in this greaty bunch mode. Sorry. No, right. Okay. And we're live. All right. So here I am at my desk, you know, digging through my desk to get the papers. Here we are. Ah, okay. I'm SLP. This is watch me work. How many of you guys have been to watch me work before? Some of you. Hi. Hi. Hi for me and high new faces. I'm just going to do a really quick thing. So you guys, so we're all, um, you know, knowing about what watch me work is. Um, this is watch me work. Watch me work is a show where we talk about your work and your creative process. The title is intentionally confusing. Watch me work. The me in the title is you. Okay. So we talk about your work and your creative process. Um, of course, I hope everybody is safe and well. I'm in New York. Um, how many people in New York out there still, still some of us with no place else to go. Um, uh, yeah. Um, so, um, I'm a writer. I write lots of different kinds of things, plays, movies, teleplays, songs, blah, blah, blah essays, blah, blah, blah, novels, blah, blah, blah. Um, I'm also the master writer chair of the public theater. Um, I've been doing this show for 11 years and we've, um, I'm really grateful for the public theater to help us getting organized every week. I only, I used to only do it once a week on usually Mondays at five. Um, public theater would help me organize it. And then, uh, in the last couple of years, how around, uh, who is helping us with this today, both the public theater and how round, but how rounds come on to help us live stream during this Corona virus crisis. I decided, um, to do it five days a week at five o'clock for an hour. So that's what we're into right now. This is day two of our first week. Um, thanks, a big thanks big up to the public theater and howl round for making this zoom event possible. So here's how, here's how it works. Watch Me Work is a show. It's got action and it's got dialogue, action and dialogue. Um, what we do first is we do the action together, which means that for 20 minutes, and I have my little timer here, which I can go on and on about if anybody wants to hear about it. Um, we, we work together for 20 minutes and then we do the action together and then we do the dialogue together, which is you talking to me asking me questions about your creative process, what we don't have time for in this format is, um, I won't be listening to your work and critiquing the work that you've written or work that you're working on. Okay. It's more about process. So questions like, if you say, um, I have trouble starting, you know, a work. It doesn't have to be a play. It can be a novel, a dance piece, whatever you're working on. Right. Um, I have trouble starting. How do I know what I'm done?  Questions like that about your work and your creative process are welcome here because, uh, it's going to help all of us, uh, keep working in these, uh, difficult, difficult times. So, um, things like that. What else? What else? What else? That's all, um, so we got, we got Audrey and we got Miranda as our moderators to help us out. Anything else they need to know, Audrey, Miranda? Totally. Um, so if you are on the zoom call itself, you can ask questions by raising your hand. And I don't mean physically. I mean, there's a button on your screen that says raise my hand. It should be under a participant tab. Please feel free to chat me if you don't see it. Um, and if you're watching the stream via howl round, you can actually still ask questions on social media via the public theaters, Twitter, our Instagram, and also on watch me works Twitter, which is at watch me work SLP with the hashtag howl round versus H-O-W-L-R-O-U-N-D. Um, and we'll get those questions to you. What if you've raised your hand on zoom? I will call out your name when it's time to talk and I'll unmute you. I got to unmute myself. So, um, I'm getting ready to work usually during watch my work that I do live in the lobby of the public theater. I use a typewriter, but I'm using a notebook today. Interesting. Not a pen. I'm going old school. Um, so, uh, here's the timer. I'm going to start it. Everybody ready? Got your shoulders.  Everybody ready? Here we go. Great. Okay. Start working. Let's see. All right. That was 20 minutes. That was 20 minutes. So, um, how'd everybody do? Did everybody do a little something? A little something? Little something, something, right?  You do a little bit. Good, good, good. That's the, that's the basic idea, right? So that was the action part of the show that we're doing. And now we're doing the dialogue part. So if any of you have any questions for any of me? I see Melania has her hand up. I'll unmute you. Hello, Susan. Hi, I'm Melania from Miami.  Melania has been tweeting or doing Insta-chatter whatever we talk on our show for, for high. That's so great. We've never seen each other. So, but regular when we do it live in the lobby. Hey, oh my gosh, how great. Thank you. Thank you for doing this. Thank you very much. Thank you.  So thank you. Oh, thank you, Melania. So glad to see you. Do you have a, do you have a question? You've always have really good questions. Oh, thank you. Yes, I have a question. I have, I can see my characters. I can picture them and I have a lot of stories about them from the past, like backstories. And I can know their ideas. But what I get stuck with is when they have to go to action. There is something there that when I begin, something, I know that they have to have some kind of desire and someone have to oppose that desire. But what I, I find that they are very rich in my mind. But when I go with them to something that they do, I feel that it's very flat and I get stuck and discouraged. And then I get in this tango situation where I think a lot and you know, it's the pandemic in my mind. So, so, so you got really rich characters, right, rich characters, and you know so much about them. Yeah, when Melania goes to write them down or write their actions for them, like what they're doing. Yeah. That's when you you feel that it's very flat. Yes.  You know, something, right, right, right, right. OK, now I hear you. I hear you go again. Keep talking. So, yes, that that's what happened. I don't know, maybe happens to be usually in these moments that everything is so uncertain, you know, and I am homeschooling triggers. And it's a lot. If I am noticing that it's even worse. So what happens to me is that I think that they have a story and when I get to there, it's a good idea in my mind, but I can get into, you know, in in in this situation where they can interact and yes, action, something. Yes, I don't know what to do and I don't know what it is. So sometimes I get very discouraged about that and I try to lower my bar. Yeah, yeah, yeah, we talk about that, Laura in the bar. And I write every day and I am here. Yeah, yeah. Yes, so my idea is I know that is something that I have to get through. But technically, I don't know what what is happening. It's maybe they are very maybe they are more than persons than characters, you know, that with a lot of psychological situations that I can show or what it is. So I would like to know what you think. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I do. I have several thoughts. One is I noticed when you talked about your writing, you had two interesting modifiers, if you will. OK, the characters in your head were very rich. Yes. And interesting, you could say. The actions that you thought about for them were very flat. Yes. OK. So right. So there's a so you were creating already a, you know, like great characters, not great action, right? Yes. Right. OK, so right, right, right. So what we want to try to do is remove both of those ways of describing our work for a minute. OK, OK. Not because the characters in your head aren't are not rich. Mm hmm. But my guess is that the actions you're thinking of for them are not flat. You see what I'm saying? OK. So we're going to. Right.  The characters actions are so flat. OK. OK. So so make an attempt to do that and just say I have characters. Uh huh. And now you're getting to the action. How do we choose actions for our characters, whether it's a novel or a play or a screenplay or a teleplay or whatever. OK, so I have this theory.   But it's like two points make a line. Did we talk about that already with your. With your. Maybe, but I would like to listen again. OK, it's OK. It's OK. It's a theory in geometry that I sort of spin out and make it work for creative writing. So too, it's a it's a it's a it's a truth in geometry. Two points make a line. You know, you have a point A point B, you know, and you can can you see and you draw and those two points will make a line, right? You can draw a line from one point to another, right? OK. OK. Same goes with. Dramatic writing. Two points make a line. So you have somewhere where the character is. Yeah. So your characters, let's say her name is Josephine. Josephine is in New York. She wants more than anything to. Well, it was just to say be in a Broadway show, let's just say. So here she is. Here's where she wants to be. The line that we're talking about now is a line of dialogue. You see what I'm saying? What a character where a character is and where that character wants to be more than anything. I want something right is going to help you create lines of dialogue and actions for those characters. OK, so if our character Josephine wanted to be in a Broadway play and she had say wanted to act in a Broadway play and she had no acting experience, right? What's something that she might do? Go to a theater class. There you go. Right. Now, now, yeah, go to a theater class now. You notice we're not judging the quality of your idea. Yeah, we're merely saying, yeah. All right, let's see it now. So Melania, let's see Josephine in a theater class. Right. OK. You see what I'm saying? We just so we just we just let go of the judgment for right now you're in the writing phase and we talked about it yesterday. Yeah. Anything goes, everything grows with. Cyan, I think his name was in Virginia. He was on yesterday and the two kinds, you know, there's when you write, it's you're in the writing phase. Anything goes, everything grows. You want to just let yourself. Right. OK. OK. We're not we're not we're not critiquing. We're not editing.  