Podcasts about I Dream

ทศชาติชาดก สุวรรณสาม⁠iDream : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_l3Ajm3xG1Y&list=PLygiKgoicNdg9oviCOjCooE5nyN1MIu-s⁠

ทศชาติชาดก สุวรรณสาม⁠iDream : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_l3Ajm3xG1Y&list=PLygiKgoicNdg9oviCOjCooE5nyN1MIu-s⁠

ทศชาติชาดก สุวรรณสาม⁠iDream : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_l3Ajm3xG1Y&list=PLygiKgoicNdg9oviCOjCooE5nyN1MIu-s⁠

ทศชาติชาดก สุวรรณสาม ผู้ยิ่งด้วยเมตตาบารมีiDream : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_l3Ajm3xG1Y&list=PLygiKgoicNdg9oviCOjCooE5nyN1MIu-s

Sometime ago I had the pleasure to have as a guest a gentleman named Rob Wentz. Rob appeared in episode 212 on March 8, 2024. Recently Rob introduced me to a man he described as amazing and definitely unstoppable. That introduction led to me having the opportunity to have today, Ken Kunken, the man Rob introduced me to. Ken's story is atypical to most. He had a pretty normal childhood until he went to Cornell. Rob was pretty short, but he loved all things sports and active. In his junior year he participated in a lightweight football game against Columbia University. On a kickoff he tackled an opponent but broke his neck in the process. Immediately he became a quadriplegic from the shoulders down. As he tells us, his days of physical activity and sports came to an abrupt end.   I asked Ken how he dealt with his injury. As he tells me, his family rallied around him and told him they were all there to help with whatever he needed to continue in school and to move on with his life. They were true to their word and Ken did continue to attend school after nine months of hospitalization. He secured a bachelor's degree in industrial engineering. He went on to get a Master's degree from Cornell in Industrial Engineering and then a second Master's degree this time from Columbia University in Psychology as he decided he really wanted to “help people especially those with serious disabilities” rather than continuing in the Civil Engineering arena. Ken then secured a job that led to him becoming a successful rehabilitation counselor in New York.   Ken wasn't done growing nor exploring. After two years working in the rehabilitation field through circumstances and advice from others, he went to Hofstra school of law where he obtained a Juris Doctor degree in 1982. He then went to work in the office of a district attorney where, over 40 years he progressed and grew in stature and rank.   Ken tells us how his life changed over time and through the many jobs and opportunities he decided to take. Twenty-two years ago, he married Anna. They ended up having triplet boys who now all are in school at the age of Twenty.   Ken is as unstoppable as it gets. He refused to back down from challenges. He is now retired and loving the opportunity to be with his family and help others by telling his story.     About the Guest:   In 1970, while a junior in Cornell University's College of Engineering, Ken Kunken broke his neck making a tackle on a kick-off in a lightweight football game against Columbia University. Ken sustained a spinal cord injury at the C 4-5 level, rendering him a quadriplegic, almost totally paralyzed from the shoulders down. Ken spent more than 9 months in various hospitals and rehabilitation facilities. While still a patient, Ken testified before a United States Senate Sub-Committee on Health Care, chaired by Senator Edward Kennedy. In 1971, almost 20 years before the Americans with Disabilities Act, Ken returned to the Cornell campus, where he completed his undergraduate degree in Industrial Engineering. Ken estimates that he had to be pulled up or bounced down close to 100 steps just to attend his first day of classes.   Ken is the first quadriplegic to graduate from Cornell University. Upon graduation, Ken decided to change his career goal. He wanted to work with and help people, particularly those with disabilities. Ken went on to earn a Master of Arts degree at Cornell in education and a Master of Education degree at Columbia University in psychology. Ken is the first quadriplegic to earn a graduate degree from Cornell University. In 1977, Ken was hired by Abilities Inc. in Albertson, NY to be its College Work Orientation Program Coordinator. Ken coordinated a program which provided educationally related work experiences for severely disabled college students. He also maintained a vocational counseling caseload of more than 20 severely disabled individuals.   While working at the Center, Ken became a nationally certified rehabilitation counselor and made numerous public presentations on non-discrimination, affirmative action and employment of the disabled. In 1977, Ken was named the Long Island Rehabilitation Associations “Rehabilitant of the Year” and in 1979 Ken was the subject of one of the Reverend Norman Vincent Peale's nationally syndicated radio broadcasts “The American Character”. Wanting to accomplish still more, Ken enrolled in Hofstra University's School of Law, where he earned a Juris Doctor degree in 1982. Ken then went to work as an assistant district attorney in Nassau County, Long Island.   Ken was promoted a number of times during his more than 40 years with the District Attorney's Office, eventually becoming one of the Deputy Bureau Chiefs of the County Court Trial Bureau, where he helped supervise more than 20 other assistant district attorneys. In addition, over his years working in the Office, Ken supervised more than 50 student interns.   In 1996 Ken received the Honorable Thomas E. Ryan, Jr. Award presented by the Court Officers Benevolent Association of Nassau County for outstanding and dedicated service as an Assistant District Attorney. In 1999, Ken was awarded the George M. Estabrook Distinguished Service Award presented by the Hofstra Alumni Association, Inc. Beginning in 2005, for nine consecutive years, “The Ken Kunken Most Valuable Player Award” was presented annually by The Adirondack Trust Allegiance Bowl in Saratoga Springs, NY, in recognition of Ken's personal accomplishments, contributions to society and extraordinary courage.   In 2009, Ken became a member of the Board of Directors of Abilities Inc., and in 2017 he became a member of the Board of Directors for the parent company of Abilities Inc., the Viscardi Center.   In 2020, Ken was inducted into “The Susan M. Daniels Disability Mentoring Hall of Fame,” as a member of the class of 2019.   In December 2023, “The Kenneth J. Kunken Award” was presented by the Nassau County District Attorney's Office, for the first time, to an outstanding Nassau County Assistant District Attorney who personifies Ken's unique spirit and love of trial work, as well as his commitment and dedication, loyalty to his colleagues and his devotion to doing justice. The Award will be presented annually.   In March 2024, Ken was named one of the Long Island Business News Influencers in Law. Ken retired from full-time employment in 2016, but continued to work with the District Attorney's Office for the next eight years in a part time capacity, providing continuing legal education lectures and litigation guidance.   For years, Ken has tried to inspire people to do more with their lives. In October 2023, Ken's memoir “I Dream of Things That Never Were: The Ken Kunken Story” was published. In 2003 Ken married Anna and in 2005 they became the proud parents of triplet boys: Joey, Jimmy and Timmy. On June 23, 2023 the triplets graduated from Oceanside High School, fifty-five years after Ken had graduated from the same school. Ways to connect with Ken:   https://www.facebook.com/ken.kunken https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61566473121422 https://www.instagram.com/ken.kunken/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/kenneth-j-kunken-b4b0a9a8/ https://www.youtube.com/@Ken.Kunken https://bsky.app/profile/kenkunken.bsky.social   About the Host:   Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog.   Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards.   https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/   accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/       Thanks for listening!   Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below!   Subscribe to the podcast   If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset .   Leave us an Apple Podcasts review   Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts.       Transcription Notes:   Michael Hingson ** 00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us.   Michael Hingson ** 01:20 Well, hello once again, and welcome to another episode of unstoppable mindset. I am your host, Michael hingson, and today we have a fascinating guest, I believe. Anyway, his name is Ken. Kuan, kunken. Am I pronouncing that right? Yes, you are. Oh, good. And Ken, in 1970 underwent a problem when he was playing football and doing a tackle on a kickoff. Namely, he broke his neck and became a quadriplegic, basically from the shoulders down. I'm sort of familiar with the concept, because my wife, from birth was in a wheelchair. She was a paraplegic, paralyzed from the t3 vertebrae down, which was like right below the breast, so she was able to transfer and so on. So not quite the same, but a lot of the same issues, of course, and we're going to talk about that basically, because when you're in a wheelchair, like a lot of other kinds of disabilities, society doesn't tend to do all they should to accommodate. And I can, can make that case very well. Most people are light dependent, and we have provided reasonable accommodations for them by providing light bulbs and light on demand wherever they go, wherever they are, whatever they do, while at the same time for people who are blind, we don't get the same degree of access without pushing a lot harder. And people in wheelchairs, of course, have all sorts of physical issues as well, such as stairs and no ramps and other things like that. And I know that Ken's going to talk some about that from university days and my wife Karen face some of the same things. But anyway, we'll get to it all. Ken, I want to welcome you to unstoppable mindset. And I think your wife, Anna is visiting with us also, right, right? Thank you. Michael, so Anna, welcome as well. Thank you so Ken. Why don't we start if we could by you telling us sort of about the early Ken, growing up and all that from being a child, and tell us a little bit about you.   Ken Kunken ** 03:40 Okay, well, if you're going back to my childhood area, Yeah, it sure is. It's quite a while ago, but I was born in 1950 and that happened to be in the midst of the polio epidemic, and unfortunately, my mother contracted polio and died when I was less than one month old. So I have an older brother, Steve, who's two years older than me, and my father brother and I ended up moving in with my grandparents for a few years before my father remarried when I was four years old. A long shot. But what's your birth date? Right? My birth date is July 15, 1950 on   Michael Hingson ** 04:23 February 24 1950 So, okay, was was just kind of hoping there was the possibility, right? Anyway, go ahead.   Ken Kunken ** 04:30 So, um, during my father's second marriage, that's when my sister Merrill was born. She's 10 years younger than I am, but unfortunately, that was not a happy marriage, and it ended in a divorce. And when I was 18, my father married for the third time. So you know, growing up in a household with a number of individuals seemingly coming and going was a little different than most people's   Michael Hingson ** 04:57 households when they were growing up. How. Was that for you?   Ken Kunken ** 05:01 Well, you know, it was nice in the sense that I got involved with a lot of different family members in my extended family. I'm very close, growing up with my grandparents, with aunts, uncles, cousins, as well as my sister and brother. And you know, I had the opportunity to interact with a lot of different people. It was difficult during my father's second marriage, because it was not a happy marriage, and, you know, it worked out in everybody's best interest when that ended in divorce. But I look back at my childhood, and I just basically call it as a very happy childhood?   Michael Hingson ** 05:42 Oh, good. Well, so no real major traumas, certainly differences, but no real harrowing kinds of things that just threw you into a complete topsy turvy at least as far as you're concerned, right? Yeah. Well, then you decided to go to Cornell, as I recall, and I know Cornell has a, I think it's a master's program, but an advanced program in hospitality. So did they feed you well at Cornell?   Ken Kunken ** 06:13 Yes, they had a very good system and fed us very well. And they have a program in hotel management, right, which I was not involved in, but there was a lot of good food at Cornell when we were there.   Michael Hingson ** 06:28 Well, that's that's always important, you know, you got to have good food at UC Irvine. We were okay. Food wise. I was on the food committee for the dorms, actually, and the food was all right, but when they had steak night that they always made a big deal about the steak was usually pretty tough, and so we we had sometimes that the food wasn't great, but they had a great soft serve ice cream machine, so lot of people took advantage of that. But anyway, so when you were at Cornell, you played football,   Ken Kunken ** 07:01 right? I was on their lightweight football team. It's for people that were smaller than the heavyweight team. When I was playing, you had to weigh 154 pounds or less two days before the game. So most of the people had played on their high school teams was too small to play on the varsity college team, but it was a varsity sport. Most of the people were very good athletes and very fast, and it was very competitive sport.   Michael Hingson ** 07:35 So tell us about that and what happened.   Ken Kunken ** 07:38 Well, during my junior year, I was injured making a tackle on a kickoff in a game against Columbia University, and when I tackled the ball carrier, I broke my neck and damaged my spinal cord, and as a result, I'm a quadriplegic. I'm almost totally paralyzed from the shoulders down,   Michael Hingson ** 08:01 and so, what kind of effect? Well, that clearly that that was pretty bad news and so on. So what kind of effect did that have on you, and how did that shape what you did going forward?   Ken Kunken ** 08:15 Oh, it totally changed my perspective on everything about myself. I mean, growing up, my life seemed to center around sports. In high school, I played on the varsity football team. I wrestled on the varsity wrestling team. I played on four different intramural softball teams. I worked on the summer as a lifeguard. Everything in my life revolved around athletics and being physically active. Now, suddenly, I couldn't be physically active at all. In fact, I am totally sedentary, sitting in a wheelchair, and I need assistance with all my activities of daily living now.   Michael Hingson ** 08:54 So what did you do when the injury happened and so on? So how did you deal with all of that?   Ken Kunken ** 09:01 Well, it was a really difficult adjustment to make. I mean, suddenly I became dependent on everybody around me, because there was not one thing I could do for myself. So it was very difficult knowing that now not only was I dependent on others, but I had to be more outgoing to be able to have asked for help when I needed it, which was difficult for me, because I had always considered myself a bit of shy person, a bit of an introvert, and now I needed to be more vocal with respect to all of my needs. So I swear, go ahead. Well, I spent the next nine months and 20 days in various hospitals and rehabilitation centers, and it was really, really difficult getting used to my new physical condition.   Michael Hingson ** 09:52 But at the same time, you could have taken the position that you just hated yourself and you just wanted to I. Make life end and so on. And it doesn't sound like that was the approach that you took.   Ken Kunken ** 10:04 Mike, I was so fortunate that I had a very supportive family who were with me and helped me every step of the way. In fact, they basically assured me that they would act as my arms and legs to make sure I could still do everything I wanted to do in my life   Michael Hingson ** 10:22 doesn't get much better than that, having a real supportive village, if you will.   Ken Kunken ** 10:27 Right? I was so fortunate, and you know, I think that helped me be able to do many things in my life that most people thought would not be possible for someone in my condition, and I was able to do it because of the help I received from my family.   Michael Hingson ** 10:44 So what did you major in at Cornell? Let's say, before the injury.   Ken Kunken ** 10:50 I before my injury, I was majoring in industrial engineering, okay? And you know, after my injury, I went back to school and continued my studies in industrial engineering and actually obtained my degree, a Bachelor of Science in industrial engineering.   Michael Hingson ** 11:08 Now, what primarily is industrial engineering?   Ken Kunken ** 11:12 Well, you know, it's kind of a technical aspect of dealing with men, material, machines, and, you know, most likely working at a business where there are a lot of different people working there, where you would try and find out what the best way of people to operate, whether it be in a factory or just in a large business setting, when you're dealing with technical aspects of the job. But I never actually worked as an engineer, because, following my degree, based on the recommendation of one of my psychology professors, I stayed at Cornell and pursued a career in counseling. And I find that a lot more suitable to not only my physical condition, but what I really wanted to do. Because, following my injury, I knew that what I really wanted to do was to devote my life and career to helping others.   Michael Hingson ** 12:08 So you very well could have made the same switch and made the same choices, even if you hadn't undergone the accident,   Ken Kunken ** 12:17 absolutely and hopefully, I would have, because I found it a lot more enjoyable, and I believe it taught me a lot about dealing with people, and it made me feel very good about myself to know that I was still in a position, despite my disability, where I could help others.   Michael Hingson ** 12:40 So you stayed at Cornell and got that master's degree in counseling, which, which really gave you that opportunity. What did you do after that?   Ken Kunken ** 12:50 Well, to increase my counseling credentials, I then went to Columbia University, where I obtained my second degree. This one was also in counseling. That degree was in psychological counseling and rehabilitation, and I decided to look for a job in the rehabilitation counseling field. And now that I had two degrees from Cornell and one from Columbia, three prestigious Ivy League degrees, two master's degrees, I didn't think I'd have much difficulty securing employment, but to my dismay, no one would hire me. This was in the mid 70s, and everyone seemed to feel I was just too disabled to work.   Michael Hingson ** 13:32 Now, why did you go to Columbia to get your second degree, your masters in rehabilitation,   Ken Kunken ** 13:39 you know? And incidentally, it that was the school I actually was injured against during the football   Michael Hingson ** 13:44 I know that's why I asked the enemy, right?   Ken Kunken ** 13:47 Yeah, but I actually applied there for my doctorate, doctorate in counseling psychology. And initially I didn't get into that program, but they invited me to participate in their master's program, and said that they would reconsider my application when I finished that degree. Now, I thought that was a special letter that I got from them because of my injury, and I thought they just wanted to see me that I could do graduate work. As it turned out, virtually everybody that applied for that program got a similar letter, and when I first met with my advisor there at Columbia, he said, you know, if you didn't get in the first time, you're probably not going to get in even when you graduate. So since I had nothing else to do at that point, I enrolled in the master's program, and I completed my second master's degree. And you know, at the time, even my advisor was pessimistic about my work prospects, wow, just because of my ability, because of my disability, and despite. Fact that here they were training people to be rehabilitation counselors and encouraging people to go into that field, they felt that due to my disability, I would still have a very difficult time gaining employment,   Michael Hingson ** 15:14 which is as ironic as it gets,   Ken Kunken ** 15:17 absolutely, absolutely and I was just very fortunate that there was a facility on Long Island called abilities Incorporated, which was part of what was then called the Human Resources Center. Is now called the Viscardi Center, after its founder, Dr Henry Viscardi, Jr, and they hired me to work as a vocational rehabilitation counselor for other individuals who had severe disabilities.   Michael Hingson ** 15:46 I'm a little bit familiar with the buscardi Center, and have found them to be very open minded in the way they operate.   Ken Kunken ** 15:54 They were terrific, absolutely terrific. And I was so fortunate to get involved with them, to be hired, to work for them, and, you know, to be associated with all the fine work they were doing it on behalf of helping other individuals with disabilities.   Michael Hingson ** 16:13 So was it primarily paraplegics and quadriplegics and so on, or did they do blind people and other disabilities as well.   Ken Kunken ** 16:21 They did a lot of different disabilities, but they did not work with people that were visually impaired. For that in New York state, there was a special agency called the commission for the visually handicapped that helped people with visual impairments, but we dealt with all different types of disabilities, whether people were hearing impaired or had not just spinal cord injuries, but other disabilities, either from birth or disabilities that they developed through diseases. And as it turned out, I was probably one of the most severely disabled of the people that I dealt with.   Michael Hingson ** 17:02 Well, but you were also, by any definition, a good role model.   Ken Kunken ** 17:06 Well, I was fortunate that I was able to help a lot of different people, and I felt that when they looked at me and saw that I was able to work despite my disability, I know it encouraged them to do their best to go out and get a job themselves.   Michael Hingson ** 17:24 And of course, it really ultimately comes down to attitude. And for you, having a positive attitude had to really help a great deal.   Ken Kunken ** 17:34 I think it made all the difference in the world. And I was very fortunate that it was my family that instilled that positive attitude in me, and they gave me so much help that after a while, I thought I'd be letting them down if I didn't do everything I could do to make something out of my life.   Michael Hingson ** 17:53 So what did you do? Well, not only   Ken Kunken ** 17:57 did I go back to school and complete my education, but I went to work and, you know, got up early every day, and with the aid of a personal care attendant, I was able to go to work and function as a vocational counselor and help others in trying to achieve their goals.   Michael Hingson ** 18:17 Now, were you going to school while you were doing some of this?   Ken Kunken ** 18:20 No, I finished my second okay, and now was able to work full time.   Michael Hingson ** 18:27 Okay, so you did that, and how long did you work there?   Ken Kunken ** 18:32 Well, I worked there for a little over two years, and you know, my duties and responsibilities kept expanding while I was there, and one of my duties was to speak at conferences before groups and organizations concerning affirmative action and non discrimination for people with disabilities. And often after my talks, I would be asked questions, and while I would do my best to respond appropriately, I was always careful to caution the question is that they should really consult with a lawyer about their concerns. And I guess it didn't take long before I started to think, you know, there's no reason why I couldn't become that lawyer. So after a little over two years, I decided to leave the job, and I went to Hofstra University School of Law.   Michael Hingson ** 19:20 So now what? What year was this?   Ken Kunken ** 19:24 I left the job. I started the job in 77 I left in 79 when I started law school.   Michael Hingson ** 19:32 Okay, so you went to Hofstra,   Ken Kunken ** 19:35 right? And while I was at Hofstra through my brother's suggestion. My brother was working as a public defender at the time, he suggested I do an internship at the district attorney's office. So after my second year of law school, I did an internship there during the summer, and I found a new way. I could help people and serve the community as a whole, and I really enjoyed that work. So when I was in my third year of law school, I applied for a full time position with the district attorney's office, and I was very fortunate that the district attorney was a very progressive, self confident individual who based his hiring decision on my abilities rather than my disability.   Michael Hingson ** 20:27 Wow, that had to be, especially back then, a fairly, as you said, progressive, but an amazing thing to do, because even today, there are so many times that we get challenges and too many things thrown in our way, but you had someone who really thought enough of you and obviously decided that your abilities were such on the job that you could do   Ken Kunken ** 20:51 it. I was very fortunate to have come in contact with the district attorney at the time. His name was Dennis Dillon, and he seemed to know that when I'd go to court, a jury was not going to base its verdict on my inability to walk, but rather on my skill and competence as an attorney. And thanks to the training and guidance I received in the office, I became a very confident and competent, skilled trial attorney   Michael Hingson ** 21:22 well, and it had to be the way you projected yourself that would convince a jury to decide cases in the right way. So again, kudos to you.   Ken Kunken ** 21:33 Thank you. Well, I certainly did my best to do that, and at the time that I applied for this job, I didn't know of any quadriplegics that were trial attorneys. May have been some, but I didn't know of any. Certainly there were none on Long Island, and certainly no assistant district attorneys at the time that I knew of who were quadriplegics.   Michael Hingson ** 21:59 Now, of course, the question that comes to mind is, so was the office accessible?   Ken Kunken ** 22:05 No question. And you know, let me just go further by telling you that my first day in court, I couldn't even fit through the swinging doorways in the courtroom. They were too narrow to let me get through to get to the prosecutor's table, because my electric wheelchair was too wide.   Michael Hingson ** 22:24 What did you do? Or what happened?   Ken Kunken ** 22:27 Well, eventually they had to take off the swinging doorways and the screws and bolts that kept them in place, but usually I had to go very roundabout on a long way to get to the back of each courtroom and go through the back, which was really difficult. And one of my assignments happened to be to our traffic court Bureau, which was in a neighboring building on the second floor, and unfortunately, there the elevator was broken. So after three days, I was actually received my first promotion, because they didn't know when it would be fixed. But eventually I was able to get into court, and I did a lot of litigation while I was   Michael Hingson ** 23:10 there. How did judges react to all of this?   Ken Kunken ** 23:15 You know, it was very new to them as well. And you know, there are times when you needed to approach the bench and talk very quietly, you know, to so the jury wouldn't hear you, and it was very difficult, because benches are elevated, yeah. And I had difficulty approaching the bench or even turning my head side enough to look up at the judges and then for them to hear me. And sometimes they would have to get off the bench, and, you know, meet me on the side of the courtroom to have conferences and but for the most part, I thought they were very supportive. I thought they appreciated the hard work that I was doing, and I think they tried to be accommodating when they could.   Michael Hingson ** 23:58 Did you ever encounter any that just were totally intolerant of all of it,   Ken Kunken ** 24:02 sure, you know, many of them were very impatient. Some of them had difficulty hearing and when I was trying to look up and talk to them without the jury hearing, some of them had trouble hearing me because, you know, they were much higher up than I was in my wheelchair. So it was very challenging.   Michael Hingson ** 24:23 I was involved in a lawsuit against an airline because they wouldn't allow me and my guide dog to sit where we wanted to sit on the airplane, which was in direct violation of even the rules of the airline. And when it went to court, the judge who was assigned it was a federal judge, and he was like 80, and he just couldn't hear anything at all. It was, it was really too bad. And of course, my and my wife was was with me, and of course, in her chair, so she wasn't sitting in a regular row. And he even grilled her, what are you doing? Why aren't you sitting in a row? And she said, I'm in a wheelchair. Oh, yeah, it's amazing that hopefully we are we have progressed a little bit from a lot of that the last thing. So, yeah, the lawsuit was 1985 so it was a long time ago, and hopefully we have progressed some. But still, there are way too many people who don't get it, and who don't understand nearly as much as they should, and don't internalize that maybe we're not all the same, and we can't necessarily do everything exactly the same every single time,   Ken Kunken ** 25:35 right? And you know, I had the added misfortune of having my injury 20 years before the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed, and that made an enormous difference for not just people in wheelchairs, but people with all different types of disabilities.   Michael Hingson ** 25:53 So how did you, in general, learn to deal with people's perceptions of you, rather than the reality? Well, that is a lot. Yeah, there are lots of perceptions, right?   Ken Kunken ** 26:07 You know, many people think that because you have a physical disability, that you must also have an intellectual disability. And people would often come into my room and wherever I was, whether it was when I was first in the hospital or later at the office and speak to the person next to me and ask them questions about me, as if I couldn't speak for myself, yeah, even as if I wasn't even there. And it took a while for me to be more outgoing and convince people that, yes, they can deal with me. You know, I can still talk and think. And I think whenever a jury came into the courtroom for the first time, I think they were very surprised to see the prosecutor as somebody with a disability who was sitting in an electric wheelchair.   