when you want to provide code which sometimes needs to calculate the mean, sometimes needs to calculate the median, sometimes the standard deviation because you can make the thing that you are going to compute a parameter or an input parameter to your function itself. It doesn't happen that often that you have to write higher-order functions. But they are very, very useful sometimes and they can reduce a lot of code just because of the way that they can just take a function as an input parameter. All right. That's it. So for today, we did the answers to lecture six. I told you about the fact that practicing is the only way to learn how to program. I showed you guys that there are more examples or more exercises on Moodle. We talked a little bit about theory, like algorithms as a concept, how does an algorithm and a, not a float chart, but an algorithm and I forgot the word. I'm out of sugar. I'm really out of sugar. It's almost five. I've been talking for three hours, but what kind of charts did we talk about? We didn't talk about float charts. We talked about state diagrams, right? So an algorithm can be represented as a state diagram. Besides that, we talked a little bit about design patterns. So design patterns are more or less common answers to common problems which have been solved and which have been shown to work in practice. A design pattern is not an algorithm. It is kind of a, if an algorithm is a cooking recipe, then a design pattern is, how would I call that? Yeah, that's not a good analogy, I think, but a design pattern is a way to solve a commonly occurring problem which is not an algorithm itself, but it's more or less like, the above an algorithm. We talked about recursion. So recursion is a function which calls itself. And we talked about higher order functions. Higher order functions are functions which take a function as an input parameter and which are very useful when you think about dynamic programming. So when you think about dynamic programming, then a function which takes a function is definitely something, because depending on the input parameter, the function can do something completely different. So that is, it's dynamic in that sense. Good. So I really should have had more sugar before we started the lecture because I'm all out of sugar. And if there are any questions, then ask them now or forever be silent or something like that. And in the meantime, I am going to write an iterative version of, because I really am intrigued by the, if you can do it with iteration. You still look sweet though. Oh, thank you very much. But I am getting really tired. Like this morning was hectic, hectic as hell. So before I started the lecture, I was still like sending emails and these kinds of things. But are there any questions? Did you guys think that I should do this lecture again? Because it doesn't really fit into our programming language. I just generally do this lecture so that I have a couple of things that I can ask which are not programming assignments. So that I can ask you things like explain recursion in your own words. Draw a little state diagram of this for loop with an if statement. So these things, I had this whole lectures here just to give me some freedom in kind of rearranging the exam questions and have more, like, not really applied exam questions, but also have some more theoretical exam questions. It's still running by the way, Leonardo. It's not very happy about the 100 Fibonacci number. So let's see, because if I think about Fibonacci, right? Fibonacci with iteration, right? Then that is a function. I want to have the x number and then I just want to say pref n is 1. Pref n. So we have the previous number and we have the number before the previous number, which is also 1. So now if x is 1, we return the previous, previous number, right? And if x is 2, then we return the previous number, right? And then while not is equal to 0, what do we want to do? Good question, what do we want to do? So then we want to say that our previous, previous number is actually the previous number and I want to have a temp variable. So TMP is the previous number plus the previous, previous number. Then that one moves 1 and now the previous number should now be the temp number and now I'm going to say x equals x minus 1. And then so if x is 1, we return if x is 2. So here we then have to say x equals x minus 2 and then this should and then in the end we're going to return I'm going to do this while x is larger and so if x is 0 then the Fibonacci number should be in the previous number, I think. I think something like this. This lecture could be part of the introduction. Yes, it could definitely be part of the introduction but the problem there is that the concepts are relatively advanced in a way, right? The introduction is more about telling you guys about the history and that it's good to use computers and showing you a little bit of the look and feel in R but if I start in the introduction talking to you guys about recursion and functions, I think functions are kind of the hardest part for people to grasp. There's certain things that are really hard in programming. So the first thing which is hard in programming is wrapping your head around the type system. Different objects have different types. You have numerics, characters, logicals. Then the next kind of big hurdle is learning if statements because that always turns out to be really difficult for people to grasp an if statement but once they grasp it's good, right? And then you can write your own if statements, no problem. And then the next level of difficulty is more or less writing for loops and while loops. The iteration part is really, really hard to kind of get your head around, to do the same thing over and over again but now every time moving one column or one row in a matrix. And then you have functions because functions are kind of encapsulating for loops and while loops. They have their scope, they have stuff with you. So I do think that it could be part of the introduction but it would be really hard. Let me actually, let's go to 15. So let's do 15 Fibonacci numbers, right? So let's try it with iteration and let's duplicate this and then use the Fibonacci sequence where we definitely know that it will work and then I'm going to say A and this is going to be B and then I'm going to cut A which should be equal to B and now unfortunately I have to get a new R window which I then have to also put into the display because I'm just wondering if this will work, right? Like the idea here is that you store two numbers, right? We have PN which is the previous number and then we have PPN which is the number before that and I just want to move them, right? So I have to have a temp variable which is the addition of the two and then I shift so the previous number becomes the number before that and then the previous number now becomes the temp and then I count down, right? So I say 3 is going to be so I think that this should work but I'm just curious to see if it will work. So I'm going to add a window capture and that's going to be not this one but the R window, this one, right? So that we have a new R window I'm going to put this on top and I'm just going to see if it works, right? So I'm just going to copy paste in my code surprisingly enough I think that this actually works so this wonky ass piece of code that I actually wrote just off the top of my mind not this one but this one this actually seems to be properly calculating the Fibonacci numbers I'm really surprised I actually thought that there was probably going to be something weird but you can see how complex the code is to do it with iteration but if we look at the R window then all of the numbers are equal so unless up to 15 it definitely works that's what we can conclude we get the correct Fibonacci numbers from 1 to 15 so let me actually update it to the first 25 Fibonacci numbers and see if it still works still seems to work now the question is does the iteration version compute this 100 Fibonacci number much quicker than the other one right? so you wanted to know the 100 Fibonacci number so that's actually really fast so in this case iteration is much much faster than doing it via recursion because if we look at the R window this one the recursive version is still busy branching and computing because it does a lot of duplicate work right? but the with iteration version seems to be doing quite well but the question of course is we still need to make sure or we still need to figure out if this is the real answer if this is really the 100 Fibonacci number so it seems to work at least until 25 both of the methods are more or less the same but the recursive version is just a lot cleaner instead of having to shift things and having like a previous number than a previous previous