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 Montpilier, Vermont, which we recognize as being unceded indigenous land. Thanks for joining us and enjoy the show. If you happened to be driving a long route to guest afternoon sightseeing and you drove through East Montpilier, you might see a unity flag and a new sign that says Fox Market. And if you stopped in, you might meet this time's guest, Liv Dunton, who is one of the co-owners of Fox Market. Welcome, Liv. Hi, thanks. Thanks for having me. So I want to start with how does a self-identified non-binary person go from central Maine to central Vermont? How did you get here? Well, so I grew up in Maine, but my mom's family is actually from Newport, originally Newport, Vermont, and really loved coming here every summer as a kid. And both of my siblings moved to Vermont and I felt the call as well. And for me, there's a great sense of security when I crossed the border into Vermont and entered the mountains. And yeah, it just feels like home. I was called here, I feel. And welcome. And we're glad you're here. So I understand that you had worked some in the food industry. You were a buyer for Hunger Mountain Carap and you were on their board. So that sort of connected you to the central Vermont community. Yeah, so I was looking for a job in Vermont, looking for an opportunity to move here and saw that Hunger Mountain was hiring. And we used to stop at Hunger Mountain on our trips up to Vermont. And so I knew the co-op well and loved it and was really excited for an opportunity to work there. It was such a wonderful time for me because it really allowed me to introduce myself to the central Vermont community and the vendors and farmers and all of the people who work so hard in this area to bring a food culture to central Vermont. So I was really excited to be a part of that. I still serve on the board. I really enjoy that work and believe very strongly in cooperative business models and learned so much while I worked there. It was really, truly great. So was the work that you were doing at Hunger Market co-op? I'm going to have problems with that today. Was your experience at Hunger Co-op part of the vision for the creation of Fox Market? Well, I think both Donnie and I come from co-op backgrounds. We both worked in multiple co-ops. And I think there is an idea with co-ops that they serve their community first. They are a business second and they serve their community first. And I think for both of us, but I'll only speak for me, that that is very true to the business we wanted to create here was something that served our community and the community that we wanted to make feel welcome here. I noticed on the Fox Market website that part of the About Us talks about creating a unique selection of foods from local and mission-driven companies and that it was affordable pricing. Could you talk a little bit about who those local produce people or vendors are and mission-driven, what were you looking for as part of their mission that made them desirable to you? Yeah, so I think like some of the really wonderful local vendors we work with include Littlewood Farm, Tamara Collow. We've really enjoyed working with them and bringing in some great produce. Right now we just got poblanos and jalapenos in from Littlewood Farm and actually roasted up a bunch of jalapenos and poblanos last night and they were delicious. So that's been great. And just seeing what they're doing and producing and managing to get out of the soil in Vermont and with the wild weather we have here and the very short growing season they do beautiful work. Rogers Farmstead Milk and Yogurt, they've been with us from the beginning, Square Deal Farm, Mable Syrup. Don and I both had really close working relationships with Ray through the co-ops and we're really excited to keep working with them. And then some of the mission-driven, what we look for, certainly queer-owned businesses, other queer-owned businesses we can support, women-owned businesses, any business that's choosing to give back or donate as a part of their programming and who they're donating to is certainly important to us that we vet that and know what's going on. But that definitely gets priority in terms of product selection for us. And the Donnie that you have been referencing is the other co-owner who we thank for manning the register so that we can talk. Yeah, he is here in spirit. Well, and you've mentioned the local produce and roasting up some jalapenos, the Fox Market offers breakfast and lunch and bar snacks. And we'll talk a little bit about the bar afterwards. Could you tell us a little bit about that? Yeah, so we offer breakfast sandwiches every morning and those are made with entirely local ingredients. So it's La Ponziata bread, cabbage cheddar, local eggs, and Vermont salumi bacon and breakfast sausage. So we're really excited to be able to do that and they taste good too, but they're also really local and that felt really important to us. And similarly, when we do lunch specials every day, so we have things like chicken salad, which is made with local chicken and two different sandwiches that we do every day. And those are usually like today we had roasted eggplant, which was from Littlewood Farm. So we got to roast up their eggplant today and put it on a sandwich with hummus and avocado and it was good. And it was nice to be able to use seasonal local ingredients as much as possible. Yeah. So the menu changes. So how would I know what it is that you're offering today? Yeah, so for our market menu, which is all grab and go, the sandwiches and salads, those are always different, always unique, always sort of seasonally driven or produce ingredients we're really excited about. The best way to find out if you're curious exactly what's in it is to either just give us a call or text or send us a message on social media. We're really responsive and happy to talk you through anything. Okay, so we'll make sure that your phone number and yours and Donny's email addresses are on our screens. But you also have an email list that I can sign up for. What am I going to get for information from your email list? Well, we're just starting to kind of get together something for that. We're hoping to start doing monthly newsletters. We do our wine club, which is really, really exciting for us. We curate two bottles of wine every month that we love and are really excited about. And those are generally worth about $40. And then wine club members also get 10% off every other bottle of wine they purchase with us. So it's a great way to sort of see the wines that we're excited about, what's trending, what's that sort of information, and to find out more about how to sign up to be a member of Wine Club as well. And you also have the Fox Bar, which is this wonderful upstairs community space. And I noticed that not only do you have books where I could get my grab-and-go sandwich, go upstairs, grab a book, but there are games that I could play with whoever else was with me or was using the space. But you also were planning on hosting events. Yeah, so hopefully we will be hosting events soon. We're sort of putting a little pause on planning anything while COVID is so serious right now. But our hope eventually is when we're excited to have big social gatherings again is to have art openings or live music. We are pretty limited by the capacity, the number of people we can fit in the building. But we still want to be able to have at least some small gatherings and show off some local artisans and things like that. But if I have a concern relative to COVID, you also have picnic tables and yard games out in the back that I could use. Yes, there is outdoor seating that's attached to the bar. You can take your glass of wine or beer outside or your sandwich or coffee. So you can have plenty of room outdoors. It's a big space. Definitely you don't have to hang out upstairs, but it's a big upstairs space as well. So there's plenty of room to social distance. And from the sounds and the background, business just picked up. Yes, there are some customers in here right now. I was going to say one of the things that was intriguing looking at your website is a deliberate effort to try and create community space. And I don't think that there's really any other public space in East Montpellier where people could just go and hang out with each other, have a cup of coffee and run of your incredible breakfast sandwiches. Yeah, I don't know of anything else. And that's certainly what the community has told us is that it's so nice to have a space like this where they can gather and spend time together. So that, you know, that feels great that we can provide that. And I could sort of wander in virtually any day with the exception of Mondays. Yes. Mondays in Vermont, I don't think anybody wants to say that. No one's open. But you're going to be open probably from like 7.30 in the morning to at least seven o'clock at night. And there's some indication on Fridays and Saturdays you may be there a little longer than that. We're often here much longer than that. Yeah, the seven o'clock closed time is a really loose guess. And sort of a joke at this point. We like to stay here late as long as we're here hanging out, we'll let you hang out. And as long as our customers here, we'll keep being here. So we've never kicked anyone out. We're happy to stay late and keep pouring drinks and creating the community space, just being here. Yeah. If I have a question about, oh, it's quarter of seven. I wonder if they're staying tonight. We'll put your phone number across the screen again. You can always give us a phone check. And yeah, we're here. I'm on the way, you know, have my ice tea ready for you. I also happen to know this when I was looking around at other LGBTQ plus organizations. The Fox market is listed as a sponsor supporter of outright Vermont's fire truck pull. Yes. How is the how does Fox market trying to reach out to and be supportive of the community around you? Well, so I think, you know, first and foremost, providing a space that prioritizes the safety and inclusion of communities who otherwise may feel ostracized. But then beyond that really putting our money where our mouth is, we donate all of our tips, we try to pick central Vermont organizations every month, especially ones that are focused on queer issues or other issues that are close to our hearts. But, you know, outright was our first donation partner. We donated our, well, we like to say our customers donated over $6,000 to outright Vermont in the month of July. So really very impactful. And then, you know, just in general, making sure that we are making choices that are ethical to what we believe in and to our community and to the people we're trying to support. And that's a product selection in, you know, how we let people be treated in our business and how we treat people within our business. So with that, I need to say thank you so much for bringing to this interview. And thank you for what you're offering to our communities. Yeah, thank you. Thank you so much for doing this. It was, it was a lot of fun. It was great to be able to talk a little bit about, about Fox. Hi everybody and welcome to all things Elgin BTQ. Tonight we have Elliott Covey, who is coordinator of Momentum at the Price Center. And we'll talk a little bit more about that later. But first I'd like to get some background. So how are you and thank you for coming. Yeah, thank you for having me. I am, I'm good, been enjoying this warm weather for sure. So feeling good. Good. How are you? So you grew up in Vermont? I did, yes, in central Vermont. Okay. And how was being in the LGBT community or being gay?  