Michael Hingson ** 26:56 I know once we went to a restaurant, and of course, having a family with two people in two different disabilities, went to this restaurant, and we were waiting to be seated, and finally, Karen said the hostess is just staring at us. She doesn't know who to talk to, because I'm not making eye contact, necessarily. And Karen, sitting in her chair is way lower. And so Karen just said to me, Well, this lady doesn't know who to talk to. So I said, Well, maybe we can get her to just ask us what what we want and what help we need. Are carrying on the conversation. Got this, this nice lady to recognize. Oh, you know, I can talk with them. And so she said, Well, how can I help you? And we both kind of said we'd like to sit and have breakfast. Oh, okay, and it went well from there. But it is, it is a challenge, and people have crazy perceptions, I know, going down the stairs at the World Trade Center on September 11, when I encountered the firefighters coming up for a while, they blocked me from going because they decided that I needed help, and they would, they would ask me questions, like, we're going to help you. Is that okay? And I said, No, it's not. But they always talked loud, because if you're blind, you obviously can't hear either, right? And it was difficult to get them to deal with all of that. And finally, I had to just say, Look, I got my friend David over here, who can see we're working together. We're fine, and they let us go because I had a sighted person with me, not that I had the ability to go downstairs, even though I had to help keep David focused sometimes, and also, there's no magic for a blind person to go downstairs. You know, you go down the stairs, you hold the rail, you turn left there, in this case, and you go down the next batch of stairs. But people don't recognize that. Maybe there are techniques that we use to deal with the same things that they deal with, only in a different way.   Ken Kunken ** 29:03 Absolutely, and that applies to work as well. I mean, people assume that if you can't do a job the way most people seem to do it, who don't have a disability, they automatically assume you're not going to be able to function at all at the job. Yeah, and a lot of times, it takes a lot of convincing to show people that there are other ways of approaching a problem and handling a work situation.   Michael Hingson ** 29:27 One of the common things that we as blind people face, and it happens in schools and so on, is, Oh, you don't need to learn braille that's outmoded. You can listen to books that are computer generated or recorded and so on. And the reality is, no we need to learn braille for the same reason the sighted people learn to read print, and that is, it's all about learning to spell. It's learning about sentence structure and so on, and it's learning about having better ways to be able to truly enter. Interact with the text as I tell people, I don't care what anyone says, you will not learn physics as well from recordings as you can by truly having access to everything in a braille book, because you can refer back easier, and they've done some improvements in recording, but it's still not the same as what you get when you do Braille, which is the same thing for you reading print, or any other sighted person reading print. You read that print because there are various reasons why you need to do that, as opposed to learning how to just listen to books recorded anyway,   Ken Kunken ** 30:36 right? Well, I had the added misfortune of being injured well before they had laptop   Michael Hingson ** 30:41 computers. Yeah, me too. Well, I yeah, not. I wasn't injured, but yeah,   Ken Kunken ** 30:46 right. So trying to do my schoolwork or later work at a job, you know, it posed even more challenges. Now, of course, having ebooks and being able to use a computer, it's made a big difference, not just for me, but for many individuals.   Michael Hingson ** 31:04 Sure, do you use like programs like Dragon Naturally Speaking to interact with the computer?   Ken Kunken ** 31:10 You know, I tried that, and I had a lot of difficulty with it. I know you need to train it. And when I first tried it, which was in its infancy, it just wasn't responding well to my voice, so I don't use that. I've been fortunate with that with advancements in wheelchairs, my wheelchair now has a Bluetooth device connected to my joystick, and I could actually move my left arm a little bit where I could work the joystick and move the mouse on my computer, moving my joystick. You   Michael Hingson ** 31:45 really might want to look into dragon again. It is just so incredibly different than it was years ago. I remember when Dragon Dictate first came out, and all of the challenges of it, but they have done so much work in developing the language models that it's it's a whole lot better than it used to be, and, yeah, you have to train it. But training isn't all that hard nowadays, even by comparison to what it was, and it gives you a lot of flexibility. And I am absolutely certain it would recognize your voice without any difficulty?   Ken Kunken ** 32:22 Well, it's good to hear that they've made those advancements,   Michael Hingson ** 32:26 and it's not nearly as expensive as it used to be, either. Well, that's good   Ken Kunken ** 32:30 to hear. I know when I first tried it, it was incredibly frustrating, yeah, because it wasn't responding well to my voice, and   Michael Hingson ** 32:38 it was like $1,500 as I recall, it was pretty expensive right now, it's maybe two or $300 and there's also a legal version of it and other things like that. Yeah, you really ought to try it. You might find it makes a big difference. It's worth exploring Anyway, okay, but be that as it may, so you you dealt with people's perceptions, and how did you, as you continue to encounter how people behave towards you, how did you keep from allowing that to embitter you or driving you crazy?   Ken Kunken ** 33:15 Well, you know, certainly at work, I needed to go in a jacket and tie, and I found that when you're wearing a jacket and tie, many people treated you differently than when you're just wearing street clothes. So I think that certainly helped that work. But I later became a supervisor in the district attorney's office, and people saw that, you know, not only could they talk with me on an intellectual level, but they saw I was supervising other assistant district attorneys, and I think that convinced a lot of people pretty quickly that I knew what I was doing and that they should treat me no different than they would any other lawyer, Assistant District Attorney.   Michael Hingson ** 33:59 Yeah, well, and it is projecting that confidence in a in a positive way that does make such a big difference,   Ken Kunken ** 34:08 absolutely. And I think when people saw me at work, one of the things that I appreciated was I never even needed to mention again that somebody with a disability could work, and not just at an entry level position, that a very responsible position. I was convinced them, just by showing them, without ever having to mention that somebody with a disability could do this kind of work.   Michael Hingson ** 34:35 I never bring it up unless it comes up, and a lot of times, especially when talking on the phone and so on, it never comes up. I've had times when people eventually met me, and of course, were themselves, somewhat amazed. I'm a blind person and all that I said, nothing's changed here, folks. The reality is that the same guy I was when you were just talking to me on the phone. So let's move forward. Word. And mostly people got it and and dealt with it very well.   Ken Kunken ** 35:08 Well, I used to have a lot of people, when they meet me for the first time, were very surprised to see that I was in a wheelchair. I never would say, Boy, you didn't sound like you were disabled. Yeah, right. And I think they were very surprised when they met me.   Michael Hingson ** 35:23 I've had some people who've said that to me, Well, you didn't sound blind on the telephone. And so depending on how snarky I feel or not, I might say, Well, what does a blind person sound like? And that generally tends to stop them, because the reality is, what does a blind person sound like? It doesn't mean anything at all, and it's really their attitudes that need to change. And I know as a keynote speaker for the last 23 years, just by doing the things that I do, and talking and communicating with people, it is also all about helping to change attitudes, which is a lot of fun.   Ken Kunken ** 36:03 You know, Michael, when I first went back to college, I was approached by a student on campus, and when he asked if I was Ken kunken, and I responded that I was, he asked, aren't you supposed to be in the hospital? Now, you know, I was very tempted to say yes, but I escaped. Please don't tell anyone. But you know, it even took a while to just show people, somebody with a disability does not need to be permanently in a rehab facility or a hospital or staying at home with their families, that there's an awful lot somebody could do and to be seen out in public and show people that you can work, you can go to school, you can do basically what everybody else does once you're given the opportunity.   Michael Hingson ** 36:55 Of course, being spiteful, my response would have been, well, yeah, I should still be in the hospital doing brain surgery, but I decided that I didn't want to be a doctor because I didn't have any patients, so I decided to take a different career, right? Oh, people, yeah, what do you do? And we all face it, but the reality is, and I believe very firmly and have have thought this way for a long time, that like it or not, we're teachers, and we do need to teach people, and we need to take that role on, and it can be difficult sometimes, because you can lose patience, depending on what kind of questions people ask and so on. But the reality is, we are teachers, and our job is to teach, and we can make that a very fun thing to do as we move forward, too.   Ken Kunken ** 37:44 You know, Michael, I found most people really want to be helpful. Yeah, a lot of times they don't know how to be helpful or how to go about it, or what to say or what to do, but most people are really good people that want to help. And you know, the more they come in contact with somebody with a disability, the more comfortable they will feel   Michael Hingson ** 38:04 right, and they'll learn to ask if you want help, and they won't make the assumption, which is, of course, the whole point.   Ken Kunken ** 38:14 You know, Michael, when you leave the job the district attorney's office, you would go through what they call an exit interview, where they would ask you what you thought was the best part of the job, what you thought could be improved. And I'm so happy and proud to say that I was told that a number of assistant district attorneys said that one of the best parts of their job was meeting and getting to know and working with me. And the reason why I wanted to highlight that was I know they weren't talking about me being Ken kunken, but me being somebody with a disability. Because unless they had a close relative with a disability, people rarely came in daily contact with somebody with a disability, and for them, it was often a revelation that they found helped motivate and inspire them to work harder in their job, and they were very appreciative of that,   Michael Hingson ** 39:12 but they also learned that the disability wasn't what defined you. What defined you was you and your personality and what you did not necessarily exactly how you   Ken Kunken ** 39:24 did it, absolutely. And I think it was also a revelation that working with me did not involve additional work for them, right? I was able to carry my own weight, and often was more productive than many of the people I was working with. Right?   Michael Hingson ** 39:42 Well, and I think that's a very crucial point about the whole thing. When you became a lawyer, did that change your view of yourself? I mean, I know it was a kind of an evolution that got you to being a lawyer. But how did becoming a lawyer and when go. Answer, and getting the law degree and then working in a law office. How did that change your perceptions and your attitudes and outlook?   Ken Kunken ** 40:06 You know, it really changed it a great deal, because I had people look at me with a very different eye when they were looking at me. You know, I enjoyed my work as a vocational rehabilitation counselor very much. And I encourage people to do that work. But I felt that there were people that looked at me and thought, you know, he has a disability. Maybe he could only work with other people had disabilities. And I was very proud of the fact that when I became a lawyer, I was working with very few people that had disabilities. Most of them were able bodied. And I wanted to show people that you're not limited in any way with who you're going to work with and what you could do. And I think it's so important for people to keep their perceptions high, their expectations high when they're dealing with individuals, because just because somebody has a disability does not mean they cannot perform and do as much as virtually anybody else on the job   Michael Hingson ** 41:14 well, and you clearly continue to have high expectations of and for you, but also I would suspect that the result was you had high expectations for those around you as well. You helped them shape what they did, and by virtue of the way you functioned, you helped them become better people as well.   Ken Kunken ** 41:38 Well, I certainly tried to and from the feedback that I've gotten from many of the people I worked with, that seemed to be the case, and I'm very proud of that. In fact, I might add Michael that two years ago, the district attorney, now her name is Ann Donnelly, actually started an award in the district attorney's office that's given out annually that they named the Kenneth J kunken award. They named it for me because they wanted to recognize and honor the outstanding Assistant District Attorney each year who displayed the work ethic and the loyalty and devotion to the office as well the person in the wheelchair, right? And I'm very proud of that,   Michael Hingson ** 42:25 but I will bet, and I'm not trying to mitigate it, but I will bet that mostly that award came about because of the things that you did and your work ethic, and that the wheelchair aspect of it was really somewhat second nature. And far down the list,   Ken Kunken ** 42:41 I'm very proud of the fact that that seems to be the case and and one of the aspects of that award was they talked about the effect that I had on my colleagues, and the beneficial effect that that was Yeah,   Michael Hingson ** 42:56 because the reality is, it ultimately comes down to who you are and what you do and and I'm not, and again, I'm not mitigating being in a wheelchair or having any kind of disability, but I really, truly believe ultimately the disability isn't what is not what defines us, it's how we are and what we do and how we behave in society that really will be what helps us make a mark on whatever we're involved with,   Ken Kunken ** 43:28 right? And I think for some, as I say, it was a revelation to see that somebody with a disability had the same needs, wants and desires as everybody else. We were certainly no different with respect to that right.   Michael Hingson ** 43:43 So how long did you work as a lawyer and in the district attorney's office?   Ken Kunken ** 43:49 Well, I worked there full time for more than 33 years, and then I worked there in a part time capacity for an additional eight years. So all told, more than 40 years I worked there, and in fact, I'm one of the longest serving Nassau County assistant district attorneys that they've ever had.   Michael Hingson ** 44:09 Now, why did you go back to part time after 33 years?   Ken Kunken ** 44:15 Well, there are a number of reasons. You know, I I thought that due to some health issues, I wanted to play it safe and make sure that I locked in my pension, because I thought there would be a bigger payout if I retired while I was still working than if I died while I was working on the job. As it turned out, my health issue seemed to resolve itself, but I decided that, you know, retiring, when I did, gave me some more time to spend at home with my family, and I really appreciated being able to do that.   Michael Hingson ** 44:53 That's a very admirable thing. Can't complain about that. So what keeps you going?   Ken Kunken ** 45:00 What keeps me going now is my family. Just so your listeners know, I'm married to the wonderful woman that's actually sitting to my right right now. My name is Anna, and we're actually the parents of triplet sons. We have three incredible boys, Joseph, James and Timothy. They're now 20 years old, and they're currently sophomores at three separate colleges in upstate New York, and they're the light of my life. I couldn't be more proud. And they're what keeps me going these days.   Michael Hingson ** 45:33 What colleges?   Ken Kunken ** 45:36 Well, James is going to the State University of New York at Morrisville, where he's studying renewable energy. Timothy is pursuing a dual major at the SI Newhouse School of Communications in the Maxwell School of Public Policy at Syracuse University. And my son Joseph is actually attending my alma mater, Cornell University, where he's majoring in mechanical engineering.   Michael Hingson ** 46:06 And do they all go watch football games on the weekend? I mean, given the fact that least a couple of those are at schools with good football   Ken Kunken ** 46:13 teams, right? But you know what? They never wanted anything to do with football. But they are all physically active, in great shape, and in fact, all of them have pursued the martial arts, and all three of them are second degree black belts in Taekwondo. And they've all even worked as instructors in the Taekwondo studio here in Long Island.   Michael Hingson ** 46:35 So dad has to be careful, though they'll take you out, huh?   Ken Kunken ** 46:39 You bet. In fact, I've got my own three personal bodyguards when   Michael Hingson ** 46:43 I got right, you can't do better than that. And and Anna, which I'll bet is more formidable than all of them   Ken Kunken ** 46:53 on, is incredible. I mean, she is just a force that is unstoppable. She's incredible.   Michael Hingson ** 47:01 Well, that's cool all the way around, and it's, it's great that you, you have a good neighborhood around you to support you, and I think we all need that. That's that's pretty important to to deal with. So with your job and all that, now that you are retired, I don't know whether you have much stress in your life, but how do you deal with stress? And how does stress affect you and or does it make any difference with a disability?   Ken Kunken ** 47:30 It sure does. It's an interesting question, because before my injury, one of the ways I would deal with stress would be out of the football field, yeah, you know, being physically active, running into an individual, you know, to tackle or block, that was a great way to relieve some of my stress. Once I had my injury, I no longer had that outlet, so I had to find different ways of dealing with it. One of my ways was, you know, trying to sit outside and sit in the garden or by water and, you know, just enjoy nature and try and relax and clear my mind. But now my best stress relievers are my three children. I'm spending time with them, watching all that they're doing. I find that the best way of me to be able to relax and relieve any anxieties that I have?   Michael Hingson ** 48:23 Well, I think there's a lot of value in doing things that keep you calm and focused. I think that is the best way to deal with stress. All too often, we don't think or be introspective about ourselves and our lives, and we don't really step back and get rid of that stress mentally, and that's where it really all comes from. I mean, I know people have physical manifestations of stress and so on, but I would submit that typically, stress is so much more an emotional thing because we haven't learned how to deal with it, and you clearly have   Ken Kunken ** 49:02 it took a while, but yeah, now I have my family to help every step of the way, and that includes relieving the stress that I've under.   Michael Hingson ** 49:10 Yeah, and stress is important to get rid of and not have around. It will help you live a whole lot longer not to have stress I just went through a week ago and op was, you know, an operation to change a heart valve. And people keep asking me, well, Weren't you worried? Weren't you stressed over that? And my answer was, No, I had no control over it really happening to my knowledge, I don't think that I've been a very poor eater, and all of my arteries and everything were good. And so no, I wasn't stressed, even when I first learned that there was an issue and wasn't an emergency room for over 24 hours, mostly sitting around, I chose not to be stressed, and it was a choice. And so I just listened to things around me and became quite entertained at some of the people. People who were in the emergency room with me, but being stressed wasn't going to do anything to help the process at all. So I refuse to get stressed.   Ken Kunken ** 50:09 That's great. And you know, I think this finally retiring has helped me deal with stress as well, because working as an assistant district attorney, there can be a lot of stressful situations in the office, and it's, it's nice to finally be retired and be able to enjoy all of my activities outside of the office.   Michael Hingson ** 50:33 What would you say is probably the most stressful thing that you had to endure as an attorney? You were, I mean, you did this for 40 years, or almost 40 years? So what? Well, actually, yeah, for 40 years. So what would you say is the most stressful thing that you ever had to deal with?   Ken Kunken ** 50:50 Well, I had to rely on, you know, my memory, because it was difficult for me even turning pages of a book or pulling, you know, pieces of paper out of a file, and there was a lot of paperwork that you get to be familiar with, whether they be grand jury testimony or prior witness statements. And I had to rely a lot of my memory and through the help of student interns or paralegals or secretaries, and it was very difficult. And I might add, you know, just to give you one anecdote, one day after I had convicted a defendant of, you know, felony, you know, he was a person with a lot of prior involvement with the criminal justice system, and I was about to go down for his sentencing, he jumped in the elevator with me, and now we're alone in the elevator riding down, and here I am with this person that I convicted of a serious case, and I'm about to recommend that he go to an upstate prison. And he approaches me and says, I have a proposition for you. If you don't send me to jail, I'll agree to work as your personal care attendant for a year, which really struck me as odd. I mean, he must have thought that working for me for a year would be the equivalent of going to prison for a few years. But fortunately, the elevator door opened and I politely turned down his request and went to court, and he was sentenced to two to four years in an upstate prison.   Michael Hingson ** 52:28 Still was creative,   52:30 right?   Michael Hingson ** 52:33 So in all of your life and all the things you've done, what are you most proud   Ken Kunken ** 52:36 of, well, but definitely most proud of my family life? I mean, as I indicated, I'm married now, married for more than 21 years now, my three boys are sophomores in college and doing absolutely great, and make me proud every single day. But I'm proud of the fact that I was able to go back to school, complete my education and work at a job and earn a living where I was able to support myself and able to purchase a house and live now with my wife and children and lead as just about as normal a life as any other family would lead.   Michael Hingson ** 53:18 Now being married to Ana is that your first marriage? It sure is. So there we go. Well, I hear you and but you guys met late, and I'm going to step out on a limb and say it proves something that I've always felt, which is, you'll get married when the right person comes along, especially if you're mature enough to recognize it,   Ken Kunken ** 53:41 you're right. And I was very fortunate that the right person came along in my life, and we have a very happy marriage that I cannot picture life without him right now,   Michael Hingson ** 53:56 my wife and I got married when I was 32 she was 33 but we knew what we wanted in a partner, and when we first met each other, it just sort of clicked right from the beginning. We met in January of 1982 and in July, I asked her to marry me, and we got married in November of 1982 and so we were married for 40 years before she passed. And you know, there are always challenges, but, but you deal with it. So it must have been really an interesting time and an interesting life, suddenly discovering you have three boy triplets.   Ken Kunken ** 54:31 You know, it really was well, you know, when I decided to get married, she told me that she wanted to have my baby, and not just any baby my baby, she said she wanted to see a little pumpkin running around our home. And this really seemed impossible at the time. I had been paralyzed for more than 30 years, and I was already in my 50s, but we looked into various options, including in vitro fertilization and. And we're very excited, excited to learn we could still, I could still father a child. So we pursued it. And you know, through good fortune, good luck, and I guess somebody smiling on us from above, Anna became pregnant with triplets, and I couldn't be happier to have these three wonderful boys in my life.   Michael Hingson ** 55:21 So did becoming a father change you? Or how did you evolve? When that all happened,   Ken Kunken ** 55:26 it sure did. I mean, you know, it went from me being number one in honors life to suddenly being number four after all, three boys got the attention they needed, but it was wonderful for me to be able to help shape their lives and guide them so that they would develop the right character and values and learn the importance of helping others throughout their lives, which they do, and It's I think it's made me a better person, being able to help and guide them. That's cool.   Michael Hingson ** 56:07 Well, the the other thing I would ask is, if you had a chance to go back and talk to a younger Ken, what would you say? What would you teach them so that they would maybe make mistakes that you made?   Ken Kunken ** 56:18 Well, I'd say there's an awful lot you could still do in life, even without your physical movement, and sometimes it takes a lot of patience and a lot of self reflection, but to realize there's an awful lot you can do and that they need to keep their expectations high for themselves as well as for others, and to realize that just because something has not been done before doesn't mean they cannot do it now. They've got to find different ways of approaching problems and handling it and developing some self confidence in themselves and their ability to deal with difficult situations.   Michael Hingson ** 57:03 How did the Americans with Disabilities Act improve all that you did and make your life, especially on the job, better?   Ken Kunken ** 57:12 Well, it, you know, made facilities so much more accessible. When I first went back to college, there was not one ramp or curb cut on the entire campus. On my first day back in school, I had to be either pulled up or bounced down close to 100 steps just to attend my classes, and as I indicated, in the DAs office, I couldn't even fit through the swinging doorways to get in the courtroom. So it made it tremendously easier to not have to deal with all the physical challenges, but it also made it better for dealing with other people and their attitudes about dealing with people with disabilities, because thanks to the Americans with Disabilities Act, you see more people with disabilities out in public. So people are more used to seeing, dealing, interacting with people, and seeing what they can do and that they're just like everybody else. And as a result, people's attitudes have been changing, and I think that's helped me as well, in many different ways.   Michael Hingson ** 58:20 Cool, well, you have written a book about all of this. Tell me about the book.   Ken Kunken ** 58:27 Okay, I actually started writing a book when I was still in the rehab facility. Not long after I was hurt, a friend of my aunt Lorraine's by the name of Albert meglan visited me in the hospital and thought that one it may help me deal with my depression by talking about what I was going through, but also inform other individuals what a spinal cord injury was like and what's involved with rehabilitation. So he used to visit me in the rehab facility one day a week for a number of weeks for me to start writing a book about my experiences. And then when I went back to school, I started working on it on my own, but I would pick it up and stop and start and stop again over the course of 50 years. And then once I retired, I had more time to sit down with my wife, and I would dictate to her, and she would type it on her laptop computer until we finally finished my memoir, which is called I dream of things that never were, the Ken kunken story, and it's published by a company called 12 tables Press, and they could learn more about my book by going on my website, which is kenkunkin.com and I might add that where I got the title of my book was six months after my injury. I was asked to testify before a United States Health subcommittee chaired by Senate. Senator Edward Kennedy. And eight days after my testimony, Senator Kennedy sent me a glass paperweight in the mail that had an inscription on it that the senator said his late brother Robert Kennedy liked very much. And the inscription read, some men see things as they are and say, Why I dream of things that never were. And say, why not? And that's where I got the title of my book. I dream of things that never were.   Michael Hingson ** 1:00:28 Yeah, that's cool. And where can people get the book?   Ken Kunken ** 1:00:35 Well, it's available on Amazon. It's also available at the Cornell bookstore, and if they go on my website, Ken kunken.com spellkin For me, please. It's K U N, as in Nancy. K e n that tells of a number of ways that they could purchase the book, both the hardcover book, it's also available as a Kindle version as an e book, and just recently, we put it out as an audio book as well. And they could learn all about it by going to the website, but certainly it's available on Amazon. If they wanted to order in bulk, they could contact my publisher directly, and he could help them fulfill that type of order. Cool.   Michael Hingson ** 1:01:22 That is great. So now the real question is, are there any more books in Ken to come out?   Ken Kunken ** 1:01:28 Well, this book took me 50 years to I know you got to go a little bit faster. So no, I think I wrote down everything that I wanted to convey to people in that book, and now I'm actively just promoting the book like you. I've spoken at a number of different events as a motivational speaker, and you know, the book has given me a way to get m

Thank you for listening to this episode of Bawk Tawk, Welcome to Chickenlandia's 100% Friendly Backyard Chickens Show! In this episode, I discuss why your chickens might be losing feathers. Hope you love it.

