Podcasts about barbies

What does it take to keep your voice—and your purpose—strong through every season of life? In this episode of Unstoppable Mindset, I sit down with my friend Bill Ratner, one of Hollywood's most recognized voice actors, best known as Flint from GI Joe. Bill's voice has carried him through radio, animation, and narration, but what stands out most is how he's used that same voice to serve others through storytelling, teaching, and grief counseling. Together, we explore the heart behind his work—from bringing animated heroes to life to standing on The Moth stage and helping people find healing through poetry. Bill shares lessons from his own journey, including losing both parents early, finding family in unexpected places, and discovering how creative expression can rebuild what life breaks down. We also reflect on 9/11, preparedness, and the quiet confidence that comes from trusting your training—whether you're a first responder, a performer, or just navigating the unknown. This conversation isn't just about performance; it's about presence. It's about using your story, your craft, and your compassion to keep moving forward—unstoppable, one voice at a time. Highlights: 00:31 – Hear the Flint voice and what it takes to bring animated characters to life. 06:57 – Learn why an uneven college path still led to a lifelong acting career. 11:50 – Understand how GI Joe became a team and a toy phenomenon that shaped culture. 15:58 – See how comics and cartoons boosted classroom literacy when used well. 17:06 – Pick up simple ways parents can spark reading through shared stories. 19:29 – Discover how early, honest conversations about death can model resilience. 24:09 – Learn to critique ads and media like a pro to sharpen your own performance. 36:19 – Follow the pivot from radio to voiceover and why specialization pays. 47:48 – Hear practical editing approaches and accessible tools that keep shows tight. 49:38 – Learn how The Moth builds storytelling chops through timed, judged practice. 55:21 – See how poetry—and poetry therapy—support grief work with students. 59:39 – Take notes on memoir writing, emotional management, and one-person shows. About the Guest: Bill Ratner is one of America's best known voice actors and author of poetry collections Lamenting While Doing Laps in the Lake (Slow Lightning Lit 2024,) Fear of Fish (Alien Buddha Press 2021,) To Decorate a Casket (Finishing Line Press 2021,) and the non-fiction book Parenting For The Digital Age: The Truth Behind Media's Effect On Children and What To Do About It (Familius Books 2014.) He is a 9-time winner of the Moth StorySLAM, 2-time winner of Best of The Hollywood Fringe Extension Award for Solo Performance, Best of the Net Poetry Nominee 2023 (Lascaux Review,) and New Millennium "America One Year From Now" Writing Award Finalist. His writing appears in Best Small Fictions 2021 (Sonder Press,) Missouri Review (audio,) Baltimore Review, Chiron Review, Feminine Collective, and other journals. He is the voice of "Flint" in the TV cartoon G.I. Joe, "Donnell Udina" in the computer game Mass Effect, the voice of Air Disasters on Smithsonian Channel, NewsNation, and network TV affiliates across the country. He is a committee chair for his union, SAG-AFTRA, teaches Voiceovers for SAG-AFTRA Foundation, Media Awareness for Los Angeles Unified School District, and is a trained grief counsellor. Member: Actors Equity Association, Screen Actors Guild-AFTRA, National Storytelling Network • https://billratner.com • @billratner Ways to connect with Bill: https://soundcloud.com/bill-ratner https://www.instagram.com/billratner/ https://twitter.com/billratner https://www.threads.net/@billratner https://billratner.tumblr.com https://www.youtube.com/@billratner/videos https://www.facebook.com/billratner.voiceover.author https://bsky.app/profile/bilorat.bsky.social 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 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 subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset . 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 ** 01:21 Well on a gracious hello to you, wherever you may be, I am your host. Mike hingson, and you are listening to unstoppable mindset. Today, we get to have a voice actor, person, Bill Ratner, who you want to know who Bill Radnor is, go back and watch the old GI Joe cartoons and listen to the voice of Flint.   Bill Ratner ** 01:42 All right. Lady Jay, you better get your battle gear on, because Cobra is on their way. And I can't bring up the Lacher threat weapon system. We got to get out of here. Yo, Joe,   Michael Hingson ** 01:52 there you go. I rest my case Well, Bill, welcome to unstoppable mindset.   Bill Ratner ** 02:00 We can't rest now. Michael, we've just begun. No, we've just begun.   Michael Hingson ** 02:04 We got to keep going here. Well, I'm really glad that you're here. Bill is another person who we inveigled to get on unstoppable mindset with the help of Walden Hughes. And so that means we can talk about Walden all we want today. Bill just saying, oh goodness. And I got a lot to say. Let me tell you perfect, perfect. Bring it on. So we are really grateful to Walden, although I hope he's not listening. We don't want to give him a big head. But no, seriously, we're really grateful. Ah, good point.   Bill Ratner ** 02:38 But his posture, oddly enough, is perfect.   Michael Hingson ** 02:40 Well, there you go. What do you do? He practiced. Well, anyway, we're glad you're here. Tell us about the early bill, growing up and all that stuff. It's always fun to start a good beginning.   Bill Ratner ** 02:54 Well, I was a very lucky little boy. I was born in Des Moines, Iowa in 1947 to two lovely people, professionals, both with master's degree out at University of Chicago. My mother was a social worker. My father had an MBA in business. He was managing editor of Better Homes and Gardens magazine. So I had the joy of living in a better home and living in a garden.   Michael Hingson ** 03:21 My mother. How long were you in Des Moines?   Bill Ratner ** 03:24 Five and a half years left before my sixth birthday. My dad got a fancy job at an ad agency in Minneapolis, and had a big brother named Pete and big handsome, curly haired boy with green eyes. And moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, and was was brought up there.   Michael Hingson ** 03:45 Wow. So you went to school there and and chased the girls and all that stuff.   Bill Ratner ** 03:54 I went to school there at Blake School for Boys in Hopkins, Minnesota. Couldn't chase the girls day school, but the girls we are allowed to dance with certainly not chase. Michael was at woodhue dancing school, the Northrop girls from Northrop girls school and the Blake boys were put together in eighth grade and taught the Cha Cha Cha, the waltz, the Charleston, and we danced together, and the girls wore white gloves, and we sniffed their perfume, and we all learned how to be lovers when we were 45   Michael Hingson ** 04:37 There you are. Well, as long as you learned at some point, that's a good start.   Bill Ratner ** 04:44 It's a weird generation. Michael,   Michael Hingson ** 04:46 I've been to Des Moines before. I was born in Chicago, but moved out to California when I was five, but I did some work with the National Federation of the Blind in the mid 19. 1970s 1976 into 1978 so spent time at the Iowa Commission for the Blind in Des Moines, which became a top agency for the Blind in well, the late 50s into the to the 60s and so on. So   Bill Ratner ** 05:15 both my parents are from Chicago. My father from the south side of Chicago, 44th and Kenzie, which was a Irish, Polish, Italian, Jewish, Ukrainian neighborhood. And my mother from Glencoe, which was a middle class suburb above Northwestern University in Evanston.   Michael Hingson ** 05:34 I Where were you born? 57th and union, north, south side, no, South   Bill Ratner ** 05:42 57th union is that? Is that west of Kenzie?   Michael Hingson ** 05:46 You know, I don't remember the geography well enough to know, but I know that it was, I think, Mount Sinai Hospital where I was born. But it was, it's, it's, it's a pretty tough neighborhood today. So I understand,   Bill Ratner ** 06:00 yeah, yeah, my it was tough, then it's tough now,   Michael Hingson ** 06:03 yeah, I think it's tougher, supposedly, than it was. But we lived there for five years, and then we we moved to California, and I remember some things about Chicago. I remember walking down to the local candy store most days, and had no problem doing that. My parents were told they should shut me away at a home somewhere, because no blind child could ever grow up to amount to anything. And my parents said, You guys are you're totally wrong. And they brought me up with that attitude. So, you   Bill Ratner ** 06:32 know who said that the school says school so that   Michael Hingson ** 06:35 doctors doctors when they discovered I was blind with the   Bill Ratner ** 06:38 kid, goodness gracious, horrified.   Michael Hingson ** 06:44 Well, my parents said absolutely not, and they brought me up, and they actually worked with other parents of premature kids who became blind, and when kindergarten started in for us in in the age of four, they actually had a special kindergarten class for blind kids at the Perry School, which is where I went. And so I did that for a year, learn braille and some other things. Then we moved to California, but yeah, and I go back to Chicago every so often. And when I do nowadays, they I one of my favorite places to migrate in Chicago is Garrett Popcorn.   Bill Ratner ** 07:21 Ah, yes, with caramel corn, regular corn, the   Michael Hingson ** 07:25 Chicago blend, which is a mixture, yeah, the Chicago blend is cheese corn, well, as it is with caramel corn, and they put much other mozzarella on it as well. It's really good.   Bill Ratner ** 07:39 Yeah, so we're on the air. Michael, what do you call your what do you call your program? Here I am your new friend, and I can't even announce your program because I don't know   Michael Hingson ** 07:48 the name, unstoppable mindset. This   Bill Ratner ** 07:51 is unstoppable mindset.   Michael Hingson ** 07:56 We're back. Well, we're back already. We're fast. So you, you, you moved off elsewhere, out of Des Moines and all that. And where did you go to college?   Bill Ratner ** 08:09 Well, this is like, why did you this is, this is a bit like talking about the Vietnam War. Looking back on my college career is like looking back on the Vietnam War series, a series of delusions and defeats. By the time I the time i for college, by the time I was applying for college, I was an orphan, orphan, having been born to fabulous parents who died too young of natural causes. So my grades in high school were my mediocre. I couldn't get into the Ivy Leagues. I got into the big 10 schools. My stepmother said, you're going to Michigan State in East Lansing because your cousin Eddie became a successful realtor. And Michigan State was known as mu u it was the most successful, largest agriculture college and university in the country. Kids from South Asia, China, Northern Europe, Southern Europe, South America all over the world came to Michigan State to study agricultural sciences, children of rich farmers all over the world and middle class farmers all over the world, and a huge police science department. Part of the campus was fenced off, and the young cadets, 1819, 20 years old, would practice on the rest of the student body, uniformed with hats and all right, excuse me, young man, we're just going to get some pizza at eight o'clock on Friday night. Stand against your car. Hands in your car. I said, Are you guys practicing again? Shut up and spread your legs. So that was that was Michigan State, and even though both my parents had master's degrees, I just found all the diversions available in the 1960s to be too interesting, and was not invited. Return after my sophomore year, and in order to flunk out of a big 10 University, and they're fine universities, all of them, you have to be either really determined or not so smart, not really capable of doing that level of study in undergraduate school. And I'd like to think that I was determined. I used to show up for my exams with a little blue book, and the only thing I would write is due to lack of knowledge, I am unable to complete this exam, sign Bill ranter and get up early and hand it in and go off. And so what was, what was left for a young man like that was the theater I'd seen the great Zero Mostel when I was 14 years old and on stage live, he looked just like my father, and he was funny, and if I Were a rich man, and that's the grade zero must tell. Yeah, and it took about five, no, it took about six, seven years to percolate inside my bread and my brain. In high school, I didn't want to do theater. The cheerleaders and guys who I had didn't happen to be friends with or doing theater. I took my girlfriends to see plays, but when I was 21 I started acting, and I've been an actor ever since. I'm a committee chair on the screen actors guild in Hollywood and Screen Actors Guild AFTRA, and work as a voice actor and collect my pensions and God bless the union.   Michael Hingson ** 11:44 Well, hey, as long as it works and you're making progress, you know you're still with it, right?   Bill Ratner ** 11:53 That's the that's the point. There's no accounting for taste in my business. Michael, you work for a few different broadcast entities at my age. And it's, you know, it's younger people. It's 18 to 3418 years to 34 years old is the ideal demographic for advertisers, Ford, Motor Company, Dove soap, Betty, Crocker, cake mixes and cereals, every conceivable product that sold online or sold on television and radio. This is my this is my meat, and I don't work for religion. However, if a religious organization calls, I call and say, I I'm not, not qualified or not have my divinity degree in order to sell your church to the public?   Michael Hingson ** 12:46 Yeah, yeah. Well, I, I can understand that. But you, you obviously do a lot, and as we talked about, you were Flint and GI Joe, which is kind of cool.   Bill Ratner ** 13:01 Flynn GI Joe was very cool. Hasbro Corporation, which was based in Providence, Rhode Island, had a huge success with GI Joe, the figure. The figure was about 11 and a half inches tall, like a Barbie, and was at first, was introduced to the public after the Korean War. There is a comic book that was that was also published about GI Joe. He was an individual figure. He was a figure, a sort of mythic cartoon figure during World War Two, GI Joe, generic American soldier, fighting man and but the Vietnam war dragged on for a long time, and the American buying public or buying kids toys got tired of GI Joe, got tired of a military figure in their household and stopped buying. And when Nixon ended the Vietnam War, or allotted to finish in 1974 Hasbro was in the tank. It's got its stock was cheap, and executives are getting nervous. And then came the Great George Lucas in Star Wars, who shrank all these action figures down from 11 and a half inches to three and a half inches, and went to China and had Chinese game and toy makers make Star Wars toys, and began to earn billions and billions dollars. And so Hasbro said, let's turn GI Joe into into a team. And the team began with flint and Lady J and Scarlett and Duke and Destro and cover commander, and grew to 85 different characters, because Hasbro and the toy maker partners could create 85 different sets of toys and action figures. So I was actor in this show and had a good time, and also a purveyor of a billion dollar industry of American toys. And the good news about these toys is I was at a conference where we signed autographs the voice actors, and we have supper with fans and so on. And I was sitting next to a 30 year old kid and his parents. And this kid was so knowledgeable about pop culture and every conceivable children's show and animated show that had ever been on the screen or on television. I turned to his mother and sort of being a wise acre, said, So ma'am, how do you feel about your 30 year old still playing with GI Joe action figures? And she said, Well, he and I both teach English in the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania school system, and last year, the literacy level of my ninth graders was 50% 50% of those kids could not read in ninth grade. So I asked the principal if I could borrow my son's GI Joe, action figures, comic books and VHS tapes, recordings of the shows from TV. And he said, Sure, whatever you want to try. And so she did, and she played the video tapes, and these kids were thrilled. They'd never seen a GI Joe cartoon in class before. Passed out the comic books, let him read comics. And then she said, Okay, you guys. And passed out notebooks and pens and pencils, and said, I want you guys to make up some some shows, some GI Joe shows. And so they said, Yeah, we're ready. All right, Cobra, you better get into the barber shop, because the barber bill is no longer there and the fire engines are in the way. And wait a minute, there's a dog in the street. And so they're making this up, using their imagination, doing their schoolwork, by coming up with scenarios, imaginary fam fan fiction for GI Joe and she raised the literacy level in her classroom by 50% that year, by the end of that year, so, so that was the only story that I've ever heard about the sort of the efficacy of GI Joe, other than, you know, kids play with them. Do they? Are they shooting each other all the time? I certainly hope not. I hope not. Are they using the action figures? Do they strip their guns off and put them in a little, you know, stub over by the side and and have them do physical battle with each other, or have them hump the woods, or have them climb the stairs, or have them search the trees. Who knows what kids do? Same with same with girls and and Barbies. Barbie has been a source of fun and creativity for lots of girls, and the source of of worry and bother to a lot of parents as   Michael Hingson ** 17:54 well. Well, at the same time, though, when kids start to react and relate to some of these things. It's, it's pretty cool. I mean, look what's happened with the whole Harry Potter movement and craze. Harry Potter has probably done more in the last 20 or 25 years to promote reading for kids than most anything else, and   Bill Ratner ** 18:17 that's because it's such a good series of books. I read them to my daughters, yeah. And the quality of writing. She was a brilliant writer, not only just the stories and the storytelling, which is fun to watch in the movies, and you know, it's great for a parent to read. If there are any parents listening, I don't care how old your kids are. I don't care if they're 15. Offer to read to them. The 15 year old might, of course, say mom, but anybody younger than that might say either, all right, fine, which is, which means you better do it or read, read a book. To me, sure, it's fun for the parent, fun for the kid, and it makes the child a completely different kind of thinker and worker and earner.   Michael Hingson ** 19:05 Well, also the people who they got to read the books for the recordings Stephen Fry and in the US here, Jim Dale did such an incredible job as well. I've, I've read the whole Harry Potter series more than once, because I just enjoy them, and I enjoy listening to the the voices. They do such a good job. Yeah. And of course, for me, one of the interesting stories that I know about Jim Dale reading Harry Potter was since it was published by Scholastic he was actually scheduled to do a reading from one of the Harry from the new Harry Potter book that was coming out in 2001 on September 11, he was going to be at Scholastic reading. And of course, that didn't happen because of of everything that did occur. So I don't know whether I'm. I'm assuming at some point a little bit later, he did, but still he was scheduled to be there and read. But it they are there. They've done so much to help promote reading, and a lot of those kinds of cartoons and so on. Have done some of that, which is, which is pretty good. So it's good to, you know, to see that continue to happen. Well, so you've written several books on poetry and so on, and I know that you you've mentioned more than once grief and loss. How come those words keep coming up?   Bill Ratner ** 20:40 Well, I had an unusual childhood. Again. I mentioned earlier how, what a lucky kid I was. My parents were happy, educated, good people, not abusers. You know, I don't have a I don't have horror stories to tell about my mother or my father, until my mother grew sick with breast cancer and and it took about a year and a half or two years to die when I was seven years old. The good news is, because she was a sensitive, educated social worker, as she was actually dying, she arranged a death counseling session with me and my older brother and the Unitarian minister who was also a death counselor, and whom she was seeing to talk about, you know, what it was like to be dying of breast cancer with two young kids. And at this session, which was sort of surprised me, I was second grade, came home from school. In the living room was my mother and my brother looking a little nervous, and Dr Carl storm from the Unitarian Church, and she said, you know, Dr storm from church, but he's also my therapist. And we talk about my illness and how I feel, and we talk about how much I love you boys, and talk about how I worry about Daddy. And this is what one does when one is in crisis. That was a moment that was not traumatic for me. It's a moment I recalled hundreds of times, and one that has been a guiding light through my life. My mother's death was very difficult for my older brother, who was 13 who grew up in World War Two without without my father, it was just him and my mother when he was off in the Pacific fighting in World War Two. And then I was born after the war. And the loss of a mother in a family is like the bottom dropping out of a family. But luckily, my dad met a woman he worked with a highly placed advertising executive, which was unusual for a female in the 1950s and she became our stepmother a year later, and we had some very lovely, warm family years with her extended family and our extended family and all of us together until my brother got sick, came down with kidney disease a couple of years before kidney dialysis was invented, and a couple of years before kidney transplants were done, died at 19. Had been the captain of the swimming team at our high school, but did a year in college out in California and died on Halloween of 1960 my father was 51 years old. His eldest son had died. He had lost his wife six years earlier. He was working too hard in the advertising industry, successful man and dropped out of a heart attack 14th birthday. Gosh, I found him unconscious on the floor of our master bathroom in our house. So my life changed. I My life has taught me many, many things. It's taught me how the defense system works in trauma. It's taught me the resilience of a child. It's taught me the kindness of strangers. It's taught me the sadness of loss.   Michael Hingson ** 24:09 Well, you, you seem to come through all of it pretty well. Well, thank you. A question behind that, just an observation, but, but you do seem to, you know, obviously, cope with all of it and do pretty well. So you, you've always liked to be involved in acting and so on. How did you actually end up deciding to be a voice actor?   Bill Ratner ** 24:39 Well, my dad, after he was managing editor of Better Homes and Gardens magazine in Des Moines for Meredith publishing, got offered a fancy job as executive vice president of the flower and mix division for Campbell within advertising and later at General Mills Corporation. From Betty Crocker brand, and would bring me to work all the time, and would sit with me, and we'd watch the wonderful old westerns that were on prime time television, rawhide and Gunsmoke and the Virginian and sure   Michael Hingson ** 25:15 and all those. Yeah, during   Bill Ratner ** 25:17 the commercials, my father would make fun of the commercials. Oh, look at that guy. And number one, son, that's lousy acting. Number two, listen to that copy. It's the dumbest ad copy I've ever seen. The jingles and and then he would say, No, that's a good commercial, right there. And he wasn't always negative. He would he was just a good critic of advertising. So at a very young age, starting, you know, when we watch television, I think the first television ever, he bought us when I was five years old, I was around one of the most educated, active, funny, animated television critics I could hope to have in my life as a 56789, 1011, 12 year old. And so when I was 12, I became one of the founding members of the Brotherhood of radio stations with my friends John Waterhouse and John Barstow and Steve gray and Bill Connors in South Minneapolis. I named my five watt night kit am transmitter after my sixth grade teacher, Bob close this is wclo stereo radio. And when I was in sixth grade, I built myself a switch box, and I had a turntable and I had an intercom, and I wired my house for sound, as did all the other boys in the in the B, O, R, S, and that's brotherhood of radio stations. And we were guests on each other's shows, and we were obsessed, and we would go to the shopping malls whenever a local DJ was making an appearance and torture him and ask him dumb questions and listen obsessively to American am radio. And at the time for am radio, not FM like today, or internet on your little radio tuner, all the big old grandma and grandpa radios, the wooden ones, were AM, for amplitude modulated. You could get stations at night, once the sun went down and the later it got, the ionosphere would lift and the am radio signals would bounce higher and farther. And in Minneapolis, at age six and seven, I was able to to listen to stations out of Mexico and Texas and Chicago, and was absolutely fascinated with with what was being put out. And I would, I would switch my brother when I was about eight years old, gave me a transistor radio, which I hid under my bed covers. And at night, would turn on and listen for, who knows, hours at a time, and just tuning the dial and tuning the dial from country to rock and roll to hit parade to news to commercials to to agric agriculture reports to cow crossings in Kansas and grain harvesting and cheese making in Wisconsin, and on and on and on that made up the great medium of radio that was handing its power and its business over to television, just as I was growing As a child. Fast, fascinating transition   Michael Hingson ** 28:18 and well, but as it was transitioning, how did that affect you?   Bill Ratner ** 28:26 It made television the romantic, exciting, dynamic medium. It made radio seem a little limited and antiquated, and although I listened for environment and wasn't able to drag a television set under my covers. Yeah, and television became memorable with with everything from actual world war two battle footage being shown because there wasn't enough programming to 1930s Warner Brothers gangster movies with James Cagney, Edward G   Michael Hingson ** 29:01 Robinson and yeah   Bill Ratner ** 29:02 to all the sitcoms, Leave It to Beaver and television cartoons and on and on and on. And the most memorable elements to me were the personalities, and some of whom were invisible. Five years old, I was watching a Kids program after school, after kindergarten. We'll be back with more funny puppets, marionettes after this message and the first words that came on from an invisible voice of this D baritone voice, this commercial message will be 60 seconds long, Chrysler Dodge for 1954 blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And I watched hypnotized, hypnotized as a 1953 dodge drove across the screen with a happy family of four waving out the window. And at the end of the commercial, I ran into the kitchen said, Mom, mom, I know what a minute. Is, and it was said, it had suddenly come into my brain in one of those very rare and memorable moments in a person's life where your brain actually speaks to you in its own private language and says, Here is something very new and very true, that 60 seconds is in fact a minute. When someone says, See you in five minutes, they mean five times that, five times as long as that. Chrysler commercial, five times 60. That's 300 seconds. And she said, Did you learn it that that on T in kindergarten? And I said, No, I learned it from kangaroo Bob on TV, his announcer, oh, kangaroo Bob, no, but this guy was invisible. And so at five years of age, I was aware of the existence of the practice of the sound, of the magic of the seemingly unlimited access to facts, figures, products, brand names that these voices had and would say on the air in This sort of majestic, patriarchal way,   Michael Hingson ** 31:21 and just think 20 years later, then you had James Earl Jones,   Bill Ratner ** 31:26 the great dame. James Earl Jones, father was a star on stage at that time the 1950s James Earl Jones came of age in the 60s and became Broadway and off Broadway star.   Michael Hingson ** 31:38 I got to see him in Othello. He was playing Othello. What a powerful performance. It was   Bill Ratner ** 31:43 wonderful performer. Yeah, yeah. I got to see him as Big Daddy in Canada, Hot Tin Roof, ah, live and in person, he got front row seats for me and my family.   