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NOTE: From 0:01:07-0:02:36 the sound quality is lower than the rest of the episode as you are hearing the backup recording.    This conversation is about democracy and scientific literacy. In 2023 Germany shut down the last of its nuclear plants, and is now bringing back several mothballed coal plants to keep the lights on over winter. Was this a smart decision given the scientific consensus that we need to cut carbon emissions? Similar questions can be asked about the banning of GMO crops, or government handling of Covid. More and more, the decisions being made in western democracies have a scientific basis. Can our democracies thrive (or even survive) without a well informed, engaged, and scientifically literate population? In this conversation I speak with Johannes Vogel, who is the Director General of the Natural Science Museum in Berlin, and a Professor of Biodiversity and Public Science at Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany. We discuss the role of museums in society, the unglamorous side of science, open and citizen science, scientific spending, ownership of museum items, the war in Ukraine, preserving museum specimens, the effectiveness of political protest and marches, scientists as politicians, AI and misinformation, and much more. ►Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/KT_p26a_d_M ►For more information about Johannes work: https://www.museumfuernaturkunde.berlin/en/about/team/johannes.vogel   These conversations are supported by the Andrea von Braun Foundation (http://www.avbstiftung.de/), as an exploration of the rich, exciting, connected, scientifically literate, and (most importantly) sustainable future of humanity. The views expressed in these episodes are my own and those of my guests. This episode focuses on the sustainability of western democracies in the face of anti-scientific sentiment.

I am guessing this will come as no surprise to any of us, but gratitude is not often our default setting. Complaining and grumbling is. Ouch.   With that said (and since we are just coming off the grumbling and complaining of the Israelites in the wilderness after their Exodus from Egypt in our studies), I felt this is an ideal time to lean in here a bit more to have us all consider to true antidote to complaining and grumbling…. Yep… you guessed it. Thankfulness and gratitude. While we can all know this at a head level, it is much more difficult to live, am I right my friends?!   Be sure you listen in to this EXTENDED BONUS episode covering so many other things too… wilderness seasons of life. joy and pain. hard and good. friendship with God. God's presence in it all. Emmanuel. God With Us.   Annnddd be sure you don't miss the end where I talk candidly about the one-year anniversary of my Dad's unexpected death and how I am STILL trying to find a way to fight for thankfulness this Thanksgiving season. One WHOLE YEAR later. To be aggressively grateful for what God has done, is doing, and promised to do in my life… right where I'm at. Right here. Right now. As I grieve the loss of my Dad, and yet, in the same breath, am so truly thankful for the example of a life well lived, one in which he chose to love me and others in a meaningful way. Every day. Clear up to his last day. ❤   Truthfully, I am reminded just how much thankfulness and gratitude for my Dad over the course of this last year has been so valuable in the healing process. Once again holding that tension of both blessing and loss together. Oh my still grieving but also still healing heart. Heartbreak and Thankfulness. Joy and Pain. Hard and Good. Both/And. Only God can do this in our lives am I right my friends?!   Oh goodness. You're really just going to have to listen in as I speak words into the mic to find out more… a message I know I so desperately needed to hear… and maybe you do too right about now my friends?!   ❤ M   For the full episode show notes, please go to https://mfahring.com/once-again-thankful-for-god-with-us-my-dad/

Season 5.3 E3, talk to M about the feeling of empathy in Deep Sea 第5.3季第3期，和M聊《深海》的感同身受 For more information, you can follow the WeChat public account: willyi_ You can also follow personal ins: willyi_ 更多内容，可以关注微信公众号：不著 还可以关注个人ins：willyi_ 「This Season」 I want to know, How the dramatic text affects you Act the part and speak for yourself Which one is more like you 我想了解， 戏剧文本在张力之外 对真实的你有何影响 演绎和发声 哪一个更像我们呢

*Update* I am no longer in a coffeeshop in Philly, but finally got up to record this post as a podcast episode. It is February now. Enjoy and stay warm. I find myself sitting in a coffeeshop in Philly overwhelmed by how many friends and strangers have reached out to me about losing someone they cared about in their lives recently. I have been working on this post for a while, quietly coming back to it time and time again over the past year, and never ready to post or record it. I am ready now because I hope it helps someone who is feeling the way I do. I also wanted to shine more light on the subject because... In our society, grief isn't talked about as much as, well, everything else.  We avoid the topic like the plague, even though the one thing that links all of us on this Earth is death. Impermanence and mortality are subjects that are now a part of my fabric. I embrace these topics. I want to have salons with like minded humans going through transitions, and look into their eyes and know we are connected. I know deep down that there are so many others who need this subject to be discussed more. We are not alone. You are not alone, even though right now if you are reading this, you may feel the opposite. I get it, and I hope this offers a little bit of insight into at least what I have found to be helpful for me this past year. It might not apply to you, or maybe it will. I would also love to hear what works or doesn't work for you. Here we go... Deep breaths! Traveling- Seeing something bigger than yourself puts things into perspective. It takes you out of your bubble and allows you to breathe for a bit. Coming back home however, will be hard as you realize your loved one is still gone. As long as you know that, traveling is a wonderful way to make some space for yourself. Talking About The Person That Has Passed- People try to avoid their name, their memory. They are uncomfortable with grieving and death. they may also feel that bringing up the subject will cause you pain. For me this wasn't the case. I needed and still need to talk about Nina. I want to talk about her all the time. I want to have her memories wash over me so that she remains right by my side and at the forefront of my mind. For those in denial, or not facing their grief, not wanting to remember, or speak about the loved one who has passed could be a sign of not fully accepting their death and can be detrimental over time. Speak their name and remember them. Bonus points if you are the friend or loved one who actually makes eye contact while doing it. :) Friends Who Have Grieved- Having someone who has possibly gone through something similar really does help, allowing you to open up more. It can sometimes be hard to fully be vulnerable with a friend or family member who just doesn't have that shared experience of loss. Don't be afraid to reach out to someone if you need to talk. This was VERY hard for me, so I understand if it can seem intimidating. Walking- Just simply walking outdoors for 5 minutes helps me get out of my own head. It is simply, my lifeline. It has been since Covid began. It allows your mind to be present in nature and have some fresh air clears the demons away. Embrace the Tears- I am fully for crying in public to be the new normal. Laughter is an expression of emotions, so are tears. If everyone cried more, we would be a much healthier nation. It is extremely healthy to cry, it allows your feelings to bubble to the surface so you can let them go and heal. Please don't tell someone not to cry. We were told that as children, and look where it usually gets us, being an adult and NOT BEING COMFORTABLE CRYING. In the beginning I was embarrassed by my tears. Now, I welcome them. When I cry I know I am healing, and bringing my sister back to life because I am feeling all the emotions. - Being in nature. It just helps so much. Sitting outside. Going on a hike. Gardening. Try Forest Bathing. Look it up. It is amazing. - Meditation- It doesn't have to look like the standard meditation of sitting quietly. I teach meditation to others, and fully believe that active meditation can be just as helpful as sitting meditation. Walking is a form of this. If you find yourself still restless, then it is time to ramp up your practice and search for some different outlets. I suggest Insight Timer App which is free and has a ton of helpful guides, sleep music, and a timer! - Helping Others. This is a big one. After the death of a loved one we can feel like we have lost our meaning. "Why am I here? What is my purpose? I feel lost." I still feel this way on some dark days. I try to remind myself that  the meaning is just being alive and helping others. Find a group, mentor someone, donate, get involved in your community. Not only will it make you feel better, but you will also be helping someone else who may need it. Grief Groups- I believe my sister Neen is waiting for me and I will see her again. That being said, there are a lot of grief groups that are focused on religion. It just isn't for me. I am not an overly religious person. I am a spiritual person which is not the same. I do believe however that finding a group of people with that shared experience can be a positive thing. Just be careful when choosing as there can be some groups that will make you feel worse. A lot of negative, depressing or talk that has a toxic effect and will keep you spinning your wheels. This is not a dig on religious groups btw. Grief is unique and nobody grieves the same way. Find comfort where you can. My absolute favorite group that I have found is on Facebook run by now friend Nicola Yardley called Coping with Grief. It truly has been so helpful in remembering my sister, and also taking care of myself. Therapy. Everyone's thoughts are different but mine are YES TO THERAPY. I found my therapist before Nina died, and I don't know what I would do without her. Not all therapists will be the right fit for you, so don't get turned off if the first one doesn't quite make you feel comfortable. Try another until you find the right one. Therapy is essential in having a third party to talk to. For those that are reading this thinking- "Well I have my sister to talk to, or my best friend, or my partner." Believe me- 1. At some point it won't be enough. 2. They are biased. 3. You won't be able to open up to them as much. 4. After a while you will feel like you are burdening them (and you might be) negative patterns that cycle over, and over without healing can cause strain on a relationship. Trust me, find a therapist and feel loads better. Art Therapy- Music and art help LOADS. Also crafting. Coloring has been so therapeutic if you don't know where to start or don't want to take a class. Painting, drawing. Check Meetup for online live sketch classes! Hanging with Kids- This for me has also been essential. My little from Big Brothers Big Sisters has kept me grounded and also not jaded or angry. In grief you can become so sad and angry. Hanging with him, my niece and nephews, it makes me feel alive and happy again. I also took a job teaching mindfulness to kids in schools who really need it. It makes me feel hopeful and inspired after I leave there. Grief Recovery Method- I tried this certified national program, and will be covering it in another podcast episode because it is too long to talk about. The short answer is- When you are ready to heal, this is a good program for those who like homework and structure. It helped me. Doing Something Your Loved One Liked To Do- Eating their favorite foods, their favorite drink. Taking a class in something they delved in. Watching their favorite movie. This has helped me a lot. Will it be painfully sweet? Yes. Will you cry? Probably. Will it make you feel closer to them? Absolutely. Writing Your Loved One a Letter- This may not be for everyone, because it was unique to Nina and I. She lived in Vegas for a time of her life and we wrote each other so many letters. Hundreds of them. We kept writing even when she returned home. It was our best way of communicating. A week before she died I woke up at 3am and wrote her the longest of the letters. Telling her everything I ever wanted to tell her. Things I was sorry for. Times that made me so happy. How proud I was of her. How beautiful she is/was. Memories that meant the most to me. Thanking her for being there for me in every way. All of it. Anything I wanted to say. She got to read that, and I can't tell you how much I am thankful that I was able to tell her those things. Now that she isn't here. I haven't stopped writing to her. "Dear Neen" letters are everywhere. On my laptop, in my various journals, pieces of paper around the house, on napkins at restaurants. It can't explain to you the release I got when I realized I could STILL write to her. I was sitting in a cafe in Croatia, and became so overcome with sadness thinking that she would never write to me again. I began crying... in public... again. (It's the norm now, and apparently what the cool kids are doing lol) It was then and there I realized that I could still write to her. I began my letter the way I always did, and the moment my pen hit that restaurant's placemat... I was overwhelmed by the relief it gave me. I wrote and wrote and wrote. I still do and it is one of the biggest sources of comfort. Try it. I have personally found it to be such a healing practice. Even if you never wrote to one another, that doesn't mean you can't start. You end up writing so much more that is inside yourself that speaking, thinking cannot help with. What is something you longed to say to your loved one that maybe you didn't get to? Write to them. Books- There have been some books that REALLY helped me this year. The Wild Edge of Sorrow is one. If I could buy this for every person in the world, I would. It is a balm to my soul. Also Comfortable with Uncertainty by Pema Chodrin. If you know or have kids of your own The Invisible String is a wonderful children's book on dealing with the loss of a loved one and helping kids understand death. I also enjoyed Life is in the Transitions which helped me quite a bit in the first months of grief. Head over and check out my 6 six that have helped me with my grieving process this past year post.  Doing Nothing- Allowing yourself to do nothing is great for grief. Letting go of expectations that you put on yourself. Overworking, meeting with friends. Sometimes just be in solitude and doing nothing has greatly helped me grieve and release pain. Know when you have stayed there too long, use your intuition to come back out, and say yes to things again. You are allowed to just sit. I repeat. Try not to feel guilty about it, you do you. Selfcare in All Forms- Massage, reflexology, swimming, sauna, yoga, tea, sleep. Putting yourself FIRST is now your priority. Your loved one would want you to take the best care of yourself. Do the things that make your body and mind feel good. It isn't selfish. Once again you cannot pour from an empty cup. I would be remiss to not mention my Sunday evening Stress Relief classes. I started them for myself and then turned them into a pay what you can class. I would love for you to join me every Sunday at 8pm EST :) What Doesn't Help Me- These few things don't work for me. I want to be clear in saying. These are all just my opinions. What works for me may not work for all. As always- I am not a doctor or therapist. I am just a grieving person hoping to help someone else who is feeling the way I am. This is also therapy for me as well. Consult a doctor if you find yourself in a bad state. Excess alcohol. It is ok to indulge, but a lot of time you find yourself making excuses for that extra glass of wine. For me, it effects my sleep, is a depressant, and has me craving to drown myself into another bottle. My sister isn't at the bottom of that bottle, and neither are any answers you are seeking. So while indulging once in a while is ok, just be careful of the slippery slope of distracting ourselves from our grief. Alcohol numbs. Staying Up Late- Nope, I need a regular bedtime. Also the demons come out at night so the earlier I go to sleep the better so my head doesn't spin and spin. Overeating- Same as drinking. It makes me feel worse. Meeting With Comforting Yet Toxic People- Just because someone is in your life, doesn't mean that they are great for your well being. Just because something is comforting because it is familiar, it doesn't make it good for you. Rule of thumb- If you leave your hangout or conversation feeling down or depleted, it might be time for a break. Which is OK. Don't feel bad about taking what is best for you at this time. Scrolling- Otherwise known as doom scrolling. Try to put the phone down, close your eyes, or take that walk to get out of your head. Caffeine- Ramped up my anxiety terribly. I would suggest dialing it back if your mind is racing or sleep is not coming easily. I hope this helps some of you out there. It has helped me just to write it. Whoever you are, wherever you are. I wish you comfort and peace in this time. Be gentle with yourself. There are no stages of grief. Each loss is unique and therefore each grieving process is different for each person. Once again, I would love to hear anything that has helped you in your time of loss. This article isn't just for those who have lost someone recently. I believe we never really stop grieving. This article is for everyone who has lost someone in their lives. No matter how long it has been.  Much love and light, ~M For those wanting an escape, come travel with me! There are three spots left for my Yoga Sailing Retreat in Greece this June 18th. Email me for more details. 7 days of exploring. Want to incorporate more mindfulness in your school or corporation? Contact me to talk about how we can make this happen through a workshop or private classes.

