Our favorite feisty former Mayor of Hagerstown Emily Keller updates Nestor on her evolving role as the Special Secretary of Opioid Response under the Wes Moore administration and the role of Naloxone in saving lives during an overdose crisis.
Emily Keller, former mayor of Hagerstown and now Maryland’s Secretary of Overdose Response, discussed her journey from witnessing her friend’s struggle with heroin to advocating for substance use reforms. She highlighted the importance of accessible treatment and harm reduction efforts like Naloxone and syringe services. Keller recounted a mass overdose event in Baltimore, where 53 organizations responded, preventing any deaths. She emphasized the need to de-stigmatize addiction and treat it as a public health issue. Keller also shared her personal experiences, including her daughter’s success in roller derby and her dedication to the Washington Commanders.
- [ ] Continue advocating for and implementing harm reduction strategies, such as providing naloxone and syringe service programs.
- [ ] Explore ways to further destigmatize addiction and encourage people to seek help without fear of judgment.
- [ ] Ensure that treatment and recovery resources are easily accessible for those in need.
- [ ] Maintain and strengthen the community’s rapid response capabilities to address future overdose incidents.
Former Mayor Emily Keller’s Introduction and Personal Anecdotes
- Nestor Aparicio introduces Emily Keller, former mayor of Hagerstown, and mentions her new role as Secretary of Overdose Response for Maryland.
- Emily shares a personal story about her daughter picking her up from a teen club in Ocean City, highlighting the generational gap.
- Nestor and Emily discuss their experiences with late nights and early mornings, with Nestor mentioning his late nights with the former mayor of Hagerstown.
- Emily talks about her daughter and her friends living their best lives while she works, emphasizing the balance between personal and professional life.
Emily Keller’s Journey to Public Service
- Nestor asks Emily about her transition from being the mayor of Hagerstown to her current roles, mentioning her past interactions with Joe Biden and Wes Moore.
- Emily recounts her friend Ashley’s struggle with heroin and her own frustration with the system’s failure to help her.
- Emily explains her decision to run for Hagerstown City Council to give a voice to the voiceless, especially after Ashley’s overdose death.
- Nestor shares his own experiences with addiction and the impact of Narcan, drawing parallels to Emily’s story.
The Creation of the Overdose Response Role
- Emily describes her initial meeting with Wes Moore during his campaign, where she shared her personal story and predicted his success.
- Wes Moore created the position of Secretary of Overdose Response specifically for Emily, recognizing the need for a dedicated role to address substance use issues.
- Emily discusses the lack of a cabinet-level position for substance use before this role was created, highlighting its significance.
- Nestor and Emily talk about the importance of treating addiction like any other disease and the need for readily available treatment options.
Challenges and Progress in Addressing Substance Use Disorders
- Emily emphasizes the importance of harm reduction efforts, such as providing Naloxone and sterile syringes, to save lives and prevent the spread of diseases.
- Nestor and Emily discuss the stigma associated with drug addiction and the need to humanize and de-stigmatize it.
- Emily shares her experiences from the North Avenue mass overdose event, where quick responses and community efforts prevented any deaths.
- Nestor and Emily reflect on the progress made in addressing substance use disorders and the importance of continued efforts to support recovery and treatment.
Emily Keller’s Personal Passions and Final Thoughts
- Nestor and Emily discuss Emily’s passion for the Washington Commanders and her dedication to the team despite their past struggles.
- Emily shares her pride in her daughter’s achievements in roller derby, including her participation in the World Championships in Australia.
- Nestor and Emily talk about their experiences in Australia, with Emily expressing her admiration for the cleanliness and friendliness of the country.
- The conversation concludes with Emily reiterating her commitment to saving lives and supporting recovery efforts, emphasizing the importance of community and compassion.
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
Opiod Response, Maryland, Emily Keller, Overdose Response, Substance Use, Harm Reduction, Naloxone, Treatment Availability, Stigma, Recovery, Fentanyl, Mass Overdose, Community Support, Public Health, Narcan.
