Interview: Brad Stuver, Austin FC Goalkeeper and Trans Youth Advocate
For this week’s interview, Amira Rose Davis and Jessica Luther talked to Austin FC’s goalkeeper, Brad Stuver, about his journey in the MLS, his service in the Austin community and his advocacy for trans youth in sport in Texas.
This episode was produced by Tressa Versteeg. Shelby Weldon is our social media and website specialist. Burn It All Down is part of the Blue Wire podcast network.
Transcript
Jessica: Welcome to Burn It All Down the feminist sports podcast you need. Jessica here. I'm joined today by Amira. We're both here for this interview because we're talking to the goalkeeper for our local MLS team, Austin FC, Mr. Brad Stuver, and neither one of us wanted to miss out. Welcome to Burn It All Down, Brad.
Brad: Thank you so much. Happy to be here.
Jessica: So, we wanted to get Brad on here because of his advocacy for trans youth in Texas, which is obviously a very important thing for us on this podcast, and we're going to absolutely get to that. But I'd like to start with your beginnings in soccer. How did you get into the sport? Like, what is your origin story?
Brad: So, my brother is actually the first person in our family to play soccer. My family grew up in a very rural area of Pennsylvania and it was baseball, football, basketball. So, my dad was in the army and kind of moved around a lot, like stationed in Germany, stationed in Georgia. And then settled in Cleveland, Ohio. And my brother was the first one to play soccer, and me being the younger brother, I of course needed to do everything that he did. So I followed in his footsteps and I played soccer like him, and the only time I ever got to play with him and his friends is if I was in goal. So that's kind of where I started being a goalkeeper, just because that was the only time I got to play with my older brother and his friends.
Amira: I was about to ask you if you naturally chose goalie, because goalie’s terrifying. I was a striker. I want nothing to do with the back of the pitch. [laughs]
Brad: Typical striker mentality.
Amira: [laughs] Right! One time they punished us by making us play defense, [Brad laughs] and it was not a pretty sight.
Brad: That's a punishment for a forward. I love that.
Amira: It is! I was like, you want me to defend!? [laughter] But yeah, our co-host’s daughter plays goal, and I'm always fascinated by the mentality of a keeper. My nine-year-old is obsessed with playing keeper.
Jessica: Is he really!
Amira: You know I can't watch. I'm not the mom who can watch bad bumblebee soccer, right? But he wanted the gloves I really was like, is there something that makes you want to stay in there and defend goal? But I guess that was the origin story I needed. But you grew to love the position?
Brad: Yeah. We're just all crazy.
Amira: [laughs] I love it.
Brad: Like, the stereotype is true. We're just crazy. [laughter]
Amira: That tracks.
Brad: Right? You throw your body, you hit the ground a lot. Like, almost no one wants to be a goalkeeper. So, it's actually really funny for those of us that are. That’s why there's the GK union, like, that is real. We all appreciate each other because we're all nuts.
Amira: And so as you grew up, you're still playing the sport. You go play in college, and then you enter the wild world of the MLS. What has been your journey? And, you know, how did we end up here in Austin in this inaugural season last year?
Brad: It was a long road. Let's see. We’ll go…Senior year of college, I was invited to the MLS combine. I went to the MLS combine in January of 2013. One week after that I was drafted number 32 to the Montreal Impact. I went to preseason with the Montreal Impact, but I did not end up getting a contract with them. It was the last day of preseason and most teams had already filled out their roster. Luckily for me, there’s like a position that's not really well-known unless you're in the MLS, it's called the MLS pool goalkeeper.
Amira: So you can get called up to a team in case of emergency across the league.
