Podcast appearances and mentions of Charles Schultz

Michael Cohen has created comics such as Strange Attractors and Tangled River, and is credited with helping to create the first known comic book price guide. He's also co-host of the Unpacking Peanuts podcast, and his talk with Tim includes discussion of Charles Schultz's strip, including about the reason why Michael has no interest in … Continue reading #832 Michael Cohen: Comics price guides, “Peanuts”, and more

It was no ordinary day at One Snoopy Place on July 5, 1995. A man named Ron Nelson, who worked alongside famous Peanuts cartoonist, Charles Schultz, and his wife, Shirley Nelson were shot at the Peanuts headquarters. When officers arrived, they were confused why no one else had been shot, and if the shooter was still at large. Once Shirley was loaded into an ambulance, she told them everything, and it was not at all what investigators were expecting. Make sure you're following along as we upload new episodes every week, and as always, thank you for listening! Contact us crimewithak@gmail.comSources for this episode include:Beers with Queers: A True Crime PodcastDive into the darkest, most twisted true crime cases involving the LGBTQ+ communityListen on: Apple Podcasts SpotifySupport the show

Dena Hodges is the oldest granddaughter of Peanuts creator Charles Schultz. She has just finished a book about life with her beloved grandfather and some of the difficult family dynamics around the popular cartoonist and how she has survived. There have been a few documentaries about Charles Schultz but no one has the insider family drama like Dena.

And now a reposting of this last part of the this rambling and too brief biography of Charles Schultz, the creator of Charlie Brown and the Peanuts comic strip.

And now a reposting of the third part of this rambling and too brief biography of Charles Schultz, the creator of Charlie Brown and the "Peanuts" comic strip.

And now a reposting of part two of this rambling and too brief biography of Charles Schultz, the creator of Charlie Brown and the Peanuts comics strip.

And now a reposting of the first part of this rambling and too brief biography of Charles Schultz, the creator of Charlie Brown and the Peanuts comic strip.

In honor of Thanksgiving, here is a super special bonus encore episode of our fan favorite, A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.  If you are celebrating or not, we wish you the very best for the upcoming holiday season.  May your Quorn Roast be toasted to perfection! Snoopy is cooking Thanksgiving dinner and everyone is invited!  Jelly Beans and toast for all - including Franklin, the only black kid in the world of Charlie Brown and Peanuts!  Franklin gets a seat at the table all by himself as the other kids crowd around the opposite side of the table.  Some people see this moment in the show as emblematic of the black experience in America: included but excluded at the same time.  Other people see this as Franklin getting a place of honor: by sitting alone he stands out amidst all the chaos of a dog and bird cooking and serving everyone dinner.  Some people see racism, some see cartoon fun, but everyone can agree that a dog and a bird shouldn't have to do all the work while a bunch of kids sit around and complain about the food. What is Thanksgiving, where does it come from, what's the fact vs. fiction in the history of Thanksgiving?  And what about Snoopy – is there racism going on and is there an actual apology being made by anyone for Franklin sitting all alone at a table crowded with white friends? Get ready to dish (sorry) about the tasteful (sorry) history of Franklin, his first appearance, his meaning and importance in the world of Peanuts (sorry and yes, we're using it as a food pun), and the sweet (sorry) teacher from Los Angeles who helped flavor (sorry) his creation.   AI Recap: Welcome to another engaging episode of Apologies Accepted. Join Theo and Juliette as they explore the intricate layers of Thanksgiving history and the cultural nuances spotlighted in the iconic Charlie Brown Thanksgiving special. From the harrowing journey of the pilgrims to the 1973 animated celebration, they shed light on historical narratives, discuss the introduction of Franklin as Peanuts' first African-American character, and delve into the recent discussions on diversity and representation in media. The episode navigates through Harriet Glickman's pivotal role in encouraging Charles Schultz to create Franklin, reflecting on 1968 America post-MLK assassination, and the personal narratives of those who've seen themselves reflected in Peanuts. Whether it's the inadvertent symbolism of seating arrangements or the broader societal implications, Theo and Juliette critically assess Schultz's legacy and its resonance today. Tune in for a thought-provoking conversation that poignantly mixes nostalgia with a contemporary lens, challenging us all to reflect on inclusion, equality, and the significance of mainstream representation.

Here is the story of Ronald Reagan - the ugly, the bad, and the good.--His record is spotty, but there were signs of a turn-around, especially on the matter of abortion.-Charles Schultz and Peanuts played a role-There are lessons to learn as well. . . King Saul of the Old Testament was a registered Republican, a card-carrying conservative.--This program includes---1. The World View in 5 Minutes with Adam McManus -Reagan movie explores his Christian faith- Trump spokeswoman- -Kamala is not candidate of change-- Muslim man abducted, forcibly converted, married 12-year-old Christian girl---2. Generations with Kevin Swanson

Here is the story of Ronald Reagan-the ugly, the bad, and the good. His record is spotty, but there were signs of a turn-around, especially on the matter of abortion. Charles Schultz and Peanuts played a role. There are lessons to learn as well . . . King Saul of the Old Testament was a registered Republican, a card-carrying conservative.

Here is the story of Ronald Reagan — the ugly, the bad, and the good.  His record is spotty, but there were signs of a turn-around, especially on the matter of abortion. Charles Schultz and Peanuts played a role There are lessons to learn as well. . . King Saul of the Old Testament was a registered Republican, a card-carrying conservative.This program includes:1. The World View in 5 Minutes with Adam McManus (Reagan movie explores his Christian faith; Trump spokeswoman: "Kamala is not candidate of change"; Muslim man abducted, forcibly converted, married 12-year-old Christian girl)2. Generations with Kevin Swanson

This episode originally aired on December 13, 2022 under the title “Peanuts is Autistic.”“Our relationships are based on the three F's. Friends, family, and fictional characters.”“He was a very big proponent of gay rights because one of his best friends is Billie Jean King and Peppermint Patty is directly based on her.”“The entire world seems incredibly chaotic to us. And we need this structure and we need this routine in order to be happy, in order to be healthy, in order to be productive. And it seems like Charles Schultz really, really leaned into this because that is what helped him be who he was.”“This is so pathologizing and so incorrect because we, These are the things that give us life. These are the things that bring us joy.”“He said, ‘that's what life was about to me.' He didn't say ‘that's what I liked.' He didn't say ‘that's what I loved.' He said, 'that's what life was about.”Which Peanuts character do you relate to the most? Fan Favorite Game, design #5 (get yours here)Play the game! Fan Favorites Game rulesEpisode 06: Lemony Snicket is AutisticEpisode 12: Parks & Rec is AutisticEpisode 20: Sesame Street is AutisticReady for a paradigm shift that empowers Autistics? Help spread the news!Check us out on InstagramFind us on Apple podcasts and SpotifyLearn more about Matt at Matt Lowry, LPPMatt's social media: Autistic Connections Facebook GroupLearn more about Angela at AngelaLauria.com and Difference PressAngela's social media: Twitter and TikTokTACP's TeePublic merch shop This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.autisticculturepodcast.com/subscribe

We take a look at an episode of the most recent Peanuts adaptation, the one from Apple TV: One of a Kind Marcie. This is probably the first ever Peanuts property to center Marcie. How does it hold up? How's the Peanuts world without Charles Schultz? And, most importantly of all, what are the Peanuts characters' political affiliations?

In a one-off unedited and unplugged show The CP7 Podcast shares how it is off to Watches and Wonders 2024 at the Palexpo in Geneva, for press week. Listen in to find out how the boys got invited to the press days and the hard work it takes to make it happen.There is also always time for some watch talk as the boys break down the new Rolex and Tudor teaser trailers and what they think could be coming out this year at the pinnacle event in Geneva. Talking of new releases there's also a look at the hype behind the Swatch x Omega MoonSwatch: Mission To The Moonphase featuring Charles Schultz's lovable cartoon canine Snoopy in white and soon to be black. Talking of white dials, on Parm's recent trip to Dubai he got hands-on with the new white dial Omega Speedmaster so listen out for his take on it from a first-hand perspective and a little surprise news about the IWC Ingenieur. So excuse the unedited errmmms, ahhhs, breaths, and any other usually edited-out sounds/words, buckle up and enjoy the ride.Don't forget to check out the show notes on Instagram for a visual experience:@chrono_passion_7

Good advice. It comes in many forms. Friends. Strangers. Life events. Jan shares advice, from Sandra Bullock to Charles Schultz to his own mom, advice that has made a difference. Pointers, humorous and healing, that can take us to the high road of life's journey.

In the Monday Morning Memo for Oct. 10, 2022, I wrote,“Do you want to be one of the world's great ad writers? Don't read ads. Read the poems, short stories and novels written by the winners of the Pulitzer and Nobel prizes in Literature.”My friend Tom Grimes – the waterboy of Amarillo – texted me this insightful correction:“I've heard you teach in class that magicians, stand-up comedians and the creators of comic strips always structure their storytelling in that same tight economy of words used by the world's great poets. ‘And then what happened, and then what happened, and then what happened…'”I stand corrected. Thank you, Tom.Yes, comedians, magicians, and the creators of comics are three different types of writers who know how to capture and hold our attention, just as the world's great poets have done for centuries. These writers show us possible futures, imaginary pasts, or an exaggerated present; realities that exist entirely in our imaginations.And they do it in a brief, tight, economy of words.Likewise, the best ad writers take us on journeys that begin and end quickly, but leave us altered, changed, modified, different.I don't list AI in my pantheon of persuasive writers for the same reason that I don't list the makers of movies.Great movies are created from great plays and great books. Even Disney's animated cartoon adventuresbegin with great stories.Stories are written by writers.The actors, directors, and illustrators who portray those stories are called artists and they are assisted by technicians. Artists and technicians don't write the stories; they adapt stories to fit a format and then show them to us.AI is not a writer. AI is an artist and a technician.Dune was written by Frank Herbert 59 years ago and has sold nearly 20 million copies worldwide. Artists and technicians adapted it into a 1984 film, a 2000 television miniseries, and then a major motion picture in 2021 with a sequel that was released in theaters just last week.The Lord of the Rings was written by Tolkien and adapted by artists and technicians.The Godfather was written by Puzo and adapted by artists and technicians.Harry Potter was written by Rowling and adapted by artists and technicians.Charles Schultz, Bill Watterson, Neil Gaiman, Stan Lee, Scott McCloud and Tom Fishburne are writers who tell stories in comic panels.Robin Williams, Chris Rock, Eddie Murphy, Richard Pryor, Ellen DeGeneres and Dave Chappelle are writers who tell stories in short bursts while standing behind a microphone.Penn and Teller, Siegried and Roy, David Blaine, Brian Brushwood, David Copperfield and Nate Staniforth are writers who stand on stage and tell stories while proving that you cannot believe your eyes or trust your logical mind.Ian Fleming, Cormac McCarthy, Stephen King, Truman Capote, and Elmore Leonard are writers who tell stories using only words.Artists and technicians adapt their stories for stage, film, and video.Shakespeare wrote 38 stories that artists and technicians have adapted for the past 450 years. The artists who gave faces and voices to Shakespeare's characters include Judi Dench, Patrick Stewart, Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, Kenneth Branagh, David Tarrant, Derek Jacobi and Peter O'Toole.We have writers. We

Robb Armstrong – “Jump Start” cartoonist Robb Armstrong tells us how he turned his friendship with Charles Schultz into “Snoopy Presents: Welcome Home, Franklin”, a new special with the Peanuts gang from Apple+.

Our brains are wired to worry but worrying can kill your joy, take you out of the present and drain your energy. Dr. Cindra shares some keys to overcome your worry including to notice your thoughts and feelings, label them, and carefully observe them. We can also practice accepting uncertainty and work to overcome perfectionistic tendencies.  This Week's Power Phrase: “I reduce my worry to feel more joy and stay in the present.”   Quote of the Week: "Don't worry about the world coming to an end today. It is already tomorrow in Australia.” - Charles Schultz 

In Potpourri IV, a litany of literary gems await you.   This edition includes these goodies: philosophy by Charles Schultz, an interview with a cat, advice on how NOT to ruin your life and so much more. Let the eargasm begin.

Today's episode of the Success is a Choice podcast network is a presentation leadership expert Jamy Bechler gave at the 2023 "Edge of Greatness" Summit. In his 11 minute presentation, Jamy shared stories and insights on how to make a difference and positive impact through every interaction we have with people. The summit was hosted by Charles Schultz from the Edge of Greatness Podcast  - - - -  Each week, the Success is a Choice podcasting network brings you leadership expert Jamy Bechler and guest experts who provide valuable insights, tips, and guidance on how to maximize your potential, build a stronger culture, develop good leadership, create a healthy vision, optimize results, and inspire those around you. Please follow Jamy on Twitter @CoachBechler for positive insights and tips on leadership, success, culture, and teamwork. - - - -  The Success is a Choice podcast network is made possible by TheLeadershipPlaybook.com. Great teams have great teammates and everyone can be a person of influence. Whether you're a coach, athletic director, or athlete, you can benefit from this program and now you can get 25% off the price when you use the coupon code CHOICE at checkout. Build a stronger culture today with better teammates and more positive leaders.  If you like motivational quotes, excerpts, or thoughts, then you'll want to check out Jamy Bechler's book "The Coach's Bulletin Board" as it has more than 1,000 positive insights to help you (and those around you) get motivated and inspired. Visit JamyBechler.com/BulletinBoardBook. - - - -  Please consider rating the podcast with 5 stars and leaving a quick review on Apple podcasts. Ratings and reviews are the lifeblood of a podcast. This helps tremendously in bringing the podcast to the attention of others. Thanks again for listening and remember that “Success is a choice. What choice will you make today?” - - - -  Jamy Bechler is the author of five books including "The Captain" and "The Bus Trip", host of the "Success is a Choice Podcast", professional speaker, and trains organizations on creating championship cultures. He previously spent 20 years as a college basketball coach and administrator.  TheLeadershipPlaybook.com is Bechler's online program that helps athletes become better teammates and more positive leaders while strengthening a team's culture. As a certified John Maxwell leadership coach, Bechler has worked with businesses and teams, including the NBA. Follow him on Twitter at @CoachBechler. To connect with him via email or find out about his services, please contact speaking@CoachBechler.com. You can also subscribe to his insights on success and leadership by visiting JamyBechler.com/newsletter.

Merry Christmas you blockhead! Merinell aka Mikki aka Seth's mom returns to discuss everyone's favorite movie about everyone's favorite depressed child, A Charlie Brown Christmas! We talk Snoopy, the comic strip's origins, the most somber Christmas song and revisiting stuff as adults. Merinell had covid when we recorded this, so if you don't listen it's basically the same thing as spitting in her face. Not cool, listener!  For all of our bonus episodes check out Patreon.com/MovieFriendsPodcast  Follow Movie Friends: Twitter @moviefriendspod Instagram @MovieFriendsPodcast Youtube Youtube.com/MovieFriendsPodcast Website https://www.moviefriendspodcast.com/ Send us an E-mail at MovieFriendsPodcast@Gmail.com tell us what you think and it may end up on the show! Wouldn't that be cool? Head over to our website at MovieFriendsPodcast.com and consider supporting our Patreon. Come on, you don't need that $5, but you do need our undying love and friendship!

Guest: Justin Thompson, Senior Artist at Charles M. Schulz Creative AssociatesOn LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-thompson-91a47339/On Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/mythtickle/_____________________________Host:  Marco Ciappelli, Co-Founder at ITSPmagazine [@ITSPmagazine] and Host of Redefining Society Podcast & Audio Signals PodcastOn ITSPmagazine | https://www.itspmagazine.com/itspmagazine-podcast-radio-hosts/marco-ciappelli_____________________________This Episode's SponsorsAre you interested in sponsoring an ITSPmagazine Channel?

In 1965, Charles Schultz, the creator of the Peanuts comic strip, released the television show A Charlie Brown Christmas. Most of the show was about Charlie Brown feeling out of sync with the rest of the world around him during the Christmas season and his trying to figure out what “Christmas is really all about. “ In the end, he comes to a breaking point, and literally yells, Isn't there anyone  who can tell me what Christmas is all about? “ To which his friend Linus replies, sure, Charlie Brown, I can tell you. Linus then famously recites the Christmas story from the gospel of Luke.  And though the gospel of Luke does indeed point Charlie Brown to the original Christmas narrative, it, perhaps does not do what Charlie Brown asked for. He doesn't ask for the Christmas story, but instead asks a very specific question: What is Christmas all about? This episode takes the original Christmas story and looks at what Christmas is really all about. ———————————————————————————————————————. Have a spiritual, theological, or religious question you would like me to tackle?Contact me via email:    Dan@SkyPilot.zoneAnd be sure to check me out on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/SkyPilotFaithQuest...........................................................................................Music: Composed for SkyPilot: Faith Quest by Arlan Sunnarborg

Guest: Justin Thompson, Senior Artist at Charles M. Schulz Creative AssociatesOn LinkedIn | https://www.linkedin.com/in/justin-thompson-91a47339/On Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/mythtickle/_____________________________Host:  Marco Ciappelli, Co-Founder at ITSPmagazine [@ITSPmagazine] and Host of Redefining Society Podcast & Audio Signals PodcastOn ITSPmagazine | https://www.itspmagazine.com/itspmagazine-podcast-radio-hosts/marco-ciappelli_____________________________This Episode's SponsorsAre you interested in sponsoring an ITSPmagazine Channel?

Brad wraps up discussing his show "For the Defense" and the direction it's taken as well as why he identifies with Charles Schultz

Welcome to From Complex to Queens, Home Run Applesauce's podcast focusing on the Mets' minor league system. In honor of the debut of Charles Schultz' Peanuts comic strip, Steve, Lukas, and Ken discuss fictional Mets fans in Promote, Extend, Trade. Following that, the guys discuss the conclusion of the Binghamton Rumble Ponies playoff run, and assess the state of the Mets' minor league system as compared to this time last year. As always, you can listen or subscribe to all of our Home Run Applesauce podcasts through Apple Podcasts, where we encourage you to leave a review if you enjoy the show. It really helps! And you can find us on Spotify, or listen wherever you get podcasts. Visit our Patreon for bonus episodes and to help directly support the podcasters whose work you've enjoyed for years. Got any questions? Comments? Concerns? You can email the show at fromcomplextoqueens at gmail dot com, and follow us on Twitter: Steve is (@stevesypa), Lukas is (@lvlahos343), Ken is (@kenlavin91), and Thomas is (@sadmetsszn). Until next week, #lovethemets #lovethemets! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Listen in as we interview Charles Schultz and Raymond Persi about Snoopy Presents: One-of-a-Kind Marci, Danny Wu about American: An Odyssey to 1947 , Kate Lisbon about Into the Spotlight and Anthony Stacchi and Peilin Chou about The Monkey King. KIDS FIRST! Film Critic Tiana S. is joined by Eshaan, SaniyaRain and Mikella on today's show. Before you spend your hard earned money on entertainment, be sure to check out what our real kids have to say about the newest films and digital releases.

Listen in as we interview Charles Schultz and Raymond Persi about Snoopy Presents: One-of-a-Kind Marci, Danny Wu about American: An Odyssey to 1947 , Kate Lisbon about Into the Spotlight and Anthony Stacchi and Peilin Chou about The Monkey King. KIDS FIRST! Film Critic Tiana S. is joined by Eshaan, SaniyaRain and Mikella on today's show. Before you spend your hard earned money on entertainment, be sure to check out what our real kids have to say about the newest films and digital releases.

In this episode of Journey to the Blue Sky, Arun and Patricia discuss about the 2015 Blue Sky Studios animated film The Peanuts Movie based on the Peanuts comic strips by Charles Schultz. Throughout the course of one year, Charlie Brown tries to get the courage to talk to The Little Red Haired Girl, perform well on his school's talent show, write a book report, learn how to dance for the dance contest, and have the best grade on the school's standardized test. Meanwhile, Snoopy is writing a novel about The Flying Ace rescuing a poodle named Fifi from The Red Baron. When the film premiered in theaters, it made $246 million dollars out of a $99 million dollar budget with praise from the critics with its unique art style, voice acting, soundtrack, and capturing the spirit of Peanuts for both people who grew up with it as well as a new generation of kids. What did Arun and Patricia think of the film? Listen and find out. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/old-school-lane/support

It's another Charles Schultz oddity... about a giant Snoopy plush that is never identified as Snoopy. He's just The Big Stuffed Dog. When a whiny little kid is separated from his dog that he loves so much he never bothered to name it, said plush goes on a series of melancholy and pointless adventures. It's The Big Stuffed Dog on NBC!

Matt is back. Matt recounts his wildly revamped weekend starring COVID, Charles Schultz, and the Valley of the Jolly Green Giant; Patrick Coolican joins Brett; Dr. Joe on the COVID surge.

Last week, we learned that Charles Schultz was a huge fan and admirer of the New Zealand comic strip Footrot Flats. We're yanks so we had never heard of it. but turns out there's a movie! We look at the most New Zealand thing ever.

Charlie Brown and the Peanuts gang are some of the most recognizable characters in American pop culture. From Snoopy's doghouse to Linus's blanket to Lucy's perpetual football prank, the scenes from this iconic comic strip are imprinted in the memories of many Americans even today, more than 70 years after the strip's debut. However, behind the lemonade stand, amateur psychiatric help, and baseball shenanigans, Charles Schultz placed underlying social commentary on the state of American politics and society. While many people praised Peanuts for its supposedly apolitical nature, Schulz used Peanuts to guide American households through critical issues, including the Cold War, integration, church-state relations, and more. Our conversation partner this week Dr. Blake Ball, author of Charlie Brown's America: The Popular Politics of Peanuts.  Blake Ball is a historian of American politics, society, and popular culture in the 20th century. After receiving his doctorate in history from the University of Alabama, he taught at Miles College, the University of North Alabama, and the University of Alabama. Currently, Dr. Ball teaches history at Huntingdon College, where he also chairs the History and Political Science departments.Follow him on Twitter @bsb1945.  