number and then moving down this is also horrible x-2 actually this could be like this and then we don't have to do that I think and then this could be I'm done like this since we want to set everything to one we can do it like double arrow it's not bad I think that this would work as well so let me run the code again just to make sure that it's still correct seems to be correct and the iteration is much much quicker because the other one is still busy still busy still trying to figure out anyway so I'm happy with myself so for you guys calculate Fibonacci with iteration not calculated with recursion but the recursive one is just so much more it's just so much clearer right here it's very clear what's going on here I actually noted this down for myself just so that I know kind of what's going on but this is just on the top of my mind right this is the first thing that I thought of like if you start a previous number and a previous number so you need two variables and then you need a temp one to compute the sum or you might not have to actually because the temp no no no because you no because otherwise this would overwrite the preview yeah yeah you probably could do a the greatest common denominator trick here as well because the greatest common denominator is also really good so the finding the the biggest number if you have two numbers the biggest number by which it is divisible through is can also be done recursively which is also really beautiful algorithm um but I'm wondering if I can make this one look a little bit slicker but uh remember here again we see a very good and of course we have to make sure that we check that x is not negative or zero because that that would just break the whole function but uh just from basic like first 25 it seems to work could probably go until like 35 before the whole thing uh before the recursive version start crashing down like you can see how how slow it starts to become right and now I'm definitely going to have issues because now I have like three processes on my computer trying to calculate Fibonacci numbers anyway um I if there's no other questions um then uh it's 505 so thank you guys so much for being here for being active in participating I will definitely take your advice on the consideration to make it part of the introduction and have it flow in there but I do think it's nice to have a lecture which is not just about programming but which is more or also about um a little bit of theory behind programming good then for me that's it I wish you guys a very very good weekend um if you don't have to work tomorrow and otherwise good luck on working tomorrow and have a good weekend after that and I will see you guys um next week and enjoy the weekend bye bye


Hi, welcome to the All Things LGBTQ Interview Show, where we interview LGBTQ guests who are making important contributions to our communities. All Things LGBTQ is taped at Orca Media in Montpelier, Vermont, which we recognize as being unceded Indigenous land. Thanks for joining us and enjoy the show. Over years, one of the go-to people to speak on behalf of LGBTQ youth was Sawyer Totten. But like all of our youth, Sawyer grew up and has moved on to start their life. So we thought we would take this opportunity to talk to Sawyer about their experience at being a youth advocate here in Vermont and what that transition into the next part of his life has been like. So welcome, Sawyer. Hi.  Okay, so let's talk a little bit about your advocacy and very high visibility while you were here in Vermont. How did that come about and what made it possible for you to do that? I think it was just one of those things where outright I had been looking for people to speak at one time and I was like, sure, I'll speak. I don't really like public speaking, but I'll do it to be a face because there's no one else stepping up. So I was like, you know what? I'll do it. And then it just became a thing of like, oh, you're really good at this. And so I just kept getting asked, which was fine with me. I just kept getting asked. And I think it got to a point where sometimes I was like in my head, I'm like, God, can't they find someone else? Why do they always come to me? But I liked doing it. And I liked being that voice that no one else had and hopefully for those who are younger than me, being someone that they could look up to and be like, okay, they seem to have their stuff to get. Like they look like they're doing good. And my parents also kind of pushed me to also do it. And they always helped with writing whatever speeches I did or helping plan out the radio shows. Kind of one radio show and like TV segments and helping me prepare for those. And so having my parents behind me, but also like wherever I was speaking and whoever was organizing it also did some sort of preparation with me beforehand and like making sure I was all good. I had everything I needed, kind of like went about like, okay, so like this is how this is going to go. You know, we're going to do this, we're going to give maybe like a little introduction and then we'll do this. And so having people help me writing my stuff and also showing me how to go was very helpful. And so like that, that was, that was most helpful for me is just having my parents behind me and having a support of community behind me to be like, okay, I've got this and I've got people there to protect me if I need it. So it sounds as though a part of that was whatever was the forum for which you were being invited. They didn't forget the person who was inside of the public individual, which sounds really good. So how did your school and your peers respond to all of a sudden Sawyer is someone we're seeing on the six o'clock news. No one, I think their parents knew but I never got anything from students. I never got anything from students saying, oh, hey, I saw you on the news or, oh, hey, I read this article about you. I didn't get that from like my peers. So it was kind of nice that I could kind of, because I could kind of go to school and be somewhat of a normal kid, whatever that means. And, but on the side, I was also doing like a radio, like I would have to leave school early, like I went and left school early one day to go to radio show. And like, I told my teachers about it, but I didn't really tell my classmates because some of them were ones that I'd gone to elementary, like had been going to school with since preschool and, and they knew me, like, be transition. And so sometime, and so like I knew some reactions of kids and they weren't always the greatest. And so it was kind of nice that like when I was at school, I could just focus on school and being a student and learning. And I didn't have to be like, oh, did they, did they see me on the news? Like, are people going to start like doing, like treating me different now I'm doing this? So that was one, like that was one nice thing was like, I didn't get much recognition outside of school or like at school from what I did outside of school. I sometimes had teachers do it because my senior year, we did a drag, a drag, a drag ball at the halftime game of our, at the halftime show of our homecoming football game, and we made news everywhere. So like the whole school knew about that one. And I think that was the only time where I did some sort of public speaking and articles that everyone in school was talking about and like, because like they had all shown up to the game and they knew that I was organizing it and they knew that like I had this major role in this, but outside of that one event, there was not much recognition. So were there things that the school did that made it possible for you to be a public transgender youth, but just a student once you walked into the school building itself? Yeah, mostly around the drag ball because of how public it was and the article and the mass media attention we got, there was a lot of threats made.  This is what's going on. We are monitoring this stuff.  