Episode 9 - Mickey Sneezed On Me… with Ariel Fogg

This week on Husky Hotseat, we welcome Ariel Fogg, Hubble's drama and speech teacher, and director of the Fall play and Spring Musical!  Join host Eric Elftmann, as we talk about working at Disney, most embarrassing stage moments, the best advice for those of us with a little stage fright, and a lots of rural Pennsylvania slang!  Oh, and you might just get a little hint about the Fall play...

Disney: behind the scenes

Talk like a real Pennysylvanian

Make your own "Gobs"

Tail of the dragon

Check out our Instagram page for information on new epsiodes!

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Thanks to Pixabay creators Tunetank, Floraphonic, and RibHav Agrawal for Husky Hotseat's music and sound effects!

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:11

Hello everyone and welcome to the Husky Hot Seat, the show for students, parents, and staff to get to know the Hubble community. I'm your host, Eric Elfman. Each week on Husky Hot Seat, you and I get to sit down with a member of our Hubble staff to ask them the answers to the tough questions. This week I'm here with Ariel Fogg. Mrs. Fogg is Hubble's drama and speech teacher, as well as the director of the fall play and the spring musical. She's been in education for eight years, the last five of which have been at Hubble. However, she was also a teacher of sorts when she worked at Disney as an entertainment trainer, which we will definitely get into later. Mrs. Fogg has a loving family at home, two fur babies, Sola, her golden retriever, and Luna, her black cat, and of course, the one she babies the most, her husband Dylan. Mrs. Fogg, thank you for joining us on Husky Hot Seat. We're excited to have you. I'd like to just start a little bit by asking you a little bit about your time before teaching. Tell us all about your Disney experience.

unknown 1:04

Mr.

SPEAKER_02 1:04

Alfman, thank you so much for having me on the Husky Hot Seat. I know very well how hard you work behind the scenes, especially with the musical and show choirs. So the fact that you took this on for the Hubble community, I think is really great. So thank you for that.

SPEAKER_00 1:16

Oh, thank you.

SPEAKER_02 1:18

Disney, yes, it was a great era in my life, very magical, but also physically demanding and a very sweaty time in my life because you're performing in 100-degree heat, dancing down Main Street. I worked there for four years as a character performer. I was performing in meet and greets, special events, got to do several of the parades. And at Disney, you are friends with the characters. So just like Santa Claus is real, you preserve the magic and you are friends with the characters. So I was friends with Mickey, Minnie, Daisy, Donald, Piglet, Stitch, Olaf, Ajawa from Star Wars. They were a lot of fun. Pinocchio, Brer Rabbit, Miko, Dopey, and my like one Disney claim to fame. I was Olaf's first friend ever. So when they were working on bringing him into the parks, I got to be part of that behind the scenes with figuring out how to transfer from animation to a costume character, and I got to be part of that. So that was really cool.

SPEAKER_00 2:21

What sort of differences are there between the characters in, you know, it's all silent acting because they can't speak in the park, right? Yes. So what sort of things are different between, let's say, like a goofy and an Olaf?

SPEAKER_02 2:34

Height.

SPEAKER_00 2:36

Okay, okay.

SPEAKER_02 2:38

Um everything is based on height range. So I'm only four foot ten, and because of that, I got to play a lot of the shorter characters. And then for Goofy, that's the top of the height range. So they're six foot something or other for that one.

SPEAKER_00 2:55

So they have pretty specific physical demands of the performers. Like literally, they have to be X tall to play this character.

SPEAKER_02 3:03

Yes, correct. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 3:04

Yes. All right. Tell us a little bit more about what else you did there.

SPEAKER_02 3:09

I was also a character captain. So I would oversee all of the entertainment locations and performers. And then, as you mentioned earlier, I was a character trainer. And this is where you taught people how to play the Disney characters. So essentially, like a Disney teacher. And then I did a temporary assignment with Disney Performing Arts. And this was a big music competition. They called it Festival Disney. And I got to help coordinate all of the middle schools and high schools that were coming in to perform. I got to work with the adjudicators. I helped arrange the awards in particular, the setup, organizing, ordering everything. And then another thing that I got to do was make a wish. And these would sometimes be special events or just meet and greets where the children would come in from their wishes. And in particular, I got to do my best friend Jacqueline. Her nephew was diagnosed with leukemia. And Jaclyn and I met when we were in preschool and then did theater together. She's still my best friend to this day, but Parker came for his make-a-wish trip. And I got to be Mickey Mouse that day for Parker.

