James Talarico

the attacks that come your way and all that stuff.

So spending the limited free time I have with the people who know me in real life, who know me as a human being, not as a candidate or an idea, but as a flesh and blood person, that's really important to keep me kind of tethered, to keep me sane through this adventure.

But, you know, I also love being outdoors.

I love hiking.

I mentioned my love for Big Bend.

I also give a shout out to Los Maples, which is a state natural area in the hill country, and to the hike and bike trails around Austin.

That's very much a way that I stay connected and grounded is being out in nature outdoors.

And then the last I would say is reading.

I was a language arts teacher, and I've been a lover of books my whole life.

That's why I've fought so hard against a lot of these efforts to censor or ban books in Texas, because I know the power of books in my life and in the lives of

of students.

And so reading is definitely a way that I relax and a way that I try to cultivate my own imagination and creativity is through reading.

And

And so, um, if you ever come into my house, you would just see like a wall of books, um, and books on the floor and books in the closet.

Um, and I don't do, um, Kindle or, or, um, the eBooks just because like I tried one time and there was like a dictionary feature.

We could look up words and I ended up just like looking up tons of words and I never got past like the page I was on because I was too distracted.

Um, mm-hmm.

And, uh, so hard copy old fashioned books are still the best way for me to, to, um, to try to disconnect from the craziness that's happening all around me.

Well, now you sound like my mom asking when I'm going to give her another grandbaby.

I definitely do.