But and they also just like, I didn't get special treatment from my teachers from like, do you need any like protection going home? Where it was nothing like that. It was mostly just like they treated me like every other student. They didn't give me special treatment. I didn't ask for special treatment because I was like, you know what, I just want to be a student. I do this stuff on the side and like after school, but like when I'm at school, I'm a student and they were more than happy to help. And they always said, if I needed anything to like come to them. And so that no situation came up where I really needed to get help from the school. That sounds like it was a very supportive and a very unique environment and looking at what is happening across the country and some of the school districts even here in Vermont, a unique and. It's encouraging to hear that there are school districts who get it and who get it right. So as you were looking at making that next step in your life's journey, there's a plethora of anti-trans legislation and public conversations happening nationwide. Did those conversations and some of that hustle legislation that has been enacted influence how you chose to make that next step? 100% when it came time, end of sophomore year going into my junior year, my parents and I started having conversations of where would be best for me to go to school. Every single school that I looked at, one of the first things we did was look up the population of LGBTQ students at that school and what legislation was at that school with the schools like Title IX protections, like how well their Title IX was and what protections they had in place for LGBTQ plus students. And one of my big things was I wanted to go to a school in a city. I didn't want to go to like a school in the middle of nowhere. I wanted to be near a city so I could go do stuff. I wanted to get out of Vermont. I love Vermont, but it was just I felt like I was at a point where I was like, you know what, I want to I want to go explore. I want to go outside of Vermont. I want to go outside of New England. Like I want to really explore. And I applied to schools in Washington, D.C. and across the East Coast. But one of my big things was I can't go below D.C. I was like, you know what, for my own physical and mental safety, I should not go further than D.C. I should not go further south than D.C. And my uncle was helping me find schools because I was looking at schools of public health programs. And he was like, Tulane or Emery. And I was like, and one of the comments he was like, if you can handle the south. And I was like, I thank you for making money. Thank you for like help like understanding like, you know, it's not the safest option for me to go south. And so I ended up choosing a school in Maryland. And one of the things that the school boasts about is like the population of LGBTQ students on campus. And it's a good pop like it's a good sized population. There's probably a couple hundred students who are LGBTQ. And the school's small. There's like a thousand post graduate and undergrad students combined. Which is really nice. So it's like a small enclosed campus. Everyone's like always doing stuff. And so that was it was good to see that they were boasting about it. And then when I actually got to the campus, it was like, oh yeah, you can tell like this is a, this is a pretty queer campus.  And my parents and my parents were definitely did more research than I did on like, all of the like what harassment laws were out there and what the state, we also looked at what the state does. And I ended up choosing a really good state to go to because just a few weeks ago, Maryland's governor with made an executive order saying that Maryland is now a trans sanctuary state. And so like that's just kind of like, after a year of going there, I'm like, okay, awesome. Like this is a great thing. And a good chunk of my friend group is also LGBTQ. And so making friends down in Maryland and like kind of solidifying a spot and having this great community was helpful. But looking at what's the school, how great the school was for LGBTQ plus students was like top priority. It was mostly like, do they have the major I want? Okay, they have the major I want. Do they have protection for me as a trans student? So that was like the second thing that we always looked at and made sure of and the state and everything. So you're talking about having done a fair amount of research to ensure that the environment that you were moving into was going to be a receptive and supportive environment. How difficult was it for you to find those resources? Or were there several sort of centralized repositories of information that you went to look for information regarding the response to LGBTQ plus students? It was mostly just looking on their website and really doing a fine tooth comb through their web, like the campus website of like looking at what their policies were like reading the student handbook if they had one. One thing I do wish there was was a centralized database of LGBTQ plus safe schools in the country because it was a lot of, like it was a lot of reading and I wish I could have kind of like instead of just instead of just like looking at schools for like just my major like I wish I could have been like okay I'm gonna go to this website and these are like what the top probably not 100 but like the top whatever number of schools for LGBTQ plus students in the country, you know okay from there I'm gonna go. But it was mostly just I mostly just researched schools based on my major and then after I found a school that had my major that's when I saw if they were safe and where they were localized in the country. But I do wish that there was maybe a database that was like more had all of that information kind of like combined where it was like these are the schools and you can click the school and it will just take you straight and they just have a page of like this is like what we know about this school and maybe like some firsthand accounts from students. I think that would hopefully be more informational for for younger folks or maybe just looking at schools now. So it sounds like the first filter was what are the hostile states then looking at okay this is what I want to major and it sounds like healthcare is one of those and then looking at the individual schools. So you have stated that having a database somewhere like with GLSEN or Trevor Project or whoever that contains this information would be helpful. What else is it that we could do and in thinking in terms of your experience here in Vermont to support you as you have moved on in your life. What are the things that we could do to ensure that you know there's there's some support in place. I mean not I have a great support system at home but not all LGBTQ plus folks have a support system when they go to school. So for those who do choose to go out of state or maybe those who choose to stay in state of having like a group of like LGBTQ plus college students from all different from like all different schools being able to talk about that or having like a way like a group chat of just like talking about things and also just the financial stuff. A lot of kids don't think that like if they don't have the support of their parents and they don't like there's so many scholarships and so much documents and they might not have those folks to help them with that creating a support to help them find scholarships maybe LGBTQ plus geared scholarships or or something so they know that they that they can go to college and they can they can go and yeah that's yeah. So it sounds like what we might want to focus on is creating some type of support network here in Vermont while you're still a youth and while you might be still involved with outright Vermont either in one of the programs or a Friday night group or whatever that can be a sounding board as you're getting ready to move on and maybe following you briefly notice I said briefly as you move on to that next part in your life to ensure that okay you know there is that listening ear but also creating a peer support group that's part of that overall process so that the people with whom you shared activism here in Vermont you're still have a voice with each other once you move on yeah so looking at sort of the totality of your experience if there is a youth who is watching this who has questions about am I a transgendered youth or what are my options what advice do you have for them? I think if we're talking options I didn't think I was worried about going to college because you know you got like new room like person you're going to room with you've never met in your entire life very little contact you've got communal bathrooms luckily I was on a colored floor so like going to the bathroom like that was not an issue but it was definitely like a little nerve-wracking of like okay I'm going off to college and with the person I have never met before you know when my first year roommate and I were getting to know each other I was like hey just so you know I am trans like I just want to let you know I did have top surgery I have scars but like I just want to let you know I'm trans and I like I do weekly shots so you're aware and like and that was and that was it and he was super chill about it he's like yeah no problem you're you're all good and so so but going to college can be scary at first but you make friends really fast and like it's not like like making friends it's like almost like you're in elementary school and like you go up to the kid on the playground you're like hey you want to be friends sure