Episode 3: Behind the scenes of West U Information Exchange: Meet Mariana Pope

SPEAKER_00 0:00

You're listening to the 005, the podcast that celebrates the people, places, and stories that make West University Place such a special community. And here's your host, Natalie Crossley. Hi, and welcome back to the 005. Before I introduce today's guest, I want to point out the beautiful painting behind me. It is by local artist West Jew resident Christy Haynes Herman. And her work right now happens to be on display at Navy Blue. But you can also find her work at Reeves Gallery, and she's been a longtime friend, and we commissioned this painting many years ago, and it actually tells a personal story about our family. And so I just feel very blessed to have it here in the podcast room. So thank you, Christy. And now for today's guest. Let me ask: are you a part of the West Jew Information Exchange on Facebook? If you are, you probably recognize the name Mariana Pope. She is the creator, the eyes, the ears behind that Facebook page and has been doing it for 12 years. So of course I knew the name. I had not met her before today, but what an incredible person. She does this as a service to the community. She's a full-time attorney and a mother of four. So she's got a lot going on, but she's done an incredible job and has brought on two other moderators to help her serve our community in that way and run that Facebook page. So I'm sure we all have our own experiences with that page, but we get to hear her experiences today. And I just really loved our chat and getting to know her better. And um, without further ado, here is Mariana Pope. Okay, Marianna Pope. Yes. I'm so excited to meet you. I've never met you in person. Obviously, I recognize the name because you are the face behind the West You information page. Yes. Um, Facebook page. Yes. So it's like meeting the woman behind the curtains. I get that a lot. They're like, oh, you're Mariana. Yeah, yeah. They do. Okay. Um, so the obvious first question is when did this all get started? How did you come up with the idea?

SPEAKER_01 2:01

So um it was actually not my idea. You know what they say that imitation is the best form of flattery. There is a memorial information trading. Okay. And this was in August of 2014. Wow. And I thought, why not do something similar for West Jew? Of course. So that's what I did. I created the page for West Jew. That's amazing. Yeah, so it's been 12 years.

SPEAKER_00 2:22

12 years. Yes. Okay. And so are have you been handling it all your own for 12 years?

SPEAKER_01 2:27

Yes. I have two moderators now, but until COVID. So in 2020 is when I brought on the two moderators. And they're fantastic.

SPEAKER_00 2:36

Wow. Okay. And so on a day-to-day basis, how does this work? Like, so someone like me in the neighborhood makes a post on the Facebook page. It doesn't automatically get posted. It automatically gets posted. Yeah. They're not pre-screened. Okay. Yeah. So it automatically gets posted. How soon after do you or the moderators see and decide this needs to, this can stay or this needs to go?

SPEAKER_01 3:00

So if it's something that's, you know, gonna be a bit, you know, contentious, uh uh sometimes people will text me. It's like, hey, you might want to go check. Sometimes people will send me a message. Sometimes if I'm scrolling through Facebook, I'll see it. Sometimes it's been up there a while and you know I'm working or I'm doing something and I don't know about it. But if it's like a hot topic, I'm usually made aware or I see it pretty quickly.

unknown 3:24

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 3:25

I would say 99% of the posts are completely fine and they're totally fine. Okay. But when something goes south, it goes south pretty quickly.

SPEAKER_00 3:33

It does. Um, and so sometimes do you kind of wait to see is this gonna get contentious? Like you'll wait for some of the comments and then when it starts getting Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:43

So it depends. Like some things, it's like if it's something that is very politically oriented and saying, like, I hate this candidate or I hate this continent, that goes down immediately. It's removed. But if it's something that on the surface the question is okay, but it has the potential to become contentious, then uh oftentimes I'll also post, hey, I'm I'm watching the comments, just you know, make sure you follow the rules. And like, I've got my eye on you guys. Like, be nice. Just to remind them.

SPEAKER_00 4:11

Yeah. Um, so you mentioned you have a full-time job. I do. Yes. West U Facebook is not your 24-hour baby. So, what what else do you have going on?

SPEAKER_01 4:21

I'm an attorney, so I work in healthcare compliance. Amazing. And how long have you done that? Oh, my entire career. So let's see, I graduated from law school in 2001. And when did you come to West U? We moved to West Jew in 2005 because we lived in a townhouse over near West Gray and Shepherd. Wait, so did we. Yeah. We were right down the street from Barnaby's. Yeah. So we would go to Barnaby's all the time. Oh, funny. And so we lived there for a couple years, and then my son Nicholas was born, and so we decided we wanted to move into West U. Okay. Sweet. And so you didn't grow up in the neighborhood, neither did your husband. No, my husband's from New Zealand. Okay. And I grew up in Mireeland and then Memorial. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 5:08

Yeah. And so, you know, what were just a couple of the things that you guys were hoping to get from Westview?