Michael Hingson ** 31:53 Yeah, we weren't in the front row, but we saw it. We saw it on on Broadway,   Bill Ratner ** 31:58 the closest I ever got to James Earl Jones. He and I had the same voice over agent, woman named Rita vinari of southern Barth and benare company. And I came into the agency to audition for Doritos, and I hear this magnificent voice coming from behind a closed voiceover booth, saying, with a with a Spanish accent, Doritos. I thought that's James Earl Jones. Why is he saying burritos? And he came out, and he bowed to me, nodded and smiled, and I said, hello and and the agent probably in the booth and shut the door. And she said, I said, that was James Earl Jones. What a voice. What she said, Oh, he's such a nice man. And she said, but I couldn't. I was too embarrassed. I was too afraid to stop him from saying, Doritos. And it turns out he didn't get the gig. So it is some other voice actor got it because he didn't say, had he said Doritos with the agent froze it froze up. That was as close as I ever got to did you get the gig? Oh goodness no,   Michael Hingson ** 33:01 no, you didn't, huh? Oh, well, well, yeah. I mean, it was a very, it was, it was wonderful. It was James Earl Jones and Christopher Plummer played Iago. Oh, goodness, oh, I know. What a what a combination. Well, so you, you did a lot of voiceover stuff. What did you do regarding radio moving forward? Or did you just go completely out of that and you were in TV? Or did you have any opportunity   Bill Ratner ** 33:33 for me to go back at age 15, my brother and father, who were big supporters of my radio. My dad would read my W, C, l, o, newsletter and need an initial, an excellent journalism son and my brother would bring his teenage friends up. He'd play the elderly brothers, man, you got an Elvis record, and I did. And you know, they were, they were big supporters for me as a 13 year old, but when I turned 14, and had lost my brother and my father, I lost my enthusiasm and put all of my radio equipment in a box intended to play with it later. Never, ever, ever did again. And when I was about 30 years old and I'd done years of acting in the theater, having a great time doing fun plays and small theaters in Minneapolis and South Dakota and and Oakland, California and San Francisco. I needed money, so I looked in the want ads and saw a job for telephone sales, and I thought, Well, I used to love the telephone. I used to make phony phone calls to people all the time. Used to call funeral homes. Hi Carson, funeral I help you. Yes, I'm calling to tell you that you have a you have a dark green slate tile. Roof, isn't that correct? Yes. Well, there's, there's a corpse on your roof. Lady for goodness sake, bring it down and we laugh and we record it and and so I thought, Well, gee, I used to have a lot of fun with the phone. And so I called the number of telephone sales and got hired to sell magazine subscriptions and dinner tickets to Union dinners and all kinds of things. And then I saw a new job at a radio station, suburban radio station out in Walnut Creek, California, a lovely Metro BART train ride. And so I got on the BART train, rode out there and walked in for the interview, and was told I was going to be selling small advertising packages on radio for the station on the phone. And so I called barber shops and beauty shops and gas stations in the area, and one guy picked up the phone and said, Wait a minute, wait a minute. Wait a minute. Are you on the radio right now? And I said, No, I'm just I'm in the sales room. Well, maybe you should be. And he slams the phone on me. He didn't want to talk to me anymore. It wasn't interested in buying advertising. I thought, gee. And I told somebody at the station, and they said, Well, you want to be in the radio? And he went, Yeah, I was on the radio when I was 13. And it just so happened that an older fellow was retiring from the 10am to 2pm slot. K I S King, kiss 99 and KD FM, Pittsburgh, California. And it was a beautiful music station. It was a music station. Remember, old enough will remember music that used to play in elevators that was like violin music, the Percy faith orchestra playing a Rolling Stone song here in the elevator. Yes, well, that's exactly what we played. And it would have been harder to get a job at the local rock stations because, you know, they were popular places. And so I applied for the job, and   Michael Hingson ** 37:06 could have lost your voice a lot sooner, and it would have been a lot harder if you had had to do Wolfman Jack. But that's another story.   Bill Ratner ** 37:13 Yeah, I used to listen to Wolf Man Jack. I worked in a studio in Hollywood. He became a studio. Yeah, big time.   Michael Hingson ** 37:22 Anyway, so you you got to work at the muzack station, got   Bill Ratner ** 37:27 to work at the muzack station, and I was moving to Los Angeles to go to a bigger market, to attempt to penetrate a bigger broadcast market. And one of the sales guys, a very nice guy named Ralph pizzella said, Well, when you get to La you should study with a friend of mine down to pie Troy, he teaches voiceovers. I said, What are voice overs? He said, You know that CVS Pharmacy commercial just carted up and did 75 tags, available in San Fernando, available in San Clemente, available in Los Angeles, available in Pasadena. And I said, Yeah. He said, Well, you didn't get paid any extra. You got paid your $165 a week. The guy who did that commercial for the ad agency got paid probably 300 bucks, plus extra for the tags, that's voiceovers. And I thought, why? There's an idea, what a concept. So he gave me the name and number of old friend acquaintance of his who he'd known in radio, named Don DiPietro, alias Johnny rabbit, who worked for the Dick Clark organization, had a big rock and roll station there. He'd come to LA was doing voiceovers and teaching voiceover classes in a little second story storefront out of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles. So I signed up for his class, and he was an experienced guy, and he liked me, and we all had fun, and I realized I was beginning to study like an actor at 1818, who goes to New York or goes to Los Angeles or Chicago or Atlanta or St Louis to act in the big theaters, and starts acting classes and realizes, oh my goodness, these people are truly professionals. I don't know how to do what they do. And so for six years, I took voice over classes, probably 4050, nights a year, and from disc jockeys, from ex show hosts, from actors, from animated cartoon voices, and put enough time in to get a degree in neurology in medical school. And worked my way up in radio in Los Angeles and had a morning show, a lovely show with a wonderful news man named Phil Reed, and we talked about things and reviewed movies and and played a lot of music. And then I realized, wait a minute, I'm earning three times the money in voiceovers as I am on the radio, and I have to get up at 430 in the morning to be on the radio. Uh, and a wonderful guy who was Johnny Carson's staff announcer named Jack angel said, You're not still on radio, are you? And I said, Well, yeah, I'm working in the morning. And Ka big, get out of there. Man, quit. Quit. And I thought, well, how can I quit? I've always wanted to be a radio announcer. And then there was another wonderful guy on the old am station, kmpc, sweet Dick Whittington. Whittington, right? And he said at a seminar that I went to at a union voice over training class, when you wake up at four in the morning and you swing your legs over the bed and your shoes hit the floor, and you put your head in your hands, and you say to yourself, I don't want to do this anymore. That's when you quit radio. Well, that hadn't happened to me. I was just getting up early to write some comedy segments and on and on and on, and then I was driving around town all day doing auditions and rented an ex girlfriend's second bedroom so that I could nap by myself during the day, when I had an hour in and I would as I would fall asleep, I'd picture myself every single day I'm in a dark voiceover studio, a microphone Is before me, a music stand is before the microphone, and on it is a piece of paper with advertising copy on it. On the other side of the large piece of glass of the recording booth are three individuals, my employers, I begin to read, and somehow the text leaps off the page, streams into my eyes, letter for letter, word for word, into a part of my back brain that I don't understand and can't describe. It is processed in my semi conscious mind with the help of voice over training and hope and faith, and comes out my mouth, goes into the microphone, is recorded in the digital recorder, and those three men, like little monkeys, lean forward and say, Wow, how do you do that? That was my daily creative visualization. Michael, that was my daily fantasy. And I had learned that from from Dale Carnegie, and I had learned that from Olympic athletes on NBC TV in the 60s and 70s, when the announcer would say, this young man you're seeing practicing his high jump is actually standing there. He's standing stationary, and the bouncing of the head is he's actually rehearsing in his mind running and running and leaping over the seven feet two inch bar and falling into the sawdust. And now he's doing it again, and you could just barely see the man nodding his head on camera at the exact rhythm that he would be running the 25 yards toward the high bar and leaping, and he raised his head up during the imaginary lead that he was visualizing, and then he actually jumped the seven foot two inches. That's how I learned about creative visualization from NBC sports on TV.   Michael Hingson ** 43:23 Channel Four in Los Angeles. There you go. Well, so you you broke into voice over, and that's what you did.   Bill Ratner ** 43:38 That's what I did, darn it, I ain't stopping now, there's a wonderful old actor named Bill Irwin. There two Bill Irwin's one is a younger actor in his 50s or 60s, a brilliant actor from Broadway to film and TV. There's an older William Irwin. They also named Bill Irwin, who's probably in his 90s now. And I went to a premiere of a film, and he was always showing up in these films as The senile stock broker who answers the phone upside down, or the senile board member who always asks inappropriate questions. And I went up to him and I said, you know, I see you in everything, man. I'm 85 years old. Some friends and associates of mine tell me I should slow down. I only got cast in movies and TV when I was 65 I ain't slowing down. If I tried to slow down at 85 I'd have to stop That's my philosophy. My hero is the great Don Pardo, the late great   Michael Hingson ** 44:42 for Saturday Night Live and Jeopardy   Bill Ratner ** 44:45 lives starring Bill Murray, Gilder Radner, and   Michael Hingson ** 44:49 he died for Jeopardy before that,   Bill Ratner ** 44:52 yeah, died at 92 with I picture him, whether it probably not, with a microphone and. His hand in his in his soundproof booth, in his in his garage, and I believe he lived in Arizona, although the show was aired and taped in New York, New York, right where he worked for for decades as a successful announcer. So that's the story.   Michael Hingson ** 45:16 Michael. Well, you know, I miss, very frankly, some of the the the days of radio back in the 60s and 70s and so on. We had, in LA what you mentioned, Dick Whittington, Dick whittinghill on kmpc, Gary Owens, you know, so many people who were such wonderful announcers and doing some wonderful things, and radio just isn't the same anymore. It's gone. It's   Bill Ratner ** 45:47 gone to Tiktok and YouTube. And the truth is, I'm not gonna whine about Tiktok or YouTube, because some of the most creative moments on camera are being done on Tiktok and YouTube by young quote influencers who hire themselves out to advertisers, everything from lipstick. You know,   Speaker 1 ** 46:09 when I went to a party last night was just wild and but this makeup look, watch me apply this lip remover and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, no, I have no lip.   Bill Ratner ** 46:20 You know, these are the people with the voices. These are the new voices. And then, of course, the faces. And so I would really advise before, before people who, in fact, use the internet. If you use the internet, you can't complain if you use the internet, if you go to Facebook or Instagram, or you get collect your email or Google, this or that, which most of us do, it's handy. You can't complain about tick tock, tick tock, tick tock. You can't complain about tick tock or YouTube, because it's what the younger generation is using, and it's what the younger generation advertisers and advertising executives and creators and musicians and actors are using to parade before us, as Gary Owens did, as Marlon Brando did, as Sarah Bernhardt did in the 19 so as all as you do, Michael, you're a parader. You're the head of the parade. You've been in on your own float for years. I read your your bio. I don't even know why you want to waste a minute talking to me for goodness sakes.   Michael Hingson ** 47:26 You know, the one thing about podcasts that I like over radio, and I did radio at kuci for seven years when I was in school, what I really like about podcasts is they're not and this is also would be true for Tiktok and YouTube. Primarily Tiktok, I would would say it isn't as structured. So if we don't finish in 60 minutes, and we finish in 61 minutes, no one's gonna shoot us.   Bill Ratner ** 47:53 Well, I beg to differ with you. Now. I'm gonna start a fight with you. Michael, yeah, we need conflict in this script. Is that it The Tick Tock is very structured. Six. No,   Michael Hingson ** 48:03 no, I understand that. I'm talking about podcasts,   Bill Ratner ** 48:07 though, but there's a problem. We gotta Tone It Up. We gotta pick it up. We gotta there's a lot of and I listen to what are otherwise really bright, wonderful personalities on screen, celebrities who have podcasts and the car sucks, and then I had meatballs for dinner, haha. And you know what my wife said? Why? You know? And there's just too much of that. And,   Michael Hingson ** 48:32 oh, I understand, yeah. I mean, it's like, like anything, but I'm just saying that's one of the reasons I love podcasting. So it's my way of continuing what I used to do in radio and having a lot of fun doing it   Bill Ratner ** 48:43 all right, let me ask you. Let me ask you a technical and editorial question. Let me ask you an artistic question. An artist, can you edit this podcast? Yeah. Are you? Do you plan to Nope.   Michael Hingson ** 48:56 I think conversations are conversations, but there is a but, I mean,   Bill Ratner ** 49:01 there have been starts and stops and I answer a question, and there's a long pause, and then, yeah, we can do you edit that stuff   Michael Hingson ** 49:08 out. We do, we do, edit some of that out. And I have somebody that that that does a lot of it, because I'm doing more podcasts, and also I travel and speak, but I can edit. There's a program called Reaper, which is really a very sophisticated   Bill Ratner ** 49:26 close up spaces. You   Michael Hingson ** 49:28 can close up spaces with it, yes, but the neat thing about Reaper is that somebody has written scripts to make it incredibly accessible for blind people using screen readers.   Bill Ratner ** 49:40 What does it do? What does it do? Give me the elevator pitch.   Michael Hingson ** 49:46 You've seen some of the the programs that people use, like computer vision and other things to do editing of videos and so on. Yeah.   Bill Ratner ** 49:55 Yeah. Even Apple. Apple edit. What is it called? Apple? Garage Band. No, that's audio. What's that   Michael Hingson ** 50:03 audio? Oh,   Bill Ratner ** 50:06 quick time is quick   Michael Hingson ** 50:07 time. But whether it's video or audio, the point is that Reaper allows me to do all of that. I can edit audio. I can insert, I can remove pauses. I can do anything with Reaper that anyone else can do editing audio, because it's been made completely accessible.   Bill Ratner ** 50:27 That's great. That's good. That's nice. Oh, it is. It's cool.   Michael Hingson ** 50:31 So so if I want, I can edit this and just have my questions and then silence when you're talking.   Bill Ratner ** 50:38 That might be best. Ladies and gentlemen, here's Bill Ratner,   Michael Hingson ** 50:46 yep, exactly, exactly. Now you have won the moth stories. Slam, what? Tell me about my story. Slam, you've won it nine times.   Bill Ratner ** 51:00 The Moth was started by a writer, a novelist who had lived in the South and moved to New York City, successful novelist named George Dawes green. And the inception of the moth, which many people listening are familiar with from the Moth Radio Hour. It was, I believe, either late 90s or early 2000s when he'd been in New York for a while and was was publishing as a fiction writer, and threw a party, and decided, instead of going to one of these dumb, boring parties or the same drinks being served and same cigarettes being smoked out in the veranda and the same orders. I'm going to ask people to bring a five minute story, a personal story, nature, a true story. You don't have to have one to get into the party, but I encourage you to. And so you know, the 3040, 50 people showed up, many of whom had stories, and they had a few drinks, and they had hors d'oeuvres. And then he said, Okay, ladies and gentlemen, take your seats. It's time for and then I picked names out of a hat, and person after person after person stood up in a very unusual setting, which was almost never done at parties. You How often do you see that happen? Suddenly, the room falls silent, and someone with permission being having been asked by the host to tell a personal story, some funny, some tragic, some complex, some embarrassing, some racy, some wild, some action filled. And afterward, the feedback he got from his friends was, this is the most amazing experience I've ever had in my life. And someone said, you need to do this. And he said, Well, you people left a lot of cigarette butts and beer cans around my apartment. And they said, well, let's do it at a coffee shop. Let's do it at a church basement. So slowly but surely, the moth storytelling, story slams, which were designed after the old poetry slams in the 50s and 60s, where they were judged contests like, like a dance contest. Everybody's familiar with dance contests? Well, there were, then came poetry contests with people singing and, you know, and singing and really energetically, really reading. There then came storytelling contests with people standing on a stage before a silent audience, telling a hopefully interesting, riveting story, beginning middle, end in five minutes. And so a coffee house was found. A monthly calendar was set up. Then came the internet. Then it was so popular standing room only that they had to open yet another and another, and today, some 20 years later, 20 some years later, from Austin, Texas to San Francisco, California to Minneapolis, Minnesota to New York City to Los Angeles. There are moth story slams available on online for you to schedule yourself to go live and in person at the moth.org as in the moth with wings. Friend of mine, I was in New York. He said, You can't believe it. This writer guy, a writer friend of mine who I had read, kind of an avant garde, strange, funny writer was was hosting something called the moth in New York, and we were texting each other. He said, Well, I want to go. The theme was show business. I was going to talk to my Uncle Bobby, who was the bell boy. And I Love Lucy. I'll tell a story. And I texted him that day. He said, Oh man, I'm so sorry. I had the day wrong. It's next week. Next week, I'm going to be back home. And so he said, Well, I think there's a moth in Los Angeles. So about 15 years ago, I searched it down and what? Went to a small Korean barbecue that had a tiny little stage that originally was for Korean musicians, and it was now being used for everything from stand up comedy to evenings of rock and roll to now moth storytelling once a month. And I think the theme was first time. And so I got up and told a silly story and didn't win first prize. They have judges that volunteer judges a table of three judges scoring, you like, at a swim meet or a track beat or, you know, and our gymnastics meet. So this is all sort of familiar territory for everybody, except it's storytelling and not high jumping or pull ups. And I kept going back. I was addicted to it. I would write a story and I'd memorize it, and I'd show up and try to make it four minutes and 50 seconds and try to make it sound like I was really telling a story and not reading from a script. And wish I wasn't, because I would throw the script away, and I knew the stories well enough. And then they created a radio show. And then I began to win slams and compete in the grand slams. And then I started submitting these 750 word, you know, two and a half page stories. Literary magazines got a few published and found a whole new way to spend my time and not make much   Michael Hingson ** 56:25 money. Then you went into poetry.   Bill Ratner ** 56:29 Then I got so bored with my prose writing that I took a poetry course from a wonderful guy in LA called Jack grapes, who had been an actor and a football player and come to Hollywood and did some TV, episodics and and some some episodic TV, and taught poetry. It was a poet in the schools, and I took his class of adults and got a poem published. And thought, wait a minute, these aren't even 750 words. They're like 75 words. I mean, you could write a 10,000 word poem if you want, but some people have, yeah, and it was complex, and there was so much to read and so much to learn and so much that was interesting and odd. And a daughter of a friend of mine is a poet, said, Mommy, are you going to read me one of those little word movies before I go to sleep?   Michael Hingson ** 57:23 A little word movie, word movie out of the   Bill Ratner ** 57:27 mouths of babes. Yeah, and so, so and I perform. You know, last night, I was in Orange County at a organization called ugly mug Cafe, and a bunch of us poets read from an anthology that was published, and we sold our books, and heard other young poets who were absolutely marvelous and and it's, you know, it's not for everybody, but it's one of the things I do.   Michael Hingson ** 57:54 Well, you sent me pictures of book covers, so they're going to be in the show notes. And I hope people will will go out and get them   Bill Ratner ** 58:01 cool. One of the one of the things that I did with poetry, in addition to wanting to get published and wanting to read before people, is wanting to see if there is a way. Because poetry was, was very satisfying, emotionally to me, intellectually very challenging and satisfying at times. And emotionally challenging and very satisfying at times, writing about things personal, writing about nature, writing about friends, writing about stories that I received some training from the National Association for poetry therapy. Poetry therapy is being used like art therapy, right? And have conducted some sessions and and participated in many and ended up working with eighth graders of kids who had lost someone to death in the past year of their lives. This is before covid in the public schools in Los Angeles. And so there's a lot of that kind of work that is being done by constable people, by writers, by poets, by playwrights,   Michael Hingson ** 59:09 and you became a grief counselor,   Bill Ratner ** 59:13 yes, and don't do that full time, because I do voiceovers full time, right? Write poetry and a grand. Am an active grandparent, but I do the occasional poetry session around around grief poetry.   Michael Hingson ** 59:31 So you're a grandparent, so you've had kids and all that. Yes, sir, well, that's is your wife still with us? Yes?   Bill Ratner ** 59:40 Oh, great, yeah, she's an artist and an art educator. Well, that   Michael Hingson ** 59:46 so the two of you can criticize each other's works, then, just   Bill Ratner ** 59:52 saying, we're actually pretty kind to each other. I Yeah, we have a lot of we have a lot of outside criticism. Them. So, yeah, you don't need to do it internally. We don't rely on it. What do you think of this although, although, more than occasionally, each of us will say, What do you think of this poem, honey? Or what do you think of this painting, honey? And my the favorite, favorite thing that my wife says that always thrills me and makes me very happy to be with her is, I'll come down and she's beginning a new work of a new piece of art for an exhibition somewhere. I'll say, what? Tell me about what's, what's going on with that, and she'll go, you know, I have no idea, but it'll tell me what to do.   Michael Hingson ** 1:00:33 Yeah, it's, it's like a lot of authors talk about the fact that their characters write the stories right, which, which makes a lot of sense. So with all that you've done, are you writing a memoir? By any chance, I   Bill Ratner ** 1:00:46 am writing a memoir, and writing has been interesting. I've been doing it for many years. I got it was my graduate thesis from University of California Riverside Palm Desert.   Michael Hingson ** 1:00:57 My wife was a UC Riverside graduate. Oh, hi. Well, they   Bill Ratner ** 1:01:01 have a low residency program where you go for 10 days in January, 10 days in June. The rest of it's online, which a lot of universities are doing, low residency programs for people who work and I got an MFA in creative writing nonfiction, had a book called parenting for the digital age, the truth about media's effect on children. And was halfway through it, the publisher liked it, but they said you got to double the length. So I went back to school to try to figure out how to double the length. And was was able to do it, and decided to move on to personal memoir and personal storytelling, such as goes on at the moth but a little more personal than that. Some of the material that I was reading in the memoir section of a bookstore was very, very personal and was very helpful to read about people who've gone through particular issues in their childhood. Mine not being physical abuse or sexual abuse, mine being death and loss, which is different. And so that became a focus of my graduate thesis, and many people were urging me to write a memoir. Someone said, you need to do a one man show. So I entered the Hollywood fringe and did a one man show and got good reviews and had a good time and did another one man show the next year and and so on. So But writing memoir as anybody knows, and they're probably listeners who are either taking memoir courses online or who may be actively writing memoirs or short memoir pieces, as everybody knows it, can put you through moods from absolutely ecstatic, oh my gosh, I got this done. I got this story told, and someone liked it, to oh my gosh, I'm so depressed I don't understand why. Oh, wait a minute, I was writing about such and such today. Yeah. So that's the challenge for the memoir is for the personal storyteller, it's also, you know, and it's more of a challenge than it is for the reader, unless it's bad writing and the reader can't stand that. For me as a reader, I'm fascinated by people's difficult stories, if they're well   Michael Hingson ** 1:03:24 told well, I know that when in 2002 I was advised to write a book about the World Trade Center experiences and all, and it took eight years to kind of pull it all together. And then I met a woman who actually I collaborated with, Susie Florey, and we wrote thunder dog. And her agent became my agent, who loved the proposal that we sent and actually got a contract within a week. So thunder dog came out in 2011 was a New York Times bestseller, and very blessed by that, and we're working toward the day that it will become a movie still, but it'll happen. And then I wrote a children's version of it, well, not a children's version of the book, but a children's book about me growing up in Roselle, growing up the guide dog who was with me in the World Trade Center, and that's been on Amazon. We self published it. Then last year, we published a new book called Live like a guide dog, which is all about controlling fear and teaching people lessons that I learned prior to September 11. That helped me focus and remain calm.   Bill Ratner ** 1:04:23 What happened to you on September 11,   Michael Hingson ** 1:04:27 I was in the World Trade Center. I worked on the 78th floor of Tower One.   Bill Ratner ** 1:04:32 And what happened? I mean, what happened to you?   Michael Hingson ** 1:04:36 Um, nothing that day. I mean, well, I got out. How did you get out? Down the stairs? That was the only way to go. So, so the real story is not doing it, but why it worked. And the real issue is that I spent a lot of time when I first went into the World Trade Center, learning all I could about what to do in an emergency, talking to police, port authorities. Security people, emergency preparedness people, and also just walking around the world trade center and learning the whole place, because I ran an office for a company, and I wasn't going to rely on someone else to, like, lead me around if we're going to go to lunch somewhere and take people out before we negotiated contracts. So I needed to know all of that, and I learned all I could, also realizing that if there ever was an emergency, I might be the only one in the office, or we might be in an area where people couldn't read the signs to know what to do anyway. And so I had to take the responsibility of learning all that, which I did. And then when the planes hit 18 floors above us on the other side of the building, we get we had some guests in the office. Got them out, and then another colleague, who was in from our corporate office, and I and my guide dog, Roselle, went to the stairs, and we started down. And   Bill Ratner ** 1:05:54 so, so what floor did the plane strike?   Michael Hingson ** 1:05:58 It struck and the NOR and the North Tower, between floors 93 and 99 so I just say 96 okay, and you were 20 floors down, 78 floors 78 so we were 18 floors below, and   Bill Ratner ** 1:06:09 at the moment of impact, what did you think?   Michael Hingson ** 1:06:13 Had no idea we heard a muffled kind of explosion, because the plane hit on the other side of the building, 18 floors above us. There was no way to know what was going on. Did you feel? Did you feel? Oh, the building literally tipped, probably about 20 feet. It kept tipping. And then we actually said goodbye to each other, and then the building came back upright. And then we went,   Bill Ratner ** 1:06:34 really you so you thought you were going to die?   Michael Hingson ** 1:06:38 David, my colleague who was with me, as I said, he was from our California office, and he was there to help with some seminars we were going to be doing. We actually were saying goodbye to each other because we thought we were about to take a 78 floor plunge to the street, when the building stopped tipping and it came back. Designed to do that by the architect. It was designed to do that, which is the point, the point.   Bill Ratner ** 1:07:02 Goodness, gracious. And then did you know how to get to the stairway?   Michael Hingson ** 1:07:04 Oh, absolutely. And did you do it with your friend? Yeah, the first thing we did, the first thing we did is I got him to get we had some guests, and I said, get him to the stairs. Don't let him take the elevators, because I knew he had seen fire above us, but that's all we knew. And but I said, don't take the elevators. Don't let them take elevators. Get them to the stairs and then come back and we'll leave. So he did all that, and then he came back, and we went to the stairs and started down.   Bill Ratner ** 1:07:33 Wow. Could you smell anything?   Michael Hingson ** 1:07:36 We smelled burning jet fuel fumes on the way down. And that's how we figured out an airplane must have hit the building, but we had no idea what happened. We didn't know what happened until the until both towers had collapsed, and I actually talked to my wife, and she's the one who told us how to aircraft have been crashed into the towers, one into the Pentagon, and a fourth, at that time, was still missing over Pennsylvania. Wow. So you'll have to go pick up a copy of thunder dog. Goodness. Good. Thunder dog. The name of the book is Thunder dog, and the book I wrote last year is called Live like a guide dog. It's le

Was ist typisch Mozart, Beethoven oder Chopin? Auf YouTube variiert ein Pianist ein Barbie-Lied im Stil großer Komponisten - und verrät damit allerhand über deren jeweilige Besonderheiten.

