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In this gripping episode, business coach and speaker Leah Lemberg reveals her shocking journey as honor student and heroin addict – and the moment that saved her life. Guest's Info Leah Lemberg is a business coach and speaker who helps high-powered business owners achieve more freedom, profitability, and balance through strategic growth and mindset shifts. She is the creator of The Freedom Framework and Pipeline Mastery, two courses designed to help entrepreneurs scale their businesses and create sustainable growth. Leah's one-on-one work is grounded in personal accountability, and she draws from her own journey of overcoming addiction and adversity to inspire others. As a speaker, Leah delivers actionable insights on business strategy, leadership, and personal transformation. What you'll discover The "perfect example" delusion Leah believed about addiction that nearly killed her before she turned 18 Why being "too smart" for addiction treatment is actually the deadliest trap imaginable The bizarre warning sign in preschool that everyone missed – and what parents should watch for The shocking contents of a mother's dryer that could have changed everything (but didn't) Why the "good kid" maintaining a 4.0 GPA might be hiding the deepest hurts of all The strange 7-word revelation on a treatment center's steps that finally broke through after months of resistance The "plucking method" that saved Leah's life when reasoning and negotiation had utterly failed Why a 28-day program is "barely doing anything" and what actually works instead How Leah went from stealing veterinary drugs to creating the "Freedom Framework" for entrepreneurs Leah's raw honesty about her teenage addiction, treatment resistance, and 16-year recovery offers crucial insights for families struggling with a loved one's substance use. Her story proves that intervention works – even when the person doesn't want help – and recovery is always possible. Listen now to discover why what appears to be a "lost year" in treatment might be the thing that saves a lifetime. Links and Resources from this Episode https://whyintervention.com/ https://twitter.com/whyintervention https://www.facebook.com/whyintervention/ Connect with Leah Lemberg https://leahlemberg.com/   Call to Action Schedule a Call Free Resources Review, Subscribe and Share If you like what you hear please leave a review by clicking here Make sure you're subscribed to the podcast so you get the latest episodes. Subscribe with Apple Podcasts Follow on Spotify Subscribe with RSS

In our most recent series on storytelling and identity, Ethan sat down with his screenwriter friends to do a deep dive into the creative process, the power of storytelling, and how identity plays a role in both. In this bonus episode, the tables are turned as Ethan is interviewed by CEG Essay Coach, Ali Pineo. In their conversation, Ethan and Ali get into: Ethan's background and how his identity has evolved over the years The roles Ethan identifies with most: connector, harmonizer, and seeker How Ethan measures success in his personal and professional life His journey from aspiring screenwriter to teacher and writer Brainstorming Ethan's own personal statement as if he were writing it today And more Ali Pineo is a writing coach and college admissions essay specialist with a BA in English from Stanford University and MFA from UC Irvine. She is passionate about building her students' confidence in the writing process and developing them into strong self-advocates for their individual learning needs. She has spent thousands of hours coaching admissions essay writing and tutoring AP English and US History,. and the highlights of her career center around her mentorship of bright students with learning differences. In addition to teaching, she is an arts entrepreneur, former professional ballet dancer, and mama to a busy toddler. We hope you enjoy!   Play-by-Play: 1:41 - Introductions 2:48 - Ethan shares the roles he identifies with most 10:36 - What does Ethan's identity of “Connector” mean to him? 14:34 - How does Ethan distinguish between the “Connector” and “Harmonizer” roles? 20:16 - Do any roles conflict with other identities?  25:13 - How does Ethan balance his many roles?  28:37 - How does Ethan measure success in his personal and professional life? 33:20 - In what ways have Ethan's career aspirations changed over the years?  37:00 - How does Ethan define his role as a “Culture-Tender?”  43:55 - What has Ethan been writing about lately? 47:18 - Ali shares her a bit about her background, roles, and identities  52:33 - How do Ethan's outward identities overlap with his inner world?  56:48 - Brainstorming Ethan's own personal statement as if he were writing it today 1:11:37 - Closing thoughts and wrap-up   Resources: College Essay Guy's Roles and Identities Exercise Listen: Five Simple Tools to Meet Your Everyday Parenting Challenges College Essay Guy's Personal Statement Resources College Essay Guy's College Application Hub

What is our relationship to the land, to its other-than-human inhabitants, and to the rest of humanity? These are fundamental questions for thinking through how we can transform ourselves in ways that allow a multiplicity of ecologies and human communities to thrive alongside one another. And these questions are not just fundamental to us as individuals—they are essential to how we view our cultures, traditions, institutions, and ways of knowing.Layel Camargo lives at the vibrant intersection of ecological justice, queer liberation, and indigenous culture—a cultural space that offers a distinctive vantage point on how our societies work, while holding enormous potential to both see and reorient our relationships to the land and to one another.Layel Camargo is an organizer and artist who advocates for the better health of the planet and its people by restoring land, healing communities, and promoting low-waste and low-impact lifestyles. Layel is a transgender and gender non-conforming person who is an indigenous descendant of the Yaqui and Mayo tribes of the Sonoran Desert.I met Layel at a climate storytelling retreat in New York City in 2019, where I became a huge fan of their work and of their way of being in the world.Layel is a founder of the Shelterwood Collective, a Black, Indigenous, and LGBTQ-led community forest and retreat center, healing people and ecosystems through active stewardship and community engagement.Our conversation explores the idea of culture as strategy in confronting the climate crisis, diving into Layel's work in video, podcasting, and poetry and the origins of their approach to this work of healing people and planet.You can listen on Substack, Apple Podcasts, and other podcast platforms.Please rate, review, and share to help us spread the word!Layel CamargoLayel Camargo is a cultural strategist, land steward, filmmaker, artist, and a descendant of the Yaqui tribe and Mayo tribes of the Sonoran Desert. Layel is also transgender and non-binary. They graduated from UC Santa Cruz with dual degrees in Feminist Studies and Legal Studies. Layel was the Impact Producer for “The North Pole Show” Season Two. They currently produce and host ‘Did We Go Too Far' in conjunction with Movement Generation. Alongside Favianna Rodriguez and at the Center for Cultural Power, they created ‘Climate Woke,' a national campaign to center BIPOC voices in climate justice. Wanting to shape a new world, they co-founded ‘Shelterwood Collective'. The collective is a land-based organization that teaches land stewardship, fosters inventive ideation, and encourages healing for long-term survival. Layel was a Transformative Justice practitioner for 6 years and still looks to achieve change to the carceral system in all of their work. Most recently, Layel was named on the Grist 2020 Fixers List, and named in the 2019 Yerba Buena Center of the Arts list of ‘People to Watch Out For.'Quotation Read by Layel Camargo“You wanna fly, you got to give up the s**t that weighs you down.” - Toni Morrison, Song of SolomonRecommended Readings & MediaTranscriptIntroJohn Fiege  What is our relationship to the land, to its other-than-human inhabitants, and to the rest of humanity? These are fundamental questions for thinking through how we can transform ourselves in ways that allow a multiplicity of ecologies and human communities to thrive alongside one another. And these questions are not just fundamental to us as individuals—they are essential to how we view our cultures, traditions, institutions, and ways of knowing.Layel Camargo lives at the vibrant intersection of ecological justice, queer liberation, and indigenous culture—a cultural space that offers a distinctive vantage point on how our societies work while holding enormous potential to both see and reorient our relationships to the land and to one another.And besides that, Layel is hilarious.Layel Camargo My passion for humor has come from has been maintained by a lot of data and information that I've gotten around just the importance of people being able to process things through laughter. And that the climate crisis is nothing to make mockery and or to laugh, there's this is very serious. The ways in which our species is kind of being at threat of extinction, and right before our eyes. But I think that as humans, we're so complex and layered, and we're so beautiful in the sense that we get to feel so intensely, and feeling is what motivates us to take action. And laughter helps you process so much data quicker, it helps you be able to take something in, embrace it, release, and then have it make an impression.John Fiege  I'm John Fiege, and this is Chrysalis.Layel Camargo is an organizer and artist who advocates for the better health of the planet and its people by restoring land, healing communities, and promoting low-waste, low-impact lifestyles. Layel is a transgender and gender non-conforming person who is an indigenous descendant of the Yaqui and Mayo tribes of the Sonoran Desert.I met Layel at a climate storytelling retreat in New York City in 2019, where I became a huge fan of their work and of their way of being in the world.Layel is a founder of the Shelterwood Collective, a Black, Indigenous, and LGBTQ-led community forest and retreat center, healing people and ecosystems through active stewardship and community engagement.Our conversation explores the idea of culture as strategy in confronting the climate crisis, diving into Layel's work in video, podcasting, and poetry and the origins of their approach to this work of healing people and planet.Here is Layel Camargo.ConversationJohn FiegeHow you doing?Layel Camargo I'm doing pretty good. How are you doing?John Fiege I'm doing well. I've got this thing in my throat. I, so I'm going to be drinking a lot of tea. And I might have to have a bathroom break. Know, I have forgotten to take my allergy medicine. And here we are. Great. Yeah. So can you start out by telling me where you grew up? And how you viewed your relationship to the rest of nature when you were a kid?Layel Camargo Yeah. Um, I can start off by Yeah. talking a little bit about where I grew up. Yeah, so I grew up on the Mexican border between Tijuana and San Diego. And my upbringing was in this very highly dense migrant community from Latinx to Philippines, because of the proximity to the military base. It was very military towns, pretty much the professions. They're like you're either work for Homeland Security, the military or police. And I didn't really notice what my upbringing was like till I left. But I grew up crossing the border back and forth. My grandmother migrated from the Sonoran Desert, to Tijuana. And that's basically where my mother was born. And she grew. She went to high school in San Diego, which is why I can say I'm an American citizen, but I'm a descendant of the Maya or the uremic tribes, my grandmother said, and then my grandfather said, The yucky tribes of the Sonoran Desert so I think for me, my connection ecologically was like the ocean Because I grew up in a beach city, and then it was also the desert, because of all the stories and my grandmother's connection to sanada. So high, I never felt like I was at home because as a queer person paid never really fit into the conservative nature of San Diego due to how militarized it is, and all this stuff. But it was through a drive, which I took from Northern California, down to Sonora, where my grandmother's family lives, when I drove through the saguaros and Arizona that I remember seeing the Saguaro forests and just like needing to pull over and just like, take them in. And I had this a visceral feeling that I don't think I've ever had before of just like being home. And I think this, this experience was like in 2016 2017. And that's when I realized that, in theory, I was a climate activist, I cared about the planet. But it wasn't until that moment that I was like, oh, what I'm actually doing is like actually fighting for us to return to be in better relationship with the planet. And this is where I belong, this is my source of my route, these trees and this desert. So because of that, and growing up in proximity to the beach, water conservation has always been an area of like passion for me and caring about the ocean, which pushed me to a practice of lowering my plastic consumption and being more mindful of oil consumption. And the desert has always been a source of like grounding in regards to like place and knowing that I come from the earth. So it's kind of like I was gonna say, it's kind of like, I'm from a lot of places, I moved to Northern California in 2006. So I love the forest. But nothing speaks to my heart, like the beach in the desert.John Fiege Well, they have sand in common. Is there? Is there a tension between the ocean pulling you in the desert pulling you or is it? Is it a beautiful harmony?Layel Camargo It's a bit of a tension. But I would say that in my body, it feels the same. They both dehydrate me and over, over like it's just a lot of heat, typically. So yeah, that it's different for Northern California beaches, because they're a little bit more Rocky and more cold. You have to wear more layers. Right? definitely like to where I grew up, it's it is warm, the sandy ness. That's a great connection, I definitely need to make that a little bit more concrete.TotallyJohn Fiege cool. Well, can you tell me more about the path you took from the neighborhood where you grew up in San Diego, to studying at UC Santa Cruz and what that experience was like for you?Layel Camargo Yeah, I, I went. So I grew up in a home where there was a lot of violence, which is very common in a lot of migrant-specific and indigenous communities. And I kind of came into my teenage years, like really realizing that I was different, but I didn't know how when it kind of got summarized in college around my queerness my sexuality and my gender, but just feeling this need of like needing to leave. It just didn't make sense for me to be there. And with that being said, I had a wonderful community. I still have quite a few friends in San Diego that I keep in touch with my sisters live there. And I was actually just started last weekend. So I, when I was in San Diego, I think a lot of my trauma responses of like, just ignore what doesn't make sense and just keep moving forward was how I kind of functioned. And that race. And I loved it, I succeeded at it. I've actually realized that I'm a performance artist because of that upbringing. Like I, you know, was captain of the water polo team. I was president of my senior class, I was featured in newspapers for my swimming. I was a competitive swimmer for 10 years. I I did, I did a you know, a good job. I had advanced placement classes and honors classes and I was well rounded but in the inside, I just didn't feel like I belonged. So I picked UC Santa Cruz to go to college because it was the farthest University and the University of California system that had accepted me. And they went and I didn't know what I was getting myself into. I visited the campus like two to three weeks before I had to actually be there to live on campus. Bass. And when my dad drove me, drove me up with my whole family drove me up and they left me they were like, are you sure you want to say I'm like, I got this, like, it was all redwoods. So it was definitely like, we went down to the local store. And it was like all these like hippie dreadlock, folks. And I was like, I don't even know what I got myself into. But I'm getting this degree, so we're good. And it was a big culture shock, I think for a lot of black and brown and indigenous youth when they have to leave their communities to attend. What is like better economic opportunities outside of them it is it's, it's more than just having to adjust, it's having to really like, Oh, I had to let go of everything I knew. And in order for me to take the most out of college, and I was fortunate enough that I had a container a university is like a container for young folks that I wasn't having to leave for work or opportunities. And so I fully immersed myself, and it allowed me to be able to identify myself sexually and through my gender, and a gave me solace, when you know, my family rejected me for coming out. And I think that I'm so fortunate that I had that experience. And then I also was able to gain double bachelor's when feminist studies and legal studies which allowed me to have some upward mobility that my family hadn't had, traditionally I was, I am the first person in my whole family to attend a four year university after high school. So I'm definitely very grateful that that path took me there. And at this point, I feel like it was not only good for me, but it was good for my whole family for me to have taken that journey.John Fiege And did you come out to them? In college or before college?Layel Camargo in college? Yeah, I was my second year, I had my first girlfriend. And I was a Resident Advisor, always I'm always trying to be the overachiever. So I was like Resident Advisor of my college, I was like, involved in every club, I was part of the dance team. And, you know, my mom called me, I just decided to actually move in with my girlfriend the following quarter. And she was like, What are you doing? I was like, Oh, my girlfriend's house. And she was like, why do you have to tell me those things. And I'm just like, because I'm not gonna lie to you. And she was like, I know, you're gay, but I just don't need you to rub it in my face. And I was like, then I guess we can't talk. And so we didn't talk for three months. And then she called me It's, it's, it's hard, you know, like, going to college is hard, especially when I went to very marginalized public schools before that. So I was struggling academically. And my solace was, like, being involved on campus, like to meet some social needs. And I was in, I was in a retention program for black and brown youth from urban communities. So that helped a lot. But I, I, my mom kind of rupturing that, really. I didn't realize what the impact was until probably a quarter the quarter into after that. And she called me three months later, and was like, so are you not gonna talk to me? And I was like, you're the one that doesn't talk to me. And she was like, well, let's just let's just try to make this work. And so we, you know, it took probably five to six years for my family to kind of fully integrate my, you know, my, my lifestyle as they, as they call it. The magic word of magic word. Yeah.John Fiege Yeah, wow. Well, you know, that's just what you need, right in the middle of college trying to adapt to, you know, crazy new culture and world is for your family to reject you.Layel Camargo Yeah, yeah. It's definitely one of those things that like a lot of queer LGBTQ folks. I, I feel like it's so normalized to us, right? And it's just like, well, when you come up, just expect to lose everything. And I think it is it now until I'm like, in my 30s, that I realized how painful that is, and how, like, it's just like, you know, one of the core things I think, as a human species is to know that you belong somewhere. And if you don't belong at home, then where do you belong? And I think for many of us, we've had to go through that unconsciously, without really thinking through that we're seeking to belong. And this theme of belonging has been something that's been coming up as I'm I navigate like, my professional career now is that like, I really do want people to feel like they belong somewhere. And the only thing I feel like makes sense as we all belong to the planet. We all belong to the same descendants and how we got here as a species and that I think that's being rejected from my family allowed me to be like weird do I belong? And so I fortunate that I had a best friend who was also queer. I had my queer community I had student governments and students social organizing. And then when I graduated, I was like, wait, like, Where else do I belong? So I went to my natural habitats like to the beach, and I picked up surfing again and scuba diving. And then it was like, Oh, I actually like I belong to the earth. Like, that's where I belong.John Fiege That's beautiful. Yeah. I love that. Oh, I am hearing some background noise.Layel Camargo Is it audio? Or is it just like,John Fiege people laughing?Layel Camargo It's my partner's on an Akai here, I'm going to shoot her a quick text. She like gets really loud because she gets so excited. Just going to share a quick text.John Fiege So before coming to climate justice work, you worked as an organizer with the Bay Area transformative justice collective. Can you tell me how your work in transformative justice informed your understanding of the climate crisis and how you approach ecological concerns?Layel Camargo Yeah, so I I organized with transformative justice for about six years. And then I you know, for folks who don't know, transformative justice is an alternative response model to violence, harm and hurt. And so similar to restorative justice, which works with the carceral system, so police, judicial systems, etc. to reform in order to help alleviate some of the biases that exists in the systems, transformative justice, as there's those systems actually don't serve certain communities like migrants, folks like that are trans, just the way that those systems just inherently violate certain people who are not included in our society fairly, was like, transparent justice exists to serve folks who cannot access or choose not to access or use the carceral system. So if you will, if you believe in defunding the police, and let's say you're sexually assaulted, you're probably not going to call the police for a rape kit, because there's probably ways that you've experienced those systems as harmful or violent. So when I started organizing were transferred to justice the spoke to me as somebody who had just come out as trans, somebody who grew up in a mixed status family, have relatives who have been deported. And I realized, like, Oh, it's actually worth investing in alternative models, besides the police. In order for us to get our needs met when crisises do happen, because they happen to all of us. And I was in it for six years, you know, we had built up, I had built a great capacity to work with people who had caused harm people who are caused domestic violence, sexual assaults and transforming their behavior and working towards reparation of relationships and or just like helping victims be able to move on after something like that happens. And it's it wasn't an easy task. And what we would come back to is we would spend like the first front of the months, trying to make sure that people's basic needs were met in order for them to slow down enough to process what had just happened. And basic needs included food included shelter, if they lived near, you know, a toxic site, what was infringing on their health, making sure that they had access to health coverage or health benefits. And that was about 60% of what we're doing was making sure that we could get the basics kind of stable so that they could jump into really honoring what it was a justice look like for them. And in doing this a handful of times, not too many, I will say I didn't think thankfully, we had a team. And so I did wasn't always having to handle everything. And we, the experiences that I did have, I was like, man, if people just had, like, a healthy environment where having to fight for housing wasn't a thing. Like we could just actually say, this is where I was born, this is where I belong, and I'm in relationship with the land. And that's how I feed myself, I clothe myself, like all these things that are kind of like indigenous traditional ways, then people could actually solve a lot of their crisis. He's in the moment without having it to be delayed years or having to rely on for it to get outsourced through the carceral system in order for them to feel like they get a minuscule amount of justice. And so I started to just be more cognizant of the way that we interact with the planet and how are everything from our legal structures to our economic structures are just completely devastating. Our environment that have led for us not to have good air quality for us not to have good clean water for us not to feel like we've belong to the earth that is right beneath us that we like, are in relationship with, with the rest of you know, most of our lives. And I, at the time I was living in West Oakland and I had just looked into the air quality report in the area I lived in, and I had the worst air quality in the whole Bay Area. And I started noticing my dog started developing like little spots on her skin, I started having like a lot of chronic coughing. And I was looking at how much money I was making. And so at the time, I was doing a lot of our pop ups, I was really passionate about zero waste, I cared about veganism, a lot of it was through the planet, and it just slowly started shifting away from Yes, I care about how we respond to violence and harm and all of that. And I want us to have alternatives that meet the needs of folks who fall through the waistline of certain systems. And at the same time, we don't even have clean water to come home to to drink when something violent happens, like we have to go buy it from, you know, a grocery store. Most of us don't even test our tap water anymore, because it's just consistently, we just grew up thinking that it doesn't, it's dirty, it's gross, it's non potable, so Right, right. I think at that moment, my heart just completely was like, I want to dive into this work 100% I want to fight for people to have clean air, like if you can't breathe, then you can't, you can't even do a lot, a lot of things. And so many black and brown people who grew up in rural communities have high rates of asthma have like low life expectancy because of air pollution, to you know, the logistics industry etc. And I just kind of fell in with all my heart in like, if I'm, if I'm against plastic put which at the time I was, like vegan for the planet and vegan for my health. And I was also really passionate about reducing plastic use. And I was like, if these are two things that I care about, I want to do it at a larger scale. So it meant that I had to really make those connections of if I want to end gender based violence, if I want to end large forms of violence, I have to start with the one common thing we have that we're constantly extracting and violating, which is the earth. And I think that that led me towards climate justice, because that is the most critical environmental crisis that we're in at this moment.John Fiege So what is the climate crisis? What what what causes is how do you how do you think about culture as a source of power and strategy for climate crisis?Layel Camargo Yeah, I mean, I this is this is really, you know, this, that this is what I do for my life is I spent the last 7 to 8 years really strategizing around what are the cultural shifts that are needed in order for us to be able to be in right relationship with the planet where things like the climate crisis are not happening, so that we can have an economic system and a political system that is serves the planet and the needs of our of us living and thriving, not surviving, which is I think, what we're stuck in as a global society now. And the, we have like quite a few things to kind of look at historically. And I think that there is a dominance of, which is we now know, it is like white supremacy, which is the idea that one group of human is like better than another group of human, and that because of that, everybody else needs to conform to the languages, the culture, the food, the clothes, the housing structures, that are pervasive, and that in, you know, the Euro centric way of living, and that has created a monoculture that is now spread at a global scale. And it's even because it's an economic sister in their economic system. Now we have global stock markets. Now we have the extraction at a global scale, for the sourcing of consumer goods that are all homogenous, and there. There's just one kind of how we do things. And I think the crisis that we're in is the ways that human have removed ourselves from our natural biodiversity relationships with our ecological systems. And then as removing ourselves we have are allowed for the rupture of a relationship that is very needed, which is if we're not integrated into the trees that are natural in our environment into trimming certain invasive species and supporting other biodiverse relationships around us, then we're crippling the ability of the soil to be healthy of the air to have the most amount of oxygen Have you Now we know that we need to be trapping carbon at such high rates. And I think that with a crisis that we're in is that we've allowed and have fallen victims to white supremacy, which was facilitated by colonization, that I, you know, that dominance of one group of people in the way of existing, and I think that's where we're at. I mean, if you look at the kelp forests, the kelp forest needs the otters, they need the, the sea urchins. But when you remove the otters and the sea urchins, you know, are not being preyed upon at a normal scale. And that's, you know, we're connecting it to white supremacy, let's assume that the sea urchins are like the dominant and because they're, they're the ones that ruled the kelp species are starting to be eradicated, and some of them are becoming a threat of extinction. And without a healthy kelp forests, you don't have healthy oxygen and maintenance of the acidification in the ocean, which, you know, couple that with global warming, and you basically have the rapid eradication of so many other natural ecosystems in the ocean that we need to survive. And so when you have one species dominating over another, it leads towards a crisis. So I think we're in a imbalance of relationships because of, of white supremacy. And that's what's causing the climate crisis we have. We have a monoculture. And so just as you look at mono cropping, as you look at anything that eradicates the health of the soil, because it doesn't have the reciprocal relationships that it needs from other crops, and are the resting in order for the soil to be healthy. This might not be speaking to everybody who's listening. But it makes sense that like, Yeah, definitely. The environment crisis is a symptom of Yes. Oh, the climate crisis is a symptom of a larger systemic problem.John Fiege Yeah. And in so many ways, white supremacy was created by colonialism, like, white supremacy is the cultural system that in some ways had to emerge to justify the political and economic brutality of colonialism. You know, it was a it was it was a way of organizing and understanding the world that justified these terrible things that were happening. And they're so it goes so much hand in hand.Layel Camargo Yeah, definitely. Yeah, I mean, I feel like I could talk about this for hours, because there's just so many ways in which we can break it down to the minute level. And then there's so many ways that we can think about solutions. And a lot of my my work and my passion is really bringing as much power as I can to black, indigenous and people of color. Because the retention of culture, language, and different ways of engaging with the world, everything from how we grow our food to how we dress and what we celebrate. And where we honor is what's going to help us be more resilient towards the impending and the realism of what the climate crisis means to a lot of our communities.John Fiege Yeah, totally. Yeah. And you're you're living and working at this really interesting intersection between ecological justice, queer liberation and indigenous culture. Can Can you talk a bit about the intersections of your identity and cultural background and their importance to you and how you orient yourself to this work?Layel Camargo Yeah, definitely. So as I mentioned, I'm a descendant of the Yaki and the Mio tribes in the Sonoran Desert. And I didn't really realize how much this matter to me, I think till about like five to six years ago, because I grew up because of the borders. Technically, I'm Mexican descent, and Mexican American salesperson in this country. But the Mexican government is similar to what we're talking about white supremacy was created by European settlers and, and a hybrid of mixture of stealing of indigenous cultures. And there are so many subgroups of different indigenous cultures. And my heritage is that both my grandfather and my grandmother's tribe as they were nomadic, and they used to migrate up and down the Sonoran Desert, before the border was there from seasonally for survival. And there's so many ways that like food that we eat, how we dress, how we talk that I didn't realize like, Oh, that makes me so much more than just Mexican American. It makes me more than just Latinx. And I think my background and being in such close proximity to immigration and the necessity of immigration or to survive because my grandmother came to Tijuana because it was industrialized and she needed work. And so when they migrated, they like left everything behind. And they never went back. Like, I think so many people leave their home, thinking that they're going to go back and they don't, their children are born in different places. And eventually, that led me to be born in a different country. And so because of that background, I am so keen to issues around native sovereignty and land back here in the United States is like the retention of keeping people in the place of their origin is a climate solution. It's a way of keeping that ancestral knowledge in the place that is needed. I mean, here in Northern California, we look at the wildfire crisis, and it's due to climate change. And it's also due to the lack of forest management, that our indigenous relatives that are native to that area have been robbed of the opportunity to maintain those forests at the scale, which is needed in order to adapt and prepare for wildfires. Yeah,John Fiege yeah, with with the prescribed burning, and all that maintenance that used to happen. That was invisible in so many ways to the European colonists, they didn't even understand that that was going on, or how it worked.Layel Camargo Yeah, and I feel like, you know, it goes back to the monoculture. And I think, because I have indigenous ancestry, because I understand the nature of needing to migrate. And the realities of migrant experience, I think I feel so passionate about keeping people in their place of origin as much as possible, and allowing for people to move freely when they have to. And I think as as the climate crisis gets worse, I started to realize just what a disservice we have made by instilling borders by having governments that have been so gatekeeping and operating off of scarcity, that we've kind of mandated a world where people can move freely people, and people have to leave their place of origin. And that these two paradox that we exist in, is creating the dehumanization of a group of people that if you cannot sustain yourself in your place of origin, because of global extraction, by the way, because of environmental degradation and the economic viability of your area, and how that creates wars and mass extraction, that that is why people migrate. But yet those same people who are creating those systems that make it difficult for you to stay in your place of origin have also created borders to not let you move freely. That paradox to me is also part of this climate crisis as because many of us are going to have to leave john, at some point, there's going to be floods, there's going to be hot water, we're experiencing a drought prices in California, I'm actually living between northern California and Southern California already. And a lot of it is because of the wildfires and my family's down here. And my family's at threat of sea level rise by living in San Diego, which San Diego filed a lawsuit against Exxon and Chevron. And I think one or two other oil companies is we're all we're all existing now in this global climate crisis, that it's not quite in our face every day, but we feel it seasonally now, so we're gonna have to be able to move. Right? So yeah, and last to say is like similar to my cultures I have I lived with an end an endocrine illness. And so air pollution is something that could severely impede my ability to reproduce my ability to function. At this point, I spend about four to five days a month in bed, working from bed, and I'm fortunate enough that I get to work remotely. But for a lot of people, we're going to see more and more ways in which the mass destruction of the planet which has led to the climate crisis is how we become to adopt ways of having different abilities or not being able to live our day to day function. So yeah, the intersecting points are just, they're overwhelming. And I think a lot of us are starting to feel that more as things start to kind of get a little worse.John Fiege Right, right. Yeah, I was talking to, to my partner the other day, she was she was talking to a fellow activist about this idea of ableism. And how, you know, so much of the discourse around it is you know, what are your abilities and, and this, this person was talking about how it it's how unstable that is. Like you can be able bodied today and tomorrow, you can be not able bodied in the same way. Because of, you know, like you say the changing air quality or something happens, or you just you're getting old, or you get sick. And it's one of those things that we've so ignored as a culture of what, what ableism really means about our assumptions about the world.Layel Camargo And like the economic viability and how our economic system is just so dependent on us being fully productive 24 seven, which I made a video on this called The Big Sea, which talks about the intersecting points of labor and how the labor crisis is actually the root of our climate crisis. Because if we can have people have a bigger imagination around how they can use their bodies, to serve their own needs, instead of serving the needs of corporate interests, how that would actually alleviate a lot of pressure on the planet. And that that would potentially lead to our most successful outcomes in regards to the climate crisis.John Fiege Yeah, totally, totally. Well, can you tell me about decolonizing conservation in the environmental movement and what that looks like to you?Layel Camargo Yeah, so I, I started during the beginning of the pandemic, I started a nonprofit called shelterwood collective, which is black and brown and indigenous queer folks who are aiming to steward land at the time, I was aiming to sort of land a month ago, we acquired a 900 acre camp in cassada, California, and Northern California and our team is about conservation efforts, specifically with forest resiliency against wildfires. Taking Western Western practices of conservation, mixing them with indigenous practices that are similarly to conservation. And I feel like when we think about conservation efforts, a lot of them have been dictated by European ways of thinking through conserving natural environments, which a lot of it is like humans are bad, nature must be left uncared for. And this does such a disservice because our indigenous ancestors knew that in order for a forest to be thriving, we needed to be in relationship with it, we needed to monitor monitor it, if there was a fun guy or a virus that was spreading their disease, that we could actually help it, he'll help trees, he'll help it spread less, if there was fires that were coming that we could trim, and tend and do controlled burns, if there was, you know, sucks anything happening where a species was struggling, that we could help support its growth and its population by you know, hunting its predators. And so I think that, that is the challenge between indigenous conservation efforts are traditional ways of just being in relationship with the natural environment and conservation is the western conservation is that we have been so removed from what it means to protect water systems, what it means to protect forests, that now we have a crisis of mismanagement we have and that more and more countries are adopting European Western perspectives because of the dominance that white supremacy has instilled that there are certain group of people that know more than we do. And that's just that's created, at least for me feels very heavy on when it comes to wildfires. There is certain areas in Northern California where there have been residential communities that have been built on wildfire lines that we know now, indigenous people knew that like every 30 years, for every 50 years, there would be a wildfire that would run through that area. And now that we're not that it's getting hotter, the gap of that time is getting shortened. And also that we're realizing that the years, hundreds of years of mismanagement, and lack of tending has led to also these extreme wildfires, that's now causing casualties outside of wildlife. And I feel like conservation needs to evolve. I think that there needs to be more understanding around the harm that Western conservation has done to not only the ecosystems but to the people who have traditionally been keeping those ecosystems. And I do feel like it's like it's evolving. I just think that it's not evolving as fast as we need. And unfortunately, with the climate climate crisis, we're gonna have to really come to recognize what do we need to move really fast on on what can wait because it just feels like Everything's urgent, we need to save the oceans as much as we need to save the forest as much as we need to Save the Redwoods as much as we need to take the rain forests and it just feels like and and that is like the natural environment, then we have like the growing list of extinction, threats of extinction for certain animals. And I think that I don't know why just came to my head. And then you have people like Bill Gates who want to eradicate a whole mosquito species. So it just feels like we're gonna have to pick and choose our battles here. And I do feel like coming to reckoning around the harm that this pervasiveness in western conservation, which isn't the idea that sometimes we are harmful to, you know, our natural ecosystems isn't a bad one. Yeah, we are. But how we got here was by completely removing ourselves and not knowing how to take care of those ecosystems, had we been in a relationship with them for the last 100 years, maybe we wouldn't be so wasteful, maybe we would have caught air pollution sooner than then our body is telling us, hey, we don't like this, this is bad, we're gonna die sooner if you keep doing this. And I think that that is a disservice. So it's beautiful to see more forest schools popping up for young people. It's beautiful to see more conservation groups trying to bring in indigenous leaders into the conversations. But I do feel like that overall idea needs to shift. And I also think that the land back movement, which is returning national parks back to indigenous hands, is going to help alleviate some of those major tensions that do not honor that certain people have been doing this for hundreds of years. And if we don't return it in this generation, we just run the risk of losing more language, more culture and more practices that we need at a larger scale.John Fiege Yeah, in protecting ecosystems is just not a complete picture of everything that's needed. Like as you say, it's important on some level, but it's it's not it's not a whole, it's not a whole understanding of of the problem or how to address it. There reminds me I was I was just reading or rereading a bit of Robin wall kimmerer book braiding sweetgrass, and she talks, she talks about this very issue a bunch about, you know, sweet grass in particulars is something where there's this, this back and forth relationship between humans and nature. And she talks about teaching one of her University classes up here in New York, and asking them at the beginning of the semester, you know, whether people are bad for the environment, and almost everybody says yes. And we alsoLayel Camargo have this this perception of we are bad. Right?John Fiege Yeah. Yeah, this Western guilt is pervasive in that as well. Which is,Layel Camargo which is facilitated by religion? Yes, religion has a very good job of making us feel like we are horrible for everything that we have sent us that we need to repent for our whole existence as like, going from embryo to sperm is actually a sin itself. So we're born with so much already on our shoulders.John Fiege I was gonna say Catholic guilt, but I feel like at this point, it's so much broader than that. Yeah, it is. So you work with the Center for cultural power. And, and one of the main projects you've done with them is climate woke. And I'd like to start by saying how much i'd love the artwork of the logo. It says climate woke. And it's in, in the style of this fabulous flashback 1980s airbrushed t shirts, with, you know, rainbow colors and sparkles. And it feels like there's so much meaning embedded in the artwork. And I wondered if you could tell me about climate woke, how the project emerge, but also like how this logo artwork reflects what this project is.Layel Camargo Yeah, so we when we started thinking about what climate woke would be, we didn't know what's going to be called climate woke it was through several meetings with different community partners, different funders and other stakeholders, where we kind of discussed that we wanted a unifying symbol for all the communities that we had been meeting and we kind of landed that we wanted something to look good to represent black Dan Brown young people between the ages of 16 to 25, something that was appealing that somebody would wear with pride. And, you know, at the time, there was a lot of like, different stuff coming up around the importance of wokeness. The it wasn't used as how we use it now, which is like political correctness. It's, it's, it's not where it is now. And so we decided to kind of ride on the, the term itself climate woke, which talks about uses black vernacular very intentionally that this is a racialized issue. And we spoke with several leaders in the black community, and at the time, it felt like it made sense. And, and so we kind of quickly were like, this makes sense kind of work. We want people to wake up to a climate crisis, but also be like down and enjoy it. And that it's different than this doom and gloom narrative that we constantly see when it comes to the environment. As it is kind of depressing when you think about it. But so we wanted it to feel like inviting. And at the time, which I think was like 2017 2018. All these like 90s was like coming back. So we sat with like two or three potential designers, and we didn't really like what we saw. And then it was heavy and agile that he Guess who is kind of a co creator of this. Also, like a globally recognized artist who was like, hold on, I got this and just like hopped on her computer through some colors, did some and we were like, We love it. Like we just love it. We wanted it to be bright. We wanted it to be inviting. And I feel like we've been successful just two weeks ago actually got a text from my executive producer who works on the planet. Well, content, it was like to send a photo of like, I believe it was a young male of color about 21 or 22 years old wearing a climate woke t shirt. And she was like, do you know where that's from? And he was like, No, I have no idea. And I was like, that's how, you know, we succeeded. Because we popularize something, we made it look so good. People don't necessarily need to make the connections, but they'll be promoting our work. And I'm sure and I get so many compliments when I wear t shirts and sweaters. And so she she told him to look up the videos. And you know, she sent me the photo. And she's like, we've I think we've succeeded. And I was like, I think we succeeded, I think we have you know. But at this moment, we are considering evolving the terminology because it doesn't feel as honoring. And we definitely are very sensitive to the fact that we use black vernacular intentionally. And it's time to kind of give it back and think through like what other ways can we popularize other terms to kind of help. It's about it's about to help kind of build the community because it was about building a group of people kind of drawing in a certain community that wouldn't necessarily be about it. And I feel like that to me was like a, we did it. We did it.John Fiege Yeah, it's it's it's definitely one of those terms that the the right has co opted and really done a number on they. Yeah, they're they're good at stealing those terms and turning them on their head. And usually, honestly, as a as a weapon back the other direction. Can you turn down your volume just to hear again, just noticing when you get excited? I get excited so much. Alright, how's that? Right? Great. Yes. So in a couple of your videos, you talk about what being climate milk means to you. And you say it means one, standing up for communities of color and communities most impacted by climate change, to complicating the conversations on climate in the environment. And three, doing something about it. Can you take me through each of these and break them down a bit?Layel Camargo Yeah, so the first one is, can you repeat it again, that's the firstJohn Fiege standing up for communities of color and communities most impacted by climate change,Layel Camargo right? That's right. Yeah, I've said it so much. And we actually haven't even recorded anything because of the pandemic. So I'm like, I haven't said it in a while. Yeah, standing up for communities of color. I think that that one to me specifically spoke to that. We need black, brown and indigenous people to feel protected and seen when it comes to the climate and environmental crisis. And that's everything from activating people in positions of power to empowering the people who come from those communities to know that this is an intersectional issue. I think that the climate crisis traditionally was like a lot of visuals of melting ice caps, a lot of visuals of the polar bears and you It's interesting because as we're getting more people narrative, I feel like the, we need to get a little bit more people narrative. And we need to return those images a little bit back, because the IPCC report has just been highlighting the rapid rates in which we were losing ice. And I think that when I initially thought of this at the time, there wasn't highlights of how indigenous people were protecting the large scale biodiversity that we have on the planet. There wasn't stories of, you know, urban, black or brown youth trying to make a difference around solutions towards climate change. And so I kind of made it my purpose that climate woke represent those demographics that we that I was important for me that black, brown and indigenous people of color were at the center of the solutions. And the complicated conversations and do something about it was that I actually feel like we have a crisis of binary versus complexity in our society. And I think that how we've gotten into this climate crisis is because everything's been painted. So black and white for us, that if you want a job, you have to be harming the planet, if you want to be unemployed, then. And then like all these hippies that are fighting to save the trees, they're taking away your job, you know. So I feel like there's so many ways in which our trauma responses just look for the patterns have been used against us. And it just felt really important for me, that people feel comfortable to complicate as much as possible, where we're gonna need different angles and different ways of looking at solutions that we need to embrace experimentation, where we need to embrace failures, and we need to really let go of these ideas that technology is going to come in and save us technology is a big reason why we got into this mess. And so I think that complicating the conversation to me was about this is like, if you are black, brown, indigenous, and you want to be a part of the climate crisis, but you have no way of integrating yourself besides talking about gender oppression, go for it, look at look at the leaders in this movement, and look at how many women are fighting and protecting, you know, at a larger global scale that don't get the visibility that they deserve. So I feel like that was my aim is to really invite that complexity. And then let's do something about it is that I don't want things to get stuck on the dialog. One of the biggest failures of the United Nations when addressing these crisises is that they don't have global jurisdiction. So they cannot actually mandate and or enforce a lot of these, it's usually done through economic influence, or like if one if we can get a first world to sign on to a certain agreement, then hopefully, they'll all do it. But then who ends up in implementing it, usually it's not the United States and Europe is not the first one to do it. And yet, we are the biggest global polluters on almost every sector you can think of. And I think that the do something about it is, for me a call to action, that we can talk about this, we can try to understand carbon emissions, methane emissions, global greenhouse, carbon markets, carbon, sequestering drawdown methods, we can talk about it. But if we're not doing it, putting it to practice while integrating these other two points, which is centering communities of color, and embracing the complexity of that, then it's nothing, it's pointless. We're just we're just allowing corporations to keep exploiting the planet and governments can keep, you know, sitting back and saying that they're doing something because they're convening people without actually regulating and putting down their foot for us. So, yeah, I think it was trying to summarize just my general feelings of this movement and the ways that there's been just lack of opportunities by not centering certain other people or allowing there to be more complexity.John Fiege Yeah, there's, I find, watching how those un meetings go down. So frustrating. Yes, just, you know, Time after time. It's just maddening. I'd have a hard time working in that space.Layel Camargo Yeah, I think I was fortunate enough to take I voluntarily took like a law class at pace, Pace University, pace law University, and one of the classes was United Nations policy, and so I got to witness the sub All meetings before that big meeting where Leonardo DiCaprio came out and said that we had a climate crisis, which everybody googled what the climate crisis was, I think it was called climate change. It was like the most time climate change was googled in the history of mankind. And I was sitting in those meetings and just seeing how it really is just a lot of countries just try not to step on each other's toes, because relationships translate into the economic sector, that I'm like, wow, y'all, like legit, don't care about the people you're representing?John Fiege Yeah. Yep. Yeah, it's crazy. Well, I wanted to talk a bit about what environmental justice means to you. And I thought we could start with your video called a power to rely on. And in your crudest, you include a statistic in the video that says in the US 75% of all houses without electricity, are on Navajo land. And, and then one of the people you interview in the video with Leah, John's with a group called native renewables, says, whoever controls your water and your power controls your destiny. And that's really powerful statement. Can Can you talk a bit about your experience working on this video, and how it impacted your thinking about environmental justice?Layel Camargo Yeah, so I, I realized that I'm really passionate about renewable energy and alternatives to energy capturing, probably through working on this video. And when we were first thinking about what themes we were going to cover, that's usually how I approached most of the climate world videos as I tried to talk to a few community partners. But mostly, I just do a lot of like, cultural observation, just like what are some of the themes that feel that are kind of resonating for people outside of the sector. So what's resonating for folks outside of the environmental justice world, and, you know, land back native sovereignty is something that's been popularized, especially after the Standing Rock camp, the no dapple camp, and I was noticing that it was kind of dwindling down. But a lot of data was coming up around the fact that a lot of indigenous communities are either sitting around and or holding and protecting 80% of the global biodiversity. And so something that how I approached this video was I wanted to show the native sovereignty piece with the land back as well as my passion for alternatives to our current energy use. And what Haley Johns is somebody who was recommended to me by Jade bug guy who's also featured in the videos, a dear close, like cultural strategist, filmmaker, co conspire in the sector. And she would I had initially approached her and said, I want ndn collective, which is what she works to kind of help us think through the script. And she said, Yeah, we're down and like, we trust you, like, we know you're gonna get the story, right, but we're down. And so it was, it was very easy for us to start with that. And then when I was like, Who do I talk to? They're like, you need to talk to a hayleigh. And I was like, Alright, let's talk to a healer. And so I flew out to Arizona, just to have a scout meeting with her, which I felt like I was chasing her down, because we didn't know she was going to be in Flagstaff, or if she was going to be near Phoenix, like we didn't know. So we were flying in. And we were like, Where are you today? She's like, I'm at my mom's house. I'm with my mom at this hotel. And we're like, Alright, we're coming through. So it felt very, like family off the bat, which now she has been nominated for I forget the position, but it's the internal affairs of Indian energy, energy efforts and some sort. So she's she's doing it at a federal level now. And when I was when I was working on this video, and I had talked to her and I interviewed her as she was giving me a lot of these numbers, and I just realized that, you know, the irony of this country is just beyond what we could imagine. You have a lot of these coal mines that help fuel some of the larger energy consuming cities and in the United States, like Vegas, like la that just consume energy at such high rates that are being powered by coal mines in Navajo or near Navajo Denae reservations. And yet, I was hearing about what halos program and her efforts were just trying to get funding and or subsidies from the government in order to put solar panels on folks his house because the infrastructure doesn't exist. And she was running she's letting me know about that. cost, she's like at $75,000 per house. And then we in order to like run the lines, and that's not even including the solar panel infrastructure. And then if they can't, we can't run the lines, and we're talking about batteries. And she was breaking this all down, I'm like, that is a lot of money. We need to get you that money. And then she started just educating us more through that. So I think I went into this video just knowing that I was going to try to make those connections. But what I realized was that I was actually going in to learn myself, just how much I need to humble myself with the realities that communities who have had less to nothing in certain things, everything from food, to energy to water, have made alternatives that they are, they've already created the solutions like we found one of the elders who had put up one of the first solar panels and Hopi reservation, which I highlighted in my video, she got it 30 years ago, like I, I was flabbergasted that she had the foresight, and the way that she articulated was everything from comfort to entertainment. But at the end of the was she knew she needed power. And she runs a business, the local business won a very few on the reservation that she was passionate enough to keep alive. And so this video just showed me that like, wherever you go, where there has been disenfranchisement, that's where you will find solutions. Because a lot of people have just making do for a long time, it just hasn't been seen, it hasn't been highlighted. Those are the people that like the UN should be talking to the you know, our federal government should be listening to.John Fiege Yeah, and I actually wanted to talk to you about Janice de who's the Hopi elder that you mentioned. And, you know, in particular, how it relates to how depth and skillful you are communicating with people from a wide range of backgrounds. in you, you you use humor a lot. And in this power to rely on video, you're sitting down with Janice day. And talking about how she's one of the first people to get solar power 30 years ago. And you asked her whether the first thing she charged with solar power would be a vibrator. And that was that was that was really funny. And all of a sudden, I'm watching with anticipation, asking myself, how is this woman going to react to that question? And you seem to have such a good read on the people you're speaking with. And I was hoping you could talk a bit more about how you communicate so many, so well and so many in so many different spaces and how you consciously or unconsciously lubricate the relationships with humor.Layel Camargo Yeah, I've been I I think a lot of it is my passion for humor has come from has been maintained by a lot of data and information that I've gotten around just the importance of people being able to process things through laughter. And that the climate crisis is nothing to make mockery and or to laugh, there's this is very serious. The ways in which our species is kind of being at threat of extinction, and right before our eyes. But I think that as humans, we're so complex and layered, and we're so beautiful in the sense that we get to feel so intensely and feeling is what motivates us to take action. And laughter helps you process so much data quicker, it helps you be able to take something in, embrace it, release, and then have it make an impression that is the one line that everybody brings up with that video. So I made the impression. And I hope that people watched it and then wanted to show it to other people. And so I think that, that that knowledge has retained my passion for humor. And then like I said, You know, I grew up in an abusive home where we had to process things fairly quickly in order to be able to function in the world to go to school to go to work. And growing up in a home where there was a lot of violence. I learned how to read people very keenly everything from anticipating when something was going to happen tonight, and I speak about that pretty like nonchalantly because I think a lot of us have a lot of strategies and skills that we've developed because of our traumas and our negative experiences that we've had in the world. And I think they don't often get seen as that we'll just say like, Well, I was just really I'm just really good at reading people and we'll leave it at that and it's like, but what is your learn that from like, there have been many chronic situations where you had to be really good at reading people in order for you to like practice it so clearly in it skillfully. And so I think I honor my experience in that in order for me to do that. And then I think cultural relativity and cultural content petencies is another thing like, Janice de actually reminds me a lot of my grandmother and my grandmother was somebody who was very religious. And at the same time, I always loved pushing her buttons. I would just like try to say things to get her activated. And I knew at the end of the day, she loved me. And that was about it. I didn't have to question whether she loved me because she was upset that I asked her something and appropriately. So I think it's a combination of that. And I'm grateful that I can embody that and be able to offer it to people who are curious about climate change and and feel more invited through laughter than they would about doom and gloom or heavy statistic videos and our ways of gathering information.John Fiege Awesome. Well, another kind of video you made is called consumerism, cancelled prime. And the first shot is you waiting while the camera crew sets up the shot and you're putting items in your Amazon cart on your phone. And then the quote unquote real video begins. And and you say 80% of California's cargo goes through the Inland Empire. And then you yell along expletive that's beeped out. And you ask emphatically his climate, wrote, his climate woke about to ruin amazon prime for me. And and I love how rather than just saying Amazon, or Amazon customers are bad. You're starting by implicating yourself in this system that leads to serious environmental justice issues. And again, it's really funny. Can you talk more about the situation with Amazon and other real retailers? And and how you went about positioning yourself in this story, and using humor again, and self criticism to connect to the audience?Layel Camargo Yeah, I mean, when we first started working on this video, we explore different avenues of that opening scene, when we wanted to highlight community members, I kind of at this point, have a pretty good like tempo of what it is that I want. I want a community member I want somebody who's like academic or scientifically based, and then somebody else who kind of comes in allows her to be more of a creative flow. So we have a pretty good structure at this point of the voices that we seek, we just didn't know how we wanted to hook the audience. And we went back and forth quite a bit on this, the thing that kept coming up was amazon prime memberships are very common. Most people have them most people buy on e commerce and this is pre COVID. And I was keenly aware of that I also knew that Amazon was growing as a franchise to now own Whole Foods that were just like expanding in regards to what it is that they offer people online. And as I mentioned, I, through my passion for reduction of plastic usage and plastic consumption, and plastic waste, I understand the ways that ecommerce has really hurt the planet. So I myself am not an Amazon Prime member, I I don't actually buy online and I allow myself when needed one Amazon thing a purchase a year. And it's like kind of more of a values align thing. So in order for me to reach connecting with somebody who's kind of a little bit more normal in regards to needing to rely on buying online, is I just had to exaggerate what I think happens when you're shopping, which is you look at a lot of stuff, you add them to cart, you get really excited, and then you kind of mindlessly click Buy without knowing what's going to happen. But you're excited when it arrives, surprisingly, because maybe you bought it in the middle of the night while drinking some wine and watching some Hulu. So that's like what I was trying to embody. And then what I was really trying to highlight in this video was I wanted to invite audiences to not feel shame about what they do, like we are we've all been indoctrinated by the system through what our education has taught us. Like we have values of individualism and patriotism and all these things, because that's what we were taught in schools. And that's been used and co opted by corporations in order for us to continue exploiting other humans and the planet. And that's by no fault of our own. That's a design that's an economic model that was designed since the Great Depression. It's just the way that it's been exaggerated and has scaled so quickly is beyond our control where our governments don't even regulate it anymore at the ways in which they should be. And I think that I wanted this to feel like it's not just on you as an individual, but it's specifically if you live in Europe or in the United States. You need to know that we are The biggest consumers on the planet, we have the most economic resources. We actually, if even a fraction of the United States decided to stop shopping at Amazon, we could significantly bring that Empire down. I say Empire pretty intentionally. And we could I mean, I feel like you. And that's and how I understand economics is that all you need to do is impact 10 to 20%. of supply and demand chain in order for a whole corporation to collapse. The problem is, is that our governments always come in to aid these large corporations that are hurting us on the planet by saying that they want to maintain jobs and maintain a GDP are going stock market, which they're reliant on. So this video was meant for audiences. And for people to feel like this is not just on you. But if you live

