Just before I hand over to our speaker for today, I'd like to introduce Ella to you. Ella Kurtz is a midwife and a PhD candidate from Canberra in Australia. Her particular areas of interest are the power dynamics of maternity care provision and women's rights at birth. And one of our committee, Deborah Davis, is one of her supervisors. So without further ado, let me hand over to Ella. Hello, everyone. It's nice to see that you're here. I'm interested to look at your questions. As I'm going along, please feel free to ask anything at any time. Or even if you just relate to anything. Oh, I'm just hearing that it sounds not great. Let me just suggest that. Okay, let's try this. Can anybody, how's this sounding, everyone? A little bit clearer or feel not loud enough? Much better. I'll do a little bit more. Much better. Okay, let me know how that's going. So I wanted to tell you a little bit about me and the motivation presentation to start out with. So yes, I am a midwife and I'm a PhD student now. And I'm not surprised that Deb Davis is here now, but she'll work her high. And just over a year ago, I gave birth to my second child at home. My interest in home birth grew out of my work as a midwife. As I began to see how the mainstream systems, a lot of women in Australia had their babies in, really seemed to hinder the physiology of birth. Then just recently when I experienced home birth myself, I gained a very personal understanding of what a good option my birth can be for women. But that's another story. So for this piece of research from my PhD, I wanted to explore why so many people in Australia seem to be against home birth or maybe just uncomfortable with the idea of it. Even more research on the area shows home birth to be quite a good maternity option for women for a number of reasons. I thought looking at the media might be a good approach to understand what people think about home birth and why. Because I have noticed that the media gave a lot of attention to any home birth fatality and described home birth in a really negative way around any incidence of the fatality. But at the same time, I didn't really notice any media reporting or perhaps very little, minimal media coverage of hospital fatality, even though I was sure that the numbers for hospital fatality in childbirth were likely to be a lot bigger than home birth fatality. Seeing as the home birth rate in Australia is at the 1%. So just from numbers alone, there would have to be more hospital fatality at childbirth than in home birth. So first to the research, home birth for low risk women are tended by a constant increase for a network within response to maternal care services is a viable option with boy outcomes for women and their babies. I guess it's important to note that a lot of evidence that we have talks about the physical safety of home for women and babies at home birth. Yes, that's right, Cheryl. And so these studies are trying to show that the physical safety for both mothers and baby is equal to the physical safety of those women and babies in the hospital, especially for the low risk population as the tumor is pointing out there. But that home birth can actually be quite protective and perhaps one could argue even safer for women in terms of emotional safety that must be a bit. But yes, in this moving analysis, focusing on the safety of a physical outcome that's not home and baby and both can do staying alive. So even though this research says that home birth is a viable option, home birth often evokes very emotional responses. And there's a cult of belief that home birth can contribute to a damaged or dead baby. So that remains a really widely held view, which continues to drive the anti-home birth debate. And Australian midwife and swole Hannah Darwin suggests in one of her articles that more research about the benefits of home birth won't end the home birth debate because the polarization the debate produces is too powerful. So in a maternity care world in which evidence-based practices are more natural, this idea is really interesting to me because it really seems to shine a light on, I guess, the space between the evidence, which is in this case based on our scientific understanding of birth and how that works and our belief. And that's up theorists who say that people often form ideas based or more, I should say more easily form ideas based on emotions rather than facts and logic. So onto our next slide. So you might be interested in what the sex in Australia are. That was the first thing I was actually looking to, starting out on this media analysis because I didn't really know what they might be. And I discovered we don't have a precise measure or comparison at this stage in Australia, although in Australian birth they said it is underway, which will mimic the UK birthplace study. What we do know at this stage is that the instance of home birth mortality is collected but not released because the instance is so low that individuals could be identified in the data. So they're not able to release it. And also from some retrospective studies in 2013, 2014, but there's no specific difference in stillbirth and early need for deaths between birth and giving birth in hospital or at home. So I guess it's good to think about thinking about what the research done here at home is, why even are we giving birth in hospital? It was probably such an assumption. Many of us take the ground. We don't even think about why that's the practice that we currently use. And there's some thought that hospital birth would introduce to aid the learning opportunities for healthcare providers that were training. Yes, that is definitely a big issue here in data collection. And I've read a few interesting articles that kind of work on the premise that when we're trying to get good steps around home birth, it's really hard to measure that because it's kind of conform on just with apples. Yeah, it's hard to track exactly how the home birth is carried out, how planned it is and what kind of backup and skill retention it has there. But yeah, that's a really important point in thinking about the statistics. Yeah, so the idea was that the hospital perhaps was introduced to aid learning opportunities for training so that healthcare providers were more easily inefficient to learn. There was a group of women in the hospital at the same time who were not aided with the latest training. And it might kind of surprise to you all perhaps know this, the rate of cancer has surprised me to learn that early hospital perinatal mortality rates were really high because due mainly to improved forceps used and also this rate of purple fever between women because of practitioner ignorance about germ transmission like hand washing practices and the use of unsterilised equipment. But around at this time women were responsible for bringing fever into the hospital with them while they were catching them in hospital and the idea that hospitals increased perinatal deaths didn't enter wider cultural ideology or mindset. The relocation did coincide with the general advancement in population health outcomes and life expectancy. The advancements which at the time were likely thought to be due to innovation I guess you could say from the medical profession. But today we understand that it probably wasn't the medical improvement that helped these outcomes, but non-medical improvements like great access to food or housing and sanitation which were probably more effective in combating the poor health outcomes associated with that period this time. Oh wow that's very interesting, interesting point things to put up. So yeah, there's just a couple of the kind of cultural beliefs which underpin this common assumption we have in Australia that is the best place to have a baby because it's the safest place to have a baby. Which I think is a very strong point for most people. Probably fine, fine. So in order to get some information out of these media articles to kind of see what they were constructing I guess you could say about home birth. I use critical discourse analysis. There's probably good information about that. Morphodology, they're on the screen if you haven't heard of it all. Encountered it very much before. Because it was a good methodology to use because as a vehicle for a cultural belief the media reflects but also creates cultural norms of birth, of everything that needs birth. And this is done through the way words are used and how they portray events, how they tap into ideologies, cultural, mind-fed and ideas that we have about the way the world works. So probably especially in this area which I, as I mentioned before, evokes a very emotional response in people, the media is really able to contribute to a particular way of doing birth as normal and common sense in other ways as well. So as I started looking into media articles I discovered that there had been one woman had died. This is just in Australia by the way, this is just in our business area. And so one woman had died at a home birth in 2012. That was the only maternal mortality in 30 years. So there hasn't been anything but for 30 years before then too. So actually I chose this year to search for media articles because I was really interested to see what would come through in the media and how the media would counter this and how they would report it. After a little bit of deliberation with my supervisors, we decided to find articles through a Google search. So find the news articles through Google rather than university database or online technical databases in order to get a rough sketch or a rough outline of what the general Australian population might be reading about on birth. So I had two search terms. The first was my birth death in 2012 and the second hospital death in 2012 and the underscreen was a little bit of information about what came out of that search. So I want to run through the main themes that came out when I was coding these articles that came out of the search. So the first thing that was just seen to saturate all the articles was the criminalisation of home birth but it was something more legal. So this was done in a few ways of the language, which give you an example. Home birth was described as a major crime, criminal offence and midwives who were deregistered