Episode Notes There's a lot to discuss this week with a potential change of venue for OGDC, Jack Iscaro heading to France, R360, Barbies, and more. About the hosts John Fitzpatrick Runs the Rugby Morning newsletter Hosts MLR Coffee Break on MLR Weekly (Rugby Wrap Up) Hosts USA Rugby Happy Hour on Twitter Spaces Twitter: @rugbymorning Alistair Kirsch-Poole Writer/editor for Glorious Rugby Runs Tackle the Numbers Twitter: @AlistairKP

Send us a textWelcome to the launch of our epic 5th season on Fabulous Film & Friends! This is the big one! The one that everyone will be talking about for years to come. Why? Because this is the episode where I finally get to trash the Barbie movie as we dive into the idea of “When Good Directors Go Bad.”Inspired by the recent release of 2025's Paul Thomas Anderson/ Leonardo DiCaprio domestic terror extravaganza One Battle After Another which also stars Benicio Del Toro, Teyana Taylor, Chase Infiniti, Regina Hall, Tony Goldwyn, Alana Haim and Sean Penn, we're going to analyze just went wrong with this promising cinematic spectacle and compare it to another creative disaster that should've been an artistic and thematic slam dunk considering its pedigree, 2023's Barbie directed by Greta Gerwig and starring Margot Robbie, Ryan Gosling, America Ferrera, Ariana Greenblatt, Simu Liu, Rhea Perlman and Will Ferrell.  I'm your host Gino Caputi and returning to their mics pretty much right where they left them last season are little sis' Roseanne Caputi and actor photobug Gordon Alex Robertson. Alex, you're going to start this season out of the hot seat again as Roseanne is going to continue to thrill us with factoids about the directors in question Hit us again with the facts, Teach! Before we sharpen the bayonets and light the fuses: the synopses. Barbie follows the titular blonde doll as she awakes blissfully in the female run Barbie Land each day, ignoring her supposed boyfriend Ken, and partying with her fellow Barbies all night. One night during a sensationally choreographed and costumed dance party, she has an existential crisis about mortality and develops flat feet, causing her to leave Barbieland on a journey to “the real world” to find the source of her angst. Realizing her depressed feelings stem from a psychic connection to her original owner, Gloria, Barbie reconnects with Gloria and Gloria's daughter and the trio travel back to Barbieland.  Upon their return, however, they are dumbfounded to find that Ken has taken over and has brainwashed all the other Barbies into subservience to him and his fellow Kens. A battle of the sexes ensues. One Battle After Another loosely adapts Vineland, a novel by Thomas Pynchon. It follows Bob Ferguson, a bomb expert drawn into the terrorist group the French 75. Amid the group's revolutionary chaos, Bob fathers a daughter named Willa with the fiery tempered and uncontrollable Perfidia Beverly Hills. Perfidia also has a complicated relationship with the mannered and single-minded Colonel Steven Lockjaw. She is soon caught during a botched bank robbery, and Lockjaw strikes a deal with her, leading her to name names. Years later, after most of his French 75 cohorts have been hunted down by Lockjaw, Bob is still on the run in Northern California with Willa. But Lockjaw finds and captures Willa so Bob must confront the unstoppable colonel for once and for all.  Where did these two talented filmmakers go off the rails?  Find out! Watch the video podcast on Youtube:https://youtu.be/dBbbcNCNAj4