00:47 - Jen's Superpower: Being Optimistic * Recognizing Negative Loops * Intentionality & Prioritization * Preventing Security Vulnerabilities 10:13 - Working On Open-Source Projects vs Commercial Software/Products * Gathering Feedback (RFCs) * Baby Steps = Big Impact 12:57 - Major vs Minor Releases * Semantic Versioning * Deprecation Warnings * Advanced Notice * Incremental Rollouts 18:45 - RFC / Feedback Processes * Dealing with Contradictory Feedback * Reaching Consensus * Visionary Leadership * Additions 23:25 - The Ember Core Team (https://emberjs.com/teams/) * ~30 People * Funding * LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/) (Corporate Sponsorship) * Consultants & Consultancies * Volunteers 26:31 - Doing Open Source Better * Sponsor Company (Time) * Knowledge Sharing * Framing Work As How It Values Contributors * Reframing How We Think About Open Source Sustainability (i.e. Company-Wide Open Source Work Days) * Frame Value to Company * Frame Value to Users * Frame Value to Engineering Teams * Attitude Shifts 39:56 - Participation Encouragement & Engagement Tips * Use The Buddy System * Having Well-Scoped Issues * Increasing Levels of Challenge (Subtle Cheerleading) * Help People Spin Up Quickly 46:00 - Widening the Pool of Participants * Being Easy to Reach * Social Media Activity * Working In The Open 47:36 - UX-Driven Design (User Experience-Driven Design) Reflections: Damien: Perspective of those impacted. Sponsors, users, etc. Arty: What it's like to work on a big open source project and the challenges we face. Jen: Exploring small-project lifecycles. This episode was brought to you by @therubyrep (https://twitter.com/therubyrep) of DevReps, LLC (http://www.devreps.com/). To pledge your support and to join our awesome Slack community, visit patreon.com/greaterthancode (https://www.patreon.com/greaterthancode) To make a one-time donation so that we can continue to bring you more content and transcripts like this, please do so at paypal.me/devreps (https://www.paypal.me/devreps). You will also get an invitation to our Slack community this way as well. Transcript: ARTY: Hi, everyone and welcome to Episode 253 of Greater Than Code. I am Artemis Starr and I am here with my fabulous co-host, Damien Burke. DAMIEN: And we are here with our fabulous guest, Jen Weber. Jen Weber is a member of the Ember.js core team and is a senior software engineer at ActBlue Technical Services. Jen loves open source, rapid prototyping, and making tech a more welcoming industry. Jen, thank you so much for being here. Welcome to the show. JEN: Thank you so much for having me. DAMIEN: So you should have gotten an email preparing you for the first and most difficult part of every appearance on Greater Than Code. Are you ready for this? JEN: I am. 
DAMIEN: What is your superpower and how did you acquire it? JEN: All right. So I did get that email and I've been thinking about those for the last couple of days. I think my superpower is being able to imagine the ways that things can go well. DAMIEN: Wow. That's very special. JEN: Thank you. DAMIEN: How did you acquire that? JEN: So I used to be very good at imagining all of the ways that things can go badly. Those are still the patterns that my mind walks whenever I'm confronted with a challenge, but someone gave me some advice. I was recounting to them all of the ways that things could go badly, they were like, “What would it look like if things went well?” I've been trying to build that as a muscle and a skill anytime I'm working on a new project, or something hasn't gone well, something's already gone badly, and I'm trying to figure out what to do next. I found that helped me open up to more creative thinking. ARTY: I really think that is a superpower and in order for things to go well, for us to manifest good things toward a good direction, we have to be able to see the steps to get there, imagine ourselves walking in that direction to be able to do it. And if we're caught in a loop of worrying about all the things that are going to go wrong, anticipating those things going wrong, then it's like we're going to be waiting for him and doing things that help bring those things that we don't want into being. So if you find yourself in this mode, it sounds like this is something that you struggled with and learned this adaptive skill to break out of this pattern. So what kind of things do you do? Like, do you tell yourself things or ask yourself certain questions, or how do you snap out of that mode and get to a better place where you're thinking about things in a positive frame? JEN: Sure. I think for me, the first step is just recognizing when I'm in that negative loop and accepting that it's my first reaction, but that doesn't need to be my conclusion to my thought process. If I'm working on let's say, there's a real-world challenge. Just to give an example as part of my work on the Ember core team, I might think about how do I engage the community and announce that there's going to be this new version of Ember? If I imagine things going badly, I imagine like, “O, wow, nobody even retweets it a single time,” and if I imagine things going well, I think like, “Wow, it's this big moment in tech.” And if it was a big moment in tech, what would have the involved people done to get to that successful end point and trying to work backwards from that to connect the dots. It takes some intentionality, it takes having enough rest, it takes not being over-caffeinated to be able to unlock that kind of thinking. DAMIEN: But it sounds so powerful, especially as an engineer, or as an advocate. It's like because we're in the role of making things into what we want them to be, which is things going well, right? JEN: Yeah, and it's a little different than a wishful thinking, I would say, because you're still thinking in order for things to go, well, you have to overcome challenges, you have to solve problems, you have to prioritize, there's going to be difficult moments. So you're not just dreaming that this good feature is going to come into existence, but actually figuring out what are the nuts and bolts, and pieces, like, what are the ingredients to that recipe? When we think and reflect on that, how can we take those ingredients and apply them to right now to get where we want to go? ARTY: So you take that vision and then work backwards and translate that to actual action. These are things that we can do right now to walk the path of getting where we want to go. JEN: Mm hm, and it might take you somewhere totally different direction. It might be very different by the time you're done. But usually, you can figure out a few things here and there that are steps in the right direction, and the right direction could be one of many different directions. ARTY: Do you find yourself ever getting disappointed that things don't go the way you envisioned? JEN: Oh yeah, for sure. [laughter] Yeah, and I think that's a little bit part of the rollercoaster of being involved in software. Like every single day is a series of things going a little different than you thought they would. You read the code; you think it's going to go a certain way. You're wrong; you change your plan. You have this idea of a direction you're going to go, you've thought about what are the successful steps to get there, and then you end up in the wrong corner and you have to go back to the drawing board and surviving those cycles is just part of what we do. ARTY: So does that superpower help you escape those feelings of disappointment then? JEN: Oh yeah, I think so because not that I have some way to see the future, but more that I have tools for helping to figure out what my next step could be. ARTY: So then you're always focused back on action. JEN: Mm hm. ARTY: And how can I take what I learned and this vision of what a good direction would be, taking these new data points and things into account, and then reimagine and translating that back into action. JEN: Yeah. ARTY: I think that qualifies as a superpower. DAMIEN: Yeah, I think about it, I guess because I was writing code this morning, and so often, when you're writing – when I'm writing code at least, it's like oh, the phrase was “defensive programming” from a long time ago. How can this go wrong? What happens if this is nil? What happens if some evil guy in a black hat comes in and tries to do something here? And what I've had to learn and still need to remind myself of is the good case. What is it that we're doing good for our users, or whoever else the code touches? What are they trying to accomplish and what experience are we trying to create for them? And so, both, as an engineer and a product manager, just being able to ask that question and see an answer on a small scale on a feature in stories, super important. JEN: Yeah, and even if you're thinking of that adversarial aspect where it's like, you're trying to think through all of the security risks that are involved in developing some software, you can still use this thinking to your advantage. What would a successful future be where somebody tries to exploit that vulnerability and they fail? You've got them. What are the things you built? What are the strategies and habits that that team had? What is the monitoring and infrastructure that resulted in successfully preventing this, or that problem from occurring? DAMIEN: It's not only a useful strategy and also, feels really good. JEN: Mm hm. DAMIEN: That's great. ARTY: I like that, though just thinking from a standpoint of just vulnerability, or even a case where things go “wrong,” in the case that you do have somebody hacking your system, or trying to exploit some vulnerability, what's the logging and information infrastructure? What does that story look like where even though these things are happening, we're prepared, we have the right things in place to give us visibility into what's going on, and be able to catch it and address it quickly. Like what do all those things look like such that we're ready to go and can still have a success story, even in the case of these challenges that come up? DAMIEN: That sounds connected to something, I think we want to talk about today, which is what goes well when you get a major library upgrade, what does that look like? JEN: Yeah. I've been thinking about this a lot lately; informed by two things. So one is that I'm involved in an Ember, which is a frontend JavaScript framework, and we're getting ready to do a 4.0 major release. So going through all of those exercises to have preparedness all comes back to how do we do this, or what do our users need, what are the resources that are missing? That's one thing on my mind and the other is that I've recently updated some dependencies in the apps that I work in and had a hard time. What can I learn for myself about what to do differently? What can I learn that might be takeaways for library maintainers? What can I share with my coworkers and my collaborators to make this easier next time? ARTY: What's it like working on an open source project and how does that feel different? What are the different aspects of that from working on a commercial product versus something in the open source community? JEN: There's a couple of pieces. The biggest one is that when you're working in your own code base, you have at least a fuzzy picture of what the product is, what the constraints are, how many users there are, and the things that the developers on your team generally know and the things that they don't know. You have all this information that would help you inform how do I roll out some new, big feature, or something like that. When you're working at open source, your universe of possible products, developers, and users is huge. Like, you could never write down a list of all the ways that somebody is going to be using that software and so, it becomes really different than having a set of well-defined products requirements; we want to get from point A to point B. It's like, we need to give everybody a path forward even though they're using this tool in all these different ways. To do that, a lot of effort goes into gathering feedback from other people in the community. So we use a process called RFCs, or Requests for Comments where someone says, “Hey, I think this would be a good feature. Hey, I think this thing should be removed, or deprecated,” and you have to get feedback. Because we can't imagine all the ways ourselves that someone could use this feature, or tool and then once there's consensus amongst the core team, then something can move forward. But everything goes through a lot of iteration as part of that process. So the overall progress can sometimes feel slow because you have to think through all of this extra weight—the weight of depending on thousands and thousands of developers and billions of users on you to make the right decision. It means you can't just “Oh, let's just merge this breaking change and I'll make this breaking change and I'll just post on Slack to everybody like, ‘Hey, watch out. I just changed this one thing. I documented it here. Good luck.'” You can't really quite pull that lever in the same way, but when you do have a step forward, it's a step forward for all of these apps, for all of these projects, for all of their users and so, little baby steps can still translate into really big impact. ARTY: So when you have something that's a major release in that context, like a major release of Ember versus a minor release. How are those different? What kind of things do you do in major releases? JEN: Yeah, that's a good question. So I'll just provide a little bit of background information on this vocabulary that we're using for anyone who's listening in. A lot of projects follow semantic versioning, which is a set of rules that a lot of projects agree to follow that if you ever see a version number that's like 4.2.1.—oftentimes, that's semantic versioning and action in the first number—is for major releases and a major release is one that has a breaking change. So that means that I make a change in that code base. I would expect that other people would have to change the code in their own apps and they would be forced to go through that—make that change—in order to upgrade to that version for the library I'm working on. Minor is usually used for features. Patch, the last one, is used for bug fixes and internal refactors, things like that. Not all projects follow in the same way. Some projects have time-based cycles where they say, “Oh, we do a major release every six months,” or something like that. But for us major releases are breaking changes and the things that are different about them is that we have to give people a path forward to get to the next version. That could include putting some deprecation warnings, any code that's going to get removed or change any API that are going to shift in the next major version. We want to let people know, with a little warning, if they're using those older syntaxes, or APIs, whatever's going to be removed. We also want to try to give a lot of advanced notice about what's going to change, or be removed via blog posts, things like having a help channel set up maybe that's just for those upgrades. When it's time to actually do the major release, we try to make it boring. This is something that I would like to see happen across the rest of the JavaScript ecosystem. It does seem to be catching on more, which is that when you do a major version release, all it does is it removes the things that need to be removed. You make your breaking changes and that's it, and then in follow-up releases is when you add in all the new features. So let's say, some API is just the old way of doing things. It doesn't match up with a new rendering engine, or something like that. You're going to want to remove the old thing and then incrementally work to roll out these big splashy, new, exciting features. So maybe your exciting release is actually going to be 4.1, or 4.2, or 4.3. This has a couple benefits. It lets your major releases be a little less risky because you're not just removing code and then adding new code at the same time. It lets people not be as overwhelmed like, “Oh, first I have to deal with all of these things that are removed, or changed and then now I also have to learn this whole new way of thinking about how to write my app using this tool.” It lets you take little baby steps towards doing things in a different way. DAMIEN: Does this mean, in an ideal scenario, that if you don't have any deprecation warnings—if you're taking care of all the deprecation warnings—then your major release can go – you can upgrade some next major version without a code change. JEN: Yeah, that's the dream. DAMIEN: It does sound like a dream. JEN: Yeah, and it's not always perfect, but it's an important pathway towards including more people and participating in upgrades, app maintenance, and creating sustainable code bases so you don't have to follow the Twitter, the blog post, and be checking the JavaScript subreddit just to keep up on with what's going on. You're not going to be surprised by big sweeping changes. So coming back to this experience I had with upgrading a different library recently, I was upgrading major Jest versions and was very surprised to see that there were a ton of breaking changes in a changelog and I got a little bit frustrated with that. And then I went back and I read the blog posts and I saw a blog post from 2 years ago saying, “These are the things that we are doing, this is what is happening,” and that was great, but I wasn't doing Jest tests 2 years ago and so, I missed all of that. Can we use the code base itself to connect those dots, make those suggestions, and guide people towards the work that they do? DAMIEN: If they put those deprecation warnings in 2 years ago, you would've had 2 years to make those changes. JEN: Yeah. DAMIEN: And then when you finally upgraded, it would have been a dream, or have been painless. JEN: Yeah, and maybe they're there. Maybe there are some and I just need to pass the debug flag, or something. Hopefully, there's nobody who's shouting at their computer. But there's this one thing that we put it in the console log output, or something. It's possible I overlooked it but. DAMIEN: I want to rewind a little bit back to the challenge of dealing with a product that is used in so many contexts by so many people, like Ember is, and the RFC process. The first thing I thought of when you mentioned that is what do you do with contradictory feedback? Surely, you must have hundreds of engineers who say, “You have to get rid of this,” and hundreds who say, “No, this has to stay.” How does the core team manage that? JEN: Yeah. So I think the most important piece is the contradictory feedback needs to be considered. So it's not just like, “Oh, let's collect these comments as annual feedback forms,” or anything like that. [chuckles] This isn't like, “Oh, let's do some natural language processing on these comments to figure out if the sentiment is positive, or negative.” [chuckles] None of that stuff you have to actually read through them and think what could I do using this new feature to help meet this person's needs, or what's at the heart of the objection that they're making? If someone is saying, “This doesn't work for my team,” and entering that process with a willingness to iterate. In the end, we can't make everybody happy all the time, or no RFC would ever get moved forward. There's always going to be a point where you have to prioritize the pros and cons, and ultimately, the decision comes down to reaching consensus amongst the core team members. So being able to say, as a group, “We believe that the feedback has been considered. We believe that the iterations have been incorporated, the people's concerns have been addressed,” or “We're going to work to create tools that think that problem be not a problem for them,” and find a way to move forward with whatever the proposal is. Or sometimes, the proposals don't move forward. Sometimes, they get closed. ARTY: Is the work you end up choosing to do primarily driven by this feedback process, or do you have some visionary leadership within the core team that drives a lot of things forward that aren't necessarily coming via feedback? JEN: That's a good question. I think it's a little bit of both. So certainly, a lot of RFCs have come from the community and from people asking like, “Hey, can we have this better way of doing things? I have an idea.” And then other times, you do have to have that visionary leadership. So to give an example, we have just started doing – well, I shouldn't say just started doing that. I think it's been like 2 years now. We have started doing this process called additions where if there's a big splashy set of cool features that are meant to be used together, we give it a name. That's separate from the breaking changes process, ideally. We can create nice, new splashy sets of features without breaking people's apps and trying to design that experience isn't something that you can just piecemeal through RFCs waiting for feedback to come through. There were quite a few members of the core team that designed a new way of building Ember apps that was better aligned with focusing on HTML as the core of building for the web and focusing on JavaScript features as opposed to requiring developers to know and understand the special API syntaxes. You can just write JavaScript classes instead of needing to understand what an Ember object is. So aligning ourselves more with the skills that everybody, who works in the web, has at least a little bit of. That took a lot of brainstorming, a lot of planning, and ultimately, introducing those things still follows an RFC process. Somebody still has to say, “Here's the thing we want to change, or do, or add. Here's the greater vision for it.” But to get that big picture look still requires the big thinking. So the core team, I don't even know how much time. They must've spent countless hours trying to hash out those details. ARTY: How big is the core team? JEN: So there's several core teams. Though when you say the core team as a whole encompasses people who work on the data layer, the command line tools, the learning tools, and then the framework itself. I want to say, could look this up, it's like upwards of 30 people, I think. ARTY: Wow. JEN: I can get you the exact number later, [chuckles] but everyone's pulling out their different area of domain and so, all of those teams also have to coordinate around these major releases because we want to make sure the work that we're doing is complimentary. If we do the framework improvements, but we don't fix up the docs, we're not on the good path for a successful release. ARTY: Are people working on this stuff full-time? Are people funded, or doing this in their free time, or how does that work? Because there's this big picture challenge of we have this ideal of community sourced, open source projects, and then the realities of trying to fund and support that effort bumps up to constraints of needing to make a living and things and these sorts of difficulties. How do y'all manage that? JEN: It's a mixture. So the Ember project is fortunate to have a major player—LinkedIn—that uses Ember and so, some of the core team members, their work on Ember is part of their LinkedIn work because of the frameworks doing well, then LinkedIn projects that are going to be doing well. There's also a number of people who are consultants, or who run consultancies that do Ember work, they're involved. Their voice is an important part of making sure that again, we're serving a variety of apps, not just ah, this is this tool that's just for the LinkedIn websites. But it's like, they've seen so many different kinds of apps; they're working on so many different kinds of apps right now. And then there's people who help out on more of a volunteer basis. So I've been in my past work, it was at a different job. It was part of my job responsibilities to participate on the framework core team. These days, I'm more of a volunteer and I mostly help organize other volunteers—people who want to do some professional development to learn, people who want to network, people who found something that they're frustrated about enough that they want to fix it themselves. That's how I got involved; I wanted to learn. So that's the sustainability of having people involved is always an ongoing challenge it is for every open source organization, I think. ARTY: Yeah. Do you have any ideas on how we can do those sorts of things better? As you said, it's a concern, in general with how do we do open source better with these kinds of constraints? And then two, I feel like there's been some cultural shifts, I guess, you could say over time of you think about when the open source movement first started. We had a lot more of this community ownership ideal where we really were going and building software together and now, there's a lot more of, well, there's all this free software out there that we use, that we build on top of to build our apps on, but that ownership piece isn't really there. It's an expectation that there should just be this free software out there that's maintained that we get and why is it falling apart? So I feel like, culturally, just over time, some of those things have shifted as far as expectations around open source and then you talked about some of the corporate sponsorship aspects with usage as being one way these things get funded. But I'm wondering if you have ideas on how some of these things could work better. JEN: People have done PhDs on this topic, I'm pretty sure. [chuckles] Like, theses. I read a white paper, a really involved white paper, a few weeks ago that was about, what was it? it was called something like the Burden of Maintaining Software, or something like that and it did this deep dive into how much goes in and just keeping the ship afloat. How much goes into just if there's a package that needs to be updated? That kind of ongoing, constant, mundane work that adds up really, really big. So for very large projects, I think it's a good thing to have some sort of an evolvement of a sponsor company, if you will and so, that sponsor company may not actually ever donate any money, but the time of their engineers that they say like, “Hey, we're willing to help support this project” is really important. I think another piece is that the leadership of projects should consider the people involved, that that group is going to be rotating. That people's involvement is ephemeral. Every time somebody changes jobs, maybe they're not going to be involved in that project anymore. If we can think about that ahead of time, plan for it, and make sure that we are sharing knowledge with each other such that the project can survive somebody moving onto something else, it can survive somebody going on vacation for a while. So I think that's another key component of success is how do you make it so that you're not just relying on the same set of people still being there so many years later? We've been very fortunate within the Ember community that a lot of the same people have stuck around, but I try really hard not to bank on that. The group of contributors that I help organize, I think, “Hey.” We have a chat every time somebody joins the learning core team and say, “Hey, we get that you're not going to be here forever. Please let us know what we can do to support you. Please let us know when you're thinking of taking a break, or taking a step back. Please involve other people on any project that you're working on so that they will also continue your work and also support you so you don't get burnt out. Another thing I try to do is always framing the work into how it values the contributor. Sometimes in open source you hear this discussion of like, “Oh, well, everyone should participate in open source because we all benefit from it.” There's a better attitude that we can have, I think, which is that for people who are interested in participating, what can they get out of it? What can I do as a leader to help them get something out of this? If you just approach it with this altruism of “This is a community and I want to help,” that'll get you like a little bit. But if you can say, “I want to help because I want to learn from other developers,” that's something I can deliver on. That's something that they can take. That's valuable for their future earning potential, income, confidence, maybe they'll make the connection that helps them find their next job. Even if someone isn't being paid to help out, is there something that they can take away from this? And lastly, just acknowledging that doing work for free is a privilege as well. We have to reframe how we think about open source sustainability, too. Not everybody can devote a few hours after work here and there and involving them and including them means that it's got to be part of their workday. So continuing to socialize from the company level that engineers should have a little bit of time here and there to try to help improve an open source project. Everybody doing that just a little bit helps with quite a few of the problems that these projects face. ARTY: I've been thinking about this myself and you work directly, you're significantly involved in a major open source project, and so, you see things that a lot of people don't have perspective on. So I appreciate your insights on this. I'm wondering what if major companies that were using open source software, if we made more efforts for companies to be a project sponsor and donate part of the company somebody who's on the company's time to help contribute to projects as like a thing. I feel like if that thing caught on, that the companies that were using this software for free [chuckles] had more of a sense of a social obligation to be one of the people that contribute some time to helping with that. Or get some companies that are big enough, too. It's probably easier and they have more interest in those sorts of things. But I feel like if we did make that more of a thing, that that would be useful because as you're saying, somehow realistically speaking, this has to be something that can be worked into the workday. JEN: Yes. ARTY: For us to be able to support and sustain these things. And people that can do that outside of their workday as an extra free time thing. It really is a privilege. JEN: Yeah. I think a couple of strategies that can help here are to frame it in the value to the company and frame it as a value to the users, frame it as a value to the engineering team. So rather than having it be like, “Oh, you use free software, you should do this thing.” Instead more like engineers, we always need to learn constantly in order to keep improving our own skills and to keep up with things that are changing. So having an open source hour, or something like that—it takes a little more than an hour usually to accomplish much. But having a period of time that engineers were allowed to contribute to open sources. Professional development that you don't have to pay for a subscription. You don't have to pay for a licensing fee. You don't have to pay for somebody's conference submission. If someone has the opportunity to reach outside of their sphere of knowledge, or comfort zone and it just so happens that if they succeed, it'll benefit your company maybe indirectly. Another piece is what's the value to the users? So there were a bunch of people who all contributed effort towards bringing some improved linting tools for the template system within Ember. When we think of linting tools, we usually think that's like, “Oh, here's this thing to remind me to use nice tidy syntax and don't make my variable names too long and space everything out in a certain way,” but they can also help us find real actual problems in our apps. So an example that this team worked on is they introduced some more linting rules for accessibility. If one person succeeds in introducing this new linting rule for accessibility, then it's there in their app for their team and they get to stop talking about, “Hey, make sure you do this one thing” over and over again because now it's enforced in the code base. Also, they've brought this benefit to all of the other apps that are out there. Again, sometimes you can tie it back in to that value for the product and for the users, and really trying to think creatively about that connection. Because there's so many different things we can all spend our time on, you've really got to sell it in a way that aligns with the goals, or values of that organization. ARTY: Yeah. I like that reframing. I can see just how important that is. Other things I'm thinking about if you had a dev team and one of your developers was really involved with the Ember core team, you'd have more knowledge about how things worked. So when something was broken, or something, you probably have more insight into what was going on and being able to help the team more effectively – JEN: Yeah. [overtalk] ARTY: To build stuff. And then if there's any suggestions, or things that could make things easier for your team, you'd have the ability to have influence with getting RFPs through to get changes made and things. I think you're right. It needs to be reframed as a value proposition. JEN: Yeah, and it also requires an attitude shift on the side of the projects as well. There's tons of people who've tried to do open source and hit running straight into a wall of they open up pull requests that are never merged, or even reviewed and that can be a really frustrating experience. And some projects just don't have the feedback structure, or the governance structure that really allows open participation either. So that's something that I think is an ongoing journey with lots of projects. It's like, how do we communicate? How do we involve other people? What types of decisions do we say like, “Hey, implementer, or community, you're in charge, you can make this” versus things that have to pass some sort of review. It's not just a one side of companies need to step up, but also, maintainers seem to have a long-term vision of how they're interacting with everybody else. DAMIEN: Yeah, I really love that frame of this is professional development and that you can get for free. That's like how would you like to educate your engineers and make them better engineers, especially on the tools you work on and not –? Yeah, that's really awesome. But then of course, on the other side, you need a welcoming environment. That's like, “Oh yeah, when you make a contribution, we're going to look at it. We're going to give you useful feedback on it.” JEN: Yeah. I tried to get an open source project going a few years ago and I struggled for a while and eventually ended up giving up. But some of the things I ran into, I'd have somebody that would volunteer to help out with things and I'd work with them long enough to just start to get a feel for things and be able to contribute and then they would disappear. [laughs] And I go through that process a few times. It's like, “Oh, yay. I'm excited, I get –” another person has volunteered and so, then I go and start working with them and trying to – and I put a lot of attention into trying to get things going and then they disappear. t was difficult to try and get traction in that way and eventually, I went, “Well, I'm back by myself again” [laughs] and that I just need to keep going. ARTY: Right. So what kind of things have you found help with getting that participation aspect going and what kind of things are barriers that get in the way that maybe we can be better at? JEN: Yeah. So my advice is always start with using the buddy system. Trying to pair program with people, who I'm hoping to stay involved, and the leveling up version of that is the people who are contributing pair with each other. It's so much more fun. There's so much more of a learning experience when it's two developers working on the project. Left to my own devices, the projects that I work on, I have to really dig into my willpower to keep them moving if I'm the only person working on it versus if we're pairing, what's the value that I'm getting? It's like, I get to hear how the other person approaches the problem. I get to experience how they work. They teach me things. I teach them things. We have this good rapport. So I pair once a week with my friend, Chris, and we work on everything from this kind of mundane stuff to the big vision, like what would we do if we could totally change how this thing works, or something like that, and that kind of energy and get ideas, they build up. So that's one piece. The other, this one's difficult, but having well-scoped, well-written issues is a huge time sink, but also, it can be one of the best ways get people engaged and keep them engaged. If I stop writing really specific issues, people peter off. Someone will ask, maybe only once, they'll ask, “Hey, I want to help out, or something. What should I pick up next?” They don't usually ask a second time, but I don't have something right away to hand off to them. So what is the momentum? Can I keep writing up issues and things that other people can follow through with? And then presenting them with increasing levels of challenge of like, “I have this unstructured problem. We've worked on this a lot together. You can do this. How would you approach this? What do you think we should do?” I don't necessarily say,” You can do this,” because it's more of a subtle cheerleading that's happening than that. But “I'd love to hear your proposal of what should happen next” just is a really powerful moment and sometimes, that can be the thing that catapults somebody into taking more ownership of a project and gathering together other people to help them out. And then people do come and go, but the commits are still there! So that's something, right? [chuckles] Like, things have taken some steps forward. DAMIEN: Yeah. People come and go, that's something you know you have to accept on an open source project, but it happens in other places, too. [chuckles] No team stays together for all of eternity. JEN: Right. DAMIEN: Is the project going to live on and how can you make it so that it does? So these are very good lessons, even for that. ARTY: It seems like just investing in thinking about, we were talking initially about planning for the success case, even when things happen. So if we think about the case of okay, people are going to leave the team. [chuckles] What's the success case look like? Imagining the way that things go really well when people are leaving the team, what does that look like? What are the things that we wish we had in place to be able to ramp people up quickly, to be able to find new people, to work on the project quickly? All of those things that we can think about and open source has this to a much larger degree and challenge so that you really have to think about it a lot. Where on a commercial project, it's one of those things that often happens when you wish it wouldn't and one of the things I see in corporate companies is you'll have a management change, or something will happen with a product that upsets a bunch of people and you'll have exodus phase on the project and then ending up often rewriting things because you lose your core knowledge on the project and nobody knows what's going on anymore and it actually becomes easier to rewrite the things than to [chuckles] figure out how it works. If we had imagined the ways that things could go well and prepared for those certain circumstances, maybe we wouldn't be in that situation. ARTY: Yeah. You mentioned something really important there, too, which is what can we do to help people spin up more quickly on something. That's another big piece of sustained engagement because you need a group of people spun up quickly. You need a group of people who can figure out the next steps on their own. And so, we've spent a lot of time, the projects that I work most actively on, making sure that everything is there in the Read Me, making sure that if you run npm start that things work if you're running it on a different environment. Those types of little things, reducing those barriers can also go a long way and just widening the pool of people who could potentially help is another big one. DAMIEN: How do you do that? Because you're a core contributor on the project. You have the curse of knowledge. JEN: Yes. DAMIEN: You have a development scene that is tightly home to work on this project. JEN: That's a great question. Ah, I do have the curse of knowledge. Being easy to reach so that if people do encounter problems that they can find you and tell you, which can be, it can be a small step. Just making sure that if you have a documentation page, it's got a link at the bottom that's like, “Find a problem, open an issue!” That sort of thing. Also, I'm pretty active on Twitter. Sometimes other contributors, experienced contributors, they'll spot something that somebody else has posted and they'll say, “Hey, Jen, take a look at this,” and they bring it to my attention. There's this team effort to uncover those gaps. Another aspect is just working in the open. So having open meetings, having open chat channels, places where people can interact with the people leading the projects, they can come to the meetings, things like that means that we're more likely to hear their feedback. So if we get feedback, “Hey, this thing was difficult,” making sure that we address it. DAMIEN: Wow. Well. JEN: I'm really big into user experience driven design. We've been talking about maintainability a lot, we've been talking about the code, and versions, and things, but coming back to what is the impact for our users. If you accept a user experience driven way of developing software, it means that you're always going to need to be upgrading, you're always going to have to be flexing, changing, and growing because the products of 2 years ago versus the product of today can be really different. Open source library that you needed to rely on 2 years ago versus today. Maybe the web app ecosystem has shifted. Maybe there's new ways of doing things. Maybe there's new syntaxes that are available. Sometimes, it can be a little frustrating because you feel like, “Oh, there's this endless pile of work. We made all these wrong choices back in the day and now this thing's hard to upgrade,” and all that. A different mindset is to think about what do we know today that is different than what we knew yesterday? What are the things we know today about our users that inform our next move? How do these upgrades, or improvements, or my choice of open source library help the end user have a better experience? And trying to come back to that big picture from time to time, because it can be pretty frustrating. When you get stuck, you think like, “Oh, I can't. I just tried to upgrade this major version and everything broke and everything's terrible. But what's the feature list look like, how am I going to use this to deliver something better to the users can really help?” DAMIEN: Wow. ARTY: So at this part of the show, we usually do reflections and finish off with any final thoughts we had, or takeaways from the episode. Damien, you want to start? DAMIEN: The big takeaway I got from this is kind of… it's perspective. Jen, you mentioned a user experience driven design. I was already really close to that language, but from a perspective of contributors to an open source project, sponsors—both in terms of engineering and then money—and then also, users. Like, these are also users. These are also people who are impacted by the work we do. So in order to do it successfully, it's very important to think of how can this go well for them and then move to that direction. So thank you, that was really great. M: For me, the big takeaway, I feel like I learned a whole lot just perspective wise of what it's like to work on a big open source project. I haven't really had a conversation like this with someone that's been that involved with a major resource project before. So I found that really insightful. One of the big questions I asked you about how do we make this sustainable? [laughs] Like all the challenges around things. I know they're big challenges that we face in figuring that out and you had some really key insights around how we can frame things differently as opposed to framing it as an obligation, like a social obligation, or you should do this altruistically because it's the right thing to do as the appeal that we make is when you're talking to a contributor, how do you frame things to be a value proposition for them as an individual. When we're talking to a company, how do we frame things in a way so there's a value proposition for the company to get involved with doing something? And change the way that we frame all these things to be able to get folks involved because they realize benefits as individuals, as company, as people being directly involved in things? I feel like if we can do some work to maybe change some of the framing around things. That maybe there's a pathway there to increase engagement and support of open source projects, which I think is one of those things that we really need to figure out. There's not really easy answers to that, but I feel like some of the insights you came to there are really key in finding a pathway to get there. So thank you, Jen. I appreciate the conversation. JEN: So for me, when I'm reflecting on the most is the story that you shared already of trying to get people involved and just having them leave. They show up for a little while and then they disappear and where does all that work go? I'm interested to explore a little bit more of that small project life cycle. I was pretty fortunate to just come in at a time where there was already a well-established community when I started getting involved in Ember and I'd love to hear more from other people about what are the success stories of those first few steps where someone began this little project and it really started to grow and take off. This might be a case where like some of the strategies I described, they work when you already have an established community. So it's kind of like a catch-22. I don't know, that could be a really cool future episode is the beginning. DAMIEN: Yeah. That's something I'd definitely like to hear about. ARTY: Well, thank you for joining us, Jen. It was really a pleasure talking with you. JEN: Thanks so much for having me! Special Guest: Jen Weber.