but who perhaps took practice or perhaps lived in a murky area in a way or before this much. They were described as escaping the law and that was seen to be a disembowelling. Mostly it was the health professionals who had midwives and nearly all of these articles were about independent midwife, not a public with undefended model. So it was the independent midwife who was targeted and described as breaking the law. So the woman and all her family wasn't really described as being more breaking the law but there's other stuff that wouldn't come to later. So these midwives were deterred from renegade and outside of the law. In contrast, hospital mortality was described differently. This is how they're sad and unfortunate and an incident to learn from. So something that would take note of what happened to them through possible processes. For example, communications between doctors or not, I think, as long as doctors but whoever staff were around could be including communication assistance or that kind of thing. So it was kind of an individual attack on any care provider and it was something that they did to include next time. So the next thing that came up was the midwife being seen as, I guess, a bad person. Yeah, I guess, or maybe a little bit, not a nice of being a witch but has some more positive connotations as well. So she was kind of dearly legitimised. A number of attacks to her personhood and possession. Just very nice, I'm not sure. Well, that's a good question. Who was driving the criminalisation message? I guess, in these media articles, note is one reported at a certain angle on what they want to say about whatever incident that happened. I guess a lot of though that came through was what coroners have said, so the legal system. And that came through quite strongly in a lot of articles that the coroner said this, the coroner said that. So yeah, I guess, reflecting those legal systems. Sometimes doctors, they may believe that they're criminal as much but they would say that, yeah, in their opinion, they'd like to have something in their mind or yeah, leading to this idea that the midwife was ignorant which is part of this character assassination actually. Yes. So, there were character flaws ascribed to home birth midwives. I have a couple of examples here. In one text, a midwife, who kind of almost pretends to be having a dangerous power over a woman, has been described, this is later, by his wife with brainwashed and having a birth at home by the midwife and also apparently this woman was hurt to play with the help of her death in this article in finding that the midwife wouldn't help her in her final moments which I think paints are very strong and I'm also seeing. So that was kind of the thing why it's been dangerous I guess. Also, the midwives were, the way they were described, they were made to seem like they were very ignorant. So, for example, that they committed a horrifying catalogue of errors or that the care they provided felt in short of the standard they expected or that they needed a greater level of assistance to probably manage the complications. And actually in a kind of a proverbial setting, one midwife describes why she has practiced in a certain way using some evidence to say this is why she has practiced in a particular way in spite of some evidence. And the coroner, I guess, doesn't agree with her opinion. And so in this situation describes her views on birth as idiosyncratic and rejects part of the evidence she put forward to supporting the claims. Yes, so in contrast, there isn't that character assassination for hospital death.  And yes, I should have been better from the beginning. Okay, so here's then how the women were presented. So I guess some of the ways women were described were to tap them into cultural values that we have around women. Kind of status quo, gendered stereotypes, even as emotional or not quite rational were drawn on to I guess undermine women's decisions around birth that's why they had chosen this option. The main one was that they weren't well educated or they weren't educated enough, which I guess, you know, probably in this room we know that's probably not true, that was even that, which is my birth would actually know and have done extra research about it to back up their decision in that society that didn't come for a condo. But yeah, that was presented that women didn't know and that they should have thought outside made it for advice or they needed better education and yeah, that if they had known more they would have chosen a different option, which could be true for some women, which I'm sure it wouldn't be quite the same. And then I guess it's taken into account another idea about women too. I guess there was a way to describe women's choice behind birth that women were choosing it in kind of a frivolous way. So their desire to, for example, birthing gently was entered in quotes to make that kind of thing absurd and frivolous. And another woman who describes why she chose homebirth is to avoid unsafe elements of hospital birth factors is a little line written about saying many women opt for homebirth because they think they're a relaxed, familiar environment and would rather avoid a hospital as though, you know, it's just inconvenient for a woman to go to the hospital rather than that she's making a wrong choice. Yes, I agree, doesn't my option. Yeah, so these kind of approaches to illegitimise a woman's choice behind birth. Yes, this is one of my favourite lines in an architecture where we contend that the choice to have a really lovely spontaneous birth at home which is written in quotation marks at heart is only justified if it expresses a future charge to be at risk of a horrible disability and this is just not the case. Another thing that came out was the assumption that death could be prevented in hospital. That was a really overwhelming thing and came through most of the articles in the home-death articles that if this baby had been born in hospital the death could have been prevented by the baby would have survived the pregnancy state. In contrast, when it came to hospital death in one text the coroner said the woman should have been able to do the same at the regional hospital ultimately I'm unable to determine whether the baby would have survived if she had been delivered earlier. Which is just very in contrast to the way all of the home-death would have been described as definitely preventable if they had been managed in hospital. I just thought interesting to include here one mother whose baby did die at their home birth a little snippet of her what she says comes through in one text and she says maconium aspiration would have happened no matter where the birth took place and there would not have been her taking place at the hospital. So I guess that's feeding into the idea of what I was finding in the media analysis that she's kind of questioning the dominant assumption that also both can prevent every new woman's death. Jane that made a sound that maybe she forgot this. Unfortunately. So I guess this is the last thing and a little bit of all the other things that came into this and this kind of if the assumption that death is currently in hospital is matched by the assumption that home birth isn't our publicity. So that was kind of coming from all of the other themes. But to report in the media that home birth isn't safe which doesn't really reflect what we know the research to say it all but that doesn't make it into the articles into any of these articles that I saw. So for example the safety of home birth is a subject of frequent debate and many experts have called for a ban on birth and technique. So that line that was in one of the texts that I guess that is true that it's often a frequent debate but it kind of suggests that there isn't any positive research about home birth because it's like we've got it all kind of taken a tone that women who give birth outside of a hospital outside of a clinical setting always put themselves in new forms so kind of a blanket statement and other texts urge professionals to encourage women to live up in a safe clinical setting and also practice safe research. Once again all those things feeding to if I did birth and home is true. So by looking very carefully at the way the media presents childbirth or childbirth mortality, deaths in childbirth both at home and in hospital for this analysis they've been very careful about which words were chosen and what they created, why they were chosen and what values they were taken into. As well as noticing this real absence of what the science is about home birth in the media representation. I started to think that the debate wasn't perhaps it wasn't just about the place of birth, it wasn't just hospital or home but more about kind of deeper things going on and that maybe that maternity care providers who work outside the hospital most of these articles described very much written mainstream options on maternity care just by just by existing just by being there they're suggesting also another version of maternity care possible and I guess for any of us who do have the assumption or the value that hospital is the one placed with birth, for one maternity care with the existence of another option can be uncomfortable and threatening because it does kind of force us to think something about what we think about maternity care rather than just being able to perceive the assumption that we would like to have about it. So I guess it's in a way as easy for us to maintain our grip on our own reality by just shutting that other option out and rejecting it and saying that it's wrong, which I think is really what's happening in this kind of debate that the one side is really just rejecting the other side right out because it's kind of uncomfortable and threatening and questioning things that people would rather not question about their values and ideologies there's more going on too I can't remember anything else So these are a few things that I wanted to review this to recap I guess the analysis made me think more about how maternity care is probably based option on emotive thinking rather than scientific evidence even though we don't hold that to be the case if you ask people I'm sure people would say that it's based on scientific