Catherine McKenna joined me in person for a live recording of this episode at the Naval Club of Toronto here in our east end. We discussed her new book ‘Run Like a Girl', lessons learned from her six years in federal politics, the reality of political harassment, the tension between party loyalty and telling it like it is, and why we should be wary of “grand bargains” on climate with oil and gas companies.Catherine served as Environment and Climate Change Minister from 2015-2019 and Infrastructure Minister from 2019-2021. She's now the founder and CEO of Climate and Nature Solutions and chairs a UN expert group advising the Secretary General on net zero commitments.Read further:Run Like A Girl - Catherine McKenna (2025)https://www.catherinemckenna.caChapters:00:00 Introduction & Run Like A Girl Book05:32 Lessons from Politics: Hard Work & Balance08:52 Climate Barbie & Political Harassment15:26 Running for Office in Ottawa Centre23:17 Being a Team Player vs. Speaking Truth32:05 Leaving Politics40:30 Climate Policy & the Oil & Gas “Grand Bargain”48:24 Supporting Others in Politics52:56 Carbon Pricing Communication Failures59:13 Gender Balance, Feminism & Cabinet01:04:04 Final Thoughts & ClosingTranscript:Nate Erskine-Smith00:02 - 00:38Well, thank you everyone for joining. This is a live recording of the Uncommon's podcast, and I'm lucky to be joined by Catherine McKenna, who has a very impressive CV. You will know her as the former Environment Minister. She is also the founder and CEO of Climate and Nature Solutions, a consultancy focused on all things environment and nature protection. And you may or may not know, but she's also the chair of a UN expert group that gives advice to the Secretary General on net zero solutions. So thank you for coming to Beaches East York.Catherine McKenna00:38 - 00:56It's great to be here. Hello, everyone. And special shout out to the guy who came from, all the way from Bowmanville. That's awesome. Anyone from Hamilton, that's where I'm originally found. All right. Nice, we got a shout out for Hamilton. Woo-hoo.Nate Erskine-Smith00:57 - 01:19So I ran down a few things you've accomplished over the years, but you are also the author of Run Like a Girl. I was at, you mentioned a book launch last night here in Toronto, but I attended your book launch in Ottawa. And you can all pick up a book on the way out. But who did you write this book for?Catherine McKenna01:21 - 02:58So, I mean, this book has been a long time in the making. It's probably been five years. It was a bit of a COVID project. And you'll see, it's good, I've got my prop here, my book. But you'll see it's not a normal kind of book. So it has a lot of images of objects and of, you know, pictures, pictures of me getting ready to go to the state visit dinner that was hosted by Obama while I'm trying to finalize the text on climate. So it's got like random things in it, but it's intended for a much broader audience. It's really intended to inspire women and girls and young people. And I think that's particularly important right now because I work on climate and I think it's really hard. Do people here care about climate? Yes, I imagine here you care about climate. I mean, I actually think most Canadians do because they understand the wildfires and they see the smoke and people are being evacuated from communities and you can't get insurance if you're in a flood zone. But I do think in particular we need to bolster spirits. But also it's a book, it's really about how to make change. It's not like people think it's like a political memoir. So I think, you know, fancy people in politics will look at the end of the book to see if their name is there and maybe be disappointed if it isn't. But it's not really that kind of book. It's like I was a kid from Hamilton. I didn't want to be a politician. That wasn't my dream when I grew up. I wanted to go to the Olympics for swimming. And spoiler alert, I did not make the Olympic team, but I went to Olympic trials.Nate Erskine-Smith02:59 - 02:59You're close.Catherine McKenna03:00 - 04:05I was, well, closest, closest, but, but it wasn't, I mean, you know, life is a journey and that wasn't, it wasn't sad that I didn't make it, but I think it's just to hopefully for people to think I can make change too. Like I didn't come as a fully formed politician that was, you know, destined to be minister for the environment and climate change. So in particular for women and young people who are trying to figure out how to make change, I think it's a little bit my story. I just tried to figure it out. And one day I decided the best way to make change was to go into politics and get rid of Stephen Harper. That was my goal. He was my inspiration, yes, because we needed a new government. And yeah, so I really, really, really am trying to reach a much broader audience because I think we often are politicians talking to a very narrow group of people, often very partisan. And that's not my deal. My deal is we need everyone to be making change in their own way. And I want people who are feeling like maybe it's a bit hard working on climate or in politics or on democracy or human rights that you too can make change.Nate Erskine-Smith04:06 - 05:17And you were holding it up. I mean, it's a bit of a scrapbook. You've described it. And it's also honest. I mean, there was some media coverage of it that was sort of saying, oh, you said this about Trudeau, calling him a loofer. And there's a certain honesty about I've lived in politics and I'm going to call it like it is. But what I find most interesting is not the sort of the gotcha coverage after the fact. It's when you go to write something, you said you're not a writer at the launch that I saw in Ottawa, but you obviously sat down and were trying to figure out what are the lessons learned. You've had successes, you've had failures, and you're trying to impart these lessons learned. You mentioned you sort of were going down that road a little bit of what you wanted to impart to people, but you've had six years in politics at the upper echelon of decision-making on a really important file. I want to get to some of the failures because we're living through some of them right now, I think. Not of your doing, of conservative doing, unfortunately. But what would you say are the lessons learned that you, you know, as you're crystallizing the moments you've lived through, what are those lessons?Catherine McKenna05:19 - 07:12It's funny because the lessons I learned actually are from swimming in a way that actually you got to do the work. That, you know, you set a long-term goal and, you know, whatever that goal is, whatever you hope to make change on. And then you get up and you do the work. And then you get up the next morning and you do the work again. And sometimes things won't go your way. But you still get up the next morning. And I think it's important because, like, you know, look, I will talk, I'm sure, about carbon pricing. We lost the consumer carbon price. There's a chapter. It's called Hard Things Are Hard. I'm also, like, really into slogans. I used to be the captain of the U of T swim team. So I feel like my whole life is like a Nike ad or something. Hard things are hard. We can do it. But yeah, I mean, I think that the change is incremental. And sometimes in life, you're going to have hard times. But the other thing I want people to take from it is that, you know, sometimes you can just go dancing with your friends, right? Or you can call up your book club. I would sometimes have hard days in politics. And I was like, oh, gosh, that was like, what? happened. So I'd send an email, it would say to my book club. So if you have book clubs, book clubs are a good thing. Even if you don't always read the book, that would be me. But I would be SOS, come to my house. And I'd be like, all I have is like chips and wine, but I just need to hang out with regular people. And I think that's also important. Like, you know, life is life. Like, you know, you got to do the work if you're really trying to make change. But some days are going to be harder and sometimes you're just trying to hang in there and I had you know I had I have three kids one of them they're older now one of them is actually manning the the booth selling the books but you know when you're a mom too like you know sometimes you're going to focus on that so I don't know I think my my lessons are I I'm too gen x to be like you've got to do this and INate Erskine-Smith07:12 - 07:16learned this and I'm amazing no that's not writing a graduation speech I'm not I'm not writing aCatherine McKenna07:16 - 08:43graduation speech and I don't know that you know the particular path I took is what anyone else is going to do I was going to I went to Indonesia to do a documentary about Komodo dragons because my roommate asked me to so that led me to go back to Indonesia which led me to work for UN peacekeeping and peacekeeping mission in East Timor but I think it's also like take risks if you're a young person Like, don't, people will tell you all the time how you should do things. And I, you know, often, you know, doubted, should I do this, or I didn't have enough confidence. And I think that's often, women often feel like that, I'll say. And, you know, at the end, sometimes you are right. And it's okay if your parents don't like exactly what you're doing. Or, you know, people say you should stay in corporate law, which I hated. Or, you know, so I don't know if there's so many lessons as a bit as, you know, one, you got to do the work to, you know, listen to what you really want to do. That doesn't mean every day you're going to get to do what you want to do. But, you know, if you're really passionate about working human rights, work on human rights, like figure out a way to do it and then also have some fun. Like life can feel really heavy. And I felt that during COVID. I think sometimes now after, you know, looking at, you know, social media and what Donald Trump has done or threatened to do, it can feel hard. So I think it's also OK to to just check out and have fun.Nate Erskine-Smith08:44 - 08:46I like it. Well, there aren't lessons, but here are three important lessons.Catherine McKenna08:48 - 08:50I am a politician. It's good. Well, it's OK.Nate Erskine-Smith08:50 - 09:57You mentioned a few times really writing this book in a way to young people and specifically to young women to encourage them to to make a difference and to get involved. and yet politics, we were both drawn to politics, I think for similar reasons, and it is one of the most important ways to make a difference, and I wanna get to you. There are other ways to make a difference, of course, but there's a bit of a tension, I think, in what you're writing, because you're writing this encouragement to make a difference, and politics is so important, and on the flip side, you document all sorts of different ways that politics has been truly awful, the absurdity of, I knew the ridiculous idiocy of Climate Barbie, but I didn't actually appreciate that you had these bizarre men coming to your house to take selfies in front of your house. That's just a next-level awfulness. And so how do you, when you're talking to young people, to encourage them on the one hand, but also you don't want to shield them from the awfulness, and we all want to make politics a more civil, better place, but these are problematic tensions.Catherine McKenna09:58 - 10:42Yeah, I mean, look, I thought a lot about what I wanted to say about like the hate and abuse that I got, but also my staff got. I mean, they come to my office and start screaming. And of course, everything's videotaped. So and, you know, there were incidents at my house. And so I first of all, I believe in being honest. Like, I just believe in it. I believe that people deserve the truth. But also in this case, I wasn't looking for sympathy. I'm out of politics. I don't need sympathy, but we need change. And so I think the only way, one of the only ways we get changed, and you know how hard it is to get policy, like online harm legislation. We still have not gotten online harm. In a way, it's kind of unfathomable that we can't just get it. Like, we know that online.Nate Erskine-Smith10:42 - 10:43C5 happened real quick, though. Don't worry.Catherine McKenna10:43 - 10:43Okay.Catherine McKenna10:44 - 10:48Well, luckily, I'm not in politics anymore. I'm not in politics anymore.Catherine McKenna10:48 - 11:48I just do my thing. But I do think that by documenting this, I'm hoping that people will read it and say, well, wait a minute, that's not OK, because that's how we will get the support to get legislation to make sure that we hold social media platforms accountable. that's the way that we will be able to get people to say to politicians, you cannot go and do personal attacks and then go spread them online to get to get clicks. And that we can get proper protection for politicians, which I don't love, but actually we need that sometimes. So I think that it is important to say that I don't want people to feel down because I have multiple purposes in the book. Like people are talking about this. And I've had a number of my female politician friends saying thank you for stepping up because now people are taking it more seriously because they're like wow that was bad like climate barbie sounds kind of quaint now but climate barbie led to a whole bunch of things that led to a bunch of things that led to rcmp finally being outside my house whichNate Erskine-Smith11:49 - 12:05wasn't amazing but at least i felt safe but it's one thing to say quaint but it normalizes a misogyny that is that is awful right yeah so it's and it might it might not be a direct threat it might not be taking a selfie outside of your home which is an implicit threat but it is it's normalizing an awfulness in our politics.Catherine McKenna12:06 - 12:10Yeah, I mean, it is. From other politicians. It was a former minister in Harper's CabinetNate Erskine-Smith12:10 - 12:11who started it, right?Catherine McKenna12:11 - 12:21It was, or at least amplified it. We'll go there, like the climate Barbie. Okay, so climate Barbie is, it's quite weird because now my kids are like, well, Barbie went to the moon.Catherine McKenna12:21 - 12:22Barbie was an asteroid.Catherine McKenna12:23 - 14:57Quinn is here, like, you know, Barbies are, like, you know, not that big a deal. The thing is, if you are my age, if anyone here is 50 or over, I think you're pretty clear when someone who's 50 or over calls you climate barbie there's a lot going on in that and i said nothing like i was actually baptized climate barbie very early on um by a rage farming alt-right outlet they are not media and that's what they do this is their game they go after progressives to make money actually um for clickbait but i didn't do anything for so long um and i guess my team was lovely and i had a lot of really awesome women and they're like just don't do it because you'll they'll know that you know they can go after you um and so i'm at the un actually it's like seven years ago i was just at the un last week yes i heard donald trump but i was there to work on climate but it was the same thing it was the end of a really long day i was going back to the hotel i was actually in the hotel lobby some crabby hotel with my team and i look at my phone i was like why is my twitter exploded what has happened and then i see the climate barbie tweet and i said to my team. I said, okay, I'm sorry. I'm just going to have to deal with this situation. And they knew, like, I'm, when I say I'm dealing with it, I'm going to deal with it. And so I, I, you know, I'm a lawyer by training. So I, you know, try, I am Irish. I've got the hot headed side and then I've got the lawyer rational side. So I was like, okay, what am I going to say? There's going to call it out, but in a way that isn't falling into the trap of just calling names. So I said, it's in this book. I'm not going to get exactly right, but it was something like, would you use that kind of language with your girlfriend, wife, mother? You're not chasing women out of politics. Your sexism is going to chase women, whatever it was. And what was so interesting about this, and this is why in this book, I do the same thing, is that it went viral. And I wasn't trying to do this. I was trying to shame him so he would stop. And people like would stop me in the streets. And it would be, you know, conservative men, they'd be like, I'm a conservative, I'm ashamed. This is not acceptable. And I really appreciate this. This is how you stand up to bullies. And I thought, oh, this is important that we do this every once in a while, because often as a woman, you're kind of supposed to take it because otherwise you look a bit weak. And I realized actually the power is other people saying that this is not okay. So I actually appreciate that you call it out. You will see in my book. I will just let me see if I can find it. I also, like, kind of bizarrely, a bunch of, like, men would send me Barbies with really mean notes.Catherine McKenna14:57 - 15:04So they'd go to a store, buy a Barbie, then go and find the address of my constituency office or my ministerial office,Catherine McKenna15:05 - 15:32and then send it with a note that they personally addressed. Like, that's kind of weird. So anyway, the funny thing is, I guess, is it funny? I don't know. It's just it. There's a Barbie. This is actually a picture of one of the Barbies that was sent. We would normally put our Barbies in the Christmas toy drive. I guess we figured might as well give it to, you know, kids that would like the Barbie. But I found one when I was cleaning up my office. And I was like, oh, I'm going to just keep that. I'm going to like, you know, just keep that. So you can...Nate Erskine-Smith15:32 - 15:33No one's sending you Barbies.Catherine McKenna15:33 - 15:38I have a book of just... No one's sending you Barbies. Glorious things that people have sent, like written notes that people have sent over the yearsNate Erskine-Smith15:38 - 16:33where you're just like, this is the most bizarre thing to have received. And, you know, in 10 years in politics, the scrapbook grows. So speaking of, you mentioned Harper being an inspiration of sorts. You also have said, I'm just a regular person who wanted to make a change. And politics, you also said, I didn't want to be a politician. I want to be an Olympian. But you also document Sheila Copps as someone you looked up to. You mentioned your dad being very political. And Pierre Elliott Trudeau was the person in politics who was a bit of an inspiration for your dad and family. And so Harper, obviously, a motivating force for me as well in the lead up to 2015. I think there's a whole class of us in the lead up to 2015 that wanted a different kind of politics. How did you get on the ballot, though? It was you were a lawyer and you thought, no, this is this particular moment. Were people tapping on the shoulder and saying, come on, Catherine, now's the time?Catherine McKenna16:37 - 18:52Yeah, I mean, it's kind of a funny story because women often have to be asked multiple times. The thing is, I'd already been asked before 2015. And it's kind of funny because I saw my friend last night who's part of the story. So when Stéphane Dion was running, I went back to Hamilton. So that's where my parents, my dad passed away. But that's where my parents lived. And I was walking up my street. And the head of the riding association was like, would you like to run? So the election, I think, was already called. I'm pregnant. I live in Ottawa. And so I was like, oh, maybe I should think about that. So I asked my friend. He's like, well, I guess you won't have to knock on doors. So that was my first time getting asked. I did not run then. But I ran a charity that did human rights, rule of law, and good governance. I'd started this charity after having lived abroad with a friend. And, I mean, it was like banging your head on a wall in the pre-Harper times. We were trying to support human rights. We were working with indigenous youth in Canada focused on reconciliation. I cared about climate change. I was like, all of these things I'm trying to do outside of the system are a complete and utter waste of time. So I thought, OK, we've got to get rid of the government. So that's my theory of change now. My theory of change was create this charitable organization, and it's just not getting the impact. So I decided I was going to run, but I was in Ottawa Centre. So I don't know if many of you know Ottawa Centre. It's actually where Parliament's located, so it's great. It's a bike ride to work. But it was Paul Dewar, who was a really beloved NDP member of parliament. His mother had been mayor. And I really like Paul, too. But the reality is you've got to win, right? So you've got to win enough seats so you can form government. So I ran for two years. And it's interesting because I just decided to run. I canvassed, and so maybe the woman, this will maybe resonate a little bit. So I was like, okay, I really want to run, but I kind of need permission. I don't know why I thought I needed permission, but I did. So I went the rounds. And I like the Liberal Party, but it can be like an inside club. And I wasn't from Ottawa Centre. And so I think people were like a bit perplexed. They're like, we're kind of keeping this riding for a star candidate. And I was like, okay, what the heck? Who's a star?Catherine McKenna18:52 - 18:53Like, what's a star candidate?Catherine McKenna18:53 - 19:07Is that like a male lawyer who gives a lot of money to the Liberal Party? Like, I was like, seriously, what is a star candidate? Yeah, that's what it is. Okay. Sorry. Sorry. I don't know. You are a male. I ran when I was 29 and had no money.Nate Erskine-Smith19:07 - 19:09That was a setup. That was a setup.Catherine McKenna19:09 - 20:15No, it wasn't. Okay. Anyway, we'll just blow by that one. You're a little bit unusual. Okay. So we'll take you out of that. But anyway, it's quite funny because then I was like, and then people were like, actually, you should just get the party to go get you another riding that's winnable. So I was like, okay, on the one hand, you need a star candidate here for this great riding that, but on the flip side, no one can win. So I was like, okay, I don't really know. So I looked at, like, you know, I'm not a fool. I was a competitive swimmer. I want to win. So I looked at the numbers, and I realized, like, you know, if Justin Trudeau was then leader, if we did super well, we were in third place, and it was two years out. But if I worked really hard and we did super well, there was a shot at winning. So I just decided I'm going to run. And I got the chapters called The New Girls Club. And then I had men supporting me. It was fine. But I literally had a lot of women who were just like, I don't know if you can win. This is kind of bonkers. You're doing it. But I'm going to step up and give you some money. I'm going to go help sell nominations. And at that point, you had to sell them. And no one wanted to buy a nomination.Catherine McKenna20:15 - 20:20People are like, I don't want to be a party. I want to join a party, especially a liberal party.Catherine McKenna20:22 - 21:04And so those of you who are thinking about politics, how do you win a nomination? I was trying to sell memberships and people weren't buying them. I was like, oh gosh, every night I'm going out, I've got these kids and I'm going out and talking to people. And I'm spending two hours and getting one or two nominations, people signing up. So I actually realized it was my kids' friends' mothers whose names I didn't know. I just knew their kids. And I think they were like, wow, we don't really know anyone that would go into politics. But we actually think you'd be pretty good. And your kids would kind of nice. And I don't know. I'll just sign up. I don't care.Catherine McKenna21:04 - 21:06And so it was actually really heartening.Catherine McKenna21:07 - 23:15And I will say, like, for all the bad of politics, and there is some bad for sure. And you will read about it in my book. That campaign for two years, like, we knocked on more than 100,000 doors. We had the highest voter turnout in the country. We had, I had my own rules. Like, I was like, we're going to do this in the way that I believe in. and you know some like some of it was following the bomb a snowflake model like you know we wanted to run hard but we also engaged kids and it wasn't like we had just like a kid area we would have kid canvases and I just felt important to me and we went to low income parts of the riding where some people said they're not going to vote or we went to university we went to university residents they're like they're not going to vote actually they turned out in strong numbers and I got a ton of volunteers who, and people that knew my name, because like someone who knows someone who knows someone. So it was great. But I will say like, that's the one thing about getting involved in politics. You may be here. I met a couple of you who said younger people who said you'd like to run. You can do it. You don't need permission. You're gonna have to hustle. You're gonna have to build your team. But this isn't an in club. And I do sometimes worry that politics feels like an in club and it shouldn't be that like we need everyone who wants to step up and get involved in however they want to get involved to be able to do that and so that's my lesson read that chapter hopefully you feel quite inspired and when I knocked on the last door I didn't know if I would win or not but I knew we'd left it all on the ice and I felt great like I was like we also have another woman who has run here it's Kelly is it Kelly who's run a couple times you know what it's like like you build a team. Now you were in a super hard riding. I do hope you run again. But it, it's just this feeling of doing something that matters and bringing people together in a common cause that is bigger than yourself. And it's about believing you can improve lives and you can tackle climate change. So that was a great I hope you read it and feel like you can do it too, if you want to run because you can, I will say you got to work hard. That is one of the most important thing doors gotNate Erskine-Smith23:15 - 23:36got a knock on doors well so i want to get back to though you were emphasizing one this idea of an insider culture but at the same time the need to have a really local presence and it was people who who were on the ground in the community who who ultimately helped get you over the finish line the nomination i mean here you know sandy's working the bar i went to high school with his kids andCatherine McKenna23:36 - 23:41he signed up in the nomination you got sandy and he got us a beer and and you got claire and fredNate Erskine-Smith23:41 - 24:44here who again i went i went to high school with their kids and they signed up in the nomination probably for joining the Liberal Party for the first time. And you go down the list, and there are people who are behind you locally. And in part, I think when you get started, now you go, okay, well, I know this person in the party, I know that person in the party, I've lived in the party for 12, 13 years. But I was 29 when I was starting to run the nomination. No one was tapping me on the shoulder and going, like, you're a star candidate, whatever that means, as you say. And so it does require that desire to say, no one has to ask me. I'm going to go do it and I'm going to build my own local team. But it also gets, I think, at another tension of who is your team? Because you say at one point, sometimes you need to be on the outside so you can push the inside to do more. And so you're on the outside now and you can be probably more honest in your assessment of things and more critical. I have tried, though, at times over the 10 years to play that same role in caucus.Catherine McKenna24:46 - 24:49What? Nate? I thought you were always all in on everything. Yeah, all in on everything.Nate Erskine-Smith24:50 - 25:32But it does get to this idea of team. It's like, be a team player, be a team player, be a team player. And the answer back is, well, who's your team? And yeah, sure, of course the team is the Liberal caucus, but the team is also people in Beaches of East York, the people who are knocking doors with the nomination, people who are knocking doors in the election. And they also want accountability. They also want the party and the government to be the best version of itself. And so do you find you were when you think back at the six years that you were in. I mean, cabinet's a different level of solidarity, obviously. But do you think it's possible to navigate that, you know, critical accountability role inside the tent? Or do you think it's essential as you are now to be outside to play that, you know, that that truth function?Catherine McKenna25:34 - 25:46I mean, that's a that's a really hard question because I mean, I'm a team person. I just sound like I was captain of a swim team. But that doesn't team. So it's different. Like, I'll just have to distinguish like being in cabinet.Catherine McKenna25:47 - 25:52Like you do have cabinet solidarity. But in cabinet, let me tell you, like I spoke up.Catherine McKenna25:52 - 26:50I like everyone didn't didn't always like it, but I felt like I had an obligation to just say things. And that was as much to myself as it was to anyone else. But then once you do that, you know, there is this view that then you stand with the team or else you leave cabinet. That is hard. That is hard. But it's probably less hard than being in caucus where you feel like you might have less influence on the issues. The one time I felt this was actually when I was out, but it was hard to do. And this is when I spoke up and I said I felt it was time for Justin Trudeau to step down, like to like have a leadership race to allow someone new to come in. And it was funny because I got like all these texts like and I was out. Right. So you think not such a big deal. But I got texts from people and like saying, who do you think you are? Like, you know, we're a liberal team. And I was like, OK, this is weird because I get team, but team doesn't equal cult.Nate Erskine-Smith26:52 - 26:52Welcome to my world.Catherine McKenna26:56 - 28:06Nate and me, are we exactly the same? Probably not exactly the same, but no, no. but I think it's true because I was like, well, wait a minute. We also owe it to, in that case, it was also like, we got to win. Are we going to just go? Is this the way it's going? We're just going to allow us to go down even though it's clear that the wheels have come off the cart. And that was hard. But I thought about it, and I was just so worried about the other option. Like Pierre Paulyab, that was too much. And I was like, okay, if I can make a bit of a difference, I will take a hit. It's fine. But I like, look, there is it is really hard to navigate that. And I mean, obviously, if it's super chaotic and no one's supporting things, I mean, the government will fall and you can't get agendas through. There does have to be some leeway to say things like that is important. It's that line and the tension. And I know you've you've felt it. And, you know, we haven't always been on the same side of those things, probably. But that is hard. That is hard. And I don't know that there's any easy answer to that because you can't always be in opposition because you can't govern.Catherine McKenna28:07 - 28:09So I would actually put that to you, Nate.Catherine McKenna28:10 - 28:38No, but I think it's an interesting question for you because, as I said, I was in cabinet, so it was a little bit easier. I mean, you literally have to vote with the government. But for you, there were times that you decided to, you know, be your own voice and not necessarily, well, not when I say not necessarily, not support, you know, the government's position. like how did you make decisions on that like how do you decide this is the moment i'm going to do that sometimes i care but i don't care as much or maybe i've done it you know a few times and iNate Erskine-Smith28:38 - 31:51should stay together like how did you how do you make that choice so i i think that uh trudeau and running for his leadership one thing that drew me to him actually he was calling for generational renewal at the time which which appealed to me but he was also talking about doing politics differently and whether that promise was entirely realized or not you know you lived around the cabinet table you you know more than me in some ways but I would say the promise of freer votes was incredibly appealing to me as the kind of politics that I that I want to see because I do think you you want that grassroots politics you want people to be it sounds trite now but that idea of being voices for the community in Ottawa not the other way around but there is a there's a truth to that. And so how do you get there and also maintain unity? And I think they navigated that quite well when in the leadership and then it became part of our platform in 2015, he articulated this idea of, well, we're going to have whipped votes on platform promises. Do I agree with everything in the platform? No, but I'll bite my tongue where I disagree and I'll certainly vote with the government. Two, on charter rights and human rights issues. And then three, and this is more fraught but on confidence matters more fraught i say because there were moments where they made certain things confidence matters that i didn't think they should have but you know that was that was the deal and that was the deal that you know you make with constituents it's the deal that you make with with members of the liberal party beyond that i think it's more about how you go about disagreeing and then it's making sure that you've given notice making sure that you've explained your reasons i i've i've uh i've joked i've been on many different whips couches but uh andy leslie i thought was the best whip in part because he would say why are you doing this and you'd run through the reasons he goes well have you have you engaged with them like do they know yeah well have they tried to convince you otherwise yeah and but here are the reasons okay well sounds like you thought about it kid get in my office and it was a there was a you could tell why he was an effective general because he he built respect as between you uh whereas you know the other approach is you have to vote with us. But that's not the deal, and here's why. And it's a less effective approach from a whip. But I would say how you, you know, I've used the example of electoral reform. I wasn't going and doing media saying Justin Trudeau is an awful person for breaking this promise, and, you know, he's, this is the most cynical thing he could have possibly have done, and what a bait and switch. I wasn't burning bridges and making this personal. I was saying, you know, he doesn't think a referendum is a good idea. Here's why I think there's a better forward and here's why I think we here's a way of us maintaining that promise and here's why I don't think we should have broken the promise and you know different people in the liberal party of different views I think the way we go about disagreeing and creating space for reasonable disagreement within the party outside the party but especially within the party really matters and then sometimes you just have to say there's an old Kurt Vonnegut line it's we are who we pretend to be so be careful who you pretend to be and I think it's double each room politics and so you know you want to wake up after politics and think I did the thing I was supposed to do when I was there. And sometimes that means being a good team player, and other times it means standing up and saying what you think. Okay, but back to questions for you.Catherine McKenna31:52 - 31:57Do you like that one? That was pretty good. Just put Nate on the hot speed for a little bit.Nate Erskine-Smith31:59 - 33:01You can ask me questions, too. Okay, so I was going to ask you why not politics, but you've sort of said, I've heard you say you felt that you were done, and you did what you came to do. But I want to push back on that a little bit, because you did a lot of things, especially around climate. First climate plan, you put carbon pricing in place, a number of measures. I mean, that gets all the attention, and we can talk about the walk back on it. But there's stringent methane rules, there were major investments in public transit, there's clean electricity. You run down the list of different things that we've worked towards in advance. And then we talk about consumer carbon pricing, but the industrial carbon piece is huge. Having said that, do you worry you left at a time when the politics were toxic, but not as toxic as they are today around climate and certainly around carbon pricing? And do you feel like you left before you had made sure the gains were going to be protected?Catherine McKenna33:02 - 33:11I think the lesson I learned, you can never protect gains, right? Like, you're just going to always have to fight. And, like, I can't, like, when am I going to be in politics? So I'm, like, 120?Catherine McKenna33:12 - 33:12Like, sorry.Catherine McKenna33:14 - 34:43And it is really true. Like, when I, the weird thing, when, so I'd been through COVID. I had three teenagers, one who, as I mentioned, is here. And I really thought hard. Like, I turned 50. And, like, I'm not someone who's, like, big birthdays. It's, like, this existential thing. I wasn't sad. It was, like, whatever. But I was, like, okay, I'm 50 now. Like, you know, there's what do I want to do at 50? I really forced myself to do it. And I really felt like, remember, I got into politics to make change. So I just thought, what is the best way to make change? And I really felt it wasn't, I felt personally for myself at this point, it wasn't through politics. I really wanted to work globally on climate because I really felt we'd done a lot. And I did think we kind of landed a carbon price. and we'd gone through two elections and one at the Supreme Court. So I felt like, okay, people will keep it. We will be able to keep it. So I just felt that there were other things I wanted to do, and I'd really come when I – you know, I said I would leave when I had done what I'd come to do, and that was a really important promise to myself. And I really want to spend time with my kids. Like, you give up a lot in politics, and my kids were going off to university, and I'd been through COVID, and if any parents – anyone been through COVID, But if you're a parent of teenage kids, that was a pretty bleak time. I'd be like, do you guys want to play another game? And they're like, oh my God.Audience Q34:43 - 34:44As if, and then they go to their bed.Catherine McKenna34:44 - 35:15They'd be like, I'm doing school. And I'd be like, as if you're doing school, you're online. Probably playing video game. But what am I going to do, right? Let's go for another walk. They're like, okay, we'll go for a walk if we can go get a slushie. And I was like, I'm going to rot their teeth. And my dad was a dentist. So I was like, this is bad. But this is like, we're engaging for 20 minutes. Like it was really hard. And so I actually, when I made the decision, like, but the counter, the funny thing that is so hilarious now to me is I almost, I was like, I'm not going to leave because if I leave, those haters will thinkCatherine McKenna35:15 - 35:16they drove me out.Nate Erskine-Smith35:16 - 35:18So I was like, okay, I'm going to stay.Catherine McKenna35:18 - 35:20And like, it was bizarre. I was like, okay.Nate Erskine-Smith35:20 - 35:21I don't want to stay when I'm staying. I don't want to stay.Catherine McKenna35:21 - 35:46I don't think this is the most useful point of my, like, you know, part of what I, you know, this is this useful, but I'm going to stay because these random people that I don't care about are actually going to say, ha ha, I chased her out. So then I was like, okay, well, let's actually be rational here and, you know, an adult. So I made the decision. And I actually felt really zen. Like, it was quite weird after I did it, where it was actually politicians who would do it to me. They'd be like, are you okay?Catherine McKenna35:47 - 35:49And I'd be like, I'm amazing.Catherine McKenna35:49 - 36:05What are you talking about? And, like, you know, it was as if leaving politics, I would not be okay. And then people would say, like, is it hard not to have stuff? I was like, I'm actually free. I can do whatever I want. I can go to a microphone now and say whatever. Probably people will care a lot less. But I don't.Nate Erskine-Smith36:05 - 36:07You can do that in politics sometimes too.Catherine McKenna36:08 - 36:08Yes, Nate.Nate Erskine-Smith36:09 - 36:09Yes, Nate.Catherine McKenna36:09 - 39:32We know about that. Yeah, it was just. So anyway, I left politics. I was not. I do think that what I always worried about more than actually the haters thinking they won. It was that women and women and girls would think I love politics because of all the hate. And once again, I'll just repeat it because it's very important to me. The reason I say the things that happened to me in the book is not because I need sympathy. I don't. We do need change. And I felt when I left, I said I would support women and girls in politics. One of the ways I am doing it is making sure that it is a better place than what I had to put up with. Now, sadly, it's not because it's actually worse now. I hear from counselors. I hear from school board trustees. I hear from all sorts of women in politics, but also men, however you identify. Like, it's bad out there. And it's not just online. It is now offline. People think they can shout at you and scream at you and take a video of it, like put it in the dark web or wherever that goes. So, you know, that's bad. But I feel like, you know, people are like, oh, we got to stop that. And that's what's important. There's a nice letter here. So as I said, I have like random things in here. But there's this lovely gentleman named Luigi. I haven't talked about Luigi yet, have I? So I was at the airport and this gentleman came over to me. And I still get a little nervous when people, because I don't know what people are going to do. Like I probably 99% of them are very nice, but it only takes one percent. So I always get like slightly nervous. And I don't mean to be because I'm actually, as you can see, quite gregarious. I like talking to people, but never exactly sure. And he hands me a note and walks away. And I'm like, oh, God, is this like an exploding letter? Who knows? And I open it and it's in the book. So I'll read you his letter because it actually, I put it towards the end because I think it's really important. because you can see I asked Luigi if I could put his note so his note is here so Ms. McKenna I did not want to disturb you as I thought so I thought I would write this note instead because I identify as a conservative in all likelihood we probably would disagree on many issues I find it quite disturbing the level of abuse that you and many other female politicians must endure. It is unfortunate and unacceptable, and I make a point of speaking out when I see it. I hope that you take consolation in the fact that you and others like you are making it easier for the next generation of women, including my three daughters, Luigi. And I was like, this is like the nicest note. And I think that's also what I hope for my book like I hope people are like yeah we can be we can actually disagree but be normal and you know okay with each other and probably most people are um most people are like Luigi are probably not paying attention but there are people that aren't doing that and I think they're also fed sometimes by politicians themselves um who you know really ratchet things up and attack people personally and And so that's a long answer to I can't even remember the question. But I mean, I left politics and I was done. And that's not related to Luigi, but Luigi is a nice guy.Nate Erskine-Smith39:34 - 41:21It's a I think I've got those are my questions around the book. But I do have a couple of questions on climate policy because you're living and breathing that still. And although it's interesting, you comment about politicians. I mean, there's a deep inauthenticity sometimes where politicians treat it as a game. And there's these attacks for clicks. Or in some cases, especially when the conservatives were riding high in the polls, people were tripping over themselves to try and prove to the center that they could be nasty to and that they could score points and all of that. And so they all want to make cabinet by ratcheting up a certain nastiness. But then cameras get turned off and they turn human beings again to a degree. And so that kind of inauthenticity, I think, sets a real nasty tone for others in politics more generally. But on climate policy, I was in Edmonton for our national caucus meeting. I think I texted you this, but I get scrummed by reporters and they're asking me all climate questions. And I was like, oh, this is nice. I'm getting asked climate questions for a change. this is good. This is put climate back on the radar. And then a reporter says, well, are you concerned about the Carney government backtracking on climate commitments? And I said, well, backtracking on climate commitments. I mean, if you read the book Values, it'd be a very odd thing for us to do. Do you worry that we are backtracking? Do you worry that we're not going to be ambitious enough? Or do you think we're still, we haven't yet seen the climate competitiveness strategy? I mean, you know, here's an opportunity to say we should do much more. I don't know. But are you concerned, just given the dynamic in politics as they're unfolding, that we are not going to get where we need to get?Catherine McKenna41:22 - 42:31I mean, look, I'm like you. You know, first of all, I did get into politics. I wasn't an expert on climate, but I cared about climate because I have kids. Like, we have this truck that's coming for our kids, and I'm a mother, so I'm going to do everything I can. I was in a position that I learned a lot about climate policy, and climate policy is complicated, and you've got to get it right. But look, I mean, you know, Mark Carney knows as much about, you know, climate as an economic issue as anyone. And so, I mean, I'm certainly hopeful that you can take different approaches, but at the end of the day, your climate policy requires you to reduce emissions because climate change isn't a political issue. Of course, it's very political. I'm not going to understate it. I know that as much as anyone. But in the end, the science is the science. We've got to reduce our emissions. And you've probably all heard this rant of mine before, but I will bring up my rant again. I sometimes hear about a grand bargain with oil and gas companies. We did a grand bargain with oil and gas companies.Catherine McKenna42:31 - 42:31How did that work out?Catherine McKenna42:31 - 42:32Yeah.Catherine McKenna42:32 - 42:33How did that work out? Tell us. How did that work out?Catherine McKenna42:33 - 47:27Let me tell you how that worked out. So we were working really hard to get a national climate plan. And I saw it as an obligation of mine to work with provinces to build on the policies they had. The Alberta government had stood, so it was the government of Rachel Notley, but with Murray Edwards, who's the head of one of the oil and gas companies, with environmentalists, with economists, with indigenous peoples, saying, okay, this is the climate plan Alberta's going to do. A cap on emissions from oil and gas. a price on pollution, tough methane regs, and, you know, some other things. And so then we were pushed, and it was really hard. I was the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, where we had a climate emergency one day, and then we had a pipeline. The next, I talk about that. That was hard. But the reality is, we felt like that, you know, the Alberta government, we needed to support the NDP Alberta, you know, the NDP government at the time early on. And so then what did we get? Like, where are we right now? We basically, none of the, either those policies are gone or not effective. We got a pipeline at massive taxpayer costs. It's like 500% over. We have oil and gas companies that made historic record profits, largely as a result of Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine. What did they do with those profits? They said that they were going to invest in climate solutions. They were going to reduce their emissions. They were all in. But instead, they give their CEOs massive, massive historic bonuses. I'm from Hamilton. That's not a thing when you get these massive historic record bonuses. At the same time, they gave the money back to shareholders who were largely Americans. While they demanded more subsidies to clean up their own pollution, while we are in a climate crisis that is a fossil fuel climate crisis. I now feel taken for a fool because I believed that the oil and gas, like in particular, the oil sands would live up to their end of the bargain. You will see in the book also, I don't know, I probably can't find the page fast enough. I did pinky promises with kids because all these kids came up to me all the time and they said, like, I'm really working hard on climate change. You know, I've got a water bottle. I'm riding my bike. I'm doing like a used clothing drive, whatever it was. And I said, you know what? I'm doing my part, too. Let's do a pinky promise like a pinky swear. And we will promise to continue doing our part. Well, we all did our part. By the way, basically everyone in all sectors have done their part except for oil and gas when they had massive historic record profits. And I wrote a report for the UN Secretary General on greenwashing. And they were exhibit A, exhibit A on what greenwashing looks like, like saying you're doing things that you are not doing and while you're lobbying to kill every policy. So I just hope that people aren't taken for fools again. Like the grand bargain should be they should live up with their end of the bargain. Like that is what bargains are. You got to do what you say you were going to do. And they didn't do it. And as a result, it's extremely hard for Canada to meet our target because they are 30% and growing of our emissions. So I also think like, why are we paying? Why would taxpayers pay? So, look, I don't know. Hard things are hard, as my mug says that I was given by my team because I said it every single day, about 12 times a day. You have to make very tough decisions in government. And we're in a trade war. And also defending our we have to absolutely stand up and defend our sovereignty against the Trump regime, which is very dangerous and very destabilizing. but at the same time we can't not act on climate climate is a here and now problem it's not this fire problem like all these people were evacuated from communities the cost of climate change is massive people are not going to be able to be insured that's already happening and so i just think you gotta walk and chew gum you gotta like figure out how to you know build and grow the economy but you also need to figure out how to tackle climate change and reduce your emissions and to be honest, hold the sector that is most responsible for climate change accountable for their actions and also for their words because they said they were going to act on climate and they supported these policies and they are now still fighting to kill all these policies. You almost can't make it up. And I just don't think Canadians should be taken for fools and I think you've got to make a lot of choices with tax dollars. But I'm not in government And I think, you know, we have, you know, Mark Carney, he's very smart. He's doing a great job of defending Canada. You know, I think like everyone, I'm waiting to see what the climate plan is because it's extremely important. And the climate plan is an economic plan as much as anything else.Nate Erskine-Smith47:28 - 48:23And on that, I would say not just an economic plan, but when you talk about national resiliency, there's a promise in our platform to become a clean energy superpower. There's a promise in our platform to create an east-west transmission grid. And just in Ontario, when you look at the fact that not only are they doubling down on natural gas, but they're also importing natural gas from the United States. When solar, wind, storage is actually more cost effective, investments in east-west transmission grid and in clean energy would make a lot more sense, not only for the climate, not only for the economy, but also as a matter of resiliency and energy independence as well. Okay, those are my questions. So thank you for... Give a round of applause for Calvin. Thank you for joining. With the time that we've got left, Christian, we've got, what, 10, 15 minutes? What time is it? Okay, great. Okay, so does anyone have questions for Ms. McKenna?Audience Q48:25 - 49:09It's a question for both of you, actually. You guys have both been trailblazers in your own right, I think, inside and inside of politics. And you talk a lot about building your community and building your team, whether it's swimming or local politics, and also demanding space in those places to be competitive, all the way up from your local team up to the prime minister. But I'm curious on the other side of that, what does it look like to be a good teammate inside and inside of politics, and how do we support more people, for those of us that might not be running, but trying to get more people like you? Or maybe as an example, somebody that supported you in your run?Catherine McKenna49:11 - 49:56well i mean look i'm trying to do my part and so what i did and it's like what most of you did you go support people that you think are good that are running so i in the last election i went and i supported people that i thought were serious about climate including in ridings that we had never won before um and i also well probably especially those writings um and i also supported women candidates that was just a choice I mean but I think everyone getting involved in politics is a great way to do it but also you know when you think there's someone good that might be good to run you know you know talk to them about it and as I said for women they need to be asked often seven times I think is it so like for women maybe just start asking and if we get to the seventh time maybeNate Erskine-Smith49:56 - 51:38really good women will run and I would add I suppose just on locally I have found one, going into schools and talking politics and encouraging people to think about politics as an opportunity has translated into our youth council. It's then translated into our young liberals internship over the summer where we make sure people are able to be paid to knock on doors and just maintain involvement. And then a number of those people come through either our office and then they're working in politics in the minister's office or in the prime minister's office or they're going to law school or they're adjacent to politics and helping other people and just encouraging people to at least be close to politics so that they see politics as a way to make a difference, there will then be people that will want to run from that or help encourage other people to run. The second thing, and I'll use Mark Holland as an example, when I was running the nomination and I didn't have contacts in the party, but I had someone who knew Mark Holland and he gave me advice to think about it like concentric circles when you're running a nomination where you have people who are close to you and then the people who are close to you will have 10 people that are close to them that maybe they can sign them up for you or maybe they just are they open the door and I you know if so if someone opens the door to a conversation with me I feel pretty confident that I can close the sale but if the door is closed in my face I'm not gonna I'm not gonna even have an opportunity to and so just that idea of building out you start with your your home base and you build out from there build out from there so I just think I have in the last week had conversations with two people who want to run for office at some point, they're both under the age of 30, and I've given that same kind of advice of, here's what worked for me. It may work for you, it may not, it depends, but find where your home base is, and then just grow from there. And so I think just spending time, likeAudience Q51:39 - 52:30giving one's time to give advice like that is really important. Yeah. Building on that, that's, I wanted to, because I think that does nicely into what you said earlier, Catherine, about and really encouraging young women in particular to get into politics. But it's not just, it's all the peripheral people, people that are peripheral to politics, your concentric circles, so that you don't necessarily have to run for an office. And I appreciate what you've done for girls. But I also want you to know that, I mean, I'm older than you, and still you are a role model to me. Not only that, though, I have sons in their mid to late 20s. and I've made sure you're a role model and women like you are a role model to them because I think that's how change begins.Nate Erskine-Smith52:32 - 52:34This was entirely planted just for you, by the way.Catherine McKenna52:35 - 52:37No, but I think that's...Nate Erskine-Smith52:37 - 52:40So I do think that's important, right?Catherine McKenna52:40 - 53:26My book is not... Run Like a Girl, I'm a woman, I identify as a woman and there's a story about how I was told I ran like a girl and so it really bugged me. So it's kind of a particular thing. But I think that is important. Like, you know, this isn't exclusive. Although, you know, there are, you know, certain different barriers, at least that I'm aware of, you know, that if you're a woman, if you're LGBTQ2+, if you're racialized or indigenous, there could be different barriers. But I hear you. And I think, you know, we do have to inspire each other in a whole range of ways. So that is very nice. I hope that, I mean, I'm not, you know, looking to, you know, you know, for kudos. I really, but it is nice to hear that you can inspire people in a whole different way, you know, range of ways.Audience Q53:26 - 53:47It's really, yeah, it's really not about kudos. It's about, you know, it's not that my intent is not just to applaud you. It's just, it's to, it's to recognize you. And that's different, like being seen, holding place, holding space for people to be involved. And so I do have one actual question of this.Catherine McKenna53:48 - 53:50You can ask a question after that.Audience Q53:51 - 53:57Regarding pricing, carbon pricing, how would you communicate the rollout differently?Catherine McKenna53:58 - 54:43Well, I would actually fund it. So hard things at heart, I'm like, okay, well, first of all, we know the Conservatives were terrible. They lied about it. They misled. They didn't talk about the money going back. The problem is, like, we hampered ourselves too. And it was really quite weird because I was like, okay, well, we need an advertising budget because clearly this is a bit of a complicated policy. But the most important thing I need people to know is that we're tackling climate change and we're doing it in a way that we're going to leave low income and middle income people better off. You're going to get more money back. That's very, very important. The second part of the message is as important because I knew the conservatives were going to be like, you're just increasing the price of everything. But we were told we couldn't advertise. And I was like, why? And they said, well, because we're not like conservatives because they had done the, what was the plan?Nate Erskine-Smith54:43 - 54:51The economic action plan. The signs everywhere. They basically, what Ford does now, they were doing it.Catherine McKenna54:51 - 57:40So that sounds really good, except if you're me. Because I was like, well, no one really knows about it. So I'm like one person. And we got some caucus members, not all of them. But Nate will go out and talk about it. Some people will talk about it. But I said, people are entitled to know what government policy is, especially in this particular case, where you've literally got to file your taxes to get the rebate. Because that was the second mistake we made. I was told that we couldn't just do quarterly checks, which would be much more obvious to people, even if it was automatically deposited, you actually named it properly, which was another problem. But, you know, all of these things that are just normal things. And instead, we were told, I was told by the folks in the Canada Revenue Agency, there's no way we could possibly do quarterly checks. after COVID, when we did everything, we blew everything up, then they were like, oh, actually, and this was after me, but they were like, we can do quarterly chaps. I was like, well, that's really helpful. Like, that would have been nice, like a little bit longer, you know, like the beginning of this. And so I think like, we do need to be sometimes very tough, like, don't do things that sound great and are not, are really hampering your ability to actually deliver a policy in a way that people understand. So like, it's just a hard policy. Like, you know, people say, would you have done, what would you have done differently? Yes, I would have communicated it differently. I tried. Like, I was out there. I went to H&R Block because I saw a sign, and they were like, climate action incentive. Oh, by the way, we couldn't call it a rebate because the lawyers told us injustice. We couldn't do that, and I'm a lawyer. I was like, what? And so I should have fought that one harder too, right? Like, I mean, there's so many fights you can have internally as well, but, you know, there I am. I was like, oh, H&R Block, they're doing free advertising for us because they wanted people to file their taxes, so then I would make, I said to all caucus members, you need to go to your HR block and get a family. I don't even want to see you necessarily. I want a family to be sitting down being told they're getting money back. And, and so like, look, I think it's just a hard policy. And, and what happened though, I mean, read hard things are hard, but the chapter, but it's, um, and people will be like, I'm definitely not reading that chapter. You can skip chapters. This book is like, go back and forth, rip things out. I don't, you don't have to read it in chronological order or read particular chapters. But was if the price is going to go up every year, every year you better be ready to fight for it because every year you're literally creating this conflict point where conservatives are like, they're on it. They're like spending so much tax dollars to mislead people. Remember the stickers on the pump that fell off? That was quite funny. They actually fell off. But you're going to have to fight for it. And so we just, it's a hard, it's a very hard policy. I did everything I could. And I don't live with life with regrets. I think it was really important. And by the way, it's a case study outside of Canada.Catherine McKenna57:41 - 57:42Everyone's like, Canada.Catherine McKenna57:42 - 57:52I was like, oh, yeah, there is like a little different ending than you might want to know about what happened. But they're like, yes, this is, of course, how we should do it. Should be a price on pollution. Give the money back.Nate Erskine-Smith57:52 - 58:38I went to a movie at the Beach Cinema with my kids. And there was an ad. This is years ago. But there was an ad. So we were advertising. But it was advertising about the environment climate plan. and it was like people in canoes. And I was like, what is this trying to, like we're spending how much money on this to tell me what exactly? And I went to, Stephen was the minister, and I went, Stephen, can we please advertise Carbon Pricing Works, it's 10 plus percent of our overall plan, and 80% of people get more money back or break even. Just tell people those three things, I don't need the canoe. and then he was like oh we can't we we they tell it they tell us we can't do it no no and that'sCatherine McKenna58:38 - 58:55what you're often told like it is kind of weird internally the amount of times you're told no like on advertising it is a particular thing because like and so then you're like having a fight about comms i was like oh my gosh can we don't think the canoe is going to win this carbon and it didn't turns out i love canoeing by the way so maybe it would have convinced me if i wasNate Erskine-Smith58:55 - 59:01i think last question we'll finish with that with maryland hi i'm maryland and i also happen to beAudience Q59:01 - 01

