Podcasts about judging

It's the final episode of the year! Joel sees off 2025 with an strangely impressive display of obscure shape naming. Judging by the ep title, he's rather impressed with himself. Hannah's just worried that if Wilde develops his father's rare talent that he won't exactly be the coolest kid in school.The team also decide on their New Year's resolutions and look back to see whether they've managed to tick off this year's… gold star for anyone remembering before Producer Joe does!Never Have I Ever will return on Monday 19th January 2026 - have the merriest of Christmases and very happy New Year!Email: Hello@NeverEverPod.comInstagram: @NeverEverPodTikTok: @nevereverpodThis episode contains explicit language and adult themes that may not be suitable for all listeners.Thanks for listening. Please subscribe and leave a five star review!

Rev. Dr. Kevin Womack | John 7:1-24Sermon Questions

Pining for Madison: Part 2 We make our own assignments. By Secretauthor2021, in 5 parts. Listen to the ► Podcast at Explicit Novels.   "This stuff is warmer than I'd thought it would be and so thick." "It's a nightmare to get out of hair too," I added. "Just as well I shave everything then isn't it." Madison climbed back on to the bed and laid down next to me. We both stared at the ceiling. Madison turned her head to the side to face me, so I mirrored her. I could see her eyes looking directly into mine. "Thanks again for doing this Adam, I don't know many people who would have gone to these lengths to help me out." "It's me who should be thanking you. I enjoyed it." "I bet you did." "No not that, I mean I enjoyed that. God did I enjoy that bit, but I enjoyed spending time with you." Madison smiled. "I enjoyed spending time with you too, and I also enjoyed the other thing too." It was my turn to smile at her this time. Madison then leaned over and kissed me on the lips. It wasn't a long kiss, but it was a nice one. Her lips were so amazingly soft as they pressed against mine. As she pulled away, she paused for a reaction. I felt my face light up, it was like I was the happiest I'd have ever felt. She must have seen that as a sign, as she kissed me again, this time for longer. We were properly making out now. I felt her tongue slip into my mouth, which was an incredible feeling. Our tongues danced together as we continued to kiss. With our mouths starting to ache, we stopped. We couldn't stop smiling at each other. "Well, that was unexpected." "Was it though? I did just give you a hand job. I don't exactly dole those out to all the boys, ya know," she said continuing to beam at me. "Ha, I guess you're right." Madison sat up, propping her hands behind her and looking at her naked lower half. "I guess I better put my trousers back on. Otherwise, who knows what will happen." She joked. She then turned and looked at my crotch. "Awe, he's gone all little again." She then proceeded to bop the end of my cock. Her touch sent a tingle through my cock and it twitched again. "Oops, looks like I provoked it." I sat up, resting on my elbows. "Do you mind?" I said trying not to laugh. "I don't, no." She said smiling. Madison walked over to where she took off her panties and bent over to pick them up, showing me how fantastic her ass looked. She slipped a leg in each hole and pulled them up. I pulled up my underwear and trousers. "Madison." "Yes Adam," she replied, mimicking my formality. "About that kiss." "What about it?" "Was that an in the moment kind of thing, or was it something else?" "Why? What do you want it to be?" She replied, flipping my question back at me. "I kind of want it to mean something else." She was about to put on her trousers then stopped. "Huh, that's funny, I was thinking the same thing." She replied, smiling at me and then continuing to put her leggings back on. This was my chance, there was no better time to ask, than right now. I'm going to do it. "Madison, will you go out with me?" "After what we just did, Hell yes! I'll go out with you." "Sweet." "Besides, we've still got an assignment to finish remember. May be you can come round Friday night, it's the bouncers day off." "Friday night it is." I confirmed. After tidying up, Madison walked me downstairs to the front door, and we paused on the outside doorstep. She closed the door, so we were both standing outside. "I hope you found our study session informative. I know I did." Madison said jokingly. "Oh yes, very informative. I look forward to completing the assignment Friday night." "I can't wait." With that, she kissed me again on the lips. "See ya." I walked backwards down the garden path, unable to take my eyes off her. As I reached the end of the path, she waved at me and went inside the house. The second the front door closed, I jumped up and a punched the air. After all these years of pining for Madison, I had finally done it. I had asked her to go out with me and she said Yes! plus as a bonus she gave me my first hand job. From that point on, I couldn't quite remember how I got home. I was on such a high, I presumed I just floated back. When I got back, both my parents were in the kitchen. My mom was making something to eat and my dad was sitting at the table doing the crossword. "Hey," They both stopped what they were doing and looked at me. "Well, how did it go?" My dad asked. "Judging by that smile on his face, I'd say pretty well. Am I right Adam?" My mom added. "Yeah, it went well." "Did you ask her out?" "Yes mom, I asked her out." I said somewhat exasperated. "And did she say yes. What am I saying, of course she said yes. Who wouldn't say yes to my little boy." "Mom! Yes, she said yes." "Way to go son!" My dad chimed in. "Well, now you have a girlfriend, maybe you won't need to spend so long in the shower anymore," My mom said teasingly. "Mom!" I snapped back, cringing of embarrassment. Dad started chuckling to himself. "I'm going to my room," I announced, unable to take any more of this conversation. I quickly left the kitchen and marched upstairs to my room. Closing the door behind me, I tossed my bag in the corner and just collapsed on my bed, letting my evening all sink in. Holy fuck, I thought to myself. It's like my brain couldn't quite process everything that had happened. Madison, the girl who I had worshipped for so long, completely blindsided me. I had no idea, she was so... so unpredictable and so sexually curious. How a random science assignment pushed us together. It was almost like one of my school fantasies, one minute you're working and then the next, you're suddenly exploring each other s bodies. Not only did I see her beautiful cunt, I touched it, I fingered it, I brought her to orgasm. She actually came on my hand, holy shit! It all just seemed so unbelievable. I raised my hand in front of my face and stared at it. I may never wash this hand again. ...And that was just what I did to her! What she did to me, blew me away. The way she touched me, held it in her soft, silky smooth hands. Her genuine curiosity about it, and then she thought nothing of jumping on top of me and giving me the hand job of my life. I could feel myself getting hard, just replaying it in my mind. Then, there was the kiss. My first kiss, the best kiss. Oh, how her lips felt against mine. I could have kissed her all night. I found myself smiling so hard, my face started to ache again. Then it dawned on me, and I bolted upright. Friday, what's going to happen Friday. Is she going to want to do it? Are we actually going to have sex? If we do, are we doing it for the assignment or because she really wants to have sex with me? I started to freak out. What if I'm no good at it? What if I don't last very long? Oh my god, what if I can't get it up? Will she laugh at me, will she tell everyone at school? Would she stop seeing me? My best dream, could soon become my worst nightmare. I had to stop myself, from spiraling. I sat at the edge of the bed and took several deep breaths, eventually calming myself down. One step at a time, I told myself. Friday was only two days away, plenty of time to prepare. I tried not to think about it too much, but it was all I thought about. Thursday came around, and once again. I just made it to the bus on time. As I jumped on, there was Madison in the front row, looking like her gorgeous self as usual. "Hey Adam," She greeted, giving me one of her biggest and best smiles. "Hey Madison," I replied, smiling back at her. If there was a seat free next to her, I would have sat down and left Ethan on his own, but no such luck. I carried on walking and plonked myself down next to Ethan. "So, how did your study session go with Madison?" Ethan asked. "It was good," I said, deciding to do the gentlemanly thing and omit all the explicit activities. "So, did you ask her out? Like I told you to do?" "Yeah, I did." "Well, don't keep me hanging bro. What did she say?" "She said yes." "Holy shit man, that's huge. You've been pining after her for years and now it's finally happening." "I know." "So, why don't you seem excited about it?" "Oh, I am excited, the best I've ever felt to be honest. But a part of me is like, what if I'm not good enough for her." "Dude, you can't think like that." "I can't help it Eth." "Look, just take each day as it comes." Surprisingly, Ethan was wise counsel today. He was right, take each day as it comes. He was a good friend, and I felt a little guilty, thinking I'd ditch him to sit next to Madison if the opportunity arose. With the school day fully underway, we carried on as normal. When it was time for lunch, I told Ethan I was going to find Madison and to not wait up. I found Madison by her locker, talking to her friend. "Hey." "Oh hey Ad," Madison replied. Her friend looked at me and smiled and then looked back at Madison. "I'll give you two love birds some privacy," she said, then giggled to herself and walked off. "Sorry about Becky, I kind of told her we were going out now and she's been like that all day." "Oh, and don't worry I didn't tell her about every little thing." "Little? You're going to give me a complex," I replied, keeping a straight face. "No, sorry, I didn't mean it was little, I just meant..." "Relax, I'm just messing with you." Now that I had finally asked her out, my nerves, just seemed to vanish. I felt more confident now. Madison pushed at my chest lightly. "So, are we still on for Friday?" She then asked. "Sure, what time do you want me?" "All the time." She replied, with a mock sexy voice. I laughed, "seriously now, what time?" "Okay, okay, shall we say seven this time? I promised Becky I'd go to the mall with her straight after school." "Seven is good. I'll see you then." I was in the process of walking off, when she called out, "don't forget to make sure there's plenty of lead in your pencil." I turned around to see her smiling and giggling to herself. She then blew me a kiss. I smiled back at her, albeit slightly embarrassed by her remark. She was either referring to my earlier efforts to draw her, or she had plans for something else. Either way I was excited for what Friday will bring. Thursday quickly became Friday, and it was time for another study session with my girl Madison. It felt so good to say that in my head, 'my girl'. I was actually dating Madison, well I say dating, we haven't technically gone out on a date yet, but we're getting there. With seven o'clock fast approaching. I went to get ready. First stop, the bathroom. Locking the door, I took off all my old clothes that I had worn that day and tossed them into the hamper. Naked, I stood in front of the large bathroom mirror and looked at my reflection. If what I think will happen tonight happens, this is what Madison will see. I stared at myself, breathed in to make my chest bigger, then ran my hand down my body, tracing the faint lines of definition I had all the way down to the thick bush of pubic hair nestled above my cock. I squashed it down with my hand, and my cock did look a bit bigger. I removed my hand and the hair sprung back again. Yeah, it definitely looked bigger. I grabbed the hair trimmer from under the bathroom sink, and pushed the button to turn it on. It buzzed into life. I took one more look, and went to town. The hair fell to floor in clumps. I dusted down, making sure to wipe all the lose hairs off my cock, then looked back in the mirror. There, much better I thought. I put the trimmer back under the sink, and turned my body, for a side profile look in the mirror. Yes, this'll do nicely. I jumped in the shower, cleaned up and got dressed. I even dabbed a bit of aftershave on. I had scrubbed up well and felt ready for anything. As I prepared to leave, I decided against indulging my parents in a conversation, for fear that they would find new ways to embarrass me. So I shouted through the door. "I'm off out, see you later!" I quickly closed the front door behind me and set off for Madison's. Arriving with two minutes to spare, I rang the doorbell. Madison answered the door. "Oh hey, Ad. Come on in." Madison was looking her usual gorgeous self. "No bouncer tonight?" I asked. "Nope, we've got the house all to ourselves." Madison led the way upstairs and I followed her. Getting to watch her cute ass as she went up the stairs was a nice little treat. "So, how's your report. coming along?" I asked, making conversation. "Good, nearly done. I may need to go over a few things again though." She said with a mischievous glint in her eye. I sat on the bed, and once again all of Madison's study books were sprawled out on the bed. "Shall we get to it then?" Madison said, sitting on the bed next to me. "Sure." She turned to the side and grabbed her study book, then placed it on her lap. Flipping through the book, she stopped at the chapter title 'reproduction'. The first page contained a diagram of a penis. "Well, he looks familiar," Madison said, lightly nudging my arm. We both red through the study text on the page. When we were both done, Madison turned to the next page, which as expected contained a diagram of a vagina. "And I definitely remember this," I said, gently nudging her this time. The next page over contained a diagram we hadn't seen yet. It was that of a penis in a vagina, it was one of those dissected diagrams. "Huh, I don't think we've seen this one have we?" Madison remarked. "It's definitely one to read up on." We red through the accompanying information, silently digesting it. "It's funny?" "What is?" Madison replied. "Is that they go to all this trouble of creating these detailed diagrams, but no one actually teaches you how to have sex." "Were you hoping for some sort of tutorial in our biology lesson. Maybe like Mrs. Wrentmore, straddling Mr. Philips on her desk, while we watch and take notes." "Oh, I can't un see that image now, thanks Mads," I said gagging at the thought. Madison laughed and nudged me again. "Oh, that reminds me. I hope you don't mind, but when Becky and I went to the mall, we got you something." "Really?" "Yeah, it's in that bag on my desk." "I feel bad now, I didn't get you anything." "It's okay, you can make it up to me." I stood up from the bed and grabbed the bag from the desk. Sitting back down, I opened it and put my hands in and pulled out the contents. In my hands, were a black lace, and very see through set of lingerie. My jaw dropped. "Well, what do you think?" Madison asked, as if it weren't obvious by the fact my jaw was now resting on the carpet. "I mean, wowsers! it'll probably be a bit tight on my hips though, but I'll give it a go." I joked. Madison laughed. "Ha, ha. You're a funny guy Adam. It's actually one of the many things I like about you." "Oh really, what else do you like about me?" "Well, I've noticed the way you look at me. It's like when you see me, you just look so happy. It kind of makes me feel good about myself, you know." I put my hand on top of hers. "Truth is, I am happy when I see you. Like every time and if I'm totally honest, well, I've kind of fancied you for ages." "Really? You have? Why didn't you do anything about it then?" "I get so nervous, and I was always afraid you'd say no." "Well, I said yes and all it took was a little hand job to give you the courage." "I know, and I can't tell you how happy that makes me." "Aww, you are such a sweetheart." She leaned over to me and we kissed. "Tell you what, why don't we take a quick study break and I'll go and prepare your gift." With that, Madison grabbed the lingerie set out of my hands and left the room. I sat on the bed, just blown away by how genuinely happy I felt. After a few minutes, the door opened and Madison returned. I turned to look at her. "Holy Fuck!" I blurted out loudly. Madison closed the door behind her and leaned against it, with one leg slightly bent and her hands face down on the door, looking sexy as fuck. The bra barely covering her breasts, and the see-through material allowed me to see her nipples underneath. My eyes dropped down her toned stomach, to the black thong she was wearing. She then gave me a quick twirl, showing me her pert ass. "So, what do you think now?" I tugged at my shirt collar. "I think it suddenly got very hot in here." Madison, strode. across the room and stood directly in front of me. "Then perhaps, you need to remove a few of these layers." Madison began to unbutton my shirt. I however couldn't take my eyes off her chest, I just wanted to bury my face in it. With the last button undone, she peeled my shirt off me and tossed it on the floor. She then moved to the button on my jeans and popped it open. She stared into my eyes as she slowly undid the zipper. "Lie back," she prompted. I fell backwards on to the bed, while Madison yanked my jeans off. With only my underwear left, I positioned myself in the middle of the bed. Madison sexily climbed on top of me. She sat upright, directly atop of my crotch and began gently grinding against me. "You like that?" She said in a sexy whisper. I nodded my head. Oh boy, did I like that. I could feel myself get rock hard, to the point where it soon became apparent to Madison. "Umm, some one seems to be liking it." She bit her bottom lip, then ran her fingers through her long, silky blonde hair. She moaned softly and continued to slide along the length of my swollen cock. "You're right, it is getting hot in here, might have to remove a few layers myself." I watched as her hands went behind her back and she unhooked her bra. With one hand she tossed it over the side. There they were, like two perfectly shaped melons. They were phenomenal, from the size, the shape and her dark dusky pink nipples. Madison reached down and grabbed both my hands and propped them on top of her breasts. I couldn't believe it, I was touching Madison's breasts and they felt Awesome! My hands went in to over drive. I stroked, I squeezed, I tweaked, I caressed, I wanted to explore every inch of them. I had to sit up to get a closer look. With Madison still on my lap, I sat upright, my face practically touching them. Madison picked up on my enthusiasm for them and grabbed the back of my head and pushed my face into them. I kissed them, I licked them. My tongue circled her nipples, which had now become erect. I flicked at them with my tongue. Madison, groaned in delight. Things were certainly getting hot and heavy. Madison pulled my head back from her chest. "Are you ready?" She said nodding her head towards the middle of the bed. "Yes, are you?" I asked, making sure she was comfortable with what we were about to do. She nodded her head and when she climbed off my lap, she paused for a moment. "Oh, did you finish already?" She said looking down at the large wet spot on the front of my underwear. I looked down. "Oh!" I said, pulling the waistband from my body and looking to see what happened. I was still rock hard, much to my relief. "No, that's just precum I think. I'm still good." "Phew! Have you got the um..." Madison asked. A look of panic covered my face. "What? What is it? Did you remember to bring it?" "I... I don't know." I quickly bolted up and grabbed my bag. I open the zip as far as I could and frantically emptied the contents on to the floor. "Please be in here, please be in here," I cried out, dropping to my knees. I started fanning out the books in a mad rush. Praying that my erection would hold. That's when I saw it, lodged between two pages in one of my notebooks. The small foil packet handed out by Mrs. Wrentmore in Biology. "Oh thank god!" I got up from the floor, leaving the mess I had made and hastily pulled down my underwear, almost falling over in the process and joined Madison on the bed. The jostling made my cock wag side to side like an excited dog. She tilted her hips upwards and began taking her thong off. She got them down as far as her knees, before I took over and removed them completely, casting them behind me. I knelt there on the bed. Before me was the now fully naked Madison, the first girl I had ever seen naked. Her whole body was sublime. She parted her legs, inviting me closer. I shuffled closer to her. My cock painfully hard, straining from my body as if desperately trying to reach her. I tore open the condom packet with my teeth, then removing it. The condom felt greasy in my hands as I carefully rolled it down the length of my shaft, pinching the tip afterwards. We looked at each other one more time and I slowly lowered my body on top of hers. I kissed her, then tilted my hips forward to enter her. "Um, that's my ass," she said softly. "Oops, sorry," I said apologizing. "I'm not quite ready for that just yet," she said jokingly pumping her eyebrows. "Here, let me help." I felt Madison's hand around my cock, as she lined it up against her entrance. She nodded her head, giving me the green light to try again. My heart began pounding in my chest, this was it. I was going to lose my virginity to this amazing woman. I pushed forward, our bodies making contact as my cock pushed inside her, parting her soft lips. Madison gasped as she took me inside her. I felt some resistance and pushed harder to try and overcome it. Madison's face winced. "Are you okay? Should I stop?" I asked with concern. "No, it's okay, just go slow if that's okay." I kissed her forehead, and pushed again. I was about half way in, then the resistance gave way. Madison let out a cry. I continued to slide in and out of her slowly, while she grabbed my hips and controlled the rhythm of my thrusts. I pushed again, this time making it all the way inside her. I could feel her hands tighten around me. The feeling, although slightly diminished by the condom, of being inside her was out of this world. Her body radiated a warmth and a softness that I craved. Madison wrapped her legs around my lower body and pulled me in closer, pushing me deeper inside her. She moaned softly as I gently rocked my body against her. Her breathing, our breathing rate increased. I could feel her sex tighten around me, her face looked like it was about to scream, but not a sound left her mouth. Her whole body tensed up, gripping me tighter and pushing me deeper. I couldn't hold it anymore, I let out an insuppressible groan as I came, my face frozen in a moment of pure bliss. I held myself inside her, my body continuing to pulse, as if it were giving her everything I had, my body and soul. When there was nothing left to give, I carefully pulled out, holding the condom in place. There was a reddish residue on the condom. "I think you've been bleeding, are you okay?" I asked, carefully shuffling backwards. Madison put a hand between her legs, then brought it back up to her face. There was a trace amount of blood on her fingertips. "It's okay, I think this is meant to happen on the first time." "Ah okay, for a moment there I thought I might have hurt you." I grabbed a handful of tissues from her desk and passed them to her, then took another handful for myself. I carefully removed the condom and wrapped it in the tissues. We took a moment to clean ourselves up, and returned to the bed, lying next to one another. "Was it okay? Was... I okay?" Madison asked. After everything Madison and I had done to get to this point, it seemed strange to hear her sound so vulnerable. "It was amazing, you were amazing," I said gripping her hand and kissing the back of it. "Was it okay for you?" I then asked. "Yeah, it hurt a bit at first, but after that it was intense, you know. The feeling of you inside of me... and when you came, I felt everything. It was so good." The sex itself may have only lasted two minutes, but it was easily the best two minutes I had ever experienced. Period. We cuddled for a while, and could easily have gone a second time, had we had more condoms, but neither of us were willing to take the risk. So we just laid there, talking, joking, laughing, and discovering so much about each other. After all these years, hoping for the day I get to be with her. It finally happened and in the most unexpected way. I can't wait to see what happens next. As for the biology assignment, Madison opted against the inclusion of her pencil drawings. In hindsight it was pretty obvious who her muse was. She folded the paper and kept it in her diary as a reminder of our first experience together. When we handed in the completed assignment, we managed to get an A, no doubt thanks to our hands-on approach to this assignment. Madison asks for a special favor. It had been three months, fifteen days, thirteen hours, and nearly twenty-three minutes since the moment that changed my life. It was the day I officially started dating Madison - a day and an experience I'll never forget. To have the girl I pined after for five years become my girlfriend was truly something else. We were at that stage of our relationship, where every kiss was intoxicating and every touch was electric. Everything was new and exciting, and the sex, oh my god, the sex was sensational. Madison was just as horny as I was, with her sexual appetite easily matching mine. They say men have a one-track mind, but this track definitely came with two carriages. While her parents were happy for her to be dating and even to have a boy in her bedroom, Madison didn't think they were quite ready to know or hear what went on behind closed doors, least of all her dad, who was definitely a tough nut to crack and had yet to warm up to me. So we had to choose carefully the moments for our special 'one-on-one' time. Madison joined me on the edge of the bed, and we sat there looking at our reflection in the large mirror above her desk. Her head found a comfortable nook on my shoulder, and we looked as if we were posing for a couple's photo in one of those photo booths you find at the mall. "God, you're beautiful," I breathed, smiling at her in the mirror. "You keep telling me that," she replied, her cheeks turning a soft shade of pink as if she were embarrassed by the compliment. "But it's the truth. From your beautiful face." I kissed her on the cheek, then moved her long blonde hair aside, planting a gentle kiss on her neck. "To your beautiful neck." "What are you after? Oh wait, let me guess," she teased, a playful glint in her eyes as a mischievous smile tugged at the corners of her lips. She ran her hand up my thigh, before settling over my crotch and giving it a squeeze. "Hmm, I don't think he's quite ready for me just yet," she said coquettishly. "How long have we got until your parents come back from the grocery store?" I asked. Madison pivoted her body to face me, instead of my reflection. "Oh, I'd say we've got at least ten minutes." "Huh, ten minutes, I think I can work with that." I kissed her on the lips, her mouth turning into a smile as I did. "Umm, come on then, get those clothes off mister," she said, relenting to my charm. Wasting no time, I quickly pulled off my T-shirt and unbuttoned my jeans. Simultaneously, Madison started doing the same. After a swift trouser dance, I slid my boxers down and kicked them to the side. "Wow, someone's keen," Madison remarked, as she unhooked her bra, then pulling it down her arms. "Damn straight." With just her panties still left, I grabbed her by the hand and stood her in front of the desk, so we were closer to the mirror. I stood behind her, allowing only her near-naked body to be visible in the mirror. Wrapping my arms around her waist, I rested my chin between her neck and shoulder. "I adore every inch of you, I hope you know that." I said with a deep sincerity. She kissed me on my cheek. "You are such the smooth talker, unlike when we first met. Remember that time in the library?" "Oh my god, don't remind me, you had a way of tying me up in knots. I could barely talk properly." My hand's delicately caressed her skin, as I moved them upwards from her slender waist to her perfect breasts, cupping them, before softly tracing my index fingers around the outskirts of her nipples. With her nipples now erect from the stimulation, I gently rolled them between my thumb and index fingers. Madison moaned softly. "Umm, while I would love the full works Ad, we haven't got much time, so you might want to..." Madison said apologetically. "Okay, okay, I see. So less of this, and more of this." Without my hand breaking contact with her skin, I moved from her breasts, down her stomach and straight into the front of her panties. My finger sliding along the entrance of her mound, before pushing deeper between her lips and finding her sweet spot. Madison moaned, "Umm, yes, definitely more of that." I watched Madison's face in the mirror; watching as it reacted to my touch, her eyes closed and mouth slightly parted, as she tried to vocalize her pleasure. I kept rubbing, my fingers getting wetter and wetter as her excitement built. Seeing her like this got me so hard. My cock pressed against her hip, hard enough for her to notice. She reached behind, grabbing a hold of it and began jerking it, mimicking the speed at which I was rubbing her. I had to slow down, as I knew I wouldn't be able to last as long as her at this rate. I removed my hand from her panties, then hooked my fingers along the waistband on her hips. I tugged at them, pulling them all the way down to the floor. Madison kicked them away from her dainty feet and leaned forward, resting her hands face down on the desk, and backing that magnificent ass of her's into me. Since we started dating, Madison decided to go on the pill, meaning there was no frantic searching for condoms this time and as we were each other s first, STDs were unlikely. I positioned myself behind her, aligning my cock between her legs. Her wetness was evident, as my cock slid alongside the outskirts of her lips. I slowly rocked back and forth, teasing her entrance; her juices coating the length of my shaft as I did. "Umm, stop teasing me Ad. Fuck me already." "Who's keen now?" I said smiling at her reflection in the mirror. She looked back at me, as I angled my cock upwards and pushed inside of her. Madison let out a soft whimper. Gently, I rocked my hips, so our bodies moved together in unison. I wanted her to feel me being inside of her a bit longer. She was practically purring at this point, clearly enjoying the sensation. I looked again at her reflection in the mirror, her face twisted in ecstasy. I bucked hard this time, thrusting deeper inside of her. She let out a scream, her hands quickly moving to grip the edge of the desk. I bucked again, and again and again. "Oh god! Umm! More!" I continued again, faster and harder this time. I could see in the mirror, her breasts bouncing with each clash of our bodies. The desk started to wobble and bang against the wall now, as I built up a steady rhythm. Madison continued to beg me for more. "Yes, yes, Umm, fuck me, fuck me hard babe," she cried out. I continued to pound her from behind, her crying out for it only turned me on more. Both our faces were flush now. Madison ducked her head down low, so it was now practically resting on the desk. All I could see now was myself in the mirror, my chest glistening with sweat as I gripped on to her hips and ploughed into her. Our moans were accompanied by the sounds of our bodies clapping against each other. Suddenly, Madison bolted upright, her face scrunched up and giving one final cry as she orgasmed. After two more thrusts, it was my turn. Still grabbing tightly on to her hips, I pulled her closer, burying myself deeper inside her. As I came, my body spasmed against hers, shaking until the very last drop left my body. We looked at each other in the mirror, our faces a glow from the post orgasm high. I kissed her on the cheek. It was then we heard the front door open. "We re back!" her parents called out. "See, I told you we had time," I whispered in her ear. "I don't think I'd have been able to walk, if it went on much longer," she joked. She grabbed a tissue from the box on her desk and passed it back to me. I carefully pulled out and gave myself a wipe down as Madison did the same. Sex is great and all, but there's always the clean up afterwards. Needing to get dressed, I went back to the bed, and bent over to pick up my underwear, when Madison slapped my ass. "Pass the panties, while you're there stud," she said jokingly. As we started to get dressed again, Madison's phone, left on the bed, began to vibrate. I glanced at the screen. "It's Becky," I said, looking at Madison. Madison, who had just put her bra on, held out her hand for me to pass her the phone. She swiped her finger across the screen and answered. "Oh hey, girl. What's up?" I continued getting dressed, unable to avoid overhearing only one half of the conversation. "Yeah, just hanging out with Adam." "Uh huh, uh huh. Don't worry, Beck, you'll find someone." Madison sat down on the bed and continued to talk. I however, had other ideas. With my back to her, I pretended to get dressed, but what I had actually done with my juvenile sense of humor, was to pull my cock out of my fly and emptied my pockets, pulling off the old elephant trick. I turned around suddenly, to show Madison in the hopes of getting a reaction. It worked, and she started giggling. "Behave will you," Madison yelled in between her laughter and grabbed one of the stuffed bears from her bed and threw it directly at me. The bear's button eye, caught me right on the tip of my cock, causing me to immediately hunch forward and clutch my sore member." "Oww!" I exclaimed in pain. "Sorry about that, Becky. Adam is being stupid again. Never mind finding someone; you can have him if you want," she said, laughing again. I feigned insult at her comment while nursing my injury. "Look, I better go. I need to get dressed, but I'll call you back later, okay?" Madison said her final goodbye and hung up the phone. "What are you like? I was trying to have a serious conversation." "Sorry," I apologized. Madison sighed. "Becky is in a bit of a funk at the moment. Since we've been dating, she feels like she's missing out." "I'm sure she'll find somebody. She's nice enough." "That's what I said, but she can't seem to find anyone; she's getting kind of desperate. Not to mention, she feels like a third wheel when we hang out together." "It probably doesn't help, us being all over each other then, does it?" I added. "Probably not, but hey, we have to live our lives, right? Besides, I like you being all over me." I walked over to her, handed the stuffed bear back, and then kissed her on the forehead. "Well, trust me, that's not going to stop anytime soon." I handed Madison the rest of her clothes and waited for her to get dressed. When we were ready, we walked downstairs together, where we ran into Madison's parents. "Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Taylor," I greeted. "Oh hey, Adam," Mrs. Taylor replied. Madison's dad just glared at me in his usual way. "I'll be over on Saturday to sort out the backyard for you." "Thanks, Adam. You're a lifesaver. Old Frank here hates gardening, don't you, Frank? It's getting a bit wild back there." I had tried to make some inroads with Madison's parents by offering to do their garden for them. I thought it was the least I could do, considering what I'd been getting up to with their one and only daughter. It was also another desperate attempt to get her father to like me. I did not want to get on the wrong side of him, that's for sure. Madison walked me out to the front door. "Look, try not to worry too much about Becky," I said, turning to face her. "I'll try, but she's my best and oldest friend. I just want her to be happy." "You're a good friend, Madison, and an even better girlfriend," I said, grabbing her by the hand. She closed the front door behind her, so her parents couldn't see us anymore, wrapped her arms around my shoulders, and kissed me. "And you are an awesome boyfriend." It was my turn to kiss her this time. "Look, I better be off, but I'll see you Saturday." "Can't wait. Love you." "Love you too." She waved me off, and I went about going home. When Saturday came around, it was shaping up to be a bit of a scorcher. I had decided to make an early start on the Taylor's backyard to avoid the worst of the heat. Upon arriving at Madison's, it was her mom who greeted me. "Morning, Adam. Madison's in the shower; she'll be down in a little bit." "Hi, Mrs. Taylor. Are you happy for me to get started?" "Oh, yes, please. I've opened the shed for you, so just take what you need." I walked through the kitchen, where Madison's dad was sitting at the table, reading the sports section of the paper. "Morning, Mr. Taylor," I greeted cheerily. He glanced up from his paper and stared at me. "Morning," he replied in his deep, gravelly voice, instantly going back to his paper. Not much of a talker, either that or he just didn't like me. I suspected it was a bit of both. I continued on my way to the backyard and headed into the shed to get everything I needed. Mrs. Taylor wasn't lying when she said things had gotten a bit wild out here; everything was overgrown. I walked out the mower, pulled a few times at the starter cord, and got to work. I had just finished one length of the lawn when I found myself looking up at Madison's bedroom window. She was standing there, with one towel wrapped around her body and another around her head. I waved up to her, and she promptly undid her towel, quickly flashing me. I smiled and blew her a kiss. She pretended to catch it before disappearing from view. The lawn was taking a lot longer than I thought; a good hour had passed, and I was still no closer to finishing. It was also getting hotter, my T-shirt soaked in sweat and clinging to my body. It was a horrible feeling, so I decided to take it off, hoping it would dry out in the sun. I continued the task at hand, every so often looking up at Madison's window, hoping to get a glimpse and perhaps another flash. This time she was there, and she wasn't alone. I could see her talking to another girl. It was Becky; she looked upset, and Madison was consoling her. They suddenly realized I could see them and moved away from the window. I wondered what all that was about, before shrugging it off, and continuing with the garden. With the mowing complete, I moved on to trimming the hedges. After just ten minutes, Madison and Becky appeared, with Madison carrying a cold glass of lemonade and holding it out for me. It was evident from the redness around Becky's eyes that she had indeed been crying. Not sure if I should say anything, I decided to leave it. "You're an absolute star; I'm parched," I said, wiping my sweaty brow and taking the glass from Madison. "It's looking good," Madison remarked, admiring the hedge I had started on. "Well, no one likes an unkempt bush, do they?" I said, smiling at my attempt to be funny. Madison rolled her eyes at me, but I managed to get a laugh out of Becky. As I looked at her, I was convinced she had just looked me up and down. "So, what are you girls up to?" "Oh, nothing much, just hanging. Becky is going to stay the night, so we're going to have a girl's night. You know, do each other's hair, talk about boys, have a pillow fight in our underwear. The usual girl stuff." "Madison, don't reveal all our secrets," Becky said, playing along. "Nice. Well, if you need a referee, just give me a shout," I said jokingly. Madison and Becky looked at each other for an instant and then back at me. "Well, we'll leave you to it. I'm sure you've got loads to do. I know there's at least one other bush that needs a good seeing to." I was about to give a cheeky reply when the girls cut me off. "Bye, Adam!" they chorused before breaking out in giggles as they walked away back towards the house. To be continued in part 3, By Secretauthor2021 for Literotica.

