Podcasts about Hush

Today we'll talk about some of the latest handwringing by anti-gun folks with Dr John Lott from the Crime Research Prevention Center. Suppressors are big in the news and he'll give us some straight facts. In hour two we'll cover headlines and your phone calls and then finish up with Willie Waffle for our weekend movie and entertainment review.

On today's episode, we welcome Michael G. Kehoe, a filmmaker who turned a whisper of an idea into the resounding voice of a feature film. From Brooklyn to Hollywood, from an eight-year-old boy watching his mother direct community theater to a director commanding his own set, Michael's journey is one of persistence, heartbreak, and sheer creative will.In this profound conversation, Michael G. Kehoe shares the winding road of his career, one marked by passion and loss. A pact among friends, the bright lights of New York, and the uncertainty of Los Angeles formed the backdrop to his early years. But it was a personal tragedy—the untimely passing of two close friends—that set the stage for his first short film, Second Dance. With no roadmap but a fierce determination, he crafted a story that not only resonated but landed him in the heart of Sundance, proving that even the smallest project can open the biggest doors.The journey didn't stop there.Years later, inspired by his twin boys' innocent bedtime fears, he penned a horror story that would eventually become The Hatred. Rather than waiting for a green light from the industry, he carved his own path. He created Hush, a short film that distilled the very essence of fear—the anticipation of the unknown. The reaction was immediate. Audiences jumped, festivals awarded, and industry heavyweights, including the producers behind Halloween, took notice. The lesson? The industry rewards those who show, not just tell.But success in Hollywood is rarely a straight road. Shooting The Hatred on a tight budget and an even tighter schedule meant adapting, improvising, and making every shot count. “Poverty breeds creativity,” Michael says, a testament to the resilience needed in independent filmmaking. Working with a largely female cast, he crafted a horror film that stood apart from the blood-soaked clichés, focusing instead on atmosphere, character, and tension. The result? A film that paid homage to the horror classics of the past while carving its own identity in the present.Of course, filmmaking is a collaborative art. Michael speaks of the relationships that make the journey worthwhile—the actors who return to work with him time and again, the cinematographers who bring his visions to life, and the producers who take a chance on passion over pedigree. “Surround yourself with people smarter than you,” he advises. A lesson as true for life as it is for film.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/bulletproof-screenwriting-podcast--2881148/support.

After ten years of sexual abuse by her stepfather, Nicole Braddock Bromley found the courage to disclose to her mother at 14 years old. Though she encountered a receptive and supportive response from her mother, the trauma of abuse and subsequent events created deep wounds. Speaker/author/survivor and internationally recognized advocate for sexual abuse and trafficking victims, Nicole shares how she has turned her wounds into scars and became a model for healing, finding forgiveness, and using storytelling to transform lives.

When Rodger Kennedy was 17 years old, he dropped out of high school. He worked to survive on his own.   Over a decade later, right before Rodger turned 30, he decided to get his GED. He wanted to prove a point to his son Sam.  “I did it to show them that it's never too late to follow through and finish that goal,” Rodger said. In this week’s episode, we finish our three-part series on OPB’s “Class of 2025.” It’s a project we created back in 2012 when former Oregon governor John Kitzhaber declared the ambitious goal of one-hundred percent graduation by 2025.    That’s when OPB decided to document the stories of a kindergarten class on their journey all the way through high school: to capture what it’s like to grow up in the Oregon education system, and all the other life experiences that make us who we are along the way. Thirteen years after Kitzhaber’s State of the State address, one-hundred percent high school graduation is no longer the goal.    Today, we tell the stories of the unsung heroes we’ve met along the way: the parents and guardians of the class of 2025 students.    Education reporter Elizabeth Miller tells us the story of Rodger and his son Sam, plus all the other ways parents have impacted their kids in the project.    For more Evergreen episodes and to share your voice with us, visit our showpage. Follow OPB on Instagram, and follow host Jenn Chávez too. You can sign up for OPB’s newsletters to get what you need in your inbox regularly.   Don’t forget to check out our many podcasts, which can be found on any of your favorite podcast apps: Hush  Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars Politics Now Think Out Loud And many more! Check out our full show list here.

In this episode you discover the true meaning and origin of the saying, "Dead Ringer". You also learn the false persistent myth - spread on Facebook - as to the origin of the phrase.Word of the day: Rubicon. Definition and history shared in episode.---Sources:"Phrase origins linked to burials is dead wrong" by David Williams. AAP FactCheck. Link: https://www.aap.com.au/factcheck/phrase-origins-linked-to-burials-is-dead-wrong/"A Dead Ringer". Phrase Finder. Link: https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/dead-ringer.html---Host:Stephen Carter - Website: https://StressReliefRadio.com - Email: CarterMethod@gmail.com---Technical information:Recorded with Audio Hijack. Edits with Twisted Wave, Audacity (noise reduction, click removal), Amadeus Pro, Hush, and Levelator. Final edits and renderting with Hindenburg Pro to include generic voice profiler. Microphone: SE DynaCaster DCM8.---Key words:rubicon, crossing_the_rubicon, graveyard_shift, saved_by_the_bell,

Welcome to the Celestial Insights Podcast, the show that brings the stars down to Earth! Each week, astrologer, coach, and intuitive Celeste Brooks of Astrology by Celeste will be your guide. Her website is astrologybyceleste.com.  

