Podcasts about metro state university

Had someone told a young Tyrone Braxton that one day he would be a two-time Super Bowl Champion and earn a PhD in his late 50's, he would never have believed them. Had someone told him he'd get involved in alcohol, drugs, be arrested and almost lose his family… well, he may have believed that because that's what happened to everyone he grew up with in Madison, Wisconsin. The fact that ALL of that happened to Tyrone and he's now working to help young people avoid his pitfalls makes for an incredible story.   When Tyrone graduated from high school, two of his brothers were in jail and he was off to North Dakota State to play football. He helped the Bison win three National Championships during his four years and while he never thought he'd make it to the NFL, the Broncos took him with the 2nd to last pick in the 1987 NFL Draft.   During his two stints with the Broncos, Tyrone was part of two losing Super Bowls (XXII and XXIV) and two winning Super Bowls (XXXII and XXXIII). Both stints were like different eras between coaches (Dan Reeves vs Mike Shanahan) and position (Cornerback vs Safety).   When he retired, Tyrone was lost. He went to some bad places and in 2006 after he was arrested, he stood in front of the media and admitted he had a drug problem and needed to straighten up. It was his wake-up call and did he wake up. He finished his degree at North Dakota State, got his master's in social work at Metro State University and just finished his PhD at CU Denver. Now Dr. Braxton works with kids throughout Denver with everything from addiction, behavior, substance abuse, and every other pitfall today's youth can find. He's been there and understands.   Listen to Tyrone's story and conversation with Susie Wargin on the Cut Traded Fired Retired Podcast. 

PAIRING YOUNG AND OLD TO SOLVE HOUSING PROBLEMS Is exactly what Metro State University is doing in downtown Denver. I saw this article about the program that asks people over 55 who want to rent a room in their homes to take in college students who need affordable housing. I think this is a FANTASTIC idea and I've got Abbie Kell, MSU Denver associate director of Basic Needs and Housing Support on today to talk about this program at 12:30 pm. Read more about it here and here. If you're interested in renting to a student click here for more!

President Donald Trump's administration said it will soon resume collections on defaulted student loans for the first time in five years. The office of Federal Student Aid may start taking funds out of borrowers' tax refunds, Social Security benefits and — eventually — paychecks.The Department of Education says borrowers in default should start making monthly payments or enroll in an income-driven repayment plan.MPR News host Angela Davis and her guests talk about how the change could affect millions of borrowers.Guests: Chris Farrell is a senior economics contributor for MPR News and Marketplace. Brittany Tweed is the director of financial aid for Metro State University. Resources shared during the show:Student Loan Advocate at the Minnesota Department of CommerceFederal Student Aid

A new partnership is helping Minnesotans get their college degrees, if for some reason they couldn't finish. Minneapolis College, St. Paul College and Metro State University are working with a ReUp Education, a national organization that helps reenroll people in college.  According to data from the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, the state of Minnesota has more than 600,000 residents who have some college but no credential.Greg Mellas, dean of Liberal and Fine Arts at St. Paul College, and Katy VanVliet, ReUp Education's senior vice president of Learner Services, joined Minnesota Now to share more about the program.

A new episode of This Queer Book Saved My Life drops next week on March 5! In our off weeks, we air a recent episode of The Gaily Show which J.P. hosts for AM950 Radio. The Gaily Show is one of the only daily LGBTQ news and talk shows in the country.In this episode, author and teacher Belo Miguel Cipriani brings students from his writing courses at Metro State University in St. Paul, MN to read their work and talk about that queer writing life. Watch on YouTubeWe're in video too! You can watch this episode at youtube.com/@thegailyshowCreditsHost/Founder: J.P. Der BoghossianExecutive Producer: Jim PoundsProduction and Distribution Support: Brett Johnson, AM950Marketing/Advertising Support: Chad Larson, Laura Hedlund, Jennifer Ogren, AM950Accounting and Creative Support: Gordy EricksonHey, so I'm going through a name change. If you've wondered what the JP in J.P. Der Boghossian stands for, well it's John Parker. And that is the name I'll be moving to over the next few weeks. Read more about it here: thisqueerbook.com/name-change.Save the date! We'll be hosting a live version of the podcast at Brooklyn Public Library - DeKalb branch on April 10 at 7pm with Mia Arias Tsang and Chloe Caldwell! Support the show

Josh Bruyning is the Executive Producer and Co-Founder at Bruyning Media, where creative storytelling transforms technical jargon into engaging podcasts that resonate with audiences. His educational foundation in English and Information Security Systems from the University of Minnesota and Metro State University, respectively, underpins my approach to content that secures client messages in the marketplace. He is also the host of the Cybernomics! podcast, (https://open.spotify.com/show/5fk6LxczA7RZXE5eKBhsH6) where he talks to today's most inspiring founders and entrepreneurs about today's business problems and tech. If you're in infosec or any aspect of technology and are thinking of creating a podcast or are just curious about some of what goes in to producing a successful podcast, this episode will not disappoint!

From MPR News, Art Hounds are members of the Minnesota arts community who look beyond their own work to highlight what's exciting in local art. Their recommendations are lightly edited from the audio heard in the player above. Want to be an Art Hound? Submit here.Portraits of immigrationRachel Coyne, a writer and painter in Lindstrom, loves outdoor arts events. She's looking forward to seeing Cadex Herrera's outdoor exhibition on the campus of the White Bear Center for the Arts in the north metro. “First Person Plural” features 10 larger-than-life black-and-white murals, each featuring the faces of immigrants living in White Bear Lake, where Herrera also used to live. The installation is intended to honor the diversity of immigrants in the area and their contributions. Herrera also directed a documentary about the project, which will be on view. The exhibit opens to the public Thursday with an artist event and celebration from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.  Rachel says: I just like the idea that, you know, this could be somebody you're passing on the street. But also they're a work of art. — Rachel CoyneWorthington marks Dia de los Muertos Eric Parrish is the instructor of music and theater at Minnesota West Community and Technical College and the conductor of the Worthington Chamber Singers. He's looking forward to a series of free events in Worthington to mark Día de Muertos, or Day of the Dead. Events start this weekend and run through next week, culminating in a performance by 512: The Selena Experience, a Selena cover band, on Nov. 1 at 7 p.m. Most events are held at the Memorial Auditorium in town. Among Saturday's events: Puppeteer Gustavo Boada will unveil two commissioned 8-foot Catrina sculptures at noon. His performance group Little Coyote Puppet Theatre will perform “Skeletons in the Closet: A Day of the Dead Story” at 1 p.m., followed at 2:30 by a puppet-making workshop. The event coincides with the annual meeting of the Southwest Minnesota Arts Council, which comprises 18 counties and two sovereign nations. Art studios and public art will be open for self-guided tours.  About 512: the Selena Experience, Eric says: This is the premier Salena cover band in the country. So it's a really big swing for our small community. People don't know Worthington is one of the most diverse communities outside of the Twin Cities in the state of Minnesota. And it's very exciting for us as a community to embrace this holiday and in this way with all the artists and activities. — Eric ParrishReflecting on water as a relative Diane Wilson is a Dakota author living in Schaefer, and she got a sneak peek at the art exhibit Mní Futurism at Metro State University's Gordon Parks Gallery in St. Paul. Mní is the Dakota word for water. In this exhibit, two Minnesota-based Native American artists reflect on our relationship with and use of water.  The exhibit is a joint show of photographer Jaida Grey Eagle, who is Ogalala Lakota, and multimedia artist Abby Sunde, of the Fond du Lac Band of Lake Superior Ojibwe. The exhibit opens with an artist reception Thursday at 5 p.m. and runs through Dec. 5. Diane says: Their work is very thought-provoking. It's visually stimulating, and it ranges from impacts on water from pipelines, from pollution but also looking at the impacts on issues like food sovereignty and treaty rights and access to healthy water. Jaida Grey Eagle's photographs, for example, evoke the beauty of some of the traditional food practices. There are photographs of wild ricing. And there's one that is so poignant of a young boy in a canoe, and it just evokes that generational relationship to wild rice and how dependent that traditional food is on clean water. And then Abby Sunde looks at from a little more of a critical thinking lens. She looks at, for example, some of the impacts that pipelines have had on water in her community. So there is one series of drawings that are created from rust on glass, and it's called “Stolen Water.” It's about aquifer breaches that occur when a pipeline piling is driven too deep, and it breaches into the aquifer, and all this water is released that isn't supposed to be released. It's stolen water.  It's a small and intimate gallery on the first floor of the library. The work of these two women complements each other beautifully in terms of the way that they think about and portray water as a relative.— Diane Wilson

Find out how it has impacted students at Metro State University!

Find out how it has impacted students at Metro State University!

MSU prof Jeffrey Parker joins the pod, plus an interview with Deb Persoff and our weekly Top 10 Colorado Headliners In this episode of the OnStage Colorado Podcast, hosts Alex Miller and Toni Tresca are joined by special guest host Jeffrey Parker. A theatre professor at Metro State University and also a dialect coach, Parker is currently on stage in the Platte Valley Players production of Cabaret. He joins the podcast to talk about his own path as a theatre professional and also how he views the young adults he teaches at MSU. Also in this episode, we have an interview with Deb Persoff — a veteran performer who can be seen in two shows right now at Vintage Theatre in Aurora: Murder on the Orient Express and Eleanor. She speaks about her life as a performer and the challenge of doing two shows at once. We also go over our weekly Colorado Headliners — a Top 10 list of interesting shows coming up in the next week or so. This week's Headliners:   Victorian Horrors, Molly Brown House, Denver, Oct. 10-26 Denver Sketch Comedy Festival, RISE Comedy, Denver, Oct. 17-19 Devil's Crush, Wonderbound, Denver, Oct. 17-27 The Ballot of Paola Aguilar, Dairy Arts Center, Boulder, Oct. 17-Nov. 3 A Better Trip with Shane Mauss, The Perplexiplex, Meow Wolf Denver, Oct. 20 The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Littleton United Methodist Chur, Oct. 18-20 Talk About a Murder, Moon Theatre Company, Berthoud, through Oct. 19 Spirit Level, Evergreen Players, Oct. 18-Nov. 20 Blithe Spirit, Main Street Live, Trinidad, Oct. 18-27 Improv Thunderdome, Rattlebrain Productions, Parker, Oct. 19 Chapters: 00:00 Introduction and Guest Introduction 01:46 Theatrical Performance Insights 04:44 Theater Education and Young Audiences 08:45 Recent Shows and Performances 11:46 Dialect Coaching and Accent Challenges 17:37 The Role of Accents in Theater 21:47 Fantasy Accents and Cultural Perceptions 24:14 Exploring the Catamounts' Latest Production 28:39 A Review of 'Funny as a Crutch' 30:31 Diving into 'A Vase' and Cultural Narratives 31:47 The Feminist Twist in 'Dracula' 34:42 The Impact of Family Theater on the Community 38:41 The Importance of Theater Education 49:40 Student Perspectives on Theater and Industry 52:58 Building Teaching Skills in Performance 56:22 Talent vs. Technique in Acting 01:00:28 The Importance of Theater Education 01:01:04 Upcoming Shows and Events in Colorado 01:11:00 Interview with Deb Persoff

Summary:Becky Evan is an Associate Professor at Metro State University's College of Business and Management. Prior to her career in academia, she was a training and operations executive at Fortune 500 companies. She also a published researcher of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in organizations. In this episode, Becky talks about her research on white DEI professionals' perception of their contribution to advancing workplace DEI. Chapters:[0:00 - 6:46] IntroductionWelcome, Becky!Today's Topic: How White DEI Professionals Can Decenter Whiteness[6:47 - 14:53] What led to Becky's research on white DEI professionals? On the demographics of DEI leaders and teamsDefining, leveraging, and decentering whiteness[14:54 - 21:02] What is the value in researching whiteness?How to research an emotional topic, like whiteness, ethically and objectivelyHow workplace identities and external perceptions affect DEI[21:03 - 33:47] How can we measure DEI?Pulling qualitative information from quantitative dataHow Becky's research might help HR leaders[33:48 - 34:52] ClosingThanks for listening!Quotes:“I felt like there was a desire and a need to understand the role of dominant culture . . . within an organization”“Many times when we're looking at [HR] data, dominant culture becomes the comparison point.”Resources: Becky's Full Research PaperContact:Becky's LinkedInDavid's LinkedInDwight's LinkedInPodcast Manger: Karissa HarrisEmail us!

This week, Minnesota Lynx draft part Samoan, part Alaska Native Alissa Pili, the Red Lake Nation College opens its new urban site in Minneapolis; and a celebration of Donald Eubanks' life – an Indigenous-Black community member who, during his life, worked for the State, the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Indians Tribe, Metro State University, among others, and was a founding member of the Counter Stories program. 

Brittany Tweed, Director of Financial Aid, Metro State University, talked with Vineeta today on the WCCO Morning News about a FREE Webinar tomorrow!Details right here!!   https://www.metrostate.edu/NorthStar  

Brittany Tweed, Director of Financial Aid, Metro State University, talked with Vineeta today on the WCCO Morning News about a FREE Webinar tomorrow!Details right here!!   https://www.metrostate.edu/NorthStar  

New information is still surfacing surrounding Wednesday's armed standoff in Minnetonka that injured two Hennepin County Sheriff's deputies.Gun violence is an American epidemic, killing tens of thousands of people across the country each year in their homes, churches, schools and malls.There's a lot we don't know about what motivates a person to kill a stranger, or even someone they love. MPR News host Angela Davis talked to the researchers studying why gun violence happens, hoping to prevent it before it starts. They're based right here in Minnesota.Guests: James Densley, Ph.D., is a professor and department chair of criminal justice at Metro State University, and deputy director of the Violence Prevention Project Research Center at Hamline University.Jillian Peterson, Ph.D., is a professor of criminology and criminal justice at Hamline University, director of their forensic psychology program and executive director of the Violence Prevention Research Center at Hamline University.

https://www.metrostate.edu/NorthStar

Host Robert Pilot welcomes back Rachel Dionne Thunder, Co-Founder of Indigenous Protector Movement with an update on police brutality in Sioux Falls. Plus, Kristie GoForth, Executive Director of Bikes for Kids Wisconsin. Then, Metro State University’s Student Success Coordinator for American Indian students, Janice Denny!

Jazz88's Peter Solomon spoke with Victor Cole, Director of Recruitment, Retention and Induction in the School of Urban Education at Metro State University, about a Graduate Programs Preview Day coming up April 13th.

Jazz88's Peter Solomon spoke with Victor Cole, Director of Recruitment, Retention and Induction in the School of Urban Education at Metro State University, about a Graduate Programs Preview Day coming up April 13th.

Host Robert Pilot welcomes Brittany Tweed, Metro State University’s Director of Financial Aid and Strategic Enrollment Management. Plus, we hear Mary Kunesh’s speech from the 2024 MMIR march and a new sacred animals from Wendy Pilot!

Jazz88's Peter Solomon spoke with Brittany Tweed, Director of Financial Aid at Metro State University about what's happened recently with FAFSA, some opportunities for financial aid, and details on an open house event at Metro State Monday, February 26th. Metro State University is an underwriter of Jazz88.

Jazz88's Peter Solomon spoke with Brittany Tweed, Director of Financial Aid at Metro State University about what's happened recently with FAFSA, some opportunities for financial aid, and details on an open house event at Metro State Monday, February 26th. Metro State University is an underwriter of Jazz88.

Breaking Bad Marketing Habits Erik Wolf, estound – The Sharkpreneur podcast with Karl McKinnie Episode 1014 Erik Wolf Erik Wolf is a co-author (and a dedicated practitioner) of Unified Marketing System™: A Step-By-Step Guide for Planning Profitable Growth and the founder/CEO of the award-winning marketing agency estound. Along with his team, Erik helps business leaders plan and execute strategies to connect with their markets, grow revenue, and create lasting and predictable ROI. Erik is also proud to serve as a part-time Professor of Marketing at Metro State University in downtown Denver, Colorado. Listen to this informative Sharkpreneur episode with Erik Wolf about breaking bad marketing habits. Here are some of the beneficial topics covered on this week's show: - How business owners shouldn't jump to solutions without careful planning. - Why it's important to connect with customers and understand their wants and needs. - How long-term growth requires a clear vision, measurable goals, and connecting with the marketplace. - Why businesses need to calculate the cost of acquiring new customers to achieve revenue goals. - How AI will have significant impact on marketing practices and customer interactions. Connect with Erik: Guest Contact Info Links Mentioned: estound.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Today we are joined by Dr. Crystal Fashant. She is an associate professor in the Department of Public and Nonprofit Leadership at Metro State University and just a wealth of knowledge. She has nearly 20 years of experience in the nonprofit sector and draws upon that experience to investigate social justice and environmental sustainability issues as they relate to nonprofit work. In this conversation, we discuss why it's important for nonprofits to pay attention to environmental sustainability, how we can improve environmental performance. We get into what motivates volunteers, how stereotypes can impede mission advancement, and so much more.