No stranger to having a laugh: Mr. Ted Danson joins us for chili… and the silliness of men. Psoriasis commercials, AP English, the Berlin Wall, and No Sasquatch! “Do I look puffy?” Es un episodio nuevo de SmartLéss. Salud. Subscribe to SiriusXM Podcasts+ on Apple Podcasts to listen to new episodes ad-free and a whole week early.

"You look like..." We're throwing it back to Episode 27: Poetic Repetition, but this time we're doing it Summer School style and looking at poetic repetition in “The Tortured Poets Department.” We cover AP English favorites like anaphora, epimone, alliteration, and assonance. And, we explore how poetic repetition can emphasize something important, create feelings of dwelling, evoke religious or holy imagery, or taunt someone.    Subscribe to Substack to get new episode updates: aptaylorswift.substack.com/subscribe   Mentioned in this episode:  Episode 27: Poetic Repetition Ted Lasso “Semantic Satiation” Episode Episode 18: Death By A Thousand Cuts Deep Dive ***   Episode Highlights:  [00:51] What is Poetic Repetition? [02:15] “The Tortured Poets Department”  [11:08] “So Long London” [19:21] “Florida!!!!” [27:18] "Clara Bow” [30:11] “Chloe or Sam or Sophia or Marcus” [37:39] “The Prophecy”    Follow us on social!  TikTok → tiktok.com/@APTaylorSwift Instagram → instagram.com/APTaylorSwift YouTube → youtube.com/@APTaylorSwift Link Tree →linktr.ee/aptaylorswift Bookshop.org → bookshop.org/shop/apts Libro.fm →  tinyurl.com/aptslibro Affiliate Codes:  Krowned Krystals - krownedkrystals.com use code APTS at checkout for 10% off!  Libro.fm - Looking for an audiobook? Check out our Libro.fm playlist and use code APTS30 for 30% off books found here tinyurl.com/aptslibro This podcast is neither related to nor endorsed by Taylor Swift, her companies, or record labels. All opinions are our own. Intro music produced by Scott Zadig aka Scotty Z.

West Florida High's Juniors went from shock to awe when they found out their AP English teacher is in a band! Joey Truncale is the lead singer of the alternative rock band, Unicorn Wranglers. Grab a spot by the stage to hear how his unusual hobby has helped him better connect with and educate his students.Guest: Joey Truncale https://www.theunicornwranglers.com/                 Learn more about Escambia County School District: https://ecsd-fl.schoolloop.com/ Host:  Meredith Hackwith Edwards 

In our most recent Hootworthy podcast episode, we had the privilege of sitting down with Ms. Marian Hoyt, GCA's 2023 Teacher of the Year. With over a decade of teaching experience, including three years at GCA, Ms. Hoyt brings a wealth of knowledge and passion to the classroom.When asked about her time-travel destination, Ms. Hoyt's imagination took her back to the 1700s in the United States. She envisioned herself amidst the passionate debates surrounding the Constitution, intrigued by the historical significance and relevance of the discussions.Ms. Hoyt's journey into teaching was deeply rooted in childhood dreams of playing school and educating her stuffed animals. It was her high school AP English teacher's unwavering passion for teaching that ultimately inspired her to pursue a teaching degree at Georgia State University.Despite the challenges of balancing coursework and a full-time job, Ms. Hoyt persevered, landing a long-term substitute position before securing a full-time teaching role. Her favorite aspect of teaching lies in the connections she forms with her students, from heartfelt conversations to unexpected gestures like a student making her a small chair as a token of appreciation.Although Ms. Hoyt's expertise lies in teaching ELA and SS, if she could teach something else for a day, she'd opt for math, drawn to its logical and problem-solving aspects. Her advice for fellow educators, students, and parents at GCA emphasizes the importance of communication, participation, and maintaining a positive attitude.Beyond the confines of the classroom, Ms. Hoyt enjoys outdoor adventures, hiking, and quality time with her furry companion. She expresses gratitude for the unwavering support of her colleagues and leadership team, whose guidance has been instrumental in her teaching journey.Ms. Hoyt's dedication to her students and her enthusiasm for education make her a standout teacher at GCA. Her journey serves as a testament to the transformative power of teaching and the enduring impact educators have on shaping young minds. Stay Hootworthy, Ms. Hoyt!

In lieu of the fast-approaching leap day, the participants (in person!) discuss whether the calendar should be reformed. "Razzmatazz" by IDKhow is the theme music for Language In The World Today. "Leave Me Alone" by IDKhow is the usual transition music for AP English Around The World.

Memes: David Rose "Who Am I to Judge" Meme - "One is Schitt's Creek... and that meme has six images of David Rose, who, in some ways really resonates with my spirit. But the text above it says, 'Me: Who am I to judge?' And then... those six images are underneath that. It says 'also me' with various forms of very expressive judgmental faces, whether you're looking at eyes, whether you're looking at the hand gesture, where the hands at, whether you're looking at the forehead... So there's various forms of him...'"Dorothy Zbornak's 4 Moods Meme - "The other one I found from a more distant favorite show of mine... that one has my four moods and, of course, it has the images of Dorothy Zbornak. But 1) is I need coffee, 2) is I need a nap, 3) is I need a vacation, and then that 4th image is one that says I need duct tape, a rope and a shovel."Follow us on Instagram @memesmetaphorsandmagic to view the meme(s) for this episode. And learn more about your personal year number with this free resource!Metaphors:"Love is blind but the neighbors ain't." - Nancy Letourneau (Matt's AP English teacher)LIFE IS A CREATIVE PROCESS.Underlying, or primary, metaphors:CONSIDERING IS WEIGHING.KNOWING OR UNDERSTANDING IS SEEING.AFFECTION IS WARMTH. EMOTIONAL INTIMACY IS PROXIMITY.Magic:4 Lifepath Number (Numerology)6 Expression Number (Numerology)9 Soul Urge Number (Numerology)Context® (Gallup CliftonStrengths®)Intellection® (Gallup CliftonStrengths®)Maximizer® (Gallup CliftonStrengths®)Responsibility® (Gallup CliftonStrengths®)Libra (Astrology)Support and Connect with Matt!Connect with Matt on LinkedInPop Culture:Schitt's CreekThe Golden GirlsThank You for Being a Friend (Theme Song from The Golden Girls) - Best rendition IMHO is by @FinallyAaronReal Housewives of New JerseyResources:The Enlightened Eye: Qualitative Inquiry and the Enhancement of Educational Practice by Elliot W. Eisner Foundations of Meaning: Primary Metaphors and Primary Scenes  by Joseph Grady In Over Our Heads: The Mental Demands of Modern Life by Robert KeganThe Good Earth by Pearl BuckOnce More, With Feeling: Partnering with Learners to Re-See the College Experience Through Metaphor and Sensory Language by Taran Cardone

In this episode - the first of 2024! - the participants share their goals for the new year. Apologies for taking so long to get back since the last episode, I hit a wall trying to keep up with editing the longer and longer episodes each week. For the future, the episodes will be around 15-20 minutes so they can get out, but for those who like the looser feel of longer episodes, there may be some chit-chat bonus episodes in the future to look out for... With that all said, thank you for listening, and have a wonderful (late) new year! "Razzmatazz" by IDKhow is the theme music for Language In The World Today. "Leave Me Alone" by IDKhow is the usual transition music for AP English Around The World.

Welcome back to Fright School! We welcome back to the show Young David! We catch up with him and discuss how the new year is going so far. David offers his best of 2023 picks. We discuss Oscar nominations and post hot strike summer. This week, we're continuing our Jigsaw January with SAW III! We break down our favorite traps, finding a sense of purpose, and discuss the family dynamics often highlighted in the SAW franchise. Take notes kids, THIS is what back alley neurosurgery is supposed to look like! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this year-finale episode, the participants weave a tale about Miku and her life-altering decision to buy some leeks. "Razzmatazz" by IDKhow is the theme music for Language In The World Today. "Leave Me Alone" by IDKhow is the usual background music for Storytime With AP English.

In this episode, the participants ponder on the conundrum of whether or not finals should make up a majority of a course's final grade.

In this episode, the participants debate various topics on animated media with the totally and definitely real AP English. "November" by Sparkbird is the theme music and transition music for Language In The World Today.

In this episode, the participants defend their ideal food choices for Thanksgiving dinner. "Razzmatazz" by IDKhow is the theme music for Language In The World Today. "Leave Me Alone" by IDKhow is the usual transition music for AP English Around The World.

In this episode, the participants decide what season out of the year is the best. "Razzmatazz" by IDKhow is the theme music for Language In The World Today. "Leave Me Alone" by IDKhow is the usual transition music for AP English Around The World.

In this episode, the participants debate whether Summer break should continue into adulthood. I'm very sorry for not having posted an episode in a while! Trust me, I wanted to, but starting college has been such a hassle, and it took some time for me to get adjusted. Also, most of the participants aren't in my close proximity anymore, so I have to bug them over the Internet, which is another hassle in and of itself. However, we've managed to come back together in order to continue into a new era of Language in The World Today! "Razzmatazz" by IDKhow is the theme music for Language In The World Today. "Clusterhug" by IDKhow is the usual transition music for Would You Rather Change It?.

In this episode, the participants navigate prompts about limiting ones own ability to communicate with a very-not-horribly-anxious AP English! "Razzmatazz" by IDKhow is the theme music for Language In The World Today. "Clusterhug" by IDKhow is the usual transition music for Would You Rather Change It?.

In this episode, AP English and Co. go to a convention. "Razzmatazz" by IDKhow is the theme music for Language In The World Today. "Clusterhug" by IDKhow is the usual transition music for Would You Rather Change It?.

In this episode, the participants discuss their after-movie thoughts about Barbie. "Razzmatazz" by IDKhow is the theme music for Language In The World Today. "Leave Me Alone" by IDKhow is the usual transition music for AP English Around The World.

Patrick Allitt is a Professor of History at Emory. Patrick is perfectly positioned to help us evaluate the AP US History exam as he has graded and written the AP Tests.  Patrick has also taught the US History survey class that is available from the Teaching Company's Great Courses.  Annie Abrams is the author of the new book entitled Shortchanged: How Advanced Placement Cheats Students.  Annie teaches AP English at the NYC magnet high school Bronx Science. We will hear from Annie about her concerns related to teaching for the AP tests, and how it affects high school English pedagogy.   Get full access to What Happens Next in 6 Minutes with Larry Bernstein at www.whathappensnextin6minutes.com/subscribe

‍Welcome to today's MMM! Today are explore how utilizing AI can benefit your dental practice in reputation management, marketing, and content generation. We'll discuss how ChatGPT can help you craft responses to negative patient feedback, or emails that you don't quite know how to respond to. Using context such as "I'm a personal relations person, how would I respond to this negative comment?" is a great place to start for negative reviews! Additionally, we'll delve into how you can use ChatGPT to market your practice by requesting tailored messaging to reach the patients that you want. Finally, we'll explore how you can leverage ChatGPT to determine the most efficient ways to carry out tasks in your practice.‍To dig into these tips and more, catch my conversation with Dr. Justin Scott here!‍You can reach out to Dr. Justin Scott here:Email: drjustin@puredentalhealth.comWebsite: https://www.virtualdentaloffices.com/Practice Website: https://puredentalhealth.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/virtualdentaloffices/Practice Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/puredentalhealth/‍Other Mentions and Links:ChatGPTTonya Lanthier - Dental PostHIPAA - Health Insurance Portability and Accountability ActOtter AIChatGPT 4Bar ExamBingRev TranscriptionDescriptAdobe Premiere‍If you want your questions answered on Monday Morning Marketing, ask me on these platforms:My Newsletter: https://thedentalmarketer.lpages.co/newsletter/The Dental Marketer Society Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2031814726927041‍Episode Transcript (Auto-Generated - Please Excuse Errors)‍Michael: hey Justin. So talk to us about AI and chat, G P T. How can we utilize this, or what advisor suggestions can you give us that will help our workflow efficiency or front office tasks within our practice? Justin: we we're training the whole team to, to use chat, g p t especially the marketing department.And we, we were using it to. I think that the best way to use it is for content generation, for thinking up ideas of what to say. If you're writing content, say for your newsletter or for posts for content. For any type of marketing sort of thing. It's really, really helpful. Even for reputation management, I'm, I'm using it a lot for responding to bad reviews or maybe even an email that comes through from a patient that uh, is angry.It's like, how do I respond to this? Mm-hmm. Uh, What's the most professional PR way to respond to that? It's really good for that. I use it for HR questions. My staff member did this and uh, how should I deal with it? Or am I gonna get know labor laws pretty well? Legal questions, it's pretty good with that kind of stuff.So I actually got rid of my HR legal monthly fee saving money. Uh, So it's already getting rid of jobs. Which a lot of people are, are afraid that it's mm-hmm. Gonna do. But uh, I, I don't think it does everything for you, but it, it does so much of the thought, like if I sit down to write down something, I, I can figure it out.I took AP English, I'm, I'm pretty good with writing, but it would take me a really long time. It can write it like that. Yeah. I can say, write a blog post. Make it 500 words. Boom. I got you one. Okay. Well, okay. Change it to say this. Boom. It changes to that. Okay. Well actually I want it to be a thousand words.And can you write it from, you, you can, do all sorts of crazy stuff like tell it to write it and the voice of the King James version of the Bible and it can do it for, for you like that. I mean, just anything that you want it to do. It can, it, it can pretty much do. Obviously there's no use case for dental office for doing that.Cool. Yeah, yeah. But like today, I was using it to write a bio for myself, for my, for my website, for my new company, VDO. I'm writing a book, so I took my book and I pasted it on there and I said, take this information, write my bio. And then I wrote bio, but it, it didn't have my name cuz my book doesn't have my name in the, in the text because it's on the cover of the book.I'm still writing it. So I was like, it's, my name is not Dr. Smith, it's Dr. Justin Scott. So can you replace it and rewrite it for that? Also, they entered some stuff that I didn't want, so I take that out and put this in did it and copied paste it and sent it to one of my my assistants and told 'em to add it to the website, you know?Yeah. So changing and editing content makes it just so much easier to do. Michael: Nice. Okay, man. So you said you use it for two things that kind of picked my interest was how do you respond to a bad review? Like what kind of prompts do you put in it? So it can sound like you when there's a review? Right. So, Justin: you know, I say act as a whatever.So act as a PR person and tell me what is the best way to respond to this review. And you know, sometimes you get a person that's complaining about all sorts of stuff. You may wanna give some contacts for the particulars of the situation, but it basically says, we're really sorry to hear that you didn't have a great experience.but it's, it's tailored to the specifics of what it says. Mm-hmm. Uh, It's probably a lot easier cause I, I'm emotional. I, I'm gonna respond wait a second, you did this, you know, but that's against hipaa. You're not allowed to do that. So when I did one the other day, she was complaining about her case and saying, this is what happened.This is what happens. And it says, well, according to hipaa, we can't discuss your case, but we'd love to be able to talk to you and figure out what's going on. We've talked to her a bunch of times, but this is for the. For the people they're reading it. This is for reputation management, so that someone's reading it says, Oh, they, you know, she had a problem, but they really cared and they wanted to take care of, and they offered to offer, you know, help to make sure that she solved it.That's what people really care about that, that you're gonna help with that. So, but if you basically just say, can you, how would you respond to this review as a PR person? Or you can just say, how would you respond to this review? That's a pretty darn good job. Michael: Yeah. Nice. Okay. I like that PR person, right?Act as a PR person. And then the HR questions, what HR questions have you been? Like Justin: asking, oh gosh. I mean, a staff member threat. I mean, I'm just making something up. Mm-hmm. Threatens threatened to harm herself at work, you know, and, There's all sorts of stuff.I mean, we just go on to Facebook and read the crazy stuff that happens in dental offices, but how do you legally respond to that? I'm not an HR person. I don't know. Questions, obviously, it always says, well, I'm not a lawyer, even though it has passed the bar exam. Yeah, G4 has, so you have to pay 20 bucks for G B D four or you can use Microsoft Bing, which gives you access to, to G PT four.The older ones, g PT 3.5, they didn't do as well on the law exam and stuff like that. But yeah, it's crazy how fast those things are learning and getting to be more useful and better. Uhhuh, Michael: I didn't even know that it passed the, the bar exam. Justin: What? It's got a long list of all the different tests that it's passed Now, some tests it's tried, it hasn't done as well, but legal law tests and also you have to use your brain like you have to read it.You know, I'm, I'm not gonna, actually use it for legal advice, but it may like at least give me hints the right way, you know, so that I have an idea of something, you know, so. Mm-hmm. Michael: Yeah. So then how are you utilizing it for marketing right now? Give us, like, if you can, a step-by-step process of this.Somebody who just right now, God on Chad, like, I'm gonna listen to Justin tell me this, and hopefully it will, it'll do this result. Justin: So I think the most easy thing is, for instance I actually did a podcast with another guy. We were talking about the best way to do it. If you're doing video, for instance, you, you're doing a podcast.If I was doing a podcast, what I would do, the first thing I would do is I would transcribe it and you would transcribe it with a bunch of different softwares are out there that can do it. So Otter AI is one can transcribe things for you. Des d e s c r i p t is another AI software that you can transcribe it.Just Debbie Premier. Rev.com. You can pay someone to transcribe it for you per hour or whatever. A couple bucks an hour. So you take that and then you past that into chat GBT and say, okay, write me a blog post about this conversation that we had so that I can put on my website and link this back.So you do that. So now you got your blog posts. Now you say you put it back in, you say, okay, now write me a YouTube thing cause I'm gonna place this on my YouTube and, and put me some, some great hashtags in there. And also, what should I include in the comments section because I wanna make sure that I'm doing everything.So it may say, Oh, well to, you wanna have some sort of email capture device. Like you wanna have a P D F that can be on there, that can be linked. So then when they watch this, now they can download that. Okay, make that for me too. Okay. Now take that and, and make me an Instagram post. Make me 10 tweets will link back to that uh, thing.So you've got this pillar content of video, and then you take the transcript and you use it. And then you spread that all around using chat G P T on all the different social medias that you can go on. TikTok, you can go on different things. All of the different ones have different sizes that they want you to do things or you know, some you want to use more emojis and depends on what you're trying to target.And you can ask it, well, if this is what I'm trying to target. How should I go about doing that? And I do that a lot cuz I'm not a marketing expert. I'm just asking chat, g p t. A lot of these questions, everything I'm telling you I've learned from chat g p T. so another thing is that learning, learning what the best way to do things are.Just asking chat, g p t, what is the best way to do this? Or what is the best way to market this? Or what is the best way to measure this? What is the best way to do an AdWords campaign? What should I do first? Any kind of marketing that you need to do, it really does have great answers and ability to teach you to do those things.So, yeah, I think content generation and being able to take that into slice it and dice it into every different firm and fashion is great. It's a lot of work. I have a, a couple of virtual assistants that I've trained to do all these different things, and that's what the VDO is about is uh, we hire virtual teams for.Dental offices so that they can help them do things like marketing, social media, because the real key is consistency with content. And that it's engaging. And then the measurement because you have to measure the, the impact of your marketing. And that's a lot of work. And if you're practicing dentists like me, being able to do all that stuff is, is very time consuming.Some people like to do it, but it's hard for me to, to be able to put all that together. I like them to aggregate it for me so that I can. Help direct it where I can. Yeah, that's what virtual Michael: dental offices is, is like, it's uh, so for example, I'm a practice owner and then uh, I need a team to help create these campaigns.Market provide strategies, right? Like run the Instagram for Justin: me kind of thing. Yeah, so we train them to do that. We have our processes that we've already trained people to do, so then we hire people and it's very inexpensive because we're hiring them typically in the Philippines. So average cost for somebody is under 12 bucks an hour, you know, where you can't even hire somebody for less than $20 an hour to be your hygiene.The center to work at the front desk these days in Atlanta at least. So we hire somebody and then we just train 'em to do the different things. That someone wants 'em do to help come up with social media captions. And, and the best way to do that is you use chat pt. I mean, naturally most people that you hire is not gonna be able to come up with great engaging content.But chat, PT can and they can access it and use it. You don't have to be smart to be able to do it. You don't even have to have great English. You can just mm-hmm. Ask it to do it right. And you can even ask it in tag go log, which is the main language of Philippines, and it'll. Translate it to English for you very easily.Nice. Okay. It's a great tool for us. We use it all the time with everything that we do. Michael: Are you using it in your front, like your front office is using it right now or no? Justin: We use it for like predeterminations answering patient emails. I think that it's, it's good for just general questions, you know.But it's not great for like real specific questions for insurance and stuff like that yet. Mm-hmm. But. Give it time, it will. So it just needs to be trained, the right data sets. It's just, it's, it's based more on general data versus real specific data. So, but like marketing for instance, which is very general data, it's got a ton of stuff but specifics on insurance, dental specific insurance, it's, it's not as helpful, so.Mm-hmm. But I've asked questions like, what is the c d t code for this? I mean, you could, you could just Google it, but it also will find stuff that you typically could just Google. Michael: Because it's more like a conversation, right? Google gives you a ton of options, but this will give you like, here's what I think.Yeah. And the best option, right? Like one and the best kind of thing. Like right. One that isn't Justin: perfect. I mean, it's not perfect, but man, it's, it's pretty cool. Cuz it feels like a lot of times it's a lot more just straight to the point. You don't have to go clicking on random stuff and dealing with a bunch of spam.Yeah, it's fine. Yeah. You haven't used this. You gotta try it. It's, it's awesome. I got psyched about it. When I started using it. I was like telling my mom and all these people, A lot of people were just like, what? I don't care about this, you know? Yeah. But I'm like, this is revolutionary. This is awesome.Can you see all the things you can do with it? So it's the type of person that is attracted to this kind of thing. Some people just don't care, you know, they're like, whatever, you know? Mm-hmm. But uh, to me it's just like super exciting, super fun, nice play with. Michael: Can you give us one other AI kind of tool we can utilize within the practice?Justin: Let's see. AI tool that we can utilize in the practice. You mean with Chet or with some other type of ai? Some other type Michael: of ai. Justin: Let's see. I really like uh, the script which is a is a video editing app. So I talked about video editing, so if you're doing any kind of video, it's really great for transcribing the, the text and then if you need to edit things like for instance, the uhs and the ums that are coming up, anytime you're having a conversation with, I'm sure I've said it all the time.I, last podcast I had 400 uhs and ums and filler words. So it automatically pulls up all the US ums and filler words. The, the likes and the A means and things like that, you know? Yeah. You know? Yeah, exactly. And all it's on a like a script, kind of like Microsoft Word or. Slides, you know, like the, the, the Google Slides or something like that, or PowerPoint and you just delete it and it deletes the whole scene.So basically the way you edit the video is just by deleting words. You can copy, paste and move 'em around or correct the specific words. So I've been using that a lot. To do little videos. I made a really cool video that's a testimonial for one of my staff members so that I can. Help try to find an assistant.Unfortunately the in-office assistants are really hard to find. One of the reasons I started the company is because it's so hard to find good people nowadays. so I'm actually actively marketing, creating video content just to try to track people to come apply for my job. I pace the. Dental assistant add out.No one responds. And, and this is not just with me, this is industry-wide. I've talked to people that run like my, one of my friends is Tanya Lanier, who owns Dental post.com, which is the biggest well, she, she, she sold it, but she used to own dental post.com, and it's one of the biggest. Places where people post job ads in the country for dental offices.And she says it's happening everywhere as well as I'm part of d e O, which is Dental Entrepreneur's Organization. I'm hearing about it from all over the, the country that one of the biggest problems is just recruiting people is Michael: really challenging. Yeah. Yeah. That's a good way to help though. That's a good way to help to use that, you know what I mean?Right. To create it the way you wanted to create it and, and, and put your spin on it. So. Awesome. Justin, I appreciate your time and if anyone has further questions, where can they contact you at? we have Justin: a website ww dot, www.virtualdentaloffices.com with the S at the end, O F F I C E S. You can, uh, email me directly, d r justin pure dental health.com.That's my, my dental office, P U r e D E N T A l H e A L t h.com. And we have Instagram for both of those as well. So yeah, reach out anyway. You'll find me Justin Scott. Awesome. So guys, Michael: that's gonna be all we one in Atlanta I know, but that's gonna be in the show notes below. So definitely go check it out.And Justin, thank you for being with me on this Monday morning marketing episode. Justin: Cool. Thanks man. Have a great week.‍‍

Mike talks with Jennifer Camara-Pomfret, longtime AP English teacher, instructor for Mass Insight, and Department Chair at Seekonk High School. Topics include strategies in writing the Argument and Synthesis essays, making sure students “fill their cups” with knowledge including current events, history, and literature. Jen also emphasizes the need to “stay on the pole” or stick your thesis statement and respond logically to prompts with relevant lines of reasoning.  She shares insight on her AP Language units, activities, and curriculum that help her students to master skills, as well as improve their close reading ability and FRQ writing performance. 