evidence Yes, so if there are any questions and we've probably had a similar experience you know just thinking that there's something happening for yourself or By the way I do want to say to probably those that I have some references throughout I haven't included them if anyone's interested in explaining those I can get into your area Thank you Ella that was a really interesting insight into the research you've been doing and opened my eyes about quite a lot as well especially as I have a young grandson and my daughter is going to have a baby at the end of the year so it'll be interesting to see how that plays out so has anyone got any questions for Ella if you have then please put your hand up that's a great question yes and I wish that I had a good answer for that maybe someone in this room has a good idea I guess talking about is good but sometimes I find it hard to even talk about it I feel like in this room probably everyone's very receptive to hearing this information but it'll be hard to talk about it if you really have a different mindset I'm interested to hear what everyone else thinks about how we can change these kind of cultural ideas just reading your comment yes I just want to point out different from Australia and New Zealand I haven't worked in New Zealand as my wife I've been doing it the whole day but I always hear like I do I've been it's really more progressive than Australia in these ways but at Deb you might have some interesting insights into that the way they structure there the legal type of things that's right sorry Ella I was just going to say they do have a different compensation scheme there which is a no fault kind of compensation scheme but I don't think that's at the bottom of the differences I think they're much more behind choice informed choice as an ocean and the way you have your baby because it's funded by the government whether it's home or hospital there's less kind of emotion in it it's a sanctioned choice to have your baby you know a government sanctioned choice to have your baby at home I think that government sanctioning is very important isn't it and I can see that even what I can counter up because we know how publicly funded is not being highly taken up but it is sanctioned by the government which makes it almost beyond the reproaches that these people are facing in a strange way oh that's really a pretty to hear that Karen do you think that why are the midlife shortages at the right end or is that just an over present kind of thing and should we go into your comment too I think you're really right that it does show who has the power to define terms and I guess when you find yourself on the other side of that power it's not always that nice I remember Okina as you came alive I can't remember her name right now unfortunately I saw her at a conference venting at a conference in Australia she came to visit that was when Gillard was Prime Minister and I guess probably for any Australians who remember that choice received a lot of negativity in the media just I guess don't even have a sound like just the way she looked or what she said things or everything she thought was wrong and this UK Midwife was saying that she thought compared to the UK Australia was really behind in accepting women in positions of power which I guess maybe relates to home birth too because that's very much yeah women's choice for power in the private sphere yes I think that's interesting Chris about the cultural differences I think that's probably goes into a lot also not many private positions in the New Zealand I didn't know that is that why is that because we seem to have so many in Australia or in the UK too hmm also it doesn't feel good to be compared to the US it's sorry for them I'm from the US here but also only okay not many at all yeah I guess what you're showing in the chat is that there is so many things like all into this kind of cultural branding isn't there so being free or yeah there's so many different factors oh wow that's great Linda also there's a lot of interesting things out there 90ish well 90ish independent big lights well intended you say now I think that seems really ahead of the game too that private position rights isn't as big in New Zealand I feel like in Australia people really are interested in making sure and I can't really understand why but it does seem like you ought to get a better deal in the public system yes and that's right Deb so private doctors yeah they have something at stake they'll lose money in my face so it's never as interesting to kind of legitimise private and lucrative of course what do you mean with your commentary that just that midwives need to practice in kind of a midwifey way rather than a medical way or something else that you wouldn't need to that we have midwives need to really recognise the door to the earth and Chris actually I wonder if in the UK just thinking about what this midwife said I wonder if you had a lot of content with home birth but yeah if you just generally on the street season or people that you meet if you feel like people are more comfortable with home birth than they are here yes that's why 100% physiological birthing which I think is a really great part of home birth that it does have so much scope for physiology it really doesn't allow that to happen I think probably better than most hospitals I'm trying to think of birth and just allow physiological birthing so I think they do better but I think 100% of it's the best yes that does sound good when you just bring that up a bit yes so maybe in terms of journalists and networking would be good if someone really camp yeah what kind of a campaign together to get some more positive birth stories around I know that freebirth is a really big issue that we're facing in Australia now because it's very hard to get private home birth access yeah so that's a golden position to be in isn't it birthing is a little just going to work for you and there's no one else to cover you yeah that's a good point Sheila and I think just speaking for us in camp right here as maybe you haven't mentioned before we now have a publicly funded model home birth running through our first centre and there hasn't been too much uptake at all which is a little bit worrying the powers that be for me it's a little bit worrying here's the powers that be just like oh well we don't women don't want that but I think you'll write that if there's kind of that culture of free around birth which I think we do have then of course I know there isn't going to be a good option or it takes time to talk about those things doesn't it and maybe it takes longer than nine months or women to hear new information about birth and what they can do yeah so yeah so what hmm that's interesting about women in New Zealand too yeah I just always get the phone that New Zealand's like a lot more progressive in terms of everything culturally in terms of inclusion and equality and yes they wouldn't leave their refugees anywhere I would take them thanks Chris so just now last few minutes yeah any more pressing things and things you want to talk about or have questions about oh that's interesting Carol just really oh that's it thank you Carol for that that's really interesting yeah that's true I've always liked lots of geography to work with in the trade thank you everyone for coming here today I'm going to your interesting discussion points well I'm actually not sure if we will publish this time what's your timetable Ella what was that please sir so what's your time when you're hoping to complete your your phd well I guess from the middle of the year I'm doing it part time so I think I'll have two more years part time okay yeah it's already been four years or so yep so even though it's still two more years it doesn't seem to be 100 things well I just I'd like to echo what everyone else has said which is to say thank you very much that was a really interesting presentation really engaging judging by the level and quality of the questions so thank you very much thanks very much


Hello everybody, welcome back to another Adobe Premiere Pro tutorial. In this one, I'm going to show you how to adjust track height inside the, or adjust your track height, pardon me, inside Adobe Premiere Pro. It's very, very easy to do, and there are currently three really easy ways to do it, and I'll show you all three that I like. The first one, and the one that I use probably the most often, is I will go into this gray area here, you'll see that I'm hovering over top of it, I'm just going to left click, double left click on it. When I do that, you'll see that it automatically grows the height of the track, just like from tall to small, tall to small, tall to small, et cetera, and you can do the same thing for audio, and you will notice that when I do it to the audio track, it then further breaks down into left and right, as you can see there. So I'm going to go, first one's double click.  This, as you can see, increases the size of just the video tracks. It does not adjust the audio tracks. So it's command or control, depending on PC or Mac, plus, minus. If you want to go ahead and increase the size, what are you going to do there? If you want to increase or decrease the size of the audio tracks, I'll just change this here, I just made a booboo, you want to hold down the alt or the option key, and then hit the plus and minus. And when I do that, you will notice that I've increased the size of the audio track, and that's holding the plus key down. And then if I want to decrease the size of the track, I will do alt or option, and then the minus key. The third and the final way, if you're really, really new, is you can go in and adjust it manually. You simply just hover over here into the gray area on your timeline, and then you just want to basically move it up as you see fit. I do use this a fair bit, but the problem with this method is you can get very different sizes for your tracks, and it's hard to get them back to exactly where you want them. So I'll just show you the examples. I'm going to increase this one here, I'm going to increase this one here, and I'll increase this one a lot to big. But those are the three ways, again, guys, to adjust track height in your timeline. Got a ton more tutorials coming up.