Charles was a NCAA Division 1 baseball player at Youngstown State and earned Freshman All-American. He started The Edge of Greatness Project in 2020 and launched his podcast November 2020. Charles is an avid writer and published his first book in 2021—Be Great: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Dirt. Since then Charles has become a highly sought after podcast guest, speaker, and consultant.

As you soon will discover when you listen to this week's episode, this episode with Lorna was recorded in September of 2022. As usual, we get to have a fun and inspiring conversation.   Lorna Schultz Nicholson to date has published 49 books with more on the way. As you will hear, she believes that everyone has stories to tell. She has published books on various subjects including disabilities.   A good portion of our episode discusses blindness, eyesight, and how the world views and/or should view people's whose eyesight is less than most persons. Lorna provides some fascinating and valuable observations about this.   Regular listeners to Unstoppable Mindset will hear some discussions touch on in previous episodes. However, Lorna's ways of discussing issues and her personal insights are relevant and come strictly from her own observations. You can't but be inspired and enthralled by all she has to say about writing and her life.     About the Guest: Lorna Schultz Nicholson has published over 46 books with three more coming out in September 2022. Her books include children's picture books, middle-grade fiction, YA fiction, and non-fiction. Although many of her books are about sports (not all mind you) they are also about family and friendships and include diverse casts of characters. Her books have been nominated for many different awards. Lorna loves traveling and presents about writing at libraries, schools, and conferences to inspire people to love reading and writing as much as she does.  Lorna lives in Edmonton, Alberta with her husband (Go Oilers Go) and a dog that she rescued from Mexico.    Ways to connect with Lorna:   Website: www.lornaschultznicholson.com  Facebook: Lorna Schultz Nicholson Instagram: Lornasn Twitter: Lornasn          About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog.   Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is an Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards.   https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/   accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/       Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below!   Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can also subscribe in your favorite podcast app.   Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts.     Transcription Notes Michael Hingson  00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i  capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us.     Michael Hingson  01:20 Well, hi there, wherever you happen to be today. This is Mike Hingson and you are listening to unstoppable mindset. Really glad you're here. We are going to have fun again today as usual, and get inspired and do all those things that we do on unstoppable mindset. And again, I really appreciate you being here and hope you enjoy what we have to talk about today. We have Lorna on with us. And I'm going to let her introduce herself pretty much except to tell you that she is an author who has written a whole bunch of books when I met her she had written 46 books. And since we last talked she said she was going to be publishing three more by September so one of course the big questions of the day is did you get to do that but first, learn a welcome to unstoppable mindset. Thanks for being here.   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  02:09 Thank you, Michael. Yes, it's Lorna Schultz Nicholson, and that is a long name three names and nobody ever spell Schultz. Right. That's okay.   Michael Hingson  02:18 Well, how do you spell it?   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  02:20 S C H U L T Z,   Michael Hingson  02:23 that's, that's the way I've always spelled it.   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  02:26 Good for you. Because you have no idea how many people either forget to see or they forget the the yell or the T at the end screen or?   Michael Hingson  02:35 Or they make it or they make it an S instead of a Z?   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  02:38 Well, I think they get the Z right. Because of Charles Schultz. Right. They get that right. Because of the   Michael Hingson  02:44 parents. Schultz from Hogan's Heroes. Yes, but   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  02:48 that's spelled the same way as mine.   Michael Hingson  02:51 S C H U L T Z. Yeah,   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  02:53 exactly. Oh, yes. Zee, sir. In Canada, we say Zed   Michael Hingson  02:58 was said Yeah, yeah, S C H U L T Zed. Well, it is a it is a British oriented or whatever thing or, or some sort of an empire thing. Yeah. That's it.   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  03:13 Coming to you from Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. That's the that's the other thing. I guess I'll say when I introduce myself,   Michael Hingson  03:18 and of course, go Oilers. I know I saw that in your bio. Yes. And how and how did we do?   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  03:27 Well, the season I did fine. I've got those three books coming out. So I'm now on my 49 published book. And I do have a spring book in the docket. So it says it's a picture book. So that will be my 50th book in the spring. But right now I'm sitting at 49. Wow. 49th. One was just released today.   Michael Hingson  03:49 And our hockey and how did our hockey season go?   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  03:55 Season was great. Last year. It hasn't started this year, they'll be starting their training camp right now. Players and training camp they will be starting up mid October sort of beginning of October, mid October, the first games will happen. They'll go into some preseason games here. You know, we all have to watch baseball for a little while. Because, of course they're wrapping up the end of their season. So we all get excited about that too to watch the World Series.   Michael Hingson  04:24 And in addition to hockey and baseball, do you ever watch basketball?   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  04:28 I do actually because I'm a Toronto Raptors fans. So there you go. Okay. Yep, Yep, absolutely. I like watching basketball to   Michael Hingson  04:37 football, and football. We love college football. And right now we're very happy because my wife Karen is a graduate of USC. Okay. And well, she did her graduate studies there and the team is doing really well this year. We have no major complaints. First time in a long time. So we're very pleased about that.   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  04:58 That's exciting. That's it. I think very exciting. There   Michael Hingson  05:01 are three and oh, and all three games, they scored more than 40 points per game. Oh,   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  05:07 I have a brother in law who always fights with this USC and UCLA. There's always a big rivalry between those two, right? Oh, there is? Oh, yeah. Yeah, that happens in my family because they live down in California. So there's always this rivalry that goes on in the family between the two. And which one does he like? You know, that you knew you're gonna ask me that. And I think he's the UCLA.   Michael Hingson  05:32 Well, you know, we we understand that there are those people in the world who who are less fortunate than we, and that's okay. Well, let's see. See, my story is that on the day, we got married, our wedding was supposed to start at four o'clock. And it didn't start until a quarter after four because at four, the church was less than half full. And at 12, after four, suddenly the doors opened, and this whole throng of people came in. And so we finally were able to start when we asked somebody later, what the heck was the deal? Why was everybody late getting there? And they said, No, nobody was late. They were sitting out in their cars waiting for the end of the USC Notre Dame game. So one that tells you where we were in the priority of things, but but SC want Notre Dame, so we knew the marriage was gonna last?   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  06:29 Oh, I love to hear that. That's a lovely story. That's a good story.   Michael Hingson  06:33 Well, tell us a little bit about you kind of where you came from your life, your life a little bit, and we'll go from there.   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  06:40 Well, um, I actually grew up in Ontario, St. Catharines, Ontario, which is really, really close to Niagara Falls, and Niagara Falls, New York, Niagara Falls, Canada. And then I did a lot of moving around and all that, you know, that we all do, and going to university and that kind of thing. And I wasn't always a writer. I mean, you know, I should go back and say that that's not exactly true. But I didn't always think that I was going to be a writer, like, I never grew up thinking that I was going to be an author, like I have some friends off their friends who grew up saying, I knew I was going to be an author, I wanted to be a writer, I wanted to do that when I was little. And I didn't have that. I wanted to be an athlete. Like, if you had asked me when I was a child, they'd say what you want to be when you grew up, I'd say an athlete, my mom and dad would say, because in my era, of course, my parents said, that's not really a profession, you can relate to that. So you know, I went into other things that had to do with sports, like I got a science degree in kinesiology and, you know, worked in the fitness industry. And then when my children were little I came, I decided to take a writing course. And I, I discovered how much I loved writing. And then it brought me back to my childhood, of how much I love to read, and how I love to write stories when I was a kid, that I just never pursued the writing Avenue, but I did actually love writing stories. So it was a bit of a full circle for me, and it didn't happen. You know, in my 20s, I didn't get my first book published until I was in my 40s. And I worked really hard in those late 30s. After that course, I sort of got like, jazzed up. And I, I wanted to write and I wanted to be a writer, and I wanted to be published. And of course, that takes years to happen, you know, you have to keep trying and trying and trying, and keep submitting and keep writing another story. And then finally, I got a book published in 2004. So I mean, I was in my early 40s, when that actually happened. And so for anybody who's listening out there, who wants to write and you think, Well, I didn't do this in my 20s, and I didn't go to university for it, and I didn't get an English degree. You know, you can keep trying, just keep trying.   Michael Hingson  09:02 Well, it's always about trying and I and I take the tact also that if you don't happen to want to write a book or whatever, you do, at least have stories to tell.   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  09:13 Everybody has a story to tell everybody who and I and I do a lot of writing classes as well. I teach a lot of writing classes I teach a lot to kids, like because I I write mostly children's I do write some adult but I write a lot of children's literature. And so I'm often in schools, you know, or workshops, writing workshops for children and, and you know, they're keen keen writers or they're not But and if they're not, I like to tell everybody you have a story to tell everybody has a story to tell. And out in the world. There are lots of stories. So I think that that's the most important part about writing is the story part of it.   Michael Hingson  09:53 One of the things that I find and I love to tell people is if you Don't think that you would be a good guest on the podcast because you don't necessarily talk about whatever our mission is. What I tell people as well, our mission is to inspire people more than anything else. We do talk about disabilities, we do talk about inclusion, and of course, being blind and wanting to get people to have a little bit different view of what blindness and disabilities are all about. I'm always glad to do that. But at the same time, the general purpose of this podcast is really to show people that can be more unstoppable than they think. And so as I go out, and I look for guests, and we searched in a number of different ways, but people often say, Well, I don't know that I would really be good for your mission. And then I say, well, but our mission is to inspire. But I don't really know what to talk about. And I say the same thing that you just said, everyone has a story to tell. And so my job is to help people really find or remember what their story is, and talk about it. And there's no formal way or anything else to do that. It's more an issue of you have a story and we want to hear it. Yeah, I   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  11:09 agree with you. I do think that people, everybody has a story. And I mean, Michael, you have a story, because were you blind at birth? Yes. Yes. Okay, so you have a story. And, and you're doing a great job with this podcast by getting people you know, to tell their unstoppable story, but also to inspire people to do other things. And, and I do write a lot about different disabilities I, I am I have a series that I've written that's called the One to One series, a book has just been published in the series, it's called behind the label. And in that series, I've looked at first book had a character with autism, high functioning autism, the second book was a character that was born with Down syndrome, I have featured fetal alcohol spectrum disorder in it. And I think it's really important that, you know, I'm going to say, behind the label is the latest book that came out, but that we do look behind that label too. So we look behind your label of your disability of being blind. And then we find your your true story and, and how you can help others as well. You know, maybe maybe go through what they're going through.   Michael Hingson  12:28 Of course, one of the things that I have pointed out a number of times on this podcast, and I love to tell people is if we're going to really talk about people with disabilities, then we really have to recognize that everyone has a disability specifically for most of you, your disability is that you are light dependent, you don't do well if the lights aren't on. And electric lighting is a relatively new invention, it came around in the mid 1800s. But the reality is, you guys don't do well, without lights. And in the workplace. Companies and builders provide lights and the ceilings and all sorts of lights so people can see to get around and so on. But that's your problem. And not mine. I don't happen to have that disability. And we need to recognize that everyone does have a challenge people take it for granted. Well, I'm not really disabled, because I can get around. Yeah, let's see how you do in a dark room. And let's see how well you read in a dark room. Or let's see how well you function in other ways when lighting conditions aren't great, because we're always looking for the best lighting conditions. So the reality is we all have disabilities. And we should recognize that. So we don't try to say that we're better because we're not of the of the scope where our disability if you want to call it that is really less than yours, because it's not there. We all have them. And it's an equalizing thing, I think among all of us in society in general.   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  13:59 I totally agree with that. And that's a very, very interesting concept. I never, you know, thank you for saying that, because I never really thought of it that way. Like, I'm thinking now of course, when I turned my computer on the first thing I thought of was, oh, no, I forgot my, my ring light in. in Penticton. I have I have a summer place that I go to by the lake. And so I was coming back yesterday, I drove back yesterday and I forgot my ring light. My ring light is there. I'm thinking I don't have my ring light. Oh my goodness. So that's not something that you even thought of before this podcast, you didn't think to yourself, oh, gosh, I don't have my ring light. You didn't think of that. And that's that's very, very interesting for you to say that. And I thank you for that. Because I think that that's that's something that you know, we people who have our vision, we don't even think about and it's true. We don't know how to walk in the dark. We don't know how to turn off our Lights and feel around and try to find our way to our bed. Like, you know, we keep our little nightlight on so that we can get there. So that's a really interesting, a really interesting comment. And I do agree with that, that I think that the more that we we look at the world as a whole, and look at all the individuals who are in our world, and look at the fact that we are each and every one of us different. And I'm not sure why, why we have to put everybody into into sort of so many boxes, like why can't we all just live together and sort of understand that we're all different. And we all have a different makeup, like even identical twins are different. Sure, they have small differences. And they, you know, they're not, they're not exactly the same in their personalities.   Michael Hingson  15:57 So maybe we should work together and write a book, or you write a book, and I'm glad to help on blindness. And we bring out some of these concepts that might be kind of fun to explore.   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  16:09 Very fun to explore. I mean, a friend of mine actually did write one where she had a visually impaired runner, and you know how they're then they tether them together. And I was just watching that running race the other day with this gal who was just running like the wind. And she was she had a runner beside her. And she was visually impaired. And it was really incredible. I was just like, wow, that's that's impressive. That's good, really good.   Michael Hingson  16:37 But of course, the question is, why should it be viewed as being so incredible? And the answer is, of course, most people can't imagine doing it without eyesight. And the reality is eyesight has not a lot to do with it. If you look at it a different way. It's all about information gathering and having the information that you need. And certainly eyesight is one way to get information. But it's by no means the only way that we get data. And nor should it be the only way we get data. And the difficulty is that so often, people who can see really think is the only real game in town. And oh, for a number of years, the Gallup polling organization, classified blindness specifically, is one of the top five fears that people felt they faced. And it shouldn't be that way. But we really don't look at the reality that blindness isn't the problem. It's our perceptions. And there are a lot of ways to get information, far and away, even in some sense of superior to eyesight, but we just don't look at it that way. Because we're used to seeing and we think that's the only way to do it.   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  17:55 Do you think that your other senses have been heightened? That perhaps I mean, we are very people that have eyesight are very visual, like visual, the won't be the word for it. That's probably their top choice.   Michael Hingson  18:14 Because that's what they're used to. I do not think that senses are heightened simply because we don't see, I think they're heightened if we use them. That's why some of the examples that I use are military teams like SEAL Team Six, or any of the high functioning very specialized military teams that have learned to use their eyesight they see better than anyone else, because they've learned to use that sight. They've learned to process the information more effectively, because of what they see. But they've also learned to use their other senses. And so those senses are also heightened because they've learned to use them. And so the result is that they're not heightened simply because you lose one or not. They're heightened because you make use of them. And you recognize that they are as valuable, as eyesight, for getting as much information about your environment or whatever it is that you need to deal with.   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  19:22 So it's kind of like, in a way, people that have vision are a bit lazy with their other senses. We could You could say that we allow our vision to be our strong strong sense. It's like you know, in your body like if you work out your you know, your your hamstrings and your glutes, you always use your quads you don't necessarily you know, there's certain muscle groups that take over so maybe we just let our vision take over and we become a bit lazy and we don't use all our senses and you know, getting Back To Me teaching classes. This is one of the things that I try to teach students is that use all your senses when you're writing, because it's very, very easy as a writer to just write with the visual. And so you write what somebody looks like you write that they were this, they were that they did this, they, you know, it's all visual. And I try to tell students and I try to do it with my own writing, sometimes I'll write something and then I'll take a look at it. And I'll say, well, Lorna, you didn't use your senses in this. Now, how can you add this in? What did the person smell when they walked in? Did a feather you know, did they walk into a barn and a feather hit their nose, and then they sneezed. So what was the sense of touch? So, and hearing, I mean, it's all really important to put those senses in, in writing, it's super important. And it is very, very easy just to write with the visual, and a lot of kids will do that. So then it's up to me to say, You know what, let's look at everything else here. Let's look at all your other senses when you're writing this. So that's something that's interesting, too, is that I think that it's even more important. Now that I've chatted with you. I'm thinking wow, like, this is really interesting. I mean, this is, this is something that, you know, I, you know, I can talk to kids about that we need to do this more.   Michael Hingson  21:28 Well, the issue is that, of course, your expertise is in eyesight. And that's why I suggested we ought to explore doing a book. And that's something that we can talk about, but but the reality is your expertise is in eyesight, you can gain more expertise in other senses. But the odds are because the world has been shaped around eyesight, that's what you're going to use. And I appreciate that, and understand that. And we love you anyway. But thank you, but but the bottom line is, it is the way the world is shaped. And and so as a result, we don't really look at our other senses in the way that we can. Which isn't to say that if you're writing a book about a blind person that you so emphasize the other senses that you don't talk in the vernacular that people are used to. So for example, I watch TV, I go to watch and see movies. And the reason that I say that is not because of an eyesight issue, but rather, the Webster's Dictionary defined, see in one of his definitions as to perceive. So why shouldn't I use See, as well as anyone else does, we've got to get away from the concept that that's the only game in town that is eyesight, which and I don't know whether you've read my book, Thunder dog, which is a book that we wrote about not only me growing up as a blind person, but my story of being involved in the World Trade Center on September 11 2001. But in center dog, one of the things that I say is don't let your sight get in the way of your vision. And it's absolutely important that people start to realize that because we talk about vision, I think I've got tons of vision, I just don't see so good as I love to say to people, but vision is there. And I don't object to people using the word vision relating to eyesight, but it is not the only way and not the only definition of the word.   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  23:32 I really liked that comment. Don't let it don't let your sight get in the way of your vision.   Michael Hingson  23:38 Don't let your sight get in the way of your vision.   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  23:42 That's it. That's a very, very good comment. That's, that's a good line. That's a very good one. Um, no, I haven't read your book. But now I'm going to I hope you will. Yeah, for sure. Like   Michael Hingson  23:51 it sounds really interesting. And it was a it was a number one New York Times bestseller. He brags and, you know, but it it is intended to teach people more about blindness of blind people, and I hope you and others who haven't read it will read it. Also being a poor, starving author, you know, we need people to buy books anyway. So it's important, but But here's another one. And then we I've got lots of questions for you. But here's another one. People say that I and other people who happen to be blind or visually impaired, look at the wording visually impaired. Now the last time I checked when you talk about something visual, and you talk about something that's visually oriented, it's about how it looks. And I don't think that I'm impaired simply because I'm blind from a visual standpoint. I don't even like low vision, because then you're still making it all about degrees of eyesight. I think that the fact is that low vision is probably better than certainly a lot better than visually impaired or Vision Impaired because again, I think I've got lots of vision and to say that we're impaired with our vision or our eyesight is really a serious problem because you're still then promulgating the class difference between people who happen to be blind or who don't see, as well as most people, and people who have better eyesight. So blind and low vision is probably at this point, the best that we can do. It's sort of like deaf and hard of hearing. If you say to most Deaf people, you are hearing impaired, you're apt to be executed on the spot because they recognize the value of words.   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  25:38 Right. So what what are the words that we should use?   Michael Hingson  25:42 I would say right now the best words that I can give you are blind and visit low, low vision.   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  25:48 Okay. Okay. I mean, because you know, what, sometimes we don't know sometimes. I don't know what I'm supposed to say. And, and the last thing that I want to do is say the wrong thing. But but you know, I mean, things go out there. And, and we're told, you know, you can't say that. So it is nice to hear it from you, that this is what, you know, what we what we should say, and well, vision. And   Michael Hingson  26:19 the other part about it is, of course, what you're welcome. But the other part about it is you can't say that, you know, that concept and that comment is a problem. The fact that we worry so much about political correctness is is a problem. I think that, that if somebody says that I'm visually impaired, I'm not going to get too offended by that. But I am going to try to correct the concepts that No, I don't think I'm visually impaired, don't I look the same as most anyone else. You go back and look at what visually means. And I don't think that I'm more any more visually impaired than you are. But I happen to be blind or I can be considered low vision. But even most low vision, people really ought to look at themselves as blind. And what do I mean by that? I subscribe to a different definition of blindness that Kenneth's Jernigan, a past president of the National Federation of the Blind created. And his definition was you are blind if your eyesight has decreased to the point where you have to use alternatives to full eyesight in order to accomplish tasks. So if you've got to use large print, or a closed circuit television or a magnifier, the odds are you will probably lose more, if not all of your eyesight at some point in your life. So now is the time to start to learn blindness techniques and to accept the fact that blindness isn't the problem. And that you can function as a blind person, in a world where most people don't happen to be blind. And if we would start to do that, we would learn that blindness, again, isn't really the issue that we face. It's more of the misconceptions that people have   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  28:04 very interesting. And I mean, I think there are a lot of misconceptions with everything. I mean, you know, every single difference in somebody, often there are misconceptions about it. And and I think that, you know, sometimes when I was writing, I remember writing the book about autism, that I had a character that had autism and high functioning autism, and I, I remember being in a lineup in the grocery store, and all of a sudden, I thought somebody was in front of me. And then I thought, you know, what, maybe, you know, I don't want to be impatient here. Because it's that person may be, you know, their name may have maybe they do have autism, or maybe they do have something that is just creating them to be a little slower is that my, that's not my deal. That's who they are. And I should respect who they are. And I think that that's really important in our world is that we just respect who everybody is, and what everybody is all about. And look for the insight of the person instead of that sort of outside that we're always looking at which I use the word looking,   Michael Hingson  29:13 which is fine. That's the word right? Sure. And it's fine to use that word.   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  29:19 We're looking like because we, we do look like you know, we do look and but you look in a different way.   Michael Hingson  29:26 But look doesn't necessarily need to be defined as with your eyes. And that's the real issue, right? We're so oriented in our mindset, overall, are thinking about looking, you have to do it with your eyes. And that's where the breakdown comes, rather than recognizing that look, means really to examine or explore in a number of different ways and it doesn't necessarily need to be with eyesight.   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  29:56 And that's an that's a very interesting concept, right? We can look I guess we can look with our ears or we can look with our senses, other senses, correct?   Michael Hingson  30:06 Well look as a general sort of a thing. You know, we listen with our ears, but it's part of looking around.   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  30:14 Right? Yeah. Interesting. Very, very interesting. I like to use of your words, I like the use of how you're taking certain words that I may think are only visually, I'm 50. Courts. I love words, right? I'm a writer. I love words. So you're taking words, and you're you're spinning them a little bit for me?   Michael Hingson  30:36 I'm taking. I'm taking site orientation out of it. Right. Yeah. Which, which is important. And so you see why our podcast unstoppable mindset can go off in all sorts of different directions that we never thought about when we started this.   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  30:54 Yeah, we're going off in a totally different direction. But, you know, it's fun, really enlightening. It's really enlightening to me, I'm really actually learning a lot today. So this is really   Michael Hingson  31:04 good. Well, you know, it's, it's part of what makes life fun going off and having adventures and adventures and words are always important to have and learning new concepts. And and every time I have these conversations, I get to learn things and sort of even more effectively, and hopefully, efficiently define what I do and say, and so, yeah, I love it. It's it's enjoyable to do this, but I do have a question for you. You have written a lot of books now, relating to sports and how come?   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  31:38 Because I love sports. And I love sports as a child, as I said, when my parents would ask me what I wanted to be when I, you know, people would ask what I wanted to be when I grew up, I always said, I want to be an athlete. Everybody looked at me like, Okay, well, that's not really a profession. What are you talking about? I love sports. As a child, I played everything you can possibly imagine everything I possibly, you know, was was there for me. And it was something that was really big in my life. So sometimes there's that old saying that write what you know, and especially when you're starting off writing it makes makes it a little bit easier. I mean, you know, blindness, you could write about blindness. So it's like, write what you know, and I and I knew about sports. So I wrote a tremendous amount about sports. And really interesting. Just a little side note here. I wrote a book called when you least expect it, and it's about a rower. And I was a rower in high school, I grew up in St. Catharines, Ontario, which is, as I said, close to negra falls, was a really big growing community. And I got into a boat and I rode and I, you know, went on and was on the national team and you know, won the Canadian championship and I was down, we went down to Philadelphia, we went down to Princeton, we went down to all kinds of places to row. And I really, really loved it. And the book ended up winning an award this year, it won the R rasa network for the Writers Guild of Alberta. And so I want some money for that. And I decided that I would give back and I would give a little scholarship, you know, give half of the money away to somebody who was finishing rowing at the St. Catharines rowing club where I grew up, and they were going to go into university. I ended up giving it to an I don't want to say visually impaired   Michael Hingson  33:26 A Low vision person.   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  33:30 Yeah, because she sent me this letter. So I asked the, for the criteria, they had to send me their admission letter and tell me that they were going to continue on with the sport. And then they had to write a letter to me about, you know, something to do with my main protagonist and how, you know, they related and she just, she sent me this lovely letter about how, you know, she really wanted to be in sports, but she found it hard, difficult for some of the sports but then she found rowing. And as somebody with low vision, this was something that she could be very successful at. And she actually went in a single and in the Paralympic race at the Henley and she won the gold medal. So very interesting. And she wrote it a four but I think to get her bearings, she was able to sit on the floor, and then you know, a Coxy would, you know, steer the boat down and all she just had to hear for the sounds of the water to put the to put the orange in the water. So I just I just thought I'd share that thing as I'm talking to you today. So that was the letter that inspired me. I was like, this is this is this is good. This is inspirational and that's what this show is about. Because she was unstoppable she she wasn't going to say no like no I can't do this. She just went out and found some somewhere where she could be an athlete and, and be successful and go on to university and follow her dream and follow her passion.   Michael Hingson  34:59 A friend of mine, Ariel Gilbert, who I've known for a long time I met her when I was working at Guide Dogs for the Blind. And she was working there as well is an inner is an international rower, and also was involved in the Paralympics. And actually when the Olympics were held. Last, I think in California, she was one of the people who carried the torch for a mile. And so has been very involved in the Olympics and very, very heavily involved in rowing and has done it for a number of years. She had to stop for a while because of some kidney issues. But that all got straightened out. And she's started again. Oh, so she's been rowing for for quite a while. And the reality is, it's a very doable sport. And she tells the story about how people didn't think that she could do it. And she said, Of course I can. Let me at least have a shot at it. And it didn't take very long during the shot at it for people to recognize that she was going to be as good as anyone else. Which makes perfect sense.   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  36:05 Yeah, I was so impressed with the letter to be really, and she was the one who got the scholarship or the bursary. She got the bursary. I emailed her and I said, you know your letter, I loved your letter, I thought that, you know, you explained everything to me quite well. And, you know, here's your money and go forth, and go to university and, and join your crew and keep going at it. And, you know, she just said it was a place where she felt that she could make some friends. And, you know, she just found success, and it is doable. It's a very, very doable sport for that. So, I mean, when I wrote the book, when do we expect it, it's not what I expected. So I mean, you know, it was when he least expected that I would, you know, donate the money back, and then get these letters in, and then all of a sudden end up on your show, to tie all of this together. And I kind of liked when things like that do happen, because as I said, everybody has a story to tell. And it was a really, really interesting story. So thank you for sharing with me about that other woman who? What was her name again?   Michael Hingson  37:13 Ariel Gilbert, she lives up in the Bay Area in California.   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  37:17 I'll look that up. Because very interesting. I mean, she this other gal said, yeah, it was a very doable, doable sport for her.   Michael Hingson  37:24 As with, as with a lot of things, the biggest problem is again, people's perceptions. Well, the belief is you've got to see to do it. And the question is why? Even even driving a car today technologically can be done. Although the technology isn't in wide use and isn't really in ready for primetime use. But and I'm not talking about an autonomous vehicle, but rather, a person truly being able to drive. Why should we view that is only something that a person with full eyesight can do with the amount of information that is truly available to us with technology today. And there has been demonstrations of a blind person truly driving a car, getting information from the vehicle that allows them to be on the road, or the one thing I'm thinking of, and I've talked about it here before, is the now president of the National Federation of the Blind Mark Riccobono drove a Ford Escape around the Daytona Speedway right before the 2011 Rolex 24 race, driving through an obstacle course passing a vehicle, and a number of other things because the car was transmitting through some additional instrumentation on the car information to mark that allowed him to safely be on that course, and drive around the course successfully. Again, eyesight is not the only game in town. And yeah, will that technology be something that gets built into cars, so more blind people can use it, hopefully in some way, at least, if nothing else, when we start to deal more with autonomous vehicles. And until we get to the point where there are 100% foolproof, which is going to be a ways away. It's going to be probably mandated that someone needs to be behind the steering wheel and be able to take control of the vehicle if something breaks down or drops out during the autonomous vehicles driving of technology driving the vehicle. I want to have the same opportunity to do that. Does anyone else at least to be able to safely pull the car to the side of the road? And the fact is the technology exists to do that?   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  39:42 Mm hmm. You know, it's typical sports to a friend of mine wrote a book with a it was a children's book, but it was a hockey book. Right? A lot of hockey books because I live in Canada. But they had a puck that had a puck that has like, like a rock or something in it. And the puck, you know, so when they stick handle down the ice, they could hear the puck. Yeah, yeah, it's it's, it's something that's used with people that are blind can play hockey, because they can actually hear the puck. And so then they can pass it over and they can hear it.   Michael Hingson  40:22 And then they, there are some interesting and extremely active sports that blind people are are involved with. And of course, the whole concept of physical fitness is becoming more of an issue that a lot of us are paying attention to. And again, even exercise programs can be very accessible, if we verbalize rather than just showing things on a screen or through a camera lens, or whatever. And the fact is that there are a lot of ways to make it possible for more people to be included in what people think are otherwise not accessible or not any kind of activities that people without eyesight can do. Because eyesight is not the only game in town. There are many blind scientists and blind people who have participated in other things. For many years, it was assumed that no blind person could teach. And that eventually was addressed. And now it's fairly commonplace, although there are many school districts that still won't hire a person. Because the belief is that you have to see to be able to do it. And you don't. And so it's it is a it is a constant thing to explore and to hopefully do more to educate people about which is really what it is. It's an educational process.   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  41:44 Oh, 100% it 100% I think that it's all the more that someone like you, you know, with your podcast, you're today you're educating people, you've educated me even a little bit like hear like a lot, actually. And, you know, I think that that's that's important as well. And I think that technology has probably, perhaps helped the blind out tremendously.   Michael Hingson  42:11 Well, it's helped all of us I mean, I we talked about the electric light bulb, right? That made it possible for us to do so many things after dark. Because before the light bulb, we had to go have used candles are light torches, technology is is helping all of us. And it has only in a relatively shorter time been recognized that we can use technology to further advance the inclusion that we all want. But you know, things like insulin pumps for people who have diabetes who happen to be blind, those insulin pumps use touchscreens and other things. And only recently, I believe in the US, at least as the FDA finally approved one that uses an app on a phone that is accessible so that a blind person can actually as a diabetic use an insulin pump. And the fact is that we've so got ourselves locked into touchscreens now that we find that more and more things are becoming inaccessible to us who happen to be blind or low vision, especially blind because we can't see the icons on the screen. And it's ironic that there's no need for that. Because today, we know that there are ways to make touchscreens accessible. Apple was very clever about doing that when they finally made the iPhone accessible. They had to do that because they would have been sued if they hadn't. But they got creative and they did it. So now every iPhone and Android phones, although that's still not quite progressed to the same level, but every iPhone and Android phones have built in to the software, the things to make them more usable for people who don't happen to see or see well. Right.   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  44:01 What about books in braille? Do you find that there's still not enough books in braille?   Michael Hingson  44:07 Oh, I think there's still not enough books in braille. But ironically, again, the issue is that many books are being published electronically, but what they are, are photos saved in some sort of format of printed pages of books. And so those are not accessible. And so when books are made electronically, it's important that there be some sort of text version of the book so that they can be made available for people who happen to be blind again, or who could listen to them. Braille. Braille is still the means of reading and writing that I have available to me and a lot of teachers talk about Braille as being something that we we really don't need anymore because blind people can listen to books and so on. Well, if that's the case of why to be allow, why don't we allow sighted kids to just watch cartoons when Why do we want to teach them print? You know, the concept is still the same. We haven't progressed to really understand that there are true alternatives to eyesight. So a lot of people think a blind person can't right. Now I happen to collaborate with people when I write my find that helpful for me. But by the same token, the the issue is that the technology exists for me to be able to write I use a standard keyboard, you have a process that you use to write, you use a computer and a keyboard, but what's your what's your whole writing process? You written a lot of books, you have to have a process for that.   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  45:41 Yeah, I have a process. I generally start with an outline like I mean, there's a lot of thinking that goes on before a book gets published, right, or before you even start a book, start writing a book, not even before it gets published, you think a lot about what you're going to write, you think about how the story should start where the story should end. I mean, there's a lot of that that goes on, before you even start. Sometimes you can think about a book for a year. And then, and then you finally start it. And I often do an outline before I start, not everybody does, I'm not somebody who says Oh, you have to do this, you have to do that everybody has to follow their own process. And my process, it tends to be a bit of an outline, because I'd like to know the ending before we start, just because it saves me time, once I do begin. And then once I begin, I just I go at it, I go at it until I finish the first draft. And then once I finished the first draft, then I can sit back because the first draft is the bones, it's never very good. It's always not very good. And I have to edit it. And I have to revise it and work on it and mold it and make it make it what it's going to be even before I send it to like my agent, even before it gets out. I mean, and she'll give me notes, or I'll give it to friends even to take a look at to give me notes to tell me stuff that's not right with it. And then of course, when it goes to an editor, so yeah, I'm a sort of beginning to end finish. And then, you know, then I go back, and I revise. And I revise. And I revise. That's sort of my process. I have a novel that I have to work on here soon. And I've got the outline done. And I need to I thought a lot about it. And I did write the first chapter. And now I need to just dive back in and, and get the book, you know, get the book finished. But I do have an ending insight and an outline for it. So that's generally my process. Have you have you ever   Michael Hingson  47:39 had a book that has really taken on a life of its own? And maybe even though you wrote an ending, that by the time it was done the whole ending? And everything changed about the book?   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  47:50 Oh, yeah, I mean, that does happen. And sometimes, you know, for instance, with this series that I was telling you about, one to one, yeah, the one to one series. I was in I think the third book, and Harrison was my autistic character in the first book, and I'm in the third book, and I'm riding away and I've got Madeline, and she has this brain injury. And I have a really good girlfriend who has a brain injury. So I kind of took a lot of and I spent a lot of time with her over the years and and so I'm riding away and all of a sudden, Harrison sort of comes back into the story because the kids sort of the teens sort of come in and out of the stories. And they all go the same high school together. And this character came back in and I was like really excited to see him. I was like, Oh, he's back I spoke. So like, and I had not planned that at all that that was simply came out of the blue. And his voice just came right back to me. And I was right back into writing about him. And, you know, he wanted to ask Madeline to dance was really fun. I was like, This is so fun. So yes, it does happen that sometimes it just goes off on a tangent and something appears and then you just think you just go with it. I just went with it. And I was you know, thrilled to have him back in my story. So it was really, really fun. And I you know, that was one of those days where I pushed my chair back at the end of my writing session and went oh, gosh, that was so incredibly fun to do so. Yeah. I mean, that does happen for sure. Yeah. So   Michael Hingson  49:24 did Harrison and Madeline hit it off?   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  49:26 Well, they did. Thank you for asking. I love their interaction. I was like, This is so good.   Michael Hingson  49:35 Well, maybe they will become a thing, or did they become a thing?   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  49:39 Maybe they'll become a high school thing. Who knows? Yeah, it's not up to them.   Michael Hingson  49:44 There's nothing wrong with that.   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  49:46 Oh, gosh, no, that's okay. That's good. Anyway, yeah. So that does happen for sure. And that makes it really fun. When it does. That's cool. I allow that to happen. I do allow the book to go off Want to attention to and maybe finish somewhere else that it's never finished before? So   Michael Hingson  50:04 well your characters are part of you, and then in a lot of different ways, and so it's interesting that they can come back and say, No, we think we should go this way.   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  50:13 Exactly, exactly. And that's okay. And that's cool, because that's who they are. And they're just telling me something. So, and I enjoy that process. And I enjoy that part of it, for sure.   Michael Hingson  50:25 Do you have yet a favorite book from all the ones that you've written? That that you would identify as kind of your favorite so far?   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  50:33 Oh, no, I gotta say no to that. I think every book is a different process. It's a different book. Some books write themselves, some books, you know, are harder. Sometimes it's harder to, you know, I have to figure out the character. I mean, of course, the rolling book was, you know, based a little bit on me as a teenager. So that has a really special place in my heart, but it doesn't mean it's my favorites. I mean, I know I'm going to say no. Well, that's,   Michael Hingson  51:09 um, that's, that's fine. You just have a lot of fun with all of them, which is, which is great. So what does your husband   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  51:16 do? Oh, my husband works for the Edmonton Oilers.   Michael Hingson  51:20 He works for the Oilers. That's why you said go wireless. I got it. What does he do?   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  51:27 I gotta wear the jersey. I gotta wear the gear. No,   Michael Hingson  51:30 you're not gonna go off and root for the flames and then embarrass him.   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  51:36 Never happened? No, no, no, no, no, no. No, he works with me to do either so yeah, I'm an oiler span through what does he do? Pretty good job with them. He's like their vice president. I think they   Michael Hingson  51:49 are cool. I, I tried ice skating once. And it was a challenge for me. And I eventually, as we were actually going off the ice, I finally fell and sprained my ankle. But so I've not ice skated since. But it's one of those those kinds of things that I never really caught on to. And I admire so much people who are able to do it much less the figure skaters and so on, and all the things that they can do.   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  52:17 Well, it's amazing. It's, you know, sometimes I look at photos of like, a figure skater or hockey player. And you can see them over on their edge on that one like line. It's a really, really fine line. And it's pretty incredible that they can actually balance on that.   Michael Hingson  52:36 Yeah. And, and the hockey players who can just do that for so long, so fast, and so well. And   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  52:44 so Well, absolutely, yeah, it's, it's actually, you know, it's a really fun sport to write. And I've got I've written a lot of hockey novels because of the speed that I can I and you know, the speed the sounds the throwing off the board's the scraping of the ice. So there's a lot there that I'm allowed to use my words. And so it's fun because it's fast. So I get I can get going into like a scene where it's fast and furious. And they're, they're moving and scraping and doing all kinds of fun things. So yeah, it's it's like,   Michael Hingson  53:22 I think for my part, I could probably learn to drive a Zamboni.   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  53:25 Oh everybody, that's it.   Michael Hingson  53:34 But that's a that's a lot of fun to, to be able to do the things that they do. And I admire not only hockey, but all all sports people because they hone some skills so well and so much that it makes it a lot of fun. And the reason we really love college football is although is still becoming more of a money thing. Still, college sports tend to be a lot more fun and still somewhat less commercial than professional sports, which makes them a lot more enjoyable. Oh, for   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  54:07 sure. Yeah, for sure. I think it's very fun, especially down in the states to be my son went to the University of Arizona and that was one of the biggest things that he really wanted to participate in was going to the football games. I mean, for him. That was just such an experience to participate in, in college football and be like a fan. He really enjoyed that. That was kind of a i something he'll never forget.   Michael Hingson  54:35 It's a whole different culture being I think a college sports fan than a professional sports fan. Just it's a it's a whole different environment.   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  54:44 He really enjoyed it. And he did mentor the basketball games. He really really enjoyed that part of his college experience. So   Michael Hingson  54:50 yeah, even though as I said, we love USC and we enjoy that, you know, just watching the games are a lot more fun. So of course this Here we'll get to see our two major rivalries, it'll be SC against UCLA. And then we'll also be SC against Notre Dame. And, and those are the two big ones that we tend to, to watch. But we're really enjoying college football. And one of the things that we've really seen an eye I've become much more convinced of over time is how much the coach really does impact the team. I mean, look at what's happening at SC this year, they're three in Oh, and they've been playing so poorly in previous years. And I think their coach in the past, just wasn't really ready to be in the same kind of environment that a USC team is, because he's a winning coach. He's gone off elsewhere now, and he's winning. So I think he's found a better niche. And the person who came in to coach, the USC team is doing really well.   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  55:57 Well, the gel to the gel of the people with the coach and all that sort of stuff. I mean, there's so much that goes into a team that actually ends up winning and so much, so much of it is more than just the skill. It's the psychological and the mental game that the team has. Yeah, it's huge.   Michael Hingson  56:20 And it's interesting listening to the announcers, talk about what's happening again, at SC this year, how Lincoln Riley the coach is getting all the people on the team to really interact outside the games and, and feel like more of a team. And that's pretty impressive. And in there's a lot to be learned there about teamwork, and the value of what, in a sense, the coach does, and people talk about the quarterback and football being the leader. But in some ways, the coach brings a different dimension to it. And if the coach is doing a good job, then that's going to help the rest of the team, by any definition. For sure, do you get a lot of coaching from people when you write?   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  57:03 Oh 100% I always I always attribute because I was an athlete, I always attribute my editors as my coaches, editors are so valuable, like in a good editor is huge. And and I look forward to their comments. And they're, you know, this didn't work for this character isn't quite resonating with me, I think you need to go a little deeper into this or you need to, you need to look at the depth of the emotions with this. I didn't quite get it. And I think oh, okay, I thought that I'd done it. But maybe I haven't, when the reader actually takes the book over when the editor takes the book over. So a good editor is worth an author is so worth it to an author. And it's because, oh, it's huge, huge.   Michael Hingson  57:48 A good editor isn't going to change the book unless it just is horrible. What's the purpose of a good editor is is to help you flesh out the book.   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  57:56 Yes. And a good editor. I mean, by the time you get the publication, though, I mean, it's been accepted because it is a book that's got something right or else rejected. So you finally get there. And then you know, but then you still have to work with that editor. And that editor will have some thoughts, but you're 100% correct in saying that a good editor doesn't want to change the book. They just want to make it better.   Michael Hingson  58:24 Yeah. And they've learned how to do that. 100 Yeah, yes. So what kind of tips I love to ask this question, what kind of tips do you have for people who want to write or for other writers?   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  58:36 A couple of tips. I would say number one be reader. I think that it's huge. If you know, I've taught lots of courses, and if I get somebody who says oh, I don't like to read, I think how are you going to be a writer like reading is super important. I also think, just write, don't, don't try to edit yourself as you begin to write like, think of your story. You remember what the very, very beginning we talked about story and story is hugely important. So just think about what your story is what it is you want to tell, and how you want to tell it, and who do you want to tell it. And that's that's important too, because the voice of the story is really important. So if you look at it that way, and then you think of story first, and then think of the writing you know, as your as you get the story down, then you can write and then don't be afraid to edit. Don't be afraid to go back over and over and over it and just make it better. Don't think it's done after the first draft. And persistence and perseverance is really important.   Michael Hingson  59:42 Do you when you're writing or once you've written a draft? Do you share it with a cadre of people to get their thoughts and reviews?   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  59:52 Yeah, I have depending on what I'm doing, like, if it's a book that I have signed a contract before I've written the book which I I do have some publishers that I work that way with. But recently, I just wrote a thriller novel, which is an adult novel, which hasn't been published yet, was just a COVID experience because I was bored. You know, I was tired of watching Tiger King. All those shows. So I wrote this book, and I needed some guidance with it. So I asked some friends to read it like, you know, and then we would have a zoom call, and I would get their their take on it. You know, did you get this? Did you get that? Did you understand this? Maybe it needed more. So yeah, I will. I will, it depends on the book. Yeah. And what I'm doing? Yeah. So for sure. I think it's a good, I think it's really good advice for new authors is to is to help flush the story 100%. But make sure you're going with people that you trust. Because you don't want to get it. Like if you get bombarded with feedback. And it's conflicting feedback, then that can be really difficult to so you want to get the feed, but you want to go to people you trust. So maybe people that are in a writers group, if they're in like three or four or five people that can work really well.   Michael Hingson  1:01:14 For sure. Yeah, it's important to be able to get input, but be able to sift through it. Because you're right, it can be very overwhelming. And you have to develop a little bit of a thick skin, not because you shouldn't be afraid of criticism, if you will, although people get worried about that. But rather, it's a thicker skin that helps you be able to sift through it and look for the nuggets that each person brings to suggestions that may be valuable for you.   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  1:01:47 Yeah, thick skin is super important in this business.   Michael Hingson  1:01:50 Yeah. Always. Always is.   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  1:01:53 Yeah. It's a very important part of the business.   Michael Hingson  1:01:56 Well, this has been really fun. We've been doing this now for a little over an hour, and I really appreciate   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  1:02:02 it take my dog to the vet.   Michael Hingson  1:02:03 Oh my gosh. Or is the horse the dog taking you?   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  1:02:08 Well, probably the dog take you home. There   Michael Hingson  1:02:10 you go. What kind of dog? Oh,   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  1:02:12 I brought him home from Mexico. He's a rescue dog. I picked him up as a little puppy off the street. And I brought him home. Oh, nine and a half now though. He's older now. So I've had him for a lot of years. See doing okay. Oh, he's great. He just has to go for his checkup and get his shots and whatever. You know,   Michael Hingson  1:02:27 Alamo my guide dog goes tomorrow we're taking dog and cat to the vet. Alaba is just going to get his shots and a physical and stitch the cat goes in for a pedicure to trim toenails, and so on because they're getting way too long. And it hurts when she grabs a hold of you now, so we're gonna do that. I'm gonna go   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  1:02:47 get their shots, too. So. So anyway, it's been great. This,   Michael Hingson  1:02:51 this has been fun.   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  1:02:53 Yeah, really fun.   Michael Hingson  1:02:54 Well, we should do it some more. And definitely, we could talk about that book if you'd like. But I want to think I want to thank you again for being here. We'll connect by email. Well, we have to do that. And I want to thank everyone. I want to thank you all for listening. We really appreciate you being here. We'd love to hear your comments. Send an email to me. I would love to hear from you, Michaelhi at accessibe A C C E S S I B E.com. Or go to Michael hingson.com/podcast. And you can find contact information there. But also learn a how can people reach out to you they'd like to talk with you or learn more about you. Oh, my   Lorna Schultz Nicholson  1:03:33 email is Lornasn L O R N A S N at TELUS te l u s.net. That one's pretty easy. Yeah,   Michael Hingson  1:03:44 that one is Lorenasn@telus.net.net. Yeah, that's so there you go. If you want to talk to learn a please hit if you don't want to talk to Lorna, email her and tell her you love the podcast anyway. And of course. And of course, we would appreciate you giving us a five star review whoever you are, wherev

Mark Larson fills in for Tom Sullivan- Jeane Schultz wife of Charles Schultz the creator of Peanuts joins the show.