I think like it's very interesting because I come from a very small town. I come from Williamstown, which I feel like is a blip on a lot of people's maps. So they're like, I know Northfield and I know Barrie, but we're right in between those two and nobody hears of us. And so it's a very interesting place to be. That said, not a lot was happening in my town. We were a very small school system. We're a very small town in general. It's like 3,000 people. So it's very little. And of a school of maybe 400, and that's between six and 12th grade, there was maybe four out queer kids in our entire school. And I was one of them. And so it wasn't very social, unfortunately. And it wasn't until like I was late into my junior year that we actually tried shifting our school system to be more inclusive altogether. So up until that point, no one was talking about the LGBTQ plus community at all. It definitely wasn't part of our curriculum. And even to this day, honestly, a lot of people just still aren't for it. I'm sure you have all people remember the Take Back Vermont movement. And those signs pop up all over my small town. You just got to know where to look. Like my neighbor has one on his barn. And so it's just like, oh, I don't really want to look like this and go into town. But I think being a local helped me in that sense. I'm not sure if necessarily I would have felt as safe in my small town had I not been like grandfathered into it. That's for sure. But like we're a generational family there. And so like my grandfather grew up in that town. And so I think that that definitely helped me feel a lot safer. And then like coming to Burlington completely threw me for a loop.  I was like, there's more than two. It was such an eye opener for me. And I was definitely able to do more exploration, hang out with a broader array of people, and ask questions that I didn't even know that I had. Because I didn't even know like this vocabulary existed. Like where I grew up it was you were gay or you were a lesbian because like there was no talk of any other labels and stuff like that because it just wasn't it wasn't it wasn't it wasn't what was that. Oh, it just wasn't part of the culture. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. It was taboo, so to speak. Like we're not talking about gay culture in a town where people wearing confederate flag belt buckles and stuff like that. And so it was it was definitely a culture shock. So you were glad to get out and get and that's when you went to UVM, right? So I started at Champlain. I just graduated from my BSW program at Champlain in May. And now I'm at UVM getting my master's degree all in social work. And I got a minor in social justice from Champlain as well. So I majored in social work and minored in social justice. So I have both both the people skills, as well as like the advocacy work under my belt, which was definitely rooted in a lot of what I felt I wish I had growing up, you know, because like I didn't receive all these like fun opportunities or exciting opportunities or even like safe opportunities because because it was so taboo. And you must think like it would be nice. Like Scotland, they you know, they have just passed that LGBTQ history has to be taught in schools. That's amazing. You know, and we really need that in the United States, you know, for a lot of different groups, but you know, you would have felt less isolated maybe and and maybe even people in your community would have learned something about, you know, LGBTQ history and the struggles that people have. Exactly. Exactly. Like I didn't even like learn how I didn't even learn like proper health, like health and wellness material, which I think is super unfortunate and super toxic in our society today because like kids aren't learning how to protect themselves because it's not part of like the binary culture and whatnot. So that was part of like our movements at the end of my time in high school was trying to shift our sexual health curriculum. But it's still so limited and curriculums are still so limited, whether it's health, whether it's English, whether it's history, you're not getting that content that's inclusive of different identities. And so so much is getting swept under the rug. Absolutely. And you know, we really need that for our young people. Just think and grow up. I mean, there's too much depression and suicide and bullying and all of that, as you well know. So how has being LGBTQ really shaped your activism and how are you going to use your social work degree to maybe, you know, work in that field or have you figured that out yet? I think I'm still kind of figuring out what I want to do. But I think I'm leaning more and more every day towards working in a school system and like providing that care that I thought that I needed because I think that there's not the support systems in our schools that could be crucial for these kids who are experienced such like severe mental health, there's some mental health related illnesses. I mean, sorry, it's been a long day. I'm fumbling a little bit. That's great. Thank you. Thank you. But I think that there's like a lot of mental illness related to sexual and gender identities because kids don't feel like they can be safe in schools, they don't feel like they can be safe at home. And so like, where are they safe, if not in these areas? And so I want to be able to provide support for youth in ways that make them feel like they have that safe outlet, even if it's not at home. Because some people go to school hoping that that's their safe space. And if they can't even find it there, I worry that they're not finding it anywhere. And so I started at, well, I started with the sexual health program. And that evolved into working with outright for a short period of time, which of course is like working directly with queer youth. And now I'm working with adults, and it's like a wild experience, because it's like not something that I'm used to. I'm used to working with youth. I was actually going to be an elementary school teacher at one point. And so I've always been like driven towards youth advocacy and youth support. But I found that like social work was the better way to do that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so currently I'm at DCS out of St. Albans actually, working with families and the family support unit. And I think my hope for that is taking my queer identity and being that presence in that space because there's not a lot of diversity in that profession in general. I think that DCS is very cis, it's very straight, it's very white. And that's not representative of our communities, regardless of what a lot of people would like to think. And so there are kids out here who are already struggling in a system, but also are adding layers to that struggle, because their identities aren't represented. And so I would like to somehow be that be that face in that area of darkness that kind of makes things feel more optimistic. Like you might be a youth struggling now, but you don't always have to be that individual. Like queer people can flourish. And do. Yeah. Exactly. Exactly. You will get out of what you're in right now. And I want to be able to provide that for youth. And I really despair both about really young and really old people in small communities. Like yours, where you just feel like Chittenden at least has some places that people can learn about to escape or to get information. But the rest of Vermont kind of is left out in the cold, especially in these little small areas in which you know, there isn't anything. And if you don't have supportive parents, you're kind of left there on your own. It's really hard and the hard. So I'm glad you're thinking about doing that and being involved in all of that. And I think you're right that the Department of Children and Families is not as supportive as it could be. So yeah, they're definitely evolving. Like all systems are. But you know, all systems, I think need that extra support. And I'm happy to be that extra support to help move them forward in whatever ways that I can. And not like a tokenizing way, but in just like a in an optimistic advocacy sort of way. Yeah. The thing where you are is, you know, makes change.  I think makes people have to be more aware or have to at least deal. So I think that's really important. So how did you end up in the Pride Center? Yeah. So going into senior year, I was panicking because I didn't know what I wanted to be, what I wanted to do for my field placement for that year. I was really up in the air because I was like, do I want to work with kids again? Or is that just like playing to my strengths sort of thing? Like, do I want to challenge myself this year? And I was really unsure of what I wanted to do. And my professor starts poking around. And she falls on Paula and Paula got super excited because she's a lovely woman and I love her to pieces. And she was like, I would love to have you under my wing this year. And we talked on the phone a bit and we seem to like click really early on. And we were like, let's try it out. And so it was kind of like a fate sort of brought us together sort of deal. At least that's the way I like to think about it. Because I was lost and Paula kind of found me. And I'm very grateful for that. And so now you've gone from children to seniors. Got to play all sides of the spectrum. You're going to have a lot of experience everywhere. And I know that, you know, I've gone to a few coffees that you organized. And there's a lot going on in momentum. And so do you have any other things in progress? Any other ideas about how to move that senior group forward? Yeah, I think we're always bouncing ideas around. We actually just took on a BSW intern from UVM. And they are also going to help try and launch different parts of the program forward. It's just been so complicated because COVID restrictions just go up and down. And so it's like, we want to get engaged in the face to face community. But also we want to maintain that safety. We know that like this population is a vulnerable