Dudes and dudettes welcome back to the anxious truth. This is episode number 166 I had to go back and look at my screen because I wasn't exactly sure what podcast episode this was Not keeping good enough track. Anyway, welcome back to the show podcast episode number 166 glad you're here I appreciate your time and attention as always today We are going to do something different, but I say that sometimes and then it's not all that different But today really is different. We have a guest on the podcast today my friend Laura cheetah Laura plank cheetah And for the first time in the seven-year like HEPA's history of this podcast This is not specifically a discussion about anxiety or anxiety recovery Yes, you heard me right an anxiety podcast that is not talking specifically about anxiety or an anxiety recovery But it is definitely related and applicable to the recovery process Laura is a has a very interesting story. She's a really great human being she's got a lot to offer and she is going to tell us a story about Really being knocked on her rear end by life Maybe not specifically about anxiety by anxiety, but other issues relationship issues and things of that nature and the path She has taken since then to pick herself back up dust herself back off and get back to a life That she is proud to live and happy to live right now. So sometimes we have to take our Motivation wherever we can get it and our inspiration wherever we can get it And sometimes it's good to put down the anxiety suffer a little bit and when I was introduced to Laura by a mutual friend And I heard her story. I said, ooh this this would be good person for me to talk to on the air So here we are. I think you're gonna enjoy Laura's story. She's interesting. She's friendly. She's accessible. She's bubbly She's very positive and she lived through some really dark things and the way she came out of it And the way she is kind of sharing that experience with others to me is just a lot of what the world needs and I appreciate her So you will hear Laura talk about you know going through some really dark times You will hear Laura talk about having to pick herself up when she did not want to pick herself up and more than anything else You'll hear Laura talk about the way she incorporated Trying new things taking risks being playful and willing to like kind of go out on a limb into her What would for be for us a recovery story for her her getting her life back story It's a good thing because there's direct parallels there like trying things that you don't really want to try You're afraid it's not gonna work. You're afraid how it's gonna feel when you do it There you go. Like what she's talking our language just in a slightly different topic So without further ado, I will get on to the interview guys are gonna dig Laura Hopefully like I did and at the end I will come back and give you all her links and everything like I usually do Hope you guys enjoy it. I will see you at the end All right peeps here. She is the one the only Laura cheetah Laura what up? The one the only I like that intro so glad to be here Drew. I'm gonna build you up Yeah, I'm gonna hike this up So as I mentioned in the intro Laura is a bit of a departure from what you're used to hearing on the podcast, right? Because I and we'll get into this as we interview a little more But what we're gonna really talk about today is that story of going from absolutely shattered To back in the saddle and like actually doing life and clearly doing it. Well, at least that's what I think so Laura came to me through a mutual acquaintance Mia Voss and Mia has nothing but great things to say about Laura and your story is so compelling to me that I think it could be very Inspirational so tell the people tell the peeps the audience here a little bit about yourself Alrighty, I was a former corporate attorney and I really felt like I had everything together You know as a perfectionist I did everything possible to have the perfect career The perfect family. I married the perfect man. I was the perfect I really struggled hard to do that To the point that I was definitely sacrificing myself and then 23 years in To what I thought was this great life that I had built. I Find out that my husband has cheated on me for 15 of those years with five different women and The the level The the way I was shattered. I was gutted because it was everything. It was my life I had all of my memories. Are they real? Are they not real the way he acted the way we talked to me What what's real and what's not real it?  I mean like literally anything that I have ever done. Yeah, I thought yeah I Didn't my future was gone. My past was gone myself confidence was gone my you know body shame I mean you name it it brought everything up in Literally a matter of moments. Yeah, I can imagine that is like you cannot get a clear example of His the last 23 years actually been real who am I what am I what is this? Like you have the foundations just ripped right out from under you Yeah, yeah, and I think it's probably important to recognize in a situation like this that it has nothing to do with the fact that your Life was built on him But you know it is built on assumptions about a relationship and intimacy and trust and the things that you have built together And that boom that gets ripped out from under you Yes, and I love that you said that because when I found out my youngest was about to go away to college And when I said earlier, you know, I'm sacrificing myself. I'm not doing that like in a martyr mode like oh I'm just such a hard worker. I thought I was sacrificing for us for the relationship So my for my family I'm doing the right thing and yay now our youngest is going away Now we can go into our life now. I can get my career back I thought we were a partnership. Yeah. Yeah, and as it turns out not so much that is incredible I mean, I don't know how many years that has been enough But holy cow, I can only say I'm sorry because that's insane like 15 or 23 years. Yeah So, you know, and I think people I know there are people listening that can relate to this exactly as it is Even though that's not necessarily what I'm usually addressing But so now you find yourself completely in a situation where did you feel helpless like now? Can I even take care of myself? What could even get out of bed? Yes I was literally on the on the floor crying and to make matters worse one of my coping skills is movement is dance Yeah, when I was finding out during disclosure, we got into a little altercation with his phone and my toe broke So in the middle of all of that I have a broken toe and I can't go outside and walk I can't dance or work out or move and I literally just laid there and cried because I couldn't get my head wrapped around Anything yeah, yeah, I bet let's let's address that the injury for second here because we need to keep it in context I don't want anybody listening to do. Oh boo-hoo. She had a broken toe like I can't even get in the bed because I'm agoraphobic What we're looking for here is parallels. I mean, these were challenges I want to talk about how Laura met these challenges and we never compare one person's challenge to another. We know that so Thank you for that and no the fact that I couldn't walk doesn't really matter and it's not that big of a deal Well, it mattered what it does as my coping skill My coping skill was movement my coping skill was getting out of nature and when your go-to coping mechanism is taken away Yeah, holy cow. All right really universe. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah, I appreciate that because I don't have enough piled on me right now Right. Yeah, you know and again there are parallels because for a lot of people who are dealing with the anxiety disorders I'm addressing all the time they find themselves in these strained relationships be they romantic relationships or family relationships or friendships and Those people in their lives become their coping Foundation in a way when I don't feel well. I go to my husband. I go to my girlfriend I go to my partner. I go to my best friend when those relationships either disappear or get weakened They're coping skin the mechanism is taken away. So now now you're literally hanging out there. You're flapping in the wind So what happens? Yeah, that's a good question. What happens? Yeah, um, it was I had interesting Self-talk moving between my head like what should I be doing? Okay? Well, this coping mechanism has taken away What can I do?  You deserve this. No, you don't deserve this at all This is not you. This is him. These are his choices. These aren't you and I would bounce back and forth Yeah, and I felt crazy. I felt totally Helpless crazy and overwhelmed because it's everything. Okay. Can I get a new job and start? You know taking care of myself. Sure. Can I find a new place to live? Sure. Can I have a divorce? Sure. Can I figure this out? Sure all at once? No Yeah, that's a tough one and I think that whole You know, there's so much going on here that whole situation, right exactly where now you have to can I do these things? Can I yes, I can yes. Yes, you can do all those things but in the end the fact that you don't have anybody to rely on anymore you have no backup and Everything that you thought you knew you can't rely on anymore. So when you say I feel like I'm crazy I think that's the thing that a lot of people listening going to resonate with Especially if they're coming from a traumatic or abusive background where they were Almost taught over a long period of time. See, here's the interesting thing for a lot of my listeners They were taught over a long period of time that they're crazy that they can't trust themselves that you know They're gaslighted. They're they're you know kind of manipulated emotionally and mentally you had it happen Clearly it was going on. You just didn't know it was boom the switch got flipped Instantaneously now you don't even know if you can trust your own thoughts your own judgment your own anything Nope, so how do you move forward when you're not even sure that you can trust what you know? Like I had it I got fooled so easily how the hell can I make good decisions here? That had to be part of it Yeah, oh that was a huge part of that because if I can't trust myself How can I trust myself to go forward? How can I pick a good therapist? How can I know which friends are true? How how how how how how yeah?  