and like you become instant best friends it's like it's that like you just meet someone in class or like in the dining hall and like you sit with each other a few times and all of a sudden like you click immediately and you're the like instant best friends it is so weird like that doesn't happen in high school really it's like it's almost like your little kids on a playground like asking do you want to be friends yeah it's like it's it's so sweet um but there are supports out there um there you know hour in Vermont is a great resource i went to Friday night group and i went to trans group and i went to camp outright for like four years and it was it was incredibly helpful to make me feel not so alone because i was pretty much the only trans kid that i knew of in in my school and so being able to go from being in a school surrounded by straight cis kids to going to Friday night group and outright where i was surrounded by other queer and trans youth was so helpful for me and didn't make me feel alone and and it was it was great and so if you can't make it to the in-person ones they have virtual ones in multiple different towns now which is amazing um but reach out to outright if you need help with anything they're they're an insanely great resource you made a brief reference to getting shots once a week so i'm going to presume that as you were looking at schools and options that there was support there was medical support readily available for you as part of what helped you to make your ultimate decision luckily i didn't so the night if you have a primary care physician now um you're able to still see like they're able to still prescribe you medications across borders um so i never had to change my doc like i didn't have to find a new doctor when i went down or any like i was able to like she would just fill my like i would just call them up be like hey i need to refill my stuff and they would just send it to the pharmacy nearby school and so i was able to get it the only thing that i did have to stop which was a little frustrating was therapy like my therapist wasn't allowed to do cross the board like cross-state lines and so if you do have a therapist that is one thing that you do have to like find a new one um and so that was a little frustrating but i was like i was doing really great like i had therapy for like like going to therapy once a week and then i was like great now i gotta stop and like do this and and try and find a new therapist but most colleges have a counseling center that you can make an appointment you can do a certain amount of counseling with them and then if you know you want more further counseling they can help you find a therapist off campus um but i was able to continue getting my testosterone and needles and syringes while still being off uh out of state and being um nine hours away from home and you know the one like downside is sometimes i didn't always have everything i needed and that was a little frustrating and having to call my parents and get everything figured out like do i have extra supplies at home can you ship it to me um but no i it was it was great like you can still get your medications all right and with that thank you for spending this time with us of course and i look forward to hearing about Sawyer Totten the activist reforming health care in the u.s. good luck on your journey thank you on frequent episodes of all things you have heard me make reference to the issue of sexual violence and how sexual violence impacts our lgbtq plus communities today we have a unique opportunity to talk with one of the people who is running a central brumont organization specifically to respond to the needs of those of us who have experienced sexual violence in our life and with our families and with our friends so please welcome for a first time but not the last visit with and board the executive director of mosaic vermont welcome and thanks so much for having me today uh i i i am so glad to finally be able to invite to the command the show so let's start with let's talk a little bit about you how how did you happen to come to vermont and then how did you happen to come to mosaic sure you know i was born here um no i didn't know that yep i'm in original i was born in adison county i've lived in chitinon county but gosh i think i've been in central vermont since 2006 so most of you know my adult life has been spent in washington county um i love it here this is home so what is it that you did before you came to mosaic right before i was at mosaic i was a child sexual abuse prevention trainer at prevent child abuse vermont um and also uh you know i've spent the past almost 12 years as a foster parent um you know through the dcs gcf system supporting children youths and families i've had a lot of children and i kind of we worked with a lot of children and youth who experienced sexual violence and trafficking um and need extra support so part of the work on sexual violence is something that was already part of your personal life so that stepping into a professional role wasn't that far reach no not at all you know i i left vermont um as as many youth do i went to school in southern california for undergrad and um and had some pretty big learning crews and experiences out there i started volunteering in domestic and sexual violence services out there and just the volume the volume of need for services is just to not compare and got really interested in what that looked like um in vermont and i came home to do grad school i studied humane education which is essentially like all the things that are wrong in the world looking at unsustainable systems and and thinking about solutions and you know what is what are the opportunities um here for for harm reduction or healthy living and uh it took it took some time you know i i tried a bunch of different things in central vermont um in housing for a little bit and i ended up working with animals humane society for a number of years and um my heart just kept pulling me back to this issue of of sexual violence and just the the incredible impact that that kind of trauma can have on on a person or a family or community um you know at any point in their life and how it it you know the theme of trauma can pull through um and be really really present and our communities need for both individual and collective healing around harm that's occurred it sounds like with your life experience you were the right choice for mosaic at the right time and i sure hope so thank you sure thank you for being willing to take that on so let's talk a little bit about mosaic and some people may know mosaic by a different name because the organization itself has been around for a while and had a recent transition where the name mosaic was taken on to support the work that was being done so can you give us a little bit about history and the mission of the organization itself sure this uh this organization is turning 40 next year um which is a pretty important milestone for us you know as many primarily in the early days women's serving organizations this was started as as community support as community members identifying a need to support each other people experiencing sexual violence and volunteers getting together um and and doing really really incredible work um and grew over the years into uh you know a program that was a member of the vermont network against domestic and sexual violence um it ended up uh in our in our location in berry city we have we have an office building um started the first shelter that we know of in the world that served people of all genders um who were fleeing sexual violence or trafficking situations um when i joined in 2018 it was a pretty pivotal moment for for where we were as an organization in general there had already been conversations for a long time about whether or not sexual assault crisis team was the right name anymore you know we made a call from the office people would pick up their phone and it would say sexual assault was calling right not great um and that really it really gave the impression that um that our response was only that acute moment of crisis in which people would engage and that it that's really changed mosaic was already doing prevention work um when i arrived and um we are really we've grown quite a bit even since 2018 had some bumps you know during covid covid was not an easy time for anybody um and of course we were scheduled with this big community launch of our our name to change to mosaic vermont with a big strategic plan we were launching that was scheduled for April 2nd of 2020 um you know so that party didn't happen um and ever since then we've been just um really working hard to understand what the community wants from us what they need from us and how we can deliver those things and that's