In this episode, host Mike Atwood sits down with Jessica Stokes, an experienced AP teacher from Research Triangle High School in Durham, North Carolina. With over 12 years of experience across four grade levels of high school English, including Advanced Placement courses and Creative Writing, Jessi brings a wealth of knowledge to the discussion.Mike and Jessi delve into a variety of topics, including personalized, digital, and project-based learning, as well as flipped classrooms and AP curriculum planning. They also explore creative strategies for teaching essential skills to all students, drawing on Jessi's expertise in curriculum building with learning platforms and open-source learning management systems.Tune in to gain insights into the latest teaching methods and best practices for engaging high school students and preparing them for success in college and beyond.

AP Language and Literature teacher and host, Mike Atwood interviews AP® guru, John Williamson about the best practices and essential skills required for effective AP instruction. Throughout the conversation, John points to how teachers need to focus on teaching students the art of weaving in “Can't Touch This!” abstract ideas into their FRQs in order to elevate lines or reasoning, creating sophistication. The two discuss the essential use of creative graphic organizers to analyze ideas, and organize key planning points in essays, as well as the use of multi-cultural literature blended in with what used to be “The Literary Cannon” for required student reading. John even poses the question “Is there even a Literary Cannon anymore?” His mantra of focusing on quality instruction and best practices, as well as the idea that “Less is more” when it comes to assigning reading and longer essays becomes clear as shares his rich experience as an AP® teacher, College Board leader, Dean of P12 Programs and Superintendent Model Laboratory School at Eastern Kentucky University. He is also the author of Ideas in Argument and Ideas in Literature from Bedford / Macmillan 

In this special, Michael and Ethan do a very serious job (without jokes or sarcasm) of analyzing Lord of the Flies, a commonly assigned AP English/college intro-level text, so that if you are assigned it, but don't want to read it, you can just go ahead and use our very good analyses!In this episode:Some pretty good discussion of The Count of Monte Cristo, you're welcomeNew whiskey toysTurns out, you can assign different names to different thingsThe surprising literary inspiration for various Disney and Pixar projectsScience involves wordsWe won't stand OR sit for laziness, just to be clearFrom Freud to Jung via borderline insultsPlayground bully tactics of the ancient worldThe obvious Atlantis connectionThe two great teachers of our time: Ethan and Walt Disney Corp.Next time Michael and Ethan will discuss Nobody's Angel, by Thomas Mcguane. Join the discussion! Go to the Contact page and put "Scotch Talk" in the Subject line. We'd love to hear from you! And submit your homework at the Michael & Ethan in a Room with Scotch page. Donate to our Patreon! BUY A NIHILIST BLANKET! Your Hosts: Michael G. Lilienthal (@mglilienthal) and Ethan Bartlett (@bjartlett) MUSIC & SFX: "Kessy Swings Endless - (ID 349)" by Lobo Loco. Used by permission. "The Grim Reaper - II Presto" by Aitua. Used under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike License. "Thinking It Over" by Lee Rosevere. Used under an Attribution License.

"What Need One?" Sunday, March 26, 10:50 am Shakespeare's King Lear asked the perennial question, "What need one?" I remember it from high school AP English class. Mrs. Laster, who was a force of nature — and put the class at 8 am to discourage the lazy, the dilettantes, the weak — drove it home. The question, that is, not the answer. Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister; Rev. Laura Shennum, Minister of Congregational Life; Daniel Jackoway, Worship Associate; Jordan Ong, Canvass Testimony; Reiko Oda Lane, Organist; UUSF Choir led by Mark Sumner, Music Director; Bill Ganz, Pianist Shulee Ong, Camera; Jackson Munn, Camera; Jonathan Silk, Communications Director; Joe Chapot, Live Chat Moderator; Thomas Brown, Sexton; Athena Papadakos, Flowers; Linda Messner, Head Usher; Ralph Fenn, Les James, Tom Brookshire, Zoom Coffee Hour

"What Need One?" Sunday, March 26, 10:50 am Shakespeare's King Lear asked the perennial question, "What need one?" I remember it from high school AP English class. Mrs. Laster, who was a force of nature — and put the class at 8 am to discourage the lazy, the dilettantes, the weak — drove it home. The question, that is, not the answer. Rev. Vanessa Rush Southern, Senior Minister; Rev. Laura Shennum, Minister of Congregational Life; Daniel Jackoway, Worship Associate; Jordan Ong, Canvass Testimony; Reiko Oda Lane, Organist; UUSF Choir led by Mark Sumner, Music Director; Bill Ganz, Pianist Shulee Ong, Camera; Jackson Munn, Camera; Jonathan Silk, Communications Director; Joe Chapot, Live Chat Moderator; Thomas Brown, Sexton; Athena Papadakos, Flowers; Linda Messner, Head Usher; Ralph Fenn, Les James, Tom Brookshire, Zoom Coffee Hour

Dr Haroot Hakopian got into coaching by accident when he suffered a significant knee injury - tearing his ACL, MCL and PCL - and requiring four different operations.A move into coaching followed, alongside entering education. Thirty years later, he is still involved in, and loving, both worlds.Dr Hakopian celebrated 20 years as an AP English teacher and girls' soccer coach at Winston Churchill High School in Maryland last year. He also holds numerous other roles, including sitting on the United Soccer Coaches' board of directors.SCW caught up with him to talk about culture, climate, and the importance of telling your players when you've messed up…

6pm - GUEST: John's driving instructor friend Clint offers advice on how to navigate icy roads // George Santos Was Just Elected to Congress. He Faces Scrutiny Over His Résumé // Over 55% of people admit to lying on their resume at least once—here are the 8 most common lies // ChatGPT Wrote My AP English Essay—and I Passed // The Stanford Guide to Acceptable Words // John talks about his experiences singing Christmas carolsSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Guest Bio Maddy Dahl has been teaching online for 8 years. During her tenure, she has taught a wide range of classes from basic high school writing and grammar to AP English courses. When she isn't teaching, you can usually find her playing board games or exploring Oregon.    Episode Summary Maddy teaches us about how to create an online AP course for students, how to help students earn college credits while in high school, and provides invaluable advice to teachers just getting started on their AP journey.    Timestamps Maddy's exciting news! [2:13] How do you create high school AP courses online? [3:50] How the FCM works in an online AP class [6:40] A focus on collaboration asynchronously and synchronously [8:53] Supporting students' organization, practice, and executive functioning [9:30] All about formative assessments [11:50] Collaborate and listen [13:21] Partnering with community colleges [16:56] AP and college credit courses are rigorous but different [20:25] Maddy's advice for creating your own online AP course [22:00] Maddy's favorite teacher when she was in high school [26:29]   Resources Find Maddy Dahl at mdahl@syseducation.org How-To AP Guide FREEBIE College Credit Now (Oregon) Frontier Charter Academy College Board AP Central FCM Episode (S2 EP16)

Reader, we read it. This week we're taking on one of the most adapted, beloved, and read by AP English highs school students works ever. We're talking about Jane Eyre. You know her and you may love her. We decided to take on this sulky teen initially to use her as the pinnacle example of a new term we're going to call The Shy Girl. We thought Charlotte Brontë's most famous heroine would be the PERFECT example of The Shy Girl and because of Madelaine Turner's expertise on the adaptations of this classic we would be golden. However. As Madelaine and Rebecca began to re-examine the text they started to form a new theory *gasp* We also give a lot of thought on Bertha Mason because she represents so many women at that time and they deserve to be discussed. So listen along as this literary classic takes them (for better or worse) down memory lane. Some of the sources we discussed:Dr Octavia Cox's ChannelThe History Chick's Charlotte Brontë EpisodeNick Viall's The Viall Files Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode Notes Episode summary Andre and Margaret talk about a lot of things. They talk about recycling/reusing/remelting plastics, turning them into fuel, setting up solar power systems, setting up DIY internet, intranets and mesh networks as well as some concepts dealing with solar punk and hydroponics, and of course how most things can be easily analogized to baking a cake. Guest Info Andre can be found at www.anarchosolarpunk.substack.com, or on Twitter @HydroponicTrash or on TikTok @HydroponicTrash. Host Info Margaret Killjoy can be found on twitter @magpiekilljoy or instagram at @margaretkilljoy. Publisher Info This show is published by Strangers in A Tangled Wilderness. We can be found at www.tangledwilderness.org, or on Twitter @TangledWild and Instagram @Tangled_Wilderness. You can support the show on Patreon at www.patreon.com/strangersinatangledwilderness. Transcript Andre on Solar Power, DIY Internet, Mesh Networks, and Solar Punk Margaret 00:15 Hello, and welcome to Live Like the World is Dying, your podcast for what feels like the end times. I'm your host, Margaret killjoy. And I use 'she' and 'they' pronouns. And I am very excited about this week's episode, which I guess I probably say, most weeks. But, I'm excited to be talking to Andre, who is someone I first ran across his work because someone was just I think someone sent it to me or was showing me these, these pictures of someone who had 'hydroponic trash' as the user name, and was talking about making off grid internet through mesh networking. And I was like, "Yeah, this is up my alley," but not my alley that I've actually explored. It's a alley that I'm interested in. So I'm very excited. I think you all will be very excited. But first, this podcast is a proud member of the Channel Zero Network of anarchists podcasts. And here's a jingle from another show in the network. 01:45 Jingle Margaret 02:23 Okay, if you could introduce yourself with your name, your pronouns, and then maybe kind of a little bit about yourself about the kind of stuff that we're going to be talking about today. Like how you got into it or what you do? Andre 02:34 Yeah, for sure. My name is Andre, my pronouns are he/him. I go by Hydroponic Trash on Twitter and Tik Tok. I focus a lot on upcycling things that people would normally kind of regard as like trash, like recycling plastic containers to make indoor vertical hydroponic gardens. I'm a hacker, a gardener, a woodworker, I kind of tend to do a lot of random shit. So. I also write speculative solar punk fiction on combining technology, both low and high tech, with social change, and balancing that with the ecosystem. With that being said, I've been also kind of focusing in on infrastructure, and how people can build passive and active systems to meet their basic needs like food, water, shelter, communications, electricity. Right now, what that kind of looks like is making off grid intranet networks, off grid solar power, and some other passive projects that kind of deal with DIY off grid stuff. Margaret 03:47 Yeah! You basically just listed all of my interests. This very exciting to me. I'm going to ask at the end of the episode as well, but do you want to say where people can find like, say, for example, your speculative fiction, like, I know that you write about a lot of the stuff that you do, and you also write fiction. Where can people find that? Andre 04:03 Yeah, so mainly, I post my long form stuff on anarchosolarpunk.substack.com. So mainly post my like, long form writing on Substack. But, I post a lot of written form content and other stuff to my Twitter, HydroponicTrash and Tik Tok, I posted videos whenever I can make videos about a whole bunch of various different topics or projects that I'm working on. Margaret 04:29 That's cool. Okay, so I was gonna start with off grid internet. But first, I want to ask you about recycling plastic trash, because I'm really excited about ways to...recycling is like fake, right, these days, you know, like market based recycling? It seems like most, I don't have the numbers in front of me or whatever. But it seems like more and more if you put something in the recycling bin, it just gets thrown in the landfill. And so I'm really excited about ways that people can directly recycle. So, what does that look like that you're recycling plastic trash. Is this like melting it down? Or are you just like repurposing it or what's happening? Andre 05:03 So, at the moment, it's mostly repurposing, but I am going to start doing actual plastic recycling by melting it down and making it into other objects. But um, so right now repurposing plastic, it really started when I, like, just saw how many plastic containers there were just out in the world, I've been picking up trash in like my local park for a little bit. So, while picking up trash, it was like, it makes you really, really aware of the type of pollution that's out there in the world, because you're picking it up out of like waterways and in parks and stuff. So. it got me thinking of like, okay, well, plastic to-go containers, for instance, how do we actually like reuse these types of things. So, what I started doing was taking old Tupperware, that was just kind of sitting in my cabinet, sitting in my kitchen. And I drilled holes for it to put in net cups, which are usually used for hydroponics, and I just started growing plants in it. So trying to find some creative and different ways to not only like reuse plastic in a safe manner, but not only to reuse the plastic, but to find a new use for it. So that way, it didn't just end up going into the landfill. And it was also kind of doing something productive as well. Margaret 06:24 Yeah. Yeah, I, I got really excited when I, I people think people might have already heard me talk about this, but I'm really excited about the idea of basically like, setting up mutual aid recycling in the same way that I think that neighborhoods can compost with each other. Like, some of the infrastructure, it seems like is better put at a neighborhood level, like a small community level than like a, you know, an individual level. But I'm curious when you start repurposing it....Okay, so the things that I've come up with for plastic--I haven't done any of these things.This is all just me falling down rabbit holes on YouTube and stuff.--The main things is people taking certain kinds and making DIY 3D printable plastic. Other ones are like literally just melting it down and putting it into forms and molds. And then the one that I'm like, kind of the most excited about, although it's sort of terrible is that apparently you can make diesel fuel out of plastic DIY? I don't know, like, what do you? What are your aspirations? Or what are you thinking on for your DIY recycling? Andre 07:22 So, all of that pretty much entire, all the stuff that you just said, is pretty much what I want to do. So I'll go into some more repurposing stuff and talking about specifically about additive manufacturing and recycling inputs into stuff. So yeah, like, recycling, plastics is a really big thing. So recycling PLA plastic or recycling...there's a whole bunch of plastics that will melt and be able to remelt that you can make in certain different things. And I think that recycling plastics specifically for 3d printing is going to be kind of like the next frontier of additive manufacturing, because not only are you taking plastics...so say, for instance...it's a full cycle...So, we could be not only cleaning up the environment of plastic waste, but using that plastic and re-melting it down and making it into new objects, when otherwise that plastic would have just been floating in some water in a creek or sitting, you know, not deteriorating in a landfill. Margaret 08:29 Yeah. Andre 08:30 And so from there, it kind of opens up a whole new space of thinking about the things that we use and thinking about manufacturing in general, because we're moving away from mining the earth and using natural resources and exploiting the natural resources to make the inputs for the stuff. And instead, mining the trash and mining the stuff that we've that we've thrown away and regarded as trash and mining that. So, I kind of think of it as like a closed loop, circular ecosystem of removing trash from the environment, repurposing it. And then not only that, kind of changing our social relations when it comes to how we deal with objects, changing our conceptions of things of like disposability, changing our conceptions of how we treat objects, and moving away from disposal into like modularity or repurposing stuff. So yeah, I think it's really interesting to think of it in that way of like, instead of making these new things, taking what we've already polluted the earth with and making things out of that. Margaret 09:45 Yeah, no, this is...I'm just gonna basically over and over be like, "Yeah, this is this is my alley. This is the shit that I love." Yeah, one of the things that I notice is that, you know, from living off--I don't currently live off grid, but I've spent a lot of my time living off grid--is you start noticing every single object that comes into your purview, right? Because 'what are you going to do with it at the end?' becomes this very important thing. If you don't have trash pickup, if you don't have a way to just easily make the thing go away, then you have to be like, "Okay, I'm going to compost this, I'm going to, you know, compost that." I was just thinking of cardboard. And I was like, "Oh, I used to burn all my cardboard, but I'm gonna try and move to composting it," you know. And, you know, just like thinking, "Okay, I'm responsible for all of these objects, I've chosen to caretake." And this isn't me trying to be like, "Oh, recycling is gonna save the world," or whatever, because it's like, but for me, it's more about when we think about when we start thinking of small scale systems, based on all of the things involved, I think that puts us in a better position to imagine better futures. Because we actually have to think to ourselves like, "Well, if I don't want, if I want to use plastic, what the fuck am I going to do with it afterwards?" And I mean, I don't actually particularly, I used to sort of hate plastic. And now I'm kind of like now that I think of mining the trash for plastic. I sort of like it, you know? Andre 11:05 Yeah, I could talk more about turning plastic into fuel. Margaret 11:09 Yeah, please, do I only know the like YouTube level of it. Andre 11:15 Yeah, so another part of that is...okay, so, even if we were to say, for instance, like in the future, get everything that we wanted, have the big 'R' Revolution, you know, have the utopic vision that we have come to fruition, there's still going to be the problem of trash, there's still going to be the problem of yeah, like, what do we do with plastic, even after it's like, use has kind of gone through, and we can't reuse anymore? Like, what do we do with it?Like, another option of that, too, is using the plastic as a fuel source. So you can do stuff like pyrolysis, where basically, you're heating up plastic, condensing that, and basically making it back into a form of burnable fuel. And like, you know, personally, I absolutely hate combustible fuels, obviously, for their, for their, their impact to the environment. But then again, there are a lot of things that are absolutely necessary to run. So say for instance, you know, if we are using renewables only to power things, one issue is, say, for instance, solar, if you don't get a lot of sunlight, you don't get power, pretty much. And you could supplement that with other, you know, renewable energies. But there might be times especially in say, like a natural disaster, when like, you absolutely need power to power like medical equipment to power to power hospitals, or to power equipment that we need up and running. And so that would be a time when, like, using these fuels would really make a lot of sense. On the flip side of that, too, talking about like fuel and stuff like that, there's also making hydrogen fuel using electrolysis. So, using electricity, to basically separate the hydrogen from water, and then using that hydrogen as a fuel. So, that's another, you know, way of approaching it and way of approaching energy, not thinking of extracting it from the earth, but trying to figure out new ways and different ways of finding energy that's really all around us. Margaret 13:34 Yeah, my, my favorite, I looked into it at the last place I lived because was on enough of a hill, I got really into storing electrical power through gravity. You know, like, you could do this thing where I've seen people do it where you like, you set up...okay, you set up a water...a rain barrel at the bottom of your house. And then you also set up a rain barrel at the top of your house. And you use your solar while it's running, instead of to power a lithium battery, which is obviously not a renewable resource, you know, which is the thing that people often forget. Well, I mean, whatever, it's better than some things. But, you know, the battery storage is one of the weakest parts of off-grid power, right? And so you put your rain barrel at the top of your house, and then while there's power, you pump the water up to the roof. And then when there's not power coming through the solar, then the, the rainwater comes back down and it charges...like I mean this charges like a cell phone, this is not a you know, but people are talking about doing it on these industrial scales where you can do it like water towers, you can do it, you know, dammed areas, whatever.. I'm not presenting it as like the perfect solution, but just like interesting to me that there's all of these different ways that we can store power that we don't traditionally think of. I don't know. Andre 14:54 Yeah, exactly. And it's one of those things where like, it isn't necessarily profitable too, to do stuff like that. So it just isn't being done right now. But if we were to look at living in a post capitalist world, obviously, we want to pick solutions and pick things that not only like are detrimental socially, but not detrimental ecologically as well. So like stuff like that is just so perfect in taking the energy that we have just all around us and using it in responsible ways. So yeah, Margaret 15:29 Okay, so this isn't even what we were going to talk about today. I just got really excited about that. The the main thing I wanted to talk to you about today is, is off-grid internet is mesh networking is DIY internet. And I'm wondering if you could explain what that kind of concept is? Andre 15:45 Yeah, for sure. So I'll kind of go into a little bit of background on like, why, or what really got me started in thinking on this train of thought. So like, I live in Texas. And living in Texas has made me very aware of kind of the crumbling infrastructure in this country. Margaret 16:06 Whaaat?! [Sarcastically] Andre 16:07 Yeah, I know, "What?" a private grid run by a corporation that seems to fail, even though there's no regulation, "What?Oh." And a big wake up call was winter storm Yuri, which like completely, absolutely fucked up Texas. It was a week long ice storm with snow. And, it just like completely destroyed the homes of just thousands of people. Thousands of people lost their lives because of the storm. And it just kind of pointed out the fact that ERCOT's mismanagement of the power grid and the effects of that were just like, really big. So, it kind of got me thinking of ways to do communication and electricity, that didn't rely on the crumbling infrastructure around me. So, after thinking about that kind of got me thinking about emergencies and building resilient systems, and communication was like really, really up there. Especially when it comes to communications during natural disasters. There's, you know, there's obviously Ham radio and handheld radios that people use during natural disasters. But, when it comes to actually sharing information, say, for instance, sharing books, sharing videos, communicating with a massive amount of people that doesn't require specialized equipment, like radios, that's a whole nother realm, you know. So, that's what kind of got me thinking about making an emergency like community internet was so that way people in my neighborhood could have access to like, a chat server ebooks with like info on surviving different natural disasters, a media server to stream videos, either for educational content, or for just like, if the power's out, you're bred you know, you have nothing to do, sooo. And music is another big thing. Margaret 18:08 That was one of the things that before, before Covid, I was like, running around doing all my preparedness stuff. And I went out and got a hard drive and filled it with movies that I obtained legally. And I was kind of even as I was doing it. I was like, "What the hell disaster am I going to be in? What version of the apocalypse has me like bored watching movies?" And then COVID hit. And I like, and I was off grid, and I like, didn't have good internet, you know? And I was like, "Oh, this, this is the crisis for which I prepared." And, you know, whatever public domain television shows got me through, got me through the worst of it. Anyway, I didn't mean to completely derail you, please continue. Andre 18:54 No, no, no, that's completely on topic, you know, especially because like, these kinds of systems allow people to communicate without needing to be face to face. And so what a lot of people don't like think about are people who are immunodeficient who can't like, go face to face in front of people or people with disabilities who it would be harder for them to physically go out and get a radio from somebody and start using it. So, you know, resilient systems that like keep everybody in mind that can access it like really big. But yeah, like COVID was a perfect...not really perfect, but you know, it definitely pointed out some some, some stuff that maybe we were all thinking about, but didn't really want to think about, but...So, from thinking about all this stuff, what I kind of landed on was making a solar powered internet with like a Raspberry Pi as the server that ran all the services and a Raspberry Pi is a single board, like small computer that runs off of USB power. So it requires really, very little power. But, from there, you know, it's fine to have your own small kind of like local network. But, I really wanted to come up with ways to try and expand that network. So, basically make like beacons to connect back to the main network to spread out the signal. Margaret 20:25 Cool. Andre 20:27 So, in a way, this kind of started off as just like a small off-grid, solar powered system. But, now it's kind of grown out to be more of almost like a community wide Internet where like, we can add more routers to the network and spread the connections out from there. Margaret 20:44 How...How do? [Pause] How does that happen? Like, like are thre resources that, you know...how complicated is it? How expensive? Is it? How...it seems like it's scalable, so you can kind of up the complexity and the expense as you want? But yeah, what's involved? Andre 21:04 So I, when I wrote the article, and like, was thinking about this, I really wanted to start from like the bare minimum, and try and convey the bare minimum of information that somebody would need to do this. So, starting off, I wanted to make sure to use things that were first of all easy to find, second of all, easy to work on, like the average person with some technical skills could pick it up and like, know what to do with it, and wasn't something super proprietary, where maybe only a handful of people in a city would even know how to work it. So, it has to be, you know, easily picked up by your average person. So, that's kind of where I wanted to start from was using the most basic hardware, the most basic software, and from there, you can build up to it. So, for example, like in the article that I wrote, that kind of goes by like step by step on how to make it, it's more of like a recipe book almost. So, breaking it down into like, its fundamental parts, with core ingredients to make it what it is. So like, you know, a cake has core ingredients that you know, make it a cake, but you can add and subtract on top of it to make it work for whatever you need it to work for. Margaret 22:34 Well other people can. Andre 22:35 True Margaret 22:38 Whenever I try to make a cake...I can make muffins and brownies. Anyways I'm that useful wit cakes yet. Andre 22:49 Well, yeah, as long as you can find somebody to make it. That's the biggest thing. Yeah. Margaret 22:54 Okay, what are some of those core ingredients? Andre 22:57 So, the core ingredients are basically a client, a router, and a server. So, that's pretty much it, which sounds really really reductive. But, when you boil it down, and kind of like, look at the core concept, that's the three things you have. So, a client is a computer. Really, any computer. A router determines like what addresses computers in the network have, and it directs traffic. And a server is basically another computer that hosts the data for your clients to access. So. I'll kind of walk through some of that stuff, too. So, like I said, A client can be really like literally any computer, it could be like a brand new MacBook, it could be a single board computer, like a Raspberry Pi, you could even use like a smart fridge to do this. It can literally be anything that...it can literally be any computer that can access the internet, you can use as a client to go onto the network, right? Yeah. And so next you have routers, which are basically like little boxes that can direct traffic and determine like, what addresses computers on the network have. So think of it as like mailing addresses almost. So, if I wanted to send information to somebody down the street, I would have an address and they would have an address, and the router is basically like a mailman who delivers that information from me to the address that I wanted to send it off to. And I'm obviously kind of like making this way more simpler than what it is, because in reality there's like so many networking things in the middle that makes this happen but routers basically do that. Margaret 24:44 Okay, can this router in this case be like, like I have a router right now I believe that is connecting between my modem and my computer or something, right? Can Can. It sounds like this router is the most custom piece of this whole puzzle or is it something that you can also repurpose out of an existing like Wi-Fi router or something? Andre 25:06 You can repurpose it out of any Wi-Fi router, which is awesome. Margaret 25:10 Hell yeah, cause it's in every house. Andre 25:12 It's in every house. Every house has internet access, you have a router. All you have to do is change the networking settings to be able to basically connect back to whatever network you make. So, it doesn't require you to go out and buy something. You probably already have it in your house already. Margaret 25:29 Yeah. Okay. I mean, you probably have to destroy the one you have, or you have to reprogram the one you're having you have so you wouldn't be able to use it and your regular internet? Andre 25:42 Excatly. Margaret 25:43 Yeah, you would need to go find one in an abandoned house. Andre 25:45 Yeah. Margaret 25:45 Okay. Cool. Andre 25:49 You could, you could. Yeah, I mean, like internet squatting is a, I guess, a new thing now so.... But the last kind of part of that is the server. And that's like, again, really any computer that's running software to share data. So, with those three pieces, a client, a router, and server, if you scale that up like a million times and add in fiber optic cables from the bottom of the ocean to connect routers and to data centers together, and then boom, you have the 'Internet,' right? So, like network engineers are probably going to be listening to this and be really mad about what I'm saying. But, the internet is basically just a giant combination of intranets. It's a big intranet that's been connected to other intranets, through a bunch of other networking equipment, protocols, datacenters, all that kind of stuff. Margaret 26:43 An an intranet is a is an internet, but a local one, a one that exists within like a building or a neighborhood or something is an intranet. It's a network that is not part of the larger internet. I mean, it can be part of that. You can access it from the larger internet, but it's sort of walled off. Is that a decent way to explain intranet? Andre 27:03 Yeah, exactly. So, if you add your client, a router and a server, you basically made an intranet right there because it isn't connected back to the major, actual internet. But, that's what the Internet is. It's this gigantic intranet. So, it kind of takes a lot of the black box magic out of the Internet, because really, you're just distilling it down to these core pieces and understanding, "Okay, well, if I can do this at like a super small level, and I spread this out, we really could create, you know, a local, a regional, or even a gigantic people own Internet with our own hardware." Margaret 27:48 So, basically, if we build this entire shadow internet...Are there other people who have done this? Are there already existing like large networked intranets all networked together? Do they control like, the giant space laser or whatever? Like? I mean, what are the? Yeah, how much is this already done? Andre 28:08 Yeah, so not exactly when it comes to like making it almost like an alternative internet, it's mainly done to actually provide internet access to people who can get it. So, a good example of that is NYC Mesh. And they're are a group in New York City who basically are doing this exact same thing. They're making an a mesh network to broadcast out a Wi Fi signal. And then they have nodes that pick up that Wi Fi signal and keep basically building out the range that the network can can hit. So, what they're doing is finding areas that internet service providers won't bring in the necessary equipment to give people internet access, or people who can't afford internet access. And so, they're basically making these mesh networks to get the Wi Fi coverage over to the people who need it. So, we can do basically the same thing with a system like this. So, you can make a network like this that works in tandem with the Internet. So say for instance, if power or Internet access gets shut off, for whatever reason, you have a backup, basically like community internet. But, you can also connect, say, for instance, like your main router that you're kind of using to run the network or just any router on the network, connect that to the internet, and then you can share Internet access across the secondary internet. So, basically, you can make a mesh intranet network, and you can have it walled off from the wider internet and still have it work without electricity. grid electricity and without internet access, but when you have electricity and internet access, you can actually supply Internet access to the network and give other people access to the internet. So, it kind of serves two purposes too so that way, it's not just like, "Oh, this is only in an emergency network." But also, you know, there's some resilience resiliency built into it. Margaret 30:25 That's cool. I like that it has a purpose, sort of during crisis, and also even just like during the crisis that is, you know, poverty and lack of access and stuff like that. The other thing that I like about this, I mean, it's funny, I don't like it personally, because I live rurally, but, but one of the things that comes up is that so much of the prepping stuff that gets talked about, especially under the name 'prepping,' rather than 'preparedness' focuses on rural folks, right? It focuses on access to, if not financial resources, it often focuses on access to space, like physical space to store things, or even kind of what you can do with low population density. Right? It's a lot easier for someone to have five acres here in West Virginia than it is for some of the five acres in the Bay Area or something, right. And the thing, that's kind of interesting, because you're pointed out that the you know, a lot of this work, people have been doing it New York City, and I'm like, h, it the higher population density you have like, the more bang for your buck, it seems like this kind of thing would have. And that's cool, because I think that we way too often think of high population density as like, 'bad.' Whereas actually, in terms of like, efficiency of living, in terms of even like small ecological footprint, higher population densities can be really fucking good. So, I like that. For my for myself, I'm like, oh, well if I set it up, it would just be on my like, you know, like, where I live with some people or whatever and it would just be the like, "Well, if the power goes down, you can access the the movie server and the off-grid, Wikipedia," or the, you know, I do a download of Wikipedia every, whenever I remember, it's usually about once a year as like part of my preping is I do the download of Wikipedia or whatever. Without the images. I don't have enough money to pay for that kind of terabytes of data for the images. But yeah, I don't know, the larger. I don't know, I'm just getting lost thinking about the possibilities of something like this. What distinguishes a mesh network from just a simple intranet? Is a mesh network, because it's all wireless. Like what what makes it a mesh network? Andre 32:32 Yeah, so mesh network differentiates itself because you're basically able to connect networking equipment back to each other. So, you can do a mesh network, a quote unquote, 'mesh network' with like, hard wired Ethernet cable, but really what network mesh networks do is use certain protocols to connect routers or network equipment together. So, in this case, what we're doing connecting our main router to our beacon that will, you know, propagate that network is using a protocol called WDS, which is called 'wireless distribution system.' And basically, what that lets you do is it lets you connect other routers, as if they were connected with an ethernet cord together, but it's completely wireless. So, you can get another router, turn on WDS, join in the network, and then this new router that joins in becomes a beacon and extends the range of the network. Margaret 33:37 Okay. So, you don't have to, you don't have to as the alternative internet engineer, you don't have to walk around and physically set up each and every beacon. It's a it's a thing where basically people by joining are making the network better? Andre 33:53 Exactly.. As long as they can get power. Anybody can turn their home router, and either use WDS to connect their routers together, or basically putting the routers into what's called AP mode or basically making it an-- 34:12 An 'access point.' [Not getting the joke] Yeah. Margaret 34:12 [Interuptting] Advance Placement. Margaret 34:15 No, I was lying. Sorry, I was trying to make a bad joke. Andre 34:21 See, I'm not smart enough to have taken an AP classses High School. Yeah, I my terrible ADHD like stopped me from going into AP classes. So. Margaret 34:32 Yeah, fair enough. I took AP English. Did not did not pass it to the college level. In my defense, the only they only taught, they only taught books written by men in my AP English class. I think all white men. Now there might have been I feel like.... Andre 34:54 Yeah, what English class isn't just full of just like old white dudes? Margaret 34:58 Yeah. Although actually, it was before....This is just completely tangential. English class is how I like learned about like Langston Hughes and stuff in 10th grade and like, so that was good. That's all I remember. Andre 35:14 My introduction to de-schooling was actually through an English teacher. So I guess, yeah, English teachers, English classes, thumbs up, you know? Margaret 35:25 Yeah, Totally. Many of them, many of them. Okay, so before we started thinking about our English teachers, okay, you mentioned that if you have power, right? But and I'm I'm under the impression, a lot of what you've also done is work on trying to figure out how to make sure that people within this network would have access to power during a crisis or whatever. What does that look like? Andre 35:54 Yeah, so I mean, obviously, we can't run electronics without power. So trying to think about, what are some ways that we can generate power locally, and be able to supply power to people who need it. So, getting into talking about power kind of connects it to other areas of infrastructure to, and all those other areas of infrastructure connect into building mutual aid networks, but so we'll start with power first. So, with powering nodes, basically, what we're talking about here is creating almost like micro, community micro grids using solar. So, basically making like small power stations that use solar energy to charge batteries and supply power to your neighbors. And so, this can turn into a form of mutual aid, right? So if we're making these small scale solar power stations that we can attach to like dollies, or attach to wood and like, roll them out when need be. Now we're talking about giving people the autonomy and giving people the tools to make their own power and help each other survive in a way that's beneficial to everybody in the community. But also is helping to power, you know, the devices that will connect back to the network, the network itself, but also help power medical devices and stuff like that, that you know, people need to survive and live off of. So, talking about making community micro grids, we'll start from like, the small scale and then start building up, because again, like, all of this is modular and able to scale with however many resources you have, or however big you need it to be. But, the key part is to understand that like at every level, it's the same idea, just with, you know, some parts switched out. So. And there's also two, there's also different kinds of solar power, too. There's solar photovoltaics using like traditional solar panels is what we think of, but also passive solar as well, because there's energy, you know, the sun is fucking hot. The sun rays have a lot of energy. So, there's other ways to produce energy and talk about that sort of stuff. So, there's high tech and low tech, solar, but we'll start in and start small with small scale, kind of micro community micro grids. Right? So by solar in this case, I'm talking about photovoltaic cells to generate electricity from the sun. So you can make stuff like this, or you can buy like premade systems to kind of cut down on the amount of work that you need to do, but there are some like major downsides to getting like a premade solar system kind of like an all in one package, because most of the parts are proprietary. So, in the middle of an emergency, you're not going to be able to like mail your solar charge station if the power plug breaks. So, a DIY method allows you to kind of have modular off the shelf parts that if something breaks, you can easily fix it. And all of these parts are easy to find too. So once I start talking about the parts that are involved with it, you can think of a whole bunch of places where you can find this stuff that's just sitting out there. Margaret 39:32 Just by the side of the road. Andre 39:35 Yeah, honestly Like literally, I found solar panels in the middle of forests, just kind of like smashed solar panels in the middle of a forest before so like yes search on the side of the roads. You could find some cool shit. Margaret 39:52 Yeah. Andre 39:53 But yeah, so like when you start talking about solar power and solar power generation it's really daunting, because like what we're used to is seeing solar panels on roofs, or electricians installing this stuff. But, really, it's really simple once you break it down into the core ingredients, just like before, just like making a cake, once you know the core ingredients, you can scale things up, add, subtract to whatever you need, to whatever scale you need. So. Margaret 40:21 Yeah, that you have to like...you do when you scale solar power...I don't know that much about mesh networking. But I've installed a bunch of different solar systems and lived off solar systems of different types. And, it's a really good point about the modularity that can pull pieces out and put them back in. But, it's annoying that every time you're like, Oh, I'm going to go from 400 watts of solar power to 800 watts of solar power. Now, I need to change out every piece of the entire thing. Because it's, it's like baking, if in order to double the ingredients. You also had to like, buy a different bowl and spoons, you know? Andre 40:58 Exactly, exactly. You're like these look exactly the same, but like I have to pay like an extra $500 For this one that can handle like, oh, a little bit more power. What the hell? Margaret 41:07 Yeah. Yeah. And it is it is more like baking than than cooking. You know? it's...because it is very like, "Okay, do this. Exactly. And it'll be great and safe and right." Andre 41:24 Yeah, add these ingredients in together in a safe way, and you'll be good. Margaret 41:30 Yeah, exactly. Which is not to try and scare people off of it, it really can be done safely. Like, I didn't know shit about electricity when I first started doing this, I, when I first installed my first 12 volt battery, I was like terrified of it. You know, I was like putting the cables on it. And I was afraid it was gonna like shock me and my friend just like went up and grabbed both terminals and was like, "It's fine. It's 12 volts." And like, and then he was immediately like, "But if you dropped a wrench and connected the two poles, then you might die. But..." Most use case scenario....anyway. Sorry, I have a lot of I have a lot of thoughts about solar. But please, please continue. I'm sorry. Andre 42:13 No, no, no, no. But like, yeah, like you just said, with anything to do with solar power, obviously, there's gonna be some safety things to keep in mind. But, you know, if you practice basic electrical safety, you can make these systems pretty well, at least at a small scale. Once you're talking about like, multiple megawatts of power generation, then we're talking about kind of things that are kind of outside of this. But, for small scale, like, say, for instance, right now I have 400 watt solar panels charging a battery bank right now, like that's easy to handle for most people. And for producing power for, say, for instance, like a couple of different families at different houses or different apartments, that, that that'll work. It sounds small, but like 400 watts of solar power, and like a decent amount of storage will get you really far, especially in emergencies when you're only powering a couple things at a time, but. Margaret 43:15 It's not going to run your AC. And it's not going to run your electric heater. And it probably it's not gonna run your fridge. But, it'll run a tiny electric cooler, it'll keep your phone's charged, it'll keep the lights on, it'll keep a fan going. Especially if it's not...box fans use an ungodly amount of power. I mean, that said, I did keep a fan going on 400 Watts, 24 hours a day for like a year once. So, you know, Andre 43:41 Yeah, I can't be done. But like, okay, so in terms of like the core ingredients of a solar system, you've got really basically four parts, you've got your solar panels, a charge controller, batteries for storage, and an inverter if you're going to be doing specific stuff. So, adding those four things together, you can make either like a super small system more, say for instance, like you're talking about earlier, running some pretty basic household appliances. But you can also change all this stuff to fit the needs that you have. So, using this as an example, for like a really, really micro community micro grid, we could basically take like furniture dollies, tie some wood to it, put a charge controller, a battery, or two, strap it on to that, and an inverter, and then attach those to a solar panel, and then basically what you're doing is just generating power on a really small scale. And then, say for instance, you want to make a bigger one well, get more solar panels, add a different charge controller, add more batteries in series to your battery bank, and add a bigger inverter, and then you could power refrigerators and AC units and stuff like that at a bigger scale. But, the key is just knowing kind of the core parts to it. I go through step-by-step on an article on my Substack called "DIY Off Grid Solar Primer." And it kind of walks through like all of the steps that you go through to make either a really small solar system or a pretty big one, that'll power a lot of things. And so it's kind of like, it's one of those things where it's, it's like a black box, and not a lot of people really, like understand the stuff that goes behind it. And not a lot of people understand that it's not that crazy to do this type of stuff. Margaret 45:53 Yeah, I guess that is the...you know, when I, I don't know, the fact that this is actually doable, like, from, you know, I won't do...I'm not going to do a house level install. I'm not going to do grid tied solar myself. I feel like, that reaches a level where, I mean, you're actually putting the safety of the like, the electrical workers at risk if you do grid tie stuff, right? So, I understand the need for people with specialty training for that. But yeah, the the actually doable part, I think, is just what people...what I want more people to understand. Andre 46:34 Yeah, because there's so much information out there that just seems so out of reach for most people. But it's really enriched, it's just the fact of like, knowing what to do, knowing, even knowing what you don't know, is like the key to really getting started with it. Margaret 46:49 Yeah, but I will say though, in defense of the, the all-in-one boxes, I've used both, and I've like talked with a lot of people who are living off grid about which is better in which circumstance. And for people who are like, "I live in this cabin, I want my life in here to be good," Build it yourself, or work with a friend who knows what they're doing, but get the actual pieces and build it modularly. But, for people who are kind of like, "This is my truck camper, I sleep in two months of the year," and like, or, "This is my cabin for now. But I kind of don't really see myself being living here in a year," you know, or "I have a really limited budget, and I just need to get my cell phone charged." There's like, there's, I think there's purposes for the all-in-one boxes there in that you just don't have to fuck with it. It's like it takes less specialization, like one of the one of the infrastructures I've lived with...sorry, there's very few topics I get to like be I get to be really excited about and have like more like some experience on compared to, you know, when I talk to someone about. But, one of the ways that I had it going at one point was like I built a solar power setup, and I built it modularly partly actually, because I didn't have enough money to go out and get the size of box I wanted. On the other hand, in the end, I probably paid more for my system,because I kept upgrading it, because I kept being like...but you can kind of you can kind of do it. 100 bucks here, 100 bucks there as compared to going out and buying this $1,200 all-in-one box or $400 all-in-one box. They come in all different sizes. And, what I found that most people didn't bother with was using the all-in-one boxes hooked up to solar panels. What I found, what we ended up doing was, you know, the the barn on the property with the solar setup that I built, everyone would just bring their boxes over and charge them. You know, and so it's not a very proper way to do a grid. But, in some ways, that's how we did our grid is that there was like a central charging station and everyone would bring their boxes and then go plug their boxes back into their shacks or whatever, you know, Andre 48:58 That's really cool. Because like, I mean, that technically is a grid, because I mean, you're transferring power from one generation into, you know, a place where you're actually going to use it. So like, but people don't consider that a grid only because, you know, it's just kind of so used to just like, oh, the grid is just the shit on the lines that just exists. Yeah, but like there's so many other ways to think about it. Margaret 49:23 Yeah, I had another friend who, another off grid project I know of, a friend of mine has a cart, a trailer pulled behind a car, very light, one very small, one size of a teardrop or smaller and it's just full of old iron, lithium, whatever the cheap old batteries, the car batteries. And well they're AGM. They're just not lithium ion. And we just drive them into town like once a week. Just attach it to the car, drive it into town. Charge it at the Anarchist social center in town. And then drive it back out. And then power everything on the land project for like a week or whatever with these, you know, big battery banks. Andre 50:10 Yeah, I mean, that's that's definitely one way to do it. Like I did the same kind of thing where like, I was running a whole bunch of stuff off of this, like little RYOBI portable inverter thing for like my power tools, and like just charge the, the, the batteries and then just like take the batteries with me and then use it like that. So like yeah, it's same concept. Margaret 50:37 Yeah, I use my battery tool batteries as my cell phone charger for a long time before I got all the solar stuff set up. Yeah. Andre 50:45 It works. You have power. So, that like ultimately, that's what it comes down to is like figuring out ways to take energy, store it and then transport it somewhere else where somebody else can use it. So like, who cares if you're using like, a drill battery attached to a little inverter to power the router for the network? It's still powering it. So there you go. Margaret 51:08 That's cool. That just makes it cooler. Because then also anyone could just take it and charge it on it. You know, like everyone has a charger for that thing. Well, then you can have the Ryobi versus DeWalt class war, but the person with the Makita will chime in and be like, "No!" Andre 51:31 But yes, so I mean, like, so we've gone from making like small internets into making a larger mesh network. I also want to like, I also wanted to run back and talk about what you brought up earlier, when it came to the differences between kind of urban and suburban areas and doing this in rural areas, or areas that might not like be as accessible. So, when it comes to rural areas, you can do the same thing. So making this mesh network. The biggest thing is going to be actually getting that signal out. So, then we're talking about like, kind of more high powered antennas, and talking about, like, how to broadcast signals, like a far distance. And there's some interesting stuff out there. So, I saw this guy on YouTube who made a giant parabola, and made it out of wood and chicken wire, and then put a Wi-Fi card in the middle of that parabola. So, you know, like the curve, almost like a satellite dish, but made out of chicken wire. And, he was able to broadcast Wi-Fi through the jungle for about six miles, just just using chicken wire in a parabola shape. And, you know, a simple like off the shelf network card. So like, line of sight, with some really simple DIY shit like that, like making parabolas out of chicken wire, or even using old satellite dishes to bounce that signal off, And at least get it over to maybe if you, you know, have a neighbor six miles away from you, then they could be the next node in the network. And they could just bounce signal around there. So like, in mountainous regions, it's really hard to get internet access. Margaret 53:37 I'm Aware. Andre 53:42 Mainly because, you know, internet service providers are, you know, they don't think it's profitable to spend the money for the infrastructure to bring it out there. But, it's also really hard to do it period. So, in that case, you know, you could set up a mesh network with your own DIY antennas to basically like bounce up and down mountainsides to supply internet access to other people. So, it works not just from like urban suburban areas, but also rural areas, but it just requires a, again, like a different, like thought process behind it. Margaret 54:17 Right, but out here, it would be more possible for me to like, you know, talk to the person who does own the next ridge over and be like, "Hey, can I put up like this old satellite dish and some solar panels on your property, you get free internet, and so does everyone on the other side of the hill," you know? I mean, presuming the friendliness of the person who has the...owns the top of the mountain or whatever, but no, that's okay. Yeah. Andre 54:48 And that can be a really good intro point to establish a mutual aid networks in rural areas, because it's really hard especially like in In rural areas to like, talk to your neighbors if your neighbors are like six miles away, but if you come to the people and say like, "Hey, we can mutually benefit each other," in a way that like, you know, they can completely understand and like be on board with, then you have, then you're talking to your neighbors, even though your neighbors live like super far away from you. So yeah, it's a really good in to like starting to build relationships locally. Margaret 55:29 Yeah. No, that's interesting. So one of the things that you talked about, you mentioned earlier about how this all ties into general infrastructure and how infrastructure as a way to build mutual aid networks, is that something that, you know, basically, because most of what I've talked to people about mutual aid networks, which is incredibly valuable, but a lot of mutual aid networks are around community health, or food access, or, you know, defense against sweeps of encampments of people who are living out. And, you know, the idea of like, providing internet and power it obviously makes sense, as part of it, it's just part that doesn't get talked about as much because I think it probably more of my friends know how to cook than know how to program routers, you know, although then again, 10 years ago, it was probably the opposite. Well, when I was a teenager was definitely the opposite. But yeah, so I'm curious if you have thoughts about sort of general infrastructure, how this ties into infrastructure, mutual aid networks. Andre 56:32 Yeah. So, when we were talking about like, hierarchical, well, we talked about like, systems like capitalism, hierarchical systems, states, the way that they cement power is basically by controlling our access to like our basic needs. So, if we can build our own infrastructures, either both like within the system, but also alongside and out of the system, then we can much more easily separate from capitalist and hierarchical systems, and create our own networks, and our own infrastructure in our own worlds alongside of things. So, that kind of touches into, you know, ideas of building dual power of like building the systems that we want to use and building the world that we want to see now, not just working within capitalism, sometimes you'll have to say for like legal issues and stuff like that, but building systems that work outside of capitalist and hierarchical systems. So, taking back control of the infrastructures that really rule our lives. So like, the infrastructures that can underlie everything that we do, you know, we kind of have the main, the big three, food, water shelter. But, I'd include a couple more things in there just because like, you know, our modern times things have like changed, technology has changed. On top of that, I put communications, so that would include like stuff like radio and Internet, electricity, which includes things like air conditioning and a lot of regions that like you will literally die without air conditioning, and care work as the kind of like main parts of infrastructure Margaret 58:38 That, that tracks. And those do seem to be...I mean, those are the things that we kind of focus on with mutual aid with this special edition of communication and power. I'm into it. Andre 58:58 But like, so, I'll go into a scenario of how building community micro grids and building communication networks can like, tie back into mutual aid efforts and like other revolutionary things, so you know, starting out, you decided to do this, you get a foldable solar panel, you use that to make your own small network with your server, you get a Raspberry Pi or like an old laptop and use that as a server. And then use an old router that you have or your the router that you have in your house right now. To just start, to start the network. And from there, you're like, Okay, well, let me you know, if I want to build this network out, then I'll start making small micro community micro grids to share with my neighbors. So, let's say if you live in an apartment building, then you're like, Okay, I'll go to the people in my apartment building, make one of these things, you know, make one of these, like solar power carts or something. And then just like talk to my neighbors and say like, "Hey, would this be valuable to us?" And so then like, you're starting to provide, basically free electricity to your neighbors. And by doing that, you know, you're starting to build relationships, starting to talk to people, and with talking to people, and kind of showing people what can be done with just like solidarity and working together, then, you know, you start talking some more and some more. And let's say like, you, through these relationships that you have with the people in your apartment building, you're like, "Okay, well, what if we like formed a tenant's union? I don't know, that might be a good idea?" And in trying to form that, you'll need some ways of communicating that's going to be secure. So, you can either meet in person, but not everybody is going to be able to meet in person. So, how do we make secure communications with each other to do stuff like organizing tenant unions are organizing unions within our workplaces. And so, you can do stuff like this, where you're making the services, the infrastructure available to people to be able to talk to each other in secure ways. So you could on your server, put up like encrypted messaging, and then use that as a method of organizing the tenants union or whatever, you know, use that as a method of organizing. So, you're going from like, starting out with just kind of like wanting to build your own solar power stuff into now you're talking to your neighbors, and now you're organizing stuff. And this kind of snowballs. As you add on to it, as you talk to more people as things kind of, like, move along, there's a snowball effect and to just like, being able to make the infrastructure for things to happen. And like that's the big thing. Margaret 1:02:09 I like it. I am sold. I...there's that joke, "I would like to subscribe to your newsletter..." But in this case, people should subscribe to your newsletter, or Substack or whatever. Okay, well, we're kind of coming up on time. There's a lot of stuff that I want to talk to you about that we didn't even get into about you know hydroponics. It's what's in your username, and I want to turn my basement into a place that produces food, 24 hours, or 12 months, a year, whatever. You know, I live in a climate with a real winter. And I'd like to be able to still have fresh vegetables and hydroponics seem cool. But that's not what we're going to talk about today. But, that might be what I bug you about sometime in the near future. Is there any kind of final thoughts on the stuff that we've been talking about today that you want to bring up? Andre 1:02:50 Yeah, I mean, I guess ultimately, it just comes down to if there are things out there that you want to do, try and figure out like, the core concepts and build on that. And just like just fucking try it. Like there's, there's so many things like all this, like building this off grid, internet building, off grid power systems was all just kind of like, I want to do it. I'll try and find the information and condense it for other people to use and they can build it themselves too. But like, that was the key was just like, fuck it. Let me just get started and try it. So, it's the same thing with like mutual aid networks. It's like if there isn't one around you, fuck it, try building it. Margaret 1:03:31 Yeah, totally. No, that's so good. That is...Yeah. The secret is to really begin. I can't remember what this from, some insurrectionist tract, but I really like it. You know, just the like, well we actually just got to do it. We you know, like, I don't know, I feel like I would have more clever way to say that, but I don't Andre 1:03:54 No. That was good. Margaret 1:03:57 All right. Well, if people want to subscribe to your newsletter, or follow you on the internet, how should they go about it? Andre 1:04:03 Yeah, you can find me on Substack. It's anarchosolarpunk.substack.com. And then I'm active also on Twitter and Tik Tok at 'hydroponictrash.' Margaret 1:04:18 Cool. Yeah, we didn't even talk about solar punk. That was like on the list of things that we should talk about. We will talk again soon, I assume and people will get to hear from you again. All right. Well, thank you so much for coming on. Andre 1:04:30 Awesome. Thanks for having me. Inmn 1:04:37 Hi, I am not Margaret. But, I am here to thank you for listening, because Margaret forgot to record an outro, which is short for our introduction, in case anyone was wondering. Okay, I stole that joke from Margaret. Sort of. So now it's kind of like you're getting her. I'm Inmn, and I do some of the behind the scenes work for Live Like The World is Dying, to make sure that it comes out every two weeks. If you enjoyed this podcast, please go tell someone about it and rate and review and like and subscribe or, you know, whatever the algorithm calls for, feed it like a hungry God. You could also post about it or tell people in person. It's the main way that people hear about the show and honestly one of the best ways to support it. However, if you want to support us in other sillier ways that don't involve feeding a nameless and mysterious entity, consider supporting our publisher, Strangers In A Tangled Wilderness, of which I am also a member of. Strangers is a publishing collective committed to producing inclusive and anarchistic radical culture. We currently have one other podcast called simply "Strangers In A Tangled Wilderness," where you can hear me talk about our monthly featured zine, along with narrated audio versions, the monthly feature and an interview with the author. Speaking of the monthly featured zine, if you subscribe to our Patreon at $10 a month, we will mail to you a zine version of our monthly feature every month, anywhere in the world. But, also you can read it for free on our website. Our monthly feature ranges from fiction to poetry to zines about plants and hopefully soon history and folklore. These features are submitted by listeners like you and we are always looking for more submissions. We're looking for stories that don't know where they fit in, for people that don't know where they fit in. So, if you'd like to write and think your story would find a home in this tangled wilderness, consider submitting it and perhaps we'll buy it. You can support us for now at patreon.com/strangersinatangledwilderness and find more submission info at tangledwilderness.org. Just to plug some other things that Strangers and our members have going on since no one is here to stop me: Margaret's new short story collection is currently on preorder from AK press. "We Won't Be Here Tomorrow" comes out September 20th. So, check it out and look for her soon on her book tour. Our first book as the new version of the Strangers Collective will be available for preorder on September 1st. Try anarchism for life by Cindy Barukh Milstein, a thrilling exploration of art and social relationships and worlds soon to emerge, featuring amazing art by 25 incredible artists. Look for it on our website, and also look for Milstein on the Strangers podcast as the September featured zine. A dear friend of the Strangers Collective also has a book out for preorder right now. Nourishing Resistance: stories of food, protest, and mutual aid, edited by Wren Awry along with a foreword by Cindy Milstein. The preorder is currently live at PMpress.org. So please go check it out. Wrenis an incredible writer, editor and archivist. As you heard on our last episode of Live Like The World Is Dying, we are about to start playtesting or TTRPG. Penumbra City. Listen to the last episode on composting to hear more. And check out the next episode of the Strangers podcast where I talk to Margaret and Robin about the game after we listen to Margaret's new short story, "Welcome to Penumbra City: part one." Find it wherever you get podcasts on August 31st. One last shameless plug: By the time this episode airs, we should have t shirts live on the Strangers website. You can get both a Strangers' t shirt and a Live Like The World Is Dying shirt. Both have art created by our art director Robin Savage, and we're printed by the CREAM print shop and our seriously soft, cozy, and beautiful. That's all my plugs. Except for a very special plug. A shout out to these wonderful people who have helped make this podcast as well as so many other projects possible. Shawn, SJ, Paige, Oxalis, Mikki, Nicole, David, Dana, Chelsea, Staro, Jenipher, Eleanor, Natalie, Kirk, Michaiah, Sam, Chris, and Hoss the dog. And here's a special thank you to Bursts, our audio editor who has an incredible anarchist new show called The Final Straw, which is also on the Channel Zero Network. Thanks so much for your support. It means so much to us and us has allowed us to get so much done as a collective. See you next time on August 9th for another roundtable segment of "This Month In The Apocalypse" with Margaret, Casandra and Brooke. Let us know if there's anything you want them to talk about. Find out more at https://live-like-the-world-is-dying.pinecast.co