OK. OK. Yeah, I need I need to do that because it's me and my sensor here. Yeah. You know, but not only writing in life. So yeah, well, and also your home school, who's homeschooling? Oh, yeah. OK. So those of us who are homeschooling, you know, that's an added like. Like WTF, like what? Yes. And we all know that teachers don't get paid enough. But now we really know.  But but yeah, we have to we have to. So so, Melania, what I would ask is to make a like a list. You can do it on paper. You can do it on in your on your computer, whatever. Names of your characters. What they want more than anything. Just have like one, keep it simple, one thing for each character.   Yes. And then what might be some of the things that they are going to do to try to get what they want? OK. Then you're generating a list of possible scenes. OK. Right. Yes. And just put in those scenes.  And sometimes these 20 minute segments are very helpful because. You know, you just write fast, try to write really fast.  Yes, yes, yes, I learned from you. And since you told that, I am trying to do it because it's so so good. And for me, I feel good about myself, you know, that I am doing something for me. So great. Yes, great.  You know what I mean? Me too, me too. Very happy. You know, we had a joke at Watch Me Work at the Public Theater every time you would call in and stuff. We'd be like, oh, it's Melania, Melania Trump. You know what I mean? And I'm so glad you're not. Although if she were here, you know, we'd help her too. That's true. Yes. But I am the real one. I say that. I am the real one. I know you. I know you're the real one. OK, amazing. So the next person we have with the hand up is Andrew Martini. Hold on, unmute. Andrew, are you unmuted? Yeah, I think so. There you go. Hi. Hi, Andrew. Hi. So my question is I feel like I've had some really great experiences in like writing workshops or classes where I really thrived off of the feedback from other students or from the person leading the workshop. And I've been having trouble sort of trusting my own instincts as a writer when I'm writing on my own. And I was just wondering if you had any advice for trusting your instincts or, you know, does it ever get any better? You know, do you start trusting your instincts more? Or, you know, just what was your advice for that? That's a great question, Andrew. That's a great that's a great question. Sometimes it's tricky for me when I have a lot of like really smart people around giving me notes, you know, and they're smart and they mean well and they want, you know, the thing I'm writing to succeed and all that. And they give me a lot of notes. And sometimes it's like it's a real old song. Nobody remembers about me. I'm sure like everybody's talking at me. Can't I can't hear a word they're saying. If you don't know it, it's from the soundtrack of. Anyway, a movie that I will remember a minute, not Urban Cow. It's the one with John Voight and Dustin Hoffman. Anyway, too many voices in my head, you know, and Andrew, sometimes if you've taken a lot of really wonderful writing workshops and you have really wonderful teachers. It's great. Sometimes they're teaching you to listen to them. What I'm trying to teach you guys is to listen to you. Which is slightly different, right? And this is why this is such a great question. So it gets easier because what you're going to start doing is you're going to get better at doing what we talk about. Melania, talk to the hand. Right. I mean, sometimes look at. I have these little things here. See these little orange things. You see these are these are these are not, you know, right? So they go, you know, how these work, right? Yeah, the the earplugs. Yeah, right. They're amazing. Don't go outside to buy them. Right. Unless, you know, you own a hardware store downstairs. Stay inside and and, you know, if you know, you can get them on Amazon or whatever, or if they're on strike. I don't know. Anyway, earplugs, they help you. Listen into the sound of your own head. OK, you got to get in touch as often as you can, Andrew, and anybody else who has this issue with the sound of your own thoughts. Do you have a meditation practice, Andrew? I do sometimes to help me before I go to bed. I usually meditate sometimes to help you go to bed. OK, Andrew. So I would suggest stepping that up a little bit. Especially now, right? Now is a great time, right?  A certain amount of time or what do you do? I it's a it's a color meditation. So I go through like four or five colors and then they trigger certain emotions or feelings I'm supposed to focus on. Yeah, it's been a wonder. OK, could that be something that you could also use in the morning? Or something? I mean, would it? Yeah, it doesn't have to be sleep related. OK, OK. And is it is it long or is it kind of bite size?  No, it's pretty sure. Yes, pretty bite size. OK. So I would suggest I mean, everybody get a meditation practice going. Andrew, you've already got a sort of technique that you like. Those of you who have a technique that you already like, double down. You know, if you only use it to go to sleep, that's great. But you can also use it, you know, first thing in the morning again. And I don't get money for these, but you can't get them on Amazon. First thing in the morning, I put my timer on. It's 20 minutes. You can meditate for five minutes if you want, especially if you're home and people five minutes a day.  I'm looking because I have a meditation cushion. It's over there, but you can sit on your couch with, you know, a straight spine, eyes closed, you can put your feet on the floor. If you can sit in some kind of lotus position, great, it's not necessary. You can just breathe. Eyes are closed, you're just breathing. You don't need a fancy mantra. You don't need to go to a fancy class. You don't need an app or whatever. Meditation practice, Andrew, will help you get in touch with your inner voice. OK. Yeah, that's something that you're going to be working on. You can even say to yourself every day, I want to get in touch with my inner voice. I want to get in touch with my gut feelings. OK. Yeah, thank you so much. The more writing you do, the easier it will be to stay connected with that. OK. Great. OK. Thanks for the question. Thank you. Thanks. And the next person we have is Raven. Raven, are you unmuted? Yes, I'm unmuted. I'm muted. Do you guys hear me? Yeah, yes, I can hear you, Raven. OK, hi. So I guess my dilemma is I I've been working on this piece for two or so years. And I've kind of like I've hit many walls, but I'm at a new wall, new color. And pretty much I feel like I know like I know why I wanted to write this story. I was really excited about it and I still am really excited about it. But I don't know what I want to say about this and I feel like however I end this play, because I'm like about two thirds along the way. And I feel like however I end this play is how I feel about this. And that feels very like I have such a big responsibility there. And it stifled me in writing. I've like I write every day, but I I've started writing a bunch of really cool other things, but I want to finish this. So, yeah, I don't know. And this is yeah, this is something I really care about. And I feel really frustrated by my inability to really articulate like what I'm trying to say about this person, this this person. And by this person, I mean these kinds of people in the world. That makes any sense. Mm hmm. So that's a great question, Raven. I would say how many. So you said you're two thirds of the way through. Yeah. And you've been working on it for a while. Yeah, I also I had a reading with my family and I realized they really like people always receive it well, and then it strokes my ego. And then I go, oh, I'm like, I'm a good writer. I don't need to write it like I don't need to do anything. And but I felt like it was plot points, if that makes any sense. Like, you know, the like, like fluff in between the points. I didn't feel that. I felt like every scene was like super functional and you can feel it. Well, that's good. I mean, that's not that's not necessarily bad, but you're not finishing it and you want to and you and you said and you what? I'm sorry.  