Brad: And basically Columbus hosted me for all of 2013. Like, I would train there with them every day. If a team needed me, they would call me and I would fly out. I would sit the bench for other teams. I think I ended up sitting on the bench for four different teams that year. I went to Chivas USA once, New England Revolution, sat with Columbus, and then went to Real Salt Lake. And then I went to Seattle at the very end of the year. They were in playoffs, Columbus was out, and I was just training with them during the playoffs. But at the end of that year, Columbus offered me a full-time contract. So I was with Columbus from 2014 to 2017. Got traded to New York City from 2018 to 2020, and then been here in Austin since last year.
Jessica: And it seems like a really big change, right?
Brad: Yeah.
Jessica: I mean, you earned the starting position. This was like a large, ready to go fan base, I think it's fair to say.
Brad: Very true.
Jessica: I also think it's fair to say it was a bit of a rough first season all around. You were one of the highlights of it, but the growing pains were real, right? So, what was the best and maybe hardest part of that transition into the number one spot on the team?
Brad: Yeah. First of all, I had to get down here. Being like a perennial backup, it was tough to get down here. And then once I was here, the snow storm hit. Welcome to Texas! [laughter]
Amira: Right. You're like, this is not in the contract. Like, where did this come from? [laughs]
Brad: I mean, everyone I talked to – “Oh yeah, this never happens!” [laughter] Okay. I'm sitting here my bed four days without power. Okay, cool. thanks.
Jessica: Oh my gosh.
Brad: And then preseason got pushed back because it was still COVID, and kind of hard to imagine where we've started with like that year. Like, we were nine games on the road. Didn't play our first home game until June. I mean, it's really wild looking back on that year. We had so many injuries. It's such a new team, but we are extremely grateful for the support that we have from the front office to the staff, to the fans, to everyone in the community. It's been amazing. And even though we had growing pains last year, it's amazing to see everyone come back out this year and support us just as much as they did. And I'm glad that we're able to give back a little bit so far this season, and we hope to continue doing that.
Amira: I couldn't go to the first game. Jessica was there, but she was sending me updates. And she’d be like, “TWO GOALS! THREE GOALS!” [laughter] “FIVE GOALS!”
Brad: Yeah, I think all of like the MLS guys were like, oh, they scored one third of the amount of goals they scored last year in two games.
Jessica: I definitely said that out loud at some point.
Brad: We were like, all right, we needed to give back to the fans for what they endured last year. So we did it all in two games.
Jessica: It was great. I loved it. Thank you. [laughter]
Amira: But one of the things that strikes us so much, of course, is that the team really embraced Austin as much as Austin has absolutely turned verde, you know, for the team. But also you and your wife Ashley started doing so much work in the community, and I always see…I know you guys have some thing going on this week and just finished up with a laundry project. And I was just like, you couldn't tell me that you're not from Austin, right? And so I'm wondering about that kind of mentality of giving back, but also how it has been to do the work that you and Ashley have been doing in this community, and what kind of calls you to do that?
Brad: I think Ashley and I both grew up with families that put a real importance on community, and just the idea of giving back to where you live and small actions add up to bigger change. It was kind of instilled in us from a very young age, and we've kind of taken that everywhere we went, like from college to Columbus, to New York to here. But I think it's really taken on a life of its own, just because the community around us kind of welcomed us with open arms and has been so willing to show us the ropes and show us what's needed and embrace us into all of these different things, to get us involved in things. And everything we've done down here is just because of like word of mouth. Someone's introduced us to someone else who's introduced us to someone else who's brought us in to do this, to do that. If we needed help, like this past weekend, we had 40+ volunteers at four locations throughout Austin, and we could have had probably 60 more because everyone's just like, yeah, I'll be there. Yeah, I'll be there. And we actually had to say no to volunteers, which is something that has never happened before. But this community is just like, it's crazy. It's amazing.
Jessica: Will you tell us more about what you were doing this weekend, about The Laundry Project? Like, how you came to it, and what it does? And if people are listening that…I don't know, are there laundry projects in other cities? How do people get into?
