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It's the season finale of A Prairie Dawn Companion, and Becca Petunia is wrapping up her look at the female Sesame Muppets of the 1970s. That's right: it's time to check back in on Betty Lou and Prairie Dawn in their late 70s book appearances. But also: What classic Sesame Street song is technically a feminist anthem? What can we expect to hear in Season 2 of this show? And wait a minute, shouldn't we have talked about Winnie Wiggins???Credits:Written, Hosted, and Edited by Becca PetuniaCharacter Art by Becca PetuniaPodcast Artwork by Joe HennesExecutive Producer: Joe HennesResearch Help: Tony Whitaker, Shane Keating, Scott HansonSpecial thanks to Muppet Wiki, Michal Richardson, Katilyn Miller, Eli Lee, and the whole ToughPigs team
This week we're joined by Tough Pigs writer, podcast host, and Sesame Street expert Becca Petunia to talk about more of Sesame Street anniversary specials. These fools LOVED celebrating their anniversaries with self-congratulatory specials! Thanksfully this time we've got Becca on to fill in the gaps and tell us all the stuff we don't know about Baby Natasha and Rodeo Rosie! If you need more Becca, check out A Prarie Dawn Companion on Tough Pig's podcast feed and Here Comes Tomorrow, a podcast exploring Grant Morrison's excellent X-men comics run! Check out http://kermitmentstuff.com/ to get your Kermitment merch! Kermitment has a Patreon! Running a podcast is deceptively expensive work, so by becoming our Patron, you help us cover those costs and allow us to do funner, cooler stuff in the future! Find out more here! Visit our website to find a link to the Kermitment Patreon and more fun stuff at http://Kermitment.com! If you can't get enough Kermitment, follow @Kermitment.com, where we'll tweet fun stuff and interact with our listeners! And you can follow each of us individually: Matt: @MatthewGaydos Sam: @im-sam-schultz
You're listening to Burnt Toast! Today, my guest is Emily Ladau, a disability rights activist, and author of Demystifying Disability. Our conversation today is about the many intersections between anti-fatness and ableism. This is such an important conversation, even if you feel like you're new to both of these worlds. We investigate who is considered a “worthy” disabled person or a Good Fatty — and how these stereotypes so often pit two marginalization experiences against each other. Today's episode is free but if you value this conversation, please consider supporting our work with a paid subscription. Burnt Toast is 100% reader- and listener-supported. We literally can't do this without you!PS. You can take 10 percent off Demystifying Disability, or any book we talk about on the podcast, if you order it from the Burnt Toast Bookshop, along with a copy of Fat Talk! (This also applies if you've previously bought Fat Talk from them. Just use the code FATTALK at checkout.)Episode 213 TranscriptEmilyI am a disability rights activist. I am a wheelchair user. I'm the author of a book called Demystifying Disability: What to Know, What to Say, and How to Be an Ally. It's a bit of a mouthful, but all of that is really just to say that I am very passionate about educating people about the disability experience, and doing it through a lens that recognizes that we're all at a different point on the journey of thinking about disability and talking about disability. I really want to welcome people into what I know can be a sometimes overwhelming and uncomfortable conversation.VirginiaYou have been a disability rights activist since you appeared on Sesame Street as a 10 year old. I saw the clip. It's just adorable, little baby Emily. I mean, first tell us about that if you want! Or if you're sick of talking about it, I get it. But I would also love to know: When did your disability rights work morph into fat liberation work? And how do you see these two spheres intersecting?EmilyOn the Sesame Street note, my family likes to joke that I am totally milking that, because it happened when I was 10. But that was the first moment that I really understood that disabled people do have a place in the media. Prior to that, I had not seen almost anyone who looked like me, with the exception of two books that I read over and over again. And one other little girl who was also on Sesame Street who used a wheelchair.VirginiaWow.EmilyAnd I'm sure maybe somewhere else out there, there were other things. But I was an early 90s kid, and the media had just not caught up to showing me that I belonged. So having that experience is something that I really don't take for granted.I like to joke that in many ways, I am the “typical” disabled person. If you look up a stock photo of someone with a disability, it's probably a white woman using a wheelchair. Oddly enough, she's probably also on a beach, holding her arms out. You know? VirginiaAs soon as you said it, I have a visual. I've seen that picture. Obviously, she's on a beach.EmilyYes, so I am sort of the cliche version. But at the same time, I'm not. Because there's sort of an “acceptable” disabled person, and she is the thin, pretty, white woman who is sitting in a wheelchair. I meet, I suppose, some of those traits, but I am someone who, in later years so far, has come to identify as fat and no longer sees that as the derogatory term that it was always leveraged towards me as.Any relationship that I have to fat liberation work has been sort of an evolutionary process for me. It's newer to me. I didn't understand when I was younger how that fit into disability rights work. But I see now that we can't have those conversations separately. First of all, every issue is a disability issue. So every issue impacts disabled people. And second of all, the disability community encompasses every identity, every body type, every experience. There are more than a billion disabled people around the world. So you absolutely have every single possible body type within the disability community. And if we are not talking about fat liberation, if we are not talking about LGBTQIA+ rights, if we are not talking about ensuring that our work is meaningfully intersectional, then it's not actually disability rights work.VirginiaBut it is tricky to figure out how all those things intersect and fit together for sure.EmilyI feel like I'm constantly playing a game of Tetris with that. And I don't mean that to say, oh, woe is me. But more so, how do we get society to recognize how those pieces interlock with one another?VirginiaDo you mind sharing a little bit about how anti-fatness shows up in your own experiences? Sometimes it's helpful to name those moments, because some people listening might think, oh, I've had that too, and I didn't know to name it as anti-fatness, or, oh, I've been on the wrong side of that. And it's helpful to hear why that was not helpful.EmilyThere is no clear direction to take this answer, because it's impacted me in two diametrically opposed ways.The first is that I have been judged incredibly harshly as being lazy, as being unhealthy, as being someone who maybe doesn't take care of myself in the way that I should. And the wheelchair is seen as the cause of that.On the flip side, I have also been treated as though disability is the only cause of anything going on in my body, and therefore I should be given a free pass if I am considered, as doctors would say, “overweight.”VirginiaIt's like, Oh, it's okay. You're in a wheelchair. What can we do? We can't expect you to go for a run.EmilyExactly. So you see what I mean. It's either one or the other. I'm either bad and lazy or it's like, oh, poor you. You can't get up and exercise.VirginiaBoth of those are such judgmental, patronizing ways to talk about you and your body.EmilyThey're super frustrating. I think that both of those are anti-fatness in their own right. But for me, it sends conflicting messages, because I'm trying to seek medical support for certain issues. And some doctors are like, “Lose weight!” And other doctors are like, “Well, we can't do anything because you're in a wheelchair.” And so both of those are very unhelpful responses.VirginiaOh man, it really speaks to the lack of intersectional care in medicine, that people don't know how to hold these two facts together and also give you comprehensive medical care at the same time.EmilyI wish that we could just have disabled people speaking with medical students as a requirement in every single medical school program. But instead, I feel like we're either completely relegated to the sidelines of conversations in medical school, or maybe we're brought up in very clinical and dehumanizing ways, and we don't stop to think holistically about a person.It's interesting, because my mom has often said—and I should note, she has the same disability that I do. So she's a wheelchair user as well. But she feels very strongly that a lot of other medical issues that I am dealing with now were overlooked when I was younger, because everybody was so hung up on my disability that nobody was offering me the support that I needed for other things that could have, in turn, prevented some of what I'm now navigating.So it seems like healthcare can't hold multiple truths at once.They can't think about your body and think about everything going on. It's either you're fat or you're disabled.VirginiaGod forbid you have a health condition that is not weight linked and not linked to your disability. That's going to throw them completely for a loop.EmilyYeah, it's very much a binary. I think that it's led to a lot of confusion among healthcare providers. Certainly, I know there have been delayed diagnoses on many, many things. I've also had it leveraged against me in terms of what I would consider chronic illness, because I would get sick pretty regularly when I was a child, and every time I would throw up, it would be thrown in my face: “Well you're eating poorly. You're not taking care of yourself.” And nobody thought to do anything to check what was actually going on. They just thought that I was not taking care of myself. Turns out I had gallstones and needed my gallbladder removed. But when people see the wheelchair, they don't take me seriously.VirginiaNo, and let's be clear: Gallstones is not a condition you can treat by eating salad. Like, that's not something you can nutrition your way out of.EmilyI could not lettuce my way out of that one.VirginiaAre there any strategies you've figured out that helps you get a doctor to cut through some of those biases, or cut through some of that noise and actually focus on what you need them to focus on?EmilyI have to rehearse what I want to say in a doctor's appointment. And I don't think I'm unique in that. I'm sure that there are plenty of people who put together their notes and think through very carefully what they want to say before they go. As much as doctors tend to be frustrated when the patient comes in and it's clear that they were reading WebMD, I've found I need to point them in the right direction, because at least it gets them started down the path that I'm hoping to explore.And I'm not saying that I think that I have years of medical school worth of expertise, but when I was little, I used to always complain to my parents, “You're not in my body. You don't know how I'm feeling.”VirginiaSo wise.EmilyAnd I think that that remains relevant. I'm not trying to be a difficult patient. But I have very strong awareness of what is happening internally and externally. And so if I come in and I seem like I have it together and I'm prepared, I feel like doctors take me more seriously. And I have a lot of privilege here, because I am a white woman. I communicate verbally. English is my first language. So in a lot of ways, I can prepare in this way. But I don't think I should have to, to get the medical care that I need.VirginiaDoctors should be meeting us where we are. We shouldn't be expected to do hours of homework in preparation in order to be treated with basic respect and dignity. And yet, it is helpful, I think, to hear okay, this labor can be beneficial, But it's a lot of extra labor, for sure.EmilyIt is, and I've broken up with doctors over it. And I've also had doctors who I think have broken up with me, for lack of a better way to put it.I have had multiple doctors who have just kind of said, “We don't know how to deal with you, therefore we are not going to deal with you.” And in seeking the care that I need, I have run into walls because of it, whether it's a literal, physical wall in the sense that I tried to seek care, because I was having GI distress. I tried to go see the doctor, and the doctor's office was not wheelchair accessible, and they told me it was my fault for not asking beforehand.VirginiaI'm sorry, what? They're a doctor's office.EmilyThe one place I actually thought I would be fine and not have to double check beforehand. So that's sort of the physical discrimination. And then getting into the office, I've had doctors who have said, “I'm sorry, I don't know how to help you.” Go see this specialist. I'm sorry, I don't know what I can do for you, and then not return my calls.VirginiaOh, I knew this conversation was going to make me mad, but it's really making me mad.EmilyAnd I say all of this is somebody, again, who has health insurance and access to transportation to get to and from doctors, and a general working knowledge of my own body and the healthcare system. But I mean, if it's this much of a nightmare for me, multiply that by other marginalized identities, and it's just absurd.VirginiaIt really is. You've kind of led us there already just in talking about these experiences, but I think there's also so much ableism embedded in how we talk about weight and health. And I thought we could unpack some of that a little bit. One that you put on my radar is all this fearmongering about how we all sit down too much, and sitting is killing us. And if you have a job that requires you to sit all day, it's taking years off your life. And yet, of course, people who use wheelchairs are sitting down. EmilyI think about this a lot, because I would say at least a few times a year some major publication releases an article that basically says we are sitting ourselves to death. And I saw one I know at least last year in the New York Times, if not this year,VirginiaNew York Times really loves this topic. They're just all over there with their standing desks, on little treadmills all day long.EmilyI actually decided to Google it before we chatted. I typed in, “New York Times, sitting is bad for you.” And just found rows of articles.EmilyThe first time that this ever really came up for me was all the way back in 2014, and I was kind of just starting out in the world of writing and putting myself out there in that way as an activist. And I came across an article that said that the more I sit, the closer I am to death, basically.It's really tough for me, because I'm sure there's a kernel of truth in the sense that if you are not moving your body, you are not taking care of your body in a way that works for you. But the idea that sitting is the devil is deeply ableist, because I need to sit. That does not mean that I cannot move around in my own way, and that does not mean that I cannot function in my own way, but it's just this idea that sitting is bad and sitting is wrong and sitting is lazy. Sitting is necessary.VirginiaSitting is just how a lot of us get things done every day, all day long.EmilyRight, exactly.VirginiaSure, there were benefits to lifestyles that involved people doing manual labor all day long and being more active. Also people died in terrible farming accidents. It's all part of that romanticization of previous generations as somehow healthier—which was objectively not true. EmilyYou make such a good point from a historical perspective. There's this idea that it's only if we're up and moving and training for a 5k that we're really being productive and giving ourselves over to the capitalist machine, but at the same time, doing that causes disability in its own way.VirginiaSure does. Sure does. I know at least two skinny runners in my local social circle dealing with the Achilles tendons ruptures. It takes a toll on your body.EmilyOr doing farm labor, as you were talking about. I mean, an agrarian society is great until you throw your back out. Then what happens?VirginiaThere are a lot of disabled folks living with the consequences of that labor. EmilyAnd I've internalized this messaging. I am not at all above any of this. I mean, I'm so in the thick of it, all the time, no matter how much work I read by fat liberation activists, no matter how much I try to ground myself in understanding that fatness does not equal badness and that sitting does not equal laziness, I am so trapped in the cycle of “I ate something that was highly caloric, and now I better do a seated chair workout video for my arm cycle.” And I say this because I'm not ashamed to admit it. I want people to understand that disabled people are like all other people. We have the same thoughts, the same feelings. We are impacted by diet culture.VirginiaGetting all the same messaging.EmilyWe are impacted by fat shaming. And I know that no matter what I would tell another person, I'm still working on it for myself.VirginiaWell, I always say: The great thing about fat liberation is you don't need to be done doing the work to show up here. We are all in a messy space with it, because it's it's hard to live in this world, in a body, period, And you have this added layer of dealing with the ableism that comes up. I mean, even in fat liberation spaces, which should be very body safe, we see ableism showing up a lot. And I'd love you to talk a little bit about how you see that manifesting.EmilyI think that this is a problem across pretty much every social justice movement. I just do Control F or Command F and type in the word “disability” on a website and see if it comes up in the mission statement, the vision, the values, what we care about, our issues. And so often it's not there and you have to go digging.And I don't say this to say that I think disability should be hierarchically more important than any other form of marginalization. I'm saying disability should be included among the list of marginalizations that we are focusing on, because it coexists with all other identities. And yet in a lot of fat liberation spaces, I still feel like I am not represented. I don't see myself. It's still a certain type of body, and that body is usually non-disabled or not disclosing that they have a non-apparent disability.I have a few people that I come across who I would say are in the fat liberation, fat activism spaces where they are also apparently disabled, and they are loud and they are proud about that. But for the most part, I still don't see myself. And I think that's where the ableism comes up, is that we are still celebrating only certain types of bodies. It's very interesting when you're in a space where the point is to celebrate all bodies, and yet all bodies are still not celebrated.VirginiaWell, and I want to dig into why that is, because I think it's something really problematic in how fat politics have developed in the last 10-20, years, As the Health at Every Size movement gathered steam and gathered a following, the message that was marketable, that was easy to center and get people interested and excited about, was you can be healthy at every size. And because we have such an ableist definition of what health is, that meant, let's show a fat person running. Let's show a fat person rock climbing. Let's show a fat ballerina. Let's show a fat weight lifter, and then you're automatically going to exclude so many people. So, so many people of other abilities.We had the folks from ASDAH on, who are the keepers of the Health at Every Size principles, and they've done a lot of work in recent years to start to shift this. They recognize that there was a real lack of centering disability, and I am really impressed with that. But in terms of the way the mainstream media talks about these concepts, certainly the way I talked about them in my own work for years, that mainstreaming of Health at Every Size was embedded with a lot of ableism.EmilyAnd I came to Health at Every Size pretty early on in my quest to lean into fatness and stop with the internalized body shame. But instead, I think it led to internalized ableism, because I then thought, well, if I'm not going to go climb Mount Everest, am I really living up to the principles of Health at Every Size?VirginiaThere was an expectation that we all had to be exceptional fat people. And that you had to be a mythbuster. And the reality is that fat people, just like any people, are not a monolith, and we don't all want to rock climb, and we can't all rock climb, and fatness can coexist with disability. It didn't make space for that.EmilyWe say the same thing about the disability community, And in the same way that there is the “good fat person,” there is the “good disabled person.” There's the disabled person who is seen as inspirational for overcoming hardship and overcoming obstacles. And I can't tell you how many times I have been patronized and infantilized and treated as though it's a miracle that I got out of bed in the morning. And I like to say to people, it's not inspiring that I got out of bed in the morning, unless you happen to know me well and know that I'm not a morning person, in which case, yes, it is very inspiring.VirginiaI am a hero today. Thank you for noticing.EmilyI mean, I say that as a joke, but it's true. There's nothing inspiring about the fact that I got out of bed in the morning, but in order to be performing at all times as the good disabled person, you have to show up in a certain way in the world. And I feel like that pressure is on me doubly, as a disabled fat person.Because not only do I have to be the good disabled person who is doing my own grocery shopping, but I need to be mindful about what it is that I'm grocery shopping for.I need to be eating the salad in front of people instead of something with a lot of cheese on it, right? So I feel like, no matter what I do when I'm in public, I'm putting on a performance, or at least I'm expected to. I've started to be able to work through that. Years of therapy and a healthy relationship. But for a very long time, if I wasn't the ideal disabled person and the ideal fat person in every way, then I was doing something wrong, rather than that society was wrong for putting that on me.VirginiaAnd it just feels like that's so much bound up in capitalism, in the way we equate someone's value with their productivity, with their ability to earn and produce and achieve. I haven't lived as a disabled person, but I have a kid with a disability, and in the years when we were navigating much more intensely her medical condition, I definitely felt the pressure to be the A+ medical mom, the mom of the disabled kid. There are a lot of expectations on that, too. I had to know the research better than any doctor in the room. I had to have all these strategies for her social emotional health. And I had to, of course, be managing the nutrition. And I can remember feeling like, when do I get to just exist? Like, when do we get to just exist as mother and daughter? When do I get to just be a person? Because there was so much piled on there. So I can only imagine lit being your whole life is another level.EmilyI feel like I'm always putting on a show for people. I always need to do my homework. I always need to be informed. And this manifested at such an early age because I internalized this idea that, yes, I'm physically disabled. I can't play sports. So I need to make academics into my sports, and I need to do everything I can to make sure I'm getting As and hundreds on every test. And that was my way of proving my worth.And then, well, I can't be a ballerina, but I can still participate in adaptive dance classes. And I try to get as close as I can to being the quote, unquote, normal kid. And let me say there's, there's nothing wrong with adaptive programs. There's nothing wrong with all of those opportunities. But I think that they're all rooted somewhat in this idea that all disabled children should be as close to normalcy as possible. Some arbitrary definition of it.VirginiaYes, and the definition of normal is again, so filtered through capitalism, productivity, achievement. We need different definitions. We need diversity. We need other ways of being and modeling. EmilyAbsolutely. And what it comes down to is your life is no less worth living because you're sitting down.VirginiaAmazing that you have to say that out loud, but thank you for saying it.EmilyI really wish somebody had said it to me. There's so much pressure on us at all times to be better, to be thinner, to make our bodies as acceptable as possible, in spite of our disabilities, if that makes sense.There are thin and beautiful and blonde, blue-eyed, gorgeous women with disabilities. And I'm not saying that that's my ideal. I'm just saying that's mainstream society's ideal. And that's the disabled woman who will get the role when the media is trying to be inclusive, who will land the cover of the magazine when a company is trying to be inclusive. But I don't feel like I'm part of that equation. And I'm not saying this to insult anybody's body, because everybody's body is valid the way that it is. But what I am saying is that I still don't feel like there's a place for me, no matter how much we talk about disability rights and justice, no matter how much we talk about fat liberation, no matter how much privilege I hold, I still feel like I am somehow wrong.VirginiaIt's so frustrating. And I'm sorry that that that has to be your experience, that that's what you're up against. It sucks.EmilyDo you ever feel like these are just therapy sessions instead of podcasts?VirginiaI mean. It's often therapy for me. So yes.Not to pivot to an even more uplifting topic, but I also wanted to talk about the MAHA of it all a little bit. Everything you're saying has always been true, and this is a particularly scary and vulnerable time to be disabled.We have a Secretary of Health who says something fatphobic and/or ableist every time he opens his mouth, we have vaccine access under siege. I could go on and on. By the time this episode airs, there will be 10 new things he's done that are terrifying. It's a lot right now. How are you doing with that?EmilyIt's really overwhelming, and I know I'm not alone in feeling that. And I'll say literally, two days ago, I went and got my covid booster and my flu vaccine, and I was so happy to get those shots in my arm. I am a big believer in vaccination. And I'm not trying to drum up all the controversy here,VirginiaThis is a pro-vaccine podcast, if anyone listening does not feel that way, I'm sorry, there are other places you can work that out. I want everyone to get their covid and flu shots.EmilyI give that caveat because in the disability community, there's this weird cross section of people who are anti-vaccine and think that it's a disability rights issue that they are anti-vaccine. So it's just a very messy, complicated space to be in. But I make no bones about the fact that I am very, very pro-vaccine.More broadly, it's a really interesting time to be disabled and to be a fat disabled person, because on the one hand, technically, if you're immunocompromised or more vulnerable, you probably have better vaccine access right now.VirginiaBecause you're still in the ever-narrowing category of people who are eligible.EmilySo somehow being disabled is working out in my favor a little bit at the moment, but at the same time, as I say that, RFK is also spreading immense amounts of incorrect information about disability, about fitness, about what bodies can and should be doing. And he's so hung up on finding the causes and then curing autism.VirginiaNobody asked him to do that.EmilyYeah. Like, no one. Or, actually, the problem is a few people said that they wanted it because people are very loud. Also, I saw that he reintroduced the Presidential physical fitness test.VirginiaLike I don't have enough reasons to be mad at this man. I was just like, what are you doing, sir?EmilySo on the one hand, he's sort of inadvertently still protecting disabled people, if you want to call it that, by providing access to vaccines. But mostly he's just making it a lot harder to survive as a disabled person.I am genuinely fearful for what is going to happen the longer he is at the helm of things and continues to dismantle basic access to health care. Because more people are going to become disabled. And I'm not saying that being disabled is a bad thing, but I am saying, if something is completely preventable, what are you doing?VirginiaRight? Right? Yes, if we lose herd immunity, we're going to have more people getting the things we vaccinate against.EmilyMany of the major players in the disability rights movement as it was budding in the 1960s and the 1970s were disabled because of polio. I am very glad that they existed. I am very, very glad that these people fought for our rights. I'm also very, very glad that there's a polio vaccine.VirginiaI guess this is a two part question. Number one, is there anything you want folks to be doing specifically in response to RFK? I mean, call your representatives. But if you have other ideas for advocacy, activism work you'd like to see people engaging in. And two, I'm curious for folks who want to be good disability allies: What do you want us doing more of?EmilyI am a big believer in focusing on things that feel attainable, and that doesn't mean don't call your reps, and that doesn't mean don't get out there and be loud. But sometimes starting where you are can make the most difference. And so if it feels really overwhelming and you're not gonna get up tomorrow and go to Washington, DC and join a protest, that's okay. If you don't feel like you have the capacity to pick up the phone and call your representatives tomorrow, that's okay, too. But if you can impact the perspective of one person in your life, I genuinely believe that has a ripple effect, and I think that we underestimate the power of that. Throw one stone in the ocean. All of those ripples create the wave. And so if you have somebody in your life who is being ableist in some way, whether it is through anti-vax sentiment, whether it is through the language that they use, whether it is through the assumptions that they make about people with disabilities, try to take the time to educate that person. You may not change the whole system. You may not even change that person's mind. But at least give them an opening to have a conversation, offer them the tools and the resources point them in the right direction. And I know that that's really hard and really exhausting, and that sometimes it feels like people are a lost cause, but I have been able to meet people where they are in that way. Where, if I show up with the research, if I show up with the resources, if I say I'm willing to meet you halfway here, I'm not demanding that you change all your views overnight, but will you at least give me a chance to have a conversation? That's genuinely meaningful. So that's my best advice. And I know that it's not going to change everything, but I'm still a believer in the power of conversation.VirginiaThat's really helpful, because I think we do avoid those conversations, but you're right. If you go in with the mindset of, I don't have to totally change this person on everything, but if I can move the needle just a little bit with them, that does something I think that feels a lot more doable and accessible.EmilyAnd I think it also is about honoring your own capacity. If you are a person who is marginalized in multiple ways, and you are tired of having those conversations, it is okay to set that weight down and let somebody else have the conversations.VirginiaThat is a good use of the able-bodied allies in your life. Put us to work tell us to do the thing because it shouldn't be on you all the time.EmilyAnd I'm more than happy to have these conversations and more than happy to educate but it's empowering when we can do it on our own terms, and we're not often given that opportunity, because we have to be activists and advocates for ourselves at every turn. And so sometimes when somebody else picks up that load, that means a lot.ButterEmilyI thought about this a lot.VirginiaEverybody does. It's a high pressure question.EmilyI am in the last stages of wedding planning. So my recommendation is more from a self care perspective. When you are in the throes of something incredibly chaotic, and when you are in the throes of navigating the entire world while also trying to plan something joyful—lean into that joy. My recommendation is to lean into your joy. I know I could recommend like a food or a TV show or something, but I think it's more about like, what is that thing that brings joy to you? I bought these adorable gluten-free pumpkin cookies that have little Jack O'Lantern faces on them. And I'm doing my re-watch of Gilmore Girls, which is a wildly problematic and fatphobic show, and ableist.VirginiaIt sure is. But it's such a good comfort watch too.EmilyIt's making me feel a little cozy right now. I think my recommendation is just lean into your joy. You don't need to solve all the world's problems. And I don't say that without complete and total awareness of everything going on in the world. I'm not setting that aside. But I'm also saying that if we don't take time to take off our activist hats and just be for a few moments, we will burn out and be much less useful to the movements that we're trying to contribute to.So I hope that is taken in the spirit with which it was given, which is not ignoring the world.VirginiaIt's clear you're not ignoring the world. But when you're doing a big, stressful thing, finding the joy in it is so great.Well, my Butter is a more specific, more tangible thing, but it's very much related to that, which is my 12 year old and I are getting really into doing our nails. And my Butter is bad nail art because I'm terrible at it, but it's giving me a lot of joy to, like, try to do little designs. I don't know if you can see on camera.EmilyI've been looking at your nails the whole time, and I love the color. It's my favorite color, but can you describe what's on it?VirginiaSo I've done like, little polka dots, like, so my thumb has all the polka dots in all different colors, and then every finger is like a different color of polka dots. I don't feel like the colors are translating on screen.EmilyAnd by the way, it's a bright teal nail polish.VirginiaIt's a minty green teal color. My 12 year old and I, we watch shows together in the evening after their younger sibling goes to bed. And we just like about once a week, she breaks out her Caboodle, which brings me great joy, as a former 80s and 90s girl, that has all her polishes in it, and we sit there and do our nails. And it's very low stakes. I work from home, it doesn't matter what my nails look like. Last night, I tried to do this thing where you put a star shaped sticker on, and then put the polish over it, and then peel off the sticker to have like a little star stencil. It was an utter fail, like I saw it on Instagram. It looked amazing. It looked like trash on my nails. But it's like, so fun to try something crafty that you can just be bad at and have fun with.EmilyOh, I love that for you. I really miss the days where I would wear like, bright, glittery eyeshadow and stick-on earrings.VirginiaIt is totally bringing me back to my stick on earring years. And I have all these friends who get beautiful nails done, like gels, or they have elaborate home systems. And I'm just, like, showing up to things with, like, a weird cat I painted on my nail that's like, half chipped off.EmilyI think that's the right vibe for the moment.VirginiaIt's super fun and a good bonding activity with tweens who don't always want to talk to their mom. So it's nice when we get there.EmilyYou're reminding me to go hug my mom.VirginiaPlease everyone, go hug your moms, especially if you were once 12 years old! Emily, this was wonderful. Thank you for taking the time to talk with us. Tell folks where we can find you and how we can be supporting your work.EmilyYeah. So I would say the best place to find me is Substack. My Substack is called Words I Wheel By or you can find me on Instagram. But most importantly, I just love connecting and being here to support people wherever they are on their journey. So I hope people will take me up on that.VirginiaThank you, and I always appreciate you in the Burnt Toast comments too. So thanks for being a part of the space with us.The Burnt Toast Podcast is produced and hosted by Virginia Sole-Smith (follow me on Instagram) and Corinne Fay, who runs @SellTradePlus, and Big Undies.The Burnt Toast logo is by Deanna Lowe.Our theme music is by Farideh.Tommy Harron is our audio engineer.Thanks for listening and for supporting anti-diet, body liberation journalism! This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit virginiasolesmith.substack.com/subscribe
Dick Maitland has worked on the sound for over 4,700 episodes of Sesame Street, starting with the show back in 1969. 50 years into the show's run, Steve "Major" Giammaria joined the show as re-recording mixer, and had to quickly get up to speed on all the iconic sounds found on Sesame Street. Together they walk us through the sonic history of one of the most important television programs of all time. Dick talks about performing live foley & sound effects on set during the early days of filming, the importance of signature sounds to make the puppets "real", and how much focus Jim Henson put on the sounds of Sesame Street. Listeners in the Mexico City area, mark you calendars for the Tonebenders Event there on Oct 21st. Full details coming soon! SPONSOR: Sound Ideas' highly anticipated Mid-Year Sale has been extended for a limited time, but there are only a few days left! Unlock 50% off, on thousands of premium recordings, from epic cinematic sounds to authentic ambiences, ideal for any creative project. This applies to all Sound Ideas proprietary libraries. With over 45 years of experience, Sound Ideas delivers audio trusted by professionals worldwide. Head over to https://www.sound-ideas.com/ to learn more. Episode Notes: https://tonebenderspodcast.com/328-sesame-street/ Podcast Homepage: https://tonebenderspodcast.com/ This episode is hosted by Timothy Muirhead
Pastors be wilding. Charlie Kirk thoughts. Dame Dash needs to grow up. TV is back! Follow us @FriendSinceCollege @Tres_Ninos_Brown @Ambishus_Delux @CJ_Quartlbaum
This episode of Chi O Conversations is brought to you by the letters X and O! Elmo's social media manager, Sister Christina Vittas, joins us on the podcast to discuss that viral “Just Checking In” post that sparked a national conversation around mental health and continues to build an incredible online community focused on our shared value of friendship! Plus! Learn valuable marketing tools of the trade and which Sesame Street friend is most likely to go Chi O!
The story behind the Russian Sesame Street.
For nearly 5 decades, Sonia Manzano played the part of Maria on Sesame Street. She was the first Latina on the show – it was a big step forward for Latinas on TV! In 2021, she launched her own show called Alma's Way. It's an animated kids series about Alma Rivera, a 6-year-old Puerto Rican girl living in the Bronx. This conversation was originally published in October of 2021.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
We're back for the fall TV season with the perfect cozy comedy that probably flew under your radar when it premiered last month on Netflix: Each episode of Long Story Short jumps back and forth through time to tell the many stories (both big and small) of one hilarious and relatable Jewish American family. We'll share some favorite jokes and why we can't get enough of this fresh adult animation from the creator of another modern animated classic, Bojack Horseman. Plus we're taking inspiration from the show and diving into our own streaming history with updates on news stories spanning the Streamageddon archives (because everything old is new again in streaming): Is the new season of South Park piloting an anti-binge model for Paramount+? Sesame Street finds a new address (or two) after being kicked to the curb by HBO Max. Speaking of HBO: They're rebranding their cable channels and Chris would like some credit for predicting these names, okay? Remember Netflix House? No? That's okay, neither did we. RIP Hulu but also LONG LIVE HULU (don't worry, we'll explain). Plus the latest Jimmy Fallon project you've never heard of, casting news in one the longest-gestating streaming projects we've been following, and a peek behind the Marvel curtain with Kumail Nanjiani. Note: This episode was recorded before Disney suspended (and then re-instated) Jimmy Kimmel. ———
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This week on Friends Like Us, host Marina Franklin talks with Memo Salazar and Lorre Fisher. We dive into the new, reimagined Hamilton! Discover the untold stories and truths behind the legendary figure through a powerful hip-hop lens. Tune in for insightful discussions and revolutionary perspectives! Lorre Fisher is a Jamaican-born NY resident. She is an aspiring creative and community builder. She is excited to play the role of James Madison in this production. She was a part of the October 2022 cast of A Sketch of New York as well as a cast member in a local production of The Vagina Monologues in 2019. As an admitted attorney, she seeks ways to integrate her love of art with her penchant for human rights and liberation. Memo Salazar is a Mexican-born DGA director, writer, and activist… and a longtime resident of Queens, New York. As a director, his work ranges from Public Enemy music videos to Elmo tackling homelessness on Sesame Street. He has collaborated with theoretical physicist Brian Greene on a Ted Talk, won 3 Emmy awards, and produced an animated series for Rohingya refugee children exiled from their home country of Burma. As an activist, he is a recipient of Arena's Five Borough Future fellowship and the 2019 Queens Latinx leadership award for his community work. He is also the current co-chair of Western Queens CLT, which brings truly affordable housing and community-owned land to New York City.. Tickets to see Hamilton Oct. 22nd Always hosted by Marina Franklin - One Hour Comedy Special: Single Black Female ( Amazon Prime, CW Network), TBS's The Last O.G, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, Hysterical on FX, The Movie Trainwreck, Louie Season V, The Jim Gaffigan Show, Conan O'Brien, Stephen Colbert, HBO's Crashing, and The Breaks with Michelle Wolf. Writer for HBO's 'Divorce' and the new Tracy Morgan show on Paramount Plus: 'Crutch'.
Steve Burns is best known for being the host of a beloved 90s children’s show, Blue’s Clues, so I didn’t expect this interview to be about Samuel Beckett. But it turns out that Steve and I share a deep admiration for the writer, as well as a lot of other common ground. Steve went quiet for about two decades after rumors of his death took over the internet, and now he’s back with a podcast (Alive, which just dropped September 17). The two of us talk about listening, what people didn’t appreciate about Pee-wee Herman, and the deep, lasting importance of Sesame Street. Steve has a lot of perspective, having stood both at the center and on the outside of important, formative media that influenced so many adults today. This is a conversation about the past, for the future. Get 50% Off Monarch Money, the all-in-one financial tool at www.monarchmoney.com/FAILBETTER. Fail Better is now on YouTube! Watch this episode here. Follow me on Instagram at @davidduchovny. Find more video podcasts on our YouTube channel. Stay up to date with Lemonada on X, Facebook and Instagram at @LemonadaMedia. Joining Lemonada Premium is a great way to support our shows and get bonus content. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. For a list of current sponsors and discount codes for this and every other Lemonada show, go to lemonadamedia.com/sponsors.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Number One New York Times bestselling author Robert Edsel is the author of “The Greatest Treasure Hunt in History: The Story of the Monuments Men.” The book served as the basis for Academy Award winner George Clooney's 2014 film, which stars an ensemble cast including himself, Matt Damon, and Bill Murray. Edsel, whose father served as a Marine during World War II, is one of the world's foremost advocates for art preservation and the recovery of cultural treasures missing since World War II. The Monuments Men and Women were the soldier-scholars who helped save many of the world's great art and cultural treasures from the destruction of war and theft by the Nazis. Other topics in this episode include a wounded Navy veteran's “Alive Day,” how Sesame Street characters are giving back to the military community and more.Learn more about Robert EdselBuy "Remember Us" on AmazonJoin the USA 250 ChallengeWatch Robert Edsel at the 2025 American Legion National ConventionPoem: The Young Dead Soldiers Do Not SpeakNetherlands American Cemetery in MargratenThe Forever Promise ProjectArmy Monuments Officer TrainingAmerican Legion Oratorical ContestSesame Street helps military kids build healthy habits Sesame Street: Fun Recipes with Cookie Monster!
Joseph. Daniel. Noah. Moses. Even Jesus himself! Many of us learned of these heroes of the faith as cute, cartoonish characters—sort of a biblical Sesame Street. But few of us really learned the broader arc of the Bible's stories, and without this, we will struggle to apply these mysterious ancient texts to our modern lives. Speaker: Pastor Scott Austin Part of the series “Sunday School 2.0”
For Pete's Sake 09.20.25 - Three of the Most Important Stories of the Week
In 1973, Sesame Street introduced a new Muppet character named Tina. In 1974, Sesame Street introduced a second new Muppet character named Tina. In this episode, Becca and guest Drake Lucas talk about both Roosevelt Franklin's friend Smart Tina and the sometimes-smart Tina Twiddlebug, in an episode that is less confusing than it sounds. While neither of these characters became all-stars, they're a key part of the show's history and tell us a lot about how society views girls' intelligence. Grab your postage stamp pictures and get smart with us!Credits:Written, Hosted, and Edited by Becca PetuniaGuest: Drake LucasCharacter Art by Becca PetuniaPodcast Artwork by Joe HennesExecutive Producer: Joe HennesResearch Help: Tony Whitaker, Shane Keating, Scott HansonSpecial thanks to Muppet Wiki, Michal Richardson, Katilyn Miller, Eli Lee, and the whole ToughPigs team
In this episode of The Nonprofit SnapCast, host Mickey Desai visits with Fish Stark, Executive Director of the American Humanist Association (AHA). Fish shares his journey into humanism, his vision for the movement, and the role nonprofits play in safeguarding democracy, empathy, and human dignity in a rapidly shifting cultural and political landscape. They discuss what humanism means today, the threats posed by rising authoritarianism, the importance of protecting religious freedom, and how nonprofits can step into advocacy without overstepping legal boundaries. Fish also emphasizes the vital role of empathy in civic life and why fostering meaning, purpose, and community is essential for both individuals and the nonprofit sector. Key Takeaways What Humanism Is: Humanism centers on inherent human worth, potential, and responsibility—valuing progress over tradition and people over dogma. Shifts in the Political Landscape: Stark reflects on entering his role before the 2024 election, expecting one trajectory, and now leading the AHA in defending pluralism and constitutional freedoms in a far more hostile climate. Nonprofits Under Pressure: From skepticism about NGOs to open attacks on institutions like Sesame Street, Fish explains why nonprofits must resist narratives designed to erode trust in community-based institutions. The “War on Empathy”: Efforts to discredit empathy as weakness are not supported by research. In fact, empathy strengthens resilience, emotional regulation, and pro-social behavior—qualities vital for healthy societies. Advocacy Within the Law: Nonprofits can (and should) speak out against harmful policies. While 501(c)(3) organizations cannot endorse candidates, they have the right to criticize government actions and advocate for their missions. Seeds of Change: Cultural shifts don't happen overnight. Planting seeds—through storytelling, conversations, and creating community—builds the long-term foundation for transformation. Meaning & Leadership in Nonprofits: Stark urges nonprofit leaders to focus on helping people connect their work, giving, and participation to a deeper sense of purpose, especially in a world where loneliness and disconnection fuel extremism. We welcome support of the Nonprofit SnapCast via Patreon. We welcome your questions and feedback via The Nonprofit SnapCast website. Learn more about Nonprofit Snapshot's consulting services.
Craig Thomas is best known for his work on TV. He co-created the sitcom “How I Met Your Mother” and has written for “American Dad” and more. He's penned songs for “Sesame Street” and essays for “The New Yorker.” He's less known for being a dad. For now, at least. He has a daughter, Celia, and a son, Elliot, who was born with Jacobsen syndrome, a genetic condition causing physical and developmental disabilities. When Elliot was born, Craig's career was taking off with “How I Met Your Mother.” “I was living an hour drama show at home and then driving to work and doing a sitcom,” Craig says. His upcoming novel, “That's Not How It Happened,” is based in part on his family's experience.If you heard our series on the resurgence of the R-word, you'll recognize Craig's voice. The conversation with him was so good that we're sharing more!For more on this topicPreorder Craig's novelCheck out Craig's podcastHear Craig on our R-word episodes, part 1 and part 2Timestamps(02:20) Craig's backstory and current work(09:45) How Craig relates to the disability community(13:10) Disability and media depictions (29:04) Comedy, the R-word, and why language matters(39:10) On parenting a child with disabilitiesFor a transcript and more resources, visit the Hyperfocus page on Understood.org. We love hearing from our listeners! Email us at hyperfocus@understood.org. Explore Through My Eyes today. Step into the world of three kids with ADHD, dyslexia, and dyscalculia — helping you see differently so you can act differently.Understood.org is a nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering people with learning and thinking differences, like ADHD and dyslexia. If you want to help us continue this work, donate at understood.org/give Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Join Chad Hyams and Bob Stewart on the Win Make Give podcast as they set the stage for an enlightening series about transforming mindset shifts across wealth, energy, leadership, and discipline. Discover the keys to evolving from scarcity to abundance and beyond. With engaging banter touching on childhood favorites like Sesame Street and the Muppets, this episode teases a journey from busy to intentional living, unlocking collaboration, and focusing on process over outcome for lasting change. Perfect for anyone eager for a practical guide to impactful personal growth and success. ---------- Connect with the hosts: • Ben Kinney: https://www.BenKinney.com/ • Bob Stewart: https://www.linkedin.com/in/activebob • Chad Hyams: https://ChadHyams.com/ • Book one of our co-hosts for your next event: https://WinMakeGive.com/speakers/ More ways to connect: • Join our Facebook group at www.facebook.com/groups/winmakegive • Sign up for our weekly newsletter: https://WinMakeGive.com/sign-up • Explore the Win Make Give Podcast Network: https://WinMakeGive.com/ Part of the Win Make Give Podcast Network
Guess who is trying to say video games cause violence, guess what video game Amazon is adapting for a TV series next, and guess what movie is bringing Michael Caine out of retirement.Get a Lightsaber guaranteed better than a stick: https://tr.ee/amYQLdfFxkCaster's Guild, a geek culture podcastMerch: https://casters-guild-shop.fourthwall.com/Discord: https://discord.gg/YkMfFYqzU2TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@castersguildInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/castersguild/Threads: https://www.threads.net/@castersguildYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@castersguildContact us: CastersGuild@gmail.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/CastersGuildPatreon: https://www.patreon.com/castersguildMusic: SQZ by Shane Ivers - https://www.silvermansound.com
Louis Henry Mitchell is so much more than the Creative Director of Character Design for Sesame Workshop... he is a living, breathing example of finding your calling and creating your own destiny. Louis didn't step right into his dream job, he made small steps in the direction of his passion until one day he found himself there. How did he get to Sesame Street? The spark that started his creative journey began when he was just six years old, and saw Jim Henson on the Ed Sullivan Show. It was in that moment he realized that a person was behind creating his favorite characters, and if they could do it, why couldn't he? Today, Louis directs and oversees all aspects of character art for Sesame Workshop, the non-profit organization behind Sesame Street. He's designed Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade balloons and floats, directed Sesame Street Muppet photo shoots, and created iconic characters we've come to love. In this interview we discuss his amazing career and his debut book, QREATIVE EVOLUTION: How to Question Everything to Find Your Creative Fulfillment. (Out Now!) To buy the book https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0DJFYVDSX?ref=cm_sw_r_ffobk_cp_ud_dp_ZNBE089W6YQ1V4ZGABF0&ref_=cm_sw_r_ffobk_cp_ud_dp_ZNBE089W6YQ1V4ZGABF0&social_share=cm_sw_r_ffobk_cp_ud_dp_ZNBE089W6YQ1V4ZGABF0&bestFormat=true&previewDoh=1 To learn more about Louis: https://qreativeevolution.com/about-louis/ Photo Credit Julian Waas
In today's episode, Gastor and Shalewa talk about Lil Jon placing in a bodybuilding contest, a man who identified as a dog during an arrest and Sesame Street dropping episodes on Youtube.PATREON LAUNCH!For all those that have asked how they can help support the pod - it's finally here! Thanks again to all the Troops and Correspondents who rock with us. Check it out - we'll have some exclusive content and fun perks, plus it really does help!patreon.com/WarReportPodMany Thanks to our Patreon Troops & Correspondents for helping us bring this show to life. Shouts to the Correspondents!Tanya WeimanFontayne WoodsMark OrellanaB. EmmerichCharlene BankAskewCharlatan the FraudCynthia PongKen MogulSayDatAgain SayDatAgainLaKai DillStephanie GayleUncleJoe StylenoshCato from StonoDavid CollinsInstagram:@WarReportPod@SilkyJumbo@GastorAlmonteTwitter:@SilkyJumbo@GastorAlmonteTheme music "Guns Go Cold" provided by Kno of Knomercyproductions Twitter: @Kno Instagram: @KnoMercyProductions
In 1971, a new pink, blonde little girl joined Betty Lou on Sesame Street. That's right, it's finally time for Prairie Dawn! And while Betty Lou faded to the background, Prairie Dawn stuck around and still appears on the show over 50 years later. Why did one work rather than the other? Well if anyone can help Becca answer that question, it's Stephanie D'Abruzzo, a performer who has years of experience developing female characters for children's media...and also currently performs Prairie Dawn on Sesame! They'll discuss everything from Prairie's handkerchief to 90s Anything Muppet Elizabeth, so you do not want to miss this one. And remember: the answers to Becca's questions will start with a Q. Credits:Written, Hosted, and Edited by Becca PetuniaGuest: Stephanie D'AbruzzoCharacter Art by Becca PetuniaPodcast Artwork by Joe HennesExecutive Producer: Joe HennesResearch Help: Tony Whitaker, Shane Keating, Scott HansonSpecial thanks to Muppet Wiki, Michal Richardson, Katilyn Miller, Eli Lee, and the whole ToughPigs team
If you can believe it, the Muppets are 70 years old this year. While once they were everywhere, known to children and grown-ups alike, today they've lost a lot of their cultural relevance. But is there a world where the Muppets can come back strong? That's what Kyle and Mikey discuss this week. From The Muppet Show to Sesame Street to Muppet Babies, we need the felt party to continue.
Apple's September event brought us the iPhone 17 family, AirPods Pro 3, and the Apple Watch Ultra 3, packed with features for creators and adventurers alike. Michael Sorg, Katie Dudas, and Dave Podnar break down what's exciting (and what's eyebrow-raising) in this week's AwesomeCast. We also dive into Sesame Street moving its library to YouTube and this year's holiday LEGO highlights, including the Gingerbread AT-AT and a $1,000 UCS Death Star.
Apple's September event brought us the iPhone 17 family, AirPods Pro 3, and the Apple Watch Ultra 3, packed with features for creators and adventurers alike. Michael Sorg, Katie Dudas, and Dave Podnar break down what's exciting (and what's eyebrow-raising) in this week's AwesomeCast. We also dive into Sesame Street moving its library to YouTube and this year's holiday LEGO highlights, including the Gingerbread AT-AT and a $1,000 UCS Death Star.
Our guest this time is Aaron Wolpoff who has spent his professional career as a marketing strategist and consultant to help companies develop strategic brands and enhance their audience growth. He owns the marketing firm, Double Zebra. He tells us about the name and how his company has helped a number of large and small companies grow and better serve their clients. Aaron grew up in the San Diego area. He describes himself as a curious person and he says he always has been such. He loves to ask questions. He says as a child he was somewhat quiet, but always wanted to know more. He received his Bachelor's degree in marketing from the University of California at San Diego. After working for a firm for some four and a half years he and his wife moved up to the bay area in Northern California where attended San Francisco State University and obtained a Master's degree in Business. In addition to his day job functioning as a business advisor and strategist Aaron also hosts a podcast entitled, We Fixed it, You're Welcome. I had the honor to appear on his podcast to discuss Uber and some of its accessibility issues especially concerning access by blind persons who use guide dogs to Uber's fleet. His podcast is quite fascinating and one I hope you will follow. Aaron provides us in this episode many business insights. We talk about a number of challenges and successes marketing has brought to the business arena. I hope you like what Aaron offers. About the Guest: Aaron Wolpoff is a seasoned marketing strategist and communications consultant with a track record of positioning companies, products, and thought leadership for maximum impact. Throughout his career, Aaron has been somewhat of a trendspotter, getting involved in early initiatives around online banking, SaaS, EVs, IoT, and now AI, His ability to bridge complex industry dynamics and technology-driven solutions underscores his role as a forward-thinking consultant, podcaster, and business advisor, committed to enhancing organizational effectiveness and fostering strategic growth. As the driving force behind the Double Zebra marketing company, Aaron excels in identifying untapped marketing assets, refining brand narratives, and orchestrating strategic pivots from paid advertising to organic audience growth. His insights have guided notable campaigns for consumer brands, technology firms, and professional service providers, always with a keen eye for differentiating messages that resonate deeply with target audiences. In addition to his strategic marketing expertise, Aaron hosts the Top 20 business management podcast, We Fixed It, You're Welcome, known for its sharp, humorous analysis of major corporate challenges and missteps. Each episode brings listeners inside complex business scenarios, unfolding like real-time case studies where Aaron and his panel of experts dissect high-profile decisions, offering insightful and actionable solutions. His ability to distill complex business issues into relatable, engaging discussions has garnered widespread acclaim and a dedicated following among executives and decision-makers. Ways to connect with Aaron: Marketing company: https://doublezebra.com Podcast: https://wefixeditpod.com LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/marketingaaron About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset . Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Transcription Notes: Michael Hingson ** 00:00 Access Cast and accessiBe Initiative presents Unstoppable Mindset. The podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet. Hi, I'm Michael Hingson, Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe and the author of the number one New York Times bestselling book, Thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion unacceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by accessiBe, that's a c c e s s i capital B e. Visit www.accessibe.com to learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us. Michael Hingson ** 01:20 Hi there, and welcome to another episode of unstoppable mindset. Today, we get to chat with Aaron Wolpoff, who is a marketing strategist and expert in a lot of different ways. I've read his bio, which you can find in the show notes. It seems to me that he is every bit as much of an expert is his bio says he is, but we're going to find out over the next hour or so for sure. We'll we'll not pick on him too much, but, but nevertheless, it's fun to be here. Aaron, so I want to welcome you to unstoppable mindset. I'm glad you're here, and we're glad that we get a chance to do Aaron Wolpoff, ** 01:58 this. Thanks, Michael, thanks for having me. You're gonna grill me for an hour, huh? Michael Hingson ** 02:04 Oh, sure. Why not? You're used to it. You're a marketing expert. Aaron Wolpoff, ** 02:08 That's what we do. Yeah, we're always, uh, scrutiny for one thing or another. Michael Hingson ** 02:13 I remember, I think it was back in was it 82 or 1982 or 1984 when they had the big Tylenol incident. You remember that? You know about Aaron Wolpoff, ** 02:25 that? I do? Yeah, there's a Netflix documentary happening right now. Is there? Well, yeah, Michael Hingson ** 02:31 a bottle of Tylenol was, for those who don't know, contaminated and someone died from it. But the manufacturer of Tylenol, the CEO the next day, just got right out in front of it and said what they were going to do about removing all Tylenol from the shelves until it could be they could all be examined and so on. Just did a number of things. It was a wonderful case, it seemed to me, for how to deal with a crisis when it came up. And I find that all too many companies and organizations don't necessarily know how to do that. Do they now? Aaron Wolpoff, ** 03:09 And a lot of times they operate in crisis mode. That's the default. And no one likes to be around that, you know. So that's, I guess, step one is dealing even you know, deal with a crisis when it comes up, and make sure that your your day to day is not crisis fire as much as possible, Michael Hingson ** 03:26 but know how to deal with a crisis, which is kind of the issue, and that's, that's what business continuity, of course, is, is really all about. I spoke at the Business Continuity Institute hybrid conference in London last October, and as one of the people who asked me to come and speak, explained, business continuity, people are the what if people that are always looking at, how do we deal with any kind of an emergency that comes up in an organization, knowing full well that nobody's really going to listen to them until there's really an emergency, and then, of course, they're indispensable, but The rest of the time they're not for Aaron Wolpoff, ** 04:02 sure. Yeah, it's definitely that, you know, good. You bring up a good point about knowing how to deal with a crisis, because it will, it, will you run a business for long enough you have a company, no matter how big, eventually something bad is going to happen, and it's Tylenol. Was, is pre internet or, you know, we oh, yeah, good while ago they had time to formulate a response and craft it and and do a well presented, you know, public reassurance nowadays it's you'd have five seconds before you have to get something out there. Michael Hingson ** 04:35 Well, even so, the CEO did it within, like, a day or so, just immediately came out and said what, what was initially going to be done. Of course, there was a whole lot more to it, but still, he got right out in front of it and dealt with it in a calm way, which I think is really important for businesses to do, and and I do find that so many don't and they they deal with so many different kinds of stress. Horrible things in the world, and they create more than they really should about fear anyway, Aaron Wolpoff, ** 05:07 yeah, for sure, and now I think that Tylenol wasn't ultimately responsible. I haven't watched to the end, but if I remember correctly, but sometimes these crisis, crises that companies find themselves embroiled in, are self perpetuated? Yeah? Michael Hingson ** 05:23 Well, Tylenol wasn't responsible. Somebody did it. Somebody put what, cyanide or something in into a Tylenol bottle. So they weren't responsible, but they sure dealt with it, which is the important thing. And you know, they're, they're still with us. Yeah? Aaron Wolpoff, ** 05:38 No, they dealt with it. Well, their sales are great, everyday household product. No one can dispute it. But what I say is, with the with the instantaneousness of reach to your to your public, and to you know, consumers and public at large, a lot of crises are, can be self perpetuated, like you tweet the wrong thing, or is it called a tweet anymore? I don't know, but you know, you post something a little bit a little bit out of step with what people are think about you or thinking in general, and and now, all of a sudden, you're in the middle of something that you didn't want to be in the middle of, as a company well, Michael Hingson ** 06:15 and I also noticed that, like the media will, so often they hear something, they report it, and they haven't necessarily checked to see the facts behind it, only to find out within an hour or two that what they reported was wrong. And they helped to sometimes promote the fear and promote the uncertainty, rather than waiting a little bit until they get all the information reasonably correct. And of course, part of the problem is they say, well, but everybody else is going to report it. So each station says everybody else is going to report it, so we have to keep up. Well, I'm not so sure about that all the time. Oh, that's very true, too, Michael, especially with, you know, off brand media outlets I'll spend with AI like, I'll be halfway through an article now, and I'll see something that's extremely generated and and I'll realize I've just wasted a whole bunch of time on a, you know, on a fake article, yeah, yeah, yeah, way, way too much. But even the mainstream media will report things very quickly to get it out there, but they don't necessarily have all the data, right. And I understand you can't wait for days to deal with things, but you should wait at least a little bit to make sure you've got data enough to report in a cogent way. And it just doesn't always happen. Aaron Wolpoff, ** 07:33 Yeah, well, I don't know who the watch keepers of that are. I'm not a conspiracy theorist in that way by any means? Michael Hingson ** 07:41 No, no, it isn't a conspiracy. But yeah, Aaron Wolpoff, ** 07:44 yeah, no, no, I know, but it's again. I think it goes back to that tight the shortness of the cycle, like again. Tylenol waited a day to respond back in the day, which is great. But now, would you have you know, if Tylenol didn't say Michael Hingson ** 07:59 anything for a day. If they were faced with a similar situation, people would vilify them and say, Well, wait, you waited a day to tell us something we wanted it in the first 30 seconds, yeah, oh, yeah. And that makes it more difficult, but I would hope that Tylenol would say, yeah. We waited a day because we were getting our facts together. 30 seconds is great in the media, but that doesn't work for reality, and in most cases, it doesn't. But yeah, I know what you're saying, Aaron Wolpoff, ** 08:30 Yeah, but the appetite in the 24 hour news cycle, if people are hungry for new more information, so it does push news outlets, media outlets into let's respond as quick as possible and figure out the facts along the way. Yeah, yeah. Michael Hingson ** 08:46 Well, for fun, why don't you tell us about sort of the early era and growing up, and how you got to doing the sorts of things that you're doing now. Well, I grew up in San Diego, California. I best weather in the country. I don't care what anyone says, Yeah, Aaron Wolpoff, ** 09:03 you can't really beat it. No, I don't think anyone's gonna debate you on it. They call it the sunshine tax, because things cost a lot out here, but they do, you know, he grew up here, you put up with it. But yeah, so I grew up, grew up San Diego, college, San Diego. Life in San Diego, I've been elsewhere. I've traveled. I've seen some of the world. I like it. I've always wanted to come back, but I grew up really curious. I read a lot, I asked a lot of questions. And I also wanted, wanting to know, well, I want to know. Well, I wanted to know a lot of things about a lot of things, and I also was really scared. Is the wrong word, but I looked up to adults when I was a kid, and I didn't want to be put in a position where I was expected to know something that I didn't know. So it led to times where I'd pretend like I need you. Know, do you know? You know what this is, right? And I'd pretend like I knew, and early career, career even, and then I get called out on something, and it just was like a gut punch, like, but I'm supposed to know that, you know, Michael Hingson ** 10:13 what did your parents think of you being so curious as you were growing up? Aaron Wolpoff, ** 10:17 They they liked it, but I was quiet, okay? Quiet, quiet, quietly, confident and curious. It's just an interesting, I guess, an interesting mix. Yeah, but no, they Oh, they indulged it. I, you know, they answered my questions. They like I said, I read a lot, so frequent trips to the library to read a lot about a lot of things, but I think, you know, professionally, you take something that's kind of a grab bag, and what do I do with all these different interests? And when I started college undeclared, I realized, you know, communications, marketing, you kind of can make a discipline out of a bunch of interests, and call it something professional. Where did you go to college? I went to UCSD. UCSD, here in San Diego, yeah, Michael Hingson ** 11:12 well, I was just up the road from you at UC Irvine. So here two good campuses, Aaron Wolpoff, ** 11:18 they are, they are and UCSD. I was back recently. It's like a it's like a city. Now, every time we go back, we see these, these kids. They're babies. They get they get food every you know, they have, like, a food nice food court. There's parking, an abundance of parking, there's theaters, there's all the things we didn't have. Of course, we had some of it, but they just have, like, what if we had one of something or 50 parking spaces, they've got 5000 you know. And if we had, you know, one one food option, they got 35 Yeah, they don't know how good they have it. Michael Hingson ** 11:53 When I was at UC urban, I think we had 3200 undergraduates. It wasn't huge. It was in that area. Now, I think there's 31,000 or 32,000 undergrads. Oh, wow. And as one of my former physics professors joked, he's retired, but I got to meet him. I was there, and last year I was inducted as an alumni member of Phi, beta, kappa. And so we were talking, and he said, You know what UCI really stands for, don't you? Well, I didn't, I said, What? And he said, under construction indefinitely. And there's, they're always building, sure, and that's that started when I was there, but, but they are always building. And it's just an amazing place today, with so many students and graduate students, undergrads and faculty, and it's, it's an amazing place. I think I'd have a little bit more of a challenge of learning where everything is, although I could do it, if I had to go back, I could do it. Yeah, UCI is nice. But I think you could say, you could say that about any of the UCs are constantly under, under development. And, you know, that's the old one. That's the old area. And I'm like, oh, that's I went to school in the old area. I know the old area. I remember Central Park. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. So you ended up majoring in Marketing and Communications, Aaron Wolpoff, ** 13:15 yeah. So I undergrad in communications. They have a really nice business school now that they did not have at the time. So I predated that, but I probably would have ended up there. I got out with a very, not knocking the school. It's a great, wonderful school. I got out with a very theory, theoretical based degree. So I knew a lot about communications from a theory based perspective. I knew about brain cognition. I took maybe one quarter of practical use it professionally. It was like a video, like a video production course, so I I learned hands on, 111, quarter out of my entire academic career. But a lot of it was learning. The learning not necessarily applied, but just a lot of theory. And I started school at 17, and I got out just shortly after my 21st birthday, so I don't know what my hurry was, but, but there I was with a lot of theory, some some internships, but not a ton of professional experience. And, you know, trying to figure it out in the work world at that point. Did you get a graduate degree or just undergrad? I did. I went back. So I did it for almost five years in in financial marketing, and then, and I wear a suit and tie to work every day, which I don't think anyone does anymore. And I'm suddenly like, like, I'm from the 30s. I'm not that old, but, but no, seriously, we, you know, to work at the at the headquarters of a international credit union. Of course, I wear a suit, no after four and a half. Years there, I went back to graduate school up in the bay the Bay Area, Bay Area, and that's when I got my masters in in marketing. Oh, where'd you go in the Bay Area? San Francisco, state. Okay, okay, yeah, really nice school. It's got one of the biggest International MBA programs in the country, I think. And got to live in that city for a couple years. Michael Hingson ** 15:24 We lived in Novato, so North Bay, for 12 years, from 2002 to the end of June 2014 Yeah, I like that area. That's, that's the, oh, the weather isn't San Diego's. That area is still a really nice area to live as well. Again, it is pretty expensive, but still it Aaron Wolpoff, ** 15:44 is, yeah, I it's not San Diego weather, a beautiful day. There is like nothing else. But when we first got there, I said, I want to live by the beach. That's what I know. And we got out to the beach, which is like at the end of the outer sunset, and it's in the 40s streets, and it feels like the end of the universe. It just, it just like, feels apocalyptic. And I said, I don't want to live by the beach anymore, but, but no, it was. It was a great, great learning experience, getting an MBA. I always say it's kind of like a backpack or a toolkit you walk around with, because it is all that's all application. You know, everything that I learned about theory put into practice, you got to put into practice. And so I was, I was really glad that I that I got to do that. And like I said, Live, live in, live in the Bay. For a couple years, I'd always wanted Michael Hingson ** 16:36 to, yeah, well, that's a nice area to live. If you got to live somewhere that is one of the nicer places. So glad you got that opportunity. And having done it, as I said for 12 years, I appreciate it too. And yeah, so much to offer there. Aaron Wolpoff, ** 16:51 The only problem I had was it was in between the two.com bubbles. So literally, nothing was happening. The good side was that the apartment I was living in went for something like $5,500 before I got there, and then the draw everything dropped, you know, the bottom dropped out, and I was able to squeak by and afford living in the city. But, you know, you go for look, seeking your fortune. And there's, there's, I had just missed it. And then I left, and then it just came back. So I was, I was there during a lull. So you're the one, huh? Okay, I didn't do it, just the way Miami worked out. Did you then go back to San Diego? I did, yeah. So I've met my wife here. We moved up to the bay together, and when we were debating, when I graduated, we were thinking, do we want to drive, you know, an hour and a half Silicon Valley or someone, you know, somewhere further out just to stay in the area? Or do we want to go back to where we where we know and like, and start a life there and we, you know, send, like you said at the beginning, San Diego is not a bad place to be. So as it was never a fallback, but as a place to, you know, come back home to, yeah, I welcomed it. Michael Hingson ** 18:08 And so what did you do when you came back to San Diego? Aaron Wolpoff, ** 18:12 So I have my best friend from childhood was starting as a photography company still does, and it was starting like a sister company, as an agency to serve the photography company, which was growing really fast, and then also, like picking up clients and building a book out of so he said, you know you're, I see you're applying for jobs, and I know that you're, you know, you're getting some offers and things, but just say no To all of them and come work with me and and at the time it was, it was running out of a was like a loft of an apartment, but it, you know, it grew to us, a small staff, and then a bigger staff, and spun off on its own. And so that's, that's what I did right out of, right out of grad school. I said no to a few things, and said there's a lot, lot worse fates than you know, spending your work day with your best friend and and growing a company out and so what exactly did you do for them? So it was like, we'll call it a boutique creative agency. It was around the time of I'm making myself sound so old. See, so there was flash, flash technology, like web banners were made with Flash. It had moved to be flash, Adobe, Flash, yeah. So companies were making these web banners, and what you call interactive we got a proficiency of making full website experiences with Flash, which not a lot of companies were doing. So because of that, it led to some really interesting opportunities and clients and being able to take on a capability, a proficiency that you know for a time. Uh was, was uh as a differentiator, say, you know, you could have a web banner and an old website, or you could have a flash, interactive website where you take your users on an experience with music and all the things that seem so dated now, Michael Hingson ** 20:14 well, and of course, unfortunately, a lot of that content wasn't very accessible, so some of us didn't really get access to a lot of it, and I don't remember whether Adobe really worked to make flash all that accessible. They dealt with other things, but I'm not sure that flash ever really was. Yeah, I'm with you on that. I really, I don't think so. Aaron Wolpoff, ** 20:38 What we would wind up doing is making parallel websites, but, but then mobile became a thing, and then you'd make a third version of a website, and it just got tedious. And really it's when the iPhone came out. It just it flash got stopped in its tracks, like it was like a week, and then action script, which is the language that it runs on, and all the all the capabilities and proficiencies, just there was no use for it anymore. Michael Hingson ** 21:07 Well, and and the iPhone came out, as you said, and one of the things that happened fairly early on was that, because they were going to be sued, Apple agreed to make the I devices accessible, and they did something that hadn't really been done up to that time. They set the trend for it. They built accessibility into the operating systems, and they built the ability to have accessibility into the operating systems. The one thing that I wish that Apple would do even a little bit more of than they do, than they do today, although it's better than it used to be, is I wish they would mandate, or require people who are going to put apps in the App Store, for example, to make sure that the apps are accessible. They have guidelines. They have all sorts of information about how to do it, but they don't really require it, and so you can still get inaccessible apps, which is unfortunate, Aaron Wolpoff, ** 22:09 that is Yeah, and like you said, with Flash, an entire you know, ecosystem had limited to no accessibility, so Michael Hingson ** 22:16 and making additional on another website, Yeah, a lot of places did that, but they weren't totally equal, because they would make enough of the website, well, they would make the website have enough content to be able to do things, but they didn't have everything that they had on the graphical or flash website, and so It was definitely there, but it wasn't really, truly equal, which is unfortunate, and so now it's a lot better. Aaron Wolpoff, ** 22:46 Yeah, it is no and I hate to say it, but if it came down to limited time, limited budget, limited everything you want to make something that is usable and efficient, but no, I mean, I can't speak for all developers, but no, it would be hard. You'd be hard pressed to create a an equally parallel experience with full accessibility at the time. Michael Hingson ** 23:16 Yeah, yeah, you would. And it is a lot better. And there's, there's still stuff that needs to be done, but I think over time, AI is going to help some of that. And it is already made. It isn't perfect yet, but even some graphics and so on can be described by AI. And we're seeing things improve over, over, kind of what they were. So we're making progress, which is good, Aaron Wolpoff, ** 23:44 yeah, no, I'm really happy about that. And with with AI and AI can go through and parse your code and build in all you know, everything that that needs to happen, there's a lot less excuse for for not making something as accessible as it can Michael Hingson ** 23:59 be, yeah, but people still ignore it to a large degree. Still, only about 3% of all websites really have taken the time to put some level of accessibility into them. So there's still a lot to be done, and it's just not that magical or that hard, but it's mostly, I think, education. People don't know, they don't know that it can be done. They don't think about it being done, or they don't do it initially, and so then it becomes a lot more expensive to do later on, because you got to go back and redo Aaron Wolpoff, ** 24:28 it, all right, yeah, anything, anytime you have to do something, something retroactive or rebuild, you're, yeah, you're starting from not a great place. Michael Hingson ** 24:37 So how long did you work with your friend? Aaron Wolpoff, ** 24:42 A really long time, because I did the studio, and then I wound up keeping that alive. But going over to the photography side, the company really grew. Had a team of staff photographers, had a team of, like a network of photographers, and. And was doing quite, quite a lot, an abundance of events every year, weddings and corporate and all types of things. So all in, I was with the company till, gosh, I want to say, like, 2014 or so. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. Michael Hingson ** 25:21 And then what did you go off and do? Aaron Wolpoff, ** 25:25 So then I worked for an agency, so I got started with creative and, well, rewinding, I got started with financial marketing, with the suit and tie. But then I went into creative, and I've tried pretty much every aspect of marketing I hadn't done marketing automation and email sequences and CRMs and outreach and those types of things. So that was the agency I worked for that was their specialization, which I like, to a degree, but it's, it's not my, not my home base. Yeah, there's, there's people that love and breathe automation. I like having interjecting some, you know, some type of personal aspect into the what you're putting out there. And I have to wrestle with that as ai, ai keeps growing in prominence, like, Where's the place for the human, creative? But I did that for a little while, and then I've been on my own for the past six or seven years. Michael Hingson ** 26:26 So what is it you do today? Exactly? Aaron Wolpoff, ** 26:30 So I'm, we'll call it a fractional CMO, or a fractional marketing advisor. So I come in and help companies grow their their marketing and figure themselves out. I've gone I work with large companies. I've kind of gone back to early stage startups and and tech companies. I just find that they're doing really more, a lot more interesting things right now with the market the way it is. They're taking more chances and and they're they're moving faster. I like to move pretty quick, so that's where my head's at. And I'm doing more. We'll call em like CO entrepreneurial ventures with my clients, as opposed to just a pure agency service model, which is interesting. And and I got my own podcast. There you go. Yeah. What's your podcast called? Not to keep you busy, it's called, we fixed it. You're welcome. There you Michael Hingson ** 27:25 go. And it seems to me, if my memory hasn't failed me, even though I don't take one of those memory or brain supplements, we were on it not too long ago, talking about Uber, which was fun. Aaron Wolpoff, ** 27:39 We had you on there. I don't know which episode will drop first, this one or or the one you were on, but we sure enjoyed having you on there. Michael Hingson ** 27:46 Well, it was fun. Well, we'll have to do more of it, and I think it'd be fun to but so you own your own business. Then today, Aaron Wolpoff, ** 27:53 I do, yeah, it's called Double zebra. Michael Hingson ** 27:56 Now, how did you come up with that name? Aaron Wolpoff, ** 27:59 It's two basic elements, so basic, black and white, something unremarkable, but if you can take it and multiply it or repeat it, then you're onto something interesting. Michael Hingson ** 28:13 Lots of stripes. Yeah, lots of stripes. Aaron Wolpoff, ** 28:17 And it's always fun when I talk to someone in the UK or Australia, or then they say zebra or zebra, right? I get to hear the way they say it. It's that's fun. Occasionally I get double double zero. People will miss misname it and double zero. That's his Michael Hingson ** 28:34 company's that. But has anybody called it double Zed yet? Aaron Wolpoff, ** 28:39 No, that's a new one. Michael Hingson ** 28:41 Yeah? Well, you never know. Maybe we've given somebody the idea now. Yeah, yeah. Well, so I'm I'm curious. You obviously do a lot to analyze and help people in critique in corporate mishaps. Have you ever seen a particular business mistake that you really admire and just really love, its audacity, Aaron Wolpoff, ** 29:07 where it came out wrong, but I liked it anyway, yeah, oh, man, Michael Hingson ** 29:13 let's see, or one maybe, where they learned from their mistake and fixed it. But still, yeah, sure. Aaron Wolpoff, ** 29:23 Yeah, that's a good one. I like, I like bold moves, even if they're wrong, as long as they don't, you know, they're not harmful to people I don't know. Let's go. I'm I'm making myself old. Let's go back to Crystal crystal. Pepsi, there you go for that. But that was just such a fun idea at the time. You know, we're the new generation and, and this is the 90s, and everything's new now, and we're going to take the color out of out of soda, I know we're and we're going to take it and just make it what you know, but a little unfamiliar, right? Right? It's Crystal Pepsi, and the ads were cool, and it was just very of the moment. Now, that moment didn't last very long, no, and the public didn't, didn't hold on to it very long. But there's, you know, it was, it let you question, and I in a good way, what you thought about what is even a Pepsi. And it worked. It was they brought it back, like for a very short time, five, I want to say five or six years ago, just because people had a nostalgia for it. But yeah, big, big, bold, we're confident this is the new everyone's going to be talking about this for a long time, and we're going to put a huge budget behind it, Crystal Pepsi. And it it didn't, but yeah, I liked it. Michael Hingson ** 30:45 So why is that that is clearly somebody had to put a lot of effort into the concept, and must have gotten some sort of message that it would be very successful, but then it wasn't, Aaron Wolpoff, ** 31:00 yeah, yeah. For something like that, you have to get buy in at so many levels. You know, you have an agency saying, this is the right thing to do. You have CD, your leadership saying, No, I don't know. Let's pull back. Whenever an agency gets away with something and and spends a bunch of client money and it's just audacious, and I can't believe they did it. I know how many levels of buy in they had to get, yeah, to say, Trust me. Trust me. And a lot of times it works, you know, if they do something that just no one else had had thought of or wasn't willing to do, and then you see that they got through all those levels of bureaucracy and they were able to pull it off. Michael Hingson ** 31:39 When it works. I love it. When it doesn't work. I love it, you know, just, just the fact that they did it, yeah, you got to admire that. Gotta admire it. They pulled it off, yeah. My favorite is still ranch flavored Fritos. They disappeared, and I've never understood why I love ranch flavored Fritos. And we had them in New Jersey and so on. And then we got, I think, out to California. But by that time, they had started to fade away, and I still have never understood why. Since people love ranch food so Aaron Wolpoff, ** 32:06 much, that's a good one. I don't know that. I know those because it does, it does that one actually fill a market need. If there's Doritos, there's, you know, the ranch, I don't know if they were, they different. Michael Hingson ** 32:17 They were Fritos, but they they did have ranch you know they were, they were ranch flavored, and I thought they were great. Yeah, I don't know. I don't know that one didn't hit because they have, I think they have chili flavor. They have regular. Do they have anything else honey barbecue? I don't know. I don't know, but I do still like regular, but I love ranch flavored the best. Now, I heard last week that Honey Nut Cheerios are going away. General Mills is getting rid of honey nut cheerios. No, is that real? That's what I heard on the news. Okay, I believe you, but I'll look it up anyway. Well, it's interesting. I don't know why, after so many years, they would but there have been other examples of cereals and so on that were around for a while and left and, well, Captain Crunch was Captain Crunch was one, and I'm not sure if lucky charms are still around. And then there was one called twinkles. Aaron Wolpoff, ** 33:13 And I know all those except twinkles, but I would if you asked me, I would say, Honey Nut Cheerios. There's I would say their sales are better than Cheerios, or at least I would think so, yeah, at least a good portfolio company. Well, who knows, who knows, but I do know that Gen Z and millennials eat cereal a lot less than us older folks, because it takes work to put milk and cereal into a bowl, and it's not pre made, yeah. So maybe it's got to do with, you know, changing eating habits and consumer preferences Michael Hingson ** 33:48 must be Yeah, and they're not enough of us, older, more experienced people to to counteract that. But you know, well, we'll see Yeah, as long as they don't get rid of the formula because it may come back. Yeah, well, now Aaron Wolpoff, ** 34:03 Yeah, exactly between nostalgia and reboots and remakes and nothing's gone forever, everything comes back eventually. Michael Hingson ** 34:10 Yeah, it does in all the work that you've done. Have you ever had to completely rethink and remake your approach and do something different? Aaron Wolpoff, ** 34:24 Yeah, well, there's been times where I've been on uncharted territory. I worked with an EV company before EVs were a thing, and it was going, actually going head to head with with Tesla. But the thing there's they keep trying to bring it back and crowd sourcing it and all that stuff. It's, but at the time, it was like, I said it was like, which is gonna make it first this company, or Tesla, but, but this one looks like a, it looks, it feels like a spaceship. It's got, like space. It's a, it's, it's really. Be really unique. So the one that that is more like a family car one out probably rightly so. But there was no consumer understanding of not, let alone our preference, like there is now for an EV and what do I do? I have to plug it in somewhere and and all those things. So I had to rethink, you know what? There's no playbook for that yet. I guess I have to kind of work on it. And they were only in prototyping at the point where we came in and had to launch this, you know, teaser and teaser campaign for it, and build up awareness and demand for this thing that existed on a computer at the time. Michael Hingson ** 35:43 What? Why is Tesla so successful? Aaron Wolpoff, ** 35:48 Because they spent a bunch of money. Okay, that helps? Yeah, they were playing the long game. They could outspend competitors. They've got the unique distribution model. And they kind of like, I said, retrained consumers into how you buy a car, why you buy a car, and, and I think politics aside, people love their people love their teslas. You don't. My understanding is you don't have to do a whole lot once you buy it. And, and they they, like I said, they had the money to throw at it, that they could wait, wait it out and wait out that when you do anything with retraining consumers or behavior change or telling them you know, your old car is bad, your new this new one's good, that's the most. We'll call it costly and and difficult forms of marketing is retraining behavior. But they, they had the money to write it out and and their products great, you know, again, I'm not a Tesla enthusiast, but it's, it looks good. People love it. I you know, they run great from everything that I know, but so did a lot of other companies. So I think they just had the confidence in what they were doing to throw money at it and wait, be patient and well, Michael Hingson ** 37:19 they're around there again the the Tesla is another example of not nearly as accessible as it should be and and I recognize that I'm not going to be the primary driver of a Tesla today, although I have driven a Tesla down Interstate 15, about 15 miles the driver was in the car, but, but I did it for about 15 miles going down I 15 and fully appreciate what autonomous vehicles will be able to do. We're way too much still on the cusp, and I think that people who just poo poo them are missing it. But I also know we're not there yet, but the day is going to come when there's going to be a lot more reliability, a lot less potential for accidents. But the thing that I find, like with the Tesla from a passenger standpoint, is I can't do any of the things that a that a sighted passenger can do. I can't unless it's changed in the last couple of years. I can't manipulate the radio. I can't do the other things that that that passengers might do in the Tesla, and I should be able to do that, and of all the vehicles where they ought to have access and could, the Tesla would be one, and they could do it even still using touch screens. I mean, the iPhone, for example, is all touch screen. But Apple was very creative about creating a mechanism to allow a person to not need to look at the screen using VoiceOver, the screen reader on the iPhone, but having a new set of gestures that were created that work with VoiceOver so that I could interact with that screen just as well as you can. Aaron Wolpoff, ** 38:59 That's interesting that you say that, you know, Apple was working on a car for a while, and I don't know to a fact, but I bet they were thinking through accessibility and building that into every turn, or at least planning to, Michael Hingson ** 39:13 oh, I'm sure they were. And the reality is, it isn't again. It isn't that magical to do. It would be simple for the Teslas and and other vehicles to do it. But, you know, we're we're not there mentally. And that's of course, the whole issue is that we just societally don't tend to really look at accessibility like we should. My view of of, say, the apple the iPhone, still is that they could be marketing the screen reader software that I use, which is built into the system already. They could, they could do some things to mark market that a whole lot more than they already do for sighted people. Your iPhone rings, um. You have to tap it a lot of times to be able to answer it. Why can't they create a mode when you're in a vehicle where a lot more of that is verbally, spoken and handled through voice output from the phone and voice input from you, without ever having to look at or interact with the screen. Aaron Wolpoff, ** 40:19 I bet you're right, yeah, it's just another app at that point Michael Hingson ** 40:22 well, and it's what I do. I mean, it's the way I operate with it. So I just think that they could, they could be more creative. There's so many examples of things that begin in one way and alter themselves or become altered. The typewriter, for example, was originally developed for a blind Countess to be able to communicate with her lover without her husband finding out her husband wasn't very attentive to her anyway. But the point is that the, I think the lover, created the this device where she could actually sit down and type a letter and seal it and give it to a maid or someone to give to, to her, her friend. And that's how the typewriter other other people had created, some examples, but the typewriter from her was probably the thing that most led to what we have today. Aaron Wolpoff, ** 41:17 Oh, I didn't know that. But let me Michael, let me ask you. So I was in LA not too long ago, and they have, you know, driverless vehicles are not the form yet, but they we, I saw them around the city. What do you think about driverless vehicles in terms of accessibility or otherwise? Michael Hingson ** 41:32 Well, again, so, so the most basic challenge that, fortunately, they haven't really pushed which is great, is okay, you're driving along in an autonomous vehicle and you lose connection, or whatever. How are you going to be able to pull it off to the side of the road? Now, some people have talked about saying that there, there has to be a law that only sighted people could well the sighted people a sighted person has to be in the vehicle. The reality is, the technology has already been developed to allow a blind person to get behind the wheel of a car and have enough information to be able to drive that vehicle just as well, or nearly as well, as a sighted person. But I think for this, from the standpoint of autonomousness, I'm all for it. I think we're going to continue to see it. It's going to continue to get better. It is getting better daily. So I haven't ridden in a fully autonomous vehicle, but I do believe that that those vehicles need to make sure, or the manufacturers need to make sure that they really do put accessibility into it. I should be able to give the vehicle all the instructions and get all the information that any sighted person would get from the vehicle, and the technology absolutely exists to do that today. So I think we will continue to see that, and I think it will get better all the way around. I don't know whether, well, I think they that actually there have been examples of blind people who've gotten into an autonomous vehicle where there wasn't a sighted person, and they've been able to function with it pretty well. So I don't see why it should be a problem at all, and it's only going to get Aaron Wolpoff, ** 43:22 better. Yeah, for sure. And I keep thinking, you know, accessibility would be a prior priority in autonomous vehicles, but I keep learning from you, you know you were on our show and and our discussions, that the priorities are not always in line and not always where they necessarily should Michael Hingson ** 43:39 be. Well. And again, there are reasons for it, and while I might not like it, I understand it, and that is, a lot of it is education, and a lot of it is is awareness. Most schools that teach people how to code to develop websites don't spend a lot of time dealing with accessibility, even though putting all the codes in and creating accessible websites is not a magically difficult thing to do, but it's an awareness issue. And so yeah, we're just going to have to continue to fight the fight and work toward getting people to be more aware of why it's necessary. And in reality, I do believe that there is a lot of truth to this fact that making things more accessible for me will help other people as well, because by having not well, voice input, certainly in a vehicle, but voice output and so on, and a way for me to accessibly, be able to input information into an autonomous vehicle to take to have it take me where I want to go, is only going to help everyone else as well. A lot of things that I need would benefit sighted people so well, so much. Aaron Wolpoff, ** 44:56 Yeah, you're exactly right. Yeah, AI assisted. And voice input and all those things, they are universally loved and accepted now, yeah, Michael Hingson ** 45:07 it's getting better. The unemployment rate is still very high among, for example, employable blind people, because all too many people still think blind people can't work, even though they can. So it's all based on prejudice rather than reality, and we're, we're, we're just going to have to continue to work to try to deal with the issues. I wrote an article a couple of years ago. One of the things where we're constantly identified in the world is we're blind or visually impaired. And the problem with visually impaired is visually we're not different simply because we don't see and impaired, we are not we're getting people slowly to switch to blind and low vision, deaf people and hard of hearing people did that years ago. If you tell a deaf person they're hearing impaired, they're liable to deck you on the spot. Yeah, and blind people haven't progressed to that point, but it's getting there, and the reality is blind and low vision is a much more appropriate terminology to use, and it's not equating us to not having eyesight by saying we're impaired, you know. So it's it's an ongoing process, and all we can do is continue to work at it? Aaron Wolpoff, ** 46:21 Yeah, no. And I appreciate that you do. Like I said, education and retraining is, is call it marketing or call it, you know, just the way people should behave. But it's, that's, it's hard. It's one of the hardest things to do. Michael Hingson ** 46:36 But, you know, we're making progress, and we'll, we'll continue to do that, and I think over time we'll we'll see things improve. It may not happen as quickly as we'd like, but I also believe that I and other people who are blind do need to be educators. We need to teach people. We need to be patient enough to do that. And you know, I see so often articles written about Me who talk about how my guide dog led me out of the World Trade Center. The guide dog doesn't lead anybody anywhere. That's not the job of the dog. The dog's job is to make sure that we walk safely. It's my job to know where to go and how to get there. So a guide dog guides and will make sure that we walk safely. But I'm the one that has to tell the dog, step by step, where I want the dog to go, and that story is really the crux of what I talk about many times when I travel and speak to talk to the public about what happened in the World Trade Center, because I spent a lot of time learning what I needed to do in order to escape safely and on September 11, not ever Having anticipated that we would need that kind of information, but still preparing for it, the mindset kicked in, and it all worked well. Aaron Wolpoff, ** 47:49 You You and I talked about Uber on on my show, when you came on, and we gave them a little ding and figured out some stuff for them, what in terms of accessibility, and, you know, just general corporate citizenship, what's what's a company that, let's give them a give, give, call them out for a good reason? What's a company that's doing a good job, in your eyes, in your mind, for accessibility, maybe an unexpected one. Michael Hingson ** 48:20 Well, as I mentioned before, I think Apple is doing a lot of good things. I think Microsoft is doing some good I think they could do better than they are in in some ways, but they're working at it. I wish Google would put a little bit more emphasis on making its you its interface more more usable to you really use the like with Google Docs and so on. You have to hurt learn a whole lot of different commands to make part of that system work, rather than it being as straightforward as it should be, there's some new companies coming up. There's a new company called inno search. Inno search.ai, it was primarily designed at this point for blind and low vision people. The idea behind inner search is to have any a way of dealing with E commerce and getting people to be able to help get help shopping and so on. So they actually have a a phone number. It's, I think it's 855, shop, G, P, T, and you can go in, and you can talk to the bot and tell it what you want, and it can help fill up a shopping cart. It's using artificial intelligence, but it understands really well. I have yet to hear it tell me I don't understand what you want. Sometimes it gives me a lot of things that more than I than I'm searching for. So there, there's work that needs to be done, but in a search is really a very clever company that is spending a lot of time working to make. Sure that everything that it does to make a shopping experience enjoyable is also making sure that it's accessible. Aaron Wolpoff, ** 50:08 Oh, that's really interesting. Now, with with my podcast, and just in general, I spend a lot of time critiquing companies and and not taking them to test, but figuring out how to make them better. But I always like the opportunity to say you did something well, like even quietly, or you're, you know, people are finding you because of a certain something you didn't you took it upon yourselves to do and figure out Michael Hingson ** 50:34 there's an audio editor, and we use it some unstoppable mindset called Reaper. And Reaper is a really great digital audio workstation product. And there is a whole series of scripts that have been written that make Reaper incredibly accessible as an audio editing tool. It's really great. It's about one of the most accessible products that I think I have seen is because they've done so well with it, which is kind of cool. Aaron Wolpoff, ** 51:06 Oh, very nice. Okay, good. It's not even expensive. You gave me two to look, to pay attention to, and, you know, Track, track, along with, Michael Hingson ** 51:16 yeah, they're, they're, they're fun. So what do people assume about you that isn't true or that you don't think is true? Aaron Wolpoff, ** 51:25 People say, I'm quiet at times, guess going back to childhood, but there's time, there's situation. It's it's situational. There's times where I don't have to be the loudest person in the room or or be the one to talk the most, I can hang back and observe, but I would not categorize myself as quiet, you know, like I said, it's environmental. But now I've got plenty to say. You just have to engage me, I guess. Michael Hingson ** 51:56 Yeah, well, you know, it's interesting. I'm trying to remember Michael Hingson ** 52:04 on Shark Tank, what's Mark's last name, Cuban. Cuban. It's interesting to watch Mark on Shark Tank. I don't know whether he's really a quiet person normally, but I see when I watch Shark Tank. The other guys, like Mr. Wonderful with Kevin are talking all the time, and Mark just sits back and doesn't say anything for the longest period of time, and then he drops a bomb and bids and wins. Right? He's just really clever about the way he does it. I think there's a lot to be said for not just having to speak up every single time, but rather really thinking things through. And he clearly does that, Aaron Wolpoff, ** 52:46 yeah, yeah, you have to appreciate that. And I think that's part of the reason that you know, when I came time to do a podcast, I did a panel show, because I'm surrounded by bright, interesting, articulate people, you included as coming on with us and and I don't have to fill every second. I can, I can, I, you know, I can intake information and think for a second and then maybe have a Michael Hingson ** 53:15 response. Well, I think that makes a lot of sense, doesn't it? I mean, it's the way it really ought to be. Aaron Wolpoff, ** 53:20 Yeah, if you got to fill an hour by yourself, you're always on, right? Michael Hingson ** 53:26 Yeah, I know exactly what you mean. I know when I travel to speak. I figure that when I land somewhere, I'm on until I leave again. So I always enjoy reading books, especially going and coming on airplanes. And then I can be on the whole time. I am wherever I have to be, and then when I get on the airplane to come home, I can relax again. Aaron Wolpoff, ** 53:45 Now, I like that. And I know, you keynote, I think I'd rather moderate, you know, I'll say something when I have something to say, and let other people talk for a while. Well, you gotta, you have a great story, and you're, you know, I'm glad you're getting it out there. Michael Hingson ** 53:58 Well, if anybody needs a keynote speaker. Just saying, for everybody listening, feel free to email me. I'd love to hear from you. You can email me at Michael H i@accessibe.com or speaker at Michael hingson.com always looking for speaking engagements. Then we got that one in. I'm glad, but, but you know, for you, is there a podcast episode that you haven't done, that you really want to do, that just seems to be eluding you? Aaron Wolpoff, ** 54:28 There are a couple that got away. I wanted to do one about Sesame Street because it was without a it was looking like it was going to be without a home. And that's such a hallmark of my childhood. And so many, yeah, I think they worked out a deal, which is probably what I was going to propose with. It's like a CO production deal with Netflix. So it seems like they're safe for the foreseeable future. But what was the other I think there's, there's at least one or two more where maybe the guests didn't line up, or. Or the timeliness didn't work. I was going to have someone connected to Big Lots. You remember Big Lots? I think they're still around to some degree, but I think they are, come on and tell me their story, because they've, you know, they've been on the brink of extinction for a little while. So it's usually, it's either a timing thing, with the with with the guest, or the news cycle has just maybe gone on and moved past us. Michael Hingson ** 55:28 But, yeah, I know people wrote off Red Lobster for a while, but they're still around. Aaron Wolpoff, ** 55:35 They're still around. That would be a good one. Yeah, their endless shrimp didn't do them any favors. No, that didn't help a whole lot, but it's the companies, even the ones we've done already, you know, they they're still six months later. Toilet hasn't been even a full year of our show yet, but in a year, I bet there's, you know, we could revisit them all over again, and they're still going to find themselves in, I don't know, hot water, but some kind of controversy for one reason or another. And we'll, we'll try to help them out again. Michael Hingson ** 56:06 Have you seen any successes from the podcast episodes where a company did listen to you and has made some changes? Aaron Wolpoff, ** 56:15 I don't know that. I can correlate one to one. We know that they listen. We can look at the metrics and where the where the list listens, are coming from, especially with LinkedIn, gives you some engagement and tells you which companies are paying attention. So we know that they are and they have now, whether they took that and, you know, implemented it, we have a disclaimer saying, Don't do it. You know, we're not there to give you unfiltered legal advice. You know, don't hold us accountable for anything we say. But if we said something good and you like it, do it. So, you know, I don't know to a T if they have then we probably given away billions of dollars worth of fixes. But, you know, I don't know the correlation between those who have listened and those who have acted on something that we might have, you know, alluded to or set out, right? But it has. We've been the times that we take it really seriously. We've we've predicted some things that have come come to pass. Michael Hingson ** 57:13 That's cool, yeah. Well, you certainly had a great career, and you've done a lot of interesting things. If you had to suddenly change careers and do something entirely different from what you're doing, what would it be? Aaron Wolpoff, ** 57:26 Oh, man, my family laughs at me, but I think it would be a furniture salesman. There you go. Yeah, I don't know why. There's something about it's just enough repetition and just enough creativity. I guess, where people come in, you tell them, you know you, they tell you their story, you know, you get to know them. And then you say, Oh, well, this sofa would be amazing, you know, and not, not one with endless varieties, not one with with two models somewhere in between. Yeah, I think that would be it keeps you on your feet. Michael Hingson ** 58:05 Furniture salesman, well, if you, you know, if you get too bored, math is homes and Bob's furniture probably looking for people. Aaron Wolpoff, ** 58:12 Yeah, I could probably do that at night. Michael Hingson ** 58:18 What advice do you give to people who are just starting out, or what kinds of things do you would you give to people we have ideas and thoughts? Aaron Wolpoff, ** 58:27 So I've done a lot of mentoring. I've done a lot of one on one calls. They told I always work with an organization. They told me I did 100 plus calls. I always tell people to take use the create their own momentum, so you can apply for things, you can stand in line, you can wait, or you can come up with your own idea and test it out and say, I'm doing this. Who wants in? And the minute you have an idea, people are interested. You know, you're on to something. Let me see what that's all about. You know, I want to be one of the three that you're looking for. So I tell them, create their own momentum. Try to flip the power dynamic. So if you're asking for a job, how do you get the person that you're asking to want something from you and and do things that are take on, things that are within your control? Michael Hingson ** 59:18 Right? Right? Well, if you had to go back and tell the younger Aaron something from years ago, what would you give him in the way of advice? Aaron Wolpoff, ** 59:30 Be more vulnerable. Don't pretend you know everything. There you go. And you don't need to know everything. You need to know what you know. And then get a little better and get a little better. Michael Hingson ** 59:43 One of the things that I constantly tell people who I hire as salespeople is you can be a student, at least for a year. Don't hesitate to ask your customers questions because they're not out to. Get you. They want you to succeed. And if you interact with your customers and you're willing to learn from them, they're willing to teach, and you'll learn so much that you never would have thought you would learn. I just think that's such a great concept. Aaron Wolpoff, ** 1:00:12 Oh, exactly right. Yeah. As soon as I started saying that to clients, you know, they would throw out an industry term. As soon as I've said I don't know what that is, can you explain it to me? Yeah? And they did, and the world didn't fall apart. And I didn't, you know, didn't look like the idiot that I thought I would when we went on with our day. Yeah, that whole protective barrier that I worked so hard to keep up as a facade, I didn't have to do it, and it was so freeing. Yeah, yeah, yeah, Michael Hingson ** 1:00:41 I hear you. Well, this has been fun. We've been doing it for an hour. Can you believe it? Oh, hey, that was a quick hour. I know it was a lot of fun. Well, I want to thank you for being here, and I want to thank you all for listening. Please give us a five star rating wherever you're listening or watching. We really appreciate it. We value your thoughts. I'd love to hear from you and get your thoughts on our episode today. And I'm sure Aaron would like that as well, and I'll give you an email address in a moment. But Aaron, if people want to reach out to you and maybe use your services, how do they do that? Aaron Wolpoff, ** 1:01:12 Yeah, so two ways you can check me out, at double zebra, z, E, B, R, A, double zebra.com and the podcast, I encourage you to check out too. We fixed it. Pod.com, we fixed it. Michael Hingson ** 1:01:25 Pod.com, there you go. So reach out to Aaron and get marketing stuff done and again. Thank you all. My email address, if you'd like to talk to us, is Michael, H, I m, I C, H, A, E, L, H, I at accessibe, A, C, C, E, S, S, i, b, e.com, and if you know anyone else who you think ought to be a guest on our podcast, we'd love it if you give us an introduction. We're always looking for people, so please do and again. Aaron, I just want to thank you for being here. This has been a lot of fun. Aaron Wolpoff, ** 1:01:58 That was great. Thanks for having me. Michael, **Michael Hingson ** 1:02:05 You have been listening to the Unstoppable Mindset podcast. Thanks for dropping by. I hope that you'll join us again next week, and in future weeks for upcoming episodes. To subscribe to our podcast and to learn about upcoming episodes, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com slash podcast. Michael Hingson is spelled m i c h a e l h i n g s o n. While you're on the site., please use the form there to recommend people who we ought to interview in upcoming editions of the show. And also, we ask you and urge you to invite your friends to join us in the future. If you know of any one or any organization needing a speaker for an event, please email me at speaker at Michael hingson.com. I appreciate it very much. To learn more about the concept of blinded by fear, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com forward slash blinded by fear and while you're there, feel free to pick up a copy of my free eBook entitled blinded by fear. The unstoppable mindset podcast is provided by access cast an initiative of accessiBe and is sponsored by accessiBe. Please visit www.accessibe.com . AccessiBe is spelled a c c e s s i b e. There you can learn all about how you can make your website inclusive for all persons with disabilities and how you can help make the internet fully inclusive by 2025. Thanks again for Listening. Please come back and visit us again next week.
With over 100 million views and a legacy of creating joyful, multilingual music for children, BASHO & FRIENDS today announced the release of his ambitious new album, "A Way to Be," dropping today. This collection of genre-blending, emotionally rich songs is designed to help kids thrive in the world as it is.Backed by a resume that includes songwriting for an Emmy Award-winning season of "Sesame Street," creative collaborations with Sesame Studios, and recent work as a scriptwriter for the PBS animated series "Skillsville," Basho brings a rare mix of educational depth and musical soul to his work. "A Way to Be" is his most personal and conceptual project to date, offering a core lesson for kids everywhere: believe in each other, keep trying, and grow together."So much of my career has focused on academic readiness for kids—counting, colors, and letters," says Basho. "But this album is about something deeper: learning about living fully every day. From celebrating kindness and learning how to bounce back from failure, to an anthem about how to show up for your friends, these are lessons about growing up and growing together."A Unique Sound and a Universal Message Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/arroe-collins-unplugged-totally-uncut--994165/support.
Today's episode includes: • Marvel released the trailer of Marvel Zombies • Adult Swim released the trailer of Smiling Friends (Season 3) • Nelvana stopped production as Corus continues to struggle • YouTube to host hundreds of episodes of Sesame Street, along with exclusive videos and workshops from Sesame Workshop • Greg Cipes claimed to be fired from his role of Beast Boy in Teen Titans Go! because of his Parkinson's diagnosis
Sat, 06 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMT http://relay.fm/downstream/102 http://relay.fm/downstream/102 Jason Snell Now that David Ellison owns Paramount, what's next? Also, your letters and our TV picks! [Downstream+ subscribers also get: K-Pop Demon Hunters, Wheel and Jeopardy and Sesame Street stream, Apple TV+ price hike, and binging "The Paper."] Now that David Ellison owns Paramount, what's next? Also, your letters and our TV picks! [Downstream+ subscribers also get: K-Pop Demon Hunters, Wheel and Jeopardy and Sesame Street stream, Apple TV+ price hike, and binging "The Paper."] clean 2808 Now that David Ellison owns Paramount, what's next? Also, your letters and our TV picks! [Downstream+ subscribers also get: K-Pop Demon Hunters, Wheel and Jeopardy and Sesame Street stream, Apple TV+ price hike, and binging "The Paper."] This episode of Downstream is sponsored by: Relay for St. Jude Guest Starring: Josef Adalian Links and Show Notes: TV Picks Joe: Irish Blood (Acorn TV), Leanne (Netflix) Jason: Platonic (Apple TV+) Get Downstream+ and don't miss a segment! Submit Feedback
Sat, 06 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMT http://relay.fm/downstream/102 http://relay.fm/downstream/102 Just Like Television 102 Jason Snell Now that David Ellison owns Paramount, what's next? Also, your letters and our TV picks! [Downstream+ subscribers also get: K-Pop Demon Hunters, Wheel and Jeopardy and Sesame Street stream, Apple TV+ price hike, and binging "The Paper."] Now that David Ellison owns Paramount, what's next? Also, your letters and our TV picks! [Downstream+ subscribers also get: K-Pop Demon Hunters, Wheel and Jeopardy and Sesame Street stream, Apple TV+ price hike, and binging "The Paper."] clean 2808 Now that David Ellison owns Paramount, what's next? Also, your letters and our TV picks! [Downstream+ subscribers also get: K-Pop Demon Hunters, Wheel and Jeopardy and Sesame Street stream, Apple TV+ price hike, and binging "The Paper."] This episode of Downstream is sponsored by: Relay for St. Jude Guest Starring: Josef Adalian Links and Show Notes: TV Picks Joe: Irish Blood (Acorn TV), Leanne (Netflix) Jason: Platonic (Apple TV+) Get Downstream+ and don't miss a segment! Submit Feedback
Welcome to Jake's Happy Nostalgia Show, the podcast where nostalgia comes alive!This week, we're joined by the talented children's director and producer Koyalee Chanda! Koyalee got her start on the groundbreaking Nick Jr. favorite Blue's Clues, where she directed and wrote episodes, directed the show's memorable "video letters", and even provided the original voice of the character Magenta. From there, her directing journey took her to SeeMore's Playhouse, Sesame Street's beloved "What's the Word on the Street?" segments, and beyond. She later stepped into producing roles as producer and co-executive producer on Wallykazam! and served as voice director on The Backyardigans. Join us as we look back on Koyalee's amazing career, the creativity behind these iconic shows, and the joy of shaping stories that continue to inspire kids and families everywhere.Special thanks to Adam Peltzman for connecting us!Keep up with Koyalee!https://www.innerdog.net/https://www.instagram.com/koyalee/Taping date: March 3, 2025Edited by: Chris Bixby (Co-Host)https://www.facebook.com/cbixby2000Be sure to check out our website, where you can learn more about the podcast and find how to follow the Happy Nostalgia team!https://jakeshappynostalgiashow.weebly.com/Listen to our podcast on Spotify and other audio platforms!https://open.spotify.com/show/1PdrRWSmUdQ3m2NpNR9lSkhttps://linktr.ee/JakesHappyNostalgiaShow
Watch this podcast episode on YouTube and all major podcast hosts including Spotify.CLOWNFISH TV is an independent, opinionated news and commentary podcast that covers Entertainment and Tech from a consumer's point of view. We talk about Gaming, Comics, Anime, TV, Movies, Animation and more. Hosted by Kneon and Geeky Sparkles.D/REZZED News covers Pixels, Pop Culture, and the Paranormal! We're an independent, opinionated entertainment news blog covering Video Games, Tech, Comics, Movies, Anime, High Strangeness, and more. As part of Clownfish TV, we strive to be balanced, based, and apolitical. Get more news, views and reviews on Clownfish TV News - https://news.clownfishtv.com/On YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/ClownfishTVOn Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/4Tu83D1NcCmh7K1zHIedvgOn Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/clownfish-tv-audio-edition/id1726838629
The White House hosted several tech and AI leaders at an event today centered on teaching artificial intelligence in US schools. Many of the big tech companies — including Amazon, Google, Microsoft, OpenAI and Anthropic — have already issued press releases with their commitments to a pledge from the White House to help "foster early interest in Al technology, promote Al literacy and proficiency, and enable comprehensive Al training for parents and educators." Also, A new peer-reviewed study alleges that 18 of the 100 most-downloaded virtual private network apps on the Google Play Store are secretly connected in three large families, despite claiming to be independent providers. Here's the link to the 18 VPNs that have overlaps. https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/vpn/researchers-find-alarming-overlaps-among-18-popular-vpns-191828342.html And Sesame Street creator Sesame Workshop and YouTube have announced a new "extended partnership" that will bring episodes of the iconic children's show to the platform and a series of workshops for creators on "how to create content that is entertaining while also promoting learning." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Christopher Danielson, Which One Doesn't Belong? Routine: Fostering Flexible Reasoning ROUNDING UP: SEASON 4 | EPISODE 1 The idea of comparing items and looking for similarities and differences has been explored by many math educators. Christopher Danielson has taken this idea to new heights. Inspired by the Sesame Street song “One of These Things (Is Not Like the Others),” Christopher wrote the book Which One Doesn't Belong? In this episode, we'll ask Christopher about the routine of the same name and the features that make it such a powerful learning experience for students. BIOGRAPHY Christopher Danielson started teaching in 1994 in the Saint Paul (MN) Public Schools. He earned his PhD in mathematics education from Michigan State University in 2005 and taught at the college level for 10 years after that. Christopher is the author of Which One Doesn't Belong?, How Many?, and How Did You Count? Christopher also founded Math On-A-Stick, a large-scale family math playspace at the Minnesota State Fair. RESOURCES What Is “Which One Doesn't Belong?” Talking Math With Your Kids by Christopher Danielson Math On-A-Stick 5 Practices for Orchestrating Productive Mathematics Discussion by Margaret (Peg) Smith & Mary Kay Stein How Many?: A Counting Book by Christopher Danielson How Did You Count? A Picture Book by Christopher Danielson TRANSCRIPT Mike Wallus: The idea of comparing items and looking for similarities and differences has been explored by many math educators. That said, Christopher Danielson has taken this idea to new heights. Inspired by Sesame Street's [song] “One of These Things (Is Not Like the Others),” Christopher wrote the book Which One Doesn't Belong? In this episode, we'll ask Christopher about the Which one doesn't belong? routine and the features that make it such a powerful learning experience for students. Well, welcome to the podcast, Christopher. I'm excited to be talking with you today. Christopher Danielson: Thank you for the invitation. Delightful to be invited. Mike: I would love to chat a little bit about the routine Which one doesn't belong? So, I'll ask a question that I often will ask folks, which is: If I'm a listener, and I don't have prior knowledge of that routine, how would you describe it for someone? Christopher: Yeah. Sesame Street, back in the day, had a routine called Which one doesn't belong? There was a little song that went along with it. And for me, the iconic Sesame Street image is [this:] Grover is on the stairs up to the brownstone on the Sesame Street set, and there are four circles drawn in a 2-by-2 grid in chalk on the wall. And there are a few of the adults and a couple of the puppets sitting around, and they're asking Grover and singing the song, “Which One of Them Doesn't Belong?” There are four circles. Three of them are large and one is small—or maybe it's the other way around, I don't remember. So, there's one right answer, and Grover is thinking really hard—"think real hard” is part of the song. They're singing to him. He's under kind of a lot of pressure to come up with which one doesn't belong and fortunately, Grover succeeds. Grover's a hero. But what we're wanting kids to attend to there is size. There are three things that are the same size. All of them are the same shape, three that are the same size, one that has a different size. They're wanting to attend to size. Lovely. This one doesn't belong because it is a different size, just like my underwear doesn't belong in my socks drawer because it has a different function. I mean, it's not—for me there is, we could talk a little bit about this in a moment. The belonging is in that mathematical and everyday sense of objects and whether they belong. So, that's the Sesame Street version. Through a long chain of math educators, I came across a sort of tradition that had been flying along under the radar of rethinking that, with the idea being that instead of there being one property to attend to, we're going to have a rich set of shapes that have rich and interesting relationships with each other. And so Which one doesn't belong? depends on which property you're attending to. So, the first page of the book that I published, called Which One Doesn't Belong?, has four shapes on it. One is an equilateral triangle standing on a vertex. One is a square standing on a vertex. One is a rhombus, a nonsquare rhombus standing on its vertex, and it's not colored in. All the other shapes are colored in. And then there is the same nonsquare thrombus colored in, resting on a side. So, all sort of simple shapes that offer simple introductory properties, but different people are going to notice different things. Some kids will hone in on that. The one in the lower left doesn't belong because it's not colored in. Other kids will say, “Well, I'm counting the number of sides or the number of corners. And so, the triangle doesn't belong because all the others have four and it has three.” Others will think about angle measure, they'll choose a square. Others will think about orientation. I've been taken to task by a couple of people about this. Kindergartners are still thinking about orientation as one of the properties. So, the shape that is in the lower right on that first page is a rhombus resting on a side instead of on a vertex. And kids will describe it as “the one that feels like it's leaning over” or that “has a flat bottom” or “it's pointing up and to the right” and all the others are pointing straight up and down. So that's the routine. And then things, as with “How Did You Count?” as with “How Many?” As you page your way through the book, things get more sophisticated. And for me, the entry was a geometry book because when my kids were small, we had sort of these simplistic shapes books, but really rich narrative stories in picture books that we could read. And it was always a bummer to me that we'd read these rich stories about characters interacting. We'd see how their interactions, their conflicts relate to our own lives, and then we'd get to the math books, and it would be like, “triangle: always equilateral, always on a side.” “Square: never a square on the rectangle page.” Rectangle gets a different page from square. And so, we understand culturally that children can deal with and are interested in and find fascinating and imaginative rich narratives, but we don't understand as a culture that children also have rich math minds. So, for a long time I wanted there to be a better shapes book, and there are some better shapes books. They're not all like that, but they're almost all like that. And so, I had this idea after watching one of my colleagues here in Minnesota, Terry Wyberg. This routine, he was doing it with fractions, but about a week later I thought to myself, “Hey, wait a minute, what if I took Terry's idea about there not being one right answer, but any of the four could be, and combine that with my wish for a better shapes book?” And along came Which One Doesn't Belong? as a shapes book. So, there's a square and a rectangle on the same page. There are shapes with curvy sides and shapes with straight sides on the same page, and kids have to wrestle with or often do wrestle with: What does it mean to be a vertex or a corner? A lot of really rich ideas can come out of some well-chosen, simple examples. I chose to do it in the field of geometry, but there are lots of other mathematical objects as well as nonmathematical objects you could apply the same mathematical thinking to. Mike: So, I think you have implicitly answered the question that I'm going to ask. If you were to say at the broadest level, regardless of whether you're using shapes, numbers, images—whatever the content is that an educator selects to put into the 2-by-2, that is structurally the way that Which one doesn't belong? is set up—what's it good for? What should a teacher think about in terms of “This will help me or will help my students…,” fill in the blank. How do you think about the value that comes out of this Which one doesn't belong? structure and experience? Christopher: Multidimensional for me. I don't know if I'll remember to say all of the dimensions, so I'll just try to mention a couple that I think are important. One is that I'm going to make you a promise that whatever mathematical ideas you bring to this classroom during this routine are going to be valued. The measure of what's right, what counts as a right answer here, is going to be what's true—not what I thought of when I was setting up this set. I think there is a lot of power in making that promise and then in holding that promise. It is really, really easy—all of us have been there as teachers—[to] make an instructional promise to kids, [but] then there comes a time where it either inadvertently or we make a decision to break that promise. I think there's a lot of costs to that. I know from my own experience as a learner, from my own experiences as a teacher, that there can be a high cost to that. So valuing ideas, I think this is a space. I love having Which one doesn't belong? as a time that we can set aside for the measure of “what's right is what's true.” So, when children are making claims about this one in the upper right doesn't belong, I want you to for a moment try to think like that person, even if you disagree that that's important. And so, teachers have to play that role also. Where that comes up a lot is in, especially when I'm talking with adults, if I'm talking to parents about Which one doesn't belong?, often parents who don't identify as math people or who explicitly identify as nonmath people, will say, “That one in the lower left, it's not colored in. But I don't think that really counts.” In that moment, kids are less likely to make that apology, but adults will make that apology all the time. And in that moment, I have to both bring the adult in as a mathematical thinker but also model for them: What does it look like when their kid chooses something that the parent doesn't think counts? So, for me, the real thing that Which one doesn't belong? is doing is teaching children, giving children practice and expertise—therefore learning—about a particular mathematical practice, which is abstraction. That when we look at these sets of shapes, there are lots of properties. And so, we have to for a moment, just think about number of sides. And if we do that, then the triangle doesn't belong because of the other four. But as soon as we shift the property and say, “Well, let's think about angle measures,” then the ways that we're going to sort those shapes, the relationships that they have with each other, changes. And that's true with all mathematical objects. And you can do that kind of mathematical thinking with non-mathematical objects. One of my favorite Which one doesn't belong? sets is: There's a doughnut, a chocolate doughnut; there's a coffee cup, one of those speckled blue camping metal coffee cups; there's half a hamburger bun with a bunch of seeds on top; and then there is a square everything bagel. And so, as kids start thinking about that, they're like, “Well, if we're thinking about holes, the hamburger bun doesn't have a hole. If we're thinking about speckling, the chocolate doughnut isn't speckled. If we're thinking about whether it's an edible substance, the coffee cup is not edible.” And so that's that same abstraction. If we pay attention to just this one property, that forces a sort. If we pay attention to a different property, we're going to get a different sort. And that's one of the practices of mathematicians on a regular basis. So regular that often when we're doing mathematics, we don't even notice that we're doing it. We don't notice that we're asking kids to ignore all the other properties of the number 2 except for its evenness right now. If you do that, then 2 and 4 are like each other. But if we're supposed to be paying attention to primality as to a prime number, then 2 and 4 are not like each other. All mathematical objects, all mathematicians have to do that kind of sort on the objects that they're working with. I had a college algebra class at the community college while I was working on Which One Doesn't Belong?, and so, I was test-driving this with graphs and my students. I can still see Rosalie in the middle of the room—a room full of 45 adults ranging from 17 to 52, and I'm this 45-year-old college instructor—and we have three parabolas and one absolute value function. So, a parabola is “y equals x squared.” It's that nice curving swooping thing that goes up at one end down to a nice bowl and then up again. There was one that's upside down. I think there was one pointing sideways. And then an absolute value function is the same idea, except it's two lines coming together to make a bowl, sort of a very sharp bowl, instead of being curved. And we got this lovely Which one doesn't belong?, right? So, we've got this lovely collection of them. And Rosalie, her eyebrows are getting more and more knitted as this conversation goes on. So finally, she raises her hand. I call on her, and she says, “Mr. Danielson, I get that all of these things are true about these, but which ones matter?” Which is a fabulous question that within itself holds a lot of tensions that Rosalie is used to being in math class and being told what things she's supposed to pay attention to. And so, in some ways it's sort of disturbing to have me up there, and I get that, up there in front of the classroom valuing all these different ways of viewing these graphs because she's like, “Which one is going to matter when you ask me this question about something on an exam? Which ones matter?” But truly, the only intellectually honest answer to her question is, “Well, it depends. Are we paying attention to direction of concavity? Then the one that's pointing sideways doesn't count.” Any one of these is, it depends on whether you're studying algebra or whether you're studying geometry or topology. And I did give her, I think—I hope—what was a satisfying answer after giving her the true but not very satisfying answer of “It depends,” which is something like, “Well, in the work we're about to do with absolute value functions, the direction that they open up and how steeply they open up are going to be the things that we're really attending to, and we're not going to be attending as much to how they are or are not like parabolas. But seeing how they have some properties in common with these parabolas is probably going to be really useful for us. Mike: That actually makes me think of, one, a statement of what I think is really powerful about this. And then, two, a pair of questions that I think are related. It really struck me—Rosalie's question—how different the experience of engaging with a Which one doesn't belong? is from what people have traditionally considered math tasks where there is in fact an answer, right? There's something that the teacher's like, “Yep, that's the thing.” Even if it's perhaps obscured by the task at first, ultimately, oftentimes there is a thing and a Which one doesn't belong? is a very, very different type of experience. So that really does lead me to two questions. One is: What is important to think about when you're facilitating a Which one doesn't belong? experience? And then, maybe even the better question to start with is: What's important to think about when you're planning for that experience? Christopher: Facilitating is going to be about making a promise to kids. That measure of “what's right is what's true.” I'm interested in the various ways that you're thinking and doing all the kind of work that we discussed but now in this context of geometry, or in my case in the college algebra classroom, in the context of algebraic representations. Planning. I have been so deeply influenced by the work of Peg Smith and her colleagues and the five practices for facilitating mathematical conversations. And in particular, I think in planning for these conversations, planning a set—when I'm deciding what shapes are going to go in the set, or how I'm going to arrange the eggs in the egg carton, or how many half avocados am I going to put on the cutting board—I'm anticipating one of those practices: What is it that kids are likely to do with this? And if I can't anticipate anything interesting that they're going to do with it, then either my imagination isn't good enough, and I better go try it out with kids or my imagination is absolutely good enough and it's just kind of a junky thing that's not going to take me anywhere, and I should abandon it. So over time, I've gotten so much better at that anticipating work because I have learned, I've become much more expert at what kids are likely to see. But I also always get surprised. In a sufficiently large group of kids, somebody will notice something or have some way of articulating differences among the shapes, even these simple shapes on the first page, that I haven't encountered before. And I get to file that away again for next time. That's learning that gets fed back into the machine, both for the next time I'm going to work with a group of kids, but also for the next time I'm sitting down to design an experience. Mike: You have me thinking about something else, which is what closure might look like in an experience like this. Because I'm struck by the fact that there might be some really intentional choices of the items in the Which one doesn't belong? So, the four items that end up being there, [they] may be designed to drive a conversation around a set of properties or a set of relationships—and yet at the same time be open enough to allow lots of kids to be right in the things that they're noticing. And so, if I've got a Which one doesn't belong? that kind of is intended to draw out some ideas or have kids notice some of those ideas and articulate them, what does closure look like? Because I could imagine you don't know what you're going to get necessarily from kids when you put a Which one doesn't belong? in front of them. So, how do you think about different ways that a routine or experience like this might close for a teacher and for students? Christopher: Yeah, I think one of the best roles that a teacher can play at the end of a Which one doesn't belong? conversation is going back and summarizing the various properties that kids attended to. Because as they're being presented and maybe annotated, we're noticing them sort of one by one. And we might not have a moment to set them aside. It might take a minute for a kid to draw out their ideas about the orientation of this shape. And it might take a little bit and some clarification with another kid about how they were counting sides. They might not have great words for “sides” or “corners,” and [instead they use] gestures, and we're all trying to figure things out. And so, by the time we figured that out, we've forgotten about the orientation answer that we had before. So I think a really powerful move, one of many that are in teachers' toolkits, is to come back and say, “All right, so we looked at these four shapes, and what we noticed is that if you're paying attention to how this thing is sitting on the page, to its orientation, which direction it's pointing, then this one didn't belong, and Susie gave us that answer. And then another thing you might pay attention to, another property could be the number of sides. If you're paying attention to the number of sides the triangle doesn't belong, and we got that one from Brent, right?” And so run through some of the various properties. Also, noticing along the way that there were two reasons to pick the triangle as the one that doesn't belong. It might be the sides, and it might be, you might have some other reason for picking it that isn't the number of sides. For kindergartners, the number of corners, or vertices, and the number of sides are not yet obviously the same as each other. So, for a lot of kindergartners that feels like two answers rather than one. Older audiences are more likely to know that that's going to be the same. So yeah, I think that being able to come back and state succinctly after we've had this conversation—valuing each of the contributions that came along, but also being able to compare them, maybe we're writing them down as part of our annotation. There might be other ways that we do that. But I think summarizing so that we can look at this set of ideas that's been brought out altogether, I think is a really powerful way. One other quick thing about designing, which is—I hear this a lot from teachers, they're saying, “OK, so we're studying quadrilaterals. So, I made a Which one doesn't belong? with four quadrilaterals. And nobody noticed that they were all quadrilaterals.” To which I say, “They didn't notice because you didn't contrast that property.” So, if there's a property you want to bring out, you better make sure, I think, that you have three things that have it and one that doesn't. Or vice versa—three that don't, and one that does—because then that's a thing for kids to notice. They're not going to notice what they all have in common because that's not the task we're asking them. So, if you want to make one about quadrilaterals, throw a pentagon in there. Mike: Love it. So, the question that I typically will ask any guest before the close of the interview is, what are some resources that educators might grab onto, be they yours or other work in the field that you think is really powerful, that supports the kind of work that we've been talking about? What would you offer to someone who's interested in continuing to learn and maybe to try this out? Christopher: So, we've referred to number talks. “Dot talks” and “number talks,” those are both phrases that can be googled. There are three books, Which One Doesn't Belong?, How Many?, How Did You Count?—all published by Stenhouse, all available as a hardcover book, hardcover student book, or home picture book. Mike: So, for listeners, just so you know, we're going to add links to the resources that Christopher referred to in all of our show notes for folks' convenience. Christopher, I think this is probably a good place to stop. Thank you so much for joining us. It's absolutely been a pleasure chatting with you. Christopher: Yeah, thank you for the invitation, for your thoughtful prep work, and support of both the small and the larger projects along the way. I appreciate that. I appreciate all of you at Bridges and The Math Learning Center. You do fabulous work. Mike: This concludes part one of our discussion with Christopher Danielson. Christopher is going to join us again later this season, where we'll have a conversation about the nature of counting and how an expanded definition of counting might help support students later in their mathematical journey. I hope that you'll join us for this conversation. This podcast is brought to you by The Math Learning Center and the Maier Math Foundation, dedicated to inspiring and enabling all individuals to discover and develop their mathematical confidence and ability. © 2025 The Math Learning Center | www.mathlearningcenter.org
Tired of ADHD strategies that don't work? Here's what actually does. FREE training here: https://programs.tracyotsuka.com/signupNatasha M. Nurse lived 37 years not knowing she was neurodivergent. Then motherhood changed everything. The crying, the overwhelm, the dark thoughts that felt like more than typical new parent struggles—all of it led to a discovery that would reshape her understanding of herself completely.Diagnosed with autism and ADHD at 37, Natasha finally had answers for a lifetime of feeling out of place. The child who preferred HBO to Sesame Street, who spent her Manhattan childhood with books instead of friends, who excelled academically while feeling painfully lonely—suddenly it all made sense.Now Managing Director at MRM Education, she's turning her neurodivergent perspective into a strength by building systems that celebrate, not just accommodate, different learners.With Tracy, Natasha explores why traditional education fails, the double edge of hyperfocus, and why knowing your brain is the ultimate workaround. She also shares what it's like to parent a neurodivergent child while healing her own wounds, the power of being seen, and how she's helping families navigate systems never built for brains like theirs.Resources:Website: www.dressingroom8.com LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/natashamnurse Instagram: www.instagram.com/natashamnurse Schedule a call: cal.com/natasha-nurseEmail: natasha@mrmeducation.com MRM Education Info: Phone: (973) 997 8274Website: www.mrmeducation.comEmail: info@mrmeducation.comFacebook: www.facebook.com/mrmeducate Facebook Group: www.facebook.com/groups/1611107013001431 Instagram: www.instagram.com/mrmeducationLinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/cSend a Message: Your Name | Email | Message Instead of Struggling to figure out what to do next? ADHD isn't a productivity problem. It's an identity problem. That's why most strategies don't stick—they weren't designed for how your brain actually works. Your ADHD Brain is A-OK Academy is different. It's a patented, science-backed coaching program that helps you stop fighting your brain and start building a life that fits.
We're back with another packed episode of Geektown Radio! This week, Dave is joined by Darryl to chat through what they've been watching, including Netflix's The Thursday Murder Club, the final season of Prime Video's Upload, James Gunn's Superman, and FX's Alien: Earth. We also discuss Countdown, F Marry Kill, and much more, along with the latest TV news, cancellations, renewals, and the highlights of next week's UK TV.Timestamps:01:20 – Intro & catch-up02:10 – Darryl reviews Countdown (Prime Video)07:00 – Darryl reviews Alien: Earth (FX)13:00 – Darryl on Wednesday Season 2 Part 1 (Netflix)16:40 – Darryl reviews F Marry Kill (Prime Video)19:20 – Dave reviews Superman (DCU film, home release)24:00 – Dave reviews Upload final season (Prime Video)26:30 – Dave reviews The Thursday Murder Club (Netflix film)30:00 – TV News: cancellations & renewals (Motorheads, The Waterfront, Death Valley, more)35:00 – Air date news (Taskmaster S20, Into the Badlands on ITVX, High Potential S2, Fawlty Towers The Play, Billy the Kid S3, Robin Hood, Trying, Sesame Street)45:00 – Pickups (Doc, The Hunting Party, Harry Wild, Art Detectives)52:00 – Disney D23 announcements (Toy Story 5, Hoppers, Zootopia 2, Star Wars: Starfighter, Hexed)58:00 – Harry Potter casting update – Warwick Davis returns as Flitwick01:02:30 – Highlights for the week ahead (Grand Designs, Universal Basic Guys, NCIS: Tony & Ziva, Mitchell & Webb Are Not Helping, The Paper, Task, Only Murders in the Building)01:05:30 – Wrap-up & where to find us onlineSupport this show http://supporter.acast.com/geektown. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
You never want to cross The Muppets out loud, so naturally, we're telling a story that does just that. In this episode, Rhett & Link uncover an untold story about Link and some muppeteers, find out what a blind person thinks they look like, the qualities that make up a perfect friend group, as well as dissecting whether or not impact or intent matters more. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Uncle uses his power of prophecy to get a glimpse of the future. Those people are there lighting up the sky, and hopefully it is a sign of better things to come. Topics include: Ed's letter, shovel rock, TikTak, Ochelli Chat issues, Creative Accidents tires slashed, Sidekick playing with his toy machine, TikTok live center, the X Machine, joiners, organizing listings, graphics collection, goofy 3D renders, lemons, callers, Sesame Street characters, Muppets, weird internet videos that remain popular, Flash leaves, Uncle's close encounter, prophecy of the future, they are out there, lighting up the sky
Age of Transitions and Uncle 9-29-2025AoT#472The former “Truth Movement” is no longer in existence, however some of the personalities involved in it are still out there making media. The many unfortunate changes in their messaging are discussed here, and Aaron will be going further with this in his ongoing Patreon series. Topics include: improvements on Patreon, listeners who sent DVDs in the mail, history of Truth Movement, alternative conservative commentators, left wing denigration of truth seeking, algorithm leading the way, MAGA takeover, concept for YouTube documentary, creators getting huge out of nowhere, Fox News, angel investors, tech overlords in the shadows, rise of podcast format popularity, shifting over of mainstream media to digital media, old format of presenting research now gone, everything is reactionary, Guy Fawkes masks, misplaced paranoia, federal profiling of researchers, continuation of post 9/11 Neocon agenda against civil liberties, beyond the left/right paradigm, shift to full on racist material, Muslim takeover scare, Dearborn MI, history of demonizing specific ethnic groupsUtp#379Uncle uses his power of prophecy to get a glimpse of the future. Those people are there lighting up the sky, and hopefully it is a sign of better things to come. Topics include: Ed's letter, shovel rock, TikTak, Ochelli Chat issues, Creative Accidents tires slashed, Sidekick playing with his toy machine, TikTok live center, the X Machine, joiners, organizing listings, graphics collection, goofy 3D renders, lemons, callers, Sesame Street characters, Muppets, weird internet videos that remain popular, Flash leaves, Uncle's close encounter, prophecy of the future, they are out there, lighting up the skyFRANZ MAIN HUB:https://theageoftransitions.com/PATREONhttps://www.patreon.com/aaronfranzUNCLEhttps://unclethepodcast.com/ORhttps://theageoftransitions.com/category/uncle-the-podcast/FRANZ and UNCLE Merchhttps://theageoftransitions.com/category/support-the-podcasts/---Email Chuckblindjfkresearcher@gmail.comBE THE EFFECTOchelli Link Treehttps://linktr.ee/chuckochelli---NOVEMBER IN DALLAS LANCER CONFERENCEDISCOUNT FOR YOU10 % OFF code = Ochelli10https://assassinationconference.com/BE THE EFFECTListen/Chat on the Sitehttps://ochelli.com/listen-live/TuneInhttp://tun.in/sfxkxAPPLEhttps://music.apple.com/us/station/ochelli-com/ra.1461174708Ochelli Link Treehttps://linktr.ee/chuckochelliAnything is a blessing if you have the meansWithout YOUR support we go silent.---NOVEMBER IN DALLAS LANCER CONFERENCEDISCOUNT FOR YOU10 % OFF code = Ochelli10https://assassinationconference.com/Coming SOON Room Discount Details The Fairmont Dallas hotel 1717 N Akard Street, Dallas, Texas 75201. easy access to Dealey Plaza
The Maria From Sesame Street Who BROKE TV's Mold & Changed EVERYTHING for Latino Kids You think representation in media is new? Nah. This episode hits DIFFERENT. We're talking to the OG — the legendary talent who defined Maria on Sesame Street for 40+ years. She wasn't just a character. She was a MOVEMENT. Sonia Manzano isn't just “Maria” — she's a trailblazer, an Emmy-winning writer, and a cultural icon who paved the way for Latino voices on TV. Growing up in the Bronx, Sonia broke barriers as one of the first Latina actresses on national television. Beyond acting, she shaped stories behind the scenes, winning multiple Emmys as a Sesame Street writer and creator of Alma's Way, a groundbreaking animated series empowering Latino kids to embrace their identity and think critically. Sonia's work has been a beacon of representation, education, and cultural pride for generations. Back in the 50s and 60s, there was ZERO space for people of color on TV. ZERO. She grew up in the Bronx, a young Latina with ZERO examples on screen to look up to — until she became one. This isn't just nostalgia. This is the foundation of how Latino kids started seeing themselves on TV. Period. We get into: How she owned her identity while holding down one of the most beloved kids' shows EVER Breaking generational trauma and building cultural pride through media Why representation isn't just nice to have — it's ESSENTIAL for the future Here's the deal — we all face challenges in breaking through the noise, the stereotypes, and the limitations people try to put on us. Whether it's your culture, your background, or your dreams, this episode is a reminder that YOU have the power to create your own space. To tell your own story. To be the voice that others desperately need. If she could do it, so can you. Ready to stop waiting for someone else to represent you? Ready to break barriers and build your legacy? Hit play and get inspired! Subscribe, share, and drop a review — because every time you do, you're helping us push this mission further. Let's grow this community and show the world what REAL representation looks like. Real Stories. Real Identity. Real Power.
The right has waged a war on “woke” Sesame Street for generations. When the party passed the 2025 Recissions Act, they were finally able to take a significant field advantage in this battle—one which Big Bird and Mr Snuffleupagus never wanted to be in. That bill stripped $1.1 billion from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, greatly damaging NPR, PBS, and mostly their member stations. The CPB announced it will have to close in January 2026. What will take its place? Well, the right has a plan for that, or so Vox speculates: PragerU. Founded in 2009 as a right-wing alternative to reality, the sprawling, well-funded network teaches kids to hate DEI, love paying taxes, and recognize that the Bible offers the only salvation on this planet. Could it replace Sesame Street, however? Well, it's already in use in numerous classrooms—and the right wants it in all of them. Show Notes The White House has a preferred alternative to PBS. It may already be in countless classrooms. What Percentage of White Southerners Owned Slaves How Neoliberalism Swallowed Arts Policy The Global Liberal Arts Challenge | Ethics & International Affairs When the Arts Are Attacked, Democracy Is at Risk | Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council Davis, Michael. Street Gang: The Complete History of Sesame Street. New York: Penguin Books, 2014. Kamp, David. Sunny Days. New York: Simon & Schuster, n.d. Ledbetter, James. Made Possible By...: The Death of Public Broadcasting in the United States. London; New York: Verso, 1997. Stewart, David C.The PBS Companion: A History of Public Television. New York: TV Books, 1999. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
You asked for more Rob Lowe, and now you're getting more Rob Lowe! Every other Monday in the Literally podcast feed, we'll be sharing a special re-release from the Literally archives. From Robert Downey Jr. to Oprah Winfrey, you never know who will show up. In this episode, Rob and SNL great Vanessa Bayer discuss the pace of big cities vs the suburbs, Vanessa's summer on Sesame Street, doing Rachel Green for Jennifer Aniston, the brilliance of Encino Man, and rank their favorite QVC hosts. Plus: Rob answers an unusual sports question in the Lowedown Line. This episode was originally released in March 2021. Got a question for Rob? Call our voicemail at (323) 570-4551. Your question could get featured on the show!
[REBROADCAST FROM June 23, 2025] Bill Sherman wears many hats, including as the music director of "Sesame Street," orchestrating and arranging Broadway productions like "& Juliet," and "In The Heights," and also co-executive producer behind one of the latest projects from PBS Kids, "Donkey Hodie," a puppet music video series for preschoolers. Sherman discuss his career in music, and previews the second season of "Donkey Hodie," streaming this summer on PBS Kids and YouTube.
We're back with more listener questions and, boy, did y'all elicit some conversations. How does Joe keep his beard so lustrous? How do you get to Sesame Street? How does a flatulent water buffalo help when you're stopped by the police? Find out the answers to these questions, and more, in our latest episode. Give it a listen, it's a good one. #beards #sesamestreet #beans #waterbuffalo #camels #hunting #hogs
Talking to the dead, Sesame Street, Gelbooru's payment processor issues, return of Queen Amberlynn, Pearl Davis and the Tradwives, Brad Taste, and that little gay kid.
We chatted with children's performer, musician, and puppeteer Megan Piphus about the power of imitating life through objects. Megan Piphus is the first Black woman puppeteer on Sesame Street and she is inspiring young girls to dream big through her character Gabrielle.
Mazel morons! Elmo's in hot water, Josh is his crisis PR team, and Ben's five days deep into a creatine bender. Today we're unpacking Sesame Street's antisemitism scandal (yes, really), debate Epstein conspiracies, and pitch a big-and-proud fashion line that's sure to please. Plus: the rise of the gym cigarette, TikTok steroid bros, questionable wedding etiquette, and Ben's ongoing feud with a tank-topped Hamptons rager. Also…is Josh OK? Is anyone? Is this what well-nourished looks like? What are ya nuts? Love ya morons! Leave us a voicemail here!Follow us on Instagram and TikTok! Sponsors:If you're ready to build your own business - whether it's merch, products, or the next best idea - get on Shopify.com/goodguys and make it happen!Get this new customer offer and your 3-month Unlimited wireless plan for just 15 bucks a month at MINTMOBILE.com/goodguysVisit www.sleep.me/GoodGuys to get 20% off your Chilipad with code goodguys.That's HomeChef.com/GOODGUYS for FIFTY PERCENT OFF your first box and free dessert for life!Applebee's iconic 2 for $25 deal is back featuring their NEW Chicken Parmesan Fettuccine and NEW Big Bangin' Burger. You can get 1 appetizer and 2 entrees for $25Please note that this episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services referred to in this episode.Produced by Dear Media.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
From Sesame Street to the Cinderella Sweep: Megan Piphus on Her Journey Of VentriloquismSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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