SPEAKER_00 4:18

Oh, that's awesome. Yeah. That's very cool.

SPEAKER_02 4:20

Yeah. Disney is also how I met Dylan. So May 27th, 2013, my college best friend Amanda dropped me off for my first day. And she and I are also still friends to this day. She worked at Disney at the same time. And three years later, on May 27, 2016, Amanda was having a birthday get together for her now husband, Frank. And Frank and Dylan were best friends from childhood. So I got to meet him there. And then it was three years after that that we started dating, five years after the day that I met him that we got married. So I also met my husband through Disney. Wow.

SPEAKER_00 4:55

Okay. So it's fair to say you owe a lot to your time at Disney.

SPEAKER_02 4:58

I do, yes.

SPEAKER_00 4:59

That's awesome. Joe, just this is something I'm always curious about when I visit Disney. I don't get to go very often, but the machinery of it all is fascinating to me. So I'm just curious, what are some of the maybe behind the scenes rules or things that happen that the average parkour wouldn't know about?

SPEAKER_02 5:16

There is a lot. We could probably spend a whole podcast just to do that. Sure, yeah. But some of the main things, now, this was 10 plus years ago, whenever I was there. They had very specific rules on what they call the Disney look. So hair and nails had to be natural, very specific earrings that you were allowed to wear, piercings, you had to cover tattoos. They have lightened up on some of that. They're not as strict on it anymore, but there was a lot surrounding that. There were no backstage photos allowed at all. And you could lose your job over something like that. And if they caught you taking any, or if they found that you had posted anything, like they've got secret agents everywhere, you know, on the interwebs. And then there were a lot of specific rules for entertainment. So, like I mentioned earlier, everything is based on your height. And I'm four foot ten. So there were specific height ranges that I was in. And people don't always realize that. They don't always realize, like, oh, okay, this is this person's only five foot or whatever. So everything was based on height ranges. You had to be so, so, so careful whenever it came to character integrity and making sure that you were discreet when you were transporting your costume. Or again, if you were posting anything, you are friends with the character to help keep that character integrity. There were also lots of things about like signals if you needed help or rules about attendance and vacation bids and all of that. The other big thing is there are acronyms for everything. So MK was Magic Kingdom, Folk, Festival of the Lion King, Phant was Phantasmic. So a lot of behind the scenes of just Disney lingo.

SPEAKER_00 6:57

Lingo, yeah. Okay, I have to tell you a story about character integrity. I can't remember if I've told you this before or not. When I was in high school, Show choir, we went down to Disney to perform, do kind of that thing where you do a workshop, you get to perform in the park and all that. It was great. This is kids, by the way, pre well, there were cell phones, but they pretty much just had the numbers on them. That was it. You could call someone, maybe text, I don't know. We were backstage moving, just moving from one part of the park to another, going through the backstage area. And I so wanted to have my camera because backstage was Snow White just having a cigarette.

unknown 7:32

Oh no.

SPEAKER_00 7:33

And it was like this image that I will never ever forget. And I'm sure that you know, some Disney person would be fired if they found out that that happened. But it was like the funniest thing on the entire trip. Like the thing I will always remember. I don't even remember what songs we sang, none of that, but I will never ever forget seeing Snow White backstage with our cigarette. Speaking of crazy things at the park, I know that guests can sometimes do some wild stuff there, I'm sure. I've seen some myself, but I want to hear from you. What are some of the craziest things you might have seen some parkgoers do at Disney?

SPEAKER_02 8:04

There was a teenage boy that came in to the attraction was called Magic Words with Mickey. And he thought he was being silly and he proposed to his girlfriend, and everyone could tell that it was fake.