Quaranteam – Book 1: Part 7 The ramifications of Covington's poker game play out.. Based on a post by CorruptingPower, in 25 parts. Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels. Chapter 19 The decision was made that whoever was dealing would sit out for those five hands and simply focus on the dealing. They also drew cards for seating order, lowest card dealing first, highest card starting with the big blind and the second highest being the small blind. Andy drew low card, which didn't bother him at all. It would be a chance to watch the others without having to divide his attention between his cards and his opponents. "So I can't help but notice that you said even the last place person takes home a woman," Andy said as he took his seat in the dealer's chair, "but your count doesn't have someone for sixth place. So which is it?" While he started to deal cards out to the players, Covington sighed, nodding. "I know, Andrew, I know. There is, in fact, a thirteenth girl in the pool, but I don't think anyone would want to take her over the other lovely women we have presented." He grabbed his phone from his pocket, tapping it to load up a picture. "She arrived on my doorstep last week, but when I told her what was expected of being part of my house, she refused. So I locked her up and she's been stewing, but even in her sexual frenzy, she's still refusing me, so I will give her as a prize to the person who comes in last." "Any woman in the pool should be in the pool, if you ask me," Andy said, dealing the last card. The man passed his phone over to Andy, a photograph of her on the screen. "If you insist, Andrew, then I suppose that will be fine. She is an athlete of some kind, and was supposed to be going to the Olympic Games, so she is quite fit, but she is extremely willful and stubborn, so she may be more trouble than she's worth." Once the cards were out, Andrew picked up the man's phone and looked down at the picture, recognizing her immediately. "Yeah, that's Piper Brown," Andy said. "She's a member of the woman's volleyball team. Hell, I think she won a gold medal in the last Olympics." He passed the phone over to Watkins, who looked and then passed the phone down the line, so everyone could get a look at her. A muscular, toned brunette with a stern look in the photograph, it was a marked change of how she often seemed in interviews, where she seemed warm and inviting. She looked like she wanted to beat the shit out of whoever was taking the picture, and the room she was in seemed spartan at best, barely more than a closet. "She definitely goes into the pool if you don't want her." "Agreed," Watkins said. "I'd likely take her over several of the other women on offer." "Even with her being a pain in the ass?" Covington asked. "Not all of us have such draconian house rules as you, Artie." Covington shrugged, then glanced at his hole cards. "Then into the pool she goes, I suppose. Check." The thing about televised poker is that many viewers don't realize is that the show is almost always a collection of highlights over a longer event, and that about sixty percent of poker hands have little to no action, other than the two players who have blinds in the pool debating which of them has the less crappy hand. Over the first five hands, only about a few thousand in chips changed hands, and Andy's first read felt like it was going to stand. Covington and Watkins were good card players, Vikovic played loose, Jacobson played tight and Haunton was an "any two'll do" kind of player, who was going to throw money into the pot on pretty much any hand with his tells written large across his face. After the fifth hand, Andy moved from the dealer's seat to his own chair and Covington moved to sit down at the dealer's seat. His first hand out, Andy drew Jack Ten suited in hearts, so he decided to stick around in the hand, since he was already the big blind. "Raise, one thousand." It was a bet designed to scare off anyone who didn't have a decent hand, but to Andy's amusement, all four other players decided they wanted to see a flop, so everyone called him. He was a little surprised to see Jacobson staying in, but he suspected the table might just be collectively testing the new guy. With the pot right, Covington deal out the three cards of the flop, nine of spades, seven of hearts and the queen of hearts. That gave Andy both an open ended straight draw and a flush draw, although he didn't have either the king or ace of hearts, so that made him a little nervous, but he decided he wanted to take the measure of his opponents, so he pushed another two thousand into the pot. Haunton and Jacobson both stayed in, but Watkins and Vikovic both folded, leaving three people in the game. The next card, the turn, did absolutely nothing to the board, a 2 of clubs. Technically, Andy was holding nothing, but he felt like his odds were decent to make something out of it at the river, and he wanted to come out guns blazing. So he decided to trap, and checked. Jacobson also checked, but Haunton thought he smelled weakness, so he added another thousand to the pot, a string bet designed to just pull a little more money out of what he thought was opponents in a weak position. Andy suspected the man was holding top pair, or maybe three queens if he was lucky, but he thought that Haunton would've thrown a lot more into the pot if he'd flopped trips, so Andy called, and Jacobson decided to fold, leaving just the two of them in the pot. The final card, the river, flopped and Andy felt the smile he was stifling behind his eyes. The King of Diamonds. He'd made his straight, and there wasn't a flush on the board. The worst he could do was split the pot. And Andy knew exactly what Haunton was going to do, so Andy simply checked. Haunton figured he had Andy on the ropes, so he pushed five thousand into the pot, and Andy smirked a little bit, and raised another five thousand in return. Haunton flinched visibly, but at this point, decided he was pot committed and clearly wanted to know whether or not Andy was bluffing, so after a minute or so of deliberation, he called. "Straight, king high," Andy said, flipping over the cards. Haunton flipped over the cards, even though he didn't have to, revealing that he'd stayed in with two pair, queens and kings. "Damn, you got me, new fish." The stack of chips was pushed over in Andy's direction, and Andy nodded. He'd just taken nearly twenty percent of Haunton's stack on the first hand. It might have been too strong an opening, but sometimes you just had to play the cards as they laid. For the next hour or so, players took turns mostly slowly redistributing the chips, although towards the end of the hour, Haunton made a very bad odds call, and went all in on two pair against Covington, who had limped into the pot and flopped trip deuces. Because Haunton had figured his two pair was rock solid, he groaned when Covington turned up his cards and took Haunton out of the game. Without so much as missed a beat, Haunton immediately said "Rebuy." A note was made and another stack of chips was brought forth and put in front of him. "Last place tonight's like not even playing at all, so might as well give it another go. Besides, I want to at least finish third one of these nights." He was next in line for small blind, so counted out the amount needed. "I wouldn't bank on that, the way you're playing," Andy said to him. "You need to learn how to evaluate your hand better, and stop making such loose wagers." "Shh," Covington said to him. "Nobody likes being told how to play better, Andrew." "Speak for yourself, Artie," Watkins said. "The minute you stop moving forward, you might as well be dead. Any tips for me, Andy?" he asked with a glimmer in his eye. "Yeah," Andy said, counting out his big blind. "Quit playing with your food so much. It's unbecoming. You had the mayor dead to rights two hands ago and everyone at the table knew it, and you still spent at least a minute's worth of all our time making a show out of it before you called him" Watkins, who was taking a turn at dealer, chuckled. "I see your point, although I do need to take my fun here and there when I can." "Fun has no place is business or poker," Vikovic said, glancing at his hole cards before matching the big blind. "I'm in." Covington and Jacobson stayed in, and Haunton, sensing an opportunity, raised on small blind, the value of the pot, a move Andy didn't think the mayor was capable of. All the players were sitting on decent hands, but at least half of them were hoping to go fishing, wanting to see a flop for a chance to pick up a decent sized pot. Now that the pot had grown, however, it was time to see who was going to stick around when the price went up. Andy glanced at his hole cards for the first time. When he was the big blind, he never bothered looking at his cards until the action came to him, mostly so that there was no possible way to give anything away to his opponents. He peeked at the two cards and found pocket cowboys waiting for him, two kings. So Andy matched the bet and said "Call." Vikovic matched the bet, to no one's surprise, as did Covington, but Jacobson folded, clearly having a questionable hand that only got more questionable with this much money in the pot. Andy put him on a low set of suited connectors, maybe a 7 8 or so. Watkins, as the dealer, was out of the hand. One of the other reasons Andy had suggested that they each take turns as dealer was that it would cut into bad streaks, giving players who were on tilt a moment to deescalate their frustrations and get their head back in the game. The flop hit, and Andy was a little annoyed by it. Three of hearts, eight of diamonds, jack of spades. The fact that it was a rainbow flop meant that anyone hoping to get a flush was seeing their odds rapidly dwindling, needing the next two cards to be of the same suit (and to be holding two of that suit) to hit. It also wasn't great for a straight, although Andy could see Haunton or Vikovic staying in with a nine ten suited, which would leave them sitting on an open ended straight draw. There was also the chance that one of the other men was sitting on fishhooks (a pair of jacks) and had just flopped a set, but neither Vikovic or Haunton seemed visibly excited enough to have done that. Covington was still a pain in the ass to read. Haunton decided to play it cool. "Check." Andy saw no reason to turn up the heat, so he followed. "Check." "Raise 2k," Vikovic said. "Call," said Covington. "Call," said Haunton. "Call," said Andy. It was a value bet, adding to the pot, but certainly not causing him to get scared, as Andy felt like he was still sitting on top hand. All of the chips were pushed into the center, and then Watkins flipped over the turn card. "King of Hearts." Andy did his best to keep his expression as neutral as possible, although on the inside, he was doing cartwheels. He'd just hit a set, and now he felt like he was definitely the best hand on the board. He wasn't first to act, though. "Check," Haunton said. "Check," Andy repeated. He could've bet here, but the best thing to do was to let someone else make the first stab at the pot. He suspected either Vikovic or Covington would try and push a large bet in, fronting as if they were sitting on a pair of kings, or maybe a king and a jack. Best to let them make the first move and then come in to take it from them. "Raise 20k," Vikovic said. There it was. Someone clearly trying to buy the pot, hoping he could bluff strength into players who were displaying weakness. "Fold," Covington said, tossing his cards to the dealer. That brought the action to Haunton, who had literally just rebought his way into the game a few minutes ago. The mayor thought for a long moment before he pushed the entire stack forward. "All in." Andy sighed for a moment, and looked again at the board, making sure he had a solid read on it. If he called Haunton and lost, the mayor would more than double up if just one player called him and lost. Vikovic had made a big push, but Andy was almost certain he couldn't wait to fold, just to get away from this disaster of a hand before it got worse for him. Which meant Andy would be taking in about 80k if he took down the hand. The more he thought about it, the more certain he was that Haunton had being playing cool when he'd flopped trip jacks, and in doing so, had bought Andy enough daylight to see the king to make his own set for next to nothing. It felt like a long wait, but eventually Andy spoke. "Call." "Too rich for me," Vikovic said, mucking his cards even as Andy was speaking. "I fold." "Shouldn't have tried to buy the pot," the mayor said, laughing as he turned over his cards. It wasn't a pair of jacks, but a jack and a king, giving him two pair. "Two pair. Nervous yet, new fish?" Andy smirked. "A little, but not that much," he said, flipping over his pair of kings. Haunton immediately got up from the table, tossing his hands into the air. "C'mon, you gotta be kidding me! Come on, jack! Come on, jack!" "Odds aren't good for you, Mr. Mayor," Covington said. "Enough discussion!" Vikovic said. "Give us a river." Andy was a deadlock. Haunton was wrong. If a jack came up, he would still win the pot, as it would simply give both men a full house, and Andy's would still be better. Haunton was drawing dead, and he simply didn't see that. When the last card was flipped, it was the six of diamonds, not changing the board at all anyway. "Fuck!" the mayor shouted, before getting up from the table. "I should've bet on the flop." "It wouldn't have mattered," Andy said as he pulled the mound of chips his direction. "I was still holding top pair at that point. I would've called you." "Take a few minutes and go get a drink, James," Covington said to the mayor. "As for the rest of you, we have ourselves a new chip leader. And thankfully, his streak will be interrupted now by a turn at the dealer's seat." Andy grinned. "Sure, give me just a minute to get my chips sorted and stacked." All said and done, Andy was clearly well ahead, sitting on a little over 225k of the 650k chips in play. Covington was in second, with 145k, Watkins in third at 120k, Jacobson at 90k and Vikovic at the bottom with 70k. Over the next five hands, Covington did very well for himself, knocking out Vikovic, who rebought in, bringing the chip pool up to 700k, moving himself within spitting distance of Andy's pool. And just after Vikovic bought back in, it was time to change dealers again, and Andy moved out of the dealer's seat, and Covington moved to take it. "I thought you said not to buy back, Vikovic," Andy said, moving back to his stack of chips. "It's what you call a value bet, yes?" Vikovic said. "In fifth place, I would simply have one woman. I can get one woman. And last pick is of no desire to anyone. So if I go home empty handed tonight? Is okay. I take my stab at glory." Two hands later, Andy made a big bluff and got caught with his hand in the cookie jar, costing him 40k, but he immediately turned it around, and the following hand busted Jacobson out. Jacobson declined to rebuy, happy to go home with someone rather than empty handed. On Covington's last hand as dealer, Vikovic decided to make a last stand, and Watkins called him on it, knocking Vikovic out in fourth. "With only three of us left in the game, might I make a suggestion?" Covington said. "At this point, I think we should simply rotate between the three eliminated players as dealers, while the three of us remain in the game at all times. Is that acceptable to everyone?" "Sure," Watkin said, "the more action the better." The mayor sighed, bringing his glass of scotch over to the dealer's chair, sitting down. "Yeah, okay. No offense, Rook, but I hope Artie busts you hard." Andy shrugged. "Can't make friends with everyone." He was thirsty, but he would be damned if he was going to make the girl behind the bar do an ounce of work on his behalf. "So c'mon, let's get some cards out." Around ten thirty, Andy was starting to get nervous. He'd dropped down to third place after a couple of unlucky river cards in a row. Then Watkins went all in on Andy. Andy clearly couldn't cover the spread, but Andy called, and Covington decided to get out of the way instead of making a side pot. Thankfully, when the cards were turned over, Andy held the better hand, and the river finally flowed his direction. That doubled him up and put him back in the game. Watkins confidence was shaken, and over the next hour, he never really recovered, playing a bit too reckless and loose. Once Andy and Covington smelled weakness, the two honed in, taking turns chipping away at him until finally Watkins went all in, and just before midnight, Andy took him down. "You want to rebuy?" Covington asked him. Watkins laughed, shaking his head. "Taking three from the pool is more than enough for me. You two titans have fun duking it out." "You ready for this, Andrew?" "Don't you worry, Arthur," Andy said. "Let's see who hits felt first." With only two players, they were always going to be trading turns between little blind and big blind. As soon as Covington looked at his hole cards, he immediately called "All in." Andy smirked a little, not having even looked at his own cards yet. He'd suspected Covington would've tried something like this, just constantly firing at the blinds, trying to chip them away, using his big stack to bully Andy's weaker stack. He glanced at his cards, then nodded. "Okay. Call." Covington blanched. He turned over his cards, revealing Jack eight, not even suited. He'd expected Andy to just back off and let him chip away a set of blinds, and was not happy that Andy hadn't done so, growing even more frustrated when Andy flipped over a pair of nines. "How do you start with a pocket pair?" "Maybe it's a hint you shouldn't go so aggressive right out the gate," Andy replied as Watkins dealt out the flop. As soon as the cards were upturned, Andy could practically feel the anger boiling out of Covington. Andy had flopped the nuts, a six and the other two nines. At that point, it was a formality of just dealing out the last two cards, as Andy was guaranteed the winning hand with four of a kind. Right out of the gate, Andy had doubled up. As the next hand was being dealt out, Covington hadn't even seen his cards and immediately said "All in." He was fully on tilt, and wanted to try and reclaim his confidence. He didn't even look at his two hole cards, simply staring Andy down, practically daring him to get into the hand. Andy knew the stakes were a great deal higher on this hand, and so he took the time to look at his hole cards, a slight laugh escaping his lips. He couldn't try and read his opponent so he had to decide if his hand was good enough for the risk. And the two cards he had were affectionately known as Big Slick, Ace King suited, this time in spades. It wasn't a pair, but playing against two random cards, his odds were good. "Sure, let's dance. Call." "You don't respect me, do you, Andrew?" Andy grinned, giving a little shrug. "You didn't even look at your cards, Arthur. How am I supposed to respect that? If you aren't going to respect your opponent, why should he respect you in turn? And you're just firing into the pot, hoping that you can buy a few blinds to chip away at my stack. But you have no idea what's under there. And I've got Big Slick." He flipped over his cards. "How about you?" Covington was turning almost scarlet red with anger, and turned over his cards, revealing just a six of spades and a three of hearts. "This is ridiculous." "Artie," Vikovic said, "you didn't even look at your cards. What are you thinking?" "I'm thinking this shitstain has been a pain in my ass all night long and I wanted to bury him." "And that's the problem, Arthur," Watkins said, putting out three cards for the flop. "You aren't thinking about the cards and you're thinking about your opponent." The first card on the flop was the six of hearts, giving Covington a pair and a moment's hope, but the second card immediately dashed that, revealing the Ace of Hearts. The third card, a ten of clubs, didn't affect the board at all. With the turn came the three of spades, putting Covington back in the lead for a moment, with two pair, until the last card came out, the King of Hearts, pairing Andy up to two pair as well. Covington practically snarled as he counted out the chips, pushing them over, his stack now a quarter the size of Andy's. "You've got more luck than a goddamn leprechaun, Rook." Watkins stood up, and Jacobson sat down to take a turn at dealer, washing the cards through he Shufflemaster again. Typically the break as the dealer changed was enough to let a player cool off, but Covington was still off balance as they started up again. When the next set of two cards were dealt, Andy was back on the small blinds, and so was the first to act. He'd glanced at his cards and said, "Call." Covington was gunshy now, and simply said "Check," as he was desperate to see a flop and get more information. The flop came down Ace of Hearts, seven of spades, three of clubs. Immediately, Covington said "All in." Andy stopped and did the math in his head. "Yeah, okay. Call." "Two pair," Covington said, flipping over the Ace of Spades and the three of hearts with an angry gusto. "Take that, you lowbrow piece of shit! Time for me to get my money back." Andy shook his head with a wry smile. "Not so fast, Arthur." Andy turned over his hole cards, the seven of hearts and the seven of clubs. "I like my odds here." "Another goddamn pocket pair! This is ridiculous!" "I probably would've folded if you'd bet at the blinds, but you let me see a flop for cheap, so midlevel pocket pair seemed okay." Jacobson turned over the turn card, and Covington immediately let out an undignified cheer, as the three of diamonds. "Yes! Full house! Suck it! Give me my money!" "He still has a few outs, Artie," the mayor warned. Andy was actually leading, but Jacobson just couldn't see it. He was sitting on a full house, sevens over threes, and Jacobson was sitting on threes over aces, which was the lower hand. Players tended to get wound up, so they often refused to think about everything, but Watkins had that knowing smile, so Andy knew he had spotted Jacobson's error as well. Jacobson needed either another three or another ace to pull victory from the jaws of defeat. "No! I refuse to believe I'm going to get blown out by some random river card!" "So show us river already," Vikovic said. And Jacobson placed down the last card with a thump that resounded throughout the room like a clap of thunder. The seven of diamonds. That meant that Covington had a full house, threes over aces, but Andy's four of a kind had blown it out of the water. "The absolute luck on you," Covington growled. Andy had gone from 110k to 220k to 440k, making him the chip leader now. He could, if he wanted, use Covington's own tactics against him. But Andy liked to play smart. On the other hand, Covington was so tilted now, he could probably be goaded into a sloppy play. And if Andy could get Covington to go all in again, he'd be down to the felt and this stupid game would be over. Maybe, just maybe, it was worth the risk. It seemed like the time to goad the millionaire a little more, just to see if Andy could completely tilt him. "Maybe we should see how strong my luck's running right now then, huh?" Andy said as new hole cards slid in front of him. "Tell you want, Artie." He figured this singular use of the man's nickname would give him even more of a severe nudge. Andy had been calling him Arthur all night long, but now, the nickname Artie sounded condescending as fuck. "I'll look at one, just one, of my two hole cards here, and if it's higher than a eight, I'll go all in without even looking at the other card. How about that?" "You do whatever you want, boy, and I'll show you how a real man plays cards." Covington was blind with rage, and there was a carelessness flaring up behind his eyes, as Andy lifted up one of the hole cards to peek under at it. "Okay," Andy said. "All in." "You're bluffing!" Covington said, slamming his fist on the table hard enough to knock the stacks of chips loose. "Call!" "Now Artie," Andy said, smug grin on his face, "are you sure that  " "I Said Call Goddamn It!" Andy flipped over the one card he'd looked at, the Ace of Hearts, but left the other card face down, as Covington flipped over his cards. The man had looked at them this time, and was sitting on a pair of sixes. "Aren't you going to turn over your other card?" Andy shrugged, that sly smile on his face. "In a minute. Let's see the flop." The flop came down six seven ace, giving Covington a set, while Andy was sitting on a pair of aces. The turn was next, a deuce, no help to anyone, and the river, well, the river was the two of hearts. Looking at the board, Andy's odds weren't great, but he wasn't out either. The seven and the six on the board were both hearts, which meant Andy needed his other hole card to be another heart. "It's Schrödinger's hole card now," Andy said, tapping his fingers lighly along the felt. "Maybe I've got a winning card, and you're out, or maybe you've got me dead to rights and have doubled up back into the lead. What you've gotta ask yourself is, do you feel lucky? Well, do you, punk?" The grin on his face was broad, as he gave the man his best Clint Eastwood impression. Vikovic was the one who finally made the move. He leaned across the table and grabbed the last card, the one Andy had never even touched, and flipped it over. There in all her glory... ...was the Queen of Hearts. Andy had made his flush. "Son of bitch," Vikovic said, letting out a low appreciative whistle. "You want to rebuy, Artie?" "Fuck that! This guy is on a streak. I'm out. Game's over!" "Are you sure, Artie?" Andy said. "The! Game! Is! Over!" Covington fumed. The older man stood up, inhaling a long breath before letting it out slowly, trying to regain his composure. "Alright, let's sort out the winnings. Andrew, you have seven picks from the pool and get to pick first, as is your right as the winner." "Alright, let's see," Andy said, as all the men moved back into the parlor with the videowall they'd been in before. He'd hoped just to win with no rebuys from anyone, as it would've made his decisions simple, but seven, seven was a lot of women for any one man to handle. The thirteen faces sprung to life on the big wall, as Andy looked over them carefully. "Alright, I suppose I'd better just pick then. Charlotte Varma, Asha Varma, Piper Brown, Emily Stevens,” "Damn," Jacobson grumbled. "Oh hush. If he hadn't taken her, I certainly would've," Covington said to him. "Sarah Washington, Sheridan Smith and,” Andy looked over the wall of faces, trying to decide who else he would pull from this den of vipers, and yet, he just couldn't bring himself to care about rescuing his ex Erin. It was a sea of beautiful faces, but none of them evoked any stronger reaction than another, so he was forced to read the small text beneath each of them, sorting out people he wouldn't want to spend long periods of time with. He was a little tempted to give his seventh pick to Covington, but couldn't bear to let anyone decent be bound to the loathsome toad. There were a couple of Republicans he nixed immediately. Andy was a lifelong Democrat, and anyone who'd still identify as a Republican after the last three years of madness wasn't anyone he wanted to let into his home and family. A few others struck him as from far too wealthy of families, the sorts of people who would do much better with Covington and his ilk. But there was one, Deborah Barnes, a blonde veterinarian from Los Gatos, originally from Kansas, and she seemed warm and caring in the notes about her. ", and Deborah Barnes, I guess." "Erin Donegal was originally one of yours," Covington said. "Don't you want to take her back?" Andy shook his head. "I would've sent her back to the base if it weren't for this little game of yours. If you want her, you can have her. She doesn't like my writing, and anyone who doesn't like my writing isn't welcome in my house." "If you don't want her, I won't take her either," Covington sniffed. "I'll take Janice Flowers, Eloise Childs and Teresa Kenzington." "I'll take her then," Watkins said. "Donegal and Nina Choi." That left Jacobson with Ariel Smith, since Vikovic and Haunton had both rebought in, and left with nothing. Andy sighed. "So how do we relocate them?" "A car will arrive tomorrow to pick everyone up and drive them to their new locations, although you're welcome to take the Varmas and Miss Brown with you tonight, since they're here, and you are as well. Tomorrow afternoon, everyone will have what's coming to them. You may need to tend to Miss Brown's needs before you leave, however, Andrew," Covington said. "She's in quite the state. I'll have the other two meet you upstairs by your car when you're done with Miss Brown." "Can you send my partner, Niko, down to meet me? I'm strong, but carrying an unconscious Olympic athlete up some stairs by myself is probably more than I'm capable of." "Of course. Let me go get her. Veronica, would you take Mr. Rook over to Miss Brown's room please?" The servant brought Andy out of the parlor and took him to wait outside of a room where the door was clearly locked. She unlocked the door, but didn't open it. "You may wish to wait for your partner, Master Rook. The woman in there, she's not well," she said to him, a look of concern on her face. "Ah, here's your woman now." Andy turned around and Covington was escorting Niko down to meet him. "Here you go, Miss Red Wolf. You two should be strong enough to carry Miss Brown out when you're done with her. You know the way back?" "I do," Niko said to him. "Thanks." Both Covington and Veronica walked up the stairs, leaving Andy and Niko alone together outside of the door, neither quite bringing themselves to open it yet. "So you won?" she finally said to him. "First place. Seven women. It's going to be a trial." "Maybe you could donate one of them to Eric or Phil if it scares you that much," she said with a laugh. "So are Charlotte and her daughter behind this door?" "No no, they'll be upstairs waiting for us at the car after we're done here. There were actually thirteen girls in the pool, not twelve. This is the thirteenth. Her name's Piper Brown." "Wait, that cute volleyball player with the little pregame warm up dance who went viral a few years back? That Piper Brown?" "The very same." "Well let's go get her. Why's she down here?" Niko started to reach for the door, but Andy put his hand on it. "She's been here for over a week, so she's pretty heavily in the throes of need right now," Andy said, not letting her open the door yet. "Covington said she'd be in quite the state, so I'd need to imprint her here, and you'll have to help me carry her upstairs afterwards." Niko's face fell. "Jesus, what a fucking asshole," she sighed. "A whole week of waiting for imprinting after she's been vaccinated? She must be out of her fucking mind with need by now. Okay, we'll let's get to it, stud." Andy shot her a disappointed look before he lifted his hand and opened the door. The room was poorly lit, a handful of lights on their lowest setting, as Andy and Niko stepped into the room, closing the door behind them. On the far side of the room, sitting in chair, looking almost catatonic, was Piper. She was naked, sitting in an armchair, her brunette hair draped over her tits, a vacant look on her face. She was muscular, in far better shape than Andy or Niko. It almost looked like she was drooling on herself from across the room. "God, is she dead?" Niko whispered to him as they started to walk over to her. "Ms. Brown?" Andy said. "Piper? I'm Andy Rook. I'm here to take you away from here." Suddenly, Piper's head whipped and her blue eyes focused on Andy with a terrifying intensity. Before Andy could even react, she lunged out of the chair and raced over towards him. Niko tried to step forward to slow her down, but Piper shoved her out of the way sharply. As soon as she was at Andy, she pushed him back to the wall with an irresistible strength, forcing his back against the surface before she dropped down to her knees. "It's okay, Piper," Andy said to her, but the woman seemed completely oblivious to his words. She practically ripped his pants open and immediately brought her mouth around his cock. Andy wasn't hard, but Piper's tongue was demanding, even as Niko moved back to her feet and walked over to him "God, was I that bad?" Niko said, her hand reaching down to stroke Piper's hair reassuringly. "You were at least verbal," Andy said, as he felt Piper's mouth humming on his cock, making it swell. "I feel a little bad, taking advantage of her like this." Niko shook her head, leaning in to kiss Andy. "This girl's got a need and you need to fill it, Andy. Just let her have it, and we can go. Besides,” Niko giggled, nuzzling against his neck. "It's kinda hot, the way she's just feasting on you, cavewoman style." "Yeah, well, it's hard to keep an erection with the stink of this room. I think they kept her trapped in here all week." "But she's good at sucking cock, isn't she?" "She's certainly voracious." "Don't hold back, then," Niko said, taking one of his hands in hers, trying to reassure him. "No need to be all gallant for this time. You can save that for the first time she'll actually remember." It didn't take long, and sure enough, a minute or two later, Andy was firing a blast of cum down her throat, which was when the strangest thing happened. Piper didn't suddenly slump over. No, instead, after she swallowed his hot sperm, she tugged him away from the wall and pushed him down to the floor, not so much as a droplet of spunk escaping her lips. "What the hell?" Andy exclaimed in shock. "Why isn't she imprinting?" "Fuck, I hope she's not stuck like this because he waited too long!" Niko said, trying not to panic. "Maybe you didn't have a big enough load?" "When the fuck has that ever mattered before?" Piper's wild eyes still darted left and right, but as soon as she had pushed Andy onto the floor on his back, she crawled over him, her hand tugging on his cock once more, as she straddled him. "I think she definitely wants more, Andy," Niko laughed. "Hit her again." "I dunno if I can give an encore this soon, Niko!" Andy whispered. Piper cut him off, shoving her lips against his in what had to be the most primal kiss he'd ever encountered, almost like she was claiming him instead of the reverse, her tongue forcing its way into his mouth, her athletic body keeping him in place. Niko moved behind Piper and snaked one hand around the Olympian's waist, moving to rub her fingertips against the brunette's cunt, a small triangle of pubes above it, as Niko started stroking the girl's clit. "I don't think she's going to give you a choice, Andy." Niko smirked, her other hand reaching to tweak one of Piper's stiff nipples, finding the bud as hard as a rock, eliciting a groan from the athlete, who was dragging the head of Andy's cock across her snatch. Within a moment, he was stiff enough for her to slam her weight down onto him, forcing his cock deep into her cunt, finding it drenched and achingly warm. Andy didn't so much do anything as provide a dildo for the woman to ride upon, her hips bouncing in his lap, her lips attached to his, refusing to let go, even while she fucked him. After a few minutes, Andy felt a familiar tingling in his balls, and as Piper squirmed and wriggled down on him, he fired a load of cum against the back of her twat. This time, it seemed, it was enough to take, and the toned woman spasmed in one sharp and violent quake before slumping deathly atop of him, murmuring "imprinting" over and over again, so quietly Andy could barely even hear it. He more felt her lips moving than heard her, as her face was buried in the nape of his neck, his body pinned underneath her. "A little help, please?" Andy said, and Niko only laughed that much harder. Chapter 20 After Niko helped Andy get Piper off of him, they scrounged around the room before they simply gave up and put Andy's jacket on her. There wasn't any clothing in the room, not even a bedsheet. Just a bucket in the corner, filled with excrement. She wasn't difficult for them to carry, although neither of them had much experience carrying an unconscious person before. Once they got her up to the car, Andy regretted that they had brought the roadster. The vehicle did have four seats, but the back seat was very cramped, and they were going to have to lay Piper over people's laps, because he refused to put her in the trunk, even if she was unconscious. Waiting at the car was Dr. Charlotte Varma and her daughter Asha. "Thank you for saving us from this, Niko," Charlotte said to her, the woman's accent definitely French. She was dressed in a long flowing summer dress, with a jacket thrown on over it, billowy fabric over her womanly figure, her long blonde hair swept back behind her ears, hanging down to the middle of her back. She looked less like a doctor and more like a hippie, but she had a warm smile that put him at ease. "And you, Mr. Rook." "Please," he said, "call me Andy." He unlocked the car, then popped the trunk to load Charlotte's suitcase into it, followed by Asha's and Piper's, which one of Covington's servants had clearly brought up while Andy was tending to the athlete's needs. "Let's get out of here, and we can talk on the way over to the house." As Asha got in the backseat, she bumped fists with Niko. "Thanks, Neeks," Asha said, her accent definitely British, despite her exotic looking features. Her long wavy black hair was drawn back into a ponytail that barely hung past the nape of her neck, the tie high on her head, her skin several shades darker than her mother's. She wore black knee high leather boots, black pantyhose, a black leather skirt that was playfully short and a purple silk shirt that was still tight enough on her that he could the outline of her lacy bra through the material. It was also cut high enough to show some midriff, including a little silver musical note belly piercing. "Good looking out." They laid Piper atop of their lap before Niko got into the front passenger's seat and Andy got into the driver's seat. Before, the driveway had been a showroom of deluxe and expensive cars, but now everyone else had already gone home. The house's external lights were still on, but it was clear that Covington had already gone to bed, so it was with no fanfare that Andy slowly drove the electric car off the property, heading back towards his place. It was approaching one AM and as Andy felt the cool breeze blowing across his shaved head, he definitely regretted bringing the Roadster. "So this is your old man, Neeks?" Asha asked. "And he's gonna be my old man too? A'ight, I can get wit' tha'." Asha's accent was mostly British, but Andy could hear hints of her mother's French accent, as well as what he imagined was probably hints of her late father's Indian accent. Niko had told him that the Varmas had only moved to the US a year ago from London, and that Charlotte's late husband had died in one of the first fatalities to the virus. "You'll like Andy, Asha," Niko said to her. "He's the best man I've ever met." "He's also sitting right here," Andy said with a soft laugh. "I wanted to talk to you about this, Niko," Charlotte said. "I am very thankful that you did rescue us, but I think it is rather unbecoming for a woman to share her lover with her daughter, don't you?" Andy let out a soft sigh of relief, speaking before Niko did. "Absolutely. If you would rather, Dr. Varma, I could talk to one of my friends and see if they might be a better home for your daughter, so you might avoid that situation." "Oh. Ah. Oh. Yes, I think you've misunderstood me, Mr. Rook," Charlotte said, a hint of embarrassment on her face. "I think my daughter should definitely stay in your company, but I'm not attracted to white men. Not to be ungrateful, but I was hoping maybe I could be paired up with your friend Mr. Pak. He's always seemed like a very nice man. Very strong and muscular." She giggled a little, a sound almost uncharacteristic of a woman in her early forties. "And gossip is that he is quite well endowed." "I can't speak to that part, but I'm sure Phil wouldn't mind," Niko said. "Andy or I can give him a call in the morning and arrange it." "I might have to owe Phil a favor or something," Andy said, "but that's okay. He can just put it on my tab. I probably owe him only a couple hundred at this point." "Wait," Asha said, just picking up on Andy's misunderstanding, "what's wrong wit' me that you don't want me?" It was Andy's turn to blush. "That isn't what I meant to say." Niko smirked, reaching back to pat Asha on one of her thighs. "He's afraid either he's too old for you, or you're too young for him. I love Andy to death, but he's a little insecure from time to time." Asha reached one of her hands forward, curving her arm around the seat to smooth her fingertips along Andy's chest through his shirt. "I'm old enough to know better, but too young to give a fuck, luv," she purred. "In fact, if my mum wasn't in this car, I'd give you a bit of the ol' road head so I didn't have to wait until I got home." "Don't let my presence stop you, Asha," Charlotte said, a warm smile on her lips. "I feel that need in my belly quite fiercely so I imagine it is rather remarkable in yours, seeing as it affects younger women more quickly. If you want to go after Andrew right now, I don't see why not. This community is extremely open about its sexuality." Asha's eyes widened a little, her deep tan skin darkening with red, as if she wasn't sure which she was more embarrassed by, being called out by her mother or backing down in front of her mother. After a moment, though, it was clear the hunger inside of her won out, as she moved Piper's unconscious form to sit up, then laid her back down on the seat behind her, as she started to worm her way between the seats, as Andy slowed the card down, bringing it to a stop at a local streetlight that had turned red. "You have to kiss him first, Asha," Niko said to her. "Otherwise he's not gonna let ya." "I haven't said I'm going to let her anyway," Andy said, defensively. Niko reached over and patted his thigh, a playful smirk on her lips. "Oh, you are, Andy. I know you too well. And I know Asha. She's a voracious little slut when she wants to be. And she's gotten jealous from all the stories I've been telling her when she's been around to visit her mom." Before he could reply, Asha turned his head and pressed her lips against his hungrily. She tasted of cinnamon and spice, as her tongue insisted on visiting the inside of his mouth before they parted the kiss. "I'm not sure you want to do this now, Asha," Andy said. "I just fucked poor Piper back there a little bit ago, and she hasn't bathed in a week. My cock probably smells of dirty cunt." Asha smirked at him, sliding her hand down to unbutton his jeans. "Then your newest teenage fucktoy had better clean i' off for you, sir," she purred, kissing at his neck. "Eyes on the road, and don't go too fast now." Andy thought she was kidding, but as the light turned green, she stopped and nodded for him to go, even as she was drawing the zipper down. As soon as he started the Tesla in motion again, Asha's lean fingers reached into his pants, pulling out his cock, stroking it slowly. "See, if I do this now, then you can't reconsider," she said, her fingers moving along his shaft. "You can't get in your own head about it, you can't be worried if I may be too young, too wild, too out of control, too feral. So I will get i' out of your head by giving you the best damn head of your life. It'll be fine." She slipped her head down and wrapped her lips around the tip of his cock, letting her tongue slather over it slowly, as a sultry, wanton moan poured from her throat over his cock. "No turning back now, hon," Niko purred at him. "She's gotten a taste of you. She's gonna latch down like a leech until you give her what she's owed." Her hand brushed along Asha's ponytail, pushing her head down a bit more. "She's a Rookie, through and through." "Oh god," Andy groaned, shaking his head. "You've got a nickname for yourselves. Next thing you'll be unionizing." "We already have, dear," Niko giggled. "We're Local Amalgamated Cocksuckers, Chapter 69." Andy rolled his eyes, turning the card at a stop sign, heading into the section of New Eden that housed his mansion. It was growing increasingly hard to focus, as Asha bobbed her head in his lap, pushing and pulling her face along his cock, her tongue lashing over every inch of it as she hummed, her fingernails sinking into his inner thighs. "Who is it she reminds me, Charlotte?" Niko asked, looking back over her shoulder. "A lot of people say she looks like a younger version of one of the people who was on Great British Bake Off." Niko nodded. "That's who it was. How's it going, Andy? Need me to take the wheel?" "You, ah, you might have to," he said. "I don't know how long I can keep my head clear." Asha popped her head off his cock and turned her brown eyes up to look at him. "Then don't, daddy," she moaned at him. "Let me have wha' I want. Let me have that cum in my belly. Claim me. I wanna feel the best orgasm of my life." She looked back down and pushed her mouth onto his cock once more, forcing it as deep as she could into her throat, humming on it, and finally he just couldn't resist, and fired a load of cum into her mouth. Her whole body thrashed, but as she pulled her head up and off his cock, she swallowed that load, laying her head down against his thighs, his softening cock laying across her nose, as the girl began to murmur "imprinting" quietly for a few moments before falling still. Niko helped him ease the car to a stop long enough for him slide Asha back into the back seat once more, two slumped girls braced against one another as Charlotte tried to keep them from falling over too much. Then Andy tucked his cock away, tugged up his jeans and started the vehicle moving forward once more. "I appreciate you being understanding about this, Andy," Charlotte said to him. "I didn't know how to tell Niko that you weren't my type without risking the chances that you wouldn't try and extract us from Mr. Covington's household." "Not gonna lie," Niko said. "I don't enjoy being lied to, Charlotte. But I still would've tried to get you out even if you'd told me in advance." "And I am sorry about that, Niko, but I simply couldn't risk it. You've met Covington. You can only imagine what kinds of depravity he would've subjected myself and my daughter to." Charlotte shivered, the thoughts searing her brain for a moment. "It's extremely unpleasant even to think about it." The car reached the gate, and Niko pushed the button to open make it open. Unlike many of the other homes in New Eden, Andy couldn't stand the thought of having security on the premises. Even the idea of an automatic gate wasn't pleasant, but it had come with the home, and he'd wanted to avoid kicking up a fuss until he was better settled. As he brought the car up the driveway, he saw Aisling was sitting on the front porch in her pajamas, a blanket pulled around her, keeping her warm from the cool November air. Andy brought the car to stop by the front door, as Niko hopped out and moved over to Ash, giving her a hug. "Did the good guys win?" Aisling asked. Niko nodded, holding Ash in the hug for a long moment before pulling away. "Andy got them out safely. Charlotte's not going to stay with us, though." "Oh no!" Aisling said. "Why not?" "She's not into me," Andy said as he hopped out of the car, leaving the door open so Charlotte could slide out, leaving the two unconscious girls in the back seat for the moment. "Had to happen sooner or later," he chuckled, "and frankly, I'm surprised it took this long." "Her loss then," Aisling giggled, moving over to the car, peering in the back seat at the slumped forms of Piper and Asha. "Looks like you got two hot young things to add anyway." She cocked her head to one side, looking at Piper for a second. "Why do I know her?" "Imagine her doing a little wiggle dance before she goes to play volleyball." Ash narrowed her eyes for a second, then those blues widened suddenly as she gasped, bringing her fingertips to her lips. "Shut up! What is even happening!" Andy popped the trunk and pulled out Charlotte's suitcase, then Asha's, carrying them into the house before coming back out. "I'm gonna need a hand hauling them into the house, though." Ash nodded. "Where are we going to put them? In the master bedroom?" Andy shook his head. "We've got plenty of extra bedrooms upstairs, and Piper was nearly catatonic before I imprinted her, so the last thing I want is her waking up surrounded by tons of unfamiliar people. We'll let her have a bedroom to herself, although I think you should probably give her a shower quick before you put her into a bed." Niko nodded, helping Aisling pick Piper up. "Good idea. She really is pretty ripe right now. C'mon Ash, let's go hose her down." The two women lugged Piper into the house, leaving Andy with Charlotte and Asha. "If you can give me a hand, you and your daughter can crash for the night in one of the spare bedrooms and in the morning, I'll give Phil a call, and we'll get him over for you to join his family." Charlotte leaned in and kissed his cheek. "Thank you, Andy. You and Niko will be good for Asha. Don't judge her too harshly. She's still young and that means she can tend to be reckless. She'll love you with all her heart, but she's going to have moments of sadness about her father, so please be understanding about her mood swings." "I'll do my best," he told her, as the two moved to scoop up Asha. She was light enough and small that Andy was able to carry her on his own. "That's all anyone can ask." After getting Charlotte and Asha squared away in one bedroom, Andy headed in to check on Aisling and Niko, who were sliding Piper into a bed in one of the bedrooms no one was using. When they'd moved into the mansion, Andy had told all the girls that if they wanted to claim one of the bedrooms as their own, they should do so. Ash had insisted she never wanted to sleep anywhere Andy wasn't, and Niko and Lauren had agreed, although Niko had converted one of the bedrooms into an office space that all three of the girls shared. But that still left several bedrooms that were decorated, and Andy checked four of them before he found them, as they pulled the sheets up over Piper's unconscious body. "Everything go okay?" he asked them, as they headed towards the door. "Sure, no problem, but she definitely needed to be hosed