SPEAKERS
8Nestor Aparicio, Speaker 2, Speaker 1, Emily Keller
Nestor Aparicio 00:00
Welcome home. We are W, N, S, G, AM, 1570 tassel, Baltimore. We are Baltimore, positive. We are in Ocean City, Maryland. We’re Mako. We’re having fun down here. It is still early in the morning. Some of my guests, I was a little concerned about booking them early in the morning, including myself. I just want to say for the record that I have been out some late nights with the former mayor of hagerstowners. Now the opioids are doing the networking thing here. I went to bed early last night, did you? I am old and tired, and my buddy’s been bad with names. Is playing at fakers tonight. I’m like, You know what? I’m gonna go twice as hard, and I’m not, but yeah, I’m gonna be here twice as early. How are you?
Emily Keller 00:43
I had a new experience last night, actually. So I left. I was out networking, and my daughter, who was 17, had my car. She was out at the Teen club in Ocean City, which is still a thing like the same one I went to down
Nestor Aparicio 00:55
on the boardwalk. H2 Oh, yes. Well, you’re a little younger than me, but, but we had him in the 80s, yes.
8Emily Keller 01:01
So she was there, and she came and picked me up and then drove me to the
Speaker 1 01:04
beach. Oh, hold on, your daughter picked you up a teen club, yes. Oh,
Emily Keller 01:09
she went to the teen club, and then came and picked me up.
Speaker 2 01:12
8So it was, you live long enough they’re gonna take care of, you know,
Emily Keller 01:15
just walking down the road, and she was like, I see you. I’ll come
Nestor Aparicio 01:18
get you, bring your kid to the beach. I
Emily Keller 01:21
do. It’s great. She’s awesome. Her and her friend are down here. They are living their best life while I work. And so
8Nestor Aparicio 01:27
it’s great. Yeah, moms, you’re doing this. Emily Keller is the former mayor of Hagerstown. But once a mayor, always, always a mayor. Now the spec, what are you the special, special specials. I knew we were special. Secretary of overdose response for the Maryland’s office of overdose response.
Emily Keller 01:47
It costs more Maryland’s office overdose response, not intentional for Governor Moore, but more for short.
Nestor Aparicio 01:53
Step up a little bit. Here. We can get on the set and look good. Here. I’m gonna grab my lottery tickets in a minute too. We’re sort of old pals at this point, you take this gig, and I love your little hometown, and I’m still trying to get a crumpies Donut, although I did offer you death by coconut. Turns out you’re not a coconut person. Ugly Pie Day 20. Check it out. This role of yours that Wes Moore created. Run me through the genesis of I’m the mayor of Hagerstown, and you sort of famously were whisked away by Joe Biden at one point, and we talked about that when he was running the country and West took over two and a half years ago. You’re the sitting mayor of Hagerstown at that time, Democratic mayor. First off, give your story about your best friend, and just for everybody, that doesn’t reset. I feel like I know you better. I don’t want to bring everybody in on the story, but this last two and a half years has been a whirlwind for you.
Emily Keller 02:46
8It has been, it has been back in in 2016 my my best friend, Ashley, she was really struggling with what was in heroin and
Nestor Aparicio 02:55
insurance agent,
Speaker 2 02:57
right? Yeah. So
Emily Keller 02:59
for a couple years prior to that, I’ve been watching her really struggle, and I felt like I was watching her system just fail her over and over again, like she needed help, and she was being treated like a criminal, and I got frustrated, and I was watching my county thinking, here’s like, my entire generation using drugs, and there’s nowhere to go. There’s not a lot of help. I felt like not enough people were speaking out about this, that we were wanting to pretend that it wasn’t happening in Western Maryland, and it was like after country
8Nestor Aparicio 03:25
pretending Donald Trump’s doing the right thing, putting our head in the sand or or wishing it away, or thoughts and prayer doesn’t work. Doesn’t
Emily Keller 03:34
work. It doesn’t work. And, you know, drug use knows no boundaries. It doesn’t matter where you come from, what part of the state you’re in a part of the country. And so I thought, you know, I’m sitting on the sidelines complaining, so I can try to do something about it, or I can just sit here and complain. So I decided I was going to run for office. And if you would have told me even that year that I was going to run for office, I would have told you you were
Nestor Aparicio 03:56
out of your mind. What did running for office mean?
Emily Keller 03:59
8I just I was running for Hagerstown City Council. City council, okay? Because I felt like if I got into an elected position, I could yell loud enough and try to affect change.