Yeah, and that Was kind of a turning point for me because you know as I mentioned earlier I'm like this go getter and this perfectionist. I'm gonna take care of things and for somebody to say uh-uh Yeah, you can muck around and you can sob and you can process and you can rage For as long as you need to Was that was that hard for you to actually buy into? Perfectionism is a very common theme in the stuff that I talk about Was it hard for you to abandon that because it's super hard for perfectionist first of all to accept that as not a good thing Because at some point you get confronted with the idea that oh, I thought that that was a badge of honor But actually it's kind of killing me a little bit now Right, so how hard was it for you to accept that okay? I cannot solve this problem in its entirety instantaneously It's gonna happen in little tiny steps over a long period of time and right now if the best I could do is rock in the corner And cry for 10 minutes. That's what I'm gonna have to do before I make lunch Yeah, absolutely hard to deal with that was very hard. Yeah Yeah, so the disc we're kind of discomfort that's that bring about now now You cannot be the person corporate attorney, you know now in a completely different situation right a lot of discomfort and a lot of I Knew that I needed to dig into myself. I knew not that I took blame for it. I did earlier on But not that I wanted to take the blame for it, but I also was curious about what my role in it was What Unmet needs did I have? What what in me that allowed that and There was again that balance that it's not a blame But what what why could I not trust my voice? Why could I not see that? Why could I not know and there was a curiosity piece? That did actually keep me moving forward to and again It's that it's that fuzzy line because it's not that I'm blaming myself But it's like clearly there's some things about myself that I don't know That's this is fascinating. We could probably spend an hour just on this little sliver of thing that you just said right here the propensity to When you see that because now you're forced like a big light is showing on you and it's like okay Well clearly I was doing some things you aren't doing anything his what he did was completely his responsibility and not yours Yes, but you're willingness to understand. Well, I you know, what does this tell me about me? What can I learn about me often turns into just self-ladulation like I'm the worst I'm a failure. I did clearly this was my fault. He couldn't love me blah blah blah whatever it happens to be That is such a razor's edge to stand on though of the self-awareness that well, I might have things to work on now That doesn't involve just continually going back to I'm the worst. I'm a failure. I'm the worst. I'm a failure like The curiosity part to me Razor's edge, I mean Oh my gosh, no, no, no, no, I would tank and I would climb back up and I'd be like But what about and then I would tank and then I'd climb back up and I'd figure something out Let's talk about the climbing back up part because for people listening who now They're doing the hard work of trying to recover from these disorders and it is hard work Is they're intentionally doing really scary stuff every day, right?  What was the key to turning that back around? the key for me was What kind of a person do do I know myself to be and what kind of a person do I want to end up because I Knew some bitter old people You know, I knew Really bitter grouchy Awful people who were just me and so filled with resentment and he did this to me and and I kept thinking I don't want that doesn't feel good Yeah, and my goal is to make myself feel better and doesn't feel good to hate on him and hate those women and No Or yourself Yeah, that's what turning my life over to this and I am not Going to turn my life any over anymore I gave 23 years and it's my life and it's my choice now And I don't really care and it was that fury sometimes and that anger and that determination That would literally help me climb back up because I was not gonna give them the satisfaction Well, I'd like you guys listening to really take it a couple seconds here And wherever you hear a reference to Laura's ex-husband I want you to put your anxiety disorder in because you are you are telling a parallel story clearly different circumstances But I am not going to give my life to this thing in your case Yeah, I failed marriage that was based on infidelity and lies In their case this this anxiety disorder that has been plaguing them for so long I am not going to give the rest of my life to this thing Fuel in the tank. Yes. Did it did it light a fire when you needed to fire. Yeah, huge fire. Yeah So let's talk a little bit you have such an interesting story in terms of the things that you have done like Honestly, what made me I don't remember. I think it was you reached out to me Mia connected us and like hey, I'm an attorney turned burlesque dance on I'm like How can I not talk to this woman who else has this story? So how does that all fit into this? What did you build? I mean, is that something you were always doing? I Started burlesque dancing when I was about 44 disclosure of the infidelity was after that about 10 years after now I always dance growing up when I said movement and walking was a coping mechanism. I crave movement I love physical movement. I dance growing up. I've always worked out and taught fitness I just love moving. Yeah, I'm a mover. You know, so when I was Doing the mom thing and taking care of my family and sacrificing myself and being perfect. Yay, rah, rah, rah, rah I really let my own needs go. I Absolutely put myself on the back burner and I didn't do anything Burlesque was a way that I reclaimed myself all of a sudden. I'm like forget it I love to dance. I deserve to spend money on dance classes I deserve to take time away and I want to perform again So I found burlesque and I loved it because it's it's a parody. It's humorous it's ironic and There is some Stripping it's never ever ever ever ever nudity. Yeah But it's the stripping away of the layers to show something that's underneath and I was like, oh my gosh Amen to that. I mean, that's what I love strip away those masks strip away the costumes Yeah, what's the armor that you're wearing strip down and show it? So I'm doing burlesque and I'm loving it and you know my husband's loving it And this is this great hobby and it was an interesting thing too because then when I find out about the burlesque or the infidelity Then there's this judgment on burlesque that all of a sudden I think people are gonna blame me People are gonna think she is this crazy stripper woman Yeah, and of course he left because she's probably doing it too because that's so counterculture weird and then that was like these other layers of shame and It was like Wait a minute the infidelity happened before I started there isn't a relation But how do you untangle all of that? Oh boy? Yeah, that's so good because so many times things do get tangled up It is possible to have more than one problem at the same time They might coexist, but they are not related and it you had you had that Right.  You earned your stripes. You were doing that whole thing. How did that fit in?  I don't want to completely Cause my family to become unhinged So I was I was cautious with this I would I was tentative with it And I really had to kind of explore some of the patriarchy Stereotypes why can't a woman be smart? and sexy yeah, why can't she be spiritual and sexy and The more Everything is burlesque life is burlesque and that's the whole ironic part about it I can be a Brilliant corporate attorney and I can strip down and be really sexy and I can get on my knees and be very spiritual And I can be a good mom Why can't I right right all of those things? Yeah, if you don't think I can be it's your Problem not mine. Yeah, sure that makes perfect sense I like the confidence story here although clearly you had to have some confidence going into this naturally I mean you're not gonna get where you are without it, but it sounds like a whole other There's a whole nother layer, you know of the whole nother. It's a whole nother layer of confidence That's probably more deeply rooted than just the typical like yes overachieving career woman mom with everything There's confidence there, but this sounds deeper there there's Yes, there's confidence there There's also a lot of passion there That I can be who I am and you cannot tell me who and how I can be yeah Yeah, okay, well on the mirror side of that though. There is a deep deep deep desire to please There is a deep deep deep desire I knew you're gonna go there You know yeah, yeah, not be wrong to please okay, okay. Yes. I don't want to feel that Yeah, nobody does, but I'm I'm an only child and as an only child you please people Yeah, so does that lead to because perfectionism and people pleasing these are all for the My audience has heard this stuff over and over these are gad drivers generalized anxiety disorder drivers in a big way and they underlie a lot of these disorders, right so Part of the part and parcel of that is being able to let go of some of these things Maybe I'm not a perfectionist. Maybe I'm not gonna please everybody all the time Which is really hard because it's a bit of a threat to your identity Did you did you have to work through that like what if I'm not the perfect person? Yes, yes, and I worked through a lot of it. It sounds funny But on stage in burlesque stripping out of that perfection literally and physically. Yeah Yeah, look at look at what this course it does to my body Guess what? I've had two babies and I've nursed for two years. My body's not that way again. Want to see it? Yeah, yeah, right jokes on everybody. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, that's a tremendous look that sounds terrifying Just like yeah terrifying and liberating at the same time And I think so much of the the journey that people listening are going through is that these are terrifying things These are different things. These are things you prefer probably not to do if you didn't have to But there's also liberation on the other side of those things Yes, and what I have found Every single time I lean into something that I'm terrified of the fear of that thing is greater Than the experience of actually doing that thing. Yeah, the fear is greater than the experience. Yes. Yeah in the beginning Yes, yeah, and if you can just kind of if you listen, that's the secret sauce as always if you could just kind of go through The fear. Yeah, as if it's easy. It's not the reward at the end is so much greater Like you did you ever look back and say wow that was all the stuff you've been through like that was I felt impossible But maybe it wasn't as bad as I thought it was gonna be Right and this was an experience too and again this came from dance and the lessons that I learned, you know On the burlesque stage translates so well to life Okay, is it terrifying enough getting up on stage at 44? You know having a mom body and dancing again, you're not totally naked, but you're showing your belly Who wants to do that? You know nobody? Yeah, nobody nobody does so you do it and then you get this response from people Thank you for doing that. Oh, you have shown me I can be free I would get women coming up to me after performances all the time saying I can be beautiful now Oh, you and you're like, oh Oh Unintended side effect right there, right? Yeah. Yeah, and then it bolsters you.  Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah One of the coolest things and we'll kind of start to get toward you know Where you are now what you're doing and this is where that the plot twist will come in because I know people listening Don't know who you are and they have not probably have not seen you and they're when they find out what you do They're gonna be like how did she sneak on because But you'll notice look at the parallels here And here's the part that I kind of dig what I see you at least what I know of you And I can only tell what I know of you on social media.  It's okay to let your guard down. It's okay to let it all hang out It's okay to try different things that is what I dig and the way you seem to be delivering that message Looks so different Than the 10,000 other people who are doing what you're doing. So I want to give you credit for that for that Thank you for that. Yes. That means a lot. So how did you turn this into what you are doing these days? And I like to term life choreographer Hang in there folks. Don't get the pitchforks and torches. Let's just listen to Laura here So much is born from your own pain, you know from your own identity because as I'm going through this experience I'm needing so much. I'm needing some therapy. I may be needing some coaching. I'm needing some books I'm needing some spiritual stuff, but I'm needing some movement too because that's who I am and I just kind of Backstepped into it.   