SPEAKER_01 5:14

Um the community. Yeah. The community and, you know, accessibility to the parks and the fact that it was its own city within a larger city. Yes. So that's definitely because we looked at other areas. Um, we also wanted to be close to my parents who live in the River Oaks area because they were very instrumental in helping us raise my kids because both my husband and I work full-time. And so my mom, you know, said you need to be close to us. So I said, okay, we'll do West U. And it's the best decision ever.

SPEAKER_00 5:43

I love to hear that. I just love to hear that. So you're busy, you're a mom, you're working, you come, um, you get the idea from Memorial Info, you start the West U one. So at what point were you like, okay, wow, this was a good idea?

SPEAKER_01 5:58

I mean, I think almost immediately because you know, people started, you know, using it, um, you know, asking for referrals. Um, you know, I benefited personally because like I found my painter, I found my plumber, you know, all the trades. Um, so it it grew very quickly. Um, I will say.

SPEAKER_00 6:18

And so talking about growth, where are we at now with membership?

SPEAKER_01 6:21

We're at about 5800 people. Um, we actually went through, like we cold through the list a few years ago trying to remove like inactive people. So we removed, I think a couple thousand people. That's quite a project. Yeah. It was, it was it was very laborious and time intensive intensive because there's not an easy way. I could I wish, and maybe now it's easier, but I wish you could just like run a Facebook report of people like of members who have never posted. Um, and I'm surprised Facebook doesn't have that capability. Um, and I even tried, but anyway, it was it was very labor intensive.

SPEAKER_00 6:59

So you bring up inactive users, but what about people who have moved out of WestU? I think I that's a conversation just that I hear among friends sometimes.

SPEAKER_01 7:07

I always say once you're in, you're grandfathering. Once you're grandfather, unless you do something egregious. And I've gotten like some pushback from some people, and I'm like, listen, first of all, I don't have the time, nor the desire, yeah, nor the desire. And there are amazing people who have been in and then moved out and still contribute. Contribute tons.

SPEAKER_00 7:26

Um, so no, once you're in, you're in. It's funny, we've had neighbors that have moved to Colorado, California, and they'll see something on there and text me about it before I've even seen it. And they're like, right, oh my gosh, did you see d-da-da on Facebook? And I'm like, no. Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:40

So they they still keep up with it. So one of our moderators now lives in in Colorado, and she's amazing, and she lived in West Jew, and I was like, I am not losing you. And she still comes often because her husband still has his job here. Um, but that's really funny.

SPEAKER_00 7:57

Yeah, that's funny. Um, and so another question for you um in terms of the people that are on there, 5,800. So we have 15,000 approximately residents in our city. Do you make any kind of effort to like get the word out that it's there?

SPEAKER_01 8:15

No, yeah, I I don't advertise it. It's actually a secret group. So if you were to type in West Jew info, you it wouldn't come up. So the only way is to be invited by someone. To be invited, okay.

SPEAKER_00 8:27

I do have a neighbor who um is a senior citizen, and one day I mentioned something that I had seen on the Facebook group, and he said, What group are you talking about? Yeah. And I told him, and he said, Well, I want to be a part of that group. And I said, Oh, it didn't occur to me that I needed to invite you. So, okay, that makes sense. Yep. Um, and then describe just kind of a typical day in the group. I mean, it there obviously is at least a post a day. Has there ever been a day where you were like, oh my goodness, there's been like 50 posts today?

SPEAKER_01 8:55

You know, in general, the group runs itself, like it's pretty much people follow the rules. Most of the posts are just, you know, very vanilla. So I just scroll through several times a day. Um, I always will look at the pending members. I also look and see if any have been flagged. Facebook has this weird alg algorithm, and so it sends a lot of things to spam. Like, for example, if you recommend a website or something, it'll sometimes go to spam. So I've gotten lots of messages like, hey, why why isn't my post up or what happened? I'm like, oh, it was flagged by Facebook.

SPEAKER_00 9:30

So Facebook being a social medium, obviously, sometimes there are some controversial things that get brought up. Are there any any things that have been brought up that you are comfortable talking about? Oh, sure.