Happy Tuesday, everyone! Don't be scared, but this week I'm talking with Horror Queen Kate Siegel! Along with her husband Mike Flanagan, Kate has helped to create some of the most terrifying films and TV in recent memory. I was blown away by Kate's performance as Maddie in Hush, which she also wrote. She also played Theodora Crain in Haunting of Hill House, Erin Greene in Midnight Mass and Camille L'Espanaye in The Fall of the House of Usher. She and Mike are releasing a new film, Life of Chuck, which is adapted from a Stephen King novel, but is a departure from the horror genre— I can't wait to go and check it out! Kate has found her niche with horror, but she's such a fantastic actor in everything she does, not to mention a great writer. This conversation also touches on motherhood, addiction and sobriety and the joys and challenges of collaborating creatively with your life partner. Be sure to stick around for the Hindsight this week, where my producer Jeph and I talk about the interview and answer some fan questions from the Mailsack! Send me an email thesackhoffshow@gmail.com Produced by Rabbit Grin Productions Mail Sack Song by Nicolas @producer_sniffles Join us on Patreon! http://patreon.com/thesackhoffshow

“High school didn't really go the way I expected it,” said Leyna, who didn’t graduate with her high school class in early June.    Leyna’s dad died right before her freshman year. Since then, she’s struggled to complete her work, and she switched to online school her senior year. She was dealing with some health issues and helping her mom take care of her little sister.    School wasn’t her main priority.   In this week’s episode, we continue to tell the stories of OPB’s “Class of 2025.” It’s a project we created back in 2012 when former Oregon governor John Kitzhaber declared the ambitious goal of one-hundred percent graduation by 2025.    That’s when OPB decided to document the stories of a kindergarten class on their journey all the way through high school: to capture what it’s like to grow up in the Oregon education system, and all the other life experiences that make us who we are along the way. Thirteen years after Kitzhaber’s State of the State address, one-hundred percent high school graduation is no longer the goal.    Today, we tell the stories of two students who aren’t graduating. Education reporter Elizabeth Miller gives us insight into their lives.    For more Evergreen episodes and to share your voice with us, visit our showpage. Follow OPB on Instagram, and follow host Jenn Chávez too. You can sign up for OPB’s newsletters to get what you need in your inbox regularly.   Don’t forget to check out our many podcasts, which can be found on any of your favorite podcast apps: Hush  Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars Politics Now Think Out Loud And many more! Check out our full show list here.

Weird and surprising facts shared in this episode include:"Robot Yawns Spark Contagious Yawning in Chimps". NeuroscienceNews.com. Link: https://neurosciencenews.com/robot-yawn-chimp-contagion-29232/Three facts from Interesting Facts website: "There's a Town in Nebraska With a Population of 1". "Wyoming Is the Least-Populated State in the U.S.". "Nepal's Population Has the Highest Percentage of Women". Link for all three: https://interestingfacts.com/world-population-facts/?lctg=8e3c92aa-0474-450a-bc18-25734de3a19c"Population density in the U.S. by federal states including the District of Columbia in 2023". Statista.com - Link: https://www.statista.com/statistics/183588/population-density-in-the-federal-states-of-the-us/From Interesting Facts website:"Carnac Stones (France)"."Nazca Lines (Peru)"."Stone Spheres (Costa Rica)".Link for all three: "11 Mysterious Monuments From Around the World". Link: https://interestingfacts.com/mysterious-monuments/?lctg=41c9d6c5-a7fe-46ad-b14d-04851140a18b"Dolphins Give Themselves Names That Could Hide Secret Information".  From ScienceAlert.com. Link: https://www.sciencealert.com/dolphins-give-themselves-names-that-could-hide-secret-informationFrom "World Animal Protection US". "Octopuses Have Three Hearts and Blue Blood". "Dolphins Have Unique Names for Each Other".Link for both articles: https://www.worldanimalprotection.us/latest/blogs/fun-facts-about-animals-that-will-amaze-you/"Koalas have fingerprints almost identical to ours". NOVA - PBS.org. Link: https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/koala-fingerprints/"Can Pets Be Allergic to People?". Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IcrssvIt10"Love in the Ocean! - World's Biggest Heart". Link: https://rachelbrooksart.com/blogs/news/love-in-the-ocean"Avocado" : Wikipedia: Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avocado---Host:Stephen Carter - Website: https://StressReliefRadio.com - Email: CarterMethod@gmail.com---Technical information:Reconding and initial edits with Twisted Wave. Additional edits with Audicity (Noice reduction, De-click, De-esser), Amadeus Pro, Hush, and Levelator. Final edits and rendering with Hindenburg Pro. Microphone: Audio-Technica AT2005.---

It's pride month again yet the culture seems to be moving away from supporting this wickedness. The emperor has no clothes and is dancing in the street in front of your children. Memes win, again.Show Notes:* Opening Segment: Biblical Reference and Church Discipline (00:00:00 - 00:00:25)* The episode begins with a question about what the Apostle Paul instructed regarding unrepentant believers in the church.* Answer: Paul advised to "kick them out" and "give them up to Satan" so they might be saved, referencing 1 Corinthians 5:5.* The hosts clarify this is not about mocking individuals but addressing unrepentant sin within the church.* Pride Month Discussion and Statistics (00:00:25 - 00:12:44)* The hosts introduce the episode as occurring during Pride Month, humorously sipping Bud Light Lime in jest.* They present a series of statistics labeled as "homo facts" to critique the lifestyle associated with the LGBTQ+ community, including:* Lesbian Relationships: 24-90% of lesbians report physical abuse by partners, higher than in heterosexual relationships.* HIV Prevalence: Gay men are 60 times more likely to have HIV than straight men; one in eight gay men in London have HIV; transsexuals are 50 times more likely to have HIV globally.* Sexual Partners: 25% of gay men in America have had over 1,000 partners; 43% have had over 500; 79% of homosexual men say half their partners are strangers.* Mental Health and Suicide: Homosexuals are more likely to experience anxiety, depression, bipolar disorder, and suicide; 41% of transsexuals have attempted suicide.* Health Risks: Gay men have a 20-year lower life expectancy; lesbians have a 10-year lower life expectancy; active homosexual men are 17 times more likely to have anal cancer.* Other Stats: 99.8% of lesbian, gay, or bisexual teens change their sexual orientation within 13 years; 53% of mothers of transsexual children have borderline personality disorder; gay men account for 63% of U.S. syphilis cases despite being 1.65% of the population.* The hosts attribute these issues to environmental factors (e.g., absent or poor father figures, sexual abuse) rather than being "born gay."* They reference Romans 1 to support their view that homosexuality is a sin and argue that a straight lifestyle leads to a safer, more wholesome life.* Cultural Commentary and "Gay Fatigue" (00:12:44 - 00:15:41)* The hosts note a societal shift, observing increased mockery of Pride flags and events online, suggesting a growing "homo fatigue."* They criticize Disney for replacing the American flag with a Pride flag at Magic Kingdom during June, speculating it's to cater to "Disney adults" due to low birth rates.* Anecdotes about public backlash, such as negative comments on a Cincinnati post about raising a Pride flag and a sarcastic comment on an Orlando Pride run event.* Biblical Mockery and Calling Out Sin (00:15:41 - 00:29:01)* The hosts discuss the role of mockery in addressing pride and sin, referencing Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 19) as the biblical origin of the term "sodomy."* They argue that affirming sinful lifestyles (e.g., homosexuality, cohabitation outside marriage) is not loving and that Christians must call people to repentance.* Personal anecdotes are shared, such as the hosts' experiences with family members (e.g., a lesbian aunt who was mocked but not affirmed, with one getting saved before death).* They emphasize that mockery should not be personal but can be a tool to challenge pride, contrasting it with affirmation that enables sin.* Pop Culture and Media Critique (00:29:01 - 01:34:12)* Doctor Who Discussion (01:17:23 - 01:20:24): The hosts critique the recent Doctor Who reboot, noting low ratings (120,000 viewers on BBC) and the controversial transformation of the Doctor into Rose Tyler, a former companion. They view it as a ratings grab and a pandering move.* Olympics Controversy (01:20:24 - 01:24:51): Discussion of a male boxer competing in women's boxing at the Paris Olympics, despite prior evidence of male chromosomes, highlighting unfairness and societal gaslighting.* Superman and Comic Book Talk (01:24:51 - 01:33:34): Speculation about the upcoming Superman movie and the potential death of Krypto the dog. The hosts nerd out over DC and Marvel, comparing their strengths (DC's deep characters vs. Marvel's broader stories) and praising specific comics like Red Son, Hush, and Court of Owls.* Political Commentary: Benjamin Netanyahu (01:34:12 - 01:39:45)* The hosts discuss Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's ongoing corruption trial since 2020, noting he took the stand on June 6, 2025.* They reveal his birth name, Benzion Milikowski, and note his family's immigration from Poland, questioning the name change to “Hebrewize” it as potentially misleading.* They speculate about the October 7th attack as an inside job to bolster Netanyahu's image, comparing it to 9/11, and suggest his trial indicates waning public support in Israel.* Final Thoughts and Political Critique (01:39:45 - 01:46:16)* Good Trump, Bad Trump: The hosts praise Trump for backing away from unconditional support for Israel and for speaking out against fearmongering over a new COVID variant. However, they criticize him for not taking a strong stand against COVID measures four years earlier, calling politicians “a day late and a dollar short.”* Republican Inaction: Frustration with Republicans who promise action but do nothing once in office.* Cultural Reflection: The world is described as “fake and gay,” urging listeners to seek truth in Christ rather than worldly affirmation.* Christian Perspective on Homosexuality: The hosts address claims that one can be a practicing homosexual and a born-again Christian, arguing that true faith involves conviction and repentance from sin, not affirmation of a sinful lifestyle.* Closing Prayer and Verse (01:46:16 - 01:47:40)* Verse of the Night: 1 Peter 5:7 – “Casting all your care upon him [Jesus], for he cares for you.”* Prayer (Led by Dusty): Thanks God for the opportunity to discuss worldly issues, acknowledges the fallen nature of the world, and praises Jesus for His sacrifice.* Call to Action: Encourages listeners to like, share, subscribe, and comment at kingsplaining.com to support the podcast.Key Themes* Biblical Authority: The hosts ground their critique of Pride Month and societal trends in scripture, particularly Paul's teachings and the story of Sodom and Gomorrah.* Cultural Decline: They express frustration with what they see as moral and cultural decay, particularly in media and politics, labeling it “fake and gay.”* Call to Repentance: Emphasizes the need for Christians to confront sin lovingly but firmly, rejecting affirmation of lifestyles they believe are sinful.* Humor and Mockery: Uses humor and satire to challenge societal norms, while acknowledging the need for personal relationships to be handled with care.* Political Skepticism: Critiques both domestic and international political figures, expressing distrust in leaders like Netanyahu and disappointment in Republican inaction.Notable Quotes* “We didn't bring a gay person onto the show to mock them ruthlessly. And we wouldn't if they were on the show.” (00:26:01)* “Love is not destructive.” (01:46:04)* “Cast it all on Jesus, even in this fake and gay world.” (01:46:27)* “We're not gay like Fox News. We actually are fair and balanced.” (01:39:54)Additional Notes* The podcast is self-described as the “home of the Rube Empire,” with a mission to serve Christ Jesus and offer a Christian, conservative perspective.* The hosts promote their website, kingsplaining.com, for merchandise (e.g., shirts) and listener engagement.* The episode includes significant use of provocative language and humor, which may be offensive to some listeners but aligns with the podcast's irreverent style.* The hosts express a mix of serious theological points and playful banter, particularly in the comic book discussion, showing their multifaceted interests.Listen to the Episode: Available at kingsplaining.com.Support the Show: Like, share, subscribe, and comment to help grow the Rube Empire! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit kingsplaining.substack.com/subscribe

Samantha Sloyan is a familar face from countless television shows, but that face will be particularly familiar to anyone who keeps up with the "Flanaverse" -- movies and shows from Mike Flanagan, like Midnight Mass, The Fall of the House of Usher, and The Haunting of Hill House. Sloyan's latest project is a departure for Flanagan, and perhaps for her as well -- it's the new movie The Life of Chuck, which hits theaters this weekend and expands next week. Together, she and huge fan Jordan discuss the ways that she feels seen by FBI Agent Dale Cooper (Kyle MacLachan) in David Lynch's Twin Peaks, and the many ways that Lynch's storytelling style appeals to her craft as an actor.Then, Jordan has one quick thing that doesn't stray too far from the main topic...it's about the casting of Flanagan's new Carrie adaptation.***With Jordan Crucchiola & Samantha Sloyan Feeling Seen is hosted by Jordan Crucchiola and is a production Maximum Fun.Need more Feeling Seen? Keep up with the show on Instagram and Bluesky.

Wherein we prepare for sweet dreams.  Send a night light: gwritersanon@gmail.com  Hush our Facebook page (Ghost Writers, Anonymous). 