Who says we cannot be “unstoppable”? Today I would like you to meet Heather Stone. Heather, Ph.D. is a Chicago area scholar, clinician, consultant, author, and advocate for people with disabilities. Heather has been a person with low vision her entire life. At first, she was not diagnosed as such even though she could not see the blackboard in school and regularly failed in her classes. Eventually, she was diagnosed with Stargardt's Macular Dystrophy at the age of fifteen. Isn't it interesting that once her eye disease diagnosis was made and that accommodation were made in school for her, she not only succeeded in classes, but she excelled? And thus she became a recognized scholar. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Illinois in 2016. Of course, that was not the end of her adventure and life's efforts.   These days you can find Dr. Stone doing ABA  therapy at a clinic in Chicago's North suburbs, consulting with large healthcare organizations for The Exeter Group, or at home on the North shore with her two small children.   Heather has written a book entitled “Girls with Autism Becoming Women” which was published in 2018. She is working on another book which we will tell you more about once it is published or when Dr. Stone comes back to tell us about it.   Heather is the epitome of what it means to have an unstoppable mindset. I hope you enjoy our episode and that you take away some great insights from it. I know I did.   About the Guest: Heather Stone, Ph.D. is a Chicago area scholar, clinician, consultant, author, and advocate for people with disabilities.  She received her doctoral degree from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2016.  Coincidentally, she was also diagnosed with a rare, genetic eye disease called Stargardt's Macular Dystrophy at UIC 23 years earlier. Dr. Stone is a legally blind, Jewish woman who works with and studies populations of people with disabilities, primarily children with Autism Spectrum Disorder ASD. Before completing her doctorate, Heather received a BA from Brandeis University with honors in Sociology and a double major in African and African American Studies, for which she was a commencement speaker.  She lived in Hyde Park while working on her Master's degree in Social Sciences at the University of Chicago. Dr. Stone's book, Girls with Autism Becoming Women (2018), was released by London-based Jessica Kingsley Publishers and is available via most retail outlets.   https://books.google.com/books?id=-GBIDwAAQBAJ&hl=en   https://www.amazon.com/Girls-Autism-Becoming-Women-Heather/dp/178592818X   https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/girls-with-autism-becoming-women-heather-wodis/1127839109   These days you can find Dr. Stone doing  ABA  therapy at a clinic in Chicago's North suburbs, consulting with large healthcare organizations for The Exeter Group, or at home on the North shore with her two small children.  Look for the recent interview with Dr. Stone at Inspiration Matters https://www.inspirationmatters.org/HelpfulWorkDetail.aspx?name=Heather%20Stone%20Wodis&id=7&totalrec=7    Connect with Heather on social media Facebook https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Blogger/Heatherstone-phd-101434618342388/   LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-heather-stone-wodis-ph-d-baa0b727/   Twitter https://twitter.com/heather42667758?lang=en   About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog.   Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is an Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards.   https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/   accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/       Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below!   Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can also subscribe in your favorite podcast app.   Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts.     Transcription Notes Michael Hingson  00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i  capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us.   Michael Hingson  01:20 Hi, and welcome to another episode of unstoppable mindset where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. And there's a reason I'm saying that because I just discovered that our guest today and my mother, her maiden name anyway, is the same. And she lives in the Chicago area. And my mother lived in the Chicago area for a long time. So Heather Stone, welcome to unstoppable mindset.   Heather Stone  01:55 Thank you so much for having me. I'm very excited to be here.   Michael Hingson  01:59 We could we could probably go back and compare notes further because before they lived in Chicago, my mother and her her family lived in New York, I think in Brooklyn.   Heather Stone  02:12 Oh, my family also was in New York before they came to Chicago.   Michael Hingson  02:18 This is getting scarier. So everyone, there is a mystery to solve.   Heather Stone  02:26 My parent, my grandfather came from Warsaw through Paris, then to New York, and eventually Chicago.   Michael Hingson  02:34 There you go. And the only thing none of us can ever find that we have is a link to Garrett of Garrett's popcorn, so we still have to pay for it. Well, you Heather is an expert on disability and inclusion studies. And we're going to get into that, but why don't you start now that we've given some of our history? Why don't you tell us a little bit about you?   Heather Stone  03:00 Sure. Well, once again, my name is Heather stone. I have a PhD in disability studies from the University of Illinois at Chicago. My experience with disability is interesting as it is for most people. I did not know I was visually impaired until I was 15. So I never remember seeing a chalkboard in school at all, I have no memory. But when my parents would take me to the eye doctor, there was nothing that he could detect at the time. So you know, he mentioned to my parents, well, she might just be kind of exaggerating to get attention. So as my life progressed, I was a terrible student. I was getting in lots of trouble. And I couldn't see. So it wasn't until I failed the vision test for my driver's permit, that my parents really became alarmed. And at that time we revisited the family ophthalmologist and he said, Oh, you know, I got this new piece of equipment. And, you know, I don't know if it's going to be effective for you. It's usually just for older people who have, you know, this disease, macular degeneration. This test is called the field of vision. Let's just put her on it, you know, let's just see what happens. And lo and behold, it revealed that I had two central blind spots and both eyes. I was then referred my family was referred to Dr. Gerald Fischman. Who I think at this point is still the the world leading right knowledges although he's retired now. Just so happened to be a UAC And so I was referred to him. And then I was diagnosed with Stargardt's macular dystrophy when I was 15.   Michael Hingson  05:10 That certainly had to be a shock. How did your parents deal with that?   Heather Stone  05:15 I mean, it was a shock to all of us. It answered a lot of questions. It put a lot of things into perspective. You know, me to this day, it's troubling for my parents who are, you know, educated people living in the suburbs of Chicago with lots of resources. And still, with all of those circumstances, My diagnosis was delayed so long, and this is like, major consequences for my life. Um, you know, everyone was telling me, there's nothing wrong with you. But yeah, I couldn't see anything. And there, they said, there was nothing wrong with my vision. So, you know, as a, as a young person, as a teenager, I was like, Well, I guess I'm just stupid, you know, I couldn't come up or crazy. I couldn't come up with why I couldn't see and why nobody believed me. So in getting the diagnosis, it was, you know, a justified a lot of things. And it. I had a big chip on my shoulder, because I realized that the problem wasn't that I was stupid, or crazy, that there was a physical biological problem going on. And I had been right. And I realized, not only was I not stupid, I think I was kind of smart. You know? I am I am I, you know, we contacted the high school. And this was, I think, in 1992. And they let us know, well, you're lucky because this new law, the Americans with Disabilities Act, was just passed two years ago. And this is going to be really great for you because it mandates you know, equal access to, to an education. And at that point, I was like, okay, you know, give me the material in a way I can see it. And let me show you what I can do. And I enrolled in AP and accelerated courses. I got A's, I took the AP exams, I got a five on the AP European History test. Five, and that's the highest score, you get five on the AP English. I passed one other AP tests, which made me an AP Scholar. I did really well on the AC t, because I was able to take it in large print. With a little extended time. I set my sights on going to Brandeis University in Boston. I was accepted early admission. And I had, I mean, college is just the best. And I had such a wonderful time at Brandeis. And, you know, pursued academia. As far as I as I could. I eventually did my master's degree at the University of Chicago, in the Masters of Arts program in the social sciences. And that was a really good opportunity for me to take courses throughout the social sciences. I had been a sociology and African and African American Studies major at Brandeis. And I was really, I was glad to have this opportunity to take sociology, psychology, anthropology courses, and I realized I didn't want to get my PhD in any of those. The only thing I wanted to get my PhD in was at UIC and disability studies. And, you know, there's, there's circles these patterns in our life and the fact that i i keep returning to UIC through all these different circles and if you know the history of the of the of the school, you know, that it was once called the circle campus. So, I enjoy the cyclical nature of my visits to the University of Illinois. And I graduated with my PhD from UIC 2016 And that was very exciting.   Michael Hingson  09:47 So, you you went up spent a significant amount of time from well High School in 1992. So what year did you graduate?   Heather Stone  09:57 From like from what is In 1995,   Michael Hingson  10:02 okay, so from high school it was 21 years to get a PhD. So you certainly, well, maybe you were but you certainly probably weren't a student that entire time in terms of specifically being enrolled, you must have had some jobs or where were you a professional student.   Heather Stone  10:22 You know, I have always tried to maintain a balance between the ivory tower and actual real world practice. So, soon after I was diagnosed with Stargardt's, I got a job when I was about 16, at a summer camp, working, it was a typical summer camp. But my job was to be a one on one assistant or a child with a disability and facilitate his integration into the group. So my first encounter was someone who had autism was this little boy, Daniel, who was five years old going into kindergarten. And, you know, my job was to make sure but he had a fabulous time at camp. And I just, I instantly identified with him connected with him, just became so intrigued by him and his family and this thing called Autism. And, you know, it was really interesting, because I had co counselors, and they were running things for the main route, and they would routinely forget about my camper, Daniel, and I would have to open my big mouth, and you know, make sure that he was getting treated fairly, and that what every other candidate was getting was open to him as well. And I feel like that was critical for me to learn advocacy skills for myself. Because at that time, I, you know, a year and a half into knowing that I had this vision impairment and getting accommodation in school. The problem was that my teachers always forgot that I was visually impaired. And in fact, I like to joke that one of my biggest barriers is that I pass so easily, and people forget all the time. I mean, my, even my, my parents, like my best friends, like, everyone, I think the only people who don't forget are probably my kids, because they've had to deal with it their whole life. You know, so, I pass so easily that people forget to make the accommodation. And, you know, later in my life, it's like, I want the white cane, just so people stop forgetting, you know, like, I don't necessarily need it to get around at this point. But I'm tired of having to remind people all the time that I can't see.   Michael Hingson  13:11 So you are considered legally blind? Oh, yes. So, you know, the only thing I would say is, you never know when you need it or don't. And I agree with you that it's important to carry it and use it because then people know, although it has its pluses and it's minuses, concerning how people treat you. But the other side of it is, it's the one thing that you don't see that your cane would detect, that could make the whole difference. What do you and well, okay, so for example, one of my favorite stories is about a guy who is losing his eyesight in New Jersey. And I think I've told this story a couple of times on the podcast. And he would go every day into Philadelphia, from across the river in New Jersey, didn't go to work. So he got it was discovered that he was losing his eyesight, and I don't recall what the reason was. But he went to the New Jersey Commission for the Blind. And he, among other things, was given a cane and they said, but we really think you need to use your eyes as much as you can. And they didn't really emphasize the cane but they said, you know, you really should start to learn to use it at some point. And so he carried it with him, but he didn't always use it. And one day he was going to board a train to go across the river. And he was walking along the train. It was a sort of a cloudy day. He got to the place where he was supposed to turn in and enter the train and he turned and stepped into the train except he didn't step into the train. He stepped into the space between two train cars, because he wasn't seeing well enough To realize that that wasn't the entrance to the train, whereas his cane would have found it. And the train began to move. But they did stop it. And they got him up. And he went on into the train at the right place and went into Philadelphia. But he has told that story and said emphatically and that's why I always from then on used to cane. And so that's why I say that it's the one time that you don't see something that you normally would if you had full eyesight, but the your cane would find that makes all the difference.   Heather Stone  15:34 Right? You know, and if people are going to be obnoxious and rude, you could just weaponize the cable like Daredevil and you know, take them down?   Michael Hingson  15:44 Or you could you know, and then shove them between the cars.   Heather Stone  15:49 Also, you Oh,   Michael Hingson  15:53 but Oh, but it is. Yeah, but yeah, it is, it is an issue. And the cane is the most basic tool. And it is true that oftentimes, people miss assess what blind people can and can't do. And that's unfortunate. I hate the term disability, but I don't have another one. I don't like differently abled, because we're not we have the same abilities, we we utilize different tools to get there. So I haven't really found a better term. But that's okay. People have worked in diversity, so that it doesn't include disability. So disability can be worked just as well and be a positive thing.   Heather Stone  16:35 Absolutely. I mean, I see it as a point of pride, you know, I'm proud to tell people that I'm, that I'm disabled, and that I'm an advocate for people with disabilities. You know, I've always tried to recognize the people at the margins of our society, and who, who isn't being treated equally or fairly. And I feel like people with disabilities are often you know, left out of the, of the conversation about diversity, equity inclusion. And, you know, I feel like people with disabilities really have the greatest struggle to get equal rights at this point. But, you know, this early connection I had with this child with autism, and advocating for him, gave me some of those early skills to advocate for myself. And gave me a sense of, of this cross disability connection and pride. And, you know, though he was autistic, and I was blind, I could identify with his inability to make eye contact, for example, like there are consequences if you don't, if you can't make eye contact, or if it's difficult, you know, the concept of neurodiversity, which is a huge a huge philosophy movement, coming from the Autistic community. And, you know, there's a lot of celebration of the fact that like, there's diversity within our biology, there's diversity with our neurology, and these are things that make life more interesting, more nuanced, more textured. And, you know, it's not all bad, that there is a lot of constructive, productive, positive things that I've learned from being disabled.   Michael Hingson  18:54 The bad is usually what people make it, as opposed to it being real. This whole idea that it's bad to be a person with a disability, it's bad to be blind. And blindness has been cited by the Gallup polling organization. As in the past, one of the top five fears we face not disabilities, but blindness. It's, it's all perception, as opposed to reality.   Heather Stone  19:26 Yeah, and in this case, that's literally perception   Michael Hingson  19:29 is literally perception. You know, I, I think words matter. And I've actually started rejecting using the term visually impaired because visually, we're not different. You don't change your appearance simply because you go blind and we talk about visual things. We're not visually impaired. I don't like vision impaired a whole lot, but I use vision impaired. And when people use it, I encourage that because I think it's more relevant. In reality, I think I Have lots of vision. And as I say to people, I just don't see so good, but you know, but the reality is vision impairment is a lot more of an accurate term than visually impaired. And words matter, because that tends to, to denigrate us in ways that it doesn't need to happen or be.   Heather Stone  20:18 Absolutely, I mean, blindness is historically and metaphorically linked with lack of knowing lack of knowledge. I mean, we could come up with about a million different colloquial term that are completely contingent on the concept of blindness, you know, blind faith, you know, injustice, that, you know, like, we could sit getting robbed blind, you know, we can sit here and go through a million of it a million different terms. And, you know, I, I agree that that words do matter. And there's a lot of political implication to these words, which is when things get, you know, real kind of sticky and tricky. You know, I was talking to someone recently, and, you know, I was I described myself, as you know, I'm a blind woman. And this person said, Well, you know, you're not a blind woman, you're a woman who has a visual impairment. Have you heard a person first language? I was like, Well, I do have a PhD in disability studies. So yes, I am familiar with that concept. And there are so many disabled people who just reject that like person first, like, really? Do I need to remind you that I'm a person, like, I'm, I'm okay, saying, like, I'm blind in the same way. I'm okay saying, I'm a Jew. I'm not a person who has Judaism. You know, I'm not a person who has blindness. I'm a blind you. And it's okay.   Michael Hingson  22:01 Right? And it isn't, you know, and again, it isn't a visual impairment. It's a vision impairment, because visually, we don't, we don't look different. There are some things that can make some of us different, but that's true with anyone. But we, we claim to stuff and sometimes we don't grow like we really should, which is unfortunate.   Heather Stone  22:27 Yeah, and, you know, I always say that, you know, you any given situation you can look at as a tragedy or as an opportunity. You know, there there is a silver lining, I am a compulsive Silver Linings binder. Almost, it's almost a problem. But, you know, their life is really a matter of perspective. When I was first diagnosed, doctors told me that that was most likely I would never dry. Okay, I won't drive. And, you know, I thought about how that would affect me. And I thought about how my mom had driven me to preschool. And I wanted to know, how am I going to drive my kids to preschool? And am I going to even be able to find someone who's going to want to marry me or have kids with me, like, I don't know anything about this blindness. I'm new to this whole game. And it was always the actual physical, losing my sight was never as difficult as the social ramifications of the shift in identity. Because I was raised as an able bodied person. And then during my adolescent years, it was, guess what, you have this new identity. And it's this very stigmatized identity that people like you said, there, people are fearful about losing their vision. And, you know, I didn't really I couldn't foresee what would happen. But one of the circles came around for me. I was recruited by a study at UIC once again, to use telescopic lenses to get a driver's license. So after about two years of intensive occupational therapy, and assorted other interventions, I got a driver's license. And when I was 20 years old, and I drove until I was 42. So, you know, I was able to drive my kids to preschool except my daughter's final year. And I knew that that annual vision test was coming around, which I had to take to keep my my restricted daylight only A license, and I knew that it wasn't going to pass, and that I had probably been on the cost for a while. And, you know, I was like, let me I'm gonna decide that I'm just, I'm gonna stop driving at the end of this month, and that's going to be it. And, you know, it was scary, I guess, you know, not driving anymore after having had it for so long, I was really scared. And the reality is that I really coped really well with, um, you know, it really, it hasn't been as bad as I thought it was going to be.   Michael Hingson  25:42 How long ago was it that you gave up driving.   Heather Stone  25:45 So that was about three years ago, see how   Michael Hingson  25:49 easily we adapt. Now you're, now you're somewhat used to it, and you can get people to drive you around again.   Heather Stone  25:57 You know, I've I am working with getting more comfortable with public transportation, doing Lyft reaching out to friends, you know, I have, I have a friend who is bipolar and is on disability, and doesn't work. So I hired him to be my driver. And, you know, and it's one of my, one of my favorite concepts coming from disability studies is the concept of interdependence, which I'm sure you can relate to, um, you know, you do this, and I'll do that and we're gonna work together and we're gonna get it done.   Michael Hingson  26:41 Mahatma Gandhi once said, interdependence is and ought to be just as much the ideal of man, as is self sufficiency. And it's one of my favorite quotes, and a very accurate one that more people really ought to pay attention to.   Heather Stone  26:57 I mean, that is so so true, and so valid. Absolutely.   Michael Hingson  27:04 In reality, if we really looking at things, we're all interdependent on each other, we just like to think we're not but it doesn't work that way. And it's, it's really important that we do more, I think, to recognize the validity and value of interdependence.   Heather Stone  27:24 Yeah, I mean, I, you know, I reject independence. I reject codependence. But interdependence is a beautiful thing. And, you know, I think that was really, you know, the core of Diversity and Equity and Inclusion. We're social animals, we need each other. You know, living through this pandemic is, is improved. We need we need each other.   Michael Hingson  27:59 Yeah, and living through this pandemic? If that doesn't show us that, then we're really missing it.   Heather Stone  28:07 Absolutely. And, you   Michael Hingson  28:09 know, we look at look at the things that we've learned more and more companies are now recognizing that there is value in letting people do at least some of their work at home, better mindset, better lifestyles, and the work still gets done.   Heather Stone  28:28 Absolutely, you know, mental health matters. And, you know, the Protestant work ethic, you know, isn't as valid in 2022, you know, like, we can be a little bit more flexible in our scheduling and the way we approach work, or we should be anyway. Absolutely.   Michael Hingson  28:53 So you have a very positive view of blindness and an outlook on on life and so on who's affected you and who kind of is influenced your, your view of blindness and, and influenced the way you are?   Heather Stone  29:10 Oh, my, I mean, my parents are just so supportive of me, always encouraged me to just go after what, whatever I wanted to pursue. You know, even when other people looked at them, sideways or you no question what they were doing. I'm an incredible downhill skier. In my teenage years, my parents friends are like, are you you know, have you lost it? I still to this day, I'm a great skier. I was a varsity diver. I you know, I decided that I wanted to go to Brandeis. My parents backed me up, they made it happen. You know, so they, they never, I was never fearful you know, and it's often sort of just like, just my natural personality. And I am a very small petite person. And I'm also blind. So if I don't open my mouth and speak up, I might get bulldozed. So I'm just used to just opening my mouth and saying like it is and not being afraid. And, you know, to pursue the things that I want when I was 20, or 22, I decided that I wanted to go backpacking through Thailand. So me and my best friend who eventually became an eye surgeon, ironically enough, we went to Thailand for a month, we went backpacking, we tracked through the jungle, we slept in a hut on still, the next morning, elephants were waiting outside our, our little, you know, Fort Benning, and we rode elephants through the jungle to the next village that we were going to stay at, you know, so whatever it is that you want to do, you can do it. And all the things that I've wanted to accomplish, I've been able to find a way to do it. And, you know, like, I get in where I fit in, and I go where the, where the climate suits my clothes, you know, so if, if it's not working one way, there's about a million other ways you can try to do it. And if you shift your perspective, a lot of opportunity may open up. Um, you know, when I tell people that I don't drive anymore? Well, oh, my goodness, how do you? How do you get to the grocery store? I'm like, um, there's about a million different companies that deliver groceries at this point. I've always hated grocery shopping. So why do it? Like, you know, I haven't been he I wrote a book, I have all the skills like, what do you need to drive like, uphold a heartbeat and some decent vision? You know, like, I don't, it's not necessary. It's all a matter of perspective.   Michael Hingson  32:27 Of course, it'd be nice. If you did have an elephant to ferry around. That'd be fun.   Heather Stone  32:32 I'm not sure that that would go over in my North Shore summer, but um,   Michael Hingson  32:38 and the food and the food bill would would probably be a little tough, but that's okay.   Heather Stone  32:43 I don't, I don't think my HOA would appreciate the elephant on the property.   Michael Hingson  32:49 Help them to think in broader strokes, change, change the mindset. I agree with you, especially during the pandemic. As I love to say Instacart and Grubhub are our friends and we use them a lot. My wife drives and she uses a wheelchair, but she drives. But especially during the pandemic we have chosen not to go out for health reasons and so on, we don't go out unless we need to. We got brave last Friday, actually, for the first time and drove to Las Vegas for a concert. It's the first time my wife has been to Las Vegas since 1995. And we verify that there were probably good reasons not to want to go to Las Vegas on a regular basis. It's way too expensive and too noisy. But the Michael Buble a concert was great. Oh, that's awesome. So we we had a good time. And you know, this is the first time that we have made any major trip in well, almost three years. So it's okay. But we made that choice. And so we don't regret it. And we stay in and do the things that we need to do. And we continue to accomplish and thrive.   Heather Stone  34:11 You know, it's good to live a life where you don't feel like you have regrets. You know, and I tell this to my friend who needs more confidence to approach lady socially, you know, what's the point of sitting there and thinking about it, like, go over and say hello, you're never going to know until you try and if worst worst possible scenario she tells you to go away. And you can pat yourself on the back because you you know, had the audacity to try in the first place you tried. Exactly. Um, you know, you I think it's so important to have goals. And then not be afraid to work really hard. And a lot of people in this day and age don't might not want to, you know, put in a lot of effort. But if you do you know that I think, you know, you can succeed and you can achieve the things that you want. When I was a PhD student, and I was thinking about my dissertation, I started reading autobiographies written by people with autism. And I found them to be really, really interesting. And every time I would read a really good publication about autism, it seemed like they always came from Jessica Kingsley publishers in London. And I used to fantasize as a lowly grad student will maybe one day, I can publish a book with Jessica Kingsley publishers. So after graduating, and presenting my dissertation successfully, I revamped it, pitched it to Jessica Kingsley. And my book, girls with autism becoming women came out in 2018. So that was a dream come true. And a, you know, a goal that took a long time to accomplish. Tell us about the book,   Michael Hingson  36:31 if you would, please. Absolutely. So   Heather Stone  36:33 my book is comprised of seven autobiographies written by women with autism. I started out looking at at all autobiographies, but I had way too many. And so I whittled it down to seven American women who wrote autobiographies about their experience with autism. And, you know, look for the themes that emerged, what were What was difficult, what was helpful. And, you know, some interesting themes emerged, and your girls with autism are diagnosed far less than boys with autism. And I really wanted to bring more attention to that experience. And, you know, it's really interesting, because I always say how I like to go back and forth between academia, and, and practice. So after my book came out, I got divorced, and I had to go go to work full time. And so I got a job doing Applied Behavior Analysis therapy for children with autism. And I was hooked up with this two year old little girl. And the connection that I made with this, with this little girl is profound. And to this day, I still, I'm very involved with her with her with her family. She's a kindergartener now. But when I met her, you know, the book just came out. And I remember trying to get her to take a nap one day, and it's telling her like, I wrote the book for you, little girl. Um, and in the field of ABA, they really frown upon forming this type of relationship with a client, which is one of the many drawbacks of ABA therapy, which is another conversation, but my focus, and my interest was on this child, her family and her success. So after doing working doing ABA for two years, I left the field. And I think my, my next book could be about could be about ABA. There, it isn't all bad. But it needs a lot of attention, a lot of regulation and a lot more oversight than what is currently happening now.   Michael Hingson  39:25 We so often tend to not acknowledge it seems or recognize the validity of establishing relationships and developing trust. I mentioned I think before we started today that I have interviewed a gentleman Dr. Jani freezin. And he talks about Universal Design Learning. And specifically, we talked about how he learned to interact with students and learn And that in reality, for a while, when he first started teaching, he had a real problem, getting students to really interact with him and view him as a positive influence. And one of the reasons was, they had another teacher, they like to apparently didn't come back one year. And literally two days before school started, he began teaching the class while he was hired to teach the class. And it took a while to get students to develop a trust in him. But he validates, and in his finding, still years later, how important is in all the work that he does, that you need to develop that trust in that relationship?   Heather Stone  40:46 I think the relationship is is critical. And nothing is gonna get done without that trust without building that relationship. And, you know, unfortunately, in in the ABA industry, they miss the forest for the trees quite often. And what, you know, what is difficult for people with autism? Well, you know, socializing and communication, those are challenges. And one of the rules of ABA is that you can never eat with your client. If they're having dinner, and you're there, your job is to, you know, do therapy for the client, you may not eat. And I'm thinking, what could be more human, more social than sitting down together in eating food breaking bread? Like, what are you trying to do here? What is the goal? Well,   Michael Hingson  41:51 it shouldn't be establishing a relationship, it should be bettering all of us. And the reality is, I'll bet. If you analyze, and you probably do this, you learn as much or more from persons with autism, is they ever learned from you?   Heather Stone  42:10 Oh, absolutely. I mean, I look forward to the likes, four hours a week that I get to spend with this girl. And I enjoy it probably more than she does. Um, but, you know, I care deeply about this child and her having a successful life. And, you know, I know a little bit about it, so I can help out. And that is so much more important than this company and their guidelines and their restrictions and everything like that.   Michael Hingson  42:53 Yeah, how are things? How are things going with her?   Heather Stone  42:56 She's amazing. I am constantly in awe of this child. And it's so much fun getting her getting to see her grow up. And, you know, I knew when she was two and a half that she had language, she spoke very, very quietly, and under her breath, but I knew it was there. And I just put all priority on getting her to talk. I'm like, all the other behavioral stuff, whatever we'll deal with that later, we have this limited timeframe, where, you know, we're gonna get her talking really fluently. And her, she speaks so perfectly. Her grammar, her pronouns, all of the things that are so challenging for people with autism. Here she is in kindergarten, it's all perfect. She is in a mainstream kindergarten, she has a one on one aid. She has friends, she, she's amazing. And I get to see all these little milestones, she was asking me how to spell something. And she was holding the paper and she was holding the marker. And she asked me, How do you spell note? And I was like, Oh, isn't taking note? Yes. And she looked, she looked me right in the eye. She says, what's the first letter I say? And she looks down and she writes it. What makes eye contact again with me did it each time and I was like, I'm like, we're the experts who are who can enjoy this moment with me like this is so huge. And you know, she has friends, the has interests. She knows she's a great artist, you know, the sky's the limit for this girl. And so much of it has to do with the fact that she's got the supportive family and that she got diagnosed early. And when I first met the family, you Oh, two and a half, she had just gotten this diagnosis. And it's a lot to handle for the entire family and, and the grandmother was taking her and picking her up. And I could just, she was still upset, because grandmother was so upset, just not knowing if she was doing the right thing for her grandbaby, you know, and, and all the other therapists are trying to deal with her. And I was like, listen, I mean, you know, I was like, she just needs to be reassured that what they're doing is the right thing. And I said to her, I was like, listen, I wrote this book, I've done all this research, my research shows that the two biggest factors in having a positive outcome and achieving what you want is family support. And early diagnosis, I was like, so she's two, here you are, you care, Mazel Tov, you are doing it, you know. And if something changed in her life, something changed, because now she has the confidence. And she knew, I'm doing the right thing for this granddaughter. And able to galvanize it and rally the whole family around this girl, the whole community. And because of that, you know, fingers crossed, she can achieve what it is that she wants to achieve.   Michael Hingson  46:31 She becoming much more socially outgoing, then the good little girl,   Heather Stone  46:38 spheres always been, and this is really interesting. girls with autism are more socially motivated than boys. And I've noticed this in the literature, I've noticed that in the clinic, there are some boys with autism who will be socially motivated. You know, it's not like a rule that they're not. But every female client, I had wanted to be around other kids. And she, from the time she was three, want it to be with her friends. And that was the motivating factor. You know, what if you want to be with your friends, you know, you need to put on your shoes, and you can't hit them and you know, this stuff the other, so let's go be with your friends. And, you know, it's getting to be a higher level of friendship for her. So, um, you know, she stepped on her friend's fingers on the playground one day, and the friend said, you know, I'm not going to be friends with you anymore. And she thought that was that it was over, you know, and she was really upset that this friendship should end you know. And, like, we talked about it, and she made a note for the friend and she apologized for the front to the friend. And the friend said, you know, okay, um, so I don't want to draw this beautiful, perfect image because there are challenges and meltdown and serious setbacks. But she, she is socially motivated. Many women with autism are socially motivated. Out of the seven women in my book, all of the women who wanted to get married did except for one. And the one woman was born. She was I think, the oldest author. She was born before any sort of legislation, there was a time where she did not attend school whatsoever, because the principal just didn't want her there. And there was no Ada, there was no IDE a there was nothing so she just didn't go to school. The parents were against her in every way really just set up obstacles, she met someone at some sort of mental health, social event. And they really liked each other, and they got engaged, except their family showed up, they were at the mall on a date, their family showed up and like physically, like, took them apart. And like made every effort so that she could not get married. And you know, it just, again, it it demonstrates that if you don't have the support of your family, you know, you're you're you might be sunk.   Michael Hingson  49:34 All too unfortunate. And I think any person with a disability who has grown up with that disability has experienced some of that lack of support. And I think you're absolutely right, there is an incredible correlation between persons who feel positive about themselves and who, in fact have been successful. and the level of support and confidence that they get from their family and others around them.   Heather Stone  50:09 I mean, it, you know, being a person with a disability, you you are born into a system that was not set up for us. You know, now hopefully it's been retrofitted, and in the future, yeah, we hopefully we can move toward universal design. And, you know, we're constantly receiving messages implicit and explicit about, you know, our, our ability to belong to the system, you know, do we have a place in this system, and it is difficult to be resilient to a lot of the negative messages telling us like, you know, your square trying to fit in the circular peg. And I deal with that often. You know, in moments of anxiety, I have this overwhelming feel of wrongness, that just, you know, this is wrong, and that's wrong. And this is wrong, I come out of those moments. But you know, it with love and support. And, you know, my children and my parents and my friends and my community around me. And I tried to, you know, I try to impart some of this, to the people around me, I've, I've been your, you know, the Jewish principle of tikkun olam to bring light into the into the world. And if I can, if I can bring a little bit of light, then it's worth it.   Michael Hingson  51:51 It's a process. And unfortunately, while we're making some good progress in some ways, we're also seeing some steps backward in our modern technological world. It's amazing now, how much easier it is to make things visual, and not worry about other aspects of it. I've one of my favorite examples is television commercials, how many today may have music or other things, but there's no dialogue? So you and I can't tell what's going on on the commercials. And for me, the irony of that is that what do a lot of people do when a television show breaks for a commercial, they get up, they go get a drink, or a snack or go to the bathroom? And the commercials that aren't providing any audio information are lost on these people. So it isn't just us. Society, though, is excluding us. Intentionally or not? They are and it is something that shows up and people accept it, and there isn't that much of a hue and cry yet to deal with it.   Heather Stone  53:09 Yeah, I agree with that. 100%. And I think part of this, this mindset, and the direction we're going in, is you know, we have these virtual avatar, and you can be anyone you want. In you know, cyberspace, you can you can be whoever you want to be. And that's fun. But guess what, in real life, it doesn't work that way. No, and people talk about, oh, well, you know, I've been born in the wrong body. Well, is there anyone on this planet who feels like they were born into the body? They were meant to have? You know, like, What are you talking about? Like, I'm supposed to be six foot tall. 120 pounds, blond hair, blue eyes, like, that's what I'm supposed to be that. That's ridiculous. And the fact is that, you know, we have these biologies, we have this embodiment. And you know, you need to make peace with it. You need to become at home in the body you find yourself in, and the, the, the process for the mindset where you can just become anyone you want to be, I feel as damaging to people with disabilities, because it tells us well, if you just wanted to bad enough, you can be normal. You could be able bodied, don't you just want it and get some surgery and do this and do that. And it's setting up a really unfair precedent for us.   Michael Hingson  54:48 So here's a question. If you could get your eyesight fully restored today, would you or what are your views on that concept?   Heather Stone  54:56 Oh my gosh, that Oh, you're really cutting to the quick They're like 100% Guaranteed? Like, sure. I mean, you guarantee it, it's gonna happen. Yeah, I would. I'll do anything once.   Michael Hingson  55:16 See, listen to what you just said, though. You're not desperate to do it. People ask me the same question often? And my responses, I'm sure because it would be a new adventure. But do I need to do it? No, I do not. And because I like the person whom I happen to   Heather Stone  55:37 be. Yeah. And if you want to like the person that you are, you need to accept every part of that person. Exactly. I think when people who don't have disabilities, look at us, and are sometimes envious of our positivity, or our happiness. And then that makes them even more miserable. Because they're like, look at this GIMP or look at this, you know, crap. And they're a mess, but they're way happier than me. And I'm perfect.   Heather Stone  56:13 It's like, well, not at all. Like, maybe you are. And maybe you're, maybe you're not. This is me. And this is who I am, you know, take it away.   Michael Hingson  56:24 But do you ever get involved with or? Or do you have much knowledge about any of like, the blindness consumer organizations? Do you ever worked with him?   Heather Stone  56:35 No, I haven't. I'm just curious. One time, a long time ago, I was on a focus group with blind people for like, using a phone. But I think that was my, my greatest   Michael Hingson  56:50 Association. Yeah. Right. Because there, there are many blind people who do have a very positive outlook on on blindness and who truly believe that blindness isn't the problem, it is our misconceptions, and that we, as blind people can do, what we choose to do, and it isn't blindness that defines us. But it is still by any standard and uphill battle to get people to recognize that.   Heather Stone  57:23 Absolutely. And, you know, there's a lot of, there's a lot of stigma and prejudice and discrimination. And you know, just today I attended a Virtual Job Fair, from the state of Illinois, for people with disabilities, different state agencies that our opening open to hiring people with disabilities. And, you know, a lot of people were asking him, at what time do you disclose your disability during the interview process. And it fascinating because one of the things I do is I'm a qualitative research consultant for a company called the Exeter group. And we lead focus groups consisting of employees with disabilities of a variety of health care, hospitals, companies, organizations. And in every focus group, I do, the concept of when to disclose during the job application process is discussed. And today, they told us, they're like, don't tell anyone until you're hired.   Michael Hingson  58:38 And see, I totally object to that.   Heather Stone  58:43 And this is what they're telling, this is what the state was telling everyone like, unless you need an accommodation, don't tell anyone until until you have the job.   Michael Hingson  58:54 When I first began working well, I worked I actually worked for the National Federation of the Blind 1976 to 1978, as part of a project with Ray Kurzweil, the guy who invented the Kurzweil Reading Machine, and then I went to work for Ray. And after about a month, I was given a choice, because I was doing Human Factors kinds of work in both situations. But I was given a choice of either being laid off or going into sales and as I love to tell people, so I lowered my standards, and I went into sales. But the the, the thing I did know a lot was about how to sell professionally. So I went through a Dale Carnegie sales course. And the most important thing that I learned from that course, by far was a real simple sentence turned perceived liabilities into assets. And I believe that blindness is clearly A perceived perceived liabilities. And it's one of the greatest assets that I have available to me. And I actually use that concept in preparing some letters for resumes. And specifically talking about being blind because as a blind person, I have to sell all the time just to be able to have any chance of being competitive. So do you want to hire me who sells all the time and understands it? Or do you want to just hire somebody who sells for eight or 10 hours a day and then goes home, turn perceived liabilities into assets. So if you want to look at it from a legal standpoint, don't tell anyone until you're hired. That's great. But then what happens when you're hired, all the barriers go up. Whereas if you deal with it upfront, and create a way to deal with it in such a way that the value you bring can't be disputed? It doesn't get any better than that?   Heather Stone  1:00:59 Right. Um, but you know, there are huge challenges. And, you know, I've been able to accomplish just about everything that I set out to do in this life. But the only thing that has kind of eluded me so far is I wanted to teach at the college level. I want to be a college professor, and I feel like all doors have been shut to me. There is one blind disability studies. Academic right now. Adrienne Ashe. I'm sorry, not   Michael Hingson  1:01:41 not Adrienne. Not anymore. Georgina cleavage. Yeah.   Heather Stone  1:01:46 And she's the only one.   Michael Hingson  1:01:49 She she's not. But oh, no. There are a number of of blind people who teach at the college level. People in the past who taught at the college level, Jacobus tenBroek, who founded the National Federation of the Blind, was originally a doctor of Psychology at University of California at Berkeley. And then he was asked to start the speech department, I think he was asked to start it. But he he took it in a completely different direction. He, when it was formed, he announced or when he was hired to run it, after teaching psychology at the college level at Berkeley for some time, he told all the professors on campus, we'd love to have you join our department. But if you're going to join our department, what you'd have to agree to do is to take on a different discipline other than your main original discipline of study. Dr. Tim brick always wanted to be a constitutional law scholar. But Berkeley would not let him do that, because they said a blind person could not achieve that and couldn't possibly study to do law. So when he announced anyone can join the department, but you have to take on a different discipline other than the original one that you have your degree and what do you think he went after? And he became one of the foremost constitutional law scholars of the 40s 50s and up to the mid 60s. But there are a number of blind people teaching at the college level today. And so they're, they're out there.   Heather Stone  1:03:17 I would like to be one of them.   Michael Hingson  1:03:20 Let's let's chat more about that offline. Because we have to stop because it's been an hour. We've been having fun here. But I'd love to chat with you more about that. And what would be glad to Awesome. Well, Heather, it has been fun having you on unstoppable mindset. And we'll have to definitely have you back on when you're hired to be a college professor. But in the meantime, how can people get your book? How can they learn more about you if they want to reach out to you? How do they do that?   Heather Stone  1:03:53 Well, an easy way to start is just google me and my full name is Heather stone. WOTUS. W O D I S. My book girls with autism becoming women is available everywhere in anywhere Amazon, Google Books Barnes and Noble. I'm on all the social media platforms, so you can always reach me that way. Facebook is great. And I'm pretty pumped about responding to questions and and messages. So I look forward to hearing from people.   Michael Hingson  1:04:32 I hope people will reach out and you and I definitely will stay in touch. Great.   Heather Stone  1:04:38 Thank you so much, Michael.   Michael Hingson  1:04:40 Well, I want to thank you, Heather, for being on unstoppable mindset and all of you listening. We really appreciate you being here. Hope you enjoyed this show. And Heather is certainly as great an example as anyone about how to be unstoppable. Everyone can do it. that we all underestimate what we're capable of doing. And we need to recognize that we're probably better than we think. And I don't mean that in a negative or conceited way, but we underestimate our ability. So I hope that people will listen to this podcast and recognize that they can probably do better than they are and maybe do more meaningful things. I'd love to hear from you. Please feel free to email me, you can reach out through my email address with which is Michaelhai@accessibly.com. M I C H A E L H I at accessibe A C C E S S I B E.com. Or you're welcome to visit our podcast page, which is www dot Michael hingson h i n g s o n.com/podcast. And definitely wherever you're getting the podcast, please give us a five star rating we'd love. We'd love to hear comments, but always love the great ratings if you're willing to do that. So again, thanks very much. And Heather. Once again, thank you for being with us. Thank you. Our pleasure.   Michael Hingson  1:06:13 You have been listening to the Unstoppable Mindset podcast. Thanks for dropping by. I hope that you'll join us again next week, and in future weeks for upcoming episodes. To subscribe to our podcast and to learn about upcoming episodes, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com slash podcast. Michael Hingson is spelled m i c h a e l h i n g s o n. While you're on the site., please use the form there to recommend people who we ought to interview in upcoming editions of the show. And also, we ask you and urge you to invite your friends to join us in the future. If you know of any one or any organization needing a speaker for an event, please email me at speaker at Michael hingson.com. I appreciate it very much. To learn more about the concept of blinded by fear, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com forward slash blinded by fear and while you're there, feel free to pick up a copy of my free eBook entitled blinded by fear. The unstoppable mindset podcast is provided by access cast an initiative of accessiBe and is sponsored by accessiBe. Please visit www.accessibe.com. accessiBe is spelled a c c e s s i b e. There you can learn all about how you can make your website inclusive for all persons with disabilities and how you can help make the internet fully inclusive by 2025. Thanks again for listening. Please come back and visit us again next week.