SPEAKER_01 9:39

I mean, so I think every anyone who has been on Wii long enough probably remembers the thong post. So someone had posted about women or a woman wearing a thong at Colonial Park Pool. Um, so it created a lot of people saying, if she wants to wear a thong, let her wear a thong. Other people are like, this is a family, this is a community, you should not be wearing a thong. So that one has become very just iconic. Um the brown avocado toast. Are you familiar with that one? No, okay. So someone had gone to Tiny's number five, and then they posted, like, what is going on? You know, my toast, my avocado is brown. Like, what is going on? And people and people are like, you know, it just it just created a lot of oh my goodness. A lot of comments, a lot of feelings about the brown avocado. A lot of feelings. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 10:35

And of course, Tiny's is a very beloved restaurant in the neighborhood. And oh my goodness, and I think we have bigger problems to solve in the world. 100%.

SPEAKER_01 10:44

So, you know, some some posts are controversial like that, other posts are controversial, and those like I will immediately take down once I catch wind of them. Um, so anything again, COVID, COVID was oh boy, COVID was was rough because there was a lot of feelings, lots of people, you know, wanting to post, you know, for or against the vaccine, for or against masking.

SPEAKER_00 11:14

And again, for or against going back to school.

SPEAKER_01 11:17

Absolutely, yes. Yeah. And so um, you know, I made some mistakes, you know, when I was during my time there, and I will fully admit that to that. Um, and that's one of the reasons I I brought on some moderators just to get some extra support. But um I I I just think you have to remember again that most people, you know, have good intentions, you know, they want to help. And um, but people people feel very strongly about some things.

SPEAKER_00 11:45

Well, and also this isn't your full-time job. Right. Um, people need to remember that you're doing this as a service to the community. Yeah. Um, and like you said, everyone makes mistakes. I mean, I'm sure on this podcast I'll make mistakes, right? Of course.

SPEAKER_01 11:59

I will uh a hundred percent own it and apologize if I do.

SPEAKER_00 12:01

Yeah, and bringing up the moderators, that's also great because then it doesn't all fall on you. Right. It's like, well, there's three of us, and as a group, we have decided this is or is not appropriate.

SPEAKER_01 12:11

And so and sometimes, you know, if there's something that we think might be controversial or you know, we will we will message each other and we'll we'll just discuss it and we'll come to a decision as to whether or not to leave it up.

SPEAKER_00 12:22

That's great. Was there a lemon story that was on the Oh the lemon story, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:26

So so um someone had posted that a nanny, I'm not I'm not sure how they knew it was a nanny, but a nanny was stealing lemons from their front yard. And that created a lot of feelings. A lot of people wanted the cops, the West Jew cops, to be called on the lemon stealing nanny. So um I took that down because you know, again, I feel like like these aren't real problems. Like I understand, but like instead of blasting this person on Facebook, like why don't you just have a conversation with her? Yeah, like if you got her on camera, like just or you know, just try to that's one of the things that I always feel like before blasting someone or something on Facebook, why don't you try to have a conversation? Conversation that makes that first, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 13:13

Well, and also, you know, it's a blessing and a curse, these ring cameras. Oh, yes, right? Absolutely. There was also, I think, a dog poop, you know, someone's dog pooped in the front yard and they added on camera that they didn't clean it up. Yes, there's a lot going on. Wrapping houses, you know. I mean, the ring cameras are catching everything, but I really appreciate that you um aren't wanting to blast people's faces um on the internet and especially minors.

SPEAKER_01 13:37

Absolutely. I feel very strongly, you know, having four boys, they're now all 18 and up, but I wouldn't personally want my child's um picture on there. And what I always try to remember is like like this this one isolated incident isn't going to define who you are. So like my kids have made mistakes and I wouldn't want their pictures blasted all over a community Facebook page. Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 13:59

Yeah, agree. Well, thank you for the moderating.

SPEAKER_01 14:02

Well, thanks, thank you to my moderators too. They're great. Of course. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 14:06

So what are some other things that would be like a red flag or a no-no on there? We talked a little bit a little bit about political conversation.

SPEAKER_01 14:14

Politics, hot topics, um, shaming. So one of the things that really I don't like is people posting pictures of minors, even if their face is blurred. Um, I I have four kids, my all my four kids are not perfect, they've gotten in trouble, and I would not want my kids' face posted on wooy. Um, so I always say if if if you post a picture of a minor, it's coming down. If you post a picture of a neighbor, um, it's coming down. Like uh, I I don't like that. Uh pictures of of nannies, um, I don't like that either. I don't like shaming. I don't like shaming posts.

SPEAKER_00 14:51

Um, so you just referred to it as wooey.

SPEAKER_01 14:53

Yes. I call it woo.