My special guest is my husband, Mark, who talks about his journey of hurdling fear and persevering through job changes, life changes, becoming an entrepreneur, and commitment to his family. He shares the importance of staying true to yourself and believing that you can do anything you put your mind to. Marc K. Montgomery is the owner of Optimus Home Health Services, a home healthcare agency working with hospitals, rehabilitation facilities, hospice companies to provide in-home healthcare. He worked 20 years in the Pharmaceutical industry and is an alumni of Xavier University of Louisiana. He is active in his community as a youth sports Coach and serves on the Board of a local high school. M For information about home healthcare email optimushomehealthservices@gmail.com or go to www.OptimusHomeHealthServices.com

My special guest is my husband, Mark, who talks about his journey of hurdling fear and persevering through job changes, life changes, becoming an entrepreneur, and commitment to his family. He shares the importance of staying true to yourself and believing that you can do anything you put your mind to. Marc K. Montgomery is the owner of Optimus Home Health Services, a home healthcare agency working with hospitals, rehabilitation facilities, hospice companies to provide in-home healthcare. He worked 20 years in the Pharmaceutical industry and is an alumni of Xavier University of Louisiana. He is active in his community as a youth sports Coach and serves on the Board of a local high school. M For information about home healthcare email optimushomehealthservices@gmail.com or go to www.OptimusHomeHealthServices.com

Download MP3 今回のテーマは「就職面接」。面接では、自分の強み、大学で学んだこと、志望動機などをちゃんと説明できることが必須ですね。でも一番大事なことは…!? 今回の会話では、英語の面接での受け答えの方法が学べます。*** It's a Good Expression *** （今回の重要表現） take a seat 座る（=have a seat） I’m Laura Cruz. 日常会話の中で名前を名乗る時は、My name is…は丁寧すぎるため、カジュアルなI’m…で始めるのが一般的です。一方就職面接では相手にプロフェッショナルな印象を与えるため、My name is…で自己紹介を始める方が好ましいとされています。ここでI’m…を使っていることから、ひょっとしたらLauraはあまり面接慣れしていないのかもしれませんね（その後の受け答えは完璧なのですが、実際、”a big mistake”をやらかしていますしね）。 manage conflicts 人間関係のいざこざを調整する grades 成績 graduation thesis 卒業論文 adjust 調節する based on に基づいて for instance 例えば It makes me wonder. おかしいな。不思議だな。 apply for a job 職に申し込む *** Script *** Don’t Make a Big Mistake at a Job Interview Situation: Inside an office. M: Hi. Please take a seat. W: Thank you. M: Let’s get started. Could you please first tell us a little about yourself? W: Sure. I’m Laura Cruz. I was born and grew up in the United States. I came here to Japan as a student, and my major is in International Studies. M: I see. What do you think your strength is? W: I think my strength is my confidence and leadership skills. The experience I had as a student leader helped me in managing conflicts. M: Wow. Your grades are excellent as well. Could you tell me about your graduation thesis? What was it about? W: Since my major was about culture in international studies, my thesis was about multiculturalism and education. I conducted my research about the relations between the cultures of various countries, and how their education systems are different, depending on the culture. M: For example, what were your findings? W: That each country or place needs to adjust its education based on its culture. For instance, we cannot directly bring the US’s education system into Japan since we don’t have the same culture. M: That’s true, but… it makes me wonder. Why did you apply for this job? W: I applied for this educational company since I wanted to contribute to improving education systems. M: Uhm.. I think you made a mistake… W: Huh? What is it, sir? M: This is a BUSINESS company. The educational company you’re talking about is in the building on the other side of the street. W: AH! (Written by by Mikael Kai Nomura)

Download MP3 これからの季節の悩みの種は「虫」。カブトムシやホタルなど、人間を楽しませてくれる虫もいますが、中には想像するのもおぞましい害虫もいます。好き嫌いは別として、いろいろな虫を英語でどう言うか、おさらいしてみましょう。 「やさしい英語会話」ではこれまでも何度か虫に関する会話を取り上げてきました。以下のエピソードもどうぞあわせてお楽しみください。 やさしい英語会話 (140) Mosquitoes Love My Blood やさしい英語会話 (168) Cockroaches やさしい英語会話 (260) Battle of the Insects やさしい英語会話 (310) Spike the Stag Beetle 　 *** It's a Good Expression *** （今回の重要表現） centipede むかで ※centiは「100」pedeは「足」、すなわち漢字の「百足」と同じ。 例：century=100年（世紀）、pedestrian=歩行者、pedalは足でこぐもの。 once in a while たまに cockroach ゴキブリ mosquito 蚊 firefly ホタル beetle カブトムシ cicada セミ Got it. わかった（=I got it）。 you’d better … …した方がいい ※had betterは「強い警告」（そうしないと悪いことが起こる）を表すので使用には注意。 （例）You’d better keep your mouth shut about that.（そのことについては口に出さない方がいい） traps and sprays 罠とスプレー be allergic to… …にアレルギーがある mean（形容詞） 意地悪な *** Script *** Bugs Everywhere Situation: Franz, from Germany, and Noriko, from Japan, are outside. M: Ahhhhhhhh! What’s that ugly thing??? (Peter points to the ground) W: Oh, that's a cute little centipede! Have you never seen one? M: Um… I've seen them in picture books, but this is the first one I’ve actually seen. W: Well, they’re around. We see ‘em once in a while. M: They’re around here? All the spiders, cockroaches, and mosquitoes were already enough for me! W: Aren’t there any no bugs in Germany? M: Of course there are. But not so many, and they’re not THAT big. W: I see. M: But I know Japan also has good insects! W: Um… good insects? What are “good insects”? M: For instance, the fireflies in Japan are very beautiful! I’ve never seen any of them in Germany. W: Yeah, I LOVE fireflies. M: Hey, I also saw a lot of boxes and nets for gathering beetles in the supermarket! W: Yeah, that's what kids like to do. Especially, they try to get cicadas. And stag beetles. Have you ever seen stag beetles fighting? Ha ha. It’s cool. And a lot of kids have insects as pets. You don’t do that in Germany? M: Not really. Most people are afraid of insects, and don‘t want to have any of them nearby. When I was little, I collected a few to scare my sister. Ha ha! Probably a few people in Germany collect them as a hobby. But it’s not a big trend. W: Got it. By the way, you’d better keep your kitchen clean, and make sure the front door isn’t open for a long time. In the supermarket you can also buy different traps and sprays to kill insects. But the insects aren’t dangerous, unless you’re allergic to them. M: Thanks for the information! I think I'll take some photos of the bugs and send them to my sister! Ha ha! W: Ah! You’re mean! M: Yeah, sometimes. (Peter laughs) (Written by Gabriel Germann)