The girls are still fighting...00:00 Intro, Life Update, Reminiscing on Restaurant Classics17:15 Rihanna & ASAP Rocky Give Birth to Baby Girl20:20 Cardi B, JT Online Beef, Chris Blake Griffith + Tasha K Allegations on Stefon Diggs39:35 Nicki Minaj Announces New Album Date, Cardi B Beef41:19 Cardi B Responding to Crissle from The Read, Offset Divorce Drama53:17 Mariah Carey Appearance on Kai Cenat's Mafiathon, Tylil Comments, Co-Parenting with Nick Cannon01:03:08 D4vd Investigation01:06:04 New TV/Movies + Music, Reasonable Doubt on Hulu, Doja Cat Album01:09:00 Outro

Creativity + Sustainability = Brittany Risk's passion! From hand-sewing costumes for her Barbies in elementary school to upcycling and thrifting today, Brittany has always embraced color, fun, and freedom of expression. Hear how she found herself through fashion, celebrates being silly, and brings her customers' visions to life on the latest Get Thrifty Podcast!   SHOW NOTES: Finding her artistic passion and HERSELF with reselling, upcycling, vintage, and thrifting! Her love of fashion and art began by hand sewing clothes for her Barbies in elementary school!  Her love of bright colors and how she celebrates being silly! Wearable art and her love of bringing her customers' fashion visions to life! How thrifting helps you find your own personal style.  Tips to grow your social community, including why it's so important to inspire, engage, and be open to change.

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠DREAM WITH US, and we'll teach you how to interpret them!Dolls are human stand-ins that invite projection and play; children use them (including action figures and Barbies) to try on identities and develop imagination, then later withdraw the projection as the figure becomes inert again. Icons and idols differ because their meaning is fixed and not for play, which limits imaginative engagement. The healthiest use of dolls is symbolic—relating to them without collapsing into literal belief—while overly realistic “reborn” dolls, talk-box toys, and similar literalizations can narrow imagination, blur symbol and reality. Across history, dolls have served ritual, funerary, and “sympathetic magic” functions, echoing a recurring human urge to craft lifelike figures and “breathe life” into them. A modern parallel appears in AI's disembodied mirroring—an echo that can soothe but does not foster embodied, self-generated play. The practical test: does the figure expand inner life and integrate feeling, or does it substitute for reality and stunt imagination? Dreams carry the same work inward; their figures function like internal dolls that invite dialogue and meaning-making.Read along with the dream HERE.LOOK & GROW⁠⁠Join THIS JUNGIAN LIFE DREAM SCHOOL⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Do you have a topic you want us to cover?⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠WE NEED YOUR HELP! Become a patron to keep TJL running.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠We've got totally NEW MERCH!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠We'd like to take a crack interpreting your dream.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠If you've been struggling in the dark, trying to find the keys to unlock your dreams, help has arrived. Order your copy of ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Dream Wise: Unlocking the Meaning of Your Dreams⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ from the hosts of This Jungian Life podcast and open the secret door.

Gather round, Wrecking Balls! (Woah it's been a while since we've called you that.) Join us on a little self-reflection journey as the Tattoo Homewreckers answer 9 very reflective questions that force us both to think about this past year. But first, you'll have to listen to Callista talk about her birthday gifts and hope that she'll eventually get tired of wearing that cat beanie. Questions were found on @selfcareisforeveryone on IG! Leave a comment below on what your favorite question was and what your answer is. Check out our tattoo studio:⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.CaliLousTattoos.com⁠⁠⁠orwww.instagram.com/CaliLousTattoos and our YouTube Channel:⁠@tattoohomewreckers266⁠Please share your thoughts with us and if you have any questions on what you would like to know.

Welcome back to Truth, Lies & Work, the award-winning podcast where behavioral science meets workplace culture. Hosted by Chartered Occupational Psychologist Leanne Elliott and business owner Al Elliott, this episode features one of the most brutally honest interviews we've ever had about what it really takes to lead people the right way. Episode Summary Picture this: you're in your mid-twenties, walking into a Detroit manufacturing plant for your first day as head of labor relations. Your job involves firing at least one person every single week, and you discover that you are a very different person to everyone who did this job before you - because you're the first woman in the role, and more importantly, the first one who doesn't carry a gun. Today's guest, Amy Bouque, Chief People Officer at Kelly Services, shares stories from her 30-year career in HR that most C-suite executives would never dare share publicly. From devastating personal loss that changed her leadership philosophy to investigating phantom poopers and naked Barbies in compromising positions, Amy gives us an unfiltered look at the messy reality of leading people. What We Cover Transformative Career Moments Amy's early days in Detroit manufacturing plants where armed security walked her to her car Leadership Myths Busted Why the myth that "leaders are born, not made" is holding organizations back Real-World Advice for Small Businesses How to build culture when money is tight using the "Yes, And" approach Having Difficult Conversations The Content-Pattern-Relationship framework for performance issues Key Takeaways 1. Connection Beats Command Amy learned the hard way that moving fast and making decisions quickly meant nothing if her team didn't want to work for her. Slow down, invest in relationships, and yes - it matters if your team likes you. 2. Embrace the Messy Middle Sometimes you do work Sundays. No, you might not be comfortable with someone working 20 hours for 40 hours of pay. It's okay to admit the complex reality instead of pretending everything's perfect. 3. Have the Conversation Script it, practice it, breathe through it - but have the difficult conversation. Not having these conversations isn't kindness; it's disrespectful to your team who already knows who's not pulling their weight. Resources Amy Bouque on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amy-bouque-she-her-hers-520a855/ Kelly Services: https://www.kellyservices.com/ Connect with Your Host Connect with Al on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/thisisalelliott/ Connect with Leanne on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/meetleanne Join the discussion about this episode on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/truthlieswork/ Email: podcast@TruthLiesandWork.com Follow us on Instagram: @truthlieswork Chat with us on Twitter: @truthlieswork YouTube channel: @TruthLiesWork Check us out on TikTok: @truthlieswork Want a chat about your workplace culture? hi@TruthLiesandWork.com Got feedback/questions/guest suggestions? Email podcast@TruthLiesandWork.com Amy's confessions remind us that even C-Suite executives are learning as they go. The difference is Amy is brave enough to admit it. We all deserve leaders who see our humanity, even when they're having to make the hard decisions - even if those decisions involve investigating naked Barbies.

BARBIES AND BOTTLE PROMO UPDATE BY BIGPAPA & DJ DELLON AKA HOTSKULL by OneVoiceFamilySoundSystem

Some love stories begin with fireworks.This one began with a railroad conductor, a circus artist, and a song.When Michael and Kayo met online, they were each carrying a lifetime of stories—some beautiful, some heavy, and all still echoing in how they showed up in love. Instead of running from their pasts, they did something brave: they wrote through them.Together, they left the familiar behind and started over in Dixon, New Mexico, where the landscape is wide and the healing feels just a little more possible. Through songwriting, they began to name their traumas, rebuild trust, and give voice to the versions of themselves they were still learning how to love.This episode is a window into that process—honest, unfiltered, and full of hope.Whether you're partnered or on your own path, Michael and Kayo's story reminds us that healing doesn't have to be perfect. It just has to be true.

Hi Barbies, hi Kens!Podcast Barbie hosts this very special pink, plastic fantastic episode on the history and legacy of Barbie - the doll and the movie!From her humble beginnings in the late 50s, through various controversies along the way, Barbie has been symbolic of girlhood, and of embracing the idea that girls can be whatever they want to be through play, not just as mothers with babydolls.As Barbie is based on the body of an actual young woman, the idea of a live action Barbie movie made sense. The first attempt was in 1986, and throughout the years, various studios have tried to make a live action Barbie film, while in the background, Barbie has been a staple in animation.It wasn't until real life Producer Barbie, Margot Robbie, contacted Mattel, with her ideas for a meta take on Barbie that Warner Bros started to take notice. Producer Barbie contacted Director Barbie, Greta Gerwig, and together they assembled the brightest and best Barbies in Hollywood to join them to celebrate Barbieland and all their achievements by having Barbie and Ken going to the real world and discovering that Barbieland's version of matriarchy isn't quite the experience of the real world.The Kens, well, they're just Ken.I would love to hear your thoughts on Barbie !Verbal Diorama is now an award-winning podcast! Best Movie Podcast in the inaugural Ear Worthy Independent Podcast Awards and was nominated for the Earworm Award at the 2025 Golden Lobes.CONTACT.... Twitter @verbaldiorama Instagram @verbaldiorama Facebook @verbaldiorama Letterboxd @verbaldiorama Email verbaldiorama [at] gmail [dot] com Website verbaldiorama.comSUPPORT VERBAL DIORAMA....Give this podcast a five-star Rate & Review Join the Patreon | Send a Tip ABOUT VERBAL DIORAMAVerbal Diorama is hosted, produced, edited, researched, recorded and marketed by me, Em | This podcast is hosted by Captivate, try it yourself for free. Theme Music: Verbal Diorama Theme Song. Music by Chloe Enticott - Compositions by Chloe. Lyrics by Chloe Enticott (and me!) Production by Ellis Powell-Bevan of Ewenique StudioPatrons: Simon, Laurel, Derek, Cat, Andy, Mike, Luke, Michael, Scott, Brendan, Ian, Lisa, Sam, Jack, Stuart, Nicholas, Zo, Kev, Heather, Danny, Stu, Brett, Philip M, Xenos, Sean, Ryno, Philip K, Adam, Elaine, Kyle, Aaron and brand-new patron Conner! This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis: Podscribe - https://podscribe.com/privacyOP3 - https://op3.dev/privacy

We welcome you back to another episode of Upstairs Neighbors! Today your neighbors talk about their gratitude, the importance of betting on yourself, and their BRAND NEW set. Enjoy!  West coast tour tickets: https://rb.gy/gp982k  Check out https://www.squarespace.com/UPSTAIRS to save 10% off your first purchase of a website or domain using code UPSTAIRS]. Go to https://brooklynbedding.com and use our promo code UPSTAIRS at checkout to get 30% off sitewide. Get better sleep, hair and skin with Blissy and use UPSTAIRSPOD to get an additional 30% off at https://blissy.com/UPSTAIRSPOD. IG: https://www.instagram.com/upstairsneighborspod/ Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@upstairsneighborspod Follow our Hosts:  Maya IG: https://www.instagram.com/mayamoto_/ Maya Tik Tok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mayahasatiktok Dom IG: https://www.instagram.com/domrobxrts/ Dom Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@domnotateenmom Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Vad kostar Gwyneth Paltrow vagina doftande doftljus? Hur nära relation får man ha med sin svägerska och Lukas vill ha en intervention.Har du ett dilemma som du vill att vi tar upp? Skicka ett DM till oss på Instagram! Där heter vi @dilemmapodd

Anna received an email from a listener about something he thinks she and Raven should talk about on the show! But the email has a disgusting photo attached…and Anna talks about it! Are you up to date on this week's biggest news story? Anna and Meteorologist Ashley will get you caught up on the trending news including one of the most “hate-watched” show's series finale and Andie MacDowell's daughter, Margaret Qualley, is playing matchmaker for her mom! A lot of people thought that Jay-Z would be the performer of the Super Bowl but since August 6th people think it will be Taylor Swift! Find out why! Millennials and Gen X have reverted to pacifiers to sooth their stress and Anna thinks it might be something she should look into! Travis Kelce and Taylor Swift are extremely competitive so Anna, Raven, and Producer Julie share what they're competitive at! All the kids are yelling “six seven” and Anna asked her teenage niece what it means! Do you understand these words, because we are still trying to understand the new slang! So, what do global leaders eat for lunch when they have a meeting? The menu for a recent meeting between American President Trum and Russian President Putin was leaked, and Anna and Raven aren't sure it represents America's finest food! On the New Heights podcast, Jason Kelce had a food hot-take that got all his fans talking, but what's your food hot-take? Patty wants to start the tradition of “Back to School Gifts” so that their young children will be excited to return to school. She thinks that if there's wrapped presents on their first day back when they come downstairs in the morning (like Christmas morning) it'll get rid of some of the dread. Dad (Javier) thinks this is the most absurd thing he's ever heard. Get on the bus and go back to school, they're not spending money on more toys and junk so they can be excited for fifteen minutes. She says it's not a horse they're buying; it's Barbies and trucks! What do you think? Chris has a chance to win $4100! All he has to do is answer more pop culture questions than Raven in Can't Beat Raven!

In this episode I sat down with Shah from his ‘This is Shah' channel - https://www.youtube.com/@thisisshahWe dove into why the divorce rate is so high and what's happening with modern dating and relating? Shah is extremely knowledgeable about family law and the court systems and we have an extensive conversation about dowry and bride price systems from the past.Listen in to learn about whether the dowry has wisdom we could implement today, why caricatures of men and women are shaping modern dating dilemmas, Barbies and Bugattis, whether Andrew Tate would become monogamous if he was presented with a dowry, what the purpose of a prenup is and why it began, what the three stages of relating are based on David Deida's work are, which stage are we in now, how we can define actually love? And so much more.Such a great conversation with Shah, enjoy. TIMESTAMPS:00:00 - 00:30 Episode Trailer and Intro00:30 - 01:39 Episode Overview and 'This is Shah' Introduction01:39 - 03:40 Who is 'This is Shah'03:40 - 04:44 Is a dowry a sacrifice?04:44 - 06:59 Is a dowry tantamount to buying someone06:59 - 09:33 Bride price is a compensation for labour value lost by the bride's family09:33 - 10:35 Why did we move from bride price to dowry10:35 - 12:44 When did people start hating dowry and bride price rituals12:44 - 14:53 Did feminism start because men stopped paying dowries?14:53 - 17:25 'You're a high status man if you can manage a housewife'17:25 - 19:11 Courtly love and romance used to be separate from marriage19:11 - 21:16 Love means something different to almost everyone21:16 - 22:36 Alex and Leila Hormozi's relationship22:36 - 23:54 What is love?23:54 - 25:16 Dowry payments are much like child support payments25:16 - 28:08 Why prenups are funny to me28:08 - 29:29 The three stages of relating29:29 - 32:05 Andrew Tate is the male version of The Barbie ideal32:05 - 32:46 What is the number one thing that any woman wants32:46 - 35:19 The Quiet Man35:19 - 37:09 The second stage of relating37:09 - 39:45 Dowry societies see fewer divorces than bride price societies39:45 - 41:50 Society has abandoned initiations41:50 - 43:46 Does being religious reduce divorce rates?43:46 - 47:20 Your upbringing determines your choice of romantic partners47:20 - 48:30 Did no-fault divorce make it too easy to separate48:30 - 52:03 Did industrialism ruin it for women52:03 - 53:57 Why I believe hooking up is bad for you53:57 - 55:50 What do you bring to the table?55:50 - 58:26 What is a good romantic scenario when two people meet58:26 - 01:01:50 Look at their credit report before getting married01:01:50 - 01:02:48 How to really lower divorce rates01:02:48 - 01:05:28 The only good thing about red pill 01:05:28 - 01:06:12 The Romance game01:06:12 - 01:07:04 The hedonism wall01:07:04 - 01:12:21 Can women stick with you when you have nothing01:12:21 - 01:13:18 Is income separate from attraction01:13:18 - 01:17:35 Are there other men besides Nice guys and Bad boys01:17:35 - 01:21:09 What is missing from how we behave these days?01:21:09 - 01:23:35 My take on how to change the world of dating01:23:35 - 01:26:37 how would I get Andrew Tate to be monogamous01:26:37 - 01:28:40 Beauty that inspires action in a man01:28:40 - 01:29:45 The one point men should take from this conversation01:29:45 - 01:30:49 Key takeaways for women01:30:49 - 01:31:27 Outro_______________________If you found some value today then help me spread the word! Share this episode with a friend or leave a review. This helps the podcast grow.You can also watch the episodes on youtube hereFollow me on Instagram @anyashakhYou can book a discovery call at anyashakh.com

Ezt üzenik a világnak az ausztriai öregek Elcsendesedős koncertet ad az Anna and the Barbies duó Szigligeten Jól megtömték az új Csupasz pisztolyt Leonardo DiCaprio is csatlakozhat a Szemtől szemben folytatásához Superman: A DCU startja Itt vannak az első fotók Anne Hathaway szerelméről Az ördög Pradát visel 2-ben A Sziget első napja képekben Superman is támogatja Trump deportálási programját, sőt, beáll ICE-ügynöknek Berobbant, sebeket tépett fel, majd hirtelen csöndre intette a Szigetet a Papa Roach Időutazás a galaxison át: Újra mozikban az eredeti Star Wars! Tunyogi Bernadett férje, Soponyai Géza: "Úgy ment el, hogy nem maradtak elvarratlan szálak" A további adásainkat keresd a podcast.hirstart.hu oldalunkon.

