Podcasts about predominantly

Is Florida's new signature scent... vanilla?A few weeks ago here on the pod, Chef Justin Timineri of Fresh From Florida told us about some of his favorite trending agricultural products coming out of the Sunshine State. One in particular caught our attention: vanilla.You can almost smell it, can't you? That warm, sweet, comforting scent that reminds you of baking chocolate chip cookies or lighting your favorite candle.Stephanie Webb knows the aroma all too well. As the founder and owner of Sunshine State Vanilla, she cultivates and sells vanilla plants grown on a farm on Pine Island in Lee County. She also has a line of vanilla-scented kitchen and bath products. Predominantly grown in Africa and South America, vanilla is starting to flourish here Florida, thanks to folks like Stephanie and her partners, which include local farmers and researchers.The Zest team recently met up with Stephanie. In our conversation, she shares what led to her interest in vanilla, why the plant's beans are so expensive and her favorite sweet and savory ways to cook with vanilla.Stephanie also explains why Florida is a perfect place to grow vanilla plants—and to host the inaugural Florida Vanilla Symposium, which takes place this Saturday, April 12, 2025, at Fallen Oak Farms in Valrico. It's open to the public.Thanks to Kenya Woodard for suggesting this episode. If you'd like to suggest a Zest guest, email us at: info@thezestpodcast.comRelated episodes:Guac This Way: Sleepy Lizard Avocado Farm in the Everglades Specializes in Florida (Green) AvocadosThe Olive Grove Brings a Taste of Tuscany to BrooksvilleConscious Cuisine: Rocky Soil Family Farm on How to Reconnect with Your Food

In this episode, we're joined by distinguished guests Dr. Jacquelynne Boivin and Dr. Kevin McGowan, both esteemed educators from Bridgewater State University. Together, we'll explore the nuanced subject of privilege and how it intersects with race and equity in predominantly white classrooms. We'll address the discomfort and resistance often encountered when discussing race, and how to navigate these challenging yet necessary conversations. Dr. Boivin and Dr. McGowan provide insights from their book, offering tangible strategies for educators to integrate anti-racist perspectives across all subjects, not just those traditionally associated with social studies. We'll also discuss how educators can find their allies and build supportive communities to sustain these efforts, even amidst pushback. So, settle in and open your mind as we engage in a candid and thoughtful conversation about making education a truly inclusive and equitable experience for all students. Let's unpack privilege together, right here, in Our Classroom. Social Media: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevin-mcgowan-ph-d-b0ba1732/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/jacquelynne-boivin-ph-d-9874a7126/ https://www.instagram.com/jacquelynneboivin/ Also on Facebook. Join the group “White teacher, white students” for the book's readership community.

Targeted networks and student-centered approaches can transform educational outcomes for under-resourced communities. By connecting Historically Black and Predominantly Black Community Colleges, Alabama Possible is changing narratives, amplifying student voices, and creating economic pathways in one of the nation's poorest states. Join CCA Alliance Engagement Director Jamia Stokes in conversation with Alabama Possible Executive Director Chandra Scott.

The newest episode from The Chemical Sensitivity Podcast is available now!It's called “Chemicals & Parkinson's Disease.”It features a conversation with Ray Dorsey, MD, professor of neurology at the University of Rochester in New York State in the U.S. I invited Ray to speak on the podcast, because he insists toxic chemicals are the leading cause of Parkinson's Disease and other neurological illnesses. MCS also affects the neurological system among others. You'll hear Ray explore:  The most harmful chemicals that contribute to neurological disorders. How we can protect ourselves from being exposed to toxicants.The need for better chemical regulation.And more!Thank you for listening!   As always, you can reach me at aaron@chemicalsensitivitypodcast.org  Please subscribe where you get your podcasts.Links:Ray Dorsey, MDParkinson's is Predominantly an Environmental Disease (2024 paper)Ray Dorsey, MD and colleaguesEnding Parkinson's Disease (2021 book)  #MCSAwareness #MCS #MultipleChemicalSensitivity #TILT   #MultipleChemicalSensitivityPodcast #ParkinsonsDisease` DISCLAIMER: THIS WEBSITE DOES NOT PROVIDE MEDICAL ADVICE The information, including but not limited to, text, graphics, images, and other material contained on this website are for informational purposes only. No material on this site is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health care provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or treatment and before undertaking a new health care regimen, and never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website. No material or information provided by The Chemical Sensitivity Podcast, or its associated website is intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.  Support the showThank you very much to the Marilyn Brachman Hoffman Foundation for its generous support of the podcast.If you like the podcast, please consider becoming a supporter! Support the podcast. Find the podcast on Patreon. If you like, please buy me a coffee. Follow the podcast on YouTube! Read captions in any language. Please follow the podcast on social media:FacebookInstagramXBlueSkyTikTokSponsorship Opportunites Are you an organization or company interested in helping to create greater awareness about Multiple Chemical Sensitivity and Chemical Intolerance and/or looking for sponsorship opportunities? Please email us at info@chemicalsensitivitypodcast.org

Nikola Mrkšić talks PolyAI, the future of AI-powered voices, and the impact of AI on the workforce.

President Cyril Ramaphosa is responding to the debate of his State of the Nation Address, which was delivered last week on Thursday. This comes after two days of heated debate by various political parties in parliament. One of the top issues that have centered the debate is the recent tensions between the White House in the United States of America and the Union Building in Pretoria. Another thorny issue has been the repatriation of SANDF members killed in Goma in the DRC. Locally, issues of crime and the recently signed Expropriation Act have also raised eyebrows. Sakina Kamwendo spoke to Professor Sipho Seepe for his thoughts and analysis.

Join D.C. Affairs Community Co-Chair Austin A.B. Ownbey and D.C. Public Service Commissioner Ted Trabue as they discuss the history of Fort Reno Park and the Chevy Chase neighborhood. Built on ground that was once farmland, briefly a Civil War military fort, and then a thriving predominantly Black, working-class community, today Fort Reno Park is an expanse of open grass, sports fields and the Alice Deal Middle School. Learn how a politician from Nevada created the Chevy Chase neighborhood and ultimately convinced Congress to clear out an entire neighborhood so that white children could have a park and a school. Commissioner Trabue is a fourth generation Washingtonian who will share this fascinating history and how his own family's history is interwoven with these historic events. The D.C. Affairs Community is proud to present this podcast in celebration of Black History Month and a reminder that the history of D.C. is the history of our Nation. Please note, the positions and opinions expressed by the speakers are strictly their own, and do not necessarily represent the views of their employers, nor those of the D.C. Bar, its Board of Governors or co-sponsoring Communities and organizations.

The Daily Shower Thoughts podcast is produced by Klassic Studios. [Promo] Check out the Daily Dad Jokes podcast here: https://dailydadjokespodcast.com/ [Promo] Like the soothing background music and Amalia's smooth calming voice? Then check out "Terra Vitae: A Daily Guided Meditation Podcast" here at our show page [Promo] The Daily Facts Podcast. Get smarter in less than 10 minutes a day. Pod links here Daily Facts website. [Promo] The Daily Life Pro Tips Podcast. Improve your life in less than 10 minutes a day. Pod links here Daily Life Pro Tips website. [Promo] Check out the Get Happy Headlines podcast by my friends, Stella and Mickey. It's a podcast dedicated to bringing you family friendly uplifting stories from around the world. Give it a listen, I know you will like it. Pod links here Get Happy Headlines website. Shower thoughts are sourced from reddit.com/r/showerthoughts Shower Thought credits: 2squishmaster, rouskie15, PlainPup, Ironsufex, RuffDemon214, throw040913, , NOVAbuddy, Genki0202, Biengo, I_aim_to_sneeze, TheRealOcsiban, slid3r, DerUnglaublicheKalk, IamYarrow, _Duality_, stonefiber70750, MyNameIsNonYaBizniz, PianoCharged, , Rootkit9208, jaredpinney123, Kilmnit, hearsdemons, Lord_Balu, Hixo_7, friendandfriends2, KifDawg Podcast links: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/3ZNciemLzVXc60uwnTRx2e Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/daily-shower-thoughts/id1634359309 Stitcher: https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/daily-dad-jokes/daily-shower-thoughts iHeart: https://iheart.com/podcast/99340139/ Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/a5a434e9-da18-46a7-a434-0437ec49e1d2/daily-shower-thoughts Website: https://cms.megaphone.fm/channel/dailyshowerthoughts Social media links Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DailyShowerThoughtsPodcast/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/DailyShowerPod Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/DailyShowerThoughtsPodcast/ TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@dailyshowerthoughtspod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you're experiencing symptoms of long COVID, you're not alone. Learn more about this condition in this informative video. Main Theme: Dr. Ellis, a medicinal chemist, delves into the complexities of long COVID, focusing on its persistent symptoms and underlying causes, with a spotlight on innovative treatment approaches. Understanding Long COVID: A condition marked by prolonged symptoms such as fatigue and brain fog, affecting daily life for three to six months post-recovery. Predominantly impacts women aged 30 to 65, leading to mental health challenges like depression and anxiety due to decreased physical activity. Biological Mechanisms: Role of platelet hyperactivation and microclots in contributing to serotonin depletion and mood disorders. Microclots linked to COVID spike proteins potentially causing inflammation and impaired oxygen delivery, worsening fatigue and cognitive issues. Challenges in Diagnosis and Treatment: Patients often encounter difficulties with primary care physicians, leading to a cycle of referrals and symptomatic treatment. Certain groups, such as those with preexisting immune issues and athletes, are more susceptible to long COVID. Innovative Treatment Approaches: A small study indicated an 80% recovery rate using a combination of apixaban and platelet inhibitors, though safety concerns exist. Dr. Ellis suggests a natural supplement combining curcumin and white willow bark, designed to mimic anticoagulant effects and improve oxygen delivery. Integration of Traditional and Modern Medicine: Emphasis on combining traditional remedies with modern medicine to offer patient-focused solutions. Highlighting CircuGuard as a potential over-the-counter option, with anecdotal evidence of effectiveness but lacking formal testing. Research and Collaboration Challenges: Noted difficulties in funding and collaboration for long COVID research. Advocacy for recognizing and integrating traditional remedies when pharmaceutical solutions are limited. Conclusion: Dr. Ellis calls for a holistic approach to long COVID treatment, blending traditional knowledge with modern scientific advancements, and urges the medical community to focus on patient-centered care and innovative solutions. Timestamps: 00:00 Introduction to Long COVID 02:06 Understanding Long COVID Symptoms 06:27 Demographics and Risk Factors 08:15 Dr. Ellis's Journey into Long COVID Research 12:09 The Microclots Hypothesis 19:01 Current Treatments and Recommendations 23:34 Exploring MCAS and Immune Response 25:01 The Role of Microclots in Long COVID 29:07 Viral Reservoirs and Long COVID 30:52 Microclots: The Hidden Culprit 33:12 Innovative Approaches to Treatment 36:52 Creating a Safer Alternative 41:00 Patient Feedback and Effectiveness 46:34 The Future of Long COVID Research 49:54 Bridging Traditional and Modern Medicine Petition for Continued Medicare Coverage for Rural Home Telehealth Visits Beyond 2024 GET IN TOUCH! rob@2docstocpodcast.com 2docstoc.com  @2DocsToc 

AP correspondent Haya Panjwani reports on the District of Columbia's lawsuit against Amazon.

