Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem, As-salatu wa s-salamu ala Rasulullah, As-salamu alaikum So today, when we talk about spiritual abuse, I don't want people thinking that we're talking about some phenomena going on somewhere else or with a group or with individuals that are easy to recognize as abusers The reason is spiritual abuse is covert most of the time, which means you won't detect it easily Overt abuse, for example, is somebody coming and physically assaulting you You know what happened, you were physically harmed Covert abuse is undercover, you won't detect it It's the difference between somebody robbing you and somebody conning you Scamming you for money in a slighted way So spiritual abuse itself, the term is used to describe abuse under the guise of religion whether it's somebody using religious texts or using religious position for personal gain or to harm somebody else And this is a very common phenomena and inshallah today we'll get into more detail So spiritual abusers are often narcissists but not necessarily Which means that the person, the perpetrator does not have any moral breaks What's wrong, what's immoral, the person who commits those actions doesn't feel that it's wrong They understand rationally it's wrong, which is why they hide those actions So they do get it, they do understand it, which is why they need to hide it But they're not going to feel bad about it And the reason to understand that there are people like this is so you don't engage with them The same way you would engage a person who doesn't have this lack of conscience So the rules are different in terms of you have to be more assertive And you don't want to get bullied in interactions, which is very common when you call abusive behavior out You'll be manipulated, the tables will be turned around on you You'll be blamed for small things you did to justify larger transgressions And more serious transgressions that the individual did So in Islam, we go by something called a vahir ul-ardala, which is apparent uprightness We don't investigate a person to see what's he doing wrong in private We just see if this person is outwardly upright Meaning they're not, for example, drinking in public They're not committing any sins or persisting in sins in public Now the person who has a vahir ul-ardala outward uprightness May be much worse than somebody who sins our apparent, but we won't know it And this matters because when people ask for advice in terms of hiring somebody or in terms of marriage They're not going to hear when they ask around that this person is actually abusive This person might do something really bad, because the general public does not know So when you have abuse in the religious context, most of the time the general public does not know And the way these cases work is the board of the masjid or the non-profit or the institute Those people will know a lot of the times and sometimes they won't even know Because this is done in small communities and the people who are targeted are more vulnerable people And I'll explain what that means in a bit So first I want to explain that spiritual abuse, it can cover different areas Today I'm going to talk about in financial abuse, bullying and illicit and secret marriages So to begin with money You have zakat in Islam, we all know that And there's different categories of people who can accept zakat One ambiguous or open-ended category is those in the path of Allah, fi sabilillah Now most people when they give that, they're not assuming that this allowance for fi sabilillah will be misused by organizations Especially if it's advertised as helping students in need or as just helping poor people But when you give zakat, a lot of these organizations will just use fi sabilillah for their own programming And they'll use it very irresponsibly One example would be having a program where the speaker is paid maybe $100 to $200 Admission is normally $20, but they'll have a scholarship for people who can't afford it And they can just arbitrarily set the price for those individuals at $1000 a person So those students are given zakat The people whose seat is sponsored and it is zakat technically for them according to this understanding But then it goes back to the organization as revenue So zakat becomes a funnel for the organization Does that make sense? So again, this is not something people would accept and people would be upset if they learned that this is where their zakat is going But it's a lack of transparency, which is why people won't know And a lot of what's used is something called affinity fraud Which is people, organizations will use respected religious figures Or even positive messaging that appeals to people as a way to solicit funds So instead of explaining what happens with your money, they're just going to show videos of some student Maybe from an underprivileged background learning and benefiting Or somebody showing excitedly how much they benefited Or just other success stories And also other respected religious figures, them giving testimonials And people won't think that anything could be wrong because it's trusted figures who are sponsoring this organization And again, sometimes they know of the fraud, oftentimes they're getting large cuts of this zakat as well As honorariums if they come and do events And sometimes they just know and don't care So a lot of the people, sorry, and then the next one would be bullying So bullying is something that is, there's more awareness being created now Even in sports and in workplace bullying It's an epidemic really across society And in the religious context, the way some of the ways this works is through this idea of tsarabiyah Of building a person Now you can call it self-development, tsarabiyah, whatever name you give it This is a pervasive problem You'll see programs, for example, addressing needs So these people, they'll address certain needs that are in the community And abuse their position while they're fulfilling that need So, for example, chivalry classes for young men People who feel inadequate to be husbands, young men They know they need more masculinity And they're often abused in these type of classes and bullied And they will initially accept it thinking this is what they need to do to develop character And when the process is over, they oftentimes develop long-term PTSD And a very serious distaste for religion And also, for women, this happens Sometimes we believe that being in the West, we're inherently inferior in character, in adab In moral strength to people from the East So we forego everything we know to be true, everything we know to be abusive Just to learn something we believe we have no idea about And this is where you'll see women being bullied a lot of times For simple things that I don't even want to call the mistakes But they can be labeled mistakes when you submit to the idea that you just don't know basic decorum You don't know basic social interaction And again, this stuff, there will be a period generally where people go through it And they won't exactly catch what's wrong And then the effects of it are really devastating afterwards So a lot of times people will be involved in these religious groups in their early to mid-20s And in their late to late 20s to early 30s religion Or this being serious about religion was just some phase in their life And now they're done with it And this is a very common scenario There's a lot of people who were beat as children in Quran schools or in madrasas And this is actually the reason why a lot of people hate religious figures And even on the topic of hitting For people who would permit physical discipline It's not something that equals child abuse It's meant to be light reprimands And that's why the peer review process is so important So there's not actual child abuse And it's also haram to do so if it's having a negative effect on the child Even with words, harsh reprimand, yelling If it's having a negative effect on the child Or an adult learner, it's haram to do so So the effect actually matters It has an impact on the action So it can't be said to be from basira, from insight, from wisdom When it's having an adverse effect on the recipient of that scolding Also, in terms of bullying It's really critical to understand that When this happens to young adults, parents will often justify it So if there's a teenager, someone in their 20s Even complaining or explaining something's wrong That they're being treated poorly You'll get a lot of justifications of Well, that's your teacher, respect your teacher Or your teacher knows best And these are mindsets that people who run these programs Who exploit that need for development in young men and women They're very well aware of So they'll say things like We're living in the Jalic times We need to raise children to be strong in the end of times And this is how you build moral character Or even when it's the parents who have issues with abuse or with bullying They'll often say if this applies that your parents are from another country They're from another time even, they're from a different culture They don't understand what we're doing here And that worldview is created for the person Who's being targeted with this type of abuse To not have anyone to seek help from So they'll be told, and this actually works on people That the people who are telling you this is wrong They're coming from a very liberal paradigm Their understanding is scoffered They don't understand that this is Islam, this is Tadbia And when you close people off from a larger peer review It's very easy to do this So that's on bullying and on secret marriages and Haram relationships So this is something that people will generally think more of When they hear of spiritual abuse Because that's a little bit more popularized It's, keep in mind it's one element And when it comes to relationships, secret marriages So first, when it's actually done through marriage To be clear, the marriages I'm talking about They are exploitative marriages Meaning that people, a lot of these speakers travelling Or religious figures will pick out women who are more vulnerable And how do they know that? They'll often engage in conversations For example, what does your father think about you coming to these events? Oh, your father's not really around And kind of trying to gauge how many men are in that sister's lives Or to see how the relationship is with her And other men in her family To see exactly what they could get away with And in other cases, and this is not rare The first wife of that person Will help him pick out other women And this will be in the cases of, sorry This will play out sometimes in inviting her over to their house And them just hanging out, having a good time together Showing them that this is potentially a good case of polygamy Where everybody is just fun and happy And when the relationship does end And this is a secret marriage Meaning it's not legally registered And other people don't know So there's no legal accountability And there's no social accountability And without that accountability there's no shame factor This again is the private sphere And they can get away with it and there's no recourse There's no legal recourse, there's no social recourse So what'll happen is And the rights of the women are withheld The Mahad is often withheld And she's just divorced, sometimes just a simple text message And then the first wife in many cases Will gang up against this woman who was quickly divorced Saying, deny her claims that it was a secret marriage Saying no, I knew about it, you're wrong We were just mentally unstable, you just couldn't handle it We tried to tell you that this was a polygamous marriage You weren't going to be living with us But you just couldn't handle it And when that happens it doesn't have the form of misogyny So the husband doesn't look bad As if he just did an immoral act It seems like a good idea that just wasn't viable Or something they tried and something they failed in So the claims of not getting her rights There's no enforcement for that And there can't be because there's no mechanism for that And also in other cases Sorry just to pick out the vulnerability as well A lot of times it'll be a teacher-student relationship Or just volunteers at events And they'll test how open the sister is to this idea So they'll make comments like, oh I had a dream of us getting married That was weird And just seeing what the reaction to that is Or making jokes, sending articles about polygamy Or very often the courting, it's not courting But really the exploitation and grooming process Sending articles about polygamy And even sending confusing messages Like oh wouldn't it be fun if we were just one family And seeing how people react to that And again these are not meant to be serious marriages They're short term and this is more common than we realize Especially with people when they're traveling Sometimes it's just different wives in different states And marriages that end abruptly And there's again no recourse So when this does become known And it's brought up to organizations You get justifications for this type of abuse That nobody would justify before the actions are undertaken But it's a retroactive justification Why is that?  