Nestor Aparicio 04:09
That’s exactly why I was going to run for the mayor of Baltimore. Yeah, that’s how Baltimore positive was born. Yes, I saw the city on fire. I saw the mayor going to jail. I saw this creep running the country, and I thought I got to get louder about something other than the Orioles and the Ravens. Yes, I just need to get loud.
Emily Keller 04:25
That was me, literally. And I made, actually, a promise. I said, I’m going to be loud for you. I’m going to give a voice to the voiceless. And I ran, and unfortunately, in the middle of my first campaign, she lost her life to an overdose, and it was obviously the worst day of my life. She was my first friend the first day of kindergarten, and I just kept reminding myself. I told her I was doing this for her and for people who like her felt like she didn’t have a voice. So I just told her story, my story, this story, over and over again. So while I was campaigning, people would be what are you going to do about. Tax rate. What are you going to do about the what? And I would say, I have no idea, but I promise you, I will do the work and figure that out. But what I do know is, if we don’t get the substance use crisis under control in this country, we’re not going to have people to pay taxes. The water system is not going to matter. The drugs are stronger than the people. Yes, and we’re hurting. Our people are hurting addiction and strong.
Nestor Aparicio 05:23
It’s so strong. Parents were at I mean, my mother was awful alcoholic, you know, my real mother, yes, yeah, that’s why I was adopted, right? I mean, you know, thank God for my adopted parents. But like, I’m from Dundalk. I mean, I saw all of this happen, you know. I’m from East Baltimore, no different than Hagerstown, you know. And we’ve seen this, and I’ve often wondered who’s doing anything about this. Now, I see the Narcan. I mean, I see ads, I hear ads. I’m not running him on Baltimore positive, but maybe we could, but, um, but I do see that it’s being addressed, yeah, and it’s in the news, and that’s getting better. And then someone like you comes along. You run for mayor, you somehow you win, and then you’re you’re whisked away by the president United States, and then the governor gets on to you. Gee, when did you meet West Moore once? I like campaign trail. You’re already Mayor Hagerstown law before he was
8Emily Keller 06:13
a candidate, I was both of you. I met him very early in his campaign. I think at that time he was polling at like 1% right? But I met him down here in Ocean City at during the Maryland Municipal League conference, and I sat down, and it happened to be the day that Ashley had died, the anniversary of her death, five years later. So I was already like, emotional, you know, whatever. And I sat down with him, and I shared my story with him. He wasn’t the governor then, no, he was just a candidate. Yeah, he was, he was, he was robbing. He was a long shot candidate.
Nestor Aparicio 06:44
I remind him of that every time I had him on, I brought him on the air, yeah, holding less than two but
Emily Keller 06:50
he was, and, you know, it’s crazy is I got up from that conversation, and I remember calling, I think, my parents or someone at the time, and I said, I just met our next governor. I knew like there was no doubt. After you spoke to Wes Moore, the person, and you saw, like, his passion ideas to me, I was like, that’s our next governor. I don’t care if he’s polling at 1% and I just, I believed him. And he would come to Hagerstown, we would do tours, and the whole time I would say substitute, substance use substitutes. You know, I’d show him Hagerstown, tell him all the really great projects, yeah, and I just said, like, a lot is being done. Maryland’s doing a lot of good things, but we can do a lot more. And to my surprise, once he won the election, they called and he said, You know, I interested, if you are interested in taking this position, I want to make
Nestor Aparicio 07:41
8it, but there wasn’t a position, right? Like, literally, it was created. He sort of inspired the creation of it. I would think, if I had Wes on whether he SME or not, it probably that back of his mind. This was something that needed to be added, that wasn’t there at that time, right? Yeah, did you have met with Hogan a million times? You’re the mirror hangers now, right? Yeah,
Emily Keller 08:00
yes. And he had a director level position, but there was no cabinet level position that was specific for substance use. Of course, the Secretary of Health overseas, but that’s such a huge job, you know? So substance use is a major, important part of it, but the Secretary of Health has a portfolio of all the health issues, sure. So this is just specific for substance use. And what can we do? So I’m honored to be here. It’s, it’s really like crazy to think about, because 10 years ago, I would have never imagined this, but I feel like people got it. It resonated because I’m just human, you know, I’m just human. I just want to save people’s lives. I just want to help. That’s it. I come to work every day and feel very fulfilled because I see the really terrible things. I see people who are struggling, but I also get to see the fact that people recover. Every single day, someone will come up to me and say, I have 10 years. I have 10 days. I have, you know, 10 turns it around and it’s, it’s, it’s really cool. We focus so much on the death and on the terrible things that happen with substance use disorder, but I get to see the other side of it too, and I think we’re getting there as a country. We’re starting to see people are getting better and recovering, and it’s really
Speaker 2 09:15
a beautiful thing. Well,
Nestor Aparicio 09:16
the fentanyl thing is also just a huge part of this, right? Yes, that that is at the heart of it, Emily Keller is here, former mayor of Hagerstown, but always the mayor of grumpies in Hagerstown. Now, doing you know I call you sort of this drug czar, the opioid czar, with your friend, and what you learned as an insurance agent, as a grieving friend, becoming the mayor trying to make a difference. What does make a difference mean to you 10 years ago, and what does it mean over the last two years to intervene? How can government intervene? What could you have done to save your friend in the seat you’re in now? That wasn’t done for her 10 years ago?