Col. (Ret.) Nicole Malachowski '96 shares her insights on leadership, resilience, resurgence, perseverance, advocacy, and how she continues to serve her country, even after her military career. ----more---- A SHOW NOTE:  There are two ways to learn from Col. Malachowski's leadership journey. If you're short on time, the audio version delivers the highlights of her stories in 40 minutes. Her leadership bites, takeaways, keys to leadership and transcript are below. The video version is 1:46:00 and is well worth the investment of your time. This version includes stories and details about the Colonel's journey she hasn't shared before. Click the "Play" button in the video above and settle in for a most enlightening conversation.    SUMMARY Col. (Ret.) Nicole Malachowski '96 is a trailblazer who has broken barriers in both military aviation and advocacy. She was one of the first women to fly combat fighter aircraft, accruing more than 2,300 flight hours in six different aircraft and serving in multiple high-stakes missions, including Operations Deliberate Forge and Iraqi Freedom. But her story doesn't end there. As the first woman to fly with the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds, a White House Fellow, and a key advisor on military and veterans' issues, Nicole's career has been defined by leadership at the highest levels. After being medically retired due to a Tick-Borne Illness, she turned her focus to advocacy, leading efforts to improve care for the wounded, ill, and injured service members through the Air Force Wounded Warrior Program. Now a passionate advocate for Tick-Borne Disease research, Nicole serves on several national committees and advisory boards, including the Department of Defense's Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program.   NICOLE'S LEADERHIP BITES "Leadership is a journey." "The runway behind you is always unusable." "Don't think you have to be perfect to be a leader." "Believe those who believe in you." "Nobody wants to lead a scripted life." "Courage, compassion, and curiosity drive me today." "It's okay to admit when you make mistakes."   SHARE THIS EPISODE LINKEDIN  |  TWITTER  |  FACEBOOK   TAKEAWAYS Leadership is personal - It's about understanding what motivates and drives each individual on your team, and tailoring your approach accordingly. Believe in those who believe in you - Mentors like Mick Jaggers who supported and encouraged Nicole were pivotal in her development as a leader. Don't write yourself or others out of the script - As General Matthews told Nicole, "Nobody wants to lead a scripted life." Embrace opportunities to dream big and take risks. Radical acceptance is key - When Nicole's military career ended unexpectedly, learning to accept the situation allowed her to move forward and find new purpose. Personal values guide your path - Nicole's core values of courage, compassion and curiosity have been instrumental in navigating life's challenges and reinventing herself.   CHAPTERS 00:00  The Journey of Leadership 02:01  Colonel Malachowski's Early Life and Aspirations 06:01  Navigating the Air Force Academy 09:46  Leadership Lessons from Soaring 14:07  Overcoming Challenges in Pilot Training 17:50  Key Leadership Experiences in the Air Force 21:59  Becoming a Thunderbird Pilot 25:47  Transitioning to Civilian Life 30:02  Advocacy and New Beginnings 34:09  Personal Values and Resilience 37:54  Final Thoughts on Leadership   NICOLE'S KEYS TO LEADERSHIP SUCCESS Leadership is a journey that requires growth and learning. It's okay to admit mistakes and seek help. Resilience is key to overcoming challenges. Personal values guide decision-making and actions. Mentorship plays a crucial role in personal and professional development. Failure is often the price of entry for success. Authentic leadership is about understanding and connecting with people. The importance of representation in leadership roles. Transitioning to civilian life can be a new beginning. Embrace opportunities and seize the moment.   ABOUT NICOLE BIO Colonel Nicole Malachowski (USAF, Ret.) is a pioneering leader whose distinguished career spans combat aviation, military advocacy, and public service. As one of the first women to fly fighter jets, Nicole's journey included over 188 combat hours and multiple leadership roles, including F-15E Flight Commander, Instructor Pilot, and Flight Lead. She also made history as the first woman to fly with the USAF Thunderbirds. Throughout her career, Nicole demonstrated exceptional leadership, serving in high-level roles such as a White House Fellow and Executive Director of the ‘Joining Forces' program, where she advised the First Lady and Dr. Jill Biden on veterans' issues. After being medically retired due to a neurological Tick-Borne Illness, Nicole transitioned to a new mission: advocating for service members, veterans, and others impacted by chronic illnesses. She's a leader in the national Tick-Borne Disease community, serving on key advisory boards and government committees, and actively mentoring wounded veterans through the Air Force Wounded Warrior Program. Nicole is also a sought-after speaker, author, and consultant, sharing her experiences of overcoming adversity and breaking barriers to inspire the next generation of leaders. Her accomplishments include two master's degrees, induction into the Women in Aviation Pioneer Hall of Fame, and founding her own speaking and consulting firm. Today, Nicole continues to serve and lead, using her story to drive change and impact communities across the country.  - Adapted from Col. Malachowski's bio at nicholemalachowski.com   READ NICOLE'S FULL STORY HERE     CONNECT WITH NICOLE LINKEDIN  |  FACEBOOK  |  INSTAGRAM  |  NICOLE'S LINKTREE     ABOUT LONG BLUE LEADERSHIP Long Blue Leadership drops every two weeks on Tuesdays and is available on Apple Podcasts, TuneIn + Alexa, Spotify and all your favorite podcast platforms. Search @AirForceGrads on your favorite social channels for Long Blue Leadership news and updates!          ABRIDGED AUDIO TRANSCRIPT DOWNLOAD THE UNABRIDGED VIDEO TRANSCRIPT HERE  SPEAKERS GUEST:  Col. (Ret.) Nicole Malachowski '96  |  HOST:  Lt. Col. (Ret.) Naviere Walkewicz '99   SPEAKERS Naviere Walkewicz, Nicole Malachowski   Nicole Malachowski  00:11 You know, leadership is a journey. We're always put into positions that we're supposed to grow into. Don't think you have to be perfect to be a leader. It's okay to admit when you make mistakes, it's okay to ask for help, and it's okay to have failures, as long as you overcome them. And I like to remind folks at all levels of leadership, you know that the runway behind you is always unusable. All you ever have is the runway that's in front of you.   Naviere Walkewicz  00:34 My guest today is Colonel Retired Nicole Malachowski, USAFA class of '96. Her career has been nothing short of extraordinary. Colonel Malachowski is perhaps best known as the first woman to fly as a pilot with the Thunderbirds, a singular distinction that set her path to reaching even greater heights. However, what you might not know is that her journey took an unexpected turn when she faced a sudden life altering loss of her place in the Air Force. The challenges that followed were extreme and personal, but through them, Colonel malikowski demonstrated a resilience and strength that not only transformed her own life, but also empowered her to help others with their own struggles. In today's conversation, we'll dive deep into the personal and professional journey that led her to transition to civilian life, the lessons she learned from the hardships she faced along the way, and how she now advocates for others, sharing the wisdom she's gained from the tough battles she's fought and won. We'll also take a look back at her time at the academy, her experiences as a pilot and the leadership principles that have guided Colonel malikowski, she has become a powerful voice for resilience, perseverance and leadership, and I'm excited to hear her insights on all of these topics. Colonel Malachowski, may I call you Nicole?   Nicole Malachowski  02:34 Yes, please.   Naviere Walkewicz  02:34 Welcome to Long Blue Leadership, and thank you for being here.   Nicole Malachowski  02:37 Thank you for having me.   Naviere Walkewicz  02:38 It's a pleasure. It truly is. I think one of the things that's so exciting for our listeners is really getting to know you. And you know, I think there's no question about who you are in the media, I mean, all the things you've accomplished, but some things that are most special is when we just sit down and kind of get to know you behind the scenes.   Nicole Malachowski  02:53 Indeed, let's do it.   Naviere Walkewicz  02:54 So let's go back to even before the Academy. Where did you grow up? Where are you from? And what were you like as a little girl?   Nicole Malachowski  03:00 Sure, yeah. So I was actually born in central California, in a town called Santa Maria, and I was born, I consider very lucky, because I was born a woman in America, so there was a lot of opportunities, you know, afforded to me. Also very lucky to be born into a solid, you know, middle class family, you know, I was a kid who always had a roof over my head and food on the table, which makes it a lot easier, right, for you to seize opportunities and to be your best. And think it's important that we acknowledge that not everybody is born into that position. And so I was very, very lucky, I will tell you, I was definitely the loner, definitely an introvert. Always have been. A lot of people would be surprised by that, but I am a solid INFJ on the Myers Briggs, but as a young kid, just very quiet, kept to myself. I was very much a dreamer, very curious about things, so I loved to dive into books. I loved school. I was the kid that would take my lunch box, you know, out into the middle of the football field by myself and just stare up at the sky and the clouds moving by, and dream about things. I remember being in the Girl Scouts during junior high we moved down towards Southern California, where I learned about Civil Air Patrol, and then from there, in high school, we actually made a big move to Las Vegas, Nevada. I continued my time in Civil Air Patrol as a cadet, but also joined the Air Force Junior ROTC at my high school.   Naviere Walkewicz  04:16 I'm just drawn to this visual of you with your lunch box in the middle of the football field looking up at this guy. So were you dreaming about flying?   Nicole Malachowski  04:24 I was, you know, I went to an air show when I was five years old, and I remember seeing an f4 phantom fly by, and it flew by so low, and it was so loud, I had to cover my ears. And I remember, like, my chest rumbling, you know, the smell of jet fuel. And I remember thinking, man, like there's a person in there, like, I want to be, you know, that person. And I had come from a family that, you know, honored and respected military service. So both of my grandfathers were career military my father had been drafted into the army during Vietnam. So I knew that, like, you know, military service was honorable and noble and good. And when I discovered that that was a military plane. I remember as a kid putting one plus one is two. I'm like, wait, you can fly jets and serve in the military. That's what I'm going to be. And wow, that was around 1979 and that's right, there are no boundaries on things. So looking up at the sky, watching planes, and of course, in high school in particular, moving to Las Vegas, Nevada, because Nellis Air Force bases there. So, I mean, I would watch the red flag launches and watch how those jets fly. And of course, I would see the six ship of Thunderbirds flying by as a kid, thinking that was pretty cool. So to be honest, I set my sights on the Air Force Academy in elementary school.   Naviere Walkewicz  05:34 Oh, my goodness.   Nicole Malachowski  05:35 Yeah. So when I was five and decided to be a fighter pilot, you had decided, I mean, I was maniacally, maniacally focused. I did not have a backup plan. I am so lucky that things worked out because I have no idea what else I would have done, you know, with my career, but I remember in sixth grade, I wrote a letter to the Air Force Academy. They responded. The admissions office responded with a personalized letter letting me know I'm kind of young to apply now, but here's the application process. They sent me a whole bunch of Air Force Academy swag, and that was it sixth grade. I was going to the Air Force Academy, goodness, when you were actually old enough to apply. Now to the academy.   Naviere Walkewicz  06:13 Let's talk about that process. What was it like for you? Well, I mean, I think it was more exciting than anything else. I told you. I had stayed maniacally focused. I was very particular and organized about prioritizing how my application would look. So of course, I strove to have the good grades, and obviously stayed involved with the activities like Civil Air Patrol or participating in sports like running cross country and track, as well as doing, you know, community service type activities. So I was indeed focused on making sure that application looked good. I remember the thing I was probably the most nervous about were those interviews with your, you know, senators and your representatives, and wondering if I was going to be able to interview well. So I was, you know, putting my best foot forward. And I remember my senior year, it was approximately October, maybe coming up on November about this time, right? And I went to the mailbox to get the mail, and I had the application had already been in, right? Because everything was done before the fall, and I saw this giant envelope from the Air Force Academy. And I thought, No way, because it's only like October or November. And I started shaking, and I opened it right there at the mailbox. I had to go up the street. I opened it, and I feel bad because I think I littered like the envelope all over the street, but I remember opening it up, and the first line was, congratulations. You know, you've been accepted to the class of 1996 and I instantaneously just started crying and running as fast as I could back to my house.   Naviere Walkewicz  07:38 Had you been to the Academy prior to the acceptance?   Nicole Malachowski  07:41 No, never stood a foot on at all. And I remember when my parents came to drop me off for for Jacks Valley and everything basic training, when we came up over that hill, over Monument Hill, and you can see the chapel and the kind of imposing, you know, white buildings on a hill, I was like, Oh, wow, that's extraordinary. And I was really just excited. People ask, were you nervous that day? I was not, because I was just so happy that this, to me, was like the first step of the rest of my life. It was that first real step towards this goal of serving my country, you know, like people my family had, and getting to fly jets while I do it, how cool is that? I don't remember any highs or lows. I do remember I got my enjoyment becoming a cadet, you know, soaring instructor pilot.   Naviere Walkewicz  08:28 So let's talk about that. That is a, kind of a key leadership role as well.   Nicole Malachowski  08:32 Yes, that was my leadership role. So my senior year, I was the cadet soaring squadron commander. Oh, let's talk about Yes, yes. So obviously, between freshman, sophomore year, I signed up as soon as I could, you know, to take soaring, and when I discovered that you could actually apply to be a soaring instructor, and I remember that was a really like growth experience, because it's one thing to be able to fly a glider, it's another thing to be able to try to teach somebody how to do that. And I really, I I give a lot of credit to this, you know, sorry, instructor upgrade program teaching me the skills of, how do you communicate something technical? How do you communicate something hard, this idea that you need to be able to communicate it not just in one way, but two or three different ways, because each of your students is going to come at it with a different skill set or a different perspective or a different personality that responds to different type of teaching. So learning how to tailor your instruction and your care and your leadership to each individual was something I learned here, you know, as a sophomore, this idea that I would carry that on into my career as a leader and, you know, ultimately into being, you know, a fighter squadron commander. This tailored leadership actually started here, but soaring is what was my respite. Soaring is where I refilled that tank. It's one thing to be successful yourself. It's a whole different level to teach somebody else to be successful.   Naviere Walkewicz  09:55 So you knew you enjoyed Well, obviously you enjoyed the flying? And soaring, the leadership aspect, I think, was something that was new to you then. Or had you done that in Civil Air Patrol? Did you also have leadership there?   Nicole Malachowski  10:06 Yeah, I had leadership experience in Civil Air Patrol, but I think this was a different level. You know, my senior year becoming the cadet soaring squadron commander, it was really cool, because not only were you trying to take inputs from your peers and your colleagues on things we could improve or do differently, you know, valuing the other cadets opinions. But how do I translate that to leadership? How do I go now and talk to the real officers, the active duty officers in charge, and go, these are maybe resources we need, or things culturally, you know, that we need to change, and that was hard for me, you know, because I had never done that before. How do you advocate for your peers in a way that's understood, you know, by the active duty leadership. So that was really something that, again, would become important in my military career, because when you're put in a leadership role, you know, it's about, I think, advocating for the people who you are, you know, accountable for and responsible to, yes, and so how can you do that and do it in a way that it's received? Well, yes, you know, by the leadership above you,   Naviere Walkewicz  11:07 After you graduated from the Academy, you went on to pilot training.   Nicole Malachowski  11:11 I was slated to go early right after graduation, and I was a casual status Lieutenant flying gliders. Of course, went out for a jog and broke my ankle. So this would be my first kind of little, little detour. And I ended up, they offered me to go, to go to shepherd a lot later, or as soon as my ankle was healed, I could go to Columbus Air Force Base Mississippi right away. And I said, I gotta go, like, I cannot sit around and wait. I want to go to Columbus Air Force Base Mississippi. And everyone's like, what you're going to turn down, like, the chance of going to fighters to like, have to fight for it at Columbus. I like, I can't be stagnant. I need to go. So showed up at Columbus Air Force Base Mississippi, and again, really grateful for all of the flying experience that I had. I think that just those foundational procedures, you know, foundational knowledge, was vital to being a little more comfortable than other people that didn't have that experience. It was easy to be slightly ahead of the curve early on, but as I like to tell people, I fell flat on my face across the starting line my second check ride in pilot training, I failed. Now, pilot training at that time was about a year long. There were about 10 check rides, and at that time, failing one check ride, statistically, traditionally, would take you out of the running for graduating high enough to be a fighter pilot. This was devastating to me, and I remember even having fleeting moments that night of like, maybe I should just quit. Now this is, of course, the youth in me, right? I'm a 21 year old kid, and I'm just getting a little bit emotional about it, but if I can't be a fighter pilot and I just knock myself out of the running, I should quit. And I didn't call my parents because I didn't want to tell them I was too, like, embarrassed maybe, to say, like, hey, my dream that you all have supported is about to come to an end, because I messed up, and I made a really junior varsity mistake. And so I called my mentor, Sue Ross, and then she just let me talk, and she's like, are you done? And I'm done. And she goes, Well, are you going to do that again tomorrow? And I said, Sue, how am I supposed to get back in the jet tomorrow? How do I face my peers? I've been telling them I'm going to fly strike Eagles this whole time. Like this is so embarrassing. What if I fail again? What if I fail again tomorrow? And I remember, she talked me off the ledge, man, you know, and I came away. I came away with that conversation, realizing that indeed, I think I rarely believe failure is the price of entry for achieving something great, because if you have the right mindset, you come away with failures, I think a lot more committed, a lot more dedicated, a lot more focused, and I think a lot more humble, and all of those characteristics and traits are good things. You know, it worked out for me, and I did finish fourth in my class, and I had an extraordinary class. It was a time of great cultural change in the Air Force, because we were the first group of women to come through pilot training with the option of flying fighter aircraft.   Naviere Walkewicz  14:04 So talk about your time while you're in uniform. You had some key leadership positions. You were squadron commander. Can you share some of your stories with that and maybe even some high points and some lessons learned, where you as a leader felt that maybe, maybe it was a low point or a failure, but you grew from it?   Nicole Malachowski 14:20 Sure, sure. Yes. I mean, I had so many, you know, different fun assignments. You know, obviously when you're in your first fighter squadron, I got out at RAF Lake and Heath out there in England. I mean, what a rage right to be a lieutenant flying strike Eagles at 500 feet, 500 miles an hour, up Loch Ness, to live in the dream, you know, becoming in my second squadron, which was at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, becoming a, you know, flight lead and upgrading to instructor pilot. Very nervous to go into the instructor pilot upgrade. I went in very young. In fact, when I got to that squadron, the weapons officer said, hey, I want to put you in the instructor upgrade. And I was like, no. Away like I am not ready for that. I am not good enough for that. And I was new to the squadron. There were people technically older and more experienced than me. They were in the queue, and he wanted me to jump the queue, a guy by the name of Michael Jaggers, call sign, Mick, I'm still friends with him to this day, and I remember I avoided him. I avoided him like the plague because I did not want to upgrade to instructor. And I remember saying, Mick, I just am not sure I can do this. And he looked at me, and he said, it's not your job to get through it. It's not your job to get through it alone. It's my job. It's my job to ensure you have what it takes and what you need. It's my job to teach you to be a good instructor. So your success is going to be my success. I will not let you fail. What a glorious man, what a wonderful instructor. And the lesson learned here to people is this, believe those who believe in you. Believe those who believe in you.   Naviere Walkewicz  15:52 It's true, though it really is. And those people, I think sometimes your trajectory can change or just like, accelerate, because someone gave you a little bit of courage that you just needed that little piece.   Nicole Malachowski 16:03 And to learn as I gained experience and credibility how to replicate that and how to be that person for other people, right? Because it's about turning around. It really is about lifting up other people. Your success isn't your own. It's how can you help other people achieve the best of themselves? And that's what you know Mikey and Mick did for me. And of course, the rest, you know, being history, because then I had the credentials I needed to apply to be a Thunderbird. And then from the Thunderbirds, I could become a commander, yada yada, you know, but being an instructor pilot, again, in the F 15 e how extraordinary to teach a brand new pilot or WSO, not only to fly the aircraft, to how to employ it as a weapon system and then to turn around and go to war with them. There's no bigger honor. There's nothing, I think, more humbling than that.   Naviere Walkewicz  16:49 Can you share something that maybe you learned from the perspective of how to lead better?   Nicole Malachowski 16:55 So let's be honest, when you go into a fighter squadron, things are a little bit one note, right? I mean, we all are cut from a similar cloth. We all kind of have similar personality traits. You know, you don't want your fighter pilots any other way, putting the effort into understanding what drives and motivates individuals. So learning at that age how to put your arms around everybody that you're responsible for, not just the ones that maybe are easiest to lead, or maybe the ones you're the most comfortable, you know, interacting with as a leader is, how do I figure it out? You know, there were some guys that, if I were to call them on up to the front of the room, in front of the whole squadron, to compliment them on something they did, maybe a check right they had. Or this goes for my fighter squadron command as well. You know, they would love it, right? Because it it was how they were extrinsically motivated, and that's okay. There's nothing wrong with that. If that's what they need, and that's what you need to do to get the best of their strengths and best of their commitment go for it. And then were others that low? If I were to bring them in front of their peers to compliment them, they would shut down and never talk to me for the rest of the you know, their assignment. And so that's where I would take the time to write a handwritten note, maybe put it on the seat of their Humvee, or put it in their helmet, you know, in the fighter squadron. And then when they'd see me walking down the hallway, we give the knowing nod that they were acknowledged for their awesome, whatever it was, and we would move on.   Naviere Walkewicz  18:13 Yes. And so what I'm hearing, in a really, kind of summarizing way, is leadership is personal.   Nicole Malachowski 18:19 Very. it's all about people and it's about authenticity and connections.   Naviere Walkewicz  18:25 So speaking about personal and authenticity, I'd be remiss if we didn't talk about your journey to the Thunderbirds.   Nicole Malachowski  18:31 I knew this was gonna come.   Naviere Walkewicz  18:32 It's here, and so you know it is. It's a different time. There was no woman Thunderbird pilot before you.   Nicole Malachowski 18:40 I grew up in Las Vegas, Nevada, so the Thunderbirds were part of the backdrop. I knew that the Thunderbirds, you know, as a kid, were special and were considered, you know, elite. And kind of going back to my personality, I love being told that, you know, you can't do things. And the truth is, people laugh at this, but the truth is, when I applied to be a Thunderbird, I did it because the way my career was going, I wasn't ready to, I wasn't on timeline to go to ide yet or to go to ACSC, but I had, like, a weird year kind of gap, and I didn't they didn't really know what to do with me. I didn't know what to do with them, and my husband was going to be PCs in the Nellis. This is, like, a true story. Wow. I know people want me to say, well, I had this big, long dream when I was Thunderbird. Also thought about it was always in the background. Is something that, you know, wasn't, was an option. And I, you know, because of a lot of people who put a lot of effort into me, I was indeed qualified, you know, to get in there and to give it a try. But it wasn't something that was like an ultimate goal. I did not know they had not had a woman Thunderbird pilot when I applied, did not even occur to me. Remember, I had never known an Air Force without women fighter pilots in it. That's right, that's and we had all achieved the age where we had acquired the hours needed, and it just lined up with the timing. And I'm like, Well, that would be kind of fun and different to do. And. So I always tell people, you know, when you get those butterflies in your stomach that says, This could be something cool, something different, that is your cue to go do it. Don't worry about what anybody else is saying. And so, you know, I was able to put that application in. And in fact, I was I put that application in, and when I went and told everyone I was going to apply, generally speaking, people were really tickled and happy and happy and supportive. But as the days went by, people started to think about it. I heard, you know, it's too hard to be a Thunderbird, you probably won't get picked. I mean, statistically, no one gets picked to do that. They've never had a woman before. Are you sure you want to do that and this and that? And I remember the day I turned my application in. This was back when you still had hard copies, and you still had to mail them, okay, 2005 took it over to the group commander's Chief of Staff, slid it across the desk. I was super nervous, because the voice in my head was like, Nicole, other people become Thunderbird pilots, not you. That was the other people become Thunderbird pilots, not you. What are you doing? Why are you risking this? But I kept thinking, what's the worst that's going to happen? I don't get picked, like most people don't get picked, and I go back to flying strike Eagles with my community, which I love, like life is good, right? Either way, it's a win, win. So as I slid that application across the desk, said, I'm applying to be a Thunderbird. Here's my application. I remember the staff looked up to me and said, you know Nicole, It's hard to be a Thunderbird. You know Nicole, you probably won't get picked. And the exact words were, you know Nicole, they've never had a woman before, and the colonel can only stratify one person in that moment. Let's, I think there's leadership lessons here, because this person was not trying to be mean, right? What was coming out was, I think the unconscious bias all of us have to check ourselves on every day at all ages. I think what was coming out were the cultural paradigms of the Air Force at that time. And I think what was coming out, you know, were other people's expectations about what I should or shouldn't be doing. And in that moment, the truth is, I grabbed my application and I took it back, I went across to the officers club and grabbed a beer like any good fighter pilot would, and I remember thinking, thank God I didn't put myself out there. Thank God Nicole, you know, now I'm a 30 year old captain, so I'm still a young person, you know. Thank God you didn't risk failure. Who are you to think you could be a Thunderbird, silly girl, right? And in that moment, the weirdest thing happened. And I tell this story on stage, sometimes the door opened to the officers club, and in walk the Wing Commander, Brigadier General Mark Matthews, for whatever reason, comes over and starts talking to me. Now, this is weird, right? I'm a captain. He's a brigadier general. I don't know why he was talking to me, you know, like walking amongst the people that day, or, you know, just making small talk. And so I'm trying to hold my own talking to him a little bit nervous. It's a little you're probably still feeling a little bit down from totally down. And in that moment, over walks my squadron commander, a wonderful man by the name of Dan Debree. His call sign was, trash. Get it? Trash, debris. Trash. Walks over, super excited, very supportive of my application. And he's like, Hey, General, did you know Nicole's applying to be a Thunderbird now? Man, I mean, you could have slowed down time. I was like, ixnay on the underbird Fae like, this is terrible. Neither of these guys knew that I had removed my application. And Dan's standing there all proud. He's my squadron commander supporting me. A great man again. And Mark Matthews looks down at me, general Matthews, and he goes, that's great. How's your application going? And I'm like, I looked at him, and here's what happened. I said, you know, sir, it's hard to be thunder, but I probably won't get picked. They haven't had a woman, so I don't want to waste anybody's time.   Naviere Walkewicz  23:11 Oh, you said, I said it.   Nicole Malachowski  23:13 I said all of it. And this is kind of an embarrassing story to tell, but I'm just this is the truth, right? This is the vulnerable truth of how this happened. And and he looked down at me, and I will never forget this. And I hope folks listening who have big dreams and gnarly goals remember this. He looked down at me and he said, Nicole, actually. He said, Fifi. My call sign, Fifi. Nobody wants to lead a scripted life. And he walked away and left me in extraordinarily uncomfortable silence. And those words nobody wants to lead a scripted life have become my life's mantra. Every time I get the knot in my stomach that says that dreams too big or that idea is too innovative, don't rock the boat, I remember what he said, because those words, like they lifted the weight of the world off my shoulders, told me it was okay to dream big. It was okay to buck the status quo. It was okay to be different. He was telling me, it's okay to risk failure in pursuit of personal professional growth, and it's not so much. I think he's telling you and me to write ourselves into the script. What he was saying was, don't ever write yourself out of the script. And as leaders and teammates, don't you ever write anybody else or their wild ideas out of the script, either. And so nobody wants to lead a scripted life. And I, I hope what you're hearing in these stories, and maybe what I'm realizing just chatting with you, is these little turning points, these pivot moments where these really important people, the mark Matthews, you know, the Mikey whiteheads, the Mick Jaggers, the Sue Rosses, the Kim Jamesons, they all come at that right moment. You got to be open to that you know, and and how important your actions and your words are to making or breaking somebody else's journals.   Naviere Walkewicz  24:48 Yes, yeah, so you took that application back.   Nicole Malachowski 24:52 Sure did. Sure did. I did not get the number one stratification from the colonel, but I did from the general. And. So that worked out for me. When I really started thinking about, I think I was putting myself back in the kid in high school with her brown bag lunch out on the football field watching the Thunderbirds fly over that can tend to see that those six jets smoked behind in red, white and blue, screaming over your high school. You know, you wanted to be a fighter pilot. Since you're a kid, I'm staring up at them, thinking, there's people up there. You know, I want to be one of those people. This idea that there would be a little kid watching me as a Thunderbird pilot, and maybe someday go, maybe I could fulfill whatever my dream is. Maybe I could join the Air Force too, a little girl going, maybe I could be a fighter pilot someday. And I think the gravity and the weight of the mission of the Thunderbirds started to really impact me, because it had indeed impacted me as a kid, and the idea that I could be a part of that. And I think the other thing was, and maybe this sounds cheesy or trite, but it's not, you know, sitting at Al UD, drinking my one beer at three in the morning after I land from my night combat mission, sitting with all these great Americans from all over the country, from every different background, and thinking, I could go tell their story, and that's what Thunderbirds get to do. You get to represent the world's greatest Air Force and tell the stories of these airmen who are out there getting the job done, those tech piece those crew chiefs, you know, the folks that are working at the tower, the folks in the food hall, our medical professionals, the cyber the whole thing, right? And all of a sudden it got really exciting to me, like I could go out there with this team, with this mission, and we could represent our friends with the honor and the dignity and the respect that they deserve. And I think those two things kind of collided together, and I started getting really excited about excited about this Thunderbird thing. Ended up back at Lake and Heath painfully excruciating waiting for the vinyls. And when we got back from Iraq, they give you the kind of three weeks of downtime. My husband was a gracious man and took me on a Cruise of the Baltic Sea. We're sitting in our cabin in Oslo Norway, and the phone in the cabin rings. The phone in your cabin, phone in my cabin rings. It's about 10 o'clock at night, but full sun outside, because it's summertime in Norway. And immediately we looked at each other, and both of our heart we've talked about this, both our hearts sank, because why does a phone call come to military people on vacation? It's not never it's never good. Yeah, and I was a flight commander at the time. So was he we immediately thought something disastrous had happened, an aircraft accident, a death, you know, a car accident. And we let it ring another time, and he's like, You need to pick it up. And I picked it up. And I said, Hello. And they go, is this Captain malikowski? I said, Yes. And they go standby for the commander of Air Combat Command. Oh my gosh. And I looked at my husband, and I was like, What is going on? Well, I knew this was the consolation call. There was, I think, I think there was five or six of us who had made it to finals. Three people were getting good position. The other were not. And it is tradition that the commander of Air Combat Command calls all six, coach is very gracious and professionally courteous. And so I thought this was my consolation call. So I'm waiting, and it feels like an eternity, and all of a sudden I hear Stevie there, and I said, Yes. He goes, Ron keys which was General. Ron Keyes, Commander, Air Combat Command. I'm a young captain. I'm like, you've got to be kidding me. And I go, sir, how are you? He goes. We have a pretty amazing Air Force that we can find you in the middle of the Oslo Norway fjord, don't we? I said, Yes, sir, we do. He goes. Well, I know you're on vacation, so I want to keep it simple. I want to offer you a job. And I said, Yes, sir. He goes. How would you like to be Thunderbird number three? And I said, I stayed as professional as I could in my voice, but I was looking at my husband gesticulating, jumping up and down like you're not gonna believe I said, Sir, I would absolutely love that. He goes, Okay, great. You're the next Thunderbird number three. Look forward to watching you fly and get back to your vacation. And he hung up the phone. You know, the Thunderbirds are, at that time, 125 people from 25 different career fields who came together to make that mission happen. Wow, never been in a squadron with that many high performing, highly motivated people in my life. I am still dear friends with my crew chief, still friends with people on the team. It is such a crucible experience. It's a one off, you know. Well, fast forward. Finish up the Thunderbirds. I get a phone call. He goes, it's Viking blurling. I'm like, How the heck did this guy that I met once get my phone he goes, Hey, when I was an Air Force officer, a young fighter pilot, I did acse as a White House fellow, and I think you should be a White House fellow. I said, Well, what's the White House Fellowship? So he explains it to me, and I'm like, there is no way I will get picked as one of 12 to 15 people across the United States, across all career fields, including civilians, to be a White House fellow. Colin Powell was a White House fellow. I am not a White House fellow. This is ridiculous. So I entertained his conversation. He says, I want you to think about I'm gonna call you back tomorrow, same time. Boom. Phone rings. Viking borling, you're applying to be a White House fellow, no, sir. I'm not. Third day ping. Phone calls. You're applying to be a White House fellow. Anyways, I applied to be a White House fellow. Went through that whole process, semi finals, regional panel interviews, and then the finals, and was selected to be a White House fellow. I got assigned outside of the White House to the US, General Services, Administration, yes, like, it was exciting. And I was like, this is where the nuts and bolts happen? Well, the GSA also runs what's called the office of the president elect. Between election and inauguration, the incoming president and their team needs to have a place to get ready, like our current incoming administration is doing. It's a physical office building where they make decisions about cabinet secretaries, or they get their intelligence briefings and all of that. Guess who got put on the presidential transition support team to be up close and personal for the peaceful transition of power between George Bush and Barack Obama? Wow. The extraordinary part about the White House Fellowship was most of the fellows were civilian, and I had been nothing but military since I was 17 years old and showed up at the Air Force Academy. So to be able to look at leadership and teamwork and professionalism from a completely different lens, to see how people from the education field or from healthcare would solve a problem was fascinating. You know, we in the military can look to solve problems a very specific way, and a lot of us are a little bit very specific in how we do it. And so to learn how to look at problems and solve things in different ways was extraordinary.   Naviere Walkewicz  31:23 So your career trajectory is just really incredible. Because you've kind of talked about how you've been put in these places based off of circumstance, but then when you get there, it's all about, how do you make the most of it, seize the opportunity and see what's available.   Nicole Malachowski  31:38 A lot of times, you know, as human beings, we go, Well, I don't have this, or I can't do this right now, or not resource this way, man, find a way. Yeah, ask yourself the right question. What is it I can do right now with what I have?   Naviere Walkewicz  31:49 Well, that makes me feel like that's a really good lead into kind of what circumstantially happened to you, unexpectedly. Yes, so you're medically retired from the Air Force. Do you want to talk about how that happened?   Nicole Malachowski  32:00 And sure, sure, you know, the the greatest honor of my career was serving as the commander of the 3/33 fighter squadron. I enjoyed that, and I remember also during that time being physically fit, mentally fit, spiritually fit. And I remember feeling ill in the summer of 2012 like I had the flu, but within three months, I started having severe neurological problems, so things like word finding, slurring my words, inability to read write, inability to type, dropping things with my right hand, dragging my right leg, getting lost, driving home, and I remember going into a grocery store and having a complete panic attack because I didn't know what a grocery store was or why I was in there so very Alzheimer's dementia like symptoms. So in fact, what was happening was my brain was becoming inflamed with an infection. So over the next four years, my symptoms would wax and wane. They would come and go, they would change in severity. Obviously, I could no longer fly. I was grounded, but they said, Hey, you can stay in the Air Force. You just can't fly. And I said, that's great, because honestly, I just want to lead airmen. Lead airmen and be a part of a team. So, you know, there's a lot of details, you know, to this story, but my symptom list was like 63 symptoms long, covering every system in my body. And so they cast the net wide, and that's where tick borne illness came into it. And at that time, I was in a wheelchair. I couldn't talk. My husband was wheeling me around, and I remember when the doctor said, we come on in. We have the diagnosis. We know what's wrong with her. The doctor says she'll never fly again. And my husband said, Well, how long until she's better? And she goes, Well, treatment is going to take at least two years. And it was in that moment, it wasn't that I wasn't going to fly again, that hurt. But when they said two years, I knew that the military was going to medically retire me, I knew it was over, and I couldn't speak or say anything, and I was just devastated. I remember my goal was to be the commandant of the Air Force Academy. That was my dream. And all that just came crashing, you know, crashing down. And in that moment, so for nine months I couldn't walk, talk, read or write. I spent another year and a half in rehab, and during that time, obviously went through my medical evaluation board, but I was medically retired, I fought to stay in and then I realized my body wasn't gonna let me and once I accepted that it was over, you know, I was able to move forward so radical acceptance was a hard thing to come by. But the day of my retirement, December 29 2017 came, I was home alone because I was bedridden and house bound for two years. Um, was very hurtful. Remains hurtful. How my Air Force career ended. I love the Air Force based on all the stories that I told, but this moment is very painful for me. It still is. And, you know, I thought, well, what are you going to do about it? You know, you can't. Change that you were bit by tick, can't change that you have a brain injury. What are you going to do? Girl, you know, the fighter pilot in you is not going to quit. And that's when I decided, well, I'm going to, you know, I got to do something. And the phone rang, and the phone rang, and it was during this time, a gal by the name of Buff Bucha, retired colonel, had been in a helicopter accident broke her neck in Afghanistan. She said, Hey, how you doing? I said, I'm not good. She goes talk to me, and I remember for two hours just vomiting everything out to this person I didn't really know very well. Well, she was calling from the Air Force Wounded Warrior program, wow, and the Wounded Warrior program swooped in to save me, and I ended up becoming a trained ambassador and a trained mentor, which I still am to this day. I'm able to help other airmen who are being discharged, but I just want to give a shout out to the Air Force wind Warrior Program, psychologically and mental health wise, I don't know that I would have recovered, and that I would have recovered to the place that I am today without them. And so I want for the active duty, listening for people in the reserve and the guard. It is for you, yeah, it is for everyone, and it is literally a life saving program.   Naviere Walkewicz  32:45 Maybe talk about what you've been doing then since.   Nicole Malachowski  36:16 Yeah, I do leadership consulting and professional speaking, but predominantly, that helps pay the bills, and I enjoy it. Predominantly, I do patient advocacy work at the national level, so I'm on several government boards. I'm on several nonprofit panels. We've tripled them, and IH funding through the state and like TicK Act and things like that. I'm currently on a National Academies of Science Committee. Can't talk about that because our report will come out in the spring. I hope everyone will read it. But Lyme disease, I went from being a fighter pilot to being an expert on ticks and Lyme disease. Who knew the path to success is always going to be non linear.   Naviere Walkewicz  36:49 Yes, you also mentioned you have children. You have twins. Do so how is it talk about, like family life in this new kind of in the way that you're working now, right? You're not in uniform anymore. You're still pushing amazing things forward. You're consulting what's it like being a mom?   Naviere Walkewicz  37:06 Man, it's harder, it is harder to raise 14 year old twins than it is to get shot at  in combat, I will tell you that. So you know, the person that's been missing in this whole time we've been talking is the most important person in my life, which is my husband, Paul. So we will be married. We just, yeah, just had our anniversary. 23 years. I met him in my first fighter squadron in the late 90s. He's an F-15E WSO. So we met flying together. And my biggest cheerleader, my biggest supporter, the greatest human being on Earth, is my husband, Paul.   Naviere Walkewicz  37:38 I want to talk about this resurgence, because I feel like that is really important for some of our listeners. When they're, you know, they're thinking about you said you got to know who you are and what's important to you. And how did you get to that clarity?   Nicole Malachowski 37:52 You really need to be able to answer the question, what is it I value and why? And I'm talking about your personal values, the ones that you're going to wake up with every day and go, these are my values. And so I'll tell you what mine are. Mine are courage and compassion and curiosity, and I developed those as I went through this deep thinking and deep reinvention, when I lost my career and compassion, courage and curiosity are what drive me today.   Naviere Walkewicz  38:18 We'll ask for Nicole's thoughts on reinvention, resilience and leadership. But before we do that, I'd like to take a moment and thank all of you for listening to long blue leadership. The podcast publishes on Tuesdays in both video and audio, and is available on all your favorite podcast platforms. Watch or listen to all episodes of Long blue leadership and subscribe at longblue leadership.org so we have had an incredible journey together, and really where we'd like to go. One final thought on leadership, if you might, leave your listeners with something about leadership, and I can say just from being in this short amount of time with you, your your 3 Cs are coming out in spades, your compassion, your curiosity and your courage. So thank you.   Nicole Malachowski  39:01 Thank you. You know leadership is a journey. We're always put into positions that we're supposed to grow into. Don't think you have to be perfect to be a leader. It's okay to admit when you make mistakes, it's okay to ask for help, and it's okay to have failures, as long as you overcome them. And I like to remind folks at all levels of leadership, you know that the runway behind you is always unusable. All you ever have is the runway that's in front of you.   Naviere Walkewicz  39:25 Well said, well said, Thank you so much for being on long blue leadership.   Nicole Malachowski  39:29 Thank you for having me. And here's a shout out to the current cadets that are working hard up on the hill, yeah, wishing them best and hoping they take it one day at a time.   Naviere Walkewicz  39:36 Absolutely. And for our listeners, I mean, I think that it's, it's it's certainly one thing to say, you know, you get to meet these incredible leaders, but my ask of you is to share this with your networks, because it's great if you felt something and you've had an impact in your life, but imagine the magnitude you can have by sharing some of the stories of our leaders like Nicole today with your networks and the change we can make together. So until next time, thanks for being on. Long blue leadership, thank you for joining us for this edition of long blue leadership. The podcast drops every two weeks on Tuesdays and is available on all your favorite podcast apps. Send your comments and guest ideas to us at social media@usafa.org, and listen to past episodes at longblueleadership.org.   KEYWORDS leadership, resilience, resurgence, Air Force Academy, mentorship, aviation, women in military, pilot training, overcoming adversity, personal growth, fighter pilot, mentorship, leadership, Thunderbirds, women in military, self-doubt, White House Fellowship, WASP, Air Force, personal growth, diversity, WASP, Air Force, medical retirement, resilience, leadership, Lyme Disease, tick-borne illness, self-discovery, personal values, reinvention, advocacy         The Long Blue Line Podcast Network is presented by the U.S. Air Force Academy Association and Foundation    

in•HUEmanity is a Black-owned card game designed to spark meaningful discussions about the Black experience. With topics covering Society, Politics, Religion, and Spirituality, it brings friends and family together to share perspectives and connect on a deeper level. Perfect for holidays, gatherings, or any time you want to engage with your community. In addition to the card game, in•HUEmanity offers a variety of merchandise, including sweaters, T-shirts, phone cases, hats, and more. Visit https://www.inhuemanity.com/ Apply our Exclusive Promo Codes on your order: **RAP45** for 45% OFF (valid for 48 hours after publc episode release) -**RAP25** for 25% OFF, available once RAP45 expires Stay connected with in•HUEmanity on social media: **Instagram:** [@in.HUEmanity] https://instagram.com/in.HUEmanity **TikTok:** [@in.HUEmanity] https://tiktok.com/@in.HUEmanity **YouTube:** [inHUEmanity] https://www.youtube.com/inHUEmanity Get your in•HUEmanity game and merch now, and kick off unforgettable conversations with those who matter most! In this episode of #DailyRapUpCrew, we dive into insecurities, dating experiences, cultural identity, and the impact of societal pressures on mental health. From relationships and beauty standards to political and religious beliefs, our panel shares raw perspectives on what it means to navigate these issues in today's world. *Enhance Your Experience with #Dailyrapupcrew