meant to really hard look at how we're delivering programming um how we're talking to our community about sexual violence and what the next steps might be for you know our mission that includes um not only healing communities but ending violence what does that look like for us now and before i move on to really talk about the services and the programs that mosaic has to offer i i could read your strategic plan by going on to the mosaic website correct you sure can and and if i had comment there there's a means to reach out and talk to you correct yes okay so let's talk a little bit about the programs that mosaic has to offer and starting with okay what are some of the older programs to which people might be a customer expecting and what are some of the newer programs that you know that that healing model and prevention and reaching out to the individual who might be impacted by sexual violence sure you know we're talking a lot internally about how do we how do we frame this conversation with the community because it's easy to put ourselves in boxes right advocacy and prevention as though those are different things and they're really not they have some different strategies around them and i think most people are going to be familiar with our with our advocacy program which is the response to sexual violence you know that's the easiest way to describe it and that for us looks like 24 hour helpline we respond in person any time of day to central mont medical center to help support people who are having sexual assault nurse examinations following harm we do you know support if folks are choosing to make a report to law enforcement we'll support them you know in that process and their decisions along the way court involvement accessing medical care potentially accessing mental health care and looking at the acute needs that are occurring in their life at that time you know we're complex people and sexual violence the experience of that trauma you know could be just the tip of the iceberg of what's happening in folks lives and so we really look at that the whole person and when somebody calls we don't have an agenda for you we want to know how you're feeling how you're doing what you want us to know you really don't have to tell us a story you know it doesn't have to be a disclosure but letting us letting us work with you around what you think you might need both in this moment you need some breathing exercises some grounding technique you know are you are you having some high stress and really hard feelings right now or are you thinking trying to think strategically about what healing could look like in the long term and that's you know advocacy is really we're often asked for what's you know what are our services what what will you do if I but but the thing is sexual violence is different for for everybody both when it happened how it happened the picture of their entire lives and and how they might heal and you know that's that's really that's really challenging because we want to you know we want to be able to tell you yes we'll we'll hopefully be able to meet your need but what we're going to say is we're going to meet your need the best we can depending on what your need is in the moment at that time and what our resources are that are available and we feel like if we make you know this exact menu of services we're actually going to serve the community less because people are pretty complicated and and and really creative about what they want that's different. If I am hearing you correctly you're going to be there not only in my immediate crisis moment but you're also going to be there long term so that if I am a long-term survivor and I'm encountering difficulties in the middle of the night the helpline is still there for me and I would be able to I would be able to call it and get supportive services and that if I was going through the legal process you would be there as my advocate as that was playing out. Yes absolutely again it's different for every person some people call us immediately as soon as the harm occurs or the hospital calls us you know if consent is given the hospital call us you know immediately after harm occurs other folks call us decades later and say you know I'm ready to start thinking about how this has been impacting my life and what that might mean for me going forward and the response is going to be different right like if it happened decades ago we're not going to send you to the hospital for a medical exam but we are going to ask how is it showing up for you what are the things that you are identifying might be helpful for you moving forward and we actually we have an intern right now a master's and social work intern who's doing some really incredible work with sort of senior populations and going around the senior centers and having conversations and collecting data there's going to be we're going to be doing a you know a Washington County exploration of what people who are now seniors who are impacted by sexual violence at some point in their life even child sexual abuse what are their unique needs now in this time in this culture how can we support people that could look like you know doing some art programming healing art programming in senior centers that could mean doing support groups that are specifically targeted to older generations you know it really we want to know what the community wants from us and often what we choose to do next or what we choose to seek funding for next is really driven by what the input is from the community you know up to when we're writing that grant we want to know what's important to folks and what they'd like to see from us we can respond to that to the best of our ability you know as funding allows of the years and and those information sessions are going to be happening over the summer the fall is that something that's immediately forthcoming sure the the serving and the interviewing folks who are senior with experiences of you know previous violence is going to be starting in July and August we're looking for we're looking at a report ready for the community for this December so it's not just looking at what could mosaic do it's looking at you know anybody involved in senior care in our community what what is the ask who how could it be provided how do folks want to get involved you know we want to learn we want to learn how the community can respond to this historically a lot of the work of domestic and sexual violence has been something that's been really gatecapped right there's been this really strong belief that that the agencies that were doing this work are the experts in this and you sure absolutely they are mosaic also really believes that that the expertise for healing and the expertise for for supporting each other and for working through trauma and for building healthy communities already exists in our community and can be strengthened and can be identified but we're all about engaging folks in how do we do this together how do we learn from each other build each other up support each other and learn how to hold trauma as a community and how to build our way to a healthier future together and that's you know that's an important part of how we approach all of our programming and and I want to step back a little bit because we've been using this sort of umbrella term of sexual violence and you've made reference to like childhood sexual abuse and trafficking sexual violence can be so much more than merely what people perceive as a sort of traditional rape scenario it can include sexual harassment intimate partner violence dating violence etc so mosaic would be there to support that full spectrum of experiences sure if stalking experiences of trafficking you know folks don't we don't tend to answer the hotline and you know we don't say okay what was your experience of sexual harm or put yourself in this category for us often often people call us and this is welcome people call us and say I'm not sure if what happened to me was okay and there folks are often listening for us to make the decision about whether or not they were harmed and that's such an interesting experience to process that with folks if you're calling then you had a reason to call and it doesn't it doesn't really matter to us in the big picture it matters in our relationship with you but it doesn't really matter whether you fit in a perfect little box of whether this qualified as you know a certain type of offense or not it's what happened to you how did it impact you what do you need now if your body feels like something was wrong then it was wrong maybe it doesn't rise to a criminal investigation but most people aren't looking for law enforcement involvement um anyway many people do and it's it's it might be a choice depending on the scenario but everybody's