Download MP3 Merry Christmas! 今年もクリスマスにまつわるエピソードでお楽しみください。今回はドイツのクリスマスのお話が登場します。日本とドイツでは、クリスマスの過ごし方はどのように異なるのでしょうか。 　 *** It's a Good Expression *** （今回の重要表現） Boy うわあ put on a party パーティを催す find out 突き止める、知る label （動詞・発音注意）ラベルを貼る ingredients 材料、食材 What else am I supposed to do? 他にどうしろというんだ。 go out with ...と遊びに行く（=hang out） *** Script *** Christmas German Style Situation: Peter and Yuka talk at a Christmas party. M: Boy, this sure is a nice party! W: Yeah, the International Office sure knows how to put on a great party for us! They even have German Christmas cookies over there! M: Ho ho! Really? Do they taste as good as in Germany? I wanna find out! W: Is there really a difference? M: For a lot of food here in Japan, I’ve been a little disappointed because it’s labelled "German." But then it doesn’t taste the same to me. Probably other ingredients are used. W: I see. Situation: A couple of days later, outside of Peter’s apartment. W: Hey, Peter, do you have any plans for Christmas? M: No, not yet. Maybe I'm going to a bar with some friends. W: With friends to a bar? Why’s that? M: Well, what else am I supposed to do? If I was in Germany, I’d be with my family. W: So, you celebrate Christmas with your family in Germany? M: Yeah. W: Wow. M: Um… you look surprised. W: In Japan we young adults DON’T spend Christmas with our families. M: College students don’t spend Christmas with their families? Then, WHO do you go out with on Christmas? (Noisy male friends suddenly arrive.) M: Oh, look! My friends are here! Hi Gabriel! Hi Hans! Let’s watch the football game on TV! W: Ah! Men! Bye-bye, Peter! (Written by Gabriel Germann)

Download MP3 Merry Christmas! 今年もクリスマスにまつわるエピソードでお楽しみください。今回はドイツのクリスマスのお話が登場します。日本とドイツでは、クリスマスの過ごし方はどのように異なるのでしょうか。 　 *** It's a Good Expression *** （今回の重要表現） Boy うわあ put on a party パーティを催す find out 突き止める、知る label （動詞・発音注意）ラベルを貼る ingredients 材料、食材 What else am I supposed to do? 他にどうしろというんだ。 go out with ...と遊びに行く（=hang out） *** Script *** Christmas German Style Situation: Peter and Yuka talk at a Christmas party. M: Boy, this sure is a nice party! W: Yeah, the International Office sure knows how to put on a great party for us! They even have German Christmas cookies over there! M: Ho ho! Really? Do they taste as good as in Germany? I wanna find out! W: Is there really a difference? M: For a lot of food here in Japan, I’ve been a little disappointed because it’s labelled "German." But then it doesn’t taste the same to me. Probably other ingredients are used. W: I see. Situation: A couple of days later, outside of Peter’s apartment. W: Hey, Peter, do you have any plans for Christmas? M: No, not yet. Maybe I'm going to a bar with some friends. W: With friends to a bar? Why’s that? M: Well, what else am I supposed to do? If I was in Germany, I’d be with my family. W: So, you celebrate Christmas with your family in Germany? M: Yeah. W: Wow. M: Um… you look surprised. W: In Japan we young adults DON’T spend Christmas with our families. M: College students don’t spend Christmas with their families? Then, WHO do you go out with on Christmas? (Noisy male friends suddenly arrive.) M: Oh, look! My friends are here! Hi Gabriel! Hi Hans! Let’s watch the football game on TV! W: Ah! Men! Bye-bye, Peter! (Written by Gabriel Germann)

Eddy and I had the honor of meeting Michaela Murphy (aka Jessie Flowers) [voice of Toph] and Olivia Hack [voice of Ty Lee] at Anime Expo on July 7th, 2019. I had messaged Michaela earlier and asked ahead of time if I could interview her for Beyond Bending Podcast and she said yes. I was ecstatic. It’s not everyday you get to meet one of your idols, let alone interview them. I have never made an Instagram post so fast in my life. I shared the news with our fans and asked them what questions they would want to ask Michaela, or TOPH BEIFONG. Leading up to Anime Expo, I was trying not to think too much of it. “They’re just regular people…” I told myself over and over. But like many other die hard fans of Avatar: The Last Airbender, this was a show that changed my life in so many ways and has shaped me into who I am today...Who am I kidding? These “regular people” that I was about to meet were my idols. My adolescent self was freaking out but Podcast Marilyn kept me calm. Finally the day came. We drove to L.A., paid a ridiculous $35 for parking in front of the convention, and wandered around Anime Expo until it was time to meet them. As Eddy and I approached Michaela and Olivia at their booth at Anime Expo, the butterflies hit me. Thank god Podcast Marilyn took over and kept me normal. Michaela was occupied with another fan, so we approached Olivia first. My heart jumped over the moon. I was meeting the voice of Ty Lee, one of the most badass female characters from Avatar: The Last Airbender. Olivia was so sweet and amazing. We chatted for a bit and I asked her if I could interview her as well and she agreed. Michaela finished up with her fan, looked over at us, and smiled. And I swear my husband Eddy had a heart attack. Toph Beifong is his favorite character of all time and to him, it was like meeting Jesus.We got to their booth towards the end of their time slot so we were able to chat with them for a while. What was minutes felt like hours to me. Olivia suggested doing a joint interview with Michaela and I said “Yeah! Sounds good!” She then offered to take us to “the back” where it was quieter and that there were couches in the back that we could sit on while doing the interview. I felt like I had been struck by lightning. “It’s not much…” Olivia said leading us behind the curtain, but to Eddy and I it might as well have been Disneyland. Olivia and Michaela sat down on one of the couches and Eddy and I sat adjacent to them, with Michaela being closest to me. I hooked up my cheap lavalier interview microphones into my iphone and passed them each a lavalier to pin onto their shirts. Unfortunately I didn’t have an extra set on me for myself but I was only concerned about getting a clear recording of their voices. After sound testing, we started rolling.Michaela: I’m Jessie Flower, I voice Toph Beifong in Avatar: The Last Airbender...Olivia: And I’m Olivia Hack and I play Ty Lee! Marilyn: So great to meet you guys. Oh my gosh… O: Great to meet you!M: Nice to meet you as well!Marilyn: Be honest, when was the last time you watched the show?M: I’m actually binge rewatching it this week. So, technically right now. But before that it had been probably about two years...maybe three, since I’d watched any part of it. It’d been a while. So yeah, in spirit of Anime Expo I was like “Okay...you know, I think I need to rewatch everything from top to bottom.” So yeah, I’m about to start Season 2 so it’s been a full week. *laughs*O: And I’m with Michaela. It’s been a couple of years. I’ve seen some of the comic books and stuff but the actual show it’s been a while, yeah….Marilyn: It’s been a while since both of you voiced your characters. Off the top of your head, [what’s] the fondest memory you have when you voicing them?M: For me, I really liked when multiple cast members got to be in the recording booth together because a lot of the time it would be separate. My usual date, ‘cause I was still in high school, it was like every other Tuesday after school I would go in and record. And sometimes it would be just me, sometimes maybe Jack [voice of Sokka] or Mae [voice of Katara] would be there...But there was one day when every microphone...and I think this only happened once...every microphone was full. We had...you know, Toph, Sokka, I think Azula, and...was it Zuko? Yeah, and Uncle Iroh. We had like everyone kind of in the recording booth together so we got to go through like 3 or 4 pages without stopping and like everyone was there to like go through the scene. And like that was a cool moment ‘cause it felt like it came to life for a second, you know? And it doesn’t really get to feel that way until you watch the episode later. And so I just remember, and I forget which episode it was...cause...just memories of all different things happening but that was my favorite day because Mike and Bryan were also there cause they came in to listen sometimes...So like they were sitting with our recorder...person...audio engineer. That’s like a proper term!O: *laughs*M: “That recorder person.” *laughs* The audio engineer. And that was probably the highlight cause it was all of us in one place and just, you know...like, 45 minutes we got to kind of be going through it live together, which was awesome. So yeah, that’s like my favorite tidbit from recording.O: I was literally gonna say the same thing cause as voice actors, a lot of times you record separately! Which is fine...and we’re used to that but when you can record everybody together, there’s a rhythm and...yeah it feels like real acting. You can play off each other. They tended to record all the fire nation girls together, so that was kinda nice. But yeah, I’d say 50/50 they don’t record everyone together...but when they do it’s like more a magic kind of in the air. So yeah for sure…M: And for me it was even less, and I don’t know if it was just a scheduling thing, but I’d say probably only 20-25% of the time somebody else is in the studio. Most of the time, it was just me. So...I don’t know why….O: School, man! M: Yeah, school! *laughs*O: *laughs* School’s a drag.M: Yeah, high school… *laughs*O: That’s the one part of being a child actor that’s just like...blows...it’s the school factor.M: Yeah...You have to figure in to the scheduling but yeah….*laughs*Marilyn: Have you found like there are some days...since you don’t have someone to interact with or bounce off of, you just like struggle with…?O: I’ve personally seen performances that I...I mean obviously you read the script but you kinda didn’t realize what was going on in the scene or the tone later and I’m like “Ugh...I would have said that differently…” or “I would have played that a little different had I seen what the other person was doing..” you know? So it’s always better to act with another human being as you can imagine. M: Yeah, I agree. We’re two different instances. Me being by myself, I got used to it. BUT! Sometimes they would have the animation already made or like roughly done and maybe it wasn’t completely finished. So they would play that out while I was saying my lines so I can kind of see what was going on so that would be helpful. But then other times it would just be blank and it was like “Okay…” They send you the script beforehand usually so I would just read and see what was happening in that episode. But there wouldn’t be something to actually react to so sometimes they would be like “Okay, that was good...we need more…” or “Do three takes that were kind of like that last one and be a little more surprised.” Just to give a little bit of nuance of like what they were envisioning and I didn’t know necessarily. So yeah, it can get a little tricky but usually people then hop in to direct you and help shape what you’re supposed to sound like. *laughs* Marilyn: Yeah…*laughs* So in our podcast, we’re revisiting it as adults. We watched it in like middle school and high school and so...you know, like we were dumb kids… M: *laughs*O: Yeah, yeah, yeah!Marilyn: Everything just flew over our heads...We didn’t realize like “Oh, it’s just kids fighting a war...you know, no biggie!” Like years after you guys finished recording, was there anything that hit you later? Like “Oh wow, I didn’t realize that these themes came up or…?” O: Just how dark I think the show is...You really kinda go like “Oh this is…” I don’t know, it gets there a little bit sometimes, right? I mean just what you said...there is a lot of adult themes that go with it.M: Yeah, um...Well on a more personal note I think...when I was younger…*laughs* I’m still young...Everyone: *laughs*M: We’re still young. BUT! When I was younger, people would come up to me at cons or send some fanmail and just be like “Oh, you’ve really helped inspire me to just like be more confident in who I am and to not care about what people think...” Just kind of have a stronger attitude specifically relating to Toph...and I don’t think I realized how important and then helpful for me that would be later... just cause I was kind of in my weird-like actor kid world and grateful enough to to like have a great relationship with my mom and like always felt comfortable with like who I was...But then as I got older and I started to feel a little uncomfortable myself in college and then like noticed that a lot of people struggled in middle school and high school...Just kind of recognized that having such like a bold, doesn’t give a fuck character…O: Yeah… M: You know, 13 year old blind chick who’s just like “I’m who I am. This is it. You’re gonna like it or not….”Marilyn: Yeah…M: ...is helpful! For any age…O: ...and strong female characters!M: Yeah! O: Like ass-kicking women that you don’t see in TV...especially then.M: Right! In light of today, being a...you know, a more popular topic obviously to talk about...along with LGBTQ! Just like the whole thing. A lot more conversation happening...but this all happened, you know, a decade ago! And so it was kind of cool just to recognize like “Oh! We were a part of something that hopefully played a part in the conversations that are happening now! Which is nice...So…”O: It’s weird to be in something, especially kind of...not that Avatar was pre-internet but kind of...you know?M: Kind of...yeah. Instagram wasn’t like really a thing yet.O: Yeah! You don’t realize that you’re in something that’s culturally significant or something that’s touching children until those children grow up, and then can reach out to you and that sort of thing. So that’s a cool part of being an entertainer now, is you immediately know…Is this show a hit? Do people like it? Does it resonate? Whereas Avatar I feel like I didn’t know until 8-9 years after it was off the air…M: Yeah! Yep… O: ...that it was a big deal! So that’s been kind of cool to see how it’s touched people…M: Cause people just don’t look at your followers or how many reposts you have...or how many...you know, it’s just not the same way anymore. So it took a second to marinate, I feel like. And then we started watching people...kind of come back to us. So I don’t know! It’s cool…yeah. *laughs* Marilyn: When I started doing this podcast and being more active on social media, I definitely noticed like there’s a lot of high schoolers that are just getting into the show right now and kind of reliving what we went through…O: And streaming helps too!Marilyn: Yeah! Just binge all of it…M: Amazon Prime! Everyone, run…Everyone: *laughs*Marilyn: Like for us, Avatar is my favorite show. What are your favorite shows that you think resonated with you as much as like...for me and Eddy… M: So I didn’t really have TV growing up on purpose. My mom just like...I like to read a lot so she kinda just kept me doing that for as long as possible...Just cause she didn’t want to get me to get like sucked into staring at a screen all day. So I watched a lot of Winnie the Pooh on VHS growing up.O: Awwww!!! M: And like a lot of Arthur and...I guess we’re pretty hardcore Disney fans. Just with you know, Beauty and the Beast, Little Mermaid...The Little Mermaid live action [news] came out!O: Yes!!!M: Very exciting! But yeah, so it was a lot of VHS, you know, like “Watch it once.” and “Okay, now you have to go outside.” So I didn’t really know even more what I was a part of until like college because I didn’t go home and then watch the episode that I had recorded.O: Did you see Avatar when you were young? Or no…?M: No, not really. O: Oh wow! Okay… M: Like I didnt...you know, in the booth I would see scenes happening and watch snippets but I didn’t really watch it on TV until...maybe college...or so just cause I didn’t have access to cable. So I mean at friends’ houses and stuff like that there might have been an episode on or they’d be like “Oh let’s watch it because it’d be funny.” and I would be like “Sure…”Everyone: *laughs*M: But you know, it never was something that I went home and watched because I just didn’t….we didn’t do TV really….Although I will say Kim Possible, if I had to pick. Just, that was around a lot and I always wanted to be her. So that was probably my kind of influential-like “Go out and kick ass...be a cool chick.” *laughs* Everyone: *laughs* M: Yeah, exactly. Toph in another dimension...So yeah that’s probably my show.O: That’s awesome. As a kid...I mean I’m like from Care Bears, Strawberry Shortcake generation, you know?M: *laughs* O: But Little Mermaid came out when I was 6 and I thought I was a mermaid that entire summer…. M: I understand…*laughs*O: But yeah, I’m like….X-Men, Gargoyles and that whole kind of classic animation era age cause I grew up with the 80s-90s. And then I was obviously on Hey Arnold, but I love Hey Arnold. I think that’s just like a really classic show...Yeah I’m just into all that stuff. I watched a lot of TV when I was a kid, I’m like the opposite of Michaela.Everyone: *laughs* Marilyn: So aside from your characters, like I wanna know...Michaela Murphy and Olivia Hack….Eddy: Or Jessie Flower…M: Yeah...either way....*laughs* Jessie Flower, Michaela Murphy, they both work. *laughs*Marilyn: Which element...or would you be a Kyoshi Warrior, a non-bender? Like which would you be? Aside from your character!M: So I can’t choose earthbending? Okay...Cause I have decided that I think I actually would be….so aside from that, if I’m moving away from Earth...I honestly...I was actually talking to Olivia about this yesterday...I feel like I would be a Ty Lee. I do a lot of acrobatic and like trapeze stuff and I dance! And I’m like typically high energy and bubbly...with just like a quiet, sassy side if someone gets in my way kind of girl…O: She’s a really good Ty Lee right?!Everyone: Yeah! M: So I think I would just kind of be Ty Lee! *laughs* That’s who I would...yeah, if I had to pick another route in Avatar world. And I was talking about for the live-action, if they’re not gonna be casting any Caucasian human beings...BUT! If they were, that was hardcore who I would be gunning to be…O: Speaking of casting Caucasian people, what’d you guys think of the movie? What’s the….Eddy: The movie?*Eddy and I make a sour face…*M: Yeah...I know…O: Everybody makes a face when I say that! I’ve never seen it, and everyone says don’t see it!M: Oh I have...I mean yeah, there’s not a reason to see it but I did see it…O: *laughs* Eddy: I hate to say it but it feels like they didn’t watch an episode. Like a single episode of it...They say “Oong” instead of “Aang”, they say “Soak-a” instead of “Sah-ka”....M: Yeah...it hurts….it’s painful….Eddy: Sorry I can ramble on…O: Yeah, yeah, yeah!M: *laughs*Marilyn: I think it was just like...for fans of Avatar the cartoon, like we really love the show….and so like going into the movie and just having it disappoint us but...but kind of like...stab you and then turn the knife on you…O: It’s like disrespectful to fans!M: Yeah… Marilyn: Yeah! And so...that’s how we felt...and with the live-adaption on Netflix...we have hope again. So it’s nice. Eddy: Thankfully, the movie didn’t hurt Toph or Ty Lee…O: Yeah!M: Thankfully! Marilyn: I think after everyone saw that movie, they revisited the show. M: Yes! Cause they were like “Oh, well...we gotta go back to what was good.” *laughs*O: Fingers crossed for the Netflix show!Eddy: I have faith… O: I think it’s gonna be good!Marilyn: You mentioned earlier you met with Mike and Bryan...can you reiterate what you told us?M: Yes! So I had just heard little twitterings and people had been sending me articles and being like “Hey, are you going to be a part of this?” I was like “Okay, so this is a thing that’s happening.” So I reached out to Mike and Bryan and I came to Los Angeles in May, just for a little bit. A couple of days...and then I was like “Hey! Can I get lunch with you guys? It’s been a while…” *laughs* “...and just like wanna pick your brain!” So...they’re much more involved with the live adaption...this...THIS live action! And I just wanted to hear...you know, what their thoughts were. They were on the fence, Nickelodeon was on the fence about partnering with Netflix. A lot of things kind of had to be arranged and it was a bit crazy apparently...but finally it got settled. They are scouting places, you know, up in Canada for shooting...and I asked like “Are you casting soon? Who are you casting? What’s happening?” And they’re trying to keep it as true to...kind of location in the animated series for real life. So they’re focusing on different sectors of...you know, Northern Asia and like Southeast Asia for like the Earth tribe and Fire Nation. They’re tryna like appropriately space...SO! Actually like...verbatum...They said “We’re really excited to not cast any Caucasian people.”Everyone: *laughs*M: And I was like…”That’s understandable!” It’s cool, and I was like, you know…”Are you gonna cast in Los Angeles?” and they were like “We’re tryna do like a nation/worldwide search...and try to make it as available as possible to anybody and anybody that wants to send in a video and audition or whatever...cause we want to find the right people. We don’t just want to find somebody’s cousin who happens to know the producer or whatever”...right? They want to find people who will really represent these characters...which I thought was cool. And a lot of people have been messaging me being like “How do I send in something?” Like, they’re from that point. They will probably cast like maybe mid-fall earliest...and then start filming like next spring. So there’s a long timeline for things but point is...they’re going to make it accessible to anyone. They’ll be public about it, whenever they do start...so yeah, it’s just cool. They’re gonna be very open about it I think...and like a lot more public because they know that the movie was so like “Eh…” that they want people to be on board for this...yeah. So it was cool! And they’re both doing well and they’re excited to be back and like working on the project and…O: You guys got the hot exclusive scoop!Everyone: *laughs* M: And with all like the CGI technology just in the last 10 years, it’s gotten so, so much better. I mean they’re doing all sorts of stuff with various green screens and like creating models and doing...I mean it’s...cause it’s you know...This world is so involved and kind of magical..you know, four flippered penguins and flying things...you know, just like a lot of...a LOT OF detail so that’s why it’s gonna take a second…*laughs*...to get started, understandably. But yeah, I’m excited for it just after talking to them, cause i think they want it to be as good as we do...you know?Marilyn: Yeah...Thank you for telling us this.M: Of course! Yeah...and I got the clearance, so this is all normal. There’s nothing secretive... None of that is like exclusive. It’s just like normal...they’re figuring things out...yeah, it’s cool. *laughs*Marilyn: So for Ty Lee...we were talking about it in the car getting over here...she’s like a female version of Aang! Like she’s so positive…O: She’s so positive but she’s a killer!Marilyn: She’s like the best friend you can want. Like the scene...I think like one of the most iconic scenes is when Mai betrays Azula and then Ty Lee saves her! And you see like Ty Lee’s face and she’s like “...we have to go! Let’s bounce!”O: *laughs* Ty Lee is always kind of cleaning up after Azula a little bit...yeah, yeah!Marilyn: Yeah! And we were just wondering like...in your life do you have like a Ty Lee version? Like a friend that’s always positive…?O: Yeah, I mean...I kind of...well I’m a little dry, but I mean I feel like Ty Lee a little bit. It’s like I try and look on the bright side of everything and whatever...but I would definitely go in there and kick some ass if I have to. I just like Ty Lee. My favorite episode is the beach...cause I like that you get everybody’s backstory in that. (My favorite Ty Lee episode I should say…) But yeah, I like her story cause she was in the circus and then she ran away...It’s kind of just this...yeah, it’s not what you would expect. But yeah, Ty Lee’s just a fun character. Like I didn’t know...my first two episodes or whatever, I think they casted another actress...Because I walked in there and they had already...the animation was already done. Like DONE, done...and I was just matching stuff…M: Ohhh...Interesting…hmm… O: Yeah! And so...I went in there kind of just thinking it was some anime. I had no idea what it was or whatever...so that voice just kind of came out of nowhere and like...it’s fun to do it because...*slips into Ty Lee voice*.... “She’s just really...Your aura is very pink!” *talks normal* Like she’s just really fun and yeah…. M: *laughs*O: Do a Toph line! Do your…. M: Oh gosh! Um...there are so many… Everyone: *laughs*M: I mean...it’s...popular one I guess is uh….*slips into Toph voice*....”I am not Toph, I am Melonlord!!! MUWAHAHAHAHA….” Everyone: *laughs*M: I mean…*laughs*...oh it’s so fun. For me, I mean...it’s also funny. A lot of people ask like, “Oh do a Toph voice.” I was just being extra sassy at 13...and so it was me, higher voice and just kind of in tomboy mode. Like I’m very...very close...with my voice. Although I don’t know if everyone knows this but I voiced Meng in Season 1, with the big pigtails sticking out. She had the crush on Aang, yeah yeah yeah! So that’s actually...I did her first but because they...you know, we just got along and when they decided to make Toph a girl they were like, “Hey wait! Bring back this Jessie chick…” and they were like “Alright, so this character is not that...She’s tough, she’s mean, she’s blind…” and I was like “Cool! Okay!” So yeah...a little bit of a shift with intention. But yeah...it was close to home…”O: And being mean is fun!M: Oh yeah!O: Being mean is really fun, yeah.M: Tough love! It’s all in love. Just, you know…*laughs*Marilyn: Thank you guys so much for this interview!O: Awesome! Thanks guys!M: Perfect! Oh my gosh, of course! It was so nice to meet you! Thank you for reaching out...I’m glad the timing worked out and everything….End of Interview.——————————————————————————————-Michaela’s IG: @michaelamostlyOlivia’s IG: oliviahack1Host/Editor - Marilyn Chanthala | Animation/Music - Edward Naputi | Cover Art - trai no angle & Eric VoWe are now on Spotify, iTunes, Youtube, Stitch, idk a lot of places![(Social Media).com/beyondbending]Website: www.beyondbending.com