Brad: Yep. So, The Laundry Project is part of a nonprofit called Engage Current. They’ve been in existence for 14 years. It was started in Tampa, Florida. Ashley and I got involved because of one of Ashley's high school friends, her and her husband actually worked for Engage Current. And when we were in Columbus, they kind of brought it to us and they were expanding to different cities and they wanted to know if we wanted to get involved in Columbus. So we said yes. Basically what we do is we fundraise money, and like detergent, fabric softener, dryer sheets, all the good stuff. And then we go into a public laundromat in a lower income neighborhood and anyone that walks through the door, we pay for their laundry and they get to use the free detergent and all that stuff. If we have leftover stuff, they can take it home with them to use for the next time that they go in. In Columbus, I think we held about like six projects while we were there. In New York, we did probably like four or five – with COVID, we weren't able to do as many in the tail end of my time there.
But here in Austin, we've already done three different days. I guess there'll be seven total projects. So this past weekend we had four different locations running simultaneously. Each location was in a different part of Austin. We had 40+ volunteers. We help 239 families do over 2000 loads of laundry. And we had a lot of help. We had volunteers from Austin FC, Cam was there. We had Austin FC Academy kids. We had supporters groups – Los Verdes, La Murga, Austin Anthem. Hopsquad Brewing Company hosted us to give us like a donation drive. We had local businesses throw down money, like Frost Bank, Covert Ford. We had so much support, and there were just so many people out helping us do it that we were able to do four simultaneous projects.
Amira: That's incredible.
Jessica: Wow. But one second, you also have a beer? Is that part of what was happening with Hopsquad? [Amira laughs]
Brad: Yes. So, Hopsquad, they did one last year and they reached out and they were like, hey, we want to put your name on a beer, is that okay? I was like, sure. They're like, okay, proceeds from this can go to whatever non-profit you want. So last year I was like, all right, you guys can choose. It ended up…I think it was like $1,200, and it went Out Youth.
Jessica: Nice. Love Out Youth.
Brad: It was one of the nonprofits that Hopsquad has worked with previously. And then they came to me this year and they're like, hey, we're going to do another beer. Do you want to be a part of it? I was like, sure. Why not? This time it went to The Laundry Project.
Jessica: So you like IPAs?
Brad: No. [Amira laughs]
Jessica: Oh, thank god Brad said no!
Brad: I don’t! No, I don’t.
Jessica: Okay. I already had this discussion with my husband who loves them, and I was like, oh god, it’s another dude and his IPAs. [laughter]
Brad: Both of them were IPAs, and I didn't get to try the first one. I tried the second one. It was interesting. I only had one. I'm not an IPA guy. [Amira laughs]
Jessica: Look at this. It’s like, I thought you had a knock against you, and then I get to ask you my question and now you're back up there for me. [Amira laughs] Okay. I can't wait to go tell my husband the truth behind the IPA. Okay. Thank you.
Amira: This is the IPA wars in the Luther household.
Jessica: Thank you for that. Thank you for that tangent. [laughs]
Amira: Well, you know, that work is phenomenal, and I've been impressed with a lot of the work that has been coming out of the MLS. But one of the things that hasn't been mobilized around as much as other issues has been, advocacy for trans youth especially. And here in Texas, of course, like one of the ground zeros for the awfulness, you know? So, Jessica, last year, I got a flurry of messages because she had come across a headline in a local paper here in Austin that just said I’m a pro soccer player. Banning transgender kids from sports sends the wrong message. And Jessica was texting in all capital letters, because it was just so rare to see this sort of headline about pro players, especially white male athletes. I don't know if we've ever actually seen it. We were just like, what? And we were like, GOD, I LOVE THIS TEAM! Like, we were so excited about it, you know?
And to remind listeners, at that point Texas legislature was pushing through a ban on transgender kids from participating in school sports. That’s K through 12. It literally targeted some of the most marginalized children in our state. It of course eventually passed, was signed into law, and we've been living in this fucking hellscape of trying to roll that back and fight that since. But your work in this area has just been some of the most heartwarming and inspiring things to see, the way that you have staunchly advocated for trans youth in a place where they're being targeted. So, what brought you to that? What led up to you saying, hey, I'm going to write this? How'd that happened?