population. We don't want to put anyone in harm's way. And so it's been difficult trying to navigate exactly what we want to do next because restrictions are shifting every other day, it feels like, even though we're like two years into it at this point, I feel like we're still all over the place as a nation, you know. Exactly. And so then we'll have to shift everything inside anyways, because I don't like to be cold. I don't know about anybody else, but I certainly don't like to freeze my bum off. And your next event is next Sunday? Yes. Yes. So coming up, well, it's technically, I don't know if you consider it next Sunday or this Sunday, but Sunday the 17th, we are going to be coming at everybody live from Bolton, little resort there. There's a cute donut window. Yeah, yeah. Heck yeah. That's awesome. I think it's going to be great. It was a collaborative thing between me and the intern, because we want to go out and enjoy the colors before they disappear. I know that's my favorite part of fall is definitely those red leaves. So I'm excited to go and like sit in nature. But also just wanted to make sure we got as many out in the open opportunities in before we're shoved back inside for however many months, because that's how it goes in Vermont is it might start in November, but it'll go until March. Easily. Yeah. Even April. Exactly. So the snow is just no one's friend. Well, I really like the idea of, because I'm a real proponent, as you probably know, of getting things out of Chittenden County and into other communities. And, you know, I really like the idea of meeting in different parts of the state for the coffees and forgettogethers and for meeting other people and having people join. Because I think that's a real lifeline for seniors to connect with other people in communities in which they may not have that kind of connection. And I think that's really important. So I applaud that effort immensely. Yeah. And like, I think one of my biggest fears has always been that stuff promoted through the center and through momentum have been with this like underlying click energy, if that makes sense. Yeah. Because it's just like people think that it's primarily for people in Burlington. And that's just not the case. Like we are here to serve the entire state. So why wouldn't we try and make things more accessible for folks in random parts of the state? Like we want to bring accessibility to as many people as possible. And I feel like that's just not being brought on by people thinking that we're supposed to only cater to the Burlington area. And so like that's why I hope that at some point, if not before winter hits as soon as spring starts to be able to get to places like the Northeast Kingdom, I want to get us down to Rutland area because there are people down there. But they're just like at such a distance that I feel like they don't feel like they can count on us. And I want to create an environment where everyone thinks that they can count on us. And like I know that you have a momentum up in St. John's right now at the pub there?  Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so I think that that's like one of the places that we've considered and stuff like that. It's a little tricky because like I'm not super familiar with these places because I've only ever like passed through St. Jay. I'm not very good with a map. I'll be honest. My supervisor at DCF likes to make fun of me because I thought that the bridge going into Alberg was the bridge going into New York. And I'm like, I'm sorry, I just like have no understanding of direction. I can't get anywhere if it's not off I-89. I always tease Ian and I say she's geographically challenged. That's me. That's me, honestly. And so like I think that not only will this benefit me by like expanding my understanding of different geographical locations in Vermont. That's like an outed bonus I think. It'll help us reach out these different lifelines like you mentioned to folks who definitely need it but don't feel like they're like welcome in a way. And yeah, that's like my biggest fear is that folks don't feel like momentum for them. In winter it's a long way for people to travel to do events in Burlington. Definitely definitely. I think that's also been like I don't want to say a perk of COVID but in a way it's kind of been being able to put some things online. I know that that's difficult because not everyone is great with technology. So like we try and keep stuff super simple just for accessibility purposes. Like we don't want to go on like I don't know some wild goose chase through the internet. But I think things like the bingo was super accessible and folks were able to come together from all corners of the state which I think is great. That's been a blessing of Zoom really in some ways is that it has the potential if not already has brought the community closer together because we can all come from different places and see each other and oh you're from Williamstown. I live in Mount Billy so why don't we have I mean you know so why don't we have dinner or why don't we have coffee or you know because we're actually neighbors. So you know let's do that. Well I applaud all your efforts and thank you so much for being on. I really appreciate it. You're doing wonderful work. As a senior I really appreciate it and we will see you next week and you have a wonderful week and I hope we get some more good weather. Thank you. Thank you very much. So Vermont is frequently cited as being one of the top states for protections for the LGBTQ plus community not only in the areas of law but how comprehensive those statutes are and particularly as it pertains to family law and today's guest was my first and really my only choice to talk to about Vermont LGBTQ plus community family law based upon her years of advocacy within the legislature her role with freedom to marry her private practice where she has extended services to our communities not to be undone by the fact that on two occasions she has been benamed the Vermont family lawyer of the year. Please welcome Susan Murray. Thank you Keith. Every now and then it's nice to invite old friends back just so you can embarrass them. Exactly it's true. You have been in the forefront in Vermont for legislative actions and have made frequent appearances before our legislature but I think I wanted to start with how did you happen to come to Vermont and why family law as your area of specialty? The course of my life has been completely serendipitous. I came to Vermont from NYU law school because I didn't want to live in a big city and I got to Montpelier and was interviewed by Vermont Supreme Court Justice who offered me a job after two hours of talking about baseball and skiing essentially and then I moved up to Vermont and I've never left. So that's how I got to Vermont. That was in 1983 and then how I got into family law was I was a young associate in my law firm Lang Rocksbury and Wool and one of the senior partners gave me a divorce case that I had to appeal to the Vermont Supreme Court and I apparently did a good job with it. So I started getting more and more referrals from that particular client and it just mushroomed from there. So it was I never took a family law course in my life in law school but here I am. So Vermont because we're not New York and family law because you were good at it. So I guess so. So you are in active practice. Yes. What is it that the LGBTQ plus communities are coming to you saying this is what we need help with and do we indeed have the statutes in place that support their requests. So the good news is that Vermont has some great laws in place now. Finally. So both for people who are in a relationship and married or not in a relationship and not married and for single people. That's the good news depends on which category you fall into that will depend on what you need for legal interventions or legal work. But so as everybody knows we now have a marriage equality law that's been in place that will protect families of same sex couples who are married and the children born during those relationships we also just recently passed a parentage law which is one of the few in the country I'm happy to say and what it does is provide protections for children and the relationship between an adult and the children even in situations where the parents are not married. So this this bill this law didn't come about because of a need a particular need within the or overwhelming need within the LGBTQ community. It came into being because the Vermont Supreme Court was seeing many cases of unmarried heterosexual couples who had children together and then they broke up and there's a battle over whether the biological father or the non biological father if it was a step parent situation but an unmarried situation whether that person had any parental rights and before the parentage law was passed that parent had no parental rights. So what we have now under the new parentage laws a couple of really interesting things for this community one is we have something called de facto parenting. So if you're in a relationship an unmarried relationship and you are helping to raise a child with your partner and you have a significant you're in that relationship for a significant period of time and there is if you can prove a significant parental relationship with that child then the court system now has the legal authority to recognize you as a legal parent called a de facto parent. That's a huge move forward here. The other thing that's I think very interesting that I actually helped write the law the parentage law and we put in there a provision that I thought was going to be controversial ended up not being controversial and that was that if it is in the best interest of the child then there can be more than two parents legal parents for the child. So for example I can think of a case not in this state but in another state where it was a lesbian and gay man decided they wanted to be parents so they had a baby together. They were never a couple but they were good friends they had a baby together then later on the lesbian entered into a relationship with her own same-sex partner so now there are three people parenting this child getting along famously and then the child became sick and had some health issues neither of the biological parents the gay man or the lesbian with whom he'd had the child neither of them had health insurance at the time for this child. The only person in that three-person relationship who had health insurance through her job was this third party this other woman the woman who was in the relationship with the lesbian mom. So in that situation we now have a law that says that's a really good reason for adding this person to the to the to the list of who the legal parents are so in that case you would add that that third parent as a legal parent and then that child could