There's a great you want to. That's what we're talking about now. Right. You want you want to. And that's why that's why it's important to you. And that's why it's important to me because it's something you want to to to accomplish. Right. Yeah. And you say correct me if I'm wrong, but you you're having difficulty finishing it because you're not sure about what you're what you're saying with the piece. Right. OK, I've written a lot of things. And I'm yeah, I've written a lot of things. I've never ever so far really thought about what I'm trying to say. So if that's helpful, they might not be. If not, there's another there's another person. There's a quote like from either Emerson or the row or somebody or maybe neither of them. I know by going where I want to go. That's a horrible bastardization of that line. But the idea that you don't need to know what you're trying to say or in Ernest Hemingway, here's a better one. If you want to send a message, go to Western Union. So the idea that we have to have, we have to know what we want to say, like, like, but here's a great thing I want to say, Black Lives Matter. Now, that's not a play. It's a it's a truth. It's a slogan, you know what I'm saying? And if you don't have to figure out what you want to say, you have to you have to develop your characters and tell me a story. I do know with everything I write, what I want to show. What do you want to show your audience? Raven, what do you want us to see? You know what I'm saying? A lot of times people offer critiques like, yeah, what do you want the audience to leave with? I'm like, you know what I mean? That might be a valid question to critics and producers and people who are going to invest money to put on your play or your your to develop your movie or whatever. But for the creative artist, I think that's a less important question. I think it's very important for you to decide what you want your audience to see. What do you want to show us? Not what you want to tell us, because if you're going to tell us, I think you're better writing an op-ed for the Times or Slate or Salon or something. You know what I mean? I don't like any of that. Well, I think op-eds are great and wonderful. But I think plays that are, you know, yeah, are a little like, you know, I think the works of art are much more interesting than that. This is my opinion. This is not some or some rule or anything. This is just me talking. OK. So I would suggest finishing it. I think you're putting obstacles in the way of your finishing it. And I think you need to tell us how many pages you think you are going to need to get done, how many pages are you away from the finish line? Probably like 30 to 40. Great. 30 to 40. So that's 30 to 40. So if you wrote like, you know, two pages a day for like the next two weeks, yeah, would you kind of be done? Maybe two pages a day. Yeah. I mean, that's really freeing what you what you're saying about, like, not even considering what I need to say or this responsibility. I put upon myself. If I think it's wrapped up in your need to be told that you're doing the right thing or our work before it's done, it's because we need pats on the back. Don't rely on your family or whomever to give you pats on the back before they're warranted. If you were running a marathon, right?  Wouldn't that be inappropriate? Wow. You know, when you cross the finish line, they're there for you. They put the blanket on you and all that.  Yeah. Yeah. But why are you partying at mile 15? Yeah. Right. Girl, you got to cross the finish line. Two pages a day or one page a day for 30 days. What else are you doing for the next 30 days, except staying inside? Yo, yeah. Dan's like, yeah, right. What else are we doing? One page a day. That's all. Just one. Get across the finish. Don't show anybody the play until then. Keep the lid on the pot. Don't seek praise from like, you know, whoa, do you like my play? Oh, please stop. Right. Yeah. Come on. Now's the time. Now's the time. Oh, look, look, more of the time. You can do it, Raven. Do you see most things? Do it, Raven. We'll be your squad, your squad will be dancing with you when you cross the finish line. I love the mile 15 metaphor. Yeah, thanks, Mom. Yeah, right. Mile 15 metaphor or, you know, right? Yeah, it feels like super me. I'm like, look, this is a great scene. I bet I bet you could cry. OK, that's OK. Yeah, that's OK. That's that there's nothing wrong with with meeting a pat on the back or encouragement. That's why we're here. We're giving it in the appropriate context. I'm giving it so that you can cross the finish line instead of so that you stop it. You know, look at me. You know what I'm saying? Yeah, thank you. You're welcome. And you're gorgeous. Don't worry. You're gorgeous. So come on. So can you do one page a day? What can you do? I sure can. I mean, I'm doing one pages of every other thing to avoid. OK, play. So do one page a day.  I mean, yeah, I don't have much else to do. You don't have much else to do. It doesn't have to be fancy.  Don't make it fancy and just put. Yeah, check. Give yourself a check mark. If you're into that, I'm really into that. Me too. I like that. OK. Yeah, yeah. And then you can give yourself appropriate paths on the back. Yeah. Right. That's appropriate paths on the back. Like my kid when he says, I'm a genius because that's what kids say when they're in the third grade. I go, no, you're not. Just relax. Just just do your homework, yo. You know what I'm saying? You don't have to get swelled head. You won't be able to fit through the door, man. OK. Thank you.  We will be here. We will be here to go like, OK. Yeah. See, everybody's cheering you on. Look at it. Look at it. Thank you, guys. OK. All right. Thanks, Raven. The next person that we have is Rachel. All right, Rachel. Are you unmuted? Yes, I am. Hello. Hi, Rachel. Hi. So I'm actually a stage manager, production manager type from the Pittsburgh area. And I've been starting to bite slowly since I have nothing else really to do. But my biggest hurdle right now is letting myself switch from the management brain to getting, oh, my gosh, what can all these boxes? Can I take off instead and going with more creativity, being more flowy and accepting of that? Do you have any tips for that? Yeah, but I love I love that you're trying. So you're trying something new, which is awesome. I'm not new, but, you know, it's like a different way to be creative, a different way to be great, which is really, really great. I would say, you know, sometimes we try things that are kind of new. It's helpful to lean on something that you're really good at. So you mentioned these boxes, like ticking off boxes, right? I mean, we just told Raven, Raven can make a calendar, you know? So I think you should, it's funny, they say creativity is all about flow and inspiration and all that, not always, sometimes about ticking off boxes. If you could make yourself a calendar and go, okay, today I'm going to, and think about your creative process, like, do you wanna write a play? Is that what you're thinking of or screenplay? Yeah, I typically work in theater, so that's typically what I know. So I'm just trying to go into like a one act play, very simple, like 30 minutes. Great, great. So let's break it down into what kind of pieces. So we're gonna think of having a calendar again, right? And this is something that you're good at already. You're good at making schedules and getting things done on time. We're gonna lean on that heavily because that's a skill that you already have, okay? Okay, so day one, you can say, okay, I'm gonna like free write for 20 minutes and think about my character, right? Day two, I'm gonna try to think about what my main character might be, who my main character might be. Day three, what does my main character want more than anything? You see what I mean? And each day, you're only writing like 20 minutes, you can check off boxes, right? Day four, what's standing in her way? You know, this is kind of, I mean, it's kind of weird if you break it down like that, but if you think of really great plays and you kind of break them down like that, they can be talked about in kind of a simple way like that, right? Which doesn't mean it's gonna be a simple play, right? No, right? Day five, is there like a big moment she has? Like Scarlett O'Hara, I'll never go hungry again or Pamela, you know, to be or not to be.  What does that look like? You know? Yeah. You were some other characters. That's a week, then you go like day seven. What am I afraid of? This is just free writing stuff, you know what I mean? Yeah. Okay, and you can do that with every single character in your play. That'd be awesome, yeah. And you can check off these boxes as you go along. And see how it accumulates, right? Yeah. Right? And you're looking for that thread of the story to come to you. A character that goes, come on, Rachel, this way. Stories over here, follow me like that. And then you're following her or him or them or whatever, you know? Right. And it's fun. That's so cool. All right, thank you. Because I'm so used to being so like rigid and being like, hey, stop developing. Like we need to do this deadline. So it's very much a weird twist, but I like it. I'm excited. It's fun. It's fun. And keep coming back here because we can keep talking about it and this community is supportive. Awesome, yeah. Thank you, SOP. See that? Raven's gonna be cheering you on. Thank you. Thank you, Raven. I'm excited to be here for this play. Thank you. All right, we've got about three minutes left. Do you have time for one more question, SOP? What else am I doing? I'm just sitting here. All right, China, we're ready. We're gonna unmute you. Oh, should I? Am I unmuted? You're unmuted. Yeah, wait, am I unmuted? Yeah, sorry. Yeah. Oh, I'll get over it. Hi, so really quick. So I've been reading out loud. I've been going to like watch me work for a while now and I'm restarting my play because one woman showed, we don't need to talk about it. We got three minutes. So I wanna know the top three checklists for tone for different characters, if that makes sense. Like, I feel like when I read it out loud, sometimes it sounds like we can be on the same page and we're different motherfuckers. So it's like, you can't all sound alike. I mean, we could, but I think you know what I mean. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's great to see you again, China. I know you've been, you've come live. China, but it's not like China. No, I don't care. It's fine. Hi, thank you. It's China. I love everyone. But China, so get grounded in what they want. Because, you know, if like, you wanna go to the store and I wanna say your name right, we're gonna be saying different things. I'm gonna be like, China, China, China, China.  You know what I'm saying? I'm gonna be saying a whole bunch of different things. So again, like we said to Melania, you know, two points make a line. Right, yeah. So what characters want really defines what it is that they say and what it is that they do. Even in waiting for Godot, right? They're waiting. I get it. You know what I'm saying? So just get more specific about your characters. If they're all sounding alike, then either they're all the same person. They are. I just feel like when I'm reading it out loud, like the writing is different, but the sound is like maybe we don't all live in the same household. Sorry, go ahead. No, no, no. I'm just trying to understand your question. Well, just get specific of what they want and maybe that'll help. Maybe. Okay, I mean, thank you. Okay. It's 5.59. One more or no? Are we late? Yep. We can do one more. One more, quick. All right. Lili, I'm muting you. Oh, yay. I'm so glad I'm the last question. Thank you for doing this. I love you so much, Mrs. and Lily Parks. I wrote my question down so I wouldn't ramble. Okay, so a lot of people have asked questions about their main character and their characters and their voices and tones and it's all been crazy helpful. So I'm writing a plan and I do not like my main character.  Like he's, I feel like, you know, is it, I feel like maybe too preachy. I think you were saying that. And I'm wondering if he's, he's interesting. So I don't think that he's one dimensional but I feel like I'm like getting that like, ah, hey man, sort of like anger and aggression out on this, this character. And he's sort of becoming internalizing like all of that. But I feel like, yeah, it may be a little one dimensional. And I'm just curious as to how I can like take that character and allow for him to exist in a way that's real instead of one dimensionalism. Like, yeah, like he is this person or he represents this versus, yeah, that makes sense. Right, we're right. Like, like you want to do maybe what, you know, I don't know, Shakespeare did with Richard III. Make him like, wow, cool guy.   Okay, cause where else is it coming from? And have compassion for that part of you. That's two things. Oh wow, yeah. Yeah, and three, walk around in their shoes, be them.  And be your characters. You gotta be your characters. If, you know, so you're gonna be this character that you don't like, but they're gonna be things about them, him, that you find likeable. I mean, everyone, what's that line? Everyone's a hero in their own, in, you know, everyone's a hero in their own mind, you know? I mean, we can think of some ridiculous people on the public stage, not the public theater stage, yo, but the public's world stage right now. And you know, you know the crazy, yo, motherfucker, they need a hero, and if you, if he were in a play, you know, there'd be something about him that would be like, huh, interesting. Because while there is no I in team, there is a me and enemy. Hmm, yeah. And what a lovely place to end, watch me work today. I knew I would get to fit that in somewhere. Thank you. Amazing. And if you want to, as a reminder, if you want to sign up for the rest of our sessions, you can look at publictheater.org and you can click on, watch me work and we've got signups for the rest of the week. We'll release more signups on Friday. Thank you guys. Thank you. You've made my day fun. I know I can't. Thank you. See you tomorrow. Those of you can make it. Thank you. Thank you. Wash your hands. Wash your hands. Wash your hands. Don't touch your face. Don't touch your face. Don't touch your face. Don't touch your face. Don't touch your face.  Wash your hands. Moisturize. And write! Get your work done. Yeah. One page a day.


Hi guys, this is Jason Zach from Nathaniel School of Music in this lesson. We are going to basically develop hand independence and using very real-world musical examples a Composition which I have created with some nice chords. So first off, we'll have a melody in the right hand which you heard in the intro video And then we are going to add a lot of flavor in the left hand to support the melody in the right hand With chords with chords with a very unique rhythm pattern We are going to have all this notated for you. It will be handwritten for the most part We'll also notate it wherever we can and it will be available on our patreon page patreon.com Slash Jason Zach and on that you will find all the handwritten notes of this lesson stuff We've done in the past there are quite a few hundreds of lessons which are waiting on patreon and Also stuff we are going to do in the future will continue to be on patreon So do consider being a member and you have different tires there to choose from as well if you'd want to Upgrade it and so on and so forth. So let's get cracking with the exercise guys before we do It'll be great if you could subscribe to our channel by hitting and hitting that bell icon for regular notifications Let's go. So let's learn the melody first. I've chosen it on the D minor scale Okay, and the tune is very simple in the right hand we can learn it together It'll be nice if you could if you don't have a keyboard with you right now Perhaps pause the video get a keyboard practice with me And stay till the very end because you'll have to keep growing and after the lesson is over You can kind of adapt this on your own take your own time do it over a week or two or more At your own leisure, but try to get the exercise done. So as I'm explaining it will be good if you practice along so melody So you could play it like that Could probably bring back your middle finger to the G or cross your thumb like this right so or Bring back your middle like this That's your melody and we will make we won't change the melody throughout the lesson now coming to the left hand The first thing I'd like to do is just introduce Just this three minor cluster three note minor cluster Can play it even lower that'll be nice Okay, just D ENF But before we do that it'll be nice So I'm gonna develop stages of your hand independence in this lesson and if you're used to our channel You will find that we've done a lot of videos on hand independence It's the most important Subject if you think about it for a piano player because everything else is data information and Stuff you concepts from a theory book which you execute on a piano like how to play a chord But hand independence is something you just have to keep doing and that's why on this channel we focused a lot on this on the concept of Getting one hand to do something and the other hand to do something else and the best way to improve your mindset With regards to that is to practice hard or at least practice one hand really hard and then the other hand can kind of Think and be creative while the hand which has practiced hard can kind of be an autopilot mode so The left hand. Let's first start with a pulse Just a root of the scale so There we go So assuming the right hand is playing eight notes for the most part Except the last one which is a 16th Now the left Just start with the root playing pulse Now with the pulse you can kind of also grow this by doing root and octave toggle that would be nice Pushes you to think a bit more right Now you can even toggle with other notes like the fifth Or what I like is the is the third the minor third since we are on minor All on the pulse by pulse I mean crotch it's quarter notes or the way the head of the Listener and the musician you playing it would move right your head goes Whether you like it or not so that's what you need to first execute in your left hand to develop hand independence And now moving forward you can also try doing eighth notes in the left hand That's quarters That's eight so eights are almost the same as your right hand Quavers As they are also called Toggling with the minor third And you could toggle between quavers and crotchets or quarter notes and eighth notes if you will so Pulse Then it's quavers Dividing the pulse by two Now back to pulse So that's the first thing you need to practice the pulse and then the speeding up pulse and Don't don't forget to also practice the pulse, but played a lot slower. So that would be Minims or half notes For some reason that can be a bit tricky as opposed to Quarters which are quite easy actually Once you get it Half notes take a little bit of thinking So you could actually