Send us a textIn this inspiring episode of Dear HR Diary, Dawn Hart sits down with Ken Kunken, a powerhouse of resilience, purpose, and advocacy. Ken's journey from a life-altering accident to a successful career in law is nothing short of extraordinary. Through his story, we explore the realities of disability in the workplace—and more importantly, how we can all be agents of change.Ken shares his firsthand experience overcoming adversity, finding motivation in the face of unimaginable challenges, and the power of a support system that believes in your potential. We dig into the barriers that still exist for individuals with disabilities when it comes to employment and advancement, and Ken offers practical insights into the importance of accommodations, accessibility, and addressing unconscious bias.From courtroom victories to workplace equity, this episode challenges all of us—leaders, HR pros, and colleagues—to do better and be better.

Quaranteam – Book 1: Part 13 Decisions are made on who's being added to the Rook family. Based on a post by CorruptingPower, in 25 parts. Listen to the Podcast at Explicit Novels. Chapter 27 For most of the next day, Andy kept to himself a bit, staying mostly in his office with the cats. Jenny had swung by to bring him lunch midday, and after he finished it, he decided it was time to talk with his best friend Xander Baker. While Andy was a little chunky, Xander was the whole damn brick. Xander wasn't so much fat as just a mountain of a man. But also a bit fat, if people were being blunt. Xander stood some four inches taller than Andy but was at least a hundred pounds heavier, maybe more, a weird combination of muscle and blubber, much of his skin covered in tattoos. And god help him, Xander was still rocking a mullet, as out of fashion as ever. Much of the time, the back of the mullet was pulled into a rattish ponytail, but today it hung free over his shoulders. He and Xander had grown up together, best friends since they were seven. They'd met playing Little League, something they'd both hated. The two of them had quit playing the next year, but they'd never stopped hanging out. They'd been roommates throughout college, and when Andy had moved to the West Coast, Xander had driven with him and then flown home one way. For years, Andy had been trying to convince Xander to abandon the Midwest, and it always felt like Xander was considering it, though it just never seemed to happen. There had been a two year period where they'd stopped speaking, because Xander had gotten married and gotten divorced all within those two years. Xander's ex wife had hated all of his friends and had driven them away, insisting none of them be invited to the wedding. She'd actually been living with Xander and Andy for the last year Andy lived in Cleveland. They'd gotten married six months after he left, and divorced two years to the day afterwards. On the very day that Xander had decided to divorce her, the first person he'd called was Andy, to apologize for the two years of radio silence. Andy hadn't been mad, and had welcomed his oldest friend back into his life with welcome arms. Xander had drifted from job to job for a couple of years until he'd seemed to find his natural calling as an auto mechanic, one specifically focused on restoration and maintenance of classic and vintage cars, although he did work on pretty much anything to keep the bills paid. Some of Xander's restorations had won awards at car shows, though, and he'd done a few special commissions for some well known people that was starting to get him a little national recognition. For the last six months, Xander had been living vicariously through Andy, when he wasn't working on cars. Thankfully, Xander's work backlog had been more than enough to keep him occupied for a couple of years. He'd even had a 3D printer delivered to help him make molds so he could smelt custom parts when he couldn't find what he needed via mail. It had been a frustratingly solitary life, so his contact with Andy had been what kept him going. They generally talked via FaceTime for an hour every week, like clockwork. When Andy had first gotten Aisling in his life, he'd called Xander the next day to introduce her to him first, and they'd gotten along perfectly. Since then, generally the day after someone had been added to the household, he'd called Xander the day after to introduce them, although it had been about a week or so since they'd talked, simply because between the poker game, his brother's death and all the various arrivals. It had been an overwhelming week, and for the first half an hour of the videocall, Andy had literally simply relied all the various information. Xander had been sad to hear about Matty's death, and had also told Andy that his Xander's own brother, Randy, also passed away, along with his father. Both of them had lost a lot of family in a very short period of time. So the two of them had shared a little cry for a bit, before they'd decided to just plow on. From there, Andy had to inform Xander that not only was he getting married, he was getting married to multiple women, including two that he hadn't even been introduced to yet, but Xander had been laughing at that point. He'd also asked Xander to be his best man, something he'd readily agreed to, even if he was a bit jealous of some of the women lined up to wed Andy. He had sent Xander the group photo shortly before the call, and Xander's immediate question was how the hell he'd ended up hooking up with not only Sarah Washington, but Emily Stevens as well. That had turned into Andy relaying the entire poker story to Xander, who went through a roller coaster of emotions while Andy talked him through it. Xander had long been a Daggerfall Academy fan, not just of the movies but of the books as well, so he was understandably a little jealous of Andy's connection to Emily, but promised not to get too hung up on it when they finally did meet. Xander had still never forgiven him for not meeting E.F. Winston, but Andy had explained to him over and over again that she was simply too big a person to show up to conventions and do meet'n'greets. And then, of course, Andy had needed to tell Xander that he was also going to be a father, and that both Niko and Aisling were pregnant, which resulted in the oddest moment ever, because Xander had just been grinning. Apparently, Niko had called Xander to tell him about it before they'd even told Andy, just to make sure that he'd really be cool with it. Andy found himself a little annoyed with Niko and Aisling, but the moment was fleeting, and in the end, he also found it a little funny, knowing that Xander had had the news about the girls' pregnancies before he did. The last thing they had to talk about was the previous day where the girls had spent hours pitching their friends and colleagues to him, and how overwhelmed by it all Andy was. That was why he'd called Xander, because while Andy had done some thinking about whittling it down, he wanted to talk it all over with his best friend, the person who knew him best in this world. For the next hour or so, Andy and Xander had talked through all of the pitches one by one, covering all of the women, Andy's pros and cons (because of course Andy had made a pros and cons list) and where his head was at with each of them. The call went on long enough that both men had been forced to plug their phones in and let them charge while they continued talking. Internet calling was truly a wonderful thing. It helped his state of mind, being able to talk it all out with someone. He'd thought about talking it all over with Aisling, but he felt like involving any of the girls in the actual decision making process might put undue stress on their relations, and he didn't want to put any of the girls in that kind of awkward position. Xander had proven to be an excellent sounding board, as he always was, and Andy was able to talk himself through all of his decisions over the course of their conversation. At least a couple of times, Andy had joked that maybe it would be better if he didn't invite anyone in, to which point Xander had threatened to phone Niko, so she could slap Andy in the head for him, since Xander was still in Cleveland. He didn't doubt that Xander would do it in the least, and Andy joked that his friend was getting too reliant on one of Andy's soon to be wives to do his dirty work for him. Which, of course, led Xander into dropping a bombshell of his own on Andy. As it turned out, once the quarantine was lifted, Xander was likely going to be moving out to Fresno, a city about an hour away from the Bay area, which meant the two best friends would be able to hang out and see each other regularly, something that made Andy cry a little more. Xander also said, however, that there was also a decent chance the relocation might happen much sooner than that. One of the women he was getting paired up with was a Major in the Air Force, and so she was leaning on people to get him safely relocated across the country, where she could protect him. He'd laughed, saying it was weird to be treated as such precious cargo when just a year ago he was getting turned down by nearly every woman he approached at a bar. Xander, like Andy, had lost most of his roots, especially after the deaths of his brother and father, so he didn't really have much keeping him in the Midwest. In fact, he'd actually been told to pack all of his things immediately, so that if the relocation came through, he'd be ready to move. That was why he felt like the relocation was going to happen much sooner than the "after quarantine" he'd originally been told to expect. If anything, Xander seemed a little annoyed by his lack of information or control in his own relocation, but Andy gave him just enough information to make it all make sense, and after that, Xander seemed a lot more prepared to get to safe ground as fast as possible. Andy had asked to see pictures of the women Xander was getting paired up with, but his friend didn't have those yet. Once he did, though, he would inform Andy and the two could hash it out then. Xander had originally been marked as a level 1, but what with the incredibly high male mortality rate in the country, even level 1s were suddenly moving up in terms of importance for protecting. His friend had some excellent points about some of Andy's initial thoughts and in a few cases, was able to help Andy put his finger on what had been bothering him about a few of the pitches, as well as helping him get out of his own way on a few personal quirks. The thing Xander had stressed to him, above all else, was that he needed to trust his instincts about whether or not the women would personally get along with him, and that if they wouldn't, that he would be doing them a disservice by mixing them into his family. He already had a couple of women whom he knew weren't very much into him beyond their needs, and the last thing he wanted to do was compound that problem. His friend tried to settle his worries about disappointing some of the women, noting for him yet again that any of the women who didn't want to come would have the option of declining his invitation, something that Andy had to keep reminding himself of. The last thing he wanted was to be someone like Covington, abducting women against their will for his own desires. He didn't need any of that shit. With the list finally settled on, and Andy caught up on all the news that Xander had to share, his best friend had asked him if he'd given much thought about who he was going to use his one personal choice on, which had made Andy smile. Andy pointed out that he suspected his invite would be turned down, but that he would be kicking himself if he didn't extend it to the one and only obvious choice, which made Xander punch the sky and cheer. "She's going to say yes," Xander told him, the grin from ear to ear, while he danced around in his bedroom in Cleveland. "You know this. I know this. Everyone knows this. Why are you pretending to yourself that she won't?" "Because," Andy said, in between laughs, "she and I haven't spoken in, what, ten, fifteen years? She could be married for all we know." "Liar!" Xander cackled. "You and I both know you're lying, because we are both Facebook friends with her, and if she had gotten married, we absolutely would have been invited to the wedding, or at the very least heard about it! She's the kind of person who would've had that all over her social media, but she hasn't, which means she isn't, which means she's going to say yes to you, because she's still pining for you like you're still pining for her! I fucking knew you weren't over her, you goddamn liar! How many times did you tell me you were okay with it? How many times did I tell you that you were full of shit? She's going to say yes to you, my most righteous dude, " "It's not just me she would have to say yes to, Xan! She's been living in DC for a decade now! I'm sure she's put roots down." "She's hated living in DC for a decade now, you mean. She would hook up with a lemur if it got her out of DC. I doubt she's put any real roots down so that if she wanted to bail on that shithole cesspit of political vipers, she could." "She works in DC. Her entire job is in DC. She's a political reporter. She may not be working at the White House any more, but she's a congressional reporter. She needs to be in DC to do that job." Xander rolled his eyes. "She will take another option if there's one available, and if she moves out there with you, she'll just get into some other kind of reporting. Or maybe she'll just start writing political books. Or historical novels. Or fucking anything else. I never understood why you two didn't stay together in the first place." "She wanted to be a White House reporter, and she actually got the job with the bureau, so she moved out there, and I got the job writing for Netflix and had to move out here," Andy said with a shrug. "We talked about trying long distance, but it was the entire length of the country, and I didn't want to be a burden on her." "You two have unfinished business, Andy," Xander said to him. "Extend the invite, and then we'll see who's right in the long run, huh?" "That's what I'm going to do, Xan," Andy said. "Let her make her own mind up. My money's on her still being upset with how we ended things." "Willing to make a little wager on that?" "Sure, what did you have in mind for stakes?" "Since you're mister moneybags now, when I win, you buy me a Tesla." Andy laughed and nodded. "And if I win?" "Then I owe you one complete restoration of a car, no matter what the state it's in, but it's never gonna happen." "I'll remind you that you said that when you're having to completely rebuild a Ferrari from a busted frame." Xander waggled a finger at him. "We'll see then, won't we?" He sighed a little bit. "Shit, brother, we've been talking for hours. You should probably get your list done and tell your girls so you can start that whole process, since your buddy Phil seemed to think you should get it started as soon as possible. How much shit are we going to be in next week?" Andy shrugged slightly. "Let's just say if they show up to move you soon, Xan, let them. The sooner you can get settled in your new home, the better off you'll be." His friend nodded. "Yeah, most definitely. Hey, you think you've got enough clout that you could get me and my ladies to move into New Eden with you guys?" Andy rolled his eyes. "I doubt it, but shit, I can ask Phil. What's the name of the Major you're getting hooked up with? Maybe Phil can get her reassigned to the base here." "Okay look, I'm gonna tell you, and you're gonna laugh, so get all your laughing done now, get all your jokes off your chest, and then do not tease her about it when you meet her, okay?" Andy shot his best friend a dirty look. "C'mon. I'm usually above that kind of thing. You really think I'm going to take pot shots at her name?" Xander looked at him dead on and said. "Her name is Captain Betsy Ross." While he waited for Andy to say something, he lifted both hands into the frame of the camera and flicked his fingers inward in a 'come at me' gesture. Andy did his stoic best to hold as long as he could, but finally he couldn't hold it back any more. "Does that make you Xander Washington? Is she going to wear a flag for your wedding? Oh my god, are you going to take her last name and become Xanderous?" "Finished?" "Yeah, 'kay, I won't say shit about it to her, but I will talk to Phil and see if I can get all of you brought here. She's stationed in Fresno you said?" "I assume so, considering that's where they're relocating me." "Got it. I'll give you a call in a couple of days when I know what's going on." "Cool. Cool cool cool. Anyway, congrats on all the things,  the engagements, the pregnancies, the sudden wealth and the influx of beautiful women. Your life is such a struggle." Andy chortled at the serious tone with which his friend Xander had delivered that. "Fuck you too, buddy. Hopefully I'll see you in person soon." The two hung up and all that left was for Andy to write up the list. So he opened up a fresh document in Word and started typing. At the top of the page he made a clear note that anyone he hadn't chosen would be recommended over to trusted friends, to see if they could be brought into the community at the very least. He also stressed that just invitations were being extended, and that if anyone didn't want to join the family, they certainly were not going to be compelled to on his behalf. Beneath that, he wrote that the names were in alphabetical order, not in order of preference. The list did include one alternate, in case anyone said no. If multiple people said no, well, then they would have less people than originally planned. He also said that anyone who was a friend of someone listed below had until tomorrow morning to craft an invitation video for their friend that would be delivered, along with a video invitation from Andy himself, to the women in question. Phil would be by for lunch tomorrow, so the deadline on recording an invitation video was hard set and non negotiable. Finally, if anyone was upset by his decisions, they could come and talk to him about it, and he would explain his reasoning to them, but he also hoped the girls would trust in his judgment on the matter and not try to convince him to change his mind, because as he wrote on the sheet, his decisions were final. The List,  staff Alexis Coleman (security) Dr. Morgan Fitch (pediatrics) Whitney Wells (technical support) The List,  family Fiona Smith Larissa Cotton Maya Summer Steele Tabitha Jefferson Tala Jordan The List,  alternate Jade Dillon Andy looked over the list on his screen for a few minutes, making sure all of his decisions were final in his head, before he finally muttered to himself, "Yeah, fuck it." He hit Control P print, and a minute later, his laser printer hummed to life. As the printer vomited its single page, he considered for a moment the people he hadn't chosen. He'd decided to pass on Olivia because she just felt like she and he wouldn't have had anything in common. He'd never say it aloud to Asha, but her friend struck him as a little vapid and self centered, at least for his tastes. She did, however, seem like someone his friend Eric's first partner Lily could whip into shape, or at the very least would mesh well with Lily's friend (and another of Eric's partner) Jenny, who was not to be confused with his own chef, whom was also named Jenny. Piper's friend Brooke had practically been tailor made for his best friend Xander, and since Xander was on his way out to California anyway, Andy was going to see if he could maneuver the two of them together. Their mutual love of classic cars would be an instant tie binding the two together. Of course, he hadn't told Xander about that, but he figured it didn't hurt to put some good into his friends world when he had the chance. Taylor's friend Natalie had seemed nice enough, but she was also young, and Andy had to be honest with himself that he needed at least a few more women who were closer to his own age, people whom he could relate to a little better. He also fully suspected at least one or two of his invitations would be declined, and that Jade would end up being extended an invitation in the end. He'd put her as an alternate simply because he liked the other options slightly better, but if (or rather when, he figured) someone said no, Jade would be invited and no one would ever mention that she hadn't been a first choice. Although, if he thought about it, considering Jade's relentless positivity, she might not even care. All of the staff pitches had made sense, and while he was a little nervous about how Dr. Fitch had been described as overly blunt, he had hopes that they could make it work, or if they couldn't that she would decline the invite. Lexi and Whitney had been slam dunks from the second they'd been presented. Once the sheet was printed out, he opened the sheet of paper that Aisling had given him with her predictions, not having looked at it before then. It read: "In: Maya, Tabitha, Lexi, Jade, Whitney, Natalie. Alternate: Tala." When he came out of his office with the paper in hand, he couldn't see anyone around, but was fairly certain he heard someone shuffling around a corner behind him as he started to walk down the hall towards the stairs. He strode down the stairs and then down another hall before entering the downstairs living room area, where Aisling was sitting watching TV. She'd clearly been waiting in the room for him, to his amusement. That meant he still had the ability to surprise her, and he found himself delighted by that. However confident she'd pretended to be in her predictions, obviously she hadn't been that confident if she'd rushed to look at what the list said. "That the list?" she asked him, as he strolled over towards a highly exposed section of the wall. "It is." "How'd I do on my predictions?" "75%, so very well," he said, as he taped the list up to the wall, hearing the sound of some footsteps near the entrances of the room. Aisling scooted over quickly to read it, as other girls were standing in the doorways, not yet ready to rush into the room. She nodded, then started walking with Andy out of the room, as the room was suddenly flooded behind him, various members of the house swarming in to read the list. "Passed on the stripper, huh?" the redhead teased, as they headed back up to his office. "I suppose I'm not surprised, just a little disappointed. I wanted her to teach me some of those pole tricks." Andy smirked. "I needed to make sure some of these women I can have a conversation with, Ash, and I just don't know that me and girls barely out of college are going to connect on that much. I'm going to recommend Natalie over to Eric, or, let's be honest, I'm going to recommend her over to Lily, and Lily will decide whether or not to bring her over for Eric." The Irish girl snickered, nodding fiercely. "I'm sure Lily will bring her in, if for no other reason that to see Eric get all bashful about it. I wasn't sure if Tala's kink might have been a bit much for you, so I put her in as an alternate." He waved a hand in the air. "I don't care about that one way or another, but she's a musician, she makes puzzle boxes and she's got a wicked sense of humor. How did you not think that would be a shoo in for me?" She grinned, shrugging. "I guess I gave a bit more weight to the virgin sacrifice, although I did see she was an alternate." "Yeah. I'm betting either Tabitha or Larissa, or maybe both, will pass on joining the family, for whatever reason, and that Jade will get an invite in the end, but I have to admit, I'm a little nervous about the idea of being someone's first and only male partner." "You'll do fine, love," she said, as they stepped into his office and closed the door behind them. "So now you have to tell me: Who's Fiona?" Andy moved over to his arm chair, picking up the cat that had settled there, sliding in to sit down. He was about to put the cat into his lap, when Ash slid to sit on his lap, then took Huginn from his hands and set the black cat atop her own lap. "Fiona's my choice. She lives in Washington D.C." "But who is she, Andy?" "She's my ex. My college ex. So you know that Xander and I were roommates all five years of college, but for the last half of it or so, both he and I had girlfriends living with us. Annie was living with Xander  " "Wait, psycho bitch 'I found her cheating on me with two guys on my birthday' Xander's ex wife Annie? That Annie?" Andy laughed and nodded. "Yep. Annie never much liked me or, hell, anyone Xander was friends with. But she's gone from his life now, so thankfully you'll never meet her, because she's insane. Did I tell you that she tried to argue, in court, that Xander's lack of attention to her forced her to cheat on him with those two dudes?" "What a cunt," Aisling groaned. "Awright, so forget her. Tell me about Fiona! Why haven't you ever mentioned her before?" "I haven't talked to her in at least a dozen years!" he chuckled. "She going to say no anyway, but if I had any major regrets in my life, it's that Fi and I split up, even though I don't see any way my life could've gone in which we didn't. We met as sophomores in a political science class together, and she was dating my boss at the newspaper at the time. She dumped him like two weeks after that, and just after I got back for Christmas, she asked me out and we started dating." "Awww!" "About a year and a half or so later, her two roommates bailed on her like two weeks after the spring semester started, and she couldn't find someone to take their places. With no roommates she couldn't afford the rent on the three bedroom house she was renting, and breaking the lease was going to put her hard into debt, so she invited me and Xander, who were renting out a shitty apartment month to month, to leave our place and move into hers." "Why is this the first I'm hearing of any of this?" "I didn't think it was important! It was a long, long time ago!" he sighed. "Anyway, when we graduated, Fiona had gotten a job offer to work in the DC Bureau of the Associated Press as a reporter, and I had gotten the offer to come out here for Netflix. I visited DC with her, and she visited SF with me, while we tried to figure out what we were going to do about it. Neither of us really liked DC all that much, but she very much wanted the job. I loved the Bay. I asked her to move out with me, but she insisted she wanted to give the DC job a chance, and so we parted ways." "What? Just like that?" "Well, we tried having a long distance relationship for a few months, but this was like fifteen years ago, and after about six months, we agreed it wasn't working, and sort of fell out of touch. About three months later, I started dating Erin, and you know how that worked out, and she started dating some cop named Sam. After that, we basically just stopped talking to one another, although about two years ago, both Xander and I got Facebook friend requests from her, which we both accepted, although neither of us has had a conversation with her yet." "Why not?" "Shit, Ash, I dunno. How do you even start that conversation? 