Prudence De Marchi is a former Assistant Principal turned full-time artist. While on maternity leave, she found time to dedicate to her first passion – painting which she has built into thriving business since the birth of her son. Predominantly working with acrylics on canvas, Prudence is influenced by nature, architecture, design, music and fashion. She creates abstract paintings that vary from fervent strokes of colour to more controlled geometric and organic forms. Her works are currently available through private commission, website, Jumbled Online, Greenhouse Interiors and other stockist throughout Australia. Shop Prudence's artwork: https://www.prudencedemarchi.com/ Follow her on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/prudence.demarchi.art/ Learn more about Creator Club business coaching and resources to help you in your marketing: Watch Emails that Sell Masterclass on demand and learn how to sell through story-based emails that your audience will want to open Creator Club and our 1:1 business coaching program Connect with Ruby on Instagram

Professor Keith Chen, Assistant Professor Kareem Haggag and co-authors examined 40,000 voting locations from the 2016 election

Welcome to Season 4, Episode 42! It's another installment of Most Forgotten Massacres. Today we're going to talk about the Anti-Filipino Riots in Washington State. Although the discrimination and violence occurred in the 1920s and 1930s, the tension had been building for a few decades because the dislike of Asian laborers can be traced back to the Chinese during the Gold Rush and railroad days, the Japanese in the agricultural fields, and the South Asians in agriculture and lumber mills. For Filipinos in Washington State, many of them came in as U.S. Nationals, but they became labeled as Aliens after a few years. In this episode, we share some of the cultural, political, economic, and social issues that led to the violence against Filipino laborers in Washington. Predominantly occurring in Yakima Valley, Seattle, and Bremerton, the events highlighted a widespread problem that was exacerbated by politicians, labor leaders, nativist groups, and the media. In our opening we talk about Shohei Ohtani and the LA Dodgers as well as Adele Lim and the Princess Diaries 3. In our recurring segment, we talk about the National Federation of Filipino American Associations. They do a lot of advocacy and empowerment work. You can learn more or donate on their website.  If you like what we do, please share, follow, and like us in your podcast directory of choice or on Instagram @AAHistory101. For previous episodes and resources, please visit our site at https://asianamericanhistory101.libsyn.com or social media links at http://castpie.com/AAHistory101. If you have any questions, comments or suggestions, email us at info@aahistory101.com. Segments 00:25 Intro: Talking Shohei Ohtani and Adele Lim on Princess Diaries 3 05:50 The History of the Anti-Filipino Riots in Washington State 28:14 Organizations to Know: National Federation of Filipino American Associations

Allen and Joel speak to Bryant Bertrand, CEO and co-founder of Ronin, to discuss their innovative power ascenders used in the wind industry. Ronin's technology makes turbine climbs faster, safer, and less physically demanding for technicians, potentially transforming maintenance operations. Their products are designed with the technician in mind, from operation simplicity to weight. Sign up now for Uptime Tech News, our weekly email update on all things wind technology. This episode is sponsored by Weather Guard Lightning Tech. Learn more about Weather Guard's StrikeTape Wind Turbine LPS retrofit. Follow the show on Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Linkedin and visit Weather Guard on the web. And subscribe to Rosemary Barnes' YouTube channel here. Have a question we can answer on the show? Email us! Pardalote Consulting - https://www.pardaloteconsulting.comWeather Guard Lightning Tech - www.weatherguardwind.comIntelstor - https://www.intelstor.com Allen Hall: Welcome to the Uptime Wind Energy Podcast. I'm your host, Allen Hall, joined by my co host, Joel Saxum. Today, joining us is Bryant Bertrand, CEO and co founder of Ronin. And for those of you who haven't encountered their equipment yet, Ronin is a company at the forefront of vertical access technology. They develop power ascenders aiming to make turbine climbs faster, safer, and less physically demanding for technicians. In today's episode, we'll explore how Ronin's ascenders are impacting maintenance operations from. Routine inspections to major component exchanges. And we'll discuss the technology behind the devices, their safety features, and how they comply with industry standards. . Will also share his insights on real world performance data and user experiences from wind farms across the country. So whether you're a technician looking to optimize your climb times or an engineer interested in the latest maintenance tech or a site engineer considering ways to enhance your team's efficiency, this conversation promises valuable insight. Allen Hall: Welcome to the program. Joel Saxum: Thanks for having me on guys. Bryant, give us a, give us the rundown. Give us the general thing here. What are you guys doing? What is the product? Bryant Bertrand: Yeah. So let me give you just a little background on myself. My team, we came out of the rescue industry. Predominantly we were designing hoists and winches for helicopters. So this is the mountainside Coast Guard rescue that you typically see on helicopters and believe it or not, there's not rescues happening every day and a lot of times these birds get multipurpose into commercial activities and those activities may be dropping a technician off on a transmission tower, an offshore wind turbine, oil and gas platform, but we would just see a ton of access issues for men and women that are climbing in these at height industries. And so we took a look saying how can we get some better access tools out there for these workers that are working on ropes. And we took a look at a lot of technology and specifically we looked at the military technology that was being deployed for power descenders. And you guys might have seen maybe videos of these devices coming out of the water SEAL teams or tactical teams doing on, off, offshore shipboarding with it. And we said how do we take this technology which is. Very nichey, very military, very high, highly tech and make a more commercialized product that's more looked like a tool. And that's really. Where Ronan was founded on, and we've seen great success there and bringing these tools in these industries. And they serve a number of great purposes in addressing access challenges and fatigue reduction and efficiency. And that's really the core founding message of this business is to bring this technology to the forefront. And allow it to essentially elevate the workforce. Allen Hall: So the key I've noticed from the Ronin technology is it's pretty compact an...

"It's Friday. . . ."  That means that the time has come for a check-in with one of our "What to Do in Richmond This Weekend" gurus -- Clay Hamner, of shoprva.com!  Predominantly, Scott, Dan, and Clay chat about Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden and St. John's Church (site of the reenactment of Patrick Henry's "Liberty or Death" speech in March of 1775).

Dr Leah Gilman of Sheffield University is a sociologist working at the intersection of the sociology of personal life, reproduction and digital sociology. She has spent over a decade researching donor conception and exploring how people negotiate family and reproductive relationships in the context of social, legal and technological change. She has contributed to several journals and articles and even written a book along the way, today she is here to share a bit of insight into her current project. Predominantly the majority of Leah's focus is the UK, however, in this episode, we explore and chat about the differences in the law between the UK and Australia, and why the UK's current laws might be more of a hindrance than actually achieving anything beneficial. We chat about the British media and the clinic's current attitudes towards online donation. We analyse the different types of donor clinics, online and those that do both. For more information about this episode and links to contact Leah head to: https://ivfdonationworld.com/episode-75/

PREVIEW: #SOUTH AFRICA: #ANC: Conversation with colleague Ronan Wordsworth, @GPFutures, re the ANC forming a coalition government with the business-dominated, predominantly white Democratic Alliance and others, and how this mix may temper  the ANC's antipathy toward Israel. More tonight. 1899 Kimberley, South Africa

Olive oil, a cornerstone of the Mediterranean diet, boasts a rich composition of essential fatty acids, vitamins A, D, E, and K, along with polyphenols. These antioxidants are celebrated for their role in decelerating cellular ageing. Fatty acids, a pivotal component of lipids, include some that our bodies cannot produce, underscoring the necessity of sourcing them from our diets. Predominantly composed of omega-9, olive oil's monounsaturated fatty acids are linked to a diminished risk of cardiovascular ailments. They are also known to lower LDL-cholesterol—the infamous ‘bad' cholesterol—as well as the overall cholesterol levels in our bloodstream. Additionally, olive oil serves as a natural appetite suppressant, fostering a sense of fullness and aiding in the regulation of blood sugar levels. Does all this mean that olive oil is calorie-free? How do I choose the right oil? And how do you store olive oil properly? In under 3 minutes, we answer your questions! To listen to the last episodes, you can click here: Could gamophobia be hurting your relationship? How do I know when to end a friendship? How often should I wash my hair? A podcast written and realised by Amber Minogue. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The one where the cream rises to the top Emma and Nicole speak to Michael Caines, is a two-Michelin star awarded chefs and one of six Black Michelin star chefs in the world. Born in Exeter, Michael was adopted into a white family at a young age and his love of cooking lead him to apprentice under Raymond Blanc, and at the age of 25 a car accident lead to him losing his right arm. He discusses growing up in a white family and predominantely white environments, working in fast-paced and highly competitive environments, relearning his skills after losing an arm, and how food connects us to culture. Michael is featured in Lucas Fothergill's Everyone Everywhere: Mixed Race Family Stories, looking into a hundred years of mixed British history, published by Unbounders. Pre-order our book The Half Of It: https://lnkfi.re/nf0upC Michael Caines: https://www.instagram.com/macaines/  Lucas Fothgergill: https://twitter.com/lucasfothergill  Everyone Everywhere: https://unbound.com/books/everyone-everywhere Instagram: https://instagram.com/mixedup.podcast Website: https://www.mixedup.co.uk/Substack: https://mixeduppod.substack.com 

Mark Fuchs, National Weather Service Senior Hydrologist joins Megan and Tom discussing just how much flooding is expected along the Mississippi this weekend.  

Predominantly squash basedThis week on the world's greatest user-generated movie creation podcast we've got toasted fingers, TransylVANia & Beethoven's 'That's What I Go To School For'Send us YOUR film (or TV) suggestions by leaving a review on Apple or by getting in touch with us by email dreamfactorypod@gmail.com, Twitter, Facebook, Threads, Tik Tok or Instagram.The Dream Factory is a comedy podcast that turns YOUR film ideas into movie masterpieces. Become a member at https://plus.acast.com/s/dreamfactory. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Am I the Genius? on

Am I the Genius? on

Folks, he's running.

I, SĪREN Is a combination of experimental, pop, rock with Celtic and cinematic undertones Hailing from the south-east of England Hastings. Predominantly a studio artist I, SĪREN takes inspiration from Artists such as PJ Harvey, The Cranberries, Enya, Dido, Dolly Parton, Grimes With each single release, there is an accompanied video this is an important element to the songs which usually involve great Collaboration with talented, producers, animators, directors and video makers. Even trying her hand at video production and editing her self to complete a video during lockdown. The fourth single release ‘Bones' will be out 24th March you can also watch the video on you YouTube. #MusicInterview #Artistic #ContentCreation #SocialMedia

“The casting couch is a euphemism for the practice of soliciting sexual favors from a job applicant in exchange for employment in the entertainment industry, primarily acting roles.[1][2] The practice is illegal in the United States. Predominantly male casting directors and film producers use the casting couch to extract sex from aspiring actors in Hollywood, Bollywood,[3][4] Broadway, and other segments of the industry.[9] The term casting couch originally referred to physical couches in the casting office, but is now a metonym for the phenomenon as a whole. Depictions of casting couch sexual encounters have also become a genre of pornography. According to economists Thomas Borcherding and Darren Filson, the high risk and returns in Hollywood cinema encourage the casting couch phenomenon. The possibility of high returns incentivizes unestablished actors to accept minimal wages in exchange for roles. With the exception of a few extremely talented actors, producers are unable to evaluate the aptitude of the vast majority of qualified actors due to uncertainty. As a result, some actors give sexual favors to producers to obtain a perceived advantage in the casting; the casting couch functions as a counterpayment that effectively reduces their wages. This creates a conflict of interest in which corrupt producers substitute aptitude (an unquantifiable variable) with sexual activity in their decision-making.[10] Actors who submit to the casting couch are not guaranteed roles, as there is an abundance of actors who participate in the practice. An actor's decision of whether to provide sex is comparable to the prisoner's dilemma, and results in a tragedy of the commons in which sex is needed to obtain film roles from producers who demand it, but fails to provide an advantage relative to other actors who offer sexual favors. If the provision of sex were voluntary and performed with the consent of all parties, the casting couch would be a quid pro quo exchange and a victimless crime. However, the practice is illegal in the United States and likely involves some degree of sexual exploitation or sexual harassment. Actors who do not participate in the casting couch are subject to externalities, including reduced employability.[10] Borcherding and Filson argue that the casting couch became less prominent after the Hollywood studio system, which enforced long-term employment contracts for actors, was eliminated on antitrust grounds in United States v. Paramount Pictures, Inc. (1948). Long-term contracts gave producers stronger bargaining power, which was used by corrupt producers to extract sex from actors more effectively.[10]” -Wikipedia. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/antonio-myers4/support

#PANAMA: Updating a new Michael Yon visit to the Darien Gap to watch the incoming migrants in the thousands week from Venezuela and Ecuador and then predominantly the Global South governances from all continents. @Michael_Yon 1927 Darien Gap

Celiana Lopez, Gisselle Cambron, and Yami Rodriguez are three students at Loyola University Chicago. Attending a predominantly white institution, or PWI, has presented challenges to all three girls, but Celiana, Gisselle, and Yami have found joy and community in Lambda Theta Alpha, their Latina sorority, and in programs meant to support first generation and low income students like Loyola's Achieving College Excellence program. In this episode, reporter Gina Castro meets the three friends and digs into what it's like to be a Latina at a PWI. Researchers from the Latino Policy Forum also unpack new research about obstacles to Latinas' success in college.  For more information, all episodes, and transcripts in English and Spanish visit us at 100latinabirthdays.com. Follow us on social media @100latinabirthdays. 100 Latina Birthdays is made possible by grants from the Healthy Communities Foundation, Woods Fund Chicago, the Field Foundation of Illinois, JB and MK Pritzker Family Foundation, and the Chicago Foundation for Women. Mujeres Latinas en Acción is the series' fiscal sponsor.

John Erwin, CEO of Carenet Health, discusses their recent survey of patients and providers covered by commercial insurance companies or the government programs Medicare and Medicaid.  While there is growing interest in using conversational texting and other digital tools, patients still want to talk with a human. The report reveals that Medicare/Medicaid members are more satisfied with their health plans than those covered by commercial plans, suggesting these plans can learn from government programs to improve the patient experience.   John explains, "Predominantly, we focus on two areas. One is around virtual care, so 24 hours a day, we have clinical and non-clinical teams that help support members and patients with anything and everything, from a prescription refill to "Help me talk to my doctor." So, virtual care 24 hours a day is one core business." "Then the other one is reaching out to members and patients around activities that would make sense for them to do on their healthcare. For example, do you have a primary care physician? Do you go in and see them? Have you done all the right things your plan benefits allow you to receive? So, we are good at utilizing data to ensure that we're getting in front of the consumer so that they can get the care and support they deserve through their benefits." "We were interested to find this out because we all are transitioning from all kinds of communication styles, be it in-person or by telephonic. The COVID opportunity changed a lot of how people are interacting. We help patients with all the different support mediums, whether text messages two-way with your doctor, speaking with a registered nurse, or talking to one of our engagement specialists. So, we're just hopeful that we get to talk to people in the right channel at the right time for them."  "What surprised us a little bit on the survey was that people still prefer to be spoken to, and they prefer the timeliness and relevance of that conversation. So, while they're happy to embrace other technologies, they still find a huge amount of comfort and support through the telephonic channel, which we do a lot of. We spoke to 20 million people last year just having a conversation about where they're heading on their health journey." #CarenetHealth #HealthInsurance #HealthInsurers #PatientEngagement carenethealthcare.com  Download the transcript here  

John Erwin, CEO of Carenet Health, discusses their recent survey of patients and providers covered by commercial insurance companies or the government programs Medicare and Medicaid.  While there is growing interest in using conversational texting and other digital tools, patients still want to talk with a human. The report reveals that Medicare/Medicaid members are more satisfied with their health plans than those covered by commercial plans, suggesting these plans can learn from government programs to improve the patient experience.   John explains, "Predominantly, we focus on two areas. One is around virtual care, so 24 hours a day, we have clinical and non-clinical teams that help support members and patients with anything and everything, from a prescription refill to "Help me talk to my doctor." So, virtual care 24 hours a day is one core business." "Then the other one is reaching out to members and patients around activities that would make sense for them to do on their healthcare. For example, do you have a primary care physician? Do you go in and see them? Have you done all the right things your plan benefits allow you to receive? So, we are good at utilizing data to ensure that we're getting in front of the consumer so that they can get the care and support they deserve through their benefits." "We were interested to find this out because we all are transitioning from all kinds of communication styles, be it in-person or by telephonic. The COVID opportunity changed a lot of how people are interacting. We help patients with all the different support mediums, whether text messages two-way with your doctor, speaking with a registered nurse, or talking to one of our engagement specialists. So, we're just hopeful that we get to talk to people in the right channel at the right time for them."  "What surprised us a little bit on the survey was that people still prefer to be spoken to, and they prefer the timeliness and relevance of that conversation. So, while they're happy to embrace other technologies, they still find a huge amount of comfort and support through the telephonic channel, which we do a lot of. We spoke to 20 million people last year just having a conversation about where they're heading on their health journey." #CarenetHealth #HealthInsurance #HealthInsurers #PatientEngagement carenethealthcare.com  Listen to the podcast here