Brad: So, kind of like what I was saying earlier, I got connected with a lot of people early on in my time down here. Being part of Athlete Ally and being an ambassador for them, when I got down here, they introduced me to a couple of people at different LGBTQ organizations down here. I met Tina Cannon, who is the president of the chamber of commerce. She introduced me to Jessica Shortall who was at the time heading up Texas Competes, which is an arm of Equality Texas. And there were 76 anti-LGBTQ bills in the Texas legislature, 75 of them that got defeated. Unfortunately, one made it through. But last year they brought me the unique opportunity to kind of put my thoughts down on paper. And Jessica and Tina and some other folks at Athlete Ally emailed me, asked me what I would need to make an op-ed happen. I had a lot of conversations with them, just kind of educating myself on the topics, and then ultimately just putting my own feelings about what sport has done for me throughout my life down on paper. So, we wrote the op-ed. I had amazing editors who helped me with the language and making sure that I hit on the right topics. It was definitely outside of my comfort zone. Writing is not something that comes to me naturally. So, that was definitely outside of my normal area of expertise.
Jessica: Why did you want to say something? Like, why is it important to be speaking out about this?
Brad: I look back and I lived in Cleveland, Columbus and the New York City metro area. I lived in pretty liberal areas. And you would read about what was going on in different states. Like, you would read about the ‘Don't Say Gay’ bill in Florida, you would read about like the anti-trans bills going on in Texas, but you didn't exactly feel them because you were so far away and you knew they were terrible. You knew that it was awful, but you didn't truly feel it. When I moved down here to Texas, and you're on the ground and you're talking to people that are in the fight, you go to the capitol and you see children standing up there giving speeches about their own rights and their own freedoms and they just want to be themselves. It was kind of one of those moments where I was like, wow, I'm in a unique position where I have a platform that I can reach a different group of people and a larger amount of people. So, in that moment, I wanted to be able to leverage my position to at least advocate for this group that might not have the same audience that I do.
Jessica: They don't have the same audience that you do. So that's amazing that you chose to do that. Like, that you even chose to go to the capitol and witness it. I mean, on some level, I feel like I don't want to necessarily like give you cookies for doing like a basic thing. Like, you stepped over the bar that was under the ground. But at the same time, like Amira said, we just don't see this, you know, especially from white male cis professional athletes. And I think it mattered. It mattered to me. So I can't even imagine for parents and children that this is directly affecting.
Brad: Well, I think we’re kind of tired that people have to put in so much work just to be seen and like be treated for who they are. And one of my biggest fears was like, I am not part of this community, is my voice needed in this space? And I did worry about that when I started. I was worried that I was kind of stepping into a realm where like I don't fully understand because I do not have the lived experiences. And I think that's kind of where you see other people stepping back a little bit when it comes to advocacy, because they're not in it. They don't understand it. They don't live that everyday experience. So I think that's where it takes a village. It takes all different people from all different walks of life for real change to happen.
Jessica: Did you find that it was needed? Like, what kind of response did you get, either from the trans community and their allies, or did you get pushback as people who get pushed back just from–
Amira: Breathing. [laughs]
Jessica: –being women in sports and talking? Yeah. What was the actual response like from the two different sides?
Brad: So, I had a lot of support. A lot of thanks. A lot of “This is amazing.” Like, of course the marginalized community is so grateful that someone would put their name behind something like that. But then on the other side, you have, as it is in today's society, there's the other side that is pushing back. And I actually have found that I have five new Twitter followers that respond to everything I tweet now with transphobic or like anti-LGBTQ things. But I actually find it funny now because they go out of their way to post on my stuff. I don't respond.