Send us a textThis week on Running With James, we're pulling back the curtain on what it's really like to judge at a HYROX event. We talk about the challenges, the pressure, and the moments that make you shake your head—especially when racers show up unprepared for the standards. James and the crew swap stories from the grid, break down what it actually takes to put on a smooth, excellent event, and share their final thoughts on this year's TRE: The Running Event. If you love the sport, love the community, or just love a good behind-the-scenes story, this one's packed. Fit, Healthy & Happy Podcast Welcome to the Fit, Healthy and Happy Podcast hosted by Josh and Kyle from Colossus...Listen on: Apple Podcasts SpotifySupport the showBecome a member and support the show:https://patreon.com/RunningwithJames?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=join_link

Host Neil Haley welcomes professional dancer and "So You Think You Can Dance" judge Maks Chmerkovskiy to discuss his transition from performer to judge. Maks opens up about the unexpected discomfort of sitting still after decades of constant movement, explaining how the mental challenge of judging differs dramatically from performing. He emphasizes that the position of a judge isn't something you learn but rather something you earn through years of experience. With 10,000 hours of performing, coaching, and navigating the entertainment industry, Maks brings a wealth of real-world examples to his critiques, making him a consummate professional who has truly earned his seat at the table.The conversation takes a touching turn as Maks reflects on the late Len Goodman's influence on his judging style. Despite not being the closest of friends, Maks found himself unexpectedly emotional after Goodman's passing, realizing the deep mutual respect they shared. Now modeling his approach after Goodman's legendary tenure on "Dancing with the Stars," Maks is committed to bringing "So You Think You Can Dance" back to its former glory while giving it a fresh direction. His goal is clear: the show serves as the ultimate audition for the entertainment industry, selecting not just the best technical dancers but performers who are ready to walk straight into professional work. Maks's passion shines through as he discusses his foundation in dance education, having taught since age 14 and opened his first studio at 17, including mentoring his brother Valentin Chmerkovskiy, a three-time "Dancing with the Stars" champion and world champion, from childhood through his twenties.

God was no longer on Jerusalem's side, instead He was against her, and it was as if He had abandoned her.

One of the greatest challenges of getting sober is the fear of other people judging you for it. Maybe you're afraid of being labelled as an "alcoholic" or being viewed as the problem. Maybe you're navigating people telling you that you "weren't that bad" and to "just have one". Or maybe you're worried about people thinking you're a boring buzzkill now that you're no longer drinking with them. In this episode, my mom joins me for a chat all about letting go of caring what others think about our sobriety - and in doing so, stepping into our own power and freedom.Join me on my sober trip to Costa Rica!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Join my community, the Happiest Sober Hub⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Subscribe to my newsletter for FREE sober tips & inspo⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Watch my sober vlogs⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Shop my sober merch⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Follow me on Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Shop my Amazon storefront⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ShopMy favourite things⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Clear your schedule today to join Dr. Michael Youssef for the next episode of LEADING THE WAY AUDIO! You'll hear a life-changing message looking at what Jesus meant when he said, ASK, SEEK, and KNOCK in prayer. (Matthew 7) Support the show: https://au.ltw.org/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Join Dr. Michael Youssef on the next Leading The Way AUDIO for a message looking at what Jesus meant when he said, ASK, SEEK, and KNOCK in prayer. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/155/29?v=20251111

What will our interactions with our healthcare system look like in the age of AI? Whether you are a patient, a doctor, or any other stakeholder in that system, the question is worth asking. In a world where healthcare costs continue to skyrocket, it is clear we need a radical solution to reverse the trend. The broader challenge is to restore the balance between demand and supply of care, limited by our capacity to train new doctors. Among those relentlessly working on this task are Ali Parsa and his team at Quadrivia. A true veteran of healthcare entrepreneurship, Ali founded Circle Health Group, now the largest chain of private hospitals in the UK, and Babylon Health, the fallen European digital health unicorn that once pioneered the use of AI for remote medicine, symptom checking, and patient triage. Despite all the highs and lows and whatever may have been said about his journey, Ali remains driven by the same mission: making healthcare more accessible and affordable at scale. Today, his efforts are focused on building Qu, which he aims to establish as the gold standard for clinical AI assistants, serving patients, doctors, and the broader ecosystem of actors in the space. In this episode, Ali reveals the inner workings of this formidable tool, showcasing its ability to automate repetitive tasks that healthcare professionals face daily, and the opportunity it offers patients by being available around the clock to advise, educate, and ensure continuous medical supervision. We also discuss the key role of healthcare professionals in the validation of Qu, how to approach the risks and European regulations to make it widely available, and finally, the time and caution required to confidently integrate AI into patients' lives and routine clinical practice. A fascinating conversation that outlines the future of our interactions with the healthcare world! Timeline: 00:00:00 - Ali's journey as an entrepreneur building healthcare institutions and digital health solutions 00:11:52 - Why healthcare is not affordable nor accessible in the current system 00:16:17 - The interactions where AI will play a crucial role in healthcare (including a demo of Qu!) 00:25:06 - An approach to validate clinically the behaviour of AI in healthcare 00:29:54 - Ali's observations on the current struggles around AI regulation in healthcare 00:37:22 - Making AI customisable to accommodate different clinical care practices for similar use cases 00:40:01 - Judging a clinical AI's performance relative to the real performance of healthcare professionals 00:45:10 - Ali's ambition and Quadrivia's plans for the next few years What we also talked about with Ali: Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC) Bakul Patel FDA Lovable Modality Partnership We cited with Ali some of the past episodes of the series: #47 - Pushing responsible AI in health - Dr. Ricardo Baptista Leite - HealthAI As mentioned by Ali during the episode, you can have a read at Thinking Machines Lab's publication “Defeating Nondeterminism in LLM Inference” from September 2025, to dive deep into the nondeterminism problem around the use of LLMs. You can get in touch with Ali via LinkedIn, and follow Quadrivia's activities on their website and on LinkedIn. ✉️ If you want to give me feedback on the episode or suggest potential guests, contact me over LinkedIn or via email! ⭐️ And if you liked the episode, please share it, subscribe to the podcast, and leave a 5-star review on streaming platforms!

The Judging of the Nations

I'm don't love it! On this episode of YCSM, Mario calls RFK Jr an idiot to his face (not a joke), Bob learns every way to pronounce “papier-mâché”, and Brandon struggles to pronounce “Jacobus” correctly!(00:00) Introduction(03:17) Mario's History Lesson(35:52) "Judging a Book by Its Cover" ft. Brandon(56:43) Mario's Chapter Summary(1:31:59) Bob's Chapter Summary(1:53:52) Brandon's Chapter Summary(2:16:03) TV Episode Discussion(2:30:24) Overall Review(2:36:22) Goodreads Reads⁠Support us on Patreon!⁠⁠Here's a video version of this podcast!

We are a family-run international ministry with television, print and online programs designed to guide you through the Bible in one year. From social issues and apologetics to theology, history and science, our mission is to educate, edify and encourage the believer to actively engage with God's Word in all ways.

In today's devotional, Dr. Michael A. Youssef digs into what Jesus meant when He called us to not judge. If you would like more insight into today's devotional topic, watch or listen to Dr. Michael A. Youssef's sermon series Appropriating the Happiness That Is in You: WATCH NOW | LISTEN NOWIf you enjoy listening to the MY Devotional podcast, would you consider partnering with us to proclaim the hope of Christ to a world in darkness by giving a year-end gift? This month, your gift will have double the impact through our December Gift Challenge! Leading The Way is reaching the lost and equipping the saints 24/7 through television, radio, online outreaches, discipleship resources, evangelistic events, Field Teams, and more. Dr. Youssef's Biblically-based messages are broadcast in 28 languages to audiences across six continents — passionately proclaiming uncompromising Truth worldwide. Join us!