Welcome, everyone. My name is Angela Mills. I work for the Town of Amherst. This meeting is being recorded. It will be posted to the Town of Amherst YouTube channel. And at this point, I am turning things over to the chair of the subcommittee meeting, Alex LaFave. Thank you, Angela. So, seeing the presence of the quorum, I'm going to call the meeting of the Jones Library Building Committee outreach subcommittee to order at 401. I'm going to perform a sound check to make sure that everyone can hear and be heard. Austin, sorry. Here. Alex Lopez. Here. And Alex LaFave is here and Anika Lopes will not be joining us today. And then with us we also have Craig DeCarlo and Will Fernandez from Colliers and of course the ever fabulous Angela Mills. So, pursuant to chapter 20 of the Act of 2021, this meeting will be conducted via remote means members of the public who wish to access the meeting can do so by clicking on the live link to this new meeting. That can be found on the public meetings calendar on the town of Amherst website or by dialing in by phone. Public is able to comment during the public comment segment of the post agenda by raising their hand. This meeting is being recorded and will be posted to the town of Amherst YouTube channel. So we have one attendee at present. So this should be, I think, a fairly quick meeting. So without further ado, I'm going to hop right in. The first order of business we have is approval of the meeting minutes from June 14 2022 if someone would like to make that motion. Approval. I have a second. I'll second it. I wasn't there, which makes it difficult. Okay, you're allowed. You're still allowed to vote on it remarkably. I don't really understand that but that's my understanding of things. So does anybody have any questions or comments about the meeting minutes. Okay, seeing none. Austin, how do you vote to approve. Alex. I'll approve it's very accurate that I was not there. I'll approve it. Next item on our agenda is keeping community informed on the project. So as everyone knows the newsletter took a pause for three weeks. Um, I will go ahead and I've started the next newsletter, which will get out. But I would love Austin, maybe if you could give me any update about the design subcommittee that just happened because as you know it had to be done in person, which means it couldn't be recorded which means I was unable to watch it so if I could just get that little piece if there's anything that needs to be included in terms of update in the public that would be great. So the committee met and reviewed comments provided by members of the public. And decided do which ones that the committee subcommittee agreed with which ones that it had questions about. And those comments will be discussed by forwarded to the Jones Library building committee. Perfect. All right, so good. And then in terms of, so I didn't create this agenda. And the person who did so someone helped me out which I appreciate. So I'm going to sort of loosely follow the agenda. Alex, you were spearheading or in the process of doing community outreach relative to temporary library services I'm not sure if there's anything that's really happened on that yet or if you have any updates or any information you want to provide on that. So it's come up in a number of different spaces. And the my understanding of where we're at with it is that we're more or less going to be told that there is a site. It is going to be in this section will be more about informing people than necessarily soliciting opinions upon it. So as that takes shape, it's going to be more of a community update versus community input. Okay, and then Craig, did you want to share I think there were some there was some conversation at the last full jail BC meeting which neither myself or Alex were present at around the temporary location so I don't know whether that's helpful for Alex to get a quick little update about that. Sure. So, as of the last meeting we, Sharon has been reaching out and finding locations potential locations. There will be all indications say that there will be multiple locations because the library needs a certain amount of those square footage in the temporary condition, and there aren't there isn't a single location that has that capacity. So it'll be different functions in different areas around town. And what we have now is we have a subset of locations that are look like they're good for the temporary use. And so we're going through those looking to see if there's any concerns or red flags or they seem generally generally appropriate and then kind of moving forward. I believe as of the last meeting, we are still in need of more space. Thanks. So I think one of the things I think one of the things I heard Sharon say to is, I think, Alex as you're talking to people or to the extent that you're talking to people. If people have ideas about spaces or some lovely business owner wants to offer up some space like the middle district did for the temporary North Amherst library that that would all be welcome was what when I had heard as well so my understanding is that we are now and again I've gone for three weeks with somebody correct me we're now in the cost estimate phase of the project and so in a sense we're in the three week period doing the reconciliation the cost estimate so from a community outreach perspective, there's probably not a lot we're doing right now other than just sort of keeping the public informed about where things are at this moment in time. That's not the case. Somebody feel free to get me up to speed on what I might have missed. If I may you're you've almost got it exactly right. So the schematic design set was finalized and issued to two cost estimate firms, one that is hired by the design team and one that is hired directly by the town. So they look at the drawings in parallel, and they have two weeks actually three weeks because of the holiday we gave them actually to do their work, and then we'll come together I think it's on July 26 well does that sound right to you. July 26 I think it's a Tuesday is when we're going to do that reconciliation effort so that'll be one day effort, where we go and put the two groups in a, you know virtual room and have them hash out how much each line item costs sort of and why, and then we will present colliers will present to the town that the results of that reconciliation effort. So that and then concurrent with that. Select members of the town of the project have been asked to review certain aspects of the documents, but colliers is doing an in depth technical review of the documents which will also turn over to the client to the town as a report. You'll have the drawings, the reconcile cost estimate and our report about, you know, how things look and you know where things might be able to be tightened up a little bit going forward. So in terms of sort of the next phase of community outreach. I guess two things so I had one thought so as we've been receiving feedback from people around the exterior design. I noticed a couple of things one is we either get really generic comments like I love the building, or I hate the building. Which doesn't super help me because I don't know what they love or what they hate so in terms of being able to do anything with that feedback it's it's not super helpful. When we've had the opportunity to talk one on one with people and really drill down to what elements they either like or dislike. What I found to be interesting is that often people's impression of the building is not always accurate to what our current building looks like. So, it struck me that it might be a good idea. Like we did the library tours, early on in the process. I was thinking about taking the actual, you know, schematics but the exterior drawings and having us lead walks or offering people to actually walk the exterior of the building with plans in hand so that when someone for example someone made a comment that you know they disliked how we were losing like every every build it every window is a rectangular window. That's actually the case in the current building as well so that doesn't tell me a whole live and the only non rectangular window is the ripple window and that one has to come forward so I just I thought doing a walk might be a good way to get people a little more focused on comments around the exterior but also I just I found it illuminating for myself when I walked with people's comments around the building in hand and I started realizing things that they didn't necessarily consider or think about so I wanted to do that as a next step I don't know whether other people have thoughts about that. Or not. And if people thought that was a good idea I thought maybe we could get either you know the friends or other volunteers to help leave these because I think again they're less about. They're more about collecting feedback and when somebody points out something like, I can't believe we're gonna have a metal roof, we can actually the current edition has a metal roof or you know just like just being present to have sort of those conversations so put it out there. Do you guys have any thoughts on that. Alex. Yeah, I think that that makes a lot of sense it. One thing that I'm curious about is if we have any is if it would be worth reaching out to any local real estate companies who might want to donate their time and services specifically doing sort of like a 3D virtual tour for people so that's accessible online as I know that that's something that really helped my kids when we're moving from Chicago because Crocker farm had done it. And so I don't know if there's a connection there or if the town already has the capacity to do that in a way that people could walk through the current schematics online and also see it side by side with any proposed plans. Cool. Thank you. Alright, like that. Okay, anyone else. Awesome. So I like the idea is the idea to show what is, or to show what is, and what we are proposing, because we're, we're not yet at the place where we have something to show about what we're proposing. Yeah, it's it. Yes. So the thought was again, so for example, you know, I'm speaking for my own particular, like this is me personally. You know, there's one element of the dormers that I don't love right, and I found myself walking through the building and realizing we have the exact same dormers on the existing edition. And that is in