Sorry, after decades of work They'll be called pillars of the community They have a track record of great work Because they do good work A lot of times these people are more motivated To come pre-fajr at the masjid To lead youth programs, to give khutbahs than other people And we know how it is in masjid People, there's a shortage of speakers There's a shortage of people who want to do youth events But these people are more motivated So they are assets to the community And that's one of the confusing points for people That they also do a lot of good work And they will, because they're motivated So we're not here to make the case that somebody's evil or not We're talking about actions So actions have to go checked So how do you check actions? And this really has to do with having a code of conduct Which we developed on Inchex Clothing Which is the website That me and a sister named Dania have For spiritual abuse It's a code of conduct we encourage organizations to have Because without it there really is no mechanism for accountability And to give a few examples of that If you hear of a teacher Being in Halua, for example, with a woman What does that mean to most people? Being alone in seclusion and the third person's shaitan Haram, but what does it mean to be alone? Right, but what I'm saying is There's a definition that's in general understanding Of just being alone But then there's a very technical understanding Which means you could be alone in an office with the door open And there's a chance people will walk by And it won't be Halua technically So it's not the Haram Halua But a lot of bad things could happen in those situations still And they do happen And there's no witnesses to things when they happen So in those cases When it is even brought up that Oh this is what these people are doing They're meeting in Halua, it's justified as well It's not technically Halua Right, so it's not, you can't pin it to anything wrong And in real cases When it was, there's no denial It comes to light and it's admitted That a person married a 16 year old girl Without her parents knowing And it's not just without the parents knowing It's guiding them away from telling their parents Which again is showing that they don't have The girl's best interest in mind Because they're guiding her away from her Wali What's the response from other female religious leaders And male religious leaders She's an adult in Sharia If she reached adulthood through her cycle Even if she's 15 or 14 she's an adult And it's the same whether she's 14 or 30 years old She made her decision we can't say that this was wrong And this really happens but again It's in private cases Right, so this is the point That when it's a retroactive justification People will find anything to justify And there's no mechanism of enforcement So there's no privileging strong Sharia views Or dominant Sharia views Over minority Sharia views It's the wild west Because there's no enforcement mechanism And when there's motivation To justify all courses of action You could do it very easily through mental gymnastics And that's exactly how it happens Another example when there's even Because some cases like the person Will touch women on their shoulder On their hijab And it'll be complained like he's touching us What's the response? Well it's not skin to skin And again this is not something people would ever advocate In the youth holocausts I mean this would never be said But once it happens there's a retroactive justification That's only used retroactively And it's used selectively as well So again it's the wild west Anything could happen And also when things happen in private There's often a shortage of evidence So it's difficult to get people To prove that the exact allegation is what happened So in the code of conduct If you just outline that a man and a woman Cannot be alone in this office Even with the door closed at this time Then you can hold people accountable For the precursors to bad action Not necessarily the allegation If there's not enough proof for it So if there's an abuse that happens On a car ride alone Which happens The figure will pressure somebody To just take a car ride home with them Even if they feel uncomfortable The justification is it's not a big deal It's not halwa, it's not seclusion and sharia Because there's windows to the car You're not going to be in some alley People are going to see it So the fault there would be Being in a car alone Or giving a right to a student That should be outlined as inappropriate And these things do seem like common sense But nobody realizes how important they are Until there's an issue And these issues are going around All in communities all around America North America, UK This is a really, really big problem So my advice is really to not engage In activities and institutions Until there is a code of conduct Don't donate until there is financial transparency This is not to make an accusation We're told in the Quran to write down transactions And if you loan people money This is precaution that we're supposed to exercise And we know that we don't have In many Muslim cultures you just have orif Things that you'll call it good or bad Based on what's known and cultural norms Ideas of ayib, that's just wrong But in America part of the reason is diversity Different madahib, different Islamic cultures That come together and some are more conservative Some are less conservative and you don't have A clear black and white understanding Of cultural norms here because of the diversity Which makes it very easy for people To manipulate that gray area Because that's what manipulators do They take advantage of and exploit gray areas And it's easier to be evidence-based As well, when there is When right and wrong is outlined And drawn out clearly So there's a hadith That if people were given in accordance to their claims People would claim the blood And money of other people But the burden of proof Is on the one making an accusation And the oath is on the one who's being accused Meaning that we are an evidence-based religion And a lot of times that's the reason Of course why perpetrators will get away But we want to ease that process Of just outlining smaller wrong actions So there's an easier way Of holding people accountable And again, this goes back to the idea Of Zahir ul-Adala and judging by the outward That a lot of actions will not be If there's no proof, you cannot Expect accountability So this builds up frustration in people That this person did something so wrong to me But nothing was ever done And the reason, again, a lot of it goes back To there's no mechanism of accountability And that's exactly what a code of conduct would allow So also, Sheikh Khalil al-Nahlawi In his Hadar al-Ibaaha, a text on It has the disease of the heart and some thick in it He mentions also that deep-seated resentment Is often the result of oppression not being addressed So when people have been wronged for a long time Or have been wronged and there's no redress They develop envy, like wanting that person to lose Good things in their life It leads to people slandering other people Or backfiting and insulting that person Because they got no recourse So it's better for everybody It's better for people's attachment to their religion To show that even if somebody is very successful Even if somebody is selling tickets for us Even if somebody is producing great results in the community We're not going to make exceptions for them Wrong is wrong no matter who does it And that's a message we really need to send Because this is a reason a lot of people end up Leaving Islam or leaving Islamic circles And just become marginal Muslims And this is a powerful message to send I've had a lot of people, Alhamdulillah, reach out And just say from what we've seen on the website It's given me a lot of confidence in this religion And it's been a blessing to see a Muslim address this Because up until this point I was just told by everybody That I have no proof or just to have a good opinion Or just to be patient and to let it all go And or just the perpetrators act good was just pointed out So this is the message we need to send And inshallah I would just again advise people To push for masajid and organizations to have some system Of clear outlines of what's right and wrong Because it is the gray areas that are exploited It's not a clear halal and haram So now I do want to go over a few signs of spiritual abuse Some precursors and something to look out for And these signs are not comprehensive But here are a few key ones One, if a teacher lies about any jaza You don't need anything else after that If a person could lie about having license from a sheikh To take on spiritual disciples or to impart knowledge And you found that out to be a lie That lie is enough for you to stay away from that person Practically speaking, even when this happens There's excuses made People will just say, well, what if he interpreted He got any jaza and he's just wrong Or he just felt like he should say that So again, it's very easy if you're not emotionally connected To that teacher, but once you are People will make all sorts of excuses Another sign would be doing clear haram Persistently that you should probably stay away from this person But again, practically speaking When people are emotionally invested in teachers Have spent a long time in their service Or benefiting from them Or they just do programs with them And this person is a social asset for you It's very easy to justify Saying things like, only the prophets are perfect Which is what everyone believes But it's said as an excuse Or, well, I'm not sinless So I don't want to point out anything about this person It's about attractive justifications And exploiting great areas I mentioned that before, but let me explain it a little bit more Things that would never be done publicly Or advocated for publicly As wrong as... When people will say, it's wrong Even if it's not haram Such as hanging out And joyriding Like just a single man and a woman together But doing that privately, systematically So those are signs of exploiting great areas Also, use appeals to wisdom Again, going from something tangible A criterion everybody has access to Method positions, Quran, Hadith A normative transmitted Islam To just the sheikh's wisdom Or a dream I saw And again, if you're imagining some weird person Dancing that