It's stripping down Let's strip down. What are you afraid of? What is the mask that you're wearing? What's underneath that mask? You don't know. I didn't know either. Yeah until it was ripped away from me. I didn't know who I was and Let's play. Yeah. Yeah, let's play. That's what I really like You do seem to make it very playful and safe in a way It's like, hey, let's let's try some crazy stuff here in a safe environment and Trying crazy stuff is a great way to maybe break some of those old Barriers and bonds of like I'm not capable. I need to be under wraps. I don't want people to see me I have to make sure I'm taking care of everybody else except for me How did you because this is so strange in a way you go from like I'm living for everybody else To living for yourself to a certain extent now clearly still concerned about your family and your and your kids and stuff But a lot of people struggle with that. Did you struggle with that? Like am I being selfish? This is selfish, isn't it? I'm not supposed I'm not entitled to this. Yes. Yeah. Heck.   What are they gonna do for dinner? Yeah, yeah, there is very little support in our society for taking care of ourselves. I've seen your pictures of your kids They ate Congratulations, Laura's kid. They survived so it worked out This is great. So what are you doing with yourself now? So what is what is a life choreographer and what are you up to? Yeah, oh, thank you. I work with people who've been betrayed and betrayal is a huge thing whether it's betrayed by your body in terms of like menopause or a disease where you're relying on something and all of a sudden whoop the rugs ripped out from under you So it's betrayed by life your body or by somebody you love and what I really help people do is flourish What does flourish mean to you? It might it means something so different for me than from you from for anybody else Yeah, but it's getting clear on what kind of a life. Do you want to live? How do you want to be? How do you want to show up? Do you want like I want to be playful and fun and flirty flirty is my energy. Yeah How do you want to be? Most people don't know how they want to be most people are fighting, you know like that an anxiety disorder fighting with the Spouse fighting with kids fighting with the job and they all know all of the stuff that they don't want Yeah, well, what do they want and that's what a life choreographer does What do you want? Let's play. Let's experiment. Is it dancing? Nope. Is it soccer? Nope. Is it our nope? Let's play. Is it guitars right? Who knows? Let's figure it out Yeah, and I think I love the idea that you have actually put because there's about a zillion places out there. Oh Those are your wind chimes No, oh That's my alarm. Duh nevermind So anyway, I let you know, well I help look that we hear that every day I help women flourish. I help people 10x and flourish But I like the idea that you are literally holding up a model of action Activity that says it doing because we talk all the time in the podcast, but this is a doing solution And you know, so maybe yours is focused on movement and dance and that sort of experimentation But it doesn't necessarily mean you're going to wind up being a burlesque dancer or even a yoga guru But it's a way to just break out of the routine and the ordinary and start to at least experience different things And and questioning yourself and challenging yourself and allowing new experiences to come in and I think that leads to flourishing in the end Yes, it does Just this weekend I was working with a woman and we did this little dance move where you just crash your legs and put your hands on your knees And I was like, well, what came up with you your your face shifted and she's like My hand on my knee just brought in all these sensations and oh my gosh And and it kind of felt good and then should it feel good and is that and like that? Yeah, let's see what comes up Who knows like and having the bravery to just experience different things different feedback different sensory different kinetic experiences And the reactions that you have yourself and other people have to those things There's a tremendous that's that's flexing your bravery muscle right there Yeah, it is and then I asked her to take her arms up and be like ooh, and she's like I'm not going to do that Yeah, he's like it makes me mad that you ask that Okay Then let's let's talk about that. Is that an expression thing? We know is it fewer around there? I mean again, it's it's digging deep. What is the pain point? Where do you want to be able to do this? Do you not want to be able to do it? Where do you want to be? How do you want to live your life? But nothing else It was the experience of of you asking that person to do that and then they got to experience their reaction Which they might not have even known was going to happen But that's a that's a learning moment. That's a classroom moment right there. So Yeah, you got good stuff going on. I kind of dig it So where can we're about 20 minutes? So we'll wrap it up here So if people want to find you and I'll put all the links by the way I don't know what podcast episode this is going to be so keep listening after and I'll tell everybody You can go to the anxious truth comm slash whatever and I'll have all Laura's links But how can people find you online lore if they want to learn? They can find me across all social media laura cheetle They can also find me on my website laura cheetle.com and that is la Cheetle is ch ea d le right? Yes. Yes, and I also have a betrayal recovery guide at naked self worth.com Because I talk a lot about naked self worth. Just who are you naked? Who are you stripped down? Who are you underneath? Super anxiety. Yeah, the trauma. Yeah, all those things. I and I appreciate you I do appreciate the message and the I don't know. You just you just seem like such a safe person to explore with Thank you, and maybe you are maybe you're not I could be wrong, but you appear to be that I do appreciate I'd like to think I am so thank you Very non-judgmental and willing to let people just be silly and play and explore and that's kind of cool And you know if that sounds like something that you guys would be interested just go follow laura Even if there's you know, there's not a whole lot for sale there, but she's just a cool person to know so do it Anyway laura. Thank you so much for taking the time. I appreciate it. Thank you. I enjoyed it. Yeah, we can do it again sometime Yeah, absolutely. All right. See you guys in a bit. I'll be back in a second Alrighty then. I hope you guys enjoyed that here. We are back in the studio I love to say back in the studio means nothing. Anyway, I really enjoyed that conversation I hope you did too. I hope you got some things out of it Laura's lessons that she learned that she's passing on to people really are applicable in recovery They really are and it was nice to have somebody Give us a different view of those kind of lessons coming from slightly different experience and applying it a little bit differently But laura's willingness to encourage people to get out there and do things that make them uncomfortable And take risks and fail if you must pick yourself back up. I love that message. I really do So this was a great episode for me to do. I enjoyed it again I hope you guys did too. Hope you got something out of it If you would like to find laura you can find her at laura cheetle Cheetle is C-h-e-a-d-l-e dot com But you can also go to the anxious truth comm slash one six six For the show notes for this episode I will have all laura's links her website or social media and everything right there And before signing off I'm going to ask you the same favor that I always do if you're watching if you're listening to the podcast on itunes Or some platform that lets you leave a rating or a review then leave a rating five stars would be awesome Whatever the highest is take another minute or so Maybe write the podcast a little review if you're digging it because good reviews help other people find the podcast And that's why I spend the time that I do to try and spread this around and help as many people as I can So I would greatly appreciate it if you did that for me And I do appreciate the time and attention you guys give me Week in and week out. It's overwhelming. I did not ever think that it would turn into this But it has and and I appreciate you guys for that So as always I'll play you out with afterglow by my friend ben drake You can find ben and his music at ben drake music dot com go check him out Ben thank you as always for letting me use afterglow. I will see you guys in the next episode and remember This is the way


Art resin alcohol ink is a highly saturated, dramatic colorant for your art. Art made with alcohol ink is vibrant, mesmerizing, fun to make, and easy. In this video, we'll show you a variety of ways you can use alcohol ink to make amazing works of art. Petri dish art like this is made by encasing alcohol ink in art resin. To make it, you'll need art resin alcohol ink, ink sinker, art resin epoxy resin, and a silicone mold. Oh, and some disposable gloves and mixing accessories. Supplies can be found on artresin.com. First, mix up a batch of art resin according to the instructions.  This will catalyze the mixture so that it will eventually cure. Pour the mixture into your mold about halfway. Then, just drop in your favorite colors straight from the alcoholic bottles, and use the ink sinker to push the colors through the resin. This is the key to getting those squiggles, tendrils, and branch-like effects in your art. A good ratio to go by is two color drops to one ink sinker drop, and it's best to aim for no more than 45 drops per 4-inch mold so that the resin cure can still happen as planned. By switching up a few small details, you can achieve different results. For example, try dripping the ink sinker first, and then the color to see that effect. You can try using no ink sinker if you like the look of the alcohol ink just sitting on the surface of the resin. You can choose to pre-mix your colors with the ink sinker in a separate container if you want pastel or tinted colors with no visible white showing. Lastly, you may notice that the colors spread well in resin that has just been mixed. If you want to keep them more contained, wait 30 minutes and then do your drops. This way time will allow some curing to occur, which will make it harder for the colors to spread. No matter how you decide to go about your Petri dish art, all options are beautiful and fun to make. When you're finished, cover the entire mold to protect it from dust and wait about 24 hours. The next day, you can de-mold your piece and see how they turned out. There are other awesome things you can do with Art resin alcohol ink. They work exceptionally well on Yupo paper, which is a plastic-based paper. The ink will sit on top without soaking in, and the colors stay vibrant. Ink sinker can be used as a white alcohol ink on Yupo. We recommend mounting your alcohol ink Yupo-based designs on wood panel and coating with Art resin epoxy resin to see those colors really pop. You can experiment with collage and other substrates to make the art you want. All the supplies seen here are available on ArtRisen.com.