Jessica: You can unfollow them now.
Brad: No, but I don't want to. I don't want to give them the satisfaction.
Jessica: But they won't know. There's like now an option where you can make it so they can't follow you anymore.
Brad: Really?
Amira: We are experts at trolls. [laughs]
Jessica: [laughs] I know all the tricks on how to manage.
Brad: I don't want their satisfaction.
Jessica: I know. They’re like, I haven't heard from Brad in a while…
Brad: I haven't got that notification that he tweeted.
Amira: Exactly.
Jessica: I'm just letting you know, I spend a lot of time not letting people talk to me on social media. [laughs]
Brad: I mean, it's also like being in sports, you get a lot of…The games are so emotional, and if you do well you get a lot of good things. If you make a mistake, you get a lot of bad things. For us it's just like part of life. It sucks, but it is part of life.
Amira: Well, you know, we've been having many conversations about mental health in sports because of the reasons, like that you just laid out. There’s this kind of proximity to athletes, and in one way that proximity really connects you to the community. It has enabled a lot of the work and feedback, like you were describing. In other ways, it means during hard moments that there's this kind of outpouring as well. I'm wondering about, you know, at the end of South By, on the panel that you had with Mike, you said you've had a lot of support from the organization, and that's wonderful to hear. And so I'm wondering what it's meant to you to have that support, and if we kind of think about the larger picture of professional athletics, do you see there being a kind of tide changing where there's more support for advocacy efforts from folks for mental health conversations? I mean, there's a lot of work to be done. But do you feel like there's a kind of moment that's happened in the last few years across the board for many things?
Brad: I hope so. I really do hope so. I am very grateful that there have been athletes like Kevin Love, Naomi Osaka, Simone Biles. They have really come out and put their mental health out there, which is not something that's easy to do. Talking about mental health, being vulnerable, showing your human side is not something that sports has always done. I mean, even 10 years ago when I was coming into the league, it was it's your job. Just go in and do your job, go home, and then you can be yourself. Now, it's a little bit different. I think we've humanized athletes a little bit more. Still have a long way to go. It's still not fully that people see us as human beings. There is still a sect of people that try and turn on sports as an escape from reality, an escape from what's going on in the world, and they kind of forget that the people that are giving them that entertainment are human beings that are going through that same thing.
But I do think that we've entered a new landscape where athletes are finding their voice and finding the ability to be a little bit more vulnerable. And I also think that you're seeing more support from those people in charge, the people that run the leagues, the people that own the teams. They're showing more support for the athletes. I think they're educating themselves and becoming more aware that athletes in the past have had some serious issues after they're done. And I'm hoping that, as sport continues and more athletes start using their voices, that it continues to be a trend where those conversations inside the locker rooms and inside the boardrooms continue to happen.
Jessica: So I'd like to move this to maybe some more fun questions. I wanted to ask about being a goalkeeper, and I specifically want you to try to describe to me what it's like to make a save. So, for example, earlier this season, there was this free kick just outside the box. The wall jumped, he went under, and you fucking caught the ball! It's all so fast. There's so many bodies moving. There’s a ball involved. [Amira laughs] That skill is just wild. I would never, I think, be able to do that. Do you just feel total relief in that moment when you catch the ball? Like, what is it like to make a save like that?
Brad: So, I'm not going to give an answer that you're going to like.
Jessica: Oh, no.
Brad: I think that I've just been doing this for so long and like we train for so much and the games happen and you're so focused that in that moment you're just like, this is my job. My job is to keep the ball out of the goal. So like, when I catch that ball, I'm not even thinking about that save. I'm thinking about, all right, what do I do with this ball next?
Jessica: Okay. So, then tell me, do you go back later and watch it on YouTube and cheer for yourself? [laughter]
Brad: So, I mean, we do go back and watch film.
Amira: They have film. Why does he have to go onto YouTube? [laughter]
Brad: I mean, we watch film a lot.