EP313 - Holiday 2023 Preview with Rob Garf of Salesforce Episode 313 is preview of Holiday 2023 with Rob Garf, Vice President and General Manager, Retail at Salesforce. This is Robs' fifth time on the show, having previously been on episodes 110, 248, 282, and 299. It's happened again. Your Halloween decorations have come down (or at least your pumpkin is not in good shape), you survived Amazon Prime Big Deal Days, and now you're getting ready to ditch your in-laws and enjoy one of the most exciting retail weeks of the year. Yes, it's time for Holiday 2023! This year, we've decided to do things a bit different by previewing the holiday in advance of Turkey 5. Rob Garf has kindly joined to walk us through Salesforce's e-commerce forecast for November and December, and we compare it to all the other forecasts out there (NRF, Deloitte, Bain, US Dept of Commerce). In addition to the top line forecasts, we touch on retail versus e-commerce, changing shape of the holiday, discounting climate, inventory and supply chain impacts, top performing categories, the economy, and the impact of rapidly growing Chinese brands (Temu, Shein, TikTok). Throughout this episode make liberal use of real-time data from Salesforce Shopping Insights HQ, which tracks how 1.5+ billion consumers are shaping shopping trends. You can see a real-time holiday dashboard, powered by Tableau so you can interact with the data yourself on the Salesforce Holiday Insights page. Episode 313 of the Jason & Scot show was recorded on Wednesday November 8th, 2023. http://jasonandscot.com Join your hosts Jason "Retailgeek" Goldberg, Chief Commerce Strategy Officer at Publicis, and Scot Wingo, CEO of GetSpiffy and Co-Founder of ChannelAdvisor as they discuss the latest news and trends in the world of e-commerce and digital shopper marketing. Transcript Jason: [0:23] Welcome to the Jason and Scot show this is episode 313 being recorded on Wednesday November 8th 2023 I'm your host Jason retailgeek Goldberg and as usual I'm here with your co-host Scot Wingo. Scot: [0:39] Hey Jason and welcome back Jason and Scot show listeners Jason is 3:13 the lucky number I had the 13 is kind of on there so I think we'll count it. Jason: [0:48] It's a lot of threes. Scot: [0:50] Yeah yeah I think it's a primal have to get one of our research analyst to work on the okay so we are recording this in early November as Jason said so at that critical part of the retail calendar all the plans are laid the discounts are on the table Cyber Monday. Thanksgiving Black Friday everything's teed up and everyone's waiting in anticipation of what holiday is going to bring us this year. And we know longtime listeners will know that our holiday turkey five coverage with a lot of sprinkling of data is second to none in the industry and this year we're going to take it up a notch in past years we've had our friend of the show Rob Garf VP and GM for retail at Salesforce on after the turkey 5 give us a real-time view of what they saw and for those of you that have been with us very long time this is her Jason's mom primarily those were episodes 110 249 282 and 299 man that's quite a track record this year we are going to take it up and have a delicious rub Garf before and after holiday sandwich it's kind of like that turkey sandwich but we're going to kind of sample it here before we even even have Thanksgiving. Rob before I before I go on welcome back for the fifth and I think record time on the show. Rob: [2:11] Wow I love it this is I will have to call the Guinness book up and make sure we get this knocked in memory on this is fantastic it's always good to be here and even better Scott and Jason and first of all thank you for having me on doing a little bit of a preview because as you mention were normally crawling through the data talking about the holiday weekend and seeing where everything lands after the critical time period and it's fun to take a little bit of a sneak preview and look at what we're anticipating and what we're seeing going into as you mentioned one of the most critical times of the year. Jason: [2:45] I think you're exactly right Rob I don't know why we didn't think of this sooner I feel like they should have always been part of our holiday tradition. And I do feel like we're getting all of the Rob protein with none of the nasty carbs so that's like a. Particularly healthy Thanksgiving treat but Rob before we jump into all of the good data remind listeners what the heck it is you do for Salesforce and how you get all this juicy data. Rob: [3:13] Yeah that's awesome let's by the way the listeners decide you know how. Advantageous this is after the fact I hope it is and again we'll do our best so yeah and I've been I always thinking about it thinking into this conversation now at Salesforce for over 7 years but I came. To the CRM Leader by way of demand where and if you remember demandware now Commerce Cloud was the leader and the cloud space and we instrumented the platform early on to get access to everything that flows. Through our Cloud so you think about all the Taps all the clicks all the swipes. [3:48] Now we don't have any access to personally identifiable information but we bubble that up and it becomes really The Benchmark for what's happening in digital and over the years we've included. Things from marketing and Service as well to look at a more complete buyers Journey. [4:08] And it's been really fun each quarter we release our shopping index which is available on salesforce.com built on Tableau and it's interactive so you can slice and dice it by vertical and by geography and it really helps. Retailers gauge how they're doing vis-à-vis their peer set which of course is extremely important anytime of the year but certainly even more important during. The holiday week now I think there's one thing that I sometimes forget to say so I want to make sure right cover it now which is. Our index and by virtue of that our benchmarks are from a outside in perspective so they are a look at the entire industry, not just Salesforce data we've modeled this over the last 10 years since its Inception so it's really intended to look at. The overall industry and benchmarking how peers are doing rather than speaking to anything that Salesforce is doing so that's my quick infomercial but hopefully more than anything just a little bit of credibility as to where we get the data, what we do with it and most importantly the conversations were able to have similar to what we're doing here. Jason: [5:19] God so that that sounds perfect. I do want just a couple clarifying questions before we jump into the actual data because I know we're going to talk about holiday like what is your official definition of holiday what what dates are you looking at. Rob: [5:38] Yeah thanks for asking that's always an important question so we've defined it over the years as the complete November and December so that's our holiday our peak season look. And we look at in particular for again the holiday weekend I know you call it cyber five or thirty five, we have cyber week which starts the Tuesday before, American Thanksgiving and works its way through Cyber Monday it's just something we started from the beginning and 4y like to like, your rear comparisons we've kept that intact so in on referencing cyber week or cyber five it's really looking at those, those seven days now of course the definition by some has been elongated and I hope we'll get into that in terms of when does the official real demand start but to answer your question straight on Jason it's for us at Salesforce November December. Jason: [6:27] Got it and so for historical purposes you've always been located in November December and then you're predominantly or exclusively focused on digital sales so you're you're reporting on what actually happened and forecasting what you think is going to happen in terms of e-commerce sales but unless I had this wrong you guys don't put a flag in the ground on on what you think is going to happen in brick-and-mortar is that true. Rob: [6:50] That is accurate now we do kind of go on the fringes a little bit because the bleeding between online or the blurring I should say between online and offline so we do have, data on buy online pick up at store we do have data on returns as well which is by virtue of, definition multi-channel omni-channel type of process but we don't put a stake in the ground because we just don't have the intrinsic data to be able to bubble that up and provide on the actuals. Jason: [7:20] Sure and then one other fun fact you reference the shopping index and you always have like the quarterly recap on there but I think. For sure during holidays and I think you're going to tell me your round you actually have a real-time dashboard up there so it's kind of a fun thing during the individual days of cyber week to kind of pop in and see see what's going on after your family Thanksgiving dinner to see if you're still going to have a retail job when this is all over. Rob: [7:50] Yeah yeah we do exactly so during particularly cyber week each morning the team is getting up super early as you can imagine and work around through the data and we're updating in real-time the data from the previous day and so for any retailer who is looking for the latest and greatest certainly by I would say 10:00 eastern time at the latest you will get that and see that up there we do have many customers who do use that in there Roundtable boardroom discussions each day to understand how they're doing it repairing it and more than anything Jason truth be told we need to get it up that early because our boss this guy named Marc benioff is typically texting us saying where's the data because I want to tweet it so yeah as much of a motivator as anything else. Scot: [8:40] Always fun when you get the text from The Seer. Jason: [8:44] Slack's slacks the he sends wax not to. Scot: [8:48] A slacks yes sorry I was off I was off brand for a second yeah he Einsteins it to his his Einstein slacks you. You mentioned one follow-up on that you mentioned American Thanksgiving that prompted me to ask this is largely we're talking about the u.s. here primarily we're not going to this is an international I'm sure you can go International but, we're doing more us right. Rob: [9:12] Yeah I'm prepared to do whatever I thought we'd probably borrow a bit more into us but we do have Global numbers but yeah. Scot: [9:20] Okay we have time Jason's obsessed with these Chinese companies I'm sure he'll ask you some questions so. Rob: [9:25] That's fair that wouldn't. Scot: [9:26] Yeah he gets all his clothes from she in any way. So before we dive into the topic du jour which is this year's holiday 2023 maybe recap for listeners kind of that you know. I know we had you on but the dust has settled and I'm sure you're going back and looking at it now with holiday 22 what were some of the bullet items that you kind of you you're thinking about as we go into 23. Rob: [9:56] Scot you don't think the listeners have totally taken This to Memory what we talked about last November 29 come on. You're probably right that's fine yeah I get it not all of us live and breathe this but yeah let's bring us back and you know actually if I could just for a minute, to put 2022 in context you need to think a little bit about 2021 and let me just spend a minute there and then I'll fast forward to 22 which is if you remember some of us don't want to in 2021 it was truly one of the first times that demand, actually got pulled forward in the holiday season and the reason was. The first mile delivery issues were stuck if you remember so many products were stuck in the port in the US of a Lala. The containers if they even got to the port or having a difficult time getting off the ship in into the domestic supply chain and people saw a headline after headline when I say people like consumers by or shoppers and they realized if they didn't buy early in the season. [11:03] They might not get the product that they actually want because in the past they would just have a waiting game and wait for the last and final deal and so. Demand got pulled earlier in the season and oh by the way retailers didn't have to Discount as steep as they normally do so going into 2020 retailers thought. [11:26] All of a sudden there would be this magical shift to Consumers buying earlier in the year and you know what that just didn't happen, there was actually a really good point of why that didn't happen when you look at the first two weeks of November we saw some of the lowest discounting rates that we typically see during the holiday season and because of these lackluster deals. People really didn't buy anything they waited and they again went back to their normal buying Behavior. One other by-product out of that is those that did by early. [12:04] We saw that they actually return the product during cyber week cyber week last year 2022 at some of the highest. Return rates during that week of the entire season people were doing their own price adjustments if they bought the product earlier in the year and realize they could have gotten a better price so there's like. I don't know how you calculate a triple or quadruple whammy on the bottom line that retailer saw. Because they were hoping to chase the deals earlier or wait I should say for the deals into the season and consumers just didn't bite. Overall and then I'll stop talking for a second here is what we saw. For let's just take cyber week as an example in the u.s. we saw a nine percent year-over-year growth growth online and globally we saw a 2% growth so us was really buoying up the global number there but a lot of that Sales Online happened right before cyber week and through the Thanksgiving holiday. Scot: [13:07] Got it it's kind of coming back to me I Remember You coining The Phrase discount chicken I remembered that is that right remember. Rob: [13:15] Yeah yeah yeah totally and thank you so discount chicken you know for the first time that we saw, retailers won the game of discount chicken last year I'm sorry in 2021 they tried to win again in 2022 but it just didn't happen consumers are really wise the real patient and now especially as they're seeing headwinds in their economic future there's definitely searching out for better and best deals. Scot: [13:46] Yeah this this kind of goes back to our data question it just occurred to me as we were talking about this obviously the macroeconomic is different now does that factor into your when you swirl all this together and you guys put together a funk forecast is that is that an input. Rob: [14:00] Absolutely yeah for sure and another piece that we look at very closely because it's driven so much of the growth over the last two years is inflation as well and so when you look at the last two years much of the online and growth is from increased prices not increased demand so people are just not getting as much from their dollar because of those increases we're starting to see that settle down the last couple quarters which is good news we're not quite seeing in Europe by the way but here in the US and so we're hoping, some of the growth will come from We're anticipating I should say some of the growth this holiday season coming from actual increase demand. Jason: [14:41] God so I want to I want to jump in the big reveal but a quick quiz first if you don't mind so last year us e-commerce growth nine percent G20 21 was also an incredibly abnormal year do you remember what the actual number you guys got for 2021 was. Rob: [15:00] For cyber week that's a. Jason: [15:02] No or sorry for holiday if you don't have it it's fine. Rob: [15:05] Overall holiday for 2021 was nine percent but that's Global so I'd have to go back to see what it was with the US. Jason: [15:13] No problem but so last year in the u.s. nine percent growth which was outlier for because Global growth was quite a bit softer. And so now here we are getting ready for Holiday 23 and what what do you think's going to happen when how much stuff we're going to sell online in November and December of twenty three in the US. Rob: [15:35] Yeah, so we're anticipating here in the US basically flat online growth and anybody I'm talking to is candidly quite okay with that and let me tell you why they're not overly bullish about significant growth online this year. For two major factors one is, we actually looked at the kegger over the last couple of years going back to 2019 and if things play out the way we anticipate we're still looking at for the holiday season compound annual growth of somewhere between 20 and 25% and so we're really where we are better than where we've been in 2019 year-over-year so we're you know we've been looking at these data points for quite some time during the holiday season if we're going to do 10 to 12 to 13 percent year-over-year growth online we're feeling really good and we've seen the average over the last couple of years come out well over that so there's a baseline that we're still needing to consider as we think about growth the second factor is. [16:50] The store. And we can't forget about even though our data doesn't explicitly account for that what we've seen in our data is that people are still going online very, aggressively meaning traffic quarter-over-quarter year-over-year is still really strong however what we're finding is people are then doing what they've naturally done for a long time which is in many cases then go into the store to actually make the purchase and so it doesn't necessarily tell when you look at flat growth year over year for the holiday season the entire story we're still feeling really good about it what helps us by the way one more caveat that I'll put in there and I should have mentioned it's got just a moment ago when you asked how we get to the numbers one of the key influences, is what does it October look like and particularly prime or we should I was about to say Prime day but the prime big deal days and so what we've seen when it first came out a nice halo effect. And we still see a halo effect certainly during the dog days of summer in July since the Inception of prime day. What was that 56 years ago but we although we saw bumps in the early part when it. First was established in October there wasn't a significant halo effect that happened during Pride a meaning those. [18:18] Not named Amazon during the October event we saw nice traffic we though saw really low discount rates once again so people were being patient they're biding their time and so we are seeing some nice add to cart rates as well so we saw people were poking around they were doing their research they were starting to. Think about what their holiday gifting this look like but they were waiting and so that's my long way of saying we're anticipating a fairly moderate holiday but we're not at all discouraged by what we. Jason: [18:54] Totally fair and so and I want to put your forecast in a little bit of context but before I do you kind of open the door on this whole October and shape of holiday thing like hey. Super useful to have historical consistency so I'm glad you guys report. The same time period every year right like I'm by no means proposing that everyone should change periods but it is interesting there's there's a lot more promotional activity. Happening in October than was true 10 years ago right and in very specific ways you convoluted 22 years ago, Prime day was cancelled in summer and happened in October and then they move prom date back to Summer but they added this second prime day and put a lot more marketing behind it this year than last year so and every other retailer on the planet. Counter programs against that that holiday and so there's been a. An increasing amount of pressure to pull sales in in October and then on the flip side a lot of people feel like holiday doesn't really end. And told mid to late January and there's a variety of reasons for that but one very particular one heck of a lot of gift cards get sold and gifted during holidays and they get redeemed. [20:18] Predominantly in January and so I guess I'm just kind of curious I'm not sure you would have necessary data behind this but like it does feel like holiday is flattening out and I know you guys pay particular attention to cyber week which you know is still a huge outlier and obviously we see way more sales on Cyber week than a traditional holiday week but. As a. Relation to the total holiday period it does feel like that spike is starting to flatten out a little bit like do you see holiday getting kind of stretched and flattened. Rob: [20:53] Yeah I love the question in this I feel like we could look back you know in a year or 25 years and do a whole. [21:03] I don't know extensive research project around how, people in mindset and shopping has evolved because it has and of course the pandemic had a big accelerator to that what we've seen in our data Jason is there has been a flattening out throughout cyber week meeting the big Spikes have typically been Black Friday and Cyber Monday and those still remain the two largest online days of the entire year but we are seeing a flattening out throughout the entire week but we haven't seen a lot of the sales, when it's all said and done pulled into October we do see a little bit of a blip in and around, the big deal days and we actually to your point other retailers have preempted the sales and we saw that in July as well meaning doing sales events the week before and it does draw them up, some traffic but we haven't seen a large portion being pulled into that time period what I will also say again lackluster discounts played a big role we're anticipating, comparing big deal days to cyber week cyber week we'll see about a 40% higher discounting rate. [22:28] Then what we witnessed just a couple of weeks ago in October you are totally right by the way that. [22:37] The holiday season does definitely extend through December and into January that's why most every retailer has there. You know fiscal year ending in January so they can really reconcile and get out from under what happened in the holiday not just gift cards but all of the returns and exchanges that invariably happen as well but at the end of the day just put a nice little underscore here is in 2020 and 2021 we did see a bit of pulling forward into October a couple of percentage points of sales but we're forecasting that 25% of all holiday sales will happen again as we Define it the 7-Day is of cyber week. Jason: [23:27] Interesting very cool okay so before we dive into some more granular topics I do you want to put the 9% in context and some listeners will be familiar with Nate silver and his poll of polls in the the kind of boring, boring a political forecast but the way more interesting March Madness forecast so I like to fancy myself as the Nate silver of e-commerce and so I do try to watch all of this data and huge caveat, nobody's data is Apples to Apples right so it's not really a matter of though this number doesn't match up to this number. Everyone has a slightly different definition of what e-commerce means everyone has a slightly different set of dates that they're looking at and they have different methodologies right so your methodology I feel like you get perfectly accurate data from a slice of the market right like there's there's no like. Human. [24:30] Are introducing your data because it's coming right from the systems and that the challenge for you guys is to take your slice and extend that to the the entire world of retail. The and I feel like you guys do that really well. So another data source that of course people are sick of me talking about is the US Department of Commerce which are these like surveys that they force retailers to fill out and. There's. Entirely different challenges and flaws in their survey methodology and how they defined e-commerce but just to kind of put things in perspective. I'm going to talk about they give us both brick-and-mortar and e-commerce data and so I pulled right before a show I pulled their data for the historical averages of November and December and so for the 27 years before covid-19. November and December sales grew, 3.8 5% per year so that's brick-and-mortar that's not related to the number you gave it all so average retail growth in that States of America / the US Department of Commerce in November and December three point eight five percent so and then I remind people the three covid years 20 21 and 22. [25:45] Were the greatest three years in the history of retail right because we didn't let anyone spend any money on travel and we mailed 10 trillion dollars to every man woman and child in America, to spend and so via the US Department of Commerce data 2020 Drew 9.2 percent. [26:04] 20:21 Drew 12.5 percent in 2020 to grew 5.4% so three straight years of, way over the historical average growth right and then using that same methodology they US Department of Commerce reports internet sales I'm way more skeptical of their internet sales because of the methodology in the way they Define it but just to put it in perspective. [26:32] For the 27 years before covid they have e-commerce growing eleven point two five percent a year and so then 2020 when everyone was locked in the house and not going to retail we had this monster year e-commerce group 35% in November and December from their data and then the following year because there was sort of a rebound and a return into two brick-and-mortar sales e-commerce sales were actually lower than the industry average so 2021 they had sales at 10.5% so a little bit off of the historical average and then last year they were the softest of all they were seven point six eight percent which is the slowest e-commerce growth in Holiday in the last 30 years so that's just kind of an interesting context right so the orders of magnitude are all right you had nine percent growth last year they had seven point six percent growth they don't forecast of course and so then I start looking at the forecast and a big forecast that comes out every year we're all friends of the NRF here and there in RF members the NRF just did their holiday forecast their forecasting brick-and-mortar growing three to four percent so. [27:45] Pretty much in line with that historical average that's a deceleration from last year which was 5.4% and they're forecasting internet sales of 7.9 percent so they're kind of perfectly splitting the difference between the US Department of Commerce and Salesforce for whatever that's worth by pretty pretty broad range and so that just kind of passes my quick sanity check Deloitte also does a forecast now deloitte's forecast is a different time range they consider holiday November to January and they're forecasting brick-and-mortar 3.5 to four point six percent so a little more optimistic and they're forecasting e-commerce at ten point three to twelve point eight percent so again a little more optimistic and then Bain did a forecast this year and they have three percent brick-and-mortar so I just wanted to throw that out there that most people are expecting this kind of three to four percent brick-and-mortar growth and this kind of we'll call it eight to eleven percent e-commerce growth. Rob: [28:51] Yeah and I would say given what you just talked about. Others a bit more bullish on the e-commerce growth than we are but I think directionally both brick and mortar and e-commerce are telling a very similar story which is e-commerce is still alive and kicking but it now has to be looked at in the context of brick and mortar and I think there's a lot of factors in that that actually will make the reporting moving forward even more difficult it is making it difficult and Jason you and I have talked about this before it's just the attribution models because it's not just about last-click anymore especially as people might you know in many cases go online and then go into the store where's that last click and how is that I'd be factored so everything from. [29:38] What we had anticipated in seeing around, you know 60% of digital sales now influenced by the physical store because the associate is driving demand through, customer service or client telling or social media or they're fulfilling Demand with being able to, you know pick pack and ship and online order. Or what's happening in digital as well in terms of people buying online and then picking up in or around the store so I think what is super interesting. In addition to what you said is how these metrics might evolve over time because it will depend a lot on, by retailer who's getting the credit and I know that's something that's been talked about for quite some time but literally how to is it how is it being accounted for and what does that do to how their reporting the numbers. Jason: [30:33] Yeah couldn't agree more and just 11 sort of example to illustrate that 11 kind of category that sold almost no meaningful volume online before the pandemic was grocery right second biggest category of consumer spending but none of it was online before the pandemic now depending on how you count ten to twelve percent of its online and guess what it all gets attributed as store sales right because it all it's all bananas that are getting delivered from a store and you know so 100% of instacart sales look like store sales to the retailer. And so it like I agree with you it's just it's just getting more and more convoluted. Rob: [31:14] Yeah well it's an interesting point around grocery you know our data showed in 2020 and most of 2021 we saw Triple digit growth year over year because of what you just talked about you just wouldn't ordinarily or historically by groceries online what drove a lot of that and what I think will drive Behavior moving forward is in 2020 we saw a 40-percent increase of net new. Digital Shoppers so these are people that hang out online but they wouldn't click the buy button and so a lot of those people now want to go back into the store but they're using digital they're using their phone in particular to really be that connective tissue. Scot: [31:55] What's a continue to peel the onion here you hit on this a little bit but tell us more about what you think is coming up in the 2023 cyber week for example if I recall last year Cyber Monday was the biggest e-commerce Day Ever set, is that did you guys agree with that or what's a my misremembering. Rob: [32:14] Yeah yeah so we actually have seen Black Friday actually. Bust up to the largest I know that's kind of hard to how others have looked at it but they're both really strong and we anticipate that being the case again again though we are seeing a bit of smoothing out of demand throughout the seven days. [32:36] Particularly on phones and I guess that's not a big butt when we weren't traveling we saw the Resurgence of you know iPads and tablets and actual regular computers especially when you get nice groovy one Scott like you did just recently but anyways I am getting distracted here by your awesome new computer but. What we are now seeing though is I move back to mobile and what we saw also during Thanksgiving a really strong traffic particularly local times between 4:00 and 8:00 if you think about it that's essentially when people are finishing their Thanksgiving Neil and they need a little break there sitting on their couch and they pull out their phone and so we're seeing a lot of traffic. Via Mobile and social as well by the way we are anticipating and we predicted this going back in June that we're going to see. Traffic via social be at a 10 times higher rate. Than traditional marketing so there's a lot of budget being pushed towards that media and we're seeing. [33:49] A lot of success there now they're still a bit of a gap in terms of conversion rate through that channel but again if you connect the dots mobile. And social happening over cyber week in particular on Thanksgiving it's going to be really strong and we're seeing again retailers lean into that. Scot: [34:10] So Black Friday was bigger growth last year or bigger absolute dollars or both. Rob: [34:18] For us it was biggest absolute dollars the growth was essentially spot-on for both Cyber Monday and Black Friday. Scot: [34:28] Jason and I'm assuming that did other people say it was Cyber Monday or it was at all. Jason: [34:32] Yeah they're they're different different folks had that different Peak yeah so but. Scot: [34:39] Controversy in e-commerce I love it. Jason: [34:41] Yeah controversy and they're getting closer together like they're worth in the early days. E-commerce Cyber Monday was a giant Tower and no one had internet access on Black Friday like that that could really is no longer the case. Scot: [34:55] Yeah well rip Cyber Monday cool I don't have any follow-ups Jason's Europe. Jason: [35:03] Awesome so. I want to jump into one of the other topics you introduced a little earlier so far we've been mostly topping up talking about Top Line which is a kind of easy way to think about this and it's you know it's a it's a kind of easy way to get your brain around it, at the end of the day retailers care a lot more about bottom line and a huge impact on holiday bottom of line is how aggressively in deeply folks have to Discount in order to achieve those sales so, are you guys like what do you forecast I don't know if you have a formal forecast for discounts but what what should people expect from discounting this year versus last year and what what are the trends there. Rob: [35:46] Yeah yeah yeah this is good because I missed a point before that I want to make as a relates to Discount and so this will give me a good opportunity to bring that up but still has to go right at that Jason we're forecasting on average a. Thirty percent discount rate throughout cyber week and again to put that in perspective it was 20% here in the US during the October event for. Prime big deal days again we look at the entire industry not just Amazon as a relates to that and so we're seeing a much more aggressive, discount rate now it's going to differ obviously by different segments you're not seeing as high in luxury as an example we do anticipate for tour toys and a consumer electronics which have been a bit of a softer category over the last 12 months again especially because because of the high Baseline they had because of the growth over 2020 2021 but we're also seeing and this goes back to the pulling forward of demand. Is more and more retailers are providing. [36:55] Black Friday deals throughout the course of November and. What's different in the past was it was fairly opaque in terms of we're giving you deals but we're not really sure those are going to be the best deals right and though we're seeing now much more transparency there's one major retailer that I'm sure you can guess who's doing Black Friday deals throughout the course of November and they are guaranteeing price matches. If for some reason they do go lower and they are also offering buy now pay later so you can commit to getting the product so you don't miss out on it but you can then pay over time and so what really came to life for me in this topic was we were doing a round table. [37:47] In Toronto in June and one of the attendees and she talked about this again at dreamforce in. September so I feel comfortable talking about it is a digital executive from Desi mm which is a cool health and cosmetics and Beauty brand that also has two other brands one called the ordinary and they have something that they've been doing for quite some time calling it, slow vember and their whole point is don't cause any urgency but rather. Make it a more relaxed buying experience and their point is throughout the course of all of November we're going to provide the same exact discount no matter when. And if you buy it and so we're seeing that a bit more and more some of it is coming by way of. [38:38] Early Access or exclusivity but also again extending and providing visibility, part of it is again trying to create that confidence that you're getting the best and final deal and also by the way you talk about the bottom line Jason. Is trying to reduce the Deluge of returns that often happen a lot of retailers. Are changing 88 percent according to our research are changing their returns policies and that's going to be a. Big risk and what and how that impacts holiday purchases this year. Jason: [39:13] Yeah you know it's funny there's so many moving Parts it's so complicated you think about like what a big impact inflation had on last holiday and you know good news like it seems like inflation is going to be lower this holiday. Consumer was in a better economic position last year than it seems like they're getting their sure we're seeing credit and defaults and things like that start start to creep up so there's there's just all these moving Parts but one thing I think a lot of people lose sight of is in the last three years predominately driven by the pandemic every retailer has completely reinvented their supply chain and their demand forecasting and I would argue everybody's way better at it now and they have way more agile Supply chains and there they're they're a lot more accurate with their level of inventory which means. They're more confident they're going to sell through their inventory and that changes their discount strategy like they're just all these moving parts that make it really hard to compare your over year when you know. Preview point the last three years sometimes we didn't have anything to sell and then the next year we had two years worth of stuff to say so. Rob: [40:24] I was just talking about that with an executive just earlier today and how retailers have gotten as you said better at demand forecasting. Better at Inventory management and I joke sometimes although I'm only half joking that supply chain has really come to the front office it's like really part of the customer experience at this point and has such an opportunity, to either negatively impact our hopefully positively impact. The customer experience especially when you're you know trying to find product after the shipping cut off window we're anticipating once again a huge uptick for those that have the ability for Consumer to buy online and. Pick it up in and around the store after. [41:06] The ship and cut off window we're seeing seven times higher growth rate for those that have that capability because essentially you're kind of shutting down your online doors if you cannot. Fulfill those orders after the fact and so but that requires to your point Jason like a lot of tuning. Around supply chain order management inventory oh and by the way store associates as well we have to. You know planned for that extra time that they'll have to take to fulfill that order will have to provide the right incentives and will have to give them the tools as well and I think retailers have gotten better at it. I don't think anybody's fully cracked the code but going back to your bottom line point last year for us the holiday theme was profitability and that doesn't go away I think people have gotten meaning retailers have gotten better at it but certainly always opportunity so I'm glad you called that out. Jason: [42:02] Yeah I like to say profit is cool again. Rob: [42:04] Providence cool again yeah. Jason: [42:06] The if you take nothing else away from this episode profit is cool. The the way it's funny like I joke about this but it's kind of serious when I started my career the the VP of supply chain probably started his career as a truck driver and and today that VP of supply chain like probably has a PHD in data science um so it's a that that occupation has dramatically changed the one other follow-up question. One of the cool things about your data set versus some of these other ones I look at is. You guys have real-time access to the data so as we record this we're eight days into November have you seen anything interesting or there any patterns that have stood out it you does it make you more confident in your forecast or in anything that's interesting for listeners to know. Rob: [43:01] Yeah we did look at the first couple days of November and also of course looked at October it's pretty consistent with what we saw, in Q3 in the US we're basically flat in terms of growth however traffic is up so traffic is up four percent. Orders are slightly down what we've seen which I think again is a very nice leading indicator is, product view rates have increased by 5% and add to cart month-over-month so September to October plus a little bit of November we've seen a slight uptick as well so what that's telling us is people are interested. They're doing their research. They're looking for the best deals they're understanding where the inventory is available and so that they're ready to make the move when they feel like they're getting the best and most value. Scot: [43:58] Cool so it sounds like if traffic's up in orders are down a lot of Tire kick in and kind of prepping and watching and making your list and you know could be the start of discount chicken 2.0 will see. Rob: [44:10] There you go exactly 2.0 I'm using that Scott I'm grabbing that I hope that's okay. Scot: [44:14] Discount chicken the chickens Strike Back. Rob: [44:18] Well and also I mean you talked about kick the tires so I think it's a good opportunity for a promo for spiffy at this point too so don't forget to get your gift cards as well right. Scot: [44:28] Yeah yeah we will be running some promos thanks. Jason: [44:30] And if you do kick your tires Scott can come to your house and replace them for you. Rob: [44:34] Exactly. Scot: [44:36] And shop for the new shoes online. Rob: [44:38] There you go I think there's a mash up there there's going to be spiffy and a DDOS coming together for anyways I don't know we'll leave that to the markers. Scot: [44:48] That's a good segue into my question in the predictions on category so I remember last year you guys had some interesting data on that does your prediction. Kind of data science get down into the category slicing of things or that's going to be more in the rearview. Rob: [45:06] Yeah no we certainly look at that we do it obviously based on what we've seen historically we're anticipating for the holiday. Active apparel active Footwear Health and Beauty being really strong so. You know we talk about the big number because that gets the headline in terms of essentially flat growth but we had tisza Pate some nice growth in those areas it's going to be a challenging partly because of comping as a relates to toys and gaming and consumer electronics if you think about that's just macro trend. People are looking for Comfort part of it is coming out of covid and maybe not all of us getting back into three piece suits but also when you feel a little bit of economic uncertainty I was listening to some Financial show. [46:02] While I was traveling over the last couple weeks and somebody put it as kind of the household PL or the household balance sheet you know when you're looking at that in your making choices you're taking more control of your finances which is happening people often migrate not only obviously to value, and safety they're looking at comfort and so there's something to be said for comfort and shoes and Footwear comfort, in apparel and almost the openness to be a bit more comfortable both in Social and in work situation so what are anticipating like I said active apparel active Footwear Health and Beauty being really strong luxury as well don't sleep on luxury they've been the most resilient category. In the pandemic and coming out of the pandemic and so that end of the market has held really well we're seeing a little bit. Of softness and what I'll call the aspirational luxury but as a whole that category is looking really strong and we anticipate it looking pretty strong, during the holiday as well. Scot: [47:12] Yeah this is old school but I remember a channel advisor going through 08-09 we were always shocked that luxury you know it's like the world is falling apart around us and people are like oh yeah I'll get a get a 400 dog and back it's gone. That part of the market just doesn't care that they're immune to those things I guess. Rob: [47:30] They're pretty resilient. Yeah I mean one other thing I'll throw in there just because I'm talking about it more and more with customers as we think about the holiday more as a. I think Bellwether to what will anticipate next year over the course and this is a global number but over the course of holiday were anticipating 194 billion dollars of online sales being influenced by a. Sorry are you thought you were going to get through this whole I know should I have not done that I'm sorry because you definitely that's on your bingo sheet. Jason: [48:07] Now I have to check the there's a I in this episode flag on iTunes. Rob: [48:11] Exactly well might get some more traffic that way so who knows but we find that super interesting most of it I want to like temper that. A lot because people are getting really excited about that headline is most of it will be from predictive a I like product recommendations which we've been doing for quite some time we're starting to see some early adoption of generative AI whether that's in email marketing with subject lines or body copy for that Saint product detail page with product descriptions or in service super interesting wood Gucci is doing and what they call a Gucci 9 their service center and teeing up responses for their agent to make them more efficient and allow them to scale but also stay on brand and so we'll see that a bit more but again a vast majority like I said it's around globally sixteen Seventeen percent of all sales will be influenced by AI this holiday. Jason: [49:06] That interesting so Rob we're almost out of time but I want to throw a super meaty 12 you for for a final question Scott was making fun of me but I am super interested in these Chinese brands that are capturing attention and share in the u.s. right and in particular that's that's Tim ooh which is has more traffic than Target more sales than Ed see in the United States Xi'an is the largest apparel reseller in the United States and then to a lesser extent Tick-Tock which has the vast majority of consumers attention in the United States and is now trying to sell stuff to people. What super interesting is it's not obvious those guys are all growing at Breakneck Pace much faster than your your nine percent growth number it's not obvious if or who they're taking share from so I'm curious of you if you have any POV it kind of seems like there they're inventing new demand or at the very least they're taking sure from brick-and-mortar it does not appear they're taking sure from the Amazons of the world. Rob: [50:09] Yeah that's awesome I'm glad you're addressing this I've just spent a couple weeks. In Europe I was in four different cities so talking to a lot of luxury Brands talking to a lot of traditional brick and mortars, and this is an area one of the executives put out Tech intermediary and I told him I would steal that and here you go I'm stealing it. Because I would say those that you just categorized are really wedging themselves in between the demand and the supply and they're creating a whole new platform where. It was just an originally with Tik-Tok and others about inspiration and now it's about purchase and so you know what we're seeing in Jason you and I have talked about this got 20 degree as well this idea of embedded Commerce or shopping at the edge. Where the buy button is being pushed up through the funnel on these delivery platforms again these Tech intermediaries I mean if you think about it they're almost like. The next generation of the shopping mall the shopping mall is created because of access because the highway here in the states and it created a place for people to hang out for people to get some food for people to shop. [51:16] People to socialize and because of that hey they could have tenants who that would then pay rent and sell stuff right and it's not dissimilar to what these Tech into mediators are doing in that they're monetizing their traffic I think they're coming after, the brick-and-mortar to a degree they're all so I wouldn't say creating more demand but fraying some of the man from. The brand sites because the brands are showing up there and so I would say there. [51:52] A little bit creating more demand but more than that they're kind of defraying the demand we've seen is. A high degree of growth thirty percent over the last couple of years of growth on these third-party intermediaries that we're talking about and they are taking from other platforms. Jason: [52:14] Interesting I don't know what the real answer is but I do know it's super interesting and important to pay attention to so I'm glad we brought it up but Rob that is going to have to be where we leave it because we have used up all of our allotted time I'm going to make sure to put a link to the Salesforce holiday dashboard in the show notes and super grateful for you taking at time and I hope you have a great Thanksgiving and we're looking forward to talking with you right after Cyber Monday. Rob: [52:45] Thanks Jason Banks got ya looking for doing a short couple weeks looking forward to talking to you then. Scot: [52:50] You robbed remind listeners where they can find your pontification xand and do they just Google the the index to find your daily things or like is there a quick URL that you guys have that. Rob: [53:04] Yeah you know to be honest with you the best way to is go to Google and put in shopping index Salesforce and you'll get to our holiday insights Hub so it not only has the dashboards but has all of the blog's were writing and all of the up-to-date analysis. Scot: [53:20] Cool well thanks we really appreciate you taking time out of your busy schedule to deliver this delicious holiday sandwich for our for Jason I in our listeners. Jason: [53:31] All right you guys be well and until next time happy commercing!