Author:Charles Schultz:Book:Master of the Sea — The Edge of Greatness ProjectBe Great: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Dirt — The Edge of Greatness ProjectWebsite:The Edge of Greatness ProjectTwitter:(9) Charles Schultz (@Coach_Schultz) / TwitterInstagram:Edge Of Greatness Project (@edge_of_greatness_project) • Instagram photos and videosLinkedIn:(1) Charles Schultz | LinkedInEric Reyes: Host of Hey Coach! Podcastemail:eric@heycoachreyes.comLinkedIn:Eric Reyes | LinkedInFacebook:(1) Hey Coach | FacebookFacebook Group:(2) Hey Coach! Sports,Life and Business | FacebookInstagram :Hey Coach Podcast (@theheycoachpodcast) • Instagram photos and videosTwitter:Hey Coach! Podcast (@HeyPodcas1) / Twitter

“You may not control if you get all the answers right but you can control your readiness.” - Charles Schultz Today's featured bookcaster is a father, husband, coach, and entrepreneur, Charles Schultz. Charles and I have a fun chat about his books, some of the characteristics of elite performers, and tons more!! Key Things You'll Learn:3 Traits that all elite performers shareHow Charles defines of greatnessWhat made Charles decide to write and publish a bookWhat big failure actually became a big successWhy details matter as an elite performer Charles' Site: https://www.theedgeofgreatnessproject.com/Charles' Books: https://www.amazon.com/Charles-Schultz/e/B09BCX7R4J?ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1&qid=1669878850&sr=8-1Charles' Podcast, “The Edge of Greatness Podcast”: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-edge-of-greatness-podcast/id1542790600 The opening track is titled, “North Wind and the Sun” by Trevin P. to listen to the full track and download it, click the following link. https://compilationsforhumanity.bandcamp.com/track/north-wind-and-the-sun You May Also Like… Ep. 356 – “The Relentless Pursuit of Greatness” with Thomas R. Williams (@MrTRWilliams): https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/ep-356-the-relentless-pursuit-of-greatness-with-thomas-r-williams-mrtrwilliams/ 152 - "Chocolate Brothers for Christ" with Chaz Jackson: https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/152-chocolate-brothers-for-christ-with-chaz-jackson/ Ep. 353 – “Free Agent” with Rennie Curran (@RennieCurran53): https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/ep-353-free-agent-with-rennie-curran-renniecurran53/ 283 – “The Winning Edge” with Shawn Harper (@shawnharper075): https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/283-the-winning-edge-with-shawn-harper-shawnharper075/ 245 – “Your Epic Life Blueprint” with Rock Thomas (@rockthomas): https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/245-your-epic-life-blueprint-with-rock-thomas-rockthomas/ 219 – “Genuine Progress Through Underdog Empowerment” with Zachary Babcock (@zacharyjbabcock): https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/219-genuine-progress-through-underdog-empowerment-with-zachary-babcock-zacharyjbabcock/ Ep. 348 – “Bring Inner Greatness Out” with Dr. Mansur Hasib, CISSP, PMP, CPHIMS (@mhasib): https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/ep-348-bring-inner-greatness-out-with-dr-mansur-hasib-cissp-pmp-cphims-mhasib/ Ep. 307 – “Failure Is Not The Problem, It's The Beginning Of Your Success” with Col. George Milton: https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/ep-307-failure-is-not-the-problem-its-the-beginning-of-your-success-with-col-george-milton/ Ep. 447 – “Crucible Leadership” with Warwick Fairfax (@CrucibleLeaders): https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/ep-447-crucible-leadership-with-warwick-fairfax-crucibleleaders/ #HolidayBonus Ep. – “Fireproof” with David Hollenbach III (@HollenbachLEAD): https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/holidaybonus-ep-fireproof-with-david-hollenbach-iii-hollenbachlead/ Ep. 468 – “The Power Of Mindset” with Hayk Tadevosyan (@hayktadevosyan): https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/ep-468-the-power-of-mindset-with-hayk-tadevosyan-hayktadevosyan/ #GNPYear3 Bonus Episode 3 – “Unlock Yourself” with Eddie Thomason (@eddiethomason_): https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/gnpyear3-bonus-episode-3-unlock-yourself-with-eddie-thomason-eddiethomason_/ 237 – “The Gift of Struggle” with Bobby Herrera (@BobbyHerreraPG): https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/237-the-gift-of-struggle-with-bobby-herrera-bobbyherrerapg/ 281 – “No More Average” with Andy Audate (@andyaudate): https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/281-no-more-average-with-andy-audate-andyaudate/ #Holiday Bonus Ep. – “Be Excellent Now” with Ben Scott, Jr. (@benscottllc): https://www.goingnorthpodcast.com/holiday-bonus-ep-be-excellent-now-with-ben-scott-jr-benscottllc/