In this episode of Student Affairs Voices From the Field, Dr. Jill Creighton, welcomes W. Houston Dougharty, a seasoned student affairs professional with a four-decade career in various leadership roles at multiple colleges and universities. They explore Dr. Dougharty's journey in the field, the changes he has witnessed over the years, and the lessons he has learned. W. Houston Dougharty discusses his early passion for college life and how he started his career in admissions. He reflects on the significant changes brought about by technology and the complexity of students' lives in the current era compared to the simpler college life of the past. The two also discuss the importance of adapting to these changes while maintaining the fundamental relationship-based nature of the student affairs profession. As W. Houston Dougharty transitioned from associate dean to senior student affairs officer to vice president, he shared how he continued to stay connected with students and emphasized the value of maintaining informal, friendly relationships with them. He also reflects on the challenges and support mechanisms as students navigate their growth and development. W. Houston Dougharty's publications on theory to practice, ethical decision-making, and executive transitions are discussed. He explains how these opportunities came about through his connections with colleagues in NASPA and how they helped him bridge theory and practice within the field of student affairs. The episode concludes with W. Houston Dougharty sharing his experiences in retirement, emphasizing the importance of service and community involvement. He mentions his volunteering activities and how he is finding ways to engage with the community and stay connected to education and student affairs through consulting and coaching opportunities. Overall, the episode highlights the evolution of the student affairs field over the years, the enduring importance of relationships, and the importance of embracing change while upholding core values in the profession. Please subscribe to SA Voices from the Field on your favorite podcasting device and share the podcast with other student affairs colleagues! TRANSCRIPT Dr. Jill Creighton [00:00:02]: Welcome to Student Affairs Voices From the Field, the podcast where we share your student affairs stories from fresh perspectives to seasoned experts. This is season 9 on transitions in student affairs. This podcast is brought to you by NASPA, And I'm doctor Jill Creighton, she, her, hers, your essay voices from the field host. Welcome back to another episode of essay voices from the field. Today's conversation features the distinguished W Houston Doherty. Houston is a 4 decade college student affairs leader who served as senior student affairs officer at Grinnell College, Hofstra University, Lewis and Clark College, and the University of Puget Sound. Before these leadership roles, he served as associate dean of students at Iowa State, preceded by a decade as a highly successful leader in enrollment management. He earned his degrees from Puget Sound, Western Washington, and the University of California Santa Barbara.   Dr. Jill Creighton [00:00:53]: He received the distinguished service to the profession award from the Iowa Student Personnel Association in 2011 and the outstanding senior student affairs officer award from NASPA SPUG region 4 East in 2013. In 2018, he was named a pillar of the profession by NASPA, and in 2021, he was awarded the Scott Goodnight award for outstanding performance as a dean by NASPA region 2. He was ultimately honored in 22 when NASPA awarded him the National Scott Goodnight Award. In 2023, he was also awarded the University of Puget Sound's distinguished alumni award for professional achievement. He served NASPA as James e Scott Academy board member, as faculty director for the 2022 NASA Institute for new vice president for student affairs and as the faculty director of the NASPA Institute for aspiring vice presidents for student affairs in 2011. Houston also served on the regional boards for NASPA regions 2 for east and five. He's been cited in numerous publications, for example, the New York Times, the Chronicle of Higher patience, Seattle Times, USA Today, etcetera, and is published in a number of books including Linking Theory to Practice, Case Studies with College Students, which has 2 editions from 2012, the Advocate College Guide from 06, Maybe I Should, Case Studies on Ethics for Student Affairs Professionals in 09, and Executive Transitions in Student Affairs in 2014. In retirement, Houston is active and student affairs consulting and coaching and serving on the board of the KUNM Public Radio and in volunteering for the Food Depot Big Brothers and Big Sisters as a loyal alum of Santa Fe Prep and Puget Sound.   Dr. Jill Creighton [00:02:14]: Houston, I'm so glad to have you on SA Voices today.   W. Houston Dougharty [00:02:16]: Thank you. It's terrific to talk to you and To meet you.   Dr. Jill Creighton [00:02:19]: So this is the 1st time we're talking. And in true student affairs tradition, I suppose, in our preshow talk, we discovered we have many, many mutual students and have in fact lived in some of the same cities, just not at the same time.   Dr. W. Houston Dougharty [00:02:32]: It's that classic 2 degrees of separation in student affairs. It takes A 32nd conversation to figure out the 18 people you both know.   Dr. Jill Creighton [00:02:41]: Absolutely. And now we get to know each other. But, Houston, you have recently retired from the profession with an extraordinarily accomplished resume as you've contributed to the field and made your mark in different ways. So we're gonna move through kind of your journey, but I'm wondering if you can give us the highlights of kinda your stops along the way. And ultimately, you became a pillar of the profession, Scott Goodnight award winner, a number of those very prestigious honors in NASPA. Sir. But what led you to that journey?   W. Houston Dougharty [00:03:08]: Well, I was just telling somebody yesterday, a graduate student who was asking me about my career. I just I had to start by saying, I'm really one of the luckiest guys on the planet because I've had the chance to spend 4 decades helping folks realize their dreams And get in touch with their talents and help create the world they wanna live in. And it really started during My undergraduate career as a student at Puget Sound back in the seventies and early eighties when I fell in love with college. And it didn't take me long to figure out that if I could Figure out a way to live my life on a college campus, I would be a very, very happy person. So I started my life in admissions At my undergraduate institution at Puget Sound, like a lot of us do. And then I had a a small family, and my wife said, you're gonna travel how much? And then I went back to graduate school at Western Washington and then at UC Santa Barbara and realized that what I really loved doing was being a part of students' lives every single day. So I've had the chance to do that on 8 different college campuses in six States over 40 years. And I've been at little tiny liberal arts colleges like Grinnell and Lewis and Clark and Puget Sound, and I've been at big places like UCSB and Iowa State.   W. Houston Dougharty [00:04:23]: And then I I finished my career at a place that kind of blends the 2, Hofstra, right outside of New York City, Which is over 10,000, a bunch of graduate and professional schools, but also only 3 or 4000 residential students. So, again, I just think I'm very, very fortunate to have had been a part of Students' lives and colleagues' lives for that period of time at all those different places.   Dr. Jill Creighton [00:04:43]: One of the reasons we were so excited to have you on this season about the themes of transitions is you've been able to mark the story of student affairs from the late seventies, early eighties until literally the present. So you started in student affairs before we had really evolved in a technological school space before social media, before email, before, you know, all of these different ways that student development and student affairs work has really been deeply impacted and in a lot of ways, you know, growing in the improvement space from that technology. We actually just had a conversation with Eric Stoler about The transformation of technology in higher ed is a is a huge component of our work. But I'm hoping you can tell us about where the field was anchored when you started and how you've seen it grow in that transition space of society growing.   W. Houston Dougharty [00:05:27]: One of the things that I'm pleased about, in spite of all the change in the last 40 plus years, is that I still think it is fundamentally a relationship based profession where we're able to most Positively impact students' lives by taking the time to get to know them, and to be supportive of them. And at the same time, I wrote a piece For Scott Academy blog, as I rolled off this summer from Scott Academy board, I talked about One of the main changes, and that is in the complexity of our world and the complexity of our students' lives. And it sort of hearkened back to how simple in many ways college life was in the seventies eighties when there were no cell phones, where, you weren't inundated with with news 24 hours a day where life just seemed slower And simpler and perhaps more relationship oriented in a natural way. And one of the things that our profession has had to do Considerably is adjust to that complexity, to make sure that we're relevant in students' lives And relevant in a world that has changed some.   Dr. Jill Creighton [00:06:42]: Houston, one of the things you mentioned about the transition was kind of this simplicity of college life when you started in the profession. And I'm wondering if you can just define that a little more about what that kind of simplicity space looked like and felt like for you as a professional and for the students that were attending college.   W. Houston Dougharty [00:06:59]: Sure. Well and a lot of it is tied to technology in that For the 1st 10 years of my professional life, I didn't have a computer on my desk. There was no such thing as email. In fact, when I went to graduate school in the early nineties, I very distinctly remember the very first assignment we had was to send an email. And that's Very funny to think of is and and we were nervous, and we didn't have Gmail. We used a server called Eudora is how we send our email. Students did not have the constant tether of outside information, like 24 hour news or Podcasts or the ability to text with their friends all over the world, they also lived in some ways not only a simpler life, but a more independent life Because their parents and their family members or their guardians were in sporadic conversation with them As opposed to now where students are con you know, walking out of class and texting their mom about the class thing. You know, I remember When I was in college, you know, my parents lived 1500 miles away, and we talked every other Saturday for 10 minutes by pay phone.   W. Houston Dougharty [00:08:14]: That's a whole different world than than the kind of constant, communication and Styles of parenting have changed dramatically. So I would say technology and family dynamics are 2 of the things that I've noticed the most. And   Dr. Jill Creighton [00:08:28]: Well, I'm sure that that phone call was quite expensive, and if parents are not home to receive that phone call, that's it.   W. Houston Dougharty [00:08:35]: That's right. And I was the first person in my family to have gone very far away to college. My parents did not, have much money. I bought a little, you know, a little card that I could use on a payphone, and we would need it. You know, we'd call it 1 o'clock on Saturday every other week. And it was a very valuable conversation, station. But it was a 10 minute conversation. And I can't help but think in many ways I grew and my independence because we had so little conversation.   W. Houston Dougharty [00:09:04]: And yet at the same time, I'm sure there's there's part of our lives that we would have loved to have shared, Which so many students can do so much more easily now.   Dr. Jill Creighton [00:09:13]: One of the conversations I have at new student orientation every year now is with parents and giving them my personal challenge to give a little bit of that untethering, some of that freedom. And my my 1st 6 weeks challenge is always, Don't text your student until they text you first.   W. Houston Dougharty [00:09:30]: Love that.   Dr. Jill Creighton [00:09:31]: And that really feels impossible for a lot of parents. And then this year, I had 1 parent who actually responded in one of our parent groups and, said, I'm taking team Creighton's advice because my student told me I'm annoying them.   W. Houston Dougharty [00:09:46]: It's very true. And I think because students and parents have been so accustomed To be in such close contact, it's tempting for parents to then wanna solve rather than allow students to be in discomfort. And as we in our field know, growth is what comes from discomfort. And so I think your advice is really good advice so that students can have some comfort and try to learn to navigate things without their parents constantly or their guardians constantly coaching them. And And   Dr. Jill Creighton [00:10:17]: that's what we're trying to do a lot is have, you know, discern the difference between discomfort and growth and crisis, right? We don't want students floundering. That's the challenge and support theory that we've been operating off of for years. I mean, we're just figuring out differently.   W. Houston Dougharty [00:10:31]: Well, and again, that just as the relationship basis Our field hasn't changed in 40 years. The challenge and support has not changed. I think, though, it's nuanced as we've had to adjust To family dynamics being different and technology being different. That the challenge and support is still critical, but it's mix and it's nuance Has had to shift with the changes in our world.   Dr. Jill Creighton [00:10:56]: Certainly. And I've been reading and listening to a lot of information on AI right now because, you know, there's bold statements out in the world like AI is gonna take over human jobs. And then I think about what we do or what our counterparts in counseling do or counterparts in therapy do. And while AI can certainly be harnessed to make our jobs easier, there's no replacement for a person to sit across from you and provide you with emotional support or comfort or guidance.   W. Houston Dougharty [00:11:21]: Yeah. And I I think coming out of COVID, we were that was even reinforced with us, wasn't it, Jill? That As much as we found that we could do long distance or or through a screen or through other modes of communication, so many of us were so anxious to get back to an environment where we could actually have coffee with students, where we could actually be in the lounges of the residence halls, where they could come to our office hours Because of that, the sort of genuine nature of that caring relationship that is engendered by being in person.   Dr. Jill Creighton [00:11:53]: Absolutely. And For me, those who have worked with me at previous institution or have read any of my recent LinkedIn stuff, I I'm very much a proponent of the remote and hybrid work space for higher ed. So I think that there's an interesting balance for how we take care of ourselves and also show up in our best way for students. And I really think that's hybrid going forward because we can do both. Right? We can give people the flexibility, that they need to live a whole life and then also be there for students when our students need us.   W. Houston Dougharty [00:12:20]: Well, and it has to be both and. Right? And we learn so much about what we can do differently that it's important that we not simply revert back to what we were comfortable with, especially those of us who are older and have been doing this a long time, but that we say, so how do we take the best of what technology offers us And a hybrid world offers us, and also hold on to the things that have always been dear to us.   Jill Creighton [00:12:44]: I wanna talk a little bit about your publications. You've had quite a career publishing books on a number of things, including theory to practice, ethical decision making, executive transitions. What inspired you to write on these topics?   W. Houston Dougharty [00:12:57]: Well, all of those opportunities came about because of Colleagues that I've had through NASPA, folks who are faculty friends, who were once colleagues, who then wanted a practitioner to join them in a scholarly exercise. And I think if you're referring to the case some of the case study books I've helped work on, I think in many ways, there's no better training Then trying to think about how one applies through the practice. I also was invited to be part of the executive transitions book that, You know, it was all about sort of going from the world of AVP or dean to VP. And, again, the chapter I helped write with Joannes Van Heke In that book was about how you take change theory and how you take a theory around leadership and apply it to the practical nature Of understanding a new campus and understanding a new role on campus. So that space of theory and practice link has always really intrigued me, And I've been so thankful, Flo Hamrick and me and Benjamin and and, you know, the folks who have invited me to really be a practitioner or scholar and join them In writing about that theory and practice world.   Jill Creighton [00:14:10]: Because you have participated in a book literally with the word transitions in the title, I would love to know if you have any nuggets that you'd like to share for current practitioners that are looking at that switch from number 2 to number 1.   W. Houston Dougharty [00:14:23]: It's a fascinating time in one's professional life when you think about that shift. And and I distinctly remember having conversations about Never wanting to be a VP because I loved being an AVP or a number 2 so much. And I was always afraid That if I became a vice president, and then, of course, I ended up being a vice president for almost 20 years, that I would lose contact every day with students. And what I realized was that that was my responsibility, that that there was no institution that could take The posture that as a VP, you can't hang out with students as much or you can't be in their lives as actively. But that's a choice I had to make. And, consequently, as I looked at VP Jobs, I had to make sure that I was taking a position At an institution that shared that value of mine, that value and that vocational dedication to having relationships with both undergraduate and, when possible, graduate students. And I basically found that at the 4 places where I was an SAO. I was able to make that part of my life, and it was still really foundational for me since I was So often the only person at the cabinet level who knew a lot of students by first name and knew their experience, and my job was to help represent them.   W. Houston Dougharty [00:15:48]: Right. So I'm so glad that I didn't shy away from advancing to the vice president seat, But I'm equally thrilled that I did so with a commitment to staying in touch with the student experience.   Dr. Jill Creighton [00:16:02]: When you think about how your roles evolved in your career, how did your relationships with students transition as you kind of moved up the proverbial ladder.   W. Houston Dougharty [00:16:11]: At several places, I was known by students as the vice president who doesn't seem like 1. In that folks who may be listening to this, you know me know I'm not a very formal person. Now I grew up in the southwest where we say y'all and where it's laid back and where it's unusual to wear a tie. And and I was able to take that to lots of parts of the country. When I was offered the job at Hofstra right outside of New York City, there were other administrators there who thought, well, maybe this guy's not gonna be a very good batch because he's he doesn't act or look very vice presidential. He's not very, serious, or he's not very, buttoned up. And what I found is that at all of the institutions where I was lucky to work, there were students who loved the fact that I was Informal. And that and that doesn't mean I didn't take my job incredibly seriously and that I didn't realize that my job was was helping build buildings and hire staff and and enforce policy.   W. Houston Dougharty [00:17:07]: But again, before this notion of both and, that it can be both and. I could still be my Rather casual, friendly self and also be a very competent and a very successful administrator. And then in fact, Having the opportunity to be in the student section at ball games and at lectures and concerts and plays with them and Sitting with them and having lunch with them and having weekly office hours made me better at being a competent Administrator because I was in more in touch with what the student experience was.   Dr. Jill Creighton [00:17:45]: One of the reasons I love serving in the CSAO COC is because I get to learn from our students every day. I learn so much from our population here at my current university. We come from so many diverse grounds. Wondering if you can share with us maybe a nugget that you've learned from a student over the years.   W. Houston Dougharty [00:18:03]: Sure. I have particularly loved Getting to know student leaders. And I've, you know, I've advised student government and so I think particularly of 1 student who I worked with very closely at Sure. Who was I haven't been a member of a a group led organization. She was the president of Panhellenic, and She taught me a sense of language, a sense of understanding values around fraternity and sorority life, but also how to mediate. We were working on a building project, and the ways she mentored me And helping represent the administration with students who are so passionate about space and about their organizations. I was made a much better administrator for spending the time with Reba and having her be feeling like I could sit back and say, Reba, this is your expertise. These are the people that you know so much better than I do, and you know their organizations better than I do.   W. Houston Dougharty [00:19:02]: I'm gonna take your lead As we try to compromise on some situations here, and then she just did brilliantly. And as I think about mentors I've had, I have her on my list of mentors as someone who is and then she went on to do our our graduate degree at Hofstra. And coincidentally, through four 3 or 4 years after she graduated, she also saved my life by donating a kidney to me when I was in a health crisis.   Dr. Jill Creighton [00:19:26]: Oh my goodness.   W. Houston Dougharty [00:19:27]: And she was one of 75 or 80 students who volunteered to be tested when I was in the last stages of renal failure. And, you know, she she came to me and she said, from the first Time I met you at orientation, I knew I wanted to be a vice president for student affairs someday. And even if I never become 1, my kidney will be. And, you know, it's just remarkable that this student who has a 19 or 20 year old impacted my life so remarkably As a professional, Nao has sort of become part of our family by literally giving up herself to save my life.   Dr. Jill Creighton [00:19:59]: That's amazing.   W. Houston Dougharty [00:20:00]: That may not have been the answer you were thinking about when you thought about what I've learned from a student. But   Dr. Jill Creighton [00:20:06]: This is exactly why we ask open ended questions. We always get these rich stories. It's beautiful. Houston, you're now in the retired space, and I'm wondering tell us about that experience of moving from what is a very fast pace and demanding job at the CSAO level into a life where you can make a lot more of your own choices.   W. Houston Dougharty [00:20:28]: Well, in some ways, I was benefited by having COVID be the few years right before. I will and also have this medical leave from my kidney transplant because My wife, Kimberly, and I were actually really concerned about what life would be for me after retirement because student affairs has been for me a lifestyle, not just Not and it's been a vocation and a lifestyle, not just a job. And she always said, what are you gonna do without a campus? You have had a campus for 45 years. And so in many ways, having the world sort of slow down around me with COVID, I realized that there are things I love to read. You know, I've always been very interested in the arts, and I've been very interested in athletics. I was able to dive into those in a way that I didn't realize that I hadn't really had the time to do that while I was on a campus as fully engaged. And don't get me wrong. I absolutely loved that engagement.   W. Houston Dougharty [00:21:23]: I wouldn't have traded that for anything. But what it did was it taught us both that there is life for me Off campus and yet I've spent 40 years as someone who has embraced a vocation of service And now I'm figuring out ways to embrace avocations of service. Just today, I spent 3 hours volunteering at The local food bank here in Santa Fe, and I'm getting involved in Big Brothers, Big Sisters. I'm on the board of the New Mexico NPR Geek Geek, so The KUNM radio station I'm on the I've been appointed to that board. So I've been able to sort of find ways, and I'm Still finding ways. I mean, who knows what that will be in the next 20, 25 years of my life. But service to others is important to me, and so it was really important To Kimberly and me that we find ways coming back to my hometown. I don't think I mentioned that, but I grew up in Santa Fe, New Mexico.   W. Houston Dougharty [00:22:16]: I left for 44 years and then we bought a house Five blocks from the house I grew up in, and so I'm rediscovering my hometown through sort of a lens of service. Yesterday, I volunteered at a college fair at the high school I went to Santa Fe Prep. In 2 weeks, I'm going to be at homecoming at Puget Sound because I'm on the alumni council. So you can't really get me off campus. I'm also doing a little bit of consulting. I'm doing some executive coaching with a vice president in Pennsylvania. I'm gonna be working with Some folks in student affairs at University of New Mexico, but just in sort of a consulting kind of space. So I read 5 newspapers a day every morning.   W. Houston Dougharty [00:22:52]: We love that. I walk my dog for 6 or 7 miles every day. My wife and I have nice long conversations and have time to go to dinner in a way that we haven't for the last 35 years. So that's sort of how I'm conceptualizing. I'm only 3 months in to formal retirement having left New York on June 1st and coming back home to Santa Fe.   Dr. Jill Creighton [00:23:13]: It's time to take a quick break and toss it over to producer Chris to learn what's going on in the NASPA world.   Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:23:19]: Thanks, Jill. So excited to be back in the NASPA world. And as always, there's a ton of things happening in NASPA, And I always love being able to share with you some of the great things that are happening. The NASBA Foundation is pleased to recognize outstanding members of the student affairs and higher education community through the pillars of the profession award and one of the foundation's highest honors. This award comes from you, our members and supporters, as a way to pay tribute to your fellow colleagues who represent Outstanding contributions to the field and our organization. The NASPA Foundation board of directors is honored to designate the, pillar of the profession to the following individuals, Teresa Claunch, associate vice president for student life and dean of students at Washburn University, Danielle DeSowal, clinical professor and coordinator of the higher education and student affairs master's program at Indiana University, Martha And Cezzle, associate vice president for student affairs, California State University Fullerton. Amy Hecht, vice president for student affairs at Florida State University. Christopher Lewis, director of graduate programs, University of Michigan Flint.   Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:24:29]: Kimberly Lowery, director of college leadership and impact, the Aspen Institute. Edward Martinez, associate dean for student affairs, Suffolk County Community College, Jukuru or KC Limimji, vice president for student affairs, Southern Methodist University, Ramon Dunnech, associate vice president, University of Nevada, Reno. Adam Peck, posthumously awarded Assistant vice president for student affairs at Illinois State University. Christine Quamio, interim assistant vice provost for diversity and inclusion, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Darby Roberts, Director, department of student affairs planning assessment and research, Texas A&M University, Marcela Runnell, vice president for student life, and dean of students at Mount Holyoke College. Tiffany Smith, director of research, American Indian Science and Engineering Society. Don Stansbury, vice president for student affairs, Clayton State University. Belinda Stoops, associate vice president for student health and wellness at Boston College. Mary Blanchard Wallace, assistant vice president for student experience, University of Alabama at Birmingham, and Leslie Webb, Vice provost for student success in campus life, University of Montana.   Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:25:38]: If I accidentally said the names of these amazing The Jewel is wrong. I am so sorry. I want to say thank you to all of them for all of their unwavering support, for our association, for the profession, and congratulations on this amazing honor to each and every one of them. The pillars of the profession program also allows for you to be able to help The foundation in many different ways. You can give a gift in the name of one of these pillars to support them and also to Support the NASPA Foundation and all of the great work that they do to be able to push our profession forward. I highly encourage you to go to the NASPA website to the foundation's page, and you can give a gift of any amount in the name of any one of these pillars to support them. You can also support multiple pillars if you want to. Highly encourage you to go support Pillars today and be able to continue supporting our foundation in so many different ways.   Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:26:45]: Also, on top of the pillars of the profession, the foundation also Selects a distinguished pillar of the profession award. The 2024 John l Blackburn distinguished pillar of the profession award is given to 2 different individuals, including Sherry Callahan, retired vice chancellor for student affairs at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, and posthumously to Teresa Powell, vice president for student affairs at Temple University. Every week, we're going to be sharing some amazing things that are happening within the association. So we are going to be able to try and keep you up to date on everything that's happening And allow for you to be able to get involved in different ways because the association is as strong as its members. And for all of us, we have to find our place within the association, whether it be getting involved with a knowledge community, giving back within one of the the centers Or the divisions of the association. And as you're doing that, it's important to be able to identify for yourself Where do you fit? Where do you wanna give back? Each week, we're hoping that we will share some things that might encourage you, might allow for you to be able to get some ideas that will provide you with an opportunity to be able to say, hey. I see myself in that knowledge community. I see myself doing something like that or encourage you in other ways that allow for you to be able to Think beyond what's available right now to offer other things to the association, to bring your gifts, your talents to the association and to all of the members within the association because through doing that, all of us are stronger and The association is better.   Dr. Christopher Lewis [00:28:35]: Tune in again next week as we find out more about what is happening in NASPA.   Dr. Jill Creighton [00:28:39]: Chris, it's always such a pleasure to hear from you on NASPA World and what's going on in and around NASPA. So, Houston, we have reached our lightning round where I have about 90 seconds for you to answer 7 questions. You ready to do this?   W. Houston Dougharty [00:28:53]: Let's do it.   Dr. Jill Creighton [00:28:55]: Alright. Question number 1. If you were a conference keynote speaker, what would your entrance music be?   W. Houston Dougharty [00:29:00]: Can I offer a couple?   Dr. Jill Creighton [00:29:02]: Sure   W. Houston Dougharty [00:29:02]: I'm a huge fan of the blues, and queen of the blues, Koko Taylor, has a song that I absolutely love called let the good times roll, And I feel like my career has been a lot of good times. And then I I'm also a huge Talking Heads fan, and so whenever Talking Heads burning down the house Comes in, I'm ready, so I'd offer those too.   Dr. Jill Creighton [00:29:21]: Number 2. When you were 5 years old, what did you want to be when you grew up?   W. Houston Dougharty [00:29:25]: When I was five, I either wanted to be a farmer like my grandfather, or I was starting to think maybe I would be the governor of New Mexico.   Dr. Jill Creighton [00:29:34]: Not too late for that one. Number 3, who's your most influential professional mentor?   W. Houston Dougharty [00:29:40]: I would say, if I could rattle off a couple, The 1st person who gave me a break in student affairs after having spent 10 years in admissions was Kathy McKay, Who was the dean of students then at Iowa State University.   Dr. Jill Creighton [00:29:53]: And I know Kathy.   W. Houston Dougharty [00:29:54]: Okay. So Kathy and I are are very, very close. And in fact, she now lives in Denver, so we're only 5 hours from each other. So Kathy's who gave me my big break at Iowa State back in the day. At Iowa State, I learned so much from Nancy Evans, who was on the faculty there, and she and I both have clear research and research about students with disabilities in our areas of interest, and I learned so much from her and Ronnie Sandlow. I learned so much from Ronnie and and then Susan Pierce, who was the president of Puget Sound when I came back here in the Dean's student's office. Those are the women that come to mind most quickly for me. Sorry. I couldn't limit to one. And and there's so many others that I would love to include.   Dr. Jill Creighton [00:30:34]: So fun fact, I was working at CU Denver when Kathy was the dean at Metro State University of Denver. Yep. And then also when I took the ADP dean of students job at WSU, I replaced Cathy who was doing it internally. So I love these weird connections in student affairs.   W. Houston Dougharty [00:30:50]: Isn't it Funny.   Dr. Jill Creighton [00:30:51]: Let's move on. Number 4, what's your essential student affairs read?   W. Houston Dougharty [00:30:55]: Well, I'm very interested in sort of alternative notions of leadership, These are not new books at all, but there are these little thin books by a guy named Max Dupree. One is called Leadership is an Art And the other one is called Leadership Jazz. And I'm a huge blues and jazz person, so I particularly love that little volume, which basically talks about Great leadership is like leading a jazz band where everybody gets a solo, and I just love that notion of blending the notion of music and jazz.   Dr. Jill Creighton [00:31:23]: Number 5, the best TV show you binged during the pandemic.   W. Houston Dougharty [00:31:26]: So the hospital I was in in Manhattan had BBC America. I found this really great show called Grand Design where people dream about Where they would like to live and they renovate a space. And if you ever have connection to BBC Grand Design, It's just lovely, and it's British, so it's sort of witty. And I can't do anything with a hammer myself, so I love it when other people do.   Dr. Jill Creighton [00:31:54]: Number 6, the podcast you've spent the most hours listening to in the last year.   W. Houston Dougharty [00:31:58]: The moth. I love to hear people tell stories, And so I've sort of gone back into the catalog of The Moth, and so I love The Moth.   Dr. Jill Creighton [00:32:07]: And finally, number 7, any shout outs you'd like to give, personal or professional?   W. Houston Dougharty [00:32:11]: Oh my gosh. Of course, my family, you know, my loving wife, Kimberly, and our kids, Finn and Ali, who are amazing and and who grew up on college campuses across America, And I am so thankful to them for doing that. And in our preinterview chat, we talked about interns that I had, like Dave, and colleagues I've had, like Jim Hoppe and Debichi at Puget Sound. I mean, just and, you know, the amazing students who've really become part of my family. And 2 of them were in Santa Fe 2 weekends ago to seizes Oprah Byrne, which is a huge thing we do in Santa Fe. 1 came from Boulder, and 1 came from Boston. And, I mean, it's just, You know, we work in student affairs, and you will never be lonely because you're able to make these wonderful connections with people who are so dear.   Dr. Jill Creighton [00:32:54]: Houston, it's been just a joy to talk to you. So I know that, you know, we just met for the 1st time today, but I already feel like I know you a little bit, which is, such a lovely, warm feeling. And if others would like to connect with you after this show airs. How can they find you?   W. Houston Dougharty [00:33:07]: Sure. Well, probably the easiest way is on LinkedIn, w Houston Dougharty, and I also, today, I was at at big brothers, and they said that we're gonna Google you. What are we gonna find? So I I went home and Googled myself, and there are a lot of student affairs related things. So you could Google w authority. You'd see all kinds of interesting things, and I'd love to reach out or talk to anybody who'd like to be in touch.   Dr. Jill Creighton [00:33:28]: Houston, thank you so much for sharing your voice with us today.   W. Houston Dougharty [00:33:31]: Thank you for the opportunity. It's been a real treat, and it's great to meet you.   Dr. Jill Creighton [00:33:35]: This has been an episode of essay voices from the field brought to you by NASPA. This though is always made possible because of you, our listeners. We are so grateful that you continue to listen to us season after season. If you'd like to reach the show, you can always email us at essay voices at NASPA.org or find me on LinkedIn by searching for doctor Jill L. Creighton. We welcome your feedback and topic and especially your guest suggestions. We'd love it if you take a moment to tell a colleague about the show, and please like, rate, and review us on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, eye or wherever you're listening now.   Dr. Jill Creighton [00:34:09]: It really does help other student affairs professionals find the show and helps us become more visible in the larger casting community. This episode was produced and hosted by Dr. Jill l Creighton. That's me. Produced and audio engineered by Dr. Chris Lewis. Guest coordination by Liu Special thanks to the University of Michigan Flint for your support as we create this project. Catch you next time.

Jazz88's Peter Solomon speaks with Dr. Maya Sullivan about her work as Dean of Students at Metro State University and about Graduate Programs Preview Day, taking place November 14th from 5 – 7 PM.

Jazz88's Peter Solomon speaks with Dr. Maya Sullivan about her work as Dean of Students at Metro State University and about Graduate Programs Preview Day, taking place November 14th from 5 – 7 PM.

She talks about some of the opportunities and programs they have to offer there. 

Jazz88's Peter Solomon speaks with Dr. Maya Sullivan, Dean of Students at Metro State University about two open house events the school is holding for prospective students this week. She discusses some of the things she feels make Metro State University unique including the affordable tuition costs, flexible opportunities for adult learners, the individualized studies program, and the fact that Metro State is No. 1 in the state for Social Mobility. The open house events take place Tuesday October 17 from 5 – 7 PM on campus and a virtual event Thursday October 19 from 5 to 6 PM.

Host Robert Pilot welcomes Amber Annis, the Director of Native American Initiatives at the Minnesota Historical Society to talk about the new exhibit “Reframing Our Stories” opening October 21st! PLUS, Aandeg Muldrew joins to discuss teaching an Ojibwe language course at Metro State University!

In the ever-evolving world of digital marketing, we're always seeking out new ways to reach the heart of our audiences and make a lasting impression (that, of course, leads to sales!). So, this episode is dedicated to one of the most influential tools in our creative arsenal — video. Joining Jessie is today's guest expert, Beth Klepper. Beth started creating videos in kindergarten. With the neighborhood kids as her actors, brothers and sisters as pushy directors and producers, and an 80s-style camera always in hand, Beth discovered the power of video and storytelling very early in life. She earned her master's degree in film in London and moved from those early childhood neighborhood productions to spending almost a decade producing live entertainment and television shows for AXS TV. Beth has told a wide range of stories, producing reality shows, travel shows and celebrity gossip shows. She also produced live concerts for groups like “The Zac Brown Band,” “Def Leppard, “The String Cheese Incident" and many more.   In 2014, Beth founded Mainstream Video Production, working with more than 130 organizations and creating more than 2000 videos. Mainstream continues to help businesses increase revenues, save hours and tell their stories through video. Mainstream specializes in full-service production (think storyboarding, shooting and editing) and supports those who want to DIY their videos through Mainstream's online Video Marketing 101 course. Beth also teaches Public Speaking and Interpersonal communication at Metro State University.   So grab your headphones, settle in, and let's dive into the world of video! On today's episode, Jessie and Beth cover: Beth's career background, entrepreneurial journey, and how she founded her company How video can drastically enhance your marketing strategy, creating a more engaging and memorable experience for your audience The different types of video content, from explainer videos to customer testimonials, and how each can be used effectively to amplify your brand's message Tips on how to integrate video into your website, social media, and other marketing platforms How you can harness the power of video to increase your marketing's effectiveness And so much more! — Ready to elevate your brand? I'd love to work with you! Click here to schedule a call with me, and let's discuss the ways I can help you take your brand to the next level. — To connect with Jessie: Instagram: @jessie__christensen Email: hello@jessie-christensen.com Website: jessie-christensen.com LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/jessieachristensen Pinterest: pinterest.com/jessie_christensen/_saved — To connect with Beth: Website: http://mainstreamvideoproduction.com FREE video mini course: https://mainstreamvideoproduction.lpages.co/3-videos-your-business-needs/ Instagram: ⁠⁠https://www.instagram.com/mainstreamvideo/⁠ — Have a question or topic you'd like Jessie to cover? Or are you interested in being featured as a guest expert on the show? Submit your request here.

More school districts are without school resource officers after the police departments in Apple Valley, Maple Grove and White Bear Lake have pulled them. A change in state law – which deals with the types of physical restraints that can be used on students – has led about 40 law agencies to suspend their school resource officer programs. The sparring over the law brings to mind questions about the role and effectiveness of police officers in schools. For more, MPR News host Cathy Wurzer spoke with James Densley. He is a professor and department chair of criminal justice at Metro State University.

Started in 1887 by three well-known convicts, The Prison Mirror is often considered the best prison newspaper in the United States. But it is just one of many. In the 1980s, Robert Taliaferro was a writer and editor for The Mirror, as it was called in those days. Shannon Ross is a writer who started The Community in 2014 when he was in prison. The newsletter, which he still edits today, reaches half of Wisconsin's prison population. With hosts Adam Carr and Dasha Kelly Hamilton, Robert and Shannon come together to talk shop. We hear from them about why their work centers human-interest stories from people who are incarcerated and what we can learn from those who have an inside perspective. Find episode extras, resources, and more information about prison newspapers and our guests on our website.Voices in this episode:Shannon Ross is the founder and Executive Director of The Community and the Correcting the Narrative Campaign, which uses story-telling to promote acceptance of people with criminal records. Shannon was born and raised on Milwaukee's north side, where he received a 17-year prison sentence when he was 19 years old. Over the course of his incarceration, he acquired his bachelor's degree, created and ran a mental health program in the prison for 2 years that still exists, and published his own and others' writing. Since his release in 2020, he helped to found Paradigm Shyft, is an Education Trust fellow, a Marquette University EPP fellow, and a graduate of the Masters in Sustainable Peacebuilding program at the University of Wisconsin – Milwaukee.Robert Taliaferro is a working journalist, graphic artist, and community activist currently living in Minnesota, after serving over 38 years of confinement. He edited The Prison Mirror newspaper at the Minnesota Correctional Institution at Stillwater from 1985-1989. His work is published in News and Letters Committees and he is the author of Always Color Outside the Lines: Freedom for the Artist Within (2018). He recently graduated from Metro State University in St Paul, MN where he was the Outstanding Student Award recipient for the College of Individualized Studies and also gave the Commencement address. He is beginning a graduate degree program in the fall and will be studying Urban Developmental Initiatives and Adult Education.Dasha Kelly Hamilton is a writer, performance artist and creative change agent. She applies the creative process to facilitate dialogues around human and social wellness. She is the author of novels, poetry collections, spoken word albums, and a touring production called Makin' Cake. She was Poet Laureate for both the City of Milwaukee and the State of Wisconsin. Her A Line Meant project is a statewide poetry exchange for traditional Wisconsin residents and residents of Wisconsin prisons.Adam Carr is a storyteller, artist, filmmaker, radio producer, urban explorer, community organizer and historian. He is also a lifelong Milwaukeean and works at the intersection of community and communication. He helped organize events to acknowledge the 50th anniversary of the open housing marches in Milwaukee and is the author of “Explore MKE: Your Neighborhood, Our City,” a children's book made in collaboration with third graders. He works for the Milwaukee Parks Foundation as the Director of Strategic Partnerships.

In this episode, we dive into a hidden population of people you would never imagine are unhoused: college students. We talk to Luis, Lena and Frankie, who share their experiences working towards degrees while living in their car, in a motel room with their mom, and in a cramped apartment with several others. Dr. Jamie Rife, from the Metro Denver Homeless Initiative shares data about homelessness in our community, and Abbie Kell, Student Housing Project Manager at Metro State University talks with us about student housing issues. Tune in, share the episode, and give us a rating if you like what you hear.