In our last episode of the season, we are bringing the chaos and talking about the craziest books & media we've ever consumed. Tangents include Erin's deep dive into the crew's Goodread lists and our AP English-style book assignments for the break.  Instagram  |  Twitter  |  Facebook  |  TikTok  |  Other Links  ----more---- Crew's Rep Codes Dev's Litjoy Crate Code - ReadByDev10 Dev's Once Upon a Book Club Code - Dev10 Books Mentioned Babel - R.F. Kuang Mika In Real Life - Emiko Jean Live Long the Pumpkin Queen - Shea Ernshaw Paola Santiago and the Sanctuary of Shadows - Tehlor Kay The Love Hypothesis - Ali Hazelwood Steminst Novellas - Ali Hazelwood It's In His Kiss - Julia Quinn Shadowhunters - Cassandra Clare Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep - Philip K. Dick Hide and Seek - Cherry Adair Under the Dome - Stephen King Everless - Sara Holland Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn The Girl on the Train - Paula Hawkins Shutter Island - Dennis Lehane Ice Planet Barbarians - Ruby Dixon Night Circus - Erin Morgenstern The Winner's Trilogy - Marie Rutkoski The Immortal Circus - Alex R. Kahler The 5th Wave - Rick Yancey Life and Death - Stephanie Meyer Attack on Titan - Hajime Isayama Year Zero - Robert Reid Dark Side of the Moon - Sherrilyn Kenyon Devil's Night - Penelope Douglas Lobizona - Romina Garber King of Battle and Blood - Scarlett St. Clair Caraval - Stephanie Garber The World Lore: Wicked Mortals - Aaron Mahnke Carrie - Stephen King A Head Full of Ghosts - Paul Tremblay Dark Fever - Karen Marie Moning Josh and Hazel's Guide to Not Dating - Christina Lauren The Deal - Elle Kennedy Kricket Trilogy - Amy A. Bartol Beauty and the Mustache - Penny Reid The Invisible Life of Addie Larue - VE Schwab Games Mentioned Rune Factory 5 Media Mentioned Vampire Academy TV Show Bladerunner  Coneheads Mars Attack!

I’m writing this book because I want people to read it.Step 2 in the Blueprint for a book challenge only sounds easy. In Step 1, we talked about your why. For Step 2, we invite you to find your point – which is what you want your reader to feel or know or do when they are done. It’s not the same thing! If you want to get all AP English on this, we’re talking about the theme. Or from the non-fiction perspective, maybe you want to consider this your thesis—but they really come down to the same thing. Every book is, at heart, an argument for something – for a belief, a way of life, a vision of the future, a way to solve a problem, a way to make a friend, a way to lose your soul. Finding your argument (and this is something you will probably revisit, hone and clarify along the way) will help you find your book.This is the second episode in the 10-part Blueprint for a Book Series. Start with Step 1, do the work (we’ll give you an assignment every week), and in 10 weeks, you’ll have a solid foundation for a first draft or revision of your project that will help you push through to “the end”. For the details on the challenge, and to sign up for weekly encouragement, bonuses and the chance to win a blueprint critique, head to authoraccelerator.com/amwritingblueprintchallenge. YOUR ASSIGNMENTName your point. It may sound like a billboard or a bumper sticker and that’s okay. That’s what you want for this step. This is an easy assignment so use the opportunity to revisit your why from Step 1, and to revise your point as many times as you need to until it feels just right. Next week you’ll have more to do.(Note: We suggest you download a Blueprint answer workbook to keep track of your 10 assignments. That will make it easier to revise, review and come back to your work. Click to grab yours for fiction or nonfiction. If you are writing narrative memoir (a story), use the fiction workbook and assignments. If you are writing self-help/memoir, use the nonfiction workbook and assignments. Prefer paper? Tape the assignment into your journal and make a nice big heading so you know: This is Step 2. This is the page (or pages) with my point. )LINKSThe EnneagramJessica Lahey, The Addiction InoculationBecky Chambers’ The Long Way to a Small, Angry PlanetJasmine Guillory’s new Beauty and the Beast, By The BookKerry Savage book coachBlueprint for a Book (Fiction and Memoir)Blueprint for a Nonfiction BookTODAY’S COACHESDani Abernathy is an author and Author Accelerator Certified Book Coach who helps novelists write the stories they need to tell. Specializing in fantasy, soft sci-fi, and YA, Dani merges how story works with how people work, creating books that give readers the opportunity to have more empathy for themselves and others. She is a Capricorn, INFJ, and Enneagram 4 who believes that honest stories can change the world. Find more about Dani HERE.For more from KJ, subscribe to her newsletter: Read. Eat. Listen. Or grab one of her novels, In Her Boots and The Chicken Sisters, wherever books are sold. Wondering about KJ as a book coach? Her current offerings are HERE. For more from Jennie, subscribe to her weekly newsletter. Or grab one of her Blueprint books, wherever books are sold. You can learn about getting matched with an Author Accelerator book coach or becoming a book coach at authoraccelerator.com.This summer is all about starting a project, but if you already have a novel or memoir manuscript and you’re ready to go ALL IN, you’re going to want to do Author Accelerator’s Manuscript Incubator. Registration is open for the intensive, 7-month coaching opportunity that offers one-on-one support and guidance for novelists and memoirists planning to have a submission-ready project by early 2023—and includes the opportunity to have that project reviewed by a group of agents and editors when it’s ready. For more information, head to authoraccelerator.com/manuscript-incubator. This is a public episode. If you’d like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit amwriting.substack.com/subscribe

Takeru “TK” Nagayoshi was an AP English and Research teacher for seven years. In 2020 he was named Massachusetts Teacher of the Year—yet after winning the award, he decided to leave the classroom in 2021. We discuss Takeru's early school experiences in Japan and New Jersey, how he become an educator through Teach For America, the daily realities of teaching in a “turnaround school,” the amazing AP classes he offered, the Teacher of the Year nomination, pandemic burnout, and the decision to leave his teaching position. We also speak more broadly about the purpose of education, schooling's connection to societal inequities, why most reform movements don't speak to TK, how he aligns (and doesn't) with John Taylor Gatto's critiques, how Generation Z is disillusioned by adult's failure to solve collective action problems, and what kind of changes it would take to bring him back to the classroom. Takeru now works at Panorama Education (panoramaed.com) where he leads professional learning events that reach an audience of over 10,000. An education commentator and facilitator, he also leads workshops on education policy, social-emotional learning, DEI, and curriculum at the high school level. Find TK on Twitter (@tk_nagayoshi) and learn more with the following links: https://www.thisamericanlife.org/764/schools-out-forever https://www.wbur.org/radioboston/2021/10/25/massachusetts-teacher-burn-out https://commonwealthmagazine.org/opinion/as-a-teacher-i-think-its-time-to-rethink-education-accountability/

Guest Liv starts us off by singing the anthem for this episode: “she's biracial…she's a biracial girl…”  Maria, with the help of Liv and her mixed-race perspective, trace the journeys of three mixed-race characters: Ginny Miller from GINNY & GEORGIA (2021-present) Maya Ishii-Peters from PEN15 (2019-2021), and Olivia Baker from ALL AMERICAN (2018–present). From talking back to racist AP English teachers to embracing Black identity through activism to moment(s) we dub the Scary Spice Effect, these three recent teen dramas tackle all sides of growing up mixed-race in our racist ass society—and the nuances of feeling constantly caught between two cultures. For this episode, we recommend you first watch or have familiarity with GINNY & GEORGIA Season 1, streaming on Netflix; PEN15 Seasons 1-2, streaming on Hulu; and ALL AMERICAN Seasons 1-4, streaming on Netflix and the CW. FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL | instagram, tumblr, tiktok: @leftistteendrama | twitter: @leftyteendrama | website: leftistteendrama.com _ ABOUT US: MARIA DIPASQUALE (she/her; host/editor) is a Brooklyn-based union communicator and writer who watches too much TV. Follow Maria on Twitter @Maria_DiP26, IG @mdzip, and tiktok @marialovesunions. In addition to Leftist Teen Drama, Maria hosts Bodysuits For Bughead: A Riverdale Podcast | tumblr: @bodysuitsforbughead twitter: @B4B_Podcast instagram: @bodysuits4bughead OLIVIA “LIV” CHRISTIAN (she/her; recurring guest) is a writer and freelance digital marketer living in Los Angeles, CA. When she's not writing screenplays or working on ways to help her clients shine, you can find her watching teen dramas and hanging on the couch with her cat Rumble. IG: yung.scorp twitter: _yungscorp CHARLES O'LEARY (they/them; art) is, of course, a Brooklyn-based designer, artist, and dilettante. A survivor of the 2012-2016 Tumblr wars, media criticism is all they know. You can find their work at charles-oleary.com, and their silly little life on Instagram at @c.s.0.l. JEFF MCHALE (he/him; producer) is an extremely online guy who plays games, streams sometimes, and loves talking old TV. Maria and Jeff's good union cats CLARENCE and VINNY may make an appearance and/or be mentioned.  intro song: Stomping the Room by Delicate Beats All opinions shared on this show are that of individuals and do not represent the views of any organization we may be affiliated with.

It's National Poetry Month, and we've got a special episode to celebrate this brilliantly unique form of literature. Whether or not you're a fan of poetic prose, we guarantee there's something for you. First, we're taking it back to AP English with a breakdown of poetic rhythm, including Shakespeare's fav iambic pentameter, in this week's theme, How to Read and Enjoy Poetry Correctly. Then, it's on to our book... Black moments distilled into easily digestible verse, this book reminds us that literature lives outside classrooms or cringy rom-coms. It's more than "To be or not to be" a "phenomenal woman" or a "brother to the night" or the "blues in your left thigh, trying to be the funk in your right. "Poetry is more than that. Poetry is life. This everyday, mundane, extraordinary life. Poetry turns this life into a song. Today's song is DIGGING DEEP DOWN IN THOSE ROOTS Poetry of Black Hair, Culture, Resilience, Personal & Collective Trauma by Katina Horton. LET'S GET LIT!   Find Alexis and Kari online: Instagram — www.instagram.com/litsocietypod/; Twitter — twitter.com/litsocietypod; Facebook — www.facebook.com/LitSocietyPod/; and our website www.LitSocietyPod.com. Get in on the conversation by using #booksanddrama.

In this chapter of the Okie Bookcast, our focus is on the Sequoyah Book Awards and the Donna Norvell Award. The Sequoyah Awards are sponsored by the Oklahoma Library Association and are one of the oldest child-selected book awards in the country. The awards are presented at the end of March every year, so this is the perfect time to learn more about them and I've got the perfect guests to shed some light. Kirsten Walker is the Chair for the Sequoyah Administration Team for 2021-2022. She is a librarian at the Southwest Oklahoma City Library which is part of the Pioneer Library System. Kirsten has previously served on the Intermediate Sequoyah Reading Team and  was chair of the Children and Teen Services Roundtable. Molly Dettmann has served on the Intermediate and High School Sequoyah Reading Committees and served as the 2020-2021 Sequoyah Administration Committee Chair. She works as a school librarian at Norman North High School and was named her school's 2021-2022 Teacher of the Year.In our conversation we talk about the history of the Sequoyah Awards, the selection process for masterlists and winners, and get a peek behind the scenes. In keeping with the Sequoyah Awards theme, our review is from Mandi MacDonald, who is the librarian and AP English teacher at North Rock Creek High School in Shawnee, Oklahoma. Mandi is also the current chair for the Intermediate Sequoyah masterlist. She reviews the 2023 Sequoyah Intermediate Masterlist book Alone by Megan E. Freeman.Mentioned on the show:The Night Ride - J. Anderson CoatsLove In English - Maria E. AndreuLegendborn - Tracy Deonn The Inheritance Games - Jennifer BarnesThe Charm Offensive - Alice CochrunDark Rise - C.S. PacatAll Systems Red - Martha WellsHola Papi: How to Come Out in a Walmart Parking Lot and Other Life Lessons - John Paul BrammerCrying in H Mart: A Memoir - Michelle ZaunerGoosebumps Series - R.L. StineFear Street - R. L. StineLady Sherlock Series - Sherry ThomasThe Color Purple - Alice WalkerFull Circle Books Music by JuliusHConnect with J: website | Twitter | Instagram | FacebookShop the Bookcast on Bookshop.orgMusic by JuliusH

Guest Bio Maddy Dahl has been teaching online for 8 years. During her tenure, she has taught a wide range of classes from basic high school writing and grammar to AP English courses. When she isn't teaching, you can usually find her playing board games or exploring Oregon.    Episode Summary Maddy teaches us about how to create an online AP course for students, how to help students earn college credits while in high school, and provides invaluable advice to teachers just getting started on their AP journey.    Timestamps Maddy's exciting news! [2:13] How do you create high school AP courses online? [3:50] How the FCM works in an online AP class [6:40] A focus on collaboration asynchronously and synchronously [8:53] Supporting students' organization, practice, and executive functioning [9:30] All about formative assessments [11:50] Collaborate and listen [13:21] Partnering with community colleges [16:56] AP and college credit courses are rigorous but different [20:25] Maddy's advice for creating your own online AP course [22:00] Maddy's favorite teacher when she was in high school [26:29]   Resources Find Maddy Dahl at mdahl@syseducation.org How-To AP Guide FREEBIE College Credit Now (Oregon) Frontier Charter Academy College Board AP Central FCM Episode (S2 EP16)

Welcome back, study buddies! Last week, we shined a light on the deceptions of conspiracy theories and the essential role that critical thinking skills plays in distinguishing truth from myth. On this Passing Notes episode, we're continuing our discussion on conspiracy theories and critical thinking, sharing our own experiences and confrontations with conspiracies, and how dangerous they can be in a world often teeming with misinformation. What effect does this misinformation have on us? How do we discern between our own personal or collective beliefs and conspiracy? Do we actually love AP English and the critical thinking skills it taught us?! Tune in to find out! The study we're talking about today is “Maybe a free thinker but not a critical one: High conspiracy belief is associated with low critical thinking ability” by Anthony Lantian, Virginie Bagneux, Sylvain Delouvée, Nicolas Gauvrit. You can check out the study here: https://doi.org/10.1002/acp.3790 Please subscribe, rate and review our show on Apple Podcasts! Follow the show on Instagram @studybuddiespodcast Follow Taylor Collins @tlc.therapy Follow Paola Sanchez Abreu @mmm_pao Graphic designed by Monica Rae Summers Gonzalez @_monicarae_ Composed by singer/songwriter Caught in Between @caughtinbetweenct Email the show with any suggestions, comments, or feedback at studybuddiespodcast@gmail.com

We're bacccckkkkkkk. The ladies reunite to discuss dating during a parallelogram and briefly explain their absence. From men who clearly weren't in AP English to those who show exactly how little they have to offer..all you may hear is, “Criticize, Criticize, Criticize”

Marks Education Managing Director Nitin Sawney and Senior Tutor Ryan Blodgett discuss how to study for the AP English Literature exam, what resources to use, and strategies to follow to maximize your score potential.  We also talk about some differences about the 2021 AP Exam.Linkshttps://apcentral.collegeboard.org/courses/ap-english-literature-and-composition/coursehttps://markseducation.com/