Brian talks about Wired.com's story on the benefits of processed foods. James is depressed because his beloved Nissan LEAF needs a new PTC cabin heater with a hefty price tag. The city of Houston has a boil water advisory because of a blip in their power grid. The Tesla Semi seems to be for real. Musk says it completed a 500 mile journey pulling an 81,000 pound load. The upcoming Sizewell C nuclear power plant in the UK was in need of public funding. Why the Saudis have electric buses.  There's a new record size for off-shore wind turbines and it's 16 megawatts. Ebike subsidies expand across the United States. GM dealerships are repairing Teslas. Will they also fix James's LEAF? Buy us a cup of coffee with PayPal Donate! Thanks for listening to our show! Consider rating The Clean Energy Show on iTunes, Spotify or wherever you listen to our show. Follow us on TikTok! @cleanenergypod Check out our YouTube Channel! @CleanEnergyShow Follow us on Twitter! @CleanEnergyPod Your hosts: James Whittingham https://twitter.com/jewhittingham Brian Stockton: https://twitter.com/brianstockton Email us at cleanenergyshow@gmail.com Leave us an online voicemail at http://speakpipe.com/cleanenergyshow   Transcript Hello, and welcome to episode 141 of the Clean Energy Show. I'm Brian Stockton. I'm James Whittingham. I finally come clean this week about a secret I've been keeping for two months. And, no, I'm not pregnant. And, yes, I would make an excellent mother. The city of Houston is under a boil water advisory. Because of power outages. Everything is bigger in Texas, including grid problems. The Tesla semi completed a 500 miles journey with a load weighing 81 £0, or roughly half the weight of Elon Musk's eagle. The upcoming Sewell Sea nuclear power plant in the UK was in need of funding. Ultrawealthy prime Minister Rishi Sunak has stepped in with a cash infusion. Oh, wait, I'm being told it's taxpayer money. He's not an idiot. All that and hopefully borrow this edition of the Clean Energy Show. Brian I'm sweating like a hog and I'll tell you why. Yes, I'm not a sick. I was shoveling the driveway because it blew in. And before the show, I frantically tracked down a plug in electric snow blower. My partner was coming home for lunch and I said, can you swing by the Walmart because there's one left. It was like $100 less than if I made this decision a few days ago. I would have had all the Cyber Monday Friday deals, but I missed out on that. But I found one with specs that was really good. Now, I've got a battery operated snow shovel. Not cutting it. What's going to happen now is we're going to get trace amounts of snow for the next five years, but I say, fine, it's worth spending the money for that to happen, because it's worth it. We've been snowed in and my partner had to park on the street and the driveway was daunting. So I quickly assembled it at lunchtime. While you were having your happy nap. Yeah. And I went out there with a short extension cord and did what I could. And now I'm sweating like a crazy. I'm soaked in sweat because my heart was going maximum, which doesn't take much these days, but when you're doing anything clearing snow, it gets the heart rate going, unfortunately. So, like a plug in kind rather than battery operated, I guess, is a lot cheaper. It is cheaper. I did splurge, though, and get pretty much the most powerful one you can get. It's about 14 amps. You can get a 15 amp one, but then you have problems with your extension cords overheating and blowing breakers and things. It's kind of the maximum that it will handle on an ongoing basis. But I went out there with, I would say, a 15 inch drift and went right through it like it does a foot of snow. But it will go under the drift and it will still keep going under the drift and you just go over it a second time. So, yeah, I'm happy with it. Those are a pain in the ass. I've had them before because the extension cord but I knew that I wanted power, and this was a bigger unit, and it was a couple of couldn't really afford it, but I said, man, because we got to clean the sidewalks this year by city by law. By city by law. Yeah. Well, just a quick update. Last week I was complaining about GoComics.com, this website I go to every day to read daily comic strip. It was down for a full five days and finally came back online. They offered no explanation of exactly what happened. It was supposedly a cyber security issue, which I had read on another website. But anyway, our long nightmare is over. It's back. And coincidentally, this week on Saturday, it was Charles Schultz's, what would have been his 100th birthday, the creator of the Peanuts comic strip, the legend of newspaper comic strips. It was his 100th birthday, so a lot of the comic strips had special tributes to him on Saturday. So that was a lot of fun to read. All the cartoonists got together and decided to do that. And then the last thing, comic strips do you remember the soap opera comic strips when you were a kid? There were only a couple of comic strips that were not funny. Yeah. Give me an example of one, can you? Well, there's two main ones. Mary worth. Okay. And Rex Morgan, MD. And these trips have both been around for, like, 100 years by this point. Anyway, I started reading them a couple of months ago because I was looking for new, exciting things to follow, and I'd always avoided them like the plague when I was a kid because it's like, this is ridiculous. There's no joke here. What's the point of this anyway? I've been reading for a couple of months now, and I'm starting to get into it. It's kind of fun. A bit speechless here. You're reading soap opera comic strips after resisting them your whole life. My whole life. I mean, I thought, is it a gossipy? Pleasure, man, what's going on here? Yes. I don't know. I just like comic strips, and there's not enough good ones, so I just been looking to expand my horizons. What happened to the creators? Did their kids take over? I mean, if these are 100 years old yeah, often that is the case. I don't think that's the case with Mary. We are Rex Morgan, but yeah, often it's passed on to a son or a daughter or a nephew or a niece or something. I don't know. They've all been around now, a lot of them, for 100 years. I don't know. It's a weird thing. All right, Brian, I've got an announcement to make. I've been hiding something from you for two months. Wow. You and the listeners. Wow. And it is regarding my leaf. Oh, yeah. My leaf has major problems. It happened just before we recorded a show about two months ago, and I was so distraught, I couldn't bring it up, and I couldn't bring it up for two months. I was just so unhappy about it. That's terrible. I don't know how the hell I made it through that episode. But if you could find a very glum James about two months ago trying to struggle through an episode, I guess it's all muscle memory. That's how we've done so many of these shows already. Yeah. And also, it doesn't have to be that good. No, I mean, well, we try. We do try for our listeners, don't we? Every week a good show. Come on. Okay. Now, I know that we have a lot of long time listeners, but we also have a lot of new listeners. And I wanted to just talk about electric cars with you for a little while, about the reliability. And I don't want to just jump into it without talking about what model I have, because it's going to probably be different than what you are considering. Although a friend of ours texted me the other night and was asking me about the Leaf, wanting to buy one. And I said, well, here's what happened, and you can make up your own mind. What had happened is my 2013 Nissan Leaf. Now, remember, this is the first mass produced allelectric car by a car company. They started making them at the end of 2010, and they made them for a couple of years in Japan, and then they opened up a Tennessee factory, and one in the UK as well. Mine comes from Tennessee, and it comes from the United States and was imported into Canada. So there's a few little things like daytime running lights that had to be added, and a bigger washer tank for some reason. It's just one of those weird things just to get up to Canadian standards. So it was imported already. And Quebec, the problems with Quebec, they had just terminated at that time, but they had incentives for used vehicles that lowered the used market for Leafs. And that's how I got one as cheap as I did. It was about $10,000 in change, and that was a pretty good price at the time. But it was a base model, so it was the base model S. It had no cruise control. And just when I started making those models, they put a heat pump in them in the upper trim levels. They had three trim levels. I had the low one, so I didn't even have a fast charger on mine, or a reverse camera. Or there was some things I gave up to get a really cheap one, because everyone was designing the other ones. Had I gotten one that was one of the other trim levels, I would have had a heat pump and a PTC heater. PTC heater is basically like a toaster. Now, these suckers and electric cars heat up fast. They connect rate to the high voltage battery, and it's a heater that gets red hot and air blows through it. So you have instant heat in your car, which is wonderful. And when I preheat my car in the winter time even -40 I'll get into it and it feels like a toaster oven. It just feels hot and dry and completely warm and habitable in there. It's wonderful feeling. If you leave it long enough, it'll melt all the snow that's on the car. Right. And that's what I do. So in the leaf it will preprogram itself. You just give it a departure time and based on the weather and how long it took to get to temperature and previous days, it will add more time. I think up to 2 hours. I'm not sure about that. So I probably abused it and I lost my PTC heater. So I have no heater in the car for two months now. A month ago you were talking about getting your heater replaced under warranty, which I did. Went up to Saskatoon and yeah, they replaced that under warranty and it was the same thing. Your car and I and mine are the same in that sense. That they just have a PTC heater. Later models may have had both or at least a heat pump and yours for more efficiency. Heat pump is like reverse air conditioner if you're new to the show. And it works a lot more because a great deal of power goes into these. I think 5000 watts goes into mine. That's more than the car driving. So your range goes down. So since my heater broke, my winter range is excellent, by the way. It only goes down based on denser or cold air. Do you have a little bonfire going in there or something? No, I eat some beans sometimes before. It's not a great experience. And what I've done, we have an SUV that I thought initially I thought I would just place the SUV for the winter and it's going to be expensive and it'll heat up and it will be, you know, but then even without the damn heater, Brian, I just love that bloody car. Like, I just love it. I just love driving it. I hate getting into the Prius, which is a combustion engine in the wintertime, it's cold anyway, unless your destination is a long ways away or you've warmed it up. That thing takes a while to warm up too. And it's not like an electric car and it just doesn't feel the same as an electric car. And I finally got the wheel bearings fixed, so it was nice and quiet. And I've decided that one of the great things about electric cars is after I had my wheel bearing fixed, because they were very loud, is when you get up to speed in the city, it's almost like you can feel the wind in your hair. Like you could just feel and hear the wind and nothing else. And it's just such an exhilarating feeling to just hear that. And there's something I don't know, just beyond anything a gas car can do. When I looked at yours, was covered under warranty. I found somebody who spent $1200 in Canada, basically, to do it. And the part was about six or $700, $700 for the part. And then they did some labor. Now, in the Leaf, I looked at doing it myself, but it's very complicated. Basically, the whole inside of the car has to be taken apart. And it's a $4,000 job in most cases. Oh, no. I spent ten on the car. I just spent 2100 that I didn't have, fixing the front wheel hubs, which cost way more than they should have because I got screwed by a local shop because there's no Nissan dealer here to fix it. I also need some front suspension work. Now, the car is one month short of ten years old. This is something important because we're talking about electric cars not needing maintenance. And that is true for the most part. And people say, well, it's electric car. Something weird can go wrong in it. Well, I guess this is it. Aside from the battery, which are covered under eight year warranties. Always. Always. You know, there's the charger, I suppose, could go in the car, that there's a built in charger that can wear out over time. I would have to worry about that. I could have some bad battery cells, so you might have to replace some modules at some point. But the cars would have been great. But some people put in diesel heaters. Like, there's a guy in Swift Current who bought a brand new F 150 pickup truck, and he put in a diesel heater so that he wouldn't lose any range. Like, you have a diesel heater in an electric truck? That's right. It's basically this unit that you have to exhaust, and it just kind of burns away. It is crazy. And it's got electronic controls. This is what people are doing. And I don't know, did you ever know somebody who had a really old Volkswagen Beetle? Because I think, like, some of those had a propane heater because the Volkswagen Beetles were air cooled. So you don't get that circulating fluid that you normally use for your heater in your car. So old Beetles had a propane heater, which often apparently also did not work. So, yeah, I knew a guy who had to drive around in the winter and a Beetle scraping the inside of the window because there was no heat. Well, here's what I've done. Okay, first of all, the part, it wouldn't be so bad if I was a Tesla out of warranty. Twelve hundred dollars to go from an unusable car to a usable car. Great. I actually put in a space heater, like the one you have with a cottage into my car on a timer. Like it's a plug into the lighter? No, it plugs into an extension cord. Okay, so you just run an extension cord in there because when I was a kid, my parents had in their car a block heater. A lot of people listening don't know what a block heater is. That is a heater that heats the oil in a car in a very cold climate so that it will turn over, that it's viscous enough to turn over. And we have them in all of our cars here. But yes, my parents also had an interior warmer as well. And you plugged it in with the block heater. Yes, that's what my parents did. Yeah. And so same thing like, you can have your car warm in the morning. I seem to remember it running overnight. Do you remember my parents did that too? Just left both the heater and the interior one plugged in overnight. Yeah, different times. Because it would have been like a thousand watts, probably. Yes, it would have been extremely wasteful. And for what? I don't remember the snow being melted on the windows. That's not something that I remember. Yeah, no, I know somebody who used to do that, lived in an apartment building where the plugins in the parking lot were free. Like you didn't have to pay for the electricity. So I know somebody who did that kept it plugged in all night and all the snow melted on the car just because he didn't have to pay for the electricity. It is warming up to the interior and at least getting it usable. The problem is you have to run some air on the window to defog it at the lowest setting. And if it's cold out, that feels really bad because we're talking what temperatures have we had here? Minus ten celsius -20, and it's going to get colder. It's going to be high -20 in a few days. I was hoping for a naturally warm winter and a lottery ticket win. A couple of things that I was hoping for. And if I got it fixed, I would have to ship the car all the way up to a city called Prince Albert, which is the closest Nissan dealer that is certified to do electrical work. So basically when people do these fixes, they take out the front car seats and all the dash and they have to unplug the high voltage system underneath the car. And there's also this fuse that is hard to get at, that always blows. I confirmed it because I have sort of the computer connection to my phone app and it has the right error codes on there so that the heater is seen on the phone. Now, I knew this was something that I worried about because I've seen it with other people. I've seen it online a few times, but now that I'm really looking, I haven't seen it that much at all. Like, there's a few references to it and there's people saying, well, it was bad welding and there should be a class action suit but there really isn't that many people. I think a lot of people actually had them done under warranty because I'm only a couple of years off the warranty actually. Well that's not true. I don't know if this would have qualified for that, but a lot of the high voltage stuff did and the battery and stuff like that. So I'm very depressed Brian, because and I haven't even told my partner yet. My kids know, my partner does not. She just thinks I spilled something in the car and I've got a heater going in there. I'm just so ashamed of myself because I'm an electric car advocate. I've been telling everybody they don't break down and I put my family at risk of this and now we don't have a car that's working. So I drive my kid to school, it's a ten minute drive. She doesn't complain. Well, I don't know if this makes you feel any better and you've certainly told me this as well, like you crunched the numbers when you bought that car and it's basically probably already paid for itself. If you think of all the fuel that you've saved, that was on all numbers, that was before gas went up. Before gas went up. So first of all, the car has been free so far? Basically, yes. Another way I could look at it is that these things are selling for 6000 more than I paid for it. Yeah, prices are up since when you bought it, so there's that incentive to fix it and not feel so bad about it or sell it to somebody in the summer. No, well, I would never do that. Never. That would be awful. Well, now that the evidence is out there by the way, you can't here's a tip for your kids out there. If you buy an electric car in the summer that's used check the heater just because you want to make sure it works. Now, if I had one of those models that wasn't the base model I would have had in my case a heat pump and a PTC heater. Yeah. So the heat pump, I don't know what they work efficiently at in a leaf. It might only be -15, or something like that. And it gets much colder where we are. But I would have had some heat and I could've preheated it for a couple of hours and it would have got somewhat comfortable in there, you know, and that would have been fine. Maybe not on every day, but most of our winter days aren't necessarily brutal. Hopefully it would work out, I don't know. Warm days are only five months away. Shut up, shut up, shut up. It can't be that long. There's heated seats and front and back in the Prius or in the Prius and the leaf that helps. There's a heated steering wheel. That's great. Now I've ordered off of Amazon for $30 a dinky little electric cigarette lighter, heated defroster. So I will see how that works. Is going to come in a couple of days. I'll tell you next week if it does anything. I had one many years ago when I was a teenager because my rear defrost didn't work my $300 car. So I bought one at the hardware store, and I think it sort of did something. So it's a little portable heater, like just 100 watts or something. Just a cheap yes, about 100 watts. But hopefully it will be better than just blowing cold air as far as the feeling of it. But we'll see how I survive. Actual really cold temperatures that are coming up this week, I may not you know how teenage girls dress for school? My daughter doesn't dress very warm to get her into school and even with the car, not have producing heat and try to convince her to put things on so she doesn't get hypothermia. But on the bright side, Brian, I'm feeling better. Yeah, well, like we were talking about last week, we sometimes don't dress for the climate anymore because we're just used to going from one warm environment to another warm environment. I don't have a lot of stuff this week because Twitter has gone haywire, and I get a lot of my information from climate people and various activists on Twitter. They've all left for mastodon and other places. Like, they're all completely gone, and I hope they come back. But there's talk of Tesla shareholders getting upset with Musk doing what he's doing because that seems to be affecting the Tesla stock. Just the fact that he had to sell a bunch to buy that social media platform is a little crazy. Anyway, I'm on the Chevy Voltage group. I thought it was interesting. Every now and again I see an interesting story that really talks about the economics of electric cars. We talked about how mine for $10,000 covered the gas and my SUV. That would have been five years of gas. And that's just incredible. And plus, you're saving the environment a little bit too. Obviously, it's a lot more pleasurable too, but so somebody's paying $520 for a Chevy bolt. This is one of the cheapest EVs. You can buy the monthly payment for five years with no money down or anything like that. And he's saying that he saved 175 gallons of gas, and at $4 a gallon, minus $60 a month increase in electricity, he's saving $580 a month. Both has over two months. Over two months. It's like getting a car for very little money, and it will basically pay for itself in eight to ten years. So in his case, he's buying a brand new car and getting it free after eight to ten years. The more you drive, the better deal it is. Yeah, that's for sure. And as they come down in price, this is going to be more and more things especially if you're dealing with fleets that do a lot of driving. And free is one thing, but you're still saving you're still saving over a gas car. So that's something. The New York Times had an interesting piece about how the Saudis are trying to keep gas alive. And one of the ways that they're doing it is they're buying a whole bunch of EVs and Ebuses for Saudi Arabia so that they can get this burn less gas. They want to sell the gas to other people. They don't want to waste any of it using it themselves. That's a really good point, doing that. That just struck my craw, like it's stuck in there. Well, there's going to be sort of EV have countries and EV have not countries and yeah, that's keep selling them your oil, I guess. So the Texas grid, what's going on there? Yeah, we talked about that occasionally. Texas in the US. Has its own electricity grid that tends to be cut off from the rest of the country. And they've had problems lately and I just thought this was an interesting problem there's currently, and it should be ending today, but a boil watery advisory in the city of Houston, which is a massive city for the whole city. For the whole city. And so school has been canceled. Yeah, that's first nation reserve up north kind of territory, or small town at least. And it's because they had power outages at their water filtration system when the power goes out and they were supposed to have power backup and for some reason it didn't work. But the water pressure drops within the filtration plant and once the water pressure drops down past a certain amount, they basically have to put out a boil water advisory so it's entirely possible the water is still safe to drink. It's a precautionary thing. It's a precautionary thing. And they need to let it go for a couple of days, test the water again. And they will probably lift the boil water advisory today. But I just thought it was interesting because it's just one of those things where we don't think about necessarily in terms of the grid, why it's important to have a reliable grid. And this is just one of those instances where a bad grid with frequent power outages can lead to things like a boil water advisory for a massive city like Houston. These are things that I worry about with armageddon scenarios. If there's some sort of war or something, we really need to have our water because we don't have a well in our backyard. And I'm not currently collecting rainwater. You're talking about doing that at the new cottage. But I guess we could melt some snow during the winter. Oh, yeah, not the yellow. I'll just blow it into a big pile of my new snow blower and melt it. Melt it with what, though, right? I have to collect firewood on the prairies. That's no fun. Burned gopher carcasses or something like that, I thought. I would also mention these two Chinese companies announced that the production of the largest offshore wind turbine to date has been announced. Because this is something we talked about before, so I thought I'd bring it up again. You love a big turbine. I do love my turbines to be setting records, Brian. And we knew that this would be broken because there was rumors of it. The previous record is 14 MW. This is something that can power a house for two days with one rotation of the blade. One little rotation can power your home and your family for two days, and now they've gone up to 16. There's two companies in China that have developed 16 MW. It's interesting to watch when professionals have discussions online about what the theoretical limit is. But a lot of times in the clean energy space, people think that nothing can go any further, and it does. There's always some sort of development or some sort of technique. Some of it is just a placement where you place it. They have better modeling now than they used to 20 years ago. The groups on November 24 showed off the turbine factory in Fujian Province. And the turbine has a 252 meters rotor diameter with 50,000 meters sweep area. That is a large sweep area. If you want to compare sweep areas, it's a large 146 meters. The hub of it, the middle, the turning point, 146 meters. One and a half football fields off the ground. And I saw another wind turbine blade on the highway the other day, which is always an amazing sight to see. Those checks right here. Blades? Yeah, it was heading towards Moose Jaw. That's interesting. I wonder where from, because that's kind of where it was going. Not sure. That is actually the biggest restriction on this wind turbine size, is that you physically can't turn corners on any sort of roads with those wind turbines. It was right here you saw when I saw one of Colorado was amazing. It was just blocks long, and it's just, you know, the largest man made item I think I've ever seen up close. It was like looking at a massive rocket or something. Okay, so I've got a great story here from Hannah Ritchie, who is the head of research at Our World in Data. And she is still on Twitter, and I would recommend following her. She's a great follow on Twitter, amazing information. So she's the head of research at Our World in Data. Fabulous website that just collects all kinds of data and presents it in website form. A lot of people have been going there through the COVID pandemic because it's a great place to go for sort of COVID statistics and stuff like that. So she wrote this amazing article at Wired magazine, and it's about processed foods. Every once in a while, people stop me on the street. And they say, hey, are you the guy from the Clean energy show? Why are you promoting processed foods all the time? Go on. The idea of processed food, it just has a really bad rap. We all know, I think, that we should eat raw vegetables from the garden or whatever, and processed foods can be bad. It turns out that there's sort of two categories. There's processed foods and then there's ultraprocessed foods. There's literally two categories to describe them based on how much processing. It's just a massive oversimplification. And this fantastic article summarizes everything, and it's things that we basically kind of talked about on the show before, but I just thought the article was great because it really explains it really nicely. One example of a good instance of processed food would be iodised salt. So iodine is a thing that we all need in our bodies. And iodine deficiencies used to be a really common problem around the world, and increased risk of stillbirth and miscarriages reductions in IQ from lack of iodine. That's why I'm so smart. All the processed foods I've been eating, all that. Yeah. So reduce cognitive development. But many years ago, we started adding iodine to salt. So most salt is iodized, and this kind of fixes that problem. But it's really the ultra processed foods that tend to be the problems, like, you know, snack foods like Twinkies and stuff like that. So where would we get iodised salt in nature to keep us healthy before? I'm not sure where that even comes from. Yeah, presumably our meat paleolithic cells were eating the right roots and vegetables or whatever. I'm not sure it's the ultra processed foods that we really should be railing against. Technically, something like Beyond Meat is ultra processed, but it's not that simple. It's just an oversimplification to say it's bad because it's processed well. So when I think of processed foods, Brian, I think of losing the nutritional value because of the way it's processed. I think of added salts, and I think of added sugars. That's a very common thing, too. And spaghetti sauce. And practically everything has sugar that doesn't need it. No. And as you said on the show many times before, it's not intended to be health food. Like Beyond Meat is not intended to be health food. It's intended to be a substitute for meat. So ground beef. So what you really need to compare it against is ground beef. So when you do that, meat substitutes tend to be lower in calories, lower in saturated fat, and higher fat fiber. Yes. Really? Because I thought some of the criticism of these Beyond Meat and what's the other one called? What's the other one called? Yes. Impossible Burger. Impossible Burger. That they were worse than regular meat. Or maybe that's the beef industry saying that it could all be tweaked. I mean, it can be whatever you want it to be. We're still early stages here, right? I mean, we're still developing stages. If people are saying, oh, this tastes like crap, well, then they can add in more fat. They can add in more sugar or whatever. So meat substitutes lower in calories and saturated fat and higher in fiber, which is good to their detriment. Some are lower in protein and often contain lower quality protein, meaning they contain less of the essential amino acids that we need. I didn't know there were different levels of protein. That's something new for me. Yeah. When it comes to sodium, it's sort of a mixed bag substitute. Burgers tend to be comparable to meat. When it comes to sodium, the substitute sausages have less salt than their pork equivalents. A lot of these substitute products are now fortified with B Twelve, iron and calcium, which is something you're not necessarily going to get from the meat. The Impossible burger has more B Twelve and iron than beef does. Really many plant based milks are fortified as well. So on balance, they're probably a bit better for your health than the meat equivalent. And I see this as just the beginning because we talk about the concept of food software that you can program the food that you're going to be making with precision. Fermentation in the future will be inventing new foods that have protein in them and different tastes and different flavors that don't necessarily come from an animal or plant. Or we can just tweak the things that are mimicking what we already eat, but to our taste, to what we like. And chefs, I think a chef 20 years from now could be a bit of a computer programmer and just experimenting with different things, and it could be an interesting world. Well, I've always been fascinated by that. I think I saw, like, a documentary one time about somebody who was a chef at a fast food restaurant, and it's just the idea of that I find interesting. Like somebody has to do, even if it's just regular meat, and somebody has to design that stuff to be then replicated literally billions of times. It's a fascinating sort of thing. It is. And you go to the McDonald's campus and you see they've got all these chefs making a lot of money there. And every time they come up with a new product, I always think of them and I think, you stupid buggers, you really screwed up. You know, I'm very disappointed in this rap that you made. This rap so that teenagers can put it together when they're hungover and use basic ingredients, and it's just crap. All these chefs are making these things that are disappointing and everything that you eat. I was talking to my family about Tim Hortons. What a compromise of a restaurant that is. Yes, everything is bad. Even the donut. It's a donut shop, and they can't even make a decent donut. I don't want to be the old man here, but when I was a kid donuts were pretty damn good. They're a lot better than they are. There no. And even Tim Hortons. It was about 20 years ago, they switched, and they forced all of their franchises to buy basically frozen dough or frozen donuts. Well, they make them in a factory. I've seen the news stories on them. They make them in a centralized factory, and they have baked them. They just finished the baking process and specialized ovens here, which make them somewhat fresh. But they're not a good product, which is not. No, but up until that point, they were made in the restaurants, and they were slightly better. So there's a couple more issues raised from this article. First, the idea that food processing could alleviate malnutrition for billions of people. So meat substitutes are mostly targeted at wealthy consumers. But the implications of a backlash to process food are just as harmful for people with less money. More food processing, not less, could improve health and nutrition in developing countries. So there's a lot of countries that can't afford to eat a lot of meat, and in some ways, that's good. In other ways, it's bad. There are certain things that you lack in your diet, perhaps if you're not eating meat. And some of those things could be added, like iodine to salt could be added into the thing. And plus, there's an appetite for people that they may want to eat more meat in countries where they can't afford it, and this gives them an option that is like that that's similar to meat. If you're new to the podcast, I should tell you that we talk about food on the show because it affects the climate. The new technologies and food are lower. Carbon, like, Impossible Burger is 25 times less carbon per gram than the hamburger. No, the final point from the article is the carbon footprint. I mean, it's absolutely insane how much lower the carbon footprint is from the substitute food than regular meat. The environmental toll can be ten to 100 times lower than beef or lamb, beef being the most carbon intensive. I came across another one the other day. People often complain about almond milk. Milk substitute made of almond because it uses a lot of water, you need tons of water. It's growing in places that doesn't have water. It doesn't have a lot of water. And this is true of the milk substitutes. Almond is the one that uses the most water, but it's like a 10th or 100th of the water needed if you get the milk from a cow. Like, the water needed for the beef industry is insane. So I would have assumed the opposite. Wow. It's not even close. You're saying it's not even close? Well, because I've driven by those almond farms, and you see all the irrigation, and you see the outside the border, it's a desert. So to join them in the desert and you think, wow, this is not a good idea. No, but you see the chart for the carbon footprints, and beef is the most carbon intensive of all of the meats. And one last thing here and again, it's from our World in Data. There was a really nice graph of meat consumption per person around the world. And so, quick quiz. What country do you think eats the most meat per person? My initial response would be the United Kingdom or the United States. It is the United States. Yeah, that's kind of almost a stereotype. It's a stereotype that appears to be true. Argentina eats a lot of meat. Australia eats a lot of meat. So in the US. It's 124 year per person, which is a lot. Canada is now at 82. Lot less in Canada. That was surprising to me. Now, why would that be? We have a lot of agriculture here. We have a lot of land. Why would we I don't know, except I know that anytime I've been to the States and you go to a restaurant and you order a meal in a restaurant, it always seems to be a very large portion of meat. Yeah. Yeah. But there's a wonderful graph there on our World in Data, meats applied per person. This is 2017, so the data is a bit out of date, perhaps. Well, the article is on wired.com and it's called The World Needs Processed Food. I'll put a link to it in our show notes, and you can check it out there. So the Tesla semi, according to a tweet by the CEO of Tesla, did its 500 miles trip with a full load. Now, Tesla a few years ago announced that it was making a semi allelectric semitruck. The CEO of Nicola, who is now, like, in prison, I remember reading his tweets. He was really upset that this was against the law of physics. There's no way you could carry an 18,000 pound load, which is kind of like the load that you want to carry. The Tesla semi carry this 18,000 pound load 81,000 pardon me, 81,000 for 500 miles, which is, Bill Gates said, not possible. I don't know why these people say these things, Brian. Why do they doubt us? Why do they put themselves on the record saying it's not possible? Now, lots of people said that at the time that the Tesla announcement was suspicious because people didn't think it was possible. But it's been so long since they made that announcement that battery density, the energy density, the more you can get more energy in the same weight of battery and volume than you could back then, it tends to improve by something like 18% a year. But we're kind of there now, and it sounds well, we'll know in a couple of days, right? Because on December 1 of having an event. Yeah, but apparently they've done it, and they've decided that he's invited Bill Gates to come have a ride. And, you know, I was thinking that would be a fun thing to own. And I know a lot of Tesla fanatics are actually got orders in for the semi just to have other driveway, some YouTube channels, which will be fun. Yeah, definitely fun if they buy one and drive it around because they're fast without a load. They're just really fast and quiet and tall and just such a weird thing for somebody to own. And probably not that much more expensive than some of the highly spec pickup trucks that are out there for $120,000, be a couple of hundred thousand dollars, it sounds like. But yeah, we'll learn more on December 1. And looking to learn more about the charging speeds and the infrastructure and stuff. Yeah, we'll learn how they plan to do it. But it sounds like this is for real now. If it is for real, this is a big deal because there's lots of people making electric semis, but they're making them for shorter scenarios, okay? They don't have the battery technology or the efficiency that Tesla has with their motors, their inverters, and the way that they have their batteries. And plus they've just done pretty serious design with the aerodynamics and everything and maximize everything they can get and wait. So we'll see. But this is a game changer. A lot of people are saying the cost per mile is going to be significantly lower enough that it will pull triggers on a lot of people will pull triggers on it right away once they see the difference in the cost per mile. So it's very interesting. Just as your Nissan Leaf basically paid for itself with the gasoline savings, these will pay for themselves with the diesel savings. I'd love to have one to pull. You could pull an RV right? There's people talking about that. And I'm sure somebody will make an RV based off the platform. That will probably take a while, but they'll turn one of these units into just a kickass RV, which will it'll have a massive battery, which you can power off the grid and do all kinds of amazing things. Plaster the RV part with the solar panels and charge it up as well. It just seems like a great way to RV because towing is such a pain in the butt. And a Tesla semi or pickup truck, I guess, would do a great job too. Yeah, so from Power Magazine, the UK government steps up as a 50% owner of the 3.2 gigawatt sizewell C nuclear reactors. So they've been building this nuclear reactor for a while, planning it, and guess what? It turned out to be more expensive than they expected. So they really needed the government to step in. And the government has stepped in with a 679,000,000 pound investment that's $815,000,000. So yeah, they're going to own half of it from that. But as we've discussed many times, government really has to own these because they are not profitable for any private industry there, especially by the time these get built. And I hate to go on about nuclear. We tend to bash nuclear every episode or so, but especially by the time this is finished, it will be years from now. Years, as we all know, the cost of solar and batteries, my cars will be cold and dust like so it's already a bad monetary investment now, but that's just going to get worse as time goes on. And we have a story coming up in the lightning round that says that the cost of uranium is really going up. So that's making the economics of all this very it's getting worse, I'm afraid. But yeah, private ownership and investment pardon me, in nuclear, it's not happening because governments have to do it. Then when governments do it, that makes you and I the investor. We're suffering. We're going to waste money because they don't listen to our podcast. If they only listen to our podcast, everyone would be the world would be a better place. And there was a story from Japan, too, on Bloomberg. They're looking to extend the life of their 60 year old nuclear plants, which they were planning to phase out at age 60. And keeping nuclear running that we already have is probably a good idea, but 60 seems a bit pushy. It's kind of pushing it, but they're studying it now to see if it's going to be worthwhile. Okay, well, I have no problem, as long as it's safe of extending nuclear, if that's what it takes. So Electric says that there are more electric bike subsidies coming to the United States. I guess it was in the Inflation Reduction Act, but then it got taken out like there was going to be a killer ebike subsidy that everyone would have got in the states, but that's not there anymore. So individual cities and states have since picked up the slack. They say. Vermont launched the first state incentive program in the US. Denver, Colorado, also launched the very popular ebike rebate program that repeatedly sold out and they had to renew it. New York is now considering its own ebike rebate, and now we can add Oregon to the list. It could become the latest date. They're talking about $200 off an ebike that costs, well, at least $950. But Brian, that would be free. I mean, my math isn't so good, but if all you have to spend is 950 and you get up to 1200 off, I assume if you spent 950, they'd give you 950. Yes, I know, but still, that's a free. That's free. That's what I'm saying. It goes to zero. Free bike. That's crazy. I mean, who wouldn't buy one? I mean, even if you didn't want one, it would be sitting around the house and then the bikes are going to be sold. I don't know. They have to do something about that. They can't do 100% of the purchase, but maybe it's prorated. Maybe somebody in Colorado can tell me the details. But also they would go right up to $700 if it's an electric cargo bike. I think I forgot a friend in Vancouver has an electric cargo bike. Yeah, basically, it's a cargo bike not because you're a courier, but because you're living your life off the thing. So you're getting all your groceries and your snow blowers from Walmart. And by the way, it's going to snow in Vancouver. If you're in Vancouver look good for the snow. It doesn't usually snow there. Electric cargo bikes are going to be huge. Okay, so Ireland and France are going to connect their electricity grids. How is that possible, Brian? Physically, it's with a giant extension cord. Really? Does it go underwater? It goes underwater. So it is a massive cable that is 575 km long. And so this is the first time that France has been connected to a grid in the UK. And it's for sharing power back and forth between Ireland and France. They're just beginning it now, so it will be operational by 2026. It'll be 700. MW can go through the cable, which is enough to power 450,000 households. So, yeah, I'm just always interested in these kind of stories. We need to make our grids smarter and more interconnected to share the power. Ireland and France seems like an odd combination. How did these two hook up? What's going on there? What would their accent be like? No, I'm not sure, but I'm just glad to hear it. Well, it's time for the Tweet of the Week. Well, the Tweet of the week comes from Said Razuk this week, and he says building new solar is three to ten times cheaper than operating existing gas fired power. So you have a gas fired power in a lot of places in the world. It is cheaper, like the United States, southern United States, three to ten times cheaper to build new solar than just to operate the gas. Yes. We're not talking gas this building solar, we're talking building a whole new thing is three to ten times cheaper just than existing gas. So if gas funds were invested in renewables like they're not right at the moment, europe would get rid of gas by 2028. And this is via PV magazine that he quotes data from. Well, it is time for the lighting round. Short one for you this week, Brian. General Motors dealerships have repaired thousands of Tesla electric cars, says GM, and it's annual Investor Day presentation. I have not heard this before, but apparently people are taking their Teslas to GM dealership. Maybe I could take my Leaf to the GM because they fixed. Screw you, Nissan. I'll just take it to the GM dealership. Yeah, that might work. I mean, if you could take a Tesla, why couldn't you take a Nissan? Yeah, no, that's the first time I've heard of this. First booked on Barons. A slide in the presentation simply reads eleven 180 repairs and Teslas, but they did not elaborate. So GM Volvo say that EVs won't cost more than gas vehicles by 2025. Both automakers see the Inflation Reduction Act as a key for achieving price parity by middecade, despite recent supply chain challenges. So that's good news. If true, the UK government will bolster a proposed OK, that's something we already talked about, so I'm going to skip that. It's time for what is it time for? A CES, a clean energy show. Fast fact. The International Atomic Energy Agency said 437 nuclear power reactors were operational throughout the world at the end of 2021. And that has a total net capacity of 389 gigawatts. So it's less than a gigawatt per reactor on average. The agency said 56 additional units were under construction. Some of those are in China, most of those are not other places. And as I said before, uranium prices are on the rise, thus making nuclear even less competitive. And Russia is partially the thing for that. They're raising the prices of gas and oil and also uranium. So we screwed everything up. The Department of Energy is to test rapidly deployable portable wind turbines for military use. I remember once we had on the show a story about the military with rapid deployment of solar panels that would sort of be like a transformer and unfold on a portable truck that would give energy into the field. Well, this is good for disaster relief and military use. So disaster relief and military use. A team of three labs will use remote communities to study the efficacy of turbines designed to fit into 20 foot shipping containers, perhaps towed by a Tesla. Semi clean energy jobs now outnumber jobs in fossil fuels, according to a new IEA report. Now, I'm going to continue to keep my eye open for reports like this and studies, because it seems like we are at the point now where the transition is happening, where the clean energy jobs are way overtaking fossil fuel jobs. So, by the way, France's first offshore wind farm, which is about half a gigawatt, is now fully online. So France has never had an offshore wind farm before. And speaking of offshore wind, our final story this week, before we go, is Denmark is helping India identify 15 offshore wind zones. And apparently India has some sweet wind zones, Brian, and they need electricity. We talked about huge solar developments in India, while offshore wind is next up on the list, and that will be a huge boon for them. Nice. That is our time for this week. It's more than our time. We'd like to hear from you. Please, for God's sake, contact us. Cleanenergy Show@gmail.com. That is our email address. Cleanenergyhow@gmail.com. Anything that's on your mind. Some criticism, some doubts, some things you like, some things that you're doing. Some questions about EV purchases. Let us know. We are on social media at the handle at Clean Energy Pod. And we have a YouTube channel which we have special features on. You can see me looking a bit more sweaty than usual this week. You can leave us a voicemail at speakfight. Comcleenergyow. And now, Brian, you can actually donate to the clean energy show. Buy us a coffee or PTC heater using the PayPal link on our website or in the show notes. If you're new to the show, remember to subscribe. Subscribe on your podcast app. Because our new shows, they come every week. Because we're machines. We're clean Energy machines, and we're here every week. We'll see you next time, Brian. you.