This podcourse is part of the Apraxia Connect. Apraxia Connect is an online event where leading experts in Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) were brought together to discuss the latest research, diagnosis, and treatment strategies. The sessions explored supporting families with children with CAS, fostering friendships and self-advocacy, and empowering parents and caregivers. In this episode, I am joined by Laura Baskall Smith. She is a certified speech-language pathologist in the greater Denver Metro Area.  She received her bachelors degree in Communication Disorders at Metro State University, and her master's degree in speech-language pathology at the University of Northern Colorado.  She holds the Clinical Certificate of Competence from the American Speech/Language and Hearing Association, a DORA license from the state of Colorado; as well as her Colorado Department of Education license. She has obtained advanced certifications that include Apraxia Kids recognized for advanced training and clinical expertise in Childhood Apraxia of Speech along with being PROMPT trained. Laura has been providing speech therapy for 16 years and have worked with a variety of speech and language disorders in the school and private sectors. She is passionate about working with children with Childhood Apraxia of Speech (CAS) following my own daughter's diagnosis in 2012 and is an active member with the Apraxia Kids, and was the walk coordinator for the Denver Walk for Childhood Apraxia of Speech from 2015-2019. She is the author of the Overcoming Apraxia book which chronicles her daughter's personal journey to overcoming CAS and is loaded with resources and information that would benefit professionals as well as parents and family members. Laura also owns A Mile Speech Therapy, a private practice in which she exclusively provides differential diagnosis and treatment for children diagnosed with Childhood Apraxia of Speech.   If you want to earn 0.1 ASHA CEUs for this episode or up to 0.6 ASHA CEUs for all of the episodes, plus the perks like handouts, video playbacks, discount codes, then grab the chance to register using this link: https://tasseltogether.com/courses/apraxia-connect-general-information/

THIS EPISODE OF GROWING OLDER LIVING YOUNGER focuses on touch therapy and other forms of alternative therapies and energy work. Today's Featured Expert is Dawn BennettWe have a wide-ranging conversation about the importance of touch, neurolinguistic programming, hypnosis and hypnotherapy, and Emotional Freedom Techniques or Tapping. Episode Timeline0:11 Introduction to today's episode.5:04 How Dawn started to work in massage therapy.7:03 How did you get into touch therapy?10:54 Lessons from Functional imaging in the brain.16:00 Cranial sacral therapy and the brain.20:21 Hypnosis, hypnotherapy and trance24:11 What Is self-hypnosis?27:20 Progressive relaxation and hypnosis.30:58 The unconscious mind doesn't understand negatives!35:28 About mindfulness. Speaker BioDawn Bennett, LMT, is a Certified Hypnotherapist and Trainer, NLP Results Coach, Accredited Certified Emotional Freedom Techniques Practitioner, Relationship Communication Specialist, Relationship & Intimacy Coach, and Bodyworker. She's the author of two Amazon Best-Selling books, The Touch Crisis: Navigating the Tricky Terrain of Bringing Healthy Touch Back to Our Culture, and What Happened to My Friendships? Five Steps to Navigate the Social Distancing Crisis. Dawn completed her bachelor's degree in Business and Complementary Medicine in 2009 from Metro State University in Minneapolis,  Dawn taught massage + alternative and complementary medicine courses at Minnesota State College, Southeast Technical in Red Wing, MN. Learn more about Dawn and her work here: https://www.eventbrite.com/o/dawn-bennett-touch-remedies-20176240923 https://www.linkedin.com/in/dawn-bennett/ https://www.facebook.com/TouchRemedies/ https://www.instagram.com/natureofrelationships/ https://www.youtube.com/@natureofrelationships https://twitter.com/TouchRemedies https://touchremedies.com/free-stuff-quick-resource-videos/ To discover how to Reset Your Aging Blueprint or build your wellness, beauty and healthy aging business, schedule a free Discovery Call with me.To get your copy of Growing Older Living Younger: The Science of Aging Gracefully and The Art of Retiring Comfortably click here 

We have capped off a wonderful month of madness with a worthy champion of the city! We recap the Final Four of March Madness & crown our champion.After that, we get CB's food reviews from Little Arthur's Hoagies, Denver's fast flying sammies... Then we introduce our guests of the day (13th min)- Samantha Taylor of The Grow Off & Shannon Donnely of Cannabis Hospitality School of Metro State University.We dive deep into the actual cause of Spannabis, agendas from Americans and the future of the industry both here and abroad.. wanna know more about The Grow Off & the new entity Expand Lands?!?! We got all the deets on this here episode. Check it out. If I fucked up, I'm sorry

This is a special Podapalooza episode, featuring 2 guests!Firstly, Dawn and I discuss the importance of touch, how it positively impacts our health when we get the touch we need, and also that our need for touch can vary from day to day and person to person. Dawn shares tips on removing the awkwardness of situations where the other person's touch needs may not match yours, and instead using fun ways to give them a choice in how they want to be touched. Dawn wrote the book “The Touch Crisis: Navigating the Tricky Terrain of Bringing Healthy Touch Back to Our Culture, which is available on Amazon, and comes with a workbook, so you can learn more about this important subject.Bobby and I then had a great conversation around strengthening and lengthening in order to prevent aches & pains. When we only strengthen, our muscles get shorter as they get stronger, and that then reduces the range of movement and can cause pain. Bobby has developed great tools that you can use at home, in the office, and even in your business attire several times a day to ensure you are lengthening your body and ultimately reducing pain! What you do to your body today, matters to your mobility later!Free gift: Get FREE shipping in the continental US when purchasing products on the Bam-metrics website:https://bam-metrics.comCoupon Code: BAMFREESHIPYour Guided Health Journey Membershiphttps://yourguidedhealthjourney.com/membership-programs/Linktree: https://linktr.ee/yourguidedhealthjourneyAbout the Guest:Dawn Bennett:Dawn Bennett, LMT, NCTMB, CST, NLP, Certified Hypnotherapist, NLP Results Coach, Accredited Certified EFT Practitioner, Relationship & Intimacy Coach, and Bodyworker has been helping people connect with themselves, others, and their communities in body and mind since starting her practice in 1997.She's the author of two Amazon Best-Selling books, The Touch Crisis: Navigating the Tricky Terrain of Bringing Healthy Touch Back to Our Culture, and What Happened to My Friendships? Five Steps to Navigate the Social Distancing Crisis. In addition, Dawn worked for over ten years as an instructor teaching massage + alternative and complementary medicine courses at Minnesota State College, Southeast Technical in Red Wing, MN. Dawn completed her bachelor's degree in Business and Complementary Medicine in 2009 from Metro State University in Minneapolis in. Furthermore, she graduated from the Northwestern Academy of Classical Homeopathy in 2009. Today, she has hundreds of clients who, she is proud to say, have done their own deep work and restored their inner power, released physical and emotional symptoms and struggles, and found their own potential and voice in their work, relationships, and volunteer communities.Dawn founded, owned, and sold a business that won “Service Business of the Year” two years in a row. She has been called a “zen hummingbird” because of her propensity to be chill, introspective, and in-tune, and then suddenly embrace her inner child, explode with energy and movement, and get an obnoxious amount of stuff done in a very short amount of time. She loves to travel and enjoy the healing powers of nature. She also loves people dearly and is working on saying so more often.The Touch Crisis Book on Amazon: https://amzn.to/3UPSZSWWhat Happened to My Friendships on Amazon:

Episode 358: Filling Life's Buckets with Heather Boschke Episode Notes Bring vitality to your life, strengthen your relationships, and expand how you contribute to the world by clarifying your life's buckets. Heather Boschke talks about how she fills her life buckets by understanding what sets her soul on fire in life and her relationships. We ponder this essential question, what sets your soul on fire? Heather Boschke is a strategic marketing leader with over 20 years of experience that spans Fortune 20 companies to non-profit organizations. She acquired a marketing degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an MBA from the University of Minnesota. She is an adjunct professor at Metro State University and teaches marketing. One of the activities Heather loved as a child was drawing. As the seeds of conformity took hold in middle school, her artistic expressions went dormant until 2020. The coronavirus pandemic opened a new portal for Heather to recapture the joy she felt drawing in her childhood while simultaneously reinventing how she expresses herself now. Heather began creating bird illustrations and discovered a desire to share her love of birds with others. These illustrations and her knowledge about birds are showcased in her children's Little Birdie Buddies of Minnesota book this year. Her inner bird is singing as she fills another of her life's buckets, expressing herself through bird watching, illustrating, and becoming a self-published author. As you might have noticed, birds are a theme in Heather's life. In 2021 Heather left the corporate world and started her marketing firm, Vogel Venture, to help small and mid-sized organizations drive growth and engagement regardless of team size or budget. The word Vogel means bird in German, which speaks to her heritage and the strategic (bird's eye) approach combined with the tactical planning she brings to clients. Vogel Venture evolved out of being laid off and being fired once. Heather wrote a post about those experiences on LinkedIn. An illuminated path to entrepreneurship appeared out of her contract marketing work. She followed it by starting Vogel Venture. A second path opened after a conversation with a prior work relationship. Heather decided to co-create The Joy Corner, a regular segment on Nichole Niemann's virtual show called Arkansas Style. The Joy Corner Exploring your life's buckets can feel like flowing down a river. Opportunities pop up when you are in the flow of life. Heather flexes her marketing prowess, another of life's buckets, as we discuss engagement and re-enforcing marketing fundamentals. To know your end users, storytelling, and anchoring marketing activities by measuring results are good places to start. Creating simple anchors like a monthly theme can elevate your brand and structure your marketing efforts. “Marketing efforts can flounder when there is no structure,” says Heather. The vlogs on Heather's website are worth exploring. They are short and to the point, like this: “It is important to show up on social media. Think of social media as prospect warm-up.” Heather tells us more about that concept. In another vlog, Heather highlights that your brand is a promise. She describes what it means to answer the question, “what is the experience you want your customers to have?” Trader Joe's is an example of a positive customer experience. Heather describes how she feels from entering the brightly lit store, collecting her desired groceries, encountering cheerful cashiers, to walking out through the automatic sliding, steel-framed glass doors. Other branding insights that Heather helps us understand are how to choose social media channels and why it is manageable to be on social media. She helps us figure out how to become known and increase our ability to have people care about us. She says that the bottom line is this, "people don't do business with people they don't know and don't care about.”

Urban Teacher program at Metro State University' School of Urban education.

A Black Man's Sketch Season 3, Episode 3: “FATHERHOOD” Ujamaa Place brothers Bryant, Maurice, Kaylan, Antino, Julio and Wes discuss “Fatherhood” with Guy Bowling, Senior Manager of THE FATHER Project About Guy Bowling Guy Bowling is the Senior Manager of the FATHER Project, a program of Goodwill/Easter Seals Minnesota. In that role, he has overseen the successful implementation of 3 federally funded grants. Including a five-year $2.5 million annual grant project in 2012 funded through the federal Department of Health and Human Services, through the Office of Family Assistance (OFA). His specific area of focus is working with low-income, non-custodial, never married fathers and their families in culturally specific, multi-racial, multi-ethnic and rural communities. He received his B.A in Individualized Studies from Metro State University. He received his Master of Public Affairs degree (MPA) at the University of Minnesota's Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs. He received the Outstanding Individual of the Year Award at the 2014 Minnesota Fathers and Families Network Annual Conference. Born in Chicago, Illinois Guy grew up in North Minneapolis, MN where he annually hosts the Festival of Fathers & Families event, the largest fatherhood convening's statewide focused on building relationships, co-parenting, connecting, celebrating fatherhood and providing resources for Fathers, Men, Boys and Families. He was selected as a 2020 Bush Fellow through the Bush Foundation Fellowship Program. For more information about the Father Project, go to: https://www.goodwilleasterseals.org/services/family-stability/father This episode is dedicated to all Ujamaa Men who strive to be a good father and put in the work to connect with their family under the connect with family Theory of Transformation program requirement.

With studies indicating students of color benefitting from teachers with shared identities, the lopsided nature of Minnesota's educator workforce is a potential barrier to student success. How is Metro State University working to meet the educational needs of a new generation of teachers of color? Victor Cole from Metro State speaks with Jazz88's Travis Ryder on air March 2, 2023.

With studies indicating students of color benefitting from teachers with shared identities, the lopsided nature of Minnesota's educator workforce is a potential barrier to student success. How is Metro State University working to meet the educational needs of a new generation of teachers of color? Victor Cole from Metro State speaks with Jazz88's Travis Ryder on air March 2, 2023.

Guest: Bob Bell Founder Food for Thought started 11 years ago as a simple idea of making sure kids at title one schools get meals to eat on the weekends.  They started with giving meals to 300 kids.  They became partners with Food Bank of the Rockies to get the food, had a space set up by Metro State University and started packing bags for the kids.  Today they help 13,000 kids and 71 schools across the city.  They have never missed a Friday in the 11 years even during a pandemic they did not miss a week.  They never say no if a school needs help.  foodforthoughtdenver.org      See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

What exactly is a NOTAM and why it is so important that without it the FAA had to ground all domestic departures? I invited aviation expert Jeff Price, professor of aviation for Metro State University in Denver to explain and to look at some of the other issues with the airlines. Also, the reaction by a world traveler after Frontier Airlines eliminated their telephone customer service department. All that and more on the Driving You Crazy Podcast.    Contact: 303-832-0217 or DrivingYouCrazyPodcast@Gmail.com Jayson: twitter.com/Denver7Traffic or www.facebook.com/JaysonLuberTrafficGuy  WhatsApp: https://wa.me/17204028248 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/denver7traffic   Jeff Price: https://red.msudenver.edu/expert/price-jeff/   Production Notes: Open music: jazzyfrenchy by Bensound Close music: Latché Swing by Hungaria   iTunes:https://apple.co/2fgLX8u iHeart:https://ihr.fm/2LVBvoc Podbean:https://bit.ly/2JbBiec Spotify:https://spoti.fi/30gj3zq Stitcher:https://bit.ly/3EViUk5

Native Lights: Where Indigenous Voices ShineNative Lights is a weekly, half-hour radio program hosted by Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe members and siblings, Leah Lemm and Cole Premo. Native Lights is a space for people in Native communities around Mni Sota Mkoce -- a.k.a. Minnesota -- to tell their stories about finding their gifts and sharing them with the community. Amber Annis: Nurturing & Protecting Authentic Narratives Today Leah and Cole chat with Amber Annis, a Cheyenne River Sioux Tribe citizen who is currently the director of Native American Initiative at the Minnesota Historical Society. Amber has a long history not only as a public historian, but as an educator, tribal nation liaison, community engagement specialist and collaborator.  She also talks about her experience teaching “Topics in Contemporary Native North America” at Metro State University; the process behind reframing historical archives of Indigenous people; and how her and the Minnesota Historical Society are helping reframing how K-12 teach the history of Minnesota.  Pidamayaye and Miigwech to Amber for sharing with us today!  Native Lights: Where Indigenous Voices Shine. Native Lights is produced by Minnesota Native News and Ampers with support from the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage fund. Online at MinnesotaNativeNews.org/NativeLights

For Christians, what is the proper way to think about bioethics and bioengineering? What moral limits should be placed upon bioengineering research and development? Will science give us the ability to live forever, apart from God Himself? On part two of our conversation with philosopher, apologist and author, Dr. Douglas Groothius (GROW-tice), we unpack some ways through these questions and help equip you to give a defense in such important discussions. Douglas Groothuis earned his PhD from the University of Oregon and has been a faculty member at Denver Seminary since 1993. He has also taught at The University of Oregon and Metro State University, in Denver. He has authored thirty academic articles in journals such as Philosophia Christi, Religious Studies, Sophia, Bibliotheca Sacra, and Academic Questions. He has also written for Christianity Today, The Christian Research Journal, The Journal for Christian Legal Thought, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and many other publications. He has authored thirteen books, including Unmasking the New Age, The Soul in Cyberspace, Truth Decay, On Jesus, Christian Apologetics, Philosophy in Seven Sentences, Walking through Twilight: A Wife's Illness—A Philosopher's Lament, I Love You to the Stars (a children's book written with Crystal Bowman), Christian Apologetics, Fire in the Streets: How You Can Confidently Respond to Incendiary Cultural Topics. and The Knowledge of God in the World and in the Word an Introduction to Classical Apologetics (2022) with Andrew I. Shepardson. He has contributed numerous entries to reference volumes such as The Dictionary of Christianity and Science, The Apologetics Study Bible, The Evangelical Dictionary of World Religions, and the textbook, Problems in Value Theory.Related Links: Free access to some related Watchman Profiles: Watchman Fellowship 4-page Profile on Transhumanism by Dr. Douglas Groothuis: watchman.org/TranshumanismProfile.pdf Watchman Fellowship 4-page Profile on Atheism by Dr. Robert M. Bowman: watchman.org/Atheism Watchman Fellowship 4-page Profile on Scientism by Dr. Luke Barnes and Daniel Ray: watchman.org/Scientism Additional ResourcesFREE: We are also offering a subscription to our 4-page bimonthly Profiles here: www.watchman.org/Free.PROFILE NOTEBOOK: Order the complete collection of Watchman Fellowship Profiles (over 600 pages -- from Astrology to Zen Buddhism) in either printed or PDF formats here: watchman.org/notebook. SUPPORT: Help us create more content like this. Make a tax-deductible donation here: www.watchman.org/give.Apologetics Profile is a ministry of Watchman Fellowship For more information, visit www.watchman.org © Watchman Fellowship, Inc.

Our guest this week and next, philosopher Dr. Douglas Groothuis (pronounced GROW-tice), unpacks and helps us better understand the foundation behind these ideas and shows us that we as Christians have no reason to fear contributing sound biblical and theological answers to these important topics.Douglas Groothuis earned his PhD from the University of Oregon and has been a faculty member at Denver Seminary since 1993. He has also taught at The University of Oregon and Metro State University, in Denver. He has authored thirty academic articles in journals such as Philosophia Christi, Religious Studies, Sophia, Bibliotheca Sacra, and Academic Questions. He has also written for Christianity Today, The Christian Research Journal, The Journal for Christian Legal Thought, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and many other publications. He has authored thirteen books, including Unmasking the New Age, The Soul in Cyberspace, Truth Decay, On Jesus, Christian Apologetics, Philosophy in Seven Sentences, Walking through Twilight: A Wife's Illness—A Philosopher's Lament, I Love You to the Stars (a children's book written with Crystal Bowman), Christian Apologetics, Fire in the Streets: How You Can Confidently Respond to Incendiary Cultural Topics. and The Knowledge of God in the World and in the Word an Introduction to Classical Apologetics (2022) with Andrew I. Shepardson. He has contributed numerous entries to reference volumes such as The Dictionary of Christianity and Science, The Apologetics Study Bible, The Evangelical Dictionary of World Religions, and the textbook, Problems in Value Theory.Related Links: Free access to some related Watchman Profiles: Watchman Fellowship 4-page Profile on Transhumanism by Dr. Douglas Groothuis: watchman.org/TranshumanismProfile.pdf Watchman Fellowship 4-page Profile on Atheism by Dr. Robert M. Bowman: watchman.org/Atheism Watchman Fellowship 4-page Profile on Scientism by Dr. Luke Barnes and Daniel Ray: watchman.org/Scientism Additional ResourcesFREE: We are also offering a subscription to our 4-page bimonthly Profiles here: www.watchman.org/Free.PROFILE NOTEBOOK: Order the complete collection of Watchman Fellowship Profiles (over 600 pages -- from Astrology to Zen Buddhism) in either printed or PDF formats here: watchman.org/notebook. SUPPORT: Help us create more content like this. Make a tax-deductible donation here: www.watchman.org/give.Apologetics Profile is a ministry of Watchman Fellowship For more information, visit www.watchman.org © Watchman Fellowship, Inc.

Dr. Jonathan Dimos is a licensed psychologist with over 4,000 hours of clinical experience doing counseling and psychological assessment. He has experience working with a wide variety of clients including missionaries, missionary candidates, adolescents, college students, adults, couples, families, chronically mentally ill, and incarcerated populations. Dr. Dimos has taught psychology and counseling courses at Bethel University, Metro State University of Denver, Denver Seminary, and the Regis University MA in Counseling Program. He has taught full-time at SIAS University in China and in the undergraduate psychology department at Regis University. Dr. Dimos receive in his Master of Arts in Professional Counseling from Colorado Christian University and his Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from the University of Denver. In this episode, Dr. Dimos and I have some fun engaging in reality testing--reflecting on what our experiences of each other were like during my time as his student. We also talk about positive psychology and why this isn't being talked about more in the field, the dynamics of being placed on a pedestal as a counselor and professor, why he transitioned from private practice to teaching, and much more. Follow me @joshkorac on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, for video clips, podcast previews, and more mental health content! If you are in a mental health crisis, please call 988 or go to your nearest emergency room. If you are from Colorado and are interested in scheduling a session, please reach out at sojourncounselingco.com/josh. Link for Cody Bradford GoFundMe: https://gofund.me/9695c296

Robert, Wendy and Olgima talk with Native American students and staff from Metro State University, about the support provided to Native students.

Rita Walaszek Arndt, White Earth Nation, recommends “Kindred Spirits: Three Indigenous Artists Who Speak Through Beads” at the Gordon Parks Gallery on the Metro State University campus in St. Paul. Curated by professor and gallery director Erica Rasmussen, the exhibit features three artists, from Minnesota and Wisconsin; Walter Super LaBatte, member of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, Sarah McRae, member of the Red Lake Nation, and Douglas Limón, member of the Oneida Nation. The art displayed includes traditional clothing, paintings, wall art and wearables. The exhibition runs through Oct. 20. Painter and scientist Suhaila Ihsanullah attended the opening night of the two exhibits currently running at Groveland Gallery in Minneapolis, and suggests others check it out. “[The opening] was very impressive, and I think that's why I wanted other people to go and see it,” Ihsanullah said. The two exhibits are “Night Shadows” and “Thinking Outside,” featuring the works of Michael Kareken and Jean Gumpper, respectively. Kareken's medium is drawings and paintings. Gumpper works in woodcut prints. Both exhibits close Oct.15. Former owner of the Grand Hand gallery Ann Ruhr Pifer is excited for the upcoming American Craft Made market in St. Paul. The event, formerly known as the American Craft Council show, was last held in 2019. Sponsored by the Minnesota-based nonprofit American Craft Council, the event brings artisans from across the country to showcase and sell their work. Ruhr Pifer also says this year will feature more emerging artists and Minnesota artists than in past years. “It's like a new version of an old favorite.” The American Craft Made show is Friday through Sunday at RiverCentre.

Alex is a Licensed Addiction Counselor and Licensed Professional Counselor, and is currently working on his Ph.D. in Depth Psychology. Mr. Castro is the Clinical Director and president of Life Recovery Centers in Northglenn and Denver, Colorado. Mr. Castro has over 15 years combined experience as a Drug Court Probation Officer, EMDR, Trauma and addiction counselor. He also currently works as an Adjunct professor at Metro State University in the Human Services Department. He is a Bilingual/bicultural Certified EMDR therapist and EMDR consultant-in-training.Life Recovery CentersSupport the Podcast -https://www.patreon.com/adultchildwww.buymeacoffee.com/adultchildFollow Andrea on social -www.instagram.com/adultchildpodwww.tiktok.com/@adultchildpodMid-roll music source https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-cKkrD1jHcg I do not own the rights of song - for entertainment purposes only)Support the show

In this four-part interview series, I talk with Dr. James Densley about the four things that mass shooters generally have in common. Dr. James Densley is Professor and Department Chair of Criminal Justice at Metro State University. He is also co-founder of the Violence Project, best known for having one of the most comprehensive database into mass shootings in America. Densley is the author and co-author of seven books, including the award-winning book, The Violence Project: How to Stop a Mass Shooting Epidemic, 50 peer-reviewed articles in leading scientific journals, and over 90 book chapters, essays, and other works such as CNN, The Los Angeles Times, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, and the Washington post. Join our next 5-week group coaching program: https://www.worshipsecurity.org/group-coaching Become a member of our video library: https://www.worshipsecurity.org/videocoach Check out The Violence Project: https://www.theviolenceproject.org/ Bullis Insurance: http://www.bullisagency.com/

In this four-part interview series, I talk with Dr. James Densley about the four things that mass shooters generally have in common. Dr. James Densley is Professor and Department Chair of Criminal Justice at Metro State University. He is also co-founder of the Violence Project, best known for having one of the most comprehensive database into mass shootings in America. Densley is the author and co-author of seven books, including the award-winning book, The Violence Project: How to Stop a Mass Shooting Epidemic, 50 peer-reviewed articles in leading scientific journals, and over 90 book chapters, essays, and other works such as CNN, The Los Angeles Times, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, and the Washington post. Join our next 5-week group coaching program: https://www.worshipsecurity.org/group-coaching Become a member of our video library: https://www.worshipsecurity.org/videocoach Check out The Violence Project: https://www.theviolenceproject.org/ Bullis Insurance: http://www.bullisagency.com/

In this four-part interview series, I talk with Dr. James Densley about the four things that mass shooters generally have in common. Dr. James Densley is Professor and Department Chair of Criminal Justice at Metro State University. He is also co-founder of the Violence Project, best known for having one of the most comprehensive database into mass shootings in America. Densley is the author and co-author of seven books, including the award-winning book, The Violence Project: How to Stop a Mass Shooting Epidemic, 50 peer-reviewed articles in leading scientific journals, and over 90 book chapters, essays, and other works such as CNN, The Los Angeles Times, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, and the Washington post. Join our next 5-week group coaching program: https://www.worshipsecurity.org/group-coaching Become a member of our video library: https://www.worshipsecurity.org/videocoach Check out The Violence Project: https://www.theviolenceproject.org/ Bullis Insurance: http://www.bullisagency.com/

In this four-part interview series, I talk with Dr. James Densley about the four things that mass shooters generally have in common. Dr. James Densley is Professor and Department Chair of Criminal Justice at Metro State University. He is also co-founder of the Violence Project, best known for having one of the most comprehensive database into mass shootings in America. Densley is the author and co-author of seven books, including the award-winning book, The Violence Project: How to Stop a Mass Shooting Epidemic, 50 peer-reviewed articles in leading scientific journals, and over 90 book chapters, essays, and other works such as CNN, The Los Angeles Times, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, and the Washington post. Join our next 5-week group coaching program: https://www.worshipsecurity.org/group-coaching Become a member of our video library: https://www.worshipsecurity.org/videocoach Check out The Violence Project: https://www.theviolenceproject.org/ Bullis Insurance: http://www.bullisagency.com/

In this interview with Dr. Doug Groothuis, we discuss his new book, “Fire in the Streets.” The book covers a variety of topics related to Critical Race Theory in America. We dive into reparations, evangelical sympathizers to CRT, and socialism. How should Christians respond to CRT? How did CRT and neo-Marxism take over the academy? Is CRT a conservative bogeyman? Bio from Denver Seminary:“Dr. Douglas Groothuis earned his PhD from the University of Oregon and has been a full-time faculty member at Denver Seminary since 1993.He has also taught at The University of Oregon and Metro State University, in Denver. He has authored thirty academic articles in journals such as Philosophia Christi, Religious Studies, Sophia, Bibliotheca Sacra, and Academic Questions. He has also written for Christianity Today, The Christian Research Journal, The Journal for Christian Legal Thought, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and many other publications. He has authored thirteen books, including Unmasking the New Age, The Soul in Cyberspace, Truth Decay, On Jesus, Christian Apologetics, Philosophy in Seven Sentences, Walking through Twilight: A Wife's Illness—A Philosopher's Lament, and I Love You to the Stars (a children's book written with Crystal Bowman). He has contributed numerous entries to reference volumes such as The Dictionary of Christianity and Science, The Apologetics Study Bible, The Evangelical Dictionary of World Religions, and the textbook, Problems in Value Theory.”Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/chasedavisEpisode 7 - Blaise Pascal, Metallica, Donald Trump, and Critical Race Theory with Dr. Douglas Groothuis - https://fullprooftheology.buzzsprout.com/1249781/5944654Fire in the Streets - https://amzn.to/3RWZ6mXSocial Justice and the Christian Church - https://amzn.to/3PUAJ7XTwitter - https://twitter.com/DougGroothuis