Jessica: I would watch that just to make myself feel better on days when I was sad. [laughter]
Brad: I mean, I'm not going to lie. There are compilations that some of my friends have made of like my best saves, and they send it to me.
Amira: Brad Stuver fan edits!
Brad: And it's like, okay, before a game, if you're not feeling so great, like, you’ll watch it. Or if you make a mistake in one game, before the next one, it's like, oh, see, I don't suck. I can do all of this. It was just one mistake.
Amira: We were at the game…What game were we at, Jess?
Jessica: Seattle.
Amira: And Jess was like, you don't even have to touch the ball anymore. Like, you look towards the ball, [Brad laughs] and they're like, STUUUUUV!
Jessica: You look at the ball and the crowd is like STUUUU!
Amira: It’s almost kind of magical to hear that command, like, that build. Do you hear that? Or do you tune out people?
Brad: No, I hear that one.
Amira: You hear that one. [laughs]
Brad: It was actually really funny. I think it was in that Seattle game, they actually kicked the ball. I dove, but I didn't even touch it or come close, and it went wide. And like the scoreboard threw my name up. Everyone started–
Amira: Yes! [laughs]
Jessica: Yes. Stuuuuu!
Amira: I was like I don’t think he touched it! [laughs]
Jessica: I have absolutely had to explain to new people in the stands what the hell “Stu…” Like, they think we're booing you.
Brad: Oh, so many people have come up to me and they were like, why did they boo you? Like, I don't know, people hate me here. It's okay. [laughter]
Amira: So, we got to go to the US women's national team game here when the stadium…The first ever game. And then of course you guys opened in the stadium that Saturday following it. Do you get to see the women at all when they're training here in January in Austin?
Brad: So, for that one we didn't get to see them. But this last...I don't think they played a game here. They were just training here.
Amira: And it was cold too!
Brad: Yeah. The entire time they were here, it was cold. But they were training right about the time that we were getting done. So, we would like run into them as they were coming out of the locker room. We would go in, we would watch a little bit of their training. They would watch a little bit of our training. And the biggest thing was every single player was bundled up with like long sleeves, pants, all this stuff. And the very first day we walk over and I see Rose Lavelle in shorts and a cut-off shirt. [laughter] And I know Abby Dahlkemper a little bit because she's married to one of my friends that I've played with in Columbus and was here in Austin last year. And I looked at Abby and I was like, Abby, what is Rose doing? [laughter] And she was just like, that's just Rose. I was like, I know she's from Cincinnati, but like, it's cold!
Jessica: Yeah. It was cold even for Cincinnati at that point.
Brad: Yeah. But it was cool to have them. It was cool to have them at the training facility and get to see them train and compete. I mean, hopefully they feel comfortable here and make it one of their homes.
Jessica: Yes. We would love that.
Amira: We’re all hoping for that. [laughter]
Jessica: We're on that team. I wanted to ask about Austin specifically. I would like to hear a favorite restaurant. I know it's like a weird time to be like, where do you go out in the pandemic? But like, do you have a favorite restaurant at this point? Favorite Austin activity? What kind of Austin things are you into?
Brad: So, in the valleys of COVID, we have ventured out into different restaurants. I think probably our favorite restaurant that we get the most is Loro. It's on South Lamar. One of my friends took me to the Discada taco truck in east Austin, and they were probably some of the best tacos I've ever had.
Amira: Roadtrip, Jessica Luther!
Jessica: I know, I know.
Brad: It's just super unassuming, just one food truck on the side of the road. It's by The Soup Peddler in east Austin. That's another one that we get religiously. Ashley is in love with their vegan, gluten-free…I can't even call it grilled cheese because it's not.
Amira: [laughs] It’s like grilled whatever, Beyond Cheese.
Brad: She's obsessed with like vegan, gluten-free grilled, whatever with my chicken and rice soup. She loves that.