'Hi, remember me? I know we were talking about getting married at one point, but we didn't and then we moved across the country from one another. I'm getting married to at least four women now and wondered if you might want to join us. Oh, how've you been?'" "You have to start it somewhere, Andy." "Well, she's not married, at least she doesn't have herself marked as married on Facebook, and Xander's done a little internet stalking of her, I'm sure on my unwilling behalf, and says she doesn't even seem to have a regular boyfriend, and that she's spent most of the last several years bitching and moaning about how she hates living in DC, although considering she's more liberal than I am, I'm not all that surprised." "Do you think she's going to accept your invitation?" "Ye ” n  , I really don't have a fucking clue, Ash," he said with a laugh, which made her laugh as well. "I guess we'll just wait and see." Over the rest of the day and into the evening, the girls all came to thank him, even if he hadn't chosen the girl they'd put forth, and to see how he was doing, making sure he hadn't been too stressed out by the whole process. The rest of the time, everyone was recording their invitation videos. Each of the girls made a video for their friends, although a few of them recorded multiple videos, one for the person they'd put forth and one for someone they also knew. Andy himself recorded a unique video for each and every invitation, and also made sure to record one for Jade, in case it was needed. The next day, Phil showed up for lunch, and had a bit of a grim look on his face. "Why the dark cloud, friend?" Andy asked him, as the two walked out onto the back patio, where Jenny had set up a nice lunch for them. "So we had our first death in New Eden yesterday," he sighed. "And it was absolutely unnecessary." "I thought only vaccinated people were allowed into New Eden?" "They are. A woman decided she didn't believe all the warnings we give them at the base about not partaking of a man's cum that she isn't paired with." "Wait, what?" "So some woman decided she wanted a bit of strange, so she was fooling around with some guy other than the one she was paired with." "What the fuck happened? I thought there were early warnings that would've discouraged her." "Apparently they were using a condom, and they were convinced because that seemed fine that everything we told them must be utter bullshit." "Goddamn it." Niko had filled him in on some of the details of how the vaccine paired people just after they'd arrived in New Eden, at least as how she understood it. If a woman came in contact with semen from a man other than the one she was paired with, it would cause her to break out in a violent rash. The rash happened almost immediately on skin contact, so even a tiny bit of precum would be enough to discourage anyone from going further. "So she took off the condom right before the dude popped, and then swallowed his load, and it ate her open from the inside." "Fuck, Phil!" Andy said, wincing a little. "I hate to say it, but you may need to show pictures of that to people so they understand what kind of danger they're in if they're unfaithful." "I so don't want to, but it's up to the mayor now, and he's considering it." "Who were the people?" "Don't think it's anyone you know. The guy's name is Brian Morrison, a banker. He's in custody right now, because he might be guilty of manslaughter or murder, nobody's really sure." "And who was the woman?" "Veronica De La Cruz. She was part of that bastard Arthur Covington's house." "Oh shit," Andy muttered. "I met her, briefly. She was supposed to be the dealer at the poker game. I thought it was particularly in poor taste that Covington made her be topless in front of a bunch of strangers, but I didn't realize she was quite that unhappy there." "This new world is so utterly fucked up some days. Oh, also Audrey's pregnant, so I've apparently picked the best time to bring a new life into the world." "You and me both, friend. Ash and Niko are both pregnant as well." Phil grinned a little at that. "Well, at least our kids will grow up with good friends nearby. Anyway, you get your list and videos done?" Andy slid across a thumb drive to him. "All on there, including contact information for everyone we have, or at least general location for the ones we don't. I'm not going crazy and asking for a bunch of celebrities like Covington did." "Seemed like his requests worked out pretty well for you, though." "Can't blame me if the dude's a shit card player." "Well, I can but I won't, because fuck that guy. Anyone I might recognize on the list?" "A couple of people. And, uh," he said before lowering his voice to almost a whisper. "Fi's on there." "What was that? I believe your pride was stuck in your throat, or maybe that's just your foot," the Filipino engineer laughed. "I'm sending Fiona an invite, okay?" "Good for you," Phil said, as he finished his sandwich. "I've been telling you to reach out to that woman ever since she added you on Facebook, but you just kept avoiding it. Nothing like an apocalypse to get you to get off your ass, huh?" "Yeah yeah, Phil, go fuck yourself." "Anyway, tell all your girls about the death, and prepare them that they may be shown some rather graphic autopsy photos in the near future if the mayor decides to go ahead with his discouragement campaign. I don't think any of your girls would fool around with other guys, but I think they're just gonna show everyone." "Oh, you know Xander, right?" "Your friend from Ohio? Sure." "Apparently he's paired up with Captain Betsy Ross," he said, raising a finger. "No jokes." Phil was struggling not to laugh, but managed. "He was wondering if maybe you could relocate them to New Eden." "I'm not a goddamn genie, Rook." "You know you'd like having him around here. Besides, I've got a few recommendations for you and Eric on that thumb drive as well, so don't say I never gave you anything. There's also one in there who might be a great match for Xander. Plus, look at it this way,  you get him out here, and he'll probably build you a classic car as a way of saying thank you." Phil smirked for a bit, picked up the thumb drive and walked away humming the "I Dream of Genie" theme song. Chapter 28 As Phil had promised, things moved incredibly quickly from there. The next morning, Andy got a call from Xander, informing Andy that Xander was being relocated to New Eden, and that he would see him in just a few short days. He also told Andy that he'd heard Andy had lined up some kind of welcoming present for him, and that he hoped he'd enjoy unwrapping it. It was clear that Xander didn't actually know what was waiting for him, but Phil had already sent word that Brooke, Piper's friend, had accepted the offer for her to be paired up with Xander, all without Xander's knowledge. It would make for a hell of a surprise when Xander showed up. Andy intended to make sure he was there to greet his friend upon his arrival, and it was nice to help his best friend out. Andy was quickly learning how to trade in on favors, so having Xander owe him a few was bound to pay off sooner or later, even if he wasn't sure quite how. But it also just felt good improving his friend's life. Later that day, Andy also found out which of his offers had been accepted and which had been rejected. He was surprised to find that he'd been rejected not twice, but three times, which Niko teased him not to take personally. The first to decline his offer to join the family was Dr. Morgan Fitch, Katie's friend and ex girlfriend. Dr. Fitch had said in the video message she'd sent back that she appreciated Katie thinking of her, but that living in a house with one of her exes simply did not appeal to her, and that she had sworn off men regardless. Katie seemed more bothered by it than Andy did, but Andy assured her that if Dr. Fitch had been having reservations about it, it was best for her to decide that now than after she was locked in, to which Katie reluctantly agreed. The second to pass was Larissa Cotton, which came as no real surprise to Andy. As it turned out, Larissa had in fact gotten married years ago, and she and her husband were doing well in lockdown. The complaint she'd had to Sarah about not having gotten laid recently months ago had stemmed from an accident that Larissa's husband had endured, which left him temporarily impotent, but which he had thankfully recovered from since then. She also mentioned that she didn't always think to put on her wedding ring, so she admitted she might not have been wearing it the last time she'd video chatted with Sarah, so she could see where the misconceptions might have sprung from. Larissa also offered Andy her sincerest congratulations on his partnership with Sarah (as well as all the others) and insisted he call her up some time so that they could gossip as only colleagues could. Finally, she promised to be more thankful if he would give her another first edit pass in the future. His final rejection of the day came from Hannah's former cheerleading instructor Tabitha Jefferson. She had also declined to take the Rook family up on their offer, not because she wasn't intrigued by the idea, but because in the past two weeks, she had relocated up to Portland, where she had moved in with her former lovers Dom and Mike. With her mother no longer around, Tabby had simply decided California no longer held any sway over her, and she reached out to her previous partners, who had welcomed her back with open arms. The two men had been living in virtual isolation, and had taken their quarantine deathly serious, so they'd both remained completely uninfected. Tabby also sent along a message just for Hannah, encouraging her to make the most of her new situation, and giving her a contact number so they could remain friends moving forward. Hannah had been a little saddened at first, but after hearing that the reason was that Tabby was now reunited with her throuple and extremely happy once more, she brightened immensely and skipped out of the room to go and call Tabby so the two could catch up. There had also been one more call for the day, a complication that only intrigued Andy even further. Late in the afternoon, Phil called to inform Andy that the women who had accepted (which included Jade) would be arriving in a few waves, with those who were already local being delivered to his house tomorrow, and those who lived further out coming in one or two more separate waves. But that hadn't been why Phil had been calling. The videoscreen suddenly split into two, with Phil on the left, and the still achingly beautiful Fiona on the right. "Hey Andy," she said, that sly, lazy smile he was all too familiar with on her face, the smile he knew could hold a thousand different meanings in its subtext. "Hey Fi." He stopped there, because for once in his life, Andy was at a complete loss for words. "So, about this offer of yours," she said, trailing off a little. She didn't just look good; she looked fucking great. Despite the fact that it had been fifteen years since they'd been a couple, she had shrugged off the signs of aging far better than he had, only a few scant wrinkles around her distractingly deep green eyes, the shade of newly clipped summer grass. Her brown hair still had reddish highlights in it, as it had when they'd been dating what felt like lifetimes ago. It currently hung down to her shoulders, like it might have been a bob when the pandemic started and she'd just let it grow out. She'd grown up in Georgia, and while she'd lost almost all of that southern accent, Andy could still hear very faint hints of it, just around the edges, like she'd never quite been able to shake it fully. It was certainly less prominent than it was back in college. "I have a couple of questions, and that'll determine my answer, if that's alright." "Yeah, sure, go ahead." "Hi Fiona!" Niko chimed in, poking her head into the camera's view, giving an enthusiastic wave. "I'm one of Andy's partners, well, one of his fiances, actually, so you can ask me anything as well." Andy wasn't sure, but he felt like he saw Fi try and stifle a slight smile, but whether that was at Niko's interjection or Andy's blushing in response to it, he couldn't tell. Fiona didn't choose to acknowledge Niko's comment, and instead focused intently on Andy. "Alright, first, why haven't you reached out to me before now Andy?" He sighed and shrugged, a sheepish smile on his face. "I wasn't sure what to say, or even how to start, Fi. When you sent me that friend request a couple of years back, I assumed there was something you wanted to talk to me about, so I accepted it, and then, nothing." "Did it ever occur to you that maybe I wanted you to make the first move?" "You know me pretty well, Fi, or at least you did," he laughed, arching one of his bushy blonde eyebrows at her. "Did you honestly think I'd come to that conclusion on my own?" She openly smiled that time, nodding. "Alright, you've got me there. I suppose that's fair. Second, why didn't you ask me to come with you when you moved out to California, all those years ago when we graduated from college together?" "I did ask, Fi. You know I did." She scowled at him, shaking her head a little. "You gave it one half assed try at best, Andrew," she said, the use of his full name definitely feeling like it was meant to belittle him a bit, or at the very least scold him. "You asked just the one time, I said no, and you never brought it up again, which isn't like you at all. Why didn't you really try and convince me to come out west with you?" He bit his bottom lip for half a second, but decided too much had gone unspoken between him and Fiona for too long now, so he came to the conclusion that he should just be upfront and direct. "Because I was afraid I would've gotten you to say yes." She started to speak, frustration plain on her face, Andy could see, so he raised a hand to silence her for a moment longer and continued. "And that would've made me the happiest man in the world, Fi, I promise you, it really and truly would have. But I knew that it would come with dire consequences you couldn't see yet, things that I could. I knew, I mean really knew, that if you moved out to California with me, it would've been preventing you from chasing your dreams, the ones you'd had since you were a little girl. I would've always been worried that you resented me for keeping you from that life, even just a little bit. It probably would've eventually led to us breaking up over it, and you wouldn't have known why, and I wouldn't have been able to fix it, no matter how hard I tried. You wanted so desperately to work in the White House; I didn't want to give you any excuse at all not to go chasing after that dream. I felt like you were trying to use me as an excuse not to go and do the thing you really wanted." "I wouldn't have resented you, Andy," she sighed. "I wanted you to talk me out of it. I did. I really, really did. DC has been nothing but a decade and a half of frustration and disappointment." "Sure, but you only know that now, Fi. You couldn't have known that back then. There's no way you could've know that then. You needed to see it through for yourself, to have the experiences needed to make that decision. And if you really wanted me to talk you out of it, you should've said something back then. If you thought you were hinting at it, you were far too subtle for me to pick up on it. I'm not a mind reader. Wasn't then, and I'm still not now. I can't just guess that you're looking for me to help sway you one way or another." Fiona looked like she wanted to object further, but then nodded once more, as if coming to grips with all of that in her head, like a million puzzle pieces were suddenly falling into place, and she could see the entire picture for the first time. "Okay then. I have one more thing, though. A condition. I have a condition for me coming to join your household. Well, two conditions, actually." "Sure," Andy said, "fire away." "The first is that you have to actually marry me. I know you said in your message said that you're marrying some of your partners and not others, but I absolutely insist I be one of the people that you do marry, if we're going to do this. You know that I'm Catholic. I also know you're an atheist, and that's fine, but my religion still means something to me, and you've always respected that, so I need you to respect that now. Because I'm going to want to get pregnant, if we do go through with this, so I have to be married before that happens. We lived together for two years, so you know we're both compatible in sharing a home and a bed together. So that's the first thing. Are you okay with that?" Andy smiled a little bit shyly. "More than okay, but I think you knew that already, as long as you're still alright with me not going into church every week with you. I imagine you're going to have a harder time convincing the Catholic church that polygamy's okay, though." "Are you kidding?" she snorted. "When word gets out how many American men are dead, they're going to be desperate to get every good Catholic boy and girl out there to be doing as much being fruitful and multiplying as they can get." Niko began to quietly hum Monty Python's "Every Sperm Is Sacred" until Andy swatted her on the thigh and she stopped, although her grin had only widened. "Hey, it's your religion, not mine," he said to Fi. "If they're cool with it, so am I. What's the other thing?" "The other thing is that you need to agree to something, one specific thing, not knowing what it is or anything about it." He blinked in confusion. "Er, what?" This was uncharacteristic for Fiona, being deliberately vague, and Andy wondered what was behind it. "I have another condition but you need to agree to it without knowing anything about it. You just have to trust me and either agree to it, or I'll have to pass." Andy paused and considered for a moment, perhaps even a moment longer than Fiona had expected him to. He could give Fiona an almost complete blank check, almost, but he decided he needed to clarify one thing. "Assure me that this condition that I can't know anything about won't harm or injure anyone. Since arriving here in New Eden, I've learned first hand that people can be capable of some truly terrible things, and while I don't think that you are, Fi, I just want to make sure I'm not getting anyone else hurt because of this. I couldn't live with myself if it was." "The only thing that might be injured is your pride, that's all," she said, a playful smirk resting on her face. "I might bust your balls a bit for ditching me, but I'm not going to do anything you'd always regret over the long term. So what's it gonna be, Chuckles?" The fact that she still remembered her old nickname for him told him everything he needed to know. Of course he was in. He was all in. "Fine, you got yourself a deal, Peaches," he replied, using his old nickname for her, which made her smile widen a little more on the other end of the video call. "Great," she said. "I'll start packing and we'll see you in a few days. Later skater." She tapped the button and ended her portion of the call, leaving just him and Phil on the line. Phil had been quietly watching the entire conversation with a bemused look on his face, like he was supposed to be doing or saying something, but couldn't tear himself away from the drama. "You're an idiot, you know that, right?" he said, rolling his eyes a little at Andy's naivety. "Based on just a few minutes worth of watching you two talk, I don't think either of you ever fell out of love with the other." "As much a surprise to me as it was to you, Phil," Andy chuckled. "It's been a long time." "You did hear what she said though, right Andy?" Niko said to him, poking him lightly. "Wait. What did I miss?" "She said we'll see you in a few days," Niko giggled. "I somehow don't think she was talking about the royal we." "Ah hell. Well, I did agree to anything, so we'll burn that bridge when we come to it." "Pretty sure that's not how that line goes," Phil joked. "Anyway, I'll be by tomorrow to drop off your locals. Jade, Tala and Whitney are on their way here to the base, and will get their injections tonight so they'll be ready to meet you tomorrow. You know what they're like when they're newly injected, so be prepared to take care of them for their initial imprinting within a few days. Also, you can tell Taylor her friend Natalie will be in New Eden tomorrow as well, just over at my house." "Decided you just couldn't pass her up, huh? I thought you were going to ship her over to Eric." "Audrey's always wanted to take pole dancing lessons, so I figured why not have an in house teacher?" "Having an overly flexible eager teenage stripper in your bed is just a bonus, huh?" Phil's grin spread from ear to ear. "Oh, sure, sure. I mean, I'll learn to live with it, I guess. If I have to." He rolled his eyes in mock exasperation. "We all make sacrifices. Anyway, I'll see you tomorrow, okay?" "You got it, man. Stay safe." "You know it, brother." "So that's the girl who took your virginity, huh? Your first true love? She didn't look at all like I expected her to look like, Andy," Niko said to him, as he stood up from the couch, stretching his arms over his head. "What did you expect her to look like?" "I dunno, but under possible things this mythical mysterious ex of yours might look like, I don't think I ever considered 'a lot like a young Gina Davis' to be anywhere in the vicinity." Andy smirked a little bit. He'd heard the comparison more than a couple of times back when they were dating, what felt like a lifetime ago. "I take it that she meets with your approval then?" "Hell, she called you Chuckles. For that alone, the woman immediately earned a place in my heart. I'm sure there's a story behind that." "There is," Andy said, not elaborating further. "You gonna tell me what it is?" "I am not," he said, smugly. "You can dig it out of Fiona yourself when she arrives." He rolled his eyes with anticipated dread. "She probably still even has the photo, knowing her,” "Did you keep up on her coverage of politics after you two split up?" He shrugged. His emotional state after they'd split from one another had been messy at best, and his mind had been a whirlwind of emotions. "I mean, I'd see her name on a byline from time to time, but I didn't go out of my way to find her work. After we'd split up, I figured she wouldn't ever want to talk to me again. Ending a relationship sometimes does mean things to a person, and despite the fact that I thought we broke up pretty gracefully, one day about fourteen years ago, we ended a phone conversation and she said she'd call me in a week, and she never called again." "And you didn't call her?" "After about a month, sure. But by then, her phone number had been disconnected, as she'd apparently moved, so I figured it was a none too subtle way of telling me to fuck off." "Or a test to see if she still mattered enough to you for you to track her down." "God," Andy groaned. "Maybe. Probably? Maybe. Fuck, I don't know. But that's a shitty thing to do to a guy, especially one who's always dealt with low self esteem. It's like I told you, like I've told each and every one of you who've decided to stick out your lives with me,  sometimes you're just going to have to come right out and say what it is that's on your mind, because if you're expecting me to guess it, I'm probably gonna make a few giant mistakes here and there." Niko giggled a little, nodding. "We women can be needlessly cruel from time to time, but you have to realize, we don't even know we're doing it sometimes. It's just something we've been indoctrinated into making second nature. At least you can see that it might have been a mistake now, though." "Yep. And then she went and complicated things further by adding me and Xander on Facebook as friends a couple of years ago, which we both accepted. But neither of us felt comfortable messaging her first, and she never messaged us either, so it's just been one long detente." Niko shook her head in mock disappointment at him. "You can definitely be an idiot some times, you know that, Chuckles?" "Hey hey hey," he tsked. "You can't call me that until after you get the story out of Fiona." "You should've reached out to her, Andy," Niko said with a sigh. "It sounds like that's what she very much wanted from you." "Should've, would've, could've. We're here now, so I'll just have to live and learn. And when Fiona gets here, I'll give her the 'speak your mind speech I gave to you, so we're all on the same starting point." The house had mostly kept itself busy today by the girls getting all their things moved in, as well as adding some décor to the house that wasn't purely Andy's. Sure, the publicity posters for all of his novels were still hanging on the walls, but now they'd been joined by movie posters for both Sarah and Emily's movies, framed photographs that Asha had taken before leaving London, framed posters from Sheridan's Cirque Du Soleil shows, a couple of framed articles detailing Piper's rise in the volleyball community, a framed sand painting done by Niko's mother and a few original paintings that Aisling had done as a break from her more commercial work. It helped make the place feel less like his house and more like their house. He would encourage all the girls to make sure they left some kind of a mark on the house as they arrived. He didn't want any of them to feel lesser that the girls who'd arrived first. Emily and Sarah had also converted one bedroom into a makeshift studio for them to use, lining the walls with sound dampening foam, setting up cameras and microphones, so the room could be used for them to record lines for voice overs, or to film video auditions. There