Our first caller is MJ from California. Hey MJ, how can we help you? That's my son's initial. Hi guys. I have a question regarding my new fitness goals. I started training maybe two years ago, doing mostly high intense interval training. And about a year ago, my husband started joining me, which was great because he had high cholesterol and his physician wanted to put him under Lipitor. But just through diet and exercise, his cholesterol level went down and he's doing great right now. But I also start incorporating strength training into my schedule. And basically long story short, I've gone through 120 pounds to now 135 pounds. And I still want to get more goals in terms of muscle mass. I am eating around 2,500 calories a day right now. And I went from 1350 to 2,500.  I used to train four times a day, upper body, lower body split right after I trained with him. And that kind of burned me out. So I stopped doing that for the month of August and I've been just doing dumbbell training with him, but I miss the barbell. Okay, so your goal is to build more strength, MJ? Can I say that again? I'm sorry, your goal is to build more strength in muscle? Yes, actually yes. But before I wanted to build more muscle because I like the physique of stronger legs. My physique is long. I don't have much shape. But I know I just miss the lifting heavy, like deadlifts and, you know, squats and things like that. Okay, so to summarize, your question is you want to gain more strength, maybe a little bit more muscle and want some advice on your workout routine. Is that correct? Right, and I've been doing this for a while. It's not that I get super tired. I can do strength training after with my husband. And I know you guys say basically what you can, does it mean you should do it? Just working out makes me really happy. It's therapeutic for me. I meditate. I think of ideas. I'm a researcher. I work out. I think of experiments to do. And it aligns very well with my lifestyle. Well, before we give a recommendation, I think the first thing is to commend what you've already accomplished. The fact that you went from 1,300 to 2,500 calories and you're maintaining it sounds like a pretty good weight in physique is phenomenal.  My question is, are you doing hit training three to four days a week? And also, how many days are you actually lifting per week? Well, right now, let me think, just with dumbbells. Like all together, everything you're doing. How many days a week are you weight training and exercising? What's that look like? Five. Five days a week. And of the five days, are all of them with weights or is that some cardio days? Are you doing five days of weight training? Yes. So I do one a hit day, which is just 30 minutes. Okay. And then the rest is mixed. And your hit training is 30 minutes long? Yeah. So that's a little long for hit training. Typically, you want to do maybe 15 minutes of hit training that kind of maximizes its effects. After that, it starts to become more like steady state cardio, even though you may have the form and the programming that looks like hit training. Just as you stretch it out, it starts to become more endurance focus. Here's the other thing. You said it's therapeutic for you to exercise. You'll love the way it feels. But you also maybe want to do less to build more muscle. This reminds me of the statement, I want my cake and I want to also eat it, right?  So how can I have both? You can't necessarily have both. And that's okay. Pick the one that works better for you. One thing you can try is you could try to reduce the time that you do hit training. So maybe don't cut it out, but cut it down to about 15 minutes and then observe how your body responds. My guess would be that just cutting the hit down to 15 minutes will do a couple of things. One, the hit training will probably automatically become a little more intense because it's shorter. And two, you'll probably notice more strength gains from doing so because now the body is going to prioritize strength a little bit over endurance because you've reduced that time. I'll be even more specific. I mean, I would love to see you run maps anabolic three days. So if you like the five days a week that's therapeutic, I don't want to change that, right? So I don't want to tell you stop going to the gym or stop working out five days a week. So let's continue. Yeah, I work at a home. Okay. So let's continue working out five days a week. But the way I would prefer it to look is three days a week of maps anabolic, one day of your 15 to 20 minute hit training because you like it. And then maybe a mobility day. That would be a perfect, because I love where your calories are at.   That looks really good. So you're doing a hell of a job right now. I think if you just want to build and sculpt and shape the body more, I would reduce the intensity as far as the hit training in there. I put more emphasis on full body strength training, get back to those deadlift squats and more of a maps anabolic routine. And that would be your core. So that would be your three days a week foundational training. And then I'd let you do a day of like mobility type of training flow session. And then on the other day, you can do your hit training. Now I'm confused. And you brought up your husband in terms of being like the accountability. Yeah. Okay. So have you guys actually ran a program together? Is this something you've just been trying to kind of help him with? No. I'm basically done my own research and changed my composition and then he saw that and he wanted to, you know, tag along with me. So we just do whatever I come up with. But obviously I don't have the experience as you guys do. I'm, this is just out of, you know, hobby. And I feel like we reached like a plateau and then we want to have further and further strength. And also if I don't wake up in the morning and wake him up and, you know, get a workout down before the kids wake up, I know he's not going to do it. So I want him to keep on doing it. Well, I think it's, it, this is a clear way to help in terms of like having a plan of action that he can also kind of look through himself. I know that was something that really helped me and my wife was to finally at least like both look at a program that we could, you know, both do together. And that was something that like it, it takes a lot of pressure off of you in terms of having to drum that up every single time. And so yeah, like to, to Adam's like suggestion, like maps in a blog, I think would be a great one for you both to kind of look at. You know, MJ, I, I really appreciate as a trainer, I really appreciated training clients that were, you know, research minded or research focused. I have trained researchers in the past. And I like it because obviously you've been trained to be more objective than I guess the average person, which is excellent when it comes to fitness because it's so hard sometimes to be objective when you mix in your own personal aesthetic goals and insecurities. And you know, we all have body image issues to one extent or another. And so it can be very hard to be objective with just yourself, but because your research minded, you know, you're more trained to look at the data. Here is this is a great example. And one of the best ways you can learn in fitness kind of through that lens is to follow a template that is tried and true. Okay. And here's what you'll get from it. I'm not asking you to follow maps and a bullet blindly, although that would be perfectly fine from my perspective. I know it'll do great for you. Follow the program and then pay attention. Pay attention to how you feel. Pay attention to the different phases, the organization of the exercises, why you're doing particular number of sets and reps, how your body's feeling, how your husband is reacting and responding. And what'll happen through this process is it'll accelerate your knowledge of how to program for yourself much faster than if you didn't necessarily follow a tried and true template. Does that make sense? Yeah, it does. And actually what I like is that I feel like I'm my own experiment. So sometimes I switch my macros and then I see my body reacting differently. And that was also my other question. Should I keep my macros the same or should I go higher or lower? She's got a good breakdown. Yeah, your breakdown looks excellent. I mean, maybe add a little bit.  That'll help you. But we're going to send you maps and a ball like and I also want to send you maps prime to help you with mobility and priming sessions. I think also just from talking to you, I think you're going to get a lot of value. Maps prime is extremely valuable to people who really want to understand how the body moves, how muscles connect, you know, proper mobility, which is extremely valuable. You learn that and everything else is a lot easier when you learn that part of it. I would actually let your body tell you what to do with the cow. I think you're in a very healthy, good place, calorie and macro place. But if you switch over to maps and a ball, what we might see because one of the most common things that we hear from feedback from maps and a ball is, oh my God, my appetite increase. Yeah. So you might actually feel that if you do feed.  So there's nothing wrong with that. So I would start there. But if you notice as you start going to a ball like your appetite starts ramping up, feed the body. Just make good choices. Eat how you're eating. Just add a few hundred more calories to that with the same balance that you have going on right now. So let your body tell you what it needs to do from there. There's a good chance when you start running maps and a ball like that, your appetite might increase a little bit and don't be afraid to go ahead and feed it a little bit more. Yeah. That's a very good sign. So we'll send those two programs over to you, MJ. Thank you so much. No problem. That's a common question. Took a minute to unpack that one. It did. It's a common question. I'm doing this, but I also want to get this and I'm doing that. There's no, I mean, unless you're training inappropriately, there isn't necessarily a wrong answer. And a lot of people are in this kind of conundrum. How many times have we gotten the question, I want to get faster at running, but I also want to get a higher max deadlift. I also want to get bigger. Yeah. So it's like, okay, you can get a little of both, but you can't get a lot of either. And that's totally fine. In fact, you know what I used to tell clients who did this, who were really into this like dichotomy, like goals, is I would say, all right, for three months, let's focus on one. And then the next three months, focus on the other. And it's a lot of fun doing that. That's actually one of my favorite ways to train myself and to train. Well, the only reason why I would even suggest switching or changing something up is that she's said that she's had a plateau and she still wants to change her body. Yeah. I mean, the other part, I mean, she's having great results with her husband. She's having great results with herself. She went from 1,300 to 2,500 calories. Are you kidding me? Yeah, that's right. That's phenomenal. And she's happy. Like, if that was just it, I would say, hey, stay the course. Things are going great for you. Maybe switch up your routine a little bit or whatever to try to break through the plateau. But because she's trying to change her physique, right? She's trying to sculpt a little bit different. Like, I mean, that's the only reason why I think there's a purpose to, like, really switch her from the way she's training to, like, more of a MAPS anabolic type of phase. Otherwise, it sounds like she's doing phenomenal.