be insured through that person's um health insurance just one example of how that law has changed things. Is that a difficult process for no believe it or not um the I have to tell you that the forms that are on the the the the the the the the Vermont judiciary's website are have not totally caught up with that particular provision but I have had no problem I've had a couple in which uh you know the there was a man and a woman had a child together then they there was a woman who a third party came into that relationship they were all parenting the child together and we just sent paperwork to the court and the parties all stipulated to add this third person as a parent and the court just signed off on it because they now are they now can so it it turned out to be not complicated at all as long as the parties were agreeing to it was easy if the parties don't agree to it then you have a court hearing and the court has to decide whether it is in the best interest of the child to add that third party as a parent. I was going to say for those of us who come out of any kind of social work background the best interest of the child is a concept to which we are very familiar and we'll have an understanding of what it takes to establish that have the Vermont courts been receptive to the LGBTQ plus community in response to family law issues? Oh yes going all the way back to I think it was what 1993 when I actually did the first step parent adoptions is way before marriage laws way before LGBTQ parents could adopt each other's children and we took a case to the Vermont Supreme Court and the Supreme Court said that these couples had a constitutional right to adopt each other's children and that was that as I said that was seven years before civil unions and 16 years before we had marriage marriage equality so it's been a long time since it's been it's been a long standing at least 20 30 years at this point that the the Vermont court system has been receptive to LGBTQ parenting. As you and I had been talking about before we started taping a lot of the protections are clearly connected to marriage equality if I am opting not to use marriage what are some of the things that I need to be mindful of and what am I going to need to create outside of a marriage based relationship? Okay so a couple of answers to that to stay with the parentage if we're talking about children for a minute to stay with the new parentage law in addition to that three people can be parents and the de facto parent provision. We now have a provision in that law that specifically allows for well called surrogacy right? Justational carrier agreements specifically allows for alternative reproductive technologies it's in the law now that was the wild wild west before this law was passed I would do contracts for couples who wanted to have a child and they wanted to you know use sperm from a sperm bank and it was not clear what was going to happen there and now we have a law that specifically covers that and that is true even if that couple is not married. It provides additional protections if you are married and additional presumptions if you're married but it's not impossible if you're not married. That's that's the parent agenda things. The other thing I would think about if you're not married and in a relationship or if you're single I would call this the what I'll call the estate planning part of my practice which is there are documents or some documents that everybody should sign regardless of whether they're married or not or regardless of whether in a relationship or not and that is you should sign an advanced directive which is a health care document that tells the health care providers out there in the world that this is who I want to make health care decisions for me if I'm unable to make them myself and it also gives you the opportunity to say what your preferences are I want to be kept alive at all costs you can check that box out for I do not want any extraordinary measures you can check that box off you can say whatever you want there's a part you know there's a provision where you can write what you want and then actually that document also allows you to actually say hey if if and when I do die here's what I want you to do with my body you know I've had I've had one lovely client of mine who said I've instructed my agents to spend 20 000 to bring the following 10 frames down into Vermont for a long three-day weekend on me you know staying over you know as such and such a resort you could say I I want to be cremated or I've already bought this burial plot or I want to be part of the reef system off the coast of Florida you know whatever you want to say you can say it in this document and you do not need a lawyer for this document okay but really quickly you're talking about I can identify who I want to make decisions and what I want to have happen can I also include I do not want specific individuals such as if I'm estranged from my family to make decisions and I these are the things I do not want to have happened there's actually a an actual paragraph in the form that says the following people shall not be consulted or informed about my health care condition absolutely so and I want people to know that website because they can do it for free online it's called www.vt as in Vermont vt ethics network that's et h i c s network dot org that's all one word when you go on there you'll see a section for forms I would click on the form there's several different versions of the form a short form which is about six pages is the one that most of us use so that's free you should do it and then once you do fill that out you need two witnesses to have to sign it to witness your signature there's also a page where you fill out you can send it into the cloud and therefore it's available to doctors if you happen to be traveling you don't have to carry a copy with you okay so that's really important anybody should do that the other thing that people should do is they should sign a will and they should sign a financial power of attorney the will and the financial power attorney or two documents that you basically need a lawyer for I know the reforms online they may or may not work in Vermont I'll just give people that advance warning okay everybody's situation is different and I would not want to be in a situation where you've taken a form online and filled it out and then it turns out after you're dead that it doesn't work it would be better to find out that it does ahead of time so the financial power of attorney is someone who will take care of your financial matters if you're incapacitated okay so the will only comes into play if you are dead you can change that up into the moment you die right but the financial power attorney works like that health care advance directive the advance directive deals with health care decisions the financial power attorney deals with financial decisions so someone will pay your bills make sure you you know your utilities stay on make sure they collect your your your paychecks or your disability checks or whatever it is and make sure they get deposited and deal with all those financial things that happen to many of us so those are important documents regardless of whether you're in a relationship or not so with our last remaining time here since you were in active practice what are the areas of family law in particular that still need to be tweaked or where protections may not be as well defined as there could be uh I think we are in great shape here I think there are some forms that still need to be paid attention to we have we have birth certificates that can be changed name change orders that you can get if you're if you're trans person you've got you can go to court and get all that straightened out we've got anti-discrimination bills so there's very little that Vermont can do at this point in addition to what it already has in place I think we're we're we're I'm happy to say that we're in very good shape if you cross over the border into other states all bets are off I will say one other thing about our adoption laws if you are legally married and your partner has a child that child is considered yours legally even though you are obviously you are not the biological you don't have a biological connection to that child however I am still advising that non-biological parent to adopt the child in case they move to another state and the legal presumption of legal parentage may not carry over into another state but the adoption will so I can tell you that the probate court judges are irritated at that because they say why do we need to do that anymore because we've got the marriage laws with the presumption there and I said because people move and if you move to I don't know Mississippi I'm guessing that's not going to you know cover your situation so anyway throw that out there okay with that thank you so much for spending this time with us you're welcome thank you for still being out there and active and thank you so much for the work you've done over the years thank you Keith for everything you've done too all right it's great to see you nice seeing you thank you bye bye thank you for joining us and until next time remember resist


Welcome to The Socioeconomic Duty, a film for public sector senior leaders and those involved in taking key strategic decisions such as chief executives, chairs, elected members, board members and governance leads. This film should be considered alongside guidance documents. So The Socioeconomic Duty provides an opportunity to put dressing inequality at the heart of our decision making. Never has there been a more pertinent time to act. Earlier in the summer we saw the Black Lives Matter protests which highlighted systemic and structural racism in our society. The COVID-19 outbreak has also brought huge challenges to our communities. It has become clear though that certain groups have been affected more than others, for example black Asian and minority ethnic people, disabled people, women and young people. The Socioeconomic Duty requires public bodies when making strategic decisions such as deciding priorities and setting objectives to consider how their decisions may help reduce inequalities associated with economic disadvantage. What do we mean by strategic decisions? So these are the sorts of things that bodies will be making all the time. For some bodies they may make more strategic decisions than others. Some might be annual such as thinking about organisational planning or budget setting. For others they will be more ad hoc and routine such as thinking about procurement or revisions of services and commissioning decisions, for example. Ultimately through improving how we think about socio-economic disadvantage we should ultimately be improving outcomes for people in Wales. We will now hear more about what we mean by inequalities of outcome, which are those