the picture they're flat and in the current, you know, they're angled slightly. And I don't know that I would have been able to articulate what I didn't like about those two other. So it's, it's, and that to me seems like something we could potentially change and I'm not advocating for anything I'm just saying from my own experience of walking through with the current picture which is still being developed right. So it was helpful to have the current actual building not the building in my mind, so that I could really articulate what I liked or didn't like and so I thought for other people as we collect comments and as we get to really looking at exteriors and the final like, you know, how is this the monitors that daylight my because right there's still like little things that we still have to decide and I found it for me personally more helpful in front of me so I could really see what I liked or didn't like or something I thought I didn't like and was like oh it's already there. So, so that's clearly not the thing I thought I didn't like or that I did like or so I just want to help people really see sort of where we are in the process and help them more clearly articulate what's appealing or not appealing either in the current building addition, but also in what's proposed currently in the exterior schematic. That's very, very helpful and the question I would have Craig can help us answer it is how much of the exterior like the angles of the roof and the like are to be decided as opposed to at this point. They're pretty well set and again I'm just curious I don't have an answer to that question. I think angles of the roof angles of the dormers shape of the dormers those are all things that are still up for discussion that will be fine through the design development phase. Great, very helpful. And I know we have a couple of renderings from the design team I specifically sort of from the rear of the existing library, which, you know, perhaps you could print out somewhere kind of larger format, so that you could stick them on an easel or someone to hold them up and yeah you could stand in the rear. Look at the existing building and then hold that up and say, and that would, I think that would help people visualize. Thanks. And thank you Austin for that question because I, I was making assumptions and it's good to hear that my assumptions are not wrong. Okay. So, in terms of, we don't have any next outreach events other than scheduling these walks. And so it sounds like until we get to the next phase of design development, that's probably just these walks and keeping the public informed. And Alex continuing to get feedback, you know, about services around temporary locations is sort of what makes the most sense at this point. I think. Okay. Yeah, I don't think I have anybody have anything that they want to ask talk about relative to. I did take down today all of the charts and signs and things that we had up at the library because I wanted it to be clear that public feedback on schematics is over. And I would like to get something up next I don't know people have thoughts about. I don't know whether we take all the public comments and sort of show the chart of the results I don't know whether people want to put up the latest set of schematics or whether we wait till we get the design package. I don't know if people have thoughts about sort of next things I mean the library has been a nice place visually for people to see things so I don't know if anybody has thoughts about. What can or should go up next. Alex. Just given that we're in the budget time, or the, the bugger that it's hot out, given that we're in the budget reconciliation time. So one thing I could imagine doing is maybe, you know, announcing that, explaining the process and why there are two different groups currently going through what they're going through. And then also maybe making space for friends of the library. If they're still doing a fundraising push around that might be a really good side by side of like, this is, this is where the money is going and how responsible people are being with it. Thank you. Anyone else and it is. Cool. All right, well I'm not going to belabor a meeting that doesn't need to be long so the next item we have is our next meeting, which, and you know this but it's a we were off the week, we flipped because of the jail BC meetings. So two weeks for us I think is when the next jail BC meeting would be. Is that right. So I'm looking at the bottom of the agenda for today and it shows jail BC on Tuesday the 26th at 430 and design Friday the 29th and outreach on the 9th of August. Yeah, okay, cool. So does that work for everybody then. And just so we're clear that we can meet via zoom through March of 2023. Yeah, which is great I think. Yeah, I personally am happy with that. Any reasons. Okay, awesome with that date did that work for you. Okay, good. So I do see that we have two members of the public. And if either of them would like to make public comment. Now would be the time for that so. Angela Bob Pam has his hand raised. I want to. Hey Bob, Bob you're in the room if you want to go ahead and make your public comment. Okay. Three items. One is, I've looked at the comments there are 400 of them it is very hard to make any sense of that so some way of summarizing it might actually be helpful. So that rather than trying to go through 400 comments you are looking at a set of comments relating to the teen room or the outside or whatever. Make it a little easier to get some idea of where people are thinking about it so that and those things that are being considered and those things that are being rejected that is first comment. Second has to do with. I guess the response to Alex. You've said that you had some discomfort with at least some aspects of the windows. I've had continuing difficulties with the shape of the windows the size of the windows the way in which they are developed. There's no way for me to know whether any of those are being considered or whether they've been rejected so it is useful when you have somebody who is clearly interested in an aspect for there to be some way to get feedback as to whether or not these comments make any sense to you. Second is about the general shape of the the Northeast segment which has been added to the building, which has the basic shape of a barn. The concern that that rose in my mind as I thought about it is that on the inside portion of it which is shaped as if the roof line we're coming in I just I'm hoping that you are not creating a new valley, which would be similar to the one that we have around the the atrium anything which creates a space where you cannot clean it when you cannot clear it and where snow and these etc will will be accumulated it is a concern. Just looking at the drawings, all that I see is that that may be part of this design and I just I'm hoping someone has thought about that. That's it. Thanks Bob. So, I know in most public meetings, people don't respond to public comments but this is a public outreach meeting so I'm going to respond. So Bob the comments are actually available online publicly they can be sorted they can be sorted by what phase they are in the project they can be sorted by what room they're in. They can be sorted by whether they've been approved or not and anything that's not been approved. You can see the reason that it's not been approved. So, we did have a public outreach meeting where we went through, you know, how that all looks, but I would be happy to also walk that through for you if you'd like so that is all available. So that's the way to get feedback. So actually to the extent that people have used tools that provide their email they do get a response if they use something anonymous, we can't respond. But yeah, so sort of the route people choose sort of impacts, whether or not they get a response back. Otherwise, we've in all of our outreach sessions have talked about the fact that, you know, people can see where their comment is what day it's going to be reviewed by which committee and whether or not there were questions about it so that's all in the spreadsheet. And as to your last comment about the shape actually somebody did make a comment about that I believe it was reviewed in the design subcommittee and is something that is being put over to the architects to look at. So, great. Any other public comment. Anyone have anything else any topics unanticipated by the chair, which there are none for me. With that, I'm going to call this meeting to a close thank you everybody for coming and we'll see you next week in the building committee meeting. Thanks, thank you Angela. Thanks everyone.


We're just gonna go on the squad. As you guys have seen our last video, but I told you guys we were updating my vanity room and I'm actually sitting on a new purchase that just came in today. We've been updating it literally the past week. We still have a lot that's coming in and a lot that I wanna show you guys, but I don't wanna show you guys until everything's completed. I kinda want it to be a full reveal. But we'll show you like the back of the couch. So this is what the couch looks like. Okay, it probably can't tell, but it's very pink in person. For some reason on camera and on video, it looks. Just look at my shirt. That's what the, it should be the same color, but for some reason it looks more tan. But either way, I have literally been putting this couch together for the past hour and she held it. She did not help. Well, we had to either do one or the other. Hold or put on, cause you had to hold it up. So basically I did not. Either way it's done and it's out of sight, out of mind. I literally cannot wait to get it done. But I'm glad it actually fits good in this room and we have a lot to come. So stay tuned and if you, like she said, did not watch our recent video, we put up a green Ivy wall, which looks freaking awesome. Yeah, I have a lot coming. So as you guys read by today's title, I'm basically going to be doing a girl talk in front of Bill. So you get to sit here, listen to me talk to the Marvel Squad, you know. Do I get to comment on anything if I object or if I have any comments? Yes, but you have to wait till I'm finished talking. Can't interrupt me. But basically this is a way for me to connect to the Marvel Squad on a different level and like they're just family and I just want them to feel like