you have no connection to You might think you'll recognize it right away But try to think how this may apply To somebody you do trust Somebody that has a very normal appearance Who justifies actions in this way Not justifies, not just mundane actions But actions that are very questionable Or abusive by dreams Also just feelings and visions I had a dream with the Prophet ﷺ Or Sayinah Hussein Or somebody that you need to donate money For the Zawiya This stuff is very common It really happens And a lot of times, the people who are victims Of this type of spiritual manipulation Of sheikhs in spiritual groups Whether it's in a Tariqa or outside of it Are very learned individuals People who teach fiqh People who teach tafsir Have studied ten, fifteen years And they're the ones manipulated by one spiritual sheikh And I get a lot of outreach by such figures And their embarrassment is very different Because they say, we've taught against this You know, we used to teach people That the first thing in the Zawiya Is you have to follow the Sharia That the Tariqa doesn't exist outside of Sharia These were people who publicly taught this And they still fell for it when it happened to them And the shame and embarrassment Those individuals feel It's just very hard to express I mean, sometimes they'll call just to School themselves to me And again, this isn't going to necessarily be public Because of the shame attached to it Right? Also, and this ties into financial as well One common in the Sufi Tariqa And again, not just Sufi Tariqa But close knit groups Is people will say, we need to buy a Zawiya We need to buy an Islamic Adawa center And the money Because there's long standing trust Of the sheikh with other students Who might also be called sheikh Very respected figures There's no financial accountability It's all just personally sent money And then that Zawiya, that Islamic Adawa center Ends up becoming personal property Of that religious leader And no one saw it coming Because they trusted the person so much And Another Sign would be If a group Or if a teacher is pushing absurd beliefs As spiritual So the more you can believe In something outrageous, the more spiritual you are This is also common It's like a test of your spirituality How deep are you in haqiqa? Can you believe something without any evidence? Without any proof? And then sometimes it becomes a contest Yeah, I believe it, well you could do this I believe that And it's not just possibilities It's really saying apply that to me now It's not theoretical Or historical about Zawiya And it transitions then To people saying They're talking to angels They're talking to the souls of people Who have passed away And again, we could say this is logically conceivable But you don't need to Apply it to every Person claiming this You know, that's really Where it becomes a problem Just something historically may have happened Or this happened in certain cases And it's applied now to everybody As if this is just a common thing As if people walking on water are just a normal thing Another example Would be putting down knowledge or studies If somebody, if a religious figure If a teacher or someone you're engaged with Is putting down studies And knowledge To spirituality Or saying you're wasting your time studying You should focus on just Developing yourself spiritually And that again is doing what I tell you That's a big bright red flag Anyone who puts down knowledge is not your friend Another example Would be spiritual explanation for events Somebody gets into a car accident Something bad happens Oh, he was speaking ill of me Of course that was gonna happen What did you expect?  Is it awkward for you to bring it up? If so, don't lend people money You have to have that assertiveness To ask, it's your huck, it's your right And that's the beauty of Islam We have God-given rights You're not overstepping your bounds If somebody does something wrong to you You have your rights to seek redress And especially with money It's your right Don't be shy to exercise your rights Also Signs now, signs that you are A potential target And that you're more vulnerable If you trust someone If you trust that You giving money to someone will go to the right cause Without seeing a transparent process I mean, that's really, really important And this applies to a lot of people If you let the personality The good work somebody does Mean more than a process There's a good chance You'll be taking advantage of financially If some If you're making excuses For someone disrespecting you If you're saying maybe this person Doesn't know what they're doing Or maybe they don't mean it And it's continual You know this person to be Very good I'm talking about really targeting you To break you down To publicly humiliate you If you're trying to justify that Or are uncertain about Why someone's doing that And you're more busy psychoanalyzing the person Then understanding it's wrong Then it's likely to continue Another is You believe in safe spaces You believe that there are safe people In this world Or people are generally safe You going to a masjid Listening to a religious talk A sermon, a youth halakha A program for training the youth Those are not safe spaces To explain what a safe space is A place where you can just let your guard down Something that's encouraged In these circles is to share your vulnerabilities Share some trauma you may have experienced Sometimes people are literally asked to share Abuse stories with them And what happens Again, not all the time But it's more than common Than we realize in many cases There are people taking note of this To map out emotionally Who you are and what your weak points are And that will be used against you In the future They'll know exactly how to manipulate you In one example A religious figure Kissed a woman against her will And touched her inappropriately Tried to marry her She didn't want to marry him And what he did was He used family history She confided in him earlier About some family dysfunction Against her to her family And he beat her to that So he began the slander and smear campaign Before she could say anything And this stuff's very common Using symptoms against people Using mental health Mental health issues in someone's past Against that person and say, oh, they're just crazy So these aren't things you want to disclose To people that you don't know very well So, yeah People are people, they're fallible Always keep central to your belief That these people are fallible Not just, okay, the wise Saying only the prophets are infallible But in your actual belief system That you act on So if you ever catch yourself saying, for example How could this person do it? He's the Imam And you understand the behaviors Were carried out Those actions you witnessed You saying, but he's an Imam Is an indication that you actually Believe being an Imam means he can't do these things Therefore, meaning he's infallible So really Internalize that people are fallible Another example would be That you Will defer judgment on what you see To another religious figure So if you see something happening If you know you're being mistreated It'll mean more to you What another religious figure or somebody you trust Says, you're going to seek validation And That should mean if You know your experience And someone is praising this figure It shouldn't mean anything to you Maybe they're praising that figure because they're partners in crime Which often happens Or the person only sees good from that person Either way, it's not like a testimony To every single thing that person does And it shouldn't have any bearing on what you Know to be true Lastly Yeah, also if you're confused By the person also doing good works This happens sometimes Thinking that Allah only allows good people To do good things or good to come from good people That's not our belief system We have a hadith about A person of a Sheikh teacher going to hell And his students are going to heaven And he's saying The students are saying, how are you going to hell When we only benefited from what you taught us He said I called And he'll say I called to good but I didn't practice it So benefiting from somebody Someone's good works is not a proof of that person Another And this is pretty common Is apologizing when you haven't done anything wrong If you're that type of person Predators will see it And they will exploit it So don't apologize If you haven't done anything wrong And another example would be That you'll excuse Bad behavior based on the status Of somebody that does it You'll accept that you're in fear You're no one to question What somebody of high status is doing And these are all very important Not just for yourself but also If you have these qualities You're very likely also To marginalize somebody else Who's being victimized Who's being targeted Because you'll make those justifications For that person being abused So keep this in mind inshallah And again The way that we hold That we make gray areas more solid Is through spelling it out And I encourage everybody To push for that That's what we're doing We're engaging groups Assalamu alaikum warahmatullah


Signs of spiritual ascension, part three.  For me, it felt like there was a veil that was in my reality and all of a sudden that veil, that clear screen was lifted and I could see everything clearer. Two, increased empathy. Because we're becoming more attuned to other people and their feelings, their intuitions, their problems, we can begin to feel more love towards other people. And three, the biggest one to me is that you have a higher sense of curiosity with how life, with how your brain, with how your connection with others truly work. You begin to have this awareness of why you think things, why you feel things, why certain things are triggering to you and wanting to explore those on a deeper level.


So we're here at Tena, so hi. Hi, hi. So who are you? This is Shirley from Pina. This is Anna from Tela. And you have a smart projector? Yes. What is the CPU in here? Drag chip 3188 quad core. Quad core 3188? Yes. What is the resolution? 1080. Can we turn it around? It's over there. So 1080, the Lumen? The Lumen is 80. 80 Lumen? Yeah. Right there. So what's the price? 200 USD. 200 USD for how many pieces? For sample. Sample? Yes. And then large quantity people contact you? Yeah. Yes, yes. Make big order. Let's see. You have many PCBs here. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You sell the PCB? Yeah. And PCB only? For example, which one? Yeah, for example, this one for rock chip solution. 3128. 3128? Yeah. What's the price? 27 USD. 27 USD? You get a TV box at the box? Yeah. And this one for action solution. Yeah. So ATM? Yeah, ATM 7039. 7039? Yeah. This is a quad core? Quad core. Quad core ARM Cortex A5, right? Yeah. And you can put the PCB in here, for example? For example, this is for the case, family case. You can assemble inside. Nice. How much for the case? How much? 10 RMB. 10 RMB. So 10 RMB is only $2? Around $1.5. Less than $2? Yeah. And you have many different case design? Yeah. You have some other... Case design is standard like this. It's worth a can. Yeah. You can go in there? Yeah. And also what? All the sticks for Miracast Dung Go. What is the CPU for this one? Rock chip solution for 2928. 2928? How much is a stick? This one is different Wi-Fi. It will be $20 each and single Wi-Fi. $15. $15. $5 extra for...different. And you do a 3368. Where is your 3368? This is our latest Android system with 5.1. And... yeah. How much? $70 for samples. If we got big orders, maybe around $65. Alright. So many things happening, a lot of innovation and selling many products every day? Yeah. All the different solutions. So welcome all the retailers or distributors come to China. And will be very busy for Christmas? How many sell every month? $20,000.