Good evening! How's everybody doing? Good. Welcome to the west side of San Antonio. Thank you to all the folks at the Guadalupe Center. Thank you to Gabriel and everybody who are hosting us this evening. My name is Joaquin Costa and I'm the congressman for District 20 here in San Antonio. This is my wife, Ana, my kids, Andrea and Roman. And I know there's somebody that looks like me in this town. It used to be the mayor. And he was very helpful in planning this and spreading the word. But my brother got caught up in New York today and so isn't that to join us. My sister in law, Erica, is here and my niece, Karina, my nephew, is here. I want to say to all of you, each and every one of you, thank you for being here this evening. Recently, this administration changed its policy with respect to immigrants at the border. It is now standard government policy to separate young mothers from their children who present themselves at the border. They're separating young children from their mothers. And the mothers and fathers sometimes for days, weeks and even longer don't know where their children are. And today is not about politics. I'm not speaking to you as a Democrat. And I hope you don't hear me as a Republican or a Democrat or an independent or libertarian. This is very much a call to conscience. This is about what our nation fundamentally stands for. And I'll have some more remarks in just a second. But before I go further, I want to start us off with a few prayers to open. The first one is by a wonderful Rabbi, Rabbi Mara Nathan.  Each ethnic group in our country has a story to tell. As a Jew, my family's journey to America from Eastern Europe in the early 1900s was spurred on by religious violence and persecution, poverty and discrimination. The members of my family of thousands of other Jewish families were separated for months and even years, sometimes forever. Wretched and dangerous complications across the Atlantic Ocean were endured. Horrible working and living conditions were tolerated. All of this to ensure safety and a better future for the members of the family who would come after. So whether your family has been here for seven generations or for seven months, your people also came here for a better, safer future. I am sure that your people's story is very much the same. But it is easy to forget where we came from. It is easy to disregard how each of us has at some time been seen as the other. We must not forget, we cannot turn away. We must not violate our American heritage as a nation of immigrants. As a person of faith, I looked at the prophetic tradition of the Hebrew Bible for inspiration and guidance on how to live my life. The Bible tells us again and again that we are commanded to welcome the stranger. We are commanded again and again to protect the widow, the orphan, all the vulnerable in our midst. We are commanded to welcome the stranger for we were strangers in the land of Egypt. The separation of migrant children from their families at the border is abhorrent and cruel. The reported physical mistreatment of minors including pregnant teens and those who have recently given birth, as well as the separation of children as young as 18 months old from their parents is horrific. As Americans, as people of faith, as human beings, we cannot justify these actions. There must be a more compassionate way. At this moment we have come together to be informed, to protest, but also to pray. And so let us pray. Holy one on high, our hearts are broken to see our fellow human beings treated with cruelty. Our hearts are broken when we hear of small children being torn from their mother's arms. When we imagine their fears, when we imagine their tears, we shed tears as well. Protector of all, grant these parents and children strength to endure the journey of their lives. Let them feel our love and concern. Let them know that though they suffer, their plight is not unknown. Granger of compassion and view our leaders with compassionate hearts and sound minds, inspire them to make decisions that protect our borders, yes, but also decisions that protect the safety and dignity of those who cry out to be saved. Of all human beings who want nothing more than safety and security, a future for their families and for themselves. Holy one on high, give us strength of purpose to speak up for what we believe in, to see the good in others, to act justly and to demand justice for those who cannot speak for themselves. Amen. Thank you for that. Thank you very much. As you can see, there are folks here from many faiths, many different religions, and I'd like to invite up next a father that I've known for probably 20 years of the Catholic faith, my own faith, and that's Father Jimmy Drennan. We stand here as a testament to what our nation looks like from one coast to the next. We are a mosaic of peoples drawn from different cultures, different nations, different languages, different religious traditions, but we are united in every way in our understanding of families that families should never be separated and should never be victims of the policies of our nation. We are gathered together, united. We are drawn from the Christian tradition, the Jewish tradition, the great traditions of Islam, the Hindu tradition. Zindalists have gathered with us today. We, gathered together, do not simply offer prayer but outcry. Outcry that will reach the ears of our sisters and brothers who seek justice in our nation, and we will not be silent until we change the policies that are destroying our families. It is in that spirit gathered together with the strength of these great religious traditions behind me, before me, and around us that I ask that we bow our heads, asking the blessing from the author of life. Lord our God, we gather this day to begin an outcry that we know in the deepest realms of our heart, will reach our brothers and sisters across this state, across this nation, and will inspire listeners around the world. We will continue to unite ourselves, not simply asking for or even demanding, but working towards and fighting for justice, justice for all. It is of the deepest tenets of all of our faiths that our families be united. Lord our God, we believe that the foundation of humanity is the united family, not only some in this country, but all of us together, all around the world, always sacrificing our lives for the cause of justice and peace in the world. We believe that in the family we receive the grace of your, our author of life. Bless this encounter and the others who will shout in this world against the rules destroying the family, in the border and in our country. Loving God and Father, it is with the deepest of faith that we gather together and we pray and we commit ourselves to work in every moment of our lives to bring an end to these policies and end to all regulations that bring such harm to families. And that we restore our nation as a nation that welcomes people, not divides families. That a country we have been in our past and will be in our future, one of love, of service, one of unity in our diversity. Bless the efforts of this night in everything we do to bring unity to our family, to restore the families that have been broken and to change the direction of our nation that we may live up to the great hopes of our people. These blessings we asked upon this night and upon all that we do in the days, weeks and years that lie ahead. In your name we cry out, in your name we pray to you, author of life, who live and reign forever and ever. Amen. Thank you Rabbi Dainton, Brother Brennan. In a moment we're going to bring up immigrants who will give testimonials about the effect on their lives of the immigration policies that we're seeing now in over the last few years. Before that I want to make just a few remarks and really tell you why I was spurred to action as you have been in being here tonight. Not too long ago I've heard about this change in policy, the fact that the Trump administration would start separating kids from their mothers and fathers at the border. And I thought right away that this is not who we are as Americans. This is not what we stand for. This country has been a beacon of freedom, of democracy and most of all of respect for human rights. And your presence here tonight is a signal back to Washington D.C. to the president and all those who would make a decision about this policy. That just because somebody crosses a border doesn't make them non-human. We can treat people with respect. We must treat people with respect and as human beings and we can still enforce our immigration laws but do it in a way that's consistent with American values that doesn't betray what this country stands for. And as I thought about this over the weekend and I was reaching out to people in San Antonio to try to help put this together and in cities in Dallas and Houston and Austin and the Valley and Corpus, I talked to folks from Northwest Arkansas who have a rally on June 5th and a friend from Salt Lake City and a friend in Des Moines, Iowa in Los Angeles and in Phoenix. And I kept thinking that if all of us can't come together and stand up now, not because we're Democrats or because we're liberal or because we're Republican or conservative or Christian or Muslim or anything else but because we're human beings and we're Americans who uphold the tradition of respect for people. And if we can't stand up now and stop this in America, then we can't stop this anywhere. You see in front of us, we asked folks to bring shoes that symbolize the young children who have been taken from their parents, from their mothers and fathers and there are brutal accounts by these parents who are not told for days or weeks or even longer what's been done with their kids. There's a story of one man who begged to go back to Central America if they would just give him his child and they wouldn't tell him where they took the child. That's not how you treat people in this country. It's immoral and it's wrong and that's why we're here tonight. In just a little bit, I'm going to ask you, we're going to talk about things that we need you to do. We thank you for your presence here tonight for being part of this but we also need to take action. Y'all know that there are a lot of things over the last few years, not just on this issue but on other issues that instill a lot of emotion in all of us, a lot of passion. Certainly raises people's blood pressure every now and then. In fact, I feel oftentimes that the nation's blood pressure has been raised quite a bit but anger is not enough. All of that passion and emotion and yes, anger must be turned into productive action into change. So in just a little bit, we're going to ask just a few things of y'all and how you can help. But right now I'd like to welcome up for a testimonial Jessica Azua. She's a DACA recipient and also organizer with the Texas Organizing Project, a group that helped a lot on this rally. Jessica. Good evening everyone. Buenos tardes a todos. It's an honor to be here with you this evening. Es un honor estar con ustedes en día de hoy. My name is Jessica Azua and I'm the State Immigration Coordinator of the Texas Organizing Project. I'm a proud San Antonio resident and I'm standing here today because I have DACA but not so long ago I wasn't documented to and I know what it's like to live in the shadows afraid of having your status known of being deported and separated from your families. Mi nombre es Jessica. Yo soy una resident de San Antonio. Muy orgullosa. Y estoy aquí porque yo ahorita tengo el DACA. Pero no hace mucho tiempo, yo estaba en documentada y yo sé que es lo que es sentir, estar ocultándose, tener miedo de que sepa nuestro status, de ser deportada y de estar separada de tus familias. That's why this issue is very personal to me. Es por eso que esto es muy personal para mí. Did you see these pants here? Venezos pantalones. Estos capris, DJs. That's what I was worried when I crossed the border at the age of 14. Estos unos pantalones, los pantalones que yo estuve los que yo usé cuando yo cruce la bondera en la edad de 14 años. Do you see how sure they are? Ven que tan cortos están. And I kept them with me for 13 years now because they remind me every day of all the struggles and sacrifices on their journey to get here for a better life. The thought that something like that, that something could have happened to me just like those children are being separated from their family is just horrible. Y nada más pensar de que eso es algo que hubiera podido pasarme a mí justo como le pasaba a mi, que no me pasaba a mi, no me pasaba a