they have like an older sister to talk to or a younger sister or whatever. Give some life advice. Oh, snap came in, snap came in, said hi. Say hi to the Marvel Squad. What up, Marvel Squad? So I actually did a girl talk video, I think a month or so ago. So make sure you guys go watch that. I may have answered some questions that you guys want to know. So I'm going to answer some different questions today, but I want to do some ones in front of you because I have some funny ones that it's like. I'm not scared, shoot. So this was a most asked question. You guys wanted to know this. So period topic. We're gonna get on the period topic and how periods work, how to apply a tampon or if I'm a pad user, everything periods. So you ready to listen to this period talk? I've been around you for five years and I'm a brother of two sisters. But I have a tampon right here and I'm gonna basically show them how to use it. I already know how to use it. She's already made me figure out how to use it on a TikTok. So I already know my way around a tampon. Okay. Anyways, so I first started my period in eighth grade and I'll never forget it. I go into the bathroom and notice there's blood on my... I've actually never known this. I never told you this? You've never told me this. Oh wow, so this is a story that you don't know. So I started my period, I think it was going into freshman years, like eighth grade summer and I started my period. I don't know if that's too late. I know... At school? No, I didn't start at school. I was gonna say, for the first time I had to have sucked whoever, like it happens in public. Yeah, no, thankfully mine happened at home. I don't really know the age group of when you should start your period but I started mine eighth grade basically. So I was at my house, at my mom's house actually and I go into the bathroom and I notice there's blood on my underwear and I'm like, mom, I started freaking out cause I didn't know what it was. Obviously, like I knew I was gonna get my period. But you knew about period. Yeah, but I knew that but I also didn't know for sure. So I asked my mom, I'm like, did I get my period?  Okay, okay, okay, we don't need to know that. So I can, if I see if I can... Did you cry? A scroll top video. Did you cry? Um, I remember my sister, Meg comes in and my mom goes, Megan, please do not tell anyone. Like, don't tell anyone.  She runs outside and tell all the neighborhood kids that I got my period. Meg is like that. Yeah, she is. She's my step brother. She doesn't just like hold a secret. And you do that too. So I was embarrassed. You didn't even tell people stuff. Cause I walk outside and everyone's like, ooh, we got your period. You would have done the same thing to your sister. No, I wouldn't have. Yes, you would have. That's such cat because Mariah literally, I'm not even kidding. Mariah literally will say something even though you're like, please, don't say, like, don't tell anyone. She'll be like, oh, I already told Meg. Oh, she's my sister. And then like, Meg tells someone. Well, now I tell everyone, I tell her everything, but it's Meg. Don't tell Mariah secrets that you guys don't want the whole world. No, put the whole world though. She'll blabber them out to whoever. I only tell my close friends and Meg. Anyways, back to my period. So after that, I was like, my periods were actually really good. I didn't really get super bad cramps until I started taking birth control. And I don't know, this is another topic. Like am I on birth control? Do I use birth control? No. So I actually used to be on birth control. And you remember this. Because you remember how badly it affected me?  I feel like I'm still moody, but it's not as, it's not as... Well, half the time you would forget to take your birth control pill first of all. So you wouldn't even take it on time. Actually, no, I was more consistent with that than my anxiety medicine that I'm on. But at the end of it, you were not consistent at all. So on top of not being consistent on birth control, it made her like more moody than Mariah is when she's hungry. So I tried out, so I was on this one birth control and then I went to a different one because I was like breaking out and it was like that time of the year or like that age where you start breaking out. And so I went to my doctor and I said, hey, like do you know an anxiety medicine that helps with acne? And I started going on this one birth control called YAS. I think that's what it's called, YAS, Y-A-Z. And I started getting symptoms. And you remember my dizzy spells that I would get? Never were at the lake house. And I literally, when I was sleeping, it felt like I was falling through the bed. And I told you the whole night, I woke you up at four and I said, babe, if I don't feel bad in the morning, can you take me to the hospital? No, it's Mariah. Mariah would literally get like these episodes where she was, she just freaked herself out. I feel like it was also a little bit of anxiety and stuff to go on with. No, this was like, this was more extreme than anxiety. No, no, it definitely was, but I feel like that also made it worse. I felt like, I honestly felt like I was dying and I'm not trying to scare anybody who is on birth control because birth control can really help some woman. And, but for me, my experience, it just didn't, it really affected me in a negative way. So I got off of that. And after I got off of that, that is when my periods started going downhill. I got the worst cramp. It just keeps getting worse. Yeah, and at the time I was babysitting and I literally had to like cancel my babysitting because I could not get out of bed. I was curled up in a ball like this. So I experienced the most excruciating pain. That's when you were on birth control? After I got off. Okay, okay. The first month after I got off. Is it birth control is supposed to not make you have a period anymore? Well, no, you have more consistent, you know when your period's gonna come, like it has those periods. But I thought they were lighter or something, right? Yeah, they are. It's better. That's why people go on birth control to help with their periods. But for me, I went on it for other reasons. For, you know, I didn't want to get pregnant. I just know like after my birth control, that's when my periods were so bad. But now my periods honestly are really good. I do get bad nausea. I do get cramps the first two days. You barely get cramps anymore. I don't even know the last time Mariah has had bad cramps. Like within the last like a couple months. But it's mostly just nausea. That's it. That's basically it. But another question about tampons. Am I a tampon or a pad user? Okay, nothing wrong with pads.  I don't know if any other girls like that. But for me, I just don't like that. So I had my mom teach me how to use a tampon. That was the hardest thing ever. My mom used to actually have to do it for me. She did it for me for a couple of times because I was so scared to stick this on me. Is that a thing? Do a lot of moms do that? For my mom helped me like that. We were close enough to where she taught me, she stuck it up there, did all that. Okay, okay, okay. But I was so scared to do it a lot. I remember- Wow, taking one for the team. I remember practicing in the bathroom trying to stick one of these up here. It's scary. It's very scary for your first time. But I promise you, these are so life-saving. I also, I know some people are like, don't sleep in it with them at night, but I sleep with them at night and I just change it throughout the night. I get up and pee like four times. Um, no, it's just something we'll forget. It depends on if you're consistent with taking them out at night. Yeah, Mariah literally wakes up at like every other hour of the night sometimes. Yeah, seriously, I do. So I'm basically getting up to go pee anyways, so. I'm not calling out my sister, but I did. The reason why I was asking if you were crying, but when my older sister first got her period, I remembered because we were down here in Florida, actually on vacation during Christmas. We had my grandparents' house and I just remembered she started bawling her eyes out. She was crying so hard. And like, my mom, like, they had to run to a store and get like, stuff. And yeah, she was- I didn't cry. She was super embarrassed for some reason. And I was laughing like, why is that like a bad thing? No, it's, I honestly, I feel like some girls just cry because they feel like- Maybe she was crying because we were all swimming and then she couldn't swim. I feel like because we were all swimming and maybe and she wasn't because it was like a heated pool and it was super dope, super nice. But anyways, yeah, that was my story. So I know that you guys would be like, well, can you teach me how to use a tampon? Like for people that don't have that mother figure or older parent figure in their life that can't help, I'm gonna be that older figure first and then help. I feel like it's self-explanatory. So basically, you stick, okay, so this is the hole. I know this is gross. Can we do it on me? I'll put your finger, do your finger like this.  So like, okay, so you stick this applicator, do not push this yet. You stick the applicator in like this, okay? And then once you get to this- Wait, you can see it behind the scenes. Once you get, once you see this- This is behind the scenes right here. Once you see this, then you push it up there. Wait, you're blocking it. You're blocking the view. Okay, well you gotta push it up there. Then you take the app, usually it comes right up. You take the applicator and it sits in there like that. It's in there like this. Yeah, it's in there like this.  You want a little bit of straight, cause you want to get lost. A little straighter.  What happens if it gets stuck? It shouldn't get stuck. It might get stuck, but you just yank that. Well, you're holding it inside though. Babe, it's stuck. You have to yank it out. There's too much, it's blocked off. There you go. And then there you go.  