So since you're both winners of previous rounds, how confident are you going into this? I feel stressed right now. I'm just like I could stop breathing. Does that answer your question? We've got big bookshelves. We've got the same apartment layer. We're both competitive. I'm ready. I'm old and tired. I am old and tired too. Don't worry. Girl, she'd be freaking when she's walking. So I'm working. I took off my braids. I said, let me look youthful for the people. I'm honestly a bit scared because it's been so long. The only thing I'm scared of is if you've made the prompts harder. Yeah. I'm slightly scared for the end of this, but yeah. I don't want to anticipate. Yeah, but eight booktubers are battling it out in pairs in a scavenger hunt. They'll be tasked with finding 10 items and the first in each pair to find one will get a point. But this time they are all winners from previous rounds, battling it out to become the ultimate winner. This is Booktuber Battle All Stars. I don't love you, Joel. Okay, are you ready for round one? One is get two books that don't have any of the same letters in the title. Okay. Short book titles. Oh my god, I'm panicking already. See, I just did different covers of the same book. Does that count? No, what's Beth's? Wait, did I get it wrong? Yeah, it needed to be two books that don't have any of the same letters as each other. Oh, each other? I thought you meant in the same book. No. Did I get it? Is this it? Yeah, you got it, Beth. Sorry, that was sorry. You got it, Beth. I misunderstood the assignment. How scary. I forgot to film. Well, I was filming, but I wasn't looking again.  What? What? Okay. Okay, so we want short titles. Maybe I should get one without vowels. Have I got anything with one word? I've got malice. I've got magma. Magma. Both of them have the ninth in. That's not going to help me. Oh, oh. One child and magma. Let me just double check. Yes, I think you've got it. I'm going to give up now. What? Whoa, whoa. Letters. Make it. Letters. Okay, let me pick something short. Something. Here, these two. I'm like, I have to be something one or two words to buy. Hey, I was like, let me look for something short. Oh my goodness. Okay. My brain's just like not even thinking. All of these knickknacks on my shelf. I've got two. The first one, it only has three letters, so I thought that should be. And then I've got Arcadia, which also doesn't have a PE or T, right? Yep, you've got it. Yes. Whoa. My heart is like beating like crazy. Oh my God. I need you both to pick up a book that you had previously. So just pick up or book new. Pick up a random book. Turn to a random page of that book. I need you to go find an item that is on that page. Oh, I don't have any bricks or workshops or monkeys. Gentlemen. Done. What's the word? Dagger. Are you kidding me? Okay. Done. All right there. I've got a badge. It's a woolen item. Yes. I'm on a badge. It's just pubic hairs. Do you want me to get that out as well? I'm going to take wool. I'm going to take it. Sorry if anyone disagrees with me. Shoes. Shoes. This says beautiful denim shoes and jewels and a soprano's wardrobe. It's the way I was just... I got so distracted.   Okay. With a recipe inside. Oh no, there's a book with literally loads of recipes in it. Isn't there at the back of it? Like line by line recipe? Are we talking? It can be like a description of someone making food. I've allowed that. Surely Lord of the Rings is going to have some kind of a recipe in it.  Can I have an actual cookbook? Yeah, you can have a cookbook. That's not fair. She makes soup in this, okay? She makes soup in it. I know that. I just don't know what page it's on. What? Cookbook. It's Anthony's cookbook. Anthony, let's do dinner. That counts, right? Yes, I'll take it. Oh, no, wait. This is happening. A recipe. A recipe. I got a graphic novel. Did I unhaul it? Oh my God, I unhauled it. No. Cooking show. So I know it's a recipe in here somewhere. I won't take it. I trust you. I trust you this recipe in there. The chef's special. Yes, they're going to win $100,000. It's got a recipe in here. It does? I haven't read it. Let's see. But I know it's a recipe in here because it's a cooking romance. I think I'm going to take Aaron's because I reckon that at one point someone's like, oh, you put two eggs in it or whatever. You know what I mean? You know, just for the record, this is what I did for Megan. This. Looking for a book. I had unhauled. Okay. She could have her way with a slab of cod, marinade to mix fresh tortillas, cabbage to jalapenos. She's making something. I'll take it. Okay. You got it. A lot of book spines. Can I not just... Book spines or book edges or either? Spines. Spines. And it needs all the colors. It needs all the colors. What are the colors? Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo violet. Blue. Oh, Christ. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, right? Hang on. Let me deliberate here. I'm going to take Beth's because Beth is in order. I don't think you're in the right order. Are you serious right now? Yeah. I'm taking Beth's. I'm sorry. I did it first, but sure. Safe. Technically, you haven't made the rainbow flag because it's not the rainbow. Oh, wait. Can I just show my shelf? Oh, oh no. It's book spines. Indigo and then violet. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo violet. Joel was first. I'm sorry, Tasman. I just ruined my shelves. It's the same. Shit, dog.  Do you need a reminder of the colors? Yeah. Okay. So we've got... Can you give me... It needs to be in the order, Mel. Yeah, Mel was...  Orange, yellow, green, blue. The indigo is more of a blue. I feel like Daisy Jones needs to be something else. Okay. It's got it. Red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo violet. Oh, you just missed one. You missed a book. Round five. Oh, this one tests. How well do you know each other? Because round five is get a book the other person gave five stars. Oh, God. Right, she's got two editions of Saberill, so she must have given that five star. Hang on. I don't know what Beth reads. I don't have the Red Rising series, so it's going to have to be this one. But I think Beth might have it. Oh, yeah. Well, obviously. Can we utilize Goodreads? You can if you want. Yeah, that's a good way of thinking about it. Yep. Thing is, I've ordered one of Joel's favorite books and it's not here yet. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. A lot of the... Why are all of these graphic novels? Fuck. Wait, wait. I literally have a book. She recommended five stars. Hang on. Queer Girls Guide to Life by Rowan Alice. Nice. Very good. Very good. Joel. Joel, why aren't you my friends? What? Are we not friends? No, I actually don't have you on there. I actually don't.  She air-fired. This is my favorite star. I didn't write air-fired, but I'm sorry. That was close. I'm sure I'm going to win my five. Yeah. But Mel was right, yeah? I did get to sleep five stars. My five stars are so few in between, far and between, everyone knows them because there's like one every six months. Oh my goodness. Oh, this is going to be so hard. I really don't know. I don't own Daisy Jones. I own the audio book. Can I get that? Okay, I'm going to go with this one. I hope you have read this and I hope that you loved it. I have not read it. Wait, wait. Brett, you love Daisy Jones, right? Yes, that's my friend. I don't own the audio book. I thought I did. You've shown it though. I think that counts, Nicole. Yes, you win. You immediately told Daisy Jones, so... Round six is something that helps you read outside. Helps me. Outside? Yeah. Oh my gosh. Some glasses? I wouldn't take anything with me. I'm so confused. Because I can't really see the book if it's sunny outside. I'm so confused. Yeah, I'll take it, Beth. Oh, okay. I just go outside. What? I usually have a drink with me.  Listen, it's a stretch, but I'll take it. Yes! My candle. Yeah. Yes. You can see every brain cell just leave my body. I was like outside. I don't be going outside. Oh. I've got my sunglasses. Yes. Because I can never go outside without my sunglasses. Round seven is a book with over 800 pages. Oh my god, where is it?  Oh no, I'm going to drop a candle. Don't want to drop a candle.  Got it. Oh, Beth was passed. Oh my god. Done. Yeah. Nice. That was pretty much the same time I think. It was. You were like a millisecond behind Tasman, a millisecond behind. Way of kinks. Damn. How many pages is it? Like 1,000 or something? Yep, yep, yep. You got it. Yeah, it's like a 1,014 pages I think. Oh my god, could not be me. Could not be me. It could. It could. It really could. It could be your next era. Oh, um, me miss. I've got. Yep, you got it. Les Mis. Round eight is something you use to organise your reading. Oh, I have a reading journal. I've got one. Reading journal. This, uh, very much passed. That's a good one. That's it. I didn't think of it like that. Good reads. And it's right here. I'm going to put on my laptop right now. You have to show me it. You have to show me it on your phone. Done. It's there. I got Tasman's page open. Okay, I can see that so I will take it. Whoa. I don't know who was first there. Oh my god. I think Mel was first. Wow. But I'm not sure, but I think Mel was first. Y'all see she cheating? We right here. Okay. Girl, you were as close to that notebook as I was with my phone. Oh, a pocket. So quick. I've got all my bookstuff in here. Mine is a book that was gifted to you by another booktuber. Oh, got one. Is it this one? This one. Oh, damn it. Rose first. I have, I have several. They're all next to me. This is from spoobs. This is from spoobs. Oh my god. Wrepping spoo gives you. Cat from Cat's Ring the Bambina. Tasman got it. I was just like, whoa. Birthday girl. Who was it gifted you by? It was gifted to me by Kalia, who's one of my patrons, but she is also a booktuber. Okay, listen, you got it. That was hard. When she said gifted, I was good, but then there's my bag of the booktuber. I'm like, okay, where would that be? Katie gave me this for Christmas the last year that you before. Last round, please do not hate me. I'm just going to say it. Please don't hate me. Okay. Pick up a random book from near you. This decides your fate. Round 10 is, oh god, I even hate myself saying it. Okay, round 10 is, go do a quick makeup look inspired by the cover. I knew it. Described by the cover.  I knew it. Okay, I thought this was going to happen. This is why I've picked green glasses are coming off. Green eyeshadow, green eyeshadow, green eyeshadow, Fenty Beauty, green eyeshadow, haha. No primer, no foundation. Okay, we're just going to do this and there's black. Does that mean I have to do a wing? Oh my god. You gotta go for the full look, okay? It has to be finished, okay? I know, she's still going, she's going.  