mi, no me pasaba a mi, no me pasaba a mi, eso es algo que hubiera podido pasarme a mí justo como le pasó a esos niños. Es horrible, es horrible. These pants remind me that I cannot waste my time here. Estos pantalones a mí me recuerden cada día que yo no puedo perder mi tiempo aquí. That I need to speak up because I wanted to share my story with you porque yo quería compartir mi historia con todos ustedes. Want just like my opportunity and education. Todo lo que quieren a estas familias, justo como la mía, son mejores oportunidades, mejor vida o un edo. Soy de Guatemala, mi nombre es Yannira López Lucas. Yo estuve encerrada en una detención dos meses con mis tres hijos, español y ella en inglés, para que puedan entender todas. Como les decía, estuve dos meses encerrada en una detención con mis tres hijos. I was in a detention center for three months with my children. La idea que tiene el gobierno en este país es que uno viene a pasear a este lugar. The idea is that the government thinks that we come here to have a vacation. En realidad, no es así. Tiene huyendo de su país por todo lo que está sucediendo y lo único que uno quiere es proteger a su familia. All we want to do is protect our family. We are refugees trying to escape everything that is going on in our countries. Creanme que siento mucho dolor por estos padres que están siendo separados con sus niños. Believe me, I feel so much pain for all the families that are going through this being separated from their children. Cuando yo cruce México de mi país a México, mis hijos se partieron cinco horas. When I crossed the border, I lost my children for five hours. Creanme que yo gritaba de dolor a las personas de México, de la policía para que me ayudaran a encontrarlos. It's so much pain trying to ask the police, the law enforcement in Mexico to help me find them. Creanme que es un dolor muy grande. Es como que le quitaran un brazo o un pi a uno. It's a very intense pain. It's like somebody taking off an armor leg from you. Es tan difícil, de verdad, separarse uno de sus hijos. It is extremely difficult to have to separate yourself from your own children. Y pensar en la situación en la que estamos viviendo ahorita, tantos niños separados es injusto. And to think of the time that we're in right now where so many parents are being separated from the children, it is an injustice. Fuego a uno de los que están aquí son padres. ¿Cómo se sintiera? Some of you hear our parents and imagine if you were separated from your children, how would you feel? We come here escaping all the violence that we're experiencing in our country. And sometimes we do it with our children that are very sick. It is very difficult to live every day with the type of treatment that we're given in this country and all we want is just a chance to live in peace. Fría, fría, fría con nuestros hijos y después ser metidos en una detención por tanto tiempo. The experience is like this, you get put in a jail cell and then you put it in its freezing in there and then from there you get put in a detention cell.  He's not receiving any medical attention. Government has to think about what they're doing. They also have children and they also have to put themselves in their shoes and think about what they're doing. And all of us here, we're going to be the voices for those families so that those families can be reunited and do that work to help keep them together. Thank you very much. Next I want to invite up Shona, an undocumented Angola who lost TPS under President Trump's administration. Hello family, hola familia. I am a 6th grade English teacher. I am being labeled as an illegal, as an alien, as an animal, everything except human. And this is not something that is new. This is not something that is new with this administration. It is not something that is new to, you know, when these immigration laws began. I also identify as a Lenka Maya. And if you know your history, you know that the Lenkas in the Mayas have ancestry that is older than these borders and these governments that currently exist on these lands. And that's a person who identifies as a native and indigenous.  So I am angry, of course. And being here, I do feel like my pain is being profited from. I feel like being here and putting my face in front of your cameras is putting me and my family at risk. And I am being profited from, right, from people doing well, but also people doing very hateful things for me and my community. We are also being profited from from the private prison system, right? Because the more of us they got in their prisons, the more money they have in their pocket, feel like we are the entertainment. But you know what? It is important to also uplift what is going on in our hopes and how scared we are to even go out and come up to me and try to act pretentious at it because that's what's going on to our community. We are getting there themselves. Activists across the nation are getting picked up after they come up because we're human, too. So we don't really think about what's going on. And if you say you want to protect those that she's been paying our for for 20 years and she's about to lose because we lost TPS. And all those hours and times that she wasn't there because she was working to make a living for us. You know, you're American, too. Yes, I have this border here. Now I'm accepted. I've been accepted because I'm a Sikh and to keep us separated. I appreciate the people who are being murdered at the border and the natives of all the countries around the world because this migration crisis is not unique to this border. It is worldwide. We need to think about why are these migration patterns intensifying around the world? There's something greater going on. It is not just all they don't belong here. They're illegal or breaking the law. There is something greater going on and there is so much hate and brewing. So we need to stop and think about that, right? Because it's not just white against brown, black against brown saviors. We need people who are going to stick with us. And as a human race, we've always done it to each other. So I'm lying here to point fingers. We've done it to each other. I know. So we need to think about all of that in the context of immigration. It is not just all these children are lost. What are we teaching our next generations? What are we teaching as a human race to all these children that are missing?  I came here when I was five. I was brought here when I was five, my children, and there's, you know, other people saying that these parents are human traffickers. My parents are my heroes because they risk their lives. They almost died in a hundred different ways trying to cross that. We get murdered. So this is privilege to be in front of you, too, here, because even though I could get deported once I'm over there, if I decide I want to have a voice and raise my concerns, I could get murdered because that's the situation that we're in. So we are not just here begging, right? We are home. Don't, don't confuse it. We are not humans. We are human. Thank you. Music. Let's give her another round. There are many people who helped put this rally together tonight and it's one of the first in the country and we can be proud of that because the San Antonians have always done for what's right. And really, thank you to many of the elected officials who helped get the word out. I saw County Commissioner Tommy Calver here. Tommy, thank you. Thank you for all your work. Former State Representative Pete Gallego for San Menendez and many others. And I'd like to invite a few of our elected officials who represent this area where we are now. Come up and say a few words. And first, I'd like to introduce my great friend who's a hardworking State Representative. I've known him. I grew up here on the west side of town. My brother and I were baptized at the church just across the street. But in 1987, I met Diego Bernal at La Foya Middle School. He does such an incredible job for the people that he represents. Diego. Good evening.  I really did. But as what he spoke, I started to lose my composure. And as we heard the prayers, I started to lose my composure. And as we heard the testimonials, I started to lose my composure. And after the songs I have lost my composure. So I'll just say a little bit. I'm not here today as a State Representative. I'm here today as a neighborhood guy and a dad. And today that's going to have to be enough. Because, again, this is not about our party lines at all. At all. Look, if we're being honest, we are about to enter one of the darkest moments in our nation's history unless we get this right. But we don't act and correct this now. And we don't do this now. This moment of history will go down in books for years and years and years. And anyway, we are staying there. We will not be able to erase unless we do this now. Now, oh, by the way, just in case anyone didn't get it, take a quick minute. Take a picture of it. You know, it's not just liberal or conservative or Republican or Democrat. I challenge anyone to go through any of the great books, the Bible, the Torah, the Koran, and find me the place that tells us that what's happening is okay. It is not. There was no strand of faith that makes what's going on okay. In fact, it is the direct opposite. So, if we are serious, if we are serious about it not being Republican or Democrat, if we are serious about it not being progressive or conservative, then I will say right now, there is a seat at the table to end this for every Koran, for every Cruz, for every Hague, for every Holstein. We will work with you to get this done. Let's see how serious you are about. We are waiting for you. And for you. For you. Raise your hand if you see people that you already know. And that is the problem. As we go and give you option items tonight, the one other thing that you can do is bring people into this. This is a universal humanitarian issue. You can bring people into this to help us fix it. But without that help, without that, those numbers, we won't get it done. But right now, I see hope. I see promise. I see courage. And this can be done. We won't get this done. But it's going to take all of us. We cannot get tired. We cannot get fatigued. We have to have a lot of stamina. And we have to be deliberate. Tweet your tweets. Post on your Facebooks. But remember, that's when it's all of us together to get it done. And it starts right now. Thank you guys so much for being here. We got some members of the city council and we are here to bring them out. Good Councilwoman Gonzalez, who represents this area. So shall we be. Thank you all for coming out tonight to really relinquish the politics of a moment, but to focus on what's important, which is that we are a city of compassion. We are a nation of compassion. We are a nation that will always be about immigrants and about welcoming others. And there is no cause greater than the children of the world here in San Antonio. So thank you for demonstrating that to us. Thank you for demonstrating that to each other and continue to carry that message of compassion each and every day that you go through this. We are with you. We are here to serve you, but we will not rest until things are made right. One, I'm Shirley Gonzalez. I'm the city councilwoman for district five. And I want to share a story a couple of years ago was around Thanksgiving. I was coming back from Houston visiting some family and I got a call. They said there are a hundred refugees at the Mennonite church. We really need help. Can you come? And I got there as fast as I could. And the image that I saw could be the most impactful one that I've ever experienced in my life. I walked into the church and there on the side of one of the sanctuary's, there were about a hundred women and children. They had been moved from Dilly from the detention center there and they were here in San Antonio. And I was so furious. I said who did this? Who could do this to these children and to these mothers? And when we learned what had happened and they had been transported from parts of the different parts of the state and they had been in what they called the the freezer and they had had the children there and you can see in the eyes how many of the children were sick and that they really needed attention. But one of the things that I'm so very proud of and as I look out into the crowd today I see many of the faces that I saw there that day. People bringing things. There was an organization like I had never witnessed before. La Isis was there. The Mennonite church from John Garland was there with his congregation. People