Georgia Stephens was active as a Dance Theater choreographer, director, writer andsound designer from 1975 through 2009. She moved to the Twin Cities in 1980 toparticipate in the newly formed Independent Choreographer's Alliance (MICA). Throughthis organization, she received numerous performance opportunities and financialsupport for her work from the McKnight, Jerome and Northwest Area Foundations, twoawards from the National Endowment for The Arts, Metropolitan Council for the Arts andthe Minnesota State Arts Board. Georgia was commissioned in 1993 to create anoriginal piece for the New Dance Ensemble and in 1986 for the Zenon Dance Company.She was one of five choreographers invited to create an original dance/video piece withvideographer James Byrne, in his project SOLO!.Although Georgia delighted in the process of interweaving original text and soundscores into her work, she also frequently collaborated with musician David Means.In 1986, Georgia was awarded a Bush Foundation Fellowship for Choreography. Withthese funds, she prepared an evening of new and old work titled Crosstalk, presented atDance Theater Workshop (NYC) in 1987. Performers included Laurie Van Wieren, TomCarlson, Alan Lindblad, Mary Beth Elchert and Mary Abrams. After a brief hiatus toassimilate her journey, she immerged with several evening-length Dance Theatercreations: World Without End Amen, produced by the MN Dance Alliance with JeromeFoundation funds in Extended Play; Omoomofamaliamenia, a collaborationcommissioned by The Southern Theater with the music group Zeitgeist; and severalself-produced theater events for a variety of venues.In 1990, Georgia incorporated as Georgia Stephens Contemporary Dance Theater. Thisgathering of dance performers included John Munger, Wendy Ansley, Diane Aldis,Ethan Emanual Balcos, Jill Haeberlin, and many other guest appearances (Mary Easter,Linda Shapiro, Lisa Carlson, Marilyn Habermas-Scher, Wendy Morris, Marty Winkler,Rebecca Katz). Around this same time, she joined with fellow dance artists Paula Mannand Shawn McConneloug to create SpaceSpace, an informal rehearsal andperformance studio. Georgia created work for this venue almost exclusively until its endin 1999. Georgia then began creating original work for David Means' Nobels eXperimental interMedia Group. They presented several full-length pieces between 1999 and 2005 at Metro State University's Nobels Performance Space, Intermedia Arts, The Walker choreographers' Evening, Patrick's Cabaret, Bryant Lake Bowl Theater and Edison Theater in St. Lous MO. Between 2005 and 2008, Georgia created a series of showings at Bryant Lake Bowl Theater. Georgia's final premiere, Alibi Simile, featuring Jon Spayde, was created for Red Eye Collaboration's 2008 New Work series.During her career she taught classes and workshops at Webster College andWashington University of St. Louis, Ozone Dance, Carlton and St. Olaf Colleges.Georgia still pops up now and again to participate in various ways, as a participant inDavid Means' performances, as a stage arts consultant, and as an advocate for up-and-coming performing artists who push boundaries and challenge perceptual norms. Herwork was always based on the adage, “I move when I speak. I speak when I move.”This realization came to life out of the physical frustration of growing up as a stutterer. Itproduced a fascinating lifetime of liberating words “stuck inside” via breath andkinesthetic release. This, and her background of figure skating, provided Georgia with afoundation for her technique and unique movement style.And finally… THANK YOUA quick read of this biography caused me to realize that a mere mention of who didwhat and when, seems profoundly inadequate. I could not have brought to life my

From LinkedIn: 4500+ hour professional pilot (instructor / evaluator / maintenance test), educator, and aviation/leadership/organizational management consultant built on a foundation of 21 years as a fighter pilot in the US Air Force (F-15E Strike Eagle). Highly proficient in the use of basic & advanced information technologies to help plan, brief, execute, and debrief aviation-oriented solutions to even the most challenging aviation business problems. Most Current experience: + Chief Pilot of Part 91 private business flight program + Lead Fixed Wing Pilot of Part 135 air ambulance program at Children's Hospital Colorado + Affiliate Faculty at Metro State University of Denver, Aerospace Sciences Department + Consultant in air transportation planning, organizational leadership, and process improvement. Depth and breadth of aviation & non-aviation experience as: + Executive leadership/management advisor & coach + Team and organizational leader + Program & project manager + Educator & trainer + Standards & compliance evaluator International experience. + Aviation consultant and trainer in over twelve countries in > Europe > Africa > West Asia (Eastern Mediterranean & Arabian Gulf regions). + Roles included > Aviation planning/briefing/executing/debriefing training-team leader > Multi-national aviation-related cross-functional conference project manager > National defense consultant. Lauded for ability to rapidly observe, analyze, and synchronize new information in order generate innovative solutions/improvements through: + Well-developed diplomacy and consensus building skills + Leveraging of highly effective process review & improvement techniques + Optimization of team diversity by focusing individual strengths toward a common purpose + Coordination of disparate individual efforts to achieve effective synchronization Passion for helping organizations enhance individual and team relevance in an increasingly competitive globally-connected environment.

Ken and Paul are joined by TMWM's first guest, Becky Evan. Becky is an Assistant Professor of Management at Metro State University. Her research and experience is focused on enhancing an organization's diversity and inclusion programs. She's especially interested in breaking concrete and glass ceilings so women and people of color can flourish in leadership positions. ​This episode discusses the research report titled "Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Workplace: Examining the Role of White Privilege in Advancing Organizational Equity​,​" in which she is one of the researchers (Evan, R.J., Sisco, S., Fashant, C.S., and Robbins, S.). The research takes a critical look at dominant culture​ -​ or whiteness​ -​ to better understand the work ahead of us on DEI teams and in organizations.​​ ​They discuss themes of personal development, ways White privilege can support BIPOC colleagues in the workplace, ​helpful theories to identify our whiteness to ultimately work towards accountability, reference White men's roles specifically, and more. ​Connect with The Modern White Man by subscribing to their newsletter at www.themodernwhiteman.com. ​

On today's episode, I speak with Coach Nick Kirchhof from the Metro State University Men's Program in Denver. We talk about how his roster is made up primarily of domestic players. He tells me about fantastic benefits of having their school in a great, urban location. Lastly, we discuss their conference and the high-level teams they play. Metro St. Men's Soccer - https://roadrunnersathletics.com/sports/mens-soccer See more interviews at https://discovercollegesoccer.com/  

This episode is an interview is with Dr. James Densley, discussing his book: The Violence Project: How to stop a mass shooting epidemic. Dr. James Densley is Professor and Department Chair of Criminal Justice at Metro State University, part of the Minnesota State system. He is also co-founder of The Violence Project Research Center, best known for its mass shooter database. Dr. Densley is the author or co-author of seven books, including the acclaimed, The Violence Project: How to Stop a Mass Shooting Epidemic, 50 peer-reviewed articles in leading scientific journals, and over 90 book chapters, essays, and other works in outlets such as CNN, The Los Angeles Times, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post.

In this episode, Beth Klepper shares the key considerations you need to create content for video marketing.In 2014, Beth founded Mainstream Video Production, working with more than 100 organizations and creating more than 1,500 videos. Mainstream continues to help businesses increase revenues, save hours and tell their story through video. Mainstream specializes in full-service production (think storyboarding, shooting and editing) and supports those who want to DIY their videos through Mainstream's online Video Marketing 101 course.Beth started creating videos in kindergarten. With the neighborhood kids as her actors, brothers and sisters as pushy directors and producers, and an 80s-style camera always in hand, Beth always knew the power of video and storytelling.She earned her master's degree in film and spent more than a decade producing live entertainment and television shows for AXS TV. She told a wide range of stories, producing reality shows, travel shows and celebrity gossip shows. She also produced live concerts for groups like “The Zac Brown Band,” “Def Leppard, “The String Cheese Incident" and many more.  She also continues to teach Public Speaking and Interpersonal communication at Metro State University.  As Beth always says, every business has a story to tell. Video just makes it great.  To learn more, visit http://mainstreamvideoproduction.comIn this episode we cover:2:10          Questions We Ask3:50          What To Consider7:02          Message9:59          Quick Win12:15       Groundhog Day14:28       Top Of Mind15:49       Understanding Technology18:43       Different Skill Sets24:56       What You GetThanks so much for tuning in again this week. I appreciate you 

Gentrification: The Denver Experience We talk about the history and politics of gentrification here on the CU Denver campus, as well as in the Denver Metro Area. Many news organizations and libraries have documented the ongoing disenfranchisement of the “Displaced Aurarians”—a largely Hispanic neighborhood “relocated” by the Auraria Campus, which houses CU Denver, Metro State University, and Community College of Denver. However, very few news sources have framed that notorious displacement within Denver's larger culture of gentrification. According to a 2020 study by the National Community Reinvestment Coalition, Denver is the second most gentrified city in the nation, with over 27% of its neighborhoods affected by skyrocketing home prices and rising inequality. We first interview two Auraria campus employees: Francine Olivas-Zarate, who is our CU Denver English Department Program Coordinator, and her sister Benita Olivas, who was an advisor and worked in the Women's Center at the Community College of Denver. Their family members lived on 9th Street Park before the mass displacement by Auraria Higher Education Center in the 1970s, and both have worked on campus near their family's original home. Second, we interview Dr. Jeremy Nemeth, Professor in CU Denver's Urban and Regional Planning Department, and Dr. Brian Page, Associate Professor in our Department of Geography and Environmental Sciences, about Denver's history of gentrification and current economic effects on particular neighborhoods. Finally, we interview Laura McKenna, Development Director of HomeAid America, who discusses the impact of gentrification on the growing number of unhoused people in Denver. Addition Resources: Wells, J., & Abbott, P. (2021). Shameless. Season 11. Episode 2. “Go Home, Gentrifier!” Lees, L., Slater, T., & Wyly, E. K. (2011). Gentrification. Routledge. Fullilove, M. T., Peterson, C. F., & Bassett, M. T. (2016). Root shock how tearing up city neighborhoods hurts America, and what we can do about it. New Village Press. Brian Page & Eric Ross (2017) Legacies of a Contested Campus: Urban Renewal, Community Resistance, and the Origins of Gentrification in Denver, Urban Geography, 38:9, 1293-1328, DOI: 10.1080/02723638.2016.1228420 Rigolon, A., & Németh, J. (2019). Green gentrification or ‘just green enough': Do park location, size and function affect whether a place gentrifies or not? Urban Studies, 57(2), 402–420. https://doi.org/10.1177/0042098019849380 Hoyman, M. M., & McCall, J. R. (2010). "Not imminent in my domain!" county leaders' attitudes toward eminent domain decisions. Public Administration Review, 70(6), 885-893. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.aurarialibrary.idm.oclc.org/scholarly-journals/not-imminent-my-dom ain-county-leaders-attitudes/docview/853334132/se-2?accountid=14506 Hemmat, S. A. (1986). PARKS, PEOPLE, AND PRIVATE PROPERTY: THE NATIONAL PARK SERVICE AND EMINENT DOMAIN. Environmental Law, 16(4), 935–961. http://www.jstor.org/stable/43265779 https://digital.denverlibrary.org/digital/collection/p15330coll27/search/searchterm/denver.%20city %20council/field/subjec/mode/exact/conn/and https://digital.denverlibrary.org/digital/collection/p15330coll6/id/460/rec/42 https://catalog.denverlibrary.org/search/title.aspx?ctx=1.1033.0.0.6&pos=2&cn=612821

S5 Ep36 ABBY from BOSS VINTAGE: Abby, a history student, works for the oldest vintage store in Denver - on restoring or mending vintage garments, and the Denver thrift and vintage scene. JOIN OUR PATREON COMMUNITY: https://www.patreon.com/prelovedpod  Listen and subscribe on: iTunes | Spotify | Stitcher | Google Play | or wherever you get your podcasts! Please rate & review the show so more vintage lovers find this community. Pre-Loved Podcast is a weekly interview show about rad vintage style with guests you'll want to go thrifting with. Find the show at @emilymstochl on Instagram and @PreLovedPod on Twitter. Pre-Loved Podcast: Abby from Boss Vintage Today I'm speaking with Abby Wehrman, who works at Denver's oldest vintage clothing store, Boss Vintage. I met Abby when I was out in Denver this summer and had the best time talking with her about the super old pieces at Boss. Abby is a history major at Metro State University, and she's hoping to one day get her master's degree in Museum Studies to work with textiles. She loves to sew and restore garments, couldn't be more at home in a vintage store, and we talk about all that and more on today's show!  This is a super fun one and I can't wait for you to hear it! Let's dive in!  All the Episode Links: @abby.wehrman @bossvintage Gone with the Wind bbq dress Saver's @denvervintagemap Articles about Boss Vintage history - here, here, and here Pre-Loved Podcast with Crossroads Trading @crossroadtrading @goldminevintage @tenpennystore @lalovelyvintage @volatilevisions @alanamarsmusic @crorpsic @olivia.neece @taytay.h_ * JOIN THE PATREON COMMUNITY and get the Pre-Loved Podcast News Flash: https://www.patreon.com/prelovedpod  A special thanks goes out to my Patron Insiders: Patty Weber Beverley Docherty of Wolfe Pack Vintage Danny of Galaxy Live Kayla of Pins Thrift & Vintage Lucero Buendia Eliza Talvola Kathy Brand **For more good stuff every week be sure you subscribe to Emily's newsletter! It's called The French Press and you can sign up here.  *** Pre-Loved Podcast stickers are on sale now! PayPal me $4.00 USD at this link, or to @Emily-Stochl on Venmo and provide your address, and I will ship you a sticker anywhere in the world! Or, if you want, you can also use the link paypal.me/prelovedpod or Venmo @Emily-Stochl to send a donation in support of the show. ****Our Depop shop is @prelovedpod if you want to find some vintage gems and support the show.  Pre-Loved Podcast is created by Emily Stochl. Follow me on Instagram, Twitter, and my blog. 

St. Paul: "An Urban Biography" by Bill Lindeke Author Bill Lindeke will share stories and research from his new book, St. Paul: An Urban Biography, a concise history of St. Paul, featuring stories that are familiar, surprising, and sure to change the way you see Minnesota's capital city. How did the city of St. Paul come to be where and what it is, and what does that show us about the city today? Bill Lindeke provides intriguing insights and helpful answers. He tells the stories of the Dakota village forced to move across the Mississippi by a treaty—and why whiskey sellers took over the site; the new community's close ties to Fort Snelling and Winnipeg; the steamboats and railroads that created a booming city; the German immigrants who outnumbered the Irish but kept a low profile when the United States went to war; the laborers who built the domes over the state capitol and the Cathedral of St. Paul; the gangsters and bootleggers who found refuge in the city; the strong neighborhoods, shaped by streets built on footpaths and wagon roads—until freeway construction changed so much; and the Hmong, Mexican, East African, and Karen immigrants who continue to build the city's strong traditions of small businesses. This thoughtful investigation of place helps readers to understand the city's hidden stories, surrounding its residents in plain sight. Bill Lindeke is an urban geographer and writer who focuses on how our environments shape our lives. He wrote MinnPost's “Cityscapes” column from 2014 to 2017, has written articles on local food and drink history for City Pages and the Growler, and has taught urban geography at the University of Minnesota and Metro State University. He writes a local urban blog at Twin City Sidewalks and is a member of the Saint Paul Planning Commission. He is the author of Minneapolis–Saint Paul: Then and Now and the coauthor of Closing Time: Saloons, Taverns, Dives, and Watering Holes of the Twin Cities. To purchase titles from the History Revealed series, or other books of interest, see our partner, Subtext Books at https://subtextbooks.com/ To view the video: https://youtu.be/z2DiKCvLWfQ

Beth Klepper started creating videos in kindergarten. With the neighborhood kids as her actors, brothers and sisters as pushy directors and producers, and an 80s-style camera always in hand, Beth always knew the power of video and storytelling. She earned her master's degree in film and spent a decade producing live entertainment and television shows for AXS TV. She told a wide range of stories, producing reality shows, travel shows and celebrity gossip shows. She also produced live concerts for groups like “The Zac Brown Band,” “Def Leppard, “The String Cheese Incident" and many more. She also continues to teach Public Speaking and Interpersonal communication at Metro State University. In 2014, Beth founded Mainstream Video Production, working with more than 100 organizations and creating more than 1,500 videos. Mainstream continues to help businesses increase revenues, save hours and tell their story through video. Mainstream specializes in full-service production (think storyboarding, shooting and editing) and supports those who want to DIY their videos through Mainstream's online Video Marketing 101 course. Learn more about Beth: Website LinkedIn Contact Phil & Firestorm Phil's LinkedIn Firestorm Website Contact Ian & Mission Suite Ian's LinkedIn Mission Suite Website

Good morning and welcome to Montrose Fresh, from The Montrose Daily Press. It's MondayJuly 26th and we're here to bring you a closer look at our top stories, events and more that matter to us here in Western Colorado.    Today - DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, is now considered “unlawful” according to a July 16 ruling.    The ruling leaves the immigrant community in Montrose devastated and in limbo.   Today's episode is brought to you by Elevate Internet. Whether it's for your home or your business they offer the best speeds at the best price. Right now, if you refer a friend you can get $25 off! Give them a call for more information at 844-386-8744 or visit them at elevateinternet.com.   -   Now, our feature story.   DACA, or Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, is now considered “unlawful” according to Texas federal Judge Andrew S. Hanen's July 16 ruling.    The judge determined that former president Barack Obama exceeded his authority when he created the program by executive order in 2012.   The judge also said that new application approvals are prohibited. Although he would not order the DACA program to be immediately discontinued.    His logic was that DACA violated the Administrative Procedure Act.   The ruling leaves the immigrant community in Montrose devastated and in limbo, according to Ricardo Perez. Perez is the executive director and co-founder of the Hispanic Affairs Project.   Perez said that they're very disappointed because there are many who we call Dreamers in our communities.    The Hispanic Affairs Project works with the Colorado Immigrants Rights Coalition and the Department of Justice Immigration Legal Assistance Program. These are both programs set up in the Western Slope to help community members with DACA applications and the path to citizenship.   Perez said their organization supports an average of 80 applicants a year.    But the way Perez sees it, the judge left the door open for DACA renewals.   Not to be confused with DREAM - DACA determined that certain individuals who immigrated to the United States as children could request consideration of deferred action for two years.   DACA recipients became eligible for work permits and to reside in the United States legally during that period.   DACA applicants must meet several guidelines, including having moved to the U.S. before turning 15. They also need a clean criminal record.   Perez and The Hispanic Affairs Project are already working to coordinate actions against the ruling.    The organization plans to request action from state senators to support DACA.   Perez added that many applicants began applying when they were 16. They have since graduated high school, been to college, joined the workforce and started a family.   He said - this is their home. They're active community members participating in our society in many ways.   Perez also explained that this news is very painful, but this is not the end.   To stay up to date on this story visit us at montrosepress.com   -   Before we go…   Rosie Glenn's heart is happiest when colors are floating across her canvas.   She's fascinated by the idea of leaving behind a legacy and the ability of humans to create something out of nothing.    The artist found her love for art as a young child. She then earned her GED, attended Arapahoe Community College and went on to study jewelry and metalwork at Metro State University.   She transplanted to Montrose in 2017 with her family, where she is now a self-proclaimed “domestic engineer” and a homeschooling teacher. When she's not teaching her 6-year-old son, Glenn is in her home studio creating.   With her love of colors, it's no wonder that the artist is drawn to the abstract style of arts.    Whether Glenn is tie-dyeing, sewing, working with leather, beading, cooking or baking or acrylic painting - she's happy.    But it's her work in metal-smithing and jewelry making that really drives her.   Glenn's current painting phase indulges her passion for the multitude of art practices she enjoys executing, including glitter, color and texture in her art.   The artist is bringing her “playful yet serious” style of art to Mosaic. She'll be the gallery's featured artist for July.   Check it out!   That's all for today, thank you for listening! For more information on any of these stories visit us at montrosepress.com.   And don't forget to check out our sponsor, Elevate Internet. Visit them at elevateinternet.com to learn more.   For more than 137 years, The Montrose Daily Press has been dedicated to shining a light on all the issues that matter to our community. Go to montrosepress.com to subscribe for just $1.99 per week for our digital edition. You'll get unlimited access to every story, feature, and special section. Thank you and remember to tune in again next time on montrosepress.com or wherever you listen to podcasts. Support the show: https://www.montrosepress.com/site/forms/subscription_services/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Steve Beaty is the Interim Chair and Professor in the Department of Computer Sciences at the Metropolitan State University of Denver. In this episode of Cybercrime Radio, he joins host Hillarie McClure to discuss juice jacking - what it is, why you need to know about it, and how you can protect your USB-charged devices. To learn more about MSU Denver, visit https://www.msudenver.edu/cs/ • For more on cybersecurity, visit us at https://cybersecurityventures.com/

Genah M. Burditt, a graduate of UC Santa Barbara in Aquatic Biology, is a lifelong educator and scientist, turned entrepreneur. In 2013 Burditt joined her father, Gerry Murphy, an aerospace veteran, to take EyasSat Desktop Satellite Simulators to the next level, developing new product lines and a global customer base. These simulators, think drone spacecraft, are one of a kind in the world. They are used for education/professional development commercially, in academia, and for government entities. Burditt and her team assemble these units in EyasSat’s lab on the Metro State University of Denver’s campus In addition to managing assembly, integration, testing, sales and customer training, Burditt also manages and contributes to R & D for new generations, products, and test beds.After spending several years getting to know the local and global aerospace communities, Burditt, like Haffey, began to observe a fissure in the industry between independent, highly skilled and specialized engineers and the customers who need their skill sets. A fissure that no existing organization seemed to be closing.Burditt’s goal for Blue Foot Engineering is to advocate for small aerospace companies and vetted specialists while creating the richest network of talent in the industry and making it visible and accessible to the end customer. www.bluefootengineering.com

Officer Eric Talley's funeral is scheduled for tomorrow and will be open to the public. Covid-19 restrictions will be in place, so it will be a limited capacity. We will be taking calls to show your love and support to Officer Talley and other law enforcement tomorrow morning as well. Metro State University made some history over the weekend with pitcher, Cade Crader, pitched a perfect game for the Roadrunners! Plus, veteran vaccine details and Country Jam is back in today's #TrendinginDenver #KYGOMorningShow See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

09. One Big Thing: Safety is Performance Relevant“As leaders, people are watching all the time…. if you are not genuinely committed to doing the right thing in terms of how you build a culture where everyone feels respected and included, that has a downstream effect that could be detrimental to the culture and the company.”Guest Info:Shane Portfolio is Senior Vice President of Field Ops Engineering for Comcast Cable where he leads One Network, XOC, Headend Operations, and Plant Maintenance. Prior to moving to the HQ team in 2019, Shane was Senior Vice President of Tech Ops and Engineering for the Comcast West Division, with responsibility for engineering, technical operations and advanced services serving approximately 11,000 employees and nine-million customers. In this role, he oversaw the Division’s fiber network and IP-based infrastructure; and was instrumental in overseeing testing and deployment of new technologies and resources to assist the Division’s technical operations and engineering teams in delivering a reliable network and customer experience, with innovative new products and services.Before joining the West Division team, Shane was Vice President, Engineering for the California Region, where he was responsible for the oversight, guidance, direction and vision for all Technical Engineering aspects throughout the Comcast California footprint. Shane served as the Vice President of Engineering and XOC in Comcast’s Central Division before moving to California. In that role, Shane was responsible for a team of 350 employees. Prior to that, Shane was the Sr. Director of Network Operations for Comcast’s TPX organization. He has also served as Comcast’s Senior Director of IP Operations.Shane began his career in cable as a Comcast Account Executive answering technical phone calls. Shane holds a bachelor’s degree from Metropolitan State University, master’s degrees from Regis University and Denver University, and completed programs at Dartmouth University, Stanford University, and Notre Dame University. He is currently pursuing his PhD in Organizational Leadership.Shane serves on the Board of Directors for Metro State University, National Diversity Council, and Big Brothers Big Sisters. He is also a former Platoon Sergeant and Leadership Instructor for the U.S. Army and successfully completed the Army’s Primary Leadership Course, Officer Candidate School, and Senior Leadership Course.Favorite quote: "Go forth and conquer."Resources:Shane PortfolioShannon Cassidy on YouTubeFor more information about R.O.G. Return on Generosity and host Shannon Cassidy, visit bridgebetween.com.Credits:Shane Portfolio, Comcast. Production team: Nani Shin, Sheep Jam Productions, qodpod

Dave Willner served as the Chief Operating Officer for Skyport North America, one of the nation’s premiere airport hospitality groups for almost 5 years.  As the strategic leader of Skyport, Dave directed all systems and operations for 70 distinct retail and restaurant entities across multiple states, including spearheading rapid expansion and escalating gross revenues to over $200M. After being forced to shut down all but one of their 70 restaurants and lay off 1250 employees due to the COVID pandemic, Dave also left in search of new opportunities where he could utilize his experience and passion for hospitality and employee engagement. As such, Dave is now the newly appointed National Director of Food and Beverage at Sun Communities & Sun RV Resorts. He also proudly serves on the Board of Directors for the Colorado Restaurant Association and frequently serves as a Guest Lecturer for the Hospitality programs at Johnson & Wales University, University of Denver, and Metro State University. What We Discuss With Dave Willner In This Episode Transitioning from a starving actor to COO in a premiere hospitality group Building an employee first culture Navigating through the uncertainty of Covid-19 Leadership skills needed to be a great leader in difficult times A secret to leadership success The importance of customer service and growing guest experiences Pivot – the word of 2020 Episode Show Notes: https://tinyurl.com/y67g9ye3

Enjoy this sneak peek of the talk the 97.9 crew gave to students attending Metro State University's Stone Phillips School Of Digital Media.#GibbuteBand #RIPNotSoLuckyLadyPassengers

Kenn Bisio is a photojournalist and an educator. He speaks to Billy about his background, his profession and his career as a professor at Metro State University. Kenn shares anecdotes about shooting pictures for some of the most well known and respected news publications in the U.S. as well as shooting pictures of some of the most well known, if not always respected, people in the U.S.