Bob and Matt discuss Paul Dini's "Hush Money" from the pages of Batman: Streets of Gotham and they review the third issue of Jeph Loeb's "Hush 2". To further support our podcast, please visit http://www.patreon.comuncannytreks

In this episode you discover how to use Emotional Freedom Techniques for anxiety, fear, and other emotional issues related to serious medical situations to include surgery.Resources:"Mental EFT Tapping for Anxiety and Sleep". "EFT Tapping Junction" episode. Link: https://www.spreaker.com/episode/mental-eft-tapping-for-anxiety-and-sleep--45173162Guide: "How to Apply Mental EFT Tapping". To receive your free copy, create an email with the subject line reading, "Mental Tapping". Address the email to CarterMethod@gmail.com, and send it off. You'll receive the guide by return email.---Host:Stephen Carter - Website: https://StressReliefRadio.com - Email: CarterMethod@gmail.com.---Technical information:Recorded with Twisted Wave. Edits with Amadeus Pro, Hush,  Levelator, and Audacity (De-esser). Final edits and rendering with Hindenburg Pro. Microphone: SE DynaCaster DCM8.---Key words:illness, medical_operation, anxiety, stress, fear, mental_tapping, 

DC Comics Ep 591: Hush 2, Superman Hates Lex, Hal Hates The Spectre & Gray Hates Flash - Keywords: DC Comics, DC Comics Podcast, Batman, Superman, World's Finest, Flash, Green Lantern, comics, comic Gabe's Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@comicalopinions Gray's Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC2NfSPGZ5OFcek6Baw3iQQw SuS Records: https://www.youtube.com/@SusRecordsCEO Jared's Youtube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ComicsLeague Jared's Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/3jv6I2edZ8lpc02gJEHw3e?si=cb5f48a6f8d84add Stork's Podcast: https://besottedgeek.podbean.com/   Join us on Friday Nights @ 7:15 PM EST on our Youtube channel https://www.youtube.com/@WeirdScienceComics when we do the Absolute show LIVE!  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@WeirdScienceComics This Week's Patreon-Exclusive Spotlight Show is Zatanna #4 & Wonder Woman #21 Listen to the Spotlight Podcast by signing up to our Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/weirdscience   0:00:00 - Intro 0:06:45 - Batman #160 0:46:30 - Peacemaker Presents: The Vigilante / Eagly Double Feature #3 1:08:07 - Retro Review of the Week: More Fun Comics #73 - Aquaman's Firts Appearance 1:40:55 - Superman #26 2:23:50 - Green Arrow #24 2:52:38 - Green Lantern #23 3:26:33 - Superman / Wonder Woman #3 (New 52) 3:59:40 - Justice League Unlimited #7 4:28:04 - The Flash #21 4:49:44 - Next Week's Books   FOLLOW WEIRD SCIENCE COMICS Twitter:  https://twitter.com/WeirdScienceDC  Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/weirdscience DC Comics Review Site: https://bit.ly/WeirdScienceDC Marvel Review Site: https://bit.ly/WeirdScienceMarvel   SUBSCRIBE TO WEIRD SCIENCE COMIC PODCASTS:  DC Comics Podcast iTunes - https://apple.co/47jNeme Spotify - https://spoti.fi/2XzDALI Stitcher - https://bit.ly/45XPtKS   Marvel Comics Podcast iTunes - https://apple.co/3u1xxSh Spotify - https://spoti.fi/3QJFAfe Pandora - https://bit.ly/3Qq5cwd YT - https://bit.ly/WeirdSciencePodcasts

In 2012, former Oregon governor John Kitzhaber declared an ambitious goal in his State of the State Address.    “Next year’s class of kindergarten students is a benchmark,” he said. “They are the class of 2025. And 2025 is the year we’ve set to have 100 percent high school graduation in the state of Oregon.”   OPB decided to document the stories of a kindergarten class on their journey all the way through high school; to capture what it’s like to grow up in the Oregon education system, and all the other life experiences that make us who we are along the way.    Thirteen years after Kitzhaber’s State of the State address, that once tall order of a one-hundred percent high school graduation rate is no longer the goal.    “We’re not gonna meet it,” Kitzhaber said.    Now, it’s both the Class of 2025’s last year of high school and OPB’s last year of this long-term project.    In the next few weeks, we’ll hear three unique stories from the class of 2025 students we’ve been following.    In this episode, we present the story of two cousins: Anna and Austin. As little kids, they lived in the same neighborhood and went to the same elementary school. But now they go to different high schools, in two different zip codes.   How did Austin and Anna’s high schools affect their decisions about college? Education reporter Elizabeth Miller finds out.    For more Evergreen episodes and to share your voice with us, visit our showpage. Follow OPB on Instagram, and follow host Jenn Chávez too. You can sign up for OPB’s newsletters to get what you need in your inbox regularly.   Don’t forget to check out our many podcasts, which can be found on any of your favorite podcast apps: Hush  Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars Politics Now Think Out Loud And many more! Check out our full show list here.

Welcome to Comics From The Multiverse, our DC comics podcast! Discussed this week: 0:00:00 - Intro 0:05:23 - ComiXology Top 10 0:07:52 - News: Marvel Crossover 0:17:01 - Batman #160 (LGY #925) (Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee) 0:37:40 - Superman #26 (#869 LGY) (Joshua Williamson and Sean Izaakse) 0:54:32 - Absolute Wonder Woman #8 (Kelly Thompson and Hayden Sherman) 1:10:34 - Absolute Martian Manhunter #3 (Deniz Camp and Javier Rodríguez) 1:27:42 - Green Lantern #23 (LGY #590) (Jeremy Adams and Xermanico) 1:35:57 - Justice League Unlimited #7 (Mark Waid and Travis Moore) 1:45:47 - Mr Teriffic: Year One #1 (Al Letson and Valentine De Landro) 1:59:55 - PATREON: Batman and the Outsiders #24 2:14:44 - PATREON Planetary #9 2:27:02 - Picks of the Week patreon: https://www.patreon.com/mildfuzztv twitter: @DCComicsPodcast discord: https://discord.gg/8fbyCehMTy Audio: https://comicsfromthemultiverse.podbean.com/ Other Links: https://linktr.ee/mildfuzz

Another month has ended, which means Peter Verra is back to discuss all of the new Batman comics released. We break down: -The next chapter of Hush 2 -Detective Comics #1097 -The return of Batman and Robin: Year One Plus, smoking meats, crossover comics, what's coming next month, and Eric Holzmann. Rate and Review the Show: Apple | Spotify | iHeartradio | Amazon Follow The Batman Book Club on X: @thebatmanbc. Follow The Batman Book Club on Instagram: @thebatmanbc. Follow Peter on X: @PeteIllustrated. Follow Straight Outta Gotham on X: @Straight_O_G. Subscribe to The Batman Book Club YouTube Channel. Support the Show Through Patreon: patreon.com/thebatmanbc. Support the Show with Merchandise from TeePublic. Transition Music: "The Dark Knight Returns", by Christopher Drake. Outro Music: "Overdrive", by Matrika.

FINALLY…Batman: Hush Part One Part Two! In this episode, we wrap up our re-read of Jeph Loeb and Jim Lee's iconic 2003 story line Batman: Hush! If you missed Part 1, be sure to catch up—because in Part 2, the list of suspects behind the Hush identity keeps growing. Is it The Joker? Two-Face? The […] The post BATMAN: HUSH Revisited! Part 2 | Jim Lee & Jeph Loeb's Dark Knight Epic | Back Issue Review Show #779 appeared first on The Two-Headed Nerd Comic Book Podcast.

On this issue of the Comic Corner, Damon, TJ & AF react to the best comics of the week including Ultimate Spider-Man, Absolute Martian Manhunter, Absolute Wonder Woman and more!(00:00:00) The Rundown(00:03:32) DC & Marvel Crossover!(00:10:19) Ultimate Spider-Man #17 Review(00:19:29) Absolute Wonder Woman #8 Review(00:26:38) Absolute Martian Manhunter #3 Review(00:35:36) World's Finest #39 Review(00:41:41) Zatanna #4 Review(00:44:23) Magik #5 Review(00:54:07) Minor Arcana #7 Review(00:58:27) Next Week's Pulls(01:01:32) Why is Hush 2 Not Working?#Comics #Reviews #SpiderMan #UltimateSpiderMan #GwenStacy #DCMarvel #MarvelDC #WonderWoman #MartianManhunter #DCcomics #MarvelComics #Marvel #Zatanna #Magik #Superman #Batman #DeadpoolBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/agents-of-fandom--5479222/support.

Before streaming, before OnlyFans, before incognito mode — there were blue cinemas. This week, we're peeling back the curtain on the forgotten world of adult movie theaters: where porn was communal, seats were sticky, and trench coats weren't just for the weather.We're talking about how these spaces shaped everything from censorship laws to queer cruising culture, why the U.S. Supreme Court once had to define porn (and totally failed), and how a moody French romance film sparked a legal firestorm. Plus: what's left today — and how places like Hush in Sydney are keeping the flicker alive in a very modern way.Grab your popcorn (or maybe… don't) — we're going in deep.Want to help us out? Sure you do!!!Help us out on Patreon and join our Discord chat hereFind us on social media!!!On Twitter @BytheBiPodcastOn Facebook BytheBiPodcastOn Instagram @BytheBiPodcastOr email us herePlease donate to Bi+ Visibility by clicking the link here!Leave some feedback for us on whatever medium you listen to your podcasts on! Get bonus content on Patreon Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

There’s a population of Northern red-legged frogs that make their home in Portland’s Forest Park. In late winter and early spring, they come down to the nearby Harborton wetland to breed. There’s only one problem: the frogs have to cross Highway 30 to get from Forest Park to the wetland and back. About ten years ago, a local resident saw the road covered with the bodies of frogs who had tried to cross during the night and gotten squished. They alerted some friends and neighbors and that’s how the Harborton Frog Shuttle, also lovingly known as the “frog taxi” came to be. Teams of dedicated volunteers are on-call from late winter to early spring and when the conditions are right for the frogs, they come out with their buckets and headlamps to help the amphibians cross the road safely.   OPB “Oregon Field Guide” producer Jule Gilfillan and OPB cinematographer/editor Brooke Herbert tagged along with the frog taxi volunteers. They join us to share a bit about the experience. And you can see their video here.    For more Evergreen episodes and to share your voice with us, visit our showpage. Follow OPB on Instagram, and follow host Jenn Chávez too. You can sign up for OPB’s newsletters to get what you need in your inbox regularly.   Don’t forget to check out our many podcasts, which can be found on any of your favorite podcast apps: Hush Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars Politics Now Think Out Loud And many more! Check out our full show list here.

Potterhouse - "Baby Baby Are You OK?" - Talcum Hush the Baby - "Drooling" - Crib [2025 Remix/Remastered.] https://www.wfmu.org/playlists/shows/152456