measurable differences in outcome between those who have experienced socio-economic disadvantage and the rest of the population. We know that in Wales more people are reliant on social welfare than other parts of the UK. We know that 23% of people in Wales are living in poverty and that rises to one in three when we consider our children. We know that children on free school meals don't attain the same levels at GCSE and A level than their peers. We know that 17% of our workforce is in insecure and precarious work that's low paid and we know that ethnic minorities are overrepresented in the gig economy. If we together focus on the biggest inequalities in Wales we can make a difference. We can make a difference for our children so that those on free school meals can attain better, can go on to university, can get a well paid job. Together we can do it using the socio-economic duty. I work in communities where every day this is felt by the parents and then the young people as well who are sometimes having to leave school and step up to find a job and often they're not living wage paying jobs to help pay the bills. So I think we can't afford to leave anybody behind and I think it's very important that we definitely hold to account those organisations who are affected or impacted by the socio-economic duty. I look forward to bringing members of the community into that process so we can generally hear from those most affected about how we can help and support them live decent lives. Representatives of relevant public sector bodies will now share their expectations for the duty, discussing what the socio-economic duty will mean in practice. So Newport City Council welcomes the socio-economic duty and the opportunity to further develop our consideration of inequalities when making the decisions that affect our communities. We're hopeful that through the duty better decision making will lead to improved outcomes for the people of Newport. Strategic decisions are made in a number of ways within the council by senior officers and through our democratic processes and we're going to need to think about how we gather the right evidence to allow the duty to be properly considered in these decisions and how we can support our elected members to understand what is expected of them. At a policy level we're going to need to factor in the time and resources to fully understand the impact of the changes that we make and to support this we'll be both rewriting our impact assessment processes and working to provide training for all relevant staff and officers. As leader of Cardigan County Council I want to see the duty lead to better outcomes for the people here both socially and economically so that we can make informed decisions a question set on socio-economic impacts will be included in our integrated impact assessments. This will help us as elected members and the leadership group give due regard to socio-economic impacts in our decision making processes. We've already included the socio-economic duty in the integrated impact assessment for our new tackling hardship strategy for example. That strategy aims to develop a coordinated and coherent strategic response to the increased risk of hardship faced by our Cardigan citizens due to the far reaching economic and social implications of Covid. As a county council we are also currently making plans to transform social care into an integrated service. This transformation is a major strategic decision and will include socio-economic duty in our integrated impact assessment of it. In public health Wales we're working hard to embed the duty in how we work across the organisation, how we strengthen our organisational culture, how we engage with people, how we scrutinise our decision making. It's embedded in all aspects of our work. For our staff and our colleagues who work in policy development, the duty is actually giving them more opportunities to gather evidence through working with others, engaging collaboratively in what works to tackle inequalities. Now in public health Wales the Board makes a number of significant strategic decisions, our long term strategy, our integrated medium plans and our annual operational plans. All those the Board approves and they all focus on what we can do working with others to protect the public and to tackle health inequalities and in that way hopefully reverse socio-economic disadvantage. From public health Wales perspective the socio-economic duty is vital. It's central to our work. We are embedding it across everything we do in the same way that we've done with the Future Generations Act and all to look to reverse socio-economic disadvantage that is so devastating for so many disadvantaged groups in our population. The health of our communities is a vital and important responsibility for the health board and this duty we believe will enhance our ability to undertake the requirements of that duty. This important duty will help underpin our planning systems. We have very good information at the moment on health inequalities within our communities and we also know the action that improves wellbeing for them. But we feel that the duty should enhance the joint planning that already takes place. We will now go on to understand the role of leaders and decision makers in providing assurance that due regard has been given. So when making an effective decision I'd be looking to see if sufficient evidence has been provided. Are there gaps within the evidence provided is an initial question I'd be asking myself. I'd also be looking to see what consultation has occurred and whether or not those communities directly affected by the decision have been consulted. In Bridgend like other local authorities we do take the duty to consult, engage and involve our residents in our decision making really seriously. And we'd particularly like to hear from those with lived experience of socio-economic disadvantage. Another question I'd be asking is what would the impact or likely impact of the decision be on inequality of outcome for those with socio-economic disadvantage? Are we as a result of the decision putting in place mechanisms and systems that help them overcome disadvantage? Or are we putting in place mechanisms and systems that act as a barrier and if they do act as a barrier what can we do differently? Another thing I would be considering is the intersectionality and we know that those with socio-economic disadvantage usually come from a protected characteristic. I will question what the likely impact on inequalities of outcome experience as a result of socio-economic disadvantage are. I will ask if the voices of people, staff and communities have been heard, particularly those who suffer socio-economic disadvantage. The socio-economic duty does not compete with or override other duties such as the public sector equality duty and the well-being duty under the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act 2015. The socio-economic duty is an important new duty which will help us to think about how we also meet the goal of more equal whales in the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act. So it's really important that we don't see this as an added extra burden and that we integrate it with other duties. Some of the things that you should be thinking about is how you consider the socio-economic duty in developing well-being assessments and plans. How you consider the requirements of the socio-economic duty in how you set your well-being objectives and how you assess the impact of your decisions in line with the Wellbeing of Future Generations Act but also more specifically considering the socio-economic implications of the things that you're doing. Everything is connected to everything so making sure that we're addressing socio-economic disadvantage will also be contributing to the goal of more prosperous whales. Understanding the implications in terms of those living in poverty and why they live in areas of high-air pollution will be part of meeting our goals around a more equal whales and around a resilient whales. Understanding the wider and socio-economic determinants of health will be important to meeting the goals of a healthier whales and a more equal whales. So it's important that you think about this holistically. Don't see it as an added extra. Embed it in everything that we do and make sure that you're integrating the way that you deliver this new duty. We'll conclude the film by hearing about how the fairer Scotland duty is working and its impact so far. So impact so far have included that elected members in councils now have a broader awareness of the potential impact of budget saving proposals. And this has meant that the removal of some services which would have had a disproportionately negative impact on those living in socio-economic disadvantage has been halted. A lot of organisations have reported that there have been a range of opportunities realised as a result of the introduction of the duty. For example it's helped to raise the profile of poverty and inequality and make links to the socio-economic determinants of health. There have also been more opportunities to consider the potential consequences of decisions and potentially avert negative outcomes. Training on the duty has given increased confidence to some senior managers and board members to challenge decision making in relation to inequalities. And the introduction of the duty has been used to shine a light on inequalities and make policy and practice connections to other areas. For example housing or welfare reform, child poverty and community engagement and empowerment. The duty's facilitated improved collaborative working and there's been the development of shared understanding of socio-economic and financial pressures across partners and stakeholders. From an economic perspective it has allowed for more rigorous assessment linked to inclusive growth ambitions and at a strategic level there's been an improvement in thinking about promoting fairness in economic outcomes. The Welsh Government published norm statutory guidance on the 1st of April 2020 and has since made available a suite of resources to support public bodies in preparing for the duty. Resources include a fact sheet, frequently asked questions, a presentation for public bodies to use internally to raise awareness, information regarding inequalities of outcome prevalent in Wales and a scrutiny framework document to support those providing assurance that due regard has been given. These can be found on our website. These resources have been produced with input from key stakeholders and representatives from public bodies likely to be captured by the duty. Additionally Welsh Government officials would be happy to join senior leadership teams in discussing the duty. Please contact us at our mailbox address socio-economic-duty.gov.wales. Thank you for your time.