BGBS 058: Kris Fry | Smartwool | It's an Experiment Kris Fry is a brand pro in love with the magic of ideation and storytelling, armed with the awareness that nothing is more powerful than a well-planned strategy. He is currently the Global Creative director at Smartwool, but has had the opportunity to lead concept, design, and experience for incredible brands like Oakley, Wheel Pros, HEAD, SCOTT Sports, Coors, Eddie Bauer, Punch Bowl Social, and The North Face. As you'll hear in the episode, Kris is fascinated by finding the connection points between consumers and branding in order to find the right brand message that inspires consumers beyond just purchase, to join a community. Our interest in where it all began lead Kris down the path of explaining a world of self-expression, liberation, and rave-style jeans—otherwise known as skateboarding culture—which was pivotal for introducing him to brand expression and has remained an underlying current of inspiration to this day. We go along with the journey that enthralled Kris with the blend of visual language and storytelling, eventually leading him to an opportunity with Smartwool that he wears proudly today. Quotes [10:07] That balance of branding and consumers and how they interact is one of the greatest sociology experiments that I just love and nerd out on and I find it fascinating, like it's an experiment—this interaction and this back and forth. Sometimes breaking out a little bit of a crystal ball and doing some guesswork, having some data to throw in there. [Those] foundational elements help guide the creative to come up with that brand-right message that just connects with people and hopefully inspires them beyond just purchase. It inspires them to join a community. [10:49] One of our main goals is to get people outside. It's not about what you do outside or how well you do it, we just think there's this beautiful inherent thing about nature. [12:02] There's just so many powerful elements that I think brands have a responsibility to really drive with consumers. I think there's a lot of brands doing some really cool stuff and activating in cool ways and opening up conversations and exposing communities to things they've never seen before. I think brands are inspiring. [14:06] I think skateboarding and finding skateboarding and that community for me, essentially changed my life and made me really recognize brands—what they stood for. And I started to kind of badge and, with the little money I had, could adopt these brands, because they meant something and they said something about me. And so I might not have recognized the power of them then, or that I would want to pursue that as a career, but art has always been a part of it. [18:17] Another thing that I've always loved about skateboarding is they always find a way to get back underground and come back out with a new look, feel that's unique to the culture in that moment, and I can't think of another sport activity or movement that has been able to do that decade over decade over decade. Resources Instagram: @kfrydesign LinkedIn: Kris Fry Kris Fry: Smartwool Website: smartwool.com Podcast Transcript Kris Fry 0:02 Every generation a parent's right is trying to just not do what their parents did them. And I think for me, I've come to a place where I haven't felt that shame in a long time. That a lot of that is who you surround yourself with and things that you do that make you happy and build confidence in who you are as a person. And that's kind of been me like I've had to find a sense of worth and confidence in myself and value in myself that you know how to use quite a bit to get out of that kind of shameful feeling. But, you know, design and art and those things, music, especially like, those are all things that I think have really helped me figure out who I am. And you know where I want to go. Marc Gutman 0:52 Podcasting from Boulder, Colorado. This is the Baby Got Backstory Podcast, where we dive into the story behind the story of today's most inspiring storytellers, creators and entrepreneurs. I like big back stories and I cannot lie. I am your host, Marc Gutman, Marc Gutman, and on today's episode of Baby got backstory. We are talking to Kris Fry, global creative director. It's Smartwool. And before we get into my conversation with Kris, if you like and enjoy the show, please take a minute or two to rate review us over at Apple podcasts or Spotify, Apple and Spotify use these ratings as part of the algorithm that determines ratings on their charts. Better yet, please recommend this show to at least one friend who you think will like it. It may be even one enemy who will like it. It's time we bring the world together over the common love of the baby got backstory podcast. Today's guest is Kris Fry global creative director at Smartwool. And I'm gonna let you know right now, we don't talk a whole lot about Smartwool. That's because Kris took the conversation in a wonderfully raw and fascinating direction. Kris has had the opportunity to lead concept design and experience for some incredible brands like Oakley, wheel pros, head, Scott sports cores, Eddie Bauer, Punchbowl, social and the North Face. He is currently the global creative director at Smartwool, which is part of the Vf Corporation. And as you'll hear, he describes himself as a freelancer, a failure startup and an agency executive. He's worked brand side agency side, and more often than not somewhere in between. Kris says in his words. I'm in love with the magic of ideation and storytelling, but also believe that nothing is more powerful than a well planned strategy. This is a brand pro and marketer after my own heart. I've known Kris for years, we've worked together in the past. And I didn't know about 95% of what he shares in this episode. In this is his story. I am here with Kris Fry, the global creative director at Smartwool. Thanks for joining us, Kris. Really appreciate it. And as we get into the episode here, like what is a global creative director, it's Smartwool. Like what does that mean? Kris Fry 3:49 Thanks for having me. Great question. Well, essentially, I am a creative director at Smartwool. So I essentially drive all of the marketing materials, marketing materials, storytelling efforts, branding, really kind of drive the purpose and values of the brand globally. As you know, our brand is mostly us focused and based, you know, we are growing in some key markets, specifically Canada, Europe, em EA. And so my job globally, is to make sure that the brand is not only consistent, but compelling in all of those regions, and work with kind of different marketing teams within the regions to kind of help them you know, keep consistent and make sure that kind of those brand values and that purpose for the brand is really driven home at every communication point. Marc Gutman 4:40 Yeah, and just so our listeners know, and I'm sure about 99.9% of them are familiar with Smartwool but in case they're not, I want you to give us a little kind of blurb on who and what Smartwool is. Kris Fry 4:55 Awesome. Yeah, so Smartwool is a apparel company. So started in the sock business, they were the first ones to make merino wool based performance socks in steamboat, Colorado. And for 26 years, they have been kind of crafting and re crafting and kind of growing into other spaces like apparel and accessories, and really kind of taking this merino wool expertise and this knitting expertise that came from socks. And then growing that across many categories, base layer, mid layer, finding every kind of which way you can twist and knit wool. Marc Gutman 5:35 Yeah, and you know, that makes me feel dated, because I remember when Smartwool was like a new novel thing, you know, and Brian, Marina Marino sport socks were like, this, this crazy new concept. And now here we are 26 laters, I haven't realized it's, it's been that long. And let's get back a little bit to this description of global creative director. Because before we move past that, I really want to define that a little more like, what's your What are your days? Like? I mean, are you sitting around? Is that the way that I like to imagine the fantasy that you're in some studio? And you're splashing paint? And you're ripping up paper? And you're, you know, mocking up things? Or is it? Is it something completely different than that? Kris Fry 6:17 Well, I'm gonna be honest, some days are like that, for sure. You know, ideating generating ideas comes from all kinds of different spots, right? Whether that be gathering inspiration from books, but my main objective is to lead a team and inspire them. And to help them solve larger brand problems. I also worked very closely with the head of global marketing, to really kind of define the strategies, that kind of, you know, the strategies that essentially kind of define only the campaign's but you know, all of the kind of go to market product stories that we're going to tell seasonally. And so I work quite a bit with the product development team, as well, as our design directors suggests who really runs kind of the product design program, she's essentially kind of my, my peer and partner in crime to really kind of, at every angle, make sure that the aesthetic of the brand is coming through storytelling, those kind of bigger product thematics, and consumer insights, how they're kind of really driven into the product, as well as into all of our marketing efforts. And then, yeah, so a day like today, you know, I'll start off with a, you know, kind of a team leadership meeting, I guess, with, you know, a group of folks that I brought on to kind of help work on the team in a different way. So writers or directors, designers, and then you know, might slide into a strategy meeting, to really kind of define how we're going to be brief certain projects, and, and then I still take a pretty hands on approach to the work. So sometimes I'm, you know, blocking out a couple hours on the calendar to, as you say, like, rip up paper, get creative, get inspired. And then yeah, sometimes, you know, it's a larger leadership things. Right now, we have some kind of fundamental brand things that we're developing, specifically around kind of identifying our design target, who they are, what motivates them, and really kind of trying to drive this idea of being consumer and digital first, for smartwatches. Right? Smartwool is a brand that has largely been wholesale driven, and just with the changes, you know, even before COVID, right, the world of wholesale is changing. And so we're trying to identify ways to really support our wholesale and specialty partners, make sure the brand and that brand love is being generated and resonated from those partners, as well as taking an active look at strategically, you know, how we, how we bring more digital activations to life so we can really grow our brand and bring, you know, new consumers to it. Marc Gutman 9:03 And so you and I have talked about this before, you've mentioned it several times, just in that last, that last reply, talking about brand and brand aesthetics, and storytelling, and so you know, that those are all topics that are near and dear to my heart, like, like, what why is it important that your almost entire focus is is on that, like, why does that matter? Kris Fry 9:23 I think there's, for me a bunch of different reasons, like I think, I don't know, I think brands have an opportunity to, to do some pretty powerful and meaningful things beyond just selling products, right? I think there's opportunity, especially with, you know, culturally, the sea change that is happening, for brands to have a point of view, right, and I think to to become more than just kind of valuable products, right, and, and stories are really kind of the key driver for the for identifying kind of those connections. points with consumers, right. But I do think it's, you know, for me, I don't know the brand, that balance of branding and consumers and how they interact, I think is like one of the greatest, like sociology experiments that I just like, love and nerd out on. And I don't know why. But I find it fascinating, right? Like, it's an experiment like this interaction and this back and forth. And sometimes breaking out a little bit of a crystal ball and doing some guesswork, having some data to throw in there that's, you know, foundational elements to help guide the creative, to come up with that brand right message that just connects with people, and hopefully inspires them beyond just purchase, right inspires them to, to join a community and for smart goals, specifically, right, it's one of our main goals is to get people outside, right? It's, it's not about what you do outside or how well you do it, we just think there's this beautiful inherent thing about nature. And our products, you know, not only provide protection, but they also provide comfort. And hopefully those things, you know, are we like to say like, our main job is essentially to ignite transformative moments for consumers, right. And that come through in product and our communication. And to me, that's why branding is important, because it sets a path and a tone that everybody can rally behind. And hopefully, our customers and consumers feel that, you know, there's nothing like throwing on a snappy new pair of socks. And you know, when you pull that toe over, and you snap that Smartwool logo over the toes, that to me is a transformative moment, right? You, you feel all of the innovation that went into the sock that you may not be able to see, you feel the power of natural materials. And, you know, that should give you this sense of you're taking really good care of your feet by making you know, this purchase from this fun loving brand. Right? So very long winded answer to your question, as usual. But I don't know, there's just so many powerful elements that I think brands have a responsibility to really drive with, with consumers. And, and I think there's a lot of brands doing some really cool stuff and activating a cool ways and opening up conversations and exposing communities the things they've never seen before. I think brands are inspiring. Marc Gutman 12:23 And I couldn't agree more. I mean, you describe yourself as nerding out on brand and the social experiment. I agree. I think it's just this incredible dance, it's always changing. It sometimes is maddening. It's so fickle. But that's what I think also keeps us coming back for more. You know, it's never it's never static. And so where did you grow up? Kris Fry 12:43 I actually grew up in Littleton Colorado, not too far from home. Yeah. Marc Gutman 12:48 Colorado native, we don't we don't encounter those very often, not just on the baby gun, podcast, but just in, in real life, except this next generation, like all our kids will be the Colorado natives. But as you're growing up there in Littleton, Colorado, I mean, did you know that you were gonna be drawn to this, this idea of branding, and even in a broader sphere, being a creative? Kris Fry 13:12 I don't think I knew about, you know, or wasn't, I wasn't really attracted to brands or branding, until maybe, I'd say high school, junior high school level, right? Like before that, you know, didn't matter. It was just whatever I could throw on and go ride my bike, and get outside. But being a creative for sure. I was always into art, and drawing and painting, you know, in junior high moment was like, I always mean, my buddies always talk about like, junior high, I feel like is used to be this defining moment where you're either going to be go down a good path, or a bad path, right, and start experimenting a little bit like that seventh to eighth grade. And I chose, you know, to try some some things in my life at that moment, right. But I was also introduced to a totally different world that took, you know, drawing and painting to another level of expression, right? music changed, art changed. And I think skateboarding and finding skateboarding and that community for me, essentially changed my life, and made me really recognize brands, what they stood for. And, you know, I started to kind of badge and, you know, with the little money I had, right could can adopt these brands, because they meant something and they said something about me. And so I might not have recognized the power of them then, or that I would want to pursue you know that as a career, but art has always been a part of it. Being creative has always been a part of it. You know, Music has always, you know, been a key part of my life. I'm a failed musician many times over, right? Like, I would love to be able to play the guitar. I've tried many times and failed, right? But it's something that's always been like a underlying current and powerful inspiration point. forever. Marc Gutman 15:01 Well, and you and I share that in common. I have multiple guitars that I've purchased throughout the years that I've, you know, that I've started playing never successfully as well. And I've got a nice little collection. So we got that going. And as well, and I don't know if this is my bias, I don't know if it's who I tend to No, but there really does seem to be this interesting thread through the creatives that have been on this show that have all have gotten to a really great point in their careers where they were really inspired and informed by skateboarding. And then, you know, in another layer of that being music, that's come up a lot, too. But I mean, what do you think it is about that skate culture that lends itself to being this this foundational, either community or just inspiration for for creatives, especially those, you know, if our generation? Kris Fry 15:57 Yeah, I mean, for me, it was this idea of self expression. And just, I don't know, being a totally unique individual, like I felt that come through with, you know, every one of my favorite skateboarders, every one of the skateboard brands, right from the artists, they chose to do the graphics to the colors to the way they treated the logos, right. And that attitude was something that me and my group of friends tried to personify in our own way, you know, everybody had, like, intentionally was, you know, trying to cut their, their own style, right, like I came up in like the early 90s version of skateboarding, which was very much like, cut off ultra baggy jeans or going to thrift stores or buying, you know, 40 size pants when I was like a 28 waist, and they're massive, but I would cut off the bell bottoms, it wasn't quite like Genco like jinko level, you know, like the rave style jeans, but there was a DIY customization like, self expression, like, thing that just was artistic and kind of weird. And, and I think that also kind of alliance of the punk rock scene and DIY spirit of carving your own way, and having a voice and not being afraid to, to express yourself at that was very liberating, right? For me. And I don't know, it was just super influential. I think part of it too, was also, you know, what the environment I grew up in. Skateboarding was this pivotal thing that happened, and I got to experience and that was mine. And that was just a very different than what I had at home. Right. It was an escape for me, too. And I think, for me, that's what it was, I know, for my group of friends at the time, right? Like, that's what it was for them to. We had our we had our own community that we made, right, we could do, and talk and be ourselves and that little bubble, and it felt like a safe space. That was our stone, which I I really, you know, think is because of skateboarding. You know, I don't know if that was ever anybody's intent that got a skateboard, but they've been reinventing it and doing it for decades, right, like, and that's another thing that I've always loved about skateboarding is they always find a way to get back underground and come back out with a new look feel that's unique to the culture in that moment, you know, and that I can't think of another sport activity, you know, or movement that has been able to do that decade over decade over a decade, you know. Marc Gutman 18:41 Yeah, neither can I. And so, then at that age, in addition to skateboarding, like how was school going for you? Were you a good student? Or did you have any sense of where you were going with yourself? Kris Fry 18:55 Not at all. I was a terrible student. Some of it by choice, some of it by Yeah, most of it by choice, right? Like, uh, I gotta pick the things in the moments that I wanted to pay attention to. And you know, in high school in high school, kind of had my core group of friends and you know, we we were all into skateboarding and we kind of did our thing and I wasn't very good at math or you know, proper English I'm still terrible with grammar thank God for copywriters. But um, you know, I think those are the things I just didn't love and appreciate and I didn't put a value set to them. But art I did write I took every photo photography class, every drawing class, and I did really well in those classes. Like my dad used to always be like, You're like a half straight A student right? Like because I get perfect grades and all the art classes and then every other thing I was failing out of but you know, that was that. It was This was like, what I glommed on to, and I loved and again, I think a lot of it just felt like a, an avenue of expression for me more than anything, right. And I had some really supportive teachers in my high school that, you know, saw some talented me and nurtured it and supported it. And I just kind of kept on this art train. And, you know, I had another very influential high school teacher. His name is Bill stout. He's, he was just a rad Dude, I had him freshman year for I forget the name of the class, but English 101 or whatever. And, and he was so cool, because he got us into creative writing, in a very cool way, right? We'd have to write in journals. And at the beginning, it was like, Oh, God, here you go first. 10 minutes of class, right? You got to write in your journal and, and Mr. style was like, super into music as well. And so he'd always put on music. But it wasn't just like, Oh, I'm gonna put on, you know, some top 40 it was like, he was he was playing Pearl Jam, when like, Pearl Jam was new. He was like, and so every kid in the class was like, Fuck, yeah, this, this is amazing, right. And he's just was this cool, dude. And he, I learned a lot from him. And I actually had a chance my senior year, the only AP class I had was AP English. And Mr. style was like, I remember you from freshman year, even though you haven't been that successful. Like, I think, you know, this would be a good class for you. And I love that class. And he changed the rules. And that's what I loved about it, too, is it wasn't about curriculum, to him, it was about my goal is to make sure that you are expanding your brain as a young man. And so he'd be like, I, I want you to do the curriculum stuff, you're gonna get graded on it, for sure. He's like, but what I really want you to do is read. And he had this deal. If you read so many pages, essentially, it would, you know, take over what you didn't do in the curriculum. And so I was like, This is amazing. And so I, I adopted reading, and he, he would, you know, do these kind of book report interview style things, but the books he was given me were insane books, like catch 22, Catcher in the Rye, you know, those kind of standard ones that are like coming of age, great stories, but then it got into like, I don't know, cosmic Bandidos and some weird shit. And then he got me into the Basketball Diaries, and just some counterculture stories that were very real and gritty and raw, like, it was super inspiring to me. And it opened my mind up to like, things I had no idea existed, you know what I mean? Like, I don't know if you've read the gym, like Basketball Diaries by Jim Carroll. But like, they made a movie of it with Leonardo DiCaprio. But if you ever get a chance, go on Amazon order the book. It's fucking astounding, like, what was happening in New York and his artistry and who Jim Carroll became like, it's just like, I don't know, it's a period piece that is just iconic and resonates with me. But I don't know, I think maybe that ultimately helped me craft this love of Art and Design and the visual language with storytelling, right like that. I would have never found that without Mr. Stout. Marc Gutman 23:18 Yeah. And so at that time, I mean, did you have a sense of what was next? I mean, were was Mr. stau. And your parents were they like, Oh, hey, like, you should go with him? Or were they saying or what was your thought were we gonna do after high school? Kris Fry 23:33 Yeah, I mean, Mr. Stout. He was the kind of guy that was like, he was kind of, like, I'll support you with whatever you want to do, right. And I really had no idea that I wanted to pursue anything and kind of the, you know, advertising marketing, branding world. And all I knew art was something I was talented at, and wanted to pursue. I, you know, I ended up, you know, wanting to go to art school. My parents on the other hand, right, like they, I come from a pretty religious, strict religious background, that I grew up as a Jehovah's Witness, essentially, until about my junior year in high school, and I decided I wanted to smoke weed and date girls and have friends outside of the church. And, you know, that didn't vibe with my parents, too well, and so, you know, by that senior year, I was a bit at odds with them. And I had found all these really cool things and was starting to figure out who I wanted to be personally right outside of the parameters that have had essentially contained me since I was, you know, a young child. And, and so I felt like art school is like my thing, and they were supportive, for sure. Right. They were glad I had chosen something. They wanted me to, you know, apply my art to the larger church group and help the church group lunch. You know, what's their goal for everything and I wanted out, I was like, I gotta get the fuck out of here. So I applied to a ton of art schools, I ended up getting accepted to a few of them, including the Alberta College of Art and Design in Calgary, and spent a summer went up there visited the campus, it was awesome. Like, I remember just being, you know, high school kid and walking through this campus and going down the stairwells, and they were filled with graffiti, and they're like, Oh, yeah, this is like, the graffiti one on one class. And I was like, Oh, fuck this, like, this is this is it, you know, I mean, and I was there with my dad. And, and he was super into it. And I had, I had gotten a scholarship to go there and international students scholarship. And so I was primed and ready. But, you know, I was also not a very I wasn't very good at the details when it came to that stuff. And so I applied, got the scholarship, and I essentially messed up my visas, and my applications for the visas. And right before I was going to go there, I was informed that I had lost my scholarship. And, and I could apply again next year for the same scholarship and they would kind of happy and right now, I was pretty heartbroken at that point. And so I don't know, do you want me to keep laughing? But yeah, I think at that moment, my biggest goals were to somehow find a way to make art as a job. And also, part two of that big goal was to get as far away from Littleton Colorado as possible, which Canada had all the right things. Marc Gutman 26:44 So we're gonna come right back to that, but I want to talk a little bit, I want to just learn a little bit more like you, you use the, the phrase or the term the description to Hovis witness. And, like, I'm sitting here thinking, like, I don't really think I know, a fish, like, I couldn't tell you, I couldn't describe that back to you. And so if you could like, like, just kind of give me the one on one, like, what is that? And and how did that affect you is in your upbringing, and I also find it interesting as you as you describe this, that, you know, you spent some time talking about describing, being involved in the skate culture and, and, and getting into music, all these things, but yet you have this other influence from from your upbringing. And so yeah, if you could just kind of give us the one on one on Jehovah's Witness and, and what it was like, for you growing up in that environment? Kris Fry 27:32 Yeah, for sure. What's the best way to describe it? It's a, it's a Christian based religion. And it's a it's a, you know, it's a pretty large and growing religion, but essentially, the way most people would know by, you know, Saturday and Sunday mornings, you hear the kind of knock on your door, and somebody is, you know, trying to get you involved in reading the Bible, or having a study group or, you know, try to kind of get you involved in that religion, right. That's the most common thing. And you've probably seen it Saturday Night Live, all kinds of, you know, any comedic effort, right. Like, that's always the, the joke around Jehovah's Witnesses. But, you know, that wasn't, you know, I grew up, I was kind of born into it, essentially, I had the opportunity to celebrate my first birthday. But one of the big belief systems that the Jehovah's Witnesses have is around making sure that all of your kind of focus and energy is around paying tribute to, to God, that includes, you know, not worshiping yourself. So there was no birthdays, all common holidays were not celebrated. And, let's see, yeah, it was it was essentially, it was cult like, in the sense, I don't want to call it that, right, because I don't really believe that. I think the people there, my dad is still participating, right? Like, they're very kind of Christian based folks. And I think that they just are very disciplined in their belief system. Right. And for a long time, you know, was at odds with my dad, because I just didn't understand it, you know, but for him, it was, it was his truth. And it didn't work out for everybody else in my family, essentially. And I was kind of the catalyst for that change. But for him, it's it's what he believes in and he loves and I've come to, you know, to terms with that, and we kind of have a agree to disagree, right. I think the the fundamentals of that religion are rooted in, you know, truly the teachings of the Bible, in the sense of kindness and taking care of your fellow man. And their approach is to try and bring as many people into that, you know, you know, into their community as possible. They do that by knocking on doors. But, you know, for me, it was always so restrictive. It was, I mean, we we would go, you know, knocking on doors Saturdays on Sundays, Sundays we'd be at church, we also would have church Tuesday evenings and Thursday evenings. And then mixed in there were, you know, Bible studies, and it was just, it was always, such as Groundhog Day, I'll just call it right. Like, it was Groundhog Day, every day. But all based on on the same ideals and the same belief system. And as I was, you know, getting into skateboarding, and all of those things, and developing friendships, right, those are all, no no's inside of the church, right, you're supposed to hang with your community, because everybody else outside of that has different views that potentially will drive you away from the church. And for me, that was always like, a weird thing. And it always, like, rubbed me the wrong way to a point that it created a created defiance in me, right. And it was a was a perfect storm of me, being at that age, and pushing back against whatever all the normal things you're supposed to push back as a teenager, but also having this like, Governor on your life, your whole life, right. And I wanted to experience life, I, I wanted to experience friendships and adventures, and art, and music and culture and skateboarding and all of these things, you know, and they were the exact opposite of what my father's house was supposed to be. And so for a majority of my high school life, I would probably say that I lived a double life, you know, I'd go to school, and I'd be one person with my friends and, and then I'd come home, and, you know, I would tamp all of that stuff down, you know, and it was hard. And I remember, you know, we'd always dress up in suits and ties on Saturdays. And that was always like, the hardest day for me to remember, because my dad would be like, Okay, well, you know, let's go get our community hours in and, and, you know, do right by the religion, and try and go knock on some doors. And it was a gut wrenching feeling for me to go into a neighborhood where I knew my friends lived, and to be there next to my dad knocking on their door. And I just remember being so anxious, right, like, just waiting, waiting for that moment where I make eye contact with somebody I knew from school. And then just thinking in my head the whole time of like, the, the teenage terrorism that was about to take place that on when I got back on Monday. And anyways, long story short, that I think that had a lot to do with. I don't know, my, my love of, you know, skateboarding and the idea of a counterculture. And the idea of breaking free. Like, I don't know, that's why I like what I do now, because it's on adulterated freedom. And I think there's power in that, you know, sorry, I just took a deep. That was great. That Marc Gutman 33:06 It must've, thank you for sharing that. I mean, it must have been really hard living with that, that secret that at any moment, like, you could get busted, I can only imagine it would even be intensified by being like, Hey, I'm this cool. Skate counterculture guy. And that's a big contrast. Right? Kris Fry 33:24 Yeah, totally. I mean, I think that was it, you know, and I was never, at that age, you know, I kind of took it to the limit, I can take it to you. Right, like, definitely identified as a skateboarder identified with a certain group of kids. But, you know, there's no way I was, you know, bleaching my hair, or no way I was, you know, getting anything pierced or, or going to, you know, a level of extremism, I guess, at that time. Um, there's just no way there's no way my I could handle the consequences that when I got back to the, to the house, and also the jig would be up, right. Like, it was one thing to wear baggy pants and a skateboard t that I picked up at BC surfing sport, that whatever had a funny character on it that, you know, my mom thought was cute. It's another thing to come in guns blazing. And, and not have, you know, a job not not my dad would ever have kicked me out. But I, you know, I grew up as you did in that generation where, you know, corporal punishment and spankings were real deal. You know what I mean? Like, at the backside of mini wooden spoons and leather belts. And at that age, like, I was just trying to find my way. And so I was trying to find the best way I could survive to a point, you know, you know, it always bubbles up at one point, right? Like the, it always comes out, you know, and it took a while, you know, until I had some real freedoms in my own right. Like I was driving, if I could, I had a job I could spend my money the way I wanted to spend it. And that's when the the That's also when cowboys from hell by Pantera was out and like, full aggression just was like, boiling inside of me. And that's where, you know, the kind of first set of my push to my own kind of set of values and freedoms really, you know, came at odds with my dad's point of view, you know, and my dad was a, he's a very kind man still is to this day, right? And I can only imagine the torture, I put him through, right, because I think he was just like, man, I just wanna, I just wanna love you. And this is why I'm doing this for you and not blasting Pantera every night when I get home, and, you know, bring girls over and smoking weed and like, sure, fucking whatever, not a proud moment, but it was my moment. But eventually, it essentially caused the collapse of, you know, my tenure as a job as witness, they have this thing in the religion where, you know, essentially, they call it being disfellowshipped. And so essentially, if you, whatever break the rules of the community, or if you're identified as somebody that is, you know, not living up to the standards of their religion, and they just associate you, which is a weird thing as a 16 year old to think about, but that was disassociated, essentially, like, you're allowed to come to the, to the church as much as you want and pray and work on being a better Christian. But nobody's allowed to talk to you can't can't convene, you're kind of the like, you know, the people, the higher ups are allowed to kind of talk to you, but it's mostly about, you know, how you're coming back to the, to the religion outside of that, like, I wasn't invited to anybody's family, barbecues or I was, I was at home, and you know, my family would go do that without me, which was fine by me at the time, to be honest. , Marc Gutman 36:57 Well it sounds a little heavy. I mean, was that was it fine? Or was there like some shame involved in that? Kris Fry 37:04 I'm sure. Yeah, I'm sure there's some deep rooted shame in me, right. But I don't know. Like, I think I've now that I'm kind of in my 40s, I feel like I have a sense of who I am and what I want to be right. I have my own kids. And I think that shame as has helped me actually, you know, hopefully not fuck them up and protect them from making sure that you know, that they don't feel that same level of shame, right? I think that's, I mean, it's probably, it's cliche to say, but it's cliche, because it's true that every generation of parents, right, is trying to just not do what their parents did to them. And I think for me, I've come to a place for, you know, I haven't felt that shame, in a long time, that a lot of that is who you surround yourself with, and things that you do that make you happy and build confidence in who you are as a person. And, and, yeah, and I think that's kind of been me, like I've, I've had to find a sense of worth and confidence in myself and value in myself that, you know, had to use quite a bit to get out of that kind of shameful feeling. But, you know, design and art and all those things, music, especially like, those are all things that I think have really helped me figure out who I am. And you know, where I want to go, you know, to me? Marc Gutman 38:35 Absolutely, again, you know, thank you so much for sharing that. I think that, you know, I was gonna say, you're worried about not fucking up your kids. It's like, Hey, you know, newsflash, we're all we're all messing up our kids. So it's how much and so we try to try to minimize that. So we're doing our best we can, but Kris Fry 38:49 At least it won't be shame that I got them up another way, but Marc Gutman 38:54 Give him a different emotion. This episode brought to you by Wildstory. Wait, isn't that your company? It is. And without the generous support of Wildstory, this show would not be possible. Brand isn't a logo or a tagline, or even your product or brand is a person's gut feeling about a product service or company. It's what people say about you when you're not in the room. Wildstory helps progressive founders and savvy marketers build purpose driven brands that connect their business goals with the customers they want to serve, so that both the business and the customer needs are met. And this results in crazy, happy, loyal customers that purchase again and again. And this is great for business. And that sounds like something you and your team might want to learn more about. Reach out @ www.wildstory.com and we'd be happy to tell you more. Now back to our show. You know, kind of coming back to Calgary. So in Alberta School of Art, you'd missed your deadline, you'd missed the scholarship. Did you end up getting to go there the following year? or What happened? Kris Fry 40:12 No, I did not. So I decided All right, cool. Well, I'll come back to Littleton and, you know, I'll get a job for the summer, and then I'll essentially reapply for school and go back to school. Well, that kind of didn't work out because I started waiting tables. And I don't know, like, if anybody's ever seen that movie waiting with Ryan Reynolds, but like, every fucking moment in that movie is 100%. accurate. And I worked in multiple restaurants. And it's literally the exact like, it's, it's so true, the characters are so true. But go watch Ryan Reynolds waiting. And that'll kind of describe the next kind of year and a half of my life, right was waiting tables. And, and then, you know, my mom happened to actually work. She was working at the energy group, back before they were owned by Omnicom. And they were essentially like, had two clients. And it was, who was it cooler, like, well, they had coolers at the time that they had, I forget another kind of client, right. But they were kind of this, you know, advertising agency that was originally built out of Coors Brewing. And then they kind of broke off and became a manager and their, their biggest client was coolers and my mom worked in the merchandising department, which is essentially like the crew that comes up with all the RAD ideas that are the giveaway stuff. So like, the inflatable couch that you got, after buying, you know, so many packs of Coors Light, like, so. My mom was like, she was really creative. And it was awesome. And, you know, this was kind of her first, I guess, like, after having kids and kids going through school like job, right. So first, like a full time corporate kind of cool job, right. And so it was cool. So my mom actually got me a job at imager. And my first job at imager is they just built a new studio that was on the back of their building. And it was kind of separate from the main hub. And so they had all the art directors, writers, and kind of conceptual people on one side of the building, count people share that building. And then the studio folks that were doing all the, you know, CG stuff and all that kind of stuff. We're in this back building. And this is my favorite thing. There was it was maybe 50 yards across the parking lot. But they had decided that it was really complicated for people to run job jackets, this will date me a little bit, but job jackets, like in the advertising world, they're these huge plastic jackets that essentially had the brief in the front sleeve. And then at this, at this time, everything was printed, right? So you'd have every round of revisions, all the notes, all the copy editing notes, and they're all bundled together in this pocket of this like giant blue. I remember them being like powder, blue folders. And so my job, they gave me a pager, which was cool at the time, they would page me. And I would call and they'd be like, hey, it's such and such art director, can you run this job jacket over the studio? And essentially, that was my job. But I ran job jackets all day back and forth between our directors and the essentially studio design team. But that's when I found it. That's when I was like, so like, I don't know, like maybe one day in between a lot of pages. I was like looking around, and I was like, wait a minute. Like, what do you guys do here? Like, what what's going on here? And, and I saw like, and met and have a lot of people that were just super cool and nice. There's a dude, Jason wedekind. I think everybody knows me. Like, these are rad dude. But he owns this print shop called gagis current design for him. Jason's like, awesome, but he he worked there. When I was there, and he was like, one of the dudes that was like, always down to just chat me up, right? Like, I'm 18 something like that. Yeah. 1718 anyways, Jason was like, cool, dude. And he was he was doing he would do freelance projects for all these up and coming breweries and be like, yo, don't tell anyone and like, I'd go to the printer and help him like, grab the whole product. Maybe now it's been so long, he's not getting fired again. So, but Jason was rad but he exposed me to this really cool world of design and at that point, it was kind of still in its in like the starting phase. Right? Like we're talking about Photoshop and illustrators, like, not very high on the version list, right? Like we're definitely far from Creative Cloud like but, you know, watching I used to just sit in his cube and other folks, you And just rap and watch them design and watch them be able to like take their drawing or their concept or their idea and mold it and sculpt it and then use type and like, build cool shit like labels and advertisements. And I was like, Damn, this is badass. I, I had found my thing. And yeah, I was still like waiting tables at night. And then like running job jackets back and forth. But it was at this kind of integer group that I really and this is back, like, when integer was still pretty small. And that was very different. It still had a bit of that Mad, Mad Men culture, right? Like it was also my biggest client was beer. And so they'd have these rad parties and like, big announcements, and it was just a bunch of really cool people. And that was kind of when it all clicked in. And I was like, I want to have a job. You know, as an art director, I want I want to do what these guys are doing. There's some really cool people that really helped me get there. Tom pounders was another dude, legendary art director in Denver. And he was like, super old school ad guy didn't really know how to use all of the computer stuff. He was drawing, right. And all of his concepts were illustrated and like, but he had really cool ideas. And I just remember sitting in his office and like, he just like blow my mind. And another dude, Matt Holly, who was like, killer designer typographers, or, like, I don't know, things. Like, there was just a ton of really good people that had no problem, helping me, Excel, teaching me the programs, showing me how things come together. I guess I was kind of like, whatever. The orphan of integer studios, right? And they would like all help me and teach me things. And it was really cool. And that's what I decided that I wanted to do. And as I kind of moved up within the studio, right, like, they asked me to start doing, you know, studio production work, which at that time, they were still doing presentations on kind of black boards, right. So my job was essentially to take the stuff out of the printer and build their presentations before they go pitch a client, right? So I got very handy with an exacto blade and a ruler and perfectly mounting all these artboards and then turned into like building mock ups. So hey, can you make us a 3d version of this, whatever? beard in dial display, right. And so I build it out of paper, and they take it to a presentation and, and then they started kind of giving me some projects to work on, like Junior art director level projects. And yeah, I did a lot of work on the zema brand, if you remember zema. Oh, yeah, totally. How could you not iconic, right. And I remember like, at that time, Shepard Fairey was like, all the rage in the skateboarding world. And I straight ripped off. Not a pixel for pixel. But I essentially have ripped off the idea of using stencils, right to create these zema out of home boards. And there was another woman there, Monique van Asch, who actually has a really cool studio in Denver now. And she was also like, so rad at like helping me but she used to give me projects to like, Hey, you want to do a flyer for this event going on? It's Coors Light sponsored, and, and she'd be like, here's your inspiration. So she'd give me these, like mini briefs for these small projects that were just fun to work on. Because it was like, oh, cool, make a, you know, five by seven flyer, and you can use any style you want. And then she critique it. And I was just a really, at that time, it was a really cool place to like, learn from these, like, really talented people that were totally open arms in teaching me anything I wanted to know. And the only Crux was, you know, I didn't have a college education. And I remember, they were like, well, you should just put your book together from all the projects that you've done over the years. And I was like, Oh, cool. So I put it together my book and I went and talked to at that time, I forget what his title was. But, you know, Chief Creative Officer, I guess it'd be the contemporary title right now. But I sat down with a gentleman and he was super cool, super positive about my work, he loved everything. And essentially, he was like, I can't hire you. You need to have you know, I think you need some formal training and you know, foundational elements of design and, and, and art theory and all these other kind of things. And I was like, Oh, shit, I was heartbroken brain so sorry, I'm just talking Marc, so you're gonna have to just tell me to shut up. Marc Gutman 49:51 Never keep going and so what happened and you go to school, or did you tell that guy to to go pound sand? Kris Fry 49:58 Well, I did tell him No, I didn't. about pounds sand I was thankful for, you know, his critique and he kind of helped me lay out a clear path. And so I pivoted from there and was like, Okay, I'm gonna go back to school. And so I had some friends that were already enrolled in Montana State University in Bozeman. And I had some family in Billings, and my cousin went to MSU. And well, essentially, like, some of my best friends from high school are there and I, you know, I, I kind of was flying by the seat of my pants, because I was like, I just need to get a college degree so that I can get a job, you know, doing this thing that I love, right. And I didn't really look too hard at the, you know, the programs that they had at MSU lucked out, and you know, they had a really awesome art program. And so I kind of enrolled and was, you know, starting to pursue a degree in Fine Arts. And it was going really well. I was living in Bozeman and taking advantage of all the cool outdoor things that Bozeman has to offer, right, like ripping Bridger bowl and riding bikes. And essentially, it was like, there was, I think there's six of us living in a three or four bedroom house and I since I was the last one to join, lived in the tuff shed, in the back of the house had a full size Malamute, and two large space heaters that got me through winters. And it was awesome because I, I built like a little loft in there and did art and worked on my stuff. And then as much as I could, you know, when snowboarding or hiking or was just outside, right, like Bozeman, at this time, Bozeman was still pretty small college town. Now it's blown up and a little bit different, but it was it was a really cool place. And then one Christmas break, I came home, and I started working over the holiday break to make some extra money. And back to integer. So the studio manager, Studer shoemakers awesome. reached out to me, I was like, like, you want to do work part time while you're home from school and like you can whatever help us with some studio projects. And I was like, Yeah, totally. And I just got super into it. I was like doing cool projects again. And like, I don't know, I really loved Bozeman, but I just like had this burning desire to just like, jump as hard and as fast as I could into learning what I wanted to do. And so I just never went back to school. I went back that summer, to see my roommates. And I essentially pack up my tuff shed. And my dad actually had a trailer so you don't meet trailer at all back. And that was like living back at home and working editor and Marc Gutman 52:55 Did they ever hire you full time there? Kris Fry 52:58 They did kind of studio production manager. And so kind of that job evolved into actual need, right? And so they had a lot more projects that they needed copying and mounting and building. And so I kind of turned it like they turned it into a job essentially, based on the needs. And at that time, they had been bought by Omnicom. I think my mom was still working the time around. Yeah, my mom was still working there. She'd been there a while. And anyways, like it was cool. I like was working in this hub of essentially, like art directors Central. And I was like, 21 Yeah, 21 I'd have to be and he was about that age, right. And so now I can actually take advantage of all those parties that I couldn't before. And I was younger. And so it's like this whole world, another whole world opened up. And then at that time, when I came back integer had landed on airwalk as a client. And Matt Holly was kind of the lead our director and then they had this new dude that had just moved to Denver named Jeffrey Bice. He moved from California and he was like this. It's hard to describe like he is just this fucking infectious, awesome, design focused. Dude from California that just like, kind of came in, it was a bit of a wrecking ball integer, right, like they were kind of developing this corporate structure. And he was this dude that was just like, like blow through barriers. He was selling these amazing campaigns for all these beer brands that were like lightyears ahead of other work that was being done. And anyways, for me, I really was just like, oh my god, Jeff, and I headed off and he asked me to do a bunch of projects for airwalk. And so I started doing a bunch of stuff for airwalk specifically on like the genetic skate brand, which is like a sub brand they had built at that time and Like, you know, Matt and Jeff kind of really encouraged me and I was really authentic to that culture and knew it really well and could help kind of bridge the gap from that, like, agency world to, to that airwalk endemic world and, and then, yeah, and then that's when I met, you know, critical characters in my life that you know, as well. And anyways, so that thing happened anyways, that relation dissolved dissolved tre, like the airwalk couldn't pay their bills to the agency, and so they essentially got fired by an agency. But that also created an opportunity. Jeff, who I mentioned before, was asked to move in house to airwalk he offered me a job and I jumped at it. And yeah, at this time, airwalk was in Genesee, and I was the kind of in house graphic designer for airwalk and started working on all kinds of fun projects that were right in my wheelhouse and passion center, right, like airwalk, you know, at that time was not the iconic brand at once was but it was definitely picking up steam. They, you know, have brought on some critical players that became, you know, critical pieces of my life from that moment on, right. Mike Artz, one of them shared mutual friend of ours, right, like arts was the snowboard marketing manager at the time. My other really good friend Randy Kleiner, who was kind of the charge of snowboard boot and board development. And so that's kind of where I started as a graphic designer was like, in this really cool, kind of fading iconic skates or skate surf snow, culture, brand lifestyle brand, right. And I was embedded in the brand world in a very cool way. Marc Gutman 56:48 Yeah, then we know that, you know, Airwalk had a little bit of an untimely demise or a sudden demise. And so, you know, after that, where'd you go? Kris Fry 56:57 Well, that, that untimely demise, I lived through that. I mean, essentially, a lot of folks unfortunately got laid off. And they essentially kept 10 of us to kind of push the business into a licensing model where they were essentially licensing The, the rights of the brand out and that's where I really kind of developed a relationship with Randy Kleiner. And from there, you know, as we're working on this licensing structure became collective licensing, which is another company which owned a ton of different brands, some snowboards a ton of different kind of Lamar snowboards. They're just buying up these really iconic action sports brands and then licensing them. But that's where I met Randy, and a few other great folks, Mark Vitaly. And Jeff Bice was still there. And at this time, we were doing a ton of like consumer insights as a licensing brand. So we're trying to identify trends that were happening in the marketplace around footwear, specifically sneakers, and so part of our job was to essentially do trend reporting. So they would fly us to Miami, San Francisco, New York, LA at this time, you know, sneaker culture was this very kind of small counter subculture that was just starting to brew, right. I remember the first time I went to New York and went to a life Rivington club, it was the small, no signage, place where you bring a doorbell somebody like flies over a curtain looks you up and down, checks your sneakers. And then they let you into this like amazingly crazy boutique selling retro Jordans. And then there were some other ones that were there like Dave's quality meats and some of the iconic kind of ones. But there was a small bud of a culture that was happening on the coasts, essentially, that we were kind of influenced by and driving some of those things that were happening on the coast into these trend reports for all of our licensees in different countries to be able to say, Hey, you know, these kind of materials, these colors, this, this tone from an advertising perspective, is going to be a hit for you as you look at the whatever spring line of product and as you design for your audience, right. So that was really cool, too, because it helped me really understand, you know, taking what consumers were doing, and how they were adopting things through products and retail, and then being able to take that and then break out a bit of a crystal ball and, and use it as a way to inform other designers on how to develop product and communications. And so from that came an idea as we kept coming back to Denver, that Denver might be ready for its own sneaker boutique. And so Randy Kleiner and I left, excuse me, airwalk and we started a little boutique here in Denver. all based around sneaker culture and marketing and design. And so we started off 10th and bannock. And it was intentionally this kind of off the beaten path, like up and coming neighborhood, in the golden triangle of Denver, and we were gonna sell a limited edition sneakers and create, essentially a culture around sneakers in Denver. That was fucking awesome. It was like the best time of my life, it was amazing. You know, it was hard. from a business standpoint, like Nike didn't even have a rep in Denver at this time, right? Like I was selling the type of sneakers that we wanted to have, and to be able to sell and to build this community around. But we have some other really cool brands. And we created this really cool cultural thing in Denver, you know, and we had really awesome friendships with like minded people, and that we're also have kind of all these small businesses. And, you know, we used to throw parties, and we used to have an art gallery out front, which was really critical kind of marketing strategy for us, right, it was this idea of, well, we're part of this first Friday movement in Denver, people are out looking at art, like, let's bring this kind of lowbrow art style, to this sneaker culture. And let's expose some of our, you know, some of the Denver artists that we love to our new store, and vice versa, the audience that is following them, well know that we're here and probably find some sneakers that they want to pick up. So we used to have these incredible art shows with, you know, some really fun, awesome artists and made some insane relationships and felt like, you know, we were contributing to a new culture in Denver. And it was probably the funnest five years of my life. Marc Gutman 1:01:59 Yeah, but it also sounds like you didn't make any money or didn't make enough money. So what happened to that business? You had to wind it down? Kris Fry 1:02:09 Yeah, I mean, we actually were successful grew the business. It was, it was good. I mean, I think, you know, for Randy and I, we were paying ourselves what we needed to survive, which is enough, because, you know, we have faith in what we're doing. And eventually, it was gonna, you know, keep getting bigger, and we opened, you know, a couple different shops in different neighborhoods of Denver, specifically, I guess, I don't know what it's called now, but essentially, where the Rambo hotel is right now. Like 32nd on walnut. Anyways, that were that Billy's hot dog is that used to be the second 400 locations were there, I don't know, five years before that neighborhood fucking blew up. But it was cool. So we opened that neighborhood, we had a hole or we opened up that shop, we had a whole different style of sneakers there. And then we ended up closing down two stores and going to build a store off 15th and plat. This whole time, we were also doing, you know, tons of design work and marketing work and consumer research work, right. So essentially, our business attracted like the most exclusive social set in the Denver community. And so we had brands that would come to us and be like, Hey, can we do some, you know, product shopping with your crew? Can we ask them, like they used essentially, as a laboratory for them to gain consumer insights based on you know, this, you know, new consumer type and this new trend in limited edition sneakers and streetwear. And it was awesome. So we're doing all these insanely fun freeing projects and had this really cool business. But yeah, I mean, the economy took a dive, right? This was when the, the, I guess the ever the whole thing kind of went out. And, you know, Denver, you know, was just a beginning marketplace for this kind of, you know, limited edition culture. And so, you know, we, you know, weren't able to convince people that they needed to buy $200 pair of shoes instead of pay their rent. And so we made a choice to kind of, kind of close it down. We, you know, at this time, I think I was about to have my second kid Sam. And, you know, we didn't have an insurance, I had no adult things in my life at all outside of my children. That was the only thing that qualified me as an adult. And so Randy, and I, you know, bittersweet Lee, you know, like, I had to kind of close her down, and I would say, you know, Randy took, took the brunt of it right as the kind of head business owner and majority owner and, you know, I thank him a lot for that. I mean, but he was also he's older than me. So, you know, as my big brother, he, whatever helped guide that situation, and I believe it or not, when took a job at imager again. 30 time around. And let's see how short Do you need me to be here? Mark? tighten it up. Marc Gutman 1:05:06 Yeah, we do need to tighten it up. Yeah, you can just kind of bring me bring me up to speed. Kris Fry 1:05:11 Alright, so here's I went to integer for eight months, didn't really love the culture didn't feel like I was fueling ideas, the way I wanted to that time, I was kind of super corporate. And so at that time, you know, I got a call from my buddy Josh wills, and Steve Whittier at factory design labs. And so they asked me to come work at factory design labs, which was awesome, I was there. Six years worked on a ton of really iconic fun brands that became kind of the foundation of my portfolio and my knowledge set, specifically, you know, in the outdoor space, you know, the north face, we did a couple little projects for vans, but my main focus was working on the Oakley account. And, you know, from there, like, I went from, you know, a senior art director to a VP, creative director, and that six year span and did some really fun iconic work with some really awesome people, you know, Scott sports, and then, you know, factory less like airwalk, he kind of went and had some issues and ended up closing down. And at that point, you know, after kind of running, running, you know, six years of laughs at factory, I was toasted, and didn't want to, you know, work necessarily in advertising. And I was going to just freelance and so I freelanced in my basement for a bit, which was rewarding, but hard, and was also kind of working with capital goods as creative director on a few accounts, and that was, you know, about eight months, and I was still so burnt out, like, what happened at factory was really shitty for me, like I had to layoff a lot of people that I cared for deeply and valued. And being put in kind of this VP, creative director role, just the stress and the amount of like, things I was exposed to, from, like the pressure standpoint, at that age, and at the same time being like, Oh, well, we didn't get enough new business or whatever, we just this other thing happened, right, like having that, at that level. For me, it was difficult. And that shame thing, this actually might be where it comes full circle is really hard for me when it came to laying off my friends. You know, like, saying goodbye to people that I really respected for all the wrong reasons, right? That wasn't their fault. And it was like a weekly thing. And it became this like thing that just like, poisoned me for a little