SPEAKER_01 8:18

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_02 8:19

And she just kind of looked at him like, oh my God, why did you do that? And she didn't even say yes. And then they just left. They didn't even stay to take a picture with Mickey or anything, but lots of things like that. There were also lots of funny moments. One in particular, also at Magic Words. So just a little bit of background on that. The costume for that is crazy. You are hooked up with all of these wires. There are batteries that are in this harness that are on your legs. There's huge cords that are going down your back. And on the front, by your collarbones, there were switches. So it was the switch that would power on the head. And a little boy came up and hugged me and didn't realize, but he switched the head off. So we're in the middle of the meet and greet, and I like really quickly reached up and turned it back on, and he's still hugging me, and you don't break away from the hugs. And when Mickey powers up, he goes, huh, huh, huh? And this little boy was still hanging on to me, so it looked like Mickey sneezed all over him.

SPEAKER_00 9:16

But that's amazing. Oh man, that would be cool to see how they built those. That sounds pretty. I guess this is why they call it imagineering, right? Makes sense. Okay. Now you didn't go directly from Disney to teaching. Uh in between, you did do some other theater work. Can you tell us a little bit about that?

SPEAKER_02 9:32

I did a graduate certificate program where I got to do some event management. And I was a wedding planner for a year in between Disney and then also going into teaching. It was an interesting era of my life, dealing with just day of the wedding, coordinating, lots that goes into that.

SPEAKER_00 9:58

So did you find any uh similarities between the bridezillas and the Disney park?

SPEAKER_02 10:05

Yeah, I mean it's a big, it's a big day for everybody. The wedding, you know, that's a big deal. You you spend years planning for it, and people spend years planning for Disney vacations. So there is some of that tension of I want this to go well, I want this to be a magical thing. So yes, there are definitely some.

SPEAKER_00 10:28

I definitely felt that bringing my own kids there. Like, this is the one and done, guys. We are going. This is gonna be the best day of your lives, darn it. Tell us a little bit about how you got into theater to begin with.

SPEAKER_02 10:38

Yeah, so my mom's side of the family is very musical. My papy diebert, there's a lot of musical talent on that side. My Mimi Diebert was a piano teacher. My Aunt Carol was a music teacher in LA, and lots of creativity with all of my cousins and everything. So my mom is also a photographer. My dad's side of the family, they've got a lot of public speaking experience. My Mimi and my Pappy Waters, and even my brother Ben. And it's just something that was in my blood. As a young child, I fell in love with The Little Mermaid. Obviously, I wanted to be Ariel when I grew up, and I was bound and determined to make that happen. And I love the sound of music too. I remember watching that as a six-year-old and just being in love with Julie Andrews. So I started singing solos in church, and Mimi Dybert would play and accompany me. And then in first grade, I played Bunny Sue in the little musical that they would do for the each grade levels. And my mom really noticed my talent and continued to encourage that. And by fifth grade, she said, hey, we should go out to the community theater. They were having auditions for Annie, and I just fell in love with it. You know, theater isn't just about entertainment, it's about life. You're sharing people's stories. It's about inspiring through live performance and making a difference with that. Music is a universal language, so it has that ability to move people in an emotional way. You know, stories are powerful and it helped me to find a community.

SPEAKER_00 12:06

That's awesome. All right. What are some of your favorite shows or maybe roles you've had over the years?

SPEAKER_02 12:13

One of my favorite roles was Alice in Alice in Wonderland. I was in eighth grade. That was the first time that I had a major role. I also really enjoyed playing Little Red and Into the Woods in high school. That was another really fun one. In college, we did Little Women, and I got to play Beth, and she just has some really great songs. Well, yes, and uh spoiler alert, Beth dies. Oh no. So that was just a really fun musical because the sisters all got really close. And it was my last musical in college, so those were some of my favorites.

SPEAKER_00 12:52

Aaron Powell People who've been on the stage for a little bit know that sometimes random stuff can really happen and you have to stay in the moment, keep singing, acting, or whatever. Can you remember maybe the craziest thing that happened while performing in which you had to continue maintaining your composure?

SPEAKER_02 13:06

I've got three different stories for this one.

SPEAKER_00 13:09

Here we go.