The study presents a surgical strategy for treating the pubic region in post-bariatric patients through low marking of abdominoplasty with appropriate tissue mobilization vectors, resulting in good to very good outcomes in 100% of cases, with small suture dehiscence and seroma formation being the most common complications. This article was authored by Flavio Enrique Mendez, Fausto Viterbo, José Marcos Gabas, and others.


Okay guys, so we are here with Brian Andrelza. He's the vice president of design and engineering here at SeaWorld So for 2020 you guys announced Icebreaker the new coaster company or SeaWorld Orlando So can you tell us what makes Icebreaker special for SeaWorld Orlando? Sure. So Icebreaker is SeaWorld Orlando's first launch roller coaster, but it's not just one launch We have four launches on the ride and it's an exciting start because we'll use a horizontal switch track and Go on to those four launches and also includes a beyond a vertical spike tilted at 100 degrees So for Icebreaker being a premiere launch coaster We know that the capacity of it usually for like the skyrocket tubes will have one train will Icebreaker have the one train system since it is a multi-launch system or will it have two train operations? So that unique horizontal track switch allows us to run two trains of 18 passengers per vehicle It's great. So with Icebreaker being themed to the Arctic section We'll have any deeming similarities to wild Arctic along with the partner So we'll take our cues from the wild Arctic attraction nearby and we'll have education and conservation messages in the queue line to learn about the Alaska Sea Life Center Who's our conservation partner for the attraction? Can you tell us a little bit about the Alaska and Sea Life Conference? Sure, so they're the only facility in Alaska that specializes in rescue rehab research and educational experiences and they Specialized in Arctic animals from belugas to seals and walruses and more It's wonderful. Can you tell us maybe some facts about Icebreaker coming to sure So like we already said is a four launch ride top speed of 52 miles per hour that beyond vertical reverse Bike is 93 feet tall tilted at 100 degrees the top hat element is a near vertical Climb and twist at 80 feet tall with a near vertical dive Followed by a load of the ground airtime hills twists corners and directional changes the entire track travel distance is 2,750 feet long Awesome, so see what the Orlando coaster wise is very thrill-based as we see Mako cracking in Manta with all these crazy High-speed intensity thrills. Can you tell us how Icebreaker is kind of like separated from that now? Sure, so we see icebreaker as a family thrill coaster So the ride has a 48 inch tall rider height requirement Which means that it's accessible for nearly everyone and it's a good middle ground from Grover's boxcar derby racer and journey to Atlantis and all the way up to Mako cracking and Manta So we think it's a nice middle ground that will be accessible for everyone That's great, and I have one more question that That is unique. Can you tell us about the restraint system for this new coaster? Sure, so we'll feature a lap bar restraint with comfort collars For over-the-shoulder harnesses Great. Well, thank you Brian for this interview and can't wait for icebreaker to open in 2020. Great. Thank you very much Well, good morning everyone welcome to SeaWorld my name is Alex Jacobson great to have all of you here this fine day Thank you for joining us We have some very exciting news to share with you this morning and to do that I'd like to introduce to you right now the vice president of marketing for SeaWorld Orlando and Aquatica Angela Bowman Good morning everyone. Thank you all so much for everyone who's joining us here in person and online 2019 was an incredible year for us here at SeaWorld Orlando. We opened a lot of new attractions We had infinity falls. We introduced curry curry curl over at Aquatica and of course the new Sesame Street land We also introduced an unprecedented 52 weekends of events and These include events going on right now We've got our craft beer festival going on weekends right now where our guests can enjoy a hundred different craft brews and specialty food items We also very soon coming our SeaWorld Halloween Spooktacular coming back And it returns with all the trigger treating that you all love plus a new Sesame Street Halloween parade And then we'll close out the year with the award-winning SeaWorld's Christmas celebration Today, I am excited to tell you that in 2020. We are returning with 52 weekends of events So a lot of your favorites will be back We will have our 70s food festival our summertime electric ocean with the incredible fireworks finale ignite and Inside look if you're not familiar with inside look that event is a newer event. We've introduced where we Bring all of our guests invite them back behind the scenes to see how we take care of our animals every day It's been an incredible hit amongst our guests We're also be introducing new Sesame Street weekends throughout the year And those are just going to give us a new reasons to invite our guests to learn play and grow Within our Sesame Street land area. We're really excited about all of those things Now for the best way to visit. We have a variety of products that you can choose from we just launched our new 2020 phone card. Hopefully you saw that last week where if you buy it now, you can visit again and again in 2020 plus you get 2019 free or you can upgrade to an annual pass. Our annual pass program is amazing We have incredible benefits like free guest tickets free parking and park discounts free tours I'm excited to say we are adding to that list and we will be adding even more benefits to some of our Passes more guest tickets additional in-park discounts. It's really cool So you got to check it out at see where Orlando comm and while you are checking it out and watching today and learning about all The new attractions that we have coming to our Florida parks You may want to consider a four-park or platinum pass because there's a lot of stuff and annual pass is always among the first experience it of course Plus you want to get it now because prices are going to go up. So right now is the best time to get it is the best deal to hear So now I would like to introduce my colleague Brian Angelzic who's the vice president design engineering he's a super coaster enthusiast and very knowledgeable and He's going to come up here to let you know about what's coming in 2020 at Sea Roll Now today I get the fun job today to announce icebreaker to you Icebreaker is see what Orlando's first launched roller coaster and not just one launch. We're launching four times So we're going to start out with a horizontal track switch and a backwards launch up Florida's steepest beyond vertical drop That's a 93 foot tall spike that's tilted at 100 degrees And the fun is just getting started because we'll continue with a forwards launch a backwards launch And another forwards launch rocketing you to 52 miles per hour all along a unique launch track that has an airtime pump on either end And the fun continues with a top hat element a near vertical Climb and twist and a near vertical drop followed by low to the ground airtime hills twist turns and directional changes All along 2750 feet worth of travel distance That all sounds really thrilling and it sure is but the ride is accessible for the entire family With a 48 inch tall ride or height requirement This is SeaWorld's sixth roller coaster and adds even more diversity to our already amazing collection of roller coasters and attractions The coaster will be located in the Wild Arctic Plaza area and will take theming cues from the wild art attraction next door We're also very excited to bring you our conservation partner for this attraction the Alaska Sea Life Center Alaska Sea Life Center is the only facility in Alaska that specializes in rescue Rehabilitation education and research and we're excited to bring you further details about that partnership as this project continues So as you may have seen unheard our construction crews are hard at work and bringing icebreaker to you You can see a great piece of our great orange roller coaster track here And we hope you get to sign that column over there as well So look forward to seeing you all in spring of 2020 as we break the ice with icebreaker Let's take a quick look at what you can expect from the ride Our sister park wish gardens Tampa as they have some special Announcements to share with us as we're excited to add to our growing ride portfolio, which offer something for everyone Guess we'll be able to experience icebreaker in the spring of 2020 located in the Wild Arctic Plaza I Did to introduce our park president from a garden stewart-clark to give you all the news today It's always bad to talk after somebody's taller, right? Thanks, I'm a and hello to all of our friends online and of course all of you here at wish gardens Tampa You know, we're so excited about announcing our 2020 attractions But first I'd be remiss if I didn't at least acknowledge right all of our thousands and thousands of employee ambassadors who work tirelessly every day To create all of those moments that matter for our guests, right? And especially our ambassadors today right here in this room who set up