I'm done. Okay, hold the book up next you. I'm an artist, okay? Listen, I will take it. This is how we do. Mike, just do a bit of eyeliner, not a full wing. Hang on, this is so chaotic. I'm kind of feeling myself. Wow, I could do my makeup this quick every morning. I don't know why I'm still trying when I know they're done, but hey ho.  Yeah. I mean, I could have gone full skull makeup, but that probably would have taken a bit too long. Okay. Is this green enough? Do we need more of a pop? Let's do more of a pop, why not?  Oh my god. Okay, right, my defence, I had a work call and I have to look decent. You see, and I don't look decent. Bag is in my dressing room at work. I, what am I getting? Right, we're going to the... I'm so sorry. Perhaps I said I've had it. I have not. Do I still have my gold pen? I think yellow will work. Yep. Let us do this. Okay. Okay. I've got a yellow Sharpie pen. It's creative marker. It doesn't have to be good, does it?  I don't even think it shows up in my skin, that's the only thing. Is that the gold in the face? Oh, there's a dot. Okay. I've got the reds. I've got, there's a bit of yellow there, and I've got blue on my lips. I'm dying. I'm just glad that Tasman decided to finally do a cosplay of the Joker. Shit, dog. Okay, no, I got this. It's my profession. I gotta represent every makeup artist on the earth own. Hell no. You got it.  No, ma'am. You have to do it. You have to do it, Eric. Y'all, she killing it. It's crazy. She making magic up here. She a whole makeup artist. Does it have, does it need every single color in the book or just one? No, as long as it's just inspired by it. I'll take it. Jesus, I'm gonna look.  Okay, hold on. Jesus Christ. Why are we doing this? Boom. I'm Selena Sardotian. This is all I got. Woo. That's bad. Imagine it's a sore, okay? This is, tell me I'm not crowned midnight. You completed the assignment, but it was the wrong assignment. Unfortunately. I'm solidarity. This is good because I got lost today. Listen, Mel, beautiful, okay? Ever done? Let my teachers not see this.  Oh my God. My makeup. I'm gonna try if I have some, do I have some pink? We're not even gonna go. Oh wait, it actually looks kind of cool. I'm gonna put on this headband with like a 70s. Okay. I know this is like really quick. I was super close, but Beth wins with six and Rohan four. Good fight, I thought. Yeah, I think we were evenly matched. The winner is Tasman with six and Joel had four. You've both cemented your place as winners. So that is the end of this edition of Victoria Battle. I hope you enjoyed this episode where winners battled out against each other to become the ultimate winner. I had so much fun recording it and editing it, so I hope you enjoyed it too. As always, make sure you subscribe to all the people in this episode. If you're not already, I'll leave all of their channels linked down below. Also, if you're new here, make sure you subscribe to my channel. I upload Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. I do lots of reading blogs, lots of stuff like that. And please comment down below, A, people you would like to appear on future normal editions of Victoria Battle, because they will still be coming. And also, any things or books or things to do at the end that are big things that you would like to see happening, because a lot of you suggested the items in this video, which I'm so thankful for. Listen, it's hard to keep coming up with fun things for them to find, so if you have any ideas, please comment down below for future episodes. And thank you so much for watching. I'll see you very, very soon. Bye!


Hello, my people welcome to the score channel today I'm going to give you an overview of all the equipment that I use to make my videos Just in case you were ever wondering like what it takes to get started with the channel What you might want to have and I'm going to show you a little bit of how my space works as well So I just want to start off by talking about the equipment that I use pretty much everywhere And I'm going to give you some examples of some of the videos that I've used this stuff in right here what you're seeing on the table is honestly like 99% of my equipment and this is what gets me through the majority of my videos so Starting with this extremely important level your mic. This guy has a condenser on it And that condenser is very helpful because it produces much better sound quality All you need is a mic with an inline condenser like this it runs off of a button cell battery Twisty ties are your friend.  So, yeah, this is how I do almost all my interviews. I hook somebody up to this lav mic I'm currently using my backup lav mic when I use student interviews For example, just ask them to hold this and it works really well. This is really all you need for good audio You can get a lot. This may be only cost me $30. It was a really good deal And so I want to talk a little bit about the lights that I use both at home and also while I'm at You know locations when I'm shooting on location at different universities These guys right here make up the bulk of my lighting kit just these three very small lights This is an aperture m7. This aperture light is only for white light or yellow light It only does those colors and I like to just mount it to the top of the camera when I'm shooting Especially if I'm shooting at night, and I was just kind of doing like walk-and-shoot. It's really really effective It lights up the subject makes them look really good. Now. These guys are awesome. These are aperture Lights also although they are on Manfrotto stands and you'll see here that they come in all sorts of colors These are RGB lights. So I can just adjust these using a scroll wheel on the side, which is great I can drop the intensity as well. So they're not quite as bright because I see they're really washing everything out here So you can see they're just RGB lights and I can also control them from my phone. So the two of these can be synchronized on my phone I love using these when I do my interviews with people because I like to set them up with like the colors of the university So if you pay attention to my university videos You'll notice especially like near the hands of the person talking because I place these lights on the table They tend to have a color tone to them that comes from these lights I find it to be a really nice touch and The lights themselves are pretty affordable. I think I only paid about 80 dollars per light They also are magnetic on the back. So you can sometimes stick them to Creative locations and I bought these stands for like 20 bucks. I think they are very compact, which is nice If you just want to pack them up, I'm gonna show you how I pack these up, too And so having two of these has been great. I kind of want a third one That I might use to replace this But for now, this gets almost everything done The only stuff that I don't do the only time that doesn't do enough is when I film at home And I actually have the most ghetto lighting set up here. These are like construction lights These are lights you would get if you were doing like construction site work or roadside work Very strong LED panels.  These are just sort of used at home and they're very effective They're also extremely cheap So if you're just looking for some like cheap lighting for the house I would recommend those construction lights like they only cost me I think about 50 bucks for the pair and They they light up the whole house In addition, I've thought about that when I got these lights These are actually Philip Hughes in the house and in the lamp So I can adjust the colors of those as well using an app and that's also kind of convenient So that covers my lighting. I want to get into the camera side of things now So the camera that I use is this guy right here. This is a Panasonic G7 It's a $500 camera brand new with a kit lens and it does 4k 30p video Which is great if you want to shoot 4k on a budget. I don't normally shoot 4k There are times where I do but because it makes the files much larger much more difficult to manipulate You know, you can use proxies. That's a whole other process. I could teach you about but um It's it's a lot easier to manipulate 1080 footage. So I usually record in 1080 30p However, there are times where 4k is handy because it lets you zoom in without losing quality So there are certain situations where I have shot videos in 4k and then only output 1080 A good example that was my elmhurst video When I interviewed the two people at elmhurst, I wasn't expecting to interview two people And so I wanted to be able to zoom in on each of them without losing video quality So I shot that in 4k the reason I love this camera is because it's really good at video It takes very very good video and it's extremely lightweight like I can go around with this all day Only way it doesn't even weigh a couple of pounds even with attachments right now. It's it's still very light The other thing that's great about it Is that as a fully articulating screen This was a must for me because when I first had a dream of starting a channel back in 2017 Well before score I knew I was going to be doing this on my own And so being able to like flip out the screen and then see Myself. Hello is important. I need to be able to see what I'm doing Fully articulating screen. It's also a touch screen. So That's just also great too like I can touch and open up different menus and stuff and that's just great So this is a really good camera for the price I think it gets a lot of things done Where it sucks is autofocus if you've watched a lot of my videos, you know, this is true I've lost focus on a few people. I usually keep it in manual But you know, there's times where you just wish the autofocus would work well And that's kind of why I want to upgrade down the road Now lenses on the other hand are a whole other ball game. So I typically Shoot almost everything on this 25 millimeter prime lens. It does not zoom It is this has a little uh guard that I usually put on when I'm filming like this This lens is great. It is crystal clear. It is fast, which means it lets in lots of light It's really good for low light applications The downside of that lens is that it does not have any zoom and it does not have any image stabilization Which is something that this kit lens does have And because the kit lens Goes to a smaller focal length. I can get this all the way down to 14 millimeter Then it'll get a much wider shot And I used this also in that Elmhurst video because I could not fit two people In frame in a small conference room using this lens If you're going to do video and you're going to go on different