helping. People were driving up from miles around with truckloads of food and clothes and toys to give to all the children and to take care of the families. And some of the very first people on the scene are standing with me today. Councilman Trevino was there. Councilman Saldana was there and Ron at the time Councilman was there. And everybody pitched in and was helping. And of course very next day and everybody organized and danced so we could continue to discuss this issue. And I'm so sad to see that the issue continues to come. It's been a couple of years since that happened and I'm so sad that we haven't resolved this issue. But one thing I can very much say with very strongly is that this community stays together. We are in a passionate city. We're a city of people who will drop everything in the middle of the night. It was the middle of the night. Two o'clock in the morning and people were still coming and bringing things and saying how can I help? How can I be of service? And people standing behind me were not afraid to roll up their sleeves and get to work. And I'm so proud of that effort of what we do here in San Antonio to help our families. But we do need to stay together. We cannot do it alone. It takes all of you all vote talking and telling your neighbors and telling what you saw. Many of y'all were killed that day and you saw what I saw. So please get the stories out. We cannot let this continue. We have the power within us, each and every one of us, to make that change and to make the difference. So thank you for being here today. Thank you so much for caring. Thank you so much for your unending support. Unfortunately, so sad but it continues. And we can do, we can make that change. We can do it ourselves, within our hearts, within this community to make the difference. Thank you all for organizing us. I see all these people here today. I'm so proud. I'm so proud of us as a city for doing everything we can to keep families together. Thank you all so much. I want to say thank you to the mayor and the council members who are doing a wonderful job representing the people of San Antonio and the character they see. Thank you. Thank you very much. Next I'd like to bring up a room that's been fighting not only in Texas but across the nation on this issue and many others for quite a long time. That's the ACLU of Texas. Good evening everyone.  All those mothers, those parents and kids that have been separated at the border. There is no law that requires parents and children to be separated. The Trump administration bears full responsibility for this anti-humane policy. The ACLU is fighting for the immediate reunion of hundreds of children and parents through class action lawsuit. Hundreds of kids, hundreds of kids as young as 18 months, are in danger of suffering lifelong trauma. We can't let that, we can't let the Trump administration shed the blame or use families as bargaining chips for a border wall or other crackdown. Medical experts know the trauma of family separation. We must hold ICE and CBP accountable for the cruel and unnecessary suffering inflicted in these families. Security and the Department of Justice should immediately end this inhumane and cruel practice. Much as they like to, President Trump and Attorney General Sessions can't personally enforce the prosecution orders they're parking out. In Texas it's up to both the U.S. attorneys. Ryan Patrick, as you may know, who's the son of Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick and the Western District John Bash and they are the ones that are carrying out disorders. Now they're both in Texas, one of them is here in San Antonio. John Bash is here, so I invite you to also call him up just like we're calling Jeff Sessions. He's here and we should call his office and ask him to end this inhumane policy.<PHONE_NUMBER><PHONE_NUMBER> And one last call to action. We also, we have Congressman Gustaf here and we want to make sure that everybody also contacts their member of Congress and ask them to support the protect family values at the border act. We must pass humane policies. This is our call to action itself. We are responsible for that. We should call them. This is our moment for our communities to fight for those people that are arriving at our borders and are being separated. This, this inhumane law that President Trump, the Department of Justice and the National Security Department have passed, has to end. It's not a law, separating my parents and children is not a law. It's a humane policy and it's good. The administration of Trump is completely responsible for this tragedy that is happening on the border. Of all those parents that are in a prison today without their children, without knowing where they are and not being able to communicate with them. The ECU is fighting for immediate reunification of these families. 1,100 children, as small as 18 months, of two years, are in danger of suffering from the trauma of being separated from their parents. We cannot let the administration of Trump use these families as exchange coins for a wall or for more protection on the border. The internal security department and the Department of Justice have to end with this practice. And the responsables are the prosecutors who are here in the State of Texas, John Bash, who is here in San Antonio. They can also speak to him in his office, just like in Trev Sessions. His phone number is<PHONE_NUMBER>. Or you can send it to him too, because the social media is very powerful today. We can also ask them to demand, better said, that they end this inhumane practice. The administration of Trump is doing a lot of damage to our migrant communities. Today, we have to fight to defend our rights, to protect them. And just like we are here today, together with them, who know that despite being denied, we are fighting for them. And we are going to continue fighting day by day so that there is justice and families will be reunited. Thank you. We are an organization that plays an action across the country also, so I want to say thank you for that. We're almost done, but there's one more group that I'd like to invite up. And these are folks that day in and day out represent immigrants who are dealing with the immigration policies of today. And that's NAISIS. And NAISIS is a model recommendation about a group of people who have been hardworking and compassionate and dedicated to the people that they serve and have always been there to lend a hand to folks who need it, vulnerable folks who need it. So, the folks from NAISIS, please come on up. Thank you. My name is Justin Tunis. I'm with NAISIS. And I think a lot of what I want to share has already been shared. I'm really thankful to everyone that's here. You know I've talked about the experience of the horror that families go through in the country. And we should talk about separation for our own children. That's what we're seeing day in and out with our clients all around Texas. Some of them have been separated for a year or more from their children while they go through a complex process of seeking protection here in the United States. The races we were based here in San Antonio starting 30 years ago working with refugees. And what we've seen all throughout Texas at all our offices is families going through this square-thick experience. When Representative Bernal was talking a little bit about looking anywhere on faith traditions for something that justifies separating families. I have a similar challenge for the children's family. I would like to look anywhere in our laws for anything that justifies or requires a separating family. And I think that really, really, that day we're not fighting. And when you hear the administration talking from the rhetoric, a lot of times with the deep humanizing, criminalizing rhetoric, there's a sense that maybe a family would have to be separated for some reason, prosecuted criminally, but nothing could be farther from the truth. I think something that I'd like to share that really points to what this looks like is a family we worked with recently in Austin and Corpus Christi, two different families, both of them suffered separation. In one case, a six-year-old was separated from her mother and the six-year-old woke up crying because her mother was gone and had been taken away and was being detained in an immigration camp 200 miles away. And so if you can imagine that six-year-old going through the process of family protection in our public school system, her mom tried to find her not knowing and eventually uniting only after months. Another family living now in Austin that we work with, in that case a mom and her daughter who was eight years old presented themselves at the border and asked for asylum as a refugee. They asked for protection from the death threats they were receiving. Well, a year later they were still separated. The mom was sent to an ice detention camp surrounded by barbed wire with guard towers in the valley in the newly deserts. And the daughter was put into this federal system of shelters. It's not equipped to protect children in the way that's needed. So I think one thing that our clients have told us and really it should be the folks that we represent speaking here and I'm glad to say that in the days that are coming we have more and more folks who are stepping up who want to share that story and called out what the government is doing. So we're going to be needing more and more from them here in San Antonio or around Texas. But I think that one thing that they're asking is, we're hearing a lot about where the last children, right? Where are these children? For years parents have been asking us, where are my last children? Where are the children that were lost to me at the border? They weren't lost after release into communities where they're living with family with sponsors going through their process. They were lost at the border at the moment of seeking protection as refugees. And that's the loss that we have to prevent. That's what we have to call the administration to not do. And so it's it's all important that three things happen here. We have to stop criminalizing families and prosecuting parents as criminals who are doing what any responsible parent would do. Here in Garth County we would call any parent. And I brought this big sheet for a reason. Any one of those parents, we need to not criminalize them and prosecute them at the border. Separate them from their children and make their children unaccompanied to where that they are lost to their parents. And then they have to go through a process without their representation. We need to call on our government to stop those practices. We need to call on our government to support legal services for children who are unaccompanied that are living in our Texas communities. At the age of eight, nine, ten, 12 years old, and having to seek protection on the complex assignment system that most lawyers can't even understand. Where they have no right to a lawyer and they've been separated from their parents. We need to call on our government not to take away their funds as they've done and announced this month but to put those funds back and we need to support it. We ask for your help to support us as we represent children that have been released into Texas communities. The reason we come up with a key clue in the pro-wrestling is in addition to asking for y'all's help to support our LEAF project, our legal education and access fund where we're going to represent every child in Texas is our goal that's unaccompanied in going through that process in Texas. We ask you to support that but we also ask you guys to find somebody with one of these pink signing sheets over here and my co-workers are back there in that tent and we ask you guys to sign up to to get into action to really come together with all of us in San Antonio with our great organizations on top and SA stands that are uniting around these folks. We ask you guys to sign up and be trained with us. So this coming Saturday we're going to have a training for how to come down to our bus station right here the Grand Bus Station where many folks when they finally are released after that nightmare of months and years of detention they're dropped out by ICE at the bus station and we have a project where we can train y'all to come out and support those families offer them support welcome them help them get on their journey. We also ask you guys to sign up on one of these pink sheets for our company program. So not just RISES but so many other organizations here we're working together to train folks to accompany