Christopher is joined by Summer Brown, LMFT (www.SummerBrownLMFT.com) she owns a practice in Vancouver, Washington. They discuss private practice, the clientele she serves (queer people of color in bigger bodies), the importance of therapist of color, why therapist shouldn't feel bad for wanting to be paid well, and much more. Diagnosis of the week:Body Dysmorphic Disorder Music by: Big Kurt the G.E.M For contact information got to hiphopsocialworker.com Gmail: Hiphopsocialworker@gmail.com Twitter: HHsocialwork Instagram: hiphopsocialworkpod Cash app for donations: $cscott85 Join the community of clinicians of color. Go to C4pdx.com for more information. Follow C4 on instagram: @c4pdx --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/hip-hop-social-worker/support

Diagnosis of the week: Cannabis use and Cannabis withdrawal disorder Music by: Big Kurt the G.E.M For contact information got to hiphopsocialworker.com Vote for Christopher for a "Keep Oregon Well mental health hero" https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2019Heroes Cash app for donations: $cscott85 Join the community of clinicians of color. Go to C4pdx.com for more information. Follow C4 on instagram: @c4pdx --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/hip-hop-social-worker/support

Diagnosis of the week: Gambling disorder Music by: Big Kurt the G.E.M For contact information got to hiphopsocialworker.com Vote for Christopher for a "Keep Oregon Well mental health hero" https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2019Heroes Cash app for donations: $cscott85 Join the community of clinicians of color. Go to C4pdx.com for more information. Follow C4 on instagram: @c4pdx --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/hip-hop-social-worker/support

Diagnosis of the week: Reactive attachment disorder Music by: Big Kurt the G.E.M For contact information got to hiphopsocialworker.com Vote for Christopher for a "Keep Oregon Well mental health hero" https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/2019Heroes Cash app for donations: $cscott85 Join the community of clinicians of color. Go to C4pdx.com for more information. Follow C4 on instagram: @c4pdx --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/hip-hop-social-worker/support

Just some feedback on these shows. Music by: Big Kurt the G.E.M For contact information got to hiphopsocialworker.com Cash app for donations: $cscott85 Join the community of clinicians of color. Go to C4pdx.com for more information. Follow C4 on instagram: @c4pdx --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/hip-hop-social-worker/support

The last week of our worship series, Then & Now. This sermon is delivered by Pastor Scott and Raegan Gilliland from our Thrive service in Asbury Hall at 9:30 A.M For more information visit: llumc.org

Download MP3 ８月の５週間は、恒例の「超濃縮！やさしい英語会話」です。この８年間に配信した284本の「やさしい英語会話」よりエピソードを厳選し、毎回４本分を濃縮してお届けします。ナチュラルスピードの会話をスクリプトとともにお楽しみください。 今回は、「仕事」にまつわるエピソードの特集です。それも、教育実習、アルバイト、就職面接など、大学生にとって身近な場面ばかりを集めました。まとめて聞くと、どの登場人物にも、それぞれ将来の夢や野望があるようですね。 （初級〜中級）*** Script *** [ (31) Teaching Practice ] M: Hey, Saori! It's been a while! How have you been? W: Hey, Mike. I had teaching practice at a junior high for a month. So that's why you haven't seen me around. M: Oh, I didn't know that you were trying to get a teaching license. So you'll be a teacher, will you? W: Actually, probably not. Of course, teaching is an option in the future. But Mike, you know, I really really want to be a researcher, right? M: Yeah, that's what I thought. So I was surprised when you said... W: If I take just a few classes in teacher education, I can get a license. Which means, I can be a certificated teacher for no extra tuition! Pretty lucky, hey? M: Boy, that is interesting. So, how was the practice teaching? W: Very hard! I thought teaching would only be fun, because I like kids. But now I think teaching is the toughest job around, and I have a lot of respect for teachers. M: So, tell me more about the practice teaching. What was so hard? W: Hmmm... I think the hardest thing was….not to teach wrong … and to keep the quality of teaching high….I think. M: What do you mean? W: Well, I didn't teach the materials wrong. I studied a lot before the classes. And I was ready to teach. But on the first day, when I stood up in front of students, my mind suddenly went blank! At first, I didn't know what to say! M: Ho, teaching IS tough, huh? W: Yeah, it is. But later I found the real joy of teaching. When I taught, and looked into their eyes, children responded to me. Of course, there were many problem kids. But if I tried to understand them, and faced them, I could see that they were learning! That was really impressive, and I was so touched. So, in conclusion, it's true that teaching is tough, but at the same time, it's also rewarding! [ (60) Part-time Jobs and Big Dreams ] W: Hey, what are you up to, Ken? M: Oh, hi Jane. I'm just looking for a part-time job. I've been searching for about a month, but no luck. Are you doing a part-time job, Jane? W: Yeah, I'm teaching English at an English school. 5 days a week. M: Wow. Isn't it hard? W: Not much. It's fun! And I work at a café two days a week. M: No way! How much money do you get a week, anyways? And what are you gonna do with the money? W: That's a secret. M: But your dad's the president of a cell phone company. You don't need to work, do you? W: Well, I wanna have my own money to make my dream come true. M: And… how could you get such good grades last semester? You got all A's! I got Cs, and a D…and even some E's, I think! W: …Ha, ha… [ in a soft voice ] That's because I have two me's: working Jane and studying Jane. M: What? W: Oh, nothing. So, what kind of jobs are you looking for? M: …You are weird. Umm…It would be great if I could have a chance to talk with non-Japanese people at work. Do you know any good places where non-Japanese often get together around here? W: How about the gym near Hiroshima Station? I go there every Thursday, and I often see a lot of foreigners there. M: That sounds good for me! I like sports too… Yes!! That gym's looking for some workers! I'll apply there! W: Good on you! M: Hey, Jane, tell me about your secret. Why are you working so hard? W: Hmm… Can you really keep a secret? M: Yes, I promise! W: Oh… OK, it's just that… [ talking in a tiny voice ] M: [ in a big voice ] you're going to take over your dad's company!? [ (136) The Power of Colors ] M: Hi Ms. Yamada. Please sit down. So, could you tell me a bit about yourself? W: Sure, nice to meet you, Mr. Reynolds. I'm Yamada, Noriko Yamada. This March I'll graduate from Rainbow University. I major in architecture. Especially, I've studied a lot about color designs. During college, in my club, we've done a lot of volunteer and charity work. For example, we advise government offices and companies about the colors of study rooms, city stations, and libraries. I'm sure that my experience and knowledge about colors will help XY Publishing. M: OK. Why would you like to work here? W: Well, I'd like to work at XY Publishing because I think I can make the most of my abilities here. Since you're in the magazine publishing business, I'll try to use my knowledge of colors to excite the readers. To be honest, your magazines made me green with envy when I first saw them. They are so colorful and charming. But I think I could make them even better! M: For example, what could you do to improve the magazines? W: I'd like to change the world of magazines! The psychological effects of colors have been undervalued. I believe that understanding the science of colors is the key to exciting readers. So, I'll make the magazines more artistic by using tones of color variations. I know it'll be hard, and I'll have to get past some red tape and other obstacles, but nothing's going to stop me! M: Boy, you have ambition, Ms. Yamada. How are you feeling now? W: I felt a bit blue before having this interview, but I feel better now because I'm trying as hard as I can. I hope to get the green light to work at XY Publishing! M: OK. We'll roll out the red carpet to welcome you, Ms. Yamada! Our company's been seeking somebody who has an expertise in colors. We'd be happy to have you! W: Oh, thank you, sir! Your offer just came out of blue! M: Well, we find a person like you once in a blue moon, you know. I really think you can help the layout designs of the magazines. W: Oh, I'm tickled pink with your offer! Excuse me, my language, but from now on I have to be as good as gold, because I'm now an employee of XY Publishing! I'm so happy, sir! [ (240) Piano Delivery ] M: [ panting ] Remind me again why we decided to become piano deliverymen. This lady lives on the 8th floor, and we've only made it up to the third floor! My arms already feel like spaghetti! W: It's piano delivery WOMAN! And I'll tell you why: this is all part of the four-year plan. Remember? M: Um... I'm so exhausted right now that I can hardly remember my own mother's name! Why don't you jog my memory? W: [ sighs ] Fine, Bruce. This is the last time I'm going to explain it to you. M: I CAN'T guarantee that. W: [ huffing ] Alright, the four-year plan is to work as piano delivery men... Ahem... piano delivery PEOPLE for two years in order to build up core body strength. Then, we spend the next two years training to be professional wrestlers. With the kind of strength we'll get from this job, we can become world champions! M: Wait, that four-year plan? You actually still think that's gonna work? I'm just working this job so I can see the inside of all the attractive women's houses in this city! W: You really are a hopeless pervert, aren't you? M: Hold that thought. I think my back's about to give out! W: You say something? M: Gahhhhh! [ Bruce grimaces in pain and the cracking of his back is clearly audible. Bruce drops the piano and it falls down all three flights of stairs to its concrete grave. ] W: What the... Bruce?! Do you know what you've just done!? You've ruined the four-year plan! M: Forget the four-year plan and just get me to a hospital! [ shudders in pain ]