Who: King Parrot, Lamb of God, & PANTERA What: One of the finest heavy metal concert experiences EVER When:  Tuesday, September 12, 2023 Where: Ameris Bank Amphitheater - Alpharetta, Georgia Why: For the celebration of The Abbott Brothers history & legacy   On this night, thousands of loyal Atlanta metal fans made the pilgrimage to behold the spectacle of King Parrot, Lamb of God, and PANTERA absolutely blowing everyone's mind with one of the finest (and certainly one of the HEAVIEST) heavy metal shows to EVER bless the stage at Ameris Amphitheater!   Truly a “family reunion for metal”, it was one of the most powerfully transcendental events of community, reverence, and sheer sonic bliss ever experienced in a single place on a single night. The collective energy of these three extreme metal juggernauts elevated the entire audience to an almost frenzied level of controlled chaos & palpable glee.  It was, without question, one of THE best metal shows to come to Atlanta in recent years, bar none. And for a few fleeting hours on that night of “Metal Magic”, it felt just like the old days all over again, in the best way possible.   It's “story time” in the Bunkerpoon, which means it's time to “hang tight” and “have some cocktails” with the “three black sheep” and find out “what happens to dudes who can't handle their White Claws” while trying to comprehend how talking to someone on a cell phone at a concert is as futile and pointless as peeing into a tornado.    Prepare to learn which two letters equal the letter ladies sit on, discover the proper way to pronounce King Parrot, dine on the finest post-show cuisine at the Waffle House and JOIN US as we reflect on one of the most important nights of heavy metal to have blessed Atlanta in recent years as we reflect on the details of the PANTERA LEGACY TOUR POST GAME WRAP-UP featuring King Parrot, Lamb of God, and PANTERA on the Atlanta tour stop to honor and celebrate the legacy of the brothers, Darrell & Vinnie Abbott.   Visit www.metalnerdery.com/podcast for more on this episode Leave us a Voicemail to be played on a future episode: 980-666-8182 Metal Nerdery Tees and Hoodies – metalnerdery.com/merch and kindly leave us a review and/or rating on the iTunes/Apple Podcasts - Spotify or your favorite Podcast app Listen on iTunes, Spotify, Podbean, Google Podcasts or wherever you get your Podcasts. Follow us on the Socials: Facebook - Instagram - Twitter   Email: metalnerdery@gmail.com Can't be LOUD Enough Playlist on Spotify   Metal Nerdery Munchies on YouTube @metalnerderypodcast   PANTERA on the InterWebs: https://pantera.com/  https://pantera.com/tour/  More PANTERA Episodes HERE https://www.metalnerdery.com/pantera   Show Notes: (00:01): ***WARNING:  #listenerdiscretionisadvised / #RMRose #FireOnTheMountain #NewLogo / ***WELCOME BACK TO THE METAL NERDERY PODCAST!!!*** / #thisepisodesbeeroftheepisode (“It tastes like autumn…”) / #gluttonfree and/or #glutenfree #AtlantaHardCider (“Hand picked by…people? Machines?”) / #buttonrub #texturedforyourpleasure #firstdayoffall (“I could drink a bunch of those…it's definitely dry…”) / “That's a better term than #flaccid…”    (03:20): Feel free to email us at metalnerdery@gmail.com and/or hit us up on #Instagram or #Facebook or #YouTube OR ***GIVE US A CALL AND LEAVE US A VOICEMAIL AT 980-666-8182!!!*** / #thevoicemailsegment (Darius is back…) / CD's vs Vinyl / #storytime / “May I retort?” / “You could tell  #Alexa to play #MetalNerderyPodcast “/ #ultraquadraphonic / “They're kinda coasters…” / #shuffle / “You've got the #FBI listening to you, but I don't care…” / #onemore (“To clarify…”) / #ninjafrisbee / “Also to clarify…I called you fellas #thethreeblacksheep and said #hangtight in Polish…” / #dietpepsi vs #dietcoke #RussellsReflectionsASMR    (10:24): “You haven't given us your thought of the day…” / “Apparently THAT was a winner!” / “If you thought getting a foley inserted was bad…” / “Enjoy your dildos and loneliness…” / “Was it a skink?” / #speciesist / “Snakes with legs…freak me out!” / Finding lizard carcasses in your home / #drylizardgulch / “That's my spirit animal…” / #batzapper   (15:35): #TheDocket METAL NERDERY PODCAST PRESENTS:  THE PANTERA POST-SHOW REVIEW (from 09/12/2023 in Alpharetta, GA) / #KingParrot #LambOfGod #Pantera / “That week…was so weird…it wasn't just me…” / “They slow the rotation…” / #They / “It's like an LP spinning in space…” / “It's pizza shaped…” / The leadup to the show / Parking at the venue / “We were 40 thick…” / The #ActusReus boys were there / “It was a #familyreunion for metal…” / ***Check out everyone in the #groupphoto on our #Instagram and #Facebook pages *** / Ticket prices for seating vs lawn (“When I bought mine, lawn seats were NOT available…”) / “I looked like a #drunktoddler …”   (24:00): The structure of the show, including the #homevideofootage from the various #PanteraHomeVideos back in the day / “That was the first show I've been to in a minute with pyro…” / “Was that the same venue where you saw #Godsmack and could barely hear it?” / “I was WAY off on the opener…” / #soundczech / Some of the more surprising song choices in the setlist    (28:41): #TheSetlist (“I lost my shit on that one…”) / “I got a little teary when that came on…” / The incredible turnout of old school fans vs new fans who were just seeing #Pantera for the VERY first time on a tour for a band without a brand new album / “Speaking of bass…” / #TheEncore / “Let's make it official…” / Predominantly the #Vulgar and #Driven albums / #speakingofbassparttwo (“Every time they showed Rex…”) #AirheadsStuntDouble / “That shape is weird…it's an #SGV (or the Devil V)” / #squealies / A #barefooted Phil Anselmo / “The only thing that's depressing about it…” / “Eventually…” / #docuseries / “That's the worst part about running out…”   (36:03): “How long did it take y'all to get out of the parking lot?” / The #postshow #WaffleHouse excursion / “They weren't warned…” / “That waffle is always amazing…every time” / #deathrowmealsASMR / “The funniest thing on the way back…was a comment about ‘sitting on the W'…” / “I can see your W…” / “It was in my #TopTen …” / “I was drunk on the music…I was dancing like nobody was looking…” / “The only thing that would have made that show better would have been #TheAbbottBrothers “   (42:42): “They had a lot of fire…” / “I did figure they would have played more from #ReinventingTheSteel …” / “If you think about it…” / “I rode that high for a few days…” / “I've been listening to a lot of Lamb of God lately…” / ***If you spotted Tim Hurd at the show, send us an email or let us know!*** / #PrinceAlbert (“He's not gonna put it back in, is he?”)   (45:53): “This is not related to #Pantera but…” / “NOOOOOOOOOOO!!!” / #No / “I need to see this…” / #standupcomedyASMR / “They don't know that you're like this all the time…” / The weirdness of 9/11 week / #GodHatesUsAll and #Repentless were #bolth released on #nineeleven / Perfect stuff for #TheTriangle / “Both would have made me giddy, one would have made me really happy…” / “No, it was Regular People…”    (49:35): “There was some dude who can't handle his #whiteclaws and was being a #superdouche to his girlfriend…” / “The good definitely outweighed the bad…” / “Sorta homeless but not really…” / #peoplewatching and #battlejackets / “It might have a built-in vagina…” / #vaginajacket or #penisponcho / “Musicians will get this…” / The opposite of #OldeFaece / #PanteraDoomASMR #dadheavy #gutatronic / The physical toll of performing live as you age / #dementiainchief / #dontdenythepowerof #sexdrugsandheavymetal / “Danglin' by the dangle…” / “We need two of those a year…” / Concert ticket prices and #pricegouging and the impact on crowd sizes / “It absolutely was a family reunion…these were OUR people…” / “I wonder if people will notice…” / “If you have two V's together, that makes a W…” / ***THANK YOU FOR JOINING US!!! DON'T FORGET TO STOP BY THE BUNKERPOON GIFT SHOPPE AT metalnerdery.com/merch !!!*** / #outroreel #untilthenext    

What makes Sour Rot so challenging for wine grape growers is that it is a disease complex. Hans C. Walter-Peterson, Viticulture Extension Specialist, Finger Lakes Grape Program, Cornell Cooperative Extension explains that Sour Rot comes in late season after ripening.  Yeasts get into the berries and ferment the sugar out in the vineyard. Bacteria follow up, feasting on the alcohol, converting it into acetic acid – an unwelcome component in winemaking. And, the disease is spread rapidly by fruit flies. In this interview Hans shares methods to reduce Sour Rot disease pressure by managing increasingly resistant fruit fly populations, leafing to encourage fewer berries at fruit set, the correct way to drop fruit, and timing antimicrobial and insecticide sprays to Brix to maximize effectiveness. Cornell Cooperative Extension is trialing non-chemical control practices including UV light for sterilization and hormonal sprays plus a disease model is under development with Penn State University. Resources: 17: New Discoveries about Sour Rot – Megan Hall (Podcast) 117: Grapevine Mildew Control with UV Light - David Gadoury (Podcast) 159: Under-Vine Vegetation to Control Vine Vigor – Justine Vanden Heuvel (Podcast) Alice Wise, Cornell Cooperative Extension Control of Sour Rot via Chemical and Canopy Management Techniques Hans Walter-Peterson, Cornell Cooperative Extension Hans Walter-Peterson ResearchGate Influence of timing and intensity of fruit zone leaf removal and kaolin applications on bunch rot control and quality improvement of Sauvignon blanc grapes, and wines, in a temperate humid climate Insecticide Resistance in Drosophila melanogaster (Diptera: Drosophilidae) is Associated with Field Control Failure of Sour Rot Disease in a New York Vineyard Managing Fruit Flies for Sour Rot Summer Bunch Rot (Sour Rot) Pest Management UC IPM Pest Management Guidelines Wendy McFadden-Smith, PhD., Ontario References: Vineyard Team Programs: Juan Nevarez Memorial Scholarship - Donate SIP Certified – Show your care for the people and planet   Sustainable Ag Expo – The premiere winegrowing event of the year - $50 OFF with code PODCAST23 Sustainable Winegrowing On-Demand (Western SARE) – Learn at your own pace Vineyard Team – Become a Member Get More Subscribe wherever you listen so you never miss an episode on the latest science and research with the Sustainable Winegrowing Podcast. Since 1994, Vineyard Team has been your resource for workshops and field demonstrations, research, and events dedicated to the stewardship of our natural resources. Learn more at www.vineyardteam.org.   Transcript Craig Macmillan  0:00  Here with us today is Hans Walter-Peterson. He is a viticulture extension specialists with the Finger Lakes Grape Program, part of Cornell Cooperative Extension. Thanks for being our guest today.   Hans C. Walter-Peterson  0:12  Thanks for having me. Glad to be here.   Craig Macmillan  0:14  You've been doing a lot of work on a situation I'll call it called Sour Rot on grapes. And that's what we're gonna talk about today. Let's start with some basic definitions. What exactly is Sour Rot?   Hans C. Walter-Peterson  0:24  So sour rot is pretty much what it sounds like. It's one of the late season rots that can afflict grapes comes in after ripening starts so much like Botrytis, bunch rot some of these other types of rots that that growers might be familiar with. So it's another version of that, but it comes along with the bonus of acetic acid, every rot kind of brings its own different compounds to the party. Sour rot brings one that really is not terribly welcome in winemaking, you know, essentially the the main component of vinegar. It's a particularly rough type of rot. We really are getting some more challenging years with it past several years. So my program has really started to focus in on what we can do to try to keep it under control.   Craig Macmillan  1:09  You know, I understand that part of the issue here. Is that sour rot is a disease complex. There's multiple actors involved in all of this. Can you tell us what some of those pieces are of that complex and how they interact to create sour rot?   Hans C. Walter-Peterson  1:23  Yeah, it's probably the thing that makes sour rot a more difficult thing to manage than kind of the standard diseases, the regular diseases that most growers are used to dealing with like powdery mildew, downy mildew, because those are created those are developed by one type of microbe. So if you find the one thing that can control that one microbe, you've got a control measure. With sour rot it's a like you said it's a complex of multiple organisms that bring it about. So basically, there are yeasts, the yeasts get into the berries and take the sugar that's being developed in there, and they do exactly what we use yest for in winemaking takes the sugar and turns it into alcohol. So we'd get a fermentation starting within the berries out in the vineyard. The second part of it that happens then is that there are bacteria that follow up and also arrive in there most notably Acetobacter, but also some other things like Gluconobacter and Henseniaspora. This is some great work that was done by Wendy McFadden-Smith in Ontario a number of years ago. So they all kind of come in and feast on that alcohol and convert that alcohol into acetic acid. So thereby there's the sour of sour rot. The piece that comes after that, then is not just the sour rot. But then the thing that probably is really characteristic of it also, as with some of these other rots, but it spreads really quickly in a vineyard if the conditions are right. And that's mainly done by fruit flies. And it's not just the one that we've been hearing a lot about lately, the Spotted Wing Drosophila, Drosophila suzukii but it's also just your plain old Drosophila melanogaster, the ones you used in your your high school genetics classes, or college genetic classes and see on your fruit around the sink and stuff like that. Those fruit flies, for the most part, mostly fruit flies are a couple of other suspects in the mix, too. But they're the ones that spread it from berry to berry and cluster to cluster and block the block.   Craig Macmillan  3:13  Are they spreading the yeast, the bacteria are both.   Hans C. Walter-Peterson  3:16  All of the above.   Craig Macmillan  3:17  Okay, so that's it,   Hans C. Walter-Peterson  3:18  They're gonna freeride. So that's, that's the difficulty with it. If it was just, you know, like I was saying earlier, if it's something like black rot, or botrytis, where it's just one single causal organism, that's one story. And that's hard enough to control when you've got multiple types of organisms that aren't even directly related. I mean, yeast and bacteria are very different types of organisms, for example, we don't have a spray or a single thing that control that. And so that's the real difficulty with managing it year in and year out.   Craig Macmillan  3:48  So this just made me think of something. One way of thinking about disease complexes is if I can remove one of the elements, or two of the elements I can at least reduce if not prevent or treat the disease is that the case with sour rot if I had no bacteria, if I didn't have a yeast or something like that, can I get rid of one of them and and help with this?   Hans C. Walter-Peterson  4:09  Yeah, that's that's a really good point. As I said earlier, you need the two micro organisms to cause the sour of the sour at the acetic acid development, but then you need a vector to move them through the vineyard. And that's the fruit flies. So if you can control the fruit flies, you have less chance for those microorganisms to move through the vineyard. If you create a less hospitable host for the microbes, there's less of them to be moved around by the fruit flies. So the management strategies that we're looking at are trying to come at it from both directions. Some of the original work that was done on this recently here at Cornell by a grad student, Dr. Megan Hall, who I believe you had on the show a while back.   Craig Macmillan  4:50  I had in the show, and I know her yes.   Hans C. Walter-Peterson  4:53  In Megan's original work here at Cornell. She basically found that it was somewhat more effective to control the fruit flies than to control the microbes that just the microbes by themselves could cause a certain amount of rot. But then if you're controlling the fruit flies, it just you don't get that explosive growth.   Craig Macmillan  5:10  The fruit flies in the gasoline.   Hans C. Walter-Peterson  5:12  Right. Exactly. Yeah. The microbes are the fuel. Yes. So that was the impetus of kind of saying, Okay, if you had a control just one thing, it's the fruit flies, because that's really where the explosive nature of the disease comes along. And it's a little bit easier to control a bug than it is microbes that are hiding inside the skins of berries and things like that.   Craig Macmillan  5:31  Where do the microbes come from? are they hanging out under the bark of the vine? Are they inside of shoots? Are they out in the environment and get blown on?   Hans C. Walter-Peterson  5:43  They're pretty ubiquitous in the environment, talk about a lot about Native fermentations and yeast coming in from the vineyard. So there's so they're there. And the bacteria are as well, I don't know, it's some of the exact overwintering mechanisms. And if we know all about that, somebody probably does, I just don't, but it's my understanding is they're they're pretty native in our neck of the woods. They just, they're they're pretty much all the time.   Craig Macmillan  6:05  Are there environmental conditions that are particularly conducive to promoting Sour Rot. And then also are there environmental conditions that will prevent it or retard it?   Hans C. Walter-Peterson  6:16  So the big thing that gets sour rot going is for some way for the microbes to get into the berries in the first place. Predominantly in grapes, we think about that as either being insects, birds, or water. Here in the east, obviously, we get rain throughout the growing season, including during the harvest season, we have high humidity days, plenty of times. And so those are the kinds of conditions where we see greater incidence of sour rot develop. When the vines take up water, or the berries take up water either through rainfall or just the atmosphere, and then the berries swell up, they can't handle all the water they have and they split or you have a very tight clustered variety, that just the berries start getting forced apart, and they just break by force. So those entry wounds however they're caused, is how it gets started. So we know here in New York that if we have a dry fall days, with not many days with dew points above 70, and all those kinds of things, we don't see very much sour rot develop, we might see a little Botrytis here and there. But for the most part, we don't see it. And a lot of that is because we just don't have the humidity to kind of build up the water in the berry to cause it split the years where we have it bad. On the contrary, that's that's when we see more water, more rainfall, more high humidity days, that's when we see more splitting and therefore more sour rot. Much like most other diseases, the warmer it gets, the faster it can progress. And the same thing with insects, the fruit flies at a at a lower temperature. It takes them longer for a next generation to develop. And so the warmer it gets, they get faster too. So yeah, so warm and wet.   Craig Macmillan  7:55  So cool and dry would be the opposite would be the desirable.   Hans C. Walter-Peterson  7:59  So that would be best.   Craig Macmillan  8:01  That actually that just reminded me of something. My experience has all been on the Central Coast California. This only happened once. And that was with some Pinot Noir that came in that had quite a lot of Botrytis damage. And the winemaker had us go through and sort then not simply sort out Botrytis and throw it away, but by hand sorted and then smell it for sour is something like Botrytis or a scar from powdery mildew or something like that. Is that Is that also a possible entry for the organisms?   Hans C. Walter-Peterson  8:33  Yes, very often we see Botrytis and sow rot in the same cluster. Because it's the same thing. Botrytis is a very weak pathogen, it needs a place to kind of get established like a wound. And so same thing with sour rot. We do know that, like you're just saying powdery mildew scars can create micro fissures in the skin. And later on in the season, those can start to tear apart even if you can't see them, especially around the pedicel near the stem where the stem connects to the berry. They're going to be micro fissures that those micro organisms can take advantage of as well. So those conditions are pretty similar for for other kinds of rots as well.   Craig Macmillan  9:11  Are there cultural practices or preventative or prophylactic practices that growers can use that might help manage this?   Hans C. Walter-Peterson  9:17  Yes, probably the biggest one that we know of and we're trying to get a little bit better handle on as far as how to use it for this purpose. So we know that if you pull leaves before bloom are right at the very beginning of bloom, you will reduce berry set you basically kind of starve the the clusters, the flowering clusters of carbohydrates and other nutrients and so they don't set as many berries. You have a looser cluster. Those clusters don't swell up they don't like I was talking before kind of force berries off, they dry out faster. All the good things we like about looser clusters pulling leaves at that very early, just pre bloom or very early bloom stage can reduce berries set pretty consistently year in and year out. out and help to reduce that cluster compactness aspect of rot development.   Craig Macmillan  10:05  I think it's the first time I've ever heard of a intentional shatter. Usually we're all we're all praying that we don't have what you're describing.   Hans C. Walter-Peterson  10:14  Yeah. Well, I mean, you think about table grape growers do this fairly often, they try to make more room on the cluster so that they can have larger berries, which consumers want. And so we're not worried about it. obviously, for consumer sentiment, we're worried about that for disease pressure, there's definitely a cost to it. You're reducing your yield as a grower from the standpoint of just how many grapes you're going to carry. But you also might be saving more yield later on in the year and not having to drop fruit before you send it off to the winery   Craig Macmillan  10:40  In your area. You've got wine grapes, obviously, but also there's a lot of Concord production there. And is it mostly for juice is that right?   Hans C. Walter-Peterson  10:48  Mostly for juice, yep.   Craig Macmillan  10:49  I'm assuming this problem applies there as well.   Hans C. Walter-Peterson  10:52  Concords really don't get sour rot very much, partly because their clusters more open, they don't set a tight cluster. If you think like a Pinot Noir cluster, or Chardonnay, or Riesling, they're much more loose like that. They also have much thicker skins, so they tend not to split quite as easily, they can still split, but we tend not to see sour rot develop on them. And I, I'm not totally sure why that is. But part of it from at least on a production level, a lot of our Concord gets picked before it gets much more than 16, 17 Brix. We know with sour with sour rot, we don't see symptoms start to develop until you get to 13 or 14. And I think that's partly a result of just how much sugar is in the berry, but also the relation of sugar and acid because microbes can't tolerate a certain acidic level of environment also. And so this is kind of an educated speculation right now. But I think that's part of the reason we don't see it in something like Concord and Niagara and some of these these juice varieties is that we pick it at a relatively low Brix, as opposed to wine varieties where we're picking 20 Plus.   Craig Macmillan  11:57  Right, right, exactly, exactly. Continuing on the cultural thing. I one thing that growers do for both try to fend for grape powdery mildew. They may go through and they may drop infected crop when they first see it. This sounds like this gets spread around, can you crop drop with this and control the spread?   Hans C. Walter-Peterson  12:17  The challenge with this is if and I've seen this happen in a couple of places. If you drop crop that's starting to rot and just leave it on the ground near the vines. What does it do when it's on the ground? It continues to rot. Right? It doesn't it doesn't stop and the fruit flies can easily go from the ground back up to the canopy and back down to the ground back up to the canopy.   Craig Macmillan  12:35  Find another Fissure or whatever.   Hans C. Walter-Peterson  12:37  Right, exactly. So another part of the challenge that is ideally you're not just dropping the crop and leaving it there in the vineyard, you got to kind of take it out so that it's not around that healthy fruit. Because otherwise those microbes will be back. You know, they get blown around on wind again or carried by fruit flies. And they'll find another fissure to get into.   Craig Macmillan  12:57  Can you cultivate it? Can you can you tell it under?   Hans C. Walter-Peterson  13:00  You probably could. Yeah, we don't do that much tillage in our in our vineyard rows just because we have all the rain we maintain cover crops between the vineyards all year round. Otherwise we'd slide all over the place.   Craig Macmillan  13:11  Yeah, no, absolutely. Of course. Yeah. I've talked to Justine Vanden Heuvel about undervine cover cropping and things and I was like, This is crazy. Going to California perspective. That's nuts. And she was like, Craig, you have no idea how much water is in the ground. It would be a mess if we didn't which is which is really interesting. So okay, so that's not gonna work. Do we have anything in the chemical realm for prophylactic sprays?   Hans C. Walter-Peterson  13:33  Prophylactics per se not so much what we've been looking at lately, a colleague of mine out on Long Island Alice Wise for about three or four years now we've been looking at a couple of materials that are designed to enhance the cuticle thickness around the berries basically as a way to try to see if we can prevent cracking. One of them was originally developed to reduce cracking and cherries.   Craig Macmillan  13:54  What materials are we talking about?   Hans C. Walter-Peterson  13:56  So the material we've been working with is a combination of materials, some waxes and carbohydrates and some other things that kind of just bind to that cuticle around the berry and just thicken it up. Literally from everything I've seen, it works in cherries to prevent this cracking. We've been looking at two versions of these, this material they both developed at Oregon State actually one produces a thinner cuticle and other one produces a much thicker one. And we've tested them both. And we haven't seen any difference in sour rot from using these materials. Now we've had kind of some kind of weird years when we've been testing this, we've had a couple of years where we had a lot of sour rot and a couple of years where we had almost none. So it it hasn't been the best time to be testing this. But in the two years that we've had sour rot, it didn't seem to do very much in the way of reducing it to the point that you could justify spending, you know the time and effort to do it. The only other kind of sprays that we're looking at at this point are things like hydrogen peroxide and proxy acetic acid, then there's some there's some commercial products that are out there that contain one or both of those ingredients. And those are basically just antimicrobials I mean, they they burn whatever they touch. You know, same thing like when you get a cut on your arm, you put hydrogen peroxide on there it disinfects. So that's basically what we're doing for the microbes. And it works pretty well. The key always is coverage, because it has to hit it. As soon as that material hits, hits that grape hits a microbe, whatever, it starts to convert to water, basically those those materials, if you don't have good coverage, if you can't get the material to where the microbes are hanging out, it's not going to be terribly effective. And so that's the that's always the challenge with those kinds of things. But they they do work to the extent that they can reach.   Craig Macmillan  15:36  To some extent, yeah, and again, this is going to be another issue with cluster architecture. Obviously, this is terrifying. As I'm sure everybody in the state of New York and elsewhere, certainly not limited to New York, New York, as far as I know. Okay, now I've got it. It's getting started. Maybe I caught it early, maybe I didn't know what what can I do?   Hans C. Walter-Peterson  15:59  The standard treatment that we have at this point is that either when you get to that 13, 14 Brix number or you start to see it show up, and most growers will wait until they see it show up. The standard practice is basically to start this combination of an antimicrobial and an insecticide to kind of keep it under control and try to keep it from getting to that explosive stage. The challenge with that is that fruit flies under the right conditions. And if it's above 70 degrees or so they're generation time is every six to seven days.   Craig Macmillan  16:33  Oh, wow.   Hans C. Walter-Peterson  16:33  New generation of these things at their at their utmost or at their best. Essentially, we need to be spraying every seven, eight days to try to keep this under wraps. What we've found, and this is more good news, what we found is that we are identifying a lot of populations of fruit flies here in New York, not just in the Finger Lakes, but in some other areas that we've been testing to where their fruit flies have quickly developed resistance.   Craig Macmillan  16:59  That's how they do it, isn't it.   Hans C. Walter-Peterson  17:00  And so what we've seen is that basically the fruit flies have developed resistance to a couple of these materials. We've tested them on a couple of different pyrethroids, a couple of organophosphates, a couple of other materials and found pretty high levels of resistance in the lab, at least, when we've tested them. It has pointed out to us very quickly that this is not a problem that that chemistry alone can solve. All right, there we go. Okay, that's kind of leading us in the direction of maybe not necessarily replacing chemicals completely. It'd be nice if we could, but at least supplementing some of these other cultural and non chemical practices like the leaf pulling, I was mentioning earlier to try to reduce the need for those sprays, if, again, if not eliminate it all together.   Craig Macmillan  17:42  And so what kind of research projects do you have going right now on this topic?   Hans C. Walter-Peterson  17:44  We've got a few that we're that we're kind of looking at, again, kind of tackle this from a couple different directions, we're doing some a little bit more work on that leaf pulling aspect, we've done some work, my colleagues and some other people in around the country have looked at mechanical leaf removal at that pre bloom stage and found that it works pretty well as well. There are certainly hormonal sprays that can be used. We mentioned with like with table grapes, tuberculinic acid can be used to to kind of stretch the racus and give the berries more room basically. So it kind of reducing that cluster compactness. And one of the things that I'm particularly kind of interested in and excited about is the potential for UV light to play a role in this.   Craig Macmillan  18:25  I am curious about this UV light thing, I'm hearing more about it and I'm getting kind of excited.   Hans C. Walter-Peterson  18:31  UV light is basically just another sterilant that we use. So almost all of our wastewater treatment plants have UV light to sterilize the waters that's coming through the plant. So it does the same job that these hydrogen peroxide peroxy acetic acid materials do, but we don't have to worry as much about coverage. If we apply it right. One of the pathologists here, Dave Gadoury, has done a lot of work on using UV light to control different plant diseases in grapes, normally powdery mildew, which is very effective against, but one of the things that they found kind of along the way is that they were also reducing sour rot in this test plot that they were working in. And so if again, if you kind of think about it, you're if you use the right dosage and the right retention time and da, da, da, you're basically have an antibiotic material, but it's not a chemical. It's a physical one, I'm very interested in looking at the potential for UV light to not only control powdery mildew, which would be a lovely thing, which is, but also can we use it to minimize the sour rot incidents and those microbes that are causing it, as well. So we've got a small trial is kind of a proof of concept thing we've done last year, and now this year, if it works as well as it did last year, we're going to kind of try to expand that work a little bit further and try to see how do we incorporate that into a potential grower practice, you know, how, how often do you need to do it? What's the what's the light intensity? Do you have to do it a day or at night, which is one of the considerations you have to have. So There's a bunch of things that we still need to look at, to turn it to make it something that growers can be really rely on as a potential possible part of this solution. That UV thing is really kind of exciting to me. We also are a little further down the road, we're really trying to work on with some folks at Penn State and a couple of other places on developing a model based on climatic conditions that promote sow rot. So it just kind of can we predict when it's going to be coming, if we know that we're going to have five days of 80% humidity or whatever, there was actually just a really interesting study that's come out of Uruguay that I just heard about a couple of weeks ago at the GiESCO conference that was held here in Ithica, where they saw an impact on bunch rots, they were looking specifically at Botrytis, by having undervine cover crops, where they had those underground cover crops, they saw less Botrytis and less bunch rot than they did where they had like a weed free herbicide strip. So that's something I'd like to follow up on as well, I'd be curious about and then kind of the I won't even say sci fi because this stuff seems to come along so quickly. Now. We work with a couple of really wonderful pathologists and engineers here at Cornell, I was talking to a couple of them about this last year. And they said, I bet it'd be pretty easy to develop a sensor that we could stick out in the vineyard that could detect acetic acid far earlier than any nose could and just be like, Okay, here's your early warning. You know, it's kind of an early warning sensor, it's starting to develop, let's go find it and and try it, see if we can prophylactically take care of it early on. So there's just some some things that we're starting to bandy about as far as kind of further down the road. But I do think kind of the immediate thing that I would really like to are trying to put together is can we take the practices like UV light, loosening cluster architecture, changing cluster architecture in order to reduce that environment that's promoting sour rot? And then also try what can we do on the chemical end to reduce the need for those sprays?   Craig Macmillan  21:50  Right, right. So there's some stuff coming down the pike here, that's really good. That's really, really great. And thank you and everybody else who's working on this. How big of an economic impact is this for folks?   Hans C. Walter-Peterson  22:00  It can be one of the most significant economic diseases in grapes. In 2018, we had a particularly bad year here. And I know some growers who had to drop almost half their crop of Riesling on the ground before the harvesters came through. And so if you think about a three to four ton average crop, that's a few $1,000 an acre that you're losing. So I mean, no diseases are good. But I mean, that's a pretty profound one. And again, as I was saying earlier, the thing that's so hard about it is that you've already put almost all of your work and money into that crop all the way from pruning to spraying and all the handwork and everything. And then in a bad week, to all of a sudden, just as somebody called it go to snark my favorite descriptions of sour rot seems like the perfect word for it. It's just it's a really kind of a, obviously financially, but kind of almost as much emotionally devastating feeling.   Craig Macmillan  22:57  If there's one thing, message piece of advice. One thing that you would tell growers on this topic, what would it be?   Hans C. Walter-Peterson  23:05  I'd say probably the biggest and easiest thing you could do right now, to reduce sour rot is that early leaf pulling, we just know that cluster architecture, it makes a big difference in how much rot develops, you might still get some, but it won't be nearly as profound and prolific as it would be otherwise, we have just as a very quick example of it, we have a hybrid variety here called Vignoles we use in all of our sour rot studies, because if you just say the words and it gets sour Rot. Some work that's been done by some colleagues of mine, and some folks at USDA, they basically come up with, they've created two loose clustered clones of Vignoles and so those clusters, obviously, are much less compact than the kind of the standard one. And the amount of disease that is in those clusters is drastically lower than what's in kind of the standard, the standard clone of Vignoles. It's one of those things that just kind of is really illustrative when you see it and just kind of realize that, you know, again, you can still find a few berries here and there that'll have it but you just won't see this entire two panel stretch that's just kind of wiped out by it or whatever doing that that leaf pulling to kind of open up the clusters, I think is probably the right now the biggest thing you can do.   Craig Macmillan  24:19  Interesting. Well then we're running out of time. I want to thank our guest, Hans Walter-Peterson viticulture extension specialist at the Finger Lakes grape program, part of Cornell Cooperative Extension. fascinating conversation, keep up the good work. I think a lot of people are depending upon you.   Hans C. Walter-Peterson  24:38  We're doing what we can see. It's becoming a bigger and bigger problem with climate change around here. We know we've seen it increasing in recent years. So yeah, it's it's one we'd really like to get our hands around better.   Nearly Perfect Transcription by https://otter.ai

Welcome back to Analyze Scripts, where a psychiatrist and a therapist analyze what Hollywood gets right and wrong about mental health. Today, we are joined by triple board certified psychiatist Dr. Sulman Mirza AKA @thekicksshrink. We are blown away by the lasting impact of this movie from 1975 on the field of psychiatry and psychology. We discuss the sociopathy of Randle McMurphy and the iconic villain, Nurse Ratchet. We wrap it up with our frustration in the field, both in the past and present...like with lobotomies, ETC depictions, ODD diagnoses and more. We hope you enjoy! Instagram Tik Tok Website Dr. Katrina Furey MD: Hi, I'm Dr. Katrina Fieri, a psychiatrist. Portia Pendleton LCSW: And I'm Portia Pendleton, a licensed clinical social worker. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: And this is Analyze Scripts, a podcast where two shrinks analyze the depiction of mental health in movies and TV shows. Portia Pendleton LCSW: Our hope is that you learn some legit info about mental health while feeling like you're chatting with your girlfriends. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: There is so much misinformation out there and it drives us nuts. Portia Pendleton LCSW: And if someday we pay off our student loans or land a sponsorship, like. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: With a lay flat airline or a major beauty brand, even better. So sit back, relax, grab some popcorn and your DSM Five and enjoy. Welcome back to Analyze scripts. We are so excited you're joining us today for an episode about the classic, I guess I think in a Bad Way film, one Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. We're thrilled to be joined by Dr. Sulman Merza, who is a triple board certified psychiatrist with expertise in psychiatry, child and adolescent psychiatry, and addiction medicine. I would call that a triple threat. He completed his psychiatry residency at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. His Child and Adolescent Psychiatry Fellowship at the University of Maryland and Shepherd Pratt Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. He's had the privilege to work in a variety of settings, from inpatient psychiatric units with medical capabilities to the classrooms of Baltimore City Public schools. He's learned from some of the leaders and pioneers in the field of psychiatry, and his experiences have allowed him to develop a deep understanding of neuropsychiatric conditions in both children and adults. And he has a keen knack for the Internet, and you can find him at the Kick Shrink on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube. And I have to say, Sulan, I love your videos. I feel like they're very visually appealing. But also the content is so great. You really have a way of putting out a lot of really accurate, detailed information in a really entertaining, easy to digest way, and I think that is really hard to do. So I just want to give you some props for that. I don't know if we still say props, but I feel like I'm really impressed. We can still say that. No, I'm really honestly impressed. I feel like you have themes where you do medication. Saturday, I'm not going to remember all the names off the top of my head, but then there's like, historical lessons. There's a lot of good info about ADHD I've told you offline. I love your stuff about WWE. I think it's really great. So I hope everyone goes to check them out. Dr. Sulman Mirza MD: Yeah. Thank you both for having me on here. Really excited I came across you guys, I was like, oh, my God, I love the movies and entertainment and pop culture. And I was like, this is and I love kind of bringing psychiatry psychology into all of that because so much of that is present. So I was like, let's see if we can collaborate on something. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: Yeah. No, we're thrilled. Portia Pendleton LCSW: And we chose this movie and book. So the book came out in 1962 with the movie 1975. I had never seen this movie, but I had heard of it, which I think is part of our discussion with how powerful this was that kind of shaping people's views of psychiatry inpatient care and treatments. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: Right, right. I think it's so true. We were talking about with Dr. Jesse Gold in our most recent episode about season two of Yellow Jackets, which has another awful scene about ECT. Again, just how this film has permeated through our culture. Even if you haven't seen it, like, you're saying you haven't seen it, but you know of it, and it's like it's had this really long lasting, unfortunate impact, which is ironic because apparently it won a Bazillion. Academy Awards, made a lot of money, it was very well received, it won all these awards, and yet it was awful in terms of its portrayal of mental health care. Dr. Sulman Mirza MD: Yeah. The history of film, it's one of the few movies that has gotten has won the big five awards, right. Best picture, best director, best actor, best actress and then best adapted screenplay. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: Right. Dr. Sulman Mirza MD: In history. I think there's only this and I think maybe one or two other movies that have won all of those big five. And then I think when AFI American Film Institute does their top hundred films, or top hundred, whatever, this is always one of those top movies. I think Nurse Ratchet will talk about her in a bit. She's gone down as one of the top ten villains in film history of all time, right up there with Hannibal Lecter and another psychiatrist and Darth Vader. So it's like Darth Vader and Hannibal Ectos. You can see how powerful this is in our culture and our history. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: Yeah, that's so true. Portia Pendleton LCSW: And the name so right. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: Like, people say things are ratchet, like, oh, that's so ratchet. Portia Pendleton LCSW: And I was like, Is that from this? Dr. Katrina Furey MD: That's a great question. Portia Pendleton LCSW: I don't know, like, Nurse Ratchet or like, even again, like, not seeing the film. It's pretty old right. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: At this point. What's, 30 coming up in 50 years? Portia Pendleton LCSW: It's still impacting today in some very strange ways that I think people have no idea about. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: Yeah. Isn't that fascinating that it's had such a long lasting effect? Dr. Sulman Mirza MD: Yeah. So again, when I watched it the other day, I was like, man, first of all, I was like, this movie is like almost 50 years old, right. Seeing the cast members, I was like, oh, my God, this person is gone. This person is dead. This person is dead. And for a lot of these actors in there, some of them were like christopher Lloyd, I think, made his view in this movie. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: Yes. Dr. Sulman Mirza MD: Billy the character, Brad Durh, who played Billy Bibbitt, that was like his movie debut. You see a young Danny DeVito in there. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: I didn't even catch that until the end credits, I was like, oh my God, that was Danny DeVito. Dr. Sulman Mirza MD: That was Danny DeVito. Yeah. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: Was this Jack Nicholson's first movie or. Dr. Sulman Mirza MD: I'm imagining was I think he was pretty established by that time, but I think this was the one maybe he won his first award for and the one that really was like, oh, this guy is a superstar now. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: Yeah. Portia Pendleton LCSW: So first impressions? Dr. Katrina Furey MD: You said you were not pleased. Portia Pendleton LCSW: I mean, I don't think very much. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: You know, what's interesting is we just recorded and we'll have released an episode about Girl Interrupted, and then we're watching this one and I was like, oh, this is so fascinating because it's like similar time periods and they're both on inpatient hospital units. And I thought it just is interesting, the timing. Know, with Girl Interrupted, we really focus on borderline personality disorder and Winona Ryder's character, know, some antisocial personality disorder discussion with Angelina Jolie's character. And again, here we're finding the male view of antisocial personality disorder with Jack Nicholson's character, Randall McMurphy. So it was just interesting to sort of see again how they depicted an inpatient psychiatric unit, which I thought the environment was pretty accurate for those times. And still today it hasn't changed much. But I was struck immediately by, again, the nurses wearing their white clothes, which again, accurate for the time, not so much these days. All the orderlies I felt like were going to burst into a barbershop quartet song or serve me some ice cream with their little bow ties and stuff. But I feel like overall, when I rewatch this movie, it just makes me so sad to just see sort of how they portray the coercive nature of mental health treatment, especially ECT, the medication, so everything feels so punitive. That I think makes me really sad watching it as a psychiatrist and I don't think is accurate based on my experiences inpatient units. Dr. Sulman Mirza MD: Yeah, especially for today. Again, this was before my time. This is before I was born that this movie came out. No way to really tell what it was like, but it's this bizarre feeling of like, man, this is the image that has been there and permeated the culture of what this was. And I think when we were probably before enter our residency, and we're like, you get a little bit scared of going on the psychiatric floor for the first time as a med student, you're like, oh my God, what's it going to be like? Again, for those of us who have not been on an inpatient psychiatric floor, you're like, what is it going to be like? How are people going to be? Is it going to be like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest? And then you get in there and you're like, oh, wait, it's not like that. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: Right? Yeah. I thought even the patients on the unit, the way they were depicted, I just thought was very stigmatizing and inhumane. And inaccurate. It felt like I had a hard time figuring out what each of the people like, what their diagnoses were, and they just sort of came across as being I don't know, how would you describe them? Dr. Sulman Mirza MD: Some of them were caricatures, right? I think we had the one patient who had been lobotomized who was just kind of there as the quote unquote vegetable. And then you have the know, the one guy, older guy who's just kind of dancing the entire time. You have Mr. Harding, I think is the closeted homosexual. And then you have some know, Billy Bibbitt is like the Stutterer. So again, you have these kind of caricatures that show up in you know, it's like, is it good? Is it bad? And not always. I think something from the book that's always just kind of lost in people is I think, if I remember correctly, I read the book, like, in high school, and I quickly did like a Wikipedia before this, just to kind of refresh a little bit. Yeah. And I was like, the book is told from the point of view of Chief, right, who in the book is a paranoid schizophrenic. Right. You have all this other he's got these conspiracy theories and this kind of bizarre delusions of how the world is being run, which none of that comes. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: Across in Totally Lost. Dr. Sulman Mirza MD: Yeah, he's totally depicted as like, oh, he's just this quote unquote Indian, right, native American that can't talk. And it's one of the worst kind of things I think we've seen as psychiatrists or in the field is you get consults on people who are non English speaking and people are like, what's wrong with this person? They're not understanding what I'm saying. You know what? Again, it's just like, oh, you just didn't use the interpreter line. You didn't take the time to bother to find out how they communicate. But that was kind of the image in my mind. I was like, wow, this poor guy. Chief got thrown into the mental health or into the psychiatric unit because nobody could communicate with him. And that's what he's here for and he's just kind of gone along with it. There's no way to tell at all that he's schizophrenic in the movie at all. Right? Dr. Katrina Furey MD: Whereas I think in the book I also read it a long time ago, so I don't quite remember, but I believe there was a lot more dialogue about his paranoid thoughts, even if he wasn't saying them. You were getting that background, whereas even in the movie, you just see him sweeping a lot. Like, he doesn't seem especially paranoid. Dr. Sulman Mirza MD: No, not at all. Again, in the movie, he's depicted as like this, again, totally normal person who just ended up there for some reason because he's, quote, deaf and dumb. And again, nobody can communicate with him. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: And it's like, I don't think that's how you end up on a psychiatric unit. Dr. Sulman Mirza MD: Right. That's sometimes how you hopefully, again, you may get that random psych consult just because, again, some surgery resident will be like, I can't talk with the person. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: They must be bipolar. Dr. Sulman Mirza MD: Yeah, they must be a bipolar. Or they must be like something. Or they're just like, no, they just don't speak English. Which I think we all have our stories. Portia Pendleton LCSW: We saw that in Side Effects right at the beginning. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: So there's a gentleman who's brought into the Er who had attacked, they said, like a cab driver because he thought. Portia Pendleton LCSW: He had seen his father. And in that culture, there's a lot of ghosts and seeing relatives and elders. The psychiatrist in that movie, this is a good depiction, started speaking, I think, French or Creole and was able and then was able to understand what actually happened then was like, you don't need to keep him cuffed, so on and so forth. So that was a good depiction. Know what we didn't see here, maybe, right? Dr. Katrina Furey MD: Yeah. What were your first impressions, Sulman, about Jack Nicholson's character? Dr. Sulman Mirza MD: It's interesting because he's the main character. He's the hero of the film, per se. Right. The main protagonist of the film is this guy who's going to come onto the unit and rabble rouse and free all the patients who are there. And he has this idea that, again, these people are held there against their will, when actually he's the one who's being involuntarily committed. He's the one who's being held there. They have that moment in therapy where everyone was like, oh, I'm actually here because I want to be here. And it's kind of eye opening experience for him. And I think people kind of like in the beginning, or people will kind of forget that he's really a terrible person. Right? He's there because he's done these terrible crimes. He's a pedophile, for lack of a better term. He's committed statutory rape. And he's kind of reveled in the fact that he's being very graphic in describing the situation that occurred with this 15 year old girl. And you're just like, oh, wow, this guy is really a dirt bag. He's really not a good person. And he's committed all these crimes and he's lying to get out of prison so that he can be in, again, this vacation, quote unquote, that he thinks he's going to be on the mental health ward and he's going to dupe everybody. And you're like, wow, this guy is really antisocial. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: Right? Dr. Sulman Mirza MD: But then he's portrayed again, this charismatic person who's going to free all these people. So he's, again, not taking into consideration the impact of his actions and how Billy ends up not spoiler, but ends up completing suicide at the end of the movie. So by kind of accidents of what happened during the course of the film and that last night that they were there, right? Yeah. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: I mean, I thought this was a good depiction of antisocial personality disorder in terms of the fact that people with these traits can be very charismatic, right? Like, that's how Ted Bundy lured all his victims, right. And I thought also that initial scene between McMurphy and the psychiatrist, who again, was an older white man, I thought his office was pretty spot on for what a psychiatrist's office probably looks, know? But you even see, like, trying to weasel his way in by commenting on the photos yes. About the fish he won and all this stuff. And you just see his true lack of remorse or empathy right away when the psychiatrist says, well, you've been in jail for five assaults, and there's this rape charge. And just the provocative, uncomfortable way he talks about that whole thing, I think gives you all the info you need to say, like, I think you got antisocial personality disorder and you're malingering. I don't know what more they could have done for him. And yet they keep him there, and it's like they want to help. But do they? It's unclear. And I wonder at the time of. Portia Pendleton LCSW: The movie, too, now, I mean, how his description of the child that he was with was so gross that that stayed with me for the rest of the film. But I'm wondering, too, even at the times, I think, why he won. And part of the reason why the movie did so well is because you kind of go back and forth with hating him and liking him. He wants to free people from their oppressed system, nurse Ratchet. And I think it's kind of interesting. He's like this horrible person, but then you're like, I would imagine some people, even maybe more so in the 70s, are like, rooting for him to free the patient. And it's interesting. Dr. Sulman Mirza MD: Yeah, absolutely. He is portrayed like he is the protagonist of the film, right. He is the hero. He's like the guy that, again, you're rooting for him and at the end, again, not to go into spoiler territory, but when he gets lobotomized, you're like, oh, I feel bad for him, right, a little bit. But at the same time, again, you are rooting for him and you're going along for him during the whole movie. And yeah, it is problematic. Absolutely. And it's really interesting when you look at it from when the book was written and the author, Ken Kesey is his name, right. He goes, know, again, a lot of what he was doing was a lot about how the themes are like, you're supposed to be against society, against this oppressive society, and about being the individual and being a real man, quote, unquote. So, again, all the masculinity aspects that come up in this and how society has castrated the man of today, right. That's some of the themes that are in the book, in the movie. So that's there and Ken Kesey goes on to in his life become this proponent of psychelic drugs and how we have to use again these substances to find this other sense of reality individuality when it's like you're kind of talking about a psychiatric facility and medications and then you're like, but no, we're going to use LSD and we're going to use still all the hallucinogenics and psychedelics to reach this altered sense of being too. So it's double standard, double that comes out. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: Which interestingly, I think is still attention in the field today, right? Like I still think we encounter this a lot, people maybe who've had negative experiences with mental health care or haven't felt fully helped or fully heard or understood. And there is more and more research into psychedelics and the tools, how they can be helpful, but it's still a big gray zone and I think that tension is still felt even 50 years later. Dr. Sulman Mirza MD: Yeah, absolutely. Again, I'm very much keeping my ear to the field of this in my own clinical practice, like I do at my practice we do Spravata, which is the intranasal ketamine, and I've seen fantastic results from it. So it's really kind of been like, oh, there's something to this, right? There's some legitimacy to what this is. And I think as a field and as a society, we're absolutely robbed of decades of research, what could have been done when we criminalized all these substances. So I think there's some truth to it. But at the same time, just as many success stories we hear there's so many horror stories of things and just because everything is because everything is regulated so much, we're not able to, again, do proper research and get, again, really effective dosing the quality control that comes when you're buying illicit substances or black market substances, right? That's where the problems come. Because then you get people who are like, well, I'll just go do shrooms on the weekend and I'll be all good. Why do I need to microdose prozac? Right? I'll do this and so and then things, right? Dr. Katrina Furey MD: Exactly. So one thing I found myself wondering while watching this movie is that relationship dynamic between Mick Murphy and Nurse Ratchet is really central to the film. And at first I found Nurse Ratchet to be so comforting, like the way she spoke and the way she just looked at you and she seemed so gentle and so well put together. But as the film goes on, you see this more sadistic side to her. And first of all, I don't think the nurse runs the therapy sessions on a unit. Usually that's done by a trained therapist. So that was a really interesting, huge error in the film. But then also she had so much control and is really depicted as being a pretty sadistic person and using all these types of severe punishments like ECT and the lobotomies, even the medications in a manipulative, cruel way. And I found myself wondering, is that who she really is or did he pull this out of her with his own behaviors? Dr. Sulman Mirza MD: I think this was who she was, because I think we see it even in that first group therapy session where she's weaponizing these people, the patients kind of their insecurities. I think she's like one of those people who, again, has a little bit more therapeutic training than a typical nurse on the unit may have. But she's really weaponizing it against some of the kind of defense mechanisms, some of the what's it called? I can't even think of the word right now. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: But she's weaponizing their vulnerabilities. Dr. Sulman Mirza MD: Yeah, she's weaponizing their vulnerabilities against them. And again, it is this aspect, again, when we come to the and this was there from the first scene, from the first group therapy scene, you see it like she picks on I think it was Mr. Harding, and that's with his wife being your wife, why do you think your wife is cheating on you? And then they have the whole discussion, and then it's like, well, actually, I think this is the reason why, and this is what's happening, and cuts really deep to the core. And I think you see McMurphy picks up on that. He's kind of there as a passive bystander observer in the first group therapy session. He's like, let me kind of see what the situation is and let me see who the characters are and what everybody is. And then I think he picks up, they're like, oh, this person is evil, too, in her own way. And he's like, now we're going to kind of compete a little bit to see who's really running really going to run the unit. She's got the one who's got, again, the backing, the strength behind her as well. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: Right. It's almost like he's found his match. He could sense, like, they both share this sadistic side, and it just comes out in these different ways. And again, I think very gender normative type of ways, perhaps. But I think you're right from the beginning, nurse Ratchet can pick up those vulnerabilities in the patients and does use it to her advantage. And then that made me wonder, like, are these people really here voluntarily, or does she have this hold on? Dr. Sulman Mirza MD: Yeah, because I think there's that aspect, too, where, again, they all say, we could we can leave at any time, but they've been conditioned to feel like they're not ready to go. Right. Especially, again, Billy is one of the kind of the main characters, in a way, in that she's like, oh, me and your mom are old friends. What would she think, again? Which, again, leads to his fate, in a way. Well, directly to his fate. But again, it's the things that she does, again, grabbing onto these vulnerabilities and really kind of keeping all the patients where they're at. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: Right. Dr. Sulman Mirza MD: Not allowing them to progress. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: Right, exactly. Portia Pendleton LCSW: You see that in the group dynamic. It makes sense why, but she seemed to be kind of like, rationing everything up instead of kind of rationing everything up. That was not intentional, but afraid there. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: Yeah. Portia Pendleton LCSW: Instead of removing right. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: A group member. Portia Pendleton LCSW: I've run a good amount of groups. It's like, okay, if someone seems like they're getting dysregulated, sometimes it's like, okay, maybe go meet with this person and come back. Or let's try to de escalate the group. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: Like that scene with the cigarettes. Portia Pendleton LCSW: Yeah. And she's, like, continuing to dig at each one of them and kind of. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: Pit them against each other. Yeah. Portia Pendleton LCSW: And that was not what group therapy is at all. And I think, again, just another depiction of it being really out of control and unsafe and scary and chaotic versus trying. The point of group work right. Is to feel safe or feel like. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: Other people get it. Yeah. Learn not just from the group therapy leader, but also from each other in a healthy, safe way, and exactly. It was like that whole scene with the cigarettes where everything unravels. It's almost like she kind of knew what she was doing. And then, because they behave so crazy, now we can send these three troublemakers to get ECT. Dr. Sulman Mirza MD: Yeah. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: How do you feel about that depiction of ECT? Dr. Sulman Mirza MD: If nothing else, the lasting legacy of the movie is the depiction of what ECT is in the mental health field. Which at that time again, I don't know what it was like, but that movie was in the mid seventy s and it was placed in the 60s or the time was in the 60s. So sure that that was even outdated kind of experience of what act was. ECT, that we do now, or at least I haven't done act in ten ish years, I think back since my residency training. 910 years. Yeah. That it's. So different, right? ECT so different. All the research is the most effective, safest kind of treatment that we have out there. Are there people who are going to have issues with memory and headaches? Sure. But those are, again, very small. And when we compare that to the medications that we have, which we know our medications are dirty in a way. Right. There's a lot of side effects that come a lot of times when we're doing med check visits as, like, a psychiatrist or an outpatient or going forward, it's like, Are you having side effects? Are you having side effects? What side effects are you having? Right. That's the majority of kind of, like, our sessions. It's like, well, how do we manage these side effects? And then, by the way, are you feeling less depressed or less anxious or something like that, too? But let's deal with the side effects. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: First, especially for things like antipsychotics. Dr. Sulman Mirza MD: Yeah. Which are just like, again, very dirty medications. In a way. When we find a medication that has minimal, mild to minimal side effects, we're like, okay, we can deal with this. Right. We can work with this. Now, we've found the thing that worked for us, an act, for the most part, again, super clean. Right. People do really well. The memory loss, again, can it occur? Sure. It doesn't happen often. Not so much. Right. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: And usually isn't it for the memory loss that you experience? Isn't it for the time, like right around getting the treatment? It's not your whole life you forget or you can never lay down in a memory. Isn't it like just around the time you're getting the treatment? Dr. Sulman Mirza MD: That's the most common is, again, just the amnesia that occurs around the treatment. Of course. Are there people who have more severe memory loss or have other kind of injuries that occur? Sure. But again, those are the exceptions, more so than the rule. And again, not to minimize what they've gone through, but again, we always look at things as a risk benefit and a big picture kind of thing, right. But ECT works, right? It's got a greater success rate. It's again, super safe in pregnancy. It is the treatment of choice in pregnancy a lot of times, and then it can help for so many people, for things like catatonia, it is, again, the treatment of choice that works really well. So it's something that, again, when we try to recommend it to people, I'll have patients and I'm like, hey, I think we're at a point where we need to look at something like TT and they're like, one flu with Google's Nest. What are you talking about? Dr. Katrina Furey MD: Every time, almost every single time, it. Dr. Sulman Mirza MD: Becomes this Pavlovian response, almost, where people are like, one flu over Googleness? What are you talking about? Nothing's wrong with I'm not crazy, I don't need to do that. And you're like, no. And you have to kind of undo what this movie has done because you're like, it's totally different. It's a controlled environment. It's totally voluntary. You have an anesthesiologist, you have a psychiatrist. You're going to be going under really briefly. The seizure is controlled. You have a muscle relaxant or you have what's it called, the medications that are there so that the seizure is just localized just to your ankle. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: Sure. Dr. Sulman Mirza MD: And somebody's there with you. And it's a very comforting thing. Right. You're not going to experience anything and you'll feel better. Right? And they're like, no, I could never do that. They're going to make me bite on this thing, and I'm going to shake and I'm going to break my bones, and I'm going to forget everything, and I'm going to be like a vegetable when I come out. And it's like, no, please just erase that from your memory. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: I know. I wish we could erase that from our conscious memory. Portia Pendleton LCSW: And even just like him going in there and there's like ten people in there, right? Like all the orderlies are in there ready to kind of restrain him, hold him down. Yeah. So even just like seeing that walking in the room again now, it's very. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: Different, and he didn't know what was happening. I think that's what really jumped out at me the most this time is there was no informed consent. There was no explanation. It was like sending your yeah. In such a scare, like, they're just like, oh, we're going to put this conducted on your head, and we're here. Bite down on this. You could see how scared he was. And again, it's like, who wouldn't be, right? Who of us wouldn't be scared? If you walk into a room with all these people holding you down, of course you're going to freak out, but that is not how it's done at all. Dr. Sulman Mirza MD: No, at all. It was really striking, too, because, again, he's portrayed as this really bad tough guy, right? And then you see it in Jack Nicholson. Again, his performance is fantastic in the movie where he grounds the corner to see the door, to walk into the door, where this like, he catches himself, and you're like you see the terror come over him, and you're like, he has no idea what's happening. We know from the field and just from having watched the movie before, like, oh, this is what's going to happen. But he has no idea. There's no mention of this at all. So it's a total surprise. And again, all these people are there, and he's like, what is going to happen? So this extreme moment of vulnerability for this person who's been portrayed as this big, bravado, tough guy the whole movie, right? Dr. Katrina Furey MD: And I think the only clue he has is watching Cheswick get the treatment before him, right? You see them dragging him against his will to get it, and then he comes out like a vegetable on the stretcher. And then it's like, okay, you're up. And it's just so unfortunate. Again, I also haven't performed ECT myself since residency, but from what I remember, it can be an outpatient procedure, right? It's not something where you have to be institutionalized to get you come in, it's almost like having a day surgery get not even as invasive in a lot of ways. And again, I feel like that doesn't make sense to the average person to think like, you're stalking my brain. How is that not invasive? It is. I'm not saying it's not, but you come in, you talk about it, they sort of explain to you exactly what's going on in a very respectful way. There's a couple of people in the room. You have the psychiatrist, you have the anesthesiologist, you have a nurse. That might be it. Maybe there's a tech or someone like that. It doesn't take very long. They usually do unilateral. You pick one side first, and then as long as that works, you don't have to do bilateral, which means putting the things on both sides of your head that can lead to more side effects. So we try to avoid it. You're right that you have anesthesia and a paralytic so that your body basically stays still. You look for the twitch in the ankle. That's it. We're not thrashing you around, we're not holding you down. You're not biting your tongue. It's very quick, very mild. Portia Pendleton LCSW: And then I think it takes maybe. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: An hour or so, like in recovery, maybe a little longer, probably less, but I think you're observed for a period of time, but it's not that long. Then you go home and you do a couple of treatments. Portia Pendleton LCSW: Maybe at first you do two to. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: Three a week for a period of time to get you into remission from whether it's depression, psychosis. You're 100% right that this is such a good treatment for conditions in pregnancy because there's no risk of medication effects on the fetus. Right. And then as you start to feel better, you space out the treatments. And then some people might get maintenance ECT to keep up the effects. And that's it. And, I mean, I had an attending psychiatrist, which is like your teacher in residency always say it would really frustrate him when we were on the inpatient unit, that we would have to petition the courts to get something like ECT. When he's like, all of these antipsychotics we're giving people have so many side effects, like diabetes, tartar, dyskinesia, anesthesia, all of these things that are so hard to control, and yet it's so much easier to give people these medications and not ECT. And I really wonder how much of that comes from this movie how much of that comes from the long lasting negative effects of this film on our society at large? Dr. Sulman Mirza MD: Yeah, I would very much say that they're directly tied because, again, invariably, almost always gets brought up. And this is around the time of Deinstitution, the book and the movie, around that time where we ended the asylum system, for the most part. Right. And we have this massive decrease in the amount of people who are in mental health institutions or mental facilities, and where do they end up? They ended up in prison. Right, right. It's not like around the streets or anything like that. And a lot of those again, a lot of people who will end up, like, unhoused will end up in prison because it's a safe place. You get your three hots and a cotton and these things occur. And they get better care a lot of times. Or they get care yeah, right. At all. While they're in these facilities or in prisons as opposed to the facilities. Because everyone was like, oh, let's deinstitutionalize. And we'll put people into community resources. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: Then no one paid for the community resources. We forgot that part. Yeah. We forgot that part. Dr. Sulman Mirza MD: Yeah. So everyone was like, again, it was putting the carriage before the horse kind of deal, where it's like the resources weren't there. It would have been perfect if they were. And we put funding there and research, and we really put all the resources that were there. It could have been a great system, right. But it just couldn't it hasn't sustained it. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: Right. It hasn't panned out. And I think the film does bring up in a lot of ways, maybe not all of them in positive depictions, but about how do we treat vulnerable people in a humane way and what are examples of that going wrong, which I think this film has a lot of examples of it going wrong. And I think, unfortunately, that drive to deinstitutionalize, I like to think, came from a good place, and yet we forgot to invest in the community infrastructure to really make it effective. Right. I don't think anyone wants people to live their life on an inpatient unit, but for some subset of patients who are really having trouble functioning without that support, where do they end up? You're exactly right. That is where they end up. They end up unhoused. They end up in prison. That is our institution these days. And it's just so heartbreaking. Portia Pendleton LCSW: And we see that in group. Dr. Sulman Mirza MD: Just put a different name on that again, at least. Portia Pendleton LCSW: I don't know about Maryland or Virginia, but maybe like ten years ago now, there was a lot of group homes closed residential facilities in Connecticut, and a lot of those at the time I was working in residentials and they had kind of made their way still to institutions. But whether it was juvenile incarceration or substance use treatment facilities and again, I get the idea is, yeah, who wants to grow up in a group home? No one. That's not ideal at all. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: But also, what do we do with. Portia Pendleton LCSW: These teens and kids who have nowhere to go, right. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: And who need that support to a lot of times maintain your safety, not just from kind of like a psychiatric self harming perspective, but also from not being taken advantage of by other nefarious people out there, all the Mcmurphys of the world, who will all the Mcmurphys of the know. Dr. Sulman Mirza MD: I know. Portia Pendleton LCSW: So what we don't see kind of continue is lobotomies, right? So thank God they stopped around the 1950s. And I guess there was one the last one that was recorded in the United States was in 1967, and it actually ended up in the death of the patient who it was performed on. So that has not we've stopped that practice while ECT has become really safe, really effective, really studied, really specifically done. And I just thought that's kind of interesting that they're both shown in the movie a short period of time and kind of right. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: Like, at the very end, they don't ever say, like, oh, he got a lobotomy, or that's what happened. You just sort of make the assumption. And I do think as much as we are criticizing this film, it's also important. I'm sure you all agree that we not like us, we did this personally, but as a field, have to acknowledge there have been some bad things that. Portia Pendleton LCSW: Have happened, so we don't do this anymore. Dr. Sulman Mirza MD: Yeah, it's one of the things I know you'd referenced it before, but every Wednesday I do what's called like a WTF Wednesday right. Where it is kind of like looking back on history, some of the dark sides of the field, and not just the mental health field, but primarily the mental health field, to be like, this is what we did. This is the stuff that we did. Like, what the ****? Right? Sorry. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: That's okay. Dr. Sulman Mirza MD: I was like, what were the things that we were doing that was normal at the time? And a lot of it came from just the lack of understanding and just not knowing what we know. We go back and when I was talking about know, we did bloodletting and purging treatment, that was the father who's the I think he's on the seal as the APA, as the father of psychiatry. And he did this therapy where he would put people in chairs and spin the psychosis, the crazy out of them, quote unquote. Right. And I guess those are the things that we were doing. And then again, the shock therapy without anesthesia, that was, again, kind of like how it was depicted in one flu, the Cooper's Nest, without knowing that, hey, we can do this, but do it a lot safer. So very much a lot of ugly, ugly stuff that occurred in the history of psychiatry. And know, again, not even talking about, I think, Samuel Cartwright and some of the people who did a lot of the terrible stuff, like in the history of gynecology, so much stuff there's. Like, you can have a whole discussion on the terrible history of gynecology in. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: American Threat as well, 100%. And I think it is important as present day providers to keep all that history in mind and also keep that healthy degree of skepticism like in the stuff we do these days to think just to stay ethical and humane. And I think also looking back on all those practices, there unfortunately is a lot of racial discrepancies, socioeconomic discrepancies about which patients were getting these treatments or these experimental treatments or things against their will or even against their knowledge. And that's terrible, but we have to keep it in mind to hopefully turn the tides and keep working toward better, more equitable, more open types of treatment. Dr. Sulman Mirza MD: Yeah, again, when we really look at the racial history of it and again, we saw it kind of in the movie, but not so much all of the black individuals were the orderlies. There were no black patients that were there. I know Chief is again the Native American, but he's a patient as well. But everybody else was white, all the people in power. Yeah, the one white doctor there was, I think, like the Indian doctor and maybe there was some other doctor that was there when they had like, their rounds for that one, during that one scene of rounds and discussing stuff. But again, it's a lot of the white people, but we know that historically, or even not historically, but currently too, black individuals get diagnosed with schizophrenia four times higher than non or than white individuals. So that's something that and we know that these rates are not true. It's not like people are four times more likely to be no, it's just a lot of this goes into the biases that occur. We know that, again, non white kids get diagnosed with ADHD less than white kids. We know that, again, non white kids are having more odd, odd more conduct diagnoses than white kids. There's that aspect of, like, oh, this is just how they are. So, again, we don't look at trauma disorders as much in non white individuals. We're like, oh, this is just characteristically or character logically. This is who they are. And again, these are the biases that come out, and we see them. And a lot of, like, when I'm seeing patients, I end up undiagnosing so many of these diagnoses that are misplaced that I'm like, clearly this kid has trauma, right? Clearly this teenage girl has PTSD. She's not bipolar. Clearly, this kid has ADHD. They have a learning disorder that's never been recognized, right? Because somebody didn't take the time to really sit down with them and discuss them or see what's going on there 100%. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: Yeah. Portia Pendleton LCSW: And even we've seen you commented on one of Dr. Callie's videos on you know, I'm just thinking back, I guess, eight years ago, working at a teen male adolescent substance use unit, every single one of them had Odd, like, coming in. It was almost like a prerequisite to be on the unit. Like, you had a substance use disorder, sometimes a couple, and then you had Odd, and it's, like, literally just kind of reflecting back on it. I don't know, 99% of them I'll leave 1% just for room had trauma, like, significant trauma, whether it was chronic or just, like, singular traumas. And that really even eight years ago wasn't really addressed. So I think even now, I think we're doing a better job of just sharing information and kind of deconstruct some of it. And of course, there's always tons of room to grow and keep going. But I think even we've done a lot of work in the past couple of years. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: And I hope that as we keep trying to better understand our patients and the human condition at large, I think we're also starting to talk about that trauma. That different subsets of the population experience is directly tied to the experience of being, like, a black person in America today, for example, that, yeah, there's a lot of trauma that comes with that that you might not call PTSD, but it's there. And it's directly tied to politics, economic, like, all of it. And I think it can feel really overwhelming. And like, you get swallowed up to see that in clinical practice day in and day out. But it's so important to acknowledge rather than saying like, well, you're just oppositional or you're just psychotic or it's so much more complicated than yeah. Dr. Sulman Mirza MD: And to kind of give a story with know, I work in Loudoun County in Virginia, which is like the richest county in America. And our neighbor is Fairfax County, which is the second richest county in a certain the patients that we see are certain demographics, I guess you can say, right? Predominantly white. Vinya is predominantly white. There's a shift with it as it's become much more like technologically, a leader and we have a lot of it stuff. So then there's a changing demographic that's kind of there. But I'm always struck by this one patient counter. I'll try to hide details and things, but it was a little African American kiddo, and he had punched one of his peer at school, and he got in trouble for that. Right. And I was trying to see how do I tell this story a little differently? The question I asked is, when they come to me, I'm like, well, why'd you punch the kid? Right. What happened that led to this? Right? And he's like, well, he called me the N word, right? And then I'm like, well, I'm not mad at you. Right, right. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: So what is the right way to. Dr. Sulman Mirza MD: Handle that, to respond to this bully called him the N word and he punched him back, and then he's the kid who gets in trouble for it. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: Right. Did that kid come into the psych unit too? The other kid? Dr. Sulman Mirza MD: No, of course not. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: Of course not. Dr. Sulman Mirza MD: Right? Yeah. So it's like this is how we kind of weaponize racial identity and how our cultural background against people. It's like Kiddo had a perfectly totally normal response. Again, are we condoning violence? Dr. Katrina Furey MD: No. Dr. Sulman Mirza MD: But at the same time, do I understand why he punched the kid? Absolutely. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: Yeah. Right? Portia Pendleton LCSW: And now, though, he's reactive, he's dangerous, he's violent, he's aggressive. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: He's one of those kids. Dr. Sulman Mirza MD: He's one of those aggressive black kids. Right. Again, the narrative that's created that he's a troublemaker and a fighter and blah, blah, blah. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: Right. That's a really positive note to leave, to end on. But it's so true. I mean, I think it's heartbreaking, but I think if we just sort of keep our head in the sand and we don't acknowledge these whatever you want to call it, microaggressions, macroaggressions, racism, misogyny, trauma, poverty. If we don't acknowledge it, nothing will get better. Dr. Sulman Mirza MD: It's funny. I laugh when you said microaggressions because I just posted like a video recently I talked with Isra Nasser. She's a Pakistani immigrant, and she's become a very much a leader in mental health and the field of in it in the community. And she's a therapist, counselor and stuff. And I posted a clip about microaggressions that she had faced when she came over, immigrated from Saudi Arabia to over here or Canada and then over here. It's a common thing I joke about, like, oh, you speak English? Really? Again? Like, yeah, you're having the reaction that you understand that that's not a cool thing to say. And I posted on YouTube, and then I'm getting all these comments from people being like, again, white people who are being like, people are just being nice to you when they say that. How dare you have this victim mentality. And it's like, you understand you're proving the point by saying I know. Saying that these people are being nice to you by saying that you speak English really well and you are different and you are this and that, and if you have this victim mentality your whole life, this is how you're never going to get advanced in life. Portia Pendleton LCSW: It's still her fault. Dr. Sulman Mirza MD: Yeah, it's still her fault. I was like, you understand, you're just gaslighting, and you're continuing the microaggressions that are going on by telling people to just be okay with it. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: I know. What am I proving the point? Portia Pendleton LCSW: And it's like, nothing, maybe nothing. You don't need to comment on that. And I think people love commenting on everything, and I think we could do a better job of just keeping some. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: Thoughts in our head or just being a little more introspective and even just being able to say, like, oh, wow, I didn't know about microaggressions, or that was a microaggression, or how that landed for this person, given their experience. Maybe I should think about that and maybe reflect and maybe it's okay, I feel remorseful or embarrassed about it, and I could try to do a little better. Maybe I should listen to them. Maybe they are really like the authority on their own lived experience. Dr. Sulman Mirza MD: Exactly. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: Radical idea. Yeah, radical idea. Portia Pendleton LCSW: If you don't have the insight that's true. Open to thinking about things a different way, then, right? That's true. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: That's true. Anyway, well, this was great. Portia Pendleton LCSW: I mean, is there anything else we want to talk about with the movie or just, like the commentary on it? I think the big themes that I think we covered are, like, it's a lot different now in a lot of different ways. Are there still hospitals and units and therapists and psychiatrists who do a better job than others? Of course. Are there some people who maybe shouldn't be in the field? Of course. But I think it's just reminding yourself, even as a patient, like, you should have informed consent, it's okay to ask questions. You're allowed to say, what is this? I'm interested in something else, or can you talk me through this? Dr. Katrina Furey MD: What are my options? Portia Pendleton LCSW: If you're recommending prozac, it's okay to ask, well, what about Lexapro? Like, you're allowed to ask questions to, your know, ideally right. The gold standard of care would be that they're listening actively. Dr. Sulman Mirza MD: Yeah, I think kind of like, the takeaway I appreciate the movie the way I don't have this. I think you were saying, like, you have this this gut visceral reaction to the movie. I think it's necessary viewing for all I think it's necessary viewing, right, for a lot of people. If you're in the field, again, from the fact that you have to look at it from a lens of history and a lens of, like, this is what not to do, and this is how we don't do things anymore. This is how things may have been. Again, some of this stuff is absolutely dramatized for the sake of great storytelling, and it is a great movie if you look at it from the point of view of just a movie, somebody who's watching the movie, it's earned its accolades and its place in history. But from the mental health field, it's an important movie still, and it has a lasting impact 50 years later. And we have to know that our patients are aware of this. Our clients are aware of this. They know its history. They know what it is. They have a lot of misconceptions about the field because of this, right? So we have to know that going. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: Into it as a whole, 100%. And I'm curious we can cut this out if you don't want to talk about this, but you did mention watching this with your children, and I'm just curious what they thought. Dr. Sulman Mirza MD: Yeah, so I watched it with my eight year old son and my seven year old daughter because I was like, oh, they wanted to do movie night. It's summertime. And I was like, cool. I was like, oh, I have to watch this movie again because I have to talk about it. And they're like, oh, by the way, this was, like, what Baba does for his job, right? He's a psychiatrist. He's one of the people who and these are the people I work lot of it was interesting because they had a lot of questions about what's wrong with this person? What's wrong with the birth, and why are they dancing? What's like, to be like, well, teach them. I was like, well, some people are different. Some people have things that are going on in them that they may act or look or think a little bit differently. And I'm open in saying it. We have someone in our friend community who is like, quote unquote, level three autism. They have intellectual disability communication issues. He's a little bit older, and they play with him and everything like that. And I was like, oh, you know, this guy something's a little bit different with him. Not something's wrong with him, but something a little bit different. And I was like, oh, these are the people that Baba kind of works with a little bit and helps them out, hopefully helps them out. And they're like, oh, okay. And then again, there was a lot of questions. They're like, oh, Baba, they're using a lot of bad words. There's so many bad words in this one, being like, oh, why are they naked together? What's going on? I was like, Guys, close your eyes. Portia Pendleton LCSW: Once the girls come in, you're like. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: Oh, well, this is not what Baba does at work. Dr. Sulman Mirza MD: I was like, I forgot about this. Again, they're not going to obviously understand everything that was going on in there, and then they enjoyed it. Some stuff they're like, okay, but they're not going to be watching it again and telling their friends that they watched. Right. It's not Transformers or something like that. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: Didn'T necessarily grab their attention in the same way. Yeah, but I think that's also just. Portia Pendleton LCSW: Like, a great anecdote of changing language and how important and powerful language is of well, there's a lot of different people. That doesn't mean that they're bad or weird or strange or scary. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: Well, thank you so much for joining us today. Dr. Sulman Mirza MD: Absolutely. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: We hope you just had a blast revisiting this movie with your children, talking about it with us. Dr. Sulman Mirza MD: Well, thank you. I appreciate yeah. Again, that's the main thing is we have to and a lot of this kind of came from a conversation I had with Dr. Gold as well. Who Jesse? We all love Jesse. She's great. But when we go out, we publish things. If we work our whole life and we get something published in right. Or the New England Journal of Medicine, again, not everybody very rarely that these things occur. This is like the pinnacle of scientific, academic, medical kind of publishing. The layperson just read it. How many people are reading? Dr. Katrina Furey MD: Right, right, exactly. And if they try to read it no, I can't even understand half the time. Dr. Sulman Mirza MD: Yeah, I don't read this stuff half the time because I'm like, I have to really think about this and, like, statistics. I have to think. I have to use my brain reading this. But we know that, again, people are going to get their information from YouTube or they're going to get it from Twitter, they're going to get it from TikToks or they're going to get it from whatever. It's going to be Vogue magazine and Time magazine. So it's like, it's important for people who have legitimate voices and backgrounds to be in those worlds as well. So that versus the people who we know are misusing those to kind of push out BF. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: Yes. Right. Well, keep fighting the good fight. Keep buying your sneakers. I love to see them. Portia Pendleton LCSW: Well, and just to remind everyone who's listening, you can find Solman at the Kicks shrink Instagram. So it's Kick Shrink, as in, like, shoes, and then shrink on Instagram and TikTok and YouTube and find his content there. We certainly like it. So I think you will, too. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: Yeah. And thank you once again for joining us, and you can find us again at Analyze Scripts on Instagram. Analyze Scripts podcast on TikTok and threads and we will see you next Monday with another episode. Yeah, thanks. All right, bye. Dr. Sulman Mirza MD: Thanks for having me. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: This podcast and its contents are a copyright of analyzed scripts. All rights reserved. Any redistribution or reproduction of part or all of the contents in any form is prohibited. Unless you want to share it with. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: Your friends and rate review and subscribe, that's fine. Dr. Katrina Furey MD: All stories and characters discussed are fictional in nature. No identification with actual persons, living or deceased places, buildings or products is intended or should be inferred. This podcast is for entertainment purposes only. The podcast and its contents do not constitute professional mental health or medical advice. Listeners might consider consulting a mental health provider if they need assistance with any mental health problems or concerns. As always, please call 911 or go directly to your nearest emergency room for any psychiatric emergencies. Thanks for listening and see you next time.

Learning has become a superpower in the modern world we live in. But learning at a deep level is something that is extremely challenging. In this episode we explore the topic of Intentional Mastery and why it matters.Key topics covered in this episode:

“The casting couch is a euphemism for the practice of soliciting sexual favors from a job applicant in exchange for employment in the entertainment industry, primarily acting roles.[1][2] The practice is illegal in the United States. Predominantly male casting directors and film producers use the casting couch to extract sex from aspiring actors in Hollywood, Bollywood,[3][4] Broadway, and other segments of the industry.[9] The term casting couch originally referred to physical couches in the casting office, but is now a metonym for the phenomenon as a whole. Depictions of casting couch sexual encounters have also become a genre of pornography.” “It is used in reference to the supposed practice whereby people seeking parts in films or plays are expected to grant sexual favors to the casting director.” --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/antonio-myers4/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/antonio-myers4/support

Predominantly populated with Screeder call ins concerning levels of play, death of the OSR, and me campaign prep episodes. Many thousands of thanks to Pink Phantom, Jason, Rich, Mike and Joe Richter!! --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/jason-hobbs/support

Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) has been used extensively in clinical practice to treat patients with symptomatic knee osteoarthritis (OA). Leukocyte-poor PRP (LP-PRP) has been clinically preferred over leukocyte-rich PRP (LR-PRP); however, it is unclear which cytokine mediators of pain and inflammation are present in LR-PRP and LP-PRP from patients with mild to moderate knee OA in order to rationalize a specific formulation.   In conclusion, although numerous studies have demonstrated the excellent safety profile of PRP in treating patients with knee OA symptoms, a specific formulation has yet to be determined. Although challenging to conduct, clinical trials are needed that incorporate a mechanistic approach in all study arms in order to assess the effect of all components in PRP formulations (growth factor profile, leukocytes, RBCs, platelet dose) that not only are responsible for improving symptoms but also could contribute to disease-modifying effects. Our results expand on the current literature and demonstrate novel findings in that LR-PRP that was neutrophil-rich was predominantly anti-inflammatory compared with LP-PRP with reduced neutrophil concentration in patients with knee OA.   To read the article, click here.

On this episode, our host Jo, alongside Mariana from Brazil and Hayley from Jamaica, delve into their experiences as Black women living in predominantly white communities in the United States. In a heartfelt conversation, they explore the unique challenges they face and the resilience they embody. Through personal anecdotes and shared wisdom, these three remarkable women paint a vivid picture of the intricacies of navigating spaces that lack diversity. They shed light on the importance of community support, self-care, and embracing their heritage as sources of strength. As the conversation unfolds, our guests discuss the concept of "Black Joy" and its significance in their lives. They explore how finding joy in everyday moments, cultural traditions, and personal achievements is an act of resistance against the systemic challenges they encounter. By sharing their stories, Jo, Mariana, and Hayley inspire listeners to celebrate Black Joy and empower others to do the same. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/unapologetically-anxious-me-podcast/support

Exciting changes to the curriculum at the Medical College of Wisconsin. [Show Summary] Dr. Jane Machi, Assistant Dean, Admissions and Recruitment at the Medical College of Wisconsin, explores the MCW Fusion Curriculum – and completing med school in three years. Interview with Dr. Jane Machi, Associate Dean for Admissions at the Medical College of Wisconsin. [Show Notes] Welcome to the 511th episode of Admissions Straight Talk. Thanks for joining me today. Are you ready to apply to your dream medical schools? Are you competitive at your target programs? Accepted's Med School Admissions Quiz can give you a quick reality check. Just go to Accepted.com/medquiz. Complete the quiz and you'll not only get an assessment of your chances, but tips on how to improve your chances of acceptance. And it's all free. Again, use a calculator at Accepted.com/medquiz to obtain your free assessment and those tips that I just mentioned. Our guest today is Dr. Jane Machi, Associate Dean of Admissions and Recruitment at the Medical College of Wisconsin. Dr. Machi earned her MD at the Medical College of Wisconsin and is a proud alum, as you'll hear shortly.  In her clinical practice she specializes in pediatric emergency medicine, in addition to serving at MCW as an associate professor and associate dean of admissions.  Dr. Machi, welcome to Admissions Straight Talk. [1:43] Thank you. Can you give an overview of MCW's MD program focusing on its more distinctive elements? [1:53] Sure. The Medical College of Wisconsin has a campus in Milwaukee, and we have two regional campuses, one in Central Wisconsin in a city called Wausau, and then we have a campus in Green Bay. We're a private institution. Our Milwaukee campus has 50% of our students from Wisconsin and 50% are out of state. And then our regional campuses are really geared towards replenishing the physician shortage that everyone is facing. We're not unique in that regard, and the regional campuses were opened with the hopes that the students that we train there when they complete the residencies will return to Wisconsin. Predominantly, those campuses are geared towards Wisconsin residents, so close to 80% on each campus come from Wisconsin. I think one of the most unique things about our curriculum in particular, which our students rave about all the time, is our scholarly pathways. On the Milwaukee campus, they have opportunities to dive deep into a topic that they're really passionate about. Some examples are we have an urban and community health pathway. We have a global health pathway. We have a patient safety and quality improvement pathway. We have research pathways. The students can choose. They go through a series of orientations to each of the pathways, and they choose and they do a scholarly project typically in their first two years. And then on the regional campuses, they also participate in a scholarly pathway, but there is one, and that is the physician in the community pathway. I should say that our Milwaukee campus is a four-year campus, so our students spend four years with us. The regional campuses are three-year campuses, so you get out of medical school one year earlier. The target specialties for those campuses are really primary care and psychiatry oriented, and those are the types of students that we try and recruit. We know very well that students may change their mind once they get into medical school. They may find another field that they're more intrigued by and want to spend more time in. There is an option for them to do a fourth year if it's necessary, depending on the specialty that they've chosen. That's a little bit about MCW. Does the curriculum differ other than length at the three different locations? It sounds like Milwaukee has more breadth of offerings and the two regional ones are, as you say, focused on primary care, which I assume are family medicine, internal medicine, pediatrics. [4:24] And pediatrics.

Today's guest grew up, like so many of us, on the Standard American Diet. But after watching the seminal documentary, Forks Over Knives, Dr. Steven Lome charted a new course in his life, both personally and professionally, by adopting a vegan diet, losing 100 pounds, and spreading the message about the healing power of plants. Dr. Lome is a board certified cardiologist, the founder of the Plant Based Nutrition Movement, and a member of the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, where he fights to improve America's diet at a legislative level. And, you may have heard about him in the news recently for his heroics at the Monterey Bay Half Marathon.  We're super excited to have him here today to share his passion for plant-based eating, and discuss the benefits it has on cardiovascular health. “Maybe 20 percent of being healthy is exercise, but 80 percent of it is diet. Predominantly diet related. And I've been a cardiologist in practice for almost thirteen years now. I've seen at least a dozen or more ironman triathletes, marathon runners, elite cyclists, end up having significant heart disease, coronary artery disease, despite how much they exercise. If you're not focusing on eating a very healthy diet that keeps your cholesterol numbers low, protects your endothelium from damage and inflammation, it doesn't matter how much you exercise.” - Dr. Steven Lome What we discuss in this episode: How a plant-based diet transformed Dr. Lome's health. How to overcome the challenges of getting children to eat plant based. Saturated fats, LDLs and heart disease. The myths of olive oil consumption and health. How processed foods inflame and damage arteries. How to keep your endothelium healthy. His work with the Plant Based Nutrition Movement. How plant-based eating affects artery blockage. Resources: Steven's practice: Steven Lome | Monterey, CA Watching "Forks Over Knives" Changed This Doctor's Life—and Career PBNM: Steven Lome - Plant Based Nutrition Movement Instagram: Steve Lome (@stevenlome) • Instagram photos and videos Dairy-Free Swaps Guide: Easy Anti-Inflammatory Meals, Recipes, and Tips https://switch4good.org/dairy-free-swaps-guide SUPPORT SWITCH4GOOD https://switch4good.org/support-us/ ★☆★ JOIN OUR PRIVATE FACEBOOK GROUP ★☆★  https://www.facebook.com/groups/podcastchat ★☆★ SWITCH4GOOD WEBSITE ★☆★ https://switch4good.org/ ★☆★ ONLINE STORE ★☆★ https://shop.switch4good.org/shop/ ★☆★ FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM ★☆★ https://www.instagram.com/Switch4Good/ ★☆★ LIKE US ON FACEBOOK ★☆★ https://www.facebook.com/Switch4Good/ ★☆★ FOLLOW US ON TWITTER ★☆★ https://mobile.twitter.com/Switch4GoodNFT ★☆★ DOWNLOAD THE ABILLION APP ★☆★ https://app.abillion.com/users/switch4good  

This talk with the sound team behind director Sarah Polly's new film, Women Talking, was recorded on location at Formosa Studios in Toronto. The film offered some surprisingly difficult sound issues, including an incredibly tricky dialog clean up and edit. Predominantly in a single location, sound was left to tell the story outside those walls. Supervising Sound Editors Jane Tattersall & David McCallum as well as re-recording mixer Joe Morrow give us a deep dive on how this soundtrack came together. Show Notes: https://tonebenderspodcast.com/211---women-talking/ Podcast Homepage: https://tonebenderspodcast.com Tonebenders Host This Episode: Timothy Muirhead

John R. Lott Jr.—President of the Crime Prevention Research Center—joins The Rich Zeoli Show to discuss his recent editorial on Real Clear Politics, “The Crazy Right-Wing Shooter Myth.” Lott writes, “[i]f you only read the New York Times editorials, you'd believe that political violence in America is [exclusively] a ‘right-wing' problem.” However, if you closely examine the background of recent shooters, facts tell a very different story. For example, Lott documents that the Buffalo mass murder self-identified as an “eco-fascist national socialist” whose top priority was environmentalism.

The Noize is back! Season 8 kicks off with a bang because we have one of the best young artists in Atlanta, Tim Short. Tim has developed a distinct voice to go along with his amazing level of skill in painting. We recorded this episode as the artist talk for his solo show, “For Da Folks”, at the end of his Mint Leap Year residency. Tim talks about the process of making his paintings, how he imagines Blackness, making art that makes him happy, and getting a message across through art. We talk about his sci-fi leanings and where he sees his work going in the future. Listen, subscribe, and share!Episode 150 topics include:Mint Leap Year residencyconfidence in stylemastery in arthandling criticismdifferent approaches to creating a paintingimagining Blacknessbalancing the supernatural elements of his artTimothy Short was born and raised in Columbus, Georgia. He moved to Atlanta in order to attend Georgia State and pursue art in 2011. Predominantly as an oil painter, Timothy constructs imaginative narrative spaces always centering the Black figure. These stories are meant to venerate the everyday people close to him, often chosen as models for his work, using cosmological and celestial imagery. By detailing the subjects of the works in darker palettes, associations of lighter colors and spaces with inherent goodness or divinity are subverted and a metaphysical iconography is granted to the Blackness of these universes. Timothy's inspirations are Kerry James Marshall, Toyin Ojih Odutola, and Jordan Casteel amongst many other painters, a host of manga and comics, and great Black music.See More: www.timshortart.com + Tim Short IG @culturedstruggleFollow us:StudioNoizePodcast.comIG: @studionoizepodcastJamaal Barber: @JBarberStudioSupport the podcast www.patreon.com/studionoizepodcast

We had the pleasure of interviewing JOHNNYSWIM over Zoom video!JOHNNYSWIM, the acclaimed husband and wife singer-songwriter duo of Amanda Sudano-Ramirez and Abner Ramirez, release their fourth full-length album, JOHNNYSWIM. Predominantly produced by Abner, the album includes additional production from Grammy Award-winning producer and songwriter Malay (Frank Ocean, Sam Smith) and Harold Brown as well as a feature collaboration with acclaimed Houston-based artist Tobe Nwigwe on “Desmond's Song.” Created during the height of the pandemic, the self-titled album gives voice to life's ups and downs while Amanda and Abner translate their memories, moments and milestones into spirited anthems steeped in the singer/songwriter tradition. The new work marks a notable evolution for JOHNNYSWIM, pushing the pair to a new level as they shed light on relationships and the challenges that have emerged in a changing world. JOHNNYSWIM met in Nashville in 2005 and quickly started writing songs together. They clicked musically and personally, beginning a romantic relationship alongside their creative connection. The couple married in 2009 and relocated to Los Angeles where they currently reside with their three children. Throughout their career, the group has released three full-length albums, a Christmas EP and a live record, which have garnered over 500 million streams worldwide. Last year, the duo premiered the second season of their television series “The JOHNNYSWIM Show” on discovery+ as part of longtime friends Chip and Joanna Gaines' Magnolia Network. We want to hear from you! Please email Tera@BringinitBackwards.com. www.BringinitBackwards.com #podcast #interview #bringinbackpod #JOHNNYSWIM # #NewMusic #zoom Listen & Subscribe to BiB https://www.bringinitbackwards.com/follow/ Follow our podcast on Instagram and Twitter! https://www.facebook.com/groups/bringinbackpod

SUMMARY: Welcome to the first week of this 6-part series on Mental Compulsions.  This week is an introduction to mental compulsions.   Ove the next 6 weeks, we will hear from many of the leaders in our feild on how to manage mental compulsions using many different strategies and CBT techniques.  Next week, we will have Jon Hershfield to talk about how he using mindfulness to help with mental compulsions and mental rituals. In This Episode: What is a mental compulsion? Is there a different between a mental compulsion and mental rumination and mental rituals? What is a compulsion? Types of Mental Compulsions Links To Things I Talk About: How to reach Jon https://www.sheppardpratt.org/care-finder/ocd-anxiety-center/ ERP School: https://www.cbtschool.com/erp-school-lp Episode Sponsor: This episode of Your Anxiety Toolkit is brought to you by CBTschool.com. CBTschool.com is a psychoeducation platform that provides courses and other online resources for people with anxiety, OCD, and Body-Focused Repetitive Behaviors. Go to cbtschool.com to learn more. Spread the love! Everyone needs tools for anxiety... If you like Your Anxiety Toolkit Podcast, visit YOUR ANXIETY TOOLKIT PODCAST to subscribe free and you'll never miss an episode. And if you really like Your Anxiety Toolkit, I'd appreciate you telling a friend (maybe even two). EPISODE TRANSCRIPTION This is Your Anxiety Toolkit - Episode 282 and the first part of a six-part series that I am overwhelmed and honored to share with you – all on mental compulsions. I have wanted to provide a free resource on mental compulsions for years, and I don't know why, but I finally got enough energy under my wings and I pulled it off and I could not be more excited. Let me tell you why. This is a six-part series. The next six episodes will be dedicated to managing mental compulsions, mental rituals, mental rumination. I will be presenting today the first part of the training, which is what we call Mental Compulsions 101. It will talk to you about all the different types of mental compulsions, give you a little bit of starter training. And then from there, it gets exciting. We have the most incredible experts in the field, all bringing their own approach to the same topic, which is how do we manage mental compulsions? We don't talk about mental compulsions enough. Often, it's not addressed enough in treatment. It's usually very, very difficult to reduce or stop mental compulsion. I thought I would bring all of the leaders, not all of them, the ones I could get and the ones that I had the time to squeeze into this six-part series, the ones that I have found the most beneficial for my training and my education for me and my stuff. I asked very similar questions, all with the main goal of getting their specific way of managing it, their little take, their little nuance, fairy tale magic because they do work magic. These people are volunteering their time to provide this amazing resource. Welcome to number one of a six-part series on mental compulsions. I hope you get every amazing tool from it. I hope it changes your life. I hope you get out your journal and you write down everything that you think will help you and you put it together and you try it and you experiment with it and you practice and you practice because these amazing humans are so good and they bring such wisdom. I'm going to stop there because I don't want to go on too much. Of course, I will be starting. And then from there, every week for the next five weeks after this one, you will get a new take, a new set of tools, a new way of approaching it. Hopefully, it's enough to really get you moving in managing your mental compulsion so you can go and live the life that you deserve, so that you can go and do the things you want without fear and anxiety and mental compulsions taking over your time. Let's do this. I have not once been more excited, so let's do this together. It is a beautiful day to do hard things and so let's do it together. Welcome, everybody. Welcome to Mental Compulsions 101. This is where I set the scene and teach you everything you need to know to get you started on understanding mental compulsions, understanding what they are, different kinds, what to do, and then we're going to move over and let the experts talk about how they personally manage mental compulsions. But before they shared their amazing knowledge and wisdom, I wanted to make sure you all had a good understanding of what a mental compulsion is and really get to know your own mental compulsions so you can catch little, maybe nuanced ways that maybe you're doing mental compulsions. I'm going to do this in a slideshow format. If you're listening to this audio, there will be a video format that you can access as well here very soon. I will let you know about that. But for right now, let's go straight into the content. Who is Kimberley Quinlan? First of all, who am I? My name is Kimberley Quinlan. A lot of you know who I am already. If you don't, I am a marriage and family therapist in the State of California. I am an Australian, but I live in America and I am honored to say that I am an OCD and Anxiety Specialist. I treat all of the anxiety disorders. I also treat body-focused repetitive behaviors, and we specialize in eating disorders as well. The reason I tell you all that is you probably will find that many different disorders use mental compulsions as a part of their disorder. My hope is that you all feel equally as included in this series. Now, as well as a therapist, I'm also a mental health educator. I am the owner, the very proud owner of CBTSchool.com. It is an online platform where we offer free and paid resources, educational resources for people who have anxiety disorder orders or want to just improve their mental health. I am also the host of Your Anxiety Toolkit Podcast. You may be watching this in a video format, or you may actually be listening to this because it will also be released. All of this will be offered for free on Your Anxiety Toolkit Podcast as well. I wanted to just give you all of that information before we get started so that you know that you can trust me as we move forward. Here we go. What is a Mental Compulsion? First of all, what is a mental compulsion? Well, a mental compulsion is something that we do mentally. The word “compulsion” is something we do, but in this case, we're talking about not a physical behavior, but a mental behavior. We do it in effort to reduce or remove anxiety, uncertainty, some other form of discomfort, or maybe even disgust. It's a behavior, it's a response to a discomfort and you do that response in a way to remove or resist the discomfort that you're feeling. Now, we know that in obsessive-compulsive disorder, there are a lot of physical compulsions. A lot of us know these physical compulsions because they've been shown in Hollywood movies. Jumping over cracks, washing our hands, moving objects – these are very common physical compulsions – checking stoves, checking doors. Most people are very understanding and acknowledge that as being a part of OCD. But what's important to know is that a lot of people with OCD don't do those physical compulsions at all. In fact, 100% of their compulsions are done in their head mentally. Now, this is also very true for people with generalized anxiety. It's also very true for some people with health anxiety or an eating disorder, many disorders engage in mental compulsions. Mental Compulsion Vs Mental Ritual? For the sake of this series, we use the word “mental compulsion,” but you will hear me, as we have guests, you will hear me ask them, do you call them “mental compulsions”? Some people use the word “mental ritual.” Some people use the word “mental rumination.” There are different ways, but ultimately throughout this series, we're going to mostly consider them one and the same. But again, just briefly, a mental compulsion is something you do inside of your mind to reduce, remove, or resist anxiety, uncertainty, or some form of discomfort that you experience. Let's keep moving from here. What is a Compulsion Now, who does mental compulsions? I've probably answered that for you already. Lots of people do mental compulsions. Again, it ranges over a course of many different anxiety disorders and other disorders, including eating disorders. But again, generalized anxiety, social anxiety, phobias, health anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder. Some of the people with that mental disorder also engage in mental compulsions. Predominantly, we talk a lot about the practice of mental compulsions for people with obsessive-compulsive disorder. The thing to remember is it's more common than you think, and you're probably doing more of them than you guessed. I'm hoping that this 101 training will help you to be able to identify the compulsions you're doing so that when we go through this series, you have a really good grasp of where you could practice those skills. Now, often when people find out they're doing mental compulsions, they can be very hard on themselves and berate and criticize themselves for doing them. I really want to make this a judgment-free and punish-free zone where you're really gentle with yourself as you go through this series. It's very important that you don't use this information as a reason to beat yourself up even more. So let's make a deal. We're going to be as kind and non-judgmental as we can, as we move through this process. Compassion is always number one. Do we have a deal? Good. Types of Mental Compulsions Here is the big question: Are there different types of mental compulsions? Now, I'm going to proceed with caution here because there is no clear differentiation between the different compulsions. I did a bunch of research. I also wrote a book called The Self-Compassion Workbook For OCD. There is no specific way in which all of the psychological fields agree on what is different types of mental compulsions. There are some guidelines, but there's no one list. I want to proceed with caution first by letting you know this list that we use with our patients. Now, as you listen, you may have different names for them. Your therapist may use different terminology. That's all fine. It doesn't mean what you have done is wrong or what we are doing is wrong. To be honest with you, this would be a 17-hour training if I were to be as thorough as listing out every single one. For the sake of clarity and simplicity, I've put them into 10 different types of mental compulsions. If you have ones that aren't listed, that doesn't mean it's not a mental compulsion. I encourage you to just check in. If you have additional or you have a different name, that's totally okay. Totally okay. We're just using this again for the sake of clarity and simplicity. Here we go. 1. Mental Repeating The first mental compulsion that we want to look at is mental repeating. This is where you repeat or you make a list of individual items or categories. It can also involve words, numbers, or phrases. Often people will do this for two reasons or more, like I said, is they may repeat them for reassurance. They may be repeating to see whether they have relief. They may be repeating them to see if they feel okay. They may be repeating them to see if any additional obsessions arise, or they may be repeating them to unjinx something. Now, that's not a clinical term, so let's just put that out there. What I mean by this is some people will repeat things because they feel like the first time something happened, it was jinx. Like it will mean something bad will happen. It's been associated with something bad, so they repeat it to unjinx it. We'll talk more about neutralizing compulsions here in a second, but that's in regards to mental repeating. You may do it for a completely different reason. Don't worry too much as we go through this on why you do it. Just get your notepad out and your pencil out and just take note. Do I do any mental repeating compulsions? Not physical. Remember, we're just talking about mental in this series. 2. Mental Counting This is where you either count words, count letters, count numbers, or count objects. Again, you will not do this out loud. Well, sometimes you may do it out loud in addition to mental, but we're mostly talking about things you would do silently in your head. Again, you may do this for a multitude of reasons, but again, we want to just keep tabs. Am I doing any mental counting or mental counting rituals? 3. Neutralization Compulsions or Neutralizing Compulsions What we're talking about here is you're replacing an obsession with a different image or word. Let's say you are opening your computer. As you opened the computer, you had an intrusive thought that you didn't like. And so in effort to neutralize that thought, you would have the opposite thought. Let's say you had a thought, a number. Let's say you've had the number that you feel is a bad number. You may neutralize it by then repeating a positive number, a number that you like, or a safe number. Or you may do a behavior, you may see something being done and you have a negative thought. So then, you recall a different thought or a prayer, it could be also a prayer, to undo that bad feeling or thought or sensation. Now, when it comes to compulsive prayer, that could be done as a neutralization. In fact, I almost wanted to make prayer its own category, because a lot of people do engage in compulsive prayer, particularly those who have moral and scrupulous obsessions. Again, not to say that all prayer is a compulsion at all, but if you are finding that you're doing prayer to undo a bad thought or a bad feeling or a bad sensation or a bad urge – when I say bad, I mean unwanted – we would consider that a neutralization or a neutralizing compulsion. 4. Hypervigilance Compulsions Now again, this is the term we use in my practice. Remember here before we proceed that hypervigilance is an obsession, meaning it can be automatic, unwanted, intrusive, but it can also be a compulsive behavior. It could be both or it could be one. But when I talk about the term “hypervigilance compulsions,” this is also true for people with post-traumatic stress disorder, is it's a scanning of the environment. It's a scanning, like looking around. I always say with my clients, it's like this little set of eyes that go doot, doot, doot, doot really quick, and they're scanning for danger, scanning for potential fear or potential problems. They also do that when we're in a hypervigilance compulsion. We may do that with our thoughts. We're scanning thoughts or we're scanning sensations like, is this coming? What's happening? Where am I feeling things? You may be scanning and doing hypervigilance in regards to feeling like, am I having a good thought or a bad thought or a good feeling or a bad feeling? And then making meaning about that. You may actually also be hypervigilant about your reaction. If let's say you saw something that usually you would consider concerning and this time you didn't, you might become very hypervigilant. What does that mean? I need to make sure I always have this feeling because this feeling would mean I'm a good person or only good things will happen. The last one again is emotions, which emotions and feelings can sometimes go in together. Hypervigilant compulsion is something to keep an eye out. It could be simple as you just being hypervigilant, looking king around. Often this is true for people with driving obsessions or panic disorder. They're constantly looking for when the next anxiety attack is coming. 5. Mental Reassurance We can do physical reassurance, which is looking at Google, asking a friend like, are you sure nothing bad will happen? We can do physical, but we can also do mental reassurance, which is mentally checking to confirm an obsession is not or will not become a threat. This is true for basic like we already talked about and some checking and repeating behaviors. You may mentally stare at the doorknob to make sure it is locked. You may mentally check and check for reassurance once, twice, five times, ten times, or more. If the stove is off or that you are not having arousal is another one, or that you are not going to panic. You may be checking to get reassurance mentally that your fear is not going to happen. Again, some people's fear is fear itself. The fear of having a panic attack is very common as well. Again, we're looking for different ways that mentally we are on alert for potential danger or perceived danger. 6. Mental Review We've talked a lot about behaviors that we're doing in alert of anxiety. Mental review is reviewing and replaying past situations, figuring out the meaning of internal experiences, such as, what is the meaning of the thought I had? What is the meaning of the feeling I had? What is the meaning of that sensation? What does that mean? What is the meaning of an image that just showed up intrusively and repetitively in my mind? What is the meaning of an urge I have? This is very true for people with harm obsessions or sexual obsessions. When they feel an urge, they may review for hours, what did that mean? What does that mean about me? Why am I having those? And so the review piece can be very painful. All of these are very painful and take many, many hours, because not only are you reviewing the past, which can be hard because it's hard to get mental clarity of the past, but then you're also trying to figure out what does that mean about me or the world or the future. So, just things to think about. To be honest, mental review could cover all of the categories that we've covered, because it's all review in some way. But again, for the sake of clarity and simplicity, I've tried to break them up. You may want to break them up in different ways yourself. That is entirely okay. I just wanted to give you a little category here on its own. 7. Mental Catastrophization This is where you dissect and scrutinize past situations with potential catastrophic scenarios. Now, I made an error here because a lot of people do this about the future as well. But we'll talk about that here in a little bit. Mental catastrophization, if you have reviewed the past and you're going over all of the potential terrible situations. This is very true for people who review like, what did I say? Was that a silly thing to say? Was that a good thing to say? What would they think about me? Mental catastrophization is reviewing the past, but is also the future and reviewing every possible catastrophic scenario or opportunity that happened. Whether it happened or not, it doesn't really matter when it comes to mental compulsions. Usually, when someone does a mental compulsion, they're reviewing maybe's, the just in case it does happen, I better review it. 8. Mental Solving Very similar, again, which is anticipating future situations with or without potential what-if scenarios. Very similar to catastrophization compulsions. This is where you're looking into the future and going, “What if this happens? What if that happens? What if this happens? Well, what if that happens?” and going through multiple, sometimes dozens of scenarios of the worst-case scenarios on what may or may not happen. Again, it usually involves a lot of catastrophizing. But again, these are all safety behaviors. None of this means there's anything wrong with you or that you're bad or that you're not strong. Remember, our brain is just trying to survive. In the moment when we are doing these, our brain actually thinks it's coming up with solutions, but what we have to do, and all of the guests will talk about this, is recognize. Most of the time, the problem isn't actually happening. We're just having thoughts that it's happening. Again, this is reviewing thoughts of potential what-if scenarios. 9. Mental Self-Punishment I talk a lot about this in my book, The Self-Compassion Workbook For OCD. Mental self-punishment is a compulsion, a mental compulsion that is not talked about enough. One is criticizing, withholding pleasure, harshly disciplining yourself for your obsessions or even the compulsions that you've done. Often, we do this as a compulsion, meaning we think that if we punish ourselves, that will prevent us from having the obsession or the compulsion in the future. The fact here is beating yourself up actually doesn't reduce your chances of having thoughts and feelings and sensations and behaviors or urges. But that is why we do them. It's to catch when you are engaging in criticizing or withholding or punishing compulsions. 10. Mental Comparison Again, not a very common use of compulsions, but this is one I like to talk about a lot. Most of my patients with OCD and with anxiety will say that they know for certain that they compare more than their friends and family members who do not have anxiety disorders. I've put it here just so that you can catch when you are engaging in mental comparison, which is comparing your own life with other people's life, or comparing your own life with the idea that you thought you should have had for your life. So, an idea of how your life was supposed to be. This is a compulsive behavior because it's done again to reduce or remove a feeling or a sensation or a discomfort of anxiety or uncertainty you have around your current situation. It's really important to catch that as well because there's a lot of damage that can be done from comparing a lot with other people or from a fantasy that you had about the way your life should or shouldn't look. Again, we will talk about this in episodes, particularly with Jonathan Grayson. He talks a lot about this one. I just wanted to add that one in as well. They're the main top 10 mental compulsions. Again, I want to stress, these are not a conclusive list that is the be-all and end-all. A lot of clinicians may not agree and they may have different ways of conceptualizing them. That is entirely okay. I'm never going to pretend to be the knower of all things. That is just one way that we conceptualize it here at our center with our staff and our clients to help patients identify ways in which they're behaving mentally. Something to think about here, though, is you may find some of your compulsions are in more than one category. You might say, “Well, I do mental comparison, but it's also a self-punishment,” or “I do mental checking, but it's also a form of reassurance.” That's okay too. Don't worry too much about what section it should be under. Again, it's very fluid. We want you just to be able to document. It doesn't matter what category it is particularly. I really just wanted this 101 for you to do an inventory and see, “Oh, wow, maybe I'm doing more compulsions than I thought.” Because sometimes they're very habitual and we are doing them before we even know we're doing them. I just want to keep reminding you guys it's okay if it looks a little messy and it's okay if your list is a little different. The main question here as we conclude is: How do I stop? Well, the beauty is I have the honor of introducing to you some of the absolute, most amazing therapists and specialists in the planet. I fully wholeheartedly agree with that. While I wish I could have done 20 people, I picked six people who I felt would bring a different perspective, who have such amazing wisdom to share with you on how to manage mental compulsions. Now, why did I invite more than one person? Because I have learned as a clinician and as a human being, there is not one way to treat something. When I first started CBT School, I was under the assumption that there is only one way to do it and it's the right way or the wrong way. From there, I have really grown and matured into recognizing that what works for one person may not work for the next person. As we go through this series, I may be asking very, very similar questions to each person. You will be so amazed and in awe of the responses and how they bring about a small degree of nuance and a little flare of passion and some creativity of each person and bring in a different theme. I'm so honored to have these amazing human beings who are so kind to offer their time, to offer this series, and help you find what works for you. As you go through, I will continue reminding you, please keep asking yourself, would this work for me? Am I willing to try this? The truth is, all of them are doable for everybody, but you might find for your particular set of compulsions specific tools work better. So trial them, see what works, be gentle, experiment. Don't give up. It may require multiple tries to really find some little win. Please, just listen, enjoy, take as many notes as you can, because literally, the wisdom that is dropped here is mind-blowing. I've been treating OCD for over a decade and I actually stopped a few things after I learned this and went straight to my staff and said, “We have to make a new plan. Let's implement this. This is an amazing skill for our clients. Let's make sure we do it.” Even I, I'm a student of some of these amazing, amazing people. How do I stop? Stay tuned, listen, learn, take notes, and most importantly, put it into practice. Apply. That's where the real change happens. Now, before we finish, please do note this series should not replace professional healthcare. This or any product provided by CBT School should be used for education purposes only, so please take as much as you can. If you feel that you need more support, please reach out to a therapist in your area who can help you use these tools and maybe pick a part. Maybe there's a few things that you need additional help with, and that is okay. Thank you, guys. I am so excited to share this with you. Have a wonderful day.