In part two of their candid conversation, Jennie and Barbara dive into what it really means to be known for a role like I Dream of Jeannie…even 60 years later!They reflect on the ups and downs of marriages in the spotlight, the quiet weight of grief and what it’s like working in front of the camera, while pregnant.With humor, honesty and grace, Barbara shares how choosing gratitude and continuing to do meaningful work has been her secret to longevity and joy. Follow the "I Choose Me" Podcast on Instagram and TikTok Follow Jennie on Instagram, TikTok, and FacebookSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In part two of their candid conversation, Jennie and Barbara dive into what it really means to be known for a role like I Dream of Jeannie…even 60 years later!They reflect on the ups and downs of marriages in the spotlight, the quiet weight of grief and what it’s like working in front of the camera, while pregnant.With humor, honesty and grace, Barbara shares how choosing gratitude and continuing to do meaningful work has been her secret to longevity and joy. Follow the "I Choose Me" Podcast on Instagram and TikTok Follow Jennie on Instagram, TikTok, and FacebookSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A weekly magazine-style radio show featuring the voices and stories of Asians and Pacific Islanders from all corners of our community. The show is produced by a collective of media makers, deejays, and activists. Tonight's show is June 19th. We are all connected. We are talking with Asian and Asian American Children's book authors. PowerLeeGirls host Miko Lee talks with Chi Thai and Livia Blackburne about the power of storytelling, maternal heritage, generational trauma, and much more. Title:  We Are All Connected Show Transcripts Opening: [00:00:00] Apex Express Asian Pacific expression. Community and cultural coverage, music and calendar, new visions and voices, coming to you with an Asian Pacific Islander point of view. It's time to get on board the Apex Express.   Ayame Keane-Lee: [00:01:17] Welcome to Apex Express. Tonight's show is June 19th. We are all connected. We are talking with Asian and Asian American Children's book authors. PowerLeeGirls host Miko Lee talks with Chi Thai and Livia Blackburne about the power of storytelling, maternal heritage, generational trauma, and much more. First, we want to start by wishing everyone a happy Juneteenth, Juneteenth commemorates, an end to slavery and the emancipation of Black Americans after the Civil War. In 1865, 2 years after the Emancipation Proclamation, enslaved people in Galveston, Texas finally learned of their freedom. Juneteenth marks the day the last enslaved people learned of their freedom. Though outright slavery became illegal, the systematic oppression of African Americans continues to this day. We see that show up in almost every aspect of American culture, from the high rate of infant mortality to the over punishing of Black children in schools, to police brutality, to incarceration. We must continue to recognize the importance of championing Black lives and lifting up Black voices. We are all connected. June 19th is also an important day in Asian American history. In 1982 in Detroit, Vincent Chin was at a bar celebrating his bachelor party prior to his wedding the next day. Ronald Ebens, a white auto worker, and his stepson Michael Nitz taunted Vincent with racial epithets. They thought he was Japanese and were angry about the Japanese rise in the auto industry. When Vincent left the bar later, the two men attacked and killed Vincent with a baseball bat. He was 27 years old. Ronald Ebens never did time for this murder. Ronald Ebens is 85 years old now. Ebens not only skirted prosecution, he has used bankruptcy and homesteading laws in Nevada to avoid a wrongful death civil suit settlement. Ordered by the court in 1987 to pay $1.5 million to Chin's family, the Chin estate has received nothing. Lily Chin, Vincent's mom could have stayed silent about the racist attack on her son. Instead she spoke out. She took a courageous stance to highlight this most painful moment in her life. In doing so, she helped ignite a new generation of Asian American activists working for civil rights and social justice. We find ourselves in a new wave of activism as our communities band together to work against the injustices of the current regime. And what does this have to do with children's books? It is all connected. We highlight children's books by Asian and Asian American authors because we want our next generation of children to know and appreciate their own heritage. We want them to proudly represent who they are so that they can work in solidarity with other peoples. Our struggle is interwoven. As Grace Lee Boggs said, “History is a story not only of the past, but of the future.” Thank you for joining us on apex express. Enjoy the show.   Miko Lee: [00:04:24] First off. Let's take a listen to one of Byron Au Young's compositions called “Know Your Rights” This is part of the trilogy of the Activist Songbook. This multi-lingual rap, give steps to know what to do when ICE officers come to your door.    MUSIC   That was “Know Your Rights” performed by Jason Chu with lyrics by Aaron Jeffries and composed by Byron Au Yong Welcome, Chi Thai to Apex Express.    Chi Thai: [00:07:13] Hello. I'm really happy to be joining you, Miko.  Miko Lee: [00:07:16] I'm really happy to meet you and learn about you as an artist, as a filmmaker, as a children's book author. And I wanna first start with a personal question, which is, who are your people and what legacy do you carry with you? Chi Thai: [00:07:30] Ooh, what a great question. You know what? I love being asked stuff that hasn't been asked kind of before. I mean, there's a kinda really kinda natural answer to that, which is, you know, family are my people. Of course. 100%. And certainly, you know, the reason why I'm talking to you today, you know, in regard to the, to the book, you know, it's about my family's journey. But I found, and I don't know if this is. Somewhat to do with, you know, being a child of two cultures and you know, being a child of the diaspora that you really have to kind of find your own family too. 'cause I suppose I grew up feeling, I didn't quite relate to maybe my parents in a way that, you know, you normally would if you weren't part of the diaspora. And I felt estranged from my birth country and I didn't really feel like British either a lot of the time. So in terms of like, who are my people? I've gathered those people as I've kind of grown up and it's, it's a kind of strange feeling too. I feel like it's taken me a really long to grow up and to figure out who I am. And I suppose that's why, you know, the people that I have a really, a lot of people that have come, kinda later in my life, I actually have no friends in my childhood as an example of that. I've had to kind of find these people as I've grown up, but it's taken me a long time to grow up because growing up in the UK there wasn't any literature to read about what it was like to be Asian. And British, to be a refugee and things like that. So it just took me longer and I then, as a result, it just took me longer to find my tribe. but I have it now, but it's still work in progress. That was a very convoluted answer. I'm very sorry Miko.    Miko Lee: [00:09:15] No, it wasn't. No worries. It's fine. And what legacy do you carry with you?   Chi Thai: [00:09:19] Kind of an extension to that answer, I think when you're an artist, practicing your voice, figuring out your voice, can take a while. And I think I've only really started maybe the last like five to 10 years at the most really figured out what I want my legacy to be. The things I wanna talk about are really about s tories from the diaspora, certainly, and about community and healing. These are the things I think that are really important to me, especially when we talk about maybe coming from struggle. I don't feel it's enough to be an artist today and just talk about struggle. I want to talk about justice as well. And justice really is about healing, you know?    Miko Lee: [00:10:00] Oh, that's beautiful. Can you talk a little bit more about that healing and what that means to you and how that shows up in your work?    Chi Thai: [00:10:07] A couple years ago, no, not even that long ago, I produced a, a feature film. This is probably the best example for it, but I produced a feature film called Raging Grace, which we called it Horror with a small H and it. Basically took the story of what it was like to be, undocumented Filipina in the uk who was also a mother. And I think if that film had been made 10 years ago, it would just shown how hard her life was, and unrelentingly. So, and I think the reason why Raising Grace is so special is it goes beyond the trauma, it takes us to a place of justice, of being able to speak out for someone who has felt invisible, to be visible for someone who's not. Had a voice, to have a voice and to begin that kind of healing process of sticking up for herself, making a change transforming herself from maybe the good immigrant to the bad immigrant and things like that. I think that's a really great example and I think I read a really wonderful thing. It might have been in a Guardian article where we, so a lot of my work is around, inclusion representation of like diasporic stories. And I think when you have, when you exist in the poverty of like representation, I. the solution to that is plentitude. I think that Viet Thanh Nguyen probably said that, so I don't wanna take credit for it. He comes up with so many wonderful things, and that's a wonderful thing to be able to move from poverty, like to plentitude and that be the solution, is kinda really wonderful. So I enjoy being really prolific. I enjoy supporting artists to be able to do their work. So as a community, we can also be prolific and I wanna support, narratives that. Take us beyond a place of struggle and trauma to a place of like healing and justice and so forth.    Miko Lee: [00:11:57] Your work crosses so many genres. You were just mentioning how that film was kind of a horror film and, and then you've done these kind of dreamy animation pieces and then now this children's book. Do you select the genre and the format and the medium, or does it select you?   Chi Thai: [00:12:16] Oh, I think the story chooses it. I like 100% believe that. I just actually was thinking about this 'cause I was doing an interview on something else, people, often ask about the creative process and I, can only speak for my own. But usually when I get an idea for a story, the general shape of it comes almost like really well formed. There's a sense of a lready kinda what genre it'll be. There's a sense of the character, there's a sense of the journey and all these things. I felt the same about, writing The Endless Sea I knew it would be from the voice of a child. This probably sounds like my creative process is terrible, but it was just. This is how it was going to be. That kind of part was writing itself, or at least I feel that it'd been writing itself like that in my subconscious for many, many years before it kind of surfacing and writing. Like the writing bit is just the tip of the iceberg at the end of the day. there wasn't like a kind of decision about that. the story in that sense was quite intact. So I often feel like the story is demanding something about kind genre and for, for Raging Grace 'cause I've talked about this a lot, not just in listen to me, but other things. But we always said like if you are an an undocumented person, every breath you take is taken in a hostile environment. It's so natural for it to be a horror. So there's not a sense that you kinda decide that it's like that is the very reality of someone who's going, you know, that's their lived experience. And if you're going to represent that truthfully, it will be through the prism of horror. And I suppose that's how I think about genre. the story is kind of telling you what it needs to tell its emotional truth. and I felt that way, with The Endless Sea same thing with the Raging Grace, with Lullaby. And I think you talked about The Promise, I suppose I, with The Promise, which is an adaptation I had less choice about that because that was a book and it was a adapted into an animation. I've heard Nicola, who's the author of the book, talk about that and she talks about like the story coming to her in a dream and tiptoeing down her arm coming onto the page, she like describes it really beautifully. so maybe our processes are the same. It feels that way. there's not long deliberations. I mean, that's not to say the writing process isn't difficult. It is. But that, I've never found the, [genre] the difficulty or the bit that's required a lot of, I don't know soul searching with it.    Miko Lee: [00:14:28] So with that being said, how did Endless Sea your latest children's book? How did that tiptoe into your imagination?    Chi Thai: [00:14:36] This is a strange one because this is probably the closest thing to like, almost autobiographical work. What I can say is like, it's the true story o f how I and my family, which would've been at the time my mom and dad, my older sister, me, how we fled Vietnam after the fall of an Saigon. we actually left quite late we left in 1979 w hen things were tr were getting truly, truly, truly, quite terrible. And, this was very much a last resort. I think my parents would try to make things work, but realized that they couldn't. This journey that we took on these, boats that were made badly, made poorly, that many of which sank has become almost like the genesis story of our family. It's like it's a big, it has a long shadow, right? Ever since you know I, it is like the first story that I can remember. It's one of the few stories my mom would tell me again and again when we, when they see their old friends, it's something they talk about. So it's something that has happened to it to us, but it's such a big thing that it's just, echoed In my life growing up, as I've you know, got older and older, and the wonderful thing about having a story kinda live with you eventually it's in your blood and in your bones, but also if it's a thing that's kinda shared with you again and again, you actually build up this, there's something about the repetition of it, and then every time you hear it told from an uncle or a family friend or from your mom, a new little detail is embroidered that someone adds. So I've kinda lived with this story for 40 plus years and I've been collecting all these little things about it all this time and all that time it was, I think, kind of just writing itself, you know? You know, it was doing all that work before I actually put like pen to paper. Um, yeah.    Miko Lee: [00:16:31] Was there a catalyst or something that made you actually put the pen to paper?   Chi Thai: [00:16:36] That's really interesting. You know, I probably don't mind it is probably something really banal like. I think I probably wrote it during Covid and I had more time. Um, I think there are probably be some bigger forces in place. And you know what, I can tell you what it is actually if I'm, I'm forcing myself to think and examine a bit closer so when this is totally true. So I remember hearing the news about Viet Thanh Nguyen win winning the Pulitzer for The Sympathizer. And it made such a mark on me and I kind of felt, wow, someone from our community has achieved this incredible thing. And I thought, why? Why now? Like, and I was like, well, you know what? It's probably taken our community certain amount of time to come of age, to develop not just the abilities to write, to create, to make art, but also to have possibly the relationships or networks in place to be able to then make the art and get it out into the world. And I kind of felt when he was able to do that and came of age, I kind of felt there was going to be like other people from the kind of diasporic Vietnamese community that would also start to flourish. And that made me feel really good. About probably being a bit older than the average kind of artist, like making their, kinda like their pieces and everything and saying, you know what? My time can be now. It's okay. And I just find it just really inspiring that, you know our community was kind of growing, growing up, coming of age and being able to do these, these things And I kind of felt like it had given me the permission, I suppose the, the confidence to go, “Oh this story that I've been carrying my whole life, which I don't really see a version of out there I can write that and now I can write it and I'm the right person to write it.” And I had just done The Promise so I had a relationship with Walker. I was like, I have a, you know, a relationship with the publisher. I feel my writing is matured. Like I can do this. And so it was like a culmination and, you know, convergence of those things. And, but I do remember having that thought thinking, “This is a good time to be alive in our community 'cause we're actually able to make our art and get it out there now.” I, I felt it was like a real watershed moment really.   Miko Lee: [00:19:11] What made you decide to do it in this format as a Little Kid's Children's Illustrated book? We were talking earlier about how to, to me, this is the first more realistic version of a boat people experience in a very little kid's voice. What made you decide to do it in this style?    Chi Thai: [00:19:33] So interesting. At the same time, I was writing The Endless Sea. I was writing also the script for a short film, which is called Lullaby, which is takes an incident that happened on my boat but expresses it as a film, as a little kinda horror kinda drama, but a kid cannot watch that. It's like too terrifying. Um, and I wrote, you know, The Endless Sea at the same time. And again, I can't, it's really hard for me to articulate. I just knew it was gonna be a kid's book, like, and I knew it'd be written from the voice of a kid, and I didn't actually, can I say I didn't even ascribe a particular kind of value to that. It wasn't until I had started conversations with the publisher they're like, you know, we see like there's a really high, like this is really great that it's written in the voice of the kid. It somehow gives it something else. Something more is something kind of special. I didn't set out to like, overthink, like what was the most effective way to tell this story? I, I think I just told the story as honestly as I could, you know, with the words that I felt that, you know, I had in me to de, you know, to describe it. In the most authentic way to, to me. And like I say, at the same time, I knew, like I knew that was a kid's book. There was another part of that I wanted to express that was really important to me and that was survivor's guilt. But that I felt was like, that was a horror, so that was really not gonna be suitable for kids. So I was definitely thinking about lots of things to do with the same subject of the same time, but they were definitely being expressed in different ways. And again, Lullaby came to me very kind of quickly, almost fully formed. And I knew, you know, it would be a ghost story. I knew it would be the story of a mother and things like that. And I often maybe, you know, I should, I, I should interrogate more, but I kinda, I take these kinda. These ideas, which are quite well shaped and, and then I just like lean into them more and more and more. But they, the way they arrive it, I've kinda, I, I can see a lot of what is already about to unfold.   Miko Lee: [00:21:43] And do you still dream about that experience of being on the boat as a kid?    Chi Thai: [00:21:52] It's, it's a really difficult thing to explain because you know that that happened now so long ago, and I've probably heard the story thousands of times. I've watched all the terrible Hollywood movies, I've seen all the news clippings, I've watched all the archive. I've listened to, you know, people talk, and I have my own memories and I look at photographs and I have memories of looking at photographs. I feel like, you know, my memory is really unreliable, but what it is instead is it's this, this kind of, kind of tapestry of, you know, of the story of memories, of, you know, images as I grow up of hearing the story, like all coming together. One of the things I did when I wrote, I wrote The Endless Sea, is I then went back to my mom and I did a recorded interview with her 'cause I was really worried about how unreliable my memory might be. And I interviewed her and I asked a lot of questions and I said, and I, it was like, you know, in the way I would've just like listened to the story quite passively before this time I interviewed her and I asked a lot of questions about details and all sorts of things. 'cause I really wanted to be able to represent things, you know, as factually as I could. And that was kinda one of my kinda kind of fact checking kinda exercises I did 'cause I was, I was much quite worried about how unreliable my memory was about it all. And you know, what is, what is a memory of a memory of memory, like, you know, especially when it comes to thinking about that time on the boat and the feelings I had. Yeah. So, you know,    Miko Lee: [00:23:34] and you were so young also to    Chi Thai: [00:23:37] Totally 100%. And sometimes, I don't know, you know, is it a memory of a memory? Is it a dream of a dream?   Miko Lee: [00:23:44] Mm-hmm.    Chi Thai: [00:23:44] Or just some, yeah.   Miko Lee: [00:23:46] Was there anything that your mom said that surprised you?    Chi Thai: [00:23:50] Yeah. Um, she didn't realize how bad it was gonna be and she was like, “God, if it, I'd known how terrifying it was I dunno if I, we could have done it.” I think there's a certain amount of naivety involved and I suppose that surprised me. You know? 'cause we know already now how bad it was. Um, so things like that surprised me.    Miko Lee: [00:24:15] and your mom, the dedication of the book is to your mom. What does she think when she first read it?    Chi Thai: [00:24:22] I've got a funny story. My parents, you know, they, we left, they were in their early twenties and I think it was, you know, the escape was hard for them, but settling in new country was really hard for them. That's. That's been kind of their struggle. They had to work so hard, so many hours to kind of, you know, give us a great life. And, I think a lot of that meant they weren't people that could go out, enjoy, enjoy movies, look at art, read lots of literature and things like that. They're very, very simple, very working class. Simple life or working class kinda life. Very much all about, uh, the work. Um, and I remember when I had a, the publisher had made like a mockup of the book and I gave it to my mum to read 'cause I wanted her to be happy about it too, and she's probably been my toughest critic. I think everything I've done, she hasn't really liked, to be honest. Um, and when I gave her the mockup to read. She went, “Yeah,” but she said it in such a way I knew what she meant was Yeah, that's right. You know, that's the truth. That's the, you know, the book isn't the testimony, but it felt like she was saying yeah. It was like the simple kind of approval. It wasn't like a lot    Miko Lee: [00:25:50] That is the most Asian mom's approval ever.    Chi Thai: [00:25:54] It's so funny, like people say to me, oh Chi, it's such a beautiful book. Oh, the writing so lit, like lyrical. It's stripped back, it's elegant. Like, you know, Viet Thanh Nguyen , like God bless his like consults, gave me a comment to put in the book, said these wonderful things, and my mom goes, “yeah.”. You know, it made me laugh at the time, but I knew what it meant. And I also was old enough, I was mature enough, you know, God, if she'd given me that, if I'd been 20 written that I might have cried and my heart might have broken. Right. But I, I knew I had, I've so much compassion, you know, for my parents. Mm-hmm. And people like my parents, what they've been through and, you know, but    Miko Lee: [00:26:38] That was incredibly high praise for her.    Chi Thai: [00:26:40] It was, I couldn't have asked more.   Miko Lee: [00:26:47] Oh, I totally get that. I think that's such an Asian thing. That is so funny.    Chi Thai: [00:26:53] It is, it is. I didn't feel bad. I, I remember showing her Lullaby, um, and she didn't like it at all.    Miko Lee: [00:27:02] What did she say? What is her not like voice? What did she say to that?    Chi Thai: [00:27:05] Oh, she. Well, firstly, she, well, the, the film is almost silent because basically it tells a story. It's inspired by a mother that was on our boat who lost her baby on the border crossing, and I was very much ever, for as long as I knew about this woman's story, I was like, I was very much haunted by it, and I was haunted by, you know, the fact that that's how she felt and her guilt. Over losing her baby on this journey. And I knew, I knew I wanted to tell her story. 'cause one of the things I feel very strongly about is when you are on the losing side. So I'm from South Vietnam, like that's not the, you know, that's not the story that's told, the story is told of who triumphs at the end of the day. And I was just like all those people that we lost at sea, this mother, her baby. The stories kind of aren't told. So I kind of felt really strongly that this was somehow a very creative way to put down like a, an historical record like this happened. And actually I found out after making the film that five babies were lost in our boat, not just one.   Miko Lee: [00:28:24] Wow. So what did she say, your mom say?   Chi Thai: [00:28:28] Yes. So I made this film, which was for the most part, a silent film. This is a woman that's shut down. She barely speaks anymore. She is living with the guilt ever. You know, when she was on the boat before her baby died, she sang a lullaby, and ever since then, she hasn't been able to speak again. And then we find out that she has been haunted by the ghost of her child that she lost. And then a bit too, you know, to kind of free herself from that. She, she actually sings, you know, the, the film culminates in her singing the Luby one last time. S saying Goodbye finally being able to move beyond her Gild and I Griffin, saying goodbye and hoping she's able to, you know, progress. So I made a film about that was largely silence except for this lullaby, and my mum watched it. She went, next time you make a film, you know you need more words. I was just like, oh, I think my heart probably did crumple off a bit a bit at that point.    Miko Lee: [00:29:30] Aw.    Chi Thai: [00:29:31] You know? Um, but yeah. But yeah, it's okay. It's okay because you know what? My mom doesn't get to see stuff like that very often. So sometimes she doesn't have the wider, and this is why, I mean, like, the life that she's had, you know, hasn't been one where she's been able to surround herself with, oh, I'm so lucky. You know, my life has been so different, but it's been different. Different because of, you know what she's, what she's done for us, so it's okay. I can take it on the chin when she says my film doesn't have enough dialogue in it.    Miko Lee: [00:30:04] I love that. For you, have you had conversations with your mom about your life as an artist, and what are her thoughts on that?   Chi Thai: [00:30:16] Well say. So I, so my mom, I don't really like, you know, she's probably not that into it. I'll be honest about being an artist. I can understand why she wants you to have a good life. And I would say for the most part, being an artist is, is a, is a tough life because it's hard to make, you know, the, the pennies work, right?   Miko Lee: [00:30:44] She wants stability for you, right?    Chi Thai: [00:30:45] Yeah, exactly. But she's made a peace with it. And basically what happened, I think all the best story is gonna be about my mom, right? Is that she basically, I, I, um, I have a partner, we've been together for 15 years. Um, he's a really nice guy and he has a reliable job and we have two kids together and i,    Miko Lee: [00:31:08] So that makes it okay.   Chi Thai: [00:31:10] So yeah, this is what I was saying. So she said to me like. It doesn't really matter what you do now. 'cause she, you are already peaked. You're somebody's wife. We're not married. But she told everyone in Vietnam we were married 'cause she couldn't cope with this not being like having kids out of wedlock. In her head. She's rewritten that we are married. Right. She's like, you are married, you're somebody's wife and you mother, it doesn't get better than that. So if you are an artist or if you're a filmmaker, whatever, it doesn't matter. 'cause nothing can be better than that. Right. So she's accepted on the basis that I've already fulfilled, kind of my promise.   Miko Lee: [00:31:46] Wow. Interesting.    Chi Thai: [00:31:50] And she means that in the nicest possible way.    Miko Lee: [00:31:52] Yeah.    Chi Thai: [00:31:52] That she feels like you have a home, you have stability, you have someone who loves you, you know, you have a, a purpose in life, but really her value, you know, the way, I think, the way she measures my value is like, that's how she looks at it. The, the art is something else.    Miko Lee: [00:32:10] Well, I really appreciate you sharing your art with us in the world and your various, um, genres and styles. And I'm wondering how our audience can find out more about your work. Clearly we'll put links to where people can buy the book and let's see, but how do they find out more about your films?   Chi Thai: [00:32:28] Um, so that like, because it is the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War in 2025. Actually the very anniversary of that is the tomorrow, the 30th, April, right? Um, you can watch Lullaby on Altar, which is a YouTube channel. Um, and I can give you the link for it. Rating Grace is on Paramount Plus if you want to, if you've got Paramount Plus, but you can also buy it from all the usual kind of places too. Um, and you know, and we'll see us from all great book stockists, I imagine in, in the us.   Miko Lee: [00:33:07] Thank you so much. Um, I'd love to get, I'd love for you to send me the link so I could put 'em in the show notes. I really appreciate chatting with you today. Um, is there anything else you'd like to share?    Chi Thai: [00:33:19] Um, no, I think, I think that's good. Your, your questions are so good. Mika, I'm already like, kinda like processing them all. Uh, yes.    Miko Lee: [00:33:30] Well, it was a delight to chat with you and to learn more about your artistic vision, and my wishes are that you continue to grow and feel blessed no matter what your mama says, because deep down, she's still proud of you. Even if she doesn't say it out loud.    Chi Thai: [00:33:47] I believe it. I totally believe it.    Miko Lee: [00:33:50] Yay. Thank you so much for spending time with us on Apex Express.Next up, listen to stay, go from dark heart, a concert narrative by singer and songwriter Golda Sargento.   MUSIC   That was the voice of Golda Sargento from the new Filipino futurism punk rock sci-fi dark heart. Welcome, Livia Blackburne Children's book, author of Nainai's Mountain. Welcome to Apex Express.    Livia Blackburne: [00:38:56] Thank you so much for having me.    Miko Lee: [00:38:58] I wanna start with a personal question, which is, who are your people and what legacy do you carry with you?    Livia Blackburne: [00:39:05] I am Chinese American, and so I carry the stories of my grandparents who fled China to Taiwan, fled that war. And I also carry the stories of my parents and myself who immigrated. To America, and I am, I grew up in New Mexico, so I have fond memories of green chili and new Mexican food. I went to college, Harvard and MIT on the east coast. So I've got a bit of that kind of ivory tower. And now I'm in LA and, you know, my people are, my family and my community, the writing community here. So I, I'm a big mix. Yes.    Miko Lee: [00:39:44] What legacy do you carry with you?    Livia Blackburne: [00:39:47] I mentioned a bit of my grandparents and my parents. What they went through in the war in China, and then my parents and me coming here. the experience of being here in two worlds, coming from Taiwan having that cultural background and also, growing up in the United States. The culture I've been surrounded with here as well.    Miko Lee: [00:40:06] Thank you so much for sharing. Can you tell us about your new illustrated children's book? Nainai's Mountain. What inspired this work?    Livia Blackburne: [00:40:14] The story of this book actually started with another book that is coming out in a couple years that actually I can't share too much about. My grandparents fled the war in China and then my. Parents grew up in Taiwan and I wanted to preserve that family story. My parents are getting older. So I started doing oral interviews with my parents about their childhood, what it was like, growing up. I wouldn't say they weren't refugees in Taiwan. It's a very complicated political situation, but they were transplants to Taiwan, and what it was like growing up there, their daily life. What kind of things they did when they were a child, their pastimes, I wanted to preserve their stories and I got a lot of great material., A lot of that is going into a novel that I'm currently working on. But also as I worked on it, there were so many great details that I thought would be really good in a picture book as well. Also, I'm a mother now. I have an 8-year-old daughter, and she is half Caucasian, half Asian. She has never gone to Taiwan before and I. As I'm writing this, I'm thinking, it would be really great to, I do want to share Taiwan and, my own childhood, home with her at some point. And so I start imagining what would it be like to bring her back to Taiwan and show her everything. And that became the seed for Nainai's Mountain, which is a. Story of a girl visiting Taiwan for the first time with her grandmother. And her grandmother shows her around and tells her stories about her childhood, and the girl through her grandmother's eyes, sees Taiwan, you know, for the beautiful place that it is.    Miko Lee: [00:41:56] You also wrote the book I Dream of Popo. How are these companions to each other and also for audiences that might not speak Chinese. One is a grandmother on the mother's side, and the other is the grandmother on the father's side. Can you talk about how I dream of Popo is linked to Nainai's Mountain?   Livia Blackburne: [00:42:15] Thank you for pointing that out. Yes. So Popo is maternal grandmother, and Nainai is a paternal grandmother. And that is a fantastic question. So I dream of popo is kind of my story. So it's about a little girl who moves from Taiwan , to the United States and it's about her relationship with her grandmother who stays in Taiwan. And it talks about, how a close relationship, navigating long geographical distances about the language barrier that comes up. And that was very much me, Nainai's Mountain. It's kind of like Popo in reverse, you know, it's now it's someone going back to Taiwan and kind of getting in touch with those roots. That, as I mentioned, that's inspired by my daughter. And you'll see in Nainai's Mountain, I specified that the child should be, half Asian, half Caucasian. Because, I wanted more of that representation in the children's literature.    Miko Lee: [00:43:07] Thank you. I, I wonder if you could talk a little bit about the artistic style. So you are the author, but you had different illustrators for both of the books and the style is really different. The in, when I look at Nainai's Mountain, which I'm holding here, it's sort of collage and really vibrant colors. Where I Dream of Popo has a different, more. I'm almost realistic, kind of look to it. And I'm wondering what your process was like in collaborating with illustrators.    Livia Blackburne: [00:43:37] That's one of the best things about being a picture book author, is that you get to collaborate with so many illustrators and they all have such different styles, such different visions. Most of the time it's the publisher who chooses the illustrator, although they. Consult me usually. My editor for I Dream of Popo picked Julia Kuo. And she sent me samples and I loved it. And, it was great. I'm friends with Julia now and that book did really well. It was very well known, especially in kind of Taiwanese American, Asian American circles. And so when I did, Nainai's mountain, that was with a different publishing house and my editor. He very consciously said, you know, because it's also a book about Taiwan and a grandmother. We don't want to get it confused with I dream of Popo. So, we made a conscious decision to pick an artist with a very different style and Joey Chou is fantastic. He's very well known for his Disney art. You can see his art in a lot of the hotels and cruise ships. And, he, very bright, vibrant, and I, he's also from Taiwan. I think he did a fantastic job.   Miko Lee: [00:44:41] And have the artistic work ever surprised you as being really different from your imagination while you were writing?    Livia Blackburne: [00:44:48] That's a great question. I don't think they've ever surprised me. By being different. They surprised me in the specifics that they've chosen. For example, I dream of Popo. Julia, spent a lot of time in Taiwan and she put in these great, Taiwan details that, you know, if you're from Taiwan, you would know for sure. There's like a specific brand of rice cooker called the rice cooker, and she has one there and like the giant bag of rice in the corner, and the calendar on the wall.   Miko Lee: [00:45:16] Even the specificities of the food and the trays and everything is quite lovely.    Livia Blackburne: [00:45:20] Yeah, yeah. You know, every time I read that, I look at that spread, I get hungry. So surprise there. And, with Joey, I, I love how he does the different, there's kind of flashback pictures and there's, pictures now and. The thing about him, his color, I just love the color that he put in from the greens, of Taiwan to kind of the bright fluorescent lights, neon lights of Taipei, and then there's kind of the slight sepia tones of the past and he just, you know, brings it so to life so well.   Miko Lee: [00:45:49] I didn't know he was a Disney animator, but it totally makes sense because it feels very layered. It does feel animated in a way and kind of alive. So I appreciate that.   Livia Blackburne: [00:45:59] I'm not sure. If he's an animator. He does a lot of art for the theme parks and like products and the cruise ships and stuff. I'm not sure.    Miko Lee: [00:46:07] Oh, interesting.   Livia Blackburne: [00:46:07] He does like movies and  stuff.    Miko Lee: [00:46:08] Interesting. It looks like animation though. Your book.    Livia Blackburne: [00:46:13] It does look very, yeah. Lively. Mm-hmm.    Miko Lee: [00:46:16] That I'm looking forward to that series. That would be so cute. The grandmother series as a whole little mini series traveling to different places. can you tell us about your new book, Dreams to Ashes? Has that been released yet?   Livia Blackburne: [00:46:29] Dreams to Ashes? That has been released that, released about a month before Nainai's Mountain. Yeah, that one's quite a bit different. So that one is a nonfiction book and it's a picture book, and it's about the Los Angeles massacre of 1871. Whenever people, I tell people about that, they're like, wait, you wrote a picture book about a massacre? Which is slightly counterintuitive. So I never knew about the Los Angeles massacre growing up. And, and, given that I am a Chinese person in Los Angeles, that is kind of weird. Basically, it was a race massacre that occurred. One of the biggest mass lynchings in history, uh, where there was a between two rival Chinese organizations and a white bystander was killed. And because of that, , a mob formed and they rounded the Chinese population up basically. And. Blame them for that death. In the end, 18 Chinese men were killed and only one of them were involved in the original gunfight. It was a horrible tragedy. And unfortunately, as often happened with these kind of historical tragedies in our country, nobody was really punished for it. A few men were indicted and convicted, but their convictions were overturned and it just kind of disappeared into history. And it really struck me that, you know, nobody knew about this. I wanted to kind of bring this to light and unfortunately when I was writing it, it was also, during the Covid pandemic and, I was seeing a lot of anti-Asian rhetoric, anti-Asian hate crimes were going up. And I saw so many parallels between what happened. Back then, because, you know, Chinese people specifically were being vilified , they were being called immoral, stealing people's jobs. And you can see in the years before the massacre the newspapers were saying horrible things and, you know, the hate was just becoming very strong and all that exploded one night into an unspeakable tragedy. Unfortunately as an author, you want your work to be relevant, but sometimes you don't want your work to be relevant in this way. Right. Nowadays I'm seeing so much rhetoric again against immigrants and not of many ethnicities. And in some ways I'm sad. That, this is happening now. And I also hope that this book will contribute to the conversation and show how the danger of racism and xenophobia and hate and what, what can happen because of that.   Miko Lee: [00:48:55] So this occurred in the late 1800s, right? Was it before the Chinese Exclusion Act?    Livia Blackburne: [00:49:03] Yes, it was before the Chinese Exclusion Act. So you'd hope that people kinda learn from these things. And it was just kind of one of the, one of the horrible things that happened on the way to the Chinese Exclusion Act and Chinese immigrants being excluded basically Chinese laborers at least.   Miko Lee: [00:49:23] Oh wow. Okay. I'm looking this up now. And 1882 we know was the Chinese Exclusion Act and this incident actually happened in 1871. Yes. A decade beforehand, Helen Zia always talks about these moments that are missing. MIH missing in history and this is clearly another one of, another time of just wiping out a population.I'm wondering if you could speak a little bit more about how Children's Books can make a difference in the world that we're currently living in, where our government is banning books and you know that there's a narratives that they want to align with a certain kind of conservative ideology. Can you talk about the power of being a Children's Book author in this time that we're living in right now? . I'm really thinking about dreams to Ashes and even I dream of Popo and even Nainai's Mountain, which you would think, oh, they're, you, they're visiting their grandparent, their grandmothers, that would not be controversial. But now when even words like inclusion and diversity are threatened and books are being banned, I'm just wondering if you could. Share a little bit more about your superpower as a children's book author?    Livia Blackburne: [00:50:31] Yeah, that's a fantastic question. We live in a time right now, there's, a lot of hate, a lot of intolerance, a lot of fear of different people groups. And a lot of that I think is because people are unfamiliar with people unlike themselves. They see. People who are different, look differently, act differently, speak differently, and it scares them. And I think the best way to get around that is to actually get to know people of other backgrounds, to see them as human. And I think that's where children's books come in. ‘Cause we don't, children are not born. With this hate of the other. They learn it. But, if they grow up being familiar with people of different backgrounds seeing their stories seeing them as, normal human beings, which, should be obvious, but sometimes it's hard, for adults to realize. Then, I'm hoping, as a children's book author that it will lead to a more empathetic world. And perhaps that's why the government sometimes in certain groups are wanting to, censor this and control the flow of children's books because, children are the most their minds are still open. They're still able to learn.    Miko Lee: [00:51:48] And Livia, tell us what you're working on next.   Livia Blackburne: [00:51:53] So right now I am. Working on a historical middle grade. We haven't quite announced it yet, so I can't say the title or too many details, but it is based on my family history of my parents and grandparents who moved from China to Taiwan after the civil War.   Miko Lee: [00:52:12] Please check out our website, kpfa.org. To find out more about our show tonight. We thank all of you listeners out there. Keep resisting, keep organizing, keep creating and sharing your visions with the world because your voices are important. Apex Express is created by Miko Lee, Jalena Keane-Lee, Preti Mangala-Shekar, Swati Rayasam, Aisa Villarosa, Estella Owoimaha-Church, Gabriel Tanglao, Cheryl Truong and Ayame Keane-Lee.   The post APEX Express – 6.19.25 We Are All Connected appeared first on KPFA.