Two life long friends start to explore intimacy together.In 4 parts, By D j mac 1031 - listen to the ► Podcast at Connected.The pool party had been going on for several hours, and it was well after dark, when Amy asked me if I'd wanted to go for a walk in the woods behind the house.She was 18, I was 19, but we'd known each other since we were toddlers, our families being very close and part of the same church group.The party was to celebrate her high school graduation (I graduated the year before) and was mainly our families along with some of our mutual friends from church and school.As I said, we'd been friends for a long time, but it was only in recent months that things seemed to change between us.Talking about our futures, our questions of what we wanted to do with our lives, our secret bonding over our mutual distaste of our parents' particular brand of religion, had brought us closer together as friends, but also somehow felt more than ‘just' friends.I'd certainly started noticing her beautiful body more recently as well.Amy was blonde, with curly shoulder length locks, now damp around her face. Blue eyes that almost matched the pool water we were currently floating in.Her one-piece bathing suit was modest (I'm sure her parents had some say in that) but still couldn't help but highlight the curves of her perfect apple sized breasts, or the roundness of her ass that hadn't quite lost its “baby fat” yet.She was well tanned of course; it was her pool and she spent a lot of time sunning herself when she wasn't actually swimming in it.We'd been playing Marco Polo for awhile along with our friends, and there was the usual silliness, splashing, and occasional “accidental” groping of random body parts as we all chased each other around the pool, taking turns being the “blind” player.My hands had found Amy's body on more than a few occasions when it was my turn. I was starting to think she was letting me catch her just so my hands could brush against her hips, her back, and yes once right across her round bubble ass.We'd been taking a break from the game and just floating nearby each other, catching our breath, when she asked about going for the walk.Most of our friends had left the pool already, getting snacks or drinks or just drying off.“You really wanna?” I asked, surprised. We'd been spending a lot of time together recently, but both of us having very religious conservative parents made it difficult to actually pursue any kind of true dating relationship.We weren't girlfriend and boyfriend yet, not by any stretch, but had certainly progressed beyond mere childhood friends in the past several weeks.I still remember my surprise when she kissed me right on the lips at her graduation ceremony just a few days ago.Oh it was quick, and she'd been hugging and kissing lots of folks. But it wasn't accidental on her part and it certainly didn't feel platonic.“Yeah, come on, it'll be fun, I promise,” she replied. The smile on her face was mischievous to say the least.I was a bit scared honestly. Both our parents would freak out if they caught us sneaking off together. I honestly couldn't wait to get out of my house and away from all the religious nonsense. But until then I had to put up with their repressive bullshit that made it incredibly difficult for me to even consider dating any girls on a regular basis, let alone get laid.We climbed out of the pool, grabbed our towels, and took a look around.Our parents all seemed busy, chatting away with some of the other parents in attendance, drinking, laughing, and playing some card game.I didn't think they'd notice us.“ Okay, let's go, lead the way I guess. You know these woods better than me.”Amy didn't hesitate. She took my hand and led me to a little path that was barely visible in the dark.As we got to the edge by the tree line, we both took one more look around, saw no one noticing us, and quietly slipped through the trees and down the path.We hadn't gone very far when we came to a little clearing. A few stumps marked where some trees had been cleared, and a small pile of wood to one side, apparently the remains of some makeshift fort.“My brothers cleared this spot years ago; they used to have sleep-outs in their fort. They never let me come here with them but I've always known about it. They eventually forgot about it as they got older, but I never did. It's a nice spot to just get away and be alone for a while,” she explained.“Yeah, it's pretty cool I guess” I said, then, awkwardly, “not that many bugs here.”She laughed. “I keep it clear here so it doesn't get overgrown. And I sprayed some bug killer here earlier this afternoon. Just in case.” She had that mischievous grin again and a twinkle in her eye I couldn't fathom.“In case what?” I asked stupidly. God, the cluelessness of a teenage boy.“In case this” she said, and suddenly she was in my arms, her lips pressed to mine.I froze for a moment, but thankfully, instinct took over, and I kissed her back.She broke the kiss after a few seconds, almost reluctantly. "I've been wanting to do that forever, you know. I've been waiting so long for the right moment.“I smiled, hoping she couldn't see how red my face was in the moonlight that shone down on us."Wow. Well I'm, I'm glad you did Amy. That was, that was really, that was really nice.” I stuttered around the words like an idiot.“I'm glad you liked it. Because I wanna do it again.” She smiled, looking at me in anticipation.This time I made the move, pulling her gently by the waist, leaning down a bit (she was shorter than me) and moving in for another kiss.She met me halfway and once again our lips connected.We were both inexperienced, but we got the hang of it quickly. I tested her lips with my tongue; they parted and accepted it. She offered her tongue in return, and we explored, if a bit awkwardly, the art of French kissing.We'd break the kiss only for a few moments to look into each other's eyes, smile, then right back at it.My hands up until that point had remained on her hips. Her arms were up around my neck and she was standing on her toes to help get some height.I decided to be a bit bolder, and slowly started moving my hands. First just slowly up then back down her sides. I repeated this move a few times and her body seemed to respond positively, so I got braver.My hands went back to her hips, then slowly around to her back. While the front of her suit was modest, the back was mostly open, allowing my hands to gently caress her soft, perfect skin.She broke the kiss and giggled, “that tickles!”“Sorry,” I said, lying.“I didn't say stop, did I?” She replied softly, then started kissing me again.My hands continued rubbing her back, but now I was moving them in small slow circles, lower, and lower still, stopping just above her ass.I could feel her wriggling, trying to stand taller, and realized she was trying to actually move her ass UP and into my hands!I took her signal and went with it, sliding my hands down and finally cupping the perfect teen bubble ass I'd up until then been able to admire only with my eyes.“Mmm,” she moaned as she broke the kiss. “Finally. Took you long enough,” she giggled again playfully.“I was trying to be a gentleman,” I joked.“Well stop trying so hard” she shot back playfully.“Oh yeah?“ I said in mock annoyance. "Well then,” and with that I playfully grabbed her ass harder.What happened next happened quickly. My pull on her ass threw her off the balance of her toes, and she fell forward, right into me, our bodies touching fully for the first time.And that's when I realized I had a massive erection.I felt her lower stomach lean right into it when she slipped, felt the simultaneous jolt of pain from the impact and pleasure from, well, the contact.She was laughing at first, then suddenly went quiet as she looked down, confused for a moment.Then her eyes went wide as she looked up at me.“Is that, is that your,” Now she was the one stuttering. "Is that what I think it is?“ She managed to get out.My face went beet red. "Yeah, um, look, sorry, I,”“It's  okay” she cut in. “Did I, did I hurt you?”“No,” I replied. (it had hurt, but only a little really and I didn't want to make her feel bad.)“Oh,  okay, good.” She said, biting her lip.We stood there in awkward silence for a moment. But she didn't back away, and I certainly didn't want her to. My cock was throbbing, straining against the fabric of my suit, and while separated by my suit and her own, I still enjoyed the contact of another person, especially my beautiful friend Amy, touching up against my penis, even if only indirectly.I didn't want the moment to end. But I didn't know how to continue.Amy finally broke the silence. "Is that, because of me?“ She asked shyly."Yes” I managed.She pulled away from me and I almost groaned. I didn't want her to move.But she only pulled back far enough to look down to see the tent pushing up from my swimsuit.Her eyes again went wide. “Wow. I mean I knew they got, bigger, when guys got, uh; but I didn't think they'd get that, big, or,” She stopped, looking both confused and excited.I was embarrassed, yet also feeling a sense of pride, and excitement. My life-long friend was seeing my erected penis for the first time, even if it was covered by my suit, and it was giving her a good show.“Have you never seen a guys, you know, thing before?” I asked, hoping mine was truly her first.“Well, no, not really. A picture in a textbook once. but it was just a drawing, and not this big, or,” she paused.“Hard?” I finished for her.“Yeah,” she laughed. "I never saw a hard one, or a real one.“ She gulped."Yeah, they're usually smaller and soft, normally. But get much bigger and harder when, excited” I explained simply.“So you're, excited, because of me?”“Yes,” I replied, “Amy, you're so beautiful, and I'm so happy to be here, kissing you, and touching you. I've wanted this for a long time too, and now that it's happening, I can't help but get, well, turned on. I hope this doesn't upset you.”“No, not at all. I, I love it” she said, grinning widely.“Can I, can I touch it? She stammered.My heart jumped. This is gonna happen? My brain screamed silently in joy."Of course,” I managed to say, “I'd, I'd love that.”She came in closer to me again. I could smell the chlorine in her hair, but also just, well, her. Her bright face shined in the moonlight, beautiful, without a stitch of makeup on.Her left arm went around my hip to my back, and with her right, she slowly, tentatively, reached out and placed the palm of her hand over the bulge of my suit.My cock jumped immediately at her touch, and she was startled, pulling her hand back in surprise.“It moved!” She gasped. “Wait, it, it moves?”“Yeah it does that,” I smiled, begging silently for her to touch it again.She burst out laughing. “Oh my God, that's great! It moves!” She laughed so loud I was afraid the whole party behind us would hear.“Shush,” I whispered, and she tried to contain herself, finally quieting to the occasional giggle.Her hand reached out, more boldly this time, and again my throbbing member jumped at her touch, but this time she didn't pull away.Instead, she started gently rubbing it with the palm of her hand. It bobbed and twitched with her movements and she smiled brightly, like a kid on Christmas with a new toy, enjoying how it responded to her touch.I was enjoying it too. Not exactly the way I did it on my own of course, but hell, any touching was good touching, when it came to a beautiful girl with her hand on your cock.“Does that, does it feel, good?” She asked shyly.“Oh god yes, Amy. It feels amazing, so so good! Please don't stop.” I begged.She smiled such a beautiful smile, and continued exploring.“I want to, I wanna see it” she said suddenly.I felt I must be dreaming. If so, please, whatever you do, God, be merciful, please don't wake me up now!I couldn't even manage the words so just nodded, and she slowly tugged down my suit, struggling a bit to get it over the protruding obstacle, until I helped by undoing the string and tugging with her.It suddenly popped out, springing upward in all its full glory.She had to stifle another laugh; not a cruel one, mocking me, but a joyful, playful excited laugh that spoke to how thrilled she was to finally see it.“Wow! Holy crap!” She whispered. “It looks even bigger in person! And so, veiny! Are you sure that's not painful? It looks so swollen!”“Not painful at all, it actually feels really pleasurable, and very sensitive to, being touched” I said, hinting at what I hoped she'd get back to.She grinned wickedly and took the hint, and her hand again reached for my cock. Within moments I was feeling, for the first time ever, the incredible feeling of skin on skin contact from someone other than myself touching my cock.Now, she was using her fingers, running them up my shaft, tracing their way to the tip, then, back down. My body was literally shaking in bliss.Suddenly she giggled again.“What's so funny now?” I asked, not harshly.“I just now noticed your, what's the word? Testicles, right? They're, don't be mad, please, but they're just silly looking. Like little balls in a sack.”“Yeah well that's why we call them balls,” I laughed. "And it's okay, I'm not mad. They are kinda goofy looking.“Her hand cupped them gently, and she looked up at me, questioning. "Is this okay? I don't wanna hurt them, I know it can really hurt a guy getting hit there.”“You're fine, just be gentle with them, don't squeeze, just rub,” I said.She gently rubbed them for a few seconds, feeling their weight, being very careful.“What feels better, touching your, balls, or your,?” She must have felt embarrassed to say penis or cock or whatever other term, because she just gestured at my twitching member.“My cock?” I said, seeing how she'd react if I said it.She flinched at the word, not used to using or hearing the “dirty” words too often I suppose.“Yeah, your, cock,” she repeated, trying out the word, then deciding she liked it.“Your big hard cock.” Her face had that wicked grin again.“Yeah touching my cock feels better, honestly,” I grinned back. “Especially when you are touching it.”She took that as an invitation to continue.“Tell me how to, to touch it the way, the way you like,” she asked nervously.“Okay. Well,” I paused, then continued, “what you were doing felt really good, but it's better if you, well, here, let me show you.” And with that I took her hand and guided it into the more familiar grip around my shaft, then showed her how to stroke it, pulling the skin gently up around the tip, then back, the way every guy figures out how to do as soon as he hits puberty.She got the hang of it pretty quickly and I let go, allowing her to continue at her own pace.“It feels so warm,” she gasped, “and, I can feel your pulse in it” she marveled.Suddenly she looked up at me. “It's, beautiful.” She said, then kissed me.I pulled her in close as we kissed, her hand never letting go.I was close to cumming, I knew I wouldn't last much longer if she kept going. I grabbed her hand and made her pause, trying to extend the moment. She looked up at me questioningly.“Just needed a pause for a second.” I explained. Suddenly, I had a thought.“Can I,?” I stammered, as I moved my hand towards her beautiful firm boobs, waiting for her consent.She bit her lip, then nodded. “Yes,” she whispered.I touched her breast gently, my hand over her suit still, heard her gasp, felt her shudder. I could feel her nipple, stiff and swollen, poking through the fabric.Her hand suddenly left my cock, and I looked at her, curious. She simply smiled then reached up and slowly slipped the shoulder straps of her bathing suit down.She hesitated for only a moment, then continued, exposing to my delighted eyes her firm, young breasts for the first time.They stood, perky and oh so round, their pale pinkness a sharp contrast to the rest of her tanned skin. Her nipples were tiny points sticking up from the middle of her light pink, puffy areolas.My face must have been interesting; with my mouth agape and my eyes wide, because she giggled again, nervously.“Do you like them?” She asked quietly.“They're beautiful. Just like you Amy,” I replied lovingly. She blushed but smiled.With my left arm still holding her close, my right hand again found her perfect tits.I went from one to the other, alternating between a gentle caress and soft squeezes. I could feel her heart racing beneath her left breast. I gently rolled her left nipple between my fingers, then gave it a slight tug. She gasped in surprise and (I'd hoped) pleasure.“Was that  okay? I didn't hurt you?” I asked, concerned.“No, I'm fine, it felt good, just, sensitive,” she managed to say, breathing heavily.We kissed again, and then I felt her hand return to stroking my throbbing boner.After about another minute or two of this, her stroking my cock, me playing with her breasts, I felt the familiar sensation of my climax approaching, knowing I would not be able to hold it back any longer.“Amy,” I gasped, breathing heavy, “you're going to make me, oh God, I can't hold it back,” I moaned, tried not to scream my pleasure, and managed to get out “Please, just don't stop, don't stop, don't,”My cock swelled; she gasped but didn't let go, kept stroking, as the first blast of hot cum shot from the tip of my cock.It hit her right between her exposed breasts. She jumped but stayed close, still not letting go, still jerking me steadily as blast after sticky blast continued to burst from my straining organ.Cum went everywhere; more squirted on her suit, her hand, her arm. Some dripped on her feet, and I could hear her squealing and giggling.Her eyes met mine, confused and questioning. "Just a little more, please, I'm begging you.“ I groaned, and she kept her grip, milking the last remaining drops, watching them ooze out the tip to drip to the grass below.Finally, I could take no more, and grabbed her hand gently, pulling it away from my still hard but finally satisfied cock."So, so good, Amy, that was so good, thank you, oh thank you,” I struggled and finally managed to control my breathing as I repeated, “Oh, thank you.”“You're welcome,” she said gently, and her lips found mine once more.That kiss lasted, seconds? Minutes? A lifetime? Forever?Finally it broke, and we both laughed. We shared a mutual mix of embarrassment and excitement at the state we found ourselves in. My cock, hanging there, slowly deflating. Her breasts still exposed. Cum everywhere.“Holy shit that was a mess!” She exclaimed. “I knew, I knew something would, you know, come out, but, wow, holy shit!”I realized with horror the mess I had made on her. “Oh god, Amy, I'm sorry, really, it just happened so fast, I wasn't thinking, I,”She cut me off. “It's  okay. I, I loved it. I loved making that happen. I loved that you felt good. I loved that it was because, because of me.” I could hear the pride in her voice, like a sense of accomplishment.“Shit, we better clean up” she gasped suddenly. She then grabbed the towel she had brought and started desperately wiping away the spunk from her boobs. “Take one last look” she said as she fixed her suit, covering up her breasts to my dismay.She then continued cleaning herself, mopping up the jizz that had splattered on her suit, hands and feet.“It's  okay, don't worry,” she said; to herself or me I wasn't sure. “I'll clean most of this up and in the dark no one will notice the stains, and I'll jump back in the pool real quick and that should,” She paused, looked at me, still standing there, cock deflated now but sticky with my cum, then laughed and threw me the towel. "Here, clean up and put that away,“ she said quickly, ”we gotta get back before someone notices we've been missing.“I quickly wiped myself down, and noticed her eying my penis one last time."It's, softer now.” She whispered.“Yeah, you, you tired it out.” I winked and smiled. She laughed, again looking pleased with herself.We quickly finished cleaning up, did a double check on each other, adjusted our clothing to make sure everything was back in place, then shared one last, lingering kiss.I looked her in the eye, resolved to tell her my feelings. “Amy, I, I lov,”“Hush.” She said, cutting me off. “We gotta go! Now!”We crept down the path, back the way we came. I could hear the sounds of the party again as we came to the end of our tree cover.We stopped, peaking out cautiously, seeing who may be looking in our direction.It looked clear, and I was about to step out when Amy stopped me.“Wait,” she whispered. “I'll go first. My mom knows I like to visit that clearing alone sometimes. I tell her I pray out there, but I really just go to get away from them and be alone sometimes. If she or someone else sees me coming out alone, that's my story, that I slipped away for a quiet moment of prayer.”You genius, I thought as I smiled admiringly at her.“You wait a few minutes. If I get back without questions, I'll head right for the house, wash my suit off better and make sure to rinse this towel out. Wait till I'm in the house, then come out. If anyone questions you, tell them,” Here she paused, hesitated.“I'll tell them I had to pee and the bathroom was occupied. Embarrassing, but better than the truth” I whispered back.She smiled. “That will work, good thinking.  Okayhere I go. Oh one last thing,”She paused, kissed my lips quickly, touched my cheek gently,“, I love you too.”Then she turned, and stepped out from the trees, walking slowly back towards the yard.Amy cleans up, then has a few minutes of alone time..Looking around, the coast was clear, and she made a beeline up the stairs and towards the bathroom. In the hallway, she almost plowed into her best friend Cindy, who had just exited the bathroom.“Hey, there you are,” said Cindy. “I was looking for you earlier. Where were you?”Amy panicked for a moment but quickly collected herself, and managed a calm, casual reply. “Oh just went for a walk, needed some quiet time to reflect, be with God, ya know?” Amy then made a move to get around Cindy, trying to reach the bathroom before Cindy noticed anything suspicious.But it was too late. “You look, flushed. Nervous. You okay? Something wrong?” Cindy asked.“No nothing,” Amy spat out too quickly. “Just, just really gotta pee.” She tried again for the bathroom.Cindy caught her up again. “Something is up, I can tell. Come on, dish!” she pleaded.“I'll, I'll tell you about it later, I promise,” Amy stammered.“You better, bestie,” Cindy called after her as Amy finally made it to the bathroom and slammed the door.“Whew, finally,” Amy whispered to herself. She double checked to make sure she locked the door, then turned to examine herself in the mirror.Her face broke into a huge grin. “I can't believe we just did that,” she thought, recalling the recent time she'd just spent alone in the woods with Tommy.Her good Christian upbringing told her she should be feeling guilt and shame, like a wanton little slut that men would never respect, let alone marry.But she didn't really believe any of that. Instead, all she felt was the joy and excitement of a young woman discovering both love and the pleasures of the flesh at the same time.She composed herself quickly; can't dwell on that just yet. Things to do first.She examined her bathing suit in the mirror. Despite her best efforts, she could still see the dried remains of Tommy's, sperm? Semen? She knew there was a difference but couldn't remember what. It had dried to dark patches on her light blue suit.“I'll have to change it,” she thought. “I'll tell mom I spilled something on it.” She quickly stripped off her suit and as she did so, noticed another stain. This one in the crotch.“Wow, girl, you really got yourself excited, didn't you?” she thought. The gusset of her suit was damp and sticky, and as she held it up closer to examine it, she caught a strong whiff of the scent of her vagina that not even the pool chlorine could drown out.It wasn't an unpleasant smell. She'd smelled it before of course, during her relatively recent discovery and explorations of the pleasures of self pleasure. She found herself wondering if Tommy would enjoy her scent.Masturbation was a “sin” her parents would condemn, no doubt, but she'd felt no shame in touching herself, in discovering how her body reacted to the exploration of her fingers over her most intimate parts.Almost absent mindedly, Amy ran her hand over the fine blonde pubic hair covering her mound. Slipping downwards between her legs, she discovered the slick warm wetness that still lingered there. She felt the pulsing and throbbing of the little bump at the top that she knew would give her incredible pleasure if she just,“Not now, dammit,” she swore to herself. “Get this done, quick.”She stooped, still naked, and quickly washed out her suit along with the towel she'd used to wipe herself down earlier, making sure to get all of Tommy's sticky stuff off of both.Looking down, she noticed a faded drop of, cum, she decided to call it, a word she'd heard before somewhere, dried now but still visible on her left breast.She touched it, tentatively, then smelled her finger. On a sudden whim, she tasted it.The taste was faint, but tangy and salty. She wondered for a moment what it would be like to taste it fresh, and her vagina throbbed at the thought.“Not now!” she thought again, and quickly jumped in the shower, soaping and rinsing her whole body as quickly as possible. Her private parts begged her to linger over washing them. She ignored it.Finished bathing, Amy grabbed a fresh towel, dried off, and wrapped herself in it. She then scooped up the wet suit and soiled towel. She'd put them in her bedroom hamper, and hopefully remember to do her own laundry first thing tomorrow.She cracked the bathroom door and peeked out. All clear.Her bedroom door was just a few steps down the hall and she made it through and behind it in seconds. Again she quickly locked her door.She walked over to her bedroom window that overlooked the yard where the party was still going on and peeked out through the curtains.Her parents were still playing the card game they'd been at with the other parents when she and Tommy had first snuck off to the woods for what turned out to be way more than just the kissing she'd planned on.She looked around for Tommy, and saw him sitting alone by the edge of the pool, dangling his feet in the water, looking lost in thought.She had a sudden overwhelming desire to knock on the window, get his attention, and flash him her boobs. A desire she quickly squashed. “If my parents saw that they'd chain me in the basement for a month with a rosary,” she said, grimacing at the thought.She would go back out and join him soon, she thought. Hopefully get to talk privately but if not, at least spend time with him, basking in their secret shared stolen moments together.“But first,” she thought, “God help me but I need to take care of this first.”Amy closed the curtains, making sure they were completely covering her window. She doubted anyone could see anything that high up, but she was taking no chances.She walked over to her bed, dropped her towel, and lay naked over the bedspread.“I've only got a few minutes or I'm gonna need another story to tell,” she thought.But a few minutes was all she'd need really.Amy had only truly discovered masturbation last summer. It was her 18th birthday party, another pool party, and of course Tommy had been there.They'd been swimming of course, along with the usual horse play.Nothing had happened between them then, but at one point while she was sunning herself on the deck, Amy saw something.Or at least, she thought she did.Tommy had just climbed out of the pool near her, and as he stood up, his suit was clinging to him tightly, and Amy, who was lounging in her pool chair, sunglasses on, saw quite clearly the outline of his, well, she was pretty sure it was his penis.It only lasted a second, as he adjusted his suit and the fabric fell away from it, but that moment locked in Amy's mind.She'd suddenly become fascinated with seeing it again, and found herself, over and over again throughout the day, stealing glances at his crotch when she thought he wasn't looking, keeping her sunglasses on so she wouldn't be obvious about it.Every time he moved, everytime he bent or even walked, she looked for any telltale signs of it under his suit, to the point she was probably over imagining every curve of the fabric of his bathing suit.That night when she crawled into bed, that singular moment of him stepping out of the pool, suit tight and clinging around the outline of his genitals, was replaying over and over in her mind, not allowing sleep to come.She'd touched herself before that night, off and on, even though she'd been taught that was a sin of course.But that night, she felt a hot ache between her legs she'd never experienced before, an ache that begged to be touched, massaged, fondled, fingered.She'd experienced her first true orgasm that night, and in the months since had figured out the best ways to bring that incredible feeling over and over again.And almost every time, she wound up thinking about the outline of Tommy's penis in his bathing suit.Now though, oh, she had so, So much more to think about!She'd kissed him. Made out with him!She hadn't just seen the outline of his penis this time. She'd actually seen it fully hard and erect and literally making a tent in his suit.She'd actually touched it! First over his suit, then actually took down his shorts and literally saw and touched it fully exposed!It even moved, like it had a mind of its own! Oh how that had made her laugh with delight.And best of all, she'd made him squirt! Everywhere!Amy's mind raced with all of this as she rubbed her clit furiously. She had no time for a slow build up and didn't need it.Her vagina was on fire; swollen, slick and dripping as she rubbed herself.She never used her fingers too deeply, wanting to keep her virginity intact, but explored deep enough to imagine the tip of Tommy's cock, (“Yes, cock, that's what he called it,” she remembered) pushing its way into her tight virgin opening.

In this episode, Freddie Prinze Jr. and Jon Lee Brody break down the 2016 horror film Hush. The movie revolves around a deaf and mute writer living in solitude who must defend herself when a masked killer appears at her window. Freddie and Jon discuss the film's unique tension-building techniques, strong performances, and effective use of minimalistic settings. They also delve into the movie's portrayal of a realistic struggle for survival and the ways Mike Flanagan, the director, masterfully subverts audience expectations.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Oregon journalist and OPB’s “Hush” Podcast Host Leah Sottile has made a name for herself investigating extremism and fringe movements in the West. Her latest book, “Blazing Eye Sees All,” explores New Age religion, including the Love Has Won movement. Beyond that, the book is a history of spirituality in the U.S. and looks at the ways fascism and metaphysical circles are intertwined. Sottile joins us in front of a live audience at the Literary Art Bookstore in Portland to share more.

The post spring top 25s are out and we ask a simple question. Who is overhyped and who is being hushed?https://www.TheSloopCast.com Artist: SuperdestroyerSong: When It Comes to Croquethttps://youtu.be/qZBuh8N40Mw

Hush and Kia are back to preview the Eastern Conference Finals from all angles and give their picks to go to the NBA Finals

When you hear the words ‘craft’ or ‘artisan’ mentioned together with Portland, you might tend to think of beer or coffee. But it could also easily be artisan amplifiers and handcrafted cables. From custom-made guitars to individually soldered effects pedals, the city has a vibrant boutique audio manufacturing industry closely intertwined with the local music scene.   Portland writer Marc Young tells us about how Oregon became known as a place where people make a lot of very cool audio equipment. For more Evergreen episodes and to share your voice with us, visit our showpage. Follow OPB on Instagram, and follow host Jenn Chávez too. You can sign up for OPB’s newsletters to get what you need in your inbox regularly.   Don’t forget to check out our many podcasts, which can be found on any of your favorite podcast apps: Hush Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars Politics Now Think Out Loud And many more! Check out our full show list here.

Bob and Matt discuss Paul Dini's "Heart of Hush" and review the second issue of "Hush 2". To further support our podcast, please visit http://www.patreon.com/uncannytreks.

On this episode, I got to sit down with brothers, Tanner and Peyton Whitt of the alt-pop duo Rags And Riches. We discussed everything from the band's creative process and a dream collab with Post Malone to how their personal faith has impacted their music. Plus, their newest single "Hush" is out now! To hear all the artists mentioned in this episode, be sure to check out this episode's Spotify playlist!Want to learn more about this episode's special guest, Rags and Riches?Click here to listen to their new single on Spotify!Also, check them out on Instagram: @ragsandrichesmusicBe sure to visit Noise and Affection Podcast on Instagram! We love to hear from you!Host IG: @candacedickerson_Podcast IG: @noiseandaffectionpodcast

Ever sold your dog for a fat check and got a standing ovation for it? That's how Aaron Spivak describes selling the company he built from scratch into a $50M powerhouse. In this episode of The Liquid Lunch Project, Matt and Luigi sit down with Aaron, the DJ-turned-juice-slinger-turned-weighted-blanket-mogul, to unpack how grit, delusion, and one viral Kickstarter helped him build Hush, one of the top DTC brands in Canada.  He dives into the real emotional cost of selling a business, why customer conversations are his secret weapon, and how Founders Club is helping entrepreneurs get real support.   What You'll Learn in This Episode: The stroke that changed everything…and how a side hustle became a lifeline Why Aaron still DJed after hitting $25M in revenue The secret power of calling every single customer (yes, really) How to turn a blanket into a movement (and a $50M exit) What Dragon's Den taught him about performance, not pitching The real emotional chaos of selling your “business baby” Why Founders Club isn't another BS mastermind — and who it's really for Who is Aaron?Aaron Spivak is a serial entrepreneur who co-founded Revita, Hush Blankets, and most recently Founders Club,  a global community for high-growth founders. From DJing bar mitzvahs to delivering mattresses in his Audi, Aaron's story is anything but typical. Favorite Quote:"When I sold my business, it felt like someone bought my dog and the whole world clapped." Take Action:Tune in to hear why hard work beats hype — and what's next for the guy who refuses to slow down. Connect with Aaron: Instagram (The Founders Club): @thefoundersclub Website: https://www.aspivak.com Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaron-spivak1/   Like what you heard? Don't forget to subscribe, rate, and review!

Today we're playing the FULL audio from a marketing masterclass I recently hosted for Haunter's Toolbox, answering YOUR QUESTIONS on marketing strategies for haunted attractions.  This is the complete, unedited recording! If you're a haunt owner or operator looking to boost ticket sales and reach new audiences, you'll find tactics you can immediately implement. Examples from Hush, Woods of Terror, and Transworld included. Haunter's Toolbox hosts monthly sessions at haunterstoolbox.com, and you can watch this video version here.