Alexis Alexander Conley, known affectionately as Lex, is a multifaceted individual who has made a significant mark in both the culinary and entertainment worlds. Born and raised in Hell's Kitchen, New York, Lex's upbringing was steeped in the vibrant culture of the city. She is the daughter of an executive producer for CBS and Broadway, which provided her with a unique perspective on the entertainment industry from an early age.Lex attended culinary school, igniting her passion for food, which led her to a remarkable 25-year career as a chef. Throughout her culinary journey, she has garnered numerous awards, including a notable position as a sous chef at a restaurant that received a James Beard nomination. Her expertise in the kitchen is matched by her personal life; she now resides in Laurel, Delaware, with her husband, a chef, and their large blended family, which includes six children and five grandchildren. Together, they run a micro farm with 29 chickens, reflecting Lex's commitment to sustainable living and her love for gardening.In addition to her culinary pursuits, Lex is also an accomplished stand-up comedian. She has performed at prestigious venues such as Gotham, EastVille Comedy Club, Stand-Up New York, and Carolines. After a decade-long hiatus from comedy, she returned to the stage through Mooncat Comedy, a troop supported by the Dream Big venue in Delmar, Delaware. Lex's comedy often draws from her life experiences, offering a unique perspective as an ex-party girl turned chef, mother, and sober fashionista.Lex also produces her own comedy burlesque variety show, showcasing a range of talents, including fire acts and contortionists, alongside a lineup of skilled comedians. Her diverse interests extend to hobbies such as collecting Barbies, which further illustrates her vibrant personality.Lex Conley is a dynamic figure whose life journey is a testament to her resilience and creativity, ensuring that anyone who spends time with her will leave with a memorable experience.#lexalexanderconley #culinarychef #standupcomedian #chrispomay #livewithcdp #barrycullenchevrolet   / karaokequeen2000    / conleybakingcompany  https://conleybakingcompany.com/https://beacons.ai/chrisdpomayhttps://www.cameo.com/chrispomayhttps://www.paypal.com/paypalme/chris... (If you wish to support my content on my You Tube channel). https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast...  / chrispomay  Want to create live streams like this? Check out StreamYard: https://streamyard.com/pal/d/54200596...Chris Pomay Live With CDP Talk Show

From record-smashing WNBA All-Star Weekend moments, to CBA buzz, and 72 hours of StudBudz streaming, Carolyn and Danielle are back with all the highlights. We're talking AUSL's first-ever softball champs (go Talons!), England's epic UEFA Women's Euro win over Spain—yes, we were there!—plus some personal dubs: Danielle hits the court overseas, and the Barbies crush it on the rec softball field. We are so happy to be back!If you rate Women's Sports Weekly 5 stars, send a screenshot and you will receive a sticker!SUBSCRIBE TO WOMEN'S SPORTS WEEKLY YouTubeSpotifyApple Podcasts FOLLOW WOMEN'S SPORTS WEEKLY ON SOCIALInstagramTikTokCONTACTWomensSportsWeeklyPod@gmail.com Women's Sports Weekly is created, produced, edited, and hosted by Carolyn Bryan and Danielle Bryan. Music is by the talented ⁠Melvin Alexander Black.  

A Hiking Accident brings Mark and Carrie Together.by T. Foxal. Listen to the ► Podcast at Connected.Mark and Carrie never met before, until an accident to Carrie, brought them together, and now maybe for good.Chapter 1.I'm Mark. 39 years old, single, a computer geek who is lucky enough that I can work from home, and make my own hours. I wasn't always like this. When I was 18, I had a choice, jail or join the service. I just made some bad decisions back then, doing drugs and getting in fights. So I opted for the Marines. I spent 15 years with them, and advanced to Master Sergeant, which is the fourth highest position an NCO can go. Served 3 tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, which are true shit holes. Great thing about the service, besides 3 square meals a day and a place to sleep, you can be taught almost any useful job in the world, which is where I learned computer programing.Now I pretty much free-lance my abilities out and make a good wage. Most times I have jobs to do, but sometimes I don't and have lots of free time. If I do have jobs, I can make my own hours.I don't have a steady woman at this time, and I am  okay with that. Being deployed all the time, whether it was in the Middle East, or on some ship with a bunch of Squids, I really had no time for a relationship.I had been out almost a year this past August, when I decided I needed some down time. I decided I was going to the Adirondacks and do some hiking. I grew up outside of Syracuse NY., and have always wanted to go there. My one uncle owns a cabin up there and offered it to me when he heard I wanted to go hiking up there. He told me it had one bedroom, a bathroom, kitchen, and a living room with fireplace. It had running water and electricity. He warned me that I would need to turn on the hot water tank, since they shut it down last fall, after they used it last.I had decided that I would take two weeks to explore all the different mountain ranges this area had, finishing up at Mt. Marcy, the highest of them all. Since it was just after Labor Day, tourism should be at a low, with vacationers and school kids back into their routines. My plan was to hike daily, a different range, and if need be, camp out at night. Being a Marine, we are taught all types of survival skills, so this would be no problem for me. One thing my uncle did ask me to do, is stop at the Ranger station and let them know I would be occupying the cabin for a length of time. People sometimes like to use squatter rights and just use cabins, regardless if they are allowed, or not.I also like that the temperature doesn't get to warm up there either. I prefer cool nights and just warm days. Maybe it's because of my time in that hell hole of the middle east. My trip took almost 4 hours to get to where I wanted to go.Chapter 2.The skies were quite cloudy when I pulled into the Ranger Station. I got out of my truck and headed to the stations door, and when I opened it, a woman was coming out at the same time and we bumped into each other. We both apologized, then laughed, and then she continued on to her vehicle.After letting a ranger know where I was going and for how long, I exited the station and headed back to my truck. That's when I noticed her again. She was 5 '7, maybe 130 lbs., caramel colored skin, hair just past her shoulders, when she let it down. From the side, she did not look like she had very big boobs, they were smallish medium, just the way I actually like them. She was wearing camo style shorts, and a tan polo shirt. Boy, she had nice legs, long and muscular, very toned. If I had to guess her age, early 30's. Whoever was getting lucky with that, was one lucky son of a bitch. One thing I did notice, she was wearing white running shoes, and not hiking boots. Judging from the backpack she was attempting to put on, she was going hiking and camping out. Running shoes are not the smartest thing to wear hiking. No ankle support what so ever.As I drove off, I stole another look at her, as I drove by. Great looking ass. Bigger than a model would have, but smaller than many of the women I have seen in my lifetime. I exited the parking lot and started heading up Whiteface Mountain. My uncle's cabin is up about 4 miles from this point, on a long and windy road. If I had to guess, it would be about a third of the way up the mountain, and only because of the road, which I believed was cut out by a snake.Once I arrived, I unloaded everything into the cabin. Found the circuit breaker and turned them on, especially the hot water tank. Too many cold showers in my life, so no need to suffer this time now. One thing I did notice too, the temp was cooler up this high. It was around 70 down by the station, but I bet it dropped a good 10 degrees.Next, I unload my coolers, which had meats and eggs, butter, and all of the necessities needed to eat well. I had enough for 2 weeks, if not more. Also brought along two 12 packs of beer as well, and water. Man I love roughing it.After stowing away my gear and food, I checked the place out. Nice queen size bed, in the bedroom. They even had TV, which I could care less about. May to use for the weather is all I can see a use for it. I'm not one to sit and watch TV much, except for football and maybe playoff baseball.I then went and checked the area out. The back porch had a gas grill on it, plus what looked like a cord of wood. I figured if I used any, I could go into town and buy some to replenish, unless Unc had a chain saw, then I would do my own. I then went for a small hike just around the area.I did not want to venture to far today. It was already after 4pm, and the skies were really getting dark, so some rain, if not storms, were moving in soon. About a 1/4 mile into the woods, was a hiking trail, well used too. I wondered if that lady was on this trail, if she even made up this far yet. If she did, she better start preparing her campsite for the weather that was due in soon. I kept hiking for another 30 minutes before heading back to the cabin. I figured a good early start in the morning, may get me to the top by the afternoon, early evening.Chapter 3.I was now back from my little hike and relaxing, but also getting hungry. I settled on frying up some home fries and grill up some Polish kielbasa. I cooked up the potatoes first, and then set the pan in the oven and set it to warm. Then took the meat out to the porch and fired up the grill.It was a little after 6 now and the wind had really picked up and the skies hung low, full of rain that to start shortly. As I waited for the grill to heat up some, I thought I heard someone cry out. At first I thought it could be just the wind, but then I heard it again.I stepped off the porch and headed towards the trail, behind the cabin. As I got on the trail, I heard the cry again, but this time could make out the word Help. I yelled out for the person to keep yelling, so I could judge where it was actually coming from.Whoever it was, must have heard me because the Helps were coming more quickly. I was at least a good half mile now from the cabin when I came upon a woman, lying on the ground, holding her foot. It was the lady I saw down by the ranger station when I first arrived.When she saw me coming she said, "Oh Thank God. I wasn't sure anyone could hear me.""What happened?" I asked. "Oh stupid me wasn't watching where I stepped and then all of a sudden, I'm on the ground from twisting my ankle." she explained, then went on,"I tried walking on it, but damn, it hurts. I don't think it is broken." I kneeled in front of her and took off her shoe, then her wool sock, and could see the ankle was swollen and just starting to turn a little purplish. I'm no doctor, nor was I corpsman in the service, but I have had my share, and have seen many a sprained ankle, and this sure did look like one.After looking at it, I looked up at her face and could see the pain written all over her gorgeous face. I then gently removed her backpack, which had to weigh a good 25 to 30 pounds. "Christ, what the hell is she carrying in this.", I thought. Then I put the backpack on over my shoulders. Just then, the rain started. "Great, just what I needed", I thought."Oh damn. This isn't good. What are we going to do now?" she asked."First off, grab my arm and let's get you up, then we'll hike back down to my cabin, which I think is about a 1/2 mile from here." I said. "By the way, my name is Mark" She retorted back to me "Carolyn, or Carrie to my friends, which you are fast becoming."With my help, she stood up, using her good leg. Now I am not a tall man, 5' 10 175 lbs., and still in great shape, since I work out 4 times a week. I then asked her to put her right arm around my neck and I would hold her waist, and we would try and keep all the weight off of the foot.We did quite well actually, and she didn't complain one time. Only twice did we have to stop and rest a minute. That didn't matter, we were both soaked to our skin by now, and it was quite chilly out. What should have taken maybe 5 minutes to walk, turned into almost 25 minutes, by the time we got back to the porch of the cabin. At one point, I felt I should have just carried her fireman's style, just to speed this up.We then entered the cabin. Luckily it was still pretty warm in there, but I knew that wouldn't last long. I guided her over to a leather chair and had her sit. Then went and got some towels to at least dry off some of the rain.I then went into the bathroom and saw that my uncle had 2 inch wide medical tape and some gauze. I went into my pack and pulled out some Aleve. I came back out, got some water and then handed her the medicine. Then I knelt down and removed her shoe again, sans the sock, since we didn't put that back on. I carefully dried her foot and ankle, and then wrapped gauze around it, then taped it up.After I finished, I could see she was shaking from being cold now. Both of us were soaked to the skin. I went into my uncles dresser and looked around. My aunt had a set sweats in there. I hope they fit her. My aunt is only 5'4, but is big chested, so the top should be fine. I also pulled out some socks for her as well. I then looked in the closet, and in the back, found a pair of crutches. Uncle's family comes up here a lot to ski, so crutches would be a wise investment, especially for my one cousin Carol, she is a klutz.I came back into the living room and looked down at her. " How does that feel now Carrie""Still hurts, but not like it was, and thank you." she said. I extended a hand to her and told her to grab it, then pulled her up. "I got you some clothes to change into, and these crutches. The shower is down the hall. A good hot shower should help you warm up a bit . Also, take this baggie and wrap it around your foot and ankle and tape off the top, to keep it dry.""Oh My God, you are so nice. I am so sorry for being a pain in your ass, but thank you so much."She trudged down the hall to the bath. I couldn't help but look at her great legs and chubby ass as she went. I did notice she wore no wedding, or engagement ring, so that was a good thing. Just before she opened the bathroom door, I told her I was going to finish making dinner. She just grinned, but said nothing. Before I did that though, I pulled out some sweats. Both the top and the bottoms had the Marine logo on it. Those sweats last forever.I had to reheat the fried potatoes and then went and relit the grill. The kielbasa was done in about 10 minutes. So when I came back in, she was still not out of the shower. "Women", I thought. They take so friggin long to get clean. Although I did have some thoughts about how she looked in the shower.I had just finished setting the table, when she arrived back out in the living room. The sweat top was definitely too big for her, yet looked cute. The sweat pants were a little snug and stopped short about two inches from the top of her feet. She was like staring at me, but didn't speak."Is something wrong?" I asked. "No, not a thing, except for those Jarhead sweats you have on.""What? You don't like Marines?" She laughed and said, "They are okay, but to a Navy gal, they don't get my motor running""Oh shit. I helped a god damn Squid? Christ sakes", then laughed, and so did she. "Come on, let's eat"I asked her what she would like to drink, which was limited to beer or water. She chose a water, as I did too, and sat down to our little feast.Chapter 4.She was quiet at first, so I broke the silence and asked her "So Miss Carrie, and I presume Miss, what has you up here by yourself?"She chuckled then spoke " I love hiking and always wanted to come explore these mountains. And Yes, I am a miss. Divorced actually, 5 years now. I have a 20 year daughter too, who attends Syracuse University.“Good God” I interjected; “How the hell did you ly you way into the navy as a 10 year old? You can't be past your early thirties!”I spent 14 years in the Navy. I was also a Navy brat too. My dad and mom live in Pensacola, after he retired from the Navy as a Master Chief. I left the Navy 7 years ago, but that's another story."She took a drink of water, then continued. " I live right outside of Syracuse now, mostly to be close to my daughter. We adopted her when she was 3 years old. I couldn't have kids, and she was orphaned when her parents were killed in an auto accident in Norfolk. What about you Mr. Mark?"I smiled at her and looked her right in the eye, which were hazel in color. "Let's see, I spent 20 good years in the Navy, and then retired from it. I did pick up a good vocation, programming computers, so that's what I do now. Mostly free-lance myself out. I make a good wage doing it. My uncle owns this cabin and I needed a vacation, so I too, wanted to explore here. I took the next two weeks off and hope to finish up on Mt. Marcy. I grew up just east of Syracuse and moved back there. Both of my parents are deceased now, and I have one sister, who is two years older than me"She then asked, "What did you end up at?""An E8, Master Sergeant,” I answered. “and you?"She chuckled and said, "E8 as well, Senior Chief. How many deployments?""3 tours in the sandpit, then countless boat rides. Served on the George Washington and the Lincoln, and ended my career at Quantico.""Oh shit. My dad served on the Lincoln too, John Reynolds. Master Chief of the Boat."I laughed and said, "I know your old man. I served with him on the Lincoln for 6 months. At the time I was a E6 (Staff Sergeant), but I got to know him well. I even got to meet your mom too, when we got done at Norfolk. Beautiful lady and not being forward, I can see where you get your looks. Your old man had a way with the crew. They all respected him and did anything he told them to do. I can still remember his one saying, "Son. Don't fail me, or I will open a can of whoop ass on you.” Usually scared the shit out of some teenage kid"She laughed and said, "Yeah, he did have their respect, but at home he was a teddy bear, at least to me and mom. I remember in high school, any boy I would date, he would just stare at them, which usually scared the shit out of them"We laughed and told stories about our time in the service. Then I did the dishes up while I had her go relax on the couch. When I finished, I asked if she would like a beer now, which she gladly accepted. Before I came out with the beers, I wrote down my name, address and phone number, and handed it to her."What's this for?" I told her, "Look. You were injured and I would like you to call your family and tell them and that you will be staying here tonight. Plus give you peace of mind that you are not bunking with some crazy guy in the woods. So let them know that info, and all should be good."She chuckled then said, "Well, for one. all of you jarheads are crazy, so I am not too sure how safe I am with you, but so far, you haven't shown any craziness. But I will call my daughter and let her know."She then called her daughter and explained the situation to her. They chatted for about 10 minutes or so. Her daughter must have asked her if I was cute, because she softly spoke, "yeah. pretty cute" After that she hung up her phone and sat back on the couch."I want to thank you again for saving me from a very bad situation. I know I have to be a pain in the ass to you, and you weren't planning on someone screwing up your vacation like this." Carrie said."Number one, you are not a pain in the ass at all, and two, you haven't screwed anything up. I rather enjoy your company, if I am being honest here. Granted, I came up here alone, but now I have made a friend, or at least, an acquaintance, and if I may add a very beautiful one at that..Carrie blushed, "Thank you. I mean for a Gyrene, you are pretty nice, and a bonus, you can cook too. How come some pretty woman hasn't snatched you up?"I just chuckled at that, "Well, you know how it is in the service. Always deployed to some ungodly place, or never being able to put roots down in one place. That's not fair to anyone. Plus, there has been no one who really rocked my world. The closest I came was living with this one girl for like 6 months, but she opted out after seeing me off to Iraq, and just couldn't handle the unknown. When I got back 8 months later, she was long gone. Never heard a word from her either, except for the letter she left behind. So from that point on, I just dated here and there, nothing steady. And now, I haven't really looked. You say you are divorced, what happened there, if you don't mind telling."She smiled, and when she did, her whole face smiled. Her almond shaped eyes were to die for. A man could get lost in those eyes. I know I was. I also wondered if she had a special man in her life. If so, he was a complete idiot for letting her go on this by herself. Not to keep her safe, or anything like that, but just to be with her."We met at Pensacola when I was just 2 years into my first term. He was a Seal. So of course he hung the moon and stars. But growing up Navy, I knew what this entailed. We had a great marriage, at least I thought we did. Only when he got deployed, did I get scared. You know how it is with them, they are not going to some amusement park. When he got transferred to a base, I got one too, since I worked in procurement and distribution, it was no big deal."She took a swig of her beer and breathed out, then continued. "We tried having kids, but I came to find out that my tubes were closed and I couldn't have any. So we started looking at adoption and then about a year later we were informed about Jenny. Her parents killed in an auto accident and she had no living relatives. We took her in as a foster child and then about a year after, we adopted her. Things were going good for us. We both got transferred to Norfolk, and luckily, Dad was stationed there too, but as usual, out on a boat. Then Jack started to change. He became withdrawn and started drinking more."I put my hand on her shoulder and told her she didn't have to continue. I knew this story well, which was one of the reasons I never settled down. Seen to many start drinking, and relived the action in their heads, and shut out their loved ones."No. I'm good. Any ways, about 9 years ago, he went on deployment and was gone a month. Who knows where, but called the night before and said he'd be home around 1700 hours. I was excited, yet nervous too. So, and I can't believe I am telling you this, (chuckled), but I left work early that next day. I wanted to make it special for him. Jenny was going to stay with my mom. So I left around 2 and went home. When I got there, his car was already in the drive. We lived off base then. So I rushed from the car and went inside. I didn't see or hear him, so I thought he was upstairs. Oh God... (chuckling again), I stripped down and figured I would surprise him being nude. I walked silently up the stairs and saw the bedroom door closed. Then I heard muffled sounds, so I opened the door, and there he was, on the bed. But he wasn't alone. Our neighbor Joann, who lives two doors down, was there too. She was on top of him fucking him.""Oh shit Carrie, I am so sorry" This must have been bad for her, because tears were streaming down her face now. I didn't know what to do actually. I am not good with women crying, and since I hardly knew her, I knew not to reach out and try and hold her.She fought through it and smiled a little, "It's  okay, it really is. Joann was a divorcee and always flirted with the husbands around her. Lord knows how many time she and Jack fucked before I caught them. I shouted at them, which startled them both and I told her to get her skanky ass out of my bed. Then I told Jack to pack his things and get out. He did too, never saying a word to me as he did. About a month later, he was transferred to San Diego. I know in my heart, my dad had something to do with that. He had many big wig contacts. It took 2 years for the divorce to be finalized because he was never in the area. I had just ended my time in the service and wanted to get away from there. Dad and mom had already moved down to Florida, so I had really no one, so why stay. The next 5 years, I lived down near my parents, so I could give Jenny a new start, like me. Then she said in her senior year she got accepted to Syracuse. I was working for a big fabric company, in logistics and put in for a transfer, since they had a big distribution center up here. Another good thing is, my mom's mother still lives in Syracuse, and I have lots of cousins I never knew I had until now.""Wow", is all I could say at first. "Now you see why I never married? Could have easily happened to me, but I come home and find her sleeping with some asshole." Then I chuckled, which turned into a laugh. "What's so funny?""When I was aboard the Lincoln, I was hitting on this young petty officer. Your dad took notice and pulled me aside. "Son. One thing you never do is shit where you eat. So keep your cock in your pants and stay away from them broads. Remember, you knock one up and they'll throw you in Leavenworth for destroying government property." I took him to heart too, that, and the fact your old man scared the shit out of me."She sat there and laughed and laughed, "Yep, that's my dad. Gruff and to the point. He must have liked you, otherwise he'd let you screw up on your own and not say anything to you."It was now going on 10 pm, and she was getting real tired. I went into the bedroom and found a sheet and a blanket, and took one of the pillows off the bed. I came back out and threw them in a chair. I reached my hand out to her, so I could help her stand.  “okay Squid lady, you take the bunk in the bedroom and I'll be out here." She shook her head, "No way Mark. I'll sleep out here.""Please just take the bed. You'll be much more comfortable in there, than on this couch. I'll be fine. In the morning we'll have breakfast and see how your ankle is. Maybe you should take a couple more Aleve too.""See. I told Ya. I am a pain in the ass." and huffed, as she got her crutch and started moving towards the bedroom. I just stared at her ass as she hobbled away from me. "God damn, what an ass", I thought to myself.After she went to the bathroom, I heard the bedroom door shut. I got my area ready for sleep. As I lay there, I could just think how sexy she had to have looked coming into the bedroom naked, ready to fuck her husband silly too. My cock started growing then, just thinking how hot I bet she looks naked. But, there was no way I was going to pound one off now, with her just down the hall.Chapter 5.I awoke the next morning around 6 am, which is about normal for me now. It used to be 4:30am, when I was in the service. But I don't run and do workouts like that anymore. I still work out, but nothing crazy like that. After relieving myself, and getting rid of the piss hard, I went out to the kitchen and opened the back door. It was quite chilly out and still raining. Now that could put a damper on the day. I thought I should check the weather a little later, once Carrie got up.I was on my second cup of coffee, and had bacon in the oven when I heard the bedroom door squeak open. Then a few minutes later, the toilet flushed. So I got up and started the stove to cook some eggs. As I was preparing to cook, Carrie came into the kitchen. I turned when she said good morning, and was awe struck. All she was wearing was a red, plaid flannel shirt that came about mid-thigh on her. Of course my depraved mind wondered how sexy she looked without it, but I'll take this any day.One thing my mind did wonder about, was if she was wearing anything under it. When I went to pee last night before bed, she had draped her shirt, shorts and a black pair of thongs over the top of the shower curtain bar. Oh well, one thing to ponder over and never find out."Morning Squid. How did you sleep and how is the ankle?""I slept really well, actually. It throbbed at first, but this morning it feels so much better. Not even using the crutch. That bed is so comfy. Thank you again for letting me use it. And, thank you again for everything you have done for me. Even if you are a bonehead Jarhead.""Ouch. That hurts. And here, I thought you liked me", then chuckled. "Sit. Let me get you some coffee and the eggs will be done in a minute or so."We sat and ate, with little talk between us. Once we were finished, she made a remark about the weather looking quite shitty out. I agreed with her on that and told her I checked the weather channel, and it said it was going to rain all day today and finally move out this evening, then the next few days it would be clear and cool, up in the mountains."Well, I have another favor I am going to ask of you. Could you possibly drive me down to my car? Then I am going to rent a room for tonight and see how my ankle feels tomorrow. If all is well, I'll try and tackle this mountain again." she said.I looked up at her and smiled, "I was thinking." She laughed, "Now that will be a first. A Marine that thinks. No. Go on"I grinned at her, "I see you have your dad's wit too.... I was thinking, why don't we do this together. I mean, we get along well, and it would probably be more fun doing it together, than alone. Your virtue would be safe with me. And, not sure if you know this, but there are quite a few animals out there that don't really care for humans. Having a buddy around would make it safer."She sat and pondered for a moment, then after a bit, finally spoke. "You know, that isn't a bad idea really. But understand, I am not going to cook everything and do the cleaning, we share duties. As for my virtue, I think I am pretty safe with you. Plus, I have been around 41 years and done quite well, taking care of my own virtue. Plus, if I know Jenny, she was on the phone with dad and mom last night telling them everything that went on here. And daddy would hunt you down, if you hurt his little girl." then laughed at her remark.I started laughing, and shook my head. "What?" she asked. I calmed a bit and said, "Well, I should never try and do that age guessing game at carnivals. I'd lose big time." She grinned and asked what I thought she was. "When I saw you at the ranger station, I put you in your early 30's, not 40. Just a tad off I'd say."She laughed and said, "Yeah, just a little bit off, but thank you. I might like you more now."I told her the rest of my thoughts. After cleaning up and showering, we could go into Lake Placid. I need to get more tape and gauze, for her ankle. Some more food. And, she needed to buy some hiking boots, so her feet and ankles had better support. Depending on the time, maybe grab dinner down there too. Then pick up your car and drive it up here and we'll make this our base of operation. She laughed at the last statement and I asked what was so funny."Oh nothing, except, you can take the Jarhead out of the Marines, but you will never take the Marine out of the Jarhead, that's for sure. Base of operations? sheesh.", then laughed again.I started doing the dishes, and she joined me. Drying as I washed. I told her she didn't have to, but she said to shut up. I was beginning to like her more and more. I like a woman with spunk, and speaks her mind. Granted, I like a woman who is also feminine too, which I believe she is. There is 3 things I find so sexy in a woman. Her eyes. They hold the keys to her being. Next is her attitude. If she doesn't wilt when faced with conflict and then the sexiest is her ass and legs. If she has that, she is the total package to me. I just never found one yet. But now, I think I may have found one. Only time will tell.We decided to take off around noon, and about 20 minutes before we left, my phone chimed. It was a text coming through. Only a handful of people knew I was going up here, and any of the companies I was working with knew I was on vacation and wouldn't be available.I was sitting in the leather chair when I opened the text. It stated, "You fucking Devil Dog. Thank You for taking care of my baby girl. Just remember who her old man is and not take any liberties that I would not approve of." I sat there and started laughing. Carrie came out of the bathroom and asked what was so funny. So I showed her the text. She too started laughing."See. I told you Jenny would call them. She even gave them your number. Too funny."I texted him back. "You fucking OLD sea dog. Shock was an understatement when I found out who her old man was. Small world. We are going to tackle these mountains together. She'll be in good hands Sir." and I hit send.A minute later, the phone rang. Carrie laughed, then I answer it. "Sir? you fucking idiot. You save that for those weenie ass officers, who still need their mommy's to wipe their asses.""Aye Aye, Master Chief.""Mark. Not sure how you two stumbled onto each other, but actually I am glad. She's a tough girl, but knowing you are there makes my stomach calm a bit. I wasn't too keen on her doing this alone as it was. I know those woods. Lots of animals up there that don't take to humans, especially the cougars and bears. So please be careful.""We will Chief. No harm will come to either of us. Your daughter will be in good hands.""Now why'd you have to say that shithead. Remember what I told you back when you were eyeing up that young PO. It definitely goes for now (laughing). Seriously Mark. I know she is. Just keep my baby girl safe. And for now on, call me John. We served our time."  “okay John. I will. I'll let you speak to Carrie." and handed the phone to her. They chatted for a few minutes. I caught her rolling her eyes a few times, but she was also glad her dad had called.I wish I had a dad that care, like he did. Mine was a cruel SOB. I am not sure why my mom ever stayed with him. Hell, when he died, I did not even make an attempt to go home for the funeral. My sister did, but only because she wanted to be there for mom. I did go home for mom's, when she died a few years later.Carrie said her goodbye's, then handed the phone back to me. She just shook her head and then laughed. She kept on laughing then too. I was perplexed, as to what she found so funny.She calmed a bit, then said, "God Mark. When you answered the phone and heard his voice, you went parade dress attention. I bet you didn't even know you were doing it. It was so cute. But you know what, now that I really think of it, you are a lot like him in so many ways""Is that a bad thing?" I asked. "Hell no. Just funny though. He never liked Jack. Jack would never look him in the eye, and that bothered dad. Can't trust a man who won't look you in the eye, he used to say. Guess he was right. He must like you some, or he wouldn't have called you like that."Chapter 6.Carrie was dressed in tight jeans and a sweat shirt, This sweat shirt hugged her body nicely, and judging from the two peaks I saw, she wasn't wearing a bra either. Her ass was like a dream to me. Nice and full, and the way the seam disappeared into her as, just made me think of badly I would love to be those pants right now.We got the Lake Placid and found a sporting goods store. Inside, she tried on a few pairs of boot, until she found one she said really fit her nicely. Even the swollen ankle fit into it, which kind of surprised me. She also bought some socks. A couple of thin one's to use on her bad foot and some thicker woolen type socks. Of course they matched.Carrie also bought a new rain slicker, with hood, and I figured, what the hell, and bought one too. Mine was old and ragged looking. After our purchases, she sat down in a chair at the front of the store and put on her new socks and boots. She said she wanted to start breaking them in. Of course I asked how they felt around her injured ankle, and she said great, but who knows for sure.The rest of the afternoon, we did the basic sightseeing around town. Every once in a while, we found a place to sit, that was out of the weather, so she could rest her ankle. She said it felt fine, but never complained when I suggested a rest.By 5pm, we were both pretty hungry, so we started looking for a place to eat. We found this quaint little restaurant that served American flavor. I opted for a steak, and she did too. The girl could eat, but lord knows where it goes on her. We had a really good time while eating. We found out stuff about our early lives. Of course, hers was moving from base to base, and mine was not really giving a crap about school and getting into stupid trouble. She also found out how I detested my father when I was a teen.For me, this felt like a date. I usually am tongue tied during these events. But with her, I felt really at ease and conversations moved smoothly, like we have known each other our whole lives. One thing I did notice, that anytime her parents were mentions, she had this twinkle in her eye. She adored them, which was hard for me to understand. My parents weren't all that interested in what I did, and I pretty much gave up trying to get them to show me any affection or love when I hit 14, it just wasn't going to happen. To my mom, my sister was an angel, and I was the devil. For Carrie, she was their parents whole world, especially her dad.She had me in tears with some of the dumb things her dad used to do with her. Playing dress up and Barbies and such. If you knew her dad the way I know him, you would never think in a million years he would do things like this. For some reason, the more she talked, the more I was beginning to really like her, and I mean like in how a man wants to be with a woman. To share things with, and be with.We left the restaurant about an hour and a half later. The rain had stopped, so we decided to just walk around a little more. As we walked, she took my hand in hers, like two teens would do. Now I am not the type that shows public displays of affection. I never did that, only because I really never saw it from my parents when I was growing up. But, her hand in mine felt so good to me. Then she just leaned over and kissed me on the cheek.I looked at her with a questioning look. "Thank you again. My vacation could have been ruined, or even worse, still stuck up on that mountain side.""Actually" I said, "Maybe it is fate, we found each other. But I will say this. I really like being with you" She just looked at me and smiled, and gave my hand a little squeeze in acknowledgement."Mark? Weird question." she paused, then asked, "What's your perfect woman to be with?""Oh God" I said, "Actually, I don't want a perfect woman. I want one that when we are together, we can laugh, or cry, without feeling it's not right to do. I'd want one who is independent, and doesn't need me to keep her happy, but also, wants me in her life because I do make her happy, and she makes me happy too. She should be one with a strong mind and not afraid to speak her mind, or argue. But if we do argue, it is about something important in our lives, and not something petty, like I see so many do nowadays. When I commit to someone like that, I want that same commitment in return. It's either all or nothing, because I only want to do this once in my life, and as you can see, I have never found her, nor have I really looked all that hard either. And lastly, when we are apart, she is the only person I am thinking of, and wishing I was with her, even if it is occupying the same room with her...... What's your perfect man you want to be with ?"She laughed, then got a very serious look on her face. "To be honest, I am not sure anymore. I thought when I met, and then married Jack, he was the perfect man. Rugged, good looking, and always attentive, when he wasn't deployed. But as time wore on, he quit being attentive and acted like I was there to serve him. I felt as though I was raising two kids at times. I guess I want what you want, but in a man. I want it an equal partnership, and I base that on dad and mom, because they have that and always have, and it is what I grew up with. I want him on my mind 24 / 7 when we are apart, and when we are together, there is no one else alive that makes us happy, well except Jenny. I want to be able to look across the room at him and just make love with our eyes. I know, sounds corny, but that's what I want. As for love making, that's exactly what I want, love making. Pleasuring my man like no other woman can, and he pleasure me in the same way. To that end, it is a two way street. If you give 100%, expect to receive 100%. back. The last couple of years of marriage, now that I think back on it, it was mostly I gave, he took, and could care less about my needs at all, and I doubt highly he was even thinking of me then."With that, I just looked at her and said, "Well, sounds like we have some things in common again. As silly as this sounds, but this feels like a date we are on. But you know, it feels good. I'll be honest Carrie. I have never been in love before. I am not sure what that feels like. But I won't lie either, never have since being in the service, and I never will either, I like being with you.""Good to know Jarhead. I like being with you too. But, does my race bother you at all?""You're kidding right? I think you are one beautiful woman. And if I may be so bold, a very sexy one too. Granted, you have a better tan than me, but that's only because of my Irish blood. We don't tan well. All kidding aside, why would you ever think that it would bother me?""Oh Mark. I didn't mean it in a bad way but, when I was growing up, kids weren't so nice about, from both races. About 4 years ago, I was dating a guy and he met my parents. Even though mom comes from a mix race parents, she is darker than me, and when he saw that, he sort of just couldn't handle that. Since then, I haven't dated at all."I chuckled, then said, "Good thing I already know your parents and I like them. I definitely respect them even more. Back when they got together, and hell, even your grandparents, that was a lot harder to live with. People are so judgmental and mean. But No, your race means nothing to me. To me Squid, you are one Hot looking woman.""Keep talking like that Jarhead, and I just may let you stick around me another day or two."After driving back up to the cabin, our talk turned to our hike in the morning. We decided to look over the maps and see how we would tackle it and what to bring. I asked her if she minded sharing a tent with me. I told her it was a 4 man tent, and would lighten the load of the pack. She even agreed to that. My backpack was almost as big as the one I had in the service, which is called a rucksack. I will be able to get the tent and my sleeping bag in it, along with a small shovel and then a lighter, and food. If I pack right, I can get her sleeping bag into it and give her the lighter things like a coffee pot and water, and her carry the food. Just take enough for the day, and no more. Plenty of food bars and the such and canned stew. After eating M R Ees most of my life, canned stew is gourmet eating.Once we got back to the cabin, we laid out the map and plotted our course. Once that was done, I went and showered, then packed my pack. Carrie was showering then. I changed into just running shorts and a t-shirt. When Carrie finished, she came out wearing just a flannel shirt again. Last time she had it on, she had it buttoned all the way to the top, except for the last button. This time, the top 3 buttons were left undone. "Damn. She does look sexy like that." I thought.We packed up her backpack, with food and such, and even a change of clothes for the both of us. I recommended sweats for at night, since it will be chilly up there, but she also pack a flannel, which she said she prefers sleeping in. One thing I did pack in my pack, was my 9millimeter Glock. I have a permit for it, and I did inform the rangers that I was carrying it up there. Way too many wild animals that could prey on us. But, I did not tell Carrie this. Not sure how she would react. Hopefully, we'll never have to use it. One thing I did pack, was a roll of toilet paper. Carrie laughed at that one. But once you are in the field, like I have been on patrol, it's a comfort of home you want more than anything, and it beats leaves.After packing, we retired to the living room, where Carrie turned on the TV. Checking the weather first, then some sappy movie she liked. I got us some beers, to which she toasted, "To a great adventure tomorrow.", as we clinked bottles together. I then pulled out the ace bandage we bought earlier that day.As she sat on the couch, she placed her bad leg over her good one and let me take off the tape, It ankle was a bit swollen, but not like it was yesterday. It was very hard to keep my concentration on her foot, because of her sexy legs right there. "God, I wish we were lovers. I would love nothing more than to kiss my way to heaven right now." is all I could think about. But I pushed those thoughts aside, knowing my chances of that were quite slim, for now.Once I had her all wrapped up, I suggested she use the thinner of the socks tomorrow. She said her ankle feels really good wrapped like this. She then patted the couch seat next to her, for me to join her. She was sitting next to me with her legs folded under her. As we watched the movie, not much was said. We just enjoyed each other's company. I wondered if this how couples spent evenings together. I had never been in one before, and still am not in one, but this is close, I guess.I have never let a woman get that close, even the one I lived with. To her, I was a place to live and a fuck. And I viewed her pretty much the same way. We never got mushy or even showed PDA. We just existed together and pretty much fucked. Of course, back then, I was in my 20's and sex was all I had in mind. Not once was, I love you, ever spoken between us.... When the movie ended, Carrie stretched and said she was tired and needed some sleep."So Jarhead, you take the bunk tonight and I'll use the couch.""No. You take the bed. Please. I am fine out here. This couch is pretty comfortable actually." though I was lying through my teeth. The couch sucked. But I was raised with some manners, mostly obtained in the Marines."God. You Gyrene's are so bull headed. Next time, I take the couch."I don't know what possessed me, but I leaned over to kiss her on the cheek, and as I got close, she turn her face to me and it landed on her lips. It was a quick one, intended for her cheek.I stammered then saying, "Sorry. That was meant for your cheek. And thank you for a great day. I really like being with you"She giggled, then grabbed my face with both of her hands and kissed me on the lips."I prefer the lips to a cheek, any day of the week Grunt." then stood and walked towards the bedroom. I couldn't help but watch her fine looking legs and ass, as she disappeared down the hall, saying good night to me, softly.Chapter 7.I was up at 6am. I got coffee going and changed into jeans and a polo shirt. About an hour later, I heard the toilet flush, so I started breakfast, It was best to eat a big breakfast, since lunch would consist of power bars and water.Carrie came out in the same flannel that she had on the night before. "God this woman makes me crazy for her. " I thought. One thing I have noticed, she is not big with wearing make-up. She doesn't need too. She's one of those women who could easily go without it. I bet she is smoking hot when she is made up.After eating, I did the dishes up, and she went and changed. The weather called for a daytime temp of 70 and tonight in the 50's. But on the mountain top, it would be in the 40's.Carrie came back to the living room, dressed and ready to go. She had on a pair of khaki shorts, that hugged her frame nicely and a light green shirt, and judging from the way the nipples were poking through, no bra. This could be a long hike today. I must keep my mind out of the proverbial gutter.I asked how her ankle felt, and she said fine, just a little bit of stiffness. I told her we would rest as many times as she thought it was needed. It should take about 4 or 5 hours to get to the top. After putting on our gear, which included now, a thermal mat to put under the sleeping bags my uncle had, we left, making sure the cabin was secure.The trail we chose was not all that hard, compared to some of the places I had to climb in Afghanistan. Carrie was keeping up too without a problem, If her ankle hurt, she surely didn't say. Most times I would let her lead, and got to watch not only the scenery, but also her lovely ass and legs. Now that was picture perfect. Her body could put 20 something year olds to shame.We stopped for lunch about a mile and a half from the top. There was a clearing that overlooked a valley below, and the sight was breathtaking to say the least. Carrie was all giddy about this and took out her phone and started taking pictures, commenting how beautiful it was. I too, took a few photo's with my phone as well.After a brief rest period, we continued our trek up the mountain. The higher we climb, you could feel the air getting cooler, but not cold. That would come later this evening, but we were prepared for that.I was letting Carrie lead us this time, and I could not help but watch her body as she walked up the trail. She had asked the previous day, what my perfect woman would be. Well, if it was just the body, then hers would be it. Toned legs, and a great ass. Slim waist line, and a shocker to most, but small boobs. I have always preferred a woman with smaller chests. I just think they look incredibly sexy. So Carrie fit that build to a tee.Would I like to be her lover? Hell yes. Who wouldn't want too. But, there was no way I would ever make the first move. Not only out of respect for her, but also for her dad, who I respected a great deal. If sex was in the cards for us, she would have to initiate it. But in reality, any time you have sex with a woman, it is always her call, unless you are a complete asshole.As we continued our climb, a couple, not more than 25 I'd say, was descending from the top. They greeted us and told us what an awesome view we were to behold, once we made it to the top. We found out too, that they were on their honeymoon. They, like us, camped overnight up there and said it was the most romantic place on earth. They then departed after a short rest, and we wished them well on their journey down.Finally, around 3 in the afternoon, we were at the top. The air was cool, but not too bad actually. With the sun beating down, I would venture to say it was in the 50's. I saw a clearing and put my rucksack down, and took Carrie's from her. She ran up another 1000 feet to the top and a clearing. One thing about up here, it is a tourist attraction and has manmade lookout observatories, which takes away from the place. We are going to camp right by a wooded area, away from the trails.Chapter 8."Mark, Mark" she yelled. "Come up and see this."I dropped what I was doing and trekked up to her and she grabbed my hand, pulling me along faster. She was so excited, almost like a kid on Christmas morning. Once up there, we could see all around, and off in the distance, loomed Mt. Marcy, the tallest of these over 40 high peak mountains that made up this range. It was a majestic sight to behold.She skipped up and onto a rock formation to get a better view, and left me with another beautiful view, her. God she was intoxicating to look at."God. This is so awesome. What a beautiful site. Don't you think Mark?"I chuckled to myself, then said, "Yes. It is a gorgeous sight to behold" Now I was staring at her body, and had no thoughts of the surrounding area then.She turned her head, back towards me, and just smiled, and motioned me to join her. She was right, it was breathtaking to look out over the area. Ponds and streams below us. We could actually see a herd of Moose below, by one of the streams. We both took out our phones and took pictures. Carrie cursed herself for not bringing her digital camera. I don't own one, and thought may be when we got back down, we could go to a store and buy one.I suggested she explore a bit while I set up camp. One great thing about this place, it had bathrooms. One for men, and one for women. I figured they were outhouses, but was wrong when I went to relieve myself. Actual running toilets and sinks. I knew some of the other areas we were not going to be that lucky.About an hour later, she came strolling back to where I set up the tent. I had just finished laying out the pad, and placed the sleeping bags on top of it. I wasn't too sure how she would feel about being right next to me, but the pad was only so wide, like the width of a queen size bed.She came inside and looked around. "That looks cozy", then smiled at me. That made me feel a little better. I surely did not want her to get the wrong ideas, like I wanted to do something with her, even though I really did.I got us a fire going then and cooked up a scrumptious dinner of beef stew, and canned corn. We even had bread for dipping. We ate without complaint. In fact, it was quite good. Trust me, after eating M R Ees (meals ready to eat) in the service, your own boot would taste good.After cleaning up, which included taking our bowls, and the pan to the bathroom and washing them in the sink, I came back and made sure the fire stayed nice. We again sat and talked about our adventure so far."Mark. This has been so amazing today. I cannot believe the sights I have seen so far. And being totally honest. I am so glad to be spending this time with you. God. I love it up here.""I'm glad you feel that way. I am not sure I would find this as amazing as I do now, with you with me. What I am really looking forward too, is the night sky, with all the bright stars. It has to breath taking. Just like you."I think the comment just flew over her head, because she made no remark at all about it. Then said, "I bet sunset is really cool looking up here. Especially when it starts dipping behind these mountain peaks all around us."We finished cleaning up the area. No need for unwanted guest later. I suggested going back up to the top and watch the sunset. I was surprised because as we walked, she hardly limped at all. I figured with the rest we just had, her ankle would be screaming to her.We reached the summit again and surprisingly, no one was there, except for us. We sat on this crop of rocks and just marveled at the sight. The majestic mountains all around us, and the sun slowly setting in the west. A big orange ball.Carrie grabbed her phone again, turned it on and took a picture. Then she asked me to sit close to her and face away from the sun, so she could do a selfie of us, with the sun behind us. That took a good minute to set up, and get it just right in the picture.As we were doing this, a lady ranger just happened to be walking up our way. She was checking the area out, making sure all was fine up here."Would you guys like me to take the picture of you two, with this gorgeous sunset?" she asked."Oh God, would you please?" Carrie answered back.Carrie set the camera back to take normal pictures and handed it to her. The lady gladly took a couple for us, then asked, "How about you two love birds kiss while the sun is behind you. It's so romantic like that."I looked at Carrie, and she at me. I raised my eyebrows like Groucho Marx used to do in his movies. That made Carrie giggle, but then she leaned in and softly kissed me on the lips. I so wanted to part her lips and taste her tongue, but why ruin a good moment. The only lasted a few seconds, when we heard the ranger say she got it. But during that time, Carrie's hand rested on my one thigh. The kiss alone brought a strange sensation to me. One I have never felt before. Maybe it was fear if her dad found out we kissed up here. "Christ", I thought to myself, "I'm acting like some dumb teenager.When we broke away, she smiled a very bright smile. I smiled too, then thanked the ranger for helping us out. She did caution us on making sure we take care of the fire we had, and to make sure all food was secure, and away from our sleeping area.Her hand was still on my leg as the ranger walked back down the hill, towards her car. I looked back at Carrie and she sort of had her head down, like she was embarrassed. I surely wasn't. The kiss brought me alive actually, and if her hand was any closer to my crotch, she may notice that something else enjoyed her lips."Sorry about that" she said. "What. I found the kiss very nice. You have soft lips. Very kissable lips in fact. If given the opportunity again, I would jump at the chance." I boldly stated.We turned again and sat there and watched the sun start to sink behind the mountain tops. As it did, we just talked about our work lives, and things we did during the course of a normal day. Mine is pretty boring actually. I work a great deal. I don't go out much. I am not a bar type of person and have just a few select friends. It's been ages since I went out with a woman. Most that I do know are either married, or divorced with young kids. It's not that I don't like kids, I just don't relate well with them. The only two I get along with are my niece and nephew, but they are teens now and could care less about old Uncle Mark.To be continued, by T. Foxal.