really individual and what their experience was and what they need and you know you don't have to call and say I'm being stalked or I was trafficked you know call and say I'm I'm having a hard time something's happened to me I might need some support so if somebody who is watching this says this is important work I want to help I I want to become more involved in dealing with the issue of sexual violence and and some for Vermont what how might I become involved with mosaic and how could I support the work of mosaic gosh there are so many ways to to get involved right now we're hiring right now we're hiring an advocate somebody to you know answer the helpline and show up in person and support people who've experienced harm we're also hiring folks who maybe have you know regular day jobs the nine to five but who want to do this work um one or two nights a week or one weekend a month or something we're hiring some helpline advocates we always need that after-hour support we do 24-hour services um and that's sort of a non-traditional job and can be a side gig to what you do um as long as you can respond to the to the Central Vermont Medical Center within half an hour of receiving a phone call so those jobs are posted right now on indeed I believe and um we also once or twice a year will will do a big training so there's pretty significant training right for you to be able to answer that phone we want to make sure that you're trauma informed that you're understanding um you know everything about how to really support people who might be really different from you um and how they respond um and the questions that they ask and what their needs are um so once or twice a year we'll do a big training where we invite the community um to either you know become paid helpline advocates or potentially to volunteer depending on what your availability is um and do that work one of our biggest needs is um we're hearing from the community that folks want certain opportunities from us they want support groups they they want us to do more community conversations um and community gathering opportunities and prevention and the best thing that you can possibly do is when we offer those things come to them so that might mean watching our social media um and seeing what we're doing checking in what are the events that are coming up um we have some cool stuff happening and then letting us know what it was that worked and what it is that maybe you want to see next time as we really build into understanding what our community wants right now in this post-COVID era um as far as you know opportunities for for gathering and for uplifting our voices and listening to survivors and having our community receive the feedback that that that we're here and um and available to do that support we also of course always need donations um you know we do receive state and federal funding and um and that's amazing and allows these programs to happen um it also is you know somewhat restricted in how creative we can get about responding to the individual needs of the survivor so if you want to creatively support um survivors who have needs that maybe the federal government doesn't agree with us the highest priorities you can make a donation on our website um you can become a monthly donor there are a lot of ways to to get involved that way as well we also have opportunities to join our board and and really be part of the visioning in the future of who we are as an organization and I want to acknowledge that as we are doing this interview all of a sudden my screens are frozen so I'm hoping that the audio was still there and people could hear the conversation and I want to end with acknowledging that mosaic is looking at doing an LGBTQ2S plus focus health conference in the fall and if people would like information about it or wanting to present if they go on to mosaic's website they could get information about that yes absolutely and save the date for october 7th we don't have the details yet of of you know what each part of that day will look like but we're looking at having a pretty amazing bash in berry city in the berry auditorium on october 7th that sounds one that sounds wonderful and hopefully people were seeing our smiling faces and I will be looking at inviting you back again as we get closer to that health conference and talking about what it is that mosaic is hoping is going to be achieved and with that thank you and for spending this time with us thanks Keith thank you for joining us and until next time remember resist


We're back for a live. I'm Jay Fidel. This is Think Tech and more specifically, this is Think Tech Talks. Think Tech Talks on a given Monday. And today we're going to visit with Victor Gully. And he's the CEO of a company called A Taste of Theatre. And he joins us by Skype from Chicago, Illinois. Welcome to the show, Victor. Hello, and thank you for having me on, Jay. Yeah, it's great. So, you know, here we are in the 21st century.  And for that matter, I include opera, by the way, in this country. And we have more stars, more talent, more going on than before. It's really great to see the country, you know, get behind this. It's not in every city, and I wish there were more than here in Honolulu, but we have some pretty classy theater here. And I expect there's pretty classy theater in many cities around the country. The problem is, we have got to use the national talent. We've got to bring it together. We've got to have an exchange for that. So if I'm in one city, I have to be able to connect up with the theater in another city. I know that happens in the opera, because I served with the opera. But now I find that it happens in theater in general. And P.S. Victor Galli is actually doing it. He's got this program, this web program that lets people connect up from one side of the country to another to get, you know, positions in theater, on plays, and I guess in other kinds of professional staffing situations. So Victor, tell us what you got. How is this, how does it work, how did you come by it, and what is it doing? That's a multiple compound question. Oh, yes. I'll start with how it all came about. The first is the obvious. I was doing plays of my own, and I was running into, as a self-producing playwright, several issues. The first being finding staff or a cast, finding a place to have my show at, finding the props that I needed to have for the show, and then, of course, marketing the show. And as I started down this path, I said, well, man, I should create an app for this. And I started interviewing other playwrights about this same phenomenon, and I came up with this app that there's currently nothing out there that would connect a playwright with their self-producing or regular theater company to actors who want to act and then places where they can have their show at. And so I said, well, once we create that and get everybody connected, then we need to have another component that would allow the public to be able to find the plays. So once the theater company finds the actors and the show that they want to have their show at, or the theater that they want their show to be at, then the public can find, using our app, any play that's within 50 miles of that phone. That's great. So it's all sides win. It's a win, win, win, win, win kind of thing. The producer and the theater, I suppose, who wants to populate this cast, to the people who might be on his cast. And then to me, I want to find out if a player is playing somewhere. At least within 50 miles, I'll find out everything is playing within 50 miles, and I can go see it. So this probably jins up more activity for theaters and plays, doesn't it? Yes, it would definitely do that. And the way that it works is each theater company has to put in their own data. Each actor has to register so that he can be found. Each venue has to put in their information so that they can also be found by people who are looking to rent their facilities. That's terrific. So what's the business model on this? How do you make money with it? Do you charge them for the registration? It's a subscription based. Each person that registers pays a nominal fee. Because it is theater, we're not looking to gouge at all. So it's a nominal fee that people pay. And once they pay their subscription, then they can put their name in the database. Completely free until our next release comes out. So people can go to the website, use every feature that is available to them. I don't think they do just sign up using the free account. Oh, that's pretty good. Yes. So am I right to assume that actors are always looking for gigs and they're only looking for gigs in plays in which they have appeared before since they know the lines and the moves for those plays? That's correct. But also, where I think it is even