SPEAKER_02 13:10

My first one, Into the Woods, I was playing Little Red Riding Hood, and there's a scene where Jack is supposed to come, he just climbed to the beanstalk, and he comes in with the chicken. And everybody loved to mess with this prop, and this is why you don't touch people's props. So the chicken went missing, and I was out on stage for probably two minutes just improving and making up a monologue about the wolf cape that I had and my granny. And the audience, I'm sure they could tell that something was up. And my director, which I totally feel this pain now, is on his radio, like, where is he? Where is he? Where's the chicken? Another one was during Bat Boy. I had to belay down from the catwalks. So if you think about like mountain climbing, whenever you're on the ropes and you're you're working your way down the mountain, it's that type of thing. And I got stuck mid-air. And we were coming up very close to the portion where Bat Boy is supposed to come over and bite me. And I'm just swaying like eight feet up in the air, and there was nothing I could do. I mean, the gravity is there. I couldn't get myself up out of the harness. So my friend was up in the catwalks and got the rope unstuck and got me down.

SPEAKER_00 14:19

How long would you say that you were hanging there for?

SPEAKER_02 14:21

Oh, probably a solid minute and a half, two minutes. That is a long time. And my acting partners just kind of came over and looked at me, and they were like, oh gosh, what are we gonna do? But he got me down in time. So and then the biggest one. During Oklahoma, I played Edo Annie, and she is very flirtatious, and she's got this boyfriend named Will. And the farmer and the cowman song had just happened, and somebody's cowboy hat fell off on stage. And during this, I'm throwing a little temper tantrum because he's flirting with another girl. And I went to try to kick the hat off stage, and this is why I don't do sports. So I'm facing the audience. I do like a backwards kick. I don't kick the hat. Instead, I kick the big wooden tree that's there, and the tree starts to fall over. So it's and the whole audience just goes, and luckily I turned around and I caught it in time and got the tree back up. But that was definitely my most embarrassing moment. They put that on the reel and the DVD and played it over and over and over again in the bloopers. So that lived with me the rest of my high school years.

SPEAKER_00 15:28

Okay, note to self, find that DVD and link to it. All right, let's transition a little bit and talk about teaching. What inspired you to make the switch from showbiz to the teaching world?

SPEAKER_02 15:40

This was not something that I had planned for. It just kind of everything fell into place, kind of happened. I was always stressed about what was next, and I wanted to make sure that I was doing something that was making a difference. My friend described it as you're an octopus, you've got these eight legs, you need to find somewhere where you can stand on all eight of your legs. So I had that graduate certificate in event planning. I did the, I was a wedding planner, and it wasn't clicking. And I wasn't super happy doing that. And my friend Jacqueline, who I talked about earlier, she reached out to me. We were roommates in college and she was like, hey, you want to be roommates again? I know of a school that's looking for a junior kindergartner teacher, and she was at a sister school. So I moved out and started teaching junior kindergarten. And our landlords at the time, they had a friend who worked for the school district, and she told me about this provisional program that they have in Virginia where you can start teaching and work towards getting your teaching license. And I discovered there was a middle school drama teacher position, and I really went back and forth on it because middle school was not a great time in my life. It was a very painful time, and the thought of going back into that atmosphere was very daunting. You know, my Mimi was a teacher, my great-grandmother was a teacher, and I did enjoy teaching when I was at Disney. That being a Disney trainer was such a special experience. And my mom said to me, you know, what if you could be someone's Mr. Schatz? So Mr. Schatz was my main inspiration for getting into teaching. He was my science teacher. He taught my dad and he taught my uncle. And was just someone who really saw my talent and recognized my potential and helped me survive all of those rough years. And knowing the impact that he had on me, I wanted to be able to do the same for my students. So this career switch I really owe to him.

SPEAKER_00 17:43

That's great. Shout out to Mr. Schatz. So we have a lot of students who, you know, they're coming into either sixth grade IRA or maybe seventh grade speech, and they are afraid to be in front of other people. This is their first time doing it, maybe, or they've just always been afraid. What's your philosophy in teaching kids that have stage fright?

SPEAKER_02 18:02

My goal is not to make them fall in love with the stage. My goal is just that they leave even the tiniest bit more confident than whenever they arrive. So all I ask is that they try. Just try to push yourself a little bit more, challenge yourself, take those baby steps. Public speaking isn't something that's going to go away. This is something they're gonna have to do the rest of their school career, and even for some of them, into their professional careers. But stage fright isn't necessarily a bad thing. It just means that you care. You want to do well. The trick is you have to catch it before you start to spiral and panic. So I work really hard on trying to teach coping mechanisms, ways to calm yourself, center yourself, and also reminding them that everyone in the class is in the same boat. Everybody's gonna have to get up and give a speech and know exactly what that feels like. So I really try hard to foster that supportive environment. You know, they've got rehearsal groups and just remind them that this is a natural feeling. A lot of people go through this.