Jessica: My son is now 13 and a half, but when he was a baby, The Soup Peddler saved my life. [laughs] So, anytime you talk about…I’m like, oh, Soup Peddler!
Brad: Yeah. Favorite Austin activity, I have no idea. I'm such a homebody that even like on off days, I'd like to sit on my couch. I mean, one of the coolest things we did was we rent those like old school car boats–
Jessica: What?!
Amira: Oh yeah, I’ve seen that once.
Brad: Like, downtown, the vintage boats that go like five miles an hour, but they are shaped like 1960 cars.
Jessica: This is new information for me, Brad Stuver.
Brad: It was cool. I took my parents. We tried to see the bats.
Jessica: Have you not seen the bats yet?
Brad: I haven't seen the big flock. Like, we've seen bats, but we haven't seen…
Jessica: Oh, It's really something.
Brad: We've seen a couple.
Jessica: It's really something. When you see it.
Brad: We were told to go in like August.
Jessica: You want the long days.
Brad: It was like June when we went the first time.
Jessica: Yeah. Yeah, you have to catch it right. So, before you go, I gotta ask about Harry Potter, because Amira Rose Davis right there is a huge fan. She and I actually did a whole segment on Burn It All Down about Quidditch, like, the actual human game of Quidditch.
Brad: Where you have to hold the broom. It’s wild.
Jessica: Yes. And part of why we did it is because I've actually been paid money twice to write about Quidditch. And I don't know if you know this, Brad, but UT has one of the best – or they did at least when I wrote the piece – one of the best Quidditch teams in the entire world for years.
Brad: That's fantastic.
Jessica: So this is all to say, we love Harry Potter, but it's also, you know, it's having its moment. It's a little hard to square it all the time. [laughs]
Amira: One of the ways we approached it in that Quidditch episode is how Quidditch, like, the leagues are actually the most kind of progressive gender policies with their Title IX and Three Quarters, which is the best name ever! [laughs] Which is actually one of the more progressive policies with gender, especially because you can't have a dominant amount of any gender identity on the pitch.
Brad: That's awesome.
Amira: There are most everybody's non-binary, after four players that has to change, like, it's really expansive. And so one of the things that we talked about is how people were able to build this world way past the confines of the imagination of She Who Must Not Be Named, right? And I, like you, have a Harry Potter tattoo. I feel like we are around the same age, very millennial, like, grew up the same age as the characters. But it has become beyond that. But we wanted to talk to you about...I wanted to know what house you were in.
Brad: Which house do you think I'm in? That’s the question.
Amira: Ooh, this is a great question.
Brad: That’s the question!
Amira: Well, okay. Are you like me and annoying and hates rules and so claim two houses? You claim one house? You’re like a classic…Okay.
Jessica: I feel like he loves rules.
Amira: Are you like an earth sign?
Brad: I don't know what that means.
Amira: [laughs] I will tell you.
Brad: April is my birthday.
Amira: You’re Aries? Wow!
Brad: Why is that always the reaction I get from that?
Amira: I could see, you're kind of like a hidden Aries. It's like your fiery, but like under the surface.
Jessica: Okay, guess the house, Amira.
Amira: I feel like people would go Hufflepuff. But I think you're in Slytherin.
Brad: Wrong. Gryffindor. Come on!
Amira: You're a Gryffindor!?
Jessica: Gryffindor!
Amira: Who’s a Gryffindor anymore!? I’m Gryffinclaw.
Jessica: I’m a Ravenclaw.
Brad: You can’t have two! There are only four.
Amira: I can, because what are rules but suggestions?
Brad: You don't get to sleep in different beds different days. [Jessica laughs]
Amira: No, no, no.
Brad: Which one are you asking for?
Amira: Exactly. I’m a Gemini. It would depend on the day of the week.
Brad: Well you only get one chance to choose. [laughs]
Amira: No, I would reject that rule and I would make an exception for me. It's magic. How can you think about all these magical things, but can't conceive that maybe next year I need to be in a different dormitory?