those families going through that process. So that means any of us can go together with a mom that's presenting herself at an ICE office for a terrifying check-in or she might be detained in a court or accompanying a child or a family to immigration court right down here in Del Rosas Street. So we invite everybody to sign up and come out with us to those trainings and we ask everyone to also visit our Facebook. We ask for your support for our bond fund and our beef fund. The bond fund is all important because here in San Antonio we count on every one of you guys. When we are now committed to representing parents which we are we've been separated from the children here in the Pearsall Detention Center and out near Dallas we want to keep representing those folks for free and we will and we want to expand that but we can't do without you because we have so many parents who are facing that agony of separation and they have been fixed with an immigration bond by a judge that's $1,500 minimum with no upper limit. So there's parents with $10,000, $20,000 bonds and we ask you guys to visit our Facebook, Rhysus, Texas and donate to our bond fund because every dollar counts to get those parents out reunite with their children so that they can fight their pace and be together and get in the community any more they belong. Thank you. All right thank you Rhysus for all the great work that you all do tireless work too. We're almost done we're going to finish off in a minute with an ending prayer by Pastor John Figgins of La Tireida United Methodist Church which is over 100 years old here just across the bridge into downtown. But before I do that I want to say acknowledge a few more folks that are here elected officials who helped us get the word out. Patty Radle from SSD School Board on the right side of the counter. Anasambuwal District Center Council when I went to school with many years ago at Jefferson High School I saw Joel Morente who's on the Alamo Colleges Board used to be a former councilman also. Thank you all of you. There's some people that you know it was basically four days that we put this together in and when I announced it on Twitter and I said we're going to do this rally reporters asked me well how many people are going to show up and I said listen I'll stand there with two people or two hundred people. But let it be said that when we asked the senator to show up that hundreds of you showed up and stood up because we have our own zero tolerance policy. Zero tolerance of bigotry zero tolerance of the trail of American values. Zero tolerance of treating people like they're not human. So thank you. And now to close this out let me have our master famous to join us. One of our other faith leaders who's here today is Saqlatham St. and I've asked if she could share her thoughts and words as well. Hello everybody. This is the month of Ramadan. I don't know if you're familiar with it or not Muslims fast from some some rise to sunset and I'm fasting as well. This is the month for us to celebrate the lives the bounties the blessings the god has given us as human beings to his children and this is not the time for us to see what other parents are going through with their children. Everybody's children are my children as well. I cannot I cannot understand the pain those parents must be going through and our leaders cannot feel it. What is Sashik doing today?  It tells us that God has made us into different nations and tribes so that we learn from each other. We protect each other. We love each other. We teach each other. He has not asked us to draw the borders and divide ourselves like this into different colors of nations and what have you. Anybody who cannot feel the pain of other parents I don't think they're human beings. They do not. They're not civil. They should not be allowed to live among us. These federal agencies have placed these children almost 1500 of them with sponsors that the parents do not even know that the children themselves do not know they're strangers.  Leave them somewhere like this. We check out even if we leave them with the babysitters. Would Trump leave his children like this his grandchildren? Let's ask him. It is unspeakably wrong. I want to know where are those kids? We should demand that. America has to come out on the streets to demand this from Trump and his administration. Our silence from here if we go home we forget what we have done today that is not enough folks. We have to rise up bigger than this. All silent tolu people have to come out on the streets. Silent tolu is a compassionate city but of course I'll give a small prayer that we pray for the peace for the parents and the children who have disappeared like this and we ask God to please grant your peace to the parents and children in these difficult times. We know God is out there. We know he's testing us. He's also going to ask us what did you do? What did you do when these parents these folks and these children are going through something like this? Somebody before me said that this is not just happening here. It is happening around the world. And if we do not stop putting a stop to it here I don't know where it will stop. We pray for the support of the parents. We want the parents to know that we are out on the streets in the nation to support them. To do whatever it takes to bring those kids back to them. But have we ever realized this experience of the kids that they are going through is going to stay with them for the rest of their lives? Do they need counseling for the rest of their lives? Does anybody care about it? We pray for the guidance for the parents that God give them the wisdom and patience and guide them at a time like this when they do not know who to turn to. Where to go? Who to ask?  To give a better life to the children here in the United States of America. And we did the worst today for the love of the parents and the children. And we want the parents to know we all are here for them. I hope they're watching somewhere. I hope they're seeing around the nation. People are out on the streets and they are standing up with them. We should not rest until those kids are brought back to the parents. Four years ago, we, through raíces, and the guide also received a large group of detainees that were released in the mass release on a cold and rainy night. We prepared some caldo, caldo de collo and calavacita. And they said it was the first hunk-cooked meal that they had had months. That they'd been fed the lonely sandwiches. We saw a child who was almost swallowed up red from having 12 different vaccinations given on the day of release. Adult doses, horrible treatment. But while raíces was doing intake with the parents, we were, my wife and I were in the room with some other workers who were also here the night, working with the kids who were playing in our playroom church. And this is my son who's here on the stage with me. He was playing with those kids. Now how many of you have heard of Ancestry.com? Ancestry.com. I used to be on Ancestry.com and I mentioned it because part of the problem with this immigration concern is nativism and people just getting really into their own nativism and I went and researched my background and found out that I'm a ninth generation descendant of Virginia College. DNA 100% more than European. My son here is going to be 10th generation and but he's also a first generation Bolivian American. My wife's room first generation from Bolivia. Coach Bacow, Bolivian. And while Louis Vincent was playing with the kids that were in detention in our playroom, one of the moms turned to Pastor Raquel not knowing that she was Pastor Raquel and said, how did your son learn English so quickly in the detention center? And I heard that and it cut me to the heart. I thought if somebody that's been inside that place can't visually distinguish between a fifth generation descendant of Virginia Colony and their son who came across with them just weeks earlier, how is a police officer supposed to do that under Senate Bill and Philip or anybody else? They can't because there isn't a difference. As we've heard here today we're children of this earth. We're all indigenous to this planet and that's what you're not just. Would you join me in prayer? I'm going to say a Christian prayer that is an interfaith prayer as well. There's a part of this prayer where I'll say Lord in your mercy and I invite you if you desire to say so to join in responding. I'm saying here I'll pray when you pray Lord in your mercy you respond. Here I'll pray. Let us pray. Creator God of love and justice.  A child born as an indigenous Palestinian child that was an immigrant a refugee. A child whose birth was anticipated by prophets heralded by angels celebrated by shepherds worshiped by migrant sages. Magi. Yet from his birth until his death he was pursued and persecuted by authoritarian rulers and hypocrites. Through this child and Jesus we are taught that you shall favor upon the meek the merciful the forgiving the generous the hospital and the kind and so as you sent your spirit on Jesus we prayed that you would send your spirit upon us to proclaim good news to the poor to proclaim liberty to the captives recovering of sight to the blind to set at liberty those who are oppressed and to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor we pray for you to soften our hearts in the hearts of those who harbor ill will towards immigrants awaken our consciousness kindle and as a passion for justice and love that our prayers this night would be worthy of your attention even as they conform to the holiness of your love and so for many faiths we unite our hearts and pray for children we pray for children whose lives are threatened by scarcity disaster pollution violence corruption displacement defamation and bullying Lord in your mercy we pray for children whose parents have encountered such desperation that they sent them away to climb onto freight trains and cross deserts and borders on a company Lord in your mercy we pray for children who even now under this new policy are being ripped away from the safety and security and embrace of their loving parents essentially kidnapped by a government in order to coerce the parents and the family to leave Lord in your mercy we pray for the children whose shiver under mylaw blankets in the crowded cold cells of our for-profit detention centers Lord in your mercy we pray for the children whose arms swell up after being injected with adult doses of multiple vaccines Lord in your mercy we pray for children whose years of innocence and discovery are being stolen inside anti-immigration concentration camps Lord in your mercy we pray for children dumped in the middle of the night in cold wet streets of our cities their mothers humiliated into wearing the ankle shackle gps monitor Lord in your mercy we pray for dreamers brought here as children raised and educated as loyal patriotic successful devout americans yet with no pathway to citizenship Lord in your mercy we pray for the lost children those who have slipped through the cracks children who became undocumented by no fault of their own but by the negligence of our government and the lost who will never return whose shoes clothes backpacks toys and yes even bones they bleached in our desert unidentified uncounted unseen by anyone but you Lord in your mercy we pray for the children privilege children of privilege exposed in our culture day after day to the propaganda of racism nativism xenophobia resentment bigotry and hate protect their hearts and minds from these lies Lord in your mercy save them Lord deliver them and deliver their families before we read the holy word and your wrath burns against those who would harm even when child and your plumb line of justice will test our response to the least of these or as we do to them so also we do and walk down unto you calm our fears give us eyes to see ears to hear hearts to love hands to serve transform us in our nation from the inside out that we might return to the way of love and peace by your spirit give us courage to rise up to resist to act until we find the justice that we hunger and thirst to fight and let the genuineness of our many faiths be proven in our sacrifice even as the greatness of our diverse and beautiful nation is proven through our exceptional hospitality and all the people say amen finally thank you to mount the Mexican-american legislative caucus to Jack Uresti to Juarez to Matthew Jones to uh what it would be and everybody that worked so hard in putting this together and thank you all and it's time now to act thank you for being here