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Introduction: Humble Yourself: 4 Truths to Help You (1 Corinthians 4:1–13) Only GOD'S OPINION of me matters. (1 Cor 4:3–5) I've RECEIVED all that I HAVE. (1 Cor 4:6–8) God wants to SHOW everyone how I SUFFER. (1 Cor 4:9–13a) John 15:20 – Remember the word that I said to you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you... 1 Peter 2:21–23 – For to this you have been called, because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, so that you might follow in his steps. He committed no sin, neither was deceit found in his mouth. When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly. The WORLD thinks I'm SCUM. (1 Cor 4:13b) Sermon Notes (PDF): BLANKHint: Highlight blanks above for answers! Small Group DiscussionRead 1 Corinthians 4:1-13What was your big take-away from this passage / message?Paul is once again admonishing them on their divisiveness over “who is the best minister”. Why do you think there is so much content on this subject in 1 Corinthians?How would you define humility? Why does the Bible say that you must “humble yourself”, i.e., that job is on you to do?In 1 Cor 4:6, Paul tells them not to “go beyond what is written”? What specifically does he mean by that? How does this principle apply to Bible study in general?BreakoutPray for one another. AUDIO TRANSCRIPT Good morning. My name is Jeff and let me tell you a little bit about myself.That's such an interesting thing, isn't it? Like, let me tell you a little bit about myself.Or when you ask somebody, "Hey, hey, tell me about yourself." It's an interesting thingbecause the first thing that comes out of their mouths is the thing that they want to be knownas, right? Or known for. Let me tell you a little bit about myself. Do you know where you see this a lot?Game shows, right? Let me tell you a little bit about myself. Or if you've ever watched Jeopardy,it's such a cringy moment. You know, they come back from commercial break and some of us remember AlexTrebek, who's the guy now? Ken Jennings, okay? Like, "All right, we're going to meet our contestantsand tell me a little bit about yourself." I'm always so fascinated with the way they identifythemselves, right? It's so fascinating because some are cool, but some are just really, reallyweird. And I'm like, "You're on TV and this is going to go to syndication and this is going to beseen by millions and this is what you came up with." You know what I'm talking about? Like, youknow, this is our challenger Bill. Tell us about yourself. And Bill's like, "Yeah, one time I showedup to work and I had my pants on backwards." "Oh, what'd you do?" "Well, I just kind of stepped intothe bathroom and turned him around." I was like, "Okay. All right, let's meet Glenda." And I'm like,"What was that? Let me tell you a little bit about myself. How do you want to be known?"Well, I was thinking about that a lot this past week as we get to 1 Corinthians chapter 4,because if the Apostle Paul was on Jeopardy and the host says, "All right, well, tell us a littlebit about yourself, Paul." I think we know exactly what he'd say, because it's here in 1 Corinthianschapter 4. Look at the first couple of verses. He says, "This is how one should regard usas servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. Moreover, it is requiredof stewards that they be found trustworthy." Tell us a little bit about yourself, Paul. He goes,"Okay, I'm a slave of Jesus Christ." Actually, this word for servant in the Greek is "the lowest slave,"like bottom rank slave. And then he says, "Stewards, what's a steward?" Well, in those days,wealthy people would have someone who was like their house manager. They were in charge ofdistribution and spending and inventory. And you know who got that job? It was one of the slaves,still a slave. Why is he saying this? Well, we've seen throughout 1 Corinthians, the issue wasall of this exalting leaders, putting Paul and Apollo, Sisyphus up on pedestals and all thesefactions. And Paul here in 1 Corinthians is saying, "Look, look, look, you're regarding us as worldchangers. You're regarding us as these elite Christians. You're regarding us as celebritychurch planners." And Paul here is like, "Ah, here is how you should regard us."I'm a slave. That's it. I'm a slave.They had this terrible problem exalting the ministers, and it resulted in them exaltingthemselves. We've seen that. The pride with their alignment, like, "Yeah, I'm one of Paul's guys."Oh, yeah, that's nothing. I'm one of Apollo's guys. And they were proud of their alignment,and they had disdain towards others. Like, "Oh, you must be one of those Paul people."Paul here is saying, "Why are you making so much of us? We're just slaves. All we're trying to dois be trustworthy." That's it. We saw back in chapter, I'm sorry, verse 18, rather, in chapter 3,look back there. Paul says, "Let no one deceive himself."We are so self-deceived. And Paul's like, "Oh, Corinthians, you think you're so wise. You thinkyou have it all figured out. You think you're on the right team. You're so full of pride."Again, that's the issue. You looked down to verse 21 in chapter 3. Pastor Taylor covered this lastweek. He says, "So let no one boast in men." That shouldn't be happening. Not Paul, not Apollo's,not Jeff, not Taylor, not your favorite podcast or YouTube's preacher. We shouldn't be exalting anyone.And when we get to this section here in chapter 4, here's what we're going to see. Paul is giving atrue biblical assessment of himself. And he tells the Corinthians, "Look, you have to takean honest assessment of who we are, and, Corinthians, you have to take an honest assessment of yourselves."So here in this passage, Paul's going to be serving up some humble pie. All right? So,strap on your helmet. This isn't going to be a very comfortable message, because Paul's like, "Hey,stop with the pride. Stop exalting people. Stop exalting yourselves. Here's a reality check. Andharvest, we need a reality check." Because it's real easy for us to point to the Corinthians and belike, "Wow, look at all the pride they have. Look at all the problems they have." That's...Pride is in every one of us problem. You realize that. Every single human has a problem with pride,has a problem with self-exaltation. And it's real easy to do that in a church identity. It was forthe Corinthians, and it's easy for a harvest Bible chapel to begin to exalt ourselves.We can look at some of the nonsense that's happening around us in other churches ororganizations that call themselves churches. And it'd be real easy for us to say, "Well,we're the only ones that are faithful. We are more mature than the other Christians.I don't know what their problem is, but I follow this guy or I listen to this guy.That means I'm one of the smart ones. I'm one of the enlightened ones." Andit's real easy to get on the path of pride.That's what we're going to see in this passage of Bible telling us to humble ourselves.Like, "Hey, hey, knock it off. Stop thinking so much of yourself.You've got to humble yourself." You know, so much in God's Word, we see things that the Holy Spiritdoes in us and through us. Yes, but from what I've studied in God's Word, the command to humbleyourself, that's on you. And that'd be a whole other sermon series, but you and I are commanded.We are commanded to humble ourselves so we don't get carried away in our pride.Because humility is the number one characteristic that God's looking for in people. You're not goingto come to Jesus unless you're humble. You're not going to live a victorious Christian lifeunless you're humble. You're not going to have a fruitful ministry unless you're humble. If you'regoing to be humble, it's on you. So on your outline, I want you to jot some things down.Humble yourself. You're like, "Well, how do I do that?" Paul's like, "Well,here's four things that will help you do that." All right. So I hope you had a good Thanksgivingand I hope you're not too full because you're about to have four slices of humble pie.And I don't feel bad at all because I've had to eat this all week. All right.So pray for me and I'll pray for you. All right. Just pause for a second. Please pray for meas I pray for you. Father in heaven, as we come to your Word, let us not be deceiving ourselves.Every single one of us have this drive to put the spotlight on us, to make much of us,to think too much of ourselves. And Father, this passageis certainly going to give us the attitude that you've called us to have.Father, I pray through the wisdom of your Word, by the power of your Holy Spirit,that you would give us the faith to make the choices that we need to make, to humble ourselvesso we can see the greatness of Jesus Christ manifest in our lives.We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Humble yourself. Here's four truths that will help you.These are four statements that Paul made about himself and that we would commend to you tomake about yourself. Number one, only God's opinion of me matters. Only God's opinion of me matters.Look at verse 3. Paul says, "But with me, it is a very small thing that I should be judged by youor by any human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself." Now, quick review when we talk aboutjudge, that's like everybody's favorite verse in the Bible. "Don't judge, don't judge." It'severybody's favorite because they don't understand it. Judging does not mean like, "Hey, don't callme out on sin or you're judging me." That's not what that means. Judging doesn't mean that like,"I can be a jerk and I can't care what other people think of me because of my jerking. Just don't callme out." That's not what judging means at all. Actually, this word for judge in the Greek couldbe translated cross-examined. He's talking about people, listen, he's talking about people judgingyour walk with Christ. That's what he's talking about. Judging your, as he mentioned in verse 2,judging your trustworthiness. Some Bibles say faithful or faithfulness. That's what he's talkingabout. People judging your faithfulness, your trustworthiness. And well, what does that mean toyou, Paul? He says, "Well, that's a very small thing." And in the Greek, do you know what thatmeans? That means the smallest. Your opinion of my spiritual walk does not matter for bad or for good.It doesn't. Here's what I mean. After service, if I was a guest receptionand you walk by and you're like, "Jeff, I think you're a bad pastor."Like, well, sorry, I feel that way, but your opinion doesn't matter. And right now, there's some ofyou that are like, "Yes, I can get on board with that." Your opinion doesn't matter.That's not really my main concern, though. You know what the bigger danger is?It's the guy that walks your guest reception and says, "Jeff, I think you're a great pastor."That's the bigger danger, because then that stuff can start going to your head.Right? You can start to think, "You know what? Yeah, they're right. I am pretty awesome.They nailed it. Come back. Tell me more."But the reality is for bad or for good, the opinion doesn't matter.And that's where there's a danger. I've been talking about this with our ministry team andour conference speakers of these conferences coming up.Yeah, people's opinion of your trustworthiness, your faithfulness, doesn't matter good or bad.But watch out for the compliments, because they're much harder to dismiss becausethey're much easier to go to my head. Look at verse 4. Paul says, "For I'm not aware of anythingagainst myself, but I am not thereby acquitted. It is the Lord who judges me."See, Paul says, "What other people think of me doesn't really matter.Neither does what I even think of myself." It doesn't matter either.Right? You need to have the funeral.I realize I'm probably not as great as my grandma thinks I am.And I'm probably not as horrible as my critics think I am.Either way, it doesn't matter. Because a slave only cares about one thing.That's pleasing his master. Look at verse 5. He goes on,"For therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comeswho will bring delight to things now hidden in darkness, and will disclose the purposes of theheart, then each one will receive his commendation from God." Okay, here's what he's driving at.At the end of the day, there's only one opinion that matters. Who's is it?God's, right? That's it. All that matters is what God thinks of me. He's going to make the final judgments.On your heart. Listen, this verse should knock every single one of us down a peg.Because you see what God's word is telling us? God sees what you do. Yes, yes, he does. Butmuch deeper than that. God sees why you do what you do. Your motives, your thoughts, what no oneelse knows, everything that you do in the dark, God is going to drag it to the light. Understandit with God. There are no secrets. You might have secrets from your family, you might have secretsfrom your spouse, you might have secrets from your boss, you might have secrets from your parents,but you do not have any secrets from God. So are you pretending? Are you pretending in yourwalk with Christ? Well, you might fool me, but it doesn't matter. You're an open book to God,and he's going to judge. Are you sincere? Like, look, I'm not perfect, but I'm sincere. I amsincerely seeking to know and honor the Lord. Jeff, I really am seeking to know the Lord.That's great because the Bible says someday you're going to receive your commendation.As far as humbling yourself, my friends, you will never humble yourself until you get to the placewhere only God's opinion of you matters. You've got to get there.Number two, not only do I need to reckon with only God's opinion of me matters. Number two,write this one down. I've received all that I have. I've received all that I have.Verse six, he says, "I have applied all these things to myself and apollos for your benefit,brothers, that you may learn by us not to go beyond what is written,that none of you may be puffed up in favor of one against another." There is a lot going on inthat verse. All right, let's break it down here because this is so crucial in so many ways. Firstof all, he says, "I've applied all these things to me and apollos for your benefit." You're like,"I've applied what things?" Everything so far that he's been saying about pride and humility,all of this stuff. He goes, "I'm applying all of this to apollos and I for you." In other words,look, all this stuff that he's talking about, this isn't just a preacher thing and it's not just achurch member thing. This stuff about pride and humility, this is an all of us thing.You get that? He says, "Excuse me, we all need to learn not to go beyond what is written."Like, what does that mean? Listen, this is a principle that carries over in everything.You need to learn that you must not, excuse me, you must not go beyond what the Bible says.You must not go beyond what the Bible says.Like, well, what's he talking about? Here's his point. He's telling the Corinthians and he's tellingus harvests because they were exalting others and they had disdain for others and Paul's like,"No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. You need to view people only the way the Bible describes people."That's what he's saying. You need to view people only as the Bible describes. That's it.How does the Bible describe people? Every single one of us were born with a sin nature. We inheritedthat from Adam. The Bible says Adam brought sin into the world and he passed it on to his kids,he passed it on to his kids and he passed it on to us. We were born with a sin nature. We arerebellious against God by birth and by choice and we deserve hell. That's what the Bible says aboutpeople. But Jesus came, God in the flesh came, he died on the cross to take away our sins. Herose from the dead to give us the promise of eternal life and he has commanded us to turn from our sinand to believe in him. And when we do, the Bible says that you are born again. When you do the HolySpirit, God's Spirit Himself comes and empowers you to be who God called you to be. And every singleperson who is saved is saved that way. Spoiler alert. If you're going to heaven, you're going to hearthe same testimony a lot. Like, how'd you get here? Jesus! Look, how'd you get here? Jesus! I'mgoing to go ask this lady, how'd you get here? Jesus, you're going to hear that not a lot. You'regoing to hear that exclusively. Paul's point here is, look, you guys are all messed up aboutexalting people. Look, you need to have a biblical perspective of who we are. Don't go beyond that.Or, did you see that at the end of the verse? If you do, you will start exalting yourself, right?He says, you may be puffed up in favor of one against another. Go beyond what the Bible says,you're going to start having pride. You're going to start to think that you're better than others.And then Paul gives them the Dutch uncle. Look at verse 7.He says, he has three questions. Paul says, "For who sees anything different in you?"Like, we're all the same. The Bible describes this is who man is. And he goes,"Who sees anything different in you?" Like, what, you're something different?You're something special? You're a little snowflake?Like, all you're like, "I know what the Bible says, but I'm different. I'm special. Grandmathinks I'm special." He says, "Who sees anything different in you?" Like, what makes you thinkyou're so special? Right? Next question. What do you have that you do not receive?Get back to that in a second. What's that question, Marinette?What is it that you're in possession of that wasn't given to you?All right? Then he drives it home with this third question. He goes, "If then you received it,why do you boast as if you did not receive it?"Paul's like, "Why are you so fully yourselves? Anything and everything about you,you received that." I mean, think about that. Just think about that for a minute.That's true physically, right? Everything about you physically, you received thatgenetically from your parents.You know, occasionally, I'll meet somebody or whatever, and they're like, "How old are you?"I'm like, "Well, I'm 50." And people say, "Well, you look young for your age."And I say, "Have you been to the eye doctor lately?" No, I don't say that. I don't say that.I just smile and say thank you, or like, you know, I got good genes from my mom. But you know what I'mthinking when people say that? Like, that's very nice of you to say, but I contributed nothing to that.Like, this is what I got. That's just what I got. I received this. You're like, "I'm sorry." Well,I received this. This is what I got. This is what was given to me.You're like, "Well, doesn't that upset you?" It doesn't matter how I feel about it. This is what I got.This is the shade of my skin. This is as tall as I'm going to get. But that's true for you.Everything you have was given to you. But I don't really think that's Paul's mainpoint here. I think mainly he was talking spiritually, right? Everything that I havespiritually has been given to me. Salvation? How is a gift from God? God gave me that.What about spiritual giftedness? Where did I get that?The Holy Spirit. God gave me a spiritual gift. He gave you a spiritual gift that was given. That'swhy it's called a spiritual gift. He gave it to you, right? Oh, by the way, your talentsare given to you by God. You know, the Bible says those are given to you by God.You're natural, what we call natural talents. The Bible says those were given to you by God.Look that up. It's in Exodus.Everything about you has been given to you from God directly or from God through your parents.And you're like, not me. I work hard.Who gave you the ability to work hard?You see, why are you acting like you earned anything?And then Paul gets sarcastic with them. Look at verse 8.Obviously, dripping with sarcasm here, he goes, "Already, you have all you want.Already, you become rich. Without us, you would have become kings."That you did reign so that we might share the rule with you.You see the sarcasm? He's condemning their pride. He's like, "Oh, oh, I'm so sorry. I didn't realizethat you were these spiritually elite and wise people. I didn't realize that youattained a level of spirituality all by yourselves. You didn't need us, Madam President.Oh, I beg your pardon for thinking different."What Paul's doing here is he's pulling them back down to earth. He's like, "You guys think you're sosuperior with your pride. Knock it off. Get off of your high horse. Stop it."Because everything you have has been given to you. How in the world can you boast about that?You know, just imagine this scenario. Imagine that five of our kids from Harvest Academy,imagine I gave them each a quarter. Like, "No, don't spend it all in one place."But I gave five kids a quarter. And as you're walking out church, you see the five of those kids.Those five kids are sitting at a table up here by Harvest Academy. And you stop and listen for asecond and they're all bragging. And one kid's like, "I got a quarter. I got a quarter. Lookhow awesome I am. I have a quarter." And then the little girl beside him is like, "I got a quarter.You think you're great. I got a quarter. I'm awesome. I got a quarter." And then the next kid's like,"I got a quarter." And like, wouldn't you be like, "What are you guys bragging about? Like, Jeff justgave you all a quarter. Like, how does that... Why are you so boastful?" And that's what Paul's sayinghere to the Corinthians. You're like a bunch of kids bragging because somebody gave each a quarter.Knock it off. We're all equal in God's eyes. And equal does not mean the same, but equal does meanequal. You're never going to humble yourself until you get to the place where you recognizeevery single thing that you have was given to you. All right? Humble yourself and here'sfour truths that will help you. Number three, this is a hard truth. All right?Number three is God wants to show everyone how I suffer.God wants to show everyone how I suffer. Pick up in verse 9. Paul says, "For I thinkthat God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, like men sentenced to death,because we have become a spectacle to the world to angels and to men." Paul says,"God put us on display." He says, "We're like the lowest people on the earth." You see the picturethere? Paul says, "You know what we're like? We're like men on death row being escorted to the electricchair while TV cameras all around recording us for the entire world to turn on the TV and watch us."Like, hey, look, there they go. Off to be killed. Look at them. Everybody watch.He says, "That's how God put us on display."And you see in verse 10, Paul gets back into some more sarcasm.He says, "We are fools for Christ's sake, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong.You are held in honor, but we in disrepute."What's he talking about here? It's more sarcasm.See what Paul's saying? Paul's like, "We're out here suffering serving the Lord. We're out hereactually suffering and you're sitting in your little pews patting yourselves on the back."Like, what's going on? Like, well, suffering how? How are you suffering, Paul? Well, he tells usto the present hour, we hunger and thirst. We are poorly dressed and buffeted and homeless.And we labor working with our own hands.What is there to brag about again?Paul's reminding them the following Christ means suffering.I don't really care what the health and wealth church down in the street says about that.And I don't really care what the prosperity preacher on TV says about that.All I care is what the Bible says about that. And do you know what the Bible says?The Bible says if you follow Christ, you are going to suffer.Jesus himself said this, John 15.20. Jesus said, "Remember the word that I said to you,a servant is not greater than his master." Jesus said that a bunch.A servant is not greater than his master. What are you saying, Lord? If they persecuted me,they will also persecute you. See what Jesus is saying?God allowed his only begotten Son to suffer. So you think as an adopted child of God thatyou're exempt from that? You think that because you're adopted that you get a pass on suffering?Listen, God doesn't keep you from suffering. He puts you on display in suffering.Why would He do that? Why in the world would God do that? Are you telling methat God is allowing me to suffer so everybody can watch me suffer? That's what He said.Like why would He do that? He tells us.Continuing verse 12 here, He says, "When reviled, we bless. When persecuted,we endure. When slandered, we entreat."So why in the world would God lead us to suffering?So God can show everyone who's watching how we suffer.So He talks here about being reviled and persecuted and slandered. Have you everseen worldly people react to those things all the time? Right? What does the world do whenthey're reviled or persecuted or slandered? The world reactions are on display everywhere.It's retaliation. It's temper tantrums. I'll get even with you. You can't do this to me.It's pity parties. And oh, what was me? And that's how the world reacts. Listen,God wants you to walk through the same kinds of suffering so that you can exhibit the life ofChrist. Do you realize how awesome this is? That God is going to allow you to suffer so the worldcan watch, so God can point to you and say, "Look at how my people suffer." Oh, you see how the worldsuffers and how they retaliate and how they're bitter and how they're angry. And look at my people.When they suffer, they reflect the character of my son.Look at my people. When they're reviled, they turn around and they look for ways to bless thepeople that hate them. Do you see my people do that? God says, "Look at my people." When they'repersecuted, they don't pack it up. They don't boohoo. I quit. I can't take it anymore. Look at my people.When my people are persecuted, they endure. They are not going to give up.God says, "Look at my people." When they're slandered,they don't slander back. They don't hate the people that speak negatively about them. God says,"Look at what my people do." They entreat. They're trying to reach the people that hate them withthe gospel of my son. Look at my people. This guy sounds familiar, doesn't it?Probably because Peter said something almost identical. Look at 1 Peter chapter 2, verse 21.Look at this. Same thing. Exact same truth. For to this, you have been called because Christalso suffered for you, leaving you an example so that you might fall in His steps.Here's the example. Jesus committed no sin. Neither was deceit found in His mouth.When He was reviled, He did not revile in return. When He suffered, He did not threaten,but continued entrusting Himself to Him who judges justly.You're going to suffer. The only real question is, how are you going to suffer?Meaning, what is going to be your attitude during your suffering?You're going to lash out because your pride was hurt? You're going to humble yourselfand show them the example that Jesus gave you.But you'll never humble yourself until you understand that you are called to respond tosuffering like Jesus. One more slice of humble pie, are you full?You're like, you know what, Pastor Jeff, I think I'm just the right amount of humble.Can we sing and get out of here? There's one more.Number four, something to tell yourself when you start to think that you're so important.Number four, the world thinks I'm scum.Look at the last part of verse 13. We have becomeand are still like the scum of the world, the refuse of all things.Yeah, we're scum. We're garbage. You know that. We are garbage people.To the lost, they think our message is foolishness. You realize that.You realize that to the lost, they would come in here and hear what we're doing,see what we're doing, and they would say, literally, what a bunch of morons.Look, if you're here for a little ego boost, I'd just like to remind you what the Bible says,you're trash. We're all just trash in the world's eyes.You know, when I was a kid, my dad used to say that he had this little saying that he said allthe time. And as a kid, I never understood what it meant. It was this, anytime somebody was actinguntowardly, somebody was acting like a hog or insulting you or being cruel towards you orspeaking perversely or anytime somebody was acting like that, my dad would just say,well, you got to consider the source. I never knew what that meant until I became an adult. Now I'mOh, I get what he's saying now. And I think that little saying of dad certainly applies here.It's like, hey, hey, you know, the world thinks you're scum.Now consider the source. The brilliant world crucified Jesus Christ.This world who was giving their opinion of me took God in the flesh and publicly executedhim in the most humiliating and painful way. All they think I'm scum, huh? Well,I guess I should just consider the source. You're never going to be popular with the world. If youfollow Christ, you're never going to be popular with the world. It's not going to happen. Theythink you're scum. And the truth is, I'm actually much worse than they think I am.I am. My sin is so bad it took the blood of the spotless Son of God to wash my sin away.That must mean my sin was pretty bad.So it takes us back to point one, right? God's opinion is really the only one that mattersanyways. But you're never going to humble yourself until you're okay with the world regarding youas scum. All right. So if our worship team would make their way back to the platform,I just want to leave you with this. If you're ever a contestant on jeopardy,not likely for most of us, or you start to think that you're pretty important,which is actually very likely for all of us, I'm going to give you your speech.When someone says, "So, tell me a little bit about yourself. If you want to be biblical,here's your speech." Like, my name is, I'm only here to please God. Everything I have has been givento me. God wants me to suffer so that the world can see Jesus. And the world thinks I'm scum.Tell me a little bit about yourself. Let's pray. Father in heaven, I just ask again that you woulduse your word to humble all of us. Our sin is so self-exalting, and we start tothink that we have things figured out, or we reached a level that other people should aspire towhen your word says that we should humble ourselves. Father, remind us of these truthsthat someday we're going to stand before you, and on that day,we will learn the truth that it is only your opinion that means anything.Increase our faith, Father. Give us the drive to humble ourselves. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

The series finale is here! We invite London Hearts onto the pod to help us cover the end of the first Marvel Television show. Judging from how London is dressed, I'm sure you can tell she's a fan of Wanda. The final showdown between Agatha and Wanda is here and we have full coverage for you!