Tabatha Jones spent 20 years in the corporate world which she joined right out of high school. Soon after beginning work in a call center she began to discover her own leadership skills and began forging her own path in the corporate environment. Tabatha found that she could empower others to be better than they thought by providing a natural, honest and positive leadership style.   As Tabatha describes, she learned how to communicate and help connect the C Suite leaders in companies to those they lead. She learned to be a positive conduit to help all parts of companies where she served to learn and grow. She tells us stories about how she thrived as a leader and how she created positive change wherever she worked. She provides us with some really good leadership tips.   While Tabatha says her programs today are mainly to help women who more often do not have the confidence to lead, she states emphatically that her teachings do help men as well and she has male clients to prove it.   As Tabatha says, while she was a corporate leader for many years, she also used that time to coach and help others to learn leadership skills. Seven years ago Tabatha decided to leave working for others to form her own coaching firm, Empowered Leadership Coaching, LLC. She helps people learn how they can positively grow and advance in their own careers.   I very much enjoyed this episode and found that Tabatha and I have a lot of leadership views in common. For example, we discuss trust and the need for real trust in work environments. She tells a story about a mistake she made as a leader and how she dealt with it to keep the trust of all persons involved. I think you have a lot to gain from Tabatha. At the end of this episode she tells us how to get a free eBook that provides invaluable lessons to help you in your own efforts to rise in the work world.       About the Guest:   Tabatha Jones is the CEO of Empowered Leadership Coaching, LLC, a Career Advancement & Leadership Coach, author, and keynote speaker based in the SF Bay Area, working with clients nationwide. With over 20 years of experience leading high-performing technical teams in Corporate America, she transitioned into coaching at the age of 50, driven by her passion for helping women break through career barriers and achieve leadership success. Tabatha specializes in working with ambitious Gen-X women who are ready to stop playing small and make the next years the most impactful of their careers. Through her personalized coaching programs, she empowers her clients to develop strategic career plans, build unshakable confidence, elevate their visibility, and secure significant promotions. Her clients, including leaders at companies like Comcast, Cisco, Abbvie, PG&E, and Tyson, have successfully climbed the corporate ladder, developed standout leadership skills, and positioned themselves as top candidates for advancement. As a sought-after keynote speaker, Tabatha inspires audiences with actionable insights on leadership, career advancement, and empowerment. She is also the author of Promotion Ready in 3 Months: The Women's Guide to Career Advancement, available on Amazon.   Ways to connect Tabatha:   Website: https://www.empowered-leader.com/   Connect with me on Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tabatha-jones-4485854/   Grab a Free Resource: GenX Promotion Planning Assessment: https://www.empowered-leader.com/promotionassessment   Purchase a copy of my book on Amazon: https://a.co/d/gpoqjNw   About the Host:   Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog.   Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards.   https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/   accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/   https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/       Thanks for listening!   Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below!   Subscribe to the podcast   If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset .   Leave us an Apple Podcasts review   Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts.       Transcription Notes:   Michael Hingson ** 00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us.   Michael Hingson ** 01:20 Well, hi everyone, and welcome to another edition, an exciting edition of unstoppable mindset where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet, and the unexpected is everything that doesn't have anything to do with inclusion or diversity, which is most things, according to my diversity friends, but that's okay, our guest today. How do I do this? Okay, I'll just be up front. As many of you know, I use a screen reader, which is a piece of software to verbalize whatever comes across the screen. And when my screen reader finds my guest today's name, it pronounces it Tabatha. Don't you like that? Of course, it's Tabitha, but Tabata, so, so Tabitha. Tabatha Jones, welcome you to unstoppable mindset. We're glad you're here.   Tabatha Jones ** 02:09 Oh, thank you so much for having me here. And Tabatha sounds fairly International, and maybe I'll take it, yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 02:16 well, you can have it. It's yours. I don't think that the screen reader will mind a whole lot. But But what we're glad you're here now. I met Tabitha, as I have mentioned in the past with others, through an event that I attend, pada palooza. And Tabitha and I were both at the most recent pot of palooza. So what took you there? Are you starting a podcast, or are you just wanting to be interviewed by podcasters, or do you already have a podcast and you've done 1000s of episodes already?   Tabatha Jones ** 02:46 Well, I haven't done 1000s of episodes. I'm a fairly new podcaster. I've launched my own it's called the Gen X, free mix life, laughs and next acts. I think we're at about Episode 11. I was actually really interested in joining pada palusa to meet other podcasters. Here's some success stories and learn some great tips and tricks as I'm continuing to build mine out and and engage my audience well. So if there's   Michael Hingson ** 03:11 any way I can help, you, just need to shout out and glad to do it. And if you ever need a guest, and if I can fit the mold, I'm also glad to do that. It's always fun to to be a guest. When people want to come on unstoppable mindset, and I discover that they have a podcast, I always tell them, Well, you know, and many of them say, Well, do you charge for guests? And I say, Yes, I do. The charges you have to let me be a guest on your podcast, or if I go on to their podcast. I say I charge for that, and the charges that you have to come on my cop podcast to be a guest. So it works out.   Tabatha Jones ** 03:47 It's a fantastic tip. I'm taking that down and definitely having you on the podcast. Oh my gosh, yeah, that'd be fun.   Michael Hingson ** 03:53 Well, it it is cute. Actually, last week of a couple in Australia, a couple people emailed me and they they want to come on unstoppable mindset. And I was glad to do that. And they said, you know, but, but what's your charge? And I said, Well, I know you have a podcast. I have to be on yours. They said, Oh, we can, we can pay that. So it's fine. It is. You know, podcasting is so, so much fun. I did radio for years at the University of California at Irvine, and I like radio. Radio is a wonderful thing, but you're more structured because you have a limited amount of time. You've got to do certain things, you've got commercials you got to do, and sponsors that you have to satisfy, and some of that can happen with the podcast, but it's still not nearly as rigid, which makes it a lot of fun.   Tabatha Jones ** 04:45 Yeah, absolutely. And there's so much variety out there. One of the coolest things for me about starting a podcast is it's led me to so many other podcast shows that I had never listened to before, yours included. So now I think I'm following maybe. 30 to 40 different shows that I hadn't heard of until very recently, I'd say, probably the last six to eight months, and I'm loving it. I learned something new every single day. I learned something about someone's experience that leads me to check more into what they've shared. And it's really been fun. It's been a much more fun adventure for me than the social media that I was kind of, kind of dabbling in a little bit, but podcasts, it's just so much more personal and fun. It   Michael Hingson ** 05:27 is. It's much more connectional. And social media is just so impersonal, and people spend so much time doing it, and I'm amazed at some of the people who spend so many hours on it. I could, I don't do a lot of stuff on social media. I will post things occasionally, and I'm amazed at how fast some people, as soon as they as soon as I post, within minutes, they're responding to it. And I'm going, how do you do that? But anyway, it's people focus on that. But it's so impersonal compared to doing things like podcasting, because you do get to know people. You get to learn about people. And as I tell people constantly, if I'm not learning at least as much as anybody else who listens to this podcast, then I'm not doing my job well, which is kind of the way I look at it. And I always like to learn things from everyone who comes on and who I get to interact with because of the podcast.   Tabatha Jones ** 06:21 Yeah, so much fun. It is. You know, one of the things when we met that really connected me to you was just your story and sharing your author journey on top of it. So, yeah, you're kind of stuck with me in your fan club for a little bit following   Michael Hingson ** 06:40 you Well, thank you. And it is, it is fun to do that and following you back. It's, it's a lot of fun. And as I said, I enjoy getting to know people and connecting and learning which is cool, and to introduce you a little bit more to people, and I'll get to letting you do some of that too. But Tabitha is the CEO of empowered leadership coaching LLC, which is obviously a coaching organization, and you started doing that when you were 50. Of course I could, I could, circuitously get to and and how long ago was that, which would then tell us your age, but I won't that's   Tabatha Jones ** 07:25 all right. As a career advancement coach, I tell people all the time, don't put those long dates on your resume. People will start guessing your age, and then we've got another whole situation. I think the good thing with coaching is age and experience go together, and people see that a little bit differently, which has been fun. Yeah, I left it, you know, corporate at 50, and started my own business. I had been doing it on the side, but now I get to do it every day, and it's so   Michael Hingson ** 07:50 much fun. Well, seriously, how long have you been doing it?   Tabatha Jones ** 07:54 You know, for officially. Oh, I gotta do math. 2017. Is when I started. So,   Michael Hingson ** 08:01 oh, okay, well, there you go. So, 10 years, okay, yeah, and then   Tabatha Jones ** 08:04 I had been doing it as part of my job for more than 20 years. So as a leader in corporate, more than 20 years of coaching experience came from that sure   Michael Hingson ** 08:13 when you've got seven years of official long term, real life, constant experience, which is, which is great too. Well, tell us about the early Tabitha growing up and some of those kinds of things that would get us to know you better.   Tabatha Jones ** 08:28 Well, I grew up in a little town called Livermore. It's not so little anymore out here in California, in the East Bay, I am the oldest of four, and you   Michael Hingson ** 08:37 were never irradiated by the the accelerators, or any of the things that Livermore Labs.   Tabatha Jones ** 08:41 No, there was so much Hush, hush, secret stuff going on out there. But, you know, it was always very cool. They had a swimming pool you could go swim at. I think it was 75 cents to go swim for the whole day at the pool. And, you know, as a grown up, I'm all, should we really have been swimming there? I don't   Michael Hingson ** 08:58 know. Oh, it was safe. Well, it was absolutely Were you ever there after dark? No, so you don't know whether anything glowed in the dark or not. So you didn't probably you were safe.   Tabatha Jones ** 09:07 Probably safe. Yeah, nope. Genetics kids, when the street lights came on, we went home.   Michael Hingson ** 09:11 There you go. But anyway, so Livermore, yeah,   Tabatha Jones ** 09:15 Livermore, and then let's see. So I finished high school. Didn't really know what I was going to do. I stuck a little toe in the telecommunications industry at AT and T and got a job there right out of high school, answering phones and learning all kinds of great things. Did a lot of growing up in that space. Gosh, it was a it was an interesting journey. I actually was sitting in a call center taking phone calls during the 1989 earthquake, which, oh, boy, you may remember, right? I know I was training somebody, and I just looked at the person. I said, we're gonna hang up and go under the desk. That's what we're doing. And that was the day before my birthday. So I got my birthday off that year, which. You know, as they planned   10:00 out very well,   Tabatha Jones ** 10:02 yeah. But terrible, terrible, tragic earthquake, unfortunately. But, you know, I do just kind of try to make a little lighter of it with that. You know, the birthday off, but it is. It was an interesting time, for sure. I lived   Michael Hingson ** 10:16 in Vista, California at the time. Well, actually, I take it back. I lived in Mission Viejo. We hadn't moved to VISTA yet, although I had a job in Carlsbad, and I remember coming out to get on a bus to go from Carlsbad back up to Mission Viejo. And I was going to listen to the World Series, and it wasn't on, and it took me about 15 minutes before, I finally found a radio station that announced that there had been an earthquake. And then we got home, and then we started. We just Karen was was at home, and we just started watching it on TV, and they had all the the live shots and all that, and the freeway collapse and so on. It was, needless to say, quite the event. Karen and I survived. We were in, not married yet in, well, 19, whatever that would have been, 69 or 70 or 71 the Sylmar quake. I don't think it was in 74 I think it was earlier than that. But there was a big earthquake up in Sylmar, and we felt it at UC Irvine, and then we had the Whittier Narrows and Northridge quakes, so we felt those as well. But yeah, that had to be pretty rough in 89 for all of you up there.   Tabatha Jones ** 11:38 Yeah, it was pretty, pretty interesting. You know, from that point, you know, I just was training somebody as I as I mentioned, and, you know, we, we took that next day and couple of days kind of getting things together, working through the call center, handling a lot of emergency calls and things that were going on. And I'd say that's probably the first time I felt that call to leadership, you know, and realized I wanted to do more than being a call center, answering phones. There's nothing wrong with that, but for me, it wasn't the end all. And I started working on mapping out, how am I going to build my career here? Managed to advance a couple of times, and then went through a major layoff. So AT and T we all know, went through a lot of change over the years, but in the 80s and early 90s, there was a lot. So I did a couple of different things in between, and then one day, I walked into what was the Viacom cable office and decided I'm going to apply for a job here. It's just six months for experience, and we'll see where it goes. I fell in love with the cable industry. As weird as it sounds, I loved it, so I worked up really quickly into a lead role, and then started shifting into technology, which is where I spent most of my career, leading those technical teams and just really loving it. But yeah, yeah, that's kind of the journey from the early life into the career side of things. But   Michael Hingson ** 13:05 what kind of things did you do in as a leader for Viacom?   Tabatha Jones ** 13:09 So Viacom was where you in, went through. So I was in the call center. Initially became a lead there, moved into credit and collections and learned everything there was to learn there. It wasn't really my jam, but it was a great place to be. And then I moved into the Information Services Department, and you probably remember this back in the day of punching down phone lines in the little box, in different I don't know if you ever did that, but yeah, soldering cat five lines, crawling under desk, climbing up ladders, doing all those things. So that was early. It days before the internet. Still, I think crazy to say,   Michael Hingson ** 13:48 so did you do that? Or did you lead people who did that? So I   Tabatha Jones ** 13:52 did that early on. I learned everything I could in that department. I learned how to print reports. I knew learned how to compile data. I learned how to code the billing system, moved into project management from there, still on the information services side, and led some really huge projects through that time. We went through three companies. We landed at Comcast. That was where I was for the longest, but never really left, you know, my role, and just fell in love with the technology, because it changes all the time. It's never the same day twice. I loved working with technical people, and learned really quickly that one of my gifts was being able to translate between the Technical Suite and the C suite. So taking those great ideas and going and securing the budget or coming in with here's what the leadership team is thinking. Here's how I think we can do it. What are your thoughts and being able to translate and move things forward really fast. That's where I joined the leadership team and stayed, and I loved it. Climbing the ladder at Comcast was a lot of fun for me. Yeah. Do   Michael Hingson ** 15:00 you think that really taking the time to get that technical knowledge and learn those various jobs, even though you necessarily didn't do them all the time, but learning how to do those jobs? Do you think that was a valuable thing for you, looking back on it now,   Tabatha Jones ** 15:19 yeah, I do in some ways. And I spoke at a women in telecom sorry, it's women in tech and telecom seminar a few years back. And one of the things that we know is women don't advance as quickly into technical leadership roles, and being able to say in that room, leadership is not a technical skill. Just let the light bulbs off for people, because we hold ourselves back. And it's not just women, but it definitely happens in the female space, where we will hold ourselves back. Oh, I'm not technical enough, oh, I don't know enough. Oh, I can't code Python. It. It doesn't always matter for me, having the basis helped because I understood the work the team was doing. I understood quicker ways to do things. I had done them myself the hard way, but it gave me a little bit more, I'd say, street cred with the team, not that they ever expected me to code a macro or build an automation program, but because I could come and speak to them in a language that made sense, then they could go build the thing and do their jobs. So I do think it helped. It helped give me really great insight to what could be and let us really drive innovation quickly, which was super fun. I   Michael Hingson ** 16:41 agree with you on that I felt in everything that I did as a as a leader, working in a variety of different kinds of roles, I felt it necessary to learn the things that the people who worked for me and with me did because at least I could then articulate them. I could talk about them. I didn't necessarily have to do them all the time, and there were some things that I wasn't going to be able to do, for example, for four years or three and a half years, four I owned a company that sold PC based CAD systems to architects, computer aided design systems, for those who don't know, to architects and engineers and so on. And they were some of the early PC based CAD systems. We started in 1985 doing that. And needless to say, that was and and still is very much a highly graphic environment. And that isn't something that I'm going to be able to sit down in front of a computer terminal and do, because the technology, even today, doesn't exist to describe all of that information for me, so that I have access to it as quickly and as efficiently as a person who can see but even though I wouldn't be able to run a CAD system, I knew how to do it. So I could then sit down with an architect in front of a machine and ask them what they wanted to do, and then described them what they needed to do to make it happen. So I actually made them part of the process of showing themselves how the cast system worked by them actually working it. Now I also have people who work for me, but I did know how to do that, and I think that was extremely important. And I've always felt that having that knowledge is is helpful. I do tend to be very technical. I've got a master's degree in physics and so on. And I I think that having that technical knowledge is kind of part of the way I operate, which is fine, but still, I think that having that technical knowledge, really, even if it's only to be able to talk about it at the right times, was a very helpful thing and made me a better leader.   Tabatha Jones ** 18:59 Yeah, absolutely would agree with that, and understanding just the basics of what can and can't be done, or, you know, what my limitations were, and being vulnerable with going back to my team and saying, This is as far as I know how to take it. I need you to walk me through what the next steps are, or what your ideas are, or what your thoughts are. And I had a wonderful team. I'd say one of the benefits of not being the most technical person on the team is then I'm not seen as someone who's micromanaging. I'm not seen as someone who has all the answers. And for my teams, that worked out great because they loved showing their innovation. They loved showing ideas and bringing new technology, tools and things to the forefront, which made it a lot more fun for them, too. And I'd say one of the coolest things I did with my team was I was given, you know, in corporate world, you're sometimes gifted new responsibilities, and one of the new responsibilities. I was gifted with, was creating a quality control team, and this team was going to validate all of the data that the Information Services coding team was developing in the billing system. And it was needed the error rate, I mean, the accuracy rate, rather, was only about 70 ish percent. Wow. So it needed to change. It was impacting our frontline, impacting our techs. It was causing revenue gaps, right, customer experience problems. The vision that was given to me is we want you to hire three people, and they're going to manually validate this data all day long, and me being a hybrid technical people person said, Hold the phone. We're not doing that. So I went and hired someone who was an expert at SQL and Tableau. We then hired someone who was an expert at Quality Assurance, because that's what she had been doing in the call center, was validating orders and making sure the billing their statements were going out correct. So she had the manual aspect. And then we hired a third person who wasn't quite as technical as the first, but definitely a really good balance between the two and between the three of them and their ideas and their skills, and then my abilities as a leader to guide them through. You know, this is what we need. This is the vision. This is the budget, this is the the outcome that we want to get to. We were able to build something that was automated, that drove accuracy up to 98.1% Wow, and it's probably better today, but it's just because that the ability to see people who can bring in the best parts of their knowledge and then work together to build something. That's what helps technology advance so much faster.   Michael Hingson ** 21:44 Yeah, but it's but it's important to be able to do that. And you you learn to have the vision, or innately, you have the vision to to bring that about. And it sounds to me like all of the people that that you were leading really respected you, because you were, first of all, you were not a threat to them, and you clearly showed an interest in what they did, and you loved to hear them talk about it, because that taught you things that you didn't know   Tabatha Jones ** 22:17 exactly, oh my gosh, and they were great about what I'd say is dumbing things down. I'd sit there sometimes and would be listening to somebody, an analyst, who was excited and explaining all these great things they were doing. And finally, my face would say, okay, hold the phone. We need to step back just a teeny bit. I needed to bring it down, maybe just a little bit more. And once I got it, then everybody would be just jazzed and so excited and out to share, and, you know, made sure that they were getting to do part of the presenting when it went to higher levels, so that they could get credit and feel that value, which is so, so critical to help, you know, just boost that morale and keep inspiring people.   Michael Hingson ** 22:53 The other part of that, though, is you are also teaching them some probably sorely needed communication skills, because they're used to just talking very technical, and they're used to just talking to each other, and everybody gets it right away. But the reality is that I would think that they came to realize, well, maybe we need to present it in a little bit different way, because not everybody looks at it the way we do   Tabatha Jones ** 23:21 exactly that's where a lot of coaching came in and helping people work together better in the communication space, and then bringing it forward in a way that people understood. We did a really cool program. It was called insights. It exists out there, and there are people who are certified to administer it, but it basically is a personality assessment based on colors. So red, yellow, blue, green, and blue is generally your very technical, more introverted detail specific people. The Office of that is yellow, and I am very high yellow, which is your, include me. Bring me in. Let's have a party. Let's talk about it. So it was good for me, because it caused me to bring that yellow energy down a bit, which kept the, you know, the conversations going and the conversations open, and they learned to elevate that yellow energy a little bit so we could meet in the middle really well. And some of them had different, you know, red or green in there. But it was really interesting to be leading a team with such opposite energy. From that perspective,   Michael Hingson ** 24:27 did you ever find people who just resisted learning to meet in the middle or learning to do some of the things that you really wanted them to do, and they just didn't want to do that at all?   Tabatha Jones ** 24:41 Oh yes, yes, there were a couple, and that required more coaching, right? So one who had been used to working in a very specific way before we were reorganized and he was moved under me, it took multiple times and finally, a mild threat to. Get him to come forward and come on board with the new process, because sometimes it's really easy to stick in doing things the old way. He had been doing it for 1520, years. And I joke when I say threats. I don't threaten people, but you know, it was kind of a I need you to come up with the rest of the team. Here's what you're doing and how it's impacting the team, and even though it feels like it's making your customer happy in the long run, it's not because they're going to have to work with other people, and we need to make sure that they understand that this has changed, and then another who was more my way or the highway, and that took, you know, again, a bit of coaching. So his leader worked for me, and so his leader and I would come up with different plans and different strategies to put him in positions where he had to stay a little bit more quiet and let the team members bring forward their ideas. And rather than him jumping to a no, it was, we want you to start asking these three questions, and, you know, whatever the questions were to get the conversation going, and then the light bulb started going off for him. Like, wow. Some of these individuals have definitely had different training on, you know, whatever type of technology it is that makes perfect sense. What if we combine this so he was able to actually help us bring out the best in everyone, once he took that step back and really started listening and getting a bit more curious.   Michael Hingson ** 26:30 Well, that that's, you know, of course, a wonderful skill to have, because people need to recognize that not everybody is where they are   Tabatha Jones ** 26:42 exactly. It's true. And you know, I kind of think back when we were talking about the leadership aspect and leading technical teams, I coach a lot of people on interview skills and helping them present their best selves for the job that they're interviewing for. And one thing that seems to be a habit for people who are very technical and are also leaders is deferring so much their technical skills, and it's good, but you've got to have that balance. When you're applying for a leadership role, what happens that is very disappointing, is they'll be told, Well, we're not really seeing your leadership skills or your leadership qualities or not feeling like you're a good fit with this team. Usually, when a company is hiring a technical people leader, they want to know you can lead people, because not everybody can do both,   Michael Hingson ** 27:40 right, or they haven't learned how to   Tabatha Jones ** 27:43 right. It's true. Not everybody wants to. Sometimes they think they do because it's the next logical step, but sometimes people are just really happy being hands on others. To your point, you can learn. You can step into maybe a lead role, and start learning how to let go of some things and and get more comfortable with not being the smartest person in the room, because once you're the leader, you've got to have that balance and, and it's a learning a learning curve, for sure,   Michael Hingson ** 28:09 yeah. And unfortunately, there are way too many people, certainly, a lot of them are technical who think they're the smartest person in the room, whether they are not, and then some of them are. But still, that's not always the solution to making things work, especially if you're working in a team.   Tabatha Jones ** 28:29 Absolutely, yeah, it's all about the team. And it can't be. They always say there's no me and team. But technically, if you rearrange the letters there, kind of is that's maybe snow i Maybe it's No, I in team. No, I in team.   Michael Hingson ** 28:43 Yeah, there's no i That's true. But you know, one of my favorite books I enjoy reading it often, is actually the Five Dysfunctions of a Team by Patrick Lencioni. Have you ever read that?   Tabatha Jones ** 28:55 I have not read that. I am aware of it. I have not bought it yet. It's a   Michael Hingson ** 29:00 short book, relatively speaking, but it's great because it really puts teamwork in perspective, and it really defines what should happen in a well functioning team, including the fact that members of the team can hold each other accountable when the team is comfortable with each other. And then, of course, it's all the team leader who has to really bring people together and meld the team into a cohesive working group. But the good team leaders can do that and understand what their role has to be in getting everybody to operate at peak performance.   Tabatha Jones ** 29:39 Love that. I will get that back on my list. Radical candor is kind of similar, as far as you know, being able to say what needs to be said and feeling like you're in a safe space to say it. Yeah, that's one of the things that I always found a little, I guess, frightening as a leader, is when I would talk to another leader and say, What feedback have you given this person? Well. Feedback is so negative, like no feedback given with love is there with the intention of helping the person grow and do better and understand what they're doing really well so they can keep doing that. So yeah, being able to let the team members or ask the team members hold each other accountable, be honest with each other, this isn't about feelings. This is about respect, and sometimes it's a hard conversation. It's really crunchy and uncomfortable. But once it happens, the trust that is built is it's unstoppable, well,   Michael Hingson ** 30:30 but feedback can also be a very positive thing. And it can be that you're doing a great job. Here's what you're doing. It isn't necessarily but you're not doing this right? It, it can be exactly a very positive thing. And there, there are certainly times that we all like to get that as well.   Tabatha Jones ** 30:47 Absolutely feedback is my favorite F word. I always say it is just, it's so important. And I've worked with people who have said, you know, I can't get feedback from my boss. I said, Well, what do you mean? And they said, Well, he All he says is just, you're doing a good job. Keep doing that. Yeah. Well, what specifically am i doing that's a good job. So feedback in itself is a skill, both giving it in a positive way and giving it in a constructive way. But all feedback is good when it's given with the right intention and it's given with, you know, just honesty and love. And   Michael Hingson ** 31:20 there's a skill in receiving feedback too and recognizing if you trust the feedback, the feeder backer, if you trust the person giving you the feedback, then you know that they're not out to get you. Yeah. And that's part of it is breaking through the usual shell that most of us probably a build up. Well, that person has some sort of alternative agenda they're out to get me. And that isn't always the case. And, oh, absolutely, unfortunately, sometimes it is, but it doesn't necessarily mean it always is. Yeah, I agree.   Tabatha Jones ** 31:54 You know, if you think back to feedback that you've been given throughout your life, is there a piece of feedback that you were given that really changed the way you do things. Yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 32:06 I can think of some, and I think that most of us can, because the people giving us the feedback were concerned about trying to help and concerned to try to get us to hear what others in the world are are saying or thinking. And if we take that to heart, that can be a very positive thing.   Tabatha Jones ** 32:32 Yeah, absolutely. One of the biggest foundations for me as a leader is trust and trust with my team, both going both directions to them, from me and from them to to from me to them, and from them to me. So complete trust. It's so important. And you know, knowing that I've had employees come and give me feedback, and it doesn't matter what level I was at or what level they were at, once, I knew that they were comfortable giving me feedback. I knew our relationship was strong, yeah, and, you know, I've had people come and say, I didn't really like the way that you said that. It would have been more impactful if you had done this. I've had clients come and say, you know, when you said that, I really reflected on it. And maybe we're not in the same spot. So let me say this again and see if you can, you can address it a different way. Great. If we don't have trust, we're not going to go anywhere. So it's such an important piece of of building trust. In   Michael Hingson ** 33:26 my new book, live like a guide dog, true stories from a blind man and his dog about being brave, overcoming adversity and moving forward in faith. Long title, well at the end, the subtitle, but one of the things that I talk about is that I've learned a lot of lessons about dealing with fear and dealing with people from my dogs, because dogs do things differently than we do and don't have any near, anywhere near the stress that We do. For example, dogs are, I think, creatures that do love unconditionally, but they don't trust unconditionally. What dogs do, however, is that they tend to be less something is really hurt a dog. They tend to be more open to trust, and they want to build a trusting relationship with us if we're open to it, because they are, and when we recognize that and we truly build the trusting relationship, it's second to none. So then you've got the love part that is there, but the trusting part, it's a whole different story. And I know that when I start working with every guide dog and people say, Oh, how long does it take to really get used to a dog? My response is, it takes roughly a year. Because it takes a long time for both sides of the team to truly recognize and have enough confidence in the other that they have that trust that they need to have.   Tabatha Jones ** 34:59 Yeah. Dogs are so much better than people. I will tell you their behavior is so much better, but I get that and you know someone who adopted my last two dogs. One was three years old when I got her from the pound, and she lived to be 15, and my other one is she's eight. I got her when she was three from someone that was re homing her. But they do. They they teach you that I can love you, but I don't know that I trust you yet. I've got to build this up like I will lick you and throw a party when you come home, but don't be trying to pick me up yet. We're not there. Yeah. So, you know, I can imagine, with a guide dog, it's even more elevated, and I can't write to read your that book, because I just finished underdog. I did. I don't know why the name just went blank. I posted it on my Facebook and Instagram. I was so excited, but yeah, oh my gosh. I can't wait to read the new one. If you   Michael Hingson ** 35:48 get a chance with both of them, go review them at Amazon. So lovely. Get a we always appreciate reviews. So Amazon and Goodreads are the best places to go to go do reviews, and they're very helpful. But when you read, live like a guide dog, love to get your thoughts, and you're welcome to email me and love to chat about it as well. But you're right that there are so many things about dogs that really teach us a lot. One of my favorite things that I talk about a lot, and we deal with it and live like a guide dog is we, as people tend to what if everything to death. We What if everything well, what if this? What if that? And the reality is, most of the things that we're dealing with, what if about are things over which we have absolutely no control, and all we're doing is building up our own internal Sears, and we need to learn to get away from that. If we could just learn to focus on the things that we have control over and not worry about the rest. And of course, people will say, Well, but, but all this stuff is going on we gotta worry about. No, you don't. You can be aware of it without worrying about it. You can be aware of it without it interfering with your life. But you have control over that, but there are so many things in your life that you don't have control over. And my, my premier example of that, of course, is the World Trade Center. I am not convinced that all of the government departments working together would have been able to figure out what was happening and stop the attacks from half from occurring. But the result of that is, of course, that we had no control over the events occurring. What we absolutely have total control over is how we individually choose to deal with those events and how we choose to move forward.   Tabatha Jones ** 37:36 Yeah, absolutely, oh my gosh, it's so powerful and so true. And I'd say too with dogs is they don't let that little thing that bothered them four hours ago eat them up, or four days ago or four months ago. They don't generally hold a grudge unless something was pretty atrocious, where we will ruminate on a story or a conversation over and over and over again, sometimes it's just solved by a simple Hey, what did you mean when you said that? Or we'll just go and keep thinking about it and keep thinking about it. Dogs moved on. They're like, I've already had my snack in my walk, like we're good again. There's no grudge, there's no past concern, or I made a mistake this day. I'm never gonna cross that line again, because, you know, I did this thing, but humans are so are just wired so differently, just from, I'm sure, our life lessons and all the things that we've been through. But if we could live a little more like a dog, that would be kind of amazing. That guide dogs specifically,   Michael Hingson ** 38:35 I agree. And you know, the reality is that dogs do make mistakes, and one of the things that we learned to put it in terms of what we're talking about today, one of the things that we learn as guide dog handlers is how to give appropriate feedback, and that process has changed over the years, so now it's a much more positive process. We don't tend to yell at dogs, we don't tend to try to give sharp leash corrections, but rather, when they do it right, that's the time to truly reinforce it and say, what a good job you did it. And if you're training a dog to do a new thing or give them a new skill, reinforcing the time that they succeed is so much more powerful than ever saying you didn't do that right? And I think that's as true for humans as it is for dogs, but humans just don't tend to for all the reasons that you said, Trust like, like, maybe they should, but we always think that everybody has a hidden agenda, which is unfortunate, because we don't always necessarily have a hidden agenda. And even if we do, and if you feel like you can't trust me because you think I have a hidden agenda, you can always ask me about it, or you should, and that's something we just tend not to feel that much that we can do, because those aren't skills that we're taught when we're growing up.   Tabatha Jones ** 39:56 Yeah, it's very true, and you. Know when you mentioned the mistakes even thinking about that from a leadership perspective. When I first started leading in my last team, we had reorganized into a corporate structure, so I had new employees sitting across 40 some odd states. It was a big a big reorg, and I would be talking to people about different things. And I said, Well, why did you, you know, why did you do it this way? Oh, well, I realized I made a mistake, so I didn't want to get in trouble. So I thought if I went and I did this, then that would I'm like, wait a minute, stop. Let's let's pause, let's go back to get in trouble. Tell me about that. And I would hear, and I heard it from multiple people across the team that there was such a level of fear over making a mistake. And I said, you know, you're not coming to work with somebody's heart transplant in an ice chest, like, if you make a mistake, nobody's gonna die. Yeah, somebody's gonna get a little maybe mad because we're gonna hit a little bit of a revenue hiccup, or maybe have to send an apology notice to some customers that have a mistake on their bill. But nothing's that big that we can't learn from it, fix it correctly and make sure it doesn't happen again. And that was a huge shift, and that's something you know, where a dog will make a mistake they get through the correction to your point, positive reinforcement. We've got jerky treats, kind of redirect. If people only could take a jerky treat, that'd be great, but they don't. But you know, when a mistake happens, teaching people, teaching our kids, like it's okay to make a mistake, but let's talk about what we learned from it. Make a plan to do better, and figure out how we just don't let that happen again, and then if it happens again, okay, let's have a different conversation. What? What did you notice? Did we miss something in the process? Less last time? Let's fix that, and then let's take the next steps forward, and let's go back and present to the team how we can improve this process and what we've learned from this mistake, like we can make it positive and as leaders, we can help our employees go faster. We can help our dogs learn faster. Can help our kids learn faster by just being a leader and managing mistakes correctly.   Michael Hingson ** 42:06 How do we get that process kind of more into the mainstream of society? How do we get people to recognize that it's okay when you make a mistake, we'll fix it and really give them and teach people to give the positive reinforcement that we need to do. Because I think it's, it's very true. We don't teach it.   Tabatha Jones ** 42:27 We don't teach it. I feel like younger parents that I'm seeing, in some ways, are getting there, you know, I remember back in the day when we would accidentally break something, or, you know, be roughhousing a little, and the glass would get knocked off the counter, and it was a huge thing, right? You're going to clean it up. You're going to go to your room. You're going to stop playing around in the house. And, you know, with my son, I know when He would break something and be like, Hey, let's clean this up. I need you to be more careful. You know, it's not you need to go sit in your room. You made a mistake. It's okay. And I see the difference in myself. Still, when I make a mistake, I beat myself up when he makes a mistake, he cleans it up and moves forward. So it's definitely happening through parenting and the way that we handle it as parents. We have that great opportunity as leaders once adults are full grown and in the workforce and still have those tendencies of fear and oh my gosh, I need to cover it up, teaching them, I had a situation where I made a mistake, shocking. I know I made a mistake, just kidding. I do it all the time, but I had made a mistake with some data that I collected from my team, I'd had individual skip level meetings, and decided kept all the notes in a spreadsheet, and I had told the team as I spoke with them. Whatever you tell me, it's in confidence. I'm taking themes of the conversation and I'll present it back to your leaders. They're not going to have names. We're not going to know who said what. That's not what this is about. It's about me helping drive improvements through my leadership team so that it's better for you. And they were really open, and it was amazing. It was such a gift to have that trust from the team. Well, I went and took my compilations, put all my notes together on a spreadsheet, sent it to my leadership team, and never took off the original notes. And I was like, shoot, now, what do I do? So I asked a peer. I said, Hey, this is what I did. What would you do? And she said, Well, I would tell my leaders, they need to be leaders, and they need to keep it confidential. And I was like, oh, not good enough. I'm not doing that. So I thought about it, yeah. And I said, You know what? This is a teachable moment. This is the opportunity I've been given to practice what I preach. So I pulled my entire team, 50 some odd people on the phone, on a teams call. So we were on camera, and I said, I need to talk to you about something. And I said, I made a mistake, and because of that mistake, I have let you down, and I've broken my word. And I explained what I did. I explained, you know, I got really excited by the information, because I saw things we could do, which then led me to moving way too fast, and I completely sent your comment. Comments with your names to your leaders, and I apologize. And going forward, when I take data and information from you, I will be learning from this mistake. I will keep two separate spreadsheets. I will not be, you know, just adding to the individual spreadsheet, I will quality control, check it before I send it out, and I will make sure that I do better. And I just ask that you forget me. On this one, I got so many texts and emails and instant messages that just said, Thank you so much, and someone that said, thank you, it helps to see that a leader owned up to a mistake, and I'm like, that's that was a teachable moment so nobody died. I didn't lose a heart. I broke a little confidence and a little trust. But we can fix things, and that's how,   Michael Hingson ** 45:46 yeah, and, and that makes a lot of sense, and we, we just tend to, oftentimes do knee jerk reactions. I was sitting here thinking about sometime after we moved to New Jersey in 1996 my wife and I were in our living room, and I don't remember what was going on. We were having a great time, and we each had, each had a glass of champagne, and my fourth guide dog, Lenny, was with us. And Lenny, like any good lab has a tail that never stops. And Karen, I think it was Karen, I don't even remember, sure. I think it was. Had put her glass down on the coffee table, and tail hit glass, glass, which was crystal, went all over floor, hardwood floor, you know, and I can think of so many people who would blame the dog. And actually, I think Lenny blamed herself for a little while, and we kept saying it wasn't your fault we screwed up. And eventually, you know, she well within, within an hour, she was mostly Okay, but, but the bottom line is that she, she, she knew that something happened, but it wasn't her fault, and it is important to own up to to things and and as I said, I think it was Karen, because I think Karen said I should never have put my glass down, or I should have put it back further away from her tail, because she was So excited. You know those   Tabatha Jones ** 47:21 tails, lab tails are crazy things, yeah, oh my gosh, right, but Lenny didn't stop wagging her tail because of that little mistake, right? It's something that Karen was able to own up to. You two were able to clean it up, and then Lenny was able to go on and keep wagging her tail. Everyone's being more careful. Now,   Michael Hingson ** 47:39 what's really funny is that, because it was a hardwood floor and crystal, there were her pieces that we found days later, but   Tabatha Jones ** 47:47 really years later, oh my gosh. But   Michael Hingson ** 47:50 you know what Lenny was? Was, was a cutie, and Lenny was the, probably the most empathetic dog that I've ever had. We had a pastor, and we had who we had come to know, and we were at a party, and she was at this party, and she came up to us and she said, we let Lenny visit everybody, but we just let her loose. Um, Lenny is the most empathetic dog I've ever seen, because you let her loose. And she went to the person who was feeling the most pain first, and then she worked the rest of the room, and we're talking emotional pain, but Lenny could sense that and and she did. She went to the person who was hurting the most for whatever reason. And then after she felt she had done all she could with that person, then she went around to the rest of the room. Oh, what a wonderful experience that was. Yeah, I know, and we hadn't noticed it, but sharee told it to us, and we we realized it from then on, yeah, she's right. I   Tabatha Jones ** 48:52 always think that the companies that allow people to bring their dogs to work are probably the companies that have the highest performance and productivity. I can't prove this yet, but there is something about having a warm, fuzzy little Snuggler with a cold nose right next to you that makes such a difference. Yeah, like I said, you know, mine's by me all the time, but they're just so intuitive. They pick up on your moods. They pick up on what's going on when you've had a bad day, you know, when you're feeling unconfident. I've worked with people a lot on helping them build confidence. And she'll even come around like, Hey, why you down? Like, what's going on? Let's go play. Go play. And then, you know, they're always so excited when you just do the smallest things. It's like, you know what? All right, I am making somebody, somebody happy today. It's just not that, maybe that other person, or whatever it is. But, yeah, oh my gosh. What made   Michael Hingson ** 49:40 you decide? What Madeline just caused you to decide to go from working for other companies in the corporate world to starting your own coaching career full time.   Tabatha Jones ** 49:52 You know, I just love the coaching aspect, helping people who struggle to speak up for themselves or who. Struggle to recognize the value that they bring to the workplace or to the world in general, just really lights my fire. I work mostly with women in their 50s, mostly with women who are already leaders but feel a bit stuck, and help them just remember who they are. Help them remember you know you are a leader. This is how you can set yourself apart, and this is how we can start preparing for your next promotion. I wrote my book promotion ready in three months, the Women's Guide to career advancement, which was released in August. Just because the concerns were so similar, I thought, you know, I'm going to put these specific the specific framework together in a book so that women who maybe don't have time for coaching right now, or they don't have the means, for whatever reason, they can get that framework in this book and get started on setting themselves apart and rebuilding that confidence. And I just love it. I feel like we tend to play really small, especially after a simple mistake or a simple breach of trust or a simple someone said something, and it just really stuck in our head for whatever reason. So I want women to stop. I want them to start feeling more empowered and start going after those things that they want. Because I don't know if you've seen the movie The longest game. But one of the quotes is the, you know, the field isn't the golfing green. The field is the five inches between your ears. And that's life. It is a fact. It is whatever is going on in that space between your ears is what's going to tell you you can and it's going to tell you what you can't do. So we want to only five inches. They say five inches. I haven't actually measured mine either. I say it and I touch it every time, because I'm like, I don't know if it's really five inches. Maybe it's, maybe it's four and a half. I don't know. I've always prided myself on having, you know, a skinny forehead.   Michael Hingson ** 51:57 Well, you know, but, but it's interesting and and, of course, sort of on principle, just for fun. I'll ask, do you ever find that that men read it or that that you coach men as well? Do you find that there are men that will benefit, or choose to benefit from the same things that you're talking about with most women? Absolutely,   Tabatha Jones ** 52:15 I say I work mostly with women and a few lucky men, because there are men who don't feel as confident or who might be a little bit more of that quieter later, and the strategies in there are obvious. Is probably not the right word. But there are things that are really simple and easy to do, but so often overlooked. So for anyone who finds themselves really kind of hiding behind the keyboard, not getting out and about and working on their visibility and relationship building. There are a lot of great strategies for that. The worst thing to do is wait until the promotion opportunity posts to start getting out there and building your brand. It doesn't serve anyone, and it's going to keep you behind. So, yeah, absolutely, that's a great question. If you   Michael Hingson ** 53:05 want to be noticed, then you have to work at what you need to do to be noticed. And that is a an important skill to learn. And it is all about brand, which doesn't mean you're trying to be so calculating that you're trying to do in other people, it is all about doing the things that you need to do, both to learn and to be able to advance in a positive way.   Tabatha Jones ** 53:30 Yeah, exactly. And there are strategies just for even man, even managing your time, because that's so obvious to some of us who have been there, but to others, they'll allow their calendar to be blocked from 7am to 7pm with everyone else's priorities, and it's important to make yourself a priority so that you can start standing out before the job posts. And that's kind of the secret sauce. A lot of people, like I said, they wait until the job posts and they've just been working hard and then can't figure out why they're not getting ahead. So we want to start doing things, taking action every day before that position posts, one   Michael Hingson ** 54:09 of the things that that I do is on my calendar page, I have time blocked out every day and and people will say, Well, I want to schedule something, but this time isn't available, and this is the only time that I can do it. And what I tell people is I have the time blocked out so that I can do the things that I need to do or that I might want to do. And one of them is responding positively to the fact that you need a certain time to meet, and that time is in one of my block times, but I block times so that I have free time to do what needs to be done. So let's schedule it, and, you know, and I, and I find that that works really well, because it gives me the time to make choices and do the things that I want to do. And I think it's so important to be able to do that. So.   Tabatha Jones ** 55:00 Yeah, the calendar is key. I always say your calendar equals clarity equals confidence. I mean, it just it builds that confidence. What I see happen a lot in the corporate space is the calendar gets booked for again, everybody else's priorities, 7am to 7pm I will see someone sitting in a meeting, totally disengaged. And when I would say, What are you doing? And I ask clients now too, so how do you prepare for this meeting? Because almost always the answer is, oh, I have a big meeting coming up in a couple of hours, and I'm not ready yet. Like, well, why are you in this meeting? If that meeting matters so much, why are you here? Because you're hurting your brand here, looking disengaged, asking, Can you repeat that 72 times where you could have just sent a delegate, or you could have blocked that time to think and prepare, which is so important, the calendar blocks. I don't think I could live without them. They're critical, right? That's how we get things done. That's how we make sure we're focused on the right things. That's how I prepare for clients. I don't just get on and wing it, because that's not going to go well, yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 56:02 and that's why on, on unstoppable mindset. I asked people to send me some things because I want to appropriately prepare, because if, if I'm doing my job right, I learn all I can to be able to be involved in an intelligent conversation, and people have so many skills that I haven't learned or don't have, I get to use the information that they send to prepare and learn about some of those skills, which is part of why I say if I'm not learning at least as much as anyone else who is listening To the podcast, and I'm not doing my job right? Because it's so much fun to be able to explore and talk with people, and it's and it is so much fun. So I I appreciate exactly what you're saying. Well,   Tabatha Jones ** 56:53 thank you. Yeah, it's, it's a, I mean, tooting my own horn a little bit. It's a great book full of strategy. And if you just took it, take it and start implementing those small changes, you'll see a huge difference. And I say that you'll see it, but not only you, your leader will see and your team will see that you're making changes and and making a difference. So yeah, it's just that calendar is so helpful.   Michael Hingson ** 57:16 Life is is an adventure, as far as I'm concerned. And if we're not always learning we're not doing our job right exactly which is so important? Well, do you have any kind of last thoughts of things that you want people to to think about, as far as leadership or as far as moving forward in the corporate world, or or any of those kinds of things? Yeah,   Tabatha Jones ** 57:40 absolutely. And thank you so much for asking. I do want to tie it back to unstoppable mindset, because you are absolutely unstoppable. It's a matter of clearing those blocks, the things that are in your way, the things that are in that five inches, or whatever it really is between your ears that is getting in the way and telling you you can't do something. And I encourage you if you're struggling, if you want to get ahead, if you've had some bad experiences when trying to get ahead, connect with me on LinkedIn. You can find me at Tabitha Jones and D, H, A Jones, thank you. Yes, all A's, Tabata, Tabatha. You can call me what you want. Just spell it right so you can find me. But absolutely connect with me there, and let's talk about what's going on and see how we can help you start moving forward again. Absolutely, we'll share strategies to give at least a little bit of a boost and kind of start relieving some of the discomfort that may be going on, but kind of back to that point you are completely unstoppable. It's just about investing in yourself, and that may look like time, energy or financially, just to get yourself out of, out of where you're at and into that next thing.   Michael Hingson ** 58:52 What's your website? You must I assume you have a website. I   Tabatha Jones ** 58:55 do have a website. It is empowered. Dash leader.com, and if you go out there, I actually have a free gift. I've recently published an ebook which is a career confidence playbook for women over 50, and that also has some great strategies, as well as workbook and journaling pages to help you really flesh out those goals and start taking those small action steps,   Michael Hingson ** 59:21 and guys, the concepts are the same. So don't think it's just for women. Otherwise, learn nearly as much on this podcast as you   Tabatha Jones ** 59:29 should. That is true. That's very true. The color is a little purple and black. Don't let that send you anywhere. Just it's perfect. Come on in. Let's talk   Michael Hingson ** 59:39 colors. Don't bother me.   59:42 Outstanding.   Michael Hingson ** 59:44 Well, I want to thank you for being here. This has been really fun. I knew it was going to be, and it was every bit as fun and and informative as as I thought it would be. So I hope people will reach out to you on LinkedIn and go off and. Uh, go to the website as well. Get your free ebook. I'm going to go get it and and I really think that you've offered a lot of good insights that will be helpful for people. I hope all of you listening and watching out there agree. I'd love to hear your thoughts. Please email me. Let me know what you think of our episode today. You can email me at Michael M, I C H, A, E, L, H i at accessibe, A, C, C, E, S,