locations And you don't have control over your surroundings I highly recommend that you get a lens that can adapt to different circumstances That is why I always bring this with me now I also have a much longer lens That goes from 40 all the way out to 150 and it looks kind of impressive while doing it. This is an olympus lens. It's compatible. It just Doesn't have image stabilization. It's pretty cheap. It's not very fast good for daytime long distance shots But I really don't use it that much I bought it because it was 100 bucks and I didn't want to not have it But honestly, um I think I've only used it for like one or two shoots I've mostly used it for still photography when I'm just screwing around I have two items that I use when I'm handling the Camera. The first is my gimbal. This is the rsc uh, two The ronan is for smaller cameras Smaller payloads. I think up to five pounds, which is more than enough for what I have Um, but this gimbal has been the greatest addition to my footage at all. It's incredible I will show you real quick kind of how that looks when it's mounted the The gimbal stabilizes the camera considerably I actually was just doing the how to study in japan video And I had some video footage where I just walked around and like took videos with this in my hand And the difference between just walking around with this like this and using this is incredible This footage by hand is basically unusable This is clean as hell. It is so good camera mounted now Like you can kind of see more what this looks like when it's in action We've got the camera mounted to the gimbal right now with the light which does force me to kind of push this plate a little further back But it does clear it does work Uh, and so it'll keep it nice and steady no matter what I do no matter where I move it Uh, it'll turn I also this cable is not plugged in but I can use that cable to like control the shutter So I can just tap the red button down here And I'll be able to start taking videos without having to touch the camera, which is pretty great They have other systems for this too for like audio and focus and stuff that more advanced cameras can take advantage of But for my purposes, this is perfectly fine So the gimbal really does a lot of my heavy lifting and once I'm on the road My camera pretty much never leaves this gimbal like I am permanently attached to this thing And I go out and I get my work done and then if I do need to switch to the tripod It's pretty easy because I can literally just like pop this uh plate out of here There's a little button in the front Unlatch it pull it out and I can drop that right into here using the other plate that's on the back of that And we'll be good to go So one of the things I really wanted to get Before I went up to the states Was a drone and uh for my trip in summer of 2021 when I went to Pittsburgh and other places I had a drone just like this. Um, actually I had this exact drone After Pittsburgh. This is the second drone that we've had Here at score Um, I flew the first one into a building by accident. Oops Let me just show you a little bit of what this looks like So, uh, this is the Mavic mini 2 The three that's coming out looks like it's going to be amazing, but basically I just flipped this out Uh stuff a battery into the back here. It's already got one in there and a memory card slot And literally we're good to go. I control this from my phone using the dji controller And this thing has been responsible for getting a ton of great shots I am looking forward to using it more It's it's a really good piece of equipment very lightweight fits seamlessly into my kit And it comes with a pack of batteries, which is also awesome because as you're charging this You can plug something else into this and it will charge that too So if it finishes charging the batteries, it'll just feed power out of here to another device And you can even link like multiple battery banks. I have two and um That's really convenient saves on plugs because that's a whole other problem Is charging all this crap. I think this might be quietly the most important piece of equipment that I have Uh, this backpack has revolutionized my work because there's a place for everything So all of these panels like you can put them wherever you want. They're all velcro. Everything's velcro in here So I have just sort of customized this so that I can put all my essential equipment right into this pocket So I'll show you what I mean. Um, if I take the drone, for example, and I just start packing it up You know just do it one-handed even Works just fine.  It's not going to go anywhere Bring down this flap The lights The lights Go in here like so It's a little snug. That's okay So right there. I got my lights. I can slide this battery pack in right here And now I've got my drone my lighting And a lens all in here Now the other stuff gets broken down a little bit. I always take out this uh Extension and the base and I slide that into here. It just goes in there Um, and the audio goes into one of the pockets as well And literally I can just put this on my back and be good to go And that's pretty much how I do most of my videos There are some other things I would recommend you get if you are thinking about doing something like this. Um, I have an entire Section of this just dedicated to cleaning products. You really need to keep yourself clean um microfiber claws these little like tooth Pick things that are like wire cleaners are really useful. Oh, hey, there's a score cards Um, this little guy blows air. I got another brush like this too A lens cleaning solution just all the stuff you need to keep your stuff clean Because uh when you're out and about you do get dirty and It's something that you won't notice until you're at home editing footage when it's way too late Up here. I usually keep extra batteries. I keep memory cards in this pocket as well I do have a bunch of those because you need a bunch of those In here, we got more cables. There's just like a million different cables for every possible scenario So whatever the case may be cables and yeah in here I'm generally just putting the stand for this and then the gimbal itself I will put that in this side pocket And normally I would take off like the light and some of the other things just so that this isn't banging around as much And then it isn't as heavy, but this is basically all I gotta do. I can literally just tuck this in here Um, this sort of stretchy part just so it holds the base in this part grabs onto the top And it won't go anywhere like I'll I can move it around You know the camera's gonna stay put like I feel confident. Um, it's definitely Like like I said, I would take some of the extra things off to make it a little lighter and a little safer for moving around But that's basically how I'm going from point A to point B And then as soon as I get there, I just unclip this Unlock the gimbal put in the extension which is now in the bag and we're good to go I also wanted to show you real quick how I've been filming this since my camera is sitting right here I'm actually using my dji phone gimbal Uh, this guy I actually got it for free funny enough Uh, it was a contest because I bought the drone. I got entered into a contest and then won this Uh, so this is really useful for just like quick on the go stuff because my phone clips right into here with a magnet I use this from time to time on set. I don't always bring it with me honestly Um, it's just sometimes it's useful if you need to use your phone to record stuff And you're on the go good for vlogging Good for like for example that success story video that I did with juliana I used this because I didn't want to bring the whole kit into a starbucks Um, this was simple enough and it gets the job done. So I use this quite a bit for little things here and there Uh, it does a really good job of stabilizing video and I can control everything from my phone or on here as well Uh, so that's kind of the only other piece to the puzzle So that my people is basically all of the equipment that I use to get my videos done The other thing that's really important is computing And I have a really good computer that's able to process all this footage But even if you don't you can still make good quality videos with a crappy computer What matters is the video coming in this right here is the most important thing for determining your video quality And this right here for your sound quality Lighting is essential and having a way to take all of this stuff with you if you're going to shoot on location Is important So if you can do all those things you can really make videos really really easily without spending a ton of money So i'm pretty pleased with what we've put together so far I'm looking forward to doing some upgrades as we make some money. Hopefully someday on this channel Uh, but for now, that's my equipment. Thank you for watching. Hope you found it useful If you have any questions you can leave them in the comments below and I'll see you next week


Good afternoon, everyone, and welcome to another episode of condo insider. My name is Jane Sugimura and I'm your host for this show today. And we're continuing on my series on meeting, you know, meet your candidates for elected office, mainly because the state and local government. You know, laws that affect people who live and work in condominiums.  