8Emily Keller 09:53
I think making treatment readily available is important, and we’re there and
Nestor Aparicio 09:58
not criminalizing it. To start with that. Yes, people who use drugs
Emily Keller 10:01
aren’t bad people. We all have a drug of choice, whether it be caffeine, whether it be sugar, whether it be cigarettes. Like we only look at drug addiction, we look at it so different, just like people who go to get on methadone or, you know, other medications for opioid use disorder, we pause a little bit. There’s still the stigma. If you have a heart disease, you go get put on medication for it, like we treat the disease of addiction different than any other addiction. So I think one humanizing it, and getting rid of that stigma, getting rid of, you know, someone, it’s okay to say I need help. It’s okay to say I’m not okay. So let’s judge it. Let’s treat it. Yes, right? Yes, you’re not a terrible person because you made bad decisions. Like we all make bad decisions. We’re all one bad decision. Me neither, but you know, and having treatment readily available, and harm reduction efforts, really, you know, understanding
Nestor Aparicio 10:56
8that harm reduction, you mean self harm, yeah, yes, helping,
Emily Keller 11:00
helping someone be as safe as possible. So Naloxone, having Naloxone everywhere, is a harm reduction effort, because Naloxone saves people lives. Syringe service programs, providing, you know, sterile syringes and drug using equipment to people who are using drugs that helps keep them as healthy as possible, because that person may not be ready right then to get treatment, but when they are, let’s make sure they’re the healthiest version of themselves when they go to get treatment. So a lot of underlying diseases, like hepatitis C, like HIV, those, those issues, aren’t there. So the
Nestor Aparicio 11:31
Republican in me would come out and say, we’re giving them we’re giving them syringes instead of giving them treatment. Explain that to the pessimist in me,
Emily Keller 11:41
absolutely, I love this argument, right? We can give all the money in the world. People have been using drugs forever and ever, right? They have been so I’ve
8Nestor Aparicio 11:50
been talking about that as my lottery. I’m a lottery spokesperson. We were hurting about all the money. People say, lottery gambling, bad, cannabis, bad. I’m like, people are using it. Louis the bookmaker, was getting this money. States getting it right. So, I mean, people are using drugs, yes. And instead of putting them in jail, let’s clean
Emily Keller 12:07
them up, right, right? Yeah. And I think, you know, hepatitis happens to people who don’t use drugs, HIV, haven’t. So when, when people use drugs have other, other underlying issues, that’s a public health issue. So providing a clean syringe to someone so they’re not spreading diseases affects people who don’t use drugs as well. And I think if we started looking at it like that, like this is truly a public health perspective, and if you can help someone be the best version of themselves, again, a clean syringe can stop the spread of x, y and z. So when that person says, You know what, I’m ready for treatment, let’s go now. You’re treating a person with a substance use disorder. You’re not treating a person with a substance use disorder and multiple other underlying diseases. It’s good for everyone. It’s good for everyone. And let’s just take away, like any of the stigma, any of the drug use, any of the Aren’t we just supposed to take care of each other, right, like at the end of the day? Aren’t we just supposed to take care of each other, and if providing a clean syringe is helping that person be a little bit more healthy, are we really going to argue that?