this great event. How about a big round of applause for those folks? You know as we look look ahead to 2020 we've got to stop for just one second, right? And we think about all the great events that we had and we launched for 2019 everything from our food and wine events to our You know real music real masters, of course right around the corner from Tampa's best haunt experience right hallo scream our 20th year of fear starting on september 20th So we're very very excited about that But of course christmas town right after that So when we think about all those amazing experiences, of course the one that's exciting for people also this year in 2019 was Tigris and we are thrilled we were thrilled a year ago today to talk about the announcement of Tigris We've been thrilled about the performance of Tigris and all of the great reviews we're hearing from our guests But we've got even more coming right and so There's probably no better time that you've ever had to become a past member in our parks And we've been talking about that this week too So later today you're going to hear more and more about these amazing past member offers that we have lost right now Probably my favorite and the most impressive is our fun card offer that we've never had a deal like this before And we're just thrilled to absolutely speak about that today because not only can you just pay for a day and get the rest Of 2019 so christmas town and Tigris and all those great events together But you can also get all of 2020 included in that same in that same fun card price So there's never been a better time to buy a pass than right now in september So we encourage all of our people watching today and everyone out there to go ahead and take advantage of that that opportunity today So the thrills keep on coming right we've been talking about What's coming in 2020 and it's not only bush gardens, but also right across the street in our sister park adventure Island and so no better person to speak about that new attraction in adventure island than our very own Andrew Hatcher from our design and engineering team the person who's actually leading that new new event Thanks, sir Now while bush gardens has been celebrating many milestones this year as part of our 60th anniversary We're looking forward to honoring an adventure islands 40th anniversary in a similar fashion Since 1980 adventure island has been providing a splash filled fund for families From rivers and pools to slides and play areas These families have been coming back to our park nearly four decades to make new memories each season And so now we're excited to announce that our future is bright with a new thrill debuting in the beginning of our 2020 season We'll combine high-making rotations with rapid descents Sending riders on a swirling journey from two open tailspins manufactured by whitewater This rife will include three dynamic aquilucid elements Harnessing the power of the florida sun to send colorful patterns into the slide as riders reach speeds about the 20 miles per hour We're confident that that solar board takes will provide a thrilling new experience for families when it opens at adventure island And so we look forward to sliding into 2020 with you on solar board takes And now give us a little more about bush gardens. Here comes dirt Thank you, Andrew. You know our adventure island team led by Brian Kilpatrick. They've done an amazing job the last few years, right? We've added great attractions. We've added, uh, you know, um, several several new attractions, right? Like colossal curl Vanished point and of course solar vortex now is going to make sure that our future at adventure island is brighter than ever So now we want to talk a little bit about bush gardens and a little thing that we have going on here That is probably one of the most highly anticipated thrill attractions anywhere in the world for the year 2020 Uh, and I just I can't say enough about it, right? But the person who can say even more about it is none other than andrew schaefer who is our design and engineering person Who will be leading that project andrew. Thank you sir. Good morning everybody So one year ago. I had the pleasure of announcing tigress florida's tallest launch coaster and now today I get the Pleasure of being able to announce to you the newest predator coming to bush gardens in tampa bay in 2020 When it opened in 1999 guazy debuted as florida's first wooden dueling roller coaster In 2020 the classic has evolved into a new experience With entirely new thrills with a much bigger bite Housekeeping items for those of you that are here in person We have some interview opportunities if you'd like to hear more about icebreaker with brian He will be over by the coaster track and some of our visuals so you can get lots of pictures And hear from him We also have spanish interview available with a and he will also be over in that area on a special day We would like to invite all of you as well to sign a piece of the coaster support It is very cool. I saw a lot of you already doing that already So that's really special and I hope you all get an opportunity to do that today And then we also have a little sneak preview for craft beer festivals. So since that's happening now We couldn't let that go without talking about it today So I know it's a little early, but we have some samples for you today for food too Not just beer. Um chef hector is available as well If you'd like to do any interviews with him as well and um, I think that's about it So thank you so much for coming today. We really appreciate it And um, if you have any questions, let me or lori or any of your pr contacts. No, thank you very much


So I thought I'd make this video to explain what a lucid dreamer who has been practicing lucid dreaming for a long time, what their week actually looks like, how many lucid dreams they have, and just I wanted to give a bit more of a realistic expectation of what you can actually expect when you learn how to lucid dream. Because as Daniel Love pointed out in his latest video there is a lot of hype in the lucid dreaming community at the moment and obviously for a younger audience especially we want things fast we want to do things now and we want to buy into the idea that we can lucid dream immediately and every night. But the truth is you can't really do that and there's a number of reasons for that but at best you're going to be having maybe two to four lucid dreams a week once you've been practicing this for about a year or so. However that does vary massively and this is what I really wanted to explain in this video. The actual frequency with which you're going to lucid dream varies immensely and it depends on so many different things and so many variables that none of the explanations are true and also none of them are false. What I mean by that is you can have people who genuinely have a lucid dream every night or at least every other night or something like that and then you can also have people who try for a year and they don't have any lucid dreams and everything in between as well by the way. And this happens for beginners this happens for advanced lucid dreamers this even happens for people who teach lucid dreaming like myself and various other youtubers like we don't have that great of a control over how and when we lucid dream because so much of it is just still completely unknown. So before we get into this video make sure to subscribe and just leave a quick comment letting me know what you think so far I've upgraded my camera by the way I hope you can see the difference. Anyway there's just so much we don't know and because of that it's hard what do I want to say here it's hard to know for certain whether a technique will work every single time you try it and because of that you don't it's very hard to know how to title a video and how to title an article on YouTube because there are certain techniques for example the wake back to bed the finger and do lucid dream which if you do them right they can give you an instant lucid dream or an instant you know a lucid dream in five minutes they can that's how they work like for example the wake back to bed technique you wake up you take a if you are going to take them you take a lucid dreaming supplement and then you go back to bed with the intention of lucid dreaming now if you do that and you're tired enough there's the right level of serotonin in your system melatonin it's balanced out you've had your restorative sleep the intention is strong that's another important one and there's the right amount of acetylcholine in your system which can be optimized with various supplements or whatever if all the conditions are correct and right for lucid dreaming then when you go back to sleep you know in a wake back to bed technique you will have an instant lucid dream it will only take five minutes or less because that's how the technique works the problem is and i think this is more to do with the people watching the videos than the people making them although i know people are going to disagree with me on that the problem is when you read a title like how to lucid dream in five minutes you assume and i'm talking about you the viewer here you assume that that will be what you will get that's what you will be able to achieve and it's the same with any title you know if you if you watch a video entitled how to get six