In this episode of the Elk Hunt Podcast, Cody Rich sits down with a guest from Samong Outdoors to dive into the world of elk hunting. From early hunting days in Washington to navigating the ups and downs of solo hunting, they discuss the importance of perseverance, learning from mistakes, and the thrill of hunting elk in some of the toughest terrain. They also share insights into the Hmong community's growing presence in elk hunting and the role of passion in turning hunting into a career. Whether you're just starting out or you're a seasoned hunter, this episode offers valuable advice and inspiration for all elk hunters. Chapters: 00:00 - Intro & Sponsor Message Brief introduction to today's guest and sponsor, Stone Glacier. How Stone Glacier provides ultralight gear that's perfect for long-distance elk hunts. 02:10 - The Turkey vs. Bear Debate The guest discusses their excitement for spring turkey hunting vs. spring bear hunting. Differences in turkey and elk hunting, including a playful debate on which is more challenging. 04:30 - Introduction to the Guest & His Background The guest shares his upbringing, including growing up in a large family and his early introduction to hunting. How a love for filming his backyard chickens led to a passion for hunting content. 06:45 - From Hobby to Full-Time Hunting Career How the guest began filming hunts in 2011, starting with an iPod Touch. The challenges of making hunting content when there was no such thing as "influencers" or "monetization" on social media. Transition from hobbyist to professional content creator, even while still in college. 11:20 - The Turning Point: Social Media's Role in Hunting The guest talks about the impact of social media on hunting and content creation in the mid-2010s. The rise of platforms like YouTube and Instagram in the hunting community. Inspiration from early pioneers like Tim Burnett, Remi Warren, and the Hush crew. 14:50 - Growing the YouTube Channel The guest explains how he started his YouTube channel, Samong Outdoors, and gained his first followers. How financial aid from college was invested into hunting gear, helping to elevate his content production. 19:30 - Learning the Ropes: Struggles and Successes Reflecting on the early years of hunting and the mistakes made while self-filming hunts. The guest shares the value of learning from failure and how it shaped his growth as a hunter. How the guest adapted from timber hunting to glassing for elk. 24:10 - The Hmong Community and Elk Hunting A discussion on the growing presence of the Hmong community in elk hunting. The impact of Pure Trophies and other groups on making elk hunting more accessible for the Hmong community. How the guest's audience is largely made up of Hmong hunters and why this niche is important. 30:00 - A Pivotal Year: 2019 The guest's breakthrough year in 2019, where everything clicked, and he harvested multiple animals. How going solo on hunts helped develop independence and confidence as a hunter. The guest talks about the mental game of hunting and staying motivated during challenging years. 35:30 - The Mindset of a Successful Hunter The guest discusses how motivation and passion were key to his success. The importance of perseverance, especially in tough seasons. Balancing social media and hunting to remain true to the craft. 40:00 - Advice for Aspiring Hunters The guest offers advice to new hunters looking to start their elk hunting journey. The role of patience, practice, and persistence in becoming a skilled hunter. 45:00 - The Elk Hunt of a Lifetime: A Family Story The guest tells the story of a significant elk hunt with his uncle, including the process of planning a successful hunt. What it meant to repay his uncle for years of support, making it one of his most rewarding hunts. 48:00 - The Future of Elk Hunting & Social Media What's next for Samon Outdoors, including plans for upcoming elk hunts. The guest discusses the future of hunting content and his ongoing commitment to high-quality storytelling. 52:30 - Closing Thoughts & Where to Follow the Guest The guest shares how people can follow his journey on YouTube and Instagram. Final thoughts on the importance of passion in hunting and creating meaningful content. 53:30 - Outro & Call to Action Cody thanks the guest and reminds listeners to share the episode with a friend. Mention of the free hunt planner available for download from the show notes.