Nestor Aparicio 13:15
Give me your day. Three weeks ago, when the North Avenue national story came out about the deaths. You know, I was following a little bit of my phone. I’ll be honest with you, I did not read a lot about it. Go further into it, and I knew I’d be here in a couple weeks. And I thought of you. I thought like Emily’s phone rang, and she’s on North Avenue right now, and there are a lot of dead people, and it’s drugs. And this isn’t a good PR thing, but maybe out of because certainly for Baltimore, everybody’s in drugs. I know how this goes with Fox 45 but give me what that was about. Just tell me the story and and how you’re working to make sure that does it. That’s a bad day for Baltimore. It’s a bad day for Maryland. It’s bad day for all these people and their families, any you know, whatever their circumstances were that brought them to death by drugs? Yeah, in a drug market in the west of Baltimore, I know everything the mayor is trying to do, everything the governor’s trying to do, everything you’re trying to do. You can only do so much. But that was a circumstance that in my mind, I sort of thought, I know how this happens, but how does this happen?
Emily Keller 14:23
8The good thing, if we want to look at it from a good perspective, actually, no one died. It was a mass overdose event, but no one lost their life, and I think that’s credit to the incredible work going on in Baltimore City and through the treatment organizations that are right there, because they responded immediately. Yes, my phone rang and yes, I was in Baltimore. Yeah, in an hour. I mean, I was in I was in a pair of flip flops because I had just left an event. I had taken my heels off. I was in a pair of flip flops, and I just got in the car and left. So I’m out there doing outreach and flip flops and whatever I was wearing that day, with a bag and. Naloxone, and saying, What can we do, walking with partners and all the community partners, there was an email that went out that said, we need help in Penn North right now. 53 organizations responded. All replied, all to that email within an hour. 53 I mean, it was all hands on deck. No one died. A lot of people
Nestor Aparicio 15:21
realize that I thought there was death. So I misspoke. It’s because
Emily Keller 15:25
it was called a mass casualty event, because so people assume casualty means death. It just meant mass casualty. As far as, like, EMS, no one died.
Nestor Aparicio 15:34
Usually, I really didn’t know that, but it was
8Emily Keller 15:38
a horrific event. You know, obviously there was something in the drug supply that was not
Nestor Aparicio 15:43
normal having an overdose, right? There would be something I would not want to witness, yes, right?
Emily Keller 15:48
And this was like almost 30 were transported to a hospital or treated. But the days that followed, I mean, there were food services there, there were treatment centers. I went out the next day and did outreach with Health Care for the Homeless, which is a doctor and other peers and specialists
Nestor Aparicio 16:06
8other lives in the following days. Because of this, people saw it, and they’re like, I got to rethink even, you see, well, just the whole thing gets rethought when
Emily Keller 16:16
people are yes and they see that so many people showed up and cared. And here’s naloxone. Here’s what do you need in this moment? Do you need a bottle of water?
Nestor Aparicio 16:26
Not enough people cared about Ashley, right? Yes, yeah, at that time. Okay, gotcha. Yeah, that’s progress.
Emily Keller 16:31
It’s, it’s big progress. It was really heartwarming to see in a terrible, terrible situation. The fact, I mean, the community Baltimore City rallied and said, We’re here. We’re going to help. And the follow through that’s happened since then is, you know, meetings, senators are involved, people are involved, saying, How can we make this happen every day? Because there are really incredible people who pound the pavement, who literally just walk up to people, doctors who walk up to people and say, What do you need? How can I help you? And so now it’s like, how do we keep that going on an everyday basis, and make sure that when that person standing on the corner says, today’s the day I don’t want to do this anymore, today is the day I’m ready to go seek treatment, that they can go get it, and they know where to go. Emily
8Nestor Aparicio 17:17
Keller’s here. She’s the former mayor of Hagerstown. She’s my friend, even though we’ve not had a donut together when she is the let me read off your thing here, special Secretary of overdose response from the Maryland’s office of overdose response. It is a new role last couple of years. What’s it? Just your message to people out there, wherever they are, in regard to the drug the advertising, the locks, Narcan, all of those things in I’m thinking, why do I need to carry it? Are, you know, just I see it and I hear it. I’m like, it doesn’t apply to me. Yeah, to some degree it
Emily Keller 17:48
does. Though, you never know where you’re gonna witness an overdose. You can be walking down the street. You could be walking into a restaurant having Naloxone on your what people know is a brand name, Narcan. What does it do? It reverses an overdose. It blocks your opioid receptors. It enables breathing. It enables, it enables. That is the most simple way to put it and enable today. So just like you go get trained in CPR, because you want to know if someone sure you save a life, right, having it’s a nasal spray. If you’ve ever used Afrin or any kind of like allergy nasal spray, no. Well,
Nestor Aparicio 18:22
my wife is diabetic, and she always gives me this golden needle, and I still to, I hope I never have to use it. It’s in the refrigerator. I’m like, what she’s telling me? Like, if you’re on the ground code now, but you know, my wife’s sugar, she’s passed that several times, orange juice down her throat, sugar tabs, all of that. As a caregiver, you know, to someone that has that issue, I know that it happens fast. Yes, I’m here. Sugar can go fast, and if I don’t know what I’m doing, or she’s in a place, she’s not with me today, she’s in New Hampshire. She’s in a weird place at a concert, something happens. People don’t even know She’s diabetic. They don’t look it for her wristband or her wristband or, yeah, little trinket that says I’m diabetic. So, yeah, I mean, it’s in that moment, right? Yes, that you would have, it’s a nasal spread.