A mashup that hits close to home for me! This mini series to close out Season 5 is all about Livestock Judging as a Canadian in the USA. This is a big time passion for me as I was fortunate to compete on several judging teams and earn scholarships towards my tuition. It was one of the best experiences of my life and helped sharpen my skills and talents expending far outside of winning a judging contest. Plus I made friends that are like family and got to see America through the windshield of a 15 passenger van. My Sr College coach used to tell us, it's not about being a judger, it's about becoming a better stockman. I have this broken into 6 parts with different guests. I had planned on maybe a 3 parter but as per usual, I talked way too much. The guests: Part 1 - Jack OattesPart 2 - Riley LafrentzPart 3 - Tyson HertzPart 4 - Lance LeachmanPart 5 - Riley LeesonPart 6 - Codee Kopelchuk This was a treat to put together with some outstanding people in the business. A little bit of looking back and a little bit of the current situation, a great mix of perspectives and insight from all the guests. Thank you to Season 5 sponsors:Klassen Industries Bovigen Reproductive ServicesRK Animal SupplyAngus WorldF'd Up Farming PodcastThank y'all for listening. Please leave us a 5 star rating and review on your favorite app. Kurtis ReidContact us:Lifestockpodcast@gmail.comFacebook @LifestockPodInstagram @LifestockPodTwitter @LifestockPod

Check out this great encore show from November 15, 2023! Bible Study: (1:56) Lk 17:11-19 Leprosy, the Kingdom of God, and the healing power of Christ Letters (19:54) - Parable of the Vineyard (21:33) - Why is there so much suffering? (23:24) - why is the Holy Spirit Lord? (24:04) - Is Hell for real? (24:58) - Judging the Law (28:56) - why did the Samaritan go to the priest? Word of the Day: Pity (32:47) Callers (35:42) - Could you explain why the hemorrhaging woman was unclean and what circumstances for those with the blood issues why where they unclean? (38:51) - Family friend committed suicide; what should I say to the family? (42:49) - Why do we say that Matrimony was instituted by Christ when there was marriages before Christ? (44:59) - Friend was divorced was remarried and then her first husband died. Does she still need annulment? (48:52) - Parisa and Rapture from Thessalonians: Rapture is from the Greek, and Latin uses a diff form of that verb. Could you explain, Father?

Lesley Logan and Brad Crowell break down the powerful conversation with keynote speaker and coach John Mollura, exploring how perfectionism, procrastination, and overthinking quietly chip away at your self-trust. They unpack why these three all stem from fear, how they derail the small promises you make to yourself, and why that matters more than you think. This recap is your reminder that confidence isn't a mystery; it's built through honest awareness and daily follow-through.If you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to LesleyLogan.co/podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/. If you have any comments or questions about the Be It pod shoot us a message at beit@lesleylogan.co mailto:beit@lesleylogan.co. And as always, if you're enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at LesleyLogan.co/subscribe https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/#follow-subscribe-free.In this episode you will learn about:The shift from self-judgment to a seeker mindset that opens new direction.How changing lanes later in life reflects growth rather than starting over.The Big Three that derail meaningful actions by operating from fear.Breaking your own commitments as the root cause behind loss of self-trust.Why honoring tiny choices today makes you a hero to your future self.Episode References/Links:Black Friday Cyber Monday Sale - https://opc.me/bfcmOPC Winter Tour - https://opc.me/tourPilates Journal Expo - https://xxll.co/pilatesjournalCambodia Retreat Waitlist - https://crowsnestretreats.comAgency Mini - https://prfit.biz/miniContrology Pilates Conference in Poland - https://xxll.co/polandContrology Pilates Conference in Brussels - https://xxll.co/brusselsPilates on Tour - https://www.pilates.comSubmit your wins or questions - https://beitpod.com/questionsJohn Mollura's Website - https://www.johnmollura.comJohn Mollura's Free Resources - https://www.johnmollura.com/freestuffEpisode 119: John Mollura - https://beitpod.com/ep119Episode 592: Dr. Jill Allen - https://beitpod.com/ep592 If you enjoyed this episode, make sure and give us a five star rating and leave us a review on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podchaser or Castbox. https://lovethepodcast.com/BITYSIDEALS! DEALS! DEALS! DEALS! https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentCheck out all our Preferred Vendors & Special Deals from Clair Sparrow, Sensate, Lyfefuel BeeKeeper's Naturals, Sauna Space, HigherDose, AG1 and ToeSox https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentBe in the know with all the workshops at OPC https://workshops.onlinepilatesclasses.com/lp-workshop-waitlistBe It Till You See It Podcast Survey https://pod.lesleylogan.co/be-it-podcasts-surveyBe a part of Lesley's Pilates Mentorship https://lesleylogan.co/elevate/FREE Ditching Busy Webinar https://ditchingbusy.com/Resources:Watch the Be It Till You See It podcast on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gLesley Logan website https://lesleylogan.co/Be It Till You See It Podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjogqXLnfyhS5VlU4rdzlnQProfitable Pilates https://profitablepilates.com/about/Follow Us on Social Media:Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lesley.logan/The Be It Till You See It Podcast YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-gFacebook https://www.facebook.com/llogan.pilatesLinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesley-logan/The OPC YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@OnlinePilatesClasses Episode Transcript:Brad Crowell 0:00  These three behaviors constantly derail us from doing the things that we want to do or the things that we say are so important for us. And he said, all three of them share the same root. Okay, what is the root of perfectionism, procrastination and overthinking? Lesley Logan 0:15  Drum roll please. Brad Crowell 0:18  Fear.Lesley Logan 0:21  Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast where we talk about taking messy action, knowing that perfect is boring. I'm Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach. I've trained thousands of people around the world and the number one thing I see stopping people from achieving anything is self-doubt. My friends, action brings clarity and it's the antidote to fear. Each week, my guest will bring bold, executable, intrinsic and targeted steps that you can use to put yourself first and Be It Till You See It. It's a practice, not a perfect. Let's get started.Lesley Logan 1:03  Welcome back to the Be It Till You See It interview recap where my co-host in life, Brad, and I are going to dig into the encouraging convo I have with John Mollura in our last episode. If you haven't yet listened to that interview, feel free to pause this now. Go back and listen to that one, and then listen to this one, or listen to this one and then listen to that one. They're fun, back-to-back, to be completely honest, in whatever order you want to do. And John Mollura, he said this is his second time on the pod. Brad Crowell 1:28  Yeah, the first one he was in the hundos. Lesley Logan 1:27  Yeah. I know. Is that crazy? It's insane. Brad Crowell 1:28  Yeah, yeah. Like this probably puts him almost 500 episodes ago. Lesley Logan 1:34  I know. Who else should we bring back? Send it in, guys. Brad Crowell 1:38  Let us know. Lesley Logan 1:38  Today is Thursday, November 27th 2025 and for Americans, it is Turkey Day. Brad Crowell 1:46  It's Thanksgiving Day. Lesley Logan 1:47  Yes, but it's also for Americans and anyone else wants to celebrate, Un-Thanksgiving Day. Brad Crowell 1:54  That's right. Lesley Logan 1:54  Let's, before people get upset, this is what Un-Thanksgiving Day is. It's also known as National Day of Mourning, or Indigenous People's Sunrise Ceremony, is commemorated on the fourth Thursday in November. That is on purpose, because, well, I'll tell you more in a second, this place, it takes a place on November 27th but it just happens on to be on the same Thursday as Thanksgiving, because it's always the fourth Thursday. And it actually there's a big thing over on Alcatraz Island in San Francisco Bay to honor the indigenous peoples of America and promote their rights. And the reason why we do this is because, well, there's also, naturally a mourning is what they do in Boston, but what they do in happened in at Alcatraz is when it was no longer being used as a prison, the indigenous people went and took over the island, and they lived in it and inhabited and controlled it for 19 months. And it's kind of amazing. It's basically them taking their land back, which is very beautiful on we didn't do this because we'll have episodes come on Monday, but I really love that on Columbus Day, the day formerly known as Columbus Day in this household, but known as Indigenous People's Day, somebody, somebody posted a meme that said a reminder that on this day in 1492 indigenous people discovered Columbus lost at sea, or whatever day it was. I don't know if I heard the year correctly, but I love it. It's like, yeah, you fucking discovered this place. You so. So anyways, if you're like me and Brad, sometimes these holidays are kind of hard to celebrate, because, like, of course, I want to spend time with family. Of course I'll spend time with friends. Of course, we need days off, and we do need some joy, but I think finding new ways to educate ourselves and then celebrate those people is wise. Brad Crowell 3:48  Yeah, or just to have some clarity around the history of a holiday, you know, like, like, like, historically, the Romans would take the conquered people's holidays, and, you know, morph them so that the people could still celebrate, and then over time, things would change, you know. And now, all of a sudden, we have, you know, things like Christmas or Halloween or whatever, you know. And they've been, they've been basically taken over, and Thanksgiving is, is, I don't think Thanksgiving was taken over, but Thanksgiving has a different premise.Lesley Logan 4:22  There's a folkloric story about, like, what happened I'm like this, but (inaudible).Brad Crowell 4:25  But it's, well, it's, yeah, it's well, it's, it's that, you know, we came, we saw, we conquered, kind of thing and we did that. But it's a day of thanks, right? Thanks for this new land that we took from people. So, you know, thank you for that.Lesley Logan 4:41  It's like a bully kicking a kid taking a lunch, going, thanks, man.Brad Crowell 4:43  You know, so so I still think that we can have a day where we we are thankful for the things that we have and family and those things. But I think it's also fair to to to recognize that, you know, like that, like for the native people of this continent. They they want to remember their history too, and the genocide of indigenous people that happened when we came over here, so.Lesley Logan 5:12  Yeah, and I just think, like, Hallmark washing, and no offense to that company, but like, just making everything, like this beautiful day to like, you know, go out and buy decorations and all this different stuff. It's like, I think you can have a day of thanks, I think. But I also think, like, it is, it is important that we're educating ourselves about the people that have been hurt by this kind of stuff, and also, like, have a day of thanks and be thankful for them and what they did on, you know, for this land before we got here. Brad Crowell 5:39  Yeah, Thanks for Thanks for going down that journey with us. Lesley Logan 5:42  Yeah, Happy Thanksgiving Day. Brad Crowell 5:44  Yeah, it's intentionally on Thanksgiving every year. It's the fourth, same as the fourth, fourth Thursday of November. Lesley Logan 5:50  So and you know what? Here's the deal, if you're like guys, thanks, totally understand. You know, honor them every day. And I love Thanksgiving. That is very, very cool. But for some people who are having a hard time right now with this holiday, we just gave you one. You're welcome.Brad Crowell 6:04  Yeah, all right. Coming up it is. We are in the middle of our Black Friday Cyber Monday sale right now for OPC, onlinepilatesclasses.com. Just go to, actually check your emails. But I want to say it's opc.me/bfcm, Black Friday Cyber Monday, for the short link for that. In December, in literally a week, we leave and we hit the road. We are driving to Colorado. We're gonna be in Colorado Springs. We're not gonna review all the days and the locations and all the things.Lesley Logan 6:32  There's 23 of them. Brad Crowell 6:33  There are 23 cities, public stops there. And we have, you know, definitely more than 50% sold out. We are more than that already as we're recording this, and you know. Lesley Logan 6:44  Powered by Balanced Body, so we're gonna be bringing our Controlology line with us. We'll have some prizes from them. You don't have to be a Pilates instructor to come. You don't even have to have done Pilates for you to come. (inaudible) my fucking friends have come, and they don't, have never done it before. So you are welcome to bring a family member or ditch them and say that you have something to do for work. It's important. Everyone understands. So go to opc.me/tour for tickets in the remaining stops. And then what's also happening later in December, because we're not doing a Black Friday, Cyber Monday sale for Profitable Pilates this year, we are doing something special December 26th through the 31st so, but you'll need to have the be on the email list for Profitable Pilates. So if you're not on that list, you need to get on that list, yeah, and go do that. And then after our tour is over, we come home. I fix my roots, I change my nails, I launch a mentorship program, and then we drive out to Huntington Beach. Brad Crowell 7:40  I think I'll shave while you're doing all those things. Lesley Logan 7:40  I mean, you'll have your shave going on, but you'll probably need a trim. So we're gonna go, we'll be at the Pilates Journal Expo in Huntington Beach. It's the first time the Pilates Journal is doing an event in the States. It's a humongous lineup of teachers, some that I, who I used to take from when I was a baby Pilates person, and some that I've taught how to teach. So it's kind of crazy. So you'll want to go to the Pilates Journal Expo to join us on that party, xxll.co/pilatesjournal. Then we're home for a little bit, thank goodness, because, like everybody and their mom is wanting to visit in February, and, oh, there's more in January. Brad Crowell 8:05  Yeah, there's more in Jan. So we're gonna be.Lesley Logan 8:12  It's also my birthday. I don't see that on the events list.Brad Crowell 8:17  For those of you who've been interested in joining us on a Pilates retreat where we hang out, we decompress from all the insanity that this life has for us. Each and every one of us is different. Go to crowsnestretreats.com. Get yourself on the waitlist. In January, we're going to be doing our pre sale, our early bird for our retreat for next year, which will be in October at our home in Cambodia. We're actually going to be doing a call at the middle end of January. It's not yet on the calendar exactly, but we're going to have a call, and we're going to interview a couple of our past attendees. We're going to hang out, we're going to talk about the trip and all the things that everybody's ever wanted to know. It's going to be great. So come join us for that, but you got to be on the waitlist for that. Go to crowsnestretreats.com to get on the waitlist. And then in February, something that is really I'm passionate about as well, is Agency Mini. Okay, so as you know, we coach Pilates business owners, and we have a coaching program and all those fun things. But people ask, you know, often look at it and go, I don't know if I'm ready for a six month commitment. No problem. That's why we created Agency Mini, and it's a three-day program. Okay? Used to be seven. We've shrunk it down to three, because we all know how crazy life actually is. It is a really powerful three days, and you should join us for that. Go to prfit.biz/mini prfit.biz/mini. That's profit without the O.Lesley Logan 9:35  And then we get on our plane for the first time in almost six months. Brad Crowell 9:39  Which is insane. Lesley Logan 9:40  Insane but so delicious. I'm sitting here knowing we have six months not. Brad Crowell 9:45  Of no flying. Lesley Logan 9:46  So it's the really ridiculous thing. But I saw it on the day we were at the airport some reel which is like, Have you ever been to the airport and you realize, like, every time I go to the airport, it is everybody's first time on this earth. And so I was just like looking at people, and honestly, I had more empathy for them. I'm like, well, it's their first time here. And then we pull a move where we like, just stop in the middle of the airport, like you did, like, like people do, and then we're just like, turn and like, I'm like, so sorry. Brad Crowell 10:11  Cutting people off. Oops.Lesley Logan 10:11  Like, I was like, oops, I'm so sorry. It's our first time on this planet. They didn't understand what I was saying. But I laugh my heart out. But anyways, we're home for six months, and then when we get on a plane, it's a big deal because we are going to be in three different countries, teaching in the content, continent of Europe, because I can't say the EU anymore, since the Brexit. So school year, we're starting to right, I have to like London and England is its own thing. Brad Crowell 10:37  Almost positive. Lesley Logan 10:38  I have to say, like the European continent, so annoying, but we'll just say,Brad Crowell 10:44  Yeah, it's considered part of Europe geographically. Lesley Logan 10:46  But not the EU. Brad Crowell 10:47  Although technically it's the European continental shelf. Anyway, no, it's not the EU but it is part of Europe.Lesley Logan 10:54  It's like when we were in John o'Groats, and we had to be so specific, we couldn't say we were at the top of the UK. We had to say we're at the top of the mainland UK.Brad Crowell 10:58  Right. Because there are islands north of the mainland.Lesley Logan 11:01  Or top of mainland Scotland. So okay, so in March, we're going to be in Poland at the Controlology Pilates Conference, xxll.co/poland Karen Frischmann is doing that with me, and it's really fun. We haven't been back there in a couple of years. Really, really great time. Really cool people there. So I can't wait to see you guys. And then the next weekend we'll be in Brussels. Els Studio tells and you want to go to xxll.co/brussels same, two teachers, very different workshops, also private sessions. So choose the adventure you want to go on, check out both lineups, and pick the one you want to go to or come to both and hang out with us in two different countries, why not? And then in April, Brad and I will be at the POT in London. We're very excited about it, it's my first POT in London, (inaudible) I know it's, it's gonna be a great time. It's gonna be a really fun to see all those people. So pick the one you want, my European fabulous people, because that's it for 2026. That's all there is. Brad Crowell 11:59  So xxll.co/poland or slash Brussels. Eventually we might have slash London, but they're not. They don't even have a landing page up yet to buy tickets for that. Lesley Logan 12:08  From the time that we're recording this. Brad Crowell 12:08  Yeah, we're just, we're putting it on your radar. So go to pilates.com and go see their continuing education. That's where they have all that information about future POTs Pilates On Tour. Brad Crowell 12:19  All right, so this week, we had a question for you from Natalie. Lesley Logan 12:25  Hit me with it. Brad Crowell 12:27  @nathalieds9011 asks on YouTube about the video, How to Take Your Pilates Practice Outdoors. She said, hey, how about doing Pilates outdoors during winter in Madrid, which is where I am, winter is not extreme. I have a big terrace, which is where I do Pilates. Since inside my apartment, there's just not that much space for me to move.Lesley Logan 12:43  I mean, if you live somewhere where it's beautiful in the winter, fuck yeah. Do it outside. Tag me in a video. Take one of my classes on OPC, or Pilates Anytime or on YouTube. And I want to see your, I want to live vicariously through you, because, let me tell you, I would love being in Madrid in the winter. Instead, I am in the winter places. Brad Crowell 13:04  I'm in the winter places.Lesley Logan 13:04  I'm in the places where winter happens. But I would, love that's great. I mean, like, when I did that video, I was being conscious of, like, if I say, you do it outdoors, I'm gonna get someone say I can't. It's negative 21 degrees here, and it's gonna be 115 here. So I have to, like, you know, be considerate, because some people just don't feel seen. So you, my dear, are in the blessed space. We actually have a couple OPC members who also live in Spain, and they do their Pilates outside all year long. So please, rock on. Do it, but, but basically, when you're doing Pilates outside, there's just things to consider. You can check out that video we did on YouTube, because I'm not gonna list the exhaust, exhaustive list that I gave on there, but we just did Pilates in Cambodia, and something we have to consider is, like bugs, you know, rain. We can do it in the rain there, because we have a covered patio, but as long as the rain isn't going sideways, which can happen, then we have these things that we bring down to make the walls. So it's not so much water on the patio, but the mosquitoes don't care, so we have to we have extra fans that like make it harder for them to land, you know. So there's just things you want to think about when you're doing Pilates outside, and I have blue eyes, it is really difficult for me to do outside Pilates when there's no cover. I was doing, early in the spring, I was doing yoga outside in the morning, and it was fine, as long as I was in down dog, but the moment I came up, the sun was in my face, and I was like, well, this isn't this is terrible. I need sunglasses, but you can't do sunglasses. You can't work out with sunglasses. So like you just it looks stunning. Just make sure you have things set up so that you're not constantly distracted from your workout, about being outside. You know that's all. Brad Crowell 13:06  Love it. Lesley Logan 13:06  If you have a question, you can text us at +1-310-905-5534, or submit them at beitpod.com/questions, where I would like you to send a win as well. I'm being demanding here. Come on. You have a win in your life. You do. You wanna know something, one of our retreaters would. Brad Crowell 13:06  You wanna know something. Lesley Logan 13:06  You wanna know something. One of our, one of our retreaters shared a win one day after our retreat. She said, I only said, I'm sorry two times. It was amazing. Like, if you walk around like, that's a fucking win. Huge win. Instead of walking around, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry. Like, she just said, excuse me, and then when she needed to, she said, I'm sorry, and she's like, oh, two times it was such a win. So those are the wins I want to hear. I don't need to hear, like, I have my biggest launch ever. Okay, great. That's wonderful. I'm super excited for you, and you can send that in, but like, there were little wins along the way. And if you don't celebrate those you are, you're unlikely to feel fulfilled for a long period of time. So send them in. Brad Crowell 13:37  Yeah, I just looked up on our board we have a win. Lesley Logan 13:37  Great. Brad Crowell 13:37  I'm gonna read it. Lesley Logan 13:37  Oh, okay, okay great. Brad Crowell 13:37  Big win this week. This is from Jordan BB, I've neglected using my Wunda Chair for quite a while now. So I decided it was time to break out my Chair Flashcards. I started working through the order and whatever bits of time I had available each day, starting from the top of the deck each day to get to the to get the repetition. By the time I got to my second week, I started feeling connections in my body that the week previous, I couldn't have even dreamed of. Exercises that felt impossible to move were actually moving. But even better, I felt more connected to myself. Super excited to add my Chair back into my regular rotation. Thank you, Lesley for the amazing flashcards. Lesley Logan 16:32  I mean, I'm so grateful for you. And don't click that off, Brad, because I'm going to say it on FYF so she can hear it on one of those episodes. But thank you like that is so freaking cool. Brad Crowell 16:42  Great job, Jordan. Lesley Logan 16:43  I just want another shout out to Jordan. She is also a listener who, when she discovered this podcast, went back to the beginning and listened to every single one. Brad Crowell 16:51  Wow. Lesley Logan 16:51  I know. So pretty big deal. Pretty amazing win. All right, Jordan, you're amazing. I'll put that in FYF so you're gonna hear it twice, because what if she misses this episode? All right, let's talk about John Mollura.Brad Crowell 17:05  John Mollura. Okay, so stick around. We'll be right back. We're going to talk about John. Brad Crowell 17:11  Welcome back. All right, let's dig into this convo you have with John Mollura. John is a personal coach and keynote speaker who helps people move from fear and hesitation into confidence and action, which I love that. For 15 years he had he led test operations on NASA missions before stepping into a new chapter as an award winning photographer, with work featured in National Geographic. Today, he shares those experiences through coaching and his signature talk, Elite Level Confidence, giving people simple tools to build trust in themselves and take consistent action in their lives. Look, we, Lesley and I have, man, we connected with John three or four years ago now, and. Lesley Logan 17:52  At least, he was in the hundreds. So.Brad Crowell 17:54  Yeah, look, if you like to read newsletters, John's newsletters are great. He really takes time to write enjoyable newsletters, and I read them. Lesley Logan 18:05  You don't read anything. Brad Crowell 18:07  I don't really read anything. So John's newsletters are really fun. So I really like that. I feel like I've been along his journey with him, as he's shifted from engineer to photographer to now being a speaker and a coach, so we're really fired up for him. It's been awesome to have him. He's coming to speak to Agency, our coaching group multiple times, and his content is available for those who are members of Agency. And then we were like, hey, man, would you like to be back on the pod? And we got this epic episode. It's like this episode felt like a mic drop moment on every chapter of the conversation that y'all, y'all were having, you know, talking about confidence, talking about perfectionism, talking about all these great things that, I, I literally listened to it twice. So. Lesley Logan 18:58  I love that, that's so good. Well, thanks for doing that. I mean, it's so fun to have guests back and see where they've gone. Some people have gone further in the same lane. Some people have switched lanes. Some people have reversed and then rewound and, you know, like it's and so he has switched lanes. But really it seems like it all aligns, because he, basically what I like that he said, which goes with what I'm just saying, is that he talked about, it's being really important to be aware. Like, the more aware you are, it's actually a really powerful thing and and it's because when you have a seeker mindset, right? Like, that's going to help you, when you have that curiosity, it's going to help you in what you want to be and what you want to do. So clearly, he was in that seeking mode, that being aware mode, and that's where he's like, Oh, I'm a, I'm an award winning photographer, I'm a NASA engineer, but I actually really want, I'm feeling called, to do this thing over here and it lights me up, and that, you, just going to Gay Hendricks like, that's his genius zone. Like, it would be so easy for him to it's, it's a what does Gay call it, like, your whatever. Like, there's a zone of excellence, which is his photography, but his own genius is this. And I just really loved it. He also said, like, when you are being aware, it's important that you don't judge yourself with your awareness. Like, that's where the critic lives. You like things you'll say is like, well, that's not gonna happen. Or, like, this is never gonna work. But instead, shifting into that seeker mindset and having awareness and curiosity.Brad Crowell 20:23  Yeah, that, so, okay, this part, I thought, was really heartfelt, because he already in his adult life with kids and a wife changed from being a, I'm guessing, stable, high paying government job, where he's an engineer for NASA, to an unstable, potentially high paying, but who knows, job of being a photographer. Now he happens to kick ass at being a photographer, you know, but he said, the engineering job, he quit. He started something else. He got another engineering job, then realized that still wasn't the right answer. Then he started doing something that he found fulfilling. And then after a while, was like, this isn't doing it either. And then decided to make us another change in his adult life. And he's like, I honestly didn't even want to tell my wife, because she'd already been on the journey with me getting out of being an engineer. And now I'm like, thought I was doing the thing I wanted to do, but I'm not feeling it, you know, it's not actually the right thing for me. And and then, you know, and so he has, what I thought was really great, is you threw in there. Well, look, it was maybe we end up thinking that we need to do this thing for because we made the decision, right? For me, this really resonated with my decision to go to college for music, right? And I left. And then my whole time in Los Angeles, for the for the first decade I was there, I was like, I am a musician. That's how I defined myself. It's how I saw myself. I am in a band. I do perform. This is what I do. This is who I am. And when you started, when that started to shift and change and not be that anymore. I was like, well, what do I do now? You know, that I'm not, you know, can I do something else? Like, am I allowed? Because I felt (inaudible), I had literally spent $80,000 or whatever was going to college. I don't even know. A lot of money, you know, going to college to be a musician, you know, am I, am I like, is it okay to not be a musician anymore? You know, while I still can think of myself as a musician today, that's not my primary thing that I'm doing, but it was just one step along the way and and I think it's okay for us to be making these changes in our lives. You know, my I never talked with my friend about this, but my high school buddy went to school to be an engineer, right? He went to Germany, he came back, he was doing all this really fancy engineering stuff, and then somewhere along the way, was like, I this isn't it. And then he went back to school to be a doctor. Like, I was like, wait, you signed up for like, four more years of school after already going to, like four or five years of school. And, you know, now he's a doctor, and I have to imagine he really likes it, or he wouldn't keep doing it. But that is quite a path to jump from one to another, especially when the foundation to become a doctor again, you're, you're starting over, in a way, you know, so.Lesley Logan 20:25  Yeah, I think that's and I think that clearly in that instance, like, he must have had to be a seeker and not a judger in his like, well, this is gonna work. Oh my God, it's four more years of school. Brad Crowell 23:33  Judging himself. Lesley Logan 23:39  Like, using himself, you know, or what like, and this is like, this is the hard part, right? Because when you share some things, it's really, really important who you share stuff with. Like, I think sometimes some of you who are listening, you so badly want someone in your life's love that you're telling them the thing that you're wanting to do, and they are not your cheerleader. It's not because they are an asshole or trying to be an asshole, it's that they are in the critic zone. And so you have to be mindful, like, who you're sharing your dreams with, until you feel the muscle is very strong. And I don't think that that was, like, why he didn't want to share it with his wife, but we were very clear, like he was just was just like, now we're starting all over again. But like, I do think that, like, there are, like, when we told my grandfather we're in Cambodia, he's like, it's not safe there, right? And we're like. Brad Crowell 24:32  What's he, like, all he's doing is projecting his own fear. Lesley Logan 24:34  His own fear, you know, and so, so just be mindful those of you who are listening, who are like, in the curious space, in the awareness space, and you're feeling called, yes, you have excellent investments and other things you've done in your life, but you're being called to do something else. Be mindful that you tell the friends who are like, fuck yeah, you should do that. The other people in your life, you'll tell them when the muscle is a bit stronger, because I would just be afraid that their critic will come out and bring your critic to the party, and we don't need that.Brad Crowell 25:05  Well, I think, I think the high level here, you know, the conclusion of this thought is awareness plus curiosity is a win, right? Awareness plus curiosity, it enables progress, right? So no matter where you are in your life, no matter what projects you're working on, if you have both awareness and curiosity, you will be able to move that ball forward. So love that. And speaking of your grandfather, that leads into what I really loved in a roundabout way, you'll get, we'll get there. Lesley Logan 25:36  I can't wait. I'm excited. I'm looking at these notes. Did you know, my grandfather?Brad Crowell 25:41  I did. So the big three that John talked about, this was a whole nother chapter of the conversation, and this is where I kept saying, these are mic drop moments, you know? He said, hey, look, you know, it's not even about perfection. It's not even about procrastination. He said, in fact, there are the, these are the big three things that I talk about all the time, perfectionism, procrastination and overthinking. He said these three behaviors constantly derail us from doing the things that we want to do, or the things that we say are so important for us. And he said the thing that they're like they don't, all three of them share the same root. Okay, what are, what is the root of perfectionism, procrastination and overthinking? Lesley Logan 26:22  Drum roll, please. Brad Crowell 26:26  Fear. Right? And this is what your grandfather was, was applying. He was, he was projecting his fear on us. And that's when, when you share something with someone, be cautious of that in the sense that they are, they know you really well. They love you. They want the best for you. And they are going to immediately, like, look at it and see what is the problem that that could happen here. And they're going to push that out there and right? And that could be really deflating for you, especially if you aren't yet, like you don't yet have surety in the place you're going, you're feeling it out right, because that, like they don't want you to be hurt or fail, or any of those things and fear is that that root, and it's easy for that to blossom into these things, perfectionism, procrastination and overthinking. And he said, by understanding that fear is the root of these three people, can now get honest with ourselves and begin asking, what is it actually that I'm so scared of? What is it actually? I can't remember who it was, but a couple weeks ago, we had another episode. She was a business coach. Lesley Logan 27:37  Oh, Jill. Brad Crowell 27:39  Yeah, yeah, yeah. I think it was, I think it was her. She said, what am I afraid of? What's the worst could happen. I could go bankrupt, right? And I was like, well, that's a pretty big deal, you know? But for her, she was like, okay. Lesley Logan 27:52  Jill Allen. Dr. Jill Allen.Brad Crowell 27:52  Dr. Jill Allen, yeah she said, okay, I could go bankrupt. And it's like, well, okay, but she acknowledged that, like, what am I so afraid of, if that's the worst that could happen can that be overcome? Like, is that like, it doesn't it's not something to laugh at. But what if it do? What if it does happen? Lesley Logan 28:10  I don't know. Do I share this, like, my, I remember my trainer when I was, like, thinking of breaking up with my ex, and I was like, just like, not. He's like, what are you afraid of? Like, I don't. He's like, you're not gonna die. Like, he's like, to me, the scariest thing, the thing that, like, the ultimate fear, is death. And you breaking up with him, you're not gonna die. Like, in my situation, I'm sure that that's not the same for other people, but in my I could, he would just let me walk away. And I was like, oh, I'm not gonna die. That is, that is I can do like, I love this question. I think it's really important to reflect on and journal about Brad Crowell 28:40  What am I so scared of? I remember being my first I just moved to L.A. and I had no money, and I got a job at this restaurant. It took me a week to get a job at a restaurant of where I walked around to, I don't know, a dozen more, I don't even know. I would evaluate the restaurant, see how busy they were at dinner, decide, could I make enough money here, and then, do I want to work here? Does this seem cool? And I would put in an application, and I went to all these different places, and I finally got this job, because I went back a second a third time, I really wanted to work at this restaurant. And I then I met these guys, and they offered me a job. And I called my best friend at the time and I said, hey, man, I'm thinking of doing this. And he I said, but I'm worried. I'm worried about, you know, like, they're gonna pay me a salary, but I've, I've, I would be, I would have to give up my restaurant job. And he's like, you can get another restaurant job. And I was like, oh, you're right. Like, that's so true. Lesley Logan 29:37  Yes, yes, even in a shitty economy, there's always an opportunity for something. It might not be, you know, it might not be the the restaurant job, but it would be a restaurant job like, you know, like, there's just, there's, there's options.Brad Crowell 29:52  Yeah, so I just thought that was really astute of John to take these three things, which we all have dealt with, struggled with in our lives, perfectionism, procrastination, overthinking, connect the dots that there's fear is the root of these three things, and then how do we how do we lean into that? What are we so afraid of? What are we so afraid of? Lesley Logan 30:18  Yeah, and your fears are allowed to be like, they could be legitimate fears. And then at least the power is removed when it has air, you know, like the power of fear is really removed when you just, like, put it out on the table. And at least then you can figure out, like, well, what would I do if that happened? You know, so I loved it. I loved, you know, John's, we posted the tour, and we'll be at Rehoboth Beach Delaware. Brad Crowell 30:42  Yeah, it's, it's really close to where he lives.Lesley Logan 30:45  I think it's really close. I think we should finally fucking see him. Brad Crowell 30:53  Yeah, yeah, it's gonna be good. Lesley Logan 30:57  John. Brad Crowell 30:57  We're calling you out, John, we're calling you. Lesley Logan 30:57  We're gonna, we gotta talk. Brad Crowell 30:57  We're gonna call you. Lesley Logan 30:53  We gotta talk about food. How about coffee. How about a happy hour?Brad Crowell 30:57  Love it. All right. Well, stick around. We'll be right back, because we've got some great Be It Action Items from John as well. Lesley Logan 31:04  John, you can also text us. That's fine too. Brad Crowell 31:06  Yeah. All right, we'll be right back. Brad Crowell 31:10  Finally, let's talk about those Be It Action Items. What are the bold, executable, intrinsic or targeted action items that we could take away from your convo with John Mollura. He said, confidence is the ability to trust yourself. Confidence is the ability to trust yourself. Most of us are showing up for the person we've made a commitment to. Okay, I'll pick you up at six. Okay, I'll do the dishes. Okay, I'll take the trash out, right? You're committing to someone else. I'll do my homework. I'll do this thing, whatever. But we constantly let our own selves down. And it doesn't seem like a big deal. Lesley Logan 31:48  It is a humongous deal. You say you're gonna go to bed at 9 pm and you don't go to bed till 10, you are literally taking a drop out of the confidence bucket.Brad Crowell 31:57  Yeah, and it's subconscious. You might not be like, oh, can't believe it. Oh, I didn't go to bed at nine o'clock.Lesley Logan 32:03  Please, please listen to the habits podcast, and don't do that.Brad Crowell 32:05  In your in in your belief you're chipping away at the foundation of confidence that you have in yourself when you don't uphold your own decisions to yourself, right? And you might not realize that that's happening. But he explained the actual root cause of people's lack of confidence is that they're not showing up for themselves, and meaning that loss of self-trust because we consistently and continually break commitments we made to ourselves time and time again, that will it's it's fascinating, because John is an engineer first, so he still thinks and talks like an engineer, even though he's very creative with photography and now working with his clients and coaching. But he started talking about data, you know, or the data, sorry, and so he said, he said, you why, why don't we uphold these things to ourselves? Because we never have upheld these things to ourselves. But we can change that. We can rectify that by starting to keep these promises to ourselves. When you start to give your brain a new set of data to work with, instead of the old data of broken self-promises, right? So how do we do that? Small, consistent actions that aren't a big thing, but over time, they add up to I am consistent. I do this thing. I do wake up, you know, earlier. I do go all the things that we say we want to go do, but we don't uphold we don't do them. Why don't we follow through? It's because we never have. Well, we can change that by making these small decisions, day by day.Lesley Logan 33:38  Agreed. I loved these, he gave us some questions, and this is really fun thing for you to journal upon. It said, when making conscious decisions on honor one's future self, one must ask, is what I'm going to do or not do going to cause me to be a hero to the future me? I love this like I love this. I look back at the the me in 2013 who made that big decision, go, I'm a fucking hero to myself, like, I thank God I fucking did that when I did it, because my whole life was like the domino effect of like, everything that I wanted. So yes, right? The goal is to ensure that when you meet your future self, you are not staying there tired and disappointed because you failed to go after it. Like if you ever said, oh, by this date, I want to have X thing. And then you didn't do anything, and then you got to that day like, I wanted to be over here by now. Well, the effort thing, it's not like I have missed dates on goals that I was working towards. And there's a difference between actually working towards something and the deadline is further than you thought, than not doing anything at all, and getting to the deadline,Brad Crowell 34:47  I think, I mean, I was thinking about goal setting and all that kind of stuff. Like, okay, this, this quarter in business, we're gonna do $100,000 and you, you know, work, work, work, and you make only $60,000 but it was more than you've ever made before. It doesn't mean that you like didn't make that you didn't keep a promise to yourself.Lesley Logan 35:09  Right. Well, were you, were you the person who could like, did the effort you put towards it, could it have been $100,000 if the stars had aligned? Then, then you should, whatever you land with you should celebrate, because the person that you made yourself be to do those things is the goal, is the journey, right? Is the hero. So the action should result in you high fiving yourself and saying, thank you for honoring me. Thank you for doing that, that the thing in that moment. He also said, you can call him. You guys, I have not like, that's insane, free calls. And he also gave some free resources over on his site, on johnnmollura.com, that's John with an H-N-N.Brad Crowell 35:10  Yeah, J-O-H-N-M-O-L-L-U-R-A dot com, johnmollura.com. Lesley Logan 35:49  Yeah. So check those out. I love it. John, you're such an inspiration. Thank you for sharing your journey with us and the Be It Till You See It babes. I'm Lesley Logan. Brad Crowell 36:06  And I'm Brad Crowell. Lesley Logan 36:07  Thanks for joining us. How are you going to use these tips in your life? Tag John. Tell us. Send this to a friend who needs to hear who needs to be a hero in their life, and until next time, Be It Till You See It.Brad Crowell 36:17  Bye for now. Lesley Logan 36:19  That's all I got for this episode of the Be It Till You See It Podcast. One thing that would help both myself and future listeners is for you to rate the show and leave a review and follow or subscribe for free wherever you listen to your podcast. Also, make sure to introduce yourself over at the Be It Pod on Instagram. I would love to know more about you. Share this episode with whoever you think needs to hear it. Help us and others Be It Till You See It. Have an awesome day. Be It Till You See It is a production of The Bloom Podcast Network. If you want to leave us a message or a question that we might read on another episode, you can text us at +1-310-905-5534 or send a DM on Instagram @BeItPod. Brad Crowell 37:00  It's written, filmed, and recorded by your host, Lesley Logan, and me, Brad Crowell.Lesley Logan 37:06  It is transcribed, produced and edited by the epic team at Disenyo.co.Brad Crowell 37:10  Our theme music is by Ali at Apex Production Music and our branding by designer and artist, Gianfranco Cioffi.Lesley Logan 37:17  Special thanks to Melissa Solomon for creating our visuals.Brad Crowell 37:21  Also to Angelina Herico for adding all of our content to our website. And finally to Meridith Root for keeping us all on point and on time.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/be-it-till-you-see-it/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In this Meatspad episode, we welcome Dr. Gretchen Mafi to discuss the world of meat judging. She explains what meat judging is, and we explore how it supports quality, better decision-making, and effectively communicating that information. Dr. Mafi also shares the key skills students gain through meat judging programs. Finally, she announced the celebration of 100 years of meat judging, 1926–2026.