Celebrating the wonder of space flight, Snoopy, the longest-running giant character balloon in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, will return to the sky again this year decked out in astronaut gear.

What is the appropriate punishment for coworkers that eat your lunch? How did Pigpen get so dirty and why can't he get clean? We answer these existential dilemmas before heading to the Thoughtline, where two spouses have called on us for counseling. Plus: a brand-new segment of Fun Facts that you certainly didn't ask for.Submit your least pressing questions, local legends, definitive rankings, neighborhood group drama, and whatever else you want us to cover at youdidntaskforthis@gmail.com or @udidntaskpod on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. You can also leave us a voicemail on The Thoughtline at (410) 929-5329 and we might just play it on the show!

Comics are big business these days – Marvel and DC Comics rake in billions at the box office. Guest host Tim Nelson talked about a different type of comic today though that also made it to the screen, the Peanuts! On Oct. 2, the comic featuring Charlie Brown, his dog Snoopy and the crew turns 72 years old. The strip was the creation of St. Paul cartoonist Charles Schulz. Benjamin Clark, the curator of the Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center in Santa Rosa, California, joined us. Use the audio player above to listen to the full conversation.  Subscribe to the Minnesota Now podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify or wherever you get your podcasts.   We attempt to make transcripts for Minnesota Now available the next business day after a broadcast. When ready they will appear here. 

Have a singing tip for me? Joe@onepercentbetterproject.com : )  Subscribe to The Edge of Greatness Podcast HERE Check out Charles Schultz's work HERE See Charles' speaking reel here Make sure you are subscribed to One Percent Better so you don't miss Annie Duke next week! As always, thanks for listening! --Joe 

Author, Speaker and Coach Charles Schultz joins Part 2 of this 2-part episode and talks with Brian about:  Where his quest for greatness really began.  The common denominator of greatness.  Passion vs. Reality. Playing three years of College Baseball, getting benched his Senior year and how that affected him. The book that woke him up.  Asking people what they need.  Connect with Charles on Twitter @Coach_Schultz or www.theedgeofgreatnessproject.com Watch this episode on The Intentional Encourager Podcast YouTube Channel and don't forget to subscribe:  https://youtu.be/WUca1d2PkbQ

Author, Speaker and Coach Charles Schultz joins Part 1 of this 2-Part episode and talks with Brian about: The expectation of excellence.  The problem of wanting to be "The Star." The toughness issues of life.  The accountability of greatness.  Holding the standard higher.  Leaders being willing to take ownership rather than control.  Connect with Charles on Twitter @Coach_Schultz and at www.theedgeofgreatnessproject.com Watch this episode on The Intentional Encourager Podcast YouTube Channel and don't forget to subscribe: https://youtu.be/BTYx9OBTscw