Audio Transcript: This media has been made available by Mosaic Boston church. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston and our neighborhood churches or donate to this ministry, please visit mosaicboston.com.Good morning welcome to Mosaic. My name is Jan, one of the pastors here at Mosaic. And if you're new or visiting, we'd love to connect with you. We do that through the connection card. Either the physical one the worship guide, or the one online. Or in the app if you fill it out, we will get in touch with you over the course of the week. That said, would you please pray with me over the preaching of God's Holy Word. Heavenly Father, we thank you that you are a good God. And you created this world to be a good place and we rejected your goodwill. We gave into the temptation of the evil one. When he doubted your goodness, he sowed the doubt in our minds.And we began to doubt your goodness. As if your commands are in place to keep us from that which is truly good, which is false. It's a lie. Jesus, we thank you that you came and you taught us that Satan comes to steal, kill and destroy. But you came to give life and give life to the fullest. And you came to dismantle the corrupt works of the evil one. And we thank You, Jesus that you came and that you took on Satan and head on. And as he tempted you over and over and over. You vanquished his temptations with the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. We thank you for doing that for us. We thank you that your substitutionary atonement on the cross was perfect. It was blameless that sacrifice was without blemish because you never gave into sinAnd we have Lord and we repent of our sin. We repent that all too often we have given into the temptations of the evil one. To find satisfaction apart from you, to find significance apart for you, success apart from you. And your Word tells us that there is nothing good apart from You. Lord, we ask for forgiveness. And we thank you for the grace that you offer to us. And we pray that you send us the Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, we thank you that you have given us the Holy Scriptures. And that we are filled with the Spirit when we are filled with the scriptures.And I pray that you show us that we can be more than conquerors in Christ no matter what temptations that the enemy brings before us. I pray that you bless our time in the Holy Scriptures. And that you give us a love for the Holy Scriptures, a desire, a longing for the Holy Scriptures. Because your Word tells us that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. We need it for our souls, for our famished souls. I pray satiate us today and we pray all this in Christ's Holy Name. Amen.Well, Happy New Year, everyone. All of our problems just disappeared. You just flipped the page, they're just gone. Unfortunately, that's not how it works. Actually feels like December 41st 2020. That's what it feels like. But we're still here, God is still on the throne. We still have a mission. He still has a Holy Spirit for us. Just to give you in a timeline what we're doing. We're going to be in the Gospel of Matthew. We started Matthew for Advent. We did that for four weeks. And we celebrated Matthew, and then we continued in Matthew three and today we're in Matthew four.We're going to continue through Matthew up until Easter. So that means we'll finish chapter four next week and then we are going to begin the Sermon on the Mount. The greatest sermon that has ever been preached. By the greatest preacher that ever preached and that was Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior, himself. Today we are in chapter 4:1-11. The title of sermon is When Satan Tempts Me. And the context is that Jesus Christ is beginning his ministry. Last week we studied, Tyler did a great job studying the text where Jesus Christ comes and he is baptized by john the baptizer. Did he need to get baptized because of his own sins? No, of course not.He was blameless, he gets baptized to identify with us and to fulfill all of righteousness. And as he is baptized with water, he's also baptized with the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit descends from heaven upon him, as if like a dove. So you see the Holy Spirit, you see the Son of God, you see the two members of the Holy Trinity. And then the third member of the Holy Trinity, which is the first member of the Holy Trinity is God the Father and He speaks and what does he say? He says, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased." These are the words that every single child longs to hear from their parents.This is my beloved I love you. This is my child, and I'm pleased with you. And God the Father speaks that to God the Son in that it shows us that's what our souls long for. That's what true satisfaction is, true success, true significance is to be a child of God by grace through faith. And when God looks at us through the work of Jesus Christ, he's pleased with us His Beloved. John Milton wrote a phenomenal work called Paradise Lost. It's considered one of the greatest epic poems in the English language. It masterfully tells the story of the fall in poetry of Adam and Eve as they're tempted by the evil one.And as they succumb to the temptation and they sin and the fall. And the darkness and the brokenness and the corruption all that's unleashed when they reject the Word of God. John Milton then followed up with a sequel, a brilliant sequel. Who knows the title, AP English anyone? The title of the sequel? It begins with paradise. Paradise not lost paradise...Found?Close, that'd be smart, oh so smart Adam. Regained, paradise regained. So if you are John Milton, and you wanted to create a sequel, beautiful poetry, etc. What story in scripture would you go to, to say this is where paradise was regained? Would you go to the beautiful Christmas story, the nativity scene where this is God and incarnate. He is here. There's angels, there's shepherds, there's the Magi, there's Joseph, there's Mary. Is that where you would go? Or would you go to Jesus beginning his ministry. Teaching the gospel, he's healing people he's feeding people, he's ministering to people. Is that where you would go? Or would you go to the gospel itself? Would you go to Gethsemane? Would you go to the cross?Would you go to Jesus suffering for our sins? Then he's laid in the tomb resurrected on the third day? Is that where you would go? That's not where John Milton went for Paradise Regained. He goes here to Matthew four. He goes here to a desert. Paradise was lost in a garden. It's regained in a desert, where Jesus goes to war against Satan. Why does he go here? Well, because ruin came in the garden. When temptation was given into. And redemption comes in the desert, where Jesus does not give into temptation. He fights tooth and nail when he's physically weakest.After being emaciated, famished for 40 days. After 40 days of fasting, this is where victory is provided. The entryway into regaining paradise in this conquest. The regaining of paradise is assured. This text is like D-day in Normandy. This is the allies in World War Two landing on the beach head. And if they take this beach head, the war is over. There's still another year of war coming. Bloodshed for another year battles to come. But if we can take this beachhead, if we can overcome evil here, victory is guaranteed. That's what Matthew four is like. So today, we're in Matthew 4:1-11. Would you look at this incredible text with me?"Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting, 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry. And the tempter came and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread." But he answered, "It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God." Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said to him, "If you are the Son of God throw yourself down, for it is written, he will command his angels concerning you. And on their hands, they shall bear you up, lest you strike your foot against the stone."And Jesus said to him again, "Again it is written, you shall not put the Lord your God to the test." Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, "All these I will give you if you fall down and worship me." And Jesus said to him, "Be gone Satan, for it is written you shall worship the Lord your God and him only shall you serve." And the devil left him and behold angels came, and we're ministering to him." This is the reading of God's Holy, inerrant, infallible, authoritative word may write these eternal truths upon our hearts.The main idea of this text is not how we overcome our temptations. Although we can glean those truths from this text. The main idea of the text is that Jesus Christ did not give into temptation, so that he could remain a sinless sacrifice for our sins, for us. Meaning when we give in to temptation and we can go to Christ who forgives us. When we ask for forgiveness, when we repent of sins because he never sinned. But we will look at Satan's top three temptations from the text. First temptation is satisfaction without God. Then he offers us success without God and third significance without God. Another way to think about this is he offers us food, wrong forbidden food.And he offers us fame, forbidden fame. And he offers us forbidden force or power. 1 John 2:16 says, "For all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh. The desires of the eyes, and the pride of life. Is not from the Father, but is from the world." The world, scripture says is under the authority of the evil one. And this is how he tempts us with the desires or hypothermia in the Greek which is lust. Lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes and pride of life. And we see all three temptations here. The first is he offers us satisfaction without God is lust of the flesh.In Matthew 4:1-4, Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, to be tempted by the devil. And after fasting for 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry and the tempter came. He's the devil. The, there's a definite article, diablas, he is the one. He is the personification of evil, he is the arch enemy of God. And there's the devil and then he's also called the tempter. That's what he does by his nature. He tempts us with things to pull us away from God. And the context is that Jesus has been baptized with the Spirit and now there's a Spiritual battle.There was a voice from heaven and now there's a voice from hell. The voice from heaven spoke love, truth, reassurance spoke once. Satan comes and he speaks over and over and over in a sinister whispered. Pulling Jesus away from God attempting to. And there was comfort now there's conflict, there was refreshment and now there's famishment. And the gall of Satan even to attempt to take to tempt Jesus Christ. He's trying to tempt the Son of God. He's so hates God, he's so hates the Holy Trinity. And he's so hates us. He wants to destroy the plan of the gospel and redemption from the very beginning. One thing I do want to say here, a lot of people when they're tempted.Oh it's Satan. Famous phrase says, "Not today, Satan. Not today." When you're tempted with like a second slice of cheesecake. That's probably not Satan, statistically speaking. Why do I say that? Because Satan is not omnipresent. He's not everywhere at the same time. His resources are limited. He's tempting Jesus here because Jesus is on his radar. Why? Because Jesus is doing the work of God. Does Satan himself tempt us? Maybe. Are you on his radar? Are you doing so much effective gospel work for God that you're on Satan's radar?If not, he'll send just his minions, his demons to come and do his work. That's first of all. Second of all, is Satan real? In past sermons, I would sit back and I would prove to you that Satan is real. How do you explain Auschwitz? It's not just people. Like the idea of we're going to put human beings in ovens. That idea is so evil. It's so diabolical. And we're going to do so systematically 6 million people. How do you explain the gulags? How do you explain all the worst parts of human history? And usually the same camp that says, I don't believe in Satan.Is actually a Satan camp that says, I believe that human beings are basically good. You can't have it both ways. If you don't believe in Satan, and then all of the evil that's ever been done is just on people. So then you have to believe in a total depravity. People are so evil that it was scare John Calvin himself. So is there evil in the world? Yes, of course. But then I don't even have to do... My new apologetic for just Satan exists is 2020. 2020 happened, yes Satan does exist. Yes, of course Satan exists. If Satan didn't exist, then Jesus Christ wouldn't need to come down to this world.Jesus Christ would not need to fulfill the commandments of God. Jesus Christ would not need to die on a cross in order to destroy the works of Satan, sin and death. But Jesus did all that. Jesus is God. He knows everything. Does Jesus know that Satan exists? Yes, of course. I saw this comedian named Sarah Silverman who was not very funny. She had this quote where, this was just recent, where she wanted to convince people that hell doesn't exist. And it was on her podcast and she gets out and she says, "For all of those listening to me who believe in hell I just want to release you from that. I promise you." she says, "I promise you this, hell does not exist. I believe it with my whole heart that hell doesn't exist."What is that based on? Am I going to base my eternity on your feelings? Just feelings. It's a faith statement based on your feelings. Yes, I do believe Satan exists. It's not based on feelings. It's based on the Son of God that came into this world as a historic figure. Lived a perfect life died on a cross and comes back on the third day. That's how Christianity started. 500 people saw Christ come back from the dead. To prove that everything he had said in all of his life was actually truth. Did Jesus believe in Satan? Yeah, he went to war against Satan. Look how crafty Satan is in the text.He waits until Jesus that is at His weakest. That's a Matthew 4:2. He waits until Jesus is potentially at His weakest, Spiritually because Jesus came from the highest high. He comes from this baptism. And Satan knows that when people at the very top they're most tempted. Scripture says, "Whoever thinks they stand be careful lest you fall." So Spiritually, Jesus at the very top. Physically, Jesus is at the very bottom. He's absolutely weakest. Matthew 4:2 said He fasted for 40 days, and 40 nights, he was hungry. Now, if you've ever fasted for an extended period of time, I'm not talking about four hours. I'm talking about days you know, after day two or three, hunger dissipates. And you don't need to eat, you feel satisfied. But then after a while, the longer you keep going at some point, your body just says I don't have enough fat stores.And hunger comes back, and it's ravenous. And it takes over you feel like... You almost feel like an animal. You can't think about anything other than food. And that's exactly where Satan catches Jesus and he comes to him. Verse three, the tempter came and said to him, "If you are the Son of God command the stones to become loaves of bread." Why does he come in with that question? What's the last thing that Jesus heard? He heard God the Father speak, "You are my beloved son." Satan comes in with a question. If, you are the Son of God. His questioning his identity. That's number one. And then he tempts him with something very basic command these stones to become loaves of bread.Aren't you the Son of God, you can do anything right? And God could Jesus do it? Of course he could do it. And as he's looking at these stones obviously, the temptation is there. Nice loaf, another nice loaf, another nice loaf Jesus could do it. My daughter asked me what's your favorite miracle in the whole Bible? I was like, you have to ask me? Canaan Galilee Jesus at a wedding. Give me all the water bottles. Give me all the water *foom, foom, foom* Cabernet, sauvignon. What kind of... Whatever you want. Pinot Grigio I'll give you that. Jesus could do that he had the power to do that. Is it a sin for him to do that? Well, apparently yes if this was a temptation. Most likely God the Father gave Jesus a job to do.Jesus you will fast for 40 days. You will fast until I tell you to stop. And it's to show that you have power over the physical body. It's to show that your desire for God is greater than your desire for food. Satan comes in and he comes in with this question. He turns the fact into a question and he makes a basis for sinful action. What do I mean? He's saying well, aren't you the Son of God? Then why you suffering? If God is a good father, and he cares for his son, why is he allowing his son to suffer? Why is he allowing his son to hunger? Sons shouldn't suffer? That's the implication here. Is that true?That's not true. God allows his children often to suffer and go through extended periods of suffering, prolonged suffering in order to strengthen us. In order to draw us near to Him in order to refine us. But Satan comes in and says well, God's not meeting your needs, maybe he's not good. Maybe he's not loving. So meet your own needs, satisfy yourself. You don't need God to... Obviously he's not he's not doing it. So satisfy yourself, get around God. And by the way, that was the very first temptation. The very first temptation was, Satan comes to Eve and says, is God good? I think God's keeping something from you. God's keeping God likeness from you.This is Genesis 3:4-5 "And the serpent said to the woman, you will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be open. And you will be like God, knowing good and evil." He's saying, God's been lying to you don't trust me. He's keeping good from you. And by the way, it always starts with physical appetites. Temptations always come with physical appetites of something that's forbidden. Might be food. But usually, it's something else, like lust. Oh, God's keeping this good thing from you. Get rid of God. You don't need God. Take, eat. I'm allowing, God's forbidding you? I'm allowing you.That's what's going on in Genesis 3:6. So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food. And that it was delight to the eyes get lust of the flesh, lust of the eyes. Here, you got to take a step back and say, how did Jesus end up in the desert? Did Jesus Himself choose to go into the desert for this fast. You see, in verse one, it says Jesus was led up by the Spirit. Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. Who led him into the desert it was the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit lead Jesus into a place where Jesus can be tempted. Does God tempt us? He does not.He does not. But he does test us. And that's what the Greek word peirasmós actually can be translate either way, temptation or testing. So something that Satan uses for temptation God uses for testing. So God the Father initiates this by the power of the Spirit, for Jesus to go to be tempted by the evil one, why? First of all, overcome Satan. But second of all, so that he can help us in our temptations. So that he can sympathize with us and that he can help us perfectly. Hebrews 2:18, "For because He Himself has suffered when tempted, He is able to help those who are being tempted." And I say this because a lot of Christians are great at repenting after they've sinned.You're tempted you give in, oh Jesus, please forgive me. Please forgive me. We need to get better at turning to Jesus before you give in. When you are tempted when in the thick of the temptation. Turn to Jesus Christ say Jesus helped me and he's able to help. Hebrews 4:15, "For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses. But one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin." Jesus was led into the desert to be tempted. This was a temptation that he could not avoid. One of the ways that we grow in the Spiritual faith is by growing in Spiritual wisdom. And one of the ways we do that is to avoid situations where we are tempted.Scripture says don't make provision for the flesh. We need to know ourselves. What causes us to be tempted? What places or situations and avoid those. We can avoid watching things that cause us to be tempted. Listening things that cause us to be tempted. Job said I made a covenant with my eyes, not to look lustfully at a girl. We can refuse places and situations of temptation. But there are some temptations that we cannot avoid. And this is a lesson here. And the lesson is that we need to know that when we're brought to a situation that can't be avoided. That God does provide a way out for us. We're taught in the Lord's Prayer to pray the following.Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. Does that mean that God will never lead you into a place of temptation? No, that's not what that means. What that means is, Lord don't lead me to a place of such temptation that I will give in 1 Corinthians 10:13, "No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man." God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability. But with the temptation, he will also provide a way of escape that you may be able to endure. Why does God lead us into ways of temptation? Number one, to strengthen our faith. Number two to destroy our pride. As you grow in the faith as you get stronger, you might begin to think, oh I've overcome this temptation. And that one, and that one, and then God surprises you.That no, we actually need God more than we think. It teaches us to wage Spiritual warfare to treasure, the help that Christ alone can give us. The other thing I want to talk about real quick here is that temptation for satisfaction, is strongest in isolation. When we are by ourselves. Why is Jesus in the wilderness by himself? Why did this occasion happen before he chose his 12 disciples, why? It's to teach us that no one else can believe for you. No one else can fight the good fight of faith for you. No one else can resist your temptations.Someone once said that who we are, who we truly are Spiritually. It's when we are alone with God, and with Satan. That's who we truly are. Moses fasted twice for 40 days. Elijah once for 40 days. Paul spent three years alone by himself in the desert in preparation. And we know that community is important. Jesus needed James, John and Peter to pray for him in the garden in Gethsemane. Pray for me pray for me He pleaded with them. And they kept falling asleep. We need others to pray for us, to hold us accountable, to spur us on. To show sympathy, understanding, share lessons of past experiences. But at the end of the day, no one can be faithful for you.No one can obey for you. No one can trust for you. No one can wage Spiritual warfare for you. We must battle our own sin. Sin of the flesh, sin of the world and sin of Satan. So yes, Christianity there's a social aspect. But yes, there's also a solitary aspect. And in our hectic lives, and with our relationships. Lives full of people, husbands, wives, children, sisters, brothers, friends, workmates, solitude's missing. And one of the reasons why we're not growing as we should be in the faith is because we don't spend enough time alone with God. Just you, God, Holy Scripture and prayer and meditating. Praying, being with God developing a conscious awareness of the presence of God.The thick presence of God. That His Spirit is in the room. His Spirit is ministering to us. Matthew 26:41, "Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The Spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." How does Jesus respond to the tempter, to this temptation? Verse four, "But He answered, It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God." He responds with the Word of God. Everything Jesus spoke was the word of God. But Jesus specifically takes verses from Deuteronomy that he's been meditating on.And he speaks it as the Word of God. Did Jesus believe that Deuteronomy was the word of God, that the Old Testament is the word of God? Yes. So why do we believe the Word of God is the word of God? Because Jesus believed the Word of God is the word of God. And what does he say? Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. This is what he's saying. As important as food is, as important as bread is carbs, very important. As important as that is to our physical nourishment. God's word is even more important for us to live. Now, do you believe that? Do you believe that with your life?Just think about how much time you spent thinking about food. I love food. I'm such a big fan of food. I have a love love relationship with food. I could spend all day thinking about food, all my favorite foods. And the way that I want to prepare them, or the way that I want someone else to prepare them. And think about how much time we think about food, meditating on food. Going to the grocery store. Coming home, packing everything in the fridge. And then cooking and then eating, enjoying it and then cleaning up. And we do that multiple times a day. Food is important. What God here says is, God's word is more important.For the life of our soul. And God's word isn't just information. It's nutrition for our soul. Do you want to be healthy as a Christian, healthy Spiritually? You need God's Word to take in God's word, study God's word, love God's word. God's word is an extension of Him. This is how we fellowship with God. When he speaks, His Word is an extension of him. When we obey his word, we obey Him, and when we trust his word, we trust him. When we love his word, we love him. John 14:23, "If anyone loves me, he will keep my word." Its power, its food. And this is how Jesus overcomes the evil one.Point two, Satan comes and tempts Jesus with success without God. And this is verses five through seven. Then the devil took him to the holy city. And setting him on the pinnacle of the temple and said to him, "If you are the Son of God, again, question, throw yourself down for it is written, he will command his angels concerning you and on their hands, they will bear you up lest you strike your foot against the stone." And Jesus said to him, "Again, it is written You shall not put the Lord your God to the test." So what's going on here? What's going on is that Satan's very intelligent, he's brilliant.He saw that Jesus quoted scripture to rebuke him with the first temptation. Satan comes in second temptation with Scripture. He comes in and quotes Psalm 91. Calvin said that Satan is a cute theologian. Jonathan Edwards said Satan was trained in the best divinity school in the universe. He comes in with a blatant misuse of Psalm 91. Psalm 91 is incredible. It says, if you trust in the Lord, if you take your refuge in Him. He will care for you provide for you, he will protect you. No matter what situations you find yourself in. Satan takes that and says, Jesus put yourself in a situation where God has to protect you by sending angels. And he tempts him actually with suicide.To takes him to the Pinnacle 300 feet up, says jump. You're the Son of God, right? So God's going to protect you. So jump down, and then the angels will come. And now all of a sudden, everyone realizes that you're amazing. You're the son of God. And now you have this incredible following of people who recognize you for who you are. You have fame. What he's offering Jesus Christ is the crown without the cross. Could Jesus have done this and gain a following? Yeah. But Jesus doesn't want a following a fans. He wants to wants a following of worshipers. And that's a completely different way. That's a completely different method.So just Satan here is enticing Jesus Christ with a defiance of God. That's why Jesus responds to verse seven, you shall not put the Lord your God to the test. Don't presume on God's goodness that God has to protect you, when you put yourself in a situation that actually contradicted his law. When you do something that he forbid. When you're attempting to force God to act. He's offering Jesus Christ success as defined by the world. How does the world define success? Fame, notoriety, money. Jesus Christ says, no that's not the path that I'm choosing. I'm not choosing the path of the crown.I'm choosing the path of the cross. 2 Timothy 3:16-17 says all scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching. For reproof, for correction for training and righteousness. That the man of God may be completely equipped for every good work. What's true success? True success isn't when people say we're successful. It's when God says well done, good and faithful servant. Enter into the joy of your master. Jesus didn't care what people thought. Jesus doesn't care about success as defined by Satan. He cares about success is defined by God.2 Peter 1:21 for no prophecy was ever produced by the will of man. But men spoke from God as they were carried along from the Holy Spirit. We need a robust definition of success in every area of life as defined by God. What does God think about my work? Is my work successful? Well, do you do your work to the glory of God not as to men, but from the heart? What does God think about my family? And what does God think about how I treat money, and generosity etc. And we look to Scripture not to Satan for definition of success.Joshua 1:8 the book of the law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night. So that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and you will have good success. And then finally, Satan tempts Jesus with significance without God. Matthew 4:8-11 again the devil took him to a very high mountain. And showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. And he said to him, all these I will give you if you fall down, and worship me. Then Jesus said to him, "Be gone Satan, for it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve."Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him. What has Jesus called the devil here? He's been the devil, he's been the tempter. What does he call him? Satan, the adversary. Satan you are the enemy, you're coming, in order to draw me away from God? First question you got to deal with here is. Does Satan have authority over the kingdoms of the world. Does Satan have authority over those in political power? Well, in some sense he has a derived sovereign authority. It's under the authority of God. But in a sense, he does have authority over the nations. Jesus calls him the prince of this world.He calls him the ruler of the kingdom of the air. St. Paul calls him the god of this age. And Satan is offering Jesus Christ a shallow political salvation. You can be king over everything under me. So fall down, and worship me. And Jesus says, no be gone, Satan. For it is written you shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve. It's fascinating Jesus could have said, no, I don't need all of that from you it's all mine anyway. He doesn't do that. And he could have said, the worship you? You should be worshiping me. He doesn't say that either. He goes to the Word of God.He goes to the very first commandment, he goes to the Holy Scripture. And he says, no you shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve. Genesis 3:5 this is what Satan tempted Adam and Eve with. For God knows that when you eat of it, your eyes will be open. And you will be like God, knowing good and evil. You can be like God, you can be ruler over your own Little Kingdom. Just don't worship God worship me. And that's what Satan wants for each one. God creates us in His own image. Satan wants to create us in his own image, where Satan doesn't obey God, he worships himself. So he offers to us, hey, you don't need to worship God, you can worship yourself.And I will give you everything that you want. And it's always a lie, and always leads to destruction. So Jesus rejects Satan with the Word of God. And what's fascinating here is, Satan said in the second temptation jump off the pinnacle. Angels will come into minister to you, he doesn't do that. And here he rejects Satan, and what happens? The angels come and they begin ministering to him. I always wondered what how do they minister? And if you study a long fast, there's a very particular way of breaking a fast. So I wonder if the... Angels obviously know that.So I wonder if there's an angel that shows up with bone broth. For like one bowl and a second bowl. You could do that for a couple days. And then you bring in some vegetables and a little rice and then finally a little meat. And you got all these angels ministering to Jesus. And it's not just angels in Mark 1:12 and 13 talks about animals. The Spirit immediately drove him into the wilderness. And he was in the wilderness 40 days, and being tempted by Satan. He was with the wild animals and the angels were ministering to him. So he wasn't completely alone. He had company with animals on all kinds of animals. And then he has angels. But the main truth of this last text is that Satan tempts us with worship.He tries to pull our heart away from worshiping God. And it's just a question of desires. What do we love more than anything else? That's what worship is. It's when our hearts begin to become attached to things or people or experiences. And they get pulled away from God and that's why we need God's word. God's word helps us discern. Well, what is it I'm loving? What is it I'm coveting? What is it I'm thinking about meditating on more than God himself? Is it money, is it career, is it a person? Is it relationships? What is it? That's why we need God's Word to do Spiritual surgery.Hebrews 4:12-13, "For the Spirit of God is living an active sharper than any two edged sword. Piercing to the division of soul and Spirit. Of joints and of marrow and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart." So as we read Holy Scripture, it's reading us. It's discerning us, it's cutting through the thoughts and tensions of the heart. And no creature is hidden from his sight. But all are naked and exposed to the eyes of him, to whom we must give an account. So as we read God's word, we need to allow God's Word to read us. What is it saying to me? What is the saying about me?Scripture says that our hearts are confused. They're anxious, they're restless, they're rash, deluded, troubled, they're broken by sin. Jeremiah 79, "The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick, who can understand it?" So we need God's Word to discern. What am I worshiping? What am I desiring? Where are the affections of my heart? Matthew 15:8-9, Jesus said, "These people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me. In vain do they worship me." Teaching his doctrines the commandments of men. So where is our worship? Is my heart connected to the heart of God? Or is it straying from the heart of God? And is my worship just lip service to God?Or is it from the heart and this is something we need to train ourselves in. To do the hard Spiritual work as we read Scripture. In 1 Timothy 4:7-8 says, "Have nothing to do with irreverence, silly myths, rather train yourself for godliness. For a while bodily training is of some value. Godliness is a value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life, and also for the life to come." So just practically, how did Jesus overcome the temptation? He knew God's word. He studied God's word. And I'm not talking about he just read Bible verses to Satan. He knew exactly the tactic that Satan was taking. He knew the idea that Satan was bringing before Jesus.And Jesus could discern the idea, and counter that idea, with ideas from the Word of God. 1 John says, "Test the Spirits to see whether they are true." So meaning test ideas to see what kind of Spirits or demons are behind them. Is this idea from God? Or is it from Satan? Satan is the master of disinformation, of false narrative of propaganda. And he comes to us with false narratives. False worldviews, and we need to know Holy Scripture so well. That we have the gift of discernment as can counter these ideas from the Word of God. So how do you do that? Honestly, the best way to do that is read your your Bible. Study Holy Scripture, make a plan to read Holy Scripture.I've never met a Spiritual person who's growing Spiritually, who does not know their Bible inside and out. And who does not read Holy Scripture in a systematic way. Not just you pick it up oh, what am I reading today? It's, I have a plan. I know exactly how many chapters a day in the Old Testament in the book of Psalms. In the Book of Proverbs in the New Testament, you need a plan. There's a million plans out there grab a plan, grab some brothers and sisters from community group read Holy Scripture together. That's important. And also whenever I start talking about reading scripture in a planned way, methodically. People are like ah, it's not very Spiritual. False, let me show you from Holy Scripture. To be Spirit filled means to be scripture filled.They're one and the same. The Holy Spirit wrote the Holy Scriptures. It's one and the same. So if you want to grow and being Spirit filled, Spirit lead, Spirit empowered. You got to be filled with the Holy Spirit. I'll tell you this, in conclusion. Ephesians 5:18 says, "Be filled with the Holy Spirit, be filled with the Spirit." It's imperative, you got to do it. But it's a passive, I can't do it. So you got to put yourself in a position where you are filled. And then you go to the parallel passage in Colossians 3:16. Instead of saying, be filled with the Spirit it says, "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly." So do you want to fill the Holy Spirit, let the word of Christ dwell in you richly. It's in you, you know it, you're studying, you're meditating upon it.And this is how we can overcome the evil one. Here at the end, I want to read Matthew 27. I'll tell you why. The fall happened where? In the garden. And then paradise was regained where? In the wilderness. But then there was another garden, and then there was another wilderness. The second garden that we see is the garden of Gethsemane. Where Jesus Christ in that garden, he goes to war with Satan again. That's why he asked his brothers Pray for me, as he's under such anxiety. That the capillaries in his face are bursting, and he's sweating blood. He's at war with Satan. And then from that garden, Jesus Christ goes to another wilderness. Outside of Jerusalem, what's that wilderness? It's Golgotha.It's where he's on the cross. And Jesus Christ goes to the cross. And finally he destroys evil. He destroys Satan for once and for all. By dying, by being buried, by being raised again. Why does he do that? He did that for all those times when we gave into our temptations. When we sinned against God. When we sought satisfaction apart from God. When we sought success or significance apart from God. When we sinned. So when we go to Jesus Christ, and we asked for forgiveness. We know we will be forgiven. How do we know that? Because he didn't come off the cross.Satan comes with the same exact temptations with which he tempted Jesus in the wilderness. He comes to him Matthew 27. And see if you don't notice them, verse 32. "And as they went out they found a man of Cyrene, Simon by name. They compelled this man to carry his cross. And when they came to a place called Golgotha, which means a place of a skull, they offered him wine to drink mixed with Gall. And when he tasted it, he would not drink it. And when they had crucified Him, they divided his garments among them by casting lots. Then they sat down and kept watch over him there. And over his head, they put the charge against him which read, "This is Jesus, the King of the Jews.""And two robbers are crucified with Him, one on the right and one on the left. And those who passed by derided him, wagging their heads and saying, "You would destroy the template and rebuild it in three days. Save yourself." If you are the Son of God, come down from the cross. So also the chief priests and the scribes and the elders mocked him saying, "He saved others, he cannot save himself. He is the king of Israel, let him come down now from the cross. And we will believe in him. He trusts and God let God deliver him now if he desires him. For he said, I am the Son of God." And the robbers who were crucified with him also reviled him in the same way.""Now, from the sixth hour, there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?." Which that is, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" And some of the bystanders hearing it said, This man is calling Elijah. And one of them at once ran and took a sponge filled it with sour wine and put on a reed and gave it to him to drink. But the other said, wait till we see whether Elijah will come to save him. And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up his Spirit.""And behold the curtains of the temple were torn in two from top to bottom. And the earth shook and the rocks were split. And the tombs were also opened. And many bodies of the saints would fallen asleep were raised and coming out of the tombs after his resurrection. He went to the holy city and appeared to many. And when the centurion those who were with him keeping watch over Jesus saw the earthquake, and what took place. They were filled with on said, "Truly, this was the son God." The reason that we know that when we come to Jesus Christ and ask for forgiveness of our sins. And he does forgive the reason we can be assured of that.It's because he didn't give into the ultimate temptations when he was hanging on the cross. To come down, and to save himself from the wrath of God that he was to bear for our sins. But Jesus went through all of that in order to save us. So if you're not a Christian, we welcome you today to turn to Jesus Christ. To turn from sin, to turn from the ways of Satan. And to turn to Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. You can do that now, with a prayer of repentance. And as we turn to Holy Communion, we remember what Jesus Christ did and what he did for us. That his body was broken, so that we can be healed and that his blood was shed so that we can be cleansed from our sin.So if you take your little cup, we welcome everyone who is a repentant believer to partake in this. If you are not a Christian, or if you are living in unrepentant sin. We ask that you refrain from this part of the service. Instead, just focus on everything you've heard. If you are a repentant believer, you're welcome to partake. On the night that Jesus Christ was betrayed, he took the bread. After breaking, he said, "This is my body broken for you. Take, eat and do this in remembrance of me." (Silence) He then proceeded to take the cup and he said, "This cup is the cup of the New Covenant, my blood was poured out for the sins of many. Take, drink and do this in remembrance of me."Holy Father, we thank you for sending your son Jesus Christ. Jesus, we thank you for bearing the penalty for our sin on the cross. After living a perfect life where you never gave in temptation. Holy Spirit, we thank you that you are with us today. Focusing our attention on the Holy One. And we do take this time to repent of sin. To repent of any time that we've given into temptation. I pray that you make us the people who fight the good fight of faith. Who take up the sword of the Spirit on daily basis. And wage war against the evil one against our sin and flesh and the sin of the world. Continue to bless us and lead us and guide us and we pray all this in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior. Amen.