Download MP3 ８月の５週間は、恒例の「超濃縮！やさしい英語会話」です。この８年間に配信した284本の「やさしい英語会話」よりエピソードを厳選し、毎回４本分を濃縮してお届けします。ナチュラルスピードの会話をスクリプトとともにお楽しみください。 今回は、「仕事」にまつわるエピソードの特集です。それも、教育実習、アルバイト、就職面接など、大学生にとって身近な場面ばかりを集めました。まとめて聞くと、どの登場人物にも、それぞれ将来の夢や野望があるようですね。 （初級〜中級）*** Script *** [ (31) Teaching Practice ] M: Hey, Saori! It's been a while! How have you been? W: Hey, Mike. I had teaching practice at a junior high for a month. So that's why you haven't seen me around. M: Oh, I didn't know that you were trying to get a teaching license. So you'll be a teacher, will you? W: Actually, probably not. Of course, teaching is an option in the future. But Mike, you know, I really really want to be a researcher, right? M: Yeah, that's what I thought. So I was surprised when you said... W: If I take just a few classes in teacher education, I can get a license. Which means, I can be a certificated teacher for no extra tuition! Pretty lucky, hey? M: Boy, that is interesting. So, how was the practice teaching? W: Very hard! I thought teaching would only be fun, because I like kids. But now I think teaching is the toughest job around, and I have a lot of respect for teachers. M: So, tell me more about the practice teaching. What was so hard? W: Hmmm... I think the hardest thing was….not to teach wrong … and to keep the quality of teaching high….I think. M: What do you mean? W: Well, I didn't teach the materials wrong. I studied a lot before the classes. And I was ready to teach. But on the first day, when I stood up in front of students, my mind suddenly went blank! At first, I didn't know what to say! M: Ho, teaching IS tough, huh? W: Yeah, it is. But later I found the real joy of teaching. When I taught, and looked into their eyes, children responded to me. Of course, there were many problem kids. But if I tried to understand them, and faced them, I could see that they were learning! That was really impressive, and I was so touched. So, in conclusion, it's true that teaching is tough, but at the same time, it's also rewarding! [ (60) Part-time Jobs and Big Dreams ] W: Hey, what are you up to, Ken? M: Oh, hi Jane. I'm just looking for a part-time job. I've been searching for about a month, but no luck. Are you doing a part-time job, Jane? W: Yeah, I'm teaching English at an English school. 5 days a week. M: Wow. Isn't it hard? W: Not much. It's fun! And I work at a café two days a week. M: No way! How much money do you get a week, anyways? And what are you gonna do with the money? W: That's a secret. M: But your dad's the president of a cell phone company. You don't need to work, do you? W: Well, I wanna have my own money to make my dream come true. M: And… how could you get such good grades last semester? You got all A's! I got Cs, and a D…and even some E's, I think! W: …Ha, ha… [ in a soft voice ] That's because I have two me's: working Jane and studying Jane. M: What? W: Oh, nothing. So, what kind of jobs are you looking for? M: …You are weird. Umm…It would be great if I could have a chance to talk with non-Japanese people at work. Do you know any good places where non-Japanese often get together around here? W: How about the gym near Hiroshima Station? I go there every Thursday, and I often see a lot of foreigners there. M: That sounds good for me! I like sports too… Yes!! That gym's looking for some workers! I'll apply there! W: Good on you! M: Hey, Jane, tell me about your secret. Why are you working so hard? W: Hmm… Can you really keep a secret? M: Yes, I promise! W: Oh… OK, it's just that… [ talking in a tiny voice ] M: [ in a big voice ] you're going to take over your dad's company!? [ (136) The Power of Colors ] M: Hi Ms. Yamada. Please sit down. So, could you tell me a bit about yourself? W: Sure, nice to meet you, Mr. Reynolds. I'm Yamada, Noriko Yamada. This March I'll graduate from Rainbow University. I major in architecture. Especially, I've studied a lot about color designs. During college, in my club, we've done a lot of volunteer and charity work. For example, we advise government offices and companies about the colors of study rooms, city stations, and libraries. I'm sure that my experience and knowledge about colors will help XY Publishing. M: OK. Why would you like to work here? W: Well, I'd like to work at XY Publishing because I think I can make the most of my abilities here. Since you're in the magazine publishing business, I'll try to use my knowledge of colors to excite the readers. To be honest, your magazines made me green with envy when I first saw them. They are so colorful and charming. But I think I could make them even better! M: For example, what could you do to improve the magazines? W: I'd like to change the world of magazines! The psychological effects of colors have been undervalued. I believe that understanding the science of colors is the key to exciting readers. So, I'll make the magazines more artistic by using tones of color variations. I know it'll be hard, and I'll have to get past some red tape and other obstacles, but nothing's going to stop me! M: Boy, you have ambition, Ms. Yamada. How are you feeling now? W: I felt a bit blue before having this interview, but I feel better now because I'm trying as hard as I can. I hope to get the green light to work at XY Publishing! M: OK. We'll roll out the red carpet to welcome you, Ms. Yamada! Our company's been seeking somebody who has an expertise in colors. We'd be happy to have you! W: Oh, thank you, sir! Your offer just came out of blue! M: Well, we find a person like you once in a blue moon, you know. I really think you can help the layout designs of the magazines. W: Oh, I'm tickled pink with your offer! Excuse me, my language, but from now on I have to be as good as gold, because I'm now an employee of XY Publishing! I'm so happy, sir! [ (240) Piano Delivery ] M: [ panting ] Remind me again why we decided to become piano deliverymen. This lady lives on the 8th floor, and we've only made it up to the third floor! My arms already feel like spaghetti! W: It's piano delivery WOMAN! And I'll tell you why: this is all part of the four-year plan. Remember? M: Um... I'm so exhausted right now that I can hardly remember my own mother's name! Why don't you jog my memory? W: [ sighs ] Fine, Bruce. This is the last time I'm going to explain it to you. M: I CAN'T guarantee that. W: [ huffing ] Alright, the four-year plan is to work as piano delivery men... Ahem... piano delivery PEOPLE for two years in order to build up core body strength. Then, we spend the next two years training to be professional wrestlers. With the kind of strength we'll get from this job, we can become world champions! M: Wait, that four-year plan? You actually still think that's gonna work? I'm just working this job so I can see the inside of all the attractive women's houses in this city! W: You really are a hopeless pervert, aren't you? M: Hold that thought. I think my back's about to give out! W: You say something? M: Gahhhhh! [ Bruce grimaces in pain and the cracking of his back is clearly audible. Bruce drops the piano and it falls down all three flights of stairs to its concrete grave. ] W: What the... Bruce?! Do you know what you've just done!? You've ruined the four-year plan! M: Forget the four-year plan and just get me to a hospital! [ shudders in pain ]

1. W: Congratulations! I hear you are going to join the army. M: Thanks. But actually, it’s my twin brother who’s going to join the army. I am going to university. I wish to be a lawyer in the future. 2. W: Dad, can we go to the shop? I want to buy some sweets. M: There are so many other wonderful things that you can buy. Why not buy a book or some pencils? 3. W: Where’s Jane? It’s two fifteen. M: Yeah. We planned to meet here at two o’clock. Maybe she missed the train. W: I can wait for another fifteen minutes. But then, I have to leave. M: Okay, let’s wait until two thirty. 4. M: Hey, Jenny, you still play basketball? W: Sometimes. M: Well, we are playing basketball tonight at the park. Will you join us? W: Oh, I can’t. I am working tonight. I just got a job at a bookstore. 5. M: Good morning, may I help you? W: I’d like to rent a car, please. M: Okay. Full size, mid-size or small size, madam? W: Small size, please. What’s the rate? M: 78 dollars a day. 6-7 M: Hi, I’m Martin. Are you new here? I haven’t seen you around. W: Yes, I only started on Monday. M: Great! So what department are you in? W: Housekeeping. M: Oh, yeah. I work on reception. W: I see. Are you American? M: No. I’m from Sydney, Australia. How about you? W: I’m from Brazil. How long have you been here in Singapore? M: Nearly three years now. I like it here a lot. W: Me, too. 8-9 W: And finally the weather. Tonight we’ll be cool and cloudy in most parts of the country with some showers in the north. The temperature will be cool, around eleven degrees. The wind will get stronger overnight, bringing a fresh bright morning, clear skies and a hot sunny day all over. The temperature in the south will hit twenty-three degrees in the early afternoon, but lower in the north, around twenty degrees. The temperature will cool off in the early evening, dropping to around fifteen degrees, but still clear and warm. So a good day for an evening barbeque. That’s all for now. Good night. 10-12 W: John, just a few questions on your motivation. I know you developed your business with local people. What made you do that? M: Well, I’ve always tried to employ local people to help the local industry. But because we are not province of Spain with little unemployment, I have to use people from outside the area, too. W: What about management style? Are you a hard manager, John? M: No, I don’t think so. I’ve got strong character and as a manager, I am strong, but when I need to fire people, I give them five or… ten more chances. W: And what’s the future for you? What will keep you going? M: For business, well, a new vice president joined the company two weeks ago, so I can devote more time to customers and new products. And privately, I have decided to improve my quality of life. I am thinking of taking every Wednesday afternoon off. This means I can do some training courses, more relaxing activities. 13-15 M: Welcome to Sherwood Holiday Village. We hope you will enjoy your holiday with us. The sports complex is open from 6 a.m. from 9 p.m., and is available for tennis, badminton and bowling. You can hire equipment for just four pounds. Coaching is available at ten pounds per hour, but you must book in advance. If you enjoy competition, there will be a variety of games throughout the week. Please write your name on the notice board if you are interested. And if you need something to drink after a game, you can purchase fruit juice, mineral water and other drinks from the bar. Just to remind you that appropriate shoes must be worn in the sports complex. Next to the sports complex is a swimming pool. If you want to look your best in the pool, our sports shop has a wide range of designed swimming wear. For good meals, you can go to the Sherwood Restaurant. If you’d like to try the buffet, you can have a meal for just eight pounds. If you prefer to eat in, you can purchase food from the mini market. The bread, fresh fruit and vegetables are delivered to the mini market daily. For all inquiries, please come to the reception desk and we’ll be glad to assist. 16-20 W: Hello, Home & Office Supplies. Can I help you? M: Yes, it’s Thompson Electronics here. We have an account with you. W: Oh, yes. How can I help? M: We just have some printers delivered, but they are the wrong ones. W: Oh, dear. I do apologize for the mistake. M: I don’t know how you could have got it wrong. We order from you all the time. W: I know. But unfortunately, we’ve been having a problem with our computer system. M: Well, how can we sort this out? W: Could you bear with me a moment please? Ah, yes, I have the order here. You want 25 HW3C56 printers. Is that correct? M: Yes, that’s right. But you sent us 25 HW56 instead. W: I see. I’ll sort it out right away and we’ll post the order special delivery. M: Thanks. W: I’ll put a $300 credit on your account to make up the inconvenience as well. Is that all right? M: Oh, that’s very nice. Thanks.

EG.M_For he life best love play

(image credit: David_Vasquez via Wikipedia cc) 今回はアメリカ西部・ネバダ州の旅に出てみましょう。 ネバダ州と言えば、延々と続く砂漠、そしてその中に忽然と現れるカジノ都市・ラスベガスが有名ですね。ラスベガスは、ギャンブルのみならず家族向けのショーなども多く、だれでも安心して娯楽を楽しめる街として、世界中から多くの観光客が訪れています。一方、州内には売春（prostitution）が合法な地域があり、州自体の犯罪率も高いなど、負の側面もあるようです。 そんな中、会話では、毎年開催されるある大きなイベントが紹介されています。Burning Manと呼ばれるこのイベント、果たしてどのようなものでしょうか。 Download MP3 （19:15　11.5MB　初級～中級）*** It's a Good Expression *** （今回の重要表現） nifty = 粋な、気の利いた awesome = すばらしい cool stuff = かっこいいもの besides = in addition to prostitution = 売春 a county =（アメリカの）郡 ※州の行政区画 but five = ５つ（の郡）を除いて butは前置詞でexceptの意味 outside the city limits = 街から外れている vice and greed = 悪徳や欲 a bunch of 〜 =a lot of 〜 ※同じ意味の表現のa ton of 〜も登場する rafting = 川下り pretty much everything = almost everything enticing = very attractive What the heck is that? = What on earth is that? Burning Man = 「バーニング・マン」 ※ネバダ州リノ市の砂漠で８月末から９月初めまで開催されるイベント a hippie = ヒッピー ※1960年代に登場した人々で、暴力や既成概念に反対し、独特のファッションを好み、長髪やドラッグを好む。 to do drugs = 麻薬を使用する ※doを使う。 a structure = 建造物 an effigy = 像；（人の身代わりの粗末な）人形 to signify = 〜を意味する rebirth = 再生 insane = 常軌を逸した a rodeo = ロデオ（カウボーイ競技） *** Script *** (Slow speed) 03:15-06:00 (Natural speed) 15:30-17:45 Nifty Nevada M: Oh, by the way, Sue, where in the States did you say you're from? W: Oh, I am from Nevada. M: Oh, that's awesome! I really want to go to Las Vegas. W: Well, there's a lot of cool stuff in Nevada besides Las Vegas. M: Like…? The dessert? W: No! Like, how gambling is legal throughout the entire state. Unlike the rest of the states in America. M: That IS pretty cool. W: What about prostitution? M: What about it? W: Do you think it's legal in the United States? M: No, everybody knows it's illegal. W: Wrong! In Nevada it's completely legal in all the counties but five, as long as it is outside the city limits. M: Wow, no way! W: Yep! But if vice and greed are not your thing, then we also have a bunch of things to do outdoors. M: For example? W: We have a ton of land for riding horses, rafting rivers, hiking, pretty much everything! M: Sounds pretty enticing! W: Oh, and then there's Burning Man. M: OK… what the heck is that? W: It's a ten-day event out in the middle of nowhere, at a place called Black Rock Dessert. M: Sounds scary. W: Actually, quite the opposite. People collect out in the dessert and, basically, party, drink, do drugs, build huge structures, decorate their cars in crazy ways, and at the end of the event they burn a huge effigy of a man. M: …What? Why? W: Why not? OK, I said party, but it's more like an extremely large gathering of hippies. Like, seriously, a ton of hippies! M: And why do they burn an effigy of a man? W: Not just an effigy, a GIANT effigy. And I'm not entirely sure but it's probably to signify rebirth. And a lot of what they build out there is actually very artistic and impressive. M: That sounds insane. Do you guys have any… um, more normal events? W: Well, we do have a couple of rodeos a year. M: That's it! I'm coming out to visit you! (Written by Matthew Bola)

(image credit: David_Vasquez via Wikipedia cc) 今回はアメリカ西部・ネバダ州の旅に出てみましょう。 ネバダ州と言えば、延々と続く砂漠、そしてその中に忽然と現れるカジノ都市・ラスベガスが有名ですね。ラスベガスは、ギャンブルのみならず家族向けのショーなども多く、だれでも安心して娯楽を楽しめる街として、世界中から多くの観光客が訪れています。一方、州内には売春（prostitution）が合法な地域があり、州自体の犯罪率も高いなど、負の側面もあるようです。 そんな中、会話では、毎年開催されるある大きなイベントが紹介されています。Burning Manと呼ばれるこのイベント、果たしてどのようなものでしょうか。 Download MP3 （19:15　11.5MB　初級～中級）*** It's a Good Expression *** （今回の重要表現） nifty = 粋な、気の利いた awesome = すばらしい cool stuff = かっこいいもの besides = in addition to prostitution = 売春 a county =（アメリカの）郡 ※州の行政区画 but five = ５つ（の郡）を除いて butは前置詞でexceptの意味 outside the city limits = 街から外れている vice and greed = 悪徳や欲 a bunch of 〜 =a lot of 〜 ※同じ意味の表現のa ton of 〜も登場する rafting = 川下り pretty much everything = almost everything enticing = very attractive What the heck is that? = What on earth is that? Burning Man = 「バーニング・マン」 ※ネバダ州リノ市の砂漠で８月末から９月初めまで開催されるイベント a hippie = ヒッピー ※1960年代に登場した人々で、暴力や既成概念に反対し、独特のファッションを好み、長髪やドラッグを好む。 to do drugs = 麻薬を使用する ※doを使う。 a structure = 建造物 an effigy = 像；（人の身代わりの粗末な）人形 to signify = 〜を意味する rebirth = 再生 insane = 常軌を逸した a rodeo = ロデオ（カウボーイ競技） *** Script *** (Slow speed) 03:15-06:00 (Natural speed) 15:30-17:45 Nifty Nevada M: Oh, by the way, Sue, where in the States did you say you're from? W: Oh, I am from Nevada. M: Oh, that's awesome! I really want to go to Las Vegas. W: Well, there's a lot of cool stuff in Nevada besides Las Vegas. M: Like…? The dessert? W: No! Like, how gambling is legal throughout the entire state. Unlike the rest of the states in America. M: That IS pretty cool. W: What about prostitution? M: What about it? W: Do you think it's legal in the United States? M: No, everybody knows it's illegal. W: Wrong! In Nevada it's completely legal in all the counties but five, as long as it is outside the city limits. M: Wow, no way! W: Yep! But if vice and greed are not your thing, then we also have a bunch of things to do outdoors. M: For example? W: We have a ton of land for riding horses, rafting rivers, hiking, pretty much everything! M: Sounds pretty enticing! W: Oh, and then there's Burning Man. M: OK… what the heck is that? W: It's a ten-day event out in the middle of nowhere, at a place called Black Rock Dessert. M: Sounds scary. W: Actually, quite the opposite. People collect out in the dessert and, basically, party, drink, do drugs, build huge structures, decorate their cars in crazy ways, and at the end of the event they burn a huge effigy of a man. M: …What? Why? W: Why not? OK, I said party, but it's more like an extremely large gathering of hippies. Like, seriously, a ton of hippies! M: And why do they burn an effigy of a man? W: Not just an effigy, a GIANT effigy. And I'm not entirely sure but it's probably to signify rebirth. And a lot of what they build out there is actually very artistic and impressive. M: That sounds insane. Do you guys have any… um, more normal events? W: Well, we do have a couple of rodeos a year. M: That's it! I'm coming out to visit you! (Written by Matthew Bola)