Nilah Magruder is an absolute joy and an uber-talented author and artist. She was the first Black woman to write for Marvel, illustrated all of the Heroes of Olympus covers for Rick Riordan's books, and worked extensively in animation. Not to mention the books that she is the sole creator of, which have proven to be legendary in my home.Jarrett: Nilah Magruder. How are you? [00:00:03] Nilah: I'm doing pretty good. How are you? [00:00:06] Jarrett: Hangin', it in there Nilah, you will forever and ever be iconic in my home because your picture book, "How to Find a Fox" has been read so many times. So many times. In our home that it is held together by like scotch tape and like bubble gum.[00:00:29] Our son, we must have read that so many times. [00:00:32] Nilah: Oh my God.[00:00:32] Jarrett: Huge home run pal and I remember we met at Comics Crossroads in Ohio and we were tabling next to each other and, like we just were chatting the whole day and I'm always looking for something to bring home to the kids to make up for being gone.[00:00:45] And wow that book, man, I'm telling you like, iconic like that, that we will read that. I will read that to my grandkids, my wife and I will be reading that to our grandkids someday. So thank you for stop and a chat with us. But of course I what the show is all about of [00:01:01] course is about getting to know how creative people in comics got to be doing what they're doing.[00:01:09] And so I like to start at the very beginning cuz I, I love the idea and I also love the idea of imagine. A young author, an artist and getting to, to hear those stories directly from some of your favorite creators. My first question for you and it might really be the only question I ask and then we're gonna get into a conversation, but what was life like for you as a kid?[00:01:29] What was your home like? What was your family set up? What kind of art and stories were you consuming? What sort of laid the groundwork to create Nilah Magruder? [00:01:39] Nilah: My home life as a child, I grew up in a house in the woods in a small community back in a time where it was largely forest and largely rural.[00:01:53] And I think that had a lasting impact on how. I think visually in how I view story, the sort of stories that I'm interested in. A lot of the things I was interested at interested in as a kid were very pastoral and natural. I loved anything featuring animals and, honestly, I was isolated for a lot of my childhood.[00:02:20] This is something that you and I have in common. I had an alcoholic parent and as a kid, I didn't like to bring friends home because then they would see my dad and, whatever state that my dad was in, it was really unpredictable. I never quite knew what I was bringing friends into. So I didn't, bring friends here very much.[00:02:44] And I didn't go to friends' houses very much. And so a lot of my time was spent at home, but we were surrounded by this woodland, all of these trees and animals and so much nature. And that's really where I spent my time as a kid. Now, what I was interested in, like what I was ingesting, we had a small video rental store in the community, and this was long before Netflix.[00:03:18] This was even before Blockbuster. We didn't have a Blockbuster within driving distance. I'm not even sure if Blockbuster existed back then. And so we had this local mom and pop rental store and they would bring in videos from all over the world. A lot of imported... movies and television series.[00:03:43] And as a kid, I was interested in anything animated. If it was a cartoon, if it was drawn, I was there. And so like any cartoon that they had, I'd be like, mom, can we get this please? And I remember once I showed her one video that I hadn't watched yet, and I was like, mom, can we get this? And she looked at it, she looked at the cover and was like, no.[00:04:05] And she put it back and we never spoke of it again. and years later, like I was an adult on the internet and I saw this title called when the wind blows and I was like, oh, that's familiar. And I looked at the summary. I looked at the art from the movie and I was like, oh my God, that's it. That's that one movie that my mom wouldn't let me watch.[00:04:27] And so when the wind blows is a British animated film about nuclear fallout, And it's about it's about this couple. I think it's like a rural couple and there's this big catastrophe in England. And the government sends pamphlets out to everyone and is every, they're just like, don't panic everyone. It's fine.[00:04:54] Just stay at home. And so basically this couple they're older, they're very trusting. They're like the government knows what's best. So we'll just stay home. And eventually radiation reach reaches them and they get sick and die. [00:05:11] So... [00:05:11] Jarrett: what a prude! What a prude! What a...[00:05:14] Nilah: I know wouldn't let me. And then another time she was also a teacher and one day she brought home the animated Animal Farm.[00:05:22] Jarrett: Wow. Yeah.[00:05:23] Nilah: And, my thing is animals, of course. And she looks at me and she's do not watch this. And then she leaves it out. [00:05:32] Jarrett: Oh... [00:05:33] Nilah: And so one day when she wasn't there, I popped it in the VCR and watched it. And I think I was like nine or 10 at the time. And I loved it. So all that to say when I was a kid, I would just watch anything.[00:05:49] And so I was, and we had this rental store that would bring over anything. And so I was getting to watch animated movies from Japan and England and Russia and Canada, like Canada had a really great experimental animation program that was supported by the government. [00:06:07] Jarrett: Yeah.[00:06:07] Nilah: And so they were producing just like wild animated shorts and half the time, I didn't understand what I was watching, but because it was moving pictures, moving drawings, I was fascinated.[00:06:21] And a lot of the stuff that I look back on that I loved as a small child, it's very experimental and dark. And then I lived in this woodland that was also creepy, a lot of animals lived here and also a lot of people in the community were like fascinated cuz our home was situated secluded.[00:06:45] And so people would come drive through late at night just to, see the house or they'd, walk through, like it was a public park here. [00:06:55] Jarrett: Oh. [00:06:55] Nilah: So I had this experience as a child of just like constantly our space just constantly being invaded by strangers. And it was like scary, you're in bed at night....[00:07:11] And headlights reflected on your wall. Yeah. And you're a little kid and you're just like, oh my gosh. [00:07:19] Jarrett: Yeah. [00:07:19] Nilah: I have this, like I have this just this little, knot from my childhood, that's very, just creepy and wild and mysterious. And then I write children's books. [00:07:34] Jarrett: Yeah. It's not easy to be a creative kid who then you when you have worries, because then your creativity, which I've only realized now as an adult, like your imagination really creates scenarios in your head.[00:07:50] Nilah: Yeah![00:07:50] Jarrett: And I wanna point out to the listeners that it's remarkable. That you had access to VHS tapes of cartoons from other countries in that time period. Sometimes when I'm book touring and I talk to readers and they said; "did you love anime when you were a teenager?" And I didn't really have access to it.[00:08:10] I grew up in a suburban, urban area and my rental shop, which was another mom and pop rental shop. They didn't have that creative, curated collection. So how remarkable that, whoever it was that was down the street from you who had this, you know, who had an appetite for this flavor of creative cartoons, because otherwise you would've just been seeing like just Disney and nothing else.[00:08:35] That's, this kinda was the only game in town back then. [00:08:38] Nilah: Yeah. [00:08:39] Yeah. It is like looking back on it. I think that too, it's very odd. [00:08:44] Jarrett: Yeah. [00:08:45] Nilah: Like, how we had so many dubs at the time, but also that this little, this little spot in rural, Maryland was getting all of these videos and yeah, it was pretty, and this was before cable too.[00:09:01] Like we didn't have cable at the time, a lot of my access to animation was through this little rental shop. [00:09:11] Jarrett: Wow. Wow. And so did you love to draw before or after? Can you, or was it simultaneous love of animation and drawing for you? [00:09:21] Nilah: I think the animation came before and I always tell people that I was.[00:09:27] Bad at art at that age. And I'm talking about when I was in kindergarten, so five or six , who's good at art at that age? But it was this I was really bad at coloring in the lines. [00:09:39] Jarrett: Oh, that showed, that did show - sorry to cut you off - but all that did was show promise.[00:09:44] Nilah: Yeah.[00:09:45] Jarrett: All that did was show promise in your work. So it sounds like you had someone somewhere to say, no, you're supposed to color in the lines. And then you're like, oh, what?[00:09:53] Nilah: It was my peers, I remember sitting at a table in kindergarten and I'm coloring. And one of the little girls next to me was like, "Nilah, do you want me to do that for you?"[00:10:04] And that, that devastated me. [00:10:07] Jarrett: Yeah. [00:10:08] Nilah: And so from a very young age, I was like, wow, I have to get better at this cuz that's embarrassing. And so from five or six years old, I was just making this conscious effort to study and practice and be better at art. And my first subjects were animals cuz that's what I was interested in.[00:10:30] We had this magazine series called ZooBooks. And it was full of photos and illustrations of animals. And I would copy these, copy this art and learn animal anatomy from that. Later we got cable and I would watch discovery channel. And then I could see like animals in motion, and I love the Peanuts.[00:10:53] I love Charlie brown and Snoopy taught me how to draw animal toes. As a kid, I was, I would draw them wrong. And I knew they looked wrong, but I didn't know why. And so I would look at Snoopy's feet and how Charles Schultz drew Snoopy's feet. And I started drawing my feet more like that.[00:11:15] And... eventually, I came to understand why the way I was drawing feet before was wrong, anatomically and like that really, that really helped me take my drawings to the next level.[00:11:30] Jarrett: Yeah. [00:11:30] Nilah: And so it wasn't until much later that I really made the connection between animation and my own drawing, I just like watching cartoons and, I also love to draw.[00:11:42] And so as I got older, I, I did process drawing as a storytelling tool and would start drawing, drawing my own stories. And much, much later I got into anime, and... Also Disney started putting out those, like "Making-Of" specials [00:12:07] Jarrett: Yes! [00:12:07] Nilah: Where they talked about how they made animated films.[00:12:11] And that's when I started to learn; " Oh, people are drawing these movies." And that made, that kind of bridged things for me that you can, like that people make comics, people make animated cartoons, like people make children's books. And, I didn't understand where those illustrations came from or anything, but like seeing the process helped me connect the dots like; "Oh, I, as a person can also do this. I can, create stories with art."[00:12:44] Jarrett: And so growing, coming up then. You had art supplies you were drawing and what were your parents' reaction to that? Do they, they thought it was cute and then you'll outgrow it? Or what was that? What was that dynamic like for you? [00:13:05] Nilah: Oh, they thought it was real cute. My dad actually was known as an artist for a while.[00:13:10] He was in the military and I think... I'll have to ask my mom this. I think the story is that he actually considered going to college for art and he went into the military instead. And...[00:13:27] Jarrett: Those are two vastly opposite things![00:13:29] Nilah: Yeah. [00:13:30] Jarrett: Right?[00:13:30] Nilah: Yeah. And so he could draw as a kid, I found some of his some of his old sketches.[00:13:36] And he had a life drawing book, and he did a mural down in the basement that terrifies my nieces, now! It's this pirate face on this cinder block wall in the basement. And I guess when my nieces were growing up, this terrified them and they still don't like it. But so my dad drew and that's something I learned a little later.[00:13:59] It's not really people saw me drawing and they were like; "Oh, your father drew too." And so I learned about it that way. [00:14:07] Jarrett: Wow. [00:14:07] Nilah: My mom was a teacher, and so she would bring home reams of paper for me, and pencils, and drawing was a way to keep me quiet. So when we're at church or when we're out in public, she would just hand me and my brother like drawing supplies and we would go to town and, we would...[00:14:30] Be behaved. And so she, she liked that aspect of it. And then I got a little older and I would keep drawing and that fascinated small children. So it also kept other children quiet.[00:14:49] Everybody, everybody was like; "Yeah, Nilah! Keeping the peace, keeping everyone disciplined!" And that's all, it was for a long time until I was in high school. And I said; "Hey, I think I wanna go to art school." And then things took a turn [00:15:02] Jarrett: And they were like; "Wait a minute."[00:15:03] No, exactly. That's always the interesting thing, where it's supported. And then and it, what I've come to, to learn since years have passed since I was that age, that it comes from love. It comes from fear. Which is love for the kid of how is this kid gonna grow up to support themselves?[00:15:24] Nilah: Yeah. [00:15:24] Jarrett: Especially if it's a world that the parent or caretaker doesn't fully understand or know. Where and maybe and could be read between the lines, but, I don't never knew your dad never didn't know his childhood, but he chose what you know, was more, would be a more practical path.[00:15:39] So while that, that, like history was echoing in you then getting to that age and you went to art school, did you went to college to study art? [00:15:47] Nilah: I did. Yeah. [00:15:48] Jarrett: What, and what was your study? What did you study when you were there? [00:15:51] Nilah: Computer animation. [00:15:53] Jarrett: Oh yeah. And so animation was your... animation was like, that was your goal then?[00:15:58] Nilah: Yeah. [00:15:58] Jarrett: Yeah. [00:15:59] Nilah: Yeah. That was ever since I was 13. That was the end game for me. [00:16:04] Jarrett: And then, so you went to, you went to college and then you graduate from college and I'm sure your parents were like; "And now do you go to work at an office? Do you get a pension? Do you get a, do you get a 401k?" [00:16:16] Nilah: Yeah they didn't understand it for a long time.[00:16:19] And it didn't really materialize for a long time. And my mother was always very honest that she could offer me no advice. Cause vice cause when she was growing up, a black woman in the forties and fifties and sixties, she would say there were three options for us. Be a nurse, be a house cleaner or be a teacher.[00:16:41] And she picked teaching. Nowadays women and black women in particular have so many more options. And I would call home about my internal struggle about what I should be doing. And she'd be like; "Yeah, that sounds hard." [00:16:57] Jarrett: But she's, " I have nothing for you because I haven't walked that path,[00:17:00] other than, being a black woman who's dealt with society." And so... Right. Exactly. And so there, so yeah, there must have been so much fear. Obviously eventually... Oh yeah. You assuage those fears because you became very successful.[00:17:13] You became the first... [00:17:14] Nilah: So... [00:17:15] Jarrett: Yeah. Oh, go ahead. Go ahead. [00:17:16] Nilah: Yeah. Yeah. [00:17:16] The thing, so basically, my, my parents could never stop me. From doing what I was gonna do. And they both knew that. So they put the pressure on, but ultimately, the reason I ended up going to art school is... So we, we tried an animation, like an art trade school, art institutes, and that didn't work out.[00:17:42] And so I went with my mom's plan and did the whole four year college thing. I actually studied journalism and public relations. And when I finally went to Ringling College and studied animation, like I was an adult, I, at that point had a job. I had my own money. I had my own credit. And at this point my parents couldn't stop me.[00:18:06] So I went to art school under my own power and they just had to sit back and wait and see how things turned out. And yeah, there was a lot of fear and totally legitimate fear because we live in this culture that really doesn't support the arts as a career. [00:18:26] Jarrett: Yeah. [00:18:26] Nilah: Even now it's really hard to be an artist because, it's hard to get paid what we're worth. We're, we're still fighting this like societal image of artists as poor and free loaders and just an unnecessary expense. We're in a society where the arts in schools and arts foundations are constantly being defunded, and people don't really understand how much art and design impacts their everyday lives.[00:18:58] And and then, on top of that I think when you're a marginalized person, like your parents are always looking at where, what are the jobs? Where are the careers that people that look like us are thriving. And. That was not entertainment for black people. You don't see, you didn't see black people in those Disney specials. You... And nevermind that I was growing up on the east coast and we really didn't have an entertainment culture here, at least not in TV and film. Yeah. It's different in if you're growing up in California and you're surrounded by studios, who's working in those studios, but here, like there was no window to see where somebody with an animation degree could get a job.[00:19:43] Jarrett: And it's all, it is also, different when you're white, like growing up, I never had a search for characters that looked like me. I never had a search for seeing those specials. And so even though I was on the east coast, I was like; "Oh that's something I can do."[00:19:57] Nilah: Yeah. [00:19:58] Jarrett: But when growing up obviously that's ingrained if you don't see it. And because of your parents lived experience, there were, so there was, so the odds were so stacked against their daughter's favor and they want you to be happy and they want you to be healthy and they want you to succeed.[00:20:13] But you were UN you were unstoppable, you were just kept at it. And you had this love of art and story and you said, you, you said you studied journalism as well. So was like, what was your first paid gig as someone who put words on a paper? Was it journalism? Was it for a newspaper.[00:20:31] Nilah: It was journalism. It was, I think it was a food review. I think it was a restaurant review. Yeah. I worked toward the arts and entertainment department of a Western Maryland newspaper chain, which no longer exists sadly. But I got this job while I was in college. They were looking for interns and I got the internship.[00:20:52] And while I was interning the, the editor who hired me was like; "By the way, do you wanna do some writing?" And, looking back I'm like, what was the other part of this internship? Cuz all I remember is the writing. Like they, they definitely asked me to write in addition to interning, but I don't remember what the interning part was.[00:21:15] I do remember. The early writing gigs. And she was just like; "Hey, why don't you try doing a couple of food reviews?" And that was really cool. I got to go to restaurants and review, write a review. [00:21:27] Jarrett: Yeah. [00:21:27] Nilah: And then that summer there was there, was like a regime change at the paper and my editor rage quit.[00:21:37] And I was like; " I guess that's it for that job!" And so I was like that was fun. I worked for the newspaper for a few months. And then the editor who took our place called me and was like; "Hey, so I found your name on this list of freelance writers. Do you wanna keep writing for us?" And I was like; "Yeah, sure!"[00:21:59] and so he kept feeding me jobs and I didn't review restaurants again, but he would send me out to review gallery openings and to talk to local musicians and I speak to like local, owners of dance companies and theater companies and just this wide array of things. And I, my mom bought me a car cuz it was freaking her out.[00:22:24] I was basically walking around town at night to get to these jobs. And so she bought me a car. So I wouldn't do that. And so I was driving all around, Maryland, reviewing, like writing for this paper. And I did that for two years, through my junior and senior year of college. And then after I graduated and I did it up until the point that I got a full time job and just didn't have time anymore.[00:22:49] And yeah.[00:22:51] Jarrett: Moms are gonna mom forever. Never not gonna be your mom. Never not gonna be your mom looking out for you. And so you know that - granted you were pursuing degrees, but... it sounds like that was also like a whole other master's degree in, in learning about the arts. So you were studying... [00:23:08] Nilah: Yeah.[00:23:08] Jarrett: You were studying the stories of so many people who were you self-employed or making a go at, making a living via a non-traditional means. It's true. You must have met so many interesting people. I can't even, I'm sure that just yeah. Soaked into the fabric of who you became.[00:23:24] So what was your fulltime job? You said you had a full-time you said you had a full-time job. So you left that. What was your full-time case? [00:23:30] Nilah: I was a marketing writer for a health nonprofit. [00:23:34] Yeah. Sounds exciting. Was that super exciting? [00:23:38] Yes... [00:23:39] Jarrett: No? [00:23:39] Nilah: It was amazing. No, it was. So it was in like the DC Metro area and the commute was very long.[00:23:47] It was 70 minutes, one way. Ooh. On the DC beltway. And I'd have to leave home at, what, 4:30, 5 in the morning to get there before rush hour. And it was, it was a fine gig. This nonprofit runs a trade show. I think they do it every other year in Chicago. So while I was there, I got to go to Chicago and help coordinate this giant trade show which was actually that part was really cool.[00:24:17] It was, it was a fine job. It taught me, about the corporate space. It was pretty close to what I went to school to do. And they paid me well for a nonprofit. Like I had a competitive salary. It was, it was my first taste of money. [00:24:36] Jarrett: Yeah. Which is important to pay for things.[00:24:39] Nilah: Yeah.[00:24:40] Jarrett: like your basic needs and enjoyment for sure. [00:24:44] Nilah: And, at the time I was outlining this future and marketing and PR and that was gonna be it. But wow. I still, I still had this bug where I wanted to draw and write and working in marketing wasn't fully fulfilling it. And so I decided I wanted to give it another go.[00:25:06] I wanted to, I started just like poking at, looking at art programs, just, experimentally and ended up applying a lot faster than I thought I would and ended up going a lot faster than I thought I would. [00:25:25] Jarrett: And is that for a master's degree? Is that...[00:25:28] Nilah: No, a bachelor's. [00:25:29] Jarrett: For oh, for a bachelor's![00:25:31] Nilah: I have two bachelors and it feels so pointless.[00:25:35] Jarrett: Oh, here I am thinking like... Oh, I, my, like I'm always concerned. I'm not being a good listener... No, you went and got a second bachelors. [00:25:43] Nilah: I went and got a second. No one needs two bachelors. [00:25:45] Jarrett: Nilah Magruder. How are you? [00:25:49] Nilah: I'm doing pretty good. How are you? [00:25:52] Jarrett: Hangin', it in there Nilah, you will forever and ever be iconic in my home because your picture book, "How to Find a Fox" has been read so many times. So many times. In our home that it is held together by like scotch tape and like bubble gum.[00:26:14] Our son, we must have read that so many times. [00:26:18] Nilah: Oh my God.[00:26:18] Jarrett: Huge home run pal and I remember we met at Comics Crossroads in Ohio and we were tabling next to each other and, like we just were chatting the whole day and I'm always looking for something to bring home to the kids to make up for being gone.[00:26:31] And wow that book, man, I'm telling you like, iconic like that, that we will read that. I will read that to my grandkids, my wife and I will be reading that to our grandkids someday. So thank you for stop and a chat with us. But of course I what the show is all about of [00:26:47] course is about getting to know how creative people in comics got to be doing what they're doing.[00:26:54] And so I like to start at the very beginning cuz I, I love the idea and I also love the idea of imagine. A young author, an artist and getting to, to hear those stories directly from some of your favorite creators. My first question for you and it might really be the only question I ask and then we're gonna get into a conversation, but what was life like for you as a kid?[00:27:15] What was your home like? What was your family set up? What kind of art and stories were you consuming? What sort of laid the groundwork to create Nilah Magruder? [00:27:25] Nilah: My home life as a child, I grew up in a house in the woods in a small community back in a time where it was largely forest and largely rural.[00:27:38] And I think that had a lasting impact on how. I think visually in how I view story, the sort of stories that I'm interested in. A lot of the things I was interested at interested in as a kid were very pastoral and natural. I loved anything featuring animals and, honestly, I was isolated for a lot of my childhood.[00:28:05] This is something that you and I have in common. I had an alcoholic parent and as a kid, I didn't like to bring friends home because then they would see my dad and, whatever state that my dad was in, it was really unpredictable. I never quite knew what I was bringing friends into. So I didn't, bring friends here very much.[00:28:30] And I didn't go to friends' houses very much. And so a lot of my time was spent at home, but we were surrounded by this woodland, all of these trees and animals and so much nature. And that's really where I spent my time as a kid. Now, what I was interested in, like what I was ingesting, we had a small video rental store in the community, and this was long before Netflix.[00:29:04] This was even before Blockbuster. We didn't have a Blockbuster within driving distance. I'm not even sure if Blockbuster existed back then. And so we had this local mom and pop rental store and they would bring in videos from all over the world. A lot of imported... movies and television series.[00:29:29] And as a kid, I was interested in anything animated. If it was a cartoon, if it was drawn, I was there. And so like any cartoon that they had, I'd be like, mom, can we get this please? And I remember once I showed her one video that I hadn't watched yet, and I was like, mom, can we get this? And she looked at it, she looked at the cover and was like, no.[00:29:50] And she put it back and we never spoke of it again. and years later, like I was an adult on the internet and I saw this title called when the wind blows and I was like, oh, that's familiar. And I looked at the summary. I looked at the art from the movie and I was like, oh my God, that's it. That's that one movie that my mom wouldn't let me watch.[00:30:13] And so when the wind blows is a British animated film about nuclear fallout, And it's about it's about this couple. I think it's like a rural couple and there's this big catastrophe in England. And the government sends pamphlets out to everyone and is every, they're just like, don't panic everyone. It's fine.[00:30:40] Just stay at home. And so basically this couple they're older, they're very trusting. They're like the government knows what's best. So we'll just stay home. And eventually radiation reach reaches them and they get sick and die. [00:30:56] So... [00:30:57] Jarrett: what a prude! What a prude! What a...[00:31:00] Nilah: I know wouldn't let me. And then another time she was also a teacher and one day she brought home the animated Animal Farm.[00:31:08] Jarrett: Wow. Yeah.[00:31:09] Nilah: And, my thing is animals, of course. And she looks at me and she's do not watch this. And then she leaves it out. [00:31:17] Jarrett: Oh... [00:31:19] Nilah: And so one day when she wasn't there, I popped it in the VCR and watched it. And I think I was like nine or 10 at the time. And I loved it. So all that to say when I was a kid, I would just watch anything.[00:31:34] And so I was, and we had this rental store that would bring over anything. And so I was getting to watch animated movies from Japan and England and Russia and Canada, like Canada had a really great experimental animation program that was supported by the government. [00:31:52] Jarrett: Yeah.[00:31:52] Nilah: And so they were producing just like wild animated shorts and half the time, I didn't understand what I was watching, but because it was moving pictures, moving drawings, I was fascinated.[00:32:07] And a lot of the stuff that I look back on that I loved as a small child, it's very experimental and dark. And then I lived in this woodland that was also creepy, a lot of animals lived here and also a lot of people in the community were like fascinated cuz our home was situated secluded.[00:32:30] And so people would come drive through late at night just to, see the house or they'd, walk through, like it was a public park here. [00:32:41] Jarrett: Oh. [00:32:41] Nilah: So I had this experience as a child of just like constantly our space just constantly being invaded by strangers. And it was like scary, you're in bed at night....[00:32:57] And headlights reflected on your wall. Yeah. And you're a little kid and you're just like, oh my gosh. [00:33:04] Jarrett: Yeah. [00:33:05] Nilah: I have this, like I have this just this little, knot from my childhood, that's very, just creepy and wild and mysterious. And then I write children's books. [00:33:19] Jarrett: Yeah. It's not easy to be a creative kid who then you when you have worries, because then your creativity, which I've only realized now as an adult, like your imagination really creates scenarios in your head.[00:33:36] Nilah: Yeah![00:33:36] Jarrett: And I wanna point out to the listeners that it's remarkable. That you had access to VHS tapes of cartoons from other countries in that time period. Sometimes when I'm book touring and I talk to readers and they said; "did you love anime when you were a teenager?" And I didn't really have access to it.[00:33:55] I grew up in a suburban, urban area and my rental shop, which was another mom and pop rental shop. They didn't have that creative, curated collection. So how remarkable that, whoever it was that was down the street from you who had this, you know, who had an appetite for this flavor of creative cartoons, because otherwise you would've just been seeing like just Disney and nothing else.[00:34:21] That's, this kinda was the only game in town back then. [00:34:24] Nilah: Yeah. [00:34:24] Yeah. It is like looking back on it. I think that too, it's very odd. [00:34:29] Jarrett: Yeah. [00:34:30] Nilah: Like, how we had so many dubs at the time, but also that this little, this little spot in rural, Maryland was getting all of these videos and yeah, it was pretty, and this was before cable too.[00:34:47] Like we didn't have cable at the time, a lot of my access to animation was through this little rental shop. [00:34:56] Jarrett: Wow. Wow. And so did you love to draw before or after? Can you, or was it simultaneous love of animation and drawing for you? [00:35:06] Nilah: I think the animation came before and I always tell people that I was.[00:35:13] Bad at art at that age. And I'm talking about when I was in kindergarten, so five or six , who's good at art at that age? But it was this I was really bad at coloring in the lines. [00:35:25] Jarrett: Oh, that showed, that did show - sorry to cut you off - but all that did was show promise.[00:35:30] Nilah: Yeah.