Jessica: Okay. So you're a Gryffindor, I'm going to move this along as a professional interviewer. [Amira laughs] What made you love the book so much to the point that you have Deathly Hallows tattooed on your arm?
Brad: So, like Amira said, I was about the same age as the characters as the movies were coming out and kind of grew up with the movies, even though I had already read the books and was reading the books before the movies came out. And I think I just like resonated with the overall themes and the ideas. And I just kind of loved the idea of like the whole wizarding world, like outside of it. So I have the Deathly Hallows symbol, but instead of lines it's quotes from the book. And the three quotes that I chose were, “It is your choices, far more than your abilities, that show what you truly are.” “It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.” And then “Always.” So, those are the three that I chose. They all have meaning to me and kind of like my life and what I want my life to be. And I'm just a big Harry Potter nerd. So, the problem is Ashley is not a Harry Potter nerd.
Amira: Oh! Look, my husband is like…
Brad: It's terrible, right?
Amira: My husband is so skeptical of this. And so when the last book came out, I was pregnant with my daughter. I was like 18. I was young. And I wanted to go, I usually did wait at midnight for the book to launch. I lived in Philly at the time and he was like, you are not going to wait at the Borders in Center City for a book, a Harry Potter book! And I was like, I totally am! So I didn't. But they delivered it like with the Howler thing at eight in the morning. So I read the book and I cried and I couldn't see the words. It was a whole mess. And I was pregnant, so I was extra hormonal. And the next day in like the biggest act of love ever, he let me read the book to him.
Jessica: Oh my gosh, this is a great Michael story!
Brad: That’s awesome.
Amira: Right? I was like, that is real love, [laughs] because he does not care for Harry Potter at all. But my daughter was like, I think probably because I had her so young and she read the book so early, was probably one of the first second gen Potterheads. And so when she was seven, she tore through all seven books. I actually tried to hide them from her because I was like, we had to wait and suffer. [Brad laughs] You know no pain. Didn’t work. And then the best thing was I took her to Florida.
Jessica: Harry Potter World. Have you been to Harry Potter World, Brad?
Brad: No, I have not, but I've made homemade butterbeer.
Amira: You have to go get the frozen spiked butterbeer in Florida, because…
Jessica: It’s really good.
Amira: Better than IPAs!
Jessica: It is really the coolest. Like, I've been to the Star Wars land and that was fine. But the Harry Potter…Spectacular.
Amira: What is your favorite book?
Brad: Favorite book is Goblet of Fire.
Amira: Ooh!
Brad: Not my favorite movie though.
Amira: Yeah, the haircuts in that movie… [laughter] Like, I can't even watch it. Like, honestly, I'm like, get to Order of the Phoenix where they finally get Daniel to get a freaking haircut.
Jessica: Brad, thank you so much for coming on Burn It All Down. This has been lovely, and we are very excited to see how the season goes and we will be cheering for you both on and off the pitch. And thank you again for all of the advocacy work and the community work that you do here in Austin. It means a lot to us.
Amira: And our best to Ashley as well, because she has been holding it down in Austin. We want to shout her out and recognize that as well.
Brad: Yes, she runs the Stuver household, so can't not give her props. So, thank you thank you!
Jessica: That's it for this episode of Burn It All Down. This episode was produced by Tressa Versteeg. Shelby Weldon is our web and social media wizard. Burn It All Down is part of the Blue Wire podcast network. Follow Burn It All Down on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. You can listen, subscribe, and rate the show on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Spotify, Google Play, TuneIn – wherever you listen. For show links and transcripts, check out our website, burnitalldownpod.com. You'll also find a link to our merch at our Bonfire store. And thank you to our patrons. Your support means the world. If you want to become a sustaining donor to our show, visit patreon.com/burnitalldown. And as always, burn on and not out.