David, the $725M protein bar brand, dropped its most controversial product yet… Cod fish.Pittsburgh just snagged $90B in AI investments… If all goes to plan, Pitt becomes the Austin of the East.Labubu dolls are now bigger than all of Mattel… but will these viral dolls become Beanie Babies or Barbies?Plus, France has a wild new plan to boost the economy… Cancel 2 holidays.$META $GIS $SPYWant more business storytelling from us? Check out the latest episode of our new weekly deepdive show: The untold origin story of… The Michelin Restaurant ⭐Subscribe to The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinks to listen.TBOY Live Show Tickets to Chicago on sale NOW: https://www.axs.com/events/949346/the-best-one-yet-podcast-ticketsAbout Us: The daily pop-biz news show making today's top stories your business. Formerly known as Robinhood Snacks, TBOY Lite is hosted by Jack Crivici-Kramer & Nick Martell.GET ON THE POD: Submit a shoutout or fact: https://tboypod.com/shoutouts NEWSLETTER:https://tboypod.com/newsletter SOCIALS:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tboypod TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tboypodYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@tboypod Anything else: https://tboypod.com/ Our 2nd show… The Best Idea Yet: Wondery.fm/TheBestIdeaYetLinksEpisodes drop weekly.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

At this moment Jim and Amos riff on what ICE raids on white immigrants would be like, what would be on their Mt. Rushmore for Australians, Emmanuelle Macron's wife's potential genitalia, and ideas for new Barbies. Pastor Jacob from the Snake joins the podcast to talk about the most recent episode! Watch THE SNAKE on FOX Tuesdays at 9pm ET/8pm CT and available the next day on Hulu. AD: QUINCE - Go to http://www.quince.com/ATM for free shipping on your order and 365 day returns. SOCIALS: Jim Jefferies Website: https://www.jimjefferies.com IG: https://www.instagram.com/jimjefferies FB: https://www.facebook.com/JimJefferies Twitter: https://twitter.com/jimjefferies Amos Gill IG: @abitofamosgill FB: https://www.facebook.com/AmosGillComedy/ Incidental music by the Doohickeys

Join the Bean Spillers: https://patreon.com/user?u=94695129&u...Pat's potential new challenge, Zach Bryan drama, Over thinking & Is death row sweet? Conor McGregorZach Bryan Over thinkingBeerDeath Row Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Come do it LIVE with The Girls! This week Barbara is presenting “I Got Abducted by Aliens and Now I'm Trapped in a Rom-Com” by Kimberly Lemming! This episode was performed and recorded LIVE as part of the Homebrew Austin podcast showcase! This book follows Dorothy (Dory) Valentine, a woman in STEM-wildlife-biologist who was attacked by a lion! But when it fades to black, she isn't dead… she was rescued! Well, maybe not rescued as much as abducted by aliens! When Dorothy and the lion (who she has named Toto) wake up on a spaceship, it's clear they gotta GTFO! They get covered in convenient language translation blue goo and blast away in an escape pod only to land somewhere there are pink dinosaurs?! Suddenly a sexy alien named Sol shows up, then a bad boy alien named Lok arrives, and they all enjoy some instant attraction and sexy time in a cave…tails included! This may not make any sense, but don't worry, The Girls have Barbies, Buc-ees and dog toys to help it all come together! This book has it all! Aliens, dinosaurs, and owls oh my! Follow the cul-de-sac road and listen now!We can't thank Homebrew Austin enough for including and hosting us, Parish for housing us, and all of our lovely friends and fans who came out to support us and be a part of this special event! Thank you to those that made it possible to share this episode: audio by Trask Audio, video footage provided by Homebrew Austin and Ray Pacheco, video by Phoenix Edits.New Episodes out every Tuesday! Join our Patreon to receive early, ad- free (and bonus!) episodes and more! Patreon.com/ClutchMyPearlsPod Watch the video version of this podcast on our YouTube channel! Follow @ClutchMyPearlsPod on TikTok, Twitter, Instagram and GoodReads! We have MERCH go to ClutchMyPearlsPod.com Do you have a smut recommendation for the girls? Send an email to: ClutchMyPearlsPod@gmail.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Shop Girls are back and ready to recap the Prime Day Deals as well as new Barbies!See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Is Amazon Prime Days really a bargain?; Time Capsule opened after 50 years; Ranker lists top fair foods; Mail Call and Barbies; Assault with freezer; Florida Man Spectacular; The EVIL Thumb Emoji; Intern Will's Top 10 list.