SPEAKER_00 14:55

Never heard that. I call it wooey. Wooey. Yeah. Does anyone else out there say that? I don't know, but I do. Okay, well, we're starting a thing. Wooey. Oh my gosh, because it is a mouthful. Yeah, it is a mouthful information exchange.

SPEAKER_01 15:08

Yeah, and I originally called it West U Trading, and it was too um, did I call it? I I called it something, and it was too similar to the one that allows selling. Okay, yes. So I then I changed it to information exchange, but it is a mouthful, so I call it what we okay, and there are other West U Facebook pages that are more about selling items.

SPEAKER_00 15:29

Yes. Like we don't want that on this no selling items. Some of the other things that, you know, have been so valuable that have come from having the site, um emergency situations. Oh, yes. Like I just think back to Hurricane Harvey and the freeze. And it's like, does anybody have this? Or yes.

SPEAKER_01 15:47

I I remember one in particular, um, the they had a little girl who was dependent on power. I don't know if she was trach or event dependent, and they didn't have any power. And the community just really rallied and they were able to find a hotel that had availability and you know get her into. But that's that's what I think like the heart of West Jew is is people really rally around and help each other.

SPEAKER_00 16:13

Agreed. Yeah. The other thing I see on there, um, and you and I talked a little bit beforehand, donations. Oh gosh. It's um it's it's it's so humbling. It's so humbling and it's amazing how immediate it it is. It's like if someone says I am volunteering for this organization and they really need X. Like you and I both uh have in common the Rescued Pets Movement. Yes. Um, oftentimes they need towels. Oh yes. Um, bath rugs, things like that. Uh and so both separately without knowing that before today have posted that, and I mean, I'll end up with just garbage bags full on my porch.

SPEAKER_01 16:46

I a few years ago I posted a call to collect um towels because rescued pets movement had posted a picture of like their shelves empty. So I posted that picture. And we have a minivan, and I kid you not, our minivan was stacked with garbage bags full of towels.

SPEAKER_00 17:03

It's amazing. Yeah. Uh we were taking a trip to Honduras for spring break, and my husband had made contact with um someone there who was like a baseball coach. Oh, yeah, who said, you know, we've got all these kids, you know, that love to play, but they don't have any equipment. My husband put a post up, and I tell you, it was within 24 hours we had to take it down because we could not handle the amount of bats and gloves and helmets, and we ended up having three giant care uh boxes that we had to check. Wow. Wow. Um but it was just so amazing.

SPEAKER_01 17:34

It is really I I recently posted within the last month here. I work with an organiz, you know, it's a grassroots organization, but we send supplies to kids in El Salvador. So I posted last winter um help asking for donations for their Christmas party, and we were able to completely fund it within less than a day. And then this time I asked for either donations in kind or monetary donations to buy school supplies. And so we I've sent people the list and I had like you know boxes full of school supplies, backpacks, people sending me money, and we were able to get enough backpacks and school supplies for 300 students and amazing, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 18:18

It's just incredible, and it's just happening, you know, in the background every day in the community, and it's just what's I think it's what is taught me is that I think people inherently I always people inherently and generally are good people.

SPEAKER_01 18:31

People want to help, and I always try to remember that, and I always try to remember like you know, people in general have good intentions. You're gonna have, you know, a rotten apple every once in a while, but 99% of the time people are just amazing. I agree. That's so sweet.

SPEAKER_00 18:45

Um, another thing that's so wonderful that I've seen is um the reunification of people with their pets.

SPEAKER_01 18:50

Oh my gosh. So yeah, that that one is very near and dear to my heart. Of course.

SPEAKER_00 18:55

Yeah, we both share the love for animals. Um tell me uh about a story or two that you know that you remember.

SPEAKER_01 19:03

Um I mean, it happens at least usually once a week where someone will post a picture of hey, I found this this animal, or someone will say, Hey, my dog got out because the landscaper accidentally left the gate open, and immediately you have people um reuniting. And Prince Pumpkin, who is the famous Prince Pumpkin. Famous Prince Pumpkin. We'll go ahead and and bring him to light here. Yes. And I want to meet Prince Pumpkin. Okay, I'll set that up for you. He has been posted many times because concerns some people know that it's Prince Pumpkin and they just post like, hey, Prince Pumpkin sighting. Other people like, hey, I found this cat is roaming. Do you know who it is? And people, oh, it's Prince Pumpkin. So he's famous. Um, but yeah, like so. My cat got out and I posted on Wooe, and thankfully he was like in between our two fences, but like immediately people were like, I'll I'll be on the lookout and giving me, you know, leave, leave like the cat, the the little box outside. No, everyone always wants to help.