SPEAKER_00 19:02

Okay, so now this student has had excellent teaching by you about how to cope with this, and they're thinking about maybe doing their first audition for a fall play or a school musical. What advice would you give to that student?

SPEAKER_02 19:15

They should definitely do it. You will never know if you do not try. And theater is a place for everybody. Everyone is welcome. We're all one big family, so go for it. Gain the friendships, gain that confidence, come make memories. And even if you don't get apart, there are tons of crew positions. You know, we could not do what we do without the crew. They are essential to the success of our show. And even if you don't make it your first time, just keep trying. I think you would agree with me, Mr. Elfman, that's a good thing. And co-signing all of this, yes. Yes. Casting is equally exciting, but also the hardest part of our job. 100%. I feel like I end up crying every single time we go to do casting because it is just so difficult. You know, we love and care about all of our students, but there's still value in putting yourself out there and trying and going for that. You know, you never know. It could, this could be your big break. This could be the time that you make it.

SPEAKER_00 20:07

Yeah, I think some students maybe have a view of us casting, like, you know, twirling our mustaches and wow, I finally get to have revenge on this kid. And it's the exact opposite. We are so, oh, this kid's so good, and this kid's also so good, and we don't want either to feel bad, but we have to choose. And that is just a hard thing. Speaking of, so students who have auditioned maybe and now they're they didn't love the part that they got, or they're looking for something a little bit more, a bigger part. What advice would you give to those kids?

SPEAKER_02 20:35

One of the things that I look for, first of all, is your character off of the stage. To have a big part or a lead is a huge responsibility. That's a big commitment. Are you gonna work hard? Can I trust you? Will you keep your grades up? Is your behavior in check? I have to have that faith in you that you are going to follow through. So that's first. After that comes the acting portion. Are you giving me authentic acting? Are you connecting to your character, making choices for your character? I don't necessarily want to see it played the same exact way. You know, just because we're doing newsies, you don't have to play the same way Christian Bale did. I love that students come in and they make their own choices with the character and take it in their own direction. Obviously, I'm looking for the speak loud, speak slow, speak clear. Audience wants to see your face, not your fanny, having the emotion in your body and face, all of that. Another big thing, do not overact. Try to authentically portray your character. That's what will differentiate you from an average performer to an excellent performer.

SPEAKER_00 21:35

Yeah, I had a teacher once tell me that everything you do is an audition. Oh, yes. And I said, What does that mean? They're like, well, you're going to your classes, you're interacting with teachers. Teachers talk to each other. If we, if they hear from another teacher that you aren't working very hard in this class or you you're talking back, or whatever, that might make your director or your coach or whatever thing that you're trying to be a part of think twice about wanting to also work with you. If you're Not working well with other adults. So that is a good piece of advice. All right, one more question before we go to a short break. Anyone from Hubble that's listening to this right now has probably heard about the three S's, silent still and supportive. This is a phrase that you brought to Hubble and definitely has caught on. So my question is where did it come from? Is this something you came up with? Something you heard somewhere else?

SPEAKER_02 22:18

Or I was making a worksheet and I was looking up pictures of audiences, and it was just like a little meme that said, audiences are silent still and supportive. And I was like, I like that. And I just ran with it. So I started calling it the three S's, just use that. So I I cannot take credit for it. I just found it online.

SPEAKER_00 22:39

Love it. Okay. Education from memes. That's fantastic. All right, we're gonna take a short break and we'll be right back with Portrait of a Middle Schooler. Hey Huskies, we are back with our guest, Mrs. Fogg, and it's time for one of our favorite segments, Portrait of a Middle Schooler, rural Pennsylvania edition. You sort of didn't have middle school where you're from, but I'd like you to paint a picture of yourself in that time of your life for a Husky hot seat listener. So what did you look like, dressed like, what sort of activities were involved in? Did you ride in a horse and buggy to school? You know, that sort of thing.