Right now, there’s a lot happening in the State Capitol that will affect all Oregonians in some way. And because it’s an odd-numbered year, which means the Oregon Legislature has a session that stretches from January to June, we’re nearing the busiest time of the legislative session. This is when lawmakers have to pass a two-year budget and, of course, some other bills that are critical to keep the state running. Podcast producer, and self-described “civics nerd,” Julie Sabatier tagged along with OPB capitol reporter Dirk VanderHart for a day to see what’s going on behind the scenes of our state government.    For more Evergreen episodes and to share your voice with us, visit our showpage. Follow OPB on Instagram, and follow host Jenn Chávez too. You can sign up for OPB’s newsletters to get what you need in your inbox regularly.   Don’t forget to check out our many podcasts, which can be found on any of your favorite podcast apps: Hush Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars Politics Now Think Out Loud And many more! Check out our full show list here.

In this episode, Sidney continues Mike Flanagan month by breaking down Hush (2016).

Join Sara Fergenson (@sarafergenson) and Jess Sterling (@thejesssterling) as they chat about Season 4 Episode 10 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Hush, with special guest, Todd the Librarian (@librariantodd). They discuss the creepy Gentlemen, new girl Tara, and whether or not Riley is becoming less boring.You can WATCH this podcast on our brand new YouTube channel!Follow us on Twitter and Instagram at @shit90spod.Email us at shit90spod@gmail.comVisit our website at www.shit90spod.comSpecial thanks to JD McGuire (@jdmcguire) for our theme song!Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In this episode you discover the meaning and reported potential origins of the saying, "Get Your Ducks in a Row". You also discover this episode's "Word of the Day", Magnanimous.Sources:"Why Do We Say “Get Your Ducks in a Row”?". WordSmarts.com. Link: https://wordsmarts.com/ducks-in-a-row/"Museum Minute: The surprising origin of the phrase, ‘get your ducks in a row'". WyomingPublicMedia.org. Link: https://www.wyomingpublicmedia.org/show/wyoming-minute/2024-06-06/the-surprising-origin-of-the-phrase-get-your-ducks-in-a-row"Ducks in a Row – Meaning and Origin". Grammarist.com. Link: https://grammarist.com/idiom/get-ones-ducks-in-a-row-and-have-ones-ducks-in-a-row/---Host:Stephen Carter - Website: https://StressReliefRadio.com - Email: CarterMethod@gmail.com---Technical information:Recorded and initial edits with Twisted Wave. Additional edits with Amadeus Pro, Audacity, Hush, and Levelator. Final edits and rendering with Hindenburg Pro. Microphone: Earthworks Ethos.---

World-class cheese is all around us in Oregon.    From our largest cheese producers like Tillamook and Rogue, who won the world’s best cheese in 2019, to some of our smallest producers like Helvetia Creamery and Don Froylan, who won the best string cheese in the country for two years in a row.    And while Oregon doesn’t produce the quantity of cheese like Wisconsin, Idaho, or other leading states do today – Oregon punches above its weight class in terms of quality. And the production of cheese has also shaped the history of the state.   Katy Osuna from the Copper & Heat podcast joins us to share the history of cheese in the region and how it became so special. Osuna also produced a documentary about cheese for OPB’s Superabundant. Check it out. For more Evergreen episodes and to share your voice with us, visit our showpage. Follow OPB on Instagram, and follow host Jenn Chávez too. You can sign up for OPB’s newsletters to get what you need in your inbox regularly.   Don’t forget to check out our many podcasts, which can be found on any of your favorite podcast apps: Hush  Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars Politics Now Think Out Loud And many more! Check out our full show list here.

This week on Classic Vinyl Podcast, Justin and Tyler listen to Deep Purple and their 1968 hit single Hush. From the band's Mark I lineup with original singer Rod Evans, how do you think this song holds up to not only the band's other releases, but also to the test of time? Give it a listen and let us know what you think.

Thunderbolts hype, Foggy is a tricky man, and we talk Hush 2. Leave a message: ⁠⁠https://www.speakpipe.com/WednesdayComics⁠⁠Wednesday ComicsSponsors:⁠⁠Rainbow Comics and Cards⁠⁠Roots of the Swamp Thing

Originally recorded LIVE at youtube.com/comicpopreturns on April 28, 2025!

Jace and Rocky break down a big week of DC Comics for April 23, 2025. We get the second chapter of Hush 2, Power Girl comes to an end and a new arc starts for The Flash. We have two wildly different Green Lantern stories with one full of surprises and action packed and the other trying to find it's footing. Green Arrow continues to be an excellent mix of crime noir and relevant social issues which calls back to a classic era for the Emerald Archer. Metamorpho is wildly fun and engaging with Peacemaker and Harley Quinn close behind. Absolute Wonder Woman and Absolute Martian Manhunter represent versions of the characters that are closest and furthest away from their main universe counterparts respectively, but both are a joy to experince both visually and narritively. Finally we have two Superman titles that showcase the Man of Steel in two very different stories that are both excellent. One feels like it harkens back to the classic stories of yesteryear and the other is very contemporary, but feels like it will be the classic of tomorrow. Join us to hear about all these books and more!

This month marks 50 years since the fall of Saigon and the end of the Vietnam War. It’s also the anniversary of many Vietnamese families arriving to start a new life in the Pacific Northwest. Thousands of people fled the country and became refugees in 1975, and many of those people ended up on the west coast of the United States. According to the census data, there are now more than 37,000 Vietnamese Oregonians. We’ll hear from a few of them.    Van Le and Allen Luong are organizing a series of art exhibits featuring paintings by Le’s late father to mark the anniversary and look towards the future. OPB arts and culture producer Steven Tonthat, whose parents emigrated from Vietnam, shares his perspective. And we hear from Thuy Huyen, whose harrowing story of escaping her home country was featured in OPB’s documentary “The Vietnam War Oregon Remembers.”   For more Evergreen episodes and to share your voice with us, visit our showpage. Follow OPB on Instagram, and follow host Jenn Chávez too. You can sign up for OPB’s newsletters to get what you need in your inbox regularly.   Don’t forget to check out our many podcasts, which can be found on any of your favorite podcast apps: Hush Timber Wars Season 2: Salmon Wars Politics Now Think Out Loud And many more! Check out our full show list here.

Welcome to Crawlspace. In this new episode, Tim Pilleri & Lance Reenstierna are joined by journalist, author, podcaster and new friend of the show, Leah Sottile. Leah has written a new book called Blazing Eye Sees All. Sottile seeks to understand the quest for New Age spirituality in an era of fear that has made us open to anything that claims to bring relief from war, the climate crisis, COVID 19, and the myriad of other issues we face. Pick up Leah's books: Powell Book Store: https://www.powells.com/book/blazing-eye-sees-all-love-has-won-false-prophets-and-the-fever-dream-of-the-american-new-age-9781538742600 Bookshop.Org: https://bookshop.org/p/books/blazing-eye-sees-all-love-has-won-false-prophets-and-the-fever-dream-of-the-american-new-age-leah-sottile/21616918?ean=9781538742600&next=t Check out everything Leah does at: https://www.leahsottile.com/ Listen to Leah's podcast, Hush: https://www.leahsottile.com/project-categories/podcasts Follow Leah: BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/leahsottile.bsky.social LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leahsottile/ Substack: https://leahsottile.substack.com/ Follow Missing: TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@missingcsm. YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/missingcsm. IG: https://www.instagram.com/MissingCSM/. Twitter: https://twitter.com/MissingCSM. FB: https://www.facebook.com/MissingCSM. Follow Crawlspace: Twitter: https://twitter.com/crawlspacepod . Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Crawlspacepodcast . Instagram: https://www.Instagram.com/Crawlspacepodcast. TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@crawlspacepodcast. Check out our entire network at http://crawlspace-media.com/. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

"It's kind of a mix of reporting to the very last minute to put off writing, and then when I have to write, having a panic attack, and then, like, booking a hotel room for a week and not leaving that room. This is the thing I have done until I figure it out," says Leah Sottile, in a live event at Gratitude Brewing.She is the author of Blazing Eye Sees All: Love Has Won, False Prophets, and the Fever Dream of the American New Age (Grand Central). She's also the author of When the Moon Turns to Blood, an Oregon Book Award Finalist.Leah is a freelance journalism whose work has appeared in The Atavist Magazine, the Washing Post, High Country News, and Outisde. She's the creator of the podcasts Hush, Burn Wild, and Bundyville. In this podcast we talk about: The work of John Vaillant (See Ep. 376( How writing this book made Leah crazy How New Ageism and Far Right Extremism overlap Sagging Middles And not re-victimizing sources And much more…Learn more about Leah at leahsottile.com and follower her on Instagram @leah.sottile.Podcast Specific Substack at creativenonfictionpodcast.substrack.com.Pre-order The Front RunnerNewsletter: Rage Against the AlgorithmShow notes: brendanomeara.com

This episode was originally released last month for our Patrons: Drew and I talked about a new shop in town (Black Cat Comics), buying wall comics, the upcoming Marvel & DC crossover, and we also reviewed the first two episodes of Daredevil: Born Again (SPOILERS!)Listen to our latest bonus episode, talking about the first issue of Hush 2: HERE, Become a Patron of the show and get all the bonus episodes as soon as they drop! Try a FREE 7-day trial, HERELINKS: Watch the uncut video versions of the podcast on YouTube Join our Patreon Community, and get access to bonus episodes, free comics, and other rewards! Try a FREE 7-day trial: HereTake your comic shopping experience to the limit, by shopping online at Gotham City Limit!We read Fan Mail, send us some! Visit the shop in Jax, or shop online at gothamcitylimit.comProudly sponsored by Gotham City Limit!Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showREACH OUT TO US!

This week we discuss setting up for Hush 2, whatever is going on with Diamond now, all sorts of canceled comic shows, Marvel Cosmic Invasion, upcoming Spider-Man movie info, Avengers: Doomsday cast, and some Daredevil: Born Again talk. Starring Ryan Higgins, Brock Sager, Kevin Sharp, Toby Sidler, and Lane Terasaki.