Colleen Stanley Welcome to Scale Your Sales Podcast. An expert on emotional intelligence and sales leadership. She has been named by Salesforce as one of the top eight influential sales experts of the 21st century. Published in six languages, Colleen is the author of Emotional Intelligence for Sales Success and Emotional Intelligence for Sales Leadership. I had just finished reading the book Emotional Intelligence for Sales Success and it resonated with my experience in sales. I found Colleen's phrase fascinating ‘Change your emotion, changes your story.’ I was fascinated to know Colleen made the link between emotional intelligence and sales? Colleen recalled how fortunate that a colleague brought the idea of incorporating emotional intelligence, sales, and leadership training. When she did not know what emotional intelligence was, the more she studied it, like an epiphany she saw the missing link.  Like many of her colleagues in consultative sales training and speaking, however, Colleen saw salespeople execute role plays in a workshop or a coaching session, and then they get in front of that more difficult and demanding prospect and all those good skills just took a right turn. The emotions started running the meeting rather than good selling and influencing skills. We do teach a lot of the hard skills, says Colleen, it is the soft skills that help you execute the hard selling behaviours consistently and effectively. There was a study done by the University of Michigan in 2010 and this is not to bash the 20 something-year-olds and the young professionals, but it did show clearly that empathy the which is a major influence skill, has decreased as much as 40% in the younger generation. Part of that has been linked to the onset of technology. Everybody is looking down all the time of their smartphones, and empathy is a paying attention skill, which you got to lookup around and be perfectly present. This study was around 20-year-olds. But Colleen said she is seeing the same with 40 or 50 age group. Nobody is paying attention. We are in these meetings and we cannot pay attention long enough because we have never paid attention for more than five minutes without checking some type of electronic.  Colleen talks to a lot of sales leaders about modelling the behaviour of focus, paying attention and being present because that is how you read and relate to people. Colleen explains more about using neuroscience to manage your emotions and build a mutually beneficial relationship? We found is that people do not really understand how they can leverage this immensely powerful thing sitting on our shoulders. The brain. The term is called neural plasticity and comes from heads law, the cells that fire together wire together. If you desire to change thoughts, negative thoughts, negative emotion, negative responses, you absolutely can do it. Part of that is true visualization, carving out quiet time so what you think, say, do and repeat can become a new, more positive neuro pathway. Often referred to its hard-wiring. For example, Janice “what makes your company different? I got 100 calls from people like you” If you don't rehearse that statement coming from a prospect and rehearse your statement verbally and mentally, you don't have the new neural pathway that when you hear that question that statement becomes your automatic response. Mastery is absolutely within your control, but it takes repetition says, Colleen. It takes carving out quiet time to figure out what situations trigger and cause you to respond in a manner you regret. I meditate every morning and I find that the days I miss it, the day just does not flow quite so well. I am slowing down to speed up Colleen encourage her clients to start with carving out quiet time. You will find you develop a new addiction because if you start with gratitude and how you want to show up, your brain releases the hormone of dopamine that feel-good hormone. So, you get addicted to your quiet time setting good intentions. Meditation practice is a game-changer. Colleen talks through the difference in her just-published 9th July Emotional Intelligence for Sales Leadership book? The first section of the book Janice was written on How do you hire emotionally intelligent salespeople. Because often we hire for the hard skills, industry experience, the number of years and sales, but if you say, What's the worst higher you have ever had? You hear not a good team player, bad attitude, did not care about working with other departments, and those are all the soft skills. So, the first part of the book is dedicated to How do you interview for assertiveness, Impulse control, Emotion management etc. The second section of the book, then is devoted to helping sales managers teach these soft skills, it sounds good, but then how do I do it? For example, empathy, we give them a framework for teaching their sale of people how to be truly empathetic on a call. The third section we turn the mirror back on the Sales leader and say, how are you showing up from an emotion management piece being assertive rather than aggressive? How is your empathy in coaching conversation?  One of the chapter titles is ‘What they don't teach you at traditional sales management school’ If your salesperson isn't doing something, there might be a lack of a soft skill that you need to know how to teach and develop to improve the outcome. Colleen shares what her participants have said, about the gender differences. The men always raised their hand and say, I am not good at empathy just asked my partner or spouse. Everybody can learn it. Women might have to work on the assertive more because of their self-limiting belief, that if you are assertive, you are going to be labelled something. And the fact is, the old adage is on assertiveness is that a man is strong, and a woman is something else that negative. Colleen recalls been in meetings where men get called, ‘a jerk’ or worse, the guys just do not care. Women you must get comfortable speaking up, if someone says ‘you are coming on a little strong’ be comfortable with it, test yourself, get comfortable being assertive and get comfortable with the response. Both genders in sales are big fixers, I talk about in the book, these great problem-solving skills. The buyer brings you an issue and you immediately start solving the problem, and you didn't show a lick of empathy like, ‘Wow, that must be discouraging, or you must be feeling like nothing you do matters.’ It is empathy first, and then apply your good problem-solving skills so that all requires self-awareness. Know thy self, because that what you are not aware of, you are bound to repeat covered in the book on becoming aware of how you are showing up. Asking do you think B2B Sellers have shifted enough to be more empathetic of the buyer’s world and more customer-centric? Colleen said, No. Well, done with that question. Empathy again is paying attention skills. So, I think what gets in the way is you have got this quota over your head and you have a hard time slowing down to think about Okay. What is the day in the life of my customer? What problems are they experiencing? But the thing and writing, I would say good copy. I call it sales copies. Whether It is a voicemail. You are leaving an email, your crafting or a LinkedIn outreach the copy is a skillset, and both sellers have not been taught that skillset, so they tend to, without knowing it defaults to, what they do. Messaging and generic messaging has changed is your buyer absolutely expects you to know my business. So, when we go in and work with company value propositions, you got to customize this by the industry, the buyer, the life cycle, the trigger events, perhaps their competitors. And so, you can just have one size fits all approach. And I still see too many generic prospecting. So, these poor sellers are working hard. it was the funniest statement. She said I love all the technology tools we have. We are just speeding up the amount of crap we are sending out. The one size fits all prospecting. You have one value proposition and sell into four different verticals. If you have not customized nuancing the language to the person. The buyer gets the voicemail or reads the email and immediately say, they do not get us. That is empathy when you write good sales, copy the buyer listens to the message and say this person gets me and that is the first thing in building rapport and trust. The IQ is learning how to write good sales copy, the EQ is slowing down and thinking, thinking is getting to be a lost art. You must work harder on focusing than we did 25 years ago because 25 years ago you did not have technology all over your home. The brain needs a natural reprieve. If you are not very intentional about manager your environment, your brain gets overloaded, it gets tired, and it is not that creative. Then the more stressed you get, the less empathetic you get, this is some of the physiology of sales and plays into being a successful seller. Colleen advises asking the question. ‘Am I talking about a problem that my service can solve? Where am I talking about what I do? Then when you sit down with your good customers and ask, ‘What's the number one reason you purchase from us? What problems did we solve? What goals did we help you achieve? Not achieving goals is simply a pain in disguise.  A lot of fast-growth companies, the pain is growing fast they cannot on-board people fast enough and know they are leaving money on the table. The fear of not being relevant is alive and well. Understand their personal pressure points? The pressure points that come from competitors. Another pressure point is how do we keep up with everything? Colleen says diversity is the number one diversity and thought, which can come from obviously having a diverse team. And the research is clear, having a diverse team, whether its ethnic race gender is positive because everyone brings their background and perspectives. However, diversity needs to start before you get into the workplace. So, I believe we need to be reaching out to universities, and many of them have good sales programs, a lot of people do not even know sales is a great profession. University of Denver, Metro State University. They both have sales minors. I want the students to know, this is something you should seriously consider Sales as a profession. My parents and God bless them, they never did know what I did for a living. I grew up on a farm in Iowa, they did not even know that sales were a possibility. Not to complain about what we don't have but to focus on how do we get more of what we want, which is more people in sales, more women, race, colour, gender, backgrounds because it's a wonderful profession. Colleen one item she will have on a desert island is an inflatable lifeboat. She said ‘I will do my meditation but I'm not Tom Hanks in Castaway, I want to get out as fastest as possible. Go is the website https://www.salesleadershipdevelopment.com for the free resource good tips for sellers and sales managers and become part of our emotionally intelligent sales community. https://www.linkedin.com/in/colleenstanleysli https://www.amazon.co.uk/Emotional-Intelligence-Leadership-Colleen-Stanley/dp/1400217725  

Dr Christine Anderson and Dr. Toxil Ruck discuss craniosacral therapy for babies and how it can help with postpartum trauma on babies with the incredible Dr. Carol Phillips in this can't miss episode! Dr. Phillips has many accomplishments to her name despite many struggles: She completed a Bachelor's degree in Human Service Administration at Metro State University with focus on children with autism and disabilities. Dr. Carol Phillips then completed her chiropractic degree at Palmer West after which she traveled to Minnesota to start the Maternal/pediatric center at Northwestern while also still teaching pediatrics. She then left Northwestern to begin a private practice and started teaching for the ICPA while teaching workshops to chiropractors on CST globally for the next 20 years. She has produced the book “Hands of Love” after 20 years of attending births as a labor support person. And this is just the tip of the iceberg of this amazing woman's journey! Listen in to find out why craniosacral therapy is important for babies to receive early to prevent future issues. When you SUBSCRIBE to our podcast, you will receive a FREE 15 minute consultation (a $75 value) so that we can help YOUR family grow up healthy! https://mailchi.mp/0f57e7560f23/your-babys-brilliant-brain-podcast-consult-calls 0:13: Introduction to amazing guest Dr. Carol Philips! 4:19: Dr. Phillips talks about magnetic healing and craniosacral therapy 7:55: Dr. Phillips talks about the history of birth trauma in herself and her daughter 9:05: Dr. Phillips talks about her daughter's health issues 11:45: Dr. Phillips talks about her first experience with a chiropractor and how he analyzed her daughter 13:30: Dr. Phillips talks about her daughter's delayed development 14:10: Dr. Phillips lets the chiropractor adjust her daughter 15:15: Dr. Phillips talks about her daughter's career path 16:00: Dr. Phillips talks why she changed her focus to pregnant moms 16:55: Dr. Phillips explores her own personal journey with chiropractic 21:59: Dr. Phillips talks about how she discovered craniosacral therapy 23:40: Dr. Phillips talks about her personal craniosacral therapy experiences and unwinding from her birth trauma 28:30 Dr. Phillips talks about working on unwinding for babies 30:30: Dr. Phillips talks about what craniosacral therapy is and why functional cranial bones are important 35:48: Dr. Phillips talks about brain development 40:25: Dr. Phillips tells a story about treating a baby 43:20: Dr. Chris and Dr. Phillips discuss why it's important to treat the whole family 44:40: Dr. Philips gives her advice for moms 50:55: Wrap up with Dr. Phillips 54:20: Dr. Chris talks about her work with craniosacral therapy on babies in her practice 1:00:00: Episode wrap up

It’s been termed “the Minnesota paradox.” The Twin Cities have some of the best standards of living in the country: high incomes, long life expectancies, a healthy population and access to a rich cultural scene. But the Twin Cities also have some of the most stark racial disparities. Home ownership, education levels, income and unemployment rates for black Minnesotans are among the worst in the country. Part One: When Minnesota Nice ... isn't Those disparities are getting a closer look in the aftermath of George Floyd’s killing. This Tuesday, we dove into the second part of our conversation about Minnesota grappling with the grim reality under the surface of Minnesota Nice. Guests: Mike Griffin is a Minneapolis organizer with Community Change Action. Taiyon Coleman is an associate professor of English literature at St. Catherine University. Jose Santos is an anthropologist and professor at Metro State University. Subscribe to the MPR News with Kerri Miller podcast on: Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts , Spotify or RSS.

It was an honor having Mark Toussaint, Public Accountant, join us for the podcast this week. Mark owns and operates TASC Public Accounting and CFO Services with offices in Boulder and Longmont, Colorado. Mark is also on the faculty teaching accounting at Metro State University in Denver and occasionally dabbles in Dashing for Doordash. He has his Masters in Tax Law from Denver University, so he understands taxes but also understands how it is in the Gig Economy. Mark helps us understand what those pesky 1099's are that we have been receiving and walks through how we report income, some of the expenses that can reduce our taxable income, and how to find help when needed getting your taxes done.Mark is available to help drivers with their taxes. He can meet couriers locally in his office or do remote sessions. If you would like some guidance with your taxes from someone who understands how it is on our side, you can contact him:On the web at Tax and Accounting Services Co.By phone at 303-731-3822Here's a couple of links relevant to Mark's discussions.IRS 1099 formIRS Schedule CSpecial IRS Website for Gig EconomyIRS Volunteer Income Tax AssistanceFor the associated web page and transcript, go here.More about the EntreCourierYou can get more tips and ideas at our website, Entrecourier.comOur Podcast page is at DeliverOnYourBusiness.comSign up for our weekly Courier Nation Motivation emailGet in touch with usFollow us on FacebookFolow us on TwitterConnect with us on LinkedinFollow us on Instagram

Ryan Schroder is the co-founder and owner of VSM Real Estate. VSM does property management and brokering in the Twin Cities, with a specialization in residential investments. Ryan is also the general contractor and owner of Construction Pros, which provides maintenance services, remodeling, and provides for the flip business that he runs. Ryan's background is in business and hotel brokering, and sales in general. A graduate from Metro State University. He lives in the Prior Lake area with his wife, 3 kids and 2 dogs. === Like what you're hearing? You can WATCH this episode on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL9p74LHu4dBet3Htypyan24kM7k62OuIh You can also check out the latest blog post at www.realestatestiles.com/blog === You’re invited to join John Stiles at a special food-packing event at Feed My Starving Children. This is a great organization that provides nutritious meals for people around the world that are in need. The event is Thursday, December 26 9:30AM - 11:30AM Sign up using this link: https://www.fmsc.org/join-group?joincode=13BYE2 You can also let others know about it by sharing the Facebook event: https://www.facebook.com/events/2393503527414605/ Consider having this as a way for your family and friends to spend time this holiday season! === Have a question about property management or real estate investing? We want to hear from you. Submit your question in video format and if your question is featured on one of our future shows you could receive a free gift! Please keep your question under 60 seconds. It is preferred that you share the video by uploading it to YouTube and sending the private link to us using our contact page: http://www.realestatestiles.com/contact/ === Are you wondering what your property is worth in today's real estate market? Download my free e-book that will help you calculate your property's value! http://www.realestatestiles.com/value/ === John Stiles is a licensed MN real estate agent with Bridge Realty.

Coach Landow is a world-renowned movement and sports performance expert. He has trained thousands of athletes of all ages and abilities, including over 700 professional athletes competing in the NFL, NHL, MLB, UFC, and WNBA, as well as Olympic medalists. He has worked with over 70 NFL All-Pros and over 20 first round draft selections in the NFL.   In the summer of 2012 he served as a Strength and Conditioning coach on the 16th season of the Ultimate Fighter Reality Show for Team Carwin. He currently works with approximately 30 MMA athletes. He works with Pan Am and Worlds Jiu-Jitsu Champions as well.   A National and International presenter for the leading organizations in the performance field, Coach Landow has been a keynote speaker for the NSCA National Conference, the ASCA in Australia, the SPRINTZ Conference in New Zealand, and the UKSCA United Kingdom Conference. He serves as a consultant for the University of Colorado Football Team, MLB Texas Rangers, USA Women's National Soccer Team, and the USA Bobsled Team. He is the author of two books, My Off-Season with the Denver Broncos: Building a Championship Team (While Nobody's Watching) and Ultimate Conditioning for Martial Arts.   Coach Landow serves on the Board of Directors for the Exercise Science Program at Metro State University, as well as the Board for the Master's program for Setanta College in Ireland. He is the Sports Performance Director for Elite Sports University, an online education website, and also developed the ACL prevention program and the ACL return to sport protocols for the Steadman Hawkins Clinic-Denver. Colorado. As of March 12th,2018 Coach Landow is now the full-time head Strength and Conditioning Coach for the Denver Broncos Football Organization. He maintains his ownership/founder of Landow Performance in Centennial, Colorado.

In May of last year I was accepted into the Writers Guild Foundation Veterans Writing Project. The program accepts 50 veterans each year (I was turned down the previous year) and holds a 3-day Retreat to launch the year's activities. We were divided into groups of about 8 veterans and paired with working screen writing professionals to brainstorm our topics and refine our writing process. Then we were mentored throughout the year by more professional writers, with meetings twice each month. those of us who did not live in the Los Angeles area were able to participate via Facebook video and telephone conferences. I based my script on my Hamfist novel series. I quickly discovered that a screenplay is totally different from a novel, and my script evolved dramatically, mostly due to the feedback of my mentor, Sabrina Almeida. With her help and guidance, my script went from not-ready-for-prime-time to pretty darned good. And now the yearlong program, for me, is over, and I was invited to "pitch" my script to industry heavyweights. So, two days ago, I went to Los Angeles for the pitch-fest. Here’s the pitch: I'm Major George Nolly of the US Air Force Author of the Hamfist Novel Series, with multiple Best-sellers that have been ranked #1 Fiction in the Vietnam War - History category with over 151,000 units downloaded and paperback sales on Amazon. I teach Aviation at Metro State University, and I'm a Flight Instructor at United Airlines, where I flew for 26 years after active duty. I have two masters, and a doctorate in Homeland Security, but before that, I was a cadet at the US Air Force Academy because I wanted to be a pilot, just like my father. I did two tours in Vietnam with 198 combat missions flying an F-4 fighter jet, and let me tell you, there is nothing in this world that compares to being strapped to two J79 engines pushing 36,000 foot pounds of thrust at Mach 1 while a SAM is closing in on your ass. It was everything I hoped for and more. But before I got into my first dogfight, I had to get through my first combat tour. After pilot training, I went over as a FAC, a Forward Air Controller, in an O-2, which was a tiny, twin-prop Cessna used to fly low to the ground, and spot high-value targets in enemy territory. It was NOT what I signed up for. And that's where we meet our hero, Hamilton "Hamfist" Hancock, a hotshot pilot with the need for speed, who sabotoges his chance at a fighter assignment by shining his ass on his final flight in pilot training. He's sent to Vietnam in an O-2, one of the slowest planes in the service, where he meets SPEEDBRAKE, fellow pilot and mentor, who shows him what a FAC really does: He loiters in the area long enough to direct fighters in for an air strike. The way you do this is at night is by GOING CHRISTMAS TREE, where we would turn on all our exterior lights and light up like a christmas tree to attract enemy ground fire, so that Charlie would reveal himself to our fighters for an air strike. It's on a close call going Christmas Tree where our hero earns the call sign HAMFIST.   When the Base Commander offers winner's choice of aircraft for the pilot with the highest kill ratio, Hamfist sees a way into an F-4, that is, if he can beat his nemesis, Tank, the squadron Top Dog. However, Hamfist's relentless pursuit leads him to fly fast and loose. When his flying puts others in jeopardy, he is deemed reckless, and sent on mandatory R&R. While on R&R in Tokyo, he meets SAMANTHA - SAM, a recent Harvard Law Grad. Samantha has just signed up to join the Air Force as a JAG, and has a thing for fighter pilots. For the first time, Hamfist has dreams of something big in his life, other than flying fast. That dream is interrupted when Hamfist gets word that his Mentor SPEEDBRAKE is shot down, and Hamfist must return to Vietnam to pack up Speedbrake's things for his family. On his first mission back, distracted by how he left things with Sam, Hamfist gets shot down over the trail, and injured during his rescue. After he's patched up, he persuades the doc to clear him to fly, even though the full extent of his injuries are not yet known. The deadline arrives for the competition, and he has just enough time for one more sortie to secure his lead over TANK. However, when as he enters the target area, he hears a distress call from a downed F-4. Hamfist forfeits his target to rescue the pilot. Hamfist returns to base as a hero, however, he loses the competition to Tank, and along with that, his dreams of piloting an F-4. A medical exam reveals that his injuries were more severe than previously thought, and he also loses his Air Force Flight Clearance. Hamfist is overcome by the failure in his pursuit to follow in his father's footsteps. Unable to turn to Sam, for fear that her affections will change, now that he will never be a fighter pilot, he severs his relationship with her while she is still in Officer Training. Hamfist is given the option to leave the service at the end of his tour with an Honorable Discharge, or remain grounded for the rest of his career. When word of his heroism reaches the private sector, however, Hamfist is offered a job as a civilian test pilot... in an F-4. Assigned as the Interim Squadron Intel Officer until a replacement arrives, he witnesses the dedication of the men left behind on base while pilots flew their combat missions. - The maintenance crews that perform 20 man-hours to every one hour he was in the air. He sees how each person's contribution to the war effort is critical. Hamfist understands that the War Effort comes before his personal desires, and extends his tour in Vietnam as a Ground officer. That's when his replacement Intel Officer arrives on base, and Hamilton walks in to brief... Samantha, freshly graduated from Intel School.  

Steffan speaks candidly about the effect the fire at the cathedral at Notre Dame has on him as a man of faith. Then. Dr. Ann Williams from the Metro State University of Denver about her perspective regarding the impact of the fire. CBS updates us throughout the hour.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Brazil is the world’s largest Catholic country, but it’s no longer Catholic majority. The 20th century saw an enormous rise in evangelical Christianity in Brazil, specifically Pentecostalism. Sociologist Andrew Johnson of Metro State University embedded himself in the prisons of Brazil to learn why the most marginalized people in the country are so drawn to the Pentecostal message. Then, we learn about the legacy of Catholicism and Protestantism in Brazil, and how the religious landscape has changed over time, from professor Andrew Chesnut of Virginia Commonwealth University. Andrew Johnson, law enforcement and criminal justice professor at Metropolitan State University and author of If I Give My Soul: Faith Behind Bars in Rio de Janeiro, soon to be a documentary Andrew Chesnut, professor of religious studies at Virginia Commonwealth University and author of Born Again in Brazil: The Pentecostal Boom and the Pathogens of Poverty Religious studies professor Andrew Chesnut (right) holds the Brazilian flag