The tampon does expand. It kind of opens up because once you're like fluid- Can you not weed that in my face? Stop, I heard that tampons expand like three times or so. No, get that out of here. I can't lose it, cause what if the cats get that? They would definitely not like that. So yeah, that's basically, I hope that kind of helped on that topic of things because I know that was the most asked question was the period. I feel like that's self-explanatory. And if it's not, like you just got to grab one and you got to practice. Yeah, and I just wanted to say there's nothing wrong if you do. First time I did it, it was easy. Yeah. Not like, um, yeah, you know what I mean. Like first time Mariah had me do it into a water bottle. But that's different than putting it up you. No, it's not. Yes it is! It's upside down. Yes it is! You push that, Phil, oh my God. Babe, it is no different. It is different. You're pushing it down this way or you're pushing it up this way. But you're not pushing it up you, so it's different. But- You're able to see it. It's a lot harder when you have to go like this. I feel like it, I really, I don't know. Anyways. I don't know. I just want to say there's nothing wrong if you do use pads. A lot of people use pads. Don't feel like that's gross or nasty. Like it's all up to what you're comfortable with. It's just for me, I prefer tampons. And that's just how I like it. All right, another question is how to get over an X. And before I even say anything, I want to know how you get over an X first. I want to hear how you- Why? You have an X too. Okay, yeah, but I want to hear out come out of your mouth first. All right, if I say how, how, my view, then you guys say- Well, obviously, this is a girl talk about how they're yours. Girls, all right, this is for everyone. The honesty is for anyone. How to get over an X. Now, I'm not, I didn't plan this, I'm just going to wing it. How I would get over an X is figure out why they are your X. Did you break up with them or did they break up with you? Wow.  They either found someone new, they're not interested anymore, they just don't want to be in a relationship.  If they just don't want to be in a relationship right now, that's a lie because any guy that says they don't want to be in a relationship wants to be in a relationship with someone else. So that goes back to the first one. So I'd be super upset if he either doesn't want to be in a relationship or found someone new. And then third, non-interested or became unattractive from you. You have a lot to say. That means he never loved you in the first place. Wow. Because if he's unattractive from you for you doing something or changing or like you got skinnier or bigger or whatever, that just means he never loved you from the start and he only has one spit image.  That's one part. One part. Yeah, that's if he breaks up with you. Now, if you break up with him. Oh my God. Oh, wait, wait, wait.  How does the joke go over the ex? You just put a whole page in it. Yeah, talk to your friends. You're going to be really sad. Talk to your friends. Talk to your mom if you're close and just kind of like find something positive. Like a Netflix show or if you like arts and crafts or playing piano or something and just take your emotions out on that, you know? Okay. Now, if you break up with him. Okay, babe, we got it. No, that was if he breaks up with you. Let me just go.  Wait, what? Yes. Yes, they have a right to be spayed. Oh God. Oh God. Okay, but that leads into other things. No, that leads into other things. Hold on, hold on. The reason why you break up with him. Hold on, hold on. Did he cheat? You're wrong. Did he cheat? Did he change the way he was? Listen. Did he lie? Shush. I feel like if I was to end things with you right now, I would still be just as hurt because I've been with you for so long that it's like breaking up with your best friend. Unless you never thought of us as best friends or never loved me. If it was someone you hated and you couldn't stand, but either way, no matter what side it is, it's always gonna be hurtful. It's always gonna be a sad moment because it's still, you know. So, how to get over an ex. I think we heard enough of your side of the story, but honestly, I give you a lot of credit that you knew all those facts. It honestly shows what kind of man you are. That's just common sense. Okay, big old man. You're gonna have to do a boy talk now because you got a whole lot of words to say. Boy talk for the girls. So I would say how to get over an ex. Know your worth and know that a guy out there will love you for you.  And everything happens for a reason. So you guys might get back together in five years. I met this one couple the other day that I was hanging out with because I was out with my friend. They actually were best friends from like sixth grade. She never really was interested in him. You know, they probably dated around a little bit. And then they got back together. Like they got together like years later and it's like, you never know how life's gonna end up. You might, you know. And just also think of it as God has a plan. Like God puts people in your life for a reason.  They're lessons that, okay, this may came my life but we didn't work out. What can I find in the next relationship and just keep growing? It's all about growing. And, you know, just look at it as a life lesson. Boom. I think both of our explanations were pretty much golden. Another question you guys had.  Are you asking me if I know? Yeah, both my boobs size. I think you're like a B. A B? A B. 32, 34, 36. What's the low end? 32. I think. Of Bs? Bs, I think 30, 32. You're definitely a 34. No, I'm a 32. Well, it's a 30. It feels like a 34. I'm only answering that because I do have small boobs. No, you don't. I would say I have a good size boobs. They fit your body. They fit my body. Like they fit perfectly. They're not too big. They're not too small. They're just, they're good. They're good. But I am right. They were Bs. I'm surprised you didn't let me answer that. Why would not? So they were right here next to me. I don't know. Okay, this is a question, but I want to know what you like first before I answer it. Okay. Do I prefer being shaved down there or not shaved? Are we really going through this? Yeah, these are girl talk questions.  I think it's easy for you to forget to shave. So sometimes like it's not. You like both? Oh, you're asking if I like- You like, you like shaved or not shaved? Well, obviously shaved because like it's just like- Soft? Soft, yeah. It's like baby skin. You know what I mean? It's just like feels good. So. Okay, well I like shaved. 100% I don't know. And it's just cleaner. Yeah. You know what I mean? Like my leg looks dirtier because it's, you know, look at my foot looks cleaner than my leg. Yeah, you're right.  So it's like, it just looks cleaner if you shave. I prefer to be shaved. And I actually get laser hair removal. So I've been going through my progress with that. Feel like everybody should just shave? Huh? Feel like everybody should just shave unless they're just lazier than not dating anyone. Yeah. Like. But I'm getting laser hair. So I'm going to go through all my sessions soon and I'm about to be bare as a baby's bottom. And her skin's not going to be able to regenerate hair. If you're wondering how to shave, I'm just going to show right here.  Oh wait, you kind of did it. I kind of did it in a TikTok video. I remember- Remember my TikTok video? Yeah. You just got to get in there a little. You just got to get in there a little and you got to really show it. But all right, here's a good one. Have I ever gotten bullied and it's so how did you stop being bullied? So I feel- Are you bullied? Oh yeah. I feel- You've never told me that. Yes. I've been bullied. Oh wait, wait, keep talking because you might have told me. I've been bullied a lot. Like I've had people make Facebook pages about me saying kill the twins. I've had like all, I've had people bully me to the point where I had to like leave class. For what? Being a twin? I don't know. No, just like- Being a hot twin? I think it was just more of like, I don't know if it was like a jealousy thing or if it was them going through a spat time but I just got bullied. Like I did. And I had a lot of friends in high school too and I think that's what also made it worse is because if I was in a fight with somebody there would be talking and drama and like, I just, there was just bullying and I don't forget during my high school when I got drunk for the first time and I was at a high school party and I did, I'm just gonna show you some embarrassing stories. So I was at a party and I got really drunk.   Like those- Like straight liquor she drank. And I drank that within under 30 minutes and because I was, I was impatient and what you don't wanna do is you wanna slowly build up to the drunkenness. No, no, you don't, yeah, you don't wanna chug any bottle of anything. No. Regular beer or something, you don't wanna chug. If you are not in that drinking age yet, don't drink. But if you are getting to that age, just make sure that you- It hits you. If you chug something, it'll hit you like a train. Yes. So don't chug. Or I just wanted to get hammered right away. So when she chugged it, it just hit her like a train and she had like almost alcohol poisoning, right? Yeah, I did. But the thing is, I was so around people that was just so peer pressurey that I felt like I needed to. But basically what happened was I knew I needed to throw up and I was all the way downstairs.  My dad ended up picking me up because my sister was so scared and I was breathing weird. I blacked out, I don't remember any of this. And I woke up in the ambulance, we're right in front of my face. My dad was scared, I had alcohol poisoning and that I almost died, basically. I mean, that's not funny, but that's like crazy that you would do that, you know, that age. So when I went back into school the next day, I was so embarrassed because everyone, everyone in school, so you know what they would do. And I know they were just joking, but it was kind of bullying because I already was embarrassed. They were all making puking noises when I walked down the hallway. They all went, all the way, everyone was doing it. That's so bad, but they're like, come on. Yeah, but just know that if you are getting bullied, don't change yourself. Just know that those people are unhappy with their own lives and they want to take that out on you and don't take it personally. I know it's hard to take it personally, but just know those people are going through it themselves and they feel like they need to come to you and target you, but I'm telling you the best way to eliminate a bully is to ignore them and act like you're not phased.  I feel like everyone has gotten bullied at one point.  