Judging is a sober subject and one in which we must have thorough and Biblically complete guidance!

A mashup that hits close to home for me! This mini series to close out Season 5 is all about Livestock Judging as a Canadian in the USA. This is a big time passion for me as I was fortunate to compete on several judging teams and earn scholarships towards my tuition. It was one of the best experiences of my life and helped sharpen my skills and talents expending far outside of winning a judging contest. Plus I made friends that are like family and got to see America through the windshield of a 15 passenger van. My Sr College coach used to tell us, it's not about being a judger, it's about becoming a better stockman. I have this broken into 6 parts with different guests. I had planned on maybe a 3 parter but as per usual, I talked way too much. The guests: Part 1 - Jack OattesPart 2 - Riley LafrentzPart 3 - Tyson HertzPart 4 - Lance LeachmanPart 5 - Riley LeesonPart 6 - Codee Kopelchuk This was a treat to put together with some outstanding people in the business. A little bit of looking back and a little bit of the current situation, a great mix of perspectives and insight from all the guests. Thank you to Season 5 sponsors:Klassen Industries Bovigen Reproductive ServicesRK Animal SupplyAngus WorldF'd Up Farming PodcastThank y'all for listening. Please leave us a 5 star rating and review on your favorite app. Kurtis ReidContact us:Lifestockpodcast@gmail.comFacebook @LifestockPodInstagram @LifestockPodTwitter @LifestockPod

“We Laughed, We Broke Cars, We Grew: A Year of Ridiculous Racing Stories”Welcome back to Everyone Racers — the podcast built for every wrench-turner, garage philosopher, track-rat, Lemons lifer, and endurance racing addict out there. Whether you're wrenching on a hopeless Craigslist find or prepping for ChampCar, Lucky Dog, SCCA, NASA, or Lemons, you're in good company here.In this Wedge Ep 413 Tim sees his ENTIRE family and makes memories, Chris tells you how to destroy a bridge in Kansas and Chrissy likes people in CO while Mental rejects a meeting with F1 star Alex AlbonReally it's our annual hippie thankful episode as we reminisce on great and cool people, places and experiences we had this year! Come with us as we take a deep dive into a full season of amateur racing: the victories, the disasters, the questionable decisions, the creative themes, the friendships, and the laughs that made 2025 unforgettable.We open with the classic E1R humor and Mopar nerdiness: the legendary 413 Max Wedge engine and why “the wedgie wins again” still makes us giggle Then we jump into a whirlwind of stories from the road and the paddock:F1 qualifying in Las Vegas and sneaking into better seats because track workers weren't enforcing anything Judging at Road America, NOLA, Buttonwillow, New Hampshire, and more, including Barbie-themed chaos, airplane costumes, and the infamous “...just $30 a day will keep Greg drunk…” signs Being part of a massive amateur-racing community where listeners reach out for help with everything from roll-cage builders in DFW to Mazda3 parts lists, and how this community of listeners has grown enough that we can connect racers across the country We also reflect on:Seat time wins, broken flip flops, and hobby-horsing through the paddock at Pitt RaceOff-the-grid trips to remote campsites, ghost towns, and the “tippy-top” of Maine where even Starlink barely kept us alive How aging racers adapt — glasses, hearing aids, sensible eating, and the humbling moment when Mental was reminded he can't keep up with Tim all weekend anymore This episode is a celebration of what makes grassroots motorsport magical:

A mashup that hits close to home for me! This mini series to close out Season 5 is all about Livestock Judging as a Canadian in the USA. This is a big time passion for me as I was fortunate to compete on several judging teams and earn scholarships towards my tuition. It was one of the best experiences of my life and helped sharpen my skills and talents expending far outside of winning a judging contest. Plus I made friends that are like family and got to see America through the windshield of a 15 passenger van. My Sr College coach used to tell us, it's not about being a judger, it's about becoming a better stockman. I have this broken into 6 parts with different guests. I had planned on maybe a 3 parter but as per usual, I talked way too much. The guests: Part 1 - Jack OattesPart 2 - Riley LafrentzPart 3 - Tyson HertzPart 4 - Lance LeachmanPart 5 - Riley LeesonPart 6 - Codee Kopelchuk This was a treat to put together with some outstanding people in the business. A little bit of looking back and a little bit of the current situation, a great mix of perspectives and insight from all the guests. Thank you to Season 5 sponsors:Klassen Industries Bovigen Reproductive ServicesRK Animal SupplyAngus WorldF'd Up Farming PodcastThank y'all for listening. Please leave us a 5 star rating and review on your favorite app. Kurtis ReidContact us:Lifestockpodcast@gmail.comFacebook @LifestockPodInstagram @LifestockPodTwitter @LifestockPod