[00:35:31] Jarrett: All that did was show promise in your work. So it sounds like you had someone somewhere to say, no, you're supposed to color in the lines. And then you're like, oh, what?[00:35:38] Nilah: It was my peers, I remember sitting at a table in kindergarten and I'm coloring. And one of the little girls next to me was like, "Nilah, do you want me to do that for you?"[00:35:50] And that, that devastated me. [00:35:53] Jarrett: Yeah. [00:35:53] Nilah: And so from a very young age, I was like, wow, I have to get better at this cuz that's embarrassing. And so from five or six years old, I was just making this conscious effort to study and practice and be better at art. And my first subjects were animals cuz that's what I was interested in.[00:36:16] We had this magazine series called ZooBooks. And it was full of photos and illustrations of animals. And I would copy these, copy this art and learn animal anatomy from that. Later we got cable and I would watch discovery channel. And then I could see like animals in motion, and I love the Peanuts.[00:36:39] I love Charlie brown and Snoopy taught me how to draw animal toes. As a kid, I was, I would draw them wrong. And I knew they looked wrong, but I didn't know why. And so I would look at Snoopy's feet and how Charles Schultz drew Snoopy's feet. And I started drawing my feet more like that.[00:37:01] And... eventually, I came to understand why the way I was drawing feet before was wrong, anatomically and like that really, that really helped me take my drawings to the next level.[00:37:15] Jarrett: Yeah. [00:37:15] Nilah: And so it wasn't until much later that I really made the connection between animation and my own drawing, I just like watching cartoons and, I also love to draw.[00:37:27] And so as I got older, I, I did process drawing as a storytelling tool and would start drawing, drawing my own stories. And much, much later I got into anime, and... Also Disney started putting out those, like "Making-Of" specials [00:37:52] Jarrett: Yes! [00:37:53] Nilah: Where they talked about how they made animated films.[00:37:57] And that's when I started to learn; " Oh, people are drawing these movies." And that made, that kind of bridged things for me that you can, like that people make comics, people make animated cartoons, like people make children's books. And, I didn't understand where those illustrations came from or anything, but like seeing the process helped me connect the dots like; "Oh, I, as a person can also do this. I can, create stories with art."[00:38:30] Jarrett: And so growing, coming up then. You had art supplies you were drawing and what were your parents' reaction to that? Do they, they thought it was cute and then you'll outgrow it? Or what was that? What was that dynamic like for you? [00:38:51] Nilah: Oh, they thought it was real cute. My dad actually was known as an artist for a while.[00:38:56] He was in the military and I think... I'll have to ask my mom this. I think the story is that he actually considered going to college for art and he went into the military instead. And...[00:39:12] Jarrett: Those are two vastly opposite things![00:39:15] Nilah: Yeah. [00:39:16] Jarrett: Right?[00:39:16] Nilah: Yeah. And so he could draw as a kid, I found some of his some of his old sketches.[00:39:21] And he had a life drawing book, and he did a mural down in the basement that terrifies my nieces, now! It's this pirate face on this cinder block wall in the basement. And I guess when my nieces were growing up, this terrified them and they still don't like it. But so my dad drew and that's something I learned a little later.[00:39:45] It's not really people saw me drawing and they were like; "Oh, your father drew too." And so I learned about it that way. [00:39:52] Jarrett: Wow. [00:39:53] Nilah: My mom was a teacher, and so she would bring home reams of paper for me, and pencils, and drawing was a way to keep me quiet. So when we're at church or when we're out in public, she would just hand me and my brother like drawing supplies and we would go to town and, we would...[00:40:16] Be behaved. And so she, she liked that aspect of it. And then I got a little older and I would keep drawing and that fascinated small children. So it also kept other children quiet.[00:40:35] Everybody, everybody was like; "Yeah, Nilah! Keeping the peace, keeping everyone disciplined!" And that's all, it was for a long time until I was in high school. And I said; "Hey, I think I wanna go to art school." And then things took a turn [00:40:47] Jarrett: And they were like; "Wait a minute."[00:40:49] No, exactly. That's always the interesting thing, where it's supported. And then and it, what I've come to, to learn since years have passed since I was that age, that it comes from love. It comes from fear. Which is love for the kid of how is this kid gonna grow up to support themselves?[00:41:09] Nilah: Yeah. [00:41:10] Jarrett: Especially if it's a world that the parent or caretaker doesn't fully understand or know. Where and maybe and could be read between the lines, but, I don't never knew your dad never didn't know his childhood, but he chose what you know, was more, would be a more practical path.[00:41:25] So while that, that, like history was echoing in you then getting to that age and you went to art school, did you went to college to study art? [00:41:33] Nilah: I did. Yeah. [00:41:34] Jarrett: What, and what was your study? What did you study when you were there? [00:41:36] Nilah: Computer animation. [00:41:39] Jarrett: Oh yeah. And so animation was your... animation was like, that was your goal then?[00:41:43] Nilah: Yeah. [00:41:44] Jarrett: Yeah. [00:41:44] Nilah: Yeah. That was ever since I was 13. That was the end game for me. [00:41:50] Jarrett: And then, so you went to, you went to college and then you graduate from college and I'm sure your parents were like; "And now do you go to work at an office? Do you get a pension? Do you get a, do you get a 401k?" [00:42:02] Nilah: Yeah they didn't understand it for a long time.[00:42:04] And it didn't really materialize for a long time. And my mother was always very honest that she could offer me no advice. Cause vice cause when she was growing up, a black woman in the forties and fifties and sixties, she would say there were three options for us. Be a nurse, be a house cleaner or be a teacher.[00:42:27] And she picked teaching. Nowadays women and black women in particular have so many more options. And I would call home about my internal struggle about what I should be doing. And she'd be like; "Yeah, that sounds hard." [00:42:43] Jarrett: But she's, " I have nothing for you because I haven't walked that path,[00:42:46] other than, being a black woman who's dealt with society." And so... Right. Exactly. And so there, so yeah, there must have been so much fear. Obviously eventually... Oh yeah. You assuage those fears because you became very successful.[00:42:59] You became the first... [00:43:00] Nilah: So... [00:43:00] Jarrett: Yeah. Oh, go ahead. Go ahead. [00:43:01] Nilah: Yeah. Yeah. [00:43:02] The thing, so basically, my, my parents could never stop me. From doing what I was gonna do. And they both knew that. So they put the pressure on, but ultimately, the reason I ended up going to art school is... So we, we tried an animation, like an art trade school, art institutes, and that didn't work out.[00:43:27] And so I went with my mom's plan and did the whole four year college thing. I actually studied journalism and public relations. And when I finally went to Ringling College and studied animation, like I was an adult, I, at that point had a job. I had my own money. I had my own credit. And at this point my parents couldn't stop me.[00:43:52] So I went to art school under my own power and they just had to sit back and wait and see how things turned out. And yeah, there was a lot of fear and totally legitimate fear because we live in this culture that really doesn't support the arts as a career. [00:44:12] Jarrett: Yeah. [00:44:12] Nilah: Even now it's really hard to be an artist because, it's hard to get paid what we're worth. We're, we're still fighting this like societal image of artists as poor and free loaders and just an unnecessary expense. We're in a society where the arts in schools and arts foundations are constantly being defunded, and people don't really understand how much art and design impacts their everyday lives.[00:44:44] And and then, on top of that I think when you're a marginalized person, like your parents are always looking at where, what are the jobs? Where are the careers that people that look like us are thriving. And. That was not entertainment for black people. You don't see, you didn't see black people in those Disney specials. You... And nevermind that I was growing up on the east coast and we really didn't have an entertainment culture here, at least not in TV and film. Yeah. It's different in if you're growing up in California and you're surrounded by studios, who's working in those studios, but here, like there was no window to see where somebody with an animation degree could get a job.[00:45:29] Jarrett: And it's all, it is also, different when you're white, like growing up, I never had a search for characters that looked like me. I never had a search for seeing those specials. And so even though I was on the east coast, I was like; "Oh that's something I can do."[00:45:43] Nilah: Yeah. [00:45:44] Jarrett: But when growing up obviously that's ingrained if you don't see it. And because of your parents lived experience, there were, so there was, so the odds were so stacked against their daughter's favor and they want you to be happy and they want you to be healthy and they want you to succeed.[00:45:59] But you were UN you were unstoppable, you were just kept at it. And you had this love of art and story and you said, you, you said you studied journalism as well. So was like, what was your first paid gig as someone who put words on a paper? Was it journalism? Was it for a newspaper.[00:46:16] Nilah: It was journalism. It was, I think it was a food review. I think it was a restaurant review. Yeah. I worked toward the arts and entertainment department of a Western Maryland newspaper chain, which no longer exists sadly. But I got this job while I was in college. They were looking for interns and I got the internship.[00:46:38] And while I was interning the, the editor who hired me was like; "By the way, do you wanna do some writing?" And, looking back I'm like, what was the other part of this internship? Cuz all I remember is the writing. Like they, they definitely asked me to write in addition to interning, but I don't remember what the interning part was.[00:47:01] I do remember. The early writing gigs. And she was just like; "Hey, why don't you try doing a couple of food reviews?" And that was really cool. I got to go to restaurants and review, write a review. [00:47:12] Jarrett: Yeah. [00:47:13] Nilah: And then that summer there was there, was like a regime change at the paper and my editor rage quit.[00:47:22] And I was like; " I guess that's it for that job!" And so I was like that was fun. I worked for the newspaper for a few months. And then the editor who took our place called me and was like; "Hey, so I found your name on this list of freelance writers. Do you wanna keep writing for us?" And I was like; "Yeah, sure!"[00:47:45] and so he kept feeding me jobs and I didn't review restaurants again, but he would send me out to review gallery openings and to talk to local musicians and I speak to like local, owners of dance companies and theater companies and just this wide array of things. And I, my mom bought me a car cuz it was freaking her out.[00:48:10] I was basically walking around town at night to get to these jobs. And so she bought me a car. So I wouldn't do that. And so I was driving all around, Maryland, reviewing, like writing for this paper. And I did that for two years, through my junior and senior year of college. And then after I graduated and I did it up until the point that I got a full time job and just didn't have time anymore.[00:48:35] And yeah.[00:48:37] Jarrett: Moms are gonna mom forever. Never not gonna be your mom. Never not gonna be your mom looking out for you. And so you know that - granted you were pursuing degrees, but... it sounds like that was also like a whole other master's degree in, in learning about the arts. So you were studying... [00:48:54] Nilah: Yeah.[00:48:54] Jarrett: You were studying the stories of so many people who were you self-employed or making a go at, making a living via a non-traditional means. It's true. You must have met so many interesting people. I can't even, I'm sure that just yeah. Soaked into the fabric of who you became.[00:49:10] So what was your fulltime job? You said you had a full-time you said you had a full-time job. So you left that. What was your full-time case? [00:49:15] Nilah: I was a marketing writer for a health nonprofit. [00:49:20] Yeah. Sounds exciting. Was that super exciting? [00:49:24] Yes... [00:49:24] Jarrett: No? [00:49:25] Nilah: It was amazing. No, it was. So it was in like the DC Metro area and the commute was very long.[00:49:33] It was 70 minutes, one way. Ooh. On the DC beltway. And I'd have to leave home at, what, 4:30, 5 in the morning to get there before rush hour. And it was, it was a fine gig. This nonprofit runs a trade show. I think they do it every other year in Chicago. So while I was there, I got to go to Chicago and help coordinate this giant trade show which was actually that part was really cool.[00:50:03] It was, it was a fine job. It taught me, about the corporate space. It was pretty close to what I went to school to do. And they paid me well for a nonprofit. Like I had a competitive salary. It was, it was my first taste of money. [00:50:22] Jarrett: Yeah. Which is important to pay for things.[00:50:25] Nilah: Yeah.[00:50:25] Jarrett: like your basic needs and enjoyment for sure. [00:50:30] Nilah: And, at the time I was outlining this future and marketing and PR and that was gonna be it. But wow. I still, I still had this bug where I wanted to draw and write and working in marketing wasn't fully fulfilling it. And so I decided I wanted to give it another go.[00:50:52] I wanted to, I started just like poking at, looking at art programs, just, experimentally and ended up applying a lot faster than I thought I would and ended up going a lot faster than I thought I would. [00:51:11] Jarrett: And is that for a master's degree? Is that...[00:51:13] Nilah: No, a bachelor's. [00:51:15] Jarrett: For oh, for a bachelor's![00:51:16] Nilah: I have two bachelors and it feels so pointless.[00:51:21] Jarrett: Oh, here I am thinking like... Oh, I, my, like I'm always concerned. I'm not being a good listener... No, you went and got a second bachelors. [00:51:28] Nilah: I went and got a second. No one needs two bachelors.  [00:00:00] Jarrett: So hold up, you went and got a second bachelor's degree. Like...[00:00:05] Nilah: I went and got a second bachelor's.[00:00:07] Jarrett: And in what? So your first bachelor, your first bachelor's was in computer animation. [00:00:12] Nilah: My first bachelor's was in... Communications. [00:00:17] Oh...[00:00:18] Yeah.[00:00:19] Jarrett: I see. Then yeah. Two bachelors, but they're completely different.[00:00:22] Nilah: Completely different. [00:00:23] Jarrett: And what a different experience too, of being, an older student you're not fresh out of high school, you I'm sure you, your approach to the academics and what you were learning were so different, right? [00:00:35] Nilah: Yeah. Honestly, I was an older student both times.[00:00:39] I, I skipped a year when I when I graduated high school, me and my mom fought over the art school thing. And then I ended up not going to college that first year. And so I was older when I went to that first four year college, hood college. It was actually a women's college at the time.[00:00:56] So I was entering, I think at 19 instead of 18. And then when I went to Ringling, I was 25. So I was... Much, not the oldest adult student there, but I was older than all the 18 year olds coming in. Yeah. And it, it definitely, it's a different perspec- perspective for sure. This was not my first career attempt, it wasn't, at 18, like there's so much pressure to choose a career, choose it now and go to college for that career and stay in that career.[00:01:28] So you can pay back those student loans. And I didn't have that. I, animation was like I had my plan B already. I had my fallback career. Like I had my degree in marketing that I could always fall back on if the animation thing didn't work out. So animation was just like a fully like personal choice that I was making.[00:01:52] Jarrett: Yeah. [00:01:53] Nilah: Everything I did at that point, I, I did it as, a fully consenting adult. [00:01:58] Jarrett: And you, so then you had your second graduation and your family; "Didn't we do this seven years ago?" And... [00:02:05] Nilah: Yeah. [00:02:05] Jarrett: So you're like launching into the world a whole second time. That's like a caterpillar becoming a butterfly twice.[00:02:12] Yeah. [00:02:13] Nilah: Yeah. It was very it was very interesting. [00:02:16] Jarrett: Yeah! [00:02:16] Nilah: But... [00:02:17] Jarrett: Yeah so you, but you wow, but amazing that you had the foresight to say; "Okay, let me reset. Let me really follow the passion." Like you...[00:02:27] Nilah: Yeah. [00:02:27] Jarrett: And you learned a lot in that corporate space too, because we're artists.[00:02:31] But we still have to deal with the corporations who publish the work or help promote the work. So what was your, so then what was your first paid gig after getting a degree in animation? [00:02:42] Nilah: My first paid gig was in publishing because I couldn't get an animation job. I entered Ringling at the start of the recession.[00:02:50] Leading up to 2006, 2007, all of the feedback coming out of Ringling was come to this school and you'll get a high paid job in animation and... [00:03:06] Jarrett: Speaking of marketing. [00:03:10] Nilah: Right. And then I entered Ringling that, that year, 2007, And like we're in school, we're just watching on the news, all the jobs dry up.[00:03:24] Jarrett: Oh. [00:03:24] Nilah: And so it was basically for all of us, it was like this three or four year, wait to see, will there be jobs when we get out. And for me there wasn't. So my first job out of Ringling, I graduated in 2010, was a publisher in Maryland. And I was falling back on my previous career for that, I had, because of my earlier experiences, I had the credentials for this job.[00:03:56] I stayed for seven months. It was, it was a position that ended up being, not as advertised. And... [00:04:06] Jarrett: Yeah, yeah. [00:04:07] Nilah: And during this year that I was home was, it was difficult. My aunt died that year. And so my family needed me at home, but also so it reignited that fear my mom had of me leaving.[00:04:24] And so I was really trying to stay in Maryland. And at the same time, like there was just this thought in my head that I hadn't given animation, like a full try. Like I was trying to find work while being at home. Cuz I, I had nowhere else to go knowing that all of the work was in California. And no one would hire me here in Maryland, because most places they wanted someone right away.[00:04:59] And like, why hire someone in Maryland and wait for them to move out when you can just hire one of these thousands of people hanging around LA looking for work. So I ended up just packing all my things into my car and moving to LA that summer 2000 that fall 2011. And so at this point I'd been out of school for over a year and still did not have a job in animation.[00:05:31] And I was writing completely on my savings and the savings. Once I got to LA the savings dried up very quickly, I was completely broke and I was applying everywhere. And getting, getting nowhere. I got so desperate that I was applying for retail and that wasn't working out either. I couldn't, it was so dry.[00:05:55] I couldn't even get a retail job. I applied for a, an unpaid internship and I didn't get that either. I couldn't even get a job where I worked for free. And I was ready to throw in the towel, but I didn't have enough money to afford to move back home.[00:06:20] Jarrett: You couldn't afford to even buy the towel to throw it at that point.[00:06:23] Nilah: Yeah. [00:06:24] Yeah. Like my mom start, my mom was paying my rent. [00:06:27] Jarrett: Yeah. [00:06:28] Nilah: And she could have barely afford that. Like my parents were both retired and in January, 2012, I... I happened to see a listing on Ringling's job website for a little company in Burbank. And I got an interview there. They were, they did mostly live action work, but they were hiring their first in-house artist.[00:06:58] And the company was run by Florida state alums. I think it's Florida state. I can't remember now wow it's been a while, but oh, that's embarrassing if they watch this. But they had this Florida connection. So they, when they were hiring for this position, they decided to put a listing on the Ringling job site because Ringling is also in Florida, and I got the job.[00:07:26] Jarrett: Yes![00:07:26] Nilah: And that was my first LA job. It was the company is called Soapbox Films. and at the time they were doing a lot of like marketing and live action production, mainly for Disney. So if you ever heard of like Movie Surfers in like the early two thousands, I think they, the Disney channel had this program called Movie Surfers and Soapbox, like back in that day, Soapbox was the one developing that.[00:08:01] Jarrett: Yeah. [00:08:02] Nilah: They do a lot of production with the Muppets. They're one of a handful of studios in LA that are equipped to work with the Muppets. [00:08:10] Jarrett: Whoa. That's not an easy thing to get.[00:08:13] Nilah: Yeah, and they do what is called toolkit for animated films. Toolkit is like just it's a package of assets that the studios will use to advertise their animated films and to develop toolkit.[00:08:32] You need a storyboard artist and that's what they hired me for. [00:08:39] Jarrett: That's fantastic. So now you're getting paid to draw pictures that tell stories. [00:08:44] Nilah: Yeah. [00:08:44] Finally getting paid, just draw pictures. [00:08:47] Jarrett: You're on your way moving right along Fozzie and Kermit saying as they're driving across country. [00:08:52] Nilah: Yeah. [00:08:53] Jarrett: Oh man. And so that must have, that must have led to other things, right? [00:08:57] Nilah: It allowed me to stay in LA. [00:08:59] Jarrett: Yeah. [00:08:59] Nilah: They were, this was this was the conflict My time at Soapbox was great. I stayed there for three years, but it wasn't, it allowed me to tread water in Los Angeles, but it wasn't a stepping stone really to the next thing, because everything that I did there was so specific to what Soapbox did.[00:09:24] It didn't translate well to other jobs at other studios. So I couldn't use anything I was doing there in my portfolio. So if I wanted to, if I wanted to work in TV and film, which was still the goal, I had to develop my portfolio pieces outside of work. At this time I was, I had my day job at [00:09:50] Soapbox, but I was also still figuring out what is my career though.[00:09:55] Yeah. And there were times like I'd go through this cycle at Soapbox where I would try really hard to get out. So I'd be submitting my storyboarding portfolio to other studios and nothing would materialize. And I'd give up after six months and I'd say, you know what, let me just hunker down and focus on my time here at Soapbox.[00:10:17] And maybe this can become a long term career. And so I would really like put all of my energy into being like the best Soapbox employee I could be. And then after six months, I'd be like; "I can't take this. I can't do this anymore. I have to get out." And so I'd re-up and put all of my energy into storyboard portfolio stuff and try again.[00:10:43] And I did this for three years and meanwhile I fell into comics in children's books a little bit. Cause at this point, I was so desperate for money I was so desperate. Like I was just like clinging on by my fingernails. And I just needed something to work. And so I was, utilizing the skills I had, which were basically writing and drawing.[00:11:11] And I started a web comic and I started, I joined society of children's book, writers and illustrators, so I could learn how to make children's books. And I was doing picture book dumies and trying to write novels and looking for an agent and drawing this web comic in my spare time outside of Soapbox.[00:11:34] And, also, putting storyboard portfolios together. And so I did this for three years and then finally in 2015, everything changed. I submitted my web comic to the Dwayne McDuffy award for diversity and won that. I... [00:11:55] Jarrett: And hold on. You were the inaugural winner too! [00:11:58] Nilah: I was the inaugural winner.[00:12:00] Jarrett: You were the first person ever to win that award. [00:12:02] Nilah: It was bonkers. Yeah. I, and I was so used to losing at that point that and the competition was so stiff. I was like, I got nominated. And I was like that was a fun experience, but I'm never gonna win a little web comic with a very small following is not gonna win against all these like actual comics.[00:12:28] I was up against Ms. Marvel, and I believe Shaft by David Walker, and Hex 11. And I was just like, that's the end of the road. And, but it won MFK one. [00:12:41] Jarrett: Yeah. [00:12:41] Nilah: And it, it was the start of a very different... It was the start of things for me. [00:12:47] Jarrett: Yeah. Yeah. And and I do think film, and graphic novels, they do have a lot in common.[00:12:53] I look to film to inspire how I, I write my graphic novels and yeah. I have to say so a couple months ago, I was just, just binge watching some shows on Disney plus and they have this show that's about the history of Marvel. And then there was one episode about the women of Marvel and the women who've written for Marvel and how certainly they were there in the beginning, but they weren't necessarily writing the stories.[00:13:18] They were, they, it was everything back then in the world of comics, like most of the world too, and most of the country was, chauvinistic. And so I'm just watching and I'm so fascinated hearing these stories of these pioneers. And then you pop up on the show. I was like, wait a minute.[00:13:36] I don't need to see the, I didn't need to see the little name at the bottom. Like I know that's Nilah. And you became the first black woman to write for Marvel comics. [00:13:47] Nilah: Isn't that bonkers, like... [00:13:50] Jarrett: It is bonkers! Tell me about that. Tell me about your mom's reaction because there is something you said in something you'd said in the show was something about your back in the day.[00:14:05] Was it like your mom's was your mom's friends giving her flack or something? [00:14:09] Nilah: Oh yeah. [00:14:10] Yeah. I don't even know if I've told my mom that I'm the first black writer for Marvel, because some things I say about my career just mean nothing to her. [00:14:18] So... But... [00:14:21] Jarrett: Like I said: moms are gonna, mom.[00:14:23] Nilah: Moms are gonna mom.[00:14:24] Jarrett: No matter what.[00:14:26] Nilah: But, I didn't realize the extent of this coming up, but when I decided to go down this path like my mom's older black lady, friends in, Maryland middle class, Maryland were really judgey about it. And like one of them once asked me because I, the art school thing had not yet materialized.[00:14:46] And she was like; "Oh, so are you finally over that art hobby yet?"[00:14:51] Jarrett: Oof. [00:14:53] Nilah: And I, I didn't realize this either, but there's this other family friend that we don't speak to anymore. And I thought that we just drifted apart, but turns out like going to art school was like a point of contention for her.[00:15:08] Jarrett: Wow. [00:15:08] Nilah: And. And it's such a weird thing to think about that she would distance herself from our entire family over, over a personal choice that I made. [00:15:17] Jarrett: It's not witchcraft! It's not witch... I mean like sacrificing rabbits on the full moon or something. I don't...[00:15:24] Nilah: Right.. It's, yeah, but... [00:15:27] Jarrett: Wow. Wow. [00:15:29] Nilah: So like my mother, wasn't telling me about this.[00:15:33] She wasn't telling me that like her friends were coming down hard on her and she had to defend me [00:15:41] Jarrett: Wow![00:15:41] Nilah: And defend my choices. But when I started working for Dreamworks and Disney, she finally got her vindication, cuz she would say; "Hey, my kid works at Disney now." And they understood that. [00:15:55] Jarrett: Yes they, they certainly did.[00:15:57] Nilah: Yeah. [00:15:57] Jarrett: And run us through some of your credits of, cause I know you from the book world and I know that you've done stuff for Dreamworks and Disney, but what kind of jobs have you done over these years? [00:16:07] Nilah: So I was a storyboard revisionist on Dino Trucks at Dreamworks, and Dino Trucks is a Netflix show.[00:16:17] You can watch it on Netflix. It's just what it sounds like. It's dinosaur trucks. And it's based on a children's book.[00:16:23] Jarrett: And it's based on a children's book. You can't escape now. We're bringing you over just the same. You're in this publishing game too! [00:16:32] Nilah: At Disney, I hopped onto Tangled, the series. [00:16:36] Jarrett: Oh.[00:16:37] Nilah: Which is based on the movie. [00:16:38] Jarrett: Yeah. We love that show in my house. What did you do then? [00:16:41] Nilah: Yeah. [00:16:41] Jarrett: What did you do on the show? [00:16:43] Nilah: I was also a storyboard revisionist there. And so storyboard revisionists... They're basically the support team for storyboard artists. So they, the storyboard artists do their thing and storyboard revisionists help make sure that the storyboards are ready for the next process in the pipeline.[00:17:04] Jarrett: Okay. [00:17:05] Nilah: So we it's a lot of drawing. It's a lot of support drawing just to, to tighten things up for the animators. God what happened next? I was a writer for Cannon Busters produced by LaSean Thomas. [00:17:21] Jarrett: Wow.[00:17:22] Nilah: I was a writer for Polly Pocket.[00:17:27] Jarrett: Nice. [00:17:27] Nilah: Which is based on... [00:17:29] Iconic!. [00:17:30] Yeah. Yeah. Poly pocket is still around [00:17:33] Jarrett: Iconic. That's wild. Yeah. And you illustrated the Rick Riordan and Heroes of Olympus books too. [00:17:42] Nilah: Yeah![00:17:43] Jarrett: Goodness like that is huge. For you, you don't get bigger in publishing than Rick Riordan. [00:17:50] Nilah: It's true. Yeah.[00:17:52] Jarrett: And, And animals and fantasy. And you illustrated the covers for our friend Daniel Jose Older, the Dactyl Hill Squad books.[00:18:01] Nilah: That was my first time drawing dinosaurs in my life. [00:18:05] Jarrett: Really? I, would've never known that. I had never known that. [00:18:08] Nilah: Aside from Dino Trucks, but that was a very different thing. [00:18:11] Jarrett: Yeah. Those are more trucks than dinosaurs, right? Yeah. [00:18:13] Nilah: Yeah. It was wild. Like I had to learn dinosaur anatomy. [00:18:18] Jarrett: And so where in, where did all of that did Marvel come calling? [00:18:21] Nilah: So back in 2016, I think it all happened very fast. This was after the Dwayne McDuffy award and I never got a clear answer on how they found me. It might have been Twitter, but an editor from Marvel reached out one day and said; "Hey, would you like to write a short story for us on this new series called the Year of Marvels?" And they pitched a Rocket Raccoon -Tippy-Toe Squirrel team up and of course animals.[00:18:59] Jarrett: Yeah. [00:19:00] Nilah: So...[00:19:00] Jarrett: It's your wheelhouse! [00:19:01] Nilah: Yeah. Yeah. So I took it of course. And that kind of got things rolling. Once you're, once you write for a Marvel you're in the Marvel family. So...[00:19:09] Jarrett: Yeah. [00:19:10] Nilah: I didn't, I did that and didn't, work with them for a long while after that. And so it just so happened. I didn't know this at the time I was completely unprepared. But that ended up being their first writing credit by a black woman. And so 70 years into Marvel's history and it was just this little short di