Part 3 of the continuing resolution followed by a history of Trailblazer and ThinThread, the NSA's spying programs. *Forward to 28:20 to hear the Trailblazer vs. Thinthread (NSA spying) story* H.R. 933: Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act of 2013 B= Billion M= Million DIVISION E: VETERANS Title I—Department of Defense Construction (TOTAL: $10.6 B) $1.7 B: Army construction available until 2017 for "acquisition, construction, installation, and equipment of temporary or permanent public works, military installations, facilities, and real property… and host nation support" $1.5 B: Navy & Marine construction available until 2017 $323 M: Air Force construction available until 2017 $3.5 B: Defense-wide construction available until 2017 Includes $27 M for a new NATO headquarters $614 M: Army National Guard construction available until 2017 $42 M: Air National Guard construction available until 2017 $306 M: Army Reserve construction available until 2017 $50 M: Navy Reserve construction available until 2017 $11 M: Air Force Reserve construction available until 2017 $254 M: NATO construction of military facilities and installations available indefinitely $535 M: Army family housing, available until 2017 See Section 8058 (DoD Division) $480 M: Navy & Marines housing, available until 2017 $582 M: Air Force housing, available until 2017 $54 M: Defense-wide housing, available until 2017 $151 M: For chemical destruction, available until 2017 $536 M: Base closures, available indefinitely Section 101 No cost-plus contracts over $25,000 except in Alaska Section 105 No money can be used to buy land for more than it's worth except When it's negotiated by the Attorney General The value is less than $25,000 Defense Secretary says it's cool Section 109 No money can be used to pay property taxes in foreign nations Section 111 No money can be used for contracts over $500,000 for projects in Japan, a NATO member country, or a country bordering the Arabian Sea unless the contract goes to a US company or a partnership including US companies Section 126 No money can be used to expand the Pinon Canyon Maneuver Site in Colorado Title II—Department of Veterans Affairs (TOTAL VETERANS BENEFITS: $127.5 B) $60.5 B: Veteran's benefits $12 B: Readjustment benefits $55 B: Veteran's medical care $2 B: Overseas Veterans Benefits Administration employee mail $3 B + reimbursements: IT upgrades Title III—Related agencies Title IV—Overseas contingency operations Title V—General provisions Section 503 No money can be used by the executive branch for any media productions designed to support or defeat Congressional legislation, except for media for a presentation to Congress itself. Section 509 No porn allowed. Section 511 No transfers out of Guantanamo Bay. Section 512 No first class travel for the executive branch. Section 513 Can't use illegal immigrants for construction work. Section 514 Can't contract with a corporation that's been convicted of a felony unless "agency" says it's cool Section 515 Can't contract with a corporation with unpaid taxes unless agency say's it's cool DIVISION F—ENERGY, FINANCIAL SERVICES, ENVIRONMENT, QUALITY OF LIFE, CONGRESS, FOREIGN AFFAIRS, HOUSING & TRANSPORTATION Title I—General Provisions Keeping the 2012 appropriations for the following departments (public law 112-74) Department of the Interior Department of Energy Department of Treasury District of Columbia Environmental Protection Agency Department of Labor Department of Health and Human Services Department of Education Legislative Branch Department of State Department of Transportation Department of Housing and Urban Development Section 1104 None of these departments can start or resume a project that wasn't authorized during 2012 Section 1109 Extra money for: $40 M: Disabled coal miners $106 B: Medicaid grants to states $1 B: Child support enforcement $2 B: Foster care $19 B: Social Security Title II—Energy and Water Development Section 1203 1.8 B: Renewable energy and energy efficiency Section 1205 $7.5 B: Nuclear weapons activities Section 1206 Extra $110 M for "domestic uranium enrichment, research, development, and demonstration." Title III—Financial Services and General Government Title IV—Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Section 1401 Decrease Bureau of Land Management from $962 M to $951 M $0 for BLM construction $2.2 B: National Park Service $726 M: Wildland fire management Section 1405: Environmental Protection Agency (Total: $8 B) $785 M: Science and Technology $2.6 B: Environment Programs and Management $1.1 B: Hazardous Substance Superfund (lowered by $40 M) $3.5 B: State and Tribal Assistance Grants Section 1408 $1.5 B: Forest Service $2 B: Forest Service Wildland fire management Section 1412 Defunds the Presidio Trust fund, which helped turn a military installation into a part in San Francisco Section 1416 (Amendment 29 by James Inhofe… agreed to by unanimous consent) Prohibits EPA from enforcing an oil spill rule on farms for the next 6 months Farm means "a facility on a tract of land devoted to the production of crops or raising of animals, including fish, which produced and sold, or normally would have produced and sold, $1,000 or more of agricultural products during a year." Compliance deadline is May 10, 2013 "Facilities' includes oil transportation pipelines. The rule forces facilities (NOT OIL COMPANIES) to: The oil spill prevention plan which EPA is prohibited from enforcing would have had to include: Quantity and type of oil that could be spilled Map of areas that would be affected by a spill Written commitment of manpower, equipment, and materials required to control and remove spilled oil Emergency response plan Get the plan certified by an engineer Put up containment and diversionary structures Report spills over 1,000 barrels Report multiple spills over 42 barrels that happened in the same 12 month period, including the cause of the failure Title V—Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education, and Related Agencies Section 1502 $3.1 B: Unemployment insurance Section 1510 $2.3 B: Child Care block grant Section 1511 $33.5 M: Head Start Title VI—Legislative Branch Section 1601 $193,400 to Irene Hirano, widow of Senator Daniel K. Inouye Section 1605 $61 M: Fix the Capitol Dome Title VII—Department of State, Foreign Oper-ations, and Related Programs Section 1701 $2 B: International peacekeeping activities Section 1703 $3.1 B: International security assistance Section 1707 $1.2 B: Embassy security upgrades Title VIII—Transportation and Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Section 1805 $2 B: Homeless grants DIVISION G—OTHER MATTERS Section 3001: Additional cuts Division A: 2.513% sequester cut Division B: 1.877% sequester cut Section 3002 Sequester lives Monsanto Protection Act Section 735 of Division A (Department of Agriculture) Section 411 of the Plant Protection Act prohibits regulated plant "pests", like weeds, that are somehow considered harmful if allowed to be freely grown in the United States. Anyone is allowed to petition to have a plant removed from the regulated list. If the Secretary of Agriculture chooses to regulate a plant that was previously unregulated, this bill says the Secretary "shall" "immediately grant temporary permits" which will authorize the movement, introduction, continued cultivation, or commercialization, while the petition is evaluated. Section 735 was slipped into the bill by Senator Roy Blunt of Missouri who has been given lots of money by Monsanto and other agribusiness giants. Exxon-Mobil Pipeline Spill in Mayflower Arkansas A pipeline capable of carrying 90,000 barrels of tar-sands oil per day burst near Mayflower, Arkansas, forcing the evacuation of 22 homes. FYI: The proposed Keystone XL pipeline would carry 800,000 barrels of tar-sands oil from Canada to the Texas coast. Trailblazer vs. ThinThread Read this article by Tom Sherrock of The Nation... or listen to the podcast :) Video of former AT&T engineer turned whistleblower Mark Klein on Countdown with Keith Olbermann Video of former Deputy Attorney General James Comey testifying to the Senate in 2007 regarding the Bush Administration's attempt reauthorize their illegal spying program.

今回のテーマは「夢」、それも人が寝ている時に見る夢です。 リスナーの皆さんは、寝ている時に夢をよくご覧になりますか？人の見る夢は時に楽しかったり、恐ろしかったり、恥ずかしかったり、現実離れしていたりするものです。人間の歴史の中で、夢は想像力と科学的探究心をかき立て、その不思議を解明すべく、芸術、宗教、科学などあらゆる分野で探求がなされてきました。 さてこの夢の内容を、自分でコントロールできるとしたらどうでしょうか。自分が夢を見ていることを自覚しながら、夢を思い通りに変えることができる、そんな場合もあるそうです。今回の会話では、少し不思議な、しかし人間の脳内で起こる科学的現象としての「明晰夢」（lucid dreaming）の世界を覗いてみましょう。 今回お借りした素材 写真（ドイツの画家Michael Willmann (1630-1706)作"Landscape with the Dream of Jacob"）：Wikipedia Download MP3 （17:00　9.9MB　初級～中級）Lucid Dreaming *** It's a Good Expression *** （今回の重要表現） lucid = clear (e.g. a lucid idea) Like what? = 例えばどんな？ to be stuck = 行き詰まる a plot = あらすじ to work out = （問題など）を解決する ongoing = 現在進行中の（continuing） to be stumped (with〜) = （〜に）行き詰まる（to be stuck with〜） to have irrational fears = 不合理な恐怖を抱く to overcome = （恐怖・問題）を克服する It takes practice (to do 〜). = （〜するには）練習が必要です。 to dabble in〜 = 〜に手を出す Right.（アクセント注意） = 本当かなあ。　※相手への疑念を表す。 *** Script *** (Slow speed) 03:05-05:35 (Natural speed) 12:15-14:10 Lucid Dreaming M: Hey Carol, do you know what lucid dreaming is? W: Um, is that where you see dreams really clearly? M: Ha ha. No, it's where you have the ability to control your dreams. W: You can control your dreams? Like what? M: For example, if you're an author who can do lucid dreaming, and you're stuck while writing a book, you would think about the plot before you go to sleep. And then your brain can work out the storyline in your dreams! W: Hmm… Is that really possible? M: Yeah, there are lots of ongoing studies about it at the sleep research center downtown. There are other examples, too: such as doctors who are stumped by a medical problem, and they are suddenly able to solve it when they do lucid dreaming! And children with irrational fears--like being afraid of monsters--are able to overcome them by lucid dreaming. W: Hey, that's so cool! Can you lucid dream? M: I was able to do it once, but it took some practice. I wrote a dream journal for one month to help me remember dreams better. That way you develop better mind control skills to use while you dream. W: Mind control, huh? You know, Craig, I've dabbled a bit in mind control before… M: Yeah, right, that kind of mind control doesn't really exist, though. Lucid dreaming is a REAL kind of mind control. It actually exists. W: Other kinds of mind control DO exist, Craig. I can prove it. OK, now what I want you to do is close your eyes and breathe deeply. You need to be relaxed for this to work. M: (breathes deeply a few times) W: Very good. Now I want you to think about sitting on the beach. Feel the warm sun on your face, and the sea breeze through your hair. Hear the waves crashing on the sand? Are you thinking about it? M: Yes… W: Then I'm controlling your mind!! (Written by Hannah Klein)

今回のテーマは「夢」、それも人が寝ている時に見る夢です。 リスナーの皆さんは、寝ている時に夢をよくご覧になりますか？人の見る夢は時に楽しかったり、恐ろしかったり、恥ずかしかったり、現実離れしていたりするものです。人間の歴史の中で、夢は想像力と科学的探究心をかき立て、その不思議を解明すべく、芸術、宗教、科学などあらゆる分野で探求がなされてきました。 さてこの夢の内容を、自分でコントロールできるとしたらどうでしょうか。自分が夢を見ていることを自覚しながら、夢を思い通りに変えることができる、そんな場合もあるそうです。今回の会話では、少し不思議な、しかし人間の脳内で起こる科学的現象としての「明晰夢」（lucid dreaming）の世界を覗いてみましょう。 今回お借りした素材 写真（ドイツの画家Michael Willmann (1630-1706)作"Landscape with the Dream of Jacob"）：Wikipedia Download MP3 （17:00　9.9MB　初級～中級）Lucid Dreaming *** It's a Good Expression *** （今回の重要表現） lucid = clear (e.g. a lucid idea) Like what? = 例えばどんな？ to be stuck = 行き詰まる a plot = あらすじ to work out = （問題など）を解決する ongoing = 現在進行中の（continuing） to be stumped (with〜) = （〜に）行き詰まる（to be stuck with〜） to have irrational fears = 不合理な恐怖を抱く to overcome = （恐怖・問題）を克服する It takes practice (to do 〜). = （〜するには）練習が必要です。 to dabble in〜 = 〜に手を出す Right.（アクセント注意） = 本当かなあ。　※相手への疑念を表す。 *** Script *** (Slow speed) 03:05-05:35 (Natural speed) 12:15-14:10 Lucid Dreaming M: Hey Carol, do you know what lucid dreaming is? W: Um, is that where you see dreams really clearly? M: Ha ha. No, it's where you have the ability to control your dreams. W: You can control your dreams? Like what? M: For example, if you're an author who can do lucid dreaming, and you're stuck while writing a book, you would think about the plot before you go to sleep. And then your brain can work out the storyline in your dreams! W: Hmm… Is that really possible? M: Yeah, there are lots of ongoing studies about it at the sleep research center downtown. There are other examples, too: such as doctors who are stumped by a medical problem, and they are suddenly able to solve it when they do lucid dreaming! And children with irrational fears--like being afraid of monsters--are able to overcome them by lucid dreaming. W: Hey, that's so cool! Can you lucid dream? M: I was able to do it once, but it took some practice. I wrote a dream journal for one month to help me remember dreams better. That way you develop better mind control skills to use while you dream. W: Mind control, huh? You know, Craig, I've dabbled a bit in mind control before… M: Yeah, right, that kind of mind control doesn't really exist, though. Lucid dreaming is a REAL kind of mind control. It actually exists. W: Other kinds of mind control DO exist, Craig. I can prove it. OK, now what I want you to do is close your eyes and breathe deeply. You need to be relaxed for this to work. M: (breathes deeply a few times) W: Very good. Now I want you to think about sitting on the beach. Feel the warm sun on your face, and the sea breeze through your hair. Hear the waves crashing on the sand? Are you thinking about it? M: Yes… W: Then I'm controlling your mind!! (Written by Hannah Klein)

英語で憂鬱な気分を表すのに使われる色はブルー。では喜びや、信頼や、嫉妬を表す色はそれぞれ何でしょうか。今回の会話は、そんな「色」にまつわる表現をたくさんお届けします。 会話では女性が企業の面接を受けています。大学で女性は色彩について学んだようです。そこで会話の中で色を使った表現がユーモラスに使われています。色を使った英語表現、皆さんはどれだけおわかりになりましたか・・・？ 今回お借りした素材 画像：Wikipedia Download MP3 （19:58　11.6MB　初級～中級） The Power of Colors *** It's a Good Expression *** （今回の重要表現） architecture = 建築学 during college = 学生時代 ※during my college daysよりもこなれた表現 to be in a club = サークル活動をする ※a circleはあまり用いられない the publishing business = 出版業 to make someone green with envy = やきもちを焼かせる charming = 魅力的な (attractive) psychological effects = 心理的な影響 to be undervalued = 過小評価されている tones of color variations = 彩り red tapes = 障害；非効率な事務的手続き boy = (間投詞) wow ambition = 野心 to feel a bit blue = 憂鬱な to get the green light to do = 〜するためのゴーサイン（青信号）を出す ※青信号は英語で"the green light" to roll out the red carpet = 丁重に扱う to come out of the blue = 突然現れる once in a blue moon = めったにない to be tickled pink = 大喜びする to be as good as gold = 非常に信頼できる *** Script *** (Slow speed) 02:55-05:55 (Natural speed) 15:30-17:50 Situation: An interview. M: Hi Ms. Yamada. Please sit down. So, could you tell me a bit about yourself? W: Sure, nice to meet you, Mr. Reynolds. I'm Yamada, Noriko Yamada. This March I'll graduate from Rainbow University. I major in architecture. Especially, I've studied a lot about color designs. During college, in my club, we've done a lot of volunteer and charity work. For example, we advise government offices and companies about the colors of study rooms, city stations, and libraries. I'm sure that my experience and knowledge about colors will help XY Publishing. M: OK. Why would you like to work here? W: Well, I'd like to work at XY Publishing because I think I can make the most of my abilities here. Since you're in the magazine publishing business, I'll try to use my knowledge of colors to excite the readers. To be honest, your magazines made me green with envy when I first saw them. They are so colorful and charming. But I think I could make them even better! M: For example, what could you do to improve the magazines? W: I'd like to change the world of magazines! The psychological effects of colors have been undervalued. I believe that understanding the science of colors is the key to exciting readers. So, I'll make the magazines more artistic by using tones of color variations. I know it'll be hard, and I'll have to get past some red tape and other obstacles, but nothing's going to stop me! M: Boy, you have ambition, Ms. Yamada. How are you feeling now? W: I felt a bit blue before having this interview, but I feel better now because I'm trying as hard as I can. I hope to get the green light to work at XY Publishing! M: OK. We'll roll out the red carpet to welcome you, Ms. Yamada! Our company's been seeking somebody who has an expertise in colors. We'd be happy to have you! W: Oh, thank you, sir! Your offer just came out of blue! M: Well, we find a person like you once in a blue moon, you know. I really think you can help the layout designs of the magazines. W: Oh, I'm tickled pink with your offer! Excuse me, my language, but from now on I have to be as good as gold, because I'm now an employee of XY Publishing! I'm so happy, sir! 　　 (Written by Inori Okawa)

英語で憂鬱な気分を表すのに使われる色はブルー。では喜びや、信頼や、嫉妬を表す色はそれぞれ何でしょうか。今回の会話は、そんな「色」にまつわる表現をたくさんお届けします。 会話では女性が企業の面接を受けています。大学で女性は色彩について学んだようです。そこで会話の中で色を使った表現がユーモラスに使われています。色を使った英語表現、皆さんはどれだけおわかりになりましたか・・・？ 今回お借りした素材 画像：Wikipedia Download MP3 （19:58　11.6MB　初級～中級） The Power of Colors *** It's a Good Expression *** （今回の重要表現） architecture = 建築学 during college = 学生時代 ※during my college daysよりもこなれた表現 to be in a club = サークル活動をする ※a circleはあまり用いられない the publishing business = 出版業 to make someone green with envy = やきもちを焼かせる charming = 魅力的な (attractive) psychological effects = 心理的な影響 to be undervalued = 過小評価されている tones of color variations = 彩り red tapes = 障害；非効率な事務的手続き boy = (間投詞) wow ambition = 野心 to feel a bit blue = 憂鬱な to get the green light to do = 〜するためのゴーサイン（青信号）を出す ※青信号は英語で"the green light" to roll out the red carpet = 丁重に扱う to come out of the blue = 突然現れる once in a blue moon = めったにない to be tickled pink = 大喜びする to be as good as gold = 非常に信頼できる *** Script *** (Slow speed) 02:55-05:55 (Natural speed) 15:30-17:50 Situation: An interview. M: Hi Ms. Yamada. Please sit down. So, could you tell me a bit about yourself? W: Sure, nice to meet you, Mr. Reynolds. I'm Yamada, Noriko Yamada. This March I'll graduate from Rainbow University. I major in architecture. Especially, I've studied a lot about color designs. During college, in my club, we've done a lot of volunteer and charity work. For example, we advise government offices and companies about the colors of study rooms, city stations, and libraries. I'm sure that my experience and knowledge about colors will help XY Publishing. M: OK. Why would you like to work here? W: Well, I'd like to work at XY Publishing because I think I can make the most of my abilities here. Since you're in the magazine publishing business, I'll try to use my knowledge of colors to excite the readers. To be honest, your magazines made me green with envy when I first saw them. They are so colorful and charming. But I think I could make them even better! M: For example, what could you do to improve the magazines? W: I'd like to change the world of magazines! The psychological effects of colors have been undervalued. I believe that understanding the science of colors is the key to exciting readers. So, I'll make the magazines more artistic by using tones of color variations. I know it'll be hard, and I'll have to get past some red tape and other obstacles, but nothing's going to stop me! M: Boy, you have ambition, Ms. Yamada. How are you feeling now? W: I felt a bit blue before having this interview, but I feel better now because I'm trying as hard as I can. I hope to get the green light to work at XY Publishing! M: OK. We'll roll out the red carpet to welcome you, Ms. Yamada! Our company's been seeking somebody who has an expertise in colors. We'd be happy to have you! W: Oh, thank you, sir! Your offer just came out of blue! M: Well, we find a person like you once in a blue moon, you know. I really think you can help the layout designs of the magazines. W: Oh, I'm tickled pink with your offer! Excuse me, my language, but from now on I have to be as good as gold, because I'm now an employee of XY Publishing! I'm so happy, sir! 　　 (Written by Inori Okawa)

