, where are we at today? What are we doing today? So we are at Petworth Porchfest, uh, right here on, uh, Taylor and Eighth Street. This is your first time at Petworth? No, this is like, maybe my third or fourth time. Third or fourth time. Yeah.

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And what are you doing here at Petworth? So, uh, enjoying it as a neighbor, but also as a volunteer. The I 86 campaign, trying to get signatures to get I 86 on the ballot. Uh, I also see a Tottenham fan. Coys. Coys. Big day for us. I know right? Yeah. So what is the point? What is that? What is the organization that you're working with? Uh, so it's a part of pro animal future. It's to end the force feeding of ducks, specifically foie gras made by force feeding metal tubes, uh, down the throat of ducks to enlarge their livers in unnatural ways to make it edible for foie gras.

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So I see you going around getting signatures. Yeah, I'm talking to people about it. Yeah. What's the hope? What's the end result for this period? Right here? The hope is to get as many signatures for Ward Four and all of D.C. to get it on the ballot in November, to have D.C. citizens and residents a an opportunity to vote on it in November. Right. So this isn't, hey, sign for it. And you approve this policy, but it's for us to have like kind of a democratic conversation through the fall and November to have folks decide if they want to end the force feeding of ducks and the cell, that type of foie gras in D.C. or not. So in the line of work that you're doing, it's very important to garner community with them. I would imagine. Yep. Yep.

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Yep. Everybody is aware of the issue that you're talking about. Yep. Yep. So how do you see at this event right here at Petworth Porchfest. How do you see the importance of community kind of being pushed towards those that are coming? I would say from a bigger picture, this is important just for the sense of folks getting out of their houses and out of their apartment and being interacting with one another is talking to neighbors, you know, especially post Covid, we spend so much time indoors in front of screens on our phones that you're actually interacting with familiar faces, new faces, folks that you know, you live with every day. You take the train with, take the bus you drive next to every day. You go to the grocery store every day, but you don't actually see them interact with them. And here you're actually forced to be with that. And that bond, I think, is really powerful to actually like bring not just social change, but just like a better civic sense of responsibility through any place, any city like D.C..

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Do you see? Because I'm assuming that this is not the first event that you've done your work Yeah. So is there a difference in the perception that you've received or the reception that you've received from here versus that of other areas? Yeah. I mean, I'll be honest, we were in a union market a few last weekend and like the, you know, big population, a lot of foot traffic, but a lot more distant, a lot more socially disconnected, almost a lot more individualistic. I'm doing my thing. I'm going to go spend money. I'm gonna go out here. It's like, you know, you, you are much more comfortable talking to a stranger, much more comfortable talking to your neighbor. It's just, it's a, it's a little bit more, um, organic. And that I think organic ness allows folks to be more willing to bond in like, you know, talk to one another and learn about things. Do you feel that there is a reason why there's more of that connectedness here rather than something like a union market or a Navy Yard or whatever else that has a higher concentration of people. You know, that's a good question. Uh, I, I'm not a sociologist, so I can't give you an official answer. I think my, my, my guess would be, you know, a lot of it is the nature, right? Like this is kind of a smaller part of DC that has a lot of long time residents, a lot of new residents too. So that's a great combination. Um, and also candidly, it's the type of thing where like, you know, um, it's the type of place where I think a lot of folks who are coming here, like they want to be a part of the community, right? You're not here just for the fancy dinner you put on Instagram or to buy the fancy clothes at the fancy store. You're here to kind of hang out with the community. Um, and even if you're, let's say you're from Virginia, from Maryland, you're coming down to Petworth. That's great. That's awesome. But it's kind of that draws the neighborhood versus the draws like some capitalists, like shiny thing to spend money at.

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The end of the day. But if you want to tag the website to your organization, uh. I would say just Google, uh, pro animal future, Google DC, I 86, 2026 and learn more. All right. Thank you very much for your time. Thank you, thank you.