Exactly. And if you are bullied, then, you know, I'm not gonna say it, but don't, you know. Just be nice to others. You never know what they're going through at home and it's so crazy how people on social media look like they're doing okay, but there's a lot of things that go behind the scenes that you don't know about. We got bullied as a couple, starting all of our social media and everything, like so many. All of our friends would make Facebook, not all, but like a lot, a lot of old people, you know, used to make fun of us and used to, you know, kind of bully in a way. Yeah, they made like fake Instagram. It was a light bullying, it was like, they're making fun of us. They make fake Instagrams and they go, they would be like, oh, didn't know that the people in my high school would be filming YouTube videos. Yeah, and these are like 20 year old people, like 19, 20 years old, like, come on, you're out of high school. You need to stop. That's why I'm saying do what you love and don't stop doing what you love. Even if people judge you because if we stopped because of the bullying that we would not be here, we would not be filming videos and literally our dream lives. So don't stop what you're doing because people are judging you. That's like the one key in life is to stay true to yourself and stay positive through it all. I think this is gonna be like the last question because I feel like we've talked a lot and I feel like I answered a lot of my questions in our last girl talk video, but I wanted to ask different ones in front of you. This one's juicy. I'm a little nervous to talk about this one. Just say it. Okay, I just wanna say Bill wasn't my first, okay? He was my second, so sorry babe. I was the second too, which is kinda cute because we left each other. Oh yeah. Okay, was your first time really different than your first time with Bill? So it was my first time with my ex, different than you. And I did my ex for three years, so I was in a really long relationship. It's like my high school experience. It was definitely a lot different. I need different persons gonna be different. You know, it's just not the same person. The difference is I actually did it in the house, at my dad's house, on the couch, rather than, I feel like I'm so nasty, I'm so sorry, Dad, if you're watching. Rather than a car. We did it in the car for the first time, so it was a lot different and I don't even remember. We're not gonna talk about that. Mariah's not safety standards were way lower than they are these days. No, I was safe. I think because I was on birth control, so it's different. I was on birth control then, I guess. Yeah, it was a lot different. Honestly, I feel like I enjoyed it with you more because I'm more, because it's more. Because yeah, she knows she has to say that because she's with me. No, I don't. Good. I mean, I'm not bashing my ex or anything, but I'm just saying it's been great with you. Well, especially like, because you know, it's like, obviously, that was five years ago, so you really like, you don't really 100% know the feeling. Yeah. But like, you know. I remember the whole thing. Yeah, me too, but you know since how we, how far we've came. Yeah. That like, it kind of meant more. So was it your first time different, was your first time different with your ex and me? Like, was it? Oh yeah, of course. But which one was better?  You know, then like, when we first, you know, did that, we're just started dating, so you don't really know where our future's gonna go. But now it's like, oh yeah, that was like 100% fast. Yeah. But guys, we're gonna end this video right here. I hope we answered most of your guys' questions, but in my other girl talk video, I answered, I was on talking for like 30 minutes in that video, and I answered so many more questions. I think I did pretty good, right? Yeah, you did. I know the stuff. Come on, I've grown up around girls, three girls in the house, including my mom, and now I'm dating Mariah, and you know, she has a sister, my sister lives out here. So it's like, I'm always dealing with chicks. And I can't like get, I can't, all the information that comes out of their mouths, like when they talk, she's on the phone with her friends, just no filter. Just like to always talk about girl stuff. Me and Julia, if you guys don't know this, me and Julia is like, our best friends, we're like this. I swear. We talk every day, so he hears all of it. About everything and anything. Anything. And Meg, I'm on the phone, those are like the two people I'm on the phone with every single day.  Mariah has no filter with them. It's all right, that's how life is. So I'm just like, always hearing this stuff. So it's like, it just makes sense now. But guys, the camera is actually about to dies before the camera dies. I hope you enjoyed today's video. Comment down below any other questions. I'll try to go through the comments and answer different questions that I didn't answer. But we really appreciate you watching this video. We hope you enjoyed. Make sure to give it a thumbs up. And stay tuned for my vanity room tour, because that's coming up. That's coming up soon. But we will see you in the next video. But until then, peace. Love you guys.


Like when you hit And then y'all kind of y'all sure diverse Yeah, let me ask you you said she's night while ago You was one I've been I was in the casino not the not the not the shoe you knew the old At first I'm talking about the shoe after he had got knocked out. Yeah Oh, was it after you got knocked out? It might have been because he got knocked out one day on there But anyway, I was at the casino and he came in and everybody started whispering and still had the boogeyman concept going though But I know I had shot dice with him and and one thing I can say is I know I seen what you said Where they were asking you and you end up having a chick, you know, he wasn't trying to put a moves on you How did you how did you I don't think I don't think she was able to put I think I look at the south and the west always been allies the south and the west got treated the same So we always been allies. I think Texas being where it's set the whole time has really been our connection to the west That's all you know I mean like Everything that came out of the west had to go through Texas for it got to us So easy e anything that was gangsta America's most wanted anything that was gangsta that we listened to that It had to come through Texas and had to get really the old cave with Texas for it even got to us If it wasn't jamming in Texas, it wasn't jamming in the level. So for me personally, I just think that We just learned that Everything that happens out here It's how you play it. The thing I said, I just seen the way you you handed yourself and and it make us proud You know what I mean when you have when you got somebody that really like you one of those guys man That I look to man, like I said you guys good mob I knew y'all had that connection with everybody in Texas like that I knew that I could feel that when you did that pop that grills with with with Nelly and power was on there Baby Yeah, and you know, they were pushing them damn grills back there.   I'm gonna tell you I think me and Ali really we killed that record, you know, and uh, I don't know man, uh It just seems like in this business When you don't know how to play that Game do they play? It takes you a little longer. Yeah. Yeah. Oh man And um I'm fine with that though because you know just like we said, you know You know with sugar with everybody I just think that we came from the era where you knew not to play with folk, you know, I mean like uh It was always four of us. So We were never worried about no confrontations with nobody, you know, I mean like so But I think that if you didn't carry yourself in a certain way The elders at that time didn't respect you, you know, I mean like First time we went to Dallas. We went to Houston. Pimp took us to C. J. Brent. You know, I mean like You know, when you got to the west coast during that time, you had to go see Conception That's right That's right You had to go to him before you could even move around in that city In them the early 90s. So for me personally, I just look at it as We walked them we walked them hallways when it was number and opportunity and didn't happen.   That's right Like respect was respect like now You say something to somebody they go look around before they do something to you they look at Man, I'm gonna let you pass.   You didn't say nothing.  They put people like George Clinton Dallas Austin Jermaine a lot of people was around us before we blew or we was able to see they success see some of the mistakes But at the same time too Atlanta and just being reared up here and and having to understand that You know the things that king did and some of the heroes we got from this city You can still see it and I tell up people all the time say bro, like We are in Atlanta. This is the To me, it's like one of the greatest representations of what we are at our best You can still go and see the house. Martin Luther King stayed In this net in not even far from here So for me personally, what other of our black heroes do they hold up like that in other cities? I don't see it You know, I mean and You know What main of Jackson did for this city to make 30% of all the business that ever come out of that airport goes to black people That's why I tell people it's more Affluent rich black people in Atlanta than anywhere else in the south or probably in the states And I've been seeing this since I've been a kid. Wow, you see I'm saying like The man Russell That man built half the city and that's a black man. That's what you wouldn't hear that in new york You wouldn't hear that in LA. You wouldn't hear that in other cities You only gonna hear that about them kind of people in Atlanta. So we to to the other people that were not cuz we Came off snooty a little bit because we had that pride the other people that walk around with and I didn't I didn't think that any other race was Better than us or the chosen we the chose where we from. So when I went to new york And I'm sitting here talking to all these other kind of people and they telling me what's great and what's not great I'm like, man. Oh my god.  They look like me Hey, the whole time with the school in Atlanta.  I'm talking about Georgia. Yeah, we on boss talk one on one Yeah, we gonna talk