We're harsh with each other right now. Judging people we don't know based on where they live or how they voted. But what if we got curious instead? Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison spent 35 years as a trauma psychologist working with severe PTSD, dissociative identity disorder, schizophrenia, and near-death experience survivors. This conversation changed how I see everyone—including myself. High achievers are often high-functioners—people who've adapted to trauma in remarkably creative ways. The executive who never misses a deadline might be falling apart inside. The entrepreneur who appears unstoppable could be privately compensating for relationships that are struggling. Dr. Harrison explains the hidden costs of trauma that show up in our businesses and relationships. She shares the BASC framework (behavior, affect, sensation, knowledge) and why severe trauma creates protective barriers that help us survive but can limit our ability to connect later. We also talk about Sean/a's story—an intersex woman with schizophrenia who slept on cardboard for eight years. One rainy night, one moment of compassion changed everything. Ten years later, she's never been back on the streets. She walks 15 miles a day, has a million social media views, and teaches thousands about resilience. This episode is for anyone who's survived something hard. For anyone loving someone who's struggling. For anyone wondering if we're going to make it as humans. There's hope here. And truth. And a reminder that healing isn't linear, but it is real.   What You'll Learn The hidden cost of trauma most don't recognize What near-death experiences reveal about the mind and soul Understanding Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) in real life Spirituality as a tool for post-traumatic growth The inspiring story of Sean/a—intersex, unhoused, and profoundly human How empathy, curiosity, and storytelling remake the world   Related Episodes You Might Like Ep 263: How Your Nervous System Shapes Your Money Habits with Stephanie Crochet https://sarahwalton.com/nervous-system-regulation/ Ep 196: Are You a Lazy Overachiever? with Naketa Ren Thigpen https://sarahwalton.com/lazy-overachiever/ Ep 207: Let Your Ambition Fly with Monique Allen https://sarahwalton.com/ambition/ Connect with Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison https://www.soulwisesolutions.com/  https://twitter.com/soulwiseteam  https://www.facebook.com/soulwiseteam/  https://instagram.com/soulwiseteam    About Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison Dr. Kirsten Viola Harrison is a trauma psychologist, author, and founder of Soul Wise Solutions. For over 35 years, she has helped individuals navigate profound psychological and spiritual transitions — including those living with complex PTSD (C-PTSD), dissociative identity disorder, schizophrenia, and near-death experiences. Her integrative approach blends clinical expertise with compassionate soul work to support true, lasting healing. She is the co-author of "I, Sean/a: The Story of a Homeless Intersex Woman Who Inspired a Community," the true account of Sean/a Smith, an intersex woman with schizophrenia whose life defies stigma and inspires change. Together, they advocate for an end to outdated medical practices and a future rooted in dignity and inclusion. Whether she's speaking, writing, or working with clients, Dr. Harrison brings insight, depth, and humanity to conversations about trauma, identity, and transformation.   Free gift from Sarah Book a free 15-minute call to explore working together: https://app.acuityscheduling.com/schedule.php?owner=13047670&appointmentType=34706781 Ready to shift from chasing to receiving in your business? Book your call with Sarah today and discover how The Abundance Academy can help you scale with soul, strategy, and sanity.   Work with Sarah Apply for The Abundance Academy group coaching program https://sarahwalton.com/abundance-academy/ Connect with Sarah Website: https://sarahwalton.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thesarahwalton/ You can check out our podcast interviews on YouTube, too! http://bit.ly/YouTubeSWalton   Thank you so much for listening. I'm honored that you're here, and I'd be grateful if you could leave a quick review on Apple Podcasts by clicking here, scrolling to the bottom, and selecting "Write a review." Then, we'll get to inspire even more people! (If you're not sure how to leave a review, you can watch this quick tutorial.)   About Sarah Walton Sarah Walton is a business coach specializing in helping women entrepreneurs overcome internal barriers to success. With a background in trauma-informed coaching and nervous system regulation, she takes a holistic approach that addresses both mindset and tactical business skills. Featured on The Today Show and speaking at women's conferences worldwide, Sarah has helped hundreds of women build profitable, sustainable businesses aligned with their values while healing the deeper blocks that keep them playing small. She's the creator of The Money Mindset Course, The Abundance Academy, and Effortless Sales, and the host of the 5-star-rated Game On Girlfriend® Podcast, becoming the go-to source for women who want to build businesses that honor both their ambition and their nervous system's need for safety.  

– What HYROX got right in Dallas – Why the bridge setup needs to be at every major race – Judging updates and wall ball enforcement – Sled carpets, mixed doubles volume, and course flow – Brendan King's race, volunteering, and big PR breakthrough – How adding track work changed his performance – Behind-the-scenes observations from the crew all weekend Summary Matt, Dave, Cheryl, and guests Matt Kemp and Brendan King break down the entire HYROX Dallas weekend. The group digs into the good, the bad, and the structural decisions that changed the flow of the race. Brendan talks about juggling racing and volunteering, what he saw inside the venue, and how he hit a huge PR after adding track work to his training. The crew also debates judging consistency, wall ball standards, mixed doubles volume, and why sled carpets continue to trip up athletes across events. Listen on Apple or Spotify Support us through The Cup Of Coffee Follow Hybrid Fitness Media on IG  

A mashup that hits close to home for me! This mini series to close out Season 5 is all about Livestock Judging as a Canadian in the USA. This is a big time passion for me as I was fortunate to compete on several judging teams and earn scholarships towards my tuition. It was one of the best experiences of my life and helped sharpen my skills and talents expending far outside of winning a judging contest. Plus I made friends that are like family and got to see America through the windshield of a 15 passenger van. My Sr College coach used to tell us, it's not about being a judger, it's about becoming a better stockman. I have this broken into 6 parts with different guests. I had planned on maybe a 3 parter but as per usual, I talked way too much. The guests: Part 1 - Jack OattesPart 2 - Riley LafrentzPart 3 - Tyson HertzPart 4 - Lance LeachmanPart 5 - Riley LeesonPart 6 - Codee Kopelchuk This was a treat to put together with some outstanding people in the business. A little bit of looking back and a little bit of the current situation, a great mix of perspectives and insight from all the guests. Thank you to Season 5 sponsors:Klassen Industries Bovigen Reproductive ServicesRK Animal SupplyAngus WorldF'd Up Farming PodcastThank y'all for listening. Please leave us a 5 star rating and review on your favorite app. Kurtis ReidContact us:Lifestockpodcast@gmail.comFacebook @LifestockPodInstagram @LifestockPodTwitter @LifestockPod

During the recap and review portion of the show we talk about whether HBO's Watchmen is the pinnacle of the superhero/comic adaptation era, and what the criteria for such a thing would be. We also go long on Derek's deep dislike of Adrian Veidt, and whether it's entirely fair. What are the grey moral areas of the story, and is it so easy to just make a declaration about who is good and who is bad? Plus: does the Peteypedia critique Alan Moore?Before that: further adventures in unemployment. Lanterns is pushed back. WB's uncertain future. The Pope loves movies. Charli XCX's Letterboxd. Judging a movie by it's box office. The majesty of Don Cheadle. And more! If you don't care about any of that skip to 55:14.Listen to our four hour extravaganza about The Last Jedi, available only to Patreon subscribers at the $7 and above levels. It's a real discussion, no culture war BS and no acrimony towards those who don't like it! Click here!Want to show the world you support this weird podcast? Check out our supply of merch that is mostly made up of in-jokes for Derek. Click here!Spread the word! Tell your friends about us! And go to our YouTube channel and subscribe to our video feed!

This week on the HowToBBQRight Podcast, Thanksgiving is right around the corner and we are more than ready for it (00:27). We kicked things off at the Open Fire Meetup in Hondo, Texas, and it turned out to be an absolute blast (02:37). Saturday's open-to-the-public portion of the Open Fire Meetup was packed from end to end (07:38). Malcom even judged the event and tasted some of the best BBQ bites he's ever had (12:31). While on his elk-hunting trip in Texas, Malcom also threw down some incredible steaks on a pellet grill (23:35). If you're searching for a great Christmas gift for the cook or pitmaster in your life, ThermoWorks is running a major sale right now (27:01). With Thanksgiving approaching fast, we're sharing our favorite family traditions for turkey day (28:45), along with the must-have side dishes that always make our holiday table (31:20). We're also talking about the new Thanksgiving desserts we can't wait to try this year (37:29). We take a closer look at why Primo Grills might become your new go-to backyard smoker (40:01). If you're planning to part, brine, and inject your turkey, we break down exactly how long you should cook it (40:43). For anyone slicing and vacuum-sealing their turkey this year, we explain the best way to reheat it without losing moisture (43:03). And if you're using a pellet grill for your bird, here are the top pellet options to get the best flavor (44:56). Should you brine your turkey for 48 hours (46:38)? Is it too much to brine and inject (48:52)? We answer those questions and more. Finally, Tyler shares his top-secret carrot bacon recipe (50:21).

Another fun-filled episode of Nerds Talking is here! Lafayette and Carlos dive headfirst into the latest entertainment news, but this week comes with a twist. Lafayette finally gives his take on One Battle After Another — and settles the debate once and for all. Was Carlos right to call it a 3 out of 5, or was that listener justified in calling him an idiot? Lafayette is ready to be judge, jury, and rating executioner.Then the guys shift gears and review the newest take on The Running Man, starring Glen Powell. Does this modern version run circles around the original, or should it have stayed in the arena?Tune in for laughs, memories, friendly jabs, and plenty of nerdy insights as the crew brings humor and smiles to your day. Don't miss it!#NerdsTalkingThePodcast #MovieReviews #EntertainmentNews #TheRunningMan #GlenPowell #OneBattleAfterAnother #PodcastLife #NerdCulture #FunAndFunny #WeeklyPodcasts

As today's teacher notes, self-compassion is different from self-esteem. Relying on building up our self-esteem tends to lead us to need a lot of external validation in order to feel ok. Instead, self-compassion is the idea that even with all of our flaws, we can still care about ourselves and see ourselves as infinitely worthy of love and belonging.  In this extended 30-minute practice, mindfulness teacher Diana Winston guides us through a process to get familiar with our self-judging voice and how we relate to our flaws, so that we can nurture compassion and recognize our own worthiness. Diana Winston is the Director of Mindfulness Education at UCLA's Mindful Awareness Research Center and author of several books including The Little Book of Being: Practices and Guidance for Uncovering your Natural Awareness. Note that there is an extended silent pause in the middle of this recording to give extra time to practice.  The transcription of this guided meditation will be online at Mindful.org next week.  Stay curious, stay inspired. Join our community by signing up for our free newsletter:  mindful.org/signup Show Notes Find more from Diana Winston here. Go Deeper We all have an interior voice that keeps a running commentary on everything we do. Occasionally that voice is encouraging or kind, but often it isn't. The thing is, most of us aren't even consciously aware of this constant internal chatter. We just think it's reality. Mindfulness gives us the tools to notice, recognize, and work with this mental monologue in ways that improve our ability to learn from mistakes, be accountable, make amends, and grow as people. To learn more about the Inner Critic and how to tame it, check out these resources from the website: Mindful Parenting: Meet Your Inner Critic with Self-Compassion  How to Teach Your Kids About Their Inner Critic  How to Recognize Your Inner Critic  How to Be Kind to Your Inner Critic  And for more ways to work with that pesky internal voice, try this practice: A Basic Meditation to Tame Your Inner Critic. And more from Mindful here: More episodes of 12 Minute Meditation Let us know what you thought of this episode of 12 Minute Meditation by leaving a review or by emailing yourwords@mindful.org.

Join our Patreon!!! - https://www.patreon.com/TheUselessHotlineDiscover student living that's more than a room with Student Roost. Visit studentroost.co.uk to find the room that's right for you.'Betterhelp

This week, it's a conversation with Betsy Lay of Lady Justice Brewing in Denver. We talk about the evolution of ESB including some thoughts on Sierra Nevada winning gold in that category at the World Beer Cup with Pale Ale. She also discusses brewing with intention, what it truly means to be a community hub, and how the Mile High City is changing – and staying the same- with its beer scene. SponsorsDogfish Head Craft BreweryCalling all hop heads! Dogfish Head's 60 Minute IPA is a fantastically hoppy India Pale Ale that's beautifully balanced thanks to their unique continual hopping method. Delivering a pungent hop flavor that isn't crushingly bitter, 60 Minute is continually hopped throughout the boil for a full 60 minutes … starting to see where the name comes from?! Check out dogfish.com to learn more and to find some 60 Minute near you! Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, Milton, DE. Please drink responsibly.Stomp StickersStomp Stickers is a proud member of the Brewers Association that produces a wide variety of printed brewery products such as beerlabels, keg collars, coasters, beer boxes and much more. Stomp's website features an easy-to-use design tool, low quantity orders, fast turn times, and free domestic shipping. Visit StompStickers.com and use code FIRSTRUN for 15% off your first order.All About BeerAt All About Beer, we're honored to share the stories that define the beer community, and we couldn't do it without the generous support of our underwriting sponsors. Their commitment helps sustain independent beer journalism, allowing us to highlight the people, places, and passion behind every pint. Their partnership ensures these stories continue to inspire, connect, and celebrate the craft we all love. Join our underwriters today and help make an impact on independent journalism covering the beer industry.Host: John HollGuest:  Betsy LaySponsors: All About Beer, Stomp Stickers, Dogfish HeadTags: Denver, ESB, Pale Ale, Judging, CommunityPhoto:  Courtesy of Betsy Lay

Send us a textWhat does it mean to be a judgmental person? Do we all do it? Are some more prone to it than others? Is it a sin? Why? How do we avoid it? Should/can Christians judge other Christians? Non-Christians? How should it NOT look? How should it look? (1 Cor 5:9-13, Matt 7:1-5)================ We want to be a resource for you. Please send us your questions to questions@kerrvillebiblechurch.org or leave us a text or voicemail at 830-321-0349.Please share this podcast on your social media or to your mailing list. We'd appreciate your help getting the message out.================The KBC Pastors Podcast is a production of Kerrville Bible Church. The show is hosted and edited by Toby Baxley. Original theme music by Toby Baxley.Our pastors are: Lead Pastor Chris McKnight, Associate Pastor Scott Christensen, Worship Pastor Toby Baxley, and Youth & Family Pastor Murray Van Gundy.

This episode of the Red Dirt Agronomy Podcast features Dr. Beatrix Haggard, an associate professor in Oklahoma State University's Department of Plant and Soil Sciences, whose teaching mission is to make sure students know what plant they're looking at—and how it works. Dr. Haggard walks us through her journey from FFA land judging in Texas to soil science at Tarleton State and LSU, to a regional soil fertility role in the Louisiana Delta, and finally to a teaching-heavy, tenure-track position at OSU. Along the way, she explains how those experiences shape how she teaches, from intro plant science to senior seminar, crop judging, and soil morphology.The crew also explores major shifts in today's student body and how they change the way agronomy is taught. They discuss students working full-time jobs while in school, the rise of pre-vet and ag business majors, the growing number of non-traditional and out-of-state students (from California to New York and Indiana), and why judging teams and hands-on greenhouse work are powerful ways to build confidence and real-world skills. If you care about who will be scouting your fields, writing your recs, and leading your ag businesses in 10–20 years, this episode is a great look at how OSU is training that next generation.Top 10 takeawaysTeaching-focused, tenure-track agronomy roles are rare—and powerful.Dr. Haggard holds an 85% teaching appointment at a land-grant university, which she describes as a “unicorn” compared to more common research-heavy roles. That lets her invest deeply in core plant and soil courses that hundreds of students pass through every year.Intro plant science at OSU is huge and foundational.Plant 1213 serves ~600 students a year, mostly freshmen, and often becomes their first exposure to plant science, agronomy and OSU's ag culture. What happens in that class heavily influences which majors students choose—and whether they ever consider crops or soils.College is about “learning how to learn,” not just memorizing content.Dr. Haggard uses her own career—soil scientist turned crop teacher—to show students that the real value of college is learning how to tackle new subjects and roles. If she can go from soil formation to crop growth stages on the job, they can pivot in their careers too.Judging teams teach life skills: travel, teamwork and resilience.Beyond plant and seed ID, crops and soils judging expose students to long trips, new regions and tight-quarters team dynamics. For some, it's their first time crossing the Mississippi River or even flying. Dr. Haggard jokes it's a successful trip if everyone is still talking on the way home.Today's students juggle far more than class.Many students work full time, commute home on weekends and carry heavy concurrent credit loads from high school. That changes how instructors design assignments and study expectations—“go to the library all weekend” doesn't match many students' realities anymore.OSU agronomy is no longer just rural Oklahoma farm kids.The department now attracts students from California, Oregon, Washington, Indiana, Missouri, Arkansas, Kentucky, New York and beyond, plus metro and suburban areas like Edmond and Oklahoma City. Many arrive with little or no farm background, which reshapes how faculty introduce basic equipment and practices.Ag majors are fluid—pre-vet and ag business are big destinations.Dr. Haggard sees many students start in animal science or pre-vet and then migrate to ag business, economics or plant/soil majors once they experience different classes and discover where their interests really lie. Flexibility in degree paths is key.Plain language and memory tricks matter in technical fields.Rather than keeping content “unattainable,” Dr. Haggard leans on layman's terms and memorable phrases like “all cats manage kittens ammonium naturally” to help students retain complex ideas such as the lyotropic series in soil chemistry. Those small tools make a big difference for freshmen.Extension and classroom teaching are two sides of the same coin.Josh points out that he loves teaching the same agronomic concepts to two very different audiences: landowners and consultants on the extension side, and students in the classroom. The goals and depth differ, but both are about helping people apply agronomy in real life.Stable, passionate teachers anchor a department.Brian notes how important it is for a department to have long-term, high-quality teachers in core classes. With Dr. Haggard and Dr. Abbott, OSU Plant and Soil Sciences has a consistent foundation for teaching the “fundamentals” to every student who comes through the program. Segment Timestamps00:00–02:00 – Opening & introductions02:00–06:30 – What Dr. Haggard teaches at OSU06:30–11:30 – Her path into soils and agronomy11:30–15:30 – First “real” job & learning crops on the fly15:30–19:30 – Why she loves teaching19:30–24:30 – Building a teaching-heavy career at a land-grant24:30–29:30 – How Josh and Beatrix coordinate teaching29:30–26:00 – Judging teams and what students gain26:00–33:30 – How students and learning have changed33:30–36:35 – Who OSU agronomy students are now & close RedDirtAgronomy.com

Ever feel like your child is judging you?In this episode I share a story of a family interaction I recently witnessed and break it down. I also share a simple trick you can use when you feel like your child says something that triggers you. Please take a minute to rate and review the show, suggest a topic, and leave a comment so we can get the word out to as many conscious parents as possible.November 18, 2025Episode 299It Feels Like My Toddler is Judging Me! What Do I Say?About Your Host: Cara Tyrrell, M.Ed. is a mom or three, early childhood author, parent educator, and founder of Core4Parenting. A former preschool and kindergarten teacher with degrees in ASL, Linguistics, and Education, she created the Collaborative Parenting Methodology™ to help parents, caregivers, and educators understand the power of intentional language in shaping a child's identity, confidence, and future success.As host of the top-ranking podcast Transforming the Toddler Years, Cara blends science and soul to show adults how to “talk to kids before they can talk back,” turning tantrums into teachable moments and everyday challenges into opportunities for connection. She is also the author of the forthcoming book Talk to Them Early and Often, a guide for raising emotionally intelligent kids who thrive in school and life.Be the First to Know When Talk to Them Early and Often is Available For Preorder. Get on the list ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠! ⁠⁠⁠⁠Interested in being a guest on the podcast? We'd love to hear from you! Complete the ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Guest Application form ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠here⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.⁠⁠

Our responsibility is to love each other rather than force our personal convictions on each other Think about it: If you’re doing something you’re unsure about, would you feel comfortable inviting Christ to join you in it; even if it’s just the two of you?

Former Romanian head coaches Daymon Jones and Patrick Kiens join us to unpack the turmoil inside Romanian gymnastics — from new accusations to decades-old coaching culture and leadership struggles. Plus: what we learned from the 2025 Jakarta World Championships and our wish list for future World Championships. And a happy message from Rings World Champion, Donnell Whittenburg. Find Resistance Resources here. CHAPTERS - pre auto-ad insert 00:00:00 – Intro Cold Open: Romania abuse reports surface 00:03:36 – Headlines: Romania context (Golgota, Voinea, leadership turmoil) 00:10:02 – Interview: The Romanian Situation with Daymon & Patrick 00:10:34 – Abuse allegations and what coaches witnessed firsthand 00:20:15 – Old-school culture, leadership failure, and bad press 00:31:13 – Federation power dynamics, elections, and fallout 00:41:28 – Updates & programming notes 00:45:17 – Jakarta Worlds Debrief: Overall medal table (WAG/MAG highlights) 00:49:16 – China's event-specialist strategy (7 routines, 3 medals) 00:51:54 – Judging parity: Melnikova's AA score & floor 14 club 00:55:51 – Selection & pipeline fixes (camp vs real meets) 01:06:44 – Who needs a reset? USA, Italy & Brazil post-Olympics 01:24:11 – FIG talk: host selection, logistics & equipment issues 01:32:02 – Gymternet News: Canada CEO, Arthur Gander results, Liverpool 2030 bid 01:36:56 – Listener feedback & notes UP NEXT: Behind The Scenes: Live Q&A podcast Friday this week only at noon Pacific/8 GMT RELATED: World Championships HeadquartersVideos, Interviews, Podcasts, Fantasy, Guides from Jakarta World Championships Trouble in Romania The History of Romanian Gymnastics (Commissioned) 80's Fight! The great Soviet Romanian Rivalry (Commissioned) The Fluff Cast: Deva isn't a castle?! Behind The Scenes: Back from Jakarta Eythora Thorsdottir and Coach Patrick Kiens  Behind the Scenes - all episodes SUPPORT THE SHOW: Join Club Gym Nerd: https://gymcastic.com/club/ Headstand Game: https://gymcastic.com/headstand-plugin/ Forum: https://gymcastic.com/community/ Merch: https://gymcastic.com/shop/ NEWSLETTERS Sign up for all three GymCastic newsletters  RESOURCES Spencer's essential website The Balance Beam Situation  GIFs of the Week and Meet schedule with links. Gymnastics History and Code of Points Archive from Uncle Tim The Balance: My Years Coaching Simone Biles by Aimee Boorman with Fact Checker. Aimee coached Simone from day one in gymnastics to three back to back World All Around titles, 14 world medals and an unprecedented 5 medals at the Rio Olympics. Get your copy now. And if you loved it, please leave a review. Cover Art & Photos: Steve Cooper ©Gymcastic

Your heroes return to Weyland-Yutani headquarters to read Aliens vs. Avengers. First Impressions is a spoiler-free shorter episode where we introduce which book we are reading and chat about our first impressions, including: The Bare Bones, Who this Comic for, and Judging a Book by Its Cover."In a future Earth ravaged by terror, the unstoppable Xenomorphs descend upon our planet, pitting the perfect organism against a world of superhumans. As the Avengers rise in defense, they face unimaginable loss as the gods of creation known as the Engineers set out to destroy what they made.What catastrophic events led to the fall of humanity and forced the Avengers to abandon their home planet? Which heroes will be first to fall, and which will be forever changed by the encounter with the Xenomorphs? Discover the answers as Hickman and Ribić weave a pulse-pounding saga where every choice could make the difference between survival or extinction."Aliens vs. Avengers is written by Jonathan Hickman, art by Esad Ribić, colors by Ive Svorcina, letters by VC's Cory Petit, and published by Marvel Comics. Follow ComiClub on Instagram @ComiClubPodcast.ComiClub is hosted by Blaine McGaffigan and Adam Cook. 