toggle between all these levels of beat division You're going on the beat the way the listeners head is moving one two three four Then you're dividing the beat by two Quavers or eighth note that ten two and three and four and longer than the pulse which goes one two three four one two three four, right? So you could start with that and then now Let's do a few rhythms Instead of just doing toggling we can just do one two three The one the major two and the minor third in the left hand so And the rhythm I have for you is first of all Two quavers and a crotchet So Now you could do this with Sarega or one two three flat or One three flat and a five which is essentially a minor chord played as this bass line so one and two and three and four and one and two so at two you play a crotchet and Two and three and so one and and three and will be quavers or eighth notes and the two and the four will end up being crotchets or pulse notes or quarter notes and The note choices you can do would either be one two three One three flat five or you can even expand it and do one five What I like to do what we call is spread chords Which is one five and flat three on the top so So practice all three or at least the first two if you can which is chord Spread chord There we go Now we can progress from this rhythm One and two two the end of the two and later on the end of the four so pump pump You're trying to squeeze three notes basically into four four subdivisions. That's one and two and Four sub beats. You're trying to squeeze three notes So one more way to create a permutation would be And so practice Now you feel the independence being a bit more tricky right so you want to get this first Should be at the back of your head. It should be like very very subconscious one and so Spread God What are the other options? You don't have to do one and two or two and you can do one two and one So Another another challenge for you on the hands in fact when I started talking you saw I made a small mistake there So it's not very easy. You need some practice There we go and Certain points of the exercise will be tricky because the melody is fixed your left hand is not fixed. It's changing so One two and three four and there we go So again, we are starting on the one And we've pretty much covered all we don't one and and two. We've done one two and And of two we've done one and in the end of two as well Then you can always challenge yourself further by doing one and two and three and four And you can do start the next one at the end of the three one So you're kind of doing it differently one and two and four and There we go Mix mix it up as well. See what you can do, right? So this is all using pretty much quavers or eighth notes to build up your hand independence now I have a couple more variations before we are done with the lesson that will you may be guessing it use 16th notes instead of quavers or Eighth note so with 16th notes You're gonna count one e and a two e and a three and a four e and a one e and a two e and a right Four e and a one e and a two. So if you want to catch stuff You're gonna access more subdivision so one nice thing to practice is the thresio Very famous salsa or a Latin pattern which goes something like this It's a two beat phrase so One e and a two e and a three e and a four e and a one e and a two e and a three so So if you want to get this independence gonna take you some time one thing I would suggest is See if you can sing the melody which you're eventually gonna play in the right hand so And so on right Apologies for my sore throat, but I think you can do this much better than me at least at the moment so Once you finished singing it with the thresio pattern in the left you could attempt playing it playing and singing would be nice, you know, so forked God Dry in the left and spread this is the pattern quite groovy on its own Anyway that's the thresio so I have one more 16th note pattern which I Ended up coming up with the excited So, I have one more 16-note pattern which we'll sign off the video with which goes 1-E & 2-E & 3-E & 2-T & 2-E & 2-E & 2 You're on of the 2. This is the deal. Very different than playing 8th notes. There we go. That's how it sounds in isolation with the chord. Spread. So these are pretty much the patterns and one more variation if you like to do. Instead of starting it, repeating or copy pasting it, you can do it at the E of the three. One E and a two E and a three E and a four E and a one E and a two E and a three E and a four E and a.  So a few melodic and harmonic embellishments we can do or just to close out the exercise and make it sound musical, make it something like you could play at a gig hopefully. So first off in the right hand you could do stuff like you can do thirds, you can add some harmony. If you want to play the natural minor you could end on C. Harmonic minor you could end on the C sharp. Harmonic. Natural, right? With the rhythm in the left. So that could spice things up. You could also add like a chord progression in the left hand. Like B flat. C major. Stuff like G minor. B flat. Major. C C major. C major. With the spread versions of the chords. Do the tressio if you want. You can kind of improvise. Improvise on the notes but don't change the rhythm structure or the rhythm pattern. If you can, right? And feel free to also transpose it to a few scales. If you're working on your piano transposition skills, feel free. Like you could do or try to fool around and move it to different scales. So we've added some harmony in the right hand. The potential to transpose it. Different chords. So you can find some of this stuff. A lot of this stuff. Most of the stuff in the notation which we have for you. My hand written notes on Patreon. And like I said at the beginning of the video we do a lot of videos on hand independence. So do consider checking out a lot more videos on hand independence. And I'm sure in those videos my voice won't sound this bad. I was very excited to do this lesson. Didn't want to take a huge break. So you'll have to deal with my sore throat throughout the lesson. But yeah, do check out some of the other hand independence exercises. And if you'd like more structured learning at our school, you would consider filling up a form or going to our website, Nathanielschool.com and accessing our video courses for a one time fee. You can get structured video lessons. And you can also learn with me in person. We have virtual courses where you can choose an hourly or a set of hours over six months and join our school, not just for piano, even for vocals, guitar and more. Right guys, thanks a ton for watching the video. Again, this is Jason Zach from Nathaniel. Cheers.


Hey everyone and welcome to the Stock Swoosh Show play of the day. This is EDU. I like the scap this morning. This was my top pick and it worked. And in fact, it actually swished today, wasn't anticipating that. However, I'm really glad that I stuck with this today. It was a nice trade. And depending on how many times you did this today, some people have just really big days here in this. Let's just go over it. First of all, I saw this in the morning. I got up and I rated it like I always do. I have my rating system, which is a 26 points. I get up in the morning, I look through my gaps. I decide what I like and what I want to watch and rate. And then I rate them. I actually only rated two things today, although there were quite a few gap downs. Both of the things that I liked today ended up working. However, I only did one, which was the EDU. But you could have done both things. And I think some people on the road did do two things today. But I just stuck with the EDU. I rated this EDU right around here because that's where it was gapping this morning when I woke up bright and early. However, the stock ended up opening all the way down here at 2196. So that's very unusual. Usually if you see a gap in the morning and you're watching it, it may change slightly from the time that you rated it. But it actually changed a lot from the time that I rated it. It didn't matter. It still was a nice gap. And you do have to check these. You do have to check them. And if you rate the gaps at 90, you have to go back and check them in the morning. Now, the stock was strange in the morning. Something actually, I saw something today that I never saw before. This was very unusual. And I've never seen it in six years of trading. But you trade for a long time, and you're going to see everything at least once. I'm pretty sure of that. So now that I've seen this, I'm sure I'll see it again sometime. The stock was not moving here. And the level two was moving. And the stock wasn't moving. And the bars weren't moving at all. And the candlesticks not in any platform I had. And then I checked with people in the room. It wasn't on theirs either. It was weird. It actually looked like the stock wasn't open. And actually, it looked like the stock was halted, except for the fact that the level two was moving. My concern was in doing anything immediately there was that the stock was actually, something was wrong with it, that it really wasn't open or it was going to get halted or something. And so I just stayed off of it till it got going, till it got the volume in it to wait to see if it was actually open. I believe that this was the opening price of the stock of the day. This was the open. I don't think this was