So it's best that, you know, during this campaign season, while the candidates are out there, then you get to know them. And part of, you know, my job in doing these shows, my, the purpose of doing these shows is to bring you news about the candidates that are running and have them share with you their views in the hopes that you will vote for them. And I'm really pleased to have with me today as my guest. Michael IU, and he's running for the state house in district 32. Thank you for being on my show today. Thank you for inviting me, Jane. Michael, tell us so you know what areas is covered by district 32. Yeah, so district 32 is a new district, because of reapportionment this past year, and it represents Moanalua Gardens, Moanalua Valley, Foster Village, a portion of Iliumanu, a portion of Halava, and then a portion of the Pro Ridge, Pro Ridge area. And you're running for the state house as the state of Hawaii House of Representatives. Right. Yes, that's correct. And one interesting thing about this year, first time candidate who never run for political office. That's really exciting. Yeah, that's correct. This, this seat was previously held by Aaron Johansson, who has held the seat for about 12 years and I think is really respected in the community. So when I found out that he was taking a step back to take care of his paging parents, I thought that it was a good time to get involved and try to make a difference and try to bring more and better ideas to state government. Well, why don't you tell our viewers, give them some background. Tell us about yourself. Sure. So I grew up in Moanalua Gardens. I lived there my entire life. And I went to come to schools. I graduated in 2007. Then I went to school in Boston. Let's sell university. I got an accounting degree there. And I played men's volleyball. Division three NTA men's volleyball. After that, I worked on Capitol Hill for a congressmen from Philadelphia and Senator Hirona when she worked in the House of Representatives. After that, I came home and I went to law school at UH Richardson Law School, graduated in 2016 and then I've been pursuing my law practice since then. So I worked during personal injury law at Park and Park for a few years and then I went to Asher and Riston. I did commercial litigation for them. And now I'm the in-house counsel at NAMM, a construction company in Hawaii. And so what do you do as in-house counsel for NAMM? That's everything. It's a really great experience, but it can be, you know, we, some of our guys didn't have safety checks on their cars. So we get cited for that and I'll respond to those things. But other times it's coordinating with subcontractors for just the subcontract agreements. We've got some parcels of land. So that's some non-learning tenant stuff. And we're developing a high-rise tower in downtown Honolulu. So I've been very much involved in the development process and trying to figure out things like that. You name it for a business. I try to do it. Okay. Well, you know, I know this is the first time that you're running for office. And so why don't you tell me and the viewers what exactly why you're running for office? Of course. So I grew up in Honolulu and I have really deep ties to it. My mom really wanted me involved in the community. Any part you can think of, I played. And just growing up in the area, my mom, who is currently state senator Donna Mercado-Kim, she would take me to a lot of community events. So I would be very involved in the community. I'd go to the Honolulu Valley picnic and I'd go to events with her and graduation. So I really have a deep feeling for the community and I really wanted to make it a better place. So when I found out Aaron Johansson, like I said earlier, wasn't going to run anymore. I thought that, you know, I'm trying to get the younger generation involved. And, you know, if, if no one else is going to step up and do it, you know, I think I should do it and I'm hoping to rely on my legal background, you know, to really understand some of the issues and bring, you know, deeper meaning and a better sense of laws to the government.  Yes, yes. And in fact, you told me when we were talking earlier that you own a condominium. So a few years ago, I purchased a condominium in downtown Honolulu on Keenow Street. I just wanted to, you know, move out and finally invest in something for the future. So I bought a condominium and I really like it, but there are definitely some, you know, concerns about it and it's, it's just as expensive as owning a house so. And there's some of the same issues about owning the house. Except you're dealing with an association and, and, and it's community living in the strictest sense of the word, because you have, you know, multiple families living in the same building and it creates some challenges. And, you know, there are benefits, you know, to living in that type of community, but, you know, there are challenges.  And so we go to the legislature.  Yeah, I certainly think navigating a condo is hard and showing up when the board meets or is difficult and time consuming so I'm definitely open to, you know, making it easier for condo owners to, you know, see their building get improved or if they want to see what needs for those things to happen. So one of the things I saw that you sent me before this was on EV charging stations. That's, that's something that, you know, I want to get an electric vehicle but if you don't have the infrastructure to be able to charge it at home, like, you know, regular homeowners do, then it's difficult, it sets you back. So, you know, making it more feasible for condo owners to maybe put a charging infrastructure in their own stall or, you know, encouraging the association to make some of those investments is something I'm definitely curious about and want to learn more and see how feasible that is. Okay. And, but you definitely will give us a year. Certainly, of course, on your door if you get elected. Certainly, of course. Right. Sorry, sorry, I think a lot of things that I've been telling, or I think for lawyers in general, we're known a lot for fighting and, you know, the little very, we're very litigious and I think in my law career. I've been, my law career has been very much about negotiation and, you know, mediation and trying to mediate issues and learn as much so that we can find some middle ground and some common ground. So I very much want to bring that, you know, that curiosity and that, and that way to solve problems that you both sides can mutually agree upon and feel good about it at the end of the day to the legislature.   And what do you see as, you know, some of the major issues that affect your district that you would like to address if you're elected. Yeah, so the first thing has to be clean drinking water. A lot of my district covers Red Hill and, and those fuel tanks. And so the Montalua community and that whole community in general is one, you know, wants to make sure that we have clean drinking water and that the bill is not leaking into, you know, our, our water reservoirs. And so I want to make sure that I'm working with a congressional delegation and, and the Navy here to make sure that we're defueling, you know, safely as possible but also in a very time, as quickly as possible. But that's been the top thing that's come up when I've gone door to door so far people are, you know, want to make sure that, you know, water is not an issue and that's really a hot issue for them. The next issue is, is crime, you know, a lot of people are concerned about crime. People have told me their catalytic converters have gotten stolen in front of their houses and overall they're just worried that the increased crime rate is is affecting them so I definitely want to encourage more neighborhood community organizations that help prevent crime and getting the community involved to make sure that safety is a priority. The last thing I think the stadium is in my area so figuring out a responsible way to develop that area, which a huge part of that is going to be condos or affordable housing opportunities for individuals but making sure that, you know, the state is managing this project and in a really responsible manner. Yeah, those seem like very lofty, you know, goals and that sounds like a lot of work. Yeah, so I do have an opponent in the general election. And he's been actually talking about a lot of trying to break down the barriers of the two party system and trying to have, you know, he's trying to say that the party system doesn't matter. But I very much think that, you know, having a good team in the legislature can really help get things done and really help tackle some of these big issues that kind of span multiple districts so I've been already working pretty with Linda Ichiyama. She's a representative, another representative in the house that that kind of borders this area. And I have resources in my mom as a senator that also has you reach in this area. I've been working with Glenn Makai and Radiant Codero in the city council to try to solve some of these big issues. So I realized that, you know, it's only my first year and these issues are huge. You know, they, you know, they affect the state at a state level. But when you assemble a team that all has the same priorities in mind, I think you can really accomplish a lot more than by yourself. And, you know, recently David E. Gay, you know, he made a statement to the press, or at least there was a press release that said that he was going to change the plans for the stadium. So, you know, what was supposed to be a private public private partnership that would have resulted in the development of the condos and the, and the entertainment district so to speak. It sounds like he's breaking it up into two parts. And so what is your response to, I mean, and the problem is I guess he has to really come out with a with a definitive response he just says I'm going to change it, or I'm not going to, you know, do the do it that way. What's your response to that? Well, I think one that's really disappointing, you know, Governor E. Gay only has a few more months in office, and for him to make such a, you know, sweeping decision that affects planning that's been going on for years is I think just really disappointing. And I think we should have waited for the, you know, the next governor to really make some decisions on this issue. And I think when government, you know, changes their mind like this and gets involved, kind of oversteps. That increases the cost of, you know, the project as a whole, which ultimately gets passed on to the end level consumer and that and this probably means that those houses, those affordable houses we're looking at are just going to be more expensive in the long run because we've we've delayed the project and we've, you know, added all these additional costs and time that only makes it more expensive in the long run so I would hope that, you know, government tries to streamline a lot of these processes. And really are my companies developing a high rise tower in downtown Honolulu and just the permitting process and working with the city to get an affordable housing agreement, you know, done has has certainly been time consuming and we've had to push our timeline back for all these government regulatory steps that we have to step through. You know, adds on costs and time to the end user and I think that's really unfortunate so while I realize the government has these goals that they want to, you know, make sure that, you know, developers are building enough affordable housing. Ultimately, the cost is just getting passed on, because the government is being slow or changing their mind or, or any of these number of steps that they want to impose on these developers. But you know with the city recently, they made an announcement that they're that they were changing their processes at DPP. And I guess one of the issues was people who submit their application that was taking too long for the city to review and return them. I guess. So now they're coming up with a proposal where people where we're, you know, they're going to speed that up. And they're going to, instead of using, I guess, plan checkers, they're going to allow architects to sign for the plans. Do you think that this is going to speed up the process. I think it sounds like the city, you know, recognizes that there's a problem and it's trying to, it's trying to move it in a, in a better direction. And I think being aware is the first step, you know, at least the it's on the city's awareness that there's a problem and, you know, we might need to address that problem for too long. I think we, you know, it was just a commonplace that your permit was going to take two years to even get looked at. So I think anything that we can do to allow, you know, working families to, you know, just make improvements on their homes, you know, so that the next generation can can also live in the same home is, is important and, you know, is only going to allow the state to be more prosperous and give individuals even more options for living.  