Tom Isted is back on The Ride Companion! Fresh from Red Bull Rampage 2025, Tom stops by the studio to break down every detail of his time in the Utah desert — from building his line and flipping flat drops, to navigating event politics and dealing with the fallout from Adolf Silva's crash. Tom shares how he manages risk, his honest take on judging, and what it really takes to earn respect at freeride's biggest event. Plus, behind-the-scenes stories about his dig crew, surviving the chaos, and balancing family life while being one of the world's most versatile mountain bike riders. We hope you enjoy the episode. Adolf Silva's Road2Recovery page: https://www.road2recovery.com/athlete-causes/adolf-silva/  The Ride Companion Christmas Ride at BikePark Wales! Episode Sponsors:-  - Hiplok → Head on over to http://hiplok.com/trc to claim your exclusive offer and keep YOUR bikes YOURS. - Want an easy way to tick your daily nutritional needs? Support the show and get 15% OFF HUEL products with code 'RIDE' at https://huel.com/. Unlock a healthier, easier way to eat with Huel — nutritionally complete meals in minutes, so you can focus on what really matters… biking. Get early access & ad-free episodes → https://www.patreon.com/theridecompanion You can also support our long term partners: - Marin Bikes: marinbikes.com/gb - Focus Bikes: focus-bikes.com - HUEL: Get 15% OFF with code 'RIDE' at huel.com/ - Hiplok: https://hiplok.com/the-ride-companion  - Get 10% off Troy Lee Designs with code 'theridecompanion' at saddleback.avln.me/c/OzduCWvjtcOr - Athletic Greens: Get a FREE 1-year supply of Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs at athleticgreens.com/RIDECOMPANION - Compex: Get 20% off with code 'THERIDECOMPANION' at compex.com/uk/ - Worx: Get 15% off with code 'THERIDECOMPANION' at worx.com - LAKA: Get 30 days of FREE insurance with code 'RIDECOMPANION30' at laka.co - HKT Products: Use code 'PODCAST' for 10% off the entire site. Follow Olly Wilkins Instagram @odub_23 YouTube @owilkins23 The Ride Companion Instagram @theridecompanion YouTube @TheRideCompanion YouTube clips and BTS channel @moreridecompanion Get official Ride Companion merch, find old episodes and more theridecompanion.co.uk