pack abs in eight weeks is it possible it can be right but is everyone going to get that result absolutely not because it depends on so many things so the titles that people are making videos with and just content in general in the lucid dreaming area you have to understand that that the title as in like the desired result the dream the the goal won't ha won't apply to everyone they're always going to be people who try every technique and none of them work and then there are also going to be people who naturally lucid dream without even bothering to try a technique or even write their dreams down and you have everything in between as well so what i'm trying to say is yes the titles of certain videos and you know i've been um guilty of doing this myself you know i make titles that are attractive to click on because from a marketing perspective i know that people are more likely to click on them and therefore more likely to learn the technique i want to teach them and you know this this applies for anything if i just made a video entitled something like boring lucid dreaming video number 403 nobody would click it or at least the people that do click it you know i mean i'm sure there's a few of you who will just click any of my videos and you know i appreciate that level of support but for the most part people people click on a title that sounds attractive to click on right i mean you're the same anyone is the same we click on titles and thumbnails that look attractive and then if the video is good we stick around and watch it if it's not we don't watch it that then sends a signal to youtube which then means the video doesn't get promoted via the algorithm so even if something is really click baity if people click on it and it's not good and the quality is low and they don't and they don't um continue watching the video then youtube will bury it so really the clickbait aspect of things i don't think is that much of a problem because it really if people watch a long percentage of a video that's sending a signal to youtube that they like it otherwise they wouldn't watch it so you know for better or worse and i know that a lot of people think that the clickbait is a problem um because it sends a signal that there's this instant gratification that is possible through lucid dreaming that you can just uh instantly lucid dream every time but the truth is you can't and here's the important part a lot of the techniques in these instant videos these uh how to lucid dream tonight how to lucid dream in five minutes whatever i've made a few of them myself and by the way they're the most popular videos because people like to click on titles like that however if you actually do the technique and learn the technique it is 100 possible that it will work and that you will have lucid dream in five minutes in 30 seconds whatever when the technique works and this is a key point i want to make here when the technique works and i'm talking about the filed the wait back to bed the even the wild to some degree um and then i guess the more natural techniques you can't really say how long they take to work because you don't really know at what point in the dream you're going to be triggered into lucidity but the instant techniques like the filed the wait back to bed wild when they do work they work fast and that's why the title isn't actually that wrong it isn't false for example now if i said something like you will lucid dream every single time you try this technique without fail then of course that's misleading i understand that so just be aware of this guys you know there's a lot of hype around lucid dreaming at the moment and i want you guys to actually learn how to lucid dream properly i don't want you to just fall for the latest hype and then not have it work you know and that's why i always try my videos to actually teach you stuff that works uh techniques advice tips that have either worked for me or that i know work for others and that's the last sort of disclaimer i want to make here is that this is all my experiences you know this is all my my opinions and my personal advice this is not none of this is guaranteed really uh no technique can guarantee that you'll lucid dream and um yeah it's just it's my personal experience take it with a grain of salt just try this stuff out for yourself is what i'm saying try try these techniques out learn how they work and just see how it goes that's all you can do really it's an the whole thing the whole lucid dreaming experience and uh phenomenon is ultimately we're you know we're playing with something we have no idea how it works consciousness the brain the connections all of the neurochemistry that goes along with that we we don't really understand how it all connects together and how it works we have some idea you know we know certain hormones are associated with self-awareness and critical thinking and we know certain things about how sleep works sleep science cycles and all of that stuff but we don't truly understand what consciousness is where it resides or even even to a large degree what lucid the lucid dreaming state actually is and how it works we know a bit but in terms of what's possible and in terms of what we can do with it in terms of you know how it works how it all connects together how the subconscious mind works we really would you know we're like children playing in kindergarten when we're trying to understand this stuff so we have to remember that as well everyone not just the viewers and people learning it but also the people teaching it we have to remember that we don't really understand all that much about how consciousness works it's known as the um one of the hard problems that one of the most difficult problems is where did we come from how does consciousness work and where is consciousness these are really difficult questions that we don't really have an answer to if you've watched this far thank you for watching the whole video i hope you enjoy my new camera by the way as you can see it's um very high quality now i hope this means i can make better videos for you and uh more more frequent videos as well by the way here's here's the thing i've been posting daily on all social media platforms because i really want to just get this information out to you guys teach everyone how to lucid dream but not not just that there is a bigger vision behind this channel and behind how to lucid.com and that is to increase people's whatever you want to call it okay vibrations frequency and i know these are buzz words but the sentiment behind this is to increase people's self awareness and consciousness encourage love connectivity and purpose and i truly believe that's important you know more it's becoming more and more important as i look at the way the world is going now and i think connectivity unconditional love and just general positivity are so important right now so that's why i've been pumping out loads of content you know i've been pumping out the youtube videos um and just sharing as many positive messages as i can with as many people as i can so if you want to follow me in a different platform just search how to lucid all all one word or just how to lucid.com uh i have here are the platforms i'm on at the moment so instagram youtube tiktok facebook twitter snapchat and then i share i share things on other places like i might post uh i don't know in facebook groups on my linkedin or on reddit things like that but mainly i just post to the main social media networks every single day uh i do also have other channels which i do the same for for example transcend your limits which is i don't know if i've mentioned this before probably have it's just personal development related videos um so yeah go and check that out as well if you want to anyway what a long video i felt like this was needed though because uh and again it's in response to what inspired by i guess uh daniel love's latest videos you go and check it out just type in um type in mr lucid dream remember that firstly certain titles and videos won't apply to everyone and so you really need to try out the techniques and try them out for yourself see if they work for you secondly certain techniques like wait back to bed whatever when they when they do work that's the keyword uh they work fast however not all the time and also they don't work all the time you know it varies massively uh and thirdly take what i and anyone says about lucid dreaming with a grain of salt because we're really dabbling with something that is far more complex than we can even begin to understand


Hi everyone, I'm Ricky Anderson and welcome to the Fort Report. It's always been a dream of mine to be a big time movie star, and since Sundance Square is having a movie night, I think this will finally be my chance to make it onto the big screen. Literally, when the movies start playing, I'm going to jump up there and show off my sweet acting skills. Wish me luck. It's me, your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man! With great power comes great responsibility! Look out, Uncle Ben! Movie nights in the Sundance Square Plaza are every Thursday this summer. Visit sundancesquared.com for more information. Here's a look at other events happening in and around Fort Worth in the next few weeks. For a listing of more events and city meetings, you can always check the calendar at the city's website.