I Dream Of Jeannie was a show that meant, for us, that it was time to stop watching shows. It was late night syndication TV and that meant the cartoons were over. They try to tempt you in with colorful cartoon intros but then it goes to real life people? Lame? 2D is all need!… Read more S9:E15 – I Dream of Jeannie Opening

Once again I Dream of Cameras spans the globe, with Jeff in Prague and Gabe in Los Angeles, and not even a nine-hour time difference can slow us down! In fact, one might say we are utterly devoid of camera viscosity, or “camerosity” for short. In this supersized episode…Jeff unknowingly chatted up Danny Clinch about his Leica Q2 at the Trombone Shorty Soho Session, and the acclaimed photographer was faintly dismissivefor the next two months Jeff's in Prague, where the camera shops (FotoŠkoda, Jan Pazdera) are far too alluringhe's been eyeing a lovely Zeiss Tenax II, a flawed Olympus 35SPn, and a beautifully brassed black Canonflex RMbefore departure, Jeff did the unthinkable: snagged a bargain-basement half-frame Alpa 10s on the ‘Bay - it's half a Swiss cookie and the realization of a lifelong dream!talking Leicas with Dave Tada, Gabe realized he needs a 35mm lens for his Leica III - he already has the 50mm Serenar, so any suggestions?Gabe went to the Fujifilm event for their bizarre new half-a-cookie digital - what did he learn about the elusive x100vi?Gabe has gone half-cookie INSANE with his Olympus Pen FT, so now our friend Sissi Lu has enticed him to give the Pentax One Seven one more try - what will he grab next, the chunky plastic Pentax or the mighty meterless Olympus Pen FV?he's got a portrait shoot coming up, and plans to use the Kiev 60, the Leica III and the Mamiya RZ67as for replenishing his collection, he's up to 27 of a planned 30 cameras Jeff was shooting around Prague when Sudden Fujifilm Battery Death struck again! Fuji's battery displays in both the XPan and GA645 are pure fictionGabe's also been rebuilding his book collection with Duane Michals Portraits and volumes by Sarah Moon and Clifford Coffinlet us now praise John Wade's Retro Cameras, which is what Ralph Bellamy's book should have beenonce again we make it halfway down the depths of our Prodigious Mailbag™Gabe unleashes a raft of thank-yousand adds a final postscript: nature is healing and he's back in the bag business, welcoming a new Nomatic Luma McKinnon

WGN Radio's Dave Plier celebrates the 1960's with Mike Love of The Beach Boys, Barbara Eden of “I Dream of Jeannie” (seen weekdays on Antenna TV), Micky Dolenz of The Monkees, Bill Mumy of Lost in Space, George Schlatter of “Laugh In” and iconic singer Darlene Love.

The Fellowship is pleased to present our discussion of the TV show I Dream of Jeannie, kicking off our Classic TV Month. Astronauts and mythical creatures on TV? Sure, but no navels. Plus our usual crazy talk, geek news, and tangents

Thank you for listening to this BONUS episode of Bawk Tawk, Welcome to Chickenlandia's 100% Friendly Backyard  Chickens Show! In this bonus episode, I answer various backyard chicken questions with topics such as Natural Mite Treatments, Aerial Predators, Silkie Chickens, and More. Hope you love it!Order my book Let's All Keep Chickens! here.Become a more confident chicken keeper with my new online course: Backyard Chickens 101 - A Chicken Course for Everyone. Click here for more.Join my mailing list and become part of Chickenlandia NationCheck out My Favorite Chicken for all your chicken needs and use the coupon code “chickenlandia10” for 10% off your first order!Check out Small Pet Select and use the promo code SPSFLOCK15 for 15% off!Learn more about Scratch and Peck Feeds and use the coupon code "chickenlandia15" for 15% off your first three purchases! Click here.Buy all your REAL SALT and Redmond Agriculture Favorites here and use the coupon code CHICKENLANDIA for 15% off!I love the grubs and omega mix from Grubbly Farms! Click here to check them out.Check out my TEDX Talk "I Dream of Chickens"Visit Welcome to Chickenlandia's website by clicking here!Submit your own chicken question here!Check out Welcome to Chickenlandia on YouTube by clicking here!Watch my TEDx Talk: I Dream of ChickensFind Welcome to Chickenlandia on:FacebookInstagram Twitter Write to us!Welcome to Chickenlandia™2950 Newmarket Street, Ste 101, PBM 125Bellingham, WA 98226Disclaimer Notice: The content of the Welcome to Chickenlandia YouTube Channel, podcast, website, blog, vlog, and all social media is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional veterinarian advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Dependence on any information appearing on the Welcome to Chickenlandia YouTube Channel, website, blog, vlog, and social media sites is entirely at your own risk. Please do your own research and make your own informed decisions regarding the health of your chickens.The President of Chickenlandia has a new book now available called Let's All Keep Chickens! Order yours today by clicking here.

TVC 691.2: Harry Castleman and Walter J. Podrazik, co-authors of Watching TV: American Television Season by Season, talk to Ed about the 1965-1966 television season, a landmark year that not only saw the premiere of many series that are still considered classics (including Get Smart, I Dream of Jeannie, Green Acres, and The FBI), but the start of the now-common network practice of midseason replacements—a phenomenon that came about by accident. Other topics this segment include why network TV schedules used to always begin in September; and the evolution of single sponsor shows during the first decade of network to the now-standard practice of participating sponsors. Watching TV: Revised Fourth Edition is available wherever books are sold through Syracuse University Press.

Today's Guest is a man of many talents. Vocalist of I Dream in Cellophane and bassist for Ginger Giant and Lumina. This one goes off the rails in about three seconds I had a great time chatting hime up, we create the best merch in the game and so so much more go give all his bands a listen you are bound to like one or two of them.     Links down below for all the goods. If you want behind the scenes and episodes 2 days early sign up for our Patreon it helps support the show in many ways.   As always thank you for listening.     Patreon  https://www.patreon.com/crashcastn    YouTube https://www.youtube.com/c/crashcast      Instagram https://www.instagram.com/crashcastpod/   Facebook https://www.facebook.com/crashcastpod   Twitter https://twitter.com/crashcastpod1   Tik Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@crash.cast   YouTube Episode https://youtu.be/kRIS_7nbSUM

Thank you for listening to this BONUS episode of Bawk Tawk, Welcome to Chickenlandia's 100% Friendly Backyard  Chickens Show! In this bonus episode, I answer various backyard chicken questions with topics such as why some chickens stop laying, molting, chicken grit, and more. Hope you love it!Order my book Let's All Keep Chickens! here.Become a more confident chicken keeper with my new online course: Backyard Chickens 101 - A Chicken Course for Everyone. Click here for more.Join my mailing list and become part of Chickenlandia NationCheck out My Favorite Chicken for all your chicken needs and use the coupon code “chickenlandia10” for 10% off your first order!Check out Small Pet Select and use the promo code SPSFLOCK15 for 15% off!Learn more about Scratch and Peck Feeds and use the coupon code "chickenlandia15" for 15% off your first three purchases! Click here.Buy all your REAL SALT and Redmond Agriculture Favorites here and use the coupon code CHICKENLANDIA for 15% off!I love the grubs and omega mix from Grubbly Farms! Click here to check them out.Check out my TEDX Talk "I Dream of Chickens"Visit Welcome to Chickenlandia's website by clicking here!Submit your own chicken question here!Check out Welcome to Chickenlandia on YouTube by clicking here!Watch my TEDx Talk: I Dream of ChickensFind Welcome to Chickenlandia on:FacebookInstagram Twitter Write to us!Welcome to Chickenlandia™2950 Newmarket Street, Ste 101, PBM 125Bellingham, WA 98226Disclaimer Notice: The content of the Welcome to Chickenlandia YouTube Channel, podcast, website, blog, vlog, and all social media is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional veterinarian advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Dependence on any information appearing on the Welcome to Chickenlandia YouTube Channel, website, blog, vlog, and social media sites is entirely at your own risk. Please do your own research and make your own informed decisions regarding the health of your chickens.The President of Chickenlandia has a new book now available called Let's All Keep Chickens! Order yours today by clicking here.

Send us a textWhat happens when a football tackle changes everything? Ken Kunken's life pivoted dramatically in 1970 when he broke his neck during a Cornell University football game, leaving him almost completely paralyzed from the shoulders down. Doctors delivered a devastating prognosis—they didn't expect him to survive the week. If he did, they predicted a shortened life in a nursing home.Ken refused to accept these limitations. Just eleven days after hospital discharge, he returned to Cornell—navigating a campus with no wheelchair accessibility—and became the first quadriplegic to graduate from the university. This was merely the beginning of his boundary-breaking journey.Through raw, honest conversation, Ken shares how he earned two master's degrees and faced crushing employment discrimination despite his impressive credentials. When over 200 job applications went unanswered, he finally found opportunity at Abilities Inc., counseling others with disabilities. But Ken wasn't finished redefining possibility—he graduated from law school and spent over 40 years as an Assistant District Attorney, even though he couldn't initially fit through the courtroom doors in his wheelchair.Perhaps most powerfully, Ken opens up about finding love later in life and becoming a father to triplet sons through in vitro fertilization. Now in their twenties and attending prestigious universities, his sons represent the life Ken was told would be impossible.Throughout our conversation, Ken's philosophy shines through: "Just because something has not been done before doesn't mean you cannot do it now." His memoir, "I Dream of Things That Never Were," captures this spirit of relentless possibility. Whether you're facing challenges or simply need inspiration, Ken's story proves that with determination and support, extraordinary achievements are possible regardless of physical limitations.Subscribe to Glass Half Full for more conversations that challenge assumptions and celebrate the resilience of the human spirit.Please reach Ken: www.kenkunken.com,  kennethkunken@gmail.com. Also, is via messenger connected to facebook (https://www.facebook.com/ken.kunken/) Support the show

“I Dream of Things That Never Were” – The Unstoppable Story of Ken Kunken

In this much-anticipated interview (at least by me), humorist and journalist Henry Alford joins me to discuss his recent bestselling book I Dream Of Joni: A Portrait of Joni Mitchell in 53 Snapshots. In a Joni nerd-off that may be unrivaled in podcast history, Henry and I talk about his research and reporting for this book, what he learned about Mitchell's contradictions and complexities, why he thinks she might be on the autism spectrum, and, above all, why Mitchell's music holds such a profound place in so many people's emotional and even intellectual lives. GUEST BIO Henry Alford is a humorist and journalist who has contributed to the New Yorker since 1998. He is the author of seven books, including Big Kiss, which won a Thurber Prize, and the recent I Dream of Joni: A Portrait of Joni Mitchell in 53 Snapshots, a national bestseller. Want to hear the whole conversation? Upgrade your subscription here. HOUSEKEEPING New feature! The Unspeakeasy Live is a twice-weekly livestream featuring casual, spontaneous conversations with guests, friends, and sometimes just myself. Tuesdays and Thursdays at 3 pm ET. Recordings of livestreams are posted the next day (or soon thereafter) for paying subscribers.

As sometimes happens in the wonderful world of social media content creation, "the best laid plans of mice and men often go astray" we had plans to record Episode 90 back in March, but a variety of unfortunate and unrelated happenstances occurred which resulted in a short hiatus for recording.  We had planned on making Episode 90 a show all about Cameras of the 90s, but we had also wanted Episode 91 to be recorded with two special guests, so we were forced to do things out of order. Thankfully, the obstacles which caused our six week break didn't interfere with us sitting down with Jeff Greenstein and Gabe Sachs from the I Dream of Cameras podcast.  For those of you who are familiar with their show, you'll know that Jeff has a fondness for Alpa cameras, so this unofficially doubles as our first and probably only Alpa episode. After some short introductions, we refer back to a fun comparison between the two podcasts written by listener John Kelly and both hosts give our reactions to some of his funny answers.  We cover a variety of cameras that we all love and shoot, along with Jeff's deep dive into why he loves the Alpa 11si so much. Gabe shares a story of how he's had to rebuild his camera collection from scratch after losing it when his home burned down in the Palisades wild fires that ravaged Los Angeles earlier this year.  We ponder why the Hasselblad XPan can't get repaired anymore and what other cameras are on the verge of being unrepairable.  Mike shares three very different Alpas in his collection and shares what he likes and doesn't like about all three, Anthony shares his thoughts on a new (to him) Fuji camera he recently bought, and Paul talks about his plans for traveling to Ireland later this spring. As always, the topics we discuss on the Camerosity Podcast are influenced by you!  Please don't feel like you have to be an expert on a specific type of camera, or have the level of knowledge on par with other people on the show.  We LOVE people who are into shooting or collecting cameras, no matter how long you've been doing it, so please don't consider your knowledge level to be a prerequisite for joining! The guys and I rarely know where each episode is going to go until it happens, so if you'd like to join us on a future episode, be sure to look out for our show announcements on our Camerosity Podcast Facebook page, the Camerosity Discord server, and right here on mikeeckman.com. We usually record every other Monday and announcements, along with the Zoom link are typically shared 2-3 days in advance. As promised two episodes ago, we still want to do a Cameras of the 90s episode, but this time it will have to be Episode 91.  Finally, Theo will get a chance to talk about his beloved Mamiya 7, but in addition to that there were many other terrific cameras from that decade like the Nikon N90s and the premium 28Ti and 35Ti point and shoots, the Contax AX, and the Olympus µ[mju:]-II.  In addition to terrific film cameras, the 1990s was the first decade with a large number of digital cameras like the Minolta RD-175 and Nikon D1.  We will record Episode 91 on Monday, May 5th at 7pm Central Daylight Time and 8pm Eastern Daylight Time. In This Episode Jeff Greenstein and Gabe Sachs from I Dream of Cameras / Episode Numbers John Kelly Compares Camerosity and IDOC Podcasts: A Rebuttal Rich Coastal Elites vs Salt of the Earth Midwesterners / So Good Camerosity Yellow and Red is the Same as Kodak Yellow and Red Mamiya 7, Alpa 10s, Pentax 17, and Hasselblad 500 Why Can't Anyone Repair the Hasselblad XPan? / Unrepairable Cameras Paul Doesn't Know what Neon Genesis Evangelion Is Anthony and Paul Trade a Leica M2 for a Rolleiflex 3.5F Gabe Talks About Losing His House and Entire Camera Collection in the LA Wild Fires Limiting a Collection to 30 Cameras / Olympus Pen FT Jeff Handles an Ilford Witness / Anthony Much Prefers the Bell & Howell Foton Is there any Alpa Heritage in Bolex Cameras? / Kern Lenses / Kilfitt Makro Kilar Lenses Mike and Jeff Both See the World in 40mm / The Konica AR 40mm f/1.8 Lens is the Best Value in 40mm The Original Alpa Reflex is a Hybrid SLR and a Rangefinder Mike Had an M42 Alpa Lens with No Body So He Bought an Alpa Si2000 / Chinon CE-II Memotron Jeff's Rhapsody for the Alpa 11si / The Weirdest Motor Drive Ever / Engraved Cameras Jeff Goes to Paris Fashion Shows / Cincinnati Camera Show Update / Sydney Show Update Anthony Picks Up a Fuji GS645W Professional / Fuji's Barcode Film System More Recap of the Cincinnati Show Stephen Gets a Pentax 110 Auto / Theo Gets a Light Meter that Measures in Foot Lamberts Jeff Wants to Get a Pentax MX / He Has a Medical Camera Called the Pentax MF Jeff Also Got a Zeiss Taxona and a Mamiya Sketch Mike Picks Up a Minolta 35 Model IIB and an Original Argus C with the F/S Switch Links The Camerosity Podcast is now on Discord! Join Anthony, Paul, Theo, and Mike on our very own Discord Server. Share your GAS and photography with other listeners in the Lounge or in our dedicated forums. If you have questions for myself or the other guys, we have an “Ask the Hosts” section as well where you can get your question answered on a future show! Check it out! https://discord.gg/PZVN2VBJvm. If you would like to offer feedback or contact us with questions or ideas for future episodes, please contact us in the Comments Section below, our Camerosity Facebook Group, Instagram page, or Discord server. The Official Camerosity Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/camerositypodcast Camerosity Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/camerosity_podcast/ Jeff Greenstein and Gabe Sachs - I Dream of Cameras - https://www.idreamofcameras.com/ Theo Panagopoulos - https://www.photothinking.com/ Paul Rybolt - https://www.ebay.com/usr/paulkris - https://thisoldcamera.net/ Anthony Rue - https://www.instagram.com/kino_pravda/

A heartwarming and nostalgic deep dive into “I Dream of Jeannie.”