Job Insights #9, A Success Story: Meet Emily Zimmermann – One in a Million – Survivor, Advocate and Accessibility Tester Full Transcript Below. Welcome to the 9th episode of Job Insights with Serina Gilbert and Jeff Thompson. We focus on Employment, Careers, enhancing opportunities and bringing you  the latest innovations from across the Vocational  Rehabilitation field to ensure your choices lead you down the career pathway that you want and succeed in gainful employment. From getting started with services, to assessments, Individual Plan for Employment (IPE) to gaining the skills to succeed and tools for success, Job Insights will be giving you tips and tricks to help your journey to employment and break down the barriers along the way. On this 9th episode of Job Insights Serina and Jeff bring you a success Story from Emily Zimmermann. Emily survived 4 major surgeries to remove a Softball-size brain tumor which ultimately left her totally blind and having to face major changes in her young life. Emily took on the challenges and transitioned from high school to college and is now approaching her year mark of her internship. She never imagined herself working with accessibility, computer coding and making a difference in the world of accessibility. Emily has a passion of telling her story and that is how Serina hooked up with Emily. After listening to Emily speak at a conference, she contacted Emily and asked her to join us in the Job Insights Studios. From her childhood to her graduation from college and her work testing accessibility, Emily will take you on her journey and give us great advice first hand on what it was like and is like to day doing what she does. It is not what she dreamed of doing but it must be what was meant to be.   We hope you enjoy this Job Insights episode and you can send your feedback and suggestions to the Job Insights team by email Follow the Job Insights team on twitter @JobInsightsVIP Job Insights is part of the Blind Abilities network.   A big Thank You goes out to CheeChaufor his beautiful music! You can follow us on Twitter @BlindAbilities On the web at www.BlindAbilities.com Send us an email Get the Free Blind Abilities App on the App Store. Get the Free blind Abilities App on the Google Play Store   Full Transcript: Job Insights #9, A Success Story: Meet Emily Zimmermann – One in a Million – Survivor, Advocate and Accessibility Tester Emily Zimmermann: I got the call saying that the MRI showed that I had a brain tumor, and it was pushing on my optic nerve. At that point, it was the size of a softball. Jeff Thompson: Job Insights, podcast to help you carve out your career pathway and enhance the opportunities for gainful employment. Emily Zimmermann: It was a long time where it was very hard. You're angry and upset and you don't understand. Now, I can look back, but that's certainly a process. It's not something you can just be at that point, and I think that's how a lot of things in life are. Jeff Thompson: To help you navigate the employment world and give you job insights and enhance the opportunities to choose the career you want. Serena Gilbert: But in middle school, you're really not ... for me, I just wanted to be, quote, unquote, "Normal." Jeff Thompson: And you can find the Job Insights podcast on BlindAbilities.com, part of the Blind Abilities Network with hosts, Serena Gilbert and myself, Jeff Thompson, and you can contact us by email at jobinsights@blindabilities.com. Leave us some feedback or suggest some topics that we cover on Twitter @JobInsightsVIP, and check out the Job Insights support group on Facebook where you can learn, share, advise, and interact with the Job Insights community. Emily Zimmermann: Going back to your home but small city, and you having all that independence just taken away is very difficult. I mean I'm definitely not super, super tech savvy, so half the stuff that's out there, I don't even really know about, which is super sad. Serena Gilbert: Oh, just keep listening to the Blind Abilities Network. You'll learn all kinds of new stuff. Shameless plug there. Sorry. Emily Zimmermann: Then I've gotten to do some coding, some different JavaScript and HTML and BSF, just different things like that. So it's so cool because there's such a variety of different things. I love it all. It's been great. Jeff Thompson: Whoa. Whoa. Let's back up here, Emily. You were just saying that you're low tech- Serena Gilbert: Yeah, I'm confused. Jeff Thompson: ... low tech, and now she's coding and going into [crosstalk] Serena Gilbert: JavaScript. Jeff Thompson: Learn about resources for training, education, and employment opportunities. Emily Zimmermann: Just many difficult things to get through, but you work through each one, and yeah. Jeff Thompson: Now please welcome Serena Gilbert and Jeff Thompson with Job Insights. Jeff Thompson: How you doing, Serena? Serena Gilbert: I'm great, Jeff. I am really excited today. We have a special guest with us. Her name is Emily Zimmerman, and I met her at a conference that I attended her in Colorado, and she shared an amazing story of her journey from the first diagnosis that she received all the way through finishing college her at Metro State University, and I'd thought it'd be a great idea for us to hear from her and have her share her journey with our listeners. Jeff Thompson: Great. Serena Gilbert: So, welcome to the podcast, Emily. Emily Zimmermann: And thank you all so much for having me here tonight, and very excited to be a part and to be able to share some of my story. Serena Gilbert: Well, we are definitely excited to have you. Jeff Thompson: Yes, we are. Nice to meet you, Emily. Emily Zimmermann: Nice to meet you all. Serena Gilbert: So I guess the best place to start, and I was just fascinated by your story, Emily. You did such a fantastic job over at the conference, and you captivated me from the moment you started talking. I don't know if you realized this, but everyone, there was not anyone in the room that was playing on their phone or doing something else. They were all super into your story because I know that you have a different type of story than most individuals that are in our field in regards to when your vision impairment began to onset. Do you want to start [crosstalk] Emily Zimmermann: Right. So I had grown up living a very typical childhood, and then when I entered high school, I went to a small public high school, and I never had any vision problems or medical issues, but I started to have trouble seeing the board in my classes. So my dad and sister both had glasses, of course. We thought I just needed glasses of some kind. Emily Zimmermann: So I went to the eye doctor, and they did tons of tests, one of which I can distinctly remember because I was looking at those famous eye charts that we all know so well, and with one of my eyes, I couldn't read the big E on the eye chart, and after growing up always having perfect vision, it was quite a shock. But then the worst part was the eye doctor said there's nothing he could do to correct my vision with glasses. So then we go to an eye specialist, and beginning to get a little more concerned because I just thought I needed glasses, which didn't thrill me, and now I'm finding out they can't fix it with glasses. Emily Zimmermann: So several visits to the eye specialist, many, many tests, and he finally said, "I don't think we'll find anything, but we have to start ruling some things out." So he suggested getting an MRI done. At that point, I was 14, and an MRIs a huge machine, super, super loud, and it was so scary. We actually got one. It was the last one of the day. They were just getting ready to close, and on the way home that night, we got the call saying that the MRI showed that I had a brain tumor and it was pushing on my optic nerve, and it was a one-in-a-million tumor, and at that point, it was the size of a softball. So it was going to require several surgeries. Emily Zimmermann: So, again, it was a complete shock and a huge adjustment to go from thinking life's all normal and then all the sudden it's not. So the first two surgeries, I actually came out seeing better than I had going in. There were many side effects to deal with, but they were things we could deal with, we could handle. We were working through them. We were just getting through it. Then, over the summer between my freshman and sophomore year, the tumor grew back and the doctor believed after a second surgery that he had had it all. They're not sure if there was maybe a small piece left. They're not sure if it was a new tumor that grew. They don't know, and ultimately, it doesn't matter. Emily Zimmermann: But the third surgery, the possibility that was always there happened, and I came out of the operation unable to see. The doctors and surgeons talked to my parents, and even though it was incredibly risky, they asked about going in a fourth time, just two days later, to try to repair my vision. And they did go in a fourth time, but it was too late and the damage was permanent. Emily Zimmermann: Now, on top of having to recover from two back-to-back brain surgeries and having to start to relearn how to live life, I mean completely relearn how to live life. I mean I can very vaguely remember nurses and people coming into the hospital room and they showed me basics of how to eat and orient myself with the food on my plate, things that seem so elementary to us, but here I was at 16 years old and I needed to relearn all these things. Emily Zimmermann: And then going back to school was a whole new thing, and, again, I had to relearn how to read using Braille and I had to relearn how to get around with a cane and all of those things, which was incredibly difficult. And, yes, we can't change the situation we're in. We can't change the situation we're given, but it's wonderful having had been able to see colors and see things, but the transition was very, very hard. Serena Gilbert: Now, Emily, you mentioned that you went back to school. So did you go back to the same high school that you were at prior to the diagnosis? Emily Zimmermann: I did, yes. I grew up in a small city, so they didn't have a ton of options to begin with, and while I could have, I suppose, gone to ... they had a school for the blind in Columbia, which would have been an hour and a half away or something like that, at that point, we didn't really think about or consider me going away during the weeks and stuff like that. So we made it work. Jeff Thompson: Emily, with all this happening so suddenly and so tragically, where did you find the drive to move forward, and where did you get the information to find a pathway forward? Emily Zimmermann: Honestly, for me, a big part of it is I have a strong faith, so my faith is a big part of what helped me just get through, but, like you're saying, I had a huge support system. Even though it was a very small city, I found through my church a visually impaired lady who gave me information on the National Federation for the Blind and the chapter for the area and just the community gathering around me and a closer knit community, people like that, just was a huge, huge help besides, like I said, my faith was a tremendous help. Serena Gilbert: I have another question for you, Emily, before we move past your high school days. Emily Zimmermann: Yeah. Serena Gilbert: Did you find that your close friends treated you any differently, or were they pretty supportive? Because sometimes that transition can be difficult not only for the individual experiencing the sudden loss of vision but also those around that person. Emily Zimmermann: Yes. So I'm going to say it was difficult for them as well because they were not there. They just were not supportive at all, and every one of my quote, unquote, "friends" left, and that also made just the transition and everything about it very difficult. It was a long time where it was very hard and very ... you're angry and upset and you don't understand. Now, I can look back, and be like, "If that's how they are, I'm better off without them," but that's certainly a process. It's not something you can just be at that point, and I think that's how a lot of things in life are. Yeah, they were, unfortunately, not supportive. Jeff Thompson: Emily, was there a sense of loss? I'm not talking about just a loss of vision, but a loss of identity, who you were, and how you would define yourself at that time? Emily Zimmermann: Very, very much so, just because everything I knew was different, and, to some extent, I mean not because of anything I could but because that desire was gone. All of my dreams were gone because they just had all changed. So I think very much so there was that feeling and that loss at first. But you refind yourself and you refind yourself in different ways, and you have to believe that those different ways are just what's supposed to be. Jeff Thompson: Do you have any key turning points that you remember? Emily Zimmermann: Well, one key for sure, I lost my vision as a sophomore in high school, and that after high school, I knew I needed some training, and that's when I came out to Colorado from South Carolina to the Colorado Center for the Blind. And I was out there one year at the training program they have because I just had so much I needed to learn. I was learning things in school, but it was just a half hour each day or something. So being in the intense, intense training program was a huge help, and at the same time, it was obviously incredibly difficult. Yeah, I think that was just one of the huge points where extremely difficult but totally paid off in the end. Jeff Thompson: You mentioned that you had someone from your hometown that was visually impaired, and she gave you some information. What was it like when you went to the Colorado Center for the Blind and found so many other students, so many other people that had blindness as well? Emily Zimmermann: It was honestly very different. I mean it wasn't, obviously, bad or good or anything like that. It was just different for me because being in a small town, there was just so little of that and just so few of us. I mean I know when I went out I was stared at, and, obviously, probably still am to some extent today, but we were just a very, very, very minority there. I mean the two of us probably were two out of maybe 10 in the whole city limits, all that area, and that's a big stretch. Jeff Thompson: So when you got to Colorado, that must have been a big change when you had so many people. Emily Zimmermann: Exactly. So when I got to Colorado, and then, like you said, was surrounded by them at the Colorado Center for the Blind, it was just a huge change, and not good or bad. It was just a huge change. Jeff Thompson: Did you find any role models? Emily Zimmermann: Definitely, and different things in different people because some people were extremely just adventurous in their traveling whereas other people just amazing in their cooking. So I totally had role models just with different skills and abilities, which was great. I liked that a lot. Serena Gilbert: Emily, what was the hardest part about transitioning to the Colorado Center for the Blind? Emily Zimmermann: Ooh, the hardest part. I mean I'm trying to think of the best way to put this. I think the fact that, for your own good, they push you so hard, but then if you break, they're not necessarily going to be there to help wipe your tears. You know what I mean? The pushing had to happen, and I understand that, but I never felt necessarily ... I don't know. I don't know how else to put it, but it was just a very tough program, but I think the toughness of it is what helped build the character. Jeff Thompson: I can understand exactly where you're coming from. I taught at Blind Incorporated. I taught woodworking, and I was a student there at one time, and I think you start to identify with some of the instructors or some of the other people and you find your own comfort zone within the confines of the camp, the training center. Emily Zimmermann: Yeah. Jeff Thompson: Kind of after hours when everyone goes back to the apartments and stuff, you start finding your own little group or comfort zone. Emily Zimmermann: Yeah. Jeff Thompson: Serena, you haven't been to a training center, have you? Serena Gilbert: I have not, so, Emily, to give you a little bit of background on myself, I have retinitis pigmentosa, so I've had that I guess throughout my whole life, but I really didn't start receiving blindness-specific services until probably ... it was like middle school, I want to say. But in middle school, you're really not ... for me, I just wanted to be quote, unquote, "normal." I didn't want a special lock on my locker. I'd rather struggle and put the wrong code in three times before I do it myself. I didn't want to walk around with a cane. I did not want to feel different. Middle school's awkward enough without adding, "Oh, this girl has a white cane too," on top of everything. Serena Gilbert: I really didn't embrace truly using blindness-specific tools and learning screen readers and things like that until I was actually a sophomore in college and that was more- Emily Zimmermann: Oh, wow. Serena Gilbert: Yeah, well, because I still have some usable vision, and back then, I had enough where I could even read regular print. It just took me forever, but in college, that doesn't cut it. So I finally realized ... I got a sample of JAWS and taught myself how to use it and all the sudden it was like, "Holy cow. This is way faster than struggling for an hour to read one chapter." And that's when I really started embracing using the cane and using some more blindness-specific tools. Serena Gilbert: They did offer me the opportunity to do a residential type of program, but at the time, I had commitments with college and I had a part-time job, so I could not be gone for that long. Emily Zimmermann: Yeah, that makes sense. Jeff Thompson: Yeah, and I think that's a big difference between ... so many people, it depends on where they are in life when it comes to a training type of center, especially residential, especially where you're living. And you traveled all the way from, wow, South Carolina? Emily Zimmermann: Yeah. Jeff Thompson: To Colorado. Now, how was that process when you decided you wanted to leave South Carolina to go to there? You must have went through your voc rehab to get authorized. Emily Zimmermann: Yeah. [inaudible] very smoothly. They were a huge part of the transition. They were the ones who recommended coming out to the Colorado Center for the Blind, and then when I decided I wanted to stay, they were totally helpful in the transition process. So it was honestly a very good transition. Jeff Thompson: Oh, that's great, because some people really find it a real stickler to get them to override being sent to somewhere within their state or someplace close and stuff. So that's great that you had that opportunity and took advantage of it. Serena Gilbert: I am curious though, Emily. How was that transition for your mom? Emily Zimmermann: Well, she actually writes about some of it. She has a book that she titled, "She's One in a Million," because the brain tumor I had was a one-in-a-million brain tumor. So she writes about some of those transitions in the book, but I know it was very difficult. The transition just with me losing my sight, and then when I came out here, it was very difficult at first. So just many difficult things to get through, but you work through each one, and yeah. Jeff Thompson: So I have a question for you. While teaching for quite a few years at Blind Incorporated, I watched students come and go and come and go, and I always remember once they leave through that door and go down the sidewalk and they go off into the world again, they've been at the training center for six to nine months, there they go, you just wonder what it's like, especially if they're going to go return to a small town where they don't have the transit system, where they don't have the grid system or the public transportation available to them. What was that like for you when you left Colorado? Emily Zimmermann: It was very hard because you're used to having all those things available, and you feel this liberation and independence that you can have and feel you do have, and then going back to your home but a small city and you having all that independence just taken away is very difficult. I mean that's a big reason why I'm back out here now is because you miss it, and it's hard to go from having it to not having it all the sudden. Jeff Thompson: Just like losing your sight. Emily Zimmermann: Exactly. [inaudible] changes you can avoid, by all means, avoid it. Serena Gilbert: And Denver has an excellent public transit system with the light rail, the buses- Emily Zimmermann: Oh, yeah. Serena Gilbert: I'm jealous, because I'm down here in Colorado Springs, and ours isn't the best. Emily Zimmermann: Yeah. Yeah, it's amazing down here, up here, whatever. Jeff Thompson: Well, likewise in Minneapolis, we have two training centers, probably a mile apart. There's always 30, 35, 40 students out there exploring, traveling, and doing stuff. So even the people of the city get acclimated to seeing people who are blind around. Emily Zimmermann: Wow. Serena Gilbert: So, Emily, how soon after you completed the program at the Colorado Center for the Blind did you decide to come back out for college? Emily Zimmermann: So I completed the Center for the Blind in May. Then I went back home. I had already applied at a couple different schools, and I had been looking at Metro just as a possibility. Then I applied ... I want to say early June and [inaudible] it all then came together pretty quickly because then once I got the acceptance, I thought, "Okay, well, then it's meant to be." And then you call ... I mean I had been accepted and everything at Winthrop and already contacted them to put all my scholarships on hold for a year when I was at the Center for the Blind. It's like everything that's all set up there was on hold for the year that I was at the Center for the Blind, and I was basically just coming back. Emily Zimmermann: So it was just surreal because all the plans I'd made were, in a good way, no more, but it's like I had to call them and change it, but it was all great. And then I just organized things with the disability office at Metro, and Metro was a great experience, great experience. Serena Gilbert: And Jeff and I have talked a lot about ... gosh, Jeff, it feels like forever ago, on our very first episode you remember we talked about the difference between getting accommodations in high school versus in college? Jeff Thompson: Oh, yeah. It's quite a difference because you have a disability services office that you got to get connected with, and then all your individual professors, you don't have a TVI anymore or a district teacher. You're got to put this all into action yourself. Emily Zimmermann: Yep. Absolutely. I totally agree. That was a huge thing I noted, and it was following up with professors, following up with different people, that's all on you. So I totally get what you're saying. Jeff Thompson: What tools did you use to keep all that organized? You were pretty new with Braille, and probably were using JAWS, I imagine. Emily Zimmermann: Yes. Jeff Thompson: So what was your go-to tools when you first started college? Emily Zimmermann: Definitely, like you said, JAWS. Honestly, at first, I didn't use many tools at all just because I was so new to everything. I used a recorder. I used the pure note-taker option they have, and then I did use, as my Braille got a little better and a little faster, I used a Braille note-taker, the Braille Edge 40, and that has been great, especially since Braille has improved. But those are really the main things for college that have been helpful. Emily Zimmermann: So, I mean, I'm definitely not I mean I'm definitely not super, super tech savvy, so half the stuff that's out there, I don't even really know about, which is super sad, but probably just as well because I can't afford it anyway. Serena Gilbert: Oh, just keep listening to the Blind Abilities Network. You'll learn all kinds of new stuff. Shameless plug there. Sorry. Emily Zimmermann: I'm sure I will learn way too much. Serena Gilbert: So, college went overall pretty smooth for you, Emily? Emily Zimmermann: It did. It certainly did. I mean I'm sure I had some professors ... I know I did, who handled my blindness better than others, but overall, I certainly didn't have any major problems by any means, and, overall, it was a very good experience. So it was good. It was very good. Serena Gilbert: And tell us, what was your major? Emily Zimmermann: Communications. Serena Gilbert: So, Emily, I understand that you're working at an internship right now. Emily Zimmermann: Yes. I'm super excited about it. I've been loving it. I've done it ever since this past September, so coming up on a year. And what I like is because I'm an intern, I get all sorts of different work. I've had the opportunity to test some of their products for accessibility, and then I go through all the different usability tests that they have, and I tell them what does and doesn't work for me being blind. Then I've gotten to do some coding, some different JavaScript and HTML and BSF, just different things like that. So it's so cool because there's such a variety of different things. I love it all. It's been great. Jeff Thompson: Whoa. Whoa. Let's back up here, Emily. You were just saying that you're low tech- Serena Gilbert: Yeah, I'm confused. Jeff Thompson: ... low tech, and now she's coding and going into [crosstalk] Serena Gilbert: JavaScript. Jeff Thompson: That's impressive. Serena Gilbert: I think it's really cool you do accessibility testing because you can see an immediate impact with what you're doing. That's awesome. Emily Zimmermann: Yeah. Yeah. I love it. I love it. Jeff Thompson: It is a great sense of being employed, even having an internship and it's coming up on a year, but it's a good feeling to being rewarded for the work that you're doing. Emily Zimmermann: Yeah. I totally agree. It's cool. What I love is to be able to fix something and to see the result right then. I love that just immediate effect and just to be able to think, "This is helping so many people like me be able to access the internet better and easier and more effectively." I love thinking about that, like a firsthand experience, just like I obviously get how it helps people. And so it's just ... I don't know. It's so cool. Serena Gilbert: So, Emily, this is going to be a question that I start asking everyone that's in the position that you're in as far as maybe fresh out of college or that sort of thing, and it's a cheesy question so I apologize in advance, but, Emily, what is your dream job? Emily Zimmermann: So my dream job would be to be a motivational speaker, to go to different companies, schools, churches, sharing how I lost my vision, but, more importantly, how I got through the difficulty of losing my vision and just sharing hope and that there's hope in whatever we go through, and whether what I'm doing now, the coding, testing, that's a part of that for a full-time job and just doing a lot of speaking on the side, I don't know. That'd be fine if that's the case, but the passion is in the speaking. Jeff Thompson: Oh, that's great. That's great. Serena Gilbert: And you definitely have a talent for it. Emily Zimmermann: Oh, thank you so much. Serena Gilbert: So before we wrap up the interview, we have a question that we ask every single person that we've probably had on the podcast so far, because it's been so long. Jeff Thompson: It's not a math question. Serena Gilbert: No, we promise. Emily Zimmermann: Good. Serena Gilbert: There's no wrong answers. You don't even have to study for it, but a lot of our listeners are either young adults that are right exactly where you're at, maybe even coming out of high school or finishing up college- Jeff Thompson: And we also have listeners who are newly blind, like you were at one time. Serena Gilbert: Exactly, or that are looking at career changes because of the new blindness. The question that we have is, "What advice do you have for somebody transitioning either out of high school or into a new career?" Emily Zimmermann: My advice ... well, it's multi-fold. First of all, it'd be, "Don't limit yourself," because doing something like coding or testing a website, I never would have imagined myself doing. The only reason I'm doing it is because of the internships I was pushed into when I was college. I needed an internship just to get something on my resume, so I went to my advisor, and that was the only thing he could really think of that'd be easy to get to, on campus, and so I took it because I needed something and that's when I fell in love with that kind of thing. So I think that's the biggest thing, just being open to try something you maybe wouldn't have tried and maybe it doesn't go perfect with your degree or whatever, but that's the big thing. Emily Zimmerman: Then, kind of goes with that, is also being open to people around you, your boss, your coworkers, the people you encounter. I think that just so helps form your work experience and being able to view people in a more positive way just, I don't know, helps your work experience be more positive. Serena Gilbert: That is great advice. Jeff Thompson: Well, Emily, I just want to say the component of an internship, I think they work that into degrees, and it's kind of like volunteering. Sometimes you get to explore some areas that you're maybe interested or not or just wanting to do it to stay busy, but you might find an interest. It's a opportunity. It's a safety net type of situation, at first. Then you found a love for it, a passion for it, and you're making the best of it. So good for you. Emily Zimmermann: Yeah. Well, thank you very much. Serena Gilbert: So, Emily, if any of our listeners would like to learn more about you, where can they find you? Emily Zimmermann: Absolutely. They can go to my website at www.brokencrayonsejz.com. Serena Gilbert: Perfect. Well, you all have just been listening to us interview Emily Zimmerman. She doesn't know this yet, but she's probably going to make another appearance on your podcast in a few months so we can catch up with her and see where she's at because I think our listeners are going to fall in love with you, and I just love that you share your story and are so honest and upfront with us. Emily Zimmermann: Well, thank you so much for having me. It's been a true pleasure. Serena Gilbert: We really appreciate you, Emily, and thank you so much for sharing. Jeff Thompson: Thanks, Emily. Emily Zimmermann: Thank you. Jeff Thompson: Serena, that was a great guest. Emily was just awesome. Serena Gilbert: I can't wait to have her back. Jeff Thompson: Emily, that was a good find. That must have been a great convention. Serena Gilbert: Oh, it was fantastic. Like I said, when we were in the general session, you could have heard a pin drop. Everybody was just captivated by what Emily was sharing with us, and I cannot tell her again how much I appreciate how open she was on this interview. Jeff Thompson: I know you got to listening and you just started sinking in further and further into her story, and it's like you could really relate to it, and yet, you wouldn't wish it upon anybody, yourself, or anybody, one in a million. Serena Gilbert: Exactly. And I'd like to check that book out, because she did say her mom had a book called One in a Million, so I'm going to have to look that up. Jeff Thompson: A lot of the transitions from a mother's point of view. That must be interesting. Serena Gilbert: Exactly. Well, we hope you enjoyed this episode, and, again, Jeff, do you want to tell them where you can find us? Jeff Thompson: Yeah, so you can go to www.BlindAbilities.com, check out all the Job Insights podcasts and you can also find us on Twitter @JobInsightsVIP. Serena Gilbert: And on Facebook under Job Insights, and we also have a wonderful support group called Job Insights Support Group. Jeff Thompson: And you can also send us email, feedback at- Serena Gilbert: JobInsights@BlindAbilities.com. Jeff Thompson: Great. Thanks for listening. Serena Gilbert: We'll see you next time. Jeff Thompson: And thank you, Chee Chau, for the beautiful music. You can follow Chee Chau on Twitter @LCheeChau And, as always, we want to thank you for listening. We hope you enjoyed, and until next time, bye-bye.   [Music]  [Transition noise]   When we share, What we see, Through each other's eyes...   [Multiple voices overlapping, in unison, to form a single sentence]   ...We can then begin to bridge the gap between the limited expectations, and the realities of Blind Abilities. Jeff Thompson: For more podcasts with a blindness perspective check us out on the web at www.blindabilities.com. On Twitter @blindabilities. Download our app from the app store, Blind Abilities, that's two words. Or send us an email at info@blindabilities.com. Thanks for listening.        

— On this episode, we sit down with Jordan Stouffer. Jordan is a former NCAA Division 1 hitting and catching coach, NSCA Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist, certified Biomechanics Specialist, played professionally, holds the single-season home-run record at Metro State University of Denver, has a BA degree in Human Performance and Nutrition, and is certified … Episode 24: Jordan Stouffer, Rounding Third Baseball Performance Read More »

Albert is an operationally focused executive who leverages his strategic vision to increase production. He has a background in program management and portfolio management. Albert is an Agile Certified Practitioner through the Project Management Institute, Certified Scrum Master, Agile Coach and Certified Scrum Product Owner. Albert has been a part of and helped build, many successful companies to include: ClickFox, The Regis Company, Qualvu, CBDDOSE.com, HealthGrades.com and Medicine Man. He is responsible for successfully managing several multi-million-dollar projects from Visa, MasterCard, Google, Ernst & Young, Deloitte, Accenture, AT&T, Verizon, John Deere, Bose and many more. Albert holds a B.S. from Metro State University and a graduate degree from Colorado State University Business School. MedPharm is a phytopharmaceutical and intellectual property holding company that has been created to develop innovative cannabis products, using accepted pharmaceutical formulation techniques, to reliably produce identifiable and replicable dosage forms for human use.MedPharm will lead the industry in developing products to improve the human condition and better the lives of those who suffer from the disease. It is MedPharm’s intent to position itself to have safe, reliable, proven products ready for Phase I formulations when such trials become available.

Brian Bates bought the neighborhood shop in Columbine Hills in 2004. It was his way to serve the community by providing quality repairs and service while also living out his dream of running his own business. After serving 4 years in the Army, Brian returned home to earn his business degree in the search of ultimately running his own business.  While working at a Honda dealership for an average of 60 hours per week, Brian attended Metro State University of Denver at night, full-time, with the support of his wife Rhondi who was a full-time mother of Adam and Kiersten. Five years of hard work and studying paid off in 2000 when Brian earned a 4-year Business Management degree becoming the first generation in his family to attend college. One year after opening his first shop, Brian had an opportunity for a partnership through the NAPA Autocare program. Mike Train, a NAPA representative, asked Brian how he could help grow Eagle Automotive Service. A life-long relationship was established.  No other parts supplier had asked that question and Brian realized that NAPA understood that if Eagle Automotive grew, the NAPA store would also. Brian has served as President of the local NAPA Autocare Business Development group. He served on the national Autocare council with the president and directors of NAPA Auto Parts. He is proud of his team’s achievements in becoming AAA auto repair certified and holding a BBB A+ rating since the inception of the grading system in 2007. Many respected experts and professionals in the automotive repair industry have recognized Brian for his contribution to the improvement of the industry and community where he lives and operates his shops. There are many ongoing projects that Brian is supporting and working on.  A federally recognized automotive apprentice program, helping single mothers afford car repairs, mentoring fellow shop owners, and developing leaders take up much of Brian’s free time.  And family is where Brian focuses his attention when he isn’t working on his business. Brian just celebrated 25 years of marriage in August 2017 with Rhondi.  Brian’s immensely proud of his son, Adam, who currently works as a service advisor at his newest store.  His daughter, Kiersten, is newly engaged to be married in June 2018. Talking Points: The strength of Brian’s business is based on firm values, integrity and leadership. Your business model needs to be fluid and flexible. Leaders are not born, yet they have natural tendencies to be a leader. You need to learn how to be a great leader. You must be a constant student of leadership. The military was a good experience for him. He admired leaders that put his team above himself. Authors for leadership Zig Ziglar, John Maxwell, Sheldon Bowles, Dave Ramsey, Brian Tracy Brian is growing leaders in his company. You need someone to challenge you and also pat you on the back. To ask the questions if you are living up to your potential. A few reasons why Brian has had a business coach since 2008. An early adaptor of Digital Vehicle Inspections. The power to increase customer trust and communication with the service advisor. His ARO is $550 Nothing he would do over growing his business. He learned a lot but that is what growth is all about. “It is always darkest when it is pitch black.” by Ben Horowitz. “There are only two emotions: Total euphoria or absolute despair. A lack of sleep enhances both.” by Ben Horowitz Installed a VOIP phone system. He says it was a smart move to pull his branches together. The biggest opportunity you have to distinguish yourself in the marketplace is in the relationship you have with your team and how you function as an organization. Customers can feel that. He wants to create an opportunity for his son and daughter to own the business. Brian heard Lou Holtz speak at a Dave Ramsey event. Lou...