Greetings, Leaders.  Someone once said, "Timing is everything in life and business." What would you say is the value of timing in life and business? What role does timing play in your reaching the goals you set and fulfilling your vision? What actions can we take to understand the impact of timing on our lives? How will we benefit from understanding the importance of timing in life, career, and business?  These are some of the questions and answers we will seek during the coming weeks as we examine the lives of great leaders and their responses to timing in life and career.  It all begins with vision and purpose for our lives.  Regardless of age, a person needs to have a vision for life and career.  The power of the vision with purpose will sustain us when difficulties come. That is why, from ancient times, we have been encouraged to write out our vision and move forward in life.  "Write the vision and engrave it plainly on clay tablets So that the one who reads it will run. The vision is for the appointed [future] time. It hurries toward fulfillment; it will not fail. Even though it delays, wait patiently for it because it will certainly come; it will not delay."   Taking the time to think through and write out what you believe is your worthy destination in life is vital. Having a conviction about your goal is essential - knowing that you are in the right place, doing the right things at the right time with the right motives. My daughter and granddaughter gave me a Charlie Brown and Linus birthday card. Even Charlie Brown in Charles Schultz's "Peanuts" comic strip has a point of view as he reflects with his best friend Linus regarding the timing of his journey in life. Charlie says, "For everything, there is a season and a time for every matter under heaven." Observation can reveal timeless insights.  For example, the farmer knows the right time to plant and the expected harvest time through careful lessons taught in nature.  I am sure each of us can think of examples where it is evident that timing is essential. The farmer also knows that he needs to exercise faith in what he knows to be right about sowing and reaping. We, too, can expect, anticipate, and prepare for our harvest to come at just the right time.   Be encouraged!   Keep moving forward by faith! Victory! 

Charles has always been enthusiastic about the pursuit of excellence, both personally and coaching others. This pursuit started early in life as an athlete. Charles had a constant drive to improve that led to him having a high level of success in baseball. Inspired by his high school coach he learned the value of committing himself to a goal and improving slowly over time. The power of trusting the process led Charles to become a division 1 baseball player at Youngstown State University where he was a 1st Team Freshman All-American, as well as a member of the first team to reach the NCAA tournament in school history. Charles still sits in the top ten of several offensive categories in school history. Since completing his playing career he has continued to work with young up and coming athletes through training and coaching. Since 2007 Charles has trained and coached hundreds of athletes, helping many to achieve their dream of playing in college. It's through training and coaching that Charles has discovered his true passion which is to teach and help others discover the greatness within themselves. Charles hopes to continue to develop as a leader and inspire the next generation of athlete and coach to become excellent in every aspect of their development. Charles lives with his wife and two kids in the Columbus, OH area where he is the founder and co-owner of Alchemy Sports Performance. Social Media Handles: https://www.facebook.com/edgeofgreatnessproject https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCyJSZK07ki5-eywRGIZmw7g https://www.instagram.com/edge_of_greatness_project/ https://twitter.com/Coach_Schultz  

Peanuts cartoonist Charles Schultz offered this piece of advice to the next generation: "learn to laugh at yourself." Cartoonist Will Wilson has taken that lesson to heart. His syndicated comic "Wallace the Brave" appears in more than 100 newspapers nationwide. But the inspiration for it is found closer to home in the country's smallest state. David Wright of Rhode Island PBS Weekly reports. PBS NewsHour is supported by - https://www.pbs.org/newshour/about/funders

How to Achieve Greatness in Professional BaseballCharles Schultz is the Owner of Super Fit Ohio and Edge of Greatness Podcast. Charles has always been enthusiastic about the pursuit of excellence, both personally and in coaching others. He talks about why is it important to have relationships and build connections with players.He shares why coaches should have real conversations and open the door for players to understand that all these little things that they're working on are a specific part of their journey towards their ultimate goal.He talks about how players should sacrifice to achieve excellence in the field.Learn about the importance of proper mentality before and during the game.SHOW NOTES:[2:42] What does that mean to be great?[4:01] Building a system and then following through on the system.[4:29] When you're working with athletes they obviously want to be great so how do you go about instilling that in them and making it so it's applicable to them at their age?[5:47] Do you think it's really though sacrificing some of those other things like hanging out with friends or is it more so when they're just working harder and they're more focused?[7:42] From a hitting coach standpoint right where it's like we want these guys to be confident in the box and that comes from preparation of course but it also comes from you know feeling like you're part of a group or a community and I think having friends is important too.[10:28] Did you go back your junior year to what you were doing your freshman year or did you stay course the entire the rest of the way?[11:02] Why do you think you decided to change course after your freshman?[12:52] Do you think that if you would have went to a bigger school where there's more competition and you wouldn't have been able to be comfortable?[14:55] Where were you thinking about transferring to?[16:33] There are opportunities south at smaller schools that are considered d2.[16:55] When you graduate after your senior year did you have any independent opportunities to continue playing baseball?[18:37] How important age is in professional baseball?[19:30] If you feel like you're ready to move on and you're ready to roll, and from a strength conditioning standpoint too when did that start taking place right after you got done playing?[20:22] What's it like at your facility give us some background on like how you go about what's the system like there when it comes to kids coming in to train?[21:44] What do you like better the lifting part or working with hitters?[22:26] What's the smartest thing you've ever done as a coach?[22:37] On the flip side, what's the one thing that you did as a coach that you know maybe was like a failure but you learned from it made you a better coach?[24:41] On the business side of your strength conditioning business that you have, what are some of the things that maybe have surprised you since you owned a business?[25:57] What's your vision?[30:27] High school baseball's tough.Follow Charles: WebsiteTwitter See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.