Jeff's back from the Caribbean island of St. Barth's with a report on his new favorite beach camera, while out in the West, Gabe's renewed camera collection continues to burgeon... as does the enmity of one listener each time Jeff mentions the Pentax 17. Find out why in the latest un-dour, un-flaccid episode of I Dream of Cameras, because provocation is our forte!Gabe shot his Kiev 60 and the Bronica ETR-Siand is eyeing:black Leicaflex SL35mm f4 Schneider lens for Leicaflexand Mamiya Universalmeanwhile, Jeff is eyeing:Pentax MXWeltron 2007Atari 4-Player FootballAlpa Si 3000Nikkor FJeff's St. Barth's report: the Ona Union Street camera bag was idealof course he brought the Hasselblad XPan, but at the last minute subbed in the Canon EOS Rebel 2000 for the Olympus XA4, and it was the perfect beach-party nighttime-flash trash camerahe shot mostly Portra 160 and 400, but also tried some Santacolor 100 and Film Washi X, which it turns out are the same thing! Kodak Aerocolor IVno hand-check madness on this trip - Sint Maarten, Saint Barthélemy, all security personnel were totally obliging - once again we credit the Sissi Lu DO NOT X-RAY bag, now available at a camera store near yougood travel buddies: Zeiss lens wipes and a rocket air blowerlet's help Lina Bessonova and handcheckfilm.com! when you travel, send a report to her contact page so she can keep this valuable resource up to dateGabe recommends Graination in Toronto, a coffee shop and film labwe stick our snouts deep into the Prodigious Mailbag™, where a listener savagely upbraids Jeff for calling the Pentax 17 by its proper name (here's proof)finally, look for our appearance on an obscure podcast called Camerosity, talkin' Alpas

Thank you for listening to this BONUS episode of Bawk Tawk, Welcome to Chickenlandia's 100% Friendly Backyard  Chickens Show! In this bonus episode, I answer various backyard chicken questions adding roosters to a flock, natural remedies for chickens, vent gleet, and more. Hope you love it!Order my book Let's All Keep Chickens! here.Become a more confident chicken keeper with my new online course: Backyard Chickens 101 - A Chicken Course for Everyone. Click here for more.Join my mailing list and become part of Chickenlandia NationCheck out My Favorite Chicken for all your chicken needs and use the coupon code “chickenlandia10” for 10% off your first order!Check out Small Pet Select and use the promo code SPSFLOCK15 for 15% off!Learn more about Scratch and Peck Feeds and use the coupon code "chickenlandia15" for 15% off your first three purchases! Click here.Buy all your REAL SALT and Redmond Agriculture Favorites here and use the coupon code CHICKENLANDIA for 15% off!I love the grubs and omega mix from Grubbly Farms! Click here to check them out.Check out my TEDX Talk "I Dream of Chickens"Visit Welcome to Chickenlandia's website by clicking here!Submit your own chicken question here!Check out Welcome to Chickenlandia on YouTube by clicking here!Watch my TEDx Talk: I Dream of ChickensFind Welcome to Chickenlandia on:FacebookInstagram Twitter Write to us!Welcome to Chickenlandia™2950 Newmarket Street, Ste 101, PBM 125Bellingham, WA 98226Disclaimer Notice: The content of the Welcome to Chickenlandia YouTube Channel, podcast, website, blog, vlog, and all social media is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional veterinarian advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Dependence on any information appearing on the Welcome to Chickenlandia YouTube Channel, website, blog, vlog, and social media sites is entirely at your own risk. Please do your own research and make your own informed decisions regarding the health of your chickens.The President of Chickenlandia has a new book now available called Let's All Keep Chickens! Order yours today by clicking here.

O edukacji i Apple, ale inaczej niż zwykle. iDream zdobył ostatnio certyfikację Apple Authorised Education Specialist, więc pomyślałem, że warto szerzej wyjaśnić, iż Apple w edukacji to nie tylko iPady. #BoCzemuNie ? POBIERZ ODCINEK Partnerzy technologiczni: > iDream – Apple Authorised Education Specialist Linki: Bądźmy w kontakcie: Twitter | Facebook | Instagram | kontakt@boczemunie.pl > Prowadzący: […] Artykuł #386 – Apple w edukacji, czyli coś więcej niż iPad pochodzi z serwisu Podcast „Bo czemu nie?”.

Send us a textAfter a devastating football injury left him nearly paralyzed, Ken Kunken didn't just survive—he redefined what's possible. In this soul-stirring episode, Ken shares how he transformed unimaginable adversity into a four-decade career as a prosecutor, earned multiple degrees, raised triplet sons, and became a voice for disability advocacy across the nation.Dionne Malish dives deep into Ken's journey—from testifying before Congress to narrating his own memoir, "I Dream of Things That Never Were." Together, they explore the mindset that fuels resilience, the underestimated power of community, and why breaking down doors (literally and figuratively) matters more than ever.This conversation is not just about triumph—it's a masterclass in perseverance, perspective, and the power of purpose.Connect with Ken here:Website: https://kenkunken.com/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ken.kunkenPurchase “I Dream of Things That Never Were, The Ken Kunken Story”: https://kenkunken.com/buy-the-book/Connect with Dionne Malush Instagram: @dionnerealtyonepgh LinkedIN: /in/dionnemalush Website: www.dionnemalush.com Facebook: /dmalush LinkTree: https://linktr.ee/dionnemalush

Thank you for listening to this BONUS episode of Bawk Tawk, Welcome to Chickenlandia's 100% Friendly Backyard  Chickens Show! In this bonus episode, I answer various backyard chicken questions about predator proofing, fixing a muddy chicken yard, "maggot buckets", and more. Hope you love it!Order my book Let's All Keep Chickens! here.Become a more confident chicken keeper with my new online course: Backyard Chickens 101 - A Chicken Course for Everyone. Click here for more.Join my mailing list and become part of Chickenlandia NationCheck out My Favorite Chicken for all your chicken needs and use the coupon code “chickenlandia10” for 10% off your first order!Check out Small Pet Select and use the promo code SPSFLOCK15 for 15% off!Learn more about Scratch and Peck Feeds and use the coupon code "chickenlandia15" for 15% off your first three purchases! Click here.Buy all your REAL SALT and Redmond Agriculture Favorites here and use the coupon code CHICKENLANDIA for 15% off!I love the grubs and omega mix from Grubbly Farms! Click here to check them out.Check out my TEDX Talk "I Dream of Chickens"Visit Welcome to Chickenlandia's website by clicking here!Submit your own chicken question here!Check out Welcome to Chickenlandia on YouTube by clicking here!Watch my TEDx Talk: I Dream of ChickensFind Welcome to Chickenlandia on:FacebookInstagram Twitter Write to us!Welcome to Chickenlandia™2950 Newmarket Street, Ste 101, PBM 125Bellingham, WA 98226Disclaimer Notice: The content of the Welcome to Chickenlandia YouTube Channel, podcast, website, blog, vlog, and all social media is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional veterinarian advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Dependence on any information appearing on the Welcome to Chickenlandia YouTube Channel, website, blog, vlog, and social media sites is entirely at your own risk. Please do your own research and make your own informed decisions regarding the health of your chickens.The President of Chickenlandia has a new book now available called Let's All Keep Chickens! Order yours today by clicking here.

In this episode Lissa talks with Dr. Gail C. Christopher —a nationally recognized leader in health equity, a pioneer in integrative medicine, and the visionary architect behind the Truth, Racial Healing, and Transformation initiative (TRHT). Dr. Christopher has spent decades designing and leading national programs that advance racial healing, community well-being, and policy change—including her role as Senior Advisor and Vice President at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. She is also the Executive Director of the National Collaborative for Health Equity. She joins us today to discuss her new book, Rx Racial Healing: A Guide to Embracing Our Humanity—a guidebook, a meditation, and a call to action all in one. For GO DEEPER information, Visit: www.BlackMarketReads.com   Our production team for this episode includes co producers Lissa Jones and Edie French, technical director Paul Auguston, the voice Yo Derek, and our artist of inspiration Ta-coumba T. Aiken. Black Market Reads is a production of the Givens Foundation for African American Literature produced in cooperation with iDream.tv. We thank Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota for supporting this series, focusing on the intersection of health, race, and culture. This is Black Market Reads. The struggle continues.

Attorney Ken Kunken shares his inspiring journey from a tragic accident that left him quadriplegic to becoming a successful lawyer and author. Ken discusses the writing process of his memoir, his family life, the challenges he faced in college, and his career in the district attorney's office. Ken's story is a powerful reminder of resilience and the impact of role models for individuals with disabilities.https://kenkunken.com/Promoting memoir: “I Dream of Things That Never Were: The Ken Kunken Story,” published in 2023. If anyone wants to purchase the book from outside the US or Canada, the Kindle version is available through Amazon.com (the US version, not the regional like Amazon.eu or .pl). Here is the link: https://a.co/d/1t1UWINKeywordsmemoir, disability, law, inspiration, overcoming challenges, family, quadriplegic, Ken Kunken, personal story, advocacy, ADA

Ken Kunkin's extraordinary narrative embodies the essence of resilience and tenacity in the face of seemingly insurmountable challenges. After suffering a life-altering spinal cord injury in 1970 during a football game for Cornell University, Ken not only defied the odds by completing his engineering degree but also pursued multiple advanced degrees in education and psychology. His remarkable journey led him to a distinguished career as a rehabilitation counselor and a prosecutor, where he served the Nassau County District Attorney's Office for over 40 years. In our conversation today, we will delve into the motivations that propelled Ken forward, the obstacles he encountered along the way, and the profound impact of his experiences on his life and those around him. Join us as we explore the inspiring legacy of Ken Kunkin, whose memoir, "I Dream of Things That Never Were: The Ken Kunkin Story," chronicles his triumph over adversity and serves as a beacon of hope for many.Ken Kunkin's life story is a profound testament to resilience, determination, and the relentless pursuit of one's dreams in the face of seemingly insurmountable challenges. In 1970, a catastrophic football injury left him nearly paralyzed, yet Ken's response to this life-altering event was nothing short of extraordinary. He returned to Cornell University to complete his engineering degree and went on to earn advanced degrees in education and psychology. His journey did not stop there; Ken dedicated his career to helping others as a nationally certified rehabilitation counselor and a long-serving assistant district attorney in Nassau County, ultimately rising to the position of Deputy Bureau Chief. His memoir, "I Dream of Things That Never Were: The Ken Kunkin Story," chronicles his incredible journey, detailing the challenges he faced and the triumphs he achieved.In this enlightening episode, we explore Ken's motivations and the pivotal moments that shaped his remarkable life. His experiences serve as a powerful reminder of the importance of community support and the role it plays in overcoming adversity. Listeners will hear about Ken's struggles, not only with his physical limitations but also with societal perceptions of disability. He candidly discusses the importance of family, friends, and mentors who provided unwavering support throughout his journey. Ken's narrative is one of hope, illustrating that the expectations we set for ourselves and others can profoundly influence our paths.As we delve deeper into Ken's story, the conversation shifts to the broader implications of his experiences, emphasizing the need for empathy and understanding within the medical community and society at large. Ken's life is a clarion call for inclusivity, urging listeners to reconsider their perceptions of disability and capability. His insights encourage active participation in the pursuit of one's goals and in advocating for others. This episode is a celebration of the human spirit's capacity to overcome adversity and an exploration of how resilience can inspire change. Join us for this compelling discussion that not only highlights Ken Kunkin's achievements but also serves as an inspiration for all individuals facing their own challenges.Takeaways: Ken Kunkin's remarkable journey of resilience began with a devastating injury during college football in 1970, yet he persevered to complete his education. Despite facing extreme physical challenges, Ken Kunkin achieved multiple degrees, including a Master's in Education and a Master's in Psychology, demonstrating his unwavering commitment to personal growth. Throughout his career, Ken has utilized his experiences to empower others with disabilities, serving as a nationally certified rehabilitation counselor and advocating for the rights of disabled individuals. Ken's transition from rehabilitation counselor to Deputy Bureau Chief in the...

Jess is a Canadian photographer, my second one of those in fact, whose work I came across via the brilliant I Dream of Cameras. She has shot Formula 1 on film and has a love of fixed lens medium format, something which if the rumours are true, could make a comeback some time this year. I was delighted to talk to someone who thinks carefully about documenting life through a lens as well as being honest in their writing about creative burnout and the pressure we can put on ourselves, something I've been thinking about a lot lately too. More about this show:A camera is just a tool but spend enough time with photographers and you'll see them go misty eyed when they talk about their first camera or a small fast prime that they had in their youth. Prime Lenses is a series of interviews with photographers talking about their photography by way of three lenses that mean a lot to them. These can be interchangeable, attached to a camera, integrated into a gadget, I'm interested in the sometimes complex relationship we have with the tools we choose, why they can mean so much and how they make us feel.

We sit down with another talented Photographer, Clayton Sharp! If the name rings a bell, Clayton is the second half of the latest podcast to hit the Film Photography sphere, Joe & Clayton Start A Film Photography Podcast. Join Bill and Alex as they sit down with Clayton to discuss Nikon, large format, large-scale development, and a love of Chicago and Winter. Plus, all the interesting things are done in a large format using direct positive paper. In 2024 and more recently in January, Hurricanes and Wildfires directly affected tens of thousands of Americans; among them, we're sure are listeners of this podcast and members of the film podcasting community—the floods in North Carolina and, more recently, the fires in California. The fires and floods have destroyed thousands of homes, including that of Gabe Sachs, one of the hosts of the smash-hit podcast I Dream of Cameras. And displaced the guys behind Joe & Clayton Start and Film Photography Podcast. If you can, please consider donating to the American Red Cross and under "I Want to Support" select Disaster Relief. If you want to follow along with the Joe & Clayton Start a Film Photography Podcast You can: Subscribe: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/joe-and-clayton-make-a-film-photography-podcast/id1761165698 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/j_and_c_start_a_podcast/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/claytonsharpphoto/

Thank you for listening to this BONUS episode of Bawk Tawk, Welcome to Chickenlandia's 100% Friendly Backyard  Chickens Show! In this bonus episode, I answer various backyard chicken questions about Avian Influenza, Guinea Fowl, Raising Baby Chicks with a Mother Hen, and more. Hope you love it!Order my book Let's All Keep Chickens! here.Become a more confident chicken keeper with my new online course: Backyard Chickens 101 - A Chicken Course for Everyone. Click here for more.Join my mailing list and become part of Chickenlandia NationCheck out My Favorite Chicken for all your chicken needs and use the coupon code “chickenlandia10” for 10% off your first order!Check out Small Pet Select and use the promo code SPSFLOCK15 for 15% off!Learn more about Scratch and Peck Feeds and use the coupon code "chickenlandia15" for 15% off your first three purchases! Click here.Buy all your REAL SALT and Redmond Agriculture Favorites here and use the coupon code CHICKENLANDIA for 15% off!I love the grubs and omega mix from Grubbly Farms! Click here to check them out.Check out my TEDX Talk "I Dream of Chickens"Visit Welcome to Chickenlandia's website by clicking here!Submit your own chicken question here!Check out Welcome to Chickenlandia on YouTube by clicking here!Watch my TEDx Talk: I Dream of ChickensFind Welcome to Chickenlandia on:FacebookInstagram Twitter Write to us!Welcome to Chickenlandia™2950 Newmarket Street, Ste 101, PBM 125Bellingham, WA 98226Disclaimer Notice: The content of the Welcome to Chickenlandia YouTube Channel, podcast, website, blog, vlog, and all social media is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional veterinarian advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Dependence on any information appearing on the Welcome to Chickenlandia YouTube Channel, website, blog, vlog, and social media sites is entirely at your own risk. Please do your own research and make your own informed decisions regarding the health of your chickens.The President of Chickenlandia has a new book now available called Let's All Keep Chickens! Order yours today by clicking here.

In this week's Mailbag, where we're diving deep into all things grocery shopping, meal prep, and saving money on food!  Ali Slagle, author of I Dream of Dinner (So You Don't Have To) and writer of the 40 Ingredients Forever Substack joins us again to answer your questions about how to stretch your grocery dollars, make meal prep effortless, and cook delicious meals with just a few staples. Have you ever wondered how to shop smarter at the grocery store? Or how long past the "best by" date you can really eat that yogurt? We've got you covered. More From This Episode:

It's hard to be creative, especially with everything happening. Inspiration isn't there; there is a strange balance between staying informed and sane. Well, even for people who love photography, it can be challenging. But Alex sits down in this episode to talk about his creative rut, how to resist, and some tips on staying creative even in dark times. These things include revisiting a favourite location, trying a new film or camera, learning a new technique, or trying a new form of creativity. If you can't leave the house, maybe you can make a 'zine or a book, finish an old project or plan a new one. But above all, don't abandon your creativity let it be a form of resistance and keep your light on, it's okay for it to dim every so often, give you a chance to regroup, but never let anyone put it out. Resistance is not futile. In 2024 and more recently in January, Hurricanes and Wildfires directly affected tens of thousands of Americans; among them, we're sure are listeners of this podcast and members of the film podcasting community—the floods in North Carolina and, more recently, the fires in California. The fires and floods have destroyed thousands of homes, including that of Gabe Sachs, one of the smash-hit podcasts I Dream of Cameras hosts and displaced the guys behind Joe & Clayton Start and Film Photography Podcast. If you can, please consider donating to the American Red Cross and under "I Want to Support", select Disaster Relief.

Sponsored by Harford County Health DepartmentIn this inspiring episode of Conversations with Rich Bennett, we sit down with Kenneth Kunken, a man whose journey redefines resilience and determination. After a tragic football injury left him paralyzed in 1970, Ken refused to let his circumstances define him. He became the first quadriplegic to graduate from Cornell University, earned multiple Ivy League degrees, and went on to have an impressive 40-year career as an Assistant District Attorney. Ken shares how he transitioned from an aspiring engineer to a motivational speaker, disability advocate, and father of triplets—all while overcoming the odds. His memoir, I Dream of Things That Never Were: The Ken Kunken Story, details his incredible journey of breaking barriers and proving that a positive mindset and a strong support system can change everything. This episode is sponsored by the Harford County Health Department, promoting their free 12-month Diabetes Prevention Program, designed to help individuals manage weight, diet, stress, and physical activity. Learn more at HarfordCountyHealth.com/diabetes-prevention. https://kenkunken.com/ Sponsor Message:This episode of Conversations with Rich Bennett is proudly sponsored by the Harford County Health Department. Did you know that 1 in 3 adults in the U.S. is pre-diabetic, and most don't even know it? Taking charge of your health starts with awareness—and action. The Harford County Health Department's Diabetes Prevention Program is a FREE, 12-month program designed to help you:·         Lose weight and maintain a healthy lifestyle·  Send us a textHarford County Health DepartmentTo protect, promote, and improve the health, safety, and environment of Harford County residents.Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you.Support the showFollow the Conversations with Rich Bennett podcast on Social Media:Facebook – Conversations with Rich Bennett & Harford County LivingFacebook Group (Join the conversation) – Conversations with Rich Bennett podcast group | FacebookTwitter – Conversations with Rich Bennett & Harford County LivingInstagram – Harford County LivingTikTok – CWRB (@conversationsrichbennett) | TikTok Sponsors, Affiliates, and ways we pay the bills:Recorded at the Freedom Federal Credit Union StudiosHosted on BuzzsproutRocketbookSquadCast Contests & Giveaways Subscribe by Email ...

Thank you for listening to this BONUS episode of Bawk Tawk, Welcome to Chickenlandia's 100% Friendly Backyard  Chickens Show! In this bonus episode, I answer various backyard chicken questions winter chicken keeping and caring for baby chicks. Hope you love it!Order my new book Let's All Keep Chickens! here.Become a more confident chicken keeper with my new online course: Backyard Chickens 101 - A Chicken Course for Everyone. Click here for more.Join my mailing list and become part of Chickenlandia NationLearn more about Scratch and Peck Feeds and use the coupon code "chickenlandia15" for 15% off your first three purchases! Click here.Check out My Favorite Chicken for all your chicken needs and use the coupon code “chickenlandia10” for 10% off your first order!Check out Small Pet Select and use the promo code SPSFLOCK15 for 15% off!Buy all your REAL SALT and Redmond Agriculture Favorites here and use the coupon code CHICKENLANDIA for 15% off!I love the grubs and omega mix from Grubbly Farms! Click here to check them out.Check out my TEDX Talk "I Dream of Chickens"Visit Welcome to Chickenlandia's website by clicking here!Submit your own chicken question here!Check out Welcome to Chickenlandia on YouTube by clicking here!Watch my TEDx Talk: I Dream of ChickensFind Welcome to Chickenlandia on:FacebookInstagram Twitter Write to us!Welcome to Chickenlandia™2950 Newmarket Street, Ste 101, PBM 125Bellingham, WA 98226Disclaimer Notice: The content of the Welcome to Chickenlandia YouTube Channel, podcast, website, blog, vlog, and all social media is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional veterinarian advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Dependence on any information appearing on the Welcome to Chickenlandia YouTube Channel, website, blog, vlog, and social media sites is entirely at your own risk. Please do your own research and make your own informed decisions regarding the health of your chickens.The President of Chickenlandia has a new book now available called Let's All Keep Chickens! Order yours today by clicking here.