This episode’s guest is Loren Landow of Landow Performance. Coach Landow is highly sought after for his ability to analyze and correct biomechanics. His goal is to maximize human performance, while decreasing the likelihood of injury. He has trained thousands of athletes of all ages and abilities, including over 700 professional athletes in the NFL, NHL, MLB, UFC, WNBA and Olympic medalist. Coach Landow has worked with over 70 NFL All-Pro’s and over 20 first round draft selections in the NFL. He has been a National and International presenter for the leading organizations in the performance field, and also serves as a consultant for many professional and collegiate teams across the country. Coach Landow developed the ACL prevention program and the ACL return to sport protocols for the world-renowned Steadman Hawkins Clinic-Denver. He currently is the owner and director of Landow Performance. Coach Landow serves on the Board of Directors for the Exercise Science Program at Metro State University and also the Board for the Master’s program for Setanta College in Ireland. He also serves as the Sports Performance Director for Elite Sports University, an online education website. Coach Landow is the author of two books, My Off-Season with the Denver Broncos: Building a Championship Team (While Nobody’s Watching) and also Ultimate Conditioning for Martial Arts.  On this episode Loren and I discussed: Loren’s background and influence Loren's take on the importance of coaching pedagory and building trust in the coach-athlete relationship The importance of emotional intelligence as a coach Loren's top 3 area's that he believes all coaches need to mastery - consistency, patience, and choosing your battles The good and not so good things that Loren see’s within the physical preparation profession Loren’s talks about his training system  Loren’s model of teaching multi-directional speed Some of Loren's resources And much more Enjoy guys.Stay Strong, RB Show Sponsor:To get INSTANT ACCESS to almost 20 hours of World Class online video Strength and Conditioning Information go to upmentorship.com

Intro ⦁ This week we are going to explore the French Lop Rabbit breed. ⦁ Item of the Week: Holmes window fan ⦁ The plant of the Week: Sweeds and Turnips ⦁ Word of the Week: Alleys ⦁ Folktale: Rabbit and Dear race ⦁ And finally end with the rabbit news of the week If you would like to support the podcast, you can support through Patreon for one dollar a month. Patreon is an established online platform that allows fans to provide regular financial support to creators you can also support the podcast, and help keep the lights on, whenever you use Amazon through the link at Hare of the Rabbit on the support the podcast page. It will not cost you anything extra, and I can not see who purchased what. If you’d like to get “more bunny for your money,” there’s not much better choice than the French Lop. If this breed can be described in one word, it is “cuddly.” This is the only lop-eared beed that is placed in the “giant” size category, and Frenchies are gentle giants indeed. Although French Lops are not widely bred due to the space and feed they require, a number of people keep “just one” as a cuddle bunny. By breeding together the English Lop and the Flemish Giant or French Butterfly rabbit back in the 19th Century, fanciers developed the hugely popular French Lop rabbit. The French is different from it’s English cousin as it’s bigger and its drooping ears are shorter. It also weighs slightly more. The lovely French Lop usually weighs in at around four-and-a-half kilograms, but can weigh more and can live to be more then five years old. French Lops are 1 of 5 lop-eared breeds that the American Rabbit Breeders Association (ARBA) recognizes. They are the largest breed of lop, weighing in at 11 lbs. minimum when they reach their adult age class. Some can weigh as much as 16 lbs., while 12-13 lbs. seems to be an average weight within the breed. History The French Lop rabbit was first bred in France around 1850 by a Frenchman named Condenier. There were several other breeders that bred the Lops during this time period, however the credit is given to Condenier as the originator of this breed. The French Lop breed resulted from a cross between the English Lop and the Butterfly rabbit of France. The Butterfly rabbit is still bred in France and can be seen at the Grand Prix Show in Paris. This rabbit closely resembles our Flemish Giant of today, but is shorter in body and weighs approximately 15 pounds. The French Lop Rabbit was first breed in France and established in France as a rabbit for meat during the mid-19th century. Between the period of 1850-1910 there was great popularity of both the French and English Lop on the continent of Europe and in England. In fact, they were referred to as the "King Of The Fancy". Mr. Woodgate of England contributes the downfall of the French and English Lops due to the fact that they obtained such perfection during this period that they lost their challenge to the breeders. The French Lop increased in popularity in neighboring countries such as Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. In 1933, it was reported that ten French Lop Rabbits were brought over from the Netherlands and exhibited in the UK, although it was not until the 1960s that French Lop Rabbits became a popular mainstream rabbit breed in the UK. French Lop Rabbits were imported into the United States in 1970-1971. As rabbit fancying became more popular the breed was further developed to have a thickset body that was heavily boned and a large bulldog shaped skull. The French Lop bred today differs greatly from its original form in that it functions more as a companion and exhibition animal today, than as a meat and fur producing animal of the past. Overall Description Giant and cuddly, French lops are the largest breed of lop rabbits. In fact they are the only lop considered a “giant” breed. They are gentle giants with a commercial body type and glossy rollback fur. The French Lop is a very large rabbit, typically weighing around 10-15 pounds, they don't have a maximum weight in the show standard. With lop ears of between 5 and 8 inches long that hang down below the jaw, and an almost cubic appearance with a short thickset body and large head. The front legs are short and straight and the hind legs are carried parallel to the body. The French Lop has a dense, soft coat that comes in two color varieties: solid and broken, and within these categories can be found a number of different rabbit colors. The French Lop comes in many colors and these can either be solid, or broken – where they can display a mixture of white and another color. Colors include white, blue, black, agouti, chinchilla and sable, among others. The fur is short, dense and very soft. Their ears are usually 5-8 inches long and hang just below the jaw, but aren’t as long as the English Lop’s. French Lops also have a thick body and a large head with a wide forehead and chubby cheeks. Their ears are well-shaped and fall open without folding over. Body French Lop bodies should be shaped more or less like New Zealands, and should feel like boulders. They are prone to becoming a little flabby and developing a “skirt” – that is, a roll of skin and fur around the lower hindquarter. The coat is a long and glossy rollback, which means that the fur slowly and gently returns to its original position when stroked against the grain. The head is set moderately high on the shoulders and is broad and bold. Ears are topped with a fluffy crown. Maximum ear length is not desired on this lop breed like it is on the English. Ear carriage and shape are important. Ears should be horseshoe shaped and fall open without folding or rolling. French lops have a rollback coat, which needs little grooming. Simply brushing it once a week should be enough to remove loose fur. When they are molting more grooming may be necessary. Again, many color varieties available which include Black, White, Brown, Blue, Agouti, Chinchilla, Opal. Sooty Fawn, Siamese Sable, Orange, Fawn, Steel and Butterfly. The French Lop has a good climate tolerance for all climates Important Things to Look out for When Buying Show Stock: Things to Avoid: A long, narrow, or flat body. Hindquarters that are chopped or undercut. Junior does with large dewlaps. Long, narrow head or flat crown. Pointed muzzle. Blemished ears, ears with poor carriage, narrow, folded, or thin ears. Ears that turn out away from the rabbit’s cheeks. Weak ankles. Broken patterned rabbits with unmatched toenails. Fine bone is a disqualification. Fur that is silky, long, harsh, thin, or very short. care A French Lop is able to live outside and inside; a large waterproof hutch that shelters the rabbit from any rain, snow, or heat is acceptable with a run attached. French Lops do not handle heat well, so make sure they have adequate protection like a frozen water bottle or a fan. If kept inside, a hutch or a cage can be used. It is infinitely preferable to keep rabbits in pairs - you should only ever consider getting a single rabbit if you can spend several hours a day with them. The rabbits should have a large run for exercise and mental stimulation - lack of exercise can contribute to obesity, gut stasis and behavioral issues. Due to their relatively larger size in comparison to other breeds, the French Lop may require a large hutch/run to move around freely. They fare well in both outdoor and indoor cages but keep in mind they are still rabbits and not dogs and they will chew and you need to bunny proof. A large wooden hutch should be provided for the French Lop – he’s a big rabbit and will need plenty of space in his home to hop, stretch out and stand if he chooses to. The hutch should be placed out of direct drafts and full sun and could be placed in a light, well-ventilated shed if there is one available. If not, his hutch should be fully waterproof and should have a mesh front with a cover to keep out any wind or driving rain, and he should also have a covered area where he can build his nest and escape for some peace and quiet. If your rabbit is going to be kept in the house he can have the run of the place providing anything important is kept out of the way. Take the time to litter train him and he will be clean too, although he will appreciate somewhere quiet to rest where he will not be disturbed. French Lops can be very lazy creatures and sometimes he will appreciate a place where he can observe the action, rather than take part in it. He will also love a nice warm lap to sit on too. They can live perfectly well indoors or outdoors but it must be remembered that this is a rabbit and not a dog or cat. They will chew indiscriminately so anything you treasure, including shoes, mobile phones, clothes and cables and wires, should all be kept well out of the way. He can be litter trained, but as a rabbit, it will not be easy and will take time and patience. That said, it can be done! diet It is recommended that the French Lop receive a standard intake of a high quality, high protein pellet. It is common for some owners to provide treats, although in very limited quantities, which can include a slice of strawberry, or other healthy foods. Commercial treats are available in the pet stores in shops and can be occasionally used, although even more sparingly, since they typically feature a higher sugar and starch content. Some of the vegetables that rabbits enjoy are romaine lettuce, turnips, collards, kale, parsley, thyme, cilantro, dandelion, and basil. The green, leafy tops of radish and carrots also are excellent sources of nutrients—more than the vegetable itself. New vegetables should be introduced slowly due to the delicate digestive systems of rabbits. It is recommended that cauliflower, broccoli and cabbage be avoided, as they cause gas and can lead to gastrointestinal stasis, which can be fatal. Vegetables such as potatoes and corn should also avoided due to their high starch content. Research what kind of fruits, vegetables and greens are rabbit-friendly and if you’re not sure if a particular food can be eaten, the rule of thumb is simply not to give it to them. Stop, research, and/or ask your veterinarian if it is bunny-safe before feeding. French Lops also require an unlimited amount of fresh water, usually provided for in a water crock, tip-proof ceramic pet dish, or hanging water bottle. A proper diet is also important to ensure other digestive problems don’t develop. For example, if your rabbit develops diarrhea because of a poor diet, their soiled coat can attract flies in the warmer months (especially if it is outdoors) and if the rabbit is unable to groom himself properly, the flies can lay eggs in his fur (near the bottom). When those eggs hatch, they will begin to eat your rabbit while they are still alive, causing them extreme pain- this is called fly-strike. To avoid this, make sure your rabbit eats a balanced diet and check their fur for any flies that may have landed on soiled fur. Health Breeding The ideal age for the female French Lop rabbit to start breeding is 9 months. It is recommended that they should not have any more litters after the age of three years. The French Lop rabbit can produce large litters, usually between 5 and 12 with a gestation period of between 28 and 31 days. On average they give birth at 30–32 days. The French Lop does not have any health issues particular to its breed, however As with most rabbit breeds, there are some conditions which affect the species as a whole that are the biggest threat to your pet’s otherwise good health. Dental issues are the number one cause of illness in rabbits so it’s vital that you keep a close eye on the quality of your rabbits teeth. By feeding a diet that’s high in fiber and roughage, your rabbit’s continuously growing teeth will be kept worn down. They can suffer with overgrown teeth and enamel spurs and if these are allowed to develop your pet could find it difficult to eat or may develop injuries in his mouth that may become infected. Prevention is better than cure so providing a diet that’s high in good quality hay and fibrous green vegetables is essential if you are to avoid dental problems. A good diet is also crucial to the health of your rabbit’s digestive tract and if the diet is not adequate, he can easily develop diarrhea. The French Lop also has a tendency to become a little overweight, which most rabbit parents don’t notice because of its already large size. Being overweight can cause a multitude of other health issues so always be aware of how much you are feeding your gentle giant. Watch the French lop’s condition, they tend to get a little flabby. They can develop a “skirt” of loose skin around their hindquarters. Temperament/behavior This is a bunny that simply loves to be adored, and he’ll return that adoration tenfold. The French Lop is renowned for its gentle, docile demeanor and he will tolerate handling and other animals and children very well. Providing your animal is socialized and handled correctly from a young age he will make an affectionate and playful companion and will be fantastic with children. It should be remembered that because he is a larger rabbit he can be strong and will not make a suitable pet for a first-time owner. Their hind legs are very powerful and the can kick out if startled, which, if you are holding him at the time, could cause injury. They are known to have a placid and relaxed temperament, and can tolerate other species. When socialized well at a young age they are a wonderful family pet, and are very gentle with children. Rabbits are highly social animals and should always be kept with a companion - however care should be taken when introducing them as adults. Neutered rabbits will be less likely to fight - male-female pairs tend to be strongest. Like all rabbits, they may go through a "teenager" stage, where they are reaching sexual maturity and might become aggressive. It's less common in the French Lops though than other breeds. Apart from their distinctive appearance, French Lops are also distinguished by their endearing and gentle temperaments. Bred for decades to be an easily handled breed, their large, imposing frames are misleading as most French Lops are very docile in nature, they are usually quite fond of interaction with humans and are much less active and more relaxed than a great number of other rabbit breeds. The French Lop thrives on human interaction and loves to be picked up and petted. This large breed of rabbit makes for a wonderful pet due to their calm, docile temperament. These gentle giants have a huge personality each different than the other rabbit. At first glance, it can be mistaken as a small dog but make no mistake about it, this rabbit is just as cuddly as any dog you’ve ever had. They thrive on human interaction and love to be picked up and petted, making them ideal for couples who want to take the next step into pet parenthood or singles who would like some animal companionship. As a good natured and social animal, the breed will thrive on interaction with people as well as with other rabbits. They can be quite playful and will enjoy some simple toys to keep them occupied. The French Lop does tends to have large litters, sometimes with as many as twelve offspring. The average lifespan of a French Lop rabbit is about 5 to 7 years. uses Rabbits tend to be bred for one of four things: meat, fur, show, or pet use. Even though this is a large breed of rabbit, they are gentle and easily handled. This makes them good for pets or show rabbits as well as meat production. At a minimum of eleven pounds, it is occasionally mistaken for a small dog at first glance. Unlike some other giant breeds, the French Lop has commercial body type rather than semi-arch. Although perhaps slow to grow out, the French Lop yields a good amount of meat and can even be shown in market pen classes. The French Lop rabbit was mainly developed as a meat rabbit breed. And was a very popular meat rabbit breed in the mid 19th century. The breed is very suitable for commercial rabbit farming business for meat production. French lops are most commonly used as show rabbits, though with their large, commercial type they can also be used for meat. In fact, they can be shown in the meat classes. French lops also make good pets, as long as you keep in mind that these rabbits are at least 11 pounds, and will need roomy cages. Today it is a popular meat rabbit breed and also raised as pets and show animal. The French Lop is a large breed of rabbit that makes for a wonderful pet, due to their calm, docile temperament. Club The American Rabbit Breeders Association (ARBA) maintains the breed standard for all of the recognized rabbit and cavy breeds for it's international membership. Recognized breeds are eligible for Registration and Grand Champion recognition. The AMERICAN RABBIT BREEDERS ASSOCIATION, INC. is an organization dedicated to the promotion, development, and improvement of the domestic rabbit and cavy. With over 30,000 members throughout the United States, Canada, and abroad, its members range from the pet owner with one rabbit or cavy to the breeder or commercial rabbit raiser with several hundred animals. Each aspect of the rabbit and cavy industry, whether it be for fancy, as a pet, or for commercial value, is encouraged by the organization. The British Rabbit Council (BRC) is a British showing organization for rabbit breeders. Originally founded as The Beveren Club in 1918, its name first changed to British Fur Rabbit Society and finally to The British Rabbit Society. Today, the BRC among other things investigates rabbit diseases, maintains a catalog of rabbit breeds, and sets rules for about 1,000 rabbit shows annually in the UK. Owners of house rabbits are also encouraged to join the organization to learn how to care optimally for their pets. “Presented” means that they are there on exhibit for the ARBA committee to see and vote on if they would like to accept the new breed. The breed is recognized by both the American Rabbit Breeders Association and the British Rabbit Council. The French Lop Color Guide allows many colors, but this breed is shown in only two classifications: solid pattern and broken pattern. Today the French Lop shares a national specialty club with the English Lop, and that’s fitting enough, since they were brought to this country along with the English Lop in the early stages of the American rabbit fancy. The breed was first developed in France, as the name suggests. The first record of it being shown is in 1850, by a breeder named Condenier. It is not one of the most popular breeds, but also is not in danger of extinction at this time. Learn About the History and Objectives of the Lop Rabbit Club of America. In April of 1971, the National Lop Rabbit Club of America was formed and later became known as the Lop Rabbit Club of America. The object of the LRCA is to popularize, promote and improve the breeding of the Lop rabbits, to encourage fanciers and exhibitors with the help of this club's services which are at their disposal. Our American Standard has for years recognized both Lop breeds. Through the great efforts of many early Lop breeders, the Lops have gained enormous popularity and recognition in this country. The original stock was imported from Switzerland, Holland, Belgium and Germany during 1970-1971. The future of our French and English Lops in America looks bright and promising. The Lop Rabbit Club of America invites you to join our organization. We are one of the most progressive Rabbit Clubs in America. As a member, you will receive our Official Club Guidebook, plus the Lop Digest which is published quarterly. Most importantly, you will be able to enjoy the breeding and exhibiting of two of the most unique and irresistible breeds of rabbits known to man - The French and English Lops Have I Missed Anything? If you know something about the breed standard, history or status of this rabbit, please let me know. Do You Have a Story About This Particular Breed? What do you love about them? Do you have any tips or tricks up your sleeve for what might make this breed happiest? Perhaps you're a breeder of this type of rabbit. Let us know, and maybe we can set up an interview? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Lop https://www.pets4homes.co.uk/breeds/rabbits/french-lop/ http://www.petguide.com/breeds/rabbit/breedsrabbitfrench-lop/ http://rabbitbreeders.us/french-lop-rabbits http://www.thenaturetrail.com/rabbit-breeds/french-lop-rabbit-breed-information/ http://www.frenchlopcare.com/about-the-french-lop-breed.html http://www.lrca.us/ http://www.roysfarm.com/french-lop-rabbit/ Every week I would like to bring you an item on Amazon that I personally use or has been purchased by many members of the audience, and I have researched enough to recommend. This weeks item is a window fan! I have had a Holmes window fan for over ten years. It has a temperature setting so that you can set it to come on at a specific temperature. I have used it in the window to draw in or out air, and I have used it in a door way to move air from one room to another. This could be used in a room with a rabbit to draw cool air through from outside, or if you have a rabbit barn with a window, this Holmes window fan could be used to draw some air through. This Holmes window fan is cost effective and draws in fresh, cool air from the outside or exhausts stale, hot air from inside. The Holmes window fan can do both simultaneously because each of the two fans can be set independently to draw in or exhaust out, allowing the unit to exchange inside and outside air. Operable either manually or automatically—with its thermostat turning the fans off and on to maintain a selected temperature—the unit has a one-touch electronic control and two speeds so it can be adjusted to specific conditions. It's designed to fit double-hung, vertical-slider, and casement windows.   Plant of the week - Sweeds and Turnips Word of the week: Alleys Our FolkTale: http://www.native-languages.org/trickster-rabbit.htm Rabbit is the trickster figure in many Southeastern Indian tribes. The Rabbit Trickster is generally a light-hearted character who does not engage in serious wrongdoing and features in many children's stories; however, like most tricksters, he is prone to humorously inappropriate behavior, particularly gluttony, carelessness, and an overinflated ego. In the folklore of some Southeastern tribes, it was Rabbit who stole fire and brought it to the people. http://www.firstpeople.us/FP-Html-Legends/HowtheDeerGotHisHorns-Cherokee.html In the beginning the deer had no horns, but his head was smooth just like the doe's, He was a great runner and the rabbit was a great jumper, and the animals were all curious to know which could go farther in the same time. They talked about it a good deal, and at last arranged a match between the two, and made a nice pair of antlers for a prize to the winner. They were to start together from one side of the thicket and go through it, then turn and come back, and the one who came out first was to get the horns. On the day fixed all the animals were there, with the antlers put down on the ground at the edge of the thicket to mark the starting point, While everybody was admiring the horns the rabbit said: "I don't know this part of the country; I want to take a look through the bushes where I am to run.". They thought that was all right, so the rabbit went into the thicket, but he was gone so long that at last the animals suspected he must be up to one of his tricks. They sent a messenger to look for him, and away in the middle of the thicket he found rabbit gnawing down the bushes and pulling them away until he had a road cleared nearly to the other side. The messenger turned around quietly and came back and told the other animals. When the rabbit came out at last they accused him of cheating, but he denied it until they went into the thicket and found the cleared road. They agreed that such a trickster had no right to enter the race at all, so they gave the horns to the deer, who was admitted to be the best runner, and he has worn them ever since. They told the rabbit that as he was so fond of cutting down bushes he might do that for a living hereafter, and so he does to this day.   News Carla Wilson 1949 - 2017 http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/thestarpress/obituary.aspx?n=carla-wilson&pid=185872286&fhid=19244 Carla Wilson, 68 Portland - Carla Wilson, age 68, a resident of Portland, passed away on Tuesday, June 20, 2017 at IU Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis. Carla was born February 7, 1949, in New Castle, Indiana, the daughter of Noel and Kathleen (Williamson) Myers. She graduated from Wes-Del High School in 1968. Carla worked at the Pennville Library for many years and was also an ARBA Rabbit Judge for many years. She was a member of the Hickory Grove Church of the Brethren; she was also a member of the American Rabbit Breeders Association, Indiana Rabbit Breeders Association and also a Jay County and Delaware County 4-H Leader. She married Larry Wilson on September 20, 1969. Survivors include her loving husband: Larry Wilson - Portland, Indiana; 2 sons: Kelly (wife Jennifer) Wilson - Portland, Indiana and Aaron (fiancé Nicolle Courtney) Wilson - Muncie, Indiana; 1 daughter: Linsy (husband Cody) Zigler - Lynn, Indiana; 2 brothers: Dave (wife Kaye) Myers - Orlando, Florida and Ron (wife Linda) Myers - Fayetteville, North Carolina; 1 sister: Emma Lou Bocook - Munising, Michigan; and 5 grandchildren. Visitation for Carla Wilson will be held on Thursday from 4-8 p.m. at the Williamson and Spencer Funeral Home in Portland. Funeral services will be held on Friday at 11 a.m. at the Williamson and Spencer Funeral Home in Portland with Pastor Earl Doll officiating the service. Burial will follow in Gardens of Memory Cemetery in Muncie, Indiana. Memorials may be directed to Hickory Grove Church of the Brethren. Envelopes will be provided at the funeral home. Online condolences may be sent to www.williamsonspencer.com. Published in The Star Press on June 22, 2017     Hundreds of Animals Still Recovering After Being Found in Fresno Moving Truck http://www.yourcentralvalley.com/news/hundreds-of-animals-still-recovering-after-being-found-in-fresno-moving-truck/746534266 FRESNO, Calif. -- Nearly 1,000 animals are still being cared for after being found in an old moving truck in South West Fresno on Friday. Fresno Humane Animal services officials said many of the animals are recovering but some may have a long road ahead. Kendyll Lyons, a kennel worker at Fresno Animal Humane Services has been working long hours to make sure the hundreds of birds, bunnies, quail and others at Fresno Humane Animal Services survive. "We have had the occasional bunny, the occasional rabbit but never anything like this," said Lyons, kennel worker, Fresno humane animal services. On Friday, Fresno Humane Animal Service employees said they recovered 955 animals from a moving truck in Southwest Fresno. "It was 107 degrees inside when we got there and certainly that is not as hot as it has been. Thank goodness for that," said Brenda Mitchell, Fresno Humane Animal Services Board President. The animals were transferred to Fresno Humane Animal Services' air conditioned warehouse, where they have been closely monitored. But, even with the care from animal experts, officials said 10 have died since Friday. "I don't know if it is related to those conditions but certainly their age and the fact that they are fragile little creatures," said Mitchell. Officials said they could lose even more animals. Many of the birds have injuries, feather loss and officials said many of the rabbits are too young to be without their mothers. "I would be very surprised if some of the little rabbits made it," said Lyons. The workers said they will continue taking care of each one until they are fully recovered. Officials said when their investigation is complete they will start finding homes for all of these animals.     A 'Furfest' in Wytheville http://www.swvatoday.com/news/article_20980352-5856-11e7-8b75-572ee59e7b10.html The fur was flying at Wither’s Park Thursday morning as adults and children gathered, along with dogs, a cat, even a rabbit, for the annual Chautauqua “Furfest” pet show. Border collie Greeley Joe was top dog, taking home the People’s Choice and Best in Show Awards. Greeley Joe’s owner, Cora Chrisley, 15, said she started training the 1-year-old pup when he was about 6 weeks old. “Just whenever we would play or during potty time,” she said. Nothing special. He takes to it really well.” Already, Greeley Joe can sit, lie down, shake hands, circle, catch a Frisbee and fetch (which he loves). The Best in Show Award is awarded in memory of Marsha Jones, a Wythe Arts Council member who promoted the pet show for years before she died in 2007. Her family has continued to sponsor the Best in Show Award in her memory. Jones’ young family members, Cali and Beach Molinary, attended the show. Nearby, Debbie Yates watched her 6-year-old granddaughter, Kyla Yates, play with her rabbit, Cocoa, who took home second place for the cutest pet. They also entered golden retriever Nellie in the show, who snapped up third place in the “best trick” category. She shakes hands. “We came just for fun and to watch; we love the festival,” Debbie Yates said. “I thought it would be good for her (Kyla) to participate. She did real well walking her out there. I think it builds self-confidence, don’t you?” Patty Hall’s Pomeranian, Shadow, won honorable mention in the “cutest” category. Hall’s friend, Ann Harrison, arrived too late to enter her Shih Tzu, Gizmo. They were at the pet show with 10-year-old Gaige Dawson and Hall’s daughter, Christi Armbrister, who was visiting from Fort Walton Beach, Florida. “We just came to watch,” Harrison said. “It’s so neat and wonderful to see all the dogs and we saw a rabbit and a cat and some sweet people.” Here are the Furfest results: Look Alike: First place: Chloe (Annette Gilliam) Second Place: Greeley Joe (Cora Chrisley) Best Trick: First place: Greeley Joe (Cora Chrisley) Second place: Chloe (Annette Gilliam) Third place: Nellie (Debbie Yates) Honorable Mention: Copper (Oscar Montgomery) Largest: First place: Baby (Payton) Second place: Chloe (Annette Gilliam) Third place: Bo (Jackie Alley) Honorable Mention: Copper (Oscar Montgomery) Smallest: First place: George (Cora Chrisley) Second place: Lanie (Lili Belle) Third place: Romeo (Zachary Coley) Honorable Mention: Roscoe (Maranda/Mariah Wall) Best Costume: First place: Keni (Oscar Montgomery) Second place: Roscoe (Maranda/Mariah Wall) Third place: Baby (Payton) Cutest: First place: Benji (Joe and Marsha Turpin) Second place: Cocoa (Kyla Yates) Third place: Peanut (Blair Jackson) Honorable Mentions: Shadow (Patty Hall), Nellie (Debbie Yates), Bo (Jackie Alley), Addison (Cora Chrisley) People’s Choice: Greeley Joe (Cora Chrisley) Best in Show: Greeley Joe (Cora Chrisley) To reach Millie Rothrock, call 288-6611, ext. 35, or email mrothrock@wythenews.com.     Colorado's Iconic Rabbit Ears Peak just lost a chunk of its ear http://www.9news.com/news/local/colorados-rabbit-ears-peak-loses-chunk-of-ear/449687186 STEAMBOAT SPRINGS, COLO. (AP) - An iconic sight near Steamboat Springs is missing something. Rabbit Ears Peak looks a little different after losing a chunk of one of its ears. Steamboat Pilot & Today reported Thursday the western ear of Colorado's iconic landmark is significantly skinnier and pointier following what appears to be an erosion event at the top of the rock formation. The Rabbit Ears are remains of pyroclastic materials, which are layers of extruded rock and ash. It's a popular landmark and hiking spot for tourists and locals alike. Dr. Barbara EchoHawk, a professor of Geology at Metro State University, says Rabbit Ears Peak is the result of volcanic explosions from 30 million years ago. Check out the before and after here. Because of the way the magma erupted in a vent from the ground, Dr. EchoHawk says there are some large and some smaller pieces of volcanic rock. During its formation, these pieces were broken by steam eruptions, causing cracks in the rock, that eventually, naturally, will crumble and fall away as these cracks line up with other joints in the rock. Even the rabbit ears themselves are just smaller, leftover pieces of the original formation. Dr. EchoHawk says more erosion can be expected in the future as the rock and its cracks freeze, thaw, freeze and thaw. U.S. Forest Service District Ranger Chad Stewart says he made a point to look at Rabbit Ears Peak on a drive he took this week after he was informed of the possible change in the rock's appearance. The piece that broke off was at a height that would not be easily accessible to humans. Stewart says there are also no rock climbers permitted to operate at the rock formation, making this scenario more unlikely than natural erosion     On View | 'Bunny Attack: An Exhibit of Illustration and Photography http://host.madison.com/wsj/entertainment/arts_and_theatre/visual/on-view-bunny-attack-an-exhibit-of-illustration-and-photography/article_c5249055-1dd3-5998-a604-0ccf04fd401f.html Dreams, nature and dark emotions stimulated the creativity displayed by artist Bunny Attack at Bos Meadery, 849 E. Washington Ave., Suite 116. “Bunny Attack: An Exhibit of Illustration and Photography” will be on view through the end of June. “It is through a quiet observation that most of my work comes to life,” Bunny Attack said in her artist’s statement. “Introverted and imaginative, I spend my life in a state of observation and interpretation; I am mostly drawn to the colors of the fading day, the patterns and details presented in the natural world, the stories that come to life via melodies, harmonies and lyrics in my favorite music.” Bunny Attack’s works in the exhibit include black-and-white illustrations featuring anthropomorphic animals, sullen self-portraits, and double-exposed film photography that all carry a dark and mysterious theme. Part of her earlier collection “The Dangers of Living,” all the black-and-white work was composed once she had developed a personal style she was happy with and was able to really focus on creating detailed illustrations. “The newest works have more color, and are a bit more playful, although still being on the darker side of things,” Bunny Attack said in her press release. Bunny Attack has no formal art education other than a couple of photography classes. “Drawing has been a favorite (pastime) for as long as I can remember, and in high school I picked up a love for photography,” said Bunny Attack in an email. “It took time and much trial and error to develop the style I have now, and I’m happy with the work I’ve produced thus far and am excited to experiment more and advance in my techniques.”   William Shatner From Captain Kirk to ... Bunny Handler!!! http://www.tmz.com/2017/06/17/william-shatner-better-late-than-never-cast-bunny-rabbit-show/ EXCLUSIVE William Shatner may have explored new worlds where no man has gone before, but now he's in Sweden ... running around with rabbits. The legendary "Star Trek" actor is in Stockholm shooting for his new comedy/reality show "Better Late Than Never" ... and showed off his skills as a bunny handler. Spoiler alert -- he wasn't great at it. Rabbit show jumping is big in Sweden -- kind of like the Westminster Dog Show in the U.S. Shatner and his fellow cultural icons on the show -- Henry Winkler, Terry Bradshaw and George Foreman -- all took part in the rabbit racing and looked like they had a blast. As usual, host Jeff Dye was their guide.  