Send us a textIn this out-of-this-world episode, Stevie asks Deanne, “Where were you in 1982?” (Spoiler: She was 9 years younger and possibly still playing with Barbies). What starts as a nostalgic trip back to E.T. turns into a surprisingly deep dive into divorce, blended families, friendship, and what it really means to “phone home.”From flying bikes to emotional goodbyes, the grandparents unpack the emotional core of Spielberg's sci-fi classic—and yes, they do get teary-eyed (but don't worry, there's still plenty of laughter and a few jokes about glowing fingers).Perfect for grandparents, film lovers, and anyone trying to explain to their grandkid why this movie made them cry... again.#BeingGrandparentsPodcast #ETPhoneHome #80sMovies #GrandparentsReact #DivorceAndET #FamilyMovies #SpielbergFeels #PodcastLife #ReesesPiecesWisdom #ETAndTherapy #BlendedFamilies #MovieNightMagic #NostalgiaVibesAsk ChatGPTSupport the show

Get up to speed on the world’s most exciting AI news with your hosts, Artie Intel and Micheline Learning, two AI reporters dedicated to bringing you the latest breakthroughs and trends. In this episode, discover how ChatGPT-powered Barbies are transforming playtime, why FreedomGPT is making waves as an uncensored, privacy-first AI tool, and how Tanka’s long-term memory is revolutionizing workplace communication. Plus, hear about Amazon’s milestone of deploying its one millionth robot and the AI innovations powering its logistics. Whether you’re an AI enthusiast, tech professional, or just curious about how artificial intelligence is reshaping everyday life, this episode has insights and stories you won’t want to miss. Discover How the Databricks Data Intelligence Platform Empowers Your Data and AI Tasks. Get the Free eBook to Explore How to Unify Your Data and AI Seamlessly with Databricks.

“I Don’t Like Playing with My Kids” – Why Play Still Matters If the idea of playing Barbies or dragons makes you groan… you’re not alone. In this episode, Justin and Kylie tackle a parenting confession that many are afraid to admit: “I don’t like playing with my kids.” Drawing from emotional intelligence research and real-life experience, they unpack why play matters (even if it’s not your favourite), how to make it meaningful and manageable, and why it’s one of the simplest ways to build connection, confidence, and emotional regulation in your child. KEY POINTS Play is not a luxury—it’s essential.Play builds emotional intelligence, connection, and social skills better than almost anything else. It’s not about doing it ‘right’.Play works best when it’s spontaneous, simple, and mutually enjoyable—not when it’s forced or scripted. The emotional impact is profound.Play regulates emotions, reduces tension, strengthens relationships, and helps kids feel seen, heard, and valued. The secret is in the interaction.What makes play powerful is the back-and-forth: the jokes, the giggles, the shared creativity—not the activity itself. A little goes a long way.Just 5–10 minutes of intentional play can fill your child’s emotional cup and help them play independently afterwards. QUOTE OF THE EPISODE “Play is not about perfection—it’s about connection and presence.” RESOURCES MENTIONED Happy Families Membership – parenting tools & webinars happyfamilies.com.au – resources for raising emotionally intelligent kids Ethan Kross, Shift ACTION STEPS FOR PARENTS Find a 5–10 minute window each dayYou don’t need hours. Commit to short, fully present bursts of play—no phones, no multitasking. Gamify the mundaneTurn routines into playful challenges: “Can you hop to the bathroom on one foot?” or “Let’s race to tidy up.” Let your child leadAsk: “How could we make this more fun?” Give them a sense of autonomy and watch their creativity bloom. Prioritise connection over performanceYou’re not there to entertain—you’re there to engage. Drop the pressure, enjoy the moment. Repeat. Consistency is the win.Over time, this builds emotional strength, stronger relationships, and memories that last. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Este episodio inaugura nuestra temporada especial del Mes del Orgullo con un tema que atraviesa nuestras vidas: los sistemas de soporte que nos han sostenido cuando el mundo se pone difícil. Invitamos a nuestras hermanas para hablar del amor fraternal, los cuidados que sanan y cómo esas relaciones también son espacios seguros para personas LGBTQ+. Entre risas, anécdotas, lágrimas y Barbies tamaño humano, hablamos de lo que significa acompañarse de verdad.

What's up, dudes? Remember when Sears, JC Penney, and Montgomery Wards would print wish books? Chad Young from Horror Movie BBQ and Michael May from After Lunch do, and they're  with me  to look through the 1985 Sears Wish Book! From clothes to jewelry to toys, it had every gift idea you could possibly want!The book starts off with a nice little poem, spread out every fourth page. What follows immediately are pages of value gifts, including an actual suit of armor. Then there are red pages of gifts under $100. Merry Christmas indeed! Next comes women's fashions followed by jewelry and girls attire. Of course, boys clothes, shoes, men's wear, and accessories come next.After the Christmas decorations are a wide variety of appliances, clocks, dish ware, and sports gear. The best part of the entire publication follows: toys!  After the Super Powers line, GoBots, Transformers, and Voltron are highlighted! The relatively new Sectaurs line gets a whole page, and both GI Joe and He-Man get double spreads! Return of the Jedi gets a page, and M.A.S.K. Shares a page with Wheeled Warriors!Subsequently, Barbies, stuffies, TVs, and cameras get entire sections devoted to them.Dual cassette decks? Check. Oversized fleece terry pullovers? Got ‘em. Masters of the Universe soft and snuggly slippers? Definitely! So grab your Omagles, pick up your pool cue, and scour through this episode on the 1985 Sears Wish Book!Horror Movie BBQFB: @HorrorMovieBBQTwitter: @HorrorMovieBBQIG: @horrormoviebbqAfter LunchGive us a buzz! Send a text, dudes!Check us out on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Totally Rad Christmas Mall & Arcade, Teepublic.com, or TotallyRadChristmas.com! Later, dudes!

 The Art of the Voice with Leslie Gordon   Episode #157   In this episode of The Creative Soulpreneur, host Nick sits down with Leslie Gordon, a dynamic public speaker, coach, and linguist. Leslie, who will soon be stepping into her new role as the president of the National Speakers Association's Atlanta chapter, shares her inspiring journey from a Barbie-loving child who dreamed of being a dancer to a seasoned linguist passionate about the power of language and communication. They dive into her fascinating work, which includes accent and voice training, and discuss the importance of reconnecting with one's authentic voice. Leslie shares valuable insights on maintaining curiosity and breaking away from the "shoulds" that often hinder personal growth and expression. Tune in to explore the transformative nature of language and discover how Leslie's story can inspire you to reclaim your own voice and follow what makes your heart truly happy.   Key takeaways:   Play as a Pathway: Rediscovering the child-like curiosity and playful experimentation can be a gateway to uncovering your authentic self and voice. Whether it's through imaginative play with Barbies as a child or experimenting with new sounds and languages, embracing play leads to creative discovery.   The Power of Curiosity: Maintaining a mindset of curiosity rather than obligation (switching "should" to "could") opens up new possibilities. By asking ourselves what might happen instead of telling ourselves what to do, we access a more expansive and creative mindset.   Aligning Voice and Purpose: Finding your voice isn't just about speech clarity—it's about aligning your physical, mental, and emotional self with your true purpose. Through coaching and reflection, understanding the motivations behind our inner narratives can unlock a more authentic and powerful way of communicating.   Lesliegordonspeech.com Leslie Gordon Instagram     Story Telling Guide!!!   Leslie Gordon is a public speaker, speaker coach, and linguist with over 20 years of experience helping individuals refine their speech, voice, and accents to communicate with clarity and confidence. Armed with a doctorate in linguistics, fluency in Spanish and Portuguese, and specialized teaching of accents, she combines academic expertise with personal insights as a language learner and former unconfident speaker. Leslie's customized approach empowers professionals, performers, and presenters to connect with their authentic voice, achieve their goals, and build lasting skills that foster clarity, connection, and self-assurance.   Nick Demos is a Tony and Olivier Award winning Broadway producer, documentary filmmaker, conscious business coach and manifestation expert. With over 15 years of teaching pranayama (breath work), yoga and creativity as well as thirty years in the entertainment industry, he has travelled from the Tony Awards to ashrams and run a multi-million dollar business in between. Nick helps you clear blocks and tap into your creative intuition so you can tell your stories and manifest the business and life of your dreams creating wealth and impact.  

Garbeo por nuestra geografía en busca de canciones de ayer, hoy y mañana.(Foto del podcast por Juan P. Fajardo; Ángela Hoodoo)Playlist;ÁNGELA HOODOO “Fugitivo”JODIE CASH “That light on me”NESTOR PARDO “Una carta sin enviar”ZODIACS “Chica normal”GARBAYO “Corre conmigo”BURNING “Corre conmigo”LOS TORONTOS “Diggin chicks”RUFINOOS “Consejo de consumo”THE KILLER BARBIES “Voy a ser millonaria”LOS IDIOTAS “Seat Ritmo”DEAF DEVILS “Dancing with the devil”SUGUS “Actitud”F.A.N.T.A. “Singuerlín”GUADALUPE PLATA “Huele a rata”LOS MEJILLONES TIGRE “Mejor que tú”GUILLE WHEEL “Looking through my window”Escuchar audio

AP's Lisa Dwyer reports that Barbies and hot wheels might be getting a tad more expensive.

Tonight on The Last Word: Donald Trump ousts Mike Waltz as national security advisor. Also, Trump nominates “Stop the Steal” organizer Ed Martin for a key prosecutor post. Plus, Trump tariffs are wreaking havoc on U.S. small businesses. And a Trump-appointed judge in Texas rules Trump's Alien Enemies Act invocation is “unlawful.”  Sen. Adam Schiff and Rick Woldenberg join Lawrence O'Donnell.

Lou Penrose on Trump's remarks at last night's town hall, and plastic crap from China.

Team Trump playing games with tariffs, claiming there is a big trade deal but refusing to say who it is with as Trump forces Amazon's Jeff Bezos to cave and fast. Plus, Trump's administration designated thousands of international students as criminals.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Today's book discussion is on Underground Barbie by Maša Kolanović, translated from Croatian by Ena Selimović. We get slightly off-topic talking about the top news stories from the 90s and reminiscing about playing with Barbies. Content warning: war (mentions of bombing and snipers), swearing Our next book discussion will be Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson. Find it at your local library or bookstore and read along with us! If you want to read along with The Bookstore Challenge 2024, you can join us on The StoryGraph to see what others are reading for each month and get ideas for your TBR: The Bookstore Challenge 2025. Get two audiobook credits for the price of one at Libro.fm when you sign up using the code BOOKSTOREPOD. Website | Patreon

“Inspirados por los Ramones, lograron tocar en su templo punk: el CBGB de Nueva York. Apasionados de las películas de terror, protagonizaron dos filmes de serie B a las órdenes del director más reconocido del cine de género en España, Jess Franco. Desde un pequeño apartamento en Vigo reconvertido en oficina, hasta el escenario principal de festivales en Japón y Alemania, la historia de Killer Barbies es una vertiginosa carrera nacida en los márgenes del movimiento indie de los años 90, repleta de momentos sorprendentes y asombrosos”. Y están de actualidad porque sacan su octavo disco en mayo con Subterfuge y por un libro hoy protagonista de nuestro viaje: Voy a matarte esta noche. La ruidosa y acelerada historia de Killer Barbies (Ed. Applehead) por nuestro invitado Luís León Luri y con colaboraciones entre otros de Mario Vaquerizo · Alaska · Doctor Gonzo · Valeria Vegas · Carlos Galán · Jesús Ordovás · Santiago Segura y por supuesto nuestros también invitados, los Killer Barbies genuinos Silvia Superstar y Billy King.Con Don Víctor desde el Planeta Segovia conectamos Killer Barbies con los cómics.Escuchar audio

How do we break through the noise in industries that have normalized dull? You're about to embark on a crazy journey of misfit Barbies, back alley tee shirts, and criminal wine as Mark Schaefer and Carla Johnson explore the crisis of imagination in marketing. We all want to do better work ... what is holding us back? Plenty, as it turns out! 

Hoy escuchamos: Moonlight Haze- Tame the storm, Linkin Park- Up from the bottom, Alien Weaponry- Taniwha, Entrevista Catalina Grande Piñón Pequeño: Catalina Grande Piñón Pequeño- Barbies en wallapop, Catalina Grande Piñón Pequeño- Lorenzo Lamas, Opeth- Paragraph 3, Arch Enemy- A million suns.Escuchar audio

BOSSES MEET BARBIES POOL PARTY PROMO UPDATE BY DJ DELLON DI HOTSKULL & BIGPAPA by OneVoiceFamilySoundSystem

This week we're joined by Sierra Luchien. She shares her transformative story and insights from her book, "Don't Judge a Book by Its Cover." We kick off with a Judge Judy cocktail and dive into judgmental attitudes in dating, setting the stage for a blend of nostalgia and revelation. Boss Barbie takes us on a journey through her childhood, the significance of her name, and the transitions from youthful aspirations to navigating the intricate dynamics of trust and change in adult relationships. Alongside her, Ciara's incredible path from foster care to becoming an advocate for foster children enriches our discussion about the strength and resilience found in life's challenges.Explore the emotional layers of love and partnership through stories of resilience, intimate connections, and the healing power of community. We touch on moments of personal growth and the hurdles of balancing individual healing within committed relationships. Anecdotes of support during challenging times, whether through emotional presence or navigating health crises, highlight the multifaceted nature of love. Discover how Boss Barbie and Ciara turn adversity into empowerment, with Ciara opening foster homes to create nurturing environments for children, inspired by her own journey of finding solace and love in unexpected places.The narrative continues as we discuss the rollercoaster of co-parenting, the emotional intricacies of past relationships, and the significance of trust in partnerships. Personal stories of persistence and self-discovery underscore the importance of finding one's path amidst life's chaos. From navigating complex family dynamics to seeking stability in uncertain times, our conversations emphasize the value of honest communication and fostering hope. Tune in for a heartfelt exploration of personal transformations, the power of shared stories, and the lasting impact of building supportive communities.Join Kiki In Curacao March 19-23- https://www.seekdharma.com/trips/kikis-travel-tribe/Join Kiki in Negril at Hedo May 21-May 31, 2025 www.worstbehaviortour.comJoin Medinah in Arizona! www.paradiseandvibe.com Try Feeld by downloading the Feeld app in the app store or Google playFollow Us@cocktalespodcast@kikisaidso@coffeebeandean@bossbarbie1For all promo codes and links for promotions in the episode, follow this link: https://linktr.ee/cocktalesadsContact Us!Advice: advice@cocktalespod.comCocktales: cocktales@cocktalespod.comWeird Sex: weirdsex@cocktalespod.comLive Show Sponsorship: sales@cocktalespod.comGuest Request/ General Inquiries info@cocktalespod.comGet your Vesper and other Jewelry From Crave https://lovecrave.com/cocktalesGet Your Merch & Order Your Card GamePurchase Merch www.imcurioustoknow.comGet Klassy Baste! Learn to Cook with Kiki www.klassybaste.comJoin Kiki's  Book Club- February's Book- Reel, By Kennedy Ryan https://www.patreon.com/kikisaidsoTravel with Kiki! We're going to Curacao! Reserve Your Spot Here!Travel With Medinah! Visit ParadiseandVibe.com What's Your Attachment Style Home?Take The QuizInterested in sponsoring? Contact sales@cocktalespod.com today!Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/cocktales-dirty-discussions--2818687/support.

Get ready for a hilarious, unfiltered episode of Friends Without Benefits as we dive into fashion faux pas, Fort Lauderdale luxury, and fiery debates! Uptown Dale embraces his inner Ken while Jeanine defends her equestrian-chic boots—sparking an unexpected debate about polo, sex appeal, and footwear politics. Meanwhile, our “Fairy Podmother” Courtney Ortiz gives us an exclusive tour of a stunning $4M waterfront home in Bermuda Riviera, where we break down Big Dock Energy (yes, you read that right).But that's just the beginning! We tackle late-night movies (why would you do that to yourself?!), restaurant etiquette wars (to stack or not to stack?!), and a fiery “Would You Rather” segment that involves peeing your pants, tanning beds, and choosing between an 80K stress-free gig or a high-stakes 200K hustle. Plus, Jeanine exposes her insane airplane routine, Dale drops a bombshell about his Italy trip, and we debate whether Justin Timberlake's good deed was genuine or just PR magic. Buckle up—this episode is chaotic, laugh-out-loud funny, and packed with hot takes!Contact Rachel Sobel:Email: rachel@whineandcheezits.comWebsite: www.whineandcheezits.comFacebook:  Whine and Cheez - its by Rachel Sobel   Instagram: @whineandcheezitsTikTok: @rachel.sobel.writesContact Dale Mclean:Email: dance715@aol.comWebsite: dalethehost.comInstagram: @UptownDale

Birthdays are usually all about toys, right? When I was a kid, I loved getting Barbies or stuffed animals. But I just read about a 10-year-old named Kendyl, and the best gift she got this year? A pair of glasses. Not super exciting... until she put them on.These glasses transcribe speech in real time, letting Kendyl, who is deaf, see conversations as they happen. How cool is that?! It's going to change her life - helping her in school, with friends, everywhere.

“These girls level me up,” says Katie of Mandy and Jenny, her friends and co-hosts of Moms Night Out, a podcast for ambitious women looking for advice, motivation and real conversation. Corinne Morahan, host of the Get Organized for Good podcast, was recently a guest on Moms Night Out, and today, she returns the favor catching up with the women to see how they are getting organized as part of her Grid + Glam membership. Katie, Mandy and Jenny discuss the life-altering changes they've made, what aspect has been easiest and the most difficult, how their husbands and kids have been adapting—or not—and share  advice for other moms looking to get organized, too.    Learn which step in the process that Katie calls a game-changer and which part was hardest for Mandy to surrender control of. Learn what Jenny is most hopeful about. The three women will discuss their favorite parts of Corinne's systems and frameworks as well as the importance of consistency, accountability and community.    Whether you're naturally organized like Katie and Mandy or less so like Jenny, you'll find stories, emotions and hilarious moments that you can relate to. Join today's episode to learn how to get in on the fun.  _______________   Jenny, Katie + Mandy are the hosts of the hilariously relatable podcast, a Moms Night Out. MNO is a podcast for ambitious women who want a one-stop-shop for advice and conversation.   MNO covers topics including families, careers, friendship, pop culture, and also has inspiring interviews, like the one with yours truly. Jenny, Katie and Mandy are champagne-loving working moms who will win you over with their honesty and candor.    Quotes “Hardest was getting my husband on board…he is not organized and it's been really hard to get him on board…I said to him, ‘This is important to me and this is important for my mental health. I'm a better mom when our house is in order. I'm more fun…I'm not running around stressed. So, that is still the hardest for me is getting him fully on board and really getting him to lean in with me.” (18:53 | Katie) “It took a few weeks  for it to become a habit for me and now I just do it. I don't think about it; I don't dread it. It's just something I do before I go and sit down after dinner and kids and bed and all those things.”(20:31 | Jenny) “Hardest part was letting my kids do more because I feel like I was always just cleaning up because it was going to be quicker and things went where they needed to go. But my kids are old enough now, they're five and seven, and they know the different bins and, ‘Legos go in this one or Barbies in this one,' and I just wasn't letting them do that. So, this made me think, ‘Actually, get the kids involved. They can do it,' and they do it pretty well.” (21:12 | Mandy)   Links Connect with Moms Night Out Hosts: You can listen to the Moms Night Out podcast by clicking here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/moms-night-out/id1709587885 Follow Moms Night Out here: https://www.instagram.com/momsnightoutmno?igsh=MXhwMXl1NDNoenJ5Ng==   To join the free "New Year, New Clarity: Organize Your Life in 2025" experience happening TODAY, please sign up here: https://www.gridandglam.com/new-year-new-clarity   Connect With Corinne: https://www.gridandglam.com/ https://www.corinnemorahan.com/ https://www.instagram.com/gridandglam/ https://www.instagram.com/corinnemorahan/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/corinnemorahan/ https://www.facebook.com/gridandglam https://www.youtube.com/@gridandglam1 Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm

Dennis is joined via Zoom by two of his friends from the Xana-crew; Eric Seppala and Ruston Harker who have something unique in common. They both created passion projects during the pandemic involving Barbies and Instagram, which continue to today. Ruston's account is @dolldecree and it features short animated vignettes involving Barbie and her friends, saying pithy things and looking fabulous. Eric's account is @olivianewtonjohnisadoll and it's exactly what it sounds like. Using Barbie dolls, Eric has painstakingly recreated looks from Olivia's career; from her breakout days in the 1970's to Xanadu to the Physical era to her more recent memoir launch. Both men talk about what inspired them to start the accounts, their different creative processes--Ruston uses AI, Eric is totally old school--their most popular posts, and what having this side project has brought to their lives. Other topics include: the shame attached to wanting to play with Barbies as a boy, the Christmas gifts they'll remember forever, the joy of connecting with other Xana-fans, and constantly wondering if you're crazy for putting so much time, money and passion into these doll projects. The episode ends with a special musical moment; a bangin' cover of Kelly Clarkson's "Under the Mistletoe" performed by Dennis's past guests Matt Zarley and Kathy Deitch. Happy Holidays, everyone!

Zerman Zane tells Kevin about carrying a bucketful of Barbies for his young son—literally at first and metaphorically ever since. • Come to Portugal for RISK!'s 15th Anniversary in May 2025: risk-show.com/portugal • Pitch us your story! risk-show.com/submissions • Support RISK! through Patreon at patreon.com/risk or make a one-time donation: paypal.me/riskshow • Get tickets to RISK! live shows: risk-show.com/live • Get the RISK! Book and shop for merch: risk-show.com/shop • Take our storytelling classes: thestorystudio.org • Hire Kevin Allison as a coach or get personalized videos: kevinallison.com To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In this Chatterbox episode, Andrew and Anna talk about the "Kidult" trend and how strong nostalgia can be. They talk about their favorite childhood toys, like Barbies, Beanie Babies, Legos, and video games. They also discuss how many adults today are returning to these toys by collecting or playing with them again. Plus, they chat about how the toy industry has changed to focus on adults and whether there's any stigma around adults buying toys for themselves. What You'll Learn: Vocabulary related to childhood toys, nostalgia, and collecting. What the "Kidult" trend is and what Andrew and Anna think about it. Andrew and Anna's favorite childhood toys and how they feel about them now. How This Episode Will Improve Your English: Learn useful vocabulary and expressions to talk about toys, nostalgia, and childhood memories. Improve your listening skills by following a fun, easy conversation between two native speakers. Build confidence in talking about your own childhood experiences and hobbies in English. Practice speaking English: Join discussions with other listeners on the Culips Discord server for additional speaking practice. Important links: Become a Culips member Study with the interactive transcript Join the Culips Discord server Small-group discussion class schedule (member only)