SPEAKER_02 23:14

So, yes, I grew up in a very rural part of Pennsylvania. There were horses and buggies around, but I did not go to school and when I had a car. Was a very, very small school. So to put this in perspective, we didn't even have a middle school. We had elementary school, which was pre-K through six, and then high school, which was seven through 12. And we had about as many kids that are at Hubble in the high school. Middle school was not a great time for me. I was an easy target for bullying because I was different. I didn't fit in. I was the weird theater kid. And while I was very confident on stage, off of the stage, I was very shy. So this was confusing for students because they saw me being so outgoing and bubbly on stage. And then in classes, I was more introverted and kept to myself. And a lot of people perceived this and I got hurtful labels, you know, they twist your words, paint you in a horrible light, uh, people who didn't even know me. So I had doubts just like any other kid did, you know, I was just trying to make it through. I was misunderstood, you know, a lot of people were jealous of my talent. And, you know, I'll never know why. I I will never know why. Some of them still feel that way to this day. So my goal, especially with teaching, was just to make sure that none of my students ever had to feel that way. But at the same time, because of what I went through, it helps me to help my students. And if all of that is why I had to go through it, it ended up being worth it. And I think back to Mr. Schatz and how incredibly supportive he was of me during that time and made it worthwhile to come to school. So I just want to be that teacher for my students. So if middle school is not going well for you, I get you, I understand, I'm here for you.

SPEAKER_00 25:11

And middle school is not the end of your life. It is very much towards the beginning. So things going well or not well here does not mean that that's going to project your future in any real way. All right. So speaking of that, then what sort of advice might you give your middle school self, knowing that man, that was hard, but I can see it now from the adult perspective. And what might you say to yourself?

SPEAKER_02 25:33

I think one of the things that you really have to keep in mind, and at the time it's hard to see that and understand that as a kid, but everybody's carrying their own weight. You know, everyone has something going on, and you just have to keep your head held high. You know, forgive and be confident in yourself. You know, who cares what they say? As Taylor says, you know, haters gonna hate, shake it off, build a castle of the bricks they threw at me.

SPEAKER_00 25:58

We weren't gonna get out of this without a Taylor quote.

SPEAKER_02 26:00

Exactly.

unknown 26:01

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 26:02

And these people don't define your worth. You know, coming from a very small town, they were all into football and sports, and here I was as the theater kid, but just take ownership in that and and love what you love. Also, set goals and have a plan, but know that it's okay if it doesn't go the way you want, because it is not going to go the way you think it will. You know, in middle school, I was so focused on what's the future and having the perfect fairy tale life, and that's not the way real life goes. There are going to be mistakes. That is part of how life goes. You don't have to be perfect. I think I would also remind myself that it's okay to ask for help. I was always so shy and afraid to ask my math teacher for assistance on my homework. Or if I didn't understand something, asking for clarity, you don't have to be afraid to do that. And especially now as a teacher, I'm like, gosh, that was stupid. Like, that's what we're here for. We're here to help. Growing up, you know, you have your circle of friends, and sometimes you're gonna grow apart from your friends. I think just reminding myself that that's okay if that happens, and not to worry so much about the future, enjoy being a kid. And then my mom used to say to me every single day, study hard, be kind, which is something that I always say to my students. So just reminding myself of that. And I was, I did study hard, I was kind, but just reinforcing that that pays off in the future.

SPEAKER_00 27:31

All right, that sounds like great advice. Let's take a short break and we'll be right back. Welcome back, Pack. We are still hanging with our guest, Ariel Fogg. We've heard a lot about Disney drama, Disney drama, and I'd like to dig a little bit more into Pennsylvania. I have an inside source who has given me some information that you have several Pennsylvania words and phrases that you often say. So I'm gonna say a few, and I want you to help define them for us Midwesterners. So we'll start with an easy one. Gumband.

SPEAKER_02 28:06

A gumband is a rubber band.

SPEAKER_00 28:10

Okay. How about yins? Y-I I-N-S.

SPEAKER_02 28:14

Yins is a Pittsburgh thing. I don't honestly know where that came from, but that also goes along with U's, or they'll sometimes say Uins.

SPEAKER_00 28:23

So it's like a Pennsylvania yaw?

SPEAKER_02 28:26

Basically, yes.

SPEAKER_00 28:27

Oh, okay. All right. Sweeper.

SPEAKER_02 28:30

That is a vacuum. I'm gonna run the sweeper. Not getting out of the room to sweep, you're gonna run the vacuum.