On this -- the final episode of Indivisible -- we're focusing on what we've learned over 100 days of talking with Americans in this time of change. After nearly 100 dizzying news cycles, dozens of expert guests, hundreds of insightful calls from listeners around the country, we've only just started the conversation. From our perspective on the show, the best moments were not about politics. They were about hearing how people's life experience and the connection to the places we live. We heard honest -- sometimes surprising -- connections between work, faith, family, and politics. All of it gave us an appreciation for the parts of the American identity shared across politics... as well as the real differences that have left us so polarized. On this episode of Indivisible, we'll hear some of the most memorable moments from the show, and ask what you have learned about American identity -- from us and from others -- in this first 100 days of the Trump administration. And we do it with a guest who helped us kick off the show in week 1: Jose Santos, an anthropologist at Metro State University in St. Paul, Minn. Here are some Tweets from this episode:  Indivisible Week 14: Thanks For The Memories

See full Transcription Below.     Molly Wezel-Peterson shares her journey, her story, her coping while sitting down one on one with Jeff Thompson of Blind Abilities. From her earliest days, through high school and graduating college Molly tells us what it is like accepting Usher Syndrome and staying positive about her future. I hope you enjoy this look inside of Molly’s life and what she faces every day with Usher Syndrome. I know I did and I learned a lot about DeafBlind from someone who is a true advocate for those facing the challenges which they cannot control but they can rise above the limited expectations.    Thank you for listening. You can follow us on Twitter @BlindAbilities On the web at www.BlindAbilities.com Send us an email Get the Free Blind Abilities App on the App Store.   Transcript:   Molly: You know, knowing I'm going to become blind, I would say at this point in my life, I, I do accept it. Um, it was difficult and it took a long time. Of course, I started out crying and it was very upsetting but I've since spent a lot of time learning how to cope as a deaf/blind person, and also educating my family. I do need to, to, to prepare. I do need to get ready, I mean I can still see but I want to be completely prepared when I do lose my sight, when I do become legally blind. I am taking advantage of the sight that I have now to be able to learn how to live as a person that won't have sight potentially in the future. SSB is fantastic as a support for deaf/blind and there is other organizations outside of Minnesota that are very supportive. Deaf, blind, hearing, whatever your disability is, you can do it. You will be afraid, you will want to isolate yourself, but don't go that route. Take advantage of all the wonderful opportunities that are out there to help you achieve what you want to achieve.   Jeff Thompson: Welcome to Blind Abilities. I am Jeff Thompson. I would like to introduce you to Molly Wezel-Peterson. She is someone who happens to be deaf/blind, college graduate, hard worker, an advocate, and who wants to share her story about living with Usher Syndrome. From her past to present to her future, Molly shares her thoughts, her emotions, how she copes, and most of all, she is sharing her story with you all. And if you want to find more podcasts with the blindness perspective, check us out on the web at blindabilities.com, on Twitter at blindabilities, and download the free Blind Abilities app from the app store, that is blind abilities, two words. So without further ado, please welcome Molly Wezel-Peterson. Molly: Was I born deaf, nobody really knows. I don't know if I was born hearing or born deaf, it was just never identified but, um, they found out that I was deaf probably when I was around 2, they kinda assumed I was deaf. I was adopted and there was really very, no communication so my parents put me in a special education school, and, I learned sign language with a tutor, and I went to a mainstreamed school so, itís called the Gideon Pond. It was a school for mostly hearing children but as a deaf student, as a deaf person I went there to Gideon Pond and I had a teacher that was there in the Special Ed classroom that taught me and used sign language. And so I learned sign language in school plus my parents learned sign language as well. And really both, my parents have since divorced and they weren't sure where I should go to school at that point so I, that's when I ended up going to MSAD in Faribault. I had actually first went to a, first I went to a summer program in Fairbault just to see what I thought of it and I had not yet been identified as having Usher Syndrome so deaf/blind, so just deaf and I really liked the summer school program when I was in Fairbault. It was total immersion environment where everybody was using sign language and so I ended up going to the school and noticing then that little things, like I couldn't read the black board you know far, and they were starting to notice I was having some vision issues so went to get a check up to the eye doctor and I was labeled as having Usher Syndrome when I was about 10. So we just sort of, I stayed in this regular deaf program despite you know, that, I just ended up graduating from MSAD, well before high school, I had a support group when I was in the, in Gideon Pond, and when I was diagnosed with having Usher's Syndrome, there was a support group. I also, you know, I played sports and did every, anything that I could do while I still had you know, my vision and didn't want to be blocked. I had never learned, I mean I never went to a specific blind school, MSAB. I never went there, so MSAD, Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf and then MSAB, Minnesota State Academy for the Blind, are very close to each other but I strictly went to MSAD. I was, my vision was fine at that time. I was just identified, I identified myself as deaf.   Jeff Thompson: You can find out more about the Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf on the web at msad.msa.state.mn.us.   Molly: So things progressed and I had other friends that, I met other friends that had gone to MSAD, and again, my vision hadn't declined at that point and I met folks at MSAB. But I didn't learn braille and I didn't become skilled at what I needed to know as being a blind individual until after high school. I really wanted to be independent before my vision really went don so, I went to a vocational program. Now I didn't come here to the State Services for the Blind but a different program where I really learned how to be independent and learned skills on how to be a deaf blind individual, I learned braille and just different life skills to prepare me for when my vision did decrease to the point where I would be labeled as deaf/blind and I am very skilled being independent, I really did practice and was very much encouraged to practice the skills that I was learning.   Jeff Thompson: If you are seeking the skills to enhance your opportunities, check out your state services and see what they can do for you.   Molly: And let's see, so yeah, I'm just trying to think, it was at the time just pretty basic, that I was learning, I mean I wasn't an expert but I knew enough. And I decided, ok, that is good enough, I am going to go to a different college, I am gonna get my degree, I am going to get a job, those are my goals and plans for the future so that is when I went to the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, NTID and it's under the Rochester Institute of Technology, RIT. And that is is Rochester, New York, so I entered that program and they have a few deaf programs that's specific programs there that I was involved in. I was very motivated, I socialized a lot and I was very involved in a deaf/blind support group as well. I experienced living through you know the frustrations of high school, I was now in an environment that was very supportive, I was getting more and more skilled in functioning as a deaf/blind individual and getting to know the deaf/blind community.   Jeff Thompson: Be sure to check your local area for organizations, support groups, communities where you may find support or give support and enhance not only your own opportunities, but may be able to help someone else.   Molly: So I did graduate, got my degree. My technical degree and I came back home, I wasn't satisfied, I was frustrated, I wasn't getting full time work and I was kind of not sure where things were going and I wasn't focusing on the deaf/blind community. What was important to me was finding a job. You know, getting opportunities that I could get at that time of my life, you know where I was, and I decided the job that I had, I was going to quit and I was going to become a full-time student at Metro State University. You know it was a local college and it was relatively inexpensive, and it was going to be an MA in business. Plus, at the same time I was, I was starting to get more and more involved in the deaf/blind community here. So, I was trying to balance those two things with school and deaf/blind community and again, I was slow in learning the skills I needed to learn and developing them to a proficient level since I was so focused on school and my friends and that type of thing and about four years ago I found a job at the U.S. Army Core of Engineer where I've been, plus I had graduated in 2014 with my MA degree and the company, you know I did meet my goals. I was, you know got a degree and I got a full-time job and it's been permanent work, full time and I've been very happy there.   Jeff Thompson: You can find out more about Usher Syndrome by searching Google or by going to the American Foundation for the Blind website at www.afb.org and search for Usher Syndrome.   Molly: So my vision then had, you know, it's not like all of a sudden it just went away, it slowly just started to decline especially starting at night. And during the day it was ok but I started to notice my night vision was really decreasing, I was depending more and more on people to help me get around and, you know friends, and that type of thing. So I tapped into my deaf/blind community again and really started to learn more and more coping skills and definitely improve my own skills on how to be more and more dependent, you know as a deaf/blind individual. That's kind of everything in a nutshell.   Jeff Thompson: We're talking to Molly Wezel-Peterson and I want to thank you very much for coming on board and sharing your story with the Blind Abilities listeners.   Molly: It was my pleasure, thank you.   Jeff Thompson: Molly, with some residual sight, what is your preferred method of communications?   Molly: Well, it actually depends on the individual. For myself, Technically, let's see, legally blind so, on my left, I am not legally blind yet on my right. Now I am deaf plus legally blind on my left both so, but I can still see well enough you know when there is light, when it is bright. Normally preferred is sign language, American sign language to be more specific. Now it's very important that whomever I am communication with, they were very dark solid as a background to their hands, or if they are a black person they have you know, light solid colors just as there is a contrast for their skin color, then preferred is the American sign language. But that again has to be in an environment where I can see. Now when I become fully blind, it's going to most likely be tactile sign language, I don't use that right now just because I don't need to yet. Although I do use tactile sign language sometimes when it is nighttime, if I'm in a dark environment, if the lights are very low, obviously if it is pretty dark I would need to use tactile sign language just because I can't see otherwise, but for now American sign language is preferred.   Jeff Thompson: So what kind of social networking platforms do you use?   Molly: I use an IPad, I use Snapchat, I use Glide, Facebook, IMO, I mean I use pretty much everything, what is it, I use Twitter. I do a lot of social networking, social media.   Jeff Thompson: A friend from high school put this question forward. And it's about her little sister, actually her kid sister, and she writes: My sister does a little signing but not a lot, she does not communicate well because she has been this way since birth. But I always ask myself, what could she be thinking? One of the thoughts is, does she think that she is different than us? Maybe even better because she is not caught up in all of the social values that we are. Less stressed, I guess from this question, she is just wanting answers to know what it's like to be deaf/blind.   Molly: Well, I would say being deaf and blind, taking two senses away, really there is very limited communication because when you are deaf, you can communicate, you have your hands, you can see other people signing, you can sign. When you know then become blind, that takes away that mode of communication that you have to transition and practice to learn a different mode of communication. Typically tactile sign language. Minnesota is great because it does provide a program where you can learn it. But it is a challenge to communicate with people. I mean, not a lot of people know tactile sign language so you can feel very isolated. It is very important to find a social network that you can tap into so you don't start felling negative and lonely and alone.   Jeff Thompson: Oh I bet, you know, I have vision loss. But I used to see everything and so like when I hear someone sigh I can imagine them rolling their eyes or actually they are just rolling their eyes but they make a sound and I can put it all together. But you know it's kind of different from someone from the outside looking in. Kind of like you know, her writing this letter about her sister. Because I know about blindness. I know nothing about being deaf. And actually I don't even feel half way of understanding it all.   Molly: Just to tag on to what you are saying. In the past, well I just want to say that there is something you call pro tactile. We abbreviate it as PT in deaf/blind community, that's kind of emerging as a new type of thing in the deaf/blind community and wow. Especially not so much in the blind community, specifically in deaf/blind community, pro tactile. So you know, like you were talking about with expressions, now you're deaf, you watch expression, facial expressions, that's even part of American sign language. It's a grammatical piece, now you become blind on top of it. How do you know emotions/ How do you now if someone's laughing? How do you know if someone's upset? You can't see any of that in the body language. So there's a type of, I'm going to say code that deaf/blind know that pro tactile interpreters would know. For example let's say someone's giving a presentation and there are a bunch of people. And obviously as deaf/blind person I cannot see and I am actually presenting so I'm going about presenting and I don't know, is the audience falling asleep? Are they engaged? And so I would have a pro tactile interpreter that would be giving me quote unquote codes on my back that we both know that really are attached more to emotions of the audience, of the environment, may be you know, what room, there would be explanation of what a room looks like that type of thing but, another piece of the pro tactile with relations to the emotions, it's also using it as a type of map perhaps, so let's say there's a table in a room and there is a bunch of people sitting around the table, then a pro tactile could, interpreter or person would sort of use my back as a map to show a diagram of where people are sitting and then be able to identify who is feeling what. Oh, you know, over here is feeling, falling asleep or what have you, so that the deaf/blind person is able to quote unquote see the emotions. Because that is taken away when you are deaf/blind, so I just wanted to tag on this pro tactile is kind, is a newer way of interpreting for deaf/blind as opposed to just the tactile interpreting.   Jeff Thompson: You know it's the things we never think about, that makes perfectly good sense. Such a, it's common sense.   Molly: Yeah.   Jeff Thompson: Another friend of mine, he's an assistant technology instructor down at MSAB. Ken. He showed me a device. He has three devices. It's a, they're cobbled together. A notebook, a refreshable braille, and another interface. And I believe a deaf/blind person could, or does communicate with it. I believe it was a phone. Are you aware of something like this?   Molly: You know that's actually a really good question. It's very challenging to make a phone call or to receive a phone call. There are, my understanding is there are two parts, so in the deaf, you know, the deaf world there is technology galore, you have your video phone, if you're just deaf, you have video phone, you can use that, facetime, all of that, Skype, what have you. Now you add the blindness piece into it, boy that's tough. Because, I mean for me I can still, I haven't quite needed to use a phone as a deaf/blind individual, because I can still see well enough. I can say that when I am using my video phone, I can't necessarily see, if it's a small screen or if it is dark or I can't see on the phone I just need to have my friend, a friend of mine, or an interpreter or something help me on the phone. So, if I were using the phone as a deaf/blind individual then you would really rely on someone to use the tactile sign language to interpret the interpreter or whomever is talking to be able to interpret that. Now there is braille, what you're talking about on mobile devices. You can feel a vibration, you can feel, there are different devices on your IPhone, on you know, different technology, it's actually just quite amazing how crazy technology has taken off to help put folks with disabilities, it's so more accessible now, but as a deaf/blind person, or as a deaf person, or as a deaf person, or as just a blind person you definitely need to have that technology, technology in your hands.   Jeff Thompson: Molly, another question came in. You know you kind of answered this but, did you have to go through going deaf and going blind at two different times or all at once?   Molly: Well, just so you know every individual is different and goes through different emotions when they find out they're going to go blind. Perhaps letís just say it is very emotional, and very difficult, it can be very difficult to go through.so I was first deaf, and what Usher Syndrome means when I was diagnosed at age 10, was that I was eventually going to become blind. Now I'm not, I don't label myself deaf/blind, I mean I, one of my labels is I have Usher Syndrome. I don't worry so much going blind at this point but I do identify as a person that has Usher Syndrome. As far as you know, knowing I'm going to become blind, I would say this point in my life, I do accept it. It was difficult and it took a long time, of course I started out crying and it was very upsetting but I have since spent a lot of time learning how to cope as a deaf/blind person and also educating my family on how to support me. You know, you're going to need to learn braille and you know that type of thing.   Jeff Thompson: You know, I lost my sight later in life and I lost it slowly so I use to be able to use a CC tv quite easily, and so braille, you know I learned it quickly, but I didn't stick with it because I had so many alternative techniques could use. The CC tv, especially with audio and now with digital and stuff that I kind of adopted to listening. But you know if I would have lost it quickly, I think I would have taken to the braille and dug right in. Some people might call me a lazy blind you know.   Molly: Well, and in my opinion really, I, my, well I should say my perspective from the past compared to now, I get what you are saying, I feel that I do need to prepare, I do need to get ready, I mean I can still see but I want to be completely prepared when I do lose my sight, when I do become legally blind. It'll be, it's just easier for me to learn now as opposed to before I don't, it's already going to be a struggle, I don't want to start all over again as a baby to learn all of these skills so my opinion is it is less stressful for me and a lot easier for me to accept if I start preparing myself now you know, my back up plan is I know braille and my friends are understanding what's happening to me and Iím teaching them how to support me and if there is an emergency I, people need to know how to support me and I need to know how to support myself and that, so I'm taking advantage of the sight that I have now to be able to learn how to live as a person that won't have sight potentially in the future.   Jeff Thompson: That's good. That's really good. It's a tough thing to face.   Molly: It is, yes.   Jeff Thompson: Yeah. So in passing time, leisure, what kind of hobbies do you have Molly?   Molly: I love to travel, I love to move about, I love to camp. I like to run. I love to be outdoors, I am an outdoor person. I love to camp, I like to go hiking. I like to socialize with my friends.   Jeff Thompson: Oh I love camping, I love the outdoors. Minnesota you know "The Great Outdoors" you know, way up north, you know.   Molly: Yeah.   Jeff Thompson: Minnesota has a lot to offer.   Molly: Right. My first hobby was biking because bicycle because I knew I wasn't going to be able to drive. Eventually I am becoming legally blind and so I learned how to ride a bike and you know, I am still able to do it during the day, I know, like during the summertime I can do it pretty much all day until, make sure I am home if I am biking by nine. That's when it starts to get dark and dangerous for me to be biking because I cannot see well enough to keep myself safe. So and I say that maybe it depends on the environment, if it's flat and safe I could do it when it is a little dark but I do depend on bicycles a lot right now.   Jeff Thompson: I used to love biking. I still do and you know when you mentioned camping. there is an old saying here in Minnesota, you know, some of my friends think that camping is when room service is 10 minutes late.   Molly: (Laughter) Yeah.   Jeff Thompson: Molly, I know you do a lot of advocating. How do you advocate for someone who is in a similar situation?   Molly: Well, networking is very important. it's very important to have support groups. I wish that I had an advocate when I was growing up. I really didn't have any, I was labeled Usher Syndrome and it was very difficult to get support. It's great to have an organization. Minnesota Deaf Blind, what's it called no no that's not right. Minnesota Deaf Blind Project, no that's not right, let me back up. Deaf Blind Minnesota Project, I don't know the right order of the words, But that has developed and it's very strong support especially for advocates for children that are deaf blind or have Usher Syndrome. Schools really, some schools do have support for deaf/blind, it's I think for children especially it's very important to have a deaf/blind mentor or someone who has Usher Syndrome as a mentor. So the child can look up to that person and say you know, I can do this and I can do that, I can do all of these things. I think that's key. I didn't have any of that growing up and I think that's a very important way to advocate especially for children just to show what you can do. SSB is fantastic as support for deaf/blind and there is other organizations outside of Minnesota that are very supportive.   Jeff Thompson: So, the Minnesota Deaf Blind Project, is that affiliated with the Minnesota Deaf Blind Association?   Molly: No I think it's separate from that, I think the Minnesota Deaf Blind Project is really focused on a youth program for support, I think up until 18 or maybe up until they end high school. So there is an organization for deaf/blind to help deaf/blind not feel isolated and to make sure, and that's for adults so it's a little bit separate. I think Minnesota Deaf Blind Association maybe is for the adults and the project is for the kids. they have workshops and they have fun retreats for you know, like camping, counselors, they have picnics and they just, to keep the kids engaged and active and not isolated is the Minnesota Deaf Blind Project I believe.   Jeff Thompson: Now Molly, you're no stranger to advocacy because you've been recognized by the Tim Mahony award in this area.   Molly: Yes I did win that award yeah and I can explain about that so I, it started really deaf blind adults. I was involved in the deaf/blind community but, well I was actually tapped in to to get involved in deaf/blind community and be a leader in that community for many many years but I never did because I really wanted to focus on school and get all that done so in 2014 when I finished school, I was still getting tapped into to be more of a leader in the deaf/blind community and I felt a little uncomfortable with that just because I didn't feel like I could, I didn't know enough, but I started going to different events and learning more and feeling better and, but I noticed that you know it was hard because I would see folks that had Usher Syndrome that were a little bit more advanced than I was and it was hard for me to see that knowing that was going to be me in the future. But I eventually, I got over that and I learned more and more. And I wasn't, I was basically keeping an open mind, trying to keep a balance with the deaf community and the deaf/blind community. I got so much support from the deaf/blind community and I started to become more active and give more ideas and feedback on things that I thought you know would be helpful ect. And was creative and I was given this award by them. It's a huge honor.   Jeff Thompson: Well congratulations.   Molly: Thank you.   Jeff Thompson: So what social or entertainment venues do you frequent?   Molly: Oh I love movies, I am a big fan of movies, love movies. There is a movie theater that has, you know movie theaters will have closed captions. It's technology, I prefer to have it on the screen but they don't really do that anymore so anyway, I use this type of device and it's a wireless device that you can read the captions on this device as the movie is going on. I love to go to shows, I love to go to plays, that type of thing, often times they are interpreted and I, as long as I sit in front I can usually see the interpreter. So as a deaf person I am able to do that. I like the arts. A variety of arts I'll go and enjoy.   Jeff Thompson: Well that's great. I use a device that actually plays audio into my ear. Now you said that it, actually you can read the text, I was just wondering if somehow they could make that for refreshable braille?   Molly: Good question, I don't know. I've never heard of it, I've never, I am not sure what that would even look like, yeah, usually computers do have the news, or information that you can get in a braille type, as a type of technology for the braille but movies, I don't know. When I become fully blind, If I go to a museum, those kinds of things, like those artsy things as a museum, I mean, I'm not sure if I am going to wanna, I think I still would want to go to that, like maybe the Walker to go see an art exhibit but it would obviously be important to have someone with me to describe every little thing you know. Here is a painting, here are the colors that they used, and here's what the painting is about, and here is what it's called, and here is the artist, and then really describe in detail what the painting is or what the statue is. I would need to have assistance going into detail about what I am looking at.   Jeff Thompson: Makes me think about 3D imaging, 3D printing, I wonder if more and more venues will be starting to have opportunities to you know, touch the art such as using a 3D printer to replicate a piece of art, or a painting.   Molly: Hmm, I have not, I haven't heard of that but I am not surprised. That would be really nice. Gosh, yeah, and to even have technology in the future that's even better than now is, so it's important, it is important to, in whatever environment you're in, it's important to be able to touch as a deaf/blind person. I mean obviously if I am at a play, I'm not going to be able to touch the stage and the actors and that type of thing but having an interpreter there that would be interpreting everything you know the stage, and the actors, and that type of thing, that would be really important to be able to enjoy it.   Jeff Thompson: I remember reading about some technology that was coming out. It was gloves with sensors on it so when a signer was signing, it would actually take that information and feed it into a computer for translation.   Molly: I think I saw something about that on Facebook but I couldn't wrap my head around what it was really meaning. I was also doubtful that technology like that really existed but I have no idea about that. I don't know if that's, I just don't know much at all about that technology.   Jeff Thompson: Molly, what words of advice would you have for someone going through sight loss or hearing loss.   Molly: That's really hard. I'm just thinking back. So this is just my opinion, I mean if if if, if you were, if this is, I mean if, you suddenly became overnight from a car accident or, an illness, and you suddenly became deaf or blind or something overnight, that is tough to deal with and I, I guess the first part I would say is just needing to jump in and you can, the internet is great. you can go online and you can find support groups to help you. You can use friends to help you, social media is fantastic in terms of support. Definitely I would say, I would recommend counseling to help you get through the emotional trauma of losing one of your senses or both of your senses. A counselor can, a good counselor can help you work through the emotions and you can get through it. The important thing is not to allow yourself to stay stuck forever because you can't do it yourself, you've got to tap into a community organization, counselors, friends, family to help you get over the trauma.   Jeff Thompson: Minnesota State Academy for the Deaf and Minnesota State Academy for the Blind. Minnesota Deaf Blind Project and Minnesota Deaf Blind Association.   Molly: Yes.   Jeff Thompson: They all help.   Molly: Yes, absolutely.   Jeff Thompson: Molly, is there anything else you would like to tell the Blind Abilities listeners?   Molly: Yeah, actually I will add one thing. The real important part is we live in the real world and you become deaf, deaf/blind, blind, whatever age you are, there are interpreters, different types of interpreters that will accommodate your different communication need, whether it's tactiles or sign language. there are doctors who can help you, I guess my point is that in this real world there are a lot of things that can help you. Accessibility, accommodations that can help you. Having an SSP is very very helpful to help you go grocery shopping, doing some of the basics in life. So it's not a sign of weakness, it's more of a sign of strength to ask for help and to rely on other people, that doesn't mean you're less independent. When you have a companion, an SSP that comes to help you a couple times a week, when you have an interpreter, and it just opens up the world to you. There are really no excuses to stay home and isolate yourself. There are a lot resources here in Minnesota especially that have organizations, businesses, resources that can help connect you to what you need to be successful, whatever that looks like in your own life.   Jeff Thompson: First of all Molly, I want to thank you very much for taking time out of your day and sharing your journey, your story with all of our listeners.   Molly: Yeah, yeah, it was my pleasure. I'm very very happy to share my story. It helps others.   Jeff Thompson: Molly, your message really rings through to me and I'm sure to a lot of the listeners because there is a point where you have to accept it and face the real world and be part of the real world. that's a great message.   Molly: Exactly, exactly. An important quote that I rely often is "Deaf, blind, hearing blind, whatever your disability is, you can do it. You will be afraid, you will want to isolate yourself, but don't go that route, take advantage of all the wonderful opportunities that are out there to help you achieve what you want to achieve."   Jeff Thompson: That's great, that's wonderful.   Molly: Ooh sorry, I wanted to add one more thing, I did a presentation, when was that, let me think. I was involved with the American Disability Act. There was a TPT in the Minnesota, what is it, the Minnesota Public Access, there was some programming they were doing, I want to say this was last year, a couple years ago. I was involved with that as a deaf/blind can. Talked about you know the ADA and how it makes things accessible for folks with disabilities so that is in the archives you know if anyone wants to look it up.   Jeff Thompson: Oh, we forgot to mention that you're also on the state rehabilitation counsel for Minnesota.   Molly: Correct, I am. Yeah, I a rep for deaf/blind, for the deaf/blind community yes.   Jeff Thompson: Well Molly thank you very much, you're quite an advocate hear in Minnesota and I am sure a lot of people appreciate all of the hard work that you are doing, so thank you.   Molly: Thank you.   Jeff Thompson: I would like to thank Chichow for his beautiful music, and to Pam, the American sign language signer that participated in this interview. (Music) (Multiple voices) When we share, what we see, through each otherís eyes, we can then begin to bridge the gap between dreams and expectations and the reality of blind abilities. Jeff Thompson: For more podcasts with the blindness perspective, check us out on the web at www.blindabilities.com, on Twitter at Blindabilities, download our app from the app store. Blind abilities, that's two words, or send us an email at info@blindabilities.com Thanks for listening.