more essential is oftentimes when you're doing a production, someone will drop out. And then you're scrambling looking for someone to fill that position. Now there's a database that you can go to and say I'm looking for a, in this case, let's say I'm looking for a white male that's in Honolulu. I can put in those categories or those parameters and find someone that is available and reach out to them and say, hey, I've got a show. Would you like to be a part of it? It serves that purpose. And also it's this whole site will serve a second purpose, which I think is essential. And that is, it serves us as IMDB for the eater. So if that means once you're in a show, anyone else can type in your name and they can see your work history, just like you can with internet movie database or IMDB.com. Like my favorite movie happens to be Purple Rain. So type that in, you can see everybody that's in that movie. And the same thing will happen with our site. Once you put in a person's, an actor's name, you'll see all the shows they were in, or if you put in the playwright's show, you'll see all the plays they've written. Yeah, this is so interesting. I mean, I think in the past, we all imagine this to be a lot of interviews and where the producer would sit in the theater and the potential actor would walk across the stage and do something. Now he can find people, not by word of mouth, but right there, a hard copy with his profile. So my question is, does the profile have the addition video? If it doesn't, it should. I mean, for example, I want to see this guy acting. I want to see him in another play. I want to see him talk to me. I want to see his moves. I want to see his style. Is that on your website? Is that a building? That's coming in the next release, that you will be able to add your audition reel. And we've also found that that right there is essential for each actor so that people can see them. So that way there is something that will be added in the next release. And that's why it's free until we put out this next release. What about reviews? I'm always interested in reading reviews and seeing what the reviewer has to say. I may not agree with him. I may not accept his advice, but I'd like to hear what he has to say. So do you have reviews on a given actor who appeared in a given play? Well, we don't necessarily do reviews on the actors for the public to see, but there's reviews that will be available to other playwrights to see or theater companies to see. So each theater company will review that actor and say, hey, they were great or they were horrible. They work with and the actor will be able to issue a review. Now the general public will be able to review the play that they've seen and that's about it. That's fair. And what about the theaters? I mean, if I'm an actor and I'm looking around for a theater and somebody contacts me from a theater in a small town of no consequence that's not going to advance my career and that's going to be hard to get to and is not going to have a high level of production values, I need to know that too. Are the theaters reviewed? Are the producers reviewed? If I'm an actor, how much can I find out about the guy who's asking me to come down? That's correct. And that's one of the things that you will be able to see. Like I said, actors will leave reviews for the people that they've worked for and the theater company can leave reviews on the actors that have been in their show. And those things can be seen again when you use the IMDb portion of the app. And to me, I think that's critical because oftentimes an actor will get a call from someone saying, hey, I want you to be in such and such play and then you get there and you find out the content is not what you believe in or you would like to work with. So you end up wasting time. Whereas if you could just looked it up on the computer, you would have seen that this is the type of show this guy or this producer generally does. And you could have declined it before making the trip. And that's one of the things we're looking to do is to match people up who want to actually work together. Yeah, sure. Because it is a commitment by both sides, but the actors could get hurt. And I wonder about four flushers. Sometimes the theaters or producers won't pay people or they'll be slow paying. Sometimes they'll fold in the middle and the actor will be out of luck. Sometimes the actor will be an actor who drops out in the middle of the performance, God forbid, and disappoints the producer. This kind of employment history or contract history is this available? Can I find out negative things that I need to know before I commit to the engagement? Well, they'll be in the reviews. That kind of information would be in the reviews. And I'm figuring the producers will leave that kind of information if the person dropped out of the show or not. That's what we're expecting them to do. Yeah, good. Okay, fair. It's fair. Do you cover people other than actors? Do you cover stage managers? Do you cover props specialists? Do you cover lighting? Do you cover scenery? Or is it mostly actors? Right. We also want to include the behind the scenes staff because they are the ones that also make the show. And that's, of course, one of which is part of our tagline, where everyone is a star. Because without the lights and sound, you can't see the actors. Without the costume person doing their job, they won't be wearing the right clothes or the proper clothing. So we believe that everyone is a star, not just the lead singer or the lead actor in the production. So we include all of these roles in this production, in our app.   That's pretty good. I mentioned before that I had been associated with the Hawaii Opera Theater for a while. I'm still interested in opera. But I wonder if you include opera singers. I expect you will include musical singers from musical theater, but will you include opera singers as well? Opera singers can always register. They just have to put up their picture or their headshot along with their bio and explain to their bio that that is exactly what they do. And they would definitely work within our system. Yeah. What about ballet? What about ballet dancers? I'm sure there are companies around the country that could use a ballet dancer if they have anything missing. Any form of dance would be available in there. Any form of dance, whether it's modern jazz, tap, whatever, all those would also be available. And what about directors and producers? If I want to direct a show, a produce one, should I register? Can I get a job that way? Oh, yes. You register as is, on the side of say producers, stage crew. You register in that area and you'll select yourself as a director, lead, put in your reel. And then you can, of course, put in your prize, whatever you're charging to direct. And people can find you that are looking for someone to just direct their show. What about investors actually, Victor? Suppose I'm, I like to be an angel and I love theater and I love what you're doing, what theaters are doing around the country. I love this new wave of theatrical activity. And I want to invest some money. Will you place my investment or help me reach out to find somebody who will take it? Actually, that right there is one of the things that I'm adding in the next release, because we've interviewed over a couple hundred people in this field and from playwrights to theater companies. And that was one thing that kept coming up that they wanted to help with financing. So in our next module that we're going to release, that would be another area. If you are a person who wants to invest in plays or sponsor a play, there will be a section in there where investors can or sponsors can actually register and say, I sponsored these types of plays in this area and this is generally what I offer. So those will be, that's coming in the next release. And that's primarily because of the interviews that we did with theater companies, playwrights and so forth. Now, I do want to specify that we only work with community or non-union theater because the union theater side is already, already has a system in place. So we only work with non-union and community theater. Okay, well, we'll pick up on that right after this break. That's Victor Gully, Taste of Theater in Chicago. He joins us by Skype. We are so interested in his project and the effect of that on the theater industry in the country. We'll be right back after this short break. This is Think Tech Hawaii, raising public awareness. Aloha, I'm Caroline Lee, Think Tech Hawaii's Volunteer Chief Operating Officer and occasional host and this is Minky. For the first time, Think Tech Hawaii is participating in an online, web-based fundraising campaign to raise $40,000. Dear thanks, Think Tech will run only during the month of November and you can help. Please donate what you can so Think Tech Hawaii can continue to raise public awareness and promote civic engagement through free programming. I've already made my donation and look forward to yours. Please send in your tax-deductible contribution by going to this website, www.thanksforthinktech.cozvox.com. 