SPEAKER_00 20:03

Wants to help, yeah. Um so for people who don't know, Prince Pumpkin does live in the colonial terrace part of the neighborhood. Um, he does have owners who live across the street from me. His um owners are going to crack up laughing when they hear that he's been mentioned on the podcast. But he um in this area, just so you know, he's referred to as the mayor of West You. Oh, I've heard that. Uh-huh. I think he should run. He should run. Yes. Um, he makes his way down to Colonial Park all the time, and people meet him and uh they get worried about him, but he always makes his way home. But sometimes he makes his way into other people's homes.

SPEAKER_01 20:38

I I I really want to meet Prince Pumpkin. Yes, we'll set that up. Well, we'll do a meet and greet. Yes, please. I I've actually commented on that several times. We need to do a Prince Pumpkin meet and greet. Oh my gosh, Lauren is gonna crack up.

SPEAKER_00 20:48

That is so good. What do you think is um the most commonly asked question or common post that you see?

SPEAKER_01 20:55

Probably recommendations for um, you know, a fence or a painter or a plumber or um also, you know, lots of, you know, I'm looking for, you know, a therapist for, you know, my my daughter who's struggling with anxiety. And that's that's one of the things I love about it because it, you know, it it creates such an amazing community. And, you know, I have personally found amazing recommendations. Of course, we have too.

SPEAKER_00 21:22

Yeah. Yeah. So contractors and vendors mostly. Yeah. Um, have you ever thought about creating some kind of, and again, this would be more work for you, um, like a best of or a guide to SU with like recommendations?

SPEAKER_01 21:34

I haven't because number one, people don't like look at the files. So when I started, I started by creating Word documents and I would pin them, but people just wouldn't look at them. And things also change, and you know, you do have the search function, which I that's what I use, but I don't know if everyone knows that. Right. Yeah. And it's also not foolproof because sometimes I will try the search function. And it it won't come up. Yeah. Um, but I've tried the search, and also oftentimes people will say, Well, I I did the search function, but the recommendations are very old. So that happens to me too. Um but I can't like you know, the fence, it's funny because I think like fences is one of the most commonly asked questions and it's always the same recommendations. I found I just we just had a fence replaced in thanks to Shane's fence. Yeah, there you go.

SPEAKER_00 22:23

Okay. Um so yeah, the search function at the top, not everybody knows it's there, but that is true. That say I'm looking for a fence person, you type in fence, you know, all of the conversations or some of them will pop up. But then yeah, if it's been months or years, it makes sense to just start a new post. Yeah. Um, but that's very helpful. Um, so what's your favorite kind of post? And we talked a little bit beforehand about some things that come out of questions.

SPEAKER_01 22:48

I think um probably the posts that kind of bring the community together. So people like seeking like assistance or something or trying to do something for the community. Um, you know, recent not recently, but someone was looking for housing for a family member who is going through cancer treatment. And then one of my amazing neighbors who I met through WooE said, we keep a garage of apartment and we offer it for free to anyone who's going through cancer treatment. You know, we don't publicize it, but we let people know and we were able to connect the families. That's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 23:24

And I've had a neighbor that did the same. Yeah. So we talked a little about the moderating. Yes. How did you pick the two people that are helping you? Were they just friends of yours?

SPEAKER_01 23:32

Or I was trying to remember. Um, no, they're not personal friends. In fact, I've never met Tracy in person. How funny? Yeah. Um, and she Tracy is the one who now lives in Colorado. And Elizabeth, I've met like just in passing, like she dropped off some school supplies recently. That's so funny. And I I I I think maybe I asked for volunteers and because it was during COVID and things were getting very tense, and I was like, I think I need some help. And people were saying, like, maybe you need to get some moderators. Good for you. So it was it was back then, and they've been wonderful.

SPEAKER_00 24:03

So what would happen if you woke up one day and said, I just can't anymore? Would you go to one of those two and ask if they wanted to take it on full time?

SPEAKER_01 24:12

I would probably ask someone, yes, either them or someone else who I have interacted with and I know that you know really has the community's interest at at heart and wouldn't want to like personally benefit from it. Because to me, that's really important.

SPEAKER_00 24:27

Yeah, that's a a smart, you know, way to look at it. Yeah. Um, so talking about personally benefiting, and tell me a little bit about this is um a wonderful thing that you came up with, but maybe share with everybody more of the details about your marketing Mondays.

SPEAKER_01 24:40

Oh, yeah. So marketing mondays came across or came up during COVID and someone had posted um that she was selling hand sanitizer. And I took down the post and she got very upset with me. Marketing Mondays did not exist yet. And she, and you know what? She was right. She said, you know, we're in the middle of this crisis. People are very anxious and nervous, and I have something available, and I'm, you know, trying to spread the word. And I was like, you know what? Okay, let's do a marketing Monday. I actually did a poll to see does the community want to see something like this. And the overwhelming majority said yes. And so that's when we started marketing Mondays.

SPEAKER_00 25:18

Okay. Yeah. I think it's a great idea, and I love that you kept it within WooWii. Yes. And didn't like try to start something separate. Right. Yeah. So, and I think one day a week makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 25:27

Absolutely and keep it under the post because other groups allow marketing Mondays, but they allow separate posts, and I feel like that clogs the feed. Yeah, I agree. So I was like, just make sure you post it under the marketing Monday for.

SPEAKER_00 25:40

Yeah, okay, that makes sense. Yeah. Um, going back a little bit to politics, I know that, you know, our amazing mayor follows, and there's probably some other uh politicians. Yes. So um, do you think that this has become a valuable thing for them, obviously, to kind of see what people are chatting about?

SPEAKER_01 25:57

Yes, absolutely. And also, I think um Mayor Susan Sample gets tagged often, and she is incredibly responsive. I always wonder, like, she also has a full-time job and she's a mom of um two high schoolers, but when she is tagged, she's responding within minutes. I'm seeing that, yeah. Um, it's it it's sometimes I also feel like, hey, did you go directly to the city instead of posting first on Wooe? Like, try to try to go through the proper channels. But I think sometimes people just, you know, just automatically think, oh, let me let me post on Wooey to see if anyone can help.

SPEAKER_00 26:30

Or um, and so that's a good point. Yeah. Um, and I will say, you know, it's amazing how many people don't know that the city of West U actually does have their own Facebook page. Right. Um and they're they've actually become very active recently on there, um, posting events, but also, you know, community um information. And so that's a good point. Yeah. Um, and bless Mayor Susan Sample. Um she is so wonderful at communicating, and like you said, it's amazing.

SPEAKER_01 27:00

Quick, amazing. I don't know how she does it. Yeah, she never she doesn't sleep, and she so fun fact, she loves cats. Okay. So we send each other memes about cats at least usually once a day. So we're both crazy called these.

SPEAKER_00 27:12

Oh my goodness. I mean, so it's just, you know, talking about things like this, I love that people can get a better sense of how lucky we are. Oh, yes, in my opinion, to live in a community that is its own city, yes, and that has a mayor that's so engaged on a daily basis. Daily. Um, that, you know, honestly, tagging her in a post to me is the next best thing to being able to text her directly. Oh, absolutely. She's getting it like she would get a text and she responds like.

SPEAKER_01 27:40

And she will send you a private message immediately. Isn't that incredible? Yeah. I uh a few months ago our power was out, and actually it ended up being my fault. But I posted and I said, Hey, is anyone else's power out? And she messaged me and she said, Let me call Center Point. Well, it ended up being that it was it was a planned power outage, and I guess I got the little door hanger and I threw it away and didn't realize. So like that's that's on me. That totally happened.

SPEAKER_00 28:07

That's my fault. So tell me a little bit about the popularity and does it still amaze you?

SPEAKER_01 28:13

It does, it does. Um, because so I've recently started playing Mahjong and I've met a few people in the community, and when I give them my name, they're like, Oh, do you run the West Jewel Info Exchange? Yes. And so I get that every once in a while, and it really is just amazing me where people say, It is just such an amazing resource to me. Like, I don't do Facebook, but I just log on to Facebook to get onto WooE.

SPEAKER_00 28:39

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 28:39

Isn't that amazing?

SPEAKER_00 28:40

Yeah, yeah. Um, yeah, speaking of Mahjong, we have a group here in West You. I don't know if you're aware, uh, that's a Majing. No. Yes. Uh Amanda Commons. Um, she lives in the neighborhood and she is basically an amazing instructor. Oh, okay. Yeah. So I plan on talking to her and her group. Yeah. And so it's become so popular. I know, it really has. I have jumped on the bandwagon. Isn't that funny? And that's actually become a big topic of conversation on um on Wooey. Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_01 29:07

It I I feel like it keeps my, you know, my my brain fresh and fishing. And yes.

SPEAKER_00 29:13

No, that's great. Yeah. Uh, me too. I just started learning within the last year or two, and it's really fun. Um, and it's a great way to meet neighbors.

SPEAKER_01 29:20

Yes. Yeah. I like to play casually. I'm not like so.

SPEAKER_00 29:24

That's funny you said people recognize the name. Um so there's instances, I guess, when like you're at the kids' school or something, and they're like, oh, Marianna Pope.

SPEAKER_01 29:32

Yep. Isn't that so funny? It's really just weird for me. Yeah. You know, because I'm like, oh, you're the Mariana Pope. I'm like, no, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:41

So it wasn't the intent, but it's wonderful. I mean, just the thought of how many people have been helped through such a service that doesn't cost anything.

SPEAKER_01 29:49

Absolutely. And I've been, I, you know, over the years, people are like, you should really monetize this. And I'm like, nope, I'm not doing that. I that to me would just, you know, completely change, you know, what WooE is, and I was never in it, nor will I ever be in it to monetize.

SPEAKER_00 30:05

Right. Yeah. It's really more for the love of the community. Absolutely. Which is kind of what this is too. You know, my husband and I living here 15 years and just loving the community and the people in it. Yep. And just wanting everyone to have access to people like you to learn more about, you know, the great neighbors that we have that are doing wonderful things. So thank you for all the time that you've put into Wooey over the years.

SPEAKER_01 30:26

It's my pleasure. It's amazing.

SPEAKER_00 30:27

And so we talked a little bit earlier about people um getting in, being grandfathered in.

SPEAKER_01 30:33

Yep.

SPEAKER_00 30:34

Are there people uh outside of West U that try to, you know, quote unquote.

SPEAKER_01 30:38

So I've had a couple, um, you know, I when people give an address, I I don't go and verify it. You know, I feel like we're all adults. Yeah. But um sometimes I don't know why an address will just look off to me. And so I've had people list bearings before. Yeah, I had someone list um West Jew Methodist Church before. Oh my goodness. Yeah. So very rarely.

SPEAKER_00 31:04

Yes, yeah. And so on those you have to say, uh, you know, I'm sorry, this is a name.

SPEAKER_01 31:07

Or like recently I had someone send me a message like, hey, I'm trying to get my friend in, she lives in Baylor. I was like, well, it it's it's limited to West Jew, and I don't want it to sound like, you know, we're this exclusive club, but we have to put some parameters around it, otherwise it would just get too large. And we we we we'd really just want to keep it about West Jew.

SPEAKER_00 31:26

Right. Or West Jew residence. You know, it's supposed to be a neighborhood resource, yeah. So that makes sense. Um have you made real friends through it? I know you've met two moderators.

SPEAKER_01 31:35

How yes, I did. So um, and I can't remember how long our book club has been around. Shout out to Christy Neal for starting it. But several years ago, Christy Neal posted on Wooey saying, Hey, I would love to start a book club. And our first Spurt Club had like 25 people showed up, and now we're probably like a core group of about 10 ladies, and we meet the last Wednesday of every month, and it is like I will like if I have something else, like book club is my priority. Wednesday, the last Wednesday of the month at 7 p.m. And I love these ladies, and we're all kind of like different walks of life. Like we have some people with young kids, we have some people with grandkids, but it's just this great group of ladies, and you met this group through wooy.

SPEAKER_00 32:21

Yes, that's so amazing. I love them. I love to hear that. Yes, yeah, there's definitely some um people that contribute more than others that I've not met in person, but I feel like I know them.

SPEAKER_01 32:31

Well, um, one of the my neighbors, um, I'll shout out Teresa Atwell. I don't know if I've ever met her in person, but we message a lot, and she is just one of the most kind-hearted persons. Like I posted last year, I was like, hey, does anyone have a cheap TV for sale? Because my son wanted to start watching the Sopranos. And I was like, Well, let me see. And Teresa messaged me. He's like, Hey, I have this one, haven't been using it in years, it's yours. And so we went and got it, and my son put it in his room. And that's so sweet. Or um during COVID, I don't know if you remember there was a shortage of sriracha sauce, like this is a particular brand. Do you not remember this? So, and one of my twins loves sriracha sauce, and we didn't have any more, so I posted, like, hey, does anyone know where I could find this sriracha sauce? And someone said, Hey, I have an extra bottle, come get it. It's wow. And so that's it's those small things, those acts of service that like this is what West You is all about.

SPEAKER_00 33:31

Isn't that wild? Yeah, everyone's just so helpful. Oh, absolutely. Yeah, and I do think we all innately, like you said earlier, want to help. Yes. And so when you see a post, you know, most of us, if we can answer the question, absolutely. My husband is so great on there about um sharing travel tips. Oh, he's better than I am about that. But you know, if someone's asking about a particular place, he loves to share this is what was good, this is what was bad, this is what I recommend. And I mean that those kind of um interactions go a long way.

SPEAKER_01 34:00

Oh, absolutely. Yeah. I mean, it's funny because like usually when I need to find like I need advice or I need, you know, some sort of access to something, I will typically post on Wooey first. Yeah, because that's where I usually get like information.

SPEAKER_00 34:18

Um what would you say, and this is a very broad big question, but your proudest, you know, wooey moment where you just and it's been since uh 2012? 14. 14. So 12 years.

SPEAKER_01 34:32

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 34:33

Um yeah, what would you say was like that?

SPEAKER_01 34:36

Wow, this is just uh you know, I think there's so many like individual examples. I think just to people to your point wanting to give and help. I'll give the example of the El Salvador again, you know, collecting for for these kids who have nothing. And a five dollar target backpack is just means so much to them. You know, I had someone send me five hundred dollars and I've never met this person. And I was like, and I was like, as I can, you know, bring it you to tears because you know, people are just so good. Yeah. Um I would I don't know if I have anything like a specific because there's so many examples.

SPEAKER_00 35:18

Yeah, and it's just happening on a daily basis. It really is, yeah. That's amazing. Yeah, that's great. Um, so what would you say is next for uh wooy? Is there you know a goal you have in mind or just you just want to keep it going? Just keep it going, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:32

I always wonder like where will it go? But you know, like I said, it it it really kind of runs itself, you know, kind of self-polices. Um, and so I don't have any any plans on like changing it. Like why, why, why you fix something if it's not broken? Absolutely, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 35:50

It's definitely not broken, it's working. Yeah. Um, and so what would your advice be for somebody who was in a different part of town that thought, I want to do something like this?

SPEAKER_01 36:01

Yeah, it's just you know, it's grassroots. So just start from the ground up. That's how I did it. You know, I just um, you know, just ask, tell your friend, and your friend will tell their friend, and you know, that's how it grows. It just grows organically.

SPEAKER_00 36:16

Organically, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 36:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:18

Well, thank goodness for you for um seeing what was happening in memorial and bringing it here so long ago and keeping it going and keeping it positive.

SPEAKER_01 36:28

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:29

To me, that's really important.

SPEAKER_01 36:30

It is important. Um, and you know I've I've gotten to some flack before for you know taking posts down or you know, it's funny because some people will think that I lean super far right, and some people will think that I lean super far left, and they don't know me. But because if I take down a certain post, they're like, oh well, you know, you're this politically oriented. And I'm like, I'm really trying to keep it neutral. If you want to talk about politics, go do it on your personal page or go find another Facebook page. This is not the page to do that.

SPEAKER_00 36:58

No, not. Um, and we do have an election year coming up in our city. Yes. Um, so just a reminder to people, like what you said, we want to keep it positive. Absolutely. Keep it informational. Yes. Um, and if there's obviously council meetings that people want to attend, that's the right place to voice a concern, in my opinion. Yeah, I agree. And I think not a people not enough people are going to those meetings.

SPEAKER_01 37:18

No, I actually went just recently and I was surprised that and and I mean, I'm guilty myself. I I don't typically go to the city council meetings, but now I want to start going because it was really informative. Absolutely. Kind of seeing like what is what is the city doing? Right. You know, what are we working on?

SPEAKER_00 37:35

What are we building? Right. Well, and the police department had a town hall in February. Oh, yes. And uh my husband and I attended, and we were surprised at the attendance there too. It's um so anyway, this is a forum to get information, the Facebook page, but there's also a lot of different ways to interact with the city. Yeah. Um, but we're so grateful to have Wooy as I will now be calling it. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Of course, and thank you for your time. And I'm just so glad to meet you in person. Like other people will be happy to see your face. Put a face to a name. Yes, thank you, Marianna. Thank you. Oh my gosh, pumpkin's here.

SPEAKER_01 38:11

Oh my god. Did you go get him, Huston?

SPEAKER_00 38:16

We're still rolling.

SPEAKER_01 38:16

Do you want to go get him?

SPEAKER_00 38:19

Oh my gosh. Okay. Pumpkin, don't be feisty. Pumpkin, don't be feisty. He sees pumpkin. She has orange cats. Oh, this is a celebrity meeting. Look, and he's so cute. And he doesn't have his bow tie on today, but he does have his uh his jingle bells. Pumpkin, smile for the camera. Oh my gosh, isn't he so cute? Yeah, you big boy. Look at those eyes. What color are your cat's eyes?

SPEAKER_01 38:55

They're yellow.

SPEAKER_00 38:56

They're yellow. Yeah.