In today's episode, Alex sits down with Joe Pollock, one half of Joe & Clayton Start a Film Photography Podcast, to talk about everything photography, starting a film podcast today and much more! The pair talk about cameras (Leica & Nikon), the joys of being dads, choices in film, and love of photography. Surprisingly, not a single dad joke was shared during the entire episode! Last year and this month, two natural disasters directly affected tens of thousands of Americans; among them, we're sure are listeners of this podcast and members of the film podcasting community—the floods in North Carolina and, more recently, the fires in California. The fires and floods have destroyed thousands of homes, including that of Gabe Sachs, one of the hosts of the smash-hit podcast I Dream of Cameras, and displaced the guys behind Joe & Clayton Start and Film Photography Podcast. If you can, please consider donating to the American Red Cross and under "I Want to Support", select Disaster Relief. If you want to follow along with the Joe & Clayton Start a Film Photography Podcast, You can: Subscribe: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/joe-and-clayton-make-a-film-photography-podcast/id1761165698 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/j_and_c_start_a_podcast/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joepollockphotos/ Website: https://joepollockphotography.com/

Candle-extinguishing butts, 3am afterparties, collections of seamen (and semen)--this dishy tour of Langston Hughes's love life will leave you gagging with the gays.Please Support Breaking Form!Review the show on Apple Podcasts here.Pretty Please.....Buy our books:     Aaron's STOP LYING is available from the Pitt Poetry Series.     James's ROMANTIC COMEDY is available from Four Way Books.SHOW NOTES:Watch Hughes recite his poem, "The Weary Blues" to jazz accompaniment on tv in 1958.You can check out troves of Hughes's poetry here, here, and here. Read Langston Hughes's poem "Café: 3AM"Listen to Hughes read "Harlem." Langston Hughes's first memoir, The Big Sea, about his seafaring travels--including upon the West Hesseltine where he said he had that fateful encounter with a sailor--can be found here.  It includes  the essay "Spectacles in Color" in which Hughes describes queer ballroom scene and Countee Cullen's wedding  to Yolanda Du Bois (with Harold Jackson, his boyfriend, serving as best man).Faith Berry's biography of Hughes is Before and Beyond Harlem. Her papers are at the Library of Congress.Read more about Arnold Ampersad's biography of Hughes:Volume 1 (which covers 1902-1940 and does have a snazzy subtitle: I, Too, Sing America).Volume 2 (which covers 1941-death and also has a snazzy subtitle: I Dream a World).Other receipts for the episode can be found in the following essays and scholarship:Hilton Als, "The Elusive Langston Hughes" (The New Yorker, 2015)Juda Bennett, "Multiple Passings and the Double Death of Langston Hughes" (Biography, vol 23.4, 2000).Link through Project Muse.Andrew Donnelly, "Langston Hughes on the DL" (College Literature, Volume 44, Number 1, Winter 2017). Link through Project Muse.Mason Stokes, "Strange Fruits: Rethinking the Gay Twenties" (Transition , 2002, No. 92). Link through JSTOR.Shane Vogel, "Closing Time: Langston Hughes and the Poetics of Harlem Nightlife," in Criticism (Vol 48.3, 2006). Link through Project Muse.Jennifer Wilson, "Queer Harlem, Queer Tashkent" (Slavic Review , FALL 2017). Link through JSTOR.Finally, visit Ann Patchett's bookstore online here: https://www.parnassusbooks.net/

We are back with the first new episode of 2025!  The Camerosity crew hopes you had a good start to the new year.  Unfortunately, the episode we had planned to have Jeff and Gabe from the I Dream of Cameras podcast had to be postponed due to the wildfires in Los Angeles.  Instead, we went to the Camerosity mailbox (aka Facebook) and did an episode about square format cameras.  We had intended to cover all cameras that shoot square format, but found so much to talk about with 35mm and 127, we didn't have much time for 120 6x6 cameras, so we can save that for a future show! Whenever you talk about square format 35mm, one of the more popular ones for collectors is the Zeiss-Ikon Tenax II, and whenever you mention the Tenax II, the Wes Loder's "Spidey Sense" starts tingling, so we were happy to welcome back Michael Wescott Loder for the first time since Episode 74! Joining Wes, Anthony, Paul, Theo, and Mike on this episode were A.J. Gentile, Ira Cohen, Miles Libak, Mina Saleeb, Robert Coates, and Will Pinkham where they all shared their favorite square format cameras. We attempt to start off the list of square format cameras in alphabetical order with the Altix and quickly move into the Berning Robot and Bilora Radix, but our plan quickly goes off the rails as we jump around the alphabet with cameras like the Akarette (which isn't even square format), Metz Mecaflex, Yashica 44, and the Purma Special.  We also cover the popularity of square format Rapid film cameras from Japan like the Minolta 24 Rapid, Canon Dial Rapid, and Fujica Rapid S2. One of the more sought after square format cameras is the Mamiya Sketch, a camera that Mike has previously reviewed, but Theo desperately wants to acquire to round out his Mamiya collection. Mike shares his tips on rolling your own 127 film using bulk 46mm film, and Will asks for recommendations on affordable entries into square format 35mm.  Although the group is initially stumped, Mike comes up with an off the wall solution that is quite affordable! As always, the topics we discuss on the Camerosity Podcast are influenced by you! Please don't feel like you have to be an expert on a specific type of camera, or have the level of knowledge on par with other people on the show.  We LOVE people who are into shooting or collecting cameras, no matter how long you've been doing it, so please don't consider your knowledge level to be a prerequisite for joining! The guys and I rarely know where each episode is going to go until it happens, so if you'd like to join us on a future episode, be sure to look out for our show announcements on our Camerosity Podcast Facebook page, the Camerosity Discord server, and right here on mikeeckman.com. We usually record every other Monday and announcements, along with the Zoom link are typically shared 2-3 days in advance. For our next episode, we are excited to revisit a topic that we love to talk about, Camera Auctions, specifically high dollar auctions.  Our special guest for the next episode will be Jo Geier from Wetzlar Camera Auctions.  In addition to Jo, we will be welcoming back Dan Tamarkin from Tamarkin Auctions in Chicago.  In order to accommodate Jo's time zone, this will be a "European Friendly Time Zone" episode.  We will record Episode 85 on Monday, January 27th at 1pm Central Standard Time, 2pm Eastern Standard Time, 7pm Greenwich Mean Time, and 8pm Central European Time.  For Theo, and those of you in Australia, this will be very early in the morning on Tuesday the 28th.  Please check your favorite time zone calculator to find out the exact time in your region if you'd like to participate. In This Episode Square Cameras Come in All Format / Using TLRs Over Your Head or Around Walls Eho-Altissa Altix / Altix I Through III Shoot 24mm x 24mm Berning Robots / 90 Degree Viewfinder / Robot Junior Large Wind Knob Robots / Loading a Robot Camera / Accidental Redscale Surprise Anthony and West Love the Zeiss-Ikon Tenax II  Lenses Used by the Navy Required Lens Coatings 35mm Square Format Was Driven by the Technology of the Time Aka Akarette / AGFA Square Format Cameras Usually Shot Rapid Film Japanese Rapid Cameras / Fujica Rapid S2 / Minolta 24 Rapid / Canon Dial Rapid AGFA Karat Film and Bilora Radix Cameras Japanese Bolta Cameras / Sida Extra and Bolta Photavit The Mamiya Sketch is a Sought After Square Format Camera Metz Mecaflex is the only 24mm x 24mm SLR Quite a Few 127 TLRs Shoot 4x4 / Many Called Baby or '44' Cameras Yashica 44 / Adapting to Use 35mm Film Purma Special Shoots 4x4 and has a Gravity Shutter Kodak Vest Pocket / Other Vest Pocket Cameras Super Flex Baby / Karmaflex / There Were a Lot of Japanese 4x4 Cameras Bencini Comet 44 / Czech Kola Camera The Doris 3a probably had a 1a and a 2a / Diana Mini Super Slides Were Popular For a While / Reloading 127 with 46mm Bulk Film Photo Labs Hated Non-Standard Film Formats Chroma Cube / Stereo Cameras are a Cost Effective Way to Shoot Square Format 35mm Links The Camerosity Podcast is now on Discord! Join Anthony, Paul, Theo, and Mike on our very own Discord Server. Share your GAS and photography with other listeners in the Lounge or in our dedicated forums. If you have questions for myself or the other guys, we have an “Ask the Hosts” section as well where you can get your question answered on a future show! Check it out! https://discord.gg/PZVN2VBJvm. The Camerosity Podcast is now on BlueSky @camerosity.bsky.social.  This modern, and clean replacement for Twitter is a nice alternative to cluttered social networks out there.  Follow us there for show announcements and other content. If you would like to offer feedback or contact us with questions or ideas for future episodes, please contact us in the Comments Section below, our Camerosity Facebook Group, Instagram page, or Discord server. The Official Camerosity Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/camerositypodcast Camerosity Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/camerosity_podcast/ Theo Panagopoulos - https://www.photothinking.com/ Paul Rybolt - https://www.ebay.com/usr/paulkris - https://thisoldcamera.net/ Anthony Rue - https://www.instagram.com/kino_pravda/

Ken Kunken broke his neck playing football for Cornell University in 1970, leaving him almost totally paralyzed from the shoulders down. After a lengthy hospitalization, Ken returned to Cornell where he completed his undergraduate degree in engineering. Ken then earned a Master of Arts degree at Cornell in education, as well as a Master of Education degree at Columbia University in psychology. Ken became a nationally certified rehabilitation counselor. He worked for more than two years at Abilities Inc., where he provided vocational and placement counseling to severely disabled individuals. Wanting to accomplish still more, Ken enrolled in Hofstra University's School of Law. Ken then worked for more than 40 years as a Nassau County assistant district attorney, where he became a Deputy Bureau Chief. Ken is married and the father of triplet boys.“I Dream of Things That Never Were: The Ken Kunken Story” was published in 2023.

I Dream of Cameras kicks off the new year with another blockbuster XL episode! Jeff chillingly limns the hundred-degree delta between Jamaica and Iceland, and how the Fuji GA645 and Hasselblad XPan fared in each. Gabe exhumes some old warhorses from the back of the camera cabinet. And they top it all off with some STRONG OPINIONS about a new film-camera book. Tune in for all the fireworks!a scant 13 days after returning from a beach vacation in Jamaica, Jeff jetted off to Iceland for New Year's, toting along the Fujifilm GA645 Professional and the Hasselblad XPan — how did they fare?Gabe recounts a recent photo shoot with the lovely Lyliana Wray, featuring the Nikon D700, Canon Sure Shot Owl and Jeff's beloved Olympus 35 RCin the course of reorganizing, Gabe unearthed a few long-neglected cameras he wants to shoot with:Exakta VX IIaZeiss Ikon Super IkontaPentacon Six TLand the mighty Graflex Super Dat Jeff's behest, the heroes at Ausgeknipst made a PX450 adapter for the Alpa 10 serieswelcome to another edition of Jeff's deeply nerdy “Nobody Cares” Corner! this time he does a lengthy exegesis of camera serial numbers — there's so much you can learn! some examples:FujifilmHasselblad, using the VHPICTURES codeKodak, using the CAMEROSITY codeKonica, using the MY BEST KONICA codeLeicaPolaroid SX-70Rollei 35Jeff reviews Ralph Bellamy a.k.a. Bellamy Hunt a.k.a. Japan Camera Hunter's new book Film Camera Zen. shots fired!! come at me, Ralph!and finally, we take a graceful swan-dive into our Prodigious Mailbag™

The end of the year is almost here, and the guys and I were getting that itch to record something, so on a dreary Boxing Day, we all got together for a spontaneous episode to catch up on what we've been doing.  We did not post the join link this time, but we managed to coerce our friends Dan Cuny and Ray Nason to join us for some post-Christmas camera discussion. To help us find things to talk about, we decided to tackle a request made earlier this month in the Camerosity Facebook group, asking for more detail about Contax cameras which we were happy to do.  We get into some history, some real world reviews, advice, and other Contax nonsense.  Everything from the pre and post war  Contax rangefinders, the East German Contax SLRs, and the Yashica/Kyocera Contax cameras were discussed. In addition to Contax discussion, Mike gives an update on what became of the Detrola 400 he "borrowed" from Roberts Camera, Dan shares his thoughts on his most recent review of the Ansco Memo and we talk about Memo cameras.  Anthony shares his photographic adventures he went on traveling to New Zealand, and Paul confesses his love for adapting Contaflex 126 lenses! As always, the topics we discuss on the Camerosity Podcast are influenced by you! Please don't feel like you have to be an expert on a specific type of camera, or have the level of knowledge on par with other people on the show.  We LOVE people who are into shooting or collecting cameras, no matter how long you've been doing it, so please don't consider your knowledge level to be a prerequisite for joining! The guys and I rarely know where each episode is going to go until it happens, so if you'd like to join us on a future episode, be sure to look out for our show announcements on our Camerosity Podcast Facebook page, the Camerosity Discord server, and right here on mikeeckman.com. We usually record every other Monday and announcements, along with the Zoom link are typically shared 2-3 days in advance. We will welcome in the new year with Episode 84 in which we will be inviting Jeff and Gabe from I Dream of Cameras.  There is a high chance we will spend some time on Alpa SLRs, but there's no telling where the discussion will go with what will effectively two podcasts recording at the same time!  If you've ever wondered what it is like to have "too many cooks in the kitchen", this is the episode for you!  We will record on Monday, January 13th 7pm Central Standard Time and 8pm Eastern Standard Time. In This Episode Mike's Update on the Detrola 400 / Other Premium American Rangefinders / Ektra, Bell & Howell Foton, Clarus, Perfex Allen Wade is Ray, Paul, and Mike's Source for Camera Repair Mr Zhang Modifies Hasselblad Backs / Mike Didn't Like the Hasselblad SWC Paul Wishes for a 6x9 Mamiya 7 / Fuji 6x9s / Texas Leicas Dan Cuny Talks About His Review Process / Ansco Memo and Agfa Memo Cameras Dan is Curious About the Beier Beira / Voigtländer Prominent Paul's Friend Made a 240 Degree Panoramic Mamiya RB67 Tim Floyd is Contax Curious / Camerosity Presents: Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Contax Cameras Pre-War Contax I Pre-War Contax II and III Post-War Contax IIa and IIIa East German Contax SLRs Yashica / Kyocera Contax SLRs and Other Cameras Comparing Shooting a Contax and Nikon Rangefinder / Dan Has Never Liked Shooting Contax Rangefinders What are the Differences Between a Contax / Pentacon / Hexacon SLRs Preset Lenses / Contarex Bullseye and non-Bullseye Contaflex 126 / Instamatic Cameras How Did Yashica Come to Use the Contax Name? Kyocera Made Great Knives and Golf Clubs / Contax T and G Series Cameras Theo is Shooting a Pentacon Six, KMZ Horizont, and Canon 7 Gallus Derlux and Foth Derby / Theo Has a Jolly Look from Antony Hands Mike Picks Up a Taron Supra V18 / Ray Picks Up an Exakta with an Ansco TLR Lens on It Anthony Just Got Back from New Zealand / Voigtländer Bessa and Perkeo II / Anthony Gets a Clip-On Meter Zeiss-Ikon Ikoflex TLRs / What's Next Links The Camerosity Podcast is now on Discord! Join Anthony, Paul, Theo, and Mike on our very own Discord Server. Share your GAS and photography with other listeners in the Lounge or in our dedicated forums. If you have questions for myself or the other guys, we have an “Ask the Hosts” section as well where you can get your question answered on a future show! Check it out! https://discord.gg/PZVN2VBJvm. The Camerosity Podcast is now on BlueSky @camerosity.bsky.social.  This modern, and clean replacement for Twitter is a nice alternative to cluttered social networks out there.  Follow us there for show announcements and other content. If you would like to offer feedback or contact us with questions or ideas for future episodes, please contact us in the Comments Section below, our Camerosity Facebook Group, Instagram page, or Discord server. The Official Camerosity Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/camerositypodcast Camerosity Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/camerosity_podcast/ Theo Panagopoulos - https://www.photothinking.com/ Paul Rybolt - https://www.ebay.com/usr/paulkris - https://thisoldcamera.net/ Anthony Rue - https://www.instagram.com/kino_pravda/

Thank you for listening to this BONUS episode of Bawk Tawk, Welcome to Chickenlandia's 100% Friendly Backyard  Chickens Show! In this bonus episode, I answer various backyard chicken questions sent to me on YouTube. We chat about Frostbite in Chickens, Molting in Winter, Keeping Chicks Warm, and more. Hope you love it!Order my new book Let's All Keep Chickens! here.Become a more confident chicken keeper with my new online course: Backyard Chickens 101 - A Chicken Course for Everyone. Click here for more.Join my mailing list and become part of Chickenlandia NationLearn more about Scratch and Peck Feeds and use the coupon code "chickenlandia15" for 15% off your first three purchases! Click here.Check out My Favorite Chicken for all your chicken needs and use the coupon code “chickenlandia10” for 10% off your first order!Check out Small Pet Select and use the promo code SPSFLOCK15 for 15% off!Buy all your REAL SALT and Redmond Agriculture Favorites here and use the coupon code CHICKENLANDIA for 15% off!I love the supplements and other products from Grubbly Farms! Click here to check them out.Learn all the ways to preserve eggs so you can eat them all winter by clicking here: Homesteading Family's Preserving Eggs Class. Use the coupon code CHICKENLANDIA for 25% off (offer valid through Jan 1, 2025)!Check out my TEDX Talk "I Dream of Chickens"Visit Welcome to Chickenlandia's website by clicking here!Submit your own chicken question here!Check out Welcome to Chickenlandia on YouTube by clicking here!Watch my TEDx Talk: I Dream of ChickensFind Welcome to Chickenlandia on:FacebookInstagram Twitter Write to us!Welcome to Chickenlandia™2950 Newmarket Street, Ste 101, PBM 125Bellingham, WA 98226Disclaimer Notice: The content of the Welcome to Chickenlandia YouTube Channel, podcast, website, blog, vlog, and all social media is for informational purposes only and is not intended to be a substitute for professional veterinarian advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Dependence on any information appearing on the Welcome to Chickenlandia YouTube Channel, website, blog, vlog, and social media sites is entirely at your own risk. Please do your own research and make your own informed decisions regarding the health of your chickens.The President of Chickenlandia has a new book now available called Let's All Keep Chickens! Order yours today by clicking here.

Look, sometimes we get things wrong. Ok, we get things wrong all the time. But we were very surprised Dave Bond didn't go deeper, as we say goodbye to him on Monday and hello to Bill McKinley and Ashley Chan, who both have a nice week. And we have a nice week too, as John coordinates a Jeopardy! surprise for his Blocked Party cohost Stefan Heck, J! continues their run of Final Jeopardy clues that swing wildly from quite difficult to dead easy, and Emily is really, really committed to getting out of PE. Plus, we dive deep on "I Dream of Jeannie" and its creator, Sidney Sheldon. SOURCE: Forbes: "'I Dream of Jeannie' Home, A Jim Beam Whiskey Bottle, Expected to Fetch $100,000 At Auction" by Roberta Naas; New York Times: "Sidney Sheldon, Author of Steamy Novels, Dies at 89" by Margalit Fox Special thank you as always to the J-Archive and The Jeopardy! Fan. This episode is produced by Producer Dan. Music by Nate Heller. Art by Max Wittert.

In 1970, while a junior in Cornell University's College of Engineering, Ken Kunken broke his neck making a tackle on a kick-off in a lightweight football game against Columbia University. Ken sustained a spinal cord injury at the C 4-5 level, rendering him a quadriplegic, almost totally paralyzed from the shoulders down. Ken spent more than 9 months in various hospitals and rehabilitation facilities. While still a patient, Ken testified before a United States Senate Sub-Committee on Health Care, chaired by Senator Edward Kennedy.  In 1971, almost 20 years before the Americans with Disabilities Act, Ken returned to the Cornell campus, where he completed his undergraduate degree in Industrial Engineering. Ken estimates that he had to be pulled up or bounced down close to 100 steps just to attend his first day of classes.  Ken is the first quadriplegic to graduate from Cornell University.  Upon graduation, Ken decided to change his career goal. He wanted to work with and help people, particularly those with disabilities. Ken went on to earn a Master of Arts degree at Cornell in education and a Master of Education degree at Columbia University in psychology. Ken is the first quadriplegic to earn a graduate degree from Cornell University.  In 1977, Ken was hired by Abilities Inc. in Albertson, NY to be its College Work Orientation Program Coordinator. Ken coordinated a program which provided educationally related work experiences for severely disabled college students. He also maintained a vocational counseling caseload of more than 20 severely disabled individuals.  While working at the Center, Ken became a nationally certified rehabilitation counselor and made numerous public presentations on non-discrimination, affirmative action and employment of the disabled. In 1977, Ken was named the Long Island Rehabilitation Associations “Rehabilitant of the Year” and in 1979 Ken was the subject of one of the Reverend Norman Vincent Peale's nationally syndicated radio broadcasts “The American Character”.  Wanting to accomplish still more, Ken enrolled in Hofstra University's School of Law, where he earned a Juris Doctor degree in 1982. Ken then went to work as an assistant district attorney in Nassau County, Long Island.  Ken was promoted a number of times during his more than 40 years with the District Attorney's Office, eventually becoming one of the Deputy Bureau Chiefs of the County Court Trial Bureau, where he helped supervise more than 20 other assistant district attorneys. In addition, over his years working in the Office, Ken supervised more than 50 student interns.  In 1996 Ken received the Honorable Thomas E. Ryan, Jr. Award presented by the Court Officers Benevolent Association of Nassau County for outstanding and dedicated service as an Assistant District Attorney. In 1999, Ken was awarded the George M. Estabrook Distinguished Service Award presented by the Hofstra Alumni Association, Inc.  Beginning in 2005, for nine consecutive years, “The Ken Kunken Most Valuable Player Award” was presented annually by The Adirondack Trust Allegiance Bowl in Saratoga Springs, NY, in recognition of Ken's personal accomplishments, contributions to society and extraordinary courage.  In 2009, Ken became a member of the Board of Directors of Abilities Inc., and in 2017 he became a member of the Board of Directors for the parent company of Abilities Inc., the Viscardi Center.  In 2020, Ken was inducted into “The Susan M. Daniels Disability Mentoring Hall of Fame,” as a member of the class of 2019.  In March 2024, Ken was named one of the Long Island Business News Influencers in Law.  Ken retired from full-time employment in 2016, but continued to work with the District Attorney's Office for the next eight years in a part time capacity, providing continuing legal education lectures and litigation guidance.  For years, Ken has tried to inspire people to do more with their lives. In October 2023, Ken's memoir “I Dream of Things That Never Were: The Ken Kunken Story” was published.  In 2003 Ken married Anna and in 2005 they became the proud parents of triplet boys: Joey, Jimmy and Timmy. On June 23, 2023 the triplets graduated from Oceanside High School, fifty-five years after Ken had graduated from the same school. 3 Top Tips 1 . Try to improve your knowledge, your skills and your performance. Get the best education possible, and never stop learning. Don't be satisfied with the status quo.  2 . Strive to make the impossible, possible. Just because something has not been done before, does not mean that you cannot do it now.  3 . Find time to help others. Years from now be able to say that you did everything you possibly could to make not only your life, but the lives of those around you better as well. Social Media https://www.facebook.com/ken.kunken  https://www.instagram.com/ken.kunken/  https://www.linkedin.com/feed/

“The Joker Is a Card” (October 14, 1965) Nearly two hundred episodes later, we're finally returning to Bewitched to give Uncle Arthur a proper introduction. And while he's a big part of Bewitched's gay fandom, Paul Lynde brings a lot of baggage to the role that taught Americans to laugh at eccentric gay weirdos everywhere. This episode featured a lot of references to previous episodes, so here are all of those, for your listening pleasure: The previous GEE about Bewitched (but honestly this new episode is better) Our episode about I Dream of Jeannie Our episode about The Addams Family, which deals with similar themes of ethnicity/culture erasure The GEE/Monday Afternoon Movie crossover episode about the Paul Lynde Halloween Special The Monday Afternoon Movie episode about The Legend of Lizzie Borden, which starred Elizabeth Montgomery and Katherine Helmond And finally the Monday Afternoon Movie episode about the Star Wars Holiday Special, with special guest Bruce Villance Finally, the Hollywood Squares zingers all come from this YouTube compilation.

Phil has one particular way to guarantee that no snakes or gators will interfere with his baptisms any more, but Jase isn't so sure it's foolproof. Al fondly looks back on shows like “I Dream of Jeannie” but Jase admits that the genie costume kept him distracted from the show's deeper meaning. God isn't a million miles away; he is near each of us, and the real battle isn't trying to stay out of hell; it's choosing to keep evil out of us. In this episode: Hebrews 10, verses 9-12; Mark 10, verses 49-52; James 3, verses 13-17; Ephesians 1, verses 1-10; Ephesians 2, verses 6-9 “Unashamed” Episode 921 is sponsored by: https://policygenius.com/phil — Get FREE life insurance quotes and see how much you could save! https://philmerch.com — Get your “Unashamed” mugs, shirts, hats & hoodies! https://ICouldBeWrongButIDoubtIt.com/ — Get your copy of Phil's best-selling new book now! -- Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices