My name is Kim Bant, I'm the Artistic Director of Props Nation Theatre and it's our pleasure and our pride to be able to present this event. It's one of my favorites. Now it is our second annual wide-open poetry slam here during poem city and I know you're all really nervous about getting you know getting up here and doing your thing so I want to prolong your agony. What I'm really basically here to do is introduce the representative of the Kellogg Public Library, just the organization of course that makes this poem city event happen. This explosion of poetry here in Central Vermont every spring now and so I'd like to bring out John Pullio, a member of the trustees of the Kellogg Public Library. Thanks for coming to this poem city event as Kim said my name is John Pullio, I'm the representative from Middlesex, a Kellogg-Covered Board of Trustees representative here to welcome you. Thanks for coming to this event sponsored by the Lost Nation Theatre and we'd like to thank Kim and Kathleen for having us and this wonderful venue which was the place for the kickoff event, the keynote, about a month ago. It's been a month of poems in the city and we started here and we're coming to a close and we have this great anything-go-slam here tonight. A wonderful venue and a wonderful collaboration between Lost Nation Theatre and the Kellogg-Covered Library. Poem city presented by the Kellogg-Covered Library since ninth year. If you didn't know that we're moving ahead next year's our tenth so let's give it up for the Kellogg-Covered Library. This doesn't happen on the cheap here. The sponsors for this year's event, the National Life Group Foundation, the Vermont Humanities Council, the Hunger Mountain Co-op, the Poetry Society of Vermont and the Vermont College of Fine Arts. So tonight's MC and I had to look that up. If you look up our hosts and MC in Wikipedia the interpretations vary. It's either Mr. Master or mischievous confabulator, Jeff Hewitt.  Ain't from Alabama. Ain't no scammer. Guy gives a dammer. Looks great in pajamas. He's the slammer jammer, slam poet of Vermont. Let's give it up for Jeff Hewitt. Well it's such a great pleasure to be here and we're so grateful to the Kellogg-Covered Library and Lost Nation Theatre and all the sponsors that John just mentioned for making this possible. But more than that the people who actually are going to provide us a show that we don't know what's going to happen. It's going to be one surprise after another. Give it up for the courageous slammer tonight. I'd like to have you also give a warm welcome to tonight's recording angel, a complete volunteer, Mr. Kim Bent. Now Kim, your job is not only recording angel, but you are fact-checker. So if any of the scores that I announce seem completely off, you will say point of order. You got that? I got it. And other than that you will write names where there are dots there. Not a lot of space and you have to leave in just enough space for a number to follow the name. I have numbers through 1 through 25 and Ellen, 25 dots here, they're pretty close. Ellen, I need a number between 1 and 25 please. What did she say? She said 13 and that will be Sarah K, S-A-R-A-H with a K. Stay where you are Sarah. There's no rush. What you need to do is come up with a number now that hasn't been called. 10, a good one. Bruce, have you been paying attention? 7, did you say? 7, yes. He said 7. Mila, where are you Mila? Yes, there you are. M-E-E-L. Oh, I'm sorry, M-E-A-L-A. 9, good call. Kim Ward, 14, she's paying attention. Hunter, she gives me what's called a late sign-up, but all it says on it is poetry slam. I look on the other side. Oh, Izzy. Izzy, why? Izzy, where are you? I need a number. Did you say 11? B-L-I-T-H-E. Where are you Blythe? 3. 3, James W, James Wazzle. Where are you, James? Yes. How about 9? James, you haven't been paying attention. 24. 24, good call finally. Sarah, G, Sarah with an H. Where are you Sarah? 21. Boy, that's great, good call. Russell. Yes, 2. Nice, you've been paying attention too. Hannah with an H on both ends. Say that. Yes, Noel, where are you Noel? With Kaya. Alright, Noel and Kaya, you're gonna be together on stage, is that right? Kim, you are so good. Look, you all believe how beautiful the handwriting is. 17. 17, Rick. Yeah, my fault. K-A-Y-N. Yeah. 22? He's got it right. Now, I'm not sure. I've got Aaron and Sam. How do you spell Aaron? Is it two A's and then R-O-N? Did I get that right? A-A-R-O and Sam. You're fishing for a number, aren't you? Did you say five? Yeah. Wow, good work. George. Oh, George has been writing down the numbers. He's been to slams before. One. One, good call. Tom, our man, where he is. Do you like Tom or Thomas? T-H-O-M-A-S. Yeah. Did he say 20? Yeah. He's got it. Lenin. Oh, Lenin is L-E-N-N-O-N. You'll take any. Let's hear it for Lenin. He'll take any. He took a Jim V. Yeah. 23. 23. Oh, Jim. D-I-Y-A. Did you say 18? Good one. Another Kim, a Kim, B. Yeah. Did you say six? Yeah. Jennifer, T-J-E-N-N-I-F-E-R with a T first less named Jennifer. Where are you? Yeah. Did you just say 12? 17. Just you said seven. Yeah, that's Lisa S, L-I-S-A. Where are you, Lisa Sheridan? Yeah. Did you say 24? Yeah. No, that's Chris P, Chris Pat, and that is H-A-L-T-Y, halty mograph. Did I get that right, halty? Halty? You see that? H-A-L-T-Y. I don't know. Maybe that's me. Haley? Is it Haley? H-A-L-E-Y. Yes. She was already called. Yeah. Oh, we've already got her? Yeah, but I think we'll set that. Is there anybody who is performing tonight whose name has not been called? Yes, indeed, and you are the one number that wasn't called Newton Baker, number 15. Oh, you are so right. And John Foster. John Foster? Yes. You're going to close the show, John. Not at all, when they know what you're going to do. And now, ladies and gentlemen, the extraordinary introducing of the judges. Judges, when your name is called, please rise and come to the stage. That was just to build the tension, because first I want to read to you the rules of SLAM. Performers can do anything they want for five minutes with the 10 second grace period.  And for every 10 seconds thereafter or portion thereof, a half a point will be deducted from your total score. The judges. Did somebody wisecrack me? You know how sensitive I am to that. Five judges will score the performances in a range of zero to 10 using decimal points to one place. The decimal point extraordinarily important. So judges take note of that because otherwise we have so many ties, and we only have one prize. Many ties, one prize. The highest and the lowest of those five scores discarded. The highest score from each judge possibly being a 10. And the highest and the lowest of those five judges scores discarded. I have a question for you. What is the highest score a SLAMmer can get? You already know the answer Noel. All right, I'm going to call on Russell. 23. Be close. I take some comfort in that. Yes. 30. Yes. 30 is the highest. Now back to you, Russell, because you have got such good reasoning here. Oh yes. Pretty extraordinary question. It's existential and I don't have an answer. But he's got it right. You need four 10s in order to get a 30. It's a wacky world here. And throughout the evening we will remember that the points are not the point even though he's got such fabulous judges about to be introduced. The point is the performance. Now please welcome our judges who will one by one come up on the stage. First we have Steve to be a judge. And Steve replied, and I quote directly, nothing except your request. And the quote question. She said quote, um, what? Well, I never trained a person in my entire life, but I really like the thought. Two years ago at a SLAM, you gave me an overview. That's when I had my first experience. That's Patricia. We got Tonya. She says quote, um, I'm very judgemental and fast and she writes bad poetry. You don't have the right attitude. Well, I'm left handed and I was thinking hard. Thank you very much. You keep them in line for me. Will you please start over? Hi. You said it. Do you hear by affirm? Do you hear by affirm? That I shall remain objective throughout the SLAM. That I shall remain objective throughout the SLAM. Not giving unnecessarily high scores. Not giving unnecessarily high scores. To my sweethearts. To my sweethearts. Or those who are worse will become my sweethearts. Or giving nasty and low scores. Or giving nasty and low scores. To those for whom I hold this day. I further promise that I will use both scorecards. From zero to point zero. Which means don't quit your day job. All the way up to ten. Which means your performance blew my socks all the way to Toledo. Your performance blew my socks all the way to Toledo. Finally, I promise to return the scorecards. Which have been lovingly photocopied. From the Bible of SLAM. From the Bible of SLAM. You decide to SLAM poetry then. Poetry. SLAM for sale. It is up to you to approve or disprove the awarding of scorecards to these judges. Shall we award the scorecard? Folks, every SLAM begins with a sacrificial performer. That person who offers his or her talents with no hope of walking home with a fabulous prize. That person who, well, just gives of his or her talents so the judges can learn how to work their way through the scorecards. That person tonight, your sacrificial performer, I've agreed to do it. Premature scoring is discouraged. They say the daughter at birth has all the eggs she'll ever produce. The path is set at your mother's birth as other paths unfold like a lifeline in the gradual, almost imperceptible unfolding fist of time. Some of these paths will come to coincidence.  And driving home with your suitcase, you stop at a bar to inspect the tire, then decide to have one. And you meet a brilliant executive who takes you into her confidence. And within a year, you're flying in a private jet, riding in limousines with faultless tires and tuxedo drivers who know the quickest route and where to drop you to celebrate time saved by such smart travel. At times you think you're controlling the path. How else would anyone be so lucky if not just playing brilliant, maybe even a brilliant executive? But you crave time. So you can climb into the tuxedo and take yourself for a spin in the limousine, ignoring the snooty stairs at stop lights from people in normal cars who think you're just a lowly chauffeur sporting about in the boss's rig. Driving home at midnight, your headlights catch the eyes of a cat working the roadside. It canicks and runs a path diagonal under your left front tire. At midnight, there's no finding an owner, no one to comfort and thus make yourself feel better. The teary master in a night shirt telling you between sobs it was only a cat. You slump from the vehicle and feel your way. You know the path can swing in front of fortune and misery or zag between the two a whole life long. That's why I keep my fingers crossed. It's a four. Of course, it isn't too hard to make a ten. I want to point that out. Just use the one and the zero on the cat knot until I call for them please. Mr. Jump the gun. One, two, three. Let me see him. I've got a 3.9 from the... Start over, a 7.3. Audience, your job is to influence the judges. I said a 7.3, a 7.4, a 7.5. Say a nice. From what I've tasted of desire I hold with those who favor fire. But if it had to perish twice, I think I'd know enough of hate to say that for destruction this is also great and would suffice. So that's where this world is heading according to me. And this poem proposes and pulls in its solution. It's called Beyond Fire and Ice, Melting Frost. I once looked to force of power to save me at the final hour. The justice of the mighty sword I prayed would have the final word, then write, and might could finally sound a shot. This loss was heard all around. Recently, it's empathy that strikes me as the greater power to save us from our deadly hour. The willing heart that paves the do's of walking in the other shoes. The wish to see how two fine starts could walk their travelers far and hard through snowy woods when paths diverge and two contrasting ends emerge. They face off now, these ends. Bitter rivals, left, right, liberal, conserving, gay, straight, cisqueer, not rich, poor, low, high, nor south, east, west, which one of us decides which one of these is most deserving. Maybe you are Muslim, Christian, Hindu, Jew, the exceptional U.S. or Syria or Korea informing all the rest. Our flag flies the highest. Our religion is the rightest. My verbal diarrhea straight from the shitter. I tweeted proud on Twitter.  Lone wolves, pack wolves, brains with chemical imbalances versus the normal amount of life challenges. Should we nuke them or rebuke them? Give them chemical weapons or chemical lobotomies. And is this the best we can do with our carnal dichotomies? My world came in first. Your world came in third. The Olympic games of human worth. Gold tops, bronze. Is this how we let our treasured cornucopia be measured? So to most lives matter, some lives matter only a few, only me or mine. Some 1% or 99 that I or my community have self-defined. You can't get there from here, says the little pony. Stop called by me in the dark of night in the middle of the road. There are endless reasons why human beings, climate-wide, don't see eye to eye. And any less than all of us fails not just you or me, but the entire humanity that were called to be. To meet again, both good. In a forest seen for whole, despite the blinding blizzard and the separate routes illumine by solitary souls exacts a higher price than final days of biting words or deeds of fire and ice. So do you believe? Do you believe? Do you believe? Do do do do do do do. Do you believe? in your dignity more than in an enemy. And when you shine, will you shine your power? And yes, you have it. So when you shine your power, whether tender as a snowflake or towering above and light both paths, in listening and love, yeah, yeah, yeah, this is the Pony Island. Nothing less warm will suffice. Yeah, it's important to, if you're going to use the microphone, really speak directly into the microphone as much as possible. But she was heard. Yeah. Yeah, OK. But you've got to get right on top of it, unless you're going to yell the way I do. Judges on account of three. No. She's going to be a leaf bird. One, two, let me see him. I got a 5.9, a 6.4, a 6.7, a 7.5, and a 8.2. I'm going to do a song called When I'm Gone, so I guess I'll have to do it while I'm here. And I won't breathe the praise there, and I can't even won't be asked to do my share when I'm gone. So I guess I'll have to do it while I'm here. And I won't be running from the rain while I'm gone. And I can't even suffer from the pain when I'm gone. Can't say who's to praise and who's to blame when I'm gone. So I guess I'll have to do it while I'm here. Won't see the golden of the sun when I'm gone. Can't be singing louder than the gun. So I guess I'll have to do it while I'm gone. All my days won't be dances of delight when I'm gone. And the sands will be shifting from my side when I'm gone. Can't add my name into the fight or what I'm wrong. So I guess I'll have to do it. I guess I'll have to do it. I guess I'll have to do it while I'm here. I saw I never heard it before. What's that instrument you're playing? That's a guitar. A what? A guitar. With a G? Yes. Woo. It looks like a mandal. OK. Oh, yeah, it's a guitar. Judges on a count of three. One, two, three. Want to see them? I got a, oh, man. This is an alcohol-free event, but you may have some booze for this score. I'll say it again. Alcohol-free, you may have some booze. He was found by the Bureau of Statistics to be one whom, against there was no official complaint. And all the reports on his conduct agree that in the modern sense of old-fashioned work, he was a saint. For in everything he did, he served the greater community, except for the war until the day he retired. He worked in a factory and never got fired. But satisfied his employers at Fudge Motors, Inc. that he wasn't a scap or odd in his views, for his union reports that he paid his dues, our report on the union shows it was sound. And our social psychology workers found that he was popular with his mates and liked to drink. The press are convinced that he bought a paper every day, and his reactions to advertisements were normal in every way. Policies taken out in his name prove that he was fully insured, and his health card shows he was once in the hospital but left it cured. Both producers' research in high-grade living declare he is fully sensible to the advantages of an installment plan, and had everything necessary to the modern man, a phonograph, a radio, a car, a frigid air. Our researchers into public opinion are content that he held the proper opinions for the time of the year. When there was peace, he was for peace. When there was war, he went. He married and added five children to the population, which our union says was the right number for a parent of his generation. And our teachers report that he never interfered with their education. Was he free? Was he happy? The question is absurd. Had anything been wrong, we should certainly have heard. The next poem is called Nothing Gold Can Stay. Nature's first green is gold, her heart is hue to hold. Her early leaf's a flower, but only so an hour. Then leaf subsides to leaf, and Eden sank to grief. So dawn goes down to day, nothing gold can stay. First poem I will cite is called Number. My mother's phone number is burned in my mind. I know it forwards, backwards, from front and behind, but I have it written down in case I lose my mind. Paradise. A beautiful shore with flowers and trees, the salty smell floating across the breeze, the ocean of blue and green pale purple sea foam washing against the crabs and rocks, exotic birds soaring through the bright pink sky, fish leaping out of the warm water to get a glimpse of our land-lover life. Last poem is called Bracelet. The bracelet I'm wearing is quite patriotic, but that does not mean I agree with our current presidential situation. This bracelet belonged to my cousin, Starr, that I only saw two years ago in the land of leprechauns and green grass Ireland. She asked me to mind it, and I never got to return it to her. So maybe sometime in a while, I'll give it back, but until that day when I see her again, I'll do what she said and mind it for a minute. Judges, on the count of three, on the count of three, please. Mother rush the gun. On the count of three, judges. One, two, three, I wanna see them. Ooh, I've got a 6.1, a 6.4, a 7.5, a 7.6, and a 9. I know, they're sitting here now. This is your 10 minute call? They tell me I cannot speak of it, must not speak of it. They told me from the start I had no voice, should not speak, could not fathom it. From a young age, they told me I had no right to, no need to, no idea of, I had no experience, knew nothing about, never came close to feeling what it was like to have color, to have technicolor full blown racial history. From a young age I learned that it was black and white, not black. I was green with envy maybe, from conquerors envy, not red, but I was yellow, only in the street lights, haze, brown, only when I lay in the sun and tried to pull that specialness from the too hot summer day. They told me that my ancestors had taken all the colors and thrown them out, thrown them away, smashed them until the only color that remained was blood and it was all a burden I had to carry in silence, in shame, inside my gut, my lungs, the lump of my throat, the righteous anger I felt and red saw her and didn't want people to be done this way, done wrong, treated like nothing but a handful of cheap color crayons melting in the dashboard of life in a large empty Walmart parking lot. That wrong was not for me to say. That's terrible, but it's a consequence of my own existence. That's too bad, but it's my fault. My grandfather's red-handed vengeance, my great-grandmother's he-jewed-me-spewing fault. Even though the Irish woman in my hip bones stepped over the murdered bodies of siblings to get to America, even though my poor-is-dirt grandfather stripped of his homeland and made to walk in chains, worked the belly of the pinta, slapping maggots from his skin and sneaking out on deck to drink the cold stars at night to get to the shores of Massachusetts and climbed high into the rocky green mountains with one mule and a muelish wife to plant a few grains that died that first winter in Vermont and left them starving until the late, late spring. Even though the Scottish weaver under the skin of my thigh ran screaming from the British army as they brutally raped his wife and burned his fields. No matter how I sliced it, diced it, moved it, shaped it, tried to make it stand on its own two feet on the small dias before me, I was still white. White as the sheet pulled over the head with two holes for eyes. White as the crosses before they burned on the green, green lawns. White as any drum head of skin stretched over the marching drum's frame. White as the flash of the bomb over Hiroshima, over Nagasaki, over the splayed, hot, dry, putrefying Japanese internment camps built right here on US soil to house decent American citizens whose eyes were not the right shape. White as the out of touch, out of reach dock at the Florida port of call for the SS St. Louis. White as the snow on the trail of internment camps, sorry, on the trail of tears as all the bones torn limb from limb of white hot lead at the battle of wounded knee. As white as the sheets on the beds and the pages and the books and the prayer beads and the crucifixions in the assimilation boarding schools that pocked the Native American landscape. White as the line on the inner skate a mother stumbles over on the border while she is lifting her child up, up, over the fence into freedom. I tell you here today that I am alive, that I bleed, I choke. I am at times ashamed, shoved, shoved down, over shoved into, away from, into and that I speak to you from my ribs, from my belly, from my crotch, from my ever dwindling, never used uterus, from the very poison that was injected into the deep marrow of my bones to say no more. I speak to you always as a woman. Always as a woman garnered with the pearl white of privilege, told her body is not enough, not the right shape, size, strength, not for anything but sale. I speak to you from the gaping mob that is colonialism, wrapped in democracy, wrapped in commerce, wrapped in the big business, eating the little guy, eating the ever dwindling, smaller girl capitalism and I am fed up, overfed, underpaid, undervalued, under stimulated. No, overstimulated. Wait, it depends on the day and the office and the amount of fear for the nickel the big man throws my way and on whether I have caught the dime up in my bare toes and whether I have plugged in, unplugged, settled down in an easy chair before the digital god and anesthetist or on the hard ground before the hardest goddess of all, the goddess who rules all the days and nights and hours, minutes, seconds to come during which I can choose to be part of the many armed monster or to take the knife in my teeth, climb the monsters back and slice and slice and slice away until then I can send it out over the cliffs of times with a shove of my two small white feet, send it out into the air trailing stars and fire and molten hot anger for that larger than light bug in the room, racism. That which must be exercised, irradiated, chemotherapy out of existence once and for all so that my nieces, my nephews, your children, your family will never have to step through this goose-stepping dance again. Point one, but a seven point nine comes up, a nine point zero because I'm gonna count backwards. So, be alert. Three, two, one, a six point zero. Oh good, no disagreements between the fact-checker and the expert.  I heard that.  It's as if Shakespeare reincarnated. How can it be that you do all that and you're such a genius at numbers too? I may come up, but he keeps me honest. I wanna hear about- Silly poems and serious poems just for poetry slams. And guess who that got me? Stuck in the dumps of the poetry slams. But you know what, today's discussion is about crime and secession. You can raise your hands. Okay, I know it's a random question, but you'll see why I asked it soon. Now, I want the Vermonters in the room to say Vermont when I get to three, okay? One, two, three. Vermont. This time, this time later, okay? One, two, three. Do I have an accent? Sure, some of you probably do, like Jersey, New York, Massachusetts, Ireland. But have you ever considered that Vermonters also have an accent? Trust me, I'm from Utah. I know I can hear it in your voice. Y'all don't say your T's. You make this sound that kinda replaces the T, and you say it at the beginning of the words, but not in the middle or end. For example, my friends are always like, oh, I'm G, he sent you a heart emoji. See, it's like Vermont. It drives me nuts. You know, did that? Y'all need to work on your T's. And you know what? This also drives me crazy. I hear people say, oh, I'm G, Vermont's mountains are so pretty. First of all, again, with the friggin' T's.  I'm from Utah. I've seen and con real mountains. Yet, I'm still another issue for another time. Well, anyway, let's review today's lesson. Firstly, work on your friggin' T's. Secondly, your mountains are literally big hills. And thirdly, what's the big deal about kale? The fact checker wants to disqualify her. That is native Vermonters in the room. I know we got a lot of true native Vermonters down here, but that's old folks. Some of us come from New Jersey. You were born in Utah, but you have grown up in Vermont. On account of three judges, one, two, three, I want to see them. I've got, ooh, a 1.0, a 7.1, a 7.5, a 7.9, and it looks like a, that's what I call it. A perfect 10. A total of 22 points. There is a time-honored tradition in Vermont at SLAM, so that when the first 10 of the evening is awarded, that I perform a musical tribute to my performer. So I'm going to perform now a musical tribute for Izzy. No, that's not it. That's preparation.  I don't quite believe it, but that's what she said. She explained to me she'd be uniquely in doubt to catch me when I did things, not allowed. I think she must also have eyes on her rear. I've noticed her hindsight's unusually clear. That's what you're gonna do. My next one is If I Were a Dog by Richard Shelton. It's one of my favorite poems, and yeah, okay. I would trot down this road sniffing on one side and then the other, peeing a little here and there, whenever I felt the urge. Having a good time with the hell, saving some because it's a long road, but since I'm not a dog, I walk straight down the road. Trying to get home before dark.  I could tell by his smile and I would lick his face so he knew. Or maybe it would be a woman. I would retract her. We could go everywhere together, even down this dark road, and I wouldn't run from side to side sniffing. I would always be protecting her, and would only stop to pee only once in a while. Sometimes in the afternoon, we could go to the park and she would throw a stick. I would bring it back to her each time. I'd put the stick at her feet and I would say, this is my heart. And she would say, I will make it fly, but you must bring it back to me.  Okay, my last one is about, it's an original last minute poem. And it was composed when my dad and I were at dinner and he squirted my eye with a lemon. Yeah, and he calls himself my father. Okay. And it's called the lemon poem. Beware, the treacherous lemon, it squirts. Tears roll from squinting eyes, a direct hit. The water wanted that juice. I'd glare at my fingers, traitors. Yeah. Judges, I'm gonna go in numerical order this time so you won't be confused. One, two, three, wanna see him? Look at him. Ooh, a 6.8, a 6.9, a 7.5, a 7.6, and a 7.7. Those of us who wanted to, and we wrote a Renga, which is a social form of poetry. So I'm gonna open with one of the poems we wrote. And I think out of the five authors who contributed, I think four are in the room. So this is an untitled Renga from poem city. The earth is flat, okay? It's true, NASA admitted it. I know this for a fact. It spins more like a pizza, wobbling on God's great hand. I love the mist and the baked crust possibility of endless finely chopped snacks. If you see the world complete, redolent with garlic and grain, you will know the answer to life, the universe, everything. Is olive oil. This poem is called Benjamin and I wrote it for my brother. Benjamin. If I had to choose between you and a talking octopus, I would choose you. And together. Can't hear, you gotta speak into the mic. Thank you. Benjamin. If I had to choose between you and a talking octopus, I would choose you. And together we would protect the octopus from well-intentioned but ultimately destructive scientists who would want to know how lacking vocal cords, the octopus, forms words. He would tell us stories of the beauty and isolation in the dark, vast sea and he would weep cold tears of loneliness for his childhood when no bigger than a grave he drank in the delights of discovering new worlds. His three hearts pulsed, thrilled by adventure through ocean currents and caves. The eels could never catch him. They tried every day with their snapping teeth but he was so fast and his ink was so black. As he talked, he would wrap his tentacles around our fingers and arms and he would squeeze to tell us something. Even a talking octopus can't find the words to say. On the count of three judges, one, two, three. Let me see him. I got a 6.8, a 7.7 and 8.0, a 7.3 and a 9.3. I love it. Sad G. Yeah, I rhythm off. Okay, so the first one's about a refugee and it's called being lost. Stumbling, taking her first step into a new light but a dark one, full of hate and unforgiveness. The leader, cruel, abandoned in this new world, she must fight. In this country, fighting America, this poem's called Strangers. Strangers, standing in line, barely touching what they hold dear. First fleeing, now suspects, who did nothing yet are called criminals, taking nothing, not your job, not your money, but you take everything. All they have left is the will to live. My mass poem's called Civil War and it's about the Civil War in Syria. Civil War, they choked, fighting to grasp the one thing they thought they had, oxygen pulling from their lungs, being replaced, the lungs scorched, hurting like fire, destruction at its finest, standing in a civil war. Got a 3, 1, 2, 3, I wanna see him. I got a 7.2, a 7.9 and 8.3 and a 9. Russell. So I was pleased to see that all of the judges were adults and you will see why in a second. The protester to this fad has actually been going around talking about video games. Bad video game manifesto. Bing, beep, they wrought people's minds.  Fortnay, what to do? If they are, they might stuff someone into a drawer. I've tried to pound that message in. I hope they teach it to their message on and over. These games are one of the endlessly mar. Bing, beep, they wrought people's minds.  Teenage bodies soar like the wind when he came for 17 of their bodies emptied his magazine into their swirling vortex like the branches of the ancient maple deep in the forest felt their aged stone crumble. They have been here before we have been here before. Our bodies jangling in the pockets of those who should protect us bleached bone trading cards scattered on legislative floors and maybe even about this perverse dance on this floor taking care not to soak my shoes in their collecting their scattered teeth a roadmap to know where we are going. Nowhere in the road to hell is not paved with good intentions, but with the bones of 20 children who died within pastel walls clinging to construction paper and magic markers. I don't know what words I can use when babies and bullets threaded together didn't move you. Slowpoke seven. Their appearance or their skin color and but they're treated all the same.   You are congratulated for finding love. In my perfect world, you believe you are and not always the gender you were born in. In my perfect world represents hate or violence. My perfect world represents everything I believe in. But this world can be just like my perfect world. All we have to do is try. Yeah. That sort of stuff. So I don't remember the name of the poem and I just remember the poem. I'm pretty sure it's weather the weather. I don't remember. And I don't remember who was buying it, so. Whether the weather be cold, whether the weather be hot, whether the weather, whatever the weather, whether we like it or. Yeah, can I start over? Yeah, sounds. Don't sell the steam. I don't think so. I remember the poem, so, so, so. Whether the weather be cold, whether the weather be hot, whether the weather, whatever the weather, whether we like it or not. There we go. Yeah. Anything to do with either of our poems, by the way? So it's just something that we wanted to do and I talked her into it.  The proofs, the figures were ranged in columns before me. When I was shown the charts and the diagrams to add, divide, and measure them, when I sitting, heard the astronomer, where he lectured with much applause in the lecture room, how soon, unaccountable, I became tired and sick till rising and gliding out. I wandered off by myself in the mystical moist night air and from time to time, looked up in perfect silence at the stars. So that was a piece by Walt Whitman and if you'd like to hear it again, come see Silent Sky around behind the corner here, behind the curtain at Lost Nation this weekend and next. It's at the end of it and it's surrounded by a lot of other beautiful language with some other beautiful performers and next is a, I call it a melodic lyric poem. Other people call it a song and if you want to hear this again with some accompaniment by a jazz pianist, Tom Cleary, who actually made the writing for accordion. Come see it at Quarry Works this September in Hannamans and it's called Great Full. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. My life's great, my life's full and I'm grateful, seems unfaded to be sated with a whole plate full. God has slated things to be weighted in my favor so I'll savor every flavor I'll never waver and either be hateful. When I rise, open my eyes, I'm always thankful. I won't pass life as a gas, it's a whole tank full.  Some can cope at the end of their rope but I never waffle. To lose hope, I'd be a dope to do something awful. I'm too thoughtful to act unlawful or any such blather. I much rather take a hot lather and eat a full waffle. If you're down wearing a frown, take my advice. Boom, boom, boom, boom. Don a gown and head on downtown until you feel nice. Boom, boom, boom, boom.  I'll say it twice, make yourself pretty, then hit the city, try to be witty, sing this here, diddy, that nitty gritty, that seems so shitty, you'll find. Was there feists? Boom, boom, boom. Sorry for that bad word. Well, with this, the word dick-a-may means showing. But other than that, you're just gonna hear numbers. You know those, the name's dick-a-may. Woo, they are good judges, aren't they? A 7.1, a 7.7, a 7.9, an 8 point. As a young adult came to me right after word and me said, playing the preface this, I began writing this as a song 25 years ago when I was a mere 35 and the woman, and I started it as a song, so that's how I'm gonna start it here. I was feeling lonely on a cellular level that was biologically extreme.  She walks out of the night dressed in cotton candy, looking like hot butter scotch and ice cream. Lickable lips, but they taste like maraschino cherries. She's a confectioner's wet wet dream. On the tip of my tongue, Lord, she's too young for me. Oh, Lord, she's so young. She was walking slowly with a lot of extraneous motion, a little forward, but mostly side to side. I was collateral damage by a series of explosions that would detonate with every stride. I groat for some perciflageness ammunition that would cause her to pause and meet my eye. I hoped that she might finally clumsily charming, but the moment passed and so did she right on by. To some young, studly manifestation looked like something made by ancient Greeks. Sure, he looks like a god, but is anybody home when he speaks? Is there anybody home when he speaks? I decided to leave then in a quest for entertainment. I had pockets full of perdeamide and paid. I decided to leave then in a quest for entertainment. I had pockets full of perdeamide and paid.  It was gonna be a late night. Pretty certain I wouldn't get much sleep. There was a song in my head, seemingly random, I couldn't place it. It was so old that I couldn't recall. Hours went by before my brain was able to trace it. Maybe not so random. After all, oh holy. The girl from Ipanema who couldn't see the older guy. Me? So, the night went by, but slowly, wrestling with more cow like he. I was wrestling my more cow. I was feeling lonely. Ooh, a 5.0. You're talking to yourself, who has almost tasted pretty fluttering songs, quick, darning, chattering for a tantalizing motion.  I mean too much for consolation, you understand. Dreaming here on the bed by the window, opening one eye to the apple tree, cocking an ear to cardinals and chickadees across the street, knowing, wishing, I could. I cry now and then for the open door, for the young, lean days, for desire of the sweet, long ago hunt. I know you understand. I've heard you cry, too. Once you get up, you can eat breakfast, you can open that door, and we can go out hunting our dreams. Oh my god, ooh. I got a 7.5. Another 7.5, double boo, and 8.4. Backside of the track, we were near the home stretch, and I clung to his back. I heard the announcer say that we were way out front, and all of a sudden my horse took over and pulled an unexpected stunt. He gelt off the track, out through the cow barn gate, to the place where I was about to beat my unexpected fate. He took a four hoof skid to the place of my swift wedding, and I went sailing over his head into a pile of fermenting bedding. I climbed back on and down the stretch we flew, and joined the rest of the pack before the race was through. In spite of the fact I did not win, I was thankful for the place that I was in. The Grand Sands gave us great support and affection. They could see that we were really tried, but just lost direction. When a kid does not win in Caledonia, people do not turn their backs and disown you. The chill on the hill. I remember the hurricane of 1938. Dad was not home, and it was getting late. I was worried about my father, and I did not know what to do, but now I led the way to see it through. The winter heard something, that winter I heard something from pitless wharf brain that millions of times worse, that were million times worse in the hurricane. I heard dad tell my about news I was not supposed to hear.  I could not ask my mother to see me through, because my eavesdropping was not the thing to do. The next morning I went out to pound the snow, but the festering fear would not go. We lived on a farm up on Old Vales Hill. This is a place where dad kept his till. Most of his clients had no money to pay, so he was given farm animals corn and hay. Clayton, the hired man, came to solve my plight. He noticed I looked down after that terrible night. He said, George, what's the matter with you? I told him about Hitler, and he had figured out what to do. Don't worry about Hitler. We'll shovel him on the pile. I get the message and I begin to smile. My fears were put to rest and replaced with fight. This gave me the strength to fall asleep at night. But still sometimes I do not sleep that well. I realized that too much fight we could all cease to dwell. I realized how much love the people of Montpigas can include. Until I drove through town on my way down to feel the cornfields and food. In spite of the fact that my response towards a life really correct, the motorists all around me just smiled and nodded with respect. The congeniality kept gushing till I got to my appointed chore. And then I pulled the lever and outblasted the manure. In the condition that it's in, we waltzed. It's almost a sin. Judges on the count of three would. I got a 6.3. A 6.6. A 7.4. A 7.5. And a 9. Which is actually a microphone pack. Practicing over in the museum and really today, I should preface, I work here on the master electrician, house manager, resident light designer, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. We all do lots of things. But I was practicing earlier this afternoon over in the museum room and I rehearsed a different song I was going to do today. And I just, something hit me and I finally finished the song I've been working on a month. So I'm going to debut this brand new song. You can hear it in all of my other songs at Sweet Melissa's on Thursday, May 10th at 6 p.m. Appreciate it. Actually this is way too close. It was kind of slid in here. So they do. But nothing happens. They are very strict. They are very confused. So, but they have a better idea. They make the cut bigger. Nothing happens. Bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger. Nothing happens. So they cut and cut and cut and cut. Until there was no more waterbell. A bunch of lines from Shakespeare put together to one line. It's called Plucking Time of Night when the hurly burly's beneath me thinks I see thou. Thou art below. So I'm going to do it in Spanish and then I'm going to go backwards. Wait a minute. Well, I got to wait a minute too, so don't worry. Tenes. Dos. Uno. Dig on it. I got it all over the house. A 6.5. A 6.8. A 6.7. So I take advantage of any opportunity. So when Jeff said it was anything goes, he said covers are okay if I admit it. So I'm admitting a cover. You probably have heard it. So you could probably help me sing it, right? So kids, if you don't know how it goes, it just goes like, it peeks out of the misty gray clouds and pours into my room. It warms me up from head to toe and makes the flowers bloom. It makes me feel happy, safe, filled with joy. It's incredible, really, that one thing, one piece in life, can make everything so peaceful, so in sync and so happy. Sunlight. Light, Denali wild, against gray, curves, shout, Ken is ever more mild by the neck. Flight of birds in northern sky. Crows remember faces. What the heck? Cry. Cry. Beta cry. Life stories in film and true. Thomas Jay was stung by the bees and he could not stay with you. The whales are filling with plastic. Green mornings on Kentucky homesteads make you forget all about it. The wolves on the craggy peaks were wailing to their moon. Denali would be leaving soon. Denali, wild and free. Is she you? Is she me? Denali as a young girl who ran through the raspberry brambles. Tearing, so tearing at her. Out through those gravel pits and through that ice-cold river. No fair. Can you see her? Water washed. Those cherry riblets away. Denali, deep. Denali's deep, deep strength would always stay. The wolves wailing at the moon. Denali would be leaving soon. My, my wild and me, my Denali climbs those art peaks, hauled around by the neck as a young girl pain seeks. Denali won't vendor break. Compassion leaks. Time, time, beat, beat. Miles to go before I weep. Denali breathing. Dusty rose trail and vine. Why do you come to me so fine? Johnny copper acorns with news void caps. Beat of rain on canvas tent. Tath rap, tath rap. Clarity bell ringing out over the valleys of Evermore. Falcon in searing cry. Soar, no poor. Glistening broken aggots on lake superior shores. Shetland ponies racing over the locks in the moors. Keening that Gaelic word for wailing. Why am I so drawn to that word? Life past pain trailing. Miles to go before I weep. Count to three in English forward. One, two, three. I want to see all of them. I got a 6.6. 6.7, a 7.5, a 7.6, and an 8. So there's that. My marching band is that I can now successfully move soup from one counter to the other without any of it spilling. But I appreciate that I now have this skill to see me through my life and beyond my magical ability to balance soup. Thank you for reminding me to always take a pencil with me because you never know why you're going why or how or when you're going to need to write something important down. Dear honor band, thank you for bringing me around the world without me having to leave my seat in the auditorium. That's the thing about music, right? You can experience different cultures through the story, a crash course into different lives, a glimpse past the small world I was living in. Dear jazz band, you do know people who play the flute exist, right? Like we're not magical fairies like we exist, we're here. Dear middle school band, thank you for catching me when I fell. At that time in my life, the only stable thing in my day was my hour in the auditorium. You probably saved me more times than I can remember. Thanks for giving me a home when I needed one the most. Dear middle school band, I teach now. I used to be in your place. I remember sitting where you are and being just as scared. It's going to be all right if you make it all right. Stop making excuses and start doing. You will fail, but you will only be better because of it. And I know I'm only four years older than you, but please stop hitting each other with sticks. It's really, it's distracting. Dear concert band, sweet, sweet concert band, you hold a special place in my heart. Thank you for bringing me my best friend. We met five years ago over a rivalry over who would get first chair. And now I have first chair. But I only made it there because of him. Thank you concert band for teaching me the importance of hard work. Without you, I would not be standing here today. I found my best friend. I found my lifeline. I found my calling. I found my salvation. A little bit more serious. Lessons learned from inside a hospital waiting room. A list. One, the vending machine only takes single dollar bills, and it's really inconvenient. Two, the coffee here is only for adults, and they will yell at you if you try to take some from the complimentary desk. Three, the adults don't know that you've been here for 30 hours and you're really tired. Four, sometimes the adults are just angry at you because they're worried about someone that they love. Five, love can be weird like that. Six, people do weird things when they're sad. Seven, goodbye was harder to say than you thought it could be. Eight, the coffee here tastes gross. Maybe the adults were right. This is on account of three. One, two, three, showing the money. I got a 7.9, an 8.1, a 9.0, another 9.0, and a 9.5. People hate. My tears slip into my hands. My mom helps, I love her. My dad comforts me while I cry. I love everyone. Sing Puff the Magic Dragon, it's one of my favorite back home songs. And I asked you not to be turned off by the title to the words of this. Can you hear me? How's this? Okay. I'm gonna sing this as best I can. Jesus, thy blood. Writing activity. And at 6.45, the anything go slam begins. That's this Friday of the 27th. On account of three for Lisa, one, two, three, I want to see them. Holy. I got a 6.2, a 6.5, a 7.0, another 7.0, and a 7.0. It's about religion. My clothesline. After the clean machine and the arm and hammer has baptized your socks, blue jeans, T-shirts, dresses and panties, freed them of soil and sin in brutal cycles of tumble and spin, your socially acceptable, imported and carefully chosen second skin are ready to be hung out to dry on the clothesline.  Your adopted skin just prayer flags on the wind. The secular humanists saw the last on the line. There's a carbon-based religion by design. With reason it figures, creation salvation hangs on a clothespin that, believe it or not, keeps carbon in the ground. Well-figured, poetic and sound. Whoever you are, you cannot help but put your ragged but sanitized self out there on the line for all to see. Judge, look what I'm into and what I found, a clothesline religion.  One, two, three, I want to see a move. I got a, ooh, a 6.3. Change greets me from the top of Vermont's out to me. But alas, cherished memories echo in my mind, call back swirling in a two-swift flowing river of time where from moment only memory anchors me in the reality of life some while ago, where once were a barn in silo, a joining fields of fresh mown hay and in the pasture cut chewing Holstein cows, tails switching to chase the flies. White cows with black patches, I used to say.  The spirit of his crinkled face, long, lean frame and sweat stained shirt whispered to me. Do you remember how we used to mow cows by hand or attach the milk machine to each team? Pills of warm fraught white milk to pour into big milk cans in the dairy, driven next morning to the downtown creamery by farmer powers in his pickup. I'd hitch a ride to the creamery and he'd show me where the milk gets processed, then drop me off at school. I smelled a barn like other kids in class, but nobody said ew. We knew the smell we understood.  Dry hay made me sneeze, nose stuffed up, eyes watered red. Hay fever, hay fever, farmer powers said. Do you remember the barn gutter, a place you walk near with care, any time a cow spreads back like to be aware of one steamy splash and punching piercing smells of nostril cleaning cow manure or the sharp tang of corn silage, criteria the silo mixed with a sweet whistful smell from fistfuls of grain we chew dipped by hand from open brand sacks. Do you remember the shoulder ache of post holes dealt with crowbar pole, touching grass to the electric fence to test for shock.  As a kid, I watched down a fresh baked piece of chocolate cake with a tall glass of cold white milk. I swallowed in the thaw, maybe just maybe the cow and I had shared a bit of the same field of hay. These seams silent now are no longer there to find me. Thank God somehow I get hay fever still. Three judges, one, two, three. Want to see them? Zero. First, we have a special announcement from our extraordinary fact checker. Okay, a week from tonight, Wednesday next week at 7.30. We are, please come back and join us. We're going to be presenting a cabaret with Newton Baker and not Newton Baker. Sorry. Whoa, okay. Dan Brumhauer, they're going to be joined by special guest, Rick Ains, who you heard earlier tonight, and Kathleen Keenan. So, next week at 7.30. So many talented people here, and did anybody get nervous when they had to come up here? Get used to it. It never goes away. It takes courage to come up here. I applaud everybody for it. What a great night. Anyway, well, I worked a week trying to write a song. I got it finished last year. I can't put it more. A very big song. Well, I've received a copy of, I said, don't read all the poems because a couple of them have dirty words in them.


So, you know We I mean we end up making a stop. So, you know, that's what it is Yeah It was very important.       We're gonna enjoy this win tonight And then we probably gonna get back to them on Tuesday or Wednesday, so


Now the Senate has thrown out President Mohamed Buhari's bill, seeking to amend the Electoral Act 2022. The bill scaled first reading on Tuesday, despite an order of a federal High Court, a budget that barred the Senate from considering it. Now, President of the Senate Ahmad Lawan had challenged the court order, saying that the judiciary cannot in any second stand stop the legislature from performing its constitutional duties. The court barred President Mohamed Buhari, the Attorney General of the Federation and the Senate person from temporary with a newly amended Electoral Act, the court maintained that the act, having become a valid law, could not be altered without following the reprocess of law.


What's up everybody, Jayz here with JayzBizCaseBrace.com sells out the break guys We're gonna give away the last six random number block spots for limited Pikachu number 3 R&B with this 2020 mosaic football No huddle pack break number 22 so again Eight free spots giveaway All right, so that means that we only sold 26 spots or sorry 24 spots We're gonna be giving away eight spots to the customers that bought it. So first we'll do the randomizer here Top eight get a free spot. We'll paste it in your names Then we'll randomize customer names and teams and at the end of the break same thing over here. We'll do that Roll it and let's do this six into three nine times one two Three Joe peas a wild guy. I hope he's listening But that dude would like take all his vacation days for the year for spring training and literally get like thousands of autographs you know His daughter will get like another thousand six seven eight nine Six and three nine times Boom, there you go. So nine times right top eight Harry Michael Thomas Carl Harry Carl Carl and Evan So you guys got free spots right there Chris. I'm only gonna be doing Contenders ten of his cells out anything else will break tomorrow Joe Pizzles like graphs spring training. Oh Someone's talking about autographs for training He just heard it one two three four five six seven eight. So there you go guys now. Let's go nine times here one two three four five six seven eight Carl down to Harry We're gonna be like we're gonna be like Steve Irwin like watching him watching animals spying on them We're just gonna be looking at Joe Pizzle There goes the Joe Pizzle in the wild All right, so there you go nine times Let's go nine times here one two three four five six seven eight Nine rams down to the Saints I know right crocky. He got himself an autograph nine times Okay, we're good there So copy and paste right there good All right guys no trade stick to what you got You know it's crazy I think Golden actually had a Steve Irwin It was I think a guy I think I read the Golden post a guy at the airport in Australia ran into Steve Irwin And he didn't have anything to sign but his his flight ticket so Steve Irwin like autographed it and put some like Some Inscriptions it's pretty cool. Actually, I don't know what it's sold for but Pretty unique. All right. Good luck guys. So remember top six get into the random number block Good luck guys roll it and Snake eyes two times two times one Two Boom two times two top six Just missing all was Evan Look good luck to everybody else here Carl Steven Kendrick Michael Evan there you go your free spot that you're in Carla to and Michael. Wow. Look at that Free spot and your straight up spot Matt L is not here. Which one am I giving him out of those two? Oh, that's actually a really tough decision There's this too, but I don't think that's close to that.  Yeah. Are you here Matt? Are you watching here? Let me um? Yeah, I want to look I want to look it up, but I want to look it up. I should really quick Appreciate guys. So I'm gonna end this video. We'll start the next break in the next one guys. Appreciate it


He was wounded for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities and by his stripes we are healed. Hello, I'm David D. Hernandez and welcome to Spirit Church. Today I'm going to be talking to you about healing and more specifically the four obstacles, the four primary obstacles that many face when it comes to receiving their healing. We're going to take a look at these one at a time and pray that the Lord would cause the truth to set you free. With me as usual is Stephen Maktuzuma. He's going to lead you in some worship and then we're going to come right back with this lesson. Well, I pray that you enjoyed that worship with Stephen Maktuzuma. Now I want to get to the lesson, the four obstacles to healing. And these are categorically speaking, four obstacles that will prevent you from receiving the healing that God wants to give to you. Now, before I really get into the details of this lesson, I do have to preface this by acknowledging that this is in fact a very sensitive topic for many reasons which are likely obvious to you. But one of the things that I was most concerned about was coming off as presumptuous when dealing with such sensitive issues. So I want to preface that by saying a couple things. Number one, I believe that any doctrine that doesn't account for or take into account the sovereignty of God is a very dangerous doctrine. So though I do make bold proclamations concerning healing or concerning the covenant of healing or concerning God's will to heal, which I admit I have a very, very extreme view on this. And me personally, I'm one who will never preach that it's not God's will to heal. And that's just my own conviction. I can't even say specifically that I would consider others wrong for not preaching that. But to me, I see my job as an evangelist to preach salvation to the lost and healing to the sick. Now, it's up to God what he wants to do in response to the message that I preach. But as far as what my declaration is going to be, it's going to be what I see in the scripture. And I believe that it is God's will to heal. I don't apologize for that. I'm not going to move from that. I'm not even willing to debate that necessarily unless someone can come with scripture and really demonstrate otherwise. Now, having said that, I do want to be sensitive to those of you who are facing sickness in your own life and those who have a loved one who is facing sickness. And maybe you're not seeing the results that you think you should be seeing. So before I say anything, I did want to acknowledge that this is in fact a very sensitive topic. And I do want to acknowledge that there are in fact many views on this topic. The other thing I want to talk about was number two, we have to learn to interpret truth not necessarily by our experience, but by what the Word of God tells us. So for example, I've often talked to people who say, well, I've sought God with all my heart and he didn't respond.  And Jeremiah chapter 29, I think it's verse 11 or verse 13 says, if you seek me with all your heart, you'll find me. So God has promised that anyone who seeks him with all of their heart is going to find him. So when someone comes up to me and says, well, I sought God with all of my heart and I didn't find him. It's not because God didn't tell the truth. It's because that person didn't really seek God with all their heart like they thought they did. Now again, that isn't specifically to do with healing, but that's an example of what I mean when I say that we should interpret truth not through our experience, but through the Word of God. So we have to make room for God's sovereignty. We have to make room for God's wisdom. We can't get, I can't, I can honestly tell you, we're never really going to fully understand everything that God is doing, at least what we hear upon the earth. As far as what later revelation may come, the scripture doesn't necessarily promise understanding about every little detail, but the scripture does talk about a fullness and a maturity that comes when we move into the eternal realm. So first of all, again, I acknowledge this is a sensitive topic. Number two, we must acknowledge God's sovereignty. And number three, we have to learn to interpret scripture through scriptural truth and not just our own experience. So if you're listening to this, it is not my intention to discourage anyone. It is not my intention to make it seem as though anyone is not spiritual enough to be healed. On the contrary, I don't think it has to do with being spiritual, but there are in fact other obstacles. So when it comes to the question, why aren't some healed? I'm just going to be honest with you. I personally believe that it is God's will to heal every time, but the times that it doesn't happen, I'm just going to say it. The scripture doesn't give us any specific details on this, and therefore I'm just going to have to conclude, though I normally do, you've heard me in the past give very specific answers to questions like these. When it comes to this, I can give you my opinion, but the scripture does leave room for the sovereignty of God. So I can't account for every single instance, and I'm not going to pretend I can. Maybe someday down the line, I'll have studied the scripture even more and come to a more firm grasp on the topic, but as of right now, we just have to learn that the answer to some of our questions is that we just need to trust God. And so if you're watching this, and you're believing God for healing in your body, you're watching this, you've had a loved one who died because they didn't receive a healing in their body, or you have a loved one who is praying for healing in their body, I want to encourage you that the Bible does promise healing, and I don't want to discourage you either as I go through these obstacles. I don't bring these to your attention to shame you. I bring these to your attention because maybe in fact one of these obstacles is preventing you from receiving your healing. So to put it simply, maybe one of these four things is preventing something that God wants to do in your life. Now at the end, I'm going to talk about what happens after you've gone through this kind of checklist, and you still don't see the results that you want to see. I'm going to touch on that a little bit at the end, but as you're listening, just remember my goal is not to discourage anyone. My goal is to tackle this topic with as much sensitivity as possible, but I have to be loyal to the truth that I found in scripture. So number one, the number one obstacle to healing, you probably already know it, is doubt. Mark chapter 6, verse 4 through 6 says this, then Jesus told them, a prophet is honored everywhere except in his own hometown and among his relatives and his own family. And because of their unbelief, verse 5 says, and because of their unbelief, he couldn't do any miracles among them except to place his hands on a few sick people and heal them. And he was amazed at their unbelief. So we have to be humble and acknowledge that it's possible that we don't have the faith that we think we do. I know people who have been very upset with me, especially when I'm preaching a message this bold. They get very upset with me. Well, you don't know my family member. You don't know my friend. You don't know my and they'll name someone they're connected to. I say, they had faith.  I personally have known people who I've cared about, who didn't receive the healing in the manner in which they wanted to receive it or in the timing in which they wanted to receive it. But I must acknowledge that the scripture teaches that one of the obstacles that may be preventing your healing is doubt. Jesus couldn't do the miracles because of their unbelief. The key word here is faith. So we have to understand that the problem, before we rush and say, well, let's change our doctrine against what the Bible says, we have to acknowledge that it's possible that maybe the problem is not with the word, but it's with us. Now, I'm not saying everyone who isn't healed has doubt. As on the contrary, I'm going to list three other things right now. But we have to at least be humble enough to assess this, at least take it off the checklist, at least pass this checkpoint, at least try this and see if this isn't the issue.  And because they won't consider out a possibility, maybe, just maybe, they're missing out on a healing because of doubt. I know it's humbling. I know it's challenging, but possibly it could be that you're not healed because you do have doubt. Now, again, I recognize this could sound cruel, but remember we're going to go down the checklist. And if you notice I'm being extra sensitive here, it's because it's not because I'm nervous about what people say. You know me. I'm very bold about what I believe. But on this one, I don't want to lose anyone right up at the top. I want you to follow me all the way through here until the end. And let's see if at least we can check these off the list and see if we can just then trust in the sovereignty of God. So, number one, it's doubt. Now, there always has to be faith present for a healing to occur. In Luke chapter 7, verse 1 through 10, we see that the centurion had faith on behalf of his servant, and Jesus sent the word to the centurion's servant who was under the centurion's authority. We see in Mark 5, Jairus' daughter is healed. Now Jairus' daughter was dead, so she wasn't really around to have any faith, but Jairus had faith in Jesus on behalf of his daughter. We also see in Mark 5 that the woman who had an issue of blood had faith for herself to be healed. She said within her heart, if I can just touch the hem of his garment, I can be made whole. She recognized that. And so in each of these instances, even with Lazarus, someone had to have faith to cause the miracle to occur. So, number one, at least assess it. Don't get down on yourself. Don't discourage yourself.  Don't loathe in the misery. Just recognize maybe it is doubt. And if it is, ask the Lord to reveal it to you. Check it out on your list and move on. Don't let the enemy bombard you with thoughts and discouragement and depression that would set in because you feel you don't have any faith. In fact, it's very easy to get faith and belief is a lot more than we think it is. I mean a lot easier to come by than we think it is. Jesus didn't say you need an ocean of faith. He said you need a mustard seed. So it's a little bit of faith that's required to have on your part. But you have to move in faith. You cannot come to him in doubt. In fact, James 1 says, when you come to him, you can't waver. You can't be tossed by the waves. You have to focus and you have to be single-minded and know that he is able to do exceedingly, abundantly, above all that you could ask or think and claim it in faith believing. So number one, one of the obstacles to healing is doubt. Number two, now this is really going to get intense. Number two, one of the obstacles to healing is demonic beings or demons. So number one is doubt. Number two is demons. Now, sickness in our world is a result of the fallen state of man. It also may result, I mean you think about the way, I mean greed kind of just drives everything. I mean even the food industry has completely changed many of the things that we interact with because of the advancements of technology. I mean I'm talking about the foods, I'm talking about the diets, I'm talking about the way the food is prepared. A lot of diseases come because of the way man has taken the industry with our diet. So that's one reason. But other than that, I mean we're talking about a fallen world here. We're talking about a sin-sick world and it is dying, it's decaying, it's going away. Everything's tending toward disorder. Paul the Apostle even talks about how though the flesh is dying, I'm going to be resurrected. That's the hope we have. And then you really get down to it. I mean everyone, Jesus healed in the gospels, their body is in the grave somewhere now. They're dust, they've returned to the earth. So not even the ones that Jesus healed, walked in that house for eternity until they stepped onto the other side. So we are going to face death. Our bodies do break down, but so to balance this out here, some sickness is caused by demonic beings. So demons cause sickness, but not all sickness is demonic. However, I am more convinced as time goes on, the longer I'm in the healing ministry, the more I grow to hate sickness. And the more I just begin to despise the works of the enemy, I cannot be brought to even think that that's God's will. I just don't see it. When he created us that was not his intention for man. I see sickness as something so destructive as a result of sin, as a result of living in the natural world, and sometimes as a result of demonic beings. I know this is controversial, but this is what the scripture says. 1st John chapter 3 verse 8, but when people keep on sinning, it shows that they belong to the devil who has been sinning since the beginning. But the Son of God came to destroy the works of the devil. Now Matthew chapter 8 verse 16 says, When the evening was come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils, and he cast out the evil spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick. Again, we see demons correlated with terrible works that destroy us. And so also in Matthew chapter 10 verse 1, Jesus called his 12 disciples together and gave them authority to cast out evil spirits and to heal every kind of disease and illness. So they're able to heal the sick by casting out devils.  And when the devil was cast out, the dumb spake and the multitudes marveled, saying it was never, it was never so seen in Israel.  So we see here demons causing sickness. I won't read the whole entire context, but Mark chapter 9 verse 14 to 29, the scripture talks about a man who brings his son to the disciples and they're not able to cast out the devil from that man's son. And so the disciples are wondering what's going on here.  I mean it was just the chapter before that he transfigured on the mountaintop, they saw him in all his glory and now they can't even cast a devil out of a little boy. And so Jesus gets on the scene, he casts the devil out, when the devil came out of him, that boy had a spirit of epilepsy that caused epilepsy and seizures and such. And so when Jesus took the demon out of the boy, when he cast it out, the boy was healed. So we have to acknowledge that the scripture teaches that in some cases demonic beings are causing sickness. Let me tell you something about demons real quick. I mean I have seen some of the weirdest things in the church world. We're talking people who want to cast out devils in like, they make it almost like it's a psychiatry appointment. You come back every Friday night, maybe from six to seven, we'll have a deliverance session and we'll cast out a demon over a period of several weeks and we'll go, almost they treat people like onions, we'll peel back layer after layer after layer and we'll pray over each year, each month of your birth and we'll go back to when you were seven, when you were three, we'll pray over and look, I understand the intention, I know people love people who do it that way, but honestly I just don't see that in the scripture. When dealing with demonic beings, if the demonic being doesn't respond right when you speak the word, it can be only one of really a few things. Number one, the person may not really even be demonically influenced or possessed. Maybe they are paranoid or emotionally stirred to believe such things. Number two, it could be that it needs to come out through prayer and fasting, but after you've exhausted those two, after, if the demonic force has not responded after prayer and fasting and if the demonic force hasn't responded after that, then it's either that the person is not really demon-possessed and that's it. I mean, you can't really get around it there. The logical progression is such that the scripture says the only time that the disciples couldn't cast one out is when Jesus said, this kind comes out through prayer and fasting. So if the demon doesn't come out, it's because it needs to come out through prayer and fasting or the person isn't really demon-possessed. Now I say that because some people get discouraged, they pray and pray and pray and rebuke and rebuke and rebuke and it seems like nothing's working. The demon's not listening. They get pastors and ministers and I've come to realize that in many cases it's just the mind. They've convinced themselves they're demonically influenced or possessed. When all it is, is that they need to get their emotions in order. They need to overcome their fear. They need to overcome their depression, which can be leveraged by demonic beings, but doesn't always necessarily cause directly by demonic beings. So when it comes to casting out devils, when it comes to casting out demons and spirits and such, we have to realize that demons, if the person really is demonically influenced, will respond to the word, will respond to the command and if it doesn't come out through the first command or through prayer and fasting, then it's something else entirely. So don't get discouraged and say, well I've prayed and prayed and prayed and I'm still sick. If that's the case, then it's not a demonically influenced sickness. So you can check that out of the list. So number one, doubt. Number two, demons and number three, delusions. These are misconceptions. I'll never forget. I was praying for a lady. Oh man, I don't really remember where I was ministering and I'm ministering this lady. She has, I believe it was blindness in her left eye. So she comes up, she's in the prayer line and this is when I used to pray individually for each person, but the prayer lines have gotten so long recently that it would take hours and hours and everyone wants to tell you their story and always want to make sure to hear the person out. But so I stopped and I'm listening to this lady's story. She's telling me what she has to do with it. So I said, okay, let's pray. She goes, no, no, no, no, I need you to hear the whole story. Sometimes people think I have to hear it all in order for God to move.  So I stopped and I listened and she begins to tell me more. I say, okay, let's pray. I grab her by the hands. I say, Lord, in the name of Jesus, I rebuke this blindness. I ask you to heal this woman. And as I'm rebuking her blindness, she goes, no, no, no, no, no. She goes, I'm not blind. I go, oh, I'm sorry. I must, I misunderstood you then. I said, I apologize. Please tell me what are we praying for? So I'll pray for my eye. I want to see out of my left eye. I said, okay, I got a little confused and I keep praying. And then she goes, she goes, okay, we prayed and then we again and again back and forth with this and then she goes again. No, no, no, I don't have blindness. I said, okay, but we're praying for your eye so you could see out of it. Yes, I said, can you see out of your eye? Yes, I can. I said, okay, so God healed you. Yes, he did. So I tested it. She can't see. And I'm just so confused. And then until I finally realize that she is of the belief that if she says it, it's going to make it worse. And I don't know. I do believe that life and death are in the power of the tongue, but there's a line you draw with superstition and true spirituality. And she was up there saying, I mean, it was confusing me the whole time. And she's saying, well, I don't need a healing in my eye. I said, great, you're healed.  And so it went like that. It was like an Abbott and Costello kind of routine. It just went on and on and on. So after about 20 minutes of trying to understand this, I realized she just wasn't, she didn't understand what faith really was. And so she's professing all these strange things. And so I go, I go, lady, listen, if you're in a line for healing, you're acknowledging that you need a healing. If you need a healing, it means there's a sickness.  No, you have to be clear for communication's sake that God wants to heal you. Now, I remember also this other lady, I called her out and I saw a lady and I said, ma'am, I don't know who you are. And I forgot specifically what sickness it was, but it was something to do with one of her internal organs. And I said, there's a problem with this internal organ. I see it in the spirit. She goes, oh, no, no, no, I don't have that problem. I go, I didn't back down because I know the voice of the Holy Spirit. I said, no, no, no, I said, you have a problem with an internal organ. And then I think the pastor was trying to help me. I think he thought I missed it. And he said something to the effect of, well, maybe she doesn't know that she's sick. I go, no, no, no, she knows. This woman knows. I go, ma'am, I am not trying to embarrass you, but if you will step out in faith right now, God wants to heal you. And she's just kept with me for about two minutes. She's fighting me. No, no, I'm not sick. I'm not sick. Finally, she starts breaking down, crying. And she admits to me that she didn't want a professor to declare it. I didn't understand that. I'm not frustrated with these people. I'm frustrated with the devil who puts these weird ideas of people that I call them delusions that prevent them from receiving healing. I was in Chicago doing a miracle service there. And this woman is on the front row. She's got her walker. I want to pray for her. I said, ma'am, can I pray for you? She says, no, no, I don't want to receive prayer. I said, okay, no problem. I didn't want to force anything on her. But then she goes on to explain her reason to me. She says, I don't want to receive prayer because there are people here who need healing more than I do. I thought, well, that's noble. I said, but ma'am, God is eternally supplied and eternally powerful. He's not running short on miracles in heaven. Everyone here can receive their healing. And she, when I told her that, she got up and left the service. She got very angry with me. But these are strange delusions, misconceptions that people have. They said, God should heal someone else. Or I'm already healed. Or God is testing me. Or this, my sickness gives God the glory. I think it's John chapter 9, verse 3, where people get that idea from. So John chapter 9, verse 3, the scripture says, yes, this is it. It says, it was because of his sins or his parent's sins, Jesus answered. Or it was not because of his sins or his parent's sins, Jesus answered. This happened so the power of God could be seen in him. That's referring to a man who came for healing. And people said, who sinned to make this man sick? Jesus said, nobody sinned. But it happened so that God could be glorified. But notice, it's not the sickness that brought glory to God. It was the miracle that brought glory to God. So these weird misconceptions and delusions we have to be rid of if we're going to have the mind of Christ to receive what God wants to do. So number one is doubt. Number two is demons. Number three, delusions. Number four, debasement or sin. Now I know we just read in John chapter 9, verse 3, that that man in his case, nobody had sinned. And Jesus was saying, this was not because of sin. In that instance in scripture, yes, that's true. He was not sick because of sin. He was sick because of something else. But the issue here is that it's not always the case. Many times you'll find things in scripture that seem to contradict. It's not that it's a contradiction. It's that it's a different case. It's a different scenario. It's not God doing something different. People talk about grace, and then some people talk about liberalism and legalism and the difference between the two. And you can find arguments really on both sides. But we have to learn to balance scripture with scripture. So just because you see something happening in one instance and not in the other, it doesn't mean that there's a contradiction. It means that there's a principle at work that's different in each scenario. So in Acts chapter 5, verse 1-11, Ananias and Sapphira, their sin caused God to kill them. The Holies, they were dead. I mean, I wrote this, I don't, this was a while ago, maybe like six years ago. And this is when I was a little more eager. And I used to get into online battles with people in, you know, debate and theology. And I realized there's not really much fruit that comes from that. So I kind of stay out of that now. But back then I was very ambitious to just, you know, let's spread the word, let's help people believe, let's break the mindsets that keep them bound. And so I did, I was a little mischievous then. I got into this thread and I saw all these people posting about, you know, the hypergrace and how God doesn't, that the judgment of God is completely done away with.  Judgment is simply a decision or an assessment made on some objective standard. In this case, God's moral law, God's written law to the church, church principles. So we make judgments every day. Everybody makes judgments every day. You can't escape it. We're all going to do it and it's not wrong in and of itself. Some people reference Matthew chapter seven, verse one through six, where Jesus is saying, Judge not lest ye be judged, but just like four verses later, he says, if you want to judge, first remove the beam from your eye and then you can remove the speck from your brothers. But he's giving us a standard by which we should judge. And Jesus said, judge with righteous judgment. But anyway, so I get on there and I'm just watching this thread and they're all talking about how God's never judging anyone anymore. It's all just laughs and happiness and, you know, strolls to the park. And so I get on there and I'm looking and they ask, they say, name one instance in the New Testament where someone is judged. And I said, Ananias and Sapphira. And all I did was post the verse. I said, Ananias and Sapphira posted the verse. And man, that thread just blew. I think I had like 40, 50 comments within just a couple of minutes and people were just so angry that I posted a verse and I knew what I did. Like I said, I was being mischievous, a little more mischievous back then. And I actually saw a guy, he got on there. He says, well, the Bible doesn't say that God killed them. Maybe they both had heart attacks. And he was that fixed on his view that he was trying to do away with it with that. And I share that, it's a funny situation. But but the truth is that sin does cause these things. Ananias and Sapphira sinned. They lied against the Holy Spirit and they were struck down. That's New Testament guys. That's the church age. Okay. Proverbs chapter 14 verse 30. This is not metaphoric. It talks about how some sickness causes it's like a cancer to the bones. And it's not metaphoric because in the first portion it talks about how joy is health. So also in 1st Corinthians, actually I'm going to read this one. 1st Corinthians chapter 11. This one blew me away when I saw it. 1st Corinthians chapter 11 verse 27 to 31. This is what the scripture says. So anyone who eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord unworthily is guilty of sinning against the body and the blood of the Lord. This is talking about communion. Verse 28. This is why you should examine yourself before eating the bread and drinking the cup. For if you eat the bread or drink the cup without honoring the body of Christ, you are eating and drinking God's judgment upon yourself. Verse 30. This is why many of you are weak and sick and some have even died. Yeah, I know. That blew me away too when I read it. That's New Testament guys. Sin can cause sickness. I use the same anecdote that I use when referencing the demons. Sin can cause sickness but not all sickness is caused by sin as we saw in John chapter 9 verse 3. So doubt, demons, deception or you know these delusions or debasement which is sin. So if you can check all of these things off on your list, I only bring these to your attention because I want you to be healed. If you can check all these things off your list that you know it's not any of those things by scripture, by the Spirit, you really search yourself. Be like King David. Search me, oh God. Remove anything that's not of you. I don't want this to linger over your mind. I don't want this to bug you and keep you up at night because God's merciful and the Holy Spirit is very clear and some of us we get so paranoid. I'm telling you many of us we just overthink. I receive so many calls for prayer every day and often times I'm telling you for the most part it's just that Christians overthink things and they work themselves up with fear and anxiety. All of these things that really just destroy the mind and that's not God's will for you. So you'll know God will reveal these things. You know if there's sin in your life. You know if there's doubt in your heart. You know if there's a demonic influence. You know if there's delusions that you're believing. Well not that one per se but now that I brought it to your attention maybe the light's been shined there but when it comes to these things it's not difficult to deal with them. Once you've acknowledged that it's a possibility and you assess yourself you ask the Lord and if you find that it's none of those things then move on and just trust the Lord and trust in his sovereignty. I'm telling you I can't answer why God doesn't heal us all. I cannot give you that answer. That's not up to me to give. My job is to pray for the sick and to preach healing and to expose some of these obstacles. I mean I can give you an example 1st Timothy 523 where instead of Paul the apostle healing Timothy he tells him to drink a little wine in this case it's medicine for his stomach. Acts chapter 3 there's a man at the gate beautiful that if you really take a look at all of the details of it it's very likely that this same man who was healed in Acts 3 was passed up by Jesus every time Jesus passed by that gate. King David oh my goodness look at this. King David himself prayed for healing and it didn't come right when he wanted to see it. So look in Psalm chapter 6 did you know that that King David prayed for himself to be healed and wasn't responded to right away? Psalms is a big book so I got a lot to flip through but Psalm chapter 6 verse 2 through 3 says this he says have compassion on me Lord for I am weak heal me Lord for my bones are in agony I am sick at heart how long until you restore me so he's talking about he's sick in heart I don't think he means his physical heart that I think he's talking about his soul but then just above that he's talking about his bones being in agony and then look at this in Psalm chapter 30 verse number 2 the scripture tells us where he finds his healing so now he's rejoicing in verse 2 oh Lord my God I cried to you for help and you have restored my health but again we see in Psalm chapter 35 that King David actually prayed for others to be healed and they weren't healed so I'm chapter 35 verse 13 says this yet when they were ill I grieved for them I denied myself by fasting for them but my prayers returned unanswered so we see in scripture just a few examples of people who weren't healed as we thought they should be healed traditionally now the way I've reconciled this and this this works logically it doesn't there are two ways to reconcile things like this there's an emotional way then there's a logical way me I'm a logical person so I'm going to tell you how it's worked for me perhaps by coming to a logical conclusion you can find emotional peace through it but this is a this is the best explanation I've found in scripture and it may seem like a bit of a cop out but I want you to really think about this everyone eventually who follows Christ is healed just not on this side of eternity so when you look at the scriptures that promise healing they do come I think when it comes to people who aren't healed I think the main issue and I think where God's sovereignty comes into play is what it has specifically to do with the timing of the healing like I said we saw that man in Acts in Acts 3 the gate beautiful that was the timing of his healing but he was still healed so all of us will have these bodies decay and die that doesn't mean that God doesn't want to heal some of us on this side for the sake of the gospel and next week I'm going to be talking to you about the three reasons God heals but that has how I've reconciled it in my mind now that you there really is no way around it because there are no contradictions there but to some of us we may look at it and go well that doesn't really help me emotionally I mean I I logically it makes sense and it connects all the dots there's no contradictions the whole it's got the best explanatory scope from Genesis to Revelation you put that explanation in there and it fits it's really the only one that fits all the way around but then there are those who are just struggling and it's not that they want to understand it intellectually it's that they need help coping with it emotionally well number one I want to encourage you I believe God wants to heal you and I want to give you that hope because the scripture gives it to you let's believe God for your healing let's ask the Lord to reveal these things so Father I pray in Jesus name for that one watching Lord that the healing power of God would begin to flow Father you've exposed the things that prevent us from receiving healing and so Father I ask right now in the name of Jesus that as this anointing flows you would cause bones to be healed and muscles to be healed in organs and and Lord I rebuke skin diseases and brain diseases and and problems with the eyes and with the ears and with the mouth and with the nose Lord let all senses be restored let all systems be restored you form the body and surely you can heal it Lord I thank you for the power of the Holy Spirit now moving here I give you the glory Lord in Jesus name we pray and I want you to say amen well I hope that this helped bring some things light again I wanted to bring some things to your attention without causing you to feel condemned and I've I've hopefully I've done that successfully you know I'm not normally this sensitive when approaching a topic but for this one I wanted to make an exception in doing that so now I want to take this moment to welcome the new members of Spirit Church there you are up on the screen those are your names your places thank you for joining welcome to the spirit family we are praying for you and we sure do love you I want to encourage you now if this is your church to make sure you submit your tithes and your offering at this moment if you're in the app you're going to have to go and manually type in the url or the link if you're not in the app then you're going to have a link that's going to appear that you can actually click on but I love you guys praying for you maybe you're not a part of the spirit family but you do watch these videos regularly watching counter tv on television or you've come to the events or experience the power of God or the presence of God or the word of God through many of our other ministry outreaches and I want to encourage you go ahead and just sew one time gift a monthly gift everything you sew into the ministry helps us with worldwide television international events and global discipleship well that's it for this edition of Spirit Church until next time remember nothing is impossible with God


Okay, so I'm from Guelph, Zeminore Guelphus, it's in between Toronto and Kitchener Waterloo. I think you're from Guelph, right? So I run a co-working space there called 349, and a few years back when I was plotting how I was gonna get to start up festival in Montreal, I just go with a few folks.  And the first year we did it, we've done it two years, now the first year we did it, we put an AV set up on the car that we had and we had people were able to pitch and share their projects on the way to the festival and the second year we did it last year we had our own bar car, which was awesome. So we, instead of doing the presentation style we did more one-on-one mentoring and we were able to get some venture capital folks, some experienced entrepreneurs, things onto the train. So it got folks on the train a lot of one-on-one time with those folks, but then as well, when we got to Montreal there was already a bit of a, people had a bit of a crew by the time they got to Montreal, so I don't really have any slides, but anyway, these are some photos from the startup train. So we're doing that again this year, but about six months or so I'll go Albert O'Connor who runs the Watt Pi group came and pitched the idea that we should do a similar trip out to PyCon. So we are doing, so the domain is pythononrails.ca and we're, it's not snakes on a train so I should probably stop saying that because that's catchy and people will remember that, but so we're hoping to do this for both years and at this point we've, I'll just go to, anyway there's more information there. At this point we were about three quarters of the way sold out, but I wanted to come and share the project because really we just need to get the word out more into the Python community because I wanna make sure we have a bar car. So we need to sell I would say probably about 20 more tickets before we can have a bar car without me losing a mortgage payment. So if you guys, if there's, if you know anybody who's coming, like if you guys have people that are in the Toronto we have people coming from as far as Australia that are flying into Toronto and they're taking the train with us. We have people who are taking the train to PyCon that don't even tend to go to PyCon and we also have somebody coming from Montreal to take the train back to Montreal with us. By the way, if anybody here wants to do that, talk to me and we'll work out a deal on a ticket if you wanna come and take the train with us. So anyway, we're, for sure at this point we'll have our own car, but again, I'm hoping to sell a bunch more tickets so that we can have two cars, one of which is a bar car and run a lot more on train events. And again, the goal is just really to kind of build a portal in Toronto to PyCon in Montreal. So yeah, that's it. Any questions or?


Thanks for meeting me. Sure. I'd like to get your advice on my latest project. Of course! I heard you were sent to cover a big food festival that has all kinds of barbecue. So how did it go? Well, things started out great, but then, well, maybe you should watch it yourself. Hi, English learners. Your lesson today is about my favorite food, barbecue. Your assignment is to find passive sentences. What are those, you might ask? In passive sentences, the subject receives the action. For example, Anna was sent to cover a food festival. Passive sentences have a form of the B verb plus the past participle of the main verb. This lesson is loaded with passive sentences. Hey, that's a passive sentence, too. Okay now, it's barbecue time! Today, a barbecue battle is being held in Washington, D.C. This festival, which is known as one of the biggest food festivals in the United States, brings together barbecue lovers from all over the country. Barbecue is meat that is cooked over an open fire or on a grill. Chicken, pork, and beef are all common meats to grill on a barbecue. No matter which meat you like to barbecue, the sauce is very important. Sources are taken very seriously by chefs. Most ingredients are kept secret. So, can you tell us what is in your barbecue sauce? No, I can't tell you. So tell us what is the secret ingredient in your barbecue sauce? Sources are made by the barbecue chefs themselves. Most sauces are made with a tomato sauce, vinegar, and spicy food. How many passive sentences did you find? Here is one I found. Today, a barbecue battle is being held in Washington, D.C. Now you try it. Turn this sentence from active to passive. Professor Bot loves barbecue. It is loved by Professor Bot. Good job! And yes, I do! Areas of the U.S. that are known for their tasty barbecue. The states of Texas, North and South Carolina, and the cities of Memphis and Kansas City are known as the barbecue belt. People who are loyal to barbecue are really loyal to their favorite barbecue. That is why this festival is called a battle. A couple of people, which barbecue is best? Texas is the first. Carolina Barbecue is the very best. Kansas City, Memphis style. Kansas City, Texas. Texas, Texas. This is a lot of material reporting. Texas. She keeps saying Texas, I said Kansas. Kelly, people feel so strongly about barbecue. Unbelievable. So, what do you think of my project? This is what I think. There is no way that Texas has the best barbecue. I am from Kansas City, and we have the best barbecue in the whole country. My mother and father owned a barbecue restaurant, which was really famous. So, I know barbecue. Anna, I know barbecue. I know barbecue. I know barbecue. Oh my, Kelly knows a lot about barbecue. And you know more about passive sentences. Be sure you go to the website to learn even more. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm hungry.


The Indian state has launched a fresh crackdown on activists and critics. Over the past few days, the investigation into the Delhi riots of February 2020 has yet again focused on leftist and progressive leaders and activists. On September 13th, former student leader Umar Khalid was arrested in connection with the violence in February in which 53 people lost their lives. Filmmakers and activists Rahul Royan Sabha Diwan was summoned for questioning. Earlier communist party of India Marxist General Secretary Sitaram Yachari, renowned academic Jyoti Ghosh and political activists and academic Yogendra Yadav were named in a statement accompanying a supplementary charge sheet in the case. Ahead of the violence, many violent statements were made by Hindu right-wing leaders, including those of the ruling Bharatiya Janta Party. However, from the very beginning, the Delhi police has focused only on activists and politicians critical of the central government. The horrifying violence in February saw hundreds being injured and houses, shops and places of worship getting destroyed. The minority Muslim community suffered the bulk of the casualties and damage. In the months before the violence, India saw huge protests against the ruling right-wing Bharatiya Janta Party. Critics said the new law, the Citizenship Amendment Act, would lead to religion being a key factor in citizenship and would reduce Muslims to second-class citizens. These were some of the biggest protests seen in Indian history and were targeted by right-wing groups from the very beginning. After the violence in February, the Delhi police has continuously targeted those who organized these protests in the months before. The police have been building a narrative that there was a grand conspiracy by progressive activists, petitions and others to spark off violence. Voices across India have rubbished this claim and said that the Narendra Modi government is using the case to crack down on dissent. They have demanded a proper and independent investigation, including of the ruling party leaders who made provocative statements.