本日は"proverbs"のお話。"Proverbs"は「ことわざ」や「金言」を指しますが、今回の会話ではことわざだけでなく、英語でよく使われる慣用表現、特に人物名の入った一風変わった慣用表現も登場します。 上の画像をご覧ください。この画像に登場する名前を含むことわざや慣用表現が今回の会話に登場します。会話をお聞きになる前に、この中の名前を用いていくつのことわざや表現が作れるか、ぜひお試しください。 今回お借りした素材 画像：Wordle BGM：パブリックドメイン・クラシック Download MP3 （15:10　8.8MB　初級～中級） Proverbs Can Be Fun *** It's a Good Expression *** （今回の重要表現） rich(er) = （表現が）豊かな ex. rich vocabulary Even Homer sometimes nods. = （大詩人）ホメロスでさえ居眠りをする =「弘法も筆の誤り」「猿も木から落ちる」 All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. = よく学び、よく遊べ (to be) the real McCoy = 正真正銘の本物（である） before you can say Jack Robinson = あっという間に、すごい速さで not just any old Tom, Dick or Harry = そこいらの普通の人とは違う ※Tom, Dick or Harry = 平凡な人 to keep up with the Joneses = ジョーンズ家に遅れないようにする （隣人と張り合う、世間に遅れをとらないよう見栄を張る） ※the + [名字の複数形]で「〜家」の意味 *** Script *** (Slow speed) 02:30-04:45 (Natural speed) 10:55-12:55 W: Names of foreigners are kind of hard to remember, don't you think? M: Yeah, I know what you mean. But once you remember the names, the relationships with those people can be so much better. And, you can have more fun! W: What do you mean? I can have more fun? M: Yes. Since there are some proverbs and idioms which include people's names, your expressions will be richer! W: For example? M: For instance, one is "Even Homer sometimes nods." It means everybody makes mistakes, right? Homer was a great poet but even he needed to sleep, and rest, and NOT do great things. F: Ha ha, that's kind of funny. M: Another one is "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." We have to play as much as we study! W: Hey, you are good! I'm proud of having such a smart person near me. You're my friend, "the real McCoy!" M: Ha ha, thank you. But I'm not that great. Anyway, to show my gratitude, let me make you a cup of tea, "before you can say Jack Robinson!" Ha ha. (Sound of making a cup of tea) M: Here you are, my friend. W: Thank you. M: You are not only smart but also kind. You are "not just any old Tom, Dick or Harry!" W: Ha ha. That's funny. We made a conversation with people's names! M: Ah, I told you: it's fun. W: Yes, I'm going to study English harder. I'll try to use some of these expressions. Thank you so much. I feel that remembering people's names is fun now…Hey, by the way, what are you reading there? M: Oh, it's a book about idioms. W: Where did you buy it? M: At Fukuya Department Store. It cost a lot but it was worth it! (Footsteps) M: Hey!! Where are you going? W: I'm going to the bookstore. I'll get one too. M: So, I see you're trying "to keep up with the Joneses?" Both: Ha ha. (Written by Inori Okawa)

本日は"proverbs"のお話。"Proverbs"は「ことわざ」や「金言」を指しますが、今回の会話ではことわざだけでなく、英語でよく使われる慣用表現、特に人物名の入った一風変わった慣用表現も登場します。 上の画像をご覧ください。この画像に登場する名前を含むことわざや慣用表現が今回の会話に登場します。会話をお聞きになる前に、この中の名前を用いていくつのことわざや表現が作れるか、ぜひお試しください。 今回お借りした素材 画像：Wordle BGM：パブリックドメイン・クラシック Download MP3 （15:10　8.8MB　初級～中級） Proverbs Can Be Fun *** It's a Good Expression *** （今回の重要表現） rich(er) = （表現が）豊かな ex. rich vocabulary Even Homer sometimes nods. = （大詩人）ホメロスでさえ居眠りをする =「弘法も筆の誤り」「猿も木から落ちる」 All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy. = よく学び、よく遊べ (to be) the real McCoy = 正真正銘の本物（である） before you can say Jack Robinson = あっという間に、すごい速さで not just any old Tom, Dick or Harry = そこいらの普通の人とは違う ※Tom, Dick or Harry = 平凡な人 to keep up with the Joneses = ジョーンズ家に遅れないようにする （隣人と張り合う、世間に遅れをとらないよう見栄を張る） ※the + [名字の複数形]で「〜家」の意味 *** Script *** (Slow speed) 02:30-04:45 (Natural speed) 10:55-12:55 W: Names of foreigners are kind of hard to remember, don't you think? M: Yeah, I know what you mean. But once you remember the names, the relationships with those people can be so much better. And, you can have more fun! W: What do you mean? I can have more fun? M: Yes. Since there are some proverbs and idioms which include people's names, your expressions will be richer! W: For example? M: For instance, one is "Even Homer sometimes nods." It means everybody makes mistakes, right? Homer was a great poet but even he needed to sleep, and rest, and NOT do great things. F: Ha ha, that's kind of funny. M: Another one is "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy." We have to play as much as we study! W: Hey, you are good! I'm proud of having such a smart person near me. You're my friend, "the real McCoy!" M: Ha ha, thank you. But I'm not that great. Anyway, to show my gratitude, let me make you a cup of tea, "before you can say Jack Robinson!" Ha ha. (Sound of making a cup of tea) M: Here you are, my friend. W: Thank you. M: You are not only smart but also kind. You are "not just any old Tom, Dick or Harry!" W: Ha ha. That's funny. We made a conversation with people's names! M: Ah, I told you: it's fun. W: Yes, I'm going to study English harder. I'll try to use some of these expressions. Thank you so much. I feel that remembering people's names is fun now…Hey, by the way, what are you reading there? M: Oh, it's a book about idioms. W: Where did you buy it? M: At Fukuya Department Store. It cost a lot but it was worth it! (Footsteps) M: Hey!! Where are you going? W: I'm going to the bookstore. I'll get one too. M: So, I see you're trying "to keep up with the Joneses?" Both: Ha ha. (Written by Inori Okawa)

今回の話題は"political correctness"（日本語では「政治的な正しさ」）です。 ご存知のように、これまで広く使われてきた言葉遣いの中には、かつて社会の中心的な立場にいた人たちの主観によって生まれたものもあります。そうした表現の多くは、人種や性別やからだの特徴などによる差別や偏見を知らず知らずのうちに含んでいます。「政治的に正しい」表現とは、それらに代わるより中立な表現として誕生したものです。例えば日本語でもかつての「看護婦」が「看護師」に、「肌色」が「薄橙」に言い換えられるようになっています。 会話の中では、特に性別（gender）に関する中立な表現が数多く紹介されています。これらの"politically correct"な表現、皆さんはどのくらいご存知でしょうか。 今回お借りした素材 画像：Open ClipArt Library Download MP3 （15:27　9.0MB　初級～中級）** Script *** (Slow speed) 03:05-05:20 (Natural speed) 10:15-12:05 Political Correctness: Gender M: Hey, Yuki, I heard some cool things about political correctness, especially gender. W: Hmm... Political correctness. Um... that's when we try NOT to hurt people when talking? M: That's right. There're lots of expressions which we should avoid using. Instead of them, we can use softer expressions. W: For example? M: For instance, the word "businessman." Instead of saying "businessman," we can say "executive", "entrepreneur" or "business leader". W: I see. Those other expressions don't have the word "man" in them. M: Right. Another example is "housewife." Instead of saying that, we can say "housemakers." These days men have gotta take care of things at home, you know. W: Hey, I know a politically correct expression: "parental-child care leave" instead of "maternity leave". Not only women but also men should leave the workplace to take care of their children. M: Yeah. These words without gender role help us avoid sex discrimination. W: Some say that we are too sensitive. But, as you said, it's important to know how we can change expressions to prevent hurting others. M: Yeah. Oh, and we can change the expression "a yes-man," too. You know, someone who always agrees with everything? For example, we can say "a yes-person" instead. W: Yeah, I guess there are a lot of expressions like that. M: Yeah. W: But of course, it all starts from the heart. What's really important is that we have to think about the person we are talking to, and feel for them. A person's consideration for others is more important than expressions, I think. M: Good point! (Written by Inori Okawa)

今回の話題は"political correctness"（日本語では「政治的な正しさ」）です。 ご存知のように、これまで広く使われてきた言葉遣いの中には、かつて社会の中心的な立場にいた人たちの主観によって生まれたものもあります。そうした表現の多くは、人種や性別やからだの特徴などによる差別や偏見を知らず知らずのうちに含んでいます。「政治的に正しい」表現とは、それらに代わるより中立な表現として誕生したものです。例えば日本語でもかつての「看護婦」が「看護師」に、「肌色」が「薄橙」に言い換えられるようになっています。 会話の中では、特に性別（gender）に関する中立な表現が数多く紹介されています。これらの"politically correct"な表現、皆さんはどのくらいご存知でしょうか。 今回お借りした素材 画像：Open ClipArt Library Download MP3 （15:27　9.0MB　初級～中級）** Script *** (Slow speed) 03:05-05:20 (Natural speed) 10:15-12:05 Political Correctness: Gender M: Hey, Yuki, I heard some cool things about political correctness, especially gender. W: Hmm... Political correctness. Um... that's when we try NOT to hurt people when talking? M: That's right. There're lots of expressions which we should avoid using. Instead of them, we can use softer expressions. W: For example? M: For instance, the word "businessman." Instead of saying "businessman," we can say "executive", "entrepreneur" or "business leader". W: I see. Those other expressions don't have the word "man" in them. M: Right. Another example is "housewife." Instead of saying that, we can say "housemakers." These days men have gotta take care of things at home, you know. W: Hey, I know a politically correct expression: "parental-child care leave" instead of "maternity leave". Not only women but also men should leave the workplace to take care of their children. M: Yeah. These words without gender role help us avoid sex discrimination. W: Some say that we are too sensitive. But, as you said, it's important to know how we can change expressions to prevent hurting others. M: Yeah. Oh, and we can change the expression "a yes-man," too. You know, someone who always agrees with everything? For example, we can say "a yes-person" instead. W: Yeah, I guess there are a lot of expressions like that. M: Yeah. W: But of course, it all starts from the heart. What's really important is that we have to think about the person we are talking to, and feel for them. A person's consideration for others is more important than expressions, I think. M: Good point! (Written by Inori Okawa)

先週まではイギリスに関する話題が続きましたが、今回の会話は南半球の"Down Under"、すなわちオーストラリア・シドニーが舞台です。 シドニーと聞いて皆さんが真っ先に思い浮かべるのが、今回の話題に登場するオペラハウスではないでしょうか。会話の親子はオペラハウスの観光に向かっています。ハーバーブリッジを車で渡りながら、娘がぬいぐるみのコアラに話しかけています。このコアラをめぐってひと騒動が起こることに・・・。 今回お借りした素材 写真（ハーバーブリッジとオペラハウス）：Wikipedia Download MP3 （13:17　7.7MB　初級～中級）** Script *** (Slow speed) 02:20-04:30 (Natural speed) 08:40-10:25 At Opera House (A father an 5-year-old daughter are in a car in Sydney.) W: Hey Dad, I can see a big bridge in front of us! Are we going over it? M: Yeah. We're going to the Opera House! You can see it over there. W: Yeah, I can see it! (to the stuffed koala in her hands) Can you see it, Koala? We're going there. And we're going over the bridge now! M: This bridge is called Harbour Bridge. Look at all the ships in the harbour!. W: Dad, what's Opera House? M: It's a theater and a concert hall. There are concerts and plays there. And it's famous for the building itself. It's different, isn't it? W: Yeah. It's like big waves. M: Here we are. Let's get out and walk around. Don't forget your cap. It's hot outside. (A minute later) W: (Yawn) It's boring. M: What? Opera House is the symbol of Sydney, and even of Australia! See it's huge. It's one of the World Heritage sites too. W: I guess it looks kind of cool, with the bridge too. M: For sure. Hey, shall we take a photo in front of it? W: OK…Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!! Dad!! Look at my koala!! Its nose is gone!! M: What!? Oh…it's missing its nose? It must have fallen off. W: I need to find it M: Maria, that's impossible. Look how far we walked around! And look at the ground. The pebbles look like his nose! Just about the same size! And the color too! W: But…he's lost his nose! I have to find it for him. M: Maria, forget about it. It's getting dark. We need to go back to the hotel. We booked a restaurant for dinner. W: NO!!! I'll find it! M: (Sigh) OK. (To self) I never thought I'd be searching for a koala nose in front of the Opera House! (Written by Ayumi Furutani)

先週まではイギリスに関する話題が続きましたが、今回の会話は南半球の"Down Under"、すなわちオーストラリア・シドニーが舞台です。 シドニーと聞いて皆さんが真っ先に思い浮かべるのが、今回の話題に登場するオペラハウスではないでしょうか。会話の親子はオペラハウスの観光に向かっています。ハーバーブリッジを車で渡りながら、娘がぬいぐるみのコアラに話しかけています。このコアラをめぐってひと騒動が起こることに・・・。 今回お借りした素材 写真（ハーバーブリッジとオペラハウス）：Wikipedia Download MP3 （13:17　7.7MB　初級～中級）** Script *** (Slow speed) 02:20-04:30 (Natural speed) 08:40-10:25 At Opera House (A father an 5-year-old daughter are in a car in Sydney.) W: Hey Dad, I can see a big bridge in front of us! Are we going over it? M: Yeah. We're going to the Opera House! You can see it over there. W: Yeah, I can see it! (to the stuffed koala in her hands) Can you see it, Koala? We're going there. And we're going over the bridge now! M: This bridge is called Harbour Bridge. Look at all the ships in the harbour!. W: Dad, what's Opera House? M: It's a theater and a concert hall. There are concerts and plays there. And it's famous for the building itself. It's different, isn't it? W: Yeah. It's like big waves. M: Here we are. Let's get out and walk around. Don't forget your cap. It's hot outside. (A minute later) W: (Yawn) It's boring. M: What? Opera House is the symbol of Sydney, and even of Australia! See it's huge. It's one of the World Heritage sites too. W: I guess it looks kind of cool, with the bridge too. M: For sure. Hey, shall we take a photo in front of it? W: OK…Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!! Dad!! Look at my koala!! Its nose is gone!! M: What!? Oh…it's missing its nose? It must have fallen off. W: I need to find it M: Maria, that's impossible. Look how far we walked around! And look at the ground. The pebbles look like his nose! Just about the same size! And the color too! W: But…he's lost his nose! I have to find it for him. M: Maria, forget about it. It's getting dark. We need to go back to the hotel. We booked a restaurant for dinner. W: NO!!! I'll find it! M: (Sigh) OK. (To self) I never thought I'd be searching for a koala nose in front of the Opera House! (Written by Ayumi Furutani)

前回に引き続き、ハワイについての会話です。 前回の会話でハワイの人々の暮らしについて尋ねられた男性は、少しふざけた返事をしましたが、今回はどうやらまともに答えている様子です。彼はどんな暮らしをしているのでしょうか。また、ハワイ旅行でのおすすめを聞かれて、男性はどう答えていますか。最後に、女性が"Were you just pulling my leg again?"と言っていますが、この"to pull one's leg"という表現はどういう意味でしょうか（ちなみに日本語の「誰かの足を引っ張る」の意味はありませんのでご注意を）。 今回お借りした素材 写真（ハナウマ湾のビーチ）：Wikipedia Download MP3 （14:54　8.6MB　初級～中級）** Script *** (Slow speed) 02:50-04:25 (Natural speed) 11:25-12:50 Hawaii (2) W: So, Andrew, what do people really do in their daily lives? You definitely don't look strong enough to climb trees or kill pigs! M: Very funny. W: Sorry. M: I can't believe so many people think that we live like that. W: See, I wasn't the only one. M: Yeah, that's true. So, what do I do? Well, I mostly like playing basketball… I also like playing video games at my friend's house… W: I see. Well, what do you think I would like doing if I went there. M: For you, I would say shopping in Waikiki, checking out the hot guys in Waikiki, relaxing on the beach, checking out the hot guys at the beach, and maybe checking out more hot guys at a different beach! W: Ha ha! Wow, way to categorize me as some girl who only cares about hot guys! M: Sorry. I didn't mean to. I just thought that those are the types of things that you'd like. W: It's OK. (Pause, thinking) Hey, wait! Were you just pulling my leg again? M: What? Kidding about what? W: About the warm beach, the hot guys, and shopping? M: No. I bet there are tons of hot guys. And the shopping at Waikiki is amazing! Why? W: OK, next summer, I am definitely going to Hawaii! M: So predictable! I could have guessed that. (Written by Kyle Kumashiro)

前回に引き続き、ハワイについての会話です。 前回の会話でハワイの人々の暮らしについて尋ねられた男性は、少しふざけた返事をしましたが、今回はどうやらまともに答えている様子です。彼はどんな暮らしをしているのでしょうか。また、ハワイ旅行でのおすすめを聞かれて、男性はどう答えていますか。最後に、女性が"Were you just pulling my leg again?"と言っていますが、この"to pull one's leg"という表現はどういう意味でしょうか（ちなみに日本語の「誰かの足を引っ張る」の意味はありませんのでご注意を）。 今回お借りした素材 写真（ハナウマ湾のビーチ）：Wikipedia Download MP3 （14:54　8.6MB　初級～中級）** Script *** (Slow speed) 02:50-04:25 (Natural speed) 11:25-12:50 Hawaii (2) W: So, Andrew, what do people really do in their daily lives? You definitely don't look strong enough to climb trees or kill pigs! M: Very funny. W: Sorry. M: I can't believe so many people think that we live like that. W: See, I wasn't the only one. M: Yeah, that's true. So, what do I do? Well, I mostly like playing basketball… I also like playing video games at my friend's house… W: I see. Well, what do you think I would like doing if I went there. M: For you, I would say shopping in Waikiki, checking out the hot guys in Waikiki, relaxing on the beach, checking out the hot guys at the beach, and maybe checking out more hot guys at a different beach! W: Ha ha! Wow, way to categorize me as some girl who only cares about hot guys! M: Sorry. I didn't mean to. I just thought that those are the types of things that you'd like. W: It's OK. (Pause, thinking) Hey, wait! Were you just pulling my leg again? M: What? Kidding about what? W: About the warm beach, the hot guys, and shopping? M: No. I bet there are tons of hot guys. And the shopping at Waikiki is amazing! Why? W: OK, next summer, I am definitely going to Hawaii! M: So predictable! I could have guessed that. (Written by Kyle Kumashiro)