the open in here. I know it says 9.30, but stocks can open late. And I think that this was the open, the way that it acted, the way that it traded, the way that I saw this happen live. So it didn't hit me, though, till a couple of minutes, a couple of seconds. And then I read this live. Live in the real live moment, I read the swoosh. And then I decided to do it. And some people actually played through the swoosh. And if they played through the swoosh today and did the call that I made, it was a huge, massive day for some people. The stock, high up here was 22.10. Low down here was 20.31. This is almost $2. And if you played this, you just made $2 in less than five minutes. And stock rallied up. Set up in here. And here's the trade. Now this move here was basically a buck. So just an incredible move in here. And a great, great, really great read by me to not only read the gap, to see that that gap was going to set up and work right way early this morning. And to see it and like it way ahead of time, which I'm very good at doing, and then to see this in the live time and read the price in live time. I'm very, very good at reading price in live time. I'm amazing at it. And it's because of the fact that I'm extremely detail oriented in what I see in the price action, in the trading, and not only that in the gaps. The reason that I am excellent at trading the open and reading the open is because of my read on gaps. It's all together for me. It all goes together for me. I get the conviction from the gap, and it allows me to read the price correctly then into the open. Which means that I see something that's immediately going to work, or I see an immediate failure. And that helps me too. It helps me stay off of something if I see it not working. But a great call by me today need you. And there were two things to watch today. I pick the best one. I usually do, and I'm just, I'm as excited today about the way that I read this and traded this today as much as the money that I made. I'm so proud of myself for seeing things so clearly. I'm so, so proud of myself for everything I've accomplished here and my way to develop my own system and to read live price action. There's no one that can read the open like me. I don't think there's anyone on the planet that can read the open. It's good and gaps is me. I am an expert in doing this. And I gotta pat myself in the back on this today. And I think everyone that was with me in the room today that saw me call this and read it correctly and did it was happy as a clam. So beautiful, beautiful, beautiful read on this today. And if you wanna learn how to reprice, and if you wanna learn how to read gaps, and if you wanna learn how to read institutional selling and buying, then my class is the one to take. It is called the golden gap class. It is this weekend, July 26th and 27th. From 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern time, the cost of the class is $29.99. If you're interested and you wanna sign up, email me at melissa at thestockswish.com.  Deadline's Friday at five o'clock. Today is Tuesday. So if you wanna sign up for the class, email me, I can send you the information. Great, Stockswish here in ADU. And very interesting today because I've never, never seen anything like it. And occasionally stocks do open late. And that's really what happened in this today. And 100% conviction that I liked this pick today and stayed with it and saw what I saw there. It is an absolute skill to be able to read that a stock is gonna make a move in the day before it does it. To be able to see that a stock is gonna do something before it does it is a skill that you can learn from me in the class. You take the class, you learn everything you can. Then you trade with me in the live room and through experience, then you're learning through the process of experience and being with me in the room. And today was an experience for people to be in the room with me today. And even for me to call it, and I never saw anything like this. And I've got to say that trading is one of these things that it's just so special. It's just so special. It's so special. And if you really want to become successful as a trader, if you absolutely want to do it, if you really, really want it badly, you will be led to someone like me to learn how to trade because you can do it and you can make money doing this. And it is a skill and I'm just so happy. I'm as excited today about how well I read this play as the money that I'm up in it. Just got to be honest with you here. And this is falling through here this afternoon as well. So all I went over here was the morning call. I'll do a wrap up on this final thing here once this is done today. But that was the morning play. I just wanted to go over for everyone for the stocks, which that happened here in the morning. It's about 1.15. This looks great here right now. This is E-D-U. Beautiful, beautiful golden gap today. And if you're interested in more information, email me at Melissa at the stockswush.com. The best advice I can give to people who want to be successful trading the market is that you've got to really want to be good. You know, I'd love making the money. I absolutely love making the money, but I really, really, really like being good. So, and getting it right. And I think if you are focused on wanting to be good, the money's gonna come. You know, it's just the way it is. Here this is falling through. Here this is following through E-D-U. All right, I gotta go here. But great, great morning for everybody. E-D-U is beautiful here. Right in here, right in here, it still looks good. Have a great day everyone. And email me at Melissa at the stockswush.com if you'd like more information. Thanks everybody, have a great day.


The role of music in an ESL classroom. Music is a uniquely human characteristic. No other living creature can recreate frequencies, beats, pulses, and harmonies as we do. Psychological point of view. It is known that music has deep psychological effects on us. After all, the human ear is the first sense to develop. That's why many pediatricians recommend classical music, specifically Mozart, even when the baby is in the womb. Neurotransmitters are simulated and connections are done effectively, which increases cognitive abilities. A study shows that elementary school students who listened to mood-combing music while completing mathematical problems were able to complete more problems and solve a higher percentage of them correctly than the group who listened to no music at all. Lack of exposure to meaningful music. After the early years of childhood, music education and stimuli seem to have been lost. Either by parents or schools that are concerned and primarily focused on physical, logical and social learning. Instead, children and adolescents are bombarded with popular music that might not be in their best interest. Most humans in highly populated areas listen to an incredible amount of music daily. However, popular music is often used for advertising manners and trans-sitters. If grown adults are manipulated by popular music, the effect on children is at least a tent fold, given that they're sponges of knowledge and information. Music and educational system. There are a few programs that focus on appreciation instead of music interpretation. For example, in Mexico's public schools, there is only an obligatory music class involving flutes at sixth grade. Said class doesn't teach reading sheet music or the importance of learning an instrument. Just plain and easy songs. That class won't have any functionality in the future and it may create an impression in a couple of students, but it won't impact or further develop their cognitive abilities. While playing instruments is a perfect disciplinary method, not all students are able to play one. Nonetheless, everybody can appreciate and interpret music. Music in an ESL classroom. As a teacher, I intend to manifest music whenever possible. Not only for activities such as singing nursery lullabies or singable learning materials. As well as background music when in class activities are in place. And, if time allows, to give appreciation classes. This can be easily made with patterns in cartoons and synchronized music. To give time for students, depending on the ages, to listen to different genres within classical and popular music, such as romantic, classical, baroque, ballets, jazz, blues, and regional music from different cultures and countries. It will be a useful method for them, not to analyze solely lyrics, but also the artist's interpretation and to create their own interpretations. I truly believe that if good, positive, challenging and rich music is played on a constant basis, more children will grow to be analysts, deep thinkers, sensitive and reasonable adults. And that will have an enormous impact in tomorrow's society. Are you ready to teach English abroad? Music is but one tool to teach English, but the rewards are many. It inspires students to interact and build relationships with fellow classmates and their teacher. Celebrate the universal language of music with your students. Music is the universal language of mankind. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow Speak with an ITTT advisor today to put together your personal plan for teaching English abroad. Send us an email or call us toll free at 1-800-490-0531 to speak with an ITTT advisor today.