How are the federal courts faring during these tumultuous times? I thought it would be worthwhile to discuss this important subject with a former federal judge: someone who understands the judicial role well but could speak more freely than a sitting judge, liberated from the strictures of the bench.Meet Judge Nancy Gertner (Ret.), who served as a U.S. District Judge for the District of Massachusetts from 1994 until 2011. I knew that Judge Gertner would be a lively and insightful interviewee—based not only on her extensive commentary on recent events, reflected in media interviews and op-eds, but on my personal experience. During law school, I took a year-long course on federal sentencing with her, and she was one of my favorite professors.When I was her student, we disagreed on a lot: I was severely conservative back then, and Judge Gertner was, well, not. But I always appreciated and enjoyed hearing her views—so it was a pleasure hearing them once again, some 25 years later, in what turned out to be an excellent conversation.Show Notes:* Nancy Gertner, author website* Nancy Gertner bio, Harvard Law School* In Defense of Women: Memoirs of an Unrepentant Advocate, AmazonPrefer reading to listening? For paid subscribers, a transcript of the entire episode appears below.Sponsored by:NexFirm helps Biglaw attorneys become founding partners. To learn more about how NexFirm can help you launch your firm, call 212-292-1000 or email careerdevelopment@nexfirm.com.Three quick notes about this transcript. First, it has been cleaned up from the audio in ways that don't alter substance—e.g., by deleting verbal filler or adding a word here or there to clarify meaning. Second, my interviewee has not reviewed this transcript, and any errors are mine. Third, because of length constraints, this newsletter may be truncated in email; to view the entire post, simply click on “View entire message” in your email app.David Lat: Welcome to the Original Jurisdiction podcast. I'm your host, David Lat, author of a Substack newsletter about law and the legal profession also named Original Jurisdiction, which you can read and subscribe to at davidlat.substack.com. You're listening to the eighty-fifth episode of this podcast, recorded on Monday, November 3.Thanks to this podcast's sponsor, NexFirm. NexFirm helps Biglaw attorneys become founding partners. To learn more about how NexFirm can help you launch your firm, call 212-292-1000 or email careerdevelopment@nexfirm.com. Want to know who the guest will be for the next Original Jurisdiction podcast? Follow NexFirm on LinkedIn for a preview.Many of my guests have been friends of mine for a long time—and that's the case for today's. I've known Judge Nancy Gertner for more than 25 years, dating back to when I took a full-year course on federal sentencing from her and the late Professor Dan Freed at Yale Law School. She was a great teacher, and although we didn't always agree—she was a professor who let students have their own opinions—I always admired her intellect and appreciated her insights.Judge Gertner is herself a graduate of Yale Law School—where she met, among other future luminaries, Bill and Hillary Clinton. After a fascinating career in private practice as a litigator and trial lawyer handling an incredibly diverse array of cases, Judge Gertner was appointed to serve as a U.S. District Judge for the District of Massachusetts in 1994, by President Clinton. She retired from the bench in 2011, but she is definitely not retired: she writes opinion pieces for outlets such as The New York Times and The Boston Globe, litigates and consults on cases, and trains judges and litigators. She's also working on a book called Incomplete Sentences, telling the stories of the people she sentenced over 17 years on the bench. Her autobiography, In Defense of Women: Memoirs of an Unrepentant Advocate, was published in 2011. Without further ado, here's my conversation with Judge Nancy Gertner.Judge, thank you so much for joining me.Nancy Gertner: Thank you for inviting me. This is wonderful.DL: So it's funny: I've been wanting to have you on this podcast in a sense before it existed, because you and I worked on a podcast pilot. It ended up not getting picked up, but perhaps they have some regrets over that, because legal issues have just blown up since then.NG: I remember that. I think it was just a question of scheduling, and it was before Trump, so we were talking about much more sophisticated, superficial things, as opposed to the rule of law and the demise of the Constitution.DL: And we will get to those topics. But to start off my podcast in the traditional way, let's go back to the beginning. I believe we are both native New Yorkers?NG: Yes, that's right. I was born on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, in an apartment that I think now is a tenement museum, and then we moved to Flushing, Queens, where I lived into my early 20s.DL: So it's interesting—I actually spent some time as a child in that area. What was your upbringing like? What did your parents do?NG: My father owned a linoleum store, or as we used to call it, “tile,” and my mother was a homemaker. My mother worked at home. We were lower class on the Lower East Side and maybe made it to lower-middle. My parents were very conservative, in the sense they didn't know exactly what to do with a girl who was a bit of a radical. Neither I nor my sister was precisely what they anticipated. So I got to Barnard for college only because my sister had a conniption fit when he wouldn't pay for college for her—she's my older sister—he was not about to pay for college. If we were boys, we would've had college paid for.In a sense, they skipped a generation. They were actually much more traditional than their peers were. My father was Orthodox when he grew up; my mother was somewhat Orthodox Jewish. My father couldn't speak English until the second grade. So they came from a very insular environment, and in one sense, he escaped that environment when he wanted to play ball on Saturdays. So that was actually the motivation for moving to Queens: to get away from the Lower East Side, where everyone would know that he wasn't in temple on Saturday. We used to have interesting discussions, where I'd say to him that my rebellion was a version of his: he didn't want to go to temple on Saturdays, and I was marching against the war. He didn't see the equivalence, but somehow I did.There's actually a funny story to tell about sort of exactly the distance between how I was raised and my life. After I graduated from Yale Law School, with all sorts of honors and stuff, and was on my way to clerk for a judge, my mother and I had this huge fight in the kitchen of our apartment. What was the fight about? Sadie wanted me to take the Triborough Bridge toll taker's test, “just in case.” “You never know,” she said. I couldn't persuade her that it really wasn't necessary. She passed away before I became a judge, and I told this story at my swearing-in, and I said that she just didn't understand. I said, “Now I have to talk to my mother for a minute; forgive me for a moment.” And I looked up at the rafters and I said, “Ma, at last: a government job!” So that is sort of the measure of where I started. My mother didn't finish high school, my father had maybe a semester of college—but that wasn't what girls did.DL: So were you then a first-generation professional or a first-generation college graduate?NG: Both—my sister and I were both, first-generation college graduates and first-generation professionals. When people talk about Jewish backgrounds, they're very different from one another, and since my grandparents came from Eastern European shtetls, it's not clear to me that they—except for one grandfather—were even literate. So it was a very different background.DL: You mentioned that you did go to Yale Law School, and of course we connected there years later, when I was your student. But what led you to go to law school in the first place? Clearly your parents were not encouraging your professional ambitions.NG: One is, I love to speak. My husband kids me now and says that I've never met a microphone I didn't like. I had thought for a moment of acting—musical comedy, in fact. But it was 1967, and the anti-war movement, a nascent women's movement, and the civil rights movement were all rising around me, and I wanted to be in the world. And the other thing was that I didn't want to do anything that women do. Actually, musical comedy was something that would've been okay and normal for women, but I didn't want to do anything that women typically do. So that was the choice of law. It was more like the choice of law professor than law, but that changed over time.DL: So did you go straight from Barnard to Yale Law School?NG: Well, I went from Barnard to Yale graduate school in political science because as I said, I've always had an academic and a practical side, and so I thought briefly that I wanted to get a Ph.D. I still do, actually—I'm going to work on that after these books are finished.DL: Did you then think that you wanted to be a law professor when you started at YLS? I guess by that point you already had a master's degree under your belt?NG: I thought I wanted to be a law professor, that's right. I did not think I wanted to practice law. Yale at that time, like most law schools, had no practical clinical courses. I don't think I ever set foot in a courtroom or a courthouse, except to demonstrate on the outside of it. And the only thing that started me in practice was that I thought I should do at least two or three years of practice before I went back into the academy, before I went back into the library. Twenty-four years later, I obviously made a different decision.DL: So you were at YLS during a very interesting time, and some of the law school's most famous alumni passed through its halls around that period. So tell us about some of the people you either met or overlapped with at YLS during your time there.NG: Hillary Clinton was one of my best friends. I knew Bill, but I didn't like him.DL: Hmmm….NG: She was one of my best friends. There were 20 women in my class, which was the class of ‘71. The year before, there had only been eight. I think we got up to 21—a rumor had it that it was up to 21 because men whose numbers were drafted couldn't go to school, and so suddenly they had to fill their class with this lesser entity known as women. It was still a very small number out of, I think, what was the size of the opening class… 165? Very small. So we knew each other very, very well. And Hillary and I were the only ones, I think, who had no boyfriends at the time, though that changed.DL: I think you may have either just missed or briefly overlapped with either Justice Thomas or Justice Alito?NG: They're younger than I am, so I think they came after.DL: And that would be also true of Justice Sotomayor then as well?NG: Absolutely. She became a friend because when I was on the bench, I actually sat with the Second Circuit, and we had great times together. But she was younger than I was, so I didn't know her in law school, and by the time she was in law school, there were more women. In the middle of, I guess, my first year at Yale Law School, was the first year that Yale College went coed. So it was, in my view, an enormously exciting time, because we felt like we were inventing law. We were inventing something entirely new. We had the first “women in the law” course, one of the first such courses in the country, and I think we were borderline obnoxious. It's a little bit like the debates today, which is that no one could speak right—you were correcting everyone with respect to the way they were describing women—but it was enormously creative and exciting.DL: So I'm gathering you enjoyed law school, then?NG: I loved law school. Still, when I was in law school, I still had my feet in graduate school, so I believe that I took law and sociology for three years, mostly. In other words, I was going through law school as if I were still in graduate school, and it was so bad that when I decided to go into practice—and this is an absolutely true story—I thought that dying intestate was a disease. We were taking the bar exam, and I did not know what they were talking about.DL: So tell us, then, what did lead you to shift gears? You mentioned you clerked, and you mentioned you wanted to practice for a few years—but you did practice for more than a few years.NG: Right. I talk to students about this all the time, about sort of the fortuities that you need to grab onto that you absolutely did not plan. So I wind up at a small civil-rights firm, Harvey Silverglate and Norman Zalkind's firm. I wind up in a small civil-rights firm because I couldn't get a job anywhere else in Boston. I was looking in Boston or San Francisco, and what other women my age were encountering, I encountered, which is literally people who told me that I would never succeed as a lawyer, certainly not as a litigator. So you have to understand, this is 1971. I should say, as a footnote, that I have a file of everyone who said that to me. People know that I have that file; it's called “Sexist Tidbits.” And so I used to decide whether I should recuse myself when someone in that file appeared before me, but I decided it was just too far.So it was a small civil-rights firm, and they were doing draft cases, they were doing civil-rights cases of all different kinds, and they were doing criminal cases. After a year, the partnership between Norman Zalkind and Harvey Silverglate broke up, and Harvey made me his partner, now an equal partner after a year of practice.Shortly after that, I got a case that changed my career in so many ways, which is I wound up representing Susan Saxe. Susan Saxe was one of five individuals who participated in robberies to get money for the anti-war movement. She was probably five years younger than I was. In the case of the robbery that she participated in, a police officer was killed. She was charged with felony murder. She went underground for five years; the other woman went underground for 20 years.Susan wanted me to represent her, not because she had any sense that I was any good—it's really quite wonderful—she wanted me to represent her because she figured her case was hopeless. And her case was hopeless because the three men involved in the robbery either fled or were immediately convicted, so her case seemed to be hopeless. And she was an extraordinarily principled woman: she said that in her last moment on the stage—she figured that she'd be convicted and get life—she wanted to be represented by a woman. And I was it. There was another woman in town who was a public defender, but I was literally the only private lawyer. I wrote about the case in my book, In Defense of Women, and to Harvey Silvergate's credit, even though the case was virtually no money, he said, “If you want to do it, do it.”Because I didn't know what I was doing—and I literally didn't know what I was doing—I researched every inch of everything in the case. So we had jury research and careful jury selection, hiring people to do jury selection. I challenged the felony-murder rule (this was now 1970). If there was any evidentiary issue, I would not only do the legal research, but talk to social psychologists about what made sense to do. To make a long story short, it took about two years to litigate the case, and it's all that I did.And the government's case was winding down, and it seemed to be not as strong as we thought it was—because, ironically, nobody noticed the woman in the bank. Nobody was noticing women in general; nobody was noticing women in the bank. So their case was much weaker than we thought, except there were two things, two letters that Susan had written: one to her father, and one to her rabbi. The one to her father said, “By the time you get this letter, you'll know what your little girl is doing.” The one to her rabbi said basically the same thing. In effect, these were confessions. Both had been turned over to the FBI.So the case is winding down, not very strong. These letters have not yet been introduced. Meanwhile, The Boston Globe is reporting that all these anti-war activists were coming into town, and Gertner, who no one ever heard of, was going to try the Vietnam War. The defense will be, “She robbed a bank to fight the Vietnam War.” She robbed a bank in order to get money to oppose the Vietnam War, and the Vietnam War was illegitimate, etc. We were going to try the Vietnam War.There was no way in hell I was going to do that. But nobody had ever heard of me, so they believed anything. The government decided to rest before the letters came in, anticipating that our defense would be a collection of individuals who were going to challenge the Vietnam War. The day that the government rested without putting in those two letters, I rested my case, and the case went immediately to the jury. I'm told that I was so nervous when I said “the defense rests” that I sounded like Minnie Mouse.The upshot of that, however, was that the jury was 9-3 for acquittal on the first day, 10-2 for acquittal on the second day, and then 11-1 for acquittal—and there it stopped. It was a hung jury. But it essentially made my career. I had first the experience of pouring my heart into a case and saving someone's life, which was like nothing I'd ever felt before, which was better than the library. It also put my name out there. I was no longer, “Who is she?” I suddenly could take any kind of case I wanted to take. And so I was addicted to trials from then until the time I became a judge.DL: Fill us in on what happened later to your client, just her ultimate arc.NG: She wound up getting eight years in prison instead of life. She had already gotten eight years because of a prior robbery in Philadelphia, so there was no way that we were going to affect that. She had pleaded guilty to that. She went on to live a very principled life. She's actually quite religious. She works in the very sort of left Jewish groups. We are in touch—I'm in touch with almost everyone that I've ever known—because it had been a life-changing experience for me. We were four years apart. Her background, though she was more middle-class, was very similar to my own. Her mother used to call me at night about what Susan should wear. So our lives were very much intertwined. And so she was out of jail after eight years, and she has a family and is doing fine.DL: That's really a remarkable result, because people have to understand what defense lawyers are up against. It's often very challenging, and a victory is often a situation where your client doesn't serve life, for example, or doesn't, God forbid, get the death penalty. So it's really interesting that the Saxe case—as you talk about in your wonderful memoir—really did launch your career to the next level. And you wound up handling a number of other cases that you could say were adjacent or thematically related to Saxe's case. Maybe you can talk a little bit about some of those.NG: The women's movement was roaring at this time, and so a woman lawyer who was active and spoke out and talked about women's issues invariably got women's cases. So on the criminal side, I did one of the first, I think it was the first, battered woman syndrome case, as a defense to murder. On the civil side, I had a very robust employment-discrimination practice, dealing with sexual harassment, dealing with racial discrimination. I essentially did whatever I wanted to do. That's what my students don't always understand: I don't remember ever looking for a lucrative case. I would take what was interesting and fun to me, and money followed. I can't describe it any other way.These cases—you wound up getting paid, but I did what I thought was meaningful. But it wasn't just women's rights issues, and it wasn't just criminal defense. We represented white-collar criminal defendants. We represented Boston Mayor Kevin White's second-in-command, Ted Anzalone, also successfully. I did stockholder derivative suits, because someone referred them to me. To some degree the Saxe case, and maybe it was also the time—I did not understand the law to require specialization in the way that it does now. So I could do a felony-murder case on Monday and sue Mayor Lynch on Friday and sue Gulf Oil on Monday, and it wouldn't even occur to me that there was an issue. It was not the same kind of specialization, and I certainly wasn't about to specialize.DL: You anticipated my next comment, which is that when someone reads your memoir, they read about a career that's very hard to replicate in this day and age. For whatever reason, today people specialize. They specialize at earlier points in their careers. Clients want somebody who holds himself out as a specialist in white-collar crime, or a specialist in dealing with defendants who invoke battered woman syndrome, or what have you. And so I think your career… you kind of had a luxury, in a way.NG: I also think that the costs of entry were lower. It was Harvey Silverglate and me, and maybe four or five other lawyers. I was single until I was 39, so I had no family pressures to speak of. And I think that, yes, the profession was different. Now employment discrimination cases involve prodigious amounts of e-discovery. So even a little case has e-discovery, and that's partly because there's a generation—you're a part of it—that lived online. And so suddenly, what otherwise would have been discussions over the back fence are now text messages.So I do think it's different—although maybe this is a comment that only someone who is as old as I am can make—I wish that people would forget the money for a while. When I was on the bench, you'd get a pro se case that was incredibly interesting, challenging prison conditions or challenging some employment issue that had never been challenged before. It was pro se, and I would get on the phone and try to find someone to represent this person. And I can't tell you how difficult it was. These were not necessarily big cases. The big firms might want to get some publicity from it. But there was not a sense of individuals who were going to do it just, “Boy, I've never done a case like this—let me try—and boy, this is important to do.” Now, that may be different today in the Trump administration, because there's a huge number of lawyers that are doing immigration cases. But the day-to-day discrimination cases, even abortion cases, it was not the same kind of support.DL: I feel in some ways you were ahead of your time, because your career as a litigator played out in boutiques, and I feel that today, many lawyers who handle high-profile cases like yours work at large firms. Why did you not go to a large firm, either from YLS or if there were issues, for example, of discrimination, you must have had opportunities to lateral into such a firm later, if you had wanted to?NG: Well, certainly at the beginning nobody wanted me. It didn't matter how well I had done. Me and Ruth Ginsburg were on the streets looking for jobs. So that was one thing. I wound up, for the last four years of my practice before I became a judge, working in a firm called Dwyer Collora & Gertner. It was more of a boutique, white-collar firm. But I wasn't interested in the big firms because I didn't want anyone to tell me what to do. I didn't want anyone to say, “Don't write this op-ed because you'll piss off my clients.” I faced the same kind of issue when I left the bench. I could have an office, and sort of float into client conferences from time to time, but I did not want to be in a setting in which anyone told me what to do. It was true then; it certainly is true now.DL: So you did end up in another setting where, for the most part, you weren't told what to do: namely, you became a federal judge. And I suppose the First Circuit could from time to time tell you what to do, but….NG: But they were always wrong.DL: Yes, I do remember that when you were my professor, you would offer your thoughts on appellate rulings. But how did you—given the kind of career you had, especially—become a federal judge? Because let me be honest, I think that somebody with your type of engagement in hot-button issues today would have a challenging time. Republican senators would grandstand about you coming up with excuses for women murderers, or what have you. Did you have a rough confirmation process?NG: I did. So I'm up for the bench in 1993. This is under Bill Clinton, and I'm told—I never confirmed this—that when Senator Kennedy…. When I met Senator Kennedy, I thought I didn't have a prayer of becoming a judge. I put my name in because I knew the Clintons, and everybody I knew was getting a job in the government. I had not thought about being a judge. I had not prepared. I had not structured my career to be a judge. But everyone I knew was going into the government, and I thought if there ever was a time, this would be it. So I apply. Someday, someone should emboss my application, because the application was quite hysterical. I put in every article that I had written calling for access to reproductive technologies to gay people. It was something to behold.Kennedy was at the tail end of his career, and he was determined to put someone like me on the bench. I'm not sure that anyone else would have done that. I'm told (and this isn't confirmed) that when he talked to Bill and Hillary about me, they of course knew me—Hillary and I had been close friends—but they knew me to be that radical friend of theirs from Yale Law School. There had been 24 years in between, but still. And I'm told that what was said was, “She's terrific. But if there's a problem, she's yours.” But Kennedy was really determined.The week before my hearing before the Senate, I had gotten letters from everyone who had ever opposed me. Every prosecutor. I can't remember anyone who had said no. Bill Weld wrote a letter. Bob Mueller, who had opposed me in cases, wrote a letter. But as I think oftentimes happens with women, there was an article in The Boston Herald the day before my hearing, in which the writer compared me to Lorena Bobbitt. Your listeners may not know this, but he said, “Gertner will do to justice, with her gavel, what Lorena did to her husband, with a kitchen knife.” Do we have to explain that any more?DL: They can Google it or ask ChatGPT. I'm old enough to know about Lorena Bobbitt.NG: Right. So it's just at the tail edge of the presentation, that was always what the caricature would be. But Kennedy was masterful. There were numbers of us who were all up at the same time. Everyone else got through except me. I'm told that that article really was the basis for Senator Jesse Helms's opposition to me. And then Senator Kennedy called us one day and said, “Tomorrow you're going to read something, but don't worry, I'll take care of it.” And the Boston Globe headline says, “Kennedy Votes For Helms's School-Prayer Amendment.” And he called us and said, “We'll take care of it in committee.” And then we get a call from him—my husband took the call—Kennedy, affecting Helms's accent, said, ‘Senator, you've got your judge.' We didn't even understand what the hell he said, between his Boston accent and imitating Helms; we had no idea what he said. But that then was confirmed.DL: Are you the managing partner of a boutique or midsize firm? If so, you know that your most important job is attracting and retaining top talent. It's not easy, especially if your benefits don't match up well with those of Biglaw firms or if your HR process feels “small time.” NexFirm has created an onboarding and benefits experience that rivals an Am Law 100 firm, so you can compete for the best talent at a price your firm can afford. Want to learn more? Contact NexFirm at 212-292-1002 or email betterbenefits@nexfirm.com.So turning to your time as a judge, how would you describe that period, in a nutshell? The job did come with certain restrictions. Did you enjoy it, notwithstanding the restrictions?NG: I candidly was not sure that I would last beyond five years, for a couple of reasons. One was, I got on the bench in 1994, when the sentencing guidelines were mandatory, when what we taught you in my sentencing class was not happening, which is that judges would depart from the guidelines and the Sentencing Commission, when enough of us would depart, would begin to change the guidelines, and there'd be a feedback loop. There was no feedback loop. If you departed, you were reversed. And actually the genesis of the book I'm writing now came from this period. As far as I was concerned, I was being unfair. As I later said, my sentences were unfair, unjust, and disproportionate—and there was nothing I could do about it. So I was not sure that I was going to last beyond five years.In addition, there were some high-profile criminal trials going on with lawyers that I knew that I probably would've been a part of if I had been practicing. And I hungered to do that, to go back and be a litigator. The course at Yale Law School that you were a part of saved me. And it saved me because, certainly with respect to the sentencing, it turned what seemed like a formula into an intellectual discussion in which there was wiggle room and the ability to come up with other approaches. In other words, we were taught that this was a formula, and you don't depart from the formula, and that's it. The class came up with creative issues and creative understandings, which made an enormous difference to my judging.So I started to write; I started to write opinions. Even if the opinion says there's nothing I can do about it, I would write opinions in which I say, “I can't depart because of this woman's status as a single mother because the guidelines said only extraordinary family circumstances can justify a departure, and this wasn't extraordinary. That makes no sense.” And I began to write this in my opinions, I began to write this in scholarly writings, and that made all the difference in the world. And sometimes I was reversed, and sometimes I was not. But it enabled me to figure out how to push back against a system which I found to be palpably unfair. So I figured out how to be me in this job—and that was enormously helpful.DL: And I know how much and how deeply you cared about sentencing because of the class in which I actually wound up writing one of my two capstone papers at Yale.NG: To your listeners, I still have that paper.DL: You must be quite a pack rat!NG: I can change the grade at any time….DL: Well, I hope you've enjoyed your time today, Judge, and will keep the grade that way!But let me ask you: now that the guidelines are advisory, do you view that as a step forward from your time on the bench? Perhaps you would still be a judge if they were advisory? I don't know.NG: No, they became advisory in 2005, and I didn't leave until 2011. Yes, that was enormously helpful: you could choose what you thought was a fair sentence, so it's very advisory now. But I don't think I would've stayed longer, because of two reasons.By the time I hit 65, I wanted another act. I wanted another round. I thought I had done all that I could do as a judge, and I wanted to try something different. And Martha Minow of Harvard Law School made me an offer I couldn't refuse, which was to teach at Harvard. So that was one. It also, candidly, was that there was no longevity in my family, and so when I turned 65, I wasn't sure what was going to happen. So I did want to try something new. But I'm still here.DL: Yep—definitely, and very active. I always chuckle when I see “Ret.,” the abbreviation for “retired,” in your email signature, because you do not seem very retired to me. Tell us what you are up to today.NG: Well, first I have this book that I've been writing for several years, called Incomplete Sentences. And so what this book started to be about was the men and women that I sentenced, and how unfair it was, and what I thought we should have done. Then one day I got a message from a man by the name of Darryl Green, and it says, “Is this Nancy Gertner? If it is, I think about you all the time. I hope you're well. I'm well. I'm an iron worker. I have a family. I've written books. You probably don't remember me.” This was a Facebook message. I knew exactly who he was. He was a man who had faced the death penalty in my court, and I acquitted him. And he was then tried in state court, and acquitted again. So I knew exactly who he was, and I decided to write back.So I wrote back and said, “I know who you are. Do you want to meet?” That started a series of meetings that I've had with the men I've sentenced over the course of the 17-year career that I had as a judge. Why has it taken me this long to write? First, because these have been incredibly moving and difficult discussions. Second, because I wanted the book to be honest about what I knew about them and what a difference maybe this information would make. It is extremely difficult, David, to be honest about judging, particularly in these days when judges are parodied. So if I talk about how I wanted to exercise some leniency in a case, I understand that this can be parodied—and I don't want it to be, but I want to be honest.So for example, in one case, there would be cooperators in the case who'd get up and testify that the individual who was charged with only X amount of drugs was actually involved with much more than that. And you knew that if you believed the witness, the sentence would be doubled, even though you thought that didn't make any sense. This was really just mostly how long the cops were on the corner watching the drug deals. It didn't make the guy who was dealing drugs on a bicycle any more culpable than the guy who was doing massive quantities into the country.So I would struggle with, “Do I really believe this man, the witness who's upping the quantity?” And the kinds of exercises I would go through to make sure that I wasn't making a decision because I didn't like the implications of the decision and it was what I was really feeling. So it's not been easy to write, and it's taken me a very long time. The other side of the coin is they're also incredibly honest with me, and sometimes I don't want to know what they're saying. Not like a sociologist who could say, “Oh, that's an interesting fact, I'll put it in.” It's like, “Oh no, I don't want to know that.”DL: Wow. The book sounds amazing; I can't wait to read it. When is it estimated to come out?NG: Well, I'm finishing it probably at the end of this year. I've rewritten it about five times. And my hope would be sometime next year. So yeah, it was organic. It's what I wanted to write from the minute I left the bench. And it covers the guideline period when it was lunacy to follow the guidelines, to a period when it was much more flexible, but the guidelines still disfavored considering things like addiction and trauma and adverse childhood experiences, which really defined many of the people I was sentencing. So it's a cri de cœur, as they say, which has not been easy to write.DL: Speaking of cri de cœurs, and speaking of difficult things, it's difficult to write about judging, but I think we also have alluded already to how difficult it is to engage in judging in 2025. What general thoughts would you have about being a federal judge in 2025? I know you are no longer a federal judge. But if you were still on the bench or when you talk to your former colleagues, what is it like on the ground right now?NG: It's nothing like when I was a judge. In fact, the first thing that happened when I left the bench is I wrote an article in which I said—this is in 2011—that the only pressure I had felt in my 17 years on the bench was to duck, avoid, and evade, waiver, statute of limitations. Well, all of a sudden, you now have judges who at least since January are dealing with emergencies that they can't turn their eyes away from, judges issuing rulings at 1 a.m., judges writing 60-page decisions on an emergency basis, because what the president is doing is literally unprecedented. The courts are being asked to look at issues that have never been addressed before, because no one has ever tried to do the things that he's doing. And they have almost overwhelmingly met the moment. It doesn't matter whether you're ruling for the government or against the government; they are taking these challenges enormously seriously. They're putting in the time.I had two clerks, maybe some judges have three, but it's a prodigious amount of work. Whereas everyone complained about the Trump prosecutions proceeding so slowly, judges have been working expeditiously on these challenges, and under circumstances that I never faced, which is threats the likes of which I have never seen. One judge literally played for me the kinds of voice messages that he got after a decision that he issued. So they're doing it under circumstances that we never had to face. And it's not just the disgruntled public talking; it's also our fellow Yale Law alum, JD Vance, talking about rogue judges. That's a level of delegitimization that I just don't think anyone ever had to deal with before. So they're being challenged in ways that no other judges have, and they are being threatened in a way that no judges have.On the other hand, I wish I were on the bench.DL: Interesting, because I was going to ask you that. If you were to give lower-court judges a grade, to put you back in professor mode, on their performance since January 2025, what grade would you give the lower courts?NG: Oh, I would give them an A. I would give them an A. It doesn't matter which way they have come out: decision after decision has been thoughtful and careful. They put in the time. Again, this is not a commentary on what direction they have gone in, but it's a commentary on meeting the moment. And so now these are judges who are getting emergency orders, emergency cases, in the midst of an already busy docket. It has really been extraordinary. The district courts have; the courts of appeals have. I've left out another court….DL: We'll get to that in a minute. But I'm curious: you were on the District of Massachusetts, which has been a real center of activity because many groups file there. As we're recording this, there is the SNAP benefits, federal food assistance litigation playing out there [before Judge Indira Talwani, with another case before Chief Judge John McConnell of Rhode Island]. So it's really just ground zero for a lot of these challenges. But you alluded to the Supreme Court, and I was going to ask you—even before you did—what grade would you give them?NG: Failed. The debate about the shadow docket, which you write about and I write about, in which Justice Kavanaugh thinks, “we're doing fine making interim orders, and therefore it's okay that there's even a precedential value to our interim orders, and thank you very much district court judges for what you're doing, but we'll be the ones to resolve these issues”—I mean, they're resolving these issues in the most perfunctory manner possible.In the tariff case, for example, which is going to be argued on Wednesday, the Court has expedited briefing and expedited oral argument. They could do that with the emergency docket, but they are preferring to hide behind this very perfunctory decision making. I'm not sure why—maybe to keep their options open? Justice Barrett talks about how if it's going to be a hasty decision, you want to make sure that it's not written in stone. But of course then the cases dealing with independent commissions, in which you are allowing the government, allowing the president, to fire people on independent commissions—these cases are effectively overruling Humphrey's Executor, in the most ridiculous setting. So the Court is not meeting the moment. It was stunning that the Court decided in the birthright-citizenship case to be concerned about nationwide injunctions, when in fact nationwide injunctions had been challenged throughout the Biden administration, and they just decided not to address the issue then.Now, I have a lot to say about Justice Kavanaugh's dressing-down of Judge [William] Young [of the District of Massachusetts]….DL: Or Justice Gorsuch, joined by Justice Kavanaugh.NG: That's right, it was Justice Gorsuch. It was stunningly inappropriate, stunningly inappropriate, undermines the district courts that frankly are doing much better than the Supreme Court in meeting the moment. The whole concept of defying the Supreme Court—defying a Supreme Court order, a three-paragraph, shadow-docket order—is preposterous. So whereas the district courts and the courts of appeals are meeting the moment, I do not think the Supreme Court is. And that's not even going into the merits of the immunity decision, which I think has let loose a lawless presidency that is even more lawless than it might otherwise be. So yes, that failed.DL: I do want to highlight for my readers that in addition to your books and your speaking, you do write quite frequently on these issues in the popular press. I've seen your work in The New York Times and The Boston Globe. I know you're working on a longer essay about the rule of law in the age of Trump, so people should look out for that. Of all the things that you worry about right now when it comes to the rule of law, what worries you the most?NG: I worry that the president will ignore and disobey a Supreme Court order. I think a lot about the judges that are dealing with orders that the government is not obeying, and people are impatient that they're not immediately moving to contempt. And one gets the sense with the lower courts that they are inching up to the moment of contempt, but do not want to get there because it would be a stunning moment when you hold the government in contempt. I think the Supreme Court is doing the same thing. I initially believed that the Supreme Court was withholding an anti-Trump decision, frankly, for fear that he would not obey it, and they were waiting till it mattered. I now am no longer certain of that, because there have been rulings that made no sense as far as I'm concerned. But my point was that they, like the lower courts, were holding back rather than saying, “Government, you must do X,” for fear that the government would say, “Go pound sand.” And that's what I fear, because when that happens, it will be even more of a constitutional crisis than we're in now. It'll be a constitutional confrontation, the likes of which we haven't seen. So that's what I worry about.DL: Picking up on what you just said, here's something that I posed to one of my prior guests, Pam Karlan. Let's say you're right that the Supreme Court doesn't want to draw this line in the sand because of a fear that Trump, being Trump, will cross it. Why is that not prudential? Why is that not the right thing? And why is it not right for the Supreme Court to husband its political capital for the real moment?Say Trump—I know he said lately he's not going to—but say Trump attempts to run for a third term, and some case goes up to the Supreme Court on that basis, and the Court needs to be able to speak in a strong, unified, powerful voice. Or maybe it'll be a birthright-citizenship case, if he says, when they get to the merits of that, “Well, that's really nice that you think that there's such a thing as birthright citizenship, but I don't, and now stop me.” Why is it not wise for the Supreme Court to protect itself, until this moment when it needs to come forward and protect all of us?NG: First, the question is whether that is in fact what they are doing, and as I said, there were two schools of thought on this. One school of thought was that is what they were doing, and particularly doing it in an emergency, fuzzy, not really precedential way, until suddenly you're at the edge of the cliff, and you have to either say taking away birthright citizenship was unconstitutional, or tariffs, you can't do the tariffs the way you want to do the tariffs. I mean, they're husbanding—I like the way you put it, husbanding—their political capital, until that moment. I'm not sure that that's true. I think we'll know that if in fact the decisions that are coming down the pike, they actually decide against Trump—notably the tariff ones, notably birthright citizenship. I'm just not sure that that's true.And besides, David, there are some of these cases they did not have to take. The shadow docket was about where plaintiffs were saying it is an emergency to lay people off or fire people. Irreparable harm is on the plaintiff's side, whereas the government otherwise would just continue to do that which it has been doing. There's no harm to it continuing that. USAID—you don't have a right to dismantle the USAID. The harm is on the side of the dismantling, not having you do that which you have already done and could do through Congress, if you wanted to. They didn't have to take those cases. So your comment about husbanding political capital is a good comment, but those cases could have remained as they were in the district courts with whatever the courts of appeals did, and they could do what previous courts have done, which is wait for the issues to percolate longer.The big one for me, too, is the voting rights case. If they decide the voting rights case in January or February or March, if they rush it through, I will say then it's clear they're in the tank for Trump, because the only reason to get that decision out the door is for the 2026 election. So I want to believe that they are husbanding their political capital, but I'm not sure that if that's true, that we would've seen this pattern. But the proof will be with the voting rights case, with birthright citizenship, with the tariffs.DL: Well, it will be very interesting to see what happens in those cases. But let us now turn to my speed round. These are four questions that are the same for all my guests, and my first question is, what do you like the least about the law? And this can either be the practice of law or law as an abstract system of governance.NG: The practice of law. I do some litigation; I'm in two cases. When I was a judge, I used to laugh at people who said incivility was the most significant problem in the law. I thought there were lots of other more significant problems. I've come now to see how incredibly nasty the practice of law is. So yes—and that is no fun.DL: My second question is, what would you be if you were not a lawyer/judge/retired judge?NG: Musical comedy star, clearly! No question about it.DL: There are some judges—Judge Fred Block in the Eastern District of New York, Judge Jed Rakoff in the Southern District of New York—who do these little musical stylings for their court shows. I don't know if you've ever tried that?NG: We used to do Shakespeare, Shakespeare readings, and I loved that. I am a ham—so absolutely musical comedy or theater.DL: My third question is, how much sleep do you get each night?NG: Six to seven hours now, just because I'm old. Before that, four. Most of my life as a litigator, I never thought I needed sleep. You get into my age, you need sleep. And also you look like hell the next morning, so it's either getting sleep or a facelift.DL: And my last question is, any final words of wisdom, such as career advice or life advice, for my listeners?NG: You have to do what you love. You have to do what you love. The law takes time and is so all-encompassing that you have to do what you love. And I have done what I love from beginning to now, and I wouldn't have it any other way.DL: Well, I have loved catching up with you, Judge, and having you share your thoughts and your story with my listeners. Thank you so much for joining me.NG: You're very welcome, David. Take care.DL: Thanks so much to Judge Gertner for joining me. I look forward to reading her next book, Incomplete Sentences, when it comes out next year.Thanks to NexFirm for sponsoring the Original Jurisdiction podcast. NexFirm has helped many attorneys to leave Biglaw and launch firms of their own. To explore this opportunity, please contact NexFirm at 212-292-1000 or email careerdevelopment@nexfirm.com to learn more.Thanks to Tommy Harron, my sound engineer here at Original Jurisdiction, and thanks to you, my listeners and readers. To connect with me, please email me at davidlat@substack.com, or find me on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn, at davidlat, and on Instagram and Threads at davidbenjaminlat.If you enjoyed today's episode, please rate, review, and subscribe. Please subscribe to the Original Jurisdiction newsletter if you don't already, over at davidlat.substack.com. This podcast is free, but it's made possible by paid subscriptions to the newsletter.The next episode should appear on or about Wednesday, November 26. 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Welcome back to The Groupchat besties!!!In The Groupchat, we share some of your TMI & embarrassing stories that always leaves us on the end of our seat and crying of laughter! We share our advice around YOUR dilemmas and help you navigate different situations in life from dating, friendship, family, life & everything in between! As always your secret is safe with us and whatever happens in The Groupchat stays in The Groupchat!If you'd like to join The Groupchat and share any TMI stories, have your say in our dilemma debates or need any advice please DM or email us from the below: Instagram: @thegroupchatTik Tok: @the.groupchatpod Email: hello.thegroupchatpodcast@gmail.com follow Liv on socials: Instagram: @oliviamesciaTiktok: @oliviamesciafollow Ash on socials:Instagram: @ashleymesciaTik Tok: @ashleymesciaSee you next Thursday xx*We'd like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of this land in which we are able to record this podcast. We would like to pay respect to elders past, present and emerging and any aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people here today.* Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today's Headlines: More election results are in, and Democrats are mostly keeping their momentum from Tuesday. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey was re-elected, fending off a challenge from democratic socialist Ahmed Fatah. In Maine, voters approved a new red flag gun law and Colorado passed a statewide measure to fund free school lunches for all kids—because Colorado stays ahead of the curve. Meanwhile, California Republicans have already filed a federal lawsuit to block the new congressional map voters approved under Prop 50, claiming it violates the 14th and 15th Amendments. And in Maine, Democratic Rep. Jared Golden—one of the few Dems who could win a red district—announced he won't seek reelection, citing threats made against his family. The government shutdown officially hit day 37, breaking Trump's own previous record. The Transportation Department says it'll start cutting air traffic by 10% if the standoff doesn't end by Friday. Trump's still calling for Senate Republicans to scrap the filibuster to end it, but a bipartisan group is reportedly working on a short-term fix that would reopen the government and roll in some of the annual funding bills. Translation: they could've solved this if they wanted to. At the Supreme Court, justices heard three hours of arguments over whether Trump can unilaterally impose tariffs. Judging by their questions, they're not exactly buying it. And finally, investigators say the UPS cargo plane crash in Louisville that killed nine people began when the left wing caught fire and an engine fell off just after takeoff—sending debris and explosions half a mile downrange. Resources/Articles mentioned in this episode: AP News: California Republicans sue over new US House map approved by voters Bangor Daily News: Jared Golden: I won't seek reelection. Here's why. WSJ: Lawmakers See Hope for Ending Record-Setting Shutdown WSJ: Supreme Court Appears Skeptical of Trump's Tariffs AP News: 12 dead after engine fell off UPS plane that crashed and exploded in Kentucky Morning Announcements is produced by Sami Sage and edited by Grace Hernandez-Johnson Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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