How much time, I mean, is it, is it, is it feasible to have the plan submitted by an architect, instead of having the building department. I mean, the DPP people have these check plan checkers, I guess that's what they're called to see if everybody's in compliance, because the idea, at least the way I read in a newspaper is if you have an architect submitting the plans the architects has got the architect has got the errors on omissions. The piece up and somehow allows these things to happen that are not allowed by the ordinance, and people can sue the architect for under the errors and omissions, right. Right. Yeah, so I think all of our plans that and I could be wrong. I'm not involved in the. An architect or, you know, not an engineer or anything like that, but I already think our plans get submitted as stamped with the architect that are architect or whatever that we use so it's all. So what I'm saying is it's already been reviewed by, you know, multiple eyes and multiple people with licenses and, you know, and they're they're on the hook if there's any issues with that so I certainly think shame on me in the process and making it easier for these builders to move forward is is the appropriate step because I, you know, I don't think we would ever move forward on a project if it wasn't designed properly and we had all the proper code we met all the proper codes or architect. So, yeah, that's my understanding of how the process works.  So they need repairs and I'm talking, not minor repairs major repairs, you know, replacing their pipey. I mean that's a major infrastructure replacement.  And, you know, we have something called life safety evaluation that the city is part of the city ordinance. And as of August of, of what that it's October to as of October, August of 2022 out of 275 buildings in Honolulu only 20 capacity sports. That means you have 255 high rise buildings that didn't pass their LSE that need building permits to do the repairs that need to be done. I mean, and, and, and we have three years to finish that. And I think grumbling to our city council people.  You know, we're going to be able to get all these buildings permitted and all the work done because I'm being told it takes almost a year to get a permit to do repairs. I'm not wrong. And these costs only get added on to your maintenance fee or special assessment that the condo association is going to charge so really streamlining the process and making government more efficient is definitely one of the things I want to tackle if I'm to be elected this November.  I'm not sure you know but you know the people who operate the shopping center program shopping center. The name of that group is Washington Prime group. And you have to own a lot where toys are us is located, which is right across the street from the seven condos over on coca loop. And recently because there's a bill pending in the, in the city council, you know, for TOD development. Transit oriented development. There was a bill that set the height limitation for that area that that lot as 60 feet. So Washington prime group went and they lobbied and they got an increase to 120 feet. Because they say they're going to build a four workforce housing in the parking lot. And so would you be, you know, supportive of that project. Yeah, I so I definitely one think that we need more just more options for affordable for housing for affordable housing and housing in general so I'm definitely supportive of, you know, developers tackling some of these major issues. I don't think the burden lines solely with the government to solve these problems we really need to make it we need to be really working with private enterprise to make some of these things happen. And really make sure that they're doing it responsibly and, you know, it's a reasonable project because I know that area already has congestion problems and traffic issues. So really making sure that, you know, the new development is going to fit in well and there's an overall plan to it. But I don't I wouldn't have any other objection to them doing that I think that's, that's a really primary and people could really benefit from living there. Right. And you know what other issues do you have what other goals do you have if you get elected for your district. Well, so this isn't a district only goal but for the last couple years here, I've been doing a lot of procurement law we you know we've been on a lot of government contracts. And I, I can't even explain to you how many times I've, you know, read a particular statute and the procurement code and I don't understand it and it's just not comprehensible and it's it's making the process more complicated and as an attorney, I, I feel like I should be able to read it one time and and understand it and be clear but it's anything but clear so I think one of my main goals is, you know, just trying to make the laws understandable and readable and clear so that we're not running into confusion and the public doesn't feel like you know there's the capital of some ivory tower where it has all these high market market intellectuals or anything like that I think the government needs to be clear and the laws need to be approachable so that people can feel engaged in part of the process. And that's my second priority just getting more engagement in the process, going door to door, half of the people are excited to see you and they want to talk to you and they have things to share.  And they're not really engaged in the process and getting more of these individuals involved, especially our young, you know, our young people who really need to take over and and be the next leaders of Hawaii involved in the process and and just have their input and have their say in where the state should be going for the next 50 to 100 years.   And so how are you, I mean, what is your feeling when you're talking to, you know, your, you know, your generation about getting involved in in government and in in public in public works. Yeah, so I think the first thing is, this is my mom's 40th year in elected office. And I just wanted to be able to, you know, learn from someone who's done it for such a long time and figure out the tools of the trade and what's worked and what hasn't worked. But what I've started to notice is that to get young younger people involved I think moving to some of these alternate forms of communication you know having community committee hearings available by zoom. And being on YouTube, some of those things can really help younger people get involved and get engaged and, you know, is more their speed, you know, if texting is a is a bigger medium for them or or Instagram posts or something to at least get on their radar. And at the same time, I recently went to a senior, a community senior event where they were a lot of them said, you know, they couldn't even sign up for the events because it was all online so trying to try to get multiple mediums. So people can interact with the government and interact with me, and, and get the word out is, I think, something that we need to be sensitive about and but also try to push going into the future so that you know all generations can feel like they're part of the process.  And I keep telling people anybody who will listen, you want to be best friends with your elected officials. I, and I talk from years of experience because when I pick up the phone, and I say my name. I get, you know, results, and I tell people, elected officials have people who just answer the phones to do constituent concerns. All you say is my name is so and so I'm a constituent I live in your district.  Things that, you know, you may not realize but you know that's what they're there to to offer you if not what they do is they'll refer you to somebody who can help. And you know, so that's why you know I'm doing this show because I have people calling me up and grumbling.  And they, they don't even know who these people are.  You know, you guys got to get in line.  That's what they're there for. And that's why I encourage people to, you know, meet their candidates, find out what they stand for, ask questions, and, and actually go out and vote for them. Right. Yeah, of course.  Right. And you hear a lot of people grumbling. Oh, well, no, I was busy. Well, that's too bad then, you know, you really can't don't have any right to grumble if you're not going to vote. I didn't even imagine how many people aren't registered compared to all the houses out there. We have to skip a bunch of houses when I'm walking door to door or sometimes when we're only going to register voters houses because some people aren't even registered to vote. So that's concerning to so I appreciate that. Thank you, Jim. Yeah. Okay, well, you know, we've kind of run out of time. Thank you, Micah IU for being with us. I wish you good luck on your campaign. And now we know that if you get elected, which we hope you will be that you will be a gear to listen to our concerns. Thank you so much. And for you viewers out there. Like I, like I've said over and over again, you want to be best friends with your elected officials. So now is the time to meet them when they're running for office and they're all over the place. So please, please, please reach out and meet your candidates, ask good questions and then vote. Please vote. Thank you again for joining us this afternoon. And please tune in next week Thursday for another episode of Condo Insider. Mahalo and Aloha. Thank you so much for watching think tech Hawaii. If you like what we do, please like us and click the subscribe button on YouTube and the follow button on Vimeo. You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and LinkedIn and donate to us at thinktechHawaii.com. Mahalo.