Before I became a teacher, I was a kid with a book stealing habit, labeled as having a cavalier attitude towards education. All of that changed when I stepped into Mr. Miller's AP English class, Patterns in Black Literature. I tell my story and talk with Mr. Miller about the legacy and importance of Black teachers. *Note: Some names have been changed for the sake of privacy. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/abdel-shakur6/message

Guest Bio: After graduating from Lyon College with a B.A. in English, Mrs. Huff began a lifelong career in education as a high school English teacher, continuing to teach 10-12 English and AP English for fifteen years. After earning an M.S. in Curriculum and Instructional Technology, Mrs. Huff moved from instructing students to supporting educators as an Instructional Facilitator. Mrs. Huff continued her education, earning an Ed. S. in Educational Administration and moved to an administrative position, serving as Secondary Curriculum Coordinator for Batesville School District. In 2017, she and her husband, Steve, relocated from Batesville to Central Arkansas. Mrs. Huff joined the Little Rock School District to help launch the EXCEL program, a program for juniors and seniors aimed at allowing them to test-drive careers while earning college credit, industry certifications, and internships. In 2020-21 Mrs. Huff will continue coordinating the LRSD EXCEL program and will support other CTE programs in the district. About this Episode: Join CTE Specialist and Excel Coordinator, Lisa Huff, as she discusses transitions, change and taking advantage of all the opportunities within the educational system. For more information: Visit www.stillstacey.com for questions about this podcast, the host or scheduling inquiries. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/stacey-mcadoo/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/stacey-mcadoo/support

Rutledge Long is an education entrepreneur and independent school consultant in Nashville, TN. As a former AP Government and AP English teacher at a college prep boarding school, he understands the grind of SATs and APs and I'm sure that played a part...

Audio Transcript: You're listening to audio for Mosaic Boston church. If you'd like to check out more resources, learn about Mosaic Boston and our neighborhood churches, or donate to this ministry, please visit mosaicboston.com.Holy God, heavenly Father, we thank you that you are a noble God, a personal God in the sense that you want our person to relate to your person, to know who you are and you want us to know whose we are, that we are yours and we're bought with the blood of Jesus Christ. Lord, we confess even now that often we live as if we are our own. We live as if we are at the center of the universe. It's so tempting to feel like we are the center of our lives and we are not. Remind us that Lord you are the center. You are the point. You are the essence and the total of reality. And we thank you for sending your son, Jesus Christ to show us that, to show us what it means to live in obedience to you, to show us what it means to live a life of love toward you, love towards people.And Jesus, you proved your love through sacrificial offering on the cross as the propitiation for our sins. And because of your sacrifice, your death, your burial, your resurrection, you now are an advocate before the father on our account and we thank you for that. Holy spirit come down and speak to every one of us wherever we are in our spiritual journey. If there's anyone here who is not yet a Christian, not yet a child of God, I pray today convert them, shine your light into their heart and transfer them from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of your beloved son. For those who are baby Christians, I pray today Lord that you show that we are to grow in maturity. That in the beginning it feels like the father carries us in his arms, but then after a while, Lord, you want us to not just trust in our feelings of you but the trust in the truth of you and stop thinking that you exist for us, but that we are called to serve, serve you and serve others.For those who are young men and women in the faith, I pray show us that there is a battle before us and that we are strong and strengthened when we abide in the word of God and when he abides in us. And for those who are more mature in the faith, I pray show us that you call us to be fathers and mothers to those who are younger in the faith, to care for their needs, to provide guidance in wisdom and discernment and encouragement and correction. I pray Holy spirit, bless our time, the Holy word, and we pray all this in Jesus name. Amen.Wilbur Reese wrote a poem not too long ago about how often we come to God just to get something from him and then we leave. It goes like this. I would like to buy $3 worth of God please. Not enough to explode soul or disturb my sleep, but just enough to equal a cup of warm milk or a snooze in the sunshine. I don't want enough of him to make me love a black man or pick beets with a migrant worker, I want ecstasy, not transformation. I want the warmth of the womb, not a new birth. I want a pound of the eternal in a paper sack. I would like to buy three pounds of God please. And I start with that because often in our culture, when people think of the divine, they think of something that leads to excitement, that leads to some kind of spiritual experience, leads to some kind of enhancement. And when people hear that you go to church or that you're a Christian, they say, "Oh, that's nice." You get your spiritual fix at church. You get your enhancement for life there.I get my spiritual fix at yoga or soul cycle or hiking or smoking weed or et cetera. You get your ecstasy there, I get my ecstasy here. And the assumption behind that that our culture has accepted wholesale is that the divine exists for us. Therefore, the divine does not obligate anything from us. And often people approach Christianity with that cultural lens and they think, yes, I'm going to come to Jesus, receive everything that he can offer me and he doesn't obligate anything of me. I can go and live as I want. But 1 John writes and he says, no, if you met Jesus, you can't but grow in him. You can't but become Christ like. You can't but submit to the father's will and serve others because that's exactly what Jesus did. We're in a series that we're calling meno. The word meno is the Greek word that's used over and over and over in 1 John, it means to abide, to remain in, to be connected to, rooted in.And as we're rooted in Christ, dear Christian, what happens is that changes our lives, it can't not. That our profession of faith begins to shape our practice, that our beliefs begin to shape our behavior, that our saying needs to impact our doing. And what 1 John, the apostle John is, he has this question before us and he says, "Look, obviously there's a chasm between your belief and your behavior when you come to the Lord." But is that chasm getting shorter? Is that chasm being bridged? If not, if there is no growth, that's probably a sign that there was no life, that there was no regeneration. So we need to ask ourselves, are we truly in the faith? Why does he do this? Because globally and historically, most of confessing Christians were nominal only, in name only. Today if you look at the stats, over 2 billion people are Christians and saint John writes to us to make sure that we truly are, that we test our faith.And Jesus talked about this often. In the greatest sermon ever preached a sermon on the mount, Jesus concludes that sermon with a warning and he said, "In the last day at the judgment, many will come to me stand before me." Jesus says, "And they will say, Lord, Lord, did we not do incredible things in your name?" And Jesus says, "Depart from me for I never knew you." He tells us parables of the 10 virgins, half of them are outside of the feast. The door shut in their face. They thought they were in the faith, they were not. Saint Paul writes and says, examine yourselves to ensure that you are in the faith. So perhaps you're a Christian. You're struggling with the assurance of your salvation. Am I a Christian? Well, this book is for you. Or perhaps you've always thought of yourself a Christian because that's your heritage, that's your family because the part of the country that you're from believes that or the country you're from.And he says, "You need to test your faith to see that it's genuine because this is the most important question before us. Are you a Christian? Are you a child of God? Have you been reconciled with God?" This is the big idea of the text. One of the things I will say about this book is that saint John, the apostle John style is radically different than saint Paul's style of writing. Saint Paul is a philosopher. He thinks very linearly. You can write three point sermons from saint Paul's writings and it's all very clear cut. Yes, and a lot of us, that's how we think. So that's why we're drawn to saint Paul's writing. John does not write like a philosopher. John writes like a musician. He writes like a songwriter, like a lyricist. Therefore, so he gives you an idea and then he gives you another idea and it goes back to the first idea and then gives you a third idea.And until you understand his style of writing, you're going to have a hard time understanding what it means. You understand the words, you don't understand what he's talking about. And like when you listen to a song and it's repetitive, you're not like, "Oh, we got to cut that out." Songs aren't AP English essays. Songs are meant to be sticky, to inspire the imagination center. That's how John writes. His style is called amplification, where he gives you a point and then he hits it louder and louder. And in order to make it more and more emphatic. And the big idea is, I want you to know that you are gods, that you belong to God. You do that by growing in Christ's likeness. And he gives us a triad of Christ's likeness. How do I know that I'm growing in Christ?Do you know him doctrinally? Do you know the trues about him? About the death, burial, resurrection of Christ, what he taught, what he's about. Do you know him? Doctrinal? Do you obey him? That's the moral test. And then do you love him? That's the relational test. Do you know? Do you obey? Do you love doctrinal moral and relational and they're all interconnected. They're all tightly wound together. What does it mean to know Jesus? You obey Jesus. What does it mean to obey Jesus? You love Jesus. What does it mean to love Jesus? You know Jesus, et cetera, et cetera. So that's a word about his style. Today we are in 1 John 2:1-17. Here in the beginning, I'm going to read the first six verses and we'll get to the rest in the sermon. "My little children, I'm writing these things to you so that you may not sin, but if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. And by this we know that we have come to know him if we keep his commandments. Whoever says, 'I know him,' but does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him. But whoever keeps his word in him truly the love of God is perfected. By this we may know that we are in him. Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked." This is the reading of God's Holy, inerrant, infallible, authoritative word. May he write these eternal truths upon our hearts. The question before is how do you know that you know God? And the four points are you obey, you love, you grow and you deny.First you obey. We'll start with verse two and verse two saint John says that, "Jesus is the propitiation for our sins, not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world." He doesn't start with our obedience because that's not how we are made righteous before God. That's not how we are accepted with God. We don't earn our salvation. It's not. We follow the rules, we obey and therefore we accept that it's Jesus has obeyed, followed the rules, and because of his sacrifice, we can be accepted. That's where he starts. It's not about our obedience, it's about Christ. He uses the word propitiation in the Greek. It's hilasmos. It's a multidimensional word. The first dimension is a claim against you has been satisfied. A claim against you has been satisfied. That's propitiation. And what he's talking about is that there's a claim against us before God, that when God looks at us, he looks at us as sinners and there's evil in our hearts and God being a just God cannot but have a claim against our sin.He says, "A claim has been satisfied." And you can understand this from a legal ... You get an accident, someone's got a claim against you. Recently this past August, I was in Philadelphia doing some doctoral studies. I went to visit a pastor at 10th Presbyterian church in downtown Philadelphia. And if you think the parking laws in Boston are terrible, so much worse than Philadelphia. You need, honestly, it's one of these signs where it's like 12 signs on one post and you need a law degree in contract law to exegete what's going on. So I parked my car. I went to a seminary, I studied exegesis, I exegeted that okay, I understand. Okay, I go to the station, I pay for two hours, $8 and I'd take the ticket and I bring it back to my car and then I go meet with the pastor. I come back to the car, orange ticket on my windshield. It's like, what is going on? No, not fair, injustice and I appealed.So I sent them, I went online, I send them a picture of my little parking ticket and a picture of my car and I thought I was set. It's $51 right? If it was less than, maybe I wouldn't go. Finally like end of November, I get a letter from them. Your appeal has been denied. Legalists. And then they're like, "You got to go online. Here's your number, you type it in and we'll tell you why you got denied." And I go online and they have a picture of my card, not the picture that I sent in. They have a picture of my car that the person, the parking attendant took. And the picture showed that my bumper was in the loading zone. Six inches my bumper is in the loading zone. It was $51, $4 for the credit card fee, $55. And at that moment I'm like, "My goodness, I got 2007 Toyota Highlander. My bumper's not worth $55. Can I just send that in? Can we just trade it out?" And as I'm going through this, I'm fuming. My wife walks in and she's like, "What's that? And I was like, "It's the ticket."And she's like, "Why don't you tell me about it?" I was like, "It wasn't going to bless your soul. I didn't want to get into ..." So I paid that. Why claim against me and the claim would only grow. That's the word. The propitiation was I paid for this ticket. Now what he's saying is he's not talking about we can pay God, that we can supplicate God, mollify God, appease God, we can't do anything in and of ourselves because what is the penalty? What do we owe God? What's the claim that we have against God? Well, we sinned against an infinite God, an infinitely glorious God, an infinitely honorable God, and the penalty for that sin for dishonoring an infinite being is an infinite penalty. We can't pay that in and of ourselves. Now, a lot of people have a problem with God's wrath in that they say, "Well, is this making God out to be capricious or arbitrary? Does he lose his temper? No, this is anthropomorphic language.From our perspective, we're using human language to talk about God. Obviously it doesn't communicate everything when you communicate. So when God has wrath toward our sin, it's not a sinful anger. It's a just anger. He's not irate, irritable or irascible. God's wrath is his holiness and his justice in action. He is righteously set against evil. Cruelty is immoral, justice is not. So when God has wrath against our sin it's because of his justice. And to get rid of God's wrath is to get rid of justice. And just a thought, just imagine this world without justice. We long for justice when we see the terrible injustices on a weekly basis that happen in the world, that happen in our world. What's shocking is not that God is a God who has wrath. He's angry about our sin. You've got to keep going to get the full view, to understand the full reality of the person of God. It's not shocking that he's angry at sin.What's shocking is that God takes the initiative to placate that that wrath. God's not demanding that we somehow pay that price. He knows we can't, so God volunteers to satisfy God's wrath. God the son volunteers to satisfy the wrath of God, to absorb the wrath of God, to pay for the wrath of God with his sacrifice on the ... that's the most shocking part of Christianity. And why did he do it? What was he motivated by? He was motivated by his love for us. 1 John 4:10, "And this is love. Not that we have sinned, but that he loved us ... And this is love, not that we have loved God, but that he loved us and sent his son to be the propitiation for our sins." So he doesn't look down on us and see how loving we are. It's he's motivated by our love when we wanted nothing to do with him. When we were living as if we were our own, when we're living as if God didn't exist, living lives of cosmic plagiarism thinking that everything we have is ours.Nothing remotely like this exists in any other religion or any other philosophy. Yes, it's propitiation to be sure, but nothing like the world has ever seen before. Augustus Toplady he wrote this couplet to encapsulate this idea. He says be mindful of Jesus and me. My pardon he suffered to buy and what he procured on the tree, on the cross. For me he demands in the sky. He demands it and he procures it. He's just, and the justifier. This is the beauty of the gospel of Jesus Christ. The claim against you has been satisfied if you just ask for it. If you just ask for forgiveness and you repent of your sins and on that cross, every ounce of the penalty that we deserve for our sin was poured out in the wrath of God on Jesus Christ.This is why the cross was so gruesome, so gross and so gory because that's our sin in the sight of God. The gospel requires that we believe two really difficult things at the same time. The first is that you are so bad that Jesus had to die for you, and that Jesus is so good that he was glad to do it because of his love. 1 John 2:2 he says, "Jesus is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world." And just one comment here, because this verse has been misinterpreted to justify a lot of false theology including Unitarian theology. This does not mean that everyone's sin has been expunged at the cross. That's not what he's saying because in the same letter, the apostle John actually says that there are those who are still in their sin and they need to be saved from those sins.What's he talking about? He says that anybody, anybody, no matter what you've done, no matter where you're from, no matter who you are, anybody, the moment you repent of your sins and you believe that you accept Jesus' propitiation for your sins, that you can be saved. His sacrifice is sufficient for all but efficient for those who believe and repent. Sufficient for all, efficient for some. 1 John 2:1, "My little children, I'm writing these things to you so that you may not sin, but if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the father, Jesus Christ, the righteous." And he uses the word advocate here. And in the Greek it's parakletos power clay toss. It's used of Jesus only in this text. It's a word that Jesus often uses.John 14, 15 and 16 he describes the Holy spirit with this word. He said, "I will send you another parakletos, another advocate, the great comforter, the great helper, that's the Holy spirit. By another he means that he is the first advocate. In this context it means a helper, especially if you're guilty in court. So the image that John is giving us is God the father is a judge and we are guilty before him. Jesus comes in and he begins to advocate for he is our just lawyer. And what is the plea? It's not not guilty. That's not the plea that he offers, he enters a guilty plea. We are guilty. But then he says, "But father, you can't hold yon sin against him because I've already paid for it." This is how he's advocating. I've already paid for your sin. He's standing before the father and he's advocating, and how do we get Jesus to be our advocate?First John 1:9 says, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." That we are his because of the sacrifice of Christ and because of his advocacy for us we're with him. I was at a conference with pastor Shane and pastor Andy we went to this preachers conference, gospel coalition, held this conference in Indianapolis last year. And whenever you have these conferences, they give you a lanyard. In the beginning they're like, "Here's your lanyard, you register, you paid, now you have to wear this lanyard everywhere." And the lanyard is a little badge with your name on it. And I don't like legalism and I don't like manmade rules. And I was like, "That's dumb. I'm not wearing this."So I intentionally forgot it in the hotel room. The next day we come in and it was the best session, the keynote speaker, I forgot already, it wasn't that memorable. So we go there and I forget the lanyard. So I'm with pastor Shane and pastor Andy, and we walk in and the security guard lets them through and says, "You can't go in." I was like, "What? This is a Christian conference. You don't believe in grace?" He was like, "No." And then he's like, "No, this is really important. We can't let you in." And I was like, "What do I do?""You need a lanyard." So I go to the front desk and the front desk I tell him the whole ... I explained the whole thing. They pull up my name. Yeah, you paid okay. I was like, "Can you help me?" They're like, "No." I'm like, "Why not? Do you need a lanyard?"They said, "You need to buy a new lanyard." And I was like, "How much?" They said, "$5.""No, I'm not doing it." Why? Because I'd be a bad steward of God's money. Not doing it. Nickel, you Pharisees. Then I go back and I'm like, "I'm just going to sit by the door and livestream listen on my phone." And I'm sitting there and Andy Davis, Andrew Davis walks by. Andrew Davis is a great friend of the church. He's a pastor at FVC Durham. Incredible, incredible guy. Over 30 books of the Bible memorized, written a lot of books. He comes and he's like, "Young, what are you doing?" I was like, "They won't let me in.""How come?""No lanyard." Okay. He's like, "Don't worry about it. Come with me." Walks right up to the same security guard, the same person. And he just, "Hey, how are you?" And just keeps walking. And then the guy's like, "No, no, no. He can't come in."And pastor Andy says, "Don't worry about it. He's with me." And I was like, "I told you, Ferris." It's all to say that's kind of like what it means to have Jesus Christ as your advocate. He's done everything. All you have to do is be with him. That's what meno means. And that's how we're reconciled with God. And he writes, why is John writing about propitiation? Why is he writing about advocacy? So that our sins are forgiven and that Jesus advocates for us, and then we can live any way that we want? No. If you truly understood grace, you won't pervert grace. It's not a cheap grace. You don't use the grace as a justification to continue sinning. So he says in 1 John 2:1, "My little children, why am I writing this? I'm writing these things to you so that you may not sin." What's he saying? Obedience leads to grace. No, it's grace that leads to obedience.If you've understood what Jesus Christ has done for you on the cross, what it cost him, how much it cost him, how much he loves you, you can't but want to delight him, live for him. That's why he says verse three, "And by this we know that we have come to know him. This is the test. If we keep his commandments, whoever says, 'I know him,' but does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him." It doesn't matter what you say by your confession. What does your life say about your confession? That's what he's saying, "But whoever keeps his word in him, truly the love of God is perfected, and by this we may know that we are in him. Whoever says he abides in him ought to walk in the same way in which he walked."As you grow in the faith, you walk with Christ, the chasm between belief and behavior is to be bridged, it can't but be bridged. You have a new heart, new desires, new affection, which leads to new fruit. One objection that arises here is, but if I sin, does that mean that I'm not a christian? And this is something that I wrestle with, this is something most likely you've wrestled with, every serious christian has. And I just want to point out the context says, "Yes, I'm writing so that you don't sin if you do sin, Jesus is a our propitiation. He is our advocate." Don't forget that one of the commandments that we are to keep is repent of your sins. On a daily basis the christian is to repent. And as we grow in the faith, we realize that we have more and more to repent of. It's a daily practice, confess and repent. And also obedience doesn't mean perfect obedience.Saint Paul writes in Romans 7, "As a believer, the things I want to do, I can't do, the things I don't want to do, I do. It's always this battle between the true self and the shadow self. Scripture divides all of humanity into two categories. The righteous and the unrighteous. David was righteous and he was an adulterer and a murder. Moses was righteous. He was a murder and also disobeyed God and wasn't allowed in the promised land. Peter was righteous but betrayed the Lord at the worst possible moment. Paul was righteous but despaired of his continuing sinfulness. So righteousness biblically is position. We are in Christ by grace through faith. He robes us in his sanctified robes of purity, the clothing of holiness. And then what happens is the fundamental commitment of your life, the root direction of your life, the truest characteristic of your life is to grow in obedience.Do we do it perfectly? No. When a Christian sins, you have remember the Holy spirit convicts so much so you beg God, please take this sinful desire away from me. Any true Christian, if you're awakened in the middle of the night by Jesus Christ and he says, "Do you want me to take away your ability to sin?" The true Christian says, "Yes Lord, please." That's how you know you want to obey, you long to obey. However, scripture teaches us we're still in a fallen world, in a fallen flesh. And our true self, our true identity is battling with our shadow identity. It's the fight between the spirit and the flesh. And when we sin, you're not just being untrue to God. You're being untrue to your real self dear Christian. Saint Paul says, "It wasn't I that sinned, it was the sin in me." And that's not just a cop out or an excuse, it's simply the truth that we have a new identity, new heart, new affections, and we are to grow in that.And how do you do that? Particularly by growing in love. And this is point two, how do you know that you know that you're a Christian? You obey, you seek to grow in obedience, and you seek to grow in love. And he says in verse seven, "Beloved, I'm writing, you no new commandment, but an old commandment that you have heard from the beginning. The old commandment is the word that you have heard. At the same time, it is a new commandment that I'm writing you, which is true in him and in you because the darkness is passing away and the true light is already shining. Whoever says he's in the light and hates his brother is still in darkness and whoever loves his brother abides in the light and in him there is no cause for stumbling. But wherever hates his brother is in the darkness and walks in the darkness and does not know where he is going because the darkness has blinded his eyes."What does he mean by new commandment old commandment? He's not talking about chronological. It's not time thing, old and new. It's a quality thing. It's the same commandment on old and new Testament that the essence of the law is to love God and to love our neighbor as ourself. He's saying it's new in the sense it's new to us. When you hear the gospel, which is a timeless gospel, it's an old gospel but it's a timeless gospel and you hear it for the first time, it's brand new. Everything is brand new. That's what he's saying, new heart, new affections, new desires. And he says, "The way that you know that you have true love for God is you have true love for your brothers and sisters in the faith." If God is your father, you can't love your Christian siblings, your brothers and sisters. And the reason why, why are you telling us this?He's telling us this because it's hard. It's not natural. And particularly, he focuses on loving the brothers and like Christians close to you who know you best. He focuses on that because some of the hardest people in the world to love are your siblings. The people that know you, they know how to push all the buttons, they know exactly what to say, how to say in order to set you off. And he says, "Loving those people who are hard to love," particular people, not just Christians in general. Like Linus from peanuts, his famous line was, "I love mankind, but it's people I can't stand." And that's a lot of Christians are like, "I love the church. I love Christians worldwide." Okay, show me your community. Show me the Christians that you are walking with. Show me the Christians that are hard to love. That's what he's saying.And by the way, this isn't like a temptation for us that like it's easy to love God. It's people that are hard to love. That's been the temptation all throughout church history. Like in the modern excuses, I'm an introvert. I can't stand people. No, get away from me. I just want go. This has always been an issue. Like the monastic movement started because people are like, "I can't stand people. I'm just going to go and live in a cloister with an Abbe and just pray to God all day." And one of the famous examples of this is Thomas à Kempis in the 15th century. He was a Dutch monk who wrote The Imitation Of Christ. And if you don't know The Imitation Of Christ, it's a phenomenal book that teaches you how to grow in your relationship with Christ. And it's second only to the Bible in its influence on Christian, on the church throughout history. It's been printed in 6,000 separate editions.Love the book. Here's my only knock against it. Not one word about loving Christians or people in general. Actually, this is what he says, "Desire the fellowship of God alone and his Holy angels and shun the acquaintance of men." I'm going to force my daughters to memorize that and just that's our new motto. But he's saying, "All you need is a relationship with God. People, get away from me." He missed the whole point of 1 John. He missed the whole point of the incarnation of Jesus Christ. He missed the point of love. The other thing I'll say here, not much on this point because this is a theme that John's going to get back to more. We got to define love biblically and not culturally. In our culture, to say that you love and that we are to be loving is to say that you are nice, that you never say anything that upsets anyone. You never do anything to confront someone. You don't talk about sin. Just be a nice person. That's what it means to love.And if that's our definition of love, then we have no idea how to explain some of the things that Jesus did. Going to the Pharisees he says, "Woe to you Pharisees for you are like whitewashed tombs," calls them serpents, all kinds of names. Yeah. Talking to a crowd, he says, "You unbelieving and perverted generation. How long shall I put up with you?" Peter, when he was being selfish, Jesus says, "Get behind me, Satan." Seemingly unloving, but actually he's telling them exactly what they need to get them awakened from the spiritual stupor. He's sacrificing comfort to do a very difficult thing because that's the best thing for that person. There's other examples of this in scriptures.Paul in the book of acts talking to this guy named Elymas, he says, "You are full of deceit. You fraud the son of the devil, enemy of all righteousness." And then he strikes him with blindness. It seems unloving, but it's probably the most loving thing that he could do to awaken him from a spiritual blindness. So what I'm saying is we need to expand our definition of love. Our love is not just niceness, our love is sacrificing self and comfort to do the thing that's best for the beloved. And the great example of that is the cross. Point three is that we grow. So we are to obey, love and grow. Grow in what? Obedience and love and following Christ. And 1 John 2:12-14 he gives us three groups that he addresses twice. Each group for emphasis and this is the lyricism of John.He says, "I'm writing to you little children because your sins are forgiven for his name's sake. I'm writing to you fathers because you know him who is from the beginning. I'm writing to you young men because you have overcome the evil one. I write to you children because you know the father. I write to you fathers because you know him who is from the beginning. I write to you young men because you are strong and the word of God abides in you and you have overcome the evil one." First thing that he starts with is that we are children of God because of Christ name's sake, in his name's sake. So we're not forgiven of our sins because of our repentance or our faith or our actions, our good works. So repentance and faith in and of themselves have no power. Repentance and faith are like a key to a car. The key has no power in of itself, but the key accesses the power that's not within. It accesses doesn't create.So the way that we access God's power, the way that we gain access to is through faith and repentance, but not for our namesakes, it for his. The other thing I want to point out here is he's talking about levels of spiritual growth in health and maturity. He's not talking to little children particularly, like physical little children. He's talking about to people who are new in the faith. So you can be 60 and if you have a just met Jesus, you are an infant in the faith. Or you could be 25 or 20 and if you've been walking with the Lord since you were a child, you can be a father or mother in the faith. So he's saying that the idea behind is that there needs to be growth and health and maturity. So dear Christian, are you stuck in a season with a lack of growth?If so, you need to ask why. Children he's saying, "Children, you need to grow out of the state of thinking that everything exists for you. If you've been around kids, kids just have no idea that they're not at the center of the universe. They just assume this, mom and dad exist for me. My daughter's favorite, my youngest daughter, her favorite word is mine. She comes to me, papa is mine. She fights with my five-year-olds over, no, mine. But she thinks that literally we exist for her. And a lot of Christians assume that all the other Christians exist for you and then you come to a church with that mindset. It's fine for a season, but at some point you've got to trade your bib for an apron. And he says, "Another stage is young men and young women and that you fight the evil. You've overcome the evil one." Why? Because the word of God abides in you. This is when you realize the spiritual walk is a fight on a daily basis. You've got to fight.You take responsibility for your own walk and you fight the good fight. And then as you do that, as you progress to get to a stage where you understand your spiritual father and mother, that it's our responsibility to care for those who are younger or those who are less mature, unhealthy. And so we serve and we guide and we care. And also that shows us that we got to be patient with people in different levels of the faith. And how does growth come? Growth comes through grace. That's all. That's what he focused on, propitiation and advocacy. We focus on Jesus. We focus on the grace that we received. We eat from the word of God on a daily basis and we get strengthened as we apply that word, and particularly through the rhythms of the spiritual life.How did Jesus practice the spiritual life? Like if John's telling us we're going to walk with Jesus, become like Jesus, well, how did Jesus and walk on a daily basis? What were the rhythms of his life? And I'll give you a few. Silence, he would go and spend time with God in silence and solitude, sacrificial and simple living in the Holy scriptures. He would immerse himself in the scriptures, meditate on the scriptures so he truly knew who God was. He truly knew what mercy and justice and grace were. So all he did flowed from those practices of silence, solitude, sacrificial living and scripture. So we are to obey, love, grow in obedience and love. And we can't just focus on the positive things we've got to focus on there are some negative things that we got to cut out from our life.So if you want to get healthy, it's not just about eating the right things and adding more supplements into your life. You've got to cut out the junk. And this is point four that we got to deny desires that pull us away from God. And this is point verse 15, "Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh, the desires of the eyes and pride of life is not from the father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever by world." It's the Greek word cosmos. He's talking about humanity that is united in rebellion against God. Humanity that is United against God and Jesus talking about the world.It's not the physical world that God created, it's the sinful structures in the world. And Jesus said, "The world hates me." He said, "The devil is the prince of this world. The whole world is under the power of the evil one." Jesus said, "I pray for my disciples not in particular for the world." This is why Jesus came to save the world. So John 3:16, "For God so loved the world ..." A lot of people translate that to mean the world was so great that God loved us and the onus is put on us. It's not endorsement of the world. It's a testimony to the character of God. He didn't love us because we were lovely. He loved us because he was loving. What was shocking about that verse isn't that God's love is to be admired because the world is so big, that God's love is to be admired because we were so bad. That's the world that he saves us from.So scripture says that, "When we repent and believe in Jesus Christ, we are transferred from the world, the domain of darkness into the kingdom of God's light." So in a sense, Christians are in the world, but not of it. In a sense no Christian actually lives in the world. No, the world contains no Christians because Jesus has chosen us out of the world. Everything that's antagonistic toward God. So if we've been taken out of the sinful structures, why in the world would we be pulled back in? And he's saying this because the allure is so powerful. This is the world, the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes and the pride of life. Desire of the flesh, this is sensuality, the desires of the eyes, this is materialism and the pride of life, this is self glorification.And once you have these three categories, you begin to see this everywhere. You see in marketing, you see this in social media. You see this all like half the economy is built up on the pride of life, desire of the flesh, desire of the eyes, and it's the same temptation over and over. This is the same pattern that Satan used attempt Eve. Eve looked at the fruit, that it was good for food, that it was pleasing to the eyes, and that it would make wise. Desire of the flesh, desire of the eyes, pride of life. Satan comes to Jesus when Jesus was fasting and he tempts him. Turn the stone into bread. Desire the flesh. Hey, I'm going to give you all these kingdoms. Desire of the eyes. Hey, jump off the top of the temple. Self-glorification. The allure is there. So dear Christian, where are your affections pulling you away from God and toward the world?And the fight for faith is the fight for desire. And that desire, Jonathan Andover said, "True religion, consistent holy affections." We are to vivify our affections for God, give life to our affection and then kill our sinful desires. This is the mortification of the flesh. C. S. Lewis talked about the sweet poison of the false infinite, the sweet poison of the false infinite. It looks so sweet, but it's poisonous. It looks infinite. It looks like it'll last forever. This feeling, this relation, whatever this ends up pulling you, it looks infinite, but it's temporal. G. K. Chesterton said, "The acid test of any religion is what do you deny?" So dear Christian, as you follow Jesus, we can't but deny. He says, "Follow me and take up your cross daily." Where are you growing in self-denial? Where do you need to grow in self-denial?So how do you know that you know God? You obey, love, grow and deny. I'll conclude with this. Robert Robinson lived in the 18th century in London. He lived a life of debauchery in his youth as part of a gang. Did all kinds of horrible things. At age 17 went to hear George Whitfield preach the gospel. He gets saved, radically goes into the ministry, becomes a pastor and an age 23 he writes, one of our most beloved hymns that we ever sing is come thou fount. Writes his incredible hymn, it's inspired like we still sing, it's so powerful. Then after a while, his love for the Lord began to cool off and he walks away from the faith, goes through a season of severe depression and sin. He was traveling and as he's traveling he meets a Christian young lady and they start conversing and she realizes that he is educated in the terminology of the faith and she says, "Okay, have you read this hymn? I just recently came across this hymn. It touched my soul powerfully. Maybe it'll bless you.And at that moment he started weeping. She takes out come thou fount. And he says, "I am the poor wretch that wrote that hymn many years ago and I'd do anything to experience again that joy that I knew." And she all she did, she pointed him to the lyrics and she said, "Look, the streams of God's mercy are still here. Just come and stand under his streams of mercy and he will cleanse you of sin." Robinson wrote in that third verse owed to grace how great a debtor daily I'm constrained to be. Let thy goodness like a fetter bind my wandering heart to thee. We need that. We need God's grace to bind our hearts to him, to terraform us into the image of Christ. And Robinson's own hymn was used to turn his wandering heart back to the Lord.If you're not a Christian, accept God's grace. He is your propitiation, he is your advocate, accept it, repent it, listen and believe. If you're a Christian, you need to grow in obedience and love and growth and denial. Let's pray. Lord, we thank you for this time that you've given us in the Holy scriptures. What a powerful word you've left us. And we thank you for the Holy spirit. Holy spirit we thank you for continuing minister to us, continue to grow us and continue to grow us in maturity and health so that we can help others grow in maturity and help bring people to you to be introduced to you and be transformed by you. We pray this in Jesus name, amen.