SPEAKER_00 28:38

Okay. Gobs?

SPEAKER_02 28:39

Oh, gobs. They are like two pieces of chocolate cake or whatever cake you have. My favorite is the chocolate one with the peanut butter icing in between. So some people call them whoopee pies, but we always call them gobs.

SPEAKER_00 28:52

Okay, all right. I've seen this, but not with that name. All right, that makes sense. Keller.

SPEAKER_02 29:00

That is color with a C, C-O-L-O-R, but it is pronounced Keller in central Pennsylvania.

SPEAKER_00 29:09

All right. Dippy eggs.

SPEAKER_02 29:12

Dippy egg is like a sunny side up egg that you could dip your toast in.

SPEAKER_00 29:17

Oh, okay. That's kind of what it sounds like. That makes sense. I'm not sure to pronounce this correctly. Read up or read up?

SPEAKER_02 29:24

You read up. Yeah. It means to clean up. I'm gonna read up. I'm gonna read up the house, put stuff away, clean up.

SPEAKER_00 29:30

Okay. Jeet yet.

SPEAKER_02 29:33

Did you eat yet? Okay. But it all comes together. Did you eat yet?

SPEAKER_00 29:38

Okay. And scrapple.

SPEAKER_02 29:42

Okay. My grandfather loved scrapple. It is some type of pork something or other, but it's rectangular in shape, and you would cut off little squares of it and fry it. I never enjoyed the taste of it, but that is very much so a Pennsylvania staple.

SPEAKER_00 29:58

Like some sort of spam type thing.

SPEAKER_02 30:00

Basically. Okay.

SPEAKER_00 30:01

All right. Well, this seems a lot to do with food. I guess that's a big thing there. Okay. Pot pie.

SPEAKER_02 30:08

Pot pie is one of my all-time favorite dishes. My Mimi makes it, and I love my Mimi. She's one of my favorite humans in the world. And if you've ever gone to Cracker Barrel and you've had their chicken and dumplings, it's like that, but 10,000 times better. So it's a Pennsylvania Dutch dish, and it's just basically big noodles that you handmake and then ham or chicken or whatever, and it's delicious.

SPEAKER_00 30:35

Okay. I will have to get over to Crack Crate and Barrel. Wait, what is it? Cracker Barrel? I'll go to Crate and Barrel. They will not have it, but Cracker Barrel will have it. Okay, this is not a word, but I want you to end this by telling us about the beginning of deer season in Pennsylvania.

SPEAKER_02 30:50

It is like a holiday. So it's the first Monday after Thanksgiving. And we always had school off for the first day of deer season because everybody was always going out and going hunting. So it was a big deal.

SPEAKER_00 31:05

Okay. I feel like Dr. Eppley would approve of that. Okay, something that many of your students might be surprised to hear, I think, or I was surprised the first time I heard it, is that you enjoy taking motorcycle trips. Can you tell us how you got into that and maybe some of your favorite trips or where you've been, all that stuff?

SPEAKER_02 31:21

Well, I got into them because of Dylan. My family always talked about riding motorcycles, but once, you know, Ben and I were born, it wasn't something that they really did anymore. So I met Dylan, and Dylan got me into a lot of things: board games, Gloomhaven, DD, video games, but also motorcycles. But in return, you know, I've made him a musical theater nerd, so it's okay. So we've done a few different trips. We did a trip out west where we went to four national parks and two monuments, all in one go. We went to Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Badlands, Wind Cave, uh, Devil's Tower, Mount Rushmore, and Bridlevale Falls. And then a few summers ago, we did the Blue Ridge Parkway. So we went through Shenandoah, Cherihalla Skyway, Great Smoky National Park. We went to Mammoth Cave, which was really cool. And then we did Tale of the Dragon. So Tale of the Dragon is this like huge tourist place for really fast cars and motorcycles because there are, I don't even remember how many different turns in the entirety of the road. And it was really cool to see. Dylan is an excellent motorcycle driver and was very cautious and careful as he goes around all the turns. He also does like to go zoomy and go quick. Um, I always make him warn me before he does that. So I like riding along. I have no desire to learn how to drive. I'm a passenger princess, but we do enjoy going on our motorcycle trips.