Organogram is the latest cannabis company to list at the Nasdaq, and that is a hard bridge to cross because very few cannabis companies have been able to list here at the Nasdaq. Joining me now is the CEO and the CFO of Organograms, Greg Engel and Paolo DeLuca. So Craig, why did you want to come to the Nasdaq? Yeah, I mean certainly we had seen a big influx and change to our investor base where we were getting many more U.S. investors trading on the OTC and the QX. And then as we've been meeting with investment funds through the U.S., we're all seeing a shift in terms of large funds and more traditional kind of long only funds that we're looking to invest in us and looking to invest in the space. But we're unable to do so until we're list on one of the major exchanges. So we saw a phenomenal opportunity to join the Nasdaq and become part of that family because really we're a company that's really focused on technology and innovation and the Nasdaq is really founded on technology and innovation. So a great opportunity for us and so far on day one, great response from investors. You just recently made a big investment in a chocolate company. We know that the edible market is going to be coming up in Canada fairly soon at the end of the year for adult use. Why chocolate? Why not gummies or some other form factor? No, it's a great question. So we've invested in chocolate technology ourselves actually. So we're kind of put a $15 million investment into kind of purchasing and acquiring the leading systems for developing chocolate. When we look at US state data, for example, with Colorado, we see that when the edible form is chocolate is definitely one of the leading, if not the leading form consistently. And we have a team that really has a long history of working in chocolate across a couple of different companies. So we saw it as an area where a company that focuses on premium product and we saw it as a way to differentiate ourselves with a premium line and a mainstream line of really the best quality chocolate we could bring to market and having that capability with leading innovative equipment allows us to produce a broad range of chocolates and really allows us to bring something unique and different. When we go into a category, we want to have a strong ownership position of that category and have a big portion of it. So that's why we chose chocolate as one that we think we can dominate in. And what about the CBD category? You recently said comments about supply and issues there. What is the situation on that? Yeah, like we're seeing here in the US in the Canadian market, there's overwhelming demand for CBD. And so the difference being in Canada where CBD is still very much restricted to licensed producers like Organogram and we're able to access CBD from hemp in Canada. But certainly until just last year, we didn't see much of that produced. So we actually formed a partnership with a company in Canada called 1812, which has a very high CBD hemp. They harvested last year. So we're processing 6,000 kilos of that product to convert it into pure CBD product to bring to the market in the near term. And we're looking to expand that relationship for 2019 because there's a huge demand for CBD in the market. You've accomplished something that not a lot of cannabis companies have accomplished. And that is you've had positive EBDA for three consecutive quarters. What is it that you're doing as a company that these other companies are not accomplishing? Yeah, maybe I'll start off and answer that and then turn over to Paula. But we differentiate ourselves by being the largest indoor production facility in the world versus greenhouses. And so being an indoor producer, we can control our environment day in and day out and we produce a high quality product. We did that to focus on quality, but ultimately our yields are so high that it impacted costs. So maybe I'll let Paula answer that a bit further. Great. Thanks. So our cash cost of cultivation is 65 cents last quarter, all in cost, including share base compensation and depreciation was 85 cents a gram. That's the cheapest in the space from what we can derive from looking at other comparables in the space. We've actually hit a lower number than that even in the previous quarter. So when you take that as your base cost and then you have some packaging and some shipping they get that on top of that, we're still by far the lowest in the space. And then because we're producing an indoor product, we're able to generate an average selling price that's in the medium to high range. On top of that, our SG&A is under control, which is a big difference compared to other companies. Other companies in many cases are spending more in SG&A than they have in revenue. Our last quarter was 21%, which is a reduction from 36% in the previous quarter. So I think all those factors together allow us to generate the adjusted EBITDA that we have. Just being solid, being conservative, not spending like drum concealers. Just running it like a real business, to be honest with you. That's our objective. I mean, we're building a long-term sustainable business here, but we feel it's important to have positive gross margin, positive adjusted EBITDA today. And we want to, I think that highlights to investors the stewardship of us as a company and leaders. Great. Well, it's an exciting time for you guys. Congratulations. That is Organigram here at the NASDAQ. And I'm Deborah Borja reporting for the Green Market Report.


Actually, we were talking earlier this morning about how women-friendly and environment Dell is from tech support from a technology perspective that a lot of women executives within Dell and that's not necessarily always the case with some companies. No. I guess the ratio of men to women within Dell is a much higher percentage than other companies. I was definitely higher. I started with Dell a few years ago and I've come from technology, from medical device to technology and still continuing technology living in Austin, Texas. Are you in Austin? Yep. Austin. I'm in Dallas. Oh, nice. Yeah. Love-hate relationship with Dallas. I know. I love your city. Oh no, it's a lot of fun. Come to ACL in September. Oh, definitely. Yeah. So yeah, it's great being a woman at Dell. It's fantastic. It's a lot of opportunities and of course, get to come to Orlando and talk to you five folks. It's fun. Well, you have done, so you're basically in charge of the Dell Storage Forum, correct? Yeah. One of the folks that are in charge of Dell Storage Forum. You have done an awesome job. Oh, thank you. Everybody I talk to is having fun. They're learning so much, so I can't say enough about that. How has it been from your perspective? I mean, obviously, running a conference, I think anybody who's ever done that before I've done that is just stressful. Oh, it's stressful. It's stressful. And my point is always on the customer and the partner, so luckily, I don't see a lot of the mayhem in the background and that's a good thing. And so we've grown up a lot. We started with the Ecologic User Conference a couple of times last year and with Compellant brought a lot of their expertise into putting together a user forum like this. And it's been really exciting. A lot of work since we've launched this in February with the combination of the two events and seeing it live and seeing the reaction from our partners as well as our customers. It's really exciting. And you see Dell and our brand everywhere. You do. It's really exciting. Yeah, it's really exciting. I just like to see people have a good time but also walk away with a lot of love learning. A lot of great feedback on the Hands On Labs. And this is new, the Hands On Labs. This was something that we did ad hoc in San Diego in October last year. So we have Dell Educational Services and their instructor-led trainings that are the pre- and post-conference this year. We've done it in the past and it's a huge driver for those certification classes. And they fill up really quickly. In fact, four weeks ago they were full. And so we've had a lot of our customers going like, I really need to get in the class, get in the class. And so one of our engineers said, you know, we can really develop this lab. Why don't we just do a lab? And can you customers, the 25 folks that were on the waiting list in October, they put this lab together, built a virtual lab. And they said, let's do that in June. Let's bring a Orlando. And now you see the labs and you have equal logic labs. They have a lot of sessions and a lot of a huge workbook you can walk through. And then the compelence and you know, this is a really good idea. Let's have Hands On Labs. And then we really expanded that across all the platforms that we have in the labs. And of course our new equal logic launch that we launched this morning with Darin. You know, their labs are here as well. So you can really get your hands dirty on a lot of our equipment, a lot of our solutions. So it's a really exciting, exciting point this year. It's new. So, so you'll be continuing it, obviously, for people coming next year. Yes. And the engineer who decided to do this is very proud of himself. So it's real exciting. OK. Yeah. It's an exciting aspect to this year. Well, the the vibe so far, you know, it's been very relaxed and community oriented, community driven, very fluid. I would say. Yes. Have you seen the logo in the pool? We swam in the pool. I did see the pool of the logo. I actually walked outside and I was like, oh, they got a logo in the pool. I thought that was cool. Yeah, they called us actually when we came in about 11 o'clock at night and walked through the little fluid archway there, it surprised us a bit. Yeah. And the kids loved it. Being a marketer, I've been here since Thursday. And so once they put the fluid walk through in the lobby, the kids were loving it. And I just started thinking that our customers aren't even here, but just the visibility that the Dell is getting just in Orlando, just on the families. That's right. The kids are loving it. The first thing I thought of when I saw it, I want to know how that's done. But no, I know you don't know. But that's just the way I work. I was like, oh, I know how that's done. I was like flushing the toilet. I was running water. Yeah. So with everything that's been happening within Dell, all the acquisitions, everything, has there been a shift in the company culture itself? You noticed? Not really. I think that with the acquisitions and we, Dell has already always had an entrepreneurial spirit. And so when you think of equal logic and you think of, I was just at the cost of the equal logic acquisition and been very integrated in the compelling acquisition. And they bring so much value into our culture. And we really, I respect that. I respect of what they bring. Because sometimes in a larger organization, you get a little overwhelmed and it's very fast paced. And so they just bring fresh air. And I think we adapt that really well and it's refreshing. Tony Parkinson was just saying that there really isn't any bureaucracy that they have to. Pretty flat organization. Yeah, yeah, not really. The only the only thing that are once we once we kicked off the launch of Compelent, they've come down to Austin a lot of times. So I won't go to Minnesota during the winter. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. You want to earn real points. You go in January, right? I'm a show I'm through and through. I am not tough. I am not tough. It's just too cold, but they their first trip here. I think it was 17 degrees in Austin. They're like, I thought that you said it was warm here. Oh, no. But I'll be up there in the summer. I enjoy their beautiful lakes. And I think in a couple of weeks, I'll be up in Minnesota with them. So, but it's fun. I look forward to it. Yeah, yeah. That's what I always hear is the culture of entrepreneurship. I always hear about that from Dell employees and outside of it. But how does a company, and from your perspective, who you've worked with, keep that going? What is it about Dell that stops the bureaucracy from coming in? Just the values, obviously. But how do you keep that going? I think it's top down. And I think it's, I know my manager and Darren really empowers us to be individuals, and he empowers us to really think strategically, but also be creative. And it really is, I love coming to work every day because I can see my friends and my family. And I think that you see that now here at the forum is that my friends in Nashua that are my coworkers, my friends in Minnesota, this is a place that we can come together, and it is friends and family. And we take that same philosophy, even with our partners and our customers, is that this is, we're bringing our closest friends and family together. So Nolan, do we have that here in Orlando? But we have it in Austin. We have it in Minnesota and Nashua and even our new design center on the West Coast. So it's just, it's from top down.  But it has a closed door.  We're keeping this worm and fuzzy emotional. We were talking about today. Yeah, we have social responsibility themes going. We were talking to Phil and we were talking to Darren about social responsibility and contributions and things like that, places where we're trying to make a difference.  He has his own charity as well. Right, he has his own charity, yeah. And then he's very close with employees or he's very open and, you know, even on my side of things, he participates in social media. Just himself, he actually tweets. He loves the Twitter. Yeah, and I have a couple of clients who've emailed him directly and they get a response back almost immediately. You know, what's interesting about that is that we did our first Dell Storage Forum in March in Dallas last year and he wasn't scheduled to attend. Okay. In my real job, I'm in product marketing, so my real life is the product side.  He surprised us on the last day. Oops, should've worn makeup. Yeah, exactly. Oh God, I hope I looked all right. But, you know, he's surprised and how it happened was that through the social media aspect, he saw a lot of our customers. Oh, this is the best conference ever. This is a real user forum. And so, he was on the Twitter and he was coming to Dallas, apparently he has some high friends in Dallas, so he just showed up to see what was going on. And he surprised a lot of our classes, they walked in and some of our bloggers and some of our customers really got to meet him and just hang out to go. And so, he's very approachable. And not only is he approachable, but the rest of our executives, and again, it just comes from the top down of being very open and community-like. That's very cool. I hope that continues.  Are you gonna do more events throughout the course of the year? What events are you gonna be visible on? Yeah, definitely. So, our direction for the forum is we're definitely gonna take it to Europe. You are? Yeah, we've- When is that gonna be? Hopefully this fall. Okay. Fall, if not early winter. So, that's what we're looking for. We know how you like winter, so you wanna get it in the fall. Yes, exactly. So- In the Nordic countries, I assume. Yes, I think we're gonna go to Iceland. Maybe. So, yeah, so we're definitely, from a long-term perspective, we're looking, definitely having one large forum on each of the continents. So, we're definitely developing that strategy. You'll definitely see us next year, here in the U.S., in the fall, in Europe. So, we're definitely getting there. And, obviously, learning from each year as you go and each conference as you go, what are the things next year, outside of the labs- Right, right. That you'll probably implement or hope to, if you can talk about that a little. Again, we're still in early phases. We've learned a lot, coming together from two forums, bringing it together to make this one. We've definitely learned a lot, but, again, the big driver is certification. I think the technical content at this conference is unbeatable, but more of it. Okay. More technical content, more certification. A big driver is, yeah, it's a great conference, but how do I inform my boss and get the budget to come down here? Travel the tights. It's interesting, because I would say VMware, among all the communities, has probably done the best job of creating a culture around being a VMware-certified design expert, being a VMware vExpert, right? That sort of thing. So, do you see things- We're taking some of that methodology. It's a huge driver, and we know that the sessions from the, they start on Tuesday morning and end on Thursday, that's strong technical content, but creating that into, I don't know, a title, but into being that expert really drives the managers back home in these companies to say, you really need to attend this conference because you're going to learn how to use your equipment already. You know, what you've already purchased, how do you leverage that? With Equalogic, you have a lot of built-in software capabilities that sometimes you don't really take advantage of, so you can learn how to do that here at this conference. And again, that'll pay for your ticket next year. Right. And we don't tell the managers this, but you guys do a fantastic job at the parties. Exactly, I've enjoyed myself. The blue cocktails. Blue cocktails. I did not see those. You didn't see the blue cocktails? No, I didn't. No, we were working. It was the Del Fusion, I think, was the signature drink. Oh, that's cute. I didn't get to have one. Michael, if you're listening. She's been totally on key. Well, thank you so much. Like I said, fantastic job here, and everybody seems to be enjoying themselves, which is key to a conference. It's key.  Yeah, exactly, exactly. Well, thank you, Christy. It was great to meet you. Nice to meet you as well. Take care, no worry. Thank you. Pleasure. Bye. Thanks.


Hey everybody, Dr. O here. In this video we're going to talk about the tonsils, an important weapon in the development of immunity against common oral pathogens. So first let's just talk about their structure. They're just their lymphoid tissues which means that they're going to have epithelial tissues but also going to have germinal centers where your immune system cells live and constantly are on the lookout for invaders that they should develop an immunity against. Specifically, there are five tonsils in the pharynx, in the throat. You see that singular pharyngeal tonsil in the back of the throat. That's the one that's commonly called the adenoids when it's swollen. And then you have the pear, the two Palatine tonsils. These are the tonsils that are most likely removed if they're swollen. As you can see some swollen tonsils there. So a tonsillectomy is usually the removal of those two Palatine tonsils. Then you have the two that aren't talked about very much. You do have the pears or two lingual tonsils there in the throat behind the tongue. So there are a total of five tonsils. Swollen tonsils can be a serious problem. They can impact breathing. They may have to be removed because of an impact on breathing and these types of things. But swollen tonsils are actually a sign of them doing their job. They're activating an immune response against oral pathogens they were exposed to, either from food or from the air. So much so that maybe you've heard of the tonsillar crypts. I'll circle where those are there. These crypts are actually there to encourage. They're trying to trap microbes that are coming into your mouth through either your food or the air. They encourage them to dive in deep where all these immune cells are at. And these crypts are a great place for your immune cells to come and take a sample of what we're being exposed to and what we need to develop immunity against. So that's actually why those crypts are there. So as you can see, the tonsils are an important part of the immune system. Now it doesn't mean that it's worth keeping them. If potentially you're going to have breathing problems or these types of things. I've had my tonsils removed. As a matter of fact, I developed a pair of tonsillar abscess. And had to be removed because they were a source of an infection that was basically growing into my throat and becoming a very serious problem. So I was in my early 30s at the time. But when you're young, so swollen tonsils can certainly be a problem. But it is actually a sign that they're doing their job. They're helping you develop an immunity for later life. But if they're a problem, now they may have to go. In the future, we may start to see ways to deal with swollen tonsils that don't involve physically removing them. I'm kind of intrigued by that. One thing is that the bacteria, let's say strep, if they're causing you to continually have these swollen palatine tonsils, are there ways to remove the source of the infection, the strep, without removing the tonsils? We'll see. Because I think one of the reasons that removing your tonsils can help you stop getting strep throat is the fact that you're physically removing this source of infection, which was a gross biofilm on the tonsils. So perhaps, can we get rid of the biofilm, get rid of the organisms and spare the tonsils? We'll see. So with those of the tonsils, that's their job to mount immune responses in the beginning of the GI tract there in your throat. And that's what happens if they get too swollen and need to be removed. I hope that helps. Have a wonderful day. Be blessed.