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It's when something doesn't seem quite right that it's time to pay attention. Because only you know what's not supposed to be in your every day. So protect your every day. If you see something suspicious, say something to local authorities. Okay, we're back alive with Victor Gully. He joins us by Skype from Chicago, Illinois, and he's the CEO of A Taste of Theater, which is a website program that allows actors and other stage professionals who get placed on theaters and allows theaters to find them. And this is a whole new thing, except that we mentioned before the break, Victor, that the unions had already developed some kind of system along these lines. Can we talk about what that is, how that works? Okay, the way that works is whenever a union theater is looking for someone, they go directly to actors' equity union, and they get their actors that way. Everything else is then done in-house by the actual theater company, the play bill, and so forth. So that's a system that has been in place now for probably 50, 60 years. Yeah, okay. And so that means that kind of cuts you out of Broadway, doesn't it? Because Broadway is all actors' equity. That's correct. So you're in the hinterland of the smaller cities, the smaller theaters, am I right? That's correct. And oftentimes, as you know, there are more community and non-union theaters than there are union theaters. Yeah, and I want to get that to that. So one other thing about the nature of the program and the engagement that it's created, obviously, and you mentioned that there are economic terms here, and the theater wants to, the producer wants to offer a certain amount of money to the actor, the actor wants to accept or counter offer. There has to be a deal. How is that made? Is that made online through your website, or is it made outside of your website? That part is made outside of the website. The first part is the initial offer that is on the site, which is the theater company says, I'm going to have a show, and I'm looking for this particular role. This is the audition part. So when they're putting out the audition, they say how much the role is paying. And then the actor can audition, and then of course, negotiate from that point on. Or they can accept the terms which is laid out in the notice of the audition. You know, it strikes me also that although the big Broadway operators are probably not going to do this because they have the union arrangement, people in Europe and outside the country are probably interested and they'd like to appear in American theater as soon as they can get the necessary immigration papers, I suppose, in some places. But I wonder, do you have traffic like that? Do you have traffic coming from Europe, from Asia, South America? We've had some traffic from outside of the country, yes. I went to Nigeria in February and several people from Nigeria have registered for our site. And then we've got people from Spain registered for our site as well. Oh, that is so cool. So they make deals and come to the United States. But what about the other way around? I mean, suppose somebody's putting on, say, a play in Barcelona or Madrid, and there are plenty of Spanish speakers in this country who could participate, who'd like to participate in a play in Europe, or some other kind of performance arrangement in Europe. Do you have situations where you're placing American talent in European theaters? Well, that right there is a great question. I've not thought about placing American theater in European countries, but what I am hoping is that they will all utilize the service, and maybe that can help facilitate that conversation at least starting. Okay, so we're showing some photos of pages on your website, which looks very interesting with the names of the actors and so forth. But we have a video too. Can we play the video now? To have her show. Now, Cinda can use a TASA Theater app to find any play in the entire country to attend with her friends on Girls Night Out, a TASA Theater, the app that makes you the star of the show. That's great, Victor.  It's an everybody thing. Yes. And I wonder if I want to get into theater, if I have virtually no professional experience in theater, but I was in the play, I was in some character in the play in high school, is this going to be something I should look at? There's a couple of things you should look at, because also on the site, the existing site that we have up is opportunities for training. So if you are a person who wants to train actors on your particular mode of acting or the way acting should be done, once you list that seminar, an email will go out to every actor in the database that you're having this seminar. So that right there is something that I think would be helpful to up and coming actors like the one you just mentioned. If you're brand new into the business and you want to enhance your craft, that's one avenue that you can actually utilize. Another avenue is by the sheer fact of time, saving time, is whenever you're starting out, you have to give your headshot to every theater company you're working for so they can put it in their playbill. Sure. Now once you put it on our site and you get added to that play, your bio, plus that headshot gets added automatically and we create the playbill for you. Oh, that's great. Save everybody a lot of trouble. Yeah, and the people who are watching the plays and download that digital playbill and there's no paper. Very cool, very cool. So are you making money? Yes, we're in beta format, so we're not making any money right now, which is why we're offering it free to everyone because we have to we have to make our next release first and then that's the one that we will actually make money on. So what do you see for the future? Not just for you, Victor, but for this industry. You know, I'm very excited about the Diamondhead Theater that we have here in Hollywood that done some wonderful shows and musicals, complex musicals, and I'm encouraged by the fact that their arc is on the way up. I wonder how the industry is doing in general and how you see, you know, your product, your website in the next version and thereafter, you know, engaging with the development of the industry around the country. And I guess I mean the community theaters, the amateur theaters, not Broadway. Yes, I actually see it changing the way people view theater in general because right now the way that the public finds out about a play is through a card or a postcard or a flyer or they happen to know someone who's in the show. When people come to our platform, not only would they see that, that same card, but they'll also see a preview of the production. They'll know if the venue is handicap accessible or not because that's a huge issue now if you can even get in to see the show. And to me, something that's key is a rating just like movies have a rating as to is as appropriate for kids, is as appropriate for co-workers. Every play that comes through our system will have a rating. So you'll know if it contains nudity, if it contains other things that might not be suitable.  Are you going to send me a newsletter? If I signed up as an audience member, somebody who's interested in attending theater, are you going to send me a newsletter, tell me what's going on in my community or other places I may designate so that I can see what's going, I can see the plays, I can even travel to other cities for the plays. Are you going to reach out to me? Actually, eventually that is coming because once you download the app, the app is free for people to find plays. And then what you have to do is add your name to our email list. And then what types of plays you would like to see and in what cities. And then you'll get that information. This is great. This is great, Victor. It sounds terrific. It sounds like it's, it'll go hand in glove with the development of the industry and hopefully development at a greater appreciation for performing arts in our country and outside. Thank you so much for appearing on our show and telling us about your product. Let me say we wish you well in every way and I hope we can do this again when your next version comes out and we can discuss your progress at that time. Oh, thank you. And the next version will include professional playwrights in it. So I appreciate it. Thank you. Thank you, Victor. It's a rally, a taste of theater and guess what? It tastes good. Thank you. Thank you. Aloha.