Emily Keller 19:10
8It’s a nasal spray. We’ve tried to make it as simple as possible to eliminate that fear, because I get it.
Nestor Aparicio 19:15
I mean, help you market it? Because, like, I didn’t even know it is.
Emily Keller 19:19
It looks just like a little effort, you know what I thought it
Nestor Aparicio 19:23
was. I mean, don’t I’m not trying to make you laugh. I thought it was Pulp Fiction. I thought it was, yeah, literally, because my wife gives me this needle for
8Emily Keller 19:30
her. It used to be intravenous, so years and years and years ago. So
Nestor Aparicio 19:35
fiction in 1992 was, there you go. That was with the way it was administered, yes,
Emily Keller 19:39
and so people are scared. It’s not, it’s really a nasal spray. If you see someone, you think they’re overdosing. They’re turning blue, they’re not breathing. They may be like snoring sound you can, you know, try to wake them up. We say, do a sternum rub it hurts. Try to see if they wake up. If they don’t, you spray it in their nose. Call 911, and within, you know, normally two to three minutes. They will be breathing. All you need is that person breathing, as long they don’t have to be up talking to you, having a good time, as long as they’re breathing by the time EMS gets there, they can take over you probably just save their
Nestor Aparicio 20:10
8life. And that happened in West Baltimore a couple weeks ago. Everyone
Emily Keller 20:14
was Naloxone reversed. What was happening to them? Okay, yeah.
Nestor Aparicio 20:19
Well, it’s a beautiful thing. So I want to end all the serious conversation right now with Emily Keller and say, How in the world did you get elected being a Washington commanders fan? I mean, I told her yesterday. I said you’re going to look so beautiful and purple, it’s going to go with your eyes. And then she wore ravens purple today, and she ain’t even one of us.
Emily Keller 20:41
I am a die hard commander fan. I told you this yesterday. Listen, I was six the last time we won a Super Bowl, and I remember it so I have watched us lose my entire adult life. If anyone is owed a Super Bowl, it’s me. I am Die Hard commander
8Nestor Aparicio 20:59
playoff game. You got a real quarterback. We want to play. It was
Emily Keller 21:02
my Super Bowl. I mean, you couldn’t tell me anything that week. I I celebrated. I was I was insufferable. I mean, I wore a commander’s Jersey shirt every single day,
Nestor Aparicio 21:15
every new picture of you and commanders anything, and
Emily Keller 21:18
8I have the leggings
Nestor Aparicio 21:20
forever for me to see you in purple like this and think like I go to like, I’ve reversed you, I’ve NAR cam your sports needs, and I’ve moved you to the right side.
Emily Keller 21:29
In my defense, purple is the color of recovery. So I
Nestor Aparicio 21:35
honestly thought that your department got together, Wes is trolling you by putting purple.
8Emily Keller 21:43
No, I’m a good sport West control
Nestor Aparicio 21:45
you because the stadiums in his state too. I don’t against
Emily Keller 21:49
the ravens, though. I don’t root against the Ravens unless they’re playing us, unless it were like a playoff game. Let’s be honest, it’s been them for a long time. So I don’t read against them. I do go to ravens games. I just wear commander gear.
Nestor Aparicio 22:02
8That’s dumb. Why do you do that? Because
Emily Keller 22:04
I’m, listen, I am a commander
Nestor Aparicio 22:07
our stadium wearing commander stuff when the ravens are playing to steal
Emily Keller 22:11
if you seem to watch a commander game with me, you’re from
8Nestor Aparicio 22:14
Hagerstown, yes, all right, we can be friends. Emily Keller is here. We already are friends. She’s the former mayor of Hagerstown. She’s commanders fan the day after you win the Super Bowl. I hope they’re not on the radio that day, but I won’t.
Emily Keller 22:28
You will know you. You will hear me. I’ll
Nestor Aparicio 22:31
give it a week or two, and then I’ll let you come on and be insufferable once. Because I don’t, I don’t say this with any maybe I say it with pride. I don’t have a lot of commanders fans in my life. I mean, I really don’t, man, I don’t really, there’s you in there. Scotty got it up. So, you know, I will fill the gap. I do know a lot of people that gave it up that just like, gave it up. I didn’t look I’m in Baltimore. Obviously, a lot of people have given the Orioles up. Yeah. I mean, you could see the upper deck being empty. That bad bad ownership. What? It never wrecked you. You never just thought, F that guy. He hates women, he hates everything. I mean, that was down. Let’s just become a raven fan. I can’t do it. Cornbread. Couldn’t work on you. Try to get you a raven
Emily Keller 23:13
8fan. I go to games with them. I love going to games with them. I love Raven stadium.
Speaker 2 23:17
Much better would feel if you love the Ravens. No, no,
23:21
I don’t
Speaker 2 23:26
know baseball. I’ll go
8Emily Keller 23:28
to I’ll go to Orioles game. I love stadium. Do you have any
Nestor Aparicio 23:32
other passions beyond command? Sports teams, that’s your
Emily Keller 23:35
thing. My daughter does roller derby. So I gotta be your daughter. I gotta she’s a world champion. She was on Team USA. We were in Australia two weeks ago. Team USA won. She was the only Maryland skater on Team USA, 17 years old in open division. So she skates against men. She is, oh yeah, so badass as you are, maybe she is incredible. All right, so, yeah, in Australia, Brisbane, I love Brisbane. I love
Nestor Aparicio 24:00
8Brisbane. It’s one of my favorite cities in the world. It was incredible. Did you go? Did you go to Steve Irwin’s? Yes, did? I wish I would have known you were there. My favorite town is just off to the east of Steve Irwin. It’s a it’s called Noosa Heads. Really like Noosa that feel like the yogurt no OSA. Noosa Heads. It’s just east of the Australia. It’s north of Brisbane. Now, you once said you deserve paradise. Do all that. Yes,
Emily Keller 24:25
we did all the things. We got there a couple days early before, like business took. I
Nestor Aparicio 24:30
wish I would have known. Is there any better plan? Mean, I know you think Maryland’s better than Brisbane, but I’ll go out on a limb and say I liked
24:38
Australia a lot. I did
8Emily Keller 24:39
too. It was so clean. People are nice. People were very nice. It was clean. It was wild to me. Like, every, every street you walked on, it was just beautiful. I’m like, dude, like, there’s no littering here. This is different. No one smokes cigarettes. Like, it was just it was a very different place. I miss Australia. Yeah, I liked it. It was my first time really, out of the country, really, you have a
Speaker 2 25:03
roller derby. Daughter, I have a roller derby.
Emily Keller 25:06
Yes, I’m gonna show you videos when we get done.
Speaker 2 25:09
8She’s, she’s tough. I mean, I’ve
Nestor Aparicio 25:11
seen the Charm City roller derby, yeah, thing, that’s what it is, right? Yes. And it really is competitive. It’s not,
Emily Keller 25:19
yeah, competitive, yeah. She was one of, I mean, she is one of the best defensive, you know, skaters in the country.
Nestor Aparicio 25:27
All right, the things you learn on this program, Emily Keller is the special Secretary of overdose response, and she’s cool, and we know this. So crumpets donut, sometime soon she gotta go get with the governor. Who is her boss? I am Nestor. We are W, N, S, T, am 1570, Taos in Baltimore, go, Ravens,
Emily Keller 25:45
go, commanders. I.