SPEAKER_00 32:52

Okay, is this two-person, one bike, or a sidecar, or what are we looking at here?

SPEAKER_02 32:55

Two-person on one bike.

SPEAKER_00 32:57

Gotcha.

SPEAKER_02 32:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:58

Okay. All right. This is a big gear change here, no pun intended. Um, I want to talk about this Shakespeare quote that I've heard you say a couple times. The quote is this Though she be but little, she is fierce. It seems like maybe you've taken that to heart. Is this kind of who you've always been, or is this something that you've grown into?

SPEAKER_02 33:16

You kind of decided, like, I'm gonna be this, or I mean, in terms of little, yeah, I mean, I've always been little. I haven't grown since sixth grade. I've always been the shorty. Uh, fierce, my mom and dad would definitely agree with that and say yes. I mean, like from the start, my mom had six months of bed rest with me, colic as a baby, headstrong toddler. I was the tiniest one in preschool, but I was the preschool bully. Yep. Uh big emotions as a kid, you know, I was really determined and focused, high achieving as a teenager, you know, had the crazy schedule, was involved in lots of different activities, then going off to school for theater, going to work at Disney. So just always making big, bold choices. I think during middle school and maybe part of high school, there were some times where I held back a little bit because that used to make me a target. Again, I was the theater kid. I was different. I stood out from the norm, and I held back on being a leader or speaking up, but not anymore.

SPEAKER_00 34:17

Not anymore, for sure. All right, we're gonna take a short break and we'll be right back with our final segment. Okay, Huskies, before we go, it's time for Throw the Dog a Bone. Each episode, we'd like to sign off by answering one completely random question. Ariel does not know the question I'm about to ask, and I have to confess, this question is not random at all. It's super targeted this time. I think something that people don't know, since you don't often share this side of you, but maybe you've talked about a little bit on this podcast, you have a pretty amazing singing voice. So my question is: could you give us just a snippet of your favorite Disney princess song?

SPEAKER_02 35:00

Oh boy. Okay. Obviously, I grew up on Little Mermaid. I do love part of your world, but Mulan, the reflection song, was also another go-to like audition song.

SPEAKER_00 35:16

Uh-huh. Uh so which girl I see. Sitting right across from her.

SPEAKER_02 35:22

Uh do you have a preference of which one?

SPEAKER_00 35:25

No, no, go for it. Let's hear Mulan. Yeah, that sounds great. This is actually kind of a perfect segue from that to discussing something big coming up really soon. Can you tell us a little bit about this year's musical?

SPEAKER_02 36:09

Newsies is the largest show that we have done yet. In total, we had a hundred and thirty-eight students that came together to work on the backstage stuff. We've got 57 in the cast, which is the largest cast that we have done. So couldn't do this without the support of the students and the amazing teachers that are involved. Shout out to Mr. Monaco, Mr. Katua, Miss Fountain, Miss Stoll, and you, of course, Mr. Elfman. The show will be on Thursday, April 30th, and Friday, May 1st at 7 p.m. Tickets are$5 for adults and students and$3 for seniors and children. The doors will open at 6 for tickets. And this is definitely something that you do not want to miss.

SPEAKER_00 36:52

All right. I know there's no chance of getting a hint about the fall play, but can you at least tell the audience have you picked something or you got something in mind?

SPEAKER_02 36:59

I do have something in mind, actually. And this is gonna be show number 100 for me. So it's gonna be something real fun.

SPEAKER_00 37:07

Okay, I'm excited to hear about that. All right, that is the end of our show today. Thank you for listening to Husky Hotseat. I want to thank our guest, Mrs. Fogg, for her time and stories. If you see her around the Hubble community, say hello. Maybe ask her a little about something you heard on the show about Disney, motorcycles, Dippy Eggs, whatever. Don't forget to follow us on Instagram at Husky Hotseat Podcast for updates about the show. If you liked what you heard in Husky Hotseat, remember to subscribe to the show. We're available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, YouTube, and pretty much anywhere you like to listen to your podcast. If you really want to help the show grow, please leave a review on your podcast app of choice. And finally, spread the news about the show to people you know. The internet is great, but the goal of Husky Hotseat is to build connection within our Hubble community